《A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Immortal Realm》
Chapter 1: Fox Girl
Chapter 1: Fox Girl
It was a vast and barren wilderness with not a single person in sight.
Aside from weeds and shrubs, the only things that were visible on the barren, yellowndscape were countless gray rocks, all of different shapes and sizes.
A scorching sun was hanging in the sky, baking the earth with its heat, and the air was filled with yellow dust.
A petite and frail figure gradually came into focus on the bleak, yellowndscape, and she was running forward as fast as she could.
It was a little girl who was roughly six or seven years of age, and she was wearing a light yellow robe that was embroidered with pink plum blossoms. Her ck hair was arranged into a pair of buns, and she possessed a set of intricate features, consisting of a pair ofrge eyes with bright, ck pupils, a petite little nose, and a pair of red cherry lips.
The little girl was holding a palm-sized pellet drum tightly in her right hand.
The pellet drum seemed to be quite old, with the skin on either side of the drum already yellow with age, and there were several azure snake designs on its surface. The pair of pellets attached to the drum by short cords asionally ttered audibly into the drum head as she ran along.
Despite her young age, the little girl was very fast and agile, and after just a few long strides, she arrived at a clearing in front of a patch of long grass that was as tall as the average adult person.
She seemed to be in a great hurry as her fair forehead was already beaded with sweat, and a trail of sweat was flowing along her left cheek down onto her delicate neck.
She wiped the sweat away with her left hand, and her round cheeks were as red as a pair of ripe apples, but she didn''t slow down in the slightest.
Right at this moment, a harsh male voice suddenly rang out in the distance. "Stop, you little witch!"
The little girl shuddered upon hearing this, and she was so frightened that her face instantly turned pale. She raised the pellet drum in her right hand before giving it a vigorous turn, and her lips fluttered slightly, upon which ayer of faint azure light immediately appeared over the surface of the drum.
As the pellets ttered onto the surface of the drum, a burst of azure light erupted forth,nding on a patch of tall grass right in front of her.
Ayer of azure light immediately appeared over the surface of the tall grass, but the light vanished in a sh, having seemingly aplished nothing.
The little girl turned the pellet drum a few more times, and one burst of azure light shot forth after another with each strike of the drum,nding on the tall grass around her, which also shed momentarily with azure light before returning to normal.
After doing all of that, the little girl''s face had paled even further, but she had no time to rest as she dove headfirst into the tall grass.
Not long after the little girl concealed herself within the tall grass, a dust cloud rose up over 100 feet away, and a figure sped forth at an incredible speed before arriving in front of the patch of tall grass.
The figure was a tall and burly man with a coarse beard who appeared to be in his forties. He was holding a shimmering podao in one hand, presenting a menacing sight to behold. [1]
His gaze fell upon the trail of petite footprints in front of the tall grass, and he immediately rushed toward the tall grass with his podao raised, but right at this moment, a burst of azure light shed up ahead, and five or six long azure snakes shot out at once, opening their serpentine mouths to expose their sharp fangs as they pounced at the burly man.
The man faltered slightly upon seeing this, then quickly pulled out a talisman with his left hand before pping it onto his own body. A white light barrier instantly emerged, and at the same time, he shed the podao in his right hand through the air amid a loud buzzing sound.
A burst of light that was several feet in length swept forth from the podao, and three of the oing azure snakes were instantly sliced into two by the attack. As for the remaining azure snakes, they were repelled by the white light barrier around the burly man, following which they were also sliced in half by the man''s podao.
In the blink of an eye, all of the azure snakes had been vanquished by the burly man, and their true forms were revealed to be several bunches of tall grass.
The burly man harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and he was just about to continue rushing into the tall grass when his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he stopped in his tracks as he withdrew his podao.
A burst of rustling rang out from behind him, and two figures quickly arrived on the scene.
One of them was a tall and thin daoist priest who was wearing a slightly tattered gray robe and holding a white horsetail whisk in his hand, while the other was a short and well-built man with a long face that was carrying several bruises, and a head of disheveled hair.
"Are you alright, fellow daoists?" the burly man asked as he turned to the two men.
"As expected of the daughter of a demonic fox, she''s truly a cunning little witch. Fellow Daoist Qi and I were a little too impatient to chase her down, and we almost fell into her trap, but thankfully, we managed to escape rtively unharmed. Why have you stopped here, Fellow Daoist Yan? And where is that witch right now?" the long-faced man asked with a puzzled expression.
The burly man offered no reply as he pointed at the tall grass up ahead, and the trail of petite footprints in front of the tall grass was still clearly visible.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let''s capture her and end this!" The long-faced man stepped forward to enter the tall grass as he spoke.
"She''s been on the run for a day and a night, so I''m sure she''s close topletely spent at this point, but she''s very adept at using wood-attribute illusion techniques, which means this patch of tall grass to her will be like water to a fish. I fear that it would be unwise to rush in after her recklessly," the daoist priest mused as his eyes narrowed slightly.
The long-faced man hesitated slightly upon hearing this, then stopped in his tracks as he said in an indignant manner, "Then are we just going to let her get away? She''s already this cunning at such a young age, if we allow her to grow to full maturity, who knows how much of a menace she could be?"
"We are enforcers of justice, so we naturally can''t shirk our duty and allow this demon to escape. There''s no way we''ll just let her slip away right under our noses!" the burly man dered in a righteous voice.
"It sounds like you''ve already worked out a strategy, Fellow Daoist Yan," the daoist priest remarked.
"This patch of tall grass covers quite arge area. If we enter it blindly, we''ll still be able to capture that demon in the end, but it''s most likely going to be a huge hassle. I heard that Fellow Daoist Feng recently purchased a Firecloud Talisman, and as we all know, Fellow Daoist Qi''s mastery of the Windlure Technique is unmatched.
¡°With those two things working together, we''ll be able to incinerate all of the tall grass in no time, and that demon will have nowhere to hide then," the burly man said.
The long-faced man was silent for a moment, then said, "Using my Firecloud Talisman is not out of the question, but after we capture that demonic fox, I''m taking its hide, you two can share everything else. What do you say?"
"No, that demonic fox must be captured alive," the burly man immediately refused with a shake of his head.
The long-faced man''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and he asked in a cold voice, "So you''re asking me to sacrifice my Firecloud Talisman for nothing? This is a mid-tier elementary talisman that cost me a good chunk of my fortune!"
"No need to get agitated, Fellow Daoist Feng. If I''m not mistaken, Fellow Daoist Yan should be an outer sect disciple of the Blood Sword Sect. The Blood Sword Sect recently released a mission for the demonic fox to be captured alive, and the one whopletes the mission will not only be an inner sect disciple, they''ll also receive a reward of one Bloodcry Pill and 1,000 spirit stones, isn''t that right?" the daoist priest said as he turned to the burly man with a meaningful look in his eyes.
The burly man''s expression remained unchanged as he said, "I didn''t think you''d know so much about our Blood Sword Sect, Fellow Daoist Qi. Let''s not waste any time by talking in circles. If you two can help me capture this demonic fox alive, you can share the spirit stone reward evenly among the two of you. What do you say?"
"I have no objections to that proposal," the daoist priest replied as he casuallyid his horsetail whisk over his own arm.
"In that case, let''s not dy any further." The long-faced man pulled out a talisman as he spoke, and he took a wistful nce at it before tossing it forward and chanting an incantation.
Ayer of red light immediately appeared over the surface of the talisman, following which it exploded into a cloud of crimson mes. It was like a fiery force of nature as it descended from the sky toward the tall grass down below.
As soon as the tall grass came into contact with the cloud of fire, it immediately erupted into mes.
At the same time, the daoist priest uttered a daoist prayer before abruptly sweeping his horsetail whisk through the air.
A loud howling sound immediately rang out as several gusts of fierce wind appeared out of thin air before proliferating outward in a fan-shaped wave.
The mes were fanned by the wind, rapidly spreading through the tall grass like an unstoppable wave, and dense ck smoke rose up into the air while ashes flew in all directions.
The trio stared intently into the sea of fire in an unblinking manner, and all of a sudden, the daoist priest dered, "Over there!"
At the same time, he shot forth toward a certain direction like a speeding arrow, and with a flick of his horsetail whisk, faint azure light began to glow on the surface of its hairs.
The burly man and the long-faced man were both spurred into action upon hearing this, and they followed along closely behind the daoist priest.
Around 200 to 300 feet in front of them, a petite figure suddenly sprang out of the tall grass, which was quickly being eaten away by the sea of fire, and it was none other than the little girl from before.
At this moment, there were already many holes in her light yellow robe, and her face had also been ckened by the dense smoke.
The field of tall grass that she had been hiding in had previously covered quite arge area, and in order to not make any sound that would draw attention to herself, she had been carefully advancing through the tall grass while asionally changing directions. There was no sounding from behind her, so she had thought that she was in the clear, but never did she think that her pursuers would use fire to force her out.
A horrified look appeared on the little girl''s face, and she rushed away as quickly as she could in a bind panic, coughing incessantly all the while.
However, she wasn''t able to get very far at all before she felt a gust of cold wind sweep toward her from behind, following which countless azure threads emerged all around her.
Almost at the exact same moment, a whistling sound rang out overhead, and a ck that was around 10 feet in size descended upon her from above.
The panic in the little girl''s eyes turned into despair, but all of a sudden, she caught sight of a small and withered tree that was over 100 feet in front of her. Her eyes immediately lit up, and she bit down forcefully onto the tip of her own tongue.
"We''ve got her now!"
The long-faced man was the slowest of the three, but he could see that the burly man and the daoist priest had worked together to trap the little girl, and he was naturally ecstatic.
Therge swathe of azure threads swept over a distance of several dozen feet before surging back to ensnare the little girl, and at the same time, the ck in the sky also fell upon her.
However, right at this moment, the body of the immobilized little girl suddenly disintegrated into azure light before transforming into a small tree.
"She used a Wood Substitution Technique!"
The expressions of the burly man and the daoist priest immediately darkened upon witnessing this development, and they both descended from above.
"Over there!" The long-faced man hurriedly pointed at a spot up ahead.
The small and withered tree that had been standing there just a second ago suddenly blurred before transforming into the pellet-drum-wielding little girl, and she turned to take a nce behind her before continuing to flee the scene.
"Don''t let her get away!"
Perhaps it was due to the fact that she had just unleashed a Wood Substitution Technique, but the little girl''s face was nowpletely devoid of color, and her footsteps were also bing heavier and moreborious. As a result, she was beginning to stumble regrly, so her speed was naturally severely impacted, and her three pursuers were quickly closing down the gap between them.
"Ah!"
All of a sudden, the little girl yelped as she was tripped over by a rock, and she flew forward before crashing into a huge gray rock that was around 10 feet tall before falling heavily onto the ground.
"Why don''t you keep running?" the long-faced man goaded with a gleeful expression.
The three men slowed down, and they formed a triangle before slowly approaching her from three different directions, cutting off all avenues for escape.
At this point, the three men had already been chasing the little girl for a day and a night, and along the way, they had fallen for many of her cunning tricks, so they were naturally feeling very resentful and indignant. Out of the three, the long-faced man was feeling particrly vindictive, having just lost a Firecloud Talisman to the cause.
As the three men approached the little girl, she pressed her back tightly against the huge rock behind her before curling up into a ball, but her eyes were filled with resentment.
The three men were naturallypletely unfazed by her hateful expression, and the long-faced man took a step forward as he raised a hand with a sinister expression.
"I can''t kill you, but I''m going to teach you a good lesson for making a fool out of us!"
Right at this moment, an unexpected turn of events unfolded.
A loud crack rang out, and countless thin cracks appeared over the surface of the huge rock that the little girl was pressed up tightly against.
Many small rock shards came cascading down onto the little girl''s head, causing her to flinch involuntarily.
The long-faced man was quite taken aback to see this, and he stopped what he was doing, keeping his right hand suspended in mid-air. The attention of the other two men was also temporarily drawn away from the little girl as they turned to inspect the giant rock behind her.
The three men watched as the cracks on the surface of the huge quickly spread like a system of cobwebs, and many shards of rock began to split off before falling onto the ground.
The little girl clearly wasn''t expecting this strange turn of events, either, and she immediately closed her eyes in fear as she threw her arms over her own head, not daring to move even a single inch.
Finally, the giant rockpletely shattered amid a rumbling boom, andrge chunks of stone flew in all directions beforending on the ground, raising uprge clouds of yellow dust.
The three men were all quite startled by this, and they retreated a few steps with wary expressions, but their eyes remained firmly fixed on what remained of the huge rock.
"Wh... What''s that supposed to be?" the long-faced man stuttered with a stunned expression.
As the dust gradually settled, it became clear that the giant rock was already gone, and it had been reced by a male figure who was remarkably tall and broad.
The man was wearing an azure robe, and his face and hair were coated in ayer of gray powdered rock, indicating that he seemed to have been residing within the giant rock. Even through the gray powder, it was still possible to make out a set of unremarkable facial features and aplexion that was slightly on the darker side.
The man was staring forward with a nk expression, seemingly a little slow and dull, but he was significantly taller than even the burly man.
The little girl and the three men were all astonished by this sudden turn of events.
1. A podao is a Chinese single-edged infantry weapon that is basically a Chinese broadsword attached to a long wooden handle. ?
Chapter 2: Brother Rock
Chapter 2: Brother Rock
"Brother Rock!"
Right as the three men were looking on with stunned expressions, an ted voice suddenly rang out.
The little girl had already mbered up from the ground, and she immediately threw her arms around the imposing young man who had just emerged from the massive rock.
Given her short stature, the little girl''s head only reached the young man''s waist, and her delicate little arms were wrapped tightly around one of the young man''s legs. Most of her body was concealed behind the young man, and she was looking up at him with herrge, watery eyes.
The three men faltered slightly upon hearing this, then exchanged a bewildered nce before turning their attention back to the young man, only to find that he was disying no reaction whatsoever to the little girl''s voice, and he was still staring nkly at the three of them, much to their confusion.
A sense of unease welled up in the little girl''s heart upon seeing this, and she frantically tugged on the young man''s leg as she sobbed, "Brother Rock, I''ve finally found you! Those bad people are trying to capture Le''er! You have to help me beat them, Brother Rock!"
This time, the young man seemed to have heard the little girl, and he lowered his head slightly.
The little girl looked into the young man''s eyes, only to find that they were stillpletely nk and vacant, and her heart sank even further.
In contrast, this was a very encouraging sight for the three men.
They had already released their spiritual sense over the young man, only to find that there were no signs of magic power in his body whatsoever. There were only two possible exnations for this, the first of which was that the young man really was just a mortal who possessed no cultivation base at all, and the second possibility was that he was using a special secret technique or magic tool to conceal his magic power.
The strange circumstances leading up to the young man''s emergence and the fact that the little girl was calling out to him for help made the three feel as if thetter possibility were more usible, and there was a good chance that the man was perhaps also a demon.
The daoist priest rested his horsetail whisk on his arm as his gaze roamed back and forth between the young man and the little girl, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
At this point, the long-faced man had already lowered his right hand, and he had also taken a step backward to rejoin his twopanions. At the same time, an object had fallen into his left hand, which was concealed up his sleeve, and he was still staring intently at the little girl.
The burly man gave his twopanions a meaningful look, then dered, "May I ask your name, Fellow Daoist? I am Yan Cheng of the Blood Sword Sect, and I''m working with these two fellow daoists to capture this demonic fox. If this has nothing to do with you, then please be on your way."
The little girl was very rmed to hear this, and she looked up at the young man with an imploring expression.
The young man slowly raised his head to face the burly man with a wooden expression, and he remainedpletely silent.
A hint of anger shed through the burly man''s eyes upon seeing this, but he suppressed it before repeating what he had just said, raising his voice a little on this asion.
The little girl opened her mouth slightly, but didn''t say anything. However, her palms were sweating profusely as she continued to hold tightly onto the leg of the young man''s pants with her little hands.
The young man continued to offer no response.
The long-faced young man turned slightly to the side, then transmitted his voice to hispanions as he said, "There appears to be something wrong with him. As opposed to wasting time here, why don''t we..."
"In this area, the only people who would remain so calm after hearing the name of the Blood Sword Sect have to beplete idiots or unfathomably powerful. In any case, he''s disying an intention to protect that demon, so no one can say anything even if we kill him. Of course, the final decision is up to you, Fellow Daoist Yan," the daoist priest replied through voice transmission as his eyes narrowed slightly.
The burly man nodded in response, and a cold look appeared in his eyes as he tightened his grip around his podao. "Why do you not speak, Fellow Daoist? Are you looking down on us?"
His voice was like rumbling thunder, echoing incessantly across the barren ins, causing the nearby air to buzz incessantly.
A fearful look appeared on the little girl''s face upon hearing this, and she reflexively let go of the young man''s legs before tightening her grip on her pellet drum.
The young man continued to disy no reaction, and it was as if he were deaf.
"Fine. If you insist on siding with the demonic girl, then we''ll just have to take you down along with her!"
A fierce gleam shed through the burly man''s eyes, and his podao suddenly began to glow with blinding white light. At the same time, he raised his other hand, and a burst of ck light shot forth in a sh, rising up into the air before descending as a huge ck.
The little girl was greatly rmed by this, and she hurriedly tried to scurry away, but she was too close and it was already toote for her to get away.
The huge descended like a dark cloud before rapidly closing in from all directions, epassing the young man within it as well. At the same time, a sh of light emerged within the, and a gleaming silver hook appeared on every single knot of the, looking extremely sharp and menacing.
The little screamed as she opened her mouth to release a cloud of blood mist onto the pellet drum while turning it vigorously at the same time.
The sound of the pellet drum rang out, and azure light shed over the little girl before her body abruptly disintegrated, transforming into a piece of dead wood.
The little girl then re-emerged out of thin air over 100 feet away before falling onto the ground. Around a dozen wounds had been inflicted onto her arms and legs from the hooked spikes on the ck, causing her to bleed profusely.
She rolled over before strugglingboriously to her feet, but she only managed to take a single step before she slumped feebly onto the ground again. Her face was deathly pale, and she was gasping for air.
At this point, the little girl was clearly a spent force, and the burly man didn''t even bother to pay any attention to her. Instead, he made a hand seal with one hand, and the ck around the young man abruptly tightened.
At the same time, the daoist priest sprang up into the air, releasing around a dozen translucent flying needles with a flick of his wrist, and the needles shot forth like lightning toward various vital regions all over the young man''s body.
"Look out!"
The little girl was unable to get up, so all she could do was yell frantically in the young man''s direction.
A string of metallic ngs rang out, and as soon as the azure flying needles struck the young man''s body, all of them were repelled away as if they had struck a rock.
"How is that possible?" the daoist priest eximed as he descended lightly onto the ground.
Even if the young man''s body were actually made of stone, those flying arrows should''ve been able to easily pierce through him.
All of a sudden, a streak of golden light flew past the daoist priest before striking the young man''s throat with vicious power.
"Hehe, what a fool! No one''s ever taken a Golden Wasp Spike of mine and..." The long-faced man was slowly lowering his raised arm with a cruel smile on his face, but before he had a chance to finish what he was saying, the golden spike that had struck the young man''s throat abruptly exploded into specks of golden light.
"Impossible!"
The long-faced man was left looking as if he had seen a ghost, and the burly man was alsopletely incredulous to see this.
The sharp hooks on the ck were capable of tearing through metal with ease, but they were unable to leave even the slightest scratch on the young man''s body.
Right as the three men were looking on with disbelief in their eyes, the young man finally reacted to the string of attacks that had just been directed at him.
He slowly lowered his head to look at the that was clinging to his body, and he seemed to find it a little cumbersome. He grabbed onto the with both hands, and bursts of spiritual light erupted from its surface before it was torn apart with ease as if it were made from paper.
The two halves of the gently drifted down onto the ground, and both the long-faced man and the daoist priest were so shocked to see this that their eyes were on the verge of popping out of their sockets.
Not far away, the little girl was also looking on with astonishment in her eyes, temporarily forgetting the excruciating pain that she was in.
"How dare you destroy my magic tool!" the burly man roared with fury, greatly anguished by the loss of the ck.
The ck was a powerful magic tool that he had borrowed from a good friend in the sect at a hefty price, so it was only natural that he was so furious to see it destroyed here.
The burly man gritted his teeth as he glowered at the young man with a livid expression, and he extended the index finger and middle finger of his right hand, upon which a purple talisman appeared between her fingertips out of thin air. He tossed the talisman forward as he chanted an incantation, and the talisman immediately flew through the air, arriving directly above the young man''s head.
Immediately thereafter, the talisman exploded to form a dense ck cloud.
The sound of rumbling thunderps rang out as light shed within the ck cloud, and a bolt of silver lightning that was thick as a bowl came crashing down.
The bolt of lightning struck the young man''s body with a resounding boom, and countless arcs of lightning sprang forth in all directions, bombarding the ground around him to create a series of charred ck craters.
The little girl closed her eyes in fear amid the rumbling thunderps, and somehow, she was able to muster up the strength to shift herself back slightly by pushing off against the ground with her hands, allowing her to just barely avoid being struck by the stray arcs of lightning by the tightest of margins.
She opened her eyes with lingering fear in her heart, and her mouth immediately sprang open in shock once again at the sight that she was greeted by.
The young man was standing in silence with countless ck charred craters around him, but there was not even so much as a single scratch on his body.
The burly man was very rmed to see this, but he didn''t skip a beat as he continued to make hand seals while quickly chanting an incantation.
"Seal!"
Another bolt of silver lightning came crashing down above, but during its descent, it suddenly transformed into a series of intertwining lightning chains that wrapped themselves around the young man''s body at an incredible speed, binding him firmly into ce.
"What are you waiting for, fellow daoists?" the burly man roared as he raised his podao, and ayer of red light immediately appeared over its surface, following which he sprang forward with the tip of his podao aimed directly at the young man''s face.
The long-faced man was initially also shocked by the fact that the young man waspletely unharmed by the lightning, but he was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately made a hand seal before vanishing on the spot as a gentle breeze.
In the next instant, a gust of fierce wind was swept up beside the young man, and the long-faced man emerged out of thin air with a ck metal ruler in his hand. There were several shing white runes on the ruler''s surface, and it was swung viciously toward the young man''s shoulder, apanied by a gust of ferocious wind.
Meanwhile, the daoist priest was looking on with a cautious expression, and instead of rushing forward like his twopanions, he retreated a couple of steps before waving a hand through the air. A ball of crimson light flew out of his sleeve, then circled around in the air at an incredible speed before hurtling silently toward the back of the young man''s head.
Even though the three of them had all unleashed their attacks at different times, their teamwork was wless, and it was clear that this wasn''t their first time working together.
The young man''s eyes remained as vacant as ever, and he continued to remainpletely still on the spot, seemingly unable to even detect the attacks that were being directed at him.
An ted look appeared in the burly man''s eyes upon seeing this, and he injected even more power into his podao.
However, in the next instant, he suddenly felt something constrict around his wrist. As it turned out, he had been caught by the wrist by arge hand that felt as if it were made from steel, and not only was he unable to thrust his podao even an inch further, his entire body was also stopped cold in its tracks.
The young man had reached out to catch the burly man''s podao-wielding arm by the wrist, and he had done so at such an unfathomable speed that no one was able to see his movements.
The burly man pulled back his arm with all his might, but it waspletely locked into ce, and it was as if he had been caught by an immovable mountain. His heart immediately sank upon seeing this, but a cruel smile then suddenly appeared on his face.
In the next instant, the long-faced man''s metal ruler and the ball of crimson light unleashed by the daoist priest struck the young man''s shoulder and the back of his head, respectively. Both blowsnded almost at the exact same time, and piercing ck light erupted from the metal ruler, while the ball of crimson light exploded into arge cloud of dense blood mist that epassed the young man''s entire head within it, giving off a nauseating stench.
The long-faced man burst into triumphantughter upon seeing this, but in the next instant, he felt a rush of heat travel through his hand, and a burst of inexplicably immense power erupted out of the young man''s body, traveling directly into his body along the metal ruler.
"No!"
A horrified expression appeared in the long-faced man''s eyes, and he was involuntarily sent flying into the distance. A string of gruesome cracks rang out as he tumbled down onto the ground like a ragdoll, and countless bones had been shattered in his body.
Blood was also gushing incessantly out of his mouth along with fragments of internal organs, and by the time he drew to a rest, his entire body resembled a tattered rucksack that was riddled with holes, and he was as dead as dead could be.
"Impossible! How... Argh!"
The burly man was astonished to see this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, the hand that was locked around his wrist suddenly moved ever so slightly. Immediately thereafter, a burst of strange tremors rang through his body, instantly shattering every single one of his bones. The pain was so excruciating that it was like having his skin and flesh torn away by 1,000 cuts, and he couldn''t help but let loose a bloodcurdling howl.
In the next instant, his body was sent flying involuntarily into the air, having been hurled viciously toward arge rock nearby.
Another bloodcurdling scream rang out as the burly man''s body exploded into a pile of mincemeat against the huge rock.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and the daoist priest was horrified to see this.
He immediately turned around and frantically pped five or six talismans of different colors onto his own body while fleeing with all his might.
However, he was only able to take a few steps before the air abruptly constricted around him, and the several types of protective spiritual light radiating from his body were snuffed out in a sh. Immediately thereafter, his entire body exploded into scraps of blood and flesh that came raining down from the sky, as if it had just been crushed by an invisible giant hand.
Meanwhile, the young man swallowed the cloud of dense ck mist around his head, revealing his wooden features once again.
Chapter 3: Departure
Chapter 3: Departure
The little girl was staring nkly at everything unfolding before her with her mouth gaped open, seemingly still yet to recover from the shock of what she had just seen.
She inspected the remains of her three tormentors with a dazed expression, and all of a sudden, she copsed onto her backside as tears began to flow down her face.
Initially, she was only sobbing quietly, but she quickly began to cry louder and louder, as if she had thought of something tragic.
Soon, the floodgatespletely broke down, and her bawling once again broke the silence in this once-peaceful area. It was like a heart-wrenching song of grief and tragedy, expressing to the heavens the tribtions and injustice in the human world.
After an indeterminate period of time, the bawling drew to an abrupt halt.
The little girl had already risen to her feet again, and her hands were balled up into tight fists. The soot and blood on her face had already been washed away by her tears, revealing her delicate features once again, but this time, there seemed to be something in her eyes that wasn''t there before.
All of a sudden, she rushed toward another huge gray rock that was up ahead not far away.
At the foot of therge rock was a mangled bodyying in a pool of blood, and one could just barely make out that the body belonged to the burly man. At this point, he was already long dead. Several dozen feet away from the giant rock was a male corpse that resembled a pile of sludge, and it belonged to the long-faced man from before.
As for the daoist priest, his entire body had exploded in the face of the punch that the young man had thrown from afar, so there was nothing left of his remains aside from scraps of flesh and blood in the nearby area.
The little girl leaped over to the foot of the huge rock, then raised both of her hands, and azure nails that were several inches in length abruptly grew out of her fingers, using which she viciously ravaged the burly man''s remains.
Her nails whistled through the air, releasing one azure w projection after another, all of which struck the man''s already severely mangled body.
Blood sttered in all directions, and the man''s remains were instantly reduced to a pile of broken flesh.
However, the little girl seemed to have been yet to vent all of her resentment, and she sted a burst of green mes out of her mouth to incinerate the man''s remains into ashes.
Immediately thereafter, she did the exact same thing to the long-faced man''s body, and only after that did she finally relent.
After doing all of that, her knees gave out from under her, and she fell onto her backside again as she panted heavily, having just exhausted all of the slight amount of magic power her body had just recovered.
The little girl took a moment topose herself, then knelt down toward a certain direction as she murmured, "Dada, Mama, Big Brother, Big Sister, one of these foul bandits from the Blood Sword Sect is finally dead.
¡°I wasn''t the one to kill him, but a tiny amount of justice has finally been served for what they did to you. Rest assured, so long as still draw breath, there wille a day when I will go to Bloodlight Mountain and erase the Blood Sword Sect from the face of this world!"
Tears began to well up in her eyes again as she spoke, but she forced them back, not allowing herself to shed them.
"I won''t cry anymore. Dada always says that crybabies never grow up. I have to grow up faster!"
Only after a long while was the little girl able to suppress the sobs that were fighting to break out of her chest, and she stood up again before taking a nce at the storage bags left behind by her three deceased pursuers.
A hint of disgust surfaced in her eyes, but after a brief hesitation, she still decided to pick up all of the storage bags.
As the sun moved westward, the sky began to dim, and the wind also grew stronger, howling incessantly as the air temperature began to drop.
Looking at her barren surroundings, the little girl was bing a little afraid, and she curled up slightly before reflexively sidling up closer to the only other living person in the area, the young man.
After throwing that punch to put an end to the daoist priest''s life, the young man fell still again, standing on the spot in a wooden manner as he looked down nkly at his own feet, seeminglypletely oblivious to what the little girl had just done.
"Brother Rock..." the little girl called out in a slightly hesitant voice, and she didn''t dare to get too close to him.
The young man disyed no reaction.
"Brother Rock, my name is Liu Le''er. Thank you for killing those three bad people just now. Even though you''re also a human, Dada told me that there are good people even in the human race," the little girl said in a slightly fearful voice.
The young man finally disyed a slight reaction to her voice, and he raised his head slightly to take a nce at her.
The reflection of the little girl appeared in his pupils, and a faint gleam seemed to have shed through his dazed eyes, but they quickly became zed over again. However, his eyes were still fixed on Liu Le''er.
Liu Le''er was quite startled by this, and she hurriedly took a few steps backward.
However, all the young man did was stare nkly at her without doing anything else, remaining as still as a statue.
Liu Le''er heaved an internal sigh of relief, and she became even more convinced that there was something wrong with the young man''s head. She then gradually mustered up some courage and drew closer to the young man, examining him with a curious expression.
She had been in a state of panic before, so she didn''t get a chance to take a close look, and only after approaching the young man was she able to catch a clearer glimpse of him.
The young man was tall and broad with long and slim fingers. His body wasn''t particrly muscr, but it struck the beholder with the sense that it contained limitless power.
Even though his eyes were dazed and soulless, his pupils were incredibly ck, almost as if they were capable of sucking in one''s soul if they were to look into his eyes for too long. His exposed skin was slightly dark inplexion and extremely smooth. Despite the fierce battle that he had just endured, not a single scratch had been inflicted onto his body.
His azure clothes appeared to bepletely unremarkable, but they had also managed to remain unscathed in the wake of the attacks that he had been struck by.
All of this, in addition to the fact that the young man had just devoured that cloud of blood mist like it was nothing, indicated that he was definitely no ordinary person, and he certainly wasn''t a mortal.
How could a mortal possibly have killed three cultivators wielding magic tools with such ridiculous ease?
The little girl sized up the young man with an absentminded expression, and she became more and more rxed as the young man continued to disy no reaction. Having just survived that grueling ordeal, her childish curiosity seemed to have returned, and she walked around the young man in a circle.
The young man''s gaze remained fixed on Liu Le''er the entire time, as if there were something about her that attracted his attention.
Perhaps it was because the young man had saved her life and killed her three tormentors for her, but the more she looked at him, the closer and more intimate she felt with him.
All of a sudden, Liu Le''er caught sight of a small dark green essory that was peeking out from behind the young man''s cor. The essory was glittering and translucent, and she couldn''t figure out what it was.
She wanted to peel back his robe slightly to take a closer look, but she didn''t dare to do so.
Right at this moment, the wind suddenly grew a lot stronger, and a thick nket of dark clouds appeared in the sky, causing the surrounding area to be even darker.
A thick bolt of lightning tore through the dark clouds, illuminating the entire sky, and this was followed closely by a deafening thunderp and the arrival of a heavy storm.
"Argh!"
Liu Le''er let loose an rmed yelp as she reflexively sought shelter from the young man''s body, throwing her arms around his leg as she trembled delicately.
She was a demonic fox, and she had an innate sense of fear toward natural lightning.
Another faint gleam surfaced in the young man''s eyes, but once again, it quickly faded, he bent over slightly, using hisrge frame to cover Liu Le''er. It was unclear whether this was an intentional gesture or not, but in doing so, he was keeping out the rain and wind for her.
A hint of warmth welled up in the little girl''s heart, and she no longer feared the rain, wind, and lightning. Instead, she was struck by a sense of warm serenity, much like the feeling of being in her father''s arms.
The storm left just as quickly as it arrived, and it didn''t take long before the dark clouds faded, and the refreshing scent of petrichor began to spread through the air.
Liu Le''er shook off the rain on her body, then giggled as shetched onto the young man''s hand and brushed off the water that had gathered on his clothes.
She didn''t know what material the young man''s azure clothes were made from, but the rainwater that fell upon it formed a series of beads that werepletely unable to seep into his clothes, much like one would expect to see on a lotus leaf.
As always, the young man disyed no reaction to what the little girl was doing, allowing her to do as she pleased with him.
"Brother Rock, you still haven''t told me your name yet," Liu Le''er said as she tugged gently on his arm, trying to get him to sit down.
The young man slowly obliged and sat down, but he was still as silent as ever.
"Why are you here, Brother Rock?"
"Brother Rock, that punch you threw at the end was so strong! Can you teach me?"
"Brother Rock..."
Liu Le''er was determined to break the young man''s silence, and she tried several different ways tomunicate with him, but the young man disyed no reaction no matter what she said, and she was left feeling rather disappointed.
The little girl was silent for a moment before making up her mind, and she grabbed onto one of the young man''srge hands as she implored, "Brother Rock, I don''t know who you are, but you''ve killed someone from the Blood Sword Sect, so it''s best for you to leave this ce with me."
The young man was still as dazed and disoriented as ever, but with Liu Le''er making a series of gestures to illustrate what she was saying, he seemed to have understood what was being told, and he finally departed with the little girl.
Dusk slowly fell, and the dying sun basked the sky in a blood-red hue.
With the sun casting its final rays of light upon thendscape, the barren ins were bathed in resplendent golden light.
Two figures, one tall and one short, were making their way toward the setting sun, getting further and further away. The wind was picking up the sound of Liu Le''er''s cheerful voice and carrying it into the distance.
"Brother Rock, I know you''re really strong, but there are a lot more bad people in the Blood Sword Sect!"
"It''s gettingte, you must be hungry, right?"
"Once we get out of here, I''ll catch a few wild birds that roast them for you. My cooking skills are pretty good!"
"Brother Rock, I''m going to treat you as my real brother from now on!"
Chapter 4: Interdependence
Chapter 4: Interdependence
In a primitive forest on a mountain, cial winds were howling incessantly, and the heavy snowfall had covered everything in a pristine white nket.
Even though the sun hadn''tpletely set yet, the forest had already be extremely dim amid the heavy snow.
There was a winding mountain path in the forest that wasn''t all that clear to begin with, and it was virtually unidentifiable under the thick nket of snow. However, there was a fire that had been lit at the end of the mountain, providing a slight hint of warmth in this cialndscape of ice and snow.
The me had been lit in the only mountain god shrine in the entire forest.
Due to how inessible the shrine was, it had already been abandoned and unvisited for many years. The gatehouse and walls of the outer courtyard had already all copsed, leaving only a dpidated main hall standing in a lonesome fashion.
The gate of the main hall had long been absent, and there was only a tattered straw mat hanging on the doorframe to keep out some of the wind and snow.
Through the holes in the straw mat, one could see that aside from cluttered weeds and stones in the empty hall, there was a figure seated with his legs crossed.
This was a tall and broad young man in an azure robe, and even though he was sitting on the ground, his back was ramrod straight. However, his face waspletely wooden and expressionless, much like the dpidated mountain god statue behind him.
The young man''s arms were hanging naturally down onto hisp, and Liu Le''er wasying in the cradle formed by his hanging arms.
Right at this moment, a faint moan suddenly rang out in front of the young man''s chest.
Liu Le''er''s rubbed her tiny head against the young man''s arm, and her face, which was previously buried against his chest, peeked out slightly from the crook of his arm.
At this moment, her delicate features were tainted by an unnatural flush, and even though she was sound asleep, her brows were tightly knitted together, and tears were flowing incessantly down her face from her tightly shut eyelids. It seemed that she was having a terrible nightmare.
"No... Don''t..."
Liu Le''er reflexively tightened her grip on the young man''s arm as she moaned in her sleep.
One of her legs had also been kicked out from the young man''s arms, and she was asionally twisting around in a disturbed manner, clearly suffering greatly from whatever it was that she was seeing in her dream. Soon, she buried her face back into the young man''s chest.
The young man was looking straight up ahead, but he seemed to have sensed the little girl''s movement and lowered his head to check on her. A slight hint of confusion appeared in his vacant eyes, but they were still mostly vacant and dazed.
"Brother... Rock..."
The little girl continued to talk in her sleep in a barely audible voice.
Perhaps it was because the young man''s face was being illuminated by the light of the fire, but at this moment, his features seemed to have be softer and more gentle, and there seemed to be an extra spark in his vacant eyes.
He remained seated on the ground, but slowly swiveled around on the spot until his back was facing the entrance of the hall, shielding the little girl from the cold wind. He then gently tucked the little girl''s leg back into his arms before tightening his embrace around her slightly.
The little girl wiggled slightly in his arms and buried her head deeper into his chest, following which her movements gradually subsided, and her breathing returned to a slow and even rhythm.
At this point, it was alreadypletely dark outside, and the wind and snow had gradually abated slightly.
¡¡
Halfway up a lush mountain that was over 1,000 feet in height was a cave that stood at over 30 feet tall, and a tall and broad young man was standing with his back facing the cave.
Liu Le''er was standing behind the young man with one hand gripping onto the corner of his robe while the other arm was wrapped around his leg. Half of her face was peeking out from behind him as she cast her gaze forward, and herplexion was a little pale from fear and anxiety.
Several dozen feet in front of the two stood a giant gray bear that was over twice the height of an adult human, and it was standing on its hind legs with its front paws raised in a menacing disy.
There was a single jagged horn on its head, and the lips around its cavernous mouth had been peeled back to reveal two rows of sharp fangs, while a trail of putrid and slightly viscous drool was dribbling down the corner of its mouth as it snarled in intimidation.
The young man was far taller and more imposing than the average person, but in the face of this giant bear, even he was made to look like a small child.
However, he waspletely unfazed by this situation, and he was staring nkly at the massive bear with a pair of inky-ck eyes that were almostpletely devoid of luster.
After staring back at the young man for a while, a humanized look of fear suddenly appeared on the giant bear''s face for some reason, and it let loose a low roar before taking a couple of steps backward, then fell onto its front limbs before fleeing as quickly as it could on all fours.
Liu Le''er''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and she heaved a sigh of relief, then scratched her own head with a rather perplexed expression. She stepped around the young man before raising her head to look up at his face, but even after staring at his nk and wooden face for a long while, she was rather disappointed to find that she couldn''t spot any changes in his expression.
"Brother Rock, I know you''re not an ordinary person. It''s a pity that you can''t speak. Otherwise, it would be great if you could talk to me."
Liu Le''er heaved a forlorn sigh that was rather unbefitting of someone of her age, thentched onto the young man''s hand before leading him into the cave behind them.
The young man didn''t say anything, but his gaze fell upon the little girl''s delicate hand that was holding onto his own, and he allowed himself to be led into the cave.
¡¡
On a vast grasnd, spring was in full swing, and the area was teeming with life. New grass was already beginning to grow, and the unique, refreshing fragrance of grass was permeating across the entire grasnd.
A little girl who appeared to be around eight or nine years of age was holding a bunch of thin vines that were riddled with small yellow flowers, and she was straddled atop the shoulders of a tall and broad young man as he made his way forward at a leisurely pace.
Compared with two years ago, the young man hadn''t changed at all, and he was still wearing that same azure robe, but Liu Le''er had undergone some significant changes.
She had grown a lot taller, and her face had also lost some of its childish chubbiness. There was already a hint of gentle seduction in her eyes that was very rare to see in girls her age. It was clear that she was going to grow up to be a stunning beauty, perhaps the type that wars would be waged over.
Her fingers were moving rapidly as she wove the floral vines in her hands while humming a cheerful tune, and her voice was as crisp and alluring as the song of a yellow warbler.
"Done!"
Before she had a chance to finish her song, she had already finished weaving a beautiful floral wreath.
She held up the wreath with both hands, turning it to examine it from all angles, then nodded with a pleased expression before cing it onto the young man''s head in a joyful manner.
The size of the wreath was perfect, and the part where the flowers were most concentrated was sitting directly above the young man''s forehead.
The young man seemed to have detected what was happening, and he reached up to gently touch the floral wreath before slowly withdrawing his hand.
Liu Le''er was already ustomed to the young man''s dull reactions, and she lowered her head to nce down at the thin green string around his neck. A mischievous grin appeared on her face as she quickly reached down to grab onto the string and lift it up, but the young man reflexively grabbed onto the dark green essory attached to the string as if it were second nature for him, refusing to let it go.
"You do this every time, Brother Rock! Why are you so stingy? I just want to take a look at it!" Liu Le''er grumbled as she puffed out her cheeks in displeasure.
Despite what she was saying, she wasn''t actually angry. Throughout the past two years, the young man hadn''t spoken a single word to her, and aside from the very minor reactions he gave in response to external stimulus, the only times that he reacted in any meaningful way was when that essory that he wore around his neck came under threat.
It was exactly because of this that Liu Le''er would asionally goad a reaction out of him by yfully grabbing the string.
¡¡
Time passed by quickly, and several years flew by in the blink of an eye.
A gorgeous young woman who appeared to be 13 to 14 years of age was walking energetically over an official road paved with yellow sand. She was wearing a white dress and a pair of light gray boots. Her ck hair spilled all the way down to her waist, and her hands were tucked behind her back as she walked along.
Behind her was a tall and broad azure-robed man who was following her at a lethargic pace with a wooden expression on his face.
The little girl was walking along far quicker than the young man, but due to the stride length advantage that the young man had over her, not much distance was opened up between them.
In the distance, Liu Le''er spotted a mighty gray city at the end of the official road. There were many people traversing through the city gate, and from this distance, all of them appeared to be as tiny as sparrows.
Her brows furrowed slightly as she drew to a halt.
"Farbright City..." she mused after peering into the distance through narrowed eyes for a long while.
The young man made his way to her side before also stopping and casting his gaze toward the imposing city.
"Looks like it''s a major city of the human race," Liu Le''er murmured to herself with a hesitant expression.
During these past five years, the two of them had visited some human cities and towns to try and find a cure for the young man''s mysterious condition, but never had they visited such arge city.
"Brother Rock, if we can cure you, you''ll be able to take revenge for me, right?" Liu Le''er asked as she looked up at the young man, but it was unclear whether she was directing the question at him or at herself.
The young man seemed to have disyed some reaction to her question, slowly withdrawing his gaze before turning to look at the little girl, but he remained silent.
What nonsense am I spouting? No matter how strong Brother Rock is, there''s no way he can beat all those bad people in the Blood Sword Sect.
A depressing thought seemed to have urred to Liu Le''er, and she lowered her head with a dejected expression. Tears began to flow down her face before falling onto the yellow sand beneath her feet.
Right at this moment, she felt a warm sensation on the top of her head.
She raised her head slightly to find the young man gently stroking her head with a warm look in his eyes.
For some reason, this simple gesture made Liu Le''er feel incredibly at ease, and an indescribable sense of courage welled up in her heart, as if no hardships or obstacles would be able to strike fear into her heart anymore.
She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand whiletching onto the young man''s hand with her other hand, then strode toward the city gate in the distance with a determined expression.
Chapter 5: Horse Beast
Chapter 5: Horse Beast
Farbright City was the thirdrgest city in the Prosperous Nation.
The city was situated on a in and took up an area in excess of 100 kilometers. To the south of the city was arge river, and transport via bothnd and water was very convenient, thereby giving rise to the flourishing city.
At this moment, there was a long line of people outside the city gate, and it was a very noisy and bustling scene.
Liu Le''er led the young man through the crowd, feeling rather anxious as she asionally looked up above the city gate, which was several dozen feet tall.
An octagonal copper mirror was hanging there, and it was directly facing the city gate.
The sun was hanging high up in the sky, and the eight trigram diagram engraved onto the surface of the copper mirror was glowing under the light of the sun, giving off a sense of righteous energy.
All that was required for entry to be granted into the city was for a fee to be issued. The examination process wasn''t very strict, and soon, it was Liu Le''er and the young man''s turn.
The two of them arrived at the foot of the city gate, directly facing the octagonal copper mirror up above, and both of them were enshrouded in a burst of indescribable power.
Liu Le''er seemed to be quite stiff and anxious as she lowered her head, while the young man was staring directly at the copper mirror with a dazed expression.
Everyone failed to notice the faint glimmer of blue light that shed through his eyes for an instant, and it didn''t seem to have any effect on the mirror anyway.
A middle-aged city guard took a nce at the two of them, then asked in azy voice, "Where are you from, and why are you visiting our city?"
Liu Le''er immediately put on a bright smile as she replied, "We are from the Liu n Vige located around 150 kilometers northwest of here. My name is Liu Le''er, and this is my brother, Liu Shi. We havee to Farbright City to visit some rtives and to treat my brother''s condition."
Even though she and the young man had been living on their own for the majority of the past five years, asional interaction with other people was unavoidable, so she had assigned the young man with the name of "Liu Shi" for the sake of convenience.
Liu Le''er pulled out some copper coins before handing them to the guard as she spoke, issuing a sum that was slightly more than the fee required to enter the city.
A pleased look appeared on the middle-aged guard''s face upon seeing this, and he discreetly put the excess copper coins into his own pocket. He then took an extra nce at the dazed Liu Shi before waving them through.
"You two don''t look like bad people. Go in now."
Liu Le''er gave a grateful response, then quickly led Liu Shi into the city. They walked for quite a distance, and only after reaching a secluded corner far away from the city gate did Liu Le''er slow down and heave a sigh of relief.
After making sure that no one was around, Liu Le''er pulled out an azure jade talisman as she murmured to herself, "It''s a good thing that Dada gave me this Aura Concealment Talisman that can conceal my demonic aura so I wasn''t exposed by the Demon Spotting Mirror."
The jade talisman was two inches in length and around two centimeters wide, with azure designs engraved all over its surface to form aplex array. Bursts of gentle azure light were surging over its surface like flowing water.
A hint of sorrow shed through her eyes at the sight of the jade talisman, and she carefully stowed it away again.
After turning past two alleyways, the two of them arrived on the main street of Farbright City.
The street was wide enough to fit three horse-drawn carriages side by side with one another, and it was lined with countlessrge shops that stretched as far as the eyes could see.
However, there were very few brick and tile buildings in the city. Most of the buildings were constructed from wood instead, and even though the buildings weren''t very tall orrge, with very few of them exceeding even 100 feet in height, they were extremely intricate, and it was clear that there was great attention to detail in the craftsmanship.
This was the first time that Liu Le''er had ever visited such arge city, and she was pressed up tightly against Liu Shi as the dense crowds of people around her made her feel rather uneasy.
However, even though there were many people around them, they were all focused on their own business, and none of them bothered to interact with her and Liu Shi. As a result, she gradually became more at ease and began to have her attention drawn to all of the new things that she was seeing in the city. Soon, she was strolling along the street in tow with an intrigued expression.
"Look over there, Brother Rock! I''ve heard of that thing before, and it really does look as delicious as the stories I''ve heard!" Liu Le''er eximed while staring at a nearby stall that was selling sugar-coated haws.
The bustling scene in the city was reflected in Liu Shi''s inky-ck eyes, but he remainedpletely expressionless, seemingly unmoved by what he was seeing.
Liu Le''er was just about to drag Liu Shi over to the stall, but a hint of dejection suddenly welled up in her heart at the sight of his vacant eyes. She was immediately reminded of their objective for visiting the city in the first ce, and she hurriedly tightened her ground on Liu Shi''s hand as she said in an earnest voice, "Don''t worry, Brother Rock. This is a massive city, there''s definitely going to be a doctor here who can cure your condition."
Liu Shi''s eyes shed ever so slightly upon hearing this.
Liu Le''er led Liu Shi to a streetside food stall for a quick meal, then asked around and quickly secured the addresses for the two nearest medical clinics.
To the west of the city was the Li Family''s medical clinic.
This medical clinic had already been around for over 100 years, making it a truly time-honored establishment in the city.
A middle-aged man in a long azure robe was seated atop a wooden chair with three of his fingers resting on Liu Shi''s wrist to examine his pulse, while Liu Le''er was looking on from the side with an anxious expression.
The man''s name was Li Changqing, and he was the current heir to the Li Family''s medical clinic. He had already been practicing medicine for over 20 years and had earned quite a reputation for himself in the area.
After feeling Liu Shi''s pulse for some time, Li Changqing withdrew his hand.
"Your brother''s pulse is very strong and stable, and his energy is very abundant and well-bnced. It''s clear that he''s in exceptional physical condition. How did he sustain this condition? When did the symptoms first appear, and were there any external factors at y?" Li Changqing asked as he turned to Liu Le''er with furrowed brows.
"My brother and I have been apart for many years, so I don''t know when he suffered this condition or the root cause," Liu Le''er replied with a shake of her head.
"That''s rather problematic then. If I don''t know the cause, then there''s no way for me to administer treatment. My apologies, but with my limited skills, I am unable to help you," Li Changqing said as he stroked his long beard with an apologetic expression.
"Is there really no way at all?" Liu Le''er asked in an urgent voice.
"I''m afraid not," Li Changqing reaffirmed with a shake of his head.
Liu Le''er was very disappointed to hear this, and she extended a curtsey toward Li Changqing before departing from the clinic with Liu Shi.
She hung her head in dejection for a while, but then quickly turned to Liu Shi as she encouraged, "There are many more medical clinics in Farbright City. We''ll visit them one by one, I''m sure one of the doctors will be able to cure you."
Liu Shi smiled in response, but it was unclear whether he understood Liu Le''er or not.
The two of them made their way in the same direction, passing through two streets before arriving in front of another medical clinic.
This clinic had gray outer walls with ck roof tiles and a wide entrance, presenting avish sight to behold. The clinic was far more spectacr than the Li Family''s medical clinic, and there were many people here for its services as well.
"Given how good this clinic looks, I''m sure the doctors here will be more skilled as well."
Liu Le''er led Liu Shi into the clinic with a hopeful expression, but Liu Le''er was left disappointed once again as the two of them re-emerged around an hourter.
"It''s alright, there are still other clinics in the city." Liu Le''er quickly pulled herself together again.
Throughout the rest of the day, the two of them made their way through the entire city, visiting virtually all of the medical clinics, but none of the doctors were able to treat Liu Shi''s condition.
¡¡
To the north of the city was a clinic by the name of Wild Chrysanthemum Clinic, and Liu Le''er and Liu Shi emerged slowly from inside.
Liu Le''er wore a dejected expression as she hung her head while fiddling with the corner of her dress.
The Wild Chrysanthemum Clinic wasn''t thergest medical clinic in Farbright City, but it was said that the doctors there were quite adept at treating some rare andplex conditions. Unfortunately, even they were unable to diagnose Liu Shi''s condition.
"Please wait a moment, little girl." Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out from behind them, and an azure-robed elderly man with a head of gray hair quickly rushed out of the clinic.
Liu Le''er was rather taken aback by this, and she stopped in her tracks before asking, "What is it, Doctor Liu?"
The azure-robed elderly man was none other than the doctor of the Wild Chrysanthemum Clinic who had just examined Liu Shi''s pulse.
A hint of hope welled up in Liu Le''er''s heart, and she hurriedly asked, "Could it be that you''ve thought of something rted to my brother''s condition?"
"Indeed, I have. After examining your brother''s condition just now, I went to the back to do some reading, and I just so happened to stumble across a case that is rather simr to your brother''s symptoms," the elderly man replied with a nod.
Liu Le''er was ecstatic to hear this. "That''s fantastic! Could I ask you to borate, Doctor Liu?"
"ording to the records in the book, your brother''s symptoms are different from what is normally seen in patients suffering from a debilitating mental condition. Instead, it seems more like he''s been cursed or had a restriction nted on him that''s harmed his soul. This is not something that the average doctor will be able to treat.
¡°Only immortal doctors who are adept in this field will perhaps be able to administer the correct treatment. As for your brother''s inability to speak, that''s not a concern. I can see that there''s nothing physically wrong with him, so he''ll naturally recover his ability to speak once his soul is restored to normal," the elderly man replied.
Liu Le''er fell silent upon hearing this, and after a while, she forced a smile onto her own face as she said, "Thank you for your advice, Doctor Liu."
"You''re wee, little girl. Doctors like us have an obligation to do everything we can for our patients," the elderly man replied before returning to the clinic.
Liu Le''er and Liu Shi continued on their way, and the former was feeling rather dejected.
"So Brother Rock really has had his soul harmed by someone," she murmured to herself.
As a demonic fox, even though she was still very young, she had a certain level of understanding of matters rted to cultivation, and judging from Liu Shi''s symptoms, she had already deduced that there was a chance that his soul had been harmed.
In order to treat him, she had to seek out the assistance of a cultivator adept in the way of the soul.
However, cultivators who fit that description were all extremely powerful, and she wasn''t confident that her Aura Concealment Talisman would be able to keep her identity a secret in the presence of such a cultivator.
She hade to Farbright City to seek out medical treatment on the slim hope that she was incorrect in her assessment, but her worst fears had been confirmed.
Liu Le''er was rather hesitant about how to proceed.
Right as she was walking along the street in an absentminded manner with her brows furrowed, amotion suddenly rang out up ahead, and everyone immediately erupted into a panic.
"Look out! There''s a horse beast on a rampage!"
A cry of rm rang out up ahead, and everyone frantically dove to the sides of the street to avoid the oing danger.
Not far away, there was a silver carriage being drawn by an azure horse-like beast with scales all over its entire body. It was galloping along the street as if it had gone insane, and it just so happened to be charging directly toward Liu Le''er and Liu Shi.
The horse-like beast neighed in a deranged manner, while the carriage behind it was swaying violently from side to side. The coach driver''s face was as pale as a sheet, and he was pulling on the reins with all his might, but to no avail.
Liu Le''er was greatly rmed by this, and she immediately tried to drag Liu Shi away to avoid the rampaging beast, but it was already toote.
A putrid stench wafted through the air as the horse-like beast reached within 10 feet of Liu Le''er and Liu Shi in the blink of an eye. It was so close that Liu Le''er could even see the globules of white froth that were flying in all directions from the sharp fangs in the beast''s mouth.
Chapter 6: White-robed Young Man
Chapter 6: White-robed Young Man
"Argh!"
Liu Le''er wanted to unleash an ability to stop the horse-like beast, but in her panicked state, the magic power in her body wasn''t circting correctly, and she couldn''t help but let loose a cry of rm.
In this dire situation, she suddenly felt a shadow being cast over her. As it turned out, Liu Shi had abruptly stepped forward to shield her with his body, and at the same time, he had reached out with one hand like lightning, grabbing onto the horse-like beast''s thick neck before turning his body to the side to collide head-on with the beast.
A loud thump rang out as the horse-like beast let loose an almighty neigh, and its enormous body was stopped cold in its tracks as if it had crashed into an immovable mountain.
Due to the excessive momentum that it had built up, a few of the hard stone bs that the street was paved with were shattered under its thundering hooves.
At the same time, the carriage was propelled forward by its momentum and crashed into the beast''s backside before flying several feet away to the side, then fell onto the ground with a heavy thump.
The carriage wasn''tpletely tipped over, but it had been significantly warped from the collision, and many pieces of its frame hade flying off before ttering onto the ground.
The coach driver was almost thrown off the carriage from the impact, but Liu Shi was standingpletely still on the spot as if he had been nailed into ce.
All of the nearby bystanders were astonished to see this, and a faint exmation of surprise rang out from a certain teahouse.
Liu Le''er patted her own chest with a hint of lingering fear in her eyes, and a rush of warmth surged through her heart at the sight of the reliable figure standing before her.
During the past few years, whenever she encountered any danger, Liu Shi would always instinctively step in to protect her. Even though they weren''t rted by blood, they were just as close as blood rtives.
After being stopped cold in its tracks by Liu Shi, the azure horse beast became even more agitated, and it neighed furiously as it lowered its head before charging directly at Liu Shi''s chest at full speed.
"Look out, Brother Rock!" Liu Le''er eximed in rm.
Liu Shi remainedpletely expressionless as he locked his hand around the beast''s neck, then exerted downward force with his arm.
The horse-like beast''s legs buckled beneath it, and its enormous body was instantly ttened, causing it to fall to its knees, shattering all of the stone bs on the ground around it in the process.
It felt as if its entire body were being crushed under a mountain that was threatening to shatter all of its bones, and the deranged look in its eyes immediately faded, reced by a sense of fear.
In the face of Liu Shi, who possessed far superior strength to itself, the horse-like beast finally calmed down, sitting on its haunches in a docile manner, not daring to move.
"What incredible strength! With the momentum it built up, that horse beast had to have crashed into him with no less than two tons of force, yet he was able to stop it with ease!"
"Incredible, indeed!"
"Whose manor does this carriage belong to? How dare you drive it through a busy market so recklessly? If that man hadn''t stepped in, who knows how many people could''ve been hurt or killed?"
Only after hearing this did everyonee to realize the severity of the situation, and they all erupted into spirited discussion.
Meanwhile, Liu Shi released the beast''s neck in a wooden manner and fell still again.
Even though the horse-like beast had been released, it was still panting heavily and didn''t dare to stand up.
"Are you alright, Brother Rock?" Liu Le''er hurriedly approached Liu Shi to examine his body, and she was very relieved to see that he was unharmed.
The coach driver had already turned as pale as a sheet, and now that the beast had been tamed, all of the energy seemed to have been drained from his body at once as he copsed feebly onto the carriage.
Right at this moment, the door of the carriage was flung open, and two pale-faced young men emerged from within.
The first of the two men appeared to be around 20 years of age. He was quite handsome, and was wearing a white schrly robe.
The other man appeared to only be 17 to 18 years of age with aplexion that was as fair as jade. The ck pupils and whites of his eyes formed a very distinct contrast, as did his pearly white teeth and red lips. He was wearing a long white robe with a jade belt around his waist and a jade hat on his head. A pigeon-egg-sized jewel was embedded onto the hat, and he possessed far more style and ir than hispanion.
"What the hell''s wrong with you, you useless piece of trash? I almost died in there!"
The young man in the schrly robe had a look of lingering fear in his eyes, and he snatched the horsewhip away from the coach driver before giving him a vicious beating with it.
With each strike of the whip, a bleeding gash appeared on the coach driver''s body, but he didn''t dare to evade the punishment and could only kowtow incessantly while begging for forgiveness.
The young man became even more incensed upon seeing this, and the whip fell with increased venom.
"Shush! They''re from the Yu Manor!"
"This is none of our business, so let''s all stop talking about it."
¡¡
Once the two young men who had emerged from the carriage were identified, the discussions ringing out nearby immediately subsided. Everyone was looking at the two men with timid expressions, and it was clear that they all knew who the two men were.
"Let it go, Brother. Azure Wind Horses are low-grade demon beasts that are very wild in nature and difficult to tame, so he can''t be med for this."
A hand suddenly reached out before grabbing the young man by the wrist, preventing the whip from falling again. It was the younger of the two men who had stepped in, and his voice was as pleasant to the ears as flowing spring water.
The whip-wielding young man took a nce at hispanion, and his lips twitched slightly, following which he gave a cold harrumph before tossing the whip away.
"Thank you, Young Master!" The coach driver hurriedly began to kowtow toward the white-robed young man.
"Here, take this silver andpensate all of the people and shops that have been harmed by our carriage. If you can do a good job of that, you''ll be spared harsh punishment," the white-robed young man said as he pulled out a bag before handing it over to the coach driver.
"Yes, Young Master." The coach driver hurriedly nodded in response as he took the bag of silver, then made his way toward the people who had been injured during the Azure Wind Horse''s rampage.
"Thank heavens you were here to tame this Azure Wind Horse. It wouldn''t be a big deal if my brother and I were injured, but it would be a travesty if we were to bring misfortune upon others," the white-robed young man said as he turned to Liu Shi with a smile, then cupped his fist in a salute.
The young man in the schrly robe also turned to Liu Shi, only to find that he waspletely unremarkable in appearance with a slightly darkplex and was wearing a simple azure robe that was rather shabby in appearance. A hint of disdain appeared in his eyes upon seeing this, and he cupped his fist in a rather half-hearted salute.
Liu Shi remainedpletely silent as he stared nkly at the two young men.
The schrly-robed young man had never been ignored like this before, and he was just about to re up with rage again, only to be stopped by the white-robed young man.
The young man took a closer look at Liu Shi, and his heart stirred slightly upon noticing the strangely vacant look in Liu Shi''s eyes.
More and more people began to gather in the surrounding area, and Liu Le''er was beginning to feel rather uneasy. She gently tugged on Liu Shi''s arm as she said in a quiet voice, "Let''s go, Brother Rock."
Only then did the white-robed young man notice Liu Le''er, and his eyes immediately lit up at the sight of her gorgeous doll-like features. He hurriedly stepped forward to stop them as he said, "Please wait a moment."
"What do you want?" Liu Le''er asked as her brows furrowed tightly in her best attempt at a menacing expression.
"My name is Yu Qi. The carriage from just now belongs to our manor, and I sincerely apologize for putting you through such an ordeal," the white-robed young man said with a warm smile. [1]
"It''s fine. Get out of our way so we can leave," Liu Le''er said with a hostile expression.
"If your brother hadn''t stepped in, the consequences could''ve been catastrophic, so I would feel very guilty if I couldn''t repay you somehow. The Yu Manor is not far away from here. Would you be open to paying our manor a visit so we can repay you with some hospitality?" Yu Qi asked.
"There''s no need for that. It was the least that we could do in that situation. We still have other important matters to attend to, so we''ll be on our way now." Liu Le''er shook her head without any hesitation, then began to skirt around the white-robed young man with Liu Shi in tow.
However, Yu Qi immediately positioned himself in front of the two of them again, then took a nce at Liu Shi before asking with an earnest expression, "Hold on. Could it be that by important matters, you''re referring to seeking treatment for your brother?"
Liu Le''er was quite taken aback to hear this, and she asked with a surprised expression, "H... How did you know about that?"
"I was born with a very sensitive nose. Judging from the medicinal scent on your bodies, I presume you just came out of the nearby Wild Chrysanthemum Clinic. Your brother possesses incredible strength, but it looks like he''s suffering from some type of mental ailment, and that''s what led to my assumption. It looks like I was correct in my guess," Yu Qi exined as he cast his gaze toward the nearby Wild Chrysanthemum Clinic with a smile.
Even though he was a man, there was an indescribable hint of seduction in his smile.
As a young girl in her early teens, Liu Le''er was momentarily entranced by his smile, but she then immediately turned to Liu Shi to gauge his reaction. Liu Shi was still as expressionless as ever, and for some reason, that instilled her with a sense of reassurance.
The white-robed young man''s smile faded as he continued, "Our Yu Family is a decently influential family in Farbright City with connections to many renowned doctors, so if it''s medical services that you seek, then perhaps we can be of help to you."
"We dide to Farbright City to seek out medical services, but my brother''s condition isn''t something that can be cured by the average doctor," Liu Le''er said with a shake of her head.
Yu Qi''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but after some contemtion, he smiled as he said, "It sounds like your brother is suffering from a rather unusual ailment. However, we should still be able to help. Our Yu Family has an immortal guest elder who''s very adept in the way of medicine, far more so than the average doctor. How about we get him to take a look at your brother''s condition?"
Liu Le''er''s eyes immediately lit up at the prospect of seeing an immortal doctor, and she was rather hesitant about how to proceed.
"Please don''t turn down my offer. Just allow me to repay you for your efforts. I don''t wish toe across as arrogant or boastful, but even though there are other immortal doctors in Farbright City, no one would dare to im superiority in the way of medicine over our guest elder," Yu Qi proimed in a proud manner.
In the end, Liu Le''er was lured in by the white-robed young man''s offer, and she reluctantly agreed, "Alright, we''ll go with you, but we''re leaving right away if that immortal doctor can''t cure my brother''s condition."
Yu Qi was ecstatic to hear this, and he said, "Of course. By the way, I still haven''t had a chance to ask your names."
Liu Le''er hesitated momentarily before introducing herself and Liu Shi.
The schrly-robed young man had been ignored for quite some time now, and he was clearly feeling rather disgruntled. Finally, he couldn''t help but interject, "Brother, we''ve only just met these two and have no idea about their past, how can you just offer to bring them to our manor? Are you really going to get someone to treat him?"
"No need to worry, Brother. I know what I''m doing," Yu Qi replied in a casual voice with a dismissive wave of his hand.
The schrly-robed young man seemed to be rather fearful of Yu Qi, and he seemed to want to say something further, but refrained from doing so in the end.
Right at this moment, several well-dressed guards equipped with swords and des hurriedly rushed over from afar.
All of the surrounding bystanders immediately scattered upon seeing this, seemingly quite fearful of these guards.
The guards paid no heed to the bystanders as they hurriedly extended a collective respectful bow toward Yu Qi''s duo.
"Please forgive us for arriving sote, young masters." [2]
"We''re fine, there''s no need to make such a big fuss. Take the carriage back to the manor, and don''t make a big deal out of this," Yu Qi instructed in an indifferent voice.
"Yes, Young Master."
The guards immediately did as they were told, quickly tugging the Azure Wind Horse to its feet before departing.
After that, the white-robed young man turned to Liu Le''er and Liu Shi with a smile as he said, "Pleasee with me."
He then turned to lead the way, and Liu Le''er took another nce at Liu Shi, then tightened her grip on his hand before following along behind Yu Qi.
The schrly-robed young man looked on as the three of them departed, and his expression became darker and darker. After remaining on the spot for a while longer, he gave a cold harrumph before also following along.
¡¡
"Interesting! Isn''t she the one who the prime minister of the Prosperous Nation is doing everything in his power to send to the Cold me Sect? I''ve heard she possesses decent cultivation aptitude."
All of a sudden, two people emerged from a discrete corner of a street not far away. They were led by a ck-robed young man with a pair of long and narrow eyes, and he watched with a sinister expression as Yu Qi and the others departed into the distance.
The ck-robed young man was apanied by a man in gray who was as thin as a stick, and there were several bulging beasthide bags hanging from his waist. He was also looking in the same direction as he cautioned, "Be careful, Junior Martial Brother. I''ve heard that the Yu Manor houses multiple vagrant cultivators, so we can''t take them too lightly."
The ck-robed young man brushed off his concerns as he said, "I know what to do, Senior Martial Brother Fan. This is my first training mission, and you''ve only been sent to assist me. Unless any special circumstances arise, there''s no need for you to step in. I''ll take care of everything on my own."
The man in gray could only fall silent with a wry smile upon hearing this.
He knew this junior martial brother of his very well. Even though his cultivation base was nothing exceptional, he was directly rted to one of the elders of the sect, thereby giving him a powerful backer, so he was always looking down on his fellow martial brothers.
All of a sudden, the two of them blurred before vanishing on the spot.
1. The "Qi" in Yu Qi''s name is the Chinese character for 7. Earlier, he was referred to as the "seventh young master" when the coach driver said: "Thank you, Young Master!", so the urate trantion is actually "Thank you, Seventh Young Master", but that''s not very idiomatic, so I decided against it. Hence, we can deduce that Yu Qi is the seventh young master of the Yu Family. ?
2. Here, the two men are being referred to as "seventh young master" and "second young master", but once again, tranting that literally wouldn''t be very idiomatic, so I''ve just used young masters here to refer to both. From this, we can extrapte that they are the second and seventh young masters of the Yu Family. ?
Chapter 7: Yu Manor
Chapter 7: Yu Manor
The white-robed young man was quite talkative, and on the way back to the manor, he told Liu Le''er many interesting stories about the city, but Liu Le''er was rather distracted and only gave half-hearted responses.
The group passed through several streets and quickly arrived at the central area of Farbright City.
It was a rather quiet area with clean streets that were lined with barely any shops. Instead, the area was home to manyrge courtyards, and it was clear that this was where the wealthiest families in the city resided.
After making their way forward for a while longer, the group arrived outside a red manor.
In contrast with the other buildings in the city, this manor took up a massive area, and the bright red gates, which were around 20 feet tall, gave off a very majestic and imposing appearance. On either side of the gates were a pair of stone lions that were each around 10 feet tall, and therge gates were riddled with shiny copper nails that glistened under the light of the sun.
There was a guard wearing a suit of resplendent armor standing on each side of the gate. These guards were dressed the same way as the guards from before, but they were equipped with spears as opposed to swords.
All of this was a reflection of the status of the manor''s owner.
There was arge golden que hanging above the gates, upon which the words "Yu Manor" were inscribed inrge golden characters.
Liu Shi raised his head to take a nce at the manor before him, but then quickly withdrew his gaze.
Meanwhile, Liu Le''er was inspecting the manor with a slightly awestruck expression and a hint of unease in her heart.
She had never seen such a massive manor before, and it was clear from this manor that the Yu Family had to be a family of extremely high standing in Farbright City. In fact, there was a very good chance that they had ties with the Prosperous Nation''s imperial court.
The white-robed young man could see that Liu Le''er was rather uneasy, and he asked in a gentle voice, "What is it, Sister Liu?"
Liu Le''er forced a smile onto her face as she said, "This ce is huge, and it has so many guards! I''m sure your family is no ordinary family."
"You really bright young girl, Sister Liu. My father is none other than the prime minister of the Prosperous Nation, and that''s why we have all of this. Otherwise, how could we afford a resident immortal doctor?" Yu Qi replied.
Liu Le''er''s eyes widened in shock upon hearing this, while a proud look appeared on the schrly-robed young man''s face.
"Young masters!" The two guards at the gates immediately approached the group upon catching sight of them, then extended respectful bows.
Yu Qi gave a slight nod to acknowledge the two guards, then led Liu Le''er and Liu Shi through the gates.
After entering the manor, the schrly-robed young man harrumphed coldly, "Father is going to be furious when he finds out you brought these two outsiders into our manor. Don''t me me for not warning you."
He then stormed off with a disdainful expression, but Yu Qi remained unfazed as he led Liu Le''er and Liu Shi toward another direction the manor. "Don''t pay any heed to him. Pleasee with me."
The interior of the Yu Manor was enormous, with pavilions, pagodas, and gardens everywhere.
The ground was paved with top-tier paving materials such as white jade and azure jade, making for a surface that was as smooth as a mirror and as hard as iron, further disying the luxury enjoyed by the affluent family.
Yu Qi seemed to be quite an authoritative figure in the Yu Manor, as evidenced by the fact that all of the servants that they encountered bowed respectfully toward him, and some even fell to one knee.
Liu Le''er took a nce at Yu Qi upon seeing this with a distracted look in her eyes, and it was unclear what she was thinking about.
The fact that she and Liu Shi were trailing along behind Yu Qi naturally attracted a great deal of attention, particrly given Liu Shi''s imposing frame and strange demeanor, but no one dared to look at them for too long for fear of irking Yu Qi.
Shortly thereafter, the three of them arrived in a long corridor, where they were greeted by a tall and slender servant in a green dress.
A joyful smile immediately appeared on the servant''s face at the sight of Yu Qi, and she bounded over to them in a spritely manner. "Wee back, Young Master!"
"There are guests with me, Xiao Wu! Don''t be so cheeky," Yu Qi scolded in a displeased voice.
The servant stuck out her tongue in a sheepish disy, but she wasn''t actually afraid, so it was clear that she was different from the other servants that they had encountered.
Yu Qi took a resigned nce at her, then said, "You came at just the right time, Xiao Wu. These two are esteemed guests that I''ve invited to our manor. This is Sister Liu Le''er, and this is Brother Liu Shi. Prepare a ce for them to stay in the western courtyard."
Only then did Xiao Wu notice the two people behind Yu Qi, and she was rather taken aback by Liu Shi''s wooden demeanor. However, her eyes then immediately lit up as her gaze fell upon Liu Le''er, and she giggled, "What a pretty little girl you are!"
"Stop being so rude! Sister Liu is an esteemed guest of mine! My apologies. Xiao Wu has been serving me from a young age, and I''ve spoiled her rotten." Yu Qi scolded Xiao Wu before turning to Liu Le''er and Liu Shi with an apologetic smile.
"Fine, I''ll behave," Xiao Wu conceded, but she made a funny face at Liu Le''er while Yu Qi''s back was turned.
Liu Le''er couldn''t help but burst intoughter, and she hurriedly pped a hand over her mouth to silence herself, but a great deal of the tension and anxiety that she had been feeling had been alleviated.
Yu Qi took a nce at his surroundings, then drew closer to Xiao Wu as he whispered, "By the way, I''ll be out for the next few days, so..."
The two of them were standing together in a very intimate manner, and Xiao Wu didn''t seem to be opposed to this.
Liu Le''er pursed her lips slightly upon seeing this, and what little positive feelings she had developed toward the white-robed young man instantly evaporated.
After a brief, hushed conversation, Xiao Wu gave a nod before departing.
"Please follow me," Yu Qi said as he continued onward.
Momentster, the three of them arrived in a small courtyard, where they were greeted by Xiao Wu again.
Even though it was referred to as a small courtyard, it was only small in the context of the entire manor. In reality, it was quite spacious with a small cobblestone path, to the left of which was a pine tree, while to the left was a cluster of bamboo trees.
A gentle breeze blew past, causing the pine tree and the leaves of bamboo trees to rustle incessantly.
The furnishings in the room were quite simplistic, but all of the furniture reflected exceptional craftsmanship.
The tables and chairs were spotless, and it was clear that they had just been cleaned.
"You two look rather tired, so why don''t you take a rest here? I''ll arrange a feastter to wee the two of you to our manor," the white-robed young man said as he turned to Liu Le''er with a smile.
"There''s no need for that. All I want to know is when that immortal doctor can attend to my brother," Liu Le''er said as she inspected the room around her.
Yu Qi was silent for a moment before replying, "Alright, in that case, I''ll get Xiao Wu to bring you your dinnerter. As for the immortal doctor, that''ll have to wait until tomorrow."
"I see." Liu Le''er was rather disappointed to hear this.
"By the way, if you need anything else, feel free to speak to Xiao Wu. Have a good rest, I''ll be taking my leave now," Yu Qi said as he took a nce at Liu Shi.
Liu Le''er nodded in response with an absentminded expression.
¡¡
Outside the courtyard, Xiao Wu asked with a curious expression, "Young Master, who are those people? Judging from the way they''re dressed, they seem to bemoners. Why are you treating them with so much respect?"
"Don''t judge a book by its cover! Earlier today, the Azure Wind Horse drawing the carriage that my brother and I were in went on a rampage, and Liu Shi managed to subdue it with one hand and stop the carriage," Yu Qi replied with a faint smile as gave Xiao Wu''s delicate chin a light pinch.
"He stopped an Azure Wind Horse with one hand? That''s incredible!" Xiao Wu eximed.
"Now you know why I invited them to our manor. If I can get someone with such extraordinary strength to serve me, it''ll surely be immensely beneficial to me in the future. On top of that, that little girl, Le''er, is sure to be a stunning beauty once she grows up. I
¡° can''t bear to let a beauty like her wander out in the world with no one to depend on, so it was only natural that I brought her back to our manor as well. Make sure to look after them well. No cking off, understood?" the white-robed young man instructed with a smile, then turned to depart.
An embarrassing thought seemed to have made its way into Xiao Wu''s mind, and she blushed as she hurriedly replied, "Understood."
¡¡
Inside the courtyard.
Having walked the entire day and enduring that close call with the Azure Wind Horse earlier, Liu Le''er was feeling rather weary, and she led Liu Le''er into the bedroom to rest.
Even though it was normally considered taboo for two unrted members of the opposite sex to stay in the same room like this, the two of them had never been apart the past few years, eating and living together, so Liu Le''er saw nothing wrong with this.
As night fell, Xiao Wu delivered avish dinner to them.
Looking at the entire table full of delicious dishes, Liu Le''er was salivating incessantly.
She had never enjoyed such a sumptuous feast, and even though the unfamiliar environment of the prime minister''s manor made her feel rather uneasy, she still couldn''t help but dig in for a massive meal.
In contrast, Liu Shi didn''t disy much of a reaction to the feastid out on the table.
As the sky grew darker outside, the moon gradually rose up.
Liu Le''erid on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to get to sleep. Her mind waspletely preupied with thoughts of the treatment that Liu Shi was going to be receiving the next day.
She shuffled over to the side of the bed, then asked in a quiet voice, "Brother Rock, do you think that immortal doctor will be able to cure you?"
Liu Shi wasn''tying down. Instead, he was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed by the side of the bed.
He had done this every single night for the past few years, notying down to sleep even once.
Liu Shi remainedpletely expressionless and his eyes also remained shut, as if he hadn''t heard what Liu Le''er had just said.
Liu Le''er was already ustomed to thisck of response, and she whispered, "Don''t worry, Brother Rock. If the immortal doctor here can''t cure you, then we''ll go somewhere else. I''m sure we''ll be able to find someone who can cure you."
A reassured smile then appeared on her face, and she slowly closed her eyes, falling asleep soon thereafter.
Meanwhile, Liu Shi continued to remainpletely still like a statue in the darkness.
After an indeterminate period of time, Liu Shi suddenly opened his eyes before casting his gaze toward a certain direction in the Yu Manor. At the same time, he instinctively raised a hand to stroke the dark green essory that he was wearing around his neck.
¡¡
As it turned out, there was an underground secret chamber in the Yu Manor in the direction that Liu Shi was looking in.
There were dark red runes engraved onto the walls of the secret chamber, converging toward the center from all directions.
At the center of the secret chamber was a ck pill furnace, beneath which was a firepit that was holding a scorching me.
At this moment, the pill furnace was giving off a ck glow, and its lid was trembling gently as if it could fly off at any moment.
An elderly man was standing beside the pill furnace, watching it with an anxious expression.
The elderly man was wearing a set of gray daoist robes and a lotus crown on his head. He had a pair of deep-set eyes and a thin and gaunt face. There was a long goatee trailing down from his chin, and his hair and facial hair were allpletely white, indicating that he was of quite an advanced age.
Right at this moment, a dull crack rang out from within the pill furnace, following which a burned smell wafted out from within.
The elderly man''s expression changed drastically as he swept a hand through the air to release an incantation seal that snuffed out the fire, following which the lid of the pill furnace flew off at his behest.
The pill furnace was still burning hot, but he reached in directly with his hand, only to re-emerge with a handful of ck powder, and his expression instantly darkened significantly.
A strong medicinal fragrance intermingled with a burned smell was wafting out from the powder.
The elderly man was furious to see this, and he immediately erupted into an incensed tirade.
Chapter 8: Daoist Master White Stone
Chapter 8: Daoist Master White Stone
The next morning, the sound of footsteps rang out from the western courtyard of the Yu Manor.
There were three people slowly making their way through the corridor leading to another courtyard.
The two people leading the way were walking shoulder by shoulder. One of them was an elderly daoist priest in a gray daoist robe with a lotus crown on his head, while the other was a woman wearing a light yellow ptial dress.
Trailing along behind the two was a young woman in servant attire, holding a threeyered hamper made from sandalwood.
The daoist priest was walking along with his white brows slightly furrowed, seemingly a little displeased, and his eyes were looking directly forward, clearly indicating that his mind was elsewhere.
The woman in the ptial dress was quite young, appearing to be around 17 to 18 years of age, and even though her body still wasn''t fully developed, it was very well-proportioned. She had a set of beautiful facial features that were capped off by a pair of eyes that were as bright as stars, leaving asting impression on all those who saw them.
In addition to that, she had applied some rouge to her face, adding a hint of color to her fair cheeks that gave her an even more alluring appearance.
"My sincerest apologies for interrupting your pill refinement, Daoist Master White Stone," the woman said with an apologetic expression.
The elderly daoist priest temporarily set aside his train of thought as he replied, "I don''t mind, but I''m just perplexed about why you insist on getting me to attend to a mortal with a mental ailment?"
"Allow me to exin. Yesterday..."
A faint smile appeared on the woman''s face as she gave the daoist priest a brief recount of how Liu Shi had stopped the Azure Wind Horse the day before.
The elderly daoist priest listened with a thoughtful expression, and he raised an eyebrow slightly as he heard about how Liu Shi had managed to stop a rampaging Azure Wind Horse cold in its tracks with just a single hand.
"Seeing as you''re somewhat indebted to him, I suppose I''m obligated to examine his condition," the elderly man said in an indifferent voice after hearing the young woman''s story.
The young woman smiled in response as she extended a slight curtsey.
As for the servant, she was holding the hamper rather anxiously, trailing along behind the two in an obedient manner without making any sound.
Inside the western courtyard, Liu Le''er had already finished getting dressed and washing up, and she was seated on the edge of the bed, having another one-sided conversation with Liu Shi when she suddenly heard the sound of door-knocking ring out.
Once the trio arrived at the western courtyard, the servant immediately strode forward to knock on the door, then called out, "Sister Le''er, our young mistress has brought the immortal doctor here to see you."
Liu Le''er rose to her feet, but she didn''t immediately open the door. Instead, she asked in a rather perplexed manner, "Who''s this young mistress that you speak of?"
"It''s me, Sister Le''er."
The voiceing from outside was rather familiar, and Liu Le''er''s befuddlement was even further exacerbated.
After a brief hesitation, she made her way to the door before opening it.
As soon as the door was opened, she immediately caught a whiff of a faint medicinal scent, following which she was greeted by the sight of the three people standing outside.
First, her gaze fell upon the elderly daoist priest, and after ascertaining that the medicinal smell wasing from him, she turned to the servant, only to find that it was Xiao Wu, the personal servant of Yu Qi¡¯s that she had met the day before.
Finally, Liu Le''er turned her gaze toward the woman in the yellow ptial dress, and initially, she faltered slightly, following which her mouth gaped open in shock.
"You''re the young master from the day before!" she eximed as she threw a hand over her own mouth.
"That''s right. You can call me Sister Qi if you''d like," the woman in the ptial dress said with an amused smile at the sight of Liu Le''er''s surprised expression.
Liu Le''er also smiled upon hearing this. "No wonder I felt like you were a little..."
"A little what?" Yu Qi asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"A little... not like a man," Liu Le''er replied in a tactful manner after a moment of deliberation.
"You can avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble by posing as a man. You''ll know what I mean once you''re all grown up in a few years," Yu Qi said with a faint smile.
Liu Le''er didn''t quite understand what Yu Qi was referring to, but she still nodded in response before inviting the trio into the room.
"Sister Le''er, this is the immortal doctor I told you about, you can call him Daoist Master White Stone. Daoist Master White Stone, this is Liu Le''er, and that man over there is her brother, Liu Shi," Yu Qi introduced as she turned to the elderly daoist priest.
Liu Le''er had already guessed that the elderly man was most likely the immortal doctor, but her heart still jolted slightly upon hearing confirmation of her suspicions from Yu Qi, and she hurriedly lowered her head as she extended a respectful salute, not daring to meet Daoist Master White Stone''s gaze. "I pay my respects to the esteemed immortal doctor."
Meanwhile, Liu Shi remained seated on the edge of the bed, disying no reaction to the trio.
Daoist Master White Stone took a brief nce at Liu Le''er, then directed his gaze toward Liu Shi. He made his way over to Liu Shi''s side before stepping over to his other side, examining him carefully from head to toe before focusing his gaze on Liu Shi''s be.
A momentter, Daoist Master White Stone closed his eyes before raising a hand, joining his index and middle fingers together as he extended them toward Liu Shi''s be.
Liu Le''er was quite taken aback to see this, and she couldn''t help but let loose a cry of rm.
Daoist Master White Stone''s arm instantly stiffened, and she turned around to give her a displeased look.
"There''s no need for rm, Sister Le''er. Daoist Master White Stone is examining your brother''s condition," Yu Qi hurriedly exined as she gently tugged on Liu Le''er''s arm.
"My apologies, Daoist Master White Stone. I didn''t do it on purpose," Liu Le''er hurriedly apologized.
Daoist Master White Stone''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he closed his eyes before extending his hand toward Liu Shi''s be again.
As he extended his fingers forward, a burst of azure light emerged on Liu Shi''s be, and circr ripples were spreading outward from the azure light, much like the ripples that would arise from a stone being tossed into ake.
A short whileter, a slightly befuddled look appeared on Daoist Master White Stone''s face, and he withdrew his hand before slowly opening his eyes.
"How is my brother? Can you cure him?" Liu Le''er hurriedly asked.
Daoist Master White Stone took a nce at her out of the corners of his eyes and offered no response.
Yu Qi gently patted the back of Liu Le''er''s hand in a reassuring gesture, indicating for her to be patient.
Liu Le''er reluctantly fell silent and asked no further questions, but her gaze remained fixed on Liu Shi.
Liu Shi seemed to have sensed her gaze, and he turned his face toward her before swallowing the pastry in his mouth, then gave her a faint smile.
Daoist Master White Stone contemted the situation momentarily before flipping over a hand to summon a rather old copper mirror.
"Go!"
Azure light shed from the round mirror, and it immediately rose up into the air at his behest, flying over to Liu Shi beforeing to a halt directly above his head.
Daoist Master White Stone then began to chant an incantation while swiping his joined fingers through the air, seemingly inscribing some type of mysterious runes into the very air itself.
Shortly thereafter, his fingers fell still, and he pointed directly at the copper mirror.
The suspended copper mirror immediately began to tremble violently, and ayer of azure light emerged, causing its slightly rugged and uneven surface to be smooth and pristine.
Liu Le''er was scrutinizing the surface of the mirror intently with an anxious expression, and she could see that some changes were taking ce within the azure light. It seemed that a rather murky image was about to appear.
However, after waiting for a short while, the azure light within the mirror''s surface was still as murky as ever, and she was unable to discern anything from it.
Liu Shi also seemed to be rather annoyed by the mirror hovering over his head, and he raised his hand before swatting it through the air as if he were waving a mosquito away. Even though his hand didn''t make direct contact with the mirror, it caused the azure light on the mirror''s surface to flicker and be even murkier.
"Impossible!"
Daoist Master White Stone''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately swept a sleeve toward the copper mirror, upon which it instantly flew up his sleeve, vanishing without a trace.
Liu Le''er was itching to ask more questions, but she learned to hold her tongue this time.
"Have you identified the problem, Daoist Master White Stone? Is his condition curable?" Yu Qi asked.
There was a rather uncertain look on Daoist Master White Stone''s face, and he replied, "It''s not impossible, but..."
Liu Le''er was ecstatic to hear this, and she hurriedly implored, "Please cure my brother, esteemed immortal doctor!"
"If you have a way to treat this man, then please do everything in your power, Daoist Master White Stone. I will cover all of your expenses," Yu Qi said.
Liu Le''er turned to Yu Qi with a grateful expression upon hearing this.
Daoist Master White Stone stared at Liu Shi in silence for a long while before finally making up his mind. "In that case, I will be sure to do my best. However, let me make this clear in advance: his soul is in a sealed-off state for some unknown reason, and it''ll be very difficult to restore it to its normal state.
¡°Only by casting a spirit awakening array will there be a chance for his condition to be cured. In order to administer such a treatment, I require an independent secret chamber."
Liu Le''er hesitated momentarily before asking in a low voice, "Can I be there while you''re administering the treatment, Daoist Master White Stone?"
"Why do you want to be there? To get in my way? Do you not trust me, you little brat?" Daoist Master White Stone''s voice instantly spiked up a few octaves in indignation.
Liu Le''er''s heart jolted upon hearing this, and she hurriedly waved her hands in response. "I wouldn''t dare, Daoist Master White Stone! I just want to be by my brother''s side. All I''ll do is watch from the side, I''ll make sure not to get in your way."
"Fine, do as you wish. A spirit awakening array is not just a run-of-the-mill array, so I have to go back and make some preparations," Daoist Master White Stone said as he turned to Yu Qi.
"Thank you for your efforts, Daoist Master White Stone," Yu Qi replied with a respectful curtsey.
Liu Le''er hurriedly followed her example, extending a curtsey of her own, but by then, Daoist Master White Stone had already departed from the room.
Following Daoist Master White Stone''s departure, Yu Qi and Xiao Wu also left shortly thereafter. Before departing, she offered some words of reassurance to Liu Le''er, telling her not to worry about Liu Shi''s condition.
Chapter 9: Array
Chapter 9: Array
On the morning of the third day, Xiao Wu arrived at the western courtyard, informing Liu Le''er and Liu Shi that Daoist Master White Stone''s preparations wereplete, and that he was ready to treat Liu Shi.
With Xiao Wu leading the way, Liu Le''er led Liu Shi through a series of corridors, passing through four small courtyards and emerging from an archway before finally arriving in the backyard of the Yu Manor.
Liu Le''er was already in awe of all of the winding courtyards and corridors, but only after seeing the smallke in the backyard, which wasden with lush lotus leaves, did she truly realize just how massive the Yu Manor was.
Theke was referred to as a small one, but only rtive to all of therge rivers andkes that Liu Le''er had seen in the past. In reality, theke was at least 3,000 to 4,000 feet in area, certainly farrger than a pond that one would find in the backyard of the average wealthy man''s estate.
"That''s where Daoist Master White Stone cultivates and refines pills," Xiao Wu introduced as she pointed at a small ind at the center of theke.
Liu Le''er cast her gaze toward the direction that Xiao Wu was pointing in, and she was greeted by the sight of a bridge constructed from white marble, arching over the teeming lotus leaves and leading all the way to the small ind.
The ind wasn''t veryrge, but it was filled with lush greenery and enshrouded in cloud and mist, making it impossible to get a clear look at it.
The thought that the ind could hold the key to curing Liu Shi immediately filled Liu Le''er with excitement, and her thoughts began to wander with her emotions.
Xiao Wu could see that Liu Le''er was rather distracted, and she smiled as she said, "Servants like me aren''t allowed to encroach upon Daoist Master White Stone''s territory, so you''ll have to go on your own from here."
Liu Le''er returned to her senses upon hearing this, and she hurriedly said, "Thank you, Sister Xiao Wu."
Seeing Liu Le''er so excited put Xiao Wu in a good mood as well, and she gave Liu Le''er a cheerful wave before departing.
Liu Le''er cast her gaze toward the small ind, and sheid a hand onto the railing of the bridge, but she didn''t immediately step onto it. For some reason, a thought had suddenly urred to her.
Will Brother Rock leave me once he''s cured?
A hesitant look appeared on her face as this thought urred to her, but her heart was immediately put at ease again as she looked up at Liu Shi''s familiar features.
"Let''s go, Brother Rock."
With that, she stepped onto the bridge, leading Liu Shi toward the small ind.
As the two drew closer and closer to the ind, Liu Le''er began to feel rather anxious. In contrast, Liu Shi''s expression was as calm as ever, and his gaze was asionally drawn to the carp popping up out of the water beneath the lotus leaves.
After arriving on the ind, Liu Le''er was struck by the feeling that the mist wasn''t actually as dense as it had seemed from afar. There wasn''t much sound on the ind, and it was a very peaceful and elegant environment.
The end of the stone bridge was connected to a small, winding path that was paved with stone bs, extending all the way into the heart of the ind.
Liu Le''er and Liu Shi made their way along the path, and there were no other branches that diverged from the path, so they arrived directly in front of an archaic daoist temple with ck and white walls.
Daoist Master White Stone was waiting for them outside the temple, and upon their arrival, he instructed them toe in before making his way toward the temple''s rear hall.
The two of them followed Daoist Master White Stone through three halls before arriving at the temple''s backyard, where a huge fake mountain was standing.
Daoist Master White Stone made his way over to a certain part of the mountain, then pressed a hand onto its surface, and a thick and heavy stone door slowly opened to reveal an opening tall enough to fit an adult human.
The two followed Daoist Master White Stone into the fake mountain, following which the stone door behind them slowly fell shut.
A cave had been excavated into the interior of the fake mountain, and it wasn''t a veryrge space, only slightlyrger than the room that Liu Le''er and Liu Shi were staying in. There were several litnterns on each of the four walls, and they weren''t releasing any smoke, leading Liu Le''er to wonder what type of oil was being burned in thenterns.
There was an octagonal diagram engraved onto the ground at the center of the cave, and it resembled the eight trigrams, but was somewhat different.
The engravings on the ground were extremely deep, and not only did it hold designs of some peculiar birds and beasts, there were also some strange lines interspersed among those designs. Liu Le''er had a feeling that this was some type of ancient text.
There was a dark red triangr g situated at each corner of the octagonal design, and these gs also bore peculiar patterns inscribed in golden thread.
Daoist Master White Stone took a nce at Liu Le''er, who was inspecting the array, then urged in a cold voice, "What are you waiting for? Get him to sit down at the center of the array!"
"Yes, Daoist Master!"
Liu Le''er hurriedly withdrew her gaze before guiding Liu Shi to the center of the array, where there was a ring-shaped design.
"You''re definitely going to be cured, Brother Rock. I''ll be here with you," Liu Le''er said in an earnest voice as she looked into Liu Shi''s eyes, then stepped out of the array and nted herself against one of the stone walls off to the side, where she looked on with an anxious expression.
"Stay there from now on. Don''t make any sound to distract me, and don''t move even a single inch, do you hear me?" Daoist Master White Stone instructed with a serious expression.
Liu Le''er hurriedly nodded in response.
Only then did Daoist Master White Stone make his way over to the array, and he raised a hand in front of his own chest in a daoist prayer, then walked ap around the array while chanting an indecipherable incantation.
As he began to chant the incantation, the golden lines on the eight small gs around the array lit up with dazzling golden light in unison, then extended toward Liu Shi from all directions.
Liu Shi was inspecting his surroundings, and his body abruptly shuddered as the golden light enveloped his body. It was as if he had been electrocuted, and he instantly sat bolt upright.
Liu Le''er''s heart jolted upon seeing this, and her eyes were filled with concern and anticipation.
The golden light began to swirl around Liu Shi''s body, forming a series of strange golden patterns. At the same time, there also seemed to be specks of golden light converging within his eyes, presenting quite a peculiar sight to behold.
All of a sudden, Daoist Master White Stone''s chanting drew to an abrupt halt, and he suddenly switched to a different hand seal as he yelled, "Restrict!"
The golden light that was revolving around Liu Shi abruptly solidified before enveloping Liu Shi like ayer of golden paper.
Through the golden light, it could be seen that Liu Shi''s brows had furrowed together, indicating that he was in some pain.
A loud sizzling sound rang out as bright golden light radiated from the eight gs around the array, and plumes of ck mist surged out of the gs before converging toward the center of the array.
Liu Le''er''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and for some reason, she was struck by an instinctive sense of difort as soon as the ck mist appeared.
All of a sudden, Liu Shi gave a muffled groan as his facial muscles spasmed slightly.
Liu Le''er couldn''t help but let loose a cry of rm upon seeing this, but she then immediately pped a hand over her own mouth with a fearful expression.
"Shut up! I told you not to make a sound!" Daoist Master White Stone scolded in a cold voice.
Liu Le''er''s heart shuddered slightly, and she didn''t dare to say anything, but the fear in her eyes didn''t abate in the slightest.
The plumes of mist were like living creatures, forming a series of tentacles that wrapped around Liu Shi beforepletely inundating him.
Immediately thereafter, Daoist Master White Stone made a hand seal and resumed his chanting.
More and more ck mist poured out of the gs, and it was bing denser and denser.
A perplexed look appeared on Liu Shi''s face, following which his eyelids began to droop, and he slowly closed his eyes, falling asleep in an upright position.
An ted look appeared on Daoist Master White Stone''s face upon seeing this, and he switched to another hand seal as he opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence, which disintegrated into specks of crimson light that vanished directly into the ck mist.
A strong bloody scent immediately began to waft out of the mist, and a series of crimson runes rapidly appeared.
Liu Le''er''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and her instincts were screaming at her that something wasn''t right. However, she was rather hesitant about how to proceed for fear of offending Daoist Master White Stone.
However, right at this moment, Daoist Master White Stone let loose a low cry, and the temperature of the ck mist abruptly plummeted, forming a giant ck of ck ice that sealed Liu Shi within.
"Stop! What are you doing?" At this point, Liu Le''er could see beyond a doubt that Daoist Master White Stone''s intentions were impure, and she stepped toward the array with an rmed expression as she made a grabbing motion. A palm-sized pellet drum appeared in her grasp amid a sh of light, and she immediately attempted to shatter the block of ice to save Liu Shi.
Chapter 10: Crisis
Chapter 10: Crisis
However, before she had a chance to do anything, Daoist Master White Stone swept a sleeve through the air to release a golden shadow that shot forth like lightning.
In the blink of an eye, the golden shadow transformed into a shimmering golden rope that bound Liu Le''er tightly.
As a result, Liu Le''er was tripped over and fell onto the ground with a dull thump.
"What are you trying to do, you old bastard?"
Liu Le''er glowered intently at Daoist Master White Stone while struggling with all her might, but the golden rope only constricted even tighter around her body as if it could feel her resistance.
Liu Le''er''s expression became twisted with agony, and tears welled up in her eyes, but she gritted her teeth tightly and refused to make a sound.
All of a sudden, her ears abruptly vanished, but a pair of pointy triangr fox ears poked through the ck hair on the top of her head.
A burst of potent restrictive force was released by the golden rope,pletely sealing her magic power.
"What am I trying to do? Hehe, you naive little demon fox! Did you really think you could fool me with that magic tool of yours? What a joke!" Daoist Master White Stone said in a cold voice as he took a nce at Liu Le''er out of the corners of his eyes.
"So you already saw through my identity?" Liu Le''er''s heart sank even further upon hearing this, but she still had a stubborn and unyielding look on her face.
"Hehe, is this the time for you to be worrying about that? You were brought into the manor by the young mistress, and the fox race is quite a powerful race in our Spirit Domain Realm, so I originally nned to turn a blind eye, but who could''ve anticipated that you would bring such a priceless treasure straight to my doorstep?"
Daoist Master White Stone cast his gaze toward Liu Shi as he spoke, and a hint of irrepressible excitement appeared in his eyes.
"Wh... What are you going to do to Brother Rock?" Liu Le''er asked in a trembling voice.
"Don''t worry, I couldn''t bear to kill this brother of yours. His body is more powerful than any that I''ve ever seen before, and to make matters even better, his spiritual sense has been harmed, reducing him to an imbecile! All I have to do is use a secret technique to erase what remains of his consciousness, and I''ll be able to refine a puppet with boundless potential!" Daoist Master White Stone said with a triumphant expression.
A trail of blood began to trick down from the corner of Liu Le''er''s lips upon hearing this, and a desperate look appeared in her eyes as ayer of crimson light emerged on her face. She arched forward violently as an animalistic snarl erupted from her lips, and her pupils began to glow green whilerge tufts of white fur sprouted all over her entire body.
Every single strand of fur was glowing with translucent light and was extremely hard, making it seem as if she had suddenly transformed into a white hedgehog. Furthermore, the fur on her tail was shing with arcs of white lightning.
All of a sudden, the white fur abruptly stood up on end to force the golden rope away from her body slightly, and dazzling white light began to glow from her furry tail.
Countless strands of white fur were fired through the air, hurtling directly toward the block of ck ice like a barrage of flying needles.
"Insolence!"
Daoist Master White Stone turned around with a furious expression before releasing an ovr ck shield, which shot forth as a streak of ck light at an incredible speed, arriving in front of the block of ck ice just barely before the barrage of white fur arrived.
The ovr shield then immediately expanded to several times its original size to cover the entirety of the block of ice.
A string of loud ngs rang out as the barrage of fur struck the ck shield, causing it to tremble incessantly, but ultimately, the attack was kept at bay.
The green light in Liu Le''er''s eyes flickered violently upon seeing this, but before she had a chance to do anything else, the golden rope around her suddenly glowed brightly as its constrictive force increased by almost twofold, ttening the white fur against Liu Le''er''s body. At the same time, countless finger-length golden needles emerged from the rope, piercing deep into her body.
"Argh!"
Blood began to flow incessantly out of her body, stainingrge sections of her fur red. However, she gritted her teeth and paid no heed to her own injuries as she swept her tail through the air once again with all of her remaining strength.
Another barrage of white fur was released, but this time, it dispersed before flying toward the block of ice from all directions.
The ck shield was like an impregnable wall, but it couldn''t cover the block of ice from every direction at once.
Daoist Master White Stone was furious to see this, and he opened his mouth to release a ball of ck light, within which was enveloped a serpentine flying sword that flew into the air above the block of ice in a sh.
The flying sword circled through the air, manifesting a burst of ck sword qi that formed a wall of sword projections, which enveloped the block of ice.
At the same time, the ck shield glowed even brighter as it expanded further in size, protecting the block of ice alongside the sword projections.
A string of metallic ngs rang out, and most of the needle-like fur was kept at bay by the flying sword and the ck shield, but there were still some that managed to sneak through the gaps and strike the block of ck ice.
The block of ice trembled violently, and many thin holes were punched into it. Several cracks appeared on its surface, and they were rapidly expanding.
Right at this moment, Daoist Master White Stone arrived beside the block of ice in a sh, then raised his hands to release a vast expanse of ck mist out of his sleeves. Some of the mist fused into the block of ice, while the rest formed a protective barrier around it.
The cracks on the block of ice immediately stopped expanding, then quickly began to seal, and after just a few seconds, it was already back to its original state.
Daoist Master White Stone heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing this, then turned to glower at Liu Le''er with a furious expression.
Liu Le''er wasying on the ground with an indignant look in her eyes.
All of the fur on her body had already vanished, and her aura was severely diminished. It was clear that the two attacks she had just unleashed had already exhausted all of her magic power.
"Looks like I underestimated you!" Daoist Master White Stone harrumphed coldly.
If he had reacted even a split secondter than he had, the block of ice would''ve most likely been shattered.
With a vicious sweep of his hand, Daoist Master White Stone conjured up a palm of ck light, which mmed into Liu Le''er''s body.
Liu Le''er was instantly sent flying before crashing into the wall of the secret chamber, and she threw up arge mouthful of blood before falling onto the ground in a heap.
Her entire body was stained with blood, and her hair waspletely disheveled. Her face was deathly pale, and she was clearly in terrible condition.
If it weren''t for the fact that Daoist Master White Stone intended to sell her for spirit stones, he would''ve already killed her with that strike.
"Brother Rock..." Liu Le''er raised her head in a feeble manner as she cast her gaze toward Liu Shi, but her body then suddenly spasmed, and she fell unconscious.
Daoist Master White Stone swept a hand through the air to release several talismans, which flew over to Liu Le''er before adhering themselves onto the ground around her.
A vast expanse of ck light erupted from the talismans, forming a ball over her body.
Only after doing all of that did Daoist Master White Stone turn his attention back to the block of ice, and he couldn''t suppress the smile that crept onto his face.
"Once I sessfully refine this puppet, none of my current rivals will be a match for me!"
His smile faded as he raised his hands to release eight more talismans, which fell onto the ground near the block of ck ice.
Inky ck light rose up from the talismans to form an array, which lifted the block of ice around a foot off the ground.
Daoist Master White Stone then flipped a hand over to produce a ck gourd.
There was a circle of blue runes engraved onto the gourd that were giving off a cold light, and it sounded as if there were some type of liquid sloshing around inside it.
He pulled out the gourd cork and carefully tipped it over to pour out a ck liquid that gave off an aggressively nauseating stench.
There were specks of ck light shimmering within the liquid, and it was squirming incessantly as if it were alive.
Chapter 11: Awakening
Chapter 11: Awakening
Judging from the careful look on Daoist Master White Stone''s face, it was clear that this ck liquid was quite important to him. With a wave of his hand, he released a burst of ck light that enveloped the liquid before falling upon the ck block of ice.
As soon as the liquid came into contact with the ice block, it immediately seeped in, quickly turning the transparent block of ice murky ck in color, to the extent that the figure of the young man inside became rather blurry and indistinguishable.
A pleased look appeared on Daoist Master White Stone''s face, and he stowed the gourd away before sitting down again with his legs crossed.
This liquid was the ck Corpse Soul Corruption Bane that he had carefully refined using over 10 types of rare ingredients. It was an extremely vicious solution capable of infiltrating a cultivator''s spiritual sense and harming their soul.
Daoist Master White Stone made a hand seal, and the specks of ck light within the ice instantly began to move, with a part of it beginning to shift toward Liu Shi''s head.
His n was to only infuse a bit of the soul corruption bane at a time to gradually erase Liu Shi''s soul. In doing so, he would be able to minimize the instinctive resistance that the subject would put up, thereby ensuring the highest probability of sess.
Right as the first few specks of light made contact with Liu Shi''s head, they immediately vanished into it.
Not only that, but all of the ck specks of light in the entire block of ice erupted into a frenzy, surging rapidly into all parts of Liu Shi''s body in an uncontroble manner.
Daoist Master White Stone was extremely rmed by this, and he frantically made hand seals in an attempt to regain control over the specks of ck light, but it was already toote.
All of the ck Corpse Soul Corruption Bane vanished in the blink of an eye, but Liu Shi wasn''t disying any visible changes, and it was as if nothing had happened.
"What''s going on? Where is my ck Corpse Soul Corruption Bane?" Daoist Master White Stone rose to his feet with a furious and rmed expression while releasing his spiritual sense to examine Liu Shi''s body over and over again.
However, no matter how much he searched, he wasn''t able to find anything amiss.
He stared intently at Liu Shi through the block of ice, then took a deep breath, and the enraged look on his face quickly faded as his brows furrowed tightly in contemtion.
"He''s not giving off any magic power fluctuations, so he''s definitely not a cultivator. Could it be that he''s taken some type of spirit medicine or is carrying some type of protective treasure that just so happens to be able to counteract my ck Corpse Soul Corruption Bane?"
With that in mind, his gaze wandered over to Liu Shi''s chest, where there was a slight bulge beneath his robes, and there was a faint glimmer of dark green light there.
In the end, Daoist Master White Stone still decided against undoing the ice seal to search Liu Shi''s body. After all, once the array was activated, it couldn''t be easily cut off.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he flipped a hand over to produce a green gourd, then released an incantation seal, and green light shed from the opening of the gourd, following which around a dozen thin, dark green insects flew out from within.
These insects were around the same thickness as a strand of hair and around half a foot in length each. They flew through the air while screeching incessantly, and as soon as they emerged, they immediately transformed into streaks of green light that flew into the ice as if they had no substance, then immediately attempted to burrow their way into the top of Liu Shi''s head.
Bursts of peculiar screeching rang out from within the ice, but no matter how hard the green insects tried, they were unable to burrow even a single millimeter into the skin on Liu Shi''s head.
It was as if there were some type of invisible power in Liu Shi''s head that was keeping the insects at bay.
Daoist Master White Stone''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he was finally bing a little uneasy.
However, after a brief silence, the unease in his eyes was reced by fury, and he harrumphed coldly, "There''s no way an imbecile like you can oppose me!"
With a wave of his hand, he drew the green insects back into his gourd, then gritted his teeth before chanting an incantation.
A burst of gray light flew up from his body, hovering above his head. Within the gray light was a small gray g, which swelled several times in size in the blink of an eye.
There were countlessyers of runes inscribed onto the small g, striking the beholder with a sense of disorientation, but all of these runes werepletely dull and devoid of luster.
Daoist Master White Stone bit through the tip of his own tongue before releasing a mouthful of blood essence, which vanished into the g. At the same time, he made a hand seal, releasing streaks of ck light that also vanished into the gray g. The g immediately began to glow with dazzling light, and the runes inscribed upon them gradually began to brighten, following which ayer of gray mist rose up from the g''s surface.
The gray g then expanded even further, swelling to around 10 feet in size, and the light on its surface shed as a series of indistinct skull projections flew out from within. There were a total of around seven to eight of these projections, and every single one of them was wailing in a ghastly manner as they pounced toward Liu Shi.
Their collective voices instantly began to echo throughout the secret chamber.
Daoist Master White Stone''s eyes were wide and bloodshot as he stared intently at the skull projections.
Right at this moment, an unexpected turn of events arose.
Right as the skull projections were about to plunge into the giant block of ice, the faint shadow of Liu Shi that was cast onto the ground suddenly rippled like water, following which a ck object flew out from within before transforming into a sinister ghostly head with a pair of horns on its head.
The ghostly head was around the size of a washbasin, and it was cackling incessantly. The green mes in its eyes flickered as it cast its gaze toward the skull projections, and it opened its mouth up wide to release a vast expanse of silver light.
It was as if this silver light were the bane of the skull projections'' existence, and they werepletely powerless to evade as they were swept up by the golden light before being devoured by the ghostly head.
After that, the sinister ghostly head smacked its hideous lips, seemingly still not satisfied by the meal. Immediately thereafter, the golden mes in its eyes shed, and it turned around before releasing arge burst of green qi out of its mouth, then vanished on the spot in the blink of an eye.
The azure qi struck Liu Shi in the face before vanishing into his body without a sound.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye, concluding before Daoist Master White Stone even had a chance to react.
As a Core Formation cultivator, Daoist Master White Stone considered himself to be quite experienced and knowledgeable in the field of cultivation, but he had never seen anything so strange before, and he waspletely rooted to the spot, at a loss for what to do.
Right at this moment, a crisp crack rang out, and a series of white cracks suddenly appeared on the surface of the block of ck ice, following which Liu Shi slowly opened his eyes.
His eyes were far clearer than before and were no longer looking lost and vacant.
He inspected his surroundings, then furrowed his brows and shrugged his shoulders slightly.
A resounding boom rang out as the cone of fire struck the light barrier, and having already been struggling to hold itself together, the light barrier instantly shattered upon impact.
A loud thump rang out as the entire block of ice exploded outward from the inside, sending shattered chunks of ck ice flying in all directions before ttering onto the ground.
Liu Shi raised his head to take a nce at Daoist Master White Stone, and it seemed like he was about to say something, but in the next instant, a disoriented look suddenly appeared on his face, and he threw his hands over his own head as he began to howl in agony.
The joints in his body cracked and popped while his arms and legs expanded like an inting balloon, and in the blink of an eye, his body had swelled to around twice its original size. At the same time, countless golden scales around the size of copper coins had appeared over the surface of his skin, including his face and his neck.
These scales looked as if they were forged from pure gold and were shimmering with a cold light, giving off apletely indestructible appearance.
Daoist Master White Stone was bbergasted to see this, and he knew that at this point, things had alreadypletely spiraled out of his control.
Upon returning to his senses, a fierce look appeared on his face, and he gritted his teeth before opening his mouth to release a ball of blood essence, which vanished into the gray g in a sh.
The gray g began to glow brightly again, and the runes on its surface began to squirm as if they had sprung to life. A burst of cracking rang out, and the g abruptly transformed into a gray centipede that was 50 to 60 feet in length.
Daoist Master White Bone then patted the storage bag hanging from his waist, and seven or eight fist-sized ck balls came flying out. ck qi was swirling around the balls, and they were giving off an incredibly pungent stench.
In spite of the terrible stench, the gray centipede let loose a joyful cry as it opened its mouth and eagerly devoured the ck balls. Large ck sections immediately appeared on the surface of its exoskeleton, and those areas rapidly expanded, turning its entire body pitch ck in the blink of an eye. At the same time, its exoskeleton had taken on a metallic sheen, as if it were constructed from impregnable ck steel.
The centipede screeched in excitement as faint red light began to glow in its tiny eyes. It roamed through the secret chamber, and as its sickle-like legs scratched across the hard stone walls, they were able to inflict a series of deep marks onto the walls like hot knives cutting through butter.
At the same time, the surrounding stone walls were stained an inky ck color and began to give off a foul stench, clearly indicating that the centipede''s legs were tipped with some type of extremely potent poison.
"Kill him!" Daoist Master White Stone roared as he pointed at Liu Shi.
Chapter 12: I Am Han Li
Chapter 12: I Am Han Li
The ck centipede screeched as it shook its body from side to side, then shot forward as a ck shadow, reaching Liu Shi in the blink of an eye. It opened its mouth to reveal rows of dagger-like white fangs that were shimmering with a sinister light, and it bit down viciously upon Liu Shi''s shoulder.
Liu Shi was still screaming with his hands clutching at his own head,pletely oblivious to what was happening around him, and the centipede was able to chomp down onto his shoulder without any resistance.
A cruel smile appeared on Daoist Master White Stone''s face upon seeing this.
He was well aware of how powerful the centipede was. It was capable of even shattering the average magic tool with a single bite, and what was even more terrifying about it was that its entire body was covered in lethal poison that could kill even with the slightest wound.
However, in the next instant, Daoist Master White Stone''s smile abruptly stiffened.
The ck centipede suddenly let loose an agonized screech as it reared back with blood gushing out of its mouth, and all of its sharp fangs had beenpletely shattered.
As for the golden scales on Liu Shi''s shoulder, there wasn''t even a single mark that had been left on them.
Even though the ck centipede''s fangs had been shattered, the pain seemed to have ignited its ferocity, and it wrapped itself around Liu Shi like a constricting boa, slicing at his body from all directions with its sharp legs.
Sparks were sent flying everywhere, but Liu Shi''s scales remainedpletely unharmed.
Daoist Master White Stone was so shocked to see this that his eyes were on the verge of popping out of their sockets.
"I remember everything now... I am Han Li, the number one cultivator of the human race and the most powerful Grand Ascension cultivator of the Spirit Realm!"
All of a sudden, Liu Shi''s screaming ceased, and he suddenly raised his head to reveal a pair of bright and clear eyes that were no longer disoriented in the slightest.
He was none other than Han Li, who had ascended to the Immortal Realm after enduring countless hardships in the Spirit Realm. [1]
Han Li didn''t even look at the ck centipede that was wrapped around his body as he plunged his hand into the hard exoskeleton on its back. His hand was like a steel spike, and after impaling the centipede, he casually tore it off himself with ease.
The ck centipede was screeching incessantly as it thrashed desperately from side to side, but was unable to get free.
A dull thump rang out as Han Li''s hand quivered slightly, and a burst of enormous power immediately surged throughout the centipede''s entire body.
With one final anguished wail, the centipede fellpletely limp and was unable to struggle any further.
Han Li plunged his other hand into the creature''s body as well, then spread his arms wide to tear the centipede into two, then casually tossed the two halves of its body aside.
The two halves of the centipede''s carcass spasmed violently on the ground for a moment before reverting back to the small ck g, which had already been torn into two, and the spiritual light glowing on its surface hadpletely faded, clearly indicating that it had been ruined.
All of this had happened in the blink of an eye, and Daoist Master White Stone was still looking on with a ck-jawed expression, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Only now did Han Li turn to take a nce at Daoist Master White Stone, and as soon as Daoist Master White Stone met Han Li''s gaze, he immediately shuddered involuntarily. He felt as if his heart had been plunged into a bottomless cial pit, and his entire body was freezing cold.
His expression changed several times in session, following which he abruptly let loose a loud cry as he made a hand seal.
The ck array in the secret chamber immediately began to glow brightly as a loud buzzing sound rang out, and tendrils of ck mist surged rapidly toward Han Li again.
At the same time, Daoist Master White Stone swept a sleeve through the air to release a white flying spear, which shot forth toward the door of the secret chamber in an attempt to facilitate his escape.
"You''re not going anywhere!" Han Li harrumphed coldly as golden light shed from the scales on his arm, and he mmed his fist into the ground.
A resounding boom rang out as shattered stone chunks flew in all directions, and a massive crater was smashed into the ground. The ck array waspletely destroyed, and all of the ck mist also ceased to exist.
Daoist Master White Stone shuddered as he heard the sound of the array being destroyed behind him, but at this point, he had already flown to the entrance of the secret chamber and was about to crash through it to make his escape.
However, right at this moment, a figure appeared directly in front of him, following which an explosive boom rang out.
Daoist Master White Stone was instantly sent flying back like a ragdoll, crashing heavily into the stone wall with a resounding thump.
Daoist Master White Stone immediately threw up arge mouthful of blood from the impact, and he slumped onto the ground with a horrified expression. The flying spear that was previously beneath his feet was already nowhere to be seen.
Han Li was standing at the entrance of the secret chamber, and he slowly withdrew his outstretched left fist, then abruptly appeared directly in front of Daoist Master White Stone again in a wraith-like manner, looking down at him with a cold expression.
"Please spare me, Senior! I was a fool to have failed to recognize your brilliance! I''m willing to offer up everything I have in exchange for my life!" Daoist Master White Stone was trembling uncontrobly as he struggled to a kneeling position, then pulled out the storage bag from his waist before setting it down reverently in front of Han Li''s feet with both hands.
At the same time, he was kowtowing desperately with such force that his head was mming audibly into the ground.
Han Li remainedpletely expressionless, and he didn''t even bother to take a nce at the storage bag.
Han Li''s silence struck further panic into Daoist Master White Stone''s heart, and he hurriedly continued, "Aside from this, I have treasures elsewhere that I can offer to you, Senior. As a guest elder at the prime minister''s manor, I know where the treasure pavilion in the prime minister''s manor is. As soon as you give the nod, I can fetch all those treasures and bring them to you right away!"
For the sake of survival, he was willing topletely discard his moralpass.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and it seemed that he was rather tempted by the offer.
The golden light glowing from his body slowly faded, and Daoist Master White Stone was ecstatic to see this.
However, right when he was about to say something, Han Li suddenly raised his hand before making a grabbing motion, releasing a ball of ck qi that vanished directly into Daoist Master White Stone''s face at Han Li''s behest.
"Spare me, Senior!"
Daoist Master White Stone was greatly rmed by this, and he hurriedly inspected his own internal condition. However, he didn''t discover anything amiss, but that only made him even more terrified.
"Rest assured, I won''t kill you for now, I''m just repaying the favor for what you tried to do to me. All it''ll take from me is a single thought for that ck of ck qi in your body to explode, and I''m sure you know what''ll happen to you after that. Also, I''ve regained my memories. My surname is Han, not Liu," Han Li said in an indifferent voice, and his body began to shrink back to its original size while the golden scales on his skin quickly faded.
Daoist Master White Stone''s face was deathly pale, but he was quite relieved to hear that Han Li was going to spare him, and he hurriedly nodded in response.
Han Li grabbed onto Daoist Master White Stone''s cor to lift him up from the ground, then tapped his right index finger against the daoist priest''s be and released a burst of ck light into it from his fingertip.
"Senior..." Daoist Master White Stone was horrified, thinking that Han Li had suddenly changed his mind, but before he had a chance to say anything, his eyes suddenly becamepletely zed over.
Han Li''s lips were tightly pursed, and ayer of sweat appeared on his forehead as hisplexion paled slightly.
Momentster, he exhaled, and the ck light glowing from his fingertip faded.
Daoist Master White Stone''s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he immediately fell unconscious.
Han Li tossed him onto the ground, and only after taking a few deep breaths did hisplexion return to normal. However, his brows then furrowed tightly, and a grim look appeared on his face.
He had just unleashed a soul search technique that had allowed him to gather the information that he wanted from Daoist Master White Stone.
Han Li turned his gaze toward Liu Le''er, who was also unconscious, and a gentle look appeared in his eyes. Without any further injection of magic power, the golden rope around her had already fallen ck, but she was still trapped within the ck light barrier.
He made his way over to her side, then swept a hand through the air to release a burst of enormous force that shattered the ck light barrier in an instant.
Liu Le''er''s body was riddled with wounds, and looking down at her, Han Li heaved a faint sigh. After a moment of hesitation, he made a hand seal,
A hint of color immediately returned to Liu Le''er''s pale cheeks, and the wounds on her body began to heal at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
"You''ve been through a lot the past few years. With that, I don''t have much magic power left," Han Li murmured as he looked at Liu Le''er.
He then made his way over to Daoist Master White Stone before picking up his storage bag, then tore it into two, causing all of its contents to fall onto the ground.
Most of its contents were materials and ingredients, but there were also some pills.
After some careful examination, Han Li picked out two vials, tipping out an azure pill and a red pill from the vials before feeding them to Liu Le''er.
1. For those who haven''t, please read the first installment of RMJI to see the story of Han Li''s adventures in the Spirit Realm. ?
Chapter 13: Mo Guang
Chapter 13: Mo Guang
Only after seeing Liu Le''er''s breathing and aura gradually even out did Han Li sit onto the ground again with his legs crossed.
He reached into his own cor, and after some searching, he pulled out the essory that he had always worn around his neck, which was a small vial that was light green in color.
There were a series of dark green leaf patterns all over the surface of the small vials, and they were extremely beautiful and life-like.
Han Li gently massaged the vial with his fingers, and an absentminded look appeared in his eyes as he felt its familiar texture.
After being lost in deep thought for a long while, he suddenly stowed the vial away before calling out the name "Mo Guang". [1]
The secret chamber waspletely silent aside from the echoing of Han Li''s voice.
However, momentster, the shadow in front of him warped slightly, then elongated forward marginally.
All of a sudden, a dark humanoid figure split itself off from Han Li''s elongated shadow before slowly rising to its feet.
The figure had skin that was as ck as ink and his appearance was rather simr to Han Li''s. He was wearing a ck robe, and his head of ck hair was unbound, casually spilling down around his head. What was most remarkable about him was the indescribable aura of decay that he was giving off.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Han," the figure said in a wooden manner as his gaze fell upon Han Li.
"What happened, Mo Guang? How did you be like this?" Han Li asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"I don''t know. I only awakened a few years earlier than you did, and as soon as I awakened, I discovered that I had lost all of my spiritual nature, and all that remained of me was a wisp of my soul. Due to the Heavenly Devil Contract, I can only reside in your shadow, and I''m unable to show myself unless you summon me or someone is trying to hurt you," Mo Guang replied in a rather mechanical voice.
Han Li was silent for a moment before asking, "Do you remember thest thing that happened before you fell into your slumber?"
"I can recall everything before your ascension clearly, but after your ascension, all I can recall is that you left the Ascension tform with that immortal by the name of Gao Sheng, and that''s where my memories end," Mo Guang replied.
"I see. My memories are also cut off from the moment we left the Ascension tform. It looks like we''ll have to seek out Gao Sheng if we want to know exactly what happened. However, we''re currently not in a very good situation.
¡°I searched that man''s soul just now, and it seems that not only are we in the Spirit Domain Realm, a lower realm directly under the Northern cial Immortal Region, 300 years have already passed by, which means that both of us are missing three centuries worth of memories," Han Li said.
"That is indeed terrible. Do you have any ns, Fellow Daoist Han?" Mo Guang asked.
"There may only be a wisp of your soul left, but you''re still a Heavenly Devilish Monarch. Surely you still have some abilities up your sleeve," Han Li said as he raised an eyebrow.
"At the moment, I''ve lost almost all of my magic power and abilities, and I can only unleash some low-grade secret techniques," Mo Guang replied.
In spite of this piece of bad news, Han Li seemed to have drawn reassurance from it.
"This is already far better than the situation that I envisioned. Compared with you, I''m in a far worse state. I just examined myself, and not only have I lost all of my treasures and pills, nothing remains of my magic power, and my soul and physical body have all suffered severe trauma, so I''m currently nothing more than a shadow of my former self. The only good news is that I''ve finally awakened.
¡°As long as I can find the right spirit medicines to treat my condition, I should be able to recover very quickly. On top of that, I can sense Fellow Daoist Xie and the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch''s existence through their soul contracts, but I don''t know where they are. It looks like I''ll have to find a way to recover them in the future."
"It sounds like you truly are in a troublesome situation, Fellow Daoist Han. In order to find Gao Sheng, you''ll have to return to the Northern cial Immortal Region. If I recall correctly, it''s far easier to ascend to the Immortal Realm from a realm that''s directly under it, but you''ll still require the assistance of an Ascension tform and an immense amount of magic power to protect your body and allow you to forcibly break through the boundaries of the realm," Mo Guang said.
"There''s no hurry in returning to the Immortal Realm. There''s plenty of time for me to think about that. However, one thing is for sure: whoever is responsible for reducing me to this state, I''ll be sure to have a good chat with them once I return to the Immortal Realm," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice, and his expression was quite calm, but one couldn''t help but wonder if he were truly as calm as he appeared.
Mo Guang offered no response.
"Are you willing to continue following me, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang? As you can see, I''m in an extremely terrible situation right now. If you want to leave, I won''t stop you."
"There''s no need to test me, Fellow Daoist Han. Even in my current condition, the Heavenly Devil Contract is still effective, and as I am now, I won''t even be able to resist the binding power of the contract. If I were to try and leave you now, I would be cing myself in even more severe peril," Mo Guang replied.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he said, "Alright, in that case, I''ll do my best to ensure that you don''t regret your decision. As long as I can recover to the peak of my powers, I''ll be sure to do everything in my power to restore your soul and spiritual nature. What we have to do now is gather some information and resources from this realm to see if we can recover my magic power to its former heights."
"I''ll leave everything to you, Fellow Daoist Han. In my current state, it''s a struggle to show myself for too long, so I''m going back to rest and recuperate," Mo Guang said in a calm manner, then transformed into a cloud of ck mist that quickly vanished into Han Li''s shadow.
Han Li exhaled before taking a nce at Liu Le''er, who was still sound asleep, and he also closed his eyes to rest.
Only after close to half a dayter did Liu Le''er finally wake up.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she caught sight of Han Li, who was seated beside her with his legs crossed and his eyes closed, and the Daoist Master White Stone, who was standing off to the side with a wary expression.
Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li opened his eyes and said with a smile, "You''re finally awake."
Liu Le''er''s body instantly stiffened upon hearing this, and she looked into Han Li''s eyes with aplex expression as she murmured, "Brother Rock, you''re all cured now..."
"Le''er, my name is Han Li. You can call me Brother Han from now on," Han Li replied in a gentle voice.
A rather dejected look appeared on Liu Le''er''s face upon hearing this, and she reluctantly obliged. "Brother Han."
In this moment, the young man before her was looking rather unfamiliar.
Han Li could tell what she was thinking from the changes in her expression, and he smiled as he said, "I may be awake now, but I still remember everything that happened these past few years. I''m still Brother Rock to you, and that''s never going to change."
Liu Le''er was ecstatic to hear this, and tears welled up in her eyes as she dove straight into Han Li''s arms.
"I know you have many questions you want to ask me, but now''s not the time. I''ll exin everything to you when a suitable opportunity arises," Han Li said in a gentle voice as he patted Liu Le''er''s head in a doting manner.
Liu Le''er nodded obediently in response and didn''t ask any further questions. However, her gaze then fell upon Daoist Master White Stone, and a wary look immediately appeared in her eyes.
1. For more information on Mo Guang, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2435: Soul Badge. ?
Chapter 14: Attack
Chapter 14: Attack
"Don''t worry, Fellow Daoist White Stone is on our side now. He wouldn''t dare to do anything to you in the future," Han Li said with a smile as he rose to his feet, taking a subtle nce at Daoist Master White Stone as he did so.
The elderly daoist priest shuddered upon hearing this, and he hurriedly nodded insistently to pledge his loyalty, while his back was already drenched in cold sweat.
Liu Le''er''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this.
"Let''s get out of here."
Han Litched onto Liu Le''er''s hand and made his way over to the stone door of the secret chamber before pressing his palm against it.
Right as he was about to push the door open, he suddenly stopped what he was doing, and his brows furrowed slightly.
Liu Le''er could sense the slight change in Han Li''s demeanor, and she raised her head to look up at him with an inquisitive expression.
"What a coincidence!" Han Li chuckled before pushing the stone door open and making his way outside.
The sky outside was quite dark, indicating that it was already nighttime, but from the ind, one could see that the entirety of the Yu Manor was as bright as day, having been illuminated by mes.
Sounds of battle could be heard ringing out from the front yard, interspersed with booming explosions.
Dense smoke was rising up from all over the Yu Manor like a series of ck demonic dragons ascending into the night sky.
Even though Han Li''s trio was situated on the ind far away from where everyone else in the Yu Manor was, there was still a remarkably strong scent of bloodshed in the air.
"What''s going on?" Liu Le''er asked as she swept her gaze around the Yu Manor with an incredulous expression.
"Do you know what''s happening?" Han Li asked as he turned to Daoist Master White Stone.
"I''m afraid not, Senior. Perhaps the Yu Family is being attacked by its enemies," Daoist Master White Stone replied in a hesitant voice, then fell silent with a respectful expression, awaiting further instructions.
Han Li took a nce at Liu Le''er to find that she was also looking up at him, and after a moment of contemtion, he said, "I suppose I owe Yu Qi a favor for waking me up from my prior state, so I can''t just leave without doing anything. Let''s go and take a look."
With that, the three of them emerged from the daoist temple, then traveled toward the front yard of the Yu Manor.
The closer they drew to the front yard, the clearer the sounds of battle became. By the time the three of them arrived at that circr archway, they were greeted by the sight of a hellish scene.
The small courtyard beyond the archway wasden with piles upon piles of mangled bodies, most of which were wearing the armor assigned to the guards of the prime minister''s manor, while only a very small proportion of them were wearing ck assassin garments.
The courtyard was illuminated by fire, and there was a white light barrier in the corner of the courtyard that was closest to the front yard, which was keeping around a dozen ck-suited figures at bay.
Right at this moment, a spiral-shaped cone of fire shot up from the group of ck-suited figures, and upon reaching an altitude of several dozen feet above the light barrier, it suddenly descended from above, swooping down like a rapidly revolving fiery dragon.
A resounding boom rang out as the cone of fire struck the light barrier, and having already been struggling to hold itself together, the light barrier instantly shattered upon impact.
Immediately thereafter, a deep voice rang out. "Kill them!"
The dozen or so ck-suited figures immediately charged toward the corner with their weapons raised.
"Stop them," Han Li ordered in an indifferent voice.
Daoist Master White Stone immediately stepped into the courtyard before opening his mouth to release a burst of ck light.
The ball of ck light contained the same serpentine flying sword from before, and it arrived above the ck-suited figures in the blink of an eye.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as the flying sword shuddered, releasing several dozen bursts of ck sword qi that shot down rapidly from above.
The sound of flesh and bones being punctured rang out incessantly within the courtyard, apanied by agonized howls.
All of the ck-suited figures were instantly killed on the spot, with the exception of one with a short beard who managed to react quite quickly and rolled several dozen feet away.
"Who''s there?" the ck-suited man asked in an aggressive voice.
Daoist Master White Stone offered no response as he swept a hand through the air, and the flying sword that was hovering in mid-air instantly came swooping down, hurtling directly toward the man''s chest.
The ck-suited man''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly swept a sleeve through the air to release a small blue shield, which quickly expanded to form a giant shield that positioned itself in front of him.
At the same time, he raised his other hand, and the mes of the cone of fire reared up as it sped rapidly toward the ck flying sword.
A resounding boom rang out, and mes scattered in all directions as the cone of fire exploded, falling down from above as balls of fire.
As for the ck flying sword, it pierced directly into the ck-suited man''s chest. The giant blue shield had also been punctured as if it were nothing more than a papier mache structure, posing no resistance to the flying sword at all.
"You''re... a Core Formation cultivator..." the ck-suited man gurgled as blood poured out of his mouth and nostrils.
Daoist Master White Stone drew his flying sword back to himself with a wave of his hand, then scoffed in a disdainful voice, "To think that a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator dares to oppose someone as mighty as myself..."
Before he finished his sentence, he abruptly shut his mouth, then stole a fearful nce at Han Li.
Han Li didn''t react to his arrogant promation at all. All he did was make his way over to a corner of the courtyard, where two people were huddled together.
One of them was a young man in a bloodstained azure robe with a head of disheveled hair. He was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but his aura was quite feeble, and it was clear that he was close to being a spent force.
Behind him was a young woman in servant''s clothing, curled up into a ball. Her entire body was stained with blood, and she was trembling with fear, not daring to raise her head.
Liu Le''er faltered slightly upon identifying the young woman, then called out, "Sister Xiao Wu?"
The young woman''s body stiffened upon hearing this, and she slowly poked her head out from behind the young man. In the instant that she caught sight of Liu Le''er, she immediately burst into tears.
Liu Le''er hurriedly rushed forward to help her to her feet.
The young man hesitated momentarily, then also struggled to his feet before imploring, "Daoist Master White Stone, please save the young mistress... Hurry!"
Daoist Master White Stone faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he offered no response. Instead, he took a nce at Han Li.
"Where is the young mistress?" Han Li asked.
The young man clearly didn''t recognize Han Li, so he was rather taken aback by this question, but he still replied, "When Xiao Wu and I were sent to request reinforcements from the ind, the young mistress was being protected by the other elders at the main estate, but given how fearsome the enemies are, I don''t think they''ll be able tost much longer."
"Stay here and treat your own wounds. Xiao Wu, you''re most familiar with theyout of the Yu Manor, lead the way to the main estate," Han Li instructed in an indifferent manner.
At this point, Xiao Wu had stopped crying under Liu Le''er''s constion, and she turned to Han Li with a perplexed expression, wondering why the man who had been mentally handicapped just a few hours ago had suddenly started issuing orders to everyone.
The young man was also rather bewildered.
It was clear to him that Han Li was the leader of the group. Daoist Master White Stone was one of the most respected figures in the Yu Manor, yet he seemed to also be content to follow Han Li''s lead.
"Alright,e with me."
Xiao Wu took a moment to collect herself, then rushed toward the front yard, followed closely by Han Li''s trio.
Some time had already passed since the Yu Manor was first attacked, and the entire front yard of the manor wasden with bodies, some of which were guards, while others were servants. It seemed that the ck-suited figures were intent on ughtering everyone in the Yu Manor.
Liu Le''er was horrified by the sights that she beheld along the way. Even though she was already aware of the cruel and bloodthirsty nature of humans, the scenes presented to her still made her develop apletely new understanding of the human race.
Aside from the piles of bodies everywhere, they also encountered several groups of ck-suited figures, but almost all of them were killed by Daoist Master White Stone in mere moments.
asionally, they would encounter some Foundation Establishment cultivators, but they were no match for Daoist Master White Stone, either.
Thus, the four of them passed through a corridor and continued to rush toward the main estate.
Chapter 15: Badge
Chapter 15: Badge
At the main estate of the Yu Manor, the previouslyvish and immactely maintained courtyard had been reduced to a set of ruins. There were corpses and flowing blood everywhere, and the stench of blood in the air was so strong that it was downright nauseating.
All of the survivors of the Yu Family were gathered here, and there were only about two dozen of them left. Some were young and some were old, and Yu Qi and the second young master of the family were both among them.
All of them wore horrified expressions, and there were a few women among them who were trembling uncontrobly. Only Yu Qi and a few others were able to maintain some modicum ofposure.
There was a particrlyrge number of ck-suited figures here, close to 30 at a rough nce, and they had trapped the surviving members of the Yu Family in the courtyard from three sides. They were split up into small groups of around three to five people, and all of them were cultivators with most of them wielding magic tools.
Thankfully, the other elders of the Yu Family finally arrived to protect the surviving members of the Yu Family.
The Yu Family was the family of the Prosperous Nation''s prime minister, so the cultivator elders assigned to the family were all quite powerful. In particr, there was a middle-aged red-robed cultivator standing in front of the surviving members of the Yu Family.
He had pockmarks all over his face and a short figure that waspletely unremarkable, but red light was surging around his entire body, and he was giving off the enormous spiritual pressure of a Core Formation cultivator.
There was a crimson fire bead treasure that was hovering above his head, and several crimson balls of fire were revolving around it.
The other three elders of the Yu Family consisted of two men and a woman, and their cultivation base was inferior to that of the red-robed man, but they were also quite formidable in their own right. One of them was a ck-robed young woman with a set of elegant features, but they were marred by a scar on her face. She was standing on one side of the red-robed cultivator, while another thin middle-aged man with a pair of deep-set eyes stood on his other side.
The final cultivator was a thin elderly man with dark skin, resembling an old farmer, and he was standing slightly back from the trio.
Even though there was a Core Formation cultivator among them, they were still only a group of four, and they had to prioritize the safety of the Yu Family''s survivors, so they found themselves locked in an impasse against the ck-suited cultivators around them.
"We can''t keep going like this. Protect the young mistress and everyone else, and prepare to rush out as soon as the opportunity arises!" the red-robed cultivator instructed, then made a hand seal before opening his mouth to release a burst of red light, which vanished into the fire bead above his head.
The fire bead instantly began to rotate at a far greater speed, to the point that it had be a crimson blur.
Around a dozen giant fireballs flew out of the bead before quickly fusing together to form a thick fiery dragon that was over 100 feet in length.
The fiery dragon was covered in ayer of clear-cut red scales, and it let loose a furious roar as it swooped down into the crowd of ck-suited figures up ahead.
The first group of ck-suited figures were caught off guard and sent flying by the fiery dragon, with two of them being reduced to ashes on the spot.
Immediately thereafter, the fiery dragon swept its tail violently through the air to release a wave of fire, forcing all of the ck-suited figures in the general vicinity to rush back in retreat.
After a brief moment of chaos, all of the ck-suited cultivators steadied themselves before bombarding the fiery dragon with a barrage of attacks.
The fiery dragon''s giant body swayed from side to side from the impact of the attacks, and the mes on its body were churning incessantly, but none of the attacks were sufficient to deal a fatal blow. The dragon continued to wreak havoc to its heart''s content, and after just a few seconds, close to half of all of the ck-suited figures were either dead or injured.
"Go!" the red-robed cultivator yelled at his threepanions.
However, right at this moment, a burst of blurry ck light shot forth at an incredible speed, striking the lower abdomen of the fiery dragon directly like a bolt of ck lightning.
The burst of ck light pierced deep into the fiery dragon''s body, revealing itself to be a ck arrow that was riddled with ck runes.
The runes on the arrow''s shaft abruptly released an enormous burst of ck light before exploding violently with an almighty boom, sending a giant dark red mushroom cloud rising up into the air, causing violent tremors to run through the nearby ground.
A huge hole was instantly blown into the fiery dragon''s lower abdomen, and the mes around it shed erratically.
The red-robed cultivator and the other three elders were all stunned to see this.
Another ck-suited figure had appeared at the entrance of the courtyard, and he was wielding arge ck bow with ck light surging around his body. The aura that he was giving off indicated that he was a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Immediately thereafter, four more ck-suited figures emerged from the darkness behind him. They were all also at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Stage, wielding the same ck bows that they drew and fired in unison.
Four ck runed arrows shot forth, racing rapidly through the night sky like a cluster of ck shooting stars.
The red-robed cultivator hurriedly made a series of hand seals to control the fiery dragon to evade the arrows, but it was far too big a target, and the archers were exceptionally skilled. In the end, it was only able to dodge one of the arrows, while the other three all struck their target.
The three runed arrows exploded in unison, and three more massive holes were blown into the fiery dragon''s body.
As a result, it was unable to maintain its form any longer, and it exploded into a flurry of crimson mes that quickly fizzled out into nothingness.
The red-robed cultivator gave a muffled groan as his body swayed slightly.
Right at this moment, a ghastly screech rang out, and a streak of white light shot out of the darkness. It was several times faster than even the runed arrows from before, and it reached the red-robed cultivator in the blink of an eye.
The red-robed cultivator was greatly rmed by this, and the crimson fire bead above his head immediately flew forward to meet the streak of white light at his behest. At the same time, he flew back while raising his hands to release two streaks of light, one blue and one red, containing a small blue sword and a crimson flying trident, respectively, both of which also flew toward the streak of white light.
The white light shed, revealing itself to be a de of bone that was around three feet in length with gusts of Yin wind swirling around it.
Large swathes of ck threads abruptly appeared on the surface of the de amid a faint buzzing sound, and the threads wrapped themselves around the fire bead, the blue sword, and the crimson flying trident.
The spiritual light radiating from the three treasures instantly dimmed, and they slowed down significantly, looking as if they could fall out of the air at any moment.
Meanwhile, the bone de passed right through the three sluggish treasures in a sh, then suddenly appeared near the red-robed cultivator''s head before shing through the air like lightning.
The red-robed cultivator let loose a bloodcurdling cry that was abruptly cut short as his head slid off his neck, having been decapitated.
Blood spurted several feet up into the air like a gory geyser, and his headless body swayed momentarily before toppling to the ground.
"Daoist Master Red Robe!" the survivors of the Yu Family eximed in unison.
The other three elders were also horrified to see this, and they all backtracked a few steps, unsure of how to proceed.
Immediately thereafter, a young man with a set of sinister features slowly emerged from the crowd. He was none other than the man who had been spying on Yu Qi in secret back in Farbright City, but he wasn''t apanied by the gray-robed man here.
All of the surrounding ck-suited figures immediately stopped what they were doing and bowed respectfully toward the young man.
With a wave of his hand, the white bone de shot back to the young man, carrying Daoist Master Red Robe''s three treasures along with it.
He took a nce at the three treasures, and a disdainful look appeared on his face, but he still stowed them away before turning to the survivors of the Yu Family with a cold expression. "Kill them all! Don''t let a single one of them live!"
"Yes!" the ck-suited figures hurriedly replied in unison before stepping forward to carry out his orders.
The three elders of the Yu Family looked on with grim expressions, but none of them stepped in to intervene.
Some of the women and children among the Yu Family''s survivors were sobbing in despair, while others had already copsed to the ground, and there were even a few who had soiled themselves.
"Hold on!"
A pleasant voice rang out, and Yu Qi stepped forward to confront the ck-suited figures.
She had put on her male attire once again, but there was no disguising the hint of seduction in her features.
The young man''s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of her, and his lecherous gaze roamed greedily over her body.
Yu Qi''s face was quite pale, but she was still just barely able to maintain herposure. She fought back the urge to gouge out the deplorable young man''s eyes as she pulled out a purple and golden badge before disying it to the group.
There was an extremely vivid and detailed purple and golden me design emzoned upon the badge.
"How dare you ughter the members of our Yu Family? Do you have no regard for the Cold me Sect?"
Chapter 16: Despair
Chapter 16: Despair
The young man took a nce at the purple and golden badge, then turned his gaze back to Yu Qi with a faint smile. "Ah, I see you have an eptance badge from the Cold me Sect. I''ve long heard that you are the number one beauty of Farbright City, and I can see that those rumors certainly aren''t unfounded."
Yu Qi was instilled with some confidence by the fact that the young man recognized the badge in her hand, and she dered, "I don''t care who you are, leave the Yu Manor right this instant. Otherwise, you''ll be making an enemy out of the Cold me Sect!"
The three elders of the Yu Family were originally nning to take no further part in this confrontation, but they were all very much encouraged by this turn of events.
A hint of hope was also ignited in the hearts of the Yu Family''s survivors.
The young man suddenly burst intoughter upon seeing this. "Am I supposed to be afraid of the Cold me Sect?"
"How dare you look down on the Cold me Sect?" Yu Qi used with a furious expression.
"All you have is an eptance badge, so you''re not even an official disciple of the Cold me Sect. Even if you were an official disciple, did you think that would be enough to faze me?" A cold smile appeared on the young man''s face as he flipped a hand over to produce a ck badge that was around the same size as the badge in Yu Qi''s hand, and there was a silver skull design emzoned onto its surface.
A stunned look appeared on Yu Qi''s face upon seeing this. "That''s a Heavenly Ghost Sect inner court disciple badge! You''re from the Heavenly Ghost Sect!"
The Heavenly Ghost Sect ranks alongside the Cold me Sect!
The three elders of the Yu Family drew a collective sharp breath, and they exchanged a nce with one another before falling silent.
A thought seemed to have urred to Yu Qi, and a hint of color returned to her face as she dered, "Even if you''re a disciple of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, don''t forget that the Cold me Sect belongs to the Prosperous Nation. Are you trying to instigate a war between the two sects with your actions?"
"Under normal circumstances, I would say that you''re correct, but I''m afraid that you''re sorely mistaken here," the young man countered with a disdainful sneer.
Yu Qi faltered slightly upon hearing this.
"Let me fill you in. The Cold me Sect has already been defeated in the contest against our sect, and they''ve handed over the jurisdiction rights over the Prosperous Nation, so now, the entire nation belongs to our Heavenly Ghost Sect," the young man revealed with a cruel smile.
Yu Qi waspletely rooted to the spot upon hearing this as if she had been struck by a bolt of lightning.
The three elders of the Yu Family were also stunned by this revtion, and they reflexively backed away to open up some distance between themselves and the surviving members of the Yu Family.
Everyone from the Yu Family was even more disheartened by this, and their hearts hadpletely sunk.
They didn''t know much about the world of cultivators, but they could tell from this exchange that this was not good news for them.
"By the way, there''s something else I forgot to mention that I''m sure you''ll be very interested to hear," the young man continued as his sinister smile widened.
Yu Qi''s heart jolted upon hearing this, and she knew that there could only be more bad news toe, but she still couldn''t help but ask, "What is it?"
"Some of the officials in the imperial court of the Prosperous Nation dared to oppose the orders of our Heavenly Ghost Sect, and they''ve been charged with treason. Yesterday, all of them were beheaded in public in the capital city, and I recall that Prime Minister Yu seemed to have been among them, alongside his two sons who were also serving under him," the young man said as he looked directly into Yu Qi''s eyes.
Yu Qi''s vision darkened momentarily upon hearing this, and she copsed to the ground, while the badge in her hand also slipped out of her grasp.
Everyone else from the Yu Family was also plunged even further into the depths of despair upon hearing this, and several women were unable to contain themselves any longer as they burst into tears.
Just a moment ago, they had been the esteemed members of Prime Minister Yu''s family, revered by themon folk from their lofty perches at the upper echelons of society, but all of a sudden, they were told that their nation had been conquered, the prime minister had been beheaded, and they were about to follow him soon.
The despair on Yu Qi''s face brought a look of sadistic pleasure to the young man''s face, and his cheeks became flushed with excitement as he cackled like a madman.
He loved nothing more than to drive others into the abyss of despair before taking in their expressions at the height of their helplessness.
Once his cackling subsided, the flush in his cheeks gradually faded, and he ordered in a cold voice, "Kill everyone, but leave the young mistress alive."
The ck-suited figures immediately gave affirmative responses before closing in on the surviving members of the Yu Family with cruel grins.
At this point, the three elders had already backed away to the side with their heads lowered, seemingly waiting for an opportunity to escape. The young man was quite pleased to see this, and he made no effort to stop them.
One of the ck-suited figures approached the young man as he said with a fawning expression, "You have an exceptional eye, Young Master Qi! This woman possesses no cultivation base, but she''s already received an eptance badge from the Cold me Sect, which means that she must possess decent cultivation aptitude. She would be a perfect dual cultivation partner for you,"
The young man burst intoughter once again upon hearing this.
Yu Qi shuddered as a hint of rity returned to her eyes, and a look of finality appeared on her face. With one swift motion, she drew a dagger from her waist before plunging it viciously toward her own heart.
The young man''s smile stiffened upon seeing this, clearly not expecting her to be so fiery and unyielding, and it was already toote to stop her.
All of a sudden, a sharp gust of wind whistled through the air before striking the dagger in Yu Qi''s hand, instantly sending it flying away before ttering onto the ground.
Several more sharp gusts of wind shot through the air, hurtling toward the ck-suited figures who were about to ughter the survivors of the Yu Family.
A string of agonized howls rang out, and the sharp gusts of wind were so strong that the ck-suited figures who were struck were instantly sent flying with blood gushing out of their mouths.
All of theirpanions immediately stopped in their tracks with rmed expressions.
"Who''s there?" the young man asked as he turned toward an opening not far away.
Everyone else also turned toward the same direction, and the sound of footsteps rang out as several figures slowly emerged, revealing themselves to be none other than Han Li and his group.
The young man cast his gaze toward the group through narrowed eyes, but his gaze only lingered on Han Li for a brief moment before he quickly directed his attention toward Daoist Master White Stone.
"Daoist Master White Stone!"
"Daoist Master White Stone, save us!"
The survivors of the Yu Family were already awaiting death in a state ofplete despair, but the arrival of Daoist Master White Stone instilled them with a renewed sense of hope, and they desperately implored for him to step in.
"Young Mistress!"
Xiao Wu paid no heed to the nearby ck-suited figures as she rushed over to Yu Qi before helping her to her feet.
"Xiao Wu."
Yu Qi cast aplex gaze toward Daoist Master White Stone.
Daoist Master White Stone was a Core Formation cultivator, but the same had also applied to Daoist Master Red Robe, and he had been in by the young man with ease, so Daoist Master White Stone was most likely no match for him, either.
All of a sudden, her gaze fell upon Han Li.
His physical appearance hadn''t changed at all, but his eyes were no longer vacant, and he was giving off a sense of remarkable calmness given the situation that he was in.
"So you''re Daoist Master White Stone? I''d advise you not to stick your nose into other people''s business if you value your life!" the young man said as he turned to Daoist Master White Stone, and ck light radiated from his body as he released a burst of enormous pressure.
Those sharp gusts of wind just now had been incredibly powerful, but they possessed no form, and it was as if they had arisen out of thin air.
The young man had no clue how those sharp gusts of wind had been generated, so he was rather wary of Daoist Master White Stone and was releasing his spiritual pressure for intimidation.
Daoist Master White Stone shuddered, and a hint of fear shed through his eyes.
The spiritual pressure being released by the young man was already at the mid-Core Formation Stage, while he was only an early-Core Formation cultivator, so he was no match for the young man. With that in mind, he couldn''t help but turn his gaze toward Han Li.
He had witnessed exactly what had happened earlier, so he knew that those sharp gusts of wind had been produced by nothing more than a few casual flicks of Han Li''s finger.
A hint of a smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and he didn''t say anything.
Daoist Master White Stone''s heart sank slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately made his decision, stepping forward in a righteous manner as he yelled, "I am an elder of the Yu Manor, how could I possibly just stand by and watch while you do as you please? You brazen bastards must be punished for the heinous acts you''vemitted here!"
A violent look appeared on the young man''s face upon hearing this. "Fine. If you have a death wish, then I''ll kill you along with everyone else!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he raised a hand, and his white bone de shot forth directly toward Daoist Master White Stone.
At the same time, he made a series of hand seals, and a vast expanse of white light erupted from the bone de. A series of white skull projections emerged within the white radiance, and a chorus of ghostly howls began to ring out incessantly.
Chapter 17: Slaying the Two Cultivators
Chapter 17: ying the Two Cultivators
"Look out, Daoist Master White Stone! Daoist Master Red Robe perished to this very same weapon!" Yu Qi cautioned in a loud voice.
Daoist Master White Stone was already greatly rmed by the power imbued within the bone de, and his expression changed drastically upon hearing this. His first instinct was to flee the scene, but with Han Li present, he had no choice but to grit his teeth before opening his mouth to release his serpentine flying sword.
He then quickly made a hand seal, and the sword began to glow with ck light, wrapping around the bone de like a ck python.
A cold smile appeared on the young man''s face as he made a sequence of hand seals before pointing a finger forward, and the light radiating from the bone de became even brighter as it tore viciously through the air.
A dull thump rang out from the serpentine flying sword, and it was snapped into several pieces that fell out of the air.
Daoist Master White Stone hurriedly raised his hand to release a round azure shield to take the flying sword''s ce.
The light radiating from the bone de had dimmed slightly, but its power wasn''t diminished at all as it struck the azure shield with tremendous force.
This time, the azure shield was able to pose some resistance, but it was still snapped in half in the end. The bone de was stopped in its tracks for a brief moment before glowing brightly once again as it continued to hurtle toward Daoist Master White Stone.
Daoist Master White Stone was greatly rmed to see this, and he ducked behind Han Li during the split second that the bone de was kept at bay by the azure shield.
In the past, even if he were no match for the young man, he would''ve still been able to put up a good fight. However, all of his most powerful treasures had been destroyed during his sh with Han Li earlier, so he waspletely powerless to stop the bone de.
In the blink of an eye, the bone de appeared in front of Han Li before continuing onward at an incredible speed, aiming to slice through both Han Li and Daoist Master White Stone''s bodies at the waist.
"Senior Han!" Daoist Master White Stone eximed in a panicked voice.
Han Li remained as calm as ever as he raised a hand, and golden light shed from his palm as he reached out like lightning while a series of golden scales surfaced over his skin.
A loud ng rang out, and the light glowing from the bone depletely faded, as did the ghostly howls that were ringing out incessantly. As for the bone de itself, it had been caught in Han Li''s grasp, and it was squirming and struggling incessantly like a small fish, but it was unable to break free.
"Impossible!"
The young man''s eyes widened with incredulity, and he couldn''t believe what he was seeing.
The bone de appeared to be quite ordinary, but it was a replica of the Heavenly Ghost de, the most powerful treasure of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, and it had been crafted for him using a vast array of precious materials by the seniors of his family. It was such a formidable artifact that evente-Core Formation cultivators would struggle to withstand its power, yet Han Li had caught it with his bare hand.
Everyone else at the scene was also looking on with astonished expressions.
Yu Qi was just as shocked as everyone around her, and she was staring at Han Li with bewilderment and a hint of admiration in her eyes.
Daoist Master White Stone was also staring at Han Li with a ck-jawed expression. He knew that there was a good chance that Han Li would be capable of stopping the bone de, but he didn''t think that Han Li would be able to grab it out of thin air with such ridiculous ease!
With that in mind, he couldn''t help but wonder just how powerful Han Li was.
At the same time, he was also counting himself to be quite fortunate.
It was clear to him that if Han Li hadn''t held back during their sh, then he would''ve already been dead by now.
In contrast with everyone else, Liu Le''er''s eyes were filled with excitement, and she wasn''t surprised in the slightest. In her eyes, her Brother Rock was the epitome of invincibility, so this disy of power was only to be expected for her.
"It''s been a very long time since I''ve dealt with such a low-grade treasure," Han Li said as he took an indifferent nce at the bone de in his hand, then abruptly closed his fingers around it.
The bone de was instantly crushed in his grasp with a dull thump, scattering onto the ground as specks of gray light.
"No!"
The young man''s face instantly paled, and he threw up a mouthful of blood.
That de was his bonded treasure, and for him, its destruction was akin to having an arm chopped.
"I''m going to make you pay with your life for destroying my treasure!"
A look of vicious resentment appeared in the young man''s eyes as he made a hand seal and let loose a thunderous roar. Bursts of ck qi rose up all around him, forming an inky-ck cloud in the blink of an eye, within which were countless indistinct ghostly shadows.
Immediately thereafter, he mmed his palm into his own chest thrice in rapid session, releasing three mouthfuls of blood essence. With each mouthful of blood essence that was released, his face would pale slightly further, and by the time all three mouthfuls of blood essence had been expelled, he was already looking as pale as a sheet.
The blood essence that was released instantly swelled to form a vast expanse of dense blood mist that fused into the ck cloud.
The ck cloud instantly turned as red as blood, and it churned violently as it expanded by severalfold. The indistinct ghostly shadows within it also became several times more substantial as they let loose chilling howls.
The young man then stepped forward and vanished into the blood cloud without a trace.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and in the instant that the blood cloud appeared, the temperature in the entire courtyard plummeted drastically as if the entire area had been plunged into a cial pit.
Even a cultivator of Daoist Master White Stone''s caliber couldn''t help but shiver from the cold, and he hurriedly summoned a jade pendant treasure that released a white light barrier to epass both himself and Liu Le''er, then retreated into the distance.
The ck-suited figures in the courtyard and the three elders and surviving members of the Yu Family were all shivering uncontrobly from the freezing cold.
Liu Le''er only felt the biting chill for an instant before the freezing sensation was immediately alleviated by a white light barrier.
She turned to discover that Daoist Master White Stone had arrived by her side, and that the white light barrier had been conjured up by a jade pendant that he had summoned.
At the sight of Liu Le''er''s surprised gaze, Daoist Master White Stone immediately shed her a fawning smile, then retreated to over 100 feet away with her in tow.
A peculiar look appeared on Han Li''s face as he cast his gaze toward the blood cloud in the sky, and he suddenly threw a punch in a certain direction.
A faint ghostly shadow was sent flying out of thin air, and it let loose an anguished wail before exploding into a cloud of gray mist.
However, right at this moment, several ck chains shot out from beneath Han Li like a nest of vicious spitting vipers, instantly binding his entire body tightly.
Immediately thereafter, a gray-robed man emerged silently nearby with his hands locked in a hand seal. It was none other than the very same gray-robed man who had apanied the young man back in Farbright City.
The aura that he was giving off was even superior to that of the young man''s, and his entire body was epassed within the ck ghostly shadow. It seemed as if the two had fused as one, and his body had also taken on a semi-transparent state, looking as if it could vanish into thin air at any moment.
"You came just in time, Senior Martial Brother Fan! Let''s kill this man together!" The young man''s chortling voice rang out from within the blood cloud, followed by a burst of chanting.
Gusts of fierce wind were instantly swept up, and the blood cloud surged toward Han Li like a giant wave.
Han Li remainedpletely expressionless as he stood still on the spot, allowing the blood cloud to devour him in an instant.
The ghostly shadows within the blood cloud all had bloodthirsty looks in their eyes, and they were howling incessantly with their menacing fangs bared, looking as if they wanted to tear Han Li into pieces.
The young man was ecstatic to see this.
These blood souls were all refined using a special secret technique, making them extremely difficult to kill. Anyone who was caught among them would be powerless to escape and worn down until they died.
The gray-robed man was quite surprised that the concealed ghostly entity that he was controlling had been detected by Han Li, but a cruel smile then quickly appeared on his face as he said, "No matter who you are, you''re going to pay with your life for opposing our Heavenly Ghost Sect!"
Immediately thereafter, he appeared directly above Han Li in a sh, then thrust his palms downward. Two giant ck ghostly ws appeared out of thin air with green light revolving around the tips of the ws, and they were giving off a foul stench, indicating that they were carrying lethal poison.
The two massive ws came swooping down viciously, and Liu Le''er immediately rushed toward Han Li without any regard for her own safety.
Daoist Master White Stone hurriedly pulled her back with an rmed expression. "Stop! With Senior Han''s unfathomable powers, I''m sure he''ll have a way to break free!"
Despite what he was saying, he was also feeling rather uneasy. Another powerful enemy had arrived on the scene, this one seemingly even more formidable than the first one, and he didn''t know if Han Li would actually be able to hold his own against them.
In the distance, the three elders and surviving members of the Yu Family were all looking on with bated breath, hoping against hope that their unlikely savior would be able to rise to the asion.
Han Li remainedpletely unfazed by the situation that he was in, and a string of dull cracks suddenly rang out from within his body. At the same time, he suddenly swelled drastically in size while ayer of golden scales surfaced over his skin.
With a casual shrug of his shoulders, the ck chains around him instantly snapped into pieces. He thenshed out with his fists, unleashing a dense wall of golden fist projections that erupted in all directions like a ferocious storm.
As soon as the ck ghostly ws came into contact with the golden fist projections, they instantly shattered and disintegrated into nothingness. The gray-robed man was also struck by countless fist projections amid an rmed cry that was quickly cut short.
The ck ghostly shadow around him was immediately destroyed, and he was sent flying like a ragdoll before mming heavily down onto the ground. By the time he came to a rest, his entire body was nothing more than a gruesome mass of mangled flesh and blood. His body and soul had been instantly destroyed, and he was well and truly dead.
At the same time, the entire blood cloud and all of the ghostly shadows within it were alsopletely erased by the golden fist projections, forcibly revealing the young man.
At this moment, he waspletely rooted to the spot, but in the instant that he met Han Li''s icy cold gaze, he immediately shuddered before making a hand seal, upon which a vast ck cloud surged out of his body, and he sped away into the distance as quickly as he could.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he took a deep breath before exhaling sharply.
A burst of white light shot out of his mouth, piercing into the ck cloud in a sh.
A blood-curdling cry rang out, and the ck cloud abruptly disintegrated, following which the young man fell out of the sky, having had a hole punched through his head.
Complete silence descended upon the entire courtyard.
"He''s a sword cultivator!" someone eximed in a feeble voice.
Chapter 18: Request
Chapter 18: Request
No more than three seconds had passed from the moment that the gray-robed man appeared to the instant that Han Li slew both of his assants.
Two seemingly invincible Core Formation cultivators had fallen in what seemed like the blink of an eye, and everyone in the courtyard, including the ck-suited figures and everyone from the Yu Family, waspletely bbergasted.
What was particrly astonishing to them was the burst of white light that Han Li had sted out of his mouth. It was far too fast to be traced with the naked eye, and it had in the young man in an instant, even though he had already fled far from the scene.
In addition to that, the assertion that Han Li was a "sword cultivator" had all of the ck-suited figurespletely petrified, and they didn''t dare to stay any longer as they summoned their magic tools and frantically attempted to flee the scene.
In the Spirit Domain Realm, sword cultivators were able to easily crush other cultivators of the same caliber. In addition to that, flying swords were extremely fast and could kill in an instant, so if they didn''t get away now, it would be toote.
Spiritual light of all different colors appeared in the courtyard in rapid session as around a dozen flying treasures rose up into the air at once before fleeing in different directions.
Han Li didn''t even bother to take a nce at those people. Instead, he cast his gaze toward the young man''s body, and he raised an eyebrow as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
All of the surviving members of the Yu Family exchanged a series of bewildered nces, and no one dared to say anything. As for the three elders, they didn''t even dare to breathe too loudly for fear of attracting Han Li''s attention.
Meanwhile, Daoist Master White Stone stole a nce at Han Li, and after a brief hesitation, he suddenly swept his right hand toward one of the fleeing ck-suited cultivators.
His sleeve bulged slightly, following which a long golden rope shot out like a viper springing out of its cave, then ensnared something in mid-air before rapidly flying back.
A thin ck-suited cultivator was dragged back out of mid-air by the golden rope, and he waspletely bound as he mmed onto the ground in front of Han Li.
The ck-suited cultivator paid no heed to the pain from falling from such a height as he immediately implored, "S... Spare me..."
Han Li ignored the ck-suited cultivator before him as he turned to Daoist Master White Stone before asking, "Do you know of this Heavenly Ghost Sect?"
Daoist Master White Stone took a nce at Yu Qi, then carefully answered, "The Heavenly Ghost Sect and the Cold me Sect are both considered to be among the most powerful sects in the Spirit Domain Realm."
Han Li nodded in response, then turned to the ck-suited man. "How many people did the Heavenly Ghost Sect send to Farbright City?"
The ck-suited cultivator struggled into a sitting position as he hurriedly replied, "ording to my knowledge, it''s only the people that were sent to the Yu Manor today."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he felt a bone-chilling sensation run through his entire body, as if he had been plunged into a cial pit.
The tall and imposing young man before him was suddenly looking at him with an incredibly cold gaze. His inky-ck pupils seemed to have suddenly be infinitely massive, transforming into a pair of bottomless ck vortexes, and if he dared to even consider the idea of telling a lie, he would immediately be sucked in.
This feeling onlysted for an instant before fading, but it still made all of the fine hairs all over his entire body stand up on end, and his back waspletely drenched in cold sweat.
The ck-suited cultivator wanted to kneel down and kowtow to Han Li, but he was unable to do so as he was bound by the golden rope, so he could only lower his head as a gesture of submission. "You have to believe me, Senior! I''m telling the truth!
¡°We are only outer court disciples of the sect who were ordered toe on this mission to the prime minister''s manor. As for whether there are other disciples of our sect in the city, that is something I truly do not know!"
"Whose orders are you following? His orders?" Han Li asked as he pointed at the body of the young man not far away.
"Yes. His name was Qi Minghao, and he was an inner court disciple of our sect. He possessed exceptional cultivation aptitude, so he was held in very high regard in our sect. On top of that, one of his granduncles is an elder of our sect, and that further strengthened his standings, so we didn''t dare to refuse his orders.
¡°If we had known that the Yu Manor was under your protection, we would''ve never dared to set foot here!" the ck-suited cultivator said in a pitiable voice.
At this point, Yu Qi had already made her way over to the ck-suited figure, and there were tears swimming in her eyes as she asked, "Was Yu Minghao telling the truth? Are my father and brothers..."
"Outer court disciples like myself had no right to participate in what happened in the capital city, but ording to what I''ve heard, the situation is much the same as what Yu Minghao described," the ck-suited cultivator replied in a fearful manner.
Yu Qi closed her eyes upon hearing this, and tears quickly flowed down her cheeks.
Another burst of sobbing rang out from the women and children among the Yu Family''s survivors.
A momentter, Yu Qi reopened her eyes before asking with a pained expression, "If your Heavenly Ghost Sect has already taken over the Prosperous Nation, then just seize control over the existing imperial family. Why do you insist on wiping out our Yu Family?"
"This is an established practice in our sect. In order to gainplete control over the Prosperous Nation, the imperial family tied to the Cold me Sect and all of the families of the officials that served the past imperial family are to be killed, and the Yu Family falls under this category."
All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have urred to the ck-suited cultivator, and his voice began to tremble with fear as he continued, "Please forgive me for going off on a tangent, but Elder Qi of our sect is renowned for being protective of his juniors, so he''s definitely going toe after all those involved in the death of his grandnephew. Even the outer court disciples like myself who apanied him on this mission are sure to be killed."
All of the survivors of the Yu Family were horrified to hear this, and the expressions of the three elders also became extremely grim.
At this point, the graceful and regal facade of the Yu Family''s second young master had beenpletely torn away, and his face was smeared with tears, dirt, and blood as he implored in a sobbing voice, "We can''t afford to waste any more time here, Sister. We have to leave this ce right away! You have a master at the Cold me Sect, don''t you? Let''s go to her, I''m sure she''ll take us in."
Yu Qi paid no heed to him as she raised a hand before wiping her tears dry with her sleeve. She then made her way over to Han Li, Liu Le''er, and Daoist Master White Stone before extending a respectful bow. "Thank you for saving our lives."
Han Li offered no response and epted her gesture of gratitude.
Daoist Master White Stone also remained silent, merely nodding in response.
"Sister Qi..." Liu Le''er''s family had also perished under terrible circumstances, so she could empathize with Yu Qi. She wanted to say something to console her, but she didn''t know what to say, so her voice trailed off into silence.
Yu Qi gave her a slight nod and forced a faint smile onto her own face.
After that, the grief and dejection in her eyes gradually faded, and a resilient and unyielding look appeared on her face. Even though she was still in her female attire, it was as if she had turned from the young mistress of the Yu Family to the young master that she asionally posed as.
She picked up the dagger that had been knocked out of her hand earlier by Han Li, then plunged it viciously toward the ck-suited cultivator''s chest in a sh.
"No! Spare me..."
A blood-curdling howl rang out as the dagger was buried all the way up to its hilt.
The ck-suited cultivator copsed into a puddle of his own blood and spasmed a few times before falling still.
The survivors of the Yu Family couldn''t help but exchange a few uneasy nces upon seeing this.
At this point, only around a dozen members of the Yu Family still remained, and Yu Qi turned to them with a determined expression as she dered, "The Yu Manor has fallen. Even with the Cold me Sect as our backer, we won''t be able to recover from this anytime soon. All members of our Yu Family are toe with me to the Cold me Sect. As for everyone else, if you no longer wish to follow me, you can take some money from the storeroom and leave."
The surviving members of the Yu Family were horrified and at aplete loss for what to do, but with Yu Qi taking control of the situation, they gradually calmed down, and the sobbinging from the women and children slowly subsided.
Han Li was quite impressed by this, and he turned to Yu Qi with a hint of approval in his eyes.
Yu Qi then cast her gaze toward the three elders and continued, "Elders, you have risked your lives to protect us, and words cannot express my gratitude. If you wish to leave, you can each choose a few of the treasures in our manor to take with you. However, if you''re willing to continue protecting us on our journey to the Cold me Sect, then I''ll be sure to offer your furtherpensation in the future."
The three elders exchanged a few hesitant nces upon hearing this, and all of them seemed to be waiting for Han Li and Daoist Master White Stone to make their decisions first.
Yu Qi took a nce at Han Li, and she immediately understood what the three elders were thinking. With that in mind, she immediately strode over to Han Li before extending a curtsey.
"Brother Liu, I know next to nothing about you, but it''s clear to me that your powers are beyond what I can fathom. Normal treasures will most likelypletely fail to appeal to you, so the only thing that I can offer you is a Wyrm Essence Bead that has been passed down in our family for generations.
¡°I''m willing to offer the treasure to you aspensation if you apany us to the Cold me Sect," Yu Qi said as she looked straight into Han Li''s eyes with an earnest expression.
A hint of greed appeared in Daoist Master White Stone''s eyes upon hearing mention of a Wyrm Essence Bead, but he then took a nce at Han Li out of the corners of his eyes, and any sneaky thoughts in his mind immediately disappeared.
"Have you gone insane, Sister? How could you offer him our Wyrm Essence Bead?" the second young master of the Yu Family eximed in an rmed voice.
Yu Qi didn''t even bother to take a nce at her brother as she continued to look directly at Han Li. "The Yu Manor is already gone, what is a mere Wyrm Essence bead inparison? If you''re willing to ept my offer, I can bring you the treasure from our secret vault right away. What do you say, Brother Liu?"
Chapter 19: Grandnephew of A Deity Transformation Cultivator
Chapter 19: Grandnephew of A Deity Transformation Cultivator
"Wyrm Essence Beads are capable of helping Core Formation cultivators break through cultivation bottlenecks, so this is indeed quite a remarkable treasure, but I have no need for such a thing, so I''m afraid I must refuse," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
Yu Qi''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but she still wasn''t willing to give up. "If you have any other demands, feel free to state them. As long as it''s not somethingpletely out of my reach, I''ll do everything in my power to fulfill your request."
"I do owe you a favor for helping me awaken from my prior state, but I just prevented your suicide and killed those two Core Formation cultivators of the Heavenly Ghost Sect for you, so surely I''ve already done enough to return the favor.
¡°Under normal circumstances, perhaps I would be willing to apany you, but I''ve only just awakened and have my own problems to take care of, so I''m afraid I won''t have the time to spare to apany you on a journey to the Cold me Sect," Han Li replied.
Yu Qi was distraught to hear this, but she was still holding onto one final shred of hope as she turned to Liu Le''er with an imploring gaze.
Liu Le''er couldn''t bear to see her look so dejected, and she tugged on Han Li''s sleeve with a hesitant expression.
Han Li was naturally aware of what she was thinking, and he gently patted her head, then cast his gaze toward a certain direction outside the courtyard as he said in a calm voice, "Rest assured, even if you don''t have me in apaniment, there will be others to protect you on your journey to the Cold me Sect."
Yu Qi faltered slightly upon hearing this, clearly failing to understand what Han Li was alluding to.
Right at this moment, several figures appeared in the distance.
Yu Qi and the other survivors of the Yu Family were all quite rmed by this, and they immediately turned toward that direction. Daoist Master White Stone and the three elders had also summoned their magic tools again.
Shortly thereafter, several objects flew through the air, having been tossed into the courtyard from outside beforending on the ground. The objects rolled around briefly beforeing to a rest, revealing themselves to be a cluster of human heads.
The heads belonged to the ck-suited figures who had fled the scene earlier, and their faces were all twisted with shock and horror.
Everyone was given quite a fright by this, and Liu Le''er reflexively tightened her grip on Han Li''s sleeve.
However, Han Li''s expression remained as calm as ever as he cast his gaze toward a certain direction.
There, a white figure abruptly emerged amid a sh of white light, then drifted down into the courtyard with her clothes pping around her.
It was a tall woman dressed in white who appeared to be in her thirties, and it was clear to see that she would''ve been a stunning beauty a decade ago. She was holding a ck longsword, and was giving off a sharp and dangerous aura that was rarely seen in women.
"Master!" Yu Qi called out in an ted voice before rushing over to the woman.
"I''m so d that you''re safe, Menghan." The womantched onto Yu Qi''s hand as she gently stroked her hair, and her expression eased slightly as a doting look appeared in her eyes.
Yu Qi''s reaction to the woman''s arrival made it clear that she was not an enemy, and all of the surviving members of the Yu Family heaved a collective sigh of relief.
At the same time, Daoist Master White Stone and the three elders spotted a small me pattern embroidered onto the woman''s sleeves, a pattern that was identical to the one emzoned on the badge that Yu Qi had brought out earlier, and respectful looks immediately appeared on their faces.
Liu Le''er seemed to be rather fearful of the woman, and she ducked behind Han Li as she clutched tightly onto his sleeve.
Han Li knew what she was concerned about, and he consoled in a gentle voice, "Don''t worry, I''m here."
Liu Le''er was very much reassured by this, and she nodded in response.
"Why are you here, Master?" Yu Menghan asked as she fought back the tears in her eyes.
"I received news that the Heavenly Ghost Sect was going to attack the Yu Manor, so I immediately traveled here from the sect, but I was intercepted by the Heavenly Ghost Sect on the way, so I was dyed. Thank heavens I''m not toote," the woman said in a doting manner.
Yu Menghan led her master over to Han Li and the others before introducing everyone, putting special emphasis on her introduction of Han Li. "It''s all thanks to our elders and Brother Liu here that we were able to survive. Everyone, this is my master. Master, these four are the elders of our Yu Manor, and this is Liu Shi. He took down two of the Heavenly Ghost Sect''s Core Formation cultivators and yed a pivotal role in saving us all."
Daoist Master White Stone and the elders hurriedly extended respectful salutes toward the woman.
Han Li didn''t bother with such formalities, and he smiled as he turned to Yu Menghan. "I haven''t had a chance to tell you this yet, but my name is actually Han Li. Liu Shi is just a moniker that I adopted."
Yu Menghan faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied with a smile, "I see."
"I am Gu Yunyue of the Cold me Sect. Thank you for saving my disciple''s life, Fellow Daoist Han. May I ask which sect you belong to?" the woman asked with an indifferent expression as she directed a sharp gaze toward Han Li and the others.
In the face of her probing gaze, Daoist Master White Stone and the others felt as if their skin were being pricked by sharp needles, and that only heightened the awe and veneration they felt toward the woman.
Gu Yunyue''s gaze only roamed over the likes of Daoist Master White Stone and Liu Le''er for a brief moment before settling on Han Li, and the indifferent look on her face was instantly reced with a hint of wariness.
Han Li''s aura was extremely indistinct, and she was unable to see through him even with her spiritual sense, something that she found to be rather concerning.
"I don''t belong to any sect, I''m just a vagrant cultivator. I only stepped in because I was indebted to Young Mistress Yu, and I was only repaying my debt," Han Li replied with a calm expression.
With his powerful spiritual sense, he was naturally able to see through the woman in an instant, and he discovered that she was a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator.
"I see..." Gu Yunyue was rather surprised to hear this.
The fact that he was able to kill two Core Formation cultivators clearly indicated that he was quite a powerful cultivator himself, but there were very few cultivators at or above the Nascent Soul Stage among vagrant cultivators.
Gu Yunyue could see that Han Li was unwilling to divulge any further information, so she gave him a nod, then turned back to Yu Menghan. "The Prosperous Nation belongs to the Heavenly Ghost Sect now, so we can''t linger here. We have to leave right away."
The survivors of the Yu Family were eager to get away from here, and they were all ecstatic to hear this.
"Hold on a moment, Master, I have something to show you," Yu Menghan suddenly said, then led Gu Yunyue over to the body of Qi Minghao.
"That''s Qi Minghao! Why is he here?" Gu Yunyue asked with a surprised expression.
Yu Menghan''s heart jolted slightly at the sight of Gu Yunyue''s reaction, and she asked, "So you recognize him as well, Master. Is his granduncle really an elder of the Heavenly Ghost Sect?"
"That''s right. His granduncle, Qi Xuan, is an elder of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, and he''s already at the Deity Transformation Stage. On top of that, he''s extremely protective of his juniors, and if he finds out that his grandnephew has been killed, he definitely won''t let things slide," Gu Yunyue said.
Yu Menghan''s expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and Daoist Master White Stone and the others were also horrified.
Deity Transformation cultivators transcended above even Nascent Soul cultivators, and a cultivator of that caliber could easily erase them out of existence without even raising a finger.
"Who killed Qi Minghao?" Gu Yunyue asked, and her gaze was already wandering toward Han Li.
Meanwhile, Han Li casually made his way over to the body of the gray-robed man before picking up a storage bag and examining its contents as if he didn''t have a care in the world.
"It was indeed Brother Han who killed this man," Yu Menghan confirmed.
A grim look appeared on Gu Yunyue''s face upon hearing this.
"Master, will Qi Xuan try to personally avenge his grandnephew?" Yu Menghan asked in an uneasy manner.
Gu Yunyue considered the question momentarily, then shook her head in response. "Qi Xuan holds a very lofty position in the Heavenly Ghost Sect, and he has many descendants, so he most likely won''t leave the sect just over the death of a grandnephew. At the very most, he''ll only send some disciples of the Heavenly Ghost Sect to investigate this matter."
Yu Menghan''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this.
"Even so, we can''t afford to getcent. Menghan, you and I need to set off right away and ensure that we return to the Cold me Sect before the people sent by Qi Xuan arrive," Gu Yunyue continued in a grim voice.
Yu Menghan''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. Judging from what Gu Yunyue had just said, it sounded like she was only nning to take Yu Menghan with her and no one else.
"Master, can my family alsoe to the Cold me Sect with me?"
All of the survivors of the Yu Family turned to Gu Yunyue upon hearing this, and Daoist Master White Stone and the other elders also turned to her with hopeful expressions.
If they could take advantage of this opportunity to join the Cold me Sect, even if they could only be outer court disciples, it would still be far better than being vagrant cultivators, particrly given that they had already made an enemy out of the Heavenly Ghost Sect.
Chapter 20: Invitation
Chapter 20: Invitation
"No. Our Cold me Sect can''t just take in a bunch of mortals. Your family can escape to the Creek Nation under the protection of the elders for refuge for now," Gu Yunyue said with a shake of her head.
The Creek Nation was situated to the northeast of the Prosperous Nation, and at the moment, it still belonged to the Cold me Sect.
The elders of the Yu Manor were quite disappointed to hear this, but they didn''t dare to contest Gu Yunyue''s decision.
The survivors of the Yu Family were very much rmed by this turn of events, and they all turned to Yu Menghan with imploring looks in their eyes.
"We''ll all be screwed if the Heavenly Ghost Sect hunts us down! You can''t just abandon us now that you''ve managed to join an immortal sect..." the second young master of the Yu Family yelled in a panicked voice.
"Shut up!" Yu Menghan scolded with a stern expression.
The second young master shuddered, and he didn''t dare to say anything further.
Even though Yu Menghan was putting on a stern disy, she was also quite concerned about the safety of her family, and she turned to Gu Yunyue before asking, "Master, will it really be alright to send them to the Creek Nation? Surely it won''t be very difficult for the Heavenly Ghost Sect to track them down."
"Rest assured, Menghan. ording to the rules of the Spirit Domain Realm, as long as you can officially be an inner court disciple of the Cold me Sect, the Heavenly Ghost Sect will be prohibited from attacking your family. Otherwise, they''ll bemitting what''s considered to be a cardinal sin in this realm.
¡°If they dare to hunt down your family, then once you be an established cultivator, you''ll also have an excuse to attack the families of the Heavenly Ghost Sect''s disciples. They attacked the Yu Manor because they didn''t know that you had an eptance badge from our sect.
¡°Now that I''ve made an official appearance, things arepletely different. The most important thing now is to get you to the Cold me Sect safe and sound," Gu Yunyue said with a serious expression.
Yu Menghan was quite relieved to hear this, and everyone else from the Yu Family was also put at ease.
"Elders, I''ll be counting on you to look after my family. Once I be an established cultivator in the future, I''ll be sure to reward you handsomely," Yu Menghan said as she extended a curtsey toward Daoist Master White Stone and the other three elders.
"You''re far too kind, Young Mistress. As elders of the Yu Manor, we''ve always been treated very well by Prime Minister Yu and yourself. Now that Yu Manor has gone through such a tragic catastrophe, it is our duty to protect your family," the elders hurriedly replied, vowing to protect the survivors of the Yu Family.
Even though they couldn''t join the Cold me Sect, it would benefit them immensely to establish close ties with Yu Menghan, who was on track to be an inner court disciple of the Cold me Sect.
However, a reluctant look appeared on Daoist Master White Stone''s face, and he stole a nce at Han Li.
Han Li was in the process of examining the storage bag in his hands, and he turned to Daoist Master White Stone with a hint of a smile on his face as he said, "Fellow Daoist White Stone, given how long you''ve been serving the Yu Manor, it should only be right that you apany them on this trip as well."
Only then did Daoist Master White Stone force a smile onto his face and ept this arrangement.
Yu Menghan pretended not to have seen this exchange, and she extended another curtsey toward the elders. "You have my utmost gratitude."
Thus, with everything decided, the survivors of the Yu Family immediately began to prepare for the uing journey, gathering all of the treasures and valuable items in the manor.
Meanwhile, Han Li casually pocketed the storage bag in his hands, then made his way over to Qi Minghao''s body before taking his storage bag as well.
As for the belongings of the ck-suited cultivators, he couldn''t even be bothered to pick them up.
Daoist Master White Stone and the others were ecstatic to see this, and they hurriedly gathered the scattered belongings of the ck-suited cultivators.
"What are your ns for the future, Fellow Daoist Han?" Gu Yunyue asked as she approached him.
"It''s aplete ident that I even came to Farbright City in the first ce. Now that I''ve made an enemy out of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, I''ll naturally have to get far away from here," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice.
"Not only have you gotten yourself involved in all of this, you''ve in Qi Minghao as well, so I''m afraid it may not be a simple matter for you to get away. Given the power and reach of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, I''m sure they''ll find out about you very soon," Gu Yunyue said.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he asked, "What are you trying to say, Celestial Maiden Gu?"
"If you''re not opposed to the idea, how about you join our Cold me Sect? Our sect has always weed powerful vagrant cultivators. Given how you were able to y those Core Formation cultivators so easily, you must possess Nascent Soul Stage power yourself, so it''s not out of the question for you to be a guest elder of our sect. I would be honored to refer you to our sect''s leaders," Gu Yunyue said.
Yu Menghan''s eyes lit up at the proposal, and she chimed in, "Master''s right. If you can join our Cold me Sect, I''m sure Sister Le''er will also benefit immensely."
Han Li turned to Liu Le''er, and a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Liu Le''er looked back at him with a pair of wide and innocent eyes, seemingly unsure of exactly what was happening.
"If I''m not mistaken, your aura seems to be rather unstable, which indicates that you''re carrying some sort of injury, Fellow Daoist Han. I just so happen to have a Sharp Watch Pill with me, a vastly renowned healing medicine in the Spirit Domain Realm," Gu Yunyue continued in a meaningful voice.
Given that two of the Heavenly Ghost Sect''s Core Formation cultivators had been in here, one of which was the descendant of a Deity Transformation cultivator, there was a very good chance that they would be intercepted by powerful foes from the Heavenly Ghost Sect on the way back to the Cold me Sect.
Han Li was aplete mystery to her, but she was certain that he would be a strong ally if he were willing to apany them.
Han Li stroked his chin in contemtion for a moment, then suddenly turned to Liu Le''er. "What do you say, Le''er? Are you willing toe to the Cold me Sect with me?"
Given Gu Yunyue''s cultivation base, Liu Le''er''s identity as a demonic fox was naturally no secret to her.
However, by searching Daoist Master White Stone''s soul earlier, Han Li had learned that even though there was some severe segregation that existed between humans and demons in the Spirit Domain Realm, it was quitemon to see some powerful cultivators inrge sects with demons by their side, so there shouldn''t be any issues taking Liu Le''er to the Cold me Sect.
Liu Le''er took a nce at Gu Yunyue, then looked at Yu Menghan before replying in a timid voice, "I''ll do whatever you say."
"Don''t worry, no one will dare to pick on you as long as I''m around," Han Li reassured with a smile as he gently patted her head.
"I know you''ll protect me," Liu Le''er replied as a wide smile appeared on her face.
"Then I''ll have to trouble you to refer me to your sect, Celestial Maiden Gu. Would you be able to give me the Sharp Watch Pill now?" Han Li asked as he turned to Gu Yunyue.
"Of course!" Gu Yunyue was ted, and she flipped a hand over to produce a white jade vial without any hesitation before handing it over to Han Li.
Han Li epted the jade vial, then removed the lid before taking a slight whiff and giving a nod.
A faint smile appeared on Gu Yunyue''s face upon seeing this.
At this point, the survivors of the Yu Family were already done packing, and aside from all of the manor''s valuable items, they had also brought out several horse-drawn carriages.
Daoist Master White Stone and the others also made their way over to Han Li.
"Senior Han, I..." Daoist Master White Stone seemed to want to say something, but was rather hesitant about how to proceed.
"Just focus on protecting the Yu Family, and don''t worry about anything else. Also, I have something that I need you to do for me..." Han Li''s voice trailed off here, but his lips were still moving, and hemunicated something to Daoist Master White Stone through voice transmission.
Daoist Master White Stone faltered slightly upon hearing what Han Li had to say, then nodded in response.
Meanwhile, Yu Menghan made her way over to Gu Yunyue''s side, then said, "Master, the city gates have all been locked, so I''ll have to trouble you to take them out of the city."
Gu Yunyue nodded in response, then swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up arge cloud of white mist that carried everyone into the sky.
The survivors of the Yu Family had never experienced something so ethereal, and they hurriedly grabbed onto the carriages beside them, while some of them cried out in surprise and rm.
The white cloud flew out of the city in the blink of an eye, thennded gently on the official road outside the city.
"Mother, Auntie..." Even though Yu Menghan was already prepared for this separation, she was still ovee by emotions and embraced her family tightly.
Her mother and her other close rtives also had tears in their eyes as they told Yu Menghan to look after herself.
Only after a long while did they reluctantly part with one another.
Under the protection of the four elders, the survivors of the Yu Family headed east, and they quickly disappeared into the night.
Yu Menghan looked on with a nk expression as her family faded into the distance, and only after a long while did she withdraw her gaze.
After giving Yu Menghan a moment to collect herself, Gu Yunyue swept a hand through the air to summon a white spirit ark. "We need to set off as well."
The spirit ark was around 40 to 50 feet in length, and it had a rather interesting design, with a body that resembled a crescent moon. Its surface was riddled with azure spirit patterns that were giving off faint spiritual power fluctuations, and it was clearly no ordinary ark.
Han Li held onto Liu Le''er''s hand as he stepped onto the spirit ark, and Yu Menghan took a deep breath before also following suit.
Gu Yunyue released an incantation seal onto the spirit ark, and it immediately began to glow with white spiritual light before rising up into the air and flying away into the distance as a streak of white light.
Chapter 21: Nascent Soul Transformation
Chapter 21: Nascent Soul Transformation
Inside the spirit ark, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed with his back leaning against a wall, while Liu Le''er was seated obediently beside him, inspecting her surroundings with an intrigued expression while also asionally taking nces at the rapidly receding scenery outside.
Gu Yunyue was standing outside, controlling the spirit ark while also speaking with Yu Menghan in a low voice.
After an indeterminate period of time, Han Li gently exhaled as he slowly opened his eyes, and his expression was rather grim.
Following his awakening, he discovered that he was no longer able to absorb the world''s origin qi into his body, so it was impossible for him to recover his meditation through cultivation. He had only recently awakened, and he was stunned by the revtion of his memory loss, so he didn''t get a chance to examine this matter.
He had just attempted to absorb the world''s origin qi, and he discovered that it was still to no avail.
After a moment of contemtion, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a white jade vial, and as soon as it was opened, he was immediately greeted by an extremely rich medicinal scent that struck him with a sense of reinvigoration.
He tipped out an azure pill from the vial, holding it up to his eye between two of his fingers for closer examination.
"So this is a Sharp Watch Pill. I hope it''ll actually do something," Han Li murmured to himself, then swallowed the pill before closing his eyes to meditate.
Liu Le''er knew that Han Li wasn''t to be interrupted during this process. She could see that Yu Menghan had already finished her conversation with Gu Yunyue and was making her way toward her, so she stood up and made her way over to another corner of the ark before taking a seat to speak with Yu Menghan.
Momentster, the pill gradually began to take effect, and Han Li''s eyebrows suddenly twitched slightly as a gentle surge of warmth slowly emerged from his dantian, then made its way throughout his body along his meridians.
After circting the energy throughout his body once, he immediately felt far morefortable, and the sense of emptiness in his body was also beginning to fade. At the same time, a slight hint of magic power was generated in his dantian, and even though it was only a tiny amount, it was still a very encouraging turn of events.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes as he examined what was taking ce inside his body, then flipped a hand over to produce around a dozen more pills.
Aside from the ones that he had taken from Daoist Master White Stone, there were also some pills that had been left behind by Qi Minghao and the gray-robed man. Almost all of them had the effect of treating injuries and recovering magic power, but there was a great variance in the quality of the pills, most of them were far inferior to that Sharp Watch Pill.
Han Li picked up one of the pills before swallowing it, then slowly closed his eyes again.
However, momentster, his eyes suddenly sprang open, and a perplexed look appeared on his face. He then picked up another pill before swallowing it as well.
Once again, he reopened his eyes only a brief momentter with a rather uncertain gaze.
The two pills that he had just taken had failed to produce any effect. He was unable to sense any changes taking ce in his body, nor was he able to generate any more magic power.
A grim look appeared on his face as he swallowed the pills in his hand one after another.
Soon, all that was left was a thumb-sized pill of a dark golden color.
This was a pill of quite a high caliber,parable to the Sharp Watch Pill, and it was presumably the pill that Qi Minghao had been reserving for life-threatening situations.
Han Li took an expressionless nce at the pill, then tossed it into his own mouth.
This time, he wasn''t disappointed. The golden pill quickly took effect after being devoured, transforming into a wisp of spiritual power that flowed into his dantian, increasing his magic power slightly once again.
Only then did Han Li''s expression ease slightly.
As long as his body was still receptive to pills, it wouldn''t be a difficult task for him to recover his magic power. As for why the other pills hadn''t yielded any effect, that was most likely because they were of too low a caliber to make any difference in his body.
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out in his head.
"Congrattions, Fellow Daoist Han. It looks like there''s hope yet for you to recover your magic power."
"It hardly matters if I can''t produce any magic power of my own," Han Li replied with his spiritual sense.
"It''s still better than nothing. With each shred of magic power that you recover, you and I will be closer to returning to the Immortal Realm," Mo Guang said.
"That''s true, but I''m afraid it''s most likely not going to be so easy," Han Li replied.
"If pills work, then what about spirit stones?" Mo Guang asked.
"I was just about to try that," Han Li replied with a smile.
He flipped a hand over to produce several azure spirit stones of different sizes, and as he closed his hands around them, they immediately began to give off azure light.
Liu Le''er and Yu Menghan couldn''t help but have their attention drawn to the azure light that had suddenly appeared in Han Li''s direction, while Gu Yunyue disyed no reaction as she stood at the front of the ark.
Azure spiritual power began to slowly flow from the spirit stones, but after circling over Han Li''s palms for some time, the spiritual power suddenly became murky and indistinct.
Momentster, the azure light gradually dissipated, vanishing into thin air.
Han Li released the spirit stones, which had bepletely dull and devoid of luster, and he fell into deep thought with a perplexed look on his face.
"What''s going on? It appears you''re unable to absorb power from spirit stones, either." Mo Guang''s voice rang out in his mind again.
Han Li was silent for a moment before replying, "Perhaps just like those pills, these spirit stones are of too low a quality and don''t contain sufficiently pure spiritual power to be converted into magic power in my body."
Mo Guang was silent for a moment, then said, "In that case, you should be able to return to your former peak as long as you have sufficient high-grade pills and top-grade spirit stones."
Han Li heaved a long sigh, then replied in a rather frustrated manner, "It''s not that simple. It''s still yet to be seen whether top-grade spirit stones will even be effective for me. Thankfully, my body and spiritual sense foundation are decently stable, so even if I''m unable to absorb the world''s origin qi, I''ll still be able to recover slowly on my own."
"You''re far too modest, Fellow Daoist Han. If the foundation of your body and spiritual sense can only be considered to be decently stable, then no one would be able to im to have a strong foundation. Seeing as we''ve already identified a way forward, I can only wish you luck in your recovery," Mo Guang said before falling silent.
Han Li heaved another faint sigh. None of the storage bags that he had picked up contained any top-grade spirit stones. Otherwise, he would''ve tested them out right away.
He carefully examined the magic power in his body to find that it was only equivalent to what would be found in a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator. If he wanted to continue to make improvements in this area, he would either need to regain the ability to absorb the world''s origin qi or take high-grade pills for magic power recovery.
With that in mind, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, and he directed his spiritual sense deep into his own dantian to examine his internal condition.
His entire dantian seemed to be enshrouded within a boundless cloud of mist, and there was ayer of faint golden light at the heart of the mist, resembling a yellowntern in the night.
Han Li projected his spiritual sense into the mist, upon which he saw a miniature golden figure that was glowing brightly. The figure was seated in the mist, and it waspletely identical to Han Li in appearance. It was none other than his nascent soul.
The nascent soul wore a calm expression, and its eyes closed while its arms were hanging by its sides, seemingly in a state of slumber.
His inability to absorb the world''s origin qi had to have something to do with the state of his nascent soul. Back when he first awakened, he had used his spiritual sense to examine his nascent soul, only to find that his spiritual sense was unable to enter his nascent soul, nor was he able to rouse it from its slumber.
If it weren''t for the fact that there was still a faint spiritual connection between himself and the nascent soul, he would almost be led to believe that it didn''t even belong to him.
A catalog of secret techniques shed through Han Li''s mind, and in the end, he made a hand seal, upon which the magic power that had just been generated in his dantian converged before forming a faint silver rune, which slowly drifted toward the nascent soul''s body.
A string of dull thumps rang out, and as soon as the silver rune made contact with the nascent soul''s skin, it immediately disintegrated into bursts of silver light.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, but he wasn''t too surprised. He immediately switched to a different secret technique, summoning a series of white threads of light that slowly converged toward the nascent soul from all directions.
Several hourster, Han Li''s eyes sprang wide open, and he had to take a sharp breath to swallow back the blood that was threatening to gush out of his throat.
Just now, he had used his Spirit Refinement Technique [1] to try and forcibly inject his spiritual sense into his nascent soul, but a burst of terrifying power had suddenly emerged from the nascent soul, repelling his spiritual sense and magic power, thereby resulting in secret technique bacsh.
Thankfully, his physical body and spiritual sense were sufficiently powerful for him to survive the ordeal. If an ordinary cultivator had been in his ce, there was a very good chance that they would''ve been reduced to a true imbecile by the spiritual sense bacsh.
After that series of experimentation, Han Li had used up some of the magic power that he had regained, almost dropping back down to the early-Nascent Soul Stage, and that was rather disheartening for him.
1. Refer to Chapter 1740 of RMJI for information on the Spirit Refinement Technique. ?
Chapter 22: Windcloud Duo
Chapter 22: Windcloud Duo
While Han Li was pondering possible solutions to his problems, Gu Yunyue was able to sense Han Li''s magic power fluctuations, which he was unable to conceal due to the secret technique bacsh that he had suffered earlier, and her heart jolted slightly at the discovery.
"So he''s at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage!" she murmured to herself, and after a brief hesitation, she turned and approached Han Li.
Han Li temporarily set aside his train of thought upon seeing this and rose to his feet.
"It seems like the Sharp Watch Pill was effective for you. With that, I presume you''ve at least mostly recovered from your injuries," Gu Yunyue said with a warm expression.
"Indeed. You have my gratitude, Fellow Daoist," Han Li replied.
"You''re more than wee, Fellow Daoist Han. Once you join our sect, you''ll receive additional spirit pills as well," Gu Yunyue said.
She seemed to be quite eager to win over Han Li, as evidenced by the fact that she was initiating a constant stream of conversation in an attempt to get on friendlier terms with Han Li.
Through their conversation, Han Li was able to learn quite a bit about the Spirit Domain Realm.
His understanding of this realm was still only limited to the knowledge of Daoist Master White Stone, who was only a Core Formation cultivator, so he was naturally receiving different information and insights from a Nascent Soul cultivator like Gu Yunyue.
All of the questions that Gu Yunyue raised about Han Li''s past were met with rather ambiguous responses, and Gu Yunyue quickly refrained from asking such questions as it was clear to her that Han Li didn''t wish to share too much about himself.
"By the way, would you be willing to tell me about the Cold me Sect, Fellow Daoist Gu? My current knowledge of the sect is only limited to some rumors that I''ve heard," Han Li suddenly said.
Gu Yunyue was rather taken aback by this question, but she immediately replied, "Even if you hadn''t asked me, I would''ve gotten to this topic sooner orter. Our Cold me Sect is a renowned sect of the Spirit Domain Realm. Up to this point, its history has spanned in excess of 1,000,000 years, and there are hundreds of thousands of disciples in our sect.
¡°Setting aside all of the Core Formation and Nascent Soul Stage disciples, we have dozens of Deity Transformation and Spatial Tempering Stage elders, three Body Integration Stage powerful beings, and a Grand Ascension Stage patriarch."
A proud look appeared on Gu Yunyue''s face as she spoke about her sect, and Han Li''s heart stirred slightly after hearing her description.
The Cold me Sect was indeed a very powerful sect. With a Grand Ascension Stage patriarch, the sect wasparable in power to a major race in the Spirit Realm.
"Furthermore, the founder of our sect, Patriarch Cold me, ascended to the Immortal Realm over 1,000,000 years ago, and even to this day, our sect is still able tomunicate with our immortal founder through special means.
¡°He would asionally bestow upon us some spirit pills and cultivation arts from the Immortal Realm, thereby giving us an even greater advantage over other sects. You''re definitely making a wise decision by joining our sect, Fellow Daoist Han," Gu Yunyue said with a smile.
Han Li''s expression finally changed slightly upon hearing this.
It came as quite a surprise to him that the Cold me Sect had a backer in the Immortal Realm, and that the sect''s founder was still able tomunicate with them even after his ascension.
He had never heard of anything like this back in the Spirit Realm, so it appeared that things in the Spirit Domain Realm were truly vastly different from the circumstances in the Spirit Realm.
A pleased look appeared on Gu Yunyue''s face at the sight of Han Li''s reaction, and she fell silent with a faint smile.
"I didn''t think that the Cold me Sect would be this powerful. No wonder it''s such a dominant force in the Spirit Domain Realm. May I ask what the Heavenly Ghost Sect is like?" Han Li asked.
Gu Yunyue''s smile faded, and a serious look appeared on her face as she replied, "The Heavenly Ghost Sect is roughlyparable with our Cold me Sect, and they also have a founder who has ascended to the Immortal Realm. Aside from our two sects, there''s another sect by the name of the Origin Realm Temple, which also has a backer in the Immortal Realm, and those three sects rank alongside one another, standing at the pinnacle of the Spirit Domain Realm."
Han Li stroked his chin in a contemtive silence for a while, then asked, "Theoretically, the sects are ranked alongside one another, but practically speaking, I''m sure there must be a power hierarchy. How do the three sectspare with one another?"
"The three sects are roughly evenly matched in power, but the Heavenly Ghost Sect has a far longer history than our Cold me Sect and the Origin Realm Temple. Throughout its history, there have been three cultivators who have ascended to the Immortal Realm from the Heavenly Ghost Sect, so it''s slightly superior in terms of overall power. As for our Cold me Sect and the Origin Realm Temple, there''s not much that separates us," Gu Yunyue replied.
It seemed that in reality, the Heavenly Ghost Sect was far more powerful than the Cold me Sect, but she was unwilling to admit it.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly in contemtion, and he became rather interested in the Cold me Sect.
Seeing as the Cold me Sect was able tomunicate with an immortal, it had to possess a great deal of exceptional resources. Perhaps he would be able to find a way to awaken his nascent soul there.
He enquired about some more matters regarding the Cold me Sect before ending the conversation and sitting back down to meditate again.
A short whileter, traces of azure light gradually surfaced over his body, but his aura was then quickly subdued before vanishing entirely, making it impossible to detect any magic power fluctuations from him.
Gu Yunyue had returned to the front of the ark, but she couldn''t help but be amazed once again after noticing the changes in Han Li''s magic power fluctuations.
The sky gradually brightened, and as the spirit ark pierced through the cloud and mist, a majestic mountain range appeared up ahead.
The mountains were extremely steep and dark red in color, making the mountain range resemble an enormous red forest when viewed from a high altitude.
Gu Yunyue was quite relieved to see the red mountain range up ahead.
This mountain range was known as the Red Coral Mountain Range, and it sat on the border of the Prosperous Nation.
On the way here, she had intentionally taken a winding route to avoid the areas where Heavenly Ghost Sect scouts were prevalent, and now that they had made it to this point, they were surely in a far safer situation.
However, as a safety precaution, Gu Yunyue still elevated the spirit ark slightly so that it was able to conceal itself within the clouds up above.
It wasn''t a particrly cloudy day, so the clouds in the sky were rather sparse, but traversing through them still provided more cover than nothing.
Yu Menghan and Liu Le''er gradually grew ustomed to traveling on the ark, and they were no longer so afraid. They stood up to look at the beautiful scenery around them, pointing out things that they found interesting to one another, and asionally giggling when they caught sight of something that caught their fancy.
The mountain range down below quickly receded into the distance, and shortly thereafter, a in appeared in the distance up ahead, instilling Gu Yunyue with a further sense of reassurance.
"Look out!"
Han Li had been meditating with his eyes closed this entire time, but all of a sudden, his eyes abruptly sprang open.
Both Liu Le''er and Yu Menghan faltered slightly upon hearing this urgent warning.
Gu Yunyue''s expression also changed drastically as she immediately made a hand seal, sting a thick beam of white light out of each of her palms that vanished into the spirit ark.
The spirit ark instantly began to glow brightly as it drew to an abrupt halt, then shot back at an incredible speed.
Right at this moment, one of the white clouds up ahead suddenly turned as ck as ink, then transformed into a gargantuan, ghostly face. The sinister ghostly face opened its mouth before chomping down viciously, but it was unable to strike its target as the spirit ark had already retreated to a safe distance away.
A faint cry of surprise rang out from within the ghostly face, following which it copsed into a ck cloud, atop which stood a pair of men.
On the left was a hunch-backed elderly man with a heavily-wrinkled face. He had several strands of sparse yellow hair on his head, and he appeared to already have one foot in the grave.
On the right was a hideous young man with a long face and arge mouth, as well as a pair of squinty little eyes that were giving off a vicious gleam.
Both of them were wearing ck robes with a sinister ghostly head design embroidered upon them, and the spiritual pressure that they were exuding indicated that they were both at the Nascent Soul Stage.
Just like Gu Yunyue, the long-faced young man was also at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage, while the hunch-backed elderly man was already at thete-Nascent Soul Stage.
"You''re the Windcloud Duo!" Gu Yunyue eximed as a grim look appeared on her face.
Chapter 23: Battle
Chapter 23: Battle
"I didn''t think that you would know of us, Fellow Daoist Gu Yunyue. This is truly an honor." The hunch-backed elderly man''s voice was extremely unpleasant, like pieces of rusty metal scraping against one another, striking the listener with a sense of difort.
The long-faced young man remained silent as his gaze slowly roamed over Han Li and the others, and, as he caught sight of Yu Menghan and Liu Le''er, his eyes lit up slightly as he extended his tongue out of his mouth to lick his thick upper lip.
Liu Le''er hurriedly ducked behind Han Li upon seeing this, and Yu Menghan was also quite disturbed to see this.
As for Gu Yunyue, she was feeling a little flustered. She had guessed that the Heavenly Ghost Sect wouldn''t be willing to let things slide, but she didn''t think that their pursuers would reach them so quickly, nor did she expect to be hunted by such a notorious pair.
However, as a cultivator with plenty of battle experience under her belt, she quickly regained herposure as she said in a cold voice, "Why are you attacking me on the border of the Prosperous Nation? Are you trying to instigate a war between our two sects?"
"Why ask a question that you already know the answer to? I''m sure you''re already well aware of why we''re here. We''ve received orders from Elder Qi to capture the perpetrator who killed his grandnephew, and that girl with the Yu surname," the hunch-backed elderly man cackled as his gaze crept over to Han Li and Yu Menghan.
Han Li waspletely unfazed to hear this, but Yu Menghan''splexion immediately paled.
Gu Yunyue gave a cold harrumph and offered no response, but she was scrambling to think of a way out of this situation.
"There''s no bad blood between us, Fellow Daoist Gu. As long as you''re willing to hand over those two, we can let you go. What do you say?" the hunch-backed elderly man asked.
Gu Yunyue was someone of quite a lofty status in the Cold me Sect, so if possible, they wanted to avoid a conflict with her.
A cold look appeared on Gu Yunyue''s face as she replied, "Fellow Daoist Han is a guest elder of our sect, while Yu Menghan is an inner court disciple. If I were to hand them over, our Cold me Sect would be regarded as the butt of all jokes in the cultivation world!"
"Alright, we gave you a chance! If you have a death wish, then we''re more than happy to send you on your way!" the hunch-backed elderly man said in a cold voice.
The long-faced young man had already grown tired of waiting, and as soon as it became clear that a peaceful oue was out of reach, he immediately sprang into action, sweeping a sleeve through the air to release a vast expanse of gray mes.
The gray mes instantly converged to one spot at his behest, forming a fiery gray vortex.
A fiery ghostly w the size of a house reached out of the vortex, grabbing at Gu Yunyue and the others.
Gu Yunyue was already prepared for this, and she stomped a foot down onto the spirit ark, upon which it began to glow brightly once again as it shot back in a sh.
At the same time, she raised a hand to release a ck longsword, which flew through the air as it transformed into a streak of ck light that was 70 to 80 feet in length. The sword struck the palm of the fiery ghostly w, only for a metallic ng to ring out.
Gu Yunyue was rather taken aback by this, and she immediately made a hand seal, upon which the streak of ck light shrank to less than half its original size, but it had be far brighter and more piercing.
The ck sword pierced through the fiery ghostly w before emerging from the other side.
The ghostly w instantly exploded into countless balls of fire, and the ming vortex in the sky also dissipated.
An unnatural flush appeared on the long-faced young man''s cheeks, and he threw up a mouthful of blood.
He let loose a furious roar as his eyes turned bright red, and he flipped a hand over to produce a ck scroll.
A vast expanse of murky gray light then erupted out of his body, forming a smokescreen that made it impossible for anyone on the outside to see what he was doing.
At the same time, the hunch-backed elderly man also stomped a foot onto the ground, and a burst of inky-ck light erupted out of his body as he released his enormouste-Nascent Soul Stage spiritual pressure.
Gu Yunyue''s expression changed slightly as she withdrew her ck longsword, and it circled around above her head as she intensely scrutinized her two assants with her spiritual sense.
At this point, the spirit ark had already retreated to over 1,000 feet away, and only then did ite to a rest.
"Fellow Daoist Han, these two are extremely powerful and established cultivators of the Heavenly Ghost Sect. If the situation goes sour, take Menghan and Le''er and escape. I''ll hold them off to the best of my abilities," Gu Yunyue hurriedly said to Han Li through voice transmission.
Even though she had caught the long-faced young man off guard and emerged as the superior party in that exchange, she knew that she was no match for the hunch-backed elderly man. As for Han Li, she didn''t know the extent of his powers, so even if they were to join forces, there was no guarantee that they would be able to hold off their two opponents. Hence, her immediate thought was to flee.
Han Li offered no response as he stood on the spot, looking as if he hadn''t even heard her.
Right at this moment, a sinister voice rang out beside Gu Yunyue. "Did you think you can get away?"
Gu Yunyue''s heart jolted upon hearing this, and all of a sudden, the ck light around the hunch-backed elderly man suddenly exploded, while his body transformed into a gray skeleton.
Gu Yunyue faltered slightly upon seeing this, and a hint of surprise also shed through Han Li''s eyes.
Immediately thereafter, violent spatial fluctuations erupted in the air above the spirit ark, following which a beam of inky-ck light shot out without any warning, and the hunch-backed elderly man was standing right within the ck light.
He raised his hands, and a giant golden pagoda that was over 100 feet tall appeared in front of him out of thin air amid a sh of golden light, then came crashing down viciously toward the spirit ark.
A burst of terrifying pressure descended from above, and the spiritual light on the surface of the spirit ark rippled in an unstable manner, looking as if it were on the verge of copse.
Gu Yunyue gave a muffled groan as she made a rapid series of hand seals, casting a string of incantation seals into the ck longsword above her head.
The ck longsword trembled violently, releasing countless sword projections that swept toward the golden pagoda.
A string of violent explosions rang out as the countless sword projections struck the giant pagoda in rapid session, only to be shattered upon impact without leaving so much as a single mark on the pagoda itself.
However, the speed of the pagoda''s descent was slowed down.
Gu Yunyue took advantage of this opportunity to release a burst of silver light out of her hand. It was a silver handkerchief that rapidly expanded while radiating dazzling silver light.
A projection of mountains and rivers appeared on the surface of the handkerchief, and it was giving off astounding spiritual qi as it positioned itself beneath the giant pagoda, further slowing its descent.
Gu Yunyue''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and a cold look appeared in her eyes as she switched to a different hand seal.
The ck longsword immediately began to glow with dazzling ck radiance while swelling drastically in size, transforming into a giant ck sword that was 50 to 60 feet in the blink of an eye before hurtling toward the hunch-backed elderly man at an incredible speed.
A cold smile appeared on the elderly man''s face as he released an incantation seal, and the base of the golden pagoda opened up with a resounding boom, revealing a ck hole.
Blinding golden light erupted out of the hole to form a giant golden halo, which released a burst of terrifying suction force that sucked in everything within a radius of several hundred feet.
The giant ck sword immediately stopped cold in its tracks, then flew toward the hole at the base of the golden pagoda, unable to resist the suction force.
Gu Yunyue was struggling desperately to stabilize the giant sword, but to no avail, and after just two or three seconds, the giant sword waspletely sucked into the golden pagoda.
Gu Yunyue''s heart sank as her spiritual connection with the ck longsword waspletely severed.
The golden light radiating from the giant pagoda became even brighter, and it continued to descend amid a burst of loud rumbling.
The surface of the silver handkerchief began to copse downward, and under the enormous suction force released by the giant golden pagoda, the mountain and river projections on its surface began to warp, looking as if it were about to be sucked into the pagoda as well.
Gu Yunyue hurriedly made a hand seal, then thrust both hands toward the handkerchief and rapidly injected her magic power into it.
Bright silver light radiated from the mountain and river projections on the surface of the handkerchief, and it was finally stabilized again.
Right as the hunch-backed elderly man raised his hand to continue his attack, a loud boom suddenly rang out in the distance as the gray light around the long-faced young man exploded.
A ck scroll was hovering before him, and it was none other than the one that he had summoned earlier, except at this moment, it was already unfurled. There were countless ghostly entities drawn on the scroll''s surface, and it was radiating piercing ck light.
"Stand down, Brother! I''m going to punish this bitch for hurting me and make her wish she was dead!" the long-faced young man roared as he glowered at Gu Yunyue with a resentful expression.
Chapter 24: Crushed
Chapter 24: Crushed
The hunch-backed elderly man raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and he briefly stopped what he was doing, but his gaze remained fixed on Gu Yunyue.
At the same time, the long-faced young man flipped a hand over to produce a ck dagger, using which he sliced viciously into his own arm.
Blood gushed out of the gash, forming a cloud of dense blood mist that fused into the ck scroll.
The ck qi emanating from the scroll instantly became significantly denser, and gusts of fierce Yin wind were swept up all around it amid the sound of ghastly howls, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
A pair of fierce ghostly entities leaped out of the scroll, then swelled drastically to around 40 to 50 feet in size.
The two ghostly beings had ape-like upper bodies that were covered in short green fur with sharp white fangs that protruded out of their mouths. Each of them had a pair of thick and strong ape arms with fingers that were tipped with sharp crimson ws that were each around a foot in length, while their lower bodies were enshrouded in ck mist, appearing to have no physical form.
The gusts of Yin wind around the scroll became even fiercer, and ck qi surged as one ghostly being flew out after another.
In the blink of an eye, over 100 ghostly beings had appeared.
Most of them were at the Foundation Establishment Stage, but there were also five or six of them that were clearly far more massive than the other ones, and they were giving off Core Formation Stage auras.
"Kill them!" the long-faced young man cackled as he stabbed a finger in Gu Yunyue''s direction.
The ghostly beings roared in unison as they swarmed the spirit ark with ferocious might.
Gu Yunyue''s expression changed drastically as she patted the storage bag on her waist to release four streaks of white light, which descended around her before transforming into four humanoid jade puppets, each of which was around 10 feet tall. The puppets were d in suits of armor, and each of them was holding arge white g that was glowing with bright spiritual light.
With a wave of the gs in their hands, dazzling white radiance emanated from the bodies of the puppets before quickly joining together to form a white array that epassed the entire spirit ark within.
As soon as the array took shape, the army of ghostly beings swarmed onto it, surrounding it from all directions.
The ghostly beings roared ferociously as they attacked the white array with all their might.
In particr, the Core Formation Stage ghostly beings were sting bursts of green light into the array with devastating power, causing it to tremble violently.
Gu Yunyue hurriedly made a hand seal before releasing bursts of white light onto the four puppets, and only then was the array gradually stabilized.
Meanwhile, the long-faced young man himself also flew over to the white array, and he chanted an incantation as a vast expanse of gray fire emerged on his body again, forming a sea of fire that was over 100 feet in size.
He then made a grabbing motion with both hands, and two small balls of fire detached themselves from the sea of mes before transforming into a pair of fiery spears that were several dozen feet in length.
With a wave of his arms, the two fiery spears shot forth like lightning, flying through the air with a sharp screeching sound before striking the white array with tremendous force.
Two resounding booms rang out as the fiery spears exploded, but the white array also trembled violently, and Gu Yunyue also shuddered as her face paled slightly.
The long-faced young man cackled with glee as he hurled one fiery spear after another into the array.
The white array continued to tremble violently, and it was originally around 70 to 80 feet in size, but it was shrinking rapidly and was quickly reduced to less than 30 feet in size.
Gu Yunyue''s face became paler and paler, and her body began to tremble from overexertion as a faint sheen of sweat appeared on her forehead.
The hunch-backed elderly man burst into raucousughter at the sight of the terrible state that Gu Yunyue was in, and he patted the storage bag on his waist to release 12 streaks of ck light, which were revealed to be 12 bone tridents.
The bone tridents expanded rapidly while inky-ck mes rose up on their surface, and they gave off a bone-chilling aura as they came hurtling down toward the white array.
They were here on Qi Xuan''s orders, so the one who killed Gu Yunyue would naturally be rewarded handsomely.
Gu Yunyue was already a spent force, and the hunch-backed elderly man was taking full advantage to try andnd the killing blow.
The long-faced young man was furious to see this, but the hunch-backed elderly man was a superior cultivator to him, so he could only begrudgingly ept this.
A hint of despair surfaced in Gu Yunyue''s eyes upon seeing this.
However, right at this moment, a figure rose up into the air from the spirit ark, flying through the white array to arrive outside it in the blink of an eye. It was none other than Han Li.
He moved left and right through the air, conjuring up several afterimages that quickly fused as one, and the 12 bone tridents somehow vanished in the blink of an eye.
The hunch-backed elderly man''s brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this, following which his expression changed drastically.
As it turned out, all 12 of the bone tridents had been caught in Han Li''s grasp, and as he rubbed them between his hands, the ck mes on the tridents werepletely snuffed out.
He took a nce at the tridents before casually stowing them away in an expressionless manner, as if he had just done somethingpletely unremarkable.
"You... You..." The hunch-backed elderly man was both shocked and furious to see this.
As soon as the ghostly beings surrounding the array detected Han Li''s aura, they immediately abandoned the array and pounced toward him, letting loose excited roars as they did so.
"What a nuisance!"
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, and he sped into the army of ghostly beings as an indistinct azure shadow.
In the face of the azure shadow, all of the ghostly beings in its path were like waves crashing into rocks, exploding violently into countless pieces.
In the blink of an eye, all of the ghostly beings had been in with incredible ease.
The long-faced young man was utterly astonished as he looked on with wide eyes.
All of a sudden, Han Li appeared in front of him before throwing a vicious punch, and the long-faced young man didn''t even get a chance to cry out before his body exploded into scraps of flesh and blood, and not even his nascent soul managed to survive.
The hunch-backed elderly man was horrified to see this, and he hurriedly swept a sleeve through the air to release hundreds of green flying needles. Each needle was around a foot in length and as thin as a strand of hair, with green mes burning on their surface.
The thin needles screeched through the air as they sped toward Han Li, and at the same time, green mes erupted out of the elderly man''s body as he fled into the distance, even abandoning the golden pagoda in his desperation to get away.
Han Li remainedpletely still on the spot as he opened his mouth before taking a deep breath.
A burst of enormous suction force took shape in the air before him, and the entire space buzzed incessantly as all of the flying needles were caught by the suction force before flying into Han Li''s mouth.
The needles crunched between his teeth as he chewed briefly, then tipped his head back slightly to swallow everything.
Gu Yunyue''s mouth gaped open slightly upon seeing this, and she waspletely rooted to the spot.
From the perspective of Yu Menghan and Liu Le''er on the spirit ark, all they saw was a frenzied flurry of activity. Before they had even figured out what had happened, one of their two powerful assants had been killed, while the other was desperately fleeing the scene, and they were no less shocked than Gu Yunyue.
Meanwhile, Han Li cast his gaze toward the fleeing elderly man, and golden light shed from his arm as he threw a punch in that direction with an indifferent expression.
A golden fist projection that was around the size of a human head instantly appeared behind the hunch-backed elderly man, and it was flying several times faster than he was.
The hunch-backed elderly man''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly released ayer of ck light around his entire body, right before he was struck by the golden fist projection with devastating force.
The green mes around him exploded violently, but only a pile of bones fell out of the sky.
At the same time, a burst of spatial fluctuations several dozen kilometers away, and a vast expanse of ck light appeared out of thin air before the hunch-backed elderly man stumbled out of it.
He took a horrified nce behind him, then opened his mouth to release a burst of green light, which enveloped his body in ayer of green mes before he continued to flee into the distance, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
Han Li''s spiritual sense had already been released, so he was well aware of where the hunch-backed elderly man was. However, right as he was about tosh out again, he suddenly lowered his head to look at the azure light around his body, which had clearly be dimmer than before.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he decided against pursuing the elderly man. Instead, he swept a hand through the air to release a burst of azure light that drew the long-faced young man''s storage bag to him, then descended back onto the spirit ark.
He had relied mostly on the power of his physical body during that battle, but he had still expended a great deal of magic power.
Chapter 25: Lu Ya
Chapter 25: Lu Ya
"Brother Rock!"
Liu Le''er hurriedly rushed toward Han Li upon his return, and there was a concerned look on her face.
She had never witnessed a battle between such powerful cultivators before, and even though Han Li seemed to have secured victory with ease, she still couldn''t help but fear that perhaps he had sustained some injuries in the process.
Han Li gave her a warm smile to reassure her, then stowed the storage bag in his hand away.
Without the support of the hunch-backed elderly man''s magic power, the giant pagoda''s golden radiance quickly faded, and it rapidly shrank before descending from the sky.
With a wave of her hand, Gu Yunyue drew the golden pagoda into her grasp, then took a nce at Han Li, and only after confirming that he had no intention of taking the pagoda for himself did she dare to stow it away into her storage bag.
The golden pagoda was clearly quite a powerful treasure, and its ability to trap other treasures would make it an extremely useful trump card for her in future battles. However, the Windcloud Duo had been defeated by Han Li, so it was only right that this treasure belonged to him. Thankfully, he seemed to have given her silent permission to take the treasure.
Gu Yunyue took a moment topose herself, then made her way over to Han Li. "Thank heavens you''re here with us, Fellow Daoist Han. I knew you were no ordinary cultivator, but I still severely underestimated your powers."
Even though she looked quite calm and collected on the outside, the awe and veneration hidden deep in her eyes didn''t escape Han Li''s notice.
Even if she had faced the long-faced young man on her own, she knew that there was definitely no way that she would''ve been able to kill him as easily as Han Li did, inflicting such a heavy blow that even his nascent soul had been unable to escape. On top of that, there was also anotherte-Nascent Soul Stage enemy present, making Han Li''s feat even more remarkable.
"They were trying to kill me, so I naturally had to deal with them," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
A faint smile appeared on Yu Menghan''s face upon hearing this, but as she cast her gaze upon Han Li, there was also a hint of awe and veneration in her eyes, intermingled with some otherplex emotions.
In her eyes, her master was an unfathomable powerful being. Her father had to treat Daoist Master White Stone with the utmost respect, yet even Daoist Master White Stone didn''t dare to step out of line in the slightest in Gu Yunyue''s presence. However, Han Li had just disyed incredible power that was far beyond even Gu Yunyue''s reach.
To her, Han Li was a massive mystery, and even though she was standing by his side, she felt as if they were separated by a vast gxy.
"I thought we''d be safe from the Heavenly Ghost Sect after leaving the Prosperous Nation, I wasn''t expecting them toe after us so quickly," Gu Yunyue sighed.
"That''s only to be expected. After all, we''re currently still within the Heavenly Ghost Sect''s territory," Han Li replied with a nonchnt expression, not appearing worried in the slightest.
"As soon as we enter our Cold me Sect''s territory, we should be free from our pursuers," Gu Yunyue replied with a nod, but her expression suddenly stiffened slightly, and she nced at Han Li with a perplexed look in her eyes.
It was only for an instant, but her peculiar gaze didn''t escape Han Li''s notice.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but he was feeling rather frustrated. During the battle that had just taken ce, he had only briefly unleashed ayer of protective spiritual light over his body, yet his magic power had plummeted from the mid-Nascent Soul Stage to the early-Nascent Soul Stage.
Gu Yunyue had most likely sensed the change in his aura, but he naturally wasn''t going to bother to exin anything to her.
¡¡
Inside a dark secret chamber deep within a certain cave abode in the Heavenly Ghost Sect.
There were around a dozen lit torches on the walls of the secret chamber, and the yellow mes of the torches were casting countless shadows all over the entire secret chamber.
Right at the center of the secret chamber was a round stone table, in front of which sat a thin elderly man with a head of white hair and a mismatching ck beard. He was wearing an ochre robe, and he had one hand resting on the stone table, while his other hand was gently tapping his knee in a rhythmic manner.
He had a very pronounced nose and a pair of deep-set eyes that were staring absentmindedly forward. There was a contemtive expression on his thin and wrinkly face, which was illuminated by the light of the burning torches.
Directly in front of him was a copper mirror roughly the size of a human head hovering in mid-air. The mirror was disying the visage of a hunch-backed elderly man. It was none other than the surviving half of the Windcloud Duo.
He already had a hunched back to begin with, and he was hunched over even further at this moment. His head was virtually buried against his chest, and he didn''t dare to look up at all.
"So what you''re saying is that not only did the two of you fail to bring back the people I wanted, one of you died in the process?" the thin elderly man asked.
His voice was extremely deep and coarse.
The hunch-backed elderly man shuddered, then hurriedly replied, "Please forgive me, Martial Uncle Qi. Our enemy was simply far too powerful! In the beginning, he seemed to have intentionally concealed his aura so that he appeared to be no different from a mortal, but in the instant that he entered the battle, he suddenly became a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator.
¡°He managed to take my 12 bone tridents before I could even see what he was doing, and after that..."
Before he had a chance to finish, he was interrupted by the thin elderly man. "So his cultivation base was inferior to yours, yet he was able to take your treasures with ease?"
"Th... That''s right. Not only that, but his physical body is also extremely powerful. Compared with him, the ghostly entities in my junior martial brother''s Myriad Ghost Scroll may as well have been made from mud and twigs! All of them were destroyed on contact, and he even ate my Bone Devouring Yin Needles!" the hunch-backed elderly man replied with a hint of lingering fear in his voice.
The thin elderly man fell silent upon hearing this, seemingly having fallen into deep thought again.
The hunch-backed elderly man still didn''t dare to raise his head, and the fear in his heart was further fueled by the thin elderly man''s prolonged silence. He couldn''t help but fall to his knees as he said in a trembling voice, "I''m telling the truth, Martial Uncle Qi! I''m not exaggerating the story at all!"
The thin elderly man remained silent, and only after a long while did he speak again. "Judging from what you''ve told me, that man is most likely a powerful body cultivator. Cultivators of that nature are extremely rare, and they are indeed too powerful for you to handle. I''ll take care of matters from here, you don''t need to y any further part in this."
With that, he casually swept a sleeve through the air, and the image of the hunch-backed elderly man on the copper mirror instantly vanished.
"So what if you''re a high-grade body cultivator? I''m still going to tear you from limb to limb for killing Hao''er!" [1] the thin elderly man spat through gritted teeth as a vicious look appeared on his face.
Sometimeter, his gaze returned to the copper mirror, and he chanted an incantation before making a hand seal, then pointed a finger at the mirror.
The surface of the mirror began to ripple like water, following which another image emerged.
The image depicted a well-built middle-aged man standing in mid-air above a lush forest, and he stroked his short beard as he said with a smile, "It''s been quite some time since west saw each other, Brother Qi. What business do you have with me today?"
"I won''t bore you with small talk today, Brother Lu Ya. I have a favor to beg of you," the thin elderly man said with a serious expression.
The middle-aged man could see that the thin elderly man was in no mood to be joking around, so he also adopted a serious expression as he asked, "What is it?"
The thin elderly man took a deep breath, then gave the middle-aged man a recount of everything that had happened, starting with the death of Qi Minghao.
"How dare he go after one of your descendants? He deserves to die 1,000 deaths!" Lu Ya harrumphed coldly after hearing the story.
"I have some matters to attend to in the sect at the moment. I know that you''re near the Prosperous Nation right now, so I''m hoping you can go after Hao''er''s killer in my stead and exact revenge on him," the thin elderly man said.
Lu Ya was silent for a moment, then mused, "Body cultivators are far more powerful than normal cultivators, but it''s extremely difficult for them to advance in their cultivation and break through bottlenecks. The fact that this man has been able to reach such a high level in body cultivation indicates that he must be no ordinary cultivator..."
The thin elderly man took a meaningful nce at Lu Ya, then replied, "ording to one of my disciples, he''s a guest elder that the Cold me Sect is nning to take in, but he still hasn''t officially joined the sect yet, so you don''t need to worry. If you can kill him for me, you can have my Origin Spirit Pill as repayment."
A hint of tion shed through Lu Ya''s eyes upon hearing this, but he quickly disguised it, then said, "In that case, you can count on me, Brother Qi."
A thought suddenly urred to the thin elderly man, and a sinister look appeared on his face as he said, "By the way, spare that girl with the Yu surname for now. If possible, bring her to me alive."
Lu Ya faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response.
1. In Chinese, it''smon to take thest character of a person''s name and add ¶ù(er) at the end as an affectionate pet name, which is what''s happening here, with Qi Minghao before referred to as Hao''er. Some of you may remember that Nangong Wan was sometimes referred to as Wan''er by Han Li in RMJI, and that follows the same principle. ?
Chapter 26: Persistent Enemies
Chapter 26: Persistent Enemies
In the sky above a desert tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Prosperous Nation''s border, a spirit ark that was enshrouded in white light was flying rapidly toward a certain direction.
It was a bright and sunny day with clouds that resembled clumps of cotton driftingzily through the sky. It was a truly beautiful and rxing sight to behold, but none of the people on the ark were in the mood to be appreciating the scenery.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes tightly shut at the tail-end of the ark, and there was ayer of faint golden light roaming over his body.
Liu Le''er was seated right next to Han Li with green light surging over her body, and she was clearly also cultivating.
Gu Yunyue and Yu Menghan were standing at the head of the ark, and thetter was asionally turning around to cast her gaze toward the other end of the ark with aplex look in her eyes. Meanwhile, Gu Yunyue was controlling the ark with a faint smile on her face, and she seemed to be in high spirits.
Two days had already passed since they werest attacked, and during that time, they hadn''t encountered any more danger. As they approached the Cold me Sect, they were drawing closer and closer to safety.
After an indeterminate period of time, Han Li''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and he opened his eyes, following which the golden light on his body quickly faded.
During these past few days, he had attempted several more methods to try and remove the seal on his nascent soul, but he had made no progress at all and expended quite a bit of magic power in the process.
Even though he had managed to find two pills of a simr caliber to the Sharp Watch Pill in the long-faced young man''s storage bag, for some reason, they had no effect on him at all.
It seemed that his condition was far moreplex than he had anticipated.
He shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, then cast his gaze toward Liu Le''er.
Her aura had clearly be significantly more powerful than before, and she was showing signs of breaking through to thete-Foundation Establishment Stage. This was all thanks to another vial of pills that Han Li had found in the long-faced young man''s storage bag.
Han Li gave a pleased nod and didn''t interrupt her cultivation. Instead, he stood up and made his way over to the side of the spirit ark before casting his gaze outward.
Gu Yunyue approached him with a smile and said, "All we need to do is travel west from here, and we''ll be able to reach the sect in no more than half a month. Once we arrive, our sect will be sure to organize a top-tier cave abode for you so you can recover from your injuries."
Yu Menghan was following along behind her in silence.
"I''ll be in your care then, Fellow Daoist," Han Li replied with a nod.
Gu Yunyue was just about to say something else when a burst of faint rumbling suddenly rang out up ahead.
The three of them turned toward the direction where the sound wasing from, and they discovered that there was a vast expanse of darkness on the horizon. Several massive tornadoes were extending directly up into the heavens, sweeping from side to side, and thunderous rumbling was ringing out incessantly from the tornadoes, while the entire sky was enshrouded under a suffocatingyer of yellow sand.
Gu Yunyue''s brows furrowed slightly as she released an incantation seal, and the spirit ark drew to a halt.
Liu Le''er was roused from her cultivation as a result, and she made her way over to Han Li''s side with a curious expression.
"It looks like nothing more than a sandstorm. Is there a problem?" Han Li asked.
"The desert that we''re currently in is known as the Yellow Billow Desert, and sandstorms are very rare here, but in the case that a sandstorm does arise, it''ll quickly spread across the entire desert and rage on for around a month without rest," Gu Yunyue replied.
"Why don''t we just travel directly through it? The sandstorm may epass the entire desert, but surely it won''t have any impact on us," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Of course the sandstorm is of no concern to us, but there''s a type of ancient insect known as the Flying Sin Ant that resides in this desert. Normally, they rest beneath the sand in hibernation, but they alwayse out during sandstorms. One or two of these flying ants naturally pose no threat, but they often appear in vast numbers, and they''re incredibly fast.
¡°On top of that, they''re capable of releasing a corrosive mist that''s capable of eroding the spiritual natures of all treasures unless they''ve been refined using devilish arts. Hence, even high-grade cultivators find them to be a huge headache to deal with, and getting caught in a swarm of those flying ants could be quite troublesome," Gu Yunyue exined with a grim expression.
Han Li was silent for a moment upon hearing this, then asked, "What if we fly around this desert?"
At the moment, his magic power was a limited resource, and he didn''t want to have to waste it here.
Gu Yunyue considered the question for a moment before replying, "It''ll probably extend our journey by over a month."
Han Li fell silent as he stroked his chin in contemtion.
Gu Yunyue was also watching Han Li in silence, clearly waiting for him to make a decision on how to proceed.
All of a sudden, Mo Guang''s voice rang out in Han Li''s mind. "There''s no need to worry about those flying ants, Fellow Daoist Han. Just leave them to me."
"Oh? You have a way to deal with them?" Han Li asked internally.
"Flying Sin Ants are a type of ancient insect born from a mixture of underground baleful yin energy and the resentment of deceased spirits, so they share some simrities with Heavenly Devilish Monarchs like myself.
¡°I didn''t think that they would exist in the Spirit Domain Realm as well. These ants are indeed quite difficult to deal with, but they have a natural fear of sound-based devilish attacks. I may have lost most of my abilities, but even in my current state, dealing with these mere flying ants won''t be an issue at all," Mo Guang said in an assured voice.
Han Li considered the situation briefly before making a decision. "Alright, then we''ll be counting on you if we encounter those Flying Yin Ants in the desert."
"We''re both in the same boat here, so I naturally have to do my part," Mo Guang said before falling silent.
"Going around the desert will take too long, so let''s go straight through the sandstorm. If we encounter those Flying Yin Ants, I have a way to deal with them," Han Li said to Gu Yunyue.
Gu Yunyue faltered slightly upon hearing this. "Are you sure, Fellow Daoist Han?"
"Do you not trust me, Fellow Daoist Gu?" Han Li asked with a faint smile.
"I have no intention of doubting you, Fellow Daoist Han. In that case, let''s proceed," Gu Yunyue hurriedly replied, then wasted no further time with words as she made a hand seal.
The spirit ark began to glow brightly, releasing a white protective barrier before plunging directly into the sandstorm up ahead.
In the next instant, the surroundings dimmed significantly, and there was nothing in sight in all directions aside from boundless yellow sand that was being carried by fierce gusts of wind, which were blowing viciously against the spirit ark''s protective barrier.
The ark immediately began to sway slightly, and in response, Gu Yunyue switched to a different hand seal, releasing a burst of white light that vanished into a certain part of the ark in a sh.
As a result, all of the spirit patterns engraved onto the surface of the ark immediately lit up, and the white protective barrier instantly became several times brighter. The ark itself was also stabilized, and it continued onward.
Initially, Liu Le''er and Yu Menghan were rather concerned by the sight of the ferocious sandstorm outside, but as time passed, it became clear that there was no way that the sandstorm would be able to break through the spirit ark''s protective barrier. Hence, their concerns were put at ease, and they began to marvel at the rare scenery outside the white light barrier.
Gu Yunyue was controlling the spirit ark, carefully maneuvering it so that it avoided the tornadoes up ahead, and the speed of the ark''s advance wasn''t hampered by much.
Soon, they had already been traveling through the sandstorm for several hours, and thankfully, they were yet to encounter any Flying Sin Ants.
Han Li was standing at the head of the ark with a calm expression and his hands sped behind his back, but a hint of blue light suddenly shed through his eyes as he cast his gaze toward a certain direction up ahead.
Gu Yunyue immediately noticed the slight change in Han Li''s expression, and she asked, "What is it, Fellow Daoist Han?"
"Looks like we have trouble, Fellow Daoist Gu," Han Li replied as he turned to her with a faint smile.
Gu Yunyue faltered slightly upon hearing this, unsure of what Han Li was referring to.
Right at this moment, one of the tornadoes up ahead suddenly moved directly toward the spirit ark.
This tornado was particrly thick, and it extended all the way up into the heavens. Even before it arrived, the spirit ark was almost swept up by the ferocious gusts of wind that it was releasing.
Gu Yunyue''s expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and she had no time to ponder what Han Li had just said as she quickly stomped a foot down onto the ark.
The flying ark immediately began to glow brightly as it sped forward rapidly, instantly covering a distance of close to 1,000 feet, allowing it to just barely evade the tornado.
However, before Gu Yunyue had a chance to catch her breath, the ground around the ark suddenly fell away, and pirs of yellow light erupted into the sky.
These pirs of yellow light instantly intertwined with one another to form a huge yellow array in the blink of an eye.
In particr, the array that had appeared on the ground was extremelyplex and over 1,000 feet in size.
Gu Yunyue was naturally quite rmed to see this.
All of a sudden, the surrounding scenery took on a drastic change, and they were transported into a glittering and translucent world. They were surrounded by a series of mountains, and the sky and the ground were shimmering with yellow light.
A burst of enormous spiritual pressurepressed toward the spirit ark from all directions, and countless cracks quickly appeared on the white protective barrier around the ark, looking as if it were going to crumble away at any moment.
Liu Le''er and Yu Menghan immediately let loose cries of rm upon seeing this.
In contrast, Han Li remained as calm as ever as he reached out a hand to summon a small copper bell, which swelled to several dozen feet in size before descending onto the spirit ark, epassing Liu Le''er and Yu Menghan beneath it.
The yellow bell was a defensive treasure that Han Li had found in the long-faced young man''s storage bag, and it was perfect for this situation.
Almost at the exact same moment, the white light barrier around the spirit ark was shattered, and an enormous burst of pressure descended upon the ark.
The spiritual light around Han Li and Gu Yunyue''s bodies wavered slightly, but they were able to bear the pressure without much difficulty.
The spiritual light radiating from the yellow bell also flickered erratically for a moment before returning to normal again.
"Could it be that the Heavenly Ghost Sect has sent more people after us?"
Gu Yunyue was doing her best to maintain herposure, but judging from the immense pressure being released by the array, she could tell that it definitely couldn''t have been erected by a normal Nascent Soul cultivator, and that was making her feel a little panicked.
"The Heavenly Ghost Sect sure is persistent!" Han Li chuckled.
Chapter 27: Carrying the Five Mountains, Crushing the Five Ghosts
Chapter 27: Carrying the Five Mountains, Crushing the Five Ghosts
As soon as Han Li''s voice trailed off, the surrounding space suddenly underwent a change.
A series of giant yellow rocks the size of millstones emerged out of thin air, and there were around 20 to 30 of them. They were positioned tightly next to one another, forming a watertight encirclement around the spirit ark.
Gu Yunyue''s heart jolted slightly upon seeing this, and before she had a chance to do anything, the surfaces of the giant rocks shed with dazzling light, and they began to spin rapidly while crashing toward the spirit ark.
Gu Yunyue was greatly rmed to see this, and she immediately made a hand seal, upon which a streak of ck light rose up into the sky from her body, then instantly swelled drastically in size, transforming into a giant ck sword that was over 100 feet in length.
The giant sword swiveled around as it released a vast expanse of ck light, which took on the form of a dragon with a long tail trailing behind it as it struck the nearest rock.
A resounding boom rang out, and the giant sword shattered the rock with great difficulty, but as a result of the impact, the sword itself was also sent flying back, flipping end over end, and the radiance that it was giving off had alsopletely faded.
Gu Yunyue shuddered violently, and she stumbled back several steps before steadying herself as a stunned look appeared on her face.
The power of that single giant rock in free fall wasparable to an all-out attack from a Nascent Soul cultivator, and she couldn''t help but shudder internally at the sight of the 20 to 30 translucent giant rocks that were rapidly approaching from all directions.
However, right at this moment, Han Li''s voice rang out beside her.
"Focus on protecting those two and leave the rest to me."
Before she had a chance to reply, Han Li had already risen up from the spirit ark with golden light glowing from his hands, and he spun around as he threw punches at the air all around him.
A string of resounding booms rang out in all directions as all of the giant yellow rocks were struck by a burst of tremendous force almost at the exact same time, then exploded into countless rock fragments that rained down from the sky.
"So you really are a body cultivator." A cold harrumph rang out, but it was impossible to determine where the voice wasing from.
Gu Yunyue hurriedly inspected her surroundings, trying to find the owner of the voice.
Meanwhile, a hint of derision appeared in Han Li''s eyes, and he abruptly turned around before flicking a finger through the air, unleashing a burst of azure sword qi that shot forth like lightning before striking a certain corner of the translucent yellow world, exploding upon impact.
The air there rippled violently, and a burly man dressed in ck stumped out into the open.
The man had a very sturdy build with a short beard on his square face, which was currently etched with shock.
The burly man''s expression quickly returned to normal, and he asked, "I didn''t think that you would also be a sword cultivator. It''s quite remarkable that you were able to see through my illusory array as a mere Nascent Soul cultivator. Based on that alone, I''m sure you''re not just some nameless cultivator. Who are you?"
"It doesn''t matter who I am. A dead man like you doesn''t need to know too much," Han Li chuckled coldly.
"What a joke! I was only putting a fraction of this array''s power on disy, don''t think that you''ve got the better of me! I''m going to crush you to a pulp with this next attack!" The burly man was infuriated by Han Li''s provocation, and he made a hand seal, upon which yellow ripples surged over his body, and he vanished into thin air once again.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
This array was quite an intricate construction, and the burly man had most likely concealed himself somewhere deep within it. To Han Li''s surprise, he was no longer able to detect the burly man even with his spiritual sense.
However, he then gave a cold harrumph as golden light appeared all over his entire body. His n was to destroy the array with brute force, leaving the burly man with nowhere to hide.
However, right at this moment, an unexpected turn of events suddenly unfolded.
The entire sky abruptly darkened, and five enormous creatures with ck qi surging around their bodies emerged, surrounding the spirit ark from five different directions.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and piercing blue light shed through his eyes.
Beneath the ck qi were five giant ck ghosts, each of which was around 300 to 400 feet tall. If it weren''t for the curved horns growing on their heads, they would be the spitting image of apes that had been significantly erged. Their bodies were covered in short ck fur, and their mouths were filled with sharp fangs, while their eyes were bright red in color. They were extremely fearsome to behold, but their expressions were quite nk and vacant.
Each of the giant ghosts was holding a miniature ck mountain.
Compared with these five ghosts, Han Li was made to appear as tiny as an ant.
Gu Yunyue''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this.
Every single one of these five giant ghosts was giving off an aura that was superior to hers, and ayer of cold sweat instantly appeared on her forehead.
As for Liu Le''er and Yu Menghan, they were unable to withstand thebined spiritual pressure being released by the five giant ghosts, and they had fallen unconscious on the spot.
The five giant ghosts let loose a collective deafening roar, and a vicious gleam shed through their bright red eyes as they swung their ape arms violently to hurl the five miniature mountains that they were holding through the air.
The miniature mountains glowed brightly with spiritual light, and they swelled rapidly in size as soon as they left the hands of the giant apes, expanding to over 1,000 feet tall in the blink of an eye as they crashed directly toward Han Li and the spirit ark.
Even before the giant mountains arrived, an asphyxiating sense of pressure had already descended upon the spirit ark, and the space around the ark was buzzing incessantly as gusts of fierce wind were instantly swept up.
Gu Yunyue was almost unable to suppress the urge to cry out in horror, and all she could do was summon a series of treasures in a panicked frenzy, conjuring up severalyers of light barriers of different colors around herself and the two unconscious young women on the ark.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and golden light shed from his palms as he extended his hands nonchntly toward the oing mountains.
A string of five deafening booms rang out in rapid session, and incredibly powerful shockwaves surged through the air one after another.
The entire yellow space began to buzz loudly while warping violently, and finally, it reached a breaking point, shattering with a dull thump.
With the yellow space destroyed, the environment reverted back to the desert, and countless bursts of yellow light scattered erratically in all directions.
The formidable shockwaves were released upon the desert, proliferating outward in all directions, causing the surrounding sandstorm to churn violently.
Even though the yellow space had been destroyed, it was only an illusion to begin with, and the glowing yellow array on the ground was still standing.
The five giant ghosts were also still hovering in mid-air, but their expressions had be vacant and aloof again.
The burly man emerged out of thin air, and a pleased smile appeared on his face.
In the face of these five ghosts, even ate-Deity Transformation cultivator would definitely struggle immensely unless they possessed a powerful spirit treasure.
However, in the next instant, his smile abruptly stiffened, and his eyes widened as he looked down with an incredulous expression.
As it turned out, the five enormous mountains had been stacked in a pile on top of one another, and Han Li was standing casually in mid-air beneath the base of the fifth mountain, casually supporting it with one hand as if he were carrying nothing more than five feathers.
As for the spirit ark beneath Han Li and the three women on it, they werepletely unscathed.
Before the burly man had a chance to react, Han Li exhaled nonchntly, releasing a burst of white energy out of his mouth, and the five giant mountains were blown away like leaves in the wind.
The surfaces of the mountains shed with ck light, and they rapidly shrank back to their original size.
Han Li casually flicked his fingers through the air, and the five miniature mountains were instantly sent flying toward the burly man at an incredible speed, reaching him in the blink of an eye.
The burly man''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and dazzling ck light erupted from his body as he plummeted rapidly toward the ground, just barely evading the five miniature mountains.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s body blurred, and he appeared in front of the five mountains in wraith-like manner, and he casually reached out again to stop the mountains cold in their tracks.
He then swiveled around before kicking two of the miniature mountains with his feet, and the two mountains instantly descended from above like a pair of shooting stars, flying close to twice as fast as they had been when they wereunched through the air earlier.
The two miniature mountains shed with ck light as they abruptly expanded once again, swelling to over 1,000 feet tall in the blink of an eye, and the whistling sound that they produced as they flew through the air was also heightened into a terrifying rumble.
One of the mountains was crashing toward the array down below, while the other was hurtling toward the burly man.
A resounding boom rang out as the former struck the yellow array with devastating force.
The array immediately began to glow with dazzling radiance in an attempt to resist, but the astonishing power imbued within the giant mountain crushed its resistance with ease, and it instantly exploded into countless bursts of light.
With the array destroyed, the spirit ark was instantly freed, and it was carried away far into the distance by a gust of fierce wind.
Meanwhile, the other mountain was hurtling rapidly toward the burly man, catching up to him before he had evennded on the ground.
The burly was greatly rmed by this, and he opened his mouth to expel a mouthful of blood essence. His entire body was instantly enshrouded in ayer of crimson light, and he transformed into a burst of serpentine spiritual light that sped through the air, boosting his speed by severalfold.
The second giant mountain crashed into the ground, and vast volumes of sand erupted in all directions.
In the instant that the giant mountain struck the ground, the streak of serpentine spiritual light flew over the ground, appearing over 1,000 feet away in a sh. The burly man was epassed within the streak of light, and his entire body was already drenched in cold sweat.
Before he had a chance to catch his breath, a dark shadow suddenly appeared over him, and he looked up to see another giant mountain rapidly descending upon him. At this point, it was already too close for him to evade.
Chapter 28: Alarmed
Chapter 28: rmed
The burly man let loose a desperate cry as he swept his hands through the air, releasing two bursts of light, one yellow and one ck.
It was a pair of treasures, one of which was a ck cane, while the other was arge yellow seal with countless runes shing on its surface, and both of them hurtled directly toward the giant ck mountain.
The two treasures were giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations, and it was clear that they were the burly man''s trump cards.
He made a hand seal before letting loose a thunderous roar, and two enormous bursts of light appeared, one yellow and one ck, and they were able to slow down the descent of the giant ck mountain.
The burly man took advantage of this opportunity to flee back in retreat.
However, the two bursts of light only managed to resist for a brief moment. The burly man had only just managed to fly over 100 feet away when the giant mountain crushed the two bursts of light, then mmed into the ground, causing sand to erupt in all directions once again.
The burly man flew out of the sand, but he was no longer moving as quickly as before. His face was as pale as a sheet, and half of his body was drenched in blood, while his left arm was hanging limply by his side.
Even though he had reacted very quickly, the giant mountain was far too fast, and he was still grazed by it in the end, resulting in severe injuries.
The burly man threw up arge mouthful of blood as he fell onto the ground with a horrified expression. However, he then immediately gritted his teeth and flipped a hand over to produce a white talisman. Countless densely packed runes were inscribed onto the talisman''s surface, and it was giving off powerful spatial fluctuations.
The burly man quickly chanted an incantation, mustering up all that remained of his magic power to try and activate the talisman.
However, right at this moment, another massive shadow appeared over his head, and yet again, he was faced with a falling mountain, this one descending at an even more rming speed than the previous three mountains.
The burly man''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this. He needed some time to activate this spatial talisman.
In his desperation, he hurriedly made a strange hand seal, and ck light erupted from his body to form a ck array.
All of a sudden, the five giant ghosts that had been standing in mid-air just a second ago appeared around him, forming a protective encirclement.
The eyes of the five ghosts shed with crimson light, and they roared in unison as they swept their enormous ws through the air, unleashing a series of ck w projections that sped toward the base of the ck mountain.
As soon as the w projections struck the giant mountain, they were instantly shattered, and the downward momentum of the mountain was hampered slightly, but it was still crashing down with tremendous force.
The five ghosts roared in unison as ck qi surged over their bodies, and the muscles on their bodies bulged, particrly those on their arms and legs.
They reached up with their thick, musclebound arms to resist the giant mountain with no regard for their own lives.
As soon as their arms came into contact with the giant mountain, they were instantly shattered by the enormous impact. However, the five ghosts were still roaring valiantly as they resisted the mountain with their bodies, refusing to take a single backward step.
The giant ck mountain struck their bodies with ferocious might, and a sickening grinding sound rang out as blood and flesh flew in all directions.
The giant mountain was finally stopped.
The upper bodies of the five ghosts had beenpletely destroyed, but they were still standing with their feet buried deep in the desert sand, resembling five enormous pirs that were supporting the giant mountain.
The burly man heaved a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this, and he hurriedly injected all of his remaining magic power into the white talisman.
The talisman began to glow with white light, and he was ecstatic to see this.
However, right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out as the final mountain came crashing down,nding on the fourth mountain.
A burst of terrifying force descended from above, and what remained of the five ghosts'' bodies instantly exploded into dust.
The burly man felt the air constrict around him, rendering himpletely immobile.
The two giant mountains then came crashing down upon him, and his body was crushed into a pile of mincemeat before he even had a chance to cry out.
All of a sudden, a burst of golden light shot out of the sand beneath the giant mountain, then sped away rapidly into the distance.
Han Li focused his gaze on the streak of golden light to find that it was a miniature golden figure that was only around three inches tall. Its appearance was identical to that of the burly man, except its hair waspletely disheveled, and it wore a horrified expression as it flew toward the northwest, clutching a silver storage bracelet tightly to its chest.
It was none other than the burly man''s nascent soul!
"Go!"
Han Li made a grabbing motion, then with a casual flick of his wrist, he sent a streak of ck light flying toward the burly man''s nascent soul at an incredible speed.
Meanwhile, Gu Yunyue had only just managed to stabilize the spirit ark, and she just so happened to cast her gaze toward Han Li''s direction. She heard a sharp screeching sound in her ear, but her eyes were unable to follow the trajectory of the streak of ck light.
In the next instant, a resounding boom rang out in the distant sky, and the burly man''s nascent soul exploded into a ball of golden light.
A ck palm-sized object also fell out of the sky, and it was nothing more than a piece of normal iron essence.
As for the burly man''s silver storage bracelet, it was drawn into Han Li''s grasp with a casual wave of his hand. He then flew over to the five scattered mountains, shrinking them back down to their miniature forms and stowing them away before returning to the spirit ark.
All the while, Gu Yunyue was staring nkly at him as if she were looking at aplete stranger.
Earlier in her panicked state, she didn''t get a chance to try and identify the burly man. However, thinking back to the cultivation arts and secret techniques that he had unleashed, she was able to identify him as an early-Deity Transformation Stage elder of the Heavenly Ghost Sect by the name of Lu Ya.
He was particrly adept in the art of manipting ghosts, and it was said that over a decade ago, he was able to hold his own in battle against two Origin Realm Temple cultivators of the same cultivation base.
Despite all of his des, he had been in by Han Li with ease, and this had already exceeded the boundaries of Gu Yunyue''sprehension.
It had finally be clear to her that there was noparison whatsoever between her and Han Li, and she was utterly astonished.
After a long while, Gu Yunyue finally returned to her senses, and she asked with a wry smile, "Fellow Daoist Han, are you really only a Nascent Soul cultivator?"
The awe and veneration in her eyes were clear to see.
"I''m sure you can tell that for yourself, can''t you, Fellow Daoist Gu?" Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.
"I''m naturally able to discern the level of your magic power fluctuations, but your prowess in battle far exceeds what should be possible for a Nascent Soul cultivator! Even among all of the Deity Transformation Stage elders of our sect, I can''t think of any who would be capable of ying other Deity Transformation cultivators so easily," Gu Yunyue sighed.
"My only advantage is that I possess a physical body slightly more powerful than most, I wouldn''t dare topare myself with the powerful elders of the Cold me Sect," Han Li replied with a shake of his head, then spoke no further on the subject.
Instead, he directed his gaze toward Liu Le''er and Yu Menghan, who were stillying on the ground in an unconscious state, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure spiritual light that passed over the two.
Both of the young women slowly awakened, but as they opened their eyes, they were a little disoriented.
As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Liu Le''er quickly recalled what had just happened, and she sat bolt upright with an rmed expression.
"Brother Rock! You..."
"Don''t worry, everything''s fine now. We can continue onward," Han Li said in a gentle voice, looking as if nothing had happened.
¡¡
"Peak Master, ording to the message that Martial Niece Gu just sent back, that vagrant cultivator with the Han surname definitely isn''t just some ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator. Who could''ve thought that she would run into such an interesting character on this trip?"
Inside a conference hall within a certain mountain in the Cold me Sect, a burly man with a coarse and rugged appearance was speaking to a middle-aged man in a schrly robe.
The middle-aged man was clean-shaven and was wearing an azure robe, holding an ancient azure scroll in his hands, giving him the appearance of an elegant and refined schr.
"The fact that he was able to kill an early-Deity Transformation cultivator with the power of his physical body alone indicates that he''s clearly a high-grade body cultivator," the azure-robed man replied with a nod.
"In any case, it''s certainly great news that the Heavenly Ghost Sect has lost one of its Deity Transformation Stage elders. I must say, I''m very interested in this vagrant cultivator," the burly man chuckled with a hint of triumph in his eyes.
A faint smile also appeared on the azure-robed man''s face upon hearing this, and he said, "In that case, I''ll get you to greet him in person once he arrives. I''m sure you know what needs to be done."
"Yes," the burly man replied.
Chapter 29: Spiritflame Mountain Range
Chapter 29: Spiritme Mountain Range
At the same time, in a certain cave abode, a thin elderly man wearing an ochre robe was situated on the main seat gently blowing into a cup of tea that he was holding in his hand.
In front of him was a middle-aged man with a pair of narrow eyes, standing with his head lowered slightly and a respectful look on his face.
"Given how much time has passed, Lu Ya should be done on his end," the thin elderly man mused.
"There''s no chance that anything could go wrong under Elder Lu''s watch. Only someone of such a lofty status as yourself would be able to request such a favor from Elder Lu," the middle-aged man said in a respectful voice.
"Out of all of my descendants, Hao''er is the only one who possesses the aptitude to be destined for great things, yet to think that he would die such a premature death! That bastard should be killed thousands of times over for what he''s done!" the elderly man said in a furious voice as he mmed down his teacup.
"Look on the bright side, Patriarch. Once Yu Menghan is captured, you''ll be well on your way to attaining full mastery of your cultivation art," the middle-aged man hurriedly consoled.
The fury on the elderly man''s face eased slightly, and he said, "Come to think of it, she''s partially to me for Hao''er''s death as well, but I''ll spare her for now, seeing as she possesses a constitution that''s useful to me."
As soon as his voice trailed off, his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he cast his gaze toward the gates of his cave abode.
Momentster, the sound of footsteps rang out, and a young female servant appeared at the cave abode''s entrance, then extended a respectful bow as she dered, "Elder Qi, Elder Mo hase to see you."
Before the elderly man had a chance to reply, a cold male voice rang out from outside the cave abode.
"To think that you''re still in the mood to be sipping tea in your cave abode at a time like this. I must say, yourposure is very remarkable, Elder Qi."
Immediately thereafter, a middle-aged man in a ck robe with a tall hat on his head appeared outside the entrance.
Qi Xuan raised an eyebrow at the sight of the man, and he gestured for the servant to leave before asking, "What business do you have with me, Mo Chen? Unless I''m mistaken, I don''t believe we arranged a meeting at this time."
Instead of answering Qi Xuan''s question, Mo Chen raised one of his own. "Elder Lu Ya''s soul badge suddenly cracked not long ago. Do you have anything to say about that, Elder Qi?"
"What did you say?" Qi Xuan immediately sprang to his feet with a stunned expression.
"ording to those whost saw Elder Lu, he went to intercept a group of people at your request, and that was what led to his death. May I ask who you requested him to intercept, Elder Qi?" Mo Chen asked in a cold voice.
"That''s impossible! How could a pair of Nascent Soul cultivators possibly have been a match for Lu Ya?" Qi Xu was absolutely incredulous.
"Elder Lu Ya was an early-Deity Transformation cultivator, yet not only was he killed, even his nascent soul was unable to escape. Am I supposed to believe that you had no idea at all about how much danger you were cing Elder Lu in? I hope you haven''t made a powerful enemy for the sect all for your own selfish vendettas. In any case, I''ll have to ask you toe with me on a trip to the Enforcement Hall, Elder Qi," Mo Chen said in a cold voice.
¡¡
Several dayster, Han Li''s group finally emerged from the Yellow Billow Desert.
Along the way, they were attacked by several swarms of Flying Sin Ants, but they were easily taken care of by Han Li through Mo Guang, and they encountered no further pursuers from the Heavenly Ghost Sect.
Furthermore, given that Han Li was able to y a Deity Transformation cultivator so easily, Gu Yunyue was not surprised at all to see that Han Li was able to deal with the Flying Sin Ants as well.
The consecutive days of travel had left Yu Menghan and Liu Le''er feeling rather exhausted, and they were cuddled up together, sleeping soundly on one side of the spirit ark.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed at the tail-end of the spirit ark with his brows slightly furrowed and a rather peculiar look in his eyes. In front of him seven or eight vials of different colors and materials, all of which had beenpletely emptied.
"How did it go, Fellow Daoist Han?" Mo Guang''s voice rang out in his mind.
"Most of these pills came from that Deity Transformation cultivator, and there''s nock of pills of a decently high caliber among them, but not a single one has had any effect on me," Han Li sighed.
During the previous battle, he was able to kill his opponent with his immense physical strength and the help of those five mountains, so he hadn''t expended much magic power, but it was still naturally a problem that he was unable to increase his current reserves of magic power.
"What about the top-grade spirit stones?"
"I can''t absorb them, either," Han Li replied with a wry smile, spreading open his hand to reveal a spirit stone that had already bepletely devoid of luster.
"It seems that only certain special pills will have an effect on you," Mo Guang mused.
"Perhaps. So far, only that Sharp Watch Pill and that golden pill I found in Qi Minghao''s storage bag have been effective. Once we get to the Cold me Sect, I''m going to get another Sharp Watch Pill and study it thoroughly. Perhaps I''ll be able to find out the underlying reasons then," Han Li replied as he absentmindedly stroked the small vial that he wore around his neck.
¡¡
Half a monthter, a spirit ark sped through the air above a lush mountain range.
There was one man and three women on the ark, and they were none other than Han Li''s group.
"This Spiritme Mountain Range is the entrance to our Cold me Sect," Gu Yunyue introduced with a smile as she swept her gaze over the forest down below.
"The spirit veins are very stable, and there''s a vast abundance of spiritual qi. This is indeed a fantastic ce," Han Li mused with a nod of approval.
Yu Menghan was ecstatic to hear this, but after looking around, a puzzled look appeared on her face as she turned to Gu Yunyue.
Liu Le''er was holding onto the side of the spirit ark, leaning her body over the edge to inspect her surroundings, but she couldn''t see any signs of a sect amid the lush greenery, either, and she couldn''t help but ask, "Brother Rock, I can also sense that the spiritual qi here is very abundant, but I don''t see any sect."
"All major sects are concealed by powerful arrays. We are currently situated outside the array, which is equivalent to standing outside the walls of a city, so we naturally can''t see what''s inside," Han Li replied with a smile.
Liu Le''er and Yu Menghan didn''t fully understand this concept, but they still nodded in response.
"Fellow Daoist Han, please wait for a moment while I inform the sect of our arrival," Gu Yunyue said.
She flipped a hand over as she spoke, producing a palm-sized golden badge with a me design etched onto its surface.
A burst of light emerged on the badge, and the me design suddenly began to sway as if it were an actual me.
A streak of light shot forth from the badge, flying directly into the mountain range down below.
Momentster, a burst of ripples suddenly spread through the air below the spirit ark, and a semi-spherical golden light barrier that was barely visible slowly emerged.
The entirety of the Spiritme Mountain Range, which stretched for several hundred kilometers, waspletely epassed within the light barrier.
"As expected of one of the most dominant sects in a realm," Han Li remarked with a hint of approval in his voice.
Liu Le''er and Yu Menghan were both gripping onto the edge of the spirit ark, looking down with awe and amazement in their eyes.
Beneath the golden light barrier were countless pces and pagodas interspersed throughout the lush forest.
Some of the buildings were situated individually atop sheer cliffs, while others were connected together in a cluster. Some were positioned in canyons and gorges, while others were built halfway up mountains.
At the center of the entire mountain range were around a dozen mountains that were far taller than all of the other ones, and there was white mist and purple qi rising up from those mountains. It was clear just from a nce that those peaks were particrly abundant in spiritual qi.
"This ce is beautiful!" Yu Menghan couldn''t help but exim.
Liu Le''er also nodded eagerly in agreement.
Gu Yunyue was clearly in a very good mood following their return to the sect, and she turned to Han Li with a smile as she said, "Fellow Daoist Han, Elder Luo is already waiting for us on Cloudrise Peak. Let''s go see him right away."
Han Li nodded in response.
Right as the spirit ark passed through the light barrier, he felt a burst of spiritual sense sweep over his body, and he presumed that it belonged to the aforementioned Elder Luo.
After Han Li and the others officially entered the Cold me Sect, Liu Le''er took a curious nce upward to find that the light barrier had already disappeared, and all that was left to be seen were the pristine blue sky and the drifting white clouds.
The spirit ark flew toward the center of the mountain range, then descended onto a lush mountain peak that extended all the way up into the clouds.
At the foot of that mountain was a spacious white za, where an imposing man was standing, casting his gaze toward the spirit ark from afar.
The man had a set of rugged features and was wearing an ochre robe with a ck belt around his waist, entuating the outline of his pronounced pectoral muscles. Judging from the aura that he was giving off, he was a Deity Transformation cultivator.
Chapter 30: Raising the Land
Chapter 30: Raising the Land
After stowing the spirit ark away, Gu Yunyue made her way toward the burly man as she extended a respectful curtsey. "I pay my respects to Martial Uncle Luo."
"Thank you for your hard work, Martial Niece Gu. You must be Fellow Daoist Han, right?" the burly man asked as his gaze fell upon Han Li.
"That''s correct," Han Li replied.
"My name is Luo Jun. Peak Master Nangong wanted to wee you in person today, but there were some matters that he had to attend to, so I had to take his ce. I hope you won''t mind, Fellow Daoist Han," the burly man said with a smile.
"Of course not," Han Li replied with a smile.
Luo Jun''s gaze then fell upon Yu Menghan, and his eyes lit up slightly as he remarked, "This must be your new disciple, right, Martial Niece Gu? She''s quite a good find!"
"Junior Yu Menghan pays her respects to Elder Luo," Yu Menghan hurriedly said as she extended a curtsey.
"As long as she works hard in her cultivation, I''m certain she''ll surpass me someday," Gu Yunyue said with a pleased smile.
After that, Luo Jun greeted Liu Le''er as well, and a strange look appeared on his face once he learned that she and Han Li referred to one another as brother and sister, but he offered noment on the matter.
Having witnessed Han Li''s power on the way here, Liu Le''er was no longer as anxious and uneasy in the presence of unfamiliar human cultivators. She was confident that as long as Han Li was with her, no one would be able to touch her.
Luo Jun''s gaze returned to Han Li, and he said, "Fellow Daoist Han, not only were you able to kill a Deity Transformation Stage elder of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, you''ve also ensured a safe return to the sect for Martial Niece Gu. Given your powers and the contributions you''ve already made to the sect, we would be honored to ept you as a guest elder.
¡°There are around a dozen cave abodes for guest elders currently avable for you to select from. Do you have any special requirements or requests that you''d like to raise?"
"Truth be told, I''m currently carrying some injuries, so it would be ideal if I could have a more peaceful and secluded cave abode to aid in my rest and recovery. Aside from that, I''m also somewhat familiar with the art of pill refinement, so it would be even better if I could have a cave abode in close proximity to a plot for spirit farnd," Han Li replied in an unhurried manner.
Luo Jun faltered slightly upon hearing these requests, following which his brows furrowed slightly as he said, "That might be a problem. Out of the remaining cave abodes, there are several that are quite peaceful and secluded, but unfortunately, none of them have any adjacent plots of spirit farnd.
¡°On top of that, most of the spirit farnd on Cloudrise Peak are looked after by our disciples, and the majority of those plots ofnd are situated on some sloped areas that receive the most sun exposure during the day, and I can''t say they''re very peaceful areas."
Han Li''s brows also furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and it seemed that he was grappling with a dilemma.
Luo Jun could see the change in Han Li''s expression, and after a brief moment of contemtion, he suggested, "How about this? Choose a plot of spirit farnd that you like, and I''ll get some disciples to construct a brand new cave abode on that plot ofnd right away. What do you think, Fellow Daoist Han?"
Han Li was silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled, "There''s no need for that. If there are no avable cave abodes with adjacent plots of spirit farnd, then I can just carry a plot up there myself. Is that something that''s allowed, Elder Luo?"
Gu Yunyue and Yu Menghan both faltered slightly upon hearing this, unsure of exactly what Han Li was proposing.
Meanwhile, Liu Le''er was snuggled up close to Han Li''s side, inspecting her surroundings with an intrigued expression, paying no heed to the ongoing conversation.
Luo Jun clearly wasn''t expecting such a response from Han Li, and he burst intoughter as an intrigued look appeared on his face. "So instead of conforming to thend, you''re going to make thend conform to you! How bold of you, Fellow Daoist Han! Of course that''s within the rules. Pleasee with me."
Thus, Luo Jun led Han Li and his group to a valley halfway up the mountain. There were several plots of spirit farnd in the valley that had been clearly separated, amounting to a total of around an acre in area, and there were some servants toiling away as they tended to the farnd.
"Fellow Daoist Han, these plots of spirit farnd once belonged to a guest elder who perished unexpectedly during an outing several years ago. In the wake of his passing, I''ve been looking after these plots of spirit farnd. If they catch your fancy, then you can do with them as please," Luo Jun said as he casually gestured toward the valley. up ahead.
"Thank you, Elder Luo." Han Li''s gaze roamed over the valley as a hint of a smile appeared on his face.
For some reason, Luo Jun couldn''t help but feel a sense of unease upon seeing this.
Han Li strode forward as he took a deep breath, then leaned down and raised his fist before mming it into the ground.
A resounding boom rang out as the entire valley trembled violently, and a crater had been smashed into the ground by his fist. It wasn''t a veryrge crater, but it was so deep that its bottom was entirely out of sight.
Yu Menghan swayed unsteadily, and if Gu Yunyue hadn''t caught her, she would''ve fallen onto the ground.
Liu Le''er''s also swayed slightly before hurriedly steadying herself.
Most of the servants who were working on the plot of farnd were Qi Refinement cultivators, and they had no idea what was happening. All of them cried out in rm as they hurriedly fled the valley.
Meanwhile, Luo Jun was watching Han Li in silence.
Han Li made his way around the plots of spirit farnd as he strode into the valley, throwing a punch into the ground once every several hundred feet.
During the subsequent span of around 15 minutes, resounding booms rang out incessantly across the entire valley, and Han Li made a fullp of the valley before returning to the original spot that he had set off from.
Despite the manualbor that he had justpleted, Han Li wasn''t showing any signs of exertion at all, much to Luo Jun''s amazement.
Without any further ado, Han Li crouched down before plunging his hands straight into the ground beneath him.
He then raised his arms violently, and the valley rumbled incessantly as a rift was instantly torn into the ground, gradually extending outward from Han Li''s hands.
The rift connected all of the craters that had been punched into the ground by Han Li, ultimately the entire plot of spirit farnd in the valley.
Only now did Liu Le''er realize what Han Li was doing, and a look of admiration surfaced in her eyes as an excited flush appeared on her cheeks.
Gu Yunyue''s mouth gaped open in shock, but she was unable to utter even a single word.
One final burst of rumbling rang out as the entire plot of spirit farnd was uprooted and lifted vertically upward.
From afar, it would appear as if the plot of spirit farnd were hovering in mid-air.
Yu Menghan''s jaw had already dropped straight to the ground at this astonishing sight.
"Let''s go check out my new cave abode, Elder Luo," Han Li said as he turned to Luo Jun with a nonchnt smile.
Luo Jun looked at the uprooted plot of spirit farnd and the severely ravaged valley, and he had no idea how to feel about this.
He had thought that at the very most, Han Li would''ve only chosen one of the plots of spirit farnd, then moved it using some type of treasure or secret technique, and it never urred to him that he would uproot the entire plot of spirit farnd with the power of his physical body alone!
However, he had authorized Han Li to do as he pleased, so he naturally couldn''t say anything now. Thus, he could only give a wry smile as he led the way up the mountain.
Han Li carried the enormous plot of spirit farnd and wandered over Cloudrise Peak for over an hour before finally selecting a cave abode that was situated in a peaceful corner near the peak of the mountain.
Chapter 31: Trade Valley
Chapter 31: Trade Valley
Han Li casually smashed a giant crater that was around an acre in area into the secluded cave abode, then ced the plot of spirit farnd into it, and Lu Jun couldn''t help but burst into raucousughter upon seeing this.
"Your extraordinary strength has far exceeded my expectations, Fellow Daoist Han! I have truly been humbled!"
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Luo. Now that you''ve finished examining my abilities, it''s time that we discuss some official matters, is it not?" Han Li asked with a hint of a smile on his face.
A sheepish smile appeared on Luo Jun''s face upon hearing this, and he cleared his throat in a slightly awkward manner as he replied, "I had no such intentions, Fellow Daoist Han. There''s not too much that needs to be said. You don''t need to do anything to be a guest elder of our sect, and every year, our sect will assign you 50,000 spirit stones and some pills to support your cultivation.
¡°However, the pill assignment window for this year has already passed, so you''ll have to wait for next year. This is your badge, it contains a map of our sect and some information on all of our sect''s peaks. This is this year''s spirit stone allotment of 80,000 spirit stones. The additional 30,000 spirit stones are a weing gift from Peak Master Nangong."
Luo Jun pulled out a shimmering golden badge and an azure storage bag as he spoke, then offered them to Han Li.
Aplex look appeared in Gu Yunyue''s eyes as she cast her gaze toward Han Li. The benefits that Luo Jun had just described were normally reserved only for Deity Transformation Stage elders, but given the power that Han Li has disyed, no one could argue that he was unworthy of such treatment.
"Thank you, Elder Luo. By the way, are Sharp Watch Pills allocated yearly by the sect or are there some other avenues through which they can be obtained?" Han Li asked as he epted the badge and the spirit stones.
"Sharp Watch Pills are asionally allocated by the sect. They''re great for treating injuries, but they don''t have much use when ites to cultivation base advancement. Some disciples will trade them in our sect''s internal markets, but most of them are traded very quickly, so they''re not easy to obtain," Luo Jun replied.
"It looks like I''ll just have to try my luck then," Han Li said with a thoughtful expression.
Luo Jun didn''t linger much longer, and he departed with Gu Yunyue and Yu Menghan after exchanging some more small talk with Han Li.
Following Luo Jun''s departure, Han Li activated all of the restrictions within the cave abode, then led Liu Le''er on a tour. He arranged a bedroom for her to rest in, then departed from the cave abode.
Around 15 minutester, Han Li appeared in a valley several kilometers away from Cloudrise Peak.
There was a white stone que situated at the entrance of the valley, upon which were engraved the words "Trade Valley" inrge red characters. Beneath the que was a wide stone street that extended into the valley.
This Trade Valley was none other than the internal market that Luo Jun had referred to earlier, and even before entering the valley, Han Li could already hear the chaoticmotion one would normally expect to hear in a busy market.
Han Li paused momentarily at the entrance of the valley, then continued onward, and by the time he arrived under the que, most of the valley wasid out before him.
Most of the streets in the valley sloped upward, and all of the shops were also constructed in a way that followed the terrain of the valley. All types of gs were hanging outside the shops, and it looked no different from a normal market.
At the moment, it was just past noon, and there were countless people entering and exiting the shops in the market, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.
Han Li chose a pill shop at random before walking into it, but shortly thereafter, he emerged in an expressionless manner before proceeding to the next shop.
He visited five or sixrge pill shops in a row, but didn''t encounter even a single Sharp Watch Pill. Only in one of the shops was he informed that they had recently received one such pill, but that was two months ago, and it had been traded away on the same day.
After close to half a day, Han Li traversed through almost the entire market, but still had nothing to show for his efforts.
After emerging from yet another pill shop, Han Li didn''t continue deeper into the valley. Instead, he made his way toward a secluded corner in an unhurried manner, then suddenly swiveled around before casting a cold gaze toward a nearby tree.
"You''ve been following me almost the entire time I''ve been in this valley. Do you have some business with me?"
"Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist. It''s all just a misunderstanding."
A gray-robed elderly man emerged from behind the tree before making his way over to Han Li with a sheepish expression.
The man''s hair and beard were allpletely white, yet he had an extremely youthful, childlike face, presenting a rather peculiar contrast to behold.
Han Li could sense that the man was a Deity Transformation cultivator. "A misunderstanding?"
The elderly man''s expression remained unchanged as he calmly exined, "I am Gao Bulin, an elder of Sunset Peak. I just so happened to overhear that you were searching for a Sharp Watch Pill, and that''s why I''ve been following you briefly."
"The Sunset Peak? If I recall correctly, that peak is specifically dedicated to the pill refinement masters of the sect, right? Could it be that you have a Sharp Watch Pill in your possession?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Hehe, I do indeed have a Sharp Watch PIll, and I intend to trade it, but I''ll have to see if you have anything that I need," Gao Bulin replied with a smile as he took a nce at the storage bag on Han Li''s waist.
"What are you looking for, Elder Gao?" Han Li asked.
"There''s no hurry. I still don''t even know your name yet, Fellow Daoist," Gao Bulin said, disying no urgency to proceed with the trade.
"I am Han Li, a guest elder of the Cloudrise Peak. Can we get back to business now?" Han Li asked with a calm expression.
"A guest elder of Cloudrise Peak? You must possess some remarkable abilities, Fellow Daoist. I''mpletely unable to discern your cultivation base! But I digress. I am looking for cial Yin Water, Blue Crystal Sand, Heavenly River Starstone, or a Lanling Flower or Inkfragrance Herb over 3,000 years old.
¡°Do you have any of those things, Fellow Daoist Han? If you have any one of them, I''d be more than willing to trade my Sharp Watch Pill to you," Gao Bulin said as he stroked his long beard.
"Surely you jest, Elder Gao. Every single one of those things is extremely rare. If I had those things, I would be asking for far more than just a Sharp Watch Pill," Han Li said.
Gao Bulin''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and a sheepish look appeared on his face.
"I suggest you make some more realistic requests, Fellow Daoist. Otherwise, I''d be willing to purchase the pill from you using spirit stones as well," Han Li continued.
Even though he hadn''t found any Sharp Watch Pills thus far, he had managed to sell some of the materials, ingredients, and pills that he had previously obtained for a decent sum of spirit stones. In addition to the spirit stones that Luo Jun had given to him, he had a small fortune at his disposal. Of course, the few top-grade spirit stones that he had obtained weren''t being factored into those calctions.
Gao Bulin hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then conceded, "Alright, in that case, I''ll do you a favor and trade my Sharp Watch Pill for spirit stones. I''ll take two top-grade spirit stones for my Sharp Watch Pill. What do you say?"
"You''re asking for way too much, Elder Gao! Sharp Watch Pills may be quite rare in this market, but even the highest asking price shouldn''t exceed 600,000 spirit stones!" Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly with displeasure.
"I don''t think I''m asking for too much. After all, you''re referring to the prices in our sect''s internal market. If a Sharp Watch Pill were to go on auction outside of the sect, it would fetch a far higher price," Gao Bulin countered in an unhurried manner.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "How about this? I don''t have any of the things that you listed earlier, but I have some other precious materials and ingredients in my possession. Are you interested?"
"If you''re only referring to somemon treasures, then there''s no need to bring them out, Fellow Daoist Han. It would be much more convenient to just use spirit stones," Gao Bulin said with a smile.
"I have an Azure Underworld Crystal, a Myriad Yin Spirit Trapping Array Scroll, and a Yin Soul Zoysia. Do any of those things catch your interest?" Han Li asked.
Those were all things that he had found in Lu Ya''s storage bag, and they were precious items, but they weren''t very useful to him.
A hesitant look appeared on Gao Bulin''s face, and only after some contemtion did he reply in a reluctant voice, "I have some use for a Yin Soul Zoysia, but it has to be at least 1,000 years old, and the Sharp Watch Pill is yours if you can throw in an extra 300,000 spirit stones on top of that."
Han Li immediately turned to depart upon hearing this, not hesitating in the slightest.
"Fellow Daoist Han, please wait!"
Gao Bulin''s calm facade instantly fell away at the sight of Han Li''s sudden departure.
Han Li naturally wasn''t serious about leaving, and he willingly obliged, stopping in his tracks. However, instead of making his way back to Gao Bulin, he merely turned around to look at him from where he was.
Gao Bulin hurriedly made his way over to Han Li, then said with a sheepish smile, "Don''t be in such a hurry to leave, Fellow Daoist Han, the price is still negotiable. Would you be able to let me see the Yin Soul Zoysia that you have in your possession?"
Han Li didn''t waste any time with words as he flipped a hand over to produce a wooden box that was around half a foot in length, then opened the lid of the box by a sliver. Gao Bulin immediately released his spiritual sense to inspect the contents of the box, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face before quickly fading.
Chapter 32: Pill Reversal Art
Chapter 32: Pill Reversal Art
"You''re a lucky man, Fellow Daoist Han. That Yin Soul Zoysia has to be at least 2,300... no, 2,400 years old. It''s more than enough to exchange for a Sharp Watch Pill," Gao Bulin said.
"I want two Sharp Watch Pills for this Yin Soul Zoysia," Han Li demanded in an imcable voice.
A wry smile appeared on Gao Bulin''s face upon hearing this. "But I only have one of these pills, Fellow Daoist Han."
"Perhaps I would believe you if you were an elder from another sect, but you can''t expect to convince me that an elder of the Sunset Peak like yourself is unable to offer me at least two Sharp Watch Pills. If it''s too much to ask, then I can afford to keep waiting. I''m sure I''ll find a seller eventually," Han Li said in an unhurried voice.
Gao Bulin''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and this time, he was truly grappling with a dilemma. After pondering the situation for quite some time, he finally conceded, "Deal!"
Han Li epted a white jade box that was handed to him by Gao Bulin, and a pleased smile appeared on his face after he inspected the box''s contents with his spiritual sense.
The scent of different medicinal ingredients emanating from Gao Bulin''s body served as confirmation to Han Li that he was indeed a pill refinement master.
For others, a spirit medicine that was over 2,000 years old was perhaps extremely rare, but it naturally wasn''t much in Han Li''s eyes, and it was far less useful to him than these two Sharp Watch Pills.
Gao Bulin brought the wooden box under his nose and took a long whiff, then exhaled with a satisfied expression before gleefully stowing the box away in his storage bag. He then invited Han Li to visit him at Sunset Peak when he had some free time before quickly departing.
Afterpleting the trade, Han Li didn''t immediately leave the market. Instead, he continued to make his way through the valley, trading most of his spirit stones for high-grade pills of a simr caliber to the Sharp Watch Pill, and only after that did he depart from the valley before traveling back to the Cloudrise Peak.
After returning to his cave abode, Han Li saw Liu Le''er sitting on her own in the hall, staring absentmindedly into the distance with her chin resting on her hand.
"What are you thinking about, Le''er?" Han Li asked as he made his way over to Liu Le''er before taking a seat in front of her.
Only then did she notice that Han Li had returned, and she immediately called out in an ted voice, "Brother Rock!"
"Why are you daydreaming here on your own?" Han Li asked with a gentle smile.
"I was just thinking to myself that ever since I met you, my life has felt like a dream," Liu Le''er replied with a serious expression.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this before an amused smile appeared on his face.
"If this is a dream, then I really hope that I never wake up. Aside from mama and dada, you treat me better than anyone else in the world. I want to be by your side forever, Brother Rock," Liu Le''er said in a low voice as tears began to well up in her eyes.
Han Li hesitated momentarily, then suddenly raised his hand and joined his index and middle fingers together before pressing them against Liu Le''er''s be.
Liu Le''er was quite startled by this, but she didn''t recoil.
"Close your eyes," Han Li instructed in a gentle voice.
Liu Le''er immediately did as she was told without any hesitation, closing her eyes tightly.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he also closed his eyes before chanting an incantation.
Around 15 minutester, Han Li opened his eyes.
At this point, Liu Le''er''s face had already turned slightly pale, and there was a faint sheen of sweat on her forehead.
Han Li withdrew his fingers as he said, "Alright, you can open your eyes now."
Liu Le''er''s eyshes fluttered slightly as she slowly opened her eyes, then cast a puzzled gaze toward Han Li.
"I just imnted a cultivation art by the name of ''Illusory Spirit Cicada Transformation'' into your mind. I picked up this high-grade demonic cultivation art some years ago, and it''s perfect for a demonic fox like yourself to cultivate," Han Li said with a faint smile.
Liu Le''er closed her eyes to sense the newly imnted cultivation art in her mind upon hearing this, but she still looked rather perplexed.
"I''ll continue to do my best to protect you, but if I''m not by your side for some reason, you need to be able to protect yourself as well. At the very least, you need to be able to keep yourself safe until I get to you," Han Li exined with a serious expression.
Liu Le''er thought about this momentarily before nodding in response with a serious look of her own. "I''ll be sure to work hard on this cultivation art!"
Han Li gave a pleased nod in response.
¡¡
In a certain conference hall on Cloudrise Peak, Luo Jun extended a respectful bow toward the schrly-robed middle-aged man sitting on the main seat.
"As expected, Han Li really is a high-grade body cultivator. I''ve already arranged a ce for him to stay, and no one from the other peaks has been made aware of his arrival. As for Martial Niece Gu, I''ve already issued a reward to her as you instructed, and she''s been told not to tell anyone about Han Li''s exploits in ying that Deity Transformation Stage elder of the Heavenly Ghost Sect."
Peak Master Nangong nodded in response. "Good. The fact that he was able to y a Deity Transformation cultivator as a Nascent Soul cultivator indicates that he must possess an exceptionally powerful body. I''m sure he''s going to be extremely useful to our peak in the future. Make sure to look after him and satisfy any requests he may have as much as possible."
"Yes," Luo Jun replied.
"You can go now," Peak Master Nangong said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Luo Jun extended a respectful bow before departing.
Following Luo Jun''s departure, Peak Master Nangong sat in silence with his eyes closed for a short while, then rose to his feet and made his way toward the back of the hall.
¡¡
Han Li was naturally oblivious to the conversation that had taken ce between Luo Jun and Peak Master Nangong.
At this moment, he was seated with his legs crossed in a secret chamber of his cave abode, and there were around a dozen containers, such as jade vials and jade boxes, ced on the table in front of him.
He was holding a small red vial, and he pulled out the stopper before tipping out a crimson pill. A strong medicinal aroma immediately spread through the air, and after a brief inspection, Han Li took the pill before closing his eyes to examine his internal condition.
Momentster, he reopened his eyes with tightly furrowed brows.
The red pill wasparable in caliber to the Sharp Watch Pill, but it had no effect on him whatsoever.
Han Li wasn''t surprised by this, and he picked up a second vial before tipping out a yellow pill that he promptly swallowed.
The pill melted as soon as it entered his stomach, but there still wasn''t any magic power generated.
A short whileter, Han Li opened his eyes before picking up a third vial.
Soon, most of the pills on the table had already been tested, but none of them had proven to be effective, and there was only a purple jade box and an azure porcin vial left on the table.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face, and he was beginning to feel rather frustrated.
It seemed that finding pills that would have an effect on him was going to be far more difficult than he had imagined. However, the good thing was that he was now part of a major sect, and based on his current understanding of the Spirit Domain Realm, this was a realm with an abundance of cultivation resources, so as long as he put his mind to it, there was surely progress to be made.
With that in mind, he picked up the purple jade box from the table, then plucked out a gray pill between his fingers before tipping his head back to swallow it.
This time, a hint of tion finally appeared on Han Li''s face.
He could feel wisps of magic power emerging from the pill before circting throughout his meridians and entering his dantian, slightly increasing his magic power reserves.
The gray pill was far less effective than the Sharp Watch Pill, but it was still very encouraging that he had managed to find another pill that he could use for magic power restoration.
As for the pills in the azure porcin vial, sure enough, they were alsopletely ineffective.
Han Li exhaled as he pulled out another gray pill from the purple jade box and held it at the center of his palm.
This pill was called the Dark Cloud Pill, and it was supposed to have restorative properties, but it was more suited to cultivators using water-attribute cultivation arts, and its intended effect was quite different from that of the Sharp Watch Pill.
After a moment of contemtion, Han Li suddenly rose to his feet, then exited the secret chamber before making his way outside.
He stopped while passing by Liu Le''er''s bedroom, and even through the door, he could still sense the spiritual qi surging inside the room, clearly indicating that she was cultivating diligently.
He gave a pleased nod before continuing onward, quickly arriving in the pill refinement room.
This pill refinement room wasn''t veryrge, only around 40 to 50 feet in size, and the ground was a dark azure color. At the center of the room was a cylindrical mound that was around half a foot tall, upon which was engraved an array consisting of many dark red patterns.
At the center of the array was a ck hole that contained a lit me, and a scorching aura was emanating from within it.
A pill furnace that was around half the height of a grown human was sitting on the mound, giving off wisps of spiritual qi.
Han Li swept his gaze over the room, then took a seat on a futon beside the pill furnace before releasing an incantation seal with a wave of his hand.
The red array immediately lit up, following which a burst of bright red groundfire erupted out of the ck hole to envelop the pill furnace.
First, Han Li cleaned the inside and outside of the pill furnace in an expert fashion. He then flipped a hand over to produce the Dark Cloud PIll before tossing it into the pill furnace.
The groundfire began to move at his behest as he made a hand seal, splitting up into eight independent mes that surged into the pill furnace, and soon, a strong medicinal scent began to waft through the air.
As Han Li continued to make hand seals, the medicinal aroma suddenly became less pronounced.
His expression remained unchanged as he continued to go through a series of hand seals, and close to an hour passed by in the blink of an eye.
At this point, the medicinal aroma wafting out from the furnace had almostpletely faded, and it had been reced by another aroma that seemed to be a rather chaotic culmination of many types of different scents.
All of a sudden, Han Li stopped what he was doing as he released a final incantation seal, and the me beneath the furnace was instantly snuffed out.
He swept a hand through the air to remove the furnace''s lid, and the Dark Cloud PIll inside had already disappeared, having been reced by a small mound of colorful powder.
Han Li inspected the small mound of powder briefly, then carefully released a burst of green light that carried the powder out of the furnace.
The green light shuddered slightly, and countless thin threads that resembled thousands upon thousands of tiny hands reached into the powder.
Soon, the small mound of powder was split up into around a dozen portions, each of which was of a different color.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, then carefully split the powder up into around a dozen small jade boxes that he had already prepared in advance.
The secret technique that he had just used was called the Pill Reversal Art, and it was quite a rare secret technique that he had obtained by chance back in the Spirit Realm. The secret technique allowed him to reverse-refine and break down pills.
The creator of the secret technique had tried to use it to break down other people''s pills in order to extrapte the refinement methods for those pills.
Unfortunately, he failed in the end. The Pill Reversal Art ultimately still had its limits, and it was only able to help one identify the ingredients used in a pill, but was unable to yield the actual pill refinement method.
Han Li had been quite intrigued by the secret technique, and he was a pill refinement master himself, so he decided to record it, but this was the first time that he had ever used it.
Thankfully, the Dark Cloud Pill was only a Nascent Soul Stage pill, so it wasn''t of a very high caliber. Otherwise, he may not have been able to sessfully break it down on the first try.
Chapter 33: Quintessential Purple Qi
Chapter 33: Quintessential Purple Qi
Han Li set the jade boxes containing the different powders aside, then swept a hand through the air to release another incantation seal, activating the pill furnace array once again. After that, he pulled out another pill, and this one was a Sharp Watch Pill.
After a brief hesitation, he tossed the Sharp Watch Pill into the pill furnace and unleashed the Pill Refinement Art again.
Close to an hourter, the Sharp Watch Pill was also split up into around a dozen different types of ingredients that were stored into jade boxes.
He ced the ingredients of the two pills together before conducting a thorough examination.
A short whileter, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Most of the ingredients used for these two pills werepletely different, but there was a type of blue crystalline powder used in both pills that was identical in both color and form, so it was clear that it was the same type of ingredient.
However, the Sharp Watch Pill contained much more of this ingredient than the Dark Cloud Pill did.
Both types of pills had an effect on him, and while the blue powder wasn''t necessarily confirmed to be the sole effective ingredient, it was definitely something worth exploring.
Han Li gently dipped the tip of his finger into the blue powder before taking a whiff, then ced it into his mouth for a taste, and his brows slowly furrowed slightly.
Ever since the beginning, his cultivation journey had been closely intertwined with the art of pill refinement. Regardless of whether it was in the Human Realm or the Spirit Realm, he was at least somewhat familiar with all of the pill refinement ingredients that the two realms had to offer, and he even had some knowledge of the pill refinement ingredients of other realms. However, he had no idea what this blue powder was.
Perhaps this is something unique to the Spirit Domain Realm?
After pondering the issue to himself for a while, Han Li suddenly rose to his feet before promptly departing from his cave abode.
At this point, it was already quite dark outside.
Azure light shed from his body as he flew through the air, and momentster, he descended in front of a certain cave abode on Sunset Peak several dozen kilometers away.
The cave abode was situated in quite a secluded location with barely anyone around.
Han Li quickly inspected his surroundings, then made his way to the entrance of the cave abode before flipping a hand over to produce a voice transmission talisman, which he whispered a message into before sending it flying through the air.
The voice transmission talisman flew into the cave abode as a streak of white light, and momentster, the gates of the cave abode swung open amid a burst of rumbling.
"Please pardon my intrusion, Elder Gao," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Not at all! I didn''t think we would meet again so soon, Fellow Daoist Han. Pleasee in." Gao Bulin emerged with a wide smile before inviting Han Li into the cave abode.
Gao Bulin''s cave abode was clearlyrger than Han Li''s, but the furnishings were quite simple, and a strong medicinal aroma was wafting throughout the entire cave abode.
"I won''t waste any more of your time than necessary, Elder Gao. I came here because I wanted to ask you something," Han Li said in a direct and straightforward manner after taking a seat.
Gao Bulin faltered slightly upon hearing this, then prompted, "Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Han."
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a jade box that contained the blue powder, then offered it to Gao Bulin. "Do you recognize this ingredient, Elder Gao?"
Gao Bulin epted the jade box before taking a close look. He then dipped a fingertip into the powder before cing it onto his tongue, and he raised an eyebrow as he took a meaningful look at Han Li.
"Looks like I came to the right person," Han Li said with a smile.
"You did indeed make the right decision toe to me. However..." Gao Bulin''s voice trailed off here as a suggestive smile appeared on his face.
Han Li immediately flipped a hand over to produce a high-grade spirit stone, which he tossed at Gao Bulin.
Gao Bulin gleefully epted the spirit stone, and his smile grew even wider as he borated, "This is powderized Cloud Crane Herb. Upon reaching a certain age, the Cloud Crane Herb is used as one of the main ingredients for several types of high-grade pills produced in our sect, and it''s an extremely rare ingredient.
¡°On top of that, this powder seems to have been processed through certain means, and I was only just barely able to identify it thanks to the familiarity with all types of ingredients that I''ve developed through years of pill refinement."
Han Li nodded in response, then asked, "I see... Would you be able to tell me about the medicinal properties of this Cloud Crane Herb?"
A suggestive grin reappeared on Gao Bulin''s face, as he gave Han Li a sly look.
Han Li tossed another high-grade spirit stone at him.
Gao Bulin happily epted the spirit stone, then said, "The Cloud Crane Herb is also known as the Chameleon Herb. The herb turns white at 100 years old, blue at 1,000 years old, red at 3,000 years old, dark red at 10,000 years old, and purplish-red at 30,000 years old or above.
¡°The most remarkable property of this herb is its ability to absorb the energy of the rising sun and produce a wisp of quintessential purple qi upon reaching 100 years old. Not only is quintessential purple qi something that''s absolutely required for cultivating several types of incredibly powerful cultivation arts, it can also be directly converted into quintessential spiritual power, which can cleanse one''s essence and enhance one''s constitution.
¡°The older a Cloud Crane Herb is, the purer the quintessential purple qi it contains bes, and effects of that quintessential purple qi naturally be more incredible as a result."
"Where can this Cloud Crane Herb be found?" Han Li asked.
"This herb can only grow in a set of very specific conditions, and as far as I''m aware, it can only be found in a few ces, virtually all of which are under the control of the major sects in our realm. At the moment, almost all specimens over 1,000 years old are in the possession of the major sects, and they''re almost impossible to find outside of that," Gao Bulin replied.
After hearing what Gao Bulin had to say, Han Li had already gotten the answers that he wanted. It was most likely the case that this quintessential purple qi was the key to his magic power recovery.
"Aside from the Sharp Watch Pill, what other pills are refined using the Cloud Crane Herb?" Han Li asked.
This time, Gao Bulin didn''t ask for any further financialpensation as he replied, "Aside from the Sharp Watch Pill, small amounts of the herb are also used in the Dark Cloud Pill. In addition to that, the Spirit Nurturing Pill and the Void Origin Pill also contain small amounts of Cloud Crane Herb of a young age, but the quintessential purple qi that those pills contain is virtually negligible."
After parting ways with Gao Bulin, Han Li made another trip to the Trade Valley and spent a top-grade spirit stone to purchase a few of each of the pills that Gao Bulin mentioned. In addition to that, he also purchased several Cloud Crane Herbs in the hundreds of years old before returning to Cloudrise Peak.
Inside the secret chamber of his cave abode, Han Li was seated on a futon, and ced in front of him were the pills and the Cloud Crane Herbs that he had just purchased.
He opened a white porcin vial before tipping out a Dark Cloud Pill that he promptly swallowed. A surge of warmth quickly rose up from his dantian as traces of spiritual power were released by the pill, gradually converting into magic power that was stored in his body.
This was naturally an encouraging development, and he picked up a Cloud Crane Herb before cing it into his mouth, then chewed a few times before also swallowing it.
Roughly 10 minutester, his dantian began to warm up again, and wisps of magic power flowed into his dantian before being stored again.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and he could finally confirm that this quintessential purple qi was indeed the key to his magic power recovery.
After a day and a night, he had devoured most of the pills and Cloud Crane Herbs that he had purchased, and as a result, his cultivation base had recovered to thete-Nascent Soul Stage.
He was ecstatic to see this, yet right as he was about to devour all of the remaining pills, his expression suddenly stiffened slightly.
The medicinal power in his body that was still yet to be converted was finally converted into magic power that converged toward his dantian, but his dantian was already like a filled tank of water, unable to hold any more magic power.
All he could do was watch as the superfluous magic power lingered momentarily in his dantian, then dissipated into nothingness.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh, and he knew that this most likely had something to do with the condition that his nascent soul was in. In his current state, any further consumption of pills was most likely only going to be a waste.
He would have to wait for his physical body and spiritual sense to recover further before he could investigate the cause behind the condition that his nascent soul was in.
At the moment, he was unable to increase his magic power through cultivation, and he could only recover to thete-Nascent Soul Stage through the use of pills, so his top priority now was to enhance the rate of recovery of his physical body and spiritual sense.
With that in mind, he was rather unsure of how to proceed, and his brows furrowed slightly as he fell into deep thought.
Momentster, a thought suddenly seemed to have urred to him, and he flipped a hand over to produce the guest elder badge that he had received from Luo Jun.
He injected his spiritual sense into the badge, and a map of the Cold me Sect that was formed by golden lines of light appeared before his eyes.
His gaze roamed over the map for a moment before finally settling on a building on the Sage Gathering Peak, which was annotated with the words "Scripture Library" in small text.
Chapter 34: Theft
Chapter 34: Theft
Halfway up the Cloudrise Peak, a young disciple in a white robe was making his way up the mountain path.
Right as he raised his foot and was about to tread onto the next step, a blur suddenly shed through his eyes, and he was instantly rooted to the spot, while his spiritual sense had also be murky and indistinct.
Immediately thereafter, an imposing young man appeared beside him, and it was none other than Han Li.
"Tell me about the scripture library," Han Li said in a peculiar voice as he looked into the young man''s eyes with blue light shing in his own eyes.
The white-robed disciple''s eyes werepletely zed over, giving him a dazed appearance as he replied, "The scripture library is situated on the Sage Gathering Peak, and it''s split up into the inner library and the outer library. The outer library is open to all disciples and elders, while the inner library is essible only to inner court disciples and elders."
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but a thoughtful look had appeared in his eyes.
The scripture library was a vital location in the sect, so it was undoubtedly guarded extremely tightly.
In order to exchange for resources from the library, not only did the disciples and elders of the sect have to issuerge sums of spirit stones, they also had sect contribution points deducted as well.
Sect contribution points were a measure of the degree of contributions that inner sect disciples and elders had made to the sect, and they were generally earned bypleting missions assigned by the sect. The more difficult a mission was, the greater the number of contribution points awarded. Without sufficient time to umte contribution points, it was impossible to earn enough to exchange for high-grade cultivation arts and secret techniques.
As a result, many people tried to pursue shortcuts.
There had been nock of vagrant cultivators with ulterior motives who had agreed to be guest elders of the Cold me Sect in order to sneak into the scripture library to steal cultivation resources, but all of them had been caught with no exceptions, and the fate that they suffered was not enviable, to say the least.
The defenses of the scripture library were watertight, and there were no holes to be exploited.
ording to the white-robed disciple, there were Spatial Tempering Stage elders stationed in the scripture library at all times, and the establishment was patrolled at all hours of the day. There were also countless powerful restrictions set up there, making it impossible for the average cultivator to even get close to the scripture library.
Han Li considered the information that he had received for a moment, then tapped a finger against the white-robed disciple''s be before vanishing on the spot in a wraith-like manner.
At this point, the white-robed disciple''s foot had been suspended in mid-air for quite some time, and only now did he take the step.
As a result, he almost stumbled and fell onto his face.
After steadying himself, he massaged his slightly numb calf, then looked around with a confused expression before shaking his head in a perplexed manner and continuing up the mountain.
Around 15 minutester, Han Li appeared on the Sage Gathering Peak.
He stood at the foot of a huge cypress tree as he cast his gaze toward a two-story tall pavilion in the distance.
The pavilion was roughly 90 feet tall with eight faces forming a regr octagon, but there was only a single entrance, and that was on the south-facing wall.
There were many types ofplex defensive arrays engraved onto the roof of the pavilion, and two groups of patrolling cultivators were constantly surveying the area.
After observing for some time, a contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face, and he abruptly vanished from the spot in a sh.
That night.
There was arge bluestone hall situated in a valley deep in the Cold me Sect, and the area was being patrolled by as many as seven or eight groups of disciples. All of the groups were led by Deity Transformation cultivators, so it was clear that this was an extremely important ce.
One of the patrol groups flew silently through the entrance of the valley. The group was led by an azure-robed man, and he was yawning in a rather weary manner.
Right at this moment, another patrol group flew past several hundred feet away, traveling in a different direction.
The azure-robed man pursed his lips in discontent upon seeing this.
The Heavenly Talisman Hall was an extremely important location in the Cold me Sect, but in his opinion, it waspletely overkill to have so many disciples patrolling the area at night.
Not only was the all situated in a very secretive location, it was entirely enshrouded under a powerful protective array, so it was preposterous to think that anyone could infiltrate the area.
Of course, he didn''t dare to voice these objections. Instead, he made a voice transmission to the disciples behind him, telling them to be on their guard as they flew into the valley.
Right at this moment, a thunderous boom suddenly rang out from a hall not far away from the azure-robed man, followed by a sh of purple lightning before everything immediately fell silent again.
The azure-robed man faltered slightly upon seeing this.
"Who''s there?"
"Someone''s breaking into the Heavenly Talisman Hall!"
Cries of rm rang out from the disciples behind the azure-robed man, and at this point, the azure-robed man himself had also returned to his senses, flying down as quickly as he could to arrive outside the hall in the blink of an eye.
"Who goes there? Surrender yourself right now!" the azure-robed man roared as he grabbed onto a treasure with one hand while sweeping his other hand through the air, upon which the disciples behind him immediately dispersed to surround the hall.
The other disciples also arrived on the scene in a sh, and soon, all of the patrolling teams were assembled, amounting to over 100 cultivators that surrounded the hall in a watertight encirclement.
The interior of the hall remainedpletely dark and silent.
All of the halls here were enshrouded under restrictions, keeping all spiritual sense at bay.
The leaders of the patrol groups exchanged a series of uncertain nces with one another, unsure of whether they should rush in or not.
As patrolling disciples, they had no right to set foot into the hall.
"What''s going on here?" A streak of white light shot forth before arriving outside the hall, revealing itself to be a white-haired elderly man.
"Master Fan, someone''s broken into the Heavenly Talisman Hall! We''re considering entering the hall to capture the perpetrator, but ording to the rules, we don''t have the right to enter the hall," one of the patrol groups'' leaders hurriedly reported.
The white-haired elderly man was furious to hear this. "Are you an idiot? Now''s not the time to be following rules! Hurry up and go in!"
He immediately rushed into the hall as he spoke, and most of the patrol groups'' leaders quickly rushed in with him, but two of them remained outside.
Upon reaching the entrance of the hall, the white-haired elderly man was surprised to find that the restrictions on the gate werepletely unharmed.
This was quite a perplexing sight, but there was no time for him to ponder the situation, and he immediately pulled out a badge, which released a burst of white light that fell upon the gate.
The gate shed momentarily before swinging open.
Everyone immediately rushed into the hall, and the white-haired elderly man released an incantation seal, upon which dazzling white light instantly appeared all over the hall, illuminating the entire scene.
Theyout of the hall was very simple with only around a dozen white jade shelves in the room, so it was a simple matter to take stock of what, if anything, had been lost.
There were a few ck scorch marks on the ground, but there wasn''t a single person to be seen.
Could it be that the perpetrator has already gotten away?
The leaders of the patrol groups couldn''t help but exchange a few bewildered nces.
The azure-robed man was also in the hall, and his eyes were wide with incredulity.
He had been right beside the hall at the time of the incident, and his gaze had been focused on the building the entire time, so it was downright unfathomable to him how the perpetrator could''ve possibly escaped.
All of a sudden, the white-haired elderly man rushed over to one of the white jade shelves, and his face paled significantly. "Argh! The Heavenly Shadow Rock and the Moon Gazing Herb are all gone!"
All of these white jade shelves wereden with ingredients and materials, and all of them were enshrouded under restrictions, but the restrictions near two of the shelves had been broken, and those shelves were missing arge number of items.
"The Flowing Billow Wood and Ironheart Feather have been taken as well!" the elderly man cried as he rushed over to another shelf with a distraught expression.
The leaders of the patrol groups also wore grim expressions.
"Conduct a search! Deploy all of the patrolling disciples! We must capture the perpetrator!" the white-haired elderly man roared in a furious voice.
The theft that had taken ce in the Heavenly Talisman Hall stirred up a massivemotion in the Cold me Sect, and countless night patrol disciples were deployed to search for the perpetrator.
The search wore on all the way until the morning, upon which many outer court disciples were also woken up and ordered to join the hunt.
An exhaustive search was conducted throughout the entire Spirit me Mountain Range, but not a single trace of the perpetrator was found.
The higher-ups of the sect were quickly alerted to the incident, and ate-Spatial Tempering Stage elder who was adept at tracking was sent to the Heavenly Talisman Hall. After an investigation, he concluded that the perpetrator had fled the scene using some type of lightning teleportation array, and he hadn''t left any traces behind, making it impossible to track him down.
Thete-Spatial Tempering Stage elder was powerless to do anything, and there was no way that any of the Body Integration Stage grand elders would get involved with something so minor, so Master Fan of the Heavenly Talisman Hall was forced to call off the hunt.
Even though the incident seemed to have blown over on the surface, there was naturally no way that the sect would let something like this pass so easily.
There were no signs of a break-in in the protective array around the entire Spirit me Mountain Range, so the perpetrator had to still be somewhere in the mountain range, and the Cold me Sect had sent out powerful cultivators to continue the hunt in secret.
In the wake of such an incident, the defenses in all parts of the Cold me Sect were bolstered by severalfold.
Chapter 35: Getting Away with It
Chapter 35: Getting Away with It
Three days passed by in the blink of an eye.
That night, at the scripture library of the Cold me Sect.
Ever since the Heavenly Talisman Hall incident, the number of people patrolling the scripture library had been doubled.
In a dense forest several thousand feet away from the pavilion, an indistinct silver figure appeared. Under the cover of the night, it was impossible to make out the figure''s facial features.
The figure raised his head to look up at the octagonal pavilion that was the scripture library, and a momentter, he flipped a hand over to produce a light purple talisman, which he adhered to his own body.
The purple talisman instantly exploded silently into several indistinct runes that resembled tadpoles, revolving around the figure momentarily before vanishing into his body.
A burst of purple mist abruptly rose up around the figure, instantly devouring him and causing him to vanish on the spot.
The figure naturally hadn''t actually disappeared. Instead, he had taken on an insubstantial form as he drifted directly toward the scripture library, paying no heed at all to the patrols in the area.
The patrols were constantly surveying their surroundings, and their spiritual sense was also sweeping through the area incessantly, but theypletely failed to detect the figure.
Before long, the figure had already reached the entrance of the scripture library.
It was quitete at night, and the scripture library''s doors were already shut. The wide stone doors of the scripture library were shing asionally, clearly indicating that there were restrictions applied to them.
The figure chanted an incantation as he made a hand seal, then opened his mouth to release a cloud of barely visible azure qi that drifted into the doors.
If the cloud of azure qi were to be erged by several hundredfold, one would be able to see that it wasprised of countless tiny runes. These tiny runes instantly seeped into the restrictions on the stone doors upon contact, and arge hole seemed to have been corroded into the restrictions, allowing the figure to fly through in a stealthy manner.
Without the restrictions in ce, the stone doors posed no obstacle at all, and the figure flew through in a sh.
The restrictions on the doors shed ever so slightly before instantly returning to normal.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and the patrolling cultivators outside had no idea that anything was amiss.
The figure entered the scripture library, arriving in a circr hall.
The hall was extremelyrge, roughly 200 to 300 feet in size, and there were around a dozen paths leading deeper into the scripture library from the hall.
At the very end of the hall was a winding ck staircase that led upward.
The figure quickly inspected his surroundings, then flew silently toward one of the paths.
The path wasn''t very long, and he quickly arrived at the end, reaching a stone chamber.
Just like the doors of the scripture library, the doors of this stone chamber were also bolstered by a white restriction.
Above the door was a white jade que, upon which were inscribed the words "Cultivation Arts".
A hint of tion shed through the figure''s eyes upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to release a cloud of azure qi. Once again, the azure qi corroded arge hole into the white restriction, allowing the figure to fly through without any impediment.
Beyond the stone door was a huge stone chamber that housed hundreds of bookshelves, every single one of which was enshrouded under a red light barrier.
All of the bookshelves were split up into several grids, and each grid contained a jade slip.
There werebels beside each grid denoting the cultivation art contained in the jade slip that was stored in the grid.
The figure casually made his way over one of the bookshelves, then opened his mouth to release a burst of azure qi that corroded arge hole into the red light barrier around the bookshelf. After that, he drew several jade slips into his grasp with a wave of his hand, then injected his spiritual sense into them.
Momentster, his brows furrowed slightly as he casually tossed the jade slips back onto the bookshelf.
The jade slips contained various Core Formation and Nascent Soul Stage cultivation arts, but none of them seemed to have caught the figure''s fancy.
The figure continued to make his way through the stone chamber. Soon, he had examined every single one of the jade slips on the bookshelves, and he shook his head in a disy of disappointment.
He immediately departed without any hesitation, quickly passing through the stone door before returning to the same hall from before.
From there, he went down another path, and at the end of that path was yet another stone chamber.
There was another que above this chamber, and this que read "Arts".
The figure quickly dispelled the restrictions on the door of this stone chamber before entering.
A short whileter, he returned once again before going down a third path.
Over two hours passed by in the blink of an eye, and all of the dozen or so paths had been explored by the figure, but his brows were still tightly furrowed, indicating that he hadn''t found what he was looking for.
The figure drifted over to the ck staircase at the very end of the hall, and after taking a nce upward, he slowly flew up the staircase.
The staircase wasn''t very long, and he quickly reached the top, upon which he arrived before a huge stone door that was several dozen feet wide.
There was a figure seated with their legs crossed on each side of the door.
The one on the left was a portly man wearing a purple kasaya, and he seemed to be a monk. As for the figure on the right, he was a tall and thin man with a sickly, yellowplexion.
Neither of them had a particrly remarkable physical appearance, but the vast auras that they were giving off indicated that they were both Spatial Tempering cultivators.
The two of them were meditating with their eyes closed,pletely oblivious to the fact that there was an intruder present.
The figure took a nce at the pair of Spatial Tempering cultivators, then quickly directed his gaze toward the stone door behind them.
Light rippled like water over the surface of the stone door, giving off colorful refractions, and it was clear just from a nce that this restriction was far more powerful than the ones on all of the other stone chambers.
Given the context clues, the inner library of the scripture library was most likely beyond this stone door. The inner library was home to the Cold me Sect''s best cultivation resources, and it seemed that it was not going to be an easy task to break through this restriction.
The figure''s eyes narrowed slightly as he waited for a moment, then began to advance again, arriving directly in front of the stone door, where he was less than 10 feet away from the two Spatial Tempering cultivators.
Right at this moment, the portly monk on the left raised an eyebrow, and he opened his eyes before quickly inspecting his surroundings.
"What is it, Brother Lingxi?" the thin man on the right asked as he also opened his eyes.
"Nothing," the portly monk murmured in response as he turned back to take a nce at the door of the inner library.
He hadn''t actually detected anything substantial. Instead, he had felt something rather vague and indescribable, and that feeling had stemmed from a certain secret technique that he had cultivated in the past.
However, the sess rate of this secret technique was quite low, and given all of the restrictions imposed on this ce and the fact that there were two Spatial Tempering cultivators constantly stationed here, it was extremely imusible that anyone would''ve been able to infiltrate the inner library without being detected. In fact, even a Grand Ascension Stage being would''ve most likely struggled to pull off such a feat.
With that in mind, the monk slowly closed his eyes again.
The thin man merely brushed it off as a false rm upon seeing this, and he also closed his eyes to meditate.
Throughout this process, the figure remainedpletely still on the spot, and only after the two Spatial Tempering cultivators had closed their eyes again did he release a powerful burst of spiritual sense that quickly epassed the entire door, forming a protective barrier.
Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release a burst of azure qi that fell upon the rippling restriction on the door.
The restriction immediately began to shimmer and warp as if it were resisting the azure qi, and it was releasing magic power fluctuations in the process, but the two Spatial Tempering cultivators werepletely oblivious to this outside the spiritual sense barrier.
The figure made a hand seal, and the azure qi instantly began to expand and shrink, constantly changing forms tobat the rippling restriction. As a result, an area that was around five feet in size was opened up at the center of the restriction.
The figure immediately took advantage of the opening, flying into the stone door in a sh.
The process seemed to have been aplex and convoluted one, but in reality, it had only taken one or two seconds from the moment he broke through the restriction to the instant that he flew through the stone door, and only after that did the spiritual sense barrier silently dissipate.
The portly monk''s eyebrows twitched slightly, and he opened his eyes again before quickly turning his gaze toward the stone door of the inner library.
The restriction on the surface of the stone door was rippling incessantly, and it wasn''t disying any signs of abnormality.
However, even though the sense of foreboding that had just welled up in his heart had only appeared for a sh before vanishing, it still nted a seed of doubt in his heart.
"Did you notice something, Brother Lingxli?"
At this point, hispanion seemed to have also noticed that something wasn''t quite right, and hurriedly rose to his feet, turning back to take a nce at the stone door, then closed his eyes again to release his enormous spiritual sense throughout the entire area.
"Did you sense anything just now, Brother Qingtao?" the portly monk asked as he made his way over to the stone door before conducting a careful inspection.
The thin man opened his eyes, then shook his head as he replied, "Surely it''s nothing unless someone was able to travel hundreds of kilometers away from the scripture library in just two or three seconds, or they were able to break through this zed Dark Water Array set up by Patriarch Cold me to ess the inner library."
He hadn''t managed to catch anything with his spiritual sense just now.
"Neither of those options sound possible. It must''ve just been my imagination," the portly monk said with a wry smile.
Even for the Grand Ascension Stage supreme elder of the Cold me Sect, it would''ve been rather imusible for them to break through the zed Dark Water Array before restoring it to its original condition in just two or three seconds.
Chapter 36: Theft
Chapter 36: Theft
While the two Spatial Tempering cultivators were still specting about what was happening, the figure had already appeared in a ck hall.
The hall wasn''t veryrge, only around 200 to 300 feet in size, and there was a thick white jade pir standing at its center. There were countless runes inscribed upon the surface of the stone pir, and gentle yellow light was radiating from the top of the pir, forming a dome-shaped yellow light barrier that epassed a certain area.
Around a dozen red stone cabs could be seen within that area, but it was impossible to see what was inside the cabs, giving them a rather mysterious air.
The figure remained on the spot as he carefully inspected the yellow light barrier up ahead with blue light shing in his eyes.
Momentster, he swept a hand through the air, releasing dozens of bursts of ck light, which were quickly revealed to be a series of ck array gs thatnded around the yellow barrier in an orderly fashion.
Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal, and pirs of ck light erupted out of the array gs beforeing together in mid-air, forming an evenrger ck light barrier thatpletely epassed the entire yellow barrier beneath it.
The yellow light barrier already took up close to half of the space within the hall, and the ck light barrier epassed virtually the entire hall.
The figure then opened his mouth to release a burst of azure qi thatnded upon the yellow light barrier, attempting to bypass it just as he had done with all of the previous restrictions.
However, in an unexpected turn of events, the azure qi had only just corroded a palm-sized hole into the light barrier when the surface of the light barrier suddenly began to glow brightly, releasing countless bursts of yellow light that enveloped the cloud of azure qi.
At the same time, the runes on the white jade pir at the center of the light barrier lit up in unison, and the yellow light barrier shed brightly as countless dazzling threads of yellow light appeared, wrapping themselves around the cloud of azure qi before constricting viciously.
The azure qi was instantly sliced into countless shreds that quickly dissipated, following which the yellow light also receded, and the hole in the light barrier sealed over again.
The figure''s expression remainedpletely unchanged upon seeing this, seemingly not very surprised by this oue. After scrutinizing the white jade pir for some time, he flipped a hand over to produce around a dozen more array gs of different colors.
With a casual flick of his wrist, all of the array gs spread through the area, hovering in mid-air to form a strange ovr array that seemed to bepletely random and erratic, but there was far more to the array than met the eye.
As the figure continued to cycle through a series of hand seals, ck light shed from his hands incessantly, and the dozen or so array gs also began to glow with light of different colors as they struck the yellow light barrier like a series of javelins, driving their way in like nails to encircle an area that was around 10 feet in size.
The surface of the yellow light barrier shed wildly as it resisted the advance of the array gs, and at the same time, a burst of powerful magic power fluctuations surged through the air. However, these fluctuations would instantly vanish as soon as they made contact with the ck light barrier, unable to spread any further beyond that.
The figure chanted aplex incantation, and the dozen or so array gs shed brightly as they sped up drastically, finallypletely embedding themselves into the light barrier.
In the next instant, the yellow light on the surface of the light barrier in the section encircled within the array gs quickly dimmed.
The figure immediately released another burst of azure qi out of his mouth, and this time, the weakened light barrier was unable to offer any resistance, and most of it was eroded away in the blink of an eye.
However, the runes on the white jade pir suddenly began to sh brightly, and the rest of the yellow light barrier outside the encircled area also glowed with dazzling radiance. An enormous outpouring of yellow light emerged, surging toward the area encircled by the array gs like a violent wave, but the array gs managed to keep the turbulent yellow light firmly at bay.
Fierce magic power fluctuations proliferated through the air, only to be contained by the ck light barrier. However, the magic power fluctuations on this asion were incredibly fierce, and the ck light barrier began to buzz and tremble incessantly, seemingly on the verge of being overwhelmed.
Thankfully, it only took around two or three seconds before arge hole was eroded into the section of the yellow light barrier encircled by the array gs.
The figure immediately flew through the hole in the light barrier,nding near the white jade pir before opening his mouth to release a cloud of dense ck qi. The ck qi enveloped the jade pir, and at the same time, he made a hand seal before releasing a string of ck incantation seals onto the pir.
The ck qi quickly spread over the jade pir, staining all of the runes on its surface ck.
The light glowing from the jade pir quickly dimmed, and the fierce light surging over the yellow light barrier also slowly receded. Soon, everything was back to normal.
With a wave of the figure''s hand, the dozen or so array gs flew out of the light barrier before returning to his grasp, and they were promptly stowed away.
Immediately thereafter, the figure flipped a hand over to produce a stack of yellow array gs, which shot forth as around a dozen streaks of light that struck the yellow light barrier from the inside.
These array gs flew into the light barrier before vanishing without encountering any resistance.
The entire yellow light barrier rippled momentarily before returning to normal, and therge hole that had been corroded into its surface also quickly sealed over again.
Only then did the figure direct his attention toward the dozen or so stone cabs positioned around the jade pir.
Every single one of the stone cabs was enshrouded within a dark red light barrier.
The figure made his way over to one of the stone cabs, then opened his mouth to release a burst of azure qi onto the light barrier without any hesitation. The affected area of the light barrier instantly began to ripple violently, and the red light quickly began to fade, looking as if it were about to be snuffed out imminently.
Right at this moment, specks of white light appeared on the surface of the red light barrier, and the red and white lights intertwined to keep the azure qi at bay.
At the same time, the deafening sound of a huge gong being struck rang out deep within the hall.
The space around the figure rippled slightly, and he seemed to have been caught off guard by this.
However, in the next instant, he immediately began to chant an incantation while making a series of hand seals, and the cloud of azure qi immediately began to churn violently, taking on various different forms to attack the red and white restriction, but no matter what form the azure qi took on, it was still unable to break through.
All of a sudden, the figure dispelled the cloud of azure qi in a decisive manner with a wave of his hand. He then joined his index and middle fingers together before pressing them against his be, and a ck rift suddenly split open there before widening to reveal an inky-ck eyeball.
ck runes emerged within the eyeball, and a beam of ck light around as thick as a human finger shot out before striking the restriction around the stone cab in a sh.
In the face of the beam of ck light, the red and white restriction was instantly punctured before shattering with a dull thump.
At the same time, a burst of enormous spiritual sense erupted out of the figure''s be before splitting itself up into around a dozen portions, each of which entered a jade slip before rapidly inspecting its contents.
With the strike of that gong, all of the restrictions outside the scripture library instantly began to sh wildly while a piercing rm rang out.
"Someone''s broken into the scripture library!"
"Who would dare to do that? They must have a death wish!"
"Could it be the same bastard that broke into the Heavenly Talisman Hall two days ago?"
A series of furious voices rang out as one figure after another converged toward the scripture library from all directions.
With the precedent set by the Heavenly Talisman Hall incident, the patrols didn''t hesitate at all, informing the sect''s higher-ups of the situation while the most powerful patrol group leaders among them instantly charged into the scripture library.
Lights appeared all over the Cold me Sect in the night, and a chaoticmotion erupted.
The first people to react were actually the two Spatial Tempering cultivators at the entrance of the inner library.
As soon as the rm was raised, the two of them immediately sprang to their feet with furious expressions.
Someone had snuck into the inner library right under their noses!
Could it really have been a Grand Ascension cultivator?
That same thought immediately urred to both of them, but this wasn''t the time to be pondering such matters. Each of them quickly summoned a jade talisman, but one was of a crescent shape, while the other was ovr in form.
The two jade talismans were ced together to form aplete circle, which was immediately adhered to a certain part of the stone door.
The rippling restriction on the door quickly vanished, and the stone door swung open, following which the two of them immediately flew in without any hesitation.
Both of them faltered slightly at the sight of the ck light barrier before them.
In a state of urgency, the portly monk quickly made a decision, gritting his teeth as he flipped a hand over to produce a round mirror.
He made a hand seal, and gray light shed from the mirror before it released a thick beam of gray light, which struck the ck light barrier with a deafening boom.
The light barrier churned violently asrge ripples surged over its surface, but it wasn''t immediately destroyed.
At the same time, the thin man summoned four azure flying swords, which circled around briefly in the air before transforming into four azure lotus flowers.
Countless streaks of azure sword qi erupted out of the four azure lotus flowers, all of which struck the ck light barrier.
Finally, the ck barrier was unable to withstand the assault and was torn apart to reveal the scene within.
"Stop!"
The two Spatial Tempering cultivators were quite relieved to see the indistinct silver figure within the light barrier, but at the same time, they were also furious and embarrassed.
The figure was only giving off a Nascent Soul aura!
However, the figure paid no heed to the two Spatial Tempering cultivators. He had just finished inspecting the contents of the jade slips in one of the stone cabs, and he quickly moved on to another one.
Another beam of ck light shot out of his be to shatter the restriction around that stone cab, following which he calmly released his spiritual sense again to glean the contents of the jade slips in the cab.
Chapter 37: Escape
Chapter 37: Escape
"How dare you!"
"Surrender now and we''ll grant you a swift and painless death!"
The portly monk and hispanion were furious, and the former flipped a hand over to produce a yellow jade badge, which he thrust forward with venom.
A beam of yellow light shot out of the surface of the jade badge,nding on the yellow light barrier in a sh.
The light barrier instantly parted down the center to create a path that was around 20 feet wide.
The two Spatial Tempering cultivators instantly flew in, charging toward the figure inside.
Right at this moment, the figure suddenly raised a hand, chanting an incantation as he pointed a finger forward.
A beam of ck light erupted out of his fingertip before striking the white jade pir at the center of the hall.
All of the runes on the jade pir instantly lit up, as did the yellow light barrier, and it released countless bursts of yellow light that struck the two Spatial Tempering cultivators like lightning while they were still in mid-air.
As a result, both of them instantly felt as if they had fallen into a swamp. Their body weight increased by several hundredfold in the blink of an eye, and it became extremely difficult to even raise a hand.
"The array has been tampered with!" the thin man eximed in shock.
"Who are you? How are you able to manipte this array?" the portly monk interrogated in a furious voice.
The figurepletely ignored them as his spiritual sense quickly read through the jade slips, and at the same time, he made a string of hand seals without pause, casting a series of incantation seals onto the white jade pir.
The yellow light instantly began to ripple before revolving around the pair of Spatial Tempering cultivators, forming a pair of yellow vortexes thatpletely bound them.
The two of them struggled with all their might, frantically unleashing attacks to strike at the yellow vortexes that they were trapped within, but no matter what they did, they werepletely powerless to escape.
Their fury and frustration were growing by the second, but there was nothing that they could do. This yellow restriction was set up to keep out enemies, but somehow, it was being used against them.
Right at this moment, seven or eight figures flew in front outside, all of whom were Deity Transformation Stage patrol group leaders.
They were momentarily stunned by the sight that they were greeted by, but they quickly returned to their senses, summoning a series of treasures to attack the yellow restriction in an attempt to rescue the pair of Spatial Tempering cultivators.
"Stop! Don''t attack!" the portly monk eximed in an rmed voice.
However, it was already toote. Seven or eight treasures struck the yellow vortexes, causing them to tremble violently.
However, at the same time, a series of millstone-sized bulges appeared on the yellow vortexes, and seven or eight tentacle-like bursts of light shot out in a sh, wrapping themselves around the Deity Transformation cultivators before dragging them into the vortexes in the blink of an eye.
These patrol group leaders possessed far inferior cultivation bases to the Spatial Tempering cultivators, so they were naturallypletely immobilized as well.
"Damn it!" the portly monk roared in frustration.
"Have you notified the sect of the situation here?" the thin man asked in an urgent voice.
"The sect... has already... been notified..." Even speaking was difficult for the Deity Transformation Stage patrol group leaders.
The expressions of the two Spatial Tempering cultivators eased slightly upon hearing this, and they turned their attention back to the figure.
The figure was still breaking restrictions one after another before rapidly reading through the contents of the jade slips in the stone cabs. He was doing so with astounding speed and efficiency, and he had already read through most of the jade slips in the room.
The two Spatial Tempering cultivators were desperate to intervene, but there was nothing that they could do aside from watch helplessly from within the confines of the yellow restriction.
"Who dares to infiltrate the scripture library?"
Right at his moment, a thunderous roar rang out from outside, causing the air within the entire hall to tremble violently, and even the yellow restriction was swaying slightly in the face of the powerful soundwaves.
The eardrums of the cultivators trapped in the yellow restriction were ringing loudly, but ecstatic looks had appeared on all of their faces.
The figure stiffened slightly upon hearing this voice, then cast his gaze outside, following which the vertical ck eye in his be began to glow brightly.
Several beams of ck light shot forth in a sh, shattering the restrictions of the three remaining stone cabs at the same time.
Almost at the exact same moment, a red-haired giant of a man came barreling in through the entrance.
The man was over 20 feet tall and was built like a steel wall. He was wearing a crimson robe that was burning with scorching mes, and the entire hall was instantly plunged into what felt like ava pit.
Judging from the aura radiating from the man''s body, he was a Body Integration Stage powerful being.
"Die!"
The red-haired man cast his gaze toward the figure, and his eyes were practically burning with fury.
With a sweep of his hand, he sent a massive burning sword flying through the air, and the sword swelled to several hundred feet in size mid-flight before striking the yellow light barrier with devastating might.
A vast expanse of yellow light emerged in an attempt to oppose the giant sword, but it didn''t even manage to make contact with the sword before it was torn apart by the mes burning on the de of the sword.
The giant ming sword struck the yellow barrier with ferocious might, and countless cracks instantly appeared on its surface, but it was able to withstand the attack withoutpletely shattering.
Right at this moment, the figure swept a hand through the air, releasing a burst of suction force that drew all of the jade slips in the three stone cabs into his grasp before being stowed away.
The red-haired man was furious to see this, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which the giant ming sword swelled to twice its original size, and the mes on its surface sprang up to several dozen feet.
The yellow light barrier waspletely shattered with a dull thump, and the two Spatial Tempering cultivators and the Deity Transformation Stage patrol group leaders were finally freed.
The giant ming sword faltered momentarily, then continued to crash down toward the figure.
All of a sudden, the figure raised his head, and dazzling light erupted out of the vertical eye in his be. Countless back runes surfaced within the eye, and a thick pir of ck light was sted straight into the giant sword.
A dull thump rang out as the pir of ck light exploded, and most of the mes on the giant sword instantly dissipated.
At the same time, ripples surged through the surrounding space, immobilizing the sword in mid-air, thereby preventing its fall.
"That''s the Law Destruction Eye!" the red-haired man eximed. [1]
The figure made a hand seal while chanting an incantation, and a burst of purple lightning appeared over his body before quickly spreading to form a lightning array around him. Dazzling light shed within the array amid a rumbling thunderp, and the blurry figure within the array had be even more indistinct.
"You''re not getting away!"
The red-haired man''s fury was growing by the second, and all of a sudden, mes rose up on the giant sword again as it abruptly split itself into two.
A fiery sword projection that wasparable in size to the giant sword came crashing down, traveling several times faster than the giant sword itself as it struck the lightning array.
A resounding boom rang out as dazzling red light erupted in all directions alongside bursts of violent shockwaves.
The two Spatial Tempering cultivators shuddered violently, and they were forced to take several backward steps before finally managing to steady themselves. As for the Deity Transformation Stage patrol group leaders, their legs instantly gave out from under them, causing them to fall to their knees, and the protective spiritual light around them was flickering like a candle in the breeze.
The red light dissipated, revealing a deep trench that had been shed into the ground, but the figure had already vanished.
Everyone exchanged a series of bewildered nces before turning to the red-haired man, who wore a furious expression.
Meanwhile, at the center of the secret chamber in Han Li''s cave abode.
There was arge purple array engraved onto the ground, and arcs of electricity were surging throughout the array. Han Li''s eyes were tightly shut, and he was seated beside the array with his eyes closed.
All of a sudden, a burst of dazzling light appeared in the array, and a resounding thunderp rang out, following which a humanoid figure enshrouded in ck qi emerged.
Han Li''s eyes immediately sprang open, and a hint of tion appeared on his face as he cast an incantation seal.
The ck qi around the figure quickly faded, revealing a shimmering silver-armored warrior that had been summoned from a talisman.
Half of the silver-armored warrior was destroyed, and its aura was fading in and out of existence, seemingly about to be snuffed out at any moment.
With a wave of Han Li''s hand, around 20 to 30 jade slips flew out of the armored warrior''s body beforending in his grasp.
He stowed the jade slips away, then pressed a finger against the armored warrior''s be.
ck light shed from the armored warrior''s be, following which an egg-sized ck bead flew out from within with a burst of silver energy slowly flowing within it.
At the same time, the light on the armored warrior''s body faded, and it disintegrated into a tattered silver talisman and a purple talisman, both of which drifted down through the air at the same time.
The silver talisman was none other than the Armor Origin Talisman, while the purple one was the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman, both of which had been refined using the materials that Han Li had stolen from the Heavenly Talisman Hall several days ago. [2]
Unfortunately, the Armor Origin Talisman was already too severely damaged for further usage.
1. For more on the Law Destruction Eye, please refer to RMJI Chapter 1180: Fire Spirit Threads and the Law Destruction Eye. ?
2. For more information on the Armor Origin Talisman and the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman, refer to RMJI Chapter 1472: Two Talismans and Chapter 1306: High Zenith Invisibility Talisman, respectively. ?
Chapter 38: A Glimmer of Hope
Chapter 38: A Glimmer of Hope
Han Li quickly stowed the two talismans away, then sat down with his legs crossed and held the ck bead between his thumb and index finger before pressing it against his own be.
The silver qi within the bead immediately began to seep out wisp by wisp, circling around his be momentarily before vanishing into it.
If one were to look closely, one would discover that this silver qi was actuallyprised of countless tiny characters that were even smaller than the tiniest of mosquitoes. These were all of the cultivation arts and secret techniques that the Armor Origin Talisman puppet had gleaned from the scripture library earlier.
Even with Han Li''s unfathomably powerful spiritual sense, it was impossible to absorb such an enormous amount of content all at once.
However, he was in no hurry, and he had plenty of time to spend on this.
Time slowly passed by, and Han Li continued to sit as still as a statue for three days and three nights.
Only on the morning of the fourth day did he slowly open his eyes, upon which his brows furrowed slightly.
Some of these scriptures were quite remarkable, presenting incredible ideas and concepts that even he couldn''t help but be in awe of, but none of them fit his current needs.
He shook his head as he stowed the ck bead away, then swept a sleeve through the air, upon which 30 to 40 jade slips appeared on the ground. These were the jade slips that the Armor Origin Talisman puppet had taken right before its departure from the scripture library.
He swept his gaze over these jade slips with a slightly disheartened expression, hoping that he would find something useful among them.
With that in mind, Han Li picked up one of the jade slips before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
Another whole day passed by, and as Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the final jade slip, there was a clear look of disappointment in his eyes.
These jade slips all contained advanced and profound cultivation arts and secret techniques, but there was still nothing that was useful to him.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face. He had gone to great lengths to secure these resources, stirring the entire sect up into a frenzy in the process, but it had all been for nothing.
He shook his head as he prepared to destroy all of the jade slips.
Even though he had already examined the jade slips and confirmed that none of them had any tracking restrictions applied to them, it was already clear that the Spirit Domain Realm contained some things that he was unfamiliar with, such as quintessential purple qi. As such, there was no guarantee that there were no measures applied to these jade slips that were undetectable to him, so it was better to be safe than sorry.
All of a sudden, a surprised look appeared on Han Li''s face.
All of the jade slips had been reduced to a pile of dust, but there was apletely unremarkable yellow jade slip among them that waspletely unharmed.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he picked up the jade slip before inspecting it closely with an intrigued expression.
The power that he had just unleashed would''ve been enough topletely destroy even a piece of iron essence, yet this jade slip waspletely unscathed.
After some inspection, Han Li discovered that there was nothing remarkable about the jade slip. It was made from normal jade, and he had inspected its contents earlier to find that all it contained was a cultivation art suitable for Spatial Tempering cultivators.
Han Li inspected the jade slip for a moment longer before applying some squeezing force through his fingers.
A faint sheen of luster that resembled starlight suddenly appeared on the surface of the jade slip, keeping his power at bay.
His eyes lit up slightly as he rxed his grip again, and the faint sheen of light also vanished.
It seemed that there really was something special about this jade slip.
He could sense that the starry sheen wasn''t a tracking restriction.
Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip again with the idea that perhaps there was something special about the cultivation art that it contained, but once again, he was unable to discover anything of note.
He read through the contents of the cultivation art from top to bottom three to four times, and he even tried cultivating it, but he still failed to find any hidden secrets.
"Could it be that I''m mistaken?" Han Li murmured to himself.
However, he was still unwilling to give up, and he released an enormous burst of spiritual sense out of his be,pletely enveloping the jade slip before carefully inspecting it inch by inch.
The starry sheen immediately surfaced on the jade slip again, and it was giving off a devouring force that was eating away at Han Li''s spiritual sense.
Immediately thereafter, a speck of golden light appeared on the jade slip''s surface.
Han Li was initially quite rmed by this, but his rm quickly turned into tion, and instead of withdrawing his spiritual sense, he allowed the jade slip to devour it as it pleased.
As time passed, an astonished look gradually appeared on his face.
The jade slip was like a bottomless pit. It had already devoured close to a fifth of his spiritual sense, yet it still wasn''t satisfied, and at this point, the speck of golden light had already grown to the size of a broad bean.
At the moment, his spiritual sense was only at around 10% of its peak, but due to the cultivation arts that he practiced, it was stillparable to that of the average immortal, yet this jade slip had managed to devour a huge chunk of it.
It was going to take quite some time to recover this spiritual sense, but after some brief contemtion, Han Li decided to continue with the process.
Momentster, an astonishing scene ensued.
More and more golden light began to appear on the jade slip, filling its entire surface before gradually forming a golden diagram of the Big Dipper.
At the same time, the devouring force being released by the jade slip finally ceased.
Han Li heaved a sigh of relief as he picked up the jade slip with an ecstatic expression, and as he injected his spiritual sense into it again, he couldn''t help but be stunned by what he saw.
The contents of the jade slip were also changing, and the previous body of tiny yellow text had disappeared, only to be reced byrge passages of golden text.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this before hurriedly reading through the new text.
Only after a full 15 minutes had passed did he raise his head with an ted look in his eyes.
The new jade slip contained a body refinement secret technique by the name of the Bigger Dipper Origin Arts.
ording to information that Patriarch Cold me had left in the jade slip, this was not a cultivation art that could be found in the Spirit Domain Realm. Instead, it was an authentic Immortal Realm cultivation art that the patriarch had sent down to the Spirit Domain Realm following his ascension.
What was worthy of note was that the cultivation of this secret technique didn''t depend on the spiritual power of heaven and earth. Instead, it involved refining the physical body by drawing the power of starlight into the body.
The cultivation art was split up into seven levels, and with each level that was mastered, he would be able to manifest a profound aperture. After mastering all seven levels, seven apertures would be manifested, allowing one to attain a True Extreme Body, thereby bing a legendary Profound Immortal.
Given the current state of his nascent soul, he was unable to cultivate using the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, but perhaps he could try to harness the power of starlight.
However, at the end of the cultivation art, Patriarch Cold me had specifically left a note, which contained a warning that refining one''s body using the power of starlight was going to put them in constant excruciating pain.
Furthermore, this was not an orthodox cultivation art. It could dramatically enhance one''s physical body, but it was impossible to elevate one''s magic power using this cultivation art. Even if they could master this cultivation art, they would have to pursue the path of bing a Profound Immortal, which was a far more difficult path than bing an ordinary immortal. Thus, one was advised not to practice this cultivation art unless they were absolutely certain that they wanted to pursue such an arduous path.
Most importantly, in order to practice this cultivation art, not only was it a prerequisite that one had to already possess a sufficiently powerful physical body, enormous spiritual sense was also required to draw the power of starlight into the body. Hence, the barrier to entry was extremely steep.
Back when Patriarch Cold me sent this cultivation art down from the Immortal Realm, he had ced a special restriction on the jade slip so that only those with sufficiently powerful spiritual sense would be able to see the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
Han Li''s grip tightened slightly with excitement around the jade slip, and he felt like he could see a glimmer of hope.
The Big Dipper Origin Arts was virtually tailor-made for him. Even though there was a warning that practicing the cultivation art was going to be extremely painful, that didn''t discourage him at all.
However, right at this moment, the jade slip in his hand suddenly cracked before transforming into a ball of piercing golden light.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he raised his head to discover a golden figure hovering in mid-air.
The figure was a well-built middle-aged man with a square face that wore a stern expression, giving off a sense of authority and righteousness.
Han Li''s heart jolted slightly upon seeing this. Having seen a portrait of this man in the sect, he knew that it was none other than Patriarch Cold me!
"Fantastic! Looks like my efforts didn''t go to waste. Finally, someone has managed to unravel this restriction! Which peak are you a disciple of, and what is your name?" Patriarch Cold me asked with a warm smile.
Han Li''s mind was racing as he scrambled to fabricate a convincing lie.
It was clear that this was an avatar left behind by Patriarch Cold me''s spiritual sense, but it still gave him a significant sense of pressure, so it was most likely quite formidable in battle.
Before Han Li had a chance to reply, Patriarch Cold me''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and his voice took a cold turn as he asked, "Why do I not sense the aura of any of our sect''s cultivation arts in you? Could it be that you''re not an inner court disciple?"
"I am a guest elder who has only recently joined the sect, so I still haven''t had a chance to practice any of the sect''s cultivation arts yet," Han Li hurriedly replied.
"A guest elder? How did a guest elder like you get your hands on the jade slip containing the Big Dipper Origin Arts?" Patriarch Cold me interrogated in a cold voice.
Han Li had no response to this.
Patriarch Cold me''s gaze then fell upon the pile of powder near Han Li''s feet.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon seeing this, but his heart sank ever so slightly.
Chapter 39: Decree
Chapter 39: Decree
Patriarch Cold me swept a hand through the air, releasing a burst of golden light that swept up all of the powder in front of Han Li, forming a ball of faint golden light that hovered before him.
"These are all jade slips that contain cultivation arts and secret techniques of our sect. Why are they all in your possession? Could it be that you broke into the inner library and stole them?" Patriarch Cold me asked in a cold voice.
Even though the jade slips had been reduced to powder by Han Li, even the slightest trace of what they had once been was enough for Patriarch Cold me to identify them.
A resigned look appeared on Han Li''s face, and he sighed, "I can exin, Fellow Daoist Cold me."
"How dare you refer to me as an equal to yourself!"
Patriarch Cold me was furious, and dazzling golden light abruptly erupted out of his be. Countless rippling circles of light swept through the air, instantly forming a golden flower projection that was around 10 feet in size.
As the golden flower slowly revolved, light shed from its bud, and a near-transparent pir of golden light was released, hurtling toward Han Li at an incredible speed.
The space in the wake of the pir of light rippled like water.
Han Li remained on the spot, making no attempt to take evasive action. Instead, he merely raised his head slightly, and a burst of invisible ripples erupted out of his be as well to oppose the pir of golden light.
A dull thump rang out, and the space shuddered violently as ripples surged through the air.
It seemed that the golden pir of light had crashed into something, and it quickly disintegrated, while the invisible ripples also faded.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and Han Li remainedpletely unscathed as he stood with a faint smile on his face.
Patriarch Cold me shuddered as he eximed in an incredulous voice, "Impossible! Are you also an immortal?"
Even though this was only a projection manifested by his spiritual sense, and that wasn''t an all-out attack, even a Grand Ascension cultivator definitely wouldn''t have been able to withstand the attack so easily, let alone a Nascent Soul cultivator.
This indicated that Han Li''s spiritual sense wasn''t inferior to his own!
"Will you listen to me now, Fellow Daoist Cold me?" Han Li asked in a calm voice.
Patriarch Cold me was silent for a moment, and even though he was still rather displeased, he was clearly willing to listen. "Fine. Why don''t you tell me why you''re here stealing the scriptures of our sect when you''ve already ascended to be an immortal."
"Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I fell into the Spirit Domain Realm by chance. I bear no ill will toward your sect, but I currently have some injuries, and I do not have the suitable pills to treat those injuries, so I decided to take some of the scriptures of your sect to conduct some research," Han Li exined.
"I see. May I ask which Immortal Region you were originally from, Fellow Daoist?" Despite what he was saying, it was clear from the look in Patriarch Cold me''s eyes that he didn''tpletely believe Han Li''s story.
"I''m only staying here for now, and I can assure you that I won''t do anything detrimental to your sect. As for where I''vee from, that''s something that I''d rather not share," Han Li replied with a hint of a smile on his face.
Patriarch Cold me gave a cold harrumph upon hearing this. An immortal had suddenly appeared in the Spirit Domain Realm, so he was naturally inclined to find out as much about this immortal as possible. However, this was only an avatar formed by a wisp of his spiritual sense, so he couldn''t really do anything if Han Li were unwilling to answer his questions.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist. I owe you a favor for this, and in exchange, I can promise you here and now that if the Cold me Sect encounters any trouble in the future, I can step in one time to resolve the sect''s troubles," Han Li continued in an unhurried voice.
Patriarch Cold me was greatly moved by this. "I''ll be holding you to that promise, Fellow Daoist."
Even though he had already ascended to the Immortal Realm, he still greatly cherished the Cold me Sect, which he had built up from nothing. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have gone out of his way to send resources down to the sect.
It seemed that the Cold me Sect was a dominant powerhouse in the Spirit Domain Realm with a bright future ahead, but the sect was not truly without its concerns.
Unfortunately, he was in the Immortal Realm, so there wasn''t much that he could do to help the sect. However, if he could recruit the assistance of Han Li, then a whole host of possibilities would be opened up.
¡¡
Two dayster, on the Holy Fire Peak of the Cold me Sect.
There was an elegant tile courtyard situated deep in a misty purple bamboo forest.
The purple bamboo trees in the forest were neatly organized, and the arrangement didn''t seem to be remarkable in any way, but in reality, there was a hidden purpose to how everything was positioned.
The position of every single purple bamboo tree corresponded with a node of an array, and this vast sea of purple bamboo formed a unique array.
The purple bamboo nted here also wasn''t just bamboo of the ordinary variety. Instead, it was Lungfire Bamboo that was capable of absorbing the power of earthly fire. If one were to inspect these bamboo trees closely, they would discover that there were dark red patterns spread along the surface of the bamboo.
It was exactly because of the existence of this array that this area had the most abundant spiritual qi in the entire Spirit me Mountain Range, and it was also the area with the highest concentration of earthly fire.
The small tile courtyard was situated right on the core of the array.
At this moment, there was a purple-robed man seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed, cultivating in the main room inside the courtyard.
The man had a head of shoulder-length hair that was as white as snow, and there was a purple me insignia on his be. There was purple qi revolving all around him, and he appeared to be no more than 30 years of age, but he was giving off an extremely powerful aura.
On a small rosewood table not far in front of him was a gold-ted copper incense burner, protruding out of which were several sticks of lit incense that were releasing wisps of smoke.
The table was situated right next to the wall, upon which a portrait of a middle-aged man that was over three feet in length was hanging.
The lines of the portrait weren''t particrly intricate, but they were extremely effective in conveying the aura of the subject. The portrait depicted a man with a square face and a pair of bright and piercing eyes. The man had a very strong build, and even his visage alone was giving off a strong sense of authority and righteousness.
Right at this moment, the white-haired man''s eyes suddenly sprang open, and he cast a surprised gaze toward the portrait on the wall.
A burst of peculiar fluctuations suddenly erupted out of the portrait, and a series of ripples spread over its surface. It was as if the subject of the portrait had suddenly sprung to life, and he stepped out of the portrait as if it were a portal leading to another realm.
The white-haired man hurriedly rose to his feet, then fell to his knees, trembling slightly with emotion as he greeted in a respectful voice, "Wee, Patriarch."
"No need for formalities. I''vee to you today with some instructions," Patriarch Cold me said with a wave of his hand.
Only then did the white-haired man return to his feet, and he waited with a respectful expression for further instructions.
"I''ve already heard about the incident that took ce at the scripture library some days ago," Patriarch Cold me said.
The white-haired man''s heart jolted upon hearing this, and cold sweat instantly began to appear on his forehead. He was just about to offer an exnation, but he was cut off by Patriarch Cold me. "Leave this matter and do not investigate it any further."
The white-haired man faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he couldn''t help but protest, "But Patriarch..."
However, Patriarch Cold me raised a hand to cut him off, thenmunicated something to him through voice transmission.
The white-haired man''s expression changed once again upon hearing this, first turning to surprise before switching to tion.
Chapter 40: Inconclusive
Chapter 40: Inconclusive
That afternoon.
A streak of white light shot through the distant sky beforending on a white jade za on the Holy Fire Peak.
The light faded to reveal a clean-shaven middle-aged man.
The man was wearing a schrly robe, which was pping around him as he slowly descended, and as soon as hended on the za, he was immediately greeted by a male voice that rang out behind him.
"Brother Nangong."
The middle-aged man turned to discover a man with a ck beard wearing a set of daoist robes approaching him from several thousand feet away.
The man didn''t appear to be moving very quickly, but there was a trail of afterimages in his wake, and he was able to cover a distance of several hundred feet with each step, arriving in front of the schrly-robed man in the blink of an eye.
"Let''s go together, Brother Zhuang," the schrly-robed man greeted with a smile.
The daoist priest nodded in response, then cast his gaze toward several streaks of light that were flying through the distant sky, and he remarked, "If I recall correctly, it''s been over a decade since such a big fuss has been kicked up about anything in the sect."
These two were none other than Nangong Changshan and Zhuang Ziyou, the masters of the Cloudrise Peak and the Sunset Peak, respectively.
"This most likely has something to do with the recent scripture library incident. I''m afraid we won''t be able to escape ountability," Nangong Changshan sighed with a shake of his head.
"I was busy refining some pills at the time, but I did hear mention of the incident, and the circumstances seem rather strange to me... Not only was the perpetrator able to bypass all of the restrictions to enter the inner library, even Elder Huyan was unable to stop him from escaping," Zhuang Ziyou mused with a grim expression.
"It was indeed a rather peculiar incident. I''m sure the supreme elder will borate on the matter when we meet him," Nangong Changshan replied with a nod.
As the two were conversing with one another, they had already passed through the za and arrived in front of a grand and majestic red pce. Both of them fell silent here, then quickly scaled the staircase before stepping into the pce together.
At the center of the pce was an elevated section that was around three feet above the ground, upon which was an intricately engraved chair. Below this chair were two more rows of chairs that were facing one another, one on the left, and one on the right.
The pirs behind the chairs were all constructed from precious materials with all types of exotic birds and beasts engraved onto their surfaces.
On the chair in the left row situated closest to the main seat sat a red-haired man in a crimson robe. There was a dark look on his face, and he was built like a steel tower, with a musclebound body that gave off an astonishing aura.
Nangong Changshan and Zhuang Ziyou exchanged a nce with one another, then picked a pair of neighboring chairs before sitting down and closing their eyes to meditate.
More and more people continued to enter the pce, and soon, all of the chairs in the hall were upied.
All of the people present were at the Spatial Tempering Stage, and there wasn''t even a single cultivator at or below the Deity Transformation Stage.
However, all of them were wearing rather grim expressions, and they only exchanged the most concise of greetings, seemingly not interested in chatting.
The entire pce was filled with a rather oppressive and solemn atmosphere.
A few minutes after all of the chairs in the pce were upied, two more figures strode into the pce from the inner hall.
Everyone in the pce immediately rose to their feet, including the red-haired man, and they all extended a collective respectful bow as they greeted in a unified voice, "We pay our respects to the supreme elder and the sect master!"
The one walking at the front was a purple-robed man with hair as white as snow, and he was the Cold me Sect''s sole supreme elder, Sima Jingming. Apanying him was an authoritative middle-aged man wearing a tall hat, and he was the master of the Cold me Sect, Liu Jingzhu.
Sima Jingming made his way over to the main seat, but instead of sitting down, his gaze slowly swept over everyone present.
His aura waspletely subdued, but even though he was only casually standing there, he still gave off an astonishing sense of pressure. Everyone lowered their heads, not daring to look at one another or even breathe too loudly for fear of retribution.
A short whileter, Sima Jingming finally began to speak.
"Recently, two incidents of theft have taken ce in quick session at the Heavenly Talisman Hall and the scripture library, and it is for this reason that all of you have been invited here."
His voice wasn''t very loud, but it was filled with an indescribable sense of authority.
Everyone involuntarily tensed up slightly upon hearing this, and they were all waiting in silence for the tirade that was surely toe.
However, what Sima Jingming dered next instantly had everyone looking up with stunned expressions.
"I hereby dere that this will be the end of the matter. Cease all investigations with immediate effect."
Everyone was astonished to hear this, and they couldn''t help but exchange bewildered nces, wondering if they had misheard the message.
However, no one dared to ask any questions, either.
In the end, it was the red-haired man who broke the silence, and he stepped forward as he cupped his fist in a salute. "Senior Martial Brother Sima, the theft that took ce at the scripture library is a major incident. I..."
Before he had a chance to finish, he was cut off by Sima Jingming, who interjected in a cold voice, "Do I need to repeat myself, Junior Martial Brother Huyan?"
With that, he turned and departed from the pce, offering no further exnation, leaving everyonepletely perplexed.
At the same time, Sect Master Liu Jingzhu dered, "That concludes the meeting. You can all go now."
After that, he also departed.
A short whileter, on the white jade za outside the pce.
Zhuang Ziyou was still reeling from the announcement, and he turned to Nangong Changshan as he asked, "We''re supposed to just cease all investigations? Are we simply epting the loss of so many precious scriptures from the scripture library?"
"The loss of the scriptures isn''t a big deal. I''m sure our sect will have replicas that can rece them. However, it''s going to be a problem if these secret scriptures are leaked to the outside world. The supreme elder must have his reasons for making such a decision, so let''s not specte aimlessly about this," Nangong Changshan replied with a smile.
Despite what he was saying, he was no less perplexed than Zhuang Ziyou.
Not long after that meeting, all of the disciples of the Cold me Sect noticed something extremely puzzling, which was that the sect had suddenly ceased all investigations and searches at the Heavenly Talisman Hall and the scripture library.
This naturally created quite a stir among all of the disciples, but all of the peak masters seemed to be very reluctant to speak on the matter.
Thus, what should''ve been a pair of incidents with far-reaching consequences and implications blew over under inexplicable circumstances with no concrete conclusions reached.
As the perpetrator, Han Li waspletely oblivious to everything that had taken ce in the sect. He was holed up in his cave abode, studying the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
Prior to this, he had only quickly read through the cultivation art, but the more he studied it, the more he came to realize how profound and ingenious it was, and the more excited he became.
Ever since he began his cultivation journey, he hade into contact with many body refinement cultivation arts. Some of those cultivation arts primarily refined the muscles and tendons, some focused on refining the bones, and there were also some that refined the internal organs, such as the Organ Refinement Origin Arts. [1]
However, the Big Dipper Origin Arts was unique in that it focused on the cultivation of profound apertures.
What were profound apertures supposed to be?
Han Li had no clue, and there were no further borations offered in the cultivation art, either. However, judging from the scripture, the cultivation process was extremely profound, and even for him, it had taken a long time to make sense of the process being described.
To put it in simple terms, if one could attain full mastery of this cultivation art, then they would attain physical powerparable with that of the average immortal.
However, at the same time, there were also many caveats.
Firstly, the cultivation process was extremely painful, and for those with insufficient mental fortitude, there was no way that they would be able tost till the very end.
Secondly, it was extremely difficult to draw in the power of starlight. After all, the stars were an unfathomable distance away. As a result, practicing this cultivation art was extremely time-consuming.
Han Li paid no heed to these caveats, and he nned to begin pursuing the cultivation art right away.
First, he made a trip somewhere, only returning the next day, upon which he immediately activated all of the restrictions within the cave abode.
After that, he chose a suitable secret chamber before opening up arge hole in the ceiling, which allowed him to see the sky.
After doing all of that, he sat down with his legs crossed and began to meditate.
Before practicing a cultivation art that had been passed down from the Immortal Realm, he had to prime himself into the optimal condition so that he was best equipped to deal with any circumstances that could arise during the cultivation process.
1. For more information on the Organ Refinement Origin Arts, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2339: Organ Refinement Origin Arts. ?
Chapter 41: Heaven Controlling Vial
Chapter 41: Heaven Controlling Vial
One night, several dayster.
The entire sky waspletely clear with not a single cloud in sight. The moon was hanging up in the heavens amid the stars, and there were asionally shooting stars shing past.
Inside the secret chamber of his cave abode, Han Li was seated at the center with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. Rays of starlight spilled down through therge hole in the ceiling, basking his entire body in faint silver radiance.
Beneath him, aplex array had been carved into the ground.
The array consisted of sevenrge star diagrams, each of which was around the size of a futon. The diagrams were all glowing brightly, and they connected together to form the shape of the Big Dipper.
The array was known as the Big Dipper Energy Gathering Array, and it wasn''t actually recorded in the Big Dipper Origin Arts. Instead, it was something that Han Li had adapted from another star array based on his observation of the stars.
All of the stars in the sky appeared to be quite simr, but the powers that they bestowed werepletely different. Some leaned more toward the Yin side of the spectrum, while others were more Yang inclined, and there were even some that fluctuated between the two. The Big Dipper Origin Arts drew upon the power of the Big Dipper''s seven stars, which were constantly changing to provide a profound and irreplicable source of starpower.
This array had been created by Han Li in ordance with the special properties of the seven stars, and it was able to assist him in harnessing the starpower of the Big Dipper.
At this moment, he was seated on the first star of the Big Dipper constetion in the array.
All of a sudden, his eyes sprang open, and he swept a hand through the air to release an incantation seal.
The star array beneath him immediately began to revolve, and the seven stars began to glow brightly, with the first one glowing particrly bright. Specks of white light emerged out of thin air, filling the surrounding space to form countless constetion diagrams.
Situated within this sea of stars, Han Li''s figure was made to appear rather blurry and indistinct.
He chanted an incantation while making a series of hand seals in ordance with the stiptions of the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
Around 15 minutester, a burst of astonishingly powerful spiritual sense swept out of his be, circling around before forming an invisible vortex above his head.
He then switched to a different hand seal, and the spiritual sense vortex above him spread open, gradually taking on a form that resembled a neb.
The Big Dipper Origin Arts also appeared in the neb, and it was resonating with the star array down below.
Han Li raised his head, casting his gaze through therge hole in the ceiling, looking up at the seven stars that were glowing the brightest in the night sky. His gaze then fell upon the Dubhe star, the first star of the Big Dipper, and he began to chant aplex incantation.
The dazzling Dubhe star seemed to sh momentarily, following which boundless starpower came cascading down from it like a silver waterfall, passing through therge hole in the ceiling to epass Han Li''s entire body, enveloping him in surging starpower.
A serious look appeared on Han Li''s face.
One''s ability to draw upon the power of starlight was dependent on the power of their spiritual sense. His current spiritual sense wasparable to that of an immortal, thereby establishing a strong foundation for practicing this cultivation art, but he still couldn''t afford to growcent.
He continued to make a series of hand seals to operate the cultivation art, and the starpower around him instantly began to ripple before converging to form countless threads of light that resembled thin needles.
The threads of light were enveloped by his spiritual sense, and they revolved around him momentarily before falling like rain and plunging into his body.
Han Li shuddered violently as he drew a sharp breath, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
These threads of light all had substantial form, and they had pierced into his body like countless swords.
As a result, his entire body was riddled with holes that were bleeding profusely, quickly staining his robes red.
What was even more rming was that these threads of light were racing erratically throughout his body, slicing at him from the inside like countless tiny des.
If it weren''t for his incredibly powerful physical constitution, he would''ve already been rolling on the ground in agony.
However, momentster, his brows gradually began to unfurrow. He could sense that the threads of starlight were slowly breaking down into the purest starpower that was seeping into all parts of his body, and that was naturally an extremely encouraging observation.
He took a deep breath, quickly suppressing the pain and tion that he was feeling so he could focus his attention entirely on operating the cultivation art.
More and more starpower fell from the heavens before piercing into his body, then began to work its way through his body in ordance with the cultivation art.
He was still carrying severe injuries that he was unable to recover from due to his inability to absorb the world''s origin qi, but with this influx of pure starpower, his body immediately began to eagerly devour the starpower, and his injuries quickly began to heal.
The holes that had been pierced into his body by the threads of starlight also instantly healed, unable to cause any substantial damage to his body.
As the process continued, the agony of constantly being impaled by the threads of starlight was gradually forgotten, and he found himselfpletely immersed in his cultivation.
Seven days passed by in the blink of an eye.
At the center of the cave abode, Han Li was still seated on the diagram of the first star, and every single fiber of his muscles and tendons was giving off a radiance that resembled starlight, while the same starlight was also beginning to glow from his bones.
What was particrly worthy of note was that there was an extremely eye-catching speck of blue light situated at his lower abdomen.
The speck of blue light was constantly expanding and contracting as if it were breathing, and it was devouring most of the starpower that was drawn into Han Li''s body.
At this point, Han Li''s expression waspletely calm and cid without any signs of pain.
All of a sudden, the starpower around him rippled, and the speck of blue light at his lower abdomen began to radiate dazzling light while churning incessantly.
Immediately thereafter, a profound starlight rune appeared within the blue light.
The rune only appeared for an instant before vanishing into his body in a sh.
Han Li opened his eyes, and an ted smile appeared on his face.
With his incredibly powerful physical body and spiritual sense, he was able to attainplete mastery of the first level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts in just a few days, thereby sessfully manifesting his first profound aperture.
However, he still had no ns ofing out of seclusion, and he closed his eyes once again to consolidate his progress.
Several dayster, on a clear and picturesque night, Han Li''s eyes suddenly sprang open, and he raised a hand to cease the operation of the Big Dipper Energy Gathering Array. The starpower and the specks of white light around him instantly receded like the tide.
He hurriedly rose to his feet, then made his way over to a dark green vial that was sitting on the ground in front of him, then raised it up to his own eyes for closer inspection.
At this moment, the small vial waspletely enshrouded in ayer of green light, and several strange golden runes had appeared on its surface, giving it a rustic appearance.
However, in the next instant, the burst of green light abruptly vanished into the dark green patterns on the vial, but the golden runes remained, bulging slightly out of the surface of the vial.
Han Li gently swayed the vial from side to side, and he could feel a drop of liquid swirling around within the vial.
A faint smile appeared on his face upon seeing this.
Over these past few days, he would always set the vial on the ground in front of him during his cultivation.
At a certain time, ayer of faint white light would always appear on the surface of the vial.
Upon closer inspection, one would discover that theyer of white light consisted of countless tiny specks of white light that were rapidly entering the vial as if they were living creatures until they werepletely absorbed.
However, this phenomenon neversted very long, and it would immediately vanish after a certain hour of the night.
Once every two days, after the vial had absorbed all of the white light, ayer of green light would appear, following which a drop of green liquid would appear in the vial.
Han Li withdrew his gaze as he gently stroked the leaf patterns on the small vial with his fingers. He was doing so with the utmost care and delicacy, as if he were stroking the cheek of a loved one.
As he felt the contours of the vial, he couldn''t help but think back to a distant past.
He felt as if he had returned to the Seven Mysteries Sect and that small medicinal farm in the God Hand Valley, where he experimented with the green liquid in the small vial for the very first time. With that memory came the same sense of anxiety and anticipation that he had felt at the time. [1]
He knew that if he hadn''t unintentionally discovered that the green liquid in the vial was able to elerate the maturation of spirit medicines at the time, perhaps he would''ve never been able to set foot on the path of cultivation at all, and there was certainly no way that he could''ve risen up to be the number cultivator of the human race that was revered by the entire Spirit Realm.
If there were one thing that had apanied him throughout his entire cultivation journey, then it was undoubtedly this Heaven Controlling Vial. [2]
During the 300 years in which he had been unconscious following his ascension to the Immortal Realm, he had lost Daoist Xie, the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch, and many of his past allies and assets, but he had always been unconsciously protecting this vial, not allowing himself to part with it.
When it came to this vial, he felt a special type of attachment to it.
All of a sudden, Han Li raised an eyebrow, and he stopped stroking the vial as a peculiar look appeared on his face.
His brows furrowed slightly as he pulled out the stopper before looking into the vial, and a hint of surprise and tion surfaced in his eyes.
He then immediately reced the stopper on the vial before rushing out of the secret chamber.
1. For more on the Seven Mysteries Sect and the God Hand Valley, please refer to RMJI Chapter 3: Seven Mysteries Sect and RMJI Chapter 5: Doctor Mo, respectively. ?
2. For more information on the Heaven Controlling Vial, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2430: Heaven Controlling Vial. ?
Chapter 42: Recovering Something That was Lost
Chapter 42: Recovering Something That was Lost
In the pill refinement chamber of the cave abode, Han Li removed the stopper of the Heaven Controlling Vial once again, then set it down onto the ground next to the pill furnace. After that, he took a few steps backward, then raised a hand to release an incantation seal to activate the array beneath the furnace, embroiling the furnace in scorching mes.
Momentster, he took a deep breath, then extended a finger before beckoning toward the pill furnace.
A ball of crimson fire flew out from beneath the furnace, circling around in the air before forming a thin line of fire that resembled a small snake, which flew into the Heaven Controlling Vial at Han Li''s behest.
Red light shed within the vial, and immediately thereafter, it became illuminated with dazzling radiance. The leaf patterns on its surface began to glow with a dark red hue, and they were shing as if they had sprung to life.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he stood still on the spot in a contemtive silence.
A short whileter, the red light within the vial suddenly faded, and the vial returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
However, Han Li''s gaze remained fixed on the vial, as if he were waiting for something.
Time slowly passed by, and around 15 minutester, he raised a hand once again, drawing a slightlyrger ball of fire out of the pill furnace before sending it flying into the small vial.
Once again, red light shed momentarily within the vial before fading away.
However, this time, the red light seemed to have lingered for a slightly longer duration thanst time.
A thoughtful look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
He continued to guide fire into the vial, and the intervals between each injection of fire were getting shorter and shorter.
Just as expected, the duration of the red light lingering in the vial was also growing longer and longer.
After an indeterminate period of time, Han Li injected another burst of fire into the vial, and this time, the red light within the vial shed for a full 15 minutes without disying any signs of fading.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this.
Right at this moment, a clear cry rang out from within the vial, and traces of silver light appeared, devouring the red light at a rapid rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
In the next instant, a burst of piercing silver light erupted out of the opening of the vial, flying all the way up to the top of the pill refinement chamber, where it crashed into the ceiling with a dull thump.
The burst of silver light tumbled down slightly as a result of the impact, and the silver radiance that it was releasing illuminated the entire pill refinement chamber.
Blue light shed through Han Li''s eyes as he looked up at the burst of silver light, and an ted look appeared on his face, but his brows then immediately furrowed slightly.
The burst of white light circled through the air a few times, then transformed into a small silver bird with a body that was entirelyprised of mes, which spread its wings and flew down directly toward Han Li.
Han Li raised a hand, and the silver fire raven drew to an elegant halt around half a foot above his palm, then began to fly around his index finger while chirping joyfully, seemingly ted to be reunited with its master.
This fiery bird was none other than the Essence Fire Raven, which had been born after Han Li''s me of Essence had developed a hint of spiritual nature. [1]
Back when he was in the Human Realm, he had attained the Purple Apex me using the Celestial Blue me with the cial qi released by the Six-winged Frost Centipede, then fused the Purple Apex me into the Greatyin True me. After arriving in the Spirit Realm, he had then used the Greatyin True me to devour arge number of other mes, finally giving rise to this me of Essence. [2]
Not only was this me naturally capable of devouring all types of spirit mes, it was extremely effective when it came to taming fire-attribute spirit beasts, and it was one of the most important assets that had allowed him to reign supreme in the Spirit Realm.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh as he cast aside that train of thought, then raised his hand slightly, and the fire raven instantly folded its wings,nding obediently on his palm.
For some reason, he was unable to sense this me since his awakening, and he had thought that the reason for this was that it had been lost to him, but as it turned out, the me had been in a state of slumber in his Heaven Controlling Vial this entire time.
Back in the secret chamber, his spiritual sense had suddenly developed a faint connection with this me, and that was why he had immediately rushed to the pill refinement chamber to try and use the me of the furnace to awaken the fire raven. To his surprise, he was able to seed on the first try.
However, there was a rather grim look in his eyes as he inspected the silver fire raven dancing over his palm.
In its current form, the fire raven wasn''t even three inches tall, and its aura was significantly diminishedpared with when it was at its peak.
This only served to further exacerbate the frustration that Han Li had been feeling.
It was clear that the current state of the fire raven had something to do with the circumstances that had led to his memory loss and the debilitation of his powers.
Han Li vowed to himself there and then that no matter who it was that had reduced him to this state, he was going to repay the favor with interest.
Momentster, he cast aside that train of thought, then released a burst of azure light out of his sleeve to draw the silver fire raven into his body.
The fire raven was most likely going to have to be nurtured in his body for quite some time before it could recover to any semnce of its former glory.
Around 15 minutester, Han Li departed from his cave abode again, arriving at the northwestern corner of his spirit farm.
He swept his spiritual sense through the area to ensure that nothing was amiss, then raised his hand and released a series of small triangr gs with a flick of his wrist, marking out a circr area.
He then began to chant an incantation while making a hand seal, and the small gs instantly shed with purple light, forming an indistinct light barrier that epassed the entire area.
After that, he stepped into the area, and the purple radiance glowing from the light barrier vanished as itpletely faded into the darkness of the night.
If anyone were to pass by near Han Li''s cave abode at this time, they wouldn''t be able to sense anything unless they were at least at the Deity Transformation Stage, but a cultivator of that caliber would immediately be detected by Han Li and dealt with ordingly.
Inside the light barrier, Han Li swept a hand through the air, and around two dozen beautiful wooden boxes appeared, hovering in front of him.
He raised his hand, and the lids of all of the wooden boxes flew up at his behest, allowing a medicinal aroma to waft through the air.
The wooden boxes contained several dozen white spirit medicines withplete root systems, and they flew out of their boxes before descending onto the ground and taking root in the soil.
These spirit medicines were a little simr in appearance to regr ginseng, but in reality, they were all Cloud Crane Herbs that were roughly around 100 years old.
During the daytime in these past few days, Han Li had made several visits to the Trade Valley, purchasing all of the Cloud Crane Herbs that he could find.
In order to avoid attracting attention, he made sure to conceal his cultivation base and don a different disguise for each visit.
After taking a nce at the Cloud Crane Herbs that had been nted into the ground, Han Li pulled out the Heaven Controlling Vial again.
He took a deep breath before removing the stopper of the vial, then tipped the vial over, aiming its opening at the Cloud Crane Herb directly below him.
The green liquid slowly flowed out of the mouth of the vial before dripping down onto the Cloud Crane Herb.
The liquid then slowly seeped into the roots of the Cloud Crane Herb, and a faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, following which he departed from under the light barrier.
1. For more information on the Essence Fire Raven and the me of Essence, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2434: Heavenly Devil Contract. ?
2. For more information on the Celestial Blue me, the Six-winged Frost Centipede, the Purple Apex me, and the Greatyin True me, please refer to RMJI Chapter 1113: Dark Water and Profound Jade, RMJI Chapter 667: Six-Winged Frost Centipede, RMJI Chapter 731: Purple Apex mes, and RMJI Chapter 1109: Capturing the Nascent Soul, respectively. ?
Chapter 43: Vengeance Exacted
Chapter 43: Vengeance Exacted
The seasons quickly passed by, and two years flew by in the blink of an eye.
To the northwest of the Prosperous Nation was the Bloodlight Mountain Range, which stretched for thousands of kilometers. The spiritual qi here wasn''t very abundant, and the mountain range was filled with barren mountains, as well as deep, misty valleys.
Inside a certain massive dark red valley in the mountain range was a dense cluster of buildings, and some red-robed cultivators were asionally flying through the air at low altitudes, while others were making their way in and out of the buildings with urgent expressions.
Inside arge hall deep in the valley, a blue-robed middle-aged man was pacing back and forth in an agitated manner, raising his head from time to time to cast his gaze toward a massive stone gate deep in the hall.
The stone gate was tightly shut, and crimson light was surging incessantly over its surface.
"Has Boss still note out of seclusion?" A male voice rang out from outside the hall, following which a burly man with a heavily scarred face strode in.
"He should being out soon. How are things going on your end?" the blue-robed man asked in an urgent voice.
"Reinforcements from nine branches have already arrived, and the reinforcements from the other four branches should be on their way as well. Most of the inner court disciples who were carrying out duties outside of the sect have also been summoned back. Aren''t we making too much of a big deal out of this?" the burly man asked with a hesitant expression.
"In the span of just 10 days, six branches have been razed to the ground, and even the branch masters have disappeared without a trace as if they''ve evaporated off the face of this realm! Do you think either of us would be able to replicate such a feat?" the blue-robed man sighed.
"How is that possible? I didn''t realize that the situation was so severe. The problem is that with everyone gathered in one ce, we''ve had to cease trade in all of our branches, resulting in heavy losses of profit. I''m worried that Boss will me you for making decisions on your own and..." The burly man''s voice suddenly trailed off here, and he shuddered as if a terrifying thought had urred to him.
A fearful look also appeared on the blue-robed man''s face, but he then shook his head as he replied, "I''m well aware of all of that, but if I had dyed any further, there was a good chance that our sect would''ve suffered losses too severe to recover from.
¡°Everyone always treats us with fear and respect, but in reality, all of them are praying for our Blood Sword Sect to fall. If we disy any signs of weakness, even those demons wouldn''t hesitate to swoop in andnd the killing blow on us."
A vicious light shed through the burly man''s eyes as he said in an enraged voice, "They wouldn''t dare! Everyone knows what Boss is capable of. Don''t you remember what happened to the Yu Family?
¡°They used to be the most powerful family in the state, yet the head of their family made the mistake of standing up against our sect, and the entire family of over 1,300 people was in by Boss in a single night! Not even the mortals among them were spared! Now that Boss has made a breakthrough to the mid-Deity Transformation Stage, he''ll be sure to crush the perpetrator with ease!"
"I''m afraid things may not be so simple. Over a month ago, that group of Shadow Cat women that was being transported by Branch Master Shi was intercepted, and over 20 people, including Branch Master Shi, vanished during the incident. To this day, they still haven''t been found, and it seems that there''s a very good chance that their disappearance has something to do with what''s been happening recently.
¡°Branch Master Shi was a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, yet even his nascent soul wasn''t able to escape. That should be a clear indication of what we''re dealing with here," the blue-robed man said with a grim expression.
"I hadn''t heard about that at all! In that case, it sounds like the perpetrator is no less powerful than Boss. Perhaps we''ll have to turn to the Heavenly Ghost Sect for help," the burly man said with an rmed expression.
Right at this moment, the crimson light on the surface of the stone gate faded, and it swung open to reveal a white-robed man.
The man appeared to be in his early thirties and was clean-shaven with a handsome appearance, giving him an air of gentle elegance.
The blue-robed man and the burly man hurriedly fell to their knees upon seeing this.
The white-robed man made his way over to the two men with a faint smile, then said, "No need for such formalities. Get up and tell me what you have to say."
The two men hurriedly offered their gratitude before rising to their feet.
"Boss, I..." The blue-robed man stepped forward to say something, but he was cut off by the white-robed man.
"I already received the message you sent to me a few days ago. Otherwise, I wouldn''t havee out of seclusion early. I don''t have much time, Feng Song, just tell me if there''s been any progress on the situation."
"Three days ago, the Sui State branch was attacked as well, and there were almost no survivors. In light of this incident and what happened with Branch Master Shi, we have strong reason to believe that the perpetrator is at least at the Deity Transformation Stage.
¡°On top of that, judging from the observations made at the sites of the incidents, it appears that they''re particrly adept in using fire-attribute cultivation arts or treasures," Feng Song replied as he dabbed at the cold sweat that had appeared on his forehead.
"Almost no survivors? So that means that there were survivors, right? I told you I don''t have much time, Feng Song. I suggest you don''t test my patience with these word games," the white-robed man said with a hint of a smile on his face.
Feng Song''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, and he hurriedly said, "Please forgive me, Sect Master! There was one survivor from the Sui Stage branch, and he''s waiting outside. I''ll get him toe in right away."
The white-robed man offered no objections to this, so Feng Song immediately turned around before calling out to someone outside the hall. At this point, the clothes on his back were alreadypletely drenched in cold sweat.
A young man with a thin build quickly made his way into the hall at Feng Song''s behest, then fell to his knees before extending a respectful salute.
"No need for formalities. Stand up and tell about what happened at the time of the attack," the white-robed man prompted with a gentle smile.
The young man didn''t dare to stand up, and he replied in a nervous, stuttering voice, "Th...Three days ago, our branch was attackedte at night. I...I was unable to see the perpetrator clearly. All I know is that they unleashed some type of fire-attribute ability that incinerated the entire branch to the ground, and... and there were no survivors. Not even Branch Master Yu managed to survive the attack."
"If there were no survivors, then how are you still alive?" the white-robed man asked.
"I was away carrying out some duties for the branch, and at the time of the incident, I still hadn''t returned to the branch yet, so I was only able to witness the attack from afar, and that''s how I survived," the young man replied with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
"Is there anything you''re not telling me?" the white-robed man asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
The young man became rather anxious upon seeing this. "N... No, Sect Master..."
A faint smile appeared on the white-robed man''s face, and he suddenly reached out with one hand before making a grabbing motion. The young man''s body instantly stiffened as several streaks of ck light appeared above him before burrowing their way into his head like a nest of vicious snakes.
The young man let loose an agonized howl as blood gushed out of all of his orifices, but he then quickly fell silent before copsing to the ground.
"Looks like he was telling the truth," the white-robed man remarked as he lowered his hand, and a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Ever since the young man entered the hall, Feng Song and the burly man had been standing with their heads lowered the entire time, not daring to utter a single word.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom suddenly rang out, followed by a flurry of rmed cries as the entire hall trembled violently.
A displeased look appeared on the white-robed man''s face as he flew toward the entrance of the hall at an incredible speed, and Feng Song and the burly man hurriedly followed along.
At this moment, the entire sky above the dark red valley was enshrouded under a red light barrier. Above the light barrier were three giant ck mountains, each of which was over 1,000 feet tall with ck light revolving incessantly around them.
The massive mountains and the red light barrier seemed to have been caught in an impasse, with neither side able to get the better of the other.
Countless figures flew out of the buildings in the valley before looking up at the sky with rmed expressions.
All of a sudden, yet another giant ck mountain came crashing down from the sky, causing the red light barrier to ripple violently, and finally, it was unable to withstand the pressure, shattering with a resounding boom.
The four enormous ck mountains descended from the heavens, epassing close to half of the entire valley beneath their massive shadows.
Everyone immediately erupted into a panicked frenzy, fleeing in all directions, but the mountains were crashing down far too quickly to be evaded, and looks of despair appeared on the face of everyone standing beneath the mountains.
Right at this moment, the white-robed man appeared in the sky above the hall, then raised a hand to summon arge crimson g.
The g swelled drastically in size, releasing a vast expanse of crimson light as it positioned itself beneath the bases of the four mountains.
The mountains and the g shed with devastating force, and the crimson g shuddered violently, but it was able to keep the four mountains at bay.
"Long live our sect master!"
The disciples of the Blood Sword Sect were ecstatic to see that they had been saved.
However, before they had a chance to celebrate, a dark shadow appeared in the sky, following which another giant mountain came crashing down.
Under thebined might of the five massive mountains, the giant crimson g was torn apart. With nothing else standing in their way, the five mountains came crashing down at an astonishing speed.
The five enormous mountains epassed virtually the entire valley, plunging the area into darkness.
The white-robed man''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately flew out of the way without any hesitation, escaping right before the five mountains crashed down onto the ground.
Huge clouds of dust rose up from the impact of the five falling mountains, and the earth quaked violently while agonized howls rang out incessantly, only to be immediately drowned out by bursts of loud rumbling.
At this point, the white-robed man had already appeared above the valley, and he was looking directly up ahead with a furious expression.
There, a jade flying ark was hovering in mid-air, upon which stood an elderly daoist priest and a beautiful young woman.
They were none other than Daoist Master White Stone and Liu Le''er.
"Who are you?" the white-robed man asked as his eyes narrowed slightly.
"I''m the one who''s going to put an end to your life!" Liu Le''er dered in a cold voice.
A thought seemed to have urred to the white-robed man, and he mused, "Oh? You''re a member of the Cloud Fox Race. Ah, I see, you must be that little demonic fox that managed to escape a few years ago.
¡°It''s quite impressive that you''ve already reached the Core Formation Stage in just a few years. The pelts of the Cloud Fox Race are an extremely sought-after material for refining defensive treasures. I made an absolute killing selling the hides of your brethren."
"Jia Ren, I''m going to kill you!"
Tears began to well up in Liu Le''er''s eyes as she made a rapid series of hand seals, and a burst of silver light shed from her left arm, following which a silver fireball emerged. The fireball quickly transformed into a palm-sized silver fire raven, which flew directly toward the white-robed man.
While Jia Ren was speaking, he had already released his spiritual sense to sweep through the surrounding area in a radius of several hundred kilometers, but he didn''t discover any cultivators at or above the Deity Transformation Stage.
He initially faltered slightly at the sight of thepletely mundane-looking silver fire raven, following which a derisive sneer appeared on his face.
"To think that two measly Core Formation cultivators would dare to challenge me. What a joke!"
He opened his mouth to release a ck ring, which instantly transformed into a fiery ck monster that was close to 1,000 feet tall.
The creature''s form resembled that of a lion, and it was giving off an extremely violent aura as it pounced toward the silver fire raven.
The disparity in the statures of the two creatures was so vast that it was almostical.
However, as soon as the two shed, the silver fire raven instantly vanished into the body of the fiery ck monster before shooting out the other end.
The fiery ck monster''s body instantly stiffened, then exploded with a resounding boom.
Jia Ren''s eyes widened with incredulity upon seeing this, but he immediately reacted, turning around to flee from the silver fire raven. At the same time, light shed all over his body, and he was instantly encased in a suit of glowing crimson armor.
However, the silver fire raven was incredibly fast, catching up to him in an instant before piercing through his body,pletely bypassing the suit of crimson armor.
Jia Ren didn''t even get a chance to cry out before he erupted into mes, and even the treasures and magic tools that he was carrying were quickly incinerated into ashes along with his body.
The silver fire raven circled around in the sky, then opened its mouth to st a wave of silver mes down onto the valley below.
As the wave of silver mes descended, it expanded rapidly, and by the time it descended upon the valley, it had already swelled to be a raging sea of silver fire.
With the five giant mountains in ce, none of the people in the valley were able to escape in a short time.
Liu Le''er looked down at the sea of scorching mes, and her vision was already blurry with tears.
"Father, Mother, Big Brother, Big Sister... I''ve finally avenged you all and erased the Blood Sword Sect off the face of this realm," she murmured to herself.
"Congrattions, Fellow Daoist Liu," Daoist Master White Stone said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"It''s all thanks to the help that you''ve given me these past years, Fellow Daoist White Stone. Brother Rock told me that he''ll remember everything that you''ve done," Liu Le''er replied as she wiped her tears away before extending a curtsey toward Daoist Master White Stone.
"I wouldn''t dare to expect anything from Senior Han. I''m merely doing what I''ve been told to do," Daoist Master White Stone hurriedly replied.
Chapter 44: Origin Separation Law Chains
Chapter 44: Origin Separation Law Chains
Meanwhile, on the Cloudrise Peak of the Spirit me Mountain Range.
The interior of a certain secret chamber in a secluded cave abode waspletely illuminated by dazzling white radiance.
A huge human-shaped white cocoon was situated at the center of the secret chamber, and its surface was riddled with thin threads of white light, forming countlessyers that were stacked up on top of one another.
All of a sudden, the array on the ground began to glow brightly, particrly the neb diagram beneath the white cocoon, filling the entire secret chamber with even brighter radiance.
The threads of light on the surface of the white cocoon instantly began to squirm incessantly as if they had sprung to life, and immediately thereafter, countless white runes appeared on the cocoon before expanding at an incredible speed.
Momentster, the cocoon exploded with an earth-shattering boom, revealing a young man who was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.
The young man''s upper body waspletely bare, but there was a cloud of white qi all around him, and it was none other than Han Li.
All of a sudden, he opened his eyes, which were shing with blue light, and an astonishingly powerful aura erupted out of his body to dispel the white qi around him.
Five dazzling specks of blue light could be seen on his chest and abdomen, each of which contained a starlight rune that was revolving and shimmering incessantly.
The flesh, tendons, and bones under his skin were also glowing faintly, making it appear as if his body were holding countless stars.
A short whileter, as the starlight runes gradually faded, the radiance emanating from his body also slowly disappeared.
Han Li exhaled deeply, and a hint of irrepressible excitement welled up in his heart.
After two years of grueling cultivation, he had finally sessfully manifested a fifth profound aperture, mastering the fifth level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
The progress that he was making was hundreds of times faster than what the average cultivator could expect, but what excited him the most was that his physical injuries had finally beenpletely healed, and his spiritual sense had also been restored to around a third of what it had been at his peak.
As he assessed these changes in his body, he flipped a hand over to produce a light blue spirit herb that resembled a piece of ginseng, then ced it into his mouth and began chewing.
Even though his dantian was slowly being replenished with magic power, a wry smile appeared on his face.
With the help of the Heaven Controlling Vial, he had already umted quite arge collection of Cloud Crane Herbs that were 500 to 600 years old during the past two years.
In his current state, this was already enough, and anything beyond that would simply go to waste.
Not long ago, he had conducted an experiment, maturing a Cloud Crane Herb all the way to 10,000 years old before consuming it. However, as soon as the magic power yielded by the herb went beyond the Nascent Soul Stage threshold, the superfluous magic power simply dissipated without providing any benefit to the recovery of his cultivation base.
Han Li shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, then closed his eyes to inspect his own internal condition. As a result, he discovered that the mist within his dantian had clearly be far thinner and more sparse.
This was a very encouraging sight, and he quickly tracked down his nascent soul using the golden light that it was giving off, then projected his spiritual sense toward it. The nascent soul was still in its original posture and remained in a state of slumber.
Han Li hesitated momentarily upon seeing this, then manifested a series of thin threads of spiritual sense in his dantian, which slowly approached the nascent soul at his behest.
As soon as the spiritual sense threads drew close to the nascent soul, they instantly elerated, piercing directly toward it like a storm of steel needles.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out as an arc of ck light swept out of the nascent soul''s body, keeping all of the spiritual sense threads at bay.
Han Li''s body shuddered, and he gave a muffled groan as his dantian churned violently.
After some more hesitation, he gritted his teeth before turning to his Spirit Refinement Technique.
His spiritual sense instantly filled the entirety of his dantian, and the number of spiritual sense threads increased dramatically, forming a formidable wave that struck the arc of ck light with devastating force.
The arc of ck light only managed to withstand the assault momentarily before dissipating into a plume of ck smoke.
The wave of spiritual sense threads instantly inundated the miniature golden figure, and Han Li''s spiritual sense was finally able to enter his nascent soul.
However, the sight that he was greeted by was far from a pleasant one.
There were eight inky-ck chains that were glowing faintly spreading throughout the inside of his nascent soul''s body.
These chains ran through the entirety of the nascent soul, with some of them connected to the nascent soul''s limbs, while others were linked directly to its head. All of the ck chains had faint ck mist permeating around them, giving them an extremely peculiar appearance.
What was even more astonishing to Han Li was that these ck chains seemed to be imbued with some type of unknown power ofws.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, and he manipted his spiritual sense to form a small ax, which was swung down upon one of the ck chains.
A loud ng rang out as the sharp edge of the ax struck the chain, and it shuddered violently before being repelled and sent flying back by some type of inexplicable force. As it was sent flying back through the air, it disintegrated into specks of light that quickly vanished.
Han Li was struck by a slight rush of dizziness as a result, but after a brief rest, he decided to try again.
Under the maniption of his spiritual sense, arge amount of his spiritual power was transformed into a cloud of smoke that drifted toward the ck chain before adhering to it in an attempt to melt away the chain.
However, in the instant that the smoke came into contact with the chain, thetter immediately began to rustle rapidly, releasing wisps of ck mist that quickly enveloped the smoke before devouring it.
Han Li was still unwilling to give up and continued with his experimentation.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Immortal Realm.
On a vast desert with a dark and overcast sky, fierce wind was howling incessantly like the wailing of countless ghosts, sweeping up clouds of sand and dust that filled the entire air.
In the distance, several dozen sand tornadoes were positioned next to one another to form a yellow wall that stretched all the way up into the heavens. The wall of tornadoes was moving forward, and as it did so, it was bing wider and wider.
However, once the wall of tornadoes reached a point that was roughly five kilometers away from the center of the desert, it abruptly disintegrated, sending sand flying in all directions as if it had crashed into an immovable mountain, even though it clearly hadn''t encountered any obstacles.
At the center of the pce stood a majestic hall that was over 100 feet tall. The entire hall was of an earthy yellow color, and there were no embellishments at all on the outside. It was as if it had risen up from the sand of the desert, and it was giving off a barren and archaic aura.
The interior of the hall was quiterge, with several dozen thick square pirs distributed throughout. There were around a dozen braziers hanging on the walls, and they were giving off a faint green glow that gave the entire hall a dark and sinister appearance. With the dim light provided by these braziers, one could just barely make out arge ck chair at the center of the hall.
What was rather strange was that despite the howling wind outside, no sound could be heard at all inside the hall.
On therge ck chair sat a thin middle-aged man, who was in the process of raising one of his shriveled hands, causing the ck chains around his arm to nk and rustle.
The man had a set of sunken cheeks and a dry and withered face. His mouth was slightly agape, revealing rows of white teeth. He was wearing a white cloak that leftrge sections of his purplish-green skin exposed, giving him the appearance of a discolored zombie.
Upon closer inspection, it could be seen that there was a series of thick ck chains wrapped around his body beneath the cloak, and the chains extended in all directions, filling virtually the entire hall.
All of a sudden, the zombie-like man''s tightly shut eyes abruptly sprang open, and a hint of surprise appeared on his wizened and discolored face.
"Come to me!" the zombie-like manmanded in an extremely hoarse voice, almost as if his throat were also filled with wind and sand.
The chains on the ground not far in front of him rustled momentarily, and an earthy yellow bulge slowly rose up from the ground, then transformed into an imposing man wearing a suit of archaic copper armor.
The man''s face was dark green in color, almost as if there were ayer of copper rust growing over his skin, and he immediately fell to one knee. "How may I be of service, Patriarch?"
"In the past 1,000 years, have any of my disciples used the Origin Separation Law Chains that I''ve bestowed on them?" the zombie-like man asked.
"300 years ago, Master Fang Ban once used his chains to kill an enemy while serving on duty for the Immortal Pce. Aside from that, no one else has used their chains," the armored man immediately replied.
"I see," the zombie-like man mused, and after a brief pause, he instructed, "Send a message to Fang Ban. Tell him that the enemy that he killed with those chains 300 years ago is still alive, and they''ve reactivated the power ofws imbued within those chains."
"Yes, Patriarch," the armored man replied.
"Also, tell him to eradicate this enemy as soon as possible. Otherwise, I''m going to intervene in 100 years and recover the power ofws in those chains," the zombie-like man added in an expressionless manner as he slowly closed his eyes.
Chapter 45: Thats Impossible
Chapter 45: That''s Impossible
Inside his cave abode, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, withdrawing his spiritual sense from within his body, and there was a weary look on his face.
After taking a moment topose himself, he flipped a hand over to produce a blue Cloud Crane Herb, which he ced into his mouth and began chewing as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Momentster, he exhaled before suddenly breaking the silence.
"Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, I have some questions for you."
As soon as his voice trailed off, the shadow that was cast onto the ground in front of him warped and elongated, following which a ck-robed man with skin as dark as ink rose up from the shadow.
The man cast his gaze toward Han Li in silence, and Han Li wasted no time, cutting straight to the chase.
"Do you know of any secret technique that can seal one''s nascent soul using chains that contain some type of power ofws?"
"Does this have something to do with the seal on your nascent soul?"
After the past two years of recuperation, Mo Guang had also made some strides in his recovery, but he was still rather mechanical in his way of speech.
Han Li nodded in response, then gave Mo Guang a brief rundown of the state that his nascent soul was in.
Mo Guang was silent for a moment before replying, "Judging from my past experience, in your current situation, you''ll most likely have to recover your former magic power cultivation base, then rely on some secret technique to break the seal on your nascent soul. Unfortunately, do the seal that''s been ced on your nascent soul, it''s impossible for you to cultivate and recover your cultivation base, so it seems to be a self-contradicting dilemma."
"I thought that would be the case. In fact, my situation is even worse than what you''ve just described. Even if I were to self-detonate my physical body and possess another body with my nascent soul, I still won''t be able to free myself from this seal," Han Li said with tightly furrowed brows.
"I recall you recently paid a visit to this sect''s scripture library. Did you discover anything useful there?" Mo Guang asked.
"I read through all of their scriptures, but there was nothing of use," Han Li sighed in a resigned manner.
Mo Guang fell silent again for a moment before replying, "In that case, I can only imagine that there are no secret techniques in this realm of a sufficiently high caliber to provide a solution to your problem. You''ll most likely have to find a way to return to the Immortal Realm before you can pursue ways to remedy the issue."
¡¡
In a lush forest somewhere in the Immortal Realm.
The forest was countless ancient trees that were over 1,000 feet tall, some of which were vibrant and thriving, while others were withered and decrepit. There were also some that were of a purplish-red color, presenting a peculiar sight to behold.
Deep in the forest was an open area that was tens of thousands of feet in size. There weren''t any tall trees in this area, only patches of shrubs, creating a stark contrast with the environment around it.
However, at the very center of this area was a strange ancient tree that extended all the way up into the clouds.
The tree was entirely of a dark azure color with a diameter in excess of 1,000 feet. The trunk of the tree was extremely straight with very few branches, and there wasn''t a single leaf growing on the tree, giving it a bare, pir-like appearance.
What was even more interesting was that at some point above the tree, there were seven or eight branches growing diagonally out of the trunk, and these branches were supporting a massive gray bird''s nest, looking much like an upside-down tattered straw hat from afar.
An incredibly massive bird wasying in the nest, whimpering quietly, seemingly in a great deal of pain.
The bird''s entire body was riddled with arrow-like feathers, and it had a disproportionately massive head, but a rather thin neck, and there was a huge pouch hanging near its chest, which was expanding and shrinking with each breath that it took.
All of a sudden, the bird fully extended its neck as it raised its head up high, casting a wary gaze toward a certain direction, and the rate at which the pouch in front of its chest was expanding and shrinking sped up dramatically.
The forest on the edge of the open area rustled violently in three different directions, and a humanoid figure leaped out from each direction before flying rapidly toward the giant nest.
The three figures were all wearing tight-fitting ck robes, and they leaped out into the open in perfect synchronicity, with even the degree of their movementspletely identical. What was even more remarkable was that the three men were also identical in appearance, with all three bearing the same handsome and youthful male face.
The three were rapidly closing in on the giant nest at an indescribable speed, leaving trails of afterimages in the wake. All of a sudden, all three of them blurred before vanishing on the spot.
The enormous bird was quite rmed by this, and the pouch in front of its chest bulged slightly, following which it abruptly opened its beak toward the southeast to let loose a deafening cry.
Incredibly powerful soundwaves interspersed with countless azure des of wind were sent sweeping toward the tall trees up ahead.
The countless des of wind formed an arc-shaped wall amid the sound of thunderous rumbling, and all of the shrubs in the wake of the wall of wind were uprooted before being torn to shreds, while all of the tall trees in the wall''s path were also felled before being reduced to sawdust.
The remnants of all of these nts were swept up by the wall of wind, bing part of the wall as it continued to sweep through the dense forest without disying any signs of slowing down.
In the southeast, the two ck-robed figures that had just disappeared suddenly re-emerged out of thin air before rapidly descending toward the ground.
At the same time, azure light shed from their bodies in unison, and they instantly became blurry and indistinct as they shed through the air, constantly adjusting their speed in a calm and methodical manner to evade all of the oing des of wind.
The giant bird''s thunderous roar continued to ring out, and countless more des of wind were sent sweeping in all directions alongside devastating soundwaves.
However, the two figures were able to traverse casually through the des of wind as if they were taking a stroll in the park, continuing to approach the giant bird as if there were nothing in their path.
As the two figures drew closer and closer, the giant bird looked down at the nest beneath itself, then let loose a despairing wail.
The fleshy pouch on its chest began to rapidly expand, bing asrge as the rest of its body in mere moments, and it was still continuing to expand.
One of the ck-robed young men was furious to see this.
"You think you can self-detonate? Not on my watch!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, the third ck-robed young man, who had been concealed this entire time, suddenly appeared in the air above the giant bird without any warning.
He was wielding a long ck de, and with just a flick of his wrist, the de instantly sliced through the bird''s throat amid a sh of ck light.
A powerful burst of wind erupted out of the wound, carrying a vast volume of blue blood that erupted over 100 feet upward like a gorey fountain.
By the time the fountain of blue blood ran dry, the pouch on the giant bird''s chest had also shrunk back down to its original size. Its head wasying limply in the massive nest, and its feathers were covered in its blood.
Beneath it was a huge white egg that was tinged with traces of blue blood, and it was nestled against the giant bird''s abdomen, looking very lonely and vulnerable.
The three ck-robed figures jumped down from the giant bird''s head in an expressionless manner, then made their way over to its two wings and its tail. After rummaging through the bird''s thick plumage for a while, each of them plucked out a glowing feather.
Right at this moment, a sh of yellow light suddenly lit up from the waist of one of the ck-robed figures, apanied by a burst of urgent buzzing.
The other two immediately arrived by the ck-robed young man''s side, and the three figures blurred before quickly fusing as one.
Immediately thereafter, the ck-robed young man pulled out a roundmunication te from his waist, then injected his spiritual sense into it, upon which his brows suddenly furrowed tightly as he eximed, "That''s impossible!"
A vicious look appeared in his eyes as he spoke, and he quickly stowed the giant egg away before speeding off into the distance as a gust of fierce wind.
Chapter 46: Two Solutions
Chapter 46: Two Solutions
Inside his secret chamber, Han Li watched as Mo Guang gradually vanished back into his shadow, and a wry smile appeared on his face. He no longer wanted to think about the seal that was imposed on his nascent soul.
He raised his head to look up at the starry night sky through the huge hole in the ceiling, and a short whileter, he rose to his feet before making his way over to Mizar star, the sixth star of the Big Dipper Energy Gathering Array. Once there, he sat down with his legs crossed again, then made a hand seal to cast several incantation seals in session to activate the entire array.
After taking a moment to prepare himself, Han Li closed his eyes and fellpletely still.
Close to an hourter, right as he began to cultivate the sixth level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts, an unexpected turn of events unfolded.
For some reason, the starpower that he was able to draw from the night sky was several times more potent than before, and within the span of just a few seconds, six massive pirs of starlight had taken shape.
If one were to inspect the scene from afar, they would see six pirs of light descending straight from the night sky, giving off immense starpower fluctuations.
Han Li was quite surprised to see this.
He had triggered simr phenomena while cultivating the fifth level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts, but they hadn''t been anywhere near as spectacr. There were quite a few cultivation arts in the Spirit Domain Realm that relied on harnessing the power of starlight, so such a phenomenon wasn''t all that remarkable. However, given how much of a spectacle he was putting on here, it was going to be very difficult to avoid drawing attention.
He shook his head, not paying the matter much heed as he continued to focus on cultivation.
¡¡
In the air above a certain cave abode stood a burly man, who was looking at the six enormous pirs of light with a surprised and solemn expression.
In the next instant, ck light appeared over his entire body, and he flew through the air as a blurry shadow before quicklynding near Han Li''s cave abode in a stealthy manner.
The closer he drew to the cave abode, the more he was able to sense the unfathomably immense starpower contained within those pirs of light, which was spreading through the air in powerful waves.
After a brief hesitation, he decided to take a risk and draw even closer for a more thorough examination.
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out beside him without any warning. "Hold on, Luo Jun."
In the next instant, a schrly-robed figure appeared in front of him in a sh, and it was none other than Nangong Changshan, the master of the Cloudrise Peak.
Luo Jun faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which the ck light around him faded, and he immediately cupped his fist in a salute. "Peak Master, I..."
Nangong Changshan raised a hand to cut him off. "There''s no need to say anything. Come with me."
Before Luo Jun had a chance to reply, Nangong Changshan sped away toward the pinnacle of the Cloudrise Peak as a streak of white light.
Luo Jun seemed to want to say something, but at this point, Nangong Changshan was already far away, so he could only follow along.
A short whileter, Luo Jun descended in front of the hall at the pinnacle of the Cloudrise Peak.
Nangong Changshan was already making his way into the hall with his hands sped behind his back, and Luo Jun hurriedly approached him.
"Peak Master, given the phenomenon that Han Li has triggered, he''s definitely not practicing any ordinary cultivation art. On top of that, his origins have always been suspicious. If we don''t investigate this matter properly, what are we going to do if the sect decides to hold us ountable?"
"The supreme elder personally sent me a message not to investigate this matter," Nangong Changshan replied as he continued to make his way into the hall.
A stunned look appeared on Luo Jun''s face upon hearing this. "The supreme elder? Why..."
Nangong Changshan suddenly stopped in his tracks, then turned around as he said, "The supreme elder must have his reasons. All we need to do is follow his orders."
"Alright, in that case, it seems we have no choice," Luo Jun replied with a nod.
"Issue an order to all of the disciples of our peak. Tell them that no one is to approach Han Li''s cave abode, and disrupting during his cultivation is strictly prohibited!" Nangong Changshan instructed.
"Yes, Peak Master!" Luo Jun immediately departed to carry out the orders assigned to him.
"Who exactly are you, Han Li? The supreme elder is always in seclusion and rarely ever makes an appearance for anything, yet..." Nangong Changshan murmured to himself as he fell into deep thought.
¡¡
The phenomenon triggered above Han Li''s cave abode didn''tst very long. Close to three hourster, the six giant pirs of starlight disintegrated into nothingness.
Despite the spectacr nature of the phenomenon, not a single person from the sect approached Han Li''s cave abode to investigate. It was as if no one had even noticed what was happening.
Inside his cave abode, Han Li was still seated with his legs crossed, and his eyes were already open, but he remainedpletely still, seemingly a little concerned about something.
The cultivation of the sixth level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts was far more difficult than he imagined. Not only was the process far moreplex than it was for the fifth level, most importantly, the amount of starpower required also increased dramatically.
With his current spiritual sense, he was able to satisfy the starpower requirements, but the more spiritual sense he used, the more magic power he would have to expend.
Prior to this, the Cloud Crane Herbs that he had grown were sufficient to support his cultivation, but at this point, even if he were to constantly use the Heaven Controlling Vial to elerate the maturation of the Cloud Crane Herbs, there was still no guarantee that he would have a sufficient supply to support his cultivation.
At this rate, if he wanted to master the sixth level of the cultivation art, it would take at least a decade.
With that in mind, Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly with concern.
He had to return to the Immortal Realm as soon as possible, and he couldn''t afford to wait 10 years.
Objectively speaking, mastering the sixth level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts in just 10 years was alreadypletely unheard of. If Patriarch Cold me were to hear about this, his jaw would''ve most likely dropped straight to the ground.
Han Li stroked his chin in contemtion, and a short whileter, a thought seemed to have suddenly urred to him.
He closed his eyes as he sifted through the scriptures of the Cold me Sect stored in his mind.
Momentster, his eyes sprang open as a faint smile appeared on his face.
As expected of one of the three dominant powerhouses of the Spirit Domain Realm, the scriptures of the Cold me Sect really did contain two potential solutions, the first of which was directly tied to the Origin Realm Temple.
There were many cultivation arts in the Origin Realm Temple that relied on harnessing the power of starlight, and it was said that the founding patriarch excelled in such cultivation arts.
Inside the temple was a Star Gathering tform, which had been constructed using countless precious materials, and the tform had an ancient star array engraved upon it.
The array had been personally set up by the immortal founder of the Origin Realm Temple, and it was far more potent than the Big Dipper Energy Gathering Array that Han Li had created.
The array was vastly renowned across the entire Spirit Domain Realm, and it was said that with the assistance of the array, one would be able to easily draw four to five times the power of starlight they would''ve normally been capable of.
However, this tform was an extremely cherished resource of the Origin Realm Temple, and only the brightest disciple and elders could ess it. As for people outside of the sect, it was prohibited for them to even catch a glimpse of the tform.
The second potential solution was to use a treasure known as the Starmoon Mirror, the refinement method for which was recorded in one of the jade slips from the inner library.
The Starmoon Mirror wasn''t a powerful offensive treasure. Instead, it was an auxiliary treasure that could attract a vast amount of starpower with an injection of only a tiny amount of magic power.
The refinement method for the mirror was found by chance in a secret area by a Body Integration Stage elder of the Cold me Sect.
However, there weren''t many star-based cultivation arts in the Cold me Sect, and a huge amount of precious materials were required to refine the treasure, so even though this was an extremely precious jade slip, no one had actually used it to refine any Starmoon Mirrors.
Most importantly, the main material used for refining this treasure was the Yin Dawn Stone, which was not only an extremely rare material, but also something that the Heavenly Ghost Sect held in the utmost regard.
It was said that when cultivating the Great Heavenly Ghost Arts, the premium cultivation art of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, arge amount of Yin Dawn Stones had to be expended in the cultivation of the final few levels.
As a result, the few known Yin Dawn Stone mines in the Spirit Domain Realm were all under the Heavenly Ghost Sect''s control.
Hence, ess to the Star Gathering tform and refining Starmoon Mirrors were both rather difficult options to pursue.
After a moment of contemtion, Han Li rose to his feet before leaving his cave abode.
Chapter 47: Probing
Chapter 47: Probing
It was already veryte at night as Han Li emerged from his cave abode, and he took a moment to ascertain the correct direction before flying away as a streak of light.
However, he had only flown for a short while when an enormous white palm suddenly appeared above him without any warning, then came crashing down upon him.
At the same time, countless white fire lotus flowers appeared in the air around him before revolving on the spot, releasing countless flower petals that instantly encircled an area with a radius of over 1,000 feet, making it impossible for Han Li to avoid the descending giant palm.
A cial aura swept through the area, causing the air temperature to plummet drastically, and ayer of frost had appeared on the nearby ground.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, then threw a punch to release a burst of enormous power.
A string of dull thumps rang out, and almost all of the white fire lotus flowers disintegrated like apparitions, dissipating into countless specks of light.
The spiritual light on the surface of the giant white palm was also trembling violently in the face of the immense power unleashed by Han Li''s punch, and the surrounding space began to warp as a burst of rumbling rang out.
The owner of the giant palm seemed to have been caught off guard by this, and the palm was withdrawn in a slightly panicked manner before vanishing into thin air.
Immediately thereafter, spatial fluctuations erupted not far away, and a humanoid figure appeared. The figure''s entire body was enshrouded under ayer of white light, making it impossible to make out their physical appearance. They were holding a translucent blue jade ruler in their hand, and there were profound patterns etched all over the surface of the ruler.
As soon as the figure appeared, they immediately tossed the ruler in their hand high up into the sky.
The ruler circled around in the air before swelling to over 1,000 feet in length, and all of the patterns on its surface began to radiate dazzling blue light.
The white figure raised a hand, and the massive ruler immediately came crashing down toward Han Li with incredible might.
In response, Han Li reached out with one hand before making a grabbing motion.
Even though no direct contact was made, an enormous burst of force was still sent surging toward the massive ruler, stopping it cold in its tracks and causing the spiritual light on its surface to quiver violently.
Right at this moment, the light radiating from the patterns on the giant ruler brightened significantly, forming a monstrous projection of a creature with a cow''s head and a dragon''s body.
The projection opened its mouth to let loose a thunderous roar, and the blue ruler began to descend again.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he activated his Big Dipper Origin Arts. Five specks of blue light immediately appeared on his chest and abdomen, forming a clear Big Dipper constetion. However, the first five stars in the constetion were bright and dazzling, while the other two stars were dull and devoid of luster.
He then abruptly clenched the fingers of his outstretched hand together, causing the nearby space to warp and churn violently.
The monstrous projection released by the giant ruler let loose an anguished howl before disintegrating with a dull thump.
"Stop, Fellow Daoist Han! It''s me, Sima Jingming!" the white figure hurriedly said upon seeing this.
The white light around him faded as he spoke, revealing a purple-robed man with a head of white hair.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes, and he stopped right before he was about to clench his hand into a fist.
Sima Jingming quickly made a series of hand seals, and the blue ruler shrank down to its original size before returning to his grasp in a sh.
Only then did he heave a sigh of relief.
Through the spirit treasure in his hand, he was able to clearly sense just how fearsome that grab from Han Li was. If he had hesitated even a moment longer, the ruler would''ve at least been severely damaged, if notpletely destroyed.
He hadn''t gone all-out in his attack, but judging from how casual and nonchnt Han Li looked, it was clear that he had held back as well.
"What is the meaning of this, Fellow Daoist Sima?" Han Li asked in an expressionless manner as he sped his hands behind his back.
"Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Han. I have no intention of disrespecting you, I simply wanted to test your power. After all, your agreement with our patriarch is extremely important to our sect, and I have to see exactly what our sect is getting in exchange for all of the resources that you''ve taken," Sima Jingming said with a smile as he stowed his jade ruler away.
"So what do you think now?" Han Li asked with a hint of a smile on his face.
"You are far more powerful than I expected, Brother Han. In addition to that, it''s truly astounding that you were able to cultivate the Big Dipper Origin Arts to this extent in such a short time. There have been some in our sect who have attempted to pursue this cultivation art in the past, but none of them were able to make any substantial progress," Sima Jingming praised in a heartfelt manner.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Sima," Han Li replied with a smile. "Regarding the scriptures that I took from the inner library, I can make recement copies of all of them once I return from my errand."
"Thank you for the kind offer, but there''s no need for that, Fellow Daoist Han. Our sect has backup copies of all of the lost scriptures. All I ask is that you don''t forget your promise to our patriarch," Sima Jingming said as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li from afar.
"Rest assured, I won''t go back on my word," Han Li replied in a calm manner.
"That''s very reassuring to hear. It looks like you still have some matters to attend to, so I won''t hold you up any longer, Brother Han," Sima Jingming said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Han Li didn''t say anything further as azure spiritual light appeared over his body, and he flew away into the distance, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
¡¡
In the Northern cial Immortal Region of the Immortal Realm.
There was a mountain that was over 10,000 feet tall, enshrouded in a dense mist that was filled with spiritual qi. On the pinnacle of the mountain stood a resplendent golden pce that was shimmering under the rising sun.
At this moment, there was an elderly man with a long beard, seated on a sandalwood chair in the pce. The man was wearing a purple and golden daoist robe, and a lotus flower crown on his head. He was holding a jade teacup, out of which he took a small sip, then raised his head to cast his gaze toward the person standing before him.
The person in question was a ck-robed young man who appeared to be around 20 to 30 years of age, and he extended a respectful bow toward the elderly man as he said, "Immortal Master Tong Xu, my name is Fang Ban, and I''vee here today with the hope that you can track down someone for me."
"I have no interest in who you are. Do you know the rules of this ce?" the elderly man asked in an indifferent voice as he gently set his teacup down onto the table beside him.
The ck-robed young man immediately took a half-step forward as he dered, "I present to you a 10,000-year-old Voidsea Purple Yang Flower, two top-grade Golden Dragon Eye Stones, and a vial of Yin Yang Reversal Elixir. Will that be sufficient, Immortal Master?"
Two intricate purple boxes and a white jade vial appeared in the air before him as he spoke. The lids of the boxes and the stopper of the vial had all been removed to reveal the contents inside.
The elderly man''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this, and he gave a slight nod of approval. "Looks like you''vee to me with some sincerity. Who is it that you''re looking for?"
"I''m looking for a formidable foe that I fought against 300 years ago. I thought that he had already perished during our battle, but recently, I learned that he''s still alive. However, I don''t know where he is right now, and I was hoping that you would help me find him," the ck-robed young man replied as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Do you have anything rted to his bloodline, or any clippings of his hair or nails or anything like that?" the elderly man asked.
The ck-robed young man hesitated momentarily, then flipped a hand over to produce a white porcin vial, which he offered to the elderly man as he said, "The person I''m searching for has a very special bloodline, and I was able to secure a drop of his blood essence during our battle. Would this be sufficient, Immortal Master?"
The elderly man epted the vial before swirling its contents around, and to his surprise, the vial was unexpectedly heavy. He then removed the stopper of the vial before taking a slight whiff, upon which a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
"How strange! Who exactly is this person? His bloodline contains the powers of many types of true spirits," Immortal Master Tong Xu eximed.
"Truth be told, he was originally from a lower realm and ascended to the Immortal Realm. He possessed many strange abilities and was an extremely troublesome opponent. I was only able to defeat him by some strokes of fortune," the ck-robed young man replied after a brief hesitation.
"I see. Come with me."
Immortal Master Tong Xu was silent for a moment before rising to his feet, then made his way toward the rear hall of the pce with his hands sped behind his back.
The ck-robed young man followed him as they passed by a beautiful golden screen, then passed through the rear hall to arrive in a secret chamber.
The secret chamber was extremely spacious with three circles of patterns engraved on the ground, clearly forming some type of extremelyplex array. There were no tables and chairs in the room, and the only thing in the chamber was arge copper urn at the very center.
The urn was roughly three feet tall, and its surface was also riddled with strange patterns that connected seamlessly with the patterns on the ground.
The ck-robed young man followed Immortal Master Tong Xu to the urn, then looked down to find that it was filled with ck liquid, with a reflection of the two visible on the surface of the liquid.
Immortal Master Tong Xu removed the stopper of the vial in his hand, then tipped all of the blood essence inside into the urn.
A drop of golden blood flowed out of the vial, then fell into the urn with a small ssh, sending ripples cascading across the surface of the liquid in the urn.
Immediately thereafter, the inky ck color of the liquid in the urn began to recede in all directions, and in the blink of an eye, it had be extremely clear and transparent.
Through the liquid, it could be seen that there were circles of patterns engraved onto the bottom of the urn as well.
Immortal Master Tong Xu began to chant aplex incantation, then suddenly uttered the word "open".
At the same time, he poked his index finger against his own be, then pointed at therge copper urn.
A faint buzzing sound rang out, and the urn shuddered as soon Immortal Master Tong Xu''s finger came into contact with its rim, following which a burst of bright azure light began to radiate from the patterns on the urn.
After that, the light quickly spread along the patterns, and soon, the entire array on the ground had lit up.
Before Fang Ban had a chance to react, he found himself enshrouded within a vast expanse of azure light.
He discovered that he was standing above arge body of water, and he inspected his surroundings to discover a lush mountain range.
"I''m... inside the urn!" Fang Ban murmured to himself as an enlightened look appeared on his face.
Chapter 48: Abduction
Chapter 48: Abduction
"Don''t get distracted! You only have five seconds!"
Immortal Master Tong Xu''s voice suddenly rang out from above like rumbling thunder, and Fang Ban hurriedly did as he was told, focusing his attention on his surroundings, but there was nothing to be seen aside from the scenery around him.
All of a sudden, he seemed to have sensed something, and he abruptly lowered his head, upon which he discovered a golden line of blood extending down into the body of water beneath his feet.
Upon closer inspection, Fang Ban discovered that there was an indistinct azure figure beneath the surface of the water. At times, the figure appeared close, while at other times, it appeared to be quite distant, and Fang Ban was doing everything in his power to see the figure clearly, but it was a futile task.
Right as he was about to crouch down and plunge his head into the water for a closer look, the trail of blood beneath his feet suddenly blurred before vanishing.
Fang Ban faltered slightly upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to think about anything, his surroundings suddenly became warped and abstract again.
By the time he returned to his senses, he discovered that he was still standing by therge copper urn, and he was hunched over slightly with his hands resting on the rim of the urn.
He looked down to find that the liquid within the urn was still as dark as ever, and it was as if everything that he had just seen had been nothing more than a dream.
"What did you see?" Immortal Master Tong Xu asked.
"Apologies for my ipetence, but I wasn''t able to see anything clearly. The figure that I saw was quite indistinct, and I wasn''t able to make out any concrete features," Fang Ban replied in a truthful manner.
Immortal Master Tong Xu pondered these findings momentarily, then exined, "In that case, it''s very likely that the person you''re searching for isn''t currently in the Northern cial Immortal Region. Instead, they must be in a certain secret area in the immortal region or perhaps a lower realm directly under this immortal region."
"Immortal Master, would it be possible for you to ascertain which secret area or which lower realm he''s in?" Fang Ban asked with a hopeful expression.
"That''s preposterous! Do you realize how vast the Immortal Realm is? You''ve provided me with no coordinates, and you expect me to track down someone with just a drop of blood essence?" Immortal Master Tong Xu harrumphed coldly in a displeased manner.
Fang Ban hurriedly cupped his fist in an apologetic salute upon seeing this. "Please forgive me for my insolence, Immortal Master."
A short whileter, Fang Ban departed from the mountain, and he stood in mid-air with his hand sped behind his back and a cold and sinister look on his face.
"You can run away to any corner of any realm, but I''m still going to find you to tear you to shreds!"
He pulled out amunication te from his waist as he spoke, then whispered a message into it. After that, he pointed a finger at his own be before drawing his finger away from his forehead, and a light screen surfaced over his palm.
The light screen depicted a tall and broad azure-robed young man with a set of ordinary facial features.
With a wave of his hand, the light screen also vanished into themunication te.
¡¡
Several dayster.
Inside a misty valley in the northwestern region of the Prosperous Nation, the sounds of explosions and shing treasures were ringing out incessantly.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out as the mist exploded violently, immediately following which a streak of green light flew out from within.
The streak of green light contained a young woman with three glowing azure jade badges revolving around her body, and beneath her feet was a green jade spear.
The young woman was none other than Liu Le''er, and she didn''t make it very far out of the valley before five more streaks of light shot out of the dense mist, flying after her in hot pursuit.
All of her pursuers were giving off Nascent Soul Stage auras, and even though Liu Le''er was spurring on the flying spear beneath her feet with all her might, she was still slower than her pursuers.
After about 15 minutes, the distance between her and her pursuers had been closed down to no more than 300 feet.
All of a sudden, Liu Le''er made a hand seal and stopped cold in her tracks, then turned to her pursuers with a cold expression. "Who are you and why do you insist on pursuing me?"
The streak of ck light that was leading the way among her pursuers faded to reveal a burly man with a thick beard, and he nced at the flying spear beneath her feet with undisguised greed in his eyes as he chuckled, "Don''t ask unnecessary questions. Surrender now and we''ll spare you from any physical torment."
The other four streaks of light split up into two groups of two, flying to either side of Liu Le''er to trap her in a tight encirclement.
The streaks of light then faded to reveal a red-faced elderly man, a purple-robed young woman, and two ck-robed young men who werepletely identical in appearance, appearing to be identical twins.
"What makes you think you can get away with this? Do you think the disciples of our Cold me Sect are easy to pick on?" Liu Le''er asked as she swept a cold gaze over her assants.
"You sure talk big for a mere Core Formation cultivator. Let''s see if you''re still going to be so cocky after this!" the red-faced elderly man chuckled as he abruptly swept a sleeve through the air, and a crimson ring shot out of his hand before sweeping toward Liu Le''er as countless crimson projections.
Aside from the burly man, the other three pursuers also each pulled out a treasure, then unleashed a series of magic power attacks of different colors that hurtled directly toward Liu Le''er from three different directions.
A grim look appeared on Liu Le''er''s face, but she was prepared for this, and she swept her hand through the air as she chanted an incantation, and the three azure jade badges around her instantly swelled to several times their original size, manifestingyers uponyers of badge projections that shielded her from all directions.
Four bursts of dazzling light erupted, and the azure badge projections shed erratically as a string of shattering sounds rang out.
The light radiating from the badge projections had dimmed significantly, but they were able to keep the attacks from the four Nascent Soul cultivators at bay, much to the surprise of all five of Liu Le''er''s pursuers.
"This is not a ce we should linger in, so we have to end this battle as quickly as possible. Take care not to kill her," the burly man instructed, then raised a hand to release the object in his hand, which transformed into a giant ck brick that was over 100 feet in size before also entering the fray.
With all five Nascent Soul cultivators joining forces, assault became even more ferocious, and the spiritual light radiating from the azure badge projections quickly dimmed.
However, right in the instant before the badge projections were about to be shattered, Liu Le''er raised a hand in an unhurried manner to summon a white silken handkerchief that was glowing with spiritual light, and it seemed to be a treasure that wasn''t inferior to the azure jade badges.
The handkerchief circled around above Liu Le''er''s head, releasingyers of white radiance that rippled through the air around her, epassing her entire body and giving her an indistinct appearance.
The five Nascent Soul cultivators were quite rmed to see this, clearly not expecting a Core Formation cultivator to be carrying so many high-grade treasures.
However, it was clear that this wasn''t their first time working together, and even though there was no verbalmunication between them, all of them immediately injected more magic power into their respective treasures.
A burst of rumbling rang out as the white light around Liu Le''er began to tremble violently, but it was still able to hold itself intact.
Inside the white light, Liu Le''er hurriedly swallowed a pill, then made a rapid series of hand seals with a tense look on her face.
This was the first time that she had faced several enemies of a far more advanced cultivation base than herself on her own. She was only able to kill Jia Ren of the Blood Sword Sect with the Essence Fire Raven that Han Li had sealed into her body through special means, and if she hadn''t taken a pill in advance to temporarily elevate her magic power so that she could tap into more of the fire raven''s power, there was no way that she would''ve been able to kill Jia Ren with just a single attack.
She was able tost to this point against her pursuers by relying on the treasures and pills that Han Li had bestowed upon her prior to her departure, but her situation was growing grimmer and grimmer by the second.
I can''t allow anything to happen to me! I promised Brother Rock that I was going to keep myself safe!
With that in mind, Liu Le''er bit down onto her own lower lip, and a decisive look appeared on her face as she quickly made a hand seal.
A profound silver array on her left arm instantly lit up, and a silver fire raven that was slightly smaller than the one that had taken Jia Ren''s life shot out of her arm, spreading its wings as it flew out of the white light in a sh.
"Argh, what the hell is this thing?"
"No..."
In the blink of an eye, both of the ck-robed young men werepletely engulfed in silver mes amid cries of panic and horror.
The sequence of events had taken ce so abruptly that the other three Nascent Soul cultivators didn''t even have a chance to react before the two ck-robed young men were incinerated into nothingness. Not even their nascent souls had managed to escape.
In the next instant, the red-faced elderly man was alsopletely devoured by the silver mes. The protective spiritual light around him waspletely ineffective, and he didn''t even get a chance to cry out before he was also erased from existence.
The burly man and the purple-robed young woman were horrified to see this, and they immediately turned to flee in different directions.
The burly man''s cultivation base was slightly superior to that of the purple-robed young woman, so he was naturally also a little faster.
However, the silver fire raven didn''t give them any chance to escape, flying after them like a bolt of silver lightning and covering a distance of several thousand feet in the blink of an eye. It pierced directly through the purple-robed young woman''s chest from behind, then plummeted straight down as a scorching ball of fire.
"Master, save..."
Momentster, a blood-curdling howl rang out before abruptly cutting off, and the burly man was also incinerated into nothingness by the silver mes.
The silver fireball then reverted back into its fire raven form before flying back to Liu Le''er, vanishing into her left arm in a sh.
Liu Le''er was quite relieved to see this, but her face had turned as pale as a sheet, and she was barely able to remain on her feet.
She hurriedly took another pill, and only then did some color return to her cheeks.
Right at this moment, spatial fluctuations suddenly erupted above her, immediately following which a ck devilish w appeared out of thin air before swooping down at an rming speed.
Before the w had even fallen upon Liu Le''er, the space around her began to ripple violently, and she was struck by a crushing burst of spiritual pressure.
The protective white light around her was already rather unstable, and it instantly copsed under the immense spiritual pressure.
Liu Le''er was greatly rmed by this, and she hurriedly drew upon her magic power to flee the scene, but in the next instant, the space constricted around her, and she couldn''t even lift a single finger, let alone make any hand seals.
She could only look on helplessly as rays of ck light were released from the palm of the devilish w, forming a huge ck that quickly bound her entire body.
The ck devilish w then vanished into thin air in a sh, immediately following which a ck-robed elderly man appeared in mid-air not far away.
Chapter 49: Extortion
Chapter 49: Extortion
"How did a little demon fox like you acquire such an incredible me? Oh, I see, that Han brat gave the me to you, right? No wonder he''s so troublesome to deal with. This is quite the unexpected blessing. Looks like the heavens are smiling down upon me!" the ck-robed elderly man cackled as he stared intently at the silver seal on Liu Le''er''s left arm.
At this moment, Liu Le''er waspletely bound and immobilized by the ck, and after hearing what the elderly man had just said, a thought suddenly urred to her as she eximed, "You''re Qi Xuan of the Heavenly Ghost Sect!"
Qi Xuan''s smile faded upon hearing this, and a sinister look appeared on his face. "That''s right. If you know who I am, then I''m sure you also know why I''ve captured you."
"You''re trying to use me to lure in Brother Rock!"
A furious expression appeared on Liu Le''er''s face, and a resolute look shed through her eyes.
Immediately thereafter, her pupils lit up with green radiance, and specks of green light also appeared on her be before shing erratically.
The elderly man extended a finger upon seeing this, releasing a burst of ck light that entered Liu Le''er''s be in a sh.
The specks of green light on her be were instantly snuffed out, and she fell unconscious before she could do anything else.
"It''s still not time for you to die yet. Once I capture that Han brat, I''ll take both of you to Hao''er''s grave and burn you into ashes with my ghostly fire!" Qi Xuan harrumphed coldly in a resentful manner.
His gaze then returned to Liu Le''er''s left arm, and after a brief moment of contemtion, he flipped a hand over to produce a red vial, which was riddled with various types ofplex runes.
He tossed the vial up into the air so that it was hovering directly in front of him, then chanted an incantation before flicking his fingers through the air, seemingly preparing some type of secret technique.
A short whileter, he abruptly pointed a finger at the vial, and all of the runes on its surface instantly lit up, while a burst of fiery red light flew out from within the vial.
Dozens of translucent threads flew out of the red light, then vanished into the silver seal in Liu Le''er''s left arm in a sh before pulling outward.
The silver seal immediately began to glow brightly, and specks of silver mes appeared on its surface as the seal was dragged out by the threads of light.
Qi Xuan was ecstatic to see this, and he quickly made a series of hand seals.
The light pouring out of the vial instantly became much denser, and more and more translucent threads of light appeared before vanishing into the silver seal.
Liu Le''er shuddered slightly as her left arm began to spasm, and she gave a muffled groan.
More and more silver mes were dragged out of the seal to form a silver fire raven, but its aura was extremely feeble, and it appeared to be on the verge of falling asleep.
Right at this moment, a burst of azure light shed from deep within the seal, and it was attempting to drag the fire raven back into the seal.
A derisive sneer appeared on Qi Xuan''s face upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence, which fused into the red vial.
The vial instantly began to glow with dazzling red light, and all of the translucent threads of red light intertwined to form a pair of translucent chains that locked themselves around the silver fire raven''s neck.
Silver light shed from the fire raven, and it suddenly snapped wide awake.
It seemed to have been enraged by the chains around its neck, and it let loose a furious cry as it spread its wings while releasing a pir of silver mes out of its beak.
The translucent chains instantly evaporated into nothingness upon contact with the silver mes, and the pir of fire pierced directly through the red vial before hurtling directly toward Qi Xuan.
The pir of fire was traveling at an incredible speed, reaching Qi Xuan in the blink of an eye.
Qi Xuan was greatly rmed by this turn of events, and he hurriedly summoned a small green shield while rushing back in retreat, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake. In the blink of an eye, he was already several hundred feet away, but his left arm had been reduced to ashes as it hade into contact with trace amounts of the silver me.
If the speck of silver fire that hade into contact with his body had been even slightlyrger, he would''ve at least been severely injured, if not killed.
He took a deep breath, then flipped a hand over to produce a crimson pill that he promptly swallowed. The muscles on the shoulder of his missing arm began to squirm violently, and new flesh began to grow at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
After just a few seconds, his left arm had been regrown.
Only then did Qi Xuan cast his gaze toward Liu Le''er with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
At this point, the red vial and the green shield had already beenpletely devoured by the silver mes, while the silver fire raven had vanished back into the seal on Liu Le''er''s arm amid a sh of azure light.
Even though he had just suffered a close call, the incredible disy of power put on by the silver fire raven only made him even more determined to tame it for himself.
¡¡
In a lush, low-lying mountain range, a series of intricately constructed pavilions and pces were littered over thendscape amid clouds of mist that were filled with spiritual qi.
High up in the sky above a certain valley, seven or eight figures were flying through the air beforending at the entrance of the valley.
The group was led by a white-robed young man who appeared to be 16 to 17 years of age, and there was a look of arrogant confidence on his handsome face.
As soon as hended on the ground, he immediately turned to the rest of the group. "We enter the valley right away, and this time, we can''t let it escape no matter what."
"Yes!" everyone replied in unison before immediately rushing into the valley.
However, there was a gray-robed elderly woman in the group who didn''t spring into action like everyone else. Instead, she made her way over to the young man''s side, supporting herself with a strange-looking silver cane.
"You should go as well, Granny Sun. This Purple Cloud Sable is extremely cunning. I doubt they''ll be able to capture it without your help," the young man said as he turned to the elderly woman.
"I''m afraid I can''t do that, Young Master. I was instructed by the temple master to protect you at all times, and I can''t stray from my post," the elderly woman replied with a shake of her head.
"You''ll only be going into the valley ahead of me to capture the Purple Cloud Sable. How is that straying from your post?" the young man argued as his brows furrowed slightly.
"The Temple Master instructed me to remain by your side at all times. If anything were to happen to you, I could die 1,000 times without evening close to atoning for my crime." The elderly woman was still unwilling to oblige.
A displeased look appeared on the young man''s face. "This Gourd Valley falls under the jurisdiction of our Origin Realm Temple, and it''s also virtually right next to our temple! Who would dare to stir up trouble here? Do they have a death wish?"
"That may be true, but..."
Before the elderly woman had a chance to finish, the young man cut her off in an exasperated manner. "Cut the chit-chat! If the Purple Cloud Sable escapes because of this dy, I''m going to report you to the temple master!"
A hesitant look appeared on the elderly woman''s face upon hearing this, but she still held her ground.
"Hurry up!"
The young man immediately flew into a rage upon seeing this.
The elderly woman could only grit her teeth and oblige, flying into the valley as a streak of light.
The young man looked on at the elderly woman''s departing figure, and he was still feeling rather angry that his authority had been challenged.
He began to make his way into the valley, but after taking only two steps, he sensed something behind him, and he reflexively turned around.
As a result, he was greeted by the sight of two mesmerizing specks of blue light, and his consciousness immediately began to fade.
Han Li slowly emerged out of thin air behind him with a purple talisman in his hand, and there was blue light shing within his pupils.
He calmly stowed the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman away, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he made his way over to the young man.
The young man was standingpletely still on the spot with a dazed expression and vacant eyes.
"Where is the Star Gathering tform of the Origin Realm Temple?" Han Li asked.
"On the pinnacle of the Nine Pce Peak," the young man replied in a mechanical voice.
"Oh? Why is it not on the main peak, the Heaven Worship Peak?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression.
"The Nine Pce Peak is the tallest peak, and the field of view on its pinnacle is broader than on all other peaks. This makes it the most effective location for drawing upon the power of starlight, and that''s why our temple''s founder established the array there," the young man replied without any hesitation.
"What are the cultivation bases of the people stationed at the Star Gathering tform?" Han Li asked.
The young man continued to answer Han Li''s questions in an expressionless manner, revealing all of the details about the Star Gathering tform on the Nine Pce Peak.
The Nine Pce Peak was second in status only to the Heaven Worship Peak in the Origin Realm Temple, and there were always many temple elders and disciples cultivating on the mountain.
However, the pinnacle of the mountain where the Star Gathering tform was situated was a restricted area of the temple, and ess to the area was granted only to some inner court elders and a very select group of disciples.
ording to the young man, the Star Gathering tform was epassed under a powerful restriction, and there was an indeterminate number of elders stationed there, but one thing that was for sure was that there was at least one Body Integration Stage elder there.
Han Li took a moment to process this information, then gently tapped a finger against the young man''s be before vanishing on the spot in a wraith-like manner.
Only then did a hint of life return to the young man''s eyes, and he still recalled that he had sensed something behind him. He hurriedly turned around, to investigate, only to find that there was nothing there.
He shook his head with a confused expression, then turned and continued into the valley.
Meanwhile, Han Li emerged from behind an ancient tree, and he was just about to depart when a burst of light appeared on his waist, following which a yellow talisman flew out on its own without being summoned.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this talisman.
All of a sudden, the talisman burst into mes on its own, and a blurry image appeared within the fire before gradually bing clearer.
The image depicted a young woman slumped over a stone table. Her face waspletely devoid of color, and her eyes were tightly shut in a state of unconsciousness.
Her slender wrist was currently locked within the grasp of a thin and wizened hand.
The owner of the hand was a thin ck-robed elderly man who was looking directly at Han Li with a dark expression.
Han Li took a nce at the elderly man, then at the robe that he was wearing, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he concluded, "You must be Qi Xuan."
"That''s right! Two years ago, you killed my grandnephew, Hao''er, then assassinated my close friend, Lu Ya. After that, you''ve been hiding in the Cold me Sect this entire time like a cowardly turtle! I must say, it''s been quite the hassle tracking you down. Now that this little demon fox has fallen into my hands, are you going to save her or not?" the elderly man cackled with a sinister expression.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he asked, "What do you want?"
"Come to the Wraith Peak in the Yin Necropolis Valley of our Heavenly Ghost Sect in a month. You muste on your own, and if I don''t see you there by the time a month is up, don''t me me for putting an end to her life," Qi Xuan said in a cold voice.
He tightened his grip around Liu Le''er''s wrist as he spoke, and even in her unconscious state, she couldn''t help but furrow her brows in pain as her face grew even paler.
A dark look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
With one final burst of sinister cackling, the mes in front of Han Li vanished, leaving behind only a ball of ash that was quickly carried away by the wind.
Chapter 50: Breaking Out of the Pagoda
Chapter 50: Breaking Out of the Pagoda
Half a monthter, in the Yin Necropolis Mountain Range.
There was ayer of dark clouds in the sky above a tall and steep mountain, and even though it was currently noon, not much sunlight was able to filter down from the sky. It seemed that a storm was afoot.
The mountain was riddled with trees, but these trees weren''t of the normal bright green variety. Instead, these trees were of a much darker green color, making the entire mountain appear as if it hade straight out of an ink painting.
Right at this moment, a rift was suddenly opened up in the dark clouds in the sky, and a streak of light shot out, revealing a tall and broad azure-robed young man.
It was none other than Han Li, and he hovered in mid-air as he briefly inspected his surroundings, then closed his eyes to release his spiritual sense over the entire mountain.
Momentster, his eyes sprang open, and a peculiar look appeared on his face. He then continued to fly through the air before descending toward a misty forest.
Afternding on the ground, he made his way forward and skirted around an ancient tree, upon which he caught sight of a petite figure in the mist,ying diagonally against a dead tree in apletely still manner.
"Le''er," he called out as his brows furrowed slightly.
The petite figure stirred slightly upon hearing his voice, and her eyshes fluttered, following which her eyes slowly opened.
In the instant that she caught sight of Han Li, an ted look appeared on her pale face, and despite her condition, she still put on a feeble smile. She then opened her mouth to say something, but a restriction seemed to have been ced upon her mouth, making her unable to utter any intelligible words.
"It''s alright, I''m here now," Han Li consoled as he slowly made his way toward her.
A thought seemed to have suddenly urred to Liu Le''er upon seeing this, and a horrified look appeared in her eyes as she frantically shook her head at Han Li.
However, Han Li paid no heed to this and continued to advance toward her. In her desperation, she tried to struggle into an upright position, but a burst of loud crackling suddenly rang out around her.
A series of chains that were shing with arcs of ck electricity appeared over her body, binding her from head to toe. As soon as she made even the slightest move, the chains would release bursts of ck electricity to torment her.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged at the sight of the agonized look on Liu Le''er''s face, but a hint of cold killing intent shed through his eyes as he continued to advance.
Right as he took another step forward, an unexpected turn of events abruptly unfolded.
The white mist in the forest suddenly turned as dark as ink, and it began to churn violently. Immediately thereafter, a gust of fierce wind swept into the forest, and all of the ck mist instantly transformed into a giant vortex.
The surrounding temperatures plummeted drastically, and ghastly howling rang out in all directions.
Han Li was situated at the center of the vortex, and everything suddenly turned dark around him, while a burst of suction force erupted from the vortex, trying to drag him downward.
He gave a cold harrumph as he continued to approach Liu Le''er, seeminglypletely unaffected by the vortex.
Right at this moment, a burst of loud rumbling rang out from underground, and the ground on either side of him quaked violently before shattering with explosive force.
A pair of giant ghostly hands that were riddled with sharp spikes erupted out of the ground before grabbing tightly onto Han Li''s legs.
Almost at the exact same moment, the ck mist above his head scattered in all directions, and a burst of immense pressure came crashing down upon him from above.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as a dark purple octagonal pagoda descended from the heavens like an immovable mountain, trapping Han Li within.
The pagoda was around 500 to 600 feet tall with purple spirit patterns all over its surface, and it was giving off an indescribably sinister aura.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and it seemed that Han Li had fallen into the trap before he even had a chance to react.
A string of panicked, muffled sounds instantly rang out from Liu Le''er''s mouth upon seeing this, and she began to struggle violently.
However, the more she struggled, the tighter the chains on her body constricted around her, and the arcs of ck electricity surging along the lengths of those chains were inflicting such severe agony upon her that cold sweat was pouring down her forehead.
The ghostly mist around the pagoda surged, and four figures emerged around the pagoda in a sh.
One of the four figures was none other than Qi Xuan, and directly across from him was a well-built yellow-robed man, while the remaining two figures consisted of a thin middle-aged man in a silver robe and a red-robed middle-aged woman.
All four of them were Deity Transformation cultivators, and they were all making the same hand seal, which they only withdrew once they had reached the pagoda.
"It''s all thanks to this Purple Nether Pagoda of yours that we were able to capture that Han brat in one fell swoop, Elder Tian," Qi Xuan said with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute toward the yellow-robed man.
A pleased look appeared on the yellow-robed man''s face, and he nced at the pagoda as he replied, "You''re far too kind, Elder Qi. Speaking of which, you had to pay quite a heavy price for me to borrow this powerful treasure from my master, yet you''re using it to target a mere Nascent Soul cultivator? Don''t you think this is overkill?"
"I did this as a safety precaution. After all, Elder Lu Ya perished by his hands, and for that, I received quite a severe punishment from the Enforcement Hall," Qi Xuan sighed with a shake of his head.
"In any case, now that we''ve helped you capture him, don''t forget about the things that you promised us, Brother Qi," the red-robed woman said with a faint smile.
"Of course. Rest assured..."
Before Qi Xuan had a chance to finish his sentence, the giant pagoda suddenly shuddered violently along with the earth around it. As a result, he was distracted from what he was saying, and his voice trailed off mid-sentence.
"What''s going on here?" the red-robed woman asked with a surprised look in her eyes.
The silver-robed man standing across from her chuckled in a nonchnt manner as he replied, "There''s no need to be rmed. My Rot Brute Ghost is in there with that Han brat. It seems like he''s trying to resist and break out, but I''m afraid things won''t end so well for him."
"I didn''t think that your Rot Brute Ghost would already be powerful enough to shake the Purple Nether Tower," the red-robed woman said in a relieved voice as she patted her own voluptuous chest.
As soon as her voice trailed off, another rumbling boom rang out from within the purple pagoda, and this one was even louder than thest one.
The earth quaked violently beneath the feet of the four Deity Transformation cultivators, and they were struggling to keep their bnce.
At the same time, a series of deep rifts had appeared on the ground, and the rifts were only continuing to expand like a system of cobwebs.
The red-robed woman''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and she turned to the silver-robed man as she asked, "Is this your Rot Brute Ghost''s doing as well, Brother Luo?"
The silver-robed man was just about to open his mouth to say something when he involuntarily threw up a mouthful of blood.
"Impossible! My Rot Brute Ghost has been killed..." the silver-robed man eximed with a stunned expression as he wiped the blood from the corners of his lips.
Qi Xuan and the red-robed women were shocked to hear this.
"It seems that Elder Qi was correct. This Han brat really does possess an incredibly formidable physical body. Having said that, there''s no need to be rmed. This Purple Nether Pagoda is a Divine Spirit Treasure. Even a Spatial Tempering cultivator would struggle to break free from it, how could a mere Nascent Soul cultivator possibly do anything?" the yellow-robed man said in a confident manner.
"That may be true, but this treasure is something that can only be used by Body Integration cultivators. With ourbined powers, we''re just barely able to use it, but it''s still significantly less effective than it otherwise would be. If you ask me, we should go all-out right now and use the pagoda to kill him as soon as possible," Qi Xuan suggested with tightly furrowed brows, clearly still rather concerned.
"I concur with Brother Qi''s proposal. We should kill that Han brat as soon as possible to avoid any unforeseen circumstances. Once his physical body is destroyed, his nascent soul will bepletely at our mercy," the silver-robed man chimed in with a vicious expression.
With the decision made, the four Deity Transformation cultivators adopted the same hand seal once again as they began to chant an incantation.
All of the purple patterns on the giant pagoda immediately lit up, and countless profound runes emerged in a sh. Wisps of dense purple qi began to emanate from the pagoda, causing the surrounding air temperature to plummet even further, so much so thatrge patches of frost were beginning to appear in the nearby area.
At the same time, the entire pagoda seemed to have be heavier, and it embedded itself deep into the ground.
However, before the four Deity Transformation cultivators had a chance to do anything else, the giant pagoda shuddered violently once again, and the spirit patterns on its surface began to sh erratically.
The yellow-robed man''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and in the next instant, a series of massive cracks appeared on the surface of the pagoda, running down its entire length from top to bottom.
Immediately thereafter, the giant pagoda exploded violently right before the astonished eyes of the four Deity Transformation cultivators, and a huge cloud of purple mist rose up into the air.
A burst of incredibly powerful shockwaves spread through the surrounding area, and even though the four Deity Transformation cultivators were doing their best to hold their ground, they still couldn''t help but be forced back. Meanwhile, Liu Le''er was also picked up by the shockwaves and sent flying back through the air.
The shattered remains of the pagoda ttered down onto the ground, and as the dust slowly settled, a fearsome giant ghost was revealed. The ghostly creature was around 50 to 60 feet in size, and it wasying t on its back with a huge hole punched through its chest, out of which putrid ck blood was flowing incessantly.
Han Li stood atop the head of the giant ghost, and he took a nce at Liu Le''er to ensure that she was unharmed, then directed a cold gaze toward the four Deity Transformation cultivators around him.
The four Deity Transformation cultivators were astonished, and the prospect of a Nascent Soul cultivator destroying the Purple Nether Pagoda from the inside was downright preposterous to them, but it seemed that there was no other possible exnation for this situation.
In the next instant, Han Li threw a pair of punches through the air, the first of which was directed toward the silver-robed man, while the second one was aimed at the red-robed woman.
Both of them felt a burst of enormous force surging toward them, and by the time they reacted to the attack, it was already toote to take evasive measures.
The silver-robed man hurriedly raised his hands, and his sleeves red up as wide as they would go as two plumes of dense ck qi came surging out.
Within the ck qi were five bloodstained ghostly heads, and they opened their gruesome mouths up wide as they sped toward the oing shockwave.
Immediately after the five ghostly heads came a crimson ghostly seal that was riddled with Yin runes, and the seal rapidly swelled to the size of a house before positioning itself in front of the silver-robed man.
Meanwhile, the red-robed woman wore a horrified expression as she flicked her wrists in a blind panic, releasing 13 bone flying bone swords that hurtled directly forward amid a burst of ghastly howling.
She then curled the fingers of one hand into a w before digging her nails viciously into her other forearm, tearing several horrific gashes onto her own body. Countless red blood insects that were each around the size of a grain of rice came crawling out of those gashes, instantly forming a crimson shield in front of her.
Chapter 51: Minor Spatial Teleportation Technique
Chapter 51: Minor Spatial Teleportation Technique
A string of dull thumps rang out incessantly from both directions at once.
Almost as soon as the five ghostly heads appeared, they exploded like a cluster of smashed watermelons, and the crimson ghostly seal was alsopletely pulverized.
On the other side, the 13 bone swords also shattered into pieces before being reduced to dust, immediately following which the crimson shield was torn apart as if it were made from paper.
Two blood-curdling cries rang out almost in unison as the silver-robed man and the red-robed woman''s bodies exploded violently.
A purple nascent soul that was around two inches tall flew out of the silver-robed man''s remains, and there was a horrified look on its face as it immediately tried to flee the scene.
However, before it was able to fly away, Han Li had already appeared right beside it, then reached out a hand to catch it firmly in his grasp.
The purple nascent soul struggled and writhed with all its might in an attempt to break free, but all it took was a nonchnt squeeze of Han Li''s hand to erase it from existence.
The red-robed woman''s nascent soul didn''t dare to flee right away. Instead, it took advantage of the distraction provided by the silver-robed man''s nascent soul to flee the scene, flying rapidly toward the forest in the distance.
Han Li suddenly turned around before opening his mouth to release a burst of white qi, which took on the form of a flying sword as it hurtled through the air.
A burst of rumbling rang out within the forest up ahead, and one huge tree was felled after another.
Deep in the forest, a streak of white light shed past, and the red-robed woman''s nascent soul was instantly sliced into two before disintegrating into specks of light.
This seemed to have been aplex process, but in reality, it had all taken ce in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, Qi Xuan and the yellow-robed man were already fleeing in opposite directions, frantically unleashing secret techniques to enhance their speed.
The yellow-robed man was standing atop a giant bone bird, and the bird was flying at an incredible speed, able to cover a distance of 2,000 to 3,000 feet with each p of its wings.
As for Qi Xuan, he had grown a pair of crimson wings that were around 10 feet in length on his back and he was flying even faster than the yellow-robed man. At this point, he was already over 10,000 feet away.
Both of them were greatly rmed and horrified to sense the auras of their twopanions being instantly snuffed out.
The yellow-robed man immediately flipped a hand over to produce a ck and red octagonal copper mirror, and ck and red light shed from its surface as it appeared directly behind him.
Even with that, he still didn''t feel safe, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release nine small ck gs, which connected with one another in mid-air to form a dense ck light barrier in the blink of an eye, forming a watertight protectiveyer all around him.
At the same time, a string of cracks and pops rang out from within his body, and his clothes were torn to shreds as a series of thorn-like bone spikes protruded out of his skin, then fused together to form a suit of bone armor that covered all of his vital regions.
In the other direction, a decisive look appeared on Qi Xuan''s face as he raised his right hand, then chopped his own arm off in one swift motion.
Arge plume of blood erupted through the air, transforming into a cloud of blood mist that enveloped his entire body, turning him into a streak of crimson light that sped through the air at an incredible speed.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, and he didn''t immediately give chase. Instead, he pointed a finger at Liu Le''er from afar.
A streak of azure light shot forth before vanishing into her body in a sh.
A series of ck lightning chains instantly appeared around her, then shattered with a dull thump.
"Brother Rock!" Liu Le''er called out in an ecstatic voice.
Han Li gave her a faint smile, then beckoned to her with one hand, and a dull ck talisman flew out of her body, exploding mid-flight to release five miniature ck mountains that fell into Han Li''s grasp.
Han Li then cast his gaze toward the two fleeing figures, and his arms shed through the air in a blur.
Two of the miniature mountains flew out of his grasp, transforming into a pair of ck shadows that hurtled through the air toward Qi Xuan and the yellow-robed man, closing down the gap at a phenomenal rate.
ck light shed on the surfaces of the two mountains, and they each swelled to over 100 feet in size mid-flight, leaving a trail of ripples in the space in their wake.
Soon, both the yellow-robed man and Qi Xuan felt a burst of terrifying power sweep toward them from behind, much to their rm and horror.
The yellow-robed man hurriedly tried to make a hand seal, but it was already toote.
The ck mountain crashed through with devastating force, instantly destroying the octagonal copper mirror, the ck gs, and all of his other protective treasures upon contact.
The bone bird beneath his feet also exploded into countless bone fragments with a despairing cry.
The yellow-robed man was then struck by the mountain, and the suit of bone armor that he was wearing was instantly shattered, while his body was also reduced to a mangled mass of flesh and blood.
His nascent soul didn''t even get a chance to escape before it was destroyed in the blink of an eye by the tremendous force imbued within the mountain.
At this point, Qi Xuan was already close to four kilometers away, and he was horrified to see what had be of his final remainingpanion in the distance.
Right at this moment, the other ck mountain came hurtling toward him with unstoppable might.
In this dire situation, he let loose a guttural roar as his eyes turned bright red, and his body also took on a crimson hue. Countless veins bulged beneath his skin, and his entire body began to swell up like a balloon.
A resounding boom rang out, and mes scattered in all directions as the cone of fire exploded, falling down from above as balls of fire.
His body then exploded into a massive ball of crimson light, while crimson ripples spread through the air in all directions.
The ck mountain arrived on the scene like lightning, but it was stalled slightly by the crimson light.
Qi Xuan''s nascent soul took advantage of the opportunity to fly out of the crimson light, then abruptly vanished on the spot. In the next instant, it appeared over 1,000 feet away, then opened its mouth to release a ball of blood essence, which formed a ball of crimson light around itself.
The nascent soul then continued to flee into the distance at an incredible speed.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he beckoned to Liu Le''er again.
Silver light shed from her left arm, and a clear cry rang out, following which countless specks of silver mes emerged to form a palm-sized silver fire raven.
The bird spread its wings beforending on the center of Han Li''s palm.
Han Li made a hand seal before pointing a finger at the silver fire raven, and it instantly swelled several times in size before rapidly elongating to form a fiery silver bow with countless silver runes dancing around it.
Even though no arrow was nocked on the bow, he still grabbed onto the bowstring with his other hand before gently pulling back.
The fiery silver bow began to glow with dazzling light, then sted several bursts of silver mes through the surrounding air. The silver mes instantly converged to form a silver fire arrow, which was aimed at Qi Xuan''s nascent soul from afar.
Even though Qi Xuan''s nascent soul was already close to 10 kilometers away at this point, it still felt a chill run down its spine, and a sense of foreboding welled up in its heart, causing its expression to change drastically.
"Stop!"
Right at this moment, a thunderous roar rang out in the distance.
A speck of ck light had appeared on the horizon, and it swelled to be a dark cloud in the blink of an eye, approaching the scene at an rming speed.
Qi Xuan''s nascent soul was ecstatic to see this, and it immediately changed directions, flying toward the dark cloud.
However, Han Li paid no heed to the voice as he released the bowstring, and the silver arrow was immediately fired before vanishing into thin air.
In the next instant, the silver arrow reappeared directly behind Qi Xuan''s nascent soul, then pierced through it in the blink of an eye.
The nascent soul erupted into silver mes amid a horrified wail, and it was reduced to a ball of ck light in the blink of an eye.
Right at this moment, the dark cloud also reached the nascent soul, and a burst of ck qi swept toward it, but it was already toote.
"How dare you!"
Rumbling thunderps rang out within the dark cloud, and it was clear that whoever was inside the cloud was furious.
A ck ghostly w that was the size of a small mountain extended out of the cloud, reaching for Han Li with gusts of fierce Yin wind blowing all around it.
As the ghostly w descended from above, bursts of ck ghostly mes appeared on the tips of its fingers, releasing countless ck fireballs that rained down in a torrential storm.
Han Li remainedpletely unfazed by this, and a cold look shed through his eyes as he clenched his fist before throwing a punch toward the sky.
A burst of tremendous force erupted into the heavens, threatening to tear through the very air in its path.
All of the ck fireballs raining down from above were quickly snuffed out, and the giant ck w was also stopped cold in its tracks.
ck light shed over the w momentarily before it exploded violently into countless bursts of ck qi that dissipated into nothingness.
Gusts of ferocious wind were swept up, tearing the ck cloud in the sky apart with ease.
As a result, a ck-robed elderly man was revealed, and his body swayed slightly before he quickly steadied himself with a bewildered look on his face.
Han Li raised his head to look up at the ck-robed elderly man, and a hint of derision appeared in his eyes.
A dark look appeared on the ck-robed elderly man''s face upon seeing this, and he flipped a hand over to produce a shimmering silver object, which he hurled through the air.
This was a silver array te that flew directly toward Han Li amid a sharp screeching sound, and it abruptly exploded on its own mid-flight.
Boundless silver radiance erupted from the array te, spreading over an area over 1,000 feet in size, epassing both Han Li and Liu Le''er within.
Countless silver runes appeared within the light amid what appeared to be the sound of Buddhist prayers.
A thought abruptly urred to Han Li upon seeing this, and he was just about to do something when a streak of ck light flew out of the silver radiance, screeching toward Liu Le''er at an incredible speed.
Han Li vanished on the spot in a sh, then instantly appeared in front of Liu Le''er before sweeping an arm through the air.
The streak of ck light was sent flying by his casual swat, revealing itself to be a ck flying dagger.
Right at this moment, the silver light in the surrounding area suddenly brightened significantly, filling the entirety of his field of view.
His body was enshrouded under a certain force, and the scene around him rapidly transitioned.
Soon, his vision was restored, and he found himself in an empty and spacious area.
"That was the Minor Spatial Teleportation Technique!" Han Li mused to himself as he swept his gaze over his surroundings.
He found himself situated in a massive valley under a denseyer of dark clouds. There were tall ck mountains on either side of him, with some buildings visible on those mountains.
At this moment, he and Liu Le''er were on a huge za in the valley, and the ck-robed elderly man was hovering in mid-air above them.
The za was several hundred acres in area and was riddled with ck jade. Plumes of ck qi were surging out of the ck jade, forming a faint yet resilientyer of ck mist over the za, making the entire za appear as if it were situated on a ck cloud.
In front of the za was an enormous and majestic hall, above which was a ck que that carried the words "Heavenly Ghost Hall" inrge characters.
Chapter 52: Its My Turn Now
Chapter 52: It''s My Turn Now
Almost as soon as Han Li and Liu Le''er appeared on the za, the earth around the giant za began to tremble, and nine ck stone pirs rose up out of the soil, encircling arge circr area.
Each pir was so thick that the average adult human would only just barely be able to wrap their arms around it, and they stood at over 100 feet tall. Countless runes and array patterns were engraved all over the surfaces of the pirs, and there were also many glowing ck gemstones embedded into them. These gemstones seemed to be some type of special spirit stone, and they were all shimmering with bright ck light.
Aside from that, there was a statue of a different ghostly creature situated at the top of each pir. All of them were extremely life-like, and even though they were nothing more than statues, just the mere sight of them was enough to send chills running down one''s spine.
Dazzling ck light rose up from all the ghostly creatures on top of the stone pirs before connecting together in a sh to form a hemispherical ck light barrier in the blink of an eye.
The surface of the light barrier was riddled with ck runes that were shing incessantly, and countless indistinct ghostly projections were manifested amid bursts of eerie ghostly wailing, presenting a terrifying sight to behold.
Liu Le''er couldn''t help but shudder upon seeing this, and she unconsciously sidled up closer to Han Li.
She was no longer the inexperienced little fox girl that she once was, but this fearsome sight was still enough to strike horror deep into her heart.
Han Li didn''t even bother to take a single nce at the ck-robed elderly man as he swept a hand through the air, releasing the silver fire raven out of his palm. The fire raven transformed into a silver of fire at his behest before settling over Liu Le''er as a protective barrier.
"Stay in there, and don''t be afraid."
Liu Le''er was greatly reassured by Han Li''s calm demeanor.
Right at this moment, countless streaks of light rose up from the surrounding buildings before converging toward the za, and they were all ck-robed Heavenly Ghost Sect disciples.
It didn''t take long before the sky above the za was filled with several hundred people, and there were still more people constantly approaching from all directions.
However, Han Li paid no heed to themotion around him. Instead, he was calmly examining the nine stone pirs and the ck light barrier around him with blue light shing in his eyes.
The Heavenly Ghost Sect disciples converging from all directions were under the impression that the sect had been invaded by powerful enemies, and they were all rather bewildered to see only an ordinary-looking young man who appeared to be in his twenties and a little girl at the center of the za.
However, no one dared to ask any questions after catching a glimpse of the dark expression on the ck-robed elderly man''s face.
The ck-robed elderly man made no effort to address the disciples around him as he descended onto one of the ck stone pirs, then began to chant an incantation as he released nine array tes out of his sleeves before making a rapid series of hand seals.
The nine array tes flew through the air before each of them descended onto one of the nine giant stone pirs, then vanished into the ck light radiating from the giant pirs in a sh.
Even more runes surged out of the ck light barrier, and it instantly became significantly thicker, while the rather indistinct ghostly projections also became clearer and more substantial.
Only then did the ck-robed elderly man allow himself to heave a faint sigh of relief, but he still continued to make hand seals without pause.
Right at this moment, two particrly bright streaks of light shot forth from the distance before arriving above the za in the blink of an eye, revealing a pair of figures, one of which was a white-haired elderly man, while the other was an imposing man with a darkplexion.
Just like the ck-robed elderly man, both of them were also Spatial Tempering cultivators.
Once the Heavenly Ghost Sect disciples present on the scene realized that there were three sect elders present at once, all of themotion and chatter instantly died down.
As soon as the white-haired elderly man and the dark-skinned man arrived, they immediately released their spiritual sense in unison to sweep over Han Li and Liu Le''er while also quickly inspecting the surrounding area.
"What is the meaning of this, Elder Jiang? Why did you use the Minor Spatial Teleportation te to bring these two juniors into the sect? On top of that, you''ve even activated the nine Heavenly Ghost Monarch Pirs! I''m sure you know just as well as I do how much resources have to be expended just to activate this array even once," the white-haired elderly man said with a displeased expression.
The dark-skinned man also turned to the ck-robed elderly man with a perplexed expression.
"You''vee at just the right time! Help me power the array to refine these two at once!" the ck-robed elderly man said in an urgent voice as he continued to make hand seals.
"You activated the array just to refine these two low-grade cultivators? The Heavenly Ghost Monarch Pirs can trap even Body Integration Stage beings! Is this supposed to be a joke, Brother Jiang?" the dark-skinned man chuckled, disying no intention to cooperate.
The white-haired elderly man also refrained from joining the ck-robed elderly man.
A stir ran through the nearby disciples as well, but they didn''t dare to say anything for fear of irking the ck-robed elderly man.
Many of them had already managed to identify that the two people trapped in the array were only at the Nascent Soul Stage and the Core Formation Stage, and even among the disciples present, there were many who were capable of killing them with ease.
However, the ck-robed elderly man was a Spatial Tempering cultivator, and he was proiming that it was necessary to activate the nine Heavenly Ghost Monarch Pirs just to take care of such a lowly pair of cultivators. If word of this were to spread to the outside world, he would be made the butt of countless jokes.
"Don''t underestimate them! That Nascent Soul Stage brat is an extremely formidable body cultivator with powers far beyond what his cultivation base suggests!" the ck-robed elderly man said in an urgent voice.
The dark-skinned man was still unconvinced and shook his head with an amused smile.
The white-haired elderly man lowered his head to look down at Han Li, who was still casually looking around, seeminglypletely oblivious to the perilous situation that he was in.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s gaze suddenly settled on something, and he murmured to himself, "Seeing as I''m already here, why don''t I kill two birds with one stone?"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he sped over to one side of the light barrier, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake, then casually tapped a certain spot on the light barrier with a single finger.
An incredible scene immediately unfolded.
The entire ck light barrier began to tremble violently, while the light radiating from its surface shed erratically, and the ghostly projections within it suddenly erupted into a chaotic frenzy as if they had gone insane.
The dark-skinned man''s smile immediately stiffened upon seeing this, and his eyes widened with shock.
The ck-robed elderly man shuddered as he threw up a mouthful of blood, and he made a rapid series of hand seals, doing everything in his power to stabilize the array.
"We need to stabilize the array! We can''t let him break free!" the white-haired elderly man yelled in an rmed voice as he flew through the air beforending on top of one of the stone pirs.
The dark-skinned man also returned to his senses and flew toward another one of the stone pirs with a stunned expression, but it was already toote.
With one final sh of light from the surface of the light barrier, all of the ghostly projections instantly vanished. Immediately thereafter, nine giant ghostly faces appeared in unison on the surface of the light barrier corresponding with the locations of the nine stone pirs, and all of the ghostly faces wore agonized expressions as they let loose ear-piercing shrieks.
Their voices were extremely sharp and abrasive, and all of the disciples on the za immediately screamed as they threw their hands over their heads, while some of the weaker ones among them began to bleed out of their ears and nostrils.
After letting loose those horrific screams, countless ck runes surged out of the nine giant ghostly faces in a frenzy before abruptly crumbling away.
The entire light barrier also shattered like ss, disintegrating into countless specks of ck light.
Not only that but countless cracks also appeared on the statues of the ghostly creatures on top of the nine stone pirs before they exploded in rapid session.
At this point, Han Li had already withdrawn his finger, and his hands were sped behind his back as he made his way toward Liu Le''er amid the countless specks of ck light drifting through the air.
Liu Le''er was ecstatic as she stood under the silver of fire, and if it weren''t for the fact that they were stillpletely surrounded by enemies, she would''ve already erupted into jubnt cheers.
The three Spatial Tempering Stage elders of the Heavenly Ghost Sect were astonished to see that the array had been destroyed so easily, and all three of them felt as if they had been dealt a heavy blow.
The hundreds of Heavenly Ghost Sect disciples present were alsopletely rooted to the spot, looking on with dazed expressions.
"How dare you destroy our sect''s precious array!" the ck-robed elderly man roared with fury as he opened his mouth to release a burst of white light, which transformed into a white bone de with ninerge silver rings on its back.
At the same time, he made a rapid series of hand seals, releasing five or six incantation seals in quick session.
The nine silver rings on the bone de ttered together to produce a disorienting sound, while countless crimson runes abruptly appeared on the surface of the de, releasing a dazzling de projection that was close to 1,000 feet in length, which came crashing down directly upon Han Li.
At the same time, the white-haired elderly man reached out to summon an antiquated ck cane, at the tip of which was an ornate ck dragon''s head.
The cane circled around in mid-air before swelling drastically in size, transforming into a ck wyrm with a pair of wings on its back.
The wyrm opened its cavernous mouth to release a vast expanse of ck mes, while the dark-skinned man also flipped a hand over to produce a gray feather fan without any hesitation.
The fan seemed to have been made from the feathers of some type of spirit bird, and he injected his magic power into the fan in a frenzy before sweeping it vigorously through the air.
The sky instantly darkened as gusts of fierce gray wind swept through the air, transforming into seven or eight gray wind dragons that pounced toward Han Li.
With the three Spatial Tempering Stage elders springing into action, the surrounding Heavenly Ghost Sect disciples also quickly joined the fray, summoning all types of treasures while chanting different incantations.
All of a sudden, spiritual light of all types of different colors appeared all around the za.
Han Li immediately swept an enormous burst of spiritual sense over the entire za upon seeing this, sending an indescribably powerful burst of spiritual pressure crashing down upon the entire area.
All of the people in the za felt as if they had received a blow to the head.
Stars instantly began to dance in front of the eyes of the nearby Heavenly Ghost Sect disciples, and they immediately fell unconscious before plummeting out of the sky, falling onto the za in a limp and immobile state.
All of the treasures summoned by the disciples also ttered down onto the ground as a result.
In contrast, the three Spatial Tempering Stage elders possessed considerably more powerful souls than the disciples at the scene, so they were able to quickly shrug off the effects of the spiritual sense attack.
The three of them continued to unleash attacks at Han Li without skipping a beat, and in the blink of an eye, a de projection, a wave of ck mes, and the thunder of wind dragons descended upon Han Li.
Han Li remainedpletely still on the spot, disying no intention to take evasive measures.
A string of resounding booms rang out, and the crimson de projections were the first to strike Han Li''s body, only to bepletely shattered and revert back to a white bone de that was repelled back through the air.
The ck mes and the wind dragons also disintegrated upon making contact with Han Li''s body, unable to inflict any harm upon him. In fact, even his azure robes remainedpletely unscathed.
As for Liu Le''er, she was also safe and sound under the silver of fire as all of the attacks had been withstood by Han Li.
The three Spatial Tempering Stage elders drew a sharp breath in unison, unable to believe what they were seeing.
"It''s my turn now!" Han Li dered in an indifferent voice as he raised his head.
Chapter 53: Scorched By Devilish Flames
Chapter 53: Scorched By Devilish mes
As soon as his voice trailed off, Han Li''s body blurred before vanishing on the spot.
"Look out!" the ck-robed elderly man hurriedly yelled in an urgent voice.
However, before he had a chance to do anything else, he felt a blur sh past his eyes, following which he was sent flying back like a ragdoll as if a giant mountain had just crashed into him. He flew all the way to a mountain outside of the za before crashing into the mountain with such force that his body waspletely embedded into the mountain face, and it was unclear whether he had survived the attack.
The white-haired elderly man and the dark-skinned man looked on as the ck-robed elderly was sent flying, and before they even had a chance to make sense of the situation, two more dull thumps rang out as the two of them were also sent flying away in different directions before crashing heavily into the mountain face.
The entire za had fallenpletely silent.
Liu Le''er was staring at all of the unconscious bodies and treasures littered all over the za, and her jaw hadpletely fallen onto the ground.
She had always known that Han Li was extremely powerful, but this still went far beyond her imagination, and she felt as if she were in a dream.
While she was still looking on with a dazed expression, Han Li arrived by her side as he asked with a concerned expression, "Are you alright, Le''er?"
"I''m fine, Brother Rock. It''s all thanks to those treasures and pills that you gave me. That Qi Xuan was a really insidious bastard! Not only did he want to take your spirit me for himself, he used me as bait to lure you here. Thankfully, he didn''t do anything to me aside from keeping me prisoner," Liu Le''er replied with a hint of lingering fear in her eyes.
Han Li nodded in response, then sat down with his legs crossed before producing a white pill that he ced into his own mouth.
Even though he had intentionally held back on the spiritual sense attack he had unleashed earlier, his current meager reserves of magic power had still almostpletely run dry.
Liu Le''er faltered slightly upon seeing this, then looked around with a concerned expression as she asked, "Shouldn''t we be leaving this ce before other people get here, Brother Rock?"
The massivemotion that Han Li had caused here had naturally attracted the attention of the entire Heavenly Ghost Sect, and many streaks of light were converging toward the za.
"There''s no hurry to leave," Han Li replied with a nonchnt smile.
Mere momentster, several particrlyrge streaks of light arrived on the scene, revealing six figures that were giving off auras that weren''t inferior to those of the three Spatial Tempering Stage elders from earlier.
The six of them were greatly rmed to see the situation down below, and they all focused their eyes on Han Li.
The six of them were rather hesitant about how to proceed, and they quickly released their spiritual sense to inspect Han Li''s cultivation base, then exchanged a nce with one another before retreating to open up some distance, and only then did they release their treasures.
Six treasures of different colors descended from the heavens, screeching through the air as they hurtled directly toward Han Li with devastating might.
Han Li didn''t even bother to stand up, remaining in a seated position as heshed out with his fists, throwing punches in six different directions to oppose the oing treasures.
Powerful shockwaves rippled through the air, proliferating in all directions.
A string of deafening booms rang out, and it was as if all of the treasures had crashed into invisible walls. Six enormous bursts of spiritual light erupted forth, and the entire space seemed to be trembling violently.
By the time the light faded, Han Li was already nowhere to be seen.
The six figures in the air faltered slightly upon seeing this, immediately following which Han Li appeared in front of a middle-aged man with a pair of narrow eyes before throwing a punch without any hesitation.
The middle-aged man didn''t get a chance to react at all before he was sent flying back by a burst of tremendous force.
Five resounding booms rang out in quick session, followed by the sound of a heavy impact, and the middle-aged man slumped down onto the ground, having fallenpletely unconscious.
Han Li then sent the five remaining Spatial Tempering cultivators flying with a punch each, then returned to Liu Le''er''s side, where he stood with his hands sped behind his back.
The Heavenly Ghost Sect cultivators that were approaching from all directions were just in time to witness this astonishing scene, and they hurriedly stopped cold in their tracks with rmed expressions, exchanging bewildered nces as they pondered how to proceed.
All of these high and mighty Spatial Tempering Stage elders were getting swatted away like flies by apletely unremarkable-looking Nascent Soul cultivator. Some had smashed deep craters into the za, some had been entombed in the nearby mountain face, and some had crashed through and toppled nearby buildings.
In particr, the hundreds of unconscious disciples and the treasures littered all over the ground around the za presented a harrowing sight to behold.
Right at this moment, a streak of white light shot forth from the distance, arriving in the sky above the Heavenly Ghost Hall, most of which had already copsed at this point.
The light then faded to reveal a burly man in a silken robe who appeared to be no more than 30 to 40 years of age. He had a square face with a short purple beard, and he was giving off a formidable aura.
"Grand Elder Lu!"
"It''s Grand Elder Lu! Thank heavens..."
All of the disciples around the za were ecstatic to see the arrival of the purple-bearded man, and they all called out in tion as if they had found a life raft to cling onto.
The man''s gaze fell upon Han Li, and he wore a cautious expression as he quickly made a series of hand seals.
"So a Body Integration cultivator has finally shown up," Han Li mused to himself with a faint smile, then flipped a hand over to produce a miniature mountain amid a sh of ck light.
The mountain flew out of his grasp with a swipe of his arm, rapidly swelling to several hundred feet tall mid-flight as it hurtled directly toward the purple-bearded man.
Even before the mountain arrived, a burst of astonishing force surged through the air.
The purple-bearded man remained calm and collected, and he was making hand seals at such an incredible speed that his hands had turned into an untraceable blur.
At this point, the ck mountain had already swelled to over 1,000 feet in height, yet right when it was about to crash into the purple-bearded man, he suddenly stopped what he was doing.
A burst of dark purple light appeared beneath his feet, following which a hidden array that was riddled with runes abruptly emerged, swallowing him up in an instant.
The mountain missed its target as a result, continuing to crash toward the wreckage of the Heavenly Ghost Hall down below.
At the same time, identical purple arrays appeared beneath Han Li and Liu Le''er''s feet as well, releasing a burst of purple light that enveloped the two of them in an instant.
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Inside a secluded valley in the Yin Necropolis Mountain Range.
The space here was very confined, and there was barely any natural light. The entire valley was filled with dense ck mist, and on either side of the valley were rock faces that stood at over 1,000 feet tall, upon which were engraved some strange patterns andplex ghostly runes.
Situated at each of the four corners of the valley was arge bluestone pir, all four of which were riddled with runes and quite archaic in appearance.
Right at this moment, purple light suddenly shed from the ground, and both Han Li and Liu Le''er appeared in the valley at the same time.
Liu Le''er was still under the protection of the fiery formed by the silver fire raven, and she was swaying slightly from the rush of dizziness brought on by the sudden teleportation, but aside from that, she waspletely fine.
As soon as Han Li arrived in the valley, he immediately raised his head to inspect his surroundings.
The purple-bearded man from before had already appeared on one of the bluestone pirs, and two male cultivators and one female cultivator were seated atop the other three pirs, seemingly meditating with their eyes closed.
The woman had a voluptuous figure and a set of beautiful features that wereplemented by a red dress. She didn''t appear to be very old, but she was giving off a mature charm.
The other two cultivators consisted of a giant of a man with only a single eye, and a hunch-backed elderly man.
Judging from their auras, all three of them were also Body Integration cultivators.
The three of them opened their eyes in unison upon sensing the disturbance in the valley, and they took a bewildered nce at Han Li''s duo before turning to the purple-bearded man.
"Didn''t you go to the Heavenly Ghost za to take care of some intruders, Elder Lu? Why are you back so soon, and why did you bring these two outsiders into this forbidden zone?" the woman asked with a displeased look on her face.
"There''s no time to exin! Hurry up and activate the Earthly Ghost Soul Suppression Array! That man is a Body Integration Stage body cultivator!" the purple-bearded man said in an urgent voice with a grim look on his face.
The other three cultivators were all quite surprised to hear this, but each of them instantly summoned a ck badge without any hesitation.
The four of them then tossed their badges through the air in unison with a flick of their wrists.
Four metallic ngs rang out as the badges flew directly downward, instantly burrowing into the ground around Han Li.
Immediately thereafter, the ground beneath Han Li''s feet began to tremble violently, and a string of thunderous rumbling rang out from beneath the ground.
The soil around him churned violently while the rocks crumbled away, and four peculiar archways erupted out of the ground, surrounding Han Li and Liu Le''er.
Each of the archways was around 500 to 600 feet tall with four pirs that were riddled with human and beast bones. A crimson skull was hanging from each corner of the archways'' eaves, and they were swaying incessantly in the wind like red windchimes.
A giant ghostly head was engraved into the very center of each archway, and each of them was different in appearance from the others.
Before Han Li had a chance to do anything, the four ghostly heads on the archways seemed to have suddenly sprung to life, and their eyes swiveled toward him in unison.
A vast expanse of crimson light erupted out all of their eyes, then intertwined to form a projection of a sea of churning blood that epassed the entire area around Han Li and Liu Le''er in a radius of several thousand feet.
Situated within the sea of blood, Han Li could feel an immense weight forcing down upon his shoulders. His robes were pressed tightly against his body, and all of his movements had be slightly slow and sluggish.
Blue light shed through his eyes, and a string of loud cracks and pops rang out from within his body in quick session. However, he only swayed slightly under the tremendous force weighing down on him before steadying himself again, seeminglypletely unfazed.
The silver above Liu Le''er was beginning to warp under the enormous pressure, and the uppermost section of the had caved in significantly, but it was able to hold its shape once Han Li cast a string of incantation seals into it, much to Liu Le''er''s relief.
The woman in red was staring at Han Li and Liu Le''er with an incredulous expression. "How is this possible?"
"Looks like we''ve still underestimated him. At the very most, this array will only be able to temporarily trap him. However, now that I''ve brought them into the Devilish me Valley, I can use the Ninth Heaven Devilish mes left behind in the valley by Patriarch Bone me to refine them," the purple-bearded man said as a fierce look appeared in his eyes.
The one-eyed man and the hunch-backed elderly man exchanged a quick nce, and both of them nodded in agreement with this course of action.
Thus, the four of them immediately began to make a rapid series of hand seals, and the sound of their collective chanting rang out within the valley.
At the same time, a faint buzzing sound appeared in the valley before quickly bing louder and louder, causing the entire valley to tremble and buzz.
Small rocks began to roll down from the cliff faces on either side of the valley, and the ghostly runes engraved upon them were radiating dazzling light.
The previously rather indistinct patterns suddenly became extremely vibrant and life-like, and they quickly joined together to form a series of ck fire lotus flowers.
The lotus flowers swayed as bursts of ck mes were released from their petals, surging incessantly into the valley. Before long, the entire valley had been filled with a sea of ck mes thatpletely inundated Han Li and Liu Le''er.
Chapter 54: Devouring the Devilish Flame
Chapter 54: Devouring the Devilish me
This ck me was rather peculiar. With the scorching heat that it released, it was as if the entire valley had been plunged into a furnace, but at the same time, inky-ck devilish qi was gradually permeating throughout the area, giving off a terrifying aura.
Situated within the sea of ck fire, Han Li and Liu Le''er were subjected to incredibly high temperatures, so much so that the air around them was bing warped and indistinct.
Liu Le''er had already turned as pale as a sheet as she watched the oing sea of devilish mes with a horrified expression.
However, she then immediately discovered that the silver of fire around her seemed to be releasing some type of immense suction force that was drawing in all of the surrounding devilish fire and the unbearable heat, creating a cool and refreshing area with a radius of several dozen feet. As a result, Liu Le''er was instantly feeling a lot more reassured.
Even though Han Li didn''t have the silver me to protect himself, he appeared to be extremely calm and collected as he stood within the churning sea of devilish fire.
Right as the devilish mes around him were about to sweep over his body, he suddenly opened his mouth before inhaling sharply.
All of the ck devilish mes around him instantly surged into his mouth in a frenzy, and in the span of no more than two or three seconds, most of the fire in the valley had been devoured by Han Li.
The four Body Integration cultivators around the valley were so astonished to see this that their eyes almost bulged out of their sockets, and they hurriedly stopped what they were doing.
As a result, the ck fire lotus flower diagrams on the cliff faces quickly reverted back to their original form, butpared with before, the patterns had clearly dimmed slightly.
Meanwhile, Han Li was disying no signs of stopping, and only after he had devoured all of the ck fire in the valley did he close his mouth before letting loose a loud burp, seemingly still not quite satisfied with the meal.
"How can any possibly be able to devour the Ninth Heaven Devilish me?"
"What kind of monster is this man?"
"We can''t afford to hold back any longer, Fellow Daoists. We have to kill him now while he''s still trapped in this Earthly Ghost Soul Suppression Array. Otherwise, once hees out, the consequences will be catastrophic!" the purple-bearded man yelled in an urgent voice.
He raised a hand as he spoke to summon an antiquated purple copperntern that was no more than half a foot tall, then chanted aplex incantation as he gently rubbed his hands together.
A faint purple me was ignited within thentern, and at the same time, countless tiny purple runes emerged on the surface of thentern before quickly revolving around it.
A burst of dense purple smoke rose up from thentern, then quickly swelled to form an extremely life-like giant purple tiger in the blink of an eye. The tiger was the size of a pavilion, and it raised its head before letting loose a silent roar, then pounced directly toward Han Li at an incredible speed.
On another stone pir, the woman in the red dress was chanting an incantation, while ayer of red light had appeared over her eyes.
The red dress that she was wearing began to billow around her despite theck of wind, and all of the skin and flesh all over her entire body was rapidly withering away at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye. The nails on her slim fingers elongated and turned ck, transforming into a set of sinister ws, while the flesh on her seductive face melted away, and she transformed into a living pink skeleton.
She swooped down in a graceful manner, traveling at an astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, she appeared directly above Han Li, leaving a trail of afterimages in her wake before swiping down viciously with one set of ws.
Spatial fluctuations erupted above Han Li, and a white bone w the size of a small mountain emerged. The fingers of the giant w were as sharp as des, and they were screeching through the air as they grabbed viciously down upon Han Li''s head with gray baleful qi surging out of the palm of the w.
Even though the bone w was also embroiled in the projection of the sea of blood, it seemed to bepletely unaffected.
Han Li remained still on the spot as he casually raised a hand upward, releasing a miniature ck mountain, which transformed into a full-sized mountain in the blink of an eye before crashing into the white bone w with vicious might.
The ck mountain exploded beneath the bone w, plummeting out of the sky as a shower of giant rocks, but the bone w also shattered upon impact.
The boundless expanse of baleful qi quickly faded, leaving behind only the countless bone fragments that remained of the giant w.
Before the pink skeleton had a chance to do anything else, it was swept up by a devastating shockwave from below like a frail leaf in the wind, sent flying without being able to offer any resistance. The pink skeleton tumbled through the air like a ragdoll before crashing into a mountain face, where it was also shattered into a pile of bone fragments.
Right at this moment, the giant purple tiger entered the fray, opening its mouth to release a pir of purple light that came crashing down with remarkable speed and power.
However, all it took was a casual wave of Han Li''s hand to dispel the pir of purple light with a resounding boom, following which he leaped up into the air,pletely disregarding the heightened gravitational force as he appeared right under the giant tiger''s belly.
He then reached out with both hands like lightning, closing his grip around the giant tiger''s head with one hand while grabbing onto one of its hind legs with the other. The muscles on his arms bulged, and despite the giant tiger''s frantic struggles, it waspletely unable to escape his vice-like grip.
Right as he was about to wrench his hands apart and tear the tiger into two, a dull thump suddenly rang out from the ground down below, and four huge ck spears that were giving off a faint ck sheen erupted out of the soil, piercing through the sea of blood as they plunged viciously toward Han Li''s vital organs.
A loud ng rang out, and it was as if the four spears had struck a steel wall. The impact of the strike caused the spears to be repelled back as they quivered violently.
All of a sudden, the ground split apart, and a giant ck spider sprang out.
There were two rows of whitepound eyes on its head, and its eight spear-like legs were as thick as human arms. There was also a gray fleshy pouch hanging beneath its abdomen, and upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that the pouch contained none other than that hunch-backed elderly man.
The spider seemed to have grown out of the bulge on his back, presenting a very strange sight to behold.
As soon as the ck spider appeared, it crossed its two sharp forelegs once again before raising them upward. The crimson light radiating from its forelegs gave them the appearance of a pair of red-hot giant scissors, which were closing in viciously on Han Li''s neck.
However, this time, Han Li chose to retaliate rather than remain passive. While still holding onto the giant purple tiger, he sprang down with ferocious might, sweeping his right foot horizontally through the air during his descent.
A resounding boom rang out as the spider''s two forelegs were shattered, and it was sent flying through the air by a burst of tremendous force, crashing into a mountain face before being buried under the falling rocks.
As soon as Han Linded on the ground, he spread his arms apart viciously to tear the giant purple tiger into two.
However, things suddenly took an unexpected turn.
Instead of disintegrating into nothingness, the giant purple tiger transformed into a huge cloud of purple mist thatpletely epassed Han Li.
A strong, indescribable scent was released by the purple mist, and it possessed the ability to cloud the mind and disorient the senses.
"Brother Rock!" Liu Le''er called out in an rmed voice upon seeing this.
Not far away, the pink skeleton had reformed itself from its remains, and it stood up in a slightly unsteady manner as it cackled, "Hehe, so what if you possess a formidable physical body? Under the effects of Elder Lu''s Soul Corroding Ghostly Mist..."
Before it had a chance to finish its sentence, an agonized howl suddenly rang out from the top of one of the stone pirs.
The purple-bearded man came tumbling down from the stone pir before rolling around in agony, while the purple copperntern fell onto the ground beside him.
The purple mist formed by the giant purple tiger faded to reveal Han Li, who drew the purple copperntern into his grasp with a casual beckoning gesture. After a brief inspection, he stowed thentern away into his storage bag.
At the same time, a translucent thread of spiritual sense shot out of the purple-bearded man''s head before flying back into Han Li''s be.
Only then did he turn and cast his gaze toward the archway to the left before asking in an indifferent voice, "Have you still not found an opening to attack me?"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a figure emerged from behind the archway in a sh before rapidly retreating. It was none other than the one-eyed man, who had refrained from attacking this entire time.
At this moment, his entire body was encased in a suit of spiky bone armor, and he was holding a translucent crimson ax in one hand, which was clearly also an extremely powerful treasure.
After retreating to some distance away, the one-eyed man cast a wary gaze toward Han Li, disying no intention to attack.
He had just witnessed Han Li dominate three Body Integration cultivators at once with ridiculous ease, and throughout the entire process, he hadn''t found any opportunity to attack.
He couldn''t even remember thest time he had felt this helpless in a battle.
Han Li took a nce at the one-eyed man before withdrawing his gaze, then made his way toward one of the archways in an unhurried manner.
Judging from how tightly his clothes were pressed against his body, it was clear that the enormous force being exerted by the sea of blood was still acting upon him, but even though he wasn''t walking very quickly, he clearly wasn''t struggling, either.
Upon making his way over to one of the archways, he inspected it momentarily before suddenly bending down at the knees and wrapping his arms around one of the pirs. He then suddenly began to exert force through his entire body, hoisting the pir upward.
The ground rumbled and quaked violently as a humanized look of shock and horror appeared in the eyes of the giant ghostly head on the archway.
The entire archway began to sway from side to side while growing taller and taller before finally beingpletely uprooted.
The giant ghostly head let loose an anguished wail, immediately following which the entire archway shrank down amid a sh of ck light, reverting back into a ck badge that fell into Han Li''s grasp. At the same time, the vast sea of blood also churned violently before shrinking significantly in size.
Han Li stowed the badge away before making his way toward another archway.
At this point, the hunch-backed elderly man and the purple-bearded man had already mbered back to their feet, and the red skeleton had already returned to its original human form.
The four Heavenly Ghost Sect Body Integration cultivators were standing at the four corners of the valley, watching withplex looks on their faces as Heavenly Ghost Sect uprooted the archways one by one, but none of them stepped in to try and stop him.
All four of them were standing in silence, seemingly waiting for something.
A few minutester, as Han Li stowed the final ck badge away, he suddenly raised an eyebrow before turning toward a certain direction.
He then abruptly opened his mouth before exhaling forcefully, releasing all of the devilish mes that he had devoured earlier.
The devilish fire erupted into the heavens, then converged in mid-air to form four clouds of fire the size of wagon wheels. Immediately thereafter, the fiery clouds transformed into four fiery ck pythons, each of which was several dozen feet in length, and they pounced toward the four Body Integration cultivators in unison.
The four of them were greatly rmed to see this, and they hurriedly summoned different defensive treasures, conjuring up protective barriers to shield themselves from the mes.
Chapter 55: Explanation
Chapter 55: Exnation
Even though the four Body Integration cultivators had taken extensive defensive measures, they were still sweating profusely from fear.
The four fiery ck pythons were only around 30 to 40 feet in length each, but they were manifested by the Ninth Heaven Devilish mes that had previously filled this entire valley. As high-grade cultivators of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, they were more aware than anyone else of just how fearsome these mes were.
Even as Body Integration cultivators, the slightestpse in concentration could''ve resulted in catastrophic circumstances.
Never did they think that they would be on the receiving end of these devilish mes someday.
Right at this moment, a burst of white light appeared in the air above the valley, then split up into four before descending rapidly from above, moving at such an astonishing speed that it was as if they had arrived in front of the four Body Integration cultivators through instantaneous teleportation.
These were four streaks of translucent swordlight, and they began to revolve in mid-air to form four wheels of light, each of which was around 10 feet in diameter.
In the next instant, the four fiery ck pythons crashed into the wheels of light before exploding violently into bursts of ck fire.
In the end, the fiery ck pythons were snuffed out as powerful shockwaves swept through the air.
Immediately thereafter, spatial fluctuations erupted in the air above the valley, and a ck-robed man who appeared to be in his forties appeared. He had a graceful and refined appearance, but his brows were as sharp as a pair of menacing swords.
The four swords then reverted back into streaks of white light that returned to the ck-robed figure before vanishing into his body in a sh.
"Martial Uncle Duan!"
The four Body Integration cultivators were ecstatic to see the arrival of the ck-robed man.
Han Li remained on the spot as he cast his gaze directly toward the ck-robed man.
The man was none other than one of the two Grand Ascension Stage patriarchs of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, Duan Renli.
Duan Renli swept his gaze over the area to find that the revered Devilish me Valley of the sect had been reduced to a chaotic mess, while the four Body Integration cultivators were lookingpletely downtrodden and defeated. His expression remained unchanged, but his eyelids were twitching ever so slightly.
He then lowered his head to direct his gaze toward Han Li before extending a hand forward and spreading his fingers apart.
The five fingers on his hand instantly took on a translucent appearance, and spiritual light was shing incessantly from his fingertips.
Countless streaks of white light shot out of his fingertips, then transformed into hundreds of white bone flying swords that were each around a foot in length, screeching through the air as they rained down upon Han Li.
Han Li made a hand seal upon seeing this, and a burst of cracks and pops rang out as his body swelled drastically in size. Countless golden scales then appeared over his skin amid a sh of golden radiance, instantly covering his entire body.
The storm of white bone swords arrived in the blink of an eye, striking him in rapid session, creating explosions of white and golden light thatpletely devoured him.
Powerful shockwaves swept through the surrounding area like a ferocious hurricane, causing countless thin white rifts to appear in the surrounding space in a radius of several hundred feet.
At the same time, spatial fluctuations erupted in the air directly above the explosions, and a small ck seal appeared out of thin air, then instantly swelled to the size of a pavilion before descending from above while radiating boundless ck radiance.
Even before the seal hade fully crashing down, it was releasing a burst of asphyxiating spiritual pressure that was causing the nearby to twist and warp significantly.
All of a sudden, an earth-shattering boom rang out, and the giant seal was suddenly stopped cold in its tracks around 10 feet above the ground, unable to descend any further.
Duan Renli''s expression finally changed slightly upon seeing this.
Even though he had just unleashed two powerful attacks one after another, all of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and at this moment, the explosions of white and golden light faded to reveal the situation down below.
Han Li was standing still on the spot like an immovable mountain with his right arm raised above his head. The arm waspletely covered in golden scales, and it was holding the giant ck seal aloft in the air. His feet had already sunken into the ground, and a series of rifts had opened up around him.
He looked up at Duan Renli with a calm expression, then abruptly bent his right arm before straightening it again.
A deafening boom instantly rang out, and the mountainous ck seal was hurled away as if it were nothing more than a piece of wood, flying out of the valley at an astonishing speed before vanishing into the distance.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li sprang up into the air, arriving not far in front of Duan Renli in a sh before throwing a vicious punch his way.
Duan Renli''s expression remainedpletely unchanged upon seeing this, and right at this moment, a silver ring suddenly appeared behind Han Li without any warning before flying directly toward him.
Han Li seemed to have already anticipated this, and he quickly turned around while swinging his hand through the air in a chopping motion to slice the ring into two.
However, to Han Li''s surprise, the two halves of the silver ring suddenly vanished, leaving only a trail of afterimages in their wake.
In the next instant, they appeared on either side of him without any warning.
Immediately thereafter, the two halves of the silver ring converged toward the center to form a whole ring once again, constricting Han Li''s body tightly within it.
Dazzling spiritual light radiated from the ring as it continued to constrict, and sparks were flying erratically between the inner wall of the ring and golden scales on Han Li''s skin, which were crackling incessantly, looking as if they were about to be crushed into pieces under the immense pressure.
At this point, Liu Le''er had already retreated to the corner of the valley, and she was greatly rmed to see this. "Brother Rock!"
In contrast, the four Body Integration cultivators were ecstatic to witness this development.
Han Li didn''t appear to be panicked in the slightest as let loose a low roar, and a burst of thunderous rumbling instantly rang out within his body as five specks of blue light appeared on his chest and abdomen.
At the same time, all of the muscles all over his entire body bulged, increasing his stature even further.
He then raised his arms with tremendous might, forcibly expanding the silver ring as it shed erratically. Countless silver runes appeared on its surface, but that still wasn''t enough for it to contain Han Li''s unfathomable strength, and it exploded with a dull crack.
A serious look finally appeared on Duan Renli''s face, and he shot back in retreat while raising his hands, seemingly about to unleash some other treasures or abilities.
Han Li certainly wasn''t just going to allow Duan Renli to do as he pleased, and he abruptly vanished on the spot.
In the next instant, Han Li reappeared right behind Duan Renli in a wraith-like manner, then clenched his hand into a fist before throwing a punch.
His fist was glowing with dazzling golden radiance, and arge white rift was left in the space in its wake.
Duan Renli immediately turned around, then opened his mouth to release a crimson cloud, which transformed into a crimson light shield that positioned itself directly in front of him.
Han Li''s fist struck the crimson shield, and the surface of the shield caved in significantly before it exploded into a cloud of blood mist. Han Li''s fist wasn''t slowed down in the slightest as it punched straight through Duan Renli''s chest.
However, he knew that this wasn''t the end of the battle.
In the next instant, Duan Renli''s body disintegrated into a cloud of blood mist, leaving behind only a white skeleton that was dangling off Han Li''s arm.
Spatial fluctuations erupted over 1,000 feet away, and Duan Renli emerged out of thin air. He appeared to bepletely unscathed, but his face was slightly pale.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and the four Body Integration cultivators couldn''t help but exchange a nce with one another, only to find their own astonishment mirrored in one another''s eyes.
Duan Renli scrutinized Han Li in silence for a moment, then mused, "To think that a body cultivatorparable in power to Grand Ascension Stage beings has appeared in this realm in just the past few centuries that I''ve been in seclusion. May I ask your name?"
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Duan. My name is Han Li," Han Li replied with a faint smile, then casually cast the white skeleton aside.
The golden scales all over his body quickly faded, and he appeared to be content to end the battle there.
"I see. May I ask for what purpose you''vee here, Fellow Daoist Han? As a cultivator of your caliber, you should be acting in a way that''s befitting of your powers. Why have youe to wreak havoc at our Heavenly Ghost Sect and harmed so many of our disciples? I believe you owe me an exnation," Duan Renli said as his voice suddenly took a cold turn.
"It''s rather amusing that you''re turning this on me. First, your Heavenly Ghost Sect abducted someone close to me, then forcibly teleported me here using a secret technique. I was hoping that you would be able to give me an exnation," Han Li said with a cold smile.
Duan Renli faltered slightly upon hearing this, then turned to the four Body Integration cultivators before asking, "What''s going on here?"
The other three Body Integration cultivators all turned to the purple-bearded man for an exnation.
"I received news earlier that someone had invaded our sect, so I went to investigate. I could see that this... Fellow Daoist Han was quite a formidable opponent, so I teleported him here to contain him in the array. As for why he came to our Heavenly Ghost Sect, I''m afraid I don''t actually know," the purple-bearded man exined after a moment of hesitation.
"Investigate this matter right away!" Duan Renli instructed in an imcable voice.
"Yes!" the purple-bearded man hurriedly replied before flying out of the valley.
Duan Renli''s gaze returned to Han Li in silence.
Han Li turned to Liu Le''er to give her a reassuring look, then turned back to face Duan Renli with a faint smile on his face.
Around 15 minutester, the purple-bearded man returned to the valley, thenmunicated a message to Duan Renli through voice transmission.
Duan Renli''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing what was said, but his expression then immediately returned to normal as waved a dismissive hand.
The purple-bearded man hurriedly backed away to the side.
"So you''re from the Cold me Sect, is that right, Fellow Daoist Han?" Duan Renli asked in a slow and deliberate voice, seemingly pondering what he was going to say next.
"That''s right," Han Li replied in a truthful manner.
"It''s incredible to think that the Cold me Sect managed to produce a body cultivator as powerful as yourselfpletely in secret. I must offer the Cold me Sect and yourself my sincerest congrattions," Duan Renli said with a fake smile on his face.
"I suggest you don''t try to change the subject, Fellow Daoist Duan," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"I''ve already made sense of the situation. What I''ve heard is that you had some differences with a now-deceased outer court elder of our sect, and everything that happened after that was all a huge misunderstanding. Seeing as that elder is already dead and the situation has already been rified, there''s no point for our battle to continue. How about we stop here, and I''ll send some people to apany you and yourpanion out of our sect?" Duan Renli suggested.
In his eyes, Han Li''s cultivation base wasn''t very high, but he had clearly employed some type of method to conceal his true cultivation base. The other Grand Ascension Stage being of the Heavenly Ghost Sect just so happened to be away at the moment, so it was unwise to continue this battle.
"So I was teleported into your sect for no reason, then had to endure attacks from countless cultivators of your sect, and now, you''re telling me that this is all just a big misunderstanding and to pretend as if nothing ever happened. Would you agree to this if you were in my ce, Fellow Daoist Duan?" Han Li countered with a cold smile.
Chapter 56: Rise of the Heavenly Ghost
Chapter 56: Rise of the Heavenly Ghost
"What do you want?" Duan Renli asked in an indifferent voice.
"I want 50 kilograms of refined Yin Dawn Stone," Han Li replied without any hesitation.
A peculiar silence instantly descended upon the entire valley with this deration.
"You want 50 kilograms of Yin Dawn Stone?"
"You destroyed several major restrictions of our sect andpletely ruined the Devilish me Valley! How dare you state such a brazen demand?"
"You must be delusional!"
After a brief stunned silence, the four Body Integration cultivators all erupted into furious tirades before Duan Renli had a chance to say anything.
Duan Renli''s expression remained unchanged, but a hint of anger had crept into his voice as he said, "You''re asking for far too much, Fellow Daoist! An entire Yin Dawn Stone mine is only able to produce around half a kilogram of Yin Dawn Stone per year, and you''re asking for 50 kilograms at once! Don''t you think you''re going too far?"
"I don''t think that at all. Surely you can''t tell me the Heavenly Ghost Sect is unable to offer up at least that much Yin Dawn Stone," Han Li replied with a nonchnt smile.
"It looks like you came here with the intention of starting trouble. If you''re unwilling to leave, then you can remain here forever!" A furious look appeared on Duan Renli''s face as he spoke, and it was clear that he had beenpletely enraged by Han Li''s attitude.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a vast expanse of crimson light erupted out of his body, illuminating the entire surrounding area. At the same time, he released a burst of terrifying spiritual pressure that almost made the nearby space congeal, and he opened his mouth to release a miniature crimson g that was several inches tall.
The g circled around in the air before swelling to around 10 feet in height with baleful qi surging all over its surface. An image of a sinister ghostly head with a pair of horns could be clearly seen on the g, and at the moment, the ghostly head''s eyes were tightly shut.
Crimson light began to surge over the giant g as Duan Renli chanted an incantation, sweeping up gusts of wind that reeked of blood and gore. The ghostly head then opened its cavernous mouth, releasing a thick pir of crimson light that hurtled directly toward Han Li with unstoppable might.
Even before the pir of light reached Han Li, a nauseating stench permeated throughout the entire valley, and the nearby air temperature plummeted drastically.
Han Li abruptly vanished on the spot upon seeing this, and as a result, the pir of crimson light struck nothing but empty air.
In the next instant, spatial fluctuations erupted behind Duan Renli, following which Han Li appeared out of thin air before throwing a punch. His fist was covered in golden scales, and a ferocious barrage of hundreds of fist projections was unleashed in an instant.
A burst of astonishing force passed through the barrage of fist projections, threatening to shatter the space in its wake.
In the face of such an astonishing attack, all Duan Renli did was extend a finger before pointing it at the giant crimson g before him in an unhurried manner.
A vast expanse of crimson mist instantly swept out of the g like lightning before quickly spreading through the air, transforming into a crimson cloud with a radius of several hundred feet. The cloudpletely epassed Duan Renli within it, giving him a rather murky and indistinct appearance.
The golden fist projections fell upon the crimson cloud like rain, but it was as if they had struck an enormous wall of cotton. In a strange turn of events, the incredible power imbued within the first projections instantly vanished upon making contact with the crimson cloud, and with each fist projection thatnded, the crimson cloud would expand slightly.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately withdrew his fists before flying back in retreat without any hesitation.
The crimson cloud instantly swept down like a turbulent wave, then rapidly spread apart to either side, while a series of crimson vortexes appeared, releasing bursts of powerful force that swept through the surrounding air, causing the nearby space to warp and twist violently.
A string of loud rumbling rang out, and Han Li felt the air construct around him, following which bursts of tremendous force surged toward him from all directions, causing him to slow down in his retreat.
Right at this moment, the eyes of the sinister ghostly head on the surface of the crimson g sprang open, and two balls of red light that were as radiant as the sun was revealed, forcing all beholders to shield their eyes and avert their gaze.
Han Li felt his surroundings blur for a moment, and in the next instant, he suddenly found himself situated within a crimson space.
Above his head was a murky crimson sky, while down below was a boundless sea of blood. A faintyer of blood mist was hovering above the surface of the sea of blood, and there was a slightly sweet aroma permeating through the air.
"This is a domain treasure!" Han Li eximed as a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes.
Duan Renli was standing in mid-air not far away with his hands sped behind his back, and his ck robe was pping audibly while crimson mist surged around him. "You sure are knowledgeable. Indeed, this Heavenly Ghost Blood g is a domain treasure, and it''s the most revered treasure of our Heavenly Ghost Sect. You''re extremely fortunate to be able to make this domain your final resting ce."
"Is that right?" Han Li harrumphed coldly.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a flurry of ghostly howls suddenly rang out in all directions.
The ghostly howls were undting incessantly, and it was as if there were countless ghostly creatures screaming and screeching incessantly with all their might.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s consciousness began to waver, and his eyelids became as heavy as lead. At the same time, a sense of bloodlust and frustration welled up in his heart, and it seemed that the bloodlust could be satisfied by engaging those ghostly creatures in a battle to the death.
In response to these intrusive sensations, Han Li made a hand seal without any hesitation, and a burst of cool and refreshing energy surged out of his be, instantly flowing through all of his meridians.
The deranged thoughts in his mind instantly ceased to exist, and the ghostly howling also faded into silence.
Duan Renli was astonished that Han Li was able to remainpletely unaffected by the mind-altering properties of the domain.
Theyer of mist hovering over the sea of blood was manifested from the resentment of countless ghosts, and it couldpletely cloud one''s mind and tap into the innermost desires and bloodlust in one''s heart. Even if Duan Renli himself were to be beset by its effects in apletely defenseless state, he certainly wouldn''t have been able to regain full sanity and rationality so easily.
The fact that Han Li waspletely unaffected by this indicated that his spiritual sense was far more powerful than even Duan Renli''s!
Thus, one of the trump cards that Duan Renli had prepared was rendered useless from the get-go.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s body suddenly blurred as he shot forth through the air, flying directly toward Duan Renli.
Duan Renli gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and he quickly made a hand seal.
The sea of blood down below suddenly began to churn violently, and an enormous wave of blood abruptly raised to devour Duan Renli,
Han Li instantly stopped cold in his tracks upon seeing this, and he closed his eyes to release his immense spiritual sense, but his brows then immediately furrowed slightly.
This space seemed to be infinitely vast, and the sea of blood down below was also extremely strange. Even Han Li''s spiritual sense was only able to reach a depth of less than 200 feet in the sea of blood, making it impossible for him to find out where Duan Renli was hiding.
After a moment of contemtion, blue light shed through his eyes as he unleashed his Brightsight Spirit Eyes ability. [1]
Everything within several hundred feet beneath the surface of the sea of blood instantly became as clear as day, but beyond that was still just a vast expanse of murkiness that was impossible to see through.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce Cloud Crane Herb that he quickly devoured, then injected most of his spiritual power into his eyes, yet right as he was about to activate his spirit eyes ability to its fullest extent, an unexpected turn of events abruptly unfolded.
The surface of the sea of blood several thousand feet ahead of Han Li suddenly began to churn violently, and the viscous blood surged toward a certain direction, forming an enormous vortex that was rumbling incessantly.
Han Li immediately flew up to an altitude of over 1,000 feet upon seeing this, and only then did he lower his head to inspect the scene that was unfolding down below.
The center of the vortex was sshing loudly, and waves were churning and rolling as an enormous skeleton rose up from the depths.
The skeleton was over 1,000 feet tall, and all of its bones were of a translucent red color, as if it were entirely constructed from blood jade. Every single bone was riddled with countless profound runes, and at the top of the skeleton''s enormous head, nestled right between a pair of curved horns, sat Duan Renli''s nascent soul with its eyes closed and its legs crossed.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this.
All of a sudden, the nascent soul''s eyes sprang open, and it opened its mouth to release seven balls of blood essence in rapid session. At the same time, it was making a series of hand seals while chanting an incantation.
The balls of blood essence exploded into seven clouds of blood mist, which wrapped themselves around the nascent soul''s body, neck, and limbs like a nest of spirit snakes. Immediately thereafter, the blood mist began to radiate crimson radiance, epassing the nascent soul within a ball of crimson light.
All of a sudden, the crimson ball of light vanished into the skull of the skeleton.
Two balls of crimson light instantly appeared within the giant skeleton''s empty eye sockets, and all of the runes all over its body also lit up in unison.
Enormous waves were churning within the blood vortex down below, releasing bursts of viscous crimson light that rose up while revolving and intertwining, forming a corkscrew-shaped pir of blood that engulfed the entire skeleton.
Through the pir of blood, Han Li could see that the giant skeleton was gradually expanding even further in stature.
Shortly thereafter, the pir of blood receded like the tide, and the giant skeleton hadpletely vanished, reced by a terrifying ghostly creature that was over 1,000 feet tall. The creature had a pair of eyes that were as red as blood, and a pair of curved horns on its head, as well as a pair of dark purple bat wings on its back. Its entire body was covered in crimson fur, and evenpared with its enormous body, its limbs were disproportionately long.
As soon as it appeared, it immediately began to release an astonishing aura that was causing even the space around it to tremble and quiver violently.
"So this is the legendary Blood Heavenly Ghost that''s rumored to be from the Nether Realm? Interesting..." Han Li murmured to himself as he looked directly at the giant ghostly creature before him.
Right at this moment, the Blood Heavenly Ghost raised one of its arms, and a vast expanse of crimson mes erupted on its palm as it grabbed at Han Li from afar.
The sky above Han Li instantly dimmed as an enormous crimson ghostly w that was around an acre in size appeared overhead, then came swooping down with scorching crimson mes burning all over its surface.
Even before the giant w reached Han Li, a gust of ferocious wind had alreadye sweeping down, causing the sea of blood down below to ripple and churn violently.
In response, Han Li threw a punch directly upward, releasing a burst of tremendous force.
A resounding boom rang out, and the crimson ghostly w was instantly destroyed, exploding into specks of crimson light and scattered mes that scattered in all directions.
However, Han Li was also forced to stumble back a few steps before steadying himself, and a hint of surprise shed through his eyes.
The power imbued within the giant crimson w had exceeded his expectations.
The specks of crimson light that scattered through the air didn''t fade away. Instead, after scattering in all directions for a short distance, they suddenly stopped cold in their tracks, then converged and intertwined to form a ring of blood with a radius of several dozen feet. The ring then abruptly contracted, constricting tightly around Han Li.
Before Han Li had a chance to do anything, the Blood Heavenly Ghost beckoned to him, and the crimson ring around Han Li instantly flew toward it at an incredible speed. As a result, he was quickly drawn into the Blood Heavenly Ghost''s grasp, leaving only his head exposed.
"Let''s see how you''re going to get away now!" the Blood Heavenly Ghost cackled as it closed its other w around the one that was gripping Han Li, then tightened its grip with both ws.
Han Li immediately felt tremendous force constricting around him from all directions, and his bones were creaking incessantly. Even with his incredibly resolute physical body, he was struggling to withstand the pressure.
1. Can''t find where the Brightsight Spirit Eyes ability was first mentioned in RMJI, but essentially, it''s an ocr ability that significantly enhances one''s eyesight and allows the user to see hidden cultivators and restrictions. ?
Chapter 57: 12 Awakening Transformations
Chapter 57: 12 Awakening Transformations
A hint of surprise shed through the Blood Heavenly Ghost''s eyes, clearly taken aback by the fact that it was unable topletely pulverize Han Li''s body with its crushing grip.
However, it then harrumphed coldly as a series of thick crimson patterns appeared all over its body, and its arms bulged as it tightened its grip with all its might, determined to crush Han Li with brute force.
A pained look appeared on Han Li''s face, but his body remained as resolute as a piece of indestructible iron essence, refusing to be crushed no matter how much force the Blood Heavenly Ghost exerted.
Right at this moment, a burst of golden light suddenly erupted from Han Li''s body, and countless golden scales appeared over his skin, while five specks of blue light emerged on his chest and abdomen.
He then let loose a low roar as he spread his arms outward with all his might, resisting against the vice-like grip around him.
A stunned look appeared on the Blood Heavenly Ghost''s face as its fingers were slowly forced apart by Han Li.
With the space that was opened up around him, Han Li was able to fly out of the Blood Heavenly Ghost''s grasp as a streak of golden light. His body rapidly swelled in size mid-flight, and thick tufts of hard golden fur quickly grew over his entire body, while a pair of white tusks protruded out of his mouth.
In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a giant golden ape that was over 100 feet tall.
A violent aura erupted out of his body, and bursts of ck baleful qi were dancing around him.
"This is... a Giant Mountain Ape!" the Blood Heavenly Ghost eximed in a surprised voice.
The giant ape that Han Li had transformed into rushed back to over 1,000 feet away, then thumped its fists against its chest and let loose a long roar as it felt the tremendous strength coursing through its body.
Even though Han Li''s nascent soul had been sealed, the power of the true spirit bloodlines he had refined was still in his body, and upon recovering from all of his physical injuries, he was finally able to use his 12 Awakening Transformations again. [1]
Unleashing this ability instantly brought a flurry of memories flooding into his mind.
"It''s no wonder that you possess such incredible strength if you''re rted to this true spirit. I''ve been searching everywhere for someone like you, never did I think one would show up on my doorstep! If I can refine this Blood Heavenly Ghost g again with your blood, its powers will be sure to be greatly enhanced!" the Blood Heavenly Ghost cackled as itunched itself through the air.
It clenched its right w into a giant fist before throwing a punch at the golden ape, and a vast expanse of crimson light erupted from its fist.
The giant golden ape harrumphed coldly as it also retaliated with a punch of its own, releasing an enormous burst of golden radiance from its fist.
The two fists ofpletely iparable sizes shed, and an earth-shattering boom rang out across the entire sky, causing the sea of blood down below to tumble and churn violently.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost''s body shuddered, and it was sent flying back by the impact. Its right arm shattered with blood and flesh flying in all directions before disintegrating into a huge cloud of blood mist, revealing the translucent blood-jade-like arm bones inside.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost plummeted into the sea of blood down below, raising a gargantuan wave of blood.
In contrast, the giant golden ape only swayed slightly before steadying itself, then lowered its head to cast its gaze downward.
The surface of the sea of blood churned for a while before falling still again.
However, in the next instant, a resounding boom rang out, and the sea of blood behind the golden ape split apart violently.
Waves of blood surged in all directions as the Blood Heavenly Ghost emerged from the depths. At this point, its shattered arm had already fully healed, and its eyes were glowing brightly with crimson radiance, seemingly having beenpletely enraged by the resistance being disyed by the giant ape.
It reached down with one hand, and a vast wave of blood rose up from down below, transforming into a crimson spear that was 300 to 400 feet in length before falling into its grasp. The Blood Heavenly Ghost then quickly took aim at the giant golden ape before hurling the spear viciously through the air.
A sharp screeching sound instantly rang out, and the giant ape immediately turned around.
However, instead of retreating, it advanced toward the spear while swinging a huge furry hand down with tremendous force.
A deafening thump rang out, and the crimson spear had virtually only just left the Blood Heavenly Ghost''s grasp before it was swatted away, then shattered into countless pieces before disintegrating back into a wave of blood.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost was stunned to see this, and before it had a chance to take evasive measures, the giant golden ape had already reached within 1,000 feet of it beforeshing out with both of its golden fists.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost fought fire with fire, raising its left arm to withstand the attack.
A resounding boom rang out, and the Blood Heavenly Ghost was sent flying once again. The blood and flesh on the left half of its body had beenpletely destroyed, revealing the translucent bones within.
Right as the giant golden ape was about to give chase and press its advantage, an enormous wave suddenly rose up from the sea of blood down below, then transformed into a fearsome dragon''s head in the blink of an eye.
The dragon''s head opened its cavernous mouth before closing it in a sh, devouring the giant golden ape right as it was about to catch up to the Blood Heavenly Ghost.
Immediately thereafter, a blood dragon that was over 1,000 feet in length rose up from the sea of blood, coiling its massive body in the air as it released a vast cloud of blood mist.
Not far away, the Blood Heavenly Ghost had already steadied itself, and the runes on its bones were shing as bursts of viscous blood rose up from the sea of blood before intertwining themselves around the missing half of its body. New flesh instantly began to grow at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, squirming incessantly as it did so.
Taking advantage of the fact that the giant ape had been devoured by the blood dragon, the Blood Heavenly Ghost hurriedly made a hand seal while chanting a profound incantation.
Bright crimson light glowed within the giant dragon''s eyes as it instantly coiled its own body into a massive ball of blood. Crimson light was shing erratically from the surface of the ball of blood, and it was also rapidly expanding like a balloon.
A fierce look appeared on the Blood Heavenly Ghost''s face as it made one final hand seal, but right at this moment, countless golden threads of light suddenly pierced through a certain part of the enormous ball of blood, creating a massive bulge.
Immediately thereafter, a resounding thump rang out, and a burst of golden light flew out before hurtling directly toward the Blood Heavenly Ghost.
Enveloped within the golden light was none other than the giant golden ape.
It had only flown no more than 200 to 300 feet before an earth-shattering boom rang out, and the gigantic ball of blood exploded violently, forming an even more gargantuan ball of crimson light, which was still rapidly expanding in all directions at an rming rate.
Devastating shockwaves proliferated through the air, sending fierce gusts of wind sweeping through the surrounding area close to 10 kilometers in radius. Spatial ripples that were visible even to the naked eye appeared at the very epicenter of the explosion before fading in the blink of an eye.
The giant golden ape managed to break out of the ball of blood in time, but it was still partially caught in the explosion, and several tufts of its vibrant golden fur had been singed. Thankfully, the injuries that it had sustained didn''t appear to be very severe. If it weren''t for his fast reactions, even with his formidable physical body, he would''ve still suffered significant damage from the explosion.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost looked on at the rapidly approaching giant golden ape, and it pped its dark purple bat wings, instantly conjuring up two gusts of fierce wind beneath itself. Its enormous body then transformed into a blurry crimson shadow that retreated into the distance at an incredible speed that was far superior to that of the giant golden ape.
At this point, it was already clear to the Blood Heavenly Ghost that continuing to challenge the giant ape to a contest of strength was not a wise option.
A cold look appeared on the giant golden ape''s face upon seeing this.
The Giant Mountain Ape was renowned for its incredible strength, but its speed was ratherckluster, and there was no way that Han Li could catch the Blood Heavenly Ghost in this current form.
All of a sudden, the Blood Heavenly Ghost in the distance let loose a ghastly screech, and a series of bulges appeared in the sea of blood around the giant golden ape, each of which was several dozen feet in size.
Immediately thereafter, hundreds of crimson shadows shot out of the bulges before converging toward the golden ape from all directions.
It was a horde of crimson ghostly creatures, each with a single horn on its head. The creatures had green eyes and sharp ws, and clouds of blood mist were surging all around them.
The giant golden ape stopped in its tracks, and golden light began to radiate from its body. At the same time, it was rapidly shrinking in size and was quickly concealed within the clouds of blood mist around it.
In the next instant, a clear cry rang out, and countless bursts of azure light erupted out of the blood mist. Fierce gusts of azure wind then swept through the surrounding area to sweep the blood mist away, revealing a giant azure bird.
The bird was 70 to 80 feet in size with bright azure feathers and an azure feather crest on its head. Its wings were extremely wide, and when fully spread open, its wingspan exceeded the length of its body. There were also three long tail feathers trailing along behind it, giving it a majestic and mystical appearance.
With a vigorous p of its wings, the giant azure bird released countless gusts of fierce wind, leaving hundreds of azure streaks in its wake before shing into the oing horde of ghostly creatures.
Several dozen ghostly creatures were instantly sliced into shreds by the azure streaks, then exploded into clouds of blood mist.
The giant azure bird spread its wings once again, transforming into a blurry azure shadow that flew out of the encirclement of ghostly creatures in an extremely agile manner before racing toward the Blood Heavenly Ghost.
"This is... the Azure Luan Bird! Who are you?" the Blood Heavenly Ghost eximed, then hurriedly pped its wings as it fled the scene.
However, the azure shadow was astonishingly fast, and it reached the Blood Heavenly Ghost in the blink of an eye before flying past amid a sh of azure light.
Three huge wounds that were deep enough to expose bone instantly appeared on the Blood Heavenly Ghost''s chest, and blood erupted in all directions.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost reflexively turned around and raised its arms to retaliate, but by then, the azure shadow had already appeared behind it before shing past its back.
Three huge wounds were instantly inflicted onto the Blood Heavenly Ghost''s back, and blood sttered everywhere once again, while one of its bat wings waspletely severed.
A furious crimson glow appeared in the Blood Heavenly Ghost''s eyes, and it let loose an enraged roar as itshed out at the azure shadow with its powerful ws.
Countless crimson w projections were conjured up, then intertwined with one another to form a dense.
However, the azure shadow suddenly vanished on the spot, then appeared to the right of the Blood Heavenly Ghost in the next instant as if by instantaneous teleportation, then pounced like lightning once again.
Three more deep wounds appeared on the Blood Heavenly Ghost''s right arm, exposing its arm bones as blood erupted out of the wounds like a crimson fountain.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost let loose another furious roar as it attempted to retaliate, but unfortunately for it, it waspletely unable to keep up with the azure shadow''s speed.
A series of blurry azure shadows danced around the Blood Heavenly Ghost in a wraith-like manner, moving so rapidly that it was impossible to track with the naked eye.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost''s body was instantly riddled with wounds, and its movements had also be quite sluggish.
If it weren''t for the fact that the translucent bones in its body were extremely hard and resolute, it would''ve already been sliced into countless shreds.
A hint of fear finally shed through the Blood Heavenly Ghost''s eyes, and it threw its arms over its own head as it raced toward the sea of blood down below. At the same time, an enormous wave of viscous blood rose up to meet it.
Right at this moment, a clear cry rang out, and the azure shadow elerated even further, dancing around the Blood Heavenly Ghost at an unfathomable speed, leaving trails of afterimages in its wake.
Ferocious gusts of wind were swept up, and countless long azure streaks appeared within the wind, filling the surrounding area in a radius of several kilometers as they tore viciously at everything.
The wave of blood had only just begun to rise up before it was instantly struck by dozens of azure streaks, causing it to disintegrate and tumble back into the sea of blood.
1. For more information on the 12 Awakening Transformations, please refer to RMJI Chapter 1425: 12 Awakening Transformations. ?
Chapter 58: You Have My Thanks
Chapter 58: You Have My Thanks
A series of azure streaks appeared around the Blood Heavenly Ghost before rapidly forming an enormous azure cocoon that was slicing into its body from all directions, drawing blood with every single strike.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost was waving its arms frantically, but inplete futility. More and more chunks of flesh were torn out of its body, and whenever it tried to draw upon the sea of blood down below to recover from its injuries, it was always interrupted.
Only two or three seconds had passed since the emergence of the Azure Luan Bird, but the Blood Heavenly Ghost had already been reduced to nothing more than a giant crimson skeleton, just like when it had first appeared. Its entire body had beenpletely stripped of flesh with the exception of its head.
The ghostly creatures that were rushing in from the distance also disintegrated before they could reach the Azure Luan Bird due to insufficient magic power support.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost let loose a roar of fury and frustration as it began to spin around in mid-air, nning to find an opportunity to swoop down regardless of the consequences.
However, the Azure Luan Bird was only continuing to pick up in speed, and more and more azure streaks appeared in the air. Not only was the Blood Heavenly Ghost unable to descend toward the sea of blood, it was carried higher and higher up into the air by the gusts of fierce wind swept up by the countless azure streaks.
One azure streak after another struck the crimson skeleton in a relentless assault, and the crimson light radiating from the skeleton was slowly beginning to dim.
All of a sudden, yet another azure streak shed past, and a faint crack rang out as a tiny crack finally appeared on the forearm of the giant skeleton.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost''s pupils contracted drastically upon seeing this, and it hurriedly yelled, "Stop! I surrender!"
The azure shadow that was rapidly revolving around its body finally drew to a halt upon hearing this, reverting back into a giant azure bird over 100 feet away. It folded its wings against its sides, then stared intently at the Blood Heavenly Ghost with bright blue light shing in its eyes.
The countless azure streaks in the air instantly faded, as did the ferocious storm of wind.
The Blood Heavenly Ghost heaved a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this, then immediately flew toward the sea of blood before plunging into its depths.
Momentster, a ck-robed figure emerged from the sea of blood, and it was none other than Duan Renli.
His face was looking rather pale and weary, and it was clear that he had expended a great deal of energy during the battle.
The Azure Luan Bird rapidly shrank down upon seeing this, quickly reverting back into Han Li''s human form.
The two of them exchanged a nce, and Han Li wore a faint smile, while Duan Renli was looking less than thrilled.
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Inside the Devilish me Valley.
The four Body Integration cultivators were gathered in one corner of the valley, while Liu Le''er was standing at the other end of the valley with the silver of mes around her.
All of them were looking up at the sky, where an enormous crimson cloud was overlooking virtually the entire valley.
A giant crimson g was just barely visible within the cloud, asionally releasing bursts of harrowing crimson light.
Liu Le''er was looking on with an anxious expression, while the four Body Integration cultivators were quite rxed, and they were asionally casting sinister nces her way, further exacerbating her unease.
As high-grade cultivators of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, they were well aware of just how powerful this Blood Heavenly Ghost g was.
The g had been inherited from one of the ascended patriarchs of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, Patriarch Bone me, and there was a heavenly ghost sealed within it. It was said that this heavenly ghost was a ghostly monarch formed by a deceased immortal, and that it had been captured from the Nether Realm.
The g was passed down between generations of supreme elders, and it was nurtured by the blood essence of those supreme elders. Throughout its history, it had also been refined using special blood essence on countless asions, thereby further elevating its powers.
Out of all of the Grand Ascension cultivators of the Spirit Domain Realm, Duan Renli could only be considered to be in the middle of the pack. However, everything was different in the space within the g.
It was true that Han Li was incredibly powerful, particrly when it came to his physical body, but his fate was already sealed from the moment he was drawn into the space within the g.
"It''s already been close to an hour. I''m sure that Han Li must''ve already been reduced to food for the heavenly ghost at this point. That little demon fox is really annoying to look at, how about we kill her now?" the purple-bearded man suggested as he cast his gaze toward Liu Le''er.
Not only had Han Li taken one of his most powerful treasures, he had also embarrassed him in front of Duan Renli. He was unable to exact his revenge on Han Li, so he was naturally eager to take out his anger on Liu Le''er.
The woman in red hesitated momentarily, then said, "There''s no hurry, Elder Lu. In my opinion, we should still wait for Martial Uncle Duan toe out before making a decision."
"I agree. The silver me around that little demon fox is no ordinary me. It''s capable of even devouring the Ninth Heaven Devilish me, and it seems to be some type of mutated true me. I also think we should wait, just to be safe," the hunch-backed elderly man said with a contemtive expression.
The one-eyed man was staring intently up at the giant crimson cloud in the sky with his arms crossed, seemingly unable to even hear the conversation taking ce around him.
The purple-bearded man''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he still nodded reluctantly in agreement.
The four Body Integration cultivators made no effort to conceal their conversation, so Liu Le''er was naturally able to hear everything. She couldn''t help but shudder in fear as she pressed her back tightly against the rock face behind her, and her face instantly becamepletely devoid of color.
All of a sudden, the one-eyed man broke his silence. "Looks like it''s finally over."
Everyone immediately turned to look up at the sky in unison upon hearing this.
The massive crimson cloud churned violently before splitting apart down the center topletely reveal the huge crimson g.
The four Body Integration cultivators were all a little perplexed by what they saw.
The giant crimson g was still radiating dazzling crimson light, but the massive ghostly head on the surface of the g seemed to have dimmed slightlypared with before.
Before they had a chance to ponder this any further, two streaks of light flew out of the g beforending on the ground down below.
The streaks of light then faded to reveal Han Li and Duan Renli, who were standing across from one another.
Duan Renli stood with his hands sped behind his back, watching Han Li with a cold gaze.
Han Li was looking right back at him with a calm smile on his face.
"Brother Rock!"
Tears instantly welled up in Liu Le''er''s eyes as she rushed toward Han Li as quickly as she could.
However, she was already injured and suffering from magic power overexertion, so she was a little unsteady on her feet. Before she could reach Han Li, she tripped over her own feet and flew through the air.
Right at this moment, she felt herself being carried up by a burst of gentle, invisible force, following which her surroundings blurred, and before she knew it, she was already by Han Li''s side.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the silver of fire around Liu Le''er reverted back into a silver fire raven before vanishing into his body.
Liu Le''er opened her mouth to say something, but she suddenly sensed that the atmosphere was a little strange, so she immediately decided against saying anything as she stood off to the side in an obedient manner.
The four Body Integration cultivators had thought that there would be nothing left of Han Li at this point, yet not only was he alive and well, he appeared to be as calm and collected as ever, and all four of them werepletely rooted to the spot, unsure of what to make of the situation.
Only after a long while did the four of them return to their senses, and they exchanged a few uncertain nces, wanting to ask about the oue of the battle, but not daring to do so.
Right at this moment, Duan Renli suddenly broke the silence. "Fetch me 50 kilograms of Yin Dawn Stone."
His voice was quite calm, and it wasn''t very loud, but it was no different from a rumbling thunderp in the ears of the four Body Integration cultivators.
Even though they had already guessed the oue, they were still left inplete disbelief.
It was clear from what Duan Renli was saying that he had lost.
He was one of the two supreme elders of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, a Grand Ascension cultivator who stood at the pinnacle of the Spirit Domain Realm, yet he had been defeated by thispletely unremarkable-looking young man.
Furthermore, the defeat had been suffered in the space within the Blood Heavenly Ghost g.
"Do I need to repeat myself?" Duan Renli, and his voice was still as calm as ever, but there was clearly something brewing beneath the calm facade.
The four Body Integration cultivators shuddered upon hearing this, and the purple-bearded man and the woman in red hurriedly turned before flying out of the valley.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Duan," Han Li said with a faint smile.
Duan Renli took a cold nce at Han Li, then stowed the giant crimson g away with a wave of his hand before flying away as a streak of ck light, quickly vanishing out of sight.
¡¡
A short whileter, in the main hall on the Cloudrise Peak of the Cold me Sect.
"I had a feeling that he was no ordinary person, but never did I think that he would be so powerful that even Duan Renli of the Heavenly Ghost Sect is no match for him," Nangong Changshan said with a wry smile as he sat on the main seat in the hall.
"Thankfully, he''s not an enemy of our Cold me Sect," Luo Jun sighed with aplex expression.
"Both the Heavenly Talisman Hall and scripture library incidents took ce after Elder Han came to our Cloudrise Peak. If you ask me, he was most likely responsible for both, but there''s no way we could''ve possibly suspected him before this," Nangong Changshan mused.
Luo Jun nodded in response. He had clearly already arrived at the same conclusion, but he didn''t dwell on this matter any further. Instead, he quickly changed the subject.
"The Heavenly Ghost Sect has been extremely tight-lipped about what happened, but there''s no way they could''ve kept it a secret given the magnitude of the incident. Apparently, many of the sects that were originally more inclined toward the Heavenly Ghost Sect and the Origin Realm Temple have disyed intentions of defecting to us."
"Indeed. Valley Master Yu of the Serene Prosperity Valley and Mountain Master Zhao of the Idle Mountain have both sent letters to our sect master requesting a private audience. In reality, these people just want to see Elder Han and verify his powers for themselves. Only then can they make a decision whether to join our Cold me Sect or not.
¡°Unfortunately for them, Elder Han went into seclusion not long after his return, and the supreme elder released an order, prohibiting anyone from disturbing Elder Han for any reason," Nangong Changshan said.
Luo Jun nodded in response with a contemtive expression and didn''t say anything further.
The hall was silent for a moment before Nangong Changshan suddenly asked, "Elder Luo, what do you think of Elder Han?"
Luo Jun''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. In the past, he would''ve feltfortable freely sharing his opinion, but now, he was rather hesitant.
Only after some extensive contemtion did he reply with a cautious expression, "I haven''t had much interaction with Elder Han. Back when Martial Niece Gu first brought him into the sect, I didn''t notice anything particrly remarkable about him aside from the fact that he''s a powerful body cultivator. The more I think back now, the more I realize just how careful and calcted he is. Having said that, he doesn''t seem to be a cold and uncaring person."
"Oh? What makes you think that?" Nangong Changshan asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"The sect master once asked Elder Han to move into the cave abode on the Holy Fire Peak neighboring the supreme elder''s cave abode, but he refused, saying that he was satisfied with his current cave abode and didn''t want to go through the hassle of moving.
¡°I feel like it goes deeper than that, almost as if he''s trying to do our Cloudrise Peak a favor. After all, with someone so powerful staying at our Cloudrise Peak, the status of our peak will be greatly elevated in the sect," Luo Jun exined.
Nangong Changshan nodded in agreement upon hearing this. "That is indeed true. Come to think of it, Martial Niece Gu made a significant contribution in introducing Elder Han into our sect. From now on, double the amount of cultivation resources annually allocated to her."
"Yes, Peak Master," Luo Jun hurriedly replied.
Chapter 59: Borrowing the Star Gathering Platform
Chapter 59: Borrowing the Star Gathering tform
Several dayster, in a cave abode garden halfway up the Cloudrise Peak.
A beautiful young woman in a ptial dress with skin as fair as snow was slowly walking along half a step behind a tall white-robed woman.
These two were none other than Yu Menghan and Gu Yunyue.
"Thinking back to what you said back then, Elder Han''s origins really are a mystery. On the way back to the sect, it had already be apparent to me that he was far more powerful than he let on, but it appears I still severely underestimated him," Gu Yunyue said with a wry smile.
"I wonder when or if I''ll ever reach his level," Yu Menghan sighed as a hint of longing appeared in her eyes.
"Striving for the path of immortality in a limited lifespan is already a pursuit that goes against the natural order. Aptitude is important, but luck and fate are even more vital. That''s why countless people have cultivated their entire lives without even reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage, let alone the Core Formation Stage and beyond.
¡°I''ve already been cultivating for over 500 years, and at this point, I''ve spent over a century stuck at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage. Perhaps there''s a slim ray of hope for me to reach the Deity Transformation Stage someday, but the Spatial Tempering Stage is almost certainly out of reach.
¡°As for the Body Integration Stage and the Grand Ascension Stage, I wouldn''t even dare to think about such lofty aspirations," Gu Yunyue said as she raised her head to look up at the sky with a slightly dejected expression.
A hint of mncholy also appeared in Yu Menghan''s eyes upon hearing this.
Gu Yunyue withdrew her gaze before turning to Yu Menghan, then continued, "Given my limited aptitude, this is most likely as far as I''ll go in my cultivation journey. However, you possess a spirit body constitution and exceptional learning ability. In just two short years since you''ve joined our sect, you''ve already reached the Foundation Establishment Stage.
¡°Barring any mishaps, you''ll be sure to achieve greater things than I will in your cultivation, and there may even be a chance for you to reach the Spatial Tempering Stage and beyond."
"It''s all thanks to your unreserved teachings and all of the precious pills you''ve bestowed upon me, Master. I am eternally grateful to you," Yu Menghan said in an earnest voice.
"Thanks to Elder Han, you won''t have to worry about pills or resources for a very long time toe," Gu Yunyue replied.
Yu Menghan''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.
"Come to think of it, I visited Elder Han once in the past two years, but at this point, his cave abode has already been marked down as a forbidden zone of the sect, so I most likely won''t be able to visit him again," Gu Yunyue sighed with a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
¡¡
Not long after that, the Cloudrise Peak of the Cold me Sect suddenly epted a vagrant cultivator as an outer court disciple. The cultivator in question possessed mediocre aptitude, and even though he was already at an advanced age, he was only at the Core Formation Stage, so he didn''t fulfill the recruitment criteria at all. As a result, there were a lot of dissenting voices that arose among the disciples of the sect in response to this decision.
That was until it became known that this cultivator by the name of Daoist White Stone was an acquaintance of Elder Han. In the wake of this revtion, all of the dissenting voices instantly subsided, and many people in the sect, including even elders from other peaks with far superior cultivation bases, began to approach Daoist White Stone in an attempt to befriend him, but that was another story.
Over a month quickly passed by.
On the main peak of the Origin Realm Temple, the Heaven Worship Peak, there was an ovr pond that was as green and translucent as jade. The pond contained an abundance of spiritual qi, which formed ayer of dense white mist over the surface of the water.
A shimmering golden carp would asionally leap out of the water, and around a dozen elegant red-crested cranes were ying joyfully beside the pond while pecking at the spirit grass growing around the pond.
All of a sudden, a streak of purple light flew through the air beforending beside the pond in a sh.
The purple light faded to reveal a tall and broad man, wearing a purple daoist robe that was embroidered with a purple pattern. The man appeared to be around 40 to 50 years of age with a long ck beard trailing down from his chin, giving him a rather mystical and ethereal appearance.
As soon as hended on the ground, he took a quick nce at the cranes beside the pond, then cast his gaze toward the moss-covered stone wall on the other side of the pond.
With a flick of his wrist, a voice transmission talisman flew out of his sleeve, then flew into the rock face before vanishing in a sh.
Momentster, ayer of golden light shed over the stone face, following which an opening that was as tall as a grown man appeared down the center of the stone wall.
The purple-robed man didn''t hesitate in the slightest before flying into the opening.
Within the stone face was an extremely spacious stone chamber.
Inside the chamber was a three-level tall tform, with profound patterns engraved all over eachyer. There were also a series of strange-looking yellownterns ced all over the tform, forming a peculiar array that was releasing astonishing spiritual power fluctuations.
At the very center of the top level of the tform sat a portly man who was seated on a futon. He was wearing a loose-fitting golden robe that left arge section of his chest exposed, and he resembled a small mountain of flesh from afar.
The purple-robed man extended a respectful bow toward the "meat mountain", then reported, "Supreme Elder, we''ve just received a message from the Cold me Sect, stating that Elder Han of their sect wishes to use our Star Gathering tform for cultivation, and they''ve promised us handsomepensation in return. Should we..."
The golden-robed man didn''t immediately reply. Instead, he pondered the notion for a moment before replying in a slow and deliberate voice, "I asked you to investigate his identity and history. How is thating along?"
His voice was extremely loud and resonant, and it was reverberating throughout the stone chamber.
"All we managed to find out is that he suddenly appeared in the Prosperous Nation two years ago, and he became a guest elder not long after he entered the Cold me Sect. However, during this time, he''s always kept a low profile and remained unnoticed, so we only became aware of his existence after what happened in the Heavenly Ghost Sect," the purple-robed man replied.
"It''s fine. If I were Sima Jingming, I would definitely have kept the existence of that man a secret. What has the Heavenly Ghost Sect been up to recently?" the golden-robed man asked.
"After the incident, everyone in the Heavenly Ghost Sect has been keeping a very low profile. They haven''t expressed any displeasure or any intention to seek revenge," the purple-robed man replied.
"There''s no way the two supreme elders of the Heavenly Ghost Sect would simply let something like this slide. We just need to wait and see," the golden-robed man scoffed, clearly unconvinced by this answer.
"Then about that request to borrow the Star Gathering tform..." the purple-robed man said in a hesitant voice.
"The request is being made by someone with Grand Ascension Stage power, so it''s best not to get on his bad side. Agree to his request for now," the golden-robed man decided after some deliberation.
The purple-robed man''s brows furrowed slightly, and he hesitated momentarily, then said, "Truth be told, the grand elders of our temple are a little concerned about this. They''re afraid that Elder Han would be even more powerful after cultivating in the Star Gathering tform, and once that happens, our Origin Realm Temple will fall below the Cold me Sect in the pecking order.
¡°On top of that, activating the Star Gathering tform requires a great deal of Starwash Stone expenditure. We''re already having to be very conservative in using the Starwash Stones on the top disciples of our sect, it''s truly a shame if we have to use those precious stones on an outsider."
"Tell them that their concerns are unnecessary. It''s not so easy for a Grand Ascension Stage being to further their powers. On top of that, he''s the one requesting to borrow our Star Gathering tform, so the Cold me Sect will naturally be responsible for covering all of the expenses involved," the golden-robed man replied with a nonchnt smile.
"Yes, Supreme Elder!" the purple-robed man replied in a respectful manner.
¡¡
Two monthster, at the Origin Realm Temple.
There was a lush, winding mountain range with cotton-like clouds drifting through the sky, and the asional crane and spirit bird could also be spotted, presenting a serene and prosperous sight to behold.
At the very center of the mountain range was a mountain that was far taller than all those around it, stretching all the way up into the clouds.
The peak of the mountain wasden with giant rocks, and spiritual qi was permeating through the air, but there wasn''t much nt life present. At the very center was a nine-level tform that was shaped like a round pagoda. It was entirely of a translucent white color, as if it had been constructed from jade.
A group of brown-robed elderly men was seated around the tform with their legs crossed and their eyes closed.
As nighttime approached, the light of the setting sun shone down from the heavens, basking the rocks on the mountain peak in a warm orange glow and reflecting a dreamy and ethereal radiance off the white jade tform.
Right at this moment, two streaks of light suddenly sped through the distant sky, thennded at the foot of the tform to reveal a pair of figures.
The brown-robed elderly men who were seated around the tform all rose to their feet before making their way over to the two men, one of whom was the golden-robed meat mountain of a man, and they all extended respectful bows as they greeted in unison, "We pay our respects to the supreme elder."
The group of elderly men then turned their attention toward the unfamiliar young man next to the golden-robed man.
That young man was naturally none other than Han Li, who hade to borrow the Star Gathering tform.
The golden-robed man remained silent as he waved a dismissive hand, and the four elderly men immediately returned to their original positions.
"Fellow Daoist Han, these four are the guardians of the Star Gathering tform. There''s only one Body Integration cultivator, while the other three are only at the Spatial Tempering Stage, but they''ve been working together for many years and are extremelypetent. With these four overseeing proceedings, you can rest assured that you''ll be safe here," the golden-robed man said with a smile.
Han Li naturally didn''t want there to be any bystanders from the Origin Realm Temple present during his cultivation, but he knew that this was not something that he could refuse. Hence, he smiled as he replied, "You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain."
"Night is about to fall soon, so I won''t dy your cultivation, Fellow Daoist Han. If you have any requests, feel free to raise them to those four," the golden-robed man said, then cupped his fist toward Han Li in a parting salute before flying away as a streak of light, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Han Li watched as the golden-robed man departed, then quickly inspected his surroundings before arriving at the staircase of the Star Gathering tform, but he wasn''t in a hurry to scale it.
The four elderly men around the tform were already beginning to make hand seals while chanting incantations.
Circles of hidden runes lit up around the four men, and a golden light barrier that epassed the entire Star Gathering tform appeared.
At the same time, a small opening that was onlyrge enough to fit one person emerged in front of Han Li.
Blue light shed through his eyes, and he determined that even though the light barrier was giving off powerful spiritual power fluctuations, it was only a protective array, so he strode in through the opening without any qualms.
As soon as Han Li stepped through the opening, it immediately sealed shut, following which the light barrier fused into the air and vanished.
As Han Li set foot on the staircase, a burst of peculiar spiritual power fluctuations immediately swept through the surrounding area.
Han Li was rather intrigued by this, and he looked down to find that the stone staircase beneath his feet and the ground around him were riddled with tiny pits that would''ve been impossible to see without paying close attention.
He activated his spirit eyes ability momentarily to find that there was faint silver light shing at the bottom of all of the tiny pits, and they were left behind from all of the starpower exposure that had umted over the course of countless years.
There were also many diagrams engraved onto the Star Gathering tform that were connected by lines and circles. Some of them were extremely simple, consisting of only three to five diagrams, while others were moreplex, consisting of clusters thatprised around a dozen diagrams each.
As Han Li scaled the staircase and inspected all of the diagrams, he gradually came to understand that these diagrams were all corresponding with the constetions in the sky.
Chapter 60: Wanted
Chapter 60: Wanted
Han Li continued to scale the staircase all the way until he reached the top of the Star Gathering tform, and only at the very center of the tform''s top level was he able to find a diagram of the Big Dipper.
He briefly inspected the diagram before sitting down with his legs crossed, then raised his head to look up at the sky, upon which he discovered that the heavens had already taken on a dark blue hue, and several stars had already appeared.
He closed his eyes and began to meditate in silence.
Around two hourster, Han Li''s eyes sprang open, and he gently uttered the word, "begin".
The four brown-robed elderly men around the tform each flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized Starwash Stone upon hearing this, then pressed the stones into the indentations on the ground before them.
The four stones cracked in unison as bursts of white light rose up from the indentations, flowing along the runes and patterns engraved into the ground to quickly reach the Star Gathering tform.
All nine levels of the tform instantly began to glow brightly while taking on a translucent appearance, and the constetion diagrams engraved onto the tform also began to radiate dazzling silver light. From afar, the tform resembled a miniature version of the night sky, and it was a breathtaking sight to behold.
At the same time, the stars in the sky were also bing brighter and brighter, as if they were resonating with the tform, and boundless silver starlight rained down from the heavens like a faint silver mist that epassed the entire Star Gathering tform.
Han Li was situated within the silver mist, and it was as if he were seated among the stars.
He could feel a burst of vast yet gentle starpower surging all around him, and he took a moment to concentrate before making a hand seal and chanting the incantation for the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
A dull thump rang out within his body, and six extremely thick pirs of white light cascaded down from the night sky.
All six pirs of light shone down around Han Li, and the starpower that the pirs of light contained was downright astonishing.
Countless threads of translucent light emerged from the pirs of light, then abruptly straightened before piercing directly toward Han Li like countless steel needles.
At the same time, the faint silver mist that epassed the entire Star Gathering tform also began to rapidly surge as if it had been stirred up somehow.
Countless silver fragments of light began to swirl around under the influence of a burst of immense force, forming a silver vortex of light that was over 100 feet tall above the Star Gathering tform.
The starpower that had been extremely gentle just a moment ago had suddenly be extremely violent.
After being epassed within the vortex, the six pirs of light brightened and expanded considerably, and the starpower surging into them also increased by severalfold.
However, at the same time, the pain that Han Li was having to bear was also significantly more excruciating.
His robes were instantly soaked with blood, and countless threads of starlight were constantly piercing into his skin. The blood that flowed out of his body was swept up by the power of the silver vortex of light, forming a murky blood mist that enveloped his entire body.
The four brown-robed elderly men around the Star Gathering tform were astonished to see this. Out of all of the many years that they had been stationed here, never had they seen such violent starpower, nor had they ever witnessed such a brutal and direct way of funneling starpower into one''s body.
In the face of such an enormous amount of starpower, even a Body Integration cultivator would be struggling just to keep themselves alive.
However, right at this moment, a burst of light suddenly appeared at Han Li''s waist, following which six palm-sized ck mirrors suddenly emerged before flying toward the six pirs of light.
The round mirrors were enshrouded in clouds of ck qi, and there were runes shing faintly on their surfaces. These were none other than the Starmoon Mirrors that he had refined using the Yin Dawn Stones that he had secured from the Heavenly Ghost Sect.
As soon as the six mirrors fell into position, ck light immediately surged over them, following which countless tiny runes erupted forth in a frenzy, forming an incredibly thick and dazzling pir of light that shot straight up into the night sky.
"He''s going to enhance the starpower even further? That''s incredible!" the Body Integration Stage brown-robed elderly man murmured to himself in an astonished voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, six of the stars in the Big Dipper Origin Arts abruptly brightened significantly, and a vast expanse of dazzling silver radiance appeared in the air, then flowed into the silver vortex in a frenzy.
¡¡
Half a yearter, in a stone chamber on the Heaven Worship Peak.
The golden-robed Daoist Closed Mountain was seated with his eyes closed and his legs crossed on the third level of the tform, making hand seals and chanting incessantly.
All of a sudden, his chanting ceased, and he hurriedly rose to his feet.
A gust of wind swept into the stone chamber without warning, and in its wake, mes were ignited in several dozen yellownterns on the tform. Wisps of white smoke slowly rose up into the air, converging to form a cloud of white mist.
The surface of the mist blurred momentarily before an elderly figure with a lotus crown on his head emerged. The figure wasn''t very tall or imposing, and he was wearing a golden daoist robe.
"Wee, Patriarch Clear Bright!" Daoist Closed Mountain greeted in a respectful voice as he fell to his knees and kowtowed to the ground.
"No need for formalities. I descended today because I have a few things that I need you to do," the elderly daoist priest said.
Daoist Closed Mountain returned to his feet, standing with his hands by his sides as he asked, "What are your instructions, Patriarch?"
"The Clear Origin Stones that you offeredst time were of a very good quality. I''ll be requiring another batch within the next 10 years," the elderly daoist priest said.
"Yes, Patriarch."
"I''ve recently developed some new insights and made some adjustments to the Profound Star Observation Arts that I created. Take this improved version and put it in the scripture library..."
The elderly daoist priest delegated several instructions in session, all of which Daoist Closed Mountain agreed to without any hesitation.
After that, the elderly daoist priest continued, "On top of all of that, there''s an important matter that you need to attend to carefully."
A serious look appeared on Daoist Closed Mountain''s face upon hearing this, and he waited in silence for further boration.
The elderly daoist priest swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a sheet of paper that was around a foot in size, which drifted over to Daoist Closed Mountain.
"If you find out any information on this man, report it to me immediately," the elderly daoist priest instructed in an imcable voice.
Daoist Closed Mountain epted the sheet of paper before taking a look, and a hint of surprise immediately shed through his eyes.
The sheet of paper bore the portrait of a young man, and it was none other than Han Li.
"Is there something wrong?" the elderly daoist priest asked.
"Patriarch, this man is in our temple right now!" Daoist Closed Mountain hurriedly replied.
The elderly daoist priest''s expression remained unchanged, but a hint of urgency crept into his voice as he asked, "Are you sure it''s him?"
Daoist Closed Mountain hesitated momentarily, then replied in a certain voice, "The man in this portrait ispletely identical to the man I''m referring to. There''s no mistaking it, it''s definitely him!"
The elderly daoist priest nodded in response, then asked, "Why is he in our Origin Realm Temple right now?"
"Please forgive me, Patriarch. This man is a guest elder of the Cold me Sect, and..." Daoist Closed Mountain quickly provided a detailed ount of everything that he knew about Han Li.
A contemtive look appeared on the elderly daoist priest''s face, and he remained silent for a long while.
Sweat was beginning to bead up on Daoist Closed Mountain''s forehead, but he didn''t dare to make a sound and could only wait in silence.
"This man is most likely a descended immortal, and there''s currently a huge reward on his head in the Immortal Realm. Don''t alert anyone prematurely, wait for me to make some arrangements. Before the arrangements areplete, make sure that he remained in our Origin Realm Temple no matter what," the elderly daoist priest instructed with a serious expression.
"Yes, Patriarch," Daoist Closed Mountain immediately answered.
¡¡
In a certain region of the sea in the Immortal Realm.
The seawater here was as ck as ink, and these turbulent ck waves stretched on for as far as the eyes could see in all directions.
Close to 100 ck mountains were hovering in the air above the ck sea, atop which stood a series of giant ck octagonal pagodas.
These pagodas varied drastically in height, with the tallest ones stretching to over 100,000 feet in height, while the shortest ones were only around 1,000 feet tall. However, all of them were identical in their inky-ck color and their octagonal shape.
In a hall at the top of one of the smaller ck pagodas sat Daoist Clear Bright in front of a square altar.
There was a white array that was giving off bright white radiance hovering above the altar.
Daoist Clear Bright cast an incantation seal toward the array, and the white glow that it was emitting immediately faded.
He then cast his gaze directly forward, and even though he waspletely still, it was clear that he was pondering something.
After a long while, he finally gritted his teeth and made a decision, then flipped a hand over to produce a translucent crystal bead, which he tossed into the air in front of him.
An incantation seal was cast into the bead, and countless tiny runes instantly appeared over its surface, forming a slowly revolving array that was around a foot in size.
With each second that past, the array would ripple once.
Time slowly passed by, and nothing had changed even after 15 minutes.
However, Daoist Clear Bright remained patient and continued to wait.
Only after a half hour had passed did the array suddenly light up, and a projection of a tiny ck figure within it. It was a ck-robed man with a wide face and forehead, but he was as thin as a stick and hisplexion was of a sickly yellow color.
"It''s been over 1,000 years since west met, but you''re still looking not a day older, Layman Bone me," Daoist Clear Bright greeted as he cupped his fist in a salute with a warm smile on his face.
However, Layman Bone me clearly wasn''t that thrilled to see Daoist Clear Bright, and he said in an impatient voice, "If you have something to say, then hurry up. And keep it short."
"Are you at ck Water City at the moment? I have a brilliant opportunity to present to you," Daoist Clear Bright said in a mysterious voice.
"Go ahead," Layman Bone me prompted in an indifferent voice.
"I presume you''ve also received the wanted notice from the Ubiquitous Pavilion, right?" Daoist Clear Bright asked.
"Why are you asking me that? Could it be that you have information on the wanted fugitive?" Layman Bone me asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"That''s right! That man is currently in the Spirit Domain Realm!" Daoist Clear Bright replied.
Layman Bone me''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he confirmed with a cautious expression, "Really?"
"All you need to do to verify the authenticity of my im is to contact your disciples in the Spirit Domain Realm," Daoist Clear Bright said.
Layman Bone me''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this. "Are you suggesting..."
"That''s right. This is an unmissable opportunity for us. I suggest our two sects join forces to capture the fugitive, then split the reward from the Ubiquitous Pavilion evenly among us. What do you say?" Daoist Clear Bright proposed.
Chapter 61: Undercurrents
Chapter 61: Undercurrents
Layman Bone me pondered the proposal for a moment, then said in a calm manner, "The fact that this man is wanted by the Ubiquitous Pavilion indicates that he must be quite a formidable cultivator. Even if his powers will be suppressed in a lower realm, surely he''s not someone that two or three Grand Ascension Stage beings can capture."
"There''s no need to worry about that, Fellow Daoist. ording to what I''ve heard, that man is currently severely injured and far from the peak of his powers, so he''s only slightly more powerful than the average Grand Ascension Stage being," Daoist Clear Bright replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Even so, it''s still too risky to get our sects in the lower realm to deal with an immortal. I think it''s much safer for us to wait until he leaves the Spirit Domain Realm, then capture him in person," Layman Bone me said after a brief silence.
"I feel like this is something that shouldn''t be dyed. The fact that the Ubiquitous Pavilion is offering such arge reward for him indicates that he must be harboring some type of secret. Even if that isn''t the case, the reward is still worth taking the risk for," Daoist Clear Bright said in a voice that was filled with temptation.
Layman Bone me fell silent upon hearing this, and it seemed that he really was tempted by the offer.
Only after some contemtion did he reply, "Alright, I will consider this. If everything is truly as you say, then I''m happy for our two sects to work together. As for the specific details, we''ll establish everything once I return to ck Water City."
"I look forward to it," Daoist Clear Bright said with a smile.
¡¡
Several dayster, in arge hall deep within the Origin Realm Temple.
The hall waspletely empty with the exception of a jade tform at the very center, upon which was a teleportation array that was over 100 feet in size.
The teleportation array was buzzing and glowing brightly with dazzling white light.
At this moment, Daoist Closed Mountain was standing in front of the array, watching it in an expressionless manner, seemingly waiting for something.
Momentster, the white light being released by the teleportation array swelled momentarily before shrinking, and circles of runes appeared within the array before releasing dazzling white radiance.
Once the light faded, two figures, one tall and one short, emerged.
The shorter of the two figures was a ck-robed elderly man with a bald spot on his head. His hands were sped behind his back, which was slightly hunched, and the top of his head wasn''t even level with the shoulder of the person next to him. His face was as dark as unrefined iron, and he was giving off an extremely cold and sinister aura.
The other man was a refined ck-robed figure, and it was none other than Duan Renli.
"Wee, Fellow Daoist Tong, Fellow Daoist Duan. It is truly an honor for our Origin Realm Temple to be hosting both of you today. You two still look as fit as ever. In particr, I can sense that Fellow Daoist Tong has made significant strides in his cultivation base. This is truly worthy of celebration!" Daoist Closed Mountain said with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute.
The hunch-backed elderly man was the other Grand Ascension Stage being of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, Tong Ren''e. Not only did he possess the most advanced cultivation base in the Heavenly Ghost Sect, he was also arguably the number one cultivator in the entire Spirit Domain Realm.
However, he had a very reclusive personality and was normally always away from the sect. No one knew exactly where he stayed in seclusion.
The elderly man merely nodded in Daoist Closed Mountain as a greeting, while Duan Renli returned Daoist Closed Mountain''s salute with a faint smile. "Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain."
"This is not the ce to talk, Fellow Daoists. Let''s go to the side hall," Daoist Closed Mountain as he made an inviting hand gesture before leading the way.
Momentster, the three of them arrived in a side hall before taking their seats.
"Where is that Han Li right now, Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain?" Tong Ren''e immediately cut straight to the chase as soon as he sat down.
His voice was extremely coarse and piercing, like pieces of rusty metal scraping together, and it seemed as if he hadn''t spoken with anyone in a long time.
"Truth be told, Han Li is currently on the Star Gathering tform of our temple. He''s already been here for half a year, and he hasn''t left the tform even for a moment since his arrival," Daoist Closed Mountain replied.
"Why is an immortal like him using the Star Gathering tform? Do you know the underlying reasons, Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain?" Duan Renli asked with a cautious expression.
"I''ve thought about this myself, and I''ve watched him cultivate from afar on many a night. On top of that, I assigned a Body Integration cultivator of our sect to constantly remain at the tform to oversee proceedings. Judging from the state of his cultivation and the phenomena being triggered, he''s most likely practicing some type of special body refinement cultivation art," Daoist Closed Mountain replied after a moment of contemtion.
"That man''s physical body is already incredibly powerful, and he''s also able to transform into the Giant Mountain Ape and Azure Luan Bird true spirits using some type of strange secret technique, yet he''s still continuing to refine his physical body? Could it be that he''s a Profound Immortal who fled into our Spirit Domain Realm?" Duan Renli spected as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Perhaps. ording to what I was told by Patriarch Clear Bright, he was severely wounded and lost his immortal body. Now that he''s in a lower realm, his powers will also be greatly suppressed, so he can only be considered to be a Faux Immortal at the moment," Daoist Closed Mountain said.
"Even a Faux Immortal is still far beyond the average Grand Ascension Stage being. It''s always best to err on the side of caution," Tong Ren''e said in a wary voice.
"I fully agree, Fellow Daoist Tong. This is an extremely important matter, and we need to devise a thorough strategy, which is why I''ve invited the two of you here today," Daoist Closed Mountain said with a serious nod.
"This is your territory, so I''m sure you''ve already considered what the best strategy is for this operation. Please go ahead and tell us what you think," Tong Ren''e said as he turned to Daoist Closed Mountain with a meaningful expression.
"Hehe, I do indeed have some ideas, but I''ll be requiring your expert input," Daoist Closed Mountain chuckled in a modest manner.
¡¡
That night.
Under the night sky, the entire Origin Realm Temple was enshrouded under a nket of silence and darkness, but the pinnacle of the Nine Pce was still as bright as day.
Six enormous pirs of light were cascading down from the starry sky, and the white light was shing incessantly before gradually disintegrating into specks of silver light.
A silver mist of light was permeating over the entire Star Gathering tform.
On the top level of the tform, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. His entire body was brightly illuminated, and silver radiance was surging over his skin. His well-defined muscles were also giving off a metallic silver gleam, and it was as if every single fiber and sinew in his body had be as resolute as refined steel essence.
On his chest and abdomen were six specks of blue light that were particrly eye-catching, even amid all the silver and white radiance.
Right at this moment, six pirs of ck light erupted out of the six existing pirs of light, then reverted back into six palm-sized ck mirrors before flying into Han Li''s body, vanishing in a sh.
A short whileter, Han Li exhaled as he slowly opened his eyes.
With the assistance of the Star Gathering tform and the Starmoon Mirrors, he had finally mastered the sixth level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
"I''m only one step away now," Han Li murmured to himself, then rose to his feet before taking a step forward, upon which a resounding boom suddenly rang out.
The entire Star Gathering tform shuddered violently, and Han Li involuntarily stumbled forward. His foot had plunged straight into the stone tform, and half of his calf was embedded into its surface.
A mixture of amusement and exasperation appeared on his face. He had failed to anticipate just how significantly his body had been enhanced by the sixth level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
He had done nothing more than take a step, and his only mistake was that he had failed to tread lightly, yet this was the result.
Thankfully, the section of the tform that he had stomped into had no constetion arrays engraved onto it, so there weren''t going to be any detrimental effects to the function of the tform. Otherwise, he would''ve been in a rather awkward situation.
With that in mind, he couldn''t help but rub his own nose in a slightly sheepish manner.
The Origin Realm Temple elders around the tform all faltered slightly upon feeling the violent tremors, then turned in unison toward the Body Integration Stage brown-robed elderly man.
The elderly man briefly inspected the tform, then transmitted his voice to the other three brown-robed figures. "It''s alright, everything is fine."
Ever since Han Li came here to cultivate, the Body Integration Stage elder had slowly be so ustomed to everything that Han Li did that he felt like nothing could surprise him anymore. This was a man who was able to cultivate under such vast starpower with incredible ease and poise, what could he possibly not be capable of?
The instruction that he had received from the supreme elder was only to keep a close eye on Han Li at all times, but to minimize interaction with him as much as possible.
On the Star Gathering tform, Han Li took a deep breath, then flipped a hand over to produce a gray shield that was around two feet in length.
This was a shield that he had picked up during the rampage that he had gone on in the Heavenly Ghost Sect, and it belonged to one of the unlucky Spatial Tempering cultivators that he had swatted away like flies. The shield was entirely forged from Flowing Light Metal, and there were also some refined crystals thrown in the mix. There were many profound runes engraved on the surface of the shield, and it was clearly a treasure of quite a high caliber.
He injected some magic power into the shield, and spiritual light shed on its surface. The bolstering restrictions within the shield were all activated, following which he grabbed onto the two sides of the shield before exerting some slight force through his hands.
The spiritual light on the surface of the shield was instantly snuffed out, following which the ck shield was quickly massaged into a ball in Han Li''s hands as if it were made from soft y.
A hint of tion welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this.
By his estimates, his strength and physical resistance had almost doubled.
He raised his head to look up at the bright stars in the sky, and the excitement in his heart gradually subsided as he sat back down onto the Big Dipper constetion diagram, then closed his eyes to meditate.
Around two hourster, Han Li made a hand seal and began to chant the incantation for the seventh level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
The Big Dipper in the sky instantly began to glow brightly, but in contrast with all of the stars around it, it was giving off a bluish-silver radiance that was fluctuating erratically in brightness.
This time, seven incredibly thick pirs of silver light came crashing down from the night sky before striking the Star Gathering tform.
All of the constetion diagrams engraved on the tform instantly began to glow with dazzling silver radiance.
From afar, it looked as if the entire tform had been doused in molten silver.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out, and the entire mountain peak shuddered violently.
A vast expanse of silver light swept over the area as a silver vortex of light that was over 10 times more powerful than the previous one appeared above the tform.
The protective light barrier that previously hung over the Star Gathering tform was swept up by the incredibly violent starpower, and it was instantly torn to shreds before dissipating into specks of golden light.
The four elders guarding the tform werepletely caught off guard and struck by the shockwaves released by the vortex, and the three Spatial Tempering Stage elders were instantly sent flying.
Thankfully, the Body Integration Stage elder was able to react very quickly, summoning several defensive treasures at once to just barely withstand the eruption of starpower. Even so, he was also blown back by over 1,000 feet, and after steadying himself, he immediately cast an astonished gaze toward the pinnacle of the Nine Pce Peak.
Chapter 62: Abnormality
Chapter 62: Abnormality
At the same time, three figures were standing side by side on the peak of a certain mountain several hundred kilometers away. They were none other than the trio of Daoist Closed Mountain, Tong Ren''e, and Duan Renli, and they were all watching the phenomenon taking ce on the Nine Pce Peak from afar.
All three of them were silent, and there was no sound to be heard aside from the gentle rustling of the wind and the pping of their robes. The atmosphere was a little heavy.
A short whileter, the silence was finally broken.
"So this is the n that you propose? Let him cultivate in your sect and be even more powerful?" Duan Renli asked.
"This was an oversight from me. It seems like he''s found a way to recover from his injuries," Daoist Closed Mountain sighed in a resigned manner.
"We can''t dy this any longer," Tong Ren''e said in a cold voice.
"Indeed, Fellow Daoist Tong. The preparations were almostplete, and there were some finer details that I wanted to ponder, but it appears we really can''t afford to wait any longer," Daoist Closed Mountain said in a grim voice.
"We should''ve done this a long time ago," Duan Renli harrumphed coldly as his hands clenched into tight fists in his sleeves, and an eager gleam appeared in his eyes.
¡¡
The next morning.
There was a small tile courtyard concealed within the purple bamboo forest on the Holy Fire Peak of the Cold me Sect.
Sima Jingming was standing in front of a fragrant sandalwood table, looking at a three-foot-long portrait hanging on the wall, seemingly reporting something with a respectful expression.
A sh of light swept over the portrait, and a figure emerged from within. It was none other than Patriarch Cold me.
"So you''re saying Han Li has already begun practicing the seventh level of the cultivation art?" Patriarch Cold me asked.
"Judging from the description that I received of the phenomenon that took cest night, that''s almost certainly the case. Who exactly is this man, Patriarch? This rate of progress ispletely unfathomable to me..." Sima Jingming replied.
"I don''t know who he is, but I recently learned that a massive organization in the Immortal Realm is currently offering a reward for his capture. The reward is so handsome that even I''m slightly tempted.
¡°Normally, Daoist Clear Bright is constantly in seclusion, but he recently went to ck Water City to meet up with Layman Bone me. It looks like they''re plotting something through the Heavenly Ghost Sect and the Origin Realm Temple," Patriarch Cold me said in an unhurried voice.
Sima Jingming''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. "In that case, should we also..."
"Are you suggesting that we also join the other two sects to get a share in the spoils?" Patriarch Cold me interjected.
Sima Jingming knew that he had spoken out of turn, and he immediately fell silent.
"Neither Daoist Clear Bright nor Layman Bone me has dealt with Fellow Daoist Han in person, but I''ve faced him in battle before, albeit only briefly, and it''s clear to me that he''s definitely no ordinary person.
¡°The fact that he was able to master the sixth level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts so quickly only serves to further confirm my suspicions. The reward is very tempting, but there''s no point if you''re not even alive to enjoy it," Patriarch Cold me said in a meaningful voice.
"Yes, Patriarch!" Sima Jingming hurriedly replied.
¡¡
That night, on the top level of the Star Gathering tform.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed, and his entire body was immersed within the silver vortex of light formed by the seven pirs of silver light around him.
Vast starpower was constantly surging into his body from all directions, refining him from the inside-out.
His body waspletely still, but he was pondering some things in his mind.
The phenomena triggered during the cultivation of the Big Dipper Origin Arts were extremely spectacr, and the violent starpower sweeping down from the heavens hadpletely destroyed the protective restriction that once enshrouded the Star Gathering tform.
After the four elders of the Origin Realm Temple were sent flying, they didn''t reappear on the scene, and Daoist Closed Mountain also hadn''t visited even once to see what was happening. It seemed that the supervision on him was a little toox.
This wasn''t a cause for rm, but during the recent period of time, he had sensed all of the Origin Realm Temple cultivators within a radius of around 100 kilometers around the Star Gathering tform leave their cave abodes one after another, and none of them had returned.
Initially, he didn''t think much of this. After all, it was verymonce for sect members to go out on long journeys or be sent out on missions for extended periods of time. However, once this situation continued for about half a month, it finally caught his attention, and a hint of wariness welled up in his heart.
Just now, for some reason, he had been struck by a sense of unease, and there was a hint of foreboding brewing in his heart.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li decided to withdraw his spiritual sense, which was guiding starpower toward himself from the heavens, then quickly scoured through the entire area in a radius of several hundred kilometers around him.
Right at this moment, the entire space above him suddenly blurred, following which an extremely thick and long white rift appeared. It was as if the entire sky had been torn in half, presenting an extremely peculiar sight to behold.
Countless silver runes surged out of the rift in a frenzy, and it seemed that there was no end to them in sight. As soon as the runes appeared, they immediately revolved on the spot before exploding into balls of silver light that filled virtually the entire sky.
The silver light blended into one another to form an enormous silver moon that was giving off dazzling radiance,pletely outshining all of the surrounding stars and making them pale into insignificance.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and in the instant that the giant silver moon took shape, all of the starlight cascading down from the heavenspletely vanished.
Han Li immediately flew back in retreat upon seeing this, leaving the Nine Pce Peak in the blink of an eye, then flying to over 10 kilometers away after just a few more shes.
Right at this moment, a burst of loud rumbling rang out from a mountain that was several dozen kilometers away from the Nine Pce Peak. An enormous white rune that was over 1,000 feet in size appeared on the surface of the mountain, and a massive pir of white light erupted directly up into the heavens.
Almost at the exact same moment, another mountain in another direction also trembled violently as it released a huge pir of green light.
The same sequence took ce a total of eight times, and a giant rune and an enormous pir of light emerged from each of the eightpletely unremarkable mountains around the Nine Pce Peak.
Each pir of light was a different color from all the others, and countless runes were emerging around the pirs of light before rapidly connecting together, forming a gargantuan light barrier in the blink of an eye. The Nine Pce Peak stood at the center of the light barrier, which epassed the entire area with a radius of over 50 kilometers around the peak.
Countless runes of different colors were surging incessantly over the light barrier, and even from extremely far away, one could still sense the astonishing spiritual power fluctuations being released by the light barrier.
Somewhere in the area epassed within the light barrier, Han Li drew to a halt as a grim look appeared on his face.
He didn''t know what the Origin Realm Temple was plotting, but it seemed that they had ultimately decided to turn on him.
He swept his gaze over his surroundings, and ayer of blue light appeared in his eyes, following which his brows furrowed slightly.
The giant restriction was far more profound than the array formed by the Heavenly Ghost Monarch Pirs in the Heavenly Ghost Sect, and even he was unable to immediately spot any weaknesses in it.
He immediately flew through the air without any hesitation, arriving in front of the light barrier in the blink of an eye. Six specks of blue light appeared on his chest and abdomen, following which he threw a vicious punch at the light barrier before him.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and the surface of the light barrier quivered and shed violently.
An enormous fist indentation appeared, and countless five-colored runes converged toward the indentation from all directions, rapidly repairing the damage that had been inflicted at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
Before the light barrier had a chance topletely recover, another punchnded on the same indentation, and the entire light barrier began to tremble violently, looking as if it were about to copse.
However, right as Han Li raised his fist for a third time, the giant silver moon in the sky suddenly brightened significantly, raining down boundless silver radiance that was interspersed with countless silver runes. All of the silver runes then converged into one ce, forming an enormous pir of light that could epass an area with a radius of dozens of kilometers.
Blinding silver radiance shed in front of Han Li''s eyes, and in the next instant, his vision was restored, but he found himself situated in apletely alien world.
This was a vast and barren desert, and it waspletely devoid of life in all directions. The ground was littered with gray rocks, as well as some massive craters that looked as if they had been left behind by asteroids.
A denseyer of gray clouds was hanging in the sky at a very low altitude, looking as if it coulde crashing down at any moment, presenting a rather oppressive and ominous sight to behold.
"Is this another domain treasure?" Han Li murmured to himself before immediately releasing his spiritual sense.
However, his spiritual sense was able to detect nothing aside from the barrennd, the gray rocks, and the giant craters.
After a moment of contemtion, he directed his spiritual sense up toward the gray clouds.
However, as soon as his spiritual sense entered the gray clouds, progress became extremely difficult. Even with his Spirit Refinement Technique activated, he was only just barely able to extend his spiritual sense less than 200 feet into the clouds, where there were only more gray clouds waiting for him.
Even with his formidable spiritual sense, the gray clouds were somehow able to pose a stern obstacle.
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he withdrew his spiritual sense, yet right as he was nning to investigate the area through other means, the gray clouds overhead suddenly began to tumble and churn violently.
In the next instant, streaks of yellow light came falling out of the sky like rain beforending on the ground.
Each streak of yellow light expanded rapidly like a balloon uponnding, then transformed into a golden figure.
These figures were around the same size as the average person, with golden skin that was radiating golden radiance. They were wielding all types of different weapons, and even though they appeared to be very simr to normal people, they werepletely devoid of life with wooden expressions on their faces as if they were puppets.
Within mere moments, close to 1,000 of these puppets had appeared in the surrounding area, trapping Han Li in a watertight encirclement.
Han Li waspletely caught off guard by this abrupt turn of events.
Chapter 63: Raising An Army From Beans
Chapter 63: Raising An Army From Beans
The golden puppets were extremely agile, and they were wielding a diverse range of weapons, such as swords, spears, axes, and maces. As soon as theynded on the ground, some of them immediately leaped up into the air before gliding through the sky like huge golden birds, while others galloped over the ground, causing the earth to rumble and quake violently.
In the blink of an eye, countless golden puppets were charging toward Han Li from all directions, presenting a formidable sight to behold.
Han Li stoodpletely still on the spot as he calmly swept his gaze over his surroundings.
In the next instant, the first golden puppet reached him before thrusting its spear forward, unleashing a series of spear projections that screeched through the air as they hurtled directly toward Han Li.
Instead of retreating from the attack, he advanced toward the oing spear projections, then reached out with one hand like lightning to grab onto the spear.
A burst of enormous force surged through his arm, causing him to sway in a slightly unsteady manner, and even though he was able to instantly steady himself, he still couldn''t help but be stunned by the strength of the golden warrior.
He pulled back on the spear with his arm, causing the spear-wielding golden puppet to stumble forward, then threw a punch with his other hand.
The spear slipped out of the golden puppet''s grasp as it was sent flying back, crashing heavily into the army of golden puppets behind it, knocking down dozens of itsrades in a row before finallying to a rest.
However, the golden puppet was able to immediately spring to its feet, but there was a very clear fist indentation on its chest.
After withstanding that blow, its movements had be slightly slower and more sluggish, but it continued to charge toward Han Li alongside all of the other golden puppets.
Han Li casually hurled the spear in his hand backward to send several of the golden puppets flying, then turned back just in time to see the fallen golden puppet spring back to its feet, and his pupils contracted slightly in rm. He had used 50% of his strength in that punch, and it would''ve been capable of shattering an entire mountain, but it wasn''t able to kill even a single one of these golden puppets.
At this point, all of the golden puppets had already swarmed around Han Li, and he gave a cold harrumph as he moved rapidly through the air, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake whileshing out with his fists.
Countless fist projections appeared before erupting in all directions, and the golden puppets were sent flying one after another.
All of the golden puppets that were struck received deep fist indentations on their chests before crashing into the puppets behind them, knocking dozens over at a time. As a result, the momentum of the attack was halted.
The puppets that were sent flying immediately sprang to their feet again afternding on the ground, and a cold look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he abruptly appeared in a wraith-like manner in front of one of the golden puppets that had just been flying, then threw another punch at the fist indentation on its chest.
The golden puppet shuddered as a series of cracks appeared over its body. Beams of yellow light filtered out of the cracks, following which the puppet exploded violently, disintegrating into a cloud of yellow mist.
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this. These golden puppets possessed extremely resolute bodies, but they weren''t indestructible.
The surrounding golden puppets continued to storm Han Li from all directions.
In response, Han Li took a deep breath, and six specks of blue light emerged on his chest and abdomen. His body abruptly swelled in size, and he began his retaliation.
A string of dull thumps rang out as seven or eight of the golden puppets closest to him were sent flying back before exploding.
Han Li''s hands shed through the air in a blur, unleashing countless fist projections that erupted through the air amid a string of resounding booms.
All of the golden puppets within close to 200 feet of him were sent flying before exploding into clouds of yellow mist.
With his strength enhanced by the Big Dipper Origin Arts, these golden puppets were no match for his fists.
¡¡
There was a vast inky-ck sea in the Immortal Realm.
ck mist permeated throughout the area, and gusts of Yin wind were howling incessantly over the surface of the sea, constantly raising massive waves that rose up to over 100 feet tall.
There was a massive ck city situated in the area of the sea where the ck mist was at its densest, floating atop the waves in a remarkably stable manner.
The city was over 1,000 feet tall and was over 100 kilometers in size. A que that bore the words "ck Water City" inrge archaic characters was hanging above the northern city gate.
The walls of the city were constructed from giant rectangr ck stones that reflected a crystalline gleam under the asional ray of sunlight that managed to filter through the ck mist. On the inside, the city appeared to be just like any other city, with rivers and farnd, streets and houses, everything that one would expect to see in the average city.
There were also many people roaming through the city, presenting a lively and bustling scene.
The terrain inside the city wasn''tpletely t and steady. The closer one drew to the center of the city, the higher up they would find themselves, and the more closely packed the buildings became. The central area was also home to the most majestic pces and pavilions in the city.
At the highest point of the entire city was a small inner city, which was clearly separated from all of the other buildings by a ck river.
Inside the inner city were intricately constructed pavilions, soothing bodies of running water, and a series of fake mountains and well-maintained gardens. At the center of the inner city was a spacious tform, atop which stood a three-story pavilion that was entirely constructed from wood with intertwining arches and a zed yellow tile roof. On top of the roof were beautiful dragon and phoenix statues that presented a disy of remarkable craftsmanship.
On the top floor of the pavilion, all of the windows were opened, providing an extremely wide field of view. From this vantage point, not only could one see the entire inner city, there was even a clear view of the vast ck sea outside of the giant city.
The furnishings inside the pavilion were very simple, with only a square table at the center, on either side of which was ced a round silken futon.
On the table sat a dark red copper incense burner, protruding out of which were a few sticks of burning incense that were releasing fragrant smoke throughout the entire room.
On the futon to the right of the table sat a thin elderly man with a purple lotus crown on his head. He was currently holding a beautiful teacup and carefully savoring its contents.
Inside the teacup was an elegant green tea that resembled translucent liquid jade, and its fragrance was extremely faint, somewhat overshadowed by the aroma of the incense smoke, but it was extremely pleasant on the tongue and rich in spiritual qi, providing a delightful drinking experience.
The elderly man slowly set down his teacup as he praised in an earnest manner, "This ck Water Spirit Tea truly lives up to all of the good things I''ve heard about it, Fellow Daoist Bone me."
Seated across from him was a ck-robed man with a sickly yellowplexion, who replied in an indifferent voice, "You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Clear Bright. If you like it, you can take some back with you."
"In the past, we''ve rarely had any interactions due to the opposing nature of our sects in the lower realm, but here in the Immortal Realm, we should strive to work together more for mutual benefit," Daoist Clear Bright said with a warm smile.
Layman Bone me nodded in response. "If we can capture that Han Li, we''ll most likely have to work together to uncover the potential secrets that he''s harboring."
"Speaking of him, have you managed to find out anything about his history and origins?" Daoist Clear Bright asked as a serious look appeared on his face.
Layman Bone me shook his head in response. "I''ve done some investigation through certain avenues since youst contacted me, but I wasn''t able to find any useful information. Have you made any discoveries on your end?"
"I''m afraid I was also unable to gather any useful information on him. The information that the Ubiquitous Pavilion is willing to divulge is very limited. All we know is that the client is a very powerful figure, but that''s the extent of my knowledge on the matter for now," Daoist Clear Bright sighed.
"I''m even more interested in the secrets that this Han Li could potentially be harboring now. Looks like we''ll have to interrogate him thoroughly after we capture him," Layman Bone me chuckled.
"You seem extremely confident, Brother Bone me. I presume you must''ve bestowed some powerful treasures upon your disciples, right?" Daoist Clear Bright asked.
"Are you saying you haven''t done the same thing?" Layman Bone me countered as he took a nce at Daoist Clear Bright.
Thetter gave a faint smile in response. "I naturally had to take some measures to ensure the sess of this operation."
Daoist Clear Bright was clearly unwilling to divulge any specific details, so Layman Bone me didn''t pry any further. Instead, he said in a nonchnt voice, "I managed to grow some Warrior Beans by chance a while ago, and only half a month ago was I able to sessfully convert them into Dao Warriors. They''re perfect for this cause, so I bestowed them upon my disciples."
Despite the nonchnce with which the statement had been made, Daoist Clear Bright seemed to be very surprised to hear this.
"You are incredibly fortunate to have been able to nurture Dao Warriors, Fellow Daoist Bone me."
"You tter me, Fellow Daoist Clear Bright. The Dao Warriors that I managed to nurture are only Golden Dao Warriors, a type of lower third-grade Dao Warrior. That''s hardly worthy of praise," Layman Bone me said with a dismissive sweep of his sleeve, but a hint of barely detectable pride shed through his eyes as he spoke.
"Even so, those Dao Warriors will be far more powerful than most other treasures. With those Dao Warriors on our side, there''s no way that Han Li would be able to slip out of our grasp," Daoist Clear Bright said with a clear hint of envy in his voice.
Layman Bone me merely smiled and offered no response.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Daoist Clear Bright, and he said, "By the way, that Han Li is technically a guest elder of the Cold me Sect. You don''t think Cold me is going to get in our way, do you?"
"Unless he wants there to only be two top sects left in the Spirit Domain Realm, he would be wise not to get involved," Layman Bone me replied as a cold look appeared on his face.
Daoist Clear Bright nodded in response.
¡¡
Inside a mysterious space, above a denseyer of gray clouds, three figures were standing in mid-air. They were none other than Tong Ren''e, Daoist Closed Mountain, and Duan Renli.
At this moment, Duan Renli was holding a yellow gourd while chanting an incantation.
The gourd was around half the size of an adult human, and there were circles of shimmering golden text on its surface. A series of golden runes that were simr to the text were drifting around the opening of the gourd, giving off an ethereal aura.
As his incantation rang out, a burst of golden light circled around the opening of the gourd, and a series of yellow bean-like objects flew out from within before descending out of the sky.
As soon as these beans came into contact with the gray clouds, a series of tiny vortexes instantly appeared in the clouds, swallowing up the yellow beans in a sh.
"Is this... the art of raising an army from beans? I didn''t think your sect would be capable of unleashing such a legendary immortal art!" Daoist Closed Mountain eximed as he cast his gaze toward the yellow gourd in Duan Renli''s hands with an envious expression.
"You''re certainly very knowledgeable, Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain. Truth be told, this immortal secret technique is far beyond anything that I can wield. I''m only able to summon these Dao Warriors using this immortal treasure bestowed upon me by our sect''s patriarch," Tong Ren''e replied in an indifferent manner.
Chapter 64: Striking Together
Chapter 64: Striking Together
"I see. Given how fearsome Han Li''s physical body is, we won''t be able to capture him through conventional means, but if we can wear him out with these Golden Dao Warriors first, then it''ll undoubtedly make our job far easier," Daoist Closed Mountain praised with a nod of approval.
"It''s all thanks to this domain treasure of yours that these Golden Dao Warriors can be put to good use. The first step of our n has been sessfully implemented, but we''ll most likely have to strike together if we want to capture him," Tong Ren''e mused.
Right at this moment, Duan Renli''s chanting suddenly ceased. "It''s about time. Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain, can you show us what''s happening down there?"
Daoist Closed Mountain nodded in response, then raised a hand to release a burst of silver light, within which was a silver bead around the size of an egg.
The bead circled around in the air for a moment before positioning itself in front of the trio, where it then exploded into a cloud of silver mist, which formed a silver mirror that was around 70 to 80 feet in size.
The surface of the mirror blurred momentarily, following which a clear image appeared.
The trio inspected the image with keen interest, but their expressions instantly changed drastically in response to the sight that they were greeted by.
In the image, one golden warrior after another was descending from the heavens before charging toward a tall and broad young man from all directions.
However, the young man was traversing through the hordes of golden warriors with ease while unleashing a relentless barrage of fist projections.
All of the golden warriors around him were immediately sent flying upon making contact with the fist projections, then exploded into bursts of yellow light, and none of them were even able to reach within 100 feet of the young man.
Within the span of just a few seconds, seven or eight of those golden warriors had already been destroyed.
The young man wore a calm expression, and his movements were fluid andnguid, as if it wasn''t taking him much effort at all to shatter these Dao Warriors.
Right at this moment, the surface of the silver mirror warped slightly before disintegrating into arge cloud of silver mist again.
"How is this possible?" Duan Renli eximed with an astonished expression.
"These Golden Dao Warriors don''t know any secret techniques or cultivation arts, but all of them possess physical bodiesparable in power with high-grade body cultivators. Even if one of us were to be surrounded by such arge army of them, we''d be in a very difficult situation, yet he''s able to deal with them with ease. It seems that we''ve still underestimated him," Tong Ren''e said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Could it be that he''s already recovered from his injuries?" Daoist Closed Mountain spected in a concerned manner.
"If it were that easy for him to recover from his injuries, why would he have left the immortal realm ande to the Spirit Domain Realm? At this point, we have no choice but to forge ahead. As we nned in advance, we''ll attack him together to finish this as quickly as possible," Tong Ren''e said in a cold voice.
¡¡
Inside the domain.
Han Li swayed to the side to dodge the attacks from several golden warriors at once, thenshed out with his right arm to unleash seven or eight fist projections at once, each of which struck a golden warrior on the head with unerring uracy.
The heads of those seven or eight golden warriors instantly exploded, and their bodies were sent flying before disintegrating into clouds of yellow mist.
The entire process was executed extremely cleanly and efficiently, and in the blink of an eye, close to 20 golden warriors were vanquished.
At this point, these golden warriors no longer posed a threat to Han Li, and he was killing them off faster than they could appear.
Once most of the golden warriors had been destroyed, blue light shed within Han Li''s eyes as he looked up at theyer of gray clouds overhead, trying to find an opening that he could exploit to see what was up there.
All of a sudden, the streaks of yellow light raining down from the heavens abruptly ceased. Immediately thereafter, a certain section of the gray clouds trembled violently, following which a rift that was over 100 feet wide was opened up.
Three streaks of light descended out of the rift, then faded to reveal a trio of figures.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he inspected the trio, and he discovered that aside from Daoist Closed Mountain and Duan Renli, there was also a short ck-robed elderly man.
"It looks like you''ve joined forces with the Heavenly Ghost Sect, Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain. How disappointing," Han Li mused with an indifferent expression.
"You can''t me me, Fellow Daoist Han. If you want to me someone, then you can only me yourself for making enemies out of people that you can''t afford to oppose. I''m afraid that I had no choice in this matter," Daoist Closed Mountain replied.
A thought urred to Han Li upon hearing this, and his expression remained unchanged as he cast his gaze toward Duan Renli. "I didn''t think that you''d be able to recruit two other Grand Ascension Stage beings to your side, Fellow Daoist Duan."
"With your powers, you stand at the very pinnacle of the Spirit Domain Realm. If it were only for the sake of those 50 kilograms of Yin Dawn Stone, there''s no way our Heavenly Ghost Sect would''ve chosen toe after you," the ck-robed elderly man said with a serious expression.
"If I''m not mistaken, then you must be the number one cultivator of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, Fellow Daoist Tong, right? Who exactly have I made an enemy out of that warrants all three of youing after me at once?" Han Li asked as he cast his gaze toward the elderly man.
"If you''re trying to stall for time, then I''m afraid that you''re going to be sorely disappointed, Fellow Daoist Han."
As soon as Tong Ren''e''s voice trailed off, he immediately released an antiquated gray book out of his sleeve, then pointed a finger at it.
The book rustled audibly as its pages rapidly flipped past one after another while releasing bursts of gray light, which instantly transformed into a series of strange birds with ghostly heads, eagle bodies, and scorpion tails. Each of them was around 60 to 70 feet in size, and several dozens of them appeared in the blink of an eye before spreading their wings to circle around high up in the sky.
"Please pardon my intrusion, Fellow Daoist Han!" Daoist Closed Mountain said as he raised a hand to release a light blue te treasure, which vanished into the gray clouds overhead in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, he extended a finger before pointing it up at the heavens, and the denseyer of clouds instantly began to churn while rumbling with deafening thunderps. Thick bolts of gray lightning began to sh through the clouds, presenting an extremely intimidating sight to behold.
Meanwhile, Duan Renli was chanting an incantation, and golden runes surged over the surface of the yellow gourd in his hands as hundreds of yellow beans flew out of its opening, thennded on the ground before transforming into more golden warriors.
The three of them had sprung into action in unison as if they had nned this in advance.
Han Li continued to unleash fist projections as his gaze fell upon the yellow gourd, and a hint of intrigue appeared in his eyes as he quickly realized that it was the source of all of the golden warriors.
As soon as he made this realization, he immediately unleashed a barrage of fist projections that swept through the air in all directions, sending all of the golden warriors in a radius of over 100 feet flying. Immediately thereafter, he sprang up into the air before flying toward Duan Renli.
The trio of Grand Ascension cultivators had gone out of their way to draw him into this domain, so they had to have more tricks up their sleeve than what was on disy here. Hence, he had to seize the initiative and strike first.
Right at this moment, those strange birds in the sky circle around, and around a dozen of them swooped down toward Han Li.
At the same time, all of them thrust their scorpion tails in Han Li''s direction, releasing countless thin ck threads that rained down in a ferocious storm, epassing arge area around Han Li.
Han Li flew diagonally through the air upon seeing this, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake as he evaded all of the thin ck threads.
However, right after he steadied himself before vanquishing a pair of nearby golden warriors, several more of those strange birds swooped down toward him from above.
Almost at the exact same moment, a deafening thunderp rang out as a thick bolt of gray lightning came crashing down from the heavens with devastating might.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as golden light shed from his body, and countless golden scales instantly appeared over his skin as he threw another punch upward.
A resounding boom rang out as the bolt of gray lightning exploded violently, and even though Han Li''s fist remainedpletely unscathed, he was forced back a step by the impact.
Immediately thereafter, a string of loud ngs rang out as the thin ck threads released by the scorpion tails of the strange birds fell upon his golden scales, but they were unable to leave even the faintest of marks.
After releasing a barrage of attacks, one of the strange birds was struck by a golden warrior that Han Li hurled upward before it could fly away, and it immediately felt a burst of tremendous force crash into its body, causing it to let loose an anguished cry before it disintegrated alongside the golden warrior.
Immediately thereafter, a string of deafening thunderps rang out as bolt after bolt of gray lightning came crashing down, tearing through the surrounding space with awe-inspiring might.
At the same time, the strange birds that were circling around in the sky were also attacking relentlessly.
Han Li was shing through the air in an unpredictable manner, throwing punches to dispel the bolts of lightning that he was unable to evade while also asionally felling a strange bird or two, and it seemed that he was able to hold his own quite easily.
However, as a result of this, he was unable to attack Duan Renli anytime soon.
More and more yellow beans were flying out of the gourd, and he was unable to vanquish them as quickly, seeing as he was distracted by all of these other attacks, so the number of golden warriors around him was constantly increasing.
Before he knew it, there were already around 3,000 to 4,000 golden warriors in the area.
What was even more concerning to him was that most of the golden warriors weren''t in a hurry to attack him. Instead, they rushed away from him before abruptlying to a halt, standing in what seemed to be a specific formation.
They''re forming an array! Han Li thought to himself as his pupils contracted slightly.
Chapter 65: Yellow Rope
Chapter 65: Yellow Rope
As soon as this thought urred to him, Han Li immediately unclenched his fists, then spread his fingers open before picking up a nearby golden warrior and hurling it toward the golden warriors that were further away.
One of the golden warriors that was standing still on the spot was struck head-on, and the tremendous force of the impact caused both of them to disintegrate, releasing a powerful shockwave that toppled several more golden warriors in the surrounding area.
Han Li roamed through the area as he repeated the process, picking up one golden warrior after another as if they were sitting ducks before hurling them through the air to strike the golden warriors that were further away.
As for the gray lightning and the attacks from the strange birds that he was unable to dodge, he merely ignored them and allowed those attacks to strike his body.
After just a few seconds, the meticulous formation of the golden warriors had been plunged intoplete chaos by Han Li''s disruption.
Tong Ren''e''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he yelled, "We can''t afford to dy any longer! Let''s end this!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately flipped a hand over to produce a rusty yellow badge, then made a strange seal with his other hand as he quickly chanted an incantation.
Dazzling yellow radiance instantly appeared on the surface of the badge, and Han Li''s attention was immediately drawn to it.
He didn''t know what this badge was, but a premonition of danger had welled up in his heart in the instant that it was summoned.
However, before he had a chance to do anything, the yellow badge flew out of Tong Ren''e''s grasp, then transformed into a burst of scintiting yellow light that appeared in the sky above Han Li. The badge then began to revolve in mid-air as circles of strange spirit patterns lit up all around it.
All of a sudden, all of the thousands of golden warriors that were standing still on the spot raised their hands above their heads in unison before crossing their arms. Dazzling yellow light began to radiate from their bodies, then quickly converged to the point where their arms were crossed before erupting into the heavens.
All of the yellow light connected together in the sky before expanding in all directions to form a yellow light barrier, which instantly epassed an area with a radius of over 10,000 feet around Han Li.
In the instant that the yellow light barrier appeared over him, Han Li immediately felt an incredible weight crashing down upon him, as if he were being crushed under a giant mountain, and his movements had be noticeably slower and more sluggish.
Right at this moment, plumes of yellow mist rose up from beneath the ground, then intertwined with one another to form lengths of yellow rope that flew toward him like a nest of spirit snakes.
The lengths of rope quickly wound themselves around his body, binding him tightly in the blink of an eye.
Before he knew it, his waist, arms, and legs had all been individually bound tightly to the ground, rendering himpletely immobile.
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this, and he activated his Big Dipper Origin Arts with all his might. The six specks of blue light on his chest and abdomen brightened considerably, further enhancing his already unfathomable strength as he twisted his body violently.
The lengths of yellow rope around him were instantly stretched taut, and the thinnest lengths of rope among them were trembling incessantly. Even though they were still binding him to the ground, they were no longer able topletely restrict his movements.
At the same time, the yellow gourd that Duan Renli was holding had already flown into the air above his head, where it was suspended in mid-air in apletely stationary manner.
Duan Renli opened his mouth to release several balls of blood essence onto the gourd, then began to chant an incantation.
Bright yellow light shed from the surface of the gourd overhead, and it quickly swelled to the size of a house. The golden runes drifting around the opening of the gourd also expanded drastically while releasing dazzling golden radiance.
Countless yellow beans erupted out of the gourd in a frenzy, like a torrent of gushing water through a broken floodgate.
The newly emerged golden warriors all rushed over to certain positions before also raising their arms above their heads and crossing them, releasing bursts of dazzling yellow light that fused into the yellow light barrier up above.
Han Li clenched his fists tightly, and even though he was bound by the yellow rope, he was still able to throw several punches to destroy a few of the golden warriors and strange birds around him, but his movements were bing slower and slower.
It seemed that with each additional golden warrior that appeared, the more substantial the light barrier overhead would be, and the more yellow mist that would rise up from the ground.
With the increased quantity of yellow mist rising up all around Han Li, the ropes that were binding him to the ground also became more and more resolute.
His body was feeling impossibly heavy, as if there were several mountains weighing down on his arms, making it more and more difficult to continue to unleash attacks. The yellow ropes were also constantly constricting with greater and greater force, restricting his movements further and further.
All of a sudden, golden light shed over his body, and strands of golden fur sprouted out of his skin as he transformed into a giant golden ape in the blink of an eye, expanding drastically in size in the process.
He had unleashed his 12 Awakening Transformations once again to adopt his Giant Golden Ape form.
Tong Ren''e and Daoist Closed Mountain both faltered slightly at the sight of the giant ape that Han Li had suddenly transformed into.
Even though they had already learned from Duan Renli that Han Li possessed such a transformation secret technique, they were still stunned by the immense aura that Han Li was giving off in this form.
"What are you waiting for, Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain?" Tong Ren''e yelled as he stowed away the antiquated book in front of him, then focused his attention fully on controlling the array down below.
Daoist Closed Mountain immediately returned to his senses, and a grim look appeared on his face as he chanted an incantation while making a rapid series of hand seals. Countless strange golden runes instantly surged out of his body in a frenzy, followed by ayer of dazzling golden light.
At this point, the number of golden warriors around Han Li had already exceeded 10,000.
Boundless yellow mist was surging out of the ground before flowing into the yellow ropes around Han Li to bolster them even further, and despite the tremendous strength of the Giant Mountain Ape, the ropes showed no signs of tearing.
A thunderous roar or fury rang out as a string of cracks and pops rang out from within the giant ape''s body. All of its muscles then instantly swelled like balloons, while its golden fur turned as hard as steel needles before standing up on end. Following this process, the giant ape''s body had doubled in size, expanding to over 300 feet.
However, the yellow ropes around his body also rapidly expanded amid shes of yellow light, bing even thicker and more resolute so he was still firmly bound, unable to escape.
Right at this moment, the giant ape''s body rapidly shrank down to its original size of less than 200 feet, but the yellow ropes also shrank alongside it, refusing to let it escape.
No matter how the giant ape manipted its own size, the yellow ropes were always able to keep up, as if they had been tailor-made for it, rendering its attempts to break freepletely futile.
"He''s still trying to break free! How delusional!" Duan Renli chortled upon seeing this.
"The time is now, Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain!" Tong Ren''e urged with tightly furrowed brows.
Daoist Closed Mountain offered no response, but he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of golden light, which flew into the air above the giant golden ape''s head before revealing itself to be an antiquated azure scroll.
Daoist Closed Mountain pointed a finger at the scroll from afar, and a beam of golden radiance instantly erupted out of his finger before flying into the scroll.
Azure light shed over the scroll, and it immediately unfurled itself in mid-air.
A burst of dazzling golden light appeared on the surface of the scroll, following which a golden nascent soul projection that was around five to six inches in size flew out from within.
The nascent soul bore the appearance of an elderly man wearing an ochre daoist robe and a purple lotus crown, and it was very simr in appearance to Daoist Clear Bright of the Origin Realm Temple.
At the same time, Daoist Closed Mountain began to chant an incantation, and golden light shed incessantly from the already unfurled scroll as a series of ancient golden runes flew out incessantly from within before surging into the nascent soul projection.
The nascent soul was instantly enshrouded in golden light, and it gradually elongated before transforming into a giant golden sword that was over 100 feet in length.
Countless peculiar golden runes were engraved onto the de of the sword, and there were also circles of runes revolving around the sword as it gave off bursts of terrifying fluctuations.
Tong Ren''e and Duan Renli couldn''t help but exchange a nce in the instant that the giant golden sword appeared, and both of them could see their own astonishment mirrored in one another''s eyes.
The giant golden ape immediately raised its head to look up at the massive sword overhead, and it clenched its fists tightly as six huge spots of blue light appeared on its chest and abdomen.
The muscles on its arms bulged as it tried to raise them with all its might to oppose the giant sword up above.
However, the golden ropes around his arms instantly began to glow brightly before exerting even greater restrictive force. Even so, they were still unable topletely bind him, and he was able to slowly drag his arms back toward his chest.
"Hurry!" Duan Renli yelled in an urgent voice.
Tong Ren''e''s face was slightly pale, and his fingers were moving in a rapid blur as he released one incantation seal after another.
The yellow badge in the air instantly began to revolve at a far higher speed than before, and the bright yellow light also radiated from the bodies of all of the golden warriors down below, while more yellow mist rose up from the ground.
As a result, the yellow ropes around the giant golden ape constricted around it with even greater force.
The giant ape shuddered, and its arms were immediately snapped back to its sides again.
At this point, Daoist Closed Mountain finallypleted his incantation, and with a triumphant roar, the giant golden sword in the sky came crashing down directly toward the golden ape''s head as an enormous streak of golden light.
The giant sword rumbled through the air as it tore through the space beneath it, leaving countless thin gray rifts in its wake, all of which were releasing powerful spatial fluctuations.
The area epassed under the sword began to shimmer and warp, bing extremely blurry and indistinct. Even the clouds up above were being warped and disced, and none of the strange birds circling around in the sky were able to get out of the way in time, letting loose anguished cries as their bodies instantly disintegrated into nothingness.
Meanwhile, the giant golden ape waspletely bound by the yellow ropes around it, reducing it to nothing more than a massive sitting duck.
In this dire situation, the giant ape suddenly raised its head and let loose a thunderous roar. Scintiting golden radiance erupted out of its entire body, and countless golden scales emerged over its skin, while a single azure horn appeared on its head.
In the instant that the giant sword descended upon it, the golden ape tilted its head back slightly so that the horn was best positioned to oppose the giant sword.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the tip of the giant golden sword crashed heavily into the azure horn on the golden ape''s head, upon which all of the golden light radiating from the sword instantly shattered before scattering through the air as boundless specks of golden light.
The entire surrounding space trembled violently as dozens of gray rifts appeared around the giant sword before fading in a sh. All of the golden warriors in a radius of close to 1,000 feet around the giant ape also exploded violently.
Amid the shower of resplendent golden light, the golden sword trembled violently before folding to an impossible angle, following which it was repelled back through the air.
As for the giant golden ape, it only shuddered slightly before returning to its original form, and it seemed to bepletely unscathed.
"Impossible!" Daoist Closed Mountain eximed in an astonished voice.
Tong Ren''e and Duan Renli were also looking on with their mouths slightly agape in bewilderment.
Chapter 66: Spirit Nascent Sword Talisman
Chapter 66: Spirit Nascent Sword Talisman
High up in the sky, golden light shed erratically from the giant sword, and it was sent flying back for over 1,000 feet beforeing to a halt.
Before Daoist Closed Mountain had a chance to do anything, the circles of runes on the surface of the sword began to glow brightly, radiating dazzling golden radiance as it came crashing down rapidly toward the giant ape once again, this time with even more power and ferocity than thest strike.
Due to the reduction in the number of golden warriors around it, the yellow ropes around the giant golden ape loosened ever so slightly, allowing it to twist around and directly face the giant sword. All of a sudden, it took a deep breath, and its chest swelled up like a balloon before it opened its cavernous mouth, letting loose an earth-shattering roar while blue light shed within its eyes.
A burst of transparent soundwaves that were visible even to the naked eye erupted into the heavens out of the giant ape''s mouth.
The space up above warped and twisted, and it instantly copsed, caving in by over 100 feet like a crater left behind by an asteroid mming into the ground, causing everything in the surrounding area to be blurry and unclear.
This was no ordinary roar. Instead, it was an ability known as the Vajra Roar, which Han Li was only able to unleash in his Giant Mountain Ape Form. It was an incredibly powerful soundwave attack, and unleashed by his current physical body, the attack was capable of shattering space itself.
Another resounding boom rang out as the giant golden sword plunged into the burst of transparent soundwaves with devastating force, only to be stopped cold in its tracks, unable to advance any further as it trembled violently.
As the soundwave attack continued, a string of loud cracks rang out, and the dazzling golden light being released by the sword was shattered like a mirror. A slight bulge appeared on the surface of the giant sword, out of which an elderly face that was identical to Daoist Clear Bright''s emerged.
Immediately thereafter, a series of thin cracks began to appear on the surface of the sword, and before long, it was shattered into countless pieces before disintegrating into a vast expanse of golden light.
This was quite a lengthy process to describe, but in reality, everything had taken ce in the blink of an eye.
Daoist Clear Bright''s nascent soul projection re-emerged in mid-air amid a sh of golden light, and it seemed to have dimmed slightly.
There was an rmed look on its face, and immediately flew toward the scroll that was hovering in the sky before vanishing into it in a sh.
Almost at the exact same moment, a long gash suddenly opened up on the giant golden ape''s be, and a huge ck demonic eye appeared. It was none other than the Law Destruction Eye, which was capable of piercing through space itself.
A ck thread of light shot out of the ck demonic eye, then vanished into thin air in a sh.
In the next instant, the ck thread of light reappeared directly next to the antiquated scroll in the sky, then pierced viciously into the nascent soul projection that had already re-emerged.
The nascent soul projection instantly exploded into a ball of golden light amid an anguished wail, and immediately thereafter, the scroll burst into mes before being incinerated into ashes.
"That''s... the Law Destruction Eye!" Tong Ren''e eximed as his expression changed drastically.
This was a treasure bestowed by the immortal patriarch of the Origin Realm Temple, yet not only had it been destroyed, the nascent soul projection residing within it had also been vanquished, and a grim look instantly appeared on Duan Renli''s face upon seeing this.
A hint of fear immediately welled up in Daoist Closed Mountain''s heart in the face of this development. He had no time toment the loss of the treasure bestowed upon him by Patriarch Clear Bright as he was pondering whether it was time to flee the battle.
Right at this moment, an even more concerning development began to unfold.
All of a sudden, silver light shed around the giant golden ape''s body, andrge bursts of silver mes erupted out of his fur, enveloping his entire body.
Plumes of yellow smoke began to rise up as the yellow ropes that were restricting the giant ape gradually melted and snapped in the face of the scorching silver mes.
After freeing itself from its bindings, the giant golden ape thumped its chest with its fists, then rolled over on the ground to snuff out the silver mes, but what took the ce of those silver mes were countless arcs of silver lightning.
A giant silver bird that was over 100 feet in length spread its wings and flew out of the arcs of silver lightning. Its feathers looked as if they were forged from steel, and its talons resembled a set of hooks.
It was rather simr to the true spirit Kun Peng in appearance. This was another true spirit transformation of the 12 Awakening Transformations, the Lightning Bird.
An rmed look appeared on Tong Ren''e''s face as he elerated his hand seals, and the yellow badge revolved frantically as yellow mist surged out of the ground in a frenzy to try and ensnare the Lightning Bird.
Duan Renli also immediately switched to a different hand seal, and the golden warriors formed by yellow beans that were gushing out of the giant yellow gourd in the sky converged toward the Lightning Bird rather than joining the array.
However, with just a casual p of its wings, the Lightning Bird transformed into a gust of silver wind that abruptly vanished on the spot, evading the yellow ropes and golden warriors with ease.
Before the three Grand Ascension cultivators had a chance to react, a bolt of silver lightning suddenly shed through the sky, and the Lightning Bird suddenly appeared directly above the giant yellow gourd before clutching it between its talons.
A burst of light shed up above, and the Lightning Bird and the gourd shrank down in unison.
Momentster, Han Li reverted back to his human form, and he was holding a yellow gourd that was around a foot tall in his hands.
Daoist Closed Mountain''s heart immediately sank upon seeing this, and he hurriedly said, "We''re no match for him! We have to run!"
He then immediately sped away into the distance as a streak of golden light.
Tong Ren''e and Duan Renli also followed suit without any hesitation, fleeing the scene in such a hurry that they were leaving even the yellow badge in the air behind.
Han Li briefly inspected the gourd that he was holding, and a burst of azure light suddenly appeared over his palm before he rubbed his hand forcefully over the gourd''s surface. The golden runes that were engraved onto the gourd instantly became blurry and unclear, and with one final wipe, they werepletely erased.
At the same time, all of the golden warriors, regardless of whether they were standing in the array down below were charging toward Han Li, copsed to the ground as if their souls had collectively left their bodies. Immediately thereafter, they reverted back to countless yellow beans amid shes of yellow light.
The yellow array formed by the golden warriors naturally also instantly disintegrated.
Han Li flipped a hand over to stow the gourd away, then cast his gaze toward the fleeing trio in the distance as a cold smile appeared on his face. Silver lightning shed over his body as he took on his Lightning Bird form again, and he instantly vanished from the spot with a p of his wings.
At this moment, Duan Renli was frantically fleeing the scene, and he was feeling far from his peak condition.
Controlling the gourd and those Golden Dao Warriors had severely depleted his magic power, so he was flying far slower than Tong Ren''e and Daoist Closed Mountain, and as a result, he had already been left far behind by the two.
Right as he wasmenting his own ill-fortune, a burst of buzzing suddenly rang out beside him, and a thought immediately urred to him, one that filled him with despair and horror.
Right at this moment, spatial fluctuations erupted no more than 1,000 feet above him, and a burst of silver lightning appeared, following which a pair of massive talons extended out of thin air.
Countless thin arcs of silver lightning were revolving around the ws of the talons, gradually forming a massive circr of lightning that descended upon him.
Of course, as a Grand Ascension Stage being, Duan Renli was certainly no slouch. He was already prepared for such a scenario, and a vast expanse of crimson light instantly erupted out of his body as he opened his mouth to release a miniature crimson g that was several inches tall.
As soon as the g was released, it instantly swelled to around 10 feet in height, and crimson light surged over the g as it released gusts of gorey wind and boundless blood mist, forming an enormous crimson cloud that epassed Duan Renli''s entire body.
However, before he had a chance to do anything else, silver light shed above him, and the Lightning Bird emerged before folding its wings against the sides of its body, plunging down into the crimson cloud like an asteroid in free fall.
A burst of rumbling rang out as silver lightning shed within the crimson cloud, and the entire cloud was torn into two before the Lightning Bird flew out the other side.
Clutched between its sharp talons was a humanoid figure who was struggling and writhing violently like a worm with a horrified look on its face. ck blood was gushing out of all of its seven orifices, presenting a ghastly sight to behold.
All of a sudden, the Lightning Bird said in a thunderous voice, "I spared youst time because I didn''t want any trouble, but I didn''t think you would be so foolish. It seems I have no choice but to put an end to your life here."
As soon as his voice trailed off, countless arcs of lightning converged toward the Lightning Bird''s talons, and with one final blood-curdling cry, half of Duan Renli''s body exploded amid a burst of crackling silver radiance.
Immediately thereafter, a dark red nascent soul flew out of his ruined body with a horrified look on its face, but before it had a chance to escape, it was struck by an arc of silver lightning that erased it out of existence in the blink of an eye.
Thus concluded the life of a Grand Ascension cultivator who had reigned supreme over the Spirit Domain Realm for tens of thousands of years. Not a single trace of him was left behind in this realm.
It had only taken a few seconds for Han Li to put an end to Duan Renli''s life, and Tong Ren''e and Daoist Closed Mountain clearly had no intention of helping theirpanion. At this point, they were already far away.
¡¡
In the inner city of ck Water City.
Daoist Clear Bright and Layman Bone me were still sipping tea while chatting with one another on the third floor of the pavilion, and their conversation gradually turned to matters rted to cultivation experiences and insights.
Just as the two were having a spirited discussion, Daoist Clear Bright''s face suddenly paled slightly, and he threw up a mouthful of blood without any warning.
"What happened, Fellow Daoist Clear Bright?" Layman Bone me hurriedly asked.
"The Spirit Nascent Sword Talisman that I sent to the Spirit Domain Realm has been destroyed," Daoist Clear Bright replied with a dark expression.
"How is that possible? That Spirit Nascent Sword Talisman contains enough power to rival an all-out attack from you! Even I wouldn''t dare to directly oppose it. In addition to that, they had my Golden Dao Warriors on their side as well. How could they possibly have failed to kill that man?" Layman Bone me eximed with a stunned expression.
Daoist Clear Bright remained silent with a steely look on his face.
Chapter 67: Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost
Chapter 67: Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost
Inside the gray space, Tong Ren''e and Daoist Closed Mountain were flying through the air as quickly as they could, covering vast distances in the blink of an eye.
In particr, after Duan Renli''s aura was snuffed out, both of them frantically unleashed secret techniques at heavy costs to further enhance their speed.
Neither of them could even remember thest time that they had felt so horrified. In the entire Spirit Domain Realm, there were only a small handful of beings that wereparable to them in terms of cultivation base, and beings of their caliber very rarely entered battles against one another unless it was absolutely unavoidable.
"Fellow Daoist Closed Mountain, open up the spatial passageway right now! If we don''t leave this domain, both of us are going to follow in Fellow Daoist Duan''s footsteps!" Tong Ren''e urged as he took a fearful nce behind them.
Daoist Closed Mountain nodded in response, then flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized silver te. Azure light then shed from his other hand as he gentlyid his palm down onto the round te while chanting an incantation.
A burst of silver light instantly erupted from the te, and the light gradually grew brighter and brighter as the chanting continued.
Countless silver runes began to emerge, and in the next instant, around a dozen beams of silver radiance erupted out of the silver light in unison, converging and intertwining in front of the two to form an indistinct silver diagram that was giving off spatial fluctuations.
Right at this moment, a muffled thunderp rang out from behind the two, and their expressions changed drastically upon hearing this.
A speck of silver light appeared in the distance, and it was erging at an rming rate, closing in on the duo at an incredible speed.
"How much longer do you need?" Tong Ren''e asked.
"10 seconds... No, eight!" Daoist Closed Mountain hurriedly replied while continuing to make a rapid series of hand seals.
Tong Ren''e hesitated momentarily, then gritted his teeth as he said, "I''ll hold him off as best as I can."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he began to chant an incantation, and at the same time, he tore off his ck robe to expose his bare upper body.
There was a dark red image of a ghostly creature emzoned onto his frail-looking chest, and it was giving off crimson light that was constantly fluctuating in brightness, as if it were a violent living creature that was constantly struggling.
There were several white objects on the ghostly creature''s body that were giving off faint white light, suppressing the creature and keeping it subdued.
Tong Ren''e took a deep breath, then made a hand seal before pointing a finger at the white objects in rapid session.
Bursts of dazzling white light erupted from the white objects, and a series of unintelligible white runes appeared. Immediately thereafter, the white objects sprang out of Tong Ren''e''s chest, revealing themselves to be 13 white bone nails.
As soon the bone nails flew out of Tong Ren''e''s body, the image of the ghostly creature instantly let loose a roar of excitement, as if it were a terrifying demon that had finally been freed.
Dazzling crimson light erupted out of Tong Ren''e''s chest before enveloping his entire body, forming around a dozen incredibly thick pirs of crimson light. The pirs of light were giving off terrifying power, causing the surrounding space to churn and ripple incessantly.
Within the crimson light, Tong Ren''e gave a muffled groan as a pained look appeared on his face.
A string of cracks rang out from within his body, and his muscles squirmed as if they were living creatures as his body rapidly swelled in size.
In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a giant ghostly creature that was over 1,000 feet tall.
The ghostly creature was rather simr to the Blood Heavenly Ghost that Duan Renli had summoned. It was another heavenly ghost, but this one was even more terrifying.
Mysterious ck and red patterns were running all over the heavenly ghost''s entire body, and what was even more harrowing was that its chest, abdomen, arms, legs, and even the backs of its feet were riddled with eyes. In total, the heavenly ghost possessed in excess of 100 eyes, all of which were constantly blinking and radiating faint ck light, striking the beholder with a bone-chilling sensation.
In particr, there was an especially massive vertical eye on his be that presented a harrowing sight to behold and forced the eyebrows of the eyes below it to the side.
However, that eye was tightly shut.
As soon as the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost appeared, Tong Ren''e''s aura was elevated to unprecedented heights, causing the surrounding space to ripple and quiver.
Right at this moment, a silver Lightning Bird that was over 100 feet in size appeared in front of the two of them amid a sh of silver lightning, and a hint of surprise appeared in its eyes at the sight of the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost that Tong Ren''e had transformed into.
The Lightning Bird then spread its wings, and countless arcs of silver lightning appeared over its body amid a rumbling thunderp as it abruptly made a forward-grabbing motion with one set of talons.
A set of terrifying lightning talons that were around an acre in size appeared out of thin air before grabbing toward the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost.
Even before the talons reached the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost, a burst of tremendous force came crashing down, causing the nearby space to constrict and tighten.
In the face of such an attack, the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost didn''t disy any fear. It immediately made a hand seal, and close to half of the eyes on its body lit up in unison before releasing bursts of ck light.
Dozens of bursts of light intertwined to form a ck, which shed with the giant lightning talons.
In the instant that the two came into contact with one another, a burst of faintw fluctuations erupted out of the ck, and the lightning talons abruptly vanished on the spot, then appeared several thousand feet away as if by instantaneous teleportation.
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out as the lightning talons struck nothing but empty air, and countless arcs of silver lightning exploded through the air, causing the nearby space to churn and quiver violently.
A hint of surprise shed through the Lightning Bird''s eyes, and it pped its wings vigorously to release two crescent arcs of silver lightning, one of which appeared on the heavenly ghost''s left, while the other appeared on its right, and both of them converged to attack the heavenly ghost from both sides.
The eyes on the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost''s body lit up once again, then released bursts of ck light to oppose the two arcs of lightning.
Faintw fluctuations erupted once again, and the two arcs of lightning also vanished into thin air before appearing several thousand feet away, where they crashed into one another before exploding violently.
Daoist Closed Mountain was ecstatic to see this.
Two or three seconds had already passed, and through his wholehearted efforts, the silver diagram in the air was gradually bing clearer and more substantial.
The Lightning Bird stopped attacking as it folded its wings against its sides, thenpletely disregarded what Daoist Closed Mountain was doing as it said to the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost, "I didn''t think that I would encounter anyone capable of wielding spatial power here in the Spirit Domain Realm. You are truly worthy of your title as the number one Grand Ascension cultivator of this realm."
"There is no vendetta between us, Fellow Daoist Han. We only did this as we were instructed by our respective patriarchs in the Immortal Realm to capture you. Now that Duan Renli is already dead, I''m sure you''ve had a chance to vent your anger.
¡°I admit that your powers are far beyond ours, but those in the Immortal Realm won''t just stand by and watch if you go too far andpletely turn the Spirit Domain Realm on its head," the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost said, and even though it was delivering a threat, it was doing so in an imploring tone.
"As expected, this really does have something to do with the patriarchs of your sect. However, they''re all far away in the Immortal Realm, so they won''t be able to do anything about this," the Lightning Bird said in a cold voice.
The Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost faltered slightly upon hearing this. "You wouldn''t dare..."
Before it had a chance to finish, the Lightning Bird suddenly raised its head before letting loose a sharp cry.
Arcs of silver lightning lit up around it once again, then converged toward its talons to form an enormous spherical of lightning.
At the same time, a series of strange runes that were shing with silver light flew out of its talons before vanishing into the of lightning.
All of a sudden, the arcs of lightning on the silver all disintegrated silently to release bursts of scintiting silver radiance, which then abruptly condensed to form two silver balls of lightning.
Ayer of silver runes was distributed over the surface of each ball of lightning, and a burst of dull rumbling rang out as thin arcs of silver lightning erupted in all directions, releasing a terrifying aura that threatened to destroy everything in the path of the balls of lightning.
This was none other than Han Li''s Lightningwield Technique! [1]
The balls of lightning were formed by the Lightning Bird''s silver lightning, which waspletely different from the Devil Vanquishing Divine Lightning he had used in the past. [2]
The Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost let loose a low roar, and all of the red and ck patterns on its body lit up in unison, while all of its eyes sprang open at once.
The Lightning Bird raised its talons, and the two silver balls of lightning were instantly sent flying through the air, reaching the heavenly ghost at an incredible speed before exploding violently.
A pair of scintiting silver suns appeared in the sky before rapidly expanding outward as arcs of lightning shed in all directions. Countless silver runes appeared on the surfaces of the silver suns as they came crashing down while releasing a devastating destructive aura.
Even though Tong Ren''e was already expecting a powerful onught from Han Li, he was still astonished by just how fearsome the attack was.
The Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost let loose a fierce roar as all of its eyes opened up wide, so much so that the corners of the eyes were tearing open slightly.
Bursts of ck light that were close to twice as thick as the previous ones shot forth before intertwining to form a giant ck.
At the same time, the vertical eye on its forehead abruptly sprang open, revealing a huge eye that was as ck as ink.
A thick pir of ck light shot out of the vertical eye before vanishing into the ck, which instantly transformed into a ck light barrier that enshrouded the heavenly ghost from head to toe.
The two dazzling silver suns descended from the heavens before crashing into the ck light barrier, and the light barrier immediately began to glow brightly while giving off powerfulw fluctuations.
The light on close to half of the two silver suns instantly congealed as if it had frozen solid, but the other half remainedpletely unaffected as it continued to descend amid a burst of violent rumbling.
The ck light barrier buzzed and trembled incessantly, and light was shing erratically on its surface, but it refused to be destroyed.
Thus, an impasse ensued.
Right at this moment, a thunderous roar rang out from within the ck light barrier, and the barrier abruptly swelled drastically in size as countless ck runes appeared on its surface.
The pair of silver suns shed before suddenly vanishing on the spot, then reappeared in the distance.
Immediately thereafter, the two silver suns exploded to form a pair of pirs of lightning, which erupted into the heavens to punch gargantuan holes through the gray clouds with ease. At the same time, a pair of bottomless holes were also sted into the ground.
Enormous power fluctuations erupted from the giant lightning pirs, sweeping up gusts of fierce wind within several dozen kilometers of the explosion.
At the same time, the ck light barrier also disintegrated to reveal the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost, and it appeared to be in terrible condition.
Not only was it panting heavily, all of its eyes were half closed, and the ck light that they were giving off had be extremely faint. It was clear that they had been severely overexerted.
Daoist Closed Mountain was astonished by what he had just witnessed, but at the same time, the spatial passageway was about to take shape.
With one final string of incantation seals, the silver diagram in the sky began to glow brightly, then took on a clear and substantial form, revealing itself to be an image of a silver moon hanging in the sky.
1. For more information on the Lightningwield Technique, please refer to RMJI Chapter 1473: Lightningwield Technique. ?
2. For more information on Devil Vanquishing Divine Lightning, please refer to RMJI Chapter 411: Cultivating Bamboo. ?
Chapter 68: Pursuit
Chapter 68: Pursuit
Daoist Closed Mountain was ecstatic to see this, and he switched to a different hand seal as he released a burst of blood essence out of his mouth, which fused into the silver moon image in a sh.
Inside the image, bursts of silver light were suddenly released by the silver moon that was concealed behind the mist, and the bursts of silver light intertwined with one another to form a shimmering silver vortex.
Bursts of spatial fluctuations erupted out of the vortex as a burst of dull rumbling that resembled a thunderp rang out, and a speck of white light could be seen at the deepest point of the vortex.
In the instant that the spatial passageway was opened up, both the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost and the Lightning Bird turned to it in unison, and a hint of tion appeared on the former''s face, while blue light shed in the eyes of thetter.
Daoist Closed Mountain''s gaze only settled on the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost for an instant before it was immediately directed toward the Lightning Bird, and he shuddered before turning around like a spooked hare and rushing into the silver vortex as quickly as he could.
Immediately thereafter, the silver vortex disintegrated into countless specks of silver light, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
In total, the spatial passageway was only open for less than a second, and all that remained of it were some faint spatial fluctuations.
Not only had Daoist Closed Mountain fled on his own, he had even closed the spatial passageway behind him, and the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost was furious to see this. "You bastard!"
Meanwhile, the blue light in the Lightning Bird''s eyes faded, and a contemtive look appeared on its face.
During the brief instant before the passageway was closed, he had already captured all of the permutations of the spatial vortex.
"It''s just you and me left now, Fellow Daoist Tong. It''s time I settled my differences with your sect once and for all," the Lightning Bird said in a cold voice as it withdrew its gaze.
As soon as its voice trailed off, silver lightning shed over its body, and it vanished on the spot amid a resounding thunderp.
The Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost had no time to curse Daoist Closed Mountain for his betrayal as it frantically made a hand seal, and a vast expanse of viscous ck qi surged out of its body, forming around a dozen thick tentacles that iled wildly through the air around it.
Another thunderp rang out, and the Lightning Bird appeared behind the heavenly ghost amid a sh of lightning, thenshed out with its talons at an incredible speed, leaving a trail of afterimages in their wake.
However, the ck tentacles behind the heavenly ghost also reacted extremely quickly, wrapping themselves around the Lightning Bird in a sh.
A hint of surprise appeared in the Lightning Bird''s eyes, following which arcs of silver lightning appeared all around its body, and countless silver runes also emerged from those arcs of lightning.
The runes exploded in rapid session as countless thin threads of silver lightning sprang forth in all directions, tearing the ck tentacles to shreds before reducing them to a cloud of ck qi that was quickly eradicated.
The back of the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost was also struck by a thick arc of lightning, and the seven or eight eyes there werepletely destroyed, causing ck blood to gush down its back.
The Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost gave a muffled groan before frantically flying directly forward.
A burst of rumbling rang out from behind it as the Lightning Bird made a grabbing motion with its talons, and the arcs of silver lightning around it converged to form another pair of balls of lightning.
It then raised its talons up into the air, and the two balls of lightning flew up into the heavens before vanishing into the gray clouds up above.
A string of earth-shattering booms instantly rang out as the balls of lightning tore through the gray clouds, illuminating thendscape down below with scintiting silver light.
Two enormous pirs of lightning with countless silver runes surging around them abruptly shot out of the clouds, then came crashing down upon the fleeing Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost.
The heavenly ghost was greatly rmed, and ck light shed from its body as it forced all of its eyes open again. ck light shed within the pupils of its eyes as it prepared to unleash its spatial ability once again, but right at this moment, a bone-chilling harrumph rang out beside its ears.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of excruciating pain speared through its mind as if its brain had been viciously stabbed by a sharp knife, and it felt as if its soul were about to be torn apart at the seams.
The heavenly ghost threw its hands over its head as it let loose an agonized howl, and ck blood began to flow out of all of its orifices.
The ck light in the pupils of its eyes shed erratically before fading, following which the two pirs of silver light struck its body amid a deafening thunderp.
The Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost let loose a blood-curdling howl as two massive holes were instantly punched into its body by the pirs of lightning, and one of the holes was on its chest.
The heavenly ghost''s body was almost torn into two, and ck blood came gushing out as it plummeted out of the sky before crashing heavily down onto the ground.
A string of cracks and pops rang out as the Hundred-eye Heavenly Ghost''s body rapidly shrank down, reverting back into a short elderly man in the blink of an eye. The elderly man was carrying extremely severe injuries with tworge holes in his body, one on his chest and the other on his abdomen.
Blood was gushing incessantly out of Tong Ren''e''s mouth as a horrified look appeared on his face.
However, in the next instant, a fierce look suddenly shed through his eyes as he quickly made a hand seal.
Circles of ck light instantly began to revolve around him, while his thin and frail body began to balloon up at an rming rate.
"He''s trying to self-detonate!" the Lightning Bird murmured to itself as it swept its talons through the air, releasing dazzling arcs of silver lightning that converged to form a ball of lightning in the blink of an eye.
The ball of lightning then came crashing down at an astonishing speed, but Tong Ren''e was able to self-detonate before it arrived, and the explosion released powerful shockwaves that tore through the nearby space.
ck light surged out of the spatial rifts, slowing down the ball of silver lightning in its descent.
A nascent soul that was several inches tall flew out of the ck light before vanishing on the spot, then reappeared several hundred feet away in the blink of an eye. Protective spiritual light then shed over its body as it attempted to flee the scene.
However, right at this moment, the silver ball of lightning exploded into an enormous silver sun, which rapidly expanded in all directions, engulfing Tong Ren''e''s nascent soul in a sh.
An object shot out of the silver light before flying into the talons of the Lightning Bird.
Momentster, the silver sun slowly faded, revealing an enormous crater on the ground.
At this point, Tong Ren''e had already vanished without a trace.
The Lightning Bird vanished with a sh of silver lightning, and Han Li was revealed, holding a red bag that was giving off faint red light in one hand.
After that series of intense battles, he had reached the bottom of his magic power reserves, and hisplexion had be quite pale.
He stowed the red bag away, then summoned a 1,000-year-old Cloud Crane Herb that he promptly devoured. After that, he raised his head to look up at the sky while chanting an incantation before sweeping a sleeve through the air.
Seven streaks of ck light flew out before drawing to a halt in mid-air. These were none other than the seven Starmoon Mirrors that he had refined using Yin Dawn Stones, and they were arranged in ordance with the configuration of the Big Dipper''s seven stars.
Han Li made a hand seal, casting streaks of light onto the seven mirrors, and they immediately began to revolve on the spot while radiating dazzling starlight.
Many ck runes were also flying out of the mirrors before dancing in the starlight.
As Han Li cycled through a series of hand seals, the Starmoon Mirrors began to buzz incessantly, and the light that they were releasing became brighter and brighter, but they were trembling uncontrobly and bing more and more unstable.
All of a sudden, Han Li made one final hand seal as he uttered the word "explode"!
The light radiating from the seven mirrors instantly reached peak brightness as they exploded into seven massive balls of light.
Han Li immediately began to make a rapid series of hand seals, and the seven balls of light quickly transformed into seven huge star projections that resembled a miniature replica of the Big Dipper at his behest.
Han Li instantly switched to a different hand seal upon seeing this, and light radiating from the seven star projections connected together to form a star array.
Han Li exhaled as he made a peculiar hand seal, and the star array instantly brightened, following which it split toward either side as if it were being torn apart by a pair of massive invisible hands.
Soon, an inky-ck rift had appeared, and the rift seemed to be filled with boundless darkness, but there was a speck of light that could be seen at the deepest point in the darkness.
¡¡
In the sky above the Origin Realm Temple''s Star Gathering tform, violent spatial fluctuations erupted from the giant silver as a spatial rift suddenly appeared down the middle, and Han Li flew out of the rift before hovering in mid-air.
The massive array that epassed an enormous around the Star Gathering tform was still standing, and the bright silver light that was cascading down from the giant silver moon was intertwining with the radiance of the rainbow light barrier that epassed the surrounding space, presenting a bizarre and ethereal disy of lights.
At this point, Daoist Closed Mountain was already nowhere to be seen.
Han Li flew over to the light barrier in an unhurried manner, then three consecutive punches to smash a hole into the barrier before flying out from within.
The Origin Realm Temple outside was still standing peacefully in the night, and there didn''t seem to be anything abnormal about it.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he released his spiritual sense and swept it through the surrounding area, following which he immediately cast a cold gaze toward the Heaven Stunning Peak in the distance.
In the next instant, he transformed into a streak of azure light and flew toward the peak like lightning.
Right at this moment, the earth around the Heaven Stunning Peak suddenly began to quake violently, and dozens of thick pirs of yellow light erupted out of the ground.
Each pir of light was around 40 to 50 feet thick, and they reached all the way up into the clouds.
The pirs of light were riddled with earthy yellow spiritual patterns, which were giving off tremendous spiritual power fluctuations.
All of the pirs of light brightened in unison as they released bursts of yellow radiance, which connected together to form a thick yellow light barrier. From afar, it appeared as if a dense yellow cloud had appeared over the entire Heaven Stunning Peak.
Inside a hall on the Heaven Stunning Peak was a three-level tform that was entirely constructed from a type of yellow crystalline stone.
The tform was tapered from the bottom to the top, with the bottom level standing at over 100 feet in radius, while the top level was only around 20 to 30 feet.
The entire tform was riddled with yellow runes, and the dozens of earthy yellow pirs around the tform also had countless runes engraved upon them.
Daoist Closed Mountain was seated on the top level of the tform, and even though his expression was quite calm, the hint of panic in his eyes betrayed his true emotions.
He chanted an incantation while making a rapid series of hand seals, quickly releasing one incantation seal after another.
The tform and the dozens of pirs around it instantly began to sh incessantly with earthy yellow light, resonating with the array outside.
Seven or eight Body Integration cultivators of the Origin Realm Temple were seated with their legs crossed on the second level of the tform, and they were also chanting incessantly while injecting their magic power into the tform.
Outside the Heaven Stunning Peak, a streak of azure light arrived in front of the array before fading to reveal Han Li.
He took a nce at the yellow light barrier that enshrouded the entire mountain, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he took a deep breath. A string of cracks and pops rang out as his body rapidly swelled up like a balloon, while golden fur sprouted from his skin. In the blink of an eye, he had already transformed into a Giant Mountain Ape that was over 100 feet tall.
Chapter 69: Change in the Silver Moon
Chapter 69: Change in the Silver Moon
The giant golden ape thumped its chest with its fists, and a violent aura erupted out of its body, causing the yellow light barrier to sway and quiver.
Inside the hall on the Heaven Stunning Peak, Daoist Closed Mountain and the other cultivators of the Origin Realm Temple were all greatly rmed by the sight of the terrifying giant ape outside the light barrier.
Sweat was beginning to bead up on Daoist Closed Mountain''s forehead, and he sped up in his chanting as he pointed his fingers at the pirs around him in quick session.
All of the pirs began to glow with yellow radiance, and the yellow light barrier epassing the Heaven Stunning Peak became even thicker and denser.
The giant golden ape threw its head back and let loose a long roar, then swung a furry violently at the light barrier up ahead.
Dazzling golden light erupted from its massive fist as it sped through the air, sweeping up gusts of fierce golden wind before crashing into the yellow light barrier with ferocious might.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as dazzling golden and yellow light erupted forth in a blinding explosion of radiance.
The surface of the light barrier trembled violently, and the section that was struck caved in significantly amid a string of loud cracks. A series of fissures appeared on the light barrier around the giant golden fist before quickly spreading in all directions.
Inside the hall on the Heaven Stunning Peak, all of the pirs around the three-level tform trembled violently, and even the tform itself was disying some signs of cracking as it shed erratically.
The Body Integration cultivators situated around the tform all felt their dantians quiver violently alongside the tform, and they each threw up a mouthful of blood as astonished looks appeared on their faces.
The Divine Dense Earth Array epassing the Heaven Stunning Peak was an array that had taken several array masters of the sect an entire century to construct under the guidance of Patriarch Clear Bright countless years ago, yet it had almost been destroyed by just a single punch!
A hint of panic shed through Daoist Closed Mountain''s eyes as he yelled, "Stabilize the array!"
He then gritted his teeth before opening his mouth to release a mouthful of blood essence, which transformed into a cloud of blood mist that fused into the nearby pirs. At the same time, he made a rapid series of hand seals as he injected his magic power into the tform in a frenzy.
The Body Integration cultivators around the tform hurriedly did the same upon seeing this.
Under theirbined efforts, all of the pirs in the array lit up in unison, and the cracks that had been smashed into the yellow light barrier by the giant golden ape''s fist quickly began to seal.
The giant golden ape harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and its other arm also began to glow with radiant golden light before it unleashed another devastating strike.
The massive golden fist struck the exact same spot as before, and a series of golden shockwaves erupted from the fist, sweeping up gusts of fierce wind that blew through the air in all directions.
The entire array trembled and churned violently, and pirs of yellow qi rose up in a chaotic fashion in all directions.
As a result of the second strike, the indentation on the light barrier deepened by twofold, and the cracks began to spread over its surface again, with these ones even wider and deeper than the cracks from before.
Finally, the entire arraypletely shattered with a dull thump.
The hall on the Heaven Stunning Peak swayed violently while a massive crack appeared on the three-level tform, splitting it into two.
Seven or eight massive rifts also appeared on the ground in the hall, and all of the Body Integration cultivators shuddered uncontrobly as they almost fell off the tform.
At the same time, blood was gushing out of their mouths, and their auras were quickly waning.
Daoist Closed Mountain''splexion also paled significantly as he instantly rose to his feet.
However, before he had a chance to do anything, a resounding boom rang out, and countless cracks appeared on the roof of the hall before it copsed forcefully, even though it was also bolstered by an array.
A golden fist projection the size of a house then came crashing down directly upon Daoist Closed Mountain.
A faint buzzing sound rang out as Daoist Closed Mountain flipped a hand over to produce a silver horsetail whisk, which he swept through the air to release countless silver threads.
He then made a seal with his other hand, and all of the silver threads instantly converged at his behest to form a silver Qilin projection, which shed with the golden fist projection.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as golden and silver light intertwined, sweeping up a ferocious hurricane that erupted all the way up into the heavens before sweeping fiercely in all directions.
The entire hall waspletely destroyed, and all of the Body Integration cultivators were sent flying by the ferocious gusts of wind. Thankfully, all of them reacted extremely quickly, frantically summoning all types of defensive treasures to protect themselves, so they remained rtively unharmed.
A portly figure shot back in retreat out of the fierce wind in an unsteady manner, and it was none other than Daoist Closed Mountain. He was holding a ruined horsetail whisk in one hand, and there was a look of horror and panic in his eyes as he hurriedly yelled, "Please wait, Fellow Daoist Han!"
Before he had a chance to say anything further, the giant golden ape appeared before him in a wraith-like manner amid a sh of golden light, then swung a massive golden palm down toward him.
The golden hand didn''t appear to be moving very quickly, but in reality, it was rapidly descending and releasing a burst of terrifying power that threatened to tten the very space itself.
Daoist Closed Mountain hurriedly opened his mouth in a frantic manner to release a ball of white light, which contained an antiquated ck inkstone.
There was a faintyer of light surging over the inkstone''s surface, and it was clearly a treasure of quite a high caliber.
The inkstone revolved in mid-air as it rapidly expanded, and countless runes emerged on its surface. At the same time, it released a thick pir of ck light that managed to keep the giant golden palm at bay.
Daoist Closed Mountain immediately seized this opportunity to rush back in retreat while simultaneously flipping a hand over to produce a white jade pendant amid a sh of white light.
The giant golden ape let loose a low roar as it spread the fingers of the hand that was being kept at bay by the pir of ck light, and a series of golden spiritual patterns appeared on its palm.
The power that was being released by the hand was instantly enhanced by almost threefold, and it crushed the pir of ck light with ease before grabbing ahold of the ck inkstone and tightening its grip.
The inkstone waspletely pulverized with a dull thump, immediately following which the giant golden ape vanished on the spot before appearing not far behind Daoist Closed Mountain.
A furry golden hand reached out like lightning, and golden spiritual patterns instantly lit up on its surface as a burst of golden light swept forward with ferocious might.
Daoist Closed Mountain immediately turned around before sweeping an arm through the air, tossing the white jade pendant upward.
Red, yellow, and blue light surged over the jade pendant''s surface, following which a burst of three-colored spirit mes erupted forth. The three-colored mes transformed into a three-colored phoenix that was over 100 feet in size in the blink of an eye, then flew directly toward the giant ape''s oing fist.
Scintiting three-colored light radiated from the phoenix''s body, illuminating the entire sky, causing everything around it to pale into insignificance inparison.
An earth-shattering boom rang out in mid-air, instantly resounding throughout the entire Origin Realm Temple. All of the disciples in the temple instantly flew out of the buildings that they were in with rmed expressions, then directed their gaze toward the Heaven Stunning Peak in the distance.
There, the entire sky had been split into two, with golden light dominating one side, while the other side was filled with scorching red, yellow, and blue mes. The two sides were locked in a fierce tug of war, and bursts of thunderous rumbling were ringing out incessantly.
The Heaven Stunning Peak and the entire area in a radius of hundreds of kilometers around it shuddered violently as gusts of destructive wind swept through the surrounding area.
All of the trees near the Heaven Stunning Peak werepletely uprooted, and some of the giant rocks were also swept away by the ferocious wind, while everything else was razed to the ground.
The sh between the two bursts of terrifying power only raged on for a few seconds before the golden light quickly overwhelmed the three-colored mes, and thetter waspletely crushed.
The three-colored phoenix let loose an anguished cry, and its body was also destroyed by the golden light.
Daoist Closed Mountain was sent flying back by the ferocious shockwaves, and the jade pendant in his hand was shattered with a dull thump.
He flew all the way back for several kilometers before crashing heavily into a mountain, then plummeted down onto the ground with countless rocks raining down all around him.
The giant golden ape also descended from the heavens,nding not far in front of Daoist Closed Mountain. The ground trembled violently, and rock fragments flew in all directions as a pair of huge craters were stomped into the ground by the ape''s enormous feet.
The golden ape then lowered its head to look down at Daoist Closed Mountain with a cold look in its golden eyes.
Daoist Closed Mountain was absolutely horrified, but seeing as Han Li didn''t immediatelynd the killing blow, a glimmer of hope welled up in his heart as he hurriedly said, "Fellow Daoist Han... No, Senior Han, please let me exin! It''s not what you think!"
At this point, his heart was filled with nothing but remorse. If he had known that this was going to happen, he would''ve fled the Origin Realm Temple right away after leaving the domain. Perhaps he would''ve at least had a slim chance at survival then.
Right at this moment, a string of resounding booms suddenly rang out from the distance, and it wasing from the Star Gathering tform''s direction.
The giant golden ape raised an eyebrow as it turned toward the Star Gathering tform, and Daoist Closed Mountain also hurriedly cast his gaze toward the same direction.
The eight mountains near the Star Gathering tform were swaying in unison, and the peaks of the eight mountains exploded, while the eight pirs of light rising up from the mountains also vanished in a sh.
The massive light barrier overlooking the Star Gathering tform then abruptly brightened before disintegrating.
However, the giant silver moon hanging over the Star Gathering tform didn''t fade. Not only that, but it had be even brighter than the sun and was trembling incessantly.
Bursts of invisible shockwaves erupted forth in all directions, and the surrounding space in a radius of several hundred kilometers was stirred up once again as trees were felled and mountains copsed.
Immediately thereafter, all of the light radiating from the surface of the silver moon converged toward the center to form an enormous vortex. At the same time, lights of different colors appeared in the surrounding area, intertwining with one another as violent tremors ran through the nearby space.
All of the Origin Realm Temple disciples were staring at the scene unfolding in the sky in a ck-jawed silence.
The giant golden ape was watching the massive vortex in the sky with blue light shing in its eyes, and it suddenly reached with one hand to make a grabbing motion, releasing a burst of immense suction force.
"Spare me!" Daoist Closed Mountain yelled as he tried to struggle frantically, but he waspletely powerless to resist as the giant golden ape drew him into its grasp with ease.
The giant ape then opened its mouth to release the silver Essence Fire Raven, which transformed into a fiery silver rope in a sh before quickly winding itself around Daoist Closed Mountain''s body several times.
With a casual swipe of the golden ape''s hand, Daoist Closed Mountain was tossed away, following which the giant ape directed its gaze back to the spatial vortex in the sky with a grim look on its face.
Daoist Closed Mountain crashed heavily down onto the ground, and stars were dancing in front of his eyes.
His heart shuddered as he felt the terrifying power imbued within the fiery silver rope around him, and all he could do wasy obediently on the ground, not daring to move even a single inch for fear of irking Han Li.
Chapter 70: Extrarealm Flying Bean
Chapter 70: Extrarealm Flying Bean
In the sky above, the vortex on the surface of the giant silver moon had already expanded to over twice its original size.
A semi-transparent barrier could just barely be made out at the deepest point inside the vortex, and beyond that barrier seemed to be apletely foreign world.
All of a sudden, the semi-transparent barrier shed as if something had crashed into it from the other side.
The giant silver moon trembled slightly, and a rift appeared on the surface of the semi-transparent barrier within the vortex.
A ball of piercing yellow light shot out from within, then began a rapid descent.
The semi-transparent barrier instantly sealed over again, following which the vortex suddenly began to shrink, and soon, the barrier could no longer be seen.
Blue light shed through the giant golden ape''s eyes, and it was instantly able to identify the object enveloped within the yellow light.
It was a bright yellow bean that was extremely simr to the beans that Duan Renli had released out of that yellow gourd earlier, but this bean was farrger, and there were countless profound runes engraved on its surface.
Therge bean suddenly paused in its descent, then revolved in mid-air to release countless golden runes in a frenzy. The golden runes surged around the bean, releasing a vast expanse of golden light that basked the nearby area in a radius of over 100 feet in a golden glow that was rippling and warping incessantly, much like the disturbed surface of a golden pond.
Immediately thereafter, a crisp crack rang out, and the bean began to expand at an incredible rate while sprouting a head and four limbs.
In virtually the blink of an eye, the yellow bean that was originally norger than a walnut had transformed into a golden giant that was over 2,000 feet tall, and its entire body was radiating golden light.
The golden giant was very simr in appearance to the golden warriors from before, with apletely bare upper body and bulging, vascr muscles on its legs and arms. It was as if its entire body were forged from steel essence, and its mere presence alone gave off a tremendous sense of pressure.
In the next instant, the surface of the silver moon shuddered once again, and countless yellow specks began to fly out from within. These were none other than the yellow beans that had been left in the domain treasure, and they were falling like rain.
Strangely enough, as soon as the yellow beans came into contact with the golden light that was radiating from the golden giant''s body, they were immediately drawn to the giant by some type of suction force.
All of the beams that fell onto the giant''s body were instantly sucked in, causing the golden giant to swell even further in size.
By the time all of the tens of thousands of yellow beans were drawn into the giant''s body, it had swelled all the way to around 10,000 feet tall, standing like a pir between heaven and earth, dwarfing even the nearby mountains.
An indescribably immense aura emanated from its body before sweeping in all directions.
"What the hell is that thing?"
"It''s massive!"
"I don''t like what''s going on here! I think I just saw our supreme elder being defeated by that giant golden ape, and now, this thing has appeared out of nowhere!"
"Now''s not the time to be chatting, we have to get out of here!"
All of the Origin Realm Temple disciples in the surrounding area were naturally horrified by this rming sight, and many of them began to flee in all directions in a blind panic.
However, there were also quite a few disciples who were of the opinion that there was no danger in watching the unfolding situation from afar. Of course, these disciples consisted primarily of high-grade cultivators such as those who were at the Spatial Tempering Stage and the Body Integration Stage.
All of a sudden, the giant silver moon in the sky shed a few times with silver light, then began to rapidly shrink. After just a short while, it had shrunk down to be a dull silver te that was over 100 feet in size. Immediately thereafter, the silver te came drifting down from the heavens, bursting into mes during its descent.
In the absence of the silver moon, the light of the stars that had previously been concealed was allowed to shine through again.
The giant golden apepletely ignored the changes taking ce in the silver moon, and its gaze remained fixed firmly on the golden giant in the sky this entire time.
If it weren''t mistaken, there was a very good chance that the yellow bean that had given rise to this golden giant hade from the Immortal Realm.
In fact, it was very likely that it was directly connected to the three immortal patriarchs of the Heavenly Ghost Sect.
Right as these thoughts were running through Han Li''s mind, the golden giant''s face rippled slightly, and a projection of a human face with a sickly yellowplexion emerged. The golden giant cast a cold gaze toward the giant golden ape, then pounced directly toward it like a golden asteroid, reaching the giant ape in the blink of an eye before raising its right arm and throwing a vicious punch.
A yellow st spread through the surrounding area like a turbulent wave, pulverizing all of the trees and mountains in its path.
The giant golden ape let loose a thunderous roar as its body quickly swelled to over 1,000 feet tall. At the same time, silver light shed from both of its arms, and countless silver spiritual patterns emerged to formyers ofplex arrays that spread over the entirety of the ape''s arms, releasing a burst of terrifying power.
The golden ape then also retaliated with a punch of its own, and a silver hurricane swept forth from its arm.
The two fists of vastly contrasting sizes shed violently with an earth-shattering boom and a vast eruption of golden and silver light, causing the nearby space to warp and buzz incessantly.
The giant golden ape''s body shuddered violently, and the silver light on its arms was shattered as it was sent flying back like a giant cannonball. A string of loud thumps rang out as its body smashed its way through three or four small mountains in session before finally crashing into a mountain that was over 10,000 feet tall, and only after plunging over 100 feet into the mountain did it finallye to a rest.
The huge mountain trembled violently as countless scattered rocks came ttering down, and it was almost toppled by the force of the impact. As for all of the buildings, cave abodes, and medicine gardens on the mountain, all of it was instantly reduced to piles of ruins and wreckage.
The giant golden ape flew out of the deep indentation in the mountain face before dusting itself off, and even though it waspletely unscathed, there was a hint of astonishment in its eyes.
He was unable to express the full power of the Giant Mountain Ape due to his severely limited magic power reserves, but even so, this golden giant possessed truly unfathomable strength, so much so that even Han Li was feelingpletely outmatched.
Close to 10 kilometers away, the golden giant paused in its flight, thennded heavily on the ground down below, causing the earth to quake and rumble beneath its feet.
It then bent its knees while leaning forward slightly, then pushed off against the ground forcefully with its feet.
An explosive bang rang out as ripples that were visible even to the naked eye spread through the air, and the golden giant rushed toward the giant golden ape like a shooting star, arriving directly above the ape in the blink of an eye before reaching down with its huge golden hands.
The giant ape was rather taken aback by the giant''s speed and agility, but it remained calm and collected as a vast expanse of azure light surfaced over its body, and it rolled onto the ground before instantly transforming into a majestic azure bird that was around 400 to 500 feet in size.
This was none other than Han Li''s Azure Luan Bird form, and the bird spread its wings before vanishing on the spot to avoid the golden giant''s gran.
A deafening boom rang out as the golden giant grabbed onto the huge mountain that was standing behind where the giant ape was originally situated, and the top half of the mountain was forcibly removed.
The severed section of the mountain came tumbling down, crushing two other mountains behind it and sending violent tremors running through the ground once again.
An azure shadow shed behind the golden giant, and the Azure Luan Bird appeared out of thin air before sinking its talons viciously into the giant''s back.
Several long gashes were instantly torn into the golden giant''s back, but they weren''t very deep, and they were virtually negligible given how enormous the giant''s body was.
The golden giant swatted a hand toward the Azure Luan Bird, unleashing a burst of tremendous power that caused a string of loud bangs to ring out in the air.
The Azure Luan Bird vanished yet again as an azure shadow, then appeared directly in front of the golden giant before giving its wings a vigorous p.
Hundreds of feathers were instantly sent flying through the air before transforming into countless azure des of wind, each of which was over 100 feet in length. The edges of every single de of wind were giving off a sharp gleam, and they shed into the golden giant''s body at an incredible speed.
A series of gashes were sliced into the golden giant''s chest and abdomen, causing it to fly into a thunderous rage. It immediately turned its head around before swinging an arm viciously through the air, but all it managed to do was strike an afterimage left behind by the Azure Luan Bird.
A glimmer of light shed within the Azure Luan Bird''s eyes as it began to fly around the golden giant, leaving a trail of afterimages in its wake as decoys as it searched for the next opportunity to strike.
To say that the golden giant''s strength was remarkable was a severe understatement, but thankfully, its defenses weren''t all that exceptional, and the Azure Luan Bird''s attacks were capable of wounding it. The injuries appeared to be insignificant, but if enough of them were inflicted, the umting effect was undoubtedly going to culminate into something more debilitating.
Right at this moment, bursts of yellow light emerged from the golden giant''s chest before quickly spreading over its entire body.
The wounds inflicted onto its back and chest rapidly healed within the yellow light, allowing it to fully recover in a matter of mere seconds.
The Azure Luan Bird couldn''t help but falter slightly upon seeing this.
However, its eyes then narrowed slightly as it let loose a defiant cry, then elevated its speed to its maximal capacity as it flew around the golden giants while unleashing ferocious wind-attribute attacks.
The golden giant was incredibly strong, but its speed was far inferior to the Azure Luan Bird, which was renowned for its speed even among true spirit beings. As a result, it was iling around wildly with its arms, but it was unable to even graze the Azure Luan Bird. However, the mountains in the area were not so fortunate, and the smaller mountains werepletely pulverized, while the taller mountains were also toppled with ease.
The Azure Luan Bird continued to fly rapidly around the golden giant, thetter was quickly riddled with wounds.
However, yellow light continued to spread from the giant''s chest, and regardless of what type of injury it sustained, it was always able to make a full recovery within a matter of seconds.
Not only that, but the golden giant''s movements were gradually bing more and more agile. It seemed to be familiarizing itself with the movements of the Azure Luan Bird, and it was slowly bing more and more able to keep up with the bird''s speed.
The two were constantly on the move as their battle raged on, destroying countless mountains and buildings in the Origin Realm Temple in the process.
Resounding booms rang out incessantly within the temple as widespread destruction ensued, and at this point, even the high-grade cultivators who had originally decided to stay and spectate had already fled the scene for self-preservation.
Daoist Closed Mountain wasying on the ground, watching helplessly as the sect fell into ruin, and he was desperate to do something.
If things were to continue like this, everything that had been built up over the course of the past 1,000,000 years would be destroyed!
However, as he raised his head to look up at the two deity-like titans locked in battle up above, he could only give a wry smile andment his own ill-fortune.
Chapter 71: Holy Nirvana Physique
Chapter 71: Holy Nirvana Physique
A deafening boom rang out as a giant golden palm that was several acres in size came descended from the sky, crashing down upon a blurry azure shadow with devastating might.
However, the azure shadow was extremely fast and was just barely able to evade the giant palm.
Having missed its target, the giant palm crashed down onto a mountain, causing the entire mountain to shatter and copse with an earth-shattering boom.
The azure shadow instantly skirted around the massive palm to arrive behind the right arm of the golden giant that was connected to the palm, and bright azure light erupted from the crest on its head before spreading over its entire body. All of the azure light then converged toward its sharp talons, which were swept viciously through the air.
Dozens of azure talon projections came together to form a huge azure that swept toward the golden giant''s right arm, tearing through the space in its path with ease, creating a series of inky-ck spatial rifts.
The golden giant raised its head in response, but it was still in the process of withdrawing its right arm, so there was no time for it to evade the attack.
A string of loud metallic ngs rang out as golden and azure light erupted between the azure and the giant''s right arm, but the explosion of light onlysted for an instant before the golden light was torn apart by the talon projections like paper.
In the face of the azure, the golden giant''s right arm was sliced off with ease as if it were made from tofu.
A hint of tion appeared in the Azure Luan Bird''s eyes, but right at this moment, the golden spiritual patterns on the surface of the severed arm suddenly began to glow brightly, and it instantly exploded into an enormous cloud of yellow mist.
In the blink of an eye, the cloud of mist had already expanded to epass an area that was dozens of acres in size.
The Azure Luan Bird immediately turned and fled the scene as soon as it realized that something was wrong, but the cloud was too massive to escape from.
All of a sudden, the Azure Luan Bird felt the air constrict around it, and its movements instantly became extremely slow and sluggish.
There were countless thin yellow threads dispersed throughout the cloud of yellow mist, and those threads had bound its entire body.
The Azure Luan Bird let loose an rmed cry as it attempted to spread its wings and struggle free from its bindings, but the yellow threads around it instantly released a torrent of countless yellow runes in response.
The air around the Azure Luan Bird tightened even further, and it felt as if it were being crushed under a giant mountain, making it an immense struggle just to make even the slightest movement.
However, in the next instant, a vast expanse of silver mes erupted forth to envelop its entire body.
The thin yellow threads quickly melted and disintegrated within the silver mes, but there were countless more yellow threads converging from all directions to bind the Azure Luan Bird tightly once again.
Thus, a cycle ensued in which the thin threads around the Azure Luan Birds were constantly disintegrating and reforming, and during this process, it was able to regain some mobility.
Blue light shed in its eyes as it attempted to find a way out, but right at this moment, the surrounding space suddenly dimmed, and at the same time, a burst of invisible force came crashing down upon it.
Immediately thereafter, an enormous hand appeared around the Azure Luan Bird, and the hand was so close that every single line on its enormous handprint was clearly visible.
As soon as the hand emerged, it immediately began to close around the Azure Luan Bird.
Han Li frantically adopted his Giant Mountain Ape form upon seeing this, and he was able toplete the transformation right as the giant hand closed around his body.
An agonized look appeared on the giant golden ape''s face as bursts of tremendous forcepressed toward its body from all directions, causing its bones to creak and shudder, but thankfully, its physical body was strong enough to withstand the crushing force of the giant''s grip for now.
What was truly astonishing to Han Li was that his me of Essence waspletely ineffective on the giant hand.
Right at this moment, the surrounding cloud of yellow mist swept back rapidly, revealing the enormous figure of the golden giant not far away. There was a sinister smile on the giant''s sickly yellow face, and its left hand was closed tightly around the giant golden ape.
A speck of piercing yellow light shed from the giant''s chest, immediately following which all of the yellow mist converged toward the wound left behind by its severed right arm.
The mist quickly churned and intertwined to form a brand new arm, which the golden giant immediately clenched into a mountainous fist, then raised it up high before sending it crashing down toward the giant ape''s head with devastating might.
Even before the fist arrived, the tremendous power imbued within it was already causing the surrounding space in a radius of close to 1,000 feet to warp and rumble violently.
A hint of despair welled up in the giant golden ape''s heart upon seeing this.
Even with his immensely powerful physical body, being struck by such a fearsome blow would undoubtedly result in at least severe injuries, if not death.
With that in mind, Han Li was forced to make a decision, and he quickly made a hand seal as bright purple light erupted from his body.
The golden giant''s fist came crashing down with devastating force, but in the next instant, a hint of surprise appeared on its face.
Contrary to its expectations, its fist wasn''t able to smash through the giant ape''s head. Instead, a dull thump rang out as a burst of purple light pierced through the back of its hand, and the fingers of its other hand were also folded back as if they had been snapped.
The purple light flew over to a short distance away, then faded to reveal a golden ape that was around 2,000 to 3,000 feet tall.
However, in contrast with before, this giant ape''s entire body was covered in countless purplish-golden scales, and there was an azure horn on the top of its head. In addition to that, two more pairs of furry ape arms had grown out of its shoulders and ribs.
[1]
A serious look appeared on the golden giant''s face as it cast its gaze toward the six-armed giant ape, and the injuries dealt to its two hands were instantly healed.
Ayer of yellow light appeared over each of its two fists, and several massive golden runes flew out of the yellow light, then circled around before fusing into its fists in a sh. As a result, its fists swelled to around twice their original size, and a burst of terrifying power akin to a volcano on the brink of eruption was brewing within those fists. Even though the power hadn''t been unleashed yet, the nearby space was already trembling and buzzing incessantly.
The six-armed giant ape let loose a long roar upon seeing this, and it took a huge stride forward, instantly covering a distance of thousands of feet as it arrived directly in front of the golden giant, thenshed out with its fists, which were glowing with radiant purplish-golden light.
The golden giant immediately responded in kind without any hesitation.
Two pairs of fists shed violently with an earth-shattering boom, and the nearby space began to buzz loudly as destructive shockwaves swept through the surrounding area.
This time, the six-armed giant ape remainedpletely unmoved, while the golden giant was sent flying back through the air.
Not only that, but its fists had been reduced to nothing more than grotesque masses of mangled flesh, and its arms had also beenpletely snapped and bent to strange angles.
The golden giant''s eyes were full of incredulity as it flew back for several thousand feet before crashing heavily into a mountain, which was instantly topped like a pile of frail sticks.
Even after plowing through the mountain, the golden giant didn''t slow down in the slightest as it continued to fly back, and only after toppling several mountains in a row was it just barely able to arrest its momentum.
At this point, the six-armed giant ape had already caught up,
The golden giant was quite surprised by this sudden turn of events, but it remained calm and unflustered as yellow light surged out of its chest before quickly spreading to its snapped arms to repair the damage there. At the same time, it swept its right leg horizontally through the air like a giant de, aiming a vicious kick at the giant ape''s midsection.
Enormous power surged through the air, sweeping up a huge white st for energy.
The six-armed giant ape suddenly crouched down, rolling over in an extremely ugly maneuver to evade the kick, then instantly sprang forward to crash into the golden giant''s body with tremendous force. At the same time, it wound its bottom pair of arms tightly around the giant as it was sent flying back through the air.
An rmed look appeared on the golden giant''s face, and bright yellow light erupted out of its entire body as it raised its arms, which were still yet to be fully healed, in a frantic attempt to struggle free.
However, the giant golden ape then reached out with its middle pair of arms totch onto the giant''s arms in a vice-like grip before snapping them once again. At the same time, purplish-golden light shed from its top pair of arms, and they began to release a metallic gleam as they were plunged viciously toward the giant''s chest.
The pair of arms instantly pierced into the giant''s body, then churned around forcefully. The golden giant''s movements instantly ceased, and the light in its eyes rapidly faded, while the recovery of its arms also came to a grinding halt.
A furious look appeared on the projection of the sickly yellow face before it also quickly faded away.
Han Li then withdrew his arms from the golden giant''s body, and one of his hands was holding a yellow bean that was giving off dazzling radiance.
The golden giant shuddered, and as Han Li''s arms were withdrawn from its chest, all of the golden light emanating from its bodypletely faded. It reflexively stumbled back a few steps as countless cracks appeared on the surface of its massive body, and it quickly disintegrated into an enormous cloud of yellow mist that was scattered by the wind.
Almost at the exact same moment, the six-armed giant ape''s aura plummeted drastically, and it reverted back into Han Li''s human form amid a sh of purplish-golden light.
His face was extremely pale, and he hurriedly summoned a Cloud Crane Herb that he promptly devoured, and only then did hisplexion improve slightly.
Looking at the gradually dissipating cloud of yellow mist, Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief as a hint of lingering fear shed through his eyes.
The golden giant wasn''t capable of using any cultivation arts or secret techniques, but its physical body and strength were no less powerful than a Profound Immortal''s, and he was no match for it without unleashing his Holy Nirvana Physique.
However, not only did this ability have extremely steep physical requirements on the user, it also expended a vast amount of magic power, far more than what he was able to muster up with his current magic power reserves.
Originally, it would''ve required the absorption of a vast amount of the world''s origin qi to recover the function of his Organ Refinement Origin Arts, but thankfully, after mastering the sixth level of the Big Dipper Origin Arts, he was able to recover some of the cultivation art''s function, thereby allowing him to use his organs as vessels for magic power.
Even though doing so required the expenditure of dozens of times the amount of quintessential purple qi that was normally required, he had still devoured almost his entire supply of Cloud Crane Herbs without any hesitation as soon as he noticed the abnormal activity taking ce in the Origin Realm Temple.
Even so, he was still only able to maintain his Holy Nirvana Physique for a few seconds, and it wasn''t even at peak power during those few seconds.
Thankfully, the golden giant wasn''t to react sufficiently quickly to the situation. If it had immediately fled to buy just a little bit of time as soon as Han Lipleted his transformation, the oue of that battle would''ve beenpletely different.
As the medicinal power of the Cloud Crane Herb was converted into magic power, a hint of color quickly returned to Han Li''splexion, and he took a nce at the yellow bean in his hand, then raised an eyebrow before stowing it away.
1. For more information on the Holy Nirvana Physique, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2005: Holy Nirvana Physique. ?
Chapter 72: Subjugating a Grand Ascension Cultivator
Chapter 72: Subjugating a Grand Ascension Cultivator
On a spacious rooftop somewhere in the inner city of ck Water City, Daoist Clear Bright and Layman Bone me were standing next to one another in silence.
Thetter''s brows were tightly furrowed, and he had a furious look on his face, looking as if he could snap at any moment.
The former''s expression wasn''t much more pleasant, and after a long while, he finally mused, "Who exactly is this man? Not only was my Spirit Nascent Sword Talisman unable to strike him down, even you..."
His voice trailed off there as he heaved a faint sigh, not wanting to speak any further on the matter.
A pained look appeared on Layman Bone me''s face as he spat through gritted teeth, "That Golden Dao Warrior of mine was close to a Profound Immortal in power, how could it possibly have been defeated by a descended immortal?"
He had broken through the interrealm barrier at great cost to forcibly open up a spatial passageway and send down a primary bean, but only a short whileter, his connection with the bean waspletely severed, leaving him both furious and despondent by the loss.
"It seems like either the Ubiquitous Pavilion''s information is inurate, or he must''ve encountered some especially fortunate circumstances that allowed him to return to full power. Now that we''ve failed to capture him, there''s going to be trouble looming for our two sects in the Spirit Domain Realm. We have to find a way to address that as quickly as possible," Daoist Clear Bright said with a contemtive look in his eyes.
Layman Bone me''s expression darkened even further upon hearing this. "He''s not getting away with this!"
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Meanwhile, in the Origin Realm Temple.
Daoist Closed Mountain looked on as Han Li approached him in an expressionless manner, and his bby rolls began to tremble uncontrobly from fear.
If he hadn''t been bound by the rope formed by the me of Essence, he would''ve already fled the scene even faster than the elders and disciples of the temple.
Han Li drew to a halt before him, then stared at him expressionlessly for a while before suddenly raising a hand and extending a finger toward his be.
"Spare me, Senior Han! I was only following orders! I had no choice!" Daoist Closed Mountain hurriedly implored as his back instantly became drenched in cold sweat.
"Is that right? Whose orders were you acting on?" Han Li asked with a faint smile as he lowered his hand again.
"The orders were from the patriarch of our temple in the Immortal Realm. Otherwise, there''s no way I would''ve dared to try and go against you, Senior Han," Daoist Closed Mountain hurriedly replied.
"Why would the patriarch of your Origin Realm Temple issue an order to have me captured? Does he know me?" Han Li asked.
"ording to our patriarch, a powerful organization in the Immortal Realm is offering a reward for your capture, and the reward is far loftier than what lower realm cultivators like myself can imagine. Patriarch Bone me of the Heavenly Ghost Sect received the bounty, and he coaxed our patriarch into joining forces with him. That''s what led to this... this misunderstanding," Daoist Closed Mountain hurriedly replied.
"Misunderstanding? You make it sound so trivial! So you''re telling me that Patriarch Bone me received the bounty, but Patriarch Clear Bright of your Origin Realm Temple didn''t?" Han Li asked with an unconvinced expression.
Daoist Closed Mountain''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and he carefully answered, "Perhaps the two patriarchs hatched the n together. I''m only responsible for carrying out their orders, I don''t know the exact details. I was extremely reluctant to oppose you, Senior Han, but I couldn''t go against the orders of the patriarchs."
Han Li fell silent upon hearing this, and he began to ponder the information that he had just received, particrly the part pertaining to the reward being offered for his capture.
Daoist Closed Mountain was rather unnerved by Han Li''s silence, and he thought that Han Li was hesitating about whether to take his life. Thus, the longer the silence continued, the more fearful he became, and finally, he gritted his teeth as he made a decision.
"Senior Han, your power is unmatched. From this day forth, I wish you to follow you as my master. I can give you all of my pills and cultivation resources, and the entire Origin Realm Temple will also be yours to do with as you see fit."
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which he remarked with an amused expression, "You sure are adaptable."
Given Han Li''s personality, he had no ns to spare Daoist Closed Mountain, but before he even had a chance to perform a soul search, Daoist Closed Mountain had already told him everything and had pledged his subordination to him, thereby saving him a lot of trouble.
After all, he had no intention of stirring up too much trouble in the Spirit Domain Realm.
Back in the Spirit Realm, he had encountered many Grand Ascension Stage beings, but never had he met one like Daoist Closed Mountain, and he couldn''t help but think of a certain Sun Ergou. [1]
Daoist Closed Mountain could see that Han Li didn''t seem opposed to the idea, and he immediately said in a respectful voice, "Thank you for sparing my life, Senior Han!"
"I have no interest in taking over your Origin Realm Temple. All you need to do is follow my orders and do some things for me. However, before that, I have to apply some restrictions onto you," Han Li said.
He raised a hand as he spoke, then chanted an incantation, and the tips of the five fingers on the hand lit up in unison. A series of thin translucent threads then emerged from his fingertips, swaying from side to side like seaweed in the current.
Han Li curled his fingers ever so slightly, and the translucent threads instantly became as straight as needles.
Daoist Closed Mountain shuddered slightly upon seeing this, and his face also turned quite pale, but he still disyed no intention of putting up any resistance.
A pleased look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and as he reached forward with his hand, the five translucent threads instantly shot into Daoist Closed Mountain''s head.
In the instant that the translucent threads pierced into his body, Daoist Closed Mountain felt a sharp pain spear through his consciousness, and he couldn''t help but let loose an agonized groan as his face paled even further.
However, he was still putting up no resistance whatsoever, allowing Han Li to do as he pleased.
Han Li swept a hand through the air to dispel the fiery silver rope around Daoist Closed Mountain''s body, then said, "Those threads are formed by my spiritual sense, and they''ve already been nted deep into your soul. If you dare to go against me, I can destroy your soul from the inside with just a single thought, understood?"
"Yes, Senior Han. I''ll be sure to serve you with the utmost loyalty and sincerity!" Daoist Closed Mountain replied with his head lowered in a respectful manner.
"There''s no need to dere your loyalty to me. Instead, why don''t you tell me where the array that you use tomunicate with the Immortal Realm is?" Han Li asked.
"There are two such arrays, one on the Heaven Worship Peak, and the other on the Illustrious Mountain Peak. I''ll take you to them right away, Senior Han," Daoist Closed Mountain replied without any hesitation.
Shortly thereafter, two streaks of light flew away into the distance.
At this point, peace and quiet had already returned to the Origin Realm Temple, but not long after that, two rumbling booms suddenly rang out one after another, separated by no more than 15 minutes.
Many of the elders and disciples who had only just returned to the temple were still feeling quite spooked, and they were greatly rmed to hear this, but they were relieved to see that nothing more came out of the situation.
It had been an extremely tumultuous night, during which close to a third of the entire Origin Realm Temple had been reduced to ruins. In addition to that, the supreme elder was nowhere to be found, and everyone was wondering if the nightmare had truly ended.
A round an hourter, two figures flew over to a certain mountain deep in the Origin Realm Temple from afar, then entered a hall on the mountain.
At the very center of the hall was a white jade tform, upon which were engraved circles ofplex runes to form a teleportation array.
"This is the teleportation array that leads to the Heavenly Ghost Sect?" Han Li asked as he inspected the array before him.
"That''s right. This array is connected to the Heavenly Ghost Sect''s ck Nether Peak, and even though it can''t take us directly into the sect''s core area, it''ll allow us to bypass their sect''s protective array," Daoist Closed Mountain immediately replied.
"Good. Come with me," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Yes, Senior Han!"
Thus, the two of them stepped into the array, and a burst of dazzling white light rose up from the ground to instantly engulf the two of them.
¡¡
On the Serene Offering Peak of the Heavenly Ghost Sect.
On the main seat in a spacious hall sat a middle-aged man in a red silken robe. He had a pair of gentle eyes, and the lines and contours of his face were quite soft. There was also a slightly sickly white pallor to his skin, and overall, those traits culminated in a slightly feminine appearance.
At the moment, the man had an extremely grim look on his face, and he was gripping tightly onto the armrests of his chair as he said in a solemn voice, "Half a day ago, the soul badges of our sect''s two supreme elders shattered in unison. Since then, we''ve tried to contact them using various secret techniques, but have received no response. What do you all think of this?"
There were around a dozen people seated on either side of the hall, all of whom were at the Body Integration Stage, and they were all silent with grim looks on their faces.
Thus, the entire hall fell into a tense and ufortable silence.
After a long while, a man with a thick beard was finally unable to bear the silence any longer, and he rose to his feet as he said, "Those soul badges must''ve malfunctioned somehow, Sect Master. Elder Tong is the number cultivator of the Spirit Domain Realm, who could possibly have killed him in this realm?"
"Exactly! Something must''ve gone wrong," someone in the hall immediately chimed in in agreement.
A beautiful woman in a red dress stood with tightly furrowed brows as she countered, "Soul badges are refined using a special secret technique with a cultivator''s blood essence and a wisp of their soul acting as the medium. Has there ever been a case of a soul badge malfunctioning in the past?"
The bearded man opened his mouth to rebuke her, but he had no counterargument.
"There''s no way the soul badges could''ve malfunctioned, but at the same time, it''s extremely unlikely that our supreme elders could''ve both perished in such a short time. Is it possible that they''ve been trapped within some type of special array that''s severed their connection to their soul badges?" another elder suggested.
A middle-aged man with a square face and a short purple beard rose to his feet as he said, "Regardless of what happened, the fact of the matter is that the two supreme elders went to the Origin Realm Temple, and now, we''re unable to get into contact with them. What we should be doing is activating all of our sect''s defensive arrays and contacting our patriarchs in the Immortal Realm as soon as possible."
The sect master was gently massaging his own be as he replied, "I agree. Elder Lu, you can take care of activating all of the arrays. As for contacting our patriarchs, I''ll..."
Before he had a chance to finish, a burst of loud rumbling rang out, and the entire hall began to tremble violently.
"What''s going on?"
Everyone immediately flew out of the hall at once, then arrived on the za outside.
There was a ck light barrier hanging in the sky above the hall. The light barrier epassed an area with a radius of several hundred kilometers, and it was none other than the Heavenly Ghost Sect''s main protective array.
The dozens of mountains epassed beneath the light barrierprised the core area of the entire Heavenly Ghost Sect, and almost all of the sect''s most important locations were situated on those mountains.
At this moment, the ck light barrier was shing incessantly with runes surging all over its surface, appearing to be in an extremely unstable state.
Outside the light barrier was a giant golden ape that was several hundred feet tall, and its arms were raised high above its head, seemingly preparing tond another blow on the already wavering ck light barrier.
1. For more information on Sun Ergou, please refer to RMJI Chapter 100: Jia Yuan City. ?
Chapter 73: Erasing a Sect
Chapter 73: Erasing a Sect
Two resounding booms rang out as the giant golden ape''s fists came crashing down. The ck light barrier ripped as two deep indentations appeared on the sections that were struck.
"Where did this thinge from? Its strength is incredible!"
"This thing seems to be rather simr to the legendary true spirit, the Giant Mountain Ape! Could it be..."
"In any case, we can''t just allow this neanderthal to do as it pleases! We must capture it and execute it for challenging the authority of our sect!"
All of the Body Integration Stage elders initially faltered slightly at the sight of the giant golden ape, following which they briefly spected about its origins, then summoned their treasures before flying up to oppose the giant ape.
Elder Lu was just about to join them when a hint of recognition shed through his eyes, and he immediately stopped cold in his tracks. He wasn''t the only one who was hanging behind. Aside from the sect master, there was also a hunch-backed elderly man, a beautiful woman, and a one-eyed man who were also refraining from joining the others.
These four were the same elders who had joined forces to attack Han Li in the Devilish me Valley during Han Li''s previous visit to the Heavenly Ghost Sect, and all of them exchanged a nce with one another to find their own astonishment mirrored in each other''s eyes.
At the same time, countless streaks of light emerged from all over the Heavenly Ghost Sect as virtually all of the elders and disciples flew out beforending on the nearby mountain peaks or zas, then directed their attention upward with perplexed looks on their faces.
The giant golden ape paid no heed to the oing assants, and not only did it not stop what it was doing, it let loose a thunderous roar instead as it rained a barrage of punches down upon the ck light barrier.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and the ck light barrier trembled violently before warping significantly, then shattering into countless pieces.
The giant ape passed through the shattered section of the array before crashing down onto a mountain. At this point, the Body Integration Stage elders who had charged over from the Serene Offering Peak were already on the scene.
The elder charging at the forefront of the group let loose a loud roar as crimson mist surged out of his body,pletely enveloping him in the blink of an eye, and he quickly transformed into a giant crimson-armored ghost that was around 500 to 600 feet tall.
The giant ghost was wielding a huge bloodstained ax, which it swung down toward the golden ape''s head.
As the sharp edge of the giant ax descended through the air, a pair of crimson vortexes appeared out of thin air on either side of it, releasing bursts of powerful suction force that threatened to draw everything nearby into the path of the falling ax.
Close behind the giant crimson ax were several ghostly treasures of different forms and colors that were releasing clouds of ck mist or rivers of blood, concealing the entire sky as they surged toward the giant golden ape with unstoppable might.
Gusts of Yin wind were howling ferociously through the sky like the shrieks and wails of countless ghosts, and the air temperature in the area was plummeting rapidly.
The giant golden ape gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and it didn''t slow down in the slightest in its descent as it raised an arm up high before swatting an enormous palm at the river of blood and ghostly mist down below.
An indescribably powerful st of energy immediately came crashing down like an imprable wall, descending with devastating force.
The crimson-armored giant was leading the way from the front, and the huge crimson ax crashed violently into the energy st, only to be instantly shattered without being able to put up any resistance.
Immediately thereafter, half of the giant''s body caved in as if it had crashed into a massive rock, following which its entire body exploded into a ball of crimson light.
As for the Yin clouds and blood mist behind the crimson giant, even before they came into contact with the energy st, most of them were already dispelled by the tremendous force released by the energy st. All of the treasures concealed within were instantly revealed, then exploded amid a string of loud bangs.
A string of agonized cries rang out as several figures threw up mouthfuls of blood as a result of suffering bacsh from having their bonded treasures destroyed, then plummeted out of the sky.
Everyone else was greatly rmed by this turn of events, and they hurriedly staged a retreat.
In the next instant, the giant golden ape came crashing heavily down onto a mountain like an asteroid, and the surrounding earth trembled violently as half of the mountain instantly copsed, sending a huge cloud of dust and shrapnel flying up into the sky.
Cries of rm rang out incessantly near the mountain as several hundred streaks of light rose up into the air before dispersing in all directions in a panicked frenzy.
Right at this moment, a nascent soul that was several inches tall suddenly emerged from the chaotic scene. The nascent soul was extremely simr in appearance to the elder who had transformed into the crimson-armored giant, and it wore a horrified expression as it turned to flee into the distance.
However, before it was able to get anywhere, a portly figure appeared silently beside it. It was none other than Daoist Closed Mountain.
He swung his palm down in an expressionless manner, and the nascent soul immediately felt the air constrict around it. Before it even had a chance to cry out, it had already exploded into a ball of crimson light.
On the Serene Offering Peak, the sect master of the Heavenly Ghost Sect was already astonished upon seeing the giant golden ape crushing all of the Body Integration Stage elders at once on its own, and his expression instantly darkened significantly at the sight of Daoist Closed Mountain''s sudden arrival.
He forced himself to remain calm as he asked, "What is the meaning of this, Senior Closed Mountain?"
Daoist Closed Mountain cast his gaze toward the giant golden ape in the distance, then turned back before shaking his head as he replied, "Allow me to enlighten you, Sect Master Shi. Both of your sect''s Grand Ascension Stage supreme elders have already fallen at the hands of Senior Han. It''s over for the Heavenly Ghost Sect."
His voice wasn''t very loud, but it was akin to a deafening thunderp for the sect master and the Body Integration Stage elders of the Heavenly Ghost Sect.
In particr, the four elders who had teamed up against Han Li in the Devilish me Valley werepletely distraught.
Earlier, they had already sensed a familiar aura from the giant golden ape, and now that they had received confirmation from Daoist Closed Mountain that the Giant Mountain Ape was indeed none other than Han Li, they knew that Daoist Closed Mountain was telling the truth about the demise of their sect''s supreme elders.
Elder Lu took a deep breath, thenmunicated something to Sect Master Shi through voice transmission.
A conflicted look appeared on Sect Master Shi''s face, but in the end, he gritted his teeth as he extended a respectful salute toward Daoist Closed Mountain, then said, "Senior Closed Mountain, if our Heavenly Ghost Sect is doomed to fall, then we would rather surrender and serve Senior Han from now on rather than throw away our lives for no good cause."
"Hehe, my Origin Realm Temple alone is sufficient to serve Senior Han and cater to his needs. As for all of you, I''m afraid you''ll have to bear Senior Han''s wrath," Daoist Closed Mountain chuckled as a cold look appeared on his face.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a sleeve through the air to release an antiquated peach wood sword, which rose up into the air before rapidly expanding, transforming into an enormous sword of light that was over 100 feet in length. Countless profound runes were surging over the surface of the sword, and it was also radiating dazzling golden light.
Immediately thereafter, the giant sword swept directly toward Sect Master Shi and his group.
The surrounding space shuddered as a long and pitch-ck rift was sliced open.
Sect Master Shi and the others were greatly rmed by this turn of events, and they all flew back in different directions while frantically taking defensive measures to protect themselves from the attack.
While this conversation was taking ce, the giant golden ape leaped over to a huge mountain, then let loose a thunderous roar as it raised both of its fists up high before mming them down onto the mountain with tremendous force.
Immediately thereafter, the entire mountain shuddered violently before copsing in a gigantic heap, sending massive plumes of dust rising up into the sky.
Momentster, Han Li emerged from the dust before hovering in mid-air, having reverted back to his human form.
He quickly swept his gaze over the surrounding area to see countless streaks of light dispersing in all directions. Virtually all of the Heavenly Ghost Sect''s elders and disciples were fleeing the scene.
Far away on the Serene Offering Peak, light was shing incessantly amid strings of loud explosions, and it seemed that Daoist Closed Mountain was locked in a fierce battle against the sect master of the Heavenly Ghost Sect and several of its Body Integration Stage elders.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he quickly chanted an incantation, then abruptly opened his mouth to release a silver fireball, which instantly transformed into a silver fire raven that was around a foot in size.
He then made a hand seal before pointing a finger at the fire raven, which threw its head back and let loose a clear cry, following which its body began to swell rapidly at an incredible speed.
In the blink of an eye, it had swelled to the size of a small mountain, and it spread its wings before swooping down toward a dense cluster of buildings down below.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the giant fire raven crashed directly into the center of the cluster of buildings, then exploded into a sea of fire that engulfed everything.
Instead of lingering on the scene, Han Li suddenly turned and flew toward another mountain that was several hundred kilometers away.
He had already learned from Daoist Closed Mountain that the name of the mountain was the Serene Treasure Peak, and it was one of the most important ces in the Heavenly Ghost Sect, home to its scripture library and pill and treasure storage facilities.
¡¡
Several dayster.
In a courtyard in the purple bamboo forest on the Holy Fire Peak.
Sima Jingming was holding amunication te as he paced back and forth in the room with an ted look on his face.
Given the countless years he had spent cultivating and honing his mental state, he shouldn''t have been disying such clear emotions, but he was unable to suppress his joy.
All of a sudden, the scroll hanging on the wall in front of him suddenly lit up, and Patriarch Cold me emerged from within.
"Patriarch Cold me!" Sima Jingming hurriedly stopped in his tracks before extending a respectful bow.
"So? Has there been an oue?" Patriarch Cold me asked in an indifferent voice.
"Yes, Patriarch, I have brilliant news to share with you!" Sima Jingming immediately replied with tion glowing in his eyes.
Patriarch Cold me''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he didn''t say anything in response.
Sima Jingming immediately realized that he had lost hisposure, and he hurriedly apologized before continuing in a more self-restrained manner, "I was informed by Senior Han earlier today that the Heavenly Ghost Sect has already been wiped from the face of the Spirit Domain Realm, and he told me to take over some of the nations and sects previously controlled by the Heavenly Ghost Sect aspensation for the scriptures of our sect that he destroyed."
Patriarch Cold me''s expression remained unchanged despite the good news. "He''s only granting us some of the nations and sects previously under the Heavenly Ghost Sect''s jurisdiction? What about the Origin Realm Temple?"
"Senior Han didn''t mention anything about the Origin Realm Temple to me, but ording to what I''ve heard, the Origin Realm Temple has been dealt a heavy blow, but it hasn''t beenpletely eradicated like the Heavenly Ghost Sect," Sima Jingming replied.
Patriarch Cold me''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and only after a long while did he heave a faint sigh. "I had thought that he would be able to inflict heavy damage onto both sects at the cost of his life, but I didn''t think that he would be able to wipe out the Heavenly Ghost Sect and live to tell the tale. Looks like I''ve still managed to underestimate him."
"Patriarch Cold me, after all of this, our Cold me Sect will be sure to be the number one sect in the Spirit Domain Realm!" Sima Jingming said.
"Don''t getcent. Make sure to keep a close eye on the Origin Realm Temple. Also, I recall that Han Li has a younger sister who''s staying in our sect. Make sure to look after her well and ensure her safety at all times. In addition to that, allocate extra resources to everyone in the sect who has any ties with him," Patriarch Cold me instructed.
Chapter 74: Bad News
Chapter 74: Bad News
In a cave abode on the Cloudrise Peak.
In the darkness of the night, the cold moonlight was spilling into a room through a window, shining upon a beautiful young woman in a ptial dress with skin as fair as snow.
At this moment, she was seated on the edge of her bed in the room with a faint smile on her face, but there were tears flowing silently down her delicate cheeks.
"Father, Big Brothers, the Heavenly Ghost Sect has been eradicated by Senior... by Brother Han. The Prosperous Nation has also returned to the jurisdiction of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, and our family has been avenged. Everyone is about to return to the Prosperous Nation and build a new life there. You can all rest easy in the heavens now," the young woman murmured as she wiped the tears from her face.
This young woman was naturally none other than Yu Menghan, and at this moment, she was crying tears of joy, but her heart was filled with countless emotions as the image of Han Li lingered stubbornly in her mind, refusing to be banished.
¡¡
Close to half a monthter, Han Li was standing on the Nine Pce Peak of the Origin Realm Temple, and he was in the process of inserting a final Starwash Stone into the ground.
A faint crack rang out, and the entire Star Gathering tform instantly lit up.
A vast expanse of hazy silver light shone down from the heavens, enshrouding the entire tform like a fine mist.
In this instant, all of the star diagrams on the tform were illuminated.
Han Li raised his head to look up at the starry night sky, then slowly made his way up the staircase of the Star Gathering tform with a calm expression.
¡¡
In the Immortal Realm.
Next to a vast and nameless sea was a massive cliff that was over 10,000 feet tall, and it was hanging over the surface of the sea like the sharp beak of an eagle.
At the top of the cliff stood an enormous and majestic city.
The outer walls of the city were over 1,000 feet tall, and they were entirely constructed from some type of ck rock material, allowing them topletely blend into the mountain.
The wall that was closest to the sea was riddled with marks and signs of erosion, which had been left behind by the countless waves that it had been struck by over the course of many years.
Inside the city were four straight and wide main roads, as well as many narrower roads that branched off these main roads, with countless shops and buildings interspersed throughout.
The city seemed to hold quite arge poption, presenting a lively and bustling scene of activity.
In the southwestern area of the city was a narrow bluestone street that wasplete with all types of shops, restaurants, and amodation. The street was lined with different types of gs and bustling with activity, presenting a slightly noisy and rambunctious scene.
Beside a willow tree at the end of the bluestone street was apletely unremarkable-looking three-story building. It was an octagonal brick building with an azure g hanging outside, bearing the word "medicine", and it could easily be missed on such a busy street.
Several employees were busy at work in the hall of the building, serving the customers who were there to purchase spirit medicines. Many of the customers were being led to the second floor by the shopkeeper.
At the top of the staircase on the second floor was an azure wooden door, sealing off the third floor.
There was a guest hall on the third floor, inside of which was a small rug. A purple tea table was ced on the rug, and the fragrance of sandalwood was wafting through the air from the tea table.
Two figures were seated on either side of the tea table across from one another, and each of them was holding a cup of tea.
One of the two was a handsome young man wearing a tight-fitting ck robe with a set of defined facial features. It was none other than Fang Ban.
The other person was a slightly portly middle-aged man who appeared to be around 40 to 0 years of age. He was wearing a silken robe that was embroidered with golden threads, giving him the appearance of a wealthy merchant, and there was a benevolent smile on his face.
Fang Ban examined the room around him to find that there was a faint golden restriction light barrier enshrouding the surrounding area, and he remarked, "As the saying goes, the best ce to hide something is in in sight. It''s an interesting idea for your Ubiquitous Pavilion to set up its branches in these cities inhabited by ordinary people."
"Our Ubiquitous Pavilion can''tpare with all of those powerful sects out there. All we do is pass on information, so we naturally can''t establish our branches in prestigious locations," the middle-aged man chuckled in response.
"You sent me a message earlier, telling me that you have news on that man. Is that true?" Fang Ban asked, quickly changing the subject.
"Of course. We asked you toe here for this sole purpose," the middle-aged man replied with a smile.
Fang Ban immediately flipped a hand over upon hearing this, producing a bulging azure storage bag that he ced onto the table.
The middle-aged man picked up the storage bag before briefly inspecting its contents with his spiritual sense, and the smile on his face grew even more pronounced as he revealed, "The man you are looking for is currently in the Spirit Domain Realm."
He swept a hand through the air as he spoke, and a round purplish-golden bowl that was filled with clear water appeared on the tea table.
He then reached out with a finger before gently tapping the edge of the bowl, and the water within the bowl instantly rippled as a burst of azure light shed past.
Immediately thereafter, an image depicting a fierce battle between a massive ape and a golden giant appeared in the water.
Fang Ban''s expression stiffened slightly at the sight of the mountainous golden ape, and a hint of ferocious killing intent appeared in his eyes.
The middle-aged man''s expression remainedpletely unchanged upon seeing this, still maintaining a warm smile.
Momentster, he gently brushed a hand over the purplish-golden bowl, and the light within the bowl instantly faded, as did the image it was disying.
"At the moment, that man is in a sect in the Spirit Domain Realm by the name of the Origin Realm Temple, and he most likely won''t be leaving there anytime soon," the middle-aged man replied.
"Thank you for your efforts," Fang Ban replied in a rather absentminded manner, already pondering how he was going to travel to the Spirit Domain Realm.
"There''s no need to thank me, I was simply providing a paid service. If you require my services at anyter point, don''t forget to visit again," the middle-aged man replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Right as Fang Ban was about to say something else, a burst of golden light suddenly appeared on his waist, and it was pulsing insistently.
The middle-aged man immediately rose to his feet upon seeing this, then said in a respectful voice, "The restrictions that we''ve set up here are definitely reliable, so you can take a rest here if you like. I''ll leave you to yourself now."
He then extended a parting salute before exiting the room.
Following the middle-aged man''s departure, Fang Ban brushed a hand over his waist, and an extremely beautiful golden badge appeared in his grasp.
He looked at the golden light shing from the badge, and after a moment of hesitation, he closed his eyes before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
In the next instant, he found himself standing in a resplendent hall. There were barely any furnishings in the hall, but its walls were riddled with intricate engravings depicting all types of flora and fauna.
Directly in front of the hall stood a woman in a ptial dress with a thin white veil over her face, and as soon as she caught sight of Fang Ban, she immediately said, "Recently, a tide of Veil Beasts of extremely massive proportions has erupted in the Driftcloud Realm. Hundreds of cities in the realm have already been ughtered, and dozens of sects have been destroyed. You have been ordered to go to the Driftcloud Realm to take care of this matter."
Fang Ban''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and after a brief hesitation, he replied, "Esteemed Immortal Envoy, it''s going to take at least several years topletely quell such a massive Veil Beast tide. I still have some urgent matters that I need to attend to right away. Would it be possible to have someone else carry out this mission instead?"
"Everyone else is currently busy with other missions. You are the only one who hasn''t epted a new mission afterpleting your previous one," the woman in white replied with a shake of her head.
"But..."
Fang Ban still wanted to say something, but he was immediately cut off by the woman. "Fang Ban, have you forgotten your duties and the rules of the Immortal Pce?"
"I wouldn''t dare. I ept this mission," Fang Ban replied in a resigned manner despite his extreme reluctance to do so.
After withdrawing his spiritual sense from the badge, a dark look appeared on his face as he spat through gritted teeth, "Lucky bastard! Looks like you''ll get to live a few more years."
¡¡
Three yearster, at the Origin Realm Temple.
It was nighttime, but the Nine Pce Peak was illuminated by such radiant silver light that it was as bright as day.
The entire Star Gathering tform was enshrouded within seven extraordinarily thick pirs of silver light, and a massive tornado formed by starpower was raging around the pirs of light, forming what appeared to be an impregnable fortress.
At this moment, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed at the center of the tform, and his entire body seemed to have been filled with starlight, making him so bright that appeared to almost be transparent.
Six dazzling specks of blue light were glowing on his chest and abdomen, giving off scintiting radiance. The seventh speck of blue light at the tip of his spine was still a little hazy, but it was also clearly visible.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s eyshes fluttered slightly, and his eyes suddenly sprang open as he withdrew his hand seal. The seven pirs of light around the Star Gathering tform instantly dimmed before gradually fading away.
Seven streaks of ck light then descended from the sky, reverting back into seven Starmoon Mirrors before falling into Han Li''s grasp.
He had detonated the original set of mirrors in order to escape from the domain that he had been trapped in, but he was able to refine a new set of seven Starmoon Mirrors after acquiring arge quantity of Yin Dawn Stones from the Heavenly Ghost Sect.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "I''m finally about to manifest my seventh profound aperture."
In reality, he didn''t have much of a concept of Profound Immortals in the past. However, his battle against the golden giant three years ago and the insights that he had gleaned from cultivating the Big Dipper Origin Arts had given him a clearer understanding of the concept.
He was confident that once he attained a True Extreme Body, he wouldn''t have to use his Holy Nirvana Physique against the likes of the golden giant. Instead, he would be able to defeat an opponent of that caliber with the power of his physical body alone.
With that in mind, a thought suddenly urred to him, and he flipped a hand over to produce a walnut-sized yellow bean.
It was the exact same bean that he had pulled out of the golden giant''s chest.
Ever since learning about the reward being offered for his capture in the Immortal Realm, he had been busy at work, cultivating to enhance his own powers, so he had never had the chance to examine the bean closely.
He held the bean in the palm of his hand, and after some careful examination, he discovered that there was nothing remarkable about it aside from the fact that it was several timesrger than the soybean.
However, as he injected his spiritual sense into the bean, he was immediately stunned by what he felt.
The bean was filled with a burst of rich azure light, and if Han Li didn''t know any better, he would think that he had been teleported into a vast forest that was filled with stunning exuberance and vitality.
"It''s extraordinary that a bean of this size could hold such enormous life energy," Han Li couldn''t help but praise after opening his eyes.
He had only seen this bean be used to give rise to the golden giant, but he had no idea how to use it. However, looking at the vitality imbued within the bean, perhaps it was going toe in very useful in the future.
After a moment of contemtion, he stowed the bean away with a flick of his wrist, then rose to his feet before making his way down the stone staircase on the side of the Star Gathering tform.
Right at this moment, arge streak of light suddenly appeared in the night sky, then rapidly approached Han Li beforending beside him.
Daoist Closed Mountain was revealed from the streak of light with an urgent look on his face, and he hurriedly extended a respectful salute toward Han Li, then said, "Senior Han, I have bad news!"
Chapter 75: Inquiry
Chapter 75: Inquiry
"What happened?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I just received news from Fellow Daoist Sima of the Cold me Sect that... that Young Mistress Liu was abducted," Daoist Closed Mountain stuttered.
"Tell me what happened," Han Li urged as his expression darkened slightly.
Daoist Closed Mountain hurriedly exined, "Last night, a woman in white suddenly broke through the restrictions around the Spirit me Mountain Range, then went straight to the Cloudrise Peak before taking Young Mistress Liu away."
"And the Cold me Sect just allowed it to happen without doing anything?" Han Li asked.
"Fellow Daoist Sima ims that he tried to step in, but his attacks were dispelled by the woman with ease, and all it took was a casual sweep of her sleeve to send him flying, so he waspletely powerless to stop her. However, the woman seemed to have no intention of harming anyone. She said that she belonged to the same race as Young Mistress Liu, then took her away," Daoist Closed Mountain replied as he extended a respectful bow.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this. "You''re telling me that she sent Sima Jingming flying with just a sweep of her sleeve?"
"That''s what I was told by Fellow Daoist Sima. Would you like me to send out some disciples of our Origin Realm Temple to search for Young Mistress Liu? When ites to searching for people, our Origin Realm Temple is..."
Before Daoist Closed Mountain had a chance to finish, Han Li cut him off as he asked, "Do you know of anyone in this realm capable of sending a Grand Ascension cultivator flying with just a sweep of their hand?"
"N... No," Daoist Closed Mountain replied in an uneasy voice.
"Alright, you can go now," Han Li replied.
Daoist Closed Mountain extended another respectful bow, then departed from the Star Gathering tform.
Han Li looked on as Daoist Closed Mountain flew away into the distance, then suddenly swept a hand through the air after a brief silence to conjure up a silver light barrier that enshrouded the entire Star Gathering tform.
¡¡
The next morning.
Daoist Closed Mountain''s portly figure appeared in front of the Nine Pce Peak once again, and he extended a respectful bow toward the Star Gathering tform as he dered, "Junior Closed Mountain pays his respects to Senior Han."
During the past three years, he showed up at this time every single day without fail to report all of the noteworthy pieces of news that had arisen in the Spirit Domain Realm to Han Li. asionally, he would also act as a messenger bird between Han Li and the Cold me Sect, and his diligence to the task was trulymendable.
Most of the time, Han Li was cultivating in seclusion, in which case Daoist Closed Mountain would respectfully announce his arrival, then wait patiently for around two hours before departing after respectfully taking his leave. He disyed no agitation or impatience throughout this entire process, and his attitude was impable.
As a result, during the past three years, all of the disciples of the Origin Realm Temple gradually came to realize that their Grand Ascension Stage supreme elder, who was normally extremely rarely seen, had be a rtivelymon sight in the temple. Even though they could only see him from afar, this was already enough to fill many of the disciples with giddy excitement.
Of course, all of the Body Integration and some of the Spatial Tempering Stage elders of the temple were naturally aware of the circumstances involved. However, they all chose to refrain from speaking on the matter, as if there were some type of unspoken agreement between them.
Daoist Closed Mountain stood in mid-air around 1,000 feet away from the Nine Pce Peak with a respectful look on his face, but he was feeling a little perplexed as he looked at the silver light barrier around the Star Gathering tform.
Normally, during Han Li''s cultivation, the entire surrounding area would be teeming with turbulent starpower, but there was no sign of that at all on this day.
Despite his befuddlement, he didn''t dare to intrude. Perhaps Han Li was undergoing some other type of cultivation. With that in mind, he continued to wait obediently off to the side, then took his leave once again two hourster.
Time passed by one day after another, and he still made his routine daily visits, but there still seemed to be nothing happening on the Star Gathering tform.
Close to three months flew by in the blink of an eye, and Daoist Closed Mountain was gradually running out of patience.
On this day, he waited for half a day, but there was still no change whatsoever on the Star Gathering tform.
He took a deep breath, then dered, "Senior Han, I''ve found some more leads pertaining to Young Mistress Liu''s abduction. Would you happen to have some time to speak to me?"
There was no response at all.
"Senior Han!" Daoist Closed Mountain called out once again, but yet again, there was no response.
"Could it be..." His expression changed slightly as a thought urred to him, and he swept a hand through the air, releasing a burst of golden light that fell upon the silver light barrier.
The silver light barrier was instantly shattered, revealing apletely deserted Star Gathering tform.
However, there was a white jade slip sitting on the center of the tform.
Daoist Closed Mountain picked up the jade slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it, following which an excited look appeared on his face, and his bby rolls began to tremble with tion.
The jade slip contained the method to remove the restriction that Han Li had ced in his body.
"Thank you, Senior Han!"
He withdrew his gaze before turning toward the distant sky, and he didn''t know if Han Li could hear him, but he still loudly expressed his gratitude.
¡¡
In the Spirit me Mountain Range.
Inside a certain hall, Sima Jingming was holding a discussion with the sect master and several Body Integration Stage elders of the sect. Following their discussion, everyone departed, leaving only Sima Jingming remaining in the hall.
He let out a long breath, and he was looking rather weary.
In the blink of an eye, the former number one sect of the Spirit Domain Realm, the Heavenly Ghost Sect, had been erased from existence, and all of the other major powers had been constantlypeting with one another for the former territory of the Heavenly Ghost Sect during the past few years. As the only one of the former three top sects to have emergedpletely unscathed from the incident, the Cold me Sect had been particrly busy.
As a result, he was constantly having to attend to different duties and matters and had no time for cultivation.
For a very long time, he had been focused solely on secluded cultivation and very rarely addressed the matters of the sect, so this was a very jarring change for him.
Of course, another reason why he was doing this was because of the current state of the Origin Realm Temple. He had thought that the Origin Realm Temple had been dealt a heavy blow, but not only was that not the case, it had also benefited immensely from the fall of the Heavenly Ghost Sect.
As for why this was the case, he was naturally aware of the underlying reasons, but he didn''t dare to say anything.
However, Patriarch Cold me had been extremely pleased with the expansion of the Cold me Sect, and had already sent down several rewards.
With these rewards, Sima Jingchi was confident that he would be able to take another stride in his cultivation once everything settled down and he had a chance to go into seclusion.
At this rate, the prospect of ascending into the Immortal Realm no longer seemed to bepletely out of reach.
With that in mind, Sima Jingming was feeling very pleased, and he rose to his feet, yet right as he was about to depart from the hall, a familiar voice suddenly rang out.
"Fellow Daoist Sima."
Sima Jingming''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this voice, and in the next instant, Han Li appeared in the hall amid a sh of azure light.
In one of his hands, which was concealed up his sleeve, he was holding a purple talisman that was shing with silver light.
Sima Jingming''s pupils contracted slightly at the sight of Han Li, and he instantly put on a warm smile as he cupped his fist in a salute. "Long time no see, Senior Han. You''ve be even more powerful since west met several years ago! Congrattions!"
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Sima," Han Li replied in a rather aloof voice.
"Please take a seat, Senior Han."
Sima Jingming''s heart jolted slightly at the sight of Han Li''s cold demeanor, and he hurriedly invited Han Li to take a seat before sitting down beside him.
"I came here today to inquire about Sister Liu. Is it true that she was abducted from the Cold me Sect?" Han Li immediately asked after taking a seat.
"It''s true. I was unable to protect her, but her abductor was someone truly formidable, and..." Sima Jingming replied in an uneasy manner.
Han Li cut him off in an expressionless manner as he asked, "Do you have any leads on her abductor, Fellow Daoist Sima? Did she say anything to you that day?"
"The person who abducted Liu Le''er was a young woman in white, and she imed to be from the same race as her. She asked me to thank you for looking after Le''er. I''m certain that I''ve never seen this woman before, and since the incident, I''ve sent out many of our sect''s disciples to investigate her, but to no avail. Hence, I''ve developed a theory about her origins..." Sima Jingming''s voice trailed off at the end, and a slightly hesitant look appeared on his face.
"Go on," Han Li prompted as he raised an eyebrow.
"My theory is that she isn''t from the Spirit Domain Realm. She was so powerful that I was unable to withstand even a single attack from her, which leads me to believe that she''s a True Immortal from the Immortal Realm."
Han Li had already guessed this to be the case, so he wasn''t surprised to hear this theory being proposed by Sima Jingming. Instead, his brows furrowed slightly in contemtion.
ording to his knowledge, the Cloud Fox Race that Liu Le''er belonged to was a branch of the Fox Race that had fallen well into decline. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have been wiped out by the Blood Sword Sect. With that in mind, he couldn''t help but wonder how such a race had managed to produce a True Immortal.
Perhaps an ancestor of the race had ascended to the Immortal Realm many years ago and just so happened to have returned to the Spirit Domain Realm recently, or perhaps Liu Le''er had been keeping some secrets from him...
"You''ve already done everything in your power, so I can''t me you for this. Fortunately, Le''er seems to have been taken by one of her brethren, so she shouldn''t be in any danger," Han Li sighed.
Sima Jingming heaved an internal sigh of relief upon hearing this, and only then did he realize that his back was already drenched in cold sweat.
"By the way, I came here because there was another thing that I wanted you to enlighten me on, Fellow Daoist Sima," Han Li suddenly continued after a brief silence.
"I wouldn''t dare to im to be able to enlighten you, Senior Han! Please, ask me anything, and I''ll tell you everything that I know," Sima Jingming hurriedly replied.
"Has Fellow Daoist Cold me ever spoken to you about his ascension to the Immortal Realm? Also, is there anything I have to be mindful of if I wish to attempt an ascension into the Immortal Realm from the Spirit Domain Realm?" Han Li asked.
Sima Jingming faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he took a deep breath, then replied in a respectful manner, "Senior Han, seeing as you''re pursuing the path of body cultivation, once you attain a True Extreme Body, your physical body will automatically be rejected by the power of this realm. If you wish to ascend, then you''ll have to break through the interrealm barrier with your physical strength."
"I see," Han Li replied with an enlightened expression.
It was no wonder that the closer he came to fully mastering the Big Dipper Origin Arts, the more he felt suppressed by some type of inexplicable force, to the point that even his flight was slightly hampered.
"The Spirit Domain Realm is very close to the Northern cial Immortal Region, so ascending to the Immortal Realm from here will take you to a random Ascension tform in the Northern cial Immortal Region.
¡°Due to how sparse spiritual power in the lower realms ispared to in the Immortal Realm, all those who can sessfully ascend possess exceptional aptitude and resolute wills, so they''ll be generally held in very high regard in the Immortal Realm," Sima Jingming replied, revealing everything that he knew.
Han Li''s expression remainedpletely unchanged, but he was quickly processing the information that he had just been given.
The Immortal Realm''s attitude toward ascended immortals had always been the same, regardless of whether it was in the Spirit Domain Realm or back in the Spirit Realm. It was clear that he was currently being targeted by a certain power or person in the Immortal Realm, and thest thing that he wanted was to attract attention to himself.
Chapter 76: Legend
Chapter 76: Legend
After a period of silence, a thought suddenly urred to Sima Jingming, and he added, "By the way, aside from the Ascension tforms I just mentioned, there''s another type of smuggling method in our Spirit Domain Realm that can allow one to ascend to the Immortal Realm in secret and avoid the Ascension tforms altogether."
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, but he feigned a nonchnt expression as he prompted, "Oh? Tell me about that."
"The concept of this method is quite simple. All that needs to be done is to find a brittle spatial node between the Spirit Domain Realm and the Immortal Realm, then forcibly break through it using spatial-attribute arrays or some other method, thereby taking one into the space between the two realms, which they can then travel through to reach the Immortal Realm," Sima Jingming exined.
"That sounds like it would be a lot more difficult to aplish than the legitimate method of ascension," Han Li said.
This was the exact same method that he had employed to ascend from the Human Realm to the Spirit Realm.
It was likely the case that this type of method could only be used in realms like the Spirit Domain Realm, which were very close to the Immortal Realm.
"Indeed, Senior Han. This is an extremely risky method. The space between realms is extremely perilous, and even if one manages toplete the journey, there''s a very good chance that they''ll arrive in a very dangerous location in the Immortal Realm. After all, generally speaking, most ces in the Immortal Realm where space is quite brittle are not good ces to be.
¡°In addition to that, using this method of ascension will prevent one from being able to enjoy the various benefits of ascending through legitimate avenues, such as getting to refine one''s physical body in an immortal pond or receiving an immortal badge for identification purposes. As a result, it''s very likely that one would find themselves in some trouble even if they manage to get to the Immortal Realm," Sima Jingming exined.
Han Li nodded in response, and his expression remained unchanged, but he was feeling quite excited.
Ascending to the Immortal Realm had always been quite a troublesome predicament in his mind, but he had finally found a solution.
As for the dangers that Sima Jingming spoke of, with his current powers, those dangers most likely weren''t going to be a concern as long as he was sufficiently prepared, so he wasn''t particrly concerned.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Sima," Han Li said with a grateful nod.
"Please don''t thank me, Senior Han. You''ve singlehanded elevated our sect to unprecedented heights. Patriarch Cold me told me to offer you his sincerest gratitude on his behalf," Sima Jingming replied in an earnest voice.
"Is that so? I didn''t think that Fellow Daoist Cold me would still remember me," Han Li said as a meaningful look appeared on his face.
Sima Jingming''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, and he hurriedly said, "Surely you jest, Senior Han. Patriarch..."
"I''ll be taking my leave now, Fellow Daoist Sima." Before he had a chance to finish, Han Li abruptly cut him off, then flew out of the hall as a streak of azure light.
Sima Jingming looked on as the streak of azure light vanished into the distant sky, and he couldn''t help but heave a long sigh of relief.
¡¡
Following Han Li''s departure from the Cold me Sect, he made no further appearances in the Spirit Domain Realm, and it was as if he had disappeared from the face of the realm.
However, some exaggerated ounts of his feats gradually began to spread throughout the realm, painting him into an almighty yet enigmatic legend.
The cultivation world of the Spirit Domain Realm had already reached a certain equilibrium, but that equilibrium had beenpletely shattered in just a few years due to his arrival.
Some said that he was an almighty figure who was always in seclusion and isted himself from the rest of the realm, while others proimed that he was actually a descended immortal. There were even some who spected that he was a descendant of a true spirit who had lived for countless years.
Everyone''s opinion of him also varied drastically over a wide spectrum. Some saw him as a bloodthirsty fiend who killed without discrimination, while others regarded him as a saint who had eradicated thergest menace in the realm in the form of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, thereby restoring peace to the Spirit Domain Realm.
In any case, there were all types of things being said about him.
The chaos that arose in the wake of the fall of the Heavenly Ghost Sectsted several centuries. After countless battles between all of the major sects and powers and the demise of countless cultivators, a newndscape began to arise before gradually reaching stability, but of course, that was a story for another time.
On a bright and sunny day several months after the disappearance of Liu Le''er.
There was a certain vast sea located in the northern region of the Spirit Domain Realm. Dense ck mist thatpletely concealed the heavens would often rise up from the sea, and as a result, it was named the ck Mist Sea.
The spiritual power in this area of the sea was quite abundant, so there were many sea beasts dwelling here. In addition to that, there were also several types of precious spirit ingredients that could only be found here and nowhere else, so the area was rife with cultivators who were on adventures to seek out treasures and y sea beasts.
Near a deserted ind deep in the ck Mist Sea, a burst of rumbling rang out, sweeping up turbulent waves on the surface of the sea within a radius of several dozen kilometers. The waves rose up to several dozen feet in height before sweeping in all directions, and even the dense ck mist above the sea began to revolve under the influence of some type of invisible force, forming a gigantic vortex.
At the center of the vortex was a green-robed young woman, a ck-robed elderly man, and a middle-aged daoist priest, all of whom were locked in a fierce battle against a manatee-like sea beast.
All three of them were at the early-Deity Transformation Stage, and even though they were all using different cultivation arts, it was clear from their seamless teamwork that this wasn''t their first time working together.
Their treasures were connected together to form arge circle that surrounded the sea beast, delivering one wave of ferocious attacks after another.
The sea beast was entirely blue in color with two ck stripes on its back, extending all the way from its forehead to the tip of its tail, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
The sea beast was roaring incessantly as blue light shed over its body, and a series of balls of blue lightning appeared around it to ward off the oing barrages of attacks. At the same time, it was releasing a series of thick pirs of blue light out of its mouth to retaliate against its three assants.
Its cultivation base was at the mid-Deity Transformation Stage, so it was slightly superior to its three assants in that regard, but its offensive repertoire was very limited, and it was gradually being suppressed by the trio of cultivators.
The battle raged on for almost another hour before the protective spiritual light around the sea beast was finally broken, and arge hole was punched into its head by a burst of rapidly revolving ck swordlight that had been unleashed by the ck-robed elderly man.
The sea beast let loose an agonized wail, then thrashed violently a few times before quickly falling still.
"Your Soul Devouring Heart Drilling Sword is still as formidable as ever, Fellow Daoist Qin. Adult ck-striped Blue Manatees are renowned for their defensive prowess, yet even it couldn''t withstand a single blow from your sword," the middle-aged daoist priest praised.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Dead Wood."
A hint of pride shed through the ck-robed elderly man''s eyes as he drew the burst of ck swordlight back to himself, revealing it to be a strange-looking longsword that resembled a pair of vipers intertwined together. The sword was giving off a cold ck light, and the elderly man carefully stowed it away, clearly holding it in very high regard.
He had spent the majority of his life''s savings to craft this treasure, and its powers wereparable to the average spirit treasure. In addition to that, it possessed certain armor-piercing properties that made it the perfect weapon against defensively adept sea beasts.
The three of them quickly dissected the carcass of the sea beast, and all of them received appreciable returns.
"If you ask me, even if the three of us encounter ate-Deity Transformation Stage sea beast, we should be able to at least ensure a safe retreat even if we can''t defeat it, so how about we advance a little further?" the green-robed young woman suggested as she cast her gaze toward the sea up ahead.
The middle-aged daoist priest''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this, and he seemed to also be tempted by this proposal.
"That would be a terrible idea. The two of you have only recently arrived in the ck Mist Sea, so allow me to enlighten you. Not far ahead of this point is the extremely dreaded core region of the ck Mist Sea. There are many formidable sea beasts residing in that area, including even Spatial Tempering and Body Integration Stage sea beasts!
¡°In fact, there are even stories iming that a Grand Ascension Stage Five-wed ck Dragon is residing in the deepest part of the core region. Those sea beasts generally only stay in the core region and very rarely venture out of it, but no one dares to enter the core region unless they''re at least at the Body Integration Stage.
¡°Truth be told, we''ve already taken a huge risk by pursuing that ck-striped Blue Manatee all the way to this point. If you ask me, the best course of action would be to retreat as quickly as possible," the ck-robed elderly man hurriedly said with a grim expression.
"A Grand Ascension Stage sea beast? How is that possible?" The middle-aged daoist priest was astonished to hear this.
An incredulous look had also appeared on the green-robed young woman''s face.
"That''s only a legend. Apparently, that Five-wed ck Dragon has already been residing here for over 100,000 years, and thest time it appeared was several thousand years ago. At the time, it was already at the peak of the Body Integration Stage.
¡°Perhaps it''s already reached the end of its lifespan since then, but even so, this is an extremely dangerous ce, and it would be wise to leave this area as soon as possible," the ck-robed elderly man said in a slightly urgent voice.
The middle-aged daoist priest and the green-robed young woman hurriedly nodded in response, yet right as they were about to depart, an earth-shattering boom suddenly rang out up ahead.
The sound wasing from somewhere extremely far away, but it was still able to reach them with startling rity, and it was apanied by a burst of violent tremors that ran through the entire area.
The expressions of the trio changed slightly upon hearing this, yet before they had a chance to do anything, another burst of violent rumbling rang out up ahead.
At the same time, a burst of enormous yet chaotic spiritual pressure came sweeping violently toward them, sending gusts of incredibly ferocious wind blowing their way.
The trio was extremely rmed, and they immediately turned to flee, but it was already toote. Before they were able to get away from the area, they were swept up by the gusts of fierce wind and were blown around unsteadily like a trio of leaves in a stiff gale.
Thankfully, the gusts of wind began to wane after traveling for a short distance, and the three of them hurriedly stabilized themselves, but by then, their faces were already deathly pale with fear.
Right at this moment, another earth-shattering boom rang out, and the surface of the sea dozens of kilometers up ahead abruptly erupted.
A gargantuan ck figure flew out from within, and after flying for some distance, it crashed down heavily onto that deserted ind not far away from the trio of cultivators. The entire ind trembled violently, and the shockwaves released by the impact swept up a series of massive waves in the surrounding sea.
The ck figure was an enormous ck wyrm that was around 2,000 to 3,000 feet in length. Its entire body was covered in gleaming, inky-ck scales, and there were a pair of translucent, coral-like long horns on its head.
The gigantic wyrm had two pairs of massive ws, and every single w had five toes that resembled giant ck swords that were giving off a cold, menacing light.
An indescribably enormous aura was emanating from the ck wyrm''s body, and at this point, the trio of cultivators was already on the verge of passing out from fear.
Among them, the ck-robed elderly man was particrly petrified. He wasn''t a vagrant cultivator. Instead, he was an inner court disciple of arge sect, which was overseen by a Body Integration Stage patriarch.
However, the aura being released by this ck wyrm was far beyond that of the Body Integration Stage patriarch of his sect!
Could it be that the legends are all true stories?
An astonishing thought urred to the elderly man as his heart jolted violently.
The gargantuan ck wyrm flipped itself over violently, causing the ind to tremble and quake once again.
The trio of cultivators were extremely rmed, and they hurriedly retreated to over 1,000 feet away. Upon refocusing their gaze on the ck wyrm, they discovered that there was a massive hole on its chest, out of which blood was pouring incessantly, quickly staining most of the ind red.
All of a sudden, an azure humanoid figure flew out of the sea. The figure was so fast that it was impossible to track with the naked eye, and it flew past the ck wyrm like a dazzling harbinger of death.
The ck wyrm''s entire body stiffened, following which its gigantic head suddenly flew up into the sky, apanied by an incredibly thick fountain of blood. It was as if a storm of blood were falling upon the entire ind, and a nauseating odor was permeating through the air.
The enormous wyrm copsed to the ground with a violent thump, then spasmed a few times before falling still.
Right at this moment, a streak of ck light flew out of the giant wyrm''s head. Inside the streak of ck light was a miniature ck wyrm that was only several inches in size, and it immediately tried to flee into the distance in a panicked manner.
However, the azure figure was already prepared, and he appeared in front of the miniature ck wyrm in a sh, then opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light to envelop it before casually stuffing it into a jade vial.
The trio of cultivators waspletely rooted to the spot upon seeing this, with their jaws dropping straight onto the ocean floor down below.
At this point, the azure figure had already been revealed to be an azure-robed young man who appeared to be around 25 to 26 years of age, with a set of unremarkable facial features and a slightly darkplexion.
Chapter 77: Two Powerful Treasures
Chapter 77: Two Powerful Treasures
The azure-robed young manpletely ignored the trio as he calmly made his way over to the massive head of the ck wyrm, then reached out with one hand to make a grabbing motion.
A certain part of the wyrm''s head instantly exploded, following which a translucent ck core flew out from within. The object was riddled with a series of profound ck patterns, and it was none other than the ck wyrm''s demon core.
The young man examined the demon core momentarily in an expressionless manner, then stowed it away.
After that, he raised a hand before making a downward chopping motion, and the four giant ws of the ck wyrm were all severed amid a string of loud cracks.
The young man stowed the ws away, then directed his gaze toward the neck of the giant wyrm.
His gaze settled on a light silver scale that was close to 10 feet in size, which waspletely different in appearance from all of the ck scales around it. There were also several light silver bone spikes around the scale that were giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations.
The scale and the bone spikes were also riddled with patterns that were simr to the ones on the demon core.
The young man carefully extracted the silver scale and the bone spikes, then took several more parts of the ck wyrm''s body, and only then did he cast his gaze toward the nearby trio of cultivators.
Even though there was no animosity in his eyes, the trio still immediately tensed up, at aplete loss for what to do as they sweated profusely.
Thankfully for them, the azure-robed young man quickly withdrew his gaze before flying away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
Only after he hadpletely disappeared into the distance did the trio dare to heave a collective sigh of relief.
"Could that wyrm have been the Five-wed ck Dragon that we were just talking about?" the middle-aged daoist priest asked as he looked down at the carcass of the ck wyrm.
The ck-robed elderly man took a moment topose himself, then nodded in response. "It looks like it. Judging from what we just saw, there''s a very good chance that this wyrm had already reached the Grand Ascension Stage!"
Both the green-robed young woman and the middle-aged daoist priest drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.
The green-robed young woman still had some lingering fear in her heart, and she mused with a perplexed expression, "Not only was that senior able to y that wyrm without using any treasures, it didn''t seem to have taken him much effort at all.
¡°Could it be that he was also a Grand Ascension cultivator? I''ve seen portraits of both Senior Sima of the Cold me Sect and Senior Closed Mountain of the Origin Realm Temple, but he didn''t seem to be either of them."
"Could it be that that was one of them in disguise?" the middle-aged daoist priest spected.
"I don''t think so. Judging from the wounds sustained by the ck wyrm, it seems that that senior from just now is a pure body cultivator, so I don''t think he''s one of those two seniors," the ck-robed elderly man said with a shake of his head.
"If it''s not those two, then are there other Grand Ascension Stage beings in the Spirit Domain Realm?" the green-robed young woman asked as her brows furrowed slightly.
"There''s one more... Have you forgotten that Senior Han Li, who destroyed the Heavenly Ghost Sect in one night? He was precisely a body cultivator!" the ck-robed elderly man eximed.
The green-robed young woman''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this. "Ah, now that you mention it, that Senior Han was purported to have an extremely youthful appearance. Was that really him just now?"
"Apparently, Senior Han is a descended immortal from the Immortal Realm, so he''s an actual immortal!" The middle-aged daoist priest was also getting quite excited.
While the three of them were conversing with one another, their attention quickly turned to the carcass of the Five-wed ck Dragon, and the excitement in their eyes only became more pronounced.
Han Li had abandoned the carcass, but for a trio of Deity Transformation cultivators like them, if they could take back even a small piece of the wyrm''s flesh, that would be enough to create a massive stir.
After all, this was the flesh of a Grand Ascension Stage demon beast!
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The Heavenly Crystal Sect was a sect that had a history of 200,000 to 300,000 years. It couldn''tpare with the superpower sects like the Cold me Sect and the Origin Realm Temple, but it had several Body Integration cultivators among its ranks, and it was certainly not to be looked down on.
However, the sect had always kept a low profile, so it wasn''t very renowned in the Spirit Domain Realm.
At this moment, a burst of blinding golden light was erupting on a drill ground in the sect, and it was apanied by a thunderous boom.
A silver-robed elderly man was sent flying like a ragdoll before crashing into the restriction around the drill ground, upon which he threw up a mouthful of blood before tumbling to the ground.
A light golden bowl also ttered onto the ground not far away from him, and the spiritual light radiating from its surface had dimmed significantly.
Standing in mid-air across from the elderly man was an azure-robed cultivator whose face was concealed behind a film of azure light, and he was in the process of slowly retracting his extended right hand.
There were three other Body Integration cultivators gathered around the drill ground, and they were stunned by what they saw. They hurriedly withdrew the restriction around the drill ground, then rushed over to the silver-robed elderly man''s side before turning to the azure-robed cultivator with wary expressions.
"Are you alright, Supreme Elder?"
"I''m fine. That fellow daoist held back at thest moment," the silver-robed elderly man replied as he pulled out a yellow pill before taking it, and only then did hisplexion gradually begin to improve.
The other three Body Integration cultivators were stunned to hear this.
"Your powers are truly extraordinary, Fellow Daoist. I am ashamed to concede that I''m unable to take even a single attack from you," the silver-robed elderly man said with a wry smile as he cupped his fist in a salute toward the azure-robed cultivator.
"If you concede, then ording to our agreement, it''s time for you to hand over your Exquisite Eight Treasures Jade," the azure-robed cultivator said in an indifferent voice, and he sounded quite young.
The silver-robed elderly man turned to a burly man next to him with a resigned expression before issuing an instruction, and despite his reluctance, the burly man still did as he was told.
Shortly thereafter, he returned with a white jade box that was several feet long and around half a foot wide in his hands, then handed it over to the silver-robed elderly man.
The elderly man stroked the jade box with a wistful expression, then tossed it toward the azure-robed cultivator, where it hovered in front of him, enveloped within a ball of golden light.
The azure-robed cultivator caught the jade box, then tapped it with a fingertip that was glowing with azure light.
A faint crack rang out, and the white jade box slowly opened on its own, revealing several pieces of white jade of different sizes. They appeared to be quite unremarkable, but there was eight-colored spiritual light surging incessantly over their surfaces, presenting quite a mesmerizing sight to behold.
The azure-robed cultivator nodded with a pleased expression, then ced the lid back onto the box before stowing it away.
"It''s taken us tens of thousands of years to umte these pieces of premium Exquisite Eight Treasures Jade from our sect''s jade mines. I hope you can put them to good use," the silver-robed elderly man sighed.
"Rest assured, I won''t let these precious treasures go to waste," the azure-robed cultivator promised, then swept a hand through the air to send a burst of white light containing a storage bracelet flying over to the silver-robed elderly man.
"I won''t take these pieces of jade for free. The items in that storage bracelet should be sufficientpensation," the azure-robed cultivator said in an indifferent voice, then flew away as a streak of azure light, disappearing into the distant sky in the blink of an eye.
The silver-robed elderly man injected his spiritual sense into the storage bracelet, and a stunned look immediately appeared on his face.
The bracelet contained a vast number of spirit stones, as well as some extremely precious spirit medicines and demon beast ingredients.
In terms of overall value, these items were indeed not inferior to the Exquisite Eight Treasures Jade. In fact, they were of an even superior value.
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Within the span of just a few short months, a string of strange events took ce in the Spirit Domain Realm one after another.
Many sects had their precious materials, or secret techniques, cultivation arts, or scriptures taken away by a mysterious figure.
No one knew who this person was, but he was extremely powerful. However, he was also quite a reasonable man, and all of the sects that had had their treasures taken received handsomepensation. As a result, there was no public outrage arising from these events. Instead, this became a hot topic of discussion for many vagrant cultivators and disciples of other sects.
After several months of activity, the mysterious figure suddenly vanished, and no one ever saw him again.
Close to a year passed by in the blink of an eye.
There was an enormous crimson mountain range in the southeastern region of the Spirit Domain Realm. The mountain range was known as the Fire Cloud Mountain Range, and it extended for hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
The mountain range was filled with countless connected volcanoes that were constantly spewing scorchingva up into the air, filling the entire area with incredible heat and the acrid stench of sulfur.
All of the mountains in this mountain range were a dark red color, resembling red-hot rocks, and even the clouds above the mountain range were always tinted with a crimson hue, thereby giving the mountain range its name.
This was thergest fire spiritual area in the Spirit Domain Realm and also one of the most perilous regions in the entire realm. Even among advanced cultivators, very few had the courage to venture deep into this mountain range.
Deep in the Fire Cloud Mountain Range was an enormous abyss, at the deepest part of which was a river of moltenva, which rumbled loudly as it flowed incessantly.
The river was glowing with red light, as if there were countless mes burning on its surface.
The temperatures here were so high that the air was extremely warped, severely impacting visibility.
On a cliff face no more than 1,000 feet away from the river ofva, a massive cave had been hollowed out, and there were lights of all types of different colors shing within it, apanied by asional loud noises.
On this day, a draconic roar rang out from within the cave, following which an incredibly thick pir of white light erupted out from within before hurtling directly up toward the heavens.
Within the pir of light, projections of two wyrms and a massive suit of bone armor could be seen, and those projections lingered in the air for a long time before slowly fading away.
Inside the cave was an azure-robed man seated with his legs crossed.
It was none other than Han Li, and there was an ted look on his face.
There were two treasures that were shimmering with spiritual light hovering in front of him, one of which was a suit of white bone armor with a rather antiquated design. Its surface was riddled with engravings of different images depicting items such as shields and umbres.
The other treasure was a pair of silver gloves with a series of silver bone spikes on them, giving them the appearance of a pair of wyrm heads.
Both of the treasures were giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations, and a pleased look shed through Han Li''s eyes as his gaze roamed over the pair of treasures.
The suit of bone armor was known as the Exquisite Eight Treasures Bone Armor, while the gloves were known as the Heaven Piercing Gauntlets.
He had found the refinement methods for both of these treasures in the scriptures of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, and these treasures were perfect for him as they required the user to possess extremely formidable physical strength in order to unleash their full potential.
Sima Jingming had told him that this alternative method of ascension was very dangerous, so as a safety precaution, he had gone out of his way to gather countless precious materials in order to refine these two treasures.
Han Li opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light that stowed the pair of treasures away, then flipped a hand over to produce an azure jade slip, which contained a detailed map of the Spirit Domain Realm.
There were several locations that had already been annotated on the map, and they marked the brittle spatial nodes that he had found from the scriptures that he had read in various sects, but he hadn''t yet verified those spatial nodes in person.
After a brief moment of contemtion, his gaze fell upon an annotated point on the southeastern part of the map, and a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes.
Momentster, a streak of azure light flew out of the valley before hurtling away into the distance.
Chapter 78: Big Dipper Phenomenon
Chapter 78: Big Dipper Phenomenon
On a giant snowy mountain that was over 100,000 feet tall in the Spirit Domain Realm.
There was ayer of extremely dense dark clouds in the sky, within which thunderps were rumbling incessantly, and the asional sh of dark blue lightning could also be seen.
Down below, gusts of fierce wind were howling incessantly, stirring the countless snowkes in the sky into a frenzy.
Close to 100 kilometers away from this mountain was a peaceful area with clear skies and a bright moon, creating a stark contrast with the snowy mountain.
The peak of the snowy mountain had already been sliced off, turning it into an enormous teau that was over 1,000 feet in size.
On the teau were dozens of ck stone pirs that were each over 100 feet tall. The pirs seemed to have been arranged in a random and haphazard manner, but in reality, they were positioned in a way that they formed a giant ring-shaped formation that consisted of two circles, one outside the other.
There were a series ofplex spirit patterns engraved onto the ground at the center of the array, while pieces of spirit stones with extremely abundant spiritual power were embedded onto the tops of the surrounding stone pirs.
At this moment, there was a tall figure seated with his legs crossed at the center of the array amid the wind and the snow.
He was wearing a thin azure robe, and he had a set of unremarkable yet well-defined facial features. His eyes were as bright as stars, and it was none other than Han Li.
He gently closed his eyes while making a rapid series of hand seals and chanting an incantation in a low voice, activating his Big Dipper Origin Arts.
All of a sudden, a burst of dazzling light appeared on the mountain peak.
Boundless silver starlight pierced through the dark clouds, projecting down from the heavens, forming seven incredibly thick pirs of silver light that enshrouded the entire mountain.
All of the swirling snow that fell into the pirs of silver light instantly vanished, having been evaporated into vapor.
Han Li continued to make a series of hand seals while raising his hands up to the sky, and a burst of ck light shed from his waist, following which the seven Starmoon Mirrors flew out, with each of them flying into one of the pirs of light before giving off dazzling radiance.
At the same time, a strange vortex suddenly appeared above Han Li, drawing the seven mirrors toward itself.
As the vortex grewrger andrger, the suction force that it was releasing also became more and more pronounced, and all seven of the mirrors began to converge involuntarily toward its center.
The seven massive pirs of light were also influenced, beginning to tilt and angle themselves toward the center of the vortex.
A rumbling boom akin to a thunderp rang out, and the seven pirs of silver light finally fused as one, forming a gigantic pir of light that was over 1,000 feet in diameter.
The pir of light seemed to be connecting heaven and earth and epassed the entire mountain.
At the same time, a startling change was also taking ce in the Big Dipper constetion in the sky.
The seven stars of the Big Dipper began to glow with purplish-silver light one after another, and at the same time, they were also shifting in position, first forming a straight line, then arranging themselves into a circle.
Immediately thereafter, an incredibly thick pir of purplish-silver light surged out of the ring, piercing through the night sky before shining down directly upon Han Li.
In the instant the purplish-silver light came into contact with Han Li, his clothes were instantly incinerated into ashes.
At the same time, his body turnedpletely transparent and took on a bright silver hue.
It could even be seen through his skin that changes were beginning to take ce in the muscles and bones in his body. In the past, they had only been enveloped by ayer of faint silver light, but now, it was as if they had been encased by liquid silver.
A burst of loud buzzing rang out on the snowy mountain as countless fragments of silver light fell from the sky, recing the falling snow.
The fragments of light formed an enormous spherical light barrier that epassed the entire mountain, and there were extremely fearsome spiritual powerful fluctuations emanating from within it.
As these fluctuations became stronger and stronger, the entire mountain began to sway and tremble violently, and soon, the entire mountain range was plunged into a state of unrest.
The ground in a radius of close to 1,000 kilometers was quaking incessantly, and countless long and winding fissures had opened up. Some of them were even causing shifts in the nearby riverbeds, resulting in a restructuring of the rivers.
Plumes of dust began to rise up from all over the lush primitive forest nearby, and countless wild beasts were galloping through the forest while roaring in panic.
In the sky above the forest, countless birds and flying beasts were soaring through the air, forming a dark nket that concealed most of the sky.
Several hundred kilometers away, a tall volcano that had alreadyid dormant for over 10,000 years erupted once again under the effects of these violent and persistent tremors.
Large volumes of dark redva were spewing out of the volcano amid plumes of dense ck smoke, rising up high into the sky.
Countless rocks that had been scorched bright red were hurled up into the air, then came crashing back down like a meteor shower, leaving long fiery tails behind them in the night sky. The falling rocks passed through the permeatingyers of volcanic ash, then crashed down onto the forest below.
Large sections of the forest were instantly set alight, illuminating the night sky in a bright red hue amid the dense smoke.
Immediately thereafter, around a dozen streaks of light flew out of different parts of the mountain range, and all of them drew to a halt in the air dozens of kilometers away from the silver ball of light.
There were people of all types of descriptions gathered at the scene, and most of them were alone, with only a few rare groups interspersed among their ranks.
They were all vagrant cultivators who were lurking in this mountain range, and their cultivation bases varied drastically, with the weakest ones only at thete-Core Formation Stage, while the strongest ones were at the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage.
Aside from them, there were also some strange-looking humanoid figures. Some of them had horns growing on their heads, some had vibrant stripes on their bodies, some were covered in a coat of fur, and some even had beastly heads rather than human heads. It was clear that these were demonic cultivators.
However, regardless of what race these cultivators belonged to, all of them were currently looking up toward the top of the snowy mountain with stunned and fearful expressions, and not a single one of them dared to approach the scene to investigate.
"Could it be that there''s a Grand Ascension cultivator about to transcend an ascension tribtion here?" a white-robed young man asked in a bewildered voice as he stared at the phenomena unfolding on the snowy mountain.
The young man was apanied by a thin elderly man, who shook his head as he said, "I don''t think so. There''s no sign of any tribtion lightning falling. Instead, it seems more like someone is practicing an extremely profound cultivation art, and these phenomena are a sign that they''re about to reach full mastery of that cultivation art."
"This is all because someone''s practicing a cultivation art? How is that possible?"
The white-robed young man drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, unable to wrap his head around such a staggering concept.
Right at this moment, a thunderous roar erupted from the mountain peak, and an incredibly powerful energy st swept through the air in all directions from the mountaintop.
Everyone was already quite far away from the mountain peak, but they still immediately flew back in retreat as streaks of light. One of the weaker demonic cultivators wasn''t able to get sufficiently far away in time, and they were struck by the energy st. As a result, they instantly sustained extremely severe injuries and came within a hair''s breadth of being killed on the spot.
Only after retreating a further 100 kilometers or so did everyone draw to a halt before turning back to the mountain peak with lingering fear in their eyes.
The spherical light barrier epassing the entire snowy mountain had expanded to about twice its original size, thereby epassing an evenrger area. As a result, the entire snowy mountain was reduced to a blur, and only an extremely faint outline could just barely be made out.
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At the same time.
On the Nine Pce Peak of the Origin Realm Temple, Daoist Closed Mountain was standing on the Star Gathering tform, looking up at the altered Big Dipper constetion in the night sky with aplex look on his face.
He had been pressured by Han Li into destroying the arrays that facilitatedmunication between the temple and the Immortal Realm, so he hadpletely betrayed Daoist Clear Bright.
Now that Han Li seemed to be about to leave, Daoist Closed Mountain was considering what he was going to do if Daoist Clear Bright decided to try and punish him for this transgression.
In addition to that, the Cold me Sect had been developing rapidly these past few years, absorbing many smaller powers and sects, and at this point, the Cold me Sect and the Origin Realm Temple were roughly evenly matched. With Han Li''s departure, the Spirit Domain Realm was most likely going to be plunged into conflict and unrest.
With that in mind, Daoist Closed Mountain couldn''t help but heave a forlorn sigh.
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On a za at the top of the Cold me Sect''s Holy Fire Peak.
Sima Jingming was clutching the white jade railing before him with both hands, and he was also looking up at the night sky with aplex look in his eyes.
After some time, he heaved a long sigh, then murmured to himself in a relieved voice, "You''re finally leaving, Senior Han..."
Even though the Cold me Sect had be significantly more powerful in the wake of the Heavenly Ghost Sect''s demise, Han Li''s existence had constantly been weighing on his heart like a mountain.
Even though the Cold me Sect was on rather good terms with Han Li, that still didn''t change the fact Han Li was someone who was capable of wiping out the entire Cold me Sect on a whim if he so pleased. Hence, his very existence posed a constant threat to what was otherwise supposed to be a dominant powerhouse of the Spirit Domain Realm, so it was no wonder that Sima Jingming was feeling so apprehensive.
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Meanwhile, in a secluded cave abode on the Cloudrise Peak.
Gu Yunyue and Yu Menghan were seated beside the stone table in the courtyard of the cave abode.
Thetter had her chin resting in her hands as she looked up at the ring-shaped Big Dipper in the sky, as well as that pir of purplish-silver light, and her eyes were a little out of focus.
A gentle smile appeared on Gu Yunyue''s face at the sight of her forlorn disy, and she said in a slightly teasing voice, "I must say, Elder Han has been very good to you. Not only has he left this cave abode to you, he also left you so many treasures and pills. In total, these resources rival what one would expect to find in an entire small sect, and they''ll be more than enough to support you to the Deity Transformation Stage."
Yu Menghan faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "Elder Han is most likely only giving me this preferential treatment because I was the one who took him and Sister Le''er back to our Yu Manor. Come to think of it, he''s already repaid that favor long ago. I owe him far more than he owes me."
Gu Yunyue smiled and offered no response to this.
Thus, both of them fell silent, and peace and quiet returned to the courtyard.
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In a cave abode halfway up the Cloudrise Peak, Daoist White Stone was seated with his legs crossed in a secret chamber.
ced in front of him was an old book that was slightly yellow with age, and its cover bore the title "Profound Water Cultivation Journal" in bold and primitive text.
This was a top-tier ghostly cultivation art of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, and in the past, it was an extremely important resource that would''ve never been given to anyone outside of the sect, which was why Daoist White Stone had been astonished when Han Li suddenly paid him a visit and bestowed this cultivation art upon him.
As soon as he obtained the cultivation art, he immediately began to study it in earnest, and at this point, he had already reached the second level. As a result, the early-Core Formation Stage bottleneck that had stumped him for years was finally beginning to loosen a little.
This was naturally an extremely encouraging turn of events, and not only was Daoist White Stone ted by this progress, he was also feeling extremely fortunate that he had been able to follow Han Li, albeit only for a short time.
Chapter 79: Shattering Space
Chapter 79: Shattering Space
In the dark night sky, the stars were looking strangely dim, with the exception of the ring-shaped Big Dipper, which was glowing radiantly like a purplish-silver sun.
All of a sudden, the enormous pir of purplish-silver light that it was projecting downward vanished without any warning.
A burst of rumbling rang out, and the spherical light barrier that epassed the entire mountain exploded violently, scattering into countless specks of silver light that danced through the air like a sparkle of fireflies.
From afar, it looked as if a beautiful gxy of stars were descending into this world.
However, this glorious scenery didn''t linger for very long before the silver specks of light abruptly converged rapidly toward the peak of the snowy mountain as if they had been summoned there, then vanished into the body of a young man, whose entire body was radiating bright silver light.
The young man was none other than Han Li, and even though waves upon waves of silver light were surging into his body in a frenzy, he remainedpletely still with his eyes tightly shut.
After an indeterminate period of time, his eyshes fluttered slightly, and his eyes abruptly sprang open. Blue light was shing within his eyes, which were incredibly clear and reflecting all of the stars in the sky like a pair of mirrors.
In the next instant, he let loose a low cry, and a cloud of glowing silver mist surged out of his mouth, then gradually faded into the night.
Seven specks of blue light were glowing radiantly from his chest and his abdomen.
He had finally manifested the seventh profound aperture!
The silver light radiating from his body was also gradually fading, but a thin, semi-transparent film was taking shape over his skin, and there were wisps of silver light flowing incessantly over the surface of the thin film.
"This is a True Extreme Membrane, the sign of a True Extreme Body! As expected, full mastery of the Big Dipper Origin Arts really does instantly result in the attainment of a True Extreme Body!"
Han Li was ecstatic as he raised his arm to examine the thin film that enveloped his entire body. He discovered that the film required no magic power expenditure to maintain, and that it was slightly cold to the touch. In addition to that, it didn''t feel foreign at all, as if it were a part of his body.
With a single thought, he was able topress the film so that it adhered to his skin, then vanished into his body after a sh of starry light.
He then summoned the film again, and it instantly appeared over his body at his behest.
After experimenting with this sequence a few times, Han Li''s tion only continued to grow. Not only was he honing his mastery over the True Extreme Membrane, he also discovered during the process that his spiritual sense had made a full recovery.
In terms of spiritual sense alone, he was already far ahead of the average True Immortal, and that was undoubtedly a piece of fantastic news for Han Li, who was about to return to the Immortal Realm.
Only at this point did the phenomena taking ce in the area gradually subside, and even the erupting volcano slowly settled down again.
However, it was going to take some more time before the fire sweeping through the forest burned itself out.
Hundreds of kilometers away, all of the vagrant cultivators hovering in mid-air were looking up with awe-struck expressions, at aplete loss for what to do.
The white-robed young man''s back was already drenched in cold sweat, and he murmured in a bewildered voice, "Is... Is it over?"
"Perhaps..." the thin elderly man replied with a rather hesitant expression.
Standing atop the snowy mountain, there was no hint of tion on Han Li''s face. Instead, he wore a rather solemn expression, as if he were preparing for an ordeal.
Only he knew that the true test had only just begun.
In the instant that he had attained a True Extreme Body, the rejection from this realm had already begun to act upon him, applying immense pressure to try and banish him from this realm.
At this moment, he felt as if even the air cirction around him had be extremely sluggish, and even his breathing was slightly hampered, as if he had fallen into a swamp.
This force of rejection wasn''t unfamiliar to him. Back when he was ascending to the Immortal Realm in the Spirit Realm, he had briefly felt the same thing, but at the time, he was too busy dealing with the lightning tribtion to bask in the sensation.
He took a deep breath as he made a hand seal, then began to chant an incantation.
A faint buzzing sound rang out as dozens of bursts of light appeared around him in unison. Bursts of rich spiritual power surged out of the spirit stones embedded into the tops of the surrounding stone pirs, then flowed into the array along the patterns on the pirs.
The runes that were engraved onto the ground and the stone pirs instantly lit up, quickly forming an extremely intricate andplex array that was glowing with silver radiance.
This array was known as the Spatial Spirit Pattern Array, and it was a spatial array that he had found in an ancient array tome in the Origin Realm Temple''s scripture library.
Even though the array wasn''t capable of directly shattering space, it could clear away part of the spatial resistance that he was going to encounter, and that was going to be very helpful to him.
Dozens of pirs of silver light erupted into the heavens from the snowy mountain in unison, piercing straight into the dark clouds up above.
In the instant that the pirs of light erupted into the dark clouds, they instantly transformed into a giant vortex that revolved rapidly around the pirs of light, and the surrounding wind and snow were also swept up into a frenzy.
Thick bolts of lightning began to twist and churn incessantly around the pirs of light like a series of dark blue wyrms while releasing bursts of dull rumbling.
The vagrant cultivators who were watching from afar were greatly rmed to see this, and they immediately retreated even further away for fear of any further perilous phenomena arising from the scene that they were witnessing. This time, they retreated all the way back to close to 1,000 kilometers away, and only then did they draw to a halt.
Right at this moment, Han Li stood up within the array, then released dozens of streaks of ck light out of his sleeve with a flick of his wrist. This was a batch of close to 100 Starmoon Mirrors, and all of them flew toward the surrounding pirs of light.
These Starmoon Mirrors possessed spatial power, and in order to refine them, not only had he exhausted the Heavenly Ghost Sect''s entire supply of Yin Dawn Stones, he had even used up all of the Yin Dawn Stones that he had acquired from Tong Ren''e''s storage bag.
Upon flying into the pirs of light, the Starmoon Mirrors rose directly upward before vanishing into the dark clouds.
Han Li made a string of hand seals while chanting an incantation, and all of a sudden, blue light shed within his eyes as he let loose an explosive cry.
A string of earth-shattering booms instantly rang out in rapid session, and boundless silver starlight exploded in the heavens, forming a silver screen of light that opened up a vast area of silver radiance within the vortex of dark clouds.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s entire body began to glow, and he sprang up into the air, flying directly upward toward that glowing silver area.
Inside the vortex was a vast expanse of chaos, and gray mist filled the entire area. Thousands of gray spatial rifts of different shapes and lengths were scattered haphazardly throughout the glowing silver area, presenting an extremely unstable sight to behold.
Han Li swept his gaze over the area to find that small des of gray light would asionally fly out of these spatial rifts.
As soon as the surrounding dark clouds came into contact with these des of light, they would be instantly shredded, and even a bolt of lightning that was struck by one of the des of light was instantly sliced into two.
As more and more of these des of gray light appeared, the glowing silver area that had been opened up by boundless starlight was also being eroded, and it was shrinking rapidly at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
The dark clouds were beginning to swallow up the vast expanse of silver radiance, and Han Li didn''t hesitate any longer upon seeing this. He immediately let loose a low roar, and dazzling golden light erupted from his body as he rapidly swelled in size, transforming into a giant golden ape that was several hundred feet tall in the blink of an eye.
The giant ape took a deep breath, and a gash appeared on its be, out of which a cloud of ck qi surged forth, and an inky-ck eye abruptly appeared.
ck light shed deep within the pupil of the eye, and a thin thread of ck light was released.
As soon as the thread of ck light emerged, it immediately transformed into a thick pir of ck light, which vanished into thin air in a sh.
However, in the next instant, a burst of rumbling suddenly rang out from deep within the vortex of dark clouds.
Immediately thereafter, the entire sky suddenly fell still. It was as if this entire space had been frozen in time, and even the swirling dark clouds and the surrounding wind and snow had bepletely stationary.
Deep within the vortex, an indistinct wall of gray light that was around 100 feet in size and extremely irregr in shape emerged within the dark clouds.
Blue light shed within the giant ape''s eyes, and it raised its arms, upon which two bursts of dazzling silver light appeared on its enormous fists. A pair of gauntlets that were tipped with a series of white bone spikes emerged, enveloping both of its fists.
The giant ape then let loose a thunderous roar before drawing upon its reserves of magic power, and countless threads of golden light instantly emerged from its body before flowing into the silver gauntlets along its arms.
The gauntlets instantly began to glow with bright silver light, and they expanded to around twice their original size.
At the same time, seven radiant balls of blue light appeared on the giant ape''s chest and abdomen, and the muscles all over its entire body bulged even further, while its arms abruptly thickened considerably.
Immediately thereafter, it raised a fist before throwing a vicious punch at the gray wall of light.
A burst of silver light erupted out of its fist, then rapidly expanded as it surged through the air, transforming into a projection of a silver wyrm''s head that was around the size of a house before plunging deep into the vortex.
A resounding boom rang out, and the entire sky trembled violently. A string of loud cracks akin to the sound of a shattering mirror rang out from the gray wall of light deep within the vortex, and a series of cracks appeared at its center before quickly spreading over its entire surface.
Even so, the gray wall of light still didn''t shatter. Instead, the glowing gray area that was being supported by starlight crumbled amid the violent tremors.
The dark clouds that had fallen still began to churn ferociously once again, and the countless gray spatial rifts gradually expanded as they converged toward the giant ape.
The giant ape immediately picked up the pace upon seeing this, rushing over to the gray wall of light after just a few shes in a wraith-like manner.
It then drew upon its magic power once again, and golden light surged over its arms as ayer of golden scales emerged from beneath its fur. At the same time, its muscles quickly bulged even further, and the seven profound apertures on its chest and abdomen also began to glow brightly, as did its Heaven Piercing Gauntlets.
A silver dragon''s head projection appeared on the gauntlet, and it was apanied by a low draconic roar.
The giant golden ape let loose a thunderous roar as it mmed its fist into the gray wall of light, and a resounding boom rang out as the bone spikes on its right gauntlets instantly shattered upon impact, while the projection of the draconic head and the gauntlet itself exploded in unison.
A scintiting silver sun abruptly appeared in the night sky, releasing blinding light that engulfed virtually the entire wall of gray light.
Immediately thereafter, a crisp crack rang out, and an opening that was around 10 feet in length finally appeared on the wall of gray light, revealing a murky gray space beyond it.
At the same time, the rift released a burst of extraordinarily powerful spatial fluctuations, the ferocity of which Han Li had never felt before.
Golden light shed over the giant ape''s body as it quickly reverted back into its human form, then flew into the opening in a sh.
As soon as Han Li entered through the opening, the dozen or so spatial rifts and the dark clouds behind him devoured the wall of gray light.
Several secondster, the silver pirs of light on the snowy mountain peak gradually faded, and the vortex of dark clouds in the sky also dissipated, while the spatial rifts that had been left behind slowly sealed over again.
The storm of wind and snow resumed, and aside from the howling of the wind, everything was peaceful and quiet again.
Chapter 80: Strange Bubbles
Chapter 80: Strange Bubbles
Streams of light of different colors were surging throughout the area in a violent and chaotic fashion, forming enormous waves that were constantly crashing into one another amid deafening booms.
asionally, a series of white spatial rifts would emerge within the waves of light, releasing astonishing suction force and a high-pitched droning sound.
Even almighty Grand Ascension cultivators or high-grade demon beasts with near indestructible physical bodies had to exercise the utmost caution when traversing through this space. Even the slightestpse in concentration could resultplete destruction of one''s body and soul, not only putting an end to one''s life, but also robbing them of a chance at reincarnation.
This was the interrealm gap!
At this moment, Han Li was like a non-swimmer who had suddenly been thrown into a raging and turbulent sea.
He had already anticipated that the interrealm gap was going to be an extremely perilous ce that would be exceedingly difficult to traverse through, but this was still quite an astonishing sight to him.
The spatial storm that was raging throughout the surrounding area was countless times more powerful than the one he had endured during his ascension from the Human Realm to the Spirit Realm.
If it weren''t for the fact that he had already attained a True Extreme Body and taken countless pills, as well as practiced countless cultivation arts that enhanced his physical constitution, he would''ve most likely beenpletely pulverized in the instant that he entered this space.
His entire body was already encased within a suit of antiquated white bone armor. It was the Exquisite Eight Treasures Bone Armor that he had refined using countless precious treasures from the Spirit Domain Realm, but even so, he was swaying unsteadily under the influence of the enormous suction force acting upon him from all directions.
He took a deep breath, and dazzling white light erupted from the suit of bone armor as all of the umbres, shields, and other images on its surface lit up in unison. At the same time, a sharp screeching sound rang out, and all of the images projected themselves before revolving around Han Li.
These projections revolved around him momentarily before fusing as one to form an extremely substantial protective barrier that epassed his entire body. The protective barrier was giving off radiant white light, and it was keeping out some of the violent spatial fluctuations in the surrounding area.
Only then was Han Li able to steady himself, and he gave a pleased nod as he inspected his suit of bone armor.
This suit of Exquisite Eight Treasures Bone Armor had been refined specifically to deal with the spatial storm in the interrealm gap, and he had carefully selected all of the materials used. Several of the main materials, such as the Exquisite Eight Treasures Jade, all possessed spatial attributes, and the suit of armor was certainly living up to his expectations thus far.
Blue light shed several times within his eyes, following which he proceeded forward as a streak of light.
The surrounding spatial storm surged toward him in waves, only to be kept out by the suit of Exquisite Eight Treasures Bone Armor.
However, around 15 minutester, his brows furrowed slightly with concern once again.
Even though he was well protected by the suit of bone armor, the progress that he was making through the spatial storm was agonizingly slow. At this point, he estimated that he had only advanced around 50 kilometers.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn''t have been a cause for concern in itself. After all, this was a brittle spatial node between the two realms, and even if progress were slow, he would eventually reach the Immortal Realm so long as he continued to advance. However, he could clearly sense that the spiritual power imbued within the suit of bone armor was being rapidly exhausted as it withstood the spatial storm.
"I wanted to save some energy to deal with any potential unforeseen circumstances, but it looks like I can''t hold back any longer," Han Li murmured to himself after a moment of contemtion.
In the next instant, dazzling rainbow light that was as bright as the sun erupted from his entire body.
A clear phoenix cry rose directly up into the heavens as he transformed into a giant bird that was several hundred feet in length.
This was none other than the Heavenly Phoenix form in his 12 Awakening Transformations.
The Exquisite Eight Treasures Bone Armor disassembled itself, transforming into a series of bone tes that adhered to various parts of the Heavenly Phoenix''s body, but the white light barrier wasn''t affected at all.
The Heavenly Phoenix spread its wings and transformed into a rainbow-colored shadow that sped directly forward at a speed that was countless times faster than before.
The spatial storm continued to converge from all directions, but as soon as it came into contact with the Heavenly Phoenix, a burst of rainbow light would instantly erupt from its body to divert the spatial storm away.
The Heavenly Phoenix possessed the ability to manipte space, so it was like a fish in water in this spatial storm.
A hint of excitement appeared in the Heavenly Phoenix''s eyes, and it let loose a long cry before elerating even further, traversing rapidly through the boundless spatial storm up ahead.
Time slowly passed by. There were no days or nights in the interrealm gap, but by Han Li''s estimates, roughly a day had already passed by.
During this day, he had encountered many close calls, and it felt longer and more arduous than even an entire year.
Not only were there spatial storms in the interrealm gap, there were also other unforeseen dangers lurking in the shadows, including even a type of strange living being that inhabited the area and had attacked him on several asions.
Thankfully, he was able to spot these dangers in advance with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and that, coupled with the spatial maniption abilities of the Heavenly Phoenix, allowed him to escape unscathed every time.
At this point, the rainbow light around the Heavenly Phoenix''s body had already be significantly dimmer than before, and there was also a hint of weariness in its eyes.
Maintaining this form for an extended period of time was very physically taxing for Han Li, but what was even more concerning to him was the suit of bone armor that he was wearing.
A series of cracks had already appeared on the armor''s surface, and all that remained of the white protective barrier around him was only a thinyer that was less than a third as potent as it had been at its peak.
"If I had known this would happen, I would''ve spent some more time to refine another treasure," Han Li murmured to himself with a wry smile, but he quickly banished that thought from his mind.
At this point, it was already toote to turn back, so there was no point in crying over spilled milk.
He took a deep breath, and the rainbow light around his body brightened as he elerated once again.
Shortly thereafter, his eyes suddenly lit up as he caught sight of a speck of white light amid the spatial storm up ahead.
It was only a very faint speck of light, but it stood like an unyielding beacon amid a storm of chaos and murky grayness.
Could it be...
A possibility sprang into Han Li''s mind, and he reflexively elerated even further, flying rapidly toward the speck of white light.
The more he advanced, the brighter the speck of white light became, and an inexplicable yet regal aura was emanating from within, as if an extremely sacred ceid beyond it.
This was an aura that Han Li had felt before. It was the aura of the Immortal Realm!
"Finally..." Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief and excitement.
Thankfully, his luck wasn''t too terrible. Otherwise, if this suit of Exquisite Eight Treasures Bone Armor were to be shattered, he wouldn''t have been able to withstand the spatial storms within the interrealm gap with his physical body alone.
Even though he was already feeling quite exhausted, he was reinvigorated by the sight that greeted him up ahead.
As long as he could return to the Immortal Realm, he would be able to find the organization that was offering a reward for his capture, and it would only be a matter of time before he uncovered the events that led to his amnesia and the severe injuries that he had sustained.
After flying forward for a while longer, Han Li suddenly began to slow down as a befuddled look appeared in his eyes.
A massive yellow object that was several hundred kilometers in size was hovering amid the spatial turbulence not far up ahead, and it bore the appearance of an enormous bubble.
The turbulent spatial storm was instantly repelled as soon as it came into contact with the giant bubble, unable to harm it in the slightest.
Furthermore, Han Li could just barely make out something residing within the mysterious bubble, and ayer of blue light emerged within his eyes as he focused his gaze on the bubble, but his brows then quickly furrowed slightly.
There was some type of peculiar force that was obstructing his view, and even his Brightsight Spirit Eyes were unable to see through the bubble.
A hint of curiosity welled up in Han Li''s heart, but he immediately shook his head.
The bubble was a very strange entity, and he was far from peak condition right now, so it was best to stay out of trouble as much as possible and prioritize getting to the Immortal Realm.
With that in mind, the Heavenly Phoenix spread its wings, then altered its flight trajectory so that it could skirt around the yellow bubble.
Right at this moment, the spatial storm around him began to churn violently.
All of a sudden, a burst of enormous force sprang out of the spatial storm before crashing viciously into the Heavenly Phoenix.
What was that?
The power imbued within the burst of force was not inferior to that of an all-out attack from him.
The Heavenly Phoenix was instantly sent careening to the side before crashing involuntarily into the yellow bubble.
The yellow bubble was able to repel the surrounding spatial storm with ease, but not only was the Heavenly Phoenix not repelled, it sank into the bubble without any resistance.
Han Li felt as if the world were spinning all around him, and only after pping his wings vigorously several times was he able to just barely steady himself.
The burst of force that had crashed into him had been extremely powerful, but it wasn''t enough to harm him in his current state.
After stabilizing himself, he quickly inspected his surroundings, and he was quite surprised by what he saw.
This was an extremely peaceful yellow world. The violent spatial turbulence outside hadpletely vanished, and yellow light was permeating through the air. Down below was andmass that was several hundred kilometers in size, resembling an ind.
The world''s origin qi within this yellow space was extremely abundant, hundreds of times more so than even the best spirit regions in the Spirit Domain Realm. The ind was riddled with lush forestry, and all of the trees growing on the ind looked to be at least 1,000 years old.
There were also many spirit ingredients interspersed throughout the forest, all of which were at least several thousand years old. There were also many spirit medicines that were in excess of 10,000 years of age, and most of them were species that he didn''t recognize.
This was an ind that was riddled with treasures!
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li returned to his human form amid a sh of rainbow light, then flipped a hand to summon a blue pill that he promptly swallowed.
This pill was called the Heavenly Star Pill, and it was a secret pill of the Origin Realm Temple that was refined using several types of spirit medicines capable of absorbing starpower. For someone like him, who had cultivated the Big Dipper Origin Arts, it was the ideal recovery pill.
The Heavenly Star Pill quickly dissolved into a surge of warmth that flowed throughout his entire body, filling his exhausted body with a burst of vitality that facilitated rapid recovery.
Instead of immediately descending to the ground, Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes and began to carefully inspect his surroundings.
He couldn''t shake the feeling that someone or something had intentionallyunched that burst of force at him to propel him into the yellow bubble.
Right at this moment, an earth-shattering roar rang out from down below.
The entire ind trembled violently as a gargantuan yellow cloud rose up from the forest before flying toward Han Li like lightning, reaching him in the blink of an eye.
A massive figure that seemed to belong to a giant could just barely be made out within the yellow cloud.
An enormous yellow fist wasunched out of the yellow cloud. The skin on the fist was yellow and withered like extremely coarse tree roots.
As soon as the fist emerged, it crashed directly toward Han Li with incredibly fearsome power, and even before the fist reached Han Li, the space around him was already beginning to ripple violently.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly as he let loose a low roar, and seven specks of blue light emerged on his chest and abdomen as he activated his Big Dipper Origin Arts to its fullest extent.
Faint starlight began to emanate from his entire body, and seven thick bands of starlight wrapped themselves around him as he retaliated with a punch of his own.
The surrounding space exploded violently, sending shockwaves that were visible to the naked eye surging through the air.
After achieving full mastery of the Big Dipper Origin Arts, this punch from Han Li was able to rival the golden giant in power even without taking on his Giant Mountain Ape form.
The two fists collided with an earth-shattering boom, and the surrounding space warped violently as bursts of devastating shockwaves swept through the air, proliferating outward as gusts of ferocious wind.
Han Li was sent flying back by the impact and flew all the way back for several thousand feet before just barely managing to steady himself.
Inside the yellow cloud, the giant was also stopped cold in its tracks and forced to stumble back a couple of steps to absorb the force of the impact.
Immediately thereafter, the yellow cloud around the giant was blown apart by the gusts of fierce wind, thereby revealing the creature inside.
Chapter 81: The One-eyed Giant and the Centaur
Chapter 81: The One-eyed Giant and the Centaur
In the blink of an eye, the semi-transparent True Extreme Membrane appeared over Han Li''s body, and he quickly stabilized himself as faint silver light shed over the surface of the thin film.
He was stunned by the incredible power imbued within the giant''s punch, but given the formidable defensive prowess of his True Extreme Body, he was able to remain unharmed from the blow.
He immediately cast his gaze foward, upon which his pupils contracted ever so slightly.
Standing several thousand feet away from him as a yellow-skinned giant that was around 2,000 to 3,000 feet tall. Its entire body was riddled with strange spirit patterns, and its facial features were downright hideous, with a snub nose and a massive, unsightly mouth. What was most intriguing about it was that it only had a single enormous vertical eye, with murky light shimmering within its hazy gray pupil.
The giant had a disoriented appearance, but it was giving off a savage auraparable to a True Immortal, much to Han Li''s rm and concern.
This had nothing to do with the giant''s cultivation base. Instead, it was purely an instinctive feeling from Han Li.
The one-eyed giant faltered slightly, seemingly rather taken aback by the fact that Han Li had managed to remainpletely unscathed from the sh, and immediately thereafter, it let loose a furious roar. A vast expanse of yellow light rose up from its body, and it stomped through the air as it charged directly toward Han Li.
Han Li quickly began to chant an incantation upon seeing this, and bright golden light erupted from his body as he transformed into a giant golden ape that was over 200 feet tall.
The constetion of seven blue stars appeared on the giant ape''s chest and abdomen, giving off bright starlight that intertwined with the golden light radiating from the ape''s body, causing it to swell even further in size.
It clenched one of its hands into a tight fist, and the muscles on its arms bulged as it threw a vicious punch at the oing one-eyed giant.
The space up ahead warped violently as a mountainous golden fist projection appeared. The fist projection was interspersed with traces of starlight, and the one-eyed giant let loose a thunderous roar as it continued to charge forward without slowing down in the slightest, raising a massive fist of its own tobat the golden fist projection.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and this time, it was the giant that was sent flying back, tumbling down from the sky like an enormous asteroid beforending heavily on the ind.
The entire ind swayed violently, and a massive crater was smashed into the ground, sending dust and debris rising up into the sky.
In the next instant, the giant golden ape appeared directly above the crater, and its arms blurred as it unleashed countless golden fist projections that came raining down in a relentless barrage.
The one-eyed giant mbered rather unsteadily up from the ground, but it didn''t appear to have sustained any injuries. However, it was clearly infuriated, and it let loose an enraged roar as it stomped a foot forcefully down onto the ground.
A series of strange yellow patterns instantly appeared over its body, giving off a burst of translucent yellow light that quickly spread onto the ground around it.
All of the soil on the ground in the wake of the translucent yellow light instantly shattered, transforming into countless grains of translucent yellow sand that rose up into the air before forming a series of bands around the giant''s body. In the blink of an eye, a suit of translucent yellow sand armor had taken shape around the one-eyed giant.
A string of loud cracks and bangs rang out as the storm of golden fist projections rained down upon the giant before exploding into bursts of golden light.
However, the one-eyed giant remainedpletely still like an immovable mountain, and the yellow sand armor that its body was encased also wasn''t sustaining any damage.
The giant golden ape faltered slightly upon seeing this, then hurriedly shot back in retreat.
The one-eyed giant cast a cold gaze up toward the golden ape in the sky, then stomped its foot down onto the ground again, and the yellow spirit patterns all over its body shed as a series of yellow ripples proliferated outward, instantly epassing an area around it in a radius of close to 10 kilometers.
While still in mid-air, the giant golden ape suddenly felt its own body be significantly heavier. The surrounding gravitational force had increased by severalfold, and it was as if it were being dragged down forcefully by a massive, invisible hand, causing it to plummet out of the sky.
It''s using gravitational control! Han Li thought to himself with an rmed expression.
Immediately thereafter, the giant golden ape mmed heavily down onto the ground, and its feet sank several dozen feet into the earth as countless shattered rock fragments flew in all directions around it.
In the next instant, the one-eyed giant charged onto the scene beforeshing out with a giant yellow fist with devastating force, while the golden ape was rooted to the spot like a sitting duck.
The giant''s fist swept up a gust of ferocious wind that left a massive white mark in the air.
The giant golden raised its arms and crossed them above its head, while ayer of golden scales instantly appeared over its arms.
A resounding boom rang out as a burst of tremendous force spread along the giant ape''s arms and into its body, forcing it to sink even further into the ground.
The one-eyed giant swayed slightly before itshed out with its other fist, and soon, both of its fists had transformed into a pair of blurs as one devastating blow after another came raining down in rapid session.
The golden ape was able to ward off the attacks with its arms, but this situation was naturally far from ideal.
Even though it possessed exceptional physical resistance and didn''t have to fear the one-eyed giant''s attacks, it was unable to free itself anytime soon under the effects of the heightened gravity, and it was sinking further and further into the ground from the one-eyed giant''s pummeling blows.
At this point, it had already sunk all the way down to its waist, and at this rate, it was going to be buried alive!
Right at this moment, spatial fluctuations suddenly erupted over 1,000 feet behind the one-eyed giant, and a centaur-like creature that was over 1,000 feet tall emerged out of thin air without any warning.
The creature''s entire body was enveloped within a gust of fierce azure wind, and it was also entirely of a dark azure color. The bottom half of its body was identical to that of a horse, except it waspletely devoid of fur and covered in ayer of thick azure scales instead.
Apanying this horse-like lower body was a well-built human male upper body that waspletely bared. What was even more remarkable was that the creature had three identical heads, one on its neck and two on its shoulders.
As soon as the creature appeared, one of its muscr arms was already raised up high, and it was holding a blue lightning spear in its hand. The spear was several hundred feet in length, and it was hurled viciously at the one-eyed giant''s heart from behind.
Arcs of blue lightning were springing wildly over the surface of the spear like boiling water, and in the blink of an eye, the spear had already reached the one-eyed giant.
The giant''s attention was focused entirely on its battle against Han Li, and by the time it sensed what was happening behind it, it was already toote to take evasive measures.
It let loose an explosive roar as the spirit patterns all over its body lit up with dazzling yellow radiance, and the surrounding earth in a radius of several kilometers instantly began to tremble violently. At the same time, the translucent yellow sand on the ground behind it abruptly rose up into the air, then intertwined to form a brown wall of sand that stood in the path of the oing lightning spear.
A dull thump rang out as the blue lightning spear pierced through the wall of sand with ease, then impaled itself into the one-eyed giant''s body.
Immediately thereafter, a resounding boom rang out as countless arcs of lightning erupted from the blue spear amid a burst of dazzling radiance before exploding violently.
The one-eyed giant let loose an agonized roar as a massive hole was blown into its body just above its lower abdomen, and massive volumes of reddish-brown blood came gushing out of the wound.
The centaur-like creature flew back before descending onto the ground several thousand feet away, and an ted look appeared on all three of its faces, but its expression then immediately stiffened.
Contrary to its expectations, the blue lightning spear hadn''t managed to pierce through the giant''s heart. Instead, as aforementioned, it had pierced through its body just above its lower abdomen, so it had failed to deal a killing blow.
As it turned out, in the instant that the lightning spear pierced through the wall of sand, the one-eyed giant had already controlled the sand beneath its feet to elevate the ground by several dozen feet, thereby just barely avoiding a fatal blow.
Even so, the giant had still suffered severe injuries, and blood was trickling down from the corners of its mouth. At the same time,rge, irregr chunks of translucent sand were falling off its body, giving it the appearance of an old and dpidated wall that was falling apart under the elements.
As a result of this abrupt turn of events, the heightened gravity in the nearby area was abruptly eased, and the giant golden ape immediately sprang out of the ground before rushing to several thousand feet away after just a few shes.
It then cast its gaze toward the centaur-like creature, upon which its pupils contracted slightly.
Judging from its aura and its ability to conceal itself, it was most likely the one that had sent Han Li flying into this yellow bubble.
Instead of rushing back into the fray, Han Li was carefully watching the pair of titanic monsters before him, waiting to see what they were going to do next.
Right at this moment, the centaur-like creature sprang forward as a gust of ferocious wind swept up all around it, and a new lightning spear had already taken shape in its grasp as it sprang toward the one-eyed giant, stabbing the spear toward the giant''s heart with incredible speed and venom.
A murderous gleam surfaced in the giant''s eye as it let loose a thunderous roar, and dazzling light erupted from its body.
All of the yellow sand that filled the surrounding area rose up into the air before rapidly converging, forming hundreds of sharp yellow spikes that pierced viciously toward the centaur-like creature.
A hint of surprise shed through the three-headed centaur''s eyes upon seeing this, and bright azure light erupted from its body as it raised its lightning spear horizontally in front of itself. Countless arcs of lightning sprang forth from the spear, instantly forming a of lightning to shield it from the spikes up ahead.
The yellow spikes crashed into the blue of lightning incessantly amid a string of resounding booms, and the resulting shockwaves from the shes sent the centaur-like creature flying back by over 1,000 feet.
However, after manifesting those yellow spikes, the one-eyed giant couldn''t help but throw up a mouthful of reddish-brown blood, and the fury in its eyes had be even more pronounced.
It cast a wary nce toward the giant yellow ape in the other direction, then retreated by over 1,000 feet, forming a roughly equteral triangle with the golden ape and the centaur-like creature.
At the same time, a swirling vortex of yellow light slowly appeared on the wound on its lower abdomen, and the flesh around the wound gradually turned from red to ck, then turned into stone.
As the vortex continued to revolve, more and more of the wound turned into stone, and the entire wound was quicklypletely filled like the surface of ake freezing over.
Golden light shed from Han Li''s body upon seeing this, and he quickly shrank down to revert back to his human form, then flipped a hand over to summon his High Zenith Invisibility Talisman.
As the talisman released a burst of purple light, Han Li''s body gradually became more and more indistinct before finally vanishing on the spot.
The one-eyed giant faltered slightly upon seeing this.
The centaur-like creature was also rather taken aback by Han Li''s sudden disappearance, but it then immediately turned its attention toward the one-eyed giant with a fierce look in its six eyes.
Chapter 82: Clash
Chapter 82: sh
The one-eyed giant could sense the centaur-like creature''s hostile gaze, and it also directed its attention away as a cold gleam shed through its eye as it crouched down slightly to lower its center of gravity in preparation for battle.
Electricity shed within the eyes of one of the centaur-creature''s heads, and lightning patterns lit up all over its azure scales. Arcs of blue lightning sprang forth, encircling its entire body, then formed a lightning halberd that was almost as long as the centaur-like creature was tall.
The halberd had arcs of lightning shing around it, and it was clearly also formed by lightning itself. However, it was far more substantial than the lightning spears from before, and there were many strange patterns on its surface, giving it the appearance of an actual treasure with formidable powers.
The centaur-like creature raised its lightning halberd, then pushed off the ground forcefully with its two hind hooves,unching itself directly toward the one-eyed giant at an incredible speed.
As it charged forward, it swept its lightning halberd through the air, and a tightly packed series of halberd projections instantly appeared before hurtling toward the one-eyed giant.
The giant let loose a low roar as it raised one of its feet, then stomped it heavily down onto the ground. The earth instantly trembled violently asrge plumes of dust rose up alongside countless grains of translucent yellow sand, forming a tornado of yellow sand that surged up into the giant''s grasp, then formed a giant staff that was close to 1,000 feet in length.
The giant grabbed onto the staff with both hands, and the staff immediately began to radiate bright yellow light before being swept directly toward the oing lightning halberd projections.
A mountainous expanse of staff projections was instantly unleashed, obscuring arge section of the sky as they sped toward the lightning halberd projections.
A string of loud explosions rang out as the lightning halberd projections were destroyed by the staff projections, exploding into bursts of dazzling blue lightning that gradually faded into nothingness.
Right at this moment, an opening suddenly appeared amid the dense mass of staff projections, and a blue lightning halberd flew through the opening, aimed directly at the giant''s throat.
The one-eyed giant seemed to have already anticipated this, and it withdrew its staff, upon which all of the staff projections in the air also returned to the staff. It then swept its staff through the air to knock the lightning halberd away, but the halberd merely circled around in the air before flying toward the one-eyed giant again.
The centaur-like creature was constantly making circr motions with its arms, and the lightning halberd danced in front of it like a roaming dragon at its behest, releasing countless blue halberd projections that swept toward the one-eyed giant.
Countless tiny arcs of lightning were shing incessantly amid the vast expanse of halberd projections, and even the air seemed to have been set alight as the acrid scent of something burning wafted through the area.
As for the one-eyed giant, it was wielding the staff as if it were an extension of its own body, unleashing a series of staff projections that resembled a massive yellow bird that was spreading its wings and taking flight, soaring directly toward the blue halberd projections.
A string of loud cracks and pops rang out incessantly as the yellow light and blue lightning intertwined, and neither side was able to ovee the other.
Resounding booms rang out asionally, and each one was apanied by the crumbling of a burst of yellow light or the explosion of a burst of blue lightning. Powerful shockwaves spread through the air in all directions, causing the surrounding space to warp and quiver violently.
As the battle raged on, the surface of the massive bubble that epassed this entire area was also rippling violently like the surface of a disturbedke, looking as if it could be destroyed at any moment.
Under the concealment of the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman, Han Li had already backed away to around 4,000 to 5,000 feet away from the pair of titanic creatures, and he was watching the ongoing battle intently from afar.
He had originally nned to sneak away while the two creatures were locked in battle so that he could leave this mysterious bubble and resume his journey to the Immortal Realm, but the scene unfolding before his eyes was making him rather hesitant.
After a moment of contemtion, he decided to stay and watch the battle for now.
After an indeterminate period of time, the battle finally began to take a slight turn.
It seemed that the one-eyed giant was gradually running out of stamina due to the injury that it had previously sustained, and it was beginning to struggle to keep up with its assant.
In contrast, the centaur-like creature''s attacks were only bing more and more ferocious as the battle wore on, and the blue halberd projections began to dominate the yellow staff projections.
Amid the chaos, a burst of yellow light suddenly appeared on the one-eyed giant''s feet.
At the same time, it let loose an explosive roar, and the ground beneath its feet instantly began to quake violently. An enormous mass of translucent yellow sand swept up from the ground in a frenzy, forming a massive screen of sand that rose up several thousand feet into the air.
In the face of the screen of sand, all of the halberd projections instantly crumbled away, and the halberd-wielding centaur-like creature was also caught off guard, finding itself separated from its opponent by the screen of sand.
The one-eyed giant immediately turned and fled in the other direction upon seeing this.
Immediately thereafter, dazzling yellow light erupted from the screen of sand, which took on an extremely substantial form.
A hint of derision appeared on the centaur-like creature''s three faces, and it turned its left-sided head slightly so that its gaze was turned in the same direction that was directly forward of its central head.
Azure and blue light then appeared in the two pairs of eyes on its left and central heads, and a burst of powerful fluctuations emerged from the spot where the lines of sight of the two pairs of eyes met.
Arcs of blue lightning emerged out of thin air alongside countless azure des of wind, and they quickly converged to form an azure and blue ball of lightning that was 70 to 80 feet in size.
The two-colored ball of lightning shed through the air before crashing into the yellow screen of sand.
A massive bulge instantly appeared on the screen of sand where it was struck by the ball of lightning, but it managed to keep the ball of lightning at bay.
However, right at this moment, the ball of lightning began to glow with dazzling radiance before exploding violently.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as countless arcs of blue lightning sprang through the air like a series of tiny lightning wyrms. Each arc of lightning was also apanied by peerlessly sharp azure des of wind that swept forth in all directions, instantly tearing a hole that was several hundred feet in size into the center of the screen of yellow sand.
The centaur-like creature immediately passed through the hole in the screen of sand, then raced after the one-eyed giant in hot pursuit, traveling at such an incredible speed that it was able to cover a distance of several thousand feet in the blink of an eye.
However, in the next instant, it abruptly stopped cold in its tracks. As it turned out, the one-eyed giant was nowhere to be seen.
Right at this moment, a burst of radiant light suddenly erupted from a certain point behind the screen of sand, and the one-eyed giant re-emerged. Its aura had waned significantly, but there was a fierce look on its face.
Instead of fleeing from the battle, it had concealed its aura and hidden itself within the screen of sand, waiting for the centaur-like beast toe after it.
At this moment, the thing that was radiating the dazzling light was none other than the previously murky and gray eye on the giant''s head.
The centaur-like creature was immediately struck by a sense of foreboding, and it swiveled around before hurling the blue lightning halberd in its grasp directly toward the one-eyed giant.
Almost at the exact same moment, the giant''s eye shed before releasing a thick beam of white light.
In the instant that the lightning halberd came into contact with the beam of white light, it instantly vanished into thin air, then abruptly reappeared in front of the one-eyed giant before piercing into its chest right where its heart was situated. The halberd then exploded amid an eruption of countless arcs of lightning, sting a massive hole into the giant''s chest and causing it to topple backward like a crumbling mountain.
The beam of white light struck the centaur-like creature almost at the exact same moment, and its body was instantly enveloped by a burst of peculiar fluctuations, which made its movements and its magic power cirction hundreds of times slower and more sluggish than normal.
The centaur-like creature was greatly rmed by this, and it desperately attempted to draw upon its magic power to dispel these strange fluctuations, but despite how feeble they appeared, these fluctuations proved to be extremely tenacious and refused to be dispelled, despite the centaur-like creature''s vast reserves of magic power.
Right at this moment, spatial fluctuations erupted behind it, and a giant golden ape leaped out of thin air with bright golden light radiating from its fists, which were hurtling directly toward two of the centaur-like creature''s three heads.
The centaur-like creature was greatly startled by this unexpected turn of events, and it reflexively recoiled to try and evade the attacks.
At the same time, the gust of azure wind revolving around it suddenly departed from its body, then transformed into an extremely life-like azure wind dragon, and the wind dragon sped directly toward the giant golden ape as it manifested a single horn on its head.
However, the giant golden ape made no effort to take evasive measures as the semi-transparent True Extreme Membrane appeared over its body, and its fists continued to hurtle through the air.
Due to the debilitating effects of the beam of white light, the centaur-like creature was far too slow to evade the attacks, and two loud, gruesome crunches rang out as its left and central heads were struck before instantly exploding, sending blood and intracranial fluids sttering in all directions.
At this point, the azure wind dragon had also reached the giant golden ape, and the horn on its head began to glow with scintiting light while releasing countless azure runes.
The semi-transparent film was torn apart by the sharp horn, and a long gash was instantly sliced into the giant golden ape''s chest.
The giant ape let loose a painful roar as it sped one hand over the gash on its chest, while swatting its other palm toward the centaur-like creature''s third head like lightning.
A look of rm and horror appeared in the eyes of the centaur-like creature''s remaining head, and ck light shed in its eyes as countless ck runes emerged before revolving around its body.
In the next instant, the centaur-like creature abruptly vanished into thin air.
As a result, the giant golden ape''s attack fell upon nothing but empty air. However, it didn''t falter in the slightest as it released its enormous spiritual sense, and at the same time, ayer of blue light appeared within its eyes as it quickly swept its gaze over the surrounding area.
However, even with both his spiritual sense and his Brightsight Spirit Eyes scouring the area at the same time, he was still unable to find any trace of the centaur-like creature, and it was as if it had truly vanished.
Meanwhile, the azure wind dragon was still attacking the giant golden ape relentlessly, quickly inflicting many more gashes onto the giant ape''s body with its peerlessly sharp horn.
The giant golden ape iled its arms wildly through the air to protect its vital regions, and blue light shed within its eyes, while its be split open to reveal an inky-ck demonic eye amid a cloud of ck qi.
His Brightsight Spirit Eyes and Law Destruction Eye lit up in unison before releasing three beams of spiritual light, two blue and one ck.
The three beams of spiritual light fused as one in mid-air in a sh, forming a ck and blue ball of light.
The ball of light was around the size of a human fist, and it was glittering and translucent, presenting an intriguing sight to behold.
Chapter 83: Flash of Inspiration
Chapter 83: sh of Inspiration
Immediately thereafter, the giant golden ape opened its mouth to release a burst of azure light, which vanished into the ball of ck and blue light in a sh. A burst of spiritual light appeared on the surface of the ball of light, and countless ck and blue runes of different sizes emerged before rapidly revolving around it.
All of a sudden, countless threads of ck and blue light erupted out of the ball of light before flying through the air in all directions, instantly intertwining to form a ck and blue that epassed an area with a radius of several kilometers.
This was an ability that Han Li had developed by chance bybining his Brightsight Spirit Eyes and Law Destruction Eye. However, using the ability would instantly exhaust the entirety of his current supply of magic power.
As soon as the giant ck and blue took shape, a certain section of it instantly shuddered before warping slightly as if it hade into contact with something.
The giant golden ape instantly sped toward that spot on the like lightning, leaving the azure wind dragon behind.
The azure wind dragon let loose an enraged roar before immediately setting off in hot pursuit.
The golden ape sped through the air like a gust of wind, appearing at the irregr spot on the giant in the blink of an eye. Before the azure wind dragon had a chance to catch up to it, it reached out with a dazzling golden hand before mming it viciously through the air.
A resounding boom rang out alongside violent fluctuations, and a vast expanse of ck runes emerged before crumbling away in unison.
Immediately thereafter, the centaur-like creature stumbled out of thin air with a horrified look on its remaining head.
Before it had a chance to react, the giant golden ape''s other fist was already crashing down with devastating force.
The centaur-like creature''s movements were still extremely sluggish, and it hurriedly crossed its arms in an attempt to protect its own head.
Right at this moment, the giant ape let loose a cold harrumph, and the centaur-like creature instantly felt as if a sharp spike had been driven straight into its brain, causing it to let loose an agonized howl while its entire bodypletely stiffened.
The golden fist instantly passed through the gap between the centaur-like creature''s arms before striking its only remaining head.
The creature''s final head instantly exploded like a watermelon, and its enormous body spasmed for a moment before plummeting toward the ground. At this point, the azure wind dragon had caught up to the giant golden ape, and it was just about to drive its horn into the ape''s heart from behind, but its body suddenly crumbled away as it let loose an anguished howl.
Immediately thereafter, an azure shadow shot out of the centaur-like creature''s headless body.
An intrigued look appeared in the giant golden ape''s eyes upon seeing this.
The azure shadow was none other than a miniature three-headed centaur-like creature that was enveloped within a gust of azure whirlwind. It appeared to have already attained a substantial form, much like a cultivator''s nascent soul.
ck light shed from one of the miniature centaur-like creature''s heads, and the same ck light appeared all over its body as it quickly vanished into thin air, leaving only a trail of afterimages in its wake.
The giant golden ape let loose a low roar, and ck light shed from its be as its Law Destruction Eye emerged, then released a thin thread of ck light that disappeared in a sh.
The space over 1,000 feet away then shuddered as the miniature centaur-like creature stumbled out into the open with an rmed expression on all three of its faces.
All of a sudden, silver light shed around it, and a series of crisscrossing silver chains of fire appeared, instantly forming a massive of silver mes that converged toward the center.
Azure light shed from the miniature centaur-like creature''s left-sided head, the azure whirlwind revolving around its body transformed into an azure pir of wind that enveloped its body from all sides, preventing the silver of fire from closing around it.
However, during this brief moment, the giant golden ape had already arrived on the scene, and a string of cracks and pops rang out as the muscles on its arms bulged before it threw a ferocious punch at the pir of azure wind.
In the face of the almighty punch, the azure pir of wind was instantly destroyed, and the miniature centaur-like creature inside let loose a blood-curdling howl before exploding like a shattered egg.
At this moment, most of the giant golden ape''s body had already been stained red by its own blood, but it paid no heed to its own injuries as it turned around without pause to charge toward the one-eyed giant that had fallen onto the ground not far away.
The one-eyed giant had sustained extremely severe injuries, having had its heart pierced through by the centaur-like creature''s lightning halberd, but it possessed extremely impressive life force and was still able to ward off the cold embrace of death.
At this moment, the hole on its chest had been filled by ayer of fine yellow sand once again, but its aura was still extremely feeble, and it seemed to be barely capable of any movement.
An rmed and horrified look appeared on its face at the sight of the approaching golden ape, and it let loose a loud roar, upon which the yellow sand around it quickly took on the shape of a massive boat, which began to carry its body away into the distance. At the same time, its eye began to glow with white light again.
A beam of white light shot out of the eye before hurtling directly toward the giant golden ape, and a grim look appeared in the golden ape''s eyes upon seeing this.
It didn''t know what type of attack this white light was, but thinking back to what had happened to the centaur-like creature after it had been struck by the same attack, it knew that this was definitely not something to be treated lightly.
With that in mind, golden light shed from its body, and it quickly shrank back down into its human form.
Right at this moment, white light shed within the giant''s eye, and the beam of white light changed directions as if it were a living creature, aiming itself downward and continuing to hurtle toward Han Li at an incredible speed.
Han Li was greatly rmed to see this, and he wanted to take evasive measures, but it was already toote.
In the instant before the beam of light was about to reach him, he was struck by a sh of inspiration, and he pulled off the Heaven Controlling Vial from around his neck before tossing it toward the oing beam of white light.
In the instant that the beam of white light came into contact with the Heaven Controlling Vial, it instantly vanished into the vial, while the vial itself disyed no reaction whatsoever.
Han Li''s mouth gaped open slightly in surprise upon seeing this, following which an ted look appeared on his face, and he withdrew the vial with a wave of his hand, then immediately continued in his pursuit of the one-eyed giant.
The giant''s eye had sprung wide open upon seeing this, and it waspletely unable to believe what it had just witnessed. However, it then immediately retunred to its senses and drew upon all of its remaining magic power before injecting it into the boat beneath it, causing it to glow brightly with yellow light while also elerating drastically.
Meanwhile, Han Li adopted his Giant Mountain Ape form once again before opening his mouth and letting loose a resounding roar.
A burst of white shockwaves instantly surged forth in a frenzy, quickly epassing an area in a radius of several thousand feet, causing the space in its wake to warp and twist appreciably.
Given the one-eyed giant''s remarkable physical resistance, the soundwaves were naturally unable to inflict much damage onto it from so far away, but the sand boat beneath it wasn''t all that resolute to begin with, and it was instantly shattered.
As a result, the one-eyed giant was immediately sent tumbling out of the sky.
Right at this moment, golden light shed beneath it as the giant golden ape instantly arrived on the scene, then mmed its fist viciously into the giant''s head.
The giant''s head instantly exploded, sending a vast expanse of red and white liquid sttering through the air.
A ball of dim yellow light flew out of its body, and it was none other than the one-eyed giant''s nascent soul.
However, as soon as it emerged, it was instantly caught within a silver of fire that converged from all directions to trap it within.
Countless silver runes then flew out of the fiery before adhering themselves tightly to the nascent soul''s body, instnatly forming a silver seal thatpletely immobilized it in mid-air.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and the one-eyed giant''s nascent soul didn''t get a chance to do anything before it was captured.
It had failed to anticipate that Han Li had learned from his previous experience with the centaur-like creature''s nascent soul, leading him to release the Essence Fire Raven in advance for an instant capture.
The giant''s body crashed heavily down onto the ground, and all of the spirit patterns all over the body dimmed, following which it began to crumble away, qiuckly disintegrating into countless grains of translucent yellow sand.
However, its murky gray eye remained, and it rolled down onto the ground.
Not far away, Han Li reverted back to his human form before drifting down onto the ground.
At this moment, he was inspecting the small green vial in his hand, seemingly contemting something.
He then rasied his head before making a beckoning motion with his hand, releasing a burst of suction force that drew the giant''s gray eye into his grasp.
At the moment, the eyeball appeared to be no different from an ordinary stone bead that waspletely devoid of any aura. However, the fact that it was able to release beams of light that were imbued with the power of thew of time clearly indicated that it was no ordinary object.
For some reason, Han Li was struck by the urge to touch the Heaven Controlling Vial to the eye, but doing so resulted in no change at all to either the eye or the Heaven Controlling Vial.
Han Li wasn''t overly disappointed by this, and he didn''t think much of it as he ced the small green vial around his neck again. He then summoned a green jade box before carefully storing the eye into it.
At this point, the silver me that had trapped the giant''s nascent soul had already reverted back into its fire raven form, and it flew back to Han Li''s side.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the one-eyed giant''s nascent soul, and a contemtive look appeared on his face.
He didn''t know exactly what uses there were for nascent souls of creaturesparable to to True Immortals, but he was certain that even in the Immortal Realm, these things had to be extremely precious.
However, he had no time to ponder this matter at the moment. With a sweep of his sleeve, he adhered several talismans to the giant''s nascent soul, then withdrew his Essence Fire Raven and stored the nascent soul into a wooden box before stowing it away.
He then made his way over to the body of the centaur-like creature several thousand feet away, then also tossed it into a storage bracelet.
Only after doing all of that did he allow himself a moment to catch his breath.
That battle had truly been an exhausting one, but thankfully, he had sustained only minor external injuries.
He looked around to find that the small ind had already been severely damaged during the course of the battle, with countless ancient trees felled and a vast volume of debris littering the ravaged ground.
Only some ces that were further away and weren''t affected by the battle were able to maintain their original state.
Han Li closed his eyes and released his spiritual sense, which instantly epassed the entirety of thisndmass.
Momentster, he raised an eyebrow as a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he flew toward a certain direction deep into the dense forest.
Chapter 84: Statue
Chapter 84: Statue
The forest was filled with all types of different flora, and even with Han Li''s vast wealth of experience, he felt like an overawed child in a candy shop.
There were all types of strange and exotic nts stretching as far as the eyes could see, some of which were considered to be exceedingly rare in the Spirit Realm, but were asmonce as average weed here. Furthermore, all of them were quite advanced in age, and the majority of them were over 1,000 years old, with some specimens even in the tens of thousands of years.
There were also some spirit nts that Han Li didn''t recognize, but most of them contained astonishing spiritual power or possessed peculiar appearances or fragrances, and he naturally didn''t shy away from adding them all to his collection.
Even though he had already briefly inspected the space within the mysterious bubble with his spiritual sense earlier, he still couldn''t help but be stunned by the sights that he was being greeted by, and he was very pleased with his decision not to leave prematurely.
Close to two hourster, Han Li drew to a halt in a rather spacious area in the forest. The trees here were very sparse, and there weren''t any spirit medicines growing here either, so it was rather barren in appearance.
Over 1,000 feet in front of him was a giant cave that resembled an enormous rucksack, with its dark and shadowy opening directly facing him.
Han Li stood on the spot and briefly inspected his surroundings, and only after ascertaining that there was nothing amiss did he make his way over to the cave before peering inside.
The cave led diagonally downward, and the sound of howling wind was ringing out incessantly from within.
Blue light shed within Han Li''s eyes as he made his way into the cave.
The inside of the cave was quite dim and a little damp. Water droplets were constantly dripping down from the ceiling and walls of the cave, and the floor was also very soft and loamy.
Han Li followed the natural slope of the cave as he made his way downward, and after walking for around 15 minutes, the direction of the cave''s curvature suddenly changed. Furthermore, a series of white crystals that were giving off a cold light began to appear on the rock faces of the cave.
Initially, the crystals were rather sparse, but the further Han Li advanced, the more concentrated the crystals became, and they gradually illuminated the entire path.
After walking for another 15 minutes, he finally reached the end of the cave, where he arrived in a massive underground cavern that was several thousand feet in size.
There were countless white crystals embedded onto the ceiling of the cavern, and they were giving off a cold light that filled the entire space.
Furthermore, the sound of flowing water could be clearly heard down below. As it turned out, there was an underground river passing through here, forming a smallke in the cavern, and theke was surrounded by translucent yellow sand.
The white light radiating from the crystals was reflected by the rippling water, casting ripples of light onto the surrounding rock faces, presenting a beautiful sight to behold.
However, Han Li was in no mood to be appreciating the scenery here. Instead, his gaze was firmly fixed on a giant rock that was protruding out of the water directly at the center of the cavern.
The rock resembled a miniaturendmass that was over 300 feet in size, and there was a strange tree that was roughly 100 feet tall growing on it.
The tree was rather simr to a walnut tree, but it waspletely bare and devoid of any leaves. However, there were a series of walnut-like fruits hanging from its branches.
Han Li leaped up into the air beforending at the foot of the tree to inspect it at close quarters.
As a result, he discovered that the tree was riddled with a type of profound pattern that he had never seen before. These patterns didn''t appear to have been engraved onto the tree by anyone. Instead, they seemed to be naturally urring patterns.
The walnut-like fruits hanging from the trees were even more peculiar. Their surfaces were riddled with extremely twisted patterns that resembled strange human faces, some of which resembled wizened elderly men, while others resembled newborn infants.
However, regardless of what the patterns on the fruits were like, every single one of the fruits was giving off astonishing earth-attribute spiritual energy.
It was exactly because he had noticed this spiritual energy that he had been drawn to this ce.
Han Li stroked his chin as a contemtive look appeared on his face, and a theory began to emerge in his mind.
This space within the mysterious bubble most likely belonged to the one-eyed giant, and the centaur-like creature had taken such a massive risk to engage the one-eyed giant in battle precisely for this strange walnut tree.
Han Li couldn''t identify this tree, nor the fruits that it bore, but one thing was for certain: the fact that a pair of monstrous creatures that wereparable to True Immortals in power were willing to fight over this tree meant that it was definitely no ordinary entity.
However, none of that was important anymore. Right now, this ce belonged solely to him.
¡¡
In the Immortal Realm.
In the sky above a nameless mountain range, gusts of fierce wind were howling incessantly amid a denseyer of dark clouds, while snow fell persistently from the heavens.
Some trees that had folded over under the weight of the thick nkets of umted snow could still be seen near the foot of the dozens of mountains in the mountain range, but above that, all of the mountains were covered entirely in snow and ice.
The only sounds that could be heard were the howling of the wind and the rustling of the snow, and there weren''t any signs of living creatures in the area, either.
However, right at this moment, a sharp female voice suddenly rang out from deep within the tallest mountain in the mountain range, and the voice passed through the snow and wind without being muffled or drowned out in the slightest.
"Who dared to kill my spirit pet? I don''t care who you are, I''m going to find you and tear you to shreds, then seal your soul away beneath this mountain for the rest of eternity!"
The voice was filled with rage, and the entire snowy mountain trembled under the weight of its fury.
Countless massive bs of snow that had umted over the course of countless years slid off from the mountain, then came crashing down to send even more snow tumbling down from the mountain, causing a chain reaction that quickly resulted in a full-blown avnche.
¡¡
In a certain region of the sea in the Northern cial Immortal Region.
The bright sun was hanging directly in the center of the bright and clear sky, and there were only faint traces of clouds drifting through the air. A faint breeze was blowing over the surface of the sea, stirring up a series of small waves.
On the rippling surface of the sea was a ck ind that was several thousand kilometers in size, and the ind was bordered by an extremely irregr circle of countless ck rocks. Looking down at the ind from above, it resembled an enormous leaf.
There were many boats moored at a dock situated to the north of the ind, but the dock itself waspletely empty and devoid of people.
There was a wide bluestone path leading into the ind from the dock, and it extended all the way into the dense forest on the ind.
At the end of the path was a primitive vige with densely packed buildings, concealed amid the dense forestry.
At this moment, many parts of the vige had been set alight, and thick smoke was rising up into the air, while thunderous war cries were ringing out incessantly. The radiance of countless treasures could be seen, and a nauseating gorey smell was wafting through the air.
Amid a set of ruins, close to 1,000 cultivators were locked in a chaotic battle. The cultivators were split up into two sides, and their numbers seemed to be roughly evenly matched.
The cultivators on one of the two sides weren''t human. All of them were extremely physically imposing with green skin and tusks protruding out of their mouths, and most of them were wielding that fell under the categories of maces and hammers. Furthermore, each of them had ayer of faint white light over their skin.
There were also some yellow-armored mace-wielding warriors interspersed among these foreign cultivators, but all of them had sickly yellow skin and didn''t appear to be living beings. Instead, they resembled moving wax statues.
In the opposing faction, most of the cultivators were humans, but there were also some strange crimson-armored warriors among them.
The skin of these warriors bore the same hue as their armor, and even in the heat of battle, they werepletely expressionless, giving them the appearance of emotionless puppets.
On a section of elevated terrain, a crimson-armored warrior that was wielding a crimson spear leaped down before plunging its spear viciously down toward one of the oing yellow-skinned warriors.
Before the crimson spear had even struck its target, a crimson vortex erupted from the tip of the spear, sending countless bursts of crimson light raining down from above.
A resounding boom rang out as a huge hole was sted into the yellow-skinned warrior''s chest, and some type of yellow fluid came pouring out incessantly from the wound as it stumbled back a few steps involuntarily.
However, in the next instant, it bent its knees slightly before springing up like lightning while swinging its mace through the air, releasing countless mace projections to form a ferocious yellow hurricane that swept viciously toward the crimson-armored warrior.
The crimson-armored warrior was caught off guard by the attack, and its head instantly exploded, but at thest second, it hurled its spear through the air, sending it piercing directly through the yellow-skinned warrior''s head.
The two fell to the ground almost at the exact same moment, and one of them disintegrated into a puddle of crimson liquid, while the other dissolved into a pool of yellow fluid.
Elsewhere, a short and stubby elderly man suddenly emerged from behind a semi-copsed wall with a crimson jade vial in his grasp, and the opening of the vial was facing a foreign cultivator that was chasing after him in hot pursuit several hundred feet away.
The elderly man gently patted the bottom of the vial, and countless crimson threads shot out of the vial amid a sh of crimson light, then intertwined to form a pir of crimson light that shot directly toward the foreign cultivator.
As soon as the crimson pir of light came into contact with theyer of white light over the foreign cultivator''s body, it was instantly slowed down. Even though it wasn''tpletely dispelled, its power had been instantly reduced by close to a third.
The foreign cultivator stumbled unsteadily from the attack, and blood gushed out of its mouth, but it didn''t sustain any substantial injuries and continued to charge toward the elderly man as it let loose a furious roar.
Simr scenes were taking ce all over the entire vige.
The yellow-skinned warriors and the crimson-armored warriors were all extremely fierce and courageous in battle, disying no regard for their own safety. However, they were roughly evenly matched both in terms of power and numbers, so they were unable to sway the state of the battle.
However, all of the foreign cultivators were protected by those strangeyers of white light, which buffered the power of all of the attacks that were directed at them. As a result, they were able to quickly gain the upper hand in the battle, and the human cultivators were soon forced back into retreat, converging toward the center of the vige.
Meanwhile, on a white stone za at the center of the vige, several dozen ck-robed figures were seated around a massive statue with their legs crossed, chanting aplex incantation.
There were people from all demographics among the ck-robed figures, and all of them had rather paleplexions as they held their left arms in front of them with their left sleeves rolled back.
There was a thin gash on all of their left wrists, and blood was flowing out of those gashes before trickling down onto the ground in front of them.
A series of channels had been carved onto the ground to form aplex array, which was directly connected to the statue at the very center of the za.
The statue was roughly 100 feet tall, and it depicted a young schrly man holding a book in his hand while casting his gaze into the distance.
If Han Li were present, he would be surprised to find that the young schrly man bore some resemnce to him. However, when looking at the bodily proportions, it was clear that Han Li was taller than the man that was the subject of the statue.
In front of the statue was a gray-robed elderly with his arm crossed in front of him and his hands gripping onto his opposite shoulders as he prayed to the statue with a reverent expression, "Almighty Ancestral God, please heed the call of your devoted bloodline and descend!"
Chapter 85: Ancestral God
Chapter 85: Ancestral God
The channels on the ground around the statue of the young schr had already been filled with blood, and all of the blood was converging toward the foot of the statue.
As the white-haired elderly man uttered his prayers in a trembling voice, ayer of crimson light on the surface of the statues began to pulse erratically, while a crimson vortex was revolving incessantly in front of the elderly man, releasing bursts of peculiar fluctuations.
All of a sudden, a faint buzzing sound rang out, and light shed from the crimson vortex as a crimson-armored warrior emerged from within. It insepcted its surroundings momentarily with a wooden expression, then sprang up into the sky and rushed directly toward the battlefield outside the za.
Momentster, the crimson vortex shed again, and another crimson-armored warrior emerged before joining the battle outside.
Right at this moment, a little ck-robed girl who was seated on the za suddenly copsed and fell to the side.
Her face was deathly pale, and even her lips werepletely devoid of color. The gash on her wrist was still open, but she no longer had any more blood to give.
A sympathetic look appeared on the white-haired elderly man''s face upon seeing this, but all he could do was wave a dismissive hand.
Among the dozen or so people waiting off to the side, a burly man immediately strode forward and carried the little girl away, then fed her a red pill.
The spot that was vacated by the little girl was quickly taken by a girl who was roughly the same age as her.
The little girl had a rather fearful look on her face, but she immediately sat down ith her legs crossed without any dy, then replicated what everyone else was doing, rolling up her left sleeve before pulling out a small knife that she held against her wrist.
She then closed her eyes in a fearful manner and bit down onto her own lower lip before shing the knife across her wrist.
A bright red gash instantly appeared, and a stream of blood began to trick down onto the channel in front of her.
¡¡
The altar was operating at full capacity, periodically producing a crimson-armored warrior to join the battle, but that was only dying the inevitable defeat of the human camp.
As time slowly passed by, the sounds of the battle taking ce outside drew closer and closer, and the people on the za began to fall deeper and deeper into despair.
The altar array around the statue of the schrly young man was the basis of their tribe''s heritage. If it were to be conquered by their foreign enemies and the statue were destroyed, then their tribe would''ve well and truly fallen.
At this point, all of the human cultivators outside had already been forced back into a protective circle around the array, making one final desperate effort to keep their enemies at bay.
High up in the sky, bursts of thunderous rumbling were ringing out incessantly as several balls of dazzling light shed violently, following which around a dozen figures emerged from within.
Six of those figures were green-skinned foreign beings with scorching bloodlust and battle intent in their eyes, and the tusks that were prturding out of hteir mouths were gleaming with a cold light.
The green-skinned foreign beings were very physically imposing to begin with, and they were led by a purple-robed man who was signficantly taller than even his brethren, standing in mid-air like an impregnable tower.
His aura was extremely vast, belonging to a Grand Ascension cultivator, and the five green-skinned foreign beings aanying him were all at the mid-Body Integration Stage or thete-Body Integration Stage.
These foreign beings also had the sameyer of white light over their bodies, but theirs were far more substantial than theyers of white light enveloping the bodies of their brethren.
The six green-skinned foreign beings were opposed by five human cultivators who were led by a slightly portly schrly young man who was at thete-Body Integration Stage, but the rest of the group were all only at the early-Body Integration Stage, so it was clear that they were going to no match for their opponents.
In this dire situation, the schrly man''s heart was filled with despair, but after taking a nce at the giant statue on the za, he gritted his teeth as a determined look appeared in his eyes.
Right at this moment, ball of dazzling white light suddenly appeared in front of the group of human cultivators, then exploded violently to release countless rays of light that instantly engulfed the entire group.
A burst of incredibly powerful shockwaves erupted from the epicenter of the explosion, forming several ferocious tornadoes that swept through the air in all directions.
Several figures rapidly shot out of the white light before plummeting toward the za.
The edge of the za copsed with a resounding boom, and a crater that was over 100 feet deep apepared on its surface.
However, several streaks of light quickly flew out of the za, revealing themselves to be the group of human Body Integration cultivators, but at this point, their auras were inplete disarray, and their clothes had been torn to shreds.
The schrly man''s face was as pale as a sheet, and he was holding a broken shield, while blood was trickling incessantly down from the corners of his lips.
It had taken everything he had to ensure that the entire group survived, but in doing so, he had to pay a heavy price.
"Chief!"
All of the humans on the scene were struck by a sense of panic upon seeing this.
The schrly man wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve, then waved a hand at everyone as a gesture of reassurance.
He then raised his head to look up at the sky, and discovering that the foreign beings hadn''t immediately descended after them in pursuit, he made his way over to the foot of the statue before casting an inquisitive gaze toward the white-haired elderly man.
The elderly man shook his head as he replied with an anguished expression, "There''s been no response from our Ancestral God."
A wry smile appeared on the schrly man''s face as he murmured to himself, "Esteemed Ancestral God, are you really going to abandon your people? Your loyal servants?"
Meanwhile, the purple-robed foreign being and the elders from the same race had already flown into the air above the za, and the purple-robed man chortled, "Are you still pleading to that useless Ancestral God of yours even now, Luo Feng? How about you be smart for once and follow the Ancestral God of our Cold Crystal Race?"
"In your dreams, Tuhar! Don''t forget that your Ancestral God was once defeated by the Ancestral God of our Dark Veil Ind!" the schrly man countered in an enraged voice.
"So what? Stop living in the past, what matters is the present! Nowadays, our Ancestral God is still protecting our tribe, while your Ancestral God has already been in slumber for the past 10,000 ever since he sustained those injuries. Has he woken up yet? Are you sure he''s not dead already?" Tuhar scoffed with a derisive sneer.
Luo Feng faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he wanted to issue a retort, but he had nothing to say as everything that Tuhar had said was correct.
Their Ancestral God had indeed been in a state of slumber for the past 10,000 years, and he had virtually no connection at all with the tribe. In particr, he hadn''t answered any of the calls made by the tribe in the past 1,000 years.
Now that they were being invaded by foreign enemies, all they could do was try and use the blood of their people to awaken their Ancestral God, but thus far, it had all been to no avail.
Through this statue left behind by their Ancestral God, they were able to summon some ancestral warriors, but that was only dying their inevitable downfall.
"You''re dreaming if you think you can stop us with these ancestral warriors of yours, Luo Feng. I suggest you surrender right now. Otherwise, I''m going to ughter your entire tribe!" Tuhar yelled in a menacing voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a hand through the air, and the surrounding Cold Crystal beings instantly converged as they attacked with renewed ferocity.
The cultivators of Dark Veil Ind were already just barely clinging on for dear life, and in the face of this aggressive assault, several parts of their defensive line were instantly torn apart.
Their enemies were about to reach the za, and even Luo Feng was in a state of despair.
Right at this moment, a burst of faint buzzing rang out, and the azure statue suddenly began to tremble as a burst of rumbling sounded.
Immediately thereafter, the statue began to radiate dazzling ck light that was bing brighter by the second.
The white-haired elderly man who was closest to the statue was the first one who noticed this change, and he immediatley yelled with tion, "It''s our Ancestral God! Our Ancestral God has answered our call!"
All of the humans on the ind faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which ecstatic looks on their faces, and morale was instantly elevated to an unprecedented high, so much so that the crumbling defensive line was beginning to stabilize itself again.
In contrast, the Cold Crystal beings had be extremely uneasy and tentative.
If the Ancestral God of the human race really could descend, then even their Grand Ascension Stage chief would be no match.
"That''s impossible!" Tuhar eximed in an incredulous voice as he stared intently at the statue down below.
The light emanating from the statue grew brighter and brighter before all of a sudden, it exploded violently into a vast expanse of inky-ck light.
The ck light shed a few times before transforming into a ck vortex that was several hundred feet in size.
Bolts of ck lightning were shing within the vortex, threatening to tear the surrounding space apart amid deafening thunderps.
With the emergence of the ck vortex, ayer of dark clouds also appeared in the previously clear sky, and bolts of lightning were also shing within the clouds.
All of the world''s origin qi within a radius of several hundred kilomters suddenly began to tumble and churn violently like boiling water.
Everyone on the battlefield was greatly rmed by this sudden turn of events, and they all reflexively stopped what they were doing as they observed the unfolding phenomena with awestruck expressions.
The number of arcs of ck lightning in the vortex was rapidly increasing, and in the end, all of them converged toward one spot to form a huge ball of ck lightning that was crackling loudly.
All of a sudden, the ck ball of lightning warped before elongating to form a pitch-ck spatial rift that was over 100 feet in length.
A humanoid figure stumbled rather unsteadily out of the rift, but quickly steadied himself, revealing him to be an azure-robed man.
The spatial rift shed erratically a few times, then slowly sealed over and vanished.
In the next instant, the ck vortex in the sky also gradually dissipated, and the churning world''s origin qi quickly returned to normal, while the dark clouds up above also disappeard.
The azure-robed man was looking a little disheveled, but there was a hint of tion on his face.
However, as he steadied himself and caught sight of the masses of people around him, his brows immediately furrowed slightly.
The azure-robed man was none othre than Han Li, who had finally sessfully traversed through the interrealm gap after a herculean struggle.
However, at this moment, his magic power waspletely exhausted, and his physical body was severely taxed.
His Exquisite Eight Treasures Bone Armor had alsopletely shattered within the spatial storm, but he had no time to think about that as he was busy processing the jarring sight that he was being greeted by.
"Esteemed Ancestral God! You''ve finally returned!"
An ecstatic look quickly appeared in Luo Feng''s eyes at the sight of the azure-robed man, and he immediately fell to his knees before kowtowing in Han Li''s direction.
Chapter 86: Forcing Back the Enemy
Chapter 86: Forcing Back the Enemy
"Esteemed Ancestral God!"
Everyone on Dark Veil Ind, particrly its younger residents, instantly let loose cries of tion upon witnessing Luo Feng''s actions, and they all backed away kneeling and kowtowing to Han Li as well.
However, the slightly older residents of the ind and the elders seemed to be rather hesitant, as if they had noticed something amiss.
"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and greet our Ancestral God!" Luo Feng yelled as he red at the elders.
"Ah... We pay our respects to the esteemed Ancestral God!" The elders hurriedly did as they were told, falling to their knees and kowtowing like everyone else.
Ancestral god?
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but he was quite perplexed by what he was seeing.
After a brief moment of initial confusion, he was able to quickly make sense of the situation. This human tribe, which was led by the schrly man, was clearly being attacked by these foreign beings, who were led by the purple-robed man. Furthermore, the human tribe was clearly in a terrible state. In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that they were one step away from defeat.
Never did he think that he would encounter something like this after only just returning to the Immortal Realm. If it weren''t for the fact that there was only a single Grand Ascension cultivator present, and no one else was able to pose any threat to him, he would''ve immediately departed without any hesitation.
After all, no matter what the oue of this battle was, it had nothing to do with him.
High up in the sky, Tuhar was watching Han Li with a rather hesitant expression.
They were on the verge of wiping out this human settlement on Dark Veil Ind, and never did he think that a roadblock would appear in their way now.
A Body Integration Stage Cold Crystal being with a mustache on his face approached Tuhar, then asked via voice transmission, "What do we do, Chief? Should we go back and..."
Tuhar hesitated momentarily, then replied through gritted teeth, "We finally have these ursed humans cornered, we can''t afford to retreat now! We battle to the end!"
"But if that man really is the Ancestral God of Dark Veil Ind..." the mustached Cold Crystal being was rather hesitant.
"You really think that man is the Ancestral God of Dark Veil Ind? Look at how young he looks! And how did he even turn up? Did he suddenly burrow his way out of the ground? On top of that, I can tell that his aura is very feeble, so he must be carrying severe injuries.
¡°There''s no need to fear him in this state, even if he is the Ancestral God of Dark Veil Ind. All we need to do is kill him here, and it''ll truly be over for Dark Veil Ind!" Tuhar said as a cold gleam shed through his eyes.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately shot forth like lightning, instantly appearing directly above Han Li before looking down at him with a cold expression.
The moustached man and the other three foreign Body Integration Stage beings also immediately followed close behind, forming an encirclement with Tuhar to surround Han Li.
Meanwhile, Han Li was looking straight into Tuhar''s eyes with his hands sped behind his back, looking copmletely unfazed.
With Tuhar and the elders leading the charge, the rest of the Cold Crystal beings immediatley erupted into thunderous war cries as they resumed their attack on the za.
The humans also threw themselves back into the battle, but this time, their morale was significantly boosted by Han Li''s arrival.
Luo Feng swept his gaze across the surrounding area, then turned to Han Li, and he wanted to say something, but by then, Tuhar had already attacked.
A vast expanse of blue light suddenly emerged from his body, forming a mountainous blue python head projection behind him.
The python projection hada massive curved horn on its head, and it opened its cavernous mouth to release a wave of countless blue ripples that surged violently toward Han Li.
A burst of cial power emanated from the blue ripples, and ayer of frost began to spread over the ground, while even the surrounding air seemed to have been frozen solid.
At the same time, Tuhar made a grabbing motion with both hands, and the blue light around him instantly transformed into a pair of short blue spears that fle out of his grasp. Ayer of blue cial mes appeared on the surface of the spears mid-flight, and they transformed into a pair of blue ice dragons that were over 100 feet in length, pouncing toward Han Li from both the left and the right.
Almost at the exact same moment, the other five Body Integration Stage foreign beings alsounched a string of attacks at Han Li with their respective treasures.
Han Li calmly raised a hand upon seeing this, extending a palm out of his sleeve toward the oing wave of blue ripples.
A burst of tremendous force crashed into the blue waves, and thetter were instantly destroyed amid a burst of loud crackling, vanishing into nothingness in the blink of an eye.
Right at this moment, a bone-chilling sensation surged toward Han Li as the pair of blue ice dragons pounced on him with ferocious might.
Han Li didn''t even bat an eyelid as he swept his other hand through the air, and a series of ripples appeared in the space before him as if a giant invisible hand had just swept past.
A pair of dull thumps rang out, and the two ice dragons let loose anguished howls before copmletely shattering, reverting back into a pair of short blue spears that Han Li grabbed out of mid-air with ease.
Tuhar''s face paled slighlty upon seeing this, following which an incredulous look appeared in his eyes.
The attacks unleashed by the treasures wielded by the other Body Integration Stage Cold Crystal beings also quickly fell upon Han Li, but they were repelled with ease by the semi-transparent True Extreme Membrane that appeared over his body, and the attacks weren''t able to leave even the slightest mark on his body.
"Impossible!" the Body Integration Stage Cold Crystal beings eximed in unison, and they immediately realized that they had made a terrible mistake.
Before they had a chance to do anything, Han Li swept a hand through the air, and pair of short blue spears were instantly sent flying, piercing through the chests of the moustached Cold Crystal being and another one of his Body Integration Stagepanions.
In the instant that they were struck by the blue spears, dazzling white light instantly emerged on the surface of their skin, but the light barriers were unable to impede the ble spears in the slightest. In the next instant, both of their bodies werepletely pulverized by the unfathomable power imbued within the spears, and their nascent souls didn''t even have a chance to escape before they were destroyed.
Immediately thereafter, a series of blurry fist projections abruptly appeared in the air in front of the remaining Body Integration Stage Cold Crystal beings before striking them like lightning.
They werepletely unable to react to attack, butyers of white light also instantly appeared over their bodies, forming a protective barrier in an attempt to ward off the fist projections.
However, the light barriers were shattered with ease, and the fist projections instantly reduced the Cold Crystal beings to mincemeat amid a string of dull thumps.
It had taken Han Li less than a second toy waste to the group of Body Integration Stage Cold Crystal beings, but by this point, Tuhar had already recovered from his astonishment.
He immediately turned and sped away as a streak of white light, fleeing into the distance at an incredible speed.
At the same time, a bracelet on his wrist shed several times in session, releasing several light barriers of different colors that enveloped his entire body, while a suit of blue crystalline armor also emerged to encase him from head to toe.
Right at this moment, Han Li gave a cold harrumph, and even though Tuhar had already flown to several thousand feet away at this point, he was immediately struck by a burst of sharp pain in his head.
As a result, he was stopped cold in his tracks and plummeted out of the sky.
However, a ordinary-looking jade pendant around his neck suddenly exploded with a dull thump, transforming into a series of translucent azure threads that vanished into his head in a sh, providing a cool and refreshing burst of energy that instantly snapped him back to his senses.
However, Han Li had already taken advantage of this opportunity close the gap between himself and Turan, and seven specks of blue light emerged on his chest and abdomen while the muscles on his arm bulged violently, and he threw a devastating punch at Turan.
Turan was greatly rmed by this, and he immediately raised therge blue sword in his hands to defend himself.
Turan''s towering frame was instantly sent flying back like a ragdoll, and not only was the blue sword in his hands shattered, the light barriers around him were also destroyed, while the suit of crystalline armor that he was wearing became riddled with cracks.
A hint of suprise appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, but he then instantly appeared in front of Tuhar in a wraith-like manner before unleashing another devastating blow, releasing a burst of terrifying force that caused the space before him to ripple violently.
The suit of armor and theyer of white light that Tuhar''s body was encased in were instantly shattered, and he didn''t even get a chance to cry out before his body and his nascent soul werepletely pulverized.
A shimmering blue bracelet shot back beforending in Han Li''s grasp in a sh.
He released his spiritual sense to briefly inspect the contents of the bracelet, then tossed it into his own storage bracelet before casting his gaze downward, only to find that the entire za had fallenpletely silent.
Everyone from both sides was rooted to the spot with dumbstruck expressions, and the battle hadpletely ceased.
Luo Feng was the first one to return to his senses, and an ecstatic look appeared on his face as he yelled in tion, "Long live our Ancestral God! Kick these pieces of foreign scum off our ind!"
"Long live our Ancestral God!"
Everyone else in the human camp also quickly returned to their senses, and their collective joyful voices erupted into the heavens as they charged toward the Cold Crystal beings with unprecedentedly lofty morale.
The Cold Crystal beings still outnumbered the humans on the battlefield, but with the most powerful beings among their ranks in in the blink of an eye, their morale waspletely crushed, and they were quickly overwhelmed by the human army.
Han Li naturally didn''t have much interest in pursuing the remaining Cold Crystal beings, and he descended onto the za before stowing away the storage bracelets of the four Body Integration Stage Cold Crystal beings.
At this moment, everyone on the za was staring at at Han Li with awestruck expressions, and someone suddenly yelled, "We pay our respects to our esteemed Ancestral God!"
Everyone immediately fell to their knees before echoing this reverent cry, and Luo Feng also kowtowed to the ground in an extremely reverent and respectful manner.
All of the humans on Dark Veil Ind were ecstatic to have survived what had seemed like a certain demise, and many of them were even sobbing uncontrobly.
However, the tion in their eyes was outweighed by a sense of admiration and veneration, and they were looking at Han Li like mortals seeing a deity in the flesh.
Han Li swept his gaze over everyone''s faces with a calm expression.
He didn''t immediately dere to everyone that he wasn''t the Ancestral God that he spoke of, nor did he falsely ept his title. Instead, hemunicated something directly to Luo Feng through voice transmission.
Luo Feng shuddered slightly upon hearing what Han Li had to say, then rose to his feet before issuing a few instructions to those around him with a solemn expression.
"Elder Hu, I''ll get you to take care of treating the injured and tallying our losses. Elder Qi, you''ll be responsible for setting up alert measures in case those Cold Crystal beings suddenly make a return. I have to apany our Ancestral God to the Ancestral God Pavilion. No one is allowed to approach the premises without my explicit instructions."
Everyone immediately epted the orders assigned to them.
Chapter 87: Earthly Immortal
Chapter 87: Earthly Immortal
"Pleasee with me, Esteemed Ancestral God."
Luo Feng hunched over slightly as he made an inviting hand gesture, leading Han Li toward the Ancestral God Pavilion. All of the surrounding humans immediately bowed as they spread out to open up a path for Han Li and Luo Feng.
Not long after the two of them left the za, all of the humans on the za yelled in unison, "Farewell, Esteemed Ancestral God!"
Their voices were loud and synchronized, and the phrase was repeated several times, only trailing off into silence after Han Li and Luo Feng had vanished into the forest outside of the za.
Throughout this entire process, Han Li didn''t turn around even once, nor did he slow down in the slightest.
The two made their way along a winding stone path in the forest all the way to arge, antiquated hall.
The hall was only less than 200 feet tall, so it wasn''t all thatrgepared with the average pce, and the walls were pitch-ck, seemingly having been constructed from themon rocks on the ind. The hall was also riddled with signs of age and wear, but the color of the pirs, doors, and windowframes were still quite vibrant, indicating that they were clearly periodically repainted.
The small za in front of the hall and the stone staircase leading up to it had all been swept very cleanly, with barely even a single fallen leaf to be seen.
Han Li looked up to find a ck que hanging above the entrance of the hall, bearing the words "Ancestral God Pavilion" inrge golden characters.
Luo Feng quickly made his way over to the hall, then extended a respectful bow before pushing the doors open and inviting Han Li into the hall.
Upon entering the hall, Han Li was greeted by the sight of a ck stone statue that was a 1:1 replica of Dark Veil Ind''s Ancestral God, and looking at its features, the statue did indeed bear somewhat of a resemnce to him.
Han Li inspected his surroundings briefly before withdrawing his gaze and turning to Luo Feng, then said in a direct and straightforward manner, "Seeing as it''s only you and me in here, let me make things clear to you. I''m not the Ancestral God that you speak of, and I only turned up here today purely by chance."
A horrified look immediately appeared on Luo Feng''s face upon hearing this, and he hurriedly fell to his knees once again as he implored, "Esteemed Ancestral God, if you hadn''t descended today, our Dark Veil Ind would''ve been destroyed for sure! Please don''t abandon us! Our entire tribe has been worshipping your reverently for tens of thousands of years, and we''re counting on you for our continued protection!"
"If those people hadn''t attacked me today, I wouldn''t have done anything to them, so there''s no need for you to feel any gratitude for what I''ve done. As the chief of this tribe, I''m sure you know full well whether I''m your Ancestral God or not. If you''re hoping that you can swindle me into taking the ce of your Ancestral God, then I''m telling you now that it''s not going to work," Han Li said in a cold voice.
Luo Feng shuddered upon hearing this, and a fearful look surfaced in his eyes, following which a wry smile appeared on his face.
"To be honest, it doesn''t matter to me who you are, Senior. As long as you can agree to stay on our ind and pose as our Ancestral God to help us avert this crisis, our entire tribe will dedicate itself fully to serving you and providing you with any cultivation resources that you need."
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but instead of immediately offering a reply, he suddenly asked, "For a start, why don''t you tell me about this Ancestral God that you speak of?"
Luo Feng faltered slightly upon hearing this, then carefully replied, "The Ancestral God that we worship is actually an ancestor of ours who attained immortality through cultivation hundreds of years ago. He has been protecting our tribe for generation after generation, and he is the reason why our tribe has been able to establish a foothold here."
Han Li was silent for a moment before asking, "So those foreign beings that invaded your ind today also have an Ancestral God that they worship? Does thatyer of white light over their bodies have something to do with the protection provided by that Ancestral God of theirs?"
"That''s right. The Ancestral God of their tribe is someone by the name of Patriach Han Qiu, and he''s just a mere Earthly Immortal who only attained immortality less than 200,000 years ago. ording to my knowledge, his powers rank near the bottome among all of the Ancestral Gods, and he was even once defeated by the Ancestral God of our Dark Veil Ind," Luo Feng replied in a resentful voice.
"What is an Earthly Immortal?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Luo Feng was quite taken aback by this question. "You don''t know of Earthly Immortals? Could it be that you only just ascended from a lower realm?"
Han Li offered no response, merely looking at Luo Feng in silence.
Luo Feng knew that he had overstepped his boundaries, and he hurriedly exined, "An Earthly Immortal is an immortal who cultivates through harnessing the power of faith from worshippers in an area that they protect. Generally speaking, therger the area under their protection, the more worshippers they''ll have, and the faster they''ll be able to progress in their cultivation."
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression, then prompted, "Tell me about the Cold Crystal Race."
He was quite interested in the concepts of Ancestral Gods and Earthly Immortals, but he didn''t want to ask any further questions on those subjects for now.
"Just like our tribe, that settlement of Cold Crystal beings is a small tribe situated on the edge of the ck Wind Sea. The ind that they reside on is quite close to our Dark Veil Ind, so we''ve always had frequent conflicts with them over things like resources.
¡°Back when our tribe was the height of its powers, they naturally didn''t dare to step out of line, but seeing as our ancestral god has been in a state of slumber for an extended period of time, they''ve begun to be more and more aggressive," Luo Feng replied in a respectful manner.
Han Li fell into deep thought after hearing what Luo Feng had to say.
Luo Feng naturally didn''t dare to interrupt Han Li, and he waited off to the side with his head lowered in reverence.
After a long silence, Han Li suddenly asked, "How far away is this ck Wind Sea from the Northern cial Immortal Region?"
"ording to my knowledge, the ck Wind Sea is within the scope of the Northern cial Immortal Region''s jurisdiction, but it''s only an insignificant and secluded area. Here is a partial map of the ck Wind Sea," Luo Feng replied as he pulled out a walnut-sized white bead before offering it up to Han Li.
Han Li epted the bead and closed his eyes as he injected his spiritual sense into it.
Momentster, he reopened his eyes, and a hint of mixed emotions appeared on his face. After another long silence, he said, "I can protect your Dark Veil Ind, but there are some things that I must make clear first."
Luo Feng was ecstatic to hear this, and he hurriedly prompted, "Please go ahead, Senior."
"You are correct, I did indeed only arrive in the Immortal Realm today. On top of that, I wasn''t received into the Immortal Realm by an Ascension tform. If you view this to be a problem, then we can pretend as if nothing has happened here, and I can leave right away," Han Li revealed.
"Of course that''s not a problem! I''m extremely grateful that you''re willing to entrust me with this information, Senior!" Luo Feng hurriedly said.
"In that case, in order to put your people at ease, you can refer to me as your Ancestral God when we''re in the presence of others. However, in private, you can refer to me simply as Senior Liu. If the Cold Crystal Race dares to attack again, I''ll be sure to step in, but don''t forget about your promise of securing the cultivation resources that I need," Han Li said in an indifferent voice.
Luo Feng was overjoyed to hear this, and he hurriedly replied, "Rest assured, Senior, we''ll do everything in our power to satisfy your needs!"
"Alright, organize a peaceful ce for me to stay. I need to rest and recuperate," Han Li said with a nod.
"Pleasee with me, Senior Liu."
Thus, Luo Feng led Han Li through the Ancestral God Pavilion and into the backyard.
After emerging from the backyard, the two of them passed through a bamboo forest that was filled with purple mist, then arrived at a small, traditional courtyard.
"This courtyard is where I go into seclusion when I''m trying to break through cultivation bottlenecks. No one will disturb you here, so you can rest assured," Luo Feng said.
Han Li briefly inspected the courtyard before giving a nod of approval and leading the way inside.
¡¡
Close to half a dayter.
In a dark blue region of the sea tens of thousands of kilometers away from Dark Veil Ind was a white ind that was sevearl thousand feet tall.
The area of the ind wasparable with Dark Veil Ind, but it was very long and thin in shape, resembling a willow leaf. Vegetation was quite sparse on the ind, and the ground was riddled with gray rocks that reflected the light of the sun.
There were a series of white dome roof buildings that were constructed in ordance with the slope of the mountains on the ind, and the closer one drew to the top of the mountain, the fewer and sparser the buildings became.
By the time one reached the highest point on the ind, there were virtually no buildings around, only a spindle-shaped za that was several thousand feet in length constructed along the ridge of the mountain.
The za was riddled with curved or ring-shaped patterns that were connected with one another to form an extremely beautiful and intricate array.
At the center of the array stood a gray statue that was over 100 feet tall, depicting a burly and imposing man in a suit of armor with beautiful patterns engraved onto its surface. The man was also wearing a hollow helmet with a pair of curved tusks protruding out of his mouth and a head of slight curled long hair trailing down his back, giving him a dashing and gant appearance.
At this moment, there was a circle of Cold Crystal beings kneeling around the statue with their heads lowered and their arms crossed over their chests while chanting something, seemingly performing some type of ritual.
Momentster, two balls of blue light suddenly appeared beneath the visor of the gray statue, and a rumbling voice rang out from within.
"How did it go? Hmm? Why don''t I see Tuhar?"
A slightly portly elder of the Cold Crystal Race stepped forward with a grief-stricken expression, then cupped his fist in a respectful salute as he replied, "Esteemed Ancestral God, please allow me to exin..."
A short whileter, the Cold Crystal being concluded his recount of events, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, then continued, "That''s roughly what happened. Chief Tuhar and several of our elders have already perished in battle. You have to stand up for us, Esteemed Ancestral God!"
After a brief silence, the same rumbling voice rang out from within the gray statue once again.
"There''s no way that it was Luo Meng who descended onto Dark Veil Ind. If he''s actually recovered from those injuries that he suffered 10,000 years ago, there''s no way that he would''ve allowed all of you to return alive, given his personality."
"In that case, should we raise another army andunch a second attack on Dark Veil Ind?" the elder of the Cold Crystal Race asked in a careful voice.
"There''s no need for that. That man may not be Luo Meng, but he''s certainly no slouch, either, given that he was able to kill Tuhar and the others so easily. If youunch another attack, you''ll only be sending more of our people to their deaths. You can go for now, I''ll take care of the rest," the statue replied.
"Yes, Esteemed Ancestral God." The elder of the Cold Crystal Race immediately extended a respectful bow before departing with his brethren.
After everyone had departed, the voice from the statue murmured to itself, "Gu Gu, Hu Tu, and Lu Kun are also interested in conquering Dark Veil Ind and splitting the spoils, so I''ll naturally have to put them to work as well. However, there''s one thing that I can''t hand over to them. That thing is pivotal for my whether I''ll be able to sessfully advance in my cultivation..."
As the voice trailed off, the two spots of blue light on the statue also gradually vanished.
Chapter 88: Earthly Deity Avatar
Chapter 88: Earthly Deity Avatar
Inside the courtyard, Han Li was flicking incessantly through the air to release a series of streaks of azure light, which quickly revealed themselves to be azure array gs. The array gs quickly vanished into the air around the courtyard, following which an azure light barrier appeared to epass the entire courtyard.
After doing all of that, he sat down with his legs crossed and closed his eyes to meditate.
As time passed, the sky gradually darkened, and day transitioned into night.
Han Li opened his eyes and took a nce up at the starry night sky, then flipped a hand over to produce a pill that he swallowed. After that, he took a deep breath before activing his Big Dipper Origin Arts, and seven blue specks of light immediatley appeared on his chest and abdomen.
The starpower in the night sky converged to form seven pirs of starlight that descended from the heavens, and as they starpower entered Han Li''s body, his paleplexion slowly began to improve.
The night quickly passed by, and in the morning, Han Li opened his eyes as he exhaled.
Not only had all of his physical fatigue been alleviated, even the damage that he had sustained while passing through the interrealm gap had beenpletely healed.
He took a moment to stretch, then made his way into a side room in the courtyard.
The room wasn''t veryrge, only around 70 to 80 feet in size, and aside from a bamboo cab and several sandalwood tables and chairs, there was only a futon directly at the center of the room. However, everything was very clean and tidy, indicating that the room was clearly very well looked after.
Han Li sat down onto the futon with his legs crossed, then flipped a hand over to produce a jade box, which he opened to reveal a yellow walnut.
The patterns on the surface of the walnut formed a human face, and it was giving off astonishing earth-attribute spiritual qi fluctuations. This was one of the fruits from the strange walnut tree that Han Li had obtained from that mysterious space within the bubble.
He had been in quite a hurry earlier, so he didn''t get a chance to carefully examine the fruit, but now, he finally had the opportunity to make a closer assessment.
Thus, he immediately released his spiritual sense and injected it into the walnut for a thorough examination.
As a result, he was immediately stunned by what he saw.
The earth-attribute spiritual qi imbued within the walnut was downright astounding, but it had beenpressed to the extreme so that it could fit inside the fruit.
Due to the Heaven Controlling Vial, Han Li was quite experienced when it cameto identifying all types of spirit medicines and ingredients, particrly when it came to judging their age.
He didn''t recognize this walnut, but given the vast volume of the world''s origin qi imbued within it, it had to be at least 100,000 years old.
However, just this alone still wasn''t enough to warrant having two demon beastsparable in power to True Immortals fighting over it.
With that in mind, Han Li continued to carefully examine every single inch of the walnut with his spiritual sense.
After examining the walnut for close to 20 times, he finally noticed something interesting.
The incredibly dense earth-attribute spiritual qi within the walnut seemed to bepletely chaotic and haphazard, but there was actually a certain pattern to the way that it was flowing and circting.
It seemed that these spiritual qi fluctuations would periodically disy a rather peculiar state of fusion, and an extremely faint yet special aura would emanate from this type of fluctuations.
Could it be...
Han Li''s heartbeat began to elerate as a thought urred to him.
This special aura seemed to be rather simr to the power ofws, but also a little different.
After examining the walnut for a while longer, he was still unable to arrive at a concrete conclusion.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he flipped a hand over to produce a wooden box.
He removed the lid of the box to reveal a miniature yellow figure with several talismans stered onto its body. It was none other than the nascent soul of the one-eyed giant from that mysterious space within the ywllow bubble, and its eyes was half-open in a rather disoriented and drowzy state.
Han Li grabbed onto the nascent soul with one hand, and threads of ck light emerged from his fingertips before directly entering the nascent soul''s body.
In order to uncover the secrets behind those strange human-faced walnuts, the quickest way was naturally to search the giant''s soul.
A pained look appeared on the nascent soul''s previously wooden and emotionless face, following which ayer of yellow light surfaced over its body.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this. There seemed to be some type of strange power residing within the nascent soul, making it very difficult for Han Li''s spiritual sense to infiltrate into it.
He gave a cold harrumph as the ck light on his hand brightened further, and he gradually increased the forcefulness with which he was enforcing the soul search technique.
The yellow light emanating from the nascent soul''s body also became brighter and began to sh violently. A painted look appeared on the nascent soul''s face, and it opened its mouth as if to let loose an agonized scream, but it was unable to make any sound under the restrictive effects of the talismans adhered to its body.
Finally, Han Li''s spiritual sense pierced through theyer of strange power within the nascent soul before reaching deep into the soul itself, and a hint of tion welled up in Han Li''s heart at this development.
However, in the next instant, his expression abruptly changed drastically, and the semi-transparent True Extreme Membrane instantly appeared over his body.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of scintiting yellow light erupted out of the nascent soul, and it exploded violently into an incandescent yellow sun that engulfed Han Li''s entire body.
Momentster, the yellow light faded to reveal Han Li once again, and he remainedpletely unscathed, but there was a dark look on his face.
He hadn''t anticipated that the power within the one-eyed giant''s nascent soul would be so aggressive, so much so that it had instantly led to the nascent soul''s self-detonation as soon as Han Li''s spiritual sense pierced into it.
As a result, he wasn''t able to glean much information at all, only a few fragments of the one-eyed giant''s memories. It seemed that the giant would always consume one of those human-faced walnuts every 10,000 years or so, and that seemed to have a remarkable positive effect on its cultivation.
Han Li heaved a faint sight, then nced at the human-faced walnut for a while longer before stowing it away.
It seemed that he would have to explore other avenues to find out the origins of this fruit. At the moment, he had only just returned to the Immortal Realm, so he had more important things to attend to.
After a brief moment of further contemtion, he stood up and left the courtyard.
As it turned out, Luo Feng was waiting for him outside the courtyard. "Luo Feng pays his respects to Senior Liu."
"Why are you here, Chief Luo?" Han Li asked as a hint of surprise shed through his eyes.
"I came to see if this residence was to your liking, Senior Liu. Also, here are some of the cultivation resources that I''ve gathered ording to your instructions. Unfortunately, due to the short notice, I''ve only managed to gather some of the items on your list, but I''ll send out people to gather the rest as soon as possible, so please bear with me," Luo Feng said with a fawning expression as he produced a ck bracelet before offering it to Han Li with both hands.
Han Li reached out to ept the bracelet, then briefly inspected its contents with his spiritual sense before giving a nod.
Luo Feng immediately heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this.
"You came at just the right time. I wanted to ask you if there was a scripture library or something of that nature on this ind. There are some things that I want to examine," Han Li said as he stowed the bracelet away.
"There is indeed such a ce on our ind, Senior Liu. Pleasee with me," Luo Feng hurriedly replied before leading the way as he flew away into the distance.
Han Li rose up into the air and followed along behind Luo Feng.
As he did so, he quickly inspected his surroundings to find that much of the damage left behind by the battle that had taken ce the previous day had already been repaired, and reconstruction efforts had also already begun on the copsed buildings.
At the same time, many mortals with no cultivation bases had appeared on the previously deserted dock on the ind, as well as some of the surrounding towns.
The battle from the day before had wreaked widespread destruction over the ind, but it hadn''t had much of an impact on the towns inhabited by these mortals.
At this moment, the mortals in those towns and some cultivators had gathered together in one ce, and they were performing a type of ritual of worship in front of series of statues depicting the Ancestral God of Dark Veil Ind.
"There are many mortals residing on all of the inds in the ck Wind Sea, and they count on the cultivating families on the inds for their protection. During the battle yesterday, all of them went into hiding. The cultivators on the inds have always had a history of regr conflict, but generally speaking, they won''t attack the mortals on the other inds," Luo Feng exined after noticing the subject that Han Li''s attention had been drawn to.
Han Li nodded in response. The situation here reminded him of the Scattered Star Seas back in the Human Realm. [1]
Momentster, the two of them arrived in front of arge two-story pavilion.
"Esteemed Ancestral God!"
"Chief!"
There were several Spatial Tempering cultivators stationed at the pavilion, and they were greatly startled by the sight of Luo Feng and Han Li. All of them hurriedly extended respectful salutes with reverent looks on their faces.
Luo Feng paid no heed to them and led Han Li directly into the pavilion.
On the first floor of the pavilion was a series of neatly arranged bookshelves, which wereden with all types of scriptures, scrolls, and objects like jade slips.
Han Li swept his gaze around the room to find that this scripture library was quite small, far smaller than the one at the Cold me Sect.
"My apologies, Senior Liu. Our tribe is quite weak, so we haven''t been able to gather many scriptures. The first floor is filled primarily with cultivation arts and historical ounts, while the second floor contains some scriptures rted to treasures and pills," Luo Feng said with an apologetic look in his eyes.
"It''s fine. I''ll be alright here on my own. I''m sure there are many things that you have to attend to on Dark Veil Ind, so there''s no need to apany me," Han Li replied in a nonchnt voice.
Luo Feng faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "Yes, Senior Liu."
After that, he turned and departed, yet right as he was about to fly away, a thought seemed to have urred to him, and he stopped in his tracks, then made his way back to the scripture library before waiting patiently outside.
Han Li slowly browsed through the bookshelves, and given his incredibly powerful spiritual sense, he was naturally able to read through all of the scriptures at an incredible speed.
The scriptures collected by Dark Veil Ind were quite chaotic, and just as Luo Feng had said, most of the scriptures on the first floor were either historical ounts pertaining to the ck Wind Sea or cultivation arts for those at or below the Grand Ascension Stage.
What Han Li wanted to find was information on Earthly Immortals, but unfortunately, there were very few resources here containing such information.
However, he was eventually rewarded for his efforts. After scouring through virtually the entirety of the first floor, he finally found several old jade slips that contained some information on Earthly Immortals.
Close to an hourter, Han Li set down the final jade slip before opening his eyes.
There wasn''t much information contained in these jade slips, but they had still given him a rtively clear understanding of Earthly Immortals and Ancestral Gods.
Just as Luo Feng had described, Earthly Immortals were just one type of immortals, and the only remarkable about them was the special method through which they cultivated.
ording to the scriptures, Earthly Immortals could manifest powers ofws using the power of faith from their followers.
However, the powers ofws manifested through this type of external assistance were severely limited in that the Earthly Immortal could only unleash those powers ofws in the region where their faith resided. As soon as they left that area, the powers ofws manifested would bepletely ineffective.
Due to the fact that gathering the power of faith formed the foundation for an Earthly Immortal''s cultivation, each Earthly Immortal had a statue erected from a special material that was capable of storing and refining the power of faith, forming an Earthly Deity Avatar that was unique to Earthly Immortals, and these Earthly Deity Avatars were able to better harness the powers ofws than even the Earthly Immortals themselves.
Under normal circumstances, the Earthly Immortals would generally be hidden, with only their Earthly Deity Avatars active in the outside world. If that avatar were to be destroyed, then the Earthly Immortal would suffer severe bacsh. In more serious cases, the Earthly Immortal could even lose the ability to control their powers ofws, thereby rendering all of their previous effortspletely wasted.
1. For more information on the Scattered Star Seas, please refer to RMJI Chapter 389: Heavenly Star City and the Star Pce. ?
Chapter 89: Immortal Treasure
Chapter 89: Immortal Treasure
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he processed the information that he had just read.
Even though Earthly Immortals were restricted by their territory, it was still a rather tempting prospect for him to be able to master the power ofws through this special method of cultivation.
Back in the Spirit Realm, he had witnessed the power ofws on more than one asion. In particrly, he had firsthand experience of just how mighty the power ofws were on the asions where he used Profound Heavenly Treasures that contained the power ofws of heaven and earth, such as the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword.
This was a type of power that the average cultivation art, secret technique, or even spirit treasure simply couldn''tpare with. [1]
However, at the same time, mastery over the power of thews was something that was extremely luck-dependent. Even someone who possessed a treasure that was imbued with the power ofws could spend their entire life pursuing this goal without ever achieving it. If it were possible to master the power ofws by beoming an Earthly Immortal, then that was certainly an option that was worth considering.
Given the current circumstances, it was very likely that the Ancestral God of Dark Veil Ind had already perished, so there most likely weren''t going to be any issues if Han Li wanted to take his ce and be the Earthly Immortal of this region.
With that in mind, he suddenly swept a hand through the air, and the shadow that he cast onto the ground rippled sligtly, following which a dark figure emerged, revealing itself to be none other than Mo Guang.
Following his emergence, Mo Guang inspected his surroundings with a wooden expression, then said, "Congrattions on finally returning to the Immortal Realm, Fellow Daoist Han. However, I can sense that the world''s origin qi here is very sparse. Could it be that you ascended to somewhere extremely secluded?"
"That''s right. The ce we''re currently at is called the ck Wind Sea, and it''s an extremely remote area in the Northern cial Immortal Region," Han Li replied in a calm voice.
"The ck Wind Sea... I seem to have heard that name before, but I don''t have a very clear recollection of it. This ce does seem to be very remote, but that could be a blessing. At the very least, you won''t have to worry about having your identity exposed or being detected by your enemies in the Immortal Realm for now," Mo Guang said.
"Indeed, that was also part of my considerations," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
The remote nature of this location was indeed one of the reasons why he had decided to stay here for now.
"Why have you summoned me, Fellow Daoist Han?" Mo Guang asked.
"How much do you know about Earthly Immortals, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang?" Han Li asked in a direct and straightforward manner.
"Earthly Immortals? I do know a thing or two about them. These immortals manifest the power ofws by gathering the power of faith, and they''re considered to be extremely rare in the Immortal Realm. Why do you ask, Fellow Daoist Han?" Mo Guang asked.
"Extremely rare? Why is that? Aside from the fact that Earthly Immortals are restricted by the areas that they preside over, what other drawbacks are there?" Han Li asked instead of answering Mo Guang''s question.
"Earthly Immortals are able to manifest the power ofws by harnessing the power of faith, but there are many limitations to such a method of cultivation. Not only are they unable to use their power ofws outside of their area of jurisdiction, due to the fact that their magic power has been contaminated by the power of faith, it''ll be far less pure than the magic power of other immortals of the same caliber.
¡°On top of that, harnessing the power of faith is an extremely slow process, which will result in Earthly Immortals generally progressing far slower in their cultivation than the average immortal," Mo Guang replied.
"That does sound like a lot of limitations..." Han Li mused with a contemtive expression.
There were quite a few Earthly Immortals in the ck Wind Sea, but that was most likely only due to the special geographic environment of this area.
From the scriptures he had read, he had learned that the entire ck Wind Sea was surrounded by an enormous storm that raged constantly, forming a barrier thatpletely isted it from the outside world. Very few immortals from the outside were able to force their way into this ce, and the only way to get to the outside world from here was through a teleportation array situated on one of the central inds in the ck Wind Sea.
Due to this special environment, there were many cultivating families and mortals in the ck Wind Sea, thereby making it an ideal location for Earthly Immortals to stamp down their marks.
"Even among Layman Immortals, very few are willing to be Earthly Immortals, given the opportunity," Mo Guang continued.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this before asking, "Layman Immortals? What are those? Are they another type of immortals?"
"Those in the lower realms believe that all immortals are True Immortals, but in reality, only immortals who have mastered the power ofws can be truly referred to as True Immortals. Those who haven''t mastered any powers ofws are generally only referred to as Layman Immortals, and there''s a great number of such immortals. In fact, the vast majority of immortals fall into the category of Layman Immortals.
¡°Due to theirck of mastery over the power ofws, Layman Immortals can only progress in their cultivation by culitvating immortal spiritual power. However, seeing as they aren''t protected by the power ofws, it''s far more difficult for them to transcend tribtions and make progress than it is for True Immortals," Mo Guang exined.
"I see..." Han Li murmured to himself.
"Speaking of which, the path of the Profound Immortal that you''ve pursued means that you''re acutally also a type of Layman Immortal. Profound Immortals primarily dedicate their efforts to cultivating their physical bodies and do not pursue mastery over the power ofws. Those who believe in attaining the power ofws through pure cultivation of the physical body are extremely rare among Layman Immortals, far more so than even Earthly Immortals," Mo Guang continued.
"Thank you for your detailed exnations, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang," Han Li replied with a nod.
"There may only be a wisp of my soul left, but I''ve still retained most of my memories about the Immortal Realm. If you have any questions in the future, you can feel free to ask me," Mo Guang said, then vanished back into Han Li''s shadow before he had a chance to say anything else.
Han Li stood on the spot with his eyes slightly narrowed, processing the information that he had just received.
Momentster, he heaved a faint sigh, then made his way up toward the second floor of the scripture library.
"Immortal treasures draw upon the power ofws of heaven and earth, granting them unfathomable might. Their abilities differ depending on the power ofws that they contain..."
As Han Li was reading through the content of one of the scriptures, he couldn''t help but think of the Profound Heavenly Fortune de and the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword, the two Profound Heavenly Treasures that he had used back in the Spirit Realm. [2]
The Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword was a treasure that ranked in the top three on the Chaotic Myriad Spirit Roll, possessing the unfathomable ability to disregard thews of heaven and earth of a realm. In this regard, it was rather simr to the immortal treasures being described.
With that in mind, Han Li turned his attention back to the scripture and continued his reading.
Several minutester, he closed the scripture, having developed a rough understanding of the concept of immortal treasures.
ording to the scripture, Profound Heavenly Treasures were treasures that were born from the power of a realm, and they were a type of immortal treasure. In the Immortal Realm, they were collectively known as Essential Spirit Treasures, and they often appeared in the form of spirit trees right as a realm first came into existence.
After that, the spirit tree would be nurtured by the essence of heaven and earth, allowing it to bear spirit flowers or spirit fruits that were capable of disregarding thews of heaven and earth of that realm. These spirit flowers and fruits were exceedingly rare, generally with only a maximum of four or five of them able to arise in a certain realm.
The cycle through which these spirit trees bore flowers and fruits was also very unique. The process was normally calcted by units of hundreds of thousands of years, but the flowers and fruits that arose would quickly wilt within the span of a few hours to a few days at the very most.
Such a lengthy growth period coupled with such a brief window of time before these spirit flowers and spirit fruits wilted away made them virtually impossible to obtain.
ording to the scripture, aside from Essential Immortal Treasures, there also existed another type of immortal treasure known as Acquired Immortal Treasures. These immortal treasures weren''t nurtured by the essence of heaven and earth. Instead, they were treasures that were imbued with the power ofws that were refined by immortals.
Neither type of immortal treasure was more powerful than the other, and the power hierarchy was primarily dependent on how much power ofws the treasures possessed, and the types of power ofws that they could wield.
Additionally, the power of the wielder was also an important factor of consideration.
In terms of numbers, Essential Immortal Treasures were far rarer than Acquired Immortal Treasures, but due to the fact that the former often had potential for further evolution through nurturing, they were generally preferred by high-grade immortals.
Of course, both Essential Immortal Treasures and Acquired Immortal Treasures were extremely rare, even in the Immortal Realm, and very few Layman Immortals possessed such immortal treasures. What was even rarer than these immortal treasures were the immortals capable of refining Acquired Immortal Treasures.
At this point in his reading, Han Li couldn''t help but heave a forlorn sigh as he thought back to the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword that he once possessed.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and his lips quivered slightly as hemunicated something through voice transmission.
Mere momentster, Luo Feng appeared on the second floor of the scripture library before cupping his fist in a respectful salute. "What are your instructions, Senior Liu?"
Han Li turned to him before asking in a direct and straightforward manner, "Are there any immortal treasures on Dark Veil Ind?"
"I''m afraid not, Senior Liu. Our Ancestral God had previously made attempts to obtain such a treasure, but that wish was never fulfilled. In fact, there are very few Ancestral Gods in the entire ck Wind Sea who possess immortal treasures, let alone our Dark Veil Ind," Luo Feng replied with a wry smile.
Han Li didn''t have high hopes to begin with, but he still couldn''t help but feel a little disappointed upon hearing this.
However, he was quickly able to collect himself, then continued, "From the scriptures that I''ve read, I''ve learned that Ancestral Gods can harness the power of faith to manifest the power ofws. I''m sure the Ancestral God of your Dark Veil Ind must''ve also mastered a certain power ofws through this method. Which type ofw was it?"
Luo Feng faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "Ancestral God Luo Meng mastered the power of thew of water, which is quitemonce in the ck Wind Sea. Most of the Ancestral Gods on the nearby inds also mastered this type of power ofw."
"I see..." Han Li was silent for a moment before a thought urred to him, and he continued, "On our way here to the scripture library, I noticed many of the people on the ind worshipping an Ancestral God statue. Is that statue the Earthly Deity Avatar of your Ancestral God?"
"That statue and all of the other statues on the ind are only ordinary statues erected for the purpose of gathering the power of faith. We canmunicate with our Ancestral God through them, but they''re not true Earthly Deity Avatars. There is only a single statue that serves as our Ancestral God''s Earthly Deity Avatar, and it''s currently sealed within a restricted zone on the ind," Luo Feng replied in a rather hesitant manner.
Han Li was clearly quite intrigued by this, and he immediately instructed, "Where is this restricted zone? Take me there."
Luo Feng was silent for a moment before replying, "Truth be told, Ancestral God Luo Meng''s Earthly Deity Avatar was shattered after it was severely wounded by a formidable foe 10,000 years ago, and now, only its head remains. If you would like to see it, then I would be more than happy to take you there right away."
"Lead the way," Han Li instructed in a concise manner.
1. For more information on the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword, please refer to RMJI Chapter 1359: Undercurrents. ?
2. For more information on the Profound Heavenly Fortune de, please refer to RMJI Chapter 1659: Profound Heavenly Fortune de ?
Chapter 90: Search
Chapter 90: Search
On the northwestern part of Dark Veil Ind was an extremely steep cliff that was over 1,000 feet tall, and the area at the foot of the cliff was riddled with sharp and jagged ck rocks.
Waves were crashing into the cliff incessantly, sending foamy spray erupting in all directions.
The cliff face was severely ravaged with countless holes of different shapes and sizes eroded into its surface by the relentless crashing waves. Furthermore, most of the cliff face was covered in green moss and white patches of salt deposits, giving it a patchy and mottled appearance. Some white crabs were asionally swept out of the holes on the rock face by the seawater that gushed in.
At this moment, Han Li and Luo Feng were hovering in the air above the sea while facing the cliff.
"This is where the remains of Ancestral God Luo Meng''s Earthly Deity Avatar reside," Luo Feng said as he pointed at an ordinary-looking hole on the cliff face, which was several dozen feet in size and had also been carved out by erosion.
The hole did look slightly bigger than those around it, but aside from that, there was nothing remarkable about it at all. However, as soon as Han Li attempted to extend his spiritual sense into it, he immediately noticed something quite interesting.
He discovered that as his spiritual sense swept over the hole, it was diverted away by some type of barely detectable force, directing it toward the rock face off to the side.
If it weren''t for the fact that his spiritual sense was far more powerful than the average cultivator of his caliber, he wouldn''t even have been able to detect that his spiritual sense was being disrupted.
"Interesting..." Han Li murmured to himself as he activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes and peered into the hole.
There was a faint vortex of water vapor slowly revolving deep within the hole, and it was giving off extremely feeblew fluctuations.
"Ancestral God Luo Meng is still yet to reawaken after falling into a state of slumber 10,000 years ago. The Origin Water Seal here is bing weaker by the day, and it most likely won''t even be able to conceal this y anymore after 1,000 more years," Luo Feng sighed as he flew into the hole.
He quickly made a series of hand seals, releasing a string of blue incantation seals in quick session, all of which vanished into the water vapor vortex deep in the cave in a sh.
The vortex quivered slightly, and the water vapor receded to open up a circr passageway that was as tall as an adult human.
"Pleasee with me, Senior Liu."
With that, Luo Feng flew into the passageway and vanished in a sh, and Han Li quickly followed along behind him.
Connected to the passageway was a dark corridor that was constructed from bluestone blocks. The corridor was long and winding with no end in sight, and there was a white fluorescent stone embedded into the wall every several dozen feet to illuminate the path ahead.
With his powers, Han Li had nothing to be concerned about, and he trailed along behind Luo Feng in silence.
The corridor sloped gradually downward, and the lower they went, the denser the water-attribute spiritual power in the surrounding area became.
After advancing for 15 minutes, Han Li estimated that they were already several kilometers deep underground. Finally, they reached the end of the corridor, and a bluestone door appeared up ahead.
Luo Feng flipped a hand over to produce an azure badge, which released a burst of azure light into the stone door at his behest.
The stone door slowly opened amid a burst of loud creaking, revealing a square stone chamber that was over 100 feet in size.
It wasn''t entirely urate to call the space a stone chamber as the walls and ground were all bumpy and uneven. Instead, it was more like an underground cave with countless semi-transparent blue stctites that resembled blue ss hanging down from the roof of the cave.
There were simr materials on the surrounding walls as well, and through them, one could just barely make out the flowing seawater outside. As such, it was clear that they were already submerged deep in the sea.
Han Li swept his gaze around the stone chamber to find that it waspletely empty aside from a ck stone tform at the very center, which stood at around half the height of an adult human.
There were a series of thin and winding channels engraved onto the surface of the stone tform, and these channels extended all the way downward, spreading over the entire ground.
On the tform was the head of a statue that was no different in sizepared with a normal human''s head, and it bore a slight resemnce to Han Li''s face. This was none other than the visage of Ancestral God Luo Meng.
However, in contrast with the statues that Han Li had previously seen, this head was entirely blue in color, and it seemed to have been carved out of some type of special crystalline material. The head was sparkling under the illumination of the fluorescent white beads around it, and it was releasing extremely rich water-attribute spiritual power.
The face of the head was as smooth as a mirror and was extremely life-like, but its neck was very coarse and rugged, making it look as if the head had been forcibly snapped off from the rest of the body.
Han Li stood a step away from the head, scrutinizing it with an unblinking gaze, and an extremely peculiar sensation suddenly welled up in his heart.
He felt as if this head wasn''t an inanimate object. Instead, it was like a living creature that was capable of breathing.
He gently closed his eyes before releasing his spiritual sense, instantly filling the entire stone chamber.
Luo Feng was standing right behind Han Li, and he instantly felt a burst of unfathomably powerful spiritual sense surge toward him from all directions before engulfing him in an instant. He couldn''t help but sway unsteadily in the face of this almighty spiritual sense, and cold sweat immediately began to pour down his forehead.
Han Li paid no heed to Luo Feng as he focused his attention on projecting his spiritual sense onto the head before him.
As a result, he discovered that there was a type of energy that was invisible to the naked eye that was converging toward the head from all directions.
This type of energy appeared to be extremely feeble, looking as if it could be blown away by even a stiff breeze, but there was a massive quantity of this energy, and it filled virtually the entire stone chamber.
There was a speck of light within the head that was also invisible to the naked eye, and it was shing in a rhythmic fashion in a cadence that was very simr to the rhythm of a cultivator''s breathing during meditation. With each cycle of inhtion and exhtion, the speck of light would fluctuate in brightness while slowly absorbing the faint traces of energy around it.
It looks like this is that so-called power of faith, Han Li thought to himself as he withdrew his spiritual sense.
At this point, Luo Feng''s face had already paled significantly, and he immediately heaved a long sigh of relief. Han Li had only released his spiritual sense for a brief moment, but the back of Luo Feng''s robes was alreadypletely drenched in cold sweat.
He took a deep breath, then made his way over to an unremarkable-looking stctite that was hanging down from the roof of the cave before tapping it a few times.
A string of cracks rang out from the ground below, and a small stone tform slowly emerged, upon which sat a stone box.
Luo Feng opened the box to reveal an antiquated jade slip, then carefully scooped it out of the box before offering it up to Han Li with both hands.
"Senior Liu, please ept this. I''m sure it''ll be useful to you."
"What''s this?" Han Li asked as he casually epted the jade slip.
"This is the Myriad Water Immortal Arts, the cultivation art that was once used by Ancestral God Luo Meng. I heard that immortals who''ve ascended to the Immortal Realm from lower realms must switch to practicing immortal cultivation arts in order to convert their magic power into immortal spiritual power.
¡°Seeing as you came to the Immortal Realm through alternative avenues rather than through an Ascension tform, I presume you don''t have a suitable cultivation art to use yet, so this Myriad Water Immortal Arts should be useful to you," Luo Feng exined.
"I see. That''s very thoughtful of you, Chief Luo Feng," Han Li replied with a nod.
"You''re far too kind, Senior Liu. Where we are right now is a ce where underwater spirit veins meet, so the water-attribute spiritual power here is extremely abundant. If you wish to cultivate the Myriad Water Immortal Arts, this would be a great ce to go into seclusion," Luo Feng said with a smile, clearly very relieved to have achieved his objective of bestowing the cultivation art upon Han Li.
Han Li offered no response as he roughly read through the contents of the jade slip.
The Myriad Water Immortal Arts was a water-attribute immortal cultivation art that would theoretically be able to support his cultivation to thete-True Immortal Stage, but unfortunately, it conflicted greatly with the original cultivation art that he was using, so its potential was severely limited for him.
With that in mind, he returned the jade slip to Luo Feng.
"Senior Liu..." Luo Feng was rather perplexed by this.
"This is a good cultivation art, but unfortunately, water-attribute cultivation arts don''t suit me. Is there anywhere else I can obtain immortal cultivation arts from in the ck Wind Sea?" Han Li asked.
Luo Feng considered the question for a moment before replying, "Our ck Wind Sea is a very remote ce, so there are extremely few immortal cultivation arts to be found here. Most of them are held in the possession of the Ancestral Gods, and they''re very reluctant to share their immortal cultivation arts with others.
¡°After all, if their cultivation arts were to fall into the hands of others, that could expose their weaknesses to their enemies. The only ce to obtain other immortal cultivation arts would be on ck Wind Ind at the center of the ck Wind Sea. Large auctions are held there once every century, and there could be immortal cultivation arts put up for auction there."
"I see. How much time is there until the next auction is scheduled to be held?" Han Li asked as an intrigued look appeared in his eyes.
"The next auction is around a dozen years away. However, all of the items that appear on these auctions are generally extremely expensive," Luo Feng replied.
"I see. By the way, there''s something I need you to do for me," Han Li said.
"Please go ahead, Senior Liu," Luo Feng hurriedly prompted.
¡¡
Four or five months passed by in the blink of an eye.
During this time, the Cold Crystal Raceunched no further attacks, much to the relief of everyone on Dark Veil Ind.
In the chief''s hall, Luo Feng was pacing back and forth in a slightly agitated manner while asionally making his way over to the entrance of the hall to look out into the distance with an expectant expression.
During the past few months, he had been instructed by Han Li to find secret techniques and cultivation arts rted to sealing nascent souls, but secret techniques of this nature were extremely rare, and he had only managed to find three or four of them thus far.
Judging from Han Li''s reactions when he was presented with those secret techniques, it was clear that none of them were to his liking, and that was making Luo Feng rather uneasy.
As a result, he had no choice but to send a Body Integration Stage elder of the tribe to ck Wind Ind with arge sum of spirit stones to try his luck there.
ck Wind Ind was the mostvish ce in the ck Wind Sea, and it was the ce that everyone in the ck Wind Sea went to if they were searching for something.
However, it had already been three days since the elder''s projected return date, and he still wasn''t back yet.
Right at this moment, a streak of white light appeared in the distant sky, rapidly approaching from afar.
Luo Feng was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately rushed out of the hall.
The streak of white light quickly arrived in front of the hall, revealing a middle-aged man.
"You''re finally back, Elder Hanliang. How did it go?" Luo Feng hurriedly asked.
"I encountered some trouble on the way back, so I had to take a detour. I spent most of the spirit stones, but thankfully, I was able to acquire what you asked for," the elder replied as he pulled out a jade box, within which were around a dozen jade slips.
"Thank you for your efforts. Go and take a good rest," Luo Feng said as a relieved look appeared on his face, then eagerly picked up the jade box before quickly rushing off to visit Han Li.
Chapter 91: Attempt
Chapter 91: Attempt
Inside a secret chamber in the courtyard that Han Li was staying, the ground and the table were littered with scrunched-up balls of paper, presenting a rather messy sight.
On these scrunched up pieces of paper were all types ofplex and profound array runes, and Han Li was seated beside the table, in the process of rapidly inscribing runes down onto more pieces of paper.
Momentster, he raised his head and heaved a long sigh as he set down the brush in his hand.
Recently, he had been racking his brains, tapping into all of his memories and expertise in the art of arrays in an attempt to remove the chains ofws on his nascent soul, but unfortunately, he hadn''t made any substantial progress.
Even though he had designed several restrictions that looked as if they could remove those chains ofws, they were only feasible in theory, and after careful consideration, none of them were deemed to be viable in practice.
The biggest problem was that he knew far too little about the eight chains ofws that his nascent soul was bound by. If he could find out what type of power ofws was imbued within these chains, perhaps there would be a sliver of hope.
Right at this moment, a streak of white light flew in from outside before transforming into a voice transmission talisman.
Han Li drew the voice transmission talisman into his grasp, then injected his spiritual sense into it, upon which a hint of tion appeared on his face as he stood up and left the room.
Shortly thereafter, he returned with a jade box in his hand, within which were roughly a dozen jade slips.
He pulled out one of the jade slips before pressing it against his own forehead and injecting his spiritual sense into it.
Momentster, his brows furrowed slightly as he set down the jade slip, then repeated the process with another one of the jade slips.
Soon, most of the jade slips in the box had already been examined, but his brows were only furrowing tighter and tighter.
These jade slips did indeed all contain secret techniques rted to seals on nascent souls, and they were more advanced than the ones that been previously brought to him, but they still weren''t useful at all for his current predicament. Then again, this wasn''t really much of a surprise. The resources on Dark Veil Ind were far from abundant, and this was most likely already the limit of what they could do for him.
He hadn''t ced much hope in Luo Feng anyway, so he wasn''t overly disappointed.
Looks like I''ll have to make some time to pay ck Wind Ind a visit.
With that in mind, he picked up another azure jade slip before pressing it to his own forehead.
However, this time, after a brief inspection, his expression changed slightly, and he examined the contents of this jade slip for a long time before finally setting it down as a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes.
The jade slip contained a secret technique by the name of Origin Separation Heavenly Refinement, and it was a secret technique designed to seal magic power rather than nascent souls, but after some deliberation, Han Li discovered that the secret technique shared many simrities with the eight chains that his nascent soul was bound by.
At the end of the jade slip was a note, which stated that this secret technique was derived from another secret technique by the name of the Origin Separation Law Chains.
"Origin Separation Law Chains... Could it be that those are the very same chains as the one''s on my nascent soul?" Han Li murmured to himself.
He couldn''t be sure of this, but just that notion alone was enough to make this secret technique worthy of careful consideration. Through studying this secret technique, perhaps he would be able to find a way to remove the chains ofws on his nascent soul.
Han Li picked up the rest of the jade slips before inspecting their contents one by one, but unfortunately, they didn''t yield anything useful to him.
He took a deep breath as he tossed all of the other jade slips into his storage bracelet, then picked up the jade slip that contained the Origin Separation Heavenly Refinement secret technique before pressing it against his own forehead again.
Several dayster, Luo Feng received an instruction from Han Li to gather a list of materials, and that came as quite a relief to Luo Feng, who had been feeling rather uneasy.
Even though the materials that he had been asked to gather were all quite expensive, thankfully, the required quantities weren''t veryrge, so gathering them wasn''t going to be much of a problem.
¡¡
Half a monthter.
A string of dull thumps suddenly rang out from within the peaceful courtyard.
Immediately thereafter, around a dozen pirs of white light rose up all around the courtyard, then formed a white light barrier to epass the entire area.
After that, a vast expanse of yellow light appeared around the courtyard, forming a yellow light barrier to join the white one.
A sharp screeching sound then suddenly rang out as seven or eightrge silver gs appeared around the courtyard, releasing countless silver runes that formed a huge cloud of silver mist, which epassed the entire area within a radius of several hundred feet around the courtyard.
At this point, the sun was already setting, and the entire Dark Veil Ind was basked in an orange afterglow.
Luo Feng and the elders of the ind were standing on a tall tform, looking at the courtyard from afar, which had already been inundated by silver mist, and surprised looks had appeared on all of their faces.
"What is Senior Liu doing causing such amotion?" The question had been raised by Luo Hanliang, the elder who had been sent to ck Wind Ind in search of the secret techniques that Han Li had requested.
"We don''t need to try and figure out what Senior Liu is doing, and we certainly shouldn''t be asking questions," Luo Feng said in a stern voice.
Luo Hanliang still had a perplexed look on his face, but he replied, "Yes, Chief."
"Elders, even though there have been no further attacks from the Cold Crystal Race, this period of peace is only temporary. On top of that, we''re all aware that the Cold Crystal Race isn''t the only power targeting our ind.
¡°Right now, it''s no exaggeration to say that the fate of our entire tribe rests entirely on the shoulders of Senior Liu, so we absolutely cannot afford to do anything that may induce his ire," Luo Feng said with a serious expression as he turned to face the elders.
The elders hurriedly spoke up in agreement.
Luo Feng was silent for a moment, then continued, "Pass down my orders. From this day forth, all entry points into our ind are to be sealed off. At the same time, we must increase the number of people patrolling all parts of the ind at all times. Some suspicious individuals have appeared on our ind ofte, and we must keep a closer eye on them. We absolutely cannot afford to have Senior Liu''s identity exposed."
The elders immediately epted their orders before quickly flying away, leaving only Luo Feng behind. He continued to watch Han Li''s courtyard from afar, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
Meanwhile, a massive array was slowly operating on the ground in the courtyard. Countless intertwining silver patterns on the ground were shing erratically while fluctuating in brightness, and there were seven silver pirs in the surrounding area, all of which were also riddled with runes and positioned in the configuration of the Big Dipper. It was a setup that was very simr to the array on the Origin Realm Temple''s Star Gathering tform.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed at the center of the array in apletely still manner.
Time slowly passed by, and the sun soonpletely set, plunging the entire ind into darkness.
On this night, the stars were particrly bright, and they were shing incessantly.
Han Li took a nce up at the night sky, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he began to chant an incantation, then released an incantation seal onto the array with a sweep of his hand.
The array immediately began to radiate scintiting light, and bursts of enormous spiritual power fluctuations surged through the area. Even though he had set up threeyers of restrictions in the courtyard, they were still unable topletely mask the fluctuations.
At this point, Han Li had no attention to spare to such trivial matters as he made a rapid series of hand seals.
The operation of the array sped up considerably, and the Big Dipper in the night sky abruptly brightened as they released beams of bright starlight down from the heavens, converging toward the courtyard to form seven pirs of starlight.
Instead ofnding on Han Li, these pirs of starlightnded upon the seven silver stone pirs in the array.
All of the array patterns on the stone pirs instantly lit up, and the pirs themselves also took on a glittering and translucent appearance.
As more and more starlight continued to rain down from above, the patterns on the stone pirs glowed brighter and brighter, and all of a sudden, they began to move as if they were living creatures, forming seven eye-shaped designs.
Immediately thereafter, a string of seven dull thumps rang out in session as a beam of starlight that was roughly as thick as a human thumb shot out of the seven eye-shaped diagrams, then injected themselves into seven parts of Han Li''s body, including his lower abdomen, his chest, and his be.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as a pained look shed across his face, and seven specks of blue starlight appeared on his lower abdomen.
The starpower that was being injected into his body shed slightly, then transformed into a series of thin silver threads that began to flow through his meridians.
At the same time, the magic power in his dantian also began to slowly circte through his meridians.
The thin threads of starlight and Han Li''s magic power flowed through his meridians in unison, but no conflict arose between them, and they were able to coexist in peace.
Han Li took a deep breath as he made a hand seal, and white light began to radiate from his hands.
Countless tiny white runes then appeared in his meridians amid a burst of fluctuations, and his magic power and the starpower in hi sbody were instantly epassed within these white runes, causing them to brighten in unison before fusing together.
As a result, they formed a series of bright silver threads of light that were as bright as lightning, and those threads of light began to rapidly surge through his meridians while releasing a unique aura.
These threads of light were formed by a fusion of starpower and Han Li''s magic power through the use of a secret technique, and they had been created with the express purpose of removing the chains in his nascent soul.
"I hope this works," Han Li murmured to himself, following which the threads of silver light flowed through his meridians before gathering his dantian, where they intertwined to form a silver of light around the nascent soul before instantly closing in from all directions.
Right at this moment, Han Li activated his Spirit Refinement Technique, and his vast spiritual sense instantly filled his entire dantian, forming countless translucent threads of spiritual sense that shot toward his nascent soul through the gaps in the silver of light.
Right as the silver and the threads of spiritual sense were about to make contact with the nascent soul, a faint buzzing sound rang out, and those eight ck chains emerged on the surface of the nascent soul''s body amid a sh of ck light.
The chains then began to tremble violently as if they were sensing a threat, releasing a vast expanse of ck mist throughout the area.
The silver of light and the threads of spiritual sense crashed into the ck mist amid a string of cracks and pops, and both sides were rapidly whittling away at one another.
After an indeterminate period of time, as more and more silver threads of light and threads of spiritual sense continued to emerge, the ck mist was gradually torn apart.
Finally, some of the threads of spiritual sense and silver light were able to tear through the mist before striking the ck chains.
The ck chains shuddered violently, and the ck light glowing on their surfaces quickly faded.
A hint of tion welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this.
It seemed that the silver threads of light were effective on the ck chains.
With that in mind, his threads of spiritual sense transformed into a series of translucent des at his behest, then struck the ck chains with vicious might.
A string of loud ngs rang out, and the translucent des instantly shattered into specks of light upon making contact with the ck chains, but the trembling of the chains was also bing more and more pronounced.
Right at this moment, the eight ck chains rustled violently in unison, ttering together audibly before abruptly lighting up.
Countless tiny ck runes then emerged from the chains to ward off the threads of spiritual sense.
The threads of silver light were also enveloped by countless ck runes before seemingly melting away, and the ck chains, which had dimmed slightly, quickly returned to their original state.
Chapter 92: Ninth Chain
Chapter 92: Ninth Chain
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly at the sight of this abrupt turn of events, but he then quicklyposed himself again.
Given how strange those ck chains were, it was only to be expected that they wouldn''t be removed so easily.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, heunched a renewed assault, and an even denser expanse of threads of silver light surged incessantly into his dantian before hurtling toward the ck chains.
A string of loud cracks and pops rang out, and the silver threads of light were still instantly shattered upon making contact with the ck chains, but the chains themselves were also being constantly weakened.
Meanwhile, the des formed by Han Li''s spiritual sense continued toe crashing down.
In the face of these waves of attacks, the ck runes around the chains became dimmer and dimmer.
However, Han Li wasn''t all that ted to see this.
The ck runes were being whittled away, but at this point, his magic power was also close to running out.
Even though he had made extensive preparations, storing the maximum amount of magic power that he could in his dantian and all of his organs, it seemed that this was still far from enough.
Han Li let loose a low roar as he drew upon all of his remaining magic power, causing all of the silver threads of light in his dantian to transform into eight glowing palms of silver light in a sh. The silver palms passed through the remaining ck runes, then grabbed onto the eight ck chains before tugging violently.
The ck chains were instantly stretched taut, and a burst of sharp pain speared in Han Li''s nascent soul.
Han Li gritted his teeth tightly, but a hint of excitement welled up in his heart.
Ever since his nascent soul was sealed by these ck chains, he had been unable to feel it at all, but he had finally re-established some form of connection with it.
He immediately activated his Spirit Refinement Technique to maximal capacity, and all of his spiritual sense surged into his dantian before splitting into two, forming a pair of translucent giant axes amid a sh of light.
Several bolts of silver lightning then erupted out of the silver palms before wrapping themselves around the hilts of the giant axes, then raised them before bringing them down with tremendous force to strike the taut ck chains.
A resounding boom rang out as the ck chain shuddered violently, and a series of cracks appeared on the spot where it had been struck by the ax.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he sent the giant ax crashing down once again.
Right at this moment, spatial fluctuations erupted around him, and a ck chain appeared out of thin air, then vanished into his body in a sh before he was able to do anything.
The surrounding starlight array had beenpletely unable to impede the ck chain.
After entering Han Li''s body, the ck chain wrapped itself around his nascent soul in a sh, connecting together with the other eight chains.
Countless ck runes then emerged on the surface of the nine ck chains, and they released bursts of dazzling ck light that instantly pierced through the silver hands gripping onto the chains, causing them to disintegrate into nothingness.
The pair of giant axes also instantly shattered upon contact with the chains, crumbling away into countless specks of translucent light.
¡¡
Meanwhile, in a hall deep in a certain desert in the Immortal Realm.
The zombie-like man had a single hand outstretched in front of him, and his entire body was enveloped in dazzling ck light, within which countless ck runes were shing incessantly.
The chains around him were dancing wildly like countless tentacles, crashing into the ground and the walls to cause a thunderousmotion.
The zombie-like man then set down his raised arm, and the ck light glowing from his body quickly subsided, while the chains around him also settled down and fell onto the ground.
"Seeing as you''re a disciple of mine, I''ll help you onest time," the zombie-like man murmured to himself, then closed his eyes.
¡¡
Inside the courtyard, Han Li instantly rose to his feet before inspecting his surroundings with blue light shing in his eyes and a furious look on his face.
At the same time, he released his spiritual sense without any hesitation, instantly epassing an area of the surrounding with a radius of thousands of kilometers around Dark Veil Ind, but he was unable to discover anything in the end.
A short whileter, he slowly sat back down with a grim expression.
The ck chain that had just suddenly appeared had to have been sent from afar by an extremely powerful individual.
It seemed that the one who had ced this seal upon his nascent soul was far more formidable than he imagined.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he hurriedly injected his enormous spiritual sense into his dantian once again, forming ayer of translucent light that enveloped his nascent soul.
Perhaps this was nothing more than a futile effort, but he was hoping that doing this would cut off some connection between his nascent soul and the outside world.
After doing all of that, Han Li sat down once again with his legs crossed, then flipped a hand over to produce a Cloud Crane Herb that was in the thousands of years old before devouring it.
Even though his final attempt had ultimately failed, what was quite encouraging to him was that this method really did present a possibility for him to rid himself of these ck chains.
The ck chain that had appeared out of nowhere at the end had thwarted his ns, but as long as he had sufficient magic power to support his efforts, even with the addition of this new chain, he was confident that he would be able to break through this restriction.
¡¡
A monthter, in a peaceful courtyard on Dark Veil Ind.
Seven massive pirs of white light were trailing down from the heavens, epassing the entire courtyard.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes shut in the courtyard, and countless specks of white light were slowly dancing around him like fireflies, asionallying into contact with his skin, only to quickly spring back up into the air again.
At this moment, there was a thin veil of white light draped over the courtyard, but it was giving off bursts of gentle yet extremely rich starpower fluctuations.
Right at this moment, the seven specks of blue light on Han Li''s chest and abdomen gradually faded, and the white light around him also slowly dissipated, while the seven pirs of light descending from the night sky quickly disappeared.
He slowly opened his eyes to look up at the starry night sky, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "As expected, it didn''t work..."
During this past month, he had explored several methods to try and increase the amount of magic power in his body, but none of them had yielded any results.
During the past few days, he had begun to continue cultivating his Big Dipper Origin Arts, trying to find a way to further advance his Organ Refinement Origin Arts.
However, even though he could still draw starpower down from the heavens, the seven profound apertures in his body were alreadypletely filled and unable to absorb any more starpower.
Han Li sighed as he continued to look up at the Big Dipper Origin Arts in the night sky, and his vision gradually began to blur, making it appear to him as if several of the stars in the Big Dipper were about to ovep and fuse together.
Right at this moment, a thought suddenly urred to him: if he couldn''t increase the amount of magic power in his body, then why didn''t he just cultivate an avatar?
Han Li stroked his chin as he began to carefully ponder this notion.
Using an avatar to cultivate and umte magic power would allow him to bypass the problems presented by his sealed nascent soul. As long as his avatar could provide him with sufficient magic power, then he would be able to remove those troublesome ck chains.
However, where was he going to get an avatar from?
Han Li had previously cultivated the Profound Nascent Formation Arts [1] and had once sessfully cultivated a Wood Spirit Nascent, but this cultivation art required the refinement of a second nascent soul, which was a process that not only required the fulfillment of a very rigorous set of prerequisites, it also required the expenditure of a huge amount of time and energy, both of which were exactly the things that he couldn''t afford to waste right now.
Out of all of the other avatar techniques that he knew of, all of them required a great deal of time investment as well, so they were also unfeasible to him.
Right as he was feeling stumped by this predicament, the thought of that head in the restricted zone on Dark Veil Ind suddenly sprang into his mind, and his eyes immediately lit up.
Hold on, an Earthly Deity Avatar is also an avatar!
With that in mind, Han Li immediately stood up from the ground, then swept a hand through the air to release a streak of light out of his sleeve, which sped away toward a certain part of the ind.
¡¡
A few minutester, two figures appeared in the restricted underwater zone situated in the northwestern part of Dark Veil Ind.
One of them was Han Li, and he was apanied by Luo Feng, who had a perplexed look on his face.
He had been cultivating in his cave abode just now when he suddenly received a voice transmission talisman, and he instantly traveled to the underwater cavern as instructed, but he had no idea why he had been summoned here.
"Is there something I can do for you, Senior Liu?" he asked.
"I have something that I want to ask youter," Han Li replied in a concise manner without offering any further exnation.
After that, he strode over to the stone tform before reaching out and lifting up the blue statue head.
After inspecting the head for a moment, blue light shed within his eyes, and he extended a finger toward the head''s be.
Luo Feng was quite rmed to see this, and he was struck by an instinctive urge to stop Han Li, but in the end, he didn''t do anything, merely remaining on the spot with his mouth gaped open slightly and his body inclined forward.
In the instant that Han Li''s fingertip came into contact with the statue''s be, a burst of light that was invisible to the naked eye had appeared on the head of the statue before surging through the air like rippling water.
The burst of light wasn''t very bright, nor did it carry any destructive force, but in the instant that it came into contact with Han Li''s body, he immediately shuddered as an incredulous look appeared on his face.
To his surprise, the chains within his nascent soul''s body were faintly resonating with this burst of light, swaying slightly as the light continued to ripple through the air.
After a brief moment of contemtion, a burst of azure light suddenly lit up from Han Li''s hand, and a wisp of pure magic power shot out of his fingertip before entering the statue head.
A storm seemed to have suddenly been stirred up within the statue head, and boundless power of faith surged and churned violently, releasing several bursts of light blue magic power that shed directly with the azure magic power that Han Li had just released.
The azure magic power was very pure, but there was only a tiny wisp of it, and it was instantly dispelled on contact.
Han Li was ecstatic to see those bursts of blue magic power, and he withdrew his fingertip from the statue''s head before turning to Luo Feng as he asked, "Regarding the Earthly Deity Avatar of your Dark Veil Ind''s Ancestral God, did it possess any other abilities aside from its ability to use the power ofws?"
At this point, the statue head had returned to normal, as had everything else in the underwater cavern.
Luo Feng was quite relieved to see that the statue head was unharmed, and he replied, "Ancestral God Luo Meng''s Earthly Deity Avatar possessed no nascent soul, but it was able to use other abilities by converting the power of faith into magic power."
1. For more information on the Profound Nascent Formation Arts, please refer to RMJI Chapter 657: Profound Nascent Formation Arts. ?
Chapter 93: Prerequisites
Chapter 93: Prerequisites
"I see..." Han Li murmured to himself with a contemtive expression.
With that, it was confirmed that not only was an Earthly Deity Avatar able to manifest the power ofws using the power of faith, it could also convert the power of faith into magic power.
Hence, if he were to begin pursuing the path of an Earthly Immortal and refine an Earthly Deity Avatar of his own, there was a chance that he would be able to use that avatar to assist him in removing the restrictions on his nascent soul.
Furthermore, judging from the faint resonance that the power of faith in the statue head had disyed with the chains in his nascent soul, it seemed that refining an Earthly Deity Avatar was going to have some additional unexpected benefits that would aid him in his endeavor to free his nascent soul.
However, this was still going to be quite a troublesome path to pursue.
After all, once he embarked on this path, the risk of his magic power being contaminated by the power of faith would arise, and if he weren''t careful, he could be permanently reduced to an Earthly Immortal.
However, it certainly wasn''t impossible for him to pursue this path until his nascent soul was freed, taking measures to ensure that his magic power remained uncontaminated by the power of faith during this process, then abandon this path and pursue other paths of cultivation.
On the surface, Han Li appeared to be quite calm, but internally, he was feeling intensely conflicted.
After a while, Han Li turned to Luo Feng and said, "There were quite a few resources pertaining to Earthly Immortals in the scripture library, but most of them were only introductory texts that don''t actually describe how one can pursue the path of cultivating as an Earthly Immortal. Do you know anything about this subject, Chief Luo?"
Luo Feng was rather taken aback to hear this. "Could it be that you''re also interested in pursuing this path, Senior Liu?"
"Just tell me what you know for now," Han Li replied in an ambiguous fashion.
"Generally speaking, most Earthly Immortals will choose to be an entity simr to the Ancestral God of our tribe, then over time, through generations upon generations of reproduction, an Ancestral God will slowly umte the power of faith through their followers, and only after a process of umtion and limation ispleted will they truly be able to pursue the path of cultivating as an Earthly Immortal," Luo Feng exined.
"Can the power of faith only be provided by one''s direct descendants?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Other people can also provide the power of worship, but generally speaking, the power of worship that they provide will be rather impure, making it virtually impossible to harness for Ancestral Gods who are still yet to be Earthly Immortals. In contrast, the power of worship from one''s direct descendants will be most devout, and it''ll also have the highest level ofpatibility with the Ancestral God.
¡°As time passes, the number of one''s descendants will naturally increase, so most people who pursue this path will choose to spend some time to expand their ns first," Luo Feng exined.
"I see. Go on," Han Li prompted.
"Due to the fact that an Earthly Immortal''s rate of cultivation and potency of the power ofws that they manifest is dependent on how much power of faith they''re able to harness, in order for them to elerate their progression, they have to constantly expand their territory while also securing as much resources as possible. Only then will they be able to produce more descendants and expand their ns as quickly as possible."
Luo Feng currently possessed the most advanced cultivation base out of all of the local residents of Dark Veil Ind, and he had already been cultivating for a very long time in the ck Wind Sea, so he was quite knowledgeable about the process of bing an Earthly Immortal and the steps that had to be taken for future progression.
However, Han Li couldn''t help but feel a little disappointed after hearing Luo Feng''s description.
Pursuing the path of an Earthly Immortal wasn''t as easy as he imagined, and given his current situation, there was no way that he would dedicate an extended period of time to developing arge n.
As for future expansions of territory, that was undoubtedly going to encroach upon the interests of other Ancestral Gods, so he would inevitably find himself swept up in a constant cycle of conflicts, and that was definitely not something that he wanted to have to deal with.
"Are there any other ways to pursue this path, Chief Luo?" Han Li asked.
"There is a way that allows one to be an Earthly Immortal without having to go down the Ancestral God path," Luo Feng replied after a brief hesitation.
"I''m assuming some special requirements must be met, right?" Han Li asked.
"Indeed. Almost all of the high-grade cultivators in the entire ck Wind Sea have heard of this method that allows one to directly cultivate as an Earthly Immortal, but barely anyone has ever sessfully gone down that path because two prerequisites have to be met first," Luo Feng replied with a wry smile.
"Go on," Han Li prompted.
"The first prerequisite is that the Earthly Deity Avatar used by the cultivator cannot be cultivated using normal materials. Instead, it must be refined using something that is inherently imbued with the power ofws.
¡°The second prerequisite is that the Earthly Immortal cultivation art used must be one that can allow the cultivator to directly skip over the Ancestral God stage, so essentially, it has to be a high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation art that directly harnesses the impure power of worship of normal people," Luo Feng exined.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"Truth be told, not only does our tribe not possess a high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation art, there most likely aren''t that many even in the entire ck Wind Sea. As for the materials required to cultivate an Earthly Deity Avatar, Ancestral God Luo Meng has left some materials on the ind in the past, but with my limited knowledge, most of them are materials that I don''t recognize, so I''m not sure if any of them contain the power ofws. I can take you to inspect those materials in person if you''d like," Luo Feng offered.
"Please lead the way, Chief Luo," Han Li replied with a nod.
Thus, the two of them quickly left the restricted zone, and shortly thereafter, they appeared in an underground secret chamber.
The secret chamber wasn''t veryrge, and there were around a dozen wooden shelves inside, upon which were ced many materials, including demon beast materials, some spirit medicines, and some types of ore.
These items seemed to be quite rare, but that was only for Spatial Tempering and Body Integration cultivators.
Luo Feng was clearly also aware of this, and he led Han Li straight to a green jade shelf at the very back of the secret chamber. The jade shelf waspletely enshrouded beneath ayer of blue light, and there was a small collection of items visible on the shelf.
"These are all of the things that Ancestral God Luo Meng left behind, Senior Liu," Luo Feng said.
He then pulled out a blue badge to release a burst of blue light, which instantly dispelled the blue light barrier around the shelf in a sh.
With the removal of the blue light barrier, it was revealed that most of the items on the shelf were a type of round ck ore that was giving off peculiar cial fluctuations, indicating that it seemed to be some type of special material.
Aside from these pieces of ore was a misceneous collection of items, including several orange pieces of wood that were giving off a faint fragrance, a piece of golden ore, a pair of broken halberd treasures, and a palm-sized white jade badge.
Han Li picked up these items one by one, and after a careful examination, he couldn''t help but shake his head in disappointment.
He was able to identify the orange wood and golden ore as two types of precious tool refinement materials. He didn''t recognize the ck ore, but there was clearly no power ofws imbued within them anyway.
As for the pair of halberds, they would''ve been a powerful set of spirit treasures in the past, but for some reason, their spiritual nature was severely diminished, so they weren''t anywhere near as powerful as they once had been.
Luo Feng couldn''t help but heave a faint sigh at the sight of Han Li''s disappointed expression.
He was hoping that Han Li would be able to be an Earthly Immortal. That way, he wouldn''t be able to leave the ck Wind Sea and would have to remain on Dark Veil Ind. Given enough time, the Luo n would be able to produce a new Ancestral God.
If it weren''t for this possibility, there was no way that he would¡¯ve brought Han Li here so easily.
Right at this moment, the white jade badge on the shelf seemed to have caught Han Li''s interest.
Luo Feng was rather taken aback to see this. "Is there something special about this badge, Senior Liu?"
He had examined all of the items here countless times before, and he had never noticed anything special about the jade badge.
Han Li didn''t immediately offer a response. Instead, he carefully examined the jade badge for a while longer before replying, "I can''t quite put my finger on it right away, but there seems to be something strange about this badge. I''ll take it back with me for further examination."
"That''s not a problem at all," Luo Feng immediately replied.
"Also, I''ll have to trouble you to keep an eye out for high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation arts and materials imbued with the power ofws. Notify me right away if you find anything," Han Li instructed.
"Rest assured, Senior Liu, you can count on me," Luo Feng replied.
¡¡
A short whileter, Han Li returned to the secret chamber in the courtyard that he was staying in, and he sat down onto his futon with a contemtive look in his eyes.
If he wanted to remove the seal on his nascent soul in a short time, it seemed that the only possible solution was to pursue that unorthodox Earthly Immortal path.
However, he had to satisfy the two prerequisites first.
The ck Wind Sea was a vast ce, and there were several secret regions in it. Those regions were extremely perilous ces, but they were also home to some rare materials and exotic demon beasts, so perhaps it was possible to find some materials imbued with the power ofws in there.
With that in mind, a thought suddenly urred to him, and a flipped a hand over to produce a certain object. It was the eye of the one-eyed giant that he had in in that mysterious bubble.
The light released by the eye was able to significantly slow down the target, and that had left a deep impression on him.
He had examined this object before, but back then, he had been quite pressed for time, so he wasn''t able to conduct a very thorough examination.
If this eye contained a hint of power ofws, then that would save him a lot of effort.
He began to chant an incantation, and blue light shed within his eyes, while his Law Destruction Eye emerged on his be.
The three eyes lit up in unison before each releasing a beam of light, two blue and one ck, which converged at a single point before slowly fusing together.
Han Li then began to make a series of hand seals, and the three beams of light quicklypletely fused as one to form a ck and blue eyeball that was releasing waves of ck and blue light, which enshrouded the eye that he was holding.
At the same time, he also released his spiritual sense, manifesting a series of threads of spiritual sense that enveloped the eye before seeping into it.
Momentster, a hint of tion welled up in Han Li''s heart.
Through the examination of his spiritual sense, he had made some encouraging discoveries.
Deep inside the eye were several extremely faint specks of white light.
After making this observation, Han Li immediately transformed his threads of spiritual sense into a cloud of mist so that he could better examine these specks of white light.
A short whileter, he opened his eyes, and there was more than a hint of excitement shing within them.
It was very faint, but was certain that those specks of white light contained a hint ofw fluctuations.
Chapter 94: An Ancestral Gods Last Words
Chapter 94: An Ancestral God''s Last Words
Han Li suppressed the excitement in his heart as he thought about how to proceed.
Sure enough, he had guessed correctly in that the beams of light that the one-eyed giant had been capable of releasing out of its eye were indeed imbued with some type of power ofws.
However, he still wasn''t sure exactly what type of power ofws the eye contained.
However, given that most of the abilities that the giant had unleashed were of the earth attribute, and it possessed the ability to increase the force of gravity, Han Li spected that the eye was imbued with the power of gravitationalws, a branch of thews of earth.
Ultimately, it didn''t really matter to Han Li. Regardless of what type of power ofws the eye contained, all that mattered to him was that it was an object that contained the power ofws.
The ck and blue eye in front of Han Li dissipated at his behest, and a weary look appeared on his face.
He flipped a hand over to produce a Cloud Crane Herb before devouring to replenish his depleted magic power reserves, then ced the eye back into his storage treasure.
After that, he flipped a hand over to produce another object. This time, it was the human-faced walnut that he had already previously briefly examined with his spiritual sense.
He pursed his lips before beginning to chant an incantation again, and his eyes and the Law Destruction Eye on his be each released a burst of light to form that same ck and blue eye.
The ck and blue ripples enveloped the human-faced walnut, and the threads of spiritual sense also reappeared before seeping into the walnut.
Time slowly passed by, and as Han Li opened his eyes, a faint smile appeared on his face once again.
The ck and blue eye vanished in a sh, and his spiritual sense also receded out of the walnut.
He devoured another Cloud Crane Herb, then yed with the human-faced walnut in his hand with a hint of tion in his eyes.
It was very feeble, but he was certain that he had sensed a hint ofws of earth imbued within the walnut.
After that, he pulled out a few more human-faced walnuts before examining them one by one, and sure enough, the oue was the same.
It seemed that he was extremely fortunate, considering these walnuts were things that he had obtainedpletely by chance in the interrealm gap.
So one of the prerequisites for cultivating as an Earthly Immortal has been fulfilled, but I have to think carefully about which one I should choose between the eye and the walnut.
Han Li exhaled as his eyes narrowed slightly in contemtion.
ording to the information that he had received from Luo Feng, the type ofw that an Earthly Deity Avatar was going to manifest depended greatly on what type of power ofws was imbued within the materials used to refine the statue.
Furthermore, this type of special Earthly Deity Avatar that he was going to refine was going to have a direct corrtion with the type of power ofws imbued within the material used.
However, Han Li quickly shook his head and rid himself of that train of thought.
It was still too early to be pondering this matter. His top priority at the moment was to track down a high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation first.
He carefully stowed the human-faced walnut away, then flipped a hand over to produce another object. This time, it was the white jade badge.
Blue light shed within his eyes, and through the use of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he could see that the white jade badge was enveloped within a faintyer of blue light.
Thisyer of blue light struck Han Li with a rather strange feeling, indicating that it was definitely no ordinary restriction.
There were many wavy projections that could be seen within the blue light, and it was imbued with a hint of water-attribute fluctuations. It was clear that Ancestral God Luo Meng was the one who had cast the restriction onto this jade badge, but it seemed that Luo Feng and the others werepletely unable to detect it at all.
A hint of curiosity appeared in Han Li''s eyes, and he flicked his fingers through the air in quick session, releasing around a dozen streaks of white light thatnded in the surrounding area, revealing themselves to be a series of white array gs.
Dazzling white light radiated from the array gs to form a lotus-flower-shaped white array that was revolving incessantly.
Han Li tossed the white jade badge through the air, and it was instantly caught by the white array, hovering in mid-air above it.
He then made a hand seal before releasing a series of incantation seals, and countless hite runes emerged from the lotus flower array before converging toward the jade badge and surging into it in a frenzy.
Theyer of blue light on the jade badge''s surface immediately brightened as it attempted to ward off the white runes, but under Han Li''s maniption, the white runes were constantly changing forms and attacking theyer of blue light from different angles, gradually breaking through the restriction before seeping into the jade badge.
The restriction ced on the white jade badge was certainly not an easy one to break through, but thankfully, Han Li was an expert in array and restrictions, and in addition to that, his enormous spiritual sense and Brightsight Spirit Eyes allowed him to identify the weaknesses in the restriction, thereby giving him a significant advantage.
As time slowly passed by, theyer of blue light on the jade badge dimmed further and further, and before long, there was only a thinyer of it left.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly sped up in his hand seals, and the white lotus flower array abruptly brightened as countless white runes emerged.
All of the runes converged together to form around a dozen sharp white spikes, which stabbed into the jade badge with vicious force.
Finally, theyer of blue light on the jade badge shed onest time before disintegrating.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, yet right as he was about to grab the jade badge, some of the runes on the badge abruptly began to move as if they were living creatures.
Immediately thereafter, scintiting white light erupted from the badge, forming a series of white clouds, from within which bursts of thunderous rumbling were ringing out incessantly.
Han Li was greatly rmed by this, and he immediately sprang to his feet.
Large white clouds continued to surged out of the jade badge before revolving around it, quickly forming a strange vortex that was several dozen feet in size.
A ck hole appeared at the center of the vortex, and initially, it was only around the size of a human fist, but as the vortex continued to revolve, the hole grewrger andrger. After just a few seconds, it had expanded to the size of a millstone, and violent spatial fluctuations were emanating from within it.
The hole was pitch-ck and unfathomably deep, making it impossible to see where it led to.
Han Li quicklyposed himself as he observed the strange passageway before him, then closed his eyes before releasing his spiritual sense toward it.
However, momentster, he opened his eyes as a wry smile appeared on his face.
There was some type of strange power within the passageway that was keeping out his spiritual sense, preventing him from examining what was inside.
This burst of power certainly wasn''t weak, but with his enormous spiritual sense, he would be capable of forcing his way through it if he so pleased. However, at the moment, half of his spiritual sense was dedicated to sealing off his nascent soul from the outside world, so he was unable to dedicate his wholehearted effort to the cause.
After remaining on the spot for a while with a hesitant look on his face, he decided to leap into the ck hole.
Within the hole was a passageway that was around 10 feet in size, within which was a vast expanse of white light, while a dark exit as suspended in space up ahead.
Upon emerging from the exit, Han Li was immediately greeted by a fragrant aroma in the air.
He reflexively held his breath as he inspected his surroundings with furrowed brows, upon which he discovered that he was situated in a lush forest that was only around a half a kilometer in size.
The entire surrounding area was enshrouded in ayer of dense mist, and it seemed that this was a small secret area.
After a brief inspection of the area, he discovered that the world''s origin qi here wasn''t any more abundant than it was in the ck Wind Sea, so it didn''t seem to be any cultivation paradise.
Most of the surrounding trees were over 1,000 feet tall with perfectly straight trunks, and only near the tops of the trees did branches emerge to supportrge green canopies, castingrge areas of shade that gave the entire forest a rather dark and dim appearance.
There were very few shrubs growing in the forest, and no animals could be seen, either. Overall, it a forest that certainly wasn''t teeming with life.
Through the gaps between the trees, Han Li could see that there was an open area that appeared to be something like a za deep in the forest.
He passed through the forest to find that it wasn''t a za that he had spotted. Instead, it was only a clearing with not a single tree in an area with a radius of around 100 feet.
There was only arge purple flower growing at the center of the clearing. The flower resembled a peony in shape, but it was asrge as a lotus flowers. It was entirely purple in color, with leaves that were simr to banana leaves, but it''s stamen resembled a chicken''s crest, giving it a very peculiar appearance.
This flower was the source of the peculiar aroma that Han Li had caught a whiff of earlier.
Several dozen feet away from the flower was a two-story wooden building that was no more than 30 feet tall. Due to disrepair andck of maintenance, the window and doorframes had all rotten away, and most of the roof had already copsed, while slippery moss was growing all over the walls, giving the entire thing a very dpidated appearance.
To the left of the building''s entrance was a gray corpse, which was half propped-up against the wall behind it. Its skeletal hands were extended out in front of it, as if it were reaching for something, and its fingers were pointed right at therge purple flower.
Han Li examined the corpse for a moment, following which his eyes suddenly lit up, and a peculiar look appeared on his face.
He quickly made his way over the body, then crouched down to conduct a closer inspection.
The body''s clothes were already rotten and in tatters, resembling patches of mud that were draped all over the corpse''s body, and a thickyer of dirt and dust had settled onto the set of remains.
However, even though the dirt and dust, Han Li could see that the bones beneath were still glowing faintly, presenting quite an intriguing sight and indicating that the corpse belonged to a powerful cultivator.
With a gentle sweep of Han Li''s hand, a light breeze instantly blew past, removing the clothes and debris on the set of remains to reveal a shimmering white skeleton.
The sound of something falling to the ground then rang out, and as it turned out, several jade slips and a storage ring had slipped out of the corpse''s grasp.
Han Li picked up one of the jade slips, then inspected it momentarily before pressing it against his own be and injecting his spiritual sense into it.
The jade slip contained nothing more than a short message:
"If a descendant of our Luo n has managed to enter this ce, do not be rmed. I am your Ancestral God, Luo Meng, and I have already been in seclusion here for over 9,000 years since my avatar was destroyed.
¡°I intended to nurture a Soulbirth Flower in order to reforge an Earthly Deity Avatar, but I was attacked by powerful enemies over 3,000 years before the flower is due to reach full maturity. I was able to kill the enemy, but I''m afraid that the injuries I sustained during the battle are too severe to recover from..."
Momentster, Han Li opened his eyes before heaving a faint sigh. As it turned out, Luo Meng had already perished here over 1,000 years ago, and all of the people of his tribe were stillpletely oblivious.
However, perhaps it was exactly because of this that no news of this managed to spread to the outside world. As a result, even though the Cold Crystal Race and the other opposing forces of Dark Veil Ind were already itching to get their hands on a slice of the pie, they still waited until only recently beforeunching their attacks.
This was already a bright silver lining on what was otherwise a terribly dark cloud.
Chapter 95: Heaven Controlling Vial Malfunction
Chapter 95: Heaven Controlling Vial Malfunction
Instead of stowing the jade slip away, Han Li set it down beside Luo Meng''s remains.
Even though he was already dead, he was able to leave some final words behind before his demise. As for whether he had intentionally refrained from informing his people of his imminent death in order to dy attacks from opposing forces, that was something that was impossible to find out.
However, at the conclusion of his final words, he mentioned that if any members of his n managed to ascend to immortality, then they could use the materials that he had left behind to refine an Earthly Deity Avatar, thereby bing the new Ancestral God of Dark Veil Ind.
Those who pursued the Great Dao were often said to be heartless and uncaring, but given that pursuing the path of the Earthly Immortal depended on a foundation of bloodline and faith, Earthly Immortals shared more ties with others than the average immortal did, and as a result, they were less aloof and apathetic.
"Fellow Daoist Luo Meng, I am unable to be the new Ancestral God of Dark Veil Ind, but I will do everything in my power to protect your n and your people. In exchange, I''ll take the materials that you left behind aspensation," Han Li said to the set of remains.
He then withdrew his gaze before picking up one of the remaining jade slips on the ground and pressing it against his own be.
Momentster, a faint smile appeared on his face.
This jade slip contained the refinement method for an Earthly Deity Avatar, and it was exactly what he was currently looking for.
ording to the method stipted in the jade slip, not only was the refinement process for an Earthly Deity Avatar extremelyplex, the materials required were also extremely rare and diverse. The most special and vital material among them was a spirit nt known as the Soulbirth Flower.
While refining an Earthly Deity Avatar, a whole flower had to be used, and Soulbirth Elixir had to be extracted from the flower before being refined together with the other materials.
The older the flower was, the better the effect that it would have on the refinement process, and the more intelligent the refined avatar would be. However, at the very least, it had to be over 10,000 years old. Otherwise, it would be impossible for it to achieve the effect of manifesting a soul for the avatar. If the flower were over 100,000 years old, then the soul that it manifested would be close to perfect.
At the end, the jade slip also provided a description of the Soulbirth Flower, stating that before reaching 100 years of age, the n would only have leaves and no flower. Only after reaching 100 years old would a white flower blossom from the nt, and after 1,000 years, the flower''s petals would turn from white to red.
After 5,000 years, the petals would turn from red to purple, then to an even darker shade of purple after 8,000 years, while also growing a chicken-crest-shaped stamen. Upon reaching 10,000 years of age, a golden stripe would appear on each flower petal, and with each passing block of 10,000 years, a new stripe would emerge.
As for whether it would disy any other transformations after 100,000 years, there were no records of that in the jade slip, perhaps because 100,000-year-old specimens of this flower were simply far too rare.
Aside from being used to refine Earthly Deity Avatars, this flower was also immensely beneficial for an Earthly Immortal in breaking through cultivation bottlenecks. However, the nurturing process was extremely difficult, and there were barely any specimens left that were over 1,000 years old.
Hence, even specimens above 5,000 years of age were extremely rare even in the entire ck Wind Sea, let alone 10,000-year-old specimens. Demand for the flower far outweighed supply, and it was often the case that no such flower could be found in the market no matter how much money was offered.
Therge purple flower beside Han Li was naturally none other than the Soulbirth Flower, and judging from its appearance, it had to already be over 8,000 years old. If it were to appear in the ck Wind Sea, it would undoubtedly start a war among countless Earthly Immortals.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he picked up another jade slip.
The content recorded in this jade slip was rather special. Not only was it worded in a very special way, the meaning that it was trying to convey was also extremelyplex and profound.
Initially, Han Li was rather perplexed by what he was seeing, but after some careful examination, he was ted to find that the jade slip contained the method to refine the power of faith.
This included the method to harness the power of faith, as well as how to convert it into magic power and how to use it to manifest the power ofws.
As for the final remaining jade slip, that contained a record of Luo Meng''s cultivation insights, as well as his analysis pertaining to cultivating as an Ancestral God.
Han Li only briefly read through this jade slip and didn''t examine it in great detail, but some of the content inside had managed to catch his attention.
Due to the special geographic location of the ck Wind Sea, the area of the sea here far exceeded that of thendmasses. Hence, out of all of the world''s origin qi here, the mostmonce type was of the water attribute.
As a result, it was far easier to cultivate and manifest thews of water here than other types of power ofws. Additionally, due to the nature of the geography here, the powers of those who used thews of water were enhanced, thereby giving them a natural advantage over wielders of other types of power ofws.
It was exactly because of this that it was far easier to find Earthly Immortal scriptures rted to thews of water, and as a result, there was a severe shortage of all resources that contained the power ofws of water in the entire ck Wind Sea, with many wars of different scales waged over such resources.
After stowing those three jade slips away, Han Li''s gaze fell upon the storage ring, and he began to inspect its contents.
Sure enough, the ring contained the water-attribute Earthly Deity Avatar refinement materials mentioned in the jade slip from before, and that included the same blue crystal material that had been used to craft the head of that statue of Luo Meng.
Han Li stowed all of those items away without any hesitation, then returned his attention to the Soulbirth Flower not far away.
After a brief moment of contemtion, the strode over to the flower, then removed the Heaven Controlling Vial from around his neck before pulling out the stopper and carefully pouring the drop of green liquid inside onto the flower.
This drop of green liquid had already appeared prior to his departure from the Spirit Domain Realm. However, after arriving in the ck Wind Sea, he had spent all of his time and efforts on removing the chains that were binding his nascent soul, so he hadn''t gotten a chance to use the drop of green liquid prior to this point.
With this vial, he would definitely be able to mature the flower to 10,000 years old, and if time permitted, he was even nning to mature it all the way to 100,000 years old.
After that, he searched through the entire forest and the wooden building without discovering anything else worthy of note, so he returned to his secret chamber through the spatial passageway.
In the instant that he emerged, the entire spatial passageway began to tremble and buzz as it released a vast expanse of white light, then rapidly shrank down before vanishing without a trace.
The white jade badge emerged once again with spiritual light shing on its surface, and it was hovering in mid-air while giving off faint spatial fluctuations.
Han Li grabbed onto the badge before stowing it away into his storage bracelet.
It seemed that this badge was the key to Ancestral God Luo Meng''s final resting ce.
Now that the restriction on the badge had been removed, it was essentially a domain treasure, which was certainly going toe in useful in the future.
With that in mind, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed in the secret chamber, then pulled out the jade slip that contained the Earthly Deity Avatar refinement method and carefully studied it.
Time slowly passed by, and the sky gradually darkened. A bright full moon soon appeared in the sky, heralding the arrival of nighttime.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s eyes sprang open as he rose to his feet, then appeared in the courtyard outside in a sh.
He looked up at the moon in the sky, then removed the Heaven Controlling Vial from around his neck before cing it onto the ground.
It didn''t take long before rays of white light shone down from the heavens onto the small vial, forming a series of specks of white light. Soon, a huge white halo had appeared around the vial, presenting a dazzling sight to behold.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon seeing this.
The phenomenon arising from the Heaven Controlling Vial''s absorption of moonlight was far more spectacr than it had been in the Spirit Domain Realm. Back in the Spirit Domain Realm, a drop of green liquid could be produced every two days as long as there was sufficient moonlight. Given the current situation, was it possible for a drop of green liquid to be produced in just a single day?
Han Li was rather excited by this thought, and he swept a hand through the air to release an incantation seal, producing ayer of azure light that epassed the phenomenon taking ce around the Heaven Controlling Vial.
After that, he sat down with his legs crossed beside the small vial and pulled out the same jade vial from before to continue his reading.
The night quickly passed by, and Han Li reopened his eyes before dispelling theyer of azure light with a swipe of his hand. However, as he picked up the Heaven Controlling Vial, a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
The vial''s stopper couldn''t be removed, which meant that no green liquid had been produced.
"Perhaps it still has to be two days," Han Li murmured to himself with a resigned shrug, then closed his eyes again and continued to study the contents of the jade slip.
Only after day had transitioned into night, the phenomenon arising from the vial''s absorption of moonlight appeared again, did he cast the sameyer of azure light onto the vial for concealment purposes.
However, the next morning, Han Li discovered, much to his befuddlement and concern, that the vial still couldn''t be opened.
Could it be that the world''s origin qi in the Immortal Realm isn''t even as abundant as it is in the Spirit Domain Realm?
He immediately rejected this absurd thought as soon as it appeared in his mind.
That night, he ced the Heaven Controlling Vial down in the courtyard once again, and this time, he did nothing else but stare directly at the vial for the entire night.
He didn''t notice anything amiss while the vial was absorbing moonlight, but the next morning, there was still no green liquid, and Han Li was beginning to grow a little anxious and frustrated.
Aside from his shrewd and careful decision-making, the primary factor that had allowed him to progress to this point in his cultivation journey was the Heaven Controlling Vial. If the Heaven Controlling Vial were to lose its ability to produce that green liquid, then he would be losing his biggest cultivation asset.
As an example of how this was going to impact him, it was going to be extremely difficult for him to get his hands on a 10,000-year-old Soulbirth Flower without the help of the Heaven Controlling Vial.
However, it was still too early to be jumping to conclusions. After all, this was the Immortal Realm, and it was a different ce from the Spirit Domain Realm and the Spirit Realm.
Thus, he didn''t give up hope and continued trying.
The fourth day passed by without any green liquid produced.
The same applied to the fifth day, and the sixth day...
In the blink of an eye, over 10 days had already passed by.
At night, the Heaven Controlling Vial was still absorbing moonlight as usual, but no green liquid was produced.
Inside his secret chamber, Han Li was looking at the Heaven Controlling Vial with a grim expression.
Even back in the Human Realm, it had only taken seven or eight days at most for the vial to produce a drop of green liquid, yet now, twice that amount of time had already passed by, and the vial was stillpletely empty. This was something that had never happened before, and it left him at aplete loss for what to do.
During this period of time, two possible reasons for this had sprung into his mind, the first of which was that perhaps this was a result of his return to the Immortal Realm.
ording to Ma Liang, [1] The True Immortal who had descended into the Spirit Realm, the Heaven Controlling Vial belonged to a major power in the Immortal Realm known as the Nine Origin Daoist Temple.
Now that the vial had returned to the Immortal Realm, it was very much possible that some change that he was unable to detect had taken ce within it.
The second possibility was that the vial had been affected by the beam of light that was imbued with the power ofws that it was struck by during Han Li''s battle against the one-eyed giant.
Han Li gently exhaled as a calm look returned to his eyes.
The Heaven Controlling Vial was his most important treasure, but that didn''t mean that he couldn''t live without it.
Furthermore, there was nothing to indicate that the vial''s ability to produce green liquid waspletely gone. At the very least, it was still absorbing moonlight every night, so he would just have to wait and see.
1. For more information on Ma Liang, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2276: Ma Liang. ?
Chapter 96: Re-emergence of the Green Liquid
Chapter 96: Re-emergence of the Green Liquid
With that in mind, Han Li temporarily stowed the Heaven Controlling Vial away. His n was to continue to let it absorb moonlight every night to see if any changes arose.
As for the maturation of the Soulbirth Flower that was required to refine his Earthly Deity Avatar, he would just have to find another way.
Thus, he returned to his secret chamber and made his way over to a wooden table.
At this moment, there was a jade te sitting on the table, and on the te was a head-sized blue object. It was none other than the head of the Earthly Deity Avatar that had previously been worshipped in the underwater cavern.
During his previous visit to the underground cavern with Luo Feng, he had borrowed the head for examination.
He picked up the head from the jade te before cing it onto the ground, then sat down onto his futon with his legs crossed and began to chant an incantation.
Ayer of azure light rose up over his body, then enveloped the blue head and carrying it forward, suspending it in mid-air in front of him.
He then began to make a series of strange gestures with his hands, like the movements used by people from primitive, savage tribes when praying to the heavens. At the same time, he began to chant anotherplex incantation.
As he was doing all of this, ayer of strange blue light appeared over the surface of the head, and the light was shing incessantly while an indistinct sound that resembled the collective prayers being uttered by countless people rang out from within.
Specks of blue light then began to emerge in the surrounding area before converging into the head.
These specks of blue light were none other than the power of faith that the head of the Earthly Deity Avatar was gathering from all of its followers all over Dark Veil Ind.
As the blue light continued to sh, it began to release an indescribable burst of energy fluctuations, sending ripples that were visible to the naked eye spreading through the air, causing the secret chamber and even the entire courtyard to tremble incessantly.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but his chanting was bing more urgent.
The blue light emanating from the head flickered a few times before returning to a stable state.
This was a significant amount of power, consisting of all of the power of faith that had umted over the course of the past 10,000 years, but unfortunately, Luo Meng had already perished and was unable to control the power gathered within the head of his Earthly Deity Avatar.
Han Li had used the method recorded in the jade slip to try and get a sense of what the power of worship was like in preparation for the cultivation of his own Earthly Deity Avatar in the future.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s expression changed slightly, and made a beckoning motion with one hand, upon which a gap opened up in the restriction surrounding the secret chamber to grant passage to a shimmering white talisman.
He drew the talisman into grasp before injecting his spiritual sense into it, then immediately stopped what he was doing, cing the blue head back onto the jade te on the table before departing from the secret chamber.
In the courtyard outside, Luo Feng was waiting with a respectful expression.
"It''s not like you to request an audience with me so urgently, Chief Luo. Could it be that there''s been some news about a high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation art?" Han Li asked.
An ted look appeared on Luo Feng''s face as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute toward Han Li. "Indeed, Senior Liu, that''s exactly why I''vee to see you. Yesterday, I was holding a gathering with some acquaintances of mine, and one of them told me that a high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation art was going to appear during the next auction to be held on ck Wind Ind. I immediately came here to pass this information onto you, Senior Liu."
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, and he nodded in response. "Thank you for your efforts, Chief Luo. If I recall correctly, there are still more than 10 years to go until the auction is scheduled to be held. During this time, I''ll have to trouble you to continue to keep an eye out for news regarding Soulbirth Flowers and other high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation arts."
"Rest assured, Senior Liu, you can count on me." Luo Feng nodded in response before cupping his fist in a parting salute.
However, Han Li stopped him before he could leave. "Hold on a second, Chief Luo."
"Is there something else you need, Senior Liu?" Luo Feng asked with an inquisitive expression.
Han Li opened his mouth to say something, but then seemed to decide against it, and in the end, he replied, "No. I just want to let you know that I''ll remember everything you''ve done for me during this time."
Luo Feng was ecstatic to hear this, and he hurriedly waved his hands as he said, "You''re far too kind, Senior Liu. I''m just doing what''s expected of me."
After that, the two of them chatted for a while longer before Luo Feng departed.
Han Li looked on as Luo Feng faded into the distant sky, then returned to his secret chamber.
He was about to tell Luo Feng about the remains of Luo Meng that he had discovered, but in the end, he decided that this wasn''t the right time to do so.
This piece of news had far-reaching implications. In particr, the knowledge of the existence of that 8,000-year-old Soulbirth Flower was very dangerous and could potentially lead to a great deal of trouble, so it was best to withhold this information for ater date.
......
One morning, half a monthter.
The sun was just beginning to rise on the horizon, and warm sunlight was shining down from the sky, casting shimmering reflections on the surface of the sea.
The entire Dark Veil Ind was basked in a warm glow, andrge numbers of ind residents and cultivators were gathered in front of the Luo Meng statues on the ind in a collective ritual of prayer.
The small courtyard that Han Li was staying in was also illuminated by the bright sunlight.
In the courtyard''s secret chamber, Han Li opened his eyes with a thoughtful look on his face.
Through his examination of the Earthly Deity Avatar head left behind by Luo Meng in the past half-month, he had developed some insights on how to gather and convert the power of faith.
In other words, if he could refine an Earthly Deity Avatar of his own and obtain a suitable high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation art, then harness and convert the power of faith from the people of Dark Veil Ind, there was a 50% to 60% chance that he would be able to free his nascent soul from those mysterious chains and recover his cultivation base.
However, the Heaven Controlling Vial was still unable to produce any green liquid, so it appeared that he would have to pin his hopes for securing a high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation art and a Soulbirth Flower of sufficient age entirely on the auction to be held on ck Wind Ind.
"The auction is scheduled to be held more than 10 years away from now, and that''s still too long," Han Li murmured to himself, then left his secret chamber and made his way over to a certain spot in the courtyard in a familiar routine to pick up his Heaven Controlling Vial.
As soon as he picked the vial up from the ground, he immediately raised an eyebrow. It seemed that the vial was significantly heavier than it normally was.
A thought quickly urred to him, and hurriedly tried to remove the vial''s stopper.
This time, he was able to remove the stopper without any effort, and he hurriedly peered into the vial through its opening, upon which an ecstatic look appeared on his face.
A soybean-sized drop of dark green liquid was slowly flowing over the inside of the vial on the bottom.
It had managed to produce green liquid again!
However, this drop of green liquid was slightly different from what Han Li was used to seeing. Its color was much darker, closer to ck than green, and it basked the entire inside of the vial in a green glow.
Han Li held the vial in his hand and examined the drop of liquid inside over and over again before his excitement finally subsided.
Even though he was already prepared for the worst, he had still been hoping for the best. After all, if the vial really did permanently lose its ability to produce that precious green liquid, then that would be a heavier loss to him than the loss of any of his other treasures.
Thankfully, it appeared that the crisis had been averted, and he had reached the light at the end of the tunnel.
In total, it had taken around a month to produce that drop of green liquid, which was far longer than the duration of time previously required at any point.
Han Li couldn''t help but wonder how effective the drop of green liquid produced over such a long period of time was going to be.
With that in mind, he eagerly returned to his secret chamber, then quickly activated all of the restrictions inside. After that, he flipped a hand over to produce the jade badge, then opened up the spatial passageway to the secret area.
Inside the secret area, everything was still the same as Han Li had left it.
The Soulbirth Flower was still standing on its own in the clearing, cutting a lonesome figure. However, Luo Meng''s remains had already been buried in a small grave next to the wooden hut.
Han Li made his way over to the purple flower, then removed the stopper of his Heaven Controlling Vial without any hesitation before pouring the drop of green liquid onto the center of the flower''s stamen.
He watched with an unblinking gaze as the drop of green liquid slowly seeped into the Soulbirth Flower''s stamen, and he was feeling rather anxious.
This was the same feeling of anticipation that he had felt back when he first conducted an experiment after learning about the effects of the green liquid.
After waiting for a day and a night, Han Li entered the secret area again first thing in the morning, then made his way over to the Soulbirth Flower.
To his surprise, even though only a day had passed by, the Soulbirth Flower was already disying some astonishing changes.
A faint golden line had appeared on each of its petals along the edges, as if a thin golden border had been embroidered around the flower petals.
ording to the jade slip left behind by Luo Meng, this golden line would only appear on the Soulbirth Flower once it reached 10,000 years of age. This Soulbirth Flower was already around 8,000 years old, so that drop of green liquid had to have had a maturation effect of at least 2,000 years.
A pleased look appeared on Han Li''s face after arriving at that conclusion.
Even though the green liquid was far slower toe by in the Immortal Realm, this one drop of green liquid was several dozen times more efficacious than a drop of green liquid produced back in the Spirit Domain Realm.
After that, he spent another month to verify that the Heaven Controlling Vial did indeed take roughly a month to produce a drop of green liquid, and he was greatly relieved to have that notion confirmed.
At the same time, he was also keeping up with his research into the refinement method of an Earthly Deity Avatar, and he would regrly bring out the statue head for careful examination.
Another three months passed by in the blink of an eye, and during this time, Han Li would run through the detailed steps of the Earthly Deity Avatar refinement method in his mind virtually once every single day.
At this point, he hadpletely memorized the refinement method, and he was confident that he would be able to sessfully refine an Earthly Deity Avatar once the Soulbirth Flower reached full maturity and the rest of the refinement materials were gathered.
Furthermore, under the nurturing of the green liquid produced by the Heaven Controlling Vial, a second golden line had appeared on all of the Soulbirth Flower''s petals.
By Han Li''s estimates, it required roughly a month in the Immortal Realm for each drop of green liquid to be produced, and one drop of the liquid had a maturation effect of roughly 3,000 years.
At this rate, assuming no mishaps, it would only take him about three or four more years to obtain a 100,000-year-old Soulbirth Flower.
Chapter 97: Three Ancestral Gods
Chapter 97: Three Ancestral Gods
Basked under the light of the setting sun, the entire Dark Veil Ind resembled a golden leaf that was floating on the ck surface of the sea.
On the ind, plumes of smoke were rising up from cooking fires in the mortal viges concealed within the forests, and more and more ships had also appeared on the dock.
Several cultivators of the ind were patrolling the area, and they were all very pleased by how peaceful it had been since thest attack from the Cold Crystal Race.
The entire Luo n had almost been wiped out during the battle that had taken ce close to a year ago, and it was all thanks to their "Ancestral God" that the crisis was averted.
At this point, they had no ambitions other than to remain here peacefully and continue to cultivate while protecting thisnd that they called home.
All of a sudden, the leader of the patrol team stopped in his tracks before casting his gaze toward the distance.
"What''s wrong?" The rest of the team also quickly stopped to see what was happening.
All of a sudden, the surface of the sea in the distance began to churn violently, and a series of massive waves that were hundreds of feet tall rose up before crashing toward the ind.
Before long, enormous waves had risen up over the surface of the sea as far as the eyes could see, and all of the waves were converging toward the ind, while the surrounding earth rumbled and quaked violently.
The group of cultivators was greatly rmed to see this, and their leader hurriedly pulled out a cylindrical object before tugging on a fuse, upon which a burst of dazzling light erupted into the heavens.
Unbeknownst to them, the sea in a radius of dozens of kilometers around the entire ind was churning violently like boiling water, and massive waves were converging toward the ind from all directions.
A streak of light quickly flew out of the Luo n''s main hall before revealing itself to be Luo Feng.
His spiritual sense had already epassed the entire ind and the surrounding sea, and a grim look had appeared on his face.
Several more streaks of light arrived on the scene from different directions before gathering themselves around Luo Feng, and they were the other Body Integration Stage elders of the ind.
They had clearly also noticed what was happening around the ind, and all of them were greatly rmed by what they were seeing.
Right at this moment, all of the giant waves crashing toward the ind suddenly converged to form an enormous barrier of water, which rose up all around the ind before gathering toward its center.
In the blink of an eye, the entire ind had been epassed beneath a gargantuan transparent barrier of water.
Luo Feng and the others were even more rmed to see this.
"What''s going on, Chief? Could it be..."
"We''re being attacked, and these enemies are more powerful than any we''ve ever dealt with before! Inform Elder Liu right away!" Luo Feng instructed with an urgent expression.
The elder that he had delegated the order to immediately sped away toward Han Li''s courtyard without any hesitation.
"Activate all of the ind''s restrictions!" Luo Feng ordered as he turned to the rest of the elders.
A few secondster, several bursts of light emerged around the main hall as one restriction was activated after another, covering all of the important locations on the ind.
Right at this moment, three incredibly bright streaks of light appeared in the distant sky before flying toward the Luo n''s main hall at an incredible speed.
In what seemed like nothing more than the blink of an eye, the streaks of light arrived on the scene, then receded to reveal three figures.
The trio was led by an imposing man in a suit of engraved white armor with a hollow visor on his face. The visor only covered the top half of his face, and there was a pair of curved tusks protruding out of his mouth, giving him a very fearsome appearance.
Beside the white-armored man was a ck-robed elderly man with a darkplexion, and there was faint blue light glowing within his eyes.
The third person to round out the trio was a blue-robed woman who appeared to be in her forties. She still retained most of her elegance from her younger days, but her beauty was marred by a rather unsightly hooked nose.
What was most peculiar was that the three of them all possessed rather wooden and dazed facial features, as if this were a trio of extremely intricately crafted puppets.
Luo Feng''s face instantly turned deathly pale at the sight of the trio, and his entire body shuddered as if he had seen a ghost.
The other elders and some of the older cultivators of the ind were also disying simr reactions.
Most of the younger cultivators of the Luo n had no idea who these three people were, but the expressions on the faces of their chief and elders told them everything that they needed to know, and they also became extremely uneasy.
Luo Feng exhaled as if he were trying to expel the fear in his heart, then forciblyposed himself as he asked, "Ancestral God Han Qiu, Ancestral God Lu Kun, Ancestral Goddess Gu Gu, to what do I owe this honor?"
All of the younger cultivators of the Luo Family were horrified to hear this.
Most of them weren''t aware of who Lu Kun and Gu Gu were as they were Ancestral Gods of inds that were quite far away from Dark Veil Ind, but they all knew that Han Qiu was the Ancestral God of the Cold Crystal Race that had invaded their ind not long ago, and it could be said that he had already been a sworn enemy of the Luo n for tens of thousands of years.
The three Ancestral Gods were each standing over 1,000 feet away from one another, looking down at the horrified residents of Dark Veil Ind, and their already wooden and emotionless eyes were looking particrly cold and forbidding.
"Fellow Daoist Han Qiu, are you sure Luo Meng has already met his demise? I heard that the army of your Cold Crystal Race suffered severe losses during itsst invasion of the ind," the ck-robed elderly man said with a hint of doubt in his voice.
"If he''s still alive, then why hasn''t he appeared at all in the past 10,000 years? As for the defeat that my army suffered during thest invasion, that was only at the hands of another immortal who recently appeared on Dark Veil Ind," the white-armored man harrumphed coldly.
"What? Another immortal? You never mentioned this to us at all, Fellow Daoist Han Qiu! Did you intentionally withhold this information from us?" the blue-robed woman used in a furious voice.
The ck-robed elderly man also turned to the white-armored man with his brows furrowed slightly in displeasure.
"Rest assured, fellow daoists. I''ve already looked into the matter, and it turns out that this new immortal is a lower realm cultivator who''s only just ascended into the Immortal Realm. I don''t know how he ended up here, but he''s not a cause for concern at all. Also, if there were no immortals on this ind, then why would I have invited you two to help me?" Han Qiu asked in an indifferent voice.
The blue-robed woman''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, but she still didn''t seem to be entirely convinced.
As for the ck-robed elderly man, he also remained silent and refused to take a stance on the matter.
Instead of being frustrated by this, a smile appeared on Han Qiu''s face as he said, "How about this? If we seed here, I''m willing to offer each of you an extra Divine Brightnoon Pill in addition to the reward I originally promised you. That''ll serve aspensation for my failure to notify you of the situation ahead of time. What do you think?"
"Seeing as you''re disying so much sincerity, it would be rude for Fellow Daoist Gu Gu and me to doubt you any further," the ck-robed elderly man chuckled.
The blue-robed woman also nodded in response.
Han Qiu was very pleased to see this. "I''m d we''re all on the same page now. We''re only dealing with a recently ascended cultivator from a lower realm, how could he possibly stand against all three of us at once?"
"In that case, let''s not dy any further," the ck-robed elderly man said as he sprang into action.
With a sweep of his hand, a burst of rumbling rang out from the sea down below, and dozens of enormous pirs rose up. Each pir was over 100 feet in diameter, and they extended all the way up into the heavens.
The pirs of water than quickly fused as one to form a gargantuan hand that was several thousand feet in size before crashing down upon Luo Feng and the group of elders around him.
Even before the enormous hand arrived, a gust of ferocious wind swept through the area, and all of the restrictions swayed violently as the fierce wind threatened to blow them apart. In fact, several of the restrictions had already disintegrated into specks of light.
Luo Feng''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he wanted to take evasive measures, but it was already toote, and it seemed that his fate was sealed.
Right at this moment, a sharp screeching sound rang out in the distance, and a streak of azure light arrived on the scene like lightning.
The streak of light contained an azure figure, whounched a fist through the air, releasing a burst of tremendous force.
The enormous force unleashed by the punch left a series of ripples that were visible even to the naked eye in its wake, then crashed into the gargantuan hand of seawater with an earth-shattering boom.
The giant hand instantly exploded upon impact, sending massive volumes of water cascading down in all directions.
A burst of ferocious shockwaves erupted through the air in destructive waves, sweeping up fierce hurricanes that either blew all of the rocks and trees in their path into the distance or pulverized them on the spot.
Thankfully, there weren''t any mortals nearby, so not many casualties were suffered.
The azure light around the figure in the sky faded to reveal Han Li, and Han Qiu and the elders'' expressions changed drastically upon seeing this.
"Esteemed Ancestral God!" everyone on Dark Veil Ind cheered in unison in ecstatic voices.
Luo Feng also heaved a sigh of relief, but a hint of concern then immediately appeared on his face.
Han Li was indeed a formidable cultivator, but he was facing three Ancestral Gods at once!
"What business do you have with our Dark Veil Ind, fellow daoists?" Han Li asked in a cold voice as he swept his gaze across the trio before him while withdrawing his outstretched fist.
"Senior Liu, these three are all Ancestral Gods from nearby inds. The one in the suit of white armor is Ancestral God Han Qiu of the Cold Crystal Race, the ck-robed man beside him is Patriach Lu Kun, and that woman is referred to as Mistress Gu Gu," Luo Feng exined through voice transmission.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, but his expression remainedpletely unchanged.
"You seem to have told us that this was going to be an easy battle, but I don''t think things are quite as you described, Fellow Daoist Han Qiu. This man is clearly a Profound Immortal, is he not?" Lu Kun said via voice transmission as he turned to Han Qiu with a cold look in his eyes, and Mistress Gu Gu''s expression had also darkened significantly.
In contrast, Han Qiu was as calm as ever, and he replied via voice transmission, "ording to my knowledge, it hasn''t even been a year since he ascended to the Immortal Realm. Even if he is a Profound Immortal, there''s no way he would''ve had enough time to convert the magic power in his body into immortal spiritual power, so we have nothing to worry about."
Patriarch Lu Kun and Mistress Gu Gu exchanged a nce upon hearing this, and neither of them said anything.
"You must be Fellow Daoist Liu. I''m sure I don''t need to tell you the reason for our visit. Dark Veil Ind is a sworn enemy to all three of our inds, and we''vee here today with the goal of wiping out the Luo n. This has nothing to do with you, so I suggest you do not get involved. If you leave right now, I can let bygones be bygones and forgive the fact that you killed several members of my n a while ago," Han Qiu said in a cold voice.
Luo Feng''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, and he snuck a rather uneasy nce at Han Li.
The expressions on the faces of all of the other members of the Luo n also changed drastically upon hearing this. The older ones among them were rmed by the situation, while the younger ones were shocked by what Han Qiu had just said.
Han Qiu had referred to their Ancestral God as Fellow Daoist Liu, and that reminded all of the young members of the Luo n of a rumor that had been circting in their n, stating that their current Ancestral God was actually someone other than Luo Meng.
The elders of their n had always fervently denied this notion and prohibited the members of the n from spreading and discussing the rumor, but it seemed that there was a very good chance that the rumor was actually true.
"I''m afraid I''ll have to disappoint you. I made a promise to protect Dark Veil Ind, and I don''t n to go back on my word. I suggest you turn back before things get out of hand," Han Li replied with a calm expression,pletely ignoring Han Qiu''s threat.
Chapter 98: Trapped
Chapter 98: Trapped
"You''re awfully arrogant for a little lower realm brat who only just ascended to the Immortal Realm!"
Han Qiu''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing what Han Li had to say, and white light shed around his body as he pointed a finger forward to conjure up a cloud of white mist.
The cloud of mist churned slightly before folding in on itself to form a white ice spike that was several dozen feet in length.
The ice spike was glowing with dazzling white radiance, and it quickly split up into two, then two into four, then four into eight...
In the blink of an eye, countless white ice spikes had emerged, filling virtually the entire sky before hurtling directly toward Han Li in a ferocious barrage.
The ice spikes released a burst of cial energy as they sped through the air, causing the air temperature in the area to plummet drastically. In fact, the temperatures had dropped so sharply that many icicles had already appeared in the air, and it seemed that the entire area was on the verge of being frozen solid.
Almost at the exact same moment, Patriarch Lu Kun and Mistress Gu Gu also sprang into action.
Patriarch Lu Kun''s entire body was enveloped by ayer of blue light as he spread a hand open. Specks of blue light appeared on his palm, then descended through the air before vanishing into the sea down below.
The surface of the sea immediately began to churn violently as an enormous vortex with specks of blue light interspersed throughout appeared, and the vortex was rapidly expanding amid a burst of rumbling that resembled the sound of countless pounding horse hooves.
Meanwhile, Mistress Gu Gu closed her eyes as she made a hand seal, and ck light shed around her as a wisp of ck mist rose up from her body before vanishing into one of the clouds up above.
The cloud instantly turned as ck as ink, and it began to tumble and churn incessantly while releasing a burst of mysterious fluctuations that attracted all of the water vapor in the area within a radius of hundreds of kilometers, causing the cloud to expand rapidly.
In response, Han Li had already risen up into the air with azure light glowing all around him, directly facing the oing barrage of ice spikes as he sped toward Han Qiu''s trio.
At the same time, seven specks of starlight appeared on his chest and abdomen, and a string of cracks and pops rang out as his body swelled markedly in stature before he threw a punch through the air.
A burst of immense power erupted forth in a frenzy, causing the entire space to tremble violently before exploding with tremendous force.
Countless white ripples that were visible to the naked eye erupted in all directions from Han Li''s fist, and all of the ice spikes that came into contact with the white ripples instantly exploded into countless ice crystals before being blown away.
Han Qiu''s expression remainedpletely unchanged upon seeing this, and he made a hand seal before releasing several incantation seals in quick session.
All of the shattered ice crystals exploded once again at his behest, forming an enormous cloud of cial mist that instantly epassed arge area in a radius of several thousand feet around Han Li while releasing a burst of strongw fluctuations.
Han Li felt as if he had been plunged into apletely white and featureless world, and he immediately swept a sleeve through the air, sweeping up a gust of fierce wind that blew through the surrounding area.
However, the white mist around him only churned slightly in the face of the fierce wind, but didn''t scatter or dissipate at all.
Han Li made no further attempt to blow the mist away, choosing to attempt to rush out of the mist instead.
The surrounding mist immediately clung to his body as if it were a living creature, but it wasn''t cold enough to be of any concern to Han Li.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li flew out of the cloud of white mist, and bright azure light erupted from his body as he raised an arm to deliver a powerful blow against Han Qiu''s trio.
However, a hint of surprise then appeared on his face as he discovered that there was nothing in front of him, and Han Qiu''s trio seemed to have evaporated into thin air.
He immediately stopped cold in his tracks before frantically inspecting his surroundings, only to find that the three Ancestral Gods were standing several thousand feet away.
After sweeping his gaze across the surrounding area, Han Li realized what had happened.
It wasn''t that Han Qiu''s trio had suddenly moved away from where they had originally been standing. Instead, his senses had been disrupted as he was flying through the mist, and as a result, he had inadvertently flown in the wrong direction and emerged from a different section of the cloud of mist from what he had intended.
Immediately thereafter, his brows furrowed slightly as he looked down to discover that there were wisps of white mist that were as thin as strands of hair swirling around his legs and lower abdomen. Bursts of cial energy were seeping into his body from the mist, gradually numbing his body and making him feel as if he were truly being frozen solid.
Han Li immediately reacted to the situation, conjuring up the semi-transparent True Extreme Membrane over his body to keep out the white mist and prevent it from affecting him any further.
This seemed like a lengthy process, but in reality, the entire sequence had taken ce in the blink of an eye.
Before he had a chance to do anything else, a gigantic being emerged from the vortex of seawater down below with a loud ssh.
This was a blue giant that was several hundred feet tall, and its body seemed to consist entirely of seawater. It was quite hideous in appearance, with a disproportionatelyrge headpared with the rest of its body, and its limbs also varied in length and thickness, as if it had been thrown together haphazardly without any regard for symmetry and proportions.
The blue water giant rose up into the air, positioning itself directly in Han Li''s way as it swatted a massive blue hand directly at him.
Even before the giant hand arrived, a gust of ferocious wind swept through the air, causing the space in its wake to blur and warp, and even Han Li couldn''t help but sway unsteadily from the immense wind pressure.
However, Han Li was able to quickly steady himself, then threw a vicious punch in retaliation without taking any evasive measures.
A burst of tremendous force erupted through the air, causing the space up ahead to twist and warp amid a deafening boom.
Countless white ripples emerged once again, then came together to form an enormous white fist projections that struck the blue giant before its attack managed to reach Han Li.
A series of ripples instantly emerged on the section of the giant''s body that was struck by the fist projection, forming a swirling vortex.
To Han Li''s astonishment, the white fist projection vanished into the vortex, then emerged on the other side of the giant''s body before continuing onward and striking nothing but empty air, leaving its targetpletely unscathed.
Immediately thereafter, the vortex on the blue giant''s body sealed over in the blink of an eye, and at this point, its massive blue palm had also reached Han Li.
It was toote for Han Li to dodge the attack, and he was sent flying as if he had been struck by an asteroid, tumbling through the air over a huge distance.
However, he was quickly able to steady himself, and even though his face had paled slightly, he hadn''t been harmed by the attack.
Right at this moment, the blue giant came charging toward him again.
"It''s only been less than 30,000 years since west met, but you''ve made significant strides in your control over this Immaterial Water Giant conjured up by your gentle waterws. This thing is the perfect counter to a Profound Immortal like him!" Han Qiu praised.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Han Qiu. You''ve also made some good progress in your cial icews." Despite Patriarch Lu Kun''s humble response, the proud look in his eyes betrayed his true emotions.
"I can''t even begin topare with you when ites to mastery over the power ofws, Fellow Daoist Lu Kun. Now that we''ve both shown what we''re capable of, it''s Fellow Daoist Gu Gu turn to show us what she''s capable of," Han Qiu chuckled.
While Han Li was being upied by Han Qiu and Lu Kun, the dark cloud in the sky had already swelled to several dozen kilometers in size, and there were bolts of silver lightning shing incessantly within it.
Right at this moment, Mistress Gu Gu swept a hand through the air to release an incantation seal, and the entire cloud churned violently amid a sh of lightning.
All of a sudden, a torrential downpour came raining down from the heavens.
The rain was extremely heavy, and what was very strange was that the droplets of rain were connected together, forming strings of rain that cascaded down from above.
Han Li had only just evaded a punch from the blue giant, and he looked up as his brows furrowed slightly.
The strings of rain came falling down, and as soon as they made contact with his body, they immediately began to wrap around him like lengths of rope.
In the blink of an eye, his body had already been bound by several hundred strings of rain.
Silver light surged over the True Extreme Membrane on his skin as he raised his arms in a powerful motion, snapping all of the strings of rain around his body amid a string of dull thuds.
These strings of rain were extremely flexible and supple, and a few dozen or several hundred of them posed no threat to him, but if he were to be bound by thousands or tens of thousands of them, then the consequences would be catastrophic!
Han Li''s expression darkened significantly as bright azure light erupted all over his body, and he attempted to fly out of the area epassed under the dark cloud.
However, the blue giant instantly got in his way, sending its massive palms crashing down upon him.
Han Li thrust his fists through the air in retaliation, and two bursts of tremendous force struck the giant''s palms, leaving a pair of white marks in the space in their wake.
Blue light shed from the giant''s palms, and the two bursts of power passed through without being able to inflict any damage upon the giant.
Meanwhile, the giant''s palms continued toe crashing down without slowing in the slightest.
Han Li let loose a frustrated roar as he dodged to the side, and in the span of just a few seconds, his body had been bound by several hundred strings of rain once again.
As a result, his movements had be far slower than before, but he was still just barely able to evade the giant''s palm strikes.
All of a sudden, the blue giant opened its cavernous mouth, and around a dozen millstone-sized balls of blue water came flying out from within. The balls of water were shimmering with blue light while giving off powerful energy fluctuations as they hurtled directly toward Han Li.
At the same time, it swiveled around and charged toward Han Li once again.
Han Li waspletely preupied with this unkible giant, so he was unable to deal with the strings of rain that were wrapping themselves around his body, and his movements became more and more restricted.
However, if one were to look closely here, they would notice that the light radiating from the bodies of the three Ancestral Gods had also dimmed significantly, and this was particrly true for Gu Gu and Lu Kun.
A few secondster, a translucent blue cocoon had appeared in the air, and Han Li''s figure could just barely be made out through it. At this point, he was virtuallypletely immobilized.
The blue giant had also ceased its attacks, and it was hovering next to the blue cocoon in apletely skilled manner.
"Thank you for your hard work, fellow daoists. You can leave the rest to me now!"
A hint of tion shed through Han Qiu''s eyes as he let loose a low cry, and countless white runes emerged from his body amid a sh of white light, releasing a burst of incredibly powerfulw fluctuations that fused into the white mist.
At the same time, the white light radiating from his body was rapidly dimming at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
The white mist immediately began to churn violently as it surged toward Han Li, inundating Han Li along with the blue cocoon around him to form a massive ball of white mist, within which a burst of cialw fluctuations was swirling incessantly.
Shortly thereafter, the white mist dissipated to reveal a white ball of ice that was several hundred feet in diameter, with Han Li''s bodypletely frozen within it.
Chapter 99: Admission of Identity
Chapter 99: Admission of Identity
Looking at the immobilized figure within the massive ball of ice, both Patriarch Lu Kun and Mistress Gu Gu heaved an internal sigh of relief.
Even though the battle had onlysted less than 20 seconds, the incredible strength disyed by Han Li had been downright astonishing to them. Thankfully, with theirbined efforts, they were finally able to trap him.
In contrast, the members of the Luo n on Dark Veil Ind were greatly rmed to see this, and horrified expressions had appeared on most of their faces.
"Senior Liu!" Luo Feng let loose a despairing gry, and a hopeless look appeared on his face.
This was what he had been most afraid of.
Han Li was the only one that their Luo n could rely on, and now that he had fallen, he didn''t even dare to imagine what was going to be of the Luo n.
"I must thank you again for your efforts, fellow daoists. I''ll admit that I didn''t anticipate for this man to be able to oppose our powers ofws with his brute strength alone. If it weren''t for your assistance, I would''ve been in a great deal of trouble here," Han Qiu said with a pleased smile.
"I suggest you put an end to this right now. The longer you dy, the more potential for unforeseen circumstances to arise," Mistress Gu Gu said.
"Indeed, Fellow Daoist Gu Gu."
A cold gleam shed through Han Qiu''s eyes as he spoke, and a burst of white light appeared in one of his hands as he casually swiped it in the direction of the ball of ice up ahead.
A burst of white light shed through the air, and a crescent-shaped white de with a dragon engraved onto its surface appeared alongside a burst ofw fluctuations.
The white de shuddered as it sped through the air as a streak of white light, cutting into the ball of ice in a sh before hurtling directly toward Han Li without slowing down in the slightest.
However, right at this moment, an unexpected turn of events began to unfold.
Han Li was previouslypletely immobilized within the ball of ice, but all of a sudden, his eyes moved ever so slightly.
Immediately thereafter, countless bursts of golden light erupted from his body, illuminating the entire ball of ice, giving it the appearance of a scintiting golden sun that was hanging in the sky.
A loud crack rang out, and the entire ball of ice shuddered as a series ofrge cracks appeared on its surface, following which the entire ball of ice exploded violently, sending countless chunks of ice flying in all directions alongside a cloud of cial mist.
A giant golden ape that was over 300 feet tall sprang out from within, and its entire body was glowing with dazzling golden radiance, while the crescent-shaped white de had been caught in its furry grasp.
The white de was trembling violently as it attempted to break free by slicing viciously into the giant ape''s palm, sending sparks flying in all directions, but it wasn''t even able to leave the slightest mark on the True Extreme Membrane on the surface of the ape''s palm.
The trio of Ancestral Gods were greatly rmed by this abrupt turn of events, and all of the members of the Luo n were alsopletely rooted to the spot.
However, unlike everyone else, there was a hint of tion shing through Luo Feng''s eyes.
The giant golden ape let loose a thunderous, beastly roar, then closed its fingers around the crescent-shaped white de with all its might.
A dull thump rang out as the de was pulverized in its grasp, having been crushed into a pile of translucent powder.
Han Qiu shuddered violently, and his aura instantly waned significantly in the wake of the destruction of his bonded treasure.
Mistress Gu Gu and Patriarch Lu Kun exchanged a nce, and both of them could see their own astonishment mirrored in one another''s eyes.
Meanwhile, the blue water giant sprang into action once again, charging toward the giant golden ape as itshed out with its fists.
Bright blue light erupted from its fists as a pair of massive blue fist projections wereunched through the air, causing the space in its wake to shudder violently.
Instead of retaliating with its own fists, the giant golden ape took a deep breath, causing its chest to swell appreciably before it opened its mouth to let loose an explosive roar.
A burst of transparent soundwaves swept through the air, causing the space in its wake to twist and warp violently, creating a series of ripples that were visible to the naked eye and even a clusters of ck spatial rifts.
In the instant that the pair of blue fist projections came into contact with the burst of soundwaves, the former was instantly destroyed.
In the next instant, the transparent soundwaves swept over the blue water giant''s entire body, causing it tremble and warp violently.
Blue light began to sh erratically all over its body, andrge pirs of blue light were erupting out of its body before spraying in all directions.
Patriarch Lu Kun''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he made a rapid string of hand seals, releasing several bursts of blue light that vanished into the giant''s body.
However, his efforts appeared to bepletely futile, and the water giant''s condition was worsening by the second. Finally, a loud thump rang out as the giant exploded into countless tiny droplets of water, which then quickly disintegrated into water vapor in the face of the destructive soundwaves.
Patriarch Lu Kun immediately gave a muffled groan as the blue light radiating from his body dimmed significantly.
After letting loose that thunderous roar, the giant golden ape sprang up toward the dark cloud up above, then thrust its arm upward violently as scintiting golden light erupted from its fist.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as a mountainous golden fist projection erupted into the heavens before plunging straight into the dark cloud, releasing a burst of indescribably powerful force to form a series of golden hurricanes that tore through the air in all directions.
Mistress Gu Gu was greatly rmed to see this, but it was toote for her to do anything.
A string of loud cracks and pops rang out as the dark cloud in the sky was brutally torn apart before exploding violently, quickly disintegrating into nothingness.
Mistress Gu Gu let loose a muffled groan as she stumbled back a step, and her aura fluctuated in an unstable manner while the ck light radiating from her body also dimmed significantly.
Afterying waste to the dark cloud, the giant golden ape swept its gaze over the three Ancestral Gods before settling its attention on Han Qiu, upon which a burst of cold killing intent appeared in its eyes.
Immediately thereafter, its enormous body transformed into a golden shadow as it pounced on the trio of Ancestral Gods.
Whether it was intentional or not, both Patriarch Lu Kun and Mistress Gu Gu sprang away in opposite directions to distance themselves from Han Qiu.
Despite this, the giant golden ape didn''t alter its trajectory in the slightest. Instead, it sped up even further as it continued on its original course.
Han Qiu made a rapid string of hand seals while hurriedly staging a retreat, and dazzling white light erupted from his body, forming a white light barrier that enveloped him from head to toe.
Bursts of powerfulw fluctuations emanated from the white light barrier, which was also releasing countless white runes that drifted through the air.
Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release a translucent white ice crystal, which began to revolve on the spot, and all of the white runes instantly converged toward it. In the blink of an eye, thebination of the ice crystal and the white runes transformed into a white ice dragon that was over 100 feet in length beforeunching itself at the oing golden ape.
The giant golden ape gave a cold harrumph as it thrust its fist through the air, and a ball of dazzling golden light erupted from its fist amid a burst of dull rumbling. The ball of golden light then transformed into a mountainous golden fist projection in a sh as it continued to hurtle toward the white ice dragon.
The ice dragon opened its mouth to release a thick pir of white light in retaliation, and waves of white cial qi swept through the air in all directions in a frenzy, leavingrge patches of frost in their wake.
The fist projection shed with the pir of light with an earth-shattering boom, and thetter was instantly destroyed.
The golden fist projection was only slowed down slightly before crashing into the white ice dragon''s body.
The ice dragon also met the same fate as the pir of light, exploding into countless ice crystals, while a burst of powerful shockwaves erupted into the heavens.
At this point, theyer of white light around Han Qiu''s body was only as thin as a sheet of paper, and he was sent flying back by the devastating shockwaves, hurtling through the sky like an asteroid before crashing into the sea down below with an enormous ssh.
The giant golden ape was just about to continue to give chase when a male voice suddenly rang out up above.
"Hold on, Fellow Daoist Liu! Let''s be civilized!"
The giant golden ape stopped in its tracks as it raised its head to look up.
Patriarch Lu Kun and Mistress Gu Gu were approaching it, and they stopped a short distance away.
"Your powers are truly incredible, Fellow Daoist Liu. I am genuinely in awe!" Patriarch Lu Kun said with a friendly smile as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Given your incredible power, we''re willing to concede ownership of Dark Veil Ind to you. This battle is entirely the result of a misunderstanding, and it wouldn''t do any of us any good to continue, so why don''t we stop here?" Mistress Gu Gu suggested.
The giant golden ape''s eyes narrowed slightly as a hint of blue light shed through its pupils, and it remained silent as its brows furrowed slightly.
All of a sudden, Han Qiu flew out of the sea in the distance with a loud ssh, and his aura was severely diminished, indicating that he had suffered severe injuries.
"Now that you''ve had a taste of Fellow Daoist Liu''s power, I''m sure you''re no longer opposed to granting him control of Dark Veil Ind, right, Fellow Daoist Han?" Patriarch Lu Kun asked as he turned to Han Qiu.
Han Qiu was silent for a moment before suddenly bursting intoughter. "Indeed, I am truly in awe and admiration of your powers, Fellow Daoist Liu. I have no objections if you wish to take over Dark Veil Ind."
The giant golden ape''s gaze lingered on Han Qiu for a while longer before it quickly reverted back into its human form amid a sh of golden light.
"I already dered earlier that I have no intention of battling any of you. If you wish to leave, then please go ahead," Han Li said with a faint smile.
With that, the tension in the air was instantly alleviated significantly.
"Fellow Daoist Liu, this may have been a rough introduction, but it''s an introduction nheless, and I''m pleased to have made your acquaintance. All of the powers in the ck Wind Sea are constantly at war with one another, so given how close our inds are, we need to rely on one another to ward off external enemies. Now that you''ve taken over Dark Veil Ind, you shoulde and visit us when you get the chance," Patriarch Lu Kun said with a faint smile.
"Indeed. Ancestral Gods like us have no powerful backers or mentors, so we can only cultivate on our own, and it would be invaluable for us to exchange our cultivation insights and experiences with one another. In light of that, all of us gather together every once in a while to discuss cultivation, or exchange resources with each other.
¡°Given the lofty heights that you''ve already reached at such a young age, there''s a very good chance that you''ll be able to advance to the Golden Immortal Stage in the future, so it''s very important that you learn more about the powers ofws," Han Qiu chimed in with a nod, and there was a slightly sycophantic tone to his voice as he spoke.
"I''ll be sure to visit all of you if I have some spare time in the future," Han Li replied with a nod.
Chapter 100: Cow Head Mask
Chapter 100: Cow Head Mask
"Apologies once again for the intrusion, Fellow Daoist Liu. I''ll be taking my leave now," Mistress Gu Gu said, then sped away into the distance as a ck shadow.
"Farewell for now, Fellow Daoist Liu!" Patriarch Lu Kun cupped his fist toward Han Li and Han Qiu in a parting salute, then also departed.
Thus, Han Qiu was the only one left standing in front of Han Li, and he showed no intention of leaving.
"Is there something else I can help you with, Fellow Daoist Han?" Han Li asked as a cold tone crept into his voice.
"I would also like to apologize for the intrusion, Fellow Daoist Liu," Han Qiu said as he cupped his fist toward Han Li in an apologetic salute.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he offered no response.
After a brief hesitation, Han Qiu continued, "I do indeed have something that I wish to discuss with you, Fellow Daoist Liu."
"Go ahead," Han Li prompted in a calm voice.
"ording to my knowledge, Fellow Daoist Luo Meng was able toe into possession of a Soulbirth Flower some time ago, and I''m assuming that the flower is now in your possession. Seeing as you''re pursuing the path of the Profound Immortal, I''m sure you have no use for such a flower. As such, would you be able to give it to me? Rest assured, I''ll be sure to provide you with satisfactorypensation," Han Qiu said as a hopeful look appeared on his face.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I''ve found no such flower on the ind," Han Li replied with no change in his expression.
Han Qiu''s smile immediately stiffened, and his expression darkened ever so slightly.
"I see. In that case, I''ll be taking my leave now," Han Qiu said with a parting nod, then flew away as a streak of white light, vanishing into the distant sky in the blink of an eye.
Han Li looked on as Han Qiu departed, and only after he had vanished out of sight did he descend back onto Dark Veil Ind.
At some point, the barrier of water above the ind had disappeared, and the sea around the ind had returned to its former peaceful state, as if nothing had ever happened.
"Senior Liu!"
Luo Feng and Several Body Integration cultivators of the Luo n immediately gathered around Han Li with ecstatic expressions, and they were surrounded by many more cultivators at or below the Spatial Tempering Stage.
"We cannot thank you enough, Senior. You have saved our Luo n from certain destruction," Luo Feng said with a serious expression, then fell to his knees and kowtowed to Han Li with the utmost respect and reverence.
"Thank you, Senior Liu!"
All of the other members of the Luo n also followed suit.
"No need to thank me, Chief Luo. I promised to protect Dark Veil Ind, so this is only to be expected of me," Han Li said.
Judging from how these people were no longer referring to him as their Ancestral God, Luo Feng had to have already exined his identity to them.
This was a good thing. After all, this wasn''t something that could''ve been kept a secret for very long anyway.
Luo Feng and the others still wanted to shower Han Li with more words of praise and gratitude, but Han Li excused himself by proiming that he needed to rest after that intense battle, and he returned to his courtyard.
¡¡
Several months passed by in a sh.
Han Li was standing beside the wooden hut in the secret area, inspecting the Soulbirth Flower as he reached out to gently stroke one of its petals.
Yet another golden stripe had appeared on the Soulbirth Flower''s petals, amounting to a total of three stripes.
At over 30,000 years of age, a golden hue was beginning to peek through the flower''s purple petals, giving it a regal aura.
Han Li''s gaze was settled on the flower, but he was pondering the battle that he had fought against the Earthly Deity Avatars of the three Ancestral Gods several months ago.
Even though the three Earthly Deity Avatars were ultimately defeated, they had given Han Li more of an insight into the powers ofws, and he became even more interested in attaining this power for himself.
Momentster, he slowly withdrew his hand and stood up straight again.
Right as he was about to turn away, he noticed a sh of light appear in the small wooden hut next to Luo Meng''s grave out of the corners of his eyes, following which an object flew out from within.
He turned to discover that it was the head of Luo Meng''s statue that had emerged from the wooden hut, and it was hovering in mid-air while glowing with blue light.
Previously, whenever he had tried to observe the power of faith through the statue head, some type of phenomenon would always be triggered, with the most intense asion causing such severe tremors that the walls around the courtyard he was staying in had been cracked.
In order to avoid further simr urrences in the future, he had renovated the wooden hut in the secret area, and during the past month, he had spent the majority of his time here, aside from at night, when he was allowing his Heaven Controlling Vial to absorb moonlight.
As a result, the statue head had naturally also been moved into this secret area.
Previously, as long as he didn''t try to observe the power of faith within the head using the method contained within the jade slip, the head would remain as still as an inanimate object, and this was the first time that it had flown out on its own.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he approached the head for a closer examination, but a sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in his heart, and he reflexively sprang back to take evasive measures.
All of a sudden, a burst of blue light exploded violently in the air, sending powerful shockwaves sweeping in all directions.
Han Li caught a nce of the Soulbirth Flower of the corners of his eyes, and he immediately rushed over to the flower to shield it from the explosion.
He crossed his arms in front of himself, then drew upon all of his magic power to conjure up an azure light barrier that kept the shockwaves at bay.
The shockwaves crashed into the azure light barrier one after another, then swept away toward either direction, andrge plumes of dust and debris were thrown up in the surrounding forest as dozens of trees were felled in an instant.
The newly renovated wooden hut was unable to withstand the shockwaves, and it copsed once again into an even more dpidated state than before.
More shockwaves continued to erupt from the statue head for quite some time before gradually receding, and the blue light glowing from within it also faded.
Right at this moment, a cow head mask that was roughly the size of a human head flew out of the statue head without any warning before rushing directly at Han Li.
The entire mask was blue in color, and it was riddled with a type of strange pattern that Han Li had never seen before. Bursts of peculiar fluctuations were emanating incessantly out of the mask, and there was a pair of strange symbols situated at the be of the mask, seemingly spelling out the numbers "1" and "5".
Han Li reflexivelyshed out with his fist to attack the mask, but the mask immediately took on an insubstantial, allowing Han Li''s fist and arm to pass directly through it as it advanced forward to hover in front of the Soulbirth Flower.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, then turned around to see bursts of light blue ripples emerging from the cow mask amid a sh of bue light.
Immediately thereafter, the stiff and rigid-looking lines of the mask''s mouth began to move, and it dered, "Wyrm 15, it''s already been several years since youstpleted a mission for the guild, and yourst offering has also expired.
¡°You must travel to Sea Fig Ind to meet up with Wyrm 3 within a month, and he''ll take you toplete this mission. If you do not arrive by the deadline, you will be evicted from the Transient Guild and be forced to bear all the consequences."
After the voice trailed off, the fluctuations emanating from the mask disappeared, but it didn''t fall to the ground. Instead, it continued to hover in mid-air while shing faintly with blue light.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but he suddenly cast a cold gaze toward the Soulbirth Flower.
All of a sudden, he gave a cold harrumph as he made a strange hand seal, then abruptly reached out and made a grabbing motion. A translucent thread instantly shot out of his fingertip, then pierced straight into the stamen of the Soulbirth Flower.
As his hand was slowly drawn back, the translucent thread quivered as it pulled a frantically writhing ck entity out of the Soulbirth Flower.
As soon as the ck entity left the stamen of the flower, it began to twist and write violently, revealing itself to be a miniature ck figure that was only several inches in size.
The miniature ck figure bore a strong resemnce to Luo Meng''s statues, and Han Li could tell that its aura was also identical to that of the residual aura in the statue head.
"You''re Luo Meng!" Han Li murmured to himself in a surprised voice.
A panicked look appeared on the miniature ck figure''s face, and its mouth was opening and closing incessantly, but it wasn''t able to make any sound. At the same time, wisps of ck qi were scattering into the air from its body, and it looked as if it were about to disintegrate.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
This miniature ck figure seemed to have been formed by only by a wisp of the aura of Luo Meng''s soul. It wasn''t actually his soul, and it couldn''t even be counted as a soul fragment. Given its current state, it wasn''t going to take long before it would disintegrate.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li made a quick series of hand seals, releasing several azure incantation seals that vanished straight into the miniature ck figure.
Azure light immediately shed over its body, and an azure light barrier appeared to envelop the entire miniature ck figure like a membrane.
The escaping ck qi was impeded by the membrane and unable to dissipate any further, thereby stabilizing the miniature ck figure.
Its lips began to move once again, and a hoarse and extremely faint voice rang out from within its body. "Thank you, Fellow Daoist..."
"Don''t be in a rush to thank me. What are your intentions hiding a wisp of your soul''s aura in the Soulbirth Flower?" Han Li asked in a cold voice.
"You are not from our tribe... yet you know my name and were willing to help me stabilize my soul, so I presume you are not an enemy of our Dark Veil Ind... Why is it that you''ve appeared in this secret area of mine?" Instead of answering Han Li''s question, the miniature ck figure responded with a question of its own.
"I just so happened to be passing through and saved your Dark Veil Ind from an invasion from the Cold Crystal Race, and I''ve continued to stay on the ind due to various reasons that I won''t exin to you," Han Li replied in a truthful manner.
Luo Meng was silent for a moment, then said, "I see, so our ind owes you a great favor... May I ask... where Luo Feng is right now?"
"Regardless of whether you believe what I''m saying or not, answer my questions first, and then we''ll talk about other things," Han Li ordered in a cold voice.
Chapter 101: The Transient Guild
Chapter 101: The Transient Guild
Luo Meng shuddered slightly at the sight of the change in Han Li''s demeanor, and he sighed, "Please don''t be angry, Fellow Daoist. Truth be told... even I''m not very sure of how this happened myself...
¡°All I remember is that my injuries had be too severe, and I fell unconscious after I left behind my final words... Only several days ago did I suddenly awaken and realize that I had already perished, with only this wisp of my soul''s aura remaining in this Soulbirth Flower..."
"If you already woke up several days ago, then why didn''t you reveal yourself? Why did you continue to hide in this Soulbirth Flower?" Han Li asked.
"Well... The first reason for this is that I''m too weak in my current form, and I ran the risk of instantly disintegrating out of existence if I left the Soulbirth Flower. As for the second reason... that''s because I was wary of your existence," Luo Meng replied in a rather hesitant voice.
"You recognize me?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Truth be told... After I awakened, I was able to use the feeble connection I still had with the statues on the ind to see what''s recently been happening on the ind during my descendants'' prayer sessions... Hence, I did find out about the efforts you made to protect our Dark Veil Ind," Luo Meng replied after a brief hesitation.
Han Li fell silent as he watched the miniature ck figure before him with a cold expression.
Judging from the circumstances, Luo Meng was most likely telling the truth. Following his demise, some of his soul''s aura was somehow drawn into the Soulbirth Flower, which had the ability to give rise to souls. After that, the wisp of soul''s aura became one with the flower, and that was how it had managed to escape Han Li''s detection.
Now that the flower had been matured to a certain extent, its soul-gathering ability had been enhanced, thereby allowing this wisp of soul aura to form a temporary soul fragment. Even though the temporary soul fragment had been bolstered by Han Li''s incantation seals, judging from its stuttering speech, it most likely wasn''t going to be able to maintain this form for much longer.
Luo Meng was growing a little uneasy in the face of Han Li''s silence, and he said in a sheepish voice, "Please forgive me for remaining hidden and trying to fool you, Fellow Daoist... I''m aware that you also wish to pursue the path of the Earth Immortal... so I harbor no delusions that you may help me regain a physical body. As long as you promise me to continue protecting my people, I''m willing to answer all of your questions to the best of my abilities."
"Rest assured, I''m somewhat indebted to your Luo n, so I will protect your people as long as the circumstances permit me to do so," Han Li replied.
"I believe you, Fellow Daoist Liu. If you have any questions, then go ahead and ask them. I''ll be sure to tell you everything that I know," Luo Meng said with a firm nod.
"First, let''s talk about the Transient Guild that this mask just mentioned. What is that all about?" Han Li asked as he took a nce at the cow mask, which was still suspended in mid-air.
"Let''s see, how do I put this... The Transient Guild is a very mysterious organization, so I don''t know too much about it, and I only joined the organization by chance... However, it was all thanks to this guild that I was able to achieve everything that I went on to achieve..." Luo Meng replied after a brief hesitation.
"Oh? Would you care to borate?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"In the past, my cultivation aptitude was quite ordinary. Even though I encountered some opportunities and stumbled my way to the Body Integration Stage, I was perpetually stumped by a cultivation bottleneck and had no hope of further progression...
¡°After that, I received all types of cultivation resources and guidance in cultivation arts from the Transient Guild, and as a result, I was able to make rapid progress in my cultivation, breaking through to the Grand Ascension Stage before ascending to immortality...
¡°After that, I continued to cultivate for countless years without being able to manifest any powers ofws, and it was only through the help of the guild again that I was able to be an Earthly Immortal."
"Surely the Transient Guild wouldn''t have just provided you with all this assistance free of charge," Han Li said as he raised an eyebrow.
"Of course not... After I became an immortal, I had to return all of the cultivation resources that I used up. For that, I had to serve the Transient Guild for tens of thousands of years withoutpensation before I was finally able to return my debt... However, after that, I chose to stay in the guild so that I could retain my membership status," Luo Meng exined.
"Is there some type of benefit that you can derive from being a member of the guild even after you be an immortal?" Han Li asked.
"Indeed, Fellow Daoist Liu. The Transient Guild is a far more mysterious and powerful organization than the average person can even begin to fathom... On top of that, the guild champions a policy of equality, where anyone can exchange for anything with one another... After I sustained my severe injuries 10,000 years ago, I was able to exchange for a Soulbirth Flower from the guild in order to reform an Earthly Deity Avatar," Luo Meng exined.
"That''s quite interesting," Han Li mused as he stroked his chin in contemtion.
"It''s no exaggeration to say that you can obtain virtually anything you want from the Transient Guild as long as you can afford it... You can even recruit powerful allies from the guild to help you kill enemies." Luo Meng seemed to have recalled some past memories, and a hint of excitement had crept into his voice.
"Surely all things must be bnced. If there are so many benefits to staying in the Transient Guild, then I''m sure you have to pay a hefty price to remain in the guild, right?" Han Li asked.
"Indeed... The Transient Guild isn''t an organization that you can remain in as you please. The guild has very strict rules, and at the lower levels, in order to maintain membership status, one has to either periodically offer uprge quantities of resources to the guild... orplete missions released by the higher-ups...
¡°Otherwise, not only will you be evicted from the guild, you''ll also have to pay an unimaginable price..." Luo Meng replied with a wry smile.
"What kind of missions do they release?" Han Li asked as a hint of intrigue appeared in his eyes.
"I''m a bit embarrassed to admit this, but I''ve actually only gone on one mission released by the guild... and it was extremely perilous. It was during that mission that my Earthly Deity Avatar was destroyed while shielding me from a fatal blow, leaving only its head behind. My main body was also severely wounded, but I was fortunate enough to have been able to escape with my life," Luo Meng replied.
"You must''ve gone into seclusion in this secret area to recover while nurturing this Soulbirth Flower after that mission, right?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right... It was also from that point that I never participated in any of the guild''s other missions... During the following several thousand years, I had always maintained my membership status in the guild by scraping together resources for offerings..." Luo Meng replied.
"In that case, how did you perish in the end? Even if your Earthly Deity Avatar waspletely destroyed, surely that wouldn''t pose any threat to your life. Besides, the head of your Earthly Deity Avatar still remains intact, so you can continue to harness the power of faith," Han Li said in a puzzled voice.
Luo Meng fell silent upon hearing this, seemingly lost in past memories.
Only after a long while did he shake his head as he replied in a forlorn voice, "I had already recovered from my injuries, but due to the destruction of my avatar, the power ofws that I was able to wield was very limited. Hence, I hid in this secret area for over 8,000 years... But all of a sudden, an enemy of mine somehow managed to track me down.
¡°As a result, I had no choice but to emerge from this secret area and face him with my true body. In the end, I was able to kill him, but I had also sustained severe injuries during the battle... After that, I was able to return to this secret area, but my old injuries werepounded by new ones, and I was unable to recover..."
"If the missions are so dangerous, surely the guild wouldn''t just send anyone toplete them. Could it be that all low-level members of the Transient Guild are beings of the same caliber as Ancestral Gods like yourself?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I''m afraid I don''t know that..." Luo Meng replied with a shake of his head.
"You may not have any acquaintances in the guild, but seeing as you''ve gone on a mission, surely you''ve met some of the guild''s other members," Han Li said.
"Allow me to exin, Fellow Daoists... The members of the Transient Guild will only meet while on missions, and no contact is made outside of that... On top of that, during gatherings of guild members, everyone must wear special masks handed down by the guild," Luo Meng exined.
"This is the mask that you''re talking about, right? This is indeed quite a special mask. You''ve already perished long ago, and all that remains is a wisp of your soul''s aura. I would say that my spiritual sense is more powerful than the average immortal of my level, but even I was unable to detect anything, yet it was still able to detect your existence," Han Li said as he pointed at the cow mask.
"That''s not the only remarkable thing about the mask... Not only is it able topletely conceal its wearer''s appearance and aura, it also acts as a treasure to facilitatemunication between guild members... As soon as someone loses their membership rights, the mask will immediately self-destruct," Luo Meng replied.
"What do you n to do about the matter that the mask just spoke of?" Han Li asked.
"What can I possibly do? In my current state, there''s no way I can do what the mask asks of me... Even if the guild sends people to investigate, by the time they get here, I will havepletely disappeared off the face of this realm... However, if they try to punish my people for my transgressions, I hope that you can keep your promise and help my people avert that crisis," Luo Meng replied with a concerned look on his face.
"You make it sound so easy. If the Transient Guild really is as powerful as you im, how will I possibly be able to protect this Dark Veil Ind on my own?" Han Li asked in a cold voice.
"I naturally wouldn''t dare to ask you to directly oppose the guild, but I would be eternally grateful if you could save some of my people and preserve the bloodline of my Dark Veil Ind," Luo Meng implored in a desperate voice.
"Perhaps there''s another way, but I''m not sure if it''ll work," Han Li said as a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes.
"What is it?" Luo Meng hurriedly asked.
"How about I go on this mission in your stead?" Han Li asked.
Luo Meng faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which an incredulous look appeared on his face. "As I already mentioned, all of the missions released by the guild are extremely perilous... Are you sure you want to go, Fellow Daoist Liu?"
Han Li was silent for a moment before replying in a truthful manner, "Truth be told, after hearing your description of the Transient Guild, it seems like this organization will be very useful to me. Hence, I require an identity that''ll allow me to remain in the guild. If this mask canpletely conceal my aura and appearance, then I''m sure no one will notice even if I go in your ce, right?"
Chapter 102: Late
Chapter 102: Late
"That would be perfect... The members of the Transient Guild only care about the mask, not the person, anyway... Even if they know that there''s a different person under the mask, as long as the mask hasn''t been destroyed, they would still ept the substitute...
¡°Also... it''s strictly prohibited to leak the identities of guild members... so that makes it even more difficult for anyone to find out that I''ve been reced..." Luo Meng said with a relieved smile, but his words were cutting off intermittently, and he seemed to be in a very feeble state.
An extremely thin wisp of ck mist slowly seeped out of his shoulder, then began to sway from side to side like a strand of seaweed.
"I can''t maintain this form much longer... Fellow Daoist Liu. If you have any other questions... then ask them now before it''s toote..." Luo Meng said with a wry smile as he turned to nce at the wisp of ck mist emerging from his shoulder.
Another wisp of ck mist began to seep out of his calf as he spoke.
"There''s nothing more I want to ask you. If you have dying wishes, then go ahead and tell me. I won''t turn them down as long as they''re within the realm of my capabilities," Han Li said with a shake of his head.
Luo Meng looked up at the heavens as he murmured, "Just keep your promise to protect my people... I wouldn''t dare to ask anything more of you... If my Luo n can make a resurgence someday, I would be... ecstatic..."
His voice gradually grew feebler and feebler, and his body also began to warp and fade, dissipating into wisps of ck mist that quickly disappeared.
Han Li was a little dazed as he stared at the spot where Luo Meng''s soul had just vanished. He couldn''t help but be moved by Luo Meng''s devotion to his people, even in death.
Only after a long while did he return to his senses, and he made a grabbing motion to draw the cow mask into his grasp.
This time, the mask maintained its substantial form and obediently flew into his hand.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he inspected the strange patterns on the mask in a slightly absentminded manner.
¡¡
Close to a monthter.
In a region of the sea countless kilometers away from Dark Veil Ind, dark gray clouds filled the entire sky, and ferocious gusts of wind were howling incessantly, sweeping up enormous waves.
A streak of azure light pierced through the waves like a peerlessly sharp sword, slicing the waves apart and sendingrge volumes of water sshing in all directions.
Within the streak of azure light was Han Li, whose facial features were concealed behind the blue cow mask that he was wearing, but his sharp and piercing eyes were visible through the eye holes on the mask.
On the surface of the sea several dozen kilometers up ahead was a round ind with a radius of no more than half a kilometer. Looking at the ind from afar, it resembled a green leaf that was bobbing up and down in the waves, and that was his destination.
Han Li slowed down slightly, and after flying for close to another 10 kilometers, the ind gradually became clearer in his field of view.
There were many sea fig trees growing all over the ind, forming a vast expanse of lush greenery. The massive canopies of the trees were intertwined together to form a giant canopy over the entire ind, with countless branches that were as thick as adult human armsyering on top of one another to form a sturdy wooden wall.
Countless thin and longteral roots were trailing down from these dense masses of branches, and they resembled the beard of an elderly man as some of them extended into the soil down below, while others trailed down into the seawater.
Han Li flew over the ind before drawing to a halt in mid-air and inspecting the ind from afar. The ground on the ind was littered with gray bird feces, but not a single seabird could be seen in the forest.
Furthermore, the only sound that he could hear came from the whistling of the wind through the branches of the sea fig trees, and the entire ind was abnormally quiet.
Right at this moment, a cold voice rang out beside Han Li''s ears.
"Wyrm 15, why are you entering the ind?"
Han Li was slightly taken aback by this voice as it hade from the mask that he was wearing rather than from the ind.
He didn''t dy any further as he descended onto the ind.
The soil on the ind was very soft and loamy, and each step that Han Li took would leave a footprint beneath him. He traversed through the gaps in the dense forest to arrive at the center of the ind, leaving a trail of footsteps in his wake.
At the center of an ind was a massive sea fig tree that three people could link their arms around. All of theteral roots hanging down from its branches had been cleared away to vacate a rather spacious area.
There were several figures in the area, and they were either standing or seated around the trunk of the tree.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the group, and his attention was immediately drawn to the red-robed man seated directly in front of the giant tree.
The man was wearing a crimson dragon mask that also had many strange runes engraved onto its surface, and the number "3" was engraved onto the be of the mask in strange characters.
This man was Wyrm 3.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly as he made this realization, but he didn''t say anything.
Wyrm 3 only took a casual nce at Han Li before withdrawing his gaze, disying no intention to speak with him.
Han Li naturally wasn''t going to initiate any conversation, either, and he turned his gaze toward the others.
One of the figures gathered around the tree was slightly hunched over and was wearing a loose-fitting purple robe and a blue goat mask, upon which was engraved the number "9".
The figure was resting on their haunches, staring at something on the ground, not even bothering to cast a single nce in Han Li''s direction.
Standing not far away from the purple-robed figure was a tall and broad man wearing a blue tiger mask, but he seemed to be more approachable and gave Han Li a slight nod.
Han Li didn''t say anything as he cast his gaze toward the number "6" on the man''s mask, and he returned the nod of acknowledgment.
To the left of the tree was an elegant woman in a mesh dress with an owl mask on her face. She was leaning against the trunk of the sea fig tree with her slender arms crossed in front of her chest, and as she turned to nce at Han Li, he caught a glimpse of the numbers "2" and "1" on her mask.
Behind her, on the other side of the sea fig tree, a head that was wearing a blue eagle mask that bore the numbers "2" and "5" poked out from behind the tree to take a nce at Han Li, then promptly ducked back behind the tree again.
There was also a thin figure hanging off a branch on the right side of the sea fig tree, and they were wearing a monkey mask with the number "8" engraved upon it.
Upon sensing Han Li''s gaze, the thin figure also turned to look at Han Li with their yellow eyes through the holes on their mask.
Below the monkey-masked figure was a thin man wearing a blue robe and a bear mask. He was seated in an upright position, meditating with his eyes closed, and the numbers "1" and "3" were engraved onto the be of his mask.
Perhaps it was due to the rules of the Transient Guild or for some other reason, but no one was conversing with anyone else, and even Wrym 3 wasn''t saying anything to anyone.
Han Li quickly picked a spot to sit at, then closed his eyes and began to meditate.
Eight days passed by in the blink of an eye, and no one else turned up during this time, but neither did anyone leave or speak.
The atmosphere was a very strange one.
On the morning of the eighth day, right as the first ray of light from the rising sun shone down upon the ind, Wyrm Three suddenly raised his head slightly, then stood up from the ground as he dered in a rather rigid voice, "Time''s up..."
Everyone quickly also stood up upon hearing this, and the thin monkey-masked man who had been seated on the tree branch this entire time immediately jumped down as well.
Right at this moment, a streak of light suddenly sped toward the ind from afar, then plummeted out of the sky like an asteroid before crashing down onto the ind.
The entire ind shuddered violently, and all of the tree branches rustled incessantly.
The streak of light faded to reveal a burly figure wearing a boar mask.
As soon as he set foot on the ind, he immediately rushed urgently toward the center of the ind, snapping all of the branches andteral roots in his path like a wrecking ball.
After arriving in the clearing, the man briefly inspected his surroundings, then yelled at the top of his lungs, "Which one of you is Wyrm Three?"
He then swept his gaze across everyone present without any inhibitions before his gaze finally settled on the red-robed man.
"So you''re Wyrm Three. Hurry up and announce the mission, I still have things to do after this," the boar-masked man said in a loud voice.
"You''rete, Wyrm 32," Wyrm 3 dered in a cold voice.
"Give it a rest, I''m onlyte by a few minutes. Hurry and announce the mission. I don''t have any time to waste here," the boar-masked man said in an impatient voice with a dismissive wave of his hand.
All of a sudden, a sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart, and he reflexively took a step backward.
In the next instant, ayer of red light suddenly appeared over Wyrm 3''s body, then transformed into a crimson inferno that enveloped him from head to toe. A scorching heatwave then erupted from his body, forcing everyone to rush back in retreat.
Immediately thereafter, he abruptly lunged forward with his one hand outstretched before him like a de, aimed directly at the boar-masked man''s chest.
In the face of Wyrm 3''s abrupt attack, the boar-masked man reacted extremely quickly, taking a step back as he made a hand seal to conjure up ayer of white light over his body.
At the same time, a white octagonal shield appeared before him.
The shield was riddled with rhomboid patterns, and there was ayer of dazzling white light radiating from its surface, giving off bursts ofw fluctuations.
Even though the boar-masked man was quite rushed in the defensive measures that he was adopting, Han Li noticed that thew fluctuations emanating from his shield were even more powerful than what Han Qiu had been able to muster up.
A dull thump rang out, and to everyone''s surprise, there was no resounding sh. Instead, the oue of the battle was decided after just that single sh.
To everyone''s shock and horror, Wyrm 3''s hand had already pierced through the octagonal mask and plunged straight into the boar-masked man''s heart.
Plumes of white smoke were rising up from the hole on his chest, and the muscles around it had already beenpletely liquefied, dripping down from his body like moltenva.
"For openly defying the guild''s orders and arrivingte, Wyrm 32''s membership status has been revoked," Wyrm 3 said in a cold voice as he slowly withdrew his hand.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the runes on the boar mask began to glow with dazzling light, following which the mask disintegrated into powder before dissipating into nothingness.
A face that was twisted in shock and agony was revealed beneath the mask, and it seemed that even up to the instant that the boar-masked man met his demise, he was still unable to believe that he had been unable to withstand even a single attack from his assant.
Chapter 103: Master of Red Moon Island
Chapter 103: Master of Red Moon Ind
The top of the boar-masked man''s head suddenly sprang open, and a blue nascent soul with a horrified look on its face flew out before attempting to flee into the distance.
Wyrm 3 flicked a finger through the air without even taking a single nce at the nascent soul, releasing a ball of fire that instantly vanished into thin air.
Close to 10 kilometers away, a streak of fire caught up to the blue nascent soul in an instant.
A dull thump rang out, and Wyrm 32''s nascent soul exploded into a burst of blue light before vanishing out of existence.
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this, but no one was able to see anyone else''s expression due to the fact that they were all wearing masks.
Wyrm 3 swept his gaze over everyone, and there was no intimidation in his eyes. Instead, his eyes werepletely aloof and apathetic, as if he were looking at a bunch of inanimate objects.
It was as if in his eyes, the people around him were no different from the rocks and trees on the ind, or were simply tools at his disposal.
"The mission you''ll be carrying out is to kill the master of Red Moon Ind, Gong Shuhong," Wyrm 3 dered in a cold voice.
This announcement was immediately met with a surprised reaction, and several people in the group clearly had their reservations about this mission target.
Han Li''s brows also furrowed slightly beneath his cow mask. He had heard about Gong Shuhong from Luo Feng before, and this was certainly not going to be an easy target to assassinate.
ording to Luo Feng, Gong Shuhong was a powerful Earthly Immortal with a mid-True Immortal Stage cultivation base. He cultivated thews of blood, which were an extremely rare branch of thews of water, and he was renowned all over the ck Wind Sea for his brutality and bloodlust.
Given how vicious and violent he was, he definitely had a great number of enemies, but not only was he extremely formidable, the power ofws that he cultivated was also extremely troublesome to deal with, so no one dared to go after him. Han Li certainly wasn''t expecting such a fearsome character to be the target of their mission.
"Wyrm 3, with all due respect, Red Moon Ind has always been a very mysterious ce and very rarely interacts with the other inds.
¡°On top of that, for some reason, the ind went into istion several thousand years ago, and all outside cultivators are prohibited from setting foot on the ind unless their presence on the ind is considered to be necessary by the ind master.
¡°It''s said that all trespassers are executed without exception..." the goat-masked Wyrm 8 said in a rather hesitant manner.
"There''s no need for you to worry about that. The guild has previously already sent people to infiltrate the ind, and they''ve brought back a great deal of information. We would''ve waited until we managed to learn more about the ind before releasing this mission, but half a month ago, the higher-ups in the guild passed down an order for Gong Shuhong to be killed as soon as possible," Wyrm 3 said as he took a nce at Wyrm 8.
"ording to what I''ve heard, Gong Shuhong ranks near the top among all ind masters in the entire ck Wind Sea, only below the masters of the central inds. On top of that, he has many Layman Immortals serving him, so he''s not to be taken lightly," the tiger-masked Wyrm 16 said in a grim voice.
His sentiment was immediately supported by the owl-masked woman, who said, "Indeed. On top of that, as an Earthly Immortal, he''ll be at the height of his powers on the ind that he rules over. If we venture onto his ind recklessly, we could..."
"What nonsense! Those so-called Earthly Immortals are just failed immortals who don''t possess the aptitude to pursue any other paths of cultivation! Only in a pitiful ce like your ck Wind Sea is someone like him considered to be a formidable target," Wyrm 3 scoffed with more than a hint of ridicule in his voice.
Han Li had been observing in silence this entire time, and he noticed that both Wyrm 8 and Wyrm 9 disyed very slight reactions to what they had just heard, seemingly taking objection to Wyrm 3''s derogatory words.
However, neither of them expressed their displeasure beyond that.
"Let me make this clear. If there are any deserters or cowards who are constantly hanging back on this mission, you''ll meet the same fate as Wyrm 32," Wyrm 3 warned in a cold voice.
Even though everyone was wearing masks, a few of them couldn''t help but exchange a few nces, and through their non-verbalmunication, it was clear that they were all praying for the best.
Wyrm 3 paid no heed to everyone''s reactions as he swept a hand through the air, and a burst of red light instantly appeared in the sky.
A draconic roar rang out from within the light, and a dragon-shaped flying ark that was rough 200 to 300 feet in length emerged.
The entire was fiery red in color, and at the front of the ark was a figurehead carved in the form of a dragon''s head. The entire ark was riddled with smooth golden spirit patterns, as well as engravings of fiery clouds, indicating that it was no ordinary treasure.
Wyrm 3 leaped up into the air beforending at the front of the spirit ark, following which his slightly rigid voice rang out again. "What are you all waiting for?"
"This is... an Acquired Immortal Treasure! As expected of an immortal of his caliber..." the goat-masked Wyrm 9 couldn''t help but praise as he looked up at the fiery red spirit ark, then leaped onto it behind Wyrm 3.
Everyone else also rose up into the air, and a hint of envy appeared in the eyes of many of them upon hearing what Wyrm 9 had just said.
Most of the people gathered here were Layman Immortals, and not only did they not have a single immortal treasure to share between them, barely any of them had ever even seen one before.
Han Li was also rather taken aback, and he couldn''t help but take a few extra nces at the spirit ark.
After everyone had jumped aboard, Wyrm 3 made a hand seal before casting a series of incantation seals into the spirit ark, and the entire ark instantly lit up with bright red light as scorching crimson mes appeared over its surface, resembling several soaring fiery dragons that carried the ark rapidly into the distance.
The speed at which the ark was moving was truly astonishing.
¡¡
Several dayster.
A streak of fiery red light sped across the sky above a turbulent blue sea, then suddenly stopped in mid-air, revealing a dragon-shaped flying ark inside.
Atop the ark stood several masked figures, and they were none other than the members of the Transient Guild who were traveling toward Red Moon Ind.
At this moment, Han Li was standing on one side of the ark, casting his gaze toward arge ind close to 100 kilometers away.
To call it an ind was a bit of an injustice as it was countless timesrger than Dark Veil Ind and resembled a huge continent.
"Here''s some information regarding Red Moon Ind. Take a look for yourselves," Wyrm 3 said in an emotionless voice.
He then swept a hand through the air, releasing several white jade slips that flew toward Han Li and the others.
Han Li epted one of the jade slips, then took a nce at everyone around him, upon which he saw several people pressing their jade slip against the be of their mask.
He did the same thing, and sure enough, once the jade slip was pressed against his mask, a series of images and text instantly appeared in his mind.
After inspecting the contents of the jade slip for a moment, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he discovered Red Moon Ind was evenrger than he had anticipated. It was truly like a continent.
"Wyrm 3, I''m assuming those six or seven locations annotated on the map in the jade slip must be the ces where Gong Shuhong is most likely to appear. Which one should we go to first?" the goat-masked Wyrm 9 asked.
"In order to ascertain his location as soon as possible, we''re going to split up into three groups and infiltrate the ind from the east, the west, and the south. Each group will explore the annotated points closest to them first, then gradually advance toward the center of the ind until we track him down," Wyrm 3 replied without any hesitation.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this. He had already anticipated this type of arrangement, and in reality, he wanted nothing more than to be split up. In fact, the ideal situation would be for him to go off on his own, but clearly, that wasn''t going to be possible.
Sure enough, Wyrm 3 continued, "Wyrm 8, Wyrm 13, Wyrm 21, the three of you will form a group led by Wyrm 8, and you''ll enter the ind from the east to explore the annotated points on the eastern side."
The monkey-masked Wyrm 8 cupped his fist in a salute to ept the order.
The bear-masked man and the owl-faced woman also nodded in response before joining Wyrm 8 in silence.
Wyrm 3 then swept his gaze over the remaining guild members, and continued, "Wyrm 9, Wyrm 15, Wyrm 16, the three of you will form a group led by Wyrm 9, and you''ll enter the ind from the west."
"You can count on me, Wyrm 3," the goat-masked Wyrm 9 dered with a respectful salute.
Han Li and the tiger-masked man exchanged a nce with one another, then joined Wyrm 9.
Wyrm 3 didn''t even bother to take a nce at Wyrm 9. Instead, he turned to the eagle-masked man as he instructed, "Wyrm 25, you can apany me and enter the ind from the south."
Wyrm 25 epted the order in a slightly hoarse voice, then made his way over to Wyrm 3.
"Gong Shuhong is adept in thews of blood, so he''s extremely sensitive to auras. On top of that, there are surveince restrictions set up all over the ind. Under normal circumstances, we wouldn''t have to worry as our masks can conceal our auras, but if we''re too careless with the use of our spiritual sense, then there''s a very good chance that we could be discovered.
¡°Hence, do not use your spiritual sense after entering the ind unless it''s absolutely necessary to do so," Wyrm 3 said in a stern voice.
"Yes," everyone replied in unison.
"Onest thing: if any of you find Gong Shuhong before I do, do not engage him in battle and immediately notify me using your mask. Even though it''s very unlikely that he''ll be able to detect us when we''re using our masks, as a safety precaution, make sure to also only use your masks when absolutely necessary," Wyrm 3 continued.
"We''ll be sure to keep that in mind, Wyrm 3," Wyrm 9 immediately said in a respectful voice.
Han Li ced a hand on his mask, and he suddenly recalled how Wyrm 3 had transmitted his voice to him through the mask upon his arrival on Sea Fig Ind. It seemed that this mask was indeed quite a mysterious treasure.
"Let''s begin!" Wyrm 3 dered, then stowed the spirit ark away with a wave of his hand.
He then reached out to grab onto Wyrm 25 before speeding away to the eastern side of the ind.
Wyrm 8 and his group also departed as streaks of light.
Wyrm 9 took a nce at Han Li and Wyrm 16, then departed toward the west, followed closely by Han Li and Wyrm 16. However, what was worthy of note was that they were significantly slower than the others.
Chapter 104: Pilgrimage
Chapter 104: Pilgrimage
It didn''t take long before Han Li''s trio arrived at their designated entry point, which was a certain beach on the western coast of Red Moon Ind.
To their surprise, the area waspletely barren and devoid of human poption. However, they then recalled that Red Moon Ind had been isted from the outside world for thousands of years, so this wasn''t all that surprising.
As for the alert restrictions set up here, they were concealed in a clever fashion, but for a trio of immortals like them, they were naturally able to avoid the restrictions with ease.
Even so, they didn''t dare to let down their guard and made sure to keep their auras concealed as they traveled toward the first target on the map, a ce by the name of Heavenly Water City.
At the moment, there was a dense nket of clouds in the sky, allowing the trio to travel even more discreetly.
While flying through the air, Han Li was inspecting the environment on the ind, and he discovered that the terrain in the western part of the ind was quite t, with very few hills or mountains.
Most of the terrain here consisted of ins, and there was lush greenery stretching as far as the eyes could see in all directions.
Perhaps it was due to the properties of the soil here, but all of the trees on the ind were of a crimson color.
The leaves on the trees rustled incessantly amid the sea breeze, presenting a sight that resembled a flickering sea of fire.
After a while, the three of them finally flew out of the forest, and a in appeared up ahead. Several dozen kilometers away from the forest was arge city, and even from afar, they could see the words "Maple Sea City" emzoned onto the que above the city gates.
All of a sudden, Wyrm 9 raised a hand and stopped cold in his tracks.
Han Li and Wyrm 16 immediately followed suit.
"Did you see something?" Wyrm 16 asked as he inspected his surroundings.
"This is the first city that we''ve encountered after entering the ind, so why don''t we take this opportunity to ascertain our location? After all, the map provided to us by Wyrm 3 isn''t urate, so let''s make sure we haven''t gone off track," Wyrm 9 said.
"That''s a good idea," Wyrm 16 replied with a nod.
Han Li naturally had no objections to this, either. They had been flying for close to a day up to this point, so there was indeed a need to ascertain their location.
Thus, the three of them descended onto the ground below before making their way toward the city.
However, upon arriving at the city, the three of them were surprised to find that not only were the city gates tightly shut, there was no sounding out of the city at all. This certainly wasn''t a small city, yet it seemed to bepletely deserted.
"Keep your guard up, this could be a trap set by the enemy!" Wyrm 9 cautioned through voice transmission.
Han Li and Wyrm 16 nodded in response, and the three of them approached the city in a stealthy manner. After verifying that there were no restrictions set up outside the city, they leaped onto the city wall.
Due to what they had been told by Wyrm 3, they refrained from releasing their spiritual sense to inspect the state of the city. However, after inspecting the city through other means, they didn''t notice anything abnormal.
"Looks like it really is just an empty city. It seems I was overly cautious," Wyrm 9 mused.
"How strange. This city doesn''t look very old, so it should''ve been inhabited not long ago. It doesn''t look like it''s been attacked, either, so why is there no one here?" Wyrm 16 asked in a puzzled voice.
Han Li''s brows also furrowed slightly in befuddlement.
Through the use of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he had seen that many of the houses in the city were empty, and some of the shops also had their doors tightly shut. However, there were many signs indicating recent human activity, so it did indeed seem like the residents of the city had only recently left.
The wind blew through the empty streets, causing some of the open doors and windows to creek and tter incessantly. An asional stray cat or stray dog would pass through the area, but those were the only signs of life in the city.
"In any case, what happened here has nothing to do with us. We''ve already confirmed our location, so it''s time to leave. We have to prioritize our mission above all else," Wyrm 9 said, clearly not wanting to investigate what had happened here.
Han Li and Wyrm 16 nodded in response. They had no interest in such trivial matters, either.
Thus, the three of them departed from the city and continued onward.
After leaving the city, the terrain up ahead only became tter and tter, and it didn''t take long before a lush grasnd appeared up ahead. There were many cows and sheep roaming and grazing freely over the grasnd, but there was still not even a single person to be seen.
In fact, they didn''t even discover any people in the small viges littered across the grasnd.
At the end of the grasnd was another city, and after encountering the deserted Maple Sea City and all of those empty viges, the three of them had no intentions of stopping at the city, but they still reflexively took a nce down at it.
As a result, they were once again surprised to find that this city was also deserted.
"Why is this citypletely deserted as well?" Wyrm 16 asked in a puzzled voice.
Wyrm 9 contemted the situation for a moment before specting, "Perhaps something recently happened in this area, so everyone has been evacuated."
"If the next city is also deserted, then I feel like there''s a need to inform the others of what we''ve seen," Han Li said.
"Let''s wait and see. ording to the map, there''s anotherrge city less than 1,000 kilometers up ahead," Wyrm 9 replied with a nod.
Sure enough, it didn''t take long before another city emerged up ahead.
This ce was known as Calm Rest City, and it was quite arge city that was several hundred kilometers in size.
To the surprise of Han Li''s trio, everything was normal in this city. Long lines of people were entering and exiting the city gates, and all of the shops in the city were open, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold. Aside from mortals, there were also many low-grade cultivators here, presenting a stark contrast with the previous two deserted cities.
Wyrm 16 seemed to have rxed a little upon seeing this, and he spected in a joking voice, "There are quite a few people here. Could it be that everyone from the other two cities hase here?"
However, Han Li''s brows were furrowed slightly in befuddlement. This city was not far away from the previous city, so why was the situation here so different?
"Those two previous deserted cities are very strange. There must be abnormal circumstances that led up to those two cities being deserted, so I think it''s best to conduct a quick investigation. We have more than enough time on our hands at the moment, and we can also gather some information about the ind from this city," Han Li suggested.
"Wyrm 15''s right. It''s better to be safe than sorry," Wyrm 16 chimed in in agreement.
"Alright, in that case, let''s make a brief stop at this city, but make sure to keep your guard up at all times," Wyrm 9 said as he pointed at a za at the center of the city.
At the center of the za stood a crimson statue that was giving off faint crimson light, which epassed an area with a radius of over 1,000 feet.
All of the people nearby, regardless of whether they were mortals or cultivators, regarded the statue with a great deal of reverence, bowing respectfully whenever they passed by. However, none of the cultivators in the city were very advanced in their cultivation base, with even the most powerful of them only at the Core Formation Stage.
Han Li had naturally also already noticed the statue, and it was a normal statue used by Earthly Immortals to collect the power of faith.
As an Earthly Immortal himself, it was nothing out of the ordinary to see that Gong Shuhong had set up statues like this on his ind.
However, ording to the information that the Transient Guild had collected, the cultivation art that Gong Shuhong was using was quite special, and it seemed to be able to allow him to conduct surveince using these statues. As such, they were warned not to stir up any trouble in any of the ind''s cities to avoid alerting Gong Shuhong to their presence.
However, Han Li had always had his doubts about these ims.
Recently, he had read many scriptures about these statues, and ording to everything that he had read, these ordinary statues were only special vessels for gathering the power of faith. They weren''t Earthly Deity Avatars, so they didn''t have any senses.
However, he naturally wasn''t going to go against the instructions of the Transient Guild for no reason.
The three of themnded in a discreet location outside the city, then used the restrictions in their masks to alter their appearance, transforming into threepletely unremarkable-looking merchants before entering the city with everyone else.
Even though their auras were concealed by their masks, they were still reining in their auras as much as possible.
Looking at the lively and bustling scene around him, Han Li couldn''t help but think back to the time that he had spent traveling the Spirit Domain Realm with Liu Le''er.
At the time, he had still been in a mentally impaired state, but he was able to retain those memories.
In an environment as cruel as the cultivation world, it was very touching that a little girl like her truly cared for him and looked after him like her own brother, and in her, Han Li felt as if he could see a faint shadow of his little sister, the memory of whom had already be rather fuzzy in his mind.
Han Li couldn''t help but wonder exactly where Liu Le''er had been taken.
All of a sudden, he was snapped out of his train of thought by the sound of Wyrm 16''s voice.
"There''s a restaurant up ahead. Why don''t we go take a look there?"
Han Li immediately returned to his senses before casting his gaze forward to find a three-story restaurant that appeared to be thriving.
As soon as the trio entered the restaurant, they were immediately greeted by an energetic waiter.
"We would like some privacy, so get us a booth," Wyrm 16 instructed before the waiter had a chance to say anything.
"Sure thing! Pleasee with me," the waiter said as he led the trio into an elegant booth on the second floor.
"We''d like two gons of warm wine and a few of your restaurant''s best dishes, and make it snappy. Take this silver, you can keep the change."
After taking a seat, Wyrm 16 pulled out a silver ingot before tossing it at the waiter.
Both Han Li and Wyrm 9''s attention were drawn to Wyrm 16 upon witnessing this interaction, thinking to themselves that he seemed to be a regr patron at restaurants like this.
The waiter gleefully epted the silver ingot, then gave an affirmative response before quickly exiting the room.
Wyrm 16 was slightly embarrassed by the scrutiny directed his way from Han Li and Wyrm 9, and he said, "My apologies, fellow daoists. I''ve transcended beyond requiring food and drink for sustenance long ago, but I''m embarrassed to admit that I''ve never quite been able to get over my hankering for mortal food."
"There''s no need to apologize, Fellow Daoist. Everyone has their individual preferences. Now that you mention it, I''m also beginning to miss the foods that I once enjoyed as a mortal, so this is a perfect opportunity to rekindle some of those past memories," Wyrm 9 chuckled.
The waiter quickly returned with a tter that wasden with all types of dishes and wine.
The food and drink served in the restaurant was quite appetizing, and both the wine and the dishes were giving off alluring aromas.
Wyrm 16 poured out cups of wine for everyone, then quickly downed two cups of wine in session as a blissful look appeared on his face.
A faint smile also appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he also took a small sip of wine from his own cup.
"I''ll leave you to enjoy your meal. Don''t hesitate to call for me if you need anything." The waiter turned to depart as he spoke, but he was stopped by Wyrm 16.
"Hold on a second."
"Is there something else you need?" the waiter asked as he turned back around.
"The three of us are merchants who came from the south, and we passed by Maple Sea City and Inkface City on the way here, but both of those cities werepletely deserted. Do you know why that''s the case?" Wyrm 9 asked with a smile.
"All of the residents of those two cities were summoned to Red Moon City for the pilgrimage not long ago, so they''re naturally deserted," the waiter replied with a smile.
Chapter 105: Linking Up
Chapter 105: Linking Up
"Pilgrimage? What''s that?" Wyrm 16 reflexively asked.
Wyrm 9''s brows immediately furrowed slightly as he turned to Wyrm 16 with a displeased expression.
Wyrm 16 had also realized his mistake, and a sheepish look appeared on his face.
"The pilgrimage is..." The waiter was just about to reply when his expression suddenly changed drastically, and he yelled, "You don''t know about the pilgrimage? You''re outsiders..."
Two translucent threads of light shot into the waiter''s head in a sh, and his voice immediately cut off as a dazed look appeared in his eyes.
Right before the waiter began yelling, Wyrm 9 had already conjured up a blue light barrier that epassed the entire booth to prevent any sound from escaping.
"My apologies..." Wyrm 16 said with an embarrassed expression.
"It''s fine. It''s a good thing that Wyrm 15 was able to react so quickly," Wyrm 9 said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Go on, tell us what this pilgrimage is," Han Li prompted.
He had cast a small enchantment onto the waiter. The enchantment was very weak as he wasn''t able to use any spiritual sense, but it was more than enough on a mortal like the waiter.
"The pilgrimage is a tradition that has been around since ancient times. Once every 60 years, the residents of each city would be taken in batches by their respective city lords to Red Moon City, where they would be preached to by the holy lord. The year of the pilgrimage is also known as the holy year," the waiter replied in a robotic manner.
"If they''re only going to see the holy lord, then why do they have to pack all of their belongings as if they''re relocating?" Han Li asked.
"Because everyone wants to be chosen. The holy lord will bestow his blessings upon the fortunate chosen ones, granting them more fertilend," the waiter replied without any hesitation.
"Who are the chosen ones? And what happens to those who aren''t chosen?" Han Li asked.
"The ones who are chosen are all the most devout followers of the holy lord. It is the highest honor one can receive. As for those who aren''t chosen, they can only return to their original cities," the waiter said as a hint of longing appeared in his eyes.
Han Li''s trio exchanged a nce with one another upon hearing this, and all of them could see their own surprise mirrored in one another''s eyes.
That exined the deserted cities, and as for the holy lord that the waiter was speaking of, that was almost definitely Gong Shuhong.
"What else do you know about the holy lord?" Wyrm 9 asked.
"The holy lord bestows upon us fertilend and protects us for generation after generation..."
The waiter rattled off a long list of things that this supposed holy lord did, but none of this information was useful to Han Li''s trio.
Han Li shook his head as he interrupted the waiter''s pointless rambling and asked, "You all seem to be very hostile toward outsiders. Is this a part of the holy lord''s teachings?"
"That''s right! All outsiders are sinister devils who covet the fertilend of our Red Moon Ind. If we discover any outsiders, we are to inform our city lords right away and have those outsiders killed," the waiter replied with a dazed expression, but a cold and forbidding tone had crept into his voice.
Wyrm 16 gave a cold harrumph upon hearing this, while a contemtive look appeared on Wyrm 9''s face.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he asked a few more questions regarding the holy lord, but unfortunately, the waiter was but a mere mortal who knew very little, so Han Li was unable to dig up much more information.
Thus, he indicated for Wyrm 9 to withdraw the blue light barrier in the booth, then chanted an incantation as a faint gleam appeared in his eyes before vanishing in a sh.
The waiter abruptly shuddered as a hint of rity returned to his eyes, and he looked around with a slightly dazed expression.
"You can go now. We''ll call for you if we need anything," Han Li said in a calm manner.
He had just wiped away the waiter''s memories of thest few minutes.
"Enjoy your meal." The waiter''s head was still feeling a little fuzzy, and he shed an apologetic smile before exiting the booth.
"So that''s why those cities were deserted. It seems like we were overthinking things," Wyrm 16 said with a smile.
"That may be true, but we did manage to get some rather interesting information out of him, nheless. Seeing as all of the residents of those two cities have been summoned for the pilgrimage, doesn''t that mean that Gong Shuhong should currently be epting the pilgrimage in that so-called Red Moon City?" Wyrm 9 mused.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression, and the information about Red Moon Ind contained in the jade slips that Wyrm 3 had given them surfaced in his mind.
The map included in the jade slips was very basic, and there were very few cities marked out on them, but one of those cities was indeed one by the name of Red Moon City. However, it was quite some distance away from Heavenly Water City.
If these mortals were going to attend the pilgrimage, they most likely had to be taken to Red Moon City by high-grade cultivators through some special means. Otherwise, at the snail-like rate that mortals were capable of traveling at, there was no guarantee that they would be able to reach Red Moon City in this lifetime.
Wyrm 16''s eyes suddenly lit up, clearly having also drawn the same conclusion, and he asked, "Should wemunicate this information with the others?"
Han Li considered this notion for a moment before offering his opinion on the matter. "Given how we were able to obtain this piece of information so easily, I''m sure the scouts sent by the Transient Guild would''ve already been able to secure the same information.
¡°The list of locations that they proposed that Gong Shuhong could be at right now didn''t include Red Moon City, and there had to have been a reason for that. Perhaps what the waiter just told us was nothing more than a circting rumor."
Wyrm 9 nodded in agreement. "I think we should follow the original n and travel to Heavenly Water City to link up with the members of the guild lurking in the city, then think about what to do next."
After arriving at a consensus, the three of them promptly departed from Calm Rest City.
After that, they passed through many more cities, towns, and viges, and around 20% to 30% of them were deserted.
Having already learned the reason why these ces were deserted, the three of them made no further stops along the way.
Three dayster, a majestic ck city that was over 100 feet tall appeared on a set of vast ins that stretched for thousands of kilometers.
There were thousands of acres of lush fields outside of the city, and they were surrounded by several branches of arge river that flowed out to the sea, segregating thend into plots of farnd of different shapes and sizes.
The main branch of the river had been diverted by an artificial channel, which passed through a rice field before circling around the entire city to form a moat that was over 100 feet wide.
At the moment, it was early in the morning, and the drawbridge that led into the city hadn''t been lowered yet. Countless mortals were gathered outside the city, carrying different wares in their hands, on their shoulders, or on carts, waiting for the city gates to open.
Among them were threepletely unremarkable-looking figures in coarse linen clothes with conical hats on their heads. The trio looked no different from the average farmers here.
They were none other than Han Li''s trio, who had arrived outside the city and adopted disguises for themselves.
The light of the rising sun illuminated therge characters that spelled out "Heavenly Water City" on the que above the city gates, and all of a strike, the loud strike of a bell rang out from within the city.
Immediately thereafter, the sound of moving mechanical parts rang out, and the heavy drawbridge was slowly lowered while tethered to a pair of thick ck chains.
Everyone outside the city had already been waiting for quite some time, and they began to enter the city along the drawbridge.
Stationed on either side of the city gates were several Nascent Soul cultivators standing on guard duty, and they were led by a Deity Transformation cultivator. All of them wore dark blue robes with a crimson crescent moon embroidered on each of their chests.
Han Li was unable to use his spiritual sense to examine the city, but he knew that there had to be even more powerful cultivators inside.
With the observation that they had made through visiting the previous few cities, they had discovered that Red Moon Ind was the same as the other inds in the ck Wind Sea in that cultivators lived among the mortals in the cities, and the mortals seemed to be ustomed to the existence of the cultivators as well.
However, it seemed that all of the cultivators at or above the Nascent Soul Stage on the ind were wearing these blue robes emzoned with crimson moons, making it appear as if they all belonged to a certain sect.
After entering through the city gates, a faint burst of light appeared above Han Li. He raised his head slightly to discover an octagonal array diagram engraved onto the brick above his head, with a round copper mirror embedded at the very center of the diagram.
There was a beam of faint red light that was shining down from the copper mirror, epassing everyone who made passed by beneath it.
With just a single nce, Han Li was able to figure out the purpose of the array. It was most likely an array that was designed to pick out cultivators who were intentionally posing as mortals to prevent them from sneaking into the city.
Given Han Li''s current level of expertise in arrays, this array wasn''t veryplex or advanced. Anyone above the Grand Ascension would be able to easily pass through under it without being detected after making some simple preparations.
However, given how powerful the auras of cultivators above the Grand Ascension Stage were, if they didn''t possess any special treasures to conceal their auras, they would''ve most likely already been detected upon entering the ind, so they wouldn''t even have made it to this point.
Han Li and the others were all above the Grand Ascension Stage, and with the aura concealment effect of these masks, they had nothing to worry about.
Thus, the three of them followed the crowd in a rxed manner as they slowly drew closer and closer to the city, and while passing under the array, the light in the copper mirror only shed briefly before returning to normal, clearly passing them off as mortals.
After entering the city, the crowds of people began to diverge in two separate directions, and the sights and scenes in the city were graduallyid out before them.
The street that was directly facing them was lined with shops and merchants, and different gs used to attract customers were hanging off all of the shop buildings.
However, it was still quite early, so quite a few of the shops still weren''t open for business, and there weren''t too many people on the bluestone streets aside from those who had just entered the city.
The only shops that were open were ones that were serving breakfast to the early risers.
This city wasrger than any other city that Han Li''s trio had passed through on Red Moon Ind, and the entire city was split up into four major areas by two main streets, one that ran from northeast to southwest, and the other from northwest to southeast.
Han Li''s trio followed one of the main streets to the southern area of the city, then branched off onto a smaller path. After walking for over an hour, taking many turns in the process, they arrived in a secluded alley.
The alley was extremely quiet, and the few courtyards inside all had their doors tightly shut. There was no sound to be hearding from any alleys, and not a single person could be seen, either.
The three of them made their way to an ordinary-looking estate at the deepest point in the alley, then drew to a halt.
"This is the ce," Wyrm 9 said as he took a nce at the dark red doors of the estate.
This estate was a secret stronghold established by the members of the Transient Guild who had already infiltrated Red Moon Ind, and Han Li''s trio had arrived here to link up with them and obtain intelligence.
Wyrm 16 made his way over to the doors of the estate, then knocked on them using the door-knockers just like any ordinary mortal would, employing a sequence of two short knocks followed by a long knock.
A few dull thuds rang out, but there was no response from inside.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he was just about to use his spiritual sense to assess the situation when he remembered the warning that Wyrm 3 had issued to them.
Wyrm 16 and Wyrm 9 had naturally also realized that something seemed to be amiss, but they didn''t use their spiritual sense, either, clearly harboring the same inhibitions as Han Li.
Wyrm 16 turned around to look at Han Li and Wyrm 9 with a suspicious expression, and Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly in response, but he didn''t say anything.
As for Wyrm 9, he was also silent for a moment before gesturing for the two of them to prepare for battle.
Right as the three of them were preparing to break in by force, a string of four bell chimes suddenly rang out from inside in the agreed-upon three short and one long sequence.
The three of them faltered slightly as they turned their attention back to the doors, and Wyrm 16 hesitated momentarily before quickly knocking on the door three more times, this time with more force.
Momentster, the dark red doors swung open to create a gap that could allow a person to pass through, and the head of a middle-aged man poked out from within.
"Come in," the man said in a low voice after taking a nce at Han Li''s trio.
Chapter 106: Crimson Space
Chapter 106: Crimson Space
Han Li took a nce at the middle-aged man to find that his face had clearly also been manifested from one of the Transient Guild''s masks.
The faces conjured up by the masks looked no different from normal faces, but the wearers of the masks could sense a faint connection between the masks, and that connection was what the members of the Transient Guild used tomunicate with one another.
Wyrm 9 and Wyrm 16 had clearly also noticed this, and they stepped into the courtyard of the estate one after another.
Han Li hesitated momentarily before also following suit.
Once everyone had entered the courtyard, the middle-aged man took a quick nce outside before closing the doors again.
The courtyard was over 1,000 feet in size, and aside from a withered old tree, there was only a set of stone tables and stone stools inside, positioned at the foot of the tree.
The tree was growing on a patch of soil, but aside from that, the rest of the courtyard was paved with brand-new tiles that were spotlessly clean, without even a single fallen leaf on them.
Furthermore inside was a main room that was directly facing the doors of the estate, and on either side of the main room were several booths, all of which currently had their doors slightly ajar.
The middle-aged man led the way forward while turning back to Han Li''s trio as he said, "I''ve heard that the higher-ups are sending more people here, and I''ve been waiting for quite some time. May I ask who it is that''s leading this mission?"
Han Li had been constantly observing the middle-aged man ever since he entered the courtyard, and as soon as this question was raised, a cold light immediately shed through his eyes as he threw a punch at the man from behind without any warning.
The man was quite rmed by this abrupt turn of events, but he seemed to have already been prepared, and a burst of red light erupted from his back, forming a shimmering silver shield that appeared in the path of Han Li''s fist.
A dull thump rang out, and the silver shield exploded violently, while the middle-aged man was sent flying through the air, crashing heavily onto the stone staircase in front of the main room. He immediately threw up several mouthfuls of blood in session, and his aura became significantly diminished.
Wyrm 9 and Wyrm 16 had clearly also detected that something was amiss, yet right as they were also about to spring into action, a faint buzzing sound rang out, and the surrounding space suddenly began to warp and twist.
Bursts of red light erupted into the heavens in an area with a radius of several thousand feet around the courtyard, and a massive crimson array projection appeared in the sky with countless crimson runes surging over its surface.
Before Han Li''s trio had a chance to react, red light shed at the center of the array projection, and they appeared in a crimson space along with the middle-aged man.
This space didn''t seem like it belonged to the real world, and there appeared to be no end to it in sight in any direction.
Above everyone was a denseyer of crimson yin clouds, while the ground down below was bright red in color, as if it had been soaked by blood. There was even a nauseating, bloody odor wafting through the surrounding air.
Right as Han Li''s trio was inspecting their surroundings with bewildered expressions, the entire crimson space suddenly shuddered violently, and hundreds of rifts of different sizes instantly opened up on the ground to release bursts of viscous crimson mist.
A series of indistinct figures then crawled out of the mist amid a chorus of ghostly howls.
Those indistinct figures were humanoid blood ghosts that looked as if they had just been skinned, and they were crawling out in hordes from the rifts on the ground.
As soon as these sinister blood ghosts emerged from the ground, they immediately let loose a string of hoarse cries as they pounced on Han Li''s trio.
"Be on your guard, fellow daoists. Not only do we have to pay attention to those blood ghosts, the aura of this ce is also not quite right," Wyrm 9 cautioned as he took a nce at the blood ghosts, then looked up at the crimson clouds in the sky.
Han Li had naturally also noticed that the bloody odor wafting throughout this ce seemed to contain a strange type of belligerent energy that could enter directly into one''s consciousness, invoking a sense of frustration and agitation.
However, given his immense spiritual sense, this level of disruption wasn''t worthy of concern.
After issuing those cautionary words to Han Li and Wyrm 16, Wyrm 9 flipped a hand over to produce a piece of white jade with a golden string passing through it. He then ced the string around his own neck to wear the piece of jade like a pendant, and it released a burst of translucent white light that epassed his entire body.
Immediately thereafter, he swept a palm through the air, and a torrent of blue waves erupted in front of him amid a sh of blue light, instantly sweeping up around a dozen of the blood ghosts that were closest to him, pulverizing them into clouds of blood mist upon contact.
Wyrm 16 also pulled out a purple talisman before pressing it to his own be, and the talisman abruptly vanished amid a sh of purple light. Immediately thereafter, he let loose a low roar, and a string of cracks and pops rang out from within his body as his arms and torso began to rapidly expand.
In this new erged form, he leaped high up into the air before crashing down onto the army of blood ghosts up ahead like a giant asteroid, instantly pulverizing seven or eight of them.
In order to avoid arousing suspicion, Han Li also pretended to take a pill, then took a step forward before sending the two blood ghosts closest to him flying back with his fists.
While the two blood ghosts were flying back, they crashed into around a dozen more oing blood ghosts, all of which exploded into blood mist amid a string of dull thumps.
The three of them quickly discovered that these blood ghosts were quite fearsome in appearance, but they weren''t very difficult to deal with at all. In fact, none of them could take even a single hit.
However, the problem was that there seemed to be no end to them, and after one horde was struck down, more would immediately emerge from the rifts on the ground to take their ce. No matter how many were killed, there was always more toe, and Han Li''s trio was quickly surrounded by hundreds of blood ghosts in a watertight encirclement.
Meanwhile, the eyes of the middle-aged man who had just been injured by Han Li had turned slightly bloodshot, and a horrified look had appeared on his face as he frantically summoned all types of treasures. First, he released a set of array gs that he set up in the surrounding area, then summoned a mirror that hovered above his head while a suit of crimson armor appeared over his body amid a sh of red light.
One protective light barrier after another appeared around him to shield him from all directions, and none of the surrounding blood ghosts were able to get close to him. All they could do was frantically swipe their ghostly ws at the protective light barriers, of which there were around seven or eight.
However, the middle-aged man still didn''t seem to feel safe, and he was holding a crimson longsword as his eyes darted around in an anxious and uneasy manner.
It was clear that even though his treasures were capable of keeping the hordes of blood ghosts at bay, they were unable to prevent the bloody odor in the air from contaminating his sanity.
Sure enough, before long, he threw his head back and let loose a guttural roar withpletely bloodshot eyes, looking as if he hadpletely lost his mind as he shed his sword wildly through the air.
Without his control, the power of the surrounding treasures waned significantly, and the outermost light barrier was quickly torn apart by the blood ghosts.
Han Li was in the midst of fighting off blood ghosts himself when a thought suddenly urred to him upon seeing this, and he hurriedlymunicated a message to Wyrm 9 and Wyrm 16 through voice transmission. "The more of these blood ghosts we kill, the more concentrated the blood in the air will be."
"Indeed. We have to get out of this ce as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if this goes on for much longer, we can''t guarantee that we won''t also lose our minds," Wyrm 9 replied.
"Fellow daoists, I may have a way to break open this space, but I''ll need you to protect me while I make some preparations," Wyrm 16 said in an urgent voice after forcing back several of the blood ghosts in front of him.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist," Han Li said as he reached out with his hands like lightning, grabbing onto a pair of blood ghosts before hurling them in Wyrm 16''s direction, sending them crashing into a horde of blood ghosts to his left.
On the other side, Wyrm 9 sent all of the blood ghosts around him flying, then leaped up into the air beforending on Wyrm 16''s right, upon which he made a hand seal and began to chant an incantation.
A burst of low rumbling rang out, and a cloud of blue water vapor emerged in front of Wyrm 9, releasing bursts of rich water-attribute spiritual power.
Immediately thereafter, he thrust his palms forward forcefully, and a draconic roar rang out as a blue water dragon rushed out of the cloud of vapor, flying directly at the horde of blood ghosts approaching from Wyrm 16''s left.
Water sshed in all directions as dozens of blood ghosts were knocked over by the water dragon in the blink of an eye, plunging their formation intoplete chaos.
At the same time, Han Li had already appeared on Wyrm 16''s right, and he was traversing through the army of blood ghosts whileshing out with his fists, sending one blood ghost flying after another. However, while he was doing this, he was also constantly inspecting his surroundings with blue light shing within his eyes.
With Han Li and Wyrm 9 covering him from the left and the right, Wyrm 16 immediately sat down on the spot with his legs crossed, then summoned a sharp spike in the shape of a narrow triangr pyramid with a wave of his hand. The sharp tip of the spike was pointed directly upward at the heavens.
There were circles of tiny andplex runes engraved all over the surface of the spike, and judging from the spatial fluctuations that it was giving off, it seemed to be an Acquired Immortal Treasure that possessed a hint of power ofws.
Both Han Li and Wyrm 9 were very surprised to see this.
There were very few people in the entire ck Wind Sea who were in possession of immortal treasures, and they certainly weren''t expecting ayman immortal like Wyrm 16 to have one at his disposal.
After summoning the spike, Wyrm 16 folded his hands in front of him as he chanted an incantation in an unhurried manner.
Momentster, his chanting drew to a halt, and he reached out to brush his hand over the spike before him, instantly opening up a gash that began to bleed profusely.
After being stained with his blood, the spike instantly began to glow bright with crimson light as if it had been heated extensively in a furnace, and the spatial fluctuations that it was giving off also became stronger and stronger.
Right at this moment, an agonized howl suddenly rang out from a certain point in the crimson space, and Han Li and Wyrm 9 immediately turned toward the direction that the sound hade from.
As it turned out, all of the protective barriers around the middle-aged man had already been torn apart, and he waspletely inundated by the hordes of blood ghosts around him.
However, in the next instant, a burst of red light suddenly appeared among the blood ghosts, then rapidly erupted up into the air, revealing itself to be the middle-aged man''s nascent soul. The nascent soul was wielding a miniature crimson sword, and it was rising up into the sky with a deranged expression.
However, before it was able to get very far away, a rift suddenly opened up in one of the crimson clouds in the sky, following which a dark purple bowl flew out from within.
The bowl circled around momentarily in the sky, then released a burst of incredibly powerful suction force that instantly drew in the deranged nascent soul.
As soon as the nascent soul entered the bowl, a burst of strange force instantly converged upon it, destroying it in the blink of an eye, reducing it into a burst of red light that vanished into the bowl in a sh.
A series of glowing ck runes then appeared on the surface of the bowl, and they appeared to have been engraved onto the bowl''s surface.
Chapter 107: Escape
Chapter 107: Escape
Almost as soon as the nascent soul was devoured by the bowl, a purple-robed elderly man suddenly flew out of the crimson bowl, then immediately pointed a finger at the bowl from afar.
All of the runes on the surface of the bowl instantly began to glow with dazzling ck radiance while intertwining to form countless tiny patterns. Immediately thereafter, a thick beam of ck light shot out of the bowl, hurtling directly toward Wyrm 16 down below.
The beam of light was traveling incredibly quickly, and having been preupied with the blood ghosts, it was toote for Han Li and Wyrm 9 to step in.
Wyrm 16 was at a crucial juncture in the ability that he was preparing, so he was also unable to take evasive measures.
In this dire situation, he had no choice but to adjust the angle of the spike before him so that it was pointed up at the oing beam of ck light instead of its original target.
The spike had already turned a bright crimson color, and a burst of light had only just appeared on its tip. However, before the burst of light was able to erupt out of the tip, it was struck by the beam of ck light, which exploded violently on contact.
It was as if a scintiting crimson sun had suddenly risen in front of Wyrm 16, sending bright crimson light and incredibly powerful shockwaves sweeping in all directions, forcing all of the surrounding blood mist to recede by several thousand feet.
Countless blood ghosts were sent flying by the powerful shockwaves, while Han Li and Wyrm 9 forced their way through the shockwaves as they rushed toward Wyrm 16.
However, before they were able to reach him, the crimson light faded to present a disturbing sight.
Wyrm 16 had slumped to the ground with his eyes tightly shut, seemingly having fallen unconscious. Several metal-skewer-like pirs of ck light had pierced through his limbs and his torso, pinning him firmly to the ground while releasing bursts of faintw fluctuations.
Immediately thereafter, a string of rumbling thunderps rang out from high up in the sky, and Han Li and Wyrm 9 immediately stopped cold in their tracks before shooting back in retreat.
In the next instant, a series of millstone-sized balls of crimson lightningfire came crashing down from the heavens before exploding violently,pletely inundating the spot where they had been standing just a moment ago in blinding lightning.
After steadying themselves, both Han Li and Wyrm 9 looked up in unison to find that the purple-robed elderly man was holding the dark purple bowl in his hand, while his face was concealed behind ayer of red light, and lightning was shing wildly in the crimson clouds around him.
"I knew that those bastards would''ve definitely had more allies toe, but I didn''t think that three True Immortals would arrive here at once. What an honor this is for me. If you don''t want topletely lose your sanity, then surrender yourselves for capture right away!" the elderly man chuckled in a cold voice.
"If you don''t want to die, then let us out right now!" Wyrm 9 countered in an unyielding voice.
"To think that you''d still be acting so cocky even when your deaths are imminent! Let me give you two a lesson in respect at the cost of your lives!" the purple-robed elderly man cackled.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the bowl in his hand flew out of his grasp before circling around in the air, and a string of rumbling thunderps instantly rang out within the surrounding crimson clouds. Immediately thereafter, hundreds of balls of crimson lightningfire came crashing down from the heavens like a meteor shower.
A string of deafening booms rang out one after another, causing the entire space to tremble and quake violently.
With each ball of lightningfire that crashed down onto the ground, a massive crater would be left in its wake, and huge bursts of crimson fire and lightning would erupt in all directions.
Before long, the entire area within a radius of several kilometers had beenpletely filled by countless bursts of crimson mes, which resembled a garden of crimson lotus flowers in full bloom, radiating astonishingly scorching temperatures.
It was unclear whether this was intentional or not, but none of the balls of lightningfire had fallen upon Wyrm 16. Instead, he was only sttered with traces of crimson mes, and the burning pain instantly roused him from his unconscious state, causing him to howl with agony.
Blue light continued to sh within Han Li''s eyes as he constantly sprang from one spot to another, traversing through the blood ghosts and the storm of lightningfire, but he was still unable to avoid being struck by the haphazardly flying bursts of crimson mes.
Even with his current physical body, the mes were still causing him slight burning pain, and what was even more disturbing was that the mes also seemed to be capable of setting his blood alight, causing a sense of violent mania to well up in his heart.
However, a burst of cool and refreshing energy instantly rose up from his dantian at his behest, then circted throughout his head to eradicate the sense of manic violence in the blink of an eye.
Not far away from Han Li, Wyrm 9 had summoned a blue gourd treasure, and bursts of watery blue light were gushing out from within to form a rippling blue light barrier around him. The barrier allowed him to ward off the crimson mes, but he was struggling to deal with the simultaneous assault from both the falling balls of lightningfire and the converging blood ghosts.
It had only taken a few seconds for the nearby space to be virtuallypletely inundated by crimson mes, leaving the two of them with less and less space to maneuver and evade.
During this time, more and more blood ghosts continued to rush out of the rifts on the ground, and not only did they not seem to be negatively affected by the crimson mes at all, their speed and power seemed to have been enhanced in this environment as they charged toward Han Li and Wyrm 16 with no regard for their own safety.
Wyrm 9 had only just barely dodged several balls of lightningfire when he was instantly surrounded by a horde of blood ghosts.
A grim look shed through his eyes as he bit through the tip of his own tongue, then opened his mouth to release a burst of blood essence that vanished into the blue gourd in his hand in a sh.
The gourd instantly began to glow with dazzling blue radiance, and countless blue runes emerged on its surface while the sound of a rushing river rang out from within.
Immediately thereafter, a torrent of blue water came gushing out of the gourd''s opening, then transformed into a series of blue-armored water warriors that charged toward the surrounding blood ghosts with their ice spears held aloft.
After doing all of that, he turned to Han Li beforemunicating a message to him through voice transmission.
"We can''t let things continue like this, Wyrm 15! I''ll find a way to keep that man upied, you go and save Wyrm 16 and assist him in breaking open this space!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a hint of red light appeared in his eyes, and he shot up directly toward the purple-robed elderly man as a streak of light.
However, Han Li offered no response to this, and he didn''t even seem to have heard Wyrm 9 at all.
First, he threw several punches to send the blood ghosts around him flying back through the air, then dodged a few balls of lightningfire before suddenly changing directions and flying away in a certain direction at an incredible speed.
Wyrm 9 had only just reached the purple-robed elderly man when he saw this out of the corners of his eyes, and he immediately flew into a thunderous rage.
"Wyrm 15, where the hell are you going?"
Before he had a chance to do anything else, a beam of ck light shot out of the bowl in the purple-robed elderly man''s head, then came hurtling directly toward his head.
He hurriedly injected more power out of his blue gourd, which released several bursts of blue light that began swirling in front of him to form a massive blue vortex.
A dull thump rang out as the beam of ck light fell directly upon the center of the vortex, resulting in an explosion of ck light, while the blue vortex was also rapidly shrinking amid a burst of loud rumbling.
Right at this moment, several more beams of ck light came shooting out of the bowl in the purple-robed elderly man''s hand, and Wyrm 9 was forced to focus solely on defending himself as he forced the blue gourd to release more bursts of blue light. As a result, he was unable to go after Han Li.
At this point, the red light in his eyes was gradually growing brighter and brighter, while the piece of white jade hanging in front of his chest had turned rather dim and wasn''t as glittering and translucent as before.
"Ha! Yourpanion has already abandoned you! But rest assured, there''s no way he''ll be able to break out of this space!" the purple-robed elderly man cackled without even taking a nce at Han Li.
Meanwhile, Han Li was already several thousand feet away, and he suddenly raised a fist before throwing an almighty punch through the air.
A resounding boom rang out, and the entire crimson space shuddered violently as a line of bright light appeared in front of Han Li''s fist, then rapidly extended into a white rift that stretched for thousands of kilometers.
The sound of a shattering mirror then rang out as the entire crimson space crumbled away from the white rift, then disintegrated into countless fragments.
All of a sudden, everyone had returned to the sky above the secluded courtyard in Heavenly Water City. There were eight blue-robed cultivatorsying on the alley outside the courtyard, and there were several array tes strewn on the ground next to them.
They were naturally the ones who had summoned and were controlling the crimson space, and what was quite surprising was that all of them were Body Integration cultivators. They seemed to have suffered some type of bacsh from the destruction of the crimson space, and not only had they fallen unconscious, there was blood flowing out of all of their orifices, making them appear as if they were on the verge of death.
Inside the courtyard, Wyrm 16''s entire body was charred ck, and he was leaning against the withered old tree in apletely still manner.
The ck skewers of light impaling his body had already disappeared, and his aura was rather unstable, but it seemed that he wasn''t in any life-threatening danger.
All of a sudden, a burst of dazzling light erupted in the sky above the courtyard, and two figures emerged before shooting back in different directions.
One of those figures was Wyrm 9, and the red light in his eyes was gradually fading. As a result, rity was restored in his mind, and an ted look appeared on his face.
In contrast, the purple-robed elderly man on the other side wore an extremely dark expression, and he turned to Han Li with intense resentment in his eyes.
Han Li appeared to be the weakest of the trio, so never did he think that Han Li would be able to identify the most fragile point in the array and destroy the entire array in a single strike.
The crimson space was far more stable than the average array, and even if an ordinary immortal could identify the fragile points within it, there was still no guarantee that they would be able to break the array open.
However, this wasn''t the time to be pondering such matters. The purple-robed elderly man quickly thrust a palm against the bottom of the bowl in his hand, and waves of strange ripples that were visible to the naked eye rapidly spread through the area.
A string of dull thumps rang out from within the alley as the heads of all of the unconscious Body Integration cultivators exploded one after another.
Immediately thereafter, their nascent souls were drawn in by bursts of strange ripples, flying into the bowl as streaks of crimson light before being pulverized in the blink of an eye.
The only exception came in the form of one of the Body Integration cultivators, around whom ayer of white light had appeared. It seemed that he was carrying some type of treasure that was able to ward off the effects of those strange ripples, thereby preventing his head from exploding. The purple-robed elderly man faltered slightly upon seeing this, but he had no time to dwell on such trivial matters as he quicklyshed out.
The ck runes on the surface of the bowl began to glow brightly once again, and two even thicker beams of light erupted out from within, hurtling directly toward Han Li and Wyrm 9.
The spiritual patterns on the surface of the blue gourd in Wyrm 9''s hand shed for an instant, and a thick pir of water erupted out of the gourd''s opening.
A resounding boom rang out as the ck light and blue water exploded violently, sending water sshing down in all directions.
Wyrm 9 was sent flying back several hundred feet by the resulting shockwaves before finally managing to steady himself, while Han Li was also forced to take evasive measures against the beam of ck light directed at him.
By the time both of them had steadied themselves, the purple-robed elderly man was already nowhere to be seen.
Chapter 108: Strange
Chapter 108: Strange
Han Li remained on the spot for a moment before quickly arriving beside Wyrm 16, then helped him into an upright position before feeding him a pill.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist."
Wyrm 16''s wounds were quite severe, and after giving Han Li a quick nod of gratitude, he immediately sat down with his legs crossed to digest the pill and recover from his injuries.
Meanwhile, following the disappearance of the purple-robed elderly man, Wyrm 9 suddenly flew down to the only surviving Body Integration cultivator in the alley next to the courtyard.
Before the Body Integration cultivator had a chance to say anything, Wyrm 9 reached out with one hand like lightning and grabbed onto the man''s head with his fingers curled up into ws. Blue light shed from the palms of his hand, and the Body Integration cultivator instantly fell unconscious.
In the next instant, a horrified red nascent soul was forcibly dragged out of the man''s head through the use of some type of secret technique, and it was enveloped within a burst of blue light with a pair of heavy-lidded eyes, appearing to be in a very weak and lethargic state.
Wyrm 9 carried the nascent soul back into the courtyard, and he took a nce at the seated Wyrm 16 before turning his gaze toward Han Li.
"I didn''t think that you would be such an expert in arrays, Fellow Daoist. I thought you were deserting the battle, but it seems that I was too eager to jump to conclusions. Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist," Wyrm 9 said.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist. I''m no expert in arrays, I just so happened to have been able to find a fragile point within that space. It''s all thanks to your efforts in keeping thatyman immortal upied that I had the opportunity to break open the array," Han Li replied with a smile.
Wyrm 9 didn''t speak any further on this matter, and he turned to the nascent soul in his hand with a cold look in his eyes, then raised his other hand.
A plume of thick ck threads shot out of his palm before piercing directly into the nascent soul''s head.
The nascent soul shuddered as it let loose an agonized howl, but Wyrm 9 remainedpletely unmoved as more ck threads shot out of his palm before surging into the nascent soul''s head.
The nascent soul''s voice became weaker and weaker, and the look on its face also became more wooden and dazed.
Wyrm 9''s brows furrowed slightly as if he were displeased by something, and the number of ck threads surging out of his palm abruptly increased drastically.
Right at this moment, ayer of translucent light suddenly appeared over the nascent soul''s body, causing it to be semi-transparent.
An rmed look immediately appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to say anything, the nascent soul exploded into countless specks of translucent light.
A dark look appeared on Wyrm 9''s face upon seeing this.
"It looks like some type of restriction was ced upon his nascent soul, and that restriction is triggered when a soul search technique is used on him. Did you manage to find anything, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li asked as he heaved a faint sigh.
"I didn''t manage to find anything useful. Given that he was only a Body Integration cultivator, he most likely wouldn''t have known much anyway. However, I can confirm that the Transient Guild members who were previously here have already been killed by them," Wyrm 9 replied.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"What do we do now?" Wyrm 16 asked as he rose to his feet.
At this point, he had already recovered somewhat from his injuries.
"Let''s conduct a thorough search of this city first. Our covers have already been blown, so we don''t need to sneak around anymore," Wyrm 9 replied.
¡¡
Meanwhile.
A dark red louchuan was speeding through a nket of dark clouds in the sky tens of thousands of kilometers away from Heavenly Water City.
The louchuan had a total of two levels, each of which had several independent rooms. There were several wing designs engraved onto the louchuan, forming eight pairs of giant red wings that were pping rapidly.
In one of the rooms on the top floor of the louchuan was the purple-robed elderly man who had fought against Han Li''s trio not long ago, and he was seated on the ground with his legs crossed and a dark look on his face.
After a brief moment of silence, he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized jade te, then tapped it a few times, upon which a burst of red light appeared on its surface, apanied by a rather coarse voice.
"How did it go, Chou Wu?"
"I''ve already fought with the people sent by the Transient Guild," the purple-robed elderly man replied in an expressionless manner.
"I see. Then it''s just as I expected," the voice in the jade te replied in a smug manner.
"The overall power of the people they sent far exceeded what you predicted! There were two Layman Immortals and an Earthly Immortal! If I didn''t have some tricks up my sleeve, I could''ve easily met my demise there! Even though I managed to escape, one of my subordinates still fell into their hands," the purple-robed elderly man grumbled in an incensed voice.
"Oh? Does that subordinate know anything?" The voice in the jade te also faltered slightly upon hearing this.
"He''s just a Body Integration cultivator, what could he possibly know?" the purple-robed elderly man scoffed in a disdainful voice.
"Good. So three True Immortals were sent to your side alone. Looks like the Transient Guild really ising after us this time. If they decide to back down, then both sides will be spared a lot of trouble, but if they continue to present themselves as a pest, then the holy lord will teach them a good lesson. Thanks for your hard work, you cane back now," the voice in the jade te instructed.
The purple-robed elderly man''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, clearly quite displeased that the owner of the voice in the jade te was issuing him orders, but he didn''t say anything and put an end to the voice transmission.
After that, he made a hand seal, and the red light radiating from the louchuan brightened considerably as it elerated even further.
¡¡
In a certain stone hall in Heavenly Water City.
This was quite arge area, but it was rather empty inside. There were rows of stone pirs standing on either side of the hall, at the tops of which sat a series of unlit braziers.
At this moment, Han Li''s trio was standing at the entrance of the hall, and their masks had already reverted back to their original forms.
Seeing as they no longer had any qualms about being discovered, they were able to release their spiritual sense without any inhibitions, allowing them to quicklyplete an exhaustive search of the entire city. As a result, they discovered no cultivators above the Spatial Tempering Stage in the city, nor abnormal activity that was worthy of note. However, they did discover this stone hall in a secluded area in the southern part of the city.
At the center of the hall were three corpses ced together in an orderly fashion. All three corpses werepletely shriveled up with their faces warped and distorted, as if they had seen something extremely terrifying right before they died. Furthermore, there were also several azure masks that were simr to the ones worn by Han Li''s trio ced next to the bodies.
Judging from how shriveled up these bodies were, it looked as if they had had all of their blood sucked dry in an instant.
The fact that these bodies had been ced in this stone hall without any effort made to conceal them indicated that this was a clear act of provocation.
"These must be the guild members who infiltrated the ind before us," Wyrm 9 remarked as he inspected the bodies and their masks.
"One of them was at the Grand Ascension Stage, while the other two were at the Body Integration Stage. It looks like they were killed in an instant, and not even their nascent souls were able to escape. I presume this was done by that Layman Immortal we fought earlier. However, thinking back, it seems like he was able to use some power ofws," Han Li said with a contemtive expression as his gaze roamed over the three bodies.
"Looks like Gong Shuhong was already prepared. He set up a meticulous trap, and we fell right into it," Wyrm 16 said in a resentful voice.
"Now''s not the time to be dwelling on things like that. It looks like we won''t be able to find any useful information in Heavenly Water City. Before we leave, we have to inform Wyrm 3 of the situation, then discuss how to proceed from here," Wyrm 9 said.
After that, he made a hand seal, and ayer of blue ripples emerged over his blue goat mask. The mask then began to sh erratically before abruptly lighting up.
Wyrm 9 immediately closed his eyes, and his lips began to quiver as hemunicated a message through voice transmission.
Meanwhile, Han Li and Wyrm 16 stood silently off to the side.
A short whileter, the light glowing from Wyrm 9''s mask faded, and he opened his eyes.
"What did Wyrm 3 say?" Wyrm 16 immediately asked.
"He instructed us to travel to Dragon Lake City right away to meet up with him," Wyrm 9 replied.
"Have they been attacked as well?" Han Li asked.
"The city that Wyrm 3 and the other fellow daoist are traveling to is quite far away, so they still haven''t gotten there yet. However, judging from the situation here, the guild members that they''re supposed to meet up with are most likely already dead as well. Now that they''re aware of the situation, it won''t be that easy for the enemy to catch them off guard," Wyrm 9 replied.
Han Li nodded in response and didn''t ask any further questions.
"There''s no point in staying here any longer, so let''s go." Wyrm 9 swept a hand through the air to release a burst of blue light that swept up the bodies and stowed them into a storage tool, then began to make his way outside.
The trio departed from the stone hall, then quickly left Heavenly Water City and arrived on a barren in.
Wyrm 16 was just about to unleash a self-concealment secret technique when he was stopped by Wyrm 9.
"There''s no need for that. Wyrm 3 says that seeing as the enemy is already aware of our presence on the ind, there''s no need to bother with concealing ourselves anymore. We can go straight to Dragon Lake City."
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and blue waves appeared out of thin air in all directions, while a blue flying ark that was over 100 feet in length emerged up ahead. The flying ark waspletely translucent, and it was extremely sleek in design with spiritual light radiating from its surface.
Wyrm 16 faltered slightly upon seeing the flying ark, following which a hint of envy appeared in his eyes.
"This entire boat is constructed from Blue Skycloud Crystal. It''s not an immortal treasure, but it can''t be too far away," Han Li praised.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist. This is only a mere spirit treasure, it can''t even begin topare with an immortal treasure," Wyrm 9 chuckled.
The power that Han Li had disyed during the recently concluded battle had greatly impressed Wyrm 9, and he was unconsciously speaking in a more polite manner to Han Li as a result.
"This flying ark is decently fast and will suffice as a mode of transport. Wyrm 16, try to recover as quickly as possible. I''m sure there are going to be more hard battles toe," Wyrm 9 said as he leaped onto the front of the ark.
Wyrm 16 nodded in response, then also flew onto the ark with Han Li.
With a wave of his hand, Wyrm 9 released an incantation seal, and the blue light radiating from the flying ark brightened considerably as it shot through the air as a streak of blue light.
¡¡
Dragon Lake City was a farrger city than Heavenly Water City. There was ake in the city that took up over 1,000 acres in area, and it was connected to severalrge rivers in the city, which flowed all the way out of the city.
It was morning at the moment, and there were many people traversing through the city, presenting a lively and bustling sight.
By the time Han Li''s trio arrived in the city, then traveled to a secluded estate in the western part of the city, everyone else had already arrived, but by the looks of it, Wyrm 8''s trio had only just arrived as well.
Wyrm 9 provided Wyrm 3 with a detailed recount of events pertaining to the ambush they had suffered in Heavenly Water City, then released the bodies of the Transient Guild members who had previously infiltrated the ind.
A cold look appeared in Wyrm 3''s eyes at the sight of the shriveled-up bodies on the ground, and everyone else''s expressions also changed slightly upon seeing this.
Chapter 109: Exploring Red Moon City
Chapter 109: Exploring Red Moon City
"They were already like this by the time we discovered them. We specte that they were most likely killed by the same Layman Immortal that ambushed us," Wyrm 9 said as he withdrew his gaze from the bodies on the ground.
"After hearing about what happened to your group, Wyrm 8 and I also arrived at our destinations, and as expected, all of the guild members who infiltrated the ind before have already disappeared," Wyrm 3 said in a grim voice.
"On the way here, we didn''t discover anything abnormal aside from the deserted cities, where the residents supposedly traveled to the holy city for the pilgrimage. As for the pilgrimage itself, the results of our investigation are much the same as what Wyrm 9 and the others found; it''s most likely just a way for Gong Shuhong to collect the power of faith," Wyrm 8 said after a brief moment of contemtion.
"Did you also hear that the so-called most devout followers out of the people attending the pilgrimage will be chosen, and that those chosen ones won''t return to the cities that they once lived in?" Han Li suddenly asked.
"We did indeed hear about that as well. Apparently, they''ll be taken to another city with more fertilend. Perhaps that''s just a method that Gong Shuhong employs to increase the level of devotion that his followers feel toward him," Wyrm 8 replied in a nonchnt manner, then changed the subject as he continued, "On the way here, neither Wyrm 3 nor my group was ambushed by the enemy, so it seems that Gong Shuhong has already been wary of our Transient Guild for quite some time. In light of that, I believe it''s necessary for us to reassess the uracy of the information that the guild has previously received about Red Moon Ind,"
"Indeed. Perhaps Gong Shuhong is already aware that we''re on Red Moon Ind, and he intentionally spread false information to lure us to the wrong ces. However, it seems that he underestimated our overall power. Setting aside everything else for now, I think it''s safe to conclude that Gong Shuhong definitely won''t be at any of the six or seven ces annotated on the map.
¡°Instead, there may actually be a chance that he''s in Red Moon City right now, so we might as well go and take a look there. Perhaps we''ll be able to find something," Wyrm 9 suggested.
"Speaking of that, Red Moon Ind has a total of 28 provinces, and almost every one of them has a city by the name of Red Moon City," Wyrm 8 said with a shake of his head.
"Really?" Wyrm 9 was very much taken aback to hear this.
"There''s a ce by the name of Red Moon City marked on the map that we received, but as we were passing through a certain city, we discovered by chance that the Red Moon City that they were referring to was somewhere else entirely. Initially, we didn''t really take it to heart, thinking that they had merely misspoken, but that wasn''t the case.
¡°Even though we only passed through several provinces, we made sure to keep an eye out, and we discovered that each of the provinces that we passed through has a Red Moon City," Wyrm 8 said as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing five jade slips that flew toward Han Li and the others.
Everyone caught the jade slips before injecting their spiritual sense into them.
There were many more annotated locations on the map in the jade slip than the previously obtained, and sure enough, aside from the originally marked-out Red Moon City, there was another Red Moon City annotated in each of the provinces that Wyrm 8''s group had passed through.
Each province was extremely vast, so if the high-grade cultivators in those provinces intentionally kept this a secret, there was no way that any mortals or even low-grade cultivators would¡¯ve been able to find out the existence of the other Red Moon Cities.
"The cities that we passed through on the way here only sold maps of certain areas, but there are no maps of the entire ind being sold, and it seems that this was entirely by Gong Shuhong''s design.
¡°His subordinates most likely have some type of special restriction ced upon them, making them unable to disclose this matter to anyone. I think it''s even reasonable to specte that the map that we originally obtained was intentionally leaked to us by Gong Shuhong," Wyrm 9 mused.
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.
Given all of this new information that hade to light, Gong Shuhong''s whereabouts had be aplete mystery, making it very difficult for them to proceed with the mission.
All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have urred to Han Li, and he pressed the jade slip against his own forehead again as a peculiar look shed through his eyes.
"Seeing as we have no other leads, let''s begin by investigating those Red Moon Cities. Mobilize everyone and check out those Red Moon Cities one by one," Wyrm 3 instructed.
Wyrm 9 faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Are you not going toe with us, Wyrm 3?"
"I''ll act on my own. If you find out anything, then just convey the information to me through voice transmission," Wyrm 3 replied, following which a burst of red light emerged over his body, and flew up into the sky before flying toward a certain direction, making no attempt to conceal his aura.
"Looks like Wyrm 3 intends to openly search for Gong Shuhong. Let''s follow his instructions. We''re currently in the Wave Province, and we''re not too far away from the Red Moon City in this province," Wyrm 8 said.
Thus, everyone immediately adopted different faces using their masks, then mingled into the crowd before leaving the city.
As they were passing by a certain street, Han Li suddenly said, "Please wait here for me for a moment, I have some errands that I need to run. My apologies for the inconvenience."
He then quickly made his way into the shop that sold all types of books before anyone had a chance to respond.
Everyone faltered slightly upon seeing this, but they all exchanged a quick nce with one another and didn''t say anything.
It didn''t take long before Han Li emerged from the shop with a few books in his hand, and they seemed to be books on the geographic environment of this ind.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting," Han Li said as he stowed the books away in front of everyone.
The group quickly departed from Dragon Lake City, then made their way to a secluded ce before rising up into the sky.
Wyrm 9 released that translucent blue flying ark once again as a mode of transport for himself, as well as Wyrm 16 and Han Li, attracting a great deal of attention from Wyrm 8 and the others.
Han Li stood on the spirit ark as he took a nce down at a river near Dragon Lake City, then sat down with his legs crossed and pulled out the books that he had just purchased before carefully reading through them.
Wyrm 16 was rather perplexed by Han Li''s actions, but he paid Han Li no heed as he continued to recover from his injuries.
Han Li quickly read through the books that he had purchased, and after some contemtion, he pulled out the jade slip that Wyrm 8 had given to everyone earlier before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
At this point, the sky was gradually beginning to darken, and some stars had appeared up above.
The group of seven traveled for close to an entire day before stopping in front of arge city.
This city was none other than the Red Moon City of the Wave Province, and it was evenrger than Dragon Lake City, with a huge river that was several thousand feet wide flowing through it.
The entire city was enshrouded under an enormous blue restriction that asionally rippled with surges of translucent light, presenting a rather mysterious sight to behold. Through the blue light barrier, only a faint outline of the city could be made out.
However, there were openings in the restrictions corresponding with the locations of the four city gates situated in the north, south, east, and west, allowing people to enter and exit the city.
Blue-robed cultivators were situated at each of the four city gates, examining the people who wished to enter or exit the city.
"If I''m not mistaken, this should be the vastly renowned Thousand Light Illusory Ripple Restriction. The restriction''s defensive properties aren''t very remarkable, but it''s extremely sensitive to spiritual sense," Wyrm 8 mused as he inspected the restriction.
"If this city is so heavily guarded, is there a chance that this is the Red Moon City that we''re searching for?" Wyrm 21 spected as an ted look appeared on his face.
Everyone else''s eyes also lit up upon hearing this.
"Regardless of whether it is or not, let''s go in and take a look first. Make sure to be on your guard at all times and rein in your spiritual sense as much as possible so you don''t trigger any arrays or restrictions," Wyrm 8 instructed.
A hint of displeasure shed through Wyrm 9''s eyes upon hearing this, clearly discontent with taking orders from Wyrm 8, but he didn''t say anything.
The seven of them descended upon a secluded spot outside the city, then made their way into the crowd of people who were entering the city.
There were Deity Transformation cultivators stationed at the city gate, but they were naturally unable to see through the disguises adopted by Han Li and the others, and the seven of them sessfully entered the city.
The ground in the city was paved withrge bs of bluestone in a neat and orderly fashion, and the streets were lined with shops, presenting a thriving sight to behold.
The four city gates were connected by a pair of wide roads, which split up the entire city into four areas. At the center of the city was a massive za, at the center of which stood a huge statue.
At this moment, the city was absolutely packed with people, as were the massive za at the center of the city and all of the streets and roads. At the very least, the city had to have been holding several million people.
All of those people were currently reverently worshiping the statue at the center of the za, and the entire city was filled with a solemn atmosphere.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing, and he, along with everyone else, quickly realized what was happening.
This was most likely the so-called pilgrimage that they had been hearing about.
Blue light shed through Han Li''s eyes as he inspected his surroundings, following which his brows immediately furrowed slightly.
There was a massive number of people in the city, but most of them were mortals who possessed no magic power. There were some cultivators among them, but they were all low-grade cultivators ranging between the Qi Condensation Stage and the Core Formation Stage.
There were also some blue-robed cultivators in the city, but none of them possessed advanced cultivation bases, either. Just like the cultivators stationed at the city gates, these blue-robed cultivators were all at the Nascent Soul Stage or the Deity Transformation Stage, and there wasn''t even a single Spatial Tempering cultivator among them.
It seemed like this wasn''t the ce that they were searching for.
At this point, everyone else had clearly also noticed this, and their expressions immediately darkened slightly.
"In any case, we should examine this city thoroughly. Perhaps we''ll be able to find some leads," Wyrm 8 proposed.
Everyone else nodded in agreement, and after a brief discussion, they decided to split up.
The city was too massive, and Han Li and the others couldn''t just use their spiritual sense to scourrge areas at once. In any case, everyone was in the city, so even if there were any enemies lurking in ambush, they would''ve been within sufficiently close proximity to one another to provide reinforcements.
Thus, the decision was made, and everyone quickly split up.
Han Li made his way along a certain street, inspecting everything in the surrounding area with blue light shing within his eyes.
His body had taken on a semi-tangible form, allowing him to blend into his environment.
All of the people on the street were worshiping the statue, so he would''ve stuck out like a sore thumb walking along the street on his own, and that was why he had decided to employ this concealment technique.
Momentster, Han Li appeared in front of a shop on the side of the street, and it was another bookshop.
At the moment, the entire city was observing the pilgrimage, so even though the shop was open, there weren''t any customers inside, only a middle-aged manager looking after the shop.
Han Li flew into the shop, then re-emerged momentster.
After that, he made no further stops and began to carefully explore the city.
Due to how massive the city was, it took the seven of them close to half a day to examine the entire city, following which they gathered back together in a secluded area in the city.
Unfortunately, none of them were able to dig up any useful information.
It seemed that this city waspletely unremarkable aside from its enormous size.
"Looks like this isn''t the Red Moon City that we''re looking for. In that case, we shouldn''t waste any more time here..."
Right at this moment, Wyrm 25 suddenly spoke up to interrupt Wyrm 8. "Hold on a second, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 8, there''s something rather strange underground here."
At this moment, Wyrm 25 was crouched down onto the ground, and a series of yellow ripples that were visible to the naked eye were emanating from his body before vanishing into the ground down below.
Chapter 110: Leads
Chapter 110: Leads
"Did you manage to find something down there?" Wyrm 8 hurriedly asked as an ted look appeared in his eyes.
"I suggest all of you take a look at what''s 1,000 feet under here," Wyrm 25 said as he stood up straight again.
Everyone immediately released their spiritual sense before directing it into the ground beneath their feet, following which their eyes quickly lit up.
There was arge underground cavity directly beneath them, and it had clearly been artificially constructed.
"It''s a good thing that you have such great attention to detail. Otherwise, we would''ve missed this entirely," Wyrm 8 praised.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist. I just so happen to be using a special cultivation art that gives me heightened sensitivity to what''s underground," Wyrm 25 replied with a modest smile.
"Let''s go and take a look down there." Wyrm 8 didn''t say anything further and led the way down underground.
The other two members of his team immediately followed along, as did Wyrm 25.
Soon, Han Li''s trio were the only ones left still on the surface.
Wyrm 9 was looking rather displeased, and he didn''t immediately follow Wyrm 8 and the others underground.
Han Li and Wyrm 16 exchanged a nce before also choosing to remain on the spot.
Even though the seven of them were operating together, certain factions had been formed among them due to the teams assigned by Wyrm 3.
After a brief moment of silence, a burst of blue light appeared over Wyrm 9''s body, and he also vanished into the ground down below.
Han Li and Wyrm 16 quickly followed suit, and a short whileter, they arrived in that underground cavity.
The space within the underground cavity was quiterge, standing at a radius of at least tens of thousands of feet.
The ground was very smooth and even, and it was entirely paved with bluestone bs to form a circr underground za. It seemed that it had already been a very long time since anyone had visited this area.
Everyone couldn''t help but exchange a few nces upon seeing this.
Han Li briefly inspected his surroundings, then took a whiff of the air in the underground cavity to find that it was very damp here. In addition to that, there was a faint bloody odor wafting through the air alongside an indistinct yin aura.
He crouched down before plunging his fingers into one of the bluestone bs on the ground, then pulled it up to reveal the dark red earth down below, upon which he discovered that the dark red soil was tinged with a faintyer of ck.
Han Li picked up a handful of soil, then tossed it away after a brief inspection.
"Did you discover something, Wyrm 15?" Wyrm 16 asked.
"No, I just feel like this ce is rather strange. The faint odor of blood and the yin aura in here indicates that many people seem to have died here, and even the soil beneath these stone bs has been tainted to be yin soil," Han Li mused with a contemtive expression.
"Perhaps this is a ce that was specifically constructed to deal with enemies," Wyrm 16 spected.
Han Li shook his head in response. Enemies of the ind could''ve been killed anywhere, so why was it necessary to construct this massive underground chamber as an execution site?
He felt like there was something very suspicious about this, but he couldn''t pinpoint exactly what was wrong here.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 8 and the others were also specting about what this underground space could''ve been used for.
"There''s a simple solution to this. If we want to know why there''s an underground space here, all we need to do is capture someone and interrogate them," Wyrm 9 suddenly said, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a small yellow g, which vanished into the ceiling of the underground cavity in a sh.
Somewhere on the edge of the za in Red Moon City, a blue-robed middle-aged cultivator at the Nascent Soul Stage was patrolling the city and maintaining order.
All of a sudden, a burst of yellow light shed beneath his feet, and arge yellow hand shot out like lightning, closing itself around his legs before dragging him down into the ground.
At the same time, a series of yellow ripples emerged on the ground beneath his feet, transforming the hard stone material into a swamp-like consistency.
Thus, the middle-aged man vanished into the ground in the blink of an eye, and the yellow ripples on the ground also disappeared immediately thereafter.
Everyone was focused wholeheartedly on the pilgrimage, so no one noticed what had just happened.
Yellow light shed on the ceiling above the underground za, and the middle-aged man tumbled down before falling onto the ground.
His expression immediately changed at the sight of Han Li''s group, but his body was enshrouded in ayer of yellow light that prevented him from moving and making any sound.
Wyrm 9 grabbed onto the man''s head, and countless ck threads shot out of his palm before vanishing into the man''s head.
The man''s facial muscles twisted and spasmed painfully as blood began to seep out of his orifices, but Wyrm 9 paid that no heed as he continued to release more ck threads out of his palm with a cold expression.
Momentster, the middle-aged man''s body abruptly shuddered, and a dull thump rang out within his head, as if something had exploded in there.
Immediately thereafter, his aurapletely faded, as did the light in his eyes.
A dark look appeared on Wyrm 9''s face.
As was the case with the Body Integration cultivator that he had captured in Heavenly Water City, this man''s soul had also had a restriction ced upon it, leading to automatic self-detonation as soon as certain memories were encroached upon through the use of soul search techniques.
"Even if there were no restrictions ced on the souls of these cultivators, a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn''t have known much anyway. There''s not much point in continuing to stay here. I suggest we move on to the next Red Moon City right away," Wyrm 8 said with a hint of mockery in his eyes.
After that, he rose up into the air and vanished into the stone ceiling up above, followed immediately by the three people beside him.
Wyrm 9 gave a cold harrumph, then also departed from the underground cavity with Han Li and Wyrm 16.
A short whileter, the group of seven departed from the city and traveled to the next Red Moon City.
¡¡
Several dayster, the seven of them arrived in front of another city that was enshrouded under an enormous blue restriction, and this one was right next to a massiveke.
To call it ake wasn''t entirely urate. In reality, it was connected to the sea, making it technically an ind sea.
Outside the city was a series of connected docks with thousands of ships and boats entering and exiting, presenting a breathtaking spectacle to behold.
This was the Red Moon City of the Feng province, and it was also already the sixth Red Moon City that they had visited in the past few days.
Every single one of those cities had been the same as the Red Moon City in Lan. Aside from the residents of the cities observing the pilgrimage and the underground space that each city possessed, there was nothing abnormal or worthy of note.
The seven of themnded outside the city before sneaking their way inside.
Once again, this city had two main roads that connected the four city gates, with a massive circr za at the center of the city.
This city was also absolutely packed with people, and the za wasden with worshippers who hade to attend the pilgrimage from all over the province.
Han Li briefly inspected his surroundings with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and a hint of dismay quickly appeared on his face.
Just like the previous few Red Moon Cities, there were no high-grade cultivators in this city at all. Once again, this was most likely a red herring and aplete waste of time.
Wyrm 8 was just about to say something when a faint breeze swept past him, and Wyrm 9 had already taken Han Li and Wyrm 16 deeper into the city.
A cold look shed through Wyrm 8''s eyes, but he didn''t say anything as he led the three people apanying him down another path.
Momentster, Han Li''s trio arrived in a secluded corner.
Right as they were about to split up and go off on their own, Wyrm 9 suddenly said to Han Li and Wyrm 16, "There''s an unofficial rule in the guild that those who make important contributions in missions will be given additional rewards, and these rewards are often extremely bountiful.
¡°Even though we don''t have many leads at this point, make sure to constantly be on the lookout so the reward doesn''t fall into the hands of Wyrm 8 and the others."
Han Li and Wyrm 16 faltered slightly upon hearing this, then cupped their fists in a salute toward Wyrm 9.
"Thank you for your guidance, Fellow Daoist."
Wyrm 9 nodded in response before departing in a certain direction, and Wyrm 16 also did the same after hurriedly bidding farewell to Han Li, seemingly very eager to im this reward for himself.
Meanwhile, Han Li made his way down another street, and his gaze was constantly roaming over the shops on either side of the street as if he were searching for something.
At this point, the pilgrimage seemed to be about to draw to a conclusion soon, and many people had begun walking through the city, so he didn''t have to employ a concealment technique.
A short whileter, Han Li made his way into a shop on the side of the street, and this was yet another bookshop.
The shop was quiterge, with a total of four levels. There were three rooms on the first floor, each of which was around 40 to 50 feet wide, and they were packed with bookshelves.
Due to the ongoing pilgrimage, business was quite slow, and there weren¡¯t many customers in the shop.
"What can I help you with?" A portly middle-aged man with a well-maintained mustache immediately approached Han Li with a warm smile, and it seemed like he was the shopkeeper of the bookshop.
"Do you have any old maps or books on geography? The older, the better," Han Li replied as he nced at the bookshelves in the shop.
A peculiar look shed through the shopkeeper''s eyes, but the expression only lingered for an instant before he replied in a calm manner, "We do have maps here, but none of them are very old."
Even though the change in the shopkeeper''s expression was only present for a split-second, it naturally didn''t escape Han Li''s attention.
Intrigued by this development, ayer of translucent light appeared in his eyes, and the shopkeeper''s eyes instantly took on a dazed look at the sight of Han Li''s eyes.
"Bring me the oldest maps and geography books that you have here," Han Li instructed.
"Yes," the shopkeeper replied in a wooden manner, then turned and made his way deeper into the shop.
Han Li followed along behind the shopkeeper, and a short whileter, he emerged from the shop with a book that had a brown cover.
The pages of the book seemed to have been made of some type of beast hide, and it appeared to be an extremely old book.
As Han Li flipped through the pages of the book, a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes.
Close to half a dayter, the group of seven met back up again, and all of them were looking rather frustrated.
They hadn''t discovered anything in this city, and the underground space here was alsopletely empty, so no leads had been gathered.
"Where the hell is he? Are we really just going to have to keep searching for him indefinitely on this ind?" Wyrm 21 grumbled.
"Don''t get disheartened. Gong Shuhong may have gone into hiding, but this is his stronghold. There are only less than 30 Red Moon Cities in total. If we search through them one by one, we''ll be sure to find some leads. Next, we''ll go to the Red Moon City in the Zang province," Wyrm 8 said before turning to depart.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly spoke up. "Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 8, I may have found some leads pertaining to Gong Shuhong''s whereabouts."
Everyone immediately turned to him upon hearing this, and an ted look appeared in Wyrm 9''s eyes as he hurriedly asked, "What have you found?"
Han Li extended a finger forward, and a screen of light that was depicting an image appeared in front of him.
"Please take a look, everyone," Han Li said.
Everyone turned to the light screen to find that there was a map of the ind disyed on it. It was very simr to the map of the ind that Wyrm 8 had previously presented to everyone, except this one was a bit more detailed.
"Isn''t this the map that Fellow Daoist Wyrm 8 has already distributed to everyone? We''ve already seen it," Wyrm 25 scoffed with a hint of disdain in his voice.
Everyone else was also rather perplexed.
However, Wyrm 8 and Wyrm 9 seemed to be quite intrigued by what they were seeing.
Chapter 111: Divine Selection
Chapter 111: Divine Selection
"It looks like you two have noticed the difference. The previous map didn''t appear to have any issues, but none of the major bodies of water on the ind were presented on that map, and that''s because those bodies of water aren''t marked out on the maps being publicly sold. In contrast, I''ve marked out all of the major bodies of water that we''ve passed by on the way here on this updated map," Han Li exined with a smile.
Everyone turned back to give the map a closer look upon hearing this.
Sure enough, just as Han Li proimed, the previous map provided by Wyrm 8 was quite detailed, but there were very few bodies of water marked out on it, and even the ones that were marked out were only small rivers andkes.
Everyone''s attention had been drawn to the cities prior to this, so no one had noticed this.
"During these past few days, I made sure to gather some information on the ind''s geographic environment from all of the cities that we visited. In particr, I tracked down all of the old maps that I could, and I was finally able to find some information rted to these major bodies of water," Han Li said.
He then extended a finger forward once again, and a series ofrge rivers appeared on certain parts of the map depicted on the light screen.
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon seeing this.
"Due to the short timeframe, this is all of the information that I was able to gather on the major bodies of water. Now that it''s allid out in front of you, I''m sure you''ve also noticed that all of the Red Moon Cities that we''ve passed through and some otherrge cities have all been situated next torge bodies of water. This is something that we''ve personally seen these past few days, so we can verify this to be true," Han Li exined.
Everyone thought back to the cities that they had visited during the past few days, and sure enough, they had all been in close proximity to arge river orke, as was the case with the Red Moon City that they were currently in.
"Surely that doesn''t mean anything though. There are many advantages to building cities nearrge bodies of water, and that''s certainly not something that''s unique to the Red Moon Cities on this ind," Wyrm 13 countered.
"That''s true, but through an enchantment that I cast on the shopkeeper of a bookshop in this city, I found out from him that all images depicting the major bodies of water on the ind are strictly prohibited on all books being sold on the ind, and this order was issued by Gong Shuhong himself. It''s clear that he''s trying to hide something," Han Li said.
Wyrm 13 had no counterargument to this.
"I don''t know why Gong Shuhong is doing this, but looking at all of the major bodies of water that have already been marked out on the map, they converge at this point," Han Li continued as he pointed at a city on the map.
That city was none other than the Red Moon City of the Kun province.
"This is all just spection. Can you be certain that that''s where Gong Shuhong is?" Wyrm 25 asked in a skeptical voice.
"Of course I can''t be certain, but wouldn''t it be much better to take a look there first instead of continuing on apletely aimless search? At the very least, we''ll have slightly better chances there," Han Li replied.
Wyrm 25 opened his mouth as if he wanted to rebuke Han Li, but he was unable to find the words to do so.
"That makes a lot of sense to me! If you hadn''t discovered, we would''ve still beenpletely in the dark," Wyrm 9 said in an ted voice.
After joining forces with all of the other guild members, he had always felt outmatched by Wyrm 8, and he was very pleased to have finally scored a victory of sorts over Wyrm 8 and his group.
"I fully agree with Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15''s proposal. If we really go and search through all of the Red Moon Cities one by one, Gong Shuhong would''ve most likely already been tipped off long before we get to him, and he''ll go into hiding somewhere else where we can''t find him. We really do have to thank Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15 for making this discovery" Wyrm 16 said.
"You''re far too kind, fellow daoists. I only happened to stumble upon this discovery by chance," Han Li said with a modest smile.
After a moment of contemtion, Wyrm 8 dered, "Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15''s theory is very sound. Let''s go to the Kun province."
¡¡
One night, several dayster.
Two streaks of light shed through the night sky above a vast in, then descended onto the outskirts of a forest down below.
The two streaks of light faded to reveal a pair of flying arks, and Han Li''s group flew down in their animal masks.
"Up ahead is the Red Moon City of the Kun province. It looks like there''s a pilgrimage going on in that city as well," Wyrm 8 said as he pointed up ahead.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the direction that Wyrm 8 was pointing in, and he saw a massive, brightly lit city standing in the night close to 10 kilometers away.
The city was illuminated by crimson lights that had also stained the clouds in the night sky up above the same color, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
This city was also enshrouded under a blue light barrier, but under the influence of the crimson lights, the blue light barrier was leaning toward a shade of dark red.
"This is an enormous city. It looks like there really is a chance that this is where Gong Shuhong is hiding," Wyrm 9 mused as he inspected the city before him.
"Let''s not dy any further. Just like in the past, let''s all refrain from using our spiritual sense as much as possible after entering the city," Wyrm 8 said.
Wyrm 9 naturally chose to ignore those orders, while everyone else nodded silently in response.
Momentster, everyone had adopted disguises using their masks and donned ck cloaks that allowed them to blend into the night.
After that, they approached Red Moon City in silence.
At this moment, the city''s four gates were wide open, and the main roads leading to the za at the center of the city were lined with rednterns that illuminated the entire city to be as bright as day.
There were thousands of people making their way along the official roads outside the city gates, and they were rushing quickly toward the city. They had all traveled to Red Moon City to attend the pilgrimage, but all of them were a littlete due to one reason or another.
Han Li and the others split up into two groups, then joined the crowd to enter the city through the gates.
Han Li, Wyrm 9, and Wyrm 16 entered the city through the southern gate, then followed the flow of the crowd toward the center of the city.
The atmosphere in the city was quite solemn, and everyone was very quiet as they traveled toward the center of the city in silence with their arms crossed over their chests.
Only after getting close to the center of the city could one hear the sound of some type of strange chanting, and Han Li''s trio felt as if they were hearing the sound of constantly crashing waves, reverberating in a special rhythm.
At this moment, there were already millions of people packed onto the giant za at the center of the city and the nearby main roads. As a result, Han Li''s trio was unable to progress any further upon reaching only halfway up the southern main road.
Thus, they were forced to squeeze through the crowd toward the za at the center of the city like a trio of slipper eels, much to the chagrin of many of the people around them.
However, due to the fact that the majority of the people here were mortals, and they were all busy chanting prayers, no altercation ensued from their actions. Thus, they were able to slowly squeeze their way onto the za, and even though they still weren''t at the center of the za, they weren''t all that far away.
Han Li was quite a tall man, so all he had to do was raise his head slightly to see all the way to the center of the za, where a huge statue that was over 1,000 feet tall was situated.
It was unclear whether it was due to the material of the statue or thenterns around it, but the entire statue was of a crimson color, presenting a rather unnerving sight to behold.
Hovering in the air in front of the statue''s chest were seven blue-robed figures, each of whom had the image of a crimson crescent moon embroidered onto the chest of their robes.
Under the illumination of thenterns and with the statue behind them serving as a backdrop, these figures were made to appear like deities, and they were all giving off a peculiar aura.
However, none of them were actually all that remarkable when it came to their cultivation base. The white-haired elderly man at the center of the group was ate-Grand Ascension cultivator, but aside from him, everyone else was only at the Body Integration Stage.
However, for all of the people down below, the most powerful of whom were only Core Formation cultivators, they were no different from lofty deities.
Just like all of the millions of worshippers gathered down below, these seven people were also chanting the same prayers with extremely reverent expressions.
While Han Li was sizing up the seven blue-robed cultivators, Wyrm 16''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind. "Should we take them down?"
He turned to find that Wyrm 9 was also looking back at him with a rather hesitant expression.
Right at this moment, the moon reached its highest point in the night sky, and the sound of prayers in the surrounding area gradually subsided.
The white-haired elderly man in the sky slowly turned around, sweeping his gaze across the za like a ruler looking down upon his people.
"It is only thanks to the infinite benevolence of the holy lord that we are all able to stand here today. Those among you who are most devout to the holy lord will be chosen for higher honors. The divine selection is about to begin, it''s time to dedicate your prayers to the holy lord and pray for selection."
As soon as his voice trailed off, a wave of thunderous cheers instantly rang out from the crowd, but the cheering quickly subsided, and everyone looked up with hopeful expressions with their hands sped tightly in front of them in prayer.
In order to blend in, Han Li''s trio did the same thing.
Right at this moment, the za suddenly shuddered slightly as if some type of ancient array had been activated, and a very peculiar aura rose up in the surrounding area.
Han Li lowered his head slightly as he peered through the gaps in the crowd to inspect the ground with blue light shing in his eyes.
As a result, he discovered that a series ofplex patterns that were invisible to the naked eye had suddenly lit up, and they were intertwined with one another as they extended in all directions.
Immediately thereafter, hundreds of pirs of crimson light suddenly rose up into the heavens from all over the za, epassing one Red Moon City resident after another.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the pirs of crimson light, and he was rather taken aback by what he saw.
Not only were the people epassed within the pirs of light not panicked in the slightest, they were nothing short of ecstatic, and some of them were even weeping uncontrobly from joy.
If there were any friends or family next to them, then all of those loved ones would also be overjoyed, and even those who were unfamiliar with the ones epassed within the pirs of light were looking at them with admiration and envy in their eyes.
Han Li turned to Wyrm 9 and Wyrm 16 with a perplexed expression to find that they were just as puzzled as he was.
After all, nothing like this had ever happened in any of the previous Red Moon Cities that they had visited.
All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have urred to Han Li, and he transmitted his voice to Wyrm 9 and Wyrm 16, raising the question: "Could it be that these are the people chosen by the so-called holy lord?"
After a brief moment of contemtion, Wyrm 9 replied, "That''s probably it. If we follow these people, perhaps we''ll be able to find out more information about Gong Shuhong. The only problem is that we don''t know where these people are going to be taken."
Han Li smiled as he replied, "There''s an easy solution to that problem. There are people of all demographics being teleported away, so it seems like the selection process ispletely random, but that''s actually not the case."
Chapter 112: Clues
Chapter 112: Clues
After hearing what Han Li had to say, Wyrm 16 immediately paid closer attention to the people being teleported away, and he quickly eximed, "These people seem to all be either low-grade cultivators or in possession of spiritual roots!"
"That''s right! Are you suggesting that we also pose as low-grade cultivators so we can be teleported away with them?" Wyrm 9 asked.
"That''s right. Given our powers, I''m sure we''ll be able to pass as low-grade cultivators with no issues at all," Han Li replied.
"The ce where we''re going to be teleported to may have something to do with Gong Shuhong. Should we inform Wyrm 8 and the others?" Wyrm 16 asked in a slightly hesitant voice.
"We''re only infiltrating their ranks for now. Let''s wait until we actually make a discovery before we contact them," Wyrm 9 replied in a cold voice.
After that, he raised a hand and gently tapped a finger against his own forehead, upon which a burst of invisible fluctuations instantly began to emanate from his body.
His manifested face didn''t change at all, but his aura was rapidly changing, adjusting itself to the mid-Foundation Establishment Stage in the blink of an eye.
Han Li and Wyrm 16 also immediately followed suit, adjusting their own auras to the Foundation Establishment Stage as well.
After that, they waited patiently for the same pirs of red light to emerge from beneath their feet.
However, a few minutes passed by, and during that time, more and more pirs of red light continued to rise up around them, but they weren''t given the same treatment.
"Why haven''t we been teleported away? Could it be that you''re incorrect in your assessment, and this divine selection really is just a random process?" Wyrm 9 asked with a skeptical expression.
Han Li contemted the situation for a moment before replying, "Be patient and keep waiting. If we haven''t been teleported away even after the divine selection process has ended, then we''ll just have to release our spiritual sense over a small area to investigate."
Wyrm 9 didn''t say anything further upon hearing this, but he began to inspect his surroundings.
Right at this moment, a burst of red light suddenly rose up beneath his feet to epass him, and everyone around him instantly turned their attention toward him.
Before he had a chance to do anything, the light faded, and he had also vanished from the spot.
Words of praise and envy instantly rang out from the people around him.
However, before long, two more bursts of red light emerged nearby, teleporting two more people away in a sh.
These two people were naturally none other than Han Li and Wyrm 16.
Han Li felt the entire world spin around him, and he couldn''t help but sway unsteadily on the spot before reappearing somewhere else entirely.
He quickly swept his gaze over his surroundings to find that he was still surrounded by countless people, and Wyrm 16 was standing not far away from him with a perplexed look on his face, while Wyrm 9 was nowhere to be seen for now.
At the moment, they were situated in a vast underground pce that was so packed with people that it was impossible to see the walls of the pce. The only things that were visible were the ceiling up above the thick stone pirs standing nearby.
There were a series ofrge braziers hanging down from each of the stone pirs, and it was unclear what was being burned inside them, but they weren''t releasing any smoke, and there were only crimson mes visible inside.
At the same time, bursts of red light were appearing incessantly in the surrounding area as one mortal and low-grade cultivator after another was teleported into the underground pce.
In contrast with the solemn atmosphere on the za, it was much rowdier here. All of the people who had been teleported into this ce seemed to be unable to contain their excitement, and they were eagerly looking around while standing on the tips of their toes.
Aside from several Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation cultivators, all of the people around Han Li were mortals, so being teleported here all of a sudden felt like a divine miracle to them, and they all began to chant their prayers in a reverent manner.
Thebined voices of their prayers were reverberating throughout the entire underground pce, causing it to buzz incessantly.
For some reason, Han Li was struck by an oppressive sensation as he listened to these prayers.
However, this feeling only lingered for a short while before fading away, but there was a persistent bloody odor in the murky air that refused to dissipate.
His brows furrowed slightly as he looked down to find that all of the bluestone bs that the ground was paved with had been stained a shade of red so dark that it was beginning to resemble ck. It seemed like the type of color that could''ve only arisen from being regrly soaked in blood.
With that in mind, Han Li couldn''t help but think of the yin soil that he had discovered under the stone bs beneath the Red Moon City of Lan, and his brows furrowed even more tightly at the thought.
At this moment, Wyrm 16 squeezed through the crowd with some difficulty, arriving behind him before asking in a low voice, "Have you found anything?"
"I think I may have found some clues, but I can''t be sure for now. Let''s track down Fellow Daoist Wyrm 9 first," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
After that, he transmitted his voice to Wyrm 9, asking for his location.
Through theirmunication, he was informed that Wyrm 9 had been teleported to a location rather far away from them, near the center of the underground pce.
Thus, the two of them were forced to squeeze their way through the noisy crowd, drawing a great deal of ire and discontent along the way.
The closer they drew to the center of the underground pce, the more pronounced the bloody odor in the air became, and the darker the shade of red of the stone bs beneath their feet.
By the time they arrived at the center of the underground pce, the color of the ground had almost turned a shade of dark purple.
Han Li looked up to find a statue that was over 30 feet tall up ahead, and it depicted none other than Gong Shuhong.
Near the statue was a stone tform that was around 100 feet in size, and it was only protruding slightly above the ground. The tform waspletely empty with the exception of a short yet extremely muscr man.
The man was wearing a purple robe, and there was also a crimson moon design embroidered onto his chest.
His eyes were half-closed, and his aura was restrained, but Han Li could sense that he was a Layman Immortal.
Han Li and Wyrm 16 made their way over to the edge of the tform, following which the former''s gaze lingered on the Layman Immortal for a moment before he turned to look beyond the statue.
Someone also squeezed their way out of their crowd in that direction, and it was none other than Wyrm 9.
He had naturally also spotted Han Li and Wyrm 16, yet right as he was about to make his way over to them, the Layman Immortal suddenly raised his head before briefly inspecting his surroundings.
Momentster, the man withdrew his gaze before looking directly up ahead as he began to speak. "Everyone..."
As soon as his voice rang out, all of themotion in the area instantly ceased, and the entire underground pce became extremely quiet as everyone directed their attention toward him.
The atmosphere in the pce had be rather solemn, and Wyrm 9 also stopped what he was doing as he cast his gaze toward the Layman Immortal as well.
"The divine selection ceremony has already concluded. All of you have been chosen by the holy lord as his most devout followers, an honor unmatched by any," the man dered.
Everyone immediately erupted into ecstatic cheers upon hearing this.
Han Li swept his gaze across his surroundings to find that there was no longer any more red light appearing in the area, indicating that no more people were being teleported into the pce.
The Layman Immortal raised his hands in a quieting gesture, and the cheering gradually subsided, with the underground pce quickly falling silent again.
After that, he continued, "Out of the infinite kindness of his heart, the holy lord has decided to select those of you who possess the best cultivation aptitude to bestow cultivation arts upon and serve by his side. All you need to do is pray with sincerity and wait for the arrival of the holy lord."
Everyone in the pce immediately closed their eyes and sped their hands before themselves in prayer upon hearing this.
An ted look appeared on Wyrm 16''s face as he transmitted his voice to Han Li and Wyrm 9: "It sounds like Gong Shuhong will being here. Should we inform Wyrm 3 right away?"
Han Li cast his gaze toward Wyrm 9 upon hearing this, only to find a hesitant look on thetter''s face.
Right at this moment, the statue at the center of the underground pce suddenly began to tremble, and two bursts of crimson light appeared in its eyes.
Han Li''s trio immediately turned their attention toward the statue.
"We wee the arrival of our holy lord," the Layman Immortal said in a reverent voice as he turned around and extended a bow toward the statue.
Everyone immediately followed suit, extending respectful bows of their own as they greeted in unison, "We wee the arrival of our holy lord."
Han Li had also bent over slightly, but his gaze remained on the statue and the Layman Immortal.
The man was making a string of hand seals, and his lips were quivering incessantly as if he were chanting something.
All of a sudden, the crimson light within the statue''s eyes shed, and two pirs of red light were projected directly forward.
As the statue slowly revolved on the spot, the two pirs of red light swept through the crowd.
As the red light swept over Han Li, he could clearly sense a burst of spiritual sense lingering on him for a moment before turning elsewhere.
What was rather strange to him was that the spiritual sense wasing from the purple-robed man rather than the statue.
Right at this moment, Wyrm 9''s voice rang out in his mind.
"What is he trying to do? There''s no holy lord descending here, it''s just him releasing his spiritual sense!"
"It looks like this is only a ceremony held in the name of that so-called holy lord. Gong Shuhong most likely isn''t going to being here," Han Li replied after a brief moment of contemtion.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the pirs of red light that werebing through the crowd suddenly drew to a halt, lingering on a pair of young men.
The two were ecstatic, and they hurriedly moved toward the center of the underground pce under the instructions of the Layman Immortal, attracting much admiration and envy from those that they passed by along the way.
Han Li took a brief nce at the two men to find that even though they were only at a Foundation Establishment Stage, but their spiritual roots and bone structures were both quite good.
After that, the two pirs of light continued to sift through the crowd,nding on a thin young man and an elegant young woman momentster.
Han Li examined them to find that even though they weren''t cultivators, both of them had exceptional cultivation aptitude.
As the pirs of red light continued to move through the crowd, one person after another was selected, and all of them were instructed to move toward the tform that the Layman Immortal was on.
Before long, over 200 people had already gathered there.
Ignoring their cultivation bases, Han Li could see that these people were the cream of the crop among the tens of thousands of people gathered in the underground pce when it came to cultivation aptitude.
With that in mind, he was suddenly struck by a sense of realization. Many past observations were strung together in this instant to form a cohesive theory, and he hurriedly transmitted his voice to Wyrm 9 and Wyrm 16 tomunicate this theory.
"I''m afraid we may be in some trouble, fellow daoists. This is not a ce where people gather to see this so-called holy lord. Instead, it''s most likely a sacrificial site."
"What?" Wyrm 9 was very rmed to hear this.
"Did you find some leads, Wyrm 15? What led you to this conclusion?" Wyrm 16 asked as he turned to Han Li with a perplexed expression.
Chapter 113: Trap
Chapter 113: Trap
"Just like in all of the underground pces in the other Red Moon Cities, there''s a lingering bloody odor in the air here, and the earth has already turned into yin soil. It''s clear that this is a ce where living beings are regrly ughtered. Among the people brought to this ce, all of them are either cultivators or mortals who possess spiritual roots. They''re most likely going to be used as sacrifices here," Han Li exined with a grim expression.
"Now that you mention it, Gong Shuhong does cultivate in thews of blood. Could it be that he regrly requires arge number of sacrifices to support his cultivation?" Wyrm 16 spected with tightly furrowed brows.
"If that''s the case, then why don''t they begin the sacrifice right away? Why did they put the sacrificial subjects through a selection process first?" Wyrm 9 asked in a skeptical manner.
"My guess is that those who possess the most exceptional cultivation aptitude are selected so that they can be developed into those high-grade cultivators wearing the crimson robes, and they''ll be the ones who directly serve Gong Shuhong.
¡°In order to prevent these people from revealing the true nature of the pilgrimage, they''ve most likely had some type of restriction ced on their souls. As for the rest... The true sacrifice will most likely begin after the selection process isplete," Han Li replied.
"Looking at the current situation, we should still have enough time to take that man down and get out of here," Wyrm 9 said as he took a nce at the Layman Immortal.
However, right as his voice trailed off, a loud buzzing sound immediately rang out from the surrounding space.
At the same time, a series of intertwining crimson patterns appeared on the walls of the underground pce, and they quickly began to spread like a system of cobwebs, instantly covering the entirety of the walls.
These crimson patterns shed momentarily before blooming like flowers, revealing countless eyes that were glowing with faint crimson light. The eyes were constantly squirming as if they were living creatures, presenting an extremely unsettling and harrowing sight to behold.
Everyone was quickly illuminated a crimson color by the light being released by the eyes, and the bloody odor permeating through the air instantly became countless times more pungent.
Horrified looks began to appear on the faces of many of the people in the underground space upon seeing this.
Wyrm 9 was just about to say something when another burst of buzzing rang out, and the crimson eyes abruptly brightened considerably, releasing beams of crimson light that were as concentrated and densely packed as rain, epassing the entire underground space, making it impossible to take evasive measures.
Every single beam of crimson light was giving off bursts of unidentifiablew fluctuations, and Han Li''s trio was very rmed by this development.
They didn''t know what this crimson light was, but it clearly wasn''t going to be something beneficial to them.
Han Li immediately summoned his True Extreme Membrane, and at the same time, he swept a hand through the air to release a round yellow mirror and an azure jade pendant, which instantly transformed into a pair of haloes, one yellow and one azure, both of which settled around him.
He had obtained these treasures from Tuhar, the Grand Ascension cultivator of the Cold Crystal Race that he had in, and he was carrying them precisely in case of situations like this.
Wyrm 9 also reacted extremely quickly, making a hand seal as a series of blue ripples appeared around him, forming a series ofyers that shielded his body from all directions.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 16 summoned arge azure umbre, which revolved in the air above him before releasing countless dazzling threads of azure light, which draped down to form a ball of azure light that epassed his entire body.
"What''s going on? The selection process still isn''t finished yet..."
A hint of befuddlement appeared in the Layman Immortal''s eyes at the sight of the crimson eyes that had appeared around him, but before he had a chance to ponder the situation any further, countless beams of crimson light shot forth through the air.
He seemed to be quite fearful of these beams of crimson light, and he immediately opened his mouth to release a crimson g, which instantly transformed into a crimson light barrier that enveloped his entire body.
The beams of crimson light were traveling extremely quickly,nding on everyone in the underground space in the blink of an eye.
The light barriers released by the treasures summoned by Han Li''s trio posed no obstacle at all as the beams of crimson light passed through with ease before vanishing into their bodies.
Han Li''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately inspected his own internal condition with his spiritual sense.
However, the crimson light had vanished without a trace after entering his body, much to his shock and concern.
Right at this moment, a strange vibration began to ring out beside Han Li''s ears.
For some reason, his heart was suddenly beginning to thump violently in an uncontroble manner, and his heart rate was rapidly climbing.
At the same time, his blood cirction also sped up by severalfold, causing his entire body to be scorching hot, and the magic power in his dantian was also bing unstable due to his violently beating heart.
rmed looks appeared on the faces of Wyrm 9 and Wyrm 16, and they were clearly also experiencing the same thing as Han Li.
"What''s going on?"
"What is this terrible feeling?"
"I can''t take this..."
"Argh!"
A string of blood-curdling howls intermingled with dull thumps rang out from all directions, and Han Li''s trio looked around to find that all of the mortals and low-grade cultivators who had been struck by the beams of crimson light were trembling incessantly, while their skin had also turned bright red.
Immediately thereafter, their bodies swelled before exploding into clouds of viscous blood mist.
Within the span of just a few seconds, hundreds of thousands of people in the surrounding area had exploded into blood mist, forming a suffocating cloud that permeated throughout the entire underground space.
As the crimson eyes on the walls blinked, the blood mist in the underground space rapidly converged to form a series of blood clouds. In the absence of all of the people who had had their bodies blown up, the underground space had bepletely empty.
As a result, there were no longer any obstacles around to obstruct the view of Han Li''s trio, and they discovered that there were four more people in the underground space with them.
They were none other than Wyrm 8 and his group, and they had somehow managed to infiltrate this ce as well.
Wyrm 9 and Wyrm 16 were both quite pleased to see this.
Despite their differences, it was always good news to be reunited with allies in perilous situations. With the powers of seven True Immortalsbined, surely they would be able to find a way out.
Han Li quickly swept his gaze over the blood clouds in the sky, and his heart immediately sank slightly. Bright azure light radiated from his body as he drew upon all of his magic power and unleashed several secret techniques in a row to try and quell the unrest in his body, but no matter what he did, his condition refused to improve, and his heart rate was only bing faster and faster.
A burst of indescribable force was umting within his body before surging toward his heart, while another type of power was filling his body, causing it to rapidly expand.
A strange crimson color had appeared on his skin, but it was extremely faint.
Upon noticing this crimson sheen on his own skin, Han Li was immediately reminded of what had happened to those mortals and low-grade cultivators before their bodies exploded.
The same crimson color had also appeared on the skin of all of the other six Transient Guild members, but what was quite surprising to them was that there was an agonized look on the face of the purple-robed man on the raised tform, indicating that he also seemed to be in the same situation as them.
However, they naturally had no spare capacity to pay any heed to him.
At this point, the nature of the situation was already obvious.
They had thought that they had sessfully snuck into the underground pce without being noticed, but in reality, they had already been detected by Gong Shuhong, who took advantage of their n to trap them in this underground space. In order to avoid rousing their suspicions, it seemed that he was even prepared to sacrifice this Layman Immortal subordinate of his.
The crimson eyes on the walls were still blinking incessantly, releasing one beam of crimson light after another, and everyone was doing their best to take evasive measures, but they were still constantly being struck by the beams of light.
With each beam of crimson light that struck its target, a burst of strange power ofws would make its way into the target''s body, further elerating their heart rate.
Within the span of just a few seconds, everyone felt as if their hearts were about to leap out of their chests, and it was an extremely agonizing and panic-inducing feeling.
Among the seven of them, Han Li was the only one who was still holding up rtively well. Having already attained a True Extreme Body, his physical constitution was far superior to that of the average immortal, and that applied to his heart as well.
Even though his heart rate was also constantly elerating, it was still bearable to him for now.
Wyrm 9 had a dark look on his face, and at this point, he was no longer making any attempt to conceal his magic power. He began to chant an incantation, and countless blue runes flew out of his body before intertwining to form a thin protective barrier.
The barrier was quite thin, but it was giving off bursts of powerfulws of water fluctuations.
The beams of crimson light were still able to pass through the blue protective barrier, but they were clearly whittled down significantly during the process.
It looks like the power ofws can only be stopped by the power ofws... Han Li thought to himself upon seeing this.
Han Li and Wyrm 9 were still in decent condition for now, but the same didn''t apply to Wyrm 16.
Even though he was also pulling out all the stops, his body was still swelling steadily, and his skin had turned as red as blood, the same shade as the blood that was gushing uncontrobly out of his orifices.
"We have to find a way to get out of here!" Wyrm 9 yelled as he rose up into the air as a streak of blue light.
Wyrm 16 immediately followed along.
Han Li was the least affected by the crimson light out of everyone present, but it naturally didn''t benefit him in any way to remain in this ce, so he followed along as well.
Wyrm 8 and the others also quickly rose up into the air upon seeing this.
During his ascent, Wyrm 9 swept an arm forcefully through the air to release a blue flying dagger, which transformed into a giant blue de that was over 100 feet in length in the blink of an eye. The de was giving off sounds of howling wind and rumbling thunder as it crashed viciously into the stone ceiling of the underground space.
However, as soon as the blue de made contact with the ceiling, a vast expanse of crimson light suddenly emerged from the ceiling without any warning, forming a crimson light barrier with countless runes surging incessantly over its surface.
A resounding ng rang out as if the giant blue de had struck a metal wall, and the crimson light barrier remainedpletely unscathed, not even wavering in the slightest from the force of the impact.
Wyrm 9''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this.
Right at this moment, a ck spike that was enveloped in ck light shot out of Wyrm 16''s body, and there was an urgent look in his eyes as he released a mouthful of blood essence, which vanished into the ck spike in a sh.
The ck spike immediately began to glow brightly while revolving rapidly, and countless tiny runes appeared on its surface alongside arcs of ck lightning amid a string of rumbling thunderps.
The space in the wake of the ck lightning trembled violently, and there were even some ck spatial rifts that had appeared in the air.
Chapter 114: One Life for Another
Chapter 114: One Life for Another
"Go!"
Wyrm 16 thrust a finger through the air, and a resounding boom rang out from the ck spike as it shot forth as a bolt of ck lightning before striking the crimson light barrier up above with devastating force.
Almost at the exact same moment, circles of runes appeared on the surface of Wyrm 9''s blue de at his behest, and the light radiating from the de became blindingly bright. Meanwhile, the fist projections unleashed by Han Li also fell upon the crimson light barrier.
A string of loud rumbling rang out, and the light on the surface of the crimson light barrier shed wildly as it caved in significantly, but it still showed no signs of breaking.
Right at this moment, the crimson patterns on the surrounding walls suddenly began to release dazzling crimson light, while a strange glugging sound rang out.
The vast blood cloud in the air suddenly began to churn and tumble violently, following which long plumes of blood mist extended out from within it before flying in all directions, then seeped into the crimson patterns on the walls.
In the blink of an eye, the vast blood cloud vanished without a trace, leaving the underground space even emptier and more cavernous than before.
The crimson patterns on the walls abruptly became around twice as thick as they originally were, and those unsettling crimson eyes also bulged as if they had been opened up wide, presenting an even more terrifying sight to behold.
At the same time, the crimson light barrier shielding the ceiling of the underground space also became far thicker and denser, much to the rm and dismay of Han Li and the others, and the parts of the light barrier that were caving in from thebined attacks from Han Li''s trio were also radiating dazzling crimson light.
The ck spike and the blue de were repelled, and Han Li was also forced to stumble back by a burst of immense repulsive force as a stunned look appeared on his face.
Before they had a chance to do anything else, the surrounding crimson eyes began to glow even brighter, and the entire underground space was instantly enshrouded by dazzling crimson light, transforming the entire space into a crimson world.
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this, and he could clearly sense a burst of even more potent power ofws surging incessantly into his body through the crimson light, causing his heartbeat to elerate even further.
Even with his incredible physical constitution, he was beginning to struggle.
In response to this sudden turn of events, Han Li immediately activated his Big Dipper Origin Arts, and seven specks of starlight appeared on his chest and abdomen, while ayer of starlight appeared over his entire body.
At the same time, all of his muscles, bones, and tendons were significantly bolstered, while ayer of starlight had also surfaced over his heart, and his heart rate finally began to slow a little.
In contrast, Wyrm 9''s condition was worsening by the second, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which a burst of ck light flew out of his body, then rapidly expanded to transform into a ck-robed elderly man whose entire body was epassed within ayer of dazzling blue light.
Countless blue runes were dancing within the blue light, giving off potent bursts of power ofws.
Immediately thereafter, Wyrm 9 made another hand seal before sweeping a hand through the air, and all of the blue light radiating from the ck-robed elderly man''s body instantly surged toward him.
As a result, the protective barrier formed by the power ofws around Wyrm 9 instantly brightened by around twofold, and it was able to ward off the oing beams of crimson light again.
Unfortunately for Wyrm 16, he didn''t possess a body as powerful as Han Li''s, nor did he possess any power ofws with which he could protect his body, and his face had be deathly pale under the relentless assault of the crimson light.
Bursts of power ofws that were constantly bing more and more potent surged into his body in a frenzy before being converted into a form of strange power that struck viciously at his heart.
His heartbeat continued to elerate rapidly until a dull thump suddenly rang out within his chest. Blood came gushing uncontrobly out of his mouth along with many organ fragments, and he fell heavily onto the ground with a dull thump, while the ck spike also ttered onto the ground, having bepletely dull and devoid of luster.
A desperate look appeared on Wyrm 16''s face as he reached out in an attempt to grab onto something, but his body suddenly swelled up like a balloon before exploding violently into a cloud of blood mist that gave off incredible spiritual power fluctuations.
Both his body and his nascent soul had exploded in unison under the effects of the power ofws of blood.
The cloud of blood mist that his body had exploded into then immediately split up into several dozen bursts, as if it were being manipted by someone, before vanishing into the surrounding walls and being absorbed, just like the blood cloud from before.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and the blood mist formed by Wyrm 16''s body was absorbed, the power ofws that were surging throughout this entire space became significantly more potent once again.
Han Li could hear the thumping of his heart ring out beside his ears once again, but he didn''t panic as he took a deep breath before closing his eyes.
As a Profound Immortal, he was extremely knowledgeable about the human body, and the heart was the basis of the body, so he naturally had a very thorough understanding of the organ.
The sound of his heartbeat wasn''t constantly getting louder and faster. Instead, there was some type of rhythm to it.
In the instant that Wyrm 16''s body exploded, Han LI had grasped onto something.
Following Wyrm 16''s demise, blood began to gush out of Wyrm 9''s mouth and nose, and his face was bing paler and paler.
He had clearly already realized that the increase in the potency of the power ofws surging through this space could be directly attributed to Wyrm 16''s death.
At this point, he had already withdrawn all of the power of faith and power ofws in his Earthly Deity Avatar, but still wasn''t enough to ward off the power ofws contained within the crimson light.
He could sense that his heartbeat had already elerated to the limits of his body''s physical tolerance.
I can''t die here!
Wyrm 9 was roaring furiously in his heart, but he was unable to make even a single sound. The protective barrier around him gradually began to dim, and a despairing look appeared in his eyes.
All of a sudden, a fist punched through the protective barrier around him, seemingly out of nowhere, before striking him on the back.
The fist released a burst of force that prated into his body before acting upon his heart.
The force exerted was nothing short of ingenious, containing a certain tempo that immediately disrupted the frequency of his heartbeat. As a result, most of the destructive power that was crashing its way through his body instantly dissipated.
He opened his mouth and involuntarily threw up a mouthful of blood, but hisplexion had already improved significantly, and he turned around to discover Han Li standing behind him, in the process of slowly withdrawing his fist.
He couldn''t understand why Han Li was able to counteract the effects of the power ofws with just a single punch, but he still gave Han Li a grateful nod.
All of a sudden, the crimson eyes on the walls began to slowly close for some reason, and the crimson light filling the entire underground space also quickly faded.
However, the crimson patterns on the walls still remained, and the crimson light barrier protecting the ceiling was also still in ce.
Despite that, both Han Li and Wyrm 9''s heart rates had returned to normal, and they each heaved a long sigh of relief in the wake of that grueling ordeal.
In the distance, a figure descended out of the air, and it was none other than Wyrm 8. However, his entire body was drenched in blood, and he appeared to be in terrible condition, having clearly suffered greatly throughout that ordeal. However, the fact that he was able to survive to this point at all clearly indicated that the power ofws that he possessed was also quite special.
Aside from the three of them, there were no other survivors in this vast underground space, and there was a nauseating odor of blood and gore permeating through the air.
Han Li and Wyrm 9 had been too busy fending for themselves to keep tabs on the situation around them, so they failed to notice what had be of Wyrm 8 and his group.
Clearly, Wyrm 8 and the others had also done everything they could to break out of this space, but to no avail, and everyone else aside from Wyrm 8 had perished, which meant that four immortals had just fallen in that brief span of time.
Furthermore, the purple-robed man on the raised tform at the center of the crimson space had also disappeared, leaving only arge crimson g that was glowing with faint spiritual light standing in his ce.
Han Li wasn''t pleased at all to see the demise of the purple-robed man. Instead, his brows furrowed slightly as a grim look appeared on his face.
There was a very good chance that Gong Shuhong was the one who had set this trap, and the fact that he was willing to sacrifice one of the Layman Immortals serving under him just to draw Han Li and the others to this ce was a clear indication of just how determined he was to kill them.
As these thoughts were running through Han Li''s mind, he took some pills to aid in his recovery.
He wasn''t naive enough to think that Gong Shuhong would leave them alone after that failed attempt to wipe out their entire group.
After taking a few pills himself, Wyrm 9 had also recovered somewhat, and he hurriedly cupped his fist toward Han Li in a grateful salute. "Thank you for saving my life, Wyrm 15. Words cannot express my gratitude."
After that, he beckoned toward the ck-robed elderly man standing beside him, who rapidly shrank down before vanishing into his body as a streak of ck light.
Han Li had already noticed the Earthly Deity Avatar that Wyrm 9 had released, but his expression remained unchanged as he replied in an indifferent voice, "There''s no need to thank me, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 9. We''re all in this together, so it''s only right that I help out where I can."
Not only did he recognize Wyrm 9''s avatar, he had even fought against it on a previous asion. It was none other than the avatar of Patriarch Lu Kun that had apanied Han Qiu to Dark Veil Ind.
It was quite a coincidence that not only was Lu Kun also a low-level member of the Transient Guild, he was here on the same mission as Han Li.
At this point, Wyrm 8 had also flown over to them, and hended beside Han Li and Wyrm 9 as a wry smile appeared on his face. "Looks like we''ve been one step behind Gong Shuhong this entire time."
"What a demented man he must be to sacrifice so many cultivators and mortals just for the sake of his own cultivation," Wyrm 9 spat through gritted teeth.
"Now''s not the time to be discussing such matters. We should focus on finding a way out of here first," Han Li said as he inspected his surroundings.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of sinister cackling suddenly rang out.
"I didn''t think that the three of you would be able to survive. The Transient Guild truly has nock of formidable cultivators among its ranks!"
Immediately thereafter, the raised tform at the center of the underground space copsed violently amid a burst of loud rumbling to reveal a massive hole.
A crimson cloud emerged from the hole, then dissipated to reveal three figures, one of which was none other than the purple-robed elderly man who had ambushed Han Li''s trio back in Heavenly Water City.
The other two were also wearing purple robes with crimson moon symbols embroidered upon them, and one of them was a muscr middle-aged man with a thick beard on his face, while the other was a hideous young woman in a ck dress, with aplexion that was as ck as a kettle and a t and virtually featureless face.
Judging from their auras, all three of them were True Immortals, with the middle-aged man giving off the most powerful aura of the three, and he seemed to be the leader of the trio.
The man cast a sinister gaze toward Han Li''s trio with a cold smile on his face.
Chapter 115: Battling Chou Wu Again
Chapter 115: Battling Chou Wu Again
"That brat was the one who somehow managed to break open my Bloodlight Space back in Heavenly Water City. I thought he had managed to do that purely out of dumb luck, but it seems like he''s got some special tricks up his sleeve," the purple-robed elderly man said as he pointed at Han Li while his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Sounds like you''ve taken an interest in him, Chou Wu. In that case, I''ll leave him to you, and we''ll take care of the other two," the hideous woman in ck said in a coarse and grating voice.
"That suits me just fine," Chou Wu chuckled in response.
While the three purple-robed cultivators were speaking with one another, Han Li''s trio was also sizing them up with grim expressions.
These three were all Layman Immortals at the early-True Immortal Stage, so overall, they were inferior in power to Han Li''s trio, but aside from Han Li, both Lu Kun and Wyrm 8 had suffered severe injuries. If a battle were to break out here, it was most likely going to be quite a grueling affair.
"Those three must be Gong Shuhong''s other three Layman Immortal subordinates," Wyrm 8 said to Han Li and Lu Kun through voice transmission.
"This is a very strange ce. I''m afraid there may be more nasty surprises toe if we linger here for too long," Han Li replied as he quickly swept his gaze over the crimson patterns on the surrounding walls, which had dimmed slightly at this point.
"We have to end this battle as quickly as possible. Now''s not the time to be holding back," Wyrm 9 said.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the trio of purple-robed cultivators were already charging at them.
All of a sudden, spatial fluctuations erupted in front of Han Li''s trio, and hundreds of crimson des of light appeared before hurtling directly toward them.
Han Li took a half-step backward, then pulled back his fist before unleashing a powerful punch.
A burst of tremendous force instantly surged through the air, apanied by a string of sounds akin to rain falling on a banana leaf.
All of the oing crimson des of light instantly stalled, then exploded into countless specks of crimson light.
Before the light had even faded, Chou Wu''s trio had already split up and were flying toward the opponents they had chosen for themselves.
A grim look appeared on Wyrm 8''s face at the sight of the burly middle-aged man that was approaching him, and he had no time to address his injuries as he quickly made a hand seal.
A burst of light erupted all around him, following which a streak of dazzling azure light flew out of his body, then rapidly expanded to form a thin white-robed man beside him.
The white-robed man was quite simr to Wyrm 8 in appearance, but the skin all over his entire body was green, and he was basked in ayer of azure light. It was none other than Wyrm 8''s Earthly Deity Avatar.
As soon as the avatar appeared, it immediately positioned itself in front of Wyrm 8, then opened its mouth and inhaled sharply.
Ferocious gusts of wind were instantly swept up in all directions, swirling violently to form a trumpet-shaped white vortex that surged into its mouth, causing its belly to expand rapidly.
It then opened its mouth to release an azure wave of energy that was visible to the naked eye, and the energy wave quickly transformed into an azure wind dragon that was over 100 feet tall.
A cold sneer appeared on the burly man''s face upon seeing this, and he didn''t even bother to make any preparations before throwing a punch directly forward.
At the same time, a sinister-looking white bone gauntlet had appeared over his fist, and spiritual light shed over its surface as an enormous fist projection was unleashed, hurtling directly toward the azure wind dragon.
A resounding boom rang out as the azure wind dragon and the giant fist projection exploded in unison, sending countless azure des of wind erupting in all directions.
A string of loud ngs rang out incessantly as the des of wind sliced a series of extremely deep gashes into the ground, the walls, and the surrounding stone pirs as if they were made from tofu.
Following that initial sh, ayer of faint crimson light appeared over the burly man''s body, and he rushed straight into the des of wind as he continued to close in on Wyrm 8.
The des of wind struck the crimson light on his body one after another in rapid session, but they were unable to inflict any damage.
Wyrm 8 gritted his teeth as he leaped up into the air with his Earthly Deity Avatar to meet his opponent.
Meanwhile, after a fierce sh against Lu Kun, the hideous woman in ck drifted backward with her entire body enveloped within a cloud of dense ck mist.
However, before she had even descended onto the ground, her brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and a lotus flower formed by ck mist emerged in the air beneath her feet amid a sh of ck light.
She tread lightly onto the ck lotus flower before springing up again and descending elsewhere.
On the spot where she was originally going tond, the blood that had umted over the ground suddenly churned and rippled, and a ck figure wielding a blue longsword emerged in a sh, revealing itself to be Lu Kun''s Earthly Deity Avatar.
Lu Kun''s expression darkened slightly at the sight of his failed sneak attack, and he called out to his Earthly Deity Avatar to attack the woman together.
Not far away from them, Chou Wu was watching Han Li with a cold gaze, and he said in a cold voice, "I knew you had some tricks up your sleeve, but I didn''t think that you were also a Profound Immortal. The blood puppet that I''m currently refining just so happens to be missing a vessel, so your True Extreme Body will be perfect for the role."
Han Li offered no response to this aside from raising his fists slightly in provocation.
The purple-robed elderly man''s eyelids twitched slightly upon seeing this, and a hint of cold killing intent surfaced in his eyes.
All of a sudden, he flipped a hand over, and a dark purple bowl appeared over his palm amid a sh of ck light. Red light was shing and rippling incessantly within the bowl, as if it were filled with fresh blood.
As Chou Wu began to chant an incantation, the red light within the bowl brightened considerably, and it was originally only rippling slightly, but in the blink of an eye, it had begun to churn like boiling water while swirling violently within the bowl.
If one were to look closely, they would be able to see a series of anguished ghostly faces within the red light, and they were all frantically trying to mber their way out of the bowl as if they were trying to escape.
A burst of dazzling radiance erupted from the bowl at Chou Wu''s behest, and a huge volume of blood came gushing out, forming an enormous wave of blood that epassed a huge area as it swept directly toward Han Li.
A nauseating odor instantly wafted through the air, while ghastly howls reverberated incessantly throughout the underground space. It was as if the entire area had suddenly been plunged into the underworld, and all of the cultivators and mortals who had just perished here had returned with a vengeance to vent their resentment and killing intent to their hearts'' content.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he sensed the intense yin aura within the wave of blood.
With a flick of his wrist, the round yellow mirror came flying out, and a burst of yellow light was released from its surface, forming a ring-shaped light barrier all around Han Li.
As soon as the light barrier appeared, the wave of blood immediately came crashing down heavily upon it.
The yellow light barrier shuddered in an unsteady manner, but quickly stabilized itself again.
However, in the next instant, a burst of loud sizzling rang out asrge plumes of smoke rose up from the surface of the light barrier, looking as if it were about to be melted away by the wave of blood. At the same time, the yellow mirror that was hanging in mid-air also began to tremble uncontrobly.
All of a sudden, a loud crack rang out as the round mirror was shattered before falling onto the ground, havingpletely lost its luster.
Without the yellow light barrier standing in its way, the wave of blood surged forward and inundated Han Li in an instant.
From Han Li''s perspective, he felt as if he had been plunged into an extremely viscous sea of blood, and his movements were greatly restricted as a result.
His True Extreme Membrane was still glowing faintly even as it was soaked by the blood around him, but he could clearly sense that the membrane was constantly being contaminated by some type of corrosive power.
A series of ghastly figures were swimming incessantly through the sea of blood around him, and regardless of their age or gender, all of them seemed to be out for Han Li''s blood as they rushed at him in all directions with their faces twisted in fury and bloodlust.
In response, Han Li thrust his arms through the air, instantly releasing countless fist projections that destroyed the 100 or so figures closest to him. At the same time, ayer of golden scales appeared over his body, and he grew noticeably in height as he prepared to leap out of the sea of blood.
"You''re not getting away!" Chou Wu sneered as crimson light began to glow from his hand, and he thrust his palm against the bowl ahead of him.
Countless runes instantly began to sweep out of the bowl before vanishing into the sea of blood around Han Li.
The blood around Han Li instantly began to churn while rapidly revolving in a certain direction, and the temperature of the blood was also rapidly rising, as if it were being boiled over an open me.
Before long, the temperature of the blood was alreadyparable to that of moltenva.
Within the scorching vortex of blood, Han Li''s body began to sway unsteadily, and theyer of golden scales over his skin was beginning to take on a bright red hue. Furthermore, the sea of blood around him was tearing at him from all directions, preventing him from escaping.
A cold look appeared on his face as he made a hand seal, and a clear cry instantly rang out as the Essence Fire Raven flew out of his body, then transformed into ayer of silver mes to envelop him from all directions.
With thisyer of mes around him, all of the scorching blood was kept at bay.
In fact, in the face of the astonishing heat being released by the silver mes, the blood around Han Li was quickly evaporating.
It didn''t take long before a vacuum was formed around him, and the sea of blood was unable to restrict his movements any longer.
"I don''t have time to waste with you here!" Han Li said in a cold voice as he sprang directly upward, and all of the blood above him instantly parted in the face of the protective barrier formed by the Essence Fire Raven.
After springing out of the churning vortex of blood, Han Li immediately threw a vicious punch directly at Chou Wu.
Chou Wu was greatly rmed by this abrupt turn of events, and he hurriedly made a hand seal, upon which the bowl in front of him instantly swelled to several times its original size.
At the same time, the runes on the surface of the bowl began to glow brightly, and it released a series of ck haloes as it positioned itself directly in the path of Han Li''s fist.
A deafening boom rang out as Han Li''s fist instantly shattered the ck light radiating from the bowl. At the same time, several cracks instantly appeared on the bowl''s surface, and it quickly reverted back to its original size.
Chou Wu shuddered violently as he gave a muffled groan, and blood began to trickle down from the corners of his lips.
He withdrew the bowl as he stroked the cracks on its surface with trembling fingers, and his eyes were full of shock as he murmured, "Impossible..."
Before he had a chance to do anything else, a sharp screech rang out, and a silver fire raven came flying rapidly at him like a speeding arrow, leaving a trail of silver mes in its wake.
Chapter 116: Forcing the Enemy Into Retreat
Chapter 116: Forcing the Enemy Into Retreat
In the instant that the silver fire raven appeared, a hint of fear immediately appeared on Chou Wu''s face, but at this point, it was toote to turn back. Thus, he gritted his teeth as a determined look appeared on his face, then abruptly opened his mouth to release three mouthfuls of blood essence onto the bowl in his hand in session.
As soon as the blood essence came into contact with the bowl, it waspletely absorbed without even a single drop left over. The bowl then began to buzz loudly as bright crimson light erupted from its surface alongside circles of runes, and a wyrm that was formed by blood flew out from within.
As soon as the wyrm appeared, it immediately opened its cavernous mouth to release a torrent of blood, which swept toward the silver fire raven as an enormous wave.
The wave of blood was extremely viscous, and it was giving off a nauseating odor.
The silver fire raven wasn''t fazed in the slightest by the oing wave of blood, and it pped its wings vigorously to release countless fist-sized silver fireballs that flew directly toward the wave of blood.
All of the silver fireballs exploded into silver mes upon contact with the wave of blood, evaporating the majority of the wave in the blink of an eye as plumes of white smoke rose up into the air.
The wave of blood was instantly punched full of holes, with thergest one being a hole that was 200 to 300 feet in size at the center of the wave.
The silver fire raven flew directly through the hole as a streak of silver light, then hurtled directly toward the blood wyrm and Chou Wu beyond it.
Chou Wu gritted his teeth as a fierce look appeared in his eyes, and he made a rapid series of hand seals, upon which bright crimson light radiated from the blood wyrm''s body. At the same time, countless translucent runes appeared within the crimson light as the blood wyrm flew toward the silver fire raven with ferocious might.
Blue light shed through Han Li''s eyes as he inspected the blood wyrm, and his expression suddenly changed slightly as he hurriedly made a hand seal to try and summon the fire raven back to him.
However, right at this moment, all of the runes on the surface of the blood wyrm''s body brightened considerably before exploding violently into an enormous cloud of extremely dense blood mist that swallowed up the silver fire raven in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, a clear cry rang out as a silver fireball shot out of the blood mist, then transformed back into a silver fire raven that flew rapidly back toward Han Li.
However, the fire raven was looking a little dimpared with before, and there were many patches of blood clinging to its body, clearly indicating that it had been affected rather heavily by the blood wyrm''s self-detonation.
Ayer of silver mes appeared over the fire raven''s body at Han Li''s behest, and the blood clinging to its body instantly evaporated, following which it flew back up his sleeve and vanished out of sight.
The blood wyrm released by Chou Wu''s bowl treasure was imbued with a hint of power ofws, making it very potent in its ability to erode spiritual nature. Thankfully, Han Li had made a quick decision to summon the fire raven back to himself. Otherwise, its spiritual nature would''ve been significantly diminished.
At this moment, Chou Wu''s face was rather pale, clearly indicating that the abilities that he had just unleashed had been quite taxing. A hint of resentment appeared in his eyes at thepletely unscathed Han Li, and he suddenly grabbed onto his own robes before tearing them apart.
A long and narrow gash then abruptly appeared on his exposed belly, and the skin and flesh there shrank back on either side to reveal a gaping ck hole.
Radiant ck light began to glow from the surface of the dark purple bowl, and it flew into the gaping hole in a sh as if it had been summoned.
At the same time, the cloud of blood mist left behind by the detonated blood wyrm and what remained of the wave of blood swept back rapidly before also vanishing into Chou Wu''s body through the gaping hole.
As a result, his height increased rapidly, and the pupils in his eyes disappeared, reced by a pair of crimson rubies.
At this point, his robes had already been torn to shreds, and ayer of translucent crimson scales had appeared over his skin, transforming him into a crimson giant that was 70 to 80 feet tall, with a glittering sheen emanating from his entire body.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, and instead of retreating, he charged directly toward the crimson giant.
Chou Wu cackled with glee upon seeing this as he raised a palm before swinging it down upon Han Li''s head, causing the space in its wake to tremble and quiver.
Han Li made no attempt to take evasive measures as he lunged forward, raising his right fist to directly oppose the giant''s enormous palm.
A resounding boom rang out, and Han Li felt as if a mountain were falling upon him, forcing him back down onto the ground, and in the blink of an eye, close to half of his body had been embedded deep into the ground.
However, after withstanding that punch from Han Li, the crimson giant shuddered violently before stumbling back several steps in an unsteady manner, and only after that was it able to steady itself.
Right at this moment, Han Li abruptly sprang up from the ground, reaching the ceiling of the underground pce in a sh, then propelled himself down from the ceiling with both feet, sending himself plummeting toward the crimson giant like a shooting star.
The crimson giant let loose a thunderous roar, and bright crimson light erupted from its body as it threw a vicious punch at Han Li.
At the same time, seven specks of blue light appeared on Han Li''s chest and abdomen, and ayer of hazy starlight also appeared over his outstretched fist as it crashed into the crimson giant''s fist.
A string of resounding booms rang out incessantly as if a mountain were copsing, and the crimson light on the surface of the giant''s fist quickly faded, following which the fist itself crumbled away into crystalline chunks of different sizes that fell down onto the ground.
In contrast, Han Li''s fist resembled an unstoppable de as it crashed through the crimson giant''s arm, then blew right through the left side of its chest, shattering close to half of its entire body into pieces.
What remained of the crimson giant''s body shuddered violently, and the light in its ruby eyes dimmed significantly. Immediately thereafter, its entire bodypletely crumbled away into a pile of crimson crystals.
Inside a crystal where the giant''s dantian was located, Han Li spotted a miniature golden figure, and it was none other than Chou Wu''s nascent soul.
It seemed that the nascent soul had been temporarily sealed within the crystal due to the secret technique that Chou Wu had just unleashed, rendering it unable to escape.
Right as Han Li reached out to grab the crystal, the nascent soul suddenly self-detonated with a loud thump, exploding into a cloud of blood mist that vanished without a trace into the blood on the ground below.
It had only taken less than 20 seconds for Han Li to put an end to Han Li''s life, much to the astonishment of the four immortals who were still locked in a fierce battle not far away.
However, the four of them were disyingpletely contrasting reactions, with Wyrm 8 and Wyrm 9 ted by this development, while the two Layman Immortals werepletely horrified.
A decisive look appeared in the eyes of the woman in ck, and she immediately extricated herself from her battle against Lu Kun before descending onto the raised tform at the center of the underground pce in a sh.
Almost at the exact same moment, the burly middle-aged man also escaped from Wyrm 8 and his Earthly Deity Avatar, thennded right next to his femalepanion.
In the next instant, their bodies blurred before transforming into a pair of crimson clouds that vanished into therge hole on the raised tform.
The two of them had fled the scene without any hesitation.
Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun exchanged a nce upon seeing this, then withdrew their respective Earthly Deity Avatars before making their way over to Han Li.
Even though the battle had only been a very brief one, the two of them had been severely injured to begin with, and those injuries had only worsened.
"I feel like a fool now for failing to realize after all this time that you possessed the ability to kill a Layman Immortal with ease, Fellow Daoist," Lu Kun said as he turned to Han Li with aplex look in his eyes.
"If you hadn''t in that man so quickly and forced his twopanions into retreat, the two of us would''ve most likely struggled immensely in a drawn-out battle. I''ll be sure to inform Wyrm 3 of what you''ve done here," Wyrm 8 said.
"Indeed, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15''s feats should be acknowledged and reported. However, at the moment, we should focus on finding a way to get out of here," Lu Kun said as he looked around with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
"Earlier, Wyrm 16 used that immortal treasure to try and break through the restriction here, but not only did that not work, it caused that strange crimson light barrier to retaliate viciously, so it looks like brute force is not the way to go. We''ll have to think of some other way," Han Li said with a contemtive expression.
"If you ask me, those two have most likely only temporarily retreated. I''m sure Gong Shuhong won''t allow them to leave us alone for very long," Wyrm 8 said with a concerned expression.
"Wyrm 15, you were able to break through that crimson space back in Heavenly Water City, and I''m sure that wasn''t just down to dumb luck. Can you see if you can find any vulnerable points in this space? In the meantime, I''ll try and get into contact with Wyrm 3 to inform him of the situation here," Lu Kun said after a brief moment of contemtion.
"I''ll give it a try," Han Li replied with a nod.
With that, Lu Kun closed his eyes, and the goat mask reappeared on his face before blue ripples began to surge over its surface.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 8 began to gather the storage treasures of all of the immortals who had met their demise in the underground pce.
Han Li merely took a nce at him, but refrained from saying anything, and blue light emerged within his eyes as he began to carefully inspect his surroundings.
There was a thickyer of blood caked onto the ground, and the remains of all of the people who had perished here were soaked within the blood. Blood had also sttered all over the surrounding walls and stone pirs, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
Simrly, the statue in the underground pce was also drenched in blood, and it was looking particrly sinister and disturbing, like an evil deity who reveled in ughter and bloodshed.
However, even after a thorough inspection, Han Li was unable to find any vulnerable points on the surrounding walls or the statue.
Momentster, Lu Kun also opened his eyes as he shook his head and said in a grim voice, "There''s no response from Wyrm 3."
"This underground pce is rather strange. The restriction in here seems to be imbued with a type ofws of blood, and it''s nurtured by all of the blood from the sacrifices performed in here, forming apletely independent space. It''s not going to be easy to find a way out of here," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
While they were speaking with one another, Wyrm 8 also made his way over to them. "The storage tools left behind by our fellow daoists of the Transient Guild and those two Layman Immortals are all here. Let''s split the contents. There are most likely still going to be more perilous moments toe on this mission, so it''s best to be as prepared as possible."
At this moment, he was holding several storage bags in one hand, and two storage bracelets in the other.
After tallying the spoils, the three of them discovered that the six Layman Immortals were quite affluent, regardless of whether it was in terms of pills, materials, or treasures, and Han Li''s trio all received bountiful returns.
Given everything that Han Li had disyed earlier, the only immortal treasure in the possession of the six deceased Layman Immortals, the ck spike owned by Wyrm 16, naturally fell into his hands.
Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun were both very eager to take the treasure for themselves, but neither of them wanted to see the treasure fall into the other''s hands, so in the end, both of them decided to do Han Li a favor and split the treasure to him.
Han Li was naturally aware of this, and after epting the treasure, he made some concessions in the distribution of the six Layman Immortals'' other possessions, a gesture that was much appreciated by the other two.
Chapter 117: Landing in Trouble Again
Chapter 117: Landing in Trouble Again
After quickly splitting the spoils, Han Li''s trio split up once again to try and find a way out.
There was simply no way that they could feel safe until they left this strange underground space.
At the moment, Han Li was situated over 1,000 feet away from the statue, carefully inspecting his surroundings with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun had also begun investigating the area after taking a short while to recover from their injuries.
As time passed, the three of them employed several methods to try and find a way out, but all to no avail. Han Li was still able to maintain hisposure, but Lu Kun and Wyrm 8 were beginning to let their agitation get the better of them.
Right at this moment, the entire space suddenly shuddered before swaying violently, much to the rm of Han Li''s trio.
Before the three of them had a chance to do anything, the ground beneath their feet suddenlypletely shattered with a resounding boom.
A viscous cloud of blood surged up from the shattered ground, then swelled rapidly to inundate the trio like lightning before descending back down, pulling Han Li''s trio along with it.
The entire world was spinning in front of Han Li''s eyes, but the surrounding cloud of blood was holding them tightly in its clutches.
By the time the world fell still around them again, they found themselves situated in a massive, unfamiliar space.
This was an underground cavern that was countless timesrger than the underground pce from before, but the majority of its area was taken up by an enormous undergroundke. The water in theke was of the same color as blood, and it seemed to be very viscous, with bubbles rising up incessantly on its surface before popping one after another.
With each bubble that popped open, a burst of crimson mist would emerge, and the entire underground cavern waspletely filled with this faint crimson mist.
At the center of the crimsonke was a t ind that was protruding out of the water. The ind was several dozen kilometers in size, resembling a massive za.
At this moment, Han Li, Wyrm 8, and Lu Kun were standing on this za.
At the center of the za stood a huge pce, which was entirely enshrouded within a dense crimson cloud, through which only the indistinct outlines of the pce could be seen.
Aside from Han Li''s trio, the entire underground cavern waspletely empty, and it was eerily quiet, with only the sound of the popping bubbles on the surface of theke punctuating the silence.
The two Layman Immortals who had fled earlier didn''t seem to be in here, either.
After inspecting his surroundings, Han Li was just about to release his spiritual sense for a closer examination when he suddenly discovered that he was unable to release his spiritual sense out of his body due to a type of peculiar power imbued within the crimson mist in the air.
Judging from their grim expressions, Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun had clearly also noticed this, and the former immediately swept a sleeve through the air to release his Earthly Deity Avatar.
Lu Kun was just about to say something when Han Li suddenly yelled, "Look out down below!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, the ground beneath their feet suddenly split open, and several massive crimson bone ws reached out to grab at their legs.
The three of them immediately flew up into the air to avoid the grabbing bone ws.
The ground down below continued to crumble away as one massive figure after another emerged. These were all crimson skeletons that were several times as tall as the average adult human, and in the blink of an eye, several hundred of them had emerged from the ground.
Every single one of those skeletons was giving off a powerful auraparable to that of a Body Integration cultivator.
The skeletons let loose a string of low roars, then sprang up into the air, pouncing at Han Li''s trio.
At the same time, the crimsonke around the ind began to tumble and churn, following which a series of crimson monsters leaped out from within.
These monsters had female human upper bodies with heads of long, crimson hair and a pair ofrge bat wings on each of their backs, but they possessed serpentine lower bodies.
The auras being released by these winged naga monsters weren''t inferior in the slightestpared with the giant skeletons, and as soon as they flew out of the crimsonke, they immediately sped directly toward Han Li''s trio as well.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li''s trio found themselves surrounded by close to 1,000 skeletons and naga creatures, a development that was quite rming to say the least.
Wyrm 8 gave a cold harrumph, and the Earthly Deity Avatar beside him began to glow with dazzling azure light at his behest, resembling an azure sun that was hanging in the sky above the crimsonke.
The Earthly Deity Avatar swept its hands through the air, and the azure light around it flew out of its body, then split up into four massive azure wind dragons that flew away in all directions.
A dozen or so of the oing skeletons and naga monsters were sent flying by the wind dragons, and the majority of the monsters who were directly struck instantly had their bodies destroyed.
The rest of them appeared to have sustained injuries as well, but the surrounding crimson mist seemed to have a mind of its own as it instantly surged into their bodies, healing their injuries at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye. Within the span of just a few seconds, all of them were fully healed.
Wyrm 8''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
The four wind dragons didn''t appear to be very remarkable, but every single one of them had been formed by his power ofws, making each of their attacks far more formidable than even what a Grand Ascension cultivator could withstand. However, these skeletons and naga monsters were disying extremely impressive physical resistance and self-regenerative abilities.
In contrast, Lu Kun was refraining from using his Earthly Deity Avatar, seemingly trying to conserve his power of faith. Instead, he swept a hand through the air to release eight flying daggers, which swelled rapidly to form eight giant blue des that began to circle around in the air.
Seven or eight indistinct de projections appeared around each of the giant blue des, and with eight of these des in total, dozens of de projections were manifested before sweeping rapidly through the air in all directions amid a burst of rumbling that resembled the sound of violently crashing waves.
In the blink of an eye, the entire space within a radius of over 1,000 feet was filled with cial blue light, and around a dozen skeletons and naga monsters were instantly struck before exploding on the spot.
In contrast with Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun, Han Li''s attacks were far more mundane, and he was only throwing punches at the surrounding area.
With each punch that he threw, the surrounding space would shudder violently, and all enemies who attempted to attack him were destroyed with a single punch with no exceptions.
After just a few seconds, hundreds of skeletons and naga monsters had already been in by the trio.
However, more and more of the creatures were emerging from the ground and the crimsonke with no end in sight, so the number of monsters that Han Li''s trio was being attacked by wasn''t decreasing at all.
"Fellow Daoists, we don''t know where Wyrm 3 is at the moment, and there''s a very good chance that Gong Shuhong is in that pce. His location ispletely unknown to us, while we''re exposed out in the open, so the situation is very detrimental to us," Han Li said to his twopanions through voice transmission while inspecting the surrounding area with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
"Could it be that you''ve found a way out?" Lu Kun asked as a hopeful look appeared on his face, and Wyrm Eight directed his gaze toward Han Li as well.
This underground cavern didn''t appear to be all that remarkable, but both of them could clearly sense that the entire cavern was enshrouded within a burst of immense power ofws, so getting out of this ce definitely wasn''t going to be an easy feat.
"I''ve found several conspicuous points in the cavern, but it''s going to take some time for me to exploit those points, and these skeletons and naga monsters are quite annoying to deal with," Han Li replied.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Wyrm 8 said, "Leave these small fry to me. I have a way to keep them upied for some time while you and Wyrm 9 focus on finding a way out."
"Alright, then I''ll be counting on you."
Han Li threw several punches in rapid session as he spoke, and seven or eight fist projections erupted forth before exploding violently amid a string of earth-shattering booms.
A burst of terrifying power swept through the area, tearing a hole in the encirclement formed by the surrounding skeletons and naga monsters.
At the same time, bright azure light erupted from Han Li''s entire body as he flew through the hole in the encirclement, then sped toward a certain spot on the ceiling of the underground cavern.
The surrounding skeletons and naga monsters faltered momentarily, following which all of them roared in unison, and the majority of them abandoned Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun to go after Han Li.
Wyrm 8 harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and he flicked his fingers through the air in rapid session. Azure radiance that was even more dazzling than before erupted from his Earthly Deity Avatar, and the azure light spread through the air in circles, instantly epassing the majority of the space within the underground cavern.
All of a sudden, a burst of peculiar buzzing rang out in the air, and all of the world''s origin qi in the area epassed within the azure light began to tremble. At the same time, a series of thin azure threads appeared out of thin air to ensnare the skeletons and naga monsters, thereby significantly hampering their speed.
Meanwhile, Han Li continued onward without pause, reaching his destination in the blink of an eye before throwing a powerful punch.
Right at this moment, two humanoid figures emerged from the ceiling of the underground cavern, and they were none other than the burly man and the woman in ck who had fled earlier.
As soon as he appeared, the burly man immediately threw a punch at Han Li.
The menacing bone gauntlet on his fist suddenly began to glow brightly, and a massive fist projection that resembled a malicious ghost shot forth through the air.
At the same time, ck light shed within the hand of the woman in ck, and a thick ck mace appeared in her grasp. As soon as the mace was swung through the air, countless ck mace projections were released, forming a ck mountain that came crashing down upon Han Li.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and the fearsome fist projection exploded violently, as did the mountain of ck mace projections.
The burly man and the woman in ck were astonished to see this, and their bodies were jolted violently before being sent flying back through the air like a pair of cannonballs and crashing heavily into the ceiling of the cavern, causing the entire cavern to tremble and quiver.
Having witnessed Han Li''s battle against Chou Wu, they were already aware that Han Li possessed incredible physical strength, but only after a direct sh did theye to realize that he was far stronger than they had anticipated.
Han Li also shuddered slightly, and he was forced to take two backward steps before managing to steady himself.
"Let me lend you a hand, Wyrm 15!"
A burst of blue light shot forth from behind Han Li, and from within the burst of light emerged Lu Kun and his Earthly Deity Avatar.
At the same time, Lu Kun opened his mouth to release a burst of blue light, which vanished into the body of his Earthly Deity Avatar, which instantly began to glow brightly with blue radiance as it also opened its mouth to release two balls of watery blue light.
Epassed within the balls of light were countless shimmering blue runes, which were giving off powerful waterw fluctuations.
The two balls of blue light shed momentarily before abruptly sprouting a head and four limbs each to form a pair of watery blue figures, which sped through the air at an incredible speed toward the burly man and the woman in ck.
This seemed like quite aplex sequence, but in reality, everything had taken ce in the blink of an eye.
The burly man and the woman in ck had only just steadied themselves when they were confronted by the pair of watery blue figures, and the burly man''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this as he flung his gauntlet through the air. Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence, which transformed into a cloud of blood mist that seeped into the gauntlet in the blink of an eye.
The gauntlet instantly took on a crimson hue, and it blurred momentarily before transforming into a sinister crimson ghostly head the size of a pavilion.
The ghostly head opened its eyes, and bright crimson light was radiating from its pupils. It then opened its cavernous mouth, and a wave of crimson mes erupted forth from within before sweeping toward the oing blue figure.
Chapter 118: Bait
Chapter 118: Bait
At the same time, the woman in ck hurriedly made a hand seal with one hand in response to the blue figure that was hurtling toward her.
The ck mace in her hand began to glow with ck radiance, and a series of winding crimson patterns appeared on its surface, following which a burst of crimson mes swept forth from the mace.
As the mace was swung through the air toward the oing blue figure, a string of explosions rang out incessantly in the air, immediately following which the mountain of giant mace projections appeared once again, except this time, every single mace projection was enshrouded within a cloak of crimson mes.
The space in the wake of the mountain of mace projections was visibly warping and rippling, as if it were boiling from the intense heat of the mes.
The two blue figures crashed into the crimson mes and the mace projections at virtually the exact same moment, but they were able to pass through those obstacles amid a sh of blue light, and they werepletely unaffected.
However, upon closer inspection, one would discover that both of the watery blue figures had be slightly diminished in stature, but at the same time, their speed abruptly increased drastically as they reached the burly man and the woman in ck in the blink of an eye.
The burly man and the woman in ck were extremely rmed by this unexpected development, but before they had a chance to do anything, the pair of watery figures suddenly began to glow with scintiting radiance.
Immediately thereafter, both of them exploded silently, transforming into a vast expanse of cial energy that swept toward the burly man and the woman in ck from all directions.
A string of loud crackling rang out as ayer of crystalline blue ice appeared on their bodies, and the ice was rapidly spreading. In what seemed like no more than the blink of an eye, the two of them were encapsted within two massive blocks of blue ice, both of which were several dozen feet tall.
This was clearly no ordinary ice, as evidenced by the fact that the two of them werepletely immobilized within it, and their expressions of shock and horror had been frozen onto their faces. However, in the next instant, crimson light shed from both of their bodies, and the series of cracks began to appear over the surface of the two blocks of ice.
Meanwhile, Lu Kun''splexion had paled slightly, while the blue light radiating from the body of his Earthly Deity Avatar had dimmed significantly, and it was clear that this had been quite a taxing attack for him to unleash.
Right as the burly man and the woman in ck were about to break out of the blocks of ice, Han Li suddenly appeared behind them in a wraith-like manner. Ayer of golden scales emerged on both of his fists, and they were thrust through the air like a pair of mighty wyrms, crashing into the bodies of his two opponents with devastating force.
The two blocks of ice exploded violently, as did the bodies of the burly man and the woman in ck within them.
Their nascent souls flew out of the shattered blocks of ice, and each of them was epassed within a faintyer of crimson light. In the blink of an eye, both of them appeared in front of the gates of the pce on the ind down below, as if by instantaneous teleportation, and their movements werepletely unaffected by all of the azure threads in the surrounding area.
Han Li wanted to intercept the pair of nascent souls, but it was already toote.
Right as the two nascent souls were about to fly into the pce, the crimson cloud that the pce was enveloped in suddenly began to surge and churn violently. Immediately thereafter, a pair of massive hands formed by crimson mist extended out from within. The pair of hands spread their fingers open, and crimson light shed over their palms, upon which the two nascent souls were instantly immobilized and drawn into their grasp.
"Please spare us, merciful holy lord!" the pair of nascent souls desperately implored as horrified looks appeared on their faces.
A cold harrumph suddenly rang out from within the pce at the center of the ind, and the voice was extremely unpleasant on the ears, much like the sound of metal grating on metal.
The expressions on the faces of Han Li''s trio changed slightly upon hearing this, and a hint of rm appeared in the eyes of Wyrm 8, who was still situated on the ind. He immediately withdrew his hand seal, then rose up into the sky with his Earthly Deity Avatar to join Han Li and Lu Kun.
As a result, all of the azure threads in the air faded away. However, instead of swarming Han Li''s trio, all of the crimson skeletons and naga monsters melted away into streaks of viscous crimson light, which then flew into the crimson cloud from all directions before vanishing out of sight.
Immediately thereafter, a tall and imposing figure slowly emerged from within the pce. The figure''s entire body was enshrouded in ayer of crimson light, so only the faint outlines of their facial features were visible.
Behind the figure were two huge balls of crimson mes that were crackling incessantly.
What was rather strange about these two balls of fire was that the outermostyer of both of them consisted of crimson me, but one of them contained a purple center, while the center of the other one was white.
A pair of faces could be seen within the purple and white mes, and those faces belonged to none other than Chou Wu and the man in the purple robe from before.
"Please spare us, almighty holy lord! Our physical bodies may have been destroyed, but we can just find new bodies, and we''ll be able to continue to serve you!"
The nascent souls of the burly man and the woman in ck began to desperately plead for their lives once again.
"Thank you for your hard work over all these years. I''ll take care of things from here."
Gong Shuhong remainedpletely unmoved by their desperate pleas, and he merely raised a hand into the air, upon which the pair of giant crimson hands closed their fingers. Two blood-curdling howls instantly rang out, following which two peculiar balls of crimson fire flew out of the pair of giant hands.
The outermostyers of the fireballs were both crimson in color, yet they contained an azure core and a ck core, respectively.
The twisted features of the burly man could be seen within the azure me, while the face of the woman in ck emerged within the ck me, presenting a peculiar and unsettling sight to behold.
The two balls of crimson mes quickly descended in front of Gong Shuhong, and the purple, white, azure, and ck mes within them were slowly revolving on the spot while suspended in mid-air.
Han Li''s trio was looking on at the harrowing scene unfolding before their eyes, and they couldn''t help but exchange an astonished nce with one another.
"I''m very pleased with those four sacrifices from before. Now that I''ve taken your nascent souls as well, my Origin Restoration Blood mes will be able to advance even further. Once that happens, I''ll no longer be bound to this ind," Gong Shuhong mused as he turned his attention to Han Li''s trio.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately made a hand seal, and the four mes of different colors revolving through the air around him instantly vanished into theyer of crimson light over his body at his behest. Immediately thereafter, his aura began to elevate incessantly.
"It seems like he''s very close to reaching thete-True Immortal Stage. This is going to be a difficult fight," Han Li said in a grim voice as ayer of translucent light appeared over his body.
"At this point, our backs are against the wall, so we have no choice but to fight."
Lu Kun flipped a hand over as he spoke, and a purple jade vial appeared in his hand. He tipped a thumb-sized purple pill out of the vial, then swallowed it without any hesitation.
At the same time, his Earthly Deity Avatar raised a hand, and a vast expanse of watery light surged forth to form a series of protective light barriers that enveloped his entire body.
At the same time, Wyrm 8 was also busy at work, releasing several glowing treasures in session to protect himself.
"It''s your turn now!"
The surging crimson light around Gong Shuhong gradually subsided, and he raised his head to the heavens before exhaling deeply, then slowly raised his arms, and two piercing balls of crimson light surfaced over the palms of his hands.
However, right as he was about to spring into action, something unexpected happened.
A burst of spatial fluctuations erupted behind him, and a hand that was enveloped in mes appeared out of thin air before plunging into his body from behind, piercing through his chest and emerging out the front.
Han Li''s trio was ted to see this.
They could tell from the aura emanating from the hand that it belonged to none other than Wyrm 3, who had been missing for quite some time.
The crimson light on the surface of Gong Shuhong''s body shuddered before exploding and flying away in different directions as seven or eight streaks of crimson light.
These streaks of crimson light then converged over 1,000 feet away to form Gong Shuhong''s body again, except the crimson light on the surface of his body had grown a little dimmer.
A sh of fire erupted behind the fiery hand arm that had just emerged out of thin air, and Wyrm 3 appeared with his entire body enshrouded in orange mes.
As soon as he emerged, he immediately hurtled toward Gong Shuhong as a streak of dazzling fire.
The mes around Wyrm 3''s body expanded drastically mid-flight, transforming into a thick and vibrant fiery wyrm that opened its cavernous mouth, threatening to devour Gongshu Hong whole.
A burst of violentw fluctuations erupted out of the fiery wyrm''s body, evaporating all of the crimson mist in the surrounding area.
Gong Shuhong harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and he brought his palms together before releasing a crimson fiery python, which sprang out of the crimson light enveloping his body before pouncing toward the fiery wyrm.
A resounding boom rang out as the two fiery creatures shed before exploding violently into balls of dazzling mes.
Wyrm 3 took advantage of this opportunity to rise up above Gong Shuhong, and a huge crimson sword had appeared in his hand. There was a dragon engraved onto the surface of the sword, and it was giving off immense spiritual pressure, indicating that it was a Profound Heavenly Treasure.
With a swing of his arm, the giant crimson sword came crashing down with tremendous force.
Around a dozen streaks of fiery swordlight surged through the air before converging to one spot, forming a giant sword projection that was over 1,000 feet in length before descending toward Gong Shuhong.
Crimson light shed from Gong Shuhong''s hands, conjuring up a pair of crimson ws that were swept through the air.
10 crimson crescent-shaped w projections were released, crashing into the giant sword projection amid an earth-shattering boom.
The sword projection and the w projections exploded in unison, heralding themencement of the fierce battle between Wyrm 3 and Gong Shuhong.
Lights of all types of different colors were shing and weaving intertwining incessantly, while a string of loud booms rang out in rapid session, causing the nearby space and the entire underground cavern to tremble and quake violently.
"I feel like Wyrm 3 was nning from the very beginning to have us charge ahead and act as bait to lure out Gong Shuhong," Lu Kun remarked with a wry smile.
"That''s how things are in the Transient Guild. If you want to obtain what others cannot, then you have to be prepared to pay the ultimate price at any time," Wyrm 8 said, and there was also a hint of dejection in his voice.
"There''s no point in talking about things like this right, fellow daoists. We have to help Wyrm 3 strike down Gong Shuhong if we want to survive this ordeal," Han Li said.
Lu Kun and Wyrm 8 nodded in agreement.
Having arrived at a consensus, the trio and the pair of Earthly Deity Avatars immediately entered the fray, charging toward Wyrm 3 and Gong Shuhong.
"Mere ants like yourselves should know your ce!"
Gong Shuhong didn''t even spare them a nce. Instead, he merely swept a hand casually in their direction.
A gust of fierce wind that was tinged with a bloody odor immediately swept toward Han Li''s trio, and the crimson cloud up above abruptly began to release a vast expanse of crimson mist, which instantly epassed the entire area overhead, inundating the trio and the pair of Earthly Deity Avatars.
The intense bloody odor was making Han Li''s head spin, but a burst of cool and refreshing energy then immediately shed through his brain, allowing him to shrug off the debilitating effects of the blood mist.
Blue light shed within his eyes, and he was just about to retreat out of the cloud of blood mist when he heard an agonized howl ring out from nearby.
He hurriedly turned in that direction to discover that Lu Kun''s Earthly Deity Avatar was in the process of crashing down toward the ground, and it was being rapidly pursued by apletely nude humanoid crimson creature.
The creature''s bodily structure was no different to that of the average person, but its face was aplete blur, with no facial features visible aside from a pair of eyes that were giving off bright red light.
Chapter 119: Red Moon
Chapter 119: Red Moon
Han Li immediately flew out of the cloud of blood mist upon seeing this, then rapidly descended toward the ground. Right as the tip of his foot was about to make contact with the ground, a cold gleam suddenly shed through his eyes, and he raised an arm before throwing a punch toward a certain spot in the cloud of blood mist up above.
A crimson figure shot out of the blood mist in a sh, and it curled its fingers into a set of ws as it grabbed at the top of Han Li''s head. Five powerful w projections were unleashed from its fingertips, and the w projections shed directly with Han Li''s fist projection.
A resounding boom rang out, and the projections from both sides disintegrated upon contact. Immediately thereafter, the crimson humanoid creature''s arm exploded violently, and it was blown back by a burst of tremendous force, concealing it within the blood mist again.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s body swayed slightly, and right as he steadied himself, a string of piercing howls suddenly rang out within the nearby cloud of blood mist.
Countless azure des of wind erupted in all directions from the point where the sound wasing from, tearing arge section of the cloud of blood mist to shreds to open up a clear area, revealing Wyrm 8 locked in a fierce battle against another one of those crimson creatures. At this point, his Earthly Deity Avatar was already riddled with wounds, and it seemed that he was struggling immensely against his opponent.
Lu Kun''s Earthly Deity Avatar had plummeted to the ground earlier, but it had since risen up to join forces with Lu Kun, and the pair were battling another crimson creature.
Right at this moment, the blood mist in the air churned slightly, and the crimson creature that had been sent flying by Han Li flew out once again, having alreadypletely regenerated a new arm.
As soon as it emerged, it immediately sped toward Han Li as a crimson shadow once again.
Instead of retreating in the face of this oing assant, Han Li charged forward to meet it once again, throwing several punches in session to send it flying back through the air again while also leaving its body in tatters.
However, a series of crimson threads quickly shot out of the wounds on the creature''s body, and those crimson threads tugged on one another to seal its wounds shut, following which it made another full recovery thanks to the surrounding blood mist.
No more than a few seconds had passed, and the crimson creature had made a full recovery once again before charging toward Han Li a third time.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
This crimson creature was rather simr to the water giant that Lu Kun had summoned in the past. In particr, this was the perfect environment for it to thrive in, so it was virtually unkible by ordinary brute force attacks.
If things were to continue like this, even if he could hold his own for now, Lu Kun and Wyrm 8 most likely weren''t going tost very long at all, particrly considering they were already carrying severe injuries.
Meanwhile, the roars of a tiger were ringing out incessantly up above.
As it turned, there were six giant tigers formed by blood mist prowling around Gong Shuhong, and they were locked in a fierce battle against Wyrm 3.
Perhaps it was because he was having to simultaneously control the three humanoid crimson creatures, but at this moment, the crimson light around Gong Shuhong''s body appeared to be slightly dim. In the face of the attacks from Wyrm 3''s giant crimson sword, the tigers were firmly on the back foot, and at this rate, it seemed that it would only be a matter of time before Gong Shuhong was defeated.
"You''re no match for me without your avatar! Die!"
A cold sneer appeared on Wyrm 3''s face, and his aura suddenly swelled by severalfold, bing rather violent and unstable.
At the same time, his entire body began to rapidly swell in size amid a burst of crimson light, and a series of crimson scales emerged all over his skin. A pair of thick dragon horns also sprouted out of his forehead, and his teeth had been reced by a mouthful of sharp fangs. In the blink of an eye, he had taken on a half-human, half-wyrm form, and in particr, his arms had be incredibly thick and strong.
At the same time, crimson runes surged out of his huge sword in frenzy, and they were swirling around incessantly, causing all of the world''s origin qi in the entire underground cavern to fluctuate in a wild and unstable manner. Countless specks of light appeared out of thin air, then gushed into the sword like the tide, following which the sword was swung viciously in Gong Shuhong''s direction.
A resounding boom rang out, and a crescent-shaped sword projection that was close to 1,000 feet in length swept through the air. The surface of the sword projection was radiating bright red light, and from this red light was emanating a hint of extremely violent power of firews. As it passed through the air, all it left in its wake was a thin fiery red line, which caused the surrounding space to shimmer and warp.
Gong Shuhong hurriedly shot back in retreat upon seeing this, and at the same time, he raised both hands up into the air in unison to release a pair of crimson ws. The ws instantly swelled to several hundred feet in size, radiating dazzling light as they crossed over one another and positioned themselves in front of him.
At the same time, the six blood mist tigers before him also pounced forward, releasing a viscous pir of crimson light out of each of their mouths to oppose the oing fiery red line.
The red thread sliced through the pair of ws with ease, then shed with the pirs of crimson light.
A string of dull thumps rang out in rapid session, and the pirs of light all exploded into huge clouds of blood mist, while the six blood mist tigers were also eradicated.
In the next instant, the fiery red thread abruptly blurred before appearing directly in front of Gong Shuhong, as if by instantaneous teleportation.
At the same time, ayer of translucent crimson light appeared over Gong Shuhong''s body before transforming into a suit of glittering and translucent armor.
However, the suit of armor was no match for the fiery thread, which tore through the armor with ease before slicing into Gong Shuhong''s body.
Dazzling crimson mes erupted violently, releasing vastw fluctuations that instantly inundated Gong Shuhong. At the same time, the entire space in a radius of several thousand feet around him began to warp violently, as if it were about to be incinerated.
After unleashing that attack, Wyrm 3''s aura also diminished by as much as 50% to 60%.
All of a sudden, a blurry crimson shadow shot out of the scorching mes, then appeared several thousand feet away.
The crimson light then faded to reveal a thin and tall middle-aged who appeared to be around 40 years of age. He had a head of lifeless straw-like hair, a set of gaunt and sunken facial features, and he was so emaciated that he was virtually nothing more than a sack of skin and bones, but his eyes were glowing with a crimson gleam.
His aura was in a state of disarray, and his left arm had been severed at the shoulder, but strangely enough, not a single drop of blood was flowing out of the wound.
"I see you used a substitution technique," Wyrm 3 chuckled coldly upon seeing this, and a burst of fearsomew fluctuations began to emanate from his giant crimson sword once again before he shed it in Gong Shuhong''s direction.
Yet another vast sword projection was released, and as soon as thew fluctuations arose, the sword projection transformed into a thin fiery red thread once again, hurtling toward Gong Shuhong at an incredible speed.
However, this time, Gong Shuhong didn''t try to take evasive measures, nor did he try to defend himself against the attack. Instead, a peculiar grin appeared on his face.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out from theke down below, and an incredibly thick pir of crimson light erupted out of theke, instantly appearing between Gong Shuhong and the fiery thread.
The fiery thread struck the pir of crimson light amid a burst of violent rumbling, and the pir of light trembled as if it were about to instantly crumble.
However, bursts of crimson light then erupted out of the crimsonke down below before injecting themselves into the pir of light in a frenzy, allowing it to remain stable and firm in the face of the fiery thread.
The fiery thread quickly began to dim, and a few secondster, it vanished into nothingness amid a dull thump.
Wyrm 3''s pupils contracted slightly in incredulity upon seeing this.
"It''s about time..." Gong Shuhong chuckled to himself, then raised his right arm as he began to chant aplex incantation.
Another thick pir of blood rose up from the crimsonke down below in a revolving corkscrew fashion, and it transformed into a viscous churning cloud of blood before injecting itself into Gong Shuhong''s body.
As a result, his aura began to rapidly recover, and a series of red threads emerged from the wound on his left shoulder before intertwining with one another, forming a brand new arm in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, an even more astonishing scene ensued as the crimsonke down below began to churn and tumble violently, releasing one thick pir of crimson light after another.
There were close to 100 pirs of light in total, and they were connected by more beams of crimson light to form an enormous array.
The entire underground cavern was instantly basked in dazzling crimson radiance, and the smell of blood in the air became 10 times more pronounced, while a burst of peculiarw fluctuations swept through the area.
Han Li was in the process of battling the humanoid crimson creature when his heart began to thump violently once again. All of the blood in his body began to churn before flooding back into his heart, instantly slowing his movements.
However, he only swayed slightly for a moment before steadying himself, but a hint of rm shed through his eyes.
Meanwhile, Lu Kun and Wyrm 8 were also affected by this burst of bloodw fluctuations, which had caught thempletely off guard. Thankfully, both of them were able to react very quickly, and with the assistance of their Earthly Deity Avatars, no opportunity arose for their opponents to exploit.
However, at this point, the light radiating from their bodies had be quite dim, and it was clear that the power of faith that they had umted up to this point was quickly running out. At the same time, both of them were quite far away from their respective inds, so there was no way for them to replenish their powers of faith.
In the air above, Wyrm 3 was just about to pounce at his opponent when an unnatural flush abruptly appeared on his face, and it was clear that the power ofws of blood had had a significant effect on him as well.
However, all it took was a quick hand seal and a deep breath for hisplexion to return to normal, but even so, he was also quite rmed by this turn of events.
Right as all of this was unfolding in the underground cavern, the entirety of the Kun province''s Red Moon City began to rumble violently, as if an earthquake were taking ce.
All of the rivers running throughout the city had also turned bright red, as if there were blood flowing through them.
The city''s residents and those who were attending the pilgrimage were all panicked and bewildered by this disturbing sight, and none of them had any idea what was happening.
Before they had a chance to do anything, bursts of loud rumbling began to ring out incessantly.
All of a sudden, close to 100 pirs of crimson light rose up around Red Moon City, forming an enormous crimson light barrier that epassed the entire city, enveloping it in a bloody and oppressive aura.
"What''s going on?"
Not only were the ordinary civilians in the city at aplete loss, even the mid and high-grade blue-robed cultivators werepletely bewildered and unsure of what to do.
Countless eye-shaped diagrams of different sizes appeared on the crimson light barrier in a sh, and all of them began to blink.
Countless beams of crimson light then shot out of the eyes before raining down upon the city.
Every single person that came into contact with the beams of crimson light instantly turned bright red, and their bodies swelled rapidly in size before exploding before they even had a chance to cry out.
In what seemed like no more than the blink of an eye, the lively and bustling city was alreadypletely devoid of life. Blood began to flow over the ground in the city, only to quickly vanish into the ground as if it had been sucked away.
Meanwhile, the exact same thing was happening in all of the Red Moon Cities in all of the provinces on the entire ind. Every single one of those cities had been enshrouded under an enormous crimson light barrier, which instantly robbed all of the living beings in the city of their life force, transforming them into fresh blood that seeped into the ground.
If one were to look down at Red Moon Ind from high up in the sky, they would discover that all of the main rivers on the entire ind had turned as red as blood.
The bodies of water formed aplexwork, but ultimately, all of them were flowing toward the center, converging to the Kun province''s Red Moon City.
At this moment, Red Moon Ind resembled a blood moon hanging over the dark sea.
Chapter 120: Battling the Island Master
Chapter 120: Battling the Ind Master
Inside the underground cavern.
Around a dozen dark caves had opened up on the surrounding rugged mountain faces, and blood was gushing out of the caves incessantly like a series of waterfalls. All of the blood was converging into the crimsonke down below, causing the blood inside to churn and froth incessantly.
In the air above, the giant array formed by the pirs of crimson light was buzzing loudly, and countless balls of crimson fire were springing up all over the array. Hints of power ofws were emanating from the balls of scorching mes, causing the nearby world''s origin qi to boil and surge.
At the same time, the power ofws filling this entire space instantly became several times more pronounced.
An unnatural flush immediately appeared on the faces of both Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun, and both of them threw up a mouth of blood in unison. Immediately thereafter, they shuddered before falling back, and their auras were also rapidly diminishing.
Almost at the exact same moment, two bursts of crimson light shot forth in pursuit of the two of them in a sh, and they were none other than the two crimson humanoid creatures from before.
Wyrm 8 was greatly rmed by this turn of events, and he opened his mouth to release a gust of fierce azure wind, which transformed into a crescent-shaped de of wind that shed through the air, leaving behind a thick white mark that was releasing powerful spatial fluctuations.
The crimson creature was unable to evade the attack, and it was split into two down the middle by the de of wind.
However, that didn''t slow it down in the slightest, and the two halves of its body transformed into two streaks of crimson light that reached Wyrm 8 in a sh before passing through his body. The streaks of light that came together to reform the body of the crimson creature, and held in one of its hands was none other than Wyrm 8''s nascent soul.
The crimson creature cackled in a sinister manner as it opened its mouth before devouring the nascent soul whole.
At the same time, Lu Kun was still plummeting out of the sky, and for some reason, the magic power within his body had be stagnant and unwieldy, causing his heart to immediately sink.
The crimson creature wasing closer and closer, and he waspletely powerless to evade it. All of a sudden, he gritted his teeth and made a decision. The head of his nearby Earthly Deity Avatar abruptly separated from its body, immediately following which its body exploded violently amid a sh of dazzling blue light.
Bursts of watery blue mist revolved through the air like a series of vortexes, releasing tremendous suction force that slowed down the crimson creature significantly.
Meanwhile, the head of the Earthly Deity Avatar flew toward Lu Kun as a streak of blue light, and it crashed into his body to elerate his fall, sending him plummeting into the crimsonke down below, vanishing without a trace.
While Wyrm 8 and Lu Kun were both struggling against the effects of power ofws in the area, another fierce battle was taking ce not far away, and the twobatants involved were none other than Han Li and the third crimson creature.
Han Li''s face was slightly flushed, but his movements didn''t seem to have been affected at all, and a barely detectable hint of surprise shed through Gong Shuhong''s eyes upon seeing this.
Right at this moment, a sharp screech rang out, following which a streak of swordlight that resembled a translucent fiery red thread swept through the air, giving off terrifyingw fluctuations that caused the nearby space to tremble and buzz.
A cold sneer appeared on Gong Shuhong''s face as he swept a sleeve through the air, and bursts of crimson light erupted out of the surrounding pirs of light. At the same time, balls of crimson mes rose up from theke of blood down below, and the crimson light fused with the crimson mes to instantly form around a dozenyers of thick light barriers to protect him from the oing attack.
The fiery red swordlight struck the first crimson light barrier, tearing through it with ease.
One light barrier was torn apart after another, but the fiery swordlight was also constantly bing dimmer and diminishing in size.
Finally, after slicing through the ninth light barrier, it fizzled out into nothingness after shing a few times.
In the distance, Wyrm 3 raised his giant sword above his head once again, and a burst of scorchingw of fire aura swept forth from his body to keep out the surrounding crimson light.
However, before he had a chance to swing his sword, an unexpected turn of events suddenly arose.
All of the surrounding pirs of crimson light suddenly shed in unison, then formed a massive crimson cage in the blink of an eye, trapping Wyrm 3 inside.
Wyrm 3 remained calm andposed as the mes around him reared up, and the massive sword in his grasp transformed into a blooming fiery lotus flower, releasing several sword projections in all directions. Each sword projection was around a foot in length, and all of them struck the surrounding crimson cage.
The cage shed erratically as one crimson pir was severed after another, only to be instantly mended by the viscous blood gushing out of the pirs.
A hint of derision shed through Gong Shuhong''s eyes, and he began to chant an incantation while making a string of hand seals.
Theke of blood down below surged and churned, following which more giant crimson pirs rose from the depths. The surfaces of the pirs were burning with scorching crimson mes, and the mes wrapped around the enormous crimson cage like a mass of tentacles.
The water level in theke was rapidly falling, and even though there was more blood constantly pouring in from all directions, it still wasn''t long before theke had virtually runpletely dry.
Enshrouded within a thickyer of crimson mes, the giant cage began to slowly revolve as if it had transformed into a cauldron.
Inside the fiery cauldron, Wyrm 3 sat down with his legs crossed, and his face had be slightly flushed once again, while his blood was boiling within his veins.
The surrounding crimson mes were releasing an inexplicable type of heat that enveloped his entire body, seeping into his flesh and blood as if it were trying to refine him like a pill.
All of a sudden, he let loose a low cry as he made a rapid string of hand seals, and a series of fireballs swept forth from his body, revolving around him to form a fiery space that was several dozen feet in size.
Wyrm 3''s flushedplexion instantly improved slightly, but it seemed that this still wasn''t enough topletely ward off the effects of thews of blood.
"I have all the time in the world! Let''s see how long you canst!" Gong Shuhong chuckled coldly outside the fiery cauldron while continuing to make a string of hand seals, but his attention had turned to Han Li.
Somehow, Han Li was able to remainrgely affected by the power of bloodws permeating throughout the entire area, and he was able to hold his own against the crimson creature.
Gong Shuhong''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and the other two crimson creatures instantly sped toward Han Li as a pair of crimson shadows at his behest. At the same time, the crimson creature that was battling Han Li sprang back in retreat.
Han Li also flew back in retreat upon seeing this, and he took a quick nce at Gong Shuhong, then turned to face forward again, not letting his guard down for even a moment.
To his surprise, he wasn''t attacked by the other two crimson creatures. Instead, they crashed into the retreating crimson creature, following which a stunning scene unfolded.
The bodies of the three crimson creatures dissolved into blood, then fused together to form a crimson male figure that was identical in appearance to Gong Shuhong with the exception of its skin coloration.
Dazzling crimson light erupted from its body, then proliferated outward alongside an immense aura.
So this is Gong Shuhong''s Earthly Deity Avatar!
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
Gong Shuhong''s Earthly Deity Avatar let loose a wild screech, and crimson light shed over its body a huge volume of blood gushed forth, then instantly intertwined to form a ball of blood roughly the size of a water vat. The ball of blood was giving off a rank odor as it sped toward Han Li as fast as lightning.
Han Li raised an arm, and ayer of shimmering golden scales appeared over his fist before shing with the ball of blood amid a resounding thump, causing the surrounding space to shudder and ripple violently.
The ball of blood revolved on the spot momentarily before abruptly exploding into a vast expanse of blood mist, sending a burst of tremendous power ofws sweeping through the area.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly in rm, and he immediately attempted to fly back in retreat, but it was already toote.
The cloud of blood mist churned violently, transforming into around a dozen crimson chains that instantly wound themselves around Han Li''s torso and limbs, chaining him to the spot.
Han Li''s entire body was already covered in golden scales, and he clenched his fists tightly as he tried to struggle free from his restraints, but the more violently he struggled, the tighter the crimson chains became. The chains were grinding audibly against his golden scales, and Gong Shuhong''s Earthly Deity Avatar cackled in a sinister manner as he made a hand seal with both hands.
Half of all of the blood that was flowing out of the surrounding caves instantly split off to sweep toward Han Li at the avatar''s behest, forming a giant vortex with a diameter of close to 1,000 feet to inundate his entire body.
However, in the next instant, a thunderous roar rang out from within the vortex, and a pair of incredibly thick golden arms reached out from within before grabbing viciously onto either side of the vortex.
A resounding thump rang out as the crimson vortex was forcibly torn apart, reduced to countless chaotic streams of blood that flowed away in all directions.
Immediately thereafter, a golden figure that was several hundred feet tall sprang out from within. It was none other than Han Li in his Giant Mountain Ape form, and there were still a few sections on his arms and torso that were drenched with blood.
As soon as he appeared, he immediately raised an arm, then made a grabbing motion with his hand. A ball of silver mes emerged on his palm, then rapidly elongated to form a huge silver spear that was over 100 feet in length.
Gong Shuhong''s Earthly Deity Avatar faltered slightly upon seeing this, then beckoned with both hands to draw a vast expanse of crimson mes up from theke of blood, forming a fiery crimson wheel around him that was over 100 feet in diameter.
A sharp screech rang out as the giant silver spear flew out of the golden ape''s hand, and it was burning with scorching silver mes as it hurtled toward Gong Shuhong''s Earthly Deity Avatar with unstoppable might.
Almost at the exact same moment, the crimson wheel of fire also began to revolve, then flew through the air like a scintiting crimson sun.
A resounding boom rang out as the fiery crimson wheel instantly exploded into a vast expanse of crimson mes, interspersed with wisps of silver mes.
The mes spread through the air in all directions in an extremely violent wave of scorching heat, causing the entire underground cavern to tremble and quake, while the blood in the crimsonke down below churned and surged.
The giant silver spear wasn''t slowed down in the slightest. Instead, it was sped up even further by the shockwaves from the explosion, hurtling toward Gong Shuhong''s Earthly Deity Avatar before piercing straight through his chest in a sh.
After summoning his Earthly Deity Avatar to deal with Han Li, Gong Shuhong had turned his full attention back to the crimson cauldron, attempting to incinerate Wyrm 3 as quickly as possible, and all of a sudden, his entire body shuddered as he threw up a mouthful of blood.
"No..." he roared as he lowered his gaze, just in time to see the giant silver spear protruding out of his Earthly Deity Avatar''s chest transforming into a burst of dazzling silver mes that engulfed the avatar''s entire body.
Chapter 121: Recommendation
Chapter 121: Rmendation
Right as Gong Shuhong''s aura was wavering in an unstable manner following the destruction of his Earthly Deity Avatar, a thunderous roar rang out from down below, and a burst of powerful soundwaves swept through the air with devastating power.
This was none other than the Vajra Roar that Han Li had just unleashed in his Giant Mountain Ape form.
The space in the wake of the white soundwaves blurred and warped violently, as if the entire space were about to copse.
The crimson cauldron hovering in the air shuddered violently in the face of the destructive soundwaves, and it began to sway unsteadily, while thew fluctuations that it was releasing were also cast into disarray.
Right at this moment, a resounding draconic roar suddenly rang out from within the cauldron, immediately following which a burst of red light exploded above the cauldron, forming a huge cloud of blood mist.
Immediately thereafter, a fiery dragon that was over 100 feet in length rose up into the heavens from the blood mist, then twisted around in the sky before swooping down toward Gong Shuhong.
"How dare you destroy my Earthly Deity Avatar and ruin my cultivation foundation! I''m going to bring all of you down with me!" Gong Shuhong roared in a fit of blind fury, and a deranged look appeared on his face.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the crimson light around him brightened drastically while his body rapidly swelled up like a balloon, releasing a terrifying destructive aura.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately reverted back to his human form before stowing his Essence Fire Raven away with a wave of his hand.
The fiery dragon that Wyrm 3 had transformed into also changed directions and skirted around Gong Shuhong upon seeing this.
Scintiting radiance erupted from the scales on the fiery dragon''s body alongside a vast expanse of crimson mes, which instantly epassed the entire ind on theke of blood before forming a series of fiery red lotus flowers that bloomed in rapid session.
A burst of scorchingw fluctuations instantly permeated through the air, and it was as if a standalone realm had been opened up within the underground cavern.
This is a spirit domain!
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon sensing the change taking ce around him.
Right at this moment, a burst of incandescent light that was as bright as the sun erupted within the underground cavern. At this point, Gong Shuhong''s body had already swelled to several dozen times its original size, and melted away like snow and ice within the blinding radiance.
A series of violent explosions erupted incessantly, and the ind at the center of theke of blood waspletely shattered before being instantly devoured by the eruption of light, then reduced to nothingness.
Devastating shockwaves erupted in all directions, shattering the entire underground cavern and causing it to copse, resulting in huge volumes of theke''s water gushing in in a frenzy.
Above the cavern, thepletely barren and lifeless Red Moon City also crumbled away into an enormous set of ruins.
However, there was an area in the cavern that was epassed within ayer of green light, and it waspletely unharmed.
Eight huge pieces of rhomboid turtle shells were hovering above that area, and they were connected together to form an ovr dark green light barrier that waspletely unmoved by the shockwaves resulting from the explosions.
Within the light barrier, Han Li had activated his Xuanwu bloodline, and his entire body was encased in a suit of dark green armor as he calmly inspected his surroundings.
The scorching aura that filled the entire space wasn''t disying any sign of fading away, and all of the fiery red lotus flowers littered throughout the area were releasing bursts of strange aura fluctuations tobat the violent energy.
Not far away from Han Li, Wyrm 3 had already reverted back to his human form, and he was seated on a giant fiery lotus flower with his entire body enveloped within ayer of reddish-golden light. His robes were pping audibly as he made a rapid series of hand seals, supporting his spirit domain with all his might.
Only after a few minutes had passed did the tremors in the cavern gradually subside. At this point, most of the fiery red lotus flowers had already dissipated, and Wyrm 3''s spirit domain also slowly crumbled away.
As the final few lotus flowers faded out of existence, Wyrm 3 descended out of the sky with a weary expression.
Han Li also withdrew the turtle shells around him upon seeing this, and he cupped his fist in a salute toward Wyrm 3. "Congrattions on sessfully killing Gong Shuhong, Wyrm 3."
"You yed a pivotal role in our sessfulpletion of the mission as well, Wyrm 15," Wyrm 3 said as he turned to Han Li.
At this point, the cold apathy that was normally seen in his eyes hadpletely faded, reced by undisguised approval and appreciation.
"You''re far too kind, Wyrm 3. I only made the slightest of contributions. I certainly wouldn''t dare to consider my meager contributions anywhere near significant," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"There''s no need to talk yourself down. In the Transient Guild, power is valued above all else. Those with insufficient power who covet benefits beyond what they deserve can''t me anyone else even if they were to meet their demise, do you understand what I''m saying?" Wyrm 3 asked in a meaningful voice.
"I do, and I will be sure to remember your teachings," Han Li replied in a respectful manner.
"Very good. I can put in a rmendation for you to be promoted to a higher-level member of the guild. Would you like that?" Wyrm 3 asked.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "May I ask whates with being a higher-level member of the guild? If it requires taking on even more difficult missions, then I wouldn''t dare to agree without giving it some careful consideration first."
"Setting aside everything else, if you''re sessfully promoted, you''ll gain the ability to release normal missions and earn the right to exchange resources with other members of the same level," Wyrm 3 exined in an indifferent voice.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "In that case, I''ll have to trouble you to put in a rmendation for me."
"I have the right to submit rmendations, but the guild will send out an envoy to examine your abilities to determine whether you deserve a promotion or not. When that timees, you''ll have toplete another trial mission, but I''m sure that won''t be any problem for you given your powers," Wyrm 3 said.
Han Li didn''t offer up any further words of gratitude, merely extending a slight bow instead.
"Alright, now that the mission isplete, I have to remain on the ind for a while longer to wrap things up. Red Moon Ind has a long history, so I''m sure it''sden with many precious resources. You can go explore the ind on your own, but make sure you don''t stay for too long," Wyrm 3 continued.
Han Li nodded in response before taking his leave, flying away into the distance as a streak of light.
Around 15 minutester, a streak of azure light burrowed its way out of the ground near Red Moon City, then faded to reveal Han Li.
He stood in mid-air, and he couldn''t help but heave a faint sigh as he looked down at the ruins of the city down below.
Seven people had apanied Wyrm 3 into the city, yet he was the only one that remained, and that was sufficient testament to just how perilous the Transient Guild''s missions were.
Gong Shuhong had sacrificed countless lives as a blood sacrifice to enhance his own powers, even going as far as to sacrifice four of the Layman Immortals who had been following him for countless years, reflecting just how cruel and ruthless he was, but simrly, Wyrm 3 was just as cruel and uncaring toward others when it came to achieving his objectives.
However, he was correct in that risk and reward always came hand in hand in the pursuit of cultivation. There were never any easy paths to take in cultivation, and that was something that should''ve been apparent to all cultivators from the moment they chose to pursue this path.
With that in mind, Han Li shook his head to rid himself of the slight hint of sympathy that he felt toward his fallenrades.
After taking a brief moment to ascertain the direction he wanted to go in, he sped away into the distance as a streak of azure light, choosing not to linger on the ind to search for any of the supposed resources there.
Earlier, he had already stowed away Wyrm 8''s storage tool in secret, and in addition to everything that he had obtained before that, this had already been quite a bountiful trip.
The main resources of the ind were definitely in Gong Shuhong''s possession, which meant that they belonged to Wyrm 3 now. While it was true that there had to be other resources elsewhere on the ind, those were far too insignificant for him to bother going out of his way to find.
Two monthster, a streak of azure light appeared near Dark Veil Ind, then faded to reveal Han Li.
A faint smile appeared on his face at the sight of the small ind.
He had just endured quite a perilous trip, but thankfully, he had returned safely and achieved the objectives that he had set out to achieve.
Luo Feng quickly flew out of the ind as a streak of light to meet him.
"Senior Liu!" he greeted with an ted expression.
He was the only one who had been informed by Han Li of this trip, and during this time, he had been waiting day and night in constant fear that some terrible fate would befall Han Li. Now that Han Li had returned safe and sound, he was immediately ovee by a sense of immense relief.
"Did anything happen during the time I''ve been away?" Han Li asked.
"Nothing out of the ordinary has happened during your absence," Luo Feng hurriedly replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then flew back toward his courtyard, while Luo Feng trailed along behind him and reported to him some of the news that had recently arisen during the past couple of months.
One of those pieces of news was that the ind that Lu Kun presided over had suddenly gone into istion without any exnation.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, but he didn''t say anything.
Lu Kun had fallen into theke in the underground cavern with the head of his Earthly Deity Avatar and never reappeared again, so it was unclear whether he was dead or alive.
However, given the situation at the time, even if he hadn''t perished, he would''ve most likely at least suffered severe injuries.
With that in mind, Han Li dismissed Luo Feng, then returned to his courtyard and fell onto his bed before promptly falling asleep.
Only on the next day did he get out of bed, feeling fully revitalized, then flipped a hand over to produce a cluster of objects, consisting of several storage tools and spirit treasures, as well as Wyrm 8''s broken Earthly Deity Avatar.
First, he examined Wyrm 8''s broken avatar to find that most of the materials used to refine it were identical to that of Luo Meng''s Earthly Deity Avatar, with the main difference being the copious amounts of precious wind-attribute materials used in Wyrm 8''s avatar.
Even though these materials couldn''t be recycled and reused, Han Li would still be able to learn a great deal from examining them and therefore be better prepared for when he refined his own avatar.
With that in mind, Han Li stowed the avatar away, then began to examine the spirit treasures.
Following his examination, he discovered that Wyrm 16''s ck metal spike seemed to be a low-grade immortal treasure, but aside from that, none of the other treasures were remarkable in any way. However, for some reason, even though the ck metal spike appeared to bepletely fine on the outside, it seemed to have sustained rather severe internal damage, and the power ofws imbued within it was slowly seeping out.
At this rate, all of the power ofws within it would be gone in just a few centuries.
It was no wonder that Wyrm 16 wasn''t able to utilize the treasure to any great effect.
Thus, his interest in the collection of treasures immediately faded, and he only briefly examined the remaining treasures before stowing them away.
He had no need for any of those treasures in his current state.
Finally, Han Li picked up those storage tools before injecting his spiritual sense into them.
A long whileter, he opened his eyes, and a hint of tion appeared on his face.
As expected, the collections of these True Immortals didn''t disappoint. The storage trolls contained many precious materials, far exceeding what could be found on Dark Veil Ind.
In fact, there were many items that even he didn''t recognize, but they were definitely all extremely precious.
With these things in his possession, he wouldn''t have to worry about cultivation resources in the near future.
He took a deep breath before splitting these things up into different categories and stowing them away, then flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip.
This was an Earthly Immortal cultivation art by the name of the Profound Astral Wind Arts, and it seemed to be perfect for his needs. However, he still had to follow the set procedure, bing an Ancestral God first before he could be an Earthly Immortal. Hence, the cultivation art wasn''t very useful to him at this current stage, but it was still a good resource to study and examine.
Chapter 122: Trial
Chapter 122: Trial
Over a month passed by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Han Li was seated in his secret chamber in apletely still manner with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.
All of a sudden, his eyelids fluttered slightly, and he opened his eyes before rising to his feet. In the next instant, he appeared in the air above the courtyard that he was staying in, having already put on his azure cow mask.
After a brief hesitation, he flew through the air in a certain direction as a streak of azure light.
Close to half a dayter, a streak of azure light shot forth through the air above a nameless ind countless kilometers away from Dark Veil Ind. The streak of azure light circled around in the air a few times upon reaching the ind, then faded to reveal Han Li in his cow mask, hovering in the air beside a small hill.
As soon as he appeared above the ind, a burst of spatial ripples that were visible to the naked eye emerged not far away, and a gray figure stepped out of thin air.
The figure was wearing a red mask, and their entire body was enveloped in ayer of gray light that concealed their aura. Even though they were standing right in front of Han Li, they somehow felt extremely distant in Han Li''s eyes, and he couldn''t get a clear look at them no matter how hard he tried.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this.
In the instant that the masked figure had appeared, Han Li had been struck by the feeling that they were most likely even more powerful than Wyrm 3.
The gray figure sized up Han Li for a moment, then dered, "Wyrm 15, Wyrm 3 has rmended that we consider elevating you to an azure member of the guild. Your past contributions are nowhere near enough for you to be considered for a promotion, but seeing as Wyrm 15 was willing to use his one-time rmendation on you, there''s nothing for me to say. However, you mustplete a trial mission in order to secure the promotion."
Their voice was rather indistinct, and it was impossible to discern their gender and age range.
"I understand," Han Li replied with a nod.
"This is the list of the missions for you to select from," the gray figure said as he flipped a hand over to summon a crimson badge.
With a tap of his finger, the strange patterns on the badge lit up, and countless tiny runes emerged before intertwining with one another to form a crimson screen of light that was several dozen feet in size.
Lines of small text appeared on the light screen, describing the avable missions for Han Li to choose from.
Han Li didn''t waste any time with words as he immediately directed his gaze to the light screen and began to carefully read through its contents.
The missions were extremely diverse, involving tasks like overseeing a dangerous area for 10,000 years, ying a powerful being that was ruling over a certain extremely distant region, and gathering various types of rare treasures.
The one thing that all of these missions had inmon was that they all appeared to be very difficult, with many of them no less difficult than killing the lord of Red Moon Ind.
Han Li''s mind was racing as he read through these missions.
Given his current powers, there were some missions that were possible for him toplete, but all of those missions were going to take a very long time, and time was the one thing that he had the shortest supply of.
He didn''t even want to wait for 10 years or 100 years, let alone thousands or tens of thousands of years.
The True Immortal Realm that he was situated in was rife with peril, and there were clearly some powers that he was unaware of trying to hunt him down. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have lost 300 years'' worth of memories and ended up in the Spirit Domain Realm.
He continued to inspect the list of missions while these thoughts were running through his mind, and all of a sudden, his gaze settled on a particr mission.
"Revive the seed of an unknown spirit medicine within 100 years."
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of this mission.
He didn''t know what spirit medicine this seed belonged to, but given that he possessed the Heaven Controlling Vial, this was surely not going to be a difficult mission for him toplete.
With that in mind, he pointed at the mission on the light screen, making sure to remainposed as he asked, "Would you be able to borate on the mission concerning the revival of the spirit medicine seed?"
The light glowing from the gray figure''s body shed slightly, and they seemed to have been rather taken by this request. "Oh? Are you interested in that mission?"
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Is there a problem with this mission?"
"No, that''s not it. This mission was released by an elder of our guild. He came across this spirit medicine seed by chance, but he hasn''t been able to identify what spirit medicine it belongs to. On top of that, the seed ispletely devoid of vitality. By his estimation, it would have to require wood-attribute power ofws of a certain level to have a chance at reviving the seed," the gray figure exined.
"I''ll take this mission," Han Li replied with a nod.
The gray figure took a nce at Han Li, and they didn''t ask any questions. Instead, they simply stowed the crimson badge away, then produced what appeared to be a white array te before handing it to Han Li as they said, "This is an object transference te, and someone will send the seed to you through this te in a few days. If you can revive the seed, then send it back using this te, and you''ll havepleted your trial mission."
Han Li epted the te from the gray figure, and a hint of intrigue shed through his eyes. He had never seen anything of this nature outside of the Immortal Realm.
After Han Li selected his mission, the gray figure didn''t stay any longer, raising their arm to release a burst of gray light, which flew forward before circling around in the air.
A spatial rift then opened up before transforming into a murky gray spatial passageway, the edges of which were giving off a faint glow.
The gray figure stepped into the spatial passageway without sparing another nce at Han Li, instantly vanishing into thin air, and the spatial passageway also closed in a sh behind him right after he stepped through it.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he was quite stunned by what he had seen.
Within the gray light was an ordinary-looking talisman with some profound golden patterns on its surface.
It was able to break through space with ease, and Han Li could sense a type of specialw fluctuations emanating from it, so it clearly was no ordinary object, yet the gray figure seemed to have only been using it as a transportation device, and that certainly appeared rather excessive.
Han Li shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, then flew away into the distance as a streak of light.
That night.
Luo Feng hurriedly arrived in the courtyard that Han Li was staying in with an urgent expression, and as soon as he arrived, he immediately cupped his fist in a respectful salute as he dered, "Luo Feng pays his respects to Senior Liu."
"Go and find me some high-grade spirit soils fit for growing spirit nts. There''s no need to bring me too much of each type, but try and gather as many types as possible," Han Li instructed.
Luo Feng faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately epted the order without asking any questions.
......
Three dayster.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in his secret chamber, and there was a white array te hovering in front of him. The array te was revolving on the spot while emitting a faint buzzing sound.
Momentster, a vast expanse of dazzling white light erupted out of the array te, followed by a flurry of countless silver runes, which revolved around the array te for a while before surging to the center of the te to form a ball of white light.
The ball of white light swelled, then shrank, before scattering to reveal a palm-sized azure jade box hovering in the air above the array te.
Han Li beckoned to the azure jade box, drawing it into his grasp, and after conducting a brief inspection to ensure that nothing was amiss, he removed the lid of the box.
Inside the box was a thumb-sized brownish-yellow seed that was dry and withered, resembling an unremarkable walnut.
Han Li carefully picked up the seed between two of his fingers, then held it in front of his eyes for a meticulous inspection.
After a long while, he shook his head as he concluded that the seed was indeedpletely devoid of vitality, just as the gray figure had said.
Furthermore, he couldn''t see anything special about the seed, so he didn''t know why a seemingly high-ranking elder of the Transient Guild would go to such great lengths to have it revived.
After a moment of contemtion, he summoned his jade badge to open up the entrance to the secret area, then made his way inside before arriving on a plot of emptynd behind the wooden hut. Once there, he flipped a hand over to produce a jade basin, which he set down onto the ground, and the basin was filled with some soil of different colors that were giving off strong spiritual power fluctuations.
This was a type of five-colored soil that he had mixed together on his own from the spirit soils that Luo Feng had gathered for him.
He wouldn''t dare to proim that thisposite soil would be capable of nurturing all spirit nts, but the majority of spirit nts would be able to live and grow in this five-colored soil
Han Li buried the seed in the spirit soil, then pulled out his Heaven Controlling Vial.
It had been quite some time since hest used the vial, and a drop of green liquid had already appeared inside it.
He carefully dripped the drop of green liquid into the spirit soil, and the liquid quickly seeped in.
After that, he crossed his legs and sat onto the ground, closing his eyes as he released his spiritual sense to delve into the seed within the spirit soil.
Time slowly passed by, and close to half a dayter, his eyes abruptly sprang open as an ted look appeared on his face.
As expected, a hint of vitality arose within the brownish-yellow seed around four to six hours after the green liquid seeped into the soil, and that hint of vitality was growing stronger at an extremely slow rate.
After making this observation, Han Li left the secret area and returned to his courtyard, setting upyers uponyers of restrictions before pulling out the small vial and cing it onto the ground.
It was alreadyte at night, and the stars in the night sky were glowing brightly.
Countless rays of starlight instantly converged to fuse into the vial...
Time flew by in a sh, and in the blink of an eye, an entire month had passed by. At this point, another drop of green liquid had arisen inside the small vial, and Han Li immediately poured it onto the seed.
This time, hints of faint green coloration began to appear on the surface of the brownish-yellow seed...
Five monthster, with the application of the sixth drop of green liquid, the vitality within the seed had recovered to close to 20%, and its originally dull and lifeless surface had also taken on a grayish-green color.
Another three months passed by in this fashion, and as Han Li applied one more drop of green liquid to the seed, a tiny little opening appeared on the surface of the seed amid a faint crack, and a tender seedling that was around an inch in length emerged.
Several white roots that resembled strands of silk also emerged from the underside of the seed, plunging themselves into the five-colored spirit soil.
Han Li was observing the green seedling before him with an intrigued expression.
He still didn''t know what type of seed this was, but given its current state, it was definitely going to be an extremely remarkable spirit nt once it grew to full maturity.
The seed had originally beenpletely devoid of life, so the most difficult part was instilling it with a hint of vitality and preserving that newfound vitality. At this point, close to a quarter of the seed''s vitality had already been restored, and it was gradually reaching a stable condition.
At this point, it had already been revived, and all that had to be done from here was to transfer the seed to some spirit soil, then slowly nurture it with a suitable wood-attribute spirit liquid, and it would only be a matter of time before it made a full recovery.
Of course, without the green liquid, this process could easily take tens of thousands of years, but that was not something for Han Li to worry about. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, he had no intention ofpletely restoring the seed''s vitality.
With that in mind, he returned to the secret chamber in the courtyard, and after putting on his cow mask, he flipped a hand over to produce that white array te.
He ced the seedling and the jade basin onto the array te, then waved a hand to activate the restriction enclosed within the te.
A burst of white light arose from the array te to envelop the jade basin, and in the next instant, the jade basin vanished into thin air.
Chapter 123: Black Sea Heavy Water Tome
Chapter 123: ck Sea Heavy Water Tome
Han Li continued to stare at the jade te hovering before him in a silent, unblinking manner, and a long whileter, the array te began to emit a faint buzzing sound.
Bursts of white light then emerged from the jade te to form a white array.
An indistinct gray shadow was standing in the array, and it was none other than the same Transient Guild envoy that had assigned Han Li his mission.
"I didn''t think that you would actually be able to revive that seed, and it''s even more remarkable that you managed to do it in less than a year. The elder who released this mission is quite curious about how you managed to aplish this, and he requested me to ask about the method that you employed. He''s willing to exchange for this method from you, and you can state the price," the gray figure said.
"I''m afraid I''m going to have to disappoint that elder. I just so happened to obtain a small vial of a special liquid by chance, and I used it to nurture the seed along with a type of five-colored spirit soil. Through some testing, I found that I was able to restore a hint of vitality within the seed, and only then did I dare to take on this mission.
¡°However, I only had a few drops of that liquid to begin with, and I used it all up toplete this mission. As for the method I used to create the five-colored spirit soil, I would be happy to offer that up for exchange if that elder is interested," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"That''s a pity. If you ever get your hands on this type of liquid again, you can contact me at any time. That elder has told me that he''s willing to offer you an immortal treasure in exchange. Now that you''vepleted your trial mission, from this day forth, you will officially be an azure member of our guild. This is your new mask, make sure to keep it safe."
The gray figure didn''t ask any further questions, and he swept a hand through the air as he spoke.
A streak of azure light flew out of the jade te, then fell into Han Li''s grasp, revealing itself to be an azure cow mask. Aside from the color, which had turned from blue to azure, it was no different in appearance to Han Li''s current mask, and it even retained the number "15" on its be.
"Thank you, esteemed envoy," Han Li said as he held onto the azure mask and extended a bow toward the gray figure in the array.
The gray figure didn''t say anything further, and with a wave of his hand, he vanished on the spot, following which the white array around him also disintegrated into thin air.
Thus, peace and quiet returned to the secret chamber.
Han Li gently stroked the dense patterns on the mask while sensing the peculiar fluctuations emanating from it, and a momentter, he removed his blue mask before recing it with his new mask.
After putting on the new mask, it immediately began to ripple with a gentle watery glow, and the blue cow mask that had just been removed disintegrated into nothingness without any warning.
In the next instant, a passage of glowing golden text surfaced in Han Li''s mind.
The passage of text contained the method to utilize the mask''s many functions. In addition to the old features, which included disguise adoption, aura alteration, and confidential voice transmission, he had also been given ess to some new features, including releasing missions and exchanging resources with other members of the same tier.
After memorizing everything, Han Li raised his middle and index fingers together, then tapped them against his own be as he began to chant a peculiar incantation.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of gentle azure light emerged from the mask, much like a gentle breeze or a wave of rippling water, spreading throughout the entire secret chamber in a sh.
Within the area epassed by the azure light, a projection of a massive array te that took up virtually an entire wall of the secret chamber appeared before Han Li.
This was a square array te that was of a glowing azure color, and it was riddled withplex array runes. At the very center of the array was a circr vortex roughly the size of a well, and it was slowly revolving while releasing bursts of spatial fluctuations.
The entire array te was split up into two areas, one on the left and one on the right, with the circr vortex dividing the two. The top grids of the two areas contained the words "Missions" and "Exchange".
Right as Han Li was about to take a closer look, a burst of golden light emerged on the surface of the array te, and a passage of golden text appeared on its surface, mostlyprised of some rules that had to be followed during exchanges.
Due to the fact that exchanges in the guild had to take ce across realms, all of the items put up for exchange were appraised by professional personnel of the Transient Guild, and information like their quality, strengths and weaknesses, and even their ces of origin, were allid out in the descriptions attached to the items. To a certain extent, this ensured the fairness and openness of the exchanges.
Furthermore, if either side were to go back on an agreement, then the perpetrator would be dealt a severe punishment from the guild. In serious cases, they could even permanently lose their guild membership.
After Han Li was finished reading through the rules, the passage of text faded away.
Han Li took a deep breath, then continued to inspect the array te.
On the left side of the array te, under the heading of "Missions", there were a series of summaries of missions inscribed vertically, and listed after the descriptions of those missions were the rewards forpleting them.
At a rough nce, Han Li saw a variety of missions, including requests to search for certain individuals, hiring notices for assassins, and invitations to join a group of cultivators to explore secret regions. There was a great deal of diversity in the missions on offer, and the rewards also fluctuated depending on the difficulty of the missions.
In contrast, the contents on the right-hand side "Exchanges" section were a bit moreplex.
The items put up for exchange were split up into major categories like "spirit medicines", "spirit materials", "treasures", "talismans", and "scriptures", and all of the categories also had subcategories of different levels.
Han Li took a rough nce at all of the categories before focusing his attention on the "scriptures" category, where he began to take a closer look.
There were quite a few sub-categories under the "scriptures" category, and most of them contained cultivation methods of different attributes.
However, there weren''t many cultivation methods for Ancestral Gods. In fact, there weren''t even as many cultivation arts of this nature as what was avable for sale in the ck Wind Sea. As for high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation arts, those were even rarer.
After searching for close to six hours, Han Li''s eyes suddenly lit up, and he spotted an earth-attribute Earthly Immortal cultivation art by the name of the "Origin Earth Refining Arts".
ording to the brief description provided, this was quite an advanced cultivation art, and upon attaining full mastery of the cultivation art, one would be able to at least reach the Golden Immortal Stage.
However, after seeing the asking price for this cultivation art, Han Li was immediately left feeling deted. The owner of the cultivation art was asking for a mature Fire Origin Dragon Tooth Fruit in exchange.
ording to the description, this was a type of spirit fruit that contained the power ofws of fire. Not only was it extremely difficult to find trees that this fruit that bore this fruit, the fruit itself also required tens of thousands of years to reach full maturity, just like a Profound Heavenly Fruit.
Furthermore, as soon as the fruit emerged, it would immediately begin to release a strong fragrant aroma, and it was often the case that the fruit would be eaten by spirit beasts before reaching full maturity. Hence, mature specimens of this fruit were extremely rare, and there was very little supply to meet the demand.
Hence, he had no choice but to give up on this cultivation art and search for another one.
Around an hourter, he found another Earthly Immortal cultivation art by the name of the "Heavenly cial Ice Arts". This was a cultivation art of an inferior caliber to the Origin Earth Refining Arts, but it was a water-attribute cultivation art, so it was very suited to the environment in the ck Wind Sea.
However, the asking price was just as steep. In exchange for the cultivation art, Han Li would have to go and search for an item in the Northern cial Immortal Region.
The mission duration was 100 years, and regardless of whether the requested item was secured or not, one would be able to obtain the cultivation art as long as they didn''t perish in the Northern cial Immortal Realm.
Han Li naturally immediately gave up on this cultivation art as well.
Over the course of a day and a night, he scanned through virtually all of the cultivation arts up for exchange, and aside from those previous high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation arts, he only managed to find one more, a cultivation art by the name of the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome.
This was a rather intriguing cultivation art in that not only could it allow one to attain the power of waterws through harnessing the power of faith, one could also use the cultivation art to derive heavy water from seawater. This derivation process was also the process through which users of this cultivation art could attain more immortal spiritual power, so it was truly killing two birds with one stone.
ording to the summary of the cultivation art, there were nine tiers of heavy water that could be derived using this cultivation art, and theoretically, it could help a cultivator progress beyond the True Immortal Stage to reach the Golden Immortal Stage.
The reason why it was stated that this was only achievable in theory was because no one had sessfully aplished this in practice. This wasn''t because this cultivation art was too profound and difficult to cultivate. On the contrary, it was far easier to cultivate than the previous two cultivation arts, but the process of deriving heavy water was quite difficult, and it required an extremely long time.
Furthermore, the further one advanced in this cultivation art, the longer the time it would take.
The Earthly Immortal who invented this cultivation art was only able to derive three levels of heavy water, which roughly equated to the amount of water in a small creek, and even that had taken him close to 500,000 years. In the end, he was only just barely able to reach the mid-True Immortal Stage, and for a time, he was theughingstock of all of his fellow daoists.
After that, he was also unable to bear the snail-like progress in this cultivation art, and he switched to a different one. By his estimates, it would''ve most likely taken him tens of millions of years for him toplete the cultivation of the subsequent six levels.
However, Han Li wasn''t too bothered by this. After all, his objective was never to pursue the path of the Earthly Immortal, and he was only using an Earthly Immortal cultivation art as a temporary means for him to recover his magic power.
Furthermore, it was exactly due to this fatal w that the asking price for this cultivation art was far cheaper than for the other two. All that was being requested in exchange was any type of material that contained the power ofws.
After making up his mind, Han Li joined his middle and index fingers before tapping them against his own be, and a wisp of azure light flew out from within, thennded on the spot where the "ck Sea Heavy Water Tome" was situated on the array te, where it vanished out of sight.
Around 15 minutester, a beam of azure light was projected down into the secret chamber from the array te.
A projection of a male figure wearing an azure roon mask, and his build was remarkably tall and muscr. He was dressed in a set of rather strange tribal attire, and he didn''t seem to be human.
"I take it that my ck Sea Heavy Water Tome has caught your eye, Fellow Daoist?" the man asked as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li.
His voice was very loud and clear, but he spoke in a rather warm tone.
Han Li returned the man''s salute, then replied, "Indeed. I can see that you''ve requested any type of material that contains the power ofws in exchange for the cultivation art, but you haven''t offered any further information. Would you be able to borate, Fellow Daoist?"
Chapter 124: Grand Earth Fruit and Sea Condensing Crystal
Chapter 124: Grand Earth Fruit and Sea Condensing Crystal
"Just as there are disparities in the quality of cultivation arts, the same naturally also applies to materials that contain the power ofws. Hence, the number of items required to exchange for my cultivation art will depend on the quality of the items offered," the man said with a smile.
Han Li paused for a moment, then flipped a hand over, and one of those strange walnuts with human-face-like patterns etched on their surface appeared on his palm.
As soon as the item was summoned, it immediately began to release a powerful earth-attribute aura.
"Would something like this be satisfactory to you, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li asked as he took a nce at the man.
The man faltered slightly upon seeing this, and he reflexively took a half step toward Han Li, but then immediately caught himself, putting on a nonchnt smile as he said, "This Grand Earth Fruit does indeed contain a hint of earthw powers, but it''s not very abundant at all, so if you want to exchange this for my cultivation art, then I''ll be requiring at least 10 of them."
Grand Earth Fruit, eh? So that''s what it''s called...
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he filed this tidbit of information away in his mind, and he was in no hurry to respond. Instead, he merely watched the man in an expressionless silence.
The man heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this, thinking that the reflexive half-step he had taken toward Han Li just now had already exposed his desire for the fruits, and he amended, "If you have Grand Earth Fruits of a higher caliber than this one, then I can ept five instead."
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he raised two fingers as he bartered, "Two."
"That''s a little unreasonable of you, is it not, Fellow Daoist? This ck Sea Heavy Water Tome is indeed a slightly wed cultivation art, but it''s still a genuine high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation. There''s no way I can trade it for just two Grand Earth Fruits," the man said as he waved his hands insistently.
"While this is indeed a high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation art, I would think you know better than anyone that it''s not just ''slightly wed''. Due to its limitations, this cultivation art is next to useless for the vast majority of people, so surely two Grand Earth Fruits will suffice in exchange for it," Han Li countered.
The man contemted Han Li''s words for a moment, then said in a hesitant manner, "I''m afraid I can''t ept two Grand Earth Fruits. How about you add one more and make it three instead, Fellow Daoist?"
Han Li paused momentarily upon hearing this, then said, "I can throw in another one, but you have to answer a question for me first."
The man was rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked, "Answer a question? That''s all I need to do?"
"That''s right, I''m sure you know the answer to this question, Fellow Daoist," Han Li said with a smile.
After some contemtion, the man nodded and prompted, "Go ahead, Fellow Daoist."
"Truth be told, even though I managed to secure several Great Earth Fruits by chance, I don''t know anything about what they do, and I was hoping you would be able to tell me, Fellow Daoist," Han Li said.
The man faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a wry smile appeared on his face as he replied, "You''ve asked the right person, Fellow Daoist. This fruit is a very special wood-attribute spirit fruit, and it requires 100,000 years to grow into a seedling, 1,000,000 years to develop into a tree, and 10,000,000 years to bear fruit that contains the power of earthws. It''s an exceptional material for refining high-grade immortal treasures and weapons."
"Thank you for enlightening me, Fellow Daoist. Let''splete this trade now," Han Li said with a faint smile.
The man didn''t say anything further, merely nodding in silence.
The two of them each raised a hand at the same time, and an object emerged from each of their palms, then flew toward the vortex at the center of the array te.
What was different was that Han Li had released a human-faced walnut that was giving off earthy yellow light, while the man had released an ancient book.
As soon as the three fruits flew into the vortex, they immediately vanished without a trace.
Shortly thereafter, a burst of light arose from the array te, and an ancient book with a dark azure cover slowly flew out of the circr vortex.
Han Li reached out to catch the book, then gave it a brief inspection with his spiritual sense, and only after verifying that there was nothing amiss about the book did he turn his gaze back to the man.
At this point, the man just finished examining the three Great Earth Fruits as well, and he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li, then vanished on the spot.
An amused smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this. He knew that the man was feeling a little angry that he had gotten the short end of the stick, but he didn''t care. After stowing the cultivation art away, he turned his attention back to the array te again.
He now had a high-grade Earthly Deity cultivation art, but he was still missing the materials required to refine an Earthly Deity Avatar.
Han Li had originally intended to use these Great Earth Fruits as the main material to refine his Earthly Deity Avatar, but now that he had decided to cultivate the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome, he had to find a material that contained the power of waterws, so he couldn''t use those fruits anymore.
Given his current situation, this should''ve been a rather simple task.
He raised a hand toward the "Exchanges" section of the array te, then put up his Great Earth Fruits in exchange for a material that contained waterw powers.
Given his observations up to this point, he could tell that even though the Transient Guild was quite a mysterious organization, its operations clearly weren''t limited to just the ck Wind Sea, and it had to have quite a high number of guild members. Otherwise, there was no way that such a massive intraguild exchange tform could''ve been established.
Seeing as there were so many people trading things on the exchange tform, Han Li was confident that it wouldn''t be a difficult task to exchange his Great Earth Fruits for a material that contained the power of waterws.
After doing all of that, Han Li did away with the projection of the array te with a sweep of his hand, then sat down with his legs crossed and pulled out the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome for a thorough reading.
Just as he anticipated, several people contacted him through his mask over the course of just seven or eight days, offering items to trade for his Great Earth Fruits.
However, Han Li didn''t immediately ept any offer. Instead, he waited another few days, then carefullypared all of the dozen or so offers that he had received before deciding on a material known as the Sea Condensing Crystal.
The material contained an immense amount of waterw powers, and it was extremely suitable to be used with the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome. Apparently, just this fingernail-sized piece of crystal alone contained the essence of a region of sea tens of thousands of kilometers in radius. Hence, it was far more precious than Great Earth Fruits, and Han Li had to exchange virtually all of his remaining Great Earth Fruits and some other spirit materials for that tiny piece of crystal.
Once everything was prepared, Han Li immediately went into seclusion.
The seasons changed, and over a year passed by in the blink of an eye, as was often the case in the True Immortal Realm.
During this time, Han Li continued to nurture the Soulbirth Flower using the green liquid produced by the vial while also studying the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome day and night, making final preparations for the refinement of his Earthly Deity Avatar.
On this day, on a certain region of the seabed around 10,000 kilometers away from Dark Veil Ind.
The terrain of the seabed here was rather uneven, forming a series of rocky structures that resembled an underwater mountain range.
These rocky protrusions were dark red in color with bumpy and uneven surfaces, and they were formed by cooled magma.
A series of dark holes could be seen on the seabed here, and it was unknown where these holes led to.
This was a cluster of underwater volcanoes that erupted very often, so the general area was very rarely frequented.
On a certain t section of the seabed was a massive hemispherical blue barrier that kept out the surrounding seawater, and it was impossible to see what was going on inside from outside the protective barrier.
Seated at the center of the array with his legs crossed was none other than Han Li.
There were around a dozen massive stone pirs standing around him, while at the center was a fire-attribute array engraved out of crimson runes.
A long whileter, he slowly opened his eyes, and there was a solemn look on his face as he began to chant something.
The crimson array beneath him immediately sprang to life, and the dozen or so stone pirs around him began to glow with dazzling crimson light. Even through the blue protective barrier, the surrounding seabed in a radius of several kilometers waspletely illuminated.
As he made a hand seal, the ground around him began to rumble and quake.
Momentster, he let loose a low cry, and a series of cracks abruptly appeared on the ground at the very center of the array. That area was around 10 feet in size, and there were no engravings on the ground there. All of a sudden, the cracks fell away to reveal a huge hole.
Within the hole was a vast expanse of bright red, and from there, one could clearly see waves of churning magma not far beneath the ground, as well as the scorching mes burning on top of the magma.
These mes were of a faint reddish-golden color, and it wasn''t normal magma groundfire. Instead, it was a type of special fire known as deepsea groundfire, and not only was it capable of mixing and coexisting with seawater, it was many times more powerful than normal groundfire.
Extraordinary waves of heat were radiating out of the huge hole, causing the surrounding seawater to boil and churn.
All of a sudden, Han Li appeared near the opening of the hole, then sat down once again with his legs crossed before flicking his fingers through the air in quick session.
The surrounding array immediately began to operate a little faster, releasing bright red light that was flowing incessantly into the hole.
The magma underground also began to ripple and flow toward the hole''s opening.
A pir of light golden mes abruptly erupted out of the hole in the ground, and it rose up in a corkscrew fashion 70 to 80 feet up into the air, like a violent fiery geyser that could explode at any moment.
A serious look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he sped up even further with his output of incantation seals. As a result, the surrounding array began to glow even brighter, and wisps of red light surged out of the array to envelop the golden groundfire.
The violent groundfire instantly became more docile, as if it were a wild stallion that was slowly being tamed, taking on all types of different forms at Han Li''s behest.
Only then did Han Li''s serious expression ease slightly, and with a wave of his hand, a selection of materials of different colors appeared beside him.
Given his current level of magic power, it was impossible for him to refine these materials, so he had developed the bright idea to use this deepsea groundfire to do the job for him.
With a wave of his hand, a piece of white crystalline ore shot through the air before plunging into the groundfire, and the mes enveloped the piece of ore at his behest.
After an indeterminate period of time, the material slowly melted into a ball of semi-transparent white liquid.
Following a brief inspection, he swept his hand through the air again, and another material flew into the mes...
A month passed by in the blink of an eye.
At this point, almost all of the materials around Han Li had already been refined within the groundfire, and they had mixed together to form a millstone-sized blue ball that was slowly rolling in the fire.
Hisplexion was a little pale, and he flipped a hand over to summon a Cloud Crane Herb that he promptly devoured, and hisplexion began to slowly improve. At the same time, he raised a hand to produce a dark blue crystal.
The crystal was glittering and translucent, and the blue radiance contained within it was clearly visible from the outside. The light was rippling gently like water, and tremendous power of waterws were radiating out from within.
This was none other than the Sea Condensing Crystal.
Han Li took a long look at the crystal, and after taking a deep breath, he tossed it into the groundfire before him.
The groundfire enveloped the crystal at his behest, and right at this moment, ayer of watery blue light suddenly appeared on the surface of the crystal, surging incessantly, making the entire crystal resemble a small ball of glittering water.
The deepsea groundfire was capable of melting metals with ease, yet it waspletely kept out by this unremarkable-lookingyer of faint blue light.
Chapter 125: Manifesting an Avatar
Chapter 125: Manifesting an Avatar
The Sea Condensing Crystal disyed no sign of melting at all, but Han Li wasn''t surprised to see this. Instead, he was growing a little excited, and he began to chant an incantation before abruptly sweeping his arms through the air.
Dozens of array gs flew out of his sleeves in rapid session, then arranged themselves in an orderly formation around the array before vanishing in a sh.
In the next instant, a series of balls of dazzling mes emerged in the surrounding area, then exploded one after another, and the red light radiating from the array immediately became around twice as bright as before. Countless red runes surged out of the array, forming streams of red light that fused into the groundfire.
A scorching aura surged forth violently from down below, and the surrounding temperature climbed once again, while the golden coloration of the groundfire deepened significantly.
Enveloped within the golden groundfire, the flow of blue light around the Sea Condensing Crystal finally began to slow, and the light was also being stripped away at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
Finally, after an indeterminate amount of time had passed, the exterior of the crystal began to melt and take on a slightly murky appearance.
Han Li was quite relieved to see this, and he sped up even further in his hand seals.
As time passed, the Sea Condensing Crystal slowly transformed, taking on the shape of a heart.
Visually, it was still as bright and clear as ever, and its surface was radiating dazzling blue light.
After a moment of contemtion, Han Li raised a hand, and the ball that all of the other materials had melted into flew forth at his behest while he cast an incantation seal with his other hand.
Another blue water-attribute array on the ground was instantly activated, glowing brightly to form a massive blue eight trigrams image that was buzzing incessantly.
All of the seawater in a radius of hundreds of kilometers began to tumble and churn, and countless vortexes of different sizes appeared on the surface of the sea before shing violently with one another.
Traces of blue light that were barely visible to the naked eye emerged from the seawater, then converged toward Han Li while emanating incredibly rich waterw fluctuations emanating.
Han Li made a hand seal, and countless wisps of blue light flew toward him, fusing into the blue ball in an orderly fashion at his behest.
A series of bulges instantly began to appear on the surface of the blue ball, only to then immediately vanish.
The ball slowly elongated, gradually transforming into a blue humanoid being, except it hadn''tpletely grown limbs yet, and its face was alsopletely devoid of features.
Han Li wore a solemn expression as he quickly chanted an incantation while releasing a series of incantation seals with his hands.
The blue humanoid creature continued to change shape, and finally, its limbspletely developed, and features that bore a strong resemnce to Han Li''s also appeared on its face.
Han Li let loose a loud cry as a burst of azure light shot out of his hand to envelop the Sea Condensing Crystal beside him, slowly dragging it into the chest of the blue humanoid creature, where its heart was supposed to be.
A burst of dazzling blue light erupted into the sky from the blue humanoid figure''s body, and even the surrounding groundfire was unable to impede it.
At the same time, a series of blue lines emerged from its chest, then quickly spread throughout its entire body like a system of meridians and blood vessels.
As more and more blue light converged from the surrounding area before vanishing into the humanoid figure''s body, its liquid also quickly took on a solid state.
It didn''t take long before a blue male figure appeared in mid-air, and a hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
At this point, the initial stage of his Earthly Deity Avatar''s refinement wasplete, and the process was going quite smoothly.
It was only thanks to the observations that Han Li had made on Luo Meng and Wyrm 8''s wed Earthly Deity Avatar that the creation of his own avatar was going so smoothly.
However, the Earthly Deity Avatar had only just taken shape, and it had to continue to be refined in groundfire in order to be consolidated.
Thus, he took a deep breath and began to make hand seals again.
Groundfire surged and enveloped the Earthly Deity Avatar, forming a fireball to continue the refinement process.
Time slowly passed by, and 49 days flew by in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s eyes abruptly sprang open, and with a sweep of his sleeve, the giant fireball instantly scattered to reveal the Earthly Deity Avatar inside.
The avatar had shrunk significantly, but it was more condensed, and its entire body was giving off watery blue light, indicating that the refinement process wasplete, but it still looked like nothing more than a lifeless empty vessel.
The next step was the final step to refining an Earthly Deity Avatar, and it involved imparting sentience upon the avatar.
With that in mind, Han Li looked around for a moment, then flipped a hand over to produce an object that was dripping with blood. It seemed to have been the heart of a certain demon beast, and it was set down onto the ground beside him.
A strong bloody odor that was interspersed with a peculiar fragrance was released by the heart.
On the bottom of a deepsea trench on the seabed hundreds of kilometers away from Han Li was a massive ck hole. The edges of the hole were incredibly smooth, and it seemed to have been their of a certain sea beast.
All of a sudden, a massive ck shadow shot out of the hole amid a resounding boom, revealing itself to be a massive fish demon that was several thousand feet in length.
The fish demon''s entire body was as pristine as white jade, and there was a human face on its head with a mouth that was filled with two rows of sharp white fangs, presenting a terrifying sight to behold.
The fish demon sniffed around vigorously for a moment, following which an excited look appeared on its face, and it shot forth rapidly in a certain direction as a white shadow.
The white fish demon was incredibly fast, covering several kilometers in mere moments before drawing to an abrupt halt.
A ball of faint blue light was visible close to 10 kilometers up ahead, and it was giving off the alluring aroma of its favorite prey, the Sand Pig Beast.
However, there was a young human standing within the blue light, and even though his aura was quite weak, the fish demon''s sharp intuition told it that this human was not to be messed with, and it was immediately left feeling a little hesitant.
The young human was naturally none other than Han Li, and a faint smile appeared on his face, even as his head remained lowered. Immediately thereafter, he abruptly vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, a loud ssh rang out from the seawater beside the white fish demon, and Han Li appeared out of nowhere, then reached out and made a grabbing motion toward the fish demon.
A burst of terrifying power surged forth, and an explosion boom rang out from the surrounding seawater as it erupted to either side to produce a vacuum area.
The white fish demon was greatly startled by this turn of events, and dazzling blue light began to radiate from its body as it swept its pair of front ws forward.
The nearby seawater churned, and an incredibly thick pir of water shot forth toward Han Li.
The pir of water was filled with blue light that was rippling incessantly, and rumbling thunderps were ringing out from within.
The two bursts of power collided violently amid an earth-shattering boom, and the pir of blue water abruptly exploded, while a series of arcs of blue lightning appeared out of thin air before hurtling toward Han Li.
These arcs of blue lightning were actual lightning. Instead, it was water lightning, which was only more powerful than normal lightning.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph, and he made no effort to take evasive measures as he flew directly toward the fish demon.
The arcs of blue lightning instantly exploded upon striking his body, and they were unable to inflict any damage upon him.
The white fish demon was clearly extremely rmed to see this, and right at this moment, Han Li appeared behind the fish demon in a wraith-like manner, not giving it any time to react before throwing a punch into its head.
The fish demon''s head instantly exploded, sending intracranial fluids sttering in all directions to instantly stain the surrounding seawater red.
A ball of blue light flew out of the sea of blood, then fled into the distance as quickly as it could.
Before the ball of blue light was able to get very far, an azure-robed figure suddenly appeared out of thin air, then reached out to grab the ball of blue light, which contained none other than the soul of the white fish demon.
The fish demon struggled vigorously, but was unable to break free.
Han Li took a nce at the soul in his grasp, then returned to the blue array in a sh.
This fish demon was known as a Net Maiden Demon, and it was an extremely rare water-dwelling demon.
In order to impart sentience upon a newly created Earthly Deity Avatar, one of these demons had to be killed on the spot so that its soul could be used as a catalyst.
Han Li had spent a great deal of time and effort to search for one recently, and he had finally managed to find a Net Maiden Demon nearby. Aside from the presence of the underwater volcanoes here, this was the other reason why he had decided to refine his Earthly Deity Avatar in this ce.
He sat down with his legs crossed, then released an incantation seal, and the Earthly Deity Avatar also sat down with its legs crossed across from him.
He opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light, which enveloped the blue soul in his hand before descending onto the top of the Earthly Deity Avatar''s head. At the same time, he was casting a rapid series of incantation seals.
Translucent light was shimmering on his be, and it was bing brighter and brighter, gradually concealing his facial features and giving them a blurry appearance.
Fine beads of sweat began to slowly flow down his forehead. This was not a simple process for him, and he had to give it his full concentration.
After a long while, his eyes abruptly sprang open, and two bursts of translucent light erupted out of his pupils like two bolts of lightning shing through the night sky.
He then made a hand seal, and a speck of green light flew out of his be. It was a miniature green figure, and it was none other than a small part of his soul.
In order to bestow sentience upon the Earthly Deity Avatar, he had split off a part of his soul to be injected into it. Only then would he be able to control the Earthly Deity Avatar as he pleased.
The miniature green figure vanished into the blue soul on top of the Earthly Deity Avatar''s head in a sh, and it immediately released a vast expanse of green light to envelop the blue soul, as if the former were trying to assimte thetter.
The blue soul immediately retaliated, opening its mouth to bite at the miniature green figure, only for the green figure to send it flying with a punch. As a result, the blue soul was sent crashing into the surrounding azure light, bing rather feeble and dazed from the impact.
The miniature green figure grabbed onto the blue soul, then opened its mouth and bit down onto the soul before tearing a chunk off its body.
The blue soul immediately let loose an agonized howl as it struggled with all its might, but the miniature green figure was far stronger than it, and it tore another chunk out of the blue soul with its mouth.
In the blink of an eye, the blue soul waspletely devoured by the miniature green figure.
Bursts of blue light appeared on the surface of the miniature green figure''s body, and the blue and green light intertwined with one another, while the green figure sat down with its legs crossed atop the Earthly Deity Avatar''s head. Meanwhile, Han Li was continuing to cast a rapid series of incantation seals, all of which vanished into the Earthly Deity Avatar''s head.
All of a sudden, the Earthly Deity Avatar''s eyes abruptly sprang open, and a hint of life had appeared in its previously empty and soulless eyes.
Han Li was very encouraged to see this, and he elerated even further in his casting of incantation seals.
One streak of translucent light shot out of his be after another before vanishing into the Earthly Deity Avatar''s head, and with each streak of translucent light that disappeared into its head, the Earthly Deity Avatar''s eyes would be a bit more lively.
Han Li couldn''t help but give a slight nod upon seeing this. Up to this point, everything in the refinement process had gone very smoothly, and all he had to do from here was to inject the juice of the Soulbirth Flower in order to stabilize the soul fragment within the avatar''s body.
This was the most important step, and it was going to decide whether the refinement of his Earthly Deity Avatar was going to be sessful or not.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over, and a dark green jade box appeared over his palm.
In the instant that the lid of the box was removed, a burst of dazzling golden light was revealed, and there was a golden peony-like spirit flowerying inside.
However, right at this moment, a wary look suddenly appeared in Han Li''s eyes.
Five or six streaks of light had suddenly appeared in the nearby area, and they were rapidly approaching him from all directions.
Each streak of light was giving off a powerful aura, all of which were at the True Immortal Stage!
Chapter 126: Coercion
Chapter 126: Coercion
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he closed the jade box in his hand.
With his spiritual sense, he was able to instantly identify the unwee guests as soon as they appeared.
Flying at the forefront of the group was a burly man in a suit of engraved white armor with a hollow visor on his face. This was none other than Ancestral God Han Qiu''s Earthly Deity Avatar, which Han Li had already battled once before.
Even through the mask, Han Li could still sense the cold killing intent in the Earthly Deity Avatar''s eyes.
As for the five people behind the avatar, judging from their life-like features, yet slightly wooden expressions, it was clear that they were avatars as well.
Aside from a ck-armored man and an elderly man with a yellow beard, there was also a pair of azure-robed daoist priests that seemed to have been a pair of identical twins. Han Li had never seen these people before, but from the information provided by Luo Feng, he was able to identify them as the Ancestral Gods of the nearby inds.
As for the final assant, a woman in blue, that was a familiar face. It was none other than Mistress Gu Gu, who had apanied Han Qiu on his previous visit.
The six of them seemed to have somehow concealed their auras, so Han Li waspletely oblivious to their presence, even though they had appeared no more than several thousand kilometers away from him.
For True Immortals, a distance of several thousand kilometers was one that could be crossed in an instant.
Flying along at the front of the group, Han Qiu swept a hand through the air to release a streak of white light. It was a glowing white sickle, and in the blink of an eye, it swelled to over 1,000 feet in size before hurtling viciously toward Han Li.
The sickle wasn''t an immortal treasure, but it was still a treasure that contained tremendous power, and even before it arrived, the nearby seawater had already been parted by its formidable aura.
At this moment, Han Li was at a vital juncture in the refinement of his Earthly Deity Avatar, and he wasn''t even able to get up, much less defend himself.
However, he wasn''t rmed in the slightest as he calmly made a hand seal, then pointed in a certain direction.
A burst of blue light flew out of his fingertip, then vanished into the blue light barrier around him in a sh.
The blue light barrier glowed brightly as it became incredibly substantial and thick, following which countless wave projections appeared on its surface amid a sshing sound.
The light barrier was clearly an extremely powerful restriction, and as soon as it took shape, it was struck by the white sickle.
A resounding metallic ng rang out, and sparks flew in all directions as the sickle was repelled back through the air.
Meanwhile, the wave projections on the surface of the blue light barrier surged violently, but it wasn''t sliced apart.
At the same time, Mistress Gu Gu and the others had already summoned their treasures as well. The ck-armored man had summoned a dark golden scepter, the yellow-bearded elderly man was wielding an earthy yellow seal, the two azure-robed daoist priests had armed themselves with a pair of long blue halberds, while Mistress Gu Gu was holding a ck longsword.
All five treasures were giving off dazzling radiance, and they struck the blue light barrier in unison right after the white sickle.
A string of resounding booms rang out, while the nearby seawater tumbled and churned violently.
However, these treasures were also kept out and repelled by the blue light barrier, just like the white sickle from before.
The blue light barrier trembled violently like a willow tree in the wind, and its surface churned and rumbled once again as if a series of massive waves were washing over it, and even though it quickly stabilized once again, the blue light radiating from it had already dimmed significantly.
Even though it was impossible to see clearly into the light barrier from the outside, one could just barely make out a pair of blurry figures seated across from one another with their legs crossed.
"Fellow Daoist Han Qiu, our differences fromst time have already been settled. What is the meaning of this?" Han Li asked in a cold voice.
"You can only me yourself for being too greedy. If you really hadn''t found Luo Meng''s Soulbirth Flower, then why have you begun refining an Earthly Deity Avatar? That Soulbirth Flower is still some way away from reaching 10,000 years of age, but it should still just barely suffice," Han Qiu chuckled.
"I see that you''re very familiar with the Earthly Deity Avatar refinement process. You waited this long before appearing right as I''ve reached the final step of my avatar refinement process. I''m assuming you did this because you''re certain that I wouldn''t be able to retaliate, right?" Han Li asked in a cold voice.
"You''re a smart man, Fellow Daoist. Right now, you have two choices, the first of which is to hand over the Soulbirth Flower, and we''ll leave right away. You can continue to rule over Dark Veil Ind, and we won''t interfere with your rule. As for the second choice, I''m sure I don''t need to spell it out for you," Han Qiu said with a cold smile.
Instead of responding to Han Qiu, Han Li turned to the other Ancestral Gods as he said, "Fellow daoists, I have no vendetta against any of you. Do you insist on working with Fellow Daoist Han Qiu to have me killed?"
"I may have only met you once before, but I''d consider us to be acquaintances, Fellow Daoist Liu. Hence, I''d advise you not to bother putting up futile resistance, Fellow Daoist. Seeing as you''ve already chosen to pursue the path of a Profound Immortal and attained a True Extreme Body, why would you go down the path of the Earthly Immortal?
¡°As long as you''re willing to cooperate with us, we would be more than happy to allow you to continue to rule over Dark Veil Ind," Mistress Gu Gu said.
"Cooperate? I see, so all of you just want me to be a puppet ind master that will do your bidding like apdog," Han Li chuckled.
"We tried to be nice, but you''ve swatted our olive branch aside, so don''t me us for turning to violence. Fellow daoists, as long as you can help me kill this man, I''ll be sure to follow through on everything I promised you," Han Qiu assured as he made a hand seal, and the white sickle swept toward Han Li once again.
The other five Ancestral Gods didn''t say anything further as they also called upon their treasures, which crashed into the blue light barrier as streaks of light.
The blue light barrier trembled violently, and even though it was able to keep all of the attacks at bay, it had dimmed significantly once again, and there was only a thinyer of it left.
Inside the blue restriction, Han Li had fallen silent, and it was unclear what he was doing.
Han Qiu let loose a loud roar as he made a hand seal, and eight identical giant sickle projections appeared around the white sickle before revolving around it like the petals of a pristine white lotus flower.
The giant sickle lotus flower screeched through the air before crashing into the blue light barrier with an earth-shattering boom, and that was finally enough to shatter the light barrier into countless specks of blue light, revealing Han Li and his Earthly Deity Avatar inside.
The surrounding five treasures from the other Ancestral Gods instantly converged toward Han Li, and right at this moment, specks of blue light appeared around Han Li once again.
A series of hemispherical blue light barriers reappeared around him amid the sound of loud crashing water, and the light barriers appeared to be slightly thinner than the original one, but there were dozens of them this time.
Dazzling blue radiance erupted from the light barriers, giving them a mysterious appearance.
The five streaks of light crashed into the outermost light barrier, which was instantly destroyed, but the treasures contained within the streaks of light were also repelled.
Right at this moment, the other blue light barriers began to buzz incessantly, and the blue radiance glowing on their surface rippled like water. Streaks of blue light shot out of the surrounding seawater, and in the blink of an eye, the broken blue light barrier was restored.
Han Qiu was staring intently at the blue light barriers with a grim expression, and his expression was mirrored on the faces of his five allies as well.
Meanwhile, Han Li was situated in the array with his expressionpletely unmoved.
He was well aware of the risks involved in refining an Earthly Deity Avatar, and that was why he had secured this Thousandfold Wave Array for a heavy price as a safety precaution.
This array didn''t possess any offensive capabilities, but its defensive prowess was incredible, and even with six True Immortals attacking it at once, it was not going to be broken so easily.
At this moment, a jade vial that was filled with golden liquid had already appeared in Han Li''s hand, and he was beginning to tip the liquid onto the be of the Earthly Deity Avatar down below.
Outside the blue array, Gu Gu and the others didn''t strike right away. Instead, all of them were looking at Han Qiu.
"Fellow Daoist Han Qiu, I don''t think this man is just an ordinary Profound Immortal. It''s not going to be easy to break through this array," the elderly man with the yellow beard mused with a grim expression.
"There''s no need to be concerned at all, Fellow Daoist Ge. That man is trying to use a mere 8,000-year-old Soulbirth Flower to stabilize the soul of his Earthly Deity Avatar, and that''s going to take at least a day and a night. With that much time on our hands, we''ll definitely be able to break through this restriction," Mistress Gu Gu said with a cold smile.
"Indeed. Even with a mature 10,000-year-old Soulbirth Flower, there''s no way he canplete this process without at least four to six hours," one of the azure-robed daoist priests chimed in with a nod.
"That is correct, fellow daoists. Let''s kill this bastard, and we''ll split the resources of Dark Veil Ind evenly among ourselves!" Han Qiu urged.
His white sickle then began to glow brightly, and the white lotus flower was manifested once again before hurtling toward the blue light barrier.
At the same time, he made a grabbing motion with one hand, and a translucent little blue sword appeared before plunging forward like lightning.
A streak of blue swordlight that was several hundred feet in length swept through the air, and it was giving off a cial aura that was tinged with hints ofw powers as it flew toward the blue light barrier.
The outermost light barrier shed erratically, and most of it was instantly frozen into ice.
The white lotus flower immediately took advantage of this opportunity to destroy that light barrier.
Everyone else also unleashed their own attacks, breaking through several more light barriers in the blink of an eye.
A derisive sneer appeared on Han Qiu''s face upon seeing this, and with a flick of his wrist, a vast expanse of blue sword qi instantly surged forth, forming a sword mountain that crashed toward the blue light barrier.
The blue light barrier rippled violently once again before shattering momentster, and in the blink of an eye, the six Ancestral Gods had broken through around a dozen light barriers in session.
Even though the Thousandfold Wave Array had a self-regenerative ability, the attacksing from the six Ancestral Gods were too thick and fast for its self-repair ability to keep up.
As more and more light barriers were destroyed, they discovered that the deeper they went, the more resolute the light barriers became, thereby requiring more and more time to break through each light barrier.
This was a rather concerning discovery for them, and they all began unleashing their trump card abilities to attack the light barriers.
Time slowly passed by, and over two hours flew past in the blink of an eye.
At this point, the majority of the dozens of light barriers had already been broken, and there were only around seven or eight left.
However, these remaining light barriers were incredibly strong, and even though they were quivering incessantly in the face of the attacks from Han Qiu and the others, they disyed no signs of breaking at all.
An urgent look had crept into Han Qiu''s eyes, and as he cast his gaze toward Han Li within the array, he was suddenly struck by an inexplicable sense of unease.
All of a sudden, he stopped what he was doing, then flipped a hand over to produce an egg-sized ball that was dark red in color, with red patterns visible on its surface, and it was giving off a peculiar aura.
Chapter 127: Surprise
Chapter 127: Surprise
"Everyone, get back!" Han Qiu yelled.
"That''s Astral Yin Blood Lightning!" Mistress Gu Gu eximed at the sight of the dark red ball, then hurriedly backed away with everyone else.
At the same time, all of the other Ancestral Gods conjured up protective barriers of different colors over their bodies to shield themselves.
The red ball flew out of Han Qiu''s grasp, transforming into a red shadow that crashed violently into the water barrier.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and a ball of scintiting crimson light that was thousands of feet in size appeared.
The enormous ball of light lingered in the air for several seconds before finally fading away.
At this point, several more of the blue water barriers around Han Li had already been destroyed, leaving only one final one left. Despite the wave projections surging incessantly over the surface of the water barrier, Han Li and the avatar seated across from him could already be clearly seen.
The explosion of crimson light had also blown a massive crater into the ground, andrge volumes of red-hot magma were pouring out from down below before erupting in all directions, causing the nearby seawater to instantly bubble and boil.
This had no impact on Han Qiu and the others, and they were able to ward off the magma and the scorching temperatures with ease.
"As expected of Astral Yin Blood Lightning! Fellow Daoist Han, if you have one more of those, we''ll be able to destroy the rest of this array in an instant!" the ck-armored man said in an ecstatic voice.
"I only have one ball of this lightning, and I purchased it for a massive price several centuries ago during the ck Wind Ind auction," Han Qiu harrumphed coldly with a pained look in his eyes.
"We still have plenty of time left. As long as webine all of our efforts, we''ll be able to break through this final barrier in no time!" Mistress Gu Gu said.
However, as soon as her voice trailed off, a long cry rang out from within the blue water barrier.
Blue light erupted from Han Li and his Earthly Deity Avatar in unison, forming an enormous pir of radiance.
All of the water-attribute world''s origin qi in a radius of hundred of kilometers converged toward the scene in a frenzy, forming an enormous vortex of spiritual qi that gushed into the Earthly Deity Avatar''s body, causing the blue light that it was releasing to be brighter and brighter.
Within the blue light, the Earthly Deity Avatar stretched its limbs as if it had just awoken from a long slumber, and its face was just as expressive and full of life as a normal person.
"It''s already done?"
"That''s impossible!"
Han Qiu and the others were astonished by what they were seeing.
Han Li turned toward Han Qiu and the others through the water barrier with an indifferent expression, then shed them a faint smile as he pointed a finger at the water barrier around him.
The final water barrier instantly faded away into countless translucent blue threads, which shot forth toward Han Qiu and the other Ancestral Gods like lightning.
Han Qiu and the others were still in a state of astonishment, and they hurriedly shot back in retreat, no daring to face the oing blue threads head-on.
Right at this moment, blue light shed within the eyes of Han Li''s Earthly Deity Avatar, and it raised its arms up into the air as it let loose a loud roar.
The blue light around it instantly brightened before churning violently like a ferocious wave, and a burst ofws of water surged through the blue radiance in a sh.
All of the seawater in a radius of several hundred kilometers instantly rose up to form an enormous wave that converged toward the Earthly Deity Avatar in a frenzy.
Han Qiu and the others were still rushing back in retreat, and they were caughtpletely off guard as the waves of seawater crashed into their bodies, exerting a burst of tremendous force upon them that slowed them down in their tracks.
However, as Earthly Immortals, they were never going to be impeded by the waves for any extended period of time, and they quickly broke free before continuing to fly back in retreat.
Mistress Gu Gu was the slowest out of everyone to react, and her body was instantly bound by the thin blue threads.
Right as she was about to unleash an ability to struggle free from the threads, they rapidly spread over her body as if they were living creatures, binding her up inyers to form a huge blue cocoon.
In the next instant, Han Li appeared beside the cocoon in a wraith-like manner before throwing a punch with a cold expression.
Even before his fist arrived, a devastating aura swept directly toward the ensnared Mistress Gu Gu.
Despite the predicament that she was in, Mistress Gu Gu didn''t panic at all as she began to chant an incantation.
A ck longsword instantly appeared outside the blue cocoon, then hurtled directly toward Han Li as a massive streak of ck swordlight that was giving off indescribably fearsome sword intent.
Even before the streak of ck swordlight reached Han Li, the terrifying sword intent that it carried had already infiltrated his mind, threatening to tear his soul apart.
Seeing as Han Li had just finished refining his Earthly Deity Avatar, Mistress Gu Gu was confident that his soul had to be in a very feeble state, and she was targeting that perceived weakness.
However, to her surprise, Han Li made no effort to evade the attack. His semi-transparent True Extreme Membrane appeared over his body in a sh, and his fist didn''t slow down in the slightest as it crashed heavily into the blue cocoon as a golden shadow.
A blood-curdling howl rang out from within the cocoon, followed by a dull thump, and the cocoon bulged violently as the howl abruptly cut off.
Almost at the exact same moment, the streak of ck swordlight also struck Han Li''s shoulder with a loud ng.
The True Extreme Membrane on his body shuddered slightly before instantly returning to normal, warding off the fearsome attack. As for the burst of sword intent that the swordlight carried, it vanished into Han Li''s mind without producing any effect, not even triggering the slightest change in his expression.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and by the time Han Qiu and the others returned to their senses and rushed forward to save Mistress Gu Gu, the aura of her Earthly Deity Avatar had alreadypletely disappeared.
Han Li slowly withdrew his arm before releasing an incantation seal with a sweep of his hand, and the thin blue threads parted to reveal a broken Earthly Deity Avatar inside. The avatar was alreadypletely shattered, and the spiritual light on its surface had also faded, making it resemble a cluster of broken rocks.
Han Qiu and the others exchanged a nce upon seeing this, and each of them could see their own shock and wariness mirrored in one another''s eyes.
At the same time, the other four Ancestral Gods were all glowering at Han Qiu with furious expressions.
If they had known that they were going to be dealing with a Profound Immortal who was capable of destroying an Earthly Deity Avatar with just a single punch, then they would''ve nevere here.
With a casual wave of his hand, Han Li stowed Mistress Gu Gu''s storage treasure and that ck longsword away. At the same time, his Earthly Deity Avatar vanished into his body in a sh as a blue shadow.
Only after doing all of that did he slowly sweep his gaze over the remaining Ancestral Gods, ultimately settling his gaze on Han Qiu.
His eyes didn''t seem to bear any malice, but Han Qiu''s heart instantly jolted at the sight of Han Li''s scrutiny, and an intense sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s body blurred, and he vanished on the spot.
"Look out!" Han Qiu yelled with a grim expression.
Immediately thereafter, he began to chant an incantation while sweeping his sleeves through the air, releasing arge plume of white smoke that formed a sea of white mist around him that was several hundred feet in size.
The other four Ancestral Gods were already considering retreat, and they hurriedly summoned their treasures or unleashed secret techniques to protect themselves.
All of a sudden, Han Li appeared above Han Qiu in a wraith-like manner, and one of his arms had already swelled significantly in size. Ayer of golden ape fur had also appeared on the arm, and it was glowing with dazzling golden light.
He let loose a low roar as he thrust his fist through the air, and spatial fluctuations instantly erupted above Han Qiu, following which a rapidly revolving golden vortex appeared.
An enormous golden fist projection flew out of the vortex with devastating power, and as it came crashing down, the white smoke around Han Qiu churned and tumbled violently, looking as if it could crumble away at any moment.
Han Qiu was horrified by this turn of events. This punch was far more powerful than any attack that Han Li had unleashed during their previous sh!
In a fit of desperation, he let loose a wild roar as he hurriedly made a hand seal.
A cial aura instantly erupted out of the white mist, freezing the surrounding seawater into ice. A white mountain of ice that was giving off faintw fluctuations instantly took shape above Han Qiu''s head.
The tip of the mountain was extremely sharp, and it rose up toward the golden fist projection like a giant sword of ice.
The two shed with an earth-shattering boom, and the white mountain of ice shuddered violently before exploding, sending countless chunks of ice flying in all directions.
In contrast, the golden fist projection wasn''t even slowed down in the slightest as it continued to crash down with incredible force.
In this dire situation, a metal shield flew out of Han Qiu''s body, and it was giving off a burst ofw fluctuations as it transformed into a ck light barrier to stop the golden fist projection in its tracks for a brief moment.
The ck light barrier was then instantly shattered, following the same fate as the white ice mountain.
However, Han Qiu was able to take advantage of that brief instant of respite to fly away into the distance as a blue shadow. Unfortunately for him, his left arm was grazed slightly by the fist projection, and it had been destroyed in an instant.
At this moment, Han Qiu''s heart was filled with shock and horror, and he didn''t even dare to take a single backward nce.
Right at this moment, a cold harrumph sounded beside his ears, and he was instantly struck by a burst of excruciating pain in his head, as if someone had driven a red-hot dagger straight into his brain.
He immediately stopped cold in his tracks as he threw his hands over his head and let loose a blood-curdling howl.
In the next instant, Han Li appeared directly in front of him before throwing a vicious punch, and Han Qiu''s Earthly Deity Avatar also followed the same fate as Mistress Gu Gu, shattering into a pile of powder.
The other four Ancestral Gods were horrified to see this. They were already considering retreat, and they didn''t hesitate any longer as they sped away into the distance as four streaks of light.
Han Li watched as the four Ancestral Gods fled the scene, making no effort to pursue them. Instead, he took Han Qiu''s storage tools and treasures in an unhurried manner before inspecting the contents of the former with his spiritual sense.
After fleeing for tens of thousands of kilometers without rest, the four Ancestral Gods finally realized that they weren''t being pursued, and they gradually drew to a halt as they stopped to catch their breath.
"Han Qiu haspletely screwed us over! What was he thinking, inviting us to take on such a powerful enemy?" the yellow-bearded elderly man snapped in a furious voice.
The other three Ancestral Gods were also enraged.
"Judging from that man''s abilities, he seems to be a Profound Immortal. No wonder he was so powerful," the ck-armored man said with a hint of fear in his voice.
The two azure-robed daoist priests'' expressions changed drastically upon hearing this.
They had only be Ancestral Gods a few dozen millennia ago, and they were among the weakest Ancestral Gods in the entire ck Wind Sea, so they were even more horrified to hear this.
"I couldn''t care less about what happens to Han Qiu, but he''s dragged up into this mess with him! I don''t think that man is just going to let things slide and forgive what we did!" the yellow-bearded elderly man said with a concerned expression.
As Ancestral Gods, they were tied to their respective territories, so they couldn''t just run away without suffering a severe loss in power.
This was exactly why all Ancestral Gods and Earthly Immortals were extremely cautious with everything that they did, taking the utmost care not to make enemies that they couldn''t afford to make. On this asion, they were lured in by the benefits promised to them, and they were of the opinion that this was virtually a done deal, which was why they had epted Han Qiu''s invitation, but never did they think that this would be the oue.
The four of them exchanged a series of uneasy nces with one another.
They were only mere Ancestral Gods with no backers, so if Han Li were toe after them in vengeance, they were as good as dead.
Chapter 128: Breaking the Chains (1)
Chapter 128: Breaking the Chains (1)
Han Li opened his eyes, then withdrew his spiritual sense from the storage treasure.
The Soulbirth Flower he had prepared had already reached 100,000 years of age, so the final soul manifestation process waspleted in no more than 15 minutes. Furthermore, the oue was close to perfect, and he was able to control the Earthly Deity Avatar as he pleased.
The reason why he had waited for over two hours was both to fool his opponents, as well as to lure them into expending more of their trump cards. Furthermore, he had expended a great deal of energy refining this Earthly Deity Avatar, and this gave him some time to recover.
Thankfully, he hadn''t decided to reveal himself early. Otherwise, that bolt of Astral Yin Blood Lightning would''ve been nasty to run into.
Now that he had sessfully attained an Earthly Deity Avatar, he had more important things to do, and those four Ancestral Gods were nothing more than small fry, so it didn''t matter that he had allowed them to escape.
With that in mind, Han Li stowed away the array tools on the ground with a wave of his hand, then emerged from the sea before flying toward Dark Veil Ind.
One morning, several dayster.
Basked in the light of the rising sun, it was as if Dark Veil Ind had been ted in ayer of gold, and the entire ind was giving off a soft and warm glow.
Many residents of the ind had already gathered in front of the Ancestral God statues on the ind, and all of them wore solemn and reverent expressions as they sped their hands together in front of their chests in prayer while chanting prayers incessantly.
At this moment, Luo Feng was in his usual azure schrly robe, standing on the za at the center of the ind as he looked up at the renovated Ancestral God statue.
Unlike the ind residents behind him, he didn''t participate in the prayers. Instead, his hands were hanging down by his sides, and he seemed to have fallen into deep thought.
Right at this moment, a streak of light suddenly shed past above everyone, arriving at an incredible speed from afar beforending beside Luo Feng.
"Senior Liu!" Luo Feng greeted in a loud voice as he extended a deep bow toward the new arrival.
That person was naturally none other than Han Li, who had just returned to Dark Veil Ind after sessfully refining his Earthly Deity Avatar.
All of the residents of Dark Veil Ind hurriedly ceased their prayers and turned to Han Li before extending respectful bows.
"Come with me," Han Li instructed in an indifferent voice, then flew up into the air again, traveling toward the courtyard that he was staying in.
Luo Feng faltered slightly upon hearing this, then also immediately followed along as a streak of light.
The two of themnded one after another in the open-air area of the courtyard, and Han Li sat down beside the stone table before waving a hand at Luo Feng, indicating for him to take a seat as well.
"Chief Luo, there''s something that I''ve been keeping from you this entire time, but there''s no need for me to keep the secret any longer. Truth be told, Ancestral God Luo Meng of your Dark Veil Ind has already been dead for over 1,000 years."
Luo Feng''splexion paled slightly upon hearing this, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he replied, "Senior Liu, I had already roughly guessed that this was the case, and the other elders on the ind are aware of this as well, but we''ve all made an unspoken agreement not to speak about this as we didn''t want to spark a panic among the ind''s residents.
¡°We''ll be counting on you for the continued protection of our ind, Senior Liu. Words cannot begin to express my gratitude to you."
"You don''t have to worry about that. I made a promise to you, and I intend to see it through. At this point, I''ve already sessfully refined an Earthly Deity Avatar and found a high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation method. Now, I need you to erect deity statues of myself on the ind so I can begin to gather the power of faith," Han Li said with an indifferent expression.
Luo Feng was slightly taken aback to hear this, but he then quickly cupped his hand in a salute as he replied, "Rest assured, Senior Liu, I''ll get that arranged as soon as possible."
"Here are some treasures and scriptures for you to use on nurturing the brightest talents on the ind. Their growth will be the key to Dark Veil Ind''s future prosperity."
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and a storage bracelet flew through the air before arriving in front of Luo Feng.
Luo Feng caught the bracelet, and after only a brief inspection of its contents, a stunned look appeared on his face. The quantity and the value of the items in the storage bracelet far exceeded his imagination.
In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that just the scriptures, treasures, pills, and materials contained within this storage bracelet alone already far exceeded everything that had been umted on the ind over the past tens of thousands of years.
Unbeknownst to him, this was only a small portion of the spoils that Han Li had obtained from his prior trip to Red Moon Ind. The life savings of any True Immortal, even if they were merely a vagrant immortal, was nothing to be scoffed at.
Luo Feng held the storage bracelet with both hands, and his body was trembling uncontrobly as he knelt down and kowtowed onto the ground. "Senior Liu, our Dark Veil Ind will eternally remember what you''ve done for us."
"There''s no need for such formalities. From this point onward, I''m going to go into seclusion for a while, so don''te to find me unless something urgentes up," Han Li said with a wave of his hand.
"Yes, Senior Liu," Luo Feng replied in a solemn voice, then departed from the courtyard.
Half a monthter, all of the original deity statues on Dark Veil Ind were removed and reced by new statues, which were erected all over the ind in a higher concentration.
The newly constructed deity statues still bore a slight resemnce to the former deity statues, but they represented a different person.
Every morning and night,rge numbers of ind residents would gather beneath Han Li''s statues and pray, just as they had always done in the past.
On this night, a resounding boom suddenly rang out in the sky above Dark Veil Ind, and a vast expanse of dazzling silver radiance cascaded straight down from the night sky before surging into the courtyard that Han Li was staying in like a falling gxy.
There were seven or eight huge silver gs standing around the courtyard, and all of them began to glow brightly before quickly being enveloped in ayer of dense silver mist.
At this moment, the azure-robed Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in an empty area in his courtyard, and his Earthly Deity Avatar was also seated across from him with a solemn look on its face.
"Let''s begin," Han Li dered.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately closed his eyes, and his spiritual sense descended into his dantian.
Inside his dantian, the golden nascent soul''s eyes were still tightly shut, but there was no pain etched on its face.
Furthermore, it was enveloped in ayer of shimmering translucent light, and that was the spiritual sense that Han Li had left behind to conceal the ck chains.
The translucent light around the nascent soul instantly brightened significantly at his behest, then surged back into his consciousness like flowing water.
Immediately thereafter, ck light shed over the body of his nascent soul, and the nine inky-ck chains emerged, while a vast expanse of ck mist rose up around them.
Meanwhile, the entire courtyard was basked in radiant starlight, and seven balls of dazzling blue light also appeared on Han Li''s chest and abdomen. The Earthly Deity Avatar seated across from him immediately made a hand seal upon seeing this, then pointed a finger at his dantian.
As it did so, Han Li felt a burst of heat rise up within his dantian, and a surge of vast and warm magic power immediately flowed forth like a mighty river to wash through his entire body.
At the same time, the starpower within his body began to rapidly circte, transforming into countless thin silver threads that surged through his limbs and his meridians.
As Han Li made a series of hand seals, the two bursts of power finally gathered in his dantian without any obstacle, then transformed into thin threads of bright silver light that plunged straight toward his nascent soul.
In contrast withst time, both the number of silver threads and the power of the aura imbued within them exceeded the previous batch by over a hundredfold.
In fact, Han Li could sense traces of power ofws that hadn''t been present previously in this aura.
A resounding boom rang out like a rumbling thunderp in Han Li''s dantian, and the converging threads of silver light instantly surged into the vast expanse of dense ck mist with unstoppable force, much like a mighty army of cavaliers.
Immediately thereafter, a loud string of cracks and pops rang out within Han Li''s dantian, and the ck mist waspletely torn apart, quickly dissipating to reveal the ck chains concealed within.
The threads of silver light showed no signs of stopping there, and they continued to converge toward the ck chains.
This time, Han Li didn''t try to hurry the process by distributing the threads of light onto all of the chains at once. Instead, he selected one of them and directed all of the threads of light to wrap around that single chain.
A burst of loud sizzling akin to the sound of red-hot metal being cooled in water rang out, and plumes of ck smoke immediately began to rise up from the ck chain. The chain began to tremble violently, and the ck light glowing from its surface rapidly faded.
At the same time, countless tiny ck runes also emerged from the ck chain, trying to replenish the ck light that was being rapidly whittled down.
All of the threads of silver light were enveloped in ayer of watery blue light that was giving offw fluctuations, and this blue light was fusing with the ck runes to significantly hamper the restoration effect that the runes had on the chain. As a result, the rate at which the chain was recovering was nowhere near as fast asst time.
Han Li immediately activated his Spirit Refinement Technique upon seeing this, and the vast spiritual sense in his consciousness instantly transformed into translucent threads of spiritual sense that surged into his dantian in the blink of an eye.
The translucent threads of spiritual sense intertwined with one another at his behest to form a giant ax, which sprang up before crashing down upon the ck chain.
If the threads of silver light from before could bepared with an army of cavaliers, then this ax of spiritual sense would be akin to a unit of heavy infantry, charging through the opening created by the cavaliers to deal the enemy a lethal blow.
A sharp ng rang out, and the ck chain shuddered violently, while the ax of spiritual sense was sent flying back.
The ng ringing out from the sh was extremely prative, and even though it had originated in Han Li''s dantian, it was able to resonate all the way to his consciousness, striking him with a burst of sharp pain.
However, the entirety of his attention was focused on the chain in his dantian, and he couldn''t afford to get distracted.
A clear chip had appeared on the chain at the spot where it had just been struck by the ax, and Han Li was instilled with an immense sense of confidence upon seeing this.
He paid no heed to the sharp pain spearing through his consciousness as he continued to hack away at the chain with the ax.
One strike, two strikes, three strikes...
As the seventh strike was dealt, a dull thump rang out, and the ck chain snapped in half before disintegrating into ck light.
However, instead of dissipating into nothingness, the ck light surged into the remaining eight chains, vanishing into them in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, the eight chains lit up in unison, and the number of ck runes on their surfaces instantly increased, while the ck light glowing from them also became denser and more substantial.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which a wry smile appeared on his face.
If every single one of these chains was going to fuse with the other chains after being snapped, then that meant that each subsequent chain would be more difficult to sever than the previous one.
Chapter 129: Breaking the Chains (2)
Chapter 129: Breaking the Chains (2)
Right as the first chain around Han Li''s nascent soul was destroyed, the thin and withered man seated on the huge ck chair in the underground pce countless kilometers away from the ck Wind Sea suddenly stirred slightly. His eyelids then slowly peeled back to reveal a pair of murky eyes that appeared as if they were affected by cataracts.
At the same time, all of the dark azure chains in the entire underground pce around him immediately rose up from the ground as if they were weightless feathers, and they began to tremble and screech incessantly.
A contemtive look appeared on the man''s face, but that was quickly reced by a cold smile, and he slowly closed his eyes again without doing anything further.
All of the chains in the pce quietly descended onto the ground again, and peace and quiet were restored.
¡¡
In the small courtyard on Dark Veil Ind, Han Li''s eyes were tightly shut, and he was focusing all of his attention on directing the threads of silver light toward the second ck chain.
Right at this moment, his brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and something resonated within his consciousness.
He had a vague feeling that by severing the first chain, he seemed to have alerted a certain terrifying being on the other end of the chain.
This immediately struck him with a sense of anxiety, and he was very concerned that a new chain would appear in his dantian out of nowhere likest time.
Thankfully, even after a long while had passed, no new chains appeared, and he was quite relieved as he returned his attention to the second chain.
The silver threads of light formed by his magic power and starpowertched onto the second chain one after another, quickly enveloping the entire chain.
Just likest time, ck smoke immediately began to rise up from the surface of the chain, while the ck light radiating from it rapidly receded.
However,pared withst time, the rate at which the ck light was receding was clearly slower, and at the same time, Han Li''s threads of silver light were also being whittled down at a faster rate.
As a result, progress was significantly slower.
¡¡
One night, several dayster, the pir of silver light in the courtyard disintegrated into specks of silver light amid a resounding boom.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes as he cast his gaze toward the Earthly Deity Avatar seated across from him, and a hint of exhaustion shed through his eyes.
During these past few days of tireless toil, arge number of the ck runes on the second chain had been erased, and in the end, he was able to snap it with several dozen strikes of his spiritual sense ax.
However, following this ordeal, what little magic power that Han Li had in his body and the magic power that had been converted from the power of faith by his Earthly Deity Avatar had all been exhausted, so he was forced to temporarily stop what he was doing.
"Looks like I''m in it for the long haul," Han Li sighed to himself, then flipped a hand over to produce a pill, which he devoured before closing his eyes to meditate.
Meanwhile, his Earthly Deity Avatar was seated beside him with a cid expression, and its entire body was glowing with blue radiance as it absorbed the power of faith being transmitted to it from the deity statues all over Dark Veil Ind.
¡¡
Meanwhile, in the Driftcloud Realm.
High up in the sky, there were countless massive clouds of different shapes and forms scattering and gathering haphazardly with the blowing of the wind.
As the sun continued to travel across the sky, the angle at which the sunlight was cascading down was constantly changing, and as a result, the colors of the clouds were also changing, taking on all of the colors of the rainbow.
Beneath a huge cloud that resembled a five-colored phoenix was a lush mountain range that stretched for over 1,000 kilometers in length. The meandering mountain range resembled a hibernating wyrm, presenting a formidable sight to behold.
At the very center of the mountain range was a lone mountain that was over 10,000 feet tall, towering far above the other mountains around it.
The entire bottom half of the mountain was covered in lush greenery, while the nts on the mountain summit, which reached all the way up into the clouds, were more sparse, and there were exposed bs of white rock everywhere.
A spacious white za had been constructed on the mountain summit, and near the cliff at the rear of the za stood a majestic golden pce.
At this moment, there were several dozen cultivators dressed in all types of different attire gathered in the pce, resembling officials of mortal empires as they stood on either side of the pce with respectful expressions.
There were people of both genders and a wide range of different ages and appearances among these cultivators, but every single one of them was at the Grand Ascension Stage, with no exceptions.
At this moment, the main seat at the center of the pce was upied by a young man dressed in a tight-fitting ck robe. He appeared to be no more than 20 to 30 years of age, and he was very handsome, with a pair of sharp and piercing eyes. This young man was none other than Fang Pan, who had been sent to the Driftcloud Realm to quell the beast tide.
Among the Grand Ascension cultivators, an elderly man in a gray daoist robe stepped forward, then informed Fang Pan in a respectful voice, "Immortal Envoy Fang, thanks to thebined efforts of the Immortal Revtion Sect, the Eminent me Sect, and many other cultivation sects on the Eastern Stream Continent and the Western River Continent, the beast tide on those two continents have already beenpletely suppressed. I''m sure it won''t take long before the beast tide ispletely quelled."
Everyone in the pce was full of awe and veneration toward this immortal envoy who hade from the Immortal Realm, not just because he possessed unfathomable power, but also because of his excessive brutality.
Upon arriving in the Driftcloud Realm, he immediately announced a series of countermeasures to be adopted against the beast tide, and not only had he instructed all of the sects to strictly follow these measures, he had personally overseen their implementation.
Several of the elders from major sects had been killed for not carrying out his instructions with a satisfactory level of efficiency, but none of the cultivators in the pce dared to harbor even the slightest resentment toward the immortal envoy.
Of course, part of this was because they didn''t dare to harbor such feelings, but another reason for this was that he had been extremely diligent in dealing with the beast tide, even more so than the people of the Driftcloud Realm themselves.
On many asions, they had witnessed him charging into the beast tide on his own to y the most fearsome queen beasts concealed within.
After hearing this report, Fang Pan gave a slight nod, and he was just about to say something when a burst of yellow light suddenly lit up on his waist, apanied by an urgent buzzing sound.
His expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he pulled out a circrmunication te before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
Momentster, his expression began to darken slightly, and in the end, he was looking absolutely livid.
All of the cultivators in the hall were extremely anxious to see this, and they didn''t even dare to breathe too loudly for fear of drawing attention to themselves.
After stowing themunication te away, Fang Pan turned to everyone in the hall and dered, "All of you, set off at once. Order all of the sects to deploy all of their cultivators and eradicate the remnants of the beast tide on the two continents as soon as possible. Anyone who dares to go against this order will be executed on the spot!"
Everyone was stunned to hear this, but they didn''t dare to raise any objections, and all of them epted the order before departing from the pce.
It didn''t take long before Fang Pan was the only one left in the pce.
He flipped a hand over to produce a semi-transparent white jade vial, which he held up in front of his own eyes. Looking at the drop of golden blood essence that was slowly sliding along the wall of the vial, he murmured to himself, "So what if you can break the Origin Separation Law Chains?
¡°Now that you''ve returned to the Immortal Realm, I''ll be able to use this drop of blood essence to track down your exact location. Once I''m finished with this matter, I''ll return to the Immortal Realm and deal with you myself! This time, you won''t be getting away..."
A sinister look appeared on his face as he spoke, and his eyes were filled with cold killing intent.
¡¡
Time continued to pass by, and an entire year flew past in the blink of an eye.
During this year, a silver pir of light could be seen shining down from the night sky on Dark Veil Ind virtually every night, and strange sounds were also frequently heard all over the ind.
All of the ind''s residents knew that this was because the Ancestral God protecting their ind was cultivating in seclusion.
Initially, they were rather disgruntled by this, but over time, they gradually grew ustomed to themotion, and at this point, they were finding it difficult to sleep at night without the usualmotion.
However, on this night, the disturbance on the ind was far more severe than normal, and the entire ind was trembling incessantly. Even the sea around the ind was being affected, resulting in the formation of countless giant waves.
Many of the ind''s residents were unable to sleep, so they gathered in front of the deity statues all over the ind to offer up their earnest prayers.
At this moment, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in that small courtyard at the center of the ind. His entire body was basked in bright starlight, and his eyes were tightly shut with a solemn look on his face.
His Earthly Deity Avatar was seated across from him, and watery blue light was glowing around its entire body. It was converting the power of faith in its body into magic power, which it was constantly injecting into Han Li''s body.
At this moment, Han Li''s dantian waspletely filled with glowing white starpower, and his golden nascent soul was hovering within the white radiance.
At this point, eight of the ck chains protruding out of its body had already disappeared, and there was only a single chain left. It was extending out of the nascent soul''s lower abdomen, and it was a virtually substantial chain of a dark azure color.
This chain was the final chain that remained in the wake of the destruction of the eight other chains.
Thanks to thebination of the array and Han Li''s starpower and magic power, Han Li was able to whittle down the ck light glowing from the chain, and after over three months of toil, the ck light was finally eradicated to reveal the chain within.
A translucent ax formed by spiritual sense appeared in Han Li''s dantian at his behest, then rose up before crashing heavily down onto the final chain.
A resounding boom akin to a rumbling thunderp rang out within Han Li''s dantian, and the ax of spiritual sense was flung back before disintegrating into specks of translucent light, while the chain remainedpletely unharmed, with not even the slightest scratch on its surface.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, and it seemed that he had already anticipated this.
All of a sudden, he let loose a low cry, and all of the magic power in his body immediately surged forth, gathering all of the starpower in his dantian to form a glowing silver hand, which grabbed onto the chain.
At the same time, his consciousness began to churn violently under the effects of the Spirit Refinement Technique, and immense spiritual sense surged into his dantian, forming a giant translucent hand that also grabbed onto the chain.
After the two hands closed themselves tightly around the chain, both of them pulled back vigorously at Han Li''s behest.
The ck chain was instantly stretched taut amid a loud ng, and a burst of sharp pain speared through the nascent soul''s body.
Han Li gritted his teeth tightly as he injected more and more of his spiritual sense into his dantian, and at the same time, the two giant hands continued to tug on the chain with all their might.
The ck chain was nging and groaning incessantly, but it showed no signs ofing loose.
Chapter 130: Familiar
Chapter 130: Familiar
Right at this moment, a burst of azure light suddenly appeared on the dark azure chain, and a series of tiny dark azure runes emerged, releasing a burst of strangew fluctuations.
At the same time, Han Li felt a burst of strong suction force act upon the pair of translucent hands that were manifested from his spiritual sense, and both his magic power and spiritual sense began to quickly seep out, as if they were being drawn into the chains before being sealed away.
His eyes immediately sprang open as a hint of rm on his face, and his Earthly Deity Avatar switched to a different hand seal at his behest before pointing both of its index fingers at his dantian.
A burst of water-attribute power ofws instantly flowed into his dantian, forming a blue light barrier that closed in on the dark azure chain beforepletely enveloping it.
The runes on the surface of the chain were instantly isted within the blue light barrier, and the peculiar fluctuations that it was releasing also began to wane.
Right at this moment, a burst of light shed within Han Li''s eyes, following which a series of animalistic cries rang out from within his body.
Immediately thereafter, several balls of golden light erupted out of his body, then transformed into a series of palm-sized projections that included an ape, a phoenix, a Lightning Bird, and a peacock, among others. The projections circled around Han Li momentarily, then flew into his dantian in a sh.
After flying into his dantian, the projections instantly elongated to form a series of glowing hands that grabbed tightly onto the dark azure chain.
"Get out!"
Han Li let loose a low roar through gritted teeth as he endured the excruciating pain shooting through his nascent soul, and all of the hands in his dantian glowed brightly as they tugged on the chain with all their might in unison.
A string of loud ngs rang out incessantly as the runes on the dark azure chain finally began to explode one after another in the face of the tremendous pulling force being exerted upon it, and the chain itself was slowly and agonizingly dragged out of his nascent soul.
As soon as the chain was pulled out of Han Li''s nascent soul, it immediately began to writhe and struggle violently like a living creature, doing everything in its power to re-enter the nascent soul.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as dazzling light shed from the hands locked around the chain in his dantian, and they reverted back into their true spirit projection forms before grabbing onto the chain with their ws, paws, talons, and jaws, then forcibly dragged the chain out of his lower abdomen.
After emerging from Han Li''s body, the chain was revealed to be around as thick as an infant''s arm, and it was only roughly 10 feet in length. Most of the dark runes on its surface had already faded, but it was still giving off faintw fluctuations incessantly.
Han Li immediately flipped a hand over to produce a white jade box that he had prepared in advance, then grabbed the chain before cing it into the box.
A crisp snap then rang out as the lid of the box was ced tightly over it.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li pulled out a silver talisman before stering it onto the box.
A burst of gentle silver light shed from the talisman to envelop the entire jade box, and the aura of the chain within the box waspletely contained, severing its connection with the outside world in its entirety.
Only after doing all of that did Han Li heave a long sigh of relief, and he beckoned toward the true spirit projections circling around him, upon which they immediately flew into his body and disappeared.
Right at this moment, a surge of warmth appeared in Han Li''s dantian. It wasn''t very intense, but it carried an indescribable sense of familiarity.
He faltered slightly upon feeling this sensation, then directed his spiritual sense back into his dantian to discover that the golden nascent soul inside had finally awakened from its slumber, and it was inspecting its surroundings with wide eyes.
The golden light radiating from its body was slightly dim, indicating that it seemed to have also been severely damaged during the process that had just taken ce.
Furthermore, a series of wave-like azure ripples had appeared beneath it, looking much like water sshing out of a fountain.
Han Li knew that this was the magic power that he had been deprived of for the past several centuries!
The influx of magic power seemed to be quite gentle and feeble, but it wasn''t going to take long before his entire dantian was filled.
With the seal on his nascent soul removed, an enormous weight had been lifted from Han Li''s shoulders. He slowly opened his eyes as he looked up at the sky, and an ted smile appeared on his face to reflect the emotions in his heart.
Several days passed by in a sh, and therge silver gs around the courtyard had already been withdrawn but Han Li still remained inside.
One day at around noon, a streak of light suddenly sped up into the sky, reaching an incredible altitude in no more than the blink of an eye. The streak of light was so fast that many people on the ind caught a glimpse of it, but no one was able to see it clearly.
The streak of light flew over to an uninhabited part of the sea that was quite far away from Dark Veil Ind, then faded to reveal none other than Han Li.
At this moment, his robes were pping audibly in the wind, and he was giving off an astonishingly powerful aura, having already recovered his early-True Immortal Stage cultivation base.
He had thought that the surge of warmth flowing back into his dantian was his magic power returning to him, but only on this day, after the process had concluded, did hee to realize that his dantian was actually filled with immortal spiritual power rather than magic power.
He was ecstatic at this discovery, and he came all the way here with the intention of testing out his powers.
He let loose a joyful cry as silver light shed all over his body, and a burst of dazzling lightning erupted forth in all directions, epassing the entire surrounding area in a radius of several thousand feet.
Countless arcs of silver lightning were shing incessantly through the air while springing erratically over the surface of the sea, and some were even shooting into the water from thousands of feet up in the sky.
A series of massive waves that were hundreds of feet tall were instantly swept up over the surface of the sea as if the water had been brought to a boil.
Han Li then suddenly removed the Heaven Controlling Vial from around his neck before tossing it through the air, and it began to glow with dazzling green light, then abruptly vanished into the thin air after revolving on the spot for a brief moment.
In the next instant, gusts of fierce wind suddenly began to sweep over the surface of the sea, and a series of five-colored spirit clouds appeared.
The sound of rumbling thunderps rang out despite the clear skies, and a massive vial opening that threatened to swallow up the heavens emerged from the spirit clouds like a wyrm rearing its head, then trembled slightly before releasing a torrent of countless dark green runes.
In the instant that the runes surged out of the opening of the vial, they immediately transformed into clouds of azure mist that exploded one after another.
A burst of extremely powerfulw fluctuations instantly epassed the entire area, following which more thunderous rumbling rang out.
The entire space shuddered slightly, and all of the air within a radius of several thousand feet tightened at once as countless arcs of silver lightning rapidly contracted, converging toward the five-colored spirit clouds.
Immediately thereafter, the waves that were rising up from the surface of the sea became even taller, forming enormous pirs of seawater that resembled soaring wyrms as they rose up into the sky in a twisting fashion.
However, regardless of whether it was the lightning or the seawater, all of it would instantly be reduced to powder upon reaching within 10,000 feet of the vial opening before being sucked away by a burst of invisible suction force.
Within mere moments, all of the silver lightning in the sky had beenpletely sucked in, leaving only the hundreds of enormous pirs of seawater still rising up incessantly toward the heavens.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
All of a sudden, he raised a hand, and all of the five-colored spirit clouds in the sky began to blur before gradually fading away, leaving only a small green vial that slowly descended from the heavens.
At the same time, the seawater that had already risen into the sky instantly scattered, having lost the force that had drawn them up there in the first ce, and as the vast volumes of seawater came crashing down, more enormous waves were swept up over the surface of the sea.
After withdrawing the Heaven Controlling Vial, Han Li gently stroked the patterns on its surface with his fingers, and judging from his expression, he seemed to have fallen into deep thought.
Only after a long while did a peculiar look appear on his face as he murmured to himself, "Now that I already possess immortal spiritual power, I should give that a try. Perhaps I''ll be able to recover some of my lost memories."
With that, a surge of warmth instantly rose up within his dantian, and immortal spiritual power flowed through the meridians in his body before quickly gushing into the Heaven Controlling Vial through the palm of his hand.
A burst of dark green light instantly lit up from his palm, and initially, it was rather dim, but it quickly brightened.
As the light radiating from the small vial gradually brightened, it also began to tremble violently.
Momentster, the burst of light had already spread through the air like a scintiting green sun, illuminating most of the surrounding sea with bright green radiance.
As the light grew brighter and brighter, the tremors also grew more and more intense, as if the vial were trying to fly out of Han Li''s grasp.
Right as Han Li was on the verge of losing his grip on the vial, a burst of green light suddenly shed from its opening, following which it released a vast expanse of dark green runes.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he instantly directed his attention toward the runes.
As it turned out, these runes were an incantationposed from golden seal text, [1] and they were hovering within the green light as if they had been carved out of jade, giving off a peculiar aura.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face as he read the passage of golden seal text, following which he suddenly began to chuckle with amusement as he murmured to himself, "Looks like I already tried something simr to this before I lost my memories."
After that, he stroked a finger over the surface of the vial, and all of the dark green runes instantly flowed back into the vial as a burst of azure qi.
Han Li then tossed the vial high up into the air before chanting the incantation that he had just read.
At the same time, he pointed a finger up at the opening of the vial, continuing to inject immortal spiritual power into it.
As the mysterious incantation rang out, all of the world''s origin qi in the surrounding area seemed to have been mobilized, and it began to ripple and resonate with the incantation in a strange fashion.
A peculiar azure light barrier that resembled a constantly expanding ball of azure light slowly swelled in all directions, epassing an area with a radius of several hundred kilometers and isting it from the outside world.
Right at this moment, a burst of blue light suddenly appeared on Han Li''s body, and a humanoid figure emerged involuntarily beside him. It was none other than his Earthly Deity Avatar.
Blue light was shing above its head, within which were a series of extremely thin blue threads that were releasing clearw fluctuations.
1. For more information on golden seal text, please refer to RMJI Chapter 1167: Revisiting a Familiar ce. ?
Chapter 131: Crystallization of the Spirit Liquid
Chapter 131: Crystallization of the Spirit Liquid
Han Li watched the peculiar changes taking ce in the avatar across from him, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
Immediately thereafter, his attention turned to the small vial, which was hovering high up in the air, and he noticed that a drop of shimmering green spirit liquid was slowly flowing out from within.
As soon as the drop of spirit liquid dropped out of the vial, it was suspended in mid-air by a burst of inexplicable force, preventing it from falling any further.
Momentster, silver light suddenly shed from the surface of the small vial, following which a pair of ck lines emerged. The pair of lines then abruptly split open to reveal a pair of round eyes, which were no different in shape from the eyes of a person, but the pupils were a silver color.
As soon as the pair of eyes appeared, they immediately took a nce in Han Li''s direction, following which two bursts of silver light were released from within to envelop the drop of spirit liquid.
In the next instant, a mouth suddenly appeared beneath the eyes on the vial as well, and a semi-transparent ball of fire erupted out from within to envelop the drop of spirit liquid as well.
Right at this moment, a burst of dull rumbling akin to a thunderp rang out, apanied by a burst of subtle fluctuations that were barely visible to the naked eye.
Han Li quickly inspected his surroundings, following which his pupils immediately contracted slightly.
As it turned out, the sea down below had also been affected by that burst of peculiar fluctuations, and the huge waves that were swept up by the gusts of ferocious wind were allpletely pulverized by that burst of fluctuations, stirring upyers uponyers of white foam.
At the same time, fierce winds were howling incessantly, and rays of light that were imbued with the world''s origin qi suddenly appeared out of thin air, then began to converge toward Han Li like schools of semi-transparent fish.
In the beginning, there were several hundred of these rays of light, but their numbers rapidly increased to the thousands, then to the tens of thousands as they continued to converge from all directions.
After just mere moments, Han Li found himself unable to discern the individual rays of light anymore as there were simply far too many of them. They were stacking up on top of one another,pressing each other to form a continuous band of light as they surged rapidly toward the drop of spirit liquid suspended in mid-air.
As more and more of the light appeared and they began to travel faster and faster, an enormous vortex formed by the world''s origin qi appeared. The vortex was several hundred kilometers in diameter, and it stood above the sea like an enormous spiraling pagoda that connected heaven and earth.
The sky was originally bright and clear, but a massive cloud that extended for hundreds of kilometers quickly took shape, epassing a vast section of the sea beneath it.
Simultaneously, all of the world''s origin qi within a radius of thousands of kilometers became extremely erratic, churning like boiling water as they converged toward the area that Han Li was situated in in a frenzy.
Even the inds situated tens of thousands of kilometers away were affected by these phenomena, and the cultivators on the ind were greatly rmed. Hundreds and thousands of figures flew out of their inds one after another before turning their eyes collectively in the direction that Han Li was situated, and there were several True Immortal cultivators hovering in the air in front of the azure light screen several hundred kilometers away from Han Li.
All of the True Immortals seemed to have been familiar with one another, and they were all exchanging nces with apprehension and befuddlement in their eyes.
They had thought that some type of powerful treasure had just emerged, so they had rushed here from their respective inds in anticipation and excitement, but upon their arrival, they quickly realized that they seemed to have been mistaken.
A handsome young man in a pristine white robe turned to an elderly man beside him as he said, "Fellow Daoist Qin, you''ve always possessed the most powerful spiritual sense out of all of us, and you were the first one to get here. Do you know exactly what''s happened here?"
"This light barrier before us keeps out all spiritual sense, so I''m unable to detect what''s happening inside. However, judging from the looks of it, it seems like someone is refining a powerful treasure here," the elderly man replied with a shake of his head.
"Have any of you considered the possibility that it could be someone refining an Earthly Deity Avatar?" a red-robed man with a rather effeminate appearance spected with narrowed eyes.
"I don''t think that''s the case. I think Fellow Daoist Qin''s theory is more likely."
"I agree."
"What''s the point in making these empty spections? Let''s just go in and find out what''s happening! If we join forces, surely there''s nothing for us to fear," a hideous dark-skinned man suggested.
Despite the urgent tone of his voice, he hadn''t moved in the slightest.
A cold smile appeared on the elderly man''s face upon seeing this, and he said, "A being capable of setting up a spiritual sense obstructing restriction like this is not someone I can afford to mess with. If you want to know what''s happening, you can feel free to go in, but I won''t be apanying you."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately sped away as a streak of light.
The remaining few True Immortal exchanged a few nces with one another, and all of them were looking rather awkward. They were all sly old foxes that had lived for countless years, and none of them were willing to take the risk to infiltrate the restriction first.
With the departure of the elderly man, they quickly lost interest in staying any longer, so after exchanging some small talk, they flew back to their respective inds.
Given the situation here, it was most likely the case that no powerful treasure had emerged, and if the elderly man''s theory were correct and there really was an extremely powerful senior refining a treasure here, then there was a chance that they would turn on any bystanders in the area once they were done refining their treasure.
As long as they departed of their own ord before that seniorpleted the refinement of their treasure, there was nothing for them to fear.
Han Li was naturallypletely oblivious to what these True Immortals were thinking. In fact, he was far too preupied with other matters to even consider such a thing.
Just now, the vast vortex of origin qi had abruptly copsed inward to form a massive pir of light that extended straight up into the heavens, and the clouds in the sky were also swirling incessantly around the pir of light in a frenzy.
Right at this moment, ayer of hazy azure light suddenly appeared around Han Li, and before he had a chance to figure out what was happening, the immortal spiritual power in his body began to spill out like a turbulent wave under a burst of immense suction force, then surged directly toward the drop of spirit liquid that was enveloped in silver light.
This was naturally a very rming turn of events, and Han Li immediately raised a hand to make a series of hand seals, causing the azure light around him to tremble slightly while the leakage of immortal spiritual power from his body was slowed.
At the same time, ayer of azure light also appeared around the Earthly Deity Avatar, and the magic power in its body that was converted from the power of faith was almostpletely sapped away in the span of just a few seconds.
With a wave of his hand, Han Li stowed the avatar away, but that wasn''t the end of his troubles.
Even though he was doing everything in his power to hold back his immortal spiritual power, it was still constantly flowing out of his body, except at a far slower rate than before.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he flipped a hand over to produce several pills, all of which he devoured at once.
As the spiritual power within the pills was converted into immortal spiritual power in his body, the sense of emptiness in Han Li''s dantian finally abated slightly.
He raised his head to look up at the drop of dark green spirit liquid in the air, and aplex look appeared in his eyes.
Five whole days passed by, but the phenomenon taking ce around Han Li hadn''t changed in the slightest. Situated right in the eye of the storm, Han Li was struggling immensely.
If someone familiar with him were to see the state that he was currently in, they would''ve most likely been given a massive fright.
At this moment, Han Li had a pair of sunken eyes, skin with a waxy yellowplexion, and there was even ayer of dry dead skin on his lips. It seemed that his essence and energy were both severely depleted, and only his eyes remained as bright as ever.
The reason for this was that the immortal spiritual power in his body had been constantly seeping out over the course of the past few days, and at this point, the supply was alreadypletely exhausted, along with arge chunk of the stash of high-grade pills that he had umted.
At this point, he discovered that taking further pills only had an infinitesimal effect on his immortal spiritual power recovery, and he wasn''t going to be able tost much longer at this rate.
However, for some reason, there was a voice in his heart telling him that as long as he persevered, he was going to reap a tremendous reward in the end.
Han Li took a deep breath as he stowed away the several pills that he had summoned back into his storage treasure. He then gritted his teeth and made a strange hand seal, and his dried and cracked lips parted slightly as he began to chant an incantation.
As he did this, theplexion of his skin suddenly began to improve, and his sunken eyes also returned to normal.
He resembled an old tree that was on the brink of death abruptly being rejuvenated by a bout of heavy rainfall.
Unfortunately, this was a secret technique that allowed one to regain their vitality and increase the amount of immortal spiritual power in their body, but at the cost of burning through blood essence, and the price that he was incurring for using this secret technique was far beyond what the average person could imagine.
¡¡
Another three days and three nights passed by in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, the azure ball of light that epassed a vast area around Han Li began to rapidly shrink without any warning. After no more than 20 seconds, it had already shrunk down to a radius of only around 10 feet, and that drop of spirit liquid, which had already turned virtuallypletely translucent, was enveloped within it.
Within this small area, a vast volume of extremely dense world''s origin qi was still surging toward the drop of spirit liquid at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out, and the azure light barrier shrank once again. As it did so, even more world''s origin qi waspressed to the extreme and forced into the drop of spirit liquid.
The drop of spirit liquid that was hovering in mid-air instantly solidified, transforming into a semi-transparent crystal that fell out of the air.
At the same time, a dry and withered hand suddenly shot out to catch the crystal.
The owner of the hand was naturally none other than Han Li, and following the ordeal that he had just endured, he had be unrecognizably emaciated, looking like nothing more than a sack of skin and bones. His robes were draping down all around his body, making him resemble a clothes rack that the azure robe was hanging from.
Even though he was in terrible shape, there was a smile on his face, and there was a look of utter exhaustion in his eyes, but they were still shining as bright as ever.
He raised his head to look up at the small vial, which was still hovering in mid-air, only to find that its original dark green color had faded, and the mouth and that pair of eyes had also vanished. Furthermore, it was looking rather blurry and indistinct, almost impossible to see clearly.
He was rather surprised to see this, but he wasn''t concerned as a vague sense of familiarity had surfaced in his mind, and he was confident that the vial would return to normal after absorbing moonlight for a few days.
Chapter 132: Heavy Water
Chapter 132: Heavy Water
After stowing the small vial away, Han Li began to carefully inspect the crystal in his hand.
The crystal also struck him with a sense of familiarity, but he couldn''t recall how to use it.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and he closed his eyes, following which a translucent thread shot out of his be before wrapping itself around the crystal.
Momentster, his eyes abruptly sprang open, and a bemused look appeared on his face.
"How did this happen?" Han Li murmured to himself.
Through his spiritual sense, he discovered that this crystal was a spirit material that contained a type ofw powers, which was identical to the type ofw powers imbued within the eyeball of that one-eyed giant.
However, thew powers imbued within this crystal weren''t even a tenth as potent as what was in that eyeball.
Given the small vial¡¯s various abilities and the series of phenomena that had taken ce earlier, Han Li was able to conclude with rtive confidence that this wasn''t some type of earth-attributew powers.
However, as for exactly what it was, he didn''t have much of an idea, and he decided that he was going to see if he could find some information from the array te of the Transient Guild once he returned to Dark Veil Ind.
As he was contemting this matter, he took the time to swallow a few pills, and the pills quickly melted into bursts of pure energy that flowed to all parts of his body, giving hisplexion a visible improvement.
He took a nce at his surroundings, then rose up into the air as a streak of light before flying toward Dark Veil Ind.
He returned quietly to the ind without alerting anyone, then went straight into the secret chamber in the courtyard he was staying in.
Shortly thereafter, the world''s origin qi within a radius of hundreds of kilometers began to converge toward the small courtyard, forming a massive vortex of spiritual qi.
At this point, all of the residents of the ind, regardless of whether they were cultivators or mortals, were already ustomed to the phenomena brought about by Han Li.
The phenomenon of converging spiritual qisted all the way until nighttime before slowly dissipating.
However, not long after that, bursts of starpower from the Big Dipper shone down from the night sky, forming seven huge pirs of starpower that descended into the courtyard.
This cycle of gathering spiritual qi during the day and harnessing starpower at night went on for an entire month.
Inside the secret chamber, Han Li was slowly revolving within a cocoon of bright azure light.
All of a sudden, the azure light faded in a sh to reveal Han Li inside, and at this point, he had already made a full physical recovery.
He quickly inspected his internal condition with his spiritual sense, upon which a relieved look appeared on his face.
Thankfully, having cultivated the Big Dipper Origin Arts, he had built up a tremendous physical foundation, so he was able to make a full recovery despite the grueling ordeal he had endured.
As for the Heaven Controlling Vial, just as he had anticipated, it had also returned to its original appearance after absorbing starpower during this period.
Han Li exhaled as he pulled out that crystal formed by the drop of spirit liquid once again, and he plucked the crystal between his fingers as he raised it to his eye, while a contemtive look appeared on his face.
He then flipped his hand over to produce the eyeball of the one-eyed giant, then closed his eyes and injected his spiritual sense into it.
Sure enough, thew powers contained within the crystal were identical to the type imbued within the eyeball, but up to this point, Han Li still hadn''t managed to figure out exactly what this type ofw powers was.
As he opened his eyes, he came to a decision.
He had almost been suckedpletely dry for the sake of this crystal, so he had to figure out what it was no matter what.
With that in mind, he pulled out the azure mask from the Transient Guild before putting it on, then pointed a finger at his own be while chanting an incantation.
Rippling azure light that resembled water rose up from the mask, forming a huge array te projection in front of him.
He navigated directly to the missions area, where he released a mission of his own. He provided a description of the one-eyed giant and promised a handsome reward to anyone that could identify the creature.
After that, Han Li stowed the crystal and the mask away before making his way out of the small courtyard and flying away into the distance.
In a certain region of the sea near Dark Veil Ind, turbulent waves were rumbling incessantly, and there was a massive vortex that was over 100 kilometers in size, churning everything that fell into it straight to the seabed.
Han Li appeared in a sh, then flew into the center of the vortex without any hesitation, quickly reaching the seabed.
A blue figure was seated with their legs crossed on arge rock on the seabed, and it was none other than Han Li''s Earthly Deity Avatar.
The avatar had its arms encircled in front of its chest, and ck rippling light was shimmering all around it as it cultivated the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome.
Bursts of power of faith were being transmitted to the Earthly Deity Avatar from afar, and aw thread had emerged above the avatar''s head, giving off bursts of waterw fluctuations.
Han Li gave a slight nod at the sight of thew thread.
This method of cultivation used by Earthly Immortals to manifestw powers using the power of faith was quite unique, and just the power of faith supplied by the people of Dark Veil Ind alone was enough to allow the Earthly Deity Avatar to manifest aw thread so soon.
At the same time, the avatar had also umted a sizeable amount of magic power in its body, but it was rather scattered and chaotic, perhaps due to the fact that the magic power was mixed with the power of faith.
The cultivation method employed by Han Li was different from that of other Earthly Immortals, and the difference was that he didn''t allow any of the power of faith harnessed by his Earthly Deity Avatar to flow into his body.
As a result, he was unable to enjoy the benefit of manifestw powers using the power of faith, but on the flip side, his immortal spiritual power wouldn''t be contaminated by the power of faith.
After all, he had only refined this Earthly Deity Avatar in order to break the seal on his nascent soul.
All of a sudden, he turned his gaze toward the hands of his Earthly Deity Avatar, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
There was a ball of ck water the size of an infant''s fist hovering above the avatar''s hands, and it was shimmering with ck light, giving it a rather peculiar appearance.
Sure enough, the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome really was living up to its reputation of being extremely slow to progress in.
Not long after he returned to Dark Veil Ind, he had left his avatar here to cultivate the first level of heavy water, and it had only managed to manifest such a tiny amount in over a month.
It was no wonder that the creator of the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome had taken over 500,000 years just to manifest enough heavy water to fill a small creek.
Han Li beckoned to the ball of heavy water, and it flew over to him beforending on his palm.
It was only a tiny ball of heavy water, but it was no lighter than a small mountain.
After inspecting the ball of heavy water for a moment, he stored it into a jade vial, then flew away without lingering any longer. Right as he emerged from the sea and was about to return to his courtyard, an astonishing phenomenon suddenly began to unfold above Dark Veil Ind.
All of the world''s origin qi in a radius of thousands of kilometers had converged to form an enormous spiritual qi vortex, and spiritual qi was trailing down from the vortex like rays of light, forming a giant waterfall of light that surged into a pce on Dark Veil Ind.
That pce was none other than Luo Feng''s residence.
At this moment, the pce was surrounded by a vast sea of five-colored light, and all types of light of different colors were surging incessantly amid bursts of loud rumbling.
Han Li took a nce in the direction of the pce from afar, then abruptly vanished on the spot.
The massivemotion was clearly visible and audible across the entire ind, but no panic had ensued. Instead, all of the members of the Luo n, particrly the Spatial Tempering and Body Integration cultivators, all appeared extremely excited.
This phenomenon was a clear indication of a Body Integration cultivator making a breakthrough to the Grand Ascension Stage!
Inside the pce, Luo Feng was seated with his legs crossed, and the light radiating from his body was shing wildly. His aura was fluctuating drastically, and his expression was also constantly changing, as if he were undergoing some type of trial.
All of a sudden, Han Li appeared beside him without any warning.
Luo Feng''s aura was fluctuating more and more violently, and droplets of sweat were beginning to bead up on his forehead and his cheeks. At the same time, he seemed to be losing control over his own emotions.
The five-colored sea of light around the pce was also trembling in an unstable manner, and rays of light would asionally shoot out in random directions, smashing huge craters into the ground around the pce, much to the rm and panic of the surrounding bystanders, who quickly fled into the distance.
Han Li flicked a finger through the air upon seeing this, and a burst of gentle translucent light shot out before entering Luo Feng''s be.
Luo Feng''s expression instantly eased slightly, and the wild shing of the light around him subsided, while the five-colored sea of light outside the pce was also stabilized.
As more and more spiritual qi surged down from the heavens, the five-colored sea of light around the pce also gradually transformed into a massive cocoon of light.
Time slowly passed by, and after an indeterminate period of time, the cocoon of light suddenly shuddered, following which a peculiar fragrant aroma wafted out from within.
A faint crack rang out as a small rift appeared on the cocoon of light, and a burst of golden light escaped from within, then transformed into a series of golden flowers, while a burst of heavenly music rang out.
All of the members of the Luo n gathered near the pce were ecstatic to see this, and a collective thunderous cheer rang out.
Inside the pce, light was revolving around Luo Feng''s body, and his skin had turned as fair as jade. Furthermore, he had also taken on a slightly more youthful appearance.
He slowly opened his eyes, and an excited look appeared on his face.
This Grand Ascension Stage breakthrough was not one that he had much confidence in, and he was almost unable to transcend the tribtion of inner demons. However, a burst of external power had suddenly entered his body, fortifying his mind and ensuring a safe breakthrough.
Luo Feng was just about to rise to his feet when he spotted Han Li standing beside him.
He faltered momentarily at the sight of Han Li, then immediately realized what had to have happened, and he extended a deep bow toward Han Li. "Thank you for your assistance, Senior Liu."
"It''s nothing, don''t mention it. I didn''t expect you to reach the Grand Ascension Stage so soon. This is truly worthy of celebration!" Han Li replied with a slight nod.
"It''s all thanks to those cultivation resources that you bestowed upon me that I was able to take this step," Luo Feng replied in a respectful voice, and his heart was full of gratitude.
"As long as you serve me to the best of your abilities, there will be more where those resources came from," Han Li replied with a wave of his hand.
As a Body Integration cultivator, Luo Feng''s usefulness had been limited, but now that he had reached the Grand Ascension Stage, he could be entrusted with more important tasks.
Chapter 133: The Three Paramount Laws
Chapter 133: The Three Paramount Laws
"Rest assured, Senior. Our Luo n owes everything to you, and we''ll be sure to serve you with absolute diligence and loyalty," Luo Feng dered with a solemn expression.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and he was just about to say something else when his expression suddenly changed slightly.
"You''re far too kind, Chief Luo. Your breakthrough to the Grand Ascension Stage is something for the entire ind to celebrate, so you should go and meet your nsmen," Han Li said, then immediately vanished from the spot.
Luo Feng was already ustomed to Han Li''s elusive and enigmatic ways, so he extended a bow at the spot where Han Li had just disappeared, then took a moment to adjust his robes before making his way outside.
At the same time, Han Li appeared back in his courtyard, then immediately made his way into the secret chamber.
As he did so, he pulled out and put on his azure mask, upon which a speck of white light was shing incessantly.
Han Li pointed a finger forward, and a streak of white light flew out of the mask before transforming into a buzzing white vortex in front of him.
A projection of another masked figure appeared, and all that could made out of their facial features was a pair of blue eyes.
Han Li wasted no time, cutting straight to the chase as he asked, "You epted my missions, so I presume you must know what that one-eyed giant is, right, Fellow Daoist?"
"I just so happen to have some knowledge in various types of exotic beasts, and if I''m not mistaken, the one-eyed giant you''re asking about should be a rare type of earth-attribute spirit beast. However, the description provided in the mission isn''t very detailed, so I can''t be absolutely certain. If you could provide me with some more details, I''ll be able to make a more informed judgment," the figure replied.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this, and he provided some more details to the masked figure. "It does indeed sound like you''re quite the expert. The appearance of the beast..."
The fact that the masked figure was able to determine that it was an earth-attribute spirit beast just from Han Li''s rough description alone indicated that they were very knowledgeable, and perhaps they really did know what this beast was.
"It seems my guess was correct. The one-eyed giant that you''re referring to is a beast by the name of the Primordial Fei Beast," the figure confirmed after hearing Han Li''s more detailed description.
"Can you enlighten me on this creature?" Han Li asked.
"This is a type of extremely rare spirit beast, and I''ve never seen it myself. All I''ve heard about it is that it''s born from chaos and possesses innate earthw powers, allowing it to manipte the earth as it pleases. Upon reaching adulthood, these beasts will attain powers equivalent to those of a True Immortal," the masked figure exined.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression, then asked, "I see. Is there anything special about such a beast?"
"The only special thing I can think of about this beast is that its lone eye will asionally mutate, giving rise to a wisp of timew powers, which is extremely sought-after among all immortals.
¡°However, these mutated Primordial Fei Beasts are exceedingly rare, with only roughly one in 10,000 such beasts undergoing this mutation. On top of that, wherever a mutated Primordial Fei Beast appears, a period of extreme unrest is sure to follow in that area," the masked figure replied.
"Thews of time..." Han Li murmured to himself, and even though his expression remained calm, his calm facade belied his actual emotions.
He had previously suspected that the abilities unleashed by the Primordial Fei Beast had something to do with thews of time, so there was an extremely high possibility that the one-eyed giant had been a mutated Primordial Fei Beast.
"That''s right. As bearers of one of the three paramountws, it''s not wonder that mutated Primordial Fei Beasts always stir up so much trouble wherever they appear," the masked figure said.
"What are the three paramountws?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression.
A strange look appeared in the masked figure''s eyes upon hearing this question, and they seemed to have been rather taken aback. "You don''t even know about the three paramountws?"
"Forgive me for my embarrassingck of knowledge, and please enlighten me," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"This is a piece of general knowledge, so there''s hardly any enlightening to be done. The three paramountws refer to thews of time, space, and reincarnation. It''s said that those threews are the root of allws, and the other 3,000 Great Daows were all born from those three paramountws.
¡°The paramountws are also the rarest and most mysteriousws in the Immortal Realm, and even among the Holy Ancestors, not many have been able to master suchws. As for immortals below the Holy Ancestors, evening into contact with the three paramountws is nothing more than a pipe dream," the masked figure said with a hint of longing in their voice.
"The 3,000 Great Daows..." Han Li repeated to himself with a thoughtful expression.
"It''s said that each type ofw represents a Great Dao, and each Great Dao can ultimately lead one to the pinnacle of the True Immortal Realm. There are 3,000 types of knownws in the Immortal Realm, so that''s why it''s said that there are 3,000 Great Daows," the masked figure exined, still with a hint of longing in their voice voice.
"I see," Han Li murmured in a contemtive voice.
"Materials that contain the three paramountws are priceless treasures in the Immortal Realm, and it''s impossible to obtain them through conventional means. I''ve heard that people have even begun offeringrge rewards on information pertaining to the whereabouts of Primordial Fei Beasts.
¡°If you have some information, I suggest you sell it in the guild. I''m sure many people would be willing to pay a handsome price for such information," the masked figure said in a meaningful voice.
"I don''t have any information on the whereabouts of any Primordial Fei Beasts. I just so happened to see some records describing such a beast recently, and I was curious about what they were," Han Li replied in a nonchnt manner.
"I must admit, I was also very intrigued when I first saw a description of this beast," the masked figure chuckled.
"Thank you for answering my questions. I have no further questions, and I''ll issue your reward to you in a moment," Han Li said.
The projection of the masked figure nodded in response, then promptly vanished from the spot.
With a wave of his hand, Han Li summoned the promised reward, then ced it onto the array te''s transmission site, and it vanished amid a sh of light.
After that, Han Li removed the azure mask, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
He wasn''t smiling about the eye of the Primordial Fei Beast. Instead, he was thinking about that crystal that the Heaven Controlling Vial had created after devouring so much of the immortal spiritual power in his body.
Even though he hadn''t made any further attempts, he presumed that just like with the manifestation of the spirit liquid, the vial was capable of creating this crystal more than just once.
If that were the case, then theoretically, he would be able to secure an infinite supply of this material that contained one of the rarest powers ofws in existence.
Now that he thought about it, this vial was able to speed up the maturation of spirit medicines, so it wasn''t much of a surprise that the crystals formed by the spirit liquid contained thews of wood or thews of time.
A solemn look then appeared on his face, and he decided that he had to keep this matter a secret, given how precious materials that contained thews of time were.
If for some reason, he was forced to exchange the crystal for other items, he had to ensure that his identity remained confidential to the other party.
After all, given his current paltry cultivation base, revealing such a precious treasure in his possession would''ve been no different from courting death.
With that in mind, another thought suddenly urred to Han Li, and a grim look appeared on his face.
Could it be that this crystal had something to do with the centuries of memories that he had lost?
He immediately rose to his feet as this thought sprang into his mind, and as he paced back and forth in his secret chamber, this notion was bing more and more likely in his mind. He pulled out the crystal once again, then sat back down with his legs crossed and began to carefully inspect it with his spiritual sense.
However, even after an extensive and thorough inspection, he still wasn''t able to find anything useful.
Han Li pointed a finger at his own be, and his Law Destruction Eye appeared amid a sh of ck light, following which a beam of ck shot out from within.
At the same time, two bursts of blue light shot out of his eyes, and the three bursts of light fused as one.
At the same time, Han Li chanted an incantation while making a hand seal, and an enormous burst of spiritual sense surged out of his be amid a sh of translucent light, then also fused together with the three bursts of light.
As a result, the three bursts of light gradually transformed into a huge ck and blue eye that began to scrutinize the crystal.
This was a secret technique thatbined his Law Destruction Eye and Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
A burst of ck and blue light shot out of the eye to envelop the crystal, immediately following which a hint of tion appeared on Han Li''s face.
At the center of the crystal was a faint golden thread that was barely visible, and it would''ve been impossible for him to find it if not for the use of this secret technique.
Half a monthter, a certain area of the sea near Dark Veil Ind was churning incessantly, while an enormous vortex was slowly revolving.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on a reef ind, contemting something meticulously with the crystal pressed against his forehead.
ording to the scriptures that he had recently consulted, it was virtually impossible to try and master the power ofws purely through inspecting a material that contained that power ofws. However, if he were to use a cultivation art rted to thews of time, then this was definitely going to be a beneficial experience.
It was a bit like discussing cultivation insights and experiences with other cultivators. As for exactly how this was beneficial and how much one could benefit from such discussions, that was up to them.
Time was one of the three paramountws, so he naturally didn''t want to pass up any opportunity to try and examine it.
After an indeterminate period of time, Han Li opened his eyes before removing the crystal from his forehead, then shook his head with a slightly disappointed expression.
Even after so many days and experimenting with all types of methods to try and detect thews of time within the crystal, his efforts had proven to bepletely futile, but that really wasn''t much of a surprise.
He continued to fiddle absentmindedly with the crystal in his hand, but his gaze was piercing through the sea as he observed his Earthly Deity Avatar on the seabed in a contemtive silence.
The crystal in his hand didn''t seem to have been changing at all, but in reality, thews of time within it were getting weaker by the day, and the golden thread was gradually bing shorter and shorter.
At this rate, it was only going to take about half a month before thews of time in the crystalpletely faded, and that was a rather disappointing prospect to Han Li.
As a result of this, it seemed that his idea to sell the crystal to others in exchange for resources simply wasn''t feasible.
He withdrew his gaze as he turned his attention to the crystal in his hand once again.
"Nevertheless, I have to give it an actual try. After all, I can wield some power of waterws now," Han Li murmured to himself as he raised a hand before making a beckoning motion.
The massive vortex in the sea up ahead churned violently for a moment before gradually subsiding, immediately following which a blue shadow emerged from within in a sh. The blue shadow quickly descended beside Han Li, following which the blue light radiating from its body faded to reveal the Earthly Deity Avatar.
Han Li tossed the crystal at his Earthly Deity Avatar, and thetter caught it as ck light shed from its body, following which the thread ofws on top of its head slowly burrowed its way into the crystal.
In order to examine the power ofws within the crystal, it only made sense that the power ofws had to be used. However, thews of time within the crystal was one of the three paramountws, so there was an element of risk to what Han LI was doing.
However, he naturally wouldn''t be willing to give up on this idea without attempting it, and he could only hope that this wouldn''t have much of an impact on his Earthly Deity Avatar.
As these thoughts were going through his mind, the thread of waterws had already entered the crystal in a sh.
All of a sudden, the crystal began to glow with scintiting golden light.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, but before he had a chance to do anything, an unexpected turn of events suddenly unfolded.
Chapter 134: Extraordinary Spirit Artifact
Chapter 134: Extraordinary Spirit Artifact
A resounding boom rang out as the crystal abruptly exploded, and the nearby space was instantly filled with countless fine ripples. Faint shadows, both bright and dark, then quickly proliferated throughout the surrounding area.
The explosion had taken ce without any warning, and Han Li was too close to crystal, so he didn''t have sufficient time to take evasive measures. All he could do was manifest ayer of True Extreme Membrane over his body before he was struck by a burst of tremendous force.
He was immediately sent flying back like a cannon, and the energy in his body surged violently as he threw up a mouthful of blood.
After steadying himself several thousand feet away, he turned to find that the reef ind beneath his Earthly Deity Avatar was already nowhere to be seen, and the surrounding seawater had also been dispersed by a burst of tremendous force. As a result, apletely empty region with a radius of several thousand feet was formed, and it took a long time for that area of the sea to return to normal.
Even though his avatar was able to form a protective light barrier using itsws of water, its right arm and close to half of its body was still destroyed in the explosion, giving it a rather pitiful appearance, but thankfully, its foundation remained unharmed.-
All of a sudden, something caught Han Li''s attention, and he turned his gaze to thew thread hovering above his avatar''s head.
It was originally a light blue water-attributew thread, but not only had it be a little thicker than before, there was some faint golden light shing inside, giving off a simr aura to thews of time.
Han Li suppressed his bewilderment as he summoned his avatar to him, and at the same time, he opened his mouth to release a burst of nascent mes, which quickly enveloped the avatar. At the same time, he brought out an array of spirit materials with a sweep of his sleeve, and they gradually began to melt and change shape in the nascent mes.
A day and a nightter.
On the seabed, Han Li was inspecting his Earthly Deity Avatar, which had already returned to normal, and the avatar immediately sat down with its legs crossed at his behest.
It then encircled its arms in front of its own chest, and thew thread above its head began to quiver slightly white radiating blue light that was far brighter than before.
The entire surface of the sea began to surge and churn, and enormous waves were raised, while a vortex that was even more massive than the previous one began to take shape. The giant waves that were swept up surged all the way to Dark Veil Ind thousands of kilometers away, and the entire ind began to tremble as if an earthquake were taking ce.
All of the inds inhabitants were quite rmed by this, and many cultivators at or above the Spatial Tempering Stage hurriedly flew into the sky to see what was causing this phenomenon.
However, momentster, all of the cultivators returned the same way they hade in silence, as if they had all simultaneously received some type of instruction. At the same time, the ind became epassed under a series of light barriers, and the disturbance gradually subsided soon thereafter.
Meanwhile, Han Li was standing on the seabed with an astonished look on his face.
In front of him, his Earthly Deity Avatar''s eyes were tightly shut, and at the center of its encircled arms, a tiny ball of heavy water was rapidly revolving on the spot while expanding at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
Soon, it had be the size of a bean, then swelled to the size of a finger...
After no more than two hours, an egg-sized ball of heavy water had appeared before Han Li, and it was still steadily expanding along with the surging water currents in the surrounding sea.
Han Li took a deep breath, and the astonishment on his face turned to tion.
However, as he shifted his gaze slightly upward, a peculiar look appeared in his eyes.
Just like the golden thread in the crystal, the hint of golden light within thew thread hovering above his avatar''s head was slowly fading.
Could it be...
A thought sprang into his mind upon seeing this.
Time quickly flew by, and half a month went by in a sh.
On the seabed, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed, and at this point, the golden light within thew thread above his Earthly Deity Avatar''s head had already be extremely dim.
Even so, the rate at which his Earthly Deity Avatar was deriving heavy water didn''t slow down in the slightest.
All of a sudden, thew thread shuddered, and the golden light withinpletely faded.
In the same instant, the churning seawater in the surrounding area also became far more tranquil, while the huge vortex on the surface of the sea rapidly shrank down to only several hundred kilometers in size.
Simultaneously, the speed at which the avatar was deriving heavy water was also reverted back to the initial rate.
Han Li was inspecting therge ball of heavy water in front of his avatar with a contemtive look on his face.
Somehow, the power of timews imbued within the crystal had managed to fuse with his avatar''sw thread, and it rapidly enhanced the rate at which his avatar was able to derive heavy water. However, the fusion wasn''t very stable, and the power of timews continued to constantly seep away during this process. Once itpletely disappeared, the rate of heavy water derivation naturally returned to normal.
In any case, Han Li had finally managed to find a use for these crystals. Given the original rate a at which his avatar was deriving heavy water, Han Li estimated that it would''ve taken around 1,500 years to derive this much.
Hence, the crystal was an extraordinary artifact, and it was no wonder that it had almost sucked him dry.
With that in mind, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce his True Water Pouch, which he stored the heavy water into.
After stowing the True Water Pouch away, he didn''t linger on the seabed any longer. Instead, he flew out of the water as a streak of azure light, then made his way back to Dark Veil Ind, while his Earthly Deity Avatar was left behind to continue deriving heavy water.
Half a monthter.
A series of ratherplex and profound spirit patterns had been engraved onto a plot of emptynd on a lone ind that was quite far away from Dark Veil Ind. Around the plot ofnd stood nine silver stone pirs, which were also riddled with spirit patterns, as well as many star-like specks of silver light.
It was a profound array, and Adam was seated at its center with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.
Beside him were around a dozen jade vials, wooden boxes, and other containers for pills. Even though the containers were all tightly sealed, there were still faint medicinal aromas escaping from within.
Momentster, he gently exhaled as he opened his eyes, then flipped a hand over to summon his Heaven Controlling Vial.
Azure light began to glow from his body, and his immortal spiritual power surged into the vial along his arm.
The dark green floral patterns on the surface of the vial lit up one after another, quickly bing so bright that it appeared that Han Li was holding a ball of dazzling green light in his hand.
Shortly thereafter, the small vial flew out of his grasp before hovering in mid-air.
As Han Li flicked his fingers through the air, streaks of azure light were released before vanishing into the vial in a sh, and the surrounding world''s origin qi began to ripple, while a drop of green liquid began to slowly flow out of the vial.
Shortly thereafter, the silver eyes and silver mouth surfaced once again one the vial, releasing silver mes that enveloped and scorched the drop of green liquid. The world''s origin qi that was converging from the surrounding area also formed a massive pir of light around the vial.
All of a sudden, Han Li shuddered as the immortal spiritual power in his body began to surge out in an uncontroble fashion before being absorbed by the drop of spirit liquid.
However, instead of being rmed, he was ecstatic, and he heaved an internal sigh of relief before pointing a finger forward.
A streak of azure light shot out beforending on the array around him.
The array immediately began to operate, and the spirit patterns on the ground lit up one after another, radiating dazzling white light and forming a white ball that was over 100 feet in size. The white ball epassed his entire body before beginning to revolve on the spot.
The world''s origin qi that was converging from all directions also flowed into the white ball, and they immediately began to surge through the white ball in a haphazard fashion as streaks of spiritual light.
The concentration of spiritual qi inside the ball was rapidly rising, quickly reaching several times the concentration outside the ball, and this spiritual qi was constantly replenishing the immortal spiritual power that was rapidly surging out of Han Li''s body.
At the same time, he picked up an azure jade vial from behind him, then tipped out a green pill that was around the size of a longan.
The pill was called the Azure Flower Pill, and it was currently the best energy recovery pill that he could procure.
Even though there was still plenty of immortal spiritual power left in his body, he still devoured the pill without any hesitation before focusing on refining it.
At the same time, he cast several incantations seals in session, all of which fell upon the surrounding nine stone pirs. Vast expanses of silver light instantly began to radiate from the stone pirs, and countless star runes emerged, drawing starpower down from the night sky, forming seven pirs of starlight that injected their power into Han Li''s body...
Five dayster, Han Li''s expression had turned rather grim.
Even though he had prepared the best pills and a spirit gathering array, his efforts were proving to be rather ineffective.
His immortal spiritual power had run out once again, and he could only use that same secret technique from before to convert his blood essence into immortal spiritual power for the vial to absorb.
Several more days passed, and he was once again reduced to a sack of skin and bones, and overall, he only appeared to be in slightly better condition thanst time.
Thankfully, the drop of spirit liquid had solidified into another semi-transparent crystal.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he inspected the crystal, but there was a hint of tion in his eyes.
Several dayster.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on a giant rock in the sea near Dark Veil Ind. His body was protected by several spirit treasures, and the crystal was hovering in a still manner in front of him.
His Earthly Deity Avatar was also seated with its legs cross across from him, and it was protected by several spirit treasures as well.
After taking a moment to brace himself, Han Li made a beckoning motion with his hand, and thew thread hovering above his avatar''s head drifted over to him before slowly entering the crystal.
This time, he wanted to experience thews of time for himself.
This was one of the three paramountws, and seeing as his avatar was able to use it to speed up its derivation of heavy water, perhaps it would also trigger some type of unexpected change in him.
However, to his surprise, after thew thread entered the crystal, no explosion took ce.
Why isn''t it working?
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this.
This crystal was no different from thest one, and it also contained the power of timews. However, for some reason, he was unable to control the waterw thread to fuse with thews of time inside the crystal.
Han Li was unwilling to give up, and he tried the same thing four or five more times, all with the same oue.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and after some contemtion, he sent the waterw thread back to the top of his avatar''s head with a wave of his hand. He then tossed the crystal at the avatar as well.
The Earthly Deity Avatar caught the crystal, then injected its waterw thread into it, and sure enough, the crystal exploded, sending powerful shockwaves sweeping in all directions.
However, this time, Han Li had ensured that both he and his avatar were sufficiently protected, so both of them remained unharmed, and the waterw thread was once again tinged with a hint of gold.
"Looks like this thing can only be used by my avatar, but is beyond my reach," Han Li murmured to himself as a wry smile appeared on his face.
Chapter 135: Bonded Eight Spirits Vat
Chapter 135: Bonded Eight Spirits Vat
Even though Han Li was feeling a little disappointed, he quickly told himself to be content with what he already had.
It was already incredibly fortunate that these crystals were able to significantly enhance the rate at which he could derive heavy water. If he expected anything more than that, then he would simply be asking for too much.
Of course, if he could somehow glean the secrets of thews of time someday, there was a chance that he would be able to use these crystals for himself, and just the mere thought of this sent a sh of excitement surging through his heart.
However, at this point, that was only a distant dream.
For the vast majority of itinerant cultivators, just mastering one of the 3,000 Great Daows to be a True Immortal was already a very difficult task, let alone master one of the three paramountws.
Furthermore, even though he had already recovered his cultivation base, the true crisis still hadn''t beenpletely averted yet.
Hence, his top priority at the moment was to attain more power as quickly as possible, as well as to recover his lost memories and treasures, lest he suffer the same inexplicable fate that had caused him to end up in the Spirit Domain Realm.
Even though the ck Wind Sea was quite secluded and safe, it was not a ce that he could remain at for long. If his enemies were to somehow find him, then he would be in a world of trouble. Perhaps someone had already detected his approximate location prior to the seal on his nascent soul being undone.
As for how to recover his lost memories, at the moment, there were only two leads avable to him.
The first one was naturally to return to the Ascension tform where he had firstpleted his ascension. He would then try to track down Gao Sheng, who had served as his guide at the time, and ask him what had happened after they left the tform.
However, the Northern cial Immortal Region was extremely vast, so he had no idea how he was supposed to track down Gao Sheng, and even if he could find him, there was no guarantee that Gao Sheng''s words would be credible.
Furthermore, Gao Sheng was ate-True Immortal cultivator, so it was definitely not a good idea for Han Li to approach him on a whim without being able to ensure his own safety.
The second lead was the wanted notice that had been passed down from the Immortal Realm, and mysterious length of dark azure chain that he had sealed into a white jade box.
For some reason, he couldn''t shake the feeling that the two things were somehow connected, and he was convinced that if he could find the person who had released the wanted notice or the owner of the chain, then he would be able to find an important lead rting to his lost memories.
Of course, regardless of which one of those leads he chose to pursue, he required more power to ensure his safety.
Looks like the best way to enhance my powers in a short time would be to recover my lost treasures, as well as Jin Tong and Daoist Xie. [1]
Aside from that, there was another way to get stronger, which was to get his avatar to deriverge volumes of heavy water as quickly as possible.
ording to the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome, even if it were only heavy water of the first level, as long as one possessed sufficient quantity, it would still suffice as a trump card to be used in battle.
However, even with an endless supply of crystals that contained the power of timews, it was still going to take quite some time to umte a substantial amount of heavy water.
One morning, roughly a monthter.
Han Li was standing in the open-air area of his courtyard, a rusty and antiquated-looking octagonal copper vat had appeared before him.
A different exotic beast was engraved onto each of the vat''s eight faces, including a Qilin, a Taotie, and a Kui, all of which were extremely menacing to behold. [2]
A series of strange ring-shaped patterns had been engraved onto the vat around the beasts, and there were also an ancient rune inscribed in gold-ted text beneath each beast, with each rune around the size of a human head.
On the bluestone b beneath the copper vat was a sector-shaped array that had been engraved using a sharp object, and looking down at it from above, it resembled a flower in full bloom.
The vat was filled with clear water, which was as still as a mirror without even the slightest ripple running over the surface.
At this moment, Han Li was standing beside the vat with one hand resting on its edge, gently rubbing along the vat''s surface.
This vat was called the Bonded Eight Spirits Vat, and it was a treasure that he had obtained from the Transient Guild''s trade array te at quite a heavy price.
This wasn''t a treasure that could help him in battle of inr his cultivation. Instead, it was something that was specifically used to find certain people or objects.
In contrast with other simr treasures, this vat could only be used to search for people or objects that had a bloodline or spiritual connection with the user.
Han Li had exchanged for the vat despite the heavy asking price as he wanted to use it to find his bonded flying swords, the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch, and other important things.
He raised his head to look at the sunlight that was filtering over the wall of his courtyard, and with a flick of his wrist, several longan-sized top-grade spirit stones appeared on his palm, all of which were giving off watery blue radiance or an earthy yellow glow.
He walked ap around the vat, embedding the water and earth-attribute spirit stones in his hands into the mouths of the eight beasts engraved onto the vat''s surface.
After that, he returned to his original spot before beginning to chant an incantation, and a hint of excitement gradually began to appear in his eyes.
As the first ray of morning sunlight shone over the wall and down onto the vat, the surface of the water in the vat was immediately tinged with a faint golden glow.
Han Li ced both hands onto the edge of the vat upon seeing this, then switched to another incantation, one that was very profound and difficult to understand.
As he did this, the sector-shaped array beneath the vat began to glow with azure light, and eight ancient runes on the vat also began to shine brightly.
At the same time, the still surface of the water in the vat began to ripple, and the mouths of the beasts engraved onto the vat also lit up in unison.
Blue and yellow light began to shine into the vat from its walls, illuminating the water inside the vat to form a blue and yellow yin yang diagram.
A serious look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he raised a hand before extending it over the surface of the water.
A faint burst of light shed over his index finger, and drop of golden blood essence slowly appeared before dripping down.
A dull thud immediately rang out, seemingly from directly within Han Li''s consciousness.
He stared intently into the water, and he saw that after the drop of blood essence fell into the water, not only did it not disy any signs of dissolving, it began to rapidly revolve like a spinning top instead.
As a result, all of the water in the entire vat was quickly stirred up, and the originally clearly divided yellow and blue light were also mixed together somehow, forming a series of strange lines that resembled mountains and rivers.
Han Li began to chant another incantation upon seeing this, and the drop of blood essence instantly stopped spinning, as if it had just received an instruction.
It then warped and changed shape to form a miniature golden sword, which waspletely identical in shape to Han Li''s bonded flying swords, his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
"Go!" Han Li instructed, and the tiny golden sword immediately began to vibrate at a high speed on the surface of the water, then abruptly changed turned to the east before quickly hurtling away in that direction.
The sword was moving very quickly, and the area within the vat was quite limited, so it should''ve struck the wall of the vat in an instant, but as it turned out, the tip of the sword continued to maintain a distance of around a foot away from the wall of the vat, keeping them separated.
However, upon closer inspection, one would discover that the mountain and river patters on the surface of the water in the vat was rapidly receding, making it appear as if the sword were traveling over a vast distance.
Only after around 15 minutes had passed did the mountain and river patterns on the surface of the water gradually draw to a halt, and the golden sword was suspended over a set of blurry and indistinct patterns.
Han Li couldn''t clearly see the terrain being disyed by the patterns. All he could tell was that the swords were definitely outside of the ck Wind Sea, and they were extremely far away in the east.
After looking at the surface of the water for a moment longer, he pointed a finger at the miniature golden sword, trying to get a clearer sense of the current situation that his bonded flying swords were in.
However, in the instant that his finger came into contact with the golden sword, his consciousness suddenly rippled slightly, and a faint hint of familiarity rose up in his soul.
Could it be...
Han Li immediately closed his eyes and focused on examining this sensation, and momentster, his eyes abruptly sprang back open, and an ecstatic look appeared on his face as he eximed, "There''s no mistaking it! That''s Daoist Xie''s aura!"
However, a perplexed look then quickly appeared on his face. Did this mean that Daoist Xie and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were together, or did they just so happen to be situated not far away from one another?
With that in mind, another thought urred to him, and he murmured to himself, "I wonder if Jin Tong is with them as well."
To follow up on that thought, he began to chant another incantation, then gently swept the palm of his hand over the surface of the water.
The tiny golden sword in the water instantly reverted back to a drop of blood essence, and afterpleting his incantation, Han Li instructed once again, "Go!"
The drop of blood essence shuddered slightly, then began to dart around haphazardly through the water like a headless fly.
Momentster, it abruptly sank straight down to the bottom of the vat, where it vanished without a trace.
With the disappearance of that drop of blood essence, the spirit stones embedded into the vat were alsopletely spent, and the glow that they were radiating gradually faded. As a result, the water inside the vat also reverted back to its original state.
Han Li couldn''t help but heave a forlorn sigh upon seeing this.
He didn''t know whether it was because the subject was too far away, or if there were some other reason at y, but the drop of blood essence was unable to determine the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch''s location. In fact, it wasn''t even able to determine the direction that it was in.
If it weren''t for the fact that Han Li could still feel an extremely faint spiritual connection to the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch, he would''ve perhaps been inclined to believe that it had already perished.
Thankfully, he had received some leads on the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and Daoist Xie. Even though it was only a rough direction, it was still certainly better than nothing.
He was confident that if he were to set off in search of them ording to the direction provided by the vat, he would be able to track them down with his spiritual connection to them once he was close enough.
With that in mind, Han Li was struck by the impulsive urge to set off right away, but he knew that even if he were to set off on such a journey, he had to take care of some matters on Dark Veil Ind first.
1. As a quick reminder, Jin Tong is the name of the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch. ?
2. All three of these are beasts from Chinese mythology. ?
Chapter 136: Arrangements
Chapter 136: Arrangements
Close to a monthter.
In a secluded area of the ck Wind Sea, there were over 100 small gray inds littered across the region.
These inds were all of different sizes, but they were all smaller than 10,000 kilometers in area, and they resembled a string of pearls embdeed onto a wall of jade.
Vegetations on the inds were very sparse, as was the spiritual qi. Not only was there not a single animal to be seen on the ind, there weren''t even any seabirds in the area, presenting a rather bleak and deste sight to behold.
In reality, these inds had all been epassed under a near-transparent light barrier, and if one were outside the light barrier, they would only be able to see a vast stretch of empty ocean. In fact, even if the average True Immortal cultivator were to scour the area with their spiritual sense, they wouldn''t be able to discover anything amiss.
At this moment, two figures, one male and one female, were seated on either side of a round stone table in a secret chamber constructed in the belly of a mountain on a certain ind.
One of them was a man with an imposing physique and a hollow helmet on his face, and it was none other than Ancestral God Han Qiu of the Cold Crystal Race, and the woman with him was Mistress Gu Gu, with whom he had targeted Han Li on multiple asions.
"Are you sure he won''t be able to find us here, Fellow Daoist Han Qiu?" Mistress Gu Gu asked as she gripped tightly onto the teacup in his hand, within which the tea had gone cold long ago.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Gu Gu. I had to spend almost all of my belongings to exchange for this illusory array from Master Illusory Light, even a Late-True Immortal cultivator wouldn''t be able to find us here. That man is only a Profound Immortal, so there''s no chance he''ll discover us.
¡°Even if he does stumble into this area, he won''t be able to see the truendscape as long as he doesn''t break the core of the array," Han Qiu replied, but despite what he was saying, there was a rather uncertain look in his eyes.
"I should''ve never allowed myself to get involved in this mess! Not only has my avatar been destroyed, I can''t even return to my home! If I hadn''t taken part in this, I would still be doing whatever I please on my Worry Bone Ind!" Mistress Gu Gu sighed.
"What''s the point of saying that now? As Earthly Immortals, we''re envied by countless people, but even in the ck Wind Sea, we are only bottom-dwellers. Risk and rewarde hand in hand, and unless we''re blessed with immense fortune, our situation most likely won''t change even over the course of the next 100,000 years. How is an existence like this different from being dead? I made an error in judgment this time, but as long as we can weather the storm here and refine new avatars, we can definitely rise again someday!" Han Qiu said.
"You make it sound so easy to refine new avatars. If you ask me, we should find a way to leave the ck Wind Sea," Mistress Gu Gu said as she released her teacup.
"That''s preposterous! Setting aside the fact that we don''t have a way out, even if we somehow manage to leave the ck Wind Sea, we''ll lose the protection of ourw powers, and we wouldn''t even be able to match the average itinerant cultivator in battle! How would that be a better option to staying here?" Han Qiu harrumphed coldly.
A dejected look appeared on Mistress Gu Gu''s face upon hearing this, and she didn''t say anything further.
Right at this moment, Han Qiu abruptly sprang up from his chair as if he had been pricked in the bottom, and he yelled, "Impossible!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of earth-shattering rumbling rang out, and all of the inds in the entire area shuddered in unison, along with the transparent light barrier above them.
Enormous plumes of dust rose up into the sky as a series of bottomless rifts appeared on all of the inds. Countless rock fragments erupted forth in all directions before falling onto the surface of the sea like rain, churning up its surface into a frenzy.
Massive waves swept through the area, and one ind after another began to crumble away before sinking to the bottom of the sea.
Two figures emerged from the smoke and debris, and they didn''t linger for even a single moment as they flew westward as quickly as they could.
However, they were only able to flee for a few hundred kilometers before a streak of light arrived directly in front of them.
Grim looks appeared on Han Qiu and Gu Gu''s faces as they looked at the figure they were being confronted by.
Han Qiu swallowed his pride and extended a slight bow as he asked, "Senior Liu, is there really no way that you would spare us?"
Han Li merely smiled and offered no response.
Han Qiu also fell silent for a moment, then continued in a careful voice, "If you spare our lives, we''re willing to offer up everything in our respective races in gratitude."
Meanwhile, his hands were concealed up his sleeves, and he was tightly gripping an azure jade tablet in one hand, while making a hand seal with the other.
Mistress Gu Gu hadn''t said anything, but she had also subtly withdrawn her hands up her sleeves.
Right at this moment, ayer of azure light appeared over Han Li''s body, and he took a step toward the two Ancestral Gods.
Both of the Ancestral Gods immediately sprang into action upon seeing this, and a burst of radiant azure light appeared from one of each of their sleeves before connecting together to envelop the two.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them vanished from the spot.
Mere momentster, a sh of light appeared in the sky tens of thousands of kilometers away, and the two of them reappeared.
"Thank heavens we prepared this pair of Divine Travel Pendants in advance. Even as Profound Immortal, I''m sure he won''t be able to catch up to us anytime soon," Han Qiu said as he inspected his surroundings with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
"These Divine Travel Pendants are indeed quite extraordinary. The only drawbacks are that they take too long to activate and require both of us to activate them at once. We almost didn''t make it out in time back there. This ce isn''t safe, either, so we should continue on our way," Mistress Gu Gu said in a concerned manner.
Han Qiu was just about to respond when a voice suddenly rang out from the faraway distance.
"You two got away a bit faster than your avatars did."
Han Qiu and Gu Gu were horrified by the sound of the voice, and they immediately tried to activate their Divine Travel Pendants once again, only for Han Li to descend right before them in a sh.
"How is he this fast?" Mistress Gu Gu wailed in a despairing voice.
Han Qiu''s eyes were also filled with shock and horror.
With a flick of his wrist, Han Li summoned a ck longsword into his grasp, and it was none other than the one that Mistress Gu Gu''s had used.
He pointed the tip of the sword upward, and a massive sword projection that resembled an enormous mountain appeared, piercing a hole straight through the clouds up above.
Han Qiu and Mistress Gu Gu were inplete despair, but they still mustered up their final shreds of courage to summon their most powerful treasures.
With a sweep of his sleeve, a translucent wheel of ice appeared in front of Han Qiu. The wheel was riddled with countless ice spikes that were giving off white cial qi.
Meanwhile, Gu Gu swept her hands through the air, and a gray puppet appeared out of thin air, then vanished into her body amid a sh of light.
Han Li could see what they were doing, but he paid it no heed as he abruptly turned his wrist downward.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as the mountainous sword projection was instantly tipped upside-down before crashing down upon the two Ancestral Gods.
Han Qiu immediately opened his mouth upon seeing this, expelling a mouthful of blood essence from under his visor, and the blood essence vanished into the white wheel of ice in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, it was as if the ice wheel had sprung to life, and it began to rapidly revolve on the spot before transforming into a huge ice phoenix that flew directly toward the oing sword projection.
Meanwhile, a cloud of dense mist began to surge out of Mistress Gu Gu''s body, sending a powerful corrosive aura surging through the air.
In the next instant, the ck sword protection swelled even further in size,pletely obscuring the heavens.
The gray mist was instantly dispelled, while the ice phoenix was decapitated, and the bodies of the two Ancestral Gods werepletely destroyed by the sword projection.
¡¡
Meanwhile, Han Li''s Earthly Deity Avatar had arrived on the ind of the Cold Crystal Race along with Luo Feng.
First, they slew several elders and the chief of the opposing race, then smashed all of the statues of Han Qiu on the ind. Only after that did they dere that Han Qiu was already dead, and that Cold Crystal Ind now belonged to Dark Veil Ind.
The Cold Crystal beings naturally refused to believe this initially, but Han Qiu remained absent, and they had also lost the protective light membranes granted to them by their Ancestral God, so they had no choice but to surrender.
After that, the two of them traveled to Worry Bone Ind and repeated the same process.
During the following month, Dark Veil Ind''s new Ancestral God, Liu Shi, quickly became a name that everyone in the nearby region was aware of. The Ancestral Gods that had targeted him in the past were so horrified that they all fled their inds, not daring to return.
As for the nearby Ancestral Gods who were yet to make contact with Han Li, all of them hurriedly traveled to Dark Veil Ind to try and appease him.
There were even two itinerant cultivators that joined Dark Veil Ind to be guest elders, and they were sent to preside over Cold Crystal Ind and Worry Bone Ind in his stead.
All of a sudden, Dark Veil Ind had be a dominant force in the region.
However, all Han Li did was y Han Qiu and Gu Gu, and he left everything else to Luo Feng and his avatar.
Several monthster, in the secret chamber of Han Li''s courtyard.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on a futon, while Luo Feng was standing before him with a serious look on his face.
"I have to go into seclusion soon, and I''ll most likely be in seclusion for a very long time. My avatar is also busy cultivating, so you''ll be solely responsible for overseeing matters on the ind," Han Li said.
"Rest assured, Senior Liu, I''ll be sure to look after the ind diligently in your stead," Luo Feng hurriedly replied.
"I''m going to be setting up an array around this courtyard soon, and no one is permitted to approach this ce. If you encounter something that you can''t take care of, don''te to me, just seek out my avatar," Han Li instructed.
"Yes, Senior Liu," Luo Feng immediately replied.
Following Luo Feng''s departure, a streak of blue light abruptly flew out of Han Li''s body, then transformed into a humanoid figure, revealing itself to be none other than his Earthly Deity Avatar.
Han Li rose to his feet, then flipped a hand over to produce a pair of identical ck array tes, one of which he handed to his Earthly Deity Avatar.
The array tes were simr in size and shape to go boards, and their surfaces were riddled with countless small white dots, while a nine pce grid and the 16 directions were engraved onto the edge of the te, presenting a rather intriguing sight to behold.
The tes were called Twin Starshift tes, and they were capable of teleporting treasures from one te to another. This was another treasure that he had exchanged from the Transient Guild at a very steep cost.
One night, around half a monthter, a figure with an extremely well-disguised aura left Dark Veil Ind in a stealthy fashion.
Only upon arriving in an area of open sea several dozen kilometers away from the ind did the figure abruptly transform into a streak of azure light, hurtling rapidly toward the center of the ck Wind Sea.
Chapter 137: Black Wind City
Chapter 137: ck Wind City
As the center of the entire ck Wind Sea, ck Wind Ind boasted an extremely vast territory, and it was more appropriate to call it a continent than an ind.
Aside from the main ck Wind Ind, there were also dozens of inds littered throughout the nearby area.
ck Wind Ind had an abundance of spirit veins and world''s origin qi, and its massive territory wasden with resources, far more so than other inds. Furthermore, it had the only teleportation array that led to the outside world.
Every day, there were countless immortals, mortals, and resources converging to ck Wind Ind from all parts of the ck Wind Sea. Simrly, there were also countless rare materials that were exchanged here before spreading to all parts of the ck Wind Sea, making this an extremely thriving central hub.
There were even some who proimed that half of the ck Wind Sea''s most precious resources were concentrated on ck Wind Ind.
On the southern coast of ck Wind Ind was an enormous city that resembled a gargantuan beastying sprawled out on the ground. The city walls alone were thousands of feet tall, resembling vast mountains.
The city was filled with an array of imposing and majestic buildings, as well as wide and pristine streets that were teeming with pedestrians.
There were also buildings hovering in the air above, and streaks of light were traversing back and forth through the air.
This city was ck Wind City, thergest city on ck Wind Ind, and it was also home to the teleportation array that led to the outside world.
Even before first light, the entire city had already been teeming with activity for quite some time.
As a coastal city, ck Wind City had an abundance of all types of piers and docks. Countless boats and ships of different sizes were constantly traveling over the sea to reach ck Wind City, and the vast majority of them belonged to mortals.
There was a particrlyrge pier on an area of the coast close to 10 kilometers away from ck Wind City. The pier was thousands of feet long and around 200 to 300 feet wide. It was entirely constructed from white jade, and there were countless faintly glowing runes engraved onto its surface.
The white jade pier stood far taller than the surface of the sea down below, resembling the resting arm of a giant.
At this moment, the pier was packed with people, all of whom were staring expectantly into the distance, as if they were waiting for something.
There was apletely unremarkable-looking young man standing in the crowd. He appeared to be around 17 to 18 years of age and had a slightly darkplexion.
Mu Xue gently exhaled, and he was immediately greeted by the unique fishy and salty aroma of the sea breeze, which caused his brows to furrow slightly.
Havinge from an ind region, even though he had already been on ck Wind Sea for two years, he still wasn''t used to the smell of the sea.
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out nearby. "You''vee pretty early today as well, Brother Mu."
Mu Xue turned to discover a man with an imposing figure making his way toward him. The man had a thick and coarse beard, and his facial features were rather menacing to behold.
Surely you jest, Brother Zhao. When have I ever arrived earlier than you?" Mu Xue chuckled.
The man''s name was Zhao Hu, and despite his intimidating appearance, he actually had quite an easy-going personality. Just like Mu Xue, both of them were foreign itinerant cultivators who hade to ck Wind City to make a living, and the two of them had established a close friendship.
The two began to make small talk with one another, and Zhao Hu lowered his voice as he asked, "How have things gone for you this month, Brother Mu?"
As it turned out, luck hadn''t been on Mu Xue''s side recently, and his brows furrowed slightly as he shook his head in response. "Things haven''t been great recently. I haven''t received many jobs at all in the past few days. What about you, Brother Zhao?"
"I received a job from an important client yesterday and managed to make some money," Zhao Hu replied with a pleased expression, but he wasn''t gloating to Mu Xue.
"I''m going to make an extra effort and strive to earn enough spirit stones to buy a vial of Nascent Formation Elixir by the end of the year," Zhao Hu continued with a hint of excitement in his eyes.
"I must offer you my congrattions in advance then, Brother. Given your spiritual roots and cultivation aptitude, you''ll definitely be able to manifest a nascent soul with the assistance of some Nascent Formation Elixir. Once that happens, you''ll be able to venture out into the sea with hunting parties to hunt for sea beasts, and you''ll be able to earn spirit stones far more quickly than you are now!" Mu Xue said with a hint of envy on his face.
He had only just reached the Core Formation Stage, so he was still far away from the Nascent Soul Stage.
Zhao Hu''s smile grew even more pronounced upon hearing this, and he patted Mu Xue on the shoulder as he said, "You''re still a young man, Brother Mu. The only advantage that I have over you is my age. By the time you get to my age, you''ll have left me far behind."
Right at this moment, a burst of dull rumbling rang out from the distant horizon.
Mu Xue and Zhao Hu immediately ceased their conversation as they turned their attention to the horizon.
Several clouds were drifting apart in the sky amid the rumbling, and an enormous white shadow appeared in the distance.
It was traveling extremely quickly, arriving near the pier in just a few seconds to reveal itself to be a gargantuan white louchuan.
The vessel was over 10,000 feet in length and close to 1,000 feet tall, hovering in mid-air like a majestic white mountain.
The louchuan had somewhere between 20 to 30 levels, and every single level was divided up into countless square grids, which were the windows of the rooms on the ship.
The louchuan rapidly decelerated as it arrived at the pier, quickly drawing to a halt in mid-air.
All of a sudden, the spirit patterns on the pier began to radiate spiritual light of various colors, which converged to form a thick pir of light that erupted straight into the heavens,ing into direct contact with the giant vessel.
In response, countless spirit patterns appeared on the underside of the vessel as well, forming a series of arrays, and the pir of light instantly injected itself into the spirit patterns.
The pir of light resembled a giant chain that connected the pier and the louchuan together.
Under the guidance of the pir of light, the giant white vessel slowly descended,ing to a rest in front of the pier.
The louchuan was called the Skydrift Cloud Ark, and it was vastly renowned throughout the ck Wind Sea.
Even though the ck Wind Sea was only considered to be an insignificant rural area in the context of the entire Northern cial Immortal Region, its area was incredibly vast in the eyes of all of the cultivators here.
Even for a True Immortal, it would''ve taken them countless years to fly across the entire ck Wind Sea.
The inds in the ck Wind Sea were very dispersed, and all types of demon beasts were residing in the sea, making it a very perilous region. Hence, it was extremely inconvenient for cultivators to travel to different inds unless they were at the True Immortal Stage.
The number one trading house on ck Wind Ind had identified this as a business opportunity, expending a huge amount of resources to construct this Skydrift Cloud Ark, which was capable of transporting tens of thousands of people to all parts of the ck Wind Sea.
Thanks to the special refinement methods used, the Skydrift Cloud Ark was extremely fast, far more so than the average True Immortal cultivator.
Even though traveling on the ship was quite expensive, it was still a very popr form of transport among the cultivators of the ck Wind Sea for its speed and safety.
All of a sudden, a vast expanse of white light began to radiate from the Skydrift Cloud Ark, and the white radiance formed a long passageway that was projected to the pier.
A series of cultivators then flew out from the passageway before arriving on the pier.
Mu Xue and Zhao Hu immediately approached those cultivators with smiles on their faces.
"May I ask if you''re traveling to ck Wind City, esteemed senior? I reside permanently in the city, so I know it like the back of my hand. If you want to go somewhere or do something in the city, I''ll definitely be able to help you," Mu Xue said to a ck-robed man in a weing voice.
Meanwhile, Zhao Hu had approached someone else and was doing the same thing, as was everyone on the pier around them.
The ck-robed man paid no heed to Mu Xue and flew directly toward ck Wind City himself.
However, Mu Xue wasn''t disheartened in the slightest, and he immediately turned to the next person with a weing smile. However, that person also ignored him and flew away on their own.
Before long, over half of the louchuan''s passengers had already disembarked, but up to this point, no one was willing to hire Mu Xue.
"Yes! Rest assured, Senior, you can count on me!"
Meanwhile, Zhao Hu had already received a client.
It was a Body Integration cultivator, who swept a hand through the air to release a burst of blue light that enveloped Zhao Hu''s body, following which both of them flew toward ck Wind City.
A hint of frustration shed through Mu Xue''s eyes upon seeing this. Perhaps it was because he was still too young and perceived to becking in maturity, but business had always been quiteckluster for him.
Right at this moment, an azure-robed man drifted down from the louchuan, but instead of immediately setting off for ck Wind City, he began to inspect his surroundings as if he were appreciating the scenery.
"Is this your first timeing to ck Wind Ind, Senior? If you''re going to ck Wind City, then you''ll most likely require a guide. ck Wind City is extremely massive, and not only is theyout of its streets veryplex, there are restrictions in the city that limit the use of one''s spiritual sense.
¡°If you don''t have a capable guide, it''ll be quite troublesome to find things. I grew up my entire life in ck Wind City, so I''ll definitely be able to help you get to where you want to go," Mu Xue greeted.
"So you''re a guide?" the azure-robed man asked.
"That''s right. I''ve already been working as a guide here for about four or five years, and I only charge five mid-grade spirit stones for my services."
Mu Xue could tell that Han Li was interested, and he was ecstatic. In order to ensure that this client didn''t slip through his hands, he charged a slightly lower price than normal.
"This is indeed my first time visiting ck Wind City, so I will be needing a guide," the azure-robed man replied with a nod, then swept a hand through the air to release a burst of azure light, which carried both of them toward ck Wind City.
"What''s your name?" the azure-robed man asked as he took a nce at Mu Xue.
"My name is Mu Xue," Mu Xue hurriedly replied.
"Mu Xue? That sounds like a girl''s name," the azure-robed man remarked with a faint smile.
"My name was given to me by my mother," Mu Xue replied as he scratched his head in a slightly embarrassed manner.
"You just told me that you grew up your entire life in ck Wind City. Those who live by the sea are constantly exposed to the sea breeze, which will result in a darkplexion, but also some red coloration of the skin, and you don''t seem to fit that bill. I''m assuming you actually grew up in a mountainous area, right?" the azure-robed man asked with a hint of a smile on his face.
Mu Xue''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and he lowered his head as he replied, "Your wisdom is truly unmatched, Senior. I did indeed grow up in a mountain vige, and I offer you my sincerest apologies for lying to you. As an outsider, I have no choice but to tell some lies in order to make a living in ck Wind City."
"It''s fine, that doesn''t matter to me. All that matters is that you serve as a good guide," the azure-robed man replied with a dismissive wave of his hand, and a reminiscent look had appeared in his eyes.
The azure-robed man was none other than Han Li, and it had taken him around two months aboard the Skydrift Cloud Ark to arrive at ck Wind City.
As he took in the city before him, a hint of surprise shed through his eyes.
The city was so massive that even with his exceptional eyesight, he was unable to see its boundaries. The entire city was epassed under an enormous array, which was giving off immense spiritual power fluctuations.
The two of them quickly arrived near ck Wind City, where they were greeted by dozens of different gates on the city wall.
"These gates are meant to split up the different types of visitors to the city. Local residents or cultivators generally don''t need to pay an entrance fee, whereas mortals or merchant parties have to pay in silver. You''re a cultivator who''s visiting the city for the first, so you''ll need to go through that gate," Mu Xue introduced as he pointed to a certain gate on the left.
Chapter 138: Immortal Origin Stones and Earthly Pill Masters
Chapter 138: Immortal Origin Stones and Earthly Pill Masters
Han Li merely nodded in response and flew directly toward the gate that Mu Xue was gesturing toward.
A long line had already taken shape in front of the gate designated for foreign cultivators, and there were several ck-robed cultivators stationed at the gate, epting entrance fees from all those entering the city.
These people appeared to be no different from human cultivator, but in reality, they were all Dao Warriors.
There were several lines ofrge text engraved onto one side of the city gate, disying the different fees that had to be submitted by visitors of different cultivation bases. However, the highest tier was only for Spatial Tempering cultivators, and no fees were specified for those at or above the Body Integration Stage.
"Why does it only go up to Spatial Tempering cultivators? Does this mean those at or above the Body Integration Stage don''t need to pay an entrance fee?" Han Li asked.
"That is indeed the case, Senior. Cultivators at or above the Body Integration Stage are considered to be esteemed guest that don''t need to pay," Mu Xue replied with a smile.
"I see," Han Li replied with a smile.
Before long, the two of them had already arrived at the city gate, and Han Li made his way into the city with his hands sped behind his back without summoning any spirit stones.
Spiritual light shed from the hands of the two Dao Warriors stationed at the gate, and the light shed over Han Li''s body before he was granted passage.
A hint of surprise appeared on Mu Xue''s face upon seeing this. He handed one of the Dao Warriors a pair of low-grade spirit stones before hurriedly following along behind Han Li, and the awe and veneration in his eyes had only be more pronounced.
Beyond the city gate was a road that was around 70 to 80 feet wide, and it was paved with azure jade in a clean and orderly fashion.
The street was extremely lively and bustling, and cultivators were an extremelymon sight, many of whom were quite advanced in their cultivation bases.
The street was lined with rows of well-organized shops that were all very clean and orderly, most of which old cultivation materials of a very high quality.
There were no strict flight restrictions in the city, so as long as one didn''t fly too high, they would be allowed to do as they pleased.
Hence, Han Li rose up into the air to inspect his surroundings.
He wasn''t able to see much from outside, but now that he had entered the city, he was greeted by the sight of one bustling street after another, stretching as far as his eyes could see. These streets were all teeming with pedestrians, as well as countless shops of all descriptions.
He couldn''t help but be stunned by the sight of such a thriving city.
"Esteemed senior, have youe to ck Wind City to buy something, or is there something else on your agenda?" Mu Xue asked in a careful voice as he arrived beside Han Li.
"I heard that the teleportation array leading out of the ck Wind Sea is in this city, is that right?" Han Li asked.
"It is. The teleportation array is in the Heavenly Star Pagoda at the center of the city. Could it be that you wish to leave the ck Wind Sea, Senior?" Mu Xue asked.
Han Li merely nodded in response.
"I don''t mean to be rude, Senior, but every year, there are many people whoe to ck Wind City with the intention of leaving the ck Wind Sea, but almost all of them end up failing. It''s a very difficult task to be granted ess to that teleportation array," Mu Xue said with a wry smile.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he asked, "Oh? And why is that?"
"The teleportation array connected to the outside world is an ancient teleportation array controlled by the ind master, and it''s only activated once every century. There''s only a set number of people teleported each time, and the ind master decides who gets to fill those spots. Not only will you have to im one of those spots, using the array incurs an extremely steep cost that even many immortals can afford," Mu Xue exined.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "Do you know when the array is set to be activated next?"
"It shouldn''t be too far away. The array is always activated after the grand auction, which also takes ce once every century. The grand auction is happening soon, and that''s why the city is more lively than usual," Mu Xue replied.
Han Li was rather relieved to hear this, and he asked, "So how do I secure one of those spots from the ind master?"
Mu Xue''s expression stiffened slightly, and he scratched his head sheepishly as he replied, "Well... This is a rather confidential matter, and my cultivation base is too low, so I''m afraid I don''t know..."
Han Li didn''t me Mu Xue for hisck of knowledge on this subject, and he asked, "You also just mentioned that the cost to use the array is very expensive. How many spirit stones will it require?"
"The ind master asks for immortal origin stones rather than spirit stones, and five are required per person," Mu Xue replied.
"Immortal origin stones? What''re those?" Han Li asked.
"From what I''ve heard, immortal origin stones are a type of special currency used by immortals, and their creation requires an immortal to inject their energy into a certain type of special crystal," Mu Xue replied.
This was the first time that Han Li had ever heard of immortal origin stones, and after a moment of contemtion, he asked, "How much are these stones worth? If they''re a type of currency, then surely they can be exchanged for with spirit stones, right?"
"Immortal origin stones aren''t just an ordinary type of currency. Apparently, they''re extremely precious even to immortals, and generally speaking, no one would put them up for trade. I''ve already been in ck Wind City for many years, and I''ve only ever heard of one asion several decades ago when a trading house managed to exchange for an immortal origin stone from an immortal.
¡°At the time, the trading house had to sell several of its shops on the ind to gather enough spirit stones for the transaction," Mu Xue replied.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression, and he was rather intrigued by the concept of these stones.
He didn''t ask any further questions, nor had he expected leaving the ck Wind Sea to be a simple matter.
In any case, he was very curious about ck Wind City, so there was no hurry for him to pursue this matter.
With that in mind, he made his way deeper into the city, while Mu Xue trailed along behind him, providing him with tidbits of information on the city.
The two of them explored the city for close to half a day, and it was a very eye-opening experience for Han Li.
What was particrly of interest to him was the central area of the city, which boasted countless pill shops, material shops, and treasure shops of all descriptions, presenting an almost dizzying sight to behold.
However, ording to Mu Xue, they had only explored less than 10% of the city, and upon hearing that, Han Li was thoroughly convinced that this was indeed thergest city in the entire ck Wind Sea.
All of a sudden, he drew to a halt and turned his gaze to arge shop on the side of the street.
This was a five-story shop with a wide entrance, and the decor wasvish, but not excessively so. Instead, it gave off quite a grand and majestic aura, and it was a huge pill shop.
"This Thousand Medicine House is arguably the best pill shop in all of ck Wind City, and it''s said that the shop even has some ties with the ind master. They sell all types of precious pills at fair prices, and they''ve always maintained a spotless reputation," Mu Xue introduced.
Han Li nodded in response, then made his way into the shop.
He didn''t have many energy recovery pills left, and he was in even shorter supply of other restorative pills. He was going to have to leave the ck Wind Sea and travel eastward in search of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, among other things, so he had to prepare a good stash of pills in case of emergencies.
Mu Xue followed him into the shop.
The shop was filled with wide counters, of which there were dozens in total. The counters wereden with all types of pills, as well as a whole host of pill refinement ingredients.
At this moment, there were quite a few customers browsing through the wares sold in the shop.
Han Li and Mu Xue were immediately weed by a yellow-robed attendant upon entering the shop. "Wee to our Thousand Medicine House. May I ask what type of pills you need?"
Han Li took a nce at the counters around him, following which his brows furrowed slightly.
The pills on these counters were all quite good, but they weren''t of a sufficient standard to be of use to him.
"Are these all the pills that you have here? Do you have any better pills?" Han Li asked.
The attendant took a closer look at Han Li upon seeing this, seemingly trying to gauge Han Li''s status, then replied, "Our shop is the best pill shop in all of ck Wind City, so we naturally have better pills than this, but the price will also..."
All of a sudden, a yellow-robed elderly man hurriedly approached them, and he yelled, "Shut your mouth, you insolent cur! I''ll attend to this senior!"
It was clear from his attire that he was also working at the shop, seemingly in a managerial position.
The attendant immediately realized that he had made a mistake, and he extended an apologetic bow toward Han Li before backing away with his head lowered.
"He has no clue what he''s talking about, please don''t take offense, Senior," the yellow-robed elderly man said as he cupped his fist in an apologetic salute.
Han Li waspletely unbothered, and he replied, "It''s alright. Where are your best pills? Take me to them."
"Pleasee with me," the yellow-robed elderly man said as he made an inviting hand gesture, also treating Mu Xue with a great deal of respect by extension.
Mu Xue hurriedly returned the salute.
"I am the manager here at the Thousand Medicine House, and my name is Lu Ping. May I ask your name, Senior?" the yellow-robed elderly man asked.
"Liu Shi."
"Wee, Senior Liu. The pills sold on the first few floors of our Thousand Medicine House are all ordinary pills refined by Temporal Pill Masters, so it''s no surprise that they haven''t managed to catch your eye. If you visit our shop again, please head straight to the top floor. All of the pills there are refined by Master Hao, and I''m sure they''ll be of use to you, Senior Liu," Manager Lu exined in a warm and hospitable voice.
In order to keep a low profile, Han Li had restricted his own cultivation base to the Grand Ascension Stage. Lu Ping was an early-Body Integration cultivator, so he was already able to get a rough sense of Han Li''s aura.
"Master Hao is one of the ck Wind Sea''s top three pill refinement masters, and it''s said that his skills are already on par with those of a B-grade Earthly Pill Master," Mu Xue exined to Han Li in a quiet voice.
As he was speaking, the three of them had already arrived on the fifth floor.
There were only counters here, only intricately crafted wooden shelves. There were only three such shelves with several attendants standing next to each shelf, but there wasn''t a single customer on the level aside from Han Li.
"Our Thousand Medicine House has very close ties with Master Hao, and most of the pills refined by him are sold in our shop. This shelf contains pills to enhance one''s cultivation base, all of these restorative pills, and over here are the pills that have regenerative, antidotal, and other effects," Manager Lu introduced.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly at the sight of these pills.
As expected of the best pill shop in ck Wind City, all of the pills here appeared to be of quite a high quality, not inferior in the slightest to the ones that he had exchanged from the Transient Guild. In fact, there were even a few that were clearly of a higher quality.
Judging from the prior conversation, it seemed that only those capable of refining pills useful to immortals or those close to ascending to be immortals could be referred to as Earthly Pill Masters. In contrast, those who refined pills for ordinary cultivators were Temporal Pill Masters. At the very least, that was the assumption that Han Li was making.
As for whether this was actually the case, he would have to find a chance to rify the matter.
Chapter 139: Pill Masters of the Immortal Realm
Chapter 139: Pill Masters of the Immortal Realm
Han Li didn''t pay any attention to the pills used for cultivation base enhancement or restoration. Instead, he made his way straight to the shelf that carried energy recovery pills.
Beneath each pill on the shelf was a detailed description of the pill''s effects, as well as its price.
His gaze slowly roamed over the shelf, and he quickly spotted a type of pill called the Origin Return Pill.
This pill had an immense energy recovery effect. Every time he manifested a crystal that contained thews of time, he would be left in desperately short supply of energy, so this pill was perfect for shortening his recovery time.
"I''ll take five vials of Origin Return Pills," Han Li dered.
Each vial only contained three pills, but it cost 30 top-grade spirit stones. Thankfully, Han Li had obtained quite a few top-grade spirit stones from the Earthly Immortals and itinerant cultivators that he had previously in, so the price wasn''t too steep for him to afford.
"Yes, Senior!" An ted look appeared on Lu Ping''s face as he pulled out a badge.
A burst of white light shot out of the badge beforending on the protective barrier around the shelf, and an opening appeared, following which one of the attendants immediately crouched down and pulled out five green jade vials.
After some more searching, Han Li picked out some Origin Watch Pills, which allowed the consumer to elerate their absorption of the world''s origin qi for a short time, as well as some Bone Alteration Pill, which was a pill that could provide a disguise that could fool even the spiritual sense ofte-True Immortal cultivator.
These two types of pills weren''t cheap, either, and he had spent the majority of his top-grade spirit stones here.
However, he was willing to make this investment if it meant that he could better deal with the potentially perilous journey ahead.
Manager Lu was naturally very pleased, seeing as this was quite a big sale for him.
Right as he was about to introduce some other pills to Han Li, the sound of footsteps rang out, and two more figures arrived on the fifth floor.
One of them was a young woman who appeared to be around 18 to 19 years of age. Her robes were as pristine as snow, and she resembled a pure celestial maiden who had descended from the pce on the moon.
Beside the young woman was a blue-robed young man who appeared to be in his twenties. He was also quite handsome in appearance, but the arrogant look on his face made for a negative first impression.
The blue-robed young man took a nce at Han Li out of the corner of his eye, then interjected in a rude manner, "Lu Ping, are the spirit ingredients I asked you to preparest time ready?"
"Please pardon me for noting out to greet you sooner, Master Fang. The spirit ingredients that you asked for have been prepared well in advance, I''ll go fetch them now."
Manager Lu hurriedly made his way toward the duo, shooting Han Li an apologetic nce as he was speaking.
Han Li took a nce at the blue-robed young man, and his gaze settled onto a small crimson cauldron design emzoned onto his cor.
"That''s a symbol that can only be worn by pill masters. That man is an A-grade Temporal Pill Master," Mu Xue introduced in a quiet voice.
Han Li nodded in a contemtive manner upon hearing this, then withdrew his gaze as he continued to browse through the other pills on the shelves on his own.
Meanwhile, Lu Ping called over a couple of attendants to apany the Master Fang and the young woman, while he quickly made his way downstairs.
The white-robed young woman had a concerned look on her face as she made her way over to the wooden shelf that carried all types of restorative and antidotal pills.
"Given Brother Mo''s powers, I''d say he''s most likely just fallen into some type of special space or restriction that severed his connection with his Origin Soul Lamp. There are examples of this happening in the past, so don''t be too concerned," the blue-robed young man consoled in a gentle voice as he trailed along behind the young woman.
"I''m also confident in his abilities, but I have to find him no matter what," the young woman replied with a nod, and her voice was as crisp and pleasant as the call of an oriole.
Han Li paid no heed to the two of them as he quickly scanned through all of the pills on the fifth floor, but didn''t find anything else that caught his fancy.
"Let''s go," he said to Mu Xue, then turned to make his way back downstairs.
After leaving the Thousand Medicine House, Han Li took a nce at the throngs of people on the streets, then turned to Mu Xue as he asked, "Are there any cave abodes on ck Wind Ind avable for temporary amodation?"
"Around 250 kilometers away from the city is a mountain by the name of Mount Youyang, and it was developed by the ind master to serve as temporary amodation for cultivators. I''ve taken a few people there in the past, so I''m very familiar with its whereabouts, and I can take you there as well if you need, Senior," Mu Xue replied.
"No need. Just tell me the rough location, and I''ll go there on my own," Han Li said.
Mu Xue was slightly dejected to hear this, but he immediately did as he was told. "Just take the main road at the center of the city out of the northern gate and keep traveling northward to get to Mount Younyang."
With a flick of his wrist, Han Li casually tossed out a longan-sized azure rock, which fell toward Mu Xue.
Mu Xue hurriedly caught the object to find that it was a high-grade spirit stone, and an ted look immediately appeared on his face, but he then offered the spirit stone back to Han Li with both hands in a slightly fearful manner as he said, "This is too much, Senior. Five mid-grade spirit stones will suffice."
"Just take it. I''m not giving this spirit stone to you for free. There''s something that I need you to find out for me," Han Li said with a smile.
Mu Xue faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he didn''t immediately withdraw the spirit stone as he asked, "What is it, Senior?"
Han Li was quite pleased with Mu Xue''s reaction, and he replied, "I want you to help me find out how I can im one of the spots to leave the ck Wind Sea. If you can find out information that''s useful to me, I''ll be sure to reward you."
"Rest assured, Senior, you can count on me!" Mu Xue assured with a nod as an ted look appeared on his face.
With that, the two of them parted ways, departing in different directions.
Han Li slowly made his way along the main road at the center of the city while looking at the shops around him, and he was in no hurry as he casually strolled out of the city.
After emerging from the city, he walked for a while longer before abruptly springing up from the ground and vanishing in a sh.
250 kilometers was a distance that Han Li could cover in the blink of an eye, and he quickly descended in front of an elegant mountain that was several thousand feet tall.
He looked up to find that the mountain wasn''t very tall, but it was extremely lush, and there was a ring of cloud and mist halfway up the mountain, giving it the appearance of an immortal abode.
He also noticed ayer of faint and peculiar spiritual power fluctuations that epassed the entire mountain like an enormous, invisible.
After observing the mountain for a moment, he withdrew his gaze, then made his way toward a grand hall situated at the entrance to the mountain.
Upon entering the hall, he was greeted by a sight of a massive screen, upon which the entirety of Mount Younyang was embroidered in golden thread, presenting a breathtaking sight to behold.
In front of the screen was arge wooden table that was of a reddish-purple color. Its surface was as smooth as a mirror, and a beast-head incense burner was sitting on the corner of the table, out of which incense smoke was billowing incessantly.
Behind the cloud of smoke was an elderly man in a schrly azure robe, and he was reading an ancient book with keen interest, seemingly not having detected Han Li''s arrival at all.
Han Li looked around to find that there was no one else in the hall, so he approached the table before clearing his throat to catch the elderly man''s attention.
Only then did the elderly man raise his head to look at Han Li, and a hint of displeasure shed through his eyes.
"Are you here to rent a cave abode?" the elderly man asked.
"Do you have any cave abodes that are more quiet and secluded in location?" Han Li asked.
The elderly man gave him a disgruntled nce as he replied, "I''ve heard this request so many times that my ears are about to develop callouses! Everyone whoes here asks for the same thing. Do you all regard yourselves as True Immortals?"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of spiritual pressure that was far superior to the Grand Ascension Stage erupted out of Han Li''s body, and the elderly man almost fell out of his chair in shock and horror.
He hurriedly stood up from his chair with a fearful expression, extending a deep bow as he implored, "Please forgive me for my insolence, Senior."
Han Li had no intention of pursuing the matter, and he withdrew his aura as he tossed a small pouch of spirit stones at the elderly man, then said, "Find me a quiet cave abode, and keep the change."
The elderly man epted the pouch of spirit stones, and a hint of tion shed through his eyes as he pointed at the giant screen behind him and said, "This cave abode here is situated on the edge of the Sun Watch Cliff on the mountain summit, and it''s always been the most peaceful of the few A-grade cave abodes on the mountain. Will this one suffice for your needs?"
Han Li turned to find that a speck of light had appeared on the summit of the mountain embroidered on the screen, and it was indeed quite a peaceful and secluded location that was far away from all of the other cave abodes.
"Alright, I''ll take that one," Han Li replied with a nod.
The elderly man immediately stowed the spirit stones away, then handed a round ck badge to Han Li.
Momentster, outside the hall.
Han Li injected a wisp of magic power into the round badge, and ayer of faint dark golden light instantly appeared on its surface.
ording to the elderly man, not only did this badge serve as the key to opening the cave abode, it was also the token that would allow him to enter Mount Youyang''s mountain protection array.
As long as he had this badge in his possession, he would be able to fly anywhere on Mount Youyang. Otherwise, he would trigger the array and be targeted as a trespasser.
Han Li looked up at the sun, which was gradually setting in the west, and he flew up toward the mountain summit in a sh.
Before long, he had already arrived in a rtively spacious cave abode.
Even though restrictions had already been set up here, Han Li still set up several more restrictions of his own for peace of mind.
After that, he arrived in the secret chamber and sat down with his legs crossed, where he stared absentmindedly at the space before him with different emotions shing through his eyes.
He had seen and heard many things in ck Wind City on this day that had left a deep impression on him.
After a brief silence, Han Li suddenly called out, "Mo Guang."
His shadow immediately swayed and warped for a moment, following which a shadowy figure emerged. It was none other than Mo Guang, and its expression was still as wooden as ever.
"Do you know how pill masters are ranked in the Immortal Realm, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang?" Han Li asked.
"ording to my knowledge, pill masters of the Immortal Realm are primarily split up into three categories, namely Temporal, Earthly, and Heavenly," Mo Guang replied.
Chapter 140: Dao Pill
Chapter 140: Dao Pill
Han Li nodded with a contemtive look in his eyes, then said, "I see, so there really are Heavenly Pill Masters above Earthly ones. If I''m not mistaken, I presume Temporal Pill Masters can only refine pills useful to normal cultivators, while Earthly Pill Masters are capable of refining pills useful to immortals. So what sets a Heavenly Pill Master apart from those two?"
"You''rergely correct on the ssification of Temporal and Earthly Pill Master. As for Heavenly Pill Master, they''re also known as Dao Pill Masters, and they''re the loftiest pill refinement masters of the Immortal Realm. The one thing that separates them from other pill masters is their ability to refine dao pills," Mo Guang exined.
"How are dao pills different from other pills?" Han Li asked.
"Dao pills are pills that contain the power ofws," Mo Guang replied.
A thought seemed to have urred to Han Li upon hearing this, and he asked, "Does that mean that consuming such pills will allow one to directly perceive the power ofws?"
"In the Immortal Realm, there are two main paths that immortals take to master the power ofws in order to be True Immortals, the first of which is through the use of cultivation methods, cultivating for vast spans of time for the slim chance of being able to attain the power ofws.
¡°The second path is to refine some type of spirit material that contains a certain type of power ofws into a pill, then taking that pill to directly perceive the power ofws contained within," Mo Guang exined.
Han Li was astonished to hear this, but he took a deep breath topose himself, then asked, "Is that really true? Doesn''t that mean that taking a single dao pill would save tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation?"
"That''s not the case. Even if one does manage to obtain a dao pill, there''s still only a very slim chance that they''ll be able to attain the power ofws contained in the pill. However, even so, these pills are still immensely beneficial to perceiving the power ofws," Mo Guang exined.
"The probability of being able to attain the power ofws through the consumption of dao pills must be rted to the quality of the dao pill, right?" Han Li asked.
"Of course. Generally speaking, dao pills will definitely contain the power ofws, but not all pills that contain the power ofws are dao pills. The exact way to tell whether a pill is a dao pill or not is to see if there are dao patterns present on its surface following refinement, and the quality of a dao pill can be determined based on how many dao patterns it has," Mo Guang exined.
"Dao patterns, eh? Do you how many dao patterns the highest grade dao pills will carry?" Han Li asked.
"The most number of dao patterns a pill can have is nine, and those are referred to as ninth-tier dao pills, but they exist almost only in legends. Even first-tier dao pills are extremely rare and precious in the Immortal Realm," Mo Guang replied.
"I see... No wonder Heavenly Pill Masters are so revered in the Immortal Realm," Han Li mused.
"I''m aware that back in the Spirit Realm, you were already quite a capable pill refinement master, so I''m assuming you''re asking these questions because you have aspirations of bing a Heavenly Pill Master yourself.
¡°However, ording to my knowledge, perhaps one in every 1,000 pill masters could be an Earthly Pill Master, but even among 100,000 Earthly Pill Master, perhaps not even a single one would go on to be a Dao Pill Master. As for Heavenly Pill Masters capable of refining high-grade dao pills, those are even rarer," Mo Guang said.
"Pill refinement is something that requires experience. Spirit materials that contain the power ofws are extremely rare, so there simply isn''t enough of those materials to practice on," Han Li said with a smile, seeminglypletely unsurprised by how rare Heavenly Pill Masters were.
"That is indeed an important reason. The other reason is that dao pill recipes are just are rare, and they''re virtually all in the possession of the Immortal Realm''s most powerful entities. Just like pill refinement masters of the Spirit Realm, most Heavenly Pill Masters serve those powerful entities, and its extremely rare to see an independent Heavenly Pill Master," Mo Guang exined.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"Also, there''s a rumor about dao pills, which is that the recipe for each type of dao pill can only be mastered by a set number of Heavenly Pill Masters. Once this quota is filled, no one else will be able to master the refinement method for that type of dao pill," Mo Guang added.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this. "Really? That sounds a little far-fetched."
"No one has been able to verify the authenticity of this rumor, but everyone would rather believe that it''s true than renounce the im. Hence, generally speaking, unless it''s absolutely necessary to do so, no one is willing to share their dao pill recipe with others," Mo Guang said.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this. This waspletely understable to him as he would do the exact same thing in that position.
"That''s all I know about dao pills and Heavenly Pill Masters, I hope this information was helpful to you," Mo Guang concluded, then prepared to return to Han Li''s shadow.
However, another thought suddenly urred to Han Li, and he called out, "Please hold on for a moment, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, I have something else to ask you."
"What is it, Fellow Daoist Han?" Mo Guang asked.
"I''d like to know more about immortal origin stones," Han Li said.
"Immortal origin stones are fantastic things that can quickly replenish one''s immortal spiritual power during battle, and can also be used to enhance one''s rate of cultivation, so they''re extremely rare and sought-after everywhere in the Immortal Realm," Mo Guang said.
"I see, no wonder it can be used as a type of currency. How long does it take to create an immortal origin stone?" Han Li asked.
"That differs from person to person. Generally speaking, ate-True Immortal cultivator would be able to create one in a year, while a mid-True Immortal cultivator would take a decade, and it would take over a century for an early-True Immortal cultivator," Mo Guang replied.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
Five immortal origin stones were required to use the teleportation array, and in Han Li''s mind, if these immortal origin stones didn''t take very long to create, then he would''ve done so himself, but it seemed that this wasn''t a feasible option.
"The timeframes that I justid out apply only to low-grade immortal origin stones. Just like spirit stones, immortal origin stones are also split up into four grades, namely low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and top-grade. Generally speaking, only high-grade immortals will be able to create high-grade and top grade immortal origin stones," Mo Guang continued.
"Aside from the constant injection of immortal spiritual power, are there any other requirements to creating such stones?" Han Li asked.
"During the creation of an immortal origin stone, the creator will be unable to cultivate. No immortal is willing to deal with such a damning limitation, and that''s why immortal origin stones of all grades are extremely rare in the Immortal Realm," Mo Guang replied.
Han Li nodded in response, and a disappointed look surfaced in his eyes.
It seemed that his chances of being able to exchange for immortal origin stones were also extremely slim.
Seeing as Han Li had fallen silent, Mo Guang knew that his services were no longer required, and it vanished into Han Li''s shadow in a sh.
¡¡
That night.
A streak of light abruptly rose up from the summit of Mount Youyang, then vanished in the blink of an eye like a sh of lightning.
Shortly thereafter, a figure appeared in a secluded region of the sea tens of thousand of kilometers away, hovering above the surface of the water.
It was none other than Han Li, and his eyes were as bright as stars as he made a grabbing motion in front of his own chest, then tossed something high up into the air before beginning to chant an incantation.
As he did this, the small vial that was hovering in mid-air began to tremble violently, and all of the world''s origin qi within the surrounding area also began to disy signs of unrest.
A spherical azure light barrier began to slowly expand outward in all directions, and the waves on the surface of the sea began to surge and churn.
Seven days and seven nights passed by in the blink of an eye.
A small crystal slowly descended out of the sky, alongside the small vial, which had be virtuallypletely transparent, and the sea had returned to a calm and tranquil state.
Han Li had taken an Origin Return Pill in advance, so he wasn''t left in an emaciated condition as he had been in the past. However, he was still looking rather feeble and weary, and after catching the crystal and the vial, he immediately flipped a hand over to produce a green jade vial, out of which he poured another Origin Return Pill that he promptly devoured.
A cool and refreshing sensation began to spread through his throat, and as the pill entered his stomach, the cool sensation quickly turned into a surge of warmth, which flowed throughout his body before finally entering his dantian.
He felt a slightly warm sensation in his dantian, following which the rate at which he was absorbing the world''s origin qi increased drastically, thereby significantly enhancing his rate of immortal spiritual power recovery.
Manager Lu had told him about how exceptionally efficacious high-grade pills were, and at the time, Han Li hadn''t taken it to heart, but only after taking these Origin Return pills did hee to realize just how different they were from the pills he had taken in the past.
This was a pill that could drastically enhance the rate of immortal spiritual power recovery for a short time. Furthermore, it could also be taken to enhance the rate of creation of immortal origin stones, so it was no wonder that they cost such a steep price.
After resting on the spot for a moment, Han Li flew back toward ck Wind City as a streak of azure light.
As soon as Han Li reappeared in the Thousand Medicine House, he was immediately spotted by Manager Lu, who was attending to another customer. He was rather taken aback to see Han Li back so soon, but he quickly excused himself, then approached Han Li with a warm smile.
"Wee, Senior. To what do I owe this honor?" he asked as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute.
"The pills that I purchased from herest time were quite good, so I decided toe back and have another look," Han Li replied with a smile.
Manager Lu''s smile widened even further upon hearing this, and he quickly led Han Li upstairs as he said, "You are most wee to visit our shop at anytime, Senior. Pleasee with me."
Just like during Han Li''sst visit, the fifth floor was very quiet, with not a single customer present.
"Have youe to purchase more Origin Return Pills, or would you like to try some other types of pills?" Manager Lu asked.
"Before I decide what pills I want to buy, I have some questions I''d like to ask you," Han Li said in a calm manner.
Manager Lu faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response. "Please go ahead, Senior."
"Not only are the pills sold in your shop very fast-acting, they''re extremely efficacious as well, and I presume that must be directly rted to the quality of the spirit ingredients used and the skills of the pill refinement master, right?" Han Li asked.
"That is indeed the case. It sounds like you''re an expert in the art of pill refinement, Senior," Manager Lu said with a smile.
"I wouldn''t call myself an expert, I''m only dabbled a little in pill refinement myself in the past as well," Han Li replied.
Manager Lu seemed to have been rather taken aback to hear this, and he hurriedly asked, "May I ask what tier pill refinement master you are, Senior?"
Han Li put on an embarrassed expression as he replied, "Truth be told, I''ve been residing in a secluded area for a long time prior toing here, and I''ve never had a chance to have my pill refinement skills evaluated. One of the reasons I came today is to have my skills evaluated by a pill refinement master of your shop so I can determine what level I''m at."
Chapter 141: Pill Refinement Examination
Chapter 141: Pill Refinement Examination
Manager Lu''s brows furrowed ever so slightly upon hearing this, but his expression then quickly returned to normal.
"Rest assured, Manager Lu, I''m willing to cover all expenses for the examination," Han Li added.
Manager Lu didn''t hesitate any longer upon hearing this, and he replied, "In that case, it would be downright rude of our Thousand Medicine House to turn you down. Pleasee with me, Senior."
With that, he promptly made his way out of the room, leading Han Li back downstairs, then emerged from the rear hall on the first floor before traveling along a path that led to the backyard.
Deep in the backyard was a circr archway that separated it from the front yard.
Even before arriving at the archway, Han Li detected a transparent light barrier present in the air within the archway, and judging from the spatial fluctuations emanating from it, it seemed to have been a teleportation array.
Upon arriving at the archway, Manager Lu stopped in his tracks, then turned back to Han Li aske said, "Please wait here for me while I make our presence known, Senior."
He then flipped a hand over to produce a purple badge, which he waved at the archway up ahead, and a burst of bright light immediately appeared within the archway.
Upon stepping into the archway, Manager Lu instantly vanished.
Han Li inspected his surroundings for a moment, following which the archway lit up again, and Manager Lu''s voice rang out from within.
"Pleasee in, Senior."
Han Li did as he was told, stepping into the archway.
As soon as he did so, he immediately arrived in a hot environment with a rich andplex medicinal aroma in the air.
He looked around to discovered that they seemed to be in a hall that resembled an underground pce, and there were several wide paths leading in all directions.
On the walls on either side of the path were a series of copper doors, each of which was around 10 feet tall, and the light of mes could just barely be made out beyond them.
Before Han Li had a chance to take a good look at his surroundings, Manager Lu led him down one of the paths, which led to a spacious guest hall.
Inside the room sat a red-haired elderly man with a medium build, wearing a short dark purple robe. He was holding a teacup with one hand and the lid of the teacup in the other.
Han Li was immediately able to sense from the man''s aura that he was a Grand Ascension cultivator.
Upon seeing the arrival of Han Li''s duo, the elderly man set down his teacup and rose to his feet.
Manager Lu turned to Han Li as he introduced, "This is Master Zhu, an A-grade Temporal Pill Master, and he''s agreed to conduct your examination."
"You have my thanks, Master Zhu," Han Li said as he extended a salute.
The red-haired elderly man could sense that Han Li''s cultivation base wasn''t inferior to his own, so he didn''t dare to show any disrespect and returned Han Li''s salute as he said, "If you want to examine your pill refinement skills, then I suggest we each refine a Sunray Pill, and byparing the quality of our pills, we''ll be able to determine your skill level."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "Sunray Pill? I''m afraid I don''t know the refinement method for this pill. Is this something sold by your pill shop?"
"Oh?"
The red-haired elderly man was rather taken aback to hear this, seemingly rather surprised by Han Li''sck of knowledge, and he was beginning to look down on Han Li a little.
"There''s no need to purchase the recipe. Sunray Pills are considered to be quite valuable among temporal pills, but its recipe is quite readily avable in this area, so it''s not worth much, and I''m happy to give it to you as a gift."
The red-haired elderly man swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, sending a white jade slip flying toward Han Li.
Han Li caught the jade slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it, and he couldn''t help but feel a little dismayed by what he saw.
The pill recipe was free, but all of the medicinal ingredients listed were quite expensive, and he had to pay for two batches, so this was quite a steep price to pay.
The red-haired elderly man then began to borate on some things that had to be kept in mind during the refinement of Sunray Pills.
Han Li listened carefully to his instructions,mitting everything to memory. At the same time, he was pondering the steps that he was going to take and how he was going to control the temperature of his me based on his past pill refinement experience.
A few minutester, the two of them each epted a storage pouch from Manager Lu, within which contained all of the ingredients required to refine Sunray Pills, following which each of them made their way into a pill refinement chamber.
A loud ng rang out as the heavy bronze gate was shut, and Han Li inspected hi surroundings to find that the pill refinement chambers here were rather different from the ones he had seen in the Spirit Realm.
There was barely anything in the chamber, with only a purple copper pill refinement furnace positioned at the center of the room. There was no firepit on the ground, nor were there any fire-starting runes on the furnace.
Complex runes had been engraved onto the walls and the ground, seemingly forming some type of restriction that was capable of condensing and sealing the spiritual qi within the chamber.
After taking a moment to familiarize himself with his surroundings, he began to focus on the task at hand.
He raised a hand before snapping his fingers, and a silver me flew into the pill furnace like a bird.
Scorching silver mes instantly rose up within the furnace, and only after about 15 minutes had passed, once the furnace had reached a sufficient temperature, did Han Li gradually begin to add medicinal ingredients to it.
As one spirit ingredient after another flew into the furnace, a medicinal aroma began to waft through the entire pill refinement chamber.
Around two hourster, a faint sound rang out from within the pill furnace, and Han Li caught sight of a cloud of faint purple mist beginning to rise up out of the gap on the top of the furnace. It lingered above the furnace without dispersing, presenting an intriguing sight to behold.
ording to the red-haired elderly man''s instructions, this was the point when he should''ve been adding the Cloudform Herb.
However, as Han Li picked up the Cloudform Herb, a hesitant look appeared in his eyes.
He had refined countless pills in the past, and there was a hierarchy of importance that applied to all ingredients used in pill refinement. The purposes served by the ingredients differed depending on their level of importance.
The Cloudform Herb wasn''t a spirit ingredient that was unique to the Immortal Realm. Instead, it was something that he had used back in the Spirit Realm, so he knew that it properties were quite mild, and it was normally used to bnce out the medicinal effects of the other ingredient. In the case of the Sunray Pill, it served that same purpose.
At this point, the purple mist had only just begun to rise up from the furnace, which meant that the other ingredients had only just begun to release their medicinal effects, and there was no need to bnce them out yet. Hence, this was definitely not the best time to be adding in the Cloudform Herb, and that was the reason for his hesitance.
However, he quickly made a decision, sticking by his gut instinct.
Around another hour passed, and the purple mist billowing out of the pill furnace had be a lot denser. Only then did Han Li lift the furnace lid before tossing in the Cloudform Herb.
As a strong medicinal aroma wafted into his nostrils, a hint of tion appeared in his eyes.
Right at this moment, the surrounding walls suddenly began to glow, and the array patterns engraved upon them were activated of their own ord.
A small vortex instantly took shape in the entire pill refinement chamber, sweeping up the spirit power that was escaping from the pill before directing it back to the pill furnace.
¡¡
Around four hourster, the red-haired elderly man had already emerged from his pill refinement chamber, and he was waiting together with Manager Lu outside Han Li''s pill refinement chamber.
Around another 15 minutes passed, and the door of Han Li''s pill refinement chamber also swung open, following which he emerged with a white vial in his hand.
Manager Lu smiled as he said, "Looks like you''ve sessfully refined the Sunray Pill as well, Senior. Congrattions."
"I don''t know how well I was able to refine the pill, so I''ll have to trouble the two of you to appraise it for me," Han Li said as he offered them the vial.
Manager Lu epted the vial before pulling out the stopper, and a rich medicinal aroma immediately wafted out from within.
The red-haired elderly man expression instantly changed slightly upon catching a whiff of the aroma, and he unconsciously sidled up closer to Manager Lu to take a closer look at Han Li''s pill.
ced on Manager Lu''s hands were the two batches of three Sunray Pills that Han Li and the red-haired elderly man had refined. On the surface, they didn''t look very different, with the only notable disparity being that Han Li''s pills appeared a little smaller.
Han Li turned his gaze to the red-haired elderly man, and he was just about to ask for his opinion when thetter heaved a faint sigh before departing without a word.
Manager Lu made no effort to stop him. Only after he hadpletely disappeared out of view did he turn to Han Li with a peculiar look on his face as he exined, "Please don''t take it to heart, Senior. Master Zhu is not trying to be rude, he''s just feeling a little... defeated."
Han Li immediately understood what Manager Lu was trying to say, and he waved a hand with a smile as he said, "In that case, I''ll have to trouble you to appraise these pills, Manager Lu."
Manager Lu wasn''t a pill refinement master, but he was a very skilled pill appraiser, and he said, "If what you said earlier is true, and you really haven''te into contact with any high-grade pills of the Immortal Realm prior to this, then I can only say that you have immense talent for pill refinement.
¡°Your control over temperature is incredibly precise, allowing you to eradicate all of the impurities in these Sunray Pills while alsopletely preserving the medicinal effect. The quality of these pills exceeds that of the ones refined by Master Zhu."
"So where would I rank as a pill refinement master in the Immortal Realm?" Han Li asked as a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Even though you only refined the Sunray Pill on this asion, judging from the quality of the pill, you are undoubtedly already an A-grade Temporal Pill Master," Manager Lu replied with a serious expression.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression.
Even though he didn''t have to disy the full extent of his skills in the refinement of a pill of this caliber, the level ofplexity and difficulty of refining this pill was not inferior to that of the top-tier pills of the Spirit Realm.
With that in mind, his past pill refinement skills would''ve most likely onlynded him the rank of C-grade Temporal Pill Master in the Immortal Realm.
Manager Lu could see that Han Li didn''t seem particrly excited about this appraisal, and he added, "Given your current pill refinement skills, there''s definitely a chance that you could be an Earthly Pill Master in the future."
"Thank you for kind words, Fellow Daoist Lu," Han Li replied, and right there and then, he made up his mind, resolving himself to be a Heavenly Pill Master.
Once he reached that level, all he would need to do would be to find a suitable pill recipe, and he would be able to refine those mysterious crystals produced by the Heaven Controlling Vial into dao pills.
He had a unique advantage over others in that it was far easier for him to obtain spirit materials that contained the power ofws.
After a brief hesitation, Manager Lu asked, "May I ask if you''re nning to settle permanently in ck Wind City, or are you just visiting on a temporary basis?"
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and Manager Lu hurriedly exined, "Please don''t misunderstand, Senior, I only wanted to invite you to join our Thousand Medicine House as a guest pill master. Given your skills, I''m sure you''ll be ranked second only to Master Hao in no time, and once you get there..."
Han Li waved a hand to cut off Manager Lu as he said, "I''m only stopping by in this city for a short time, but I appreciate the kind offer."
Manager Lu could tell that Han Li didn''t seem to be lying, so he could only heave a forlorn sigh and drop the subject.
After that, Han Li purchased some more Origin Return Pills, then paid for them along with the cost of the Sunray Pills before promptly departing.
Of course, the six Sunray pills refined by himself and the red-haired elderly man had also been taken by him.
Chapter 142: Best of Both Worlds
Chapter 142: Best of Both Worlds
After leaving the Thousand Medicine House, Han Li didn''t immediately return to his cave abode on Mount Youyang. Instead, he began to explore some of therger shops nearby.
The pills that he had purchased up to this point had almostpletely exhausted his stash of spirit stones, and he was definitely going to need spending money, so he was nning to sell some of his materials and treasures for top-grade spirit stones.
After walking for a while, he made his way onto a crowded main street, and he spotted a tall building that upied the best spot on the entire street.
The building was three stories tall, and it was entirely constructed from fire y bricks. There was a pair of gold-ted pirs in front of the entrance, supporting a hexagonal eave, atop which were zed green tiles and golden rooftop beasts, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
Above the entrance was arge red que with a golden border, upon which was inscribed the words "Exotic Treasure House" in majestic gold-ted text.
Han Li took a nce at the que, then made his way up the stone steps before striding over the doorstep to enter the shop.
There were quite a few customers in the shop, gathered together in small groups in front of a series of redwood counters, examining and pointing at the treasures and materials ced on the shelves behind the counters.
Each group was apanied by an azure-robed attendant, who were either offering descriptions and exnations of the shop''s wares, or pulling down items from the shelves so the customers could examine them more closely.
Han Li took a brief nce at his surroundings, and he discovered that even though the treasures and materials on the shelves weren''t of a particrly high caliber, with even the best ones among them only suitable to be used by Deity Transformation cultivators, they were all of an extremely high quality.
Right at this moment, he was spotted by an azure-robed attendant, who quickly excused himself, then approached Han Li with a smile as he asked, "What are you looking for? Do you require my assistance with anything?"
"I''m not here to buy, I''m here to sell," Han Li replied with a smile.
The azure-robed attendant was rather taken aback to hear this, then said, "I see. In that case, pleasee with me. Master Hai and Master Hu have always been the ones overseeing the purchase of items in our Exotic Treasure House, so I''ll take you to see them."
Han Li merely nodded in response.
He was led by the attendant up a spiral wooden staircase straight to the third floor.
Theyout of the third floor waspletely different from that of the first floor. Rather than a shop, it bore a much closer resemnce to a tea room, and there was a series of separate rooms here.
The attendant made his way to the door of one of the rooms, then called out, "Master Hai, Master Hu, I''ve brought a customer."
The door of the room swung open, and Han Li was greeted by the sight of two people seated across from one another with a go board ced on the table between them, upon which were dozens of ck and white stones.
The two of them looked up at Han Li, and upon sensing his aura, they immediately rose to their feet before extending a salute to him.
Among them was a schrly azure-robed middle-aged man, and he waved a hand to dismiss the attendant, then said, "My name is Hai Wuliang, and this here is my colleague, Hu Dayou. May I ask your name, Fellow Daoist?"
The short-haired elderly man''s attention was still on the game, and his gaze remained on the go board. He merely put on a faint smile and nodded at Han Li in an absent-minded manner.
"You can call me Liu Shi," Han Li replied.
"The two of us have always been responsible for the appraisal and purchase of items here in the Exotic Treasure House. The fact that you''ve been brought here must mean that you have something to sell to us, right?" the schrly man asked with a warm smile.
"That''s right. I have a water spirit bell here that I would like to have appraised," Han Li replied with a smile.
He flipped a hand over as he spoke, and a small blue bell appeared on the palm of his hand, The bell was glittering and translucent, withplex runes inscribed on its surface, and there were also several streaks of light that resembled roaming dragons swirling around it.
Hai Wuliang''s eyes instantly lit up at the sight of the bell, and the short-haired elderly man also finally shifted his gaze away from the go board.
The two of them carefully epted the water spirit bell, and after some close examination, they exchanged a nce with one another, following which one of them said, "This is a treasure of a very high caliber, and it can only be used by cultivators who are at least at the Grand Ascension Stage. However, it appears to not be an offensive or defensive treasure. Instead, it can only be used to seal all of the spiritual qi in an area."
This was a treasure that Han Li had secured from Han Qiu''s storage bracelet, and just as the short-haired elderly man said, it was a rather niche treasure.
Hence, this was the first treasure that Han Li wanted to sell.
"You are indeed correct, Fellow Daoist. However, this is an exceptional treasure for those who are using water-attribute cultivation arts or want to conceal certain water-attribute spirit items. I''m sure you''ll give me a fair price," Han Li said with a smile.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Hu Dayou asked, "I can do three top-grade spirit stones. What do you think Fellow Daoist?"
Han Li thought about this offer for a moment, and he felt it to be a fair price, so he nodded in response.
After that, he flipped his hand over once again to summon a white bead, which was giving off cial qi that was visible even to the naked eye.
As soon as the bead appeared, the temperature of the room instantly plummeted, and a burst of faint crackling rang out from the teacups ced beside the go board. As it turned out, the tea inside had been instantly frozen solid.
The eyes of the two appraisers lit up once again, and they began to carefully examine the bead...
Around an hourter, Han Li slowly emerged from the Exotic Treasure House. Hai Wuliang and Hu Dayou had insisted on apanying him down to the first floor and out of the shop.
Prior to his departure, they had invited him repeatedly toe back if he had any more treasures that he wanted to sell, and they assured him that they would give him good prices.
Han Li thanked them with a smile, then turned to depart, and the two appraisers watched him until he waspletely out of sight before returning to the Exotic Treasure House, much to the bewilderment of all of the shop''s attendants and customers.
They had purchased five treasures and a spirit material from Han Li, and they were ecstatic, thinking that they had made a massive haul.
However, in reality, they had only purchased around a tenth of everything that Han Li wanted to sell.
After leaving the Exotic Treasure House, Han Li visited thergest few shops in the city one by one, and only as night began to descend did he leave ck Wind City and return to his temporary cave abode on Mount Youyang.
After activating all of the restrictions in the cave abode, he went straight into his secret chamber.
Inside, he flipped a hand over to summon his azure cow mask, then ced it onto his face.
He then tapped his index and middle fingers against his be while chanting an incantation, and a burst of azure light flew out of the mask to form a giant array te on the wall.
His gaze roamed over the right side of the array te for a moment, following which he began flicking his fingers through the air.
One streak of light flew forth after another, and they all contained treasures thatnded on the azure array te.
Even though Han Li had altered his appearance several times and sold his stash of treasures and spirit materials in several batches, he still kept several of the most valuable treasures in his collection, including that ck metal spike he had obtained from Wyrm 16.
These remaining treasures were virtually all scavenged from the bodies of the deceased Transient Guild members during hisst trip to Red Moon Ind, and most of them were signature treasures of theirs, so revealing them in ck Wind City could spell trouble for him.
Hence, he had decided to sell them all in the Transient Guild.
After that, a thought suddenly urred to Han Li, and he turned his gaze to the left side of the array te before writing something in the air.
As one glowing azure character flew into the array te after another, a mission that was requesting leads for dao pill recipes quickly took shape.
After doing all of that, he stowed away his mask and closed his eyes to meditate.
¡¡
Several days passed by in the blink of an eye, and Han Li thought that it was going to be a very long time until he heard back about his dao pill recipe mission, but to his surprise, that was the first thing that he received a response on.
However, he hadn''t been given any dao pill recipes. Instead, he was informed that what he was requesting was too precious, and such a thing generally wouldn''t appear in normal trades.
Only higher-level core members of the Transient Guild could asionally encounter someone willing to put a dao pill recipe up for trade, but even then, the trade conditions were always extremely rigorous and virtually impossible to satisfy.
Han Li was also informed that if he could obtain the title of Heavenly Pill Master and a piece of suitable coteral, then it would be far easier to obtain dao pill recipes.
In fact, if he could satisfy those two conditions, then he wouldn''t even have to actively seek out dao pill recipes on his own. Instead, other guild members would supply him with recipes and ingredients so that he could refine the pills for them.
After that, Han Li inquired about some matters rted to the three paramountws, and he was told that there were many scriptures that imed to be able to allow one to cultivate the paramountws, but most of them were under the ownership of powerful entities in the Immortal Realm, and they were generally kept secret from outsiders.
As for some that were circting in the outside world, they were either iplete or wed and unreliable, so no one would dare to cultivate them.
Furthermore, during the past few days, all of the treasures that Han Li had put up for sale in the Transient Guild were sold one after another.
In addition to the spirit stones he had obtained from selling treasures and materials in ck Wind City, he had made a small fortune of over 600 top-grade spirit stones.
This was an astronomical sum of wealth for the average cultivator, but in Han Li''s eyes, it was nowhere near enough for the grand auction that wasing up in three years and the steep cost that would be required to leave the ck Wind Sea.
However, he wasn''t overly concerned, and he released another mission to the Transient Guild, this one to search for Soulbirth Flower seeds.
ording to his estimates, with the assistance of the Heaven Controlling Vial, he would definitely be able to nurture a Soulbirth Flower above 10,000 years old prior to themencement of the grand auction.
With such a precious item up his sleeve, he was confident that he would be able to exchange it for whatever he required.
However, if he were to use the spirit liquid to elerate the maturation of a Soulbirth Flower, then the rate at which his Earthly Deity Avatar was deriving heavy water would undoubtedly be negatively impacted.
However, this was unavoidable, and it was impossible to get the best of both worlds.
Chapter 143: Missing Person
Chapter 143: Missing Person
Several dayster.
Han Li was cultivating in his secret chamber when his eyes suddenly sprang open, and he emerged from the room before releasing an incantation seal with a sweep of his sleeve.
The gate of his cave abode was opened, and Mu Xue was revealed standing outside.
Mu Xue hurriedly extended a respectful bow toward Han Li as he said, "Senior Liu, I''ve managed to find out some information on the matter that you entrusted to mest time."
"Come in," Han Li replied with a nod, gesturing fro Mu Xue to enter the cave abode.
After entering the cave abode, Mu Xue jumped straight to the topic without wasting any time. "ording to the information I''ve been able to gather up to this point, there are two official ways through which one can obtain a teleportation spot."
"What are they?" Han Li asked.
"The first way requires one to be at the True Immortal Stage or above and serve as a guest elder at the ind master''s manor, doing his bidding for 100 years, and at the end of that period, they would be given a spot. The second way is toplete some of the missions asionally released by the ind master''s manor, and these missions will asionally grant a teleportation spot as its reward," Mu Xue said.
Han Li fell silent upon hearing this.
The first of those two methods was naturally not one that he was going to consider.
The wanted notice from the Ubiquitous Pavilion and the person who had sealed his nascent soul were like a pair of swords constantly hanging over his head, and that was one of the main reasons he was in such a hurry to leave the ck Wind Sea. 100 years was simply far too long, and he had no idea what could happen during that time.
As for the second method, any missions that could grant a teleportation spot as a reward were definitely going to be quite difficult toplete, but it was definitely more feasible than the first method, so this was something that he could keep an eye on.
After a brief silence, Mu Xue lowered his voice slightly as he continued, "Aside from these two official methods, I heard that these teleportation spots have been traded in the ck market as well, but the price is always... very steep."
"How much does it usually cost for a spot?"
"Five immortal origin stones at the very least, and even then, I''ve heard they''re very difficult to purchase."
Han Li shook his head upon hearing this. In addition to the required teleportation fee, that would amount to a total of 10 immortal origin stones.
For an early-True Immortal cultivator, even if they didn''t cultivate at all, it would still take 1,000 years to refine 10 immortal origin stones.
He had inquired about immortal origin stones in the Transient Guild earlier, and he was told that it was asionally possible to find immortal origin stones up for trade, but the asking price for each one was generally around 100 top-grade spirit stones, and as soon as one appeared, it would immediately be traded.
Given the current circumstances, it was clear that the master of ck Wind City wasn''t very keen on the idea of allowing people to leave the ck Wind Sea.
"Alright, thanks for your hard work."
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a high-grade spirit stone as he spoke, then tossed it at Mu Xue.
Mu Xue was ecstatic, and he said in a grateful manner, "Thank you, Senior Liu! If you require my services for anything else, please feel free to tell me."
Han Li merely smiled and waved a hand to dismiss Mu Xue.
Following Mu Xue''s departure, Han Li began to pace back and forth in his cave abode with his hands sped behind his back, seemingly pondering something. Momentster, he left his cave abode altogether before flying toward a certain direction.
At the center of ck Wind City was a series of connected ck buildings.
In stark contrast with their surroundings, these ck buildings were entirely constructed from extremely high quality building materials, and they took up a vast area. The buildings had clearly also been arranged in a meticulous fashion, with countless pavilions, gardens, and bodies of flowing water inside. This was an enormous manor.
The entire manor was emanating a burst of faint ck qi, making it appear as if it were enshrouded under ayer of ck mist.
All of the passersby gave the manor a wide berth and were walking very quickly, not daring to approach the manor.
This was the ind master''s manor, which belonged to Ind Master Lu Jun.
At the entrance of the manor was a huge za, at the edge of which stood a tall ck pce. Above the entrance of the pce was a que that read "Talisman Letter Pce."
This was quite a lively and bustling ce with many people frequently entering and exiting the pce. All of the visitors were at least at the Body Integration Stage, and the asional Grand Ascension cultivator could be seen as well.
A streak of azure light shot forth from afar, thennded outside the pce to reveal Han Li.
He took a nce at the pce before him, then made his way inside.
The pce was rather empty, with only a bluestone wall that was over 100 feet tall standing at its very center, upon which was inscribed some lines of text.
A pair of ck-robed men were standing on either side of the pce, and judging from their attire, they seemed to be serving the ind master''s manor.
At this moment, there were around a dozen cultivators littered throughout the pce, looking up at the stone wall, and there were also some familiar acquaintances among them discussing the missions on the wall.
Han Li drew to a halt near the stone wall before looking up at it to find that it wasden with around 20 to 30 missions, all of which were apanied by clear descriptions and rewards.
Han Li immediately began searching for missions that granted teleportation spots as their reward, and he quickly found two, one of which was to search for a spirit material known as Azure Radiance Jade, while the other required one to be at or above the True Immortal Stage and oversee an ind for 100 years.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
He had read about Azure Radiance Jade in scriptures on Dark Veil Ind, so he knew that it was a spirit material that was said to contain the power ofws, so that definitely wasn''t going to be easy to find.
Even if he could track down this spirit material, he would have to ponder whether it was worth exchanging it for a teleportation spot.
As for the other mission, that required 100 years toplete, so it was definitely not something that he was going to consider.
Right as a hint of disappointment appeared in his eyes, he suddenly spotted something that caught his attention.
There was a rather special mission at the very top of the stone wall, and it required one to search for a missing person, but the identity of the missing person wasn''t specified.
The reward for this mission was massive, and anyone whopleted it would be able to state a request to the ind master to be fulfilled, as long as it was within reason.
The mission had only been released not long ago, and there was a note attached to it, stating that only those at or above the True Immortal Stage could take on the mission.
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes.
This was a rather mysterious mission, and it didn''t look like it was going to be easy toplete, but it was definitely more feasible than the other two missions.
After some contemtion, he began to approach the stone wall.
One of the ck-robed men extended a salute toward Han Li, then asked in a respectful voice, "Would you like to take on a mission, Senior?"
"I''ll take on this mission. Are there any more details avable?" Han Li asked as he pointed at the mission.
Everyone around him immediately turned their attention to him with different looks on their faces.
The ck-robed man''s eyes immediately lit up, and he began to make his way out of the pce while gesturing for Han Li to follow along. "Pleasee with me, Senior."
"Does that mean he''s a True Immortal cultivator?"
"That should be obvious! The fact that he dares to take on this mission clearly indicates that he''s a True Immortal."
"I''ve never seen him before, so he''s most likely not from the city."
As Han Li and the ck-robed man made their way out of the pce, everyone erupted into spirited discussion.
There were countless cultivators gathered on ck Wind Ind, but True Immortals were still exceedingly rare in the ck Wind Sea, and no one had expected such an unremarkable-looking young man to be a True Immortal.
Han Li paid no heed to the chatter behind him as he followed the ck-robed man toward the ind master''s manor.
The guards at the entrance of the manor granted them free passage, and after passing through a series of winding corridors, they arrived in arge hall.
At this point, there were already around a dozen people gathered in the hall.
Upon hearing the sound of footsteps, most of them turned to nce at Han Li for a moment, then averted their eyes again.
All of these people were giving off enormous auras, clearly indicating that they were True Immortals as well.
Han Li didn''t disy any outward reaction to this, but internally, he was rather taken aback to discover that there were so many True Immortals on ck Wind Ind.
"Please take a seat and wait here, Senior, someone will be here to deliver a debriefing on the mission soon," the ck-robed man said.
Han Li nodded in response, then found a ce to sit in the hall.
An azure-robed attendant approached him before offering him a cup of spirit tea that was giving off a delectable aroma.
Han Li raised the teacup to his lips, taking the opportunity to size up the other people in the room.
It was clear that they had taken on the same mission as him, and their cultivation bases were also all quite simr to his. Most of them were seated on their own with no verbalmunication taking ce, and some had even already closed their eyes to meditate.
However, not everyone was on their own.
There were three people seated next to one another in a rather conspicuous spot in the hall, and the trio consisted of a burly and imposing man, a young woman with a ck veil over her face, and a thing young man, all of whom were chatting amicably with one another.
"Greetings, Fellow Daoist, my name is Guan Yong."
While Han Li was observing the people around him, a voice rang out beside him, and as it turned out, he had been approached by a chubby young man with a smile on his round face.
"My name is Liu Shi. It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Fellow Daoist Guan," Han Li replied with a nod as he set down his teacup.
"I don''t recognize you, Brother Liu. Could it be that you only recently came to ck Wind Ind?"
Guan Yong clearly had a very naturally outgoing personality, and he was already referring to Han Li as brother.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he replied, "Indeed, I only arrived at ck Wind Ind just a few days ago. How did you know that?"
"I have a very outgoing personality and like to make friends, and there aren''t many True Immortal cultivators in ck Wind City, so I know almost everyone," Guan Yong exined with a smile.
"I see. Your ability to make friends is very admirable," Han Li said with a nod.
Guan Yong was a rather chatty man, and Han Li had nothing better to do anyway, so he engaged in a casual conversation with Guan Yong.
He asked Guan Yong about some of the other people present, and he was able to learn quite a bit from the conversation.
Close to half a day passed by, during which time two more True Immortals had arrived in the hall.
At the stroke of noon, the sound of footsteps rang out from behind the hall, and an authoritative-looking middle-aged man wearing a ck brocade robe emerged.
As soon as he arrived, the entire room instantly fell silent, and even the trio that had been chatting amicably with one another had stopped their conversation.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly at the sight of the man standing before him.
He felt as if he were looking at a tall mountain, and the aura emanating from the man''s body was making his heart shudder with apprehension.
"Ind Master!" Guan Yong was the first to rise to his feet before extending a salute toward the middle-aged man.
Han Li and the others also extended salutes of their own as he carefully sized up the most powerful figure in the entire ck Wind Sea.
Chapter 144: The Island Masters Missing Daughter
Chapter 144: The Ind Master''s Missing Daughter
"There''s no need for such formalities. Please take a seat, everyone."
The brocade-robed man''s expression was calm and tranquil, but there was a barely detectable hint of agitation concealed deep within his eyes.
Han Li and everyone else in the room did as they were told, returning to their seats.
"I''m not going to waste any time here. The missing person that I''m searching for is none other than my daughter, Yuqing. Two days ago, she suddenly disappeared along with severalpanions, and these are some leads that I''ve managed to gather following her disappearance. If any of you can help me find my daughter, I''ll be sure to reward you handsomely."
Lu Jun swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, releasing around a dozen jade slips at once, all of whichnded on the tea tables beside the cultivators in the room.
Han Li picked up the jade slip, then pressed it against his forehead before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
The jade slip contained a visage of Lu Yuqing, and she was a young woman dressed in white who appeared to have been around 18 to 19 years of age.
He was rather taken aback to discover that Lu Yuqing was none other than the white-robed young woman he had run into at the Thousand Medicine House not long ago.
Following her visage were the visages of several more people. These were thepanions that had gone missing with Lu Yuqing, and their identities were clearly stated as well.
The first one was the blue-robed young man who had apanied Lu Yuqing on her visit to the Thousand Medicine House, and his name was Fang Leng.
He was a Temporal Pill Master, and he was the disciple of a renowned Earthly Pill Master in the ck Wind Sea.
As for the others, they were all guards that had been assigned to Lu Yuqing.
All of them had left ck Wind Ind using a teleportation array two or three days ago, and they had been missing since then.
The jade slip also contained a list of ces that Lu Yuqing often frequented.
There wasn''t much information in the jade slip, so Han Li was able to read through everything quite quickly, following which a contemtive look appeared on his face.
"Ind Master, do you have any idea of why Young Mistress Yuqing may have suddenly disappeared?"
The question had been raised by the burly man in the trio, and everyone immediately turned their attention to him upon hearing this.
Han Li''s gaze also fell upon the burly man. ording to Guan Yong, these three hade from a ce known as Splendid Mountain Ind, and they referred to themselves as the Three Scourges of Splendid Mountain.
No one knew their names, and to outsiders, they were merely known as the First Scourge, the Second Scourge, and the Third Scourge, with the burly man being the First Scourge.
All three of them were itinerant immortals who had no set residence. Furthermore, they always worked together and had a reputation for being ruthless, so they were quite renowned in the ck Wind Sea, and no one dared to mess with them.
A hint of sorrow shed through Lu Jun''s eyes upon hearing this question, but he quicklyposed himself as he replied, "My son, Lu Mo, left on a journey several years ago, but not only has not returned, his Origin Soul Lamp has also been snuffed out. To this day, I still have no idea what''s happened to him.
¡°Yuqing has always been very close to her brother, and she had always wanted to go and find out the cause of his death, but I''ve never allowed her to go. I presume her sudden appearance may have something to do with this."
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.
Han Li thought back to Lu Yuqing''s conversation with Fang Leng back at the Thousand Medicine House on that day with a contemtive look in his eyes, and he recalled that they were indeed discussing something about Lu Yuqing''s brother.
The First Scourge exchanged a nce with hispanions, then said, "In that case, would it be possible for us to have a copy of Young Master Lu Mo''s information as well? I''m sure that would help us in our search for Young Mistress Yuqing."
"That''s a good idea," Lu Jun replied with a nod, then pulled out a jade slip along with around a dozen nk jade slips.
After making copies of the initial jade slip, each person in the room was given a copy.
Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip to find a rather messy and disorganized collection of information on Lu Mo.
All of a sudden, he caught sight of a rather surprising piece of information.
It was a visage of a blue tiger mask, but it wasn''t very clear.
The mask was very simr to the ones worn by Transient Guild members, and it was rather familiar to Han Li.
That mask belongs to Wyrm 16
Han Li quickly recalled that Wyrm 16, with whom he had carried out a mission on Red Moon Ind, had been wearing a blue tiger mask.
Could it be that Lu Mo is Wyrm 16?
Han Li couldn''t be sure.
Right at this moment, Lu Jun swept his sleeve through the air once again, and around a dozen ck badges were released beforending beside everyone in the room.
"These are ck Wind Badges. With these badges, you''ll be able to use all of the teleportation arrays on ck Wind Ind while carrying out your mission," Lu Jun exined.
Everyone immediately extended collective words of gratitude toward Lu Jun.
There were many teleportation arrays on ck Wind Ind that were connected to other inds in the ck Wind Sea. Due to far all of the inds were away from one another, it would''ve normally been very expensive to travel to those inds through teleportation arrays, so these ck Wind Badges would save everyone a lot of spirit stones.
All of a sudden, a cold and forbidding look appeared on Lu Jun''s face as he continued, "One more thing: none of you are to tell anyone about this mission. Otherwise, don''t me me for turning on you. If I want to have someone in the ck Wind Sea killed, they won''t be able to get away no matter where they hide!"
"Rest assured, Ind Master, our lips are sealed!" everyone in the room hurriedly assured.
Lu Jun''s expression reverted back to normal as he said, "If any of you manage to bring back my daughter safely, I''ll be sure to follow through on my promise and grant you one request."
"In that case, we''ll begin our search right away. We''ll be taking our leave now."
The First Scourge cupped his fist in a parting salute toward Lu Jun, then departed with the other two scourges.
Han Li and the others quickly departed as well, and before long, Lu Jun was the only one left in the room.
Right at this moment, a ck-robed elderly man abruptly appeared beside him in a wraith-like manner. His hair and beard were allpletely white, but his face was as delicate as an infant''s. His aura was enormous, indicating that he was a mid-True Immortal cultivator.
"Can we really count on those people to save Yuqing? You should send me instead, Ind Master," the ck-robed elderly man said.
Lu Jun immediately shook his head as he sighed, "No. There''s recently been a lot of activity taking ce on Azure Feather Ind, and it seems like they''re about to make a big move, so none of us can leave ck Wind Ind at a time like this. I''ll simply have to count on those people to find Yuqing. I''ve promised them quite a handsome reward, so I''m sure they''ll do everything in their power to find her."
"But..." The ck-robed elderly man wanted to protest the matter further, but Lu Jun raised a hand to cut him off.
"We must keep our priorities in check. Unfortunately, there are more important things for us to worry about right now than Yuqing," Lu Jun said with a hint of weariness in his voice.
The ck-robed elderly man heaved a resigned sigh upon hearing this. "I can''t believe Yuqing would choose to run off at a time like this."
"She does whatever she wants because I''ve spoiled her rotten! Once shees back, I''m going to teach her a good lesson!" Lu Jun harrumphed coldly.
"Yuqing is not entirely to me. It''s already been so many years, yet we still haven''t been able to find out the cause of Mo''er''s death, so it''s no wonder that she would grow impatient," the ck-robed elderly man sighed.
Lu Jun rose to his feet with an agitated expression, sping his hands behind his back as he paced back and forth in the room.
He then drew to an abrupt halt as he said, "If this is just a simple disappearance, then that wouldn''t be a cause for concern. What I''m most worried about is that she''s inadvertently exposed her own identity and fallen into the hands of cultivators from Azure Feather Ind. If that''s the case, then we''ll all be in a terrible situation."
The ck-robed elderly man''s brows furrowed slightly as he said, "Yuqing is a little sheltered, but she''s a very bright and intelligent girl. On top of that, she''s carrying several powerful spirit treasures, so I''m sure she''ll be fine."
"I certainly hope so," Lu Jun sighed.
¡¡
After departing from the ind master''s manor, Han Li and the others all flew toward the same ce in silence.
Momentster, everyone had arrived in front of a huge rhomboid brick building in the city.
On the first floor of the building were around a dozen teleportation arrays of different sizes, all of which were giving off glowing white radiance, and a destination ind was marked out beside each array.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this.
He had already been on ck Wind Ind for several days, and during this time, he had learned extensively about ck Wind Ind and the nearby region.
The inds that were marked out in the teleportation hall were all technically subsidiaries of ck Wind Ind.
Unlike a small and rural ind like Dark Veil Ind, ck Wind Ind was situated at the center of the ck Wind Sea, and it wasn''t the only powerful ind in the region. Hence, the smaller inds near the most prominent inds in the area would form alliances with thoserger inds for protection.
Due to the fact that ck Wind Ind had a teleportation array that led to the outside world, it had a unique advantage, and that was why it was such a thriving city.
However, it was also exactly because of this that it was attracting a great deal of envy from nearby ind alliances. As a result, it had many enemies, and there were conflicts constantly taking ce.
Thankfully, Lu Jun was ate-True Immortal cultivator, and he had many powerful guest elders at his beck and call, so he was able to keep all of the nearby forces in check, thereby ensuring the peace of ck Wind Ind and also contributing to the peace of the entire ck Wind Sea to a certain extent.
However, none of these conflicts had anything to do with Han Li. All he had to do was find Lu Yuqing, and he would be able to leave the ck Wind Sea.
None of the other people had any idea where Lu Yuqing could be, but he already had a good guess of her location.
With that in mind, a faint smile appeared on his face, and he directed his gaze toward the teleportation arrays in the hall.
At this moment, the hall waspletely empty aside from the cultivators in charge of overseeing the teleportation arrays.
Han Li''s gaze fell upon one of the teleportation arrays, and he began to make his way toward it.
This was one of the inds that had been mentioned in the jade slip. Its name was Assembly Ind, and ording to the jade slip, Lu Yuqing had previously left ck Wind Ind using this teleportation array.
Hence, if he wanted to find her, then Assembly Ind was naturally the first ce to visit.
Everyone else was thinking the same thing, and after a brief pause, all of them made their way toward that teleportation array.
A gray-haired elderly man beside the teleportation array was rather taken aback to see such arge group of people approaching him, and he hurriedly asked in a respectful voice, "Are you all here to take the teleportation arrays, esteemed seniors?"
"Why else would wee here? Hurry up and stop wasting our time! I''m in a hurry!" the First Scourge harrumphed coldly, then shed his ck Wind Badge at the elderly man before stepping onto the array.
Everyone else also brought out their ck Wind Badges before stepping onto the array as well.
"Yes, my apologies, Senior."
The gray-haired elderly man didn''t dare to dy, and he immediately cast a series of incantation seals, following which Han Li and everyone else vanished from the array amid a sh of radiant white light.
Chapter 145: Search
Chapter 145: Search
All Han Li saw was a burst of blinding white light, and in the next instant, he found himself in an azure stone hall, standing atop a teleportation array.
As soon as everyone emerged from the teleportation array, several people immediately flew out of the hall, including the three scourges.
Only one person couldplete this mission, so thepetition was very fierce.
Han Li and the rest of the cultivators exchanged a few nces, then made their way out of the hall in silence.
The hall was situated on a plot of elevatednd, and one could see aplex system of streets and roads down below, as well as countless humanoid figures that were as tiny as sesame seeds.
It was clear that this was also a city, and it appeared to have been quite arge and bustling city as well, but it naturally couldn''tpare with ck Wind City.
"You seem very confident, Brother Liu. Could it be that you already have an idea of where to begin your search?" Guan Yong asked with a smile.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he replied, "I''m afraid not, Brother Guan. I''m currently racking my brains, trying to think of where Young Mistress Lu could be. What about you? Have you thought of anything?"
"I''m just as lost as you are. Looks like all we can do is search for her by brute force," Guan Yong sighed.
The two of them chatted for a short while before parting ways, and at this point, everyone else had also already left.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip, which contained a detailed map of the ck Wind Sea. He then injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip and quickly tracked down the location of Assembly Ind.
Looks like I was right.
A contemtive look appeared in his eyes, and he rose up as a streak of azure light before hurtling away into the distance. Before long, he had already flown out of Assembly Ind, and he flew around the nearby sea for a while to ensure that he wasn''t being followed.
He then made a hand seal, and countless arcs of silver lightning erupted out of his body, instantly forming a round lightning array with a diameter in excess of 100 feet.
There were countless silver runes shing within the array, and the array abruptly vanished amid a resounding thunderp, leaving behind only several arcs of silver lightning that also quickly dissipated.
Several dayster.
A sh of lightning appeared somewhere on the ck Wind Sea, and a silver array appeared out of thin air before quickly vanishing to reveal Han Li, who was looking a little weary.
He took a nce at his surroundings, and he spotted a ck dot on the horizon, which seemed to have been an ind.
"Finally," he murmured to himself, and instead of continuing to use his lightning teleportation array, he flew toward the ind as a streak of azure light.
Given his current speed, it didn''t take him very long at all to arrive at the ind.
The earth on the ind before him had a peculiar red hue, and the same applied to all of the vegetation on the ind as well. This was none other than Red Moon Ind, the ind that he had previously visited on his mission for the Transient Guild.
Assembly Ind was the closest of ck Wind Ind''s subsidiary inds to Red Moon Ind, and in addition to that, Han Li was aware that there was a very good chance that Lu Mo was Wyrm 16, so he knew that it was very likely that Lu Yuqing had also gathered sufficient leads to find out that Lu Mo had perished on Red Moon Ind.
Even though this was all just spection from Han Li, he had no other leads, so there was no other direction for him to pursue.
He cast his gaze toward Red Moon Ind, and his brows furrowed slightly.
The ind was too massive, so even with his spiritual sense, it would take an extremely long time to scour the entire ind.
After a moment of contemtion, he shot forth as a streak of azure light once again, flying toward the Red Moon City in the Kun Province, where Wyrm 16 had met his demise.
At the same time, his spiritual sense was fully activated to inspect his surroundings.
He couldn''t search the entire ind, so he could only pick out the likeliest locations.
It took him no more than half a day to cover close to half of the journey to his destination Red Moon Ind, but he hadn''t been able to find any further leads along the way thus far.
All of a sudden, he seemed to have noticed something, and he drew to an abrupt halt before descending onto the ground.
Down below was a lush forest, and there was a long trench in the ground that was thousands of feet in length. The soil on the edge of the trench had beenpletely charred ck, as if it had been incinerated.
"These signs of battle are very recent, so the battle seems to have taken ce not long ago," Han Li murmured to himself.
There was still some heat emanating from the charred soil, and judging from the damage caused, the person responsible had to have been at least a Grand Ascension cultivator.
Han Li didn''t linger here any longer as he rose up into the air once again and continued to fly onward.
He made sure to be extra vignt, and sure enough, he discovered many more simr signs of battle along the way.
Close to an hourter, Han Li had descended onto a grasnd.
The ground up ahead waspletely charred ck and riddled with countless craters that were thousands of feet deep, clearly indicating that a fierce battle had recently taken ce here.
He spread his spiritual sense through the area, then beckoned toward a certain direction, and the soil in one of therge craters up ahead stirred slightly, following which a piece of ck cloth flew out from within and into Han Li''s grasp.
Looking at the piece of ck cloth, Han Li was reminded of the ck attire worn by the cultivators serving the ind master''s manor on ck Wind Ind. The material was identical.
With that in mind, he immediately rose up into the air once again as a streak of azure light, vanishing into the distance in a sh.
A short whileter, silver lightning shed above the giant crater, and he returned to the same spot.
There weren''t any further signs of battle up ahead.
He didn''t know who Lu Yuqing''s enemies were, but it was clear that she and herpanions had been defeated here, and it was unclear whether she was dead or alive.
All of a sudden, bright blue light began to glow from Han Li''s eyes, and at the same time, his Law Destruction Eye appeared on his be amid a sh of ck light.
The three bursts of light, one ck and two blue, converged in front of him to form a huge ck and blue eye, which was releasing waves of ck and blue light that proliferated outward in all directions.
All of the world''s origin qi in the surrounding area instantly appeared in his mind with exceptional rity, resembling countless specks of light that were moving around in all directions in a chaotic fashion.
Even though there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to these chaotic specks of light, he was able to spot a trail of crimson light that seemed to have been drifting in a certain direction.
He immediately set off toward that direction, flying as quickly as he could, vanishing into the distant horizon in a sh.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li drew to an abrupt halt, then flew in another direction.
The person who had left the aura behind had changed directions here.
Only after several more directional changes did the lingering aura finally follow a single direction, and Han Li was able to trulymence his pursuit.
A rumbling thunderp rang out as countless arcs of silver lightning erupted out of his body, and another loud thunderp rang out as he vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, he reappeared hundreds of kilometers away, then disappeared once again amid another sh of lightning.
He didn''t dare to teleport too long a distance each time for fear that his target would change directions again, but even so, he was still traveling at an extraordinary speed.
The lingering aura in the air was bing clearer and clearer, indicating that he was closing in on his target.
In a region of the sea somewhere near Red Moon Ind, a streak of bright red light was hurtling through the air at an incredible speed, containing a fiery red flying ark.
Atop the flying ark stood three figures, two of which were a square-faced middle-aged man and an elderly man with a white beard. Both of them were wearing azure robes with an azure feather design emzoned on the sleeve.
The two of them were standing beside a gorgeous white-robed young woman, whose entire body had been bound by a chain of red light, and she was glowering at the two men with intense fury and resentment in her eyes.
"Speed up a bit more," the elderly man urged as he inspected his surroundings with tightly furrowed brows.
"This is already as fast as this Dragon Feather Ark can go, Brother Qi. Any faster than this and the ark''s spiritual nature will be harmed. Besides, we''ve already killed all of those ck Wind Ind cultivators and changed directions multiple times, surely no one will be able to track us down," the square-faced man said in a nonchnt manner.
"We can''t afford to growcent before we return to Azure Feather Ind. Keep elerating, I''ll cover the costs to repair any damage to your ark," the elderly man urged.
"Fine."
The square-faced man gave a slightly exasperated shrug, then released a series of incantation seals.
Countless crimson runes instantly appeared around the flying ark, resembling an undting wave.
The ark immediately sped up by about 30%, hurtling along so quickly that the surrounding scenery had turned into aplete blur.
The elderly man''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and a flipped a hand over to produce an array te.
However, right as he was about to activate the array te, his expression changed drastically, and he swung around to look behind the ark.
"What is it, Brother Qi?" the square-faced man asked with a perplexed expression.
"Someone''s chasing after us!" the elderly man eximed with a grim expression.
The square-faced man immediately turned to look behind the ark as well, and a surprised look appeared on his face.
Sure enough, a speck of silver lightning had appeared on the horizon, and it was shing incessantly.
Furthermore, with each sh, the silver lightning would be a littlerger, indicating that whoever was chasing after them was quickly closing in.
"What incredible speed!" the elderly man eximed with a stunned expression, while a hint of tion appeared in Lu Yuqing''s eyes.
"Shit!"
The square-faced man gritted his teeth, then expelled a mouthful of blood essence, and he made a rapid series of hand seals while the blood essence transformed into a ball of crimson light that vanished into the flying ark.
Streaks of fiery red light instantly erupted out of the ark, and it was as if the entire ark had been set alight. As a result, it sped up by twofold and began hurtling through the air as a red blur.
Even though the flying ark had elerated even further, its speed was still clearly inferior to its pursuer, and the distance between them was still slowly diminishing. Before long, the pursuer was only several dozen kilometers away.
A dark look appeared on the elderly man''s face upon seeing this, and he was just about to spring into action when another sh of silver lightning appeared behind him before vanishing in a sh.
In the next instant, a rumbling thunderp rang out directly above them, and a ball of silver lightning appeared, followed by another resounding thunderp as a bolt of silver lightning that was as thick as a water tank came crashing down with devastating power.
Chapter 146: The Two Azure Feather Island Cultivators
Chapter 146: The Two Azure Feather Ind Cultivators
The elderly man immediately raised a hand upon seeing this, releasing a burst of ck light that contained a small ck g.
The small g instantly unfurled and began to glow with dazzling ck light, which formed a menacing ghostly head that chomped down onto the bolt of silver lightning.
Ayer of silver runes appeared on the surface of the silver lightning, and it abruptly elerated, vanishing into the ghostly head''s mouth in a sh.
The elderly man''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, the ghostly head exploded violently amid a resounding boom.
The bolt of lightning emerged from the other side, having shrunk down significantly, then struck the flying ark with tremendous force, causing it to explode into pieces.
Before the ark was destroyed, the two azure-robed cultivators had already taken Lu Yuqing and fled to several thousand feet away.
Meanwhile, the silver lightning in the sky shed a few times before dissipating to reveal Han Li. His gaze roamed over the pair of azure-robed cultivators before settling on Lu Yuqing, and he was very relieved to see that even though she was bound, she wasrgely unharmed.
The elderly man''s face had paled slightly, and he yelled, "Who are you? I''d advise you not to meddle in the business of our Azure Feather Ind unless you have a death wish!"
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and his gaze fell upon the azure feather design on the elderly man''s sleeve.
Azure Feather Ind was a vastly renowned ind in the ck Wind Sea, and it was one of the most powerful inds aside from ck Wind Ind. Its ind master, Daoist Master Azure Feather, was no less renowned than Lu Jun, having already reached the pinnacle of the mid-True Immortal Stage countless years ago, and it was anyone''s guess whether he had progressed to thete-True Immortal Stage.
At the moment, Azure Feather Ind was also ck Wind Ind''s most formidable enemy.
In particr, Azure Feather Ind had been constantly recruiting other nearby powers under its wing, and it was beginning to pose a serious threat to ck Wind Ind.
However, this wasn''t the time to be considering such matters, and in the next instant, Han Li vanished on the spot once again amid a sh of silver lightning, not bothering to answer the elderly man''s question.
In the next instant, he appeared behind the pair of azure-robed cultivators in a wraith-like manner, and silver lightning shed all over his body as he made a grabbing motion.
A giant hand formed by silver lightning instantly appeared above the pair of cultivators before swooping down with tremendous force.
Even before the giant hand arrived, a burst of terrifying power had alreadye crashing down like a mountain.
All of a sudden, a series of purple devilish patterns appeared over the elderly man''s exposed skin, and two balls of purplish-ck devilish mes appeared before intertwining with one another, rising up to form a pir of mes that enveloped his entire body.
A rumbling thunderp rang out as the giant silver hand grabbed onto the fiery pir, resulting in an eruption of silver and purple light, as well as a burst of shockwaves that swept through the air in all directions.
Ultimately, the giant lightning hand seemed to have been kept at bay.
Right at this moment, crimson light shed from the square-faced man''s body, and the 13 short crimson des that he had already summoned rapidly swelled to over 100 feet in length, with crimson mes surging over them.
The 13 huge fiery des shot forth through the air, striking the giant lightning hand with tremendous force and piercing deep into it.
The giant hand instantly exploded into countless arcs of silver lightning that erupted in all directions, transforming the entire surrounding area into a sea of silver lightning that was several hundred feet in size.
The pair of azure-robed cultivators were caught off guard by the shockwaves resulting from the explosion, and they involuntarily stumbled back a few steps.
However, the silver lightning and the shockwaves left Lu Yuqingpletely unharmed, parting down the middle and surging past her body right as they were about to strike her.
Lu Yuqing had been so terrified that she had closed her eyes in fear, but her expression eased slightly as she realized that she hadn''t been harmed.
Immediately thereafter, the chaotic arcs of lightning abruptly drew to a halt, then rapidly converged to form a silver lightning array around Lu Yuqing in the blink of an eye.
"Stop him!" the square-faced man eximed in an rmed voice, and he swept a sleeve through the air to send a burst of crimson swordlight hurtling directly toward the lightning array.
At the same time, a burst of ck and purple devilish mes shot forth from the other side, sweeping toward the lightning array as well.
However, it was already toote. Silver lightning shed within the array, and Lu Yuqing vanished into thin air, only to instantly reappear beside Han Li with the chains of light binding her bodypletely gone.
The square-faced man''s expression stiffened upon seeing this, while the pir of purplish-ck mes receded to reveal the elderly man.
The devilish patterns on his body made it impossible to glean his expression, but the fury in his eyes was very apparent.
Lu Yuqing was ecstatic, and a grateful look appeared on her face as she said, "Thank you for saving me! May I know your name?"
"My name is Liu Shi, and I''vee to save you under instructions from your father," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice.
Lu Yuqing faltered slightly upon hearing this. "My father..."
Before she had a chance to say anything else, Han Li suddenly swept a sleeve through the air, and a silver lightning array instantly took shape around the two of them, following which they vanished from the spot amid a sh of lightning.
In the next instant, several giant fiery des descended out of the sky, striking the spot where the two of them had just been standing.
The fiery des naturally missed their target, and they plunged into the sea down below, causing the entire surface of the sea to boil and churn, raising a series of ferocious waves.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing were standing in mid-air not far away, and thetter had a look of lingering fear in her eyes, having only just realized what had just taken ce.
"Get back," Han Li instructed.
Lu Yuqing immediately did as she was told, hurriedly flying away into the distance.
Meanwhile, the giant fiery des arrived once again, hurtling toward Han Li from all directions to ensure that he had no course for retreat.
In response, Han Li raised both of his arms, and several thick bolts of silver lightning shot out of his palms. Countless silver lightning runes were shing over the surfaces of the bolts of lightning, and they instantly transformed into several huge balls of silver lightning to meet the giant fiery des.
Countless silver runes were shing over the balls of lightning, and this was none other than the Lightningwield Technique that he had mastered back in the Spirit Realm.
Now that he possessed immortal spiritual power, he was able to unleash all types of secret techniques with a far higher degree of speed and proficiency than before.
The balls of lightning shed with the fiery des, resulting in an eruption of scintiting silver radiance amid a string of earth-shattering booms, and a series of rifts had appeared in the nearby space.
Immediately thereafter, several short fiery des shot back out of the epicenter of the explosion. The spiritual light radiating from the des had dimmed significantly, clearly indicating that they had been severely damaged, and the square-faced man stumbled back in an unsteady manner before throwing up a mouthful of blood.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and in the meantime, the purple devilish patterns on the elderly man''s body had begun glowing brightly. Furthermore, a giant purplish-ck devilish shadow with three heads and six arms had appeared behind him. It was impossible to make out the shadow''s facial features, and the only features clearly visible were its six sinister purple eyes.
The devilish shadow threw its head back and let loose a thunderous roar, then thrust its six giant palms forward at once.
A burst of rumbling instantly rang out from the space around Han Li, following which the entire space began to copse. Six giant inky-ck vortexes then appeared out of thin air, surrounding him from all directions to ensure that he couldn''t escape.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and silver lightning shed from his body once again as he attempted to create another lightning teleportation array.
However, right at this moment, countless streaks of ck light rapidly shot out of the ck vortexes, then wound themselves tightly around Han Li''s body.
In the face of the streaks of ck light, all of the silver lightning and the protective spiritual light around Han Li''s bodypletely faded, and even the cirction of immortal spiritual power within his body had be very slow and sluggish.
"This is what you get for meddling with Azure Feather Ind!"
A cold gleam shed through the elderly man''s eyes as he made a string of hand seals, and a huge pir of purplish-ck devilish mes erupted out of the mouth of the giant devilish shadow, then transformed into a purplish-ck spear of fire.
The spear shot through the air like lightning before plunging viciously into Han Li''s, then exploded violently amid an eruption of dazzling light and scorching mes.
A concerned look appeared on Lu Yuqing''s face as she saw this from afar, but she chose not to flee the scene.
In contrast, both of the azure-robed cultivators were quite relieved to see that the attack hadnded, but in the next instant, both of their expressions changed drastically.
As the dust settled, it was revealed that Han Li''s chest remainedpletely unharmed, and his entire body was epassed within a faint membrane of light that kept the ck light at bay.
An incredulous look appeared on the elderly man''s face, and he was able to immediately identify what this light membrane was, much to his horror and dismay.
"Run! We''re no match for him!" the square-faced man yelled in a panicked voice.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as a seven-star constetion appeared on his lower abdomen, and a burst of terrifying power erupted out of his body, causing the nearby space to rumble and shudder.
The streaks of ck light around him were instantly snapped, and the six ck vortexes vanished as well.
The elderly man had only just turned around to flee when the six arms of his devilish projection abruptly exploded without any warning, and the devilish projection itself also quickly dissipated momentster.
An unnatural flush appeared on the elderly man''s face, and he gave a muffled groan as he stumbled unsteadily almost losing his footing in the process.
In the next instant, Han Li appeared directly behind him before throwing a vicious punch.
A suit of ck devilish armor appeared over the elderly man''s body amid a sh of ck light, and ayer ofplex array patterns was engraved onto the surface of the suit of armor, which was giving off a faint metallic sheen.
At the same time, a burst of ck light appeared in his hand, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, a cold harrumph suddenly rang out beside his ears.
He immediately felt as if a sharp spike had been driven viciously into his consciousness, and he let loose an agonized howl as the ck light in his hand instantly faded.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s fist sped through the air before striking the suit of ck devilish armor, tearing through it with ease before emerging on the other side straight through the elderly man''s chest.
The elderly man''s body instantly exploded into a vast cloud of blood mist amid a dull thump, and not even his nascent soul was able to escape before it was destroyed by a burst of tremendous power.
Chapter 147: Intercepting the Spoils
Chapter 147: Intercepting the Spoils
At the same time, a streak of azure light was flying rapidly into the distance, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Inside the streak of light was the square-faced man, who was fleeing with a panicked look on his face.
Han Li hadn''t even withdrawn his fist before he vanished on the spot amid a sh of silver lightning.
Several resounding booms rang out from the horizon, and dazzling silver light shed several times in the distance before peace and quiet returned. The streak of crimson light had also vanished, indicating that the square-faced man had been disposed of as well.
Meanwhile, Lu Yuqing was looking on with her eyes wide with shock, seemingly still yet toprehend just how quickly and drastically the situation had turned.
A few secondster, a streak of azure light returned, then faded to reveal Han Li.
Lu Yuqing cast her gaze toward the rather unremarkable-looking Han Li with aplex look on her face, and it seemed that she didn''t know what to say.
"Let''s go, Young Mistress Lu. Your father is waiting for you," Han Li said.
Lu Yuqing turned her gaze to Red Moon Ind in silence, and it seemed that she was still a little reluctant to leave.
"Those two may not be the only Azure Feather Ind cultivators in this area. As for the matter regarding your brother, I''m sure your father will look into it," Han Li said.
"How do you know about that?" Lu Yuqing asked with a surprised expression.
"Your father already told us everything before we set off to search for you," Han Li exined.
"We?" Lu Yuqing asked.
"Aside from myself, there are around a dozen other fellow daoists searching for you. I was just lucky that I happened to be nearby. Your father has gone to great lengths to ensure your safe return," Han Li exined.
"Alright, I''ll go back with you," Lu Yuqing sighed in a slightly dejected manner.
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In the sky above the boundless sea, two streaks of light were flying through the air alongside one another at an incredible speed, covering hundreds of kilometers in an instant.
Within the two streaks of light were a man and a woman, and they were none other than Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
Lu Yuqing''s face was slightly pale, and she took a nce at Han Li, who was flying slightly ahead of her, seemingly wanting to say something.
Han Li''s gaze remained fixed on the sky ahead, but he consoled, "Rest assured, we''ll be reaching One Pine Ind soon, and there''s a teleportation array on the ind that''ll take us to a ce near ck Wind Ind."
"Thank you, Brother Liu," Lu Yuqing replied with a nod.
She had sustained some injuries earlier, and even though she had taken some pills to improve her condition, the past few days of rigorous travel had taken a toll on her.
Han Li merely waved a hand in response and didn''t say anything.
He didn''t have any suitable flying treasures that could carry both of them, so he had been traveling below his top speed this entire time in order to ensure that Lu Yaqing could keep up.
A short whileter, right as the two of them were flying over a cluster of inds, Han Li''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and he drew to a halt as he said, "Hold on a second."
Lu Yuqing was rather taken aback by this sudden stop, and she was just about to ask a question when she spotted three streaks of light hurtling rapidly toward them from the distant sky.
An rmed look appeared on her face, but she could see that Han Li was still quite calm andposed, and that instilled within her a sense of confidence and security.
The three streaks of light drew to a halt several thousand feet away, then faded to reveal two men and a woman.
The trio was led by a burly man, followed by a young woman with a ck veil over her face, and a thin young man.
It was none other than the Three Scourges of Splendid Mountain.
An ted look appeared on the First Scourge''s face at the sight of Lu Yuqing, and he smiled as he said, "Thanks for your hard work, Fellow Daoist. You can hand over Young Mistress Lu to us now, and we''ll make sure to keep her safe the rest of the way back to ck Wind Ind."
"What''s the meaning of this?" Han Li asked.
"If you know what''s good for you, then you won''t ask any questions. While we''re still in a good and merciful mood, piss off!" the thin young man chuckled.
"I understand that the reward for the mission is very alluring, but it won''t do you any good if you''re dead," the young woman said in a meaningful voice.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and he said in a cold voice, "I am the one who found Young Mistress Lu. Don''t you think you''re going too far here?"
A cold look appeared on the First Scourge''s face, and he chuckled, "Now that you mention it, you''re right. In that case, you can stay here, and we''ll send you on your way."
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but Lu Yuqing decided to step forward after a moment of hesitation.
"There''s no need to escte this into a physical conflict. There may still be unforeseen danger on the rest of the way back to ck Wind City, so why don''t you all work together? Once we get back, I''ll be sure to ask my father to reward all of you equally," Lu Yuqing said.
A hesitant look appeared on the First Scourge''s face upon hearing this, and he seemed to be considering this option.
The veiled young woman remained silent, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
Right as Lu Yaqing thought that a peaceful resolution could be reached, a sly look suddenly appeared on the thin young man''s face as he said, "The promised reward is quite a handsome one, but it''s still a finite reward, so the fewer people we have to share it with, the better."
A hint of killing intent shed through the First Scourge''s eyes upon hearing this.
Han Li stroked his chin with a contemtive look on his face.
Right at this moment, Lu Yuqing''s voice rang out in Han Li''s mind. "Brother Liu, it seems like the safest course of action for you is to leave for now. Once I return to ck Wind Ind, I''ll inform my father of what happened."
"The mission released by Ind Master Lu only requires your safe return, there''s no requirement on who takes you back to him, so even if they kill me and take you back to ck Wind Ind, they''ll havepleted the mission. Besides, your father isn''t going to punish them for the sake of a stranger like me," Han Li said as he turned to Lu Yuqing with a faint smile.
Lu Yuqing was stumped upon hearing this, and it was clear that she hadn''t considered this.
"Besides, they never intended to let me go to begin with, isn''t that right?" Han Li asked as he turned to the three scourges.
The First Scourge did away with his hesitant facade upon hearing this, and he admitted, "We didn''t want to get violent in front of Young Mistress Lu, but it looks like it can''t be helped."
A cold look appeared on Lu Yuqing''s face upon hearing this, and she took a step forward, cing herself in front of Han Li as she dered, "I owe Brother Liu my life, so if you want to kill him, then you''ll have to get through me first."
The three scourges were rather surprised to hear this, and Han Li was also slightly moved by her courageous gesture.
"I appreciate the gesture, but I don''t have a habit of hiding behind women," Han Li said as he gentlyid a hand onto her shoulder and stepped around from behind her.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, a burst of silver lightning erupted behind the thin young man, followed by a resounding explosion.
A of silver lightning that was over 1,000 feet wide instantly unfurled. Countless thin arcs of lightning shot forth in all directions, while a blurry azure shadow flew out from within.
An agonized howl rang out from within the lightning, and a humanoid figure that waspletely encased in ck ice crystals fell out of the silver light toward the First Scourge.
The burly man and the veiled young woman were both quite rmed to see this, clearly not expecting Han Li to be so fast and strike so decisively.
In the blink of an eye, he had already struck down the thin young man.
Lu Yuqing was greatly startled by this abrupt turn of events, and she waspletely rooted to the spot. However, she then thought of the power that Han Li had disyed earlier, and she was feeling a bit more reassured.
The sound of cracking ice crystals rang out, and the thin young man reappeared. His robes were in tatters, his skin had been charred ck, and there was ck smoke rising up from the top of his head, presenting a very sorry sight to behold.
The man quickly swallowed a pill as he spat through gritted teeth, "Make sure you don''t kill him too easily! I''m going to peel off his skin and use it for a new drum!"
He then swept a hand through the air, and arge ck drum appeared in front of him amid a sh of ck light.
It was a t cylindrical drum with ayer of waxy yellow skin draped over the outside, and at first nce, there didn''t appear to be anything remarkable about it, but upon closer inspection, one would discover some harrowing details.
As it turned out, there was an old and wizened face on the side of the drum. Its mouth and eye sockets were all empty, and it resembled aplete set of facial skin that had been peeled straight off someone''s body.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he flipped a hand over to produce a ck longsword, which he held in his grasp before shing it at the thin young man.
Hundreds of dizzying ck sword projections instantly appeared in the air before surging toward the thing young man like a series of crashing waves.
Right at this moment, a crisp ng rang out, and a burst of ripples that were invisible to the naked eye began to spread through the air, releasing bursts of gentle force that shattered the ck sword projections one after another.
The First Scourge had positioned himself in front of the thin young man, and he was holding an antiquated ck pot in one hand and a copper pestle with a strange beast head engraved on it in the other.
Meanwhile, the veiled young woman had also pulled out a white bone lute, and her fingers were gently gliding over the lute''s ck strings.
Chapter 148: Battling the Three Scourges
Chapter 148: Battling the Three Scourges
"This is not an opponent to be underestimated, so we should use that technique right away," the First Scourge said as his brows furrowed slightly.
Before the other two had a chance to reply, a burst of urgent and insistent tapping rang out, and the huge waves instantly rose up on the surface of the sea amid gusts of ferocious wind.
The clouds in the sky quickly converged, forming an inky-ck cloud that cast a dark shadow over a huge area with a radius of several hundred kilometers, making it appear as if dusk had suddenly arrived.
The veiled young woman began to y her lute, and two bursts of white light suddenly appeared within the dark cloud, resembling a pair of giant pagodas that were projecting through the cloud.
Han Li looked up to find that the cloud was surging and tumbling incessantly, as if there were a gargantuan creature wreaking havoc inside.
He then turned back to take a nce at Lu Yuqing, who was also looking up at the sky with a stunned look on her face, and after a moment of contemtion, he suddenly swept a sleeve toward her, releasing a burst of azure energy that enveloped her entire body.
Before she had a chance to react, she had already been carried thousands of kilometers away by the burst of energy.
Now that Han Li didn''t have to worry about Lu Yuqing, he was able to focus on the battle at hand, and he tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword before springing up into the heavens, charging directly at the three scourges.
Another crisp ng rang out in the air, and the massive dark cloud in the sky abruptly parted to open up a massive rift, as if the gate leading to the heavens had suddenly opened up.
In the next instant, a white bone de that was several thousand feet in length came crashing down out of the dark cloud amid a sh of white light.
There were near-transparent white mes burning along the entire length of the de, and the mes were giving off scorching heat, as well as releasing a devastatingly destructive aura.
Han Li drew to a halt, and with a flick of his wrist, he raised his sword toward the heavens before shing it upward.
A vast expanse of ck sword projections instantly took shape, stacking on top of one another to resemble a ck mountain that hurtled directly toward the bone de.
Heaven and earth rumbled and swayed violently as the mountain of sword projections was destroyed and reduced to countless fragments, while countless specks of white mes came drifting down from the heavens.
The white bone de shuddered violently before flying back into the dark cloud, and the three scourges, who had summoned the bone de, gave a collective muffled groan.
Meanwhile, Han Li was descending rapidly through the air, and only after falling for close to 1,000 feet was he able to steady himself.
Even afternding on the surface of the sea, the specks of white mes continued to burn resembling countless glowing white lotus flowers that basked the sea down below in a bright white radiance.
Han Li looked down at the ck longsword in his hand to find that there were still white mes clinging to its de, scorching it incessantly.
He gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and ayer of golden scales appeared over his hand before he gently rubbed his hand along the de of the longsword.
All of the white mes were instantly wiped away like dirt and grime.
All of a sudden, the thunderous beating of a drum rang out in the air, immediately followed by the sound of a strumming lute and a tapping pot.
The dark cloud in the sky churned violently as a mountainous white bone foot descended out of the heavens, stomping down directly upon Han Li.
Han Li raised his sword while activating his Azure Origin Sword Arts, and his robes began to p audibly around him despite theck of wind.
He then stomped heavily down onto the air beneath him, and a burst of violent force was sent hurtling downward, causing a massive indentation that was several thousand feet in size to appear on the surface of the sea, while Han Li himself wasunched into the heavens.
Gusts of ferocious wind swept through the air as a series of sword projections that resembled small mountains appeared in a radius of several kilometers around him, then began to rise up into the heavens alongside him.
Scorching white mes were burning over the giant bone foot, causing the air to crackle and pop incessantly, and the foot continued to stomp down from above, shing violently against the rising sword projections.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the giant bone foot exploded violently, and a white bone giant that was over 10,000 feet tall stumbled out of the dark clouds before plunging into the sea, sending massive waves erupting in all directions.
The vast expanse of ck sword projections was also all shattered, and they fell out of the sky alongside countless specks of white mes, causing the surrounding sea to bubble and boil, while clouds of water vapor rose up into the air.
Han Li emerged from the cloud of mist and water vapor in a sh, and the ck longsword in his hand had already snapped in half, perhaps from being scorched by the white mes, or perhaps because it was unable to hold the handle the astonishing sword qi unleashed by his Azure Origin Sword Arts.
He heaved a faint sigh as he stowed the two pieces of the sword away, and he couldn''t help butment over the loss of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords again.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li suddenly opened his mouth to let loose a thunderous roar, and his muscles bulged as his body rapidly swelled in size, quickly transforming him into a giant golden ape that wasn''t inferior in stature to the white bone giant.
The three scourges had already realized that Han Li was an extremely formidable opponent, and their expressions darkened even further upon seeing this. All three of them began to chant incantations, and the tempo at which they were ying their instruments had clearly sped up as well.
Under the trio''sbined efforts, the bone giant swiveled around before striding over the surface of the sea, swinging a white bone saber directly at the giant golden ape.
The golden ape clenched its fists tightly and strode forward to meet the attack head-on.
The two massive figures shed over and over again, sending countless enormous waves that were thousands of feet in height sweeping over the surface of the sea in all directions.
At this moment, Lu Yuqing was far away from the battlefield, and even though the shockwaves resulting from the shes were too far away to reach her, she could still sense the violent surging of the world''s origin qi in that direction, and she couldn''t help but feel astonished.
All of a sudden, white light shed within the eyes of the bone giant, and two incredibly thick pirs of white mes erupted forth like a pair of fiery dragons, twisting through the air as they swooped directly at the golden ape''s face.
The giant ape let loose another thunderous roar as it mmed its fists down upon the pair of fiery dragons, and thetter exploded violently into a vast flurry of white me that inundated half of the golden ape''s entire body.
Despite the immense fire-resistant properties of the giant ape''s fur and skin, plumes of white smoke began to rise up from its body along with a sharp and acrid charred smell.
However, the golden ape paid no heed to the white mes clinging to its body as it continued to barrel forward with ferocious might, springing high up into the air before raising its right fist and mming it heavily down toward the bone giant''s head.
The bone giant hurriedly lowered its center of gravity while raising its bone de with both hands to shield itself, and a resounding crack rang out as the golden ape''s fist struck the de with tremendous force, snapping the de and sending bone fragments flying in all directions.
The three scourges were controlling the bone giant collectively, and they immediately shuddered violently before throwing up a mouthful of blood in unison.
The giant ape continued to press its advantage, closing in on the bone giant while mming its fists repeatedly into the giant''s chest.
A string of earth-shattering booms rang out as a series of massive cracks appeared on the bone giant''s body. At the same time, bone fragments were constantly falling off its enormous frame, and it wasn''t going to be able to withstand this ferocious assault for much longer.
"Activate the Heaven Incinerating Blood mes! Hurry!" the First Scourge hurriedly yelled in an urgent voice.
He then brought a finger forcefully down onto the edge of his antiquated pot, and a section of his finger was severed before falling into the pot, which instantly began to glow red.
At the same time, the veiled young woman sliced her finger open with the string of her lute before rubbing her blood onto the lute, while the thin young man stuck a finger into the mouth of the human face on the side of his drum.
All three of them were feeding their blood essence to their respective treasures.
Right as the golden ape was about to smash open the bone giant''s head, a burst of bright red light suddenly appeared behind thetter, and the bone giant''s entire body took on a red hue.
The white mes that enveloped its enormous frame instantly turned red as well, as did the mes that were clinging to the giant ape''s body.
A sharp burning pain spread over the golden ape''s entire body, causing it to roar in agony as it reflexively stumbled back.
Layers of golden scales surfaced over its body, attempting to keep the red mes at bay, but to no avail, and the excruciating pain wasn''t lessened in the slightest.
With the emergence of the red mes, the temperature in the area had been elevated to a terrifying degree, causing massive volumes of seawater to evaporate into water vapor, to the extent that the sea level in the area was falling at a discernible rate.
Right as the giant ape was ovee by the red mes, the bone giant''s aura swelled drastically, and all of the cracks on its body began to heal at a rapid rate.
It extended a hand forward, and a crimson bone de appeared out of thin air. The bone giant grabbed onto the de, thenshed out with ferocious might.
A resounding boom rang out, and the golden ape felt as if it had been struck in the abdomen by a mountain, sending flying horizontally through the air, raising a trail of massive waves in its wake.
Before the golden ape had a chance to get up, the crimson bone giant sprang high up into the sky, then grabbed the hilt of its saber with both hands before plunging its tip directly down toward the ape''s head.
The giant ape quickly rolled to the side to just barely evade the attack, then took a step back in retreat.
At the same time, a burst of radiant silver mes suddenly appeared on its shoulder, then rapidly spread over its entire body, and the silver mespletely inundated the crimson mes before beginning to devour it in a frenzy.
Immediately thereafter, the sharp cry of a bird rang out, and the silver mes around the golden ape transformed into a giant fire raven that mmed straight into the bone giant''s chest with tremendous force.
Silver mes erupted in all directions, spreading over the bone giant''s entire body, and before it had a chance to react, the silver mes had already formed a massive fiery cloak that enveloped its entire body.
The crimson mes on its body rapidly retreated in a desperate attempt to escape from the silver mes, but it was all in futility, and the silver mes quicklymenced their feast.
Chapter 149: The Grand Auction
Chapter 149: The Grand Auction
"What the hell is that?"
The First Scourge''s face had turned deathly pale at the sight of the silver mes, and the other two scourges were also horrified, looking as if they were about to turn and flee at any moment.
Meanwhile, the golden ape had many charred sections all over its body, but the ferocity in its eyes hadn''t abated in the slightest, and seven specks of starlight appeared on its chest and abdomen as itunched a massive fist at the bone giant.
A huge golden fist projection was sent hurtling through the air before crashing into the bone giant''s chest with devastating force.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as countless bone fragments were sent spraying through the air in all directions.
Only half of the bone giant''s body remained, and after swaying for a moment, it copsed into the sea in a limp and powerless manner before quickly disintegrating into nothingness.
At the same time, the instruments in the hands of the three scourges also exploded violently into three balls of white light. Powerful shockwaves that were visible to the naked eye swept through the air in all directions, causing the surrounding space to rumble and quiver incessantly.
The three scourges were throwing up blood uncontrobly as the shockwaves sent them flying back over 1,000 through the air.
Meanwhile, Han Li reverted back to his human form, and the silver fire raven flew back to him at his behest before vanishing up his sleeve in a sh.
Through their spiritual connection, Han Li could sense that the Essence Fire Raven was very excited after devouring those crimson mes, clearly having benefited immensely from the feast.
"Run!"
As soon as the First Scourge steadied himself in the air over 1,000 feet away, he immediately called out to his twopanions, who flew to his side in a blind panic.
The three of them then each made a peculiar hand seal with one hand, and their other arms exploded in unison, forming a cloud of blood mist that enveloped them in an instant.
Within the cloud of blood mist, the three of them flew away as a streak of crimson light, disying incredible speed as they did so.
Countless arcs of silver lightning instantly appeared over Han Li''s entire body, and he vanished on the spot amid a rumbling thunderp.
Close to 100,000 kilometers away, the three scourges drew to a halt, and their faces were deathly pale and still etched with shock and horror.
The three of them were just about to catch their breath and take some pills when a resounding thunderp suddenly rang out overhead.
Thick bolts of silver lightning shed through the, intertwining with one another to form a lightning array with a diameter in excess of 100 feet.
Han Li was standing at the center of the array with a cold look on his face.
He made a forward-grabbing motion with one hand, and the arcs of silver lightning that were lingering in the air around him instantly converged to form a silver ball of lightning over the palm of his hand, from within which thunderps were ringing out incessantly.
With a casual flick of his wrist, the ball of lightning descended from the heavens.
The three scourges were inplete despair as they felt the terrifying pressure descending upon them from afar.
They were severely injured and hadpletely depleted their energy reserves, so it was impossible for them to get away. Hence, all they could do was summon as many protective treasures as possible to try and keep the ball of lightning at bay.
A pir of silver lightning that was as thick as a water tank came crashing down from above, swallowing up the three of them in the blink of an eye.
A thunderous explosion rang out alongside a string of bloodcurdling howls, and the Three Scourges of Splendid Mountain werepletely destroyed in both body and soul in an instant.
Han Li took a nce at the spot where the three scourges had just vanished into thin air, then conjured up another lightning teleportation array and vanished from the spot.
¡¡
Around half a monthter.
A brocade-robed man with a powerful aura was seated on an ornate wooden chair in the ind master''s manor in ck Wind City, looking at the azure-robed man standing before him with undisguised praise glowing in his eyes.
"It''s all thanks to you that my daughter was able to return safely to ck Wind Ind, Fellow Daoist Liu. I promised you a reward, and it''s time to deliver. What request would you like me to grant for you?" the man asked with a smile.
The azure-robed man in the room was naturally none other than Han Li, and he replied in a calm manner, "I took on this mission for the sole purpose of securing a teleportation spot that would allow me to leave the ck Wind Sea the next time the teleportation array is used."
"That''s it?" Lu Jun asked as a look of disbelief appeared on his face.
"That''s it," Han Li confirmed.
"Yuqing has already told me what happened while the two of you were on the back to ck Wind Ind. As I''m sure you''re aware, I like to surround myself with talented individuals, and I''d like you to stay here on ck Wind Ind. I could even grant you one of the deputy ind master positions," Lu Jun offered.
"Thank you for the kind offer, Ind Master Lu, but there are certain reasons why I must leave the ck Wind Sea, so I''ll have to turn down the offer," Han Li said with a hint of apology in his eyes.
Lu Jun could tell that Han Li wasn''t lying, so he could only drop the matter.
"In that case, I won''t force you to stay against your will. In addition to a teleportation spot, I have some other gifts that I''d like to present to you, and I hope you won''t refuse this time."
He swept a hand through the air as he spoke, and a blue storage pouch flew out beforeing to a rest in front of Han Li.
Han Li epted the storage pouch, then expressed his gratitude before taking his leave.
Following his departure, Lu Yuqing emerged from the rear hall, having already changed into a set of clean clothes, and she made her way over to Lu Jun''s side with a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
"Why didn''t you make more of an effort to try and convince Brother Liu to stay, Father? Are you doubting my ims about his powers?" she asked.
"On the contrary, I have a feeling that he''s even more powerful than what you described," Lu Jun replied with a serious look on his face.
"In that case, why did you..."
Before Lu Yuqing had a chance to finish, Lu Jun cut her off with a wave of his head.
"Someone of his power and talent is clearly unwilling to stay in our ck Wind Sea, and on top of that, I don''tpletely trust him, so it may not be a good thing to keep him here. Hence, this is the best oue for all of us."
"But..."
Lu Yuqing still wanted to protest further, but she was cut off once again by Lu Jun as he said in a stern voice, "Yuqing, the current situation that our ck Wind Ind is facing is far moreplex than you can imagine. Your brother has already gone missing, do you know how catastrophic the consequences would''ve been had you not been saved by Liu Shi?"
"I''m sorry, Father," Lu Yuqing apologized in a dejected voice, and tears were beginning to well up in her eyes.
Lu Jun heaved a faint sigh as he embraced her and gently patted her should, unable to bear scolding her any further.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already flown out of ck Wind City and was returning to Mount Youyang.
Upon returning to his cave abode, he made his way straight to the backyard.
After deactivating several concealment arrays, a small medicine field was revealed.
At the very center of the medicine field was a dark purple seedling that waspletely unremarkable in appearance, looking no different from the weeds that one would find on the side of the street.
However, in reality, this was actually a seedling that Han Li had painstakingly grown from the Soulbirth Flower seed that he had obtained from the Transient Guild prior to traveling to ck Wind Ind.
The germination rate of the flower was very low, so even though he had purchased quite a few seeds, he was only able to sprout one of them after exhausting close to half his supply of seeds.
After checking on the flower to ensure that nothing was amiss, Han Li reactivated the concealment arrays before returning to the cave abode.
He pulled out the storage pouch that Lu Jun had given to him earlier, but instead of opening it right away, he carefully examined it with his spiritual sense.
Only after verifying that there was nothing amiss did he refine the storage pouch and remove its contents.
There were only two types of items in the storage pouch, namely a palm-sized ck badge and a small pile of top-grade spirit stones.
Han Li counted the spirit stones to find that there were about 200 of them, which was a small fortune.
He casually stowed the spirit stones away, then began to carefully inspect the badge.
The badge was riddled with spirit patterns, and on one side was engraved the words "ck Wind" while the word "Teleportation" was inscribed on the other side.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this.
It had been quite a tumultuous journey, but he had finally achieved his objective.
The seasons passed by, and over three years flew past in the blink of an eye.
At this particr point in time, there was a particrly high number of cultivators in ck Wind City, particrly high-grade cultivators at or above the Body Integration Stage, and there were decorations put up all over the city, as if some type of celebration were taking ce.
The centenary ck Wind Ind grand auction was about tomence, and it was a major event.
All types of precious and exotic materials and ingredients, high-grade cultivation arts, and premium pills were always put up for sale during the grand auction, and there were even some special treasures that would only appear in the grand auction.
Almost all of the high-grade cultivators in the entire ck Wind Sea would gather here for the grand auction, and even some enemy inds of ck Wind Ind would call a temporary truce and send people to participate in the auction.
On the summit of Mount Youyang, Han Li emerged from his cave abode, having adopted a disguise using his Transient Guild mask, transforming him into a burly man with a darkplexion and a coarse beard.
Even from his cave abode, he could clearly see the lively and bustling scenes in ck Wind City.
A faint smile appeared on his face, and he was also rather looking forward to this centenary auction.
With that in mind, he flew toward the city as a streak of azure light.
At the center of ck Wind City was a majestic golden pce that was hovering in mid-air.
The pce was roughly 1,000 feet tall, and it took up a huge area. It was entirely constructed from golden jade, and it was giving off a radiant golden glow, presenting a dazzling sight to behold.
Inscribed in majestic, flowing characters on the que above the main entrance of the pce were the words "Golden Cloud Pavilion".
Aside from the main entrance, each of the pavilion''s other three sides also had an entrance.
Four massive golden staircases extended out of the pce, and there were asionally streaks of lightnding upon them before making their way into the Golden Cloud Pavilion.
This was the venue for the grand auction.
Chapter 150: Bidding
Chapter 150: Bidding
A streak of azure light descended onto one of the staircases outside the Golden Cloud Pavilion, then faded to reveal a burly man with a coarse beard, and it was none other than the disguised Han Li.
He took a nce at the majestic pce before him, then strode directly toward the entrance.
Many ck-robed attendants were standing on either side of the entrance, tending to each and every arriving cultivator.
A ck-robed attendant immediately approached Han Li with a smile as he asked, "Are you here for the grand auction, Senior?"
"What else could I possibly be here for?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly with displeasure.
"Please allow me to exin, Senior. This year''s auction is a little different from the auctions of previous years," the ck-robed attendant said.
"How so? Han Li asked."
"There are far more participants in this year''s auction than previous years, so in order to restrict the numbers and keep out patrons who only intend to watch the auction with no intention of purchasing anything, it''s been decided that each participant must issue a sum of spirit stones as an entrance fee. However, all you need to do is purchase any item during the auction, and the entrance fee will be returned to you," the ck-robed attendant exined in a respectful voice.
"I see. How many spirit stones do I need to pay?" Han Li asked.
The ck-robed attendant was just about to reply when a middle-aged man who appeared to have been a supervisor hurriedly arrived on the scene as he yelled, "How dare you be so insolent to this esteemed senior? Get out of here, I''ll attend to this senior myself!"
Han Li took a nce at the middle-aged man to find that he was a Body Integration cultivator.
"Please don''t take any offense, Senior, he''s just an ignorant little brat that has no idea what he''s doing. These rules only apply to regr patrons. For an esteemed True Immortal cultivator like yourself, you can go straight through the VIP passageway, and there''s no need to submit an entrance fee. Pleasee with me, Senior," the middle-aged man said in a respectful voice.
Han Li was rather amused to hear this.
It seemed that power was paramount no matter where he went, and those with superior cultivation bases were always given preferential treatment.
Han Li gave the middle-aged man a slight nod, then made his way into the golden pce.
From the outside, the pce didn''t appear to be all that remarkable, but only after stepping into the pce did he realize just how astonishingly massive it was.
The pce was split up into three levels, with the bottom one being a vast hall that resembled a giant za.
At the very front of the hall was an auction tform, which was stillpletely empty at this moment.
There were countless seats positioned around the hall, forming a series of tiered stands, and most of the seats were already upied, giving the area a rather rowdy and and crowded atmosphere.
"These seat are prepared for the ordinary cultivators. Pleasee with me to the VIP area on the second floor, Senior," the middle-aged man said as he led Han Li up the staircase to the second floor.
There were several hundred wide and spacious seats on the second floor, withrge gaps between the seats. There was a tea table beside each seat, upon which were ced some fruits and spirit tea.
Many of these seats had been upied as well, and all of the people on the second floor were True Immortal cultivators, several of which Han Li recalled seeing at the ind master''s manor a few years ago.
Han Li was led to a seat by the middle-aged man, and there was a very good view from this position, allowing him to clearly see the auction tform down below, granting all those on the second floor a sense of superiority over those in the hall below.
Han Li nodded in response, then turned his gaze toward the third floor as he asked, "Who are the ones up there?"
On the third floor was a series of independent rooms that had restrictions ced upon them, making it impossible to see into the rooms from the outside, and it was clear that they were reserved for guests of even higher prestige than the ones on the second floor.
Han Li wasn''t disgruntled by the fact that he hadn''t been invited to the third floor, he was merely curious.
"The third floor is reserved for all of the ind masters," the middle-aged man exined.
Han Li nodded in response, then withdrew his gaze and didn''t say anything further.
The middle-aged man was rather busy, and he called over a beautiful female attendant to tend to Han Li before excusing himself.
Han Li wasn''t bothered by this at all, and he sat in silence, waiting for the auction to begin.
Time slowly passed by, and it didn''t take long before the hall on the first floor was at full capacity, and there were barely any avable seats on the second floor, either.
Over two hourster, three loud gong strikes rang out, reverberating throughout the pce.
The rowdy venue immediately fell silent, and an elderly man with a white beard and a rosyplexion made his way onto the auction tform. It appeared that he was the auctioneer.
"That''s Master Wen!"
A flurry of quiet chatter rang out within the hall, and Han Li''s expression changed slightly as he realized that this elderly man was a guest elder of ck Wind Ind and only one of three Earthly Pill Masters on the ind.
"Thank you for attending our centenary grand auction. I am extremely honored to be serving as your auctioneer today," the elderly man dered in a boisterous voice that echoed throughout the entire venue.
As soon as he began speaking, all of the chatter immediately died down, and the venue became extremely quiet.
"There are lots of familiar faces here, and of course, there are also some friends who are only attending the auction for the first time, so I''ll have toy out some rules for the auction. All items are sold with top-grade spirit stones as the unit of currency, and if you don''t have enough spirit stones, you can use immortal origin stones instead at an exchange rate of one immortal origin stone to 100 top-grade spirit stones.
¡°Alternatively, you can submit items in exchange for spirit stones, and the value of those items will be appraised by these three here," Wen Hua said.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a trio of cultivators drifted their way onto the auction tform, consisting of a white-haired elderly man in a gray robe, a muscr man in a short blue robe, and an elegant middle-aged woman, all of whom were at the True Immortal Stage.
The three of them made their way over to a long table beside the auction tform before taking a seat.
"I''m sure many of you recognize these three fellow daoists. As elders of the Eternal Prosperity Trading House, the Dark Moon Trading House, and the Taibai Trading House, they have a vast wealth of knowledge and experience, and they''ll be sure to appraise all items without any bias, so you can all rest assured.
¡°In order to ensure the safety of our attendees, fighting is strictly prohibited in ck Wind City, and anyone caught engaging in battle will be punished. Alright, that''s enough from me. Without further ado, let the auction begin!" Wen Hua dered as he swept a sleeve through the air.
A muscr man in ck carried a giant pristine white box onto the tform, then opened it to reveal a red crystal that was around the size of a human head. There were me-like patterns on the crystal''s surface, and even from several thousand feet away, one could still sense the astonishing fire-attribute spiritual power fluctuations emanating from the crystal.
"This is a piece of high-grade Fire Pattern Bright Jade, an exceptional spirit material for refining top-tier spirit treasures. The base price is 20 top-grade spirit stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least one top-grade spirit stone," Wen Hua dered.
"20 top-grade spirit stones!"
"21!"
"25!"
¡¡
As soon as the piece of me Pattern Bright Jade was revealed, many people''s eyes instantly lit up, and a bidding war quickly began.
Han Li was seated in his chair, watching the unfolding scene down below with a calm expression.
me Pattern Bright Jade was indeed a great material, but it was still not enough to catch his eye.
The bidding war continued, and the price quickly rose to 50 top-grade spirit stones, upon which the bidding war finally ceased.
"Sold for 50 top-grade spirit stones!" Wen Hua dered with a wide smile.
He wasn''t expecting the first auction item to be sold for such a high price, and this was a very good sign for things toe.
Shortly thereafter, the second auction item was also brought onto the tform, and it was a 30,000-year-old spirit herb, which also went on to sell for a high price.
Time slowly passed by, and one auction item was brought on after another, consisting of all types of precious materials, pills, and spirit treasures, but they had clearly all been prepared for the Body Integration and Grand Ascension cultivators on the first floor.
Han Li was looking on in a detached manner, and up to this point, very few of the True Immortal cultivators on the second floor had cast any bids.
Several hours quickly passed by, and the prices of the auction items were gradually rising. Some extremely precious treasures were beginning to appear, including Divine Spirit Treasures, pills and treasures to be used during tribtion transcendence, and some pills that aided one in breaking through bottlenecks. At this point, the True Immortal cultivators on the second floor were finally beginning to cast bids on a semi-regr basis.
Shortly thereafter, another auction item was carried onto the stage, and it was a huge piece of jade that was dark red in color, and a series of blood-red patterns could be seen on its surface, forming the image of a fire phoenix. Furthermore, the item was giving off potent firew fluctuations.
Wen Hua''s gaze slowly roamed over the auction attendees, then settled on the piece of jade as he introduced, "The next item is this piece of Phoenix Blood Fire Jade, which was formed by the blood essence of ate-True Immortal Stage fire phoenix true spirit following its demise. It contains the power of firews, and it''s an exceptional primary material for refining Acquired Immortal Treasures.
¡°The base price is 200 top-grade spirit stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least 10 top-grade spirit stones."
This piece of Phoenix Blood Fire Jade contained a remarkable amount of power ofws, and even Han Li was tempted to make a bid for it. However, he didn''t have a particrlyrge stash of spirit stones at his disposal, so after some contemtion, he decided against making any bids.
"210!"
"240!"
"280!"
"300!"
There were many people interested in the piece of Phoenix Blood Fire Jade, but most of the bidders were True Immortal cultivators on the second floor. Even if those on the first floor wanted to get their hands on this precious material, the price was simply too steep for them.
The price for the Phoenix Blood Fire Jade was quickly bid up to 450 top-grade spirit stones, a bid that had been made by a bald red-robed man on the second floor.
With the submission of this bid, the second floor fell silent as well, and no further bids were made, much to the red-robed man''s tion.
"500!"
Right at this moment, a bid was made by someone in one of the booths on the third floor. Judging from the voice of the bidder, it seemed to have been a woman, and she had raised the price by 50 top-grade spirit stones in one go.
The red-robed man faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a hint of anger shed through his eyes, but after some contemtion, he slowly lowered his hand and didn''t make any further bids.
"Sold for 500 top-grade spirit stones!" Wen Hua dered with an ted expression.
The piece of Phoenix Blood Fire Jade was quickly taken to that booth on the third floor.
Han Li took a nce in that direction before withdrawing his gaze. In his opinion, the price paid was more than the item was worth.
Chapter 151: Heavy Water Lightning Beads
Chapter 151: Heavy Water Lightning Beads
The auction continued, and as the auction items increased further and further in value, the atmosphere in the venue was also bing more fervent and electric.
At this point, the attendees on the second and third floors were the only ones still making bids, while those on the first floor could only watch the proceedings.
At this moment, there was a square jade box sitting on the auction tform, inside of which was a purple jade tome.
"The next item is a high-grade True Immortal cultivation art by the name of the Purple Heavens Lightning Arts. It''s an extremely rare lightning-attribute cultivation art, and upon reaching full mastery, one would be able to open up all 36 immortal acupoints in their body, thereby progressing to the Golden Immortal Stage!
¡°Regarding its origins, I''m sure the story that I''m about to tell next is one that''s already quite familiar to everyone. This was the exact same cultivation art that Daoist Master Purple Heavens used several million years ago to y threete-True Immortal cultivators!" Wen Hua introduced.
This deration immediately created a huge stir throughout the entire venue, and a few surprised voices could even be hearding from the booths on the third floor.
Han Li''s expression also changed slightly upon hearing mention of the term "immortal acupoints".
Even though he had already converted all of his spiritual power to immortal spiritual power following the recovery of his cultivation base, due to the loss of his memories and ack of a suitable cultivation art, it could be said that in some sense, he hadn''t truly begun to cultivate.
However, through some Earthly Immortal cultivation arts, he had learned that opening up these immortal acupoints was integral to the advancement of one''s cultivation base, and just as Wen Hua imed, opening up 36 immortal acupoints would allow one to progress to the Golden Immortal Stage.
However, Earthly Immortal cultivation arts ced more importance on the umtion of the power of faith and the manifestation ofw powers, so very little mention of immortal acupoints was made. It seemed that after cultivating for a sufficiently long period of time, the immortal acupoints would naturally open up, and that seemed to be the case for the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome as well.
Wen Hua was quite pleased with the crowd reaction, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he dered, "Daoist Master Purple Heavens has already been missing for over 1,000,000 years, but this cultivation art has been passed down. However, I''m obligated to inform all of you that the prerequisites required to use this cultivation art are very rigorous.
¡°One has to possess a top-tier lightning-attribute spiritual root, or innate lightning-attribute constitutions such as the Five Lightning Physique or the True Lightning Essence Physique. Only then will the cultivator be able to attain full mastery of this cultivation art. Without further ado, the base price for this cultivation art is 500 top-grade spirit stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least 10 top-grade spirit stones."
Many people were very tempted to participate in the bidding race for the cultivation art, given that it was of the lightning attribute, which was renowned for its power.
There were many Earthly Immortals in the ck Wind Sea, but they were outnumbered by itinerant cultivators, who needed suitable high-grade cultivation arts more than anything else.
However, many people were left disappointed after hearing the rigorous prerequisites that had to be satisfied in order to use this cultivation art, but there were still quite a few people that were interested.
Han Li was also missing a cultivation art, so he was initially tempted, but he was also left feeling disappointed after hearing about the required prerequisites.
"510!"
"530!"
"580!"
Even though Han Li wasn''t bidding for the cultivation art, there were plenty of people keen to get their hands on it, and following a flurry of bids, the price was quickly raised to 700 top-grade spirit stones.
"800!"
A ratherzy voice rang out from one of the booths on the third floor, raising the price by 100 top-grade spirit stones in one go.
A middle-aged schrly man on the second floor who had made a bid of 600 top-grade spirit stones earlier hesitated momentarily, then gritted his teeth as he dered, "850!"
"900!"
The bidder on the third floor seemed to have been rather displeased by thepetition they were facing, and it was clear that their pockets were extremely deep.
Han Li couldn''t help but grimace upon hearing this.
Everything that he currently owned, including the reward from Lu Jun and the spoils that he had plundered from the two Azure Feather Ind cultivators and the Three Scourges of Splendid Mountain, only added up to around 1,000 top-grade spirit stones.
Prior to this, he had already instructed Mu Xue to gather information on the auction, so he knew some of the auction items that were still toe, and he had already decided on his target.
He had thought that he would have more than enough funds to secure his target auction item, but it seemed that he was mistaken. These True Immortals who had cultivated for countless millennia were truly astonishingly wealthy.
After the price was raised to 900 top-grade spirit stones, the other bidders on the second floor could only surrender, despite their clear reluctance to do so.
The sale of the Purple Heavens Lightning Arts was like the precursor to the climax of the auction, and some of the subsequent treasures weren''t quite of the same caliber as the Purple Heavens Lightning Arts, but frequent bids were still made thanks to the electric atmosphere.
The auction item that was currently being presented was a dark golden hammer.
It was an octagonal hammer roughly the size of a human head, and the handle was over four feet in length. Its appearance wasn''t all that remarkable, but it was giving off a vast aura, as if there were a huge mountain sitting on the stage, rather than just a hammer.
"The next item is an Acquired Immortal Treasure called the Mountain Shattering Hammer. It''s forged from abination of 10,000-year-old copper essence and Profound Golden cial Iron. It contains the power of metalws, and just a single blow with this weapon can shatter mountains and split rivers!
¡°However, the hammer is also extremely heavy and can be quite unwieldy for some, so I''d advise careful consideration before bidding. Without further ado, the starting price is 600 top-grade spirit stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least 10 top-grade spirit stones," Wen Hua dered.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up as his grip unconsciously tightened around the armrests of his chair.
This was the exact item that he was targeting.
He didn''t know what perils he was going to encounter during his journey to search for his lost treasures, and he was desperately in need of some powerful treasures to use along the way.
Even though he was unable to draw upon the power of metalws in the Mountain Shattering Hammer, it was undoubtedly a very suitable weapon for him as a Profound Immortal.
"610!"
"630!"
"660!"
Despite Wen Hua''s warning, there were still many people willing to cast bids for the Mountain Shattering Hammer, and before Han Li even had a chance to ce a single bid, the price had already soared to 700 top-grade spirit stones.
"900!" Han Li dered, raising the price by 200 in one go.
If he allowed the price to continue to rise over small increments, things could quickly get out of hand, so he had to nip the bidding in the bud.
Everyone around him immediately turned to him with stunned expressions.
"1,000!"
A voice rang out from the third floor. The voice seemed to have belonged to an elderly man, and he hadn''t cast any bids on any other auction items prior to this.
A dark look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
Aside from spirit stones, he had prepared some other treasures as well, with the most important one being that Soulbirth Flower, which he had already matured to 30,000 years old, so it could definitely fetch a handsome price.
"1,200!"
Before Han Li had a chance to make another bid, yet another 200 top-grade spirits stones were added to the bidding price, and the bid had been made by the owner of thezy voice from earlier.
"1,500!"
The same elderly voice rang out once again, raising the price by another 300.
"1,800!"
The owner of thezy voice wasn''t backing down in the slightest.
Not only were the tens of thousands of cultivators on the first floor stunned by how quickly the price was rising, even those on the second floor couldn''t help but be astonished by the wealth of the pair ofpeting bidders on the third floor.
Han Li could only shake his head with a wry smile.
The bidding war continued, and the price was quickly raised to over 2,000 top-grade spirit stones. Ultimately, the owner of the elderly voice secured the item for a price of 2,300 spirit stones.
Close to half a day passed by in the blink of an eye, and at this point, the auction was nearing its conclusion.
All of the most precious auction items were being brought onto the stage one after another, including materials that containedw powers, high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation arts, immortal herbs, some exotic beasts, and even the egg of a Nine-headed Frost Dragon.
The Nine-headed Frost Dragon was a true spirit with the innate ability to wield the power of waterws, and upon reaching full maturity, its powers would rival those of a mid-True Immortal cultivator, so it was far more formidable than any beast that Han Li had ever encountered.
To one''s surprise, a fierce bidding war immediately ensued, and in the end, the egg was purchased by someone on the third floor for over 2,000 top-grade spirit stones.
These were the true treasures of the auction.
At this point, even though the ordinary cultivators on the first floor could only sit and watch, they were still thoroughly enthused by the bidding wars they were witnessing, and many of the people on the second floor were also beginning toe to terms with the fact that they were also out of the running.
Han Li was starting to grow a little disinterested, despite the lively and bustling scenes transpiring before him.
None of these items were things that he needed. There were powerful spirit treasures presented, including even a Profound Heavenly Treasure, but none of them suited him, so he didn''t make any bids.
"The next items are three Heavy Water Lightning Beads. This treasure was refined using level three heavy water by a cultivator with exceptional mastery over thews of water. Even though it''s a disposable treasure, it''s extremely powerful, and even a mid-True Immortal cultivator could be prone to sustaining severe injuries if they were struck by one of these lightning beads head-on."
Three blue jade boxes were brought onto the stage as Wen Hua was speaking, and each one contained a longan-sized ck bead, which appeared to bepletely unremarkable aside from some ck mist drifting around them.
"The starting price for these three Heavy Water Lightning Beads is 500 top-grade spirit stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least 10 top-grade spirit stones," Wen Hua dered.
Many of the cultivators in the venue were very excited after hearing Wen Hua''s description of the beads.
They were astonishingly expensive considering they were disposable treasures, but they were definitely worth buying if they really were capable of severely injuring even mid-True Immortal cultivators.
Han Li was also rather tempted by the item as he stroked the True Water Pouch strapped to his waist.
While was he contemting how to proceed, the bidding had already begun, and it didn''t take long before the price was raised to 700 top-grade spirit stones.
"750!" Han Li finally made a bid.
This was already quite a steep price, and some of the bidders immediately backed out of the bidding war.
"760!" Another bid was cast by a red-haired young man not far away from Han Li.
Han Li took a nce at the young man, then made another bid without any hesitation. "800!"
The young man hesitated momentarily, then decided against making any further bids.
"850!" This time, the bidder was a bald man on the second floor.
"900!" Han Li immediately countered.
"1,000!"
The bald man took a nce in Han Li''s direction as a cold smile appeared on his face.
During the bidding for the Mountain Shattering Hammer earlier, he had been observing the bidders to try and gauge the depths of their pockets, and Han Li was naturally one of the people that he had been observing.
Chapter 152: First Glimpse of a Dao Pill
Chapter 152: First Glimpse of a Dao Pill
At this point in the bidding, everyone had already fallen silent. It wasn''t that no one could afford this price, it was just that the three Heavy Water Lightning Beads simply didn''t seem worth such a steep price to them.
After all, they were disposable treasures, and a sum of 1,000 top-grade spirit stones was potentially enough to purchase a low-quality Acquired Immortal Treasure.
Hence, everyone was merely watching Han Li and the bald man in silence, interested in seeing how far they were willing to go.
Of course, this was an extremely wee sight for the auctioneer, Wen Hua.
The higher the final selling prices of the auction items, the higher hismission would be, and his reputation as an auctioneer would also be enhanced.
"1,000 top-grade spirit stones going once! Are there any more bidders?" Even though this was a question that appeared to have been directed at everyone, Wen Hua was looking straight at Han Li.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he sat in silence, and a triumphant look appeared in the bald man''s eyes upon seeing this before he looked away in a casual manner.
No further bids were made, and as Wen Hua dered that the price of 1,000 top-grade spirit stones was going twice, the triumph in the bald man''s eyes became even more pronounced.
Right as Wen Hua was about to finalize the sale, Han Li suddenly interjected, "I don''t have enough spirit stones on me, but I have something I would like to have appraised."
This deration created quite a stir, and the bald man also faltered slightly before a derisive sneer appeared on his face.
Meanwhile, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a rectangr jade box, which he handed to the female attendant beside him.
The attendant hurriedly took the jade box from Han Li, then rushed over to the table beside the auction tform under the scrutiny of tens of thousands of people before setting the box down onto the table.
The blue-robed man and the middle-aged woman weren''t even looking at the box, clearly disying no interest in what Han Li was offering.
At this point in the auction, they had already appraised countless treasures, and the vast majority of them were quite mediocre, with the most valuable one being a Sea Soul Rock that contained a wisp of waterw powers, but even that item was only appraised to be worth 480 top-grade spirit stones.
With the other two appraisers showing apleteck of interest, it was left to the grey-robed elderly man to appraise the item, and he gently opened the box, upon which a surprised look immediately appeared on his face.
He took a nce in Han Li''s direction, then passed the jade box to the blue-robed man beside him.
The blue-robed man had witnessed the change in the elderly man''s expression, and a hint of intrigue appeared in his eyes as he took a nce at the item in the box as well. A simr look of surprise immediately appeared on his face, and he passed the box to the middle-aged woman, who disyed the same reaction as the other two appraisers.
The three of them then held a discussion through voice transmission, and the gray-robed elderly man turned to Han Li as he said, "We have appraised this item to be worth 1,000 top-grade spirit stones. Is that a satisfactory price for you, Fellow Daoist?"
The smile on the bald man''s face instantly stiffened in the wake of this deration, and a flurry of chatter immediately rang out.
"What?"
"Did I mishear him? What could possibly be worth 1,000 top-grade spirit stones?"
"Could it be an Acquired Immortal Treasure? It doesn''t look like something like that would fit in such a small box!"
"Could it be some type of pill?"
¡¡
ording to the rules of the auction, the appraisers had no obligation to reveal to everyone what the items that they appraised were. Hence, everyone was left to specte about what could possibly have been in the box.
Han Li contemted this price for a moment, then gave the gray-robed elderly man a nod to indicate that he epted the offer, following which he immediately ced a bid of 1,100 top-grade spirit stones.
The box contained the Soulbirth Flower that he had matured to 30,000 years of age, and it would''ve definitely been an extremely sought-after item in the ck Wind Sea. Hence, he was actually not very pleased with this price, but he was in need of spirit stones, and with the Heaven Controlling Vial, it hadn''t been all that difficult for him to nurture the flower, so he decided to ept the price after some thought.
After some hesitation, the bald man ced another bid as well. "1,150!"
"1,200!"
"1,300!"
"1,500!"
The bald man hesitated momentarily, then gave a cold harrumph as he leaned back against his chair with his arms crossed, bowing out of the bidding war.
"Sold for 1,500 spirit stones!" Wen Hua immediately dered with an ted expression.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li was approached by a young woman in ck, who asked, "Would you like to finalize the transaction now or wait until the end of the auction, Senior? If you want to finalize the transaction now, I''ll have to ask you toe to the rear hall with me."
"I''ll do it now," Han Li replied, then rose to his feet and followed the woman toward the rear hall.
Seated inside one of the booths on the third floor were Lu Jun and Lu Yuqing, and thetter''s gaze fell upon Han Li through the booth, upon which her brows furrowed slightly.
"What is it, Yuqing?" Lu Jun asked.
"For some reason, that man seems a bit familiar to me," Lu Yuqing replied as she cocked her head to the side in a contemtive manner.
"Have you met him before?" Lu Jun followed her gaze and took a nce at Han Li, who just so happened to making his way toward the rear hall.
"Maybe it''s just my imagination," Lu Yuqing replied with a shake of her head, ridding herself of that train of thought.
The auction continued, and her gaze was immediately drawn to the next auction item.
Meanwhile, inside the rear hall, a ck-robed elderly man was seated with his legs crossed, and there was a rectangr jade box ced beside him.
"Please take a seat, Fellow Daoist," the elderly man said with a warm smile as he rose to his feet and cupped his fist in a salute.
Han Li sat down across from the elderly man, then immediately swept a sleeve through the air to release a small pile of precisely 500 top-grade spirit stones onto the table.
"I see you like to do things quickly, Fellow Daoist," the ck-robed elderly man chuckled, and with a sweep of his sleeve, three jade boxes appeared on the table.
Han Li removed the lids of the jade boxes with a sweep of his own sleeve to examine the three Heavy Water Lightning Beads for verification, following which he gave a pleased nod.
With the transactionplete, he gave the elderly man a nod, then rose to his feet to depart.
"Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist," the ck-robed elderly man hurriedly called out as he also rose to his feet.
"Can I help you?" Han Li asked.
"I have been requested by someone to ask if you have any more Soulbirth Flowers that you''d like to sell. It only has to be above 20,000 years of age, and of course, we''ll be sure to offer you a satisfactory price," the ck-robed elderly man said.
"If I had more Soulbirth Flowers, I would''ve already brought them out earlier in the auction instead of watching all those treasures slip away from right under my nose," Han Li replied in a rather self-deprecating manner. "I only managed to obtain this one by chance."
A hint of disappointment appeared on the elderly man''s face upon hearing this.
With that, Han Li turned to leave once again, only to suddenly turn back around as he said, "Come to think of it, I also have something I''d like to ask you, Fellow Daoist. Do you know these Heavy Water Lightning Beads were refined by?"
The elderly man faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "These beads were also purchased by our auction house by chance, and we don''t know who they were refined by. However, I''ve heard that they were refined by a powerful being outside of the ck Wind Sea."
Han Li nodded in response, then made his way out of the rear hall and returned to his seat in the auction venue.
His return naturally attracted a great deal of attention and scrutiny, but he paid those prying eyes no heed.
"The next item is a pair of horns from thete-True Immortal Stage spirit beast, the Sky Splitting Roar. The horns have been perfectly preserved with no loss of spiritual nature whatsoever. The base price is 600 top-grade spirit stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least 10 top-grade spirit stones."
With a wave of Wen Hua''s hand, a pair of glowing purple horns appeared on the stage, emanating dazzling purple radiance.
All of the cultivators in the hall were extremely excited to see this, and a fierce bidding war immediatelymenced.
Han Li naturally had no intention of taking part, but he continued to remain in the venue and watch the auction.
Close to three hourster.
"And now, for the moment everyone has been waiting for! The next item will be the final item of our grand auction!" Wen Hua dered in an excited voice as he ced an item onto the auction tform.
It was a red wooden box that was extremely tightly sealed with a bunch of spirit talismans stered onto its surface.
Even so, the world''s origin qi around the box was still fluctuating slightly as rippling light that resembled surging mes appeared around it.
A hint of intrigue appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
There were other cultivators who couldn''t wait to see what was in the box, and they released their spiritual sense to try and inspect the box''s contents, only to be thwarted by the spirit talismans on the box.
Wen Hu wasn''t bothered at all by this, and his smile remained unchanged as he chanted an incantation while casting a series of incantation seals through the air.
The spirit talismans on the box flew off one after another, and upon the removal of the final talisman, the wooden box sprang open on its own to reveal a crimson pill.
The pill was only around the size of a thumbnail, and it was giving off fiery red light that was proliferating outward in rings around it.
There was an extremely eye-catching crimson line on the surface of the pill, and upon closer inspection, one would find that it was formed by countless runes, giving it an extremely profound and mystical appearance.
Countless stunned voices rang out one after another, and the entire hall quickly erupted into a frenzy.
"Your eyes do not deceive you, fellow daoists. What you''re looking at is a dao pill, renowned as the kings of all pills!" Wen Hua dered, and there was a hint of genuine excitement in his voice.
As an Earthly Pill Master, his pursuit and longing for improvement in the art of pill refinement was something that the average person simply couldn''tprehend.
"I''m sure all of you are aware of just how valuable dao pills are, so I won''t say too much about it here. This is a first-tier fire-attribute dao pill. If any of you are using fire-attribute cultivation arts, there''s a chance that you''ll be able to master thews of fire using this dao pill! The base price is 2,000 top-grade spirit stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least 100 top-grade spirit stones!" Wen Hua dered, promptlymencing the bidding.
Chapter 153: Perceiving the Lightning Beads
Chapter 153: Perceiving the Lightning Beads
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing the base price of 2,000 top-grade spirit stones.
With such an astronomically high starting price, there was no way he would be able to secure it with his wealth, orck thereof.
After Wen Hua announced themencement of the bidding, most of the people in the hall fell silent and began to look around with anticipation in their eyes. Everyone wanted to see who would ultimatelyy im to this dao pill.
"2,000!"
Finally, the brief silence was broken by someone from a booth in the southeastern corner of the third floor, and the voice sounded as if it belonged to an elderly man.
Cultivators from all of the most powerful forces on in the ck Wind Sea were gathered here for the auction, so there was no shortage of people with immense wealth at their disposal and a keen interest in this dao pill.
"2,200!"
"2,500!"
¡¡
All of the bidders were from the third-floor booths with no exceptions.
Within no more than half a minute, seven or eight rounds of bidding had already concluded, and the price of the dao pill had been bid up to over 3,000 top-grade spirit stones.
"4,000!"
A female voice suddenly rang out, and once again, it was from one of the booths on the third floor. Everyone looked on in astonishment as the flurry of bids drew to a temporary halt.
The entire auction venue had fallen silent once again.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this voice, and he seemed to recall that this was the same person who had secured that piece of Phoenix Blood Fire Jade from earlier.
"4,200!" Another bid rang out from the third floor.
The female voice immediately retaliated with an astonishingly high bid. "5,000!"
Everyone else was silenced for a moment by this extraordinary bid, only to erupt into a raucous frenzy, and everyone focused their gaze on that booth, trying to see what the person inside looked like.
"5,000 top-grade spirit stones going once! 5,000 spirit stones going twice! If anyone''s still interested, you better ce your bids now! If you miss this opportunity, another one may not arise even in the next 1,000 years! And... Sold for 5,000 top-grade spirit stones! Congrattions to this fellow daoist!"
With that deration, the dao pill was sold to the mysterious cultivator on the third floor, and that also spelled the conclusion of the ck Wind Sea''s centenary auction.
Wen Hua thanked everyone foring, then dered the conclusion of the auction.
Han Li was mixed in the crowd as he slowly made his way out of the pce.
Everyone around him was still spiritedly discussing everything they had seen during the auction, particrly that dao pill at the end, which was undoubtedly going to be talked about for a long time toe.
Looking at the excitement on the faces of the people around him, Han Li developed a better idea of just how rare and precious dao pills were.
Upon returning to his temporary cave abode, Han Li immediately activated all of the restrictions inside before making his way into the secret chamber.
After taking a seat in the secret chamber, he flipped a hand over to summon the three Heavy Water Lightning Bead, then picked up one of them between his thumb and index finger for a close examination.
The bead waspletely unremarkable in appearance and only around the size of a longan. There were wisps of ck mist that lingered perpetually over its surface, and it wasn''t giving off any special aura at all, making it appear quite innocuous.
However, given how much people had been willing to bid for the beads during the auction, he was confident that the power contained within them had to be far more potent than he could imagine.
Of course, he hadn''t paid such a steep price for the beads just for their destructive power. Instead, he wanted to see if he could study them to find new ways to utilize heavy water.
After all, even though he was able to use heavy water, if he didn''t know how to wield it, then it wouldn''t even be as powerful as an ordinary spirit treasure in his hands.
He ced the bead onto palm, then closed his fingers over it, carefully massaging it to feel the patterns on its surface.
Only after a long while did he open his hand again, and a peculiar look had appeared on his face.
The material of the Heavy Water Lightning Bead was identical to the heavy water refined by his Earthly Deity Avatar, and he was able to feel some tiny marks on its surface that were as thin as human hairs, connecting together to form a series of strange patterns.
Even with his wealth of knowledge and experience, he wasn''t able to make heads or tails of the patterns.
After a moment of contemtion, he closed his eyes, and a translucent thread shot out of his be, entering the ck mist before venturing into the bead.
It was as if there were an entire world contained within the bead, and initially, all he could see was inky darkness. However, upon closer inspection, he spotted specks of ck light, as well as wisps of azure and purple lightning that were shing incessantly.
At the same time, he could feel the traces ofw powers within the bead.
These three types of power werebined together to create a very harmonious equilibrium, and they were all connected while also keeping one another in check, like a ferocious tiger that was biding its time, waiting to be let loose from its cage so that it could unleash its wrath.
Close to two hours passed by, and Han Li finally reopened his eyes.
He shook his head as he heaved a faint sigh, then stowed the three Heavy Water Lightning Beads away before exiting the cave abode. After that, he flew in a certain direction as a streak of azure light, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
¡¡
In apletely uninhabited area of the sea tens of thousands of kilometers away from ck Wind Ind.
A streak of azure light arrived in a sh, then faded to reveal Han Li.
He released his spiritual sense to epass the entire surrounding region in a radius of thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye, carefully inspecting his surroundings.
Only after ensuring that there were no other cultivators in the area did he flip a hand over to produce one of the Heavy Water Lightning Beads.
Azure light shed over his palm, and a wisp of immortal spiritual power was injected into the bead.
The surface of the bead immediately lit up with crimson light, and all of the spirit patterns engraved upon it also shed momentarily before dimming again.
Han Li casually tossed the bead forward, and it shot forth rapidly through the air, giving off no aura fluctuations as it traveled tens of thousands of feet in the blink of an eye.
A thunderous boom rang out as the Heavy Water Lightning Bead exploded, and a mountainous ball of ck light appeared with hundreds of bolts of azure and purple lightning that were over 1,000 feet in length surging through the air in all directions. They resembled whips of a lightning god, shing through the surrounding space while giving off formidablew fluctuations.
The space that was struck by the bolts of lightning immediately began to warp and shudder violently, looking as if it were about to be torn apart.
Meanwhile, a giant crater had appeared on the surface of the sea beneath the vast ball of ck light, and all of the fish and sea beasts within the crater were instantly destroyed.
In the next instant, the ball of ck light also exploded into vast expanses of ck radiance that swept forth in all directions.
Han Li had already conjured up his True Extreme Film, and blue light was shing in his eyes as he carefully observed every single detail that arose following the explosion of the lightning bead.
The waves of ck light reached him in the blink of an eye, and his pupils contracted drastically as he shot back in retreat, but it was already toote, and he wasn''t able to fly very far at all before the ck light caught up to him.
A sound akin to that of pitter-pattering rain falling on a banana leaf rang out, and there were countless hair-thin ck needles within the ck light, striking against his True Extreme Film.
The True Extreme Film shed erratically as countless white spots appeared on its surface, and only after a long while did it return to a stable state.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this. Thankfully, the True Extreme Film was able to withstand the assault. Otherwise, he would''ve most likely already had countless tiny holes punched into his body at this point.
All of those ck needles had been formed by heavy water, granting them extraordinary prative power, and even his body most likely wouldn''t have been able to keep them at bay without any additional defenses.
The sea down below churned violently, and an enormous crater with a radius of close to 10,000 feet appeared on its surface.
Han Li spread his spiritual sense through the area, and a stunned look appeared on his face as he discovered that everything with a radius of close to 10 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion had been pierced by the heavy water needles, killing all of the sea beasts in the area.
Given how fearsome these ck needles were, Han Li imagined that even he would''ve sustained severe injuries had he been situated at the epicenter of the explosion.
After witnessing all of this, Han Li finally understood why the beads had triggered such a fierce bidding war during the auction.
Only after several more seconds had passed did the residual effects of the explosion begin to subside.
Han Li made sure that the aura ofw powers in the air hadpletely faded before flying back to the epicenter of the explosion, where there was still a charred smell lingering in the air.
At this point, the crater on the surface of the sea down below had already been refilled by seawater, but there were still some unnatural wave formations in the aftermath of the explosion.
Given the price that Han Li had paid for these Heavy Water Lightning Beads, he had essentially just detonated 500 top-grade spirit stones, and if any other auction-goers had been present, they would''ve been stunned by such an astonishing waste.
However, Han Li waspletely unfazed, and his head was slightly bowed as he contemted what he had just seen in silence.
Only after a long while of contemtion did he murmur to himself, "It seems like the power ofws were used to forcibly seal the power of lightning into heavy water, and an injection of immortal spiritual power would be required to unleash this power. However..."
It seemed that there was something that he was unable to wrap his head around, and his voice trailed off into silence as he fell into deep thought.
Judging from the process through which the Heavy Water Lightning Bead had released its power and the final oue, there was no way that it would''ve been capable of unleashing such devastating power if it had only released the power ofws and lightning stored within.
Han Li closed his eyes as he carefully reyed what he had just seen in his mind over and over again, and all of a sudden, he was struck by a sh of enlightenment.
In the instant that the Heavy Water Lightning Bead released its power, all of the spirit pattern restrictions engraved upon its surface had been activated, causing the lightning to disperse the heavy water, transforming it into countless tiny sts of heavy water that contained the power ofws.
Anything within the area would be like a foreign object that disrupted the fragile equilibrium, causing it to be simultaneously attacked by the heavy water, the lightning, and the power ofws, which was a formidablebination that even the average True Immortal wouldn''t have been able to withstand.
Even though Han Li had managed to develop a rough idea of how these beads worked, he was still left feeling rather dismayed.
In order to prevent his magic power from being contaminated by the power of faith, he had refrained from epting the power ofws derived by his Earthly Deity Avatar, so it was impossible for him to replicate the refinement of these Heavy Water Lightning Beads.
However, this hadn''t been apletely fruitless experiment. At the very least, through his observations, he had received a great deal of inspiration on how he could utilize his heavy water.
After lingering in the area for a moment longer, Han Li rose up into the air before flying into the distance.
After flying for a few hundred kilometers, he began to descend toward a nearby small coral ind that was only several kilometers in radius.
Uponnding on the ind, he flipped ah and over to produce the True Water Pouch was filled with heavy water.
Over the course of the past three years, he had been maturing the Soulbirth Flower with the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial while also intermittently refining crystals that contained thews of time, helping his Earthly Deity Avatar derive more heavy water.
At this point, he had already umted enough heavy water to fill most of a small stream.
Chapter 154: Blaze Dragon Dao
Chapter 154: ze Dragon Dao
After a brief pause, Han Li flipped a hand over, and a ball of heavy water around the size of a watermelon flowed out of the True Water Pouch, where it hovered in mid-air, enveloped by his immortal spiritual power.
The heavy water was flowing and circting incessantly, and it didn''t appear remarkable at all, but its weight was alreadyparable to that of a mountain that was several thousand feet tall.
He closed his eyes, and after running all of the ideas that he had developed earlier through his mind, he reopened his eyes.
He then made a grabbing motion with one hand, and a burst of silver lightning shot out of his palm, forming a silver lightning around his hand.
After that, he thrust both palms forward, and the silver lightning began to extend toward the ball of heavy water as if it were a living creature.
The lightning wound itself around the ball of heavy water, and thetter immediately began to sway and quiver violently, as if it were receiving some type of powerful stimulus.
Han Li hurriedly released more of his immortal spiritual power, and with the injection of immortal spiritual power, the ball of heavy water was gradually stabilized again, but its surface was still rippling incessantly.
Han Li began to lower his other hand upon seeing this, injecting lightning into the ball of heavy water.
The tiny arcs of lightning resembled countless peerlessly sharp des that sliced countless minuscule gashes onto the surface of the ball of heavy water, then burrowed their way deeper inside.
As more and more lightning was injected into the ball of heavy water, it began to slowly shrink, and Han Li was ecstatic to see this.
However, just that slightpse of concentration resulted in the simultaneous explosion of the lightning and the ball of heavy water.
A burst of powerful shockwaves instantly struck him head-on, sting him back through the air before sending him plunging into the sea.
By the time he returned to the coral ind, close to half of the ind had already been destroyed by the explosion, and a wry smile appeared on his face upon seeing this.
After taking a moment to adjust his robes, Han Li pulled out his True Water Pouch again and released another ball of heavy water from within.
Momentster, tiny arcs of silver lightning reappeared as well.
¡¡
A short whileter, another violent explosion rang out, and silver lightning erupted in all directions.
This time, Han Li was already prepared, so he wasn''t sent flying, but his brows were tightly furrowed.
He made a sweeping motion with his hand, and wisps of immortal spiritual power were released, gathering the tiny particles of heavy water that had been scattered through the air.
This heavy water had been extremely difficult toe by, and he didn''t want to waste any of it.
Three days and three nights passed by in the blink of an eye.
This morning, Han Li suddenly rose up from the ind, hovering high up in the sky.
His robes were pping around him amid the sea breeze, and there was a hint of weariness in his eyes, but his eyes were glowing brightly, much like the rising sun on the horizon.
In his hand was a ck ball that was roughly the size of a human fist, and there were matte silver patterns that bore a strong resemnce to arcs of lightning running all over its surface.
During the past few days, Han Li had failed on countless asions to replicate the Heavy Water Lightning Bead, but he had finally seeded here.
In terms of physical appearance, there were clear differences between this lightning ball and the Heavy Water Lightning Beads. The lightning ball was significantlyrger, and there was no ck mist lingering around it. Due to the presence of the eye-catching silver lightning veins on its surface, Han Li had decided to name it Heavy Water Veined Lightning.
Due to theck of incorporation ofw powers, the heavy water hadn''t been refined to a sufficient degree of purity, so the lightning ball was quiterge, and the lightning within also wasn''t sealed as securely as was the case in the Heavy Water Lightning Beads.
However, this was the extent of his capabilities up to this point.
Just figuring out the right ratio of heavy water to lightning alone had already proven to be an extremely difficult task. Due to how difficult heavy water was to control, injecting too little power of lightning into the heavy water would result in a product that wascking in power, but injecting too much would result in an unstable product that could explode at any moment.
Finally, he had managed to refine one that he was quite pleased with, so the next step was naturally to test out its power.
With that in mind, Han Li injected a wisp of immortal spiritual power into the ball, then tossed it forward with a flick of his wrist.
The Heavy Water Veined Lightning flew through the air in an arc, then fell toward the surface of the sea.
After flying to about 4,000 to 5,000 feet away from Han Li, the silver patterns on its surface abruptly lit up, following which a thunderous explosion rang out.
Immediately thereafter, countless arcs of silver lightning spread through the air in all directions, epassing the entire area in a radius of over 1,000 feet.
Han Li had already retreated to over 10,000 feet away, but his gaze had remained firmly fixed on the explosion this entire time.
The explosion was extremely simr to the one that disyed by the Heavy Water Lightning Bead earlier. Just like in that explosion, a vast ball of ck light that was close to 1,000 feet in size had appeared, apanied by shes of silver lightning.
However, what was different this time was that the explosion wascking in the formidablew power fluctuations.
As was the case with the explosion of the Heavy Water Lightning Bead, a massive crater had appeared on the surface of the sea beneath the ball of ck light, sending enormous waves hundreds of feet tall surging in all directions.
Momentster, the surface of the sea was still riddled with enormous waves, but it was no longer as violent and terrifying as it appeared earlier.
Han Li flew back to the spot where the lightning ball had exploded, and after carefully sensing the changes in the surrounding air, he spread both hands open to release hair-thin strands of immortal spiritual power.
The air around him rippled slightly, and countless barely visible ck spots were drawn toward the palms of his hands by his immortal spiritual power.
Only after a long while did the tiny ck specks converge to form a pair of fist-sized balls of ck liquid, which was none other than the heavy water contained in the lightning ball from earlier.
"Looks like theck ofw powers is really impacting its power. That wasn''t even a tenth as powerful as the explosion from the Heavy Water Lightning Bead," Han Li murmured to himself as he heaved a faint sigh.
Despite this, he was still quite pleased with the power of the Heavy Water Veined Lightning.
Even with theck ofw powers, he had managed to replicate the Heavy Water Lightning Bead quite well, and just like the Heavy Water Lightning Bead, his Heavy Water Veined Lightning also appeared to bepletely innocuous right up to the moment before it was detonated.
Furthermore, he was able to recover the tiny specks of heavy water dispersed by the explosion, so not much of a loss was incurred.
Most importantly, he only had two Heavy Water Lightning Beads left, but given sufficient time, he would be able to refine an unlimited supply of Heavy Water Veined Lightning. If he were to unleash dozens or even hundreds of this lightning at once, then their collective power would still be extremely formidable.
Right at this moment, his brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and he flipped a hand over to produce an azure mask that he quickly put on his face.
In the next instant, a vast expanse of azure light surged forth, transforming into a massive azure array te projection.
A series of ripples surged out of the azure light, and a humanoid projection of a figure wearing a loose-fitting robe and an azure vulture mask appeared before Han Li.
"Have you contacted me about the mission that I released?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right, I have some information for you," the projection replied, and their voice was a little sharp, but it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "You only have some information for me?"
"I''m afraid so. Both of the things that you''re searching for, namely dao pill recipes and cultivation arts rted to thews of time, are extremely difficult toe by. There are many guild members enquiring about such items every single day, but how many of them actually end up obtaining those things?" the projection chuckled.
"I clearly stated in the mission debriefing that I want concrete and useful information. If you only have some inconsequential information or unreliable rumors to impart, then I''m afraid that won''t suffice," Han Li said.
"Why don''t you take a listen to what I have to say before you decide whether the information I have for you is worth the reward?" the projection chuckled.
Han Li merely nodded in response, encouraging the figure to continue.
"Have you heard of the Heaven Flow Pce, the ze Dragon Dao, and the Dawn Fall Sect?" the projection asked.
"The Heaven Flow Pce is a vastly renowned immortal sect in the Northern cial Immortal Region, but I don''t know about the other two sects," Han Li replied.
"All three of these sects are in the Northern cial Immortal Region, and I''m telling you about them because all three of them possess cultivation arts rted to thews of time," the projection said.
Han Li was rather intrigued to hear this, but his expression remainedpletely unchanged as he asked, "Would you be able to borate on that?"
"Out of those three sects, the Heaven Flow Pce is the most powerful, the Dawn Fall Sect is the most enigmatic, while the ze Dragon Dao has been around the longest. However, all of them have been studying thews of time for millions of years. ording to my knowledge, the Dawn Fall Sect''s premier cultivation art, the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture, can allow one to glean thews of time upon reaching a sufficiently advanced level.
¡°The Heaven Flow Pce has a cultivation art called the Water Divination Time Arts, which is also rted to thews of time. The ze Dragon Dao also possesses a cultivation art of this distinction, but I''m not sure what its name is," the projection exined.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression, then asked, "Do you know if any of those cultivation arts are superior to the others?"
"That concerns the secrets of the three sects, so I don''t know the answer to that," the projection replied.
"I see. Do you know the locations of the three sects? Surely this is information that you''re privy to."
"Of course. The Heaven Flow Pce is situated in the Point Heaven Mountain Range of the Upper Arr Continent, which is located in the south of the immortal region. The Dawn Fall Sect is situated in the Peaceful Small Heaven Realm in the north of the immortal region, and the ze Dragon Dao is situated in the Bell Toll Mountain Range of the Ancient Cloud Continent, which is located in the east of the immortal region," the projection replied.
Han Li was silent for a moment upon hearing this, then asked, "Do you know what are the requirements to join the ze Dragon Dao?"
ording to what he had learned during these past few years on ck Wind Ind, the ck Wind Sea was situated in the southeast of the Northern cial Immortal Region, which meant that it was closest to the ze Dragon Dao and the Heaven Flow Pce.
His top priority at the moment was to recover his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and Daoist Xie, which had been revealed to be in the east by the Bonded Eight Spirits Vat, thereby making the ze Dragon Dao a logical destination.
Instead of answering Han Li''s question, the figure asked, "Is the information that I''m providing worthy of the reward for your mission?"
"If that''s all the information that you have, then I could''ve uncovered all of this myself in due time. If you don''t have any information that''s more useful than what you''ve provided so far, then I suggest you don''t waste any more of our time," Han Li replied in a cold voice.
The figure wasn''t fazed by Han Li''s cold demeanor, and they countered, "Don''t underestimate the information that I''ve provided, Fellow Daoist. Without my help, even if you manage to get to the ze Dragon Dao, you''ll only be made a guest elder at the very most, and the secret scriptures of the inner sect will bepletely out of your reach."
Chapter 155: Departure
Chapter 155: Departure
"What do you mean by that?" Han Li asked.
"ording to my knowledge, the ze Dragon Dao keeps a very close eye on its cultivation arts, and they''re only made avable to inner sect disciples and elders. In order to enter the inner sect, you''ll require a rmendation from an inner sect elder.
¡°Otherwise, even as a True Immortal, you''ll only be epted as an outer sect guest elder, and only after an extremely extensive probation period will you have a sliver of an opportunity to enter the inner sect," the projection exined.
"It sounds like you know someone that can put in a rmendation for me," Han Li said as he raised an eyebrow.
"To tell you the truth, that''s not something I can do for you. However, I know of a way that''ll allow you to obtain an inner sect token of one of the elders at the ze Dragon Dao. With that token, you''ll be able to directly enter the ze Dragon Dao''s inner sect," the projection said.
A smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he prompted, "In that case, I''m all ears. This piece of information is definitely worthy of the reward I''m offering."
"I once took on a mission from our Transient Guild, requiring me to help the n of one of the ze Dragon Dao''s inner sect elders resolve a major problem, and the reward forpleting the mission is an inner sect token left behind by that elder. I can pass this mission onto you," the projection said.
"Given how valuable the reward is, I''m assuming the mission won''t be very easy toplete, right?" Han Li asked.
"The mission debriefing didn''t actually reveal exactly what needs to be done. It only states that this mission can only bepleted by someone with a True Immortal Stage cultivation base at the very minimum. As for the exact details of the mission, you''ll have to go to the n in question to find out," the projection replied.
"Is there a time limit on when the mission must bepleted?" Han Li asked.
"No. Anyone that takes on the mission will receive a jade slip, and as long as the jade slip hasn''t broken on its own, that means that the mission is still in effect," the projection .
Han Li paused for a moment to contemte the situation, then decided, "Alright, I''ll take on the mission. Please give me the jade slip, Fellow Daoist."
Han Li then raised a hand to release a blue storage pouch, which flew through the air and into the azure array te.
At the same time, a white jade slip also slowly flew out of the array te.
Han Li caught the jade slip, then inspected it briefly before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
The jade slip contained the mission debriefing, as well as a map of the Ancient Cloud Continent.
However, upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that the map was severelycking in detail, with only the area near the Bell Toll Mountain Range disyed, while almost everything else was left nk.
After examining the storage pouch sent over by Han Li, the figure said, "This is a tracking map. Once you reach the general vicinity of the Bell Toll Mountain Range on the Ancient Cloud Continent, the shortest path to the destination will be revealed to the holder of the jade slip."
"I see. You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist," Han Li replied with a nod.
The figure cupped their fist in a salute toward Han Li, then quickly vanished on the spot, and the array te that was hovering above the sea also disappeared.
Han Li stowed his mask away, then flew back toward ck Wind Ind as a streak of azure light.
Several dayster.
The residual hype of the centenary auction still hadn''t died down yet, so the entire ck Wind Ind was still as lively and bustling as ever. Many of the shops in ck Wind City were seizing this opportunity to do everything they could to attract more customers through their doors.
The streets in the city were packed with people and carriages, and there were also many figures flying through the air to ess the hovering buildings up above.
A unremarkable-looking azure-robed young man was making his way along a wide street toward the center of the city, and beside him was another young man with a darkplexion. They were none other than Han Li and Mu Xue.
"Senior Liu, I''ve always felt like you''re not an ordinary cultivator, but I didn''t think you would actually be able to secure a teleportation spot from the Heavenly Star Pagoda," Mu Xue said as he turned to Han Li with a wide smile, and Han Li also smiled in response, but offered no exnation.
Mu Xue didn''t speak any further about this subject upon seeing this. Despite the fact that Han Li had always disyed a mild and amiable personality, he still harbored a great deal of awe and veneration toward this unfathomable senior, and of course, he longed to reach this level himself someday.
Looking at the throngs of people making their way through the streets, Han Li suddenly asked, "Have you ever thought about leaving ck Wind Ind to see the outside world?"
Mu Xue faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied in a slightly dejected manner, "ck Wind Ind is already the most prosperous ce in the entire ck Wind Sea. If an itinerant cultivator like myself were to go anywhere else, I would struggle just to survive."
"The world is a vast ce that epasses far more than just the ck Wind Sea. You have decent cultivation aptitude, you''re just missing some resources," Han Li said with a smile.
"You''re far too kind, Senior Liu. I can only hope to encounter more clients like yourself and save up some more spirit stones. Perhaps I''ll be able to advance a little further on the path of cultivation then," Mu Xue replied with a self-deprecating smile.
Mu Xue reminded Han Li very much of his younger self, and thinking back to when he first embarked on the path of cultivation, his aptitude had been far inferior to Mu Xue''s. If it weren''t for the Heaven Controlling Vial, perhaps he wouldn''t have even made it to the Spirit Realm.
A reminiscent look appeared in his eyes as he was guided by Mu Xue to the Heavenly Star Pagoda.
Around an hourter, the two of them arrived at the end of the main street leading to the center of the city, and a white stone za that was over 10,000 feet in size had appeared up ahead.
There were only a few people on the za, and all of them were hurriedly making their way toward a cylindrical stone pagoda at the very center of the za.
Han Li looked up to find that the stone pagoda was over 1,000 feet tall, and the entire structure was of a pristine white color. There were countless lines of different depths and shapes on its surface, forming some type of special array patterns.
"That''s the Heavenly Star Pagoda up ahead, Senior Liu. This is where we''ll have to part ways," Mu Xue said in a respectful voice as he extended a deep bow toward Han Li.
By the time he stood up straight again, Han Li was already nowhere to be seen, and a forlorn look shed through his eyes.
Right at this moment, a familiar voice suddenly rang out in his heart.
"Do not excessively belittle yourself, Mu Xue. The spirit stones and that cultivation art in the storage pouch are my parting gifts to you. Work hard in your cultivation, and there''s definitely a chance that you could make a name for yourself someday."
Mu Xue faltered slightly upon hearing this, thenid a hand onto his own waist to find that a storage pouch had appeared there without his detection.
He immediately began looking around, and he spotted Han Li near the Heavenly Star Pagoda.
Looking at Han Li from afar, a surge of warmth instantly welled up in his heart, and he extended another deep bow, remaining in a bowed position for a long time.
Meanwhile, Han Li continued to make his way directly toward the pagoda without looking back at Mu Xue.
The pagoda didn''t have any visible entrances, and just as a befuddled look appeared on Han Li''s face, a burst of spiritual power fluctuations suddenly surged forth, following which an object flew out of his sleeve amid a sh of light.
It was the ck badge that had been given to him by Lu Jun, and it flew into the pagoda before vanishing without a trace.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of spatial fluctuations swept over Han Li, and he also vanished on the spot, reappearing inside the pagoda a secondter.
He looked around to find that the interior of the pagoda waspletely hollow, much like a giant upside-down cup.
There were countless array runes inscribed onto the walls around him, as well as spirit stones of an exceptional quality embedded onto the wall at the points where the runes intersected.
There were also circles of ring-shaped array patterns engraved onto the ground underfoot, giving off faint spatial fluctuations.
At this moment, there were around 30 to 40 other people in the pagoda, and there were both humans and beings of other races among them. However, the onemon trait that they all shared was a formidable aura.
Han Li''s gaze roamed over the people around him, and as his gaze fell upon a woman in a long red dress, he couldn''t help but look at her for a moment longer.
The woman possessed breathtaking beauty, and her fiery red dress perfectly entuated the gorgeous curves of her exceptional figure.
Her facial features were extremely intricate, but her brows and eyes were a little long and narrow, giving off a cold aura that presented a stark contrast with her alluring body, but it was somehow still a perfectly harmoniousbination.
Many of the people in the pagoda were also casting furtive nces her way, some with hints of lust in their eyes, but one dared to step out of line.
Even though Han Li''s gaze had also lingered momentarily on her, that wasn''t due to any physical attraction that he felt. Instead, it was because he couldn''t sense the woman''s cultivation base at all, thereby evoking a sense of wariness within him.
The woman paid no heed to all of the nces cast her way, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she pondered something in silence.
All of a sudden, she seemed to have detected something, and she turned to take a nce at Han Li, but at this point, his gaze was already elsewhere.
Right at this moment, an elderly voice suddenly rang out. "Sorry to keep you all waiting, fellow daoists. It''s time for the teleportation tomence. Simply carry your badge in your hand and you''ll be able to enter the array."
Han Li turned to find that the gray-robed elderly man that had been seated on one side of the array had risen to his feet, and a circr array te had appeared in his hand.
With a sweep of his sleeve, dozens of streaks of blue light shot forth, and each of them flew toward one of the people in the pagoda with unerring uracy.
Han Li made a beckoning motion with one hand to draw the approaching streak of blue light into his grasp, upon which he discovered that it was a profound talisman with around a dozen silver runes inscribed in beveled silver text shing on its surface.
Everyone else caught their talismans as well, then proceeded to make their way toward the circr array engraved onto the ground.
Han Li stepped into the array along with everyone else, and after everyone had piled into the array, the elderly man made a hand seal with one hand, then firmly pressed his palm down onto the array te while chanting a fast incantation.
A loud buzzing sound rang out as all of the runes on the walls of the pagoda began to glow brightly, as did all of the spirit stones embedded onto the walls, and all of the spiritual power contained within the spirit stones surged forth in a frenzy.
The array patterns underfoot began to radiate dazzling white light, which swallowed up everyone in an instant.
Chapter 156: The Perilous Path of Cultivation
Chapter 156: The Perilous Path of Cultivation
The entire surrounding space was filled with dazzling white light, immediately followed by a rush of dizziness, while the sound of howling wind rang out.
At the same time, there seemed to be gusts of astral wind sweeping toward everyone, only to be kept out by some type of invisible force right before it came into contact with their bodies.
Only after what seemed like a long time did this peculiar sensation abruptly fade away, and everything became clearly visible again.
Han Li quickly inspected his surroundings to find that everyone had been teleported into a massive underground cavern, and the ground and the walls of the cavern were quite simr to what was inside the Heavenly Star Pagoda, with the same engraved runes and embedded spirit stones.
The talisman that Han Li had been holding had vanished at some point during the teleportation, and a wry smile appeared on his face upon seeing this.
He had wanted to study the talisman, but the teleportation had concluded before he had a chance to react, and the talisman had disappeared from his possession.
Seated not far away outside the array was an elderly itinerant immortal with a head of white hair coupled with a set of youthful facial features, and there were around 20 to 30 people standing behind him. These people were all dressed in different attire, and many of them didn''t appear to have been from the ck Wind Sea.
After Han Li and the others emerged from the array at the center of the cavern, all of those people stepped onto the array to rece them.
Right as he was passing by these people, a sense of peril suddenly welled up in Han Li''s heart, and he reflexively took a nce at a few of the people in the ground.
The group of cultivators in questions were quite unremarkable in appearance, and their auras were very stable. Even their expressions were quite calm and collected, but for some reason, Han Li could instinctively sense a dangerous aura from them, and that was making him quite apprehensive.
Right at this moment, a physically imposing green-skinned man emerged from the group that had been teleported into the underground cavern alongside Han Li, and he arrived in front of the elderly itinerant cultivator as he cupped his fist in a salute and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Elder Yi. I''ll be taking over from you for the next 100 years."
The elderly man rose to his feet with a smile, then flipped a hand over to produce a round array te that he offered to the green-skinned man as he said, "I was wondering who the ind master would send to relieve me of my post, but I didn''t think it would be you, Brother Lu! I''ll leave everything here to you then."
The green-skinned man epted the array te, and the two of them bade farewell to each other before the elderly itinerant immortal also made his way into the array.
Momentster, everyone in the array was teleported to ck Wind Ind amid a sh of bright white light.
Only after everyone in the array had disappeared did the hint of apprehension in Han Li''s heart begin to fade.
Meanwhile, the green-skinned man stowed away the array te as he turned to everyone and dered, "From this day forth, the ck Wind Cave teleportation array will be closed for 100 years. If you wish to return to the ck Wind Sea,e back 100 yearster when the array reopens. Of course, you have to prepare enough immortal origin stones to cover the teleportation cost.
¡°If you leave this cave and travel northward along the coastline for a few thousand kilometers, you''ll reach Seaside City. Those of you who are visiting the Primordial Wave Continent for the first time can stop by Seaside City for some supplies before continuing on your way. I wish all of you a smooth journey."
Everyone cupped their fists in a salute toward the green-skinned man before exiting the underground cavern.
Han Li followed everyone out of the cavern, and he was immediately greeted by a slight fishy odor in the air, which was carried into his nostrils by the sea breeze.
He rose up into the air, and from that vantage point, he could see that he was situated above a vast and boundless sea.
Directly up ahead was the choppy and turbulent ocean, while behind him was a winding coastline, and the cavern that he had just emerged from was situated within a well-concealed cliff on the coast.
The people that had arrived here alongside Han Li didn''t linger here for very long before scattering in all directions, and the woman in the red dress had also departed.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li began to fly northward along the coastline as a streak of azure light.
Initially, thendscape down below was rather barren and deste, but after flying for a while, vast forests began to appear.
The trees in this ce were remarkably tall, and it was a verymon sight here to see trees standing close to 1,000 feet in height, resembling a series of tall mountains. The ground was covered in a thickyer of fallen leaves, as well as countless shrubs and weeds, giving it a primordial appearance, as if no one had ever set foot in this ce.
The forest stretched into the distance as far as the eyes could see, and Han Li could hear the roar of a certain type of demon beast ringing out up ahead.
The primordial aura of this ce evoked a long-absent sense of excitement in Han Li''s heart, and after flying for close to an hour, the outlines of a coastal city began to appear in his field of view.
The city wasn''t veryrge, only several hundred kilometers in radius, and it waspletely enshrouded under a light barrier that resembled a dense film of yellow sand. At first nce, it appeared as if there were a giant yellow turtle shell epassing the entire city, and the words "Seaside City" were inscribed above the city gates in ancient text.
There was only a single opening in the yellow light barrier that granted ess to the city gates, and it was quite a lively and bustling area with cultivators asionally emerging from the city on their own or in groups to fly into the forest up ahead.
At the same time, there were also cultivators flying out of the forest toward the city. Many of them looked rather worse for wear, and some of them even had bloodstains on their clothes, but most of them appeared to be quite excited.
Han Li quickly descended onto the ground, and at this point, he had already withdrawn his aura, posing as a Body Integration cultivator as he joined the crowd that was entering the city.
There were two teams of azure-robed guards situated at the city gate, and all of them were at the Spatial Tempering Stage, while their leader was a Body Integration cultivator.
However, these guards didn''t raise any questions to the people entering the city. Even for apletely unfamiliar face like Han Li, he was allowed into the city after issuing some spirit stones as payment.
Beyond the city gate was a wide street that extended into the city, and the street was lined with all types of shops.
The city didn''t have a particrlyrge poption, but most of them were cultivators with lofty cultivation bases, and mortals were an extremely rare sight here.
The shops that lined the streets weren''t particrly elegant. In fact, they were rather crude in appearance, selling wares such as spirit herbs, ore, demon beast materials, and other types of materials.
After a brief inspection, Han Li discovered that despite the crude appearance of the shops, the wares being sold all seemed to be of quite a high standard that wasn''t inferior in the slightestpared with the most prestigious shops in ck Wind City.
As opposed to calling it a city, it was more urate to call Seaside City a supply point for cultivators.
After observing his surroundings for a while, Han Li made his way toward a variety shop.
There was no one else in the shop aside from a hideous man with pockmarks all over his face sitting behind the counter, and he hurriedly rose to his feet at the sight of Han Li.
The pockmarked man was only a Deity Transformation cultivator, and he was disying a very respectful demeanor after sensing Han Li''s Body Integration Stage aura. "What can I help you with, Senior? My shop isn''t very big, but I have a veryprehensive range of wares that''ll be sure to satisfy all your needs."
"Do you sell maps here?" Han Li asked.
The pockmarked man flipped a hand over to produce an azure jade slip as he smiled and replied, "Yes, I have the most detailed map of the Lost Grave Forest here. If you want to hunt for any demon beasts or gather any spirit herbs, the map willy out all of the locations where you''ll find the things you''re looking for."
It seemed that the Lost Grave Forest was the name of the primordial forest outside Seaside City.
Han Li shook his head as he replied, "I don''t need a map of the Lost Grave Forest. Do you sell maps of the Primordial Wave Continent? Also, if you have any maps of the other nearby continents, I''d be happy to purchase them as well."
The pockmarked man faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a slightly peculiar look appeared in his eyes.
"Is there a problem?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"No, not at all," the pockmarked man hurriedly replied, then flipped a hand over to produce a pair of jade slips, one yellow and one blue.
Han Li picked up the yellow jade slip, then injected his spiritual sense into it.
"That one contains a map of our Primordial Wave Continent, while this blue jade slip contains a map of the nearby area. You''ve definitelye to the right ce for maps, Senior. My family has been selling map jade slips for generations.
¡°It''s easy to find maps of the Primordial Wave Continent, but maps of the nearby continents are quite rare, and I daresay my shop is the only one in the entire city that sells such maps," the pockmarked man said with a hint of pride in his voice.
As it turned out, the pockmarked man had a right to be proud. The map in the yellow jade slip was far more detailed than the average map, not only clearly depicting the terrain on all parts of the Primordial Wave Continent, there were even some detailed annotations attached to certain special areas.
One of those special areas was the Lost Grave Forest outside Seaside City. The forest had a radius of tens of thousand of kilometers, and it was inhabited by all types of demon beast. In fact, it was said that there were even some True Immortal Stage demon beasts residing in the heart of the forest, making it an extremely perilous ce.
In addition to that, there was also an abundance of natural treasures in the forest, so there were many cultivators who woulde here from far and wide to hunt for demon beasts and search for spirit ingredients. Of course, once they entered the forest, they would be solely responsible for their own safety.
There were many perilous ces on the Primordial Wave Continent, and the Lost Grave Forest was only one of them.
Compared with this ce, the ck Wind Sea could be considered to be an extremely safe area.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the yellow jade slip, and an uncertain look had appeared on his face.
Even though he had already made preparations for this trip, it seemed like the Immortal Realm outside of the ck Wind Sea was far more perilous than he had imagined. Even with his current powers, he wouldn''t dare to proim that he could safely cross the Primordial Wave Continent, and this was a perfect representation of how perilous the path of cultivation could be.
After a brief pause, Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the blue jade slip, and momentster, he withdrew his spiritual sense again.
This was indeed a map of the nearby continents, but it was nowhere near as detailed as the map of the Primordial Wave Continent, with only some important areas being marked out.
Just as he had anticipated, the Primordial Wave Continent and the nearby continents were separated by the sea, and the Ancient Cloud Continent was situated to the east of the Primordial Wave Continent, with the continents separated by what was known as the Thunderstorm Sea.
Seaside City was situated on the westernmost border of the Primordial Wave Continent, so if he wanted to get to the Ancient Cloud Continent, then he would have to cross the entire Primordial Wave Continent and the Thunderstorm Sea.
ording to the annotations on the map, the Thunderstorm Sea was, as its name suggested, rift with violent thunderstorms all year round, making it an extremely perilous ce to traverse through.
Chapter 157: Immortal Outlet
Chapter 157: Immortal Outlet
"Are you alright, Senior?"
Han Li had been standing on the spot, holding the two jade slips with a dazed expression for quite some time, and the pockmarked man was growing a little concerned.
Han Li snapped out of his train of thought, then asked, "How much for these two jade slips?"
The pockmarked man stated a price that wasn''t very expensive, and Han Li issued the requested sum of spirit stones.
"You just said that your family has been selling map jade slips for generations, so you must know the Primordial Wave Continent very well. I have some questions to ask you. If you can provide me with satisfactory answers, then you can keep these spirit stones." Han Li flipped a hand over as he spoke, producing a small pile of spirit stones that he set down onto the counter.
A hint of greed appeared in the pockmarked man''s eyes as he nced at the high-grade spirit stones on the counter, and he said, "Go right ahead, Senior. I''ll be sure to tell you everything I know."
"Is there any safe way to cross the Primordial Wave Continent from Seaside City? For example, are there any teleportation arrays I can use?" Han Li asked.
"You seem to have very little knowledge on our Primordial Wave Continent, Senior. Among all of the continents in this area, our Primordial Wave Continent is situated in quite a secluded region, and most of thend is primordial and uninhabited.
¡°Even if there are some cities, they''re only small cities with very low poptions, so most of them won''t have any teleportation arrays. This is particrly true for a rural city like Seaside City. Hence, if you want to get to somewhere from here, the only way is to fly there," the pockmarked man replied.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"Having said that, this doesn''t apply to the entire journey. While there are no teleportation arrays in Seaside City, the central region of the continent is far more prosperous, and there are some cities there that have teleportation arrays, but I''ve heard the required cost to use those teleportation arrays is extremely steep," the pockmarked man hurriedly added.
"Do you know which cities on the continent have teleportation arrays?" Han Li asked.
"All of the cities with teleportation arrays have already been marked out on the map of the Primordial Wave Continent. Perhaps you didn''t notice them, but they''re the ones with white vortex symbols on them," the pockmarked man replied with a smile.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then injected his spiritual sense into the yellow jade slip again, and sure enough, there were indeed some cities in the central and eastern regions of the Primordial Wave Continent that had some tiny white vortex symbols on them.
"I see." Han Li nodded as he withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip.
There were quite a few of those cities on the map, so as long as he could make it to the central region of the Primordial Wave Continent, the rest of his journey across the continent would be far safer.
The pockmarked man hesitated momentarily, then asked, "Are you really nning to cross the entire Primordial Wave Continent, Senior?"
Han Li nodded in response.
"In that case, I must inform you that there are many perils along the way. If you''re traveling alone, there are many natural obstacles that you''ll most likely struggle to cross. My advice is for you to go and take a look in the Immortal Outlet in the city," the pockmarked man advised.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression upon hearing this. "Alright, thank you for providing me with this information, you can have those spirit stones."
He knew that he woulde into contact with the Immortal Pce very quickly after leaving the ck Wind Sea, but he didn''t expect this day toe quite so soon.
During his time in ck Wind City, he had learned that these so-called Immortal Outlets were ces set up by the Immortal Pce, where cultivators could take on the missions released by the Immortal Pce and also release missions of their own.
It was clear that the pockmarked man regarded the journey across the entire continent to be an extremely perilous one for a Body Integration cultivator, so he was advising Han Li to make the journey as part of a team that was carrying out a mission.
It wasn''t impossible for him to make the journey on his own given his current cultivation base, but this was apletely foreign continent to him, and he was missing all of his treasures, so it was best to take some safety precautions.
With that in mind, he gave the pockmarked man a parting nod before leaving the shop.
There were no flight restrictions in the city, and after flying along the main street in the city for a while, a golden building appeared in front of Han Li.
The building was situated on a hill, and it looked as if it had been constructed from pure gold. What was most remarkable about it was that there was a massive golden dragon engraved onto the roof of the building, and it was roaring to the heavens, presenting a formidable and majestic sight to behold.
The golden building appeared to be rather simr to the imperial pces of the mortal world, and all of the mortals passing through the area regarded the building with awe and veneration in their eyes.
The words "Immortal Outlet" were visible above the gate of the golden pce, inscribed in ancient text.
Han Li stood at the entrance of the building for a moment before making his way inside.
Upon entry, he was greeted by the sight of a vast and spacious hall that was at least 10,000 feet in size. There were many cultivators dressed in different attire in the hall, but the majority of them were at or below the Deity Transformation Stage, and there were barely even any Spatial Tempering cultivators around.
To the left of the hall was arge shop that was selling all types of treasures, pills, and spirit materials. The wares being sold here seemed to be of a slightly superior standard to the wares sold in the shops in the city, and as a result, it was attracting quite a few customers.
To the right of the hall was another shop with a series of long stone tables ced outside. It seemed to be a shop that exclusively dealt in acquisitions, and there were many cultivators lined up outside, waiting to sell things to the shop.
The hall and these shops were managed by some golden-robed cultivators with the same golden dragon design embroidered onto their robes, and the most powerful one among them was a Spatial Tempering cultivator, who was seated deep in the hall with his eyes closed.
The hall resembled a small city, and it was far more lively and bustling than the actual city outside.
At the very center of the hall was a huge azure jade wall, upon which was inscribed many lines of small text that contained mission descriptions and corresponding rewards.
There were many cultivators gathered near the stone wall, all of whom were inspecting the missions on the wall, and some of them were speaking to theirpanions, seemingly gauging whether a mission was worth taking on.
Han Li took a nce at the shops on either side of the hall, then paid no them no further heed as he made his way directly to the stone wall at the center of the hall.
There was a huge number of missions on the wall, and they were constantly changing intermittently.
However, the missions at the very top of the stone wall were disyed in golden text, and they were the only permanent missions on the wall, while the other missions that were constantly changing were inscribed in white text.
After taking a moment to listen to the conversations taking ce around, Han Li learned that the missions disyed in golden text were ones that had been released by the Immortal Pce, while the rest had been released by ordinary cultivators.
Upon learning this distinction, he directed his attention back to the missions before him, and sure enough, there were indeed missions recruitingpanions for long journeys.
In fact, there were quite a few of these missions, and some of them were purely recruiting travelpanions, while others required one to protect someone on the way to other cities.
These missions all had different cultivation base requirements, but the longer journeys generally requested cultivators ranging from the Deity Transformation Stage all the way to above the Spatial Tempering Stage. However, this was no surprise.
Aside from a small number of areas on the Primordial Wave Continent, the rest of the continent was rife with peril, and there were many stretches between cities that were so perilous that they werepletely uninhabited for hundreds of thousands of kilometers. For the vast majority of cultivators, attempting to cross those areas was no different frommitting suicide.
Upon emerging from the pockmarked man''s shop, he had already decided on his next destination. It was a city near the central region of the Primordial Wave Continent by the name of Bright Hill City.
That was the closest city of Seaside City that had a teleportation array.
As his gaze roamed over the wall, Han Li quickly narrowed down his selection to three missions, one of which was purely recruiting travelpanions, the second one required one to escort a merchant party to their destination, while thest one required one to escort a certain person.
He approached the stone wall, then said to one of the golden-robed cultivators sitting there, "I want to take on mission number 252."
This was the merchant party escort mission. Themencement dates of the other two missions were still quite far away, while the merchant party was going to set off in three days.
The golden-robed man flipped a hand over to produce a jade tablet, and he didn''t even bother to raise his head as he said, "Hand over your immortal token."
"Immortal token?"
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately realized that this so-called immortal badge was most likely something that was required for one to take on missions from the Immortal Outlet.
The golden-robed man''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he pointed at a room with an azure door in the deepest part of the hall as he said, "Have you not collected an immortal token yet? See that room over there? That''s where you can get an immortal token."
Han Li thanked the golden-robed cultivator before making his way toward the room.
He was currently in disguise, and he was praying that no one would be able to see through it.
At the moment, he was wanted by the Ubiquitous Pavilion, and he definitely didn''t want to have his true appearance cataloged in an organization like the Immortal Pce, which had a presence throughout the entire Northern cial Immortal Region.
Han Li strode over to the azure door, then gently exhaled before knocking on the door.
The door swung open on its own to reveal a small room, within which was seated a golden-robed elderly man with a Body Integration Stage cultivation base.
Han Li was quite relieved to see this. Given the cultivation base and spiritual sense of the elderly man, the chances that he could see through Han Li''s disguise were extremely slim.
"You''re here for an immortal token, right? Come," the golden-robed elderly man said as he beckoned to Han Li.
Han Li cupped his fist in a salute toward the man, then stepped into the room.
"Tell me your name and where you came from," the elderly man instructed as he pulled out a book and a silver brush.
"My name is Liu Shi, and Ie from the ck Wind Sea."
The elderly man nodded in response, then wrote something down onto the book before flipping a hand over to produce a golden badge that he waved in Han Li''s direction.
A burst of golden light surged out of the badge before enveloping Han Li''s entire body.
Han Li was slightly rmed by this, but he maintained a calm fa?ade.
The golden light receded in a sh, and Han Li''s visage had been emzoned onto the badge.
The elderly man waved his silver brush over the badge a couple of times, and golden light shed from the badge before immediately fading.
"Alright, it''s done. This immortal token will serve as your proof of identification when you go to Immortal Outlets to ept missions and rewards, so make sure to keep it safe," the elderly man said as he tossed the golden badge at Han Li.
Han Li caught the badge with a surprised expression.
That burst of golden light just now had only served to record his visage without conducting any type of examination on him, and he couldn''t help but be surprised by howx this process was.
Alternatively, could it be that the masks of the Transient Guild were able to bypass the identity verification of the Immortal Pce?
The golden-robed elderly man seemed to have noticed Han Li''s expression, and he said in a meaningful voice, "Our Immortal Pce has no intention of knowing too much about our fellow daoists, nor do we care if you''ve presented your true appearance to us."
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, then gave the elderly man a nod before exiting the room.
Looking at the throngs of people in the hall, he realized that it was most likely precisely because of howx the administration process was that there were so many people gathered here.
With the immortal token, Han Li was quickly able to im the mission that he wanted.
One of the golden-robed cultivators seated beside the stone wall cast an incantation at him, and a passage of text immediately appeared on his immortal token, instructing him to travel to an inn in the city to meet the person who had released the mission.
Han Li didn''t linger in the Immortal Outlet any longer as he exited the pce, and after taking a moment to determine what direction he was supposed to go in, he flew away as a streak of azure light.
Chapter 158: Setting Off
Chapter 158: Setting Off
Seaside City, White Cloud Inn.
This wasn''t a particrlyrge inn, and just like the majority of the inn in the city, it catered to both mortals and cultivators.
Of course, the vast majority of cultivators who stayed in inns like this didn''t possess particrly lofty cultivation bases, and as a safety precaution, they would often disguise themselves as mortals. In reality, this was kind of an unspoken rule. After all, if a mortal were to learn that why were living next door to an almighty cultivator, then they most likely wouldn''t even be able to fall asleep at night.
On this day, the White Cloud Inn was much busier than usual. Starting from several days ago, someone had reserved the entire inn, and all of the original employees had been temporarily kicked out. At the moment, everyone in the inn was extremely busy.
The entire inn, from the front hall to the backyard, wasden withrge crates that were filled with all types of goods.
There were also a series of horse-beast-drawn carriages that were alsoden with all types of goods outside the inn, and these were the mostmon form of transportation on the Primordial Wave Continent.
A slightly rotund middle-aged man was pacing back and forth, instructing his subordinates to load the crates of goods from the beast-drawn carriages onto a white flying ark in the yard.
Despite how busy he was, a faint smile would asionally appear on his face.
As the regional manager of the Chengquan Trading House, one of the three biggest trading houses of the Northern cial Immortal Region, he had purchased a batch of several types of rare spirit materials unique to this area during the past 100 years.
Due to how dangerous this continent was, as long as he could transport these goods safely to Bright Hill City in the central region of the continent, he would immediately be able to sell everything for several times the price he had purchased it for.
The only downside to all of this was that among these goods, there was arge batch of spirit materials with very stringent freshness requirements, so they had to be kept alive. Hence, they couldn''t be stored in storage treasures and could only be transported using this flying ark.
The only concern that he had now was the safety of the return journey.
This wasn''t his first time traversing across this continent, so he knew that it was a very perilous trip. Recently, there had been a rather frequent urrence of the trading house running into unforeseen perils all over the continent, resulting in the demise of even some Spatial Tempering Stage elders, so he didn''t dare to getcent.
He was only a Deity Transformation cultivator, and even though there were many elders and guest elders in the trading house, only two of them were at the Body Integration Stage. Hence, after some extensive thought, he decided to hire Body Integration cultivators at a steep cost to apany them on this journey from the Immortal Outlet.
Right at this moment, a streak of azure light descended in front of the inn before fading to reveal a dark-skinned man with a coarse beard, and it was none other than Han Li in his disguised form.
The rotund middle-aged man turned to Han Li upon sensing his arrival, and his immediately widened as he detected Han Li''s cultivation base.
A bright smile appeared on his face as he hurriedly emerged from the inn, then cupped his fist in salute as he asked, "I presume you must''ve taken on my escort mission, Senior. May I know your name?"
"My name is Liu Shi. You must be Fellow Daoist Kou, right?" Han Li asked.
"That would be me."
The rotund man turned and invited Han Li into the inn, then instructed one of his subordinates to bring Han Li a cup of spirit tea.
After taking a seat across from Han Li, the man hesitated momentarily, then said, "This might be a little rude of me to ask, but may I please see your immortal token, Senior Liu?"
Han Li did as he was requested, flipping a hand over to produce his immortal token before handing it to the man.
The man inspected the token for a moment, and after verifying that it did indeed belong to Han Li, the smile on his face widened even further as he said, "We''ll be counting on you, Senior. We''re not setting off until two days from now, so in the meantime, you can rest in one of the rooms in the inn."
Han Li nodded in response, and the rotund man immediately instructed one of his subordinates to take Han Li to one of the rooms on the second floor.
Han Li set up an array in the room, then sat down with his legs crossed on the bed and flipped a hand over to produce a stack of thick books.
These were introductory books to the Primordial Wave Continent that he had purchased in the city earlier, and this was the perfect time to be reading them.
Two days passed by in the blink of an eye.
Late that night, a white flying ark was hovering in the air above the inn, and all of the goods had already been loaded onto the ark.
On the deck of the ark, there were around a dozen cultivators standing at the bow and the stern, and Han Li was one of them.
All of these cultivators belonged to the same trading house that the rotund man worked for, and aside from a pair of Body Integration cultivators, the rest of them all possessed rather lowly cultivation bases.
At this moment, Han Li was standing on one side of the deck, and he was taking a furtive nce at the other side with a peculiar look in his eyes.
Standing near the bow of the ark was a gorgeous woman in a long red dress.
Through his observation, he had determined that this was the very same woman who had recently been teleported out of the ck Wind Sea with him, but at this moment, she was wearing a red veil over her face that concealed her features.
Han Li had previously been unable to detect her cultivation base, but at the moment, her aura indicated that she was an early-Body Integration cultivator.
However, due to the fact that he was in disguise, the woman didn''t seem to have identified him.
Themencement of the journey was imminent, and the man with the Kou surname was feeling rather uneasy as he cupped his fist in a salute to everyone. "I''ll be counting on all of you for this trip."
Han Li and the others all nodded in response.
The rotund man took a nce at Han Li and the woman in the red dress, and he was feeling slightly more reassured. With a sweep his sleeve, countless white spirit patterns instantly appeared on the flying ark, and a vast expanse of white mist was also released to epass the entire ark.
From the outside, the flying ark appeared to be no different from a cloud drifting through the sky, so it was very well-concealed.
The flying ark set off, flying over the night sky at a decent pace.
"Regarding our journey, this is the arrangement that I propose: the two of you and the two elders of our trading house will be split up into two groups, with one group protecting the ark while the other group rests, and we''ll swap over once every half a month. What do you all think?" the rotund man asked.
"I''m happy to follow your lead," Han Li replied with a nod, while the woman in the red dress also nodded in silence.
The other two were both elders of the trading house, so they naturally had no objections, either.
"Alright, in that case, the elders of our trading house will look after the ark for this first half-month. I''ll be counting on you," the rotund man said to the two other Body Integration cultivators.
The two of them offered no response as they sat down onto the ark, one at the bow, and one at the stern.
Meanwhile, Han Li and the woman in the red dress were arranged rooms to stay in on the ark.
The room was quite spacious,pletely with a guest hall and a bedroom, and there was also a small secret chamber.
With a wave of his hand, several dozen streaks of azure light flew out of Han Li''s sleeve,nding around the room to form an azure light barrier.
After that, he arrived in the secret chamber before taking a seat with his legs crossed.
There was still half a month until he had to relieve the other two Body Integration cultivators from their posts, and he had to make full use of this time.
After a moment of contemtion, he raised a hand, and a ball of heavy water flew out of the True Water Pouch strapped to his waist before hovering in mid-air in front of him.
A serious look appeared on his face as he made a series of hand seals, and arcs of silver lightning sprang out of his palms before entering the ball of heavy water.
The ball of heavy water immediately began to swell and warp in an unstable manner, looking as if it were about to explode, but it was forcibly trapped within the azure light that Han Li was releasing out of his hands.
He flicked his fingers rapidly through the air to cast a series of incantation seals, and the silver lightning within the heavy water instantly became very tame, transforming into thin strands of silver lightning.
At the same time, the heavy water also began to settle down, and the two gradually integrated themselves with one another.
A long whileter, the ball of heavy water was nowhere to be seen, having been reced by a fist-sized ck ball with silver lightning veins shing on its surface. This was another ball of Heavy Water Veined Lightning.
At this point, Han Li had already be quite proficient in refining Heavy Water Veined Lightning, and he inspected the ck ball for a moment before stowing it away.
Immediately thereafter, he drew another ball of heavy water out of his True Water Pouch, and silver lightning shed from his hands once again to fuse with the heavy water...
The destructive power of the Heavy Water Veined Lightning was still ratherckluster, but given sufficient quantity, they could still pose a serious threat.
He didn''t know what perils he was going to encounter in the journey ahead, so he had to prepare for the worst.
A month passed by in the blink of an eye, and Han Li was relieved of his post by the two trading house elders. Nothing of note had taken ce during this time.
Inside his secret chamber, Han Li was seated with a rather weary look on his face, but his eyes were filled with tion.
He had already refined part of the heavy water he was carrying into Heavy Water Veined Lightning, and there were seven or eight balls of the lightning in total.
A single ball of veined lightning wasn''t very useful, but given sufficient numbers, it could definitely prove to be quite a formidable force that even ate-True Immortal cultivator would have to be wary of.
With that in mind, Han Li stowed the ck ball in his hand into his storage bracelet, then flipped a hand over to produce a pill. After swallowing the pill and meditating for a short while, all of the weariness in his eyes hadpletely faded.
He flipped a hand over to produce a ck array te, and it was none other than one of the Twin Starshift tes.
He had just sent a crystal to the ck Wind Sea a month ago, and this was the day on which his Earthly Deity Avatar was supposed to send him the heavy water that it had refined.
He cast an incantation seal onto the array te, which immediately began to buzz audibly while releasing arge expanse of ck light.
Han Li cast another incantation seal onto the array te, causing it to revolve on the spot and glow even more brightly.
However, the usual ball of heavy water didn''t appear, and a befuddled look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
Could it be that something had happened to his Earthly Deity Avatar?
Right as he rose to his feet to take a closer look, a small ball of heavy water slowly appeared over the center of the array te.
He heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this, then sat down once again before stowing the ball of heavy water away with a wave of his hand.
The ck array te continued to revolve on the spot, and only after several more minutes had passed by did another small ball of heavy water appear.
This was not an encouraging sight for Han Li, and a contemtive look appeared on his face as he continued to scrutinize the array te.
Judging from this situation, it seemed that nothing was wrong with his Earthly Deity Avatar, but there was a problem with this Twin Starshift te. For some reason, it was having much more difficulty transmitting heavy water than before.
With that in mind, he carefully inspected the array te, but didn''t discover anything amiss.
There were eight dark azure spirit stones embedded into the center of the array te. These stones were called Starshift Stones, and they contained the power of space, and they acted as the energy source for treasures like the Twin Starshift tes to function.
The eight Starshift Stones were giving off a faint glow, indicating that there was still sufficient spatial power within them, so theoretically speaking, the Twin Starshift te on the Earthly Deity Avatar''s side should''ve been fine as well.
Why is this happening?
Han Li fell into deep thought with his brows tightly furrowed, and a short whileter, he abruptly raised his head as a possibility urred to him.
He had left the ck Wind Sea and was currently traveling eastward over the Primordial Wave Continent, so at the moment, he had to have been a vast distance away from his Earthly Deity Avatar. Could it be that there was an effective distance limit on the Twin Starshift tes?
Chapter 159: Eastbound Journey
Chapter 159: Eastbound Journey
The more Han Li thought about it, the more convinced he became that this problem had to have something to do with distance.
It stood to reason that this array te would function simrly to a teleportation array, so the longer the distance, the more difficult the transmission.
A concerned look appeared on his face as he arrived at this conclusion.
He had only just arrived on the Primordial Wave Continent, so he was still quite far away from the ze Dragon Dao, yet it was already bing extremely difficult to have heavy water transmitted to him. By the time he reached the ze Dragon Dao, the Twin Starshift tes would most likely be renderedpletely useless.i
However, he couldn''t just abandon his journey to the ze Dragon Dao for this reason, so this was just a problem that he would have to find a solution to after reaching the ze Dragon Dao.
With that in mind, he refocused his attention on the Twin Starshift te. Seeing as it was still able to transmit heavy water to him for the moment, he had to capitalize on this window of opportunity before it passed him by.
Back when he was in the ck Wind Sea, it would''ve only taken mere moments for his Earthly Deity Avatar to transmit all of the heavy water that it had refined in a month to him, but on this asion, the same process took a full three days.
Han Li turned his gaze to the Twin Starshift te in his hand to find that the eight Starshift Stones had be semi-transparent, clearly having had most of their spiritual power exhausted.
The spiritual power used up in all of the past transmissionsbined was less than what had been used for this single transmission.
A wry smile appeared on his face as he stowed the array te away, then drew another ball of heavy water out of his True Water Pouch to continue refining more Heavy Water Veined Lightning.
Half a month passed by in the blink of an eye, and Han Li was on lookout duty once again.
He made his way out of his room, and he discovered the flying ark was traveling over a lush forest.
The woman in the red dress also emerged from her room not far away, and the two of them exchanged a nce before making their way to the opposite ends of the ark.
Both of the Body Integration Stage elders of the trading house were looking rather weary, and they cautioned, "We''re beginning to get quite deep into the Lost Grave Forest, and more and more high-grade flying demon beasts are appearing, so make sure to be on your guard."
The man with the Kou surname had also arrived on the deck, and he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li and the woman in the red dress. "I''ll be counting on you."
It seemed that he had been quite on-edge during this trip, and he would regrlye out to the deck to oversee proceedings. At this moment, he was looking quite weary, and his eyes were slightly bloodshot.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Kou. I ept the mission, and I''ll do my best toplete it," Han Li replied with a nod, then flew over to the left hand side of the ark''s bow.
The woman in the red dress offered no response, merely giving a slight nod before flying toward the stern.
The flying ark continued onward, but a short whileter, a burst of rustling suddenly rang out from the forest down below. As it turned out, there was a red cloud flying rapidly toward the ark, and it hadn''t been fooled by the white cloud around the ark at all.
Blue light shed within Han Li''s eyes, and he was able to identify the red cloud as a flock of giant red birds.
These birds resembled eagles, and each of them was several dozen feet in size. They didn''t have many feathers, andrge sections of wrinkly red skin was bared, while each of them had a fleshy crest on its head. Their talons were disproportionately thick andrgepared with the rest of their bodies, and they were extremely hideous in appearance.
The man with the Kou surname hadn''t gone back to rest yet, and upon spotting the flock of birds, he eximed, "Those are Chicken Crest Eagles!"
The birds were closing in on the ark extremely quickly, and there were close to 1,000 of them, with each of them giving off an aura that wasn''t inferior to that of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
The birds began to squawk with excitement as they opened their beaks to st a series of crimson fireballs toward the flying ark.
At the same time, bright red light began to glow from their talons, and a flurry of sickle-shaped crimson w projections were unleashed, howling through the air as they hurtled toward the ark.
"Activate the protective barrier!" the man with the Kou surname yelled.
The spirit patterns around the ark instantly lit up, and streaks of white light emerged to form a thick white protective barrier.
The crimson mes and ws projections struck the protective barrier with tremendous force, but the barrier remained resolute, disying no signs of breaking.
At this point, Han Li had already risen up into the air, and with a sweep of his sleeve, nine streaks of white light flew out, revealing themselves to be a set of nine identical white flying swords.
Each flying sword was glowing with white radiance, and they were all spirit treasures.
Han Li had found this set of flying swords in the First Scourge''s storage pouch, and they were a little simr to his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, so he decided to keep them, seeing as he had no suitable treasures to use at the moment.
Han Li made a hand seal with one hand, and the nine flying swords began to glow brightly ,transforming into hundreds of white sword threads in a sh.
The sword threads intertwined to form a massive white sword, which epassed the entire area of several thousand feet up ahead.
All of the crimson birds that came into contact with the white sword were instantly sliced into pieces, falling into the forest down below as chunks of flesh and blood.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of the birds had been in.
Meanwhile, the woman in the red dress had also sprung into action. A dragon formed by crimson mes had appeared before her, and it was extremely life-like. The dragon was close to 1,000 feet in length, and it sted an enormous pir of mes out of its mouth, incinerating all of the crimson birds in its path into ashes.
There was a huge number of these birds, but they werecking in individual power, and it didn''t take long before most of them had been in by Han Li and the woman, following which the rest fled for their lives.
The nine flying swords flew back to Han Li at his behest, and the flying ark continued onward, but it didn''t take long before more disturbance appeared up ahead, and the ark was attacked by a swarm of ck hos.
Han Li immediately released his set of nine flying swords once again...
At this point in the Lost Grave Forest, there was a huge number of flying demon beasts in the area, and even though the ark was concealed, many of the demon beasts were able to see through the concealment.
There were certain days when the ark was attacked more than 10 times in a day, but thankfully, the man with the Kou surname was quite familiar with theyout of the forest, intentionally steering the ark so that it avoided all of the dwelling ces of powerful demon beasts.
As a result, they were only attacked by demon beasts that weren''t all that formidable, and given how Han Li and the woman in red were both actually True Immortal cultivators disguised as Body Integration cultivators, they naturally had no trouble dealing with these attacks.
The man with the Kou surname was feeling much more reassured upon seeing this.
However, as a result of all these attacks, the flying ark was frequently forced to slow down, so progress wasn''t ideal.
Around a dozen more days passed by in the blink of an eye.
A giant white vortex formed by countless rapidly revolving white sword threads hadpletely enveloped a mountainous azure beast, trapping it inside.
The azure beast roared as ayer of metallic azure light surfaced over its entire body, keeping the countless surrounding sword threads at bay.
At the same time, it was sting gusts of fierce azure wind out of its mouth in an attempt to shatter the vortex around it.
However, the white sword threads were extremely formidable, and they were able to quickly slice the dark azure light around the giant beast into shreds before piercing into its body.
The azure beast didn''t even get a chance to cry out before it was sliced into a pile of meat by the countless sword threads.
With a wave of his hand, the countless sword threads converged to reform the nine flying swords at his behest, then flew back up his sleeve.
There were still several other azure beasts near the flying ark, and they were all quickly in as well, following which the ark continued onward.
At this point, the vegetation of the forest down below was gradually bing more sparse, exposingrge sections of earth, and it seemed that they were finally about to fly out of the Lost Grave Forest.
After close to another half-day passed by, the forest down below hadpletely vanished.
Thendscape up ahead was beginning to turn ck, and there were some ck rocks on the ground as a bleak desert appeared up ahead.
The ark suddenly began to slow down here, and the man with the Kou surname arrived along with the two Body Integration Stage elders.
"Up ahead is the ck Rock desert. It''s already quitete now, so it won''t be wise to keep going. We''ll rest here for the night, then continue our journey tomorrow. Thank you for your hard work, seniors!"
Han Li immediately recalled that he had previously read about the ck Rock Desert in one of the books that he had purchased in Seaside City.
vIt was a perilous ce where gravity was several times heavier than it was elsewhere, apparently because there were underground ore veins that were affecting the origin maic force in the region.
Furthermore, there were some extremely formidable dark beasts residing deep in the ck Wind Desert that lurked underground during the day, then came out at night.
Thankfully, the desert wasn''t veryrge, so all of the people crossing this area would choose to do so as quickly as possible during the day.
The ark slowly descended toward the ground, and everyone on the ark was feeling rather weary. Aside from the two Body Integration Stage elders, who were on lookout duty, everyone retired to their rooms to rest.
Dusk slowly transitioned into night, and a bright full moon appeared in the sky.
There was not a single cloud to be seen in the sky above the entire desert, only countless dazzling stars that were shing radiantly.
The ark was resting beside a giant rock, and it waspletely enshrouded in darkness, with the only light on the arking from some litmps in the rooms.
Right at this moment, the door of one of the rooms on the ark swung open, and a figure emerged from within, silently treading over the ark quickly arriving on the desert outside.
It was none other than Han Li, and he was traveling along the desert in leaps and bounds. Once he was sufficiently far away from the ark, azure light emerged over his body, and he flew away into the distance.
Only after flying for close to 100,000 kilometers did he draw to a halt, then descended toward an oasis down below.
This desert oasis was only several hundred kilometers in area, and most of the nts here were sand por trees and hardy willow trees, which were capable of growing in dry, desert conditions. The trunks of these trees were generally only several dozen feet tall, and due to their constant exposure to the scorching sun and the fierce desert winds, their branches and leaves were all growing in a rather lopsided manner.
On the edge of this oasis was a miniature crescent-shapedke, which was shimmering under the moonlight, presenting an alluring sight in the desertndscape.
Han Li made his way to the edge of theke, then scooped up some water before drinking it out of his cupped hands, instantly filling his mouth with a cool and refreshing sensation.
He sat down onto the ground, then released his spiritual sense to epass the entire surrounding area in a radius of tens of thousands of feet.
Shortly thereafter, he reached into the front for his robe and pulled out the Heaven Controlling Vial, which he carefully set down before himself.
As a ray of moonlight shone down upon the vial, it immediately began to glow, and all of the leaf patterns on its surface lit up, giving the entire vial a glittering and translucent appearance. A series of specks of white light took shape around the vial, transforming into giant halos of white light that were glowing radiantly.
The smallke was also instantly illuminated by the white light, and looking at it from afar, it was as if theke had suddenly been frozen solid.
Chapter 160: Gan Jiuzhen
Chapter 160: Gan Jiuzhen
Han Li closed his eyes and made a hand seal as he began to meditate, but a short whileter, his eyes abruptly sprang open, and a wary look shed across his face.
He reached forward to grab the small vial before tucking it back into the front of his robe, then rose to his feet and withdrew his spiritual sense.
After that, he quickly concealed his aura as well before hiding behind one of the nearby hardy willow trees.
Momentster, a figure flew past overhead, traveling into the distance in an extremely stealthy manner. In fact, the figure wasn''t even giving off any spiritual power fluctuations, and it was as if a mortal had just passed through.
Blue light shed through Han Li''s eyes as he took a nce at the passing figure, and a perplexed look appeared on his face.
The figure was none other than the woman in the red dress who was apanying him on this journey.
The woman clearly hadn''te for him, so he initially decided not to pry into this matter. However, she was flying rather slowly and intentionally concealing her aura, making her appear rather suspicious, and Han Li couldn''t help but feel a little apprehensive.
What is that woman doing going out alone thiste at night?
After a brief moment of contemtion, he flipped a hand over to produce a High Zenith Invisibility Talisman.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of purple light lit up from his fingertip, and his body gradually faded into invisibility.
Even though the talisman had an aura concealment effect, Han Li didn''t follow along too closely, making sure to trail along several thousand feet behind the woman.
The woman was naturallypletely oblivious to this, and she continued to fly onward, flying straight out of the oasis after around 15 minutes.
Han Li followed her all the way to the edge of the oasis, and after confirming that she didn''t seem to be harboring any ill intent, he decided that this was as far as he would go.
Hence, he drew to a halt before preparing to return to theke.
However, right at this moment, a burst of dazzling light suddenly appeared in the night over 10,000 feet up ahead, and three massive shadows emerged to stop the woman in her tracks.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and as it turned out, the three giant shadows were a trio of mountainous white snow toads.
The snow toads were all of a pristine white color, and there were thickyers of frost covering their limbs and faces. Each of them also had a glowing ice crystal on their lower abdomen, presenting a particrly eye-catching sight in the night.
Han Li was rather surprised to see this. These toads were extremely massive, yet they had somehow been able to conceal themselves in such a way that even Han Li hadn''t been able to detect them in advance with his spiritual sense.
A burst of deep croaking rang out as the three snow toads opened their giant mouths to reveal their dark purple tongues, which were emanating wisps of cial qi.
Aside from the snow toads, there were also two figures standing atop the head of the middle toad.
One of them had an effeminate appearance and skin that was as fair as snow. They were wearing a tight-fitting long robe, but their chest waspletely t, and it was rather difficult to say whether they were male or female. As for the other figure, it was a hideous man with a portly frame and an unsightly face.
"Do you remember us two brothers, Gan Jiuzhen?"
The figure with the effeminate appearance was pointing at the woman in the red dress from afar as he spoke, and there was an indescribable note of femininity in his high-pitched voice.
"I don''t have a habit of remembering nameless scoundrels suffering from gender identity crises," the woman in the red dress harrumphed coldly in response, and her voice was filled with undisguised disgust.
The effeminate man''s face immediately became brightly flushed, seemingly so enraged that he was unable to even speak.
"It doesn''t matter if you don''t know our names. All you have to know is that this day next year will be your death anniversary!" the hideous man dered in a cold voice.
Gan Jiuzhen seemed to have lost patience with this war of words, and a derisive look appeared on her face beneath her veil as she took the initiative tosh out at her assants.
With a flick of her wrist, crimson light began to surge over the crimson bracelet that she was wearing, as if it had suddenly sprung to life.
A draconic roar rang out as a ball of fire erupted out of the bracelet, transforming into a fiery dragon that was over 1,000 feet in length before pouncing over the night sky toward the two men standing atop the snow toad.
The effeminate man''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he bent down to gently pat the snow toad beneath his feet.
A string of deep croaking rang out as the three giant snow toads opened their mouths in unison, releasing a vast expanse of translucent ice that hurtled toward the fiery dragon, stackingyer uponyer on top of itself to form a massive mountain of ice as it did so.
A resounding boom rang out as the fiery dragon crashed into the mountain of ice, and mes erupted in all directions alongside countless ice crystals, which exploded into glittering ice powder that spread through the air.
As a result of the collision, the fiery dragon was unable to maintain its draconic form any longer, and it erupted into a sea of mes that crashed into the mountain of ice.
Fire and ice were erupting in all directions, creating a huge cloud of white water vapor that obscured arge section of the sky.
Han Li watched the unfolding battle from afar for a moment, then turned to depart, not wanting to get swept up in this mess.
However, right as he turned around, he suddenly felt a burst of violent spiritual power fluctuations hurtling toward him, and he reflexively crossed his arms to form a barrier in front of himself.
Immediately thereafter, he was struck by a tremendous burst of invisible form, which sent him flying toward Gan Jiuzhen while also forcibly stripping away the concealment effect of the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman.
While in mid-air, he turned to find that three more giant shadows had appeared right at the spot where he had been situated just a moment ago. It was another set of three snow toads that were virtually identical to the ones standing before Gan Jiuzhen.
A hint of foreboding welled up in his heart upon seeing this, and azure light shed from his body as he steadied himself not far away from Gan Jiuzhen.
"I see that you recruited an ally. If it isn''t for the fact that one of these babies of mine has undergone a golden eye mutation, I wouldn''t have been able to discover him," the effeminate man said with a seductive smile.
Only upon hearing this did Han Li notice that the snow toad beneath the two men was indeed a little different from the other ones in that its pupils carried a faint golden hue.
Han Li took a nce at the two men, then said, "I''m only passing by, and I have no intention of getting involved in this battle."
Meanwhile, Gan Jiuzhen raised a hand, and the sea of fire that was shing with the mountain of ice reverted back into the form of a fiery dragon before flying back to her at her behest, circling around her in a wary fashion.
She took a nce at Han Li, and a hint of bewilderment shed through her eyes, but she didn''t say anything to him as she directed her gaze back to the two men, focusing her attention on the battle at hand.
"I don''t care if you''re just passing by or an ally of hers. Now that you''ve entered our Six Toad Fire Melting Array, you''ll have to die here with her! The path to the afterlife is a very lonely one, so you two can keep each otherpany on the way there!" the hideous man cackled in a sinister manner.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the six snow toads surrounding Han Li and Gan Jiuzhen began to glow with white radiance in unison, and a burst of violent fluctuations surged through the surrounding area.
In the next instant, a massive crystalline silver wall appeared out of thin air, trapping Han Li and Gan Jiuzhen within it.
As soon as the crystalline wall appeared, Han Li immediately felt the surrounding air temperature plummet.
At the same time, a string of crackling rang out from the surrounding space, and a series of hexagonal snowkes began to appear. As it turned out, even the air was beginning to freeze solid.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and ayer of azure light appeared over his body as his immortal spiritual power flowed out of his dantian, forming a burst of warm energy that spread over him to keep the biting chill at bay like ayer of warm clothes.
However, he quickly discovered that his efforts werepletely futile.
The cial energy in the air was interspersed with wisps ofw powers that could easily bypass thisyer of immortal spiritual power, and his True Extreme Membrane also wasn''t very effective at keeping out the cold.
Han Li noticed that the cial energy was seeping through his skin before making its way toward his dantian, and he was just about to summon his Essence Fire Raven to ward off the biting chill when ayer of crimson mes suddenly appeared over his body to instantly expel the cial energy.
He turned to discover that Gan Jiuzhen''s entire body was basked in mes, and a trail of fire was extending from her wrist, connecting her mes to his.
Furthermore, she wasn''t concealing her aura any longer, and as a result, Han Li discovered that she was a mid-True Immortal cultivator.
Right at this moment, Gan Jiuzhen''s voice suddenly rang out beside Han Li''s ears. "Fellow Daoist Liu Shi, I don''t care if you really are just passing through by chance, or if you intentionally followed me here. I only have one question for you right now: are you willing to join forces with me?"
"If you''re asking for my help, then this Six Toad Fire Melting Array must be quite difficult to deal with," Han Li replied via voice transmission with slightly furrowed brows.
"This is an ice-attribute array that''s capable of melting even true mes. Hopefully that gives you an idea of what we''re dealing with here," Gan Jiuzhen replied in a cold voice.
Right as Han Li was hesitating about how to proceed, he noticed that theyer of crimson mes around him was slowly being whittled away, and the heat that was being released was also receding.
"These two set up this array specifically to target me, so I won''t be able to resist its effects for very long. Once the cial qi freezes our meridian and dantians, we''ll bepletely at their mercy."
As Gan Jiuzhen was speaking, she continued to draw upon more of her immortal spiritual power in order to bolster the mes around herself and Han Li. Despite the dire situation that they were in, her voice was as calm and collected as ever, as if she were talking about something extremely mundane.
"Alright, I''ll help you," Han Li replied.
As soon as their alliance was forged, the effeminate man began to chant an incantation.
The six snow toads opened their mouths in unison and began to emit an extremely high-pitched screeching sound.
Their long tongues were fluttering incessantly in their mouths as bursts of silver cial were released, forming two walls of mist that converged from both sides before fusing into the crystalline wall that Han Li and Gan Jiuzhen were trapped in.
A string of loud crackling rang out as the crystalline wall became thicker and thicker while constantly closing in around Han Li''s duo, causing the surrounding air temperature to plummet even further.
Han Li was even able to see wisps of cial qi that were visible to the naked eye closing in around him, constantly whittling away at theyer of crimson mes that he was enveloped within.
"Fellow Daoist Liu, if I focus solely on helping you keep out the cial qi, do you have a way to break through this array?" Gan Jiuzhen asked via voice transmissions while making a series of hand seals to strengthen her mes.
Chapter 161: Perilous Battle
Chapter 161: Perilous Battle
"If you trust me, then I can give it a shot," Han Li replied without any hesitation.
Gan Jiuzhen wasted no time with words as she sped up in her hand seals, and the mes around her instantly began to burn more fiercely.
Han Li noticed that the trail of fire that connected the two of them had grown thicker, and the crimson mes around him had also begun to burn with greater ferocity, further protecting him from the cold.
Blue light shed within his eyes as he quickly scanned his gaze over the crystalline wall around them. He then abruptly sprang up before charging forward, and thanks to theyer of mes around him, his speed wasn''t impacted much by the cial qi in the air.
All of a sudden, he drew to a halt in front of a certain part of the crystalline wall, following which ayer of golden scales appeared over his arm as he threw a punch at the space up ahead.
A resounding boom rang out as Han Li''s fist mmed heavily into the crystalline wall.
The entire crystalline wall trembled violently while releasing bursts of blinding white light, but not only did it remain intact, not even the slightest crack had appeared on its surface.
Right at this moment, a burst of silver light shot out of the crystalline wall, then rapidly expanded to swallow up Han Li in a sh, freezing him alongside theyer of crimson mes around him.
"It seems like I was right," Gan Jiuzhen murmured to herself, and she wasn''t very surprised to see what had happened to Han Li.
It seemed that she had already anticipated that this would happen, and she had intentionally used Han Li as cannon fodder to test out what would happen if the crystalline wall were attacked.
However, right at this moment, a loud thump rang out as bright golden light erupted out of Han Li''s body, instantly shattering the ice around him.
Gan Jiuzhen was rather taken aback to see this, following which she praised in a heartfelt voice, "Given how powerful your physical body is, you must be a dual cultivator who focuses on refining both magic power and the physical body. It seems like I underestimated."
"Don''t me me for turning on you if you try this again," Han Li replied in a cold voice.
However, Gan Jiuzhen merely nodded in response with a calm expression, seemingly feeling as if she had done nothing wrong.
Outside the crystalline wall, the effeminate man''s brows furrowed slightly as he eximed in incredulity, "Once someone is sealed by the cial qi, their dantian and magic power will all be frozen! How was he able to escape?"
"If I''m not mistaken, that man is most likely a Profound Immortal. It seems like we made a mistake by going after him, but it''s toote to turn back now. In any case, this seems like the perfect opportunity to try out that technique," the hideous man said as a hint of cold killing intent shed through his eyes.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately drifted over to the crystalline wall beforeying a hand onto it.
As he did so, he began to chant an incantation, and a faint buzzing sound rang out as a vast expanse of azure light appeared over his body.
The azure light resembled countless glowing azure wings that extended out of both sides of his body, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
Inside the crystalline wall, a hint of unease welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this, and Gan Jiuzhen''s brows also furrowed slightly.
Immediately thereafter, the crystalline wall began to glow with bright silver radiance, intertwining with the azure light to form a series of circr arrays, each of which was around the size of a millstone.
The hideous man let loose a forceful yell, and all of the cial qi within the crystalline wall instantly formed countless sharp ice spears that were roughly 10 feet in length each, all of which hurtled directly toward Han Li''s duo.
The ice spears shrieked through the air as they reached Han Li and Gan Jiuzhen in the blink of an eye.
Han Li clenched his hands into tight fists before swinging them rapidly through the air, unleashing hundreds of golden fist projections to sh against the ice spears.
Meanwhile, Gan Jiuzhen summoned a huge crimson sword with a flick of her wrist.
She was making a hand seal with one hand while swinging her sword in the other, conjuring up a vast expanse of crimson sword projections that resembled a bright red sun. Balls of crimson mes were flying incessantly out of the crimson radiance to meet the spears of ice.
A string of resounding booms rang out as the golden fist projections and crimson fireballs were shattered one after another, but the ice spears didn''t break. Instead, they were merely knocked back, and after pausing momentarily in mid-air, they began to hurtle toward their targets once again.
Han Li continued to swing his fists through the air to keep the ice spears at bay, and at the same time, he was scouring his surroundings with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
He discovered that every single one of these ice spears seemed to have been imbued with an extremely thin thread ofw powers, and that was what granted them such incredible durability and prative power. Even with the body of a Profound Immortal, he definitely didn''t want to be struck by those spears.
However, what was quite perplexing to him was how these two men were able to use so manyw threads at once when they were clearly both only at the early-True Immortal Stage.
On top of that, a hint of surprise and recognition also shed through his eyes at the sight of the huge crimson sword that Gan Jiuzhen was wielding.
This was the exact same weapon that Wyrm 3 had wielded on Red Moon Ind, so unless Wyrm 3 had been in and had their treasure taken, or had lent their sword to this woman, then she was none other than Wyrm 3.
He was rather taken aback by the notion that the Transient Guild member that had led everyone on the mission to kill Gong Shuhong would be a woman.
At the same time, the crystalline wall was continuing to get thicker and thicker under the effeminate man''s continued efforts. The cial qi inside was also bing denser and denser, and Han Li and Gan Jiuzhen were slowly being cornered.
"We can''t keep going like this, Fellow Daoist Liu. At this rate, we''ll either be overwhelmed by these ice spears or get frozen to death by the cial qi," Gan Jiuzhen said to Han Li through voice transmission with a grim look in her eyes.
"Do you have a way out of this?" Han Li asked.
He was naturally aware of this as well, and he had already instructed his Essence Fire Raven to remain in his body and protect his internal organs against the infiltration of cial qi, so he was going to be fine for the time being, but the situation would undoubtedly turn quite grim if he were trapped in here for an extended period of time.
"I have a way to break this array, but I''ll need you to protect me while I make preparations," Gan Jiuzhen said.
"Alright, I can do that," Han Li replied.
After arriving at the realization that Gan Jiuzhen was most likely Wyrm 3, he had already decided that he would conceal his powers in order to avoid exposing his own identity as Wyrm 15, so he was naturally d to follow this arrangement.
Thus, he knocked back the oing wave of ice spears with his fists, then positioned himself in front of Gan Jiuzhen before sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing the set of nine flying swords.
The radiant white swords shed through the air, leaving chaotic trails of white sword projections in their wake.
After releasing the swords, Han Li made a string of hand seals, and the flying swords immediately began to buzz incessantly before transforming into a vast expanse of white sword threads, which intertwined to form a sword that was several hundred feet in size, epassing both Gan Jiuzhen and himself within it.
Gan Jiuzhen immediately stowed her giant crimson sword away upon seeing this, then sat down onto the ground with her legs crossed.
After that, she flipped a hand over to summon a dark red square jade pendant, which had several fearsome beasts engraved upon it and was giving off an indescribable primordial aura.
A cold look appeared in the eyes of the hideous man outside the crystalline wall upon hearing this, and hemunicated something to the effeminate man through voice transmission, following which the effeminate man responded with something, also via voice transmission.
The two of them then switched to different hand seals in unison, and the bodies of the six snow toads around the crystalline wall began to glow brightly as they continued to emit the same high-pitched screech.
At the same time, theyers of frost covering their skin began to melt away, revealing their glittering and translucent ck bodies underneath.
Simultaneously, the hideous man''s body also began to glow brightly, while his hand that was pressed against the crystalline wall turned as ck as ink. A series of ck veins then began to extend out of his hand in all directions, instantly crawling over the entire crystalline wall.
A hint of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this, and with a flick of his wrist, several balls of Heavy Water Veined Lightning fell out of his sleeve beforending in his grasp.
However, before he had a chance to unleash them, his entire body abruptly stiffened, and he waspletely immobilized.
The dark red jade pendant in Gan Jiuzhen''s hand had already begun to glow with crimson light, clearly having reached a critical stage in its activation, but all progress was halted there as well.
Han Li quickly realized that he had been frozen by the power of icews within this space, which had be drastically more potent all of a sudden.
He immediately instructed the Essence Fire Raven in his body to help him regain his mobility, but all he could hear in response were the raven''s anguished cries within his consciousness.
It was clear that it had also been immobilized by the power of icews and was powerless to help him.
Meanwhile, all of the ice spears in the surrounding area had already turned ck, and they began to hurtle toward Han Li and Gan Jiuzhen while giving off even more powerfulw fluctuations.
A grim look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
With his Profound Immortal body, he would perhaps be able to withstand the assault for a while, but Gan Jiuzhen was in an extremely perilous situation.
If she were to be killed, then he would have to face the two enemy immortals and snow toads on his own, which was far from an appealing prospect.
With that in mind, he began to burn through his blood essence in order to stimte the immortal spiritual power within his body. Even so, he was only able to draw upon less than a thousandth of the total immortal spiritual power that he possessed, and he directed it into the ball of Heavy Water Veined Lightning in his hand.
A sh of lightning appeared, and the ball of Heavy Water Veined Lightning fell out of Han Li''s sleeve.
A thunderous explosion rang out as a ck sun appeared no more than a foot away from Han Li. Contained within the ck sun was a vast expanse of silver light that inundated Han Li''s entire body.
An instantter, Gan Jiuzhen was also swallowed up by the explosion of ck and silver light.
A string of rumbling thunderps rang out as countless tiny ck particles erupted in all directions, forming a spherical shockwave that expanded rapidly, causing the surrounding space to tremble and quake.
In the face of the violent explosion, all of the oing ice spears were finally shattered, and the entire space was plunged intoplete chaos.
Chapter 162: A Gift
Chapter 162: A Gift
The surrounding crystalline wall began to tremble violently as it struggled to contain the powerful shockwave, and a burst of deafening rumbling rang out.
The six mountainous snow toads also shuddered violently, and ck blood began to seep out of all of their eyes as their auras quickly fell into decline.
Before the explosion had evenpletely subsided, several draconic roars suddenly rang out in rapid session from within the crystalline wall.
Immediately thereafter, a vast expanse of fiery radiance erupted out of the ck and silver light as three fiery wyrms formed by crimson mes emerged. Each wyrm was over 1,000 feet in length, and scorching mes were pouring out of their mouths as they pounced toward the surrounding crystalline wall.
A resounding boom rang out as the crystalline wall shuddered violently, and it instantly began to melt away as plumes of ck smoke rose up from its surface.
A loud sizzling sound rang out, and before long, the three crimson fiery wyrms had already melted arge hole into the crystalline wall. Upon flying out of the wall, the three wyrms intertwined to form a churning river of crimson fire that swept directly toward the pair of enemy cultivators.
At this point, the hideous man had already flown back onto the head of the golden-eyed snow toad, and the two men hurriedly made a series of hand seals with rmed looks on their faces as they witnessed the destruction of their array.
In the next instant, the six snow toads opened their mouths in unison to st forth a vast cloud of ck cial qi, which formed a wall of ice in mid-air to oppose the river of mes.
Meanwhile, Han Li also flew out of the crystalline wall, and he appeared in a rather sorry state with his robes inplete tatters. However, aside from some slight jostling to his internal organs, he remainedrgely unharmed.
He raised his head to look up at the scorching river of crimson mes up above, and aplex look shed through his eyes.
The fiery river didn''t just contain the power of firews. Instead, it was imbued with the power of bloodws, the aura of which was very simr to that of the deceased Gong Shuhong.
He turned to discover that Gang Jiuzhen''s dress had also been torn in many ces, revealingrge sections of her fair and delicate skin. The red veil that was covering her face had also disappeared, and her gorgeous features were looking a little pale.
Despite this, her eyes were filled with cold killing intent, and the square jade pendant clutched in her hand continued to glow brightly whiles the runes inscribed upon it shed incessantly, but its crimson color had significantly fadedpared with before.
At this point, Han Li could basically confirm beyond a reasonable doubt that this woman was indeed Wyrm 3.
Back on Red Moon Ind, Wrym 3 had dered that she had some matters to take care of following Gong Shuhong''s demise, and it seemed that these matters had mostly involved collecting the treasures left behind by Gong Shuhong.
A string of loud crackling rang out incessantly as plumes of ck mist rose up from the point where the river of fire was shing against the wall of ice, resembling a dark cloud that obscured the night sky.
At this point, the two cultivators standing atop the toad''s head were looking far lessfortable andposed than before.
Their cultivation bases were inferior to Gan Jiuzhen''s, and now, the Six Toad Fire Melting Array that they had been relying heavily upon had been broken. The two of them exchanged a nce, and both of them were beginning to consider fleeing the battle.
The three snow toads on the other side had also arrived on the scene, but the cial qi surging out of the mouths of the six toads was only just enough to keep the river of crimson mes at bay.
Gan Jiuzhen gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and she opened her mouth to expel a ball of blood essence, causing herplexion to pale even further.
She then pointed a finger at the ball of blood essence, and it transformed into a miniature dragon before instantly vanishing into the jade pendant in her hand.
Yet another draconic roar rang out, and the crimson light glowing from the jade pendant became even brighter as a fourth crimson fiery wyrm flew out from within before joining the river of fire, granting it a boost in power and momentum.
At the same time, the color of the jade pendant had faded even further.
With the inclusion of the fourth fiery wyrm, the river of mes was expanded even further, and a fearsome aura began to spread through the surrounding area.
The two cultivators standing atop the toad''s head immediately felt their heart rates elevating drastically, while the blood in their veins also began to churn and surge in an uncontrolled manner.
The two of them were understandably rmed by this turn of events, and they hurriedly diverted a part of their immortal spiritual power to quell the unrest in their bodies. As a result, there was less immortal spiritual power to support the six snow toads, and the cial qi surging out of their mouths instantly became diminished.
The surging river of mes instantly overwhelmed the diminished cial qi, inundating the snow toads and the two men in the blink of an eye.
Two agonized howls rang out from within the mes, and shes of light began to appear from the treasures being frantically summoned by the two cultivators, but it didn''t take long before those shes of light and their anguished screams subsided.
Han Li withdrew his nine flying swords upon seeing this, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing wisps of immortal spiritual power out of his fingertips to collect all of the heavy water particles that had scattered throughout the area following the explosion of the Heavy Water Veined Lightning.
Momentster, all of themotion within the sea of crimson me finally subsided.
Gan Jiuzhen made a hand seal with one hand, then reached out with her other hand, and the vast expanse of crimson mes instantly reverted back into four crimson wyrms that rose up into the heavens before vanishing into the jade pendant in her hand.
All that remained in mid-air was a pair of severely ravaged bodies that were tumbling down toward the ground.
As for those snow toads, their bodies couldn''tpare with the body of an immortal, and they had been incinerated to the point that there was nothing of them left.
Gan Jiuzhen flipped a hand over to produce several pills that she devoured, then made a beckoning motion, and two storage bracelets rose up into the air before falling into her grasp.
However, she didn''t even look at them before tossing one of them to Han Li, who caught the storage bracelet without any hesitation.
"Fellow Daoist Liu, there''s a question that''s been on my mind this entire time. Have we met somewhere before this trip?" Gan Jiuzhen asked as she turned to Han Li with a hint of scrutiny in her eyes.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he replied in a calm voice, "If I had met someone as stunning as you before, I would be sure to remember you, but I don''t recall any previous encounters between us."
Gan Jiuzhen''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this, and it was clear that she didn''t really believe what Han Li was saying.
However, she had no intention of pursuing this matter any further, and she said, "In any case, I owe you my thanks for today. I don''t like to owe anyone any favors, so you can have this Azure Wind Lock Immortal Talisman as a gift."
She swept a sleeve through the air as she spoke, and a purple talisman flew out toward Han Li.
Han Li raised a hand to catch the talisman, and he took a nce at it to find that it was riddled with extremely profound silver runes, indicating that it was a high-grade talisman that had been written in beveled silver text.
The talisman contained an abundance of spiritual power, and it appeared to have been of an even higher caliber than the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman and the Armor Origin Talisman.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Gan." Han Li cupped his fist in a salute, then stowed the talisman away for further examinationter.
"I''ll ignore the fact that you followed me here this time, but don''t me me for turning on you if this happens again," Gan Jiuzhen dered, then promptly turned and departed.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he watched Gan Jiuzhen''s departing figure, and he didn''t linger here any longer, quickly flying back the same way he hade to return to the ark.
The battle had taken ce very far away from the ark, so no one else had noticed anything, and the two Body Integration Stage elders of the Chengquan Trading House had been seated on the deck this entire time.
Han Li took a moment to conceal himself, then returned to his room on the ark in a stealthy fashion.
The night quickly passed by, and the flying ark continued on its journey at first light the next day.
It naturally didn''t take long before the man with the Kou surname discovered Gan Jiuzhen''s disappearance.
Aside from Han Li, no one on the ark knew what had happened that night, and Han Li naturally wasn''t going to tell anyone about what had transpired.
The man with the Kou surname was a little perplexed and dismayed, but there was nothing he could do. After all, they hadn''t arrived at their destination yet, and he hadn''t issued the reward for the mission, so essentially, Gan Jiuzhen had protected the ark for arge stretch of their journey free of charge.
In contrast with the Lost Grave Forest, the ck Rock Desert was extremely deste, with not even a single living creature to be seen.
The flying ark was traveling at top speed, and not even the concealment restrictions had been activated as all of the spiritual power was contributing toward further eleration.
The ark was flying so quickly that it was nothing more than a white shadow in the air, and even though there were no signs of any demon beasts in the area, Han Li was still requested by the man with the Kou surname to stand on lookout duty with the two Body Integration Stage elders.
Close to half a day passed by very quickly, and the flying ark was venturing quite deep into the ck Rock Desert.
Han Li was standing on one side of the ark, surveying the ground down below, and just a moment ago, he had clearly felt the gravitational force in the area beginning to increase.
The flying ark was somewhat affected by this, and the white light glowing from its surface began to flicker slightly, while its speed was also negatively impacted.
After a moment of contemtion, Han Li released his enormous spiritual sense, sending it several thousand feet deep into the ground.
There''s a vast abundance of Origin Maic Profound Iron here. No wonder it''s able to generate such tremendous suction gravitational force.
Aside from that, he had also verified that there were no dark beasts lurking in the area, unless they were hiding even deeper underground.
Han Li continued to probe even deeper underground with his spiritual sense, and a surprised look quickly appeared in his eyes.
Due to the presence of the underground ore veins, there were all types of chaotic underground energies and gravitational forces intertwining deep beneath the earth, preventing his spiritual sense from being able to extend down any further.
Instead of forcing the issue, he made apromise and began to spread his spiritual sense outward instead.
A short whileter, Han Li abruptly raised his head and cast his gaze forward, seemingly having spotted something.
However, after a moment of contemtion, he decided not to raise the rm, but blue light was shing in his eyes as he took a closer look.
Momentster, one of the Body Integration Stage elders on the other side of the ark suddenly sprang to his feet, having detected the presence of some ck lizards up ahead with his spiritual sense.
Having already made this trip many times, he was quite familiar with the ck Rock Desert, and he immediately identified these ck lizards to be a type of dark beast known as Darkback Iron Lizards, which were quitemonly seen in the ck Rock Desert. Their bodies were as hard as iron and steel, but they weren''t particrly powerful, and the ones up ahead were roughly around the Foundation Establishment Stage.
The only concern that he had was that these lizards were social creatures that often resided in packs that numbered in the hundreds of millions, and their sheer numbers alone could prove to be very difficult to deal with.
Furthermore, ording to his knowledge, these creatures shouldn''t have been active during the day.
Chapter 163: Beast Tide Crisis
Chapter 163: Beast Tide Crisis
A hint of befuddlement shed through his eyes, but he wasn''t particrly concerned, seeing as these were just a few low-grade Darkback Iron Lizards.
The other Body Integration Stage elder soon noticed the Darkback Iron Lizards up ahead as well, but just like the other elder, he decided that they posed no threat.
However, as the flying ark continued onward, the expressions of the two Body Integration Stage elders were bing more and more uneasy.
Initially, the Darkback Iron Lizards had only emerged in batches of a few at a time, but they quickly beganing out in droves, and they were also bing more and more powerful. At this point, there were already some lizards at or above the Core Formation Stage.
"Fellow Daoist Liu, I get the sense that something isn''t quite right," the Body Integration Stage elder on the left hand side said in a grim voice.
A thought seemed to have urred to Elder Liu upon hearing this, and judging from his reaction, it wasn''t an encouraging thought.
The spiritual sense of the other people on the ark wasn''t able to reach as far and wide as that of the two Body Integration Stage elders, but they were also beginning to notice therge numbers of Darkback Iron Lizards in the area, and everyone was bing more and more uneasy.
The man with the Kou surname flew over to the two elders, then asked in an urgent voice, "What''s the deal with all these lizards, seniors?"
The two elders exchanged a nce with one another, following which one of them replied, "We don''t know what''s going on at the moment, but these Darkback Iron Lizards are supposed to be dark beasts, and we''ve never seen them active during the day. As long as we get out of this area quickly, there shouldn''t be any problems."
"Full speed ahead! We have to get out of here as quickly as possible!" the man with the Kou surname instructed as he turned to one of his subordinates.
Meanwhile, Han Li had remained silent this entire time, surveying his surroundings with his hands sped behind his back.
The man with the Kou surname was rather displeased with Han Li''s detached attitude, but he couldn''t openly criticize Han Li for his attitude, and all he could do was shake his head slightly in displeasure.
Out of the two Body Integration cultivators that he had hired, one of them had suddenly disappeared for some unknown reason, while the other one was clearly unfamiliar with the area. At this point, he could only pray that no major mishaps urred, and that they could get out of this dangerous area as quickly as possible.
As the flying ark continued onward, the gravitational forceing from down below was bing more and more pronounced.
The ark was a treasure of a decent caliber, but its enormous size and weight meant that it inevitably slowed down in the face of the increased gravity.
What was even more concerning was that the number of Darkback Iron Lizards up ahead was increasing exponentially, and some of them had even begun roaring at the flying ark, looking as if they were going to pounce.
Upon spotting severalrger lizards that possessed Nascent Soul Stage powers, the two Body Integration Stage elders were finally unable to maintain theirposure any longer.
The man with the Kou surname could also see that something was clearly amiss, and he suggested, "Given the current situation, I suggest we turn back and wait for a few days before attempting to cross this ck Rock Desert again. It''ll only be a dy for a few days, and safety is paramount."
Both of the Body Integration Stage elders were also tempted by this proposition.
They hadn''t been traveling through the ck Rock Desert for a very long time, so if they were to turn back now, they should''ve had enough time to get out of the desert before nightfall.
However, right as Elder Liu was about to respond, an unforeseen turn of events suddenly began to unfold.
A burst of rumbling rang out up ahead, and the earth in a radius of several dozens of kilometers began to tremble violently. Even the flying ark was somewhat affected, swaying slightly as if it were experiencing turbulence.
Everyone on the ark cast their eyes forward with astonished looks on their faces.
Far away in the distance, a series of thick ck pirs were erupting into the heavens, much like an array of ck mountains abruptly rising up from the ground.
The ck pirs then copsed into countless ck particles, all of which began surging toward the flying ark like a ck sea.
Through their spiritual sense, the people on the ark could detect that these ck dots on the horizon were all Darkback Iron Lizards of different sizes.
In the blink of an eye, the entirendscape up ahead waspletely inundated by this surging ck wave, to the point that barely anything else was visible.
"We''ve run into a beast tide!" Elder Liu eximed with an rmed expression.
Everyone instantly turned deathly pale as this realization dawned on them, and Han Li''s brows also furrowed slightly.
The book that he had read concerning the ck Rock Desert had mentioned this type of beast tide, and it was an extremely perilous phenomenon. In some circumstances, these beast tides could even wear down an immortal until they died.
Ayer of cold sweat instantly beaded up on the forehead of the man with the Kou surname, and he desperately yelled, "Turn the ark around! Hurry!"
The entire ark was instantly plunged into chaos, with everyone stumbling around on deck in a blind panic.
Dazzling white light erupted out of the ark as it was forcibly drawn to a halt, following which it quickly turned tail to flee back the same way it hade from.
However, it wasn''t able to get very far before an earth-shattering boom rang out up ahead, and the earth opened up to release another massive pir of Darkback Iron Lizards that obstructed their escape.
The ark was caught in between countless lizards, which were closing in from both the front and the rear.
There were still openings on either side of the ark, but the two swarms of lizards in front of and behind the ark were rapidly spreading, quickly forming an encirclement thatpletely surrounded the ark from all directions.
Everyone''s faces had paled even further upon seeing this. No matter how sturdy the ark was, there was no way it would''ve been able tost very long in the face of such a formidable beast tide.
"What do we do, seniors?"
The man with the Kou surname was sweating and trembling uncontrobly as he turned to the three Body Integration cultivators on the ark.
The expressions of the two Body Integration Stage elders had turned extremely grim, and at this point, they had no choice but to fight for their lives.
Given their cultivation bases, if they were to abandon the ark and flee on their own, perhaps there was a 50% chance that they would be able to escape alive. However, as elders of the Chengquan Trading House, which was one of the threergest trading houses in the entire immortal region, they were bound by duty to protect the trading house''s interests in times of peril. If they were to flee here, then they would be condemned and hunted across the entire Northern cial Immortal Region.
Han Li''s brows were slightly furrowed, but he remained calm and collected. He took a few nces on either side of the ark, following which an intrigued look appeared on his face.
"Have you discovered something, Fellow Daoist Liu?" Elder Liu hurriedly asked upon seeing this.
"If you take a closer look, it seems like these lizards aren''t targeting us," Han Li replied.
The two Body Integration Stage elders faltered slightly upon hearing this, then turned to inspect their surroundings, and sure enough, the lizards were fighting among themselves, ferociously biting and wing at one another.
Furthermore, everyone quickly noticed that the two swarms of lizards were slightly different in appearance. The lizards up ahead had some dark red patterns on their bodies, while the ones behind the ark werepletely ck in color, indicating that they were different species.
"I see what''s happening now. These two swarms of lizards are fighting over this territory! No wonder they''ve appeared during the day," Elder Liu mused as an enlightened look appeared in his eyes.
"In any case, seeing as we''re not their target, we have to think of a way to get out of here as soon as possible. Otherwise, we''ll still get swept up in their conflict regardless," the other elder said in a grim voice.
The man with the Kou surname immediately nodded in response, and after issuing a series of instructions, the flying ark began to glow with dazzling white light as it flew toward the left.
At this point, the two swarms of lizards had alreadypletely shed and were engaged in a fierce battle.
Blinded by their bloodlust, they wereshing out at anything that wasn''t one of their brethren, and the giant flying ark was no exception.
A protective light barrier instantly appeared around the ark, advancing arduously as it warded off attacks from countless iron lizards.
Han Li and the two Body Integration Stage elders immediately sprang into action upon seeing this.
Elder Liu began to chant an incantation while making a rapid string of hand seals, and a burst of ck mes instantly surged out of his body.
The ck mes then transformed into countless fiery ck threads at his behest, and the fiery threads intertwined to form an enormous that was several thousand feet in size before sweeping toward the masses of surrounding iron lizards.
All of a sudden, the fiery ck exploded violently, causing the entire space to tremble as waves of fire surged forth in all directions, instantly forming a sea of ck mes that was several kilometers in size.
All of the iron lizards that came into contact with the sea of fire instantly had their bodies blown into pieces before falling out of the sky as chunks of charred flesh.
Meanwhile, the other elder made a hand seal with one hand, and blue light shed around him, following which a pair of massive blue lightning pythons sprang forth. Each of the pythons was several hundred feet in length, and both of them had dazzling blue lightning crackling around them as they pounced toward the lizard tide.
Upon making contact with the iron lizards, the blue lightning pythons instantly exploded, sending countless thick bolts of lightning erupting in all directions.
All of the iron lizards struck by the lightning instantly exploded, sending countless destroyed bodies raining out of the sky.
As for Han Li, he had turned to his trusty set of nine flying swords, which had transformed into countless sword threads that were slicing throughrge swathes of iron lizards with ease.
The three of them were each standing on one side of the ark, doing their best to y the oing iron lizards.
However, there were simply far too many of these creatures, and despite their best efforts, they were only able to keep some of the iron lizards at bay, with countless more still able to crash into the ark.
A string of loud thumps rang out incessantly, and the ark resembled a small raft in a turbulent sea, just barely holding onto dear life in the face of the lizard tide.
The protective light barrier around the ark was also trembling violently, much to the panic and horror of everyone on the ark.
All of a sudden, a grating roar that resembled the harsh sound of metal grinding on metal rang out up ahead, and it was clearly audible even through themotion of the unfolding battle.
Everyone on the ark felt a burst of sharp pain in their heads, as if they had just been pricked by steel needles, and their faces had paled even further.
The hearts of the two Body Integration Stage elders also shuddered upon hearing this roar.
Over 10,000 feet up ahead, a giant iron lizard that was around 500 to 600 feet in size had emerged out of the ground. Its body waspletely ck, and there were several thick ck hooked spikes on its back, while sharp fangs were jutting out of its mouth, giving it an extremely fearsome appearance.
Chapter 164: Hidden Powerful Being
Chapter 164: Hidden Powerful Being
An enormous aura was emanating from the body of the giant lizard, indicating that it possessed Body Integration Stage power.
Before everyone had a chance to react, another thunderous roar rang out from behind them.
The earth exploded as another giant lizard of roughly the same size as the Body Integration Stage lizard emerged, and it was just as fearsome in appearance, with bright patterns all over its back and a pair of long dark red horns on its head.
Furthermore, it was also giving off a Body Integration Stage aura!
"Those are both iron lizard kings! No wonder there are so many of them here," Elder Liu murmured to himself as his pupils contracted drastically.
The eyes of the man with the Kou surname suddenly lit up as he asked, "Does that mean that if these iron lizard kings die, then the battle will be over?"
"That may be the case, but the two of them are quite evenly matched, so I''m afraid there won''t be a decisive oue anytime soon. Under normal circumstances, Elder Qi and I would perhaps be able to y the lizard kings, but given the current situation..." Elder Liu''s voice trailed off here, and he heaved a faint sigh at the sight of the countless iron lizards around the ark.
Right at this moment, the two lizard kings exchanged a nce from afar, then sprang up into the air as fast as lightning.
The two massive creatures shed violently amid a resounding thump in the air not far away from the ark, then engaged one another in a ferocious tussle.
Violent shockwaves were sent sweeping through the air in all directions, interspersed with bursts of dazzling ck and red light.
All of the smaller iron lizards nearby were instantly sent flying, and some were even torn to shreds by the shockwaves.
In the face of the powerful shockwaves, the protective light barrier around the ark was trembling violently, and the ark itself was forcibly diverted away from its original path.
The man with the Kou surname took a nce at the gradually thinning light barrier, and he urged in a panicked voice, "The ark isn''t going to be able tost much longer! You have to think of something, seniors!"
However, the two Body Integration Stage elders were only able to do their best to keep the waves of iron lizards at bay, and even that was proving to be a tall order for them, so there was no way for them to do anything else.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly raised a hand before flicking a finger through the air.
A burst of blinding white light abruptly erupted out of nowhere, causing everyone to instinctively close their eyes.
Furthermore, a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations had surged out of the white light topletely disable the spiritual sense of everyone on the ark.
In the next instant, Han Li vanished from the spot amid a sh of silver lightning, then reappeared an instantter directly above the heads of the two giant lizard kings several thousand feet away.
Golden light shed from his fists as he sent them crashing down upon the heads of the lizard kings, and the two giant creatures didn''t even have any time to react before their heads were shattered with ease like a pair of eggs, sending huge volumes of blood and intracranial fluids sttering in all directions.
The two giant lizards didn''t even have a chance to cry out before they were reduced to a pair of corpses that fell out of the sky before mming heavily down onto the ground.
Meanwhile, silver lightning shed from Han Li''s body once again, and in the next instant, he had already returned to the ark.
All of this had transpired within the span of no more than a second, and all of the white light vanished immediately thereafter, as if it had never even appeared in the first ce.
Everyone on the ark waspletely rooted to the spot.
"What was that white light just now?" someone asked.
No one had an answer, and even the two Body Integration Stage elders were feelingpletely dumbfounded.
All of a sudden, one of the Body Integration Stage elders realized that all of the iron lizards in the area had suddenly stopped fighting. Furthermore, the bloodlust in their eyes had faded, reced by a look of shock and panic.
In the next instant, several loud roars rang out from within the hordes of iron lizards, and the two opposing armies quickly separated before scurrying away and fleeing back into the earth. In the blink of an eye, more than half of the iron lizards in the area had disappeared, and thendscape finally became visible again.
"Look! The two iron lizard kings are dead!"
Someone on the ark had spotted the pair of iron lizard king bodiesying on the ground several thousand feet away, and at this moment, the pair bodies were being carried away by some slightly smaller iron lizards.
Everyone was astonished to see this, including the pair of Body Integration Stage elders.
"Regardless of what happened here, I think our best course of action would be to get out of here as quickly as possible," Han Li said.
The man with the Kou surname hurriedly nodded in response. "You''re right, Senior Liu. Full speed ahead!"
The flying ark began to glow with bright white radiance as it continued onward at full speed, quickly flying out of the area.
They weren''t pursued by any iron lizards, and everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief upon seeing this.
"What happened just now?"
"I don''t know. After that sh of white light, both of the iron lizard kings were killed!"
"If you ask me, there must''ve been a hidden powerful being on the ark, and they must''ve been the one that killed the two iron lizard kings, but they didn''t want to blow their cover, so they used that white light to disguise their actions."
"That''s preposterous! If you ask me, some immortal must''ve just so happened to have been passing through. There''s no way any ordinary person would''ve been able to kill two Body Integration Stage demon beasts in the blink of an eye!"
"If it really was just some immortal passing by, then why did they release that white light as a smokescreen?"
Everyone on the ark was discussing what had just happened, and the atmosphere had be a little peculiar.
The two Body Integration Stage elders were also subtly examining everyone on the ark, as if they were trying to figure out who this hidden powerful being was.
However, they didn''t dare to pry excessively.
Given how that person was able to kill those two iron lizard kings so quickly, they had to have been at least a Grand Ascension cultivator, or even a legendary True Immortal, and they certainly didn''t dare to risk irking such a powerful being.
Meanwhile, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on the deck of the ark, and he asionally came under scrutiny from those around him, but he paid those prying eyes no heed.
The rest of the trip was very smooth, and they emerged from the ck Rock desert that night withouting under any further attacks, much to everyone''s relief.
After flying out of the ck Rock Desert, they were greeted by the sight of a vast grasnd.
Time slowly passed by, and everyone''s curiosity toward the identity of that mysterious powerful being gradually faded as the days of monotonous travel continued.
Over half a year passed by in the blink of an eye, and the ark was flying over a bleak desert.
Their destination, Bright Hill City, was already very close, situated just on the other side of this desert.
The journey had been quite smooth, and the ark had encountered some perilous situations, but none as dire as the one they had run into in the ck Rock Desert.
At this moment, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in his room.
He was making a rapid series of hand seals as a ball of heavy water was slowly fusing with the arcs of silver lightning in front of him.
Soon, a ck ball emerged, and it was another ball of Heavy Water Veined Lightning.
An ted look appeared on his face as he stowed the ball of lightning away.
Along this journey, Han Li had been refining Heavy Water Veined Lightning whenever he had some spare time, and at this point, he had already exhausted close to half of his supply of heavy water to produce over 30 balls of Heavy Water Veined Lightning.
He took a moment to adjust his robes before rising to his feet, then emerged onto the deck and cast his gaze toward the yellow desert down below.
The desert was called the Boundless Sand Sea, and it was extremely vast, but the demon beasts here were very weak and sparse, so it was a very safe area.
Even the two Body Integration Stage elders weren''t standing on lookout duty on the deck.
This journey had taken a long time, but once he arrived at Bright Hill City, he would have ess to teleportation arrays that would significantly speed up his travels.
The man with the Kou surname just so happened to be nearby, and he immediately approached Han Li before extending a greeting, in response to which Han Li gave a slight nod.
The man with the Kou surname was looking rather excited as he said, "We''re less than a day away from Bright Hill City now, Senior Liu. Thank you for your efforts over the course of this journey."
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Kou. I took on this mission, so it''s only right that I fulfill my duty," Han Li replied with a smile.
"What are your ns after reaching Bright Hill City, Senior Liu?" the man with the Kou surname asked.
"I..." Han Li''s voice abruptly trailed off here as he suddenly turned his gaze to the right.
Several shadows had appeared on the distant horizon in that direction, alongside an extremely faint howling sound.
He immediately released his spiritual sense, upon which a grim look appeared on his face.
"What''s wrong, Senior Liu?"
The man with the Kou surname followed Han Li''s gaze while also releasing his spiritual sense, and his expression instantly changed drastically as he yelled, "It''s an astral wind storm! Stop the ark and dig a hole for the ark to hide in! Hurry!"
None of the books that Han Li had purchased mentioned this so-called astral wind storm, but judging from the reaction disyed by the man with the Kou surname, it had to have been something quite dangerous.
The ark erupted intoplete pandemonium as others quickly began to notice the approaching storm on the horizon, and those who were familiar with the climate in the area were extremely rmed.
The ark gradually drew to a halt, following which the two Body Integration Stage elders flew out of their rooms.
Elder Qi flipped a hand over to produce arge yellow g, and the g swelled drastically to several dozen times its original size at his behest, radiating dazzling yellow light as it did so.
The elder swept a sleeve through the air, and a thick pir of yellow light shot forth before hurtling into the desert sand down below.
The earth in a radius of several dozen kilometers trembled violently as the earth abruptly split open before parting in either direction.
Momentster, a massive ck rift appeared on the ground, resembling a dark abyss that was several thousand feet deep.
Meanwhile, the ck shadows in the distance were quickly approaching, revealing themselves to be a series of giant ck clouds, within which a thunderous howling sound was ringing out incessantly.
Ferocious gusts of wind were whipped around the ark, sending vast volumes of sand flying up into the sky.
"Hurry!" the man with the Kou surname urged.
The ark immediately descended into the massive rift in the ground, quickly vanishing into it.
Elder Qi then swept the g that he was holding through the air, and the rift closed itself from above, forming a massive underground cavern around the ark.
Meanwhile, ferocious gusts of yellow wind swept over the desert up above like a flight of massive wind dragons that obscured the entire sky.
The sand of the desert was whipped up into a frenzy by the wind, and the entire area had been plunged intoplete chaos.
The gusts of wind resembled the whip of a giant that was repeatedlyshing against the ground with devastating impact, and even though the flying ark was several thousand feet beneath the ground, everyone could still clearly hear the thunderousmotion ringing out up above.
Chapter 165: Familiar
Chapter 165: Familiar
The man with the Kou surname was standing next to Han Li, and he said in a relieved voice, "It''s a good thing that Senior Liu noticed it very early. Otherwise, we would''ve been in grave peril."
"What is this astral wind storm that you speak of, Fellow Daoist Kou?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"The astral wind storm is a type of natural phenomenon that only arises in this desert, and it''s a very rare urrence, but once it does arise, it''ll wreak havoc over the area in a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
¡°The only way to deal with this disaster is to hide deep underground and wait for the storm to pass before returning to the surface," the man with the Kou surname exined, and he was clearly extremely wary of this form of natural disaster.
"I''ve crossed this desert no fewer than 100 times, and this is only the second time I''ve encountered this disaster. At the time, I witnessed a flying ark that was unable to make it underground in time being instantly pulverized into dust by the storm," Elder Qi said with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
"Apparently, this desert was once a city, but for some reason, an astral wind storm suddenly swept over the city one day, instantly razing it to the ground, and that''s how this desert came to be," Elder Liu added.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
"We''re no more than a day away from our destination, but it looks like we''ll have to wait a few more days until this astral wind storm passes before we continue onward," the man with the Kou surname sighed.
He then departed to examine whether any of the goods on the ark had been damaged.
Meanwhile, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed and closed his eyes to meditate.
The desert above Han Li and the others was currently being ravaged by the astral wind storm, but all was peaceful and tranquil hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the Boundless Sand Sea.
Along a vast mountain range that stretched for tens of thousands of kilometers were countless lush forests, interspersed throughout which were a series of cities, towns, and viges.
At the center of the mountain range was an azure city that took up a massive area. Its walls were over 1,000 feet tall, and inscribed inrge golden characters above the city gates were the words "Bright Hill City".
The city appeared to have been no smaller than ck Wind City, and it was filled with tall buildings that differed in construction stylepared with the ones in ck Wind City in that these ones were more unrefined and rough around the edges, but appeared more imposing and majestic.
One thriving street after another was visible in the city, stretching as far as the eyes could see.
At the center of Bright Hill City was a massive white pagoda, standing out as a particrly eye-catchingndmark, evenpared with all of the tall buildings around it.
This was where the teleportation arrays in the city were situated, and people were regrly entering and exiting the building, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.
Right at this moment, two figures emerged from the entrance of the giant pagoda side by side.
One of them was an elderly man with a head of white hair coupled with a white beard. He was wearing a five-colored brocade robe, and despite his apparently advanced age, he was looking very sharp and full of vigor.
Beside him was a handsome young man in a tight-fitting ck robe with a cold look in his eyes.
"Brother Fang, if I recall correctly, there aren''t going to be any more teleportation arrays along the rest of your journey. On top of that, the ck Wind Sea is situated in the westernmost region of the continent, and I''ve heard that it''s a very difficult ce to ess," the brocade-robed elderly man said.
"Given how much time has passed, we don''t even know if he''s still in the ck Wind Sea. As a safety precaution, I''ll have to trouble you to verify his location again," Fang Pan said as he took a nce up at the sky.
"Very well."
The brocade-robed elderly man nodded in response, then flipped a hand over to produce a te treasure. He brought his index and middle fingers together before pointing them directly at the te, then began chanting an incantation.
As he did so, the te began to radiate dazzling golden light, and a speck of flickering crimson light emerged extremely close to the center of the te, much to the elderly man''s surprise.
"Has he already left the ck Wind Sea?" Fang Pan asked, clearly already expecting this oue.
"Not only that, but he''s currently very close to this city," the brocade-robed elderly man replied with an incredulous expression.
Fang Pan faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Oh? Is he located to the west of us?"
"That''s right, but for some reason, he seems to have stopped," the brocade-robed elderly man replied with a perplexed expression.
"Come with me," Fang Pan said as he flew out of the city as a streak of light, and the elderly man hurriedly followed along.
A short whileter, the two of them appeared on the summit of a tall mountain several hundred kilometers away from the city, watching the astral wind storm that was ravaging thendscape far away in the west.
"It looks like he''s taking shelter from some type of natural disaster. There''s no need to wait any longer, let''s go straight to him," Fang Pan said.
The brocade-robed elderly man''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "We''ve already tracked him for so long, why the hurry now? Given his current location, his next destination will surely be Bright Hill City, so why don''t we make some preparations here and ambush him once he arrives?"
"You can wait here if you like, but I''m not going to wait even a moment longer!" Fang Pan dered as he abruptly sprang up from the mountain summit, then instantly vanished into the distance.
The brocade-robed elderly man shook his head as he heaved a faint sigh, then also vanished from the spot amid a sh of five-colored light.
¡¡
Meanwhile.
Inside the underground cavern, the sound of the howling wind ringing out up above was clearly audible, and everyone, including Han Li, was seated with their eyes closed in silent meditation.
All of a sudden, his brows suddenly furrowed tightly as his eyes abruptly sprang open.
Just now, the blood essence in his body had suddenly be extremely agitated, churning through his veins in a frenzy, to the point that he was feeling an unnatural heat coursing through his veins.
Is something approaching me?
A strong sense of unease welled up in his heart.
After a moment of contemtion, he instantly rose to his feet, and everyone around him was startled by this sudden movement as they also opened their eyes to observe him with wary expressions.
He paid no heed to everyone''s reactions as he abruptly vanished from the spot amid a sh of azure light.
The other people in the underground cavern with him didn''t even get a chance to say anything, and they could exchange bewildered nces with one another.
After flying out of the underground cavern, the violent astral winds came surging toward him from all directions like countless sharp des.
Han Li''s entire body was enveloped within ayer of azure light, but that still wasn''t enough to prevent the coarse sand fromshing against his face.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he turned toward a certain direction, then began to fly through the astral winds as a streak of azure light.
Inside the violent storm, visibility was virtually zero, and even though it wasn''t very difficult for Han Li to traverse through the storm, his speed was significantly limited, so he wasn''t able to get very far even after flying for an entire hour.
Right as he was about to elerate to full speed and fly out of the area epassed within the storm in one go, he suddenly detected two powerful auras appear within several thousand feet of him without any warning.
He immediately drew to a halt and swept his gaze across his surroundings, upon which he discovered a pair of indistinct humanoid figures situated in the storm to his right.
Only after the two of them had flown a further several hundred feet did they gradually be clearly visible to Han Li, revealing themselves to be a young man in ck and a brocade-robed elderly man.
Each of them was enveloped in a light barrier that kept the storm at bay, and the swirling sand was only able to leave some faint white marks on the light barriers.
Han Li took a quick nce at the two figures, and his heart sank slightly as he asked, "Why are you getting in my way, fellow daoists?"
Both of them were mid-True Immortal cultivators, and it was clear that they hadn''t approached him with friendly intentions.
Furthermore, for some reason, the two of them felt vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn''t recall where he had seen them before no matter how hard he tried.
The brocade-robed elderly man was quite taken aback by this question, and he turned to the young man in ck with a perplexed expression.
However, thetter''s gaze remained fixed firmly on Han Li as he harrumphed coldly, "You think you can fool us with that disguise of yours, Han Li?"
Han Li was quite rmed at the fact that he was being referred to directly by name, and a dark look appeared on his face as he asked, "Who are you?"
"I don''t think he''s putting on an act, Brother Fang. It seems like he really doesn''t know who we are. Could it be that he lost his memories?" the brocade-robed elderly man asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Who cares if he''s putting on an act or not? We''ll just have to kill him, then search his soul, and everything will be clear," Fang Pan replied in a cold voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly vanished from the spot amid a sh of ck light.
All Han Li saw was a blur sh past his eyes before the young man reappeared directly in front of him, and he wasshing out with a long ck saber.
Han Li hurriedly raised a fist to oppose the saber, yet all of a sudden, Fang Pan vanished yet again.
As a result, Han Li''s fist struck nothing but empty air, causing the space up ahead to shudder violently as he stumbled forward out of sheer momentum.
Immediately thereafter, he spotted a streak of ck light out of the corner of his eye, and the runes on the de of the ck saber had begun shing as it shed at him from below at an extremely awkward angle.
It was toote for him to dodge the attack, so he could only take it head-on, and ayer of golden scales immediately appeared over his skin, alongside his True Extreme Membrane.
A loud ng rang out as Han Li retreated several thousand feet through the air, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.
After steadying himself, a grim look appeared on his face. The unremarkable-looking sh unleashed by the ck-robed young man had managed to slice through both his True Extreme Membrane and his golden scales.
The sh had run out of steam after that and wasn''t able to inflict any substantial harm, but Han Li was still quite rmed by its power.
However, the ck-robed young man''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, indicating that he was dissatisfied with the oue of that attack.
As for the brocade-robed elderly man, he didn''t participate directly in the battle. Instead, he was holding a round array te in one hand while tracing the index finger of his other hand through the air incessantly, as if he were inscribing something.
Furthermore, a series of triangr yellow gs were flying incessantly out of his sleeve before vanishing into thin air.
Han Li''s gaze roamed over his two assants for a moment before a white longsword appeared in his grasp amid a sh of white light.
The ck-robed young man took a step forward, immediately traveling close to 1,000 feet through the air, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake as heshed out at Han Li with his saber again.
Han Li raised an arm to block the attack, managing to keep the saber at bay, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, a startling turn of events abruptly unfolded before his eyes.
The afterimages left behind by Fang Pan were still lingering in the air, and one of them suddenly sprang forth amid a sh of ck light, wielding an identical ck saber that itshed out at Han Li''s abdomen.
This second figure was identical in appearance to Fang Pan, and it was also giving off a mid-True Immortal Stage aura!
Chapter 166: The Laws of Speed
Chapter 166: The Laws of Speed
Is this an avatar? No, it''s something else...
Despite his surprise, Han Li''s reactions remained as sharp as ever.
Seven specks of white light instantly appeared on his chest and abdomen, and one of his arms abruptly swelled drastically in size as he swung his fist at the second figure.
A resounding boom rang out as the second figure was sent flying back by the tremendous force behind the punch, but right at this moment, Han Li suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and he had only just managed to turn his head slightly before he struck by a sharp de on the shoulder near his neck.
Several of the scales on his shoulder were broken, and blood sttered in all directions as he was sent plunging forward through the air by the force of the attack.
He had only just managed to steady himself slightly when he caught sight of a third ck-robed young man behind him, and this one was alsopletely identical to the other two in both aura and appearance.
Han Li hurriedly used his momentum to tumble through the air, then steadied himself over 1,000 feet away as he activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
At the same time, the set of nine white flying swords also flew out before revolving through the air around him, forming a dense of sword threads that protected him from all directions.
A hint of mockery appeared on the faces of the three ck-robed young men in unison upon seeing this.
All of a sudden, the three of them pounced at Han Li from three different directions, and the runes on the surface of their ck sabers were shing brightly, causing the surrounding space to twist and warp.
Bright blue light was glowing in Han Li''s eyes as he scrutinized the three figures intently, assessing all of the visual information that he could gather, including their movement trajectories, their actions, and even the looks on their faces.
In doing so, he discovered that all three of them seemed to have been real.
This is a clone technique that he''s unleashing through the use of thews of speed!
An enlightened look appeared on his face as he arrived at this realization, but hsi brows only became even more tightly furrowed with this revtion.
A sharp ng rang out, and one of the flying swords was struck, causing it to draw to a shuddering halt.
As a result, a gap appeared in the sword, and before it could be filled, a saber projectino shot through, hurtling directly toward Han Li''s chest from behind.
Han Li swung around violently beforeunching a fist through the air to strike the saber projection head-on.
Immediately thereafter, a string of erratic nging rang out, and he spotted a ck-robed man wielding a long saber shing incessantly around him, picking apart the defenses of his sword bit by bit.
Thanks to his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, Han Li was able to track his opponent''s movement with his eyes, but his flying swords were always just a little too slow to react, and it didn''t take long before the sword was cast intoplete disarray.
Furthermore, the other two clones of the ck-robed young man were constantly lurking,shing out at Han Li''s vital regions whenever the opportunity arose.
Before long, around a dozen deep gashes had already been sliced into Han Li''s body.
Thankfully, his physical body was extremely hardy to begin with, and his physical constitution was bolstered even further thanks to his True Extreme Physique, so even though he was frequently struck, none of the attacks proved to be lethal.
However, he knew that the situation was about to take a turn for the worse soon as the brocade-robed elderly man had already reached the final stage in setting up his array.
A faint buzzing sound rang out as the space within a radius of several thousand feet around Han Li shuddered. A burst of earthy yellow light swept through the area, and the astral wind storm was halted in its tracks, as if it had been sealed by some type of invisible force.
Han Li immediately made a hand seal without any hesitation upon seeing this, and a burst of thunderous rumbling instantly rang out as countless arcs of silver lightning sprang out of his body, instantly forming a silver lightning array around him.
An urgent look appeared on the brocade-robed elderly man''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately pointed a finger at the array te in his hand, upon which dazzling yellow light erupted within the array, sending a burst of even more overwhelming pressure surging toward Han Li.
As a result, the activation of Han Li''s lightning array was also slowed down.
Fang Pan certainly wasn''t going to pass up such an opportunity, and cold killing intent shed through the eyes of his three clones as they converged from three different directions, unleashing a string of powerful saber projections that closed in rapidly on Han Li.
Han Li gritted his teeth tightly as he activated his Lightning Bird bloodline to its limits, and a sh of blinding silver light appeared in the air, following which Han Li abruptly vanished along with the lightning array.
Almost at the exact same moment, a vast expanse of earthy yellow light surged forth from all directions in a frenzy.
The flurry of saber projections also arrived,pletely shredding the area around the spot where Han Li had just been standing a moment before, forming a violent ck tornado that instantly destroyed all of the silver light lingering in the air.
Immediately thereafter, the three Fang Pans in the air fused back into one, glowering at the spot that Han Li had just vanished from with a dark expression.
The brocade-robed elderly man also deactivated his array before arriving by Fang Pan''s side, then gently sniffed the air as he remarked, "I can smell quite a bit of his blood lingering in the air. In order to prevent us from spoiling the activation of his lightning array, he took an attack from you and your clones head-on, so I''m sure he''s carrying some severe injuries right now."
After a moment of contemtion, Fang Pan said, "Not only did he not die 300 years ago, he''s attained the body of a Profound Immortal now, so I doubt that attack would''ve inflicted any meaningful damage. Brother Feng, I''ll have to trouble you to track him again. We can''t afford to let him get away."
The brocade-robed elderly man nodded in response, then began to initiate his tracking technique...
Meanwhile, a rumbling thunderp suddenly rang out in the air above a sand dune several hundred thousand kilometers away.
A bolt of silver lightning that was as thick as a water tank came crashing down from the heavens, and Han Li stumbled out of the bolt of lightning in a disheveled manner before falling onto the ground.
As soon as hended on the ground, he immediately released his spiritual sense to scour the entire area within a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers, and only after verifying that there was no danger nearby did he flip a hand over to produce a pair of pills that he promptly swallowed.
He then closed his eyes to meditate, and momentster, his aura gradually returned to a tranquil state, but his expression was still as dark as ever.
He still had no idea who his two assants were, but given how intent they were on killing him, he had a rough idea of who they could be.
The first possibility was that they were hunting him for the reward offered by the Ubiquitous Pavilion, while the second possibility was that they had something to do with how he had lost his memories of the past 300 years.
What was most perplexing to him was how they had seen through the disguise that he had adopted using the mask of the Transient Guild.
Regardless of what their objectives were, this wasn''t something that he could verify in the current situation. Not only were they both superior to him in terms of cultivation base, their abilities made them extremely difficult to deal with.
One of them had mastered thews of speed, while the other seemed to be a master of arrays and restrictions, so it definitely wasn''t wise for him to fight fire with fire.
As these thoughts were running through his mind, he rose his feet, then flipped a hand over to produce the jade slip that contained the map of the Primordial Wave Continent.
After taking a brief nce at the map, he stowed the jade slip away, then began to fly toward a certain direction as a streak of azure light, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Half a dayter, Han Li was flying through the air above a short mountain range, and he descended toward a forest down below with a grim look on his face.
Afternding on the ground, he immediately sat down with his legs crossed, and he took a pill to recover his energy, then released his spiritual sense as he closed his eyes to meditate.
However, no more than 15 minutester, his eyes abruptly sprang open, and a bewildered look appeared on his face.
"How did they manage to catch up to me so quickly?" he murmured to himself as he immediately rose to his feet.
Two powerful auras had suddenly appeared at the edge of his spiritual sensory range, and they were approaching him at an incredible speed.
Han Li immediately shot up into the sky as a streak of azure light once again, vanishing from the forest in a sh.
¡¡
Two dayster.
A streak of indistinct azure light suddenly appeared in the sky above a vast, primitive forest, and a tall figure emerged from within, then plummeted toward the lush forest down below in an unsteady manner.
A resounding boom rang out as a massive tree was struck by the figure, causing it to explode violently, sending countless branches, leaves, and scraps of wood flying in all directions.
Countless birds and beasts in the forest immediately began to flee the area in a panicked frenzy, further contributing to themotion.
The figure that had struck the giant tree was none other than Han Li, and he sat up from the remnants of the tree, then wiped the forest dew from his face with his hand.
He had adopted another disguise, giving him the appearance of a square-faced middle-aged man.
His eyes held a sharp gleam, but the weariness on his face was very apparent.
During the past two days of constant fleeing, he had exhausted almost all of his immortal spiritual power, yet he was still unable to shake Fang Pan and the brocade-robed elderly man off his trail, and they seemed to be determined to kill him.
I can''t just keep running like this. At the very least, I have to figure out who they are, Han Li thought to himself as he quickly devoured several pills.
With that in mind, he closed his eyes to meditate, recovering his immortal spiritual power as quickly as he could.
Around 15 minutester, he reopened his eyes, detecting a burst of powerful spiritual sense within the range of his spiritual sense once again.
However, this time, he didn''t continue to flee. Instead, he slowly rose to his feet, then flew up into the air above the forest as he cast his gaze toward the horizon.
A streak of azure light was hurtling rapidly toward him from that direction, and after just several seconds, it was no more than 10,000 feet away from him.
Within the streak of azure light was Fang Pan, who was holding his long ck saber with a cold look in his eyes, while the brocade-robed elderly man was nowhere to be seen.
Judging from the cold killing intent in Fang Pan''s eyes, Han Li could already tell that his disguise had failed, and he asked, "Why are you so determined to hunt me down?"
Fang Pan faltered slightly upon hearing this, but he had no intention of answering Han Li''s question. Instead, he conjured up a series of indistinct afterimages in the air as he prepared to pounce.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately activated the true spirit bloodlines in his body.
Chapter 167: The Nascent Soul Sealing Vendetta
Chapter 167: The Nascent Soul Sealing Vendetta
A low roar rang out as a burst of dazzling golden light erupted out of Han Li''s entire body.
Enshrouded within the golden light, his body was rapidly expanding while strands of golden fur sprouted out of his skin, and he transformed into a giant golden ape that was several dozen feet tall in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, Fang Pan had already split up into three identical clones that were closing in around the giant ape in a triangr formation. The long sabers in their hands were gleaming with ck light, forming a dense ck saber in the air that surrounded Han Li from all directions.
The golden ape threw its head back and let loose a long roar as it swung its arms violently through the air, releasing a burst of tremendous force that caused the surrounding space to tremble and quiver.
In the face of this burst of immense force, the ck saber was quickly destroyed, and even the air around the golden ape had be extremely heavy.
The three clones formed by Fang Pan swayed slightly, then withdrew their sabers in unison as they abruptly vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, azure light shed behind the giant ape, and three saber-wielding Fang Pans appeared at the same time before shing their sabers viciously at Han Li.
In the instant that the three sabers began their descent, they abruptly fused into a single saber projection with ck light swirling around it, producing a sharp screeching sound as they sliced through the air, causing the nearby space to be blurry and indistinct.
The attack was so fast that the giant ape had no time to take evasive measures, but it was still able to conjure up a True Extreme Membrane over its body.
A loud metallic ng rang out as the ck saber projection struck the golden ape on the back with devastating force, and the saber projection was instantly shattered as a burst of ck and golden light erupted forth, sending a powerful destructive aura erupting in all directions that caused the air to buzz and tremble.
The golden ape was instantly sent flying forward, and its True Extreme Membrane had been torn open, while a gash had appeared on its back.
The gash wasn''t very deep, but it was still bleeding profusely, staining its golden fur red.
Fang Pan was also involuntarily sent flying back over 1,000 feet from the force of the impact before stabilizing himself in mid-air.
He took a nce at the giant ape, which hadnded on the ground not far away, and a slightly grim look had appeared on his face. It was clear that he wasn''t expecting the golden ape to be able to take that attack head-on with such minimal injuries.
Just like Fang Pan, Han Li was also feeling rather bewildered.
Thankfully, he had taken on his Giant Mountain Ape in time. Otherwise, that attack would''ve dealt far more severe damage. At the same time, it seemed that he had found a way to deal with Fang Pan''s attacks, despite Fang Pan''s speed advantage.
After a moment of contemtion, Fang Pan split up into three once again before pouncing at Han Li.
This time, the three figures blurred as they sped through the air before splitting up even further, conjuring up dozens of clones, both substantial and insubstantial, in the blink of an eye. At the same time, thousands of ck saber projections were sent raining down upon the giant ape.
The golden ape paid no heed to the injury on its back as it swung its massive fists rapidly through the air, unleashing countless fist projections in all directions.
A burst of tremendous power erupted forth, causing the surrounding space to tremble violently, forming rings of powerful shockwaves that swept through the air in all directions.
The dozens of clones conjured up by Fang Pan were struck by the ferocious shockwaves, and most of them instantly disintegrated, leaving only three substantial clones behind, all three of which had survived thanks to the protective light barriers around their bodies.
Before the giant ape had a chance to do anything else, a peculiar grin suddenly appeared on the faces of the three Fang Pans in unison, following which all three of them abruptly vanished from the spot.
The golden ape faltered slightly upon seeing this, seemingly having recalled something.
All of a sudden, a burst of bright yellow light erupted out of the ground beneath its feet, and a series of rope-like bursts of yellow light surged up from the earth. The bursts of yellow light twisted and writhed like spirit snakes for a brief moment, then wound themselves around the giant ape''s entire body while giving off powerfulw fluctuations.
Immediately thereafter, a giant yellow umbre appeared out of thin air. The umbre was over 1,000 feet in size, and all of the bursts of rope-like yellow light were connected to the interior of the umbre. At this point, the golden ape had already been wrapped up in a yellow cocoon, making it resemble the umbre''s shaft.
The golden ape was greatly rmed by this, and it let loose a thunderous roar as the muscles on its body writhed and squirmed frantically as if they were living creatures. Dazzling golden light was radiating from its entire body as it struggled with all its might.
However, these ordinary-looking bursts of yellow light were extraordinarily sturdy, and Han Li was unable to break free even with the incredible strength of the Giant Mountain Ape.
All of a sudden, the huge yellow umbre closed itself around the giant ape, trapping it within.
Immediately thereafter, spatial fluctuations erupted above the umbre, and the brocade-robed elderly man appeared as he chortled, "I''ve finally got you now! Even if you have three heads and six arms, you won''t be able to break free from my Earth Net Umbre!"
"Well done, Brother Feng!"
Fang Pan appeared beside the giant umbre in a sh, then raised a hand as he began to chant an incantation.
An inky-ck chain appeared out of thin air, and it was gleaming with ck light with faint ck mist swirling around it.
Furthermore, it was giving off a special type ofw fluctuations.
The golden ape within the giant umbre was extremely rmed as he sensed the aura emanating from the chain. This was an aura that he was extremely familiar with, the aura of the Origin Separation Law Chains that had bound his nascent soul for over 300 years!
"You were the one who sealed my nascent soul!" the giant ape roared within the umbre.
"Looks like you finally remembered! The three of us had to go great lengths to take you down, and we thought that our secret had perished with you, but to my surprise, you were still alive," the brocade-robed elderly man above the giant umbre said.
Bright golden light erupted from the golden ape''s body once again as it struggled and thrashed violently within the giant umbre.
"Cease your futile struggles!" the brocade-robed elderly man said with a cold smile as he thrust a palm downward.
A burst of dazzling yellow light instantly erupted out of the surface of the giant umbre, and a flurry of yellow runes surged forth in a frenzy before revolving around the umbre, causing it to tighten even further.
At the same time, Fang Pan hadpleted his incantation, and he was rapidly making a series of hand seals.
The ck light glowing from the ck chain quickly brightened as countless ck runes appeared around the chain, and those runes were rapidly expanding in size while giving off faint spatial fluctuations.
Right as Fang Pan was about toplete his preparations, a resounding boom rang out within the yellow umbre, following which an incredible scene unfolded.
Lights of all types of different colors suddenly erupted out of the bulging yellow umbre, and yellow light surged over the umbre''s surface as it bulged even further.
A bewildered look appeared on the brocade-robed elderly man''s eyes upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, he suddenly threw up a mouthful of blood, and hisplexion instantly paled.
In the next instant, a resounding boom rang out as the yellow umbre was violently torn apart.
The spiritual light on the surface of the umbre quickly faded, while a golden figure emerged from within before rapidly expanding to over 1,000 feet in size while rising up into the air.
It was a giant golden ape with three heads and six arms, and the bursts of yellow light that were previously wound around its body were already nowhere to be seen.
The giant ape quickly made a string of hand seals with all six of its hands, and countless arcs of dazzling silver lightning emerged to form a huge lightning array around it.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and Fang Pan was furious as he opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence into the ck chain before him.
"You''re not getting away!"
The ck light radiating from the chain brightened even further as it abruptly swelled to several times its original size, then vanished from the spot before appearing directly in front of the giant ape, then passed straight through its chest and abdomen.
Almost at the exact same moment, dazzling silver light erupted within the lightning array, and the giant ape abruptly vanished, causing the chain to strike nothing but empty air.
Fang Pan was glowing at the slowly fading remnants of silver light in the air, and he was gritting his teeth in fury.
He took a deep breath topose himself, then made a beckoning motion to withdraw the ck chain.
The brocade-robed elderly man also flew over to him with a dark expression as he said, "I didn''t think that he would be able to forcibly break free from the Earth Net Umbre''sw powers."
Fang Pan stowed the ck chain away, then said, "That''s only a secondary concern. The main problem we have to deal with is that lightning array of his. If we can''t find a way to counteract it, he''ll just keep running away, and we''ll never be able to hunt him down! Brother Feng, you''re an expert in arrays and restrictions, do you have any way to stop him?"
"Having already observed his lightning array twice, I have a rough idea of how it works. It''s something thatbines the power of space and the power of lightning, and it''s actually not so difficult to counter it, but special talismans must be prepared, and I don''t have any such talismans on me right now," the brocade-robed elderly man replied with slightly furrowed brows.
"Is there no other way? If we can crack the secret that he''s holding, we should be able to break through our bottlenecks with no problems at all," Fang Pan said in a meaningful voice.
"There are other ways to counteract his lightning array. I once learned a secret technique called the Blood Incinerating Breath, which requires one to burn through their blood essence to unleash. It''s a secret that can sever the spiritual power flow of all arrays, and it should be able to stop his lightning array from taking effect," the brocade-robed elderly man replied.
Fang Pan''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and he said, "Perfect! Once we catch up to him next, use that secret technique to prevent him from getting away."
"The problem is that using the secret technique is quite taxing on the body, and I most likely won''t be able to help you deal with Han Li," the brocade-robed elderly man said in a slightly hesitant voice.
"Rest assured, all you need to do is prevent him from getting away, and I''ll take care of the rest," Fang Pan chuckled.
He raised a hand as he spoke to release a burst of azure light that enveloped both himself and the brocade-robed elderly man, then sped into the distance at an incredible speed, vanishing into the distance in a sh.
¡¡¡¡
Chapter 168: Pursuit
Chapter 168: Pursuit
High up in the sky above a snowy mountain range hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, countless arcs of lightning appeared out of thin air before intertwining to form an array.
A giant figure appeared within the array amid a sh of silver light, and it was a huge golden ape with three heads and six arms.
As soon as the giant ape appeared, it rapidly shrank down, reverting back to its human form while the silver lightning array disintegrated around it.
He flipped a hand over to produce a pill before swallowing it, then flew toward a certain direction at full speed as a streak of azure light without pause.
This type of long-distance teleportation was extremely taxing on the Lightning Bird''s power of lightning, and at the moment, he didn''t know whether there was a distance limit on how far away Fang Pan and the brocade-robed elderly man could sense him from. If he were to be caught with all of the power of lightning in his bodypletely exhausted, then he would have no course for retreat.
However, he wasn''t able to fly very far before he felt his blood begin to churn within his veins, and it was clear that Fang Pan''s duo was using the same tracking technique once again.
Hence, he immediately began to fly in a different direction without any hesitation.
At the same time, he was digesting the pill that he had just taken as quickly as he could while carefully inspecting every single inch of his own body with his spiritual sense, trying to find out exactly where a mark had been nted on him.
However, no matter how much he searched, he wasn''t able to find anything.
Even though Han Li was fleeing as quickly as he could, Fang Pan was too fast for him to shake off, and close to a dayter, they were gradually beginning to close in on him.
This time, Han Li had no intention of facing them in battle at all, and in the instant that they appeared in his field of view, silver light instantly began to erupt out of his body.
Countless arcs of silver lightning appeared one after the other, yet right as it was about to form a lightning array, Fang Pan''s voice rang out like thunder from several hundred kilometers away. "You''re not getting away!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, bright azure light that contained countless dancing azure began to glow over his palm, and he thrust his palm into the body of the brocade-robed elderly man beside him.
An azure halo instantly appeared around the brocade-robed elderly man, within which countless azure runes were surging incessantly.
The elderly man instantly vanished into thin air, then reappeared not far away from Han Li.
At this point, Han Li was no more than half a second away frompleting his teleportation. A silver lightning array had already taken shape around him, and he was just about to be inundated by silver light when a vast expanse of crimson mes suddenly appeared on the brocade-robed elderly man''s body, instantly transforming him into a crimson sun.
Blinding crimson light spread through the entire area within a radius of several kilometers, and as soon as the lightning array around Han Li came into contact with the crimson light, it immediately disintegrated, much to Han Li''s rm.
Right at this moment, a bright saber projection appeared in Han Li''s field of view, and initially, it was extremely far away, but it was upon him in the blink of an eye like a bolt of lightning, piercing directly toward his heart at an incredible speed.
Han Li''s pupils contracted drastically upon seeing this, and bright azure light began to glow from his body as he sped toward the side.
In the next instant, Han Li appeared several hundred feet away from his original spot. A huge gash had been sliced onto his arm, exposing the bone within, and blood was gushing out profusely.
However, he had no time to tend to the wound as he instantly adopted his Giant Mountain Ape form amid a sh of dazzling golden light. At the same time, countless golden scales appeared over his entire body.
Meanwhile, Fang Pan appeared behind the saber, then reached out to grab it.
Immediately thereafter, he began darting from side to side, and four identical Fang Pans appeared on either side of him.
Each of them was wielding a bright long saber as they charged directly at Han Li at lightning-fast speeds while unleashing five dazzling saber projections.
All of a sudden, the five Fang Pans ovepped with one another, and the five saber projections alsobined into one. At the same time, it abruptly elerated to several times its original speed, leavingyers of ovepping afterimages in its wake as it pierced directly toward the giant ape''s heart.
Everything around the saber projection seemed to have be extremely slow, as if everything were moving in slow motion inparison.
The dream-like saber projection pierced into the golden ape''s body before emerging on the other side, but it had missed the giant ape''s heart by a small margin.
The golden ape threw up a mouthful of blood as a stunned look appeared on its face, and it then mmed a palm heavily down onto its own chest.
The giant ape was sent flying back by the force of its own blow, throwing up anotherrge mouthful of blood that transformed into a burst of crimson light before fusing into its body.
Its skin instantly turned as red as blood, and at the same time, a massive crimson rune appeared on both his chest and his back, radiating dazzling crimson light.
The giant ape''s body instantly exploded into a ball of crimson light, which instantly shot out of the area epassed within the crimson light released by the brocade-robed elderly man.
Countless arcs of silver lightning then sprang out of the ball of crimson light, forming a lightning array in the blink of an eye.
Following a sh of lightning, Han Li was once again nowhere to be seen, leaving the brocade-robed elderly man to look on with his mouth agape in astonishment.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and before either of them had a chance to react, Han Li had already vanished from the spot.
The five Fang Pans fused as one once again, and he was glowering at the spot where Han Li had just vanished from with a furious expression.
Meanwhile, the brocade-robed elderly man chanted an incantation to snuff out the crimson mes burning on his body. Hisplexion was quite pale, and he hurriedly summoned a pill before devouring it.
"Damn it! He got away again!" Fang Pan spat through gritted teeth with a hint of agitation on his face.
Now that Han Li was aware of the elderly man''s secret technique, he was definitely going to be even more cautious from this point onward, and it was most likely not going to be feasible to use the same secret technique on him again.
"I didn''t think that he would be so cunning. What do we do now?" the brocade-robed elderly man asked, and hisplexion still hadn''t returned to normal.
Fang Pan was silent for a moment, then said, "Let''s catch up to him first."
He then swept a hand through the air to release a burst of azure light that enveloped both of them.
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away, a lightning array emerged before quickly disintegrating.
The crimson light faded, and Han Li stumbled out from within, looking as pale as a sheet.
There was still a wound on his chest near his heart that was bleeding profusely, and a hint of lingering fear shed through his eyes as he looked down to inspect the wound.
If he hadn''t moved himself to the side at thest moment, his heart would''ve already been pierced through andpletely destroyed.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he thought back to that dream-like strike.
It was clear that Fang Pan had been hiding his true power prior to that point, and even Han Li had almost fallen prey to the surprise attack.
The only silver lining on the situation was that it clearly required some time for Fang Pan to unleash those nascent soul sealing chains of his.
With that in mind, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a green talisman, which he pressed against the wound on his chest.
The talisman released a burst of gentle green light that surged into the wound, and his bleeding immediately stopped, while the wound itself also quickly healed.
He then consumed an Origin Return Pill, and while digesting the pill, he flew toward a certain direction as a streak of azure light.
Unsurprisingly, it took only less than a day before Fang Pan''s duo caught up to him again.
Thanks to the effects of the Origin Return Pill, Han Li had already mostly recovered from his injuries.
Having learned his lesson fromst time, he immediately teleported himself away using his lightning array as soon as Fang Pan and the brocade-robed elderly man entered his spiritual sensory range.
Fang Pan was naturally both infuriated and frustrated by this.
If he couldn''t even get close to Han Li, then there was no way for him to do anything.
However, at this point, there was naturally no way that he would just give up and let Han Li go.
¡¡
Several dayster, a streak of azure light was flying rapidly through the air above a ck forest.
There was a thick nket of dark clouds in the sky above the forest, and huge bolts of lightning woulde crashing down from the clouds asionally, giving the area the appearance of a forest of lightning when viewed from afar.
Within the azure light, Han Li wore a grim expression as he sped through the air while dodging the lightning that was crashing down from above.
Meanwhile, Fang Pan and the brocade-robed elderly man had just arrived at the edge of the forest close to 100,000 kilometers away. The two of them took a slightly concerned nce at the forest of lightning up ahead, but seeing no other choice, the two of them immediately flew in to continue their pursuit of Han Li.
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Half a monthter, a streak of azure light was flying like the wind over a crimson mountain range.
The entire mountain range down below was covered in scorching mes, releasing plumes of ck smoke that obscured the entire sky.
The streak of azure light was traversing through the world of fire and smoke in a straight line without taking any evasive measures.
Hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, Fang Pan and the brocade-robed elderly man were flying along in hot pursuit with dark looks on their faces.
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As the chase continued, over a month passed by in the blink of an eye.
Right at this moment, countless arcs of silver lightning appeared to form a lightning array in the sky above a massive swamp.
A loud thunderp rang out, and Han Li appeared at the center of the array with his brows tightly furrowed.
He had been fleeing non-stop for close to two months at this point, and despite hisrge stash of pills, he was still rapidly exhausting the power of the Lightning Bird in his body. Even though he was intentionally limiting the number of times he was using his lightning array, it was still less than half as effective as it had been at its peak.
As a result, the distance that he was able to teleport with the array was decreasing with each sessive use, and this time, he was only able to teleport no more than 250,000 kilometers.
Fang Pan and the brocade-robed elderly man had clearly detected this as well, and they were speeding up in their pursuit, much to Han Li''s dismay.
If things were to continue like this, he would eventually be worn down and killed by his two pursuers.
Through the observation that he had conducted during this period, he had discovered that the one who had been tracking him this entire time wasn''t Fang Pan. Instead, the tracking technique was being used by that brocade-robed elderly man.
Not only was that man able to track him, he was able to counteract his lightning array and possessed an Acquired Immortal Treasure capable of trapping someone inside. Hence, he was a huge thorn in Han Li''s side that had to be eliminated.
With that in mind, he quickly hatched a n, then began flying in another direction.
Momentster, the sound of sshing waves rang out up ahead, and a massive sea appeared before him. The seawater had a faint red hue, and it was giving off a sharp rusty smell.
He looked down at the churning seawater for a moment with a contemtive expression, then continued to fly deeper into the sea. Momentster, he drew to a halt near a crimson ind that was several dozen kilometers in size.
"This ce will have to do," he murmured to himself, then took a deep breath before raising both hands up into the air.
Dozens of balls of blue spiritual light flew out in all directions in unison, then vanished into the seawater down below.
Chapter 169: Retaliation
Chapter 169: Retaliation
The balls of blue spiritual light that Han Li had just released were dozens of array treasures, each of which was several inches in size.
In the next instant, balls of blue light rose up from the surrounding sea, forming a series of profound arrays of different sizes, all of which began to revolve on the spot.
Meanwhile, Han Li flicked his fingers through the air, and a series of near-transparent azure threads shot out of his fingertips before vanishing into the surrounding arrays, causing them to fuse with one another before vanishing once again.
Close to an hourter, all of the surrounding arrays had vanished, following which Han Li made a hand seal, and countless arcs of silver lightning erupted out of his body to form a lightning array beneath him.
Han Li vanished from the spot amid a sh of lightning, then reappeared around 150,000 kilometers away, but he was still situated in the same crimson sea.
Meanwhile, countless kilometers away, Fang Pan and the brocade-robed elderly man were enshrouded within a streak of azure light as they sped through the air like lightning.
The brocade-robed elderly man was holding a golden array te with one hand while chanting an incantation.
Once every few moments, he would unleash the tracking technique again in order to receive thetest updates on Han Li''s location.
"He just teleported again," the brocade-robed elderly man reported.
"In which direction?" Fang Pan asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Northeast, but this time, he was only able to teleport less than 150,000 kilometers," the brocade-robed elderly man replied.
"Great! It looks like he won''t be able tost much longer." Fang Pan was ecstatic to hear this, and he immediately began flying in the northeastern direction.
This time, they spotted Han Li in the distance no more than four hourster.
Han Li''s face was extremely pale as he took a panicked nce behind him, and he conjured up his lightning array once again, but this time, he was only able to teleport himself less than 100,000 kilometers away.
Fang Pan was even more encouraged to see this, and he took a pill to recover his immortal spiritual power before speeding up even further.
Close to three hourster, Fang Pan caught up to Han Li once again.
Han Li frantically elerated to his top speed, but he was still quite a bit slower than Fang Pan. The distance between the two of them was rapidly shrinking, and soon, they were separated by only a few hundred kilometers.
With a wave of his sleeve, arcs of silver lightning appeared over Han Li''s body once again.
Fang Pan''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this. He knew that at this rate, he would be able to hunt down Han Li eventually, but he had already been pursuing Han Li for close to two months, and he had run out of patience long ago, so he wanted to end this as quickly as possible.
"Hurry, Brother Feng!" Fang Pan yelled as countless glowing azure runes arose from his hand, following which he thrust his palm into the brocade-robed elderly man''s body.
An azure halo appeared around him once again, and in the next instant, the elderly man reappeared in very close proximity to Han Li.
A vast expanse of crimson mes had already appeared over his body, releasing dazzling crimson light that instantly epassed the entire surrounding area in a radius of close to 10 kilometers.
At this point, Han Li still hadn''t conjured up his lightning array yet, so there was no way that he could get away.
Fang Pan''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and he made a grabbing motion to summon a bright saber into his grasp. At the same time, countless azure runes appeared around him, and his speed increased once again by roughly twofold.
Right at this moment, a burst of silver lightning erupted out of Han Li''s body, and he transformed into a silver Lightning Bird that was several hundred feet in size, with thick bolts of lightning crackling and revolving incessantly around it.
The Lightning Bird spread its wings, and it vanished on the spot amid a sh of silver lightning before reappearing hundreds of kilometers away.
"Your struggles are futile!" Fang Pan harrumphed coldly as he appeared beside the brocade-robed elderly man, then grabbed onto his shoulder with one hand.
A burst of azure light appeared around him to envelop both of them, then transformed into a blurry azure shadow that set off in pursuit of the Lightning Bird, appearing directly behind it in the blink of an eye.
The Lightning Bird pped its wings, and it fled another several hundred kilometers amid a sh of silver lightning, yet Fang Pan''s duo were just as fast and remained hot on its heels.
Silver lightning shed incessantly from the Lightning Bird''s body as it unleashed its lightning movement ability over and over again, and each time, it was just a little bit faster than Fang Pan''s duo, allowing to escape capture.
Thus, the chase continued, with a bolt of silver lightning and an azure shadow traveling rapidly over the surface of the sea.
The azure shadow remained as bright as ever, yet the arcs of silver lightning around the Lightning Bird were bing dimmer and dimmer.
With another sh of silver lightning, the Lightning Bird appeared near a crimson ind.
At this point, the arcs of silver lightning around it had be extremely dim, and it was flying directly forward, seemingly no longer able to unleash its lightning movement technique.
Even so, it was still extremely, but far slower than the speed its lightning movement technique had allowed it to reach.
The gap between the azure shadow and the Lightning Bird was rapidly shrinking, and Fang Pan''s duo was ecstatic to see this.
However, the brocade-robed elderly man''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly as he called out, "Hold on..."
However, Fang Pan''s attention waspletely fixed on the Lightning Bird up ahead, and he sped up once again, closing the gap between himself and the Lightning Bird to less than 1,000 feet.
Layers uponyers of saber projections were released by the saber in his hand, and he was just about tosh out when his surroundings suddenly turned into aplete blur.
The Lightning Bird up ahead had vanished, and he found himself situated in a blue space.
As soon as he entered this blue space, he immediately felt a burst of vortex-like suction force surging forth from beneath him. The suction force wasn''t very powerful, but it was constantly acting upon him, forcing him to decelerate.
A string of afterimages appeared in his wake as he abruptly shot forward, trying to break out of the blue space, but a dull thump suddenly rang out as a burst of strange ripples suddenly appeared in the space up ahead, and a watery blue barrier appeared to stop him cold in his tracks.
Fang Pan immediatelyshed out with the ck saber in his hand, releasing a massive ck saber projection that struck the barrier up ahead with a resounding boom, leaving a long crack on its surface.
A cold sneer appeared on Fang Pan''s face upon seeing this, and he raised his saber to strike the barrier once again, only for the barrier to instantly return to its original state amid a sh of blue light.
The brocade-robed elderly man arrived by his side, and his brows were slightly furrowed as he said, "This is a high-grade water-attribute array that can draw upon the vast power of water of the sea to constantly replenish itself. It''s renowned for being difficult to break through, and brute force along won''t be enough to break it."
"He''s be even more troublesome to deal with than 300 years ago," Fang Pan spat through gritted teeth.
"Having said that, it seems like he''s close to exhausting all of his power of lightning, and he set up this array as ast resort to try and slow us down. Once we break through this array, it won''t take us long to hunt him down," the brocade-robed elderly man said.
"I''ll be counting on you, Brother Qian," Fang Pan replied with a nod.
With that, the brocade-robed elderly man rose up into the air, hovering directly above the center of the blue space as he began to make a series of hand seals while chanting an incantation.
A burst of red light shed around him, and crimson mes were ignited over his body.
However, right at this moment, silver lightning suddenly began to crackle above his head, and Han Li swooped in from outside the array.
While it was true that he had expended a huge amount of his power of lightning, he hadn''tpletely run out, and he had only made it appear as if that were the case in order to lure Fang Pan''s duo into his trap.
He made a hand seal with one hand, then thrust it down downward, and the True Water Pouch in his other hand instantly began to bulge. A burst of ck light erupted out of the opening of the pouch, and boundless heavy water came gushing out like a turbulent river through a broken dam, transforming into an inky-ck heavy water wyrm that pounced directly toward the brocade-robed elderly man.
The heavy water wyrm was as heavy as a mountain, and the entire space beneath it began to tremble violently under its enormous weight.
At this moment, the elderly man resembled a crimson sun, and he was at a critical juncture in his Blood Incinerating Breath secret technique. If he were to be cut off here, then not only would all of his prior efforts go to waste, he would be severely injured by secret technique bacsh.
He hurriedly summoned an antiquated dark azure suit of armor onto his body, and at the same time, he yelled to Fang Pan, "Help me, Brother Fang!"
Even before the cry for help, Fang Pan had already sprung into action, conjuring up a series of clones, one of which shed its ck saber viciously through the air.
Meanwhile, two other clones rose up into the air, leaving trails of afterimages in their wake as they sped directly toward Han Li.
Han Lipletely ignored Fang Pan''s attacks as he quickly made a hand seal, and the heavy water wyrm elerated in its descent toward the brocade-robed elderly man at his behest.
In contrast with refining Heavy Water Veined Lightning, which required meticulous and precise control over heavy water, wielding such a massive volume of heavy water like this was more of a test of one''s immortal spiritual power reserves and powers of concentration.
The heavy water wyrm came crashing down from above, and the first thing that it struck was Fang Pan''s ck saber, but it immediately swallowed up the saber with a dull thump.
In the next instant, the wyrm crashed directly into the crimson sun that was burning around the brocade-robed elderly man.
A thunderous boom rang out as the elderly man''s body came plummeting directly downward as if a mountain had fallen onto his head, and all of the crimson light around him instantly disintegrated. The suit of armor that he had donned was releasing countless dark azure runes, all of which were hurtling up toward the heavy water wyrm.
A string of dull thumps rang out in rapid session as the heavy water wyrm''s body waspletely scattered by the dark azure runes.
However, not only was Han Li not dismayed in the slightest to see this, a triumphant smile had appeared on his face. Lightning shed around him as he just barely evaded the attacks from the oing Fang Pan clones, then rapidly shot back in retreat.
A hint of foreboding immediately welled up in Fang Pan''s heart upon seeing this, and all three of his clones fled toward the outskirts of the blue space as quickly as they could.
Meanwhile, 20 or so fist-sized ck balls had emerged without any warning from in the wake of the destruction of the heavy water wyrm''s body. The balls were hovering in mid-air, not giving off any spiritual power fluctuations.
As for the vast expanse of heavy water that the wyrm had disintegrated into, it rose up toward Han Li in a ck wave before vanishing into his body.
Right at this moment, the silver patterns on the ck balls suddenly began to light up, and thin arcs of lightning appeared within them.
Chapter 170: Demise
Chapter 170: Demise
The brocade-robed elderly man''s heart jolted slightly at the sight of the shing balls around him, and he was ovee by an intense sense of foreboding.
He hurriedly swept his sleeves through the air, releasing seven or eight protective treasures at once as he braced himself for what was toe.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, immediately followed by a string of thunderous explosions as the 20 or so balls of Heavy Water Veined Lightning exploded like fireworks one after another.
Arcs of silver lightning erupted violently in all directions, instantly epassing the entire surrounding area within a radius of 10,000 feet.
The runes being released by the brocade-robed elderly man''s suit of armor were instantly destroyed as soon as they appeared, and all of his other protective treasures were also swallowed up by an enormous ck sun.
A burst of powerful shockwaves swept through the area in all directions, causing the surrounding space to fold in on itself inyers as a series of rming ck spatial rifts appeared.
The crimson sea down below was also severely ravaged, and the seawater began to boil, sendingrge plumes of red water vapor rising up into the air.
At the same time, a massive crater appeared on the surface of the sea as if the seawater had been forced down by some type of tremendous weight, and massive waves hundreds of feet tall rose up around the edge of the crater before copsing toward its center. The blue space that epassed this area of the sea was also unable to withstand the force of the explosions and was violently shattered.
The astoundingmotion continued for several moments before gradually subsiding.
At this point, all that remained of the small ind were several small rocky sections that were jutting out of the surface of the sea, while massive waves continued to surge through the area.
On one of the remaining small sections of the indid the brocade-robed elderly man in a puddle of his own blood. His suit of armor had beenpletely destroyed, and there were many protective treasure fragments scattered around him, but he was still alive, albeit extremely severely injured.
All of a sudden, Han Li appeared around 10,000 feet away, and his gaze instantly locked onto the elderly man down below.
The elderly man also looked up at Han Li at the same time, and his eyes were filled with burning resentment.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as killing intent gleamed in his eyes, and he was just about to swoop down from above when several bursts of azure light suddenly appeared around him, and five identical Fang Pans emerged out of thin air in unison, all of which were shing their sabers at him from different directions.
The five ck saber projections fused as one,yering on top of one another in a dream-like fashion as they pierced directly toward Han Li''s heart, and Han Li immediately sped up in his descent upon seeing this.
A loud thump rang out as the saber projection struck him on the back, instantly shattering his True Extreme Membrane and inflicting a bleeding gash that was deep enough to expose bone.
Han Li took advantage of the force of the impact to further elerate in his descent toward the elderly man, and at the same time, he sent a small bead flying down at his target with a flick of his wrist.
At this point, all of the brocade-robed elderly man''s protective treasures had already been destroyed, and he was carrying extremely severe injuries, rendering him unable to evade the oing attack.
A determined look immediately appeared on his face as he thrust a palm down onto the top of his own head, and a golden nascent soul shot out of in a sh of before attempting to flee.
However, before it was able to get away, the Heavy Water Lightning Bead that Han Li had purchased at the grand auction exploded without any warning.
A ck sun the size of a mountain instantly appeared out of thin air, releasing hundreds of thick bolts of azure and purple lightning, as well as a burst of devastatingw powers.
The bolts of azure and purple lightning resembled whips of the lightning god as theyshed out in all directions, destroying the brocade-robed elderly man''s body and nascent soul in a sh.
However, right at this moment, a burst of azure light suddenly flew rapidly out of the elderly man''s destroyed physical body. It was traveling so quickly that its speed rivaled instantaneous teleportation, and it flew straight into Han Li''s body as he was frantically flying away from the explosion.
While Han Li was putting an end to the brocade-robed elderly man''s life, Fang Pan had darted back in retreat, and a ck chain had appeared in front of him, around which countless ck runes were circting incessantly.
Immediately thereafter, he shot forth through the air in direct pursuit of Han Li.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the mountainous ck sun exploded into a vast expanse of ck light that rapidly expanded in all directions.
Han Li and Fang Pan were able to just barely fly out of the ck light''s range, but they were still inevitably struck by the shockwaves resulting from the explosion, sending them flying away in a rather unsteady fashion.
Bright azure light appeared around Fang Pan as he darted through the air several times in session, moving in a way that defied reason as he intermittently vanished before reappearing, reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye.
With a flick of his wrist, the ck chain in his hand shot forth in a sh, hurtling directly toward Han Li''s lower abdomen.
The oing chain was too close for Han Li to evade, and he immediately opened his mouth to release several balls of blood essence, which erupted into arge cloud of blood mist around him.
The ck chain shot straight into the cloud of blood mist, but at virtually the exact same moment, a crimson figure flew out of the blood mist, and it had fled to hundreds of kilometers away in just a few shes, then vanished altogether with one more sh.
The cloud of blood mist scattered quickly thereafter, and the chain was also nowhere to be seen.
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Close to 100,000 kilometers away, a sh of silver lightning appeared in the sky above a dark blue sea, and Han Li stumbled out from within with his entire body covered in blood. He almost fell out of the sky before steadying himself, and hisplexion had paled even further.
The Blood Shadow Movement Technique that he had just unleashed had worsened his condition even further, and his constant fleeing over the past nearly two months was taking a real toll on his body.
He took a deep breath topose himself, and only after devouring an Origin Return Pill did a hint of color begin to return to his cheeks. He then closed his eyes and directed his spiritual sense into his own dantian, and sure enough, four extremely familiar ck chains had appeared around his nascent soul.
However, he was quite relieved to see this.
Thankfully, he had managed to react just in the nick of time, so Fang Pan was unable topletely unleash the power of these troublesome chains. Otherwise, if he were to have his nascent soul sealed again, then he would''ve been as good as dead.
Even so, half of his immortal spiritual power had still been sealed away.
Immediately thereafter, his brows furrowed slightly as he noticed a glowing ck mark hovering beneath his nascent soul, and it had been left behind by that streak of azure light that had shot out of the brocade-robed elderly man''s body right before his demise.
This wasn''t a restriction or anything of that nature. Instead, it was most likely some type of tracking mark.
Given sufficient time, he would be able to eradicate the mark, but Fang Pan clearly wasn''t going to afford him that luxury.
What was rather peculiar was the aura emanating from the mark belonged to Fang Pan as opposed to the brocade-robed elderly man.
Right as Han Li was pondering this matter, he suddenly turned to take a nce in a certain direction as a peculiar look appeared on his face, and after a moment of contemtion, he began to fly deeper in that direction as a streak of azure light.
Around 15 minutester, he drew to a halt above a certain section of the sea, and a rather perplexed look appeared on his face.
His spiritual sense told him that the surrounding sea in a radius of close to 100,000 kilometers was extraordinarily peaceful. There were many ordinary fish in the area, but barely any demon beasts.
With that in mind, he began to fly deeper into the area as a streak of azure light, and at the same time, hepletely concealed his own aura, sinking toward the seabed like a rock.
As he did this, he released his enormous spiritual sense to envelop the mark in his body oneyer after another in a bid to keep it as concealed and undetectable to the outside world as possible.
Not long after Han Li sank to the bottom of the sea, Fang Pan appeared above the surface of the sea amid a sh of azure light.
He closed his eyes to sense Han Li''s location for a moment, then cast his gaze downward.
Even though the tracking mark he had left behind was being suppressed by something, he was still able to vaguely sense it.
A cold smile appeared on his face as he shot straight down toward the surface of the sea as a streak of azure light, then plunged into the water.
With his speed, he was able to reach the seabed in the blink of an eye.
It waspletely dark and silent at the bottom of the sea, and he quickly scanned his gaze across his surroundings before focusing his attention on an unremarkable-looking giant rock several thousand feet away.
He then rushed toward the rock without any hesitation, unleashing a ck saber projection that was several thousand feet in length, parting all of the seawater in its path as it surged along the seabed.
The saber projection struck the giant rock, but much to Fang Pan''s surprise, the rock wasn''t split apart.
All of a sudden, Han Li shot back from the other side of the rock as a streak of ck light, and there was a barely detectable smile on his face.
A pair of clones appeared on either side of Fang Pan, and they shed their ck sabers through the water, sending a pair of saber projections hurtling toward Han Li from both the left and the right.
The two saber projections came together to form a ck cross as they sped toward Han Li, stirring up all of the seawater in their wake.
Han Li seemed to have already been prepared for this, and he crossed his scaly arms in front of himself to form a barrier.
A loud ng rang out as he was sent flying back like a cannonball from the force of the impact, and right at this moment, a thunderous roar rang out from afar, causing the entire seabed to tremble and quake.
The seabed in the distance then exploded violently, sending countless rock fragments flying in all direction as a mountainous ck shadow slowly emerged, giving off a terrifyingly powerful aura.
As it turned out, that seemingly unremarkable giant rock from before had actually been one of the fleshy bulbs on the mountainous creature''s body.
Fang Pan was naturally quite rmed by this unexpected turn of events, and he immediately paused in his pursuit of Han Li.
Meanwhile, Han Li gave Fang Pan a gloating grin, then vanished into a nearby trench on the seabed,pletely vanishing out of sight. Even his aura hadpletely faded.
Fang Pan''s heart immediately sank upon seeing this, and right as he was also about to conceal his own aura, a pair of giant green eyes suddenly opened up before him, and it was glowering at him with furious killing intent.
An unprecedented sense of fear immediately welled up in Fang Pan''s heart.
At this point, he had already caught a clear glimpse of the ck shadow''splete form, and it was a gargantuan purplish-ck octopus that was over 10,000 feet in size. Its body was riddled with ck bulbous growths that resembled giant rocks, and its massive, scaly tentacles were swinging through the water violently, churning up the entire sea.
A rift opened up beneath the pair of eyes, revealing a huge ck hole, within which an array of sharp white teeth could just barely be made out, and it was clear that being devoured by this creature would be sure to spell one''s demise.
This is ate-True Immortal Stage sea beast!
Chapter 171: Last Resort
Chapter 171: Last Resort
All of a sudden, all of the giant octopus''s tentacles closed in toward the center, and it''s enormous body sped toward Fang Pan as a blurry ck shadow, resembling a purplish-ck mountain that was moving rapidly along the seabed in a bizarre sight to behold.
Even before it was fully upon Fang Pan, the surrounding seawater was churning violently in the face of the tremendous pressure that it was exerting. The resulting currents were so violent that Fang Pan was swaying unsteadily in the water, and he was sent flying back like a cannonball, only managing to steady himself after stumbling several times in session.
Meanwhile, the giant octopus had already appeared no more than 1,000 feet away from him, and it swatted its eight tentacles viciously at Fang Pan, leaving a series of bright trails in the water amid a sound that resembled rumbling thunderps.
Fang Pan was quite rmed, but he managed to maintain hisposure as he instantly split up into five different clones amid a sh of azure light, and each of the clones fled in a different direction.
The giant octopus''s tentacles faltered slightly upon seeing this, and it seemed to have been caught off guard by this maneuver from Fang Pan. However, in the next instant, its tentacles continued toe crashing down with devastating force, smashing several deep trenches into the seabed that were several thousand feet in length as countless rock fragments flew in all directions.
Taking advantage of this brief window of opportunity, the five clones conjured up by Fang Pan were just barely able to evade the iling tentacles before rising up toward the surface of the sea like lightning.
The giant octopus let loose a furious roar, and green light shed within its eyes as it opened its mouth to release five pirs of purplish-ck lightning, each of which was as thick as a water tank.
The five pirs of lightning didn''t appear to have been remarkable in any way, but they were far faster than normal lightning, and they caught up to the five Fang Pans in a sh before striking them with unerring uracy.
Five resounding booms rang out as four of the Fang Pans were destroyed by the purplish-ck lightning, with only the leftmost one managing to survive the attack, but even he was sent flyin forward by the force of the impact as he threw up arge mouthful of blood.
However, it seemed that he hadn''t suffered any severe injuries, and he was able to steady himself after performing a somersault.
The material of the robe on his back had been torn apart by the lightning strike, revealing a suit of dark golden inner armor that was riddled with golden scales.
A deep mark had been sted onto the suit of armor, and many of the scales on its surface had been broken. Its spiritual nature had also been severely damaged, but ultimately, it remained intact.
Meanwhile, Fang Pan continued to fly up toward the surface of the sea as a streak of azure light, traveling at an incredible speed.
The giant octopus let loose another thunderous roar of fury, and it extended its tentacles before withdrawing them forcefully,unching itself after the streak of azure light as a blurry ck shadow.
Inside the sea, its speed was just about on par with Fang Pan''s.
The two of them instantly vanished into the distance as the chase continued, and the turbulent seawater left in their wake slowly settled down again.
Only then did Han Li emerge from the trench on the seabed, and he took a nce at the direction that Fang Pan and the giant octopus had fled in with a hesitant look on his face.
However, he then quickly arrived at a decision and began flying in that direction as an azure shadow.
It appeared that his n had been sessful up to this point, but he wasn''t confident that the sea beast would be powerful enough to hunt Fang Pan to his death, so he decided to follow them and finish the job himself if the octopus couldn''t kill Fang Pan in his ce.
Han Li''s speed was far inferior to that of Fang Pan and the giant octopus, and at this point, the two of them had already traveled out of his spiritual sensory range, but the immortal spiritual power fluctuations left in their wake provided an extremely clear trail to follow.
He followed this trail for close to an hour, then suddenly drew to an abrupt halt.
The seawater several hundred kilometers up ahead was churning violently as if it had been brought to a boil, and there were countless vortexes raging in the area. Even from this far away, he could still feel tremendously powerful currents washing over him.
At the center of all the chaos was a giant ball of light that was several dozen kilometers in size with countless arcs of purple lightning and ck mist surging around it.
The lightning and the mist intertwined to form a series of balls of purplish-ck light before exploding violently, sending immense destructive energy erupting in all directions.
Even the seabed was constantly being torn apart, causing magma to flow out into the water.
This is a spirit domain... No, it''s not quite the same. Instead, it seems to be some type of domain ability simr to a spirit domain.
A hint of lingering fear welled up in Han Li''s heart as he sensed the terrifying spiritual pressure being released by the massive ball of light.
Even though the giant octopus that he had lured out possessedte-True Immortal Stage power, it seemed to be some type of primordial beast that hadn''t yet attained higher intelligence. Otherwise, if it had unleashed this domain ability right away, then Han Li would''ve been swept up in it as well.
Han Li only entertained this thought for a moment before casting it aside, and ayer of blue light appeared in his eyes as he cast his gaze into the giant ball of light, within which he could just barely make out two figures, one farrger than the other, shing over and over again.
Therger of the two figures was naturally the giant octopus. It had shrunk down from its original size to less than 200 feet tall, making it far more agile than before, while the other figure was none other than Fang Pan.
Fang Pan''s speed seemed to have been severely limited within the ball of light, and he was at an absolute disadvantage, constantly being sent flying over and over again by the giant octopus''s tentacles.
At this moment, he appeared to have been in an extremely sorry state. His face was pale, his hair was disheveled, and the azure light around his body had dimmed significantly.
However, there was a silver scroll hovering above his head, releasing countless silver runes that formed a silver light barrier around him. Under the protection of the light barrier, he was able to avoid significant injury despite being sent flying over and over again.
Once again, Fang Pan was sent flying by one of the iling tentacles, and the silver light barrier was shing erratically.
After such a long and drawn-out battle, the giant octopus was bing impatient, and it wasshing out with its tentacles faster and faster. As a result, the frequency at which Fang Pan was being struck was significantly increased.
This was a dire situation. Given his current cultivation base, if he couldn''t escape from this spirit-domain-like space, then he would be sure to meet his demise once the immortal treasure above his head was broken.
With that in mind, his resentment toward Han Li only grew more intense.
Right at this moment, the octopus''s wildly iling tentacles suddenly paused for a moment, and it abruptly opened its mouth to release a huge torrent of ink.
Fang Pan felt a foul stench surging toward him, and he was struck by a rush of dizziness.
He hurriedly drew upon his spiritual sense to rid himself of the sense of dizziness, and at the same time, the silver scroll above him began to radiate dazzling light.
Countless silver runes surged out of the scroll to form a round silver shield of light, which resembled a silver moon that protected him from above.
A burst of loud sizzling rang out as plumes of smoke rose up from the silver shield upon making contact with the ck ink, and countless holes were instantly eroded into its surface.
The ck ink flowed through the holes on the shield as it continued to rain down toward Fang Pan, who hurriedly switched to a different hand seal as he began to chant an incantation.
The silver scroll instantly erupted into mes, and balls of silver fire descended from it to ignite the silver light barrier around him.
From afar, it appeared as if Fang Ban''s entire body had transformed into a massive silver fireball.
As soon as the ck ink came into contact with the silver mes, the former instantly evaporated into plumes of ck smoke.
However, before Fang Pan had a chance to catch his breath, the giant octopus suddenly extended its eight tentacles until they were ramrod straight and resembled eight staves, then swung them through the air to send countless staff projections sweeping toward Fang Pan from all directions.
A string of earth-shattering booms rang out, and the silver fireball began to tremble violently.
At the same time, the mes on the silver scroll above Fang Pan''s head were quickly being snuffed out, and it clearly wasn''t going to be able tost much longer.
"No! I refuse to die here!" Fang Pan roared, and a thought suddenly seemed to have urred to him as he flipped a hand over to produce an azure pill.
The pill was only around the size of a thumbnail, but it was giving off extraordinary spiritual power fluctuations and was riddled with countless tiny azure runes, while an extremely life-like visage of a miniature azure wyrm had appeared above the pill.
This pill was called the Azure Wyrm Pill, and he had purchased it for an extremely steep price in preparation for histe-True Immortal Stage breakthrough. It wasn''t a dao pill, but it wasn''t any less valuable than the average first-tier dao pill.
He naturally wasn''t going to attempt a breakthrough in this situation.
Instead, he wanted to take advantage of one of the pill''s effects, which was its ability to stimte the consumer''stent potential, allowing them to attain power far superior to their cultivation base for a short time. As a result, one would be able to experience what it was like to be at a higher cultivation base, thereby significantly increasing their chances of making a sessful breakthrough.
In this desperate situation, Fang Pan had no choice but to take the pill.
His entire body instantly began to radiate incandescent azure light, and his waning aura was being rapidly elevated, quickly returning to its former peak before continuing to swell even further.
In this instant, it seemed that all of thetent potential in his body had been forced to the fore.
Violent immortal spiritual power fluctuations erupted out of his body, while the azure light was dancing over his skin like fire.
Furthermore, around 20 to 30 bright specks of azure light that were fluctuating in brightness had appeared all over his body, and they resembled a series of blinking eyes.
Immediately thereafter, another speck of azure light abruptly lit up on a certain part of his body.
In the next instant, all 24 specks of light brightened in unison as if they were resonating with one another, causing his aura to swell even further, to the point that it was beginning to reach the same level as that of the octopus monster.
Fang Pan bit down viciously onto the tip of his own tongue, then spat out a mouthful of blood essence, which fused into the silver scroll above his head.
The scroll was already on the verge of destruction, but with this injection of blood essence, the mes burning on its surface were suddenly revitalized, transforming into a fireball that was several dozen feet in size.
All the silver runes around Fang Pan also swept upward in a frenzy before fusing into the fireball as well.
Immediately thereafter, the silver fireball rose up toward the heavens, then exploded with a resounding boom.
Boundless silver light swept through the air in all directions alongside incredibly powerful shockwaves, keeping all of the staff projections formed by the giant octopus''s tentacles at bay.
Fang Pan took advantage of this opportunity to dart through the air as a blurry azure shadow, and his ck saber had already reappeared in his grasp.
In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the edge of the spirit-domain-like space, then conjured up seven identical clones, all of whichshed out viciously with the ck sabers in their hands.
The seven ck saber projectionsbined as one to form a massive saber projection that was close to 10,000 feet in length, and it struck the dark purple light barrier up ahead with devastating force.
The dark purple light barrier shed erratically as a huge crack appeared on its surface, following which the entire light barrier exploded altogether.
Fang Pan immediately seized this opportunity, fleeing from the giant octopus as a streak of azure light.
All of this had taken ce in the span of only one or two seconds, and by the time the giant octopus set off in pursuit, Fang Pan had already vanished into the distant sea.
Chapter 172: Put an End to Things
Chapter 172: Put an End to Things
That''s a pity.
Han Li turned to the direction that Fang Ban had fled in, but then quickly withdrew his gaze.
Fang Ban had already sustained severe injuries during that battle, so even if he remained intent oning after Han Li, at the very least, he wasn''t going to be able to do that anytime soon.
With that in mind, Han Li took one final nce at the furious octopus, then flew away into the distance along the seabed as a blurry shadow.
He traveled for tens of thousands of kilometers in one go, and only ensuring that the octopus hadn''t detected him did he spring out of the sea before making a hand seal to conjure up a silver lightning array around himself.
A loud thunderp rang out as he vanished on the spot, then reappeared in the next instant tens of thousands of kilometers away.
He then conjured up another lightning array without pause, teleporting him tens of thousands of kilometers in another direction.
He repeated this process quite a number of times before stopping on a small and deserted ind.
There, he flipped a hand over to release arge pile of array treasures and other items before taking around half a day to set up a star array on a plot of empty ind on the ind, one that was identical to the star array that he had set up on Dark Veil Ind.
He then also set up around a dozen protective arrays around the entire ind to transform it into a fortress, one that even ate-True Immortal cultivator would be unable to break through in a short time.
Only after doing all of this did Han Li heave a faint sigh of relief before sitting down at teh center of the star array on the ind with his legs crossed.
Not long after that,yers of multi-colored light began to appear, enshrouding the entire ind and presenting an extremely eye-catching sight.
Thankfully, this region of the sea was extremely deste with not a single person around, so he didn''t have to worry about catching the attention of anyone harboring sinister intentions.
Day quickly turned to night, and stars began to appear in the sky.
A vast expanse of dazzling starlight appeared on the ind, and even the surrounding restrictions weren''t able topletely conceal it.
Countless rays of starlight cascaded down from the heavens, forming seven scintiting pirs of starlight that crashed down from above.
A burst of dull rumbling rang out from the ind, and it was audible even dozens of kilometers away.
Time slowly passed by, and over two months flew by in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, all of the light barriers epassing the small ind faded to reveal Han Li, who was holding a ck chain around the same thickness as an infant''s arm in his hand.
This time, his nascent soul hadn''t beenpletely sealed, and with his prior experience, it hadn''t taken him very long to remove the chains from around his nascent soul, but despite this, there was still a grim look on his face.
No matter what he tried, he was unable topletely remove that tracking mark in his body, and as time passed by, it was bing more and more likely that Fang Ban would''ve recovered from his injuries to continue the hunt.
Furthermore, the fact that Fang Ban still hadn''t shown up after all this time was evoking within Han Li a sense of unease.
He stood silently in mid-air with a contemtive look in his eyes, and momentster, he took a deep breath, seemingly having arrived at a decision.
He stowed away all of the array treasures on the ind, then flew into the distance as a streak of azure light.
¡¡
Over three more months passed by in the blink of an eye, and a roar of tion that pierced straight up into the heavens suddenly rang out from within a certain mountain range somewhere on the Primordial Wave Continent.
In the next instant, a burst of dazzling azure light appeared somewhere in the mountain range, only to vanish a momentter before reappearing in the sky.
Within the azure light was none other than Fang Ban, and he was chortling with glee.
"Even the heavens are on my side! Who could''ve imagined that the Azure Wyrm Pill would allow me to open up my 24th immortal upoint?"
A burst of enormous spiritual pressure was emanating from his body as he spoke. At this point, he had already progressed to thete-True Immortal Stage, and it was as if he had beenpletely reborn anew.
He was glowing with joy as he sensed the changes in his own body, and only after a long while did his excitement subside, following which a cold smile appeared on his face.
"Run all you want, Han Li, but you''re not getting away from me!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he shot forth as a streak of azure light, traveling eastward at a terrifying speed.
Meanwhile, Han Li was flying through the sky as a streak of azure light himself above a lush forest countless kilometers away.
All of a sudden, a dark look appeared on his face. Just now, the tracking mark that had sat dormant beneath his nascent soul for the past few months had suddenly stirred slightly.
"He''s finallying after me again... It''s time to put an end to this..." Han Li murmured to himself, then elerated even further as he sped through the air.
Even though he was flying at full speed, it still took only less than half a month before Fang Ban''s familiar aura appeared on the edge of his spiritual sensory range, and the distance between the two of them was quickly being closed down.
No wonder he didn''t appear for so long, he made a breakthrough! This is most certainly not good...
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as a grim look appeared on his face, but he didn''t slow down in the slightest.
Before long, the two of them were only separated by a few thousand kilometers.
Only then did Han Li make a hand seal, and silver lightning erupted out of his body as he prepared to conjure up his lightning array.
Fang Ban''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this from afar, and countless azure runes surged out of his body.
Immediately thereafter, his speed was almost doubled, transforming into a blurry azure shadow as he let loose a draconic roar.
A burst of peculiar soundwaves spread rapidly through the air, causing the space to ripple as soundwaves instantly permeated throughout the entire surrounding area in a radius of several thousand kilometers.
Han Li was instantly struck by a rush of dizziness upon hearing this sound, and the formation of his silver lightning array was paused as a result.
Even though he was able to snap back to his senses an instantter, at this point, the azure shadow was now rmingly close to him.
A bright saber projection swept through the air like lightning before striking the lightning array.
In the face of the saber projection, the arcs of silver lightning were as fragile as tofu, and the entire array was instantly destroyed.
Han Li immediately plummeted out of the sky upon seeing this to just barely evade the saber projection, and at the same time, he instantly adopted his Giant Mountain Ape form amid a sh of golden light.
He had only justpleted his transformation when the azure shadow arrived directly before him, only to be greeted by a giant golden fist, which was carrying such tremendous power that even the nearby space was rippling violently.
However, Fang Ban was able to evade the golden fist projection with ease by sidestepping several dozen feet in an instant, and immediately thereafter, one Fang Ban turned into three.
One of the Fang Ban''sshed out with his saber to strike the giant ape''s arm, and the de of the saber was plunged into the golden ape''s flesh, inflicting a huge wound that immediately began to bleed profusely.
In the past, the giant ape''s defenses had been sufficient to ward off the saber, but this was no longer the case.
Meanwhile, the other two Fang Bans were pouncing at the giant ape like lightning whileshing out with their sabers at the giant ape''s neck and chest.
The golden ape let loose a thunderous roar as its entire body swelled in dize, and countless rays of golden light surfaced over its fur.
Each ray of golden light was actually a strand of golden monkey fur, and they shot forth in all directions, screeching through the air while the space in their wake trembled violently.
The three Fang Bans'' expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, and they shot back in retreat in unison while conjuring up azure light barriers around their own bodies.
The countless strands of golden fur struck the protective barriers, producing a sound much like that of rain pelting down on banana leaves.
The azure protective barriers shed erratically, but remained intact. However, the three Fang Bans were still pushed back by quite a distance by the power imbued within the strands of golden fur.
The giant golden ape didn''t unleash any further attacks, instantly transforming into a Lightning Bird instead.
A rumbling thunderp rang out as the Lightning Bird vanished from the spot amid a sh of silver lightning, only to reappear several thousand kilometers away.
"You''re not getting away!" Fang Ban roared as his three clones instantly fused back into one, and he shot forth in pursuit as a blurry azure shadow.
However, the silver Lightning Bird wasn''t making any effort to conserve its power of lightning as it unleashed its lightning movement technique over and over again, quickly opening up a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers between itself and Fang Ban.
Immediately thereafter, countless arcs of silver lightning erupted from the Lightning Bird''s body to form a silver lightning array.
Meanwhile, Fang Ban was closing in at an incredible speed from the distant horizon.
A resounding thunderp rang out, and the Lightning Bird vanished into thin air only an instant before Fang Ban arrived on the scene.
Fang Ban drew to a halt with a dark look in his eyes, but a cold smile then immediately appeared on his face.
Given how recklessly Han Li was using his power of lightning, he was going to exhaust this power very soon, and once that happened, his fate would be sealed.
With that in mind, Fang Ban continued in his pursuit of Han Li as a streak of azure light.
Three dayster.
There was a dpidated little brick temple situated in a lush forest on a mountain. The red paint on its outer walls had alreadypletely peeled off, and they were hanging off the walls in kes that were harder than the bark of old trees.
Out of the two wooden doors, one of them had already snapped off and was resting against the other rtively more intact door, leaving a gap that was around half a person wide.
Through the gap, it could be seen that the temple hadn''t been visited for a very long time. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs, and a thickyer of moss had grown over the bluestone floor as well.
An unrecognizable deity statue was situated inside the temple, but its head had fallen off and rolled to a corner of the temple.
Seated with a weary look on their face and their back resting against said head was none other than Han Li.
Right at this moment, he seemed to have detected something, and he immediately raised his head to look up at the sky through one of the holes in the dpidated temple''s roof, but he saw nothing but clearly blue skies.
He immediately flew out of the temple amid a sh of lightning, then fled toward the distance, followed by a streak of azure light several thousand kilometers away.
A high-speed chase ensued, and the two streaks of light passed over several dozen mountain ranges in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was rapidly burning through his immortal spiritual power reserves as he elerated to as fast as he could go, but he was refraining from using his lightning movement technique, and as a result, the gap between himself and Fang Ban was constantly shrinking. Before long, they were separated by less than 1,000 kilometers.
Right at this moment, a mountain range in the shape of a semi-circle appeared up ahead, and Han Li immediately swooped down directly toward the snow-tipped summits of one of the mountains.
Not long after hended on that mountain, plumes of dense white mist immediately began to rise up from the mountain summit, quickly enveloping the other mountains in the mountain range as well.
Chapter 173: Reality or Illusion
Chapter 173: Reality or Illusion
A burst of rippling silver light appeared within the mist, and a series of beautiful pces and pavilions emerged, while gorgeous white jade arched bridges suddenly appeared to connect the mountains in the mountain range, giving the area the appearance of an immortal paradise.
As soon as this strange setting appeared, Fang Pan arrived on the scene before instantly drawing to a halt.
He looked down at the extremely life-like pces and pavilions down below, and he harrumphed coldly, "Looks like you haven''t just been sitting around, doing nothing for the past half a year. Let me see what other tricks you have up your sleeve!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swooped down toward the pces, plunging headfirst into the mist beforending on the summit of one of the mountains.
He then closed his eyes, only to reopen them a momentter as a hint of bewilderment appeared on his face.
He discovered that he was suddenly unable to detect Han Li''s exact location. Instead, he could only roughly sense that Han Li was somewhere nearby.
A cold look appeared on his face as his body began to blur, following which six identical clones flew out.
The seven Fang Pans then split up and shot forth in seven different directions as streaks of azure light.
The seven streaks of azure light traversed back and forth through the area, then returned to their original starting point not long thereafter, having failed to track down their target.
Right at this moment, one of the Fang Pans suddenly noticed something, and he immediately crouched down beforeying a palm against the ground.
"This is... an array within an array!" he murmured to himself with tightly furrowed brows as he withdrew his palm before rising to his feet.
As soon as this realization was made, the seven Fang Pans immediately formed a circle with their backs facing one another.
All seven of them thenshed out with their ck sabers in unison, sending seven massive saber projections sweeping through the air in all directions.
Gusts of fierce wind were swept up as the seven saber projections multiplied rapidly into countless saber projections, resembling a ck lotus flower of saber projections as it rose up into the air while revolving incessantly.
The surrounding space trembled violently, and all of the illusory pces and spires began to warp and twist in the face of the tremendous and peerlessly sharp power of the mass of saber projections.
Immediately thereafter, a dull thump rang out, and all of the illusory buildings gradually began to fade away, revealing the true state of the mountain.
As it turned out, the summit of the mountain had already been shaved off to produce a teau, and the ground wasden with white jade stone bs, upon which were engraved countless circles of strange rune. Engraved onto the ground at the center of these circles of runes was a strange-looking beast.
Around the beast were roughly a dozen white stone pirs, each of which was over 100 feet tall, and there were many crystals of different shapes and colors embedded onto the pirs, presenting a captivating sight to behold.
The seven Fang Pans reverted back to a single one, and a slightly dazed look appeared in his eyes at the sight of the scene that he had been greeted by. However, he then immediately turned around to spot the azure-robed Han Li standing several thousand feet away, holding a round array te in one hand while rapidly casting incantation seals onto it with his other hand.
Han Li seemed to have detected Fang Pan''s gaze, and he raised his head as a faint smile appeared on his face.
He was currently in the process of activating an array by the name of the Cbash Illusory Light Array, which was a high-grade illusory array that he had found through the Transient Guild several months ago, and it was a disposable array.
For this array, he had spent all of his top-grade spirit stones, the only two remaining Great Earth Fruits in his possession, and even a pair of spirit treasures of quite a high caliber from the storage bracelet given to him by Gan Jiuzhen.
It was said that the array was extremely powerful, and that anyone below the Golden Immortal Stage that fell into it would be unable to awaken on their own. Instead, they would only sink deeper and deeper into the array until they perished within it, and even their nascent soul wouldn''t be able to escape.
However, the array also had some major drawbacks, the first of which was that it took an extremely long time to activate, which was why Han Li had set up a Nine Pces Heavenly Array around it to stall for time.
The second drawback was that the one using the array had to use themselves as the array''s core. As a result, they had to be subjected to the effects of the array as well, so the array posed just as much of a threat to its user as its target.
However, the one controlling the array naturally held many advantages over someone who waspletely unprepared, and if they could awaken before their enemy, then they would be able to control the array to directly attack said enemy.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Fang Pan''s heart at the sight of the faint smile that had appeared on Han Li''s face, and he immediatelyunched himself at Han Li while thrusting his ck saber directly toward Han Li''s heart.
Meanwhile, sweat was beginning to bead up on Han Li''s forehead, and he was finally able to cast thest incantation seal onto the array te right before the tip of Fang Pan''s saber could reach him.
All of a sudden, the surrounding stone pirs began to release bursts of bright light of different colors, and Fang Pan''s vision was blurred by these bright lights.
Before he had a chance to react, he stumbled forward, feeling as if he had passed through an invisible barrier before arriving in a rather dimly lit hall.
He swept his gaze across the thick square pirs around him and the antiquated braziers hanging from the pirs, as well as the bright green mes burning within the braziers, and a sense of familiarity welled up in his heart.
The sound of metal chains ttering over one another suddenly rang out within the deathly silent hall, followed by a deep and extremely authoritative voice.
"How dare you swing your de at me! Are you trying to kill your master?"
Fang Pan shuddered violently upon hearing this voice, and he reflexively lowered his de in fear and submission.
He turned his gaze forward to discover an inky-ck chair over 100 feet up ahead, upon which sat a middle-aged man. The man was wearing a pristine white cape, and he had purple and green zombie-like skin.
"Master," Fang Pan called out in a dazed voice, then immediately shook his head vigorously as a cold look appeared in his eyes.
"No, you''re not my master! You''re just an illusion conjured up by this array!" he roared as he raised his saber and pointed it directly at the zombie-like man again.
He then sprang forward through the air, leaving a trail of blurry afterimages in his wake.
In the blink of an eye, seven identical Fang Pans had appeared in the hall, and they were pouncing at the zombie-like man from all directions.
"How dare you!" the zombie-like man roared, and a devastating aura erupted out of his body.
He wasn''t chanting any incantations or making any hand seals, but all of the ck chains littered through the entire hall seemed to have suddenly sprung to life, surging through the air in all directions like a series of ck waves.
Despite their incredible speed, all seven Fang Pan clones were struck by the chain without exception before falling onto the ground with blood gushing out of their mouths.
"I taught you everything you know, yet now, you''re trying to turn on me?" the zombie-like man questioned as a derisive look appeared on his face.
Fang Pan was astonished by what he was seeing. The zombie-like man''s aura, powers, disposition, and voice were allpletely identical to those of his master.
Could it be that I fell into some type of special teleportation array as opposed to an illusory array?
For the first time, Fang Pan was beginning to doubt his own conviction.
Before Fang Pan had a chance to ponder the topic any further, the zombie-like man''s voice rang out once again. "Come over here and ept your death! Or do you want me to catch you myself?"
A hesitant look appeared in Fang Pan''s eyes...
Meanwhile, Han Li had fallen into the illusory array as well.
The wind was howling past his ears, and he found himself rapidly rising up into the heavens.
At this moment, there was a massive expressionless face high up in the sky, and it was gradually bing more blurry and indistinct. A burst of dazzling purple light shed behind it, following which a long white rift slowly opened up, from within which the sound of faint Sanskrit chanting could be heard.
This is the gate to the Immortal Realm! Am I transcending my ascension tribtion?
Never did Han Li think that the illusion that awaited him would be his ascension tribtion.
All of a sudden, a deafening thunderp rang out from overhead, and a massive bolt of seven-colored lightning came crashing down from the giant face, which had almostpletely faded at this point.
The bolt of lightning came crashing directly down toward Han Li, carrying with it a devastating aura of destruction.
Han Li reflexively swept a hand through the air, and a string of golden lightningfire instantly flew out of his palm toward the bolt of seven-colored lightning.
He looked down to find a dark green longsword in his hand, and the sword was very familiar to him.
It was none other than his Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword.
Han Li hesitated momentarily as he felt the tremendous pressure weighing down on him from above, then sped straight up into the heavens as a streak of azure light with the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword in his grasp.
A resounding boom erupted throughout the entire sky as ayer of resplendent light that obscured the entire sky shed erratically before being destroyed amid a burst of violentw fluctuations.
Han Li was sent plummeting down from the heavens, and his entire body was in excruciating pain.
His body had been charred ck and was riddled with bright red gashes, almost falling apart at the seams, while the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword in his hand had beenpletely destroyed.
At the same time, the giant face up above had be extremely clear again, and it remained expressionless as ever. It seemed to be looking down on all things with cold apathy before abruptly exploding.
Immediately thereafter, the gate leading to the Immortal Realm suddenly closed, while a massive spatial rift appeared beside it.
Through the rift, Han Li caught a glimpse of a vast expanse of absolute darkness that seemed to be capable of devouring all things.
The darkness didn''t even harbor the slightest glimmer of light, yet it somehow struck him with a peculiar sense of allure, evoking within him an irrepressible urge to fly into it.
Chapter 174: Mastermind?
Chapter 174: Mastermind?
At this moment, Han Li''s entire body was on the verge of falling apart, and he couldn''t muster up even an ounce of energy or magic power.
He wanted to control his own body, but he discovered that he couldn''t even lift a single finger, and he could only watch helplessly as he drifted toward the inky-ck spatial rift.
This is an illusion, it''s not real...
Han Li was telling himself this over and over again while doing everything in his power to snap out of the illusion.
Right at this moment, a disturbance suddenly appeared in the space in front of the massive rift in the sky, and ripples that were visible even to the naked eye swept through the air, immediately following which three faint ck shadows flew out from within before drifting toward him.
They appeared to be moving quite slowly, but in reality, they were approaching Han Li at an incredible speed.
Even though Han Li was unable to move, he could see just fine, and as he examined the three approaching figures, he discovered that they werepletely insubstantial and ethereal, resembling a trio of spiritual bodies. Only their heads seemed to hold any substance, and their faces werepletely identical to his own.
Are these inner demons? No, they''re Extrarealm Heavenly Devils!
In the next instant, one of the heavenly devils appeared directly in front of him, then crashed straight into him without any warning.
A dull thump rang out, and all of the gashes all over Han Li''s entire body began to glow with bright crimson light. The gashes then began to expand, and before he knew it, he had already been torn into countless pieces like a piece of porcin that had been dashed against the ground.
To his surprise, he discovered that even though his body had been destroyed, his soul had managed to emerge as a faint azure shadow, yet it was alsopletely unable to move.
The three heavenly devils immediately pounced from all directions like a pack of wolves that had been starving for days, opening their mouths up wide before sinking their fangs into his soul.
A faint tearing sound rang out as arge chunk of Han Li''s soul was stripped off before being devoured, resulting in a burst of indescribable agony.
Throughout his cultivation journey, Han Li had never shied away from bodily refinement, so he had a far superior pain threshold to the average person, yet this pain went far beyond anything he had ever experienced.
There was no way to pinpoint exactly where the pain wasing from, all he could sense was that his own soul was being torn apart bit by bit, and his consciousness was also gradually fading.
He could see the three heavenly devils constantly tearing away at his body, and with each bite that they took, their bodies would be a little more substantial, while the greedy smiles on their faces became more pronounced.
Is this still an illusion?
Han Li waspletely powerless to resist, and his resolve was beginning to sway.
Could it be that I never even sessfully transcended my tribtion? Could it be that the Spirit Domain Realm, Liu Le''er, the ck Wind Sea, Gan Jiuzhen... All of those were just a dream conjured up by these Extrarealm Heavenly Devils? I was once the most powerful Grand Ascension cultivator in the entire Spirit Realm, but it seems I was ultimately unable to ovee these Extrarealm Heavenly Devils...
Han Li''s consciousness was quickly fading, and his body had be so transparent that it was barely even visible anymore.
"Don''t allow yourself to fall prey to the illusion, Fellow Daoist Han. Us Extrarealm Heavenly Devils are not like this."
All of a sudden, a cold voice rang out in the surrounding space, snapping Han Li back to his senses like a bucket of cold water to the head.
Han Li''s vision had already begun to blur, but it quickly refocused again, and at the same time, a cold harrumph rang out within his consciousness. Immediately thereafter, he felt as if several sharp spikes were being driven into his head at once, sending a burst of excruciating pain tearing through his soul.
At the same time, the heavenly devils that were tearing away at his body screeched in anguish as they hurriedly flew back in retreat, then vanished into nothingness.
Han Li immediately snapped back to reality, returning to the shaved mountain summit with the array te held in one of his hands.
Directly in front of him, Fang Pan was rooted to the spot, still locked in a forward-charging posture, and the tip of the saber in his hand was no more than a foot away from Han Li''s be.
The surrounding stone pirs were shing incessantly with disorienting light, but those lights no longer had any effect on Han Li.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang," Han Li said internally with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
"This is indeed an extremely formidable array. Thankfully, Extrarealm Heavenly Devils like myself are extremely adept at conjuring up and seeing through illusions. Otherwise, things could''ve gone catastrophically wrong," Mo Guang sighed.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then pressed his palm down onto the array te while chanting an incantation.
A burst of five-colored light shed through the array, and Han Li''s surroundings blurred momentarily, following which he found himself in a dimly lit hall.
He could see Fang Pan kneeling on the ground with a horrified look on his face, kowtowing over and over again as he repeatedly implored, "Please spare me, Master..."
It seemed that he waspletely oblivious to Han Li''s presence.
There was a zombie-like middle-aged man with chains draped all over his body, and he was sitting on arge ck chair in front of Fang Pan.
"Why have you used the Origin Separation Law Chains without my permission?" the zombie-like man interrogated.
Fang Pan shuddered violently upon hearing this, and he hurriedly replied, "I had no choice, Master! I ran into an extremely formidable foe, and at the time, I was with two other fellow daoists, but one of them was killed, while the other remaining fellow daoist and I were both severely injured. If I hadn''t used those chains, there was no way I would''ve been able to kill that man."
Han Li was rather intrigued by what he was hearing, and he took a deep breath, then slowly made his way over to the zombie-like man before turning around and taking a seat on therge ck chair.
His body gradually ovepped with that of the zombie-like man before the twopletely fused as one, and Han Li did his best to imitate the zombie-like man''s disposition as he asked, "Oh? Who exactly is this man, and why did you have to fight him?"
"His name is Han Li, and he''s an immortal who ascended from a lower realm. He has a type of special crystal that contains the power of timews, and that''s why the three of us went after him," Fang Pan hurriedly exined.
With that, Han Li finally figured out why he had been in conflict with Fang Pan in the first ce.
"Is that right? Do you know how he was able to obtain these crystals?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid I do not. At the time, I wasn''t able to capture him, so I couldn''t search his soul," Fang Pan replied.
"Are you telling the truth?" Han Li asked in a cold voice as he raised an eyebrow.
"I am, I swear! I would never dare to lie to you, Master! My otherpanion and I were both handed down severe punishments for failing toplete this mission," Fang Pan replied in a trembling voice.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked, "Who handed down your punishment? Are you telling me someone instructed the three of you to go after this Han Li?"
"Please forgive me, Master, but the one you ask of is someone of an extremely lofty status, so I cannot reveal their identity to you..."
Before Fang Pan had a chance to finish, he was struck by a heavy blow to the chest, sending him flying back through the air before crashing into one of the stone pirs in the hall with a dull thump.
The zombie-like man swept a sleeve through the air, and a ck chain instantly shot forth like a spirit snake before plunging straight through Fang Pan''s chest, sending blood sttering in all directions.
Fang Pan''s face was deathly pale, and he was half-knelt on the ground as he violently threw up a mouthful of blood.
"Please spare me, Master..." he implored, but he still didn''t dare to reveal that person''s name.
"Even now, you''re still choosing to withhold information from me! It looks like you''re intent on testing my patience. I have no need for a disobedient disciple," the zombie-like man said in a cold voice, and a chorus of metallic rattling rang out across the entire hall.
Countless ck chains drifted up into the air, and Fang Pan could feel mountainous pressure surging toward him from all directions, striking him with a crushing sense of asphyxiation.
"Please spare me, Master! I''ll tell you everything!" he hurriedly yelled.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air upon hearing this, and all of the chains in the hall settled down again.
He then cast a cold gaze toward Fang Pan, silently waiting for him to continue.
"The name of the person who ordered us to go after Han Li is..."
Right as he was about to reveal the name, his face suddenly became twisted with pain , and he threw his hands onto his head as he howled in agony.
A peculiar spiritual aura that clearly didn''t belong to Fang Pan began to emanate from his head, causing the surrounding illusion to ripple and warp, looking as if it could fall apart at any moment.
Han Li''s heart immediately sank upon seeing this, and he instantly rushed forward to escape from the illusion.
In the real world, Fang Pan was still locked in the same posture as before, but his eyelids were rapidly fluttering, and it was clear that he was about to regain consciousness soon.
Han Li immediately made a decision, stepping forward to force Fang Pan''s mouth open before summoning his final remaining Heavy Water Lightning Bead and tossing it inside.
He then turned and flew away into the distance as quickly as he could.
At this point, Fang Pan finally awakened from the illusion, but it was already toote.
As soon as his eyes sprang open, a bolt of purple and azure lightning sted its way out of his mouth, following which an earth-shattering explosion rang out.
A massive ck sun appeared out of thin air, and heaven and earth trembled and quaked violently.
Hovering at an altitude in excess of 100,000 feet, Han Li was watching the widespread destruction taking ce below with a grim expression.
Even though he had finally managed to kill Fang Pan, he knew that this wasn''t the end of his troubles.
Judging from what Fang Pan had revealed, it was clear that there had been someone instructing Fang Pan and the brocade-robed elderly man toe after him.
Furthermore, that person had left a mark on Fang Pan''s soul, and it was that very same mark that had almost helped Fang Pan awaken from the illusion. Han Li didn''t know whether that person would be able to detect that Fang Pan had met his demise, so he would have to be even more cautious from this point onward.
Once the shockwaves down below had subsided, Han Li flew down from his vantage point up above.
At this point, the array on the mountain had already beenpletely destroyed, as was the case with Fang Pan''s physical body, and not even the slightest hint of his aura could be detected.
Han Li found Fang Pan''s storage bracelet amid some rubble, then discovered that ck saber under a giant rock, and after collecting those two things, he flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
Chapter 175: Seafaring Lightning Boat
Chapter 175: Seafaring Lightning Boat
Only after flying for tens of thousand of kilometers did Han Li heave a long sigh of relief.
Judging from the information that he had received from Fang Pan, he clearly still wasn''t safe yet, but at the very least, the most immediate threat had been eliminated.
He released his spiritual sense to briefly inspect his surroundings, then flew toward a certain direction.
A short whileter, he arrived in front of arge city.
He had changed his own appearance once again, transforming into a young schr who appeared to be in his thirties. At the same time, he had concealed his own cultivation base entirely, and he was casually fanning himself with a peach wood paper fan as he made his way into the city as part of the crowd.
This city was called Moonview City, and it already belonged to the eastern region of the Primordial Wave Continent.
While fleeing from Fang Pan, he had been traveling eastward the majority of the time, so his eastbound journey actually hadn''t been dyed by much at all.
In contrast with a rural city like Seaside City, Mooview City was no less prosperous than ck Wind City, but of course, it was far smaller than thetter.
Another difference between this city and Seaside was that the vast majority of the people here were mortals, while cultivators were far lessmon. Among the small proportion of cultivators, most of them were at or below the Core Formation Stage, and even Nascent Soul cultivators were quite rare.
Furthermore, all of these cultivators had concealed their auras so that they resembled mortals in the crowd.
Along this journey, Han Li had passed through quite a few cities of different sizes, but aside from Seaside City, the vast majority of those cities belonged to the nations of the mortal world.
Furthermore, it was an unspoken rule in these cities that cultivators had to conceal their auras and refrain from using their flight abilities, all to maintain the order of the mortal world.
The ones establishing these rules were naturally the immortal forces behind the authorities.
Of course, in some of therger cities, there were some marketces that were set up exclusively for cultivators.
As thergest city in a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers, such marketces naturally existed in Moonview City as well.
These marketces were situated in the southeastern part of the city, and the concealment restrictions set up there were essentially non-existent to Han Li. He was able to directly enter the area, then made his way along a main street that was lined with shops to a tall pagoda constructed from giant white stone blocks.
The pagoda was several hundred feet tall, presenting a grand and majestic sight to behold, and it was giving off a bright white radiance under the light of the sun.
This was where the teleportation arrays of Moonview City were situated.
There was also a shimmering golden pce near the white pagoda, and that was the city''s Immortal Outlet.
Han Li made his way directly into the pagoda, and the first thing that he saw on the first floor were five teleportation arrays, each of which was separated by no more than 1,000 feet from the other. The arrays were arranged around the hall in a cirction formation, and there was a golden-robed cultivator stationed beside each array.
The golden dragons embroidered onto their robes were a clear indication that all of them served the Immortal Pce.
Furthermore, there were also several cultivators standing beside each teleportation array, seemingly waiting for something.
Han Li only took a brief nce at his surroundings before making his way directly toward the teleportation array at the center of the hall.
Before Han Li had a chance to say anything, the golden-robed cultivator beside the array smiled as he said, "Please go and purchase a teleportation talisman from over there. Once we have enough people, the teleportation willmence."
Han Li turned to the direction that the golden-robed cultivator was pointing in to discover a long stone table, behind which sat a golden-robed elderly man, and there were several people lined up in front of the table.
The person at the very front of the line just so happened to be in the process of epting a golden badge in exchange for a small pouch of spirit stones.
Han Li paused for a moment upon seeing this, then immediately turned and left the teleportation hall.
He made his way into a secluded little alley nearby, and by the time he re-emerged, he had already transformed into a middle-aged man with a yellowplexion. Upon his emergence, he strode into the Immortal Outlet before arriving in the room where immortal tokens were arranged.
"Tell me your name and ce of origin," a bald elderly man instructed.
"My name is Li Yufei, and I''m from the Precious Jade Mountain Range," Han Li replied in a calm manner.
He had previously set off from Seaside City under the identity of Liu Shi, and there was a chance that someone could track him from Seaside City to Moonview City if he were to use the same identity again. Hence, it was best to switch to a different identity as a safety precaution.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li returned to the white pagoda, and it didn''t take long before it was his turn to purchase a teleportation talisman.
The golden-robed elderly man took a nce at Han Li''s new immortal token, then asked, "Where do you want to go?"
"Red Lake City," Han Li replied.
¡¡
Thunderp City was situated on the easternmost coastline of the Primordial Wave Continent, and going any further eastward of the city would take one into the vastly renowned Thunderstorm Sea.
This was a massive city, and due to its location, it was a natural gathering ce for all high-grade cultivators who wanted to cross the Thunderstorm Sea to reach other continents.
Given its geographic advantage, it naturally stood to reason that Thunderp City was an extremely prosperous ce. It wasn''t the most prosperous city on the entire Primordial Wave Continent, but it could definitely rank in the top five.
Due to its close proximity to the Thunderstorm Sea, the sky above the city was perpetually concealed behind a thick nket of dark clouds, and asional shes of lightning could be seen within the clouds, followed by rumbling thunderps.
There was a massive tree nted every few kilometers in the city, and each tree was over 10,000 feet tall. These trees were all of a dark purple color, and their trunks and leaves were all riddled with lightning-shaped patterns.
All of these giant trees had extremely lush canopies that resembled massive purple umbres, and together, they were able to epass the entire sky above the city.
These trees were called Urgent Lightning Trees, and they possessed the ability to absorb and store the power of lightning while being impervious to lightning strikes.
Fearsome thunderstorms took ce all year round on the Thunderstorm Sea, and Thunderp City was often affected due to its close proximity to the sea. If it weren''t for the presence of these Urgent Lightning Trees, Thunderp City would''ve most likely already been destroyed long ago.
Furthermore, these trees were also able to convert the power of lightning stored within them into light, and as a result, the city was constantly brightly lit regardless of whether it was daytime or nighttime.
At the center of the city was a giant purple pagoda, and around a dozen teleportation arrays were shing incessantly on the pagoda''s first floor as groups of people were teleported away from the city or arriving from other cities.
This first floor was extremely massive, with an area of several thousand feet, but even so, it was still quite crowded.
Right at this moment, around a dozen figures appeared on one of the teleportation arrays amid a sh of light, and one of them was none other than the yellow-skinned middle-aged man that Han Li had disguised himself as.
He followed the crowd out of the teleportation hall, and he couldn''t help but heave a sigh of relief as he took in the wide street ahead of him.
After several months of traveling, he had finally gotten to the coastline, and once he crossed the Thunderstorm Sea, he would be able to reach the Ancient Cloud Continent, home of the ze Dragon Dao.
Even with the canopies of the Urgent Lightning Trees up above, rumbling thunderps could still be asionally heard.
However, most of the people on the streets disyed any reaction to this, and it was clear that they were already ustomed to this. Only those who were only visiting the city for the first time were still feeling disturbed by the frequent thunderps.
Han Li naturally wasn''t going to be affected by these thunderps, but he didn''t take a few extra nces at the collective canopies of the massive Urgent Lightning Trees up above.
Right at this moment, a youthful voice rang out beside him.
"I''m assuming this is your first time here in Thunderp City. Is that correct, Senior?"
Han Li turned to discover an honest-looking young man not far away from him, extending a salute with a cupped fist.
Han Li didn''t say anything, and the young man continued, "My name is Gu Sanming. This is quite a big city with manyplex streets, so it can be rather inconvenient to get things done. If you want to buy something or find somece, I can be of help to you, Senior."
"So you''re a guide? I suppose it can''t hurt to have one. Tell me this: what is the safest way to cross the Thunderstorm Sea?" Han Li asked.
The young man faltered slightly upon hearing this, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Is there something wrong?"
Due to the fact that Han Li had concealed his aura, Gu Sanming was rather taken aback that someone of Han Li''s cultivation base would be seeking to cross the Thunderstorm Sea. However, it then quickly urred to him that Han Li was most likely concealing his cultivation base, and he hurriedly replied, "Not at all. If you want to cross the sea, then you''vee to the right person, Senior.
¡°My cultivation base may be nothing remarkable, but I worked at the ck Feather Trading House a few years ago, and the ck Feather Trading House''s Seafaring Lightning Boats are the safest mode of transformation to cross the Thunderstorm Sea. If I recall correctly, a Seafaring Lightning Boat is set to depart in less than three months from now, and there should still be some sports avable."
"What is this Seafaring Lightning Boat?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, please forgive me for not offering an exnation. This is your first time here in Thunderp City, so there must be many things you''re still unfamiliar with," the young man hurriedly said in an apologetic manner.
"It''s fine. Seeing as you''re so familiar with this matter, why don''t you tell me about these Seafaring Lightning Boats? Give me as detailed a description as you can, and if your information is useful, I''ll be sure to reward you," Han Li said.
On the way here, he had conducted some research into ways to cross the Thunderstorm Sea, and he had heard about how incredible these Seafaring Lightning Boats were. Now that he had arrived in Thunderp City, this was the perfect chance to enquire more about this subject.
The Thunderstorm Sea was renowned for how perilous it was, so he naturally had to find the safest way to cross it.
"A Seafaring Lightning Boat is a type of special flying boat crafted specifically for the purpose of crossing the Thunderstorm Sea. Fearsome lightning storms that areparable in destructive power to heavenly lightning tribtions frequently take ce in the Thunderstorm Sea, and a normal flying boat would quickly be torn apart in such storms.
¡°However, Seafaring Lightning Boats are constructed from extremely lightning-resistant materials, and ayer of Urgent Lightning Tree membrane is applied to the outside. This is a special membrane made from the sap of the Urgent Lightning Tree, and even the most ferocious of thunderstorms won''t be able to harm it in the slightest. Hence, Seafaring Lightning Boat can cross the Thunderstorm Sea with a very high degree of safety..."
"I see. How many spirit stones are required for a spot on one of these boats?" Han Li asked.
A slightly hesitant look appeared on the young man''s face, and he was carefully gauging Han Li''s reaction as he replied, "Given that they''re the safest mode of transportation across the Thunderstorm Sea, the required fare is naturally quite steep, costing 500 top-grade spirit stones per person."
"I want to take a look at the boat," Han Li said in an expressionless manner.
The young man''s heart began to pound in his chest upon hearing this, and he hurriedly replied, "Pleasee with me, Senior."
Even though he couldn''t discern much from Han Li''s reaction, if Han Li were to im a spot on the boat, then he would receive a handsome reward from the trading house for the role that he yed in guiding Han Li.
Chapter 176: Thunderstorm
Chapter 176: Thunderstorm
Two monthster.
In a pitch-ck region of the Thunderstorm Sea, the seawater here was of a light purple color, and it stretched as far as the eyes could see.
Even without any wind, massive waves were still sweeping over the surface of the sea. At the moment, the wind was quite fierce, and that was only aiding in the formation of the waves.
The dark clouds in the sky were thick and dense and situated at an extremely low altitude, only six hundred to seven hundred feet above the surface of the sea.
It seemed that some of the taller waves surging over the sea were almost able to reach the clouds up above.
Thick bolts of lightning were asionally shing through the dark clouds, illuminating the sea down below amid rumbling thunderps, presenting a doomsday-like scene.
Right at this moment, yet another bolt of lightning pierced through the surface of the sea.
A massive shadow appeared beneath the dark clouds in the distance, and it was a giant boat that was hurtling rapidly through the air. The boat was several thousand feet long and over 100 feet tall.
It appeared to have been constructed from some type of wooden material, but this material somehow gave off a metallic appearance, and it was clearly extremely resolute and durable.
The surface of the boat was riddled with runes that were glowing with purple light, and it was also entirely covered in a thin translucent membrane.
Even though the giant purple boat was flying at as low an altitude as possible, it was still inevitably struck by some of the lightning that was crashing down from above.
However, despite how fearsome the bolts of lightning appeared, as soon as they struck that thin membrane on the giant boat, they were immediately repelled, leaving the boatpletely unharmed.
The boat was divided up into a series of independent rooms, and each room had a window that allowed those staying inside to see what was outside.
Inside one of the rooms on the boat was a slightly chubby young man with a fairplexion, and he was looking out through the window at the giant bolts of lightning that were tearing through the heavens as he mused, "I''d always heard that the Thunderstorm Sea was an incredible ce, and it''s certainly living up to its reputation."
Behind him was a yellow-skinned middle-aged man who was seated with his legs crossed, and he was also looking out the window as he nodded in agreement. "Indeed, this is an extremely rare and spectacr sight to behold."
The yellow-skinned man was none other than Han Li, and the fair-skinned young man said in an excited manner, "I came from a mountainous region with a very dry climate, and we often go years without seeing any rain, so this is definitely a refreshing contrast."
Han Li merely smiled in response and remained silent.
The chubby young man''s name was Sun Ke, and he was a Spatial Tempering cultivator. ording to him, he was the young master of quite an affluent n on the Primordial Wave Continent, and the two had met over a month ago.
At the time, Han Li had been staying in a secluded inn in Thunderp City, waiting for the Seafaring Lightning Boat to set sail. However, on the night before the boat was scheduled to depart, Sun Ke was targeted in an assassination attempt while staying in the same inn.
Han Li didn''t want to get involved in this matter, but the assassin was an overconfident Body Integration cultivator who nned to kill everyone in the entire inn in order to cover his tracks.
Unfortunately for him, he was in by Han Li with ease.
Sun Ke was extremely grateful to Han Li for saving his life, and the two of them met once again the very next day on the port where the lightning boat was docked. Sun Ke was traveling to the Ancient Cloud Continent as well, and the two of them quickly became close acquaintances.
ording to the Sun Ke, his assassin was an elder from his n, and he had originally been instructed by the n leader to protect him on his trip. However, he was bribed by Sun Ke''s half-brother to have Sun Ke killed instead.
Thankfully, Sun Ke was able to discover his ploy in time, and he had several bodyguards who had been willing to sacrifice themselves in order to buy him time to escape. Only then was he able to flee all the way to Thunderp City.
On the way here, he learned that some massive changes had taken ce within his n, and it was no longer a ce that he could return to.
Hence, in order topletely distance himself from this mess, he decided to leave the Primordial Wave Continent altogether.
During their conversations, Han Li discovered that Sun Ke was a very knowledgeable person, and one of his hobbies was to learn about all types of general trivia and obscure historical events. Hence, he was quite happy to interact with and speak to Sun Ke as well.
After all, following his return to the Immortal Realm, he had spent a long time in the ck Wind Sea, which was quite an isted ce, so his knowledge of the rest of the immortal region was rathercking.
Sun Ke was a wealth of knowledge, both important and trivial, and he really liked to impart his knowledge on others, but back in his n, no one liked to hear him talk about these things. In contrast, Han Li was actively seeking out his knowledge and listening to everything that he said with keen attention, and that filled him with a sense of immense satisfaction. In addition to that, Han Li had saved his life, so over time, he naturally became very fond of Han Li.
"I''ve heard that the deeper one ventures into the Thunderstorm Sea, the more fearsome the lightning bes. It hasn''t been very long since we set off, yet the lightning outside is already this fearsome. Once we reach the deepest parts of the Thunderstorm Sea, the lightning there is said to be 10 times more powerful. Will this Seafaring Lightning Boat be able to handle that?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"Rest assured, Brother Li. This Seafaring Lightning Boat is crafted from the wood of a 100,000-year-old Urgent Lightning Tree, and this type of wood is extremely lightning-resistant. On top of that, ording to my observation, the sap used for the lightning membrane on the surface of the boat came from an Urgent Lightning Tree that was at least 200,000 years old, so there won''t be any issues," Sun Ke dered in a confident manner.
"I didn''t think that you would be so familiar with the construction of this Seafaring Lightning Boat," Han Li praised.
"You''re far too kind, Brother Li. The ck Feather Trading House actually shares some very close ties with my n. I wonder when I''ll be able to return there," Sun Ke sighed as a slightly dejected look appeared on his face.
Han Li remained silent as he rose to his feet, then cast his gaze out the window.
Even through the restrictions on the boat, he could still sense the incredibly formidable lightning aura outside, and it was resonating slightly with his Lightning Bird bloodline.
This was a perilous ce, but it was definitely also a fantastic location for those using lightning-attribute cultivation arts.
However, the lightning in the Thunderstorm Sea wasn''t the only dangerous thing about it.
Ever since the boat entered the Thunderstorm Sea, Han Li had detected that the spatial pressure in the area had begun to increase sharply.
The Immortal Realm had an abundance of the world''s origin qi, and the spatial pressure here was also immense, thereby severely limiting his speed of movement and the effective range of his spiritual sense.
To his surprise, the spatial pressure in the Thunderstorm Sea was several times more severe than in other ces, and he couldn''t help but wonder why this was the case.
"Brother Sun, I''m sure you can feel the spatial pressure here as well. Why is there such tremendous spatial pressure in this area?" he asked.
"I''ve tried to find an answer to that question myself in the past, but I''m afraid I wasn''t able to find anything concrete. Some people say that this is the result of a battle between a pair of Dao Ancestors that took ce here long ago, while others specte that there''s an enormous lightning beast concealed within the Thunderstorm Sea, but both of these are just unsubstantiated rumors," Sun Ke replied as he scratched his head in a slightly embarrassed manner.
"It''s rare to see something that even you don''t know the answer to," Han Li chuckled.
Initially, the scenery outside was extremely stunning to behold, but over time, it eventually grew stale, and Sun Ke quickly lost interest in the spectacle as he bade farewell to Han Li and returned to his own room.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to set up a restriction in the room, then summoned his Twin Starshift te before casting several incantation seals onto it, and the array te immediately began to glow brightly.
A long whileter, the light radiating from the array te faded, and Han Li was left to look at the ball of egg-sized heavy water hovering above the palm of his hand with a wry smile on his face.
At this point in his journey, the Twin Starshift te''s transmission ability had taken another severe hit, and even after such a long time, it was only able to transmit a tiny amount of heavy water to him.
He shook his head as he stowed the array te and the ball of heavy water away, then flipped a hand over to produce a series of thick books that he began poring over.
The Thunderstorm Sea was extremely vast, and it would take at least two to three years to get to the other side.
Time flew by quickly, and over half a year passed by in the blink of an eye.
The lightning in the clouds was bing more and more concentrated, indicating that the Seafaring Lightning Boat was gradually reaching the deepest parts of the Thunderstorm Sea.
Han Li was standing in front of his window, looking at the dark clouds outside. Thick bolts of lightning were regrly shing through the clouds one after another, almost perpetually illuminating the sea with their radiance.
Most of the lightning was only raging in the clouds, and only a small proportion of them would actuallye crashing down.
Due to how massive the boat was, it was regrly struck by lightning.
In this area, the bolts of lightning were far thicker and more powerful than before. Each time the boat was struck by a bolt of lightning, it would tremble while the lightning membrane on its surface rippled, but there was no sign of any damage being caused.
Han Li was staring at the lightning shing outside through his window with deep focus and concentration in his eyes.
The lightning here appeared to bepletely chaotic and haphazard, but it harbored some profoundws of nature, and watching the permutations in the lightning aided him in improving his mastery of lightning.
Right at this moment, the dark clouds up above suddenly began to churn like the surface of the sea down below, and the lightning in the clouds also began to surge violently, as if there were some gigantic objects crashing against one another inside.
Han Li was quite intrigued to see this, but he had already witnessed simr scenes many times on this journey, so he wasn''t too surprised.
The Seafaring Lightning Boat began to glow with bright purple light as it immediately changed directions and fled into the distance.
The boat was extremely fast, but not as fast as the changes taking ce in the clouds, and a massive vortex took shape in the blink of an eye.
All of the nearby lightning around the vortex was drawn toward it, converging into a dense clump of lightning that was so bright and concentrated that it forced any onlookers to avert their eyes.
A burst of terrifying rumbling rang out, and the boat elerated to its top speed, attempting to fly out of the area epassed under the vortex as quickly as possible.
In the next instant, the center of the massive vortex abruptly lit up, and countless thick bolts of lightning came crashing down onto the sea, epassing an area with a radius of several thousand kilometers.
Each bolt of lightning resembled a massive tree, forming an enormous forest of lightning, causing the sea down below to churn and boil incessantly.
Thankfully, at this point, the Seafaring Lightning Boat had already just barely flown out of the area epassed under the vortex, so it managed to avoid the forest of lightning.
Han Li''s eyes were shing with amazement as he watched the unfolding spectacle.
This was a renowned thunderstorm that the Thunderstorm Sea received its name from, and there were many types of thunderstorms, with this type of vortex thunderstorm being one of the moremon types.
Chapter 177: Deep Sea Giant Clam
Chapter 177: Deep Sea Giant m
Aside from this lightning vortex, Han Li had also witnessed even more terrifying types of thunderstorms, such as the mist tide thunderstorm and the tornado thunderstorm.
However, just as Sun Ke said, the Seafaring Lightning Boat was extremely resolute, and it was able to weather the storms just fine.
The boat continued onward, covering a distance of several hundred kilometers in just a few seconds to leave the vortex in the clouds behind.
After releasing that forest of lightning, the vortex began to slowly vanish, starting from its outermost parts, and soon, all that remained was a ck hole in the middle, and that was quickly about to disappear as well.
Han Li was just about to withdraw his gaze when he spotted a blurry shadow in the ck hole out of his peripheral vision.
However, it was too far away, and there were still some remnants of lightning lingering in the air as visual disruption, so he wasn''t able to see the shadow clearly.
Out of curiosity, he released his spiritual sense toward the ck hole.
At this point, they were already deep in the Thunderstorm Sea, so the spatial pressure permeating throughout the area was extremely potent. As a result, even his spiritual sense was only able to extend to several hundred kilometers away at most, only just barely reaching the ck hole.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s expression changed drastically, and he almost jumped up in rm.
Through his spiritual sense, he had detected that the shadow within the ck hole was a gargantuan eye.
The eye was several thousand feet in size and orange in color. Inside the eye''s giant pupil was a long and thin vertical vein that was shing with a cold light.
This was already as far Han Li''s spiritual sense could go, so he was unable to glean the full appearance of the owner of the eye.
However, judging from the size of the orange eye alone, it had to have been far more massive than any living being that Han Li had ever seen before.
Right at this moment, the orange eye seemed to have detected Han Li''s spiritual sense, and it turned slightly to "look" in Han Li''s direction.
A sense of foreboding immediately welled up in Han Li''s heart, and he hurriedly tried to withdraw his spiritual sense, but it was already toote.
A terrifying aura swept toward him from afar, mming into his soul like a heavy blow from a hammer.
He immediately threw up arge mouthful of blood, and his face turned deathly pale.
His soul began to tremble violently like a candle me flickering in a gust of fierce wind, looking as if it could be snuffed out at any moment.
He hurriedly activated his Spirit Refinement Technique, and his spiritual sense transformed into countless translucent threads that enveloped his soul to stabilize it.
The translucent threads intertwined with one another to form a series of translucent chains that wrapped around his soulyer uponyer, and thankfully, that was enough to hold it together.
He opened his eyes before quickly devouring a few pills, then flipped a hand over to produce a small jade vial that was half-filled with a type of light purple liquid, which was giving off a peculiar aroma.
Han Li immediately tipped his head back and drank arge mouthful of the fluid.
This was a type of soul-nurturing spirit liquid that he had made from some Soulbirth Flower fluid left behind from his Earthly Deity Avatar refinement, and it was very effective for treating spiritual damage.
Thanks to thebination of the pills and the spirit liquid, hisplexion was beginning to improve, and he took a deep breath before taking another nce outside.
The Seafaring Lightning Boat was traveling extremely quickly, and at this point, it had alreadypletely departed from that area of the sea. The ck hole in the clouds had also disappeared, having been concealed by other clouds.
However, Han Li didn''t dare to let his guard down, and with a sweep of his sleeve, he released several hundred bursts of light in rapid session, setting up one restriction after another throughout his room.
All of a sudden, a long ck saber appeared in his hand amid a sh of light, and it was none other than the weapon that he had acquired from Fang Pan.
Through his examination, he had already verified that this saber was an Acquired Immortal Treasure of a decent caliber. It contained a type of extremely destructivew powers, and that was why it was able to slice through the defenses of Han Li''s Giant Mountain Ape transformation.
However, up to this point, he hadn''t been able to determine exactly which type ofw powers it contained.
At the same time, several spirit treasures had also been summoned, circling around him in a wary fashion.
The Seafaring Lightning Boat continued onward, and soon, close to an hour had passed by without any further mishap.
Only at this point was Han Li finally convinced that the crisis had been averted, and he stowed the ck saber and the spirit treasures away, but the surrounding restrictions remained.
He then sat down with his legs crossed, then closed his eyes as ayer of azure light appeared over his body.
Several dayster, the azure light faded, and Han Li slowly exhaled as he reopened his eyes.
Hisplexion was already looking far better, and the spiritual damage that he had sustained was also close to halfway healed.
What on earth was that thing?
There was still a hint of lingering fear in Han Li''s heart as he thought back to that giant eye.
Even though the contact had only been extremely brief, he was still able to clearly sense the insurmountable gap between himself and the owner of the giant eye. He felt like an ant staring into the eye of a giant, and just that single nce had almost been enough to destroy his soul.
He had heard from Sun Ke that that there were some extremely powerful lightning beasts that had the innate ability to control lightning residing in the Thunderstorm Sea, but ording to Sun Ke, even the most formidable of those lightning beasts were onlyparable in power to True Immortal cultivators, which was most definitely not the case of the owner of that giant eye.
With that in mind, he suddenly recalled something else that he had heard from Sun Ke, which was that it was spected that the reason why there was such immense spiritual pressure in the Thunderstorm Sea was because there was a gargantuan beast residing deep within it.
Could it be that this rumor was true, and that the gargantuan beast in question was the owner of the eye?
Han Li only entertained this train of thought for a moment before shaking his head.
There was no point in considering such matters, and all he could do now was pray that he didn''t encounter anything else that formidable.
Close to half a yearter.
Inside a spacious room that was several hundred feet in size on the top floor of the Seafaring Lightning Boat, there were some tables and chairs, with each table separated by some elegant screens or bonsai trees.
It appeared that this was a restaurant, and the windows around the room were quiterge, granting the patrons of the restaurant an exceptional view of the Thunderstorm Sea outside.
The journey to cross the entire Thunderstorm Sea was one that took several years, and it was quite boring to constantly stay in one''s room all the time, so there were some amenities like restaurants and teahouses on the boat.
At this point, everyone on the boat had already be ustomed to the sights and scenes of the Thunderstorm Sea, and people had gradually begun visiting the restaurant as a form of rxation.
At one of the tables sat Sun Ke and Han Li across from one another.
Sun Ke wore a bright smile as he filled his and Han Li''s cups with the contents of an intricate dark red gon in his hand.
"This is the renowned Red Crane Wine from my hometown, Brother Li. It''s vor is quite exquisite," Sun Ke said with a smile.
Han Li offered no response as he picked up the cup before taking a small sip.
Sun Ke was quite an avid drinker, and his storage treasures were filled with all types of delectable wines, but drinking alone was rather depressing, so he would often ask Han Li to drink with him.
After having some drinks, Sun Ke would often begin telling Han Li about some of the interesting stories pertaining to the Immortal Realm that he had seen from the books that he had read in the past, so Han Li was quite happy to drink with Sun Ke.
This Red Crane Wine was sweet and gentle, producing a slight heat in one''s dantian following consumption. Han Li could tell that it would be quite beneficial to the cultivation of low and mid-grade cultivators, but its effects on him were quite minimal.
He held his cup as he cast his gaze outside.
Through the window, he could clearly see that the dark clouds had be even denser than before, and just the mere sight of the thick bolts of lightning tearing through the sky struck the beholder with a primordial fear.
The boat had already reached the very center of the Thunderstorm Sea, and the restrictions around the boat had been activated to their maximal capacity, while its speed had also decreased significantly.
"What a stunning ce this is. It''s a pity that I''m too weak to venture outside. Otherwise, I would be sure to explore this Thunderstorm Sea to my heart''s content. ording to writings left behind by some immortals, the Thunderstorm Sea is home to countless rare and precious lightning-attribute materials that are impossible to find anywhere else, and there are even supposed to be treasures that contain the power of lightningws here," Sun Ke sighed as he also cast his gaze out the window.
"Risk and reward have alwayse hand in hand. The more perilous a ce is, the greater the rewards that can often be reaped there," Han Li said.
"Indeed, Brother Li," Sun Ke chuckled as he filled Han Li''s cup again.
Right at this moment, the dark clouds outside began to churn once again, and this time, the affected area was extremely massive. All of the lightning clouds stretching as far as the eyes could see were surging violently, as if the sky were about to copse.
"Looks like another thunderstorm ising," Sun Ke said with a hint of apprehension on his face.
Han Li rose to his feet and began making his way toward the entrance of the restaurant.
The restaurant was situated on the top floor of the Seafaring Lightning Boat, so whenever a thunderstorm took ce, it would be struck by violent tremors, and that was why everyone had to vacate the restaurant during thunderstorms.
Countless bolts of lightning were shing through the air like giant serpents, and every single one of them was several thousand feet in length.
Each bolt of lightning that struck the water down below would instantly cause the surface of the sea to explode.
"It''s a wandering serpent thunderstorm!"
Everyone in the restaurant quickly departed to seek refuge in the lower levels of the boat.
The wandering serpent thunderstorm was the most formidable of all types of thunderstorms. In order to weather the storm, the Seafaring Lightning Boat hadpletely stopped in its tracks, darting from left to right as quickly as it could to avoid being struck by the enormous bolts of lightning.
"Well, this is rather depressing. I''m going back to my room for now, Brother Li," Sun Ke said with a slightly dejected expression, then made his way back to his room.
Han Li was watching the unfolding thunderstorm through the window beside him, and he was just about to retire to his room as well when he suddenly spotted something that caught his attention.
The surface of the sea roughly 200 to 300 kilometers away from the boat had suddenly begun to churn, and a giant vortex had appeared.
A round blue object that was several thousand feet in size emerged from within the vortex, revealing itself to be an enormous m. The m''s blue shell was riddled with countless lightning-shaped patterns, and it was giving off an immense True Immortal Stage aura.
The giant m shell slowly opened up, and two purple feelers that resembled elephant tusks emerged from within, while plumes of purple mist were billowing out of the holes at the center of the feelers'' tips.
All of a sudden, a ball of purple light that was around the size of a human head shot out of the m shell.
It was an object with thick arcs of purple lightning revolving around it, and the purple lightning was so bright that it was impossible to see what was inside, but it appeared to have been a ball of some sort.
As soon as this object appeared, all of the surrounding lightning immediately began to churn violently before converging toward the ball and surging into it.
After absorbing those bolts of lightning, the lightning radiating from the purple ball had be even brighter.
A string of strange sounds rang out from within the giant m shell, and it seemed that the m was roaring with excitement.
Han Li was rather intrigued by the sight of that purple ball.
His spiritual sense was only just barely able to reach the m, but he could still clearly sense that the purple ball was giving off extremely potentw power fluctuations.
He didn''t know if the ball was the m''s pearl, but it was definitely imbued with tremendous lightningw powers.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he quickly returned to his room, then released a series of array gs with a sweep of his sleeve to set up several restrictions.
After that, he flew out of his room as an invisible shadow.
Even though there were some restrictions around the boat, they naturally didn''t affect him, and as soon as he left the boat, he immediately flipped a hand over to produce his High Zenith Invisibility Talisman, allowing him to bypass the restrictions with ease before flying toward the giant m.
Chapter 178: Taking the Clams Pearl
Chapter 178: Taking the m''s Pearl
The violent thunderstorm showed no signs of abating anytime soon.
At the center of the vortex, the shell of the giant m opened up slightly, releasing arcs of lightning to envelop the purple bead. The arcs of lighting intertwined to form a giant mouth of lightning that was greedily devouring the boundless power of lightning in the surrounding area.
It was clear that this formidable storm was providing the m with the ideal cultivation conditions.
Right at this moment, a strange cry rang out from the distance.
It was an extremely loud cry that was audible even through the relentless chorus of booming thunderps.
The shell of the giant m suddenly stirred slightly, and a speck of green light appeared within the darkness inside the shell. That seemed to have been the eye of the m, and it had turned to the direction that the sound hade from.
Far away on the horizon, a ck shadow had emerged and was rapidly approaching, appearing on the scene in the blink of an eye.
It was an enormous purple whale the size of an ind, and its two massive eyes were gleaming with greed and yearning as it stared intently at the purple bead above the m.
Furthermore, a tremendous aura that exceeded even the giant m''s was emanating from its body.
However, the m didn''t immediately withdraw its bead. Instead, its shell opened up even further, and two thick bolts of purple lightning erupted out from within, hurtling toward the whale like a pair of lightning dragons.
The space in the wake of the bolts of purple lightning shuddered violently as a charred smell wafted through the air, as if the very space itself had been scorched by the purple lightning.
A solemn look appeared in the giant whale''s eyes at the sight of the oing bolts of lightning, and it opened its cavernous mouth to reveal a mouthful of massive white fangs before biting viciously down onto the purple lightning.
Ayer of ck electricity surfaced over its teeth as it brought its jaws shut in a forceful motion, biting the two bolts of lightning into halves.
A resounding thunderp rang out, and the two bolts of purple lightning were quickly dispelled.
A ck hole then appeared on the whale''s back, and ck light shed within the hole, following which an inky-ck bolt of lightning shot out from within, transforming into a ck lightning wyrm that was several thousand feet in length in the blink of an eye. The lightning wyrm sprang through the air in a menacing fashion, reaching the giant m in the blink of an eye.
The m let loose a low roar as the purple ball above its head stopped devouring the lightning in the surrounding area, then appeared in front of it in a sh to sh against the oing ck lightning wyrm.
An earth-shattering thunderp rang out as the ck lightning wyrm exploded into balls of lightning of different sizes, which instantly epassed the entire surrounding area in a radius of close to 10 kilometers, swallowing up the giant m in the process.
Bolts of dazzling ck lightning shed through the air as thunderps and explosions rang out in unison to produce an astoundingmotion.
Right at this moment, the countless arcs of ck lightning in the air suddenly converged toward a single spot, then vanished in the blink of an eye as if they had been devoured by something.
As a result, the giant m was revealed once again, and it waspletely unharmed.
At this moment, the purple ball in front of it was shing with ck lightning, and it was clear that it had just devoured the ck lightning unleashed by the whale.
The massive whale let loose a roar of fury upon seeing this, and it whipped its giant tail forcefully through the air as arcs of ck lightning surfaced over its entire body, following which it threw itself at the m like a gargantuan cannon ball.
The m wasn''t backing down in the slightest, and arcs of purple lightning emerged over its shell as it threw itself at the whale as well.
A ferocious battle ensued between the two enormous creatures, further contributing to themotion caused by the wandering serpent thunderstorm.
In the heat of battle, neither of the two beasts had noticed that there was a blurry humanoid figure standing less than 10 kilometers away from them. It was none other than Han Li, who hadpletely concealed his own aura.
Thanks to the effects of his High Zenith Invisibility Talisman, even if someone were standing right beside him, they wouldn''t be able to detect his presence unless their spiritual sense was far superior to his.
At this moment, he was watching the fierce battle taking ce before him with an unblinking gaze.
He could clearly sense the astonishingw fluctuations emanating from the purple ball, and there was a hint of yearning in his eyes.
If he weren''t mistaken, the ball contained the power of lightningws. He had previously seen some precious materials that containedw powers, but regardless of whether it was the eye of the Primordial Fei Beast, the Great Earth Fruits, or the Sea Condensing Crystal, none of them contained anywhere near the volume ofw powers as what was in this ball.
The giant m had most likely already spent countless millennia nurturing the ball.
Han Li took a deep breath to suppress his excitement, then continued to slowly close in on the pair of giant beasts while still in his invisible form.
He could sense that the m and the whale were at the early-True Immortal Stage and the mid-True Immortal Stage, respectively. Of course, this was only rtive to human cultivation standards. Given the exceptional immortal aptitude of these immortal spirit beasts, they often possessed far more immortal spiritual power than human cultivators of the same level, and that allowed them to hold their own against cultivators of a superior cultivation base.
Han Li didn''t fear the prospect of facing them in battle, but he would rather avoid having to face them if possible.
Hence, at the moment, he was pondering how he could secure the purple ball before fleeing the scene without being forced into a confrontation.
Han Li continued to slowly approach the pair of giant creatures, and before long, he was no more than four kilometers away. However, he failed to notice the extremely faint purple mist permeating through the area around the giant m, and he inadvertently came into contact with it.
As soon as this happened, the giant m immediately swung around, and the speck of green light within its shell seemed to have suddenly turned to Han Li.
In the next instant, its shell opened up wide, and a thick bolt of purple lightning came crashing toward Han Li at an incredible speed.
Looks like my cover''s been blown!
A cold look appeared on his face as arcs of silver lightning surfaced over his body, and he transformed into a bolt of silver lightning to evade the attack. He then appeared right in between the pair of giant beasts in the blink of an eye before grabbing onto the purple ball.
However, to his surprise, the ball was extraordinarily heavy despite the fact that it was only the size of a human head, and it refused to budge, even in the face of his enormous strength.
Both the m and the whale flew into a thunderous rage upon seeing this, and they immediately joined forces to turn on Han Li.
Two bolts of purple lightning and one bolt of ck lightning were sent hurtling toward Han Li in unison.
On top of that, a flurry of purple lightning began to spiral around the purple ball, striking Han Li''s palm like a series of purple lightning des.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly, but he disyed no intention of taking evasive measures.
He let loose a low roar as bright golden light appeared over his entire body, and he instantly took on his Giant Mountain Ape form. At the same time, countless golden scales appeared over his body and the palm of his hand.
The purple and ck lightning struck the golden ape in unison, causing it to stumble in an unsteady manner.
The scales on the parts of its body that had been struck by the lightning had been broken to reveal the charred skin and flesh underneath, but the wounds weren''t very deep.
Meanwhile, the purple des of lightning around the purple ball had also sliced through the scales on the palm of his hand, causing him to bleed profusely.
The giant ape paid no heed to these injuries as it made a forceful grabbing motion to lock the purple ball firmly in its grasp, following which it shot back in retreat as quickly as it could.
At the same time, dazzling golden light erupted out of the palm of its hand to envelop the purple ball, attempting to forcibly sever its connection with the giant m.
The purple ball began to struggle violently while shing with purple lightning, illuminating the giant ape''s hand into a semi-transparent purple color as it attempted to break free.
The giant m roared with fury as it sprang out of the vortex on the surface of the sea, pouncing toward the golden ape like a living mountain.
Afterunching itself up into the air, its shell sprang open, and dazzling purple lightning appeared on its surface as countless bolts of lightning came crashing down from the dark clouds up above before converging onto its shell.
A burst of light surged over the shell, and all of the purple electricity transformed into ayer of dark purple light that struck the beholder with a sense of foreboding.
The m shell then moved once again, and two crescent-shaped streaks of purple light were sent flying through the air, hurtling rapidly toward the golden ape while leaving ripples that were visible even to the naked eye in the space in its wake.
The lightning whale also pounced at the giant ape with a furious roar, and countless arcs of ck lightning had already gathered together in its cavernous mouth.
Immediately thereafter, around a dozen massive balls of ck lightning shot out of its mouth, hurtling rapidly toward the golden ape as well.
The giant ape''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this. It was already retreating at an incredible speed, but the attacks from the pair of lightning beasts were even faster, catching up to the giant ape in the blink of an eye.
However, the golden ape remained calm and collected as dazzling golden light erupted from its body, and several massive projections, including that of the Golden Dragon, the Five-colored Phoenix, the Lightning Bird, and the Azure Luan Bird had appeared behind it before instantly fusing into its body.
Immediately thereafter, the giant ape''s body swelled drastically in size as it transformed into a devilish deity that was over 10,000 feet tall in the blink of an eye. Countless purplish-golden scales had appeared over its body, and it was giving off an almighty aura of destruction.
A burst of tremendous power erupted out of its body, causing all of the oing purple lightning and balls of ck lightning to stop cold in their tracks.
At the same time, bright purplish-golden light glowed from the hand of the devilish deity that was holding the purple ball, and a dull cracking sound rang out as the lightning around the purple ball was forcibly crushed, severing the connection between the ball and the giant m.
The m shuddered as a look of vicious resentment appeared in its eyes, and it let loose an enraged roar as around a dozen bolts of purple lightning were sent hurtling toward the devilish deity at once.
The devilish deity flipped a hand over to stow the purple ball away, and at the same time, the ck saber that he had acquired from Fang Pan appeared in his hand.
Ayer of dazzling ck light appeared over the surface of the ck saber, and all of the world''s origin qi in the nearby space shuddered before beginning to surge into the saber, forming a massive vortex of energy.
The ck saber immediately swelled drastically in size, transforming into a giant ck de that was over 1,000 feet in length.
Countless ck runes appeared all over the surface of the saber, and rings of ck light proliferated through the air in all directions, carrying powerfulw fluctuations that caused the surrounding space to tremble and shudder.
A hint of surprise appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
The ck saber had been quite formidable in Fang Pan''s hands, but it definitely hadn''t been this fearsome. Could it be that his Holy Nirvana Physique had better synergy with the power ofws contained in the ck saber?
This thought only appeared in Han Li''s mind for a moment before he refocused on the battle at hand, and the muscles on his arm bulged as he shed the saber viciously through the air.
A resounding boom rang out as the ck runes surged violently, and a crescent-shaped ck saber projection that was several thousand feet in length was unleashed, shing against the oing purple lightning and balls of ck lightning.
The ck saber projection was able to destroy the oing attacks with ease, and its power wasn''t diminished in the slightest as it continued to sweep toward the pair of massive lightning beasts.
A tremendous burst ofw powers came crashing down upon the two lightning beasts, and the space around them had abruptly turned as hard as a block of metal.
The pair of massive beasts immediately stopped cold in their tracks, seemingly quite wary of the oing attack.
The giant m hurriedly closed its shell, and purple lightning shed all around it, forming a massive ball of purple lightning that served as a protective barrier.
Meanwhile, the lightning whale let loose a thunderous roar as it released a millstone-sized ck ball out of its mouth, and the ball was giving off an enormous aura with arcs of ck lightning shing around it.
As soon as the ck ball emerged, it rapidly swelled to the size of a small mountain to shield the lightning whale behind it.
Chapter 179: Arriving on a New Continent
Chapter 179: Arriving on a New Continent
The crescent-shaped saber projection crashed into the bodies of the two lightning beasts, and a scintiting ck sun instantly appeared out of thin air to envelop both creatures.
In the next instant, the ck sun exploded violently amid an earth-shattering boom, causing the nearby space to twist and warp.
Rings of ck shockwaves swept through the air in all directions, destroying everything in their path.
Only after a long while did these ck shockwaves subside to reveal the giant m and the lightning whale.
At this point, all of the purple lightning around the giant m had already vanished, and a series of cracks had appeared on its shell, out of which blue blood was seeping out incessantly.
The lightning whale was in an even more sorry state. The ck ball in front of it had reverted back to its original size, and its surface was riddled with cracks.
Furthermore, there were several huge wounds on the lightning whale''s body that extended all the way from its head to its tail. The wounds weren''t very deep, but the sea around it had still been stained red by its blood.
As for Han Li, he was already nowhere to be seen.
The giant m''s shell opened up slightly, revealing its glowing green eye, which was shing erratically in rm and fear.
Even though it had lost the prized object that it had been nurturing for countless millennia, it had managed to survive the attack, and it could always create another pearl given more time.
On the other side, the lightning whale opened its mouth to swallow the ck ball, and its eyes were also filled with rm and unease.
At the same time, the wandering serpent thunderstorm was slowly subsiding.
The pair of giant beasts exchanged a nce with one another, and they naturally had no intention of continuing their battle as they slowly descended into the depths and went their separate ways.
Meanwhile, the Seafaring Lightning Boat was already several thousand kilometers away, and Han Li abruptly reappeared in his room in a sh.
Only after setting up several more restrictions in his room did he sit down with his legs crossed. He then flipped a hand over to summon the ck saber, and there was a hint of tion in his eyes.
During that battle, he had finally developed an understanding of the ck saber''s power. Even though its destructive power couldn''tpare with that of the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword, he finally had a strong immortal treasure in his possession.
However, the saber still didn''t truly feel like an extension of his body yet, and he would have to refine it for some time to achieve perfect synergy with the weapon.
With that in mind, he opened his mouth to release a ball of azure mes to envelop the saber, then devoured it into his belly.
After that, he flipped his hand over once again to produce the head-sized purple ball.
The ball wasn''t perfectly spherical in shape. Instead, it was an ovr object that was as translucent as jade and dark purple in color.
At this moment, there wasn''t even a single arc of lightning on its surface. Instead, it was giving off a purple glow, while faintw fluctuations were emanating from within.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he inspected the object. He had thought that this would be the giant m''s demon core, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that this didn''t seem to have been the case.
It was said that demon beasts that reached the True Immortal Stage no longer had demon cores. Instead, they would manifest nascent souls, just like human cultivators.
Once they mastered the power ofws, they would mostly deposit thosew powers in a certain part of their body. For example, the Primordial Fei Beast that Han Li had in had deposited its power of timews in its single eye.
However, there were also some True Immortal Stage demon beasts that focused the essence in their bodies around the power ofws that they had mastered to form a demon root.
Unlike demon cores, demon roots weren''t vital to the survival of True Immortal Stage demon beasts. Instead, they were more like naturally urring treasures, and every single one of them was extremely precious.
Han Li shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, then cupped the ball in both hands and slowly injected his immortal spiritual power into it.
As a result, the purple light glowing from the ball brightened a little, but no further change was observed.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and after a moment of contemtion, he released some arcs of silver lightning into the purple ball.
The purple ball immediately began to glow brightly, and arcs of purple lightning that were as thick as a grown man''s arm emerged over its surface amid a string of dull thunderps.
Arcs of purple lightning that were as thin as strands of spider silk had also appeared within the ball, and upon closer inspection, one would discover that they were formed by countless lightning runes, which were constantly changing forms while giving off formidable lightningw power fluctuations.
An ted look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he began scrutinizing the lightning runes within the purple ball intently, trying to glean the secrets of lightningws through his observation.
Close to a year passed by in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, the purple ball was hovering in mid-air as it slowly revolved on the spot with arcs of purple lightning shing all around it.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed beneath the purple ball, and he was observing all of the changes taking ce in the ball through the use of his spiritual sense.
A long whileter, he opened his eyes, then heaved a resigned sigh as he swept a sleeve through the air.
The purple lightning shing over the surface of the ball instantly faded, following which it fell into his hand.
Even after observing the purple ball for close to a year, he was no closer at all to mastering thews of lightning.
"Looks like I was too na?ve," he murmured to himself with a wry smile.
The powers ofws were extremely profound, and no small degree of fortune was required to master such powers. Even though he had obtained a ball that contained the power of lightningws, that was certainly no guarantee that he would definitely be able to master thews of lightning.
Even though he was already prepared for such an oue, he still couldn''t help but feel a little disappointed.
Having said that, this hadn''t been apletely fruitless endeavor.
Following this near-year-long stint of observation, he had developed a more thorough understanding of the power of lightning, and his proficiency in the control of lightning had also improved in subtle ways.
Han Li set the purple ball down beside him, then drew a ball of heavy water out of his True Water Pouch.
After that, he pointed a finger at the purple ball, and arcs of purple lightning emerged, fusing with the ball of heavy water at his behest.
As soon as the two made contact with one another, they immediately began to reject each other fiercely.
Han Li remained calm and collected upon seeing this, making a rapid series of hand seals to release a string of incantation seals that enveloped the purple lightning and heavy water from all directions, forcing the two to slowlybine and integrate with one another.
Three dayster, Han Li was holding a fist-sized ball in his hand with some purple lightning patterns on its surface.
This was another ball of Heavy Water Veined Lightning, except this time, he had used the purple lightning from the purple ball.
Even though he hadn''t tested it out, he could tell that it was definitely more formidable than the Heavy Water Veined Lightning he had refined using the power of the Lightning Bird.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he flipped a hand over to stow the ball of lightning away, following which he took a nce out the window.
After such a long journey, the Seafaring Lightning Boat had already left the central region of the Thunderstorm Sea, and the lightning shing through the dark clouds in the sky had clearly be more sparse.
At this point, over half of the journey had already passed by, and he would be arriving on the Ancient Cloud Continent in just two or three more years.
This was a very encouraging thought for Han Li, and he drew another ball of heavy heavy water out of his True Water Pouch.
He had to make some extensive preparations prior to reaching the Ancient Cloud Continent.
¡¡
Three yearster.
There was a snow-covered cliff that was over 100,000 feet tall and shaped like an eagle''s beak.
Atop the cliff stood a grand and imposing pass that was over 1,000 feet tall and constructed from some type of dark red stone material, and there was a golden que that carried the name "Eagle Beak Pass" hanging above the pass.
Beneath the cliff was a sea of white clouds that extended for tens of thousands of kilometers, with mountain summits poking through the clouds at intervals of several dozen kilometers. Those mountain summits resembled inds on a vast sea, and they appeared to have been quite tiny and insignificant, but in reality, all of them belonged to majestic mountains that were hundreds of thousands of feet tall.
These mountains belonged to the vastly renowned Crane Call Mountain Range of the Ancient Cloud Continent, and even though this was only a remote branch of the mountain range, it was still an exceptional visual spectacle.
It was very early in the morning, and the sun was only just beginning to rise, basking the entire sea of clouds in a warm, golden glow.
The clouds surged and churned in the face of the cold mountain wind, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
All of a sudden, what sounded like a string of cow moos rang out. The sound was very low and deep, but was also extremely prative and rang out across the entire sky.
At the same time, a gigantic creature was breaking through the vast expanse of golden clouds as it slowly flew toward the Eagle Beak Pass.
The creature was several thousand feet in size, and it resembled a dark green turtle. Its four massive flippers resembled a set of oars that were slowly moving through the clouds, propelling the enormous creature forward.
A three-story louchuan-like structure that exhibited exceptional craftsmanship had been constructed on the shell of the giant turtle, and it wasplete with engraved golden and jade pirs, presenting avish sight to behold.
At this moment, there were several hundred people standing on the deck of the louchuan, most of whom were appreciating the scenery around them with rxed and carefree expressions.
At the very front of the louchuan, situated closest to the turtle''s head, was an azure-robed man with a medium build. He was holding onto the thick and sturdy dark wood railing in front of him as he cast his gaze toward the Eagle Beak Pass in the distance.
The man was none other than Han Li, who had traveled here from the Primordial Wave Continent.
After arriving at the Seafaring Lightning Boat, he had parted ways with Sun Ke, and the giant turtle that he was riding at this moment was a beast by the name of the Cloudfaring Turtle.
Despite their enormous size, these creatures had a very gentle and mild personality that made them easy to tame. At the same time, they had an enormous load capacity and were able to travel through the sky at extremely high altitudes, so they were often kept byrge trading houses to serve as a mode of long-distance transportation.
Not all of the cities on the Ancient Cloud Continent had teleportation arrays, and having only just arrived on this new continent, Han Li was still yet to find his footing, so he decided to pay the fare to take the Cloudfaring Turtle. Along the way, he would be able to familiarize himself with the Ancient Cloud Continent.
The giant turtle let loose another long call as the edge of its shell made contact with the port of the Eagle Beak Pass, resulting in some slight tremors that quickly subsided.
Ushered by the manager of the Cloudfaring Turtle, all of the passengers began to make their way down a woodendder constructed along the slope of the turtle''s shell to step onto the tall cliff.
Han Li followed the stream of disembarking passengers onto the cliff, and he couldn''t help but look up at the imposing pass before him.
ording to his map, he had officially reached the central region of the Ancient Cloud Continent.
Chapter 180: Detection
Chapter 180: Detection
There were over 200 people who had disembarked here with Han Li, and the majority of them were humans, while the rest were beings from other races, and there were several mortals among those humans.
In reality, these people weren''t actually just ordinary mortals. Instead, they focused solely on refinement of the physical body, much like the body refinement cultivators of the Spirit Realm.
Everyone made their way down the mountain path, and upon entering through the gate of the pass, they arrived in a spacious hall.
The hall was virtuallypletely empty with the exception of a sandalwood table that was around three feet in length situated in one corner of the hall. On the table sat an incense burner, out of which incense smoke was billowing out incessantly.
Through the thin veil of smoke, Han Li could see a purple-robed elderly man with white hair and a white beard sitting on a taishi chair behind the table. The elderly man''s eyes were closed, and his head was bobbing back and forth slightly, making it impossible to tell whether he was meditating or taking a nap.
His aura indicated that he was a Grand Ascension cultivator, and right as Han Li was about to avert his gaze from the elderly man, thetter suddenly opened his eyes before fixing his gaze on Han Li.
At the same time, an elderly voice suddenly rang out in Han Li''s heart.
"I won''t ask why you''ve intentionally suppressed your cultivation base from the True Immortal Stage to the Body Integration Stage, but now that you''ve entered the territory of our ze Dragon Dao, you must follow the rules of our sect."
"Please enlighten me," Han Li replied through voice transmission.
He wasn''t bothered by the slightly threatening tone of the elderly man''s voice. The only thing that was rather perplexing to him was how the man had been able to glean his true cultivation base despite the fact that he was only a Grand Ascension cultivator.
"Rest assured, Senior, our ze Dragon Dao most definitely has the good grace to tolerate outsiders. However, as a True Immortal, you must remember at all times that you are not allowed to meddle in the affairs of the mortal world, and you certainly can''t disrupt the order of the mortal world and kill mortals for no good reason," the purple-robed elderly man borated.
"Thank you for informing me of this. Those rules sound very reasonable," Han Li replied.
Seeing as Han Li was willing toply, the tone of the purple-robed elderly man''s voice instantly became more polite as he said, "In that case, I wish you a smooth and fruitful journey, Senior."
Han Li gave the elderly man a slight nod, then turned to follow everyone to the gate on the other side of the hall.
Outside the gate was a huge white za, where there were many beast-drawn carriages, some of which could gallop through the mountains, while others could soar through the heavens, and they were mostly catering toward the mortal body refinement cultivators.
On the mountains further away wereyers of white forest that resembled jade belts, reflecting the light of the sun.
As soon as he arrived on the Ancient Cloud Continent, Han Li clearly noticed that the temperature here was far lower than anywhere else on the Primordial Wave Continent, and the climate was also more humid.
He paused momentarily to collect his bearings, then flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
Inside the jade slip was the tracking map that he had exchanged for from the Transient Guild, and even though only a portion of thendscape had appeared on the map, it was far more detailed than when he checked it back in the ck Wind Sea.
There was also another clear point of differencepared with before, which was that an extremely eye-catching red line had appeared on the map. The starting point of the red line was the Eagle Beak Pass, and it stretched all the way to a ce by the name of White Kite City in the northeast.
ording to the map, White Kite City was situated in the Hundred Blessings Nation, which was quite far away from the Eagle Beak Pass.
As a safety precaution, he was nning to travel at a speed appropriate for a Body Integration cultivator, so the journey was going to take him around half a month.
In contrast with the Primordial Wave Continent, the Ancient Cloud Continent had a far greater abundance of world''s origin qi and spirit veins. Hence, there were also far more immortal sects here than on the Primordial Wave Continent, thereby naturally making it a more dangerous ce as well.
After taking a moment to ascertain the right direction, Han Li stowed the jade slip away, then flew up into the sky as a streak of azure light.
Seven or eight days passed by in a sh, yet as Han Li was passing over a snow-covered forest, his expression suddenly changed slightly as he drew to an abrupt halt.
Just now, he had detected the auras of Daoist Xie and his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
However, it was clear that both of them were still extremely far away, and he wouldn''t have been able to notice them at all had it not been for his tremendous spiritual sense.
After a brief hesitation, he quickly inspected his surroundings, then flew directly down toward a snow-covered valley.
After descending into the valley, Han Li began to skip rapidly along the ground like an agile gazelle, ultimatelying to a halt on a very t and level rock deep in the valley.
With a casual sweep of his sleeve, all of the snow that had umted on the rock was cleared, and he sat down with his legs crossed, then closed his eyes and began making a series of hand seals while chanting an incantation.
His consciousness began to churn as a subtle spiritual connection began to travel through the air like a winding thread, searching for Daoist Xie and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords based on the faint connection that he had detected earlier.
However, right as the spiritual connection was gradually beginning to be clearer, the spiritual thread that was wandering through the air was suddenly cut off. Even the original connection that he had felt had faded, as if someone had cut him off.
His brows furrowed slightly as he switched to a different hand seal and fully activated his spiritual sense, trying to recapture that connection, but momentster, he reopened his eyes with a resigned expression, then sighed to himself, "Looks like it won''t be so easy to recover what I''ve lost."
Han Li was feeling a little disappointed in the wake of all of this, and he sat in silence in the peaceful valley for a while to collect his thoughts, then continued on his journey to Whit Kite City.
Three dayster.
A streak of azure light descended out of the sky outside a white city that was situated at an intersection point between a pair of rivers.
The streak of azure light then faded to reveal a tall and imposing man with a prominent forehead and a thick beard. The man''s appearance was quite rugged, presenting a bit of a mismatch with his bright and piercing eyes.
The man was none other than Han Li in disguise.
Prior to entering the city, he used his mask from the Transient Guild to adopt yet another disguise, and this time, he concealed his own aurapletely, posing as a mortal as he made his way into the city.
There was no snowfall near White Kite City, but it was still quite cold. There weren''t many people passing through the city gates, and most of them were wearing thick cotton-padded clothes.
There was a group of cultivators situated on either side of the city gates, but most of them were only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, and they were there more so to maintain order than to examine the people entering the city.
Initially, Han Li felt this to be rather strange, but he quickly came to realize that White Kite City was only a small rural city in the Hundred Blessings Nation, and the vast majority of its residents were mortals, thereby exining the ratherx security measures.
After entering the city, Han Li checked the map in the jade slip once again, and this time, the annotations had be even more detailed, pointing him toward a restaurant in the eastern part of the city.
Han Li made his way through the city streets in ordance with the path stipted on the map, and he spotted the restaurant that he was looking for in a rather understated alley.
As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the restaurant, he was immediately greeted by the strong odor of fermented spirits. Perhaps it was because the memory was from too long ago, but the smell was different from what he recalled it to be like.
Back when he was a child, whenever Uncle Zhang came to visit, he would always bring some home-brewed wine to share with Han Li''s father over their crude meal.
At the time, Han Li had been quite young, so he had never drunk the wine, but he recalled finding its aroma very sharp on the nose.
Han Li was momentarily dazed as these distant memories flooded into his mind, but he then shook his head in a self-deprecating manner before making his way into the restaurant.
ording to the habits of the mortal world, it was already past lunchtime but not yet time for dinner. In addition to that, the alley was quite secluded, and as a result, most of the tables and chairs in the restaurant were empty, with the only exceptions being one table that was upied by two men who were having some wine with some salted peanuts.
As soon as Han Li entered the restaurant, a waiter with a hand towel draped over his shoulder immediately approached him with a warm smile.
However, before the waiter had a chance to say anything, someone grabbed onto his shoulder and tugged him aside.
A portly middle-aged man then stepped around the waiter with a smile as he said, "This is an acquaintance of mine, so I''ll attend to him in person."
As the portly manager led Han Li up to the second floor, the waiter scratched his head as he murmured to himself, "An acquaintance? Howe I don''t recall ever seeing him before?"
However, he didn''t ponder the matter any further as he stretchedzily, then sat down onto a chair, cking off on the job.
Han Li followed the portly manager up the creaky wooden staircase to the second floor, where he was then led into a booth at the end of the corridor.
Upon entering the booth, the portly manager stepped aside to allow Han Li to enter the room as well, following which he closed the door.
After that, he swept a hand through the air, and ayer of faint light appeared over the walls of the room, producing a soundproof barrier.
"Please take a seat, Fellow Daoist."
The portly manager made an inviting hand gesture as he spoke, and the smile on his face gradually faded.
Han Li sat down and swept his gaze around the room to find that the surrounding concealment array wasn''t of a particrly high standard. If a cultivator of his caliber wanted to see what was happening in the room, then he would be able to do so from kilometers away.
However, the restaurant was quite secluded in location, and that allowed it to avoid unwanted attention and prying eyes.
The portly manager sat down across from Han Li, then asked, "I''m assuming you have the token, right, Fellow Daoist? Would you be able to bring it out to show me?"
Han Li wasted no time as he flipped a hand over to produce the jade slip that contained the missions debriefing and the tracking map, then slid it across the table toward the portly manager.
Thetter picked up the jade slip before inspecting its contents for a moment with his eyes closed, then nodded as he said, "This is the right token. Looks like you are indeed a fellow daoist of the Transient Guild."
Chapter 181: Heavenly Devil Possession
Chapter 181: Heavenly Devil Possession
"Now that you''ve verified the authenticity of my token, I believe it''s time that you told me exactly what needs to be done for this mission," Han Li said in a direct and straightforward manner.
"Before that, there''s one more thing that I must examine before I decide whether I''m going to entrust this mission to you," the portly manager said.
"What is it?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I need to examine your cultivation base to see if you truly possess the ability toplete the mission," the portly manager said.
Han Li didn''t suppress his aura any longer upon hearing this, releasing his early-True Immortal Stage aura in apletely unconcealed form.
Even though he had only released a hint of his aura, the portly manager still swayed unsteadily as an unnatural flush appeared on his face, and he appeared to have been struggling to breathe.
Han Li hurriedly withdrew his aura upon seeing this, and a hint of befuddlement shed through his eyes.
The portly manager''s appearance was clearly also a disguise manifested by a mask from the Transient Guild, and it had concealed his aura as well, so even with Han Li''s immense spiritual sense, he was unable to glean the man''s cultivation base.
He had only released a tiny hint of his aura, so he was rather taken aback by the strong reaction disyed by the portly manager.
The portly manager''splexion was still a little pale, but some color had returned to his cheeks after a few deep breaths, and he asked, "If I''m not mistaken, you''re an early-True Immortal cultivator, right, Fellow Daoist?"
Han Li merely nodded in response.
A hint of disappointment shed through the portly manager''s face as he sighed, "In that case, I advise you not to take on this mission."
"Why is that?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression. "The mission description stated that any True Immortal cultivator could take on the mission, "
"To tell you the truth, the mission that I released will require you to kill someone. ording to my knowledge, that person is also at the True Immortal Stage, but he possesses certain powers that make him far more formidable than other cultivators of the same caliber. I''m concerned that you''ll be no match for him and end up losing your life here," the portly manager exined with a shake of his head.
"If it''s another early-True Immortal cultivator, then I''m fairly confident that I can take him on. Even if I can''t defeat him, I''ll definitely be able to at least ensure that I''ll survive the encounter, so rest assured and give me the mission debriefing, Fellow Daoist. I''ve already made up my mind, and I''m not going to back down," Han Li insisted with a smile
The portly manager could see that Han Li was quite determined, so he could onlyply with Han Li''s request.
"Alright. The person that I want to kill is a man by the name of Bai Songshi, and he currently serves as the imperial preceptor of the Hundred Blessings Nation. If you can kill him, then you''ll receive the promised reward."
Han Li was rather taken aback by this request, and he asked, "You want me to kill the imperial preceptor of a mortal nation? Aren''t cultivators prohibited from meddlings in the affairs of the mortal world while in the territory of the ze Dragon Dao? Also, if that man really is a True Immortal cultivator, then how did he end up bing the imperial preceptor of a mortal nation?"
Instead of answering Han Li''s question, the portly manager raised one of his own. "I''m assuming you''re not from our Ancient Cloud Continent, right, Fellow Daoist?"
"That''s right," Han Li admitted in a forthright manner.
"That exins it. The thing is that there are trillions of mortals on the Ancient Cloud Continent, and as a result, there are millions of mortal nations. Some nations like the Hundred Blessings Nation appear to be run by the mortal imperial family on the surface, but in reality, they''re being presided over by one or two cultivating ns in the shadows. They are the ones pulling the strings behind the scenes," the portly manager exined.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he asked, "So what you''re saying is that the n that Bai Songshi belongs to is the actual ruler of the Hundred Blessings Nation?"
"That''s right. These cultivating ns are supported by some powerful cultivating sects as well, but due to certain unspoken rules, unless a nation is facingplete annihtion, these cultivating ns generally won''t interfere with the nation''s affairs. Hence, the mortals residing in those nations don''t feel the influence of these cultivating ns at all," the portly manager exined.
"In that case, if I kill Bai Songshi, won''t I be making an enemy out of his n and the cultivating sects that support his n? In fact, wouldn''t that make me a target of the ze Dragon Dao as well?" Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
"You can rest assured on that front, Fellow Daoist. The man that I''m asking you to kill is not the true Bai Songshi," the portly manager replied with a wave of his hand.
Han Li was bing more befuddled by the second, and he was just about to ask what all of this meant when the portly manager continued, "The one that I want you to kill is actually an Extrarealm Heavenly Devil. While transcending his ascension tribtion, the true Bai Songshi was possessed by that heavenly devil.
¡°In order to avoid attracting attention to itself, the heavenly devil has been suppressing its cultivation base to the Grand Ascension Stage this entire time, even though it''s actual cultivation base is at the early-True Immortal Stage..."
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he interjected, "That makes sense, but I have one question: if a heavenly devil really did possess Bai Songshi''s body, they would''ve been sure to act in a secretive manner to avoid attention, so how do you know so much about all of this?"
A hesitant look appeared on the portly manager''s face, and it seemed that he was unsure of how to respond.
"What you''ve just described to me is truly rather bewildering. If you''re unable or unwilling to exin the situation to me in further detail, then I''m afraid I can''t believe you," Han Li said.
The portly manager lowered his head and fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
Han Li also fell silent and waited patiently for a response.
After a long silence, the portly manager slowly raised his head, and there was a determined look in his eyes, indicating that he had just arrived at an important decision.
He raised his hands and ced them on his cheeks, then made a gentle lifting motion, and an azure rabbit mask that was riddled with spirit patterns was removed amid a sh of rippling azure light.
As soon as the mask was removed, azure light surged over the portly manager''s entire body, and he began to rapidly shrink, while his waist was also quicklypressing.
It didn''t take long for the portly manager topletely disappear, reced by a young woman who appeared to have been around 17 to 18 years of age.
The woman had a pair of almond eyes and thin lips, coupled with a pair of fine eyebrows and a delicate nose. There was still some baby fat lingering on her cheeks, and she was wearing a tight-fitting pink lotus flower dress, giving her a gorgeous and refreshing appearance.
However, there was a slight wrinkle between her brows, striking the beholder with a hint of sympathy.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but he finally understood why the woman had disyed such a strong reaction to the release of his aura from earlier.
As it turned out, she was only a Deity Transformation cultivator, and upon detecting this, Han Li couldn''t help but wonder how someone of such a lowly cultivation base had managed to join the Transient Guild.
However, after some closer inspection, he noticed that there seemed to be something out of the ordinary about the woman, but he couldn''t pinpoint exactly what was different about her.
"I''m sure you''re aware that members of the Transient Guild are prohibited from enquiring about the true identities of other members, so the fact that I''m revealing my true appearance to you should be a sufficient show of my sincerity, right, Fellow Daoist?" the young woman asked, and her voice was very pleasant on the ears.
Despite the fact that she was facing a True Immortal whose cultivation base far exceeded hers, she remained quite calm and collected.
Han Li remained unmoved by this gesture, and he said, "Please answer my question from earlier."
The young woman took a deep breath, then said, "To tell you the truth, my name is Bai Suyuan, and I am the granddaughter of Bai Songshi. At the time..."
Thanks to her description of the events that unfolded at the time, Han Li was able to get a rough grasp on the timeline.
As it turned out, Bai Suyuna''s parents had unfortunately passed away during an outing when she was still at a very young age. Due to her cleverness and her exceptional cultivation aptitude, Bai Songshi was very fond of Bai Suyuan and always kept her by his side, constantly showering her with doting affection.
During Bai Songshi''s ascension tribtion, he was possessed by an Extrarealm Heavenly Devil, but no one was able to tell. She was the first one to have noticed, but no one in her n believed her when she told them, not even her own grandfather.
In the beginning, the heavenly devil was quite restrained and didn''t step out of line. However, once it hadpletely integrated itself with Bai Songshi''s memories, it gradually began to control the entire Bai n, then set his sights on the Hundred Blessings Nation''s imperial court, aiming to seize more power with his status as imperial preceptor.
After that, strange happenings began to ur frequently in the Hundred Blessings Nation, with entire cities or towns of people disappearing overnight. As the cultivating power presiding over the Hundred Blessings Nation, the Bai n had naturally sent people to investigate these strange urrences, but all to no avail.
"Eventually, the heavenly devil''s behavior became more and more brazen, and some of the members of my n finally caught on to the fact that something was wrong, so they began to investigate the matter, but they were all taken out by the heavenly devil before they could uncover the truth.
¡°My cultivation aptitude caught the heavenly devil''s eye, and it wanted to develop me into a cultivation cauldron, so it had me imprisoned in a restricted area in our n, and my grandfather was killed by the heavenly devil while rescuing me."
Bai Suyuan''s voice trailed off here, and a hint of pain and grief shed through her eyes.
"My condolences, Fellow Daoist Bai," Han Li consoled.
Bai Suyuan was silent for a moment longer, then continued, "After my grandfather rescued me, he entrusted me with this mask and the token of our ancestor, both of which had been passed down for generations in our n.
¡°He told me to take this token to the ze Dragon Dao and cultivate there until I attained the power to avenge our n, but I''m only at the Deity Transformation Stage, who knows how long it''ll take before I can contend against that heavenly devil?"
"So that''s why you released this mission in the Transient Guild to find someone to help you kill him?" Han Li asked.
Han Li could understand why Bai Suyuan was so disheartened. For a Deity Transformation cultivator, even the Spatial Tempering Stage would''ve seemed impossibly far away, let alone the True Immortal Stage. Having progressed arduously through the ranks himself, Han Li knew just how difficult and perilous this process could be.
At this point, Bai Suyuan had already regained herposure, and she replied, "That''s right. I discovered the existence of the Transient Guild by chance through this mask, and I decided to release this mission.
¡°The heavenly devil has been constantly searching for me ever since I escaped, and it was only thanks to this mask that I''ve been able to avoid capture all this time. If I don''t find someone to kill that heavenly devil, then I''m afraid I won''t be able to get away from it for much longer."
Chapter 182: Heavenly Worship
Chapter 182: Heavenly Worship
"I see. Your exnation makes sense, but why is it that you were able to join the Transient Guild with your cultivation base. Also, you mentioned that this mask and the token were passed down for generations in your n, is that right?"
"This mask originally belonged to an ancestor of our Bai n, the same one who once served as an inner sect elder of the ze Dragon Dao. He was also the reason why our Bai n was able to be the immortal n controlling the Hundred Blessings Nation from the shadows. As for the token, that belonged to him as well," Bai Suyuan exined.
"In that case, why didn''t you go to the ze Dragon Dao to search for that ancestor of yours and get him to help you y the heavenly devil?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"ording to my grandfather, that ancestor of ours suddenly disappeared without a trace several thousand years ago. Several Body Integration Stage elders of our n had been sent out to search for him, but all of them disappeared as well.
¡°As a result, our Bai n gradually fell into decline, and it was exactly because of this that my great-grandfather prematurely attempted a breakthrough to the True Immortal Stage, ultimately resulting in him being possessed by that heavenly devil," Bai Suyuan sighed.
Han Li contemted Bai Suyuan''s story for a moment, then said, "There''s nothing that can back up your ims at the moment. I have to see Bai Songshi for myself to verify whether he''s actually been possessed by a heavenly devil before I decide if I want to carry out the mission."
At the moment, he still didn''tpletely trust Bai Suyuan.
In his eyes, the fact that ate-Deity Transformation cultivator like her was able to escape from a True Immortal for all these years was a clear indication that there was more to her than met the eye, so he was naturally slightly wary of her.
Bai Suyuan hesitated momentarily, then said, "I suppose that''s reasonable. The Hundred Blessings Nation''s decennial heavenly worship ceremony is being held early next month. The emperor and all of his officials will be in attendance, and they''ll be traveling collectively to the Grand Loft Mountain for the ceremony.
¡°Bai Songshi will naturally be among them as well, and that would be the best opportunity to strike as the Grand Loft Mountain is far away from all mortal cities."
Han Li nodded in response, expressing his silent approval of this n.
Bai Suyuan''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and she said, "By the way, I still don''t know your name, Fellow Daoist."
"My name is Li Feiyu."
¡¡
The Grand Loft Mountain Range situated in the eastern region of the Hundred Blessings Nation had always been renowned for its beauty and majesty, and the Grand Loft Mountain in the mountain range was the tallest mountain in the entire nation. It had always been known as the Eastern Divine Mountain, and it held an extremely lofty position in the hearts of all of the nation''s citizens. It was said that a True Immortal had once ascended from that very mountain.
The schrs and poets of the Hundred Blessings Nation had also always taken pride in scaling the Grand Loft Mountain and dedicating poems and odes to the majestic mountain. Even to this day, the mountain was still riddled with poems that had been engraved onto the rock faces, attracting many tourists every year to see those poems for themselves.
However, starting from a month ago, the entirety of the Grand Loft Mountain had been surrounded byrge numbers of armored soldiers,pletely sealing it off to everyone, regardless of whether they weremon folk or nobility.
No one in the Hundred Blessings Nation had anyints about this as they knew that the heavenly worship ceremony was about tomence.
Even though the mountain had been sealed off, countless people had gathered at the foot of the mountain from the nearby counties in the days leading up to the ceremony.
On the day of the official ceremony, even before first light had arrived, the official road leading up to the Grand Loft Mountain was already lined with people wanting to witness the emperor in person.
As soon as the designated hour arrived, the carriages of the emperor and the officials made their way out of the imperial pce, traveling toward the Grand Loft Mountain while escorted by the imperial guard.
On the summit of the Grand Loft Mountain was arge round altar, atop which stood a table and an incense burner. There was a damask red carpet draped over the ground, while many officials in ceremonial robes were gathered around the altars, waiting with their hands sped in front of them and reverent looks on their faces.
Among them was an ordinary-looking middle-aged official whose eyes were constantly darting around, inspecting his surroundings.
This person was none other than Han Li, who had managed to sneak into the ranks of the officials, while Bai Suyuan had concealed herself outside of the altar.
After some observation, Han Li discovered that aside from the dozen or so Nascent Soul and Foundation Establishment cultivators among the patrolling soldiers present on the mountain summit, the high official of the Ministry of Rites standing beside him was also a Deity Transformation cultivator.
Han Li knew that these people had most likely been nted into the imperial court by the Bai n in secret.
After waiting for a few hours, the emperor''s carriage finally arrived on the summit of the Grand Loft Mountain, followed by a procession of other carriages.
The emperor appeared to have only been around 20 years of age, and he was helped down from his carriage by a eunuch. However, instead of immediately making his way to the altar, he stopped beside his carriage, seemingly waiting for something.
Momentster, the carriages behind him also arrived on the mountain summit one after another, and the door of the carriage immediately following the emperor''s swung open.
There was a white-haired elderly man in a purple robe inside, and he reached out a hand before making his way out of the carriage in a shaky manner, assisted by a couple of servants.
The man had an extremely geriatric appearance. He had a pair of murky eyes, and his face was riddled with wrinkles. There were several stray strands of white hair drifting in front of his forehead, and his body was severely hunched over. It seemed that even a slightly strong breeze would be able to knock him down.
A faint smile appeared on the emperor''s face as he slowly made his way to the elderly man''s side, then apanied him toward the altar, followed quickly by all of the other officials.
Standing among the crowd, a hint of barely detectable blue light shed through Han Li''s eyes as his gaze swept over the elderly man, and just that single nce alone was enough for him to tell him that this man was the imperial preceptor, Bai Songshi.
Bai Songshi was putting on the fa?ade of a frail old man, and he had done a very good job of concealing his own aura, but he was naturally unable to fool Han Li''s spiritual sense, and on the surface, he didn''t indeed appear to have been a Grand Ascension cultivator.
Aside from the fact that he was intentionally suppressing his own aura and cultivation base, Han Li didn''t find anything else worthy of note about him.
The emperor and Bai Songshi slowly made their way up the staircase toward the altar, while the other officials stopped at the foot of the altar.
While passing by Han Li and the other officials, Bai Songshi''s footsteps faltered ever so slightly, and he took what appeared to have been a casual nce in a certain direction outside of the altar out of the corner of his eye. A faint gleam shed through his murky eyes, but it was gone in an instant, and he continued to make his way toward the center of the altar as if nothing had happened.
The ceremonymenced under the watchful eye of a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Rites, while Han Li was silently contemting how to proceed.
Right at this moment, Bai Suyuan''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind, and she was sounding a little frantic. "Fellow Daoist Li, why have you still not done anything? I''m sure that heavenly devil has already discovered me at this point. Have you been fooled by that heavenly devil''s fa?ade?"
Han Li lowered his head to look down at his own shadow, then asked internally, "Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, can you take a look at that man for me?"
A brief momentter, Mo Guang''s voice rang out in his mind. "He''s done a fair good job of disguising himself, but as far as I can tell, he is indeed an Extrarealm Heavenly Devil."
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
At this point, the emperor had already offered up his three customary sticks of incense to the altar and had returned to the side of his carriage.
Meanwhile, as the head of all of the imperial court''s officials, Bai Songshi had been tasked with reciting the heavenly worship oration on the emperor''s behalf. His voice was hoarse and strained, and he really did sound like an old man who was struggling just to speak.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly strode forward and emerged from the crowd.
The officials of the Ministry of Rites around him were stunned by this insolent gesture, and they hurriedly called out to stop him, but before they could do anything, he had already vanished on the spot.
In the next instant, he appeared at the center of the altar, and with a sweep of his sleeve, a gust of fierce azure wind was released, sweeping up all of the officials, including the emperor, before carrying them down to the foot of the mountain.
The cultivators concealed among the mortals were trying to break out of the gust of azure wind with all their might, but they werepletely powerless to do so and could only look on helplessly as they were carried down the mountain.
Bai Songshi ceased his chanting as he turned to face Han Li. "So you''re the one that the girl has sought out to kill me?"
At the same time, his murky eyes instantly became incredibly clear, and his hunched back had also be ramrod straight. He smoothed down the strands of stray hair in front of his forehead, and all of his geriatric frailty had vanished in an instant, reced by a powerful and domineering aura.
Han Li offered no response as a cold smile appeared on his face, and heunched himself forward as he threw a punch directly at Bai Songshi''s head.
Bai Songshi''s eyelids twitched slightly as he detected the immense aura that had erupted out of Han Li''s body, and he immediately shot back several hundred feet in retreat.
As a result, Han Li''s fist missed its target and struck the altar instead.
A resounding boom rang out as the entire altar was destroyed, reduced to a pile of rubble and dust.
Around a dozen streaks of light appeared around Han Li one after another, each of which contained a cultivator who was glowering at Han Li with furious expressions.
An azure-robed elderly man stabbed a finger in Han Li''s direction as he yelled, "How dare you attack our patriarch, you insolent cur!"
After that initial punch, Han Li didn''t unleash any further attacks. Instead, he merely observed Bai Songshi from afar while ignoring everyone around him.
The cultivators that had surrounded him were all from the Bai n, and even the most powerful one among them was only at thete-Deity Transformation Stage, so he naturally wasn''t going to target them.
Right at this moment, a slender figure shot forth from afar before descending onto the destroyed altar, revealing herself to be none other than Bai Suyuan.
"Stop! This is Senior Li, a cultivator that I implored toe and eradicate this heavenly devil. Don''t be fooled by that devilish creature!" Bai Suyuan yelled in a frantic voice.
The azure-robed elderly man erupted into a fit of fury as he rushed directly toward Bai Suyuan. "Silence, you foul wench! Not only have you killed your grandfather, you''re now ndering the head of our n! You are the only devilish creature here!"
Han Li could see what was happening out of the corner of his eye, but he paid that no heed as he made his way toward Bai Songshi.
Chapter 183: Slaying the Devil
Chapter 183: ying the Devil
A cold look appeared in Bai Songshi''s eyes at the sight of the approaching Han Li, and he swept his sleeves through the air to release a pair of giant fiery wheels that were enveloped in five-colored light and burning with five-colored spirit mes.
This was a pair of spirit treasures of quite a high caliber, but Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as he chuckled coldly, "Even now, you''re still unwilling to reveal your true form?"
Bai Songshi offered no reply as he swept his sleeves toward Han Li while chanting an incantation.
The sound of howling wind rang out as the pair of five-colored fiery wheels rapidly expanded, swelling to several hundred feet in size in the blink of an eye before hurtling directly toward Han Li.
A burst of wince-inducing screeching rang out as a pair of extremely deep trenches were dug into the surface of the mountain summit by the pair of fiery wheels. Five-colored mes were burning within both of the trenches, melting straight through the solid rock.
The surrounding cultivators of the Bai n knew that they were far too weak to participate in the battle between Han Li and Bai Songshi, so all of them turned to attack Bai Suyuan at the azure-robed elderly man''s behest.
Bai Suyuan clearly had no intentions of fighting fire with fire, and she summoned two or three protective treasures at once, conjuring up arge fiery cloud around her to ward off the attacks from the surrounding Bai n cultivators.
Even though she was significantly younger than all of the Bai n cultivators around her, she possessed outstanding cultivation aptitude, and herte-Deity Transformation Stage cultivation base meant that she was able to hold her own just fine despite being severely outnumbered.
Han Li disyed no intention of taking evasive measures from the pair of oing fiery wheels. Instead, he took a step forward, and golden scales surfaced over both of his arms as he reached forward with both hands at once.
A pair of massive golden hands appeared out of thin air, then reached straight into the five-colored mes before grabbing tightly onto the wheels within.
The fiery wheels were instantly stopped cold in their tracks as if they had crashed into an insurmountable barrier.
Bai Songshi''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he began to chant a loud incantation while making a rapid series of hand seals.
The mes around the fiery wheel instantly began to burn with even greater ferocity, while the wheels themselves began to revolve at a higher speed, sending the mes around it shooting through the air in all directions.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he felt the increased power output from the pair of fiery wheels, and he let loose a thunderous roar, then abruptly threw both of his hands up into the air.
Both of the giant fiery wheels were involuntarily hurled up into the sky, and in the next instant, Han Li sprang forward, arriving in front of Bai Songshi in a sh.
A string of cracks and pops rang out from one of his arms, which also expanded drastically in size as heunched a fist directly at Bai Songshi''s head.
However, Bai Songshi was already prepared for such an attack, and he thrust both of his hands forward to release a round shield with the head of a beast engraved onto its surface.
A resounding thump rang out as Han Li''s fist made contact with the shield, and thetter instantly caved in significantly, while Bai Songshi was sent flying back by the tremendous force behind Han Li''s punch.
Before he had a chance to steady himself, Han Li appeared in front of him once again before throwing another devastating punch.
Bai Songshi had no choice but to raise the already severely damaged shield once again to defend himself, and a resounding boom rang out as the shield exploded into the pieces in the face of Han Li''s attack.
Even after plowing through the shield, Han Li''s fist still carried tremendous momentum as it continued to hurtle through the air before striking Bai Songshi square on the chest.
A dull thump rang out, and even though the sound wasn''t very loud, it sent tremors running through the entire mountain summit.
Bai Songshi''s chest was instantly caved in by the blow, but he suddenly raised his head to the heavens before opening his mouth to release a burst of dense, ck devilish qi, which rose up into the sky like a plume of ck smoke.
The plume of devilish qi quickly filled the entire sky above the Grand Loft Mountain, and in the blink of an eye, the entire surrounding area in a radius of several hundred kilometers had been plunged into a pitch-ck night.
"What the hell..."
"Everyone, stop!"
"Suyuan, could it be that you were telling the truth this entire time?"
All of the Bai n cultivators who were attacking Bai Suyuan immediately stopped what they were doing as they looked up into the sky with incredulous expressions. No longer supported by the heavenly devil, Bai Songshi''s lifeless body was falling out of the air.
Bai Suyuan also looked up into the sky as the fiery cloud around her faded, and a hint of fierce resentment had surfaced in her eyes.
"If you don''t want to die, then take those mortals at the foot of the mountain and leave this ce right now," Han Li instructed in a cold voice.
Everyone immediately snapped back to their senses upon hearing this, and they hurriedly picked up Bai Songshi''s remains before flying down the mountain.
The azure-robed elderly man turned to Bai Suyuan with aplex expression, and after some hesitation, he said, "I''m sorry for doubting you, Suyuan. Come with us, it''s not safe here."
Bai Suyuan didn''t even spare a nce at the elderly man as she spat through gritted teeth, "No, I have to see that heavenly devil die with my own eyes."
The azure-robed elderly man opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately only heaved a resigned sigh before flying down the mountain.
At this point, the devilish cloud in the sky had already be extremely dense, and it had manifested itself into a giant human face.
"I''m going to tear off your skin and grind your bones to dust for forcing me to abandon my human body!"
A cold voice rang out from the heavens, and as soon as the voice trailed off, the human face in the sky immediately opened its mouth to release a vast expanse of devilish mes that swept toward Han Li in a frenzy.
At this point, Han Li had already summoned the ck saber that he had taken from Fang Pan, and with a flick of his wrist, he unleashed a massive saber projection that was over 100 feet wide, sending it sweeping toward the oing sea of devilish mes.
The sea of ck mes was instantly parted by the formidable saber projection, creating a path straight down the middle that was 1,000 feet wide.
Han Li flew directly through that opening as he shed his saber incessantly through the air, conjuring up a vast expanse of ck saber projections that hurtled toward the massive face up above.
In the face of the saber projections, the enormous devilish cloud up above was sliced into pieces while churning incessantly.
The giant face in the sky continued to st devilish mes at Han Li, but the mes were easily kept at bay by Han Li''s saber projections.
Right at this moment, the devilish cloud suddenly began to shrink, contracting from several hundred kilometers in size to only dozens of kilometers, forming a massive devilish face with a pair of ck horns on its head.
The devilish face opened its mouth, and an enormous ck vortex appeared within, releasing a burst of tremendous suction force that sucked Han Li into the vortex in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, the devilish face closed its mouth to swallow up Han Li.
Bai Suyuan''s heart sank slightly upon seeing this, and she flipped a hand over to produce a golden ball, which she concealed up her sleeve.
The golden ball was riddled with runes, and there were arcs of golden lightning shing over its surface. It was a ball of Divine Devilbane Lightning, which was unmatched in its effectiveness against Extrarealm Heavenly Devils.
A long whileter, the devilish face remainedpletely unchanged, and a hint of resolve appeared in Bai Suyuan''s eyes as she prepared to fly up herself and attack the heavenly devil in one final act of defiance.
Right at this moment, shes of silver light suddenly appeared from the corners of the devilish face''s lips, and immediately thereafter, a resounding thunderp rang out as the giant devilish face exploded amid an eruption of silver lightning.
A Lightning Bird with silver lightning all over its body then flew out into the open before reverting back to Han Li''s human form.
After the devilish face exploded, the scattered devilish cloud converged once again to form an inky-ck elderly man that sped directly toward Bai Suyuan.
The elderly man was identical to Bai Songshi in appearance, except its entire body was pitch-ck in color.
A cold look shed through Han Li''s eyes as he shed his ck saber downward, and a ck saber projection shed through the air at an incredible speed, striking the inky-ck elderly man and slicing its body in half right before it could reach Bai Suyuan.
A thunderous crack rang out as the ck saber projection continued onward even after passing through the inky-ck elderly man''s body, slicing straight into the Grand Loft Mountain itself.
A burst of violent tremors rang through the entire mountain, and countless rocks were sent ttering down the mountain while flocks of birds flew away in rm and panic.
Only after a long while did the tremors subside, and after the dust settled, Bai Suyuan was astonished to discover that an enormous rift had appeared before her.
The entire Grand Loft Mountain had been sliced in half.
Unbeknownst to Han Li, this casual sh of his would go on to erase the name of the Grand Loft Mountain from the map of the Hundred Blessings Nation. From that day onward, the Grand Loft Mountain became known as the Mountain of Halves, and this new name was apanied by a legend detailing the exploits of a devil-ying immortal.
Of course, none of that was of any concern to Han Li.
The heavenly devil''s body had also been sliced into two, with each half situated on one side of the rift.
Han Li descended out of the sky and arrived beside the inky-ck elderly man with a cold look in his eyes. He raised a hand and was just about to deal the killing blow when a voice suddenly rang his mind.
"Hold on a second, Fellow Daoist Han."
A pitiful look appeared in the inky-ck elderly man''s eyes as he implored, "Please don''t kill me, Fellow Daoist. I''m willing to sign a heavenly devil contract with you and pledge my eternal servitude to you."
Han Li offered no response to this, but a peculiar look had appeared on his face.
Bai Suyuan was terrified that Han Li would ept this offer, and she hurriedly approached him to dissuade him from giving in to temptation.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s shadow abruptly elongated, and an inky-ck figure emerged from within. It was none other than Mo Guang, and he was the one that had called out to Han Li just now, urging him not to deal the killing blow right away.
Chapter 184: A Request
Chapter 184: A Request
As soon as Mo Guang appeared, he looked down at the inky-ck elderly man on the ground as he scoffed in an emotionless voice, "How insolent of you to think that low-tier trash like yourself is worthy of signing a heavenly devil contract with him!"
The inky-ck elderly was terrified at the sight of Mo Guang, and ck light shed over its body as it attempted to flee by disintegrating into a cloud of devilish qi.
However, Mo Guang wasn''t going to allow such a thing to happen, and he instantly extended a hand forward. ck light shed from his palm, forming arge ck that descended onto the elderly man, enveloping the cloud of devilish qi that the man had transformed into before rapidly contracting.
"No!"
An anguished howl rang out from within the cloud of devilish qi, and it twisted and warped momentarily before reforming into the elderly man''s body within the.
Immediately thereafter, Mo Guang chanted an incantation in an unfamiliarnguage, and ck light shed within his eyes, following which he opened his mouth before inhaling sharply, and the elderly man reverted back into a cloud of devilish qi that flowed into Mo Guang''s mouth along with the ck.
The other half of the heavenly devil''s body on the other side of the rift wasn''t spared, either, and it was also devoured by Mo Guang as a stream of mist, following which the storage bracelet that it was carrying ttered down onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already collected the pair of fiery wheel spirit treasures before returning to his original spot.
Mo Guang''s body blurred momentarily before he re-entered Han Li''s shadow, and at the same time, his voice rang out within Han Li''s mind.
"Please examine the contents of that man''s storage treasure for me, Fellow Daoist Han. As a heavenly devil, I''m sure he must have a good collection of Devilish Deed Stones. If I can get my hands on those stones, I''ll be able to recover a bit more."
After devouring the other heavenly devil, Mo Guang''s voice had be slightly more expressive and wasn''t as stiff and wooden as it had been previously.
Han Li swept a sleeve toward the ground upon hearing this, and the ck storage bracelet rose up into the air.
Right at this moment, a white shadow shed past, and the ck bracelet abruptly vanished from the spot.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
The white shadow drew to a halt not far away, revealing itself to be Bai Suyuan, and she was clutching the ck bracelet tightly in both hands.
"Thank you for ying that devil for me, Senior Li, but this bracelet belongs to our Bai n. As a lofty immortal, surely nothing in the possession of our Bai n would be of sufficient value to catch your eye," Bai Suyuan said.
Her expression had eased significantly in the wake of the heavenly devil''s death, and she was clearly extremely relieved. Furthermore, she wasn''t disying any fear at the sight of Mo Guang.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then said, "Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Bai. I have no intention of taking anything that rightfully belongs to your Bai n. However, that Extrarealm Heavenly Devil most likely had some Devilish Deed Stones in his collection, and those stones are very important to me.
¡°Please check if there are any such stones present in the storage bracelet, and if there are, I''m willing to purchase them from you with spirit stones."
Bai Suyuan nodded in response as a smile appeared on her face, then directed her spiritual sense into the ck bracelet.
Momentster, she flipped a hand over to produce a ck stone that had wisps of ck mist drifting around it and was giving off a peculiar aura.
"Is this what you''re looking for?"
Han Li consulted Mo Guang through their spiritual connection, and after verifying that this was indeed a Devilish Deed Stone, he replied, "That''s right. How many of these stones are in there? I''ll take them all."
"Hold on, I''ll count them now... There are 20 of these stones in the bracelet," Bai Suyuan replied.
"I can offer you 20 top-grade spirit stones for these Devilish Deed Stones. What do you think?" Han Li asked as he flipped a hand over to produce 20 top-grade spirit stones.
To his surprise, Bai Suyuan immediately shook her head and turned down his offer.
"Is the price too low for your liking?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Bai Suyuan shook her head once again as she replied, "That''s not the case. I know that there''s no way that a True Immortal like yourself would stoop to trying to swindle someone like me. In our Hundred Blessings Nation, a top-grade spirit stones is worth at least 100 high-grade spirit stones, and even back when our Bai n was in its heyday, I only received an allowance of no more than three high-grade spirit stones per year, and that was only because I was held in high regard by our patriarch."
"Then what would you like in exchange for those Devilish Deed Stones?" Han Li asked as he stowed his spirit stones away.
"I want you to fulfill a request of mine," Bai Suyuan replied with a mischievous smile.
"A request?" Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this, and he felt as if he were getting to know Bai Suyuan for the first time all over again.
Following the heavenly devil''s demise, it was as if she had be apletely different person, as if her quirky and mischievous nature, which had previously been repressed by her stress and desire for vengeance, was only just returning to the fore.
"That''s right. As for exactly what the request is, I haven''t decided on it yet, but rest assured, my request definitely won''t be a dangerous one to fulfill, or beyond the scope of your abilities. I''ll only be a small request," Bai Suyuan said with a serious expression.
Han Li contemted the situation momentarily, then nodded in agreement. "Alright, but I''ll only give you three days to think of your request. If you take any longer than that, then the deal''s off."
"It''s a promise!" Bai Suyuan smiled as she tossed a small pouch at Han Li.
"I''ve alreadypleted the mission that you requested for me, so I believe it''s time you gave me the promised reward," Han Li said as he stowed the pouch away.
"Given what''s just happened here, other people are most likely going to arrive on the scene to investigate soon, so let''s leave this ce first. Rest assured, Senior, if I don''t give you your reward forpleting the mission, even if you don''te after me, the Transient Guild wouldn''t spare me," Bai Suyuan said.
Immediately thereafter, she turned and flew away into the distance as a streak of white light without waiting for a response from Han Li.
Han Li also rose up into the air and followed along behind her.
A short whileter, the two of them descended onto a lush mountain several thousand kilometers away from the Grand Loft Mountain.
The environment on the mountain was quite peaceful, and there was also a quaint river at the foot of the mountain, presenting a captivating sight to behold.
On the mountain was a grave,plete with an old tombstone with some text engraved upon it. The text had already be quite indistinct from age and natural wear, but the initial Bai character could still be made out.
Bai Suyuan descended onto the ground in front of the grave, and a film of tears appeared in her eyes at the sight of the tombstone as she sank to her knees.
"That devilish creature is finally dead, Grandpa. Your soul can rest now..." Bai Suyuan sobbed as her thin and delicate shoulders trembled.
Han Li waited patiently as Bai Suyuan paid her respects at her grandfather''s grave, turning to look away from the grave in order to give her some privacy.
Bai Suyuan''s sobs continued to ring out from behind him, and only after a long while did they gradually subside.
"I''m sorry you had to see that, Senior Li. I was momentarily ovee with emotions," Bai Suyuan said as she slowly made her way toward Han Li.
"There''s nothing to apologize for, Fellow Daoist Bai, you were only disying normal human emotions. Having said that, as those who remain in the world of the living, we have to remain strong, so don''t dwell too much on your grief," Han Li consoled.
The rims of Bai Suyuan''s eyes were still a little red, and there were still some tear streaks on her cheeks. Both her expression and her aura indicated that her emotions werepletely genuine.
Having seen so much throughout his life, Han Li wasn''t moved by her emotional disy, but he didn''t have a heart of stone, either, so he naturally offered her some words of constion.
"Thank you, Senior Li," Bai Suyuan sighed as she flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized azure badge. On one side of the badge was inscribed the characters for "ze Dragon", while the visage of a strange dragon with a pair of wings on its back and a single horn on its head was engraved on the other side.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly as his gaze fell upon the badge.
"This is a ze Dragon Token. Seeing as you''re not from the Ancient Cloud Continent, you may not be aware of how rigorous the standards are for someone wishing to join the ze Dragon Dao. For a start, they must possess exceptional aptitude and have a pure and untarnished background.
¡°However, this token can allow one to directly enter the ze Dragon Dao''s inner sect regardless of their aptitude. The ancestor of our Bai n was only awarded with this token after making a significant contribution to the ze Dragon Dao," Bai Suyuan said as she gently stroked the badge with her fingers.
"I see. This is indeed quite a precious token then," Han Li replied with a nod.
"After my grandfather passed away, I originally nned to join the ze Dragon Dao using this token, but I couldn''t bear the thought of allowing that heavenly devil to remain atrge for the foreseeable future, and that''s why I used the token to release this mission instead," Bai Suyuan sighed as she offered the badge to Han Li.
A hint of sympathy shed through Han Li''s eyes, but he still epted the badge from her.
All of a sudden, Bai Suyuan raised her head as she asked, "Your promise to fulfill a request of mine still counts, right?"
"Have you thought of what you''d like to request from me?" Han Li asked.
"I don''t have very strong emotional ties with the rest of the members of the Bai n. In fact, most of them hold negative views of me for what happened in the past, so I can''t stay here any longer. Even though I no longer have a ze Dragon Token, I still want to go to the ze Dragon Dao and try my luck.
¡°Who knows? Maybe I''ll be fortunate enough to be epted. Seeing as you epted this mission for this ze Dragon Token, I presume you must intend to join the ze Dragon Dao as well. Hence, I would like you to take me there," Bai Suyuan said.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, clearly not anticipating such a request.
The Ancient Cloud Continent was extremely vast, and there was still a very long way to go before one could reach the Bell Toll Mountain Range where the ze Dragon Dao was situated. The journey wouldn''t be as perilous as that of crossing the Primordial Wave Continent, but it still definitely wasn''t going to be smooth sailing.
Given her Deity Transformation Stage cultivation base, attempting the journey on her own would''ve been extremely risky, and even the slightest mishap along the way could result in her demise.
Despite her frail appearance, Bai Suyuan was quite a crafty girl, and Han Li had no good reason to turn down her request.
After a moment of contemtion, Han Li said, "If you''ve made up your mind, then I could certainly bring you with me. However, once we reach the ze Dragon Dao, your request will be fulfilled, so don''t expect anything more out of me."
"Really? Thank you so much! I''m already extremely grateful that you''re willing to take me there, I wouldn''t dare to trouble you for anything else, Senior Li!" Bai Suyuan said as an exuberant smile appeared on her face.
Han Li wasted no time with words upon hearing this, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a white jade boat shaped like a flying bird before drifting onto it.
This was a top-grade spirit treasure that he had found in Fang Pan''s storage treasure, and it was only a sliver away from bing an immortal treasure.
Bai Suyuan hurriedly flew onto the boat as well before taking a seat. Her smile then faded as she put on a serious expression and vowed, "I''ll be sure to remember everything you''ve done for me, Senior Li."
Han Li offered no response as he released an incantation seal, and the jade boat immediately began to glow with bright white radiance before shooting rapidly away into the distance.
Chapter 185: Arriving at the Blaze Dragon Dao
Chapter 185: Arriving at the ze Dragon Dao
The Bell Toll Mountain Range was situated atop a massive system of spirit veins, so the world''s origin qi in the area was extremely abundant. Hence, even though the climate here was quite cold, the mountain range was still rife with lush greenery, and countless spirit beasts and spirit herbs could be found in the region.
The mountain range was so vast that it stretched across virtually half of the entire Ancient Cloud Continent, and all of the mountains within it were extremely tall and steep, extending straight up into the heavens. Furthermore, the mountains were enshrouded within a type of azure mist all year round, giving them a sense of enigma and mystique.
A strange loud noise would periodically ring out across the entire mountain range during all times of the year, and the sound was very simr to the toll of a bell, thereby giving the mountain range its name.
Apparently, these sounds came from the tectonic te activity taking ce in the earth beneath the mountain range.
The Bell Toll Mountain Range was quite a renowned ce in its own right, but it was overshadowed by the ze Dragon Dao, which was vastly renowned across the entire Northern cial Immortal Region.
The ze Dragon Dao was one of the oldest sects in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region, and its founder was a man with the title of Daoist Master ze Dragon.
Ever since its founding, the ze Dragon Dao had always been the number one sect on the Ancient Cloud Continent, and at this point, its forces had branched out across the entire continent. The sect was home to countless prodigious disciples, and even in the context of the entire Northern cial Immortal Region, it ranked among a small handful of the very top sects.
Around the central region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range stood a massive mountain near the edge of the mountain range.
The mountain extended all the way up into the clouds, and a vast white jade za had been constructed halfway up the mountain. A series of tall buildings were situated on the za, and they were also primarily white in color, giving off a bright glow that allowed them to be clearly seen even from hundreds of kilometers away.
This was one of the external mountains of the ze Dragon Dao, and it was generally used to amodate visitors.
Due to the resounding reputation of the ze Dragon Dao, it received an enormous number of visitors, so there were several dozen such amodation sites littered throughout the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
At this moment, there were several ze Dragon Dao disciples chatting with one another while standing in the wee pavilion on the za.
These disciples were all at around the Deity Transformation Stage, and each of them had the visage of a dragon with a pair of wings and a single horn on its head embroidered onto their sleeve.
"How many batches of visitors have we had over the past few days?" a tall and thin young man asked with a smile.
"It''s already been 25 batches. What can I say? Our ze Dragon Dao has such a resounding reputation that people flock here from all over the continent," a slightly portly man replied with a proud grin on his face.
"Weing these guests is such a boring job. I just want my shift to be over as soon as possible," a gorgeous purple-haired young womanined with a disgruntled expression.
"I understand your frustration, Junior Martial Sister Yin. You''ve already reached the pinnacle of the Deity Transformation Stage, so you''ll be attempting a breakthrough to the Spatial Tempering Stage soon. This is indeed a rather unsuitable time for you to be serving guest weing duties. How are your preparations for the breakthroughing along?" the thin young man asked.
"I''ve already made some preparations, but I''d say I only have a roughly 30% chance of sess," the purple-haired young woman replied with furrowed brows.
"Don''t be disheartened, Junior Disciple Sister. Weing guests isn''t necessarily always a waste of time. If you encounter a generous senior and ensure that they receive a satisfactory wee, perhaps they''ll be willing to gift you some spirit stones. In particr, someone as beautiful as yourself stands a much better chance of receiving such a reward than men like us," the portly man said with a smile.
The purple-haired young woman''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this. "Is that so?"
Right at this moment, a speck of white light appeared on the distant horizon, and it was rapidly approaching the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
As the speck of white light drew closer to the mountain range, it was revealed to be a white jade boat.
A middle-aged man with a yellowplexion was standing on the boat, apanied by a gorgeous young woman in a long white dress.
These two were none other than Han Li and Bai Suyuan, and they had finally arrived here after traveling for several years.
"So this is the Bell Toll Mountain Range... the world''s origin qi here is extremely abundant," Han Li remarked with an approving nod.
A hint of longing had also surfaced in Bai Suyuan''s eyes, and she was looking quite excited, but she then immediately took a deep breath to recover herposure.
Instead of descending onto the mountain range right away, a contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face.
Even though Bai Suyuan had told him that the ze Dragon Token would be sufficient for him to join the ze Dragon Dao, he still had to think about how to make the best use of the token.
Ideally, he would have someone in the ze Dragon Dao submit a rmendation for him.
Han Li knew nothing about the ze Dragon Dao, but this wasn''t a very difficult task to aplish. All that he required was some time for nning.
An intelligent gleam shed through Bai Suyuan''s eyes as she said, "Senior Li, if you''re considering how to acquaint yourself with someone in the ze Dragon Dao, then I believe I can lend you a hand."
"What do you propose?" Han Li asked as he turned to Bai Suyuan.
He wasn''t all that surprised that she had managed to guess his intentions.
During the past few years traveling together, he hade to know Bai Suyuan quite well. Her cultivation base wasn''t worthy of note, but she was extremely intelligent and observant, often able to glean his thoughts and intentions from very limited tidbits of information.
As a result, he barely said a word to her throughout the final two to three years of their journey.
"It just so happens that the ancestor of our Bai n had a good friend by the name of Qi Liang in the ze Dragon Dao. He''s an inner sect elder, and our ancestor once said that if anyone in our n wishes to join the ze Dragon Dao in the future, then we can seek out Qi Liang to look out for us.
¡°It''s been several thousand years since our ancestor disappeared, so I''m not sure if he would still be willing to help us, but we should at least be able to request an audience with him," Bai Suyuan exined.
"In that case, I''ll have to trouble you, Fellow Daoist Bai," Han Li replied with a nod.
"It''s no trouble at all, Senior Li. You looked after me throughout our entire journey to the ze Dragon Dao, this is the least that I can do for you. However..." Bai Suyuan''s voice trailed off here as a hesitant look appeared on her face.
"What is it?" Han Li asked.
"Forgive me for prying into your personal matters, but I''m assuming that your current appearance isn''t your true appearance, right, Senior Li?" Bai Suyuan asked in a hesitant voice.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he asked, "What do you mean by that, Fellow Daoist Bai?"
"Over the past few years, I''ve developed somewhat of an understanding of your personality. You''re extremely cautious when ites to everything else, but you''ve made no effort at all to hide your appearance, and that tells me that this most likely isn''t your true appearance at all. On top of that, as a member of the Transient Guild, I''m aware that these masks can provide extremely effective disguises," Bai Suyuan exined with a faint smile.
"As expected, these little tricks of mine aren''t enough to fool you. Your intelligence is truly unmatched, Fellow Daoist Bai," Han Li praised with a smile of his own.
"You''re far too kind, Senior Li. If it isn''t for the fact that I''ve been by your side for so long, I wouldn''t have been able to make this educated guess. If you want to join the ze Dragon Dao, then you''ll have to do away with your disguise.
¡°The masks of the Transient Guild can fool the vast majority of cultivators, but it''s said that here are 13 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords in the ze Dragon Dao, and the first dao lord is said to have already reached the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage and is on the very cusp of the High Zenith Stage.
¡°I doubt the disguises conjured up by the masks of the Transient Guild will be able to fool them, and if you''re exposed, not only will you be barred from joining the sect, there''s a chance that you''ll even be regarded as a spy from an enemy sect," Bai Suyuan said with a serious expression.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then nodded in response as he made a hand seal, reverting back to his original appearance amid a faint sh of light.
Bai Suyuan''s gaze lingered momentarily on Han Li''spletely unremarkable appearance, following which she pursed her lips slightly as she withdrew her gaze.
The white jade boat continued to fly onward at Han Li''s behest, quickly reaching the mountain up ahead before descending onto the za.
After Bai Suyuan had gotten down from the boat, Han Li stowed it away, and the two of them were standing side by side on the za.
The disciples responsible for weing guests had already spotted them from afar, and they approached Han Li''s duo as one of them said, "Wee to the ze Dragon Dao. May I ask what business you have here?"
The disciples were immediately able to tell that Han Li possessed a cultivation base far superior to theirs, but even so, all of them wore rxed smiles and didn''t appear to have been feeling intimidated or inferior in the slightest.
"We''vee here with the intention of paying Elder Qi Liang a visit. Is he in the sect right now?" Han Li asked as he revealed a hint of his True Immortal Stage aura, and the ze Dragon Dao cultivators before him shuddered collectively in the face of his aura, but thankfully, the aura was only revealed for an instant before it was withdrawn again.
"Please inform Elder Qi of our arrival." Han Li flicked a finger through the air as he spoke, releasing several precious Deity Transformation Stage pills.
These pills had all been obtained from the storage treasures of cultivators that he had in in the past, and they were useless to him, so he was naturally happy to present them as gifts to these ze Dragon Dao cultivators.
The group of cultivators before him swept their spiritual sense over the pills, and they weren''t able to maintain theirposure any longer as ecstatic looks appeared on their faces.
These worthless pills to Han Li were nothing short of priceless treasures to these disciples.
Even a pill suitable for consumption for Nascent Soul cultivators could be sold on the market in exchange for spirit stones sufficient to cover their cultivation needs for a long time, let alone these pills that were fit for consumption for Deity Transformation cultivators.
Among the disciples, the thin young man was more restrained, and he cupped his fist in a respectful salute as he said, "You''re far too kind, Senior. Elder Qi Liang serves in the Heavenly Star Pce, so he''s always present in the sect. May I ask your name, Senior? And also, do you have any tokens that we can pass onto Elder Qi?"
"I am Li Feiyu, and this is Bai Suyuan. In terms of tokens..." Han Li turned to Bai Suyuan as he spoke.
"Please pass this onto Elder Qi and he''ll know who we are." Bai Suyuan pulled out a red penannr jade pendant and offered it to the thin young man as she spoke.
"I see. I''ll inform Elder Qi of your arrival right away, Senior Li. However, I must make it clear ahead of time that I can''t guarantee whether Elder Qi will agree to see you or not," the thin young man said as he epted the jade pendant.
"Of course," Han Li replied with a nod.
Thus, the thin young man took his leave before quickly making his way toward a certain pce in the sect.
"Senior Li, Fellow Daoist Bai, pleasee and take a rest in the side hall," the slightly portly man said in a respectful voice, then led Han Li and Bai Suyuan to a pavilion constructed halfway up the mountain.
The pavilion was situated in a bamboo forest, and the light of the sun was filtering through the gaps among the bamboo leaves, casting some beautiful shadows onto the building. The interior of the pavilion was cool and tidy, and all of the furnishings inside had clearly been chosen with care, presenting a pleasant sight to behold.
"Please wait here for a moment. Elder Qi is an inner sect elder, so it may take some time to reach him," the portly man said with a hint of apology on his face, then offered up two cups of spirit tea.
Han Li nodded in response and left the spirit tea on the table beside him, while Bai Suyuan began to sip on her tea, savoring it with keen interest.
The portly man remained in the hall alongside Han Li and Bai Suyuan, and before long, close to half a day had passed by.
Despite the long wait, Han Li remained patient, taking the time to ponder the situation that he was in.
While traveling to the ze Dragon Dao, he had been periodically detecting for the presence of Daoist Xie and his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
To his tion, the closer he drew to the Bell Toll Mountain Range, the clearer he was able to sense those lost treasures, indicating to him that they were most likely situated in the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
If he wanted to recover them, then he would have to join the ze Dragon Dao first.
Chapter 186: Plan
Chapter 186: n
Han Li''s primary objective foring to the ze Dragon Dao was to recover his lost treasures, and he also wanted to read the sect''s scriptures pertaining to thews of time to see if he could learn anything from them.
Even though he was able to manifest crystals that also contained the power of timews using his Heaven Controlling Vial, the crystals served no other purpose than to speed up his Earthly Deity Avatar''s derivation of heavy water, and he was unable to glean anything from them.
As one of the three paramountws, thews of time were extremely profound, and given his aptitude, it was downright delusional to think that he could master thews of time unless he had some immense luck on his side.
In contrast, these sects had already studied thews of time for millions, even tens of millions of years, and there was nock of prodigiously talented individuals toe out of these sects during this time, so they would''ve surely developed some valuable insights.
Of course, if it proved impossible for him to ess the scriptures that he desired, then he wouldn''t force the issue. Time was of the essence for him, and he couldn''t afford to waste it. Given how vast the Northern cial Immortal Region was, he would always be able to find something else.
This was his initial thought process, but during the journey to Bell Toll Mountain Range, he had learned some things about the ze Dragon Dao from Bai Suyuan that had convinced him to change his mind.
The ze Dragon Dao had a long history and a vast foundation, home to countless high-grade immortal scriptures of all descriptions. Most importantly, it harbored no aversion to outsiders.
It was very difficult for itinerant cultivators like Han Li to join the ze Dragon Dao, but if he could sessfully join the sect, then he would be granted a high degree of freedom and autonomy, and that was a very tempting prospect to him.
Some time had already passed since his return to the Immortal Realm, and aside from the initial few years that he had spent in the ck Wind Sea, he had been traveling the rest of the time, so he hadn''t been able to take any time to cultivate.
The ck Wind Sea was a rtively safe ce, but it was extremely short on resources, with not even a single high-grade immortal scripture to be found.
There were all types of cultivation resources avable in the ze Dragon Dao, and his freedom wasn''t going to be overly restricted here, so this was the ideal ce for him to stay for the time being.
Thanks to his powers as a Profound Immortal and certain cultivation arts that he mastered in lower realms, such as his Provenance True Devil Arts, he had been able to deal with some early and mid-True Immortal Stage itinerant cultivators just fine.
However, contending against True Immortals who had attained the power ofws was still quite a struggle for him. After all, he couldn''t expect to get lucky every single time as he had against Fang Pan.
As their name suggested, True Immortals were immortal, but they weren''t indestructible, and they could perish all the same, just not by natural causes.
Hence, he required more power if he wanted to stake a foothold for himself in the Immortal Realm. The problem was that he didn''t even have a suitable immortal cultivation art, so he was still stuck at the early-True Immortal Stage.
Right as these thoughts were running through Han Li''s mind, the sound of footsteps rang out from outside, and he immediately opened his eyes to find the same thin young man from before apanying a middle-aged man who appeared to have been in his forties into the room.
The man wore a long white robe, and there was an authoritative look on his square face. His features were quite unremarkable, but there was a sharp and piercing gleam in his eyes. What was particrly noteworthy about him was his vast aura, which indicated that he was also a True Immortal cultivator.
Han Li rose to his feet, and Bai Suyuan hurriedly got up from her chair as well.
The square-faced man was holding Bai Suyuan''s penannr jade pendant, and he took a nce at the two people in the room, resting his gaze on Han Li for a moment as he dered, "I am Qi Liang. May I ask how you''ve managed toe across this token of Elder Bai Fengyi''s?"
"Bai Fengyi is the patriarch of my n, Senior Qi. My name is Bai Suyuan, and I am a descendant of Patriarch Bai," Bai Suyuan exined as she extended a curtsey toward Qi Liang.
"I see, then who is this Fellow Daoist Li?" Qi Liang asked as he turned his gaze to Han Li.
"I am just an itinerant cultivator who apanied Fellow Daoist Bai to the ze Dragon Dao. It''s an honor to make your acquaintance, Fellow Daoist Qi," Han Li said with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"The honor is all mine, Fellow Daoist Li. Please take a seat," Qi Liang said as he returned Han Li''s salute.
The thin young man brought the three of them fresh cups of spirit tea, then extended a respectful bow before departing from the room.
"Where is Brother Bai right now, Suyuan? Is he well? If I recall correctly, it''s already been several thousand years since he left the sect, and there''s been no news of him at all since then," Qi Liang said.
"Unfortunately, we haven''t heard any news from our patriarch, either, ever since his departure several thousand years ago, so I have no idea where he is or what condition he''s currently in," Bai Suyuan replied as a dejected look appeared on his face.
Qi Liang seemed to have been rather taken aback to hear this. "You''re saying Brother Bai never returned to his n?"
Bai Suyuan could tell that Qi Liang seemed to know something that she didn''t, and she hurriedly asked, "Senior Qi, do you know exactly for what purpose our patriarchst left the sect?"
"If I recall correctly, Brother Bai left the sect to carry out some type of mission. There''s no need to be overly concerned, Suyuan. Brother Bai''s Origin Soul Lamp in our sect has remained lit this entire time, so perhaps he''s simply been dyed by some matters. For the likes of Brother Bai and myself, several thousand years is not a very long time. Perhaps he''ll be back soon," Qi Liang consoled.
Bai Suyuan was ecstatic to hear this, and an excited look appeared in her eyes. "Is that true? That''s great!"
Meanwhile, Han Li sat off to the side in silence, taking no part in the conversation.
"Suyuan, may I ask why you''vee to the ze Dragon Dao with Fellow Daoist Li?" Qi Liang asked as he took a nce at Han Li''s duo.
Bai Suyuan and Han Li exchanged a nce, and Han Li made a slight gesture, indicating for her to speak first.
"I''ve held a great deal of admiration toward the ze Dragon Dao ever since I was a child, and I''vee here on this asion with the hope of being able to join the sect. I know that we''re currently not in the sect''s disciple intake window, so I wanted to trouble you to submit a rmendation for me. I''ve prepared these gifts as a gesture of my sincerity, please ept them, Senior Qi."
Bai Suyuan rose to her feet and extended a deep curtsey as she spoke, then pulled out a storage treasure that she was just about set down onto the table next to Qi Liang.
A displeased look appeared on Qi Liang''s face as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of invisible force that lifted Bai Suyuan''s body into an upright posture again. "Brother Bai and I are extremely close friends, how could I possibly ept a gift from you over such a minor matter? Put that away at once!"
Bai Suyuan didn''t insist on making Qi Liang ept her gifts, and she stowed the storage treasure away discreetly as she said, "In that case, I''ll be counting on you, Senior Qi."
"I can submit a rmendation for you, but the prerequisites for disciple recruitment in the ze Dragon Dao are very rigorous. If your aptitude is foundcking, then I''m afraid there''s nothing I can do," Qi Liang said.
"Of course. If my aptitude iscking, then that means I was simply not meant to go further on the path of cultivation, and I certainly wouldn''t dare to me you for anything, Senior Qi," Bai Suyuan immediately replied.
Qi Liang nodded in response, then took a nce at Han Li, and even though he didn''t say anything, it was clear that he wanted to know Han Li''s purpose for visiting the ze Dragon Dao as well.
"My objective for visiting the ze Dragon Dao is the same as Fellow Daoist Bai''s. I would also like to join the ze Dragon Dao, and I was wondering if you could submit a rmendation for me as well. Regardless of the oue, I''ll be sure topensate you for your efforts," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Qi Liang''s brows furrowed ever so slightly upon hearing this.
Even though he had told Bai Suyuan that he couldn''t guarantee her entry into the ze Dragon Dao, he had briefly examined her spiritual roots just now, so he knew that given her aptitude, there should''ve been no problems for her to join the sect.
However, Han Li was a True Immortal cultivator, and if he were to join the ze Dragon Dao, then it definitely wouldn''t be as a disciple.
The ze Dragon Dao''s requirements for recruiting foreign True Immortal cultivators had always been far more rigorous than that of recruiting disciples, so a thorough examination had to be made into Han Li''s identity, background, cultivation base, and aptitude.
If Han Li were found to becking in any of those areas, then Qi Liang would be punished by the sect for submitting a rmendation for him without performing due diligence.
Han Li could see that Qi Liang had some qualms about epting his request, so he flipped a hand over to produce the ze Dragon Token as he said, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Qi. I may be an itinerant cultivator, but I haven''tmitted any heinous crimes in the past, and I have this token with me. All I need is for you to submit a small rmendation for me."
"That''s a ze Dragon Token!" Qi Liang eximed as he rose to his feet, then turned to Bai Suyuan with a surprised expression.
"That''s right, that is the very same ze Dragon Token that previously belonged to our patriarch. Recently, our Bai n encountered an extremely severe crisis, and it was only thanks to Senior Li that we were able to avert the crisis, so I gave him the ze Dragon Token as thanks for saving our n," Bai Suyuan exined.
"I see. If Fellow Daoist Li has indeed saved the entire Bai n, then he''s certainly deserving of the ze Dragon Token. Pleasee with me," Qi Liang replied with a nod as he turned to depart from the pavilion.
Han Li and Bai Suyuan followed him to a nearby azure hall, hanging above the entrance of which was a que that read "Teleportation Pavilion".
"Our ze Dragon Dao is so massive that it can be very inconvenient to get to certain ces by flight. Hence, these teleportation pavilions have been set up in all of the important ces in the sect," Qi Liang exined.
"As expected of the number one sect on the Ancient Cloud Continent," Han Li praised in a heartfelt manner.
Upon stepping into the pavilion, Han Li discovered that the interior space wasn''t veryrge, and there was only a single small teleportation array at the center of the room, surrounded by an array of stone pirs.
Aside from that, there was also a middle-aged man who was roughly at the Deity Transformation Stage standing beside the array, and he hurriedly extended a respectful bow at the sight of Qi Liang.
"Send us to the Ostentatious Pce," Qi Liang instructed after all three of them had made their way into the teleportation array.
"Yes!" the middle-aged man hurriedly replied with a nod, then chanted an incantation before releasing a burst of white light out of the palm of his hand.
As the teleportation array began to operate, a vast expanse of dazzling white light rose up to swallow up Han Li''s trio.
Their surroundings blurred for a moment, and in the next instant, they appeared in another spacious azure hall.
His expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was feeling quite stunned.
Having already taken teleportation arrays on many asions after arriving in the Immortal Realm, he was able to roughly estimate the distance of teleportation ording to the time taken, and he had determined that if he were to fly over the same distance that they had just teleported, then it would''ve taken him roughly a month.
For the first time, he was given a rough indication of just how massive the ze Dragon Dao was.
"What an enormous ce this is..." Han Li murmured to himself.
Chapter 187: Mediocre Aptitude
Chapter 187: Mediocre Aptitude
Momentster, Han Li''s trio emerged from the teleportation pavilion.
This teleportation hall was situated on an extremely tall mountain summit, and there was a massive pavilion nearby as well, but this one was several times the size of the guest weing za.
The entire za was paved with white jade, which was giving off a bright white sheen, as well as traces of white mist.
Walking upon the za, one could see all the nearby mountains beneath their feet, striking one with the feeling that they were overlords presiding over everything.
There was a massive ce hovering in mid-air above the za, and it was half-concealed within the clouds, giving it the appearance of a celestial city.
Above the entrance of the pce was a golden que, upon which was inscribed the words "Ostentatious Pce" in flowing golden characters.
"The Ostentatious Pce is where our sect examines the spiritual roots and aptitude of those wishing to join the sect. It''s overseen by a deputy dao lord, so take care in how you act and speak once we''re inside," Qi Liang cautioned.
Han Li gave a slight nod upon hearing this.
ording to his knowledge, the ze Dragon Dao was different from normal sects in that it had no sect master. Instead, the sect was overseen by the 13 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords on a rotating roster.
Beneath the 13 dao lords were the 36 deputy dao lords, all of whom were said to have been at the pinnacle of the True Immortal Stage.
Furthermore, these deputy dao lords weren''t just ordinary True Immortals. Instead, all of them had mastered the power ofws, so they were far more powerful than the average itinerant immortal of the same cultivation base.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Qi," Han Li replied, and Bai Suyuan also responded in kind.
As they were speaking, the three of them had already descended onto the ground in front of the floating pce.
The gates of the pce up ahead were tightly shut, and a pair of young disciples were standing on either side of the gates.
The two young disciples hurriedly extended respectful bows toward Qi Liang, who asked them, "Is Deputy Dao Lord Xiong inside?"
"He is, but he''s currently cultivating in seclusion at the moment, and he forbade us from interrupting him," one of the young disciples replied with a slightly awkward expression.
Qi Liang''s brows furrowed lightly upon hearing this. "Did he tell you when he was going to conclude his seclusion?"
"No," the disciple replied.
Qi Liang pondered the situation in silence for a moment, then said, "Please inform him of our arrival, and tell him that I''vee to him with an important matter."
Reluctant looks appeared on the faces of the two disciples, but after exchanging a nce, one of them pulled out a white badge beforemunicating something into it.
A full 15 minutes passed by before a brief sh of white light appeared on the badge.
"Deputy Dao Lord Xiong has invited you to go in," the disciple informed in a relieved voice, then cast an incantation seal, and the gates of the pce slowly swung open.
"Let''s go."
Qi Liang led the way into the pce, and its interior was very spacious, with an area of several thousand feet.
There were dozens of azure stone pirs standing around the pce, every single one of which had a beastly statue coiled around it, including ones that depicted creatures like the Divine Dragon, the Azure Phoenix, the White Tiger, and the Qilin.
The mouths of these beasts were all aimed at a dark azure stone tform that resembled an altar, which stood at the center of the hall.
It was a circr tform that was over 100 feet in size, with countless extremelyplex runes inscribed upon it, as well as diagrams formed by countless specks of light, giving the entire tform an extremely profound appearance.
At the very rear of the hall was a tall white tform, atop which sat a short and stubby middle-aged man who appeared to have been around 40 years of age. There was a thin mustache above his upper lip, and instead of the usual white robes worn by ze Dragon Dao disciples, he was dressed in avish golden robe with a golden hat on his head, giving him the appearance of a wealthy merchant of the mortal world.
The man wore a rather disgruntled expression, seemingly displeased by the fact that his cultivation had been disrupted.
"Greetings, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong," Qi Liang greeted as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Han Li took a nce at the man on the tform, and his pupils immediately contracted slightly.
The man was very unassuming in both appearance and stature, but he was giving off an incredibly powerful aura that far exceeded the auras of Fang Pan and that octopus sea beast.
Han Li couldn''t help but be impressed by the man''s immense aura, and he and Bai Suyuan both followed Qi Liang''s example, each extending a salute toward the deputy dao lord.
Deputy Dao Lord Xiong didn''t even spare a nce at Han Li and Bai Suyuan as he asked, "What is this important matter that you speak of, Elder Qi? Could you not have waited for me to conclude my seclusion before requesting an audience."
"My apologies for disrupting your cultivation, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong. This here is Fellow Daoist Li, and he''s carrying a ze Dragon Token with the intention of joining our sect, so I had no choice but toe to you," Qi Liang exined with an apologetic expression.
Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "I see. Show me your ze Dragon Token."
Han Li had already summoned the token into his grasp, and Deputy Dao Lord Xiong made a beckoning motion to draw the token to himself.
"This is indeed an authentic ze Dragon Token," Deputy Dao Lord Xiong concluded after a brief examination, and only then did he turn his gaze toward Han Li.
At the same time, a faint gleam shed through his eyes, as if he were trying to see straight through Han Li.
Under Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s sharp and intrusive gaze, Han LI felt as if there were des raking over his entire body, resulting in a slightly painful sensation.
His brows furrowed ever so slightly, but he didn''t say anything.
Deputy Dao Lord Xiong then withdrew his gaze as he cast an incantation seal and instructed, "Step on the Immortal Revolution tform to have your aptitude examined."
All of the dozens of stone pirs in the hall shuddered slightly in unison before releasing dazzling azure light, and it was as if all of the spirit beasts engraved onto the pirs had sprung to life.
Bursts of azure light erupted out of the mouths of the spirit beasts engraved on the statues before vanishing into the round stone tform at the center of the hall.
All of the runes on the stone tform began to radiate dazzling light, forming a semi-transparent ball of light, upon which countless specks of what appeared to be starlight were shing incessantly.
"Please go ahead, Fellow Daoist Li," Qi Liang said as he turned to Han Li.
Han Li nodded in response, then made his way onto the stone tform, and a huge burst of heat instantly rose up from the tform before surging into his body.
Countless specks of light of different colors instantly appeared within the ball of light, then began to rapidly revolve around Han Li in an extremely chaotic fashion.
Wherever that burst of heat flowed to in his body, Han Li felt as if everything within that part of his body was revealed for all to see, and that was a slightly disconcerting sensation.
All of a sudden, the burst of heat flowed into his brain and surged into his consciousness.
Han Li was greatly rmed by this, and he immediatelypressed the majority of his enormous spiritual sense into a point, leaving only around a tenth to a fifth of his spiritual sense exposed.
The surge of heat flowed through his brain for a moment before quickly moving onto other parts of his body, and it didn''t take long before it left his body altogether, then flowed back into the stone tform.
The spherical light barrier on the stone tform faded, but those countless runes continued to linger in the air, then converged to form a blurry humanoid figure that was giving off lights of different colors, including azure, ck, crimson, and purple. However, these lights weren''t very bright, and they appeared to be extremely chaotic.
Qi Liang''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the indistinct humanoid figure.
A cold sneer appeared on Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s face, and he made no effort to hide his derision as he dered, "Your aptitude is downright mediocre. The cultivation arts that you''ve dabbled in are a chaotic mess, but your energy and blood essence are both quite abundant. It seems that you''ve managed to absorb some demonic bloodlines, but those are in a state ofplete disarray as well.
¡°On top of that, you haven''t managed to open up even a single immortal acupoint. It''s a miracle that you were even able to reach the early-True Immortal Stage at all."
Qi Liang seemed to have been rather surprised by this assessment, and he turned to Han Li with a surprised expression, as did Bai Suyuan.
As for Han Li himself, he wasn''t disappointed at all after hearing this verdict, and he gave Deputy Dao Lord Xiong a slight nod, then made his way down from the stone tform, following which the tform quickly reverted back to its original state.
Deputy Dao Lord Xiong was just about to depart when Qi Liang suddenly said, "Please wait a moment, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong. This is Bai Suyuan, and she''s a descendant of Elder Bai Fengyi. She has alsoe here to join our sect, so please examine her aptitude as well."
Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s patience was clearly running thin, and his expression only eased slightly upon hearing mention of Bai Fengyi.
"Alright, but make it quick!" He took a nce at Bai Suyuan, then cast another incantation seal.
Once again, the stone pirs in the hall began to radiate dazzling azure light, and the massive ball of light reappeared around the stone tform.
Bai Suyuan took a deep breath before stepping onto the tform, and countless runes emerged within the ball of light.
However, in contrast with the runes that had appeared for Han Li, all of the runes on this asion were silver in color and had a glittering and translucent quality to them.
The entire hall began to rumble violently, and all of the spirit beast statues engraved onto the stone pirs let loose ferocious roars, while powerful energy fluctuated surged throughout the hall.
"What''s going on?"
Both Qi Liang and Han Li were quite startled by this turn of events, and they turned their attention toward Bai Suyuan in unison.
Meanwhile, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong had abruptly risen to his feet, and an excited look had appeared in his eyes.
The ball of light on the stone tform quickly faded, while the countless silver runes converged in one ce to form a silver humanoid figure.
The figure was of an extremely bright silver color, resembling a bright moon hanging in the night sky.
The most eye-catching thing about it was that there were seven bright specks of light shining on its chest.
Deputy Dao Lord Xiong rushed onto the stone tform in a sh as he dered with an excited expression, "She possesses the legendary Moonlight Immortal Physique and had seven immortal acupoints opened from birth!"
A thought then urred to him, and he immediately released an incantation seal, upon which all of the light on the stone tform faded alongside the silver humanoid figure, and Bai Suyuan was revealed again.
All of a sudden, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s attitude had be extremely amicable and benevolent, and he said in a warm voice, "Your name is Bai Suyuan, right? As expected of a descendant of Elder Bai Fengyi''s, your aptitude is truly exceptional."
"That''s correct. Bai Suyuan pays her respects to Deputy Dao Lord Xiong."
Bai Suyuan had been enveloped by a burst of enormous power that had cut off her senses just now, so she had no idea what had just happened, but she could tell from Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s reaction that she seemed to have disyed some remarkable aptitude.
"I can tell that you''re still quite young. How many years have you been cultivating for?" Deputy Dao Lord Xiong asked.
"I began cultivating at three years of age, and I''ve been cultivating for over 50 years up to this point," Bai Suyuan replied.
Both Han Li and Qi Liang were quite taken aback to hear this, but Deputy Dao Lord Xiong merely nodded in response, seemingly not surprised by this answer at all.
Indeed, with her Moonlight Immortal Physique and seven innately awakened immortal acupoints, it wasn''t all that remarkable for her to have reached thete-Deity Transformation Stage in less than 60 years of cultivation.
As long as she had ess to the right cultivation arts and resources, he was confident that he could elevate her all the way to the True Immortal Stage within 1,000 years.
Given her exceptional aptitude, it was even possible that she could reach the Golden Immortal Stage in the future.
Chapter 188: Disciple to a Golden Immortal
Chapter 188: Disciple to a Golden Immortal
"Bai Suyuan, given your outstanding aptitude, you won''t have to start off as an outer sect disciple like all other new disciples. Let me ask you this: are you willing to ept me as your master and be a direct disciple of mine?" Deputy Dao Lord Xiong asked in a gentle voice?
Bai Suyuan''s mouth gaped open in shock, and she waspletely rooted to the spot.
Right at this moment, a hazy voice suddenly rang out before spreading through the hall like waves of gentle, rippling water. "Xiong Shan, you''re cultivating thews of metal, while this child possesses the Moonlight Immortal Physique, so you''re not suitable to serve as her mentor. Hand her over to me instead."
As soon as Han Li heard this voice, he felt as if had fallen into a boundless sea of flowers. His mouth and nose werepletely filled with a floral aroma that intoxicated the mind.
However, he was able to instantly return to his senses thanks to a sudden jolt from his enormous spiritual sense.
A hint of frustration shed through Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s eyes in the wake of this turn of events, but he quickly regained hisposure.
Right at this moment, a ball of white light appeared out of thin air within the hall, and it was so bright that everyone was forced to avert their eyes.
In the next instant, the white light abruptly vanished, and a young woman in a ptial dress appeared on the stone tform.
The woman appeared to be in her thirties with an oval face and a set of features that looked as if they had been taken straight from a masterful piece of artwork. In particr, her eyes were extremely seductive, and her tight-fitting white robe hugged her voluptuous curves to perfection.
Her entire body was giving off an overwhelming aura of seduction, captivating the beholder and lulling them into countless lustful fantasies.
Han Li was stunned by the woman''s incredibly seductive qualities, and he immediately averted his gaze, not daring to look at her any longer. At the same time, he began to circte his spiritual sense, and a cool and refreshing sensation spread through his mind, snapping him back to his senses.
"Xiong Shan pays his respects to Dao Lord Yun," Deputy Dao Lord Xiong greeted as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Han Li was initially rather surprised to hear this, but he quickly realized that this was only to be expected. After all, only one of the 13 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords of the ze Dragon Dao could possess such a terrifyingly seductive aura.
He immediately extended a salute as well, while Qi Liang had already lowered his head in a deep bow, not daring to look at the white-robed woman at all.
Meanwhile, Bai Suyuan was staring at the woman in aplete daze, clearly alreadypletely intoxicated by the woman''s seductive aura.
It seemed that her seduction was effective on both men and women.
With a wave of the woman''s sleeve, a hint of rity immediately returned to Bai Suyuan''s eyes.
She immediately noticed that Han Li and the others were all saluting the woman, and she hurriedly leaned forward to extend a bow as well, but the white-robed woman caught her before she could do so. "There''s no need for such formalities, my child."
The woman gently pulled Bai Suyuan closer to her, and the more she looked at Bai Suyuan, the more pleased she became.
"Your name is Suyuan, right? Your Moonlight Immortal Physique pairs up quite nicely with my cultivation. Are you willing to be my disciple and cultivate under me?" the woman asked in a gentle voice.
Bai Suyuan immediately extended a deep bow upon hearing this. "I am. Suyuan pays her respects to her mistress."
"Great! From this day forth, you will be my fifth direct disciple. This fortune bracelet is a spirit treasure that I obtained some years ago, and I''m gifting it to you now in the hope that it''ll protect you in your time of need."
A pleased smile appeared on the woman''s face as she flipped a hand over to produce a white jade bracelet before slipping it onto Bai Suyuan''s wrist. The bracelet was giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations, indicating that it was a top-grade spirit treasure.
Bai Suyuan was ecstatic, and she hurriedly expressed her gratitude. "Thank you, Mistress!"
Only then did the white-robed young woman turn to Deputy Dao Lord Xiong as she said, "I''m taking this child with me. Do you have any objections, Xiong Shan?"
"Of course now," Xiong Shan hurriedly replied with a smile. "Your cultivation art its a perfect match for her, so she''s naturally much better off with you."
A faint smile appeared on the white-robed young woman, and she turned to Han Li and Qi Liang, with her gaze lingering momentarily on the former.
Xiong Shan noticed the white-robed young woman''s gaze, and he immediately exined, "He''s an itinerant cultivator by the name of Li Feiyu, and he''s joined our sect using ze Dragon Token. I''ve just examined his aptitude."
The white-robed woman''s gaze only lingered on Han Li for a moment before looking away in a disinterested manner as she said in a casual voice, "I see. I''ll leave these matters to you then."
"Let''s go, Suyuan." Shetched onto Bai Suyuan''s hand as she spoke, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of gentle white light that enveloped both of them.
Bai Suyuan hurriedly turned to Han Li, but in the next instant, her vision was obscured by a sh of white light.
The white light then vanished in an instant, as did Bai Suyuan and the white-robed woman.
Xiong Shan''s smile instantly faded following the woman''s departure, and he turned to leave with a dark look on his face.
"Deputy Dao Lord Xiong, what role is to be assigned to Fellow Daoist Li?" Qi Liang hurriedly asked.
"Do I have to tell you how to do everything? Just get him to serve as an ordinary attendant in the inner sect!" Xiong Shan replied in a cold voice, paying no heed to whether he was offending Han Li with his abrasive demeanor.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately vanished from the spot amid a sh of golden light.
Following Xiong Shan''s departure, Han Li fell into deep thought with an absentminded look on his face.
"Everyone''s fate is different on the path of cultivation. It''s already a remarkable feat that you were able to reach the True Immortal Stage, so there''s no need to be envious of others," Elder Qi cautioned.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he knew that Qi Liang had most likely misconstrued his contemtive expression, but he didn''t bother to exin himself, merely nodding in response.
"Seeing as Deputy Dao Lord Xiong has instructed me to instate you as an inner sect attendant, I must inform you of some of the sect''s rules. As for some of the more specific details, I''ll update you on thatter," Qi Liang said with a smile.
"Thank you, Elder Qi. May I ask what duties I have to perform as an attendant elder of the inner sect?" Han Li asked.
"There are two options avable to you, the first of which is toplete three regr elder missions released by the sect every century. Of course, if you have sufficient merit points to offset the missions, then you won''t have toplete them," Qi Liang exined.
"What''s the second option?" Han Li asked.
"The second option is to do what I''m doing and perform some daily duties in a certain pavilion in the sect. All you need to do is perform these duties for one decade out of every century. However, in order to not affect their cultivation, many elders choose to perform these duties for 100 consecutive years so that they can spend the next 900 years focusing on cultivation," Qi Liang replied.
"If they don''t want their duties to get in the way of their cultivation, then why don''t they just use merit points to exempt themselves from those duties instead?" Han Li asked.
"Firstly, merit points are extremely precious to the elders and disciple of the ze Dragon Dao, so no one is willing to use them to offset missions. Secondly, the sect doesn''t permit one to use their merit points to exempt oneself from their daily administrative duties," Qi Liang exined.
"If these merit points are considered to be so precious, then they must be very difficult to obtain, right, Elder Qi?" Han Li asked with a contemtive expression.
"Indeed. Most of the sect''s disciples can generally only earn some de points by tending to spirit farms for several years at a time, whereas elders can earn some merit points by performing monthly administrative duties," Qi Liang replied with a nod.
"Then what if I choose toplete regr elder missions instead?" Han Li asked.
"Each regr elder mission requires one to perform different tasks, and they also vary in difficulty, so the number of merit points that can be earned frompleting each mission naturally varies as well. Generally speaking, mission rewards range from around a dozen to over 100 merit points.
¡°Of course, if you make some special contributions to the sect, then you''ll be rewarded with additional merit points. You''ll be more familiar with this system once you''ve been in the inner sect for a while," Qi Liang exined in a patient manner.
After some contemtion, Han Li decided, "In that case, I think I''ll select the first option for my first 100 years in the sect."
"That''s the option that the majority of new elders choose. Come with me. The Abode Assignment Pce just so happens to be nearby as well. I''ll take you there so you can select a cave abode," Qi Liang said with a smile.
He led Han Li out of the Ostentatious Pce as he spoke, then rose up into the air before flying toward a nearby mountain.
In contrast with the mountain where the Ostentatious Pce was situated, this mountain was far more lively and bustling.
A cluster of red buildings that took up a massive area had been constructed on the mountain summit, with hundreds of ptial structures among them. The giant za outside wasn''t exactlypletely packed, but there was definitely a huge number of people on it.
Streaks of light could asionally be seen whizzing through the air, either descending onto or flying up from the za.
"As the name suggests, the elders and disciples of the Abode Assignment Pce oversee cave abode assignment duties, as well as the distribution of resources, so it''s always one of the busiest ces in the entire inner sect," Qi Liang introduced to Han Li after the two of themnded on the za.
"No wonder there are so many people here. Looks like you''ll have to wait with me for quite some time," Han Li said in an apologetic manner.
"Not to worry. I''m close friends with Elder Yu of the Abode Assignment Pce, so I can take you to see him right away," Qi Liang replied with a smile.
"Thank you, Elder Qi."
As the two of them passed through the za, many of the disciples would greet Qi Liang upon seeing the elder robes that he was wearing, and Qi Liang would respond with slight nods of acknowledgement.
Through the pce gates, Han Li could see that this was indeed an extremely busy ce.
Under Qi Liang''s guidance, Han Li was taken to a hall situated in the deepest part of the area.
At this moment, there were seven or eight people in the hall engaged in a spirited discussion, seemingly arguing about something.
"Brother Yu!" Qi Liang called out as he stepped into the hall with Han Li.
Arge head with a bright, rosyplexion emerged from behind the seven or eight arguing figures, and the head took a nce at Qi Liang and Han Li, then disappeared back behind the small crowd, immediately following which a loud voice rang out.
"Alright, all of you can go back for now. Come back tomorrow and I''ll make a decision on your cave abode reassignment requests."
The disciples could only cease their argument upon hearing this, then took their leave before exiting the hall.
Elder Yu was a portly man with arge head, and he said, "It''s been quite a while since you paid me a visit. Who''s this?"
Despite his unremarkable appearance, Han Li could sense that Elder Yu was also a True Immortal cultivator.
Chapter 189: Cave Abode and Mountain Guardian Beast
Chapter 189: Cave Abode and Mountain Guardian Beast
"Our Heavenly Star Pce isn''t as busy as your Abode Assignment Pce, but I still don''t get enough spare time toe and visit you whenever I please. It just so happens to be the case that we''ve weed a new elder into our sect. His name is Li Feiyu, and I''ve brought him here toplete the registration process and pick out a cave abode," Qi Liang replied with a smile.
"I see. That''s not a problem at all. Greetings, Elder Li, my name is Yu Xiansheng, and I currently serve as the attendant elder of the Abode Assignment Pce. I''ll get you registered right away," Elder Yu said with a smile
"Thank you, Elder Yu," Han Li hurriedly said.
Yu Xiansheng waved a hand in response, then summoned a brush that appeared as if it had been carved out of gold and jade with a flick of his wrist. He then made his way over to the table and began to quickly write something down onto a thick book that was glowing with azure light.
As he was writing, Yu Xiansheng suddenly paused for a moment, then raised his head as he asked, "Have you decided what you''re going to do to fulfill your elder duties for the first 100 years, Elder Li?"
"I''llplete three regr elder missions," Han Li replied.
Yu Xiansheng seemed to have already anticipated this answer, and he nodded in response before continuing in his writing.
A short whileter, Yu Xiansheng looked up again as he said, "The registration isplete. ording to the rules of our sect, all inner sect elders and direct disciples are entitled to a mountain of their own. Hence, it''s time for you to select a mountain to construct your cave abode on, Elder Li."
He then swept a sleeve through the air, and a green scroll that was over three feet in length appeared before him amid a sh of green light.
Immediately thereafter, the scroll began to slowly unfurl itself, revealing a piece of artwork depicting a stretch of scenery.
Han Li swept his gaze over the piece of artwork to find that it was extremelyplex,plete with countless mountains and bodies of water.
Initially, he didn''t find the scroll to be all that remarkable, but as soon as his gaze lingered for a moment one of the mountains, that section of the artwork would instantly expand before his eyes and be more vibrant and lifelike, as if he had been transported to the actual location, much to his amazement.
"This Inkspirit Scenic Scroll contains an artwork that depicts our Bell Toll Mountain Range. However, the mountain range is too vast to be epassed in a single frame, so you''re only seeing a part of the mountain range right now. If you want to see other areas, then you''ll have to extend the scroll further," Yu Xiansheng exined with a smile.
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and the image in the scroll began to slowly move to reveal more of thendscape.
As more and more areas were revealed, Han Li noticed that different areas on the artwork had different background colors. Some were blue, some were green, some were golden, and some were pitch-ck, as if ink had been inadvertently poured onto those areas.
There were also some areas that didn''t disy a real-life image, even after Han Li''s gaze had lingered on them for a while.
"Why do these areas have different background colors? Do they serve different purposes?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. The golden areas in the scroll depict the mountains where some of the most integral pces of the sect are situated, and they''re mostly distributed throughout the central region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, such as the Ostentatious Pce, the Merit Conveyance Pce, and the Abode Assignment Pce, while the silver areas are where the cave abodes of the direct disciples are situated," Yu Xiansheng exined.
He then swept his sleeve through the air once again, and the image in the scroll moved several hundred feet to the right before stopping at a blue area.
"The green area that you saw earlier was the western region of the mountain range, where the cave abodes of all of the outer sect elders and disciples are situated, while this blue area depicts the eastern region of the mountain range, where the cave abodes of all of the inner sect disciples and elders are.
¡°As for those gray areas, they mark out the sect''s trial venues, such as the Snowmelt Forest and the Inexplicable Valley, and barring certain special circumstances, those areas are generally closed off to everyone," Yu Xiansheng continued.
"Are those ck areas the restricted areas of the sect?" Han Li asked.
Yu Xiansheng nodded in response. "That''s right. Aside from the dao lords and deputy dao lords, only a select few core elders and direct disciples are permitted to enter those areas. There are powerful restrictions set up around all of those areas, so there''s no way you''ll inadvertently stumble into them."
"I see. I''ve only just arrived in the sect, and I know next to nothing about this ce. I have no idea which mountain to choose among this vast selection. Can you make some rmendations, Elder Yu?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"Of course," Yu Xiansheng replied with a nod.
He swept his sleeve through the air once again as he spoke, and the image in the green scroll abruptly elerated in its movement, instantly traveling over 100 feet to reveal several mountains that extended all the way up into the clouds.
"This Sun Mountain Peak is only only around 100,000 kilometers in radius, but there''s a spirit spring of an exceptional caliber on it, thereby allowing the mountain to naturally gather the world''s origin qi, making it an exceptional ce for cultivation. Roughly 250,000 kilometers away is this Sundrum Peak, which takes up a slightlyrger area, but it has no spirit spring," Yu Xiansheng introduced as he pointed at two of the mountains on the scroll.
"It doesn''t really concern me whether a mountain has a spirit spring or not. Is there a more peaceful and secluded mountain avable?" Han Li asked.
After a moment of deliberation, Yu Xiansheng swept his sleeve through the air again, and this time, the image in the scroll moved for close to 1,000 feet before stopping.
"This Dawnfall Peak is situated in a rather secluded location, and it''s also quite a short mountain. If I recall correctly, no elder has ever resided there. It''s surrounded by many ins and valleys, so it''s a lot more quiet than the other mountains. If you''d like to select this mountain, then you''ll have to construct your own cave abode there," Yu Xiansheng said as he pointed at the scroll.
Han Li''s gaze followed Yu Xiansheng''s finger, and he stared at the Dawnfall Peak for a while without saying anything, seemingly not quite satisfied with the location.
Yu Xiansheng exchanged a nce with Qi Liang upon seeing this, then said, "That''s alright, let''s keep looking."
With that, he continued to introduce other mountains to Han Li.
Some timeter, right as Yu Xiansheng was gradually losing his patience, Han Li''s gaze was suddenly drawn to a corner of the scroll, where a lone mountain was standing, and he asked, "Elder Yu, can I choose this mountain?"
A peculiar look appeared on Qi Liang''s face at the sight of Han Li''s selection, and he asked, "You want to choose the Crimson Dawn Peak?"
Han Li noticed Qi Liang''s reaction, and he asked, "Is there something wrong with this mountain?"
Before Qi Liang had a chance to reply, Yu Xiansheng exined, "No, there''s nothing wrong with the mountain. It was previously upied by another elder, and it''s been vacant ever since that elder''s passing. I suppose it''s a good choice, considering it already has a cave abodepletely with a medicine farm and a beast stable, all it needs is to be tidied up a little. You can go to the Cattail Spirit Valleyter to pick out some servants to do that for you."
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, but he didn''t say anything further, settling on this mountain as he expressed his gratitude to Yu Xiansheng.
With a flick of his wrist, a small seal appeared in Yu Xiansheng''s hand, and he pressed the seal down onto the scroll where the Crimson Dawn Peak was situated.
As soon as the seal made contact with the scroll, a burst of peculiar fluctuations immediately swept over the Crimson Dawn Peak and the surrounding area, and when Han Li set his gaze upon, he discovered that he was no longer able to see a real-life image of the area.
Yu Xiansheng stowed the seal away, then flipped a hand over to produce a crimson badge and a storage bracelet as he smiled and said, "Alright, the Crimson Dawn Peak and the area close to 300,000 kilometers in radius belongs to you now, Elder Li. Here''s your attendant elder badge and a storage bracelet that contains some information and resources."
Han Li epted the two items and stowed the storage bracelet away before carefully inspecting the elder badge.
It was a palm-sized badge that seemed to have been constructed from a jade-like material, and the visage of a strange dragon was engraved onto one side, while the other side carried the word "Elder" inscribed in seal script.
"This elder badge is an important identification token, and it''ll be required in many instances in our sect. In order to prevent it from being stolen, you need to mark it with your blood essence. The badge also contains 100 free merit points given out to all new elders, so make sure to keep it safe," Qi Liang said.
Han Li nodded in response, then brought his index and middle fingers together before tapping them onto the badge.
A burst of light shed from his fingertips, and a drop of golden blood essence instantly emerged before quickly seeping into the badge.
A peculiar golden pattern instantly appeared on the surface of the badge amid a sh of light, and the pattern was giving off an aura that was unique to Han Li.
He then injected his spiritual sense into the badge, and sure enough, there were already 100 merit points inside.
"Elder Li, would you like me to take you to the Cattail Spirit Valley to select some servants, or to the Beast Rearing Fields to select a mountain guardian beast?" Qi Liang asked.
"What''s a mountain guardian beast?" Han Li asked.
"They are spirit beasts that had been tamed by the sect. Given your cultivation base and your status as an inner sect elder, you''re entitled to Body Integration Stage spirit beast to guard your mountain and cave abode," Qi Liang exined.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked, "Will I need to spend merit points for such a beast?"
"No, the mountain guardian beast is gifted to you by the sect free of charge, just like the servants. Most of the servants are outer sect disciples who wish to serve a True Immortal. It looks like you''re quite interested in a mountain guardian beast, so how about I take you to the Beast Rearing Fields first?" Qi Liang proposed.
"I''m just intrigued as I''ve never heard of something like this before. Back when I was selecting my mountain, I noticed that the Imperial Dragon Peak that the Merit Conveyance Pce is situated on isn''t too far away from here. I''d like to go and take a look there first," Han Li said.
Qi Liang faltered slightly upon hearing this, then said, "You''re quite observant to have noticed that, Elder Li. The Imperial Dragon Peak appears to be not far away on the map, but it''s actually quite some distance away in our Bell Toll Mountain Range. Are you sure you don''t want to have everything organized in your cave abode first before you go to the Merit Conveyance Pce?"
"Truth be told, I''ve been yearning to see the scriptures in the Merit Conveyance Pce for a long time, and now that I''ve finally managed to join the sect, I simply can''t suppress the urge to want to go and take a look there first," Han Li replied as he intentionally put on a bashful expression.
Chapter 190: Formless True Axis Scripture
Chapter 190: Formless True Axis Scripture
Qi Liang was quite amused to hear this, and he said, "In that case, I''ll take you to the Imperial Dragon Peak first."
Han Li hurriedly waved his hands as he refused, "I''ve already troubled you far too much today, Elder Qi. Now that I have this elder badge, I''ll be able to take care of everything else on my own. You and Elder Yu haven''t met for quite some time, so why don''t you take the time to catch up and have a good chat?"
"That''s very thoughtful of you, Elder Li," Yu Xiansheng chuckled. "The storage bracelet that I just gave you contains a map of our ze Dragon Dao, so you won''t get lost."
Qi Liang hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then said, "In that case, I''ll leave you to yourself, Elder Li. If you get some spare time, you cane and pay my Heavenly Star Pce a visit."
"I''ll be sure to do so," Han Li replied as he cupped his fist in a salute before departing.
Following his departure, a hint of mockery appeared on Yu Xiansheng''s face as he mused, "Some people just don''t know their limits. All of these new elders think that regr elder missions are easy toplete. Only after experiencing hardships will theye to realize that the most consistent long-term strategy is to oversee a pce like us."
Qi Liang merely smiled in response, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with this sentiment.
Meanwhile, Han Li emerged from the pce and arrived on the za outside, then flipped a hand over to pull the map of the ze Dragon Dao out of the storage bracelet that had just been given to him by Yu Xiansheng. After inspecting it closely for a moment, he stowed the map away again.
After that, he flipped his hand over again to pull out a jade slip that contained some information about all of the ze Dragon Dao''s pces, then pressed the jade slip against his own be.
Momentster, he stowed the jade slip away before abruptly rising up into the sky as a streak of azure light.
As Han Li was flying through the air, he was also taking the opportunity to inspect thendscape beneath him.
The undting mountains were like waves that stretched as far as the eyes could see, and with the exceptions of some locations where sect pces and pavilions were situated, the majority of thendscape was covered by a nket of snow, giving the entire area the appearance of a cial realm.
However, the rivers and creeks that passed through the mountain range were still slowly flowing, remaining unfrozen despite the low temperatures.
They were like a series of gentle and slow-moving pythons that were slithering through the mountain range.
Han Li had already seen several of the major rivers while on the way to the ze Dragon Dao, but their names were different from the names that they were referred to as here, and they were only the downstream tail-ends of those rivers.
Constantly staring at a monotonous whitendscape proved to be quite disconcerting over time, so Han Li redirected his gaze to the sky instead as he flew toward the Imperial Dragon Peak at full speed.
¡¡
15 minutester.
The Imperial Dragon Peak was one of the tallest and most majestic mountains in the entire Bell Toll Mountain Range. At the same time, it was also one of the ze Dragon Dao''s most important mountains. It was protected by an array all year round, and whenever any situations arose, the arrays would instantly be activated. Furthermore, there was more than one True Immortal cultivator stationed inside at all times.
The entirety of the Imperial Dragon Peak was riddled with dense clusters of buildings from head to toe, all of which housed the countless cultivation arts and secret techniques of the sect.
The buildings at the foot of the mountain were collectively known as the scripture library, and the scriptures they contained catered toward outer sect elders and disciples, whereas the buildings halfway up the mountain were known as the inner tome library, and they catered toward inner sect elders and disciples.
These two locations housed a vast number of books on an extremely diverse range of topics, and elders and disciples could find what they wanted through the library catalogs, then exchange for those scriptures using merit points.
There was only a single building on the mountain summit named the Merit Conveyance Pce, and it catered exclusively toward inner sect elders and direct disciples, housing the most important scriptures in the entire sect.
Right at this moment, a streak of azure light descended out of the sky and onto the white jade za in front of the pce.
It was none other than Han Li, and afternding on the za, he took a moment to adjust his robes, which were slightly disheveled from his flight, then raised his head to look at the pce up ahead.
The Merit Conveyance Pce was very unremarkable in appearance, with seemingly no extra thought or care put into its construction, but upon closer inspection, one would quickly discover that there was more to the pce than met the eye.
Firstly, the Merit Conveyance Pce wasn''t constructed from wooden or stone materials. Instead, the building consisted entirely of a special type of metal. Secondly, there were all types ofplex runes engraved onto the outer walls and eaves of the pce, giving it a profound and mystical appearance.
Han Li spected that this pce itself was most likely an extremely powerful spirit treasure, perhaps even an Acquired Immortal Treasure.
If that really were the case, then this would truly be an extraordinary spectacle.
After inspecting the building for a moment, he cast aside this train of thought before making his way inside.
Upon entering the pce, Han Li was surprised to find that even though there were no light sources such asmps or candles inside, it was somehow even brighter in the pce than outside.
After looking around the hall, he discovered that aside from the wall that the door was attached to, the other three walls had been split up into countless metal grids, all of which were shing with spiritual light and tightly sealed behind independent restrictions.
Directly across from him was a middle-aged man with graying hair huddled over a table. His attention was focused entirely on an ancient book with a green color and yellow pages, and he didn''t seem to have noticed Han Li at all.
Han Li approached the man and was just about to say something when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the entire book had been written in golden seal text.
The man looked up to reveal a set of calm features, and he said, "Judging from your attire, you''re not an inner sect elder, nor are you a direct disciple, so what are you doing here?"
"I am Li Feiyu, and I was only just instated as an inner sect elder. I was in a hurry to get here, so I didn''t get a chance to change into my elder robes," Han Li exined as he pulled out his elder badge before offering it to the man.
The middle-aged man epted the badge and examined it for a moment, but didn''t immediately return it to Han Li as he smiled and cupped his fist in a weing salute.
"It''s fine. The first thing that many of the new elders like to do after joining the sect is to visit the Imperial Dragon Peak, so this is no surprise. My name is Fang Zhuan, and I am the attendant elder overseeing the Merit Conveyance Pce at the moment."
Han Li immediately returned the salute, and his expression remainedpletely unchanged, but he was feeling a little perplexed.
Fang Zhuan was only a Grand Ascension cultivator, so why was it that he had been assigned with such an important role?
"Have youe here to exchange for some cultivation arts or secret techniques? I don''t mean to rain on your parade, but given that you''ve only just joined the sect, I''m assuming you only have 100 merit points, right? 100 merit points can perhaps get you a decent cultivation art from the inner tome library, but in here..." Fang Zhuan''s voice trailed off here, but it was clear what he was implying.
"Thank you for the tip, Elder Fang. I''ve onlye here this time to browse the catalog of cultivation arts so I know how many merit points I have to aim for," Han Li replied.
Fang Zhuan nodded in response, then asked, "I see. May I ask which cultivation art you''d like to inquire about?"
"Prior to joining the sect, I had already heard that our ze Dragon Dao had a cultivation art that could allow one to cultivate thews of time. How many merit points will be required for that cultivation art?" Han Li asked.
Fang Zhuan seemed to have been rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked, "You mean the Formless True Axis Scripture?"
"Is there something wrong?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Instead of answering Han Li''s question, Fang Zhuan asked, "Have you looked into the Formless True Axis Scripture at all prior to this?"
"I''m afraid not. Please enlighten me, Elder Fang," Han Li replied.
"Due to the fact that the cultivation art is rted to thews of time, it''s considered to be one of the ze Dragon Dao''s top three cultivation arts, but in reality, no one in the ze Dragon Dao has ever managed to attain thews of time through this cultivation art. Almost everyone who decided to pursue the cultivation art gave up at the first level and switched to other cultivation arts," Fang Zhuan exined.
Han Li nodded in response, then asked in a casual voice, "I see. May I ask how many merit points are required to exchange for the Formless True Axis Scripture?"
"You still want to exchange for the cultivation art, even though the practical sess rate of cultivating it is zero?" Fang Zhuan asked with a perplexed expression.
"I''ve been yearning for this cultivation art for a long time, so I can''t bear to just give up on it before at least giving it a try. If it doesn''t work, I can always switch to something else," Han Li replied with a smile.
Fang Zhuan was silent for a moment, then said, "In that case, I won''t try to dissuade you any further. The Formless True Axis Scripture is split up into three levels, and elders and disciples are only permitted to exchange for one level at a time. The first level only costs 90 merit points..."
"Only 90 merit points?" Han Li was very surprised to hear this, and he couldn''t help but cut Fang Zhuan off for confirmation.
"That''s right, the first level only costs 90 merit points. Due to the special circumstances surrounding the cultivation art, it''s the least popr of the sect''s top three cultivation arts by far, so it''s far cheaper than the other two," Fang Zhuan exined.
"Then what about the other two levels?" Han Li asked.
"The second level will cost 9,000 merit points, and it''s only essible to direct disciples and inner sect elders. As for the third level, that''s only essible to the dao lords and deputy dao lords, and it''ll cost 900,000 merit points," Fang Zhuan replied.
"That''s an extremely steep hike in price," Han Li mused.
"The reason why the first level is so easily essible and so cheap is because the sect is hoping that someday, one of the sect''s disciples will actually be able to attain thews of time through it. Having said that, like I mentioned, no one has ever managed to seed in this endeavor, so it''s be even less popr over time," Fang Zhuan exined.
"Thank you for informing me of all of this, Elder Fang. I would still like to exchange for the first level of the Formless True Axis Scripture," Han Li said.
"Alright, if you''ve already made up your mind, then please wait for a moment," Fang Zhuan replied with a nod, then turned around and made his way toward the metal grids behind him.
Chapter 191: Servants
Chapter 191: Servants
With a flick of his wrist, a round, palm-sized golden badge appeared in Fang Zhuan''s grasp amid a sh of golden light.
The badge was riddled with runes, and it was made from the exact same material as the metal grids.
He chanted a brief incantation while making a hand seal with his other hand, and all of the spirit patterns on the golden badge instantly lit up, following which it released a beam of golden light straight onto one of the metal grids on the wall.
Theyer of spiritual light enshrouding the grid rippled like water momentarily, following which a small metal box flew out of the wall beforending in Fang Zhuan''s grasp.
He pressed his golden badge onto the box, and thetter immediately began to glow with bright golden light, forming a spherical light barrier that enveloped the entire box within.
Han Li could see golden runes constantly shing over the light barrier like a series of miniature golden dragons, giving off an extremely peculiar aura in the process.
Momentster, the spherical light barrier abruptly faded, as did the golden light radiating from the box.
Immediately thereafter, the box slowly flew back into the grid on the wall, where it was sealed once again amid a sh of spiritual light, leaving only the golden badge continuing to hover in mid-air.
The box wasn''t opened at all throughout this entire process.
It seemed that even though Fang Zhuan was serving as the attendant elder overseeing this ce, even he was unable to open the boxes that contained the scriptures. Instead, it appeared that the most that he could do was replicate the contents of the scriptures.
Fang Zhuan picked up Han Li''s elder badge and ced it against his round metal badge, then chanted an incantation.
Both of the badges shed in unison, then quickly returned to normal.
"Alright, the merit points in the badge have already been deducted, and your blood essence aura has also been recorded by this spirit note badge. You will be the only one who can ess the cultivation art recorded inside. Do not attempt to replicate the contents inside under any circumstances, or you''ll have to bear the consequences," Fang Zhuan cautioned as he handed both badges to Han Li.
"Thank you, Elder Fang," Han Li replied with a nod as he epted the pair of badges.
Right at this moment, someone else made his way into the pce as he yelled, "Senior Martial Brother Fang!"
Fang Zhuan was clearly very familiar with this neer, and he smiled as he greeted, "Ah, Junior Martial Brother Gu. It''s been a while since Ist saw you. What can I help you with today?"
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this.
This appeared to have been a normal urrence, but it was very perplexing in his eyes as the man with the Gu surname was a True Immortal cultivator, so why was it that he was referring to a Grand Ascension cultivator like Fang Zhuan as his senior martial brother?
Fang Zhuan seemed to have noticed the perplexed look in Han Li''s eyes, and a hint of dejection shed across his face.
"It appears you have a guest, so I won''t take up any more of your time, Elder Fang," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
"Farewell, Elder Li. If you need anything else, you cane back at any time," Fang Zhuan replied with a nod.
Han Li was still rather perplexed as he stroked his own chin, then gave the two men a slight nod before departing.
After leaving the Merit Conveyance Pce, he had originally nned to return straight to his cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak, but a thought suddenly urred to him, and he made his way to the nearby teleportation hall instead.
¡¡
The Cattail Spirit Valley was situated in the westernmost region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, and it was a massive horn-shaped valley that was stuck between a pair of side branch mountain ranges that extended toward the south.
There was a type of nt by the name of the Cattail Spirit Herb growing here, which was capable of gathering the world''s origin qi in small amounts, hence the name of the valley.
Due to the special properties of the Cattail Spirit Herb, it was often used to weave futons, and for a low-grade cultivator, having ess to such a futon would significantly enhance their rate of cultivation.
Of course, all of the Cattail Spirit Herbs in the valley were considered to be the property of the sect, and disciples were strictly prohibited from picking them without permission.
This valley was a rather special ce in the ze Dragon Dao as the outer sect disciples participating in the decennial inner sect trials would generally gather here, then be taken by an attendant elder to trial areas such as the Snowmelt Forest.
Only a tiny number of people were able to pass each trial to be inner sect disciples, while the rest either perished during the cruel trials, or emerged riddled with injuries to continue serving as ordinary outer sect disciples.
Each outer sect disciple only had one opportunity to participate in the trial in their lifetime, so if they were to fail, then that would mean that the status of inner sect disciple was forever out of reach.
The majority of these outer sect disciples that hade from all parts of the Ancient Cloud Continent actually possessed decent aptitude, considered to be prodigies in their own ns. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have even been selected to be outer sect disciples of the ze Dragon Dao.
After failing the inner sect trials, these outer sect disciples naturally weren''t willing to just give up cultivation altogether, so the vast majority of them would choose to sign contracts in the Cattail Spirit Pce, hoping that they would catch the eye of one of the ze Dragon Dao''s True Immortals and be fortunate enough to be their servant.
In their eyes, being able to be the servant of a True Immortal was an enormous opportunity that would elevate them topletely new heights.
If they were to be granted some cultivation resources by the True Immortal that they served, then it was entirely possible for exceptions to be made for them to be epted as inner sect disciples at some point in the future.
However, the vast majority of True Immortals already had their own servants, and most of them liked to choose people from their own ns. Hence, very few of them came to visit the Cattail Spirit Valley. Of course, female cultivators with exceptional looks stood a better chance of being chosen then others.
Even so, whenever it became known that a True Immortal was about to arrive in the valley, countless disciples would still flock to the valley to try their luck.
At this moment, there were already thousands of people gathered in the valley, and there were still more people arriving by the second.
Not long ago, an attendant elder of the Cattail Spirit Pce had just announced that a True Immortal was going to be arriving to pick out some servants soon, and that was the reason why so many outer sect disciples were present.
The valley was lined with thickets of Cattail Spirit Herbs that were situated at least 1,000 feet away from one another. These herbs had thick and strong stems and leaves that resembled swords, and there were dozens or even over 100 gray-robed cultivators standing or sitting on each thicket.
It seemed that each thicket of Cattail Spirit Herbs was a circle of its own that was clearly separated from all others.
The vast majority of these people were at the Foundation Establishment or Core Formation Stage, but of course, there were quite a few Nascent Soul Stage disciples as well. Even as they were awaiting the arrival of the True Immortal, they were still meditating, not willing to waste any time that could be used for cultivation.
At the entrance of the valley, a gray-robed, honest-looking young man who appeared to have been in his twenties with a crescent-shaped jade pendant hanging from his waist made his way into the crowd, apanied by threepanions.
A round-faced fatso among the trio ofpanions turned to the honest-looking young man as he suggested, "Yungui, we should find a spot where it''ll be easier for us to be seen. That way, there''s a higher chance that we''ll be chosen."
The best locations at the entrance of the valley had already been taken over by groups that were led by Nascent Soul Stage disciples, and there were only some vacant spots avable deeper in the valley.
The honest-looking young man nodded in response, then pointed at a nearby thicket that was over 100 feet in size as he said, "It looks like there''s some space there."
However, as soon as he stepped onto the thicket, he was met with a forceful shoulder barge that sent him stumbling to the side, and he turned around to discover a burly young man who was built like a brick house.
"Well, well, well, if it isn''t Young Master Yungui. Have youe to try and fight over spots with us again?" the burly young man sneered.
The honest-looking young man''s hands instantly balled up into tight fists, but he ultimately chose not to retaliate.
The burly young man before him was called Sun Buzheng, and they hade from the same rural nation, namely the Late Age Nation.
The Meng n that Meng Yungui belonged to was once the cultivating n that was controlling the nation from behind the scenes, while Sun Buzheng was a member of the Late Age Nation''s imperial family. Back when they were both children, they had been very close friends.
However, the Sun n waster overthrown during a revolution, and the Meng n was also attacked by a foreign cultivating power at around the same time, falling into decline as a result.
Sun Buzheng''s birth name was Sun Hao, and he had always thought that his nation had fallen due to theck of action taken by the Meng n, so he had developed an extremely deep grudge against the Meng n. As a result, after he was reunited with Meng Yungui in the ze Dragon Dao, he regarded his former friend as a bitter enemy.
In the beginning, Meng Yungui tried to exin what had happened to Sun Buzheng, but thetter refused to listen, so Meng Yungui eventually gave up.
Whenever he was faced with Sun Buzheng''s provocation, he would always choose to deescte the altercation, but this only made Sun Buzheng even more furious.
"Let''s go somewhere else," Meng Yungui said to his entourage, then began to make his way toward another nearby thicket.
"Meng Yungui, are you a man or not? You''re always cowering like a turtle every single time, and it pisses me off!" Sun Buzheng roared.
He made no effort to keep his voice down, and all of the nearby disciples immediately had their attention drawn to the altercation. Among them was an ordinary-looking young man who was quite tall in stature.
He was standing on arge thicket with some other outer sect disciples seated in small groups nearby, while he was the only one that was on his own.
This person was naturally none other than Han Li, who had just arrived from the Merit Conveyance Pce.
As opposed to going straight to the attendant elder of the Cattail Spirit Pce to pick out some servants from the list of names, he decided to enter the valley and take a look for himself.
Even though selecting servants was only a trivial matter, he still didn''t want to run the risk of having others nt spies beside him.
He had suppressed his own aura to the Core Formation Stage, so no one paid any heed to him, merely regarding him as another outer sect disciple who hade to try his luck.
He took a nce at the approaching Meng Yungui, then quickly withdrew his gaze.
Right at this moment, a cold voice rang out up ahead. "Everyone, piss off! I''m taking this spot!"
The voice belonged to a menacing middle-aged man who appeared to have been around 40 years of age, and he was followed by a pair of cultivators, one male and one female, both of whom clearly regarded him as their leader.
The man was ate-Core Formation cultivator, so his cultivation base definitely stood out among the many nearby Core Formation cultivators.
The thicket that Han Li was situated on was upied mostly by early-Core Formation cultivators, so despite their reluctance toply, they had no choice but to leave with sour expressions.
It didn''t take long before Han Li was the only one left, and Meng Yungui stopped in his tracks as his brows furrowed slightly at the sight of Han Li.
"I don''t recall ever seeing you before. You must be a newbie, right?" the middle-aged man asked in a cold voice.
"Indeed, I only joined the sect not too long ago, and I heard that a True Immortal wasing to select some servants soon, so I decided toe here and try my luck," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice.
"Ha! So you''re another idiot with an inted sense of self-worth!"
"He must think of himself as some type of young prodigy!"
A burst of raucousughter instantly rang out at Han Li''s expense.
Chapter 192: Selecting Servants
Chapter 192: Selecting Servants
"Even a newbie like yourself should still know the rules! Senior Martial Brother Shen told you to piss off just now, so why are you still here? Are you deaf, or are you pretending to be deaf?" the thin man beside the menacing middle-aged man yelled.
"To think that a mere early-Core Formation cultivator like yourself dares to disy such insolence! You must have a death wish!" the seductive female cultivator on the other side of the middle-aged man scoffed.
Han Li paid no heed to their insults as he remained seated on the ground with his legs crossed.
Right at this moment, Meng Yungui made his way over to Han Li as he said, "It''s not wise to oppose these people just for the sake of pride, Fellow Daoist. Given their terrible personalities, there''s no way they''d be chosen by the True Immortal anyway."
In the process, he had wedged himself between Han Li and the middle-aged man, and his threepanions also joined him as well.
"Meng Yungui, if I were you, I would stay out of this matter rather than stand up for someone I don''t even know. Don''t think that I would back down just because you managed to reach thete-Core Formation Stage by a massive stroke of luck," the middle-aged man threatened in a cold voice.
Meng Yungui wasn''t backing down in the slightest as he dered, "Shen Biao, you and Lu Heng have always been picking on the members of our Meng n, and I''ve been meaning to confront you about this. There''s no time like the present to settle our differences."
Right at this moment, another voice suddenly rang out. "Such majesty and prestige! As expected of Young Master Meng! When did you pick up the habit of sticking your nose into random business that has nothing to do with you?"
Everyone turned to discover a handsome young man with an arm wound around a female cultivator''s slender waist. He was apanied by an entourage of about a dozen people, and his peakte-Core Formation Stage aura was on full disy.
The middle-aged man was ecstatic to see the new arrival. "Senior Martial Brother Lu, you''re finally here!"
The atmosphere in the nearby area immediately became rather tense, and all of the disciples who didn''t want to get involved hurriedly backed away to create some space between themselves and the two opposing groups of cultivators.
Han Li heaved a resigned sigh upon seeing this.
He had merely chosen this spot to sit at random, and he didn''t think that it would stir up such a far-reaching conflict.
The cultivators apanying Lu Heng were all at the Core Formation Stage as well, and with Shen Biao''s trio thrown into the mix, this was quite a formidable lineup. In contrast, Meng Yungui only had his threepanions to back him up.
Fearful looks had appeared on the faces of the round-faced fatso and the other two disciples, but seeing as Meng Yungui was still standing firm, they remained resolute in their stances as well.
Right as thispletely lopsided battle was about tomence, another voice suddenly rang out. "Where''s the glory in bullying others with a numbers advantage? Why don''t you count me in as well, Senior Martial Brother Lu?"
The person who had spoken was none other than Sun Buzheng, who had provoked Meng Yungui earlier. He immediately arrived at the scene of the altercation as well, and his aura indicated that he was also ate-Core Formation cultivator.
"Sun Buzheng, aren''t you and Meng Yungui sworn enemies? Are you going to meddle in this matter as well?" Lu Heng asked in a cold voice.
Sun Buzheng was disying no fear at all as he smiled and replied, "Meng Yungui and I will settle our differences another time, but in the meantime, I can''t just stand by and watch you pick on my fellow brethren of the Late Age Nation!"
Han Li was rather intrigued by this turn of events.
Right at this moment, Meng Yungui''s voice rang out beside his ears through voice transmission. "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist, we''ll take on Lu Heng and the others on our own. You stay out of this so you don''t get injured."
"If you''re gonna fight, then hurry up!"
"What''s the hold-up?"
"Taking bets now! I''m putting my money on Lu Heng!"
Arge crowd had gathered to watch the unfolding altercation, and the scene was bing quite rowdy.
Lu Heng pushed the beautiful woman beside him away, then raised a hand as hemanded, "Go!"
Shen Biao and the others immediately summoned their respective treasures upon receiving thismand, preparing to engage Meng Yungui and his group in battle.
Meng Yungui and his entourage also responded in kind, and the two groups of cultivators were just about to sh when Han Li suddenly appeared between them in a sh, moving at such an incredible speed that it was as if he had teleported there.
Meng Yungui and the others looked on in astonishment as Han Li casually swept a sleeve through the air, and the dozen or so opposing cultivators, including Shen Biao, were all sent flying by a burst of invisible force, then crashed into the distant mountain face before falling unconscious.
The rowdy bystanders instantly fell silent as if they had each taken a punch to the gut, and all of them were rooted to the spot as they looked on with stunned expressions.
Lu Heng''s hand was still outstretched as he stared at Han Li with utter bewilderment.
At this moment, he was no longer able to sense Han Li''s aura at all, as if it were only a mere mortal standing before him.
Even the Nascent Soul Stage disciples at the entrance of the valley were all looking on in dumbfounded shock.
After a brief silence, a hint of realization abruptly appeared in Meng Yungui''s eyes, and he was the first to snap back to his senses as he hurriedly fell to his knees.
"Disciple Meng Yungui pays his respects to the esteemed elder!"
Immediately thereafter, all of the thousands of disciples in the area also sank to their knees one after another.
Lu Heng''s forehead was pressed firmly against the ground, and his entire body was already drenched in cold sweat.
Han Li paid no heed to Lu Heng as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a gentle breeze that lifted Meng Yungui to his feet. "My surname is Li. From now on, you can remain by my side as my servant."
Meng Yungui faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which an ecstatic look appeared on his face, but that was then quickly reced by a hesitant expression.
"If you have some qualms, then feel free to express them," Han Li said.
A slightly embarrassed look appeared on Meng Yungui''s face as he said, "Elder Li, I have a young sister who''s only just reached 18 years of age and recently progressed to the Foundation Establishment Stage. Would you be able to ept her as your servant as well?"
A cold look appeared on Han Li''s face as he said, "The pursuit of the Great Dao is a cruel and lonely endeavor. If you do not sever your ties with the mortal world, you won''t be able to truly embark on that journey. Do you understand?"
Meng Yungui hurriedly cupped his fist in a salute as he replied, "I do, it''s just that my sister is still young, and if I leave her to her own devices here, I''m afraid that she''ll... I understand that I''m asking too much. My sincerest apologies, Elder Li, but I won''t be able to serve by your side."
Everyone waspletely bewildered to hear this. In their eyes, it was nothing short of incredible that someone had passed up the opportunity to be a servant to a True Immortal.
If one could be a servant to a True Immortal, even the slightest bequeathments from the True Immortal would be enough to benefit them immensely on their cultivation journey, and that wasn''t even to mention how invaluable the guidance of a True Immortal would be in one''s cultivation.
With that in mind, one had to have either been insane or downright stupid to turn down such an opportunity!
However, to everyone''s astonishment, Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "The Great Dao has no tolerance for emotional and sentimental ties, but at the end of the day, we are still human. How many people can truly bepletely heartless and devoid of emotion? I''ll ept both you and your sister as my servants. On top of that, you can pick out eight more people to serve by my side."
Meng Yungui shuddered violently as if he had been struck by lightning upon hearing this, and he was staring at Han Li with incredulity in his eyes.
The surrounding crowd had also erupted into a frenzy and were chattering spiritedly among themselves.
Virtually everyone immediately turned to Meng Yungui with imploring looks in their eyes, as if he were a god that would decide whether they got to live or die.
Meanwhile, Han Li sat down onto the ground with his legs crossed and closed his eyes to meditate, seemingly truly giving Meng Yungui full rein over who he was going to choose.
After taking a moment to collect himself, Meng Yungui pointed to the person standing directly before him as he said, "Meng Xiong."
Meng Xiong was the name of the round-faced fatso that had always been by his side, and he was so excited that tears were already beginning to swim in his eyes.
"Meng Xiong, go and fetch Qianqian for me. Meng Yu, Meng Guang, Fang Yao..."
After instructing the fatso to get his sister, Meng Yungui called out another six names, two of whom were also from the Meng n, while the rest were simply on good terms with him.
All of those who had their names called began to weep with joy as they made their way over to Meng Yungui''s side.
Only then did Han Li open his eyes and take a quick nce at the people that Meng Yungui had chosen.
Aside from Meng Yungui''s sister, who wasn''t here yet, the rest of them were all Core Formation cultivators.
Right at this moment, Meng Yungui made his way over to a certain person and gave them thest spot.
"Sun Buzheng..."
Sun Buzheng waspletely incredulous at the sound of his own nameing out of Meng Yungui''s voice, and he turned to his former good friend with a perplexed expression.
"I will tell you this once again, Sun Hao: I do not get to decide the fate of a nation, and there are manyplex circumstances involved. However, I always have and will continue to regard you as my friend," Meng Yungui said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Tears began to well up in Sun Buzheng''s eyes, and to conceal his embarrassment, he put on a displeased look as he corrected, "Don''t call me Sun Hao, I changed my name to Sun Buzheng long ago!"
After everyone was selected, Han Li didn''t say anything as he led Meng Yungui and the others straight to the Cattail Spirit Pce for registration, and they were followed by several thousand disciples who were clearly still not willing to give up.
Given Han Li''s status and cultivation base, he could''ve easily chosen dozens or even hundreds of servants, but he had no intention of doing that.
Right as they emerged from the Cattail Spirit Hall, a crisp and pleasant voice rang out from within the crowd. "Big Brother!"
A young woman then darted her way through the crowd in an agile manner like a little red sparrow, arriving beside Meng Yungui beforetching onto his arm, and she was followed immediately by Meng Xiong.
"Elder Li, this is my sister, Meng Qianqian. Qianqian, pay your respects to Elder Li," Meng Yungui introduced with a slightly bashful expression.
Meng Qianqian hurriedly released her brother''s arm upon hearing this, and she extended a deep curtsey toward Han Li with curiosity brimming in herrge eyes. "Qianqian pays her respects to Elder Li."
Han Li smiled as he nodded in response, and he noticed that she was wearing a crescent-shaped jade pendant on her waist that seemed to have been identical to Meng Yungui''s.
Looking at Meng Qianqian, he couldn''t help but think of his little sister, and a barely detectable hint of warmth shed through his eyes.
This was one of the reasons why he had agreed to ept both of them as his servants.
"Take this fire spirit pendant. It''s not exactly an immortal treasure, but it can be worn to enhance the rate of cultivation for someone using fire-attribute cultivation arts." Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a fiery red penannr jade pendant as he spoke, then handed it to Meng Qianqian.
Meng Qianqian was initially quite taken aback, but she then hurriedly epted the pendant as she expressed her gratitude.
She then strung the jade pendant onto her waist right next to the crescent-shaped pendant, and as she began to walk, the pair of pendants ttered together to produce a crisp and pleasant sound, much to the envy of all of the surrounding onlookers.
Chapter 193: Mountain Guardian Beast
Chapter 193: Mountain Guardian Beast
After registering his servants with the attendant elder at the Cattail Spirit Pce, he took them to the nearby teleportation hall, then returned to the Crimson Dawn Peak.
The Crimson Dawn Peak was a lone mountain that was tens of thousands of feet tall. It was quite secluded in location, so it was quite far away from the nearest teleportation hall.
Even before arriving on the mountain, everyone could see that it was glowing with a red sheen, and not only was there no snow on the mountain, it was covered in lush greenery, presenting a vibrant sight to behold.
This was Han Li''s first time seeing the mountain, and he found this to be rather strange, so he immediately released his spiritual sense to inspect the mountain as he said to Meng Yungui and the others, "The Crimson Dawn Peak has been vacant for a very long time, and the previous restrictions and arrays set up here have already be defunct fromck of maintenance.
¡°On top of that, there''s a natural fire miasma on the mountain that will have a slight negative impact on all of you over time. Take these Clear Forest Pills, and you''ll be exempt from those negative effects."
He flipped a hand over to produce a white jade vial as he spoke, then handed it to Meng Yungui.
Meng Yungui carefully epted the vial with both hands, then distributed the pills inside to everyone.
All of them were exchanging nces with one another while holding the pills, seemingly reluctant to take them.
These Clear Forest Pills were naturally next to worthless in Han Li''s eyes, but they were extremely beneficial for Core Formation cultivators attempting breakthroughs to the Nascent Soul Stage, and it felt like a massive waste to be taking them just to ward off the fire miasma on the mountain.
"Do I have to repeat myself?" Han Li asked in an indifferent voice.
"Please forgive us, Senior Li."
Meng Yungui immediately led by example, swallowing his pill first, and everyone else quickly followed suit.
Meng Qianqian was just about to take her pill as well, but she was stopped by Han Li, who told her, "You''re only at the Foundation Establishment, so you don''t have to take this pill. That fire spirit pendant has the natural ability to ward off the fire miasma for you."
Meng Qianqian nodded in response, then stowed the pill away.
"From now on, perform your rightful duties, and I''ll be sure to treat you well. For now, I have some other matters to take care of, so follow Meng Yungui''s lead and go clean up the cave abode," Han Li instructed.
"Yes, Senior Li."
Meng Yungui and the others descended onto the Crimson Dawn Peak, while Han Li flew back to the teleportation hall on his own.
¡¡
The Beast Rearing Fields were where the tamed demon beasts of the ze Dragon Dao were kept, and they took up a massive area. At the center of the fields was the Beast Rearing Pce, which presided over the surrounding area in a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
The fields were split up into different areas with different environments, such as mountains, rivers, forests, and swamps.
Such a diverse array of environments hadn''te into existence naturally. Instead, most of them had been artificially created by the ze Dragon Dao, and each area was enshrouded within restrictions of different sizes. Even during the day, the glowing restrictions of different colors were still clearly visible, and different areas contained different numbers of spirit beasts.
There were specialized beast-taming cultivators overseeing the Beast Rearing Fields, and most of the spirit beasts kept in the sect possessed certain useful abilities, such as the ability to act as steeds, guard cave abodes, track enemies, explore perilous regions, and even assist their owners in battle.
It was exactly because of this that many of the disciples of the sect would choose to rent one of these spirit beasts before carrying out missions, but only direct disciples and inner sect elders were entitled to permanent ownership over these spirit beasts.
There was a teleportation hall near the valley that the Beast Rearing Fields were situated in, and at this moment, there were many people entering and exiting the building, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.
Upon emerging from the teleportation hall, Han Li took a quick nce at his surroundings before making his way into the valley.
The first thing that he saw in the valley was a spacious za, on one side of which stood several tall buildings. Among them was arge pce, which bore a que that read "Beast Rearing Fields''''.
As soon as Han Li set foot in the valley, he was immediately greeted by a gray-robed young man. "Greetings, senior martial brother. Have youe to rent a spirit beast?"
The man had a round face andrge ears, coupled with a pair of bright eyes, giving him a clever appearance.
Han Li flipped a hand over to show the young man his elder badge, and thetter hurriedly extended an apologetic salute.
"My apologies, Elder."
Han Li waved a dismissive hand as he said, "I''ve only recently joined the sect, and I''vee here to select a mountain guardian beast for my cave abode."
"ording to the rules of the sect, inner sect elders iming a spirit beast for the first time can do so free of charge. However, I must first verify your identity. Please pardon my intrusion, Elder," the young man said as he extended an apologetic bow.
Han Li offered no verbal response as he handed his elder badge to the young man, who apologized once again before flipping a hand over to produce an azure jade tablet, which he pressed against Han Li''s elder badge while quickly chanting an incantation.
A burst of azure light appeared over the surface of the jade tablet, forming a light barrier roughly the size of a washbasin.
"Thank you for your patience, Elder Li. Pleasee with me to select a spirit beast from the Beast Rearing Fields."
The young man handed Han Li''s badge back to him in a respectful manner, then led the way to the fields.
"Given how massive this ce is, it''ll take an eternity to see all of the areas one by one. Is there any other way to examine the spirit beasts here?" Han Li asked.
"There is. Pleasee with me, Elder Li," the young man immediately replied, then led Han Li to arge pce.
At this moment, there were many people in the pce seeking to rent spirit beasts, so it was rather noisy. The young man led Han Li to a quiet room, then pulled out a pair of jade books.
"The Beast Rearing Fields are split up into the outer fields and the inner fields, the former of which houses over 16,300 types of spirit beasts, while thetter houses over 1,800 types. All of them are recorded in these two jade books," the young man exined.
Han Li epted the jade books from the young man before injecting his spiritual sense into them.
Sure enough, there was a vast selection of spirit beasts avable, all of which had their own unique traits, putting the marvels of nature on full disy.
Han Li had originally nned to only take a short time selecting a spirit beast, but the more he saw, the more intrigued that he became, and only after browsing through almost the entire catalog of spirit beasts in the Beast Rearing Fields did he finally withdraw his spiritual sense from the pair of jade books.
The round-faced young man had remained patiently by Han Li''s side this entire time, and he asked, "Have you picked out any candidates, Elder Li?"
"There are a few spirit beasts that I''m interested in. Let''s go to the inner fields," Han Li replied with a nod as he returned the pair of jade books to the round-faced young man.
ording to the catalog, the Beast Rearing Fields were home to only around 40 to 50 types of Body Integration Stage spirit beasts. This was no surprise, considering the more powerful a spirit beast was, the more difficult they were to tame.
For him, a Body Integration Stage spirit beast wasn''t necessarily all that useful, so he had onlye here to broaden his horizons, and because there was no reason to pass up something given to him for free.
There were most likely some areas of the Beast Rearing Fields that he couldn''t ess given his current status, and perhaps those areas could''ve even been home to Grand Ascension or True Immortal Stage demon beasts.
It didn''t take long before Han Li and the young man appeared before a golden desert with a radius of close to 500 kilometers, and the entire desert was enshrouded under an enormous azure light barrier.
The young man summoned an azure jade badge, which he waved through the air to release a burst of azure light.
A short whileter, a clear cry rang out as a tornado that was several thousand feet tall erupted straight into the heavens while quickly approaching Han Li''s duo. Immediately thereafter, a giant golden-winged bird that was 700 to 800 feet in size emerged from the tornado, pping its wings as it circled around in the air, sending fierce gusts of wind sweeping in all directions.
"This Golden-winged Azure Light Falcon is at the mid-Body Integration Stage, and it possesses a hint of the true spirit Golden-winged Great Falcon bloodline, granting it extremely impressive speed," the young man introduced.
Han Li nodded in response, then observed the bird for a moment longer before making his way to a nearby valley.
Inside this area was an enormous rhinoceros-like spirit beast, which had a body that was entirely as white and translucent as jade. It moved around in slow, lumbering steps, and with each step that it took, an extremely heavy thud would reverberate throughout the entire valley.
"This is a Moonview Jade Rhinoceros. It possesses mid-Body Integration Stage power and wields various earth-attribute abilities," the young man introduced.
After observing the rhinoceros for some time, Han Li made his way to a canyon, where another spirit beast was residing.
This was a griffin-like creature that was 200 to 300 feet in length and around 70 to 80 feet tall. Its entire lion-like body was covered in thick fur, yet its legs were tipped with sharp eagle-like talons.
What was most remarkable about the creature was that it had two heads, one of which was purple, while the other was red, and both of them were snarling in a menacing fashion.
"This Two-headed Griffin is only at the early-Body Integration Stage, yet it possesses powers of two different attributes, namely lightning and fire," the young man introduced.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression, then decided, "I''ll take this one."
"Fantastic choice, Elder Li! This Two-headed Griffin isn''t all that powerful right now, but it has the most potential out of all of the Body Integration Stage spirit beasts here," the young man said with a smile.
Han Li also smiled in response, offering no reply.
"This is the Two-headed Griffin''s bonded badge. You won''t need the badge to control this beast, but if you''re going to give this to your servants, then it''s best to be cautious. This spirit beast has already been tamed, but there''s still a chance that it could be violent," the young man said as he flipped a hand over to produce a dark purple jade badge, which he handed to Han Li.
There was ayer of crimson light over the surface of the badge, upon which was the image of a miniature Two-headed Griffin, which was moving asionally as if it were a living creature.
The Two-headed Griffin let loose a low roar as it stared intently at the dark purple badge.
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out from the entrance of the canyon. "That griffin looks pretty good, Senior Martial Brother Ye."
Immediately thereafter, a group of seven to eight people descended into the area.
Aside from a square-faced outer sect disciple of the Beast Rearing Fields, everyone else in the group appeared to have been inner sect disciples.
They were led by a tall dark-skinned young man who appeared to be rather thin and frail, but had a sharp and piercing gleam in his eyes, and he was the only Grand Ascension cultivator of the group.
The person who had just spoken was a purple-haired man apanying the dark-skinned young man, and there was a fawning look on his face.
The dark-skinned young man''s eyes also lit up at the sight of the Two-headed Griffin, and he nodded as he remarked, "This beast possesses a lightning bloodline, so it suits me very well. I''ll take it!"
Chapter 194: Re-emergence of the Aura
Chapter 194: Re-emergence of the Aura
The square-faced cultivator of the Beast Rearing Fields was just about to say something when he spotted the jade badge in Han Li''s hand out of the corner of his eye, and the smile on his face instantly stiffened slightly.
The square-faced man took a hesitant nce at Han Li, then said, "Senior Martial Brother Ye, it looks like this Two-headed Griffin has already been rented by this senior martial brother. Would you like to take a look at some other spirit beasts instead?"
The dark-skinned young man''s brows furrowed slightly as he turned to Han Li with a hint of befuddlement in his eyes.
He discovered that even with his spiritual sense, Han Li''s aura waspletely undetectable to him.
The young man took a nce at the jade badge in Han Li''s hand, then directed his gaze toward the purple-haired man beside him.
Thetter immediately stepped forward, cupping his fist in a salute as he said, "I don''t recall ever seeing you before, Fellow Daoist. May I ask which elder you''re a disciple to?"
"Who I am doesn''t really concern you. I chose this Two-headed Griffin first, so I suggest you go pick out another spirit beast," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice.
He then turned to the round-faced young man, paying no further heed to the purple-haired man as he said, "I still have other matters to attend to, so undo the restriction here and release the beast."
The round-faced young man took a hesitant nce at the dark-skinned young man and his entourage, but in the end, he still did as he was told, flipping a hand over to produce that azure jade tablet.
The dark-skinned young man''s expression immediately darkened slightly upon seeing this, and the purple-haired man instantly red up with rage.
"How insolent of you! Do you know who Senior Martial Brother Ye Feng is? How dare you speak to him like this? If you know what''s good for you, then you''ll hand over this Two-headed Griffin right away, and we''ll give you twice the rent aspensation. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?"
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he released his aura, instantly causing the purple-haired man to choke on the rest of his words.
He had concealed his own aura this entire time in order to avoid attracting attention. After all, a new True Immortal was bound to catch a lot of attention, but it seemed that aura concealment wasn''t always the best policy to avoid trouble.
With that in mind, Han Li took a step forward, and a burst of terrifying spiritual pressure erupted out of his body, causing the surrounding space to tremble as ripples that were visible even to the naked eye surged through the air.
The derisive sneers on the faces of the group of Body Integration cultivators instantly turned to shock and horror, and they were forced back by the burst of tremendous spiritual pressure, unable to find steady footing even after stumbling back for over 100 feet.
Yellow light shed from the purple-haired man''s body as he summoned a yellow jade scepter, which conjured up a yellow light barrier around him, but even so, he was still forced to stumble back quite a distance before finally managing to steady himself.
The only one who was able to remain unmoved by Han Li''s aura was the dark-skinned young man. At his moment, arcs of silver lightning were shing all over his body, giving him the appearance of a deity of lightning, but despite this, his face had still paled slightly.
Han Li had intentionally controlled the burst of spiritual pressure so that it didn''t affect anyone aside from the dark-skinned young man and his entourage. However, the Two-headed Griffin was extremely sensitive to auras, and a look of awe and veneration instantly appeared in its eyes as it descended out of the sky beforeying itself t against the ground while trembling in fear.
Right at this moment, a hint of barely detectable tion shed through Han Li''s eyes as he turned his gaze to the dark-skinned young man.
It was very faint, but the man was carrying a hint of Daoist Xie''s aura.
Han Li took a deep breath, and his expression instantly returned to normal, while the burst of immense spiritual pressure also faded.
The group of Body Integration cultivators were finally able to steady themselves, but there was more than a hint of lingering fear in their eyes.
The purple-haired man was sweating profusely while kicking himself internally.
In the past, he had always been able to pick on others thanks to his affiliation to Ye Feng, but he had really picked out the wrong target this time.
The silver lightning around the dark-skinned young man''s body faded, and he was standing in silence, seemingly at a slight loss for what to do.
He was quite a powerful cultivator in his own right, but he knew his own limits, and he was aware that there was no way he could contend against a True Immortal.
A tense silence instantly descended upon the entire area, but it was soon broken by Han Li, who turned to the round-faced young man as he asked, "Who is he? I''ve yet to encounter such an arrogant disciple."
"He is Ye Feng, a disciple of Elder Mo Xie of the Immortal Origin Pce. He''s already reached the pinnacle of the Grand Ascension Stage, and I''ve heard that he''s nning to attempt an ascension tribtion soon, making him an extremely prominent figure among inner sect disciples," the round-faced young man exined.
"I see, no wonder you''re strutting around like you own this ce. You want this Two-headed Griffin, right?" Han Li asked with a casual smile.
At this point, Ye Feng had already put on a smile, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "Seeing as you chose it first, it naturally belongs to you, Elder Li. Please forgive me for the rudeness that I disyed earlier."
"You cultivate lightning-attribute abilities, while this Two-headed Griffin possesses quite a powerful lightning bloodline, so it''s no wonder that you want it. Even though I''m an elder, I''m not one to pick on those below me. How about this? I''ll stand here and take one of your attacks without using any treasures. If you can make me move even a single step from this spot, then I''ll concede this Two-headed Griffin to you. What do you say?" Han Li proposed with a smile.
Ye Feng faltered slightly upon hearing this, unsure of why Han Li was suddenly extending this olive branch.
However, he quickly came to the realization that it had to have been because the round-faced young man had just informed Han Li that he was a disciple to Elder Mo Xie.
Elder Mo Xie was extremely renowned among the inner sect disciples, having already reached thete-True Immortal Stage and was overseeing the Immortal Origin Pce. The fact that Han Li was an attendant elder indicated that he was most likely an itinerant immortal who had only just joined the sect, so he had no backers to rely on, and it stood to reason that he didn''t dare to cause any offense to Elder Mo Xie.
With that in mind, Ye Feng''s confidence was instantly restored, and a warm smile appeared on his face as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li.
"It would be rude of me to turn down such a kind offer, so please pardon me, Elder Li."
He had absolute confidence in his own offensive prowess, even in the face of a True Immortal.
Everyone else immediately backed away upon hearing this exchange, creating arge, open area for the twobatants.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release several dozen streaks of yellow light, whichnded in the surrounding area to form a massive semi-transparent yellow light barrier around himself and Ye Feng.
Immediately thereafter, Ye Feng let loose a long roar while making a hand seal, and thick bolts of silver lightning surfaced over his body amid a string of rumbling thunderps.
In the next instant, he opened his mouth, and a thumb-sized silver bead flew out of his mouth. Despite its small size, the bead was giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations and shing with silver lightning as it hovered above his head.
He then raised his hands up into the air, and all of the silver lightning shing over his body converged toward the bead, causing it to revolve rapidly as it conjured up a giant ball of silver lightning that was over 1,000 feet in size.
The ball of lightning resembled a dazzling silver sun and was giving off extremely formidable lightning pressure.
Even through the yellow light barrier, the purple-haired man and the others were still struck by the terrifying pressure emanating from the ball of lightning, causing them to retreat a few steps further with awestruck looks on their faces.
The Two-headed Griffin was separated from Han Li and Ye Feng by two light barriers, but even so, it had begun snarling with unease.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but his heart stirred slightly at the sight of the silver ball of lightning.
All of a sudden, countless arcs of silver lightning began shing over his body as well, and they weren''t as bright as the silver lightning released by Ye Feng, but they were extremely fast and agile, resembling countless spirit snakes that were springing in all directions.
Immediately thereafter, countless arcs of purple lightning that were giving off a wild and violent aura also appeared over Han Li''s body.
The auras emanating from the silver and purple lightnings werepletely different, clearly indicating that they were two different types of lightning, yet they were intertwining with one another in an extremely harmonious fashion. Not only were they not rejecting one another in the slightest, they were disying signs of fusing into one.
Rings of silver and purple lightning proliferated in all directions from Han Li''s body, presenting a formidable sight to behold.
Ye Feng''s expression instantly changed slightly upon hearing this. He hadn''t anticipated that Han Li would also be adept at wielding the power of lightning, and it seemed that Han Li''s lightning maniption was more masterful than his own.
His heart sank slightly as a dark look appeared on his face, and he let loose a loud roar as anotheryer of silver lightning appeared over his body before surging into the ball of lightning above his head, causing it to expand even further in size.
Immediately thereafter, Ye Feng swung his arms through the air in a hurling motion, sending the massive ball of silver lightning hurtling directly toward Han Li.
The giant ball of lightning reached Han Li in the blink of an eye, crashing down with devastating force like a meteorite, sending powerful shockwaves surging through the air.
Han Li''s expression remained calm and collected as he made a grabbing motion with his left hand.
The silver and purple lightning around his body converged toward his arm, forming a huge lightning sword that was over 1,000 feet in length. Countless tiny silver and purple lightning runes then appeared over the surface of the de, pulsing and shing incessantly.
With a swing of his arm, the lightning sword was shed through the air to sh against the ball of lightning amid an earth-shattering boom.
The two opposing bodies of lightning intertwined to send devastating shockwaves sweeping through the surrounding area, only to be contained by the yellow light barrier.
An impasse immediately ensued, and it seemed that the lightning sword and the ball of lightning were evenly matched.
Ye Feng shuddered in the face of the violent impact, and only after stumbling back a few steps was he able to steady himself.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s right hand was still sped behind his back, and he was looking as rxed as ever.
Ye Feng''s expression darkened even further upon seeing this, and he made a rapid series of hand seals before opening his mouth to release a burst of liquid-like silver light that vanished into the ball of lightning in a sh.
The giant ball of lightning churned violently as it glowed with scintiting radiance, and around a dozen enormous silver lightning runes flew out from within.
Every single one of those lightning runes was roughly the size of a millstone, and they were giving off faintw fluctuations as they hurtled directly toward the giant lightning sword.
With each rune that struck the lightning sword, thetter would shudder violently, and the light radiating from its surface would dim a little.
After being struck by the dozen or so lightning runes in session, the massive lightning sword had dimmed significantly, but Han Li paid no heed to this. Instead, he was staring at the silver ball of lightning in an absentminded manner.
Chapter 195: Discovery of the Fire Vein
Chapter 195: Discovery of the Fire Vein
Ye Feng gritted his teeth upon seeing this, and he continued to make a rapid string of hand seals before releasing two more mouthfuls of silver light that surged into the ball of lightning.
Arcs of lightning were surging over the surface of the ball of lightning as it expanded even further in size while radiating dazzling silver light, gradually beginning to overwhelm the giant lightning sword.
Thick bolts of silver lightning were shooting out of the ball lightning like a series of massive devilish ws, itching to tear Han Li into pieces.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s eyes suddenly lit up, and it seemed that he had only just returned to his senses.
The fingers of his left hand moved in session, and the giant lightning sword instantly began to radiate dazzling silver and purple lightning while giving off a burst of violent rumbling.
In the blink of an eye, the lightning sword swelled to around twice its original size, and not only was it able to keep the giant ball of lightning at bay, it was able to instantly gain the upper hand.
Ye Feng''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, the huge lightning sword lit up once again, and the lightning runes on its surface swelled drastically in size.
As a result, the semi-transparent lightning sword instantly took on a far more substantial appearance, and it began to release an incredibly sharp aura as it came crashing down with devastating might.
The silver ball of lightning was sliced into two by the lightning sword with ease, revealing the silver bead inside, which was giving off dazzling radiance.
The lightning sword struck the bead with unerring uracy, scattering the lightning around it, and the bead was instantly sent flying back, while the spiritual light radiating from its surface dimmed significantly, having clearly had its spiritual nature damaged by the blow.
Ye Feng immediately threw up a small mouthful of blood, while the giant ball of lightning exploded into countless arcs of silver lightning that erupted in all directions, forming a sea of silver lightning that was several hundred feet in radius.
What everyone failed to notice was a wisp of near-transparent silver light rising discreetly up from the ground before vanishing into Ye Feng''s body.
The lightning sword didn''t pause for even a single moment as it continued toe crashing down toward Ye Feng''s head, and an rmed and horrified look appeared on his face as he tried to resist, but the entire surrounding space had beenpletely enshrouded under the terrifying pressure released by the giant sword, rendering him immobilized.
However, the lightning sword drew to an abrupt halt around a foot above his head, and it continued to sh with lightning.
Ye Feng was staring intently at the lightning sword as he gulped nervously, not daring to move even a single muscle.
In the next instant, the giant lightning sword disintegrated into countless arcs of silver and purple lightning that flowed back into Han Li''s body.
"Looks like you still have a way to go," Han Li remarked in an indifferent voice, then made a hand seal to dispel the surrounding yellow light barrier.
"Your powers are truly astounding, Elder Li. I concede my inferiority," Ye Feng said with a dark expression, then drew the silver bead back to himself before promptly departing.
The purple-haired man and the others hurriedly followed along, and the square-faced cultivator from the Beast Rearing Fields also took his leave.
Meanwhile, Han Li was watching their departing figures with a contemtive look in his eyes.
At this point, the round-faced young man had already opened the restriction around the Two-headed Griffin''s enclosure, and the creature made its way over to Han Li before crouching down in an extremely tame and timid manner.
Han Li patted the beast''s neck as a faint smile appeared on his face, then released a burst of azure light with a sweep of his sleeve to envelop the giant beast''s entire body.
The huge Two-headed Griffin rapidly shrank into a ball of spiritual light, then vanished into a spirit beast pouch hanging from his waist in a sh.
"Please pardon me for offering unsolicited advice, Elder Li, but Ye Feng''s master, Elder Mo Xie, is a True Immortal who has attained the power ofws, and it''s said that he''s even run for the position of deputy dao lord in the past, so do be careful," the round-faced young man cautioned in a quiet voice.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "What else do you know about this Ye Feng?"
"I only recently joined the ze Dragon Dao, so I don''t know too much about Senior Martial Brother Ye Feng. However, I''ve heard that he previously had very ordinary aptitude and was only a normal inner sect disciple who wasn''t remarkable in any way. However, in the past three years, he had somehow managed to attain a set of extremely powerful lightning-attribute abilities, and his cultivation base had progressed rapidly as a result.
¡°Only then did he catch the eye of Elder Mo Xie, and he''s currently one of the prominent figures among all of the inner sect disciples. His rise has been quite meteoric, so its story is known to almost everyone in the ze Dragon Dao," the round-faced young man replied.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
The round-faced young man stood off to the side in silence, not daring to interrupt him.
It didn''t take long before Han Li returned to his senses, then summoned a white jade vial that he tossed at the round-faced young man as he said, "You''ve apanied me for an entire day, so you can have these pills as thanks for your efforts."
The round-faced young man hurriedly caught the jade vial, then removed the stopper, upon which an ecstatic look immediately surfaced in hsi eyes.
"Thank you, Elder Li!"
Meanwhile, Han Li had already flown away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
¡¡
Half a dayter.
A streak of azure light shot forth from the distance,nding on the summit of the Crimson Dawn Peak before fading to reveal Han Li.
The mountain summit was quite spacious, with a courtyard that was close to 10 acres in area situated directly next to the mountain face. Inside the courtyard were all types of antiquated-looking buildings and bridges that were enshrouded in cloud and mist, giving the entire ce the appearance of an immortal abode.
On the mountain face directly neighboring the courtyard was a pair of tightly shut stone doors, which appeared to have been used for seclusion purposes.
To the left of the courtyard was apletely empty spirit medicine field. It seemed that following the demise of the elder who had previously lived here, the spirit medicines growing in the field had been harvested by the sect, while the field had been leftpletely untended to since then.
At this moment, Meng Yungui and the others were in the process of cleaning up the courtyard and the spirit medicine field, and they hurriedly stopped what they were doing at the sight of Han Li''s return before gathering around him.
"Elder Li!"
Han Li gave them a slight nod, then handed the dark purple jade badge and the spirit beast pouch on his waist to Meng Yungui. He then instructed them to create a cave halfway up the mountain for the Two-headed Griffin to reside in before departing on his own to take a stroll over the Crimson Dawn Peak.
This was where he was going to live from now on, so he naturally had to make a thorough inspection of the ce.
It didn''t take long before Han Li arrived at the foot of the Crimson Dawn Peak, and the closer he got to the ground, the denser the surrounding fire miasma became, and the higher the air temperature.
Now that he had reached the ground, he could feel a scorching aura surging up at him from beneath the earth, releasing waves of sweltering heat.
A hint of tion and intrigue appeared in his eyes upon seeing this.
While inspecting the Inkspirit Scenic Scroll, he identified from the terrain of the mountain and the state of the Crimson Dawn Peak that there seemed to have been a strong fire vein here, and that was why he had chosen this particr mountain.
As it turned out, he was correct, and judging from what he could see at this moment, the fire vein here was even more powerful than he had anticipated.
All of a sudden, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes as he turned to the left, then began to fly in that direction, arriving in front of the waterfall after just a few seconds.
The waterfall resembled a massive sheet of silver fabric that was tumbling down from the heavens amid a loud rumbling sound, sending a watery mist erupting in all directions upon crashing into the pond down below.
A solemn look appeared on Han Li''s face as he cast his gaze forward, and he raised a finger to release a bolt of silver lightning as thick as an adult human arm, which hurtled directly toward the waterfall.
As soon as the bolt of silver lightning struck the waterfall, it instantly vanished without a trace.
A vindicated smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
This waterfall had been conjured up by an illusory restriction that had the ability to conceal itself from spiritual sense detection.
Prior to this, he had inspected the entire Crimson Dawn Peak with his spiritual sense, but still failed to notice this ce. However, the restriction was a little damaged, so the concealment effect had beenpromised, and Han Li just so happened to have been nearby. Otherwise, he most likely still wouldn''t have been able to discover the secret here.
Blue light shed within Han Li''s eyes as he peered into the waterfall, and a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Momentster, azure light shed over his body as he flew straight into the waterfall, vanishing in a sh just like that bolt of silver lightning from before.
The space near the waterfall immediately began to ripple, and a string of rumbling booms rang out from within as bursts of light of different colors erupted out of the rippling space before flying away in all directions.
The surrounding space was beginning to ripple more and more violently, while the lights shooting out from within were also bing brighter and brighter.
Close to an hourter, a resounding boom rang out as the waterfall abruptly shuddered before shattering like a mirror.
Han Li reappeared in mid-air, and his face was slightly pale, clearly indicating that breaking this restriction had not been an easy task, even for him.
After taking a pill, he cast his gaze toward the spot where the waterfall used to be, and he was greeted by the sight of a small valley, in which the ground and the rocks were all of a crimson color.
There was a scorching aura emanating out of the valley, and boundless crimson fire miasma was surging out from within. It seemed that this was the source of the fire miasma that enveloped the entirety of the Crimson Dawn Peak.
Han Li flew into the valley, arriving directly at its deepest part.
The temperature here was even higher, and the surrounding air was warping and shimmering from the scorching heat.
In the deepest part of the valley was a huge fiery red cave that was 70 to 80 feet tall. The walls of the cave were of a reddish-ck color, and there were waves of scorching heat surging out from within alongside fire miasma that resembled dense smoke.
Bursts of dull rumbling could also be heard ringing out inside the cave, and Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this as he flew straight into the cave.
Inside the cave was a long passageway that extended underground, and gusts of scorching wind were blowing out from within. There were also cracks on the wall, seeping out of which was dense red fire miasma that drifted out of the cave with the wind.
The entire passageway was filled with incredibly sweltering heat, and the average cultivator would''ve instantly been incinerated into ashes here, but this amount of heat posed no threat to Han Li, and he continued onward.
At the same time, he raised an arm to release a ball of silver mes, which transformed into his Essence Fire Raven.
As soon as the fire raven appeared, it immediately cast its gaze deeper into the cave with excitement in its eyes, then spread its wings and flew on ahead.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he followed along behind the fire raven in an unhurried manner.
The main reason why he had chosen the Crimson Dawn Peak as the site for his cave abode was for the sake of his Essence Fire Raven.
The fire raven was currently nowhere near the peak of its powers, and it hadn''t had a chance to recuperate. During his travels, Han Li wasn''t able to aid it in its recovery, and now that he had a rtively stable ce to stay, he naturally had to consider ways to help the fire raven recover.
Mo Guang had previously mentioned that mes of Essence were extremely renowned even in the Immortal Realm, so he was confident that the fire raven would be of great help to him once it made a full recovery.
As soon as he arrived in the Bell Toll Mountain Range, he had already detected that there were several rich underground fire veins here.
The Crimson Dawn Peak was very secluded in location, so the fire vein here was most likely only a branch of the enormous fire veins in the Bell Toll Mountain Range, but as long as he was willing to invest sufficient time, the Essence Fire Raven should''ve been able to eventually make a full recovery.
Chapter 196: Setup
Chapter 196: Setup
As Han Li continued to descend deeper and deeper underground, the air temperature was also rapidly rising, while the passageway was bing wider and wider. At this stage, its highest point was already over 100 feet tall.
Han Li continued to follow along behind the fire raven while inspecting the walls of the cave on either side of him.
The cave walls were quite even and smooth, and there were many signs of sections having previously been repaired.
Was the previous elder inhabiting this mountain carrying out these repairs? Han Li spected.
Given how abundant the fire-attribute energy here was, it was most likely the case that the previous elder was using fire-attribute cultivation arts, and by that logic, it was very likely that he was the one who had set up the illusory restriction outside.
After flying for another 15 minutes, the dull rumbling was bing louder and louder, as if countless thunderps were ringing out in session.
For some reason, the Essence Fire Raven suddenly sped up by about twofold here, and Han Li naturally picked up the pace as well.
Shortly thereafter, a massive fiery red world appeared before his eyes. It was an enormous underground cavern that was tens of thousands of feet in size.
The roof of the cavern was riddled with crimson stctites that were burning incessantly with ayer of mes.
Down below was a hugeke of magma, hovering above which was a fiery crimson cloud.
The magma in theke was churning incessantly, and a series of massive air bubbles would appear asionally before popping amid a sound that resembled a rumbling thunderp.
Numerous fist-sized balls of red light would then emerge from the bubbles before spreading through the surrounding area.
That''s fire essence!
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this.
The entire underground space was filled with this fiery crimson light, and even the very air seemed to have been set alight. The temperature here was incredibly hot, to the point that even Han Li was feeling quite parched in the mouth despite his Profound Immortal physique.
The gusts of scorching wind blowing from the surface of theke were causing a stinging sensation against Han Li''s skin, yet the Essence Fire Raven was ecstatic in this incredibly hostile environment.
The fire raven spread its wings as it flew around the entire space as a silver shadow, eagerly gulping down the balls of fire essence in the process. It would even asionally dive straight into theke of magma down below, vanishing in a sh only to re-emerge from another part of theke an instantter in an ted manner.
The underground fire vein here was far more abundant than Han Li had anticipated, and it was no wonder that the previous elder had set up that restriction to conceal it.
He was confident that the Essence Fire Raven would be able to quickly recover to the former peak of its powers here, but there was still something missing.
With that in mind, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release several hundred bursts of red light, each of which contained a fiery red array g, and theynded in the air above theke of magma to form a huge array.
He then began to chant an incantation while releasing a series of incantation seals, and the entire array was activated. Each array g released numerous bursts of red light, which came together form a massive red array.
The Essence Fire Raven instantly realized what Han Li''s intentions were, and it immediately stopped ying as it flew onto the center of the array.
In the next instant, all of the power of fire in the entire underground space was drawn toward the array, formingyer uponyer around the Essence Fire Raven, and before long, a huge fiery red cocoon had taken shape.
Han Li rose up into the air, reaching a certain part of the underground cavern''s wall in a sh, then flipped a hand over to produce a giant red brush, using which he quickly inscribed countless massive runes onto the wall, forming a me-shaped design.
Immediately thereafter, he appeared in front of another section of the cavern wall in a sh and did the same thing.
A short whileter, eight me designs had been inscribed onto the cavern wall by Han Li, surrounding the massive cocoon from all directions.
Only then did Han Li stow the giant brush away before beginning to chant an incantation.
The eight me designs engraved onto the wall began to glow in unison, quickly connecting together to form another massive array that enveloped the giant cocoon.
The two arrays were resonating with one another, and the underground space shuddered slightly as even more power of fire converged from all directions before surging into the fiery cocoon.
At this moment, Han Li could clearly sense the power of the Essence Fire Raven being slowly elevated every single second, and a pleased look appeared in his eyes.
He made ap around the cavern to ensure that the two arrays were operating with no problems, and only after that did he return the same way that he hade to emerge on the outside again.
After taking a brief nce at his surroundings, he swept a sleeve through the air to release numerous bursts of light that descended into the nearby valley, quickly forming a massive array that epassed the entire valley again.
Now that the Essence Fire Raven had a ce to cultivate, Han Li was in a great mood, and instead of immediately flying back to the summit of the Crimson Dawn Peak, he decided to explore the region around it.
The entire area in a radius of 300,000 feet around the Crimson Dawn Peak was going to be his territory from this day forth, so he naturally had to take a good look around and make some preparations.
It took Han Li close to half a day to explore the entirety of his territory, and he set up some sensory arrays at various points to alert him if anyone tried to sneak onto hisnd.
As the core of the entire territory, the Crimson Dawn Peak was the ce where all of the spirit veins in the area converged, and the world''s origin here was more abundant than anywhere else.
However, aside from this mountain, Han Li had also discovered two small spirit areas that were of a decent size for Northern cial Immortal Region standards, as well as around a dozen good ore veins.
The ore veins had already been mostly exhausted of ore, while the two spirit areas had been split up into blocks of spirit farnd, but they had clearly beenpletely abandoned and neglected for a very long time.
Another True Immortal elder in Han Li''s shoes would''ve most likely sent some servants to tend to these ore veins and plots of spirit farnd as a form of long-term spirit stone revenue stream, but Han Li had no interest in doing this.
At the very least, he had no ns of doing this for the moment, and he quickly returned to the summit of the Crimson Dawn Peak.
At this moment, Meng Yungui and the others were all gathered at the entrance of the courtyard, and they extended deep bows toward him in unison.
The entire mountain summit had already been cleaned up, and it was looking pristine and spotless everywhere.
The pavilions and bridges had also been given a new lease on life, and schools of golden fish could be seen swimming through the creeks between the bridges, darting yfully between the vibrant green lotus leaves.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, then assigned the rooms around the cave abode to Yun Mengui and the others before dismissing them to go and rest.
After that, Han Li examined the cave abode, setting up some restrictions before arriving at the spirit medicine field.
This spirit medicine field was situated on the outside, so he naturally wasn''t going to be nting any important spirit medicines here. Having said that, leaving it vacant would''ve aroused suspicions as well.
Hence, after some contemtion, Han Li split the field up into several sections, then nted some ordinary spirit medicine seeds onto it.
He had already done this countless times, so he had be extremely proficient, and it didn''t take very long at all before a brand new medicine field took shape.
After that, he flipped a hand over to produce a jade gon, and an azure spirit liquid flowed out of the gon at his behest before raining down onto the medicine field.
He then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that enveloped the entire spirit medicine field, and tiny green seedlings quickly sprouted out of the soil.
A faint smile appeared on his face upon seeing this, and he turned before making his way through the courtyard and into the cave abode.
From the outside, the cave abode appeared to have beenpletely unremarkable, but the inside was a different story. Within the cave abode were around a dozen rooms, including the likes of a pill refinement chamber and tool refinement chamber, thereby saving Han Li a lot of work.
In contrast with the courtyard up front, Han Li naturally preferred the environment in here, and the same had most likely applied to the previous owner of the cave abode as well.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he began to make some personal touches, modifying the most obscure stone chamber in the cave abode into a small medicine garden. He then dug out another stone chamber near the mountain face on the outside, then punched countless tiny holes into the wall so that starlight and moonlight could filter into the room to be absorbed by the Heaven Controlling Vial.
Only after all of these preparations wereplete did Han Li emerge from the cave abode once again with the n to set up a few more restrictions.
However, right as he was about to do this, his expression suddenly stiffened as he directed his gaze toward the spirit medicine field beside the courtyard.
For some reason, most of the seedlings that had just sprouted from the soil had already wilted, and there were only a few that were still alive.
A perplexed look appeared on Han Li''s face as he hurried over to the field before pulling out one of the wilted seedlings.
The root of the seedling hadpletely wilted and turned ck in color, as if it had been burned.
He pulled out a few more seedlings to find the exact same thing. However, there were also several types of seedlings that were growing very well and showed no signs of wilting at all.
He immediately released his spiritual sense, and it didn''t take long before he discovered the potential cause behind this phenomenon.
Due to the fact that the underground fire veins had remained unchecked for many years, the abundant fire-attribute spiritual power that they contained had gradually seeped up into the earth. As a result, all of the soil on and around the Crimson Dawn Peak had been imbued with a great deal of fire-attribute spiritual power.
This type of environment was perfect for fire-attribute spirit nts, but made it impossible for spirit nts of any other attributes to survive.
Han Li turned his attention to the seedlings that were still standing, and sure enough, they were all of the fire attribute.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, clearly not anticipating this problem.
It was no wonder no one else had imed the Crimson Dawn Peak and why both Yu Xiansheng and Qi Liang had disyed rather peculiar reactions when he decided to choose this ce.
However, this wasn''t too much of a problem for Han Li.
It seemed that this was quite a troublesome situation, but it wasn''t one that waspletely untenable. All he had to do was set up some separation arrays to prevent the soil from being further affected by the underground spirit veins.
That would negatively impact the spirit herbs'' absorption of spiritual qi from the underground veins, but that wasn''t much of a concern to him, seeing as he was relying almost solely upon his Heaven Controlling Vial to mature his spirit nts.
As for the spirit medicine field beside the courtyard, that was only going to be used as a red herring anyway, so all he had to do was nt some fire-attribute spirit nts there.
With that in mind, he didn''t consider this matter any further and returned to work.
Chapter 197: Mantra Axis Scripture
Chapter 197: Mantra Axis Scripture
Inside a dimly lit hall, there were countless dark azure chains littered all over the ground, giving off a dark azure gleam under the light of the eerie green mes.
Seated on a ck chair at the center of the hall, the zombie-like man was leaned forward slightly, and his face just happened to have been obscured by the shadows cast by the green mes, making it impossible to see his expression.
Right at this moment, the thick and heavy stone doors of the hall began to open inward from the outside amid a burst of dull rumbling, and the thunderous sound of churning sand flooded into the hall.
Standing at the entrance of the hall was a tall and imposing figure that was close to 10 feet in height.
The man had a square face with yellow skin, and there was an antiquated copper headguard on his head. He was wearing a dark yellow robe that resembled a cloak, and it was covered in yellow sand that seemed to havee straight from the sandstorm that was raging outside.
As the man made his way into the hall, the heavy stone doors swung shut again, shutting out all of themotion that was raging outside.
The man strode into the hall with heavy footsteps, causing all of the dark azure chains on the ground to tter and rustle incessantly.
He arrived before the ck chair, then fell to one knee as he dered in a respectful voice, "Master, I''ve visited the ce where Fang Pan met his demise."
"Did you find anything there?" the zombie-like man asked in a raspy voice as he leaned back slightly in his chair.
"I''m afraid not. His killer made sure to clean up the site very thoroughly," the man replied with a dark expression.
"Fang Pan''s death most likely has to do with a powerful enemy that he was pursuing 300 years ago. I''ll leave it to you to investigate this matter," the zombie-like man said.
"Yes, Master."
¡¡
That night.
The courtyard on the summit of the Crimson Dawn Peak was brightly lit, and thanks to the efforts of Meng Yungui and the others, the entire ce was inhabitable again.
At this moment, Han Li was in a secret chamber deep in the cave abode. He had already put on his ze Dragon Dao inner sect elder robe and was seated on a futon with his legs crossed.
Next to him was a palm-sized round metal te, which contained the first level of the Formless True Axis Arts.
After some time, Han Li''s eyes abruptly sprang open, and he made a grabbing motion to draw the spirit note badge into his grasp before pressing it against his own be.
The round metal badge shed momentarily, and a passage of dense golden text instantly appeared in his mind.
The passage of golden text was split up into roughly two parts, the first of which was an introduction of sorts, while the second part was the actual first level of the Formless True Axis Scripture.
ording to the introduction, the Formless True Axis Scripture was split up into a total of three levels, and full mastery of the cultivation art could allow one to attain an ability called the Mantra Treasured Axis.
When facing enemies in battle, this ability would allow one to slow down all attacks that came near the Mantra Treasured Axis, thereby robbing opponents of any speed advantage.
The nature of the ability didn''t change from level one to level three of the cultivation art. Instead, it would still grant one the same ability, but to an increasing extent of potency.
Apparently, mastery of the first level of the cultivation art could allow one to unleash a Mantra Treasured Axis that roughly halved the opponent''s speed. Mastery of the second level would allow one to reduce an opponent''s speed by 90%, and as for mastery of the third level, the effect wasn''t outlined, but it presumably would''ve made the ability even more astonishingly potent.
This was already an extremely stunning revtion to Han Li.
Even just slowing down an opponent''s attacks by half was already an incredibly potent ability in battle, let alone slowing down enemy attacks by 90%. If he had already mastered his ability during his battle against Fang Pan, then he wouldn''t have struggled anywhere near as much as he did.
He suppressed his excitement as he turned his attention to the second part of the passage, but his brows were soon tightly furrowed with befuddlement.
Having already mastered the golden seal text long ago, he was able to read the passage of text just fine, but when strung together, the words werepletely iprehensible to him.
For some reason, the usage of phrases and method ofnguage formtion employed in the text was massively different from that of those pages of the Golden Jade Tome that Han Li had obtained, thereby making it extremely difficult to understand. [1]
Even after poring over the passage of text for a long time, he had still only read less than 1% of its content, and even then, the meaning of that tiny piece of text was still not entirely clear to him.
He was feeling rather disheartened, but he wasn''t willing to give up as he carefully recalled what he had seen in the Golden Jade Tome whileparing it to this passage of text as he continued to read arduously.
The next morning, Han Li removed the spirit note badge from his be, feeling utterly mentally drained. He massaged his own be as a slightly frustrated look appeared on his face.
The cultivation art was far more profound than he had anticipated, and even after an entire night, he was still yet to even understand all of its content. He felt as if he had grasped onto something, but at the same time, he felt as if he understood nothing.
He shook his head as he flipped a hand over to stow the spirit note badge away, and he was just about to get up when a thought suddenly urred to him.
As he was leaving the Merit Conveyance Pce the previous day, Elder Fang had told him that he could visit the pce anytime he needed something.
At the time, he felt like Elder Fang had been implying something, and it seemed that his intuition had been correct.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he stood up and exited his secret chamber, then flew out of his cave abode as a streak of azure light.
¡¡
The light of the rising sun was shining down upon the Imperial Dragon Peak, basking the entire mountain and the Merit Conveyance Pce in a warm, golden glow.
Han Li descended out of the heavens onto the white jade za in front of the Merit Conveyance Pce in his elder robes, and his entire body was giving off a golden sheen under the radiance of the sun, giving him an ethereal appearance.
Afternding on the za, he immediately made his way into the pce without pause.
Just like the day before, the pce was quite empty, and Fang Zhuan was still seated behind the table, poring over the same ancient azure-covered text.
The only slight difference was that there was a purple y teacup, which was filled with green tea that was releasing a faint aroma across the entire pce.
Upon spotting Han Li making his way into the pce, Fang Zhuan set down the book in his hand, then took a small sip of tea as he smiled and said, "Wee back, Elder Li."
"I presume you already know why I''m back, right, Elder Fang?" Han Li asked as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Fang Zhuan.
"To tell you the truth, everyone who''s previously exchanged for the Formless True Axis Scripture hase back to the Merit Conveyance Pce within seven days. You''re among one of the fastest toe back," Fang Zhuan replied in a casual voice.
"Why is that?" Han Li asked.
"The content of the Formless True Axis Scripture is extremely difficult to understand. Without the apanying annotation scripture, it''s virtually impossible to evenprehend the scripture, let alone cultivate it. All of the people I mentioned have eithere back to switch to other cultivation arts, or have returned for the annotation scripture," Fang Zhuan exined.
Han Li was a little speechless upon hearing this. "Why didn''t you inform me of this yesterday, Elder Fang?"
"In the past, I informed everyone of this, but my words mostly fell upon deaf ears, and a lot of people regarded me as just a Grand Ascension cultivator who was speaking out of turn, so I eventually stopped. Once they discover the problem on their own, they''ll naturallye back to me, and I''ll no longer have to convince them of the validity of my ims," Fang Zhuan exined with a smile.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he replied, "I suppose that does make sense. How many merit points are required to exchange for this annotation scripture, and is it actually useful?"
"It costs exactly 10 merit points. The annotation scripture is a collection of all of the insights derived by those who have attempted to cultivate the scripture in the past, so the content varies in quality and consistency. As for exactly how useful it is, that''s not known to me," Fang Zhuan replied.
"Alright, I''ll take it," Han Li said as he handed his elder badge over to Fang Zhuan.
After securing the copy of the annotation scripture, Han Li chatted with Fang Zhuan for a while longer before returning to the Crimson Dawn Peak.
Upon his return, he wasted no time, entering his secret chamber right away.
He studied the annotation scripture for half a day, and only after seeing the annotations made by many past cultivators of the Formless True Axis Scripture did he finally develop an understanding of what the cultivation art was about.
As it turned out, the original name of the Formless True Axis Scripture was the Mantra Axis Scripture, and the content of the original cultivation art was even more difficult to understand. The barrier to entry was extremely high, and just the hurdle of manifesting the Mantra Treasured Axis was enough to keep out 90% of cultivators.
Among the remaining 10%, even those who were fortunate enough to manifest Mantra Treasured Axes were only able to cultivate this scripture to the second level at the very most, but at that level, it was impossible to master thews of time through the cultivation art. At the very least, no one from the ze Dragon Dao was known to have cultivated the scripture to the third level.
Among the many cultivators who had previously encountered bottlenecks in the cultivation art, some had inadvertently discovered a shortcut that allowed one to avoid the hurdle of having to manifest a Mantra Treasured Axis.
Those people used materials that contained the power ofws to craft a Mantra Treasured Axis, then engraved some special runes that they had derived onto the treasure, thereby allowing them to unleash all types of unforeseen abilities through it.
Due to the vast contrast between this method and the conventional cultivation method, the Mantra Treasured Axes refined had almost no effect when it came to slowing down attacks. However, it was able to unleash other abilities depending on the differentw powers contained in the materials used to refine the axis.
For example, if the materials used contained the power of metalws, then the sharpness of the axis would be significantly enhanced. If the materials used contained the power of speedws, then the speed of the attacks unleashed by the axis would be greatly elevated.
Following the discovery of this "shortcut", virtually everyone chose to employ this method over the original cultivation method, and it was exactly because of this that the cultivation art''s name was altered from Mantra Axis Scripture to Formless True Axis Scripture, denoting the fact that it had no set form and could be molded as the cultivator saw fit.
Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this, and only after a long while did he continue to slowly read through the text while consulting the annotations.
1. For more information on the Golden Jade Tome, please refer to RMJI Chapter 1166: Golden Jade Tome. ?
Chapter 198: Extraordinary Luck
Chapter 198: Extraordinary Luck
Several days passed by in a sh.
There was a secluded snow-covered valley in the eastern part of the ze Dragon Dao, and it had always been very rarely frequented due to its close proximity to the Snowmelt Forest.
There were many cedar trees that were over 1,000 feet tall growing in the valley, and whenever there was any snowfall, the trees would bepletely covered in snow, giving them the appearance of pristine white snowy pagodas from afar.
At this moment, there were thunderps ringing out incessantly within the valley, interspersed by the sound of snapping tree trunks and branches.
Due to the soundwaves, the snow that had been umting on the slopes on either side of the valley began tumbling down into the center of the valley, eventually culminating in a violent avnche.
Due to the sheer volume of umted snow, the avnche only gradually subsided after it had spilled all the way out of the valley, and there were still countless particles of fine, powdery snow drifting through the air.
Right at this moment, a streak of azure light flew down from the heavens,nding at the edge of the valley before fading to reveal Han Li in his inner sect elder robes.
Yet another rumbling thunderp rang out, and Han Li cast his gaze deep into the snowy valley to find a massive pir of silver lightning erupting into the sky.
"Looks like I''vee to the right ce," he murmured to himself, then flipped a hand over to produce a High Zenith Invisibility Talisman.
A burst of purple light appeared around him, and his body gradually became more and more indistinct until it disappeared altogether.
Inside the snowy valley, the avnche had snapped countless cedar trees, and there were broken trunks and branches littered throughout the snow.
On an elevated stone cliff in the deepest part of the snowy valley was a thin dark-skinned young man. He was looking directly up ahead with a bright gleam in his eyes, and it was none other than Ye Feng, who had engaged in an altercation with Han Li just a few days ago at the Beast Rearing Fields.
At this moment, countless arcs of silver lightning were surging incessantly over his body, and it was clear that he was in the process of cultivating a very powerful lightning secret technique.
Everything in a radius of several thousand feet around him, regardless of whether it be the cedar trees or the exposed stone ground, were all charred ck with plumes of white smoke rising up into the air.
Ye Feng couldn''t help but burst into tedughter as he could feel that his lightning powers had be even more formidable.
However, hisughter had only just begun to ring out when he was suddenlypletely rooted to the spot, and all of the lightning surging over his body also vanished in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of space fluctuations emerged ahead of him, and Han Li appeared out of thin air before bringing his index and middle fingers together and pressing them against Ye Feng''s be.
At the same time, mesmerizing blue light was glowing within Han Li''s eyes, and he was using a soul search technique on Ye Feng
Back at the Beast Rearing Fields, he had already nted a soul mark on Ye Feng.
However, he had been busy studying the Formless True Axis Scripture these past few days, while Ye Feng had also remained in his cave abode the entire time. Only on this asion, where Ye Feng was testing out his lightning powers, did Han Li finally get the opportunity to swoop in.
As the soul search progressed, Han Li''s expression was disying slight changes. Initially, his expression was quite wary, but that was soon followed by a look of a surprise, then transitioned into a wry smile.
Momentster, the blue light in his eyes gradually faded, and he removed his fingertips from Ye Feng''s be as he remarked, "You''ve really had some extraordinary luck. Seeing as you yed no part in what happened to me 300 years ago, I''ll let you be, but it''s about time that you returned what''s rightfully mine."
He reached out and removed the storage bracelet from Ye Feng''s wrist as he spoke, then inspected it momentarily before stowing it away.
After that, he rose up once again as a streak of azure light and vanished into the distance in a sh.
Following Han Li''s departure, Ye Feng slowly returned to his senses, and he was finally able to close his mouth. His cheeks were a little sore from having his mouth agape for so long, and there was a disoriented look in his eyes, clearly indicating that he had no recollection of what had just happened.
However, a panicked look then appeared on his face as he noticed his own bare wrist, and he hurriedly scrambled to his feet, frantically rummaging all over his own body before releasing his spiritual sense to scour his surroundings.
A short whileter, a heart-wrenching cry of despair rang out within the valley.
¡¡
Meanwhile, Han Li returned to his cave abode without pause, then made his way straight into the secret chamber. On the way, Meng Qianqian extended a joyful curtsey to him, but hepletely failed to notice, leaving the girl feeling dejected for quite some time.
After taking a seat at the center of the secret chamber, he immediately pulled out the storage bracelet, then refined it briefly before producing an egg-sized golden ball from inside.
At first nce, the golden ball didn''t appear to have been remarkable in any way, but through his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, Han Li was able to see that the ball was riddled with extremely faint yet intricate patterns, which were interconnected to form a series of mysterious images.
Furthermore, the ball was giving off an extremely familiar aura.
He held the golden ball on the palm of his hand as blue light shed within his eyes, and a spiritual sense thread emerged from his be before slowly entering the ball.
The golden ball shuddered slightly before all of the patterns on its surface lit up in unison, filling the entire secret chamber with dazzling golden radiance.
Immediately thereafter, several deep crevices split open on the ball as if it were a mechanical, modr unit, and a series of thin metal limbs emerged from those crevices as it transformed into a palm-sized golden crab.
"Fellow Daoist Xie," Han Li hurriedly called out at the sight of the golden crab, yet he received no response.
However, momentster, a familiar voice rang out within his consciousness.
"Fellow Daoist Han... You''ve finally found me..."
Even through spiritual sensemunication, Daoist Xie''s voice was still extremely feeble, sounding as if it could falter into silence at any moment.
An indescribable feeling welled up in Han Li''s heart upon hearing this.
Han Li suppressed his emotions as he asked, "Do you recall what happened 300 years ago, Fellow Daoist Xie? How have you be like this?"
"Has it already been... 300 years?" Daoist Xie asked in a rather wooden voice.
After taking a moment to rest, its voice became a lot more stable, and it began to give Han Li a recount of everything that happened 300 years ago.
Initially, Han Li remained quite calm and collected, but the more he heard, the darker his expression became, and his hands involuntarily balled up into tight fists, with bulging veins visible on the backs of his hands.
As it turned out, back then, he had already encountered another formidable foe prior to being attacked by Fang Pan''s trio.
That person''s cultivation base and immortal spiritual power had been far superior to his, and at a very early stage in the battle, they were already able to seal Daoist Xie and Han Li''s 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords with ease.
Han Li had sustained severe injuries during the battle, and he was only able to just barely escape with the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch, Mo Guang, and the others doing everything in their power to hold off the enemy.
Mo Guang and the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch were able to join forces to temporarily keep the enemy at bay, but Daoist Xie was forced to self-detonate its immortal puppet body to break the seal, leaving only a puppet core behind that fled with the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
"... At some point, the spiritual power in my core was exhausted, and I became unable to control the flying swords, so I could only watch as they flew away on their own. After that, I lost consciousness, and I''ve only just been awakened by you. What happened after I fell unconscious?" Daoist Xie asked.
"After you fell unconscious, your core was picked up by someone and sold at a market near the ze Dragon Dao. It was sold to an inner sect disciple with mediocre aptitude as an ordinary tool refinement material, and that disciple managed to discover some obscure spirit patterns engraved on your core by chance using his spiritual sense.
¡°In doing so, he was able to derive a powerful lightning secret technique,unching him on a meteoric rise to be the star of the inner sect. It was also by chance that I noticed some strange signs in his lightning techniques, and that''s how I eventually managed to find you," Han Li exined.
"I see..."
"Initially, I was worried that he would have some ties to the powerful enemy that you spoke of, but after conducting a soul search, I found out that he was merely extremely lucky. Prior to this, I''ve already in two of the enemies that tried to hunt me down all those years, and I learned that there''s a mastermind behind them.
¡°I''m assuming that''s the person that you were referring to. However, I was unable to uncover that person''s identity. Do you recall what they looked like or who they were?" Han Li asked.
After hearing Han Li''s question, the golden crab sitting on the palm of his hand suddenly clutched its pincers to its head as it began to tremble in a pained disy.
Only after a long silence did Daoist Xie''s voice ring out within Han Li''s consciousness again.
"Somehow, something seems to have gone wrong with my memory. I only vaguely remember a rough outline of the person, but I can''t recall their exact appearance. The only things I can recall are that their immortal spiritual power was far superior to yours, and they seemed to have been wielding an inkstone immortal treasure that was capable of controlling the power of shadows."
"Unfortunately, I''m not surprised. Not only are you unable to recall what that person looks like, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang and I have no recollection of them, either. In fact, we''ve forgotten everything that''s taken ce in the past 300 years," Han Li said.
"It sounds like we''re in a very bad situation," Daoist Xie said in a concerned voice.
"My guess is that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords are currently in the Bell Toll Mountain Range as well, but I haven''t been able to track them down. Now that I''ve found you, I''ll be sure to find a way to refine a new body for you. However, I''m not sure if it''ll be up to the same standard as your previous body," Han Li said with a contemtive look on his face.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Han. Aside from that, don''t forget the agreement that we made back in the Spirit Realm," Daoist Xie reminded.
"Of course not. I''ll fulfill the agreement once I attain the power required to do so," Han Li replied with a nod.
Daoist Xie didn''t say anything further upon hearing this, and it reverted back into a golden ball amid a sh of golden light before being stowed away by Han Li.
Chapter 199: Big Dipper Heavenly Star Plate
Chapter 199: Big Dipper Heavenly Star te
After stowing the golden ball away, a contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face.
He carefully sorted through all of the information that he had obtained up to this point in his mind, but he still couldn''t identify any leads that could''ve been connected to the mastermind behind all of this.
A long whileter, he gently exhaled as he shook his head.
Whoever, the this formidable foe was, the fact that they were able to force him into such dire straits back then was an indication that he was most likely no match for them as he currently was, so the best course of action to take for the time being was to avoid this enemy at all costs.
Seeing as even Fang Pan was able to find him, this even more powerful mastermind who was pulling the strings behind scenes had to have been capable of tracking him down as well. The only potential saving grace for Han Li was that this enemy perhaps wasn''t aware that he had returned to the Immortal Realm.
In any case, he had to attain more power as quickly as possible in order to deal with all of the unforeseen circumstances that could arise.
In order to aplish this objective, there was something that he had to address.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to summon his Twin Starshift te.
The ze Dragon Dao was an immeasurable distance away from the ck Wind Sea, and the connection between the pair of array tes had be extremely tenuous, making it impossible to transfer any further heavy water.
Not only was this affecting the rate at which his Earthly Deity Avatar was deriving heavy water, he was also running out of an important resource required to refine more Heavy Water Veined Lightning.
Both of these things were very important to him, so he had to find a way to get them back on track.
Ever since arriving on the Ancient Cloud Continent, this was a problem that had always been on his mind, and now that he had settled into the ze Dragon Dao, he finally had a chance to address it.
Thus, he immediately put on outer garment to conceal his elder robes, then summoned his Transient Guild mask before putting it on.
He had purchased the Twin Starshift tes from the Transient Guild, so he had to turn to the Transient Guild for a solution to this problem. Back in the Spirit Realm, he wouldn''t even have bothered to consider the idea of transferring treasures over such massive distances, but this didn''t seem all that far-fetched of a notion in the Immortal Realm.
The main reason for this had to have been rted to the power ofws. Treasures of this nature would inevitably draw upon the power of spacews to a certain extent, or relied on spirit materials that contained the spatial power.
An azure light screen was released from the mask, and countless diagrams and lines of text of different sizes appeared on its surface.
Han Li immediately turned to the item exchange section before conducting a thorough search.
It didn''t take long before he spotted what he was looking for, and he pointed at a spot on the light screen, then began to wait in silence.
Only after a full hour had passed did a burst of azure light emerge from the light barrier, then took on the form of a projection of a male figure wearing an azure feathered robe and a tiger mask.
The tiger-masked man looked at Han Li for a moment, then said, "May I ask... Ah, I remember who you are, you once purchased a set of Twin Starshift tes from me, right? Have they served you well?"
"They''ve been alright," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.
"Could it be that you encountered some type of problem while using the tes?" the tiger-masked man asked.
"The function of the array tes is just as you describe, but you never told me about their distance limitations," Han Li said as a hint of displeasure crept into his voice.
"Ah, my forgetfulness got the better of me and I forgot to tell you that the array tes can only work across a distance of roughly one continent. If you go beyond that, the teleportation function of the array tes will be significantly diminished or even disabled altogether," the tiger-masked man replied in an apologetic voice.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he said, "It''s fine. I contacted you today to ask if there''s a way to increase the effective teleportation distance of the Twin Starshift tes."
It was clear that the tiger-masked man had intentionally withheld this information, but at the same time, he failed to ask about this matter. Now that the transaction had already been made, there wasn''t much that could be done.
"I''m afraid not. A distance of one continent is the limit of the Twin Starshift tes'' teleportation capabilities. However, there are other ways through which you can teleport items over longer distances," the tiger-masked man said.
"Would you care to borate?" Han Li asked.
"This pair of array tes was a replica refined by a good friend of mine based on an immortal treasure, and it''s only around 1% to 2% as effective as the original. After many attempts since then, he''s been able to craft a replica that''s one tenth as effective as the original immortal treasure, and he''s named them the Big Dipper Heavenly Star tes. Is that something that interests you, Fellow Daoist?" the tiger-masked man asked.
Han Li nodded in response, then asked, "How much will those tes cost?"
If these new tes really were five to ten times as effective as the Twin Starshift tes, then they would be sufficient for his current needs.
"I can sell them to you for 6,000 top-grade spirit stones," the tiger-masked man replied.
"What a preposterous price! That''s more than 10 times the price of the Twin Starshift te!" Han Li said as a cold look appeared on his face.
"You can''tpare them like that. The Big Dipper Heavenly Star tes are indeed rather expensive, but you''re definitely getting more value for your spirit stones," the tiger-masked man chuckled.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then said, "I can''t scrounge together so many spirit stones at once right now. This is already the second time we''ve done business together, so can you give me a discount?"
"Well... I don''t mean to be cold, but this is truly an extremely precious treasure. If it wasn''t for the fact that this friend of mine is in urgent need of spirit stones right now, he wouldn''t even be selling them," the tiger-masked man replied with a shake of his head.
After some more rounds of bartering, Han Li was able to negotiate the price down to 5,300 top-grade spirit stones, but after that, the tiger-masked man refused to go even a single spirit stone lower.
In the end, Han Li heaved a faint sigh, then asked, "Can I get back to you in seven days?"
"Sure," the tiger-masked man replied with a smile and a nod, then instantly vanished from the spot.
Han Li removed his mask, and the light screen around him faded as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Momentster, he injected his spiritual sense into the storage bracelet on his wrist.
Everything inside the storage space had already been split up into roughly a dozen categories, including demon beast materials, spirit nts, ore, spirit stones, pills, treasures, cultivation arts, and scriptures.
Prior to leaving the ck Wind Sea, he had sold virtually everything that he owned for spirit stones, so most of these things had been piged from Fang Pan''s storage bracelet.
At the moment, he had roughly 3,200 top-grade spirit stones, which was still over 2,000 spirit stones under the asking price, so he naturally had to sell a lot of things to make up the gap.
He didn''t dare to sell Fang Pan''s belongings carelessly in case they fell into the wrong hands and exposed him to be Fang Pan''s killer. However, such qualms weren''t necessary if he were to sell these things in the Transient Guild.
Originally, the majority of the items in Fang Pan''s storage bracelet had been unfamiliar to him, and he was only able to recognize a small portion of them. Thankfully, he met Sun Ke on the way to the Ancient Cloud Continent.
While on the lightning boat, he had indirectly enquired Sun Ke about all of the things that he didn''t recognize, and he was able to figure out what most of them were.
As a mid-True Immortal cultivator who had managed to grasp thews of speed, Fang Pan had managed to amass a decent fortune, and there was nock of precious items in his storage bracelet. If Han Li were to sell everything, then he would''ve most likely been able to acquire sufficient spirit stones for the Big Dipper Heavenly Star tes and still have some leftover.
Thus, he immediately emptied most of the contents of the storage bracelet with the intention of selling them in batches over theing few days. Right as he was about to withdraw his spiritual sense out of the storage bracelet, a thought suddenly urred to him, and he pulled out a pair of boxes, onerger than the other.
Therger one of the two boxes was crafted from jade and contained a huge white egg. Due to the fact that the jade box was able to continuously provide spiritual qi, the egg was still very much alive.
The other smaller box was around 10 feet in length, within which were three arrow-like azure feathers that were glowing faintly with azure light, giving them a rather mysterious appearance.
Both of these things had been carefully stored in Fang Pan''s storage bracelet, and it was clear that they were no ordinary objects.
Even Sun Ke failed to identify these two things, so Han Li decided to release an appraisal mission in the Transient Guild to see if anyone could tell him what these things were.
¡¡
Seven dayster.
Inside his secret chamber, Han Li had donned his Transient Guild mask, and he swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up the azure light screen before immediately contacting the tiger-masked man.
"Have you gathered the required spirit stones, Fellow Daoist?" the tiger-masked man asked with a smile.
Han Li pulled out a storage pouch as he replied, "Here are the 5,300 top-grade spirit stones you asked for. Do you have the array tes with you right now?"
The tiger-masked man''s eyes immediately lit up as he nodded in response. "Of course."
The transaction was quicklypleted, and Han Li received a pair of new array tes for his 5,300 spirit stones.
The array tes were of a bright blue color and were giving off a watery blue glow. Furthermore, their surfaces were riddled with patterns that were far moreplex than the ones on the Twin Starshift tes.
On each array te were seven eye-catching white dots that formed the Big Dipper constetion.
Embedded into each array te were eight Starshift Stones of a significantly darker color than the ones on the Twin Starshift tes, and the light that they were giving off was also more radiant, indicating that they were Starshift Stones of a higher caliber.
A pleased look appeared on Han Li''s face at the sight of the two array tes, but his brows then immediately furrowed slightly.
While he had obtained the new array tes, the fact of the matter was that he was still an immeasurable distance away from the ck Wind Sea, so how was he supposed to send one of these Big Dipper Heavenly Star tes to his Earthly Deity Avatar?
"Is there something wrong with the array tes, Fellow Daoist?" the tiger-masked man asked with a perplexed expression.
"No, but there''s something else I''d like to ask you. Is there really no way to increase the teleportation distance of the Twin Starshift tes? Even just once?" Han Li asked.
The tiger-masked man took a nce at the pair of array tes in Han Li''s hands, and he quickly understood what Han Li''s intentions were. "It looks like you want to send one of the array tes elsewhere. There is a way to aplish your goal."
"What is it?" Han Li immediately asked.
"It''s very simple. All you need to do is fit the Twin Starshift te in your possession with second-grade Starshfit Stones, then forcibly activate the array te, and you''ll be able to temporarily increase its teleportation distance several times over. However, you''ll only be able to use the Twin Starshift te like that once before it''s destroyed," the tiger-masked man exined.
"What are second-grade Starshift Stones?" Han Li asked.
"They''re the Starshift Stones on the Big Dipper Heavenly Star tes. The ones on the Twin Starshift tes are only first-grade Starshift Stones," the tiger-masked man replied.
Han Li nodded in response. As long as he could teleport one of these Big Dipper Heavenly Star tes back to the ck Wind Sea, it didn''t matter if he had to sacrifice his Twin Starshift te.
Thus, he purchased some second-grade Starshift Stones from the tiger-masked man, leaving him with some leftover as backup in addition to the ones required to power the Twin Starshift te.
Chapter 200: Emergence of the Treasured Axis
Chapter 200: Emergence of the Treasured Axis
After parting ways with the tiger-masked man, Han Li released an appraisal mission for the giant egg and the azure feathers in the Transient Guild, then removed his mask.
After stowing his mask away, he immediately pulled out his Twin Starshift te and removed the Starshift Stones on it, recing them with eight second-grade Starshift Stones before activating the array te.
The Twin Starshift te immediately began to glow with dazzling light, but it also began to tremble violently as it gave off an unprecedented type of spatial fluctuations.
Having already been warned by the tiger-masked man, Han Li wasn''t surprised by this at all, and after a brief hesitation, he ced one of the Big Dipper Heavenly Star tes and half of his second-grade Starshift Stones onto the array te before initiating the teleportation.
The light radiating from the Twin Starshift te instantly brightened even further, while the spatial fluctuations emanating from it were bing extremely unstable, osciting wildly in power.
A few secondster, the Twin Starshift te finally exploded into pieces, but prior to that, the Big Dipper Heavenly Star te had vanished within the light.
Han Li was still feeling a little anxious upon seeing this. After all, this pair of new array tes had exhausted the majority of his assets, and it would''ve been extremely unfortunate if it had been destroyed by the spatial fluctuations.
With that in mind, he hurriedly chanted an incantation to activate his Big Dipper Heavenly Star te.
The profound runes on the surface of the array te lit up one after another, forming a radiant blue array amid a faint buzzing sound. Countless white specks of light then appeared within the array, much like stars in the night sky.
The space at the center of the array then began to warp slightly, and arge ball of ck water appeared.
The teleportation process was extremely smooth and fast.
Han Li was extremely relieved to see this, and he stowed the ball of heavy water away with a sweep of his sleeve.
The Big Dipper Heavenly Star te shed over and over again as one ball of heavy water emerged after another, and it only took less than an hour to transfer all of the heavy water that the Earthly Deity Avatar had derived over these past years.
Han Li patted the True Water Pouch strapped to his waist as he gave a pleased nod.
The heavy water inside was almost enough to fill two small streams at this point, and with this much heavy water, he would be able to do many things.
Even though the array tes had cost a fortune, they had resolved a problem that had stumped him for years, so they were worth the investment.
After stowing the Big Dipper Heavenly Star te away, he sat down with his legs crossed to meditate for a day, priming himself into his best mental condition before pulling out the Mantra Axis Scripture andmencing his cultivation.
Three months flew by in the blink of an eye.
Inside his cave abode, Han Li remained seated with his legs crossed like a statue, but his entire body was enveloped in a faint golden glow.
A long whileter, he slowly opened his eyes as an ted look appeared on his face.
The Mantra Axis Scripture was extremelyplex and difficult to understand, but during the past three months, his cultivation progress had been remarkably smooth. He had managed to bypass all of the potential bottlenecks denoted in the annotation scripture with ease, and they hadn''t posed any obstacle to him at all.
The first time this happened, he had thought that he had perhaps just been lucky, but after the second and third time, he couldn''t help but wonder if perhaps his constitution just so happened to have been perfectly suited to this cultivation art.
It was no wonder that he would think this. After all, ording to the annotation scripture, every single bottleneckid out would stump the cultivator for at least several years, and even dys of several decades or centuries weren''t all that umon. As a result, many people chose to give up on the cultivation art.
Unless there was some type of special reason for this, there was no way that progress could''ve been so smooth for him.
However, throughout his entire cultivation journey, his aptitude had always been inferior to the vast majority of cultivators, and he certainly didn''t possess any constitution that granted him exceptional aptitude.
Despite this, he was able to bypass every single bottleneckid out in the annotation scripture with barely any trouble at all, and he was feeling both perplexed and ecstatic.
In any case, being able to make such smooth progress definitely wasn''t a bad thing.
At this rate, he was on track to sessfully manifesting a Mantra Treasured Axis in just a few years, whereas countless others had failed in his ce even after centuries or millennia of arduous cultivation.
Han Li took a deep breath to rid himself of these thoughts, then continued in his cultivation.
Three years flew by in the blink of an eye.
Countless tendrils of clouds were drifting over the Crimson Dawn Peak as the sun began to slowly rise in the east, basking the entire mountain summit in a warm, golden glow.
Everything remained unchanged on the Crimson Dawn Peak with one exception, which was that the fire miasma that had originally permeated over the entire mountain had receded quite a bit.
Everything from the foot of the mountain to halfway up the mountain was still enveloped in fire miasma, but there was no further fire miasma present above that point.
Meng Yungui and the others arrived on the mountain summit at first light, performing some meditation in the face of the rising sun before carrying out their respective duties in cleaning up the mountain summit.
Everyone''s role was very clear-cut, and even though there were only 10 of them, they were able to keep the massive courtyard, the nearby spirit medicine fields, and the cave of the mountain guardian beast halfway up the mountain in a very clean and orderly condition.
The spirit veins of the Crimson Dawn Peak weren''t that exceptional in the context of the entire Bell Toll Mountain Range, but the abundance of the world''s origin qi here still far exceeded that of other ces on the Ancient Cloud Continent, making it an exceptional ce of cultivation. On top of that, thanks to the pills that Han Li had bestowed upon them, all of them had progressed in their cultivation bases to different extents.
In particr, Meng Qianqian had made two breakthroughs in rapid session, taking her to thete-Foundation Establishment Stage, and she was only one step away from the Core Formation Stage.
In contrast with three years ago, much of the childish aspects of her features had faded, and she had be even more beautiful.
"Elder Li has been in seclusion for quite some time, hasn''t he?" Meng Qianqian remarked as she took asional nces at the cave abode while cleaning up the spirit medicine field.
"At Elder Li''s level, it''s quitemon to go into seclusion for centuries or even millennia. Have you run out of spirit stones and pills now that you''re on the cusp of the Core Formation Stage?" Meng Yungui asked.
"No, I haven''t," Meng Qianqian replied in a slightly grumpy voice.
"Qianqian, you must remember at all times that we are already extremely fortunate to have been chosen to serve Elder Li. Elder Li has always been quite lenient and amicable to us, but as servants, we must never forget our ce," Meng Yungui said in a meaningful and heartfelt voice.
"I understand," Meng Qianqian replied as she lowered her head slightly.
Meng Yungui''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and he patted Meng Qianqian''s head as he said, "I still have some spirit stones here, you can take them..."
All of a sudden, a burst of violent rumbling suddenly rang out, and the entire Crimson Dawn Peak began to shudder and quake, causing many of the birds and beasts residing on the mountain to flee in a panic.
Immediately thereafter,rge swathes of dark clouds suddenly appeared in the originally bright and clear sky, tumbling and surging incessantly.
The world''s origin qi surged violently as it converged toward the mountain summit, forming an enormous vortex, and the center of the vortex was directly above the cave abode on the mountain peak.
Meng Yungui and Meng Qianqian were both quite surprised by this phenomenon, but they weren''t overly rmed, and the same applied to everyone else as well.
They had no idea what types of cultivation arts Han Li was using, but what they did know was that he would regrly trigger this type of astonishing phenomena. In fact, something like this happened virtually once a month, so they were already ustomed to this.
Meng Yungui''s brows furrowed slightly as she looked up at the dark clouds in the sky, and he felt like this phenomenon seemed to have been different from previous ones.
However, he then immediately shook his head and returned to work as he self-reprimanded, I was just telling Qianqian to not get overly involved with Elder Li, yet here I am, specting about his cultivation. I need to focus on performing my duties as a servant and nothing else. Ignorance is the best policy.
Inside his secret chamber, Han Li''s entire body was enveloped in dazzling golden light, to the point that his facial features appeared rather blurry and indistinct.
As the world''s origin qi continued to converge from all directions, the golden light radiating from his body became brighter and brighter, forming an incandescent sea of golden light that inundated the entire secret chamber.
Enormous spiritual power fluctuations surged through the surrounding area in waves, only to be contained by the restrictions set up in the cave abode.
Only after a full two hours had passed did the rate at which the world''s origin qi was gathering begin to slow.
The dark clouds above the Crimson Dawn Peak gradually faded to reveal the clear, blue sky, and it was as if the phenomenon that had just unfolded had never taken ce at all.
Inside the secret chamber, the massive sea of light shuddered before surging into Han Li''s body and waspletely absorbed in just a few seconds.
A speck of golden light that was fluctuating in brightness appeared on Han Li''s lower abdomen, glowing as radiant as the sun one moment, then almostpletely fading the next.
The golden speck of light was like a tiny mouth, and with each sh, a vast amount of the world''s origin qi was devoured.
At the same time, a light golden wheel that was around a foot in size appeared behind him before slowly revolving on the spot.
A series of lustrous golden clouds appeared around the wheel, resonating strongly with the surrounding world''s origin qi. At the same time, the sound of heavenly music rang out, as if to praise the emergence of the golden wheel.
The golden clouds revolved rapidly around the wheel, gradually transforming into countless semi-transparent threads of light that converged together to form a pair of semi-transparent runes that engraved themselves onto the wheel.
The runes were extremely lively and were constantly shing and moving as if they were living creatures while emanating faintw fluctuations.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes before taking a nce at his own body, and his gaze lingered on the speck of golden light as an ecstatic look appeared on his face.
After three years of arduous cultivation, he had finally opened up his first immortal acupoint, thereby taking the first step on his cultivation journey as a True Immortal.
As for the golden wheel behind him, that was none other than the Mantra Treasured Axis.
Chapter 201: Unforeseen Turn of Events
Chapter 201: Unforeseen Turn of Events
ording to the Mantra Axis Scripture, the two semi-transparent runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis were Time Dao Runes, which were a manifestation of thews of time.
The more Time Dao Runes there were, the more powerful the Mantra Treasured Axis was going to be.
Under normal circumstances, someone who had manifested a Mantra Treasured Axis would have the chance to attain a new Time Dao Rune with each immortal acupoint that they opened up, but the probability of this happening each time was only around 50%.
After opening up 12 immortal acupoints, one would reach the mid-True Immortal Stage, and only after attaining six Time Dao Runes would one be considered to have mastered the first level of the Mantra Axis Scripture. Furthermore, only with six Time Dao Runes would the Mantra Treasured Axis be able to halve the speed of enemy attacks.
If a cultivator were struck by misfortune and attained fewer than six Time Dao Runes, then they would never be able to cultivate the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture.
There were already extremely few people in the history of the ze Dragon Dao that had managed to sessfully manifest Mantra Treasured Axes at all, and those who had reached the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture were even rarer, but that certainly wasn''t due tock of trying.
Furthermore, six was a cardinal number when it came to the number of Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis, so even if one fell just short and had only five Time Dao Runes on their Mantra Treasured Axis, the slowing effect would be virtually non-existent.
As for those who had taken the shortcut and used treasures in the ce of Mantra Treasured Axes, their probability of attaining Time Dao Runes on their faux axes would be significantly diminished. It was often the case that after mastering the first level of the cultivation art and opening up 12 immortal acupoints, one would only have attained two or three Time Dao Runes on their faux axis.
However, the advantage to using faux axes refined from materials that contained otherw powers was that there was a chance to attain dao runes of otherws. However, the number of such dao runes that appeared were entirely down to luck and the materials used to refine the faux axis.
Those who were fortunate could add seven or eight dao runes of otherws onto their faux axis, granting it power that wasn''t inferior to that of an Acquired Immortal Treasure, while those on the other end of the scale could only attain one or two such dao runes, thereby making their faux axis next to useless.
Han Li was both ecstatic and incredulous to see the two Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis.
Even if he were in luck, there should''ve only been a single Time Dao Rune attained from the opening of his first immortal acupoint, yet somehow, he had managed to attain two.
In any case, this was most definitely a good thing, and it would significantly lessen his cultivation pressure in the future.
With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath before activating the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him, and it immediately sped up in its rotation while releasing a burst of faint golden ripples that instantly epassed the entire surrounding area within a radius of around 100 feet.
The space in the area epassed within the golden ripples trembled slightly, then instantly returned to normal, and looking at it from the outside, nothing seemed to have changed.
Han Li closed his eyes as he sensed the changes in his surroundings, and he discovered that everything around him seemed to have slowed down a little, including the flow of air and soundwaves, as well as even the cirction of the world''s origin qi.
Upon first nce, it appeared to have a simr debilitating effect to thews of speed and gravity.
Han Li couldn''t help but be amazed by the effects of thews of time, but unfortunately, the effects were virtually negligible at the moment.
Hence, in its current form, it wouldn''t even have been as effective as a faux axis in battle, and that was presumably why so many cultivators were willing topromise and refine faux axes instead.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and the golden light glowing from his body faded alongside the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him.
He rose to his feet and emerged from his secret chamber before arriving in another room, where there was an azure transmission array te on the table.
The array te was currently buzzing incessantly while giving off a watery azure glow that formed an azure light barrier, within which were two white transmission talismans were darting around in a haphazard fashion like a pair of headless flies.
Han Li made a beckoning motion, and the azure light barrier faded, following which the two transmission talismans flew into his grasp, and he injected his spiritual sense into them.
During the past three years, aside from in the final year and a bit, in which he had focused all of his attention on breaking through his cultivation bottleneck, he had explored the ze Dragon Dao the rest of the time to search for his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. For this purpose, he had used his Bonded Eight Spirits Vat on numerous asions as well, but to no avail, as if his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords hadpletely vanished.
Even though he wasn''t able to aplish his main objective, he had familiarized himself with True Immortals ofparable status to himself in the sect during his exploration, and he was currently on good terms with several attendant elders who had also previously been itinerant cultivators in the past.
As it turned out, the two transmission talismans had been sent to him by two of the inner sect elders that he was friendly with, inviting him to go on missions with them. He immediately pulled out a pair of nk transmission talismans and tactfully turned down their invitations without a second thought.
He was in no mood to be going on any missions at the moment.
Shortly thereafter, he appeared in the medicine garden in his cave abode, and he was in the process of carefully inspecting the Heaven Controlling Vial in his hand. Beside him stood a giant ape puppet that was around 10 feet tall.
During the final stage of his seclusion, he naturally didn''t get a chance to continue to manifest those crystals that contained thews of time. However, he didn''t waste the green liquid, either, instructing the giant ape puppet to nurture several 10,000-year-old spirit herbs with the spirit liquid in case the need for those spirit herbs arose.
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he crouched down and dripped a drop of green liquid onto one of the spirit herbs in front of him, and right as he did so, an unforeseen run of events suddenly unfolded.
A burst of faint golden light abruptly appeared over his body, immediately following which his Mantra Treasured Axis emerged on its own without any warning.
The 10,000-year-old spirit herb that was closest to him in the medicine garden immediately began to tremble slightly as ayer of translucent light appeared over its surface, seemingly resonating with the Mantra Treasured Axis.
Han Li was quite startled by this as he sprang to his feet.
The golden light radiating from his body vanished in a sh alongside his Mantra Treasured Axis, and the 10,000-year-old spirit herb instantly returned to normal as well.
A bewildered look appeared on Han Li''s face, and after some contemtion, he crouched down once again to get closer to that 10,000-year-old spirit herb.
Sure enough, the spirit herb began to tremble once again, while ayer of translucent light reappeared over its surface.
The Mantra Treasured Axis also appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light, and it was as if the two were resonating with one another.
What is going on?
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he made his way even closer to the medicine garden.
In the next instant, all of the several spirit herbs in the garden that had exceeded 10,000 years of age began to tremble in unison, and the older the spirit herb was, the more severe the tremors it disyed. In contrast, the thousand-year-old spirit herbs didn''t disy much of a reaction.
After a brief moment of contemtion, a thought suddenly urred to him, and he rose to his feet before flipping a hand over to produce a pair of jade boxes, then removed the lids of the boxes.
Each box contained a spirit herb that was giving off extremely rich spiritual qi, and they were both also over 10,000 years of age.
The dark green spirit herb in the jade box on the left began to quickly began to tremble, while the light red spirit herb in the box on the right remainedpletely still.
The dark green spirit herb had been matured using the green liquid, while the light red spirit herb hade from Fang Pan''s storage bracelet.
"Could it be that this has something to do with how smoothly my cultivation of the Mantra Axis Scripture has gone, and why I was able to manifest two Time Dao Runes at once?" Han Li murmured to himself as he stowed the pair of spirit herbs away.
......
One yearter, on the Crimson Dawn Peak.
The light of the dying sun was spilling down onto the entire mountain summit, basking it in a gentle, warm glow.
All of the shadows in the spacious courtyard on the mountain summit were all elongated, presenting a rather dim yet serene sight to behold.
On a stone stool next to a stone table in the courtyard sat a beautiful young woman in red. She was resting on the stone table with her slender jade-like hands folded over one another beneath her chin, looking rather sullen and dejected.
Meng Qianqian had just emerged from seclusion close to half a day ago, having sessfully reached the Core Formation Stage, and she wanted to share this piece of good news with her brother, but she discovered that everyone seemed to have been busy cultivating, leaving her feeling rather disappointed.
"I wonder what Elder Li is doing..." she murmured to herself as she turned her gaze toward the cave abode.
Aside from Meng Yungui, Han Li was the one that she most wanted to share the good news of her breakthrough with.
Everyone else, including her brother, held a great deal of awe and veneration toward Han Li, but she was the only one who felt like Han Li wasn''t as cold and high-and-mighty as the other elders in the sect. Instead, he was more like a brotherly figure.
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At this moment, inside Han Li''s secret chamber.
The white beads embedded into the walls were giving off a bright white glow, illuminating the entire secret chamber.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on a futon in his elder robes.
In front of him was a square, dark azure array te that was hovering mid-air. Two of the Starshift Stones embedded into the array te were glowing brightly to form a blue array, and it didn''t take long before a burst of peculiar fluctuations began to emanate out of the array.
The space at the center of the blue array rippled slightly, following which a fist-sized ball of heavy water appeared.
Han Li made a beckoning motion to draw the ball of heavy water into his grasp, then stowed the Big Dipper Heavenly Star te away.
The ball of heavy water wasn''t veryrge, but in contrast with the heavy water that had previously been delivered to him, this ball of heavy water contained a hint ofw powers that Han Li had instructed his Earthly Deity Avatar to inject into it.
What he was nning to do was to refine a faux Mantra Treasured Axis using this heavy water that contained the power ofws.
In reality, he had already decided that he was going to refine a faux axis as soon as he noticed the abnormalities in his Mantra Treasured Axis and Time Dao Runes.
He couldn''t bepletely sure that this was definitely rted to his Heaven Controlling Vial''s maturation ability, but even so, he couldn''t allow anyone else to discover this connection. Otherwise, he would''ve been in a world of trouble.
With that in mind, Han Li drew the ball of heavy water into his grasp while sweeping his other hand through the air, releasing a palm-sized piece of ck meteoric iron, a watery blue jewel, a drop of blue liquid that resembled a drop of beast blood, and a piece of Water Shade Ore that was giving off a ck glow.
Chapter 202: Heavy Water True Axis
Chapter 202: Heavy Water True Axis
All of these materials had been recently secured by Han Li through various means, and none of them were extremely precious or powerful spirit materials, but it had still taken him a great deal of time and effort to gather them.
The refinement method for a faux axis wasn''t difficult to find. It wasid out in the annotation scripture, and there was more than one method outlined.
The true axis was quite difficult to refine, but the faux axis was quite practical, so there were many people who had attempted to refine it in the past, and as a result, there were many pieces of insight collected from many past cultivators in the annotation scripture.
Due to the different materials used, the refinement process would always differ slightly from person to person, but the overall process was quite uniform.
At this moment, Han Li had already engraved the array necessary to refine a faux axis onto the ground. It resembled an ancient copper coin of the mortal world that was round on the outside and square on the inside. Its appearance was quite ordinary, but there was far more to the array than met the eye. [1]
Han Li ced the four types of spirit materials onto the four corners of the array''s inner square, then opened his mouth to release a ball of nascent mes the size of a human head right onto the center of the array.
As he began to chant a low incantation, the Formless True Axis Scripture was activated in his body, and bright radiance erupted from the array on the ground as it fused as one with the ball of nascent mes.
The sound of rushing wind rang out within the secret chamber, and the ball of nascent mes began to rapidly revolve, forming a miniature fiery tornado that was giving off bursts of scorching heat.
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air, and the piece of Water Shade Ore rose up into the air before falling into the fiery tornado, where it quickly became extremely red and virtuallypletely transparent.
The drop of blue liquid then also fell into the fiery tornado at Han Li''s behest, dripping onto the piece of Water Shade Ore.
A loud sizzling sound rang out as plumes of white smoke rose up into the air, and the piece of Water Shade Ore instantly melted into a liquid form.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li directed the other two materials into the mes as well, then switched to a different hand seal, and the fiery tornado instantly transformed into a massive fireball that enveloped all of the materials.
At the same time, the air temperature in the secret chamber cooled significantly, as if the majority of the fire''s heat had been encapsted within the ball of mes.
What came next was a long fusion process.
All he had to do from here onward was to control the nascent me, so he pulled out the Mantra Axis Scripture and continued to study it.
Several dozen days passed by in a sh, and Han Li remained in his secret chamber the entire time, tending to the fireball in front of him.
Right at this moment, he slowly brought his hands apart in front of him, and the fireball slowly elongated, reverting back into a fiery tornado.
At the center of the fiery tornado was a crimson round te-like object that was around a foot in size, and it was riddled with countless fine andplex spirit patterns.
However, judging from its aura, it appeared to have only been a treasure of a decent caliber, and there didn''t seem to have been anything special about it.
With a flick of Han Li''s wrist, the ball of heavy water that contained the power of waterws was sent flying through the air before slowly descending onto the crimson te within the fiery tornado from above.
A dull thump rang out, both in the secret chamber and directly in Han Li''s heart.
The crimson te shuddered as it was instantly enveloped by the ball of heavy water, and it rapidly turned from crimson to ck in color.
At the same time, many of the runes on the te dissolved one after another into a hollow state, while a ball of watery blue light lit up on the edge of the te, forming a Water Dao Rune on its own.
A long whileter, the entire te was already riddled with hollow runes, out of which were emanating an aura of waterws.
Han Li opened his mouth upon seeing this, and the ball of nascent mes flew back into his mouth.
The faux axis was alreadyplete at this point, and without the fiery tornado to support it, it plummeted straight onto the ground with a resounding boom.
The ground in the entire secret chamber caved in drastically while countless deep cracks appeared, extending all the way to the surrounding walls.
The entire cave abode and courtyard were also affected, resulting in violent, earthquake-like tremors. Meng Yungui and the others were all startled by these tremors, and they hurriedly ceased their cultivation as they rushed out to see what was happening.
A resoundingmotion rang out on the Crimson Dawn Peak, and countless birds flew up into the air in a panic, obscuring arge section of the sky.
Thankfully, the Crimson Dawn Peak was quite secluded in location, so no one else in the sect was alerted by the tremors.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already gotten up in his secret chamber, and he subsequently pulled the faux axis out of the ground as well.
After a close examination, he discovered that the faux axis wasn''t imbued with any power of timews, but it contained extremely pure waterw powers. Furthermore, due to the injection of heavy water into the faux axis, it was far heavier than it appeared.
"Given its properties, I''ll call it the Heavy Water True Axis," Han Li murmured to himself as he examined the faux axis in his hands with a pleased expression.
A short whileter, the gates of the cave abode were abruptly opened, and Han Li emerged from within.
The first thing that he did was pay a visit to the fire vein cave at the foot of the mountain, where the Essence Fire Raven was still thoroughly enjoying itself.
It had devoured an enormous amount of the fire vein''s spiritual qi, resulting in a massively elevated aura. However, due to the fact that it had only been residing in the cave for a short time, its aura still hadn''t stabilized yet, so Han Li was unsure of exactly how much it had recovered.
However, through their spiritual connection, Han Li could tell that the fire raven was very happy with the area, so there was no need for him to be concerned.
After that, he returned to the courtyard of his cave abode and assembled Meng Yungui and the others before handing out some pills to them. He also answered some of their questions in cultivation before departing from the Crimson Dawn Peak to search for his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Several dayster, Han Li''s search proved to have beenpletely fruitless, and he returned to the secret chamber in his cave abode to continue cultivating the Mantra Axis Scripture.
At the moment, this was his primary cultivation art, and the power of timews was also thew power that he most wanted to master.
However, he would always make sure to go out every once in a while to scour the entire Bell Toll Mountain Range for his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, but his search proved to be futile every single time.
Four years passed by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, countless ck clouds suddenly appeared in the sky above the Crimson Dawn Peak once again.
The world''s origin qi converged in a frenzy, and another massive energy vortex was formed.
A long whileter, the dark clouds in the sky slowly faded, and the enormous spiritual qi vortex also disintegrated into countless specks of spiritual light of different colors before vanishing into nothingness altogether quickly thereafter.
Inside the secret chamber of his cave abode, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed, and there was an ted look on his face.
There were two specks of golden light on his lower abdomen, indicating that he had sessfully opened up a second immortal acupoint.
If anyone in the ze Dragon Dao were to hear that he had opened up two immortal acupoints in just seven years, they would¡¯ve been astonished beyond belief, particrly considering he was cultivating the Mantra Axis Scripture, which was renowned for its inessibility.
After reaching the True Immortal Stage, one''s cultivation progression waspletely different from back when they were at or below the Grand Ascension Stage. Normally, it would''ve taken several centuries to open up a single acupoint, and for those with mediocre aptitude, it wasn''t all that umon to take over 1,000 years to achieve such a feat.
Even in the history of the entire Northern cial Immortal Region, there were very few instances of anyone opening up two immortal acupoints in seven years, let alone in the ze Dragon Dao.
Han Li was also astonished by his own rate of progression, and he couldn''t help but think of the Big Dipper Origin Arts that he had cultivated back in the Spirit Domain Realm.
At the time, he had refined his own body using starlight to open up the seven profound acupoints in his body, thereby bing a Profound Immortal.
That cultivation art had been passed down by Patriarch Cold me from the Northern cial Immortal Region, and perhaps there was some type of connection between the two.
However, he didn''t dwell too much on this thought as he closed his eyes to examine the pair of immortal acupoints.
Only after close to two hours had passed did he reopen his eyes, and a peculiar look appeared on his face.
A burst of dazzling golden light surfaced over his body, and this Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him at his behest, giving off a gentle golden glow.
Two more Time Dao Runes had appeared on the treasured axis, much to Han Li''s tion and bewilderment.
At the same time, he couldn''t help but wonder whether two Time Dao Runes would appear every single time he opened up an immortal acupoint. If that were the case, then wouldn''t be able to attain 24 Time Dao Runes once he opened up the 12 immortal acupoints required for him to reach the mid-True Immortal Stage?
Of course, this was nothing but baseless spection, but if this really were to eventuate, then this treasured axis of his would be incredibly powerful.
Han Li felt the faint buzzing ringing out from the four Time Dao Runes, and it seemed that they were resonating with one another in some way.
In the next instant, the Mantra Treasured Axis shed with golden light, and a burst of golden ripples that were far brighter than before spread through the surrounding area.
After a brief examination, a wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face.
Even with four Time Dao Runes, the effects of his Mantra Treasured Axis were still virtually negligible. It seemed that he would have to test it again after attaining six Time Dao Runes, which would hopefully be achieved with the opening of his next immortal acupoint.
Han Li suppressed the hint of excitement that had welled up in his heart, and the golden light radiating from his body faded alongside his Mantra Treasured Axis.
He then rose to his feet and made his way into the guest hall outside. As he did so, a thought seemed to have urred to him, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
His cultivation of the Mantra Axis Scripture had been extremely smooth, but that seemed to have used up all of his luck, and he wasn''t able to find any trace of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords during the past four years.
He had virtually scoured the entire Bell Toll Mountain Range with no luck whatsoever, and he was beginning to grow a little agitated.
Right at this moment, a streak of white light flew in from outside, and it was a voice transmission talisman.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he caught the talisman, then injected his spiritual sense into it, and his expression changed slightly as he immediately rose to his feet and exited his cave abode.
1. If you''re curious about what the coins mentioned here look like, search up ancient Chinese copper coin in Google Images. ?
Chapter 203: First Visit to the High Profound Palace
Chapter 203: First Visit to the High Profound Pce
After emerging from his cave abode, Han Li discovered Meng Yungui standing outside, apanied by none other than Qi Liang.
"Please pardon my intrusion, Fellow Daoist Li," Qi Liang said with a warm smile.
"Pleasee in, Brother Qi. What brings you here today?" Han Li hurriedly invited Qi Liang into his cave abode, then instructed Meng Yungui to brew them some tea.
Qi Liang was also an itinerant cultivator, and he had been Han Li''s first connection in the ze Dragon Dao, so the two of them had been quite close during Han Li''s time here, but this was the first time that Qi Liang was visiting his cave abode.
Qi Liang made his way into Han Li''s cave abode, then took a casual nce at his surroundings as he remarked, "I''ve known you for quite a few years up to this point, but only now am I discovering that you''re quite a frugal cultivator, Elder Li. It''s quite impressive that just these 10 servants of yours have been able to keep your cave abode in such good order."
"You''re far too kind, Brother Qi. My cave abode is indeed in good order, but only because there''s barely anything in it," Han Li chuckled.
His guest hall was extremely bare with no furnishings or ornaments aside from a table and some chairs.
He had visited Qi Liang''s cave abode in the past, and it was far more extravagant andvish than his own.
"As True Immortals, neither of us is truly attached to these materialistic things. I admire you greatly for focusing wholeheartedly on your cultivation and now allowing yourself to be distracted by materialistic indulgence, Brother Li," Qi Liang chuckled.
"So what brings you here today, Brother Qi?" Han Li asked.
"I just came over from the High Profound Pce, and I decided toe and pay you a visit on the way back. By the way, you still haven''t heard about the mission released by Deputy Dao Lord Xiong today, right?" Qi Liang asked as a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes.
The High Profound Pce was where missions were released and taken in the ze Dragon Dao''s inner sect, and Han Li was naturally aware of its existence, but he had been busy cultivating and searching for his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords this entire time, so he had no intention of taking on any missions, and as a result, he hadn''t visited the High Profound Pce even once.
"What mission''s gotten you this excited, Brother Qi?" Han Li asked.
"Deputy Dao Lord Xiong is searching for 10 True Immortal cultivators who are proficient in the art of flying sword maniption to help him refine a treasure. He''s offering a huge reward of this number of merit points to each person after the mission ispleted," Qi Liang said in a mysterious manner as he held up five fingers.
"50 merit points?" Han Li asked.
"500! I know you''re far more proficient in the art of flying sword maniption than I am, and that''s why I invited you toe with me," Qi Liang said as the excitement in his eyes grew even more pronounced.
Han Li was also rather tempted upon hearing this.
Even though he had never been to the High Profound Pce, he knew that 500 merit points was an extremely opulent reward for a single mission.
"It''s been a very long time since there''s been a mission with such avish reward and no danger involved. Many elders who are only slightly familiar with the art of flying sword maniption have already signed up, I''m sure you''re not going to pass up an opportunity like this, right, Brother Li?" Qi Liang asked with a smile.
Han Li contemted the offer for a moment, then nodded as he replied, "You''ve alreadye to invite me in person, so it would be rude of me to refuse."
He wasn''t in the mood to be carrying out any missions, but Qi Liang hade to extend an invitation to him in person, and they were on good terms with one another, so it would''ve been unbing of him to refuse. Furthermore, 500 merit points was a very tempting reward.
Thus, the two of them quickly departed from the cave abode, and Han Li instructed Meng Yungui to look after the Crimson Dawn Peak, following which he and Qi Liang quickly flew away into the distance as two streaks of light, leaving Meng Yungui to look on with deep admiration in his eyes.
¡¡
The High Profound Pce was situated on the Cloud Piercing Peak, and just as the name suggested, the mountain was extraordinarily tall, extending all the way up into the clouds.
Furthermore, vegetation was extremely sparse along the entire mountain, and the rock faces of the mountain were extremely smooth. As a result, even monkeys found it extremely difficult to climb.
A sea of rainbow clouds had been conjured up to conceal the mountain summit, and it was giving off rainbow radiance that could be clearly seen even from hundreds of kilometers away.
The High Profound Pce was situated atop the sea of rainbow clouds, and it was over 100 feet tall and entirely of a dark azure color. Its walls, bricks, and tiles were all made from extremely dense and sturdy materials, giving one the feeling they were looking at a heavy mountain, leading one to worry about whether the sea of rainbow clouds down below would be able to support its weight.
In front of the pce was a massive bluestone za with around a dozen thick stone pirs standing on its edges.
The pirs had all types of extremely life-like exotic beasts engraved onto them, including the Heavenly Dragon, the Rainbow Phoenix, the White Tiger, and the Xuanwu Turtle.
The view from the za waspletely uninhibited, and the blue sky was as clear as a mirror, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
The High Profound Pce was one of the liveliest ces in the entire ze Dragon Dao. There was a teleportation pavilion situated on the za, with people asionally making their way in and out of the building.
There were also streaks of light that were hurtling through the air from all directions beforending on the za.
Strictly speaking, there were no restrictions when it came to the status of thoseing to ept missions here, so even outer sect disciples coulde here for missions if they felt that they were up to the task, but the vast majority of people here were inner sect disciples.
Right at this moment, two streaks of light arrived from the distant sky, thennded on the za to reveal Han Li and Qi Liang.
Respectful looks immediately appeared on the faces of the nearby disciples at the sight of their inner sect elder robes, and everyone gave Han Li''s duo a wide berth.
Han Li took a nce at his surroundings, and he was forced to reevaluate his impression of the ze Dragon Dao''s overall power.
The people entering and exiting the High Profound Pce were of a wide array of different cultivation bases, with the vast majority of them above the Nascent Soul Stage, and even some Body Integration and Grand Ascension cultivators could be seen.
It could be said that just the cultivators at the High Profound Pce at this moment would''ve already been countless times more impressive than the overall collection of cultivators of a major sect in the Spirit Realm.
Qi Liang was clearly already ustomed to this, and he strode directly toward the High Profound Pce.
Han Li trailed along behind him, and they quickly arrived in front of the pce before stepping inside.
As soon as they did so, Han Li instantly felt his field of view widen significantly, as if the space inside the pce had suddenly expanded by tenfold, and it was a rather indescribable feeling.
From the outside, the pce didn''t appear to have been all thatrge, but its interior space wasn''t much smaller than the za outside.
Could it be that there''s some type of spatialw restriction cast upon the pce? Han Li spected to himself.
After making his way into the pce, Qi Liang only paused for a moment before making his way deeper inside.
The most eye-catching things inside the pce were three massive stone walls situated at its center. Each wall was around 200 to 300 feet tall and over 100 feet wide, and one of them was white, the second one was azure, and thest one was golden in color.
The three walls were standing next to one another in the sequence of white, azure, and golden from left to right.
The white wall was situated closest to the outside of the pce, the azure wall was standing at the center, while the golden wall was situated in the deepest part of the pce.
Each wall had lines of clear text that were glowing with spiritual light disyed on their surface, denoting a series of missions.
Judging from the numbers of the lines of text, the white wall had the most number of missions, with over 1,000 in total, while the azure wall had fewer missions, and the golden wall had the least number of missions.
"The three walls hold missions of different levels of difficulty. The missions on the white wall are the easiest toplete and are generally suitable for those at or below the Deity Transformation Stage, the azure wall holds missions that generally cater to those at or above the Spatial Tempering Stage, while the golden wall is for True Immortal cultivators like us," Qi Liang exined as he made his way straight to the golden wall down the back.
There were even more people in the hall, and it was rather crowded. In particr, there were many people gathered near the white and azure walls.
However, there were only a few True Immortal Stage elders standing in front of the golden wall, and it seemed that none of the inner sect disciples dared to approach the wall.
Han Li had acquainted himself with some inner sect elders during the past few years, but he didn''t know who these elders were.
In contrast, Qi Liang clearly had argerwork of acquaintances than Han Li, and he greeted all of the other elders in a friendly fashion, to which the elders responded in kind.
"Everyone, this is Fellow Daoist Li Feiyu. He joined our sect just a few years ago, and he currently resides on the Crimson Dawn Peak. Elder Li, these are..."
Qi Liang gave Han Li an introduction of all of the elders, and Han Li greeted them one by one, then engaged in some small talk before directing his gaze toward the golden stone wall.
Meanwhile, Qi Liang was still chatting with the other elders, and it seemed that he was quite socially outgoing.
There were quite a few missions on the golden wall, and sure enough, all of them were quite difficult toplete. Furthermore, the rewards also weren''t very alluring, ranging from only several dozen to under 200 merit points per mission.
Han Li was rather concerned upon seeing this.
It seemed that earning merit points was going to be far more difficult than he anticipated. The second level cultivation art of the Mantra Axis Scripture was going to cost 9,000 merit points, and he didn''t know how many missions he would have toplete to get to that number.
There were some missions that offered higher rewards, namely the dozen or so missions at the very top of the stone wall. These missions were denoted in special red text, in contrast with the white text of normal missions, and they were special missions released by the sect.
All of these special missions offered extremelyvish rewards, with even the lowest reward standing at 800 merit points, while the majority of the missions boasted rewards in excess of 1,000 merit points, but all of them were extremely difficult and perilous toplete.
Among these missions, the one that offered the lowest reward required one to y a Windfire Fox at the pinnacle of the True Immortal Stage and bring back itsplete carcass.
Han Li had read about Windfire Foxes in the past. They were a type of social spirit beast that resided in the northernmost region of the Ancient Cloud Continent. These foxes possessed Deity Transformation Stage power from birth, as well as both wind and fire-attribute abilities. Upon reaching full maturity, they would attain Body Integration Stage power, and only a Windfire Fox Monarch would be able to reach the pinnacle of the True Immortal Stage.
Han Li had witnessed the power of thatte-True Immortal Stage octopus sea beast, and he knew that at his current level of power, he wouldn''t have been able to y such a creature, much less y a Windfire Fox Monarch at the pinnacle of the True Immortal Stage among an entire pack of spirit beasts.
As for the other missions, they were even more difficult, such as venturing into extremely perilous ces to search for near-extinct materials or hunting down certain notorious evil immortals who were said to have already reached the Golden Immortal Stage.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face. At the moment, all he could do was examine these missions to broaden his horizons, but there was no way that he could take on any of them.
However, in the next instant, his gaze fell upon one of the red missions.
This mission was tucked in between a pair of missions with lengthy descriptions, so he had failed to notice it earlier. The mission description was extremely simple and concise: "Cultivate the Mantra Axis Scripture to the second level".
Despite this, it boasted an extremely high reward of 5,000 merit points!
Chapter 204: Conflict Between Factions
Chapter 204: Conflict Between Factions
A hint of befuddlement shed through Han Li''s eyes at the sight of this mission.
The mission description didn''t state any other requirements. Could it really be that all that was required to earn those 5,000 merit points was to cultivate the Mantra Axis Scripture to the second level?
This mission may have appeared to have been extremely difficult for other people in the ze Dragon Dao, but given how smooth his progression in the cultivation art had been thus far, reaching the second level certainly didn''t seem out of reach.
The 5,000 merit points was very alluring, but if he were to im this reward, countless troubles would most likely follow. At the very least, he most likely wouldn''t have been able to continue to keep a low profile while cultivating in the ze Dragon Dao.
Furthermore, he had already sessfully opened up two immortal acupoints and attained four Time Dao Runes during the past few years, and this was extraordinary progress that he didn''t want anyone to know about.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately dismissed any thought of taking on this mission and shifted his gaze away.
After briefly reading through the remaining red missions, he returned his attention to the white mission and began to quickly read through them as well.
There were many missions outlined in white on the wall, but Qi Liang had already told him what to look for, so it didn''t take long for him to track down the missions released by Deputy Dao Lord Xiong, and sure enough, the reward was 500 merit points.
"What do you think?" Qi Liang asked as he approached Han Li with a smile.
"The mission is exactly as you described, Elder Li," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.
"In that case, we need to make haste. I heard from the others that quite a few elders have already taken on this mission. If we wait any longer, there could be no spots left for us," Qi Liang said in a slightly urgent voice.
He flipped a hand over to produce his elder badge as he spoke, then pointed it at the golden stone wall, and a streak of light immediately flew out of the mission in question before entering his elder badge.
Han Li did the same thing, and another streak of light flew out to enter his elder badge as well, upon which a strange design appeared on the surface of the elder badge.
After epting the mission, the two of them promptly departed from the High Profound Pce without any dy.
Having already been in the ze Dragon Dao for countless years, Qi Liang was naturally far more familiar with theyout of the sect than Han Li, and he was leading the way throughout this entire process.
First, the two of them departed using a teleportation array in the teleportation hall, then flew for close to half a day before arriving near a huge mountain.
The world''s origin qi here was far more abundant than that of Han Li''s Crimson Dawn Peak.
The mountain stretched all the way up into the clouds and was entirely golden in color, seemingly formed by some type of ore. Furthermore, the mountain was remarkably straight and even down the sides, resembling a giant golden sword that was piercing up into the heavens when viewed from a distance.
Concealed within the clouds and mist on the mountain summit were a series of undting pces that were basked in an indistinct golden glow, lending them an air of mystery.
There was also a slightly smaller mountain near this one, and some pces were situated on the summit of this shorter mountain as well. Both mountain summits had restrictions ced upon them, so there was no snow gathered on either of them.
The two mountains were connected by a long golden bridge that resembled a glowing band of golden light hovering in mid-air, presenting a majestic sight to behold.
"This is the Heavenly Sword Peak, home to Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s cave abode," Qi Liang introduced as he pointed at the giant mountain from afar.
"It''s certainly a breathtaking ce," Han Li praised.
"Indeed. Deputy Dao Lord Xiong is a man of many rules, and the main peak is a restricted area that outsiders are not permitted to set foot on. All visitors must first go to the secondary peak, where they''re then teleported to the main peak to meet Deputy Dao Lord Xiong," Qi Liang said in a low voice.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this, but then quickly nodded in response.
Momentster, the two of them descended onto a t area on the summit of the shorter of the two mountains.
The area on the summit of the secondary peak wasn''t veryrge, with only a few side halls and pavilions constructed on it. However, they were arranged in an extremely intricate fashion and didn''t appear shabby in the slightest.
Han Li''s duo was quickly greeted by a white-robed young man who appeared to have been a servant of Xiong Shan''s, and he said in a respectful voice, "Wee, elders. Have you taken on the mission from the High Profound Pce?"
"Precisely. Would you be able to inform Deputy Dao Lord Xiong of our arrival?" Qi Liang asked.
"He''s currently on the main peak right now, pleasee with me," the white-robed young man said, then led the way toward the main peak.
Qi Liang and Han Li exchanged a nce before following along.
The white-robed young man led them onto the golden bridge before stepping onto it, and Qi Liang asked, "Is it alright for you to take us straight to Deputy Dao Lord Xiong without consulting him first?"
"Master Xiong has instructed me to take all elders who have taken on his mission straight to the main peak without dy," the white-robed young man replied in a respectful voice, and Qi Liang nodded in response.
"How many elders have already epted the mission?" Han Li asked.
"27," the white-robed young man replied.
Qi Liang''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. There were only 10 spots avable.
"It''s alright. The fact that he''s taking us there indicates that Deputy Dao Lord Xiong still hasn''t decided who he''s going to recruit yet. I presume we''ll need to undergo some type of examination, and it won''t be a case of firste first served," Han Limunicated to Qi Liang through voice transmission.
"Indeed. Thank you for the reminder, Brother Li," Qi Liang replied as a hint of embarrassment appeared on his face.
He had reached a critical point in his cultivation and desperately needed the 500 merit points, so in his urgency, he had somewhat lost his sense of reason.
Beneath the golden bridge was vast abyss that was filled with cloud and mist, a sight that would''ve been sure to give a mortal intense vertigo.
This was naturally not a problem for Han Li''s trio, and they quickly crossed the golden bridge before arriving on the main peak.
The area on the summit of the main peak was over 10 times the size of that of the Crimson Dawn Peak, and it was littered with exquisite pces and spires, as well as countless pavilions, gardens, and bodies of flowing water.
All of the buildings and even the ground had been constructed from precious materials, the mostmonly used of which was the golden material that the mountain was entirelyprised of.
The pces and buildings were all giving off bright radiance that further contributed to a sense of opulence, and under the guidance of the white-robed young man, Han Li and Qi Liang made their way down a wide white jade path for around 15 minutes before arriving in front of a golden pce.
This was a guest hall where the other 27 elders were already assembled, and they were split up into two circles that were seated to the left and to the right of the hall, with each side disying some slight animosity toward the other.
The dozen or so people on the left were quite rxed, and they were chatting amicably with one another with a hint of superiority on their faces, while the group on the right remained silent for the most part.
Most of the people in the hall immediately turned to Han Li and Qi Liang upon their arrival, but due to the fact that Han Li had only recently joined the sect, everyone looked away after taking only a brief nce at him.
Among the group on the right, a man with a coarse beard stood up and approached Han Li''s duo as he said, "I knew you definitely wouldn''t pass up a mission like this, Brother Qi. Why have you only just gotten here?"
"I''m not as well-informed as you are, Brother Nan. I came here as soon as I heard about this mission, but you still managed to beat me here," Qi Liang replied with a smile.
"I just have an impatient personality. There''s no benefit to arriving early, all I''ve done is sit around and twiddle my thumbs," the bearded man chuckled, then turned his gaze to Han Li.
"Who''s this?"
"This is Brother Li, an inner sect elder who only joined our sect a few years ago, and he currently resides on the Crimson Dawn Peak," Qi Liang introduced.
"I''ve heard much about you, Brother Nan," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Come take a seat, Brother Li," the bearded man said as he dragged Han Li and Qi Liang to the circle on the right.
As soon as Qi Liang sat down, quite a few people immediately approached to greet him.
Han Li recognized one or two of the other elders present, but he wasn''t very familiar with them at all, and they only exchanged a few nods and some small talk.
All of a sudden, the atmosphere on the right side of the hall had livened up a little, and those on the left side of the hall were rather displeased to hear the chatter ringing out from the other side. In fact, someone even cleared their throat to express their displeasure.
Han Li didn''t recognize the people on the left side of the hall, but he had a rough idea of who they were.
Most of these people were former inner sect disciples who had managed to reach the True Immortal Stage through countless millennia of cultivation, and many of them were direct lineal descendants of certain major ns in the ze Dragon Dao, thereby granting them the status of inner sect disciple from birth.
These were people who had grown up in the ze Dragon Dao their entire lives, and they had always looked down on outsiders like Han Li, most of whom were formerly itinerant cultivators.
In addition to their status granting them a sense of superiority, they were also opposed to the existence of these outsiders who had joined the sect as they had topete with these outsiders for cultivation resources.
Even though Han Li had only been in the ze Dragon Dao for several years, he had already developed a clear sense of the conflict and animosity between these two factions.
The higher-ups of the ze Dragon Dao were naturally aware of the situation, but they hadn''t disyed any intention of mitigating this conflict. Instead, they were encouraging this type ofpetition as it was conducive for overall improvement.
This was one of the important reasons why the ze Dragon Dao had been able to churn out so many powerful cultivators ofte.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the left side of the hall, and his attention was quickly drawn to a man who appeared to have been in his thirties.
He was wearing a golden crown and stood with his back ramrod straight, with a pair of wide shoulders that gave him an imposing appearance. His eyes were long and thin, and there was a sharp gleam shing within them, much like the gleam of a sword.
Even though he was just sitting there, he clearly stood out from the crowd, and it felt as if everyone else were merely stars that paled into insignificancepared with the moon that he was.
Qi Liang noticed the direction of Han Li''s gaze, and he introduced in a low voice, "That man''s name is Zhu Feng. He managed to open his 12 immortal acupoints to reach the mid-True Immortal Stage as early as 10,000 years ago, and he cultivates a sword dao scripture.
¡°He resides on the Langya Peak, so he''s known as the Langya Sword Immortal, and he''s quite renowned among inner sect elders. Given his proficiency in the art of the sword, he''s almost certainly guaranteed one of the 10 avable spots for the mission."
Han Li nodded in response.
Zhu Feng appeared to have been quite an arrogant man, only speaking when spoken to by those around him, and he didn''t even spare a single nce toward Han Li and the others.
Han Li observed Zhu Feng for a moment long before withdrawing his gaze as he closed his eyes to meditate.
Close to a day quickly passed by, and during this time, seven or eight more elders arrived one after another.
As a result, the number of people in the hall swelled to over 40, and almost all of the seats had been taken.
This was the equivalent of nothing more than the blink of an eye for True Immortal cultivators, and they were waiting for someone of a very lofty status, so no one disyed any impatience.
However, at this point, the hall was far more quiet than before, and most people had ceased their conversations, choosing to meditate with their eyes closed instead.
Chapter 205: Origin Defying Stone Sword
Chapter 205: Origin Defying Stone Sword
After roughly another two hours had passed, the sound of footsteps rang out from inside the pce, and Xiong Shan''s short and stocky figure emerged.
A pleased look appeared on his face at the sight of the 40 or so elders gathered in the pce, and everyone rose to their feet in unison before extending respectful bows toward him.
"We pay our respects to Deputy Dao Lord Xiong!"
"No need for formalities. Come with me, everyone," Xiong Shan said with a dismissive wave of his hand, then made his way toward a door in the corner of the hall.
Everyone in the hall hurriedly followed along, while Xiong Shan made his way out of the hall and through a long corridor, then arrived in what appeared to have been a drill ground.
The area was over 10,000 feet in size, and it waspletely empty aside from 10 huge stone swordsid t against the ground.
Every single one of these stone swords was around 70 to 80 feet tall, and their des were extremely thick with countlessplex patterns engraved upon them, giving off a peculiar aura that resembled sword qi, but was alsopletely different.
Han Li swept his gaze over the stone swords, and a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes, followed by a look of realization.
"I''m sure all of you already know what this mission is about. I require 10 fellow daoists who are proficient in the way of the sword to help me refine a treasure. There are more than 40 of you here, so I''ve arranged a trial to examine your level of proficiency in the art of the sword," Xiong Shan dered in a direct and straightforward manner.
Everyone present had already roughly guessed that this would be the case, so no one was surprised by this announcement. However, the animosity between the native and non-native elders had only be more pronounced in the wake of this deration.
Zhu Feng suddenly stepped forward with a smile as he said, "Deputy Dao Lord Xiong is the number one swordsman among all of the 36 deputy dao lords, so I''m sure just participating in this trial alone will be extremely beneficial to our future cultivation. How thoughtful of you, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong."
He was very cold and arrogant to everyone else, but in the presence of Xiong Shan he had adopted a humble facade paired with a fawning smile.
Many people immediately turned to look at Zhu Feng upon hearing this, and Xiong Shan''s gaze was also drawn to him.
His expression remained unchanged, but a hint of warmth had crept into his cold eyes, and he continued, "The trial that I''ve arranged is very simple. These stone swords here are Origin Defying Stone Swords that I personally refined using special methods.
¡°There are special restrictions set up in the swords, making it so that only those who are truly skilled in the art of sword maniption can control them. You can alle and give them a try, and the oue of your trial will depend on the number of stone swords that you manage to control."
Everyone directed their attention toward the stone swords upon hearing this.
This was a very unique examination.
This was the first time that everyone had heard of these Origin Defying Stone Swords, and even though there were only 10 of them present, Xiong Shan''s words clearly implied that this was not going to be an easy trial, so everyone was feeling rather hesitant. No one was willing to go first, and even Zhu Feng was looking a little unsure of himself.
Qi Liang approached Han Li with a slightly uneasy look in his eyes as he asked through voice transmission, "What do you think, Brother Li?"
"I don''t see anything amiss for now, but there''s definitely more to these Origin Defying Stone Swords than meets the eye, and I presume they won''t be easy to control at all," Han Li replied.
Everyone else was alsomunicating with one another through voice transmission.
Xiong Shan was rather displeased by the hesitance that everyone was disying, and he said in a cold voice, "I only want 10 people who can meet my standards. Once the 10 spots are filled, the trial will be over."
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, and they knew that they couldn''t hesitate any longer.
A balding inner sect elder instantly flew over to the stone swords as he volunteered, "I''ll go first!"
Xiong Shan gave a slight nod upon seeing this.
"When are you preparing to have a go, Brother Li?" Qi Liang asked through voice transmission.
"There''s no hurry. Despite what Xiong Shan''s saying, the fact that he''s offering such arge reward for this mission indicates that he''ll definitely want the best possible team that he can assemble. Hence, he''ll definitely wait until everyone''s attempted the trial before deciding who to select. Let''s allow these people to go ahead of us so we can learn by observing them," Han Li replied.
An enlightened look appeared in Qi Liang''s eyes upon hearing this. "That''s a great idea, Brother Li!"
There were a few other people who seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion as Han Li, and they were looking on with rxed expressions, seemingly in no hurry to attempt the trial.
Right at this moment, the balding elder gently exhaled, and a burst of faint white light appeared over his body, releasing a bone-chilling aura through the air.
A burst of dazzling white light then erupted out of his body before forming a projection of a giant white sword.
The sword projection was giving off cial sword intent, and countless snowkes immediately appeared in the nearby space, dancing through the air in a beautiful sight to behold.
Han Li couldn''t help but be rather impressed with the balding elder''s mastery over the way of the sword.
These snowkes appeared to have been rather unremarkable, but they hadn''t been formed by freezing the moisture in the air. Instead, they had been manifested by the countless streaks of sword qi that he had unleashed, and an exceptional degree of control was required to aplish this feat.
The balding elder let loose a low roar as he made a hand seal with one hand while pointing directly forward with the other, and the giant sword projection above his head instantly split up into two, with one of the split sword projections flying into one of the stone swords.
The original sword projection instantly shrank a little as a result.
Ayer of cial white light appeared over the surface of the stone sword, yet right at this moment, the runes on the sword began to glow with faint ck light while shing rapidly like dancing mes.
Most of the white light clinging to the sword was instantly dispelled like ayer of melting ice.
The balding elder hurriedly made another string of hand seals upon seeing this, and another sword projection that was several timesrger than the previous one split off from the giant sword projection above his head before surging into the stone sword in a sh.
The giant sword projection shrank down significantly once again, while ayer of bright white radiance appeared over the stone sword alongside countless white runes that resembled tiny swords.
At the same time, ayer of ck light re-emerged over the surface of the stone sword tobat the white light, but on this asion, the white light was far more resolute and was able to hold its own.
"Up!" the balding elder yelled in a forceful voice, and the stone sword shuddered momentarily before slowly rising up into the air.
Even though it had risen up from the ground, the ck light released by the stone sword hadn''t faded. Instead, it was only beginning to sh even more insistently, causing the stone sword to tremble incessantly.
A solemn look appeared on the balding elder''s face, and he made a rapid string of hand seals, expending a great deal of effort to finally stabilize the stone sword.
After doing all of this, a faint sheen of sweat had appeared on his forehead as he cast his gaze toward the other stone swords.
Upon witnessing the trouble that the balding elder was having with the trial, everyone was bing quite apprehensive.
Meanwhile, ayer of faint blue light appeared within Han Li''s eyes, and he was staring intently at the stone sword that was hovering in mid-air, seemingly contemting something.
The balding elder wasted no time as he made another string of hand seals, and a white sword projection vanished into a second stone sword, while hisplexion gradually grew paler and paler.
White light shed erratically over the surface of the second stone sword for a long while before it finally rose up into the air as well.
At this point, sweat was pouring down the balding elder''s face, which had be as pale as a sheet of paper, as if he were under extreme strain.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, he gritted his teeth and turned to a third stone sword as he began to make a string of hand seals.
Controlling two stone swords was already close to his limit, and now that he was diverting his attention to a third sword, the two stone swords that were hovering in mid-air immediately began to tremble.
He let loose a low roar, doing everything in his power to stabilize the two airborne stone swords while focusing on lifting the third stone sword as well.
At this point, the giant sword projection above his head had already shrunk down significantly, and it flew through the air before vanishing into the third stone sword in its entirety.
The surface of the third stone sword began shing with white light, and it looked as if it were about to rise up into the air, but right at this moment, the three stone swords shuddered in unison while emitting bright ck light as if they were resonating with one another.
The white light on the surfaces of the three stone swords dissipated in unison, and the two airborne stone swords came crashing back down, plunging themselves deep into the ground.
The balding elder was panting heavily as a look of deep disappointment appeared in his eyes.
"Two stone swords," Xiong Shan dered in an indifferent voice with a slight shake of his head.
Everyone had fallenpletely silent with grim looks on their faces.
The balding elder''s heart immediately sank at the sight of Xiong Shan''s reaction. He knew that there was most likely no chance that he would be chosen, and he heaved a faint sigh before backing away from the stone swords.
"Let me have a go!"
As soon as he stepped down, he was reced by a red-haired young man, who strode toward the stone swords as dazzling red light began to radiate from his body.
Streaks of sword qi shot forth through the air, forming a massive crimson lotus flower around him. Every single flower petal was formed by countless streaks of crimson sword qi, and he waspletely concealed within the lotus flower.
All of a sudden, a burst of crimson ripples erupted out of the lotus flower''s stamen before surging into one of the stone swords.
Ayer of crimson light instantly appeared on the surface of the stone sword, but just like before, ayer of ck light emerged as well to viciouslybat the crimson light.
I see... So this is why they''re called Origin Defying Stone Swords.
Han Li nodded slightly to himself as blue light shed within his eyes.
"You were right, Brother Li, there''s definitely more to these swords than meets the eye. Can you tell what''s so special about them?" Qi Liang asked through voice transmission.
"If I''m not mistaken, the patterns on the stone swords aren''t just one type of restriction. Instead, they''re able to react differently to those trying to control them in a bid to disrupt any such efforts," Han Li replied.
Qi Liang nodded with a contemtive expression upon hearing this.
While the two of them were conversing with each other, the red-haired young man had already picked up two stone swords, yet this seemed to have been his limit, and the crimson lotus flower around him was already beginning to waver.
Yet another burst of crimson ripples shot out of the lotus flower before surging into a third stone sword, and the stone sword shuddered momentarily, looking as if it were about to rise up into the air as well.
However, right at this moment, the three stone swords began to resonate with each other once again, and the two airborne stone swords instantly came plummeting back down onto the ground.
"Two stone swords. Next," Xiong Shan dered in an expressionless manner.
The crimson lotus flower faded to reveal the red-haired young man, who backed away with a dejected expression.
It looks like controlling three stone swords at once is a bottleneck, Han Li remarked to himself.
A third person immediately stepped up to the te, but his proficiency in the art of sword maniption was rather mediocre, and he was only able to lift one stone sword before backing away in embarrassment.
Before long, eight people had attempted the trial, but the most that anyone could lift at once was two stone swords, while the third stone sword stood before everyone like an insurmountable obstacle.
Chapter 206: Moderation
Chapter 206: Moderation
After the eighth person stepped down, a seductive figure took his ce.
It was a gorgeous white-robed woman with an extremely alluring figure, but her expression was as cold as ice.
She began to chant an incantation while making a series of hand seals, and rays of white light began to spread from her body like flowing water, forming a ball of white light that began revolving on the spot.
In the next instant, she suddenly switched to a different hand seal, and the ball of white light around her split up into three before surging into three stone swords at once.
Everyone was quite surprised by this approach, and they were looking on intently to see whether she would be able to sessfully raise three stone swords at once.
Dazzling white light was glowing around the white-robed woman as she chanted a rapid incantation while shing through a string of lightning-fast hand seals.
A white halo appeared around each stone sword, wrapping around their des before lifting them up from the ground.
The three stone swords shuddered in unison, and it appeared that they were about to rise up into the air at once.
However, immediately thereafter, the patterns on the surfaces of the stone swords began to radiate dazzling ck light, which pierced into the surrounding white light like sharp swords themselves.
The three white halos shed erratically, but were able to withstand the assault and slowly lift the three stone swords up from the ground, much to everyone''s amazement.
Someone had finally managed to control three of the stone swords at once!
Han Li was also quite impressed.
He recognized this woman as one of the non-native elders, and as a result, all of the elders who were eximing in amazement and approval were all formerly itinerant cultivators, while the native elders were far from impressed.
Instead, they felt as if they were being outmatched by the opposing faction, and it was far from a good feeling.
Three swords was clearly already the white-robed woman''s limit, but she still attempted to control a fourth sword.
However, as soon as a fourth white halo appeared around the fourth stone swords, all four stone swords began to resonate once again, releasing ck light that was far brighter than before and tore the white halos apart with ease.
"Three stone swords," Xiong Shan announced with a slight nod.
The woman heaved a faint sigh of relief, then stepped away from the stone swords.
The trial continued, and with the example set by the white-robed woman, everyone seemed to have been inspired, with the subsequent elders putting up better and better results. Out of the next dozen or so elders, three of them were ultimately managed to control three swords, one of whom was a non-native elder, while the other two were both from the opposing faction of native elders.
Even though this was only a trial, both sides were still treating this as apetition, but they were more reserved than they otherwise would''ve been had Xiong Shan not been present, only extending some quiet words of praise and encouragement to members of their respective factions.
At the moment, the two factions were evenly matched.
Xiong Shan was aware of thepetition that was taking ce, but he had no interest in which side was going toe out on top.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Qi Liang, and he closed his eyes, seemingly having been struck by a moment of enlightenment.
A few momentster, his eyes abruptly sprang open again, and an excited look had appeared on his face.
Having observed the proceedings up to this point and taken Han Li''s subtle pieces of advice onboard, he was now confident that he would be able to lift three stone swords.
Han Li took a meaningful nce at Qi Liang, then cautioned through voice transmission, "Three swords alone may not be able to guarantee your selection. If you want to ensure that you''ll im a spot, you''ll have to go a step beyond that."
"I''m well aware of that, but controlling four stone swords is far too difficult. Given my current level of mastery in sword maniption, I may not be able to pull off such a feat even if I cultivate arduously for another 1,000 years," Qi Liang replied with a wry smile.
"There''s no need to truly lift the fourth sword. All you have to do is use some tricks to put up a performance that''s better than the other three sword elders," Han Li said, giving Qi Liang another vital tip.
Qi Liang''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and he fell into deep thought once again.
While the two of them were conversing with one another, most of the elders had already undertaken the trial. The number of three sword elders had reached seven at this point, four of which were native elders, while only three were non-native.
The native elders were naturally quite pleased with this, and they were looking at the opposing faction with a hint of derision in their eyes, while the non-native elders were clearly not so happy.
Up to this point, no one had been able to control four stone swords.
"It looks like there''s far more to this set of Origin Defying Stone Swords than meets the eye, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong. Allow me to give it a go," Zhu Feng said as he suddenly stepped forward and cupped his fist in a salute toward Xiong Shan.
Xiong Shan was clearly disying a different attitude toward Zhu Fengpared with the other elders, and there was a hint of anticipation in his voice as he said, "I wasn''t the one who invented these Origin Defying Stone Swords. Instead, they''re a type of special treasure formerly used by the vastly renowned Boundless Sword Sect of the Northern cial Immortal Region to examine the level of sword mastery of its members.
¡°I managed to obtain them by chance, and it took me a great deal of effort to refine them. It''s said that only those who have reached the very pinnacle of sword mastery will be able to control all 10 swords at once. You possess a good level of sword mastery, try and see if you can reach the four sword level."
"I''ll do my best," Zhu Feng replied in a respectful voice.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing mention of the Boundless Sword Sect.
Through his past readings, he had learned that this was an ancient sword cultivating sect that championed the way of the sword above all else, and an avid proponent of the idea that a single sword was all that was required to defeat even the most formidable of foes.
What was quite special about this sect was that it had extremely few members, never exceeding 10 members at a time, thereby making it a very mysterious organization.
The reason why the sect was so renowned was because its sect master, the Boundless Daoist, had left behind countless stories of legendary victories across the entire Northern cial Immortal Region.
However, for some reason, the sect suddenly fell into obscurity over 1,000,000 years ago, and it hadpletely disappeared at this point.
As these thoughts were running through Han Li''s mind, Zhu Feng had already sprung into action as bright blue light erupted out of his entire body.
Countless thin blue threads then shot forth from his body, while waves of blue light proliferated outward in all directions, and the entire Heavenly Sword Peak was instantly enveloped by an incredibly sharp burst of sword intent.
Everyone present felt as if there were countless tiny des piercing and slicing to their skin, while a bone-chilling sensation reached straight into the deepest parts of their hearts.
This amount of sword intent naturally felt like nothing more than a gentle spring breeze to Han Li, but Qi Liang abruptly shuddered as he was snapped back to his senses, and a hint of anger shed through his eyes.
He was on the verge of grasping onto something after receiving those tips from Han Li, but he had been cut off at the most crucial juncture.
Qi Liang took a nce at the situation unfolding before him, then gave a cold harrumph before closing his eyes again as he continued to meditate.
Meanwhile, Zhu Feng was making a string of hand seals, sending countless blue threads sweeping through the air before surging into three of the stone swords at once.
The three stone swords trembled in unison before slowly rising up into the air.
Bright ck light erupted from the stone swords in an attempt to struggle free from the blue threads, but the threads were extremely resolute, remaining firmly intact despite the vehement resistance.
There was a serious look on Zhu Feng''s face, but he didn''t appear to have been under much strain, and he opened his mouth to release another plume of thin blue threads that wrapped themselves around a fourth stone sword.
The four stone swords lit up in unison as streaks of ck sword qi were released, slicing viciously against the blue threads.
Most of the blue sword threads were instantly severed, and Zhu Feng''splexion instantly paled as he gave a muffled groan.
As opposed to just ordinary sword threads, these threads were formed by abination of his essential energy and spiritual power. Hence, the damage inflicted upon them was reciprocated straight to his soul.
Even though most of the blue threads had been severed, there were still some that were clinging on stubbornly, and a sharp gleam shed through Zhu Feng''s eyes as he let loose a loud roar.
The remaining threads instantly began to radiate dazzling blue light beforetching onto the fourth stone sword, lifting it out of the ground and into the air.
In the next instant, streaks of ck sword qi that were even more formidable than the previous ones emerged, severing all of the remaining blue threads with ease.
Zhu Feng''splexion paled even further as he threw up a mouthful of blood, but an excited look had appeared on his face.
Even though it was only for a moment, he really had managed to control four stone swords.
"With each additional Origin Defying Stone Sword, the difficulty increases by tenfold. Even though it was quite forced, you have reached the four sword level, which is already quite impressive, given the amount of time that you''ve been cultivating for," Xiong Shan said with an approving nod.
"Thank you for your kind praise, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong," Zhu Feng said as he cupped his fist in a gleeful salute.
"Next," Xiong Shan said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Zhu Feng stepped away before swallowing a pill, and hisplexion quickly recovered.
As soon as he stepped away, he was immediately surrounded by all of the other native elders who showered him with praise.
In stark contrast, the non-native elders were looking far from pleased, feeling as if they were being outmatched by theirpetition.
The trial continued, and there were fewer than 10 elders left. However, having observed the proceedings for so long, all of the remaining elders had developed some insight into how best to conduct the trial, and it didn''t take long before three more elders capable of controlling three swords emerged, two of which were from the non-native elders'' camp.
Thus, each side had five three sword elders, but thanks to Zhu Feng''s four sword performance, the native elders held a clear edge.
Qi Liang''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this. If he wanted to be selected, then he would have to go beyond just a three sword performance.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s voice rang out from beside him. "I''ll go take my turn now, Brother Qi."
"Given your powers, this trial is definitely no problem for you. If possible, please attempt a fourth sword to show those other elders what we''re made of," Qi Liang replied through voice transmission.
"I''ll do my best," Han Li said with a wry smile.
He then took a deep breath, seemingly to steel himself before striding toward the stone swords.
Having observed the proceedings up to this point, his concern wasn''t that he wouldn''t be able to control enough swords to be selected. Instead, he was worried about attracting too much attention if he were to control too many swords.
In the face of Xiong Shan, who was at the pinnacle of the True Immortal, he had to exercise moderation in order to not stand out excessively.
Xiong Shan faltered slightly at the sight of Han Li, following which a hint of recognition appeared in his eyes. Prior to this, he hadn''t noticed Han Li in the crowd.
Thinking back to the pitiful aptitude that Han Li had disyed back at the Ostentatious Pce, Xiong Shan averted his gaze with a derisive look on his face.
Chapter 207: The Fourth Stone Sword
Chapter 207: The Fourth Stone Sword
Han Li inhaled slightly as he stood in front of the Origin Defying Stone Swords, then began to chant an incantation while making a series of hand seals.
Streaks of azure spiritual light flew out like swords, surging into the first stone sword in a sh.
All of the non-native elders were rather disappointed to see Han Li adopting such a mundane approach, while all of the native elders looked on with mockery on their faces.
In their eyes, Han Li would''ve been lucky to control even a single stone sword with such a clumsy approach.
In fact, many of the elders had already turned their eyes elsewhere in disinterest.
The stone sword was enveloped by ayer of azure light, then slowly rose up into the air.
It was constantly releasing ck light tobat the azure light, but thetter remained resolute, even though it was shing erratically.
Han Li pointed a finger forward upon seeing this, and more streaks of azure swordlight surged out of his fingertip before vanishing into a second stone sword.
A burst of azure swordlight enveloped the second stone sword as well, and it also slowly rose up into the air.
Many people turned to Han Li with surprise in their eyes upon this, and they finally returned their attention to the ongoing trial, realizing that they had underestimated Han Li.
Han Li''s face had paled slightly after lifting two stone swords, but he didn''t appear to have been struggling very much at all.
Is this going to be another three sword performance?
Meanwhile, Qi Liang was watching with a confident smile. He was more aware of Han Li''s sword mastery than anyone else present, and he knew that three swords definitely wasn''t a problem for Han Li.
What he was concerned about was whether Han Li would be able to lift a fourth sword and rebuke the native elders.
Han Li took a moment to catch his breath, then extended a finger yet again to send a streak of azure light surging into a third stone sword.
Following a string of hand seals, the third stone sword rose up into the air as well, but it did so in a far more sluggish manner than the first two swords, indicating that Han Li was approaching his limits.
"That''s three swords!"
A chorus of surprised voices rang out from the elders of both camps.
Xiong Shan was also quite taken aback to see this, and a hint of intrigue had appeared in his eyes.
It seemed that despite Han Li''s terrible aptitude, he was quite a master of sword maniption.
The ck light released by the three stone swords was causing the azure light to sh erratically, looking as if it would shatter at any moment.
Han Li''splexion paled even further asrge beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He made a rapid string of hand seals to release one streak of azure light after another, most of which surged into the first three stone swords to stabilize them, while the rest began surging into the fourth stone sword.
The surprise in Xiong Shan''s eyes grew even more pronounced upon seeing this, while the chatter among the elders grew even louder.
Even Zhu Feng''s brows had furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
Qi Liang couldn''t help but take a step forward as he stared at the fourth stone sword with a tense look on his face, as if he were the one taking the trial instead of Han Li.
Ayer of dazzling azure light appeared over the fourth stone sword, and everyone was watching with bated breath.
The fourth stone sword shuddered slightly before rolling over on the ground and rising up in a shaky fashion. However, in the next instant, dazzling ck light erupted from all four of the stone swords in unison, tearing all of the azure light apart.
The four stone swords fell back down onto the ground, while Han Li gave a muffled groan as blood began to trickle down from the corner of his lips.
Everyone present was disying different reactions to Han Li''s performance, including tion, disappointment, relief, and surprise.
Qi Liang lowered his head as he heaved a long sigh, while Zhu Feng remained as expressionless as ever, but the looks in his eyes clearly betrayed his relief.
A wistful look appeared in Xiong Shan''s eyes as he nodded and said, "I didn''t think you would possess such outstanding aptitude in sword maniption. You''re not far away from the four sword level."
"Thank you for your kind praise, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong, I''m still far from reaching that level," Han Li replied in a modest manner.
"It''s quite remarkable that you were able to reach this level as an itinerant cultivator. Make sure to work hard in your cultivation so you don''t waste your talent," Xiong Shan praised in an uncharacteristic fashion.
Han Li felt this change in Xiong Shan''s aptitude to be rather strange, but he still nodded in response.
A dark look appeared in Zhu Feng''s eyes upon seeing this, but he quicklyposed himself.
Han Li stepped away from the stone swords before taking a seat on the ground with his legs crossed, then took a Core Formation Stage pill that he was nning to bestow upon Meng Yungui and the others to aid in his recovery.
Some of the non-native elders were about to approach him to strike up a conversation, but they could give up on the idea upon seeing this.
The trial continued, and up to this point, Xiong Shan hadn''t selected anyone, so it was clear that he was waiting until the end.
Upon making this realization, those who had gone earlier in the trial were left regretting their decision. Perhaps the oue would''ve been different for them had they observed for a while longer.
As for those who were still yet to participate in the trial, they were all content to continue to observe, so no one stepped up to take Han L''s ce.
Xiong Shan''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this. "Why is no one stepping up? Are you forfeiting your right to take the trial? In that case, the trial concludes here..."
"I''ll go next, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong," Qi Liang dered, then took a deep breath before striding toward the stone swords.
At this moment, faint azure light was shing over Han Li''s body, making it appear as if he were focusing on his own recovery, but in reality, he was pondering his own performance.
These Origin Defying Stone Swords did indeed provide quite a unique challenge, and Han Li was confident that he would''ve been able to at least control five swords had he gone all out. Perhaps he could''ve even challenged a sixth sword, but unfortunately, there was no way to find out, and that left him feeling a little forlorn.
However...
A thought suddenly urred to him, and a barely detectable smile appeared on his face.
All of a sudden, the ground trembled violently as three stone swords came plummeting back down to earth.
Qi Liang''s face had turned quite pale, but his eyes were full of tion.
Thanks to Han Li''s guidance, he had put up a ster performance, lifting three stone swords before also moving a fourth stone sword, so he had all but assured himself of one of the 10 avable spots.
Han Li gave an undetectable nod of approval upon seeing this.
He had offered Qi Liang this guidance in order to repay him for acting as the guide that integrated him into the ze Dragon Dao.
"Three swords," Xiong Shan dered with a slight nod.
It didn''t take long before all of the remaining elders had attempted the trial, but no one else was able to control three stone swords after Qi Liang.
Han Li opened his eyes before rising to his feet.
Out of the 40 or so inner sect elders who had taken on this mission, a total of 13 had managed to control three or more swords.
Among them, six were native elders, only one fewer than the non-native elder camp, and Zh u Feng was the only one who had managed to control four swords. However, Han Li and Qi Liang had both been able to budge a fourth sword, so ultimately, the two camps were quite evenly matched.
During the past contests between the two factions, the native elders had always held the upper hand due to the advantages that they enjoyed when it came to many aspects, such as resource allocation, so this oue was naturally an extremely encouraging one for the non-native elders.
Only then did Xiong Shan slowly make his way toward the center of the room before sweeping his gaze over all of the elders assembled.
Those who had only managed to move one or two swords knew that they had no chance of being selected, so they were quite rxed, and Zhu Feng''s selection was obviously guaranteed. Hence, the only ones that were nervous were the 20 people who had managed to move three swords.
After a brief pause, Xiong Shan dered, "Zhu Feng, Li Feiyu, Qi Liang... Zhen Qi. The 10 of you can stay, the rest can leave."
Out of the 10 chosen, five were native elders, while the other five were non-native elders.
The bearded man with the Nan surname approached Han Li and Qi Liang, then cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "Congrattions, Brother Li, Brother Qi. If it wasn''t for the two of you, we''d be looked down on again!"
His sword mastery wasn''t of a very high level, and he was only just barely able to lift two stone swords, so he naturally wasn''t selected, but he had quite an easygoing personality and wasn''t bitter about it.
"I was just lucky," Qi Liang replied with a smile.
The other non-native elders expressed their congrattions to the five who were chosen, then promptly departed, leaving only Xiong Shan and the 10 selected elders in the hall.
A pleased look appeared on Xiong Shan''s face at the sight of the 10 people standing before him, and he was just about to say something when a streak of ck light suddenly appeared in the distant sky.
It was approaching like a bolt of ck lightning, arriving directly above everyone in the blink of an eye amid a deafening thunderp.
The streak of ck light crashed down onto the drill ground, causing the entire area to shudder slightly, following which a purple-robed man was revealed.
The man wasn''t exactly hideous in appearance, but his entire body was pitch-ck in color, as if he had been smoked. He was over twice as tall as the average person, and his arms were as thick as a normal person''s waist, while his fists were the size of washbasins. His entire body wasprised of thick bands of muscle that resembled ck steel, causing his purple robe to bulge in many ces.
"Brother Mo, this is my cave abode, not your Immortal Origin Pce. Don''t you think it''s a little inappropriate for you to just barge in like this?" Xiong Shan asked in a cold voice.
"My apologies, Brother Xiong. I heard that you were gathering sword cultivators to activate an array, so I immediately came here," the purple-robed man chortled, and his voice was so loud and prative that Han Li and the others could feel their eardrums ringing slightly.
Even though he was extending an apology, there was no hint of apology at all in his expression and the tone of his voice.
Xiong Shan gave a cold harrumph and didn''t pursue the matter any further.
"Come to think of it, why didn''t you tell me that you were going to use that sword array, Brother Xiong? ording to our agreement, I lent you those things under the promise that I would be present when you refine your bonded treasure. Are you nning to go back on our agreement, Brother Xiong?" the purple-robed man asked.
"Is there any need for me to inform you? You know every little thing that goes on on my Heavenly Sword Peak like the back of your hand," Xiong Shan replied in a cold voice.
"Surely you jest, Brother Xiong," the purple-robed man chortled.
"Brother Li, this is Elder Mo Xie of the Immortal Origin Pce. It''s said that he ran for the position of deputy dao lord 10,000 years ago, and after failing, he went into seclusion for close to 10,000 years, emerging far more powerful than before. I''ve heard that he''s extremely close to reaching the pinnacle of the True Immortal Stage," Qi Liang informed.
Han Li gave a slight nod in response.
After hearing Xiong Shan refer to the purple-robed man as Brother Mo, Han Li had already guessed that this was Elder Mo Xie.
"Looks like these are the sword cultivators that you''ve gathered to help you. Tsk tsk, they don''t look that great. I hope they can pull their weight," Mo Xie said as he took a condescending nce at Han Li and the others.
"That''s not something for you to worry about. Let''s go!" Xiong Shan harrumphed coldly, then flew into the distance as a streak of golden light.
Han Li and the others quickly followed along, while Mo Xie also sprang up into the air as a streak of ck light.
¡¡
Not long after the departure of Xiong Shan and the others, a group of white-robed servants of the Heavenly Sword Peak made their way onto the za in an orderly fashion. All of them were at the Core Formation Stage, and they quickly set about carrying the Origin Defying Stone Swords away.
Not only were these stone swords very difficult to control, they were also extremely heavy, and it took around a dozen Core Formation cultivators just to be able to lift a single one of them.
Right as these people were beginning to lift the fourth stone sword, one of them suddenly let loose a cry of surprise, immediately drawing everyone''s attention.
"What''s going on, Senior Martial Brother Wang?"
"Look at the underside of this sword!"
Chapter 208: Heavenly Sword Tomb
Chapter 208: Heavenly Sword Tomb
All of the Core Formation cultivators turned to inspect the underside of the fourth Origin Defying Stone Sword upon hearing this, and they were greeted by a peculiar sight.
A small line of text had appeared on the underside of the sword, and it read: "The number one sword cultivator of Heavenly South was here". [1]
It appeared that someone had forcibly engraved this line of text onto the surface of the sword, and every single stroke resembled a sharp sword in itself.
"What happened? I don''t think this line of text was there before..."
"Could it be that one of the inner sect elders who just undertook the trial did this?"
"That''s impossible! Deputy Dao Lord Xiong once said that these Origin Defying Stone Swords don''t have any offensive power, but they''re as hard as immortal treasures!"
"Then who could''ve done this?"
"It doesn''t matter, just remember to never speak of this to anyone and pretend as if you saw nothing here. If Deputy Dao Lord Xiong finds out about this, all of us will be in huge trouble!"
"Of course."
"You''re right, we have to keep this a secret."
"By the way, what kind of ce is Heavenly South?"
"Who knows? Probably some insignificant ce in the middle of nowhere..."
The chatter continued as the group of Core Formation cultivators carried the fourth Origin Defying Stone Sword away from the za.
¡¡
Meanwhile, Xiong Shan and the others had descended to the foot of the Heavenly Sword Peak, where they were hovering in the air in front of a golden mountain face.
With a rustle of his sleeves, four streaks of golden sword qi were released by Xiong Shan, and they circled around momentarily in the air before vanishing into a certain section of the mountain face up ahead.
Initially, the mountain face remainedpletely unmoved, and it was as if the two streaks of golden sword qi had simply vanished. However, in the next instant, bright golden light began to radiate from the surface of the mountain face, and countless golden runes sprang forth, intertwining in mid-air to form a strange diagram that resembled a sword array.
The section of the mountain face epassed within the golden light gradually turned semi-transparent, and Mo Xie chuckled, "So this is the entrance of your vastly renowned Heavenly Sword Tomb. What an eye-opening sight this is."
Xiong Shan wore a solemn expression, and he offered no reply to Mo Xie as he swept his sleeves through the air while chanting an incantation, and more streaks of golden sword 1i flew out of his sleeve before vanishing into the sword array, making it be clearer and clearer.
Han Li was inspecting the sword array before him with an intrigued expression, and through it, he could see a ck passageway slowly taking shape on the mountain face.
Meanwhile, a hint of excitement had appeared on Qi Liang''s face.
"You seem very excited, Brother Qi," Han Li remarked through voice transmission.
"You''ve only recently joined our sect, so it''s no surprise that you haven''t heard of the Heavenly Sword Tomb. Deputy Dao Lord Xiong is a renowned sword collector in our sect, and it''s said that he''s collected countless powerful swords in this Heavenly Sword Tomb, making it an extremely renowned ce.
¡°However, it''s also an extremely mysterious ce, and barely anyone in the sect has had a chance to see it. I never thought that he would take us into the Heavenly Sword Tomb today. It looks like he must be intending to refine a treasure in there," Qi Liang exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a contemtive nod, and he was also bing rather intrigued.
At this point, Xiong Shan had already reached the final stage of his incantation, and the golden light radiating from the mountain face was growing even brighter, gradually forming a thick golden light barrier with countless runes shimmering on its surface.
A string of dull thumps rang out, and seven indentations appeared on the golden light barrier in a circr formation.
Xiong Shan abruptly ceased his chanting as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing seven balls of white light that contained seven golden crescent-shaped talisman-like objects.
The seven golden talismans flew through the air before fitting seamlessly into the indentations on the light barrier at his behest.
Countless runes began to surge out of the golden light barrier, which gradually became thinner as the flow of runes continued, and the light barrier finallypletely vanished after a full 15 minutes had passed.
A ck passageway was revealed, and it was unclear where it led to. It was also impossible to examine whatid beyond the entrance with one''s spiritual sense as some type of sensory restriction present.
"Come in," Xiong Shan said before leading the way into the passageway, followed closely by Mo Xie and everyone else.
Once everyone had entered the passageway, a burst of golden light surged over the mountain face, and the entrance of the passageway was closed again.
The dark passageway was quite long, and everyone only reached the conclusion after walking for a full 15 minutes. At the end of the passageway was a giant azure stone gate that was quite antiquated in appearance with countless runes engraved onto its surface.
Xiong Shan pulled out a badge before gently waving it at the azure stone gate, and ayer of azure light instantly appeared over the surface of the gate, as if it had awakened after a long slumber.
The azure light warped momentarily before forming an array that was even moreplex than the one on the mountain face outside.
Immediately thereafter, Xiong Shan swept a sleeve through the air, and nine small azure swords came flying out one after another before plunging themselves into nine different parts of the stone gate.
The array on the surface of the stone gate shed momentarily before gradually fading, and the gate slowly swung open.
Right at this moment, an incredibly bright burst of light erupted out from within, and the eruption of light hade so abruptly that everyone outside reflexively closed their eyes.
As the burst of dazzling light enveloped everyone, they instantly vanished from within the passageway, and by the time Han Li reopened his eyes, he could hear the sound of howling wind blowing past his ears.
It was as if the entire space were filled with countless bursts of powerful sword intent that were surging toward him from all directions.
After taking a moment to gather himself, he inspected his surroundings to find that he was standing on a vast grasnd.
The grasnd was riddled with dome-shaped graves, each of which had a flying sword plunged into it, and there were over 1,000 flying swords present.
Dispersed between the countless graves were 10 massive ck stone pirs, each of which was separated by hundreds of kilometers, splitting up the entire Heavenly Sword Tomb into 10 sections.
Furthermore, there were three teams of cultivators stationed in each section, with each team consisting of a Grand Ascension Stage leader and nine Body Integration cultivators, amounting to a total of 300 cultivators.
Han Li swept his gaze over the grasnd, and there was only a hint of surprise on his face, but in reality, he was astonished by what he was seeing.
Among the flying swords plunged into the graves, some were as slender as willow branches, some were as wide as pce gates, some were giving off cial qi that had frozen all of the grass in a radius of several hundred feet, and some were burning with scorching mes that scorched the earth around them...
Every single one of the flying swords was swaying slightly from side to side while emitting a faint ringing sound, and astonishing sword qi was surging straight into the heavens, slicing all of the clouds up above into thin ribbons.
There were also some flying swords that would asionally begin trembling violently while giving off a piercing screech as they attempted to pull themselves out of their graves. Whenever this happened, the cultivators stationed nearby would immediately make a string of hand seals to quell the unrest.
However, there were so many flying swords on the grasnd that as soon as one flying sword was restrained, another one would begin struggling, with some even managing to pull themselves out of their graves altogether, so the cultivators present were constantly kept on their toes.
However, these cultivators seemed to have already grown ustomed to this, and they were able to perform their duties in a calm and orderly fashion.
Every single one of these flying swords was an exceptional treasure that a Body Integration or even a Grand Ascension cultivator would''ve sacrificed all of their belongings to acquire, and some of the premium flying swords in this tomb would''ve been extremely alluring even to True Immortal cultivators.
Such an astonishing collection of flying swords gathered in a single ce would''ve been enough to shock anyone as this was no longer something that could''ve been acquired through wealth alone.
All of the True Immortal cultivators present had flying swords as their bonded treasures and were extremely proficient in the art of sword maniption, so they were even more astonished by this extraordinary sight.
Zhu Feng reluctantly withdrew his gaze from the vast array of flying swords around him as he turned to Xiong Shan with an admiring expression and praised, "I had always heard that Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s Heavenly Sword Tomb was an extraordinary ce, but even all of the rumors I''ve heard fail to do this ce justice. I am truly humbled by what I have been shown today..."
There was some element of ttery to his words, but no one else found it to be overly sycophantic as they were thinking the same thing.
"I spent a great deal of time and effort over the past tens of thousands of years to gather these swords, and I must say, it was no easy task collecting the 1,080 flying swords required to form this sword array," Xiong Shan replied as a hint of pride shed through his eyes.
However, Han Li wasn''t listening to this conversation at all as his gaze was focused intently on the northwestern direction of the Heavenly Sword Tomb.
This was because there were 72 graves in that area, plunged into each of which was an azure flying sword. All of the azure flying swords were trembling incessantly as thin arcs of golden lightning shed over them, as if they were trying to struggle free from their graves.
These 72 azure flying swords were none other than the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that Han Li was searching for!
The flying swords seemed to have detected Han Li''s presence, and they began to struggle even more violently, releasing dazzling arcs of lightning as they did so.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and his first instinct was naturally to take back his flying swords.
However, there was no way that he could simply ask for them from Xiong Shan, and attempting to take them by force would''ve been no different frommitting suicide.
With that in mind, he immediately suppressed his burning desire to recover his flying swords as he cut off the spiritual connection between himself and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
1. Heavenly South is a continent in the Mortal Realm that Han Li came from. For more information, check out /wiki/Heavenly_South ?
Chapter 209: Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Array
Chapter 209: Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Array
With the spiritual connection severed, the lightning shing from the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately faded. However, for some reason, they were still struggling incessantly as if they were attempting to free themselves from their graves.
The three teams of cultivators stationed in that area immediately sprang into action upon seeing this, casting a series of incantation seals onto the graves of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which immediately began to glow with azure light while releasing bursts of tremendous restrictive force.
Even so, they were still unable topletely suppress the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords'' resistance, and several of them were still struggling violently, as if they were trying to break free.
"What''s going on, Senior Martial Brother Ye Feng? These flying swords have always done this every once in a while, but they''ve never been this hard to restrain," a purple-haired man mused with a perplexed expression.
Seated beside him was a dark-skinned young man who offered no reply, but he stood up from the ground before making his way over to the flying swords, then made a hand seal before raising his hands up into the air.
Several palm-sized ck rocks instantly flew up into the air, then circled around in a series of gentle arcs beforending on the graves that the flying swords were plunged into with unerring uracy.
The surfaces of these rocks were quite coarse, and they were giving off a faint ck glow. They appeared to be quite ordinary, but in reality, these were Sword Restraining Stones, a type of strange material that could temporarily suppress the spiritual nature of flying swords.
As the Sword Restraining Stones descended from above, the graves began to glow brighter and brighter, while the struggles of the flying swords began to subside, and the arcs of lightning surging over them also faded.
Just like the Sword Restraining Stones, there was also more than met the eye to these unremarkable-looking graves. Not only were they able to nurture the flying swords that they held, ensuring that their spiritual nature didn''t seep away without their former owners'' care, they also restricted the swords and prevented them from flying away.
Once all of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had settled down, Ye Feng returned to his original spot before taking a seat again.
The purple-haired man could only heave an internal sigh upon seeing this.
Ye Feng had been one of the brightest rising stars in the sect, but for some reason, on a certain day several years ago, his personality suddenly underwent a massive change. He became extremely quiet, and his rapidly advancing cultivation base also stagnated, much to Elder Mo Xie''s displeasure.
As these thoughts were running through the purple-haired man''s mind, someone else approached him and said, "This is the final day that we''ll be on duty in this Heavenly Sword Tomb. From tomorrow onward, we''re going to struggle to find missions that are this safe and easy toplete while still yielding consistent merit points every month."
"Weren''t you justiningst time that this is the most boring mission you''ve ever been on?" the purple-haired man chuckled.
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the tomb, Han Li had severed his spiritual connection to the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, but his attention was still fixed on them.
Upon noticing that Ye Feng was one of the people looking after the swords here, one of the mysteries that had stumped him this entire time was solved.
Back when he first arrived in the Bell Toll Mountain Range, there was an asion where Daoist Xie and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords'' auras had been cut off at the same time. As a result, he had assumed that they were together, and he was quite disappointed to have recovered Daoist Xie, only for there to still be no trace of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
It had to have been the case that Ye Feng just so happened to have been on duty in the sword tomb on that day, and by activating the restrictive array here, both Daoist Xie and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords'' auras had been concealed at the same time, thereby leading to this misconception.
"I''m now going to tell you all about the mission that I gathered you here toplete," Xiong Shan said as he swept his gaze over everyone.
All of the True Immortal Stage elders, including Mo Xie, immediately fell silent to listen to what Xiong Shan had to say.
"The array that you''re seeing right now is called the Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array. Through the use of this array, I can erase the marks of the previous owners left in all of the flying swords in the Heavenly Sword Tomb and convert them into pure sword essence. My aim is to infuse all of this sword essence into my bonded flying sword," Xiong Shan dered.
Everyone was quite stunned by this deration.
If it really were possible to gather all of the sword essence of these exceptional flying swords and infuse them into a single flying sword, then there was a very good chance that the recipient flying sword would be an Acquired Immortal Treasure of unimaginable power.
"As I''m sure you''ve already figured out, aside from the sword offering tform at the center, this ce is split up into 10 areas. I need one of you in each area to control the flying swords there and help me erase the marks in those flying swords and convert them into sword essence," Xiong Shan continued.
Everyone immediately began to scour their surroundings upon hearing this, as if they were deciding which area they wanted.
Han Li was doing the same thing while pondering what Xiong Shan had just said, trying to gather some useful information from his words.
The graves in the sword tomb appeared to have been arranged in a random and haphazard fashion, but in reality, there was a clear order to them. For example, flying swords with simr sword intent or came from the same origins would often be ced in the same area, while flying swords with conflicting sword intents would be split up into different areas.
At the center of each area was a ck stone pir that was over 30 feet thick and in excess of 100 feet tall. These were the array cores of each area, and each stone pir had around a dozen longan-sized Immortal Origin Stones embedded into them.
Just this impressive collection of Immortal Origin Stones alone was already a stunning sight for all of the True Immortal Stage elders present.
"If you ask me, you should''ve erased the marks of the original owners of the flying swords in advance. Wouldn''t that have made things far more convenient?" Mo Xie asked.
"You don''t know anything! Once a mark is erased from a flying sword, it''ll lose the majority of its spiritual nature, and what little remains will continue to seep away over time. Only by erasing the marks during the refinement process can I preserve their original spiritual nature and power to the greatest extent," Xiong Shan harrumphed coldly.
"I see, I''ve been enlightened," Mo Xie replied with a nonchnt smile.
Xiong Shan didn''t waste any more time with words as he summoned a shimmering golden flying sword with a flick of his wrist.
The sword was over three feet in length and roughly two inches wide. It was entirely golden in color and was giving off peerlessly sharp sword intent. At the tip of the sword''s hilt was a fearsome-looking ancient beast with its mouth wide open, and its eyes were giving off a sharp gleam,a s if it were an actual living creature.
Everyone only took a single nce at the sword before looking away, as if they felt like the light radiating from the sword was too sharp for their eyes to behold without incurring harm.
"As expected of your bonded flying sword, Fellow Daoist Xiong. After the past few years of preparation, it''s be even more formidable than before! Once its refinement isplete, I''m sure you''ll be able to use it to reach the Golden Immortal Stage after a few more centuries of seclusion," Mo Xie praised as his eyes lit up with amazement.
"Thank you for your kind words, Fellow Daoist Mo."
After summoning his bonded flying sword, Xiong Shan''s aura had be even more formidable than before. He let loose a long roar as he rose up into the air alongside his sword, then shed through the sky several times like lightning before arriving on the sword offering tform at the center of the grasnd.
The tform was 360 feet in radius and 720 feet tall. It was entirely constructed from a glittering and translucent jade-like material, and there were all types ofplex array patterns engraved upon it, as well as many unknown spirit stones embedded onto its surface, connecting together to form a massive array that epassed the entire tform.
"I''ve been preparing for this day for tens of thousands of years. If everything goes well, we''ll all be happy, but let me make this clear: if any one of you drops the ball at a critical moment, don''t me me for turning on you after the event," Xiong Shan said to Han Li and the others.
"Rest assured, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong, I''ll be sure to do everything in my power to ensure everything goes smoothly," Zhu Feng vowed as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Several other native elders quickly followed suit and made simr promises, while Han Li and the non-native elders nodded in response.
"Get into position!"
With that deration from Xiong Shan, Han Li and the other elders flew up into the air before racing toward different parts of the grasnd.
Han Li immediately flew toward the northwest as a streak of azure light, but midway through his flight, he suddenly drew to an abrupt halt.
In the same instant, Zhu Feng flew past him, giving a derisive harrumph while ncing at Han Li out of the corner of his eye as he did so. He then flew into the area that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were situated in before drifting down toward the ck stone pir in that area.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, following which he turned and flew toward an area in the southwest.
These areas weren''t split up very evenly, and not all of the areas had orderly shapes. Furthermore, the number of flying swords in each area also differed, with some containing only several dozen swords, while others contained over 100. The area where the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were situated was reserved only for the set of 72 swords.
If one had to describe exactly what shape the Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array was, then it could only be likened to a flower bud that was about to bloom. The sword offering tform at the center of the area was like a stamen of the flower, while the 10 areas were like the petals around the stamen.
After everyone had adopted their positions, Xiong Shan brought his palms together in front of him before making a hand seal, and the golden flying sword hovering in front of him instantly began to radiate dazzling golden light.
He then began to chant an incantation, and there seemed to have been some type of strange force in the sword tomb resonating with his incantation, producing a sound that resembled heavenly music ringing out across the entire sky.
At the same time, the sword offering tform beneath him also began to glow brightly, as did the array on the tform.
A burst of loud rumbling rang out from the tform, and a white jade altar with side lengths of around three feet each began to slowly rise up from its center.
The altar was riddled with runes, and at its center was a ck hole that perfectly matched the width of the sword.
Chapter 210: Chaotic Swords Dance
Chapter 210: Chaotic Swords Dance
Xiong Shan''s incantation continued as he grabbed onto the hilt of the golden longsword with both hands, then slowly plunged it into the hole on the white jade altar.
A grating sound rang out, and as soon as the sword was plunged into the altar, the entire sword offering tform instantly shuddered violently, following which a dazzling pir of white light rose up from its surface and erupted straight into the heavens.
At the same time, the Immortal Origin Stones embedded into the ck stone pirs in all of the 10 areas began to glow brightly while releasing bursts of abundant spiritual power, which flowed into the patterns on the stone pirs like water.
The 10 ck stone pirs shuddered in unison before releasing pirs of dazzling ck light that shot high up into the sky.
The shreds of clouds in the sky were scattered even further by these pirs of light, and a gray light barrier that was visible even to the naked eye appeared up above, epassing the entire sword tomb like an upside-down bowl.
A hint of excitement appeared in Xiong Shan''s eyes upon seeing this, and his quiet chanting suddenly grew significantly louder, ringing out like thunderps in the heavens.
All of a sudden, golden light began to sh from the gray light barrier, forming a series of golden threads that connected with one another while swaying incessantly.
At the same time, a buzzing sound that resembled the pping of wasp wings rang out across the entire sword tomb, and the sound was bing louder and louder.
Han Li looked around to find that all of the flying swords in the area that he was situated in had begun to sway violently in unison, looking as if they were struggling with all their might to free themselves from their graves.
Due to how rapidly they were swaying from side to side, they were leaving sector-shaped afterimages above their graves.
Through his spiritual connection with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, Han Li could feel a sense of intense fear, one that was shared by all of the other flying swords. It seemed that all of the swords in the sword tomb were terrified and wanted to leave this ce.
He couldn''t help but think back to how he had nurtured those Golden Lightning Bamboo trees back in the Mortal Realm, and how he had painstakingly refined those 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. An indescribable feeling welled up in his heart as these thoughts shed through his mind.
On his long cultivation journey thus far, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were the treasures that had been with him the longest aside from the Heaven Controlling Vial, enduring countless life and death situations alongside him.
At this moment, these flying swords that were connected to his soul were about to have their marks erased and their sword essence extracted, and Han Li was desperate to save them.
He wanted nothing more than to rescue his swords and flee the scene, but that would''ve been impossible.
The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords seemed to have sensed his despair, and all of them began ringing even more loudly, as if they were working up the resolve to do something.
Through their spiritual connection, Han Li could sense the decision that they had made. If Han Li were unable to rescue them, then they would rather self-detonate than have their marks erased and be integrated into another sword.
Right at this moment, a faint buzzing sound suddenly rang out in the sky.
Han Li immediately looked up to find that all of the golden lines on the gray light barrier in the sky had fallen still, and they had formed countless golden sword visages.
These swords were all of different shapes and forms, with some as straight as arrows, while others had curved des, and resembled ancient rulers, while others were shaped like sharp spikes.
Their sizes also varied drastically, with some standing at several thousand feet in size, resembling massive boats, while some were only around an inch in length, bearing a closer resemnce to a needle than a sword.
Thanks to Han Li''s exceptional eyesight, he was able to see that even the tiniest of those swords were inscribed with aplete set of runes, and there weren''t any visible imperfections.
As the giant sword array appeared, the sword qi within the entire heavenly sword tomb had swelled to several dozen times its original volume, and all of the grass on the ground was instantly torn to shreds, while a sharp aura permeated through the air.
The expressions of Han Li and the other inner sect elders standing on the ck stone pirs all changed slightly upon seeing this.
The three teams that were stationed in each area were also looking on with solemn expressions as they remainedpletely still on the spot, not daring to move even in the slightest for fear of being torn to shreds by the sword qi that was surging around them.
All of a sudden, a hint of befuddlement welled up in Han Li''s heart. Somehow, he felt like what he was witnessing right at this moment was rather familiar to him.
Right at this moment, all of the elders who were looking at the sword array up above gave a muffled groan in unison, as if they had been struck by an invisible blow, and all of them were forced to avert their eyes.
Even Mo Xie was only able to look at the sword array for fewer than 20 seconds before he was forced to look away by the sharp, unbearable pain in his consciousness.
Han Li was also experiencing the same thing, but thanks to his enormous spiritual sense, he was able to keep inspecting the array without pain after blinking a couple of times.
Right at this moment, Xiong Shan''s voice suddenly rang out in everyone''s minds. "The sword qi contained within this Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array is quite harmful to spiritual sense, so I''d advise all of you not to look at it for too long."
Everyone naturally averted their eyes upon hearing this, not daring to try and glean the secrets that the sword array harbored any longer.
In contrast, a hint of enlightenment suddenly appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
Back in that immortal abode in the Vast cial Realm, he had once obtained a Myriad Sword Scroll, and the aura and permutations of the sword array on that scroll were very simr to the sword array that he was witnessing at this moment. [1]
There were even some parts of the myriad sword artwork that were even more profound than this array.
He was quite ted upon making this realization, and he hurriedly began to carefully inspect the sword array up above.
A short whileter, Xiong Shan suddenly let loose a thunderous roar from the sword offering tform, causing the entire grasnd to shudder.
Immediately thereafter, a string of cracks and pops began ringing out incessantly as the graves on the grasnd exploded one after another.
As a result, all of the flying swords in the entire sword tomb were released, and they began flying wildly in all directions, trying to escape from the tomb that they had been trapped in for so long.
The 30 teams stationed in the sword tomb immediately sprang into action, unleashing various abilities to control the flying swords.
In the eastern part of the grasnd, a flying sword that waspletely enveloped in scorching mes was flying straight up toward the heavens, leaving such a scorching trail of heat in its wake that the surrounding air was popping incessantly.
The three teams in that area immediately began to chant an incantation in unison, summoning a massive water dragon under the guidance of the three Grand Ascension cultivators, with which they were able to quickly drag back the fiery sword.
In the southern part of the grasnd, a giant yellow sword that was around three feet wide and 18 feet long. The sword was giving off an earthy yellow radiance, and instead of rising up into the heavens like the other flying swords, it aimed its tip at the ground, then began rapidly revolving on the spot, attempting to burrow itself into the earth.
The three teams stationed there were already prepared for this, and under their joint efforts, the ground in that area had already turned a dark azure color and be as solid as rock, so no matter how much the giant sword attempted to drill itself into the ground, it was only able to raise a flurry of sparks in futility.
After Han Li''s 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were freed, they immediately gathered together like a swarm of bees with golden lightning shing around them as they set off rapidly in Han Li''s direction.
However, due to the fact that there were swords flying all over the ce, it would''ve been impossible to discern the intentions of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords unless one were paying particr attention to them.
"Stop those swords!" Zhu Feng immediately ordered upon seeing this.
The three teams situated in that area immediately sprang into action, unleashing their abilities as they drew upon the spiritual qi around them to form a massive cage formed by streaks of azure spiritual qi, which began to descend upon the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The swords had only managed to fly for less than 10 kilometers before they were stopped in their tracks by the azure cage.
Lightning shed through the air as all 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords began to glow with dazzling golden light, releasing countless arcs of golden lightning that tore the azure cage into shreds.
Through their spiritual connection, he could sense that there was a hint of rage in the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords as they unleashed their Divine Devilbane Lightning, but there was nothing that he could do at the moment aside from emting the other elders and restraining the flying swords in his area.
"Useless idiots!" Zhu Feng spat as he looked on with a disdainful expression.
He then made a grabbing motion, and several massive marks appeared out of thin air, enveloping the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords before forcibly dragging them back.
Xiong Shan seemed to have already anticipated this retaliation from the swords, and he only took a few nces at the unfolding situation before paying it no further heed.
Soon, most of the flying swords were restrained one after another, but there were still some that were unwilling to be controlled, constantly attempting to fly out of the sword tomb, while others were only able to fly in small, restricted areas, crashing into one another over and over again amid a string of incessant ngs.
Han Li was controlling the flying swords in his area while simultaneously recollecting the myriad sword artwork from the past.
Thanks to his experience in studying the myriad sword artwork, he was able to make very fast progress in his examination of the sword array up above, and he was quickly able to make several important observations. However, he was still far away frompletely understanding it.
Right at this moment, Xiong Shan suddenly ceased in his chanting, then abruptly sprang up into the air before flying toward the east.
After entering the area that Qi Liang was situated in, he made a grabbing motion with one hand, and a massive golden palm projection appeared in the sky before closing itself around a silver flying sword.
The silver flying sword immediately began to struggle with all its might while bright silver radiance surged out of its de like flowing water. It then transformed into hundreds of silver sword projections that fled in all directions, attempting to tear through the golden hand projection, but its efforts proved to bepletely futile.
Xiong Shan raised his other hand and brought his hand together like a de, manifesting another golden palm projection in the air before smearing it over the silver flying sword.
The silver sword shuddered violently as ayer of semi-transparent light appeared over its surface before being stripped away inch by inch by the second golden palm projection. As this process unfolded, the silver sword turned into a semi-transparent flying sword, as if it had be a spiritual sword, and it hovered obediently in mid-air, no longer disying any movement.
1. For more information on the Vast cial Realm and the Myriad Sword Scroll, please refer to RMJI Chapter 1594: Vast cial Realm and Chapter 1710: Golden Sword, respectively. ?
Chapter 211: Reversal
Chapter 211: Reversal
Xiong Shan slowly released the silver flying sword, which had already beenpletely stripped of its sword essence and spiritual nature at this point, and the sword came plummeting out of the sky before being torn to shreds by the sword qi surging throughout the sword tomb before it even had a chance tond on the ground.
Xiong Shan didn''t even bother to take a nce at the destroyed flying sword, and he had already turned his attention to another curved longsword that resembled a snake.
He then extended a hand forward once again to repeat the same process.
Han Li only took a quick nce in that direction before turning his focus back to the sword array up above.
In the past, he had studied the myriad sword artwork in order to cultivate the Sword Observation Art, so he hadn''t focused much of his efforts on studying the permutations of sword arrays through the artwork.
However, as he observed the sword array on this asion, he found that he was filling in many of the gaps in his knowledge in this regard.
At its core, this sword array was constructed through the utilization of sword qi.
All arrays had a core and certain key points, and as long as one could find those key points, there would be a way to destroy or tamper with the array.
Time slowly passed by, and close to a day flew by in the blink of an eye.
Through his observation, Han Li had already found many important points on the array, but it was still impossible for him to disable the array without detection.
If he were to forcibly disable the array, that would be no different from taking his flying swords by force, so he had no choice but to continue to observe and bide his time.
During this time, Xiong Shan had already extracted the sword essence out of several hundred flying swords from several areas in the east and in the south.
At this moment, half of the sky above the grasnd was riddled with flying swords that had been converted into a spiritual form.
Right at this moment, Xiong Shan flew toward an area in the western part of the grasnd, then reached out and made a grabbing motion toward a giant sword with a wide de.
At this point, hisplexion was looking a little pale, indicating that this refinement process had been quite taxing on him, but his expression was glowing with tion, and there was a look of excitement in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s gaze was still fixed intently on the array up above as he carefully observed the countless sword visages in the sky.
All of a sudden, he noticed that something seemed to have changed in the sword arraypared with its starting point, but he was unable to put his finger on exactly what had changed.
However, he had a feeling that this point of difference was quite possibly the only opportunity that he had to alter the array and recover his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
However, the more he tried to concentrate, the more elusive that point of difference proved to be, and he was starting to feel a little agitated.
It didn''t take long before Xiong Shan wiped away the marks of the original owners of all of the flying swords in the area around him
Up to this point, the majority of the flying swords on the grasnd had already been converted into pure sword essence.
After converting all of the flying swords in one area into sword essence, Xiong Shan didn''t immediately move onto the next area. Instead, he flipped a hand over to prepare a pair of pills that he promptly devoured before turning in Han Li''s direction.
He then shifted his gaze toward the area that Zhu Feng was in, and his gaze alternated between the two areas a couple of times, as if he were deliberating which area to move onto next.
At this point, Han Li was feeling so agitated that sweat was already beginning to bead up on his forehead, but he still hadn''t found a way out of this predicament.
He took a deep breath as he came to a decision. Instead of continuing to observe the sword array, he closed his eyes and forcibly infiltrated it with his spiritual sense.
As soon as his spiritual sense entered the array, Han Li instantly felt a burst of sharp pain spearing through his soul, as if there were hundreds of swords piercing into his soul at once, producing a sensation of indescribable agony.
However, he refused to back down, and he gritted his teeth as he forcibly withstood the assault with his immense spiritual sense.
Meanwhile, Xiong Shan''s attention was focused entirely on the task at hand, while the other elders didn''t dare to release their spiritual sense to examine the sword array for fear of incurring spiritual harm, so no one noticed what Han Li was doing.
After taking a moment to digest the two pills, Xiong Shan''splexion recovered a little, and in the end, his gaze settled on the northwestern area before he set off in that direction.
He reached out with one hand to conjure up a golden palm projection in the air, which grabbed toward one of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The flying sword seemed to have detected the impending peril, and it began to tremble while screeching incessantly, producing a sound much like the sobs of a woman.
To Han Li, it sounded as if the sword were expressing its despair and displeasure at Han Li''s inaction in its hour of need.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s eyes abruptly sprang open, while a barely detectable smile appeared on his face.
In the next instant, the flying sword that was caught within the grasp of the golden palm projection abruptly ceased in its trembling and screeching, hovering in mid-air without any further movement.
The other 71 flying swords that were originally flying in all directions also fell still at once, as if they had received some type of instruction. All of them were highly focused soldiers preparing for battle, remainingpletely still to conserve their energy.
Zhu Feng was initially quite d to see that all of these unruly flying swords had suddenly settled down, but for some reason, a hint of foreboding then suddenly welled up in his heart.
Sure enough, his intuition proved to be correct.
Right as the golden palm projection was about topletely close itself around the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, a loud thunderp suddenly rang out as it released a massive halo of golden lightning that forced the golden palm projection open.
At the same time, the other 71 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords also began to sh with golden lightning as they struggled free from their restraints in unison before flying toward the remaining flying sword.
Bursts of rumbling thunderps rang out as the 71 flying sword tore the golden palm projection apart with formidable golden lightning to reunite with the trapped flying sword.
"What are you doing, you idiots? Restrain the other swords!" Xiong Shan roared in a furious voice.
He thought that this was yet another wave of instinctive resistance that the flying swords were putting up, and he began to reprimand Zhu Feng and the others for their ipetence. Unbeknownst to him, it wasn''t that Zhu Feng was unwilling to restrain the flying swords. Instead, he was physically unable to.
Right as Xiong Shan''s voice trailed off, dazzling arcs of golden lightning erupted out of the 71 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in unison, and they transformed into 72 streaks of golden light that shot forth through the air, escaping Zhu Feng''s control before flying toward the eastern region of the sword tomb.
Zhu Feng was greatly rmed to see this, and he hurriedly tried to make amends, but the flying swords were extremely fast, reaching the eastern part of the grasnd before he or Xiong Shan had a chance to react.
After reaching their destination, the 72 flying swords suddenly dispersed in different directions rather than breaking out of the array, and they flew through the air in a series of profound trajectories, forming a small sword array within the Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array.
The newly formed sword array began to radiate dazzling light that illuminating the sword array up above, converting all of the golden lines of the sword array in the sky into sword qi that surged toward the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Almost in the exact same instant, all of the sword qi in the entire sword tomb was stirred up into a frenzy, and the entire Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array also underwent an astonishing change.
It was as if the entire array had suddenly undergone a reversal in this instant.
Xiong Shan immediately flew onto the scene, and he was just about to intervene when he suddenly threw up a mouthful of blood and began to plummet out of the sky. His aura was closely tied to the sword array, so he had suffered bacsh from the array''s reversal.
By the time he steadied himself, it was already toote.
The other elders were also quite rmed by this turn of events, and everyone was at a loss for what to do. As for the Grand Ascension and Body Integration Stage disciples, they couldn''t have done anything even if they wanted to.
Meanwhile, Mo Xie was observing the unfolding situation from outside the array, and he did notice some abnormalities in advance, but he had only brushed it off as natural changes to be expected within the sword array and didn''t n on doing anything.
Hence, the only person who knew what to expect was Han Li.
Earlier, he had forcibly withstood the resistance from the sword array to inspect the array''s internal condition, and he had noticed that the cirction and distribution of sword qi within the array had changed.
He noticed that after Xiong Shan had converted most of the flying swords into sword essence, the concentration of sword qi in the areas that those flying swords were situated in had increased significantly, resultign in some degree of imbnce.
Hence, he had rapidly enhanced this imbnced state using the sword array created by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, resulting in aplete reversal of the Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array.
The process sounded simple enough, but it was actually extremely difficult to execute.
Firstly, it required an extremely high level of sensitivity toward changes in the existing sword array, thereby allowing one to sense minute changes in sword qi.
Secondly, precise timing was required to reverse the array. Otherwise, the reversal attempt would most likely end in failure.
Finally, the small sword array used to exacerbate the imbnce in sword qi came from the existing sword array, so the two were closely connected and could resonate with one another.
Not even the slightest mistake could be made in this entire process, and only then could the sword array be reversed. Otherwise, the sword array would merely be destroyed instead.
The hundreds of streaks of sword essence that were hanging in the air suddenly seemed to have been summoned by something, and they began to fly through the sky along a series of strange trajectories.
Looking on from afar, a thought suddenly urred to Mo Xie, and he looked up at the sword array in the sky to find that the trajectories followed by the streaks of sword essence perfectly matched the lines of the array.
At this point, a giant funnel-shaped purple vortex had already taken shape at the sword array formed by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and sword qi was surging incessantly within the vortex alongside shes of golden lightning.
Hundreds of streaks of pure sword essence were converging toward the azure vortex, apanied by countless streaks of peerlessly sharp swordlight, presenting a marvelous visual spectacle to behold.
Chapter 212: Escape
Chapter 212: Escape
This type of pure sword essence that was devoid of the marks of the former owners was like the best type of supplement that existed for flying swords, being both extremely nutritious and very easy to digest.
In the blink of an eye, the majority of the sword essence had been absorbed by the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
All of the flying swords began to vibrate violently while screeching in unison, as if they were crying out in tion.
At this point, the sword array that had beenpletely reversed by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had alsopletely spiraled out of control, and the remaining flying swords that were yet to have their marks erased seemed to have been encouraged as they began struggling frantically once again.
Xiong Shan was barely able to contain his fury upon seeing this, and he roared in an enraged voice, "Restrain those flying swords, you fools! What are you all waiting for?"
Aside from the elders that were still overseeing the remaining areas, all of the other elders immediately unleashed their abilities in unison, trying to stop the wave of swords that was surging incessantly toward the vortex.
However, these arrays had only been designed to counteract resistance from a small number of flying swords at a time, yet at this point, virtually all of the flying swords on the grasnd had gone on a collective rampage, and it was impossible to stop them all.
"Please assist me, Fellow Daoist Mo Xie. I''ll be sure to reward you handsomely after the event!" Xiong Shan yelled, then gritted his teeth as he made a hand seal before raising his palms to the heavens.
A loud ng rang out as the golden longsword that was plunged into the altar rose up from the ground while radiating bright golden light, then immediately sped toward him.
As soon as the sword left the sword offering tform, the entire array ceased to function any longer, and the sword array in the sky also vanished as a result.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Mo Xie reached out with both hands, and a string of buzzing rang out as around a dozen ck longswords flew out of his sleeves.
All of the swords had ck lightning shing around them, and they began to fly into the wave of swords.
At this point, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were alreadypping up the final bits of sword essence in the air.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out as a massive golden pir of lightning that was over 100 feet thick and in excess of 10,000 feet in height rose up from the azure vortex, piercing straight into the heavens like the spear of a lightning god.
A burst of earth-shattering rumbling rang out up above, and theyers of restrictions epassing the entire grasnd were torn apart one after another to produce an enormous hole in the sky.
Meanwhile, the lightning spear only appeared for an instant before disintegrating into countless specks of golden light.
Lightning continued to sh over the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords as countless arcs of golden lightning connected together, intertwining to form a massive azure sword that was over 100 feet in length.
As soon as the giant sword took shape, it immediately aimed its own tip as the enormous hole in the sky, and azure light shed over its de as it prepared to fly toward the hole while a burst of spatial ripples proliferated outward around it.
Right at this moment, an extremely sharp screeching sound suddenly rang out, striking sharp pain into everyone''s eardrums, and some of the Body Integration Stage disciples instantly fell unconscious on the spot with blood seeping out of their ears.
"Come back!" Xiong Shan roared, and in the next instant, a massive golden sword projection abruptly appeared out of thin air before shing down upon the giant azure sword.
A resounding ng rang out as the sword projection shed against the azure sword, sending powerful shockwaves erupting in all directions.
A golden halo surged through the air from the point where the two swords shed, spreading in all directions.
Everyone felt a burst of shockwaves sweep through the air overhead, and as they looked up, they were greeted by the sight of a clear chasm in the sky. It wasn''t that the space itself had been torn apart. Instead, the shreds of clouds and sword qi in the sky, and even the dust particles in the air, had been sliced apart by the golden halo.
Immediately following Xiong Shan''s bonded flying swords were the dozen or so ck lightning longswords unleashed by Mo Xie. Unfortunately, they were struck by the expanding golden halo along the way, and all of them were sent flying back with tremendous force.
As the owner of the swords, Mo Xie was naturally dealt a heavy blow as well, and he hurriedly made a beckoning motion to withdraw the flying swords, following he took no further action and began to watch from the sidelines.
Right at this moment, an extremely clear crack rang out in everyone''s ears.
The golden sword projection was abruptly split down the middle before shattering into countless pieces, and two halves of a golden flying sword came falling out of the sky, having beenpletely robbed of its former luster.
At the same time, the giant azure sword plunged straight through the hole in the sky before flying away, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Xiong Shan threw up arge mouthful of blood as he caught the two halves of his bonded flying swords, and he was livid with fury.
All of the elders and disciples immediately converged around him, but no one dared to say anything, and even Mo Xie remained silent with his brows slightly furrowed.
Han Li was standing slightly back from the crowd, stabilizing his own churning aura in secret. That golden sword projection just now had been an extremely mighty attack, and although most of its force had been nullified by the enormous amount of sword essence absorbed by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, Han Li was still inevitably somewhat impacted by the attack.
"The swords have gone in the northeastern direction! Hurry up and get them back!" Xiong Shan spat through gritted teeth with a furious look on his face.
Having sustained such severe damage to his bonded flying sword, he had to go into seclusion to address his own injuries as soon as possible. Otherwise, there was a very good chance that he would suffer a severe decline in his cultivation base.
Everyone immediately set off to give chase upon hearing this, only for Xiong Shan to stop them. "Hold on, they''re in the northwest now... Wait, no, the southwest..."
"What''s going on, Fellow Daoist Xiong?" Mo Xie asked, and the other elders were also looking on with perplexed expressions.
"I''ve lost track of the swords. My final connection with them has beenpletely severed," Xiong Shan said in a cold voice.
He then turned to look at the severely ravaged sword tomb, as well as the remaining flying swords on the grasnd, of which there were fewer than 300, and his eyes were burning with fury.
He raised an arm, and his sleeve was billowing audibly despite theck of wind as he swung his arm down in a forceful motion.
All of the remaining flying swords were instantly struck by a burst of tremendous force that sent them plunging straight into the ground.
A string of loud thumps rang out as all of the flying swordsnded on the ground, plunging so deep into the earth that only their hilts were visible above the surface.
Everyone could clearly sense Xiong Shan''s fury, and no one dared to do or say anything without further instructions.
Zhu Feng was the one that had been assigned to oversee the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords,and his face had turned deathly pale, while his body was trembling uncontrobly from fear.
He was nothing more than an inner sect elder, so if Xiong Shan were to turn on him in a fit of rage, then his death would''ve been sealed. Even if the sect were going to punish Xiong Shan after the event, that would hardly matter to Zhu Feng when he was already dead.
Xiong Shan slowly swept his gaze over everyone''s faces, and despite his fury, he still hadn''t lost his rationality.
He knew that there was no way that such a reversal would''ve taken ce in the Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array for no reason. Someone had to have tampered with it, and there was a very good chance that the culprit was one of the 10 elders standing before him.
As the one overseeing the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, Zhu Feng was the most suspicious one, but he wasn''t the one that Xiong Shan viewed as the primary suspect.
Instead, in his eyes, the most suspicious one was Mo Xie, who had requested to be present.
Such aplex sword array was impossible topletely control, even for Xiong Shan himself, and if anyone present had the ability to reverse the array, then it could''ve only been Mo Xie, whose cultivation base was extremely close to his own.
Mo Xie seemed to have noticed the hint of suspicion in Xiong Shan''s eyes, and he immediately protested, "You''re not suspecting me, are you, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong? I didn''t do a single thing aside from when you asked for my help at the end, and I didn''t even release my aura at all. If I had tampered with the array, how is it possible that I managed to do so whilepletely bypassing your detection?"
"There''s no need to get so worked up, Fellow Daoist Mo. I haven''t said anything," XIONG Shan harrumphed coldly.
Despite his suspicions, he had no proof, so he couldn''t pursue the matter. He wasn''t a rash person. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been able to reach his current position.
"It looks like you still have many things to take care of today, so I won''t keep you any longer. I''lle back some other time to take back what you borrowed from me. Farewell!" Mo Xie said.
Xiong Shan offered no response as he raised a hand to cast a few incantation seals in a certain direction, and the space there rippled as a ball of white light that was several dozen feet in size appeared.
Mo Xie cupped his fist in a parting salute toward Xiong Shan, then flew into the ball of white light in a sh.
Xiong Shan watched as Mo Xie departed from the sword tomb, then withdrew his gaze and began to inspect the faces of the 10 elders standing before him with a frosty look on his face.
It was as if the atmosphere hadpletely congealed, and no one dared to utter even a single sound.
Just like everyone else, Han Li''s head was slightly lowered to avoid Xiong Shan''s gaze.
After a long silence, Xiong Shan''s gaze ultimately settled on Zhu Feng. "Do you not have anything to say, Elder Zhu Feng?"
Zhu Feng''s heart jolted violently upon hearing this, and he began stuttering in a fearful manner. "No... I... But..."
Xiong Shan scoured the entire sword tomb with his spiritual sense in secret once again, but was still unable to find any clues, and he continued, "I already warned all of you earlier. Anyone who drops the ball will not be granted mercy! You were the one who made this grave error, so I can''t just let you get away with this without some form ofpensation."
"H, how do you want me topensate you, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong?" Zhu Feng asked as cold sweat poured profusely down his face.
"Given the massive losses I''ve incurred, you wouldn''t be able to cover everything even if you sold everything in your possession. I''m not a cruel and heartless person, so I''ll only ask for 6,000 merit points and 300 Immortal Origin Stones aspensation," Xiong Shan dered in a cold and imcable voice.
Zhu Feng almost slumped down onto the ground upon hearing this.
This was more than everything that he currently owned, and forcing him to fork out such enormouspensation hurt worse than killing him.
However, he had no choice but to ept this oue.
Everyone else present was grimacing internally, denouncing Xiong Shan for his cruel demands while also celebrating the fact that they weren''t in Zhu Feng''s shoes.
Chapter 213: Finally Back
Chapter 213: Finally Back
"D, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong, I''ve managed to gather 6,000 merit points during my many years in the sect, but I don''t have 300 Immortal Origin Stones in my possession... Would I be able to use top-grade spirit stones instead?" Zhu Feng asked in a careful manner.
"I can give you some time. Gather everything for me in 10 years, and I''ll let this matter slide," Xiong Shan said in a cold voice.
"But... Alright," Zhu Feng replied with a sullen expression.
Even after extorting Zhu Feng, Xiong Shan''s mood didn''t improve much, and he dered, "Do not speak a single word of this to anyone after you leave this ce. Otherwise, you''ll have to answer directly to me. Piss off now!"
Everyone hurriedly vowed not to speak of this matter to anyone, then sheepishly departed, not daring to say anything despite not receiving any merit points for their efforts.
After emerging from the Heavenly Sword Tomb, Han Li and Qi Liang traveled alongside one another in silence. Upon reaching the teleportation hall, the two of them exchanged farewells with wry smiles before returning to their respective mountains.
After returning to his cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak, Han Li immediately examined his own body to ensure that no mark had been nted in him by Xiong Shan, following which he entered his secret chamber to recuperate.
Several dayster.
In the northeastern region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, there was a thin elderly man in a white robe with his hair arranged into a Daoist bun. He was standing on a bare rock on the summit of a lone mountain near the edge of the mountain range, looking out toward the sky in the southwest.
There was nothing in the pristine sky in that direction, but the elderly man''s eyes were glowing with excitement, while his face was also alight with anticipation.
Momentster, a hint of azure light suddenly appeared in the distant sky.
Over the course of several seconds, the hint of azure light gradually expanded, revealing itself to be a massive azure sword.
"There they are!"
The elderly man''s eyes lit up as a faint smile appeared on his face.
In the next instant, the elderly man released his aura without any further concealment, revealing his early-True Immortal Stage cultivation base in its full glory.
He was originally an itinerant cultivator residing on an ind outside of the Ancient Cloud Continent, and he had only recently arrived near the Bell Toll Mountain Range. His n was to rest for a few days on this lone mountain, but while meditating, he detected a peculiar flying sword with an auraparable to that of an immortal treasure flying rapidly toward him.
As a proficient sword cultivator himself, the elderly man could sense that the flying sword seemed to have no owner, and he was immediately driven by his greed to try and intercept the sword.
As the flying sword continued to approach, the elderly man rose up into the air as a streak of dazzling white light, hurtling directly toward the sword.
Even though the giant sword formed by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords wasn''t being controlled by Han Li, it still put up instinctive resistance as lightning began to crackle over its surface.
The elderly man paid no heed to this as he reached out toward the hilt of the giant sword with both hands enveloped in spiritual light.
All of a sudden, a burst of piercing golden light erupted from the giant azure sword alongside a thunderous boom, and countless serpentine arcs of golden lightning sprang forth in a frenzy, epassing the entire area in a radius of several hundred feet. An airtight ball of golden lightning instantly took shape, and a blood-curdling howl rang out from within.
Immediately thereafter, the ball of golden lightning vanished, and a charred ck corpse that was releasing a plume of white smoke fell out of the sky.
Even before it had a chance tond on the ground, it was blown into ck dust by the wind and scattered in all directions.
As for the giant azure sword, it split up again into 72 flying swords amid a sh of light before descending into a valley down below, seemingly having overexerted itself.
¡¡
Two monthster, an azure-robed young man appeared above an extremely secluded snow-covered valley on the northeastern outskirts of the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
The man slowly descended into the valley, and it was none other than Han Li, who had tracked the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords all the way here thanks to his spiritual connection with them.
He was concerned about Xiong Shan conducting surveince on him, so he had spent the entire first month after returning to his cave abode cultivating in his secret chamber.
Sure enough, Xiong Shan didn''t gloss over any potential suspects, and he had even sent people to Han Li''s territory in secret, presumably to conduct surveince on him.
It was most likely the case that all of the other elders, including Mo Xie, had received the same treatment, and all of them had no choice but to turn a blind eye to this in order to avoid arousing further suspicions.
Only after verifying that he was no longer under Xiong Shan''s scrutiny did Han Li leave the Crimson Dawn Peak in secret before arriving here.
Following his descent into the valley, he immediately flew over to a green pond at the end of the valley before drawing to a halt.
He swept his gaze over the pond to find that its surface appeared to have been quite tranquil, but in reality, there were countless tiny streaks of sword qi surging within it. As a result, any rocks, leaves, or pieces of wood that fell into the pond were instantly shredded into countless pieces.
Han Li knew that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were in this pond, and he immediately summoned them toe out.
A string of sshes rang out as the originally tranquil surface of the pond instantly began to churn like boiling water, following which the 72 flying swords flew out one after another, then circled around in the air momentarily before flying toward Han Li.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
The flying swords were all glowing with azure light as they danced joyfully around him like ted children while ringing incessantly.
"You''re all finally back!"
Han Li exhaled as he raised a hand to stroke the flying swords one by one, as if they were the shoulders of old friends, and countless emotions welled up in his heart as he felt their familiar yet also slightly unfamiliar auras.
Due to the fact that the flying swords had absorbed the pure sword essence of several hundred powerful flying swords, their auras had naturally been significantly elevated. However, as a safety precaution, Han Li unleashed a secret technique to conceal their auras rather than testing out their powers right away.
After making sure that no one else would be able to detect the flying swords, he carefully stowed them into his own body one by one.
Back in the Mortal Realm, he only had two flying swords taken from him by an elder devil, and he was already ecstatic upon recovering them, so he was naturally even more ted to have recovered a whole set of 72 lost flying swords.
As for the significant increase in power experienced by the flying swords, that was just an added bonus.
¡¡
Shortly thereafter, Han Li returned to the Crimson Dawn Peak without alerting anyone, and as soon as he returned, he immediately instructed Meng Yungui to gather everyone.
Inside a certain hall in the courtyard, the 10 servants bowed in unison as they greeted, "We pay our respects to Elder Li."
"Over these past years, all of you have kept my cave abode in good order and haven''t fallen behind in your cultivation, either, and that''s quitemendable. Yungui, take these pills and split them with everyone," Han Li said with his hands sped behind his back.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a sleeve through the air, and a burst of azure light flew into Meng Yungui''s grasp in a sh, containing a small storage bracelet.
Meng Yungui and the others were ecstatic to see this, and they immediately extended another collective bow of gratitude. "Thank you, Elder Li!"
Han Li didn''t often appear before them, but whenever he did, he would always bestow upon them some pills that were extremely beneficial for the cultivation of Core Formation cultivators, for which they were extremely grateful.
In particr, Meng Yungui had sessfully manifested a nascent soul during this time and became a Nascent Soul cultivator.
"From this day forth, I''m going into seclusion, and the Crimson Dawn Peak will be shut off for some time. I''m going to be activating all of the restrictions, and I won''t be seeing any guests," Han Li instructed.
Meng Yungui and the others hurriedly gave affirmative responses upon hearing this.
"Sun Buzheng, you''ll be responsible for overseeing matters in the cave abode during my seclusion," Han Li said.
"Rest assured, Elder Li, I''ll be sure to perform my duties diligently," Sun Buzheng immediately said.
"Yungui, you possess the highest cultivation base out of everyone, so I''m going to give you a mission. Go out and search for rare and exotic spirit nts and seeds or seedlings for me. The more types you find, the better, and don''t worry about the costs too much," Han Li instructed.
Meng Yungui faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately epted the order.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a storage treasure that he handed to Meng Yungui as he continued, "There are some spirit stones in here, as well as two treasures for your protection. If you do a good job, you can keep those two treasures as a reward."
Meng Yungui injected his spiritual sense into the storage treasure, and an ted look immediately appeared in his eyes as he said, "Thank you, Elder Li! I''ll be sure to do my best!"
Envious looks appeared in everyone''s eyes upon seeing this.
The treasures inside the storage treasure had to have been quite powerful. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have gotten such an excited reaction out of Meng Yungui.
In particr, Sun Buzheng was feeling both envious and regretful.
His cultivation base had originally been slightly higher than Meng Yungui''s, but during these past years, Meng Yungui had made a series of consecutive breakthroughs, reaching the Nascent Soul Stage before him.
If he had known that this would happen, he would''ve worked even harder in his cultivation, and perhaps he would''ve been the one to receive such a reward then.
Meng Qianqian was staring directly at Han Li with an unblinking gaze, and there was a hint of anticipation glowing in her eyes. She had changed into a pristine white dress, giving her a pure and gorgeous appearance.
"Alright, you can all go now," Han Li said to everyone with a smile before turning and making his way back into his cave abode.
Everyone immediately extended a collective bow once again. "Farewell, Elder Li."
However, Meng Qianqian didn''t bow with everyone else, and her face was gradually growing paler and paler.
A faint thump rang out as the gate of the cave abode swung shut.
After speaking to Meng Yungui for a moment, Sun Buzheng picked out a few people to apany him, and before long, they were busy at work.
Meanwhile, Meng Qianqian was staring at the shut stone gate while biting down on her own lower lip with a sense of mncholy in her heart.
Meng Yungui could tell that she was feeling very dejected, and he approached her before asking, "What''s wrong, Qianqian?"
"Nothing," Meng Qianqian replied as she lowered her head, and a film of tears had already appeared over her eyes.
That entire time, Han Li hadn''t even taken a single nce at her.
Meng Yungui was aware of his sister''s thoughts, and he sighed, "Elder Li is not from the same world as us. You should be well aware of this..."
Meng Qianqian shuddered slightly upon hearing this, but she then raised her head with a determined look in her eyes.
Meng Yungui could only shake his head and heave a faint sigh upon seeing this.
On the outside, Meng Qianqian had a very delicate appearance, but she was actually very stubborn and unyielding on the inside, and he was powerless to dissuade her once she had her mind set on something.
In any case, perhaps this wasn''t necessarily a bad thing.
Meng Yungui set these thoughts aside with a faint smile and began to ponder how he was going toplete the task assigned to him by Han Li.
Chapter 214: Six Time Dao Runes
Chapter 214: Six Time Dao Runes
A short whileter, one restriction after another was activated on the Crimson Dawn Peak, producing a series of light barriers of different colors over the entire mountain.
After doing all of that, Han Li made his way into the secret chamber of his cave abode before taking a seat with his legs crossed.
At this moment, the 72 recovered Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were enveloped by pure immortal spiritual power inside his body, and were being slowly refined by his nascent me.
They had been separated from him for many years, and even though their power had significantly increased from absorbing so much sword essence in the Heavenly Sword Tomb, their spiritual nature had be quite chaotic, so it would''ve been unwise to use them right away. Hence, he had to carefully refine them first.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he flipped a hand over to produce his Heaven Controlling Vial before inspecting it closely right in front of his eyes.
At this point, it had been confirmed to him beyond a reasonable doubt that the Heaven Controlling Vial contained thews of time.
Back in the Spirit Realm, he had obtained a replica vial from Ma Liang, and bybining the two, he was able to activate the Heaven Controlling Vial to a slight degree to unleash attacks. However, something had to have changed during the 300 years that were missing from his memory, and he found that he was no longer able to use the vial in such a manner.
After a brief pause, Han Li summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis behind him amid a sh of golden light.
With a wave of his hand, the Mantra Treasured Axis flew to his side before beginning to rapidly revolve on the spot.
Golden ripples spread through the air topletely epass the Heaven Controlling Vial, and there were barely detectable hints of timew powers surging into the vial.
Meanwhile, Han Li continued to scrutinize the Heaven Controlling Vial intently, but the vial disyed no reaction whatsoever.
After some contemtion, Han Li switched to a different hand seal, and the Mantra Treasured Axis began to glow far brighter than before, but it also shrank down into a small golden ball in the blink of an eye before flying into the vial at his behest.
Ayer of translucent light shed over the surface of the Heaven Controlling Vial, and several faint runes appeared on its surface, only to immediately vanish without a trace in the next instant.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he heaved a faint sigh.
Seeing as the Mantra Axis Scripture was a cultivation art that concerned thews of time and eh had already manifested a Mantra Treasured Axis, he had thought that perhaps he would be able to use it to control the vial to some degree or trigger some type of change in the vial.
However, it appeared that this was not the case, or perhaps this was because he simply hadn''t yet reached a sufficiently advanced level in the cultivation art.
Han Li shook his head as he abandoned this endeavor, then summoned that giant ape puppet before instructing it to continue to harvest green liquid and water his spirit nts with the liquid while he was in seclusion.
As for the crystals required for his Earthly Deity Avatar''s cultivation, he would create those during the breaks in his seclusion to ensure that his avatar could continue to refine heavy water at an enhanced rate.
Another thought then suddenly urred to him, and he made his way into another stone chamber before setting up a small spirit gathering array. After that, he ced the giant egg that he had obtained from Fang Pan at the center of the array, hoping that the slow and steady nourishment of spiritual qi would be enough to hatch the egg.
After making all of these arrangements, Han Li returned to his secret chamber to meditate once again.
This meditationsted three days and three nights, and once he hadpletely settled his mental state and primed himself into the best condition, faint golden light began to radiate from his skin, instantly illuminating the entire secret chamber.
Over three years passed by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, countless dark clouds suddenly appeared in the sky above the Crimson Dawn Peak, and the world''s origin qi was churning violently as it converged toward the cave abode.
Inside the cave abode, Han Li''s entire body was radiating dazzling golden light, and three incredibly bright specks of golden light had appeared on his lower abdomen, greedily devouring the abundant world''s origin qi in the surrounding area.
He had opened up yet another immortal acupoint, and there were currently six Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him.
Powerful timew fluctuations were emanating from the Mantra Treasured Axis, and these fluctuations were far more potent than the ones released by the axis back when it only had four Time Dao Runes.
Han Li''s eyes sprang open as an ted look appeared on his face.
He was naturally quite d that he had opened up another immortal acupoint, but what he was even more ecstatic about was that he had finally manifested six Time Dao Runes.
This was a stage that cultivators of the Mantra Axis Scripture normally only reached after opening 12 immortal acupoints!
ording to the cultivation art''s description, the Mantra Treasured Axis would receive a significant increase in power with each set of six Time Dao Runes that it manifested, and Han Li couldn''t wait to test out the power of this ability.
The Mantra Treasured Axis began to rapidly revolve at his behest, and countless golden ripples spread through the air in all directions, but were only able to reach about 100 feet away from him.
It seems like as long as I''m still on the first level of the cultivation art, no matter how many Time Dao Runes I attain, the effective range of the Mantra Treasured Axis will only be 100 feet. Perhaps the range will only increase once I reach the second level, Han Li thought to himself.
Inside the area epassed within the golden ripples, everything had slowed down significantly, including the flow of air and the world''s origin qi.
Ayer of blue light appeared in Han Li''s eyes, allowing him to see this slowing effect even more clearly.
The colorful world''s origin qi was shing against itself like waves before dispersing in different directions.
Everything was clearly visible, and it was quite a mystifying experience.
Even though everything around him had slowed down, he remainedpletely unaffected himself, so in a way, it was as if his speed had increased by twofold.
In the next instant, he appeared several dozen feet away in a sh, and the changes in the surrounding air and the world''s origin qi around him triggered by his movement were all clearly visible to him.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he flipped a hand over to produce a small ball of heavy water.
With a flick of his finger, the heavy water instantly exploded into countless drops that erupted in all directions.
The speed at which these drops of heavy water was traveling had also been halved, making every single one of them clearly visible to Han Li.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li was able to easily intercept all of the drops of heavy water before rbining them into a ball and stowing it away again.
Even though the effects of the Mantra Treasured Axis were very clearlyid out in the Mantra Axis Scripture, he would still have to do a lot more experimentation before he couldpletely master this ability.
In the next instant, Han Li raised a hand, and countless arcs of silver lightning appeared over the center of his palm.
These arcs of lightning were alsopletely unaffected by the Mantra Treasured Axis.
He spread his fingers open, and several arcs of silver lightning sprang forth, crashing into a wall of the secret chamber.
Ayer of translucent white light instantly appeared on the wall before shing sluggishly a few times, and the arcs of silver lightning extended in all directions over the wall before vanishing.
The sluggishness of the white light and the rapid movement of the silver lightning presented a stark contrast.
Han Li nodded to himself even upon seeing this. Even after the silver lightning had left his hand, it still remainedpletely unaffected.
If the Mantra Treasured Axis were to slow down his own attacks as well, then it would''ve been an entirely pointless ability.
He then experimented with his spiritual sense and attacks from his treasures, only ceasing the experiments once he confirmed that none of those things were adversely affected, either.
Han Li then summoned the giant ape puppet into the secret chamber, and as a result of the Mantra Treasured Axis''s influence, the sound of the puppet''s footsteps was elongated by twofold, producing a very strange sound.
Before long, the giant puppet had drawn to a halt outside the area epassed within the golden ripples.
"Attack me," Han Li instructed.
The giant ape puppet immediately opened its mouth to st forth a thick pir of blue lightning. At the same time, it raised a hand to send five arcs of blue lightning hurtling toward Han Li from its fingertips.
The attacks were quite weak, but the speed of lightning was still nothing to be scoffed at.
However, as soon as the lightning came into contact with the golden ripples, its speed was instantly halved.
This didn''t sound like much, but in reality, it was an enormous difference.
Han Li sidestepped the attacks without using any movement techniques, and the arcs of lightning flew right past him without even brushing his clothes.
Han Li was very excited to see this, and he instructed the giant ape puppet to unleash some other types of attacks, all of which also had their speed halved.
After this string of experiments, he had ascertained most of the properties of the Mantra Treasured Axis. He had also thought of multiple ways to use the Mantra Treasured Axis, and the more he thought about it, the more excited he became.
If he could use this ability appropriately, then he would stand a chance at defeating evente-True Immortal cultivators.
However, he then suddenly noticed something a little disheartening. He hadn''t been using his Mantra Treasured Axis for very long at all, yet arge chunk of his immortal spiritual power had already disappeared. It seemed that this ability was extremely taxing to use.
However, given how incredible its effects were, it made sense that it would be so taxing on the user''s immortal spiritual power.
The Mantra Treasured Axis vanished in a sh at Han Li''s behest, and he sat down with his legs crossed, nning to continue to cultivate.
However, before that, he instructed the giant ape puppet to fetch him his Heaven Controlling Vial, and he attempted to activate it with his Mantra Treasured Axis once again, but the oue was still the same asst time.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, but he quickly emptied his mind before returning to his seclusion.
¡¡
Over 20 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
The Crimson Dawn Peak remained as peaceful as ever, far removed from the lively and bustling scenes one would expect to see on some other peaks in the sect.
The red fire miasma near the mountain had alreadypletely vanished, so the climate had returned to normal, and everywhere that wasn''t epassed under a restriction was covered in a thickyer of snow.
The boundless expanse of pristine snow presented a stunning sight to behold.
Unfortunately, there was no one on the Crimson Dawn Peak to appreciate this beautiful scenery. Everyone was busy at work, either looking after the cave abode or cultivating themselves.
On a plot of emptynd at the back of the Crimson Dawn Peak, there was a crimson array that was over 100 feet in size engraved onto the ground. Numerous crimson crystals were embedded into the array, and the crystals were shing with a fiery glow.
At the center of the array sat Meng Qianqian in a white dress.
Streaks of crimson light were rising up from the crystals before converging around her, making it appear as if she were seated within a crimson me.
A faint sheen of sweat could be seen on her forehead, and her cheeks were a little red. She seemed to have been cultivating some type of secret technique.
Over the past two decades, her appearance hadn''t changed much, but her cultivation base had already reached thete-Core Formation Stage, disying a rate of progress that was quite extraordinary among the outer sect disciples of the ze Dragon Dao.
Of course, the pills bestowed upon her by Han Li and the spirit stones left to her by Meng Yungui prior to his departure yed extremely important roles in this, but her resolve in her pursuit of the Great Dao was also an integral factor.
Without these mental qualities, there was no way that she wouldn''t have been able to bear the loneliness and mind-numbing monotony of cultivation.
Chapter 215: Monkeys Worshiping an Immortal
Chapter 215: Monkeys Worshiping an Immortal
Right as Meng Qianqian was cultivating, a resounding boom suddenly rang out in the distance over the entire Crimson Dawn Peak.
A thick nket of dark clouds instantly appeared in the sky above Han Li''s cave abode, and the world''s origin qi converged in a frenzy, forming a spiritual qi vortex that was visible even to the naked eye.
Meng Qianqian''s eyes sprang open as she turned her gaze toward Han Li''s cave abode with an ted look on her face.
During the past 30 or so years, phenomena like this would appear every once in a while. At her current cultivation base, she still didn''t know exactly what this entailed, but everyone spected in private that this was a sign that Han Li was making some type of breakthrough in his cultivation.
Everyone was already ustomed to this.
Of course, this type of spection was something that Meng Yungui expressly forbade, and he also warned everyone not to speak a single word of what they had seen here to anyone.
The interior of the secret chamber was illuminated by dazzling golden radiance, and there were seven specks of golden light shining on Han Li''s lower abdomen.
They resembled seven giant mouths that were guzzling down the tremendous amount of world''s origin qi nearby before gradually converting it into pure immortal spiritual power.
This rate of world''s origin qi absorption was countless times faster than before, and 14 Time Dao Runes had appeared on the Mantra Treasured Axis that was slowly revolving behind Han Li.
A long whileter, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, and a hint of tion appeared on his face.
Over the past two decades of arduous cultivation, he had made rapid progress, opening four immortal acupoints in rapid session.
Over the course of just a few decades, he had opened seven immortal acupoints, and this rate of progress would''ve shocked even the Golden Immortal Stage dao lords.
He rose to his feet as bright golden light radiated from his body, and the 14 Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him immediately began to release powerful timew fluctuations.
Sensing the immensew powers imbued within the Mantra Treasured Axis, Han Li was once again struck by the urge to test out its power, and he immediately flew out of his secret chamber as a streak of azure light.
As the phenomenon in the sky faded, Meng Qianqian took a deep breath, then closed her eyes as she continued in her cultivation.
Streaks of fiery light surged into her body, and her face took on a bright redplexion again while her brows furrowed slightly in pain.
Right at this moment, Han Li appeared beside her array without any warning, then released a burst of light out of his fingertip, which surged straight into Meng Qianqian''s be.
Meng Qianqian shuddered as the redness of her face quickly faded, and she opened her eyes.
Upon spotting Han Li, she hurriedly rose to her feet before extending a curtsey. "Elder Li."
"Working hard in your cultivation is a good thing, but you can''t be too ambitious. Otherwise, you''ll put too much strain on your body. Too much of a good thing bes a bad thing, understood?"
Not long after he left his cave abode, he noticed that Meng Qianqian was on the verge of qi deviation, so he decided to give her a hand.
A faint blush appeared on Meng Qianqian''s face, and she forciblyposed herself as she replied, "Yes. Thank you for your guidance, Elder Li."
"Barring any mishaps, it looks like you''ll also be able to manifest a nascent soul in a few years. When that timees, I''ll have other missions to assign to you," Han Li remarked before vanishing on the spot once again.
Meng Qianqian hurriedly raised her head to say something, but Han Li was already nowhere to be seen, leaving her looking around in a daze.
In a certain valley within the territory of the Crimson Dawn Peak, a streak of azure light descended out of the sky before fading to reveal Han Li.
The valley was surrounded by a ring of mountains that kept out the cold wind, so it was quite warm inside. There wasn''t any snow in the valley, and instead, it was filled with grass that was interspersed with vibrant flowers.
A waterfall that resembled a white jade belt was crashing down rock that was jutting out of the stone face, sending countless water droplets sshing in all directions and making the area also rather humid.
There were several fruit trees that wereden with yellow peaches growing near the waterfall, and some monkeys chattering incessantly as they swung from tree to tree. There were dozens of these monkeys here, and they weren''t afraid of Han Li at all.
Han Li paid no heed to these monkeys as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis amid a sh of golden light, and ayer of golden ripples spread through the air, epassing an area with a radius of 100 feet around him, within which was half of the waterfall.
Everyone epassed within the golden ripples instantly became significantly slower, having been reduced to a third of their original speed now that the Mantra Treasured Axis had over 12 Time Dao Runes.
One half of the waterfall continued to tumble down as normal, while the other half had been slowed down significantly, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
The nearby monkeys immediately erupted into a panic upon seeing this, and some of them were screeching in horror, while some others appeared to have been quite excited, dancing around as they yelled in excitement.
Right at this moment, a crimson monkey that was close to twice the size of the other monkeys let loose a long howl, then waved an arm through the air and began springing away.
This seemed to have been the monkey king, and all of the other monkeys immediately followed it, fleeing away into the distance.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he made a beckoning motion with one hand, and one of the monkeys was immediately drawn to him.
A panicked look appeared on the monkey''s face as it flew involuntarily toward Han Li while screeching urgently, as if it were asking itspanions for help.
All of the other monkeys immediately stopped in their tracks and turned to the monkey king.
There was a bright gleam in the monkey king''s eyes, indicating that it was an extremely intelligent creature, and it hesitated momentarily before slowly making its way toward Han Li.
All of the other monkeys also slowly followed along upon seeing this.
The monkey that was drawn to Han Li quickly entered the area epassed within the golden ripples, and its iling arms were instantly slowed to a third of their original speed, while its panicked screeches also became elongated, producing an extremely strange sound.
The monkey still had a panicked look on its face, but it was also looking quite shocked as well, clearly rmed by the slowing of time around it.
Han Li gave a slight nod upon seeing this.
He hadn''t captured the monkey for fun. Instead, he simply wanted to observe the Mantra Treasured Axis''s effect on living beings.
The monkeys approached Han Li, led by their king, then fell to their knees and kowtowed to him before looking up at him with imploring expressions.
"You''re quite an intelligent monkey, I see. Rest assured, I have no intention of harming your brethren," Han Li said as he gave the monkey king a slight nod, and with a sweep of his sleeve, the monkey was returned to the pack, drifting onto the groundpletely unharmed.
At the same time, Han Li pointed a finger forward to release a burst of azure light, which split up into several dozen bursts, each of which surged into a monkey''s body.
The azure light instantly transformed into a surge of warmth that flowed through the monkeys'' bodies, providing a sense of indescribablefort.
All of a sudden, ayer of crimson light appeared over the monkey king''s body, and the light shed a few times before fading.
A dazed look appeared in the monkey king''s eyes, but it then immediately returned to its senses, and its eyes were looking even more intelligent than before as it led all of the monkeys to kowtow to Han Li once again.
It was quite a poetic scene, with the monkeys worshiping an immortal in front of a scenic waterfall.
Han Li paid no heed to the monkeys as he tested out the Mantra Treasured Axis''s power for a while longer, and a pleased look appeared on his face.
If he were to face Fang Pan again in his current form, there was no way that he would''ve struggled anywhere near as much. In fact, he would''ve been able to easily defeat him.
Now that he had this Mantra Treasured Axis, he finally possessed a powerful self-preservation tool in the Immortal Realm.
After pondering something for a while, he suddenly flew back toward the summit of the Crimson Dawn Peak as a streak of azure light.
The monkey king looked on at Han Li''s departing figure with a dazed expression, while the other monkeys were looking around, at a slight loss for what to do.
¡¡
Han Li quickly returned to his cave abode to continue his seclusion, and several more years passed by in the blink of an eye.
Inside the cave abode, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed, and golden light was surging over his entire body, while the seven immortal acupoints on his abdomen were shing incessantly as they absorbed the world''s origin qi that was constantly flowing into the room.
A long whileter, he slowly opened his eyes, and the golden light radiating from his body faded as he furrowed his brows slightly.
Ever since he opened his seventh immortal acupoint, his rate of cultivation progression had declined quite sharply.
He wasn''t actually progressing all that slowly. Whenpared with other True Immortals of teh same cultivation base, he was still making far quicker progress, but having gotten used to the rapid progress that he was making before, this was a slightly disheartening turn of events.
Han Li rose to his feet as sped his hands behind his back and began to pace back and forth in his cave abode, seemingly pondering something.
Momentster, he stopped in his tracks, seemingly having made some type of decision, and he made his way out of the cave abode.
Under normal circumstances, this rate of cultivation wouldn''t have been an issue, but the problem was that he was still far from safe.
Fang Pan was dead, but the mysterious figure behind him still existed, and no one knew when he was going to appear.
He had recovered his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and refined them over the course of several years. Furthermore, his cultivation base had progressed significantly, and he now possessed the Mantra Treasured Axis, but he still didn''t have much confidence in being able to take on that person.
This wasn''t the time to be resting on hisurels. He still had to attain more power as quickly as possible.
The best way to enhance one''s rate of cultivation was naturally through consuming pills.
Due to the rapid progression that he had been making thus far, he hadn''t put much thought into acquiring pills. However, it was now time to go out and search for some pills that were suitable for him. During these decades of seclusion, he had matured a batch of 10,000-year-old ordinary spirit medicines, and it was also about time that hepleted the three missions that he had toplete per 100 years in the sect.
A burst of dull rumbling rang out as the restrictions on the Crimson Dawn Peak slowly receded, producing a vibrant and colorful show of lights.
Sun Buzheng and the others immediately converged in front of the entrance of Han Li''s cave abode upon seeing this.
The gate of the cave abode slowly opened, and Han Li emerged from inside.
"Wee, Elder Li!" the group of nine servants greeted in unison.
"Has Meng Yungui still not returned?" Han Li asked.
Out of the nine servants, both Sun Buzheng and Meng Qianqian had already reached the Nascent Soul Stage, while most of the rest of them had also reached thete-Core Formation Stage.
Three of the 10 servants had sessfully manifested nascent souls during the past few decades, and that was quite a remarkable rate of progress, even in the ze Dragon Dao. In particr, Meng Qianqian''s cultivation aptitude seemed to have been slightly superior even to her brother''s.
"Meng Yungui is still yet to return from the mission that you assigned to him, Elder Li," Sun Buzheng informed.
A hint of concern appeared on Meng Qianqian''s face at the mention of her brother, and Han Li''s brows also furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
Meng Yungui''s cultivation base wasn''t very advanced, and Han Li could only hope that he hadn''t encountered any mishaps.
With the two treasures that Han Li had bestowed upon him for protection and his status as Han Li''s servant, he should''ve been fine as long as he didn''t venture out of the ze Dragon Dao''s territory.
"You''ve all worked quite hard looking after the cave abode for all these years. Take these pills as a reward."
With a wave of his hand, a pill vial descended in front of each of the nine servants.
"Thank you, Elder Li!"
Sun Buzheng and the others were ecstatic, and they immediately stowed the vials away before extending grateful bows.
Chapter 216: Bell Toll
Chapter 216: Bell Toll
"Today marks the end of my seclusion. The spirit fields in the territory of the Crimson Dawn Peak have been left uncultivated this entire time. Sun Buzheng, take some people with you to prepare these spirit fields for ntation," Han Li Instructed.
"Yes, Elder Li. May I ask what types of spirit nts you would like us to nt in those fields?" Sun Buzheng asked.
"Just focus on preparing the fields for now, I''ll make further arrangements after that," Han Li replied.
Everyone immediately gave affirmative responses before turning to leave.
"Qianqian,e with me," Han Li suddenly instructed, then turned and made his way back toward his cave abode.
Meng Qianqian faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a hint of tion shed through her eyes as she joyfully followed along behind Han Li, and before long, they had entered a stone chamber in Han Li''s cave abode.
At the center of the stone chamber was a small spirit gathering array that was roughly 30 feet in size, filling the entire chamber with abundant spiritual qi, and at the center of the arrayid a huge white egg.
As Meng Qianqian entered the stone chamber, she was initially quite excited and curious, but her gaze was then drawn to the giant white egg.
Following the past three decades of nourishment, the vitality contained within the egg was bing more and more potent, but it still showed no signs of hatching at all.
Meng Qianqian opened her mouth, seemingly to ask something, but she then recalled what her brother had told her, and she hurriedly closed her mouth and stood off to the side in silence, awaiting further instructions from Han Li.
Han Li looked at the egg in silence for a moment, then said, "Qianqian, your mission from now on is to find a way to hatch this egg for me. You''re using a fire-attribute cultivation art, and you''ve manifested a nascent soul, so perhaps you''ll be able to assist the egg in its hatching process. During this time, you can freely enter this cave abode and this stone chamber, but make sure you don''t mention this to anyone, not even your brother, understood?"
He flipped a hand over to produce a jade badge and a storage bracelet as he spoke, then handed them both to Meng Qianqian.
"Yes, Elder Li! I''ll be sure to keep this a secret and do my best toplete this mission!" Meng Qianqian hurriedly replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then departed from the cave abode and made his way down the mountain.
Shortly thereafter, he appeared in the underground cavern where the fire vein was situated.
Compared with several decades ago, the fire-attribute spiritual power in the air was a lot more stable, but it was still extremely hot, as if the very space itself were on fire.
Above the churningke ofva was a massive fiery red cocoon, which was expanding and shrinking in a rhythmic fashion as it continued to devour the surrounding fire-attribute spiritual power.
Han Li released his spiritual sense to check on the Essence Fire Raven within the cocoon, and an ted look immediately appeared on his face.
Having absorbed so much of the pure fire-attribute spiritual power released by the fire vein, the Essence Fire Raven was well on its way to a full recovery, and it was entirely possible that it could even reach greater heights than its former peak.
The fire raven seemed to have sensed Han Li''s presence, and the giant cocoon wobbled slightly as a string of crisp chirps rang out from within.
"Keep focusing on your recovery here, there''s no need toe out anytime soon," Han Li said with a faint smile.
His words of reassurance seemed to have worked, and the giant cocoon settled down again.
Han Li watched the cocoon for a moment longer, yet right as he was about to depart, the entire underground cavern suddenly shuddered violently.
A burst of indescribably enormous power erupted forth from underground like a ferocious wave, and the roof of the cavern trembled as countless crimson rock fragments came raining down from above.
Even with Han Li''s current cultivation base, he was still quite rmed by this burst of tremendous power.
In the next instant, a deafening sound that resembled the toll of a giant bell rang out from deep under the earth.
The underground cavern quaked violently once again, and a giant wave that was several hundred feet tall rose up from theke ofva, sending moltenva sttering in all directions.
The giant cocoon hovering in mid-air also wobbled a few times before setting down again.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly as a rumor pertaining to the Bell Toll Mountain Range sprang into his mind.
It was said that this ce had been given its name due to the strange bell-toll-like sound that would ring out from underground in the region every once in a while.
In all of his years at the ze Dragon Dao, Han Li had never heard this so-called bell toll, and he was only hearing it for the first time now.
However, the burst of power that had erupted forth from underground didn''t seem to havee from tectonic te movement.
Han Li pondered this for a moment before shaking his head to rid himself of that train of thought.
Regardless of what the underlying reason was, this didn''t have anything to do with him, and he had plenty of other things to worry about.
He took another nce at the giant cocoon before turning to depart, but all of a sudden, he abruptly turned back around like lightning as a hint of blue light shed through his eyes.
He had turned around so quickly that a loud snap had rung out in the air, and he was staring intently at the surface of theke ofva.
It was only for an instant, but out of the corner of his eye, he had spotted a massive red shadow shing past at the bottom of theke ofva.
The red shadow resembled a creature''s tail, and it had shed past at an extraordinary speed.
As soon as Han Li noticed this, he had already released his spiritual sense, but he was unable to track down the red shadow.
There were all types of chaotic auras underground that were severely limiting his spiritual sensory range.
What was that thing? LiETH
Han Li remained standing on the spot in silence for a long while, then raised his head to inspect his surroundings with a faint smile on his face.
It seemed that this Bell Toll Mountain Range was far moreplex than he had imagined. However, even if there were some type of mysterious creature lurking in here, it most likely didn''t pose a threat to the Essence Fire Raven.
With that in mind, Han Li turned and made his way out of the underground cavern.
Several hourster, in the High Profound Pce of the Cloud Piercing Peak.
There were many elders and disciples gathered in front of the white and azure stone walls in the pce, and all of them were scouring the walls for missions that were suitable for them.
As for the golden stone wall at the rear of the hall, that was nowhere near as lively abd bustling. There were only a few True Immortal cultivators standing in front of it, sighing incessantly with tightly furrowed brows.
"Why is it so hard to find a mission that pays well, but doesn''t require much work?" a white-haried elder sighed before departing.
Right as he was exiting the hall, he passed by Han Li, who strode directly to the golden stone wall.
He raised his head to look up at the stone wall, looking at the missions from the top, and as his gaze roamed downward, his brows also began to furrow.
The missions on the stone wall were either ones where the reward didn''t match the difficulty, or required an extremely long time toplete, so it was no wonder that all of the other elders were feeling so dismayed.
The most eye-catching mission on the stone wall was naturally still the one that required one to cultivate the Mantra Axis Scripture to the second level.
Right at this moment, a voice rang out from behind Han Li.
"Is that you, Brother Li?"
Han Li turned around to discover a pair of familiar figures, and the one who had spoken was a man with a coarse beard. He was none other than the inner sect elder with the Nan surname who had participated in the mission released by Xiong Shan alongside Han Li.
"Long time no see, Brother Nan, Brother Lu," Han Li greeted as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Indeed. I heard from Brother Qi some time ago that you were in seclusion, and I didn''t think you woulde out so soon," Elder Nan chuckled as he returned Han Li''s salute.
"Aren''t you a little too conscientious, Brother Li? You''ve only juste out of seclusion, and you''re already here checking out the missions," Elder Lu jibed as he also cupped his fist in a salute.
"The deadline for the sect''s regr elder missionpletion is about to arrive soon, so I thought I''d take on some missions to get the job done as soon as possible," Han Li exined.
The two elders exchanged a nce upon hearing this, and peculiar looks appeared on both of their faces.
Elder Nan cleared his throat, then asked, "Brother Li, are you really going toplete three regr elder missions to fulfill your obligations?"
Their reactions naturally didn''t evade Han Li''s notice, and he replied, "I am. This was the option that I chose when I first entered the sect. Is there something wrong?"
"Well... The regr elder missions released by the sect have always offered great rewards, but they''ve also always been quite difficult toplete, either requiring extensive investment of time and effort, or requiring one to take great risks," Elder Nan exined.
"Indeed. In contrast, it''s far easier to serve at a pce for 100 out of every 1,000 years. There''s always been an element of luck in the regr elder missions as those missions are assigned to you, and you don''t have the option of picking and choosing missions as you please. If you ask me, it would be a better idea to take on a few missions here and earn sufficient merit points to fulfill your obligations," Elder Lu added.
"I see. Thank you for your advice. At the moment, I can''t see any suitable missions on this wall, so I''ll go and see what regr elder missions are assigned to me before making a decision. Where do I go to receive those missions?" Han Li asked.
"In that case, we won''t try to dissuade you any further. To the left of the High Profound Pce''s rear hall is a side hall, and you''ll be assigned your missions there," Elder Nan replied.
"Thank you, Brother Nan. I''ll be going now."
Han Li cupped his fist in a salute toward the two elders before departing.
He made his way around the golden stone wall, then made his way into the rear hall of the High Profound Pce, and sure enough, there was an entrance to a side hall on the left.
The entrance was slightly ajar, and he made his way toward it before pushing it open and entering the side hall, which wasn''t veryrge, only around the same size as Han Li''s guest room.
On the ceiling was a skylight, through which a beam of sunlight was shining directly down upon a potted nt sitting on the upper right corner of a redwood table in the room.
The nt was only around half a foot tall, and it resembled an ancient pine tree. It had a glittering and translucent appearance under the light of the sun, and a series of faint golden veins were extending all the way from its roots to every single branch, giving off specks of starry light.
Han Li was immediately able to tell from the abundant spiritual qi contained within the nt that it was a precious spirit medicine.
However, he didn''t recognize this spirit medicine, nor had he ever seen this type of nting method, and he found himself unable to look away.
Chapter 217: Sloppy Old Man
Chapter 217: Sloppy Old Man
"You like it?"
Right as Han Li was growing rather transfixed by what he was seeing, a rather enigmatic voice rang out from behind the redwood table.
Han Li hurriedly turned in that direction to find an elderly man recliningzily in arge taishi chair behind the table.
He wore a lotus crown and an old gray daoist robe. His gray hair was quite disheveled, while the tip of his nose was slightly red, giving him a very sloppy appearance.
Furthermore, there was a gourd strapped to his belt on either side of his waist.
One gourd was silver, while the other was red, and there wereplex runes engraved on both of them, indicating that they were clearly no ordinary gourds.
"I do," Han Li replied.
"You like it more than those women with big tits and arses?" the elderly man asked as he sat up a little straighter.
Han Li waspletely taken aback by this question and didn''t know how to respond.
The elderly man sitting on the chair seemed to have been a very enigmatic person.
The fact that he was sitting here indicated that he was the attendant elder overseeing this, but not only was he not wearing an inner sect elder robe, the potted spirit nt on the table and the two gourds strapped to his waist didn''t appear to have been things that the average person could''ve owned.
What was most perplexing to him was that the elderly man''s aura was extremely strange, and even with his spiritual sense, he was unable to ascertain the man''s cultivation base.
"Please don''t fool around with me any longer, Senior. I''vee here to ept my regr elder missions," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Seeing as he was unable to glean the man''s cultivation base, it was best to y it safe and refer to him as senior.
The elderly man seemed to have not heard Han Li at all as he grumbled to himself, "What a terrible job this is! I''m about to get bored to death! It''s much more fun tending to my nts..."
He then leaned forward slightly and removed the silver gourd from his belt before pulling out the stopper with a quiet "pop", and the entire side hall was instantly filled with the sweet and fragrant aroma of honey.
As soon as Han Li caught a whiff of this aroma, his eyes immediately lit up. It seemed that the silver gourd contained some type of mixed spirit liquid.
A slightly smug smile appeared on the elderly man''s face at the sight of Han Li''s reaction.
He raised the gourd before slowly tipping it forward, gently pouring a drop of golden liquid out from within onto the soil at the foot of the potted nt on the table.
The potted nt immediately began to glow with golden radiance, which slowly flowed up along the nt like water until it reached all the way to the very tips of its branches and pine-needle-like leaves.
Only after this process had repeated itself several times did the golden light gradually fade away.
The elderly man gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, then strapped the silver gourd back to his belt before pulling out the red gourd on the other side.
Han Li thought that this gourd contained another type of spirit liquid that he was going to pour onto the nt, but to his surprise, the elderly man removed the stopper before chugging down the contents of the gourd.
An even stronger aroma instantly permeated throughout the entire hall,pletely overriding the aroma of the spirit liquid from before.
It was clear that this gourd contained an extremely fragrant wine, rather than another type of spirit liquid.
Han Li was rendered speechless upon seeing this, and he turned to examine the potted nt once again.
After having his fill of wine, the elderly man wiped his lips with the back of his hand, and the tip of his nose had turned an even brighter shade of red.
He took a nce at Han Li, and was very pleased to see Han Li disying such keen interest in his potted nt.
Unbeknownst to him, Han Li was pondering how to learn this type of nting method so that he could use it for himself. If he could do that, then he would be able to nt precious spirit medicines directly in his secret chamber, rather than in the medicine fields.
"Looking at the sequence of missions, the mission that you have to take on is to go to an ind by the Cloud Lake Ind in the eastern sea of the Ancient Cloud Continent. There, you have to find their of an Origin Mirage Beast and bring back one of its spirit husks."
The elderly man had pulled out a thick azure book from somewhere, and he had flipped to a certain page before assigning Han Li his mission.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this. "The mission only requires me to bring back a spirit husk?"
"Don''t underestimate this Origin Mirage Beast. ording to my knowledge, it''s already reached the mid-True Immortal Stage, and it''s not an easy task to sneak into itsir to steal its spirit husk," the elderly man cautioned.
"That''s a very valid piece of advice, Senior. I was too quick to jump to conclusions. Would you happen to have any other information on this beast, Senior?" Han Li asked.
"I can tell you''ve got decent taste, and you''ve been quite polite to me, so I''ll give you this piece of information. The Origin Mirage Beast is constantly in seclusion, but for seven days out of every decade, it''ll leave itsir to wreak havoc wherever it pleases, and that gives you a window of opportunity to steal its spirit husk. If you''re not in luck, then you''ll just have to wait for a few years. Don''t go rushing in recklessly and losing your life," the elderly man said.
"Thank you for this information, Senior," Han Li replied.
"This mission can be both difficult or easy, depending on how you approach it. As long as you''re patient, there''s not much risk involved, and the reward is 200 merit points, which you cane back here to collect after you''vepleted the mission," the elderly man continued.
Han Li gave an affirmative response, then handed over his elder badge to the elderly man.
After epting the mission and securing the relevant map and information, Han Li bade farewell to the elderly man before departing.
In the air above the High Profound Pce, Han Li contemted his options for a moment before deciding to head straight to Cloud Lake Ind.
This wasn''t because he was confident that he would be able to y the Origin Mirage Beast, or because he was in a hurry toplete the mission. Instead, it was because he had no idea when the Origin Mirage Beast was going to leave itsir, and if he were to dy for too long, only to just so happen to miss that seven-day window, then he would have to wait a decade before he couldplete the mission.
Hence, the safest course of action was to get there as early as possible.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately made his way to the teleportation hall on the za, then teleported to the Seaview Peak, which was situated in the eastern part of the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
This mountain was near the eastern border of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, and it was currently the furthest area that Han Li could reach through teleportation array.
Standing on the mountain summit and casting his gaze toward the east, even with his exceptional eyesight, he was only able to see a ck line as thin as a strand of hair in the distance, and that was the eastern sea next to the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
Han Li''s destination, Cloud Lake Ind, was one of the countless inds in that region of the sea.
He pulled out a map of that region of the sea that he had obtained from the sloppy old man, and after carefully inspecting it for a long while, he rose up into the air before flying in a certain direction as a streak of azure light.
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Several monthster.
In the region of the sea to the east of the Bell Toll Mountain Range was a massive ind shaped like a lotus leaf.
There was ake on the ind that took up around a tenth of the ind''s entire area, and it sat at the center of the ind like a bright green jewel. The bodies of water branching off from theke spread in all directions over the ind, much like the veins of the figurative lotus leaf.
Thiske was called the Cloud Cover Lake, and it was the source of all of the freshwater on this ind. The name of the ind was also derived from thiske, and bodies of water that split off from theke nurtured all of the tens of millions of living beings on the ind. There were numerous cities, towns, and viges dotted along the shores of the bodies of water, and to the west of the Cloud Cover Lake was a main branch by the name of Heavy Sand River.
To the left of the river hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the Cloud Cover Lake was a massive city that was over 1,000 feet tall, aptly named Heavy Sand City.
The city was constructed from the unique ck heavy sand that was gathered from the Heavy Sand River, and at this point, the city had already stood for close to 100,000 years. Not only were there millions of mortals living in the city, there was even a cultivation sect that was as old as the city itself.
That night, the sky was gradually beginning to darken, and the sun hadn''t yetpletely set.
The setting sun was only just peeking over the horizon, and its dying light had illuminated a vast section of the sea and the tall city walls of Heavy Sand City a blood-red color.
All of a sudden, a streak of azure light flew rapidly over the sky beforending atop the city to reveal none other than Han Li, who had arrived here after a long journey.
He swept his gaze across the buildings in the city down below, and a grim look appeared on his face.
Most of what should''ve been an impregnable city wall beneath his feet had already copsed, leaving an enormous hole, and even the embrasured watchtowers on the city walls had beenpletely destroyed and reduced to an unrecognizable state.
Both the inner and outer sides of what remained of the city walls were smeared with blood, some of which had already begun to turn ck and coagte, giving off a nauseating odor.
The city was riddled with destroyed and copsed buildings, and many sets of human and animal remains could be seen interspersed throughout the rubble, all of which were severely ravaged and in horrific condition.
As the sun gradually set below the horizon, the entire city was engulfed by a giant shadow, plunging it intoplete darkness. There was no other sound aside from the howling of the wind blowing through thepletely lifeless city.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly spotted a burst of yellow light, which had appeared in the central area of the city, and it seemed that someone had lit a fire there.
He immediately released his spiritual sense in that direction, and momentster, he shot forth from the top of the city wall like an arrow, hurtling directly toward the spot where the fire had been lit.
A resounding boom rang out as Han Li plummeted down into the center of a spacious courtyard, causing the entire courtyard to shudder violently. The houses that were already on the verge of copse instantly toppled over one after another to produce a loudmotion.
The fire that had been lit at the center of the courtyard was also scattered into countless sparks by the force of the impact of Han Li''snding.
The three people gathered around the fire were so horrified that they instantly fell to their knees.
Among them, a brown-robed young man and a middle-aged woman were trembling uncontrobly as cold sweat poured down their faces, while the dark-skinned man that rounded out the trio was kowtowing repeated to the ground, not even daring to look at Han Li as he implored, "Please spare us, Senior! We''ll leave this ce right away..."
Chapter 218: A Coincidence
Chapter 218: A Coincidence
As the dark-skinned man was speaking, he was frantically crawling backwards on his hands and knees.
The three of them were onlyte-Foundation Establishment cultivators, and even though they couldn''t ascertain Han Li''s cultivation base, just the force of hisnding alone made it clear to them that he was a powerful cultivator who could crush them like ants, so they naturally didn''t dare to linger here any longer.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he said in a cold voice, "Hold on a second. Who are you?"
The trio immediately stiffened up in the face of Han Li''s interrogation, and in the end, it was the brown-robed young man who mustered up some courage before replying, "We are just a group of itinerant cultivators from Floral Sun City. We didn''t know that you were here, Senior. Otherwise, there''s no way we would''ve dared toe here."
"Do you know what happened here to reduce this city to such a state?" Han Li asked.
The brown-robed young man faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to Han Li with a perplexed expression as he asked, "You''re unaware of what''s happened here, Senior? Could it be that you''re foreign cultivator?"
Han Li was initially rather perplexed to hear this, but he then quickly understood what the young man was referring to. Indeed, for these low-grade cultivators who had most likely lived their entire lives in a small area on the ind, they were naturally of the opinion that the ind they were on was an entire continent, which made all cultivators from outside the ind foreign cultivators to them.
"Cut the chit-chat! Tell me what happened here!" Han Li said in a cold voice.
"From what we''ve heard, the creature that resides in the Cloud Cover Lake came out to feed again, and it ughtered everyone in the city," the brown-robed young man hurriedly replied.
"What does this creature look like? Have you seen it for yourself?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I certainly haven''t seen the creature, Senior. Otherwise, there''s no way I would''ve lived to tell the tale. However, it''s said that this creature has already been cultivating for countless years, and its enormous in stature, almostparable in size to the hill outside the city. Its tongue is several thousand feet in length, and the venom in its belly..."
The brown-robed young man hurriedly told Han Li everything that he had heard about the beast.
"That''s right! The creaturees out to wreak havoc every once in a while, and each time, it''ll only be satisfied after ughtering an entire city of people!" the dark-skinned man added.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "Does this creature onlye out for seven days once every 10 years, only to disappear again for the next 10 years?"
The dark-skinned man was rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked in a careful voice, "Have you already heard the rumors, Senior?"
Han Li''s heart sank slightly upon hearing this.
The creature that these people were referring to was most likely that mid-True Immortal Stage Origin Mirage Beast. It seemed that even though he had gotten here as quickly as he could, he was still one step toote.
In fact, he had felt rather perplexed on the entire way here.
Under normal circumstances, if an ind had a freshwaterke at its center, then there should''ve been more settlements and higher poption density closer to theke, yet the situation on Cloud Cover Ind was the exact opposite.
The coastal regions of the ind were riddled with cities that virtually formed a ring around the entire ind, but the closer one drew to the center of the ind, the more sparse and well-concealed the human settlements became.
Even though Heavy Sand City was still hundreds of kilometers away from the Cloud Cover Cover Lake, it was already the closest city to theke in the western region of Cloud Lake Ind.
Given the information that Han Li had just received, this situation was most likely a result of the threat posed by the Origin Mirage Beast in the Cloud Cover Lake at the center of the ind.
"Has there been no one to stand up to the creature and deliver it the retribution that it deserves for its heinous actions?" Han Li asked.
"Apparently, an immortal came to the ind under the request of several nearby sects a very long time ago with the objective of ying the creature. In the end, he fought the creature for three days and three nights before being defeated and retreating with severe injuries. After that battle, all of the sects involved were wiped out by the creature in a matter of days, and ever since then, no one has dared to stand up to it," the brown-robed young man exined.
"Come to think of it, what are the three of you doing here?" Han Li asked.
The three people had been kneeling on the ground the entire time, and they exchanged a few hesitant nces, not willing to reveal their motivations.
"Is there something you can''t tell me?" Han Li asked as his expression darkened slightly.
The brown-robed young man shuddered, then hurriedly exined, "Where we are right now is the former site of the Falling Sand Sect, thergest sect in a radius of tens of thousand of kilometers. We were hoping to get here before everyone else and..."
The brown-robed young man''s voice trailed off here, and Han Li finished his sentence for him. "And dig up some treasures from the ruins, right?"
"We''ve only just gotten here and haven''t had a chance to find anything yet, Senior! if you don''t believe me, you can check my storage pouch."
The brown-robed young man immediately pulled out his storage pouch before offering it to Han Li as he spoke, and the other two cultivators hurriedly did the same thing.
All it took was a brief sh of Han Li''s spiritual sense for him to verify that they weren''t lying to him. Everything in their three storage pouchesbined didn''t even have a collective value of five mid-grade spirit stones.
Han Li didn''t despise them for their actions at all. As bottom-dwelling cultivators, particrly itinerant ones with no sects to rely on, cultivation was particrly arduous, and he was more aware of this than anyone.
He then carefully scoured the ruins of the Falling Sand Sect with his spiritual sense, and his brows quickly furrowed slightly.
This was a sect of a decent size, but for some reason, there were only a pitiful number of treasures left behind, and they were all of an extremely low caliber for Han Li''s standards.
"There are still some things under the ruins to the east over there. Dig those things up yourselves, then leave this ce right away."
As soon as his voice trailed off, Han Li rose up into the air as a streak of azure light before flying toward the eastern part of Heavy Sand City.
The treasures left behind in the sect werepletely unappealing to him, so he decided to leave them to this trio instead aspensation for the information that they had provided him. Perhaps those treasures would be able to assist them greatly on their path of cultivation.
The trio of cultivators were instantly rooted to the spot upon hearing this, and they were so bewildered that Han Li was willing to help them rather than condemn them that they were at a loss for words. By the time they returned to their senses, Han Li was already nowhere to be seen.
All three of them turned in the direction that Han Li had departed in, then extended earnest bows of respect and gratitude before scrambling to their feet and rushing over to the ruins to the east to uncover the treasures there.
As for Han Li, he didn''t immediately depart after reaching the eastern part of the city. Instead, he picked out a rtively intact courtyard in the area before descending into it.
The courtyard was quite a spacious one, indicating that it had previously been inhabited by quite a wealthy mortal n, but those mortals were obviously no longer of this world.
After arriving in the courtyard, Han Li set up some simple restrictions, then made his way into the main hall.
He lit up one of the oilmps in the room, then sat down onto a chair beside it.
After that, he flipped a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask, which he promptly put on, and after chanting an incantation, a massive azure array te projection appeared before him.
Prior toing here, he hadn''t done much research into the Origin Mirage Beast as he had been focused on traveling to Cloud Lake Ind as quickly as possible. He had originally nned to enquire somerger sects in Heavy Sand City for information pertaining to the beast, but that n had clearly fallen through.
While it was true that he had missed this seven-day window, he wasn''t nning to return to the sect right away. Instead, he wanted to see if there were any other ways through which he couldplete this mission.
However, the information provided by the sect was far from detailed, and his knowledge of the Origin Mirage Beast was also very limited. As for the information provided by the trio of cultivators from earlier, those were mostly just rumors, so they weren''t to be relied upon.
Hence, he decided to turn to the Transient Guild to see if he could uncover more information on this beast.
The identification mission for the giant egg and those feathers that he had released earlier was still active, but hadn''t received any responses.
After searching for some time, his eyes suddenly lit up slightly.
There really was a mission concerning the Origin Mirage Beast, and it seemed to have been posted over 1,000 years ago.
"y a True Immortal Stage Origin Mirage Beast. Reward: 30 Immortal Origin Stones."
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, and this felt like too much of a coincidence.
Origin Mirage Beasts weren''t extremely rare, but those who had reached the True Immortal Stage had to have been exceedingly rare. Could it be that the target for this mission was none other than the one in the Cloud Cover Lake?
A contemtive look appeared on his face as he pointed at the mission to contact the one who had released it through his mask.
Around 15 minutester, a burst of ripples surged over the array te projection, immediately following which a projection of an azure figure wearing a deer mask took shape in front of Han Li.
"Are you interested in the mission I released, Fellow Daoist?" the figure asked.
"Indeed, I am interested in the mission that you released concerning the Origin Mirage Beast. Do you know where it resides or have any further information on the beast?" Han Li asked.
A hint of tion shed through the azure figure''s eyes, and he hurriedly replied, "I''ll be sure to tell you everything I know, Fellow Daoist. The beast in question resides on an ind by the name of Cloud Lake Ind to the east of the Ancient Cloud Continent, and it possesses the bloodline of the ancient true spirit, the Mirage Dragon. As a result, it can take on countless different forms and is particrly adept at adopting human forms."
"I''m assuming it must be quite difficult to deal with, right? Otherwise, there''s no way your mission would''ve been left hanging for so long," Han Li mused.
"Truth be told, even as far back as several tens of thousands of years ago, the beast had already reached the mid-True Immortal Stage, and it''s extremely cunning, so it is indeed rather troublesome to deal with," the azure figure replied in a truthful manner.
"In that case, 30 Immortal Origin Stones isn''t muchpensation," Han Li remarked.
A hint of urgency crept into the azure figure''s voice as he said, "Truth be told, that''s already all of the Immortal Origin Stones in my possession at the moment. However, the spirit husk of the beast is an exceptional spirit material for refining armor, and you can keep it if you can kill that beast."
After a moment of contemtion, Han Li nodded as he said, "Alright."
"Does that mean... you''re epting this mission, Fellow Daoist?" the azure figure asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.
"I can''t guarantee that I''ll be able toplete the mission, but I''ll certainly give it a try," Han Li replied.
"This is fantastic! In that case, I wish you the best of luck, Fellow Daoist!" the azure figure said in an ecstatic voice.
Chapter 219: Small Test of Abilities
Chapter 219: Small Test of Abilities
Two dayster.
The morning sun was rising up from the surface of the sea, basking the cold Cloud Lake Ind in a warm glow.
There was a murkyyer of mist above the surface of the Cloud Cover Lake at the center of the ind, and the mist showed no signs of dissipating even under the light of the rising sun.
At this moment, Han Li was hovering high up in the sky, surveying theke down below.
Blue light shing within his eyes, while his spiritual sense was scouring over theke, but he discovered that he was unable to see or detect anything through the mist.
With a flick of his wrist, the long ck saber that he had obtained from Fang Pan appeared in his grasp.
Layers of golden scales that emerged over his body, and his arm instantly thickened significantly while ayer of piercing ck light appeared over the surface of the ck saber, drawing in the world''s origin qi in the surrounding area.
Countless inky-ck runes appeared on the de of the saber, releasing waves of ck light that were imbued with potentw power fluctuations, causing the surrounding space to tremble and ripple.
He raised the saber high above his head, then brought it down in a forceful shing motion toward the surface of theke down below.
The sound of howling wind rang out as the entire saber glowed with radiant ck light, and a massive saber projection that was over 1,000 feet in length was unleashed before crashing down upon theke with devastating force.
Even before the saber projection arrived, the sheer force and pressure that it released caused the surface of theke to part down the center.
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out as massive waves swept over the surface of the Cloud Cover Lake, and two enormous walls of water erupted in opposite directions before sweeping toward the shore with tremendous force.
The waves were so powerful that they swept all the way beyond the shore of theke before crashing into the nearby forest.
"Who''s there?!"
A thunderous roar of fury rang out from the bottom of theke, immediately following which a streak of golden light erupted forth from beneath the waves, hurtling directly toward Han Li.
Han Li focused his gaze on the streak of golden light to find that it contained a square-faced middle-aged man in a golden robe with a pair of dark purple eyes. The man was holding a golden longsword that it was piercing directly at Han Li.
The man wasn''t giving off any demon beast aura, but Han Li''s intuition told him that this was the Origin Mirage Beast that he was searching for.
The golden longsword had radiant runes shimmering on its surface, and it was giving off a peerlessly sharp aura.
A loud ng rang out as Han Li parried the sword with his ck de, and the tremendous impact of the sh sent the golden-robed man flying back, while Han Li only wobbled slightly before immediately steadying himself.
"To think that a pitiful little itinerant immortal like yourself would dare to challenge me! You must truly have a death wish! I just so happen to require the blood essence of a human True Immortal to help me break through my bottleneck, so you''vee at just the right time!" the golden-robed man chuckled coldly as he steadied himself several thousand feet away.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he suddenly hurled his golden longsword forward, and it split up into thousands of golden longswords amid a sh of light, arranging themselves intoyers to resemble an enormous golden lotus flower blooming in the sky.
In the next instant, a string of loud ngs rang out as the golden longswords flew through the air one after another, hurtling directly toward Han Li like a flight golden sword dragon.
Initially, Han Li was of the opinion that these golden longswords were nothing more than sword projections, but only as the golden sword dragon flew toward him and attempted to sink its fangs into his body did he discover that it possessed a substantial form.
He immediately raised his saber to ward off the sword dragon, jamming it into the sword dragon''s mouth to prevent it from being able to bite down onto him.
At the same time, the golden sword dragonshed out with its ws from down below, striking him on the chest to tear his robes apart, leaving several rming white marks on his golden scales.
Han Li immediately retaliated with a sh of his saber, which raised a huge flurry of sparks as he pulled it out of the sword dragon''s mouth, then stomped both feet heavily down onto the dragon''s head to send it flying back through the air.
However, before he had a chance to steady himself, the sound of howling wind rang out from behind him, and a strange beast that resembled a True Dragon suddenly appeared behind him before biting down toward his head.
The beast had the head of a dragon, but no dragon horn, and it also had the body of a dragon, but no dragon ws.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and azure light shed over his entire body as he ducked to the side, allowing him to just barely evade the beast''s attack.
However, in the next instant, he felt a burst of excruciating pain spear through his shoulder.
As it turned out, the dragon-like beast had sunk its fangs into his shoulder, and even with his astonishingly powerful physical constitution, the creature was able to bite straight through his shoulder, causing him to bleed profusely.
Han Li was very much rmed by this. He had clearly evaded that attack, yet somehow, the creature had still managed to sink its fangs into him.
He raised his saber-wielding hand up high, and right as he was about to bring the saber down upon the head of the dragon that was biting into his shoulder, a strong sense of peril immediately welled up in his heart, causing him to stop cold in his tracks.
In the next instant, Han Li felt a sharp pain in his mind, not because he had been struck by some other attack. Instead, he had unleashed a spiritual attack upon himself in order to snap himself back to his senses.
Sure enough, following that burst of sharp pain in his mind, he turned to his shoulder to find that it waspletely fine, with no dragon''s head attached to it.
If he had brought his saber down just now, he would''ve unwittingly chopped off his own arm.
"What?! There''s no way a mid-True Immortal cultivator could''ve seen through my illusions!" the golden robed man eximed in disbelief as he hovered in the air several thousand feet away.
Even though Han Li had broken himself out of his opponent''s illusion, he was still feeling extremely apprehensive.
He abruptly shot forward as he shed his ck saber through the air in an arc,shing out at his opponent with tremendous force.
"Insolence!"
A furious look appeared in the golden-robed man''s eyes upon seeing this, and he made a rapid series of hand seals, following which a ball of five-colored light instantly erupted out from between his fingers.
The five-colored light had a dreamy quality to it, and Han Li was struck by a rush of dizziness at the mere sight of it.
At the same time, a metallic grating sound rang out, and the golden sword dragon pounced at him from behind before attempting to sink its fangs into his back.
Han Li reflexively raised a hand to shield his eyes while shing his saber through the air behind him.
A crescent-shaped saber projection was sent sweeping through the air before crashing heavily into the sword dragon, causing thetter to rock back amid a resounding ng.
Right at this moment, a giant translucent five-colored hand suddenly reached out from the illusory five-colored light ahead of Han Li before closing itself around his entire body.
Han Li instantly felt a burst of tremendous forcepressing around his chest, striking him with a sense of asphyxiation.
In addition to that, the five-colored illusory light was still shing incessantly, and its dizzying effect was slowing down his reactions ever so slightly.
"Die!"
An explosive roar rang out from behind the five-colored light, while the sword dragon that had just been repelled by Han Li pounced at him once again.
Two of the golden swords on its head abruptly elongated to resemble a pair of horns, which were aimed directly at the back of Han Li''s chest.
Blue light was shing urgently in Han Li''s eyes, yet he was still unable to see through the illusory light up ahead, and his consciousness was beginning to be rather murky.
In this dire situation, he let loose a thunderous roar, and golden light shed over his body as all of his muscles rapidly bulged, transforming him into a giant golden ape that was over 1,000 feet tall in the blink of an eye.
The giant hand around him was unable to contain him any longer and exploded violently.
As soon as he was freed from the giant hand, Han Li grabbed onto his ck saber with both hands. The ck saber had also extended to several hundred feet in length to match his new stature, and he shed it viciously toward the illusory five-colored light and the golden-robed man behind it.
The sound of howling wind rang out as the five-colored illusory light was instantly scattered by the astral winds unleashed by the almighty sh, while the golden-robed man hurriedly flew in retreat with an rmed and fearful look on his face.
However, the attack epassed an enormous area, and he was unable to evade it in a short time.
Right as the de was about to reach him, a peculiar grin suddenly appeared on the golden-robed man''s face, and he didn''t retreat any further as he merely allowed the de to slice him into two.
The two halves of the golden-robed man''s body warped momentarily before abruptly vanishing into thin air.
At the same time, the giant sword dragon that was pouncing at Han Li from behind suddenly began to speak. "Let''s see how you dodge this attack!"
Its speed abruptly doubled as it spoke, and it was piercing directly toward the back of Han Li''s chest.
With his back facing the sword dragon, Han Li was only able to take a step forward, and he didn''t have enough time to dodge the attack or turn around.
Right as the sword dragon was about to plunge into his back, a burst of azure light suddenly appeared in the air between him and the sword dragon before abruptly vanishing from the spot.
In the next instant, the oing golden sword dragon suddenly lost all momentum, and it plunged straight down toward theke below in a limp and lifeless fashion.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he reverted back to his human form, then descended in pursuit of the golden sword dragon.
A string of ngs rang out in session as the golden swords around the sword dragon''s body fell away one after another, revealing the body of the golden-robed man within.
However, a gruesome hole had been punched through his be, and his strange purple eyes had also lost all of its luster and vibrance, having turned a lifeless gray color.
The nascent soul that was residing in its head had also already been destroyed.
Han Li extended a hand before making a grabbing motion, and all of the golden longswords that had split off from the sword dragon''s body vanished amid a sh of golden light, leaving behind only a single sword that fell into his grasp.
He inspected the golden longsword briefly before stowing it away into his storage bracelet.
Meanwhile, a burst of azure light suddenly shed within the bloody hole in the golden-robed man''s be, and a tiny azure sword that was only around an inch in length flew out from within before quickly expanding and reverting back to its original form.
This was none other than Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and all 72 of them had beenbined into one on this asion.
After nurturing the flying swords in his body for the past few decades, they had alreadypletely absorbed the immense amount of sword essence that they had devoured all those years ago. At the moment, each sword had just about reached the level of an Acquired Immortal Treasure, and whenbined into a single sword, they were well and trulyparable to a true Acquired Immortal Treasure.
Back in the ze Dragon Dao, he had never used the swords as he was concerned that Xiong Shan would notice, so this was the first opportunity that he had had to test out the swords, and they had given him a massively pleasant surprise.
Chapter 220: Along the Way
Chapter 220: Along the Way
It seemed that Han Li was able to y the Origin Mirage Beast in just an instant, but in reality, it had taken a bit of preparation.
Back when he had almost chopped off his own arm after falling prey to the golden-robed man''s illusion the first time, he had already activated his Spirit Refinement Technique to discover that its true body was concealed within the sword dragon, so the golden-robed man was nothing more than a deeper illusion.
After acquiring this piece of knowledge, Han Li decided to y along,bining the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in his body into one in advance beforeshing out to deal the killing blow right as his opponents thought that he had won the battle.
With a wave of his hand, all of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew back to Han Li, then circled around in the air for a moment before vanishing into his body.
Han Li took a nce at the body of the golden-robed man on the surface of theke, then rose up into the air before descending onto theke as well, sending slight ripples surging over its surface.
He bent down and examined the golden-robed man''s body with his spiritual sense for a moment, then raised his right hand before bringing it down like a de, plunging it straight into the golden-robed man''s lower abdomen to pull out a walnut-sized dark purple demon core.
After losing its demon core, the body of the golden-robed man suddenly began to expand.
Ayer of fine cold scales appeared over the body''s skin, and the golden dragon robe that it was wearing was quickly torn apart. The body gradually elongated before ultimately transforming into a dragon-like beast with no horns and no ws, then slowly sank into theke.
After a moment of hesitation, Han Li cast a water repulsion restriction on himself before descending into theke as well.
Inside theke, he quickly spotted the body of the Origin Mirage Beast, which was sinking toward a pce on thekebed.
The Cloud Cover Lake was over 1,000 feet deep, and the light on thekebed was extremely dim, but the pce was giving off radiant white light, resembling a glittering and translucent crystalline pce.
Upon arriving in front of the pce, Han Li discovered that it was epassed within a near-transparent light membrane that was keeping out all of the water in theke.
Instead of immediately entering the pce, Han Li drifted over to the body of the Origin Mirage Beast, then plunged his fingers into the body to pull out a tendon.
The deer-masked figure from the Transient Guild had told him that this demon beast potentially possessed the bloodline of the Mirage Dragon, so he wanted to see if he could extract the blood essence. However, after toiling away for quite some time, he was unable to extract even a single drop of blood essence, and he could only give up in the end.
After harvesting all of the useful parts of the demon beast''s body, he returned to the pce and bypassed the light membrane with ease, arriving in front of the pce gates.
The crystalline pce before him was extremely beautiful to behold, with all types of intricate engravings on its surface, making it resemble an immortal abode far more so than their of a demon beast.
Han Liid his palm against the pce gates before pushing forward, and the two white jade gates, each of which was around 30 feet tall and a foot thick, began to slowly open inward.
Han Li made his way into the pce through the entrance, and he discovered that the furnishings inside were rather bare.
There were only two rows of cylindrical pirs standing on either side of the pce, but several small mountains of items of all types of different descriptions had been piled up around the pirs, presenting an astonishing sight to behold.
As it turned out, these mountainous piles of items consisted of all types of spirit stones and treasures of different grades and calibers, all of which were mixed together and strewn about in a haphazard fashion.
Several days ago, he had wondered to himself why there were so few treasures left in the ruins of the Falling Sand Sect, but it had now be apparent to him that the vast majority if the treasures in the sect had to have been brought here by the Origin Mirage Beast.
It was clear that this beast was a hoarder, and this vast collection had most likelye from all of the cities and sects that it had razed to the ground over the years. With its demise, all of these things now fell into Han Li''s hands.
After carefully examining the mountainous piles of treasures for some time, Han Li suddenly spotted a semi-transparent object peeking out from behind a golden dragon throne deep inside the pce.
He immediately made his way over to the throne before stepping around it to discover a snake-slough-like object, which appeared as if it were made from some type of crystalline material, but it wasn''t hard or cold to the touch in the slightest. Instead, it was as soft as if it had been woven from silk.
This was undoubtedly the Origin Mirage Beast''s spirit husk.
Han Li immediately stowed the spirit husk away in his storage bracelet, then pulled out several storage rings to collect the mountains of treasures in the pce.
After close to half a day, all of his storage rings and the storage bracelet on his wrist had beenpletely filled.
The majority of the collected treasures consisted of spirit stones, and most of them were low or mid-grade ones. Among them, top-grade spirit stone proved to be exceedingly rare, with only around 600 to 700 in total.
If he were to convert the rest of the spirit stones, he estimated that he would be able to exchange them for another 300 to 400 top-grade spirit stones.
It seemed that none of the nearby sects were all that powerful. Then again, this only made sense. If there were any powerful sects nearby, then this Origin Mirage Beast wouldn''t have been able to wreak havoc as it pleased for all these years.
Aside from the spirit stones, there were also over 100 treasures and several hundred artifacts, as well as some strange and exotic spirit materials, but not even a single spirit nt or pill.
The artifacts weren''t noteworthy in any way, but there were some decent treasures. Of course, they weren''t going to be useful to Han Li, but they would''ve certainly made for great additions to the collections of Meng Yungui and the others.
As for the golden longsword that the Origin Mirage Beast was using, Han Li was able to determine that it was a metal-attribute Divine Spirit Treasure, making it a treasureparable to Han Li''s former Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
There weren''t many spirit materials in the Origin Mirage Beast''s collection, but some of them were giving off very peculiar auras, and even though Han Li couldn''t identify them, it was clear to him that they were no ordinary materials.
In particr, there were several head-sized chunks of dark golden metal that had clearly been formed naturally, but there were countless flower-petal-like patterns all over its surface. Furthermore, it was slightly warm to the touch.
For the next few days, Han Li didn''t immediately depart from the pce. Instead, he took advantage of this time away from the ze Dragon Dao to unleash all of the sword arrays in his Azure Essence Sword Arts a few times with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Unsurprisingly, the sword arrays had be significantly more powerful, and Han Li was very pleased to see this.
Right before he departed from the Cloud Cover Lake, he put on his Transient Guild mask to contact the deer-masked figure, who was astonished that Han Li had managed toplete his mission so quickly.
Han Li naturally wasn''t going to exin anything to him, and he offered the demon core of the Origin Mirage Beast for the deer-masked figure to examine. The deer-masked figure was ecstatic, and he immediately issued the 30 Immortal Origin Stones to Han Li.
The only reason Han Li had taken on this mission was because it was one that he couldplete along the way while he was carrying out his regr elder mission for the ze Dragon Dao. Furthermore, he didn''t want to have to wait a whole decade for the Origin Mirage Beast''s next outing.
¡¡
Several monthster.
As soon as Han Li returned to the ze Dragon Dao, he immediately went to the side hall of the High Profound Pce without dy.
Just likest time, the hall waspletely empty, and the gray-robed elderly man seated behind the redwood table was on the verge of falling asleep. Only after hearing the sound of Han Li''s footsteps did he open his eyes ever so slightly.
The elderly man sat up straighter as he yawned and asked in azy voice, "Oh? Why are you back so soon? Could it be that the mission is too difficult for you toplete, so you''re nning to submit merit points instead?"
Han Li offered no reply as he pulled out a storage pouch before setting it down onto the redwood table.
The elderly man faltered slightly upon seeing this, then briefly inspected the contents of the storage pouch with his spiritual sense, and all of the drowsiness in his eyes instantly vanished.
"I had high hopes for you, and you lived up to them, kid! I didn''t think you''d be able toplete the mission so quickly."
"I was very fortunate. By the time I got there, the Origin Mirage Beast just so happened to have been absent, so I was able toplete the mission very quickly," Han Li lied.
"You''re a lucky kid, but sometimes, luck is also a part of one''s power," the elderly man chuckled in response, and it was unclear whether he believed Han Li''s ims or not.
He stowed the spirit husk of the Origin Mirage Beast away, then pulled out that azure book and a jade brush. After scribbling something down into the book with the brush, he took Han Li''s elder badge from him, and after a sh of white light, 200 merit points had been added to the badge.
"Alright, you''vepleted the first mission. Go back and take a rest, but don''t forget toe back soon for your next mission," the elderly man said as he returned Han Li''s badge to him.
"Please assign me the next mission right now, Senior," Han Li requested.
"Well, aren''t you hard-working? You''repletely different from those sly old foxes who try to dy their missions as much as possible," the elderly man chuckled.
Han Li offered no response to this.
Time was of the essence for him, so he naturally had to be more diligent.
The elderly man flipped open the azure book as he spoke, and after flipping through its pages for a while, he stopped on a certain page as he said, "There''s a slightly urgent mission here, so I''ll assign it to you."
"What is it, Senior?" Han Li asked.
"Our sect has arge Fire Origin Crystal mine in the Fire Cloud Peak to the southwest of the Ancient Cloud Continent. For some reason, many of the miners in there have recently gone missing, so the sect had to temporarily close down the mine. A Grand Ascension Stage elder that was stationed there ventured into the mine to examine the cause of the disappearances, but he went missing as well.
¡°Hence, a request has been submitted for the sect to send an inner sect elder to examine the situation and transport all of the Fire Origin Crystals that were excavated in the past 10 years back to the sect. This shouldn''t be a very difficult mission, but the reward of 180 merit points is quite decent," the elderly man said.
Han Li nodded in response upon hearing this. "I see. Seeing as it''s an urgent mission, I''ll set off right away."
He immediately handed over his badge to ept the mission as he spoke, then departed without any dy.
"What an interestingd," the elderly man mused to himself as he looked on at Han Li''s departing figure.
Chapter 221: Wine and Conversation
Chapter 221: Wine and Conversation
Over a yearter, in a vast mountain range to the southwest of the Ancient Cloud Continent.
The entire mountain range was of an extremely vibrant crimson color, and the ground was riddled with countless volcanoes that were asionally spewing forth pirs of moltenva.
One fiery pir after another was erupting into the heavens, presenting a stunning marvel to behold. Bursts of thunderous rumbling were ringing out incessantly, and the sky was filled with fiery clouds, while a strong sulfurous odor was wafting through the air.
Deep inside the mountain range was a mountain that was riddled with holes, giving it the appearance of a honeb, and this was none other than the Fire Cloud Peak.
A streak of azure light arrived on the scene in a sh before fading to reveal Han Li, and he took a nce at his surroundings, then immediately flew toward one of the mine caves down below.
Around half a monthter.
Two figures, onerge and one small, were locked in a fierce battle inside a massive mine cave deep under the Fire Cloud Peak.
Each sh that took ce between them resulted in a thunderousmotion that caused the entire mountain to tremble violently, while countless rocks came tumbling down like rain from above.
The smaller of the two figures was none other than Han Li, and there was azure light surging all over his body as he unleashed a flurry of fist projections.
Therger figure was a giant crimson lizard that was 70 to 80 feet in length, and it appeared to be extremely agile. Furthermore, it was sting pirs of scorching fire out of its mouth, but none of them were able to strike Han Li even once.
In contrast, Han Li was frequentlynding his punches, and with each punch that struck its target, a crack would be smashed into the crimson lizard''s thick scales.
Before long, the lizard''s entire body was already riddled with wounds, and its scales were broken over many parts of its body.
It had been attempting to flee the battle for quite some time now, but Han Li refused to allow it to get away.
Right at this moment, Han Li threw yet another punch at the lizard, yet for some reason, the lizard didn''t bother to dodge at all this time, allowing itself to be sent flying before crashing into the rock face behind it.
Arge section of the scales on its back werepletely shattered by the punch, and it was bleeding profusely.
Right as it was approaching the rock face, the lizard abruptly opened its mouth to st forth a pir of crimson mes, which instantly melted the rock face into moltenva.
The crimson lizard was just about to scurry into the molten passageway that it had created for itself when a massive ck saber projection swept toward it from behind.
The saber projection was imbued with a tremendous burst ofw powers as it descended upon the lizard, and without the protection of its scales, the lizard''s body was instantly sliced in half by the saber projection.
Immediately thereafter, the saber projection erupted into around a dozen smaller saber projections that flew in all directions, destroying the lizard''s nascent soul before it had a chance to escape.
Han Li made a beckoning motion with one hand, and the ck saber flew back into his grasp.
This giant crimson lizard was the culprit responsible for all of the miner disappearances. It wasn''t all that powerful, but its scales were extremely resolute, and it was able to easily melt through rock faces to traverse through the belly of the mountain, allowing it to flee from battles or unleash effective surprise attacks.
Hence, even for Han Li, it had taken half a month to finally trap and y the beast.
A series of crimson crystals, each of which was around the size of a human head, spilled out onto the ground from the beast''s disemboweled belly.
The crystals were semi-transparent with a fiery red glow within them, and they were giving off scorching heat like red-hot pieces of charcoal, except countless times hotter.
"So these are Fire Origin Crystals," Han Li remarked to himself as he descended onto the ground and picked up one of the crystals,pletely unaffected by the scorching heat that the crystal was releasing.
After examining the crystal briefly, he gathered all of the Fire Origin Crystals on the ground with a sweep of his sleeve.
He then turned his gaze to the crimson lizard, and he chopped off its four ws with a few casual shes of his ck saber and stowed them away before flying in another direction as a streak of azure light.
¡¡
Over a yearter.
A figure strode quickly toward the entrance of the High Profound Pce''s side hall, and it was none other than Han Li, who had only just returned to the sect.
He heaved a faint sigh of relief as he caught sight of the building up ahead. Having alreadypleted two missions, he only had one more left toplete, and after that, he would be free to do whatever he wanted for the next century.
With that in mind, he strode into the hall and was just about to say something, only to discover that the gray-robed elderly man wasn''t there.
Thus, he made his way out of the room, then stopped a young servant who just so happened to have been passing by.
"I pay my respects to the esteemed elder," the young man hurriedly said at the sight of Han Li''s elder robes, and he extended a respectful bow toward Han Li as he spoke.
"Do you know where the elder in the side hall went?" Han Li asked.
"Elder Hu Yan should be in the Hundred Wine Cottage on the Hundred Wine Peak at the moment," the young man replied as he pointed to a nearby mountain.
From where they were standing, Han Li was able to see a cluster of buildings on the summit of that mountain.
A peculiar look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he waved a hand to dismiss the young servant, then immediately flew toward the Hundred Wine Peak.
It didn''t take long for him to arrive on the mountain, and he took a nce at therge estate up ahead, which had white walls and a red gate. Above the gate were inscribed the words "Hundred Wine Cottage" in extremely free-flowing text that was bordering on sloppiness, as if someone had made the inscription while drunk.
After a moment of hesitation, Han Li released his spiritual sense, and sure enough, the gray--robed elderly man was in the cottage.
He took a moment to adjust his robes, then made his way into the cottage through the gate.
Inside the cottage was arge open-air area, on either side of which were rows of potted nts much like the one in the side hall. The nts were quite varied and diverse, and not only were they all looking extremely vibrant and healthy, they were all giving off their own unique aromas.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this.
In a nearby pot was a green spirit nt that was taller than a grown man, and the nt wasden with yellow beans, which were very simr to that Warrior Bean that Han Li had taken from the two Grand Ascension cultivators of the Heavenly Ghost Sect.
Only after examining the nt for a long while did he withdraw his gaze, then made his way over to a hall in the courtyard before knocking on the door.
"Elder Hu Yan, Junior Li Feiyu hase to see you."
After that, he stood outside the door and began to wait.
Momentster, the door swung open, and the rich aroma of wine poured forth from within. Elder Hu Yan''s face was red with intoxication, and he was holding a bright green cup in one hand.
"Oh, it''s you. I didn''t think you''d be back so quickly," Elder Hu Yan said in a casual voice, then downed the contents of his cup in one go before smacking his lips with pleasure.
He then stumbled back into the hall beforeying down onto a reclining chair, where he picked up a nearby gon to fill his cup with before downing the contents of the cup in one go again.
"This is truly an exceptional wine..." Elder Hu Yan sighed in contentment.
Han Li made his way into the room, and his brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the drunk old man, but he thenposed himself as he said, "Elder Hu Yan, I''vepleted the second mission assigned to me. A lizard beast that was about to break through to the True Immortal Stage had snuck into the Fire Cloud Peak, and it''s been in by me."
"Ah yes, I already received a message informing me of this. You did quite well, kid," Elder Hu Yan replied without even looking at Han Li, and during this time, he had drunk two more cups of wine.
"Thank you for your kind praise, Elder Hu Yan. I would like my next mission now," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Why the hurry? You''ve already attained immortality, so why are you still scurrying around as if there were a limit to your lifespan? Do you desire more power, or do you wish to be revered by heaven and earth themselves? If you ask me, all of that is superficial, and it''s nowhere near as appealing as this cup of wine in my hand. Come and have a drink with me, and we''ll set everything else aside forter," Elder Hu Yan said as he pulled out another cup and filled it, then patted a chair next to his as an invitation.
Han Li didn''t want to waste any time here, but a thought then urred to him, and he sat down before picking up the cup.
"In that case, please pardon my intrusion."
"That''s the spirit! Drink all the fine wine you can, and enjoy every moment of life to its fullest! That''s my mantra! Cheers!" Elder Hu Yan tapped his cup against Han Li''s before downing his drink in one go, and Han Li also followed suit.
The wine was very sweet and fragrant, and as it slid down his throat, it was initially quite cold, but transformed into a surge of warmth as it flowed into his dantian. That surge of warmth then spread through his entire body, striking him with an incredibly rxing sensation.
He felt as if he had suddenly risen up into the clouds with immortal music ying beside his ears, and it was a truly blissful state.
"This is an exceptional wine!" Han Li eximed.
"I like you, kid! People always say that wine confounds the senses, but they neglect to mention that only when drunk can one cast aside all inhibitions and be true to oneself. The 3,000 Great Daows and the meaning of life can perhaps only be gleaned while in a drunken state! You and I may be immortals, but this is something we can''t obtain from anything else! Here, have some more!"
Elder Hu Yan chortled with mirth as he filled Han Li''s and his own cup again.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this.
It seemed that Elder Hu Yan was only making drunken ramblings, but there was some deeper meaning to his words.
Following Han Li''s return to the Immortal Realm, there had been danger at every turn, and he had constantly been on his guard, making him unable to cast aside his inhibitions and be true to himself. This waspletely different from the carefree life of an immortal that he had previously envisioned.
However, after drinking this cup of wine and hearing these words from Elder Hu Yan, he felt as if all of his worries and frustration had faded away, and he couldn''t help but want to agree.
He had once been just a boy in a vige, and up to this point in his cultivation journey, he had constantly been under immense pressure. Was this how he was supposed to live out the rest of his existence?
He had already attained immortality, and he now owned a vast territory in a powerful sect, so it seemed that it was time that he also enjoyed life to its fullest.
On top of that, perhaps only by setting aside some of his shackles and inhibitions could he get closer to the Great Dao...
No, this isn''t right!
All of a sudden, he shook his head forcefully to rid himself of these thoughts.
Back when he first entered the Immortal Realm, it was perhaps precisely because he had gottencent that he had ended up losing his memories and his treasures. Otherwise, given his cautious and steadfast nature, there should''ve been no way that he had fallen into such a terrible state.
He had only just re-established himself in the Immortal Realm, and if he were to let down his guard again, there was a very good chance that he would suffer the same fate.
It appeared that all was safe and well in the Immortal Realm, but in reality, there was danger lurking at every turn, and he had to be even more cautious if he wanted to survive in this hostile environment.
All of these thoughts passed through his mind in a sh, and in that instant, his determination and resolve toward pursuing the Great Dao was reaffirmed.
"This is Green Pear Wine, right? As expected, it truly is an outstanding wine," Han Li praised as he tipped his cup back, but his eyes had be extremely clear, and thecent sensation that had clouded his heart hadpletely faded.
Chapter 222: Soul Mates in Wine
Chapter 222: Soul Mates in Wine
"Oh? You''re a wine expert as well?" Elder Hu Yan asked as a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes.
"I wouldn''t dare to call myself an expert in front of you, Elder Hu Yan," Han Li replied with a smile.
Indeed, he was far from a wine expert. He had only learned some things about this subject as he was often dragged along by Sun Ke to drink with him while crossing the Thunderstorm Sea, and it just so happened to have been the case that this was one of the wines that he had drunk with Sun Ke.
However, drinking the wine back then hadn''t inspired any of these revtions in his heart.
"This is fantastic! I took a liking to you as soon as I saw you, but I didn''t think you would be an avid wine enthusiast as well! Come, let''s have a few more drinks!"
Elder Hu Yan was ecstatic, and he stood up from his reclining chair before returning to the room.
By the time he re-emerged, he was holding seven or eight different gons, which he set down onto the table one by one.
The styles of the gons were all quite varied, as was the case with the apanying cups.
There was a copper goblet, as well as cups made from jade, wood, stone, gold, and various other types of materials. Furthermore, each cup had some peculiar designs engraved upon them, and these designs appeared to have been runes, rather than purely for decoration.
Han Li was immediately able to tell that every single one of these cups and gons was a treasure, but he had no idea what effects they had.
A hint of intrigue welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this, and he smiled as he asked, "Why have you brought out so many cups, Elder Hu Yan? Could it be that each type of wine has to be served in its own cup?"
Elder Hu Yan was looking extremely excited, and he eagerly replied, "Of course! A fine steed requires a good saddle, and the same applies to wine. If you don''t have the right cup, even the finest wine won''t taste as good as it''s meant to. For example, this Green Pear Wine must be served in Heavenly Azure Jade cups. Another example is this Red Mulberry Immortal Wine, which must be served using 10,000-year-old green vine cups to maximize its aroma..."
Han Li nodded in response and picked up the cup of Red Mulberry Immortal Wine, which was another type of wine that he had drunk with Sun Ke while crossing the Thunderstorm Sea.
After just a small sip, his eyes instantly lit up.
The Red Mulberry Immortal Wine that he had drunk with Sun Ke had been one of the most precious wines in Sun Ke''s collection, so it was definitely of no lesser a quality than this one, but this cup of wine was far more fragrant inparison.
Han Li took another, and after carefully savoring it for a moment, he quickly realized why this was the case.
As it turned out, the green vine cup was giving off an ancient vine aura that significantly enhanced the aroma of the wine.
"This Red Mulberry Immortal Wine is brewed from 1,000-year-old Red Mulberry Fruit, which is a fire-attribute spirit ingredient, while this green vine cup contains wood-attribute spiritual qi. Wood gives rise to fire, so it naturally enhances the aroma of the wine!" Han Li mused as a hint of admiration appeared in his eyes.
Initially, he had been rather skeptical about Elder Hu Yan''s ims, but he now knew that iot really was necessary to pair certain wines with the right cups.
"That''s correct. You really do have a knack for wine. Here, have a taste of this Flowing Light Immortal Wine," Elder Hu Yan praised as he picked up a white gon, then poured out a cup of shimmering amber-colored wine.
Han Li was treated to several types of wine in a row, and all of them were rare and exquisite wines.
He knew very little about wine, but he was a great listener, and his willingness to listen and learn presented a very pleasing sight for Elder Hu Yan.
These wines weren''t like ordinary wines in that they were immortal wines that were extremely beneficial for cultivation. Han Li was only at the early-True Immortal Stage, and after drinking so much, his dantian was already filled to the brim with chaotic energies, so it was most likely going to take him a long time topletely digest everything.
With that in mind, he immediately stopped drinking.
Meanwhile, Elder Hu Yan continued to down one cup of wine after another, and it was clear that his cultivation base was significantly superior to Han Li''s.
Han Li waited for a short while, but he could see that Elder Hu Yan had no intention of stopping anytime soon, so he interjected, "Could we take a little break, Elder Hu Yan? I have something I would like to report to you."
"You''re a real spoilsport, you know that? Fine, spit it out then!" Elder Hu Yan harrumphed in a disgruntled voice as he sat up in his chair.
Han Li gave an apologetic smile as he pulled out a storage treasure before offering it to Elder Hu Yan.
"All of the Fire Origin Crystals excavated from the Fire Cloud Peak over the past decade are in there."
Elder Hu Yan epted the storage treasure, then examined its contents briefly with his spiritual sense before tossing it aside, following which he pulled out that azure book and scribbled something down onto it.
"It seems like the sect holds these Fire Origin Crystals in very high regard, Elder Hu Yan. May I ask what these crystals are used for? I can tell that they contained immense fire-attribute spiritual qi, but they''re very brittle, and I''d say they''re more like spirit stones than other types of fire-attribute ore," Han Li said.
"They''re a type of fuel used for refining Immortal Origin Stones," Elder Hu Yan replied without even raising his head.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked, "How are these Fire Origin Crystals used in the refinement of Immortal Origin Stones?"
Elder Hu Yan raised his head to take a puzzled nce at Han Li, then asked, "Are you not aware of the Nine Turns Immortal Origin Array?"
"I haven''t heard of it before this," Han Li replied in a truthful manner.
"I see. You must''ve only recently joined the sect, right? Where do youe from?" Elder Hu Yan asked.
"You are correct, Elder Hu Yan. I''ve only been in the sect for less than a century, and I came from a secluded ind on the Primordial Wave Continent," Han Li replied.
"That makes sense. The Primordial Wave Continent is a very secluded ce, so it''s no wonder you don''t know about these things. The Nine Turns Immortal Origin Array is an extremely renowned array in the Northern cial Immortal Region, and it''s capable of fusing 100 top-grade spirit stones into one in a short time to form a single Immortal Origin Stone," Elder Hu Yan exined.
"I see. It''s no wonder that Immortal Origin Stones are so rare on the Primordial Wave Continent, yet they seem to be a lot moremon in the sect," Han Li mused with an enlightened expression.
"Of course. The Primordial Wave Continent can''t even begin topare with our sect," Elder Hu Yan said in a proud manner.
He flipped a hand over to stow the azure book away as he spoke, then took Han Li''s elder badge from him before adding 180 merit points to it.
"Thank you, Elder Hu Yan. Please spare me a bit more of your time and assign me my next mission. It''ll only take a short while, and we can get back to drinking after that," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"I finally get some time to ck off, yet here you are, nagging me to no end!"
Elder Hu Yan red at Han Li with a displeased expression as he spoke, then flipped through a few pages of the mission book before raising his head to look back at Han Li.
"Seeing as you''re in such a hurry toplete your three missions, I presume you want to get them done as quickly as possible so you can return to cultivation, right? In that case, I have just the right mission for you. In total, it''ll only take several months toplete."
Han Li was very happy to hear this, and he asked, "What''s the mission?"
"In order for inner sect disciples to be promoted to direct disciples, they have to pass a trial, and your mission is very simple: you are required to protect some of the inner sect disciples in secret as they undertake the trial," Elder Hu Yan exined.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this. "Protect them in secret?"
"That''s right. Those inner sect disciples must pass the trial through their own power, and under normal circumstances, they are to receive no assistance. However, many unforeseen mishaps have taken ce during past trials, so it''s be a convention to have one or two True Immortal Stage elders apanying the trial-takers in secret for their safety," Elder Hu Yan exined.
"I see. When does this mission start?" Han Li asked.
"You''re in luck, the mission starts in three days. When the timees, go to the Rising Sun Pce, and someone will notify you of the specific details," Elder Hu Yan replied.
"Thank you, Elder Hu Yan," Han Li said with a grateful look on his face.
Elder Hu Yan had a rather sharp tongue, but he had been quite good to Han Li, and the three missions he had assigned to him had all been rtively easy toplete.
"No need to thank me, just make sure toe over and have a few drinks with me whenever you get some spare time," Elder Hu Yan said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"I''ll be sure to do so," Han Li replied with a smile, then stood up to depart.
As he left the room, he passed by that spirit nt that wasden with yellow beans again, and he couldn''t help but stop in his tracks to examine it again.
"Are you familiar with Dao Warriors as well?"
Elder Hu Yan''s voice had rung out directly behind Han Li, and Han Li was quite startled by the fact that Elder Hu Yan had gotten so close to him without his detection.
However, he had alreadyposed himself by the time he turned around, and he said, "I only heard about these things by chance in the past. It looks like you''re quite an expert in Dao Warriors."
"Of course! If I rank myself as second in terms of Dao Warrior mastery, no one in the ze Dragon Dao would dare to im the top spot!" Elder Hu Yan dered with a hint of pride in his voice.
Han Li was ecstatic to hear this, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "I''ve always been very interested in Dao Warriors, but it''s something that very few people are familiar with, so I''ve never been able to find someone to teach me. Would it be possible for you to..."
"You want to learn the art of Dao Warriors from me? No, absolutely not! There''s no way I''ll teach this to you, so don''t even think about it," Elder Hu Yan interjected as he shook his head vigorously before Han Li even had a chance to finish his sentence.
"Is there really no room for discussion on this subject, Elder Hu Yan?" Han Li asked.
Elder Hu Yan was just about to turn Han Li down once and for all, but it was clear that he had taken a liking to Han Li after drinking with him, and he said in a meaningful voice, "It''s not entirely out of the question. I have two vices in life, one of which is wine, while the other is the art of Dao Warriors. If you can find an immortal wine recipe better than the ones I currently possess, then I could perhaps teach you."
He had scoured thend for countless years for delectable wines and recipes, so he was confident that even in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region, there weren''t many people who could exceed him in this area.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh at the sight of Elder Hu Yan''s confident expression.
He didn''t know much about wine, but even he could still tell that Elder Hu Yan was an expert in this area. All of the immortal wines that he had presented to Han Li just now had been extremely rare and delectable, and he had no idea where he was supposed to find better ones.
It seemed that Elder Hu Yan really didn''t want to instruct Han Li in the art of Dao Warriors.
"Alright, I''ll be sure to do my best, and if I do find something that fits your criteria, I hope you won''t go back on your word, Elder Hu Yan," Han Li said.
Even though the chances were extremely slim, he still didn''t want to give up. If worse came to worst, he would just have to release a mission in the Transient Guild, and he was sure that he would be able to find something as long as he was willing to pay the price.
"I never go back on my word, so there''s no need to try and goad me. If you really can find such an exceptional wine recipe, then I''d be more than willing to impart my knowledge in the art of Dao Warriors upon you," Elder Hu Yan harrumphed.
"In that case, I''ll be taking my leave now," Han Li said with a faint smile, then cupped his fist in a parting salute before departing.
Chapter 223: Mark
Chapter 223: Mark
After leaving the Hundred Wine Cottage, Han Li returned straight to the secret chamber of his cave abode, and after activating all of the restrictions inside, he sat down on the spot with his legs crossed.
Havingpleted two regr elder missions in a row, he was feeling quite weary from his rigorous travels, even though neither mission had been particrly difficult toplete. Now that he had three days to rest, he could digest the immortal wines that had just consumed and also recuperate somewhat.
However, not long after he closed his eyes, he abruptly reopened them again as his expression changed ever so slightly.
The storage bracelet on his wrist had suddenly begun vibrating without any warning.
Before he had a chance to do anything, a streak of ck light shed past, and the ck saber flew out on its own, then shot forth into the distance at an incredible speed like a bolt of ck lightning.
Due to how abruptly all of this had unfolded, Han Li was unable to immediately stop the saber, but he was able to quickly react before making a hand seal, andyers of azure light instantly appeared within the secret chamber to prevent the saber''s escape.
Dazzling ck light erupted from the saber, apanied by what sounded like an animalistic roar, and the ck saber was able to slice through theyers of azure light with ease, but it was also slowed down slightly as a result.
Right at this moment, Han Li conjured up his Mantra Treasured Axis amid a sh of golden light, and golden ripples spread through the surrounding area in a radius of 100 feet, epassing the ck saber within.
As a result, the saber was slowed down once again, this time to only a third of its previous speed, immediately following which it was drawn back into Han Li''s grasp by a burst of invisible suction force.
The ck saber began to vibrate incessantly as it struggled to break free, but it waspletely ensnared within Han Li''s vice-like grip.
What''s going on?
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed upon seeing this.
Fang Pan was already dead, and during all these years in which the ck saber had been in his possession, he had already carefully refined it once, so why was this happening?
With that in mind, he injected his enormous spiritual sense into the ck saber, and what he saw was not a very pleasing sight.
As it turned out, the ck saber had alreadypletely escaped from his control, and there were bursts of invisible force inside that kept out his spiritual sense.
Han Li harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and translucent light shed from his be as a burst of even more tremendous spiritual sense erupted forth in a frenzy, forming a semi-transparent sword projection that was around a foot in length before piercing into the ck saber.
The saber projection had been conjured up by Han Li using his Sword Observation Art, and it was able to slice through the bursts of invisible force with ease.
Thus, Han Li was able to force his spiritual sense through theyers of restrictions within the ck saber, and his spiritual sense quickly reached a ck space that was nestled within the saber''s deepest part.
The space was riddled with countless ck patterns that varied in thickness, resembling countless cobwebs that formed an enormous andplex array, while a ck altar stood at the center of the array.
A ball of warped ck light was hovering within the altar, shing incessantly, and the array patterns around it were also constantly shing, as if they were resonating with the ball of ck light.
Han Li was quite stunned by what he was seeing.
He had meticulously refined the ck saber in the past, and his spiritual sense had reached this ce before, but at the time, the array patterns here hadn''t been anywhere near thisplex.
This was most likely the true form of the core restriction within the ck saber.
He cast his gaze toward the ball of ck light, and it seemed to have detected his gaze as a rather indistinct face appeared within it before looking back at Han Li.
The features of the face were quite blurry, but its eyes were quite clear, and they were thin and long, resembling sharp des, while giving off an enraged and arrogant gleam.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon seeing this.
The face wasn''t very clear, but it definitely didn''t belong to Fang Pan.
With that in mind, it immediately dawned on him that the owner of the saber wasn''t Fang Pan. Instead, he had most likely borrowed it from someone else.
Even though he had meticulously refined the saber, there was no way that he could''ve detected these concealed restrictions nted within the saber by its original owner.
All of a sudden, Han Li realized the peril that he was in.
The owner of the saber had activated the mark within it most likely to sense its exact location so that he could recover it, and if that person were to track him down, then he would be in a world of trouble.
As soon as these thoughts sprang into Han Li''s mind, he immediately conjured up a massive semi-transparent sword projection thatshed out viciously at the ball of ck light.
The blurry face let loose an infuriated roar, and it transformed into a length of translucent ck chain that was rather simr in appearance to an Origin Separation Law Chain before whipping itself at the sword projection.
A ferocious sh took ce, and the ck chain was sliced into two by the sword projection before disintegrating into countless specks of ck light.
All of the array patterns inside the ck space instantly fell dark, and at the same time, the ck saber also ceased its struggles, while the light radiating from it faded.
It had bepletely still and obedient, and only now did it appear to have beenpletely refined.
However, Han Li wasn''t particrly ted to see this. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the ck altar, within which was something that resembled a cross between a rune and a mark, and it was giving off faint spiritual light.
That''s a bonded mark!
Han Li immediately conjured up another semi-transparent sword projection above the altar before sending it crashing down onto the mark.
A loud thump rang out, and the sword projection was repelled, while the bonded mark only shuddered slightly before reverting back to its original form, seeminglypletely indestructible.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and instead of continuing to unleash more attacks, he withdrew all of his spiritual sense.
Back in the secret chamber, he looked down at the ck saber in his hand with an indecisive expression.
Right as Han Li forced his spiritual sense into the ck saber and attempted to erase the mark within it, there was a massive ck crane that was several thousand feet in size flying through the sky countless kilometers away on the Ancient Cloud Continent.
The crane''s entire body was covered in metallic ck plumage, but the feathers on the top of its head were golden in color, resembling a crown. Faint ck mes could be seen on the surface of its feathers, and these mes were particrly pronounced on its wings, forming two evenrger fiery ck wings around its actual wings.
The crane was pping its wings rapidly as it flew at an extraordinary pace, covering a distance of several hundred kilometers with every single p.
A burly yellow-robed man that was close to 10 feet in height was seated on the ck crane''s back with his legs crossed.
There were over 100 yellow array gs hovering in the air around him, and they were all giving off bursts of yellow light to form an array that was several hundred feet in size, which was fluctuating in brightness as it slowly revolved on the spot.
He made a hand seal, and countless yellow runes surged out of hands, then circled around momentarily in the air before flowing into the surrounding array, and it seemed that he was unleashing some type of secret technique.
All of a sudden, the yellow array shuddered violently before exploding, and all of the array gs were sent flying in all directions.
The yellow-robed man''s face paled slightly, and he opened his eyes as he cursed, "Damn it!"
With a sweep of his sleeve, all of the scattered array gs converged back together before flying into his head, vanishing without a trace.
"Were you able to track him down, Master?" the giant ck crane asked in a sharp and piercing voice.
"I almost managed to do it. Having said that, I''ve determined the rough direction that he''s in. What a useless piece of trash that Fang Pan was. Not only did he end up dead, he lost my ck Emperor Immortal ying de as well!" the yellow-robed man grumbled.
"Fang Pan was nothing more than a fool with mediocre aptitude, how could he possiblypare with you?" the giant crane remarked with a hint of derision in its voice.
"In any case, the ck Emperor Immortal ying de is my bonded immortal treasure, and I can''t afford to lose it. If I had known this would happen, I would''ve never lent it to Fang Pan," the yellow-robed man grumbled with a frustrated expression.
"Speaking of which, that Han Li sure is a lucky fellow. Not only did he not die 300 years ago, he''s managed to kill Fang Pan now. Having said that, now that you''re going after him, it seems like his good fortune hase to an end," the ck crane said in a sycophantic manner.
"I don''t know what secret this Han Li is harboring that made Fang Pan so determined to hunt him down. I have to say, I''m extremely curious! I have to make sure that old fart doesn''t find out. Otherwise, I won''t get to im his secrets for myself," the yellow-robed man said in a cold voice, and an enormous aura began to emanate from his body, causing his robes to bulge around him.
The nearby air began to buzz and tremble as a string of loud cracks and pops rang out.
The giant ck crane couldn''t help but shudder slightly in the face of the yellow-robed man''s terrifying aura, and it lowered its head as it sped up a little more.
¡¡
After staring at the ck saber in his hand for a while, Han Li suddenly set it down before making a rapid string of hand seals.
Dazzling azure light instantly erupted from his hands, forming a series ofrge azure runes that descended onto the ck saber.
A series of azure runes instantly appeared on the surface of the saber, and these runes were only increasing in number, spreading over the entire saber in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, the ck saber had transformed into an azure saber that wasn''t giving off even the slightest aura.
This was a treasure sealing technique that Han Li had learned in the past, and after unleashing the technique, he pulled out a long ck box, which was clearly a treasure as well.
The surface of the box was shing with spiritual light, and it was giving off a peculiar aura.
He ced the ck saber into the box, then flipped a hand over to produce several talismans, all of which he also stered onto the box.
His brows were slightly furrowed as he looked down at the ck box in his hand.
Even after casting so many seals onto the saber, he still wasn''t confident that its former owner would bepletely unable to sense it.
Hence, as long as this saber remained by his side, there was always the risk that its former owner could track him down.
He didn''t know what type of rtionship Fang Pan shared with the saber''s former owner, but they were both definitely enemies to him.
It seemed that the owner of the saber had to have used some type of special refinement method to have nted such a resolute seal within the saber.
By Han Li''s own estimates, given his current level of power, if he wanted topletely erase the seal, then the only way to do so would be to slowly refine it using his nascent me, and that would take him at least a century.
This was far too much time to waste on a single weapon, and he was at a slight loss for what to do.
Chapter 224: Passing the Trouble Onto Someone Else
Chapter 224: Passing the Trouble Onto Someone Else
After pondering the issue for a long time, Han Li finally arrived at a decision.
This saber is nothing but trouble, so as opposed to wasting the time it would take to refine it, it would be better for me to sell it.
The saber was indeed quite powerful, but his own safety was naturally far more important inparison.
After making up his mind, Han Li didn''t waste any time as he flipped his hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask, which he promptly put on.
A massive azure array projection soon appeared, and Han Li turned his gaze to the trade section before releasing a trade mission.
There were two ways to sell things in the Transient Guild, one of which was to only disy images of the item being sold in a mission and setting out one''s intentions. If someone were interested in the item, then the two parties could negotiate a price.
The second method was to list a set price that was non-negotiable.
Han Li chose the second option without any hesitation, listing the saber at a price of 50 Immortal Origin Stones.
Given the power and caliber of the saber, this was definitely a favorable price for prospective buyers.
In this current situation, all he wanted was to sell the saber as soon as possible to rid himself of this trouble, and he didn''t conceal the fact that the bonded mark of the saber''s previous owner still remained within it.
There were many pieces of stolen goods being sold in the Transient Guild, so this wasn''t something that was frowned upon. In the world of cultivation, people were constantly stealing treasures from others, so the buyers in the Transient Guild didn''t care where the items that they purchased hade from.
This was most likely why so many people were willing to pay a heavy price to join the Transient Guild.
Han Li ced the wooden box onto the teleportation array at the center of the array projection, and it instantly vanished amid a sh of light.
Han Li naturally didn''t want to give up such a powerful treasure, but at the same time, it was a relief to do so.
He was just about to remove his mask when a thought suddenly urred to him, and he released another mission searching for recipes for immortal wines.
Elder Hu Yan had countless fine wines in his Hundred Wine Cottage, so it wasn''t going to be an easy task finding one that wasn''t in his extensive collection, but Han Li was still eager to try his luck.
After that, he removed his mask and heaved a faint sight of relief.
He was feeling a little weary after that rather tense sequence of events, and he closed his eyes as ayer of faint azure light appeared over his body.
Two days flew by in a sh, and by the time Han Li reopened his eyes, he waspletely reinvigorated.
He immediately pulled out his Transient Guild mask before putting it on, and sure enough, the ck saber had already been sold.
"Thank heavens for that," Han Li murmured to himself as he counted the 50 Immortal Origin Stones in his hands.
As for whether the buyer of the saber was going to be pursued by its original owner, that wasn''t something for Han Li to be worried about.
After all, clinching such a powerful Acquired Immortal Treasure for only 50 Immortal Origin Stones was a massive steal, so they had to pay an additional price elsewhere.
Even though the saber had been sold, the mission that he had released requesting wine recipes hadn''t received any responses.
Han Li didn''t have very high hopes for the mission anyway, so he immediately stowed the mask away before leaving his secret chamber.
It was only first light, and the sun had just begun to rise in the east, basking the earth in a warm golden glow.
Ayer of golden radiance had appeared over the snow-covered Bell Toll Mountain Range, giving a far more dazzling and beautiful appearance than usual.
Han Li took a deep breath, feeling further reinvigorated by the cold air.
This was already the third day, and it was time that he went to the Rising Sun Pce.
Even though there wasn''t supposed to have been any danger associated with this mission, given his careful and cautious nature, he still made sure to sort through all of his pills and belongings, making sure that he had everything that he might need before departing from the Crimson Dawn Peak.
Close to half a dayter, Han Li emerged from a teleportation hall, then flew away in a certain direction as a streak of azure light, arriving at a golden pce shortly thereafter.
The pce was over 100 feet tall and extremely majestic to behold. On either side of the pce gates was a sun diagram, and a que was hanging above the gate with the words "Rising Sun Pce" inscribed upon it.
At this point, there were already quite a few people in the pce. Judging from their attire, they seemed to have all been inner court disciples, and all of them appeared to have been waiting for something.
Right as Han Li was hesitating about whether to go in, a square-faced young man in an attendant''s robe approached Han Li from one side of the gate, then cupped his fist in a salute as he asked, "You must be Elder Li, right?"
Han Li nodded in response.
"My name is Fang Yu, and I''m an attendant here at the Rising Sun Pce. Pleasee with me, Elder Li," the square-faced young man said with a smile, then made his way toward a side door in the Rising Sun Pce.
Han Li followed along, and the two of them made their way into a side hall with only nothing more than a set of tables and chairs inside.
A middle-aged man in a schrly robe was seated in the room, and his head was lowered as he savored the cup of spirit tea in his hand.
The man raised his head upon hearing the sound of footsteps, and Han Li faltered slightly at the sight of him, then cupped his fist in a salute as he greeted, "Long time no see, Brother Su."
The schrly-robed man was one of the non-native elders that had undertaken Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s sword refinement mission alongside Han Li, and the two of them were on friendly terms.
"Indeed, Brother Li. I heard that you''ve been cultivating in seclusion this entire time. When did youe out of seclusion?" Su Tongxiao asked with a wide smile as he set down his teacup before leading Han Li to his chair in a hospitable manner.
Meanwhile, the square-faced young man had already prepared a cup of spirit tea for Han Li as well.
"I''ve been out of seclusion for a while now," Han Li replied with a smile. "Have you also taken on the mission to protect the inner court disciples during their promotion trial?"
"I have. I''m very short on funds at the moment, so I have to do more missions to earn some merit points," Su Tongxiao replied with a wry smile.
Han Li nodded in response, following which he seemed to have made an unexpected observation, and a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes as he cupped his fist in a salute and said, "It appears that you''ve already opened 12 immortal acupoints! This is truly worthy of celebration, Brother Su!"
There were quite a few True Immortal cultivators in the sect, but the majority of them were at the early-True Immortal Stage. Mid-True Immortal cultivators were quite rare, and as forte-True Immortal cultivators, there were barely any aside from the deputy dao lords.
"I was stuck at the early-True Immortal Stage for many years, and it was only just over 10 years ago that I finally managed to make a breakthrough. However, in order to do so, I had to spend virtually all of my merit points, and that''s why I had to take on this mission," Su Tongxiao replied, and he was trying to put on a calm facade, but there was an undeniable hint of excitement in his eyes.
"If I can make the same breakthrough, I''d be willing to give up everything in my possession, let alone just some merit points. I must say, I''m extremely envious, Brother Su," Han Li chuckled.
The ttery in Han Li''s words was inting Su Tongxiao''s ego, and he couldn''t help but burst intoughter as he replied, "Surely you jest, Brother Li. I see that you''ve also made quite some progress in your cultivation base during these past few decades of seclusion."
The square-faced young man had been standing off to the side this entire time, and he interjected, "Please wait here for a moment, esteemed elders. The trial mission won''tmence for some time, and when that timees, someone will inform you of the specific details of the mission."
"I see. I''m sure you''re quite busy, so you can go now," Su Tongxiao said with a wave of his hand.
The square-faced young man extended a salute toward the two elders before departing.
"Do you know him, Brother Su?" Han Li asked as he picked up his teacup before taking a sip.
The tea was very rich and fragrant, and its aroma lingered in the mouth for a long time even after it had already been swallowed, indicating that it was an exceptional tea.
"I''ve taken on this mission several times in the past, so I''ve met him a few times," Su Tongxiao exined.
"I see. In that case, I''ll have to learn from you, Brother Su. This mission doesn''t seem like much, but I can''t shake the feeling that it''s not as simple as it appears on the surface," Han Li said as he set down his teacup.
"That''s well-observed of you, Brother Li. Indeed, there''s more to this mission than meets the eye. Take a look at the inner court disciples in the main hall."
Su Tongxiao flicked a finger through the air as he spoke, releasing a streak of blue light thatnded on one of the walls of the side hall.
Ayer of gentle blue light instantly appeared over the wall, which gradually turned transparent.
On the other side of the wall was the main hall, and they were able to see everything inside, but what was quite interesting was that no one in the main hall seemed to have noticed the change in the wall.
"Your control over your water-attribute abilities is still as immacte as ever, Brother Su," Han Li praised as he raised an eyebrow.
"You''re far too kind, Brother Li," Su Tongxiao replied with a pleased smile.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the inner court disciples in the main hall, and they all appeared to have been quite young.
It was clear that they possessed exceptional aptitude, and all of them had reached the Spatial Tempering Stage.
Even though the age of a cultivator couldn''t be determined solely based on their physical appearance, Han Li was able to tell at a nce that none of the cultivators in the hall were over 1,000 years of age.
Even in the Northern cial Immortal Region, it was extremely rare for someone to reach the Spatial Tempering Stage at such a young age, and it was apparent from this that these disciples most likely had enormous support in terms of resources toplement their outstanding aptitudes.
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed a beautiful young woman in a white dress. The woman was none other than Bai Suyuan, and he had only taken a rough nce at the disciples earlier, so he had failed to notice her.
Her appearance hadn''t changed much at all, but she had already reached the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage. It seemed that she had only recently made the breakthrough, but that was still an astonishing rate of progress.
Then again, it wasn''t all that remarkable once one considered that she possessed the Moonlight Immortal Physique with seven innately awakened immortal acupoints, in addition to the guidance of a Golden Immortal Stage master and an endless supply of pills from the sect.
"As I''m sure you can tell, all of these disciples possess outstanding aptitude. Furthermore, most of them are the descendants of various elders and even deputy dao lords of the sect," Su Tongxiao said in a meaningful voice.
Han Li merely nodded in response, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
All of the inner court disciples in the main hall carried an air of superiority, and they were all quite rxed, even though they were standing in the prestigious Rising Sun Pce. Furthermore, their bodies were all glowing faintly with spiritual light, clearly indicating that they were carrying exceptional protective spirit treasures.
However, this wasn''t the case for all of the disciples. Instead, there were four or five of them standing near the edge of the hall in silence, and their bodies weren''t radiating spiritual light, either, making them appear rather shabby inparison.
"Direct disciples will either be disciples to the 13 Golden Immortal Stage Dao Lords, or to the deputy dao lords. Not only do they have to be at least at the Spatial Tempering Stage, they mustplete this final trial to be officially granted such a status.
¡°These disciples are considered to be the cream of the crop, and they''ll receive unreserved support from the sect in all areas, including cultivation arts, pills, resources, and territories. The benefits that direct disciples receive far exceed those of the average inner court disciples.
¡°Otherwise, there''s no way those elders and deputy dao lords would allow their precious descendants to undertake this trial," Su Tongxiao continued, and there was a hint of mockery in his voice.
"What is the purpose of this trial, Brother Su?" Han Li asked.
"You see, all of these disciples possess exceptional aptitude, and they''ve been cultivating arduously for centuries, but they''recking experience in true life-and-death situations, and that''s where this triales in," Su Tongxiao exined.
Han Li nodded in response, then turned his gaze back to Bai Suyuan as a hint of befuddlement shed through his eyes.
Su Tongxiao quickly noticed the object of Han Li''s attention, and he asked, "That woman is Bai Suyuan. Do you know her, Brother Li?"
Chapter 225: Meeting Sun Ke Again
Chapter 225: Meeting Sun Ke Again
"She''s an acquaintance of mine. She and I joined the ze Dragon Dao at the same time. It sounds like you know of her as well, Brother Su," Han Li replied with a nod.
Bai Suyuan''s exceptional aptitude had seen her catch the eye of the dao lord with the Yun surname as soon as she joined the sect, but ever since then, she had kept quite a low profile, so there shouldn''t have been that many people who knew of her.
"I took on a mission released by Dao Lord Yun some years ago, and I just so happened to meet her then. Apparently, she possesses the Moonlight Immortal Physique, and she''s reached her current cultivation base after no more than a century of cultivation. I''m sure it won''t be long before she forges a resounding reputation for herself in the entire sect," Su Tongxiao remarked.
"Bai Suyuan has been epted as Dao Lord Yun''s disciple, so that already makes her a direct disciple, right? In that case, why is she participating in this trial?" Han Li asked with a befuddled expression.
"She may already be a direct disciple, but the rules of the sect have to be followed. Prior to this, she''s been in seclusion this entire time, but now that she''s reached the Spatial Tempering Stage, she must also pass this trial in order to officially be a direct disciple," Su Tongxiao exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a contemtive expression.
Right at this moment, a slightly portly young man strode into the Rising Sun Pce. He was wearing an inner court disciple robe, and he also seemed to have been one of the trial-takers.
Han Li took a casual nce at this neer, and a hint of surprise shed through his eyes.
The neer was none other than Sun Ke, together with whom Han Li had traveled to the Ancient Cloud Continent. Somehow, he had managed to join the ze Dragon Dao and earned the right to participate in this trial during the few decades since then.
As soon as he stepped into the hall, all of the other disciples instantly turned to him as well.
He seemed to have been rather ufortable from all the scrutiny, and he paused momentarily in his footsteps before shing everyone a smile.
All of the inner court disciples gazed upon Sun Ke with hints of derision in their eyes for a moment before quickly returning to their conversations, and Bai Suyuan was the only one who returned his smile.
Sun Ke didn''t seem to have been surprised by this rather frosty reception, and he made his way over to a corner of the main hall on his own, where he began to inspect his surroundings and all of the other disciples.
The disciples in the hall had split themselves up into three distinct circles, with thergest one containing eight or nine people, which was close to half of all of the disciples present. At the center of the circle was a handsome brocade-robed young man with a purple mark on his be that was giving off a purple glow, and his cultivation base was at thete-Spatial Tempering Stage.
Standing nearby was a group of five or six people, gathered around another handsome young man with a slightly darkplexion.
However, his eyes were rather long and thin, and he was giving off a rather effeminate aura.
The dark-skinned young man was also at thete-Spatial Tempering Stage, and these two circles of disciples were the most rxed of the bunch, chatting amicably with one another, seemingly without a care in the world.
The final circle was the one that Bai Suyuan was in. She was surrounded by several female cultivators who were also quite gorgeous, but paled inparison to her stunning beauty.
Bai Suyuan''s eyes were slightly downcast as she remained silent, and her entire body was giving off a faint white glow, giving her the appearance of a silently blooming snow lotus flower.
In contrast with her silence, the female cultivators around her were chatting quietly among themselves as they inspected their surroundings.
While conversing with those around them, both the brocade-robed young man and the dark-skinned young man were shooting asional nces at Bai Suyuan with a hint of lust and desire in their eyes.
As for the rest of the disciples, they were all standing in silence around the hall like Sun Ke.
A short whileter, the brocade-robed young man took one more nce at Bai Suyuan, then cleared his throat before approaching her.
"You must be Junior Martial Sister Bai Suyuan, right? My name is Qi Huanyu. It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I''ve heard a lot about you, including the fact that you''re a secret disciple of Dao Lord Yun''s, but unfortunately, I never had the chance to meet you before this," Qi Huanyu said with a polite smile.
"You''re far too kind, Senior Martial Brother Qi. As a descendant to Deputy Dao Lord Qi, your outstanding aptitude is known to everyone in the sect, and I''ve heard that you''re the leading figure among all inner court disciples," Bai Suyuan replied with a faint smile.
Qi Huanyu faltered slightly upon hearing this. He was indeed quite a renowned figure, but no one had ever referred to him as the leading figure among all inner court disciples before. Could it be that this title had been bestowed upon him without his knowledge?
In any case, he was certainly more than happy to y along, and he made no effort to deny the title as he chuckled, "You''re far too kind, Junior Martial Sister Bai. Such an arbitrary title is not one to be taken seriously. Given your exceptional aptitude, I''m sure it won''t be long before you surpass me."
Right at this moment, the dark-skinned young man approached them with a cold sneer on his face as he scoffed, "Leading figure? When did you receive such a title, Qi Huanyu? Howe I''ve never heard anyone mention it? Could it be that you gave yourself that title?"
A cold look appeared on Qi Huanyu''s face as he red at the dark-skinned young man, then turned back to Bai Suyuan as he introduced, "You''ve probably never heard of him, but his name is Tang Chuan, and he''s also an inner court disciple."
The dark-skinned young man''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, yet before he could issue a retort, Bai Suyuan said, "How could I possibly not have heard of Senior Martial Brother Tang? Senior Martial Brother Tang is the only son to Elder Jing Ming of the Heavenly Pill Pce, and your mastery of the Profound Spirit Walking Arts is unmatched. Please teach me some time, Senior Martial Brother Tang."
There was a hint of seduction in Bai Suyuan''s smile as she spoke, and the anger in Tang Chuan''s heart at Qi Huanyu''s snide remarks instantly faded as he hurriedly replied, "You''re far too kind, Junior Martial Sister Bai. Truth be told, I''ve only just begun to make my initial forays into the Profound Spirit Walking Arts, and..."
Qi Huanyu was very displeased to have been suddenly shut out of the conversation, and he sneered, "It would be an extremely unwise use of your time to learn a cultivation art as mediocre as the Profound Spirit Walking Arts, Junior Martial Sister Bai."
"How dare you look down on the Profound Spirit Walking Arts! I''m going to make you eat your words!"
Tang Chuan immediately red up with rage as wisps of ck mist rose up from his body alongside ayer of faint ck light.
Qi Huanyu waspletely unfazed, and the mark on his be began to glow with purple radiance.
The disciples around them also began to glower at one another, and all of a sudden, the atmosphere in the hall had be extremely tense.
A faint smile appeared on Bai Suyuan''s face, and she took a couple of steps backward in a subtle manner, opening up some space for Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan.
All of a sudden, an authoritative voice rang out within the hall. "Insolence! You''re here to participate in a trial, not to fight among yourselves!"
At the same time, a burst of invisible pressure descended upon the entire pce, and everyone in the two opposing groups, including Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan, were instantly rooted to the spot. Even Bai Suyuan was somewhat affected, and a faint unnatural flush had appeared on her face.
The burst of pressure only epassed the pce for an instant before fading, and everyone was able to move as normal again.
However, the tense atmosphere in the hall hadpletely faded due to this intervention.
The square-faced young man by the name of Fang Yu appeared amid a sh of white light, and he was making no effort to disguise his Grand Ascension Stage aura, causing the surrounding air to buzz and tremble incessantly.
He swept his gaze over Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan, then gave Bai Suyuan a meaningful look before withdrawing his gaze.
Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan exchanged a final cold re, then turned and went their separate ways.
Bai Suyuan had also backed away to the side with her head slightly lowered.
"Alright, now that everyone''s here, we canmence the trial. Before we begin, I''m going to tell you what you need to do during the trial. I''m only going to say this once, so listen carefully. I am not exaggerating when I say that sessfulpletion of the trial is a matter of life or death for all of you!" Fang Yu dered, administering no further punishment to Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan.
Sun Ke and everyone else who was standing around the hall also gathered around Fang Yu to hear what he had to say.
"You will be undertaking your trial in the Profound Ice Mountain Range. I''ll take you to the outskirts of the mountain range, and in order toplete the trial, you''re required to venture into the mountain range and y a Body Integration Stage Dark Snow Bear. You can choose to work with others or y the bear yourself..."
¡¡
Meanwhile, in the side hall, Han Li was watching everything unfolding in the main hall with a hint of exasperation in his eyes.
Even after so many years, Bai Suyuan was still just as mischievous as ever.
He also noticed that she seemed to have begun using the same cultivation art as Dao Lord Yun. The seductive techniques that she had just disyed were extremely advanced, and the two young men hadpletely fallen prey to them without their detection.
Thinking back, even with his enormous spiritual sense, he had almost fallen for Dao Lord Yun''s seduction, so it was no surprise that those two prodigies had fallen prey to Bai Suyuan''s allure.
Just like the inner court disciples, he was also listening carefully as Fang Yu introduced the content of the trial.
"The Profound Ice Mountain Range, eh? That''s not far away," Su Tongxiao murmured to himself.
Han Li nodded in response.
At this point, he had already somewhat familiarized himself with the geography of the Ancient Cloud Continent, and indeed, the Profound Ice Mountain Range wasn''t very far away, situated northward of the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
Furthermore, the Profound Ice Mountain Range wasn''t particrlyrge. There were supposed to have been many demon beasts lurking within it, but even so, it shouldn''t have been very difficult for a pair of True Immortals like them to protect these inner sect disciples.
All of a sudden, Han Li raised his head and cast his gaze toward the entrance of the side hall.
Almost at the exact same moment, two figures appeared there amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
One of them was a purple-robed middle-aged man with a square face and a pair of bright eyes under a set of thin eyebrows. He had an elegant and refined demeanor, but still cut an authoritative figure.
Beside him was an incredibly seductive young woman in a white robe, and it was none other than Dao Lord Yun, Bai Suyuan''s mistress.
The two of them were giving off enormous auras, with the purple-robed middle-aged man''s aura slightly superior to that of Dao Lord Yun.
"Dao Lord Ouyang! Dao Lord Yun!" Su Tongxiao hurriedly rose to his feet before cupping hi fist in a salute.
Han Li also hurriedly stood up before extending a salute of his own.
"You two are the ones assigned with protecting the trial-takers in secret, is that correct?" Dao Lord Ouyang asked.
"That''s right," Han Li and Su Tongxiao replied in unison.
"I''m sure you''ve already been made aware of the contents of the trial. During this trial, your mission will be to deal with any unforeseen mishaps that may arise. Aside from that, these disciples are to take on the perils that arise under normal circumstances on their own, and if they''re unable to do so, then it''s fine to allow them to perish during the trial.
¡°The sect has no need for ipetent disciples, so if they can''t even survive a trial like this, then it would be better for them to die within the sect than elsewhere," Dao Lord Ouyang said in an imcable voice.
Su Tongxiao hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Dao Lord Ouyang, would you be able to borate on what you mean by perils that arise under normal circumstances?"
Chapter 226: Immortals and Mortals
Chapter 226: Immortals and Mortals
"The two of you can exercise your own discretion in this regard. As long as you think it''s something that they can handle, then do not intervene. There''s no need to go into this with any psychological burdens.
¡°Disciples have always had to put their lives on the line during these trials, so even if some of them end up dead, no one would dare to me the two of you. You two act as both their guardian and their examination overseers, so you have to ensure fairness above all else, understood?"
"Yes," Su Tongxiao and Han Li hurriedly replied.
Dao Lord Ouyang gave Han Li''s duo a nod, then turned his gaze to Dao Lord Yun, who looked directly back at him.
Dao Lord Ouyang didn''t say anything further before turning around and flying away as a streak of light, while Dao Lord Yun swept her gaze over Han Li and Su Tongxiao.
In the end, her gaze lingered on Han Li for a moment, but in the next instant, she also flew away into the distance.
In the instant that Dao Lord Yun turned around, a peculiar look appeared in Han Li''s eyes, only to instantly fade a momentter.
Only after the two dao lords had vanished into the distance did Han Li and Su Tongxiao raise their heads before exchanging a nce.
"Brother Su, was that the ninth-ranked dao lord, Ouyang Kuishan just now?" Han Li asked.
"Precisely. The 13 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords are on a rotating roster, with each dao lord serving as the sect master for 100,000 years before the next dao lord takes over, and Dao Lord Ouyang is the incumbent sect master at the moment. I just didn''t think that Dao Lord Yun would apany him and depart without saying anything. It seems like she''s quite concerned for that precious disciple of hers," Su Tongxiao replied with a nod.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the main hall as he said, "Looks like they''re about to set off. We should prepare for departure as well."
Sure enough, the inner court disciples there were already departing from the pce, led by Fang Yu.
"There''s no need to hurry, Brother Li. Let them go on their own for now, and we''ll catch up a bitter," Su Tongxiao replied with a wave of his hand.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a gray-haired elderly man suddenly appeared in the side hall without any warning, and judging from his attire, he was also an inner sect elder.
The elderly man took a nce at Han Li and Su Tongxiao, then quickly settled his gaze on thetter before approaching him with a warm smile.
"Long time no see, Elder Su."
"It''s always a pleasure, Elder Wang," Su Tongxiao replied with a warm smile of his own.
A thought urred to Han Li upon seeing this, and he immediately closed his eyes, pretending to meditate.
The gray-haired elderly man didn''t stay for very long, only making some brief small talk before departing, and Su Tongxiao apanied him to the entrance of the side hall.
Right as he was about to depart, the gray-haired elderly man stuffed a storage pouch into Su Tongxiao''s hands in a subtle manner, and Su Tongxiao stowed the storage pouch away without even looking at him.
As soon as the elderly man departed, a middle-aged man who also appeared to have been an inner sect elder made his way into the side hall.
The middle-aged man swept his spiritual sense over the pair of elders in the room, then automatically ignored Han Li as he cupped his fist toward Su Tongxiao with a wide smile. "I knew you''d be the one taking on this mission, Elder Su!"
"Wee, Elder Fan," Su Tongxiao replied with a smile.
The middle-aged man didn''t waste time with small talk at all before handing a storage pouch straight to Su Tongxiao.
As it turned out, this was far from the end of the visitors. It didn''t take long before seven or eight groups of people had visited the side hall, and all of them hade to bribe Su Tongxiao before quickly departing.
It was clear to Han Li that these were all seniors of the disciples undertaking the trials, and these gifts had been bestowed upon Su Tongxiao so that he would look at the disciples that were connected to them.
However, Han Li was apletely unfamiliar figure to them, and he was only at the early-True Immortal Stage, so these gifts were naturally all presented to Su Tongxiao, who epted them without any discretion.
Meanwhile, Han Li sat off to the side in silence this entire time, but internally, he was pondering what Dao Lord Yun had said to him through voice transmission right before her departure.
Dao Lord Yun had asked him to protect Bai Suyuan at all costs, and it seemed that she hadn''t made the same request to Su Tongxiao, despite the fact that his cultivation base was superior, and that was rather peculiar in Han Li''s eyes.
After waiting for a while without any more visitors, Su Tongxiao called out to Han Li, "It''s about time, Brother Li. Let''s set off."
Han Li opened his eyes and nodded in response. "Sure."
¡¡
Atop a massive mountain in the northern region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range was a huge bluestone hall.
This was the northernmost teleportation hall of the ze Dragon Dao.
Frosty winds that were carrying countless snowkes were howling through the air outside the hall, and the temperature was much lower than it was elsewhere.
After emerging from the hall, Han Li and Su Tongxiao immediately flew toward the north without any dy.
After flying for close to an hour, the two of them began to slow down.
Tens of thousands of kilometers away, a giant flying boat was racing through the clouds.
"From here, all we have to do is follow along at a leisurely pace. By the way, if you and Bai Suyuan joined the sect at the same time, then it''s only been less than a century since you came to our sect, right? What do you think of it?" Su Tongxiao asked as he turned to Han Li with a smile.
"The sect certainly has a vast wealth of cultivation arts and resources, but they''re not exactly the most essible to people like us," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"Indeed, Brother Li. For itinerant elders like us with no powerful connections or backers in the sect, it''s difficult to advance in our cultivation. The funds that we receive upon joining the sect are extremely meager, and we have to rely on ourselves for everything else.
¡°At this level, even mountains of gold and silver can be easily exhausted to make any progress. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have only made this breakthrough after more than 100,000 years in the sect," Su Tongxiao said with a self-deprecating smile.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this. "We''re supposed to have received funds upon joining the sect?"
"Yes, you were supposed to have received 500 top-grade spirit stones and three Immortal Origin Stones. May I ask who your guide was when you first joined the sect?" Su Tongxiao asked.
"It was Qi Liang," Han Li replied.
Su Tongxiao gave Han Li a meaningful look upon hearing this, but didn''t say anything.
However, it was already very apparent what he was implying. Essentially, he was telling Han Li that this initial care package had been taken by Qi Liang.
Han Li feigned an enraged expression upon hearing this, but internally, he wasn''t actually all that bothered by this.
This was most likely standard practice in the ze Dragon Dao, and he had always been a little wary about why Qi Liang had been so friendly to him, so he was actually rather relieved to have finally found an exnation.
Thinking back to all the bribes that Su Tongxiao had just epted, Han Li was left feeling a little speechless.
It seemed that the rules werergely the same regardless of whether it was in the Mortal Realm, the Spirit Realm, or the Immortal Realm, and in many ways, these True Immortals were just like mortals.
All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have urred to Su Tongxiao, and he asked, "By the way, do you still recall Deputy Dao Lord Xiong''s failed sword refinement from some years ago?"
"Didn''t Deputy Dao Lord Xiong warn us not to speak of this to anyone? I think it''s best that we don''t discuss this," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"It''s fine! The two of us are the only ones here anyway. Besides, even if we don''t speak of this to anyone else, which elder in the inner sect doesn''t know about what happened? It''s already as open as an open secret can be," Su Tongxiao replied with a nonchnt smile.
Han Li merely smiled in response and didn''t say anything.
"Apparently, in order to set up the sword array, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong borrowed arge sum of Immortal Origin Stones from Elder Mo Xie of the Immortal Origin Pce. He still hasn''t repaid Elder Mo Xie, and a few days ago, Elder Mo Xie visited Deputy Dao Lord Xiong, demanding that he repaid his debt. The two of them almost got into a physical altercation over this, and it turned into quite an embarrassing spectacle..."
Su Tongxiao seemed to have been quite interested in thetest gossip in the sect, and he told Han Li about a bunch of different things.
Han Li didn''t have much interest in engaging in the gossip, but there was nothing better to do anyway, so he intentionally guided the conversation to subjects that he was interested in hearing about. He had only joined the sect not long ago, and he had no intention of being swept up in any conflicts.
As a result, the two were chatting non-stop like a pair of good friends that hadn''t met in many years.
As the giant flying boat continued to progress northward, the temperature was dropping further and further. Along the way, they even encountered several snowstorms. Han Li had been busy cultivating in seclusion all this time, so this was the first time that he had had an opportunity to appreciate the scenery of the snow-covered forest.
Close to a month passed by in the blink of an eye, and the flying boat that was carrying Bai Suyuan and the other inner court disciples finally drew to a halt in front of a mountain range that was situated northward of the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
This was the trial venue, the Profound Ice Mountain Range.
This was the thirdrgest branch of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, and it extended over a vast distance from south to north.
The trees here were extremely tall with dense canopies, and their leaves were all in needle form. These trees were extremely resistant to the cold and were one of the few types of nts that could grow in this mountain range, resembling a series of pointy white spires under the nkets of white snow.
At this point, Bai Suyuan and the other inner sect disciples had already gotten down from their flying boat on a spacious plot ofnd in the southern part of the mountain range.
Fang Yu stowed the flying boat away, then dered, "Alright, this is as far as I''ll be taking you. All of you have a map of this ce, and there are three paths that you can take into the mountain range. That will be up to your own discretion, all you have to do isplete your mission. I''ll be waiting here in a month for your return."
After that, he flew onto the peak of a small mountain, then sat down with his legs crossed and his eyes closed, leaving the inner sect disciples to their own devices.
Before long, the two dozen or so disciples had gathered together in small groups.
There were several people gathered around each of Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan, and it seemed that they had already made ns to travel together.
Meanwhile, Bai Suyuan and the other female cultivators had already split up to join their groups, and it was clear that they had also decided on this in advance.
That left Sun Ke and the other itinerant cultivators to gather together to form a third group.
Qi Huanyu took a nce at Bai Suyuan, who was inspecting the map on her own, and he immediately detached himself from the group to approach her.
"We''ve already selected the Snow Camel Mountain Route, Junior Martial Sister Bai. It''s a rtively dangerous route, but it''s closest to the center of the mountain range, where Dark Snow Bears are most active.
¡°On top of that, we should be reaping some additional rewards along the way. Why don''t youe with us so we can all look after one another during the trial?" Qi Huanyu offered with a hopeful look in his eyes.
Chapter 227: Three Routes
Chapter 227: Three Routes
"I''ve also considered the Snow Camel Mountain route, and even though it''s quite short, it''s several times more likely to encounter powerful demon beasts on this route than the other two routes, so it really is quite dangerous," Bai Suyuan said as her brows furrowed slightly.
"Rest assured, Junior Martial Sister Bai. With me by your side, you won''t be in any danger!" Qi Huanyu hurriedly guaranteed as he gave himself a pat on the chest.
Before Bai Suyuan had a chance to reply, they were approached by Tang Chuan, who scoffed with a disdainful expression, "You sure like to make bold promises that you can''t keep, Young Master Qi! You think you have what it takes to ensure Junior Martial Sister Bai''s safety?"
"Don''t say that, Senior Martial Brother Tang. Senior Martial Brother Qi is only looking out for me," Bai Suyuan said with a smile.
A hint of warmth instantly welled up in Qi Huanyu''s heart upon hearing this, and he turned to Tang Chuan with a cold expression as he retorted, "What does this have to do with you? Leave us alone!"
Tang Chuan paid no heed to Qi Huanyu as he said, "Junior Martial Sister Bai, Junior Martial Brother Chen and I are nning to take the White Fox Valley route. The rewards reaped along the way won''t be any lesser than the Snow Camel Mountain route, and it''ll be a bit safer. Our ultimate goal is to hunt down Dark Snow Bears, so there''s no need to take any unnecessary risks along the way. Why don''t youe with us, Junior Martial Sister Bai?"
A hesitant look appeared on Bai Suyuan''s face upon hearing this.
Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan were just about to say something further when she suddenly decided, "I''ll take the Pine Fruit Mountain route with Senior Martial Brother Sun Ke and the others."
Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan both faltered slightly upon hearing this, and Sun Ke and the others were also quite taken aback by this decision.
The itinerant immortals apanying Sun Ke were very pleased to see this. There weren''t many female cultivators on this trip, and the vast majority of them had chosen to join Qi Huanyu or Tang Chuan''s group on the flying boat, so it was naturally a massively pleasant surprise for them that the most beautiful female cultivator of the bunch had chosen to apany them.
However, Sun Ke was not so pleased.
All he wanted was to be able to safelyplete this trial, and he didn''t want to get involved in these conflicts at all. However, seeing as Bai Suyuan had expressly chosen him, he couldn''t just ignore her, so he had no choice but to turn in her direction.
At the same time, Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan were also looking back at him with fiery contempt in their eyes, and both of them were considering whether they should change the route that they were taking so that they could apany Bai Suyuan.
"With myckluster abilities, I''ll only be dragging you two down, so it''s best for me to take the safest route. You are among the cream of the crop of all inner sect disciples, and I admire both of you greatly. I can''t apany either of you on this mission, but I''ll be cheering for both of you. I''m sure one of you will be able to im the top spot for this trial," Bai Suyuan said.
The egos of Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan were greatly inted by Bai Suyuan''s glowing praise, and both of them gave up on the idea of changing routes.
Neither of them were looking at Sun Ke anymore, and they exchanged a vicious re instead, then bade farewell to Bai Suyuan before leading their groups down the two most perilous paths.
Following their departure, Bai Suyuan approached Sun Ke with a bright smile and asked, "You''re not opposed to me apanying you, are you, Senior Martial Brother Sun?"
"Not at all!" Sun Ke replied with a polite smile, and all of the itinerant disciples eagerly weed her with open arms as they began to introduce themselves.
Meanwhile, Han Li and Su Tongxiao were hovering in mid-air above a snowy mountain close to 100 kilometers away. Both of them had concealed their auras, and in front of them was a thin screen of water that was depicting Bai Suyuan and the others.
"That Bai Suyuan really is something. The trial has barely started, and she''s already managed to goad her two fiercestpetitors into going down the most dangerous routes. Her strategy and maniption are both top-notch," Su Tongxiao praised.
Han Li was already ustomed to Bai Suyuan''s wiles, so he wasn''t surprised by this at all, and he smiled as he replied, "I would say the foolishness of those two have yed a bigger role in this."
"I agree, Brother Li. With such high expectations set on them by Bai Suyuan, those two will be sure to fight tooth and nail over the top spot for the trial," Su Tongxiao chuckled.
Han Li didn''t want to dwell on this topic any longer, so he changed the subject. "By the way, I heard that Bai Suyuan has an ancestor who seemed to have been quite an important inner sect elder of our ze Dragon Dao. Do you know him, Brother Su?"
"The elder that you''re referring to is Elder Bai Fengyi, who disappeared several thousand years ago. He''s more familiar with Elder Qi Liang. I don''t know him very well, but I did meet him a few times before his disappearance," Su Tongxiao replied with a nod.
"Do you know what happened to Elder Bai?" Han Li asked as an intrigued look appeared on his face.
"There are all types of theories about what happened to him going around in the sect. Some say that he perished while carrying out a mission for the sect, others say that he was killed by certain sworn enemies of his.
¡°If you ask me, I think he went somewhere to go into seclusion in order to make a breakthrough to the Golden Immortal Stage. Also, ording to some obscure sources in the sect, the Origin Soul Lamp left behind by Elder Bai in the sect has never been snuffed out," Su Tongxiao replied.
It seemed to Han Li that there was more to this matter than met the eye, but he didn''t ponder the subject any further.
Meanwhile, Bai Suyuan and the others were gradually vanishing out of sight on the screen of water, and Su Tongxiao erased the screen with a sweep of his sleeve as he said, "Let''s go, Brother Li. We have to catch up."
Han Li nodded in response, and as opposed to flying beyond this point, they descended into the forest and began to follow Bai Suyuan and the others on foot while keeping tabs on the three groups with their spiritual sense.
After following the disciples for a while, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as if he had detected something, but his expression then quickly returned to normal.
¡¡
Sun Ke''s group consisted of six disciples, and they were flying at a low altitude deeper into the Profound Ice Mountain Range over a mountain path with a rather gentle slope.
The area appeared to have been quite peaceful, but there were many demon beasts in the mountain range that were very proficient at concealing themselves in the snow. Hence, anyone who dared to fly along recklessly at a high altitude could easily end up falling prey to those lurking demon beasts.
It seemed that everyone had already been assigned roles in advance, and Sun Ke had been tasked with leading the way.
At this moment, there was a jade bowl treasure hovering above his head, and rays of white light were shining down from the bowl, enveloping his entire body. At the same time, there were four glittering and translucent azure flying daggers slowly revolving around him.
This still didn''t seem to have put him at ease, and he was also holding a small yellow shield with a surface that was as smooth as a mirror in his hand.
Behind him, the other four male cultivators had all adopted protective measures as well and were scouring their surroundings with wary expressions.
Bai Suyuan was bringing up the rear with a white jade bracelet in her hand, forming a white halo around her. At the same time, she had also put on a white veil garment that was giving off specks of silver light.
The group was flying ahead in a slow and cautious manner, and they didn''t encounter any danger aside from some sneak attacks from a few reckless demon beasts, all of which were easily dealt with.
As they ventured deeper and deeper into the mountain range, the air temperature also plummeted further and further.
A bone-chilling aura was rising up from beneath the earth, and gusts of frosty wind were also sweeping through the air. Even with the Spatial Tempering Stage cultivation bases of Sun Ke and the others, they were beginning to shiver from the cold. Bai Suyuan was still able to ward off the cold rtively well, but everyone else was clearly beginning to struggle.
All of them activated their cultivation arts to keep themselves insted, but the temperature continued to plummet, and they were beginning to sorely regret not preparing any treasures that enhanced their resistance to cold conditions.
After all, constantly using their cultivation arts to ward off the cold was very taxing on their magic power, which was detrimental to the battles toe, but they had no choice in the matter.
Right at this moment, Sun Ke suddenly stopped in his tracks, then turned around and produced an intricate red wine gon as he said, "I have some spirit wine here that''s brewed using fire-attribute spirit ingredients and can help ward off the cold. Please have some if you''d like."
Everyone exchanged a few hesitant nces upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, Sun Ke flipped a hand over to produce a cup, which he filled with the spirit wine from the gon.
The wine had a bright red hue, and it was giving off a fiery red glow. It was as if the wine were burning, and the surrounding air temperature was significantly elevated in its presence.
At the same time, a peculiar fragrance was spreading through the air, and even Bai Suyuan''s eyes lit up slightly as she was struck by the urge to give the wine a taste.
One of the young men in the group seemed to have been an avid wine enthusiast as well, and he immediately praised, "This is certainly a fine wine!"
"Do you drink as well, Brother Lin? Please give this a taste if you don''t mind. It''ll be very helpful for warding off the cold," Sun Ke said as he offered the young man his cup.
"Don''t mind if I do!" The young man eagerly epted the cup before downing its contents in one go.
The wine flowed down into his belly, leaving a scorching trail in its wake, then transformed into a burst of fiery heat that enveloped all of his internal organs.
The burst of heat then split up into several bursts that flowed to all parts of his body as if they had a mind of their own, and he was left feeling extremely light and airy, as if he were about to drift away with the wind.
His entire body stiffened as if he had been struck by lightning, following which an intoxicated look appeared on his face, and it took a long while before he returned to his senses, upon which he praised once again, "This wine is exceptional! May I ask its name, Brother Sun?"
"This wine is called Fire Drop Wine," Sun Ke replied with a smile.
"A fitting name for an exceptional wine! I was fortunate enough to have tasted one of the top 10 immortal brews, the Green Pear Immortal Wine, and I''d say its vor is slightlyckingpared with this Fire Drop Wine," the young man said in an excited manner.
Not only was this wine extremely delectable, just as Sun Ke said, it was very effective in warding off the cold.
At this moment, his entire body felt as if it were being basked under the warm glow of the sun, and a hint of redness had appeared on his cheeks, while all of the biting chill in his body had been expelled.
The other three male cultivators had no further reservations upon seeing this, and each of them had a cup of the spirit wine as well, following which ted looks appeared on their faces.
They weren''t avid drinkers, so they didn''t care about the taste of the wine, but they were very pleased with its effects.
Furthermore, the warmth released by the Fire Drop Wine was lingering in their bodies and didn''t appear as if it were going to dissipate anytime soon. Hence, they wouldn''t have to continue to use their cultivation arts to keep themselves insted.
"The warmth released by the Fire Drop Wine will linger for around half a day before slowly fading. You should have a cup as well, Junior Martial Sister Bai," Sun Ke said with a smile.
"Thank you, Senior Martial Brother Sun," Bai Suyuan replied with a nod.
Chapter 228: Disparity
Chapter 228: Disparity
"How much more of this Fire Drop Wine do you have, Junior Martial Brother Sun?" the first young man to have drunk the wine asked, and everyone turned to Sun Ke upon hearing this question.
One cup of wine could keep them warm for half a day, and there were six people in the group. They were going to have to stay in the Profound Ice Mountain Range for close to a month, so this one gon of wine most likely wasn''t going to be enough.
"Rest assured, everyone, I still have a few jars left, so we''ll definitely have enough to weather this trial," Sun Ke replied with a smile, and everyone was quite relieved to hear this.
"You have my thanks, Senior Martial Brother Sun. If you need help with anything in the future, feel free to call on me," a tall young man in the group said in an earnest manner, and everyone else nodded in agreement.
"You''re all far too kind. All of use from the same sect, so it''s only right that we help out one another," Sun Ke replied in a calm manner, but internally, he was quite pleased with this reaction.
He had only been in the ze Dragon Dao for a short time, so he was eager to make connections, and some spirit wine was certainly a fine price to pay for this purpose.
Meanwhile, several thousand kilometers away, a hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes, but it was then quickly reced by a contemtive expression.
At some point, Su Tongxiao had already vanished without a trace.
Sun Ke and the others continued onward without any dy, and shortly thereafter, they encountered their first real battle since entering the mountain range.
It was a group of snow foxes with powers that ranged between the Nascent Soul Stage and the Deity Transformation Stage, and there were around 40 to 50 of them. They hade rushing out from either side of the mountain range while howling in unison, presenting an intimidating sight to behold.
Everyone in Sun Ke''s group was quite powerful in their own right, and thanks to Sun Ke''s wine, they had all developed a sense of camaraderie, so they were able to quickly get into a battle formation.
The three cultivators in the group with the highest cultivation bases, namely Bai Suyuan, Sun Ke, and another young man were situated at the very forefront, and the three of them summoned a a crescent-shaped flying sword, four flying daggers, and a purplish-golden staff, respectively.
The flying sword transformed into a streak of silver swordlight that was over 1,000 feet in length in a sh, then came shing down from above.
Meanwhile, the purplish-golden staff released several hundred purple staff projections amid a sh of bright light, all of which hurtled through the air with astonishing power.
As for the four azure flying daggers, they were glowing bright in unison as they expanded to dozens of times their original size, swooping downward as a set of giant azure des, each of which was several hundred feet in length.
The skulk of snow foxes were instantly sent flying back by the barrage of attacks, and the dozen or so Deity Transformation Stage snow foxes were killed on the spot, instantly halting the momentum of their charge.
In the next instant, the three disciples behind Sun Ke''s trio sprang into action as well, and a flurry of attacks were sent raining down upon the snow foxes
Bursts of dull rumbling rang out alongside shes of light of different colors.
A few momentster, all of the light subsided, and the skulk of snow foxes had already been reduced to sets of dismembered bodies, while arge area had been stained red with their blood.
Han Li gave a slight nod as he observed the group in action from afar.
These disciples had decent reactions. In particr, Bai Suyuan and Sun Ke had endured some life-and-death situations outside of the sect, so they were naturally more capable in situations like these than the other disciples who had grown up their entire lives in the sect.
As a major sect in the Northern cial Immortal Region, the ze Dragon Dao possessed a cultivation environment that was unimaginable to those in the outside world. It had all of the resources and treasures that these disciples could ever want for, thereby allowing them to progress rapidly in their cultivation, but there were downsides to this as well.
For the sake of the development of these core disciples, the higher-ups of the sect had spared no effort.
Sun Ke and the others only took a short while to regroup before they continued onward.
Meanwhile, the other two groups had also been attacked by demon beasts.
On the Snow Camel Mountain route, Qi Huanyu and the others encountered a flock of vicious snow birds with vulture-like heads, but excessivelyrge beaks, out of which they were able to shoot a relentless barrage of white ice arrows.
There were over 100 of these birds in total, and around half of them possessed Deity Transformation Stage power.
A volley of white ice arrows descended out of the sky, interspersed with a bone-chilling aura, and the asional bird came swooping down from above as well.
Qi Huanyu''s group was quiterge, and all of them were carrying extremely powerful treasures, but none of them had any experience when it came to life-and-death battles.
Hence, the violent killing intent disyed by the flock of birds and the relentless storm of attacks caught thempletely off guard, and they were looking a little panicked.
All of them were standing in a circle with their backs facing one another to form a ring-shaped protective barrier that warded off the oing attacks.
Qi Huanyu''s face was slightly pale, and he yelled, "Don''t panic! These are just some Deity Transformation Stage demon beasts! Everyone, listen to me. Half of you continue to support the barrier, while the other half retaliates!"
He was the leader of the group, and his instructions instilled within everyone a sense of confidence as they immediately began to carry out his orders.
Before long, bursts of dazzling light were erupting into the air to strike at the white birds in the sky.
The disciples were feeling very intimidated, so their attacks were quite feeble, but thanks to the massive cultivation base advantage they had, they were able to strike down the birds one after another.
Around 15 minutester, the battle finally drew to a conclusion.
Most of the birds had been in, while the rest had fled the battle.
Qi Huanyu and the others were uninjured. They looked at the bird carcasses around them as they inhaled the bloody scent in the air, and even though their faces were quite pale, they were gradually regaining theirposure.
"I can''t believe a bunch of mere Deity Transformation Stage demon beasts had all of you in such a panic! You should be ashamed of yourselves! You saw what happened just now. As long as we maintain ourposure, these demon beasts are no match for us!" Qi Huanyu yelled in an attempt to raise morale.
Everyone immediately nodded in response.
Qi Huanyu was just about to say something further when a more experienced individual in the group stepped forward and cautioned, "Young Master Qi, the scent of blood here is too strong, so we should leave this ce as soon as possible."
Qi Huanyu faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately understood the reasoning behind the advice, and he instructed everyone to continue onward.
Meanwhile, Su Tongxiao appeared in the air above amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, then shook his head in dismay before vanishing from the spot.
The situation was much the same over on the White Fox Valley route. Tang Chuan''s group didn''t have much practical battle experience, either, and they also erupted into a blind panic in the face of the ferocious demon beasts that they were attacked by.
However, thanks to their cultivation base advantage and powerful treasures, they were able to weather the storm, thenposed themselves before defeating the enemy without suffering any casualties.
The three groups of disciples continued onward, and seven or eight days passed by in the blink of an eye as all of the disciples ventured deeper into the Profound Ice Mountain Range.
The demon beasts that they encountered along the way were bing more and more powerful, and some Spatial Tempering Stage demon beasts had begun to appear.
After several battles, Qi Huanyu and the others had be far more proficient in battle than before, but they were still struggling in the face of demon beasts of a simr level of power to themselves.
On the Snow Camel Mountain Route, Qi Huanyu and his group had been surrounded by around a dozen giant ice praying mantises.
These praying mantises were entirely white in color with frosty patterns all over their bodies, and their mouths were split up into four mandibles. Their eyes wererge and protruded outward, giving them a fearsome appearance, and their thick and strong front limbs resembled a pair of giant des that were giving off bone-chilling auras.
Every single one of these demon beasts possessed early-Spatial Tempering Stage power, and they were extremely fast, dashing around Qi Huanyu''s group while unleashing a ferocious barrage of attacks, leaving trails of afterimages in their wake.
Just like before, Qi Huanyu and the others had formed a circle, conjuring up a ring-shaped protective barrier that epassed everyone within it.
However, these praying mantises were far more powerful than the birds from before, and they were able to unleash powerful projections with their de-like front limbs.
These projections were imbued with ferocious power, causing the ring-shaped light barrier to tremble incessantly.
Qi Huanyu and the others were forced to inject all of their magic power into their protective treasures to maintain the light barrier, so they werepletely unable to retaliate.
The praying mantises were letting loose bloodthirsty screeches as they swung their front limbs through their air relentlessly, seemingly only growing more vigorous and powerful as time went on.
The ring-shaped light barrier wasn''t just a single cohesive barrier. Instead, it was jointly formed by everyone''s protective treasures, and some of the more fragile parts of the barrier were close to giving out.
A tall and thin young man turned to Qi Huanyu with a panicked expression as he asked, "What do we do, Young Master Qi? These things are all at the Spatial Tempering Stage, and there are too many of them for us to deal with!"
The young man was a direct descendant to a True Immortal Stage elder of the ze Dragon Dao, and he had been cultivating his entire life in the sect, progressing smoothly to the Spatial Tempering Stage thanks to an endless supply of pills. As a result, he had next to no battle experience.
He had made some improvements in this regard over the course of the trial thus far, but his heart was still shuddering with fear at the sight of these terrifying praying mantises.
Everyone else in the group was in much the same mental state as the young man, and they couldn''t help but wonder if they were going to die here, a thought that only made them even more panicked and fearful.
All of a sudden, a loud crack rang out, and a light barrier conjured up by a white handkerchief treasure was destroyed, creating an opening in the overall light barrier.
A bright projection flew straight through the opening, and an agonized howl rang out as blood sttered through the air.
A disciple near the opening had been sent flying with arge gash sliced into his arm, but thankfully, he was wearing a suit of armor of quite a high caliber, so he had managed to escape severe injury.
Bright purple light erupted from Qi Huanyu''s be as he swept an arm through the air, releasing a purple wheel treasure that conjured up a purple vortex to fill the opening.
"There''s no need to fear! There are True Immortal cultivators protecting us in secret during the trial, and they''ll take care of all unforeseen mishaps for us. These praying mantises are beyond what we can deal with, so I''m sure one of them will intervene soon!" Qi Huanyu yelled.
Everyone else was ecstatic to hear this.
"I''ve heard about this before, and I was rather skeptical, but it must be true if Young Master Qi says so!"
"There are only 10 of us, yet we''re facing close to 20 of these praying mantises. This is definitely beyond the scope of the trial, so why has there still not been an intervention?"
Su Tongxiao was hovering high up in the sky as a blurry shadow, and he shook his head with a forlorn sigh while flicking a finger through the air.
Streaks of invisible sword qi instantly came hurtling down from above, piercing through the bodies of most of the praying mantises.
All of the praying mantises that were struck instantly exploded silently into piles of dust that were scattered by the wind.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and Su Tongxiao vanished once again immediately thereafter.
It didn''t take long before Qi Huanyu and the others noticed that most of the praying mantises had disappeared, thereby significantly alleviating the pressure on them.
"Howe there are suddenly so much fewer praying mantises?" someone asked with a puzzled expression.
"They were obviously killed by someone! There really is someone protecting us in secret!" someone else eximed with an ecstatic expression.
Qi Huanyu was also quite relieved to see this, and a triumphant smile appeared on his face as he yelled, "These filthy beasts must pay the price for attacking us! Don''t let any of them get away!"
Everyone else immediately answered his call, then began retaliating against the remaining praying mantises with renewed vigor.
A short whileter, all of the praying mantises were in with the exception of two of them, which had managed to get away.
The front limbs of these praying mantises were filled with abundant spiritual power and were outstanding tool refinement materials even for Spatial Tempering cultivators, so these front limbs were immediately severed before being stowed away by several of the disciples.
"Let''s go!"
Qi Huanyu flew up into the air and led the way forward.
Now that it was confirmed that there was indeed someone protecting them in secret, he was instilled with a great deal of confidence and began to continue onward at a faster pace than before.
Chapter 229: Trapped
Chapter 229: Trapped
Not long after Qi Huanyu and his group defeated the praying mantises, Tang Chuan''s group found themselves locked in battle against a nest of white ice scorpions deep in the White Fox Valley.
There were around 20 to 30 of these scorpions, and all of them were quite powerful. Tang Chuan and the others were already in a dire situation, but all of a sudden, the few Spatial Tempering Stage scorpions in the nest somehow vanished without a trace.
Tang Chuan and the others were ecstatic, and they immediately retaliated, quickly ying all of the ice scorpions before continuing onward.
Meanwhile, Su Tongxiao lingered for a moment in the air above them before vanishing yet again.
¡¡
Several thin silver threads came flying down, whistling through the air before plunging into a white ice python''s body to inflict a massive wound.
The Spatial Tempering Stage ice python let loose an agonized cry before plummeting to the ground. Blood was gushing out of its body as it spasmed a few times before fallingpletely still.
The thin silver threads came flying back beforeing together to form a silver flying sword that returned to Bai Suyuan''s side.
Sun Ke and the others were standing around Bai Suyuan in a circle to form a protective barrier, and outside the barrier were around a dozen more Spatial Tempering Stage giant pythons that were attacking them relentlessly.
Each of Sun Ke and the others had to deal with more than two of these giant pythons on their own on average, and they were definitely on the back foot, but they were still able to hold their own for now.
After ying that python, Bai Suyuan didn''t stop for even a single moment as she pointed a finger forward, and the silver flying sword shot forth through the air once again, split up into dozens of silver sword threads that formed a lotus flower shape as it hurtled toward one of the pythons that Sun Ke was locked in battle against.
Sun Ke was ecstatic to see this, and he hurriedly assisted her with his four azure flying daggers.
At this point, 10 days had already passed in the trial, and they were well and truly deep in the Profound Ice Mountain Range. The demon beasts that they were encountering were bing more and more powerful, and on this day, they had been surrounded by around a dozen of these mid-Spatial Tempering Stage python beasts.
The six of them had immediately formed a circr defensive array, and as the most powerful one among them, Bai Suyuan was protected at the center of the array so she could retaliate against the enemy.
She certainly didn''t disappoint, unleashing secret techniques one after another, disying immensebat prowess in the face of the giant pythons.
Time slowly passed by, and the tide of the battle was beginning to turn in their favor.
The dozens of sword threads pierced through a giant python''s body, and they hadn''t struck a vital region, but they did temporarily stop it cold in its tracks.
Immediately thereafter, a massive purplish-golden staff projection came crashing down viciously onto its head, splitting its head into multiple chunks as blood and intracranial fluids sttered in all directions.
All of a sudden, a white python let loose a strange roar before fleeing into the distance, and the remaining python beasts immediately followed along, vanishing into the distant sky in the blink of an eye.
Bai Suyuan and the others didn''t set off in pursuit. All of them had expended a great deal of magic power during the course of the battle, and they immediately pulled out some pills and spirit stones to aid in their recovery.
Meanwhile, Han Li was concealed high up in the sky as a blurry shadow within a cloud, and he gave a slight nod of approval.
He hadn''t had to intervene even once during this entire trial.
Bai Suyuan and the others were all quitemendable in their tactical acumen and mental fortitude. The strategy that they had employed in the battle just now was a little unrefined, but considering their cultivation bases, they had already done extremely well.
After resting for a short while, Bai Suyuan and the others continued onward, and Han Li followed along.
However, in the next instant, his expression changed slightly as he turned to a certain direction, and Su Tongxiao appeared there amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
"Weren''t you busy protecting the other two groups, Brother Su?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"I''ve already mostly cleared out the other two routes. This is turning out to be a lot more exhausting than I bargained for! The two groups of disciples have improved quite a bit, so I''m sure they''ll be fine on their own now. These disciples all possess exceptional aptitude, but they''re sorelycking in practical battle experience," Su Tongxiao sighed.
"They''ve grown up their entire lives in the sect under the protection of the elders, so it''s no surprise that they don''t have much experience in battle," Han Li said.
In his eyes, someone who hadn''t experienced life-and-death battles wouldn''t be of much use at all in perilous situations, even if they possessed a lofty cultivation base.
"It''s not that difficult for them to umte battle experience. There''s an Illusory Nightmare Pagoda in the sect that''s avable exclusively to direct disciples to help them improve in this regard," Su Tongxiao said.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this. "I didn''t know there was such a ce in the sect."
"There are many interesting ces in the sect. You''ll learn about all of them in due time, Brother Li," Su Tongxiao said with a smile.
Han Li nodded in response, then suddenly raised his head, and Su Tongxiao''s brows also furrowed slightly at the exact same moment.
A Body Integration Stage demon beast was quickly approaching Qi Huanyu''s group.
"I didn''t think that a Body Integration Stage demon beast would appear so soon," Su Tongxiao mused.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as the corners of his lips curved upward by a minute degree as he said, "It must''ve been attracted by the blood and carcasses of all of the demon beasts that you slew to clear out the two routes."
"Perhaps," Su Tongxiao replied before preparing to depart.
Qi Huanyu''s group couldn''t even deal with a bunch of Spatial Tempering Stage demon beasts, so they certainly didn''t stand any chance against a Body Integration Stage foe. Hence, he had to keep a close eye on them as a safety precaution.
Right at this moment, his expression changed slightly as he cast his gaze toward Tang Chuan''s direction.
As it turned out, another Body Integration Stage demon beasts had appeared there. It was a giant bird that was flying extremely fast, and it was rapidly closing in on Tang Chuan''s group.
"There are two Body Integration Stage demon beasts at once!" Su Tongxiao eximed with a hint of urgency in his eyes.
The three routes were quite far away from one another, so if he were to go to one route, then he wouldn''t be in time to go to the other.
"Brother Li, can I trouble you to take care of the demon beast on Tang Chuan''s route? I would be extremely grateful to you if you could do so," Su Tongxiao said as he turned to Han Li.
A reluctant look appeared on Han Li''s face as he cast his gaze forward, and after a brief hesitation, he replied, "Alright, I suppose I could do that."
"You have my thanks, Brother Li," Su Tongxiao said, then immediately flew away into the distance.
Han Li took a nce at Su Tongxiao''s departing figure, and after a brief moment of contemtion, he also vanished from the spot.
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Meanwhile, Tang Chuan''s group of eight was continuing onward, and ording to the map, they weren''t far away from their destination.
Over 70% of the demon beasts on their route had been wiped out by Su Tongxiao in advance, so they were naturally able to make very smooth progress.
Tang Chuan was well aware that one of the True Immortal Stage elders that was protecting them in secret had to have been responsible for this sharp decline in demon beast numbers.
Now that he no longer had to worry about his own safety, iming the top spot in the trial became his new top priority.
With that in mind, Tang Chuan turned and yelled to everyone in his group, "Let''s speed up a little more!"
He had to track down and kill a Dark Snow Bear as soon as quickly as possible. As for whether this group of eight would be capable of ying a Dark Snow Bear, that wasn''t something that he was concerned about at all.
There was no way that the True Immortal Stage elder would allow him to be killed by the Dark Snow Bear, so they would have to intervene at some point.
With that in mind, Tang Chuan was brimming with confidence as he sped up even further.
Right at this moment, a sharp screech rang out from afar.
The sound wasing from somewhere very far away, but it was extremely sharp and piercing, causing his eardrums to throb with sharp pain. As a result, he was forced to slow down involuntarily.
The other disciples in the group were all of inferior cultivation base to Tang Chuan, and they couldn''t help but let loose pained cries as they pped their hands over their ears.
"What''s that?" Tang Chuan murmured to himself with a fearful expression.
A ck dot had appeared in the distant sky to his left, and it was rapidly approaching them, quicklying into view and revealing itself to be a terrifying demon beast.
It was a terrifying wyrm-like demon beast that was several thousand feet in size. There was a pair ofrge wings on its back, and every single feather on those wings resembled a sharp sword. Its long tail was riddled with huge bone spikes, and at the end of the tail was a scorpion-like hooked pincer that was glowing with faint blue light, clearly indicating that it was tipped with lethal poison.
Furthermore, the immense aura that the giant beast was giving off indicated that it possessed Body Integration Stage power.
"It''s a Body Integration Stage demon beast!"
Tang Chuan immediately fled back in retreat as quickly as he could while frantically looking around, as if he were searching for something.
The fearsome beast didn''t give them any time to react as it let loose a thunderous roar, releasing powerful soundwaves that created ripples that were visible even to the naked eye.
Tang Chuan and the others didn''t even have a chance to summon any treasures before the soundwaves swept over them, causing them to bleed out of all of their orifices as the blood and magic power in their bodies churned violently.
With a p of its wings, the giant beast conjured up numerous thick blue ice spikes before sending them flying through the air, hurtling directly toward Tang Chuan and the other disciples.
In this dire situation, an azure figure appeared out of nowhere in front of the eight disciples, then extended a finger forward.
Bursts of dazzling azure light were released from the figure''s fingertip, instantly forming a massive light barrier in front of the eight disciples.
The soundwaves were instantly kept out, while the ice spikes shattered upon making contact with the light barrier.
The giant beast stopped cold in its tracks as it stared at the figure that had just appeared before it, and upon sensing the azure figure''s enormous aura, it immediately fled into the distance with a panicked look in its eyes.
Meanwhile, the azure figure abruptly vanished from the spot, then appeared directly above the giant beast''s head in the next instant.
With a casual flick of his finger, a streak of azure light shot forth before plunging into the giant beast''s head.
The giant beast''s entire body instantly stiffened, following which its massive head exploded violently.
Immediately thereafter, a series of ck balls flew out of the beast''s head, and it flew rapidly toward the azure figure with ck light shing erratically over their surfaces.
The azure figure was just about to fly back in retreat upon seeing this when the ck balls abruptly exploded into dazzling balls of ck light, which connected together to form an enormous ck array, within which countless ck runes were surging incessantly.
Traces ofw powers were emanating from the array, and the air surrounding the array instantly became as hard as iron and steel, trapping the azure figure inside.
"What just happened?"
Tang Chuan and the other disciples werepletely dumbfounded by what they were witnessing.
Meanwhile, on the Snow Camel Mountain route.
Qi Huanyu and five other disciples were hiding behind a small mountain with horrified expressions. Most of them were bearing severe injuries, indicating that they had just endured a fierce battle.
In the air beside them were four tiny figures, each of which was roughly two inches tall. They appeared to have been the nascent souls of the other four disciples in the group, all of which had presumably had their physical bodies destroyed.
At this moment, everyone was staring at a giant ck array several thousand feet in front of the mountain.
On the ground beneath the arrayid the carcass of a giant demon beast, while Su Tongxiao was trapped within the array, struggling with all his might to break free.
However, the ck array was clearly no ordinary array, and it was extremely resolute, able to contain even a mid-True Immortal cultivator like Su Tongxiao.
Chapter 230: Wasting Time
Chapter 230: Wasting Time
Meanwhile.
Sun Ke''s group of six had already arrived deep in Pine Fruit Mountain.
Their route was the safest of the three routes, so the demon beasts that they had encountered hadn''t been all that powerful, and thanks to the camaraderie that they had built, it had been a rtively smooth journey thus far.
At this moment, Bai Suyuan was flying beside Sun Ke, and her gaze was roaming over the vast snond as she said, "Senior Martial Brother, ording to the map, we''ll reach the area where the Snow Dove Beasts are active in about 1,000 more kilometers."
"Those beasts are said to be quite docile, but their power is nothing to be scoffed at, and there have been precedents of such beasts actively attacking cultivators, so we''ll have to be careful," Sun Ke said.
As soon as his voice trailed off, Bai Suyuan suddenly stopped in her tracks, then cast a wary gaze toward a forest that was several thousand feet up ahead.
Sun Ke immediately stopped as well, then raised a hand to indicate for everyone else to do the same.
The other four disciples in the group had already split up and summoned their respective treasures.
"I didn''t think a bunch of kids like you would be able to detect my presence."
A hoarse voice rang out as a tall and imposing white-robed elderly man slowly rose up into the air from within the forest up ahead.
Bai Suyuan was feeling rather rmed, but she still put on a respectful demeanor as she asked, "May I ask who you are and why you''re hiding here, Senior?"
She was unable to detect the elderly man''s cultivation base, and there was no way that she would''ve been able to sense his presence had it not been for the fact that she was carrying a special treasure. Furthermore, the manner in which he was sneaking around clearly indicated that he didn''t harbor any good intentions.
The same thoughts had clearly urred to Sun Ke and the others as well, and they exchanged a few nces, seemingly trying to decide on how to proceed.
"You don''t need to know who I am, Bai Suyuan. What a pretty little flower you are. The Moonlight Immortal Physique truly lives up to its reputation. Come with me, and don''t try to put up any futile resistance," the elderly man said.
Bai Suyuan''s expression remained unchanged, but her heart clenched up slightly as she warned, "Stay away! The elders of our sect are in the nearby vicinity!"
A mocking sneer appeared on the elderly man''s face as he jeered, "Quit trying to bluff me, little girl. The elders arranged to protect all of you in secret have already been diverted away by me, so no one''sing to save you. Now then, are you going to do things the easy way or the hard way?"
Sun Ke and the others were quite rmed to hear this.
They didn''t have any powerful backers in the sect, but seeing as they had managed to secure the right to participate in the trial, all of them naturally had their own information sources, so they were aware that there were going to be inner sect elders protecting them in secret during the trial.
This was like a safety that instilled within them a sense of reassurance, but now that these elders had apparently been diverted elsewhere, they were naturally feeling a little fearful.
"I''ve never met you before, so why do you insist that Ie with you, Senior?" Bai Suyuan asked.
Instead of answering Bai Suyuan''s question, the elderly man smiled and said, "You''ve always wanted to know what happened to the patriarch of your Bai n, right? If youe with me, I''ll tell you where he is."
"You know our n''s patriarch?" Bai Suyuan hurriedly asked.
"Of course I''m familiar with Elder Bai Fengyi," the elderly man replied in a casual voice.
A hint of hesitation appeared on Bai Suyuan''s face, and even with all her wiles and cunning, she was at a slight loss for what to do.
"Don''t listen to him, Junior Martial Sister Bai! He''s just saying that to lure you into surrendering yourself over to him!" Sun Ke hurriedly cautioned.
"You''re right! If you really do know our n''s patriarch, then show me a token of his!" Bai Suyuan said.
A cold look appeared on the elderly man''s face upon hearing this. "I''ve tried to be nice, but seeing as you insist on testing my patience, you''ll have to bear the consequences! I can''t afford to waste any more time here!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly raised a hand, then thrust it forward with his fingers spread apart. A shimmering golden bead instantly shot forth through the air, reaching within 200 feet of Bai Suyuan in the blink of an eye.
In the next instant, dazzling golden light erupted from the bead, and it transformed into arge golden that descended upon her.
Bai Suyuan immediately shot back in retreat as quickly as she could, but there was simply far too massive a power disparity between the two, and she was unable to evade the attack even though she had reacted right away.
As for Sun Ke and the others, there was no time for them to do anything, and they could only look on helplessly as the golden began to close in on Bai Suyuan.
Right at this moment, a burst of azure light appeared in the air without any warning, immediately following which a figure emerged in front of Bai Suyuan before sweeping a hand through the air.
A ball of ck liquid instantly surged forth, crashing heavily into the golden.
As soon as the two made contact with one another, the golden instantly plummeted toward the ground as if something incredibly heavy were weighing down upon it.
"What? How could this be?" the elderly man eximed with a surprised expression.
"Elder Li!"
After taking a moment to steady herself, Bai Suyuan was both surprised and ted to find that she had been saved by a familiar figure.
Indeed, the one standing between her and the elderly man was none other than Han Li.
Instead of turning to look at Bai Suyuan, Han Li''s gaze remained firmly fixed on the elderly man as he said, "You''ve already wasted more than enough time here. Also, I''ve been nearby this entire time, so why are you saying that I left? If these disciples report me to the sect for neglecting my duties, then I''ll have merit points deducted."
"Now wonder that figure had an identical aura to yours, but it felt like something wasn''t quite right with it. In any case, is a mere early-True Immortal cultivator like yourself going to stand against me?" the elderly man chuckled coldly.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he raised a hand to summon a set of seven flying swords, which circled around in the air for a moment before forming a sword array that flew directly toward Han Li.
The runes on the flying swords were glowing brightly as they released bursts of white mes, making the flying swords resemble a massive fire raven with its wings spread open.
Han Li raised both hands in response, and a torrent of heavy water gushed forth, transforming into a ck flood dragon that was around 10 feet in length in mid-air before hurtling directly toward the white fire raven.
A string of loud explosions rang out as countless specks of white mes were sent flying in all directions, instantly melting the snow on the ground into water vapor wherever theynded.
The snow on around a dozen of the nearby pine trees quickly melted away, following which the trees themselves erupted into mes as well.
A peculiar look appeared in Sun Ke''s eyes at the sight of Han Li, and he approached Bai Suyuan before asking, "Who is this elder, Junior Martial Sister Bai?"
Bai Suyuan''s attention was entirely focused on the battle unfolding before her eyes, so she failed to notice the peculiar look on Sun Ke''s face as she replied, "He''s an inner sect elder by the name of Li Feiyu."
Sun Ke was naturally astonished to hear this.
This Elder Li shared the same name as the man that he had met on the Seafaring Lightning Boat, and most importantly, their auras were very simr.
However, the cultivation base of this Li Feiyu was worlds apart from that of the Li Feiyu from the Seafaring Lightning Boat, and Sun Ke couldn''t help but wonder if they were actually the same person.
Right at this moment, the elderly man let loose a loud roar, and the white fire raven formed by his flying swords spread its wings as it pounced at Han Li''s ck wyrm, forcing thetter back into retreat.
Han Li made a hand seal while chanting an incantation upon seeing this, and a ck disk that was around a foot in size with countless fine andplex spirit patterns on its surface suddenly appeared behind him.
The disk was giving off a powerful aura of waterws, and it was none other than this Heavy Water True Axis.
All of a sudden, the Heavy Water True Axis began to rapidly revolve at Han Li''s behest before flying rapidly toward the white fire raven.
As it approached the fire raven, the Water Dao Runes on the Heavy Water True Axis began to glow with dazzling blue light, while the waterw aura emanating from it became even more potent.
The elderly man''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and with a flick of his wrist, he sent a shimmering golden talisman flying through the air, and the talisman vanished into the fire raven''s body right before it was about to sh with the Heavy Water True Axis.
A resounding boom rang out as the golden talisman transformed the white fire raven into a ball of scorching white light before shing against the Heavy Water True Axis.
Tremendous shockwaves erupted in all directions from the epicenter of the sh, and half of the shockwaves were scorching hot, while the other half were cool and refreshing, but both were extremely destructive and destroyed all of the trees in their path.
Sun Ke and the others hurriedly fled back in retreat, quickly fleeing to several thousand feet away.
A string of loud ngs rang out as the Heavy Water True Axis revolved furiously on the spot as it shed against the ball of scorching white light, and it seemed that the two hade to an impasse.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, and the heavy water wyrm that had been forced back into retreat earlier rose up into the air once again before hurtling toward the ball of white light.
A dull thump rang out, and the heavy water wyrm was sliced apart by the sharp sword intent emanating from the seven flying swords as soon as it plunged into the ball of white light.
A vast expanse of ck heavy water erupted in all directions, but immediately thereafter, the Heavy Water True Axis suddenly began to glow brightly while releasing a burst of peculiar suction force.
All of the nearby heavy water was instantly sucked into the axis as a result, making the Heavy Water True Axis even heavier than before.
Thanks to its increased weight, it was revolving with greater momentum, and the ball of white light was slowly forced back into retreat.
The elderly man''s view was obstructed by the ball of light, so he hadn''t yet noticed that something was amiss. He had thought that Han Li had injected more magic power into his Heavy Water True Axis, so he hurriedly responded by injecting more magic power into his ball of white light as well.
Meanwhile, with another sweep of his sleeve, an evenrger heavy water wyrm was sent flying through the air, but this time, instead of flying into the ball of white light, it plunged straight into the Heavy Water True Axis.
A dull thump rang out, and the heavy water wyrm instantly vanished into the axis without a trace.
Radiant ck light erupted from the Heavy Water True Axis, and it expanded by about an inch diameter while bing even heavier.
All of a sudden, the elderly man felt a burst of mountainous force hurtling toward him, and it was so heavy that he was struck by a sense of asphyxiation.
He hurriedly made a hand seal to support the ball of white light so that it wouldn''t be instantly destroyed, and at the same time, he opened his mouth to release a tiny golden wooden puppet.
Chapter 231: The Might of Heavy Water
Chapter 231: The Might of Heavy Water
As soon as the wooden puppet appeared, it instantly vanished on the spot, then appeared directly above Han Li an instantter in a wraith-like manner.
A burst of golden light shed past as a golden-armored puppet that was over 30 feet tall emerged. The puppet was wielding a vajra pestle, which it swung down directly upon Han Li''s head.
Han Li tossed a ck ball in the direction of the Heavy Water True Axis, then turned around and raised an arm tobat the descending vajra pestle.
Ayer of golden scales appeared over his arm as it shed against the vajra pestle amid a resounding boom.
A shimmering golden fist struck the vajra pestle with tremendous force, sending a burst of even more powerful shockwaves sweeping through the air.
Before the sound from the sh hadpletely subsided, a deafening boom rang out from the Heavy Water True Axis as well, originating from the explosion of the ball of Heavy Water Veined Lightning that Han Li had just tossed in that direction.
Violent arcs of silver lightning erupted in all directions, quickly epassing the entire area within a radius of over 1,000 feet.
The ball of white light formed by the elderly man''s flying swords was instantly scattered, while the Heavy Water True Axis remainedrgely unaffected and continued to plunge forward with unstoppable might.
Immediately thereafter, a string of loud booms rang out as five of the seven flying swords were crushed into dust by the tremendous weight of the Heavy Water True Axis.
The destruction of the elderly man''s bonded flying swords instantly caused him to throw up arge mouthful of blood from the resulting bacsh.
However, he had no time to wipe the blood from his lips as he turned to Han Li with an incredulous look on his face. There, cracks were beginning to appear on the surface of the golden-armored puppet that he had been nurturing in his body for countless years.
Only then did he realize that he was no match for Han Li, and he immediately fled the scene at an incredible speed, doing so in such a hasty and decisive fashion that he had even abandoned his two remaining bonded flying swords.
Almost at the exact same moment, the golden-armored puppet shattered into pieces.
"Elder Li, he''s getting away!" Bai Suyuan yelled in an urgent voice.
Han Li took a nce in the direction that the elderly man had fled in, but wasn''t in a hurry to set off in pursuit.
With a wave of his hand, he stowed the Heavy Water True Axis away, then drew the two remaining flying swords and the golden bead that was capable of transforming into that golden into his storage bracelet as well.
Immediately thereafter, countless arcs of silver lightning appeared over his body, forming a circr lightning array with a diameter in excess of 100 feet in the blink of an eye.
An earth-shattering thunderp rang out as the silver array vanished on the spot, leaving behind only a few arcs of silver lightning that quickly dissipated as well. Meanwhile, Bai Suyuan and the others were left to gawk at one another with astonished expressions.
A True Immortal cultivator was simply unfathomable in their eyes. The sh between Han Li and the elderly man had onlysted a few seconds, but they were already thoroughly astonished by what they had just witnessed.
High up in the sky close to 100,000 kilometers away, the elderly man had blood dripping down from the corner of his lips as he flew through the air as quickly as he could with a look of intense fear in his eyes.
ording to the information that he had gathered beforeing here, Han Li was supposed to have been an itinerant early-True Immortal cultivator who had only recently joined the sect, but he was far more powerful than what the elderly man had imagined. Granted, he hadn''t unleashed all of his treasures and abilities, but he knew that if the battle had continued, then he would''ve perished for sure. Thankfully, it seemed that he wasn''t being pursued.
Right as this thought crossed his mind, an earth-shattering thunderp suddenly rang out in the sky above him.
The elderly man looked up to see a bolt of silver lightning that was as thick as a water vat crashing down from the heavens, and within the lightning was a deity-like figure that was descending from above with his long hair dancing all around him.
The figure was holding a ck spear with lightning revolving all around it, and the spear was being plunged down viciously from above.
The elderly man was caughtpletely off guard, and he had no time to take evasive measures, so he could only hurriedly raise his hands and summon a scaled shield to protect himself.
A resounding boom rang out as the heavy water spear pierced straight through the shield, then continued downward and plunged through the elderly man''s head.
Right at this moment, a tiny figure that was around three inches tall and was d in a suit of golden armor suddenly flew out of the top of the elderly man''s head in a sh.
Before Han Li had a chance to do anything, ayer of crimson light suddenly appeared over the tiny figure''s skin, immediately following which its entire body erupted into a cloud of blood mist that vanished without a trace.
Han Li instantly released his spiritual sense to epass the surrounding area in a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers, but was ultimately unable to find anything.
He slowly withdrew the heavy water spear that he had impaled through the elderly man''s body, then made a grabbing motion with one hand, and the storage bracelet on the elderly man''s wrist flew into his grasp.
After securing the storage bracelet, he injected his spiritual sense into it to find that it contained a good collection of items, including several powerful treasures and around a dozen Immortal Origin Stones.
After stowing the storage bracelet away, Han Li flew back the same way he hade from as a streak of azure light, and by the time he returned, he discovered that Bai Suyuan and the others had been taken to a valley near Pine Fruit Mountain by Su Tongxiao.
Fang Yu and the other two groups of disciples were there as well.
Aside from Qi Huanyu''s group, out of which four of the disciples had had their physical bodies destroyed, there were no other casualties, but everyone still had looks of lingering fear in their eyes.
At this moment, Su Tongxiao was seated on a giant rock in the valley, and his aura was rather unstable, indicating that he had sustained some injuries.
He immediately approached Han Li upon spotting him, then asked, "Did you manage to catch him, Brother Li?"
It was clear that he had already been made aware of what had just transpired here.
Han Li shook his head in response. "I managed to destroy his physical body, but his nascent soul got away using some type of secret technique."
"Thank heavens you arrived in time to protect the other disciples. I gotcent for a moment on my end and... At the very least, with that man''s physical body destroyed, we haven''tpletely failed in our mission," Su Tongxiao sighed.
"Is there still a need to continue the trial at this point, Brother Su?" Han Li asked.
"An enemy True Immortal cultivator has already appeared, and there''s no guarantee that he doesn''t have aplices nearby, so we''ll have to conclude the trial as a safety precaution. Let''s go back and report to the sect," Su Tongxiao replied.
"That sounds like it''s for the best," Han Li replied with a nod.
Su Tongxiao suddenly drew a little closer to Han Li, then pulled out a storage pouch that he stuffed into Han Li''s hand as hemunicated through voice transmission, "By the way, I owe you my thanks for protecting the other two groups of disciples. You deserve a share of the offerings from the elders."
"You''re far too kind, Brother Su."
Han Li raised no objections as he stowed the storage pouch away.
Given his contributions, he was indeed deserving of a share in these offerings.
In order to avoid further mishaps, everyone chose to return the same way they hade on foot rather than flying back.
Following this humbling incident, all of the disciples who regarded themselves as blessed prodigies were a lot more quiet, and even Qi Huanyu and Tang Chuan had be quite sullen and dejected.
Su Tongxiao was leading the way, while the disciples trailed along behind him, and Han Li was bringing up the rear.
Perhaps it was because she had heard about the patriarch of her n from her assant, but Bai Suyuan was walking along in an absentminded manner, seemingly with a lot on her mind.
Meanwhile, Sun Ke was dragging his feet as he trudged through the snow, and after some hesitation, he decided to intentionally drop to the rear of the group so that he could arrive by Han Li''s side.
Right as he was pondering what he was going to say, he was greeted by the sound of a familiar voice. "Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Sun."
Sun Ke faltered slightly upon hearing this, then hurriedly replied with a respectful expression, "Ah, so it really is you, Brother Li, I mean, Elder Li..."
"I hope you don''t mind that I hid my cultivation base from you back on the Seafaring Lightning Boat," Han Li said with a smile.
"I wouldn''t dare! I''m just surprised that you''re an inner sect elder of the ze Dragon Dao. If I had known this sooner, I wouldn''t have had to go through the trouble of offering so many treasures to establish connections in order to join the sect. Instead, I would''ve offered the treasures straight to you," Sun Ke sighed.
"I was also quite surprised to see you here. If I had known you wereing here, I would''ve apanied you along the way. I still think about all of the fine wines in your collection, and I''ve been dying to get a taste of the Fire Drop Wine that you''ve been sharing with your fellow disciples," Han Li chuckled.
"I still have some Fire Drop Wine left, you can have the rest of it if you''d like, Elder Li," Sun Ke immediately offered without any hesitation.
Instead of replying to Sun Ke''s offer, Han Li said, "I have a request for you, Fellow Daoist Sun."
Sun Ke faltered slightly upon hearing this, then prompted, "Please go ahead, Elder Li."
"I want to exchange a spirit treasure for the recipe of your Fire Drop Wine. Is that a trade you''re willing to make?" Han Li asked.
A conflicted look appeared on Sun Ke''s face upon hearing this request, following which he gritted his teeth as he said, "Truth be told, this wine is different from the other wines in my collection as it''s a secret recipe that''s been passed down in my n for generations, and it most likely can''t be found anywhere else.
¡°I did bring it out with me in secret, but giving the recipe to outsiders has always been strictly prohibited. However, you''ve already saved my life on two asions, and I''m not an ungrateful person, so I can make an exception and give you the recipe."
"If you''re going to give me the recipe, then I must give you a spirit treasure in exchange. Otherwise, people will say that I''m extorting disciples for my own benefit. This sword is quite a powerful treasure, and it''s not so easy to use, so you have to practice diligently with it after you''ve refined it," Han Li said as he flipped a hand over to produce a storage pouch, then offered it to Sun Ke.
The storage pouch contained that golden longsword that he had taken from the Origin Mirage Beast.
An overawed look appeared on Sun Ke''s face, but he didn''t refuse the storage pouch. At the same time, he offered an ancient piece of paper and an intricate red wine gon to Han Li in exchange.
Han Li stowed the gon away, then took a nce at the recipe on the ancient piece of paper before making a copy using a jade slip and returning the original to Sun Ke.
The other disciples noticed this interaction, and uponing to the realization that he seemed to have been on friendly terms with an inner sect elder, all of them were feeling rather envious of him.
Even though all of them also had True Immortals in their ns, they certainly didn''t have the courage to interact with a True Immortal as equals.
In particr, from their perspective, it seemed that Han Li was more powerful than Elder Su, which meant that he most likely had a higher status in the sect as well. After all, Tang Chuan''s group hadn''t suffered any casualties under his protection, but four of the disciples in Qi Huanyu''s group had had their physical bodies destroyed while under Su Tongxiao''s protection.
A few of the female cultivators were also taking extra nces at Sun Ke.
Han Li was openly conducting this trade with Sun Ke in front of everyone with the objective of earning Sun Ke more respect from his peers, a fact that Sun ke had already caught onto.
Chapter 232: Dispelling Doubts
Chapter 232: Dispelling Doubts
After returning to the ze Dragon Dao, Su Tongxiao instructed Fang Yu to take the disciples back to the Rising Sun Pce, while he went to deliver a report to the sect''s higher-ups. As the supervising elder with the higher cultivation base, he had to give the sect an exnation in the wake of the incident that had taken ce during the trial.
In particr, four of the disciples had had their physical bodies destroyed, and having epted bribes from so many elders, he was unable to escape culpability.
Han Li didn''t want to get involved in this matter, so he bade farewell to Su Tongxiao, then went straight to the Cloud Piercing Peak before making his way into the side hall of the High Profound Pce.
The side hall was as deserted as ever, and the door was slightly ajar, while Elder Hu Yan was seated in his chair behind the table with a bored expression.
"Wine is truly a great thing, but it seems I must exercise more moderation. It''s only been a few days, yet I''m close to running out again," Elder Hu Yan grumbled to himself as he took a sip out of the red gourd in his hand.
Han Li just so happened to have heard Elder Hu Yan''s grumbling as he arrived at the entrance of the side hall, and he paused momentarily before making his way inside.
Elder Hu Yan raised his head to look at Han Li, then said, "Looks like youpleted your third mission. You sure are a hard worker. Did any of the girls in the trial catch your eye?"
"Some unforeseen mishaps arose during the trial, so it was terminated halfway. However, most of the disciples emerged unscathed. Does this count aspleting the mission?"
Han Li gave Elder Hu Yan a brief recount of what had taken ce in the Profound Ice Mountain Range, handing Elder Hu Yan his elder badge as he did so.
"It doesn''t concern you whether they''vepleted their trial or not. As long as you''ve done your job, the mission will naturally be counted aspleted," Elder Hu Yan said as he took Han Li''s elder badge from him.
He then quickly deposited the sum of merit points corresponding with the mission into the badge before tossing it back to Han Li.
Han Li didn''t say anything as he caught the badge before stowing it away.
He took a nce at Elder Hu Yan, then at the potted spirit nt on the table, and he disyed no intention of departing.
"What do you want? Have you gotten addicted to carrying out missions? Do you want a fourth one?" Elder Hu Yan grumbled.
"Senior Hu Yan, I wanted to discuss our agreement about the Dao Warriors..."
Before Han Li had a chance to finish, Elder Hu Yan raised a hand to cut him off. "I''m gonna stop you right there! Don''t bothering to me unless you''ve found a good wine recipe. Before then, I''m not going to teach you anything."
Han Li had already anticipated such a reaction from Elder Hu Yan, and he smiled as he said, "Don''t be in such a hurry to turn me down, Senior. Now that I''vepleted my missions, I have nothing to do anyway, so would I be able to have a drink with you?"
Elder Hu Yan''s expression immediately darkened upon hearing this, and he hurriedly tucked his red gourd back under his belt as he grumbled, "I''ve been very busy recently, so I haven''t had any time to brew wine, and I don''t have much left. I don''t even have enough for myself! I let you drink to your heart''s contentst time, and I was kicking myself after you left! Stop thinking my Dao Warriors and get out of here!"
"I''m not asking for wine from you, Senior. Instead, I''d like to treat you to a cup of wine," Han Li said with a smile.
"You want to treat me to a cup of wine? I''m extremely picky, so if it''s just some ordinary spirit wine, then don''t bother bringing it out. If you ruin my appetite with a foul-tasting wine, not only will I never impart my knowledge in Dao Warriors onto you, I''ll kick you off this Cloud Piercing Peak myself!" Elder Hu Yan said.
Han Li remained unfazed by this threat, reaching out a hand before gently sweeping it over the table before him, upon which a pair of vibrant green jade cups appeared.
The cups were of an extremely even and wless green color, and there were thin golden lines inside, forming a series of flower-petal-shaped patterns that were quite remarkable to behold.
Elder Hu Yan was just about to say something else when his attention was drawn to the pair of jade cups. "Those are some decent Golden Thread Jade Cups."
Han Li didn''t say anything as he flipped a hand over to produce an intricate fire-red wine gon.
He then raised his other hand and removed the gon''s wooden stopper.
A faint pop rang out, following which an extremely unique and rich wine aroma instantly wafted throughout the entire side hall from within the gon.
Elder Hu Yan''s slightly red nose instantly twitched slightly as his eyes lit up with intrigue.
He leaned forward involuntarily, then stood up from his chair. His entire upper body was sprawled out on the table as he brought his nose closer to the gon in Han Li''s hand before taking a vigorous whiff of its contents.
"Hurry up and pour me a cup! What are you waiting for? My goodness, I''m about to start drooling all over the table!" Elder Hu Yan demanded in an urgent voice as he gulped down the saliva that was umting in his mouth.
Han Li didn''t dare to make Elder Hu Yan wait, so he leaned forward slightly and filled the pair of Golden Threat Jade Cups on the table with the wine from the gon.
Elder Hu Yan immediately picked up one of the cups, then began to carefully inspect it right in front of his eye.
The wine in the cup was of a vibrant red color, and it was giving off a fiery red glow. The wine itself was translucent, and with a slight shake of the cup, specks of red light could be seen dancing over the surface of the wine like tiny mes.
Elder Hu Yan eagerly brought the teacup to his lips, then took a small sip, upon which a look of surprise and tion instantly appeared on his face. He then tipped his head back and downed the rest of the wine in the cup in one go.
As soon as the wine entered his belly, it transformed into a surge of warmth that flowed throughout his entire body, and the red coloration of his nose instantly became even more pronounced.
He closed his eyes as he savored the lingering vor of the wine in his mouth, and a blissful look appeared on his face.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
After returning to his senses, Elder Hu Yan immediately said, "This is truly an extraordinarily exquisite wine. Where did you get this wine from? I''ve never tasted it before."
"This wine is called the Fire Drop Wine, and it''s produced on the Primordial Wave Continent. However, due to the fact that the recipe has already been lost, it''s very difficult to find nowadays," Han Li exined.
"What? The recipe has been lost?"
This revtion struck Elder Hu Yan like a bolt of lightning, causing his voice to spike up a few octaves.
However, he then quickly calmed down again as he asked, "If the recipe has already been lost, then how did you get your hands on this wine?"
"I''m afraid that''s a question I can''t answer. All I want to know is if the recipe for this wine is enough to exchange for your knowledge in Dao Warriors," Han Li said in a direct and straightforward manner.
A hesitant look appeared on Elder Hu Yan''s face as he sat back down in his chair, and he appeared to have been quite conflicted.
However, Han Li could see that Elder Hu Yan was constantly ncing at the red wine gong in his hand out of the corner of his eye, and it was clear that he wanted both the recipe and the gon of wine.
Sure enough, it didn''t take long before Elder Hu Yan caved.
"So be it. You and I get along quite well with each other, so as long as you give me the wine recipe and that gon of Fire Drop Wine, I can impart my knowledge in Dao Warriors onto you."
"I''m afraid that won''t do, Senior. Our prior agreement only concerned a wine recipe, and I only have a single gon of this Fire Drop Wine, so I can''t just give it to you free of charge," Han Li said.
Elder Hu Yan was immediately able to read between the lines, and he red at Han Li as he asked, "You can''t give it to me free of charge, you say? Fine, what else do you want from me?"
"I also wanted to learn from you how to nt spirit nts into pots, like in the case of this one," Han Li replied with a slightly embarrassed smile.
Elder Hu Yan immediately burst intoughter upon hearing this. "That''s not a problem at all! I can teach you that."
Han Li was rather surprised by how willing Elder Hu Yan was to impart this knowledge, but after hearing the nting method, he realized why Elder Hu Yan wasn''t reluctant at all to give this piece of knowledge away.
As it turned out, this type of nting method wasn''tplex at all. What was difficult about it was finding containers suitable for holding spirit nts, as well as spirit fluids that can supply the spirit nts with sufficient spiritual power.
The ck pot that Elder Hu Yan was using for the potted nt on the table was a treasure that was capable of absorbing the world''s origin qi, and that was why the spirit nt nted within it was able to thrive even though it had been taken from the earth.
Furthermore, this type of nting method was only applicable to an extremely small selection of spirit nts.
"I didn''t think there would be so many restrictions. What a pity..." Han Li sighed.
"Now that I''ve given you what you wanted, you better hand over that gon of wine and its recipe to me," Elder Hu Yan urged with a pleased smile.
Han Li handed the gon of wine over to Elder Hu Yan, then flipped a hand over to produce a copy of the wine recipe, which he set down onto the table.
Elder Hu Yan grabbed the gon, then removed the wooden stopper before taking another whiff. He then began to carefully read through the recipe while murmuring his observations to himself. "As expected, 10,000-year-old Arhat Leaves were used... Oh, and there''s Bright Stone Flower as well... I see..."
Han Li could see that Elder Hu Yan waspletely absorbed in his reading, so he didn''t interrupt him. He reached out to grab the cup of wine on the table that he had poured for himself, only for Elder Hu Yan to immediately p his hand away.
"All of this wine belongs to me now!"
A grabbed the cup as he spoke before downing its contents in one go, then began smacking hsi lips in pleasure.
Han Li naturally wasn''t offended by this, and he asked, "Can we talk about Dao Warriors now, Senior?"
Elder Hu Yan stowed the gon and the wine recipe away, following which a serious look appeared on his face as he said, "I didn''t think you would actually be able to acquire such an exceptional wine recipe. What do you want to know?"
Han Li paused for a moment, then asked, "These Dao Warriors appear simr to puppets, but are also quite different, and I wanted to know exactly what they were."
Elder Hu Yan considered the question for a moment, then replied, "That''s a rather difficult question to answer. Dao Warriors could start off as a number of things, such as cultivators who sold themselves as ves, powerful demon beasts, puppets refined in special ways, heavenly devils with established contracts, mutated ghosts, artifact spirits... Even spirits born in spirit domains are technically Dao Warriors."
"What category do those Dao Warriors that can sprout from those yellow beans fall into?" Han Li asked.
"Oh, you''re talking about Bean Warriors. They''re a type of nt Dao Warrior, and they fall under the puppet category. They need to be nted, then refined, and the power of the Bean Warriors will vary depending on how long the beans were nurtured and the potency of the arrays inscribed upon them," Elder Hu Yan exined.
Chapter 233: Planting a Bean Warrior
Chapter 233: nting a Bean Warrior
"I see. Aside from being useful in battle, what else can Dao Warriors be used for?" Han Li asked.
"Depending on where a Dao Warrior came from, it could possess certain special talents, and it''ll be absolutely obedient to its owner. If you have a sufficient number of Dao Warriors, you can even use them to assemble various types of arrays, thereby making them powerful allies," Elder Hu Yan replied.
"If there are so many benefits to owning Dao Warriors, then wouldn''t everyone try to procure them? Why is it that they seem to be extremely rare?" Han Li asked.
"What do you take Dao Warriors for, kid? How can they be considered to be precious if any ordinary immortal is able to use them? A huge amount of time, energy, and resources are required to develop Dao Warriors, and even then, there''s still some luck involved, so not all immortals have the required resources and ability to obtain them.
¡°Even Bean Warriors, which are considered to be among the lower third grade of Daw Warriors, are extremely rare," Elder Hu Yan exined.
"Thank you for exining all of this to me, Elder Hu Yan. Would you be able to tell me exactly how these Dao Warriors are refined?" Han Li asked as he cupped his fist toward Elder Hu Yan in a grateful salute.
"Seeing as you were able to bring me such a fantastic wine recipe, I''ll pass my knowledge in nurturing Bean Warriors to you. However, make sure you don''t give this information to anyone else! Also, I quite like this pair of Golden Thread Jade Cups, so I''ll ept them as a gift from you," Elder Hu Yan said as a sly grin appeared on his face.
Before Han Li had a chance to reply, Elder Hu Yan gently swept a sleeve over the table to stow the pair of cups away.
At the same time, a thin yellow paper book appeared on the table.
Han Li was feeling a little exasperated, but he was already familiar with Elder Hu Yan''s personality, and he naturally wasn''t going to say anything. He picked up the thin book before flipping through a few of its pages, then carefully stowed it away.
The book waspletely unremarkable in appearance, but it really did contain information on the method required to nt Bean Warriors, so this was something that he would have to study in further detail once he returned to his cave abode.
"Thank you, Senior," he said as he extended another salute of gratitude.
"Don''t worry about it, both of us got what we wanted, so neither of us owe each other anything. I''m really busy right now, so I have no time to entertain you," Elder Hu Yan said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
That was clearly Han Li''s cue to depart, and he willingly obliged.
After leaving the High Profound Pce, he returned straight to the Crimson Dawn Peak, where he entered his cave abode and immediately went to the small spirit medicine field.
At this point, quite a few spirit medicines had already been nted here, and the giant ape puppet that was responsible for tending to them was situated nearby.
Han Li made his way to a vacant plot ofnd in the southwestern corner of the field, then crouched down before using his hands to dig a small hole into the soft and loamy soil. After that, he flipped a hand over to produce a walnut-sized yellow bean, which he tossed into the hole before covering it with soil.
This yellow bean was none other than the primary bean that he had obtained from the golden giant in the Origin Realm Temple of the Spirit Domain Realm.
ording to the book that Elder Hu Yan had given to him, after a Bean Warrior was nted, it would require a long time to germinate, but it was impossible to predict exactly how much time it would take.
There were disparities in the time required for Bean Warriors of different varieties and even different specimens from the same variety of Bean Warrior to germinate, and the quality of the Bean Warriors, the soil that they were nted in, and the spirit liquid used to nurture them all yed huge roles.
On the subject of spirit liquids, there was most likely no better option than the spirit liquid produced by the Heaven Controlling Vial.
All of the spirit liquid in the vial had already been used up on maturing the spirit medicines nted in this field, so he would have to wait until the next time the vial produced spirit liquid to administer the first dose to the bean.
After doing all of that, Han Li took a nce at the spirit medicines in the field, of which several were already approaching 50,000 years in age.
These spirit medicines were at an age where they could be used, but he had no suitable pill recipe for them.
There were avenues in the sect through which pill recipes could be obtained, but pill refinement was a skill that required practice, and pills that could enhance the cultivation base of True Immortal cultivators had to have been quite difficult to refine. With his skills in pill refinement, he could give it a try, but in all likelihood, he would have to fail numerous times before finding sess.
With his current stash of spirit stones and Immortal Origin Stones, he could be considered to have been quite wealthy among early-True Immortal cultivators, but it most likely wasn''t going to be enough once he began dabbling in pill refinement.
Having said that, he did have quite arge stash of low and mid-tier treasures, materials, and other thingsying around. He would have to n out how to sell them in batches to fund his future pill refinement endeavors.
However, prior to that, there were a few other things that he had to take care of.
With that in mind, he returned to his secret chamber, and after taking a seat with his legs crossed, he flipped a hand over to produce an intricate storage bracelet, out of which emerged arge collection of different items.
This storage bracelet was the one that he had taken from that elderly man that had appeared in the Profound Ice Mountain Range.
Somehow, the man seemed to have gathered some information on what had happened to Elder Bai Fengyi, and it was unclear what his objectives were for trying to abduct Bai Suyuan.
It was a pity that he was unable to capture the man''s nascent soul. Otherwise, he would''ve been able to perform a soul search technique.
It didn''t take long before Han Li had split up the contents of the storage bracelet into different categories in an expert fashion, following which he stowed them away to leave only three items behind, namely a dark golden chunk of metal with some type of pattern all over its surface and a pair of jade boxes.
Both of the jade boxes had white talismans that were glowing with spiritual light adhered to them, clearly indicating that they held very important items inside.
The first thing that he did was pick up the chunk of metal for inspection. It was around the size of a watermelon and was the exact same as those few pieces of metal that he had obtained from the Origin Mirage Beast.
Han Li was rather intrigued at the sight of the chunk of metal.
The Origin Mirage Beast had been collecting this material, and it was also present in the elderly man''s storage bracelet, so it had to have some type of special uses.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he stowed the chunk of metal away. Prior to this, he hadn''t paid much heed to this material, but it seemed that he would have to find some time to have the material appraised so he could find out exactly what it was.
After that, Han Li picked up one of the jade boxes, and bright azure light began to emanate from his hand as he pointed at the talismans adhered to the box.
The talismans immediately began to glow with dazzling white light in an effort to resist him, but Han Li merely flicked a finger through the air with a cold smile on his face, and several streaks of azure sword qi were released before shredding through the white talismans.
After being severed into pieces, the white talismans were renderedpletely useless, and Han Li was able to open the jade box.
Inside, he discovered a palm-sized white badge that had a rather peculiar appearance. It was thin and long, and its edges weren''t very even, as if it were something that had been casually crafted out of jade by a child.
Han Li picked up the badge to give it a closer inspection, and he discovered that the material was glittering and translucent, and it was giving off a gentle glow.
It was definitely no ordinary material, but he couldn''t identify it. However, it was clear from how carefully it had been stored that this was something that the elderly man had held in high regard.
Han Li then employed several secret techniques to thoroughly inspect both the inside and the outside of the badge, but still wasn''t able to discover anything.
With a shake of his head, he ced the badge back into the jade box before stowing it away.
Seeing as he couldn''t figure out what it was, he would just have to leave it for another time.
Finally, Han Li picked up the other jade badge before removing the talismans on the outside using the same method as before.
Inside this jade box was a book that was yellow with age, and its pages seemed to have been made from some type of beasthide.
Han Li picked up the book, but after briefly flipping through its pages, he shook his head before cing it back in the jade box.
The book had no cover or name, but judging from the content that it contained, it appeared to have been a book about tool refinement. There were many techniques in the book for refining and enhancing treasures, but it was a little niche.
There were still many other things that he had to take care of for now, so he decided to spend time studying the book for now.
After stowing the second jade box away, Han Li made a hand seal, and the Heavy Water True Axis appeared before him.
Blue light shed within his eyes as he made a beckoning motion with one hand, and a small ball of heavy water flew out of his True Water Pouch before slowly approaching the Heavy Water True Axis.
At the moment, the axis was revolving on the spot while giving off a faint ck glow.
As the ball of heavy water approached the axis, the Water Dao Rune on thetter instantly began to release a watery blue glow, as well as bursts of faintw powers.
The suction force that had emerged during Han Li''s battle against the elderly man also appeared once again, and the ball of heavy water was drawn straight into the Heavy Water True Axis, which became slightly heavier as a result.
Han Li was very pleased to see this. Just as he had anticipated, the Heavy Water True Axis really was capable of absorbing more heavy water.
With a flick of his wrist, a volume of heavy water that was enough to fill an entire bucket surged forth before flowing toward the Heavy Water True Axis.
The Water Dao Rune on the Heavy Water True Axis radiated dazzling blue light as it quickly devoured most of the heavy water, but right at this moment, an unexpected turn of events unfolded.
The Water Dao Rune shed a few more times before suddenly turning dark, and the axis also stopped devouring heavy water.
At the same time, most of Han Li''s spiritual connection with the Heavy Water True Axis abruptly faded, and the axis came plummeting down toward the ground.
Thankfully, Han Li was able to react quickly enough to catch the axis before it hit the ground, but his arm sank down involuntarily from its enormous weight.
Having absorbed so much heavy water, the axis had be significantly heavier than before.
What just happened?
Initially, he had only refined the Heavy Water True Axis as a smokescreen to keep his Mantra True Axis hidden, but he had since discovered that it was extremely useful in battle, and he certainly didn''t want to lose his spiritual connection to it.
Chapter 234: Monkey Wine
Chapter 234: Monkey Wine
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li stowed the rest of the heavy water away, then injected his spiritual sense into the axis in an attempt to find out what was happening.
However, as soon as his spiritual sense entered the axis, he felt a burst of enormous churning inside like turbulent waves of the sea, and his spiritual sense was forced out.
After that, he spent close to half a day employing several different methods to find out what had changed within the Heavy Water True Axis, but all to no avail, leaving him to stare at the axis with tightly furrowed brows.
Could it be that the axis underwent some type of mutation after absorbing the heavy water?
Back when he refined the Heavy Water True Axis, he had followed the refinement method recorded in the Mantra Axis Scripture, and he hadn''tpletely familiarized himself with the fundamental principles of the treasure, so it wasn''t impossible for it to have undergone some type of mutation.
With that in mind, Han Li was beginning to regret not taking the Heavy Water True Axis more seriously, but those emotions weren''t going to help him.
At this point, he had to focus on thinking of a way to save the axis. He certainly didn''t have enough time and resources to refine another one.
There was still a faint connection left between himself and the axis, so he pressed the axis against his lower abdomen where his dantian was, then activated this connection with all his might.
Ayer of ck light appeared over the Heavy Water True Axis, and it entered his dantian in a sh, residing peacefully in there like before.
The fact that Han Li was able to draw the axis back into his dantian meant that he hadn''tpletely lost it.
He immediately sat up straight and directed all of the immortal spiritual power in his dantian to envelop the Heavy Water True Axis, and his nascent soul also released bursts of nascent mes to epass the entire axis.
The Water Dao Runes on the Heavy Water True Axis began to glow faintly, while the axis itself began to spin slowly again.
An ted look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he continued this process.
An entire month passed by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Han Li opened his eyes before sweeping a sleeve through the air, and the Heavy Water True Axis emerged with its spiritual connection to Han Lipletely restored.
Not only that, but the color of the Water Dao Rune on its surface seemed to have be slightly darker.
As the axis revolved in mid-air, it released bursts of tremendous force that caused the surrounding space to tremble and quiver.
Han Li was extremely relieved to see this. Not only had the Heavy Water True Axis''s weight increased significantly, its power had been given a slight boost as well.
He drew the axis into his grasp, then began to gently stroke its surface.
There were quite a few people in the ze Dragon Dao who had cultivated the Mantra Axis Scripture, but never had he heard of anyone creating a faux axis capable of absorbing one of the materials that it had been refined from, and he didn''t know if this had something to do with the refinement process, or perhaps it was rted to the materials used.
In any case, this was definitely a good thing.
Previously, the Heavy Water True Axis had resembled someone who had consumed too much food at once, resulting in indigestion.
A hint of anticipation coupled with unease appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he ced the Heavy Water True Axis in the air in front of himself, then sent a ball of heavy water around the size of a human head drifting toward it.
The Water Dao Rune on the axis began to glow blue once again, and it quickly devoured the entire ball of heavy water.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he pped his hands together with glee.
He had just confirmed that the Heavy Water True Axis was able to keep absorbing heavy water.
Each intake of heavy water wasn''t able to enhance the power of the axis by much, but if he were to repeat this process over and over again, he could envision the axis eventually bing several times, even over 10 times more powerful than it currently was.
The Heavy Water True Axis was quite formidable to begin with, and once it reached its full potential, it would truly be a force to be reckoned with.
With that in mind, Han Li couldn''t help but grow a little excited again.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he brought out anotherrge ball of heavy water that descended onto the axis.
The Water Dao Rune on the axis lit up as it began to devour the heavy water again.
However, only about half of the ball of heavy water had been devoured when the axis suddenly fell dark again, and Han Li''s spiritual connection with it was once again severelypromised as it fell out of the air, only to be caught by Han Li.
After these two cycles, Han Li was able to roughly determine that the Heavy Water True Axis was able to absorb roughly a bucket''s worth of heavy water per intake.
With that in mind, he stowed the Heavy Water True Axis back into his dantian to be refined with his nascent me.
Over two years passed by in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s eyes sprang open as he swept a sleeve through the air, and a ball of ck light flew out of his body.
It was none other than the Heavy Water True Axis, and as soon as it emerged, the space within the secret chamber instantly began to shudder, while a burst of rumbling that resembled faint thunderps rang out.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
During the past two years, he had remained exclusively in his secret chamber, focusing on feeding the Heavy Water True Axis more heavy water while also manifesting crystals to be sent to his Earthly Deity Avatar.
After over 20 more intakes of heavy water, the Heavy Water True Axis had be at least three times more powerful than before.
However, after absorbing so much heavy water, the rate at which the axis was absorbing heavy water was bing slower, and the volume of each intake was also decreasing.
It was still able to absorb more, but Han Li could sense that it was about to reach its limit.
Even so, the Heavy Water True Axis had already be extremely fearsome.
With that in mind, he stowed the axis away before making his way outside.
The gate of the cave abode opened, and Han Li emerged.
A figure quickly approached him from a nearby room, and it was none other than Sun Buzheng, who appeared to have been waiting for him.
"Sun Buzheng pays his respects to Elder Li."
"Is there something you need to speak to me about?" Han Li asked.
"Elder Li, all of the spirit fields in your territory have already been cleared up, and I wanted to ask which types of spirit nts you wanted to have nted in these fields," Sun Buzheng replied in a respectful manner.
Han Li nodded in response, then flipped a hand over to produce a storage pouch that he handed to Sun Buzheng. "The seeds and the nting methods are all in here. Just do as the instructions say."
"Yes, Elder Li," Sun Buzheng epted the storage pouch before departing.
Han Li took a few steps forward, then looked down from his vantage point.
Some restrictions had been set up around the spirit fields at the foot of the mountain, and Meng Qianqian and the others were all busy at work, tending to the fields.
Meanwhile, the Two-headed Griffin was soaring through the air nearby, constantly patrolling the area.
Han Li nodded with a pleased expression upon seeing this. He didn''t have arge number of servants, but even so, his territory was beginning to look quite prosperous.
A smile appeared on his face, and in the next instant, he abruptly vanished from the spot before reappearing near a waterfall at the foot of the Crimson Dawn Peak.
The weather was bing even colder, and the entirendscape was covered in snow. Even the water had mostly frozen, reduced to only around a third of its original size.
Thankfully, the spiritual qi around the Crimson Dawn Peak was quite abundant, so the valley was still filled with lush greenery.
After taking a brief nce at his surroundings, Han Li summoned his Heavy Water True Axis, yet before he had a chance to do anything, an ted cry suddenly rang out from nearby.
Han Li turned in that direction, and a smile appeared on his face.
As it turned out, a group of monkeys were ying in the nearby forest, and it seemed that they were the same ones that he had run intost time.
All of a sudden, arge crimson monkey sprang out of the forest, thennded not far away from Han Li, and it was none other than the monkey king.
The monkey king had be more physically imposing sincest time, and its crimson fur had also be more vibrant.
Furthermore, it was only very faint, but it was giving off a burst of demonic qi fluctuations.
"Looks like you''ve made some good progress in your cultivation," Han Li remarked with a smile.
A grateful look appeared in the monkey king''s eyes as it knelt down onto the ground before kowtowing respectfully to Han Li.
The other monkeys also jumped down to pay their respects to Han Li.
"I did give you some minor assistancest time we met, but your aptitude is the main reason behind the progress you''ve been able to make. On top of that, you''re residing in a blessed paradise, so even without my help, you would''ve been able to reach this level with a few more years of cultivation," Han Li said as he sped his hands behind his back.
The monkey king shook its head as it attempted tomunicate something to Han Li, following which it swept an arm through the air.
One of the monkeys behind it immediately jumped forward with a yellow gourd in its hands, which it set down in front of Han Li.
The aroma of wine was wafting out from within the gourd, and Han Li was silent for a moment as he nced at the gourd on the ground before asking, "Could it be that you''ve been waiting here for me this entire time?"
The monkey king immediately nodded in response.
Han Li was rather touched by this gesture, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a ball of azure light, which split up into several dozen bursts, each of which surged into one of the monkeys present.
All of the monkeys immediately cried out in tion.
He then produced a pill that he tossed at the monkey king, and thetter immediately caught the pill in its mouth before swallowing it.
A burst of crimson light appeared over its body, and only after a long while did it subside, following which the demonic qi radiating from the monkey king''s body became significantly more pronounced. An ecstatic look appeared on its face as he pushed the yellow gourd closer to Han Li''s foot.
"Did you brew this wine yourselves? I have previously heard that monkey wine is extremely sweet and delectable, I didn''t think I would ever get to taste it," Han Li said with a smile as he picked up the gourd before removing the stopper.
The aroma of the wine inside instantly became 10 times stronger, and it flowed straight into his nostrils as if it had a mind of its own.
A hint of surprise appeared on Han Li''s face. He had only picked up the gourd as he didn''t want to disappoint these thoughtful monkeys, but the fragrance of the monkey wine was unexpectedly delectable, and his eyes immediately lit up as he took a small sip.
Not only was the wine extremely delicious, it had a special aroma, and it wasn''t inferior evenpared with the immortal wines that Han Li had tried from Elder Hu Yan''s collection.
"How are you able to brew such fine wine? Is there some secret?" Han Li asked.
The monkey king scratched its head as a hesitant look appeared on its face.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this. The monkey king''s hesitant reaction indicated that they really did have a secret, and it would be extremely useful if he could obtain this secret. Despite how erratic Elder Hu Yan was, it seemed that he was quite an important figure in the sect, and there was a good chance that Han Li would have to interact with him in the future.
Right as he was about to pull out a few pills to offer a deal to the monkey king, it suddenly cried out before turning and rushing away into the distance.
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this, and the monkey king rushed to over 100 feet away before stopping in its tracks and turning around to call out to Han Li.
Han Li followed along behind the monkey king, and the other monkeys also trailed along behind him.
The monkey king moved as swiftly as the wind, quickly covering close to 10 kilometers before arriving at a mountain stream.
The weather here was warmer, but thendscape was very rocky, and there wasn''t much vegetation.
There was an evenrger waterfall here, and it was giving off a loud rumbling while water vapor churned all around it, presenting a breathtaking sight to behold.
The monkey king leaped straight into the waterfall, and Han Li raised an eyebrow before following along.
Upon passing through the waterfall, they arrived in a massive cave.
Chapter 235: An Offering from the Monkey King
Chapter 235: An Offering from the Monkey King
The cave appeared to have been formed naturally, and it wasn''t special in any waypared with most of the caves on the mountain.
The cave was quite spacious, around 200 to 300 feet in area, and there were several small caves inside that appeared to have been the homes for these monkeys. A tender cry rang out from one of the smaller caves as several small monkeys poked their heads out, only to be immediately pulled back by the arm of another monkey.
Immediately thereafter, a female monkey appeared at the entrance of the cave, looking at Han Li with a cautious expression as it let loose a threatening cry.
The monkey king immediately responded with an authoritative roar, and the female monkey''s expression instantly changed as it ducked back into the cave.
The monkey king turned to Han Li to deliver what seemed to have been an apology, then continued onward, quickly reaching the deepest cave.
This was a rather small cave that was only several dozen feet in area, and the entire cave was filled with a rich wine aroma that wasing from a cauldron that was taller than a grown man.
The cauldron was gray in color, and it seemed to have been constructed from some type of unknown rock. It was a round cauldron that was supported by three feet, and there was a lid on the cauldron that was shaped like a conical bamboo hat.
There were eightrge runes engraved onto the surface of the cauldron, giving it a remarkable appearance, but the cauldron wasn''t giving off even the slightest aura, appearing as if it were nothing more than an ordinary cauldron.
The monkey king cried out a few times as it pointed at the cauldron, then jumped onto it before lifting the lid.
Most of the cauldron was filled with a light red liquid, which was giving off the same aroma as the monkey wine in the gourd.
However, it was clear that the brewing process wasn''t yetplete for this batch of wine as it was still looking a little murky.
There were many pieces of fruit skin and cores littered around the cauldron, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
He pointed at the fruit scraps on the ground as he asked, "This is what you used to brew your wine?"
The monkey king immediately nodded in response.
Han Li fell silent as he made his way over to the cauldron, and after inspecting it carefully for some time, his eyes gradually lit up.
All of the fruit scraps on the ground belonged to somemon wild fruits in the mountains, but due to the fact that they were growing in the Bell Toll Mountain Range, all of them contained some of the world''s origin qi. Even so, they could only have been considered to be the most ordinary of spirit fruits.
The fact that these monkeys were able to brew such exquisite wine with such simple ingredients had to have had something to do with their wine brewing expertise, but the main contributing factor was most likely this mysterious stone cauldron.
Han Li inspected the cauldron for a moment, then pressed his hand against it and slowly injected his immortal spiritual power into it, but the cauldron disyed no reaction.
His brows furrowed slightly as he increased the rate of immortal spiritual power outflow while also simultaneously injecting his spiritual sense into the cauldron as well.
The eight runes on the surface of the cauldron suddenly lit up slightly, but then immediately fell dark again.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes as he withdrew his immortal spiritual power and spiritual sense.
He still wasn''t able to uncover exactly what was so special about this stone cauldron, but it was clearly no ordinary cauldron.
"Where did you get this cauldron from?" he asked as he turned to the monkey king.
The monkey king scratched its head for a moment, then pointed at the cave and tried tomunicate something to Han Li.
"You''re saying it was always here to begin with?" Han Li asked.
The monkey king immediately nodded in response with an ted expression.
Han Li fell silent upon seeing this.
This was a cave that had been formed naturally, so how had such a mysterious stone cauldron appeared here? Could it be that someone had put it here?
In any case, at the very least, this stone cauldron was clearly a brilliant treasure for brewing wine.
At this moment, some other monkeys also entered the cave and began to y. As a result, the quiet cave instantly became quite lively.
Many of the monkeys were looking into the deepest cave, but none of them stepped inside.
Han Li took a nce outside, then quickly withdrew his gaze as he asked, "This stone cauldron is very useful to me. Would you be able to give it to me? Of course, I''m not going to just take it from you. Here, you can have your pick out of these pills and spirit fruits, or anything else you may like."
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a bunch of items as he spoke.
The monkey king''s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the pills and spirit fruits, but it then shook its head vigorously, as if to free itself from temptation.
After refusing Han Li''s proposal, it pointed in the direction of the Crimson Dawn Peak in the distance.
"You want me to take you live on the Crimson Dawn Peak?" Han Li asked.
The monkey nodded vigorously in response, following which a thought urred to it, and it pointed at the monkeys outside.
"You want me to take them with me as well?" Han Li asked.
The monkey king nodded in response as a hopeful look appeared on its eyes.
The monkeys outside also seemed to have sensed that this was an important moment, and all of them instantly fell silent.
"I can do that. The spiritual qi on the Crimson Dawn Peak is far more abundant than it is here, but it''s also a lot colder. Will you be able to handle it?" Han Li asked.
The monkey king nodded vigorously as it thumped its own chest.
Han Li stowed his offerings away, then said, "In that case, I''ll take all of you to the Crimson Dawn Peak once you''re prepared for the move."
The monkey king cried out in excitement, then rushed out of the cave before calling out loudly to its brethren, and it was met with a wave of ecstatic cheers.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and he turned to the stone cauldron, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, stowing the cauldron away along with the batch of unfinished monkey wine instead.
A pleased smile appeared on his face as he made his way out of the cave.
Momentster, a streak of azure light shot out of the waterfall before hurtling away into the distance, flying for several thousand feet before stopping to reveal none other than Han Li.
He had arrived in a rather deste area with sparse vegetation and only a few ck mountains, all of which were covered in a thickyer of snow.
He gently exhaled before rubbing his hands together, and his Heavy Water True Axis emerged.
He chanted an incantation as he activated the axis, and much to his surprise, the immortal spiritual power in his body was being sucked away by the Heavy Water True Axis like flood water out of a broken dam.
Before he had a chance to do anything, the Heavy Water True Axis began to glow with dazzling bright light while expanding to several times its original size in the blink of an eye.
A burst of formidable spiritual pressure erupted out of the axis alongside a series of ck halos that proliferated outward in all directions, and the sound of crashing waves could be heard as well.
All of the world''s origin qi within a radius of thousands of kilometers was swept up into a frenzy, and countless specks of blue light appeared before converging toward a certain spot.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which an ted look appeared in his eyes.
The Heavy Water True Axis had swelled to the size of a house, and it was rapidly revolving while giving off piercing ck light. The Water Dao Rune on its surface was also glowing a bright blue, and the blue and ck light seemed to have been feeding off one another, bing brighter and brighter until it was as if there were a ck and blue sun hovering in mid-air.
At the same time, bursts of invisible fluctuations surged forth in a frenzy, bing more powerful with each sessive wave. The nearby space also began to tremble violently, while gusts of fierce wind swept through the surrounding air.
After a brief pause, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and the massive Heavy Water True Axis immediately hurtled through the air before crashing toward the ground.
The ground and the sky began to tremble violently in unison, as if doomsday had descended.
Ripples of ck and blue light surged through the air in all directions, sweeping up ferocious gusts of wind that swept away the snow on the ground with ease while also stripping away the topyer of earth beneath the snow.
The clouds in the sky were also churning violently as they spread into the distance like turbulent waves.
The Crimson Dawn Peak that was several thousand kilometers away also shuddered as an immeasurable volume of snow came crashing down.
Sun Buzheng and the others, who were tending to the spirit fields at the foot of the mountain, all looked at one another with surprised expressions, and no one knew what had happened.
"Could it be that Elder Li is using some type of cultivation art? But it doesn''t feel like the tremors areing from the mountaintop," someone mused.
"Who else could cause such a massivemotion aside from Elder Li? He only just came out of seclusion, so perhaps he''s mastered some cultivation art of unmatched power or has refined a treasure and is testing it out," Sun Buzheng said as he turned to the direction that the tremors wereing from with a hint of longing in his eyes.
Meng Qianqian also turned to that direction with a look of admiration on her face.
Several thousand kilometers away, the earth-shattering tremors finally faded, and the dust settled to reveal the scene down below.
An enormous chasm that was several thousand feet wide had appeared on the ground, and it extended in either direction as far as the eyes could see, as if the entire earth had been split in half.
Furthermore, the chasm was extremely deep, and faint glimmers of fiery red light could be seen at the bottom, indicating that it reached all the way down into theva beneath the earth.
The nearby mountains hadpletely vanished, clearly having already been destroyed.
Han Li was standing in mid-air with the Heavy Water True Axis hovering beside him, and it had already reverted back to its original size.
His face was slightly pale, and around a third of all of his immortal spiritual power had been exhausted from unleashing that all-out attack with the Heavy Water True Axis.
However, there was an ted look on his face.
The Heavy Water True Axis had be far more powerful than he anticipated, and if he were to use it in battle, it would be no less powerful than an Acquired Immortal Treasure of a very high caliber.
He took a deep breath, and hisplexion quickly returned to normal. He then stowed the Heavy Water True Axis away before flying toward the Crimson Dawn Peak as a streak of azure light.
¡¡
Half a dayter, Han Li appeared in a massive cave halfway up the Crimson Dawn Peak.
He inspected his surroundings briefly, then flicked a finger through the air in rapid session.
Streaks of sword qi erupted in all directions, shredding through the mountain rock like tofu, quickly digging out around a dozen smaller caves with surfaces that were extraordinarily smooth.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, and with a sweep of his sleeve, the monkeys from the foot of the mountain appeared in the cave amid a sh of light.
The monkeys looked around, and ecstatic looks quickly appeared on their faces as they began to explore their new home.
The monkey king was just as ecstatic as its brethren, and it immediately fell to its knees and kowtowed to Han Li over and over again.
"You can all live here from now on. If you encounter any trouble or difficulties, you can go to the mountaintop to seek out my servants," Han Li said.
The monkey king hurriedly nodded in response.
In the next instant, Han Li had already vanished from the spot.
All of the other monkeys rushed over to the monkey king, and after looking at one another for a moment, all of them kowtowed toward the spot where Han Li had been standing just a moment ago.
At this point, Han Li had already returned to his cave abode on the mountaintop, and he ced the stone cauldron down in a room before setting a few restrictions.
After that, he made his way to his secret chamber.
At this point, the three regr elder missions had already beenpleted, and the Heavy Water True Axis had also be about as powerful as it could be in its current form, so it was time to think about pills.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he sat down with his legs crossed.
Chapter 236: Initial Dabbles in Immortal Pills
Chapter 236: Initial Dabbles in Immortal Pills
Half a monthter.
In the central region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range was a very-strange looking lone mountain. The top and bottom of the mountain were round and full, but the middle of the mountain was tapered, thereby giving it the appearance of a giant gourd.
The mountain was fittingly named Gourd Peak, and just like the Imperial Dragon Peak, it was also one of the most important mountains in the entire ze Dragon Dao.
The mountain wasn''t very precarious, and it was less than 10,000 feet tall. At the foot of the mountain was an extremely fine spirit spring that was sufficient to nurture all of the living beings on the mountain. As a result, all of the nt life on the mountain was green and vibrant all year round.
The entire mountain was enveloped within an extremely secure protective array that was constantly activated. Hence, any elders or disciples who wanted to enter the mountain, regardless of whether they were from the inner or outer sect, could only do so through the teleportation hall at the foot of the mountain.
The reason why this mountain was so tightly guarded was because almost all of the pills in the entire ze Dragon Dao came from this mountain, and it was also home to all of the pill refinement masters in the sect.
Of course, earthly pill masters who were capable of refining pills fit for consumption for immortals were the most revered figures on the Gourd Peak.
If an early-True Immortal cultivator were to progress at the normal rate of cultivation, it would take anywhere between centuries to tens of thousands of years to open up a single immortal acupoint, and each sessive immortal acupoint was only going to be more difficult to open. However, if they had ess to the appropriate pills to aid them in their cultivation, then that timeframe could be severely shortened.
However, in order to refine pills of that caliber, spirit medicines that were tens of thousands of years old had to be used as the main ingredient, and even the supplementary ingredients were extremely rare and precious. To make matters even worse, even a seasoned Earthly Pill Master''s pill refinement sess rate when it came to refining pills of this caliber was generally pitifully low.
This was why only normally major sects or prominent cultivating powers could afford to nurture Earthly Pill Masters.
At this moment, Han Li was emerging from the teleportation hall near the Gourd Peak, and he arrived at the foot of the mountain before making his way into a golden pce.
The pce was closely connected to the array that epassed the entirety of Gourd Peak, and it was the only entrance into the mountain.
After having his identity verified, Han Li stepped straight into a teleportation array at the center of the pce, then vanished on the spot amid a sh of white light.
Shortly thereafter, he appeared in a red pce on the mountain summit.
The interioryout of the pce appeared to have been no different from that of a mortal drugstore, with a counter at the front and apothecary cabs at the back. The only difference was that there were clear restrictions ced upon the cab grids that contained earthly pills.
There were very few people in the hall, only a pair of attendant elders and several inner sect elders who hade to purchase pills.
As soon as Han Li came in, he was approached by a friendly-looking middle-aged attendant elder, who said, "My name is Ye Nanfeng, and I''m an attendant here at the Immortal Medicine Pavilion. Can I help you with something, Fellow Daoist?"
"My name is Li Feiyu, and I would like to purchase some pills that can aid me in my cultivation," Han Li replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"I see. In that case, allow me to rmend a few types of pills to you, Fellow Daoist Li," Ye Nanfeng said with a smile.
"Thank you," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Given your current cultivation base, the mostmonly used pill to aid in your cultivation would be this Origin Unifying Pill. Each vial contains 10 pills and only costs 200 merit points. If you want something a bit better, then you can try the Spirit Sign Pill. However, it''ll also be a bit more expensive, costing 500 merit points for each vial of 10 pills," Ye Nanfeng introduced.
Han Li had alreadye into this mentally prepared, but he was still shocked by the prices of the pills.
Even afterpleting the three regr elder missions, he still hadn''t managed to save up 500 merit points, so these pills were truly quite steep in price.
"This Spirit Sign Pill is truly not cheap," Han Li remarked with a wry smile.
"Of course. The only one in our entire sect capable of refining the Spirit Sign Pill is Master Hu Yan, so it''s avable in only very limited supply," Ye Nanfeng exined with a smile.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear the mention of "Master Hu Yan" in this context.
Could it be that the erratic old drunkard was also a high-grade Earthly Pill Master?
"If neither of those two types of pills are to your liking, then you can try this Spring Rain Pill. It''s a little cheaper than the Spirit Sign Pill, but it''s more efficacious than the Origin Unifying Pill, giving you the best value for your money," Ye Nanfeng continued.
"Elder Ye, may I ask if any pill recipes are sold in the Immortal Medicine Pavilion?" Han Li suddenly asked.
Ye Nanfeng faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Could it be that you''re nning to refine pills for yourself, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"Not at all. I just so happen to know someone who recently became an Earthly Pill Master, and he agreed to refine pills for me as long as I can provide him with the recipes and spirit ingredients," Han Li replied.
Ye Nanfeng clearly wanted to dissuade Han Li from this course of action, but ultimately held his tongue.
Han Li knew that Ye Nanfeng wanted to tell him that as opposed to purchasing pill recipes and ingredients and counting on someone else, it was a much better idea to simply purchase the pills directly.
In the end, Ye Nanfeng decided not to offer any words of advice, and he replied, "Both the recipes for the Origin Unifying Pill and the Spring Rain Pill are avable for sale, but sales of the recipe for the Spirit Sign Pill are prohibited without express approval from Master Hu Yan."
"How many merit points will the two pill recipes cost?" Han Li asked.
"The recipe for the Origin Unifying Pill costs 50 merit points, while the recipe for the Spring Rain Pill costs 150," Ye Nanfeng replied.
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he was wondering which recipe would be better for him to purchase.
Ye Nanfeng smiled as he reminded in a thoughtful manner, "I suggest you take a look at the ingredients required for the two pills to help you make your decision."
"That does sound like a good idea," Han Li replied with a nod.
Ye Nanfeng swept a sleeve through the air, and a burst of azure light shed past, following which an azure book appeared.
After flipping briefly through some pages, he handed the book over to Han Li.
Han Li epted the book and looked down to find that this particr page contained the list of ingredients required to refine the Spring Rain Pill.
"One 50,000-year-old Horned Dragon Herb, three 5,000-year-old Sea Splitting Flowers, a handful of Wind Bucket Sand..."
Han Li silently read out the names of the ingredients to himself one after another, and he discovered that out of the 15 spirit medicines required to refine this pill, the majority of them were high-grade spirit medicines of a very advanced age, with even the youngest of them all required to be at least 3,000 years of age.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li asked, "Elder Ye, may I ask how spirit medicines are sold in the Immortal Medicine Pavilion? Are they sold for merit points as well?"
"No. Aside from certain extremely precious spirit medicines that can only be purchased using Immortal Origin Stones, all of the other spirit medicines can be purchased with Immortal Origin Stones or top-grade spirit stones," Ye Nanfeng replied.
"How many spirit stones would it cost for me to purchase all of the ingredients required for a batch of Spring Rain Pills?" Han Li asked.
"The main ingredient, the Horned Dragon Herb, can only be purchased with Immortal Origin Stones, and the price is seven Immortal Origin Stones. As for all of the other ingredients, they add up to around 2,000 top-grade spirit stones, but of course, you can pay for them using Immortal Origin Stones as well," Ye Nanfeng repiled.
Han Li couldn''t help but feel a little speechless upon hearing this. Even if he were to exhaust all of his Immortal Origin Stones and top-grade spirit stones, he wouldn''t be able to purchase many sets of ingredients required for this pill at all.
With that in mind, he pinched the page of the book that he was currently on between his fingers to flip to the next page, but Ye Nanfeng interjected, "The recipe for the Origin Unifying Pilles a little earlier in the book. You should be able to find it after flipping back a few pages."
Han Li did as he was told, and sure enough, it didn''t take long for him to find the list of ingredients required to refine the Origin Unifying Pill.
As soon as his gaze fell upon the first ingredient, which was "one 50,000-year-old ze Tuber Herb", his eyes immediately lit up slightly.
This was the main ingredient required to refine the Origin Unifying Pill, and he just so happened to already have had a few of them nted in the spirit medicine field in his cave abode.Furthermore, all of them had been matured to the required age stipted in the recipe.
He then directed his gaze to the dozen or so supplementary spirit medicines, but he wasn''t as fortunate there, and all of those spirit medicines were ones that he hadn''t nted.
"Aside from the ze Tuber Herb, how many spirit stones will be required to purchase all of the other spirit medicines?" Han Li asked.
"If we discount the ze Tuber Herb, the other spirit medicines will cost 1,200 top-grade spirit stones," Ye Nanfeng replied.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression.
He was only intending to purchase a pill recipe to make his first attempts at refining earthly pills, and he didn''t know how many spirit medicines would go to waste during this process, so it definitely wasn''t a good idea to pick the Spring Rain Pill, which had more expensive ingredients.
With that in mind, Han Li arrived at a decision. "I''ll take the recipe for the Origin Unifying Pill."
"Alright, please give me your badge, Fellow Daoist," Ye Nanfeng requested.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce his elder badge, which he handed to Ye Nanfeng, and 50 merit points were deducted before the badge was returned to him along with a copy of the pill recipe.
After carefully inspecting the pill recipe for a moment, Han Li said, "In addition to the recipe, I''ll need 10 batches of all of the spirit medicines required to refine the Origin Unifying Pill with the exception of the ze Tuber Herb."
After making this purchase, he would essentially have no spirit stones left.
Following thepletion of the transaction, Han Li bade farewell to Ye Nanfeng, then left the Gourd Peak and returned straight to his cave abode.
¡¡
Three months quickly passed by.
During this time, Han Li barely left his secret chamber at all, and he had dedicated all of his time and energy into studying the pill recipe. He carefully pondered every single step in the recipe, simting the pill refinement process in extreme detail in his mind countless times.
Even though he was already quite a seasoned pill refinement master, all pill recipes carried countless minute differences from one another, and these disparities were often important factors contributing to one''s pill refinement failures.
Hence, he wanted to have the pill recipepletely figured out before he attempted any pill refinement.
On this day, he finally made up his mind to attempt his first Origin Unifying Pill refinement.
Inside the secret chamber, there was an incense burner on the table behind the cushion. A stick of lit greenish-gray incense was protruding out of the burner, and smoke was billowing out from its smoldering tip, spreading a calming fragrance throughout the secret chamber.
Han Li''s back was facing the table as he sat with his legs crossed on the cushion, and after meditating with his eyes closed for some time, he slowly reopened his eyes, having rid himself of all unnecessary thoughts.
On the ground in front of him was a purple copper cauldron that was around a foot in radius, and the surface of the cauldron was riddled with me patterns and ancient runes. Beside the cauldron was a piece of azure silken fabric, upon which were ced the dozen or so ingredients required to refine the Origin Unifying Pill.
The cauldron was a treasure that he had obtained from the Origin Mirage Beast''s cave abode, and it wasn''t a treasure of a particrly high caliber, but it should''ve been enough to refine the Origin Unifying Pill.
Chapter 237: Using Law Powers for Pill Refinement
Chapter 237: Using Law Powers for Pill Refinement
Han Li gently exhaled as he flipped a palm upward before gently raising it.
The purple copper burner rose up into the air, carried by a burst of invisible force, hovering around three feet above the ground.
Han Li then opened his mouth to release a burst of nascent mes, which resembled a lingering fiery cloud that enveloped the entire cauldron.
All of the ancient runes and me patterns on the surface of the copper cauldron lit up in unison, and the cauldron itself began to take on a crimson color.
Han Li made a beckoning motion upon seeing this, and the ze Tuber Herb rose up into the air before falling into his grasp.
In the next instant, his hand began to glow with bright azure light, and a miniature azure vortex slowly took shape with a faint whistling sound ringing out from within it.
The ze Tuber Herb began to rapidly revolve within the vortex, and it was torn to shreds and grinded down into powder as if the vortex were acting as a stone mill.
A faint pop rang out as the lid of the purple copper cauldron was suddenly removed, and the powderized ze Tuber Herb immediately flew in.
With a sweep of Han Li''s sleeve, the cauldron began to revolve within the nascent me.
Time slowly passed by, and a rich medicinal fragrance began to waft throughout the secret chamber.
Han Li''s attention remained entirely fixed on the pill cauldron, monitoring all of the changes taking ce within it. He followed the pill recipe, adding one ingredient after another to the cauldron while simultaneously constantly adjusting the temperature of his nascent me.
Only after an entire day and night had passed by did the fire in the secret chamber gradually fade away, following which the cauldron descended onto the ground with a faint ng.
Han Li rose to his feet and made his way over to the cauldron, then removed the lid with a sweep of his sleeve, and he was immediately greeted by an extremely rich medicinal aroma.
His brows were slightly furrowed as he peered into the cauldron with a nervous look on his face, and he discovered that the interior of the cauldron was pitch-ck, with only ayer of medicine powder at the bottom, and there was not a single pill to be seen.
Unsurprisingly, this first pill refinement attempt had ended inplete failure.
Han Li reached into the cauldron to scoop out some of the medicinal powder, then carefully examined it for a moment on the palm of his hand. After that, he sniffed at the powder a few times, and he began to understand why he had failed.
It seemed that his temperature maniption had beencking, and the temperature was too low at the point when the pills should''ve taken shape, thereby resulting in failure.
After understanding the underlying reason for his failure, Han Li remained unfazed, and after half a day of rest, hemenced his second pill refinement attempt.
¡¡
Around half a month passed by in the blink of an eye.
Inside the secret chamber, there were nine small piles of ck powder on the ground in front of Han Li, resembling a row of miniature graves.
All nine of his pill refinement attempts had ended in failure.
Even though he was already prepared for such an oue, he still couldn''t help but feel a little defeated and frustrated in the wake of nine consecutive failures, particrly when almost all of them had been a result of incorrect temperature moderation.
He had thought that all he would have to do was to raise the temperature right as the pills were about to take shape, and that would ensure that the pills would be formed, but as soon as the pills too shape, they would instantly be incinerated into charred powder due to the excessively high temperatures.
Hence, after nine failures, Han Li didn''t continue. Instead, he paused to think of a way around this problem.
The window of time during which the pills were supposed to take shape was extremely brief, and it was virtually impossible to master the required temperature maniption strategy in a short time. At this rate, it would most likely have taken Han Li at least 10 more failures to begin grasping the correct method.
With that in mind, it became understable why Earthly Pill Masters were considered to be so precious. After all, every single one of them would''ve taken an astronomical amount of resources to develop.
The problem was that he didn''t have such arge supply of ingredients for him to experiment with, and if he were to fail once more, then all of the top-grade spirit stones that he had spent would go to waste, but how could he capitalize on that incredibly brief window of opportunity?
Han Li was massaging his brows with a vexed expression when he was suddenly struck by an idea.
He immediately sprang into action, making a hand seal while chanting an incantation to conjure up his Mantra Treasured Axis behind him.
14 semi-transparent Time Dao Runes were shing on the axis, giving off peculiarw fluctuations that slowed down the flow of air in the entire secret chamber.
In order to minimize his immortal spiritual power expenditure, Han Li limited the area epassed within thew fluctuations to only the area within 10 feet in front of him.
He then opened his mouth to release a ball of nascent mes, which lifted up the purple copper cauldron while also causing it to slowly revolve in mid-air.
The movement of the mes around the cauldron had also been slowed down significantly, to the point that Han Li was able to see every single minute flicker that the mes exhibited.
He then began to powderize the spirit medicines before adding them into the cauldron for refinement.
Under the effects of the Mantra Treasured Axis, the entire process was slowed down to less than a third of its normal speed.
At the same time, the changes taking ce in the spirit medicines within the cauldron were also slowed down, to the point that Han Li was able clearly monitor everything that was unfolding inside through the use of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and some details that had evaded him in the past were nowing to the fore.
After observing the refinement process for a while, Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis. Even though he had limited the area under the axis''s influence, constantly maintaining it was still quite taxing on him. He had already mastered the majority of the pill refinement process, so he would only require the Mantra Treasured Axis''s services at some crucial junctures.
Time slowly passed by, and the refinement process that had originally only required a day and a night was extended to almost twice its original duration. However, Han Li was able to gain more insight and understanding from this single pill refinement than all of the previous nine attemptsbined. In particr, it had be a lot easier for him to control the temperature of his nascent me during the moments where the pills were about to take shape.
As the mes around the cauldron slowly subsided, Han Li withdrew the Mantra Treasured Axis back into his body once again.
He made a beckoning motion to draw the cauldron to himself, then swept a sleeve through the air to remove its lid. His eyes were filled with both unease and anticipation as he tipped over the cauldron to pour out its contents.
Some ck powder fell out of the opening of the cauldron, immediately following which the sound of pills rolling around inside the cauldron rang out.
Han Li was ecstatic to hear this sound, and he tipped the entire cauldron upside-down before reaching out a hand to catch what was inside.
Seven or eight longan-sized golden pills rolled out of the cauldron before falling into his grasp.
ording to the pill recipe, a sessful batch of Origin Unifying Pills should''ve been somewhere between 15 to 16 pills, so this still wasn''t aplete sess.
However, Han Li was still extremely pleased with this oue. After all, he was treating these 10 pill refinements as an experiment to begin with, so this was already a very favorable oue.
Furthermore, now that he had developed the idea of using his Mantra Treasured Axis to assist him in the pill refinement process, his sess rate going forward was going to be significantly elevated.
He examined the pills in his hand over and over again, then stored them away in a small vial, leaving only one behind, which he devoured before closing his eyes and beginning to cultivate his Mantra Axis Scripture.
Ultimately, these pills had to be put to the test to see if they had actually been correctly refined.
¡¡
Two monthster, Han Li appeared in the sky above the Crimson Dawn Peak before descending toward the spirit fields down below.
The pills that he had refined earlier had worked extremely well, and he had spent this entire time cultivating while consuming the pills in his secret chamber. His rate of cultivation progression had clearly improved during this time, and he had onlye out of seclusion on this day.
Sun Buzheng and the others were busy at work in the spirit fields, and Meng Yungui was also among them, having recently made his return.
The majority of the spirit fields near the Crimson Dawn Peak had already been arranged into orderly sections, presenting a spectacr sight to behold.
Following the recession of the fire miasma, not only had the climate returned to normal, the underground veins had also been restored to their normal state, so they were no longer restricted to just nting fire-attribute spirit nts in the fields.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this. These spirit fields were situated quite close to the main spirit vein of the Crimson Dawn Peak, so any spirit nts nted in these fields would be sure to grow quite quickly.
He had descended in a silent manner, so Meng Yungui and the others initially didn''t notice his presence, but he was quickly spotted thereafter.
"Elder Li!"
The servant hurriedly extended a respectful bow.
Everyone else immediately turned around to find Han Li hovering in mid-air, and they hurriedly dropped what they were doing to pay their respects.
"Wee back, Elder Li."
Having been with Han Li for quite some time, Meng Yungui and the others had developed a rough understanding of Han Li''s personality, so they no longer spoke to him in as formal and rigid a manner as before.
"I just came back, and I decided toe down here to take a look. Keep doing what you were doing. Meng Yungui,e with me," Han Li said with a dismissive wave, then flew back toward the mountain with Meng Yungui trailing along behind him.
A short whileter, the two of them arrived in Han Li''s cave abode.
Han Li wasted no time with idle chatter as he cut straight to the chase. "I''ve assigned you quite an arduous task, making you travel so extensively in search of spirit nt seeds. How did it go?"
"Please don''t say that, Elder Li. It''s my honor to be able to serve you, and I didn''t find the task grueling or arduous at all. These are the seeds that I''ve collected during these past years, please take a look," Meng Yungui hurriedly replied as he pulled out a storage treasure that he offered to Han Li in a respectful manner.
Han Li epted the storage treasure before injecting his spiritual sense into it, and a few momentster, a surprised look appeared on his face as he nodded and praised, "You did quite well."
He had only sent Meng Yungui on a mission to search for spirit nt seeds as a spur-of-the-moment decision, and he hadn''t actually harbored any high hopes for him.
After all, with Meng Yungui''s limited cultivation base, there was only so much that he could''ve been expected to do.
However, the rewards that Meng Yungui had reaped went far beyond Han Li''s expectations. All of the seeds that he had found were quite remarkable, and many of them were seeds for supplementary spirit medicines required to refine Origin Unifying Pills. If he were to nt all of these seeds, then he would be able to save a huge sum of spirit stones when refining Origin Unifying Pill in the future.
On top of that, he had also discovered several unfamiliar seeds that resembled rocks with granite-like patterns on their surfaces, but clear traces of life could be detected within them.
"You''re far too kind, Elder Li. I was simply very fortunate," Meng Yungui said in a humble manner, but it was clear that he was ecstatic to have received such praise from Han Li.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li gave some seeds to Meng Yungui, some of which had been collected by Meng Yungui, while the others were from Han Li''s own collection.
"Go and nt these seeds in the spirit fields at the foot of the mountain, and make sure to look after them well," he instructed.
"Yes, Elder Li," Meng Yungui replied as he epted the seeds.
"Also, continue your search for seeds. You can keep this treasure for your protection," Han Li said as he handed another storage pouch to Meng Yungui.
"Thank you, Elder Li! I''ll be sure to do my best!" Meng Yungui immediately replied before turning to depart.
Han Li remained standing on the spot for a moment, then made his way to the medicine garden in his cave abode.
There, he pulled out several seeds, one of which was shaped like a worm, another was as translucent as jade, and a third one resembled a pea-sized lump of soil with a bumpy surface.
These seeds all belonged to supplementary ingredients for refining Origin Unifying Pill and Spring Rain Pills.
Han Li carefully nted the seeds before watering them with spirit liquid, and only after close to half a day did he finallyplete the procedure.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he looked at his gradually expanding medicine garden.
After that, he summoned the giant ape puppet, then instructed it to look after these newly nted spirit seeds before departing from the medicine garden.
Chapter 238: Tight Budget
Chapter 238: Tight Budget
After returning to his cave abode, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed and began to contemte what to do next.
The half-batch of Origin Unifying Pills that he had refined had worked quite well, allowing him to make close to 10 years worth of cultivation progress in just two months, but it was going to be very expensive to maintain this rate of progression.
Seeing as he was able to use his Mantra Treasured Axis to significantly improve his sess rate in pill refinement, he naturally wasn''t going to purchase ready-made pills using merit points as they were a very useful form of currency in other areas.
Thus, the top priority for him now was to secure ingredients for pill refinement.
Aside from manifesting crystals to help the Earthly Deity Avatar heavy water, maturing ze Tuber Herbs alone was already close to the limits of the Heaven Controlling Vial''s capabilities, so it wouldn''t be able to mature many other supplementary ingredients on top of that. Hence, he would have to buy the majority of those ingredients, but the problem was that he didn''t have many spirit stones left.
He could sell some of the spoils he had collected from his vanquished enemies for spirit stones, but that was only a temporary solution that wasn''t going to work out over the long term.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask.
There were many ways to earn spirit stones, but given his current situation,pleting Transient Guild missions was the fastest and the most reliable avenue to take.
There were many missions in the sect that offered spirit stones as rewards, butpleting too many of those missions would attract too much attention to himself, thereby potentially leading to trouble.
Furthermore, the Transient Guild missions generally offered better rewards anyway.
With that in mind, he put on his mask, and the azure array projection quickly took shape.
He turned to the missions section and quickly tracked down some missions that could bepleted near the ze Dragon Dao. There were quite a few of these missions, and they were quite diverse, including missions to gather certain spirit materials, pills, or treasures, as well as missions to hunt down certain demon beasts or individuals.
These missions were all quite conventional, and some of the more special missions had also caught Han Li''s attention. For example, there was someone gathering several Earthly Pill Masters to refine a certain type of pill.
There was also a mission that called upon a True Immortal adept in the art of restrictions and arrays to break the restriction on a certain set of ruins, and there was even a mission that was gathering arge number of True Immortals to attack a certain mysterious cultivator.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s gaze fell upon a certain mission, and a peculiar look appeared on his face.
The mission was to search for the "the number one sword cultivator of Heavenly South", and the reward offered was quite a lofty one. Even those who only provided certain pieces of information would be able to receive decentpensation.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as a faint smile appeared on his face.
Following the trial on that day, everyone had departed quite quickly, so there shouldn''t have been anyone that had discovered the message that he had engraved onto the bottom of the fourth Origin Defying Stone Sword. Hence, someone from the Heavenly Sword Peak had to have discovered the message at ater date.
In that case, the person who had released the mission was most likely someone from the Heavenly Sword Peak, and given the Transient Guild''s barrier to entry, that person was very likely to have been Xiong Shan himself. After discovering the message, he had most likely deduced that there was a very good chance that this number one sword cultivator of Heavenly South was the one who had foiled his ns, and as it turned out, he was right.
However, Han Li had never revealed to anyone the fact that he hade from the Heavenly South Region of the Mortal Realm, so there was naturally no cause for concern.
Having said that, this mission was an indication that Xiong Shan was most likely also a member of the Transient Guild, and given his cultivation base, he most likely possessed quite a lofty status in the Transient Guild.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li also noticed a mission searching for the whereabouts of Bai Fengyi, and the thought of Bai Suyuan sprang into his mind at the sight of this mission.
However, he then quickly shook his head to rid himself of these irrelevant trains of thought as he began to focus his attention on searching for missions that were suitable for himself.
Momentster, his gaze fell upon a hunting mission: "Travel to the Heavenly cial Pond and y a True Immortal Stage cial Blowfish, making sure to recover its carcass. Reward: 4,000 top-grade spirit stones."
Han Li had read from a book in the ze Dragon Dao that the Heavenly cial Pond was situated in the northernmost region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, even further north than the Profound Ice Mountain Range. It was a notoriously perilous ce on the Ancient Cloud Continent, and it was said that many True Immortals had perished in there in the past.
Han Li epted this mission before rising to his feet.
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Several monthster.
In the northernmost region of the Ancient Cloud Continent, bone-chilling winds were howling incessantly, while the entire sky was concealed behind a swirling flurry of snow.
There were several snow-covered mountains standing on thendscape, silently enduring the flogging of the unforgiving wind.
An azure streak of light shot forth from the distant sky, then descended onto the summit of one of the mountains to reveal a yellow-skinned middle-aged man.
It was none other than Han Li, who had adopted a disguise using his Transient Guild mask.
Casting his gaze forward from the mountain summit, he was greeted by the sight of an enormouske that stretched as far as the eyes could see. The water in theke was extremely, resembling ck ink.
What was particrly strange was that despite the incredibly low temperatures, theke hadn''t frozen at all, and there were clouds of ck mist drifting above its surface.
The biting chill being released by this ck mist was far colder than even the frosty wind blowing through the surrounding area.
This was the Heavenly cial Pond.
Han Li paused momentarily on the mountain summit, then flew toward the Heavenly cial Pond as a streak of azure light.
This ce appeared to have beenpletely devoid of life, but that was not actually the case.
There were many natural treasures in the Heavenly cial Pond, including certain special and precious materials that were exclusively found in the pond. Otherwise, it wouldn''t'' have attracted so many people to venture into its depths. Beneath the surface were many powerful demon beasts that were resistant to the cold environment, and those who came here seeking treasures could easily find themselves falling prey to these demon beasts if they weren''t careful.
Han Li was flying along at a low altitude above the surface of the water while staring intently at theke down below, seemingly searching for something.
All of a sudden, the surface of the water over 1,000 feet up ahead erupted, and a demon beast hat was 50 to 60 feet in length shot out before pouncing directly at Han Li.
The demon beast resembled a crocodile with its entire body covered in ck scales, and it opened its cavernous mouth to reveal rows of sharp white fangs. There was a pair of bloated yellow eyes on the top of its head, giving it a ferocious appearance, and it was attempting to bite Han Li''s body into two with a single vicious chomp.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of azure light, and the ck demon beast''s body abruptly stiffened in mid-air.
Han Li continued onward without pause, flying straight through between the two rows of the demon beast''s sharp fangs.
A red line appeared all the way from the demon beast''s head to the tip of its tail, following which its body abruptly split open, sending an enormous volume of blood interspersed with internal organs plunging into theke below.
Han Li paid no heed to what was happening behind him as he continued onward, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
After flying for several more hours, he had already reached quite deep into the Heavenly cial Pond.
The further one ventured into the pond, the more the air temperature plummeted, and the more powerful the demon beasts lurking in the water became. At this point, there were even demon beasts that possessed Body Integration Stage power that were asionally attacking Han Li.
However, they naturally posed no threat to him at all, and he was able to take care of them with ease.
All of a sudden, his eyes lit up as he drew to a halt. His gaze was fixed intently on the surface of theke beneath him, and he swept a sleeve through the air to send a burst of azure light plunging into the water.
Momentster, a ck object emerged from theke, enveloped by a ball of azure light. It was a ball of algae that was giving off a faint fragrance.
This type of algae was known as ck Star Algae, and it was very prevalent on thekebed here.
ck Star Algae was the cial Blowfish''s favorite food, and such arge mass of ck Star Algae was sure to attract feeding cial Blowfishs.
Han Li tossed the ball of ck Star Algae away, then flipped a hand over to produce a millstone-sized blue object. It appeared to have been an internal organ of a certain type of demon beast, and it was giving off a strong odor.
This was an organ from the Elephant Trunk Beast, and it was very alluring to cial Blowfishs. He had purchased the organ from the Transient Guild for a sum of spirit stones prior to setting off on this trip.
He then summoned a white talisman in his other hand, and the talisman flew into the blue organ at his behest as a ball of white light, vanishing without a trace.
After that, Han Li tossed the organ into the water down below.
The organ was instantly enveloped by the bone-chilling cial qi in the area, and it was frozen into a chunk of ck ice in the blink of an eye before plunging into theke.
Even though it had been frozen, its odor didn''t abate in the slightest.
That white talisman was a sensory talisman, and it would immediately alert him if a demon beast devoured the organ.
Instead of remaining on the spot to wait, Han Li continued to fly onward.
The Heavenly cial Pond was enormous, so he naturally couldn''t ce his hopes entirely on one patch of ck Star Algae.
Close to a dayter, Han Li found another mass of ck Star Algae, where he left another Elephant Trunk Beast with a sensory talisman inside before continuing onward yet again.
Half a month passed by.
During this time, Han Li discovered several dozen masses of ck Star Algae, leaving an Elephant Trunk Beast organ at each one.
From there, Han Li stopped searching for more patches of ck Star Algae and concealed himself at the center of the dozens of patches of ck Star Algae that he had discovered.
This wasn''t because he didn''t want to find any more, he had simply exhausted his supply of Elephant Trunk Beast organs.
Furthermore, he had already left out a sufficient number of baits, and all that was left to do was to wait.
One day, two monthster.
An earth-shattering boom that was audible even several thousands of kilometers away rang out in the Heavenly cial Pond.
The surface of the water churned violently as enormous waves that were several thousand feet tall were sent sweeping in all directions, and even the clouds in the sky were stirred up into a frenzy.
At the center of the giant waves was Han Li and a bluish-ck blowfish-like demon beast.
The demon beast was only around 200 to 300 feet in length, and its bulging body was riddled with bluish-ck bone spikes. Furthermore, its tail resembled a scorpion''s stinger, and it was rapidly swinging around like lightning. Dense ck qi was swirling all around it, within which projections of different human and beastly faces would asionally emerge, all of which were extremely twisted and tormented, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
This demon beast was none other than a cial Blowfish, and its enormous aura indicated that it had already reached the True Immortal Stage.
The cial Blowfish was constantly producing a strange sound that resembled the weeping of a small child as thick pirs of blue light erupted out of its swinging tail before hurtling directly toward Han Li.
Each pir of blue light was tinged with hints ofw powers, and a cial aura had spread through the entire surrounding area within a radius of several thousand kilometers. Countless icicle spears had appeared in the air, and it seemed that the very space itself had been frozen.
Han Li paid no heed to the cial qi around him as two thick azure sword projections danced around him like a pair of guardian wyrms, forming a sword that kept all of the oing pirs of blue light at bay.
Chapter 239: Madman
Chapter 239: Madman
An rmed look appeared in the cial Blowfish''s eyes, and its roars became even more urgent.
Its bonded cial qi was extremely formidable, able to seep into the bodies of its enemies without their detection, and thanks to that, it had never lost a battle, but this human cultivator was somehowpletely unaffected by it.
At this moment, the Heavy Water True Axis within Han Li''s body was slowly revolving, absorbing all of the cial qi that was surging into his body.
He made a grabbing motion, and four streaks of azure swordlight instantly appeared before swelling to close to 1,000 feet in size each, intertwining with one another as they flew through the air.
Countless azure sword projections were conjured up, destroying all of the oing blue light.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li made a hand seal, and the four massive streaks of swordlight fused as one in the blink of an eye to form an enormous sword that was over 10,000 feet in length, and thick arcs of golden lightning appeared on its surface as it swept viciously toward the cial Blowfish.
The cial Blowfish shuddered upon seeing this, seemingly extremely fearful of the golden lightning, and it opened its mouth up wide before letting loose a sharp screech.
Ripples that were visible even to the naked eye appeared in the surrounding space, and everything epassed within the ripples was abruptly rooted to the spot, as if some type of restriction had been ced upon them.
Han Li felt his entire body tighten up, and he waspletely unable to move, while his golden lightning sword was also immobilized in mid-air.
The cial Blowfish let loose a low roar, and the bone spikes on its body abruptly lit up, while the ck mist around it surged through the air, transforming into an enormous ck python as it pounced directly toward Han Li.
A hint of surprise initially appeared on Han Li''s face, but he then gave a cold harrumph, and a massive axial projection suddenly appeared around him before revolving on the spot, releasing a burst of terrifying power that easily destroyed the restrictive force in the surrounding space.
As a result, the golden lightning sword was instantly freed, and it came crashing down to sh against the giant ck python.
Arcs of golden lightning wrapped themselves around the massive ck python as a string of resounding booms rang out.
The huge python let loose an anguished wail, and its enormous body exploded into countless plumes of ck smoke that spread through the air in all directions.
A fearful look appeared in the cial Blowfish''s eyes upon seeing this, and bright bluish-ck light erupted from its body as it turned to flee.
Right at this moment, a cold harrumph rang out within the cial Blowfish''s ears, immediately following which it was struck by a burst of excruciating pain directly in its mind, as if a red-hot poker had been plunged into its soul. As a result, it let loose an involuntary cry of agony, and the pain was so severe that it was instantly stopped cold in its tracks.
In the next instant, a golden sword projection shed past, entering through its mouth before emerging from its rear end. An enormous volume of blue blood instantly came gushing out of the two massive holes, forming a pair of blue blood fountains.
The light in the cial Blowfish''s quickly faded, and the nascent soul in its body didn''t even get a chance to try and escape before it was destroyed by the golden sword projection.
Han Li made a beckoning motion with one hand, and the golden lightning sword circled around before flying back, then reverted back into four flying swords in a sh before vanishing into his body.
Immediately thereafter, he swept his other hand through the air, releasing a burst of blue light to envelop the cial Blowfish''s carcass.
Ayer of blue ice instantly appeared over the surface of the giant carcass, instantly stopping the bleeding.
His mission was to recover this carcass, so he couldn''t afford to lose too much blood.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li stowed the cial Blowfish carcass away, then flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light without pause.
¡¡
Inside the secret chamber of a secluded residence in a certain city on the Ancient Cloud Continent.
A schrly-robed middle-aged man with the appearance of a schoolteacher was seated with his legs crossed in front of a crimson pill furnace, making a hand seal with a look of concentration on his face. He was controlling the me beneath the furnace, seemingly in the process of refining a batch of pills.
All of a sudden, the pill furnace shuddered, and a string of dull explosions rang out, following which a charred smell wafted out from within.
A dark look appeared on the man''s face, and he heaved a long sigh.
Right at this moment, a burst of azure light suddenly lit up on his body.
He immediately pulled out an azure fox mask upon seeing this, then ced the mask onto his own face.
The mask released a burst of azure light, which formed a massive light screen in front of him.
Immediately thereafter, light shed from the center of the screen, and a storage pouch appeared.
"Oh? I didn''t think that this mission would bepleted so quickly!" the man murmured to himself with a surprised expression, then made a grabbing motion to draw the storage pouch into his grasp while sweeping his other sleeve through the air, and a massive cial Blowfish carcass instantly appeared before him.
"What a clean killing blow! I don''t think even I would''ve been able to preserve such aplete carcass if I had gone after this beast on my own. Wyrm 15, eh? I''ve never heard of this person before, but it appears they''re quite a formidable character," the man mused to himself.
¡¡
At the same time.
Inside the cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak, Han Li was also wearing his Transient Guild mask, and a storage pouch appeared before him following a sh of light from the light screen up ahead.
He drew the storage pouch into his grasp before emptying its contents, and a pile of top-grade spirit stones instantly spilled out onto the ground.
After counting the spirit stones, a pleased look appeared on his face, and he stowed the spirit stones away again with a sweep of his sleeve before searching for his next mission.
¡¡
Somewhere on the Thunderstorm Sea.
Thick bolts of lightning were shing incessantly through the dense, dark clouds up above, and asionally, bolts of lightning woulde crashing down onto the sea below.
There were several enormous balls of light near a ck ind situated somewhere on the Thunderstorm Sea, and they were releasing such a massivemotion that even the sound of the thunderps in the area was drowned out.
Different attacks would asionally be seen hurtling through the air, churning up the sky and the sea down below.
Among the two sides locked in battle, one was a group of five True Immortal cultivators, all of whom were wearing Transient Guild masks, two of which were azure, while the other three were blue.
They were battling a colony of close to 100 lightning bats, each of which was several hundred feet in length with purple lightning revolving around their bodies, and every single one of them was giving off a Grand Ascension Stage aura, sting thick pirs of lightning out of their mouths in retaliation.
Despite the fact that the five Transient Guild cultivators were severely outnumbered, their superior quality more than made up for theirck of quantity, and they held a clear upper hand over the lightning bats, striking down one bat after another in quick session.
A ck spear pierced into the body of a lightning bat amid a sh of ck light, and arcs of silver lightning surged along the length of the spear, flowing into the lightning bat''s body through the wound it had inflicted.
The lightning bat instantly exploded, and a glittering and translucent purple bead appeared.
An azure-robed man then shot forth like lightning before catching the purple bead in his grasp.
The man was wearing an azure cow mask with the characters for "Wyrm 15" engraved upon it, and after clinching the purple bead, he did pause even for a moment before plunging back into the fray.
Lightning continued to sh over the length of the ck spear in his hand as he pierced it through the body of another lightning bat.
All of the nearby lightning bats began to screech in fury upon seeing this.
Thick bolts of purple lightning came hurtling toward the azure-robed man from all directions, making it impossible for him to take evasive measures.
The man''s expression remainedpletely unchanged as she stowed away the lightning crystal that he had plucked out of the lightning bat''s body, and a protectiveyer of silver lightning appeared around him to keep all of the oing attacks at bay.
The silver barrier was trembling incessantly in the face of the oing attacks, but it showed no signs of breaking at all.
All of a sudden, the azure-robed man pounced at another lightning bat, with the ck spear in his hand releasing a series of spear projections.
He was like a tiger that had broken into a sheep''s pen, ying four or five more lightning bats in the span of just a few breaths.
The other four cultivators were all stunned by his disy of power.
The individual attacks from these lightning bats weren''t all that formidable, and it wasn''t much trouble for them to withstand even four or five attacks at once, but anything beyond that would begin to pose a threat to them. After all, lightning in any significant quantity was not a force to be underestimated.
However, the azure-robed man had no qualms about his own safety at all as he swept through the lightning bats'' ranks with ease.
The other four cultivators hurriedly sprang into action as well, hunting down some of the straggling lightning bats.
Close to an hourter, the final lightning bat was in by a ck spear projection.
Its body exploded to reveal a purple bead, which was taken by the azure-robed man.
With that, the entire flock of lightning bats had been in, and close to half of them had been killed by the azure-robed man.
The azure-robed man gently exhaled, then flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light without even sparing a nce at hispanions.
The other four cultivators exchanged a few nces, then also went their separate ways in silence.
Meanwhile, the azure-robed man appeared somewhere above the Thunderstorm Sea amid a sh of silver lightning, and the mask on his face projected an azure light screen.
After casting an incantation seal onto the light screen, a projection of a blurry figure emerged.
"Here are 47 lightning bat crystals," Han Li said as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a small pile of purple lightning beads.
The blurry figure nodded in response. "ording to the mission''s stiptions, your reward will be 47 Immortal Origin Stones."
A hint of tion appeared on Han Li''s face as he swept a sleeve through the air, and the small pile of lightning bat crystals vanished into the array at the center of the light screen in a sh.
Shortly thereafter, a small pile of Immortal Origin Stones within the array amid a sh of light.
Han Li quickly stowed the Immortal Origin Stones away, then turned to search for his next mission.
¡¡
One day, three yearster, on the Crimson Dawn Peak.
A streak of azure light shot forth from afar,nding on the mountain summit in a discrete fashion. The azure light faded to reveal none other than Han Li, and his face was looking slightly pale.
He entered his cave abode without alerting any of his servants, then sat down with hsi legs crossed in his secret chamber as he pulled out his Transient Guild mask to conjure up the azure light screen.
After that, he pulled out three ck badges, each of which had the visage of a menacing ck ghost engraved upon it.
He cast an incantation seal to teleport the three badges away using the array, and momentster, around three dozen Immortal Origin Stones were transmitted to him.
He inspected the Immortal Origin Stones briefly with his spiritual sense before stowing them away, but there was a peculiar look in his eyes.
His mission on this asion had been to kill a group of evil cultivators residing on the border of the Ancient Cloud Continent. They were proficient in various types of arrays and secret techniques that made them quite difficult to deal with, which was why six Transient Guild members had been sent after them, and almost all of them had been high-level azure-masked members.
During the course of the mission, Han Li had made an observation by chance.
Among the Transient Guild members that hadpleted the mission, the majority of them had been cultivators from the ze Dragon Dao. In particr, the leader had unleashed a set of extremely formidable flying swords to y the mid-True Immortal Stage leader of the evil cultivators with ease.
Han Li had been struck by a sense of familiarity upon seeing this. In particr, that Transient Guild member''s flying sword maniption techniques reminded him greatly of Deputy Dao Lord Xiong Shan.
Even though the man''s aura had been concealed by his Transient Guild mask, Han Li was almost certain that he was Xiong Shan.
However, he only pondered this matter for a moment before ridding himself of that rain of thought.
It hardly mattered to him whether that person was Xiong Shan or not.
Chapter 240: Discussion Among Golden Immortals
Chapter 240: Discussion Among Golden Immortals
One day, several yearster, in a majestic pce somewhere in the ze Dragon Dao.
The ceiling of the pce was extremely tall, while the interior was vast and spacious. There were eight thick pirs supporting the ceiling, and each pir had a giant dragon engaged in a different activity engraved upon it, with some roaring to the heavens, some soaring through the sky, and some locked in fierce battle.
Every single one of those dragons were extremely life-like, as if they could spring to life and fly out of the pirs at any moment.
There was a giant que hanging in the hall that read "Dragon God Pce", and beneath the que was a massive statue depicting another dragon that was roaring to the heavens.
In contrast with the extremely intricate craftsmanship of the dragons engraved onto the eight pirs, this dragon statue had been carved out in a far less sophisticated fashion. In fact, many of the scales on its body hadn''t even been carved out, and it resembles the creation of aplete amateur.
Despite the fact that the statue was a little rough around the edges, there was an indescribable sense of mystique about it. It was as if there were another pair of eyes within the statue''s crudely carved out eyes, looking down upon all of the insignificant ants of the world like an almighty dragon god.
The giant statue cast a huge shadow within the hall, striking the beholder with a sense fo awe and veneration.
Furthermore, there was a huge altar in front of the statue, which wasden with incense and offerings.
At this moment, there were three people standing in the hall, at the center of which was a purple-robed middle-aged man with an authoritative expression. It was none other than Ouyang Kuishan.
The second person was Bai Suyuan''s seductive and stunningly beautiful mistress, Dao Lord Yun, and the third person was the golden-robed Deputy Dao Lord Xiong, who was standing around 10 feet away in a respectful manner.
The three of them were all silent, and they seemed to have been waiting for something.
Momentster, the sound of footsteps rang out, and three more figures made their way into the hall.
They were led by a gray-robed old man with a red nose, and if Han Li were here, he would be surprised to find that it was none other than Elder Hu Yan.
Beside him was a woman in a ck dress with ck veil over her face, concealing all of her features with the exception of a pair of cold eyes. However, she appeared to have been quite young, and her fingernails were a peculiar dark purple color, while also giving off a faint sheen.
The final figure in the trio was a ck-robed young man who appeared to have only been in his twenties. He was quite handsome, with a head of long golden hair, and his face was also slightly golden in color, while a golden wheel was sitting on his back.
"You''re finally here, fellow daoists. The five of us are finally all gathered in one ce," Ouyang Kuishan said as he approached the three figures with a smile on his face.
A faint smile had also appeared on Dao Lord Yun''s face, and even though three people had entered the hall, her gaze had remained fixed exclusively on Elder Hu Yan with a barely detectable hint of displeasure in her eyes.
The respectful look on Xiong Shan''s face became even more pronounced as he extended a salute toward the three new arrivals.
The trio paid no heed to Xiong Shan, extending a collective salute toward the giant dragon statue instead before turning to Ouyang Kuishan and the others.
In the face of Dao Lord Yun''s scrutiny, Elder Hu Yan was clearly feeling a little awkward, and he looked directly at Ouyang Kuishan as he said, "Fellow Daoist Ouyang, seeing as you''re currently in charge of the sect, you can take care of the sect''s internal affairs as you see fit. For what reason have you decided to call this meeting?"
The woman in the ck dress and the golden-haired young man also turned to Ouyang Kuishan, waiting for an answer.
"Believe me, I wouldn''t have interrupted your cultivation had there been an alternative. A while back, an incident took ce in the Profound Ice Mountain Range while the core disciples were undergoing their trial. This matter has the potential to be quite significant, and that''s why I must discuss it with you all," Ouyang Kuishan said as a serious look appeared on his face.
Elder Hu Yan was already aware of the incident, so he wasn''t surprised to hear this.
As for the two people behind him, the golden-haired young man seemed to have also already heard about this, while the woman in the ck dress appeared slightly perplexed, seemingly only having just been made aware of the incident.
After a brief pause, Ouyang Kuishan gave everyone a detailed recount of the incident that took ce in the Profound Ice Mountain Range.
"... Thankfully, the two elders overseeing the trial were able to intervene in time to destroy the infiltrator''s physical body, and only his nascent soul managed to escape. As for the disciples undertaking the trial, all of them also survived, so overall, there were no significant consequences," Ouyang Kuishan concluded.
"No significant consequences? Prior toing here, I heard that four of the disciples had their physical bodies destroyed. Those four were all bright talents of the inner sect with exceptional aptitude.
¡°Now that their physical bodies have been destroyed, even if they can find new bodies to possess, their aptitude will be significantlypromised. Those two elders must be severely punished for their failure to protect the disciples!" the golden-haired young man said in a cold voice.
The 13 dao lords of the ze Dragon Dao were also split up into the native and itinerant factions.
The golden-haired young man was a native dao lord, and the four inner sect disciples who had lost their physical bodies during the trial were all native disciples, while all of the itinerant cultivators remainedpletely unharmed.
The seniors of the four disciples were furious upon hearing this, and they were all of the opinion that the two elders had favored the itinerant cultivators over the native ones.
Even if Ouyang Kuishan hadn''t called for this meeting, the golden-haired young man was nning to pursue this matter further anyway.
"I''ll have to disagree, Fellow Daoist Yuan. We''ve already familiarized ourselves with the sequence of events, and the two elders are not at fault. That True Immortal Stage intruder was extremely cunning and also quite powerful.
¡°Additionally, he had set up multiple arrays ahead of time, and it''s already quitemendable that the two elders were able to destroy his physical body while keeping the disciples safe, so I think we should reward them instead," Dao Lord Yun retorted as she turned to take a nce at the golden-haired young man.
Dao Lord Yun was an itinerant cultivator before joining the sect, and the same applied to Ouyang Kuishan as well.
"How could you say that, Fellow Daoist Yun? They took on the mission to protect the disciples, and that made them responsible for all unforeseen mishaps. How can you say that they''re not at fault when the physical bodies of those four disciples were destroyed?" the golden-haired young man countered in a justified manner.
"I think we all know whether you''re actually discussing this matter objectively, or trying to take advantage of this opportunity to further your own agenda," Dao Lord Yun said with a cold smile.
"What did you say?!"
An enraged look appeared on the golden-haired young man''s face but before he could say anything else, Elder Hu Yan gave him a stern re, as he interjected, "That''s enough, Yuan Bushao! Fellow Daoist Ouyang is the one in charge of the sect right now, so he''s the one that gets to decide the verdict on this matter. I''m sure he''ll make a decision that''s satisfactory for all of us."
"Of course. You can rest assured on that, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan," Ouyang Kuishan assured with a smile.
Yuan Bushao clearly wanted to argue the point further, but he refrained from saying anything in the end.
A cold smile appeared on Dao Lord Yun''s face, and she also remained silent.
"After the trial, I had in-depth conversations with both of the elders and the disciples that undertook the trial, and this is the information I''ve managed to gather on that True Immortal Stage intruder. All three of you are more knowledgeable and experienced than I am, so I invited you here to see if you can identify him," Ouyang Kuishan said as he pulled out three jade slips and handed them out.
The trio epted the jade slips, then injected their spiritual sense into them.
"Deputy Dao Lord Xiong, your input is quite valuable as well, so you should take a look as well," Ouyang Kuishan said as he offered a jade slip to Xiong Shan as well.
Xiong Shan extended a respectful bow as he epted the jade slip, then injected his spiritual sense into it as well.
The initial part of the content in the jade slip was a piece of footage, and it recorded the entire process from when the elderly man began conversing with Bai Suyuan and the other disciples, all the way to the point when he was defeated by Han Li and fled the scene.
Xiong Shan''s expression changed slightly as he heard the elderly man mention Bai Fengyi.
After that came some text and images, denoting the items that the elderly man had been carrying.
"Who recorded the footage? It''s very detailed, and it''s very remarkable that one of the disciples was able to have the presence of mind to record this footage while in the heat of battle," Elder Hu Yan asked.
"It was Dao Lord Yun''s disciple, Bai Suyuan," Ouyang Kuishan replied.
Elder Hu Yan took a nce at Dao Lord Yun before immediately withdrawing his gaze. "I see. Not only does she possess exceptional aptitude, it seems her mental qualities are just as ster."
"I have an eye for people, so my disciples are naturally all outstanding. I''m not blind like a certain someone," Dao Lord Yun scoffed with a meaningful look in her eyes.
Elder Hu Yan sheepishly rubbed his own nose and offered no response.
The atmosphere had suddenly be a little awkward, and Ouyang Kuishan cleared his throat as he asked, "Does anyone have any ideas on who this person could be?"
"All of the items in his possession are quite ordinary, and there''s nothing that we can use to identify him. However, judging from the cultivation arts that he used, it seems like he may be from the Upper Ah Continent," the woman in the ck dress remarked in a slightly raspy voice.
"That golden-armored puppet looks a lot like the Wise King Puppets of the Infernal Frost Continent''s Holy Puppet Sect," Yuan Bushao chimed in.
"That does indeed appear to be a Wise King Puppet. However, the Wise King Puppets of the Holy Puppet Sect are indeed quite precious, but they can still be purchased for a price, so it''s impossible to identify him from the puppet," Elder Hu Yan said.
Ouyang Kuishan turned to Xiong Shan as he asked, "Is there anything you can enlighten us with, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong?"
"I wouldn''t dare to say enlighten. I am far less knowledgeable and experienced than all of you, but I did notice that the sword array that he unleashed is a little simr to the Seven Deaths Sword Array of the Boundless Sword Sect," Xiong Shan replied in a humble manner.
"I''ve heard of the Seven Deaths Sword Array, it''s an extremely renowned sword array from the Boundless Sword Sect, but how is it so pitifully weak? Not only was that elder with the Li surname able to destroy it with ease, he even managed to destroy those five flying swords as well," Yuan Bushao scoffed, clearly unconvinced by Xiong Shan''s statement.
"I''m not sure of it myself, I just feel like it looks a little simr," Xiong Shan said as he lowered his head.
"Deputy Dao Lord Xiong is very proficient in the way of the sword, and I heard that he once obtained a lost inheritance of the Boundless Sword Sect, so I''m sure he''s correct here. The reason why Elder Li was able to destroy the sword array so easily isn''t because the array is too weak. Instead, it''s because his attacks were sufficiently powerful to do so.
¡°It looks like the Mantra Treasured Axis that he refined contains heavy water that is imbued with the power of waterws, and that''s quite a unique path, producing a very powerful treasure. If it wasn''t for him, I''d say it wouldn''t have just been a matter of four disciples having their physical bodies destroyed. If you ask me, you should reward him handsomely, Fellow Daoist Ouyang," Elder Hu Yan said.
Everyone else was rather taken aback to hear this.
It was very difficult to clearly assess the situation from the footage, so they could only specte about what had taken ce during the battle, but it appeared that Elder Hu Yan was very confident in his assessment of the battle, and no one was going to rebuke him.
"Indeed, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan. I''ll make sure to have that arranged, but back to the subject at hand, it appears that the intruder won''t be so easy to identify," Ouyang Kuishan mused.
Yuan Bushao wanted to say something further, but he held his tongue in the end after taking a nce at Elder Hu Yan.
Dao Lord Yun took a nce at everyone else, and there was a slightly concerned look on her face.
That man had attempted to abduct Bai Suyuan, so in her eyes, it was of the utmost importance for him to be tracked down and dealt with.
After a brief hesitation, Ouyang Kuishan said, "There''s also something else that needs to be noted. That man mentioned Bai Fengyi, and it seems like there''s some type of connection between the two."
Contemtive looks appeared on everyone''s faces upon hearing this.
"Speaking of Bai Fengyi, it''s quite a pity what happened to him. If it wasn''t for what happened back then, given his aptitude, perhaps our ze Dragon Dao would''ve had 14 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords by now," Elder Hu Yan sighed.
A slightly dejected look appeared in Dao Lord Yun''s eyes upon hearing this.
"I''m afraid we''re also unable to identify the intruder, so just take care of this matter as you see fit, Fellow Daoist Ouyang," Elder Huyan said, then turned to depart.
"Why are you in such a hurry to leave, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan?"
In the blink of an eye, Dao Lord Yun appeared in front of Elder Hu Yan, blocking his path.
"Haven''t you always been an avid wine enthusiast? I happened to get my hands on a few jars of fine immortal wine a while back, would you like toe over and have a taste? I also have questions about cultivation that I''d like to ask you as well," Dao Lord Yun said.
Chapter 241: Message from Qilin 9
Chapter 241: Message from Qilin 9
"Er... I''ve been so busy recently that I''ve been getting dizzy and lightheaded, so I''ll have to refuse your kind offer," Elder Hu Yan replied as he waved his hands in response.
"Dizzy and lightheaded? That''s no good. Come sleep for a night on my 10,000-year-old Profound Ice Bed and you''ll be sure to wake up feeling much better," Dao Lord Yun said.
"Ah, I just remembered that I still have a cauldron full of pills sitting on the fire, and it''s about time that they''re ready! My apologies, but I have to go now."
Sweat was beginning to bead up on Elder Hu Yan''s forehead as he spoke, and he exploded into countless specks of blue light, vanishing on the spot.
Dao Lord Yun ced her hand over her own mouth as she giggled in amusement.
Meanwhile, Yuan Bushao and the woman in the ck dress paid no heed to the interaction between Elder Hu Yan and Dao Lord Yun, departing from the hall in silence.
Xiong Shan also took his leave before promptly departing, and before long, Dao Lord Yun and Ouyang Kuishan were the only two people left in the hall.
A serious look appeared on Dao Lord Yun''s face as she asked, "What do you n on doing with those two elders?"
Ouyang Kuishan remained silent, seemingly still yet to make a decision.
"Let me make this clear: it''s all thanks to that Li Feiyu that Yuan''er wasn''t abducted during the trial, so I''m not just going to stand by and watch as others try to frame him to further their own agendas," Dao Lord Yun said in a meaningful voice.
"As the leader of the sect, I can''t be biased. Otherwise, conflicts could easily arise, leading to catastrophic consequences. Li Feiyu did indeed do quite well in this situation, but at the same time, he failed to perform his duty as one of the guardian elders, so he should be let off the hook, but not rewarded beyond that.
¡°As for Su Tongxiao, the me for the incident should definitely fall on him, but given the circumstances, I''ll only administer a light punishment upon him. Additionally, seeing as Fellow Daoist Hu Yan expressly stated that Li Feiyu should be rewarded, you can issue him a reward on your own behalf," Ouyang Kuishan said.
Dao Lord Yun nodded in response, then flew away as a streak of white light.
Momentster, he appeared on another mountain summit.
There was a white pce that was over 100 feet tall situated on this mountain, and it looked as if it had been carved out of a single enormous block of white jade.
It was an unknown jade-like material that was giving off a gentle glow that resembled moonlight, and the entire pce was filled with a strong cial aura.
As soon as Dao Lord Yun entered the pce, she was immediately met with a burst of cial qi, but it was kept at bay by a burst of invisible force that was emanating from her body.
At the center of the pce was a crescent-shaped pond that appeared to have been formed naturally, and it was so deep that it was impossible to see its bottom. There was a translucent round te that was about 10 feet in size floating on the surface of the pond with countless tiny transparent runes engraved upon it, and it was giving off a white glow, as if it were entirely crafted from a block of ice.
The cial aura here was 10 times more pronounced than outside, and it wasing directly from that pond.
A woman in a white dress was seated with her legs crossed on the te, and it was non other than Bai Suyuan.
Her entire body was enveloped within ayer of gentle white light as she constantly absorbed the cial qi from the pond. Her aura had advanced significantlypared with during the trial, and she was approaching thete-Spatial Tempering Stage.
Dao Lord Yun nodded in approval upon seeing this.
Bai Suyuan seemed to have heard Dao Lord Yun''s arrival, and her eyshes fluttered momentarily before she opened her eyes.
A smile then appeared on her face as she rose up from the te beforending next to Dao Lord Yun.
"You''re bing more beautiful by the day, Yuan''er. I wonder which lucky boy is going to make you his wife," Dao Lord Yun chuckled as she gently stroked Bai Suyuan''s hair.
A slight blush appeared on Bai Suyuan''s face upon hearing this, and sheined, "What are you saying, Mistress? I''m not going to marry anyone as long as you don''t!"
"What does this have to do with me?"
Dao Lord Yun was very amused to hear this. As one of the 13 Golden Immortals of the ze Dragon Dao, she possessed unfathomable power, but she was like a doting mother whenever she was around her favorite disciple.
She led Bai Suyuan to the side before sitting down as she said, "Yuan''er, it''s good that you''re so diligent in your cultivation, but don''t rush it. This cial Moon Pond contains extremely potent cial qi, while will reciprocate your Moonlight Immortal Physique, but at the same time, it''ll also harm your body in excessive quantities, so you have to be patient and progress slowly."
"Yes, Mistress," Bai Suyuan replied.
After that, Dao Lord Yuan answered a few questions that Bai Suyuan had on cultivation, and given her aptitude and intelligence, she was immediately able to figure things out.
The smile on Dao Lord Yun''s face became even more pronounced upon seeing how gifted a learner her disciple was.
"By the way, why did youe here today, Mistress?" Bai Suyuan asked.
"Why? I can''te to visit you?" Dao Lord Yun asked as she put on an angry expression.
"That''s not what I meant, Mistress," Bai Suyuan said as she swayed Dao Lord Yun''s arm from side to side like a small child.
"Alright, I won''t tease you any longer. I discussed what happened during the trial with a few of the other dao lords today," Dao Lord Yun said with a serious expression.
Bai Suyuan''s expression changed slightly as she released Dao Lord Yun''s arm, and a serious look appeared on her face as well.
"Even after some discussion, we were still unable to identify the intruder," Dao Lord Yun sighed.
Bai Suyuan''s face fell slightly upon hearing this, and she replied, "The Northern cial Immortal Region is extremely vast and is home to countless powerful cultivators, so there''s no way our ze Dragon Dao can know them all."
"Seeing as we''ve been unable to identify him or track him down, I think you should stay in the sect as much as possible. I''ll continue to investigate the matter, and we''ll be sure to capture him," Dao Lord Yun said.
Bai Suyuan nodded in response, following which a thought urred to her, and after a brief hesitation, she asked, "During the trial, four of the disciples had their physical bodies destroyed. What have you and the other dao lords decided to do with Elder Li and Elder Su?"
A meaningful smile appeared on Dao Lord Yun''s face upon hearing this.
"You seem to be very concerned about that Li Feiyu. I''ve never seen you pay so much attention to any of the male disciples. Could it be..."
"What are you saying, Mistress? Elder Li saved our Bai n and brought me to the ze Dragon Dao, and this time, he saved me from being abducted in the trial. I owe him a great debt, and that''s the only reason why I asked about him," Bai Suyuan hurriedly exined.
"Is that right?" Dao Lord Yun asked with an amused look in her eyes.
For some reason, Bai Suyuan didn''t dare to meet Dao Lord Yun''s gaze as she replied, "Of course! There''s no way I''d take a liking to someone like him!"
Dao Lord Yun merely began to giggle in response, while Bai Suyuan kept her head lowered as a faint blush appeared on her face.
¡¡
Meanwhile, in a lush mountain range that was abundant with spiritual qi countless kilometers away from the ze Dragon Dao.
A young man who was dressed like a lumberjack was seated in a secluded cave with his legs crossed. There was ayer of dense white light around him that was expanding and shrinking with each cycle of inhtion and exhtion.
A long whileter, the man opened his eyes as he murmured to himself, "This body has decent aptitude. I''ve already recovered around a tenth of my former cultivation base."
A look of intense resentment then appeared in his eyes as he spat through gritted teeth, "Li Feiyu, I''ll get you back for destroying my physical body sooner orter!"
After that, he rose to his feet and exited the cave before flying away into the distance as a streak of white light.
¡¡
Over 10 years passed by in the blink of an eye, and Han Li had been focused onpleting Transient Guild missions this entire time.
Due to the fact that he had to take care of the Dao Warrior and all of the spirit nts nted in his fields, all of the missions that he took on were ones near the Ancient Cloud Continent.
Due to the frequency at which he took on missions, many of the other Transient Guild members situated on the Ancient Cloud Continent gradually came to know the name of Wyrm 15, a powerful madman who was sweeping through missions like the wind.
As a result, many people were led to the false assumption that he had to have been at thete-True Immortal Stage.
As Wyrm 15''s reputation continued to build, many of the Transient Guild members near the Ancient Cloud Continent were keen to have him as an ally during their own missions, and there were even some people directly contacting him with requests toplete certain missions.
In contrast with how renowned he had be in the Transient Guild, Han Li had maintained a low profile in the ze Dragon Dao.
Afterpleting his three regr elder missions, he had refrained from interacting with anyone else in the sect under the guise of cultivating in seclusion.
During this period, he was summoned once by Dao Lord Ouyang and Dao Lord Yun, and the former had enquired him about the incident concerning the trial, while thetter had rewarded him 1,000 merit points without saying anything, only warning him not to speak of this matter to anyone else.
He wasn''t the type to go bbering about something like this anyway, and he was certainly more than happy to ept the 1,000 merit points.
He wasn''t all that renowned in the sect to begin with, and after so many years out of the limelight, he had be even lesser known in the sect, and that was exactly what he wanted.
One day, Han Li was standing in front of his medicine garden in his cave abode, nodding to himself with approval at the sight of the vibrant spirit medicinesid out before him.
During these past years, he had been constantly undertaking all types of missions, umting arge sum of spirit stones in the process. Additionally, he had managed to nurture a batch of 50,000-year-old ze Tuber Herbs with the spirit liquid from his Heaven Controlling Vial, so it was now time for him to focus on cultivating for a while.
There was a rather spacious and barren area in the southwestern corner of the garden, standing out like a sore thumbpared with the rest of the lush and vibrant garden.
That was exactly where the primary bean had been nted.
Over the years, he had watered it with the spirit liquid on many asions, but the primary bean still showed no signs of germinating at all.
ording to the book of Dao Warrior nting insights given to him by Elder Hu Yan, there was a massive range of factors that could impact the germination period of a Dao Warrior, and it was quite normal for a bean to be nurtured for centuries without germinating.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly as he returned to the secret chamber in his cave abode.
As soon as he entered the secret chamber, he flipped a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask, which he promptly put on.
The runes on the mask began to glow brightly as it released a beam of azure light, which formed a projection of an azure figure.
The figure was rather tall and imposing, wearing a cloak-like robe and an azure deer mask. He was standing with his hands sped behind his back, giving off an authoritative aura.
"Why have you suddenly contacted me, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9?" Han Li asked.
Qilin 9 was none other than thete-True Immortal Stage Transient Guild member that Han Li suspected to have been Xiong Shan.
Chapter 242: Smelting Sword Refinement
Chapter 242: Smelting Sword Refinement
"No need to be rmed, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15. I contacted you today because there''s a special mission that I''d like to invite you toplete with me," the azure figure said.
"If my memory serves me correctly, we haven''t had many past interactions, so why have youe specifically to invite me?" Han Li asked.
"You''ve been forging quite a reputation for yourself recently, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15. We''ve only worked together once in the past, but you left a very deep impression on me. I know that your reputation is very much deserved, and that''s why I came to invite you to undertake this mission with me."
Qilin 9 was praising Han Li, but the tone of his voice was very neutral, as if he were merely stating facts rather than trying to tter Han Li.
"My reputation is nowhere near as resounding as yours, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9. Seeing as this is a mission that''s caught your eye, I''m assuming it''s not going to be an easy one toplete, right?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"My apologies, but this mission is indeed quite special. Low-level members are barred from undertaking the mission, and I''m afraid I won''t be able to reveal the contents of the mission to you unless you agree to ept it," Qilin 9 replied.
"Even if you can''t reveal the contents of the mission to me, surely you can at least tell me the mission location," Han Li said.
"The location is on the Infernal Frost Continent," Qilin 9 replied.
"In that case, I''m afraid I''ll have to turn down the mission. There are many things that I''m busy with at the moment, so I can''t make any far journeys. My apologies, Fellow Daoist," Han Li refused as his brows furrowed slightly.
To the north of the Ancient Cloud Continent was a vast frozen sea, and across that sea was a continent that was perpetually enshrouded in ice and snow. That was the Infernal Frost Continent.
Crossing the frozen sea wasn''t as difficult as crossing the Thunderstorm Sea, and there was supposed to have been a teleportation array for this purpose as well, but even so, the journey would''ve taken at least several years there and back.
Qilin 9 wasn''t surprised by Han Li''s refusal, and he said, "Don''t be in such a hurry to refuse. Fellow Daoist. I suggest you hear the reward for the mission before you decide whether to ept it or not."
"Go ahead," Han Li prompted.
"Aside from 300 Immortal Origin Stones, you''ll also receive a Jade Gleam Cloud Stone," Qilin 9 said, and he seemed to be quite confident that his reward would be sufficient to tempt Han Li.
Instead of being pleased or ted to hear this, Han Li remarked with a cold expression, "The fact that you know that I''m searching for a Jade Gleam Cloud Stone indicates that you''ve done your homework beforeing here, Fellow Daoist."
"It''s already been a few years since you released the mission searching for a Jade Gleam Cloud Stone, and to this day, no one has answered your call. Surely you''re not going to pass up this opportunity, are you?" Qilin 9 asked.
Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
Seven or eight years ago, while carrying out a mission for the Transient Guild, he had decided to read through the beasthide book that he had obtained from the old man that had attacked Bai Suyuan, and in that book, he had read about a very strange type of smelting sword refinement technique.
The technique allowed one to smelt special metals and materials to drastically enhance the power of a flying sword, and if a set of multiple flying swords were smelted at once, those swords would be able to fuse as one during battle, making them significantly more powerful than before.
Most importantly, after the smelting process, not only would the physical forms of the flying swords bepletely transformed, the auras that they gave off would also change as a result of the materials used in the smelting process.
Right there and then, Han Li had decided that he was definitely going to smelt his 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords again.
However, the spirit materials required for this smelting process were very difficult to acquire, with the most important material being the Dendrobium Gold Essence, while the most important supplementary material was the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone.
Coincidentally, Adam already had some Dendrobium Gold Essence. It was that dark golden metal that he had obtained from the Origin Mirage Beast''s pce, and he had acquired more of the material from the elderly man in the Profound Ice Mountain Range.
As for the other materials required, Han Li had managed to gather all of them from within the ze Dragon Dao at the cost of some Immortal Origin Stones. All that was left to find was the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone, which he had been unable to find in the sect or in the Transient Guild.
After a long silence, he asked, "How big is this piece of Jade Gleam Cloud Stone?"
"I''m sure you''re aware of how precious the material is, Fellow Daoist. The reward is only a fist-sized chunk. Even so, that''s already more than enough to be used as the main material to refine a flying sword," Qilin 9 said.
After a brief hesitation, Han Li finally said, "Alright, I''ll ept this mission."
Even a fist-sized chunk of Jade Gleam Cloud Stone was sufficient to be used as a supplementary material to refine his 72 flying swords.
"Fantastic! With your inclusion, I''m sure we''ll be able toplete this mission smoothly."
Only now did a hint of a smile creep into Qilin 9''s voice.
"I''ve already epted the mission, so you can tell me exactly what needs to be done now, right?" Han Li asked.
"There''s no hurry. The people undertaking the mission haven''t all been assembled yet. You can make some preparations, then meet us on Everlone Ind situated at the northernmost tip of the Ancient Cloud Continent. There, I''ll reveal the exact contents of the mission to you," Qilin 9 said.
"In that case, I''ll see you there," Han Li replied with a nod.
Qilin 9 didn''t stay any longer, instantly vanishing from the spot.
Han Li stowed his Transient Guild mask away, then departed from his secret chamber.
¡¡
Three years passed by in the blink of an eye.
There was a penins situated in the northernmost tip of the Ancient Cloud Continent. It was a thin and longndmass with a slight curvature, extending into the boundless white sea.
The entire ind had a ck coloration, and it waspletely encased under a thickyer of ice without any vegetation to be seen.
At the end of the ind was a giant ck rock, atop which sat a tall and imposing figure with his legs crossed. The figure was wearing a loose-fitting ck robe with an azure deer mask on his face, and it was none other than Qilin 9.
Beside him at the foot of the rock was a tall and thin man wearing an ochre robe with plum blossom designs embroidered upon it. He was wearing a rat mask that was also azure in color.
Through the eye holes on the mask, one could see that he had a pair of extremely tiny pupils, and quite fittingly, his eyes were giving off a sly and sneaky gleam, much like one would see in the eyes of a rat.
"We''ve already been waiting for seven days, why has he still not shown up? He''s certainly making us wait?" the rat-masked manined in a high-pitched voice as he took a disgruntled nce in the direction of the Ancient Cloud Continent.
"We''re the ones who got here earlier. The agreed time still hasn''t arrived yet, so you''ll have to wait a bit longer," Qilin 9 said.
The rat-masked man habitually flexed his neck from side to side upon hearing this and didn''t say anything further.
Around 15 minutester, a streak of azure light suddenly appeared in the distant sky before quicklynding in front of the giant ck rock.
The azure light contained none other than Han Li, and he swept his gaze over Qilin 9 and the rat-masked man as he cupped his fist toward them in a salute.
Qilin 9 rose to his feet atop the giant rock, then introduced to Han Li, "Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15, this is Fellow Daoist Qilin 17."
"I''ve heard much about you," Han Li said with a nod.
"You sure kept us waiting!" Qilin 17ined in an inhospitable voice as he sized up Han Li.
Han Li could hear the displeasure in his voice, but he merely smiled and didn''t say anything.
Qilin 9 jumped down from the rock,nding beside Han Li''s duo as he said, "Now that everyone''s here, allow me to reveal the contents of the mission."
Han Li immediately turned to him, as did Qilin 17.
"ording to the mission description, there''s a certain valley in the Snowstorm Forest to the south of the Infernal Frost Continent, and there''s an extremely high-level array set up in the valley. Our mission is to infiltrate the valley without triggering the array and kill the mid-True Immortal cultivator inside," Qilin 9 said.
"Do we know why the array exists and if there''s anything special about it?" Han Li asked.
"That''s all I know about the mission, we''ll have to figure out the rest after we get there," Qilin 9 replied.
"It sounds like it''s not a very difficult mission at all. By the way, why are all of the special missions in the guild like this? They''re always so ambiguous andcking in details," Qilin 17ined.
Qilin 9 paid no heed to Qilin 17 as he dered, "Alright, time is of the essence, so let''s set off right away."
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke to release a cascade of starry golden light, within which was a three-level louchuan that was entirely golden in color.
The louchuan was around 300 feet in length and over 50 feet tall, with many runes engraved on its surface for speed enhancement and other purposes. Furthemore, the exterior of the three-story pavilion on the louchuan was extremely ornate and embedded with all types of precious jewels, presenting an extravagant sight to behold.
"In order to get to the Infernal Frost Continent, we can take a teleportation array from Smoke Tomb Ind. Prior to that, we can make the journey to the ind on my Golden Veined Spirit Boat," Qilin 9 said, then rose up into the air beforending on the deck of the louchuan.
Han Li and Qilin 17 also did the same,nding on the spirit boat one after the other.
Upon hisnding, Han Li swept his gaze over the spirit boat to find that there were also all types ofplex patterns engraved onto the pirs, doors, and windows on the louchuan, all of which were giving off bursts of spiritual power fluctuations.
Standing outside each level of the pavilion were several slender and extremely beautiful young women, all of whom were wearing rainbow-colored or golden silken robes, appearing as if they were celestial maidens.
However, Han Li quickly came to realize that these stunningly beautiful women were actually all just intricately crafted puppets.
"Each of you can choose a level of the pavilion to stay in. If you need something done, just issue an instruction to the puppets," Qilin 9 said, then flew onto the top-floor of the pavilion before making his way inside.
Qilin 17 took a nce at Han Li, then didn''t say anything as he rose up onto the second floor. He then reached out to stroke the cheek of one of the puppets standing in front of the door as he praised, "Oh, that''s quite pleasant on the hands."
After that, he chuckled to himself as he opened the door of the pavilion and made his way inside.
Chapter 243: Extreme Cold
Chapter 243: Extreme Cold
Shortly thereafter, after a burst of tremors, all of the runes on the Golden Veined Spirit Boat lit up, and it rose up into the sky amid a vast expanse of golden light, flying toward the frozen sea.
Instead of entering the pavilion, Han Li made his way to the bow of the boat, where he cast his gaze into the distance while standing with his hands sped behind his back.
Up ahead was a boundless expanse of white with thickyers of ice spreading as far as the eyes could see, only punctuated by some frosty ck rocks or giant mountains of ice jutting out of the surface of the sea.
The view in the extremely far distance was quite blurry due to the presence of the mist up ahead, and birds were an extremely rare sight in the sky above the frozen sea.
Both the sea and the sky above it were extremely silent, giving this frozen region a bleak and lifeless appearance.
However, through his spiritual sense, Han Li was able to detect the auras of many powerful demon beasts lurking in the clouds in the sky, the depths of the sea, and even within some of the mountains of ice, and the only reason why none of them hade out as they were fearful of Han Li''s trio.
Thinking back to the Thunderstorm Sea, Han Li couldn''t help but marvel at the vast diversity in the geographic environments in the Northern cial Immortal Region.
There were virtually no ces like this in the Mortal Realm or in the Spirit Realm, and he was certain that there were still many more ces that he couldn''t even fathom here in the Immortal Realm.
For some reason, the memory of the short time that he had spent traveling the Spirit Realm as a pair of lovebirds prior to his ascension suddenly sprang into his mind.
This memory had always been one that he had suppressed and relegated to the bottom of his heart, and it was also why he had been alone for the vast majority of time during his cultivation journey, unwilling to casually dabble in rtionships.
Parting with his loved ones had always been a painful experience that he didn''t want to have to endure.
"If Wan''er were by my side, we''d be able to roam the Northern cial Immortal Region freely together. I wonder how she''s doing right now. The resources that I left her prior to my ascension should be enough to support her cultivation to the Grand Ascension Stage. I wonder if we''ll ever be reunited someday..." Han Li murmured to himself with an absentminded expression, then turned and made his way into the first-floor pavilion.
¡¡
Close to a yearter.
There was a white ind with a radius of no more than 10,000 feet situated in the southern region of the frozen sea.
The ind was circr in shape with a clear outline, resembling a massive white te, and it was clear that it had been created artificially.
On the ind were a series of white stoned pirs of different heights, some of which had runes engraved upon them, while others were embedded with spirit stones that contained abundant spiritual power.
The entire ind appeared to have been a massive white array.
Right at this moment, the Golden Veined Spirit Boat arrived in the air from afar, then paused momentarily in mid-air before vanishing amid a sh of golden light.
Han Li''s trio appeared in the sky, then began to descend toward Smoke Tomb Ind.
They weren''t making any efforts to conceal their own auras, but their appearances and statures had all been altered significantly.
Qilin 9 had turned into a burly man with a thick beard, while Qilin 17 had adopted the appearance of a schrly man wearing an azure robe, and Han Li had transformed into a fair-skinned young man who appeared to have been around 20 years of age.
The three of them descended onto a small za on the edge of the ind, and there was a hall constructed from white stone up ahead.
The three of them strode into the hall to find that the furnishings were extremely simple, with only a circr stone tform in the hall, atop which sat an elderly man with a white beard with his legs crossed.
To Han Li''s surprise, the elderly man was an early-True Immortal cultivator, and his attire indicated that he was an inner sect elder of the ze Dragon Dao.
The elderly man took a nce at Han Li''s trio, remaining seated as he asked, "Have youe here to travel to the Infernal Frost Continent?"
"Correct," Qilin 9 replied.
"That''ll be seven Immortal Origin Stones per person," the elderly man said in an expressionless manner.
After the fee was issued, the elderly man rose to his feet, stepping down from the circr stone tform before leading Han Li''s trio out of the hall through a rear door.
After emerging from the hall, the three of them followed the elderly man over a path that was around 10 feet wide, making their way toward the center of the ind.
Han Li took a nce at the path beneath his feet to find that it was several inches lower than the ground on either side of it, giving it the appearance of a small trough embedded into the earth, and there was a rune engraved onto the ground once every several dozen feet.
The closer they drew to the center of the ind, the more frequently these paths appeared, forming aplex system that was quite mysterious in appearance.
"Fellow Daoist Qilin 9, if I''m not mistaken, he''s wearing a robe of the ze Dragon Dao, is that correct?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"Indeed. This man seems to be an inner sect elder of the ze Dragon Dao," Qilion 9 replied.
"Could it be that all of the teleportation array between the Ancient Cloud Continent and the Infernal Frost Continent was constructed by the ze Dragon Dao?" Han Li asked.
"That''s not the case. The teleportation array on Smoke Tomb Ind is the only one that was constructed by and is under the control of the ze Dragon Dao, while the teleportation array on Extreme Ice Ind near the Infernal Frost Continent is under the control of the Northern cial Immortal Pce," Qilin 9 replied.
"I see. Thank you for enlightening me, Fellow Daoist," Han Li said.
As the two were conversing with one another through voice transmission, they followed the elderly man to a plot of tnd near the center of the ind.
Han Li took a nce at the area to find a circr array surrounded by several dozen stone pirs in the distance. Each pir was so thick that a chain of seven or eight people would''ve been required to link hands around it, and they were quite spectacr to behold.
There were seven or eight other people on the za around the array, some of which were seated with their legs crossed, while others were standing.
The elderly man led the trio onto the za, then said to a middle-aged man who was also in ze Dragon Dao elder attire, "Elder Fu, these people are traveling to Extreme Ice Ind as well. We have enough people, so we can activate the array now."
"Alright, you can all enter the array now," the middle-aged man said as he turned to the others on the za.
Those people had already been waiting for quite some time, and they were quite ted to hear this as they eagerly stepped into the array.
Han Li''s trio immediately followed suit, and once all 10 people had entered the array, the elderly man gave the middle-aged man a nod, and the two of them strode over to the circr stone tforms on either side of the array before sitting down with their legs crossed.
Immediately thereafter, the two of them began to chant an incantation, and the white stone pirs around the array lit up one after another, while the spirit stones embedded onto the ground and the runes engraved there also began to radiate dazzling light.
The light quickly spread until all of the patterns on the ground had lit up, and all of the stone pirs situated elsewhere on the ind also began to give off dazzling radiance as the entire ind array was activated.
A faint buzzing sound rang out, and the entire ind began to tremble violently.
Situated within the array, Han Li looked up at the sky to find that the clouds up above were churning violently, gradually forming an enormous hole, out of which was emanating powerful spatial fluctuations.
The mist enshrouding the outskirts of the ind was also impacted by these spatial fluctuations, quickly receding to form a ring-shaped wall of mist around the ind.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out, and the entire ind shuddered violently as a vast expanse of five-colored light erupted out of the array at the center of the ind, forming a massive pir of five-colored light that erupted straight into the heavens.
Han Li and the others were swallowed up by the five-colored light before instantly vanishing on the spot.
Shortly thereafter, the array gradually subsided, but the hole in the sky and the wall of mist around the ind continued to linger.
¡¡
In the northern region of the frozen sea, fierce winds were howling incessantly, while dark clouds hung low in the sky.
Snow was fluttering everywhere, epassing the entire area of the sea.
On the dim surface of the sea, the frozen snow and seawater had been molded into giant ice spikes by the ferocious wind, and they were pointing diagonally up at the heavens.
Amid this forest of ice spikes was an ovr ind that was enshrouded under an azure light barrier.
Right at this moment, a sound that resembled a rumbling thunderp suddenly rang out high up in the sky, and the entire ovr ind shuddered as a vast expanse of five-colored light appeared, following which Han Li and the others emerged on an array at the center of the ind.
Due to the symptoms from ultra long-distance teleportation, everyone was looking rather pale, and the ones among them with the lowest cultivation bases were even feeling some instability in their souls.
As for Han Li, he merely felt a slight tightness in his chest, but that quickly subsided.
He took a nce at his surroundings to find that theyout of the area was much the same as the one on Smoke Tomb Ind, except the white stone pirs around the array had been reced by pirs of translucent ice.
Right at this moment, a cold voice rang out from outside the array. "The teleportation isplete, it''s time for all of you to go."
Han Li turned to discover a thin elderly woman with a head of white hair. She was wearing a white cloak while holding a white horned dragon wood cane, and she was looking at everyone with an inhospitable expression.
Everyone hurriedly stepped out of the array before making their way toward the northern border of the ind under the elderly woman''s instructions.
There was a white hall of ice standing there, within which was a wide table with a benevolent-looking round-faced elderly man seated behind it.
In contrast with how cold and inhospitable the elderly woman was, the elderly man had a far more friendly appearance.
"Wee to the Infernal Frost Continent, everyone. I''ll be requiring all of you to submit a further three Immortal Origin Stones per person prior to leaving Extreme Ice Ind," the elderly man said with a smile.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then turned to Qilin 9 with an inquisitive look in his eyes.
"This has always been the arrangement between the ze Dragon Dao and the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and the same fee applies when we go back to Smoke Tomb Ind," Qilin 9 exined.
Han Li nodded in response, but he couldn''t help but feel a little speechless.
A one-way trip required 10 Immortal Origin Stones, so a return trip was going to require 20, which was more than the reward that he would receive frompleting a low-level mission for the Transient Guild.
If it weren''t for the fact that this fee was quite paltrypared with the handsome reward for this mission, there was no way that he would''ve been willing to ept this so easily.
After the Immortal Origin Stones had been submitted, everyone was directed to a door on the side of the hall.
The round-faced elderly man remained seated as he swept a sleeve through the air toward the door, and a burst of azure light appeared on its surface, following which a circr passageway that was as tall as a grown man emerged on the light barrier that epassed the door.
"I wish you all safe and smooth journeys, fellow daoists," the elderly man said with a smile.
Qilin 9 led the way out of the door upon hearing this, arriving on the za outside the hall, followed closely by Han Li and Qilin 17.
After them came the other seven people who had also been teleported here.
As soon as they emerged from the hall, they were immediately met with heavy snow and a bone-chilling cial aura. Han Li was already prepared for this, but his brows still furrowed slightly in an involuntary manner.
Looking at the snow-covered world before him, Han Li couldn''t help but think back to when he first ascended to the Northern cial Immortal Region. At the time, he had also been in an extremely cold setting, and the cial aura from that time seemed to have been even more potent.
He could still recall the excitement he had felt as if it had only happened yesterday, but to this day, he still couldn''t recall anything that had happened after that.
The path of cultivation was one that was fraught with peril, and he couldn''t help but wonder when he would be able to present himself in his true name without having to worry for his own safety.
His hands clenched up into tight fists as this thought sprang into his mind.
Chapter 244: Judgment
Chapter 244: Judgment
While Han Li was lost in his own thoughts, lights of different colors had begun to emerge from the bodies of many of the cultivators beside him. Some of them had jade pendants with warming effects tucked up their sleeves, some were wearing belts woven from fire-attribute materials, and some were wearing insting spirit garments.
All of a sudden, a feral roar rang out, and a massive snow rhinoceros with an entirely white body emerged from the dense snowfall, whipping its head from side to side as it gave off a vicious aura.
One of the people in the group jumped onto the snow rhinoceros''s back, and as he pressed his legs into the sides of the beast, it immediately began charging away.
A string of loud thumps rang out as the snow rhinoceros plowed its way straight through a series of ice spikes, traveling so quickly that it was as if it were in flight, and it didn''t take long before it vanished into the distance.
Everyone else also summoned different types of snow and ice beasts before riding them away, and it didn''t take long before Han Li''s trio were the only ones left.
Qilin 9 swept his gaze across his surroundings for a moment, then summoned his Golden Veined Spirit Boat again, and the three of them jumped on before setting off toward the Infernal Frost Continent.
¡¡
Around half a monthter.
The snowstorm had just ceased in a region of the frozen sea, yet there was still a dense nket of dark clouds in the sky, while gusts of bone-chilling wind were ravaing the surface of the sea.
The Golden Veined Spirit Boat that Han Li''s trio was on was rapidly approaching the area, and inside the pavilion on the first floor, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on his bed when all of a sudden, he felt a violent jolt run through the boat.
His eyes immediately sprang open as he rushed out of the room, where he saw an enormous ck tentacle wrapped around the railing of the boat. The tentacle was stretchedpletely taut, seemingly doing everything in its power to drag the boat down into the sea below.
The boat was already beginning to tilt slightly, and Han Li looked down along the tentacle to find that a massive hole had opened up in the ice sheet covering the sea down below.
The tentacle belonged to an enormous scaled octopus with half of its body extending out of the hole, and the tentacle was continuing to constrict further and further, causing the entire boat to lurch slowly toward the sea down below.
All of a sudden, a furious roar rang out. "Insolence!"
A figure then shot out of the third-floor pavilion on the louchuan, transforming into a streak of golden light that shed through the air before returning in an instant.
In the next instant, the tentacle wrapped around the railing of the boat was severed into pieces.
At the same time, the body of the giant ck octopus also exploded violently, sending an enormous volume of ck blood erupting in all directions, stainingrge sections of the surrounding ice ck.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon seeing this. The octopus demon beast only possessed Grand Ascension Stage power and had limited intelligence, so it wasn''t all that difficult to kill, but its scales were no ordinary scales, and it was far from a simple matter to bypass the defenses of those scales to instantly y the beast.
This was a clear indication that Qilin 9 had most likely mastered some type of specialw powers that granted him extremely formidable offensive prowess.
¡¡
Over three months passed by in the blink of an eye.
There was an enormous snowy mountain range sprawled across the southern part of the Infernal Frost Continent, and there were countless branches extending out of the mountain range on either side, making it resemble an enormous frost centipede when viewed from above.
Every single branch of the mountain range was filled with enormous mountains that extended all the way up into the clouds, and all of them were almost entirely covered in snow and ice, with only some sections of exposed ck rock visible on parts where the ice had slid off.
Above the mountain range was a picturesque blue sky, where the bright sun was hanging like a golden medallion, giving off warm and gentle light. However, the entire ce was extremely cold andpletely devoid of warmth.
To the east of one of the mountain range''s southern branches were two mountains, both of which were over 10,000 feet tall. They were like a pair of silver longswords that were pointed directly up at the heavens, and nestled in between them was an extremely deep valley.
Outside the valley was a vast snond that extended for tens of thousands of kilometers.
The snond was riddled with countless massive cedar trees that were over 1,000 feet tall, but they were mostly inundated by a thickyer of snow, leaving only their tips exposed, but those tips were also covered by snow, thereby forming a series of white snowy pagodas.
Right at this moment, a string of dull roars suddenly rang out from within the snond outside of the valley.
All of a sudden, a pair of furry white ears poked out from beneath the snow in the cedar forest to the northeast, and they swiveled around a few times to listen for surrounding sounds, then began to move toward the entrance of the valley.
A string of loud booms rang out incessantly in their wake as one massive tree after another was felled, sending massive flurries of snow erupting in all directions, and a deep and massive trench also appeared on the ground as a result.
The terrain seemed to have be more elevated closer to the entrance of the valley, and the owner of the pair of furry white ears gradually emerged from beneath the snow.
As it turned out, it was a massive snow rabbit that was over 100 feet tal, with a pair of slightly red eyes and tall ears.
Upon arriving at the entrance of the valley, it sprang forward forcefully with its hind legs, plunging itself straight into the valley up ahead.
A resounding boom rang out, and the snow rabbit was sent flying back beforending on its backside, as if it had just crashed into an invisible barrier.
After righting itself again, a ferocious look appeared in its eyes, and it let loose a low snarl before sinking back on its haunches to prepare to spring forward again. This time, it did so with several times more force than before,unching itself violently at the entrance of the valley.
All of a sudden, a faint golden light barrier appeared in the air within the entrance of the valley, and the light barrier was riddled with runes. A bolt of golden lightning that was around as thick as a human thumb abruptly sprang forth before striking the snow rabbit, and its entire body was instantly charred ck before exploding violently, sending a charred odor wafting through the air.
At this moment, three figures emerged from within the deep trench in the cedar forest, then made their way toward the entrance of the valley.
This was none other than Han Li''s trio, and Qilin 9 stopped in front of the entrance of the valley before turning to Han Li and Qilin 17 as he asked, "What do you think, fellow daoists?"
"If I''m not mistaken, the array here should be the Golden Peak Lightning Array that was passed down from ancient times. The bolt of lightning that had struck down that snow rabbit just now was nothing more than a disy of but a tiny fraction of the array''s power," Qilin 17 replied.
"I''m also of the opinion that this is the Golden Peak Lightning Array. ording to my observation just now, the foundations of the array should be situated on the two mountains on either side. There should be at least two metal-attribute treasures at or above the spirit treasure caliber on those mountains, and the area epassed within the array most likely includes those two mountains and the entire valley," Qilin said with a nod.
Meanwhile, Han Li remainedpletely silent, seemingly contemting something.
"Have you noticed something, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15?" Qilin 9 asked.
"I''ve never seen this Golden Peak Lightning Array before, but I have heard of it before. The array is renowned forbining resolute defenses with formidable offensive prowess, and once activated, it''ll release a storm of golden lightningparable in power to a small lightning tribtion. The bolt of lightning that the snow rabbit triggered just now was quite powerful, but it was also extremely restrained, which seems uncharacteristic of this array," Han Li said.
"That''s just because that snow rabbit was too weak to trigger an all-out retaliation from the array. What''s so surprising about that?" Qilin 17 dismissed with a disdainful expression.
"In that case, what do you think this array is?" Qilin 9 asked.
After a moment of contemtion, Han Li shook his head as he replied, "I''ve never encountered an array like this before, nor have I ever read about it, so I don''t know its name, I just have a feeling that it''s not as simple as it appears on the surface."
"If you''ve never even seen the Golden Peak Lightning Array before, then I suggest you keep your mouth shut. You said a bunch of stuff just now, but you may as well have said nothing at all," Qilin 17 scoffed.
Han Li remained unbothered by Qilin 17''s rude remarks, paying no heed to him as he continued to focus his attention on the array.
"It seems like you''re convinced that this is the Golden Peak Lightning Array, Fellow Daoist Qilin 17. Do you have any way for us to bypass the array without alerting the person inside?" Qilin 9 asked
A thoughtful look appeared on Qilin 17''s face as he replied, "Those two mountains are the cores of the array, and 81 lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood are used as the array''s foundation. Generally speaking, all that needs to be done is to find a weakness in any of those two things, and the array can be easily unraveled.
¡°However, if we want to bypass the array without alerting the person inside, then we''ll have to think of a way to assimte ourselves with the array in order to avoid triggering it."
"In order to assimte ourselves with the array, we must alter our own auras so that it matches the metal attribute of the array cores, or to match the lightning attribute of the array foundation. That''ll allow us to enter the array without triggering it," Qilin 9 added.
"This process must bepleted instantaneously. Otherwise, there''s still a chance that the array could be triggered," Qilin 17 said as he took a nce at Han Li.
"Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15, if you haven''t discovered anything else, then let''s follow Fellow Daoist Qilin 17''s n," Qilin 9 said as he turned to Han Li.
"The method described by Fellow Daoist Qilin 17 would normally be correct, but what''s strange about this array is the manner in which it releases lightning is very different from that of ordinary lightning arrays. The lightning is very concentrated and formidable, and if we were to enter the array without careful consideration, I don''t think we''ll fare any better than that snow rabbit," Han Li said with furrowed brows.
A hesitant look also shed through Qilin 9''s eyes upon hearing this.
His initial assessment of the lightning array had been quite simr to Qilin 17''s, and the only reason he was willing to consider Han Li''s input was due to the reputation that Han Li had recently forged for himself in the Transient Guild. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been hesitating at all.
Chapter 245: Entering the Valley
Chapter 245: Entering the Valley
"We''ll know if my method works or not when I test it out. You two can watch from the side, but in exchange, once we kill our target, I get to have the first pick out of all of their treasures," Qilin 17 said.
Before Han Li had a chance to say anything, Qilin 9 replied, "You seem to be very confident in your n, Fellow Daoist Qilin 17. In that case, feel free to give it a try, but before that, we need to set up a spatial sealing array outside the array so the person inside isn''t alerted to our arrival and runs away."
Han Li naturally had no objections to this, either, and after briefly discussing some further details, the three of them split up to perform their own roles.
Close to a dayter, right as it was beginning to get dark, Han Li''s trio met back up at the entrance of the valley.
Qilin 9 chanted an incantation, then pointed a finger at an array g on the ground in front of him, and ayer of invisible ripples immediately surged through the air, forming a barely visible spherical light barrier that epassed the entire nearby area in a radius of several hundred kilometers.
"Alright, the spatial sealing array has been activated. The floor is now yours, Fellow Daoist," Qilin 9 said as he turned to Qilin 17.
Qilin 17 nodded in response, then took a few steps forward until he was directly in front of the light barrier at the entrance of the valley before producing a shimmering golden talisman with a flick of his wrist.
He then raised the talisman before pressing it against his own forehead, and all of the runes on the talisman instantly lit up before flowing straight into his head.
What followed was a profound incantation, and arcs of golden lightning began to emerge all over Qilin 17''s body amid a string of loud buzzing and crackling.
Immediately thereafter, his entire body abruptly blurred as he transformed into a thin arc of lightning and sped directly into the valley.
A faint pop rang out from the entrance of the valley, but that was the extent of the disturbance, and Qilin 17''s was nowhere to be seen.
"It looks like this method works!" Qilin 9 remarked with an ted expression.
However, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he looked up at the sky, and Qilin 9 hurriedly looked up as well, seemingly also having sensed that something wasn''t quite right.
All of a sudden, a figure with golden lightning surging all over their body came plummeting rapidly out of the sky before mming violently down onto the snond with a resounding boom.
A massive crater instantly appeared on the snond, and a vast expanse of golden lightning erupted forth from within, charring the surrounding cedar trees ck.
Han Li and Qilin 9 rushed onto the scene to find Qilin 17 seated at the bottom of the crater. His entire body was charred ck and releasing plumes of white smoke, giving him a rather sorry andical appearance, but he didn''t appear to have sustained any severe injuries.
"What happened, Fellow Daoist Qilin 17?" Qilin 9 asked.
"This restriction isn''t the Golden Peak Lightning Array. To put it more urately, it''s not just the Golden Peak Lightning Array," Qilin 17 replied as he jumped out of the crater before flipping a hand over to produce a pill that he promptly devoured.
"I see, that makes sense," Han Li suddenly remarked.
"It sounds like you discovered something, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15," Qilin 9 said.
After a brief pause for contemtion, Han Li replied, "Back when that snow rabbit crashed into the array, I felt some hints of spatial fluctuations in the air. The way I see it, the array here is a special type of fusion array."
Qilin 17 arrived by Han Li''s side, having already recovered from his injuries and changed into a set of new robes.
This time, he was no longer looking at Han Li with the same derision as before, and he asked, "So you''re saying that this array is abination of the Golden Peak Lightning Array and some type of spatial array?"
"That''s right. While it''s true that you managed to sessfully bypass the array just now, in the instant that you entered the Golden Peak Lightning Array, you were immediately teleported back out by the spatial array inside," Han Li analyzed.
"In that case, the lightning released by the Golden Peak Lightning Array had to have been condensed by the same spatial array," Qilin 9 spected.
"I presume that''s the case. It''s a good thing that Fellow Daoist Qilin 17 was fast enough to escape the brunt of the retaliation from the Golden Peak Lightning Array after he was expelled by the spatial array. Otherwise, his injuries would''ve most likely been far more severe," Han Li said as he took a nce at Qilin 17, and a grim look appeared on thetter''s face upon hearing this.
"It seems like whoever''s in this valley is doing something extremely important, and they''re trying to keep out all possible distractions. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have set up such a strange array here. With this array in ce, not only is it difficult for outsiders to enter the valley, leaving the valley for those inside won''t be a simple matter, either," Han Li mused.
After a brief silence, a cold look appeared in Qilin 9''s eyes as he said, "If we can''t sneak in in secret, then the only way to proceed would be to destroy the cores of the array and enter by force."
"Hold on a second, I have a method that could perhaps work," Han Li suddenly said.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist," Qilin 9 prompted.
"I just so happen to know a lightning array technique thatbines the power of lightning with the power of space to achieve instantaneous teleportation. This array is also a fusion of the same two types of power, so as long as I can control the fluctuations of my array to the same level as those of this array, perhaps we''ll be able to pass through it," Han Li exined.
"What would you say is the probability of this method seeding?" Qilin 9 asked.
"The lightning array technique is not easy to control, so I''d say the chances of sess are only around 50%," Han Li replied after some brief thought.
"Only 50%? So you''re saying that there''s a 50% chance that we''lle under retaliation from this lightning array?" Qilin 17 asked, clearly feeling rather hesitant.
After a moment of contemtion, Qilin 9 decided, "We''ll go with Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15''s method.Even if it fails, I''ll keep the attacks from the lightning array at bay, and after that, we''ll just have to force our way through the array after that."
Qilin 17 nodded in response after hearing this.
After the trio decided on a n, Han Li arrived at the entrance of the valley, then closed his eyes as he released his spiritual sense, carefully sensing the spiritual power fluctuations from the array at the entrance of the valley.
A long whileter, his eyes suddenly sprang open, and arcs of silver lightning appeared all over his body.
Immediately thereafter came a rumbling thunderp, and the arcs of silver lightning sprang forth before intertwining with one another in mid-air to form a lightning array with a diameter in excess of 100 feet, epassing both Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 as well.
"Pleasee a little closer to me, fellow daoists," Han Li said.
A peculiar look shed through Qilin 9''s eyes as he took a couple of steps closer to Han Li, and Qilin 17 also did the same.
In the next instant, Han Li brought his palms together in front of himself, and the lightning array around the trio instantly shrank down to only around 10 feet in size, while the arcs of lightning that were springing forth from the array were also significantlypressed.
Immediately thereafter, the lightning array around Han Li''s trio vanished from the spot in the blink of an eye.
Almost at the exact same moment, several dozen thin bolts of golden lightning erupted from the invisible light barrier at the entrance of the valley, only to then instantly vanish without a trace as if nothing had ever happened.
Inside the valley, a vast expanse of silver lightning suddenly appeared high up in the sky, and Han Li''s trio could be seen within the silver lightning, hurtling toward a nearby ck cliff in an uncontrolled manner.
Han Li hurriedly withdrew his lightning as he tapped a foot against the cliff tounch himself backward, and he performed a somersault before drifting down onto the ground.
Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 were also able to stabilize themselves before making smooth descents.
Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief as he said, "The spatial power within this array is even more potent than I imagined, and I almost lost control of my lightning array."
"That''s fine, all that matters is that we were able to sessfully enter the valley," Qilin 9 said with a wave of his hand.
Han Li swept his gaze across his surroundings to find that the entire valley was riddled with scattered rocks, and there wasn''t any snow to be seen. The only thing that was worthy of note was a building constructed from piled-up rocks at the center of the valley.
What was rather surprising to him was that the world''s origin qi within the valley was extremely abundant, far more so than even most of the areas in the Bell Toll Mountain Range. Furthermore, there was smoke rising up from the top of the ck stone hall, forming a cloud that was giving off five-colored light.
Han Li''s trio exchanged a nce with one another before rising up into the air in unison and flying toward the stone hall.
At this moment, the stone hall was filled with scorching fire, and waves of heat were surging incessantly out of the skylight on top of the hall.
At the center of the hall was a golden pill cauldron that was around three feet tall, and it was hovering in mid-air.
An octagonal array had been engraved onto the ground below the pill cauldron, and the entire array was filled with countless fiery runes. Eight fiery dragons were extending out of these runes, carrying the golden pill cauldron and keeping it aloft.
Sweltering mes were surging incessantly out of the bodies and mouths of the fiery dragons, releasing tremendous heat upon the pill cauldron.
The ancient runes engraved onto the golden pill cauldron were shing incessantly, serving topletely seal in the fragrances of the spirit medicines inside, as well as to constantly draw the surrounding world''s origin qi into the cauldron.
Outside the fiery array was a white-haired elderly man wearing a purplish-golden robe and a lotus flower crown. At the moment, he was making a hand seal while controlling the eight fiery dragons beneath the pill cauldron.
The elderly man had a gaunt face with high cheekbones and deep-set eyes, which were staring intently at the pill cauldron before him. There was a fanatical gleam within his eyes, and he seemed to have beenpletely immersed in what he was doing, as if to him, the pill cauldron was the only thing that existed in this world.
All of a sudden, the shing runes on the pill cauldron suddenly began to glow with dazzling radiance.
Almost at the exact same moment, the golden light radiating from the pill cauldron itself also turned into abination of five different colors, and it seemed that some type of important change was taking ce.
The look of excitement on the elderly man''s face became even more pronounced upon seeing this, and he was constantly murmuring to himself, "Here ites, here ites..."
Right at this moment, two beams of golden light pierced through the sealed stone door of the stone hall.
A pair of loud ngs then rang out as the heavy stone door was split up into four chunks before falling into the hall.
Chapter 246: Nascent Incinerating Blood Pill
Chapter 246: Nascent Incinerating Blood Pill
The white-haired elderly man immediately turned to discover three masked figures standing at the entrance of the stone hall.
They were led by a deer-masked figure that was holding a golden longsword, which was giving off dazzling golden light.
"Who are you?" the white-haired elderly man questioned with a cold expression.
Qilin 9 offered no response, merely shing his golden longsword through the air with a cold smile on his face.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as a streak of golden swordlight erupted out of the sword, sweeping directly toward the white-haired elderly man.
Instead of taking evasive measures, the elderly man threw himself in front of the pill cauldron without any hesitation.
He then swept a sleeve through the air to release a purplish-golden lightning serpent that was around 10 feet in length, which shed against the golden swordlight with a rumbling thunderp.
The purplish-golden lightning serpent instantly exploded into countless tiny arcs of lightning that sprang forth in all directions, while the golden swordlight was also destroyed, split up into countless tiny fragments that flew through the surrounding air.
A string of loud booms rang out incessantly as countless chunks of rock flew in all directions, and the entire stone hall was instantly destroyed.
Before the dust settled, another streak of swordlight arrived, and this time, it was Han Li who had sprung into action.
He was holding a silver flying sword, and heunched himself up into the air before shing the sword directly down upon the white-haired elderly man.
This flying sword was something that he had obtained during a Transient Guild mission, and it was a treasure that had been forged with Gctic Astral Silver as its main material. Of course, it couldn''t even begin topare with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, but given his suspicions that Qilin 9 could be Xiong Shan, it was naturally a good idea to keep his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords hidden.
Furthermore, he possessed the lowest cultivation base out of the trio, so he didn''t want to disy too much power.
He had already made a contribution by getting the three of them into the valley, so the Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 couldn''t really say anything even if he were to hold back a little here.
The silver flying sword began to radiate dazzling light as it released hundreds of silver sword projections, forming a massive silver waterfall that came cascading down upon the white-haired elderly man.
The elderly man let loose a low roar as he raised a hand before spreading his fingers open, and a thumb-sized bead that he was holding in his hand instantly swelled to countless times its original size, transforming into a golden shield that positioned itself above his head.
At the same time, a purplish-golden whip appeared in his other hand, using which heshed out violently to his left.
A string of loud ngs rang out incessantly from the golden shield overhead, and golden light shed incessantly as a dense web of cracks appeared on its surface, but it was able to just barely keep all of the oing sword projections at bay.
On the other side, a loud thunderp rang out from the elderly man''s lightning whip, and a pair of formidable purplish-golden lightning serpents sprang forth toward Qilin 9, keeping him at bay as well.
Right at this moment, a burst of spatial fluctuations suddenly emerged above the elderly man''s head, and Qilin 17 appeared in a wraith-like manner, holding a ck spear with both hands, which he plunged down toward the elderly man from above.
All of a sudden, the scorching me beneath the five-colored cauldron began to churn violently, and a fiery dragon abruptly sprang out from within before pouncing toward Qilin 17, bringing with it a scorching wave of heat.
Qilin 17 immediately adjusted the course of his attack, sweeping his spear through the air instead of continuing to plunge it down directly from above. In doing so, he conjured up a vast expanse of ck spear projections that swept toward the fiery dragon.
The spear projections and the fiery dragon exploded in unison upon contact, resulting in a blinding eruption of crimson and ck light.
This appeared to have been quite a lengthy process, but in reality, all of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye.
The white-haired elderly man had withstood the attacks from Han Li''s trio head-on without taking even a single step backward, and he was still resolutely defending the pill cauldron behind him.
Qilin 17 sprang back and descended onto the ground several thousand feet away, having avoided the shockwaves from the explosion that had just taken ce, and a cold smile appeared on his face as he flipped his ck spear around in an elegant manner before plunging its tip straight into the ground.
The white-haired elderly man held his lightning whip in one hand while his other hand was sped behind his back, and there was a wary look in his eyes as he inspected the trio before him.
He had already stowed away the golden shield that had been severely damaged by Han Li''s sword projections, and his spare hand was concealed up his sleeve, holding onto a a golden talisman that had slid discreetly into his grasp.
Han Li''s gaze was fixed intently on the elderly man, and as soon as thetter opened his mouth, Han Li immediatelyshed out once again, shing his silver longsword through the air to release another barrage of several hundred silver sword projections that hurtled directly toward the elderly man.
After flying several hundred feet through the air, all of the sword projections abruptly split up into countless tiny streaks of sword qi that epassed the white-haired elderly man''s entire body from all directions.
The elderly man could only cease his chanting for now as he retaliated with his lightning whip.
A burst of purplish-golden lightning erupted from the lightning whip, apanied by a draconic roar. Immediately thereafter, the purplish-golden lightning swelled drastically in size, transforming into purplish-golden lightning dragon that was several thousand feet in length, whipping its tail violently through the air as it twisted and thrashed from side to side.
A string of rumbling thunderps rang out as all of the sword qi hurtling toward the purplish-golden lightning dragon was eradicated.
Arge chunk of the lightning on the surface of the purplish-golden dragon had also been exhausted, but the elderly man immediately made a string of hand seals, and the purplish-golden lightning dragon was instantly restored to the peak of its powers as it pounced viciously at Han Li.
Han Li feigned a panicked expression as he shot back in retreat, and right at this moment, a streak of golden swordlight that was over 1,000 feet in length came crashing down with unstoppable force, imbued with a burst of peerlessly sharp metal-attributew powers.
The sword qi erupting from the streak of sword light split all of the clouds in the sky apart, forming a massive rift.
The wielder of the sword was naturally none other than Qilin 9, and at this moment, he was hovering high up in the sky, basked in ayer of golden light. Furthermore, his entire body was giving off an indescribably sharp aura, as if he were the embodiment of a peerlessly sharp sword.
Han Li continued to fly back in retreat while looking up at Qilin 9, and at this moment, it was confirmed to him beyond a reasonable doubt that this person was indeed Xiong Shan.
As the streak of golden swordlight descended from above, the white-haired elderly man raised his hands up into the air with all his might, and the purplish-golden lightning dragon temporarily abandoned its pursuit of Han Li as it flew up to oppose the streak of golden swordlight.
A dull ng rang out, and the purplish-golden lightning dragon was split into two down the middle by the streak of golden swordlight, and it exploded into a vast of purple lightning.
The golden swordlight wasn''t destroyed in the sh, but its power had been significantly diminished, and it was unable to descend any further with the purple lightning standing in its way.
Right as the white-haired elderly man was about to do something else, the ground behind him suddenly shuddered, and a massive rift appeared, immediately following which a ck spear shot out from within before crashing heavily into the pill cauldron.
A resounding ng reverberated throughout the entire stone hall, causing the surrounding space to ripple and quiver.
The pill cauldron was instantly sent flying by the spear strike, hurtling through the air before crashing down onto the ground over 1,000 feet away, onlying to a rest after rolling quite a distance away.
It was unclear what type of material the cauldron was forged from, but its surface remainedpletely unscathed in the face of the attack. However, the five-colored light radiating from it receded after shing a few times, and it reverted back to its original golden color.
It was clear that the elderly man had been prioritizing the safety of the pill cauldron above all else, so Qilin 17 decided that it would be a good idea to destroy the cauldron in order to distract the elderly man, thereby creating an opportunity for Han Li and Qilin 9 to strike. This was why he had plunged his spear into the ground earlier, and his n had worked wlessly.
The elderly man instantly turned around, and as soon as he caught sight of the golden pill cauldron that had fallen onto the ground, a look of heart-wrenching fury and despair instantly appeared as he let loose a guttural roar.
"NO..."
Han Li and the others were quite taken aback by such a vehement reaction, and they were momentarily rooted to the spot.
"You''ve ruined tens of thousands of years of work! All of you must die!"
The resentment in the elderly man''s eyes was bing more and more ferocious, and it was as if he had lost all capacity for rational thought.
He flipped a hand over to produce a dark red pill, which he ced into his own mouth, but instead of swallowing it right away, he gnashed the pill into mush between his teeth before devouring it.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and Qilin 9''s expression suddenly changed drastically as he yelled in rm, "That''s a Nascent Incinerating Blood Pill!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, the elderly man began to chuckle in a harrowing, inhuman voice, and his skin gradually began to darken, quickly turning into a dark red shade that resembled raw pig liver.
At the same time, his sunken eyes began brighter and brighter, and there were even glimmers of golden light shining through.
Qilin 9 rushed back over 1,000 feet in the blink of an eye as he cautioned, "Look out, fellow daoists! He''s just taken a restricted pill that can ignite one''s nascent soul and blood essence in unison to significantly elevate the consumer''s cultivation base for a short time. With the aid of that pill, there''s a chance that he could even reach the Golden Immortal Stage!"
Han Li and Qilin 17 also hurriedly rushed back in retreat upon hearing this.
All of a sudden, a strange sound rang out, and wisps of faint red steam began to rise up from the elderly man''s body, giving him the appearance of a steamed crab.
Immediately thereafter, the elderly man abruptly vanished from the spot amid the sound of rushing wind, and all that was left in his ce was a cloud of red mist that began to slowly drift upward.
In the next instant, a figure suddenly appeared directly in front of Qilin 17 several thousand feet away, and the figure raised a fist beforeshing out at Qilin 17''s face with ferocious power.
Qilin 17 was caughtpletely off guard, and he only had time to raise a hand to shield his own face.
A resounding thump rang out, and Qilin 17 felt as if a mountain had crashed straight into the palm of his hand. His hand wasn''t able to act as much of a buffer at all before it crashed heavily into his masked face, and he was sent flying back like a cannon ball before craashing heavily into a ck cliff over 10,000 feet away.
A resounding boom rang out as the mountain that was tens of thousands of feet tall instantly exploded. Chunks of giant rocks the size of houses flew through the air in all directions as the mountain was instantly toppled.
Chapter 247: Avoiding Direct Confrontation
Chapter 247: Avoiding Direct Confrontation
Before the dust even had a chance to settle, Han Li felt a blur sh before his eyes, and the white-haired elderly man instantly appeared before him, moving at an extraordinary speed.
Han Li immediately reflexively raised his arms, and he only just had enough time to cross them to form a barrier in front of himself before he was sent flying back by a tremendously powerful punch.
Thankfully, he had already conjured up his True Extreme Membrane, as well as ayer of golden scales over his arms, so he was able to ward off the attack better than Qilin 17 did, but even so, he was still sent flying back several thousand feet before managing to steady himself.
Even though the white-haired elderly man had managed to send Han Li flying, he also stumbled back a step himself, and a hint of surprise shed through his eyes.
Immediately thereafter, Qilin 9 came swooping in with his sword, and the elderly man let loose a thunderous roar as heshed out with his fists.
At this point, his skin had already gradually turned from a dark red color into a bright red hue, and the steam that was rising up from his body had also turned a shade of light pink.
Apanying this change was an increase in his speed and power, and with every single punch that he threw, a loud boom would ring out in the air from the sheer force of his blows.
Qilin 9 was shing his golden sword repeatedly through the air, while the white-haired elderly continued to fight with his bare fists, and each punch struck the edge of the golden sword''s de with tremendous force, resulting in a string of deafening booms.
The two of them were constantly changing positions, and the shes between fists and sword sent bursts of invisiblew fluctuations erupting through the air, destroying everything in the surrounding area and even carving out giant craters into the ground.
Qilin 9''s swordsmanship was nothing short of exceptional, but in the face of the ridiculously fast and powerful elderly man, he was struggling to hold his own.
"All of you must die!" the white-haired elderly man roared, and his fists blurred as around a dozen identical fist projections appeared in the air before hurtling toward Qilin 9 with immense power.
Qilin 9 didn''t have any time to think, and he gripped onto the hilt of his sword with both hands as a ball of dazzling light suddenly appeared at the tip of the sword. The ball of light was rapidly bing brighter and brighter, and it swelled to several dozen feet in size before flying through the air and exploding violently.
Countless streaks of golden sword qi were sent sweeping through the air, crashing into the oing fist projections to produce a string of sharp metallic screeching noises.
However, to Qilin 9''s surprise, almost all of the streaks of sword qi were instantly destroyed, but the fist projections weren''tpletely eradicated.
Immediately thereafter, a vast expanse of golden light emerged from his body to form a protective barrier in front of him.
Right at this moment, a slightly disheveled Qilin 17 abruptly flew out of a nearby giant crater, and with a flick of his wrist, a yellow rope flew out of his sleeve.
The length of rope was writhing around in mid-air like a spirit snake, and it formed seven or eight loops in the blink of an eye before flying toward the white-haired elderly man.
A string of resounding booms rang out, and the golden light around Qilin 9 shuddered violently as he was sent flying back through the air. The white-haired elderly man was about to charge forward and press his advantage, but he was caught in the loops of the yellow rope, which instantly constricted topletely bind him.
Qilin 17 was holding onto one end of the rope with one hand, and with a forceful wrenching motion, the elderly man was forcibly dragged toward him.
At the same time, Han Li popped up out of nowhere with his silver longsword raised, and he pierced the tip of the sword directly toward the elderly man''s head.
Golden light shed within the elderly man''s eyes as a burst of muffled chanting rang out from within his mouth.
In the next instant, bright crimson light erupted all over his entire body, and the skin and flesh on his arms split open to reveal the bones underneath, which were still covered in ayer of pink fascia, and he was able to slice through the yellow rope with his bones to free himself as if they were sharp des.
Immediately thereafter, he raised an arm and swept his de-like bones toward the nearby Han Li.
The tip of Han Li''s silver longsword struck the elderly man''s bones to produce an extremely unpleasant screeching sound.
Han Li felt a burst of tremendous force surging toward him, and he immediately made the decision not to fight fire with fire, allowing himself to be sent flying back instead.
Even though the white-haired elderly man had lost some of his capacity for rational thought, he was still rather taken aback to see Han Li being blown back so easily. However, a thought then seemed to have urred to him, and he abruptly turned around before pouncing at Qilin 17, who was still holding one end of the yellow rope.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared directly behind Qilin 17, then plunged the de-like bones of his arms through severalyers of protective light barriers with ease before piercing straight through Qilin 17''s chest, creating a gaping hole that blood instantly began to gush out of.
Qilin 17''s entire body arched back violently as a huge mouthful of blood gushed out from beneath his mask, but immediately thereafter, a burst of white light erupted from his waist, sending his entire body plummeting rapidly downward before mming violently into the ground.
The white light then faded to reveal Qilin 17ying on the ground in apletely still manner, and it was unclear whether he was dead or alive.
The white-haired elderly man cackled in a harrowing voice, and he paid no further heed to Qilin 17 as he turned a cold gaze to Han Li, who had already retreated to several thousand feet away.
Meanwhile, Han Li was watching the unfolding scene with a grim expression.
The elderly man appeared to have been quite a powerful Profound Immortal, and after devouring that Nascent Incinerating Blood Pill, his powers had been enhanced to an extreme degree. If Han Li had chosen to fight fire with fire just now, he would''ve most likely sustained severe injuries.
At this point, the elderly man''s eyes had already turnedpletely golden in color, and there was no longer even the slightest hint of rationality within them.
This was a Profound Immortal who possessed power close to the Golden Immortal Stage and had lost all capacity for rational thought. It was no wonder that Qilin 17 was no match for him.
All of a sudden, the elderly man vanished from the spot in a sh.
Han Li didn''t hesitate in the slightest as he shot back in retreat while ayer of golden scales appeared over both of his arms, and he raised a fist before throwing a punch directly forward.
A resounding boom rang out as his fist shed violently with that of the white-haired elderly man, who had suddenly appeared in front of him.
A burst of invisible shockwaves instantly erupted forth in all directions like an almighty wave, causing the surrounding space to shudder violently while loose rocks were sent flying in all directions.
Han Li felt a burst of tremendous force surging toward him, and he was sent flying back several thousand feet, onlying to a rest after crashing into a pulverizing a ck cliff face behind him.
The white-haired elderly man was also sent flying back, but only for about 2,000 to 3,000 feet before he managed to steady himself.
"I didn''t think you were also a Profound Immortal, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15. Having said that, do not oppose him directly. Instead, I''ll set up an array to trap him, and you can lure him in once it''s ready. At this point, he''s already lost his sanity, so once the blood essence and nascent soul in his body is incinerated to nothingness, he''ll drop dead on his own," Qilin 9 called out to Han Li as he hovered high up in the air.
Han Li took a moment to catch his breath, then replied, "Try to set up the array as soon as possible, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9. I can''t guarantee that I''ll be able to keep him upied for long."
After that, he sprang up into the air before hurling the longsword in his hand forward.
The silver longsword flew through the air as it began to radiate dazzling silver light, and a circle of dense sword projections appeared around it, resembling a lotus flower that was blooming in mid-air.
Han Li then began to chant an incantation while pointing a finger downward, and a rapid string of silver sword projections instantly came raining down from above,pletely inundating the white-haired elderly man that had only just emerged from a cliff face.
A string of rumbling booms rang out incessantly within the valley as dust and rock fragments flew in all directions, quickly concealing the elderly man''s body.
All of a sudden, an animalistic roar rang out, and the white-haired elderly man sprang out of the cloud of dust.
All of the skin on his entire body was riddled with crimson cracks, while his long white hair, which had previously been bound up in a tight bun, was now dancing wildly around him in the wind, giving him the appearance of a ferocious devilish creature.
His arms were crossed to form a barrier to protect his face, and he plowed his way straight through the barrage of silver sword projections before crashing into the silver sword lotus flower.
The silver sword lotus flower instantly exploded into a flurry of silver sword projections that erupted froth in all directions, and the silver longsword that was situated at its center was also snapped into two.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and the muscles on his scaled arms bulged as heshed out with his fists.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the valley, Qilin 9 was holding a golden staff that was around the same thickness as a grown man''s arm, and he quickly strode over to a rock before plunging the staff forcefully downward.
There were countless runes engraved over the entire staff, which was around 30 feet in length, and around two-thirds of it was plunged into the earth, leaving only around the top 10 feet left exposed above the ground.
Qilin 9 took a nce at his surroundings to find that a circr array formed by golden staves had already taken shape, and there were two openings in the array, one to the east and one to the west.
"The array is ready, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15!" Qilin 9 yelled as he turned to Han Li.
Han Li immediately twisted around before flying toward the array, and havingpletely lost all sanity, the white-haired elderly man pounced after Han Li without any hesitation, hurtling through the air at an even higher speed than Han Li''s.
Han Li had only just reached the edge of the array when the white-haired elderly man caught up to him, and thetter instantly plunged the bone de on the outer edge of his arm straight at the back of Han Li''s chest.
Right at this moment, a sharp screeching sound rang out as a golden longsword shot otu of Han Li''s body, shing with the elderly man''s bone de to raise a flurry of golden sparks.
The elderly man was stopped cold in his tracks, situated directly above the array.
At the same time, Qilin 9 hurled a golden staff at Han Li with a flick of his wrist as he yelled, "Catch!"
Han Li instantly swooped down to catch the golden staff, then turned and plunged it straight into the ground where one of the openings of the array was situated, and almost at the exact same moment, Qilin 9 plunged another staff into the ground at the other opening.
A faint buzzing sound rang out as a burst of invisible fluctuations rose up within the array, and all of the runes on the golden staves began to radiate dazzling golden light. A series of shimmering golden chains then rose up from the ground before binding themselves tightly around the white-haired elderly man.
White mist was rising up from the white-haired elderly man''s entire body, and he began to struggle and thrash violently in mid-air.
The dozen or so golden staves that were known as Dragon Locking Staves began to sway unsteadily in the face of the white-haired elderly man''s tremendous power, resembling saplings in a ferocious storm that could snap at any moment, but they were somehow just barely able to hold on.
Chapter 248: Final Blow
Chapter 248: Final Blow
Han Li heaved a slight sigh of relief upon seeing this, then turned to Qilin 9 as he asked, "Fellow Daoist Qilin 9, how much longer do you think he''ll be able tost?"
"His blood essence has already been incinerated from his organs to his flesh, and from his bones to his skin, so he should be apletely spent force soon. All we need to do is wait another 15 minutes," Qilin 9 replied.
Right at this moment, Qilin 17, who had beenying still on the ground this entire time, suddenly spasmed a few times before getting up into a seated position, seemingly with great difficulty.
The bright red flesh around the hole in his chest was slowly squirming as it fused back together, and only after the hole waspletely sealed did he heave a long sigh of relief with a look of lingering fear in his eyes.
"That was way too close! I almost died here..."
Han Li and Qilin 9 exchanged a nce, and both of them could see their own derision mirrored in one another''s eyes, but neither of them bothered to say anything. After all, the mission was going to be over soon, so they wouldn''t have to put up with Qilin 17 for much longer.
Qilin 17 naturally noticed this brief interaction, and he had no intention of immediately joining Han Li and Qilin 9. Instead, he flew over to the rubble that was once the stone hall, then began to search through the wreckage.
With a sweep of his sleeve, a section of loose rocks was swept aside to reveal the pill cauldron down below, and he crouched down to pick it up.
"Don''t you dare!"
The white-haired elderly man who was trapped in the array seemed to have spotted Qilin 17, and he threw his head back before letting loose a thunderous roar.
The octagonal array on the ground that had been snuffed out earlier abruptly lit up once again, and scorching mes erupted forth to form eight fiery dragons that flew directly toward the white-haired elderly man.
Han Li''s trio was greatly rmed by this sudden turn of events, and they hurriedly tried to intercept the fiery dragons, but it was already toote.
The eight fiery dragons surged straight into the elderly man''s abdomen before vanishing into his body.
The crimson coloration of his body instantly became even more pronounced, and it was as if there were moltenva flowing within the cracks on his body, giving him an extremely terrifying appearance.
Most importantly, his aura had swelled drastically once again, and he had broken through to the Golden Immortal Stage.
He reached out with both hands to grab onto the golden chains around him, then tugged on them forcefully, and all of the surrounding Dragon Locking Staves were instantly uprooted before being swung at Han Li and Qilin 9.
The two of them naturally didn''t dare to fight fire with fire, and they hurriedly flew back in retreat.
In just a single stride, the white-haired elderly man was able to reach Qilin 17 before throwing a punch directly at his head.
The speed disyed in that single stride had been downright ridiculous, and it was as if the space between him and Qilin 17 had beenpressed. There was no time for Qilin 17 to take evasive measures, so he could only raise both hands to summon a glowing yellow g to protect himself, while a white light barrier also surfaced over his body.
The yellow g was clearly no ordinary treasure, and there was an image of the almighty beast Baxia with a stone monument on its back emzoned upon it. The Baxia was so life-like that it was as if it could spring out of the g at any moment, and it was giving off an extremely powerful earth-attribute aura.
As soon as the g was unfurled, it was struck by the white-haired elderly man''s fist, and all of the surrounding space in a radius of over 100 feet copsed violently.
However, despite the fact that the g appeared to have next to no structural integrity, it merely rippled incessantly in the face of the white-haired elderly man''s fist, but wasn''t instantly torn apart.
However, it was only able tost a brief moment before the Baxia image emzoned upon it crumbled away, immediately following which the entire g was torn to shreds.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Qilin 17 rolled to the side to take evasive measures, but he was still struck by the residual shockwaves from the blow, and the white light barrier around his body was instantly shattered, while he was sent flying through the air with blood gushing out of his mouth.
The white-haired elderly man didn''t skip a beat as he caught up to Qilin 17 in an instant before throwing another punch at his head.
All of this had taken ce so fast that even if Han Li and Qilin 9 wanted to save him, they simply wouldn''t have been in time to do so.
Qilin 17 was cursing his own impatience, thinking to himself that he should''ve yed dead for a while longer instead of being in such a hurry to secure the pill cauldron.
In a state of panic, he swiveled around and grabbed onto the ears of the golden pill cauldron, then raised it up high in front of him as a shield.
The white-haired elderly man''s fist came hurtling through the air, yet right as it was about to strike the pill cauldron, a hint of reluctance appeared in his golden eyes, and he stopped his own fist dead in its tracks.
Qilin 17''s eyes were tightly shut, and his entire body was drenched in cold sweat. He thought that his fate was sealed, but to his surprise, the final blow didn''te.
He carefully opened his eyes to find that the white-haired elderly man''s entire body waspletely wrecked, and he was standing in apletely motionless manner with his fist still outstretched in front of him.
There were still some specks of crimson light glowing within the cracks on his body, resembling the dying embers of a me, but it was clear that his body was alreadypletely devoid of life.
Han Li strode over to the elderly man''s remains, and a myriad of emotions welled up in his heart.
It was unclear whether the elderly man had failed to deliver the final blow as he had exhausted all of his blood essence and nascent soul, or because he was unwilling to smash his prized pill cauldron.
Right as Han Li''s trio heaved a collective sigh of relief, a glimmer of barely detectable golden light suddenly appeared in the white-haired elderly man''s lifeless eyes, as if there were still a final hint of vitality in his body.
A sense of foreboding immediately welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this, but before he could do anything, an azure talisman suddenly flew out of the white-haired elderly man''s sleeve.
With the emergence of that talisman, the final glimmer of golden light in his eyespletely faded, while the talisman flew through the air as a streak of azure light, instantly covering a distance of several thousand feet, immediately following which it began to release a flurry fo countless tiny golden runes in a frenzy.
It was a talisman that had been entirely inscribed using golden seal text, and in the next instant, all of the runes began to release countless rays of dazzling azure light.
All of the azure light converged in mid-air to form a sea of azure light that was blindingly bright, and a rumbling thunderp rang out in the air, following which the sky above the valley was instantly concealed behind a dense nket of dark clouds.
It was as if the entire world had been plunged into darkness with the exception of this sea of azure light.
All of the world''s origin qi within a radius of thousand of kilometers converged toward the valley from all directions before fusing into the sea of azure light, causing it to churn violently like a turbulent wave.
Faint threads of azure light emerged from the center of the sea of light, then intertwined to form an azure figure d in a suit of armor with a solemn look on his face.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and as soon as the azure figure appeared, he immediately took a nce at the remains of the white-haired elderly man down below beforeshing out with an enraged expression.
A burst of azure light emerged from the palm of his hand, then split up into three thin azure threads that hurtled toward Han Li''s trio at an incredible speed.
The space in the wake of the azure threads instantly became twisted and warped, and countless specks of azure light converged from all directions from all of the vegetation within the entire valley. With the emergence of these specks of azure light, all of the surrounding nts instantly wilted away.
The countless specks of azure light gathered around the three azure threads, which instantly transformed into three balls of azure light, each of which was around a foot in size. Countless azure runes were dancing on the surfaces of these balls of light, and they were giving off incredibly destructivew fluctuations.
All of the space in the wake of the balls of azure light trembled and warped violently, and numerous white spatial rifts appeared, releasing astonishing suction force that threatened to copse the entire space.
Han Li immediately shot back in retreat, only for the ball of azure light to elerate even further and catch up to him in a sh before crashing down with tremendous force.
Han Li was quite rmed, but remainedposed, and he conjured up his True Extreme Membrane while raising both hands to summon his Heavy Water True Axis, which instantly swelled to several dozen times its original size, forming a massive shield before him.
The azure ball of light crashed into the Heavy Water True Axis with an earth-shattering boom, and Han Li felt his entire body being jolted by a burst of devastating, sending both him and the Heavy Water True Axis flying back for over 10,000 feet before he just barely managed to steady himself.
Having been fed so much heavy water by Han Li over the years, the Heavy Water True Axis had be as heavy as several mountainsbined, and it had also been imbued with a great deal of waterw powers, making it no lesser in power than a decent Acquired Immortal Treasure.
The ball of azure light had sent Han Li flying, but it had also disintegrated into countless specks of azure light itself.
Even so, Han Li was still stunned by the power of the ball of azure light, which far exceeded that of the attacks unleashed by thete-True Immortal cultivators that he hade across in the past.
He turned his gaze to the Heavy Water True Axis in front of him, and much to his dismay, he discovered that a faint mark had appeared on its surface, indicating that spiritual nature seemed to have been harmed.
Han Li hurriedly injected his immortal spiritual power into the Heavy Water True Axis, and the Water Dao Rune on its surface shed momentarily as the mark on the axis quickly vanished.
Only then did he allow himself to heave a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 had also been sent flying, but they possessed superior cultivation bases to Han Li, and thanks to their treasures, they were also able to withstand the blows from the balls of azure light without much trouble.
Qilin 17 had summoned a turtle-shell-shaped shield with an extremely life-like demon beast that had the head of a dragon and the body of a turtle engraved onto its surface. The shield was shing with spiritual light, and it appeared to have been quite a remarkable treasure.
However, a clear mark had been inflicted onto the shield, much to Qilin 17''s anguish and chagrin.
As for Qilin 9, the golden flying sword in his hand had already disappeared, and instead, there was a golden millstone hovering in front of him. The millstone''s surface was riddled with countless tiny golden runes, and had an extremely heavy and sturdy appearance.
A hint of surprise appeared on his face as he caught sight of Han Li''s Heavy Water True Axis, but he then immediatelyposed himself and withdrew his gaze as if he hadn''t noticed anything.
The change in Qilin 9''s expression had onlysted an instant, but it hadn''t managed to escape Han Li''s notice.
Judging from Qilin 9''s reaction, Han Li couldn''t help but wonder if he had seen this Heavy Water True Axis before.
With that in mind, Han Li unconsciously became even more wary of Qilin 9.
Chapter 249: Making an Enemy Out of the Immortal Palace
Chapter 249: Making an Enemy Out of the Immortal Pce
After the azure figure forced back Han Li''s trio, he didn''t press his advantage. Instead, he descended beside the body of the white-haired elderly man, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that enveloped the lifeless body, seemingly trying to save him.
However, the white-haired elderly man''s soul had already beenpletely destroyed, leaving only a spent husk behind, and he was as dead as dead could be.
The azure figure turned to Han Li''s trio with a look of thunderous rage on his face as he roared, "How dare you Transient Guild bastardse after members of our Immortal Pce!"
Han Li''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to Qilin 9 as he asked, "What''s going on here, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9?"
Qilin 17 also turned to Qilin 9 with an usatory look on his face.
"Please don''t misunderstand, fellow daoists, I wasn''t aware of this, either, and I can assure you that I didn''t try to intentionally deceive you. The person who released the mission never revealed the identity of our target to me," Qilin 9 said with a sullen look on his face.
Han Li carefully observed Qilin 9''s expression, and after determining that he didn''t seem to have been lying, he immediately withdrew his gaze as he contemted how to proceed.
In the face of such a formidable foe, he couldn''t afford to panic.
Right at this moment, the azure figure made a hand seal, and bright azure light surfaced over his body alongside a series of azure patterns.
All of the specks of azure light that were the scattered remains of the three balls of azure light instantly converged toward him in a frenzy before surging into the azure patterns on his skin, causing him to swell drastically in stature to over 1,000 feet feet tall in the blink of an eye.
Han Li''s trio immediately swept their spiritual sense over the azure-armored giant before them, and all three of them were extremely rmed by what they detected.
The aura that the giant was giving off wasn''t inferior in the slightestpared with that of the elderly man after he had consumed the Nascent Incinerating Blood Pill. In fact, the giant''s aura was slightly more powerful inparison, and the hearts of Han Li''s trio immediately sank upon detecting this.
"This is Spiritual Origin Restoration! Look out, fellow daoists, we''re dealing with an avatar of a Golden Immortal!" Qilin 9 eximed.
Han Li already suspected this to be the case, but he was still quite rmed to have had his suspicions confirmed.
Having already been a member of the ze Dragon Dao for many years, he had umted a great deal of knowledge, and he had learned that one of the most prominent abilities of a Golden Immortal was Spiritual Origin Restoration.
Golden Immortals possessed far superior control over immortal spiritual power than True Immortals, and they were able to recover their spiritual power that was scattered during the course of battle, thereby significantly reducing their immortal spiritual power expenditure.
Judging from the powers that the azure figure had disyed thus far, he was clearly a Golden Immortal who had mastered some type of wood-attributews, allowing him to draw upon the wood-attribute spiritual qi in the surrounding area to unleash his attacks. If they were powerless to stop him from recycling his immortal spiritual power over and over again, then they would be in a world of trouble.
Right as these thoughts were running through their minds, the azure-armored giant pounced forward at an extraordinary speed despite its enormous frame, reaching Han Li''s trio in the blink of an eye before mming a giant fist straight down upon Qilin 9.
A burst of invisible fluctuations erupted forth amid a rumbling boom, and immensely powerfulw fluctuations swept through the surrounding area like gusts of ferocious wind.
Instead of flying back in retreat, Qilin 9 made a hand seal, and the golden millstone in front of him began to glow brightly as it instantly swelled to the size of a small mountain, revolving rapidly as it rose up to meet the azure-armored giant''s fist.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, apanied by an explosion of golden and azure light, and the golden millstone was sent flying, as was Qilin 9.
However, the golden millstone was also quite a powerful treasure, and the repulsion force from the sh forced the azure-armored giant back a few steps, while the azure light radiating from hi fist also dimmed slightly. However, the azure patterns on his arm lit up once again, and all of the scattered azure light began to surge back to him.
Before he had a chance to fully recover, Han Li and Qilin 17 abruptly appeared on either side of the azure-armored giant.
Han Li''s Heavy Water True Axis expanded even further at his behest, swelling to the size of a house, and it began to revolve rapidly while giving off tremendousw power fluctuations.
Immediately thereafter, the Heavy Water True Axis came crashing down toward the azure-armored giant as a streak of ck light.
Meanwhile, Qilin 17 was making a series of hand seals before summoning a square seal that was giving off an earthy yellow glow. A yellow dragon was coiled on top of the seal, giving it hte appearance of an imperial jade seal from a mortal empire.
Qilin 17 quickly chanted an incantation before pressing his palm forward, and the yellow seal instantly swelled to countless times its original size.
A giant yellow dragon projection also emerged within the blinding yellow light around it, and it came crashing down upon the azure-armored giant.
Thanks to their earlier battle against the white-haired elderly man, the three of them had developed a decent amount of chemistry.
The azure-armored giant remainedpletely unfazed as he reached out with both hands, grabbing toward both the Heavy Water True Axis and the giant yellow seal.
Bright azure light radiated from his hands as countless azure runes surged forth in a frenzy, forming around a dozenyers of azure ripples that shed against the opposing treasures.
A string of loud cracks rang out as the giant yellow seal broke through severalyers of azure ripples in session, but these azure ripples were extremely resolute, and with eachyer that was breached, the seal would noticeably slow down.
Finally, after breaking through eightyers of ripples, the momentum of the giant yellow seal waspletely exhausted, and it was stopped in its tracks before being caught in the grasp of the azure-armored giant.
At the same time, Han Li''s Heavy Water True Axis was also shing against the azure ripples, and a string of loud cracks rang out in session as all of theyers of azure ripples were torn apart by the Heavy Water True Axis with ease.
The axis wasn''t even slowed own in the slightest as it continued to forge ahead, and the azure-armored giant seemed to have been rather taken aback to see this as it clenched its palm into a tight fist, while the azure patterns on the surface of his hand began to glow.
All of the destroyedyers of azure ripples were instantly drawn back into the azure fist, giving it a more substantial form and lending it more power as it wasunched through the air.
Han Li let loose a loud roar, and his face suddenly turned bright red as he made a rapid string of hand seals.
The Water Dao Rune on the Heavy Water True Axis instantly lit up with dazzling radiance, and a row of incredibly bright water des emerged on the edge of the axis. The Heavy Water True Axis rapidly revolved as it shed against the giant azure fist, and a resounding boom rang out as the azure fist, which was still yet to fully recover, was split into two.
The Heavy Water True Axis continued to rapidly revolve as it sliced all the way up the giant''s arm, aiming to split the azure-armored giant''s entire body in half.
The azure-armored giant''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this. It clearly hadn''t anticipated that the Heavy Water True Axis would be so formidable, and it opened its mouth to release a thin, yet blindingly bright azure thread.
The azure thread was giving off powerfulw fluctuations, and it wrapped itself around the Heavy Water True Axis at an incredible speed.
The Heavy Water True Axis was instantly stopped cold in its tracks, and all of the water des on its surface were shattered upon making contact with the azure thread.
The azure-armored giant took advantage of this opportunity to rush back in retreat, but before it could do so, Han Li abruptly switched to a different hand seal, and numerous ck runes appeared on the surface of the Heavy Water True Axis to destroy the azure thread, but were also destroyed themselves in the process.
Immediately thereafter, the axis resumed slicing up the azure-armored giant''s arm, managing to slice its arm off cleanly at the shoulder before it was able to get away. The axis then continued to revolve relentlessly, shredding the severed arm into balls of azure light.
The azure-armored giant came to a rest in the distance, then turned to look at its missing arm with slightly furrowed brows.
"Looks like I may have underestimated you earlier."
The azure-armored giant took a nce at Han Li, and it was clear that it was still furious, but it was also clearly far calmer than before.
Ayer of azure light appeared at the spot where its arm had been severed, and the azure light that the severed arm had disintegrated into instantly surged back into giant''s shoulder, where a new arm emerged, except the azure patterns on this one were dimmer than before.
Han Li made a beckoning motion to draw his Heavy Water True Axis back to him, and his face had turned very pale. It appeared as if he had exerted himself quite severely, and he flipped a hand over to produce an Immortal Origin Stone to replenish his immortal spiritual power.
Using the Heavy Water True Axis had been quite taxing on his immortal spiritual power, but not to such a severe extent. However, he didn''t want to make himself appear excessively powerful in the face of Qilin 9 and Qilin 17.
Qilin was put slightly at ease by the sight of Han Li''sbored disy.
Han Li''s Heavy Water Tru Axis had been astonishingly powerful, but it was clear that using it had also severely depleted Han Li''s immortal spiritual power reserves, and that was quite reassuring to Qilin 9.
As for Qilin 17, he wasn''t paying much attention to Han Li. Instead, he was making a string of hand seals in an attempt to recover the giant yellow seal that was still locked firmly in the grip of the azure-armored giant''s other hand.
Yellow light was shing urgently from the seal, but no matter how much it struggled, it was unable to break free.
After taking a moment topose himself, Qilin 9 turned to the azure-armored giant and said, "May I ask which Golden Immortal Stage senior of the Northern cial Immortal Region you are? We only came here to carry out a mission, and we have no intention of making an enemy out of the Northern cial Immortal Region. Could it be that there''s been some type of misunderstanding?"
From the series of shes that had just taken ce, he was able to determine that even though the azure-armored giant was a Golden Immortal avatar, it didn''t possess the power of a Golden Immortal. Instead, at the very most, it was only at the pinnacle of the True Immortal Stage. Otherwise, the three of them wouldn''t have had any chances.
The azure-armored giant offered no response as it opened its mouth to release a ball of azure light that contained countless dancing azure runes, and the ball of light instantly vanished into the giant yellow seal in its grasp.
Light shed erratically on the surface of the sea, and it was instantly enveloped in ayer of faint azure light.
Qilin 17''s expression changed drastically as he discovered that his mark in the seal had been erased. His spiritual connection with the seal had instantly vanished, meaning that the treasure no longer belonged to him.
"How dare you!"
Qilin 17 was furious, and he immediately pounced forward.
The seal was an extremely important treasure to him that was virtually equivalent to his bonded treasure, and having it taken away was no less severe a loss than having an arm severed.
Qilin 9 wanted to stop him, but it was already toote.
Qilin 17 swept a sleeve through the air to release five yellow beads, which transformed into five earthy yellow mountains in the blink of an eye, each of which was around 1,000 feet in size.
The five mountains then instantly fused into a single giant mountain that was over 10,000 feet tall, and it was giving off dazzling yellow radiance while countless yellow runes had appeared on its surface.
A burst of extremely heavyw fluctuations erupted out of the enormous mountain, and everything with a radius of several hundred kilometers instantly became countless times heavier than before.
He''s mastered thews of gravity!
Han Li''s body also sank downward, but this amount of gravitational force was simple for him to withstand, and he immediately recovered as ayer of azure light shed over his body.
The light radiating from the giant mountain grew even brighter as it came crashing down upon the azure-armored giant while releasing an incredibly destructive aura.
Han Li and Qilin 9 exchanged a nce before pouncing forward in unison.
Just like before, the two of them split up to nk the azure-armored giant from either side, and the Heavy Water True Axis and the golden millstone were giving off dazzling light as they hurtled toward the azure-armored giant.
At this point, negotiation was clearly no longer an option, so all they could do was fight.
Chapter 250: Falling Into Dire Straits
Chapter 250: Falling Into Dire Straits
The azure-armored giant remainedpletely unfazed by the sight of the oing trio.
It began to chant an incantation as it swept a hand through the air, and the giant seal in its hand was hurled through the air, flying toward the enormous mountain as it swelled to close to 100 times its original size in a sh.
A resounding boom rang out as the giant seal shuddered violently before sinking downward slightly, but from there, it was able to hold its position and keep the huge mountain at bay.
At the same time, the azure-armored giant made a strange hand seal in front of its own chest, and a burst of azure light that contained countless surging azure runes instantly rose up from its body.
The azure light spread outward in all directions, forming a vast sea of azure light in the blink of an eye to protect the azure-armored giant.
The Heavy Water True Axis and the golden millstone crashed into the sea of azure light from the left and the right, causing it to churn and surge violently.
A series of azure ripples appeared around the giant before proliferating outward in all directions inyers, and there were over 100 suchyers.
The Heavy Water True Axis was rapidly revolving as it crashed into the azure ripples, tearing through 50 to 60yers in the blink of an eye, but it was then stopped cold in its tracks, unable to advance any further.
As for the golden millstone, it was imbued with even greater power, breaking through 70 to 80yers of azure ripples before alsoing to a rest, still situated around 2,000 to 3,000 feet away from the azure-armored giant.
Right at this moment, all of the azure ripples around the pair of treasures began to rapidly revolve in a frenzy, and from afar, it appeared as if two massive vortexes had appeared in the sea of azure light.
As theyers of azure ripples coiled themselves around the pair of treasures, two giant balls of azure light were instantly formed, trapping the treasures within them.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and by the time that Han Li and Qilin 9 realized what was happening, it was already toote for them to withdraw their treasures.
Both the Heavy Water True Axis and the golden millstone lit up in unison, sending waves of ck and golden light crashing into the surrounding balls of azure light in an attempt to break free.
However, the balls of azure light were extremely resolute, and even though they were shuddering incessantly, they disyed no signs of breaking as more and more azure ripples continued to converge from the surrounding area.
After trapping those two treasures, the azure-armored giant paid no further heed to Han Li and Qilin 9 as it turned tosh out at the enormous mountain hanging above its head.
Five threads of azure light shot out of its fingertips, then came together to form a thin strand of azure light that resembled a streak of sword qi, and it was giving off incredibly powerfulw fluctuations.
Countless specks of azure light appeared in the surrounding air before surging into the streak of azure sword qi, which then struck the giant mountain in a sh, easily slicing it into two as it were made of tofu, much to the rm and astonishment of Qilin 17.
The streak of azure sword qi wasn''t slowed down in the slightest as it continued to hurtle directly toward Qilin 17, looking as if it were going to slice him in half as well.
Qilin 17 hurriedly stomped a foot down onto the air below, and at the same time, dazzling yellow light erupted from his body to form a ball of yellow radiance as he flew back in retreat. At the same time, several talismans emerged within the yellow light to form a series of protective barriers all around him.
As soon as these protective light barriers took shape, the streak of azure sword qi had already arrived.
The protective light barriers around Qilin 17 appeared to have been quite resolute, but all of them instantly fell away in the face of the streak of azure sword qi, and an agonized howl quickly rang out as an arm came falling out of the sky.
Only after summoning so many talismans at once was Qilin 17 just barely able to avoid being killed on the spot, but even so, his left arm had still been severed at the shoulder, and his aura had diminished to less than half of what it was as a result.
In the next instant, he immediately made a hand seal with his remaining hand, and the blood that was pouring out of his severed arm was abruptly set alight. His entire body transformed into a ball of radiant crimson light that sped into the distance at a speed that was several times faster than before.
Han Li and Qilin 9''s expressions instantly changed drastically upon seeing this.
Thetter bit down onto the tip of his own tongue before expelling a mouthful of blood essence, and he flicked his fingers at the blood essence in rapid session, upon which it instantly transformed into a cloud of blood mist that vanished in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, a vast expanse of red and golden light was released by the golden millstone that was trapped within the ball of azure light, making it resemble a two-colored sun. Balls of red and golden mes had also appeared on its surface, burning through all of the surrounding azure ripples and allowing the millstone to return to Qilin 9 in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, Qilin 9 fled in a different direction from Qilni 17 as a streak of golden light.
Almost at the exact same moment, the Water Dao Rune on the surface of the trapped Heavy Water True Axis also began to glow, and numerous des of water re-emerged on its edge before the axis began to rapidly revolve, tearing the surrounding azure ripples apart before flying back into Han Li''s grasp.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li sped away in another direction as an arc of silver lightning, traveling no slower than Qilin 9.
Upon realizing that their opponent was too formidable for them to defeat, all three of them had decided in unison that fleeing the battle was the best course of action.
Within the arc of silver lightning, Han Li''s mind was racing.
This Golden Immortal avatar didn''t possess the power of a true Golden Immortal, but it was still an extremely difficult opponent to deal with, and just that streak of azure sword qi that was formed by thosew threads was something that Han Li doubted that he would be able to deal with.
"It''s toote to try and get away now!"
The azure-armored giant waspletely unconcerned by the attempts made by Han Li''s trio to flee the battle, and a cold smile appeared on its face as it abruptly raised both of its arms in unison.
The sea of azure light around it shuddered before exploding violently, sending countless streaks of azure light flying in all directions before vanishing into thin air.
All of the surrounding space in a radius of several thousand kilometers instantly began to ripple violently as countless balls of azure light appeared, releasing blinding azure radiance that became interconnected to form an enormous azure domain in the blink of an eye.
Han Li''s trio were all caught within the domain, and they felt as if the space around them had suddenly be tens of thousands of times heavier than before, thereby significantly reducing their speed.
Han Li let loose a low roar, and his Heavy Water True Axis appeared above him as those des of water reappeared on its edge, and it began to rapidly revolve in an attempt to slice through the surrounding space.
The surrounding azure space churned violently for a moment, but it then instantly recovered amid a sh of azure light.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and before he had a chance to do anything else, countless azure runes suddenly appeared around him before rapidly revolving around his body.
His surroundings blurred, and he abruptly vanished from the spot, reappearing no more than 2,000 to 3,000 feet away from the azure-armored giant in the next instant.
Almost at the exact same moment, Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 also appeared nearby with two more shes of azure light.
At this point, Qilin 17 had already regrown a new left arm, but he was clearly still in very bad shape as he eximed with an rmed and fearful expression, "Could this be... a spirit domain?"
Qilin 9 was far more calm andposed, and he quickly took a nce at his surroundings without offering a response.
Han Li also inspected his surroundings for a moment, then mused, "It doesn''t seem to be aplete spirit domain. Instead, some other method seems to have been used to assist in its formation."
The surrounding azure space was just like a spirit domain in that it hadpletely separated them from the outside world, making it impossible for them to draw upon the world''s origin qi. As a result, they were only going to be able to unleash less than 50% of their power.
A cold smile appeared on the azure-armored giant''s face as it said, "If you had tried to flee the battle from the very beginning, I may not have been able to stop you with this avatar of mine, but now, it''s time for you to pay with your lives!"
As soon as its voice trailed off, the nearby space rippled, and countless balls of azure lightning the size of houses appeared before hurtling toward Han Li''s trio like a ferocious storm.
Qilin 9 immediately raised a hand to summon his golden millstone, which hovered in front of him like a shield.
At the same time, golden light shed around his body, and countless golden sword projections appeared, forming a golden sea of swords around him.
The entire sky was filled with formidable sword qi that swept toward the balls of azure lightning.
Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li made a hand seal, and his Heavy Water True Axis swelled even further in size before situating itself in front of him.
It then released a vast expanse of watery ck light, which formed a huge ck cloud that was 700 to 800 feet thick.
The Time Dao Rune on the axis was glowing with dazzling radiance as huge balls of blue water lightning flew out of the ck clouds, hurtling toward the surrounding balls of azure lightning amid rumbling thunderps.
Meanwhile, Qilin 17 had summoned a yellow gourd that was suspended above his head.
He began to chant an incantation, and ayer of translucent runes emerged over the surface of the gourd as it rapidly swelled to the size of a house. Loud rumbling could be heard within the gourd, and several thousand grains of translucent golden sand came pouring out, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
As soon as the sand was released, each grain split up into countless more, forming a sea of golden sand in front of Qilin 17.
Countless balls of azure lightning came crashing down upon the defensive measures that Han Li''s trio had set up before exploding violently into azure lightning, forming a destructive sea of azure lightning.
Lights of all types of different colors intertwined with one another as earth-shattering booms rang out in session, causing the surrounding space to shudder violently.
Han Li''s trio were all looking on with grim expressions.
Each of these balls of azure lightning wasn''t all that formidable on their own, but with each ball of lightning that exploded, a new one would instantly be conjured up in its ce, and it seemed that there was no end to this barrage.
The blue water lightning released by the Heavy Water True Axis was quickly overwhelmed by the relentless barrage of azure lightning, and countless balls of azure lightning came crashing down upon the ck cloud.
The ck cloud shuddered violently as it was rapidly worn down, and it didn''t take long before its original thickness of 700 to 800 feet was whittled away.
500 feet, 400 feet, 300 feet, 200 feet...
In the blink of an eye, the thickness of the ck cloud had been reduced to less than 200 feet.
Qilin 17 was also facing a simr predicament, with only a thinyer of yellow sand remaining above his head.
Qilin 17 made a hand seal, and two thick pirs of yellow light erupted out of the palms of his hands as he desperately injected his immortal spiritual power into the film of sand overhead.
Having already had so many of his most powerful treasures destroyed or damaged, this film of sand was the only thing he had left to rely on at this point, and if it were also destroyed, then his fate would be sealed.
Out of the trio, Qilin 9 appeared to have been struggling the least. The sea of golden swords around him continued to swirl, and its radiance had dimmed a little, but it was still able to release streaks of golden sword qi to destroy all of the oing balls of azure lightning.
Chapter 251: Stalling for Time
Chapter 251: Stalling for Time
While Han Li''s trio was clinging on desperately for dear life, the balls of lightning in the sky seemed to have finally been exhausted.
They were initially ted to see this, but the three of them exchanged a nce, and each of them could see their own bewilderment mirrored in one another''s eyes.
This was because as soon as these balls of azure lightning had appeared, the azure-armored giant had vanished into the thin air, but the fact that this azure domain still remained indicated that they were clearly not out of the woods yet.
Sure enough, before the three of them even had a chance to catch their breath, a series of azure vortexes of light suddenly appeared out of thin air.
Countless azure tree branches then flew out of the vortexes before crashing down from above.
They appeared to have been branches, but each of them was over 100 feet in length andparable in size to entire trees, and they were raining down upon Han Li''s trio with ferocious might.
Fortunately, during that brief period of respite, Han Li''s trio had banded together in a triangr formation, with each person defending one side.
The cloud above Han Li''s head had already been whittled down significantly, and it began to tremble violently in the face of the falling branches. The cloud was whittled down even further, but it was able to keep close to a third of the azure branches at bay.
Meanwhile, the sword array that was swirling around Qilin 9 was releasing streaks of sharp azure sword qi that shredded the oing branches.
Out of the trio, Qilin 17 was the one who was struggling the most. Having already sustained severe injuries and expended a great deal of immortal spiritual power, cracks were already beginning to appear in the barrier of yellow sand that he had summoned.
Just like with the balls of lightning, there seemed to be no end to the torrent of azure branches, and Han Li''s trio was certainly not having a good time in the face of such a ferocious barrage, but thankfully, the triangr formation that they had adopted allowed them to hold their own for now.
"We can''t keep this up forever. If I had known this was going to happen, I would''ve never taken on this mission. How am I even going to get out of this alive now that I''ve made an enemy out of the Immortal Pce?" Qilin 17ined with a sullen expression.
There was a dark look on Qilin 9''s face as well as he said, "It looks like we fell into a trap. The person who released this mission is most likely intentionally trying to stir up conflict between the Transient Guild and the Immortal Pce for whatever purpose."
"Let''s try and figure out how we''re going to get out of this alive before we think about those things, fellow daoists. I have a bad feeling about this situation," Han Li suddenly said.
Sure enough, Han Li''s concerns were very much warranted.
As it turned out, all of the branches destroyed by Han Li''s trio had disintegrated into specks of azure light that had burrowed into the earth down below, following which seedlings began to emerge from the soil. As more and more specks of azure light descended from above, the seedlings began to grow rapidly at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
In a span of no more than a few seconds, the seedlings had grown into huge trees that were several hundred feet tall, and they were only continuing to grow even taller.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li''s trio found themselves situated in a lush forest that was giving off an extremely potent wood-attribute aura.
"At this rate, we''re going to be trapped here until we die! Fellow Daoist Qilin 9, you possess the most advanced cultivation base out of the three of us, do you have any way to get us out of here?" Qilin 17 asked with an uneasy expression.
"We may only be facing a Golden Immortal avatar, but its abilities are extremely formidable. Even I can only just barely hold on, and escaping would be near impossible. At this point, perhaps the only way to secure a slim chance at survival for ourselves would be to go against conventional wisdom," Qilin 9 replied.
"Go against conventional wisdom?" Qilin 17''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but he was also rather intrigued.
Just as Qilin 9 alluded to, the three of them had their powers severely restricted inside the azure domain, and it was next to impossible for them to escape in the face of this endless barrage of attacks.
Even if Han Li were to reveal his Mantra Treasured Axis and Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, he still wouldn''t have been confident in his ability to escape, and revealing those two treasures would have far-reaching consequences, so he absolutely didn''t want to use them unless his life was under threat.
Even though Qilin 9 was in the same situation, he was ate-True Immortal cultivator, and even now, he was still looking quite calm andposed, so he clearly still had some trump cards up his sleeve.
As these thoughts were running through Han Li''s mind, Qilin 9 opened his mouth to release three objects of different colors, and they swelled rapidly to be a set of three giant gs. The gs were extremely antiquated in appearance with eight strange runes embroidered upon them, and aside from their colors, which were golden, silver, and ck, the gs were identical to one another, so they clearly worked as a set.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes at the sight of the eight runes as they were very simr to the ones on the stone cauldron that he had obtained from the monkeys at the foot of the Crimson Dawn Peak, and he couldn''t help but wonder if the two were connected in some way.
He had studied the stone cauldron on many asions during these past years without making any useful discoveries, and he certainly wasn''t expecting to find any leads on the matter here.
His expression remained unchanged, but his mind was racing.
"These gs are known as Triple Origin Great Millet gs, and they can only be activated by three people at once. They''re an extremely formidable defensive treasure, but the immortal spiritual power expenditure required to use them is far too immense for me to support on my own. My proposal of going against conventional wisdom involves using this treasure to focus solely on defending ourselves rather than trying to escape," Qilin 9 exined.
"If these gs are so taxing to use, then wouldn''t we bepletely trapped once we inevitably run out of immortal spiritual power?" Qilin 17 asked, sounding rather disappointed.
"ording to my knowledge, there''s generally a time limit on all avatars formed by talismans, so I''m presuming that what Fellow Daoist Qilin 9 is suggesting is that we defend ourselves until time runs out for the avatar, is that right?" Han Li asked.
"That is indeed what I''m suggesting, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15," Qilin 9 replied with a nod.
"It seems like this set of Triple Origin Great Millet gs are rather different from normal treasures. In particr, may I ask what''s so special about the eight runes on them? We''re in a dire situation right now, so please pardon me for being extra cautious, Fellow Daoist," Han Li said.
"These gs are indeed rather special, and I only came into possession of them by chance, but I''ve managed to figure out how to use them after over a century of experimentation. Time is of the essence here, so please familiarize yourselves with them as quickly as possible," Qilin 9 urged.
He made a hand seal as he spoke to expand his sword array slightly to keep close to half of the azure branches at bay, and at the same time, he raised his other hand to send two jade slips flying toward Han Li and Qilin 17.
Han Li caught the jade slip, and he spected that Qilin 9 most likely knew more about those eight runes that he was letting on, but he wasn''t willing to divulge this information.
He injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip in his hand to find that it contained a mantra for treasure refinement, and it was a rather special one that was very different from all of the other refinement methods that he knew.
Han Li quickly read through the contents of the jade slip while thinking back to the discoveries that he had made from studying that stone cauldron over the years, and as he did so, a sense of tion welled up in his heart.
If he weren''t mistaken, then this refinement method should''ve been effective on that stone cauldron as well.
Shortly thereafter, the barrage of azure branches falling from the heavens abruptly ceased without any warning. At this point, all of the trees around them had already grown to around 2,000 to 3,000 feet tall, and their canopies had virtually obscured the entire sky.
"We don''t have any time left! Please hurry!"
Qilin 9''s brows were slightly furrowed as he immediately thrust the silver and ck gs upon Han Li and Qilin 17.
Immediately thereafter, he raised a hand to release several incantation seals in session, all of which vanished into the golden g before him in a sh, following which specks of golden light appeared on its surface.
Han Li took a deep breath before casting a series of incantation seals himself into his silver g.
The g slowly rose up into the air as specks of silver light appeared on its surface, giving it a resplendent yet mysterious appearance.
Qilin 17 also closed his eyes as he made a series of hand seals, and the specks of ck light appeared on his g as it rose up into the air as well.
Right at this moment, a burst of spatial fluctuations erupted overhead, and the Gold Immortal avatar appeared, having already reverted back to the size of a normal adult human.
"I didn''t think that a trio of lowly immortals like yourselves would be able tost this long, but it''s time to put this to an end!"
The Golden Immortal avatar raised a hand as it spoke, and a ball of azure spiritual light with countless azure runes shing within it instantly appeared, then vanished into one of the giant trees down below in a sh.
The tree was immediately uprooted as it rose up from the ground, and it began to radiate dazzling green light as it rapidly transformed, sprouting four thick limbs and an ugly head.
In the blink of an eye, the tree had transformed into a giant that was several thousand feet tall.
As soon as the giant took shape, it immediately raised an enormous fist andshed out at Qilin 9''s golden sword array.
A resounding boom rang out, and the entire azure space shuddered, as did the golden sword array, but it was able to remain intact.
As more streaks of azure spiritual light flew out of the Golden Immortal avatar''s hand, around half of the trees down below instantly transformed into formidable giants, but the azure light radiating from the avatar''s body also dimmed slightly as a result.
All of the tree giants swung their massive fists through the air, unleashing countless massive azure fist projections that hurtled toward Han Li''s trio from all directions.
After withstanding several ferocious barrages of attacks, the ck cloud and the screen of yellow sand had dimmed significantly and were appearing rather scattered, but they were still just barely clinging on.
The Golden Immortal avatar was beginning to run out of patience, and it opened its mouth to release a burst of azure light, which instantly enveloped all of the remaining trees down below.
All of those trees immediately began to glow with azure light as they rose up from the ground, but instead of instantly transforming into individual giants, they fused together to form a giant that was around 20,000 to 30,000 feet tall.
Green light was surging up and down its body incessantly, and as it raised an arm, all of the other tree giants around it exploded into balls of azure light that swept toward it before forming an azure wooden saber that was around the same length as the tree giant was tall.
There were countless green runes that were shimmering with a cold light engraved onto the de of the saber.
Chapter 252: A Threat From a Golden Immortal
Chapter 252: A Threat From a Golden Immortal
As soon as the tree giant took shape, it crouched down slightly before springing up into the sky, and all of the green runes on the wooden saber in its hand began to glow with dazzling radiance that illuminated the entire azure space.
In the next instant, the burst of azure light came crashing down with devastating might like a radiant waterfall.
Even before it fully descended upon Han Li''s trio, a burst of terrifying power was already cascading down from the heavens, causing the ck cloud and the barrier of yellow sand to tremble violently.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the giant wooden saber came crashing down, and the ck cloud, the barrier of yellow sand, and the golden sword array finally imploded amid an eruption of ck, yellow, golden, and azure light.
At the same time, gusts of fierce wind were sent sweeping through the air in all directions, creating ripples that were visible even to the naked eye in the surrounding azure space.
However, the wooden saber didn''t continue toe crashing down from above. Instead, it was repelled upward, and the tree giant stumbled back several steps in session before steadying itself.
After the dust settled, Han Li''s trio was revealed with a set of massive g projections glowing radiantly above them while releasing vast spiritual power fluctuations.
The space around the g projections was rippling, but the projections themselves remainedpletely resolute and steady, seemingly having withstood the attack from the tree giant with ease.
Even so, Han Li''s trio didn''t dare to getcent, and they were continuing to cast incantation seals relentlessly into the gs before them.
All of a sudden, the three g projections fused as one at Qilin 9''s behest, forming a giant egg-shaped three-colored light barrier.
The outermostyer of the light barrier was golden in color, while the middleyer was ck, and the innermostyer was silver.
Countless g projections could be seen around the light barriers, giving off dazzling radiance while emitting a sharp screeching sound, and it seemed as if they were forming an independent space within the azure domain.
A dark look appeared on the Golden Immortal avatar''s face upon seeing this, and it made a hand seal, upon which dazzling azure light erupted from the tree giant''s body, and it strode forward before swinging its wooden saber viciously down onto the three-colored light barrier again.
The entire light barrier shuddered violently, and the spot that was struck caved in significantly.
However, the indentation was quickly mended amid a sh of three-colored light, repelling the wooden saber once again.
The tree giant swung its saber down over and over again, and with each strike, an indentation would appear on the three-colored light barrier, but it would always recover very quickly, and the light barrier was disying no signs of breaking.
"This set of Triple Origin Great Millet gs is truly extraordinary, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9! The aura of that avatar has already diminished significantly, so it must not be able tost much longer," Qilin 17 said in an ecstatic voice while recovering his immortal spiritual power using an Immortal Origin Stone.
Qilin 9 was also holding an Immortal Origin Stone, and a proud look appeared in his eyes upon hearing this, but he said in a cautious manner, "Don''t getcent. I''m sure the avatar has more tricks up his sleeve, so take this time to recover as much as possible."
Han Li was also absorbing immortal spiritual power from an Immortal Origin Stone, and all three of them had taken recovery pills to boot, but they were still struggling to keep up with the immortal spiritual power demands of the Triple Origin Great Millet gs.
"Let''s see how much longer you''ll be able tost," the Golden Immortal avatar chuckled coldly as it switched to a different hand seal, then pointed a finger at the tree giant from afar.
The tree giant instantly stopped what it was doing, and its feet sank into the soil down below, following which it reverted back into an enormous tree amid a sh of blinding azure light.
Immediately thereafter, all of the leaves on the branches of the tree rapidly erged, following which a series of massive red flower buds emerged.
In the next instant, all of the red flower buds bloomed into vibrant flowers in unison.
The flowers then began to release flurries of red pollen-like particles that disintegrated into a cloud of red mist, which descended toward the three-colored light barrier at an astonishing speed. Upon reaching the three-colored light barrier, the red mist was able to bypass it with ease as if it didn''t exist at all.
Han Li''s trio were naturally extremely rmed by this, and Han Li immediately released his spiritual sense to examine the cloud of red mist.
In the next instant, a drowsy sensation arose in his mind, and the cirction of immortal spiritual power in his body became a lot more sluggish.
However, in the next instant, his enormous spiritual sense jolted him out of his dazed state, and he immediately yelled, "Look out, this is a spiritual sense attack!"
At the same time, the nascent soul in his dantian made a hand seal with both hands, and a burst of cool and refreshing energy surged through his meridians, restoring his original rate of immortal spiritual power cirction.
Qilin 9 immediately issued an instruction upon hearing this, and Han Li and Qilin 17 instantly switched to a different set of hand seals ordingly.
All of a sudden, the middle ck light barrier shuddered slightly before rising to the surface, and as a result, the silver light barrier shifted to the middle, while the golden light barrier became the innermostyer.
Following this transition, the light radiating from the three-colored light barrier became extremely gentle, while ripples began to surge over its surface.
This time, the three-colored light barrier was able topletely keep the cloud of red mist at bay.
However, the red mist that had already seeped into the light barrier had enveloped Han Li''s trio, constantly lulling them into a state of drowsiness.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he activated his Spirit Refinement Technique while also summoning a small white jade bell that began to revolve on the spot above his head.
Bursts of cool energy surged through his mind, instantly dispelling the majority of the red mist''s effects to minimize its influence.
Following Han Li''s warning, Qilin 9 had also braced himself, mming a palm down onto the top of his own head, upon which a small white lock flew out of his sleeve, releasing halos of white light that enveloped his body down below.
Immediately thereafter, a hint of rity returned to his eyes.
As for Qilin 17, he had summoned a yellow silken scarf that was revolving around him to keep the red mist at bay.
Even though all three of them had ways to deal with the red mist, it was requiring additional immortal spiritual power expenditure on top of having to maintain the three-colored light barrier, and inside this azure domain, they were unable to draw upon the world''s origin qi.
As a result, even though they were constantly using Immortal Origin Stones to replenish themselves, their faces had still turned extremely pale, and they weren''t going to be able tost much longer at this rate.
Unbeknownst to them, the Golden Immortal avatar was astonished by the resilience that they had disyed up to this point.
It had thought that it would be able to easily take down this trio of pesky little rats, but that was not proving to be the case here, and it was bing more and more frustrated by the second.
Bright azure light erupted out of the Golden Immortal avatar''s eyes, and it made a strange hand seal with both hands as it dered in a furious voice, "I''m going to make you pay for what you did even if I have to make some heavy sacrifices myself!"
All of a sudden, all of the red flowers on the giant tree down below shuddered slightly in unison, following which they were enveloped by balls of azure mes that instantly spread over the entire tree while giving off extremely formidablew fluctuations.
As the tree was set alight by azure mes, the Golden Immortal avatar''s body began to take on a transparent appearance.
Immediately thereafter, the massive tree shuddered violently before copsing toward Han Li''s trio with devastating might.
Even before it fully descended upon Han Li''s trio, it was already giving off an indescribable sense of pressure that struck them with a sense of asphyxiation, and it was already toote to take evasive measures.
"Look out!" Qilin 9 yelled in an urgent voice as he expelled a mouthful of blood essence into the golden g before him.
Countless specks of golden light instantly emerged from the g to form a golden wall of light, and Han Li and Qilin 17 also immediately followed suit, injecting all of their remaining immortal spiritual power into the Triple Origin Great Millet gs.
As a result, the other two gs released walls of silver and ck light, respectively, following which Han Li summoned his Heavy Water True Axis to act as a shield.
At the same time, Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 also summoned a series of treasures that releasedyers of light barriers that enveloped the trio from all directions.
Before they had a chance to do anything else, the giant tree fell upon them with an earth-shattering boom, and Han Li''s trio was inundated by an eruption of dazzling azure light.
The azure light then exploded violently, creating rifts that were visible even to the naked eye in the surrounding space, and it was as if the entire area were about to be torn apart.
Incredibly fierce gusts of azure wind swept through the air in all directions, and Han Li''s trio were sent flying out of the explosion of azure light.
Their robes were in tatters, their faces were deathly pale, and their bodies were riddled with wounds, but all of them had ecstatic looks on their faces, having finally weathered the storm.
The azure light quickly faded to reveal the Golden Immortal avatar, but at this point, its body was already virtuallypletely transparent, and it appeared to have been on the verge of fading away.
"You may have gotten away this time, but remember my name, I am Gu Jie of the Northern cial Immortal Region. Once Ie out of seclusion, I''ll be sure to capture all three of you and torment you for the rest of eternity! Mark my words!"
The Golden Immortal avatar''s body gradually faded away as its voice trailed off into silence.
The golden talisman re-emerged in the avatar''s ce, then erupted into mes before quickly being incinerated into ashes.
"It looks like we''ve finally managed to get out of this predicament, but there''s going to be more trouble toe now that we''ve made an enemy out of a Golden Immortal from the Northern cial Immortal Region," Qilin 9 said in a grim voice.
"Considering how much trouble we had with this avatar, our chances of surviving against the actual Gu Jie would be slim to none," Qilin 17 sighed.
"There''s no point in talking about that now. What''s done has already been done, and we should clean up the battlefield here and leave this ce as soon as possible," Han Li suggested, two which both Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 nodded in agreement.
Chapter 253: Trouble
Chapter 253: Trouble
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a pill before swallowing it, and hisplexion gradually began to improve.
The Heavy Water True Axis was hovering beside him, looking a little dim, clearly having suffered quite a bit of damage during the battle, so he was going to have to refine it when he got back to the ze Dragon Dao.
Meanwhile, Qilin 9 had already stowed away his Triple Origin Great Millet gs, which had also lost some of their spiritual nature during that final sh against Gu Jie''s avatar, much to Qilin 9''s dismay.
Of course, Qilin 17 was the one who fared the worst of the three. Not only had he suffered severe injuries, the seal that was equivalent to his bonded treasure had also lost almost all of its spiritual nature from being eroded by the Golden Immortal avatar''sw powers. However, he was already extremely fortunate to have been able to survive this ordeal and recover his treasure.
The three of them took a brief rest, then flew back into the valley.
Following the intense battle that had just taken ce, the valley was alreadypletely unrecognizable, and most of the surrounding mountains had been razed to the ground. The earth was riddled with countless craters of different sizes, some of which were so deep that moltenva could be seen at the bottom.
This mountain range was quite secluded, but the battle that had just taken ce had caused a massivemotion, and some of the nearby cultivating powers had taken notice.
Over the course of the next few decades, many people traveled to this area to try their luck, but that was a story for another time.
Upon entering the valley, a thought suddenly seemed to have urred to Qilin 9, and he said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Let me go and fetch the two treasures that were serving as the core of the array."
"In that case, I''ll go retrieve the Lightning Restraining Wood. Can we count on you to take care of things in the valley, Fellow Daoist Qilin 17?" Han Li asked.
Qilin 17 naturally had no objections to this.
The three of them knew that it was best to leave this ce as soon as possible, and they immediately sprang into action while supervising one another with their spiritual sense to ensure that no one yed any tricks.
Han Li appeared outside the valley in a sh, then swept a sleeve through the air to send a streak of azure light flying into the ground.
Arge hole was blown into the ground, inside of which was a length of golden wood that was taller than a grown man and around the same thickness as a human leg.
The length of wood was entirely golden in color with a series of lightning shaped growth rings visible on its cross section. Its surface waspletely smooth and riddled with more golden lightning patterns that were giving off a strong lightning aura.
Even though it was a wooden material, the Lightning Restraining Wood more closely resembled some type of metal ore.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the length of Lightning Restraining Wood was drawn into his grasp, and he took a close nce at it.
ording to a book that he had previously read, the Lightning Restraining Wood was a type of rare lightning-attribute spirit material that was extremely sturdy and was able to absorb the power of lightning, making it a top-notch material for refining lightning-attribute spirit treasures.
It was very difficult to grow this type of wood, so it was very rarely seen being sold anywhere, and Han Li certainly wasn''t expecting toe across a batch of it here.
Han Li then flew over to another ce and sted the ground open with another burst of azure light to dig up a second length of Lightning Restraining Wood.
Before long, he had retrieved all 81 lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood that were buried around the valley, and as he returned to the valley, Qilin 9 and Qilin 17 were already there, with a pair of treasures hovering in front of the former.
One of the two treasures was an antiquated golden sword that waspletely different from normal flying swords, possessing a far bulkier and heavier de, upon which was engraved nine golden stars.
The other treasure was an antiquated square golden mirror with hollow edges. The surface of the mirror was rather murky and indistinct, and there was a fierce tiger engraved onto its back.
Clearly, these were the two treasures that had acted as the core of the array.
It was very apparent that this was a pair of very remarkable treasures, and the metal-attribute fluctuations that they gave off indicated that even if they weren''t immortal treasures, they weren''t far away from that level.
As for Qilin 17, he had dug up a storage bracelet in addition to that golden pill cauldron, both of which had once belonged to the white-haired elderly man.
This was quite a bountiful haul, but for some reason, both of them were standing in a solemn silence.
"Have you found something, fellow daoists?" Han Li asked as hended beside the two of them.
"Take a look for yourself," Qilin 17 said in a neutral voice as he patted the golden pill cauldron.
Han Li immediately injected his spiritual sense into the pill cauldron, and even though the pill refinement process had already ceased, there was still a burst of scorching spiritual power that was slowly circting inside, forming a resolute array that kept his spiritual sense at bay.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he increased his spiritual sense output, allowing him to instantly bypass the array and see what was inside.
There was a thumb-sized purple pill hovering with the cauldron, and close to half of it had been charred ck, clearly indicating a failed pill refinement.
With a flick of his wrist, Han Li sent several incantation seals flying into the cauldron, then mmed a hand down onto the cauldron''s lid, following which a burst of azure light shed over his palm.
A faint crack rang out from within the cauldron, and with a sweep of Han Li''s sleeve, the lid of the cauldron was removed, and the purple pill inside flew out.
Qilin 9 raised an eyebrow ever so slightly upon seeing this, seemingly rather taken aback by the fact that Han Li was able to break open the restrictions on the cauldron so easily to retrieve the pill inside.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face as he inspected the purple pill.
There was a purple lightning-shaped spirit pattern on the pill, but it was iplete, with the charred section swallowing up the majority of the spirit pattern.
Furthermore, the purple lightning spirit pattern was giving off extremely faintw fluctuations.
"So he really was refining a dao pill," Han Li murmured to himself.
"That''s right. I took a closer look at his face earlier, and I recalled that this man is Ping Yaozi, a vastly renowned top-tier Earthly Pill Master of the Northern cial Immortal Region. However, he''s a very secretive person, so very few people know what he looks like. I''ve heard that he''s been trying to be a Heavenly Pill Master for a very long time, but I don''t know if he''s seeded or not. If he has..."
Qilin 9''s voice trailed off here as a wry smile appeared on his face.
Han Li''s expression also darkened slightly upon hearing this.
Even the ze Dragon Dao, one of the top-ranking sects in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region, didn''t have a single Heavenly Pill Master among its ranks, and that was a clear reflection of just how precious pill refinement masters of this lofty caliber were.
If Ping Yaozi really had already be a Heavenly Pill Master, then he would''ve possessed an unimaginably lofty status in the Northern cial Immortal Pce. Even if he had only been a top-tier Earthly Pill Master, this would''ve still been extremely heavy loss for the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and now, they had just killed him toplete a Transient Guild mission.
It was no wonder Gu Jie had sworn to hunt them down, and with that in mind, a chill instantly ran down Han Li''s spine.
They had trulynded themselves in hot water this time...
"It''s toote to regret our actions now. All of us have cultivated countless years to be True Immortals, and we all have some innocent blood on our hands. The pursuit of the Great Dao is an endeavor that goes against the natural order to begin with, so we should be ustomed to adversity on our path of cultivation. I, for one, certainly won''t just ept my fate and resign myself to death," Qilin 9 dered.
"You''re right, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9. The Northern cial Immortal Region is an extremely vast ce, so as long as we make ample preparations, there''s no guarantee that Gu Jie will be able to find us, even if he''s a Golden Immortal. Time is of the essence, so let''s split these things, then get out of here as soon as possible," Qilin 17 replied with a nod.
Han Li naturally had no objections to this, and thus, Qilin 17 emptied all of the content of the white-haried elderly man''s storage bracelet onto the ground.
Most of his belongings were various types of spirit nts and ingredients, all of which were filled with abundant spiritual qi and instantly caught the attention of Han Li''s trio.
Han Li''s gaze immediately settled onto one of the spirit nts, which was as green as jade and slightly curved. It had tiny leaves that were pressed tightly against the stem of the spirit nt like scales, and this was none other than a Horned Dragon Herb, the main material for refining Spring Rain Pills.
Furthermore, there were around a dozen of these Horned Dragon Herbs on the ground, and they appeared to have all been above 50,000 years of age.
As for the other spirit nts and materials, Han Li only recognized less than half of them, but they were all premium ingredients and materials that weren''t inferior to the Horned Dragon Herb.
Just these spirit nts and materials alone were already a massive haul, and in addition to them, there were also six or seven treasures, a pair of white jade vials, a purple jade box, and a small pile of what appeared to have been around 50 to 60 Immortal Origin Stones.
The treasures were all spirit treasures of a very high caliber, but they were far inferior to the pair of spirit treasures that had served as the core of the array.
The two white jade vials had restrictions ced upon them to keep out spiritual sense, so it was impossible to tell what they contained.
As for the purple jade box, there was a silver talisman stered to its surface, and countless tadpole-like silver runes were roaming over its surface, giving off immense spiritual power fluctuations.
There were also severalyers of spirit patterns engraved onto the box, releasing a silver light barrier that was also capable of keeping out spiritual sense.
Qilin 17 handed the storage bracelet to Qilin 9 for an examination, but Qilin 9 was staring at the treasuresid out before him in apletely transfixed manner, and only after hearing Qilin 17 call out to him did he return to his senses.
"My apologies, I was just surprised that Ping Yaozi had so many things in his possession," Qilin 9 said as he epted the storage bracelet from Qilin 17.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon seeing this. It was only for an instant, but he had noticed a peculiar look sh through Qilin 9''s eyes just now.
He turned his gaze to the treasures on the ground, only to find that they were all ordinary treasures that didn''t appear to have been remarkable in any way.
However, beside those treasures was a rather strange-looking ck badge that was giving off a faint ck glow.
Qilin 17 also seemed to have noticed the badge, and he remarked, "That''s a badge from the Ubiquitous Pavilion. Could it be that this Ping Yaozi is somehow tied to that ce?"
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly once again upon hearing this.
"Whether he had ties with the Ubiquitous Pavilion has nothing to do with us," Qilin 9 said as he handed the storage bracelet to Han Li after a brief examination.
Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the storage bracelet as nothing more than a formality ,and after verifying that it had indeed beenpletely emptied, he set it aside and turned his attention back to the spoilsid out on the ground.
Chapter 254: Fighting Over the Cauldron
Chapter 254: Fighting Over the Cauldron
"Have either of you thought about how we should split everything?" Qilin 17 asked as he licked his slightly dry lips.
"Let''s take a look at what''s in these jade vials and this jade box first," Qilin 9 said as he drew one of the white jade vials into his grasp before removing the stopper, and Han Li did the same with the other vial.
An identical fragrance wafted out of both of the vials, and after just a slight whiff, Han Li''s trio were all struck by a sense offort and reinvigoration.
Each of the jade vials contained around a dozen yellow pills that were giving off a faint sheen.
Han Li didn''t recognize these pills, but his pill refinement experience told him that this was most likely a type of pill for advancing one''s cultivation base, and its effects were definitely more potent than those of the Origin Unifying Pill.
"These are Dawn Luster Pills!" Qilin 17 eximed with a hint of tion in his voice.
"I''m guessing Ping Yaozi prepared these for himself," Qilin 9 replied with a nod.
He set down the white jade vial in his hand as he spoke, then picked up the purple jade box, and after taking a close look at the silver talisman adhered to its surface, he released several incantation seals in session, only for them to be repelled by ayer of silver light that suddenly appeared over the surface of the box.
Qilin 9''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and after a brief moment of contemtion, heid a hand down onto the jade box, then began to chant an incantation, following which golden light began to radiate from the palm of his hand.
Han Li and Qilin 17 exchanged a nce, and each of them could see their own curiosity mirrored in one another''s eyes.
Generally speaking, the more tightly secured a container was, the more important its contents were.
Qilin 9 was clearly thinking the same thing, and it appears that he was nning to adopt some slightly more aggressive methods to try and break open the restriction on the jade box.
He began to chant an incantation, and ayer of dazzling silver light appeared over the jade box, keeping all of the golden light that was radiating from Qilin 9''s hand at bay.
Qilin 9''s brows became even more tightly furrowed upon seeing this, and the golden light radiating from his hand brightened even further, while golden runes also appeared within it.
In response, the silver light radiating from the jade box also brightened, and it was able to hold its own against the golden light.
Qilin 9''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and sweat was already beginning to roll down his cheeks from his forehead, but his hand remained firmly pressed against the jade box, while the golden light radiating from it became brighter and brighter.
However, the silver light glowing from the box was able to keep up, thwarting Qilin 9''s efforts to bypass it.
A hint of surprise shed through Han LI''s eyes upon seeing this. It seemed that the restrictions ced on the jade box were so profound that even ate-True Immortal cultivator like Qilin 9 was powerless to break through them.
A short whileter, the golden light radiating from Qilin 9''s hand had already brightened to the point that it was almost too radiant to look at, and the silver seemed to have finally reached its limits, beginning to sumb to the golden light.
A hint of tion appeared on Qilin''s 9¡¯s face upon seeing this, but his expression then suddenly changed as he hurriedly pulled his hand away.
The silver light on the jade box shed a few times before returning to normal.
"Why did you stop, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9?" Qilin 17 asked.
It had appeared to him like Qilin 9 had stopped right as the silver light restriction was about to be overwhelmed.
"Whoever set up this restriction concealed a self-destruction restriction in its deepest part. If I hadn''t stopped in time, this jade box and its contents would''ve all been destroyed," Qilin 9 exined, much to Qilin 17''s dismay.
Ping Yaozi was already dead, so where were they supposed to find the method to open the box?
Han Li''s brows also furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
"Judging from my past experience, it''s not impossible to unravel this restriction, but I''ll need ample time to study it and make preparations. At the moment, I''m powerless to do anything, but the two of you are free to give it a try," Qilin 9 said as he set the jade box back down.
A hint of intrigue appeared in Qilin 17''s eyes as he picked up the box, and yellow light emerged from his hand to envelop the entire box.
Ayer of silver light instantly appeared on the jade box to oppose the yellow light, and a solemn look appeared in Qilin 17''s eyes as he cast a series of incantation seals toward the box.
The silver light radiating from the box instantly brightened further to keep the incantation seals at bay, and after about 15 minutes, Qilin 17 was already beginning to sweat as he made a rapid series of hand seals, releasing threads of yellow light that enveloped the jade box.
If one were to look closely, they would discover that the threads of yellow light were formed by countless yellow runes, and they were slowly suppressing the silver light on the jade box.
Qilin 9''s eyes lit up upon seeing this, and Han Li also took an involuntary step forward.
Right at this moment, the silver runes on the jade box shed, and they abruptly released a burst of light that snapped all of the threads of yellow light.
"What a ridiculous restriction!" Qilin 17 harrumphed coldly as he withdrew his hand, making no further attempts to undo the restriction on the jade box.
Qilin 9 heaved a faint sigh of disappointment upon seeing this, then turned to Han Li as he suggested, "Why don''t you give it a try as well, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15? Perhaps you''ll have better luck than the two of us."
"Do be careful, Fellow Daoist. If you break what''s inside, that''ll count against your allocation of the spoils," Qilin 17 chuckled as he handed the jade box to Han Li.
"I''ll give it a try, but seeing as neither of you were sessful, I most likely won''t be able to do anything, either," Han Li said as he epted the jade box, then released a burst of azure light to envelop it.
He then made a string of hand seals, conjuring up threads of azure light that enveloped the jade box, only to be opposed by that sameyer of silver light.
A short whileter, the silver light on the jade box abruptly brightened, tearing all of the threads of azure light apart, and Han Li shook his head as he ced the jade box back onto the ground.
"I can''t do anything about this restriction, either."
"In that case, let''s not force it. We don''t have much time, so let''s discuss how we''re going to split the rest of the treasures among ourselves," Qilin 9 said.
"You''re the leader in this mission, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9. Do you have any suggestions on how we can split everything?" Han Li asked, and Qilin 17 also turned to Qilin 9.
"There are quite a few spirit nts, materials, pills, and Immortal Origin Stones, so we''ll be able to split those evenly. What''s difficult to allocate are this cauldron, these treasures, and that jade box," Qilin 9 said.
"That''s a simple matter. There are three of us, so I suggest one of us gets the cauldron, another one gets the treasures, and the final one gets the jade box. What do you think?" Qilin 17 proposed.
"That''s not a bad idea, but who''s going to get what?" Qilin 9 asked.
"I''ve always been very interested in pill refinement, so how about I take the cauldron?" Qilin 17 asked.
"I also happen to have a keen interest in the art of pill refinement," Qilin 9 said as a meaningful smile appeared on his face, and Qilin 17''s expression immediately darkened slightly upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, Han Li was standing off to the side in silence, contemting how best to proceed.
There really wasn''t aparison to be made here. The golden cauldron was the most precious of all of the items here, being an immortal treasure, so of course everyone wanted it, regardless of whether they actually had any interest in pill refinement.
Han Li wanted to refine some pills in order to elerate his cultivation in order to make a breakthrough as soon as possible, so he naturally wanted the cauldron as well.
However, at the moment, he was merely observing and didn''t verbally express his intentions.
As he was sweeping his spiritual sense over the cauldron, he noticed that there seemed to have been something concealed within it, and this feeling was very simr to the one that he had gotten from that ck saber previously in Fang Pan''s protection.
Given that Gu Jie had bestowed that avatar talisman upon Ping Yaozi, it was very likely that the cauldron had been tampered with.
Ifing into possession of this treasure would increase his chances of being tracked down by Gu Jie, then he definitely wouldn''t take the risk, so he was very wary of trying to im the cauldron for himself.
Having said that, perhaps Qilin 17 wouldn''t have noticed anything with his mid-True Immortal Stage cultivation base and spiritual sense, but as ate-True Immortal cultivator, was it really possible that Qilin 9 had also failed to notice that something was amiss?
Qilin 17 forced a smile onto his own face as he turned to Han Li and said, "I''ve been stuck at the mid-True Immortal Stage for many years and desperately need this cauldron for pill refinement purposes. If you two are willing to give me the cauldron, I can give up a third of my allocation of the rest of the treasures."
"In that case..."
Han Li was just about to say something when Qilin 9 interjected, "Truth be told, I''ve already been searching for a suitable pill cauldron for the past several centuries. If you two can give me the cauldron, I''m willing to give up on two thirds of my allocation of everything else."
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this, seemingly tempted by this proposition.
Qilin 17 took a nce at the cauldron, then gritted his teeth as he decided, "Alright, in that case, all I want is this cauldron, and I''m willing to give up on everything else. Is that enough?"
Qilin 9 considered this proposition for a moment, then smiled as he said, "If you''re this insistent on iming the cauldron, then it would be unbing of me to pursue it any further. What say you, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15?"
"I can see that Fellow Daoist Qilin 17 is very earnest in his proposal, so I''m also willing to hand over the cauldron to him. If the cauldron had been unearthed while you were unconscious, perhaps you would''ve been able to wake up a bit earlier," Han Li said with a faint smile.
"Thank you, fellow daoists."
Qilin 17 could hear the mockery in Han Li''s words, and was just about to re up with rage, but decided against it after recalling the power that Han Li had disyed during the recently concluded battle.
Thus, he immediately swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of yellow light to stow the cauldron away.
He then winced slightly at the sight of all of the precious materials and ingredients on the ground before looking away with a pained expression.
"Which one would you like out of these treasures and this jade box, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15?" Qilin asked.
"I lost two sets of flying swords during the battle just now, so I''d like to im these treasures to rece them," Han Li replied.
"Aren''t you cultivating water-attributews at the moment, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15? All of these are metal-attribute treasures, so they''re not very suitable for you. In contrast, I just so happen to be using a metal-attribute cultivation art. Speaking of the jade box, given the power restrictions ced upon it, it must contain something extremely precious, so how about you take it instead, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15?" Qilin 9 proposed with a smile.
"Perhaps so, but the restrictions on the box are extremely troublesome to deal with, and if I''m not careful, the contents of the box could be easily destroyed. Out of the three of us, I think you''re the one with the highest hopes of sessfully opening the box, so I''ll settle for those treasures instead," Han Li replied.
Chapter 255: Lying Low
Chapter 255: Lying Low
"I beg to differ, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15. If it wasn''t for you, the three of us may still not even have entered this valley yet, and that''s a clear indication of how proficient you are at bypassing restrictions. If you can''t open this box, then my chances of sess are even slimmer. Surely you wouldn''t force this thing onto me, would you?" Qilin 9 asked with a meaningful look in his eyes.
Han Li refused to budge, shaking his head in response. "You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist. I know what I''m capable of, and if I had to give a number, I would say my chances of opening this box are less than 10%. Given your cultivation base and status in the Transient Guild, you must have arge social circle, and surely there are experts in restrictions among your friends and acquaintances."
Qilin 9 was silent for a moment, then seemed to have arrived at some type of decision as he said, "You just want a few of these spirit treasures to make up for the losses you suffered earlier, right? How about this? Aside from this jade box and that failed pill, we can split everything else 60:40 in your favor. Surely that''s sufficientpensation for you."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but after some contemtion, he said, "I suppose I can ept that, but I''ll have to go a step further. Among those materials and ingredients, those Horned Dragon Herbs and those lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood are particrly useful to me, so would you be able to hand them over to me? I can allow you to pick out items of equal value out of the rest of the things here aspensation."
"That''s not a problem at all! You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist."
Qilin 9 cupped his fist toward Han Li in a salute upon hearing this, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of golden light, iming all of the treasures on the ground.
He didn''t actually care much for the rest of the treasures, but the nine star golden sword and the antiquated golden mirror that had served as the cores of the array were extremely pure metal-attribute spirit treasures that were verypatible with his cultivation arts. All he had to do was refine them for 1,000 years, and they would be no less powerful than immortal treasures, and that was why he was so insistent on acquiring them.
Han Li also swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light that imed the purple jade box and the failed dao pill.
The two of them then turned their attention to the spirit nts, materials, and Immortal Origin Stones on the ground, and it didn''t take long before they split everything among themselves.
With that, the distribution of spoils wasplete, and Qilin 9 flicked a finger through the air to release a ball of fire, which incinerated Ping Yaozi''s remains into ashes, then said, "Alright, time is of the essence, so let''s get out of this ce."
Han Li''s brows were slightly furrowed as he heaved an internal sigh, but didn''t say anything.
The three of them quickly flew out of the valley as three streaks of light, and several monthster, they emerged from the teleportation hall on Smoke Tomb Ind.
"The mission didn''t quite progress as nned, but thankfully, we were able to survive the ordeal. This is the reward for the mission. With this, we can go our separate ways."
Qilin 9 pulled out a pair of storage pouches as he spoke, then handed them to Han Li and Qilin 17.
Han Li examined the contents of the storage pouch briefly with his spiritual sense, then gave a slight nod before stowing it away.
"I still have some matters to attend to, so I''ll be taking my leave now."
Qilin 17 also stowed his storage pouch away, then cupped his fist in a parting salute and flew away into the distance as a streak of yellow light.
"Fellow Daoist Qilin 9, now that I think about it, the reward for this mission doesn''t match its difficulty. Back when you were epting this mission, surely you would''ve detected that something was amiss, right?" Han Li asked.
"What are you trying to say, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15?" Qilin 9 asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I''m assuming the actual reward for this mission is far greater than what you''ve revealed to us, right? In any case, I''ll also be taking my leave," Han Li said in a meaningful voice, then flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
"Hmph, of course I wouldn''t have taken on such a perilous mission without a reward of corresponding value! I didn''t think that an itinerant cultivator with such terrible aptitude would have so many tricks up his sleeve. It appears I''ve misevaluated him," Qilin murmured to himself as he watched Han Li fly away into the distance, then vanished on the spot with a sh of golden light.
Meanwhile, Han Li was flying through the air with the purple jade box and the failed dao pill in his hands, and there was a faint smile on his face.
The refinement for the dao pill had failed, but it would still be a useful resource to be studied and examined.
As for the jade box, the restrictions on it appeared to have been quite profound, but in reality, during that earlier attempt to bypass the restrictions, Han Li had already thought of a way to break through them. Otherwise, there was no way that he would''ve agreed to take it.
Of course, he couldn''t reveal this in the presence of Qilin 9 and Qilin 17. Otherwise, not only would that cause unnecessary trouble for himself, it would reduce his share of the spoils as well.
He was very curious about the contents of the box. Ping Yao was either a Heavenly Pill Master or very close to it, and such a prized possession of his had to have been extremely valuable.
With that in mind, a hint of excitement welled up in his heart, and he was itching to get back to his cave abode and unravel this mystery.
¡¡
Several monthster, in the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
Inside the main hall of the cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak, Han Li was seated on a taishi chair, holding a green teacup in his hand.
Meng Yungui and the others were quickly gathering before him, and after they had all arrived and paid their respects to him, Meng Yungui strode forward as he reported, "Elder Li, Sun Buzheng is currently at an important juncture in his seclusion, so he can''t be present, but everyone else is here."
Han Li took a nce at his nine servants, all of whom had made significant progress in their cultivation since they hade here. Among them, the two with the highest cultivation bases were Meng Yungui and Sun Buzheng, but Meng Qianqian was the one who had been making the fastest progress.
At this moment, she was standing next to Meng Yungui, looking at Han Li with admiration glowing in herrge and sparkling eyes.
"I''m going to have to leave the sect for a while soon, and I summoned all of you here today because I have some instructions to pass down," Han Li said.
Meng Yungui was rather taken aback to hear this, but he still cupped his fist in a salute as he prompted, "Please go ahead, Elder Li."
"Following my departure, the Crimson Dawn Peak will be temporarily closed to all visitors. During this time, all of you should also stay on the mountain unless it''s absolutely necessary for you to leave. Just stay in your cave abodes and cultivate, and look after the spirit nts in the fields. As for cultivation resources, I''ll give some to Yungui, so you won''t have to worry about running out. Alright, you can all go now," Han Li said, then waved a hand to dismiss everyone.
"Yes, Elder Li," everyone replied in a respectful manner, then turned and departed from the hall.
Meng Yungui was waiting to be given the cultivation resources by Meng Yungui, so he naturally didn''t leave, and after a brief moment of hesitation, Meng Qianqian turned to depart as well.
"Qianqian, you stay behind as well," Han Li suddenly instructed.
Meng Qianqian was ecstatic to hear this, and she stopped in her tracks before turning around and making her way over to her brother''s side.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a blue storage pouch, which he tossed at Meng Yungui as he said, "I''m going to be away for quite a long time, but these pills should be enough to support everyone''s cultivation needs. Just hand them out every once in a while. Also, there are some Origin Stabilization Pills in there, and you can give them to Sun Buzheng once hees out of seclusion for him to consolidate his cultivation base."
Meng Yungui hurriedly caught the storage pouch as he nodded in response. "Yes, Elder Li."
"Alright, you can go now," Han Li instructed.
Meng Yungui took a nce at his sister with a slightly puzzled look in his eyes, but still did as he was told and departed from the hall.
"I went to take a look at the egg a few days ago, and I can tell you''ve been looking after it quite well. It still hasn''t hatched yet, but even I was surprised by the abundant vitality within it," Han Li praised with a smile.
"Please forgive me for failing to hatch the egg even after so long," Meng Qianqian apologized as she lowered her head slightly.
"That''s a matter that''s mostly up to fate anyway, so there''s no need to be overly critical of yourself. Just make sure to keep looking after the egg," Han Li said.
"Rest assured, Elder Li, I''ll be sure to do my best," Meng Qianqian replied as she gave a firm nod.
Han Li smiled as he produced a small white jade vial that he tossed at her, and he said, "I obtained this vial of Fire Essence Pills during one of my earlier outings, and you''re at a stage where you''re ready to take it. It''ll be very beneficial for your cultivation."
"Thank you, Elder Li," Meng Qianqian said with a wide smile as she hurriedly caught the vial.
"Alright, you can go as well," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
However, Meng Qianqian remained standing on the spot with a rather hesitant look in her eyes.
"Is there something else you need to speak to me about?" Han Li asked.
"It''s not been very long at all since youst left, yet you''re leaving again, and you''re closing the mountain to the outside... I''m just a little worried. Did something happen?" Meng Qianqian asked in a hesitant voice.
"What could possibly happen to a True Immortal like me, you silly girl?" Han Li chuckled.
"I see, it looks like I was just overly sensitive."
Meng Qianqian was very relieved to hear Han Li''s response, and she promptly departed from the hall.
Following her departure, Han Li''s smile immediately faded as a grim look appeared on his face.
He had brushed off her concerns, but in reality, her assumption hadn''t been far from the truth.
It had only been three days since he returned to the sect, but close to a year had already passed since he left the Infernal Frost Continent.
Not only had Gu Jie''s avatar identified them to be members of the Transient Guild, at the very end, it had also revealed to them that he was an elder of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and that was certainly not good news for Han Li.
He had a feeling that staying in the sect at this time was not a wise move, so he had taken on a mission that required him to be far away from the sect so that he could lie low for a while.
With that in mind, he rose to his feet and exited the cave abode, then began flying down toward the foot of the Crimson Dawn Peak.
Chapter 256: Meddling
Chapter 256: Meddling
It didn''t take long before he appeared in the cave where the underground fire vein was situated.
The air in the entire cave was still filled with a scorching aura, and moltenva was tumbling incessantly within the undergroundke ofva, asionally, a bubble on the surface of theke ofva would pop, producing a sound akin to a rumbling thunderp.
The array that he had set up was still hovering above theke, but all of the array gs had be devoid of luster, indicating that the array had been defunct for some time, and the fiery red cocoon at the center of the array was also nowhere to be seen.
Han Li immediately attempted to contact the Essence Fire Raven through their spiritual connection, and a clear cry instantly rang out from within theke.
Immediately thereafter, the surface of theke began to bulge, following which a silver figure sprang out before hurtling directly at Han Li at an extraordinary speed while giving off a scorching aura.
The silver figure flew straight into Han Li, sending a burst of burning pain surging across hsi chest.
Before he had a chance to reach out, the silver figure transformed into a tiny humanoid figure that was no more than two feet tall, and it rapidly flew in a circle around him in an agile fashion.
Much to Han Li''s tion, he discovered that the silver figure was formed by none other than the Essence Fire Raven, and in this form, it resembled a child that was around five to six years of age.
Not only had its aurapletely surpassed its peak back when it was in the Spirit Realm, even its eyes, which were formed by mes, were sparkling with intelligence, clearly indicating that it had made significant progress, and it would most likely keep making rapid progress if it were to continue cultivating here.
The tiny silver figure danced around Han Li for a while, then suddenly transformed into a fire ball before rising up and descending onto the palm of Han Li''s hand, where it reverted back into the form of a small child.
Han Li gently patted the tiny silver figure''s head, and it seemed to have been relishing his touch, narrowing its eyes in contentment as it rubbed its head against his hand.
"This ce has clearly done wonders for you, but I have to leave for some time, and I don''t know when I''ll be able to return, so I''ll have to take you with me," Han Li said, and it was unclear whether he was talking to himself or exining the situation to the Essence Fire Raven.
To his surprise, the Essence Fire Raven seemed to have understood him, and it let loose an ted cry as it transformed into a fiery silver bird that flew straight upward.
After that, it circled around in the air before swooping back down and vanishing into Han Li''s body in a sh, ready to follow him wherever he went.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he withdrew the array and erased all signs that he had ever been here before turning to depart.
After leaving the cave, he traveled to the Gourd Peak rather than returning to his cave abode.
Having obtained so many Horned Dragon Herbs from Ping Yaozi''s storage bracelet, it was time to begin attempting to refine Spring Rain Pills, and seeing as he was going to leave the sect, he had to purchase the recipe for the Spring Rain Pill prior to his departure.
Only when it waste into the night did he return to his cave abode without alerting anyone, and he gathered all of the spirit medicines from his garden that had reached sufficient maturity, then also retrieved the strange stone cauldron that had been offered to him by the monkey king before leaving the ze Dragon Dao.
¡¡
Half a yearter.
A streak of azure light came tumbling out of the sky above a massive mountain in the northern region of the Ancient Cloud Continent, and it crashed heavily into the mountain summit, causing half of the mountain to copse violently.
After the dust settled, a middle-aged man with a cold expression was revealed standing on the copsed mountain summit, wearing a suit of antiquated azure armor with golden patterns on its surface. The suit of armor wasn''t giving off much of a glow, but it had an extremely solid and sturdy appearance.
The man was none other than Gu Jie!
Beneath his left boot was a portly man wearing an outer sect elder''s robe of the ze Dragon Dao ,and blood was pouring down from the corner of his mouth as he desperately implored, "Please spare me, Senior! I honestly have no idea who you''re looking for..."
However, Gu Jie''s patience had run out, and he pointed a finger straight at the portly man''s be.
A thread of azure light shot out of his fingertip before vanishing into the portly man''s head, and the man gave a muffled groan before immediately losing consciousness.
Momentster, Gu Jie withdrew his finger, then gave a cold harrumph as he mmed a palm down onto the portly man''s head, causing it to instantly explode like a watermelon.
As a result, a golden nascent soul was revealed with its entire body ensnared within a mass of azure threads. The golden light radiating from the nascent soul''s body gradually dimmed until itpletely faded, upon which the nascent soul disintegrated into nothingness.
Gu Jie remained standing on the spot with a contemtive expression, seemingly pondering something.
Momentster, he swept a hand through the air, and seven or eight blue masks appeared in the air before him.
He reached out toward the portly man''s remains, and an azure horse mask flew out of his body to join the other masks that were hovering in mid-air.
"I''ve finally managed to dig up something useful. It looks like they are indeed in the ze Dragon Dao," Gu Jie murmured to himself as he inspected the mask, then reached out to make a grabbing motion with one hand, and the mask that was hovering before him was instantly crushed into powder.
Immediately thereafter, he vanished from the spot amid a sh of azure light.
¡¡
Several monthster, in a secluded valley in the eastern part of the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
At the entrance of the valley was a massive trench that was 100 feet wide, and it extended all the way to the end of the valley.
All of the snow and ice in the trench had melted away to reveal the rocky ck surface underneath, and there were even many patches of moss and short weeds growing on the rocks.
On a cliff in the deepest part of the valley was a thin figure that had been bound tightly to the rock face behind them by a massive of azure vines.
A dark red line of blood ran all the way down from his head to his torso, and his body would''ve most likely split apart had it not been for the vines keeping the two halves together.
The man''s face was very unremarkable, but he had a pair of tiny rat-like eyes that were quite memorable.
At this moment, Gu Jie was hovering in front of him, holding a shimmering golden nascent soul in his hand, and the nascent soul was struggling with all its might to escape, but to no avail.
"Who are the people who killed Ping Yaozi with you on that day, and where are they now?" Gu Jie asked.
"Even if... you''re a Golden Immortal Stage elder of the Immortal Pce... you have no right... to barge into the ze Dragon Dao... Our dao lords won''t let you get away with this..."
The nascent soul''s voice was filled with horror and was cutting off intermittently, but it was still hoping to intimidate Gu Jie by bringing up the ze Dragon Dao.
"I know that there''s a restriction in your nascent soul that makes it impossible for me to perform soul search technique by force, but I''m sure you''ve heard of a nascent nting technique, right? I have some top quality Dark Water Soil here, and if I nt your nascent soul into it... Oh, I''m really looking forward to seeing what''ll happen," Gu Jie chuckled coldly.
The golden nascent soul shuddered in horror upon hearing this.
A nascent nting technique was a restorative technique used to nurture damaged nascent souls by nting them in spirit soil, but if a nascent soul were to be nted in contaminated oil, then it would be an extremely horrific torture method.
Once a nascent soul was nted into contaminated soil, it would constantly be subjected to the most excruciating pain imaginable until it eventually became a part of the soil. This process would take countless years toplete, and it waspletely irreversible, robbing the owner of the nascent soul of any chance of reincarnation.
The nascent soul remained silent, and a cold smile appeared on Gu Jie''s face as he said, "Looks like you''re determined to test my patience."
He then flipped a hand over to produce an incense burner that was holding any sticks of incense. Instead, it was filled with a type of ck soil that resembled fat, and it was giving off a foul odor that should''ve been unique to decaying bodies.
The golden nascent soul was even more horrified upon seeing this, and it hurriedly yelled, "I''ll talk! Those two are..."
In reality, he didn''t know who Qilin 9 and Wyrm 15 actually were, but in the face of Gu Jie''s threats and absolute power, he had no choice but to tell Gu Jie everything that he knew, as well as his guesses on the identities of Qilin 9 and Wyrm 15.
After hearing what the nascent soul had to say, a sinister smile appeared on Gu Jie''s face as he abruptly tightened his grip and crushed the nascent soul into nothingness.
He then made a beckoning motion with his other hand, and Qilin 17''s storage bracelet flew into his grasp.
After taking a moment to refine the storage bracelet, he swept a hand through the air, and a golden pill cauldron and an azure rat mask instantly appeared before him.
Gu Jie raised a hand to stroke the golden cauldron, and a series of concealment runes instantly appeared on its surface, releasing an azure glow while giving off a burst of peculiar fluctuations.
"I''m impressed that he was able to conceal most of the mark I left on this cauldron. No wonder I could only track down the cauldron to the Ancient Cloud Continent, but couldn''t verify its exact location beyond that," Gu Jie mused as he raised an eyebrow.
After that, he stowed the cauldron, the mask, and the storage bracelet away before flying deeper into the ze Dragon Dao.
Close to a monthter, an azure figure was flying through the air above a vast snond near the central region of the ze Dragon Dao.
Behind it was a massive white snow lotus flower that was traveling at even higher speed, and it was steadily closing in on the azure figure.
Reclined within the snow lotus flower was a voluptuous woman in a pristine white dress.
She was wearing a crimson fox mask that covered her face, leaving everything to the beholder''s imagination, as well as giving her an aura of mystery.
On the be of the mask was inscribed the number "3" in the form of a peculiar rune.
The gap between the azure figure and the snow lotus flower was steadily closing, and all of a sudden, both of them drew to a halt while they were still separated by several thousand feet.
The woman in white continued to recline in her snow lotus flower with her head resting on the palm of her hand, and she was holding a white flower in her other hand as she cast a seductive gaze toward Gu Jie.
"I don''t want to fight you, but that''s not because I fear you! I''d advise you not to test my patience!" Gu Jie dered in a cold voice as he cast his gaze toward the woman in the snow lotus flower.
"It''s not like I''m a tigress that''s going to eat you, so of course you have no reason to fear me. However, as an elder of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, you''ve barged into our ze Dragon Dao and gone on a killing spree without any exnation. Could it be that you think that our ze Dragon Dao fears your Immortal Pce?" the woman asked.
"You''re wearing a Transient Guild mask right now, yet you keep bringing up the ze Dragon Dao. Aren''t you meddling in business that has nothing to do with you? Do you not have anything better to do with your time?" Gu Jie chuckled coldly.
"Truth be told, I have been feeling quite boredtely, and you just so happened to appear at this juncture," the woman sighed.
Her voice was as pleasant as a warm spring breeze, and there was also a seductive quality to it that struck Gu Jie''s mind with a numbing sensation.
Chapter 257: Returning a Favor
Chapter 257: Returning a Favor
"How dare you try to bewitch me!" Gu Jie yelled in a thunderous voice that instantly drowned out the woman''sughter.
With a flick of his wrist, a burst of spatial fluctuations erupted in front of him, and an azure flying sword shot out of thin air, hurtling directly toward the woman.
The woman didn''t appear to have done anything in response, but the snow lotus flower beneath her suddenly began to glow with dazzling radiance, and a pristine flower petal rose up in front of her like a shield.
A sharp ng rang out as the tip of the azure flying sword pierced about an inch into the flower petal, but it was unable to progress any further than that.
Gu Jie made a hand seal and began to chant an incantation upon seeing this, and the runes on the azure flying sword suddenly lit up, while a tiny speck of azure light the size of a grain of rice emerged the tip of the flying sword, giving off a strong wood-attribute aura.
As the speck of azure light appeared, the entire flower petal began to turn from a pristine white color to a glowing jade-like color, and all of a sudden, the speck of azure light brightened drastically, following which a translucent azure thread shot out from within.
The azure thread was as thin as a strand of hair and appeared to have been extremely fragile, but it was astonishingly fast and instantly pierced through the flower petal before hurtling into the flower itself.
The masked woman''s expression stiffened slightly upon seeing this, and she swept the white flower in her hand toward the azure thread.
A pair of dull thuds rang out as the azure thread pierced through twoyers of flower petals before dissipating into nothingness, while two of the white petals of the flower that the woman was holding turned ck before wilting away and detaching themselves from the flower.
"Don''t you know you have to be gentle with women?"
The masked woman gently stroked the white flower with a displeased expression, then rose to her feet and flicked a finger toward the tip of the azure flying sword that had pierced into the snow lotus flower petal.
The azure flying sword instantly shuddered violently as if it had been dealt a heavy blow, then flew back through the air beforending in Gu Jie''s grasp.
As soon as Gu Jie closed his hand around the hilt of the flying sword, he was instantly struck by an itchy sensation in the palm of his hand, and he looked down to find that the hilt of the flying sword was covered in some type of pink powder.
Before he had a chance to let go of the sword, countless vibrant and colorful butterflies suddenly flew out of the pink powder, quickly enveloping his entire body.
Gu Jie''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and bright azure light erupted from all of the patterns on his suit of armor. A series of slender azure vines instantly emerged from his armor before spreading in all directions, swallowing up all of the butterflies and eradicating all of them in the blink of an eye.
However, he then discovered to his surprise that the masked woman and the white snow lotus flower were both nowhere to be seen, and even their auras hadpletely vanished.
He quickly swung around to inspect his surroundings, only to find that there was nothing around him, and even the snond down below had disappeared.
"An illusion like this won''t be enough to trap me!" Gu Jie scoffed, then closed his eyes and began to chant an incantation.
As he did so, a glimmer of azure light appeared in his hand, and all of the patterns on his suit of armor and the flying sword in his grasp lit up in unison, releasing a burst of dazzling green radiance.
Momentster, his eyes sprang open, and he gripped onto his sword with both hands before swinging it down in a forceful motion.
Seven massive azure sword projections, each of which was over 10,000 feet tall, appeared behind him in a sh, then came crashing down like falling mountains.
A string of resounding booms rang out in the air as the seven sword projections came crashing down one after another, causing the entire space to tremble violently.
However, after the tremors finally subsided, his surroundings remainedpletely empty, and nothing had changed.
Gu Jie''s expression finally changed slightly upon seeing this, and only now did hee to realize that he seemed to have been situated in a space of absolute nothingness.
Right at this moment, the masked woman''s voice rang out in the surrounding space. "I don''t think there''s a need for us to continue our battle any further beyond this point, Fellow Daoist Gu. How about we sit down and have a chat now?"
"What do you want to talk about?" Gu Jie asked.
"I''ve already gathered some information about the situation, and it seems like the people you''re looking for were only carrying out a mission for the Transient Guild, so they haven''t done anything wrong," the masked woman said.
"That''s preposterous! They killed a True Immortal cultivator of our Immortal Pce who was extremely likely to be a Heavenly Pill Master, yet you say that they did nothing wrong? In that case, am I not also well within my rights to seek vengeance for Ping Yaozi?" Gu Jie countered in an enraged voice.
"It''s true that you''re not at fault, either, except they only killed a single member of your Immortal Pce, yet you''ve already killed far more than just one member of the ze Dragon Dao. Am I correct in saying that?" the masked woman asked.
"How could those people possiblypare with Ping Yaozi?" Gu Jie scoffed.
"That''s your perspective on this matter. From my perspective, you''ve already gone too far, and it''s time that you stopped," the masked woman replied in a calm voice.
"I''m not going to stop pursuing this matter until the other two perpetrators are also dead!" Gu Jie harrumphed coldly.
A cold look finally appeared on the masked woman''s face upon hearing this, and she said, "I''m only willing to negotiate with you as you''re a member of the Northern cial Immortal Pce. If you continue to be so rude and unreasonable, then even if I can''t kill you here, I can at least seal 12 of your immortal acupoints and severely suppress your power.
¡°The Immortal Pce isn''t going to dere war on both the ze Dragon Dao and the Transient Guild at once over a Golden Immortal like yourself. Otherwise, you wouldn''t havee here alone."
Gu Jie finally fell silent upon hearing this.
"I can turn a blind eye to the people that you''ve killed up to this point as long as you don''t go any further than this. If you know what''s good for you, then you''d leave the Ancient Cloud Continent right away."
The masked woman''s voice grew fainter and fainter, and all of a sudden, a burst of light appeared above Gu Jie, following which several massive flower petals opened up to release him from the space that he was trapped in.
Immediately thereafter, the giant white snow lotus flower vanished on the spot amid a sh of white light.
Gu Jie remained hovering in mid-air for a while with a contemtive look on his face, then finally flew away toward the north as a streak of azure light.
Half a dayter, on a nameless mountain range in the ze Dragon Dao.
Inside the belly of the mountain was arge circr altar, around which stood eight ck stone pirs. There was a lit brazier on each of the stone pirs, within which some type of oil was burning, giving off a crimson glow that illuminated the entire surrounding space.
A tall and broad figure in a ck cloak with an azure deer mask on his face was pacing back and forth on the altar while rubbing his hands together, appearing to be quite anxious and agitated.
It was none other than Qilin 9.
He had already heard about all of the Transient Guild members that had been killed within the territory of the ze Dragon Dao, and through his sources in the guild, he had deduced that the Golden Immortal Stage elder of the Northern cial Immortal Pce was responsible for all the killings.
He had originally nned to find an excuse to leave the sect and travel to some secluded region, only returning to the sect after making a breakthrough to the Golden Immortal Stage, but right as he was about to set off, he received a message from a high-ranking member of the Transient Guild, instructing him to remain within this mountain in the Bell Toll Mountain Range for his own safety, and to await further news.
However, close to a year had already passed by with not a single update, and he was starting to grow quite concerned.
Right at this moment, a burst of white light appeared at the center of the altar, and a white snow lotus flower appeared before blooming to reveal a woman in a white dress.
"Dao Lord Yun... I mean, Senior Qilin 3," Qilin 9 hurriedly greeted.
"The matter concerning Gu Jie has already been settled, but I''d advise you not to set foot on the Infernal Frost Continent for the next 1,000 years," the woman dered in an indifferent voice.
"Thank you, Senior Qilin 3," Qilin 9 hurriedly said in a respectful voice as he extended a deep bow.
"I''ve repaid you for the favor that I owe you, and I won''t intervene even if you get yourself into any further trouble from now on, so do try to be more prudent in your future decision-making," the woman said, then vanished from the spot amid a sh of white light.
Qilin 9 could only extend a parting bow with a wry smile on his face.
After that, he removed his deer mask, and his body abruptly shrank down into a short and stocky man wearing avish golden robe. It was none other than Xiong Shan.
¡¡
To the east of the Ancient Cloud Continent was a deep blue sea that hadn''t frozen solid.
Within this region of the sea was a ring-shaped coral ind, beneath which was a trench that was over 100,000 feet deep.
At the bottom of the trench was a gray stone monument that was over 100 feet tall, and it was riddled with holes of different depths and sizes from the erosion of the surrounding seawater. Furthermore, it was covered in ayer of ck seaweed, making it appear identical from the average rock on the seabed.
As it turned out, this gray stone monument was actually the entrance of a secret area under the jurisdiction of the ze Dragon Dao.
On a white stone za hovering in the air above a lush mountain within the secret area was Han Li, who was peering into the distance with his hands resting on the railing in front of him.
He could see a series of tall mountains that were covered in lush undergrowth, all of which were suspended in mid-air. The bases of the mountains werepletely disconnected from the ground, and there were only countless lush green vines trailing down from the mountains into the gray mist below.
This secret area was filled with thousands of these floating mountains, and the entire area was filled with abundant world''s origin qi. All of the mountains wereden with all types of premium spirit medicines, including ones that were ingredients required to refine various types of earthly pills.
Beneath these floating mountains was a bottomless mist-filled canyon, within which resided many strange humanoid creatures with grayish-white skin.
There were no books or records that assigned any names to these creatures, so those in the ze Dragon Dao referred to them as "white ghosts".
Under normal circumstances, these white ghosts wouldn''t leave the canyon to venture onto the floating mountains, but once every few years, the mist within the canyon would spill over and rise up toward the floating mountains up above without any warning.
Whenever this happened, arge number of white ghosts woulde rushing out of the canyon before climbing onto the floating mountains to devour the spirit nts growing upon them, and whenever any cultivators tried to stop them, battles would ensue.
These white ghosts weren''t all that formidable individually, but their numbers were vast, and they had no regard for their own safety, so neither the cultivators nor the white ghosts had been able to gain the upper hand during therge-scale conflicts that had arisen between the two parties throughout history.
In order to keep these white ghosts at bay once and for all, a dao lord of the ze Dragon Dao who was proficient in the art of arrays had set up powerful restrictions on the bases of the floating mountains that were able to keep the rising mist at bay, thereby preventing the white ghost invasions altogether.
However, people soon noticed that without the mist rising up from the canyon once every few years, the number of spirit nts on the floating mountains steadily declined year after year, to the point that some of the more prized species of spirit nts went extinct altogether.
Only then did the cultivators of the ze Dragon Daoe to realize that this secret area contained a unique symbiotic ecosystem, and that it was not to be tampered with without consequences.
After that, the dao lord removed the restrictions, and an order was also released prohibiting members of the ze Dragon Dao from engaging the white ghosts in battle unless they appeared on the floating mountains in areas that weren''t epassed within the mist.
Furthermore, in order to prevent unforeseen mishaps, there was arge number of Spatial Tempering Stage disciples and puppets stationed in the secret area, and at least one True Immortal Stage elder was also required to be present in the secret area at all times.
Han Li was currently serving as the True Immortal Stage elder overseeing proceedings in this secret area.
Chapter 258: Opening the Box
Chapter 258: Opening the Box
Han Li was looking out at the unique scenery of the secret area with a rather absentminded expression, and it was clear that his mind was elsewhere.
He had already been here for over a month, and during that time, he had determined that the only way to enter and exit this ce was through that sole entrance. Hence, he had set up some restrictions at the entrance and also left a wisp of his spiritual sense behind so that he would be alerted in advance if Gu Jie were to evere after him in this secret area.
Of course, the fact that there was only a single entrance and exit meant that it was also rather troublesome for him to escape this ce.
In order to resolve this issue, Han Li had made a trip to the southern end of the Ancient Cloud Continent beforeing here, and there, he had carved out a cave on a secluded cliff face near the Thunderstorm Sea.
Inside the cave, he had used nine lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood to set up a stable lightning array that could facilitate ultra long-distance teleportation, and he had also left a spiritual mark there.
As a result, whenever he used his lightning array for teleportation, he would be able to instantly teleport himself to that cave thanks to the spiritual mark that he had left there.
Even if Gu Jie really were to track him down to this ce, he would be able to instantly teleport himself to the cave before fleeing into the Thunderstorm Sea, and there was a very good chance that he would be able to escape.
However, due to the fact that the lightning array was constantly active, it was constantly using up the power of lightning within the lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood, so it would only be able tost no more than a century before going defunct.
"I''ve done everything that I can, so there''s no point in worrying about things outside of my control," Han Li murmured to himself, then turned and made his way toward the cave abode on the other side of the za.
After returning to the secret chamber in the cave abode, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed, then flipped a hand over to produce two thin sheets of yellow paper, which he began examining closely.
The two sheets of paper contained the recipes for the Origin Unifying Pill and the Spring Rain Pill.
In order to advance his own cultivation base as quickly as possible, he would have to refinerge batches of earthly pills to enhance his progress.
At this point, he had already be quite skilled at refining Origin Unifying Pills, achieving a far higher sess rate than before. He had never refined any Spring Rain Pills, but he was confident that it wouldn''t have been very difficult thanks to his Mantra Treasured Axis.
He also had a decent supply of ingredients required to refine these two types of pills, but in order to n for the future, he had still nted most of his spirit medicine seeds in the private spirit medicine garden in his cave abode.
He knew that even though he had obtained two earthly pill recipes, his body would eventually begin to develop tolerance if he were to repeatedly consume the same types of pills, and once that happened, the pills would no longer be as efficacious as before.
Hence, he required a more diverse range of earthly pill recipes.
For this purpose, he had released a mission in the Transient Guild, expressing a desire to exchange resources for earthly pill recipes, but pill recipes of this caliber were extremely rare and precious, and he hadn''t been able to secure any further recipes through that avenue.
All of a sudden, he flipped a hand over to produce a purple jade box, the very same one that had once belonged to Ping Yaozi.
The fact that the box had been so closely guarded by someone who was close to bing a Heavenly Pill Master indicated that whatever was inside had to have been extremely precious, and there was a chance that it contained Ping Yaozi''s collection of pill recipes.
He swept his gaze over the patterns on the surface of the purple box, then flipped a hand over to summon around a dozen ck gs, each of which was only around an inch in size. The gs were made from a ck metallic material with manyplex patterns engraved onto them.
Han Li nted these metal gs in a circle into the stone ground, then raised a finger and began inscribing lines onto the ground in between the gs.
Before long, a tiny yetplex array had taken shape on the ground.
Han Li set the purple jade box down onto the center of the array, then made a hand seal as he began to chant an incantation.
As he did so, all of the patterns on the ck gs and the array engraved into the ground lit up in unison.
A burst of dazzling light then erupted out of the array at Han Li''s behest to swallow up the entire purple jade box, and the silver talisman that was adhered tightly to the box suddenly erupted into mes.
The mes illuminated all of the patterns engraved onto the surface of the box, giving it a glittering and translucent appearance, as if it were a gorgeous piece of purple crystal. However, Han Li didn''t get a chance to appreciate its beauty as the box had suddenly began to tremble violently, and the patterns on its surface were glowing brighter and brighter, looking as if they were about to crack open.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
In doing so, he discovered that there were secret runes engraved onto the interior of the box, and all of these runes had lit up, initiating a self-destruct sequence to destroy the jade box and its contents.
There were twoyers of restrictions ced upon the jade box, and if one were to only remove the silver talisman, the secret runes on the inside of the box would be activated to destroy everything.
In this tense situation, Han Li immediately summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, and it appeared behind him in the form of a golden wheel that was around a foot in size, slowly revolving in mid-air.
The Mantra Treasured Axis began to revolve faster at his behest, and it released countless golden ripples that spread through the air in all directions, instantly epassing the entire surrounding area in a radius of 100 feet.
All of a sudden, everything in the secret chamber aside from Han Li himself was slowed down.
The runes within the purple jade box had been shing so quickly that it had appeared as if they had been glowing continuously this entire time, and only now that they had been slowed down did Han Li discover that they were actually shing.
He immediately made a rapid string of hand seals before quickly rearranging the ck gs with both hands, creating a brand new miniature array in the blink of an eye.
After that, the new array began to radiate dazzling light at his behest, and a burst of ck light shot out of the ck gs like miniature arrows before hurtling into the box.
Inside the jade box, the light glowing from the concealed runes faded, and the me that was burning outside the box also gradually shrank down.
By the time the me waspletely snuffed out, the patterns on the box had also fallen dark, and the box opened up on its own with a faint crack.
Han Li withdrew the Mantra Treasured Axis back into his own body, then reached out to make a grabbing motion, drawing the purple jade box into his grasp.
He had already set up a high-level restrictive array outside the secret chamber, so he wasn''t concerned that the jade box would contain some type of secret mechanism that would expose his current location.
He peered into the box to find that it waspletely empty with the exception of a stack of thin golden pagesying at the bottom.
Han Li released his spiritual sense to verify that there weren''t any spiritual marks nted on the pages, and only then did he pick them up for a closer examination.
The words "Growth Bearing Pill" were inscribed on the top sheet of paper in ancient text, and below that was the recipe and refinement method for the pill.
An ted look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this. Just as he expected, the box contained Ping Yaozi''s collection of pill recipes.
After briefly reading through the first page in the stack, he flipped through a dozen or so of the pages that came after the first one, and to his tion, he discovered that most of them were earthly pill recipes. Including the recipe for the Growth Bearing Pill, there were as many as seven earthly pill recipes.
However, this made sense to him after he considered the fact that Ping Yaozi already possessed the ability to refine dao pills prior to his demise.
With these seven earthly pill recipes in addition to the recipes for the Origin Unifying Pill and the Spring Rain Pill, he wasn''t going to have to dedicate any time and energy to searching for more earthly pill recipes anytime soon.
ording to the description of the pill enclosed in the recipe, Han Li was able to confirm beyond a reasonable doubt that the vial of yellow pills he had obtained from Ping Yaozi earlier was a vial of Growth Bearing Pills.
These pills seemed to have been of a higher caliber than Spring Rain PIlls, and of course, the spirit medicines used for their refinement were all extremely precious.
Thankfully, this secret area of floating mountains was a natural treasure trove of spirit medicines, so he could source many of the ingredients here, and given his status, the sect definitely wasn''t going toe after him if he only collected a batch of spirit medicines that were no more than 100 years of age.
After that, he would just have to nurture those spirit medicines to the correct age with the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial, and he could purchase any ingredients that he couldn''t find with Immortal Origin Stones.
Han Li suppressed the tion in his heart as he picked up the jade box, and he was just about to put all of the pill recipes back into the box when he suddenly noticed that something didn''t seem to have been quite right with the bottom of the box.
He flipped a hand over to produce a dagger that was as thin as a willow leaf, then plunged it into the edge of the jade box before gently prying it upward.
A faint crack rang out, and a purple jade board that was as smooth as a mirror was pried up from the bottom of the box.
The jade board wasn''t much thicker than a sheet of paper, and Han Li picked it up before carefully examining it.
With the light of the mes in the secret chamber, he could see that the jade board was riddled with countless extremely thin runes that were interconnected to form an extremelyplex design.
Han Li released his spiritual sense to epass the jade board, and as soon as his spiritual sense came into contact with the board, ayer of golden light instantly rose up from all of the patterns on its surface, releasing a series of golden runes that repelled his spiritual sense.
After a few more attempts, he was still unable to make any progress, so he could only give up on this endeavor for now.
It wasn''t that he couldn''t forcibly bypass the golden light barrier with his spiritual sense. Instead, he simply didn''t want to risk breaking the jade board as he had a feeling that it was something quite precious.
In the end, he could only ce the jade board back into the box along with the pill recipes before stowing the box away again.
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air, and a gray stone cauldron appeared in front of him amid a sh of light beforending on the ground with a dull thud.
Chapter 259: Busy at Work
Chapter 259: Busy at Work
The stone cauldron was the same one that he had obtained from the monkey king, and the monkey wine inside had already been removed, but due to the fact that the monkey wine had been in there for a long time, it was still giving off a faint wine aroma.
Han Li took a deep breath, then quickly made a string of strange hand seals.
Bursts of azure light flew out of his palms in session beforending upon the stone cauldron, and the eightrge runes engraved onto its surface instantly began to glow with silver light.
It worked!
Han Li was ecstatic to see this.
Sure enough, the treasure refinement method that he had obtained from Qilin 9 was effective on this cauldron.
More incantation seals continued to fly out of his hands as he began to chant and incantation, and the light radiating from the runes on the stone cauldron became brighter and brighter.
A string of faint cracks rang out from the cauldron, and a series of patterns simr to the veins of the a leaf appeared on its surface before also radiating dazzling silver light.
Chunks of stone slid off the cauldron amid the silver light before crashing to the ground, and as a result, the cauldron rapidly shrank in size, reduced to only around half its original size before too long.
By the time all of the silver light faded, the original stone cauldron had been reced by a silver pill cauldron withplex patterns engraved onto its surface. Those eight runes were still present, but they had be even more beautiful and intricate than before.
Refining pills in a cauldron like this must have many benefits.
After taking a moment to observe the material and the aura of the cauldron, he discovered that it wasn''t inferior to Ping Yaozi''s golden cauldron in the slightest.
All of a sudden, a fiery silver figure that was no more than two feet tall flew out of his body amid a sh of silver light, and it jumped onto the ground before immediately having its attention drawn to the pill cauldron before it. It took a few nces at the cauldron, then looked back at Han Li before circling around the cauldron.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he issued an instruction to the silver figure, and it immediately jumped into the lid of the cauldron. Immediately thereafter, its round cheeks began to bulge, and a massive burst of fire that waspletely disproportionate to its own body came surging out of its mouth.
The silver me swept through the air in an arc, then flew under the cauldron and immediately began to burn fiercely.
As this happened, a wave of scorching heat spread through the entire secret chamber.
A short whileter, all of the spirit patterns on the silver cauldron lit up, and it gradually took on a crimson hue, while the cauldron itself also rose up into the air while swaying slightly from side to side.
The tiny silver figure seated on the lid of the cauldron seemed to have been greatly intrigued by this, and it scooted over to the edge of the cauldron''s lid, swaying with the cauldron while its little legs were dangling over the edge of the lid.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li summoned a batch of around a dozen spirit medicines, including a ze Tuber Herb.
He then rubbed his hands together momentarily, and all of the spirit medicines were instantly reduced to medicinal powder.
Immediately thereafter, he brought two of his fingers together before raising them up, and the cauldron of the lid beneath the tiny silver figure instantly flew up into the air at his behest.
The medicinal powder that was suspended in mid-air was drawn into the cauldron by a burst of invisible force, following which the lid of the cauldron also fell into ce with an audible click.
Immediately thereafter, the eight runes on the silver cauldron lit up one after another.
The silver me beneath the cauldron seemed to have been restricted by some type of invisible force, causing it to twist and swirl, bing a miniature fiery tornado that enveloped the entire cauldron.
The fiery silver figure seated on the cauldron''s lid instantly transformed into a silver fire raven as it flew into the fiery tornado to be one with it.
The fiery tornado abruptly shuddered, and the heat radiating from it increased by several fold.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this.
At this rate, it was going to take far less time to refine this batch of pills, but the sess rate was still yet to be seen.
Time slowly passed by, and Han Li was asionally using his Mantra Treasured Axis for assistance during the pill refinement process. The cauldron was radiating rainbow light, but no medicinal aroma had begun to waft out of the cauldron up to this point.
Around 16 hourster, the rainbow light glowing from the cauldron suddenly faded, and the cauldron reverted back to its original silver color, except some parts were red-hot.
The silver me swept back before converging to reform a fiery silver figure, which flew out from under the cauldron beforending on Han Li''s shoulder.
A loud ng rang out as the silver cauldronnded back on the ground.
Han Li''s brows were slightly furrowed as he approached the cauldron, then gently swept a sleeve toward it.
The lid of the silver cauldron was removed, and an extremely rich medicinal aroma instantly wafted out to fill the entire secret chamber.
Han Li peered into the cauldron to find 16 golden pillsying inside, and they were still giving off faint wisps of white mist from the residual heat that they retained.
This is incredible! Not only has this cauldron significantly shortened the time required to refine these pills, it''s also produced a farrger batch than usual!
Han Li suppressed his tion as he stored the pills into a jade vial, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon another batch of ingredients to refine some more pills.
¡¡
Several monthster, the silver mes within the secret chamber faded, and a silver fire raven flew out from under the cauldron. It transformed into a fiery silver figure thatnded on the ground, then skipped over to Han Li before climbing up onto his shoulder along his robes.
There was a slightly weary look on Han Li''s face as he turned to the fiery silver figure with a smile, then made his way over to the silver cauldron.
The lid of the cauldron flew off at his behest, and a rich medicinal aroma was instantly released.
Han Li made a grabbing motion to pull out the pills in the cauldron for an examination, and he discovered that they had a bright green hue and each of them was around the same size as a longan.
"Not bad! 11 pills is already a lot more than I would normally be able to refine in one batch," he remarked to himself as he flipped a hand over to store the pills into a white jade vial.
A thought then suddenly urred to him, and he sat down with his legs crossed before flipping a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask, which he promptly put on.
A massive array was projected onto the wall of the secret chamber amid a sh of azure light, and Han Li began to carefully inspect the missions column on the left side of the array.
After a long while, he withdrew his gaze before removing his mask, and a grim look appeared on his face as he heaved a faint sigh.
Heh ad noticed that all of the missions released by Qilin 17 had disappeared. Barring the extremely slim chance that all of the missions had been withdrawn orpleted, something had to have happened to him or his Transient Guild mask.
Han Li took a moment to check the spiritual marks that he had left at the entrance of this secret area and the cliff near the Thunderstorm Sea, and both of them were still intact.
Around a dozen years passed by in the blink of an eye.
He had spent half of this time refining pills, and he had also derived many crystals containing thews of time using the Heaven Controlling Vial.
On this day, several dozen young men and women dressed in ze Dragon Dao disciple robes converged from directions,nding on the za in front of the entrance of Han Li''s cave abode.
Han Li was standing before them, and his gaze roamed over them as he called out a few names.
"Hu Zhen, Luo Tang, Xin Sui..."
The young men and women who had had their names called immediately stepped forward before cupping their fists toward Han Li in a collective salute.
All of them were at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage, and they were the most formidable ones among the disciples stationed in this secret area.
"I''m going into seclusion for a while, so I''ll be counting on you to take care of all of the affairs in the secret area. There''s no need to report to me unless something important or urgent arises," Han Li instructed.
"Yes, Elder Li," the disciples answered in unison.
"I''ll be leaving a secret talisman with you. If you encounter a situation that you can''t handle on your own, just inject your spiritual power into the talisman, and it''ll fly into my cave abode to notify me," Han Li said.
The disciples gave an affirmative response once again.
A dark-skinned young man stepped forward to ept the secret talisman with both hands as he said, "Rest assured, Elder Li, we''ll be sure to perform our duties diligently."
Han Li nodded in response as he waved a dismissive hand and said, "Alright, you can all go now."
Everyone extended a collective parting salute, then flew away as streaks of light.
Close to a dayter, the mountain that Han Li was situated on began to shudder, and pirs of azure light rose up into the heavens, then converged in the sky to form a massive azure light barrier that epassed the entire mountain.
Inside a newly carved out giant cave on the mountain, there was a fire pit in the stone wall to the left, and on the stone table next to the fire pit were seven or eight different types of spirit materials.
The most eye-catching ones among them were around a dozen chunks of dark golden metal the size of human heads, and a fist-sized white rock with many flower-petal-like patterns on its surface.
These were none other than the Dendrobium Gold Essence and the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone.
Han Li was standing beside the fire pit, and he drew the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone into his grasp, gently massaging it to feel its warm and smooth texture.
During the time that he had spent in this secret area, he had been refining pills while keeping up with news from the ze Dragon Dao, and ording to his sources, it appeared that Gu Jie was no longer situated near the ze Dragon Dao.
Hopefully, he was forced away by a certain Golden Immortal of the sect.
Even so, Han Li still didn''t dare to underestimate the wrath of a Golden Immortal, so he didn''t let down his guard.
At this point, he had already refined quite arge number of pills, and he was nning to begin consuming these pills and resuming his cultivation soon.
However, prior to that, he had to refine his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords again.
He pointed a finger forward, and a joyful cry rang out within his body as the Essence Fire Raven flew out of his fingertip before hurtling into the fire pit, setting it alight.
A scorching silver me instantly appeared within the fire pit.
Chapter 260: Sword Refinement
Chapter 260: Sword Refinement
Han Li gently extended a hand forward, and the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone sitting on the palm of his hand slowly flew into the silver me, enveloped within a burst of immortal spiritual power.
The silver me immediately swallowed up the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone and began to burn it.
Time slowly passed by, but the white stone was still maintaining its original form, disying no changes at all.
Han Li remained unfazed as he made a hand seal while chanting an incantation, and rings of crimson light suddenly appeared around the fire pit, following which a series of antiquated-looking runes began to emerge.
Following the emergence of those runes, the silver mes within the fire pit instantly rose up, and it became enveloped by ayer of crimson light. There wasn''t much change to its heat, but it was giving off a type of peculiar fluctuations that were finally bringing about a slight change in the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone.
A sizzling sound rang out as the stone gradually began to melt within the silver mes, producing drops of waxy white liquid that hovered within the fire.
An extremely strong sandalwood aroma instantly filled the entire secret chamber.
Han Li immediately withdrew his outstretched hand upon seeing this, and the Jade Gleam Cloud Stone, which had alreadypletely liquefied at this point, was instantly pulled out of the fire by his immortal spiritual power.
He then reached out with his other hand, which was holding a ck stone vial with fiery red patterns all over its surface, and he used the vial to store the liquefied Jade Gleam Cloud Stone.
As soon as the white liquid flowed into the vial, a circle of runes instantly lit up on its surface, and the entire vial turned scorching hot, like a red-hot piece of metal.
Ayer of azure light appeared over Han Li''s hand, and he sealed the opening of the vial before setting it down onto the stone table beside him.
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air, and a chunk of Dendrobium Gold Essence rose up beforending in the fire pit.
This time, he made no hand seals to manipte the array in the fire pit. Instead, he made his way over to a stone tform at the center of the cave that was around half a foot tall, and he sat down with his legs crossed, allowing the silver me to melt the chunk of metal on its own.
All of the patterns on the surface of the chunk of Dendrobium Gold Essence began to give off a golden glow within the scorching me, but it disyed no signs of melting.
Han Li only took a brief nce at it before closing his eyes to rest.
Seven days and seven nightster.
The silver me was still raging within the fire pit, and at this point, the chunk of Dendrobium Gold Essence had already turned a crimson color. It was like a chunk of melting ice, and drops of molten golden liquid were dripping down from it.
Beneath it was a ck stone vial that was twice asrge as the one from before, and it was catching all of the drops of molten golden liquid.
Only after another entire day had passed by did the chunk of Dendrobium Gold Essencepletely melt into liquid.
Han Li opened his eyes and strode forward to retrieve the ck stone v, then sent another chunk of Dendrobium Gold Essence flying into the fire pit.
Three monthster.
Inside the cave, Han Li was standing beside the fire pit, holding a book with a beasthide cover in one hand. He was reading the book with a look of concentration on his face while scribbling something into the air with the index finger of his other hand.
Several thousand yellow pages were strewn across the stone tform beside him, and there was a series of extremely strange-looking patterns inscribed onto every single one of them.
The patterns on the sheets of paper near the bottom were extremely thick and chaotic, but the closer to the top one looked, the more slender and orderly the patterns they would find.
The patterns on the four sheets of paper at the top were already extremely intricate, resembling fourrge circr flowers.
The only part of the stone tform that wasn''tden with sheets of paper was its upper left corner, and there were around a dozen vials of different sizes ced there, containing all of the spirit liquids required for the uing sword refinement.
Aside from the time that he spent on refining those spirit liquids, Han Li had spent all of the rest of his time on studying the smelting sword refinement technique recorded in the book that he was holding, as well as practicing the apanying array patterns.
Even though he had already made several thousand attempts, he was still not satisfied with the patterns that he was currently able to inscribe. He couldn''t shake the feeling that there was something missing, and that was why he had refrained frommencing the refinement process this entire time.
Momentster, Han Li set down the book and closed his eyes, seemingly having fallen into deep thought. He remained standing still on the spot while tracing his right index and middle fingers through the air, as if he were still visualizing the patterns.
After a long while, his eyes suddenly sprang open as if he had been struck by a spark of inspiration, and he quickly made his way over to the fire pit.
Ayer of golden scales appeared over his hand amid a sh of golden light, instantly covering his outstretched index and middle fingers.
After that, he crouched down beside the fire pit, plunging his fingers straight down into one of the rocks that had been used to construct the fire pit.
He then closed his eyes and rid himself of all unnecessary thoughts, immersing himself entirely in the vision of the patterns that he wanted to inscribe as his fingers began to carve through the rock.
Initially, his fingers were moving extremely slowly, taking a long time just to move a single inch. However, he then gradually sped up, and in the end, his fingers were virtually flying as hepleted a set of patterns in a smooth and flowing manner.
The pattern waspletely identical to the ones on the top four sheets of paper, except it was several timesrger, extending all the way down from the stone tform, with the majority of it stretching onto the ground below.
After carving out this first set of patterns, Han Li took a moment to rest, then exhaled as he made his way over to the right side and repeated the same process.
Some timeter, he rose to his feet as he slowly opened his eyes to find that another set of patterns had beenpleted. The two sets of patterns were in different positions, but were somehow connected, as if they were a single entity.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, and he rubbed his hands together, upon which the Essence Fire Raven flew out of his body before transforming into a silver me that began burning within the fire pit.
The entire cave was filled with waves of scorching heat, and Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a string of azure light.
The azure light then faded to reveal his 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, all of which were hovering in the air before him while giving off an azure glow.
With another sweep of his sleeve, all of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were sent flying into the fire pit.
The silver me within the fire pit instantly rose up to engulf the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, following which Han Li sat down with his legs crossed and began to chant an incantation while making a strange hand seal.
As his incantation continued, the array around the fire pit began to buzz audibly, and four pirs of golden light rose diagonally upward to meet at the center of the fire pit, forming a golden light barrier that epassed both the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and the Essence Fire Raven.
Momentster, Han Li spread his fingers open, then raised both hands slightly, and the sound of stoppers being pulled out of vials rang out as all of the spirit liquid within the dozen or so vials flowed out before surging into the golden light barrier.
Through the golden light barrier, Han Li could clearly see the molten Dendrobium Gold Essence splitting up on its own beforepletely enveloping every single one of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Immediately thereafter, all of the other types of spirit liquid also split themselves up into 72 parts before fusing into the molten Dendrobium Gold Essence on the surface of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Han Li closed his eyes again upon seeing this, then released his spiritual sense into the golden light barrier.
The light barrier shuddered slightly, and it instantly transformed into a five-colored light barrier.
At the same time, the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords also began to glow brightly with five-colored light, giving them a dazzling and spectacr appearance.
Two hours passed by before Han Li opened his eyes once again, and he opened his mouth to release a burst of nascent mes. The nascent mes passed through the five-colored light barrier without any impediment before fusing with the silver mes inside.
The two types of mes instantlybined before rising up as a pir of fire that enveloped all of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and all of a sudden, around a dozen of the flying swords suddenly began to struggle with all their might, releasing their sword qi as they frantically darted away in all directions.
Han Li instantly increased his spiritual sense output upon seeing this, establishing close contact with all of the flying swords at once to immediately quell the unrest.
I didn''t think there would still be some stubborn sword essence that hasn''t beenpletely refined. They were certainly concealing themselves very well...
Despite this unforeseen turn of events, Han Li felt himself to be quite fortunate.
Thankfully, the sword essence had reared its head now. If he had lost control of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords during a battle instead, then the consequences would''ve been catastrophic.
The sword essence that was still yet to be refined surged out of the flying swords within the scorching mes, then quickly disintegrated.
However, instead of being lost, the spiritual power that it was converted into was reabsorbed by the flying swords.
Even so, Han Li still didn''t let his guard down, continuing to control thebination of the silver me and his nascent me to refine the 72 flying swords. Over time, the rainbow coloration of the flying swords gradually began to fade.
49 dayster, the flying swords in the fire pit beneath the golden light barrier had turned as white and translucent as ice, looking almostpletely transparent.
Compared with before, the des of all of the flying swords had elongated by about an inch and also be much wider.
Han Li was inspecting these rather unfamiliar Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in an expressionless manner, and he swept a sleeve through the air once again.
The stopper of the final ck vial on the stone tform flew out at his behest, and the white spirit liquid inside emerged before surging into the golden light barrier and splitting up into 72 parts, each of which dripped onto one of the flying swords, producing a sound much like that of spring rain falling onto the parched earth.
All of the flying sword shuddered in unison, following which all of the spirit patterns on their surfaces lit up, and countless arcs of golden lightning sprang forth, intertwining to form a miniature forest of lightning that was crackling incessantly.
If it weren''t for the presence of the golden light barrier, the arcs of golden lightning would''ve most likely spilled out and destroyed the entire cave.
Chapter 261: Change In the Floating Mountains
Chapter 261: Change In the Floating Mountains
Han Li''s eyes were illuminated a golden color by the light barrier, and he activated his Spirit Refinement Technique before releasing his enormous spiritual sense. His spiritual sense passed through the light barrier, then split up into 72 parts before piercing straight into the golden lightning to control the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Under his control, the 72 flying swords shuddered in unison, following which all of the light glowing from them faded, and the arcs of golden lightning also slowly fused back into the swords before vanishing entirely.
Han Li then made a hand seal, and the array around the fire pit shed a few times before all of the pirs of golden light faded, leaving only the flying swords hovering within the mes.
After that, he opened his mouth and inhaled forcefully, upon which all of the nascent mes interspersed within the silver mes instantly swept back into his belly.
With the withdrawal of the nascent mes, the temperature of the fire was slightly lowered, while specks of azure light began to appear on the translucent jade-like Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, slowly restoring them back to their original azure color.
There was also faint golden light gleaming from the edges of the swords, forming a series of lightning-cloud-like golden patterns that were quite dazzling to behold.
Han Li swept his hands through the air, leaving trails of shimmering golden afterimages behind, and all of the flying swords instantly flew out of the silver fire as if they were living creatures before descending in front of him.
Han Li shed a fingernail across the palm of his hand to draw a drop of golden blood essence, which formed an egg-sized ball of blood that was scattered into 72 drops at his behest, with each drop spilling onto one of the flying swords, and they instantly vanished into the flying swords upon contact.
At the same time, Han Li could feel his connection with his flying swords bing stronger, and all of the familiarity that had arisen due to the change in the aura of his flying swords had vanished.
With another wave of his hand, the 72 flying swords shed with azure light once again, then flew back into the fire to continue the refinement process.
A short whileter, Han Li approached the fire with his eyes closed and began to engrave teh tiny array recorded on the beasthide book onto the flying swords with his spiritual sense.
¡¡
Close to a yearter, the azure array outside the floating mountain receded, and Han Li emerged from his cave abode with a calm and collected expression, but on the inside, he was quite ted.
The refinement of all 72 of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had beenpleted, and their appearance and the auras that they were giving off had undergone aplete change, while all of the sword essence that was still yet to be fully refined in the past had beenpletely absorbed, thereby significantly elevating the power of the swords.
What he was most pleased about was that due to the injection of blood essence into the flying swords following the refinement process, his connection with them had be stronger, and as a result, he was able to sense the astonishing spiritual nature that had developed within them.
It felt as if these swords were no longer just treasures, and they were now extensions of his own body instead.
Situated in this secret area, he didn''t have time to test out their power, but he was certain that they would''ve been far more formidable than before.
On the za outside the cave abode, Hu Zhen and the other disciples had already been waiting for quite some time. Han Li enquired them about the situation in the secret area, then rewarded them with some spirit stones.
After that, he asked them about what had been happening in the ze Dragon Dao, but due to the fact that most of them had been in this secret area this entire time, they weren''t able to provide many answers.
There was only a single disciple who had only recently arrived in the secret area, but he had no noteworthy news to share, and that clearly reflected that nothing of importance had happened in the sect, something that Han Li was quite relieved to hear.
Time slowly passed by, and several yearster, Han Li finally learned by chance through the Transient Guild that Gu Jie had been forced out of the ze Dragon Dao by a high-ranking member of the Transient Guild, and he felt as if a load had been lifted from his shoulders.
Not long after that, all of the arrays around the floating mountain that he was situated on were activated once again.
¡¡
200 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
Within the secret area of floating mountains, there were seven or eight young men in ze Dragon Dao disciple robes waiting anxiously outside a floating mountain that was enveloped in ayer of azure light.
A young man with a round face turned to the dark-skinned young man by the name of Hu Zhen as he asked, "What do we do, Senior Martial Brother Hu? The mist in the canyon is behaving very strangely. In the past, it would only take a month at most for it to recede, but it''s already been over three months, and it''s still showing no signs of receding. In fact, it''s only risen up higher the past few days."
"Prior to going into seclusion, Elder Li told us that this is an extremely important seclusion for him, so we''re not to disturb him unless an urgent situation arises. If we contact him over something like this and disrupt his cultivation, only for it to be a false rm, then who''s going to bear the consequences?" Hu Zhen asked.
"But Elder Li has already been in seclusion for close to a century, and no one knows when he''s going toe out. What if what''s happening in the canyon right now affects the spirit medicine harvest? If that happens, we''ll be in deep trouble regardless," the round-faced young man countered with an urgent expression.
Everyone else nodded in agreement with the round-faced young man''s statement.
Hu Zhen''s brows were tightly furrowed, and after extensive consideration, he decided, "Alerting Elder Li right away is definitely not the right course of action to take. We have to figure out exactly what''s happening in the canyon before we make a decision.
¡°For now, keep an eye on the mist and look out forrge-scale white ghost invasions. I''ll think of a way to find out what''s happening down there, and if it''s a problem that we can''t resolve on our own, then we''ll have to disturb Elder Li."
The round-faced young man nodded in response.
However, his expression then suddenly changed slightly as he turned toward the floating mountain enveloped within the azure light.
Ferocious gusts of wind had suddenly begun to sweep through the sky, and clouds were converging from all directions, quickly forming a massive gray cloud that epassed a vast area.
Streaks of five-colored light that resembled shooting stars were shing incessantly through the cloud, and the light was gradually bing brighter and more stable.
"Is Elder Li about to make a breakthrough?" the round-faced young man eximed.
"It appears so," Hu Zhen replied.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the gray cloud in the sky began to revolve in a frenzy, and a beam of five-colored light that was formed by the world''s origin qi cascaded down from the heavens, epassing the entire mountain.
Everyone felt the air tighten around them, as if some type of invisible restriction had suddenly appeared, striking them with a sense of difort.
Right at this moment, a loud and insistent buzzing sound began to ring out from the canyon down below.
Hu Zhen''s expression instantly changed slightly upon hearing this sound, and he hurriedly yelled, "Something''s happening down there! We have to go!"
Immediately thereafter, he swooped toward the canyon down below, and everyone else also followed suit without any hesitation.
The group of disciples passed by hundreds of floating mountains during their descent, and they were joined by more and more ze Dragon Dao disciples, gradually forming an army of over 1,000 cultivators.
Aside from the handful of leaders of the disciples, who were at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage, the majority of the rest of the disciples were at the early-Spatial Tempering Stage, and most of them had already been stationed in this secret area for several centuries.
Everyone knew that this buzzing sound indicated that the mist had already risen up to the previous highest point recorded in history, which meant that around a dozen additional mountains were going to be swallowed up by the mist, and the precious spirit medicines growing on them would be devoured by the white ghosts.
After flying downward for several hundred kilometers, the disciples finally caught sight of the mist, which was as dense as a dark cloud.
Mountains that had never been swallowed up by the mist before currently being quickly inundated, and countless shadowy figures could be seen rushing through the mist while letting loose feral roars.
"How is this happening?" the round-faced young man eximed with an incredulous expression.
"Junior Martial Brother, you have the secret talisman that Elder Li gave to us. Go and wait outside his mountain, and if we''re unable to keep the white ghosts at bay, use the talisman to contact Elder Li right away!" Hu Zhen said in an urgent voice, and the round-faced young man immediately nodded in response.
"Elder Li is currently in the middle of a breakthrough, so you absolutely must not use the talisman unless we''re being overwhelmed by the enemy," Hu Zhen cautioned.
"Yes, Senior Martial Brother Hu," the round-faced young man replied with a solemn nod, then immediately turned around and began flying directly upward.
There was a concerned look on Hu Zhen''s face as he turned to everyone else and yelled, "Set up the Azure Light Flight Restriction Array!"
All of the disciples immediately gave a collective affirmative response, while the peak-Spatial Tempering Stage disciples around Hu Zhen split up in all directions, with each of them leading several hundred disciples to different parts of the secret area.
All of the disciples then each summoned arge azure g in an orderly fashion before tossing it forward and making a string of hand seals while chanting an incantation. The entire process appeared to have been extremely well-rehearsed.
As the incantation rang out, all of the runes on the azure gs lit up in unison, releasing bursts of azure light that interconnected with one another to form an enormous azure light barrier above the rising mist.
Inside the canyon, the dense mist was churning in a frenzy like a pot of boiling water, and it began to rise up at a rate that was several times faster than before, reaching the azure light barrier in mere moments.
The sound of howling wind rang out from deep within the canyon, and the churning mist struck the azure light barrier, causing it to ripple and sway violently.
All of the ze Dragon Dao disciples above the light barrier were gripping tightly onto the shafts of their gs with both hands while spiritual light radiated from their bodies as they struggled to stabilize the array with all their might. Some of the disciples among them with lesser cultivation bases were already swaying incessantly like small rafts in a turbulent sea.
Right at this moment, countless humanoid figures suddenly began to shoot up rapidly from the dense mist down below, crashing violently into the azure light barrier amid a string of dull thuds.
The ze Dragon Dao disciples looked down to find countless hideous white ghosts springing up out of the mist before crashing into the light barrier as if they had gone insane.
This was extremely strange and inexplicable behavior from the white ghost, and it looked as if they had no regard for their own lives.
In fact, some of them were crashing into the light barrier with such violent force that their heads were split open, sending intracranial fluids sshing down into the mist below.
Hu Zhen''s expression became even more concerned upon seeing this.
Chapter 262: Coming Out of Seclusion
Chapter 262: Coming Out of Seclusion
At this point, the massive gray cloud in the sky had already turned into a five-colored cloud, and a huge hole appeared at its center, through which a ray of dazzling golden light was shining down directly upon the floating mountain below.
The entire mountain was basked in a bright golden glow, giving it the appearance of an incandescent mountain of gold.
Inside the secret chamber of his cave abode, Han Li''s eyes were tightly shut, and he was seated with his legs crossed with golden light radiating from his body, giving him the appearance of a golden deity.
Meanwhile, 11 specks of golden light were shing incessantly on his chest and abdomen, and not far away from, a fist-sized golden vortex was slowly taking shape.
Right at this moment, a loud rumbling sound akin to a thunderp rang out in the sky, and the entire five-colored cloud began to churn in a frenzy.
The cid-looking pir of golden light also shuddered before beginning to rapidly revolve, quickly transforming into a giant golden tornado that stood like a pir between heaven and earth.
A resounding boom rang out as the azure light barrier around the mountain was shattered by the giant pir of golden light, which then shone straight down into the cave abode on the mountain.
The entire floating mountain shuddered as it descended slightly, and a burst of violent shockwaves swept through the air in all directions.
The round-faced young man had only just begun to approach the mountain from below when he was struck by the shockwaves, and the protective spiritual light around his body was instantly dispelled while he was sent flying back through the air like a rucksack.
Only after crashing into a nearby mountain did hee to a rest, and an unnatural flush appeared on his face as he threw up a mouthful of blood.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his lips as he carefully stood in mid-air, ncing down at the canyon below before turning his gaze back to the mountain up above while holding tightly onto the silver talisman in his hand.
Upon entering the mountain, the pir of golden light disintegrated into countless specks of golden light that descended like rain.
Inside the secret chamber of the cave abode, Han Li''s eyes abruptly sprang open, and the golden vortex on his body began to rapidly revolve while releasing a burst of tremendous suction force.
The sound of howling wind rang out as the countless specks of golden light swept up the surrounding world''s origin qi before surging toward the vortex on Han Li''s body like a turbulent river, and his twelfth immortal acupoint was beginning to take shape!
Looking up the river of golden light descending down onto the mountain, the round-faced young man was astonished beyond words. He had witnessed breakthroughs from other immortals in the past, but never had he witnessed one quite so spectacr.
Right as he was looking up in shock and awe, a deafening boom suddenly rang out, followed by a chorus of rmed and agonized screamsing from the canyon down below.
It seemed that the situation was taking a turn for the worse, but as the round-faced young man looked down, he found his vision being obstructed by all of the mountains in the way, so he couldn''t see anything, and he was unsure of whether the other disciples were still able to hold on.
A conflicted look appeared on his face, and his grip tightened even further around the talisman. The palm of his hand was sweating profusely, and in the end, he gritted his teeth and injected a wisp of magic power into it.
A streak of azure light instantly flew out of the talisman before hurtling toward Han Li''s cave abode with a sharp screeching sound.
After that, the round-faced young man turned and rushed straight toward the canyon down below.
At this point, the situation had already erupted intoplete pandemonium.
The azure light barrier conjured up by the ze Dragon Dao had already been broken, and there only some parts of it were still intact, but it didn''t appear as if they were going to be able tost much longer.
Mist was already surging up through the broken parts of the light barrier, en route to swallowing up even more floating mountains.
The round-faced young man arrived just in time to see Hu Zhen leading the ze Dragon Dao disciples upward in a retreat with a grim look on his face.
As soon as he caught sight of the round-faced young man, he immediately approached him before asking, "Luo Tang, have you informed Elder Li of the situation?"
"I have, but he''s still currently in the middle of his breakthrough, and I don''t know when he''lle out of seclusion," Luo Tang replied.
"This is something that''s never happened before, and Elder Li is the only True Immortal Stage elder currently in this secret area. If he doesn''te out of seclusion soon..." Hu Zhen''s voice trailed off here, but what he was implying was very obvious.
All of a sudden, a thunderous roar rang out from down below, and countless white ghosts came surging out of the canyon, springing toward the floating mountains up above regardless of whether they were epassed within the mist or not.
All of the ze Dragon Dao disciples unleashed their treasures to intercept the white ghosts, and a fierce battle instantly ensued with countless white ghosts being in on the spot.
Even the white ghosts that weren''t sessfully intercepted weren''t able to survive for long out of the mist. All of them began clutching at their own throats as if they could breathe while their skin turned ck, and they began plummeting down toward the canyon in agony.
Even so, these white ghosts were still springing up without any regard for their own lives, and it was as if they had truly gone insane.
"What is going on?" Luo Tang murmured to himself with a stunned expression.
"I feel like... they''re running for their lives from something..." Hu Zhen said as a hint of fear shed through his eyes.
Right at this moment, another feral roar rang out, and this time, it sounded as if it wereing from somewhere very close.
A giant ck shadow suddenly sprang out of the dense mist, opening its cavernous mouth to swallow up around a dozen white ghosts at once before rapidly falling back.
Immediately thereafter, two more ck shadows darted out of another part of the mist to devour several dozen more white ghosts.
Whatever the creature was, it was concealed within the mist and moving so quickly that Luo Tang was unable to catch a clear glimpse of it at all.
"What is that thing?" he eximed in a horrified voice, to which Hu Zhen shook his head silently in response.
"What do we do? If we keep retreating, the entire annual harvest of spirit medicines will be gone, and the sect will be sure to punish us severely," Luo Tang said with a grim expression.
Hu Zhen''s brows were tightly furrowed as he took a nce upward, and he couldn''t help but feel a little discontent toward Han Li.
"We can''t keep retreating. Ignore those white ghosts and focus on dealing with that creature in the mist. All disciples, heed my call! Assemble right away and prepare to face the enemy!" Hu Zhen yelled.
At this point, many of the ze Dragon Dao disciples were already beginning to panic, but they still heeded Hu Zhen''s call and began to converge toward him.
"Assemble the All-epassing Sword Array!" Hu Zhen yelled.
Everyone immediately sprang into action without any hesitation, rising up into the air atop their flying swords, while those who didn''t have any flying swords raised their hands to inject their magic power into the sword array.
The All-epassing Sword Array was a type of basic sword array that didn''t require anyplex setup. Instead, it was capable of unleashing enormous power as long as there was a sufficient number of flying swords assembled.
Thousands of flying swords rose up into the air between the floating mountains, and an enormous sword array quickly took shape.
Hu Zhen''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, clearly not expecting the sword array to be so formidable, and he was beginning to believe that perhaps they really would be able to y the beast within the mist.
"Attack!" Hu Zhen yelled, and everyone instantly heeded his call as the thousands of flying swords gathered together before plunging down toward the dense mist below like a waterfall of swords.
Countless white ghosts that were rushing out of the mist were instantly in by the swords, and all of a sudden, an earth-shattering roar rang out, following which the mist within the canyon began to rise up 10 times quicker than before, instantly swallowing up all of the oing flying swords.
A string of loud ngs rang out incessantly from within the mist as hundreds of flying swords were struck by a burst of tremendous force, sending them spiraling out of control and flying back out of the mist.
Some were even shattered outright, causing their wielders to throw up mouthfuls of blood from the resulting bacsh.
Nine mountainous ck serpentine heads emerged from the mist. Each head had a pair of golden eyes that were watching all of the disciples with cold disdain.
The heads were swaying slightly from side to side while flicking out their forked tongues repeatedly to produce a hissing sound.
All it took was a single nce from the serpentine beast for Hu Zhen to feel as if his entire body had been plunged into a cial pit, and he couldn''t muster up any courage to resist such a formidable creature.
The giant serpent was clearly below them, but he felt as if it were somehow looking down on them, and his heart was entirely filled with despair.
He wasn''t the only one who felt this way. All of the other disciples were also in such a state of despair and horror that they had even forgotten to run away.
Momentster, the nine giant serpentine heads shrank back in unison, preparing to spring up at the ze Dragon Dao disciples above.
"Get back, foul beast!"
Right at this moment, an extremely authoritative voice suddenly rang out up above.
Before everyone even had a chance to look up, they saw a streak of azure light sh before their eyes, following which a humanoid figure appeared among them.
It was a tall and imposing azure-robed figure with ayer of azure light around his body, giving him the appearance of a true deity.
"Elder Li!" Hu Zhen eximed, and his cries were quickly echoed by everyone else.
They were like drowning swimmers who had suddenly been saved right on the verge of death, and the tion and relief that washed over their bodies was so immense that they felt as if they could cry.
Meanwhile, the nine serpentine heads had already opened their cavernous mouths while springing up from down below.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a gentle breeze that carried all of the surrounding disciples to a safe distance away.
After that, he thrust a palm downward, releasing a burst of azure light, within which nine azure flying swords were circling around incessantly. The nine azure swords were releasing countless streaks of azure sword light that formed an azure light barrier, which epassed virtually the entire canyon.
These azure flying swords were none other than the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and in their current form, they were able to act independently as 72 swords, orbined to form nine swords, or just a single sword.
Chapter 263: Testing Out the Mantra Treasured Axis
Chapter 263: Testing Out the Mantra Treasured Axis
A resounding boom rang out as the nine serpentine heads struck the azure light barrier in unison before being repelled, while the light barrier remainedpletely unmoved.
Han Li made a hand seal, and all of the streak of azure swordlight instantly turned their tips downward in a uniform manner, and a menacing aura of killing intent began to spread through the air.
Looking at the vast sword array that Han Li had conjured up, Hu Zhen and other disciples felt as if their All-epassing Sword Array had been nothing more than a ragtag bunch of banditspared with a formidable regr army.
All of the streaks of swordlight plummeted out of the heavens at Han Li''s behest with glowing azure tails behind them, making it appear as if a spectacr storm of shooting stars were descending from above.
The nine serpentine heads had already retreated back into the dense mist, sensing the danger that was afoot.
However, the streaks of swordlight continued to pursue them, flying into the mist as well.
A string of earth-shattering booms rang out as several floating mountains were destroyed by the storm of swordlight, and there were naturally countless white ghosts that fell to the formidable barrage as well.
Momentster, a string of seven or eight agonized roars rang out from deep within the mist, and a cold smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he descended toward the mist himself.
He had only just descended into the mist when his brows furrowed ever so slightly. As it turned out, this mist was capable of keeping out spiritual sense.
Up above, all of the disciples were feeling extremely reassured at the sight of Han Li descending gracefully into the mist, and Luo Tang couldn''t help but praise, "Elder Li truly is a formidable sword immortal..."
For some reason, Hu Zhen was suddenly reminded of a rumor that had been spreading in the sect for many years.
Apparently, there had always been a mighty sword immortal who referred to themself as the "the number one sword cultivator of Heavenly South" hiding in the ze Dragon Dao.
However, this thought only shed through his mind for a moment. After all, it was apletely unsubstantiated rumor, and most of the people in the sect regarded it as a tall tale as none of the immortals in the sect even had any idea of where this Heavenly South was.
Inside the dense mist, Han Li''s eyes were shing with blue light as he sped downward, quickly descending several hundred kilometers. There were countless massive chunks of rocks hovering in the air around him, all of which were mountains that had been destroyed by the storm of swordlight he had just unleashed.
The canyon was far deeper than he anticipated, and even after descending for another several hundred kilometers, he still wasn''t able to see the bottom.
The surrounding area was extremely dim, and the mist was incredibly dense, severely limiting his spiritual sense so that he was only able to detect things in a radius of around 10,000 feet.
If it weren''t for his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he wouldn''t have been able to see anything.
Looking at all of the massive blurry shadows around him, he realized that there were massive mountains floating in the mist as well. In fact, there seemed to have been even more mountains in the misty canyon than above it.
Even though the nearby mountains werepletely enshrouded in mist, he could still see countless shadows scurrying over them, but he wasn''t sure if those shadowy figures were the remaining white ghosts.
He continued to plunge downward, getting closer and closer to his flying swords, and finally, after passing by yet another huge mountain, he spotted a glimmer of azure light deep within the mist.
The nine azure flying swords were enshrouded within a massive azure sword projection, which had been plunged into a massive ck mountain.
Before Han Li had a chance to get close, a low roar suddenly rang out, and Han Li took a closer look to find that rippling ck light was being reflected from all of the azure flying swords.
Thanks to the azure light radiating from the swords, he was able to see that an enormous serpentine body had wound itself around the entire mountain, and the nine giant serpentine heads were all pressed against the ground in a submissive fashion with a flying sword protruding out of each of them.
Only then did Han Li discover that what he had been hunting was a nine-headed serpent, rather than nine individual serpents.
At this moment, all of the heads of the giant serpent had already been pierced by swords, and the light in all of its eyes had already faded with the exception of one pair of eyes, which were still giving off a faint golden glow, but it didn''t appear as if it was going tost much longer, either.
Han Li made a beckoning motion with one hand, and the nine flying sword plunged into the serpentine heads instantly flew back, thenbined into a single azure longsword in mid-air before returning to his side.
He grabbed onto the hilt of the sword as he descended in front of the serpentine head that still held some signs of life, and he peered into its eyes.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he used the serpentine head as aunchpad to send himself flying back in retreat.
In the next instant, the serpentine head exploded violently, and a ck shadow sprang out from within, closing in on Han Li at an incredible speed.
Han Li focused his gaze on the approaching assant to find that it was a young man d in a suit of ck scale armor.
The young man had a pale face and a pair of extremely thin and long eyes that almost extended into the hair on his temples. He had a pair of pronounced cheekbones and only four sharp fangs in his mouth, nestled between which was a bright red forked tongue. Furthermore, there were four fist-sized fleshy lumps on each of his shoulders, giving it the appearance of a hideous demon beast that hadn''t fully manifested a human form yet.
The creature was hurtling through the mist at an incredible speed, holding a white bone spike that it was driving directly toward Han Li''s chest.
Han Lished out with his longsword at the white bone spike, and right as the two weapons were about to sh, the serpentine man suddenly sprang to the side, following which its neck elongated to over 10 times its original length, and it opened its mouth with the intention of sinking its fangs into Han Li''s neck.
A crisp ng rang out as the white bone spike was shattered by Han Li''s sword, but at the same time, the serpentine demon''s fangs had also reached Han Li''s throat.
Right as the creature was about to sink its fangs into Han Li''s neck, Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis suddenly appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
There were 24 semi-transparent Time Dao Runes glowing on the axis, and it was releasing a burst of extremely pronouncedw fluctuations that instanty epassed the entire surrounding area in a radius of 100 feet.
All of a sudden, everything in the surrounding area seemed to have fallenpletely still, and even the dense mist seemed to have congealed.
A horrified look appeared in the serpentine demon''s eyes. It didn''t feel as if it were being bound in any way, but somehow, its movements had be extremely slow, and its fangs were inching toward Han Li''s neck at an agonizingly slow rate. It could only watch helplessly as Han Li casually moved back to avoid the attack.
"Not bad," Han Li remarked to himself with a pleased smile, then closed a hand around the serpentine demon''s neck while raising his other hand to deal the killing blow.
He had intentionally allowed the serpentine demon to get close to him as he wanted to test out the power of his Mantra Treasured Axis. Otherwise, if he had gone all-out from the beginning, the serpentine demon would''ve already been long dead.
A sound akin to a watermelon being smashed open rang out, and it was also significantly elongated.
Han Li pulled a ck nascent soul that was still yet to be fully formed out of the serpentine demon''s broken head, then crushed it in between his hands.
After that, the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him slowly fused back into his body amid a sh of golden light.
Only then did everything in the surrounding area return to normal. The dense mist began to flow at the same speed as before, and the serpentine demon''s body also began to fall, but it was prevented from doing so as Han Li''s hand was still locked around its neck.
"Looks like the 24 Time Dao Runes haven''t affected the axis''s effective range, but its slowing effect has be far more potent. I''d say it''s currently able to slow things down to less than a tenth of their original speed," Han Li murmured to himself.
It had taken him a great deal of effort to open the twelfth acupoint, and it had taken as much time to open this single acupoint as it had taken him to open the 11 previous onesbined, and that that was only after he had taken a copious amount of precious pills to enhance his cultivation. Otherwise, it would''ve definitely taken at least 100 times the amount of time to achieve the same oue.
Now that he had reached the mid-True Immortal Stage and mastered the first level of the Mantra Axis Scripture, he could finally begin trying to master thews of time.
While these thoughts were running through his mind, Han Li made a beckoning motion to draw the serpentine demon''s body to his side, then pulled a slightly rank and odorous dark golden bead out of its chest before stowing it away.
After that, he casually tossed the serpentine demon''s body into the canyon, and it didn''t take long before the sound of a fight began to ring out.
It seemed that there were even more living creatures lurking deeper in the canyon, and they were fighting over the serpentine demon''s body.
Han Li peered into the depths of the canyon for a short while before withdrawing his gaze and making his way to the mountain that the nine-headed serpent was still coiled around. The carcass of the nine-headed serpent had already be dry and shriveled, transforming into a massive nine-headed slough.
By Han Li''s estimates, the serpentine demon was already close to the early-True Immortal Stage, but for some reason, it had only recently begun to shed its skin and adopt a human form. In order to aplish this, it had to devour a massive number of white ghosts for sustenance, and it had evene out of the canyon to hunt for ze Dragon Dao disciples.
After being wounded by Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, it had no choice but to forcibly adopt a human form, following which it was in.
With a sweep of Han Li''s sleeve, the slough was drawn into his storage bracelet. The slough was extremely sturdy and had some medicinal properties, so it was going to be very useful for pill refinement or to be used as a material for a suit of armor.
With the slough removed, the floating mountain down below was revealed, and patches of blue light appeared on its surface.
Han Li flew in for a closer look, and he discovered that there were several dozen crystalline blue nts growing on the mountain. They were very simr in appearance to orchids, except their leaves and petals were glittering and translucent.
However, they weren''t giving off any pronounced spiritual power fluctuations, and it seemed that they were only ordinary nts.
Right at this moment, the leaves of these glowing blue nts began to vibrate in unison, producing an extremely faint buzzing sound that was quickly growing louder and louder.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he suddenly recalled that each time the mist rose up from the canyon, it would always be apanied by this strange sound.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he collected all of the blue spirit nts from the mountain, and after checking through the canyon briefly to ensure that there were no other spirit nts of the same type around, he turned and began flying back up through the mist.
However, right as he was about to fly out of the mist, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, then began flying toward the floating mountains that had been destroyed.
These mountains were originally outside of the mist with many spirit medicines growing on them, and now that they had been swallowed up by the mist, the spirit medicines on them would''ve gone to waste if he didn''t collect them.
Chapter 264: Resolve
Chapter 264: Resolve
An hourter, Han Li returned to the mountain where his cave abode was situated.
At this moment, he was standing with his hands sped behind his back on the stone steps in front of his cave abode.
The za in front of him was packed with ze Dragon Dao disciples, and upon his arrival, all of them turned to him in unison with different looks on their faces, including tion, unease, and admiration.
Even though new True Immortal Stage elders would be sent to oversee the secret area periodically, it was extremely rare that anything ever happened here, so the True Immortal Stage elders remained in seclusion the vast majority of their time here.
Hence, this was an extremely rare opportunity for the disciples to witness a True Immortal in action with their own eyes, and it instilled them with a great deal of motivation when it came to their own cultivation.
"All of you have done extremely well in the face of this unexpected disaster, severely mitigating losses despite the trying circumstances. I''ll be sure to report this to the sect and request a reward for all of you," Han Li dered.
"Thank you, Elder Li!"
Everyone had thought that he would be unhappy about having his seclusion disturbed, so they were ecstatic to hear what he had to say.
"The mist in the canyon has already receded, and there''s still some cleanup work that needs to be done. Tally all of the damage and report it to me so I can report to the sect. You can all go now," Han Li instructed.
"Yes, Elder Li!" everyone answered in unison before departing.
Han Li instructed Hu Zhen and the others to stay behind, and after rewarding them with some pills, he returned to his cave abode.
Inside his secret chamber, Han Li summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis amid a sh of golden light and the 24 Time Dao Runes on the axis were giving off bursts ofw fluctuations.
For the average cultivator, even if they were to cultivate the Mantra Axis Scripture to the third level, there was still no guarantee that they would be able to manifest even 18 Time Dao Runes, yet Han Li had managed to manifest 24 Time Dao Runes at just the mid-True Immortal Stage, and he was extremely pleased with the power that it had disyed in the canyon.
With this Mantra Treasured Axis and his set of new Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, he was confident that he would be able to take on even the likes of Gu Jie''s avatar on his own.
Of course, if Gu Jie himself were toe after him, then he would still have to run for his life.
ording to the Mantra Axis Scripture, now that he had mastered the first level of the cultivation art, he could begin attempting to master thews of time.
The timew powers imbued within the Mantra Treasured Axis was quite abundant at this point, but it was very scattered, and Han Li couldn''t even manifest anyw threads, so he was still severelyckingpared with those who had truly mastered the power ofws.
Otherwise, as one of the three paramountws, thews of time should''ve been capable of more than just slowing down enemy attacks.
With that in mind, he began to think back to how Gu Jie''s avatar had used its power of woodws in different ways, and a sense of envy and anticipation welled up in his heart.
If he could master thews of time someday, then its power would definitely trump Gu Jie''sws of wood.
With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath, then flipped a hand over to produce an Immortal Origin Stone. The Mantra Treasured Axis behind him then began to slowly revolve at his behest, and the Time Dao Runes on its surface shed, releasing golden ripples that spread through the surrounding area in a radius of 100 feet.
After that, he closed his eyes to carefully sense the changes in thew powers around him.
The Mantra Axis Scripture hadn''tid out any specific method to observe thews of time, so he would have to figure it out for himself.
Three to four months passed by in the blink of an eye, and Han Li remained seated with his legs crossed the entire time, as still as a statue.
All of a sudden, a sh of golden light appeared around him, and his eyes sprang open, while his brows furrowed slightly.
Even after several months, he was no closer at all to mastering thews of time, and he felt as if he made no progress at all.
However, this wasn''t a very surprising oue.
Ifw powers were this easy to master, then True Immortals who had mastered the power ofws wouldn''t have been so rare. On top of that, he was trying to master one of the three paramountws, so the difficulty was only going to be heightened.
In order to master the power ofws, he had made extensive preparations.
All of a sudden, the eye of that one-eyed giant appeared on his hand amid a sh of gray light.
This was one of the things that he had prepared.
He cupped the eye in both hands, then drew upon the timew powers around him before slowly injecting it into the eye.
The eye began to emit a faint white glow, as well as a burst of peculiar timew fluctuations.
Han Li immediately closed his eyes to sense thews of time within the eye,paring it to the his own timew powers in the hope of making some type of breakthrough.
Several more months passed by in a sh, and Han Li slowly opened his eyes with a dark expression, once again, having made no progress at all.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he stowed the eye away before summoning his Heaven Controlling Vial, and there was a drop of green liquid rolling around inside.
Han Li was silent for a moment as he observed the vial, then grabbed onto the vial before injecting his immortal spiritual power into it.
All of the world''s origin qi near his cave abode was instantly stirred up into a frenzy, forming an enormous vortex of spiritual power.
All of the ze Dragon Dao disciples were momentarily startled by this before paying no further heed to the phenomenon.
During the past two hundred years, simr phenomena had arisen countless times, so they were already ustomed to this.
Several dayster.
Inside his cave abode, Han Li''s face was slightly pale, and he was holding a crystal in his hand.
Having progressed to the mid-True Immortal Stage, his immortal spiritual power reserves had increased significantly, so manifesting these crystals no longerpletely sucked him dry like it used to.
After consuming a recovery pill, hisplexion quickly began to recover.
He then grabbed onto the crystal before injecting his spiritual sense into it, and the translucent golden thread within the crystal instantly lit up, as did the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him.
It seemed that the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis were resonating with the crystal, and Han Li was ecstatic to see this, hurriedly closing his eyes once again.
A month passed by in the blink of an eye, and the translucent golden thread in the crystal disappeared, while the crystal itself also shattered.
Han Li opened his eyes, and a hint of excitement appeared on his face.
He still hadn''t mastered thews of time, but unlike his previous few attempts, he had made some progress, finally getting ever so slightly closer to his target.
It was as if a glimmer of hope had appeared within a boundless void of darkness.
He flipped a hand over to produce his Heaven Controlling Vial, and a smile appeared on his face as he discovered that another drop of green liquid had already emerged within it.
The Heavenly Controlling Vial was a major contributing factor behind how he had been able to cultivate the Mantra Axis Scripture so smoothly, and it seemed that he would have to keep relying on the vial if he wanted to master thews of time.
However...
A contemtive look appeared in his eyes.
Regardless of how he tried to observe thews of time within the crystal, he was only able to sense thew powers encapsted within, but unable to glean any deeper insights.
If he wanted those deeper insights, he had to take things a step further.
With that in mind, a determined look of resolve appeared on his face.
He flipped a hand over to produce a jade container the size of a washbasin, then filled it with spirit liquid before finally dripping the drop of green liquid in the Heaven Controlling Vial into the container.
The colorless spirit liquid inside instantly turned a light green color as a result.
After that, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce another bowl before making a beckoning motion, and a ball of green spirit liquid rose up from the container before dropping into the bowl, almostpletely filling it.
His n was to drink this green liquid so that he could intimately feel the timew powers imbued within.
Han Li set the jade bowl aside, then swept a sleeve through the air to release his 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and even though he hadn''t injected any immortal spiritual power into them, they were already releasing formidable sword qi that was causing the nearby space to buzz incessantly.
He released a series of incantation seals, and the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords fused as one into a single small azure sword.
Han Li then flipped a hand over to produce a silver talisman, which he adhered to the sword.
The sword qi emanating from the small azure sword instantly vanished, making it appear as if it were just an ordinary sword.
He set the Heaven Controlling vial down beside the small azure sword, then released the Essence Fire Raven amid a sh of silver light.
The Essence Fire Raven instantly transformed into a tiny fiery figure that danced around Han Li while crying out joyfully.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he yed with the fiery silver figure for a while, then raised it up on the palm of his hand.
"Do you recall this person?" A burst of azure light appeared over his other hand, and an image of Nangong Wan emerged within the azure light.
The fiery silver figure took a nce at the image of Nangong Wan, then nodded in response.
Back in the Spirit Realm, the Essence Fire Raven hadn''t attained intelligence as it had now, but it had developed a sufficient level of sentience to recall Nangong Wan.
"I''m leaving these two things to you for now. If something happens to me, take these two things and go search for this person. Make sure to find her and give her these two things no matter how long it takes," Han Li instructed.
The Essence Fire Raven looked at Han Li for a while, and it couldn''t understand why Han Li was doing this, but it still did as it was told, nodding in response.
Han Li patted the tiny silver figure on the head, then set it aside as a serious look appeared on his face.
He could still clearly recall the pair of wild rabbits that had had their bodies imploded back when he first found the Heaven Controlling Vial.
After that, in the Scattered Star Sea, he had used the spirit liquid produced by the vial to trap the Nascent Soul Stage Windbreaker Beast, Feng Xi, almost killing it in the process.
Of course, his current cultivation base was orders of magnitude above Feng Xi''s, and he had attained a Profound Immortal body, but he could sense that the special energy contained within the spirit liquid produced by the vial had also be countless times more powerful than back then.
Even in his current state, directly ingesting this spirit liquid was an extremely risky move, and it was not impossible for him to die from this.
However, he was willing to ept this level of risk, and if he couldn''t withstand the spirit liquid''s power, he would do everything he could to force it out of his body. He had even prepared himself to expel his nascent soul out of his own body if required.
At this point, he hade to understand that if he wanted to master thews of time, he had to take some risk for any chance at sess.
Chapter 265: Testing the Limits
Chapter 265: Testing the Limits
Han Li cast a calm gaze toward the light green spirit liquid in the jade bowl, then took a deep breath, and all of the tension in his body instantly seeped away.
He then took a nce at the fiery silver figure, which was looking up at him with a hint of concern on its face, and he finally made up his mind, lifting up the bowl of spirit liquid before downing half of its contents in one go.
Upon entering his mouth, the spirit liquid was quite cool and a little bitter. After being swallowed, it transformed into a burst of heat that entered his dantian, and that burst of heat quickly swelled in temperature as if it had been set alight, surging through his meridians like scorching fire.
In this instant, Han Li could feel all of the meridians in his entire body expanding as bursts of indescribable power surged through his body. Even with his incredibly powerful physical body, he was in excruciating pain, and he felt as if he were about to explode.
However, a cool and refreshing sensation then welled up in his mind, restoring a sense of rity and tranquility.
Han Li hurriedlyposed himself, then conjured up a protectiveyer of azure light over his own body. At the same time, bursts of invisible power surged out of all parts of his body, and a string of cracks and pops rang out as he abruptly became noticeably taller. Furthermore, his limbs and torsos had also be thicker than before.
Shortly thereafter, his brows began to furrow slightly.
Some of the smaller meridians in his body had already been torn open, only for a rapid healing process tomence thanks to a vast injection of vitality.
This process of tearing and healing was unfolding in countless tiny parts all over his body, taking ce thousands of times with each passing moment.
Even with Han Li''s unfathomably powerful physical body and outstanding mental fortitude, the indescribable agony was beginning to take its toll.
Topound his woes even further, his mind was more conscious than ever, so the agony was even further exacerbated.
However, at the same time, he was also beginning to clearly sense the mysterious power imbued within the bursts of heat that were flowing throughout his entire body.
This mysterious power was causing his physical body to undergo some type of indescribable change, and the innate resistance of his body was currently fiercely shing against this mysterious power.
This process wore on for two hours without disying any signs of abating, but Han Li was feeling rather relieved as he had already grown ustomed to this feeling.
The spirit liquid was causing severe damage to his body, but it seemed that he wasn''t in any life-threatening danger. In fact, he felt like he could even drink more.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately picked up the jade bowl, then gulped down the remaining half a bowl of spirit liquid.
An even more enormous burst of scorching heat surged into his body before spreading through his meridians, and he couldn''t help but give a muffled groan as he shuddered involuntarily, and the azure light around him also flickered slightly.
Only after close to two more hours had passed by did the pain on Han Li''s face fade slightly, and the azure light around him also returned to a stable state.
Just as he anticipated, he was able to withstand this additional influx of spirit liquid thanks to his powerful physical body and willpower. The agony he was experiencing was several times more severe than before, but this was exactly what he was looking for.
Only by pushing his own body to the limits could he better observe thews of time.
With that in mind, he paid no further heed to his own internal condition as he began to focus solely on that burst of mysterious power flowing throughout his body.
At this moment, he could clearly hear the beating of his own heart, and every single one of his heartbeast was resonating in some way with the burst of mysterious power flowing through his meridians.
This was a sensation that was both alien and familiar to him.
It was the fluctuation of the power of time, the pulsing of the origin of life...
He felt as if there were something within his grasp, but he couldn''t grab ahold of it no matter how hard he tried.
He felt as if he were gradually getting closer to grasping thews of time, but it was an intangible entity. One moment, he would feel as if he had it tightly locked in his grasp, but in the next instant, it would be gone without a trace.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and he summoned an Immortal Origin Stone that he held in his hand. At the same time, his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light, and the Time Dao Runes on the axis released bursts of powerful fluctuations that enveloped his entire body. After that, he activated his Spirit Refinement Technique and tried to focus and immerse himself into this process as much as possible.
Thanks to the effects of the Mantra Treasured Axis, the burst of mysterious power flowing through his meridians seemed to have slowed down slightly, but it still remained as intangible and elusive as ever.
Time slowly passed by, and the heat formed by the spirit liquid was constantly being expended. After a few more hours, the heat finallypletely disappeared along with the excruciating pain that came with it.
Han Li opened his eyes, and there was abination of excitement and befuddlement on his face as he withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis back into his body.
Even though he hadn''t managed to grasp thews of time, he had clearly sensed the fluctuations of the power of time.
All of a sudden, his entire body shuddered, and blood began to trick down from the corner of his lips.
Even though he had forcibly withstood the effects of ingesting the spirit liquid, his entire body was currently riddled with injuries, and his meridians and bones were littered with countless tiny wounds.
Even the average True Immortal would''ve already had their bodypletely explode had they been in Han Li''s ce.
Thankfully, the regenerative ability of Han Li''s Profound Immortal body coupled with his True Extreme Membrane had allowed him to survive this process.
Judging from this oue, it seemed that he could ingest a bit more of the spirit liquid.
He felt as if he had been on the cusp of gleaning the secrets of the power of time just now. Perhaps he would only have a chance of seeding in this endeavor by constantly pushing his own limits.
After taking a deep breath, he consumed a restorative pill, then closed his eyes and began to meditate.
Several dayster.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes as he exhaled, and at this point, he had already recovered from all of his injuries.
He turned his gaze to the jade container beside him, then swept a sleeve toward it without any hesitation, and another stream of spirit liquid rose up out of the container before flying straight into his mouth.
Han Li gave a muffled groan as hisplexion transitioned back and forth between green and white.
This time, he had ingested even more spirit liquid thanst time, but with the experience of that previous experiment under his belt, he was no longer feeling as uneasy as before.
He slowly closed his eyes, paying no heed to his body''s internal condition as he focused his attention on observing the power ofws contained within the spirit liquid.
Cracks and pops rang out incessantly from within his body, and this time, even the skin on some parts of his arms and shoulders had split open, but no blood flowed out of the gashes.
Han Li continued to remainpletely still, and over an hour passed by in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, his eyes sprang open, and he threw up a mouthful of blood. His face was looking rather pale, but his eye were glowing with excitement.
Once again, he felt as if he had gotten a little closer to grasping thews of time, but he was still not quite there yet.
He quickly consumed another pill, and ayer of green light appeared over his body.
Several dayster, he was fully recovered from his injuries, and this time, he ingested all of the remaining spirit liquid in the jade container all at once.
He then summoned a pair of Immortal Origin Stones, holding one in each hand, before also summoning his Mantra Treasured Axis and closing his eyes.
Upon reopening his eyes, the excitement on his face had been reced by a hint of befuddlement.
Why is it that each time, I feel as if I''ve gotten a little closer to grasping the power of time, but I always fall just a little short? In any case, this is the route that seems to have the highest likelihood of leading to sess, so perhaps I just need to stick at it a little longer.
With that in mind, he flipped his hand over to produce another pill, which he swallowed before closing his eyes.
Close to a monthter, another drop of green liquid had been manifested in the Heaven Controlling Vial.
Han Li picked up the vial, and after a brief moment of contemtion, he decided to directly ingest the drop of spirit liquid inside without diluting it at all.
A few secondster, a string of cracks and pops began to ring out within Han Li''s body, and a series of tiny gashes rapidly appeared over his skin. This time, even his True Extreme Membrane was unable to prevent blood from flowing out of the gashes, and it only took a moment for his entire body to bepletely covered in blood.
Han Li''s entire body was trembling, and it seemed that even the slightestpse in concentration would lead to his bodypletely exploding.
This time, it took close to four hours before his condition gradually returned to normal, and the agonized look on his face also faded. He continued to pay no heed to his own internal condition, and the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him was revolving rapidly at his behest, while the Time Dao Runes on the axis were also glowing brightly.
Half a dayter, Han Li opened his eyes as he threw up a mouthful of blood, and his face had turned extremely pale.
Having ingested two drops of spirit liquid in session, he had developed a better grasp on the power of time, but once again, it remained just out of reach.
Perhaps one more drop will do the trick.
However, before that, he had to recover from his injuries, and with that in mind, he took another pill before closing his eyes to meditate.
Ayer of azure light appeared over his body, and hisplexion gradually began to improve, while the gashes on his body quickly healed.
A monthter, Han Li picked up the Heaven Controlling Vial to find another drop of spirit liquid rolling around inside.
He took a deep breath as a solemn look appeared on his face, and just likest time, he drank the undiluted drop of spirit liquid in one go.
More cracks and pops rang out from within his body, and he adopted the same setup asst time, summoning his Mantra Treasured Axis while holding a pair of Immortal Origin Stones to replenish his immortal spiritual power.
As time passed by, bursts of timew powers began to surge out of the axis, and it was also beginning to revolve faster and faster while the golden light radiating from it grew steadily brighter.
Han Li''s eyes were tightly shut, and he was making a constant string of hand seals.
The golden light radiating from his body was surging incessantly, and if one were to look closely, they would discover that the golden light was formed by countless tiny golden runes that resembled scorching mes.
The 24 Time Dao Runes were trembling while the golden mes were growing brighter and brighter, looking as if they were about toe together, but right at this moment, the golden light radiating from the Mantra Treasured Axis suddenly began to sh, and it slowed down in its rotation.
At the same time, cracks were beginning to appear on its surface, and the Time Dao Runes also settled down again.
Chapter 266: 5,000 Reward
Chapter 266: 5,000 Reward
With one final sh of golden light, the Mantra Treasured Axis vanished into Han Li''s body, and Han Li gave a muffled groan as he threw up a mouthful of ck blood.
He opened his eyes, and the protective azure light around him was trembling violently, looking as if it could shatter any moment.
All of his joints and meridians were also shuddering, and he hurriedly made a string of hand seals to stabilize theyer of protective azure light.
After that, he took another restorative pill as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Just now, he felt as if he had gotten closer to grasping the power of time than ever before, and it had been so tantalizingly close that he could almost reach out and grab it, but in the end, he had failed once again.
He was infinitely approaching his target, but there was always this barrier that stood in his way, and it seemed impossible to bypass.
ording to the Mantra Axis Scripture, those who had mastered the first level of the cultivation art could begin attempting to master thews of time. Of course, whether the endeavor would be sessful or not was a different matter entirely.
However, with the spirit liquid produced by the Heaven Controlling Vial to assist him, he should''ve been able to seed more easily than others.
A monthter, the Heaven Controlling Vial produced another drop of spirit liquid, and this time, Han Li immediately devoured the drop of spirit liquid without any hesitation.
In the next instant, his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light, releasing dazzling golden radiance alongside powerful timew fluctuations.
Yet again, he was holding an Immortal Origin Stone in each hand, and the golden light radiating from his body was bing brighter and brighter as thews of time began to converge around him.
Right at this moment, the golden light on the Mantra Treasured Axis suddenly began to sh, and a series of cracks appeared on its surface.
All of the timew powers that had gathered around Han Li instantly faded, as did the Mantra Treasured Axis.
Han Li opened his eyes with a frustrated look on his face.
Perhaps the first time could be attributed to a chance urrence, but this had happened twice in a row now, and the only exnation that he could think of for this was that he simply wasn''t ready to master thews of time yet.
Thus, he would have to turn his attention to securing the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce another pill before promptly swallowing it.
Several monthster.
A prolonged snowstorm had fallen upon the eastern region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, covering that entire area in a thickyer of snow. With the fire miasma gone, the Crimson Dawn Peak was also covered in snow.
At this moment, Meng Yungui was wearing a silver robe, and he was crouched down in front of a plot of spirit farnd in which several dozen spirit nts were growing, examining the nurturing array around the plot ofnd.
This type of spirit nt was one that grew naturally on the Crimson Dawn Peak, and it could only survive in warm conditions. Hence, without the natural protection of the fire miasma, a nurturing array was required to shield it from the elements.
Meng Qianqian was wearing a long green dress, and she was standing beside Meng Yungui with a rather absentminded look in her eyes as she asked, "When do you think Elder is going toe back, Brother?"
Meng Yungui feigned an angry expression as he turned to her and grumbled, "Are you really my sister? You didn''t miss me anywhere near this much back when I was out searching for spirit seeds for Elder Li!"
Meng Qianqian giggled in amusement, then replied, "Of course I''m your sister, I''m just really eager to tell Elder Li that I''ve already progressed to the Deity Transformation Stage. You have to work hard as well, Brother."
Meng Yungui could only shake his head with a resigned expression. Ever since Meng Qianqian sessfully manifested a nascent soul, her cultivation base had been rapidly progressing, and not only had she caught up to her brother, she had recently outstripped him, reaching the Deity Transformation Stage not long ago.
Of course, Meng Yungui was genuinely happy for his sister, but he didn''t want to give her excessive praise in case she became too full of herself.
After all, even though she had already been cultivating for hundreds of years, she still had a very simple and naive personality, and he was worried that excessive praise would negatively affect her mindset when it came to cultivation.
Not far away from the plot of spirit farnd was Han Li''s massive mountain guardian beast. It raised its two heads as it yawned in azy manner, then rested its heads back onto the ground with a bored expression.
However, just a few momentster, it suddenly raised its heads up high again to look up at the sky.
A streak of azure light was hurtling rapidly toward the Crimson Dawn Peak from the distant horizon, and the array that epassed the entire mountain quickly faded away, following which the azure figure descended onto the Crimson Dawn Peak.
Meng Yungui and Meng Qianqian exchanged a nce, and each of them could see their own tion mirrored in one another''s eyes as they hurriedly rushed toward the Crimson Dawn Peak.
By the time they arrived in Han Li''s cave abode, Sun Buzheng had already summoned everyone else as well, and all of the servants were gathered in the main hall, awaiting instructions from Han Li.
In the end, he only briefly enquired about the situation on the Crimson Dawn Peak, then bestowed upon everyone some pills and treasures before quickly departing once again, and much to Meng Qianqian''s dismay, she didn''t even get a chance to tell Han Li about hertest breakthrough.
After leaving the Crimson Dawn Peak, Han Li flew to the nearby teleportation hall and went straight to the Cloud Piercing Peak.
In a side hall of the High Profound Pce, there was a portly elderly seated behind the table, and he epted the elder badge that Han Li was offering to him with a smile on his face as he said, "Thank you for your hard work, Elder Li. The two elders sent to the floating mountain secret area to rece you have already reported back, and the situation is identical to what was described in your earlier report.
¡°The sect has deemed that you''ve made a significant contribution in protecting the spirit nts on the floating mountains during the crisis, and as a result, you''ll be rewarded 500 additional merit points on top of your standard reward."
After that, Han Li exchanged some small talk with the portly elder before his elder badge was returned to him, and he departed from the hall.
After leaving the side hall, a contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face. He had already umted a sizable number of merit points from the missions that he hadpleted, and so far, he had saved up a total of over 4,000 merit points.
This appeared to have been quite a significant number, but it was still very far away from the 9,000 merit points required to exchange for the second level of the Mantra Treasured Axis.
Han Li was slowly making his way toward the main hall of the High Profound Pce while contemting how he was going to earn 5,000 more merit points.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him.
On the golden stone wall in the High Profound Pce was a mission that granted a reward of exactly 5,000 merit points for cultivating the Mantra Axis Scripture to the second level.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately sped up in his footsteps, arriving in the main hall of the High Profound Pce before making his way over to the golden stone wall.
The main hall was still as lively and bustling as usual, and even the golden stone wall had around a dozen inner sect elders gathered in front of it, all of whom were looking up at the missions on the wall.
Han Li ignored the other missions as he cast his gaze directly toward the missions on the top of the wall that were inscribed in red. Sure enough, the mission that he was looking for was still there, and it was extremely concise, but Han Li stood and stared at it for close to an hour.
His concern was that if others were to see him epting this mission, then the progress that he had made in the Mantra Axis Scripture would be exposed.
After all, even though there were many people who had attempted to use this cultivation art, barely anyone had ever seeded, and the progress that he had made was nothing short of outrageous. The average True Immortal could''ve easily spent hundreds of thousands of years toiling away without making even a tenth of the progress that he had made.
Hence, if it were to be revealed that he had mastered the first level of the cultivation art, then that would be sure to create a massive stir in the ze Dragon Dao, and he would most definitely be the center of attention of the entire sect.
The thought of theseplications was giving Han Li a real headache. Even if he were somehow able to ept this mission and earn the 5,000 merit point reward without alerting anyone else, he would inevitably be exposed anyway once he went to the Merit Conveyance Pce to exchange for the second level of the Mantra Axis Arts.
That would be no different from telling everyone that he had mastered the first level of the Mantra Axis Scripture. After all, who would spend 9,000 merit points on the second part of the cultivation art if they hadn''t mastered the first part?
Will I have to steal it?
As soon as this idea sprang into his mind, Han Li immediately shook his head to rid himself of the thought.
The ze Dragon Dao wasn''t the Cold me Sect of the Spirit Domain Realm. Not only was it home to a whole host of formidable Golden Immortals, the Merit Conveyance Pce was clearly no ordinary ce, so there had to have been powerful restrictions set up there, and attempting to steal teh sect''s most prized cultivation art from there would''ve been no different frommitting suicide.
However, he couldn''t just give up on the cultivation art, either. After all, the main reason he had joined the ze Dragon Dao was for the sake of this Mantra Axis Scripture.
After contemting the matter for a long while, Han Li turned and began to make his way out of the pce.
Half a dayter, a man dressed in a schrly robe made his way into the High Profound Pce.
He casually strode over to the golden stone wall, and the other inner sect elders nearby turned to look at him in unison before quickly directing their attention back to the stone wall.
The schrly-robed man stood on the spot for a long while, and after making sure that no one was paying any attention to him, he flipped a hand over to summon his elder badge before pointing it at a certain spot on the golden stone wall.
A burst of light immediately flew out of the wall beforending on his elder badge.
The schrly-robed man was none other than Han Li, who had disguised himself using his Transient Guild mask.
After extensive consideration, he decided that he was going to im the reward for this mission. The reward was a hefty 5,000 merit points, and there was no reason for him not to im it.
He could sense that the number of merit points in his elder badge had increased to 9,132.
The top section of missions inscribed in red on the stone wall were ones that didn''t garner much attention anyway, and at this moment, the elders gathered in front of the wall were either conversing with one another or searching for missions that were suitable for themselves, so no one had noticed exactly which mission Han Li had imed.
Furthermore, given his current disguise, no one would be able to identify him anyway.
With that in mind, Han Li casually stowed his elder badge away, then heaved an internal sigh of relief as he turned to depart from the High Profound Pce.
However, right as he did so, his entire body suddenly stiffened. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the line of red text on the stone wall had changed...
Chapter 267: White Finch Valley
Chapter 267: White Finch Valley
Han Li stopped in his tracks before hurriedly turning around to find that a line of golden seal text had appeared after the red text.
"Show your axis in the White Finch Valley."
The line of golden seal text seemed to have been shrouded inyer of murky golden light, making it impossible to see it clearly.
After looking at the golden text for just a moment, Han Li immediately felt a dry and sore sensation in his eyes, and he hurriedly rubbed his eyes before casting his gaze toward the same spot on the stone wall, only to find that there was no longer anything there.
He hurriedly turned to look around him, and he discovered that everyone else was either still staring at the stone wall or conversing with one another, and it was clear that no one had seen what had happened just now.
White Finch Valley? Where''s that?
Han Li couldn''t recall such a ce in the ze Dragon Dao.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he turned back to the stone wall, trying to see if anything had changed in the line of red text, but nothing was different about it.
It was as if that line of golden text had been nothing more than a figment of his imagination.
However, he knew that even though he had only seen it for an instant, there was no way that it was just his mind ying tricks on him.
In any case, he had to find this so-called White Finch Valley and pay it a visit. Otherwise, it would continue to weigh on his mind.
But where exactly was this ce?
Han Li stood on the spot for a while longer, then made his way over to a corner of the hall before flipping a hand over to produce the map of the Bell Toll Mountain Range that he had obtained upon first entering the sect. After that, he injected his spiritual sense into the map and began to carefully search through it.''
He ended up standing in that corner of the hall for over two hours before opening his eyes and stowing the map away, but the befuddlement on his face had only be even more pronounced.
He had scoured the entire map with his spiritual sense several times over to ensure that he hadn''t missed anything, but he still wasn''t able to find any ce by the name of White Finch Valley.
Could it be a certain secret area in the sect? Han Li thought to himself.
With that in mind, he made his way over to the stone wall and stared at it for a while longer before turning and departing from the High Profound Pce.
After that, he rose up into the air above the High Profound Pce with his hands sped behind his back and a contemtive look on his face. A few momentster, he sped away toward a certain direction as a streak of azure light.
¡¡
That night, in the secret chamber in the cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak.
On a square eight immortals table sat an antiquated azuremp, and it was unclear what type of fuel was being burned in themp, but it wasn''t releasing any smoke and was giving off a pleasant fragrance.
The me on the wick was abnormally stable, not flicking even in the slightest, and it was only a tiny me, but it was able to illuminate the entire room so that it was as bright as day.
On one corner of the table were several thick antiquated books, beside which sat three or jade slips. There was also a yellow scroll that was around seven feet in length draped over the edge of the table, with half of it still rolled up, while the other half was spread out on the floor.
A series of extremely life-like mountains had been painted onto the scroll with the names of the mountains marked out in annotations next to them in small text. As it turned out, the scroll contained an intricate map.
At this moment, Han Li was seated behind the table, holding an ancient scripture that he was reading with a look of concentration in his eyes.
These jade slips and books all contained historical records of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, and he had borrowed them from the inner tome library on the Imperial Dragon Peak.
Aside from those jade slips, those books and that scroll were all original copies. He could''ve purchased replicas of them, but in order to ess the oldest map records avable, he had decided to borrow these ancient scriptures, even though doing so had cost more merit points than it would''ve taken for him to purchase replicas.
Han Li carefully inspected all of the content in these historical records and maps, making sure to examine even the finest of details, but up to this point, he still hadn''t found any ce by the name of White Finch Valley.
There were several ces that had simr names, but most of them clearly weren''t important locations in the sect.
The main focal point of his attention was those ck areas that he had seen on the Inkspirit Scenic Scroll. The majority of those ces were restricted areas in the sect, and there were no annotations of them on most maps, but they were mentioned in some of the historical records.
Even after some extensive crossparison, Han Li was disappointed to find that there were still no mentions of the White Finch Valley.
The Ancient Cloud Records that he was currently holding was already the final book out of the ones that he had borrowed.
Strictly speaking, this book didn''t contain official historical records. Intead, it was a travel journal that detailed theyout of the Ancient Cloud Continent, and it had been written by a cultivator who had been struggling in his cultivation and had decided to go on a journey of self-discovery.
However, this book had been written in an extremely early time period, and it was perhaps even as old as the ze Dragon Dao itself. There was a restriction ced on the book, and if that restriction were to be removed, then the book would instantly disintegrate into dust.
Han Li gently flipped over to the next page before reading through its contents, and all of a sudden, he raised an eyebrow as he pulled the book slightly closer to himself to carefully examine one particr passage of text on the page.
"There is a valley in the western mountain where white finches flock inrge numbers. Upon entering the valley, one won''t see the valley. Instead, they''ll be greeted by the sight of pces and pavilions enshrouded in dense mist, feeling as if they had inadvertently stepped into another world..."
Han Li continued to read through this passage of text to find that the second half of the story was about a shepherd boy who had stumbled into the valley, where he was beaten with a whip by a deity d in golden armor. All of a sudden, he had returned to his senses and found himself still standing in the valley, and it was as if everything that had just happened to him had been nothing more than a dream.
There were many strange ces that harbored illusions and mirages detailed in the travel journal, and most of those ces were glossed over without much description, but this valley where white finches flocked inrge numbers was a ce that the author seemed to have taken a particr interest in.
During his earlier readings, Han Li hade across birds like white orioles and snow pheasants, but this was the first time that he had seen mention of white finches.
After carefully reading through the entire travel journal, he was able to confirm that this was the only passage in the story where white finches had been explicitly mentioned.
Where is this west mountain supposed to be?
Han Li fell into deep thought as he absentmindedly drummed his fingers against the table.
Momentster, he suddenly dragged all of the books sitting on the corner of the table to himself, then flipped each one open to certain pages beforeying them out on the table.
With his gaze focused on one of the pages, Han Li murmured to himself, "West Unitary Mountain, a long and narrow mountain that stretches from south to north, standing at a height of 72,570 feet... West Spring Mountain, standing at a height of 89,310 feet... West Luster Mountain..."
¡¡
Before long, Han Li had already been reading well into the night, and he stood up from behind the table as he stretchedzily, then gently closed the booksid out before him one by one.
After that, he ced them back on the same corner of the table in an orderly fashion, and the only thing that was still spread open on the table was the scroll that contained the map.
However, only around a foot of the scroll was unfurled, and on that section of the scroll was a mountain by the name of West Forest Mountain.
This mountain was situated in the western region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, and it was just an ordinary mountain with no remarkable traits, which was why it hadn''t ever been inhabited by any elders or disciples.
The western part of the mountain was close to the Cattail Spirit Valley, while its eastern part was situated directly across from a side branch of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, with an extremely wide crescent-shaped valley standing between them.
After much deliberation, Han Li had determined this to be the west mountain described in the travel journal\, and he believed the crescent-shaped valley known as Half Moon Valley was very likely to be the White Finch Valley that he was searching for.
With a sweep of his sleeve, themp sitting on the eight immortals table was snuffed out, and wisps of white smoke began to rise up from the wick of themp, releasing a pleasant fragrance that lingered in the air.
Han Li strode out of the room before closing the door and making his way toward the front yard, but he hadn''t even made it out of the hall when he spotted Meng Qianqian rushing toward him.
As soon as she spotted Han Li, she immediately began to yell, "Elder Li, it''sing out!"
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly with befuddlement upon hearing this, but he then quickly realized what she had to have been referring to, and an ted look appeared on his face.
"Let''s go take a look."
He made his way over to Meng Qianqian as he spoke, then gently grabbed onto her arm, and the two of them instantly vanished from the spot as a streak of azure light.
Momentster, Han Li and Meng Qianqian appeared in a stone chamber of the cave abode, at the center of the giant white egg.
The egg was situated atop the same spirit gathering array as before, constantly absorbing the world''s origin qi while swaying slightly from side to side.
However, even after 15 minutes had passed by, the egg still showed no signs of hatching.
"It was shaking really violently just now, and I could hear tappinging from inside the egg, so I thought it was about to hatch, and that''s why I went to you in such a hurry..." Meng Qianqian said as an apologetic look appeared on her face.
Han Li took a closer look at the egg, and he noticed that a circle of extremely small cracks had appeared on the underside of the egg, and they would''ve been impossible to spot without careful examination.
"It''s already hatched, but it must''ve been scared with no mother bird present, so it''s gone back into the egg for shelter," Han Li spected.
After that, he flipped a hand over to produce a shimmering azure feather, which he offered to Meng Qianqian.
Meng Qianqian didn''t know why she was being given this feather, but she still epted it as she turned to Han Li with a perplexed expression.
"You should be able to get it toe out now," Han Li said with a smile.
Meng Qianqian was feeling rather skeptical, but she still approached the egg before gently knocking on it with her hand.
There was no reaction from the egg at all.
After waiting for a moment, Meng Qianqian gently stroked the surface of the egg with the feather in her hand.
This time, the egg seemed to have sensed something, and it stopped moving entirely for a moment before beginning to sway from side to side once again, but still far less vigorously than before.
Meng Qianqian''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this, and she continued to stroke the surface of the egg with the feather while simultaneously stroking the egg with her other hand.
All of a sudden, the egg stopped swaying and fellpletely still.
Chapter 268: Featheryearn
Chapter 268: Featheryearn
"Elder Li..."
Meng Qianqian turned back to Han Li with a resigned expression, but all of a sudden, a faint crack rang out, and the circle of cracks on the underside of the egg began to bulge outward, following which a piece of eggshell the size of a human head fell out to create a hole in the egg.
Meng Qianqian hurriedly turned around upon hearing this, focusing her gaze on the hole in the egg with a hint of anticipation and anxiety in her eyes, and she was greeted by a sound much like the chirping of a chicken hatchling.
Immediately thereafter, a furry head that was roughly the same size as the hole in the egg poked out from within.
The eyes of the head were only half open, and the head itself was covered in ayer of shimmering azure feathers. It bore somewhat of a resemnce to a hen, with a short and straight beak, above which was a pair of nostrils, and its cheeks were rather bloated, giving it an adorably dopey appearance.
Only after turning its head side to side a few times did itpletely open its eyes, and it took a nce at Han Li before turning its gaze to Meng Qianqian with its head cocked to the side.
After that, it emerged fully from the egg before stumbling unsteadily toward Meng Qianqian.
It had a long and thin neck connected to a rather frail and wiry body that waspletely out of proportion with itsrge head. It was as if all of its nutrients had gone to growing its head, giving it a very unbnced body.
Han Li wasn''t exactly disappointed by the bird, he merely felt like it was a little... ugly.
He couldn''t help but wonder where and for what purpose Fang Pan had obtained this egg.
In contrast with Han Li''s reaction, Meng Qianqian''s eyes were glowing as she watched the delicate hatchling stumbling toward her. At the same time, she couldn''t help but feel a little concerned, fearing that its thin and frail neck wouldn''t be able to support the weight of itsrge head.
She looked straight into the hatchling''s eyes, and she didn''t find it to be ugly at all. Instead, she felt like it was very adorable in a clumsy way.
At times when she had previously encountered cultivation bottlenecks or had something weighing on her mind that she didn''t want to tell even her brother, she woulde to this egg, treating it like a close friend that she could speak to in her time of need.
Before she knew it, the egg had be a closepanion of hers on her cultivation journey, having been with her since she was at the Nascent Soul Stage.
It could even be said that without thepanionship provided by this egg, perhaps she wouldn''t have been able to reach the Deity Transformation Stage so quickly, so now that the egg had finally hatched, she was ovee by a sense of mixed emotions.
She slowly crouched down and picked up the hatchling, which had finally stumbled its way to her side, and gently stroked its soft feathers with her hand.
Meanwhile, the hatchling rested its head on the feather that she was holding, gently rubbing its head against it while chirping quietly to itself.
"Can you give it a name, Elder Li?" Meng Qianqian asked as she turned to Han Li with the hatchling cradled in her arms.
"That feather you''re holding most likely belonged to tis mother, so let''s call it Featheryearn," Han Li said after a moment of contemtion.
"Featheryearn... That''s a really nice name! I''ll call it Featheryearn from now on," Meng Qianqian replied with a joyful smile.
Meng Qianqian raised the hatchling to her eye level, then said to it with a serious expression, "From now on, your name is Featheryearn!"
Only then did Han Li notice that there was a small fleshy growth concealed beneath the hatchling''s feathers on the underside of its head.
His brows furrowed slightly as he approached Meng Qianqian and took the hatchling from her, and after carefully observing it for a while, he lifted the wings and the tail of the hatchling one by one. In doing so, he discovered a faintly shimmering feather under each of those ces, and a contemtive look appeared on his face.
"Is there something wrong, Elder Li?" Meng Qianqian asked with a concerned expression.
"No, it''s just that I''ve been trying to figure out what this egg is this entire time, but to no avail, and now that the egg has hatched, I''ve finally gotten an idea of what it could be," Han Li replied with a smile.
Meng Qianqian was rather intrigued to hear this, and she hurriedly asked, "Is Featheryearn supposed to be something special?"
"I can''t say for sure right now, but what I can be certain of is that it''s a wind-attribute spirit bird, and one with extremely high evolutionary potential, at that. Perhaps its body holds some type of true spirit bloodline," Han Li replied.
Meng Qianqian''s eyes lit up even further upon hearing this, and she turned to the hatchling as she praised, "It sounds like you''re destined for great things, Featheryearn!"
The hatchling naturally had no idea what was being said about it, and it was continuing to chirp incessantly, seemingly full of longing and curiosity toward the world around it.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce an azure pill, following which a burst of azure light emerged over the palms of his hand to envelop the entire pill.
It didn''t take long before the pill began to melt away within the azure light, transforming into a burst of azure qi that was imbued with rich spiritual power.
Han Li then guided the burst of azure qi into the hatchling''s beak, and it slid down Featheryearn''s long and thin neck, then shed a few times in its belly before fading away.
Featheryearn immediately stopped chirping before burping in a very humanized fashion, much to Meng Qianqian''s amusement, and she began to giggle with delight.
Right after it let loose that hearty burp, Featheryearn''s eyelids instantly began to droop, and its head rolled to the side as it fell asleep.
"The wind-attribute spirit pill that I just fed it is still too much for it to process for now, even though I already used my magic power to make it easier to digest, but this is a good thing. Now that it''s asleep, it''ll be able to better digest the pill," Han Li exined with a smile.
Meng Qianqian nodded in response.
"Keep that feather for now. You were the one who looked after Featheryearn''s egg all this time, so you can keep looking after it now that it''s hatched," Han Li said as he passed the sleeping hatchling back to Meng Qianqian.
"Yes, Elder Li," Meng Qianqian replied as she eagerly took Featheryearn from him.
"I recall that there are quite a few wind-attribute spirit nts in the spirit fields on the mountain. You can use those to feed it, but make sure to only feed it 10-year-old nts in the beginning and only feed it older spirit nts when it''s ready. Also, make sure you don''t feed it any spirit nts or pills of any other attribute," Han Li cautioned.
"Yes, Elder Li," Meng Qianqian replied with a nod.
"Alright, you can go now," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Meng Qianqian did as she was told, turning to depart with Featheryearn in her arms, but right as she was about to step out of the stone chamber, Han Li called out to her again.
"What is it, Elder Li?" Meng Qianqian asked as she turned around with a puzzled expression.
"If I''m not mistaken, you''ve already reached the Deity Transformation Stage, right?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"Ah, I was meaning to tell you about that, but I never got a chance to do so, and I ended up forgetting after getting distracted by Featheryearn''s egg," Meng Qianqian replied with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"You possess superior aptitude to your brother and the others, so it''s no surprise that you''ve been able to make faster progress in your cultivation. Here are some Deity Transformation Stage pills as a congrattory gift for your breakthrough," Han Li said with a smile as he tossed a white porcin vial at Meng Qianqian, who hurriedly caught the vial and thanked Han Li earnestly before departing in an ted fashion.
Not long after she left, Han Li flew out of his cave abode as a streak of azure light and departed from the Crimson Dawn Peak.
The next day.
It was a bright and sunny day.
The western region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range was still covered in ayer of snow, with only certain areas, such as the pces and the zas, where the snow had been swept away.
Aside from that, there were also ces with underground fire veins or hot springs that had managed to keep the snow at bay, and there was even some greenery present around those areas.
A streak of azure light flew through the air before descending toward the Half Moon Valley beside the West Forest Mountain.
After departing from the Crimson Dawn Peak, the previous night, Han Li had returned the Essence Fire Raven to the cave that contained the underground fire vein, then set off for what he spected to have been the White Finch Valley.
The Essence Fire Raven had been very pleased to be back, and it circled around Han Li a few times before eagerly flying back into the cave.
After that, Han Li had traveled to the western region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range through a teleportation hall.
If he had chosen to teleport straight to the Cattail Spirit Valley before traveling to the West Forest Peak from there, he would''ve been able to save a lot of time, and that would''ve allowed him to reach the Half Moon Valley before first light.
However, the arrival of a True Immortal in the Cattail Spirit Valley would''ve created a massive stir, even if he had no intention of picking out any servants, and he didn''t want to attract any attention.
Hence, he had chosen to take a slightly longer route, and that was why it had taken him so long to get to his destination.
The Half Moon Valley was just as unremarkable as the West Forest Mountain beside it, so neither of those ces were held in very high regard by the sect. As such, the Half Moon Valley was still apletely untouched ce.
Han Li descended upon the entrance of the valley, then made his way inside to discover a thickyer of snow stretching as far as the eyes could, interspersed only by some dark red rocks, presenting a rather barren sight to behold.
After making his way several thousand feet into the valley, the terrain was bing wider and more open, but it was also noticeably lower than at the entrance of the valley, and Han Li could tell that he had been walking downhill this entire time.
After walking for around an hour, the valley up ahead suddenly became filled with mist, making it difficult for him to see his surroundings clearly.
Han Li skirted around a massive rock in the valley, and he discovered arge crescent-shapedke behind it. There were plumes of steam rising up from theke, clearly indicating that it was a geothermal hot spring.
The temperature around the hot spring was slightly higher than elsewhere in the valley, and an exposed dark redke bank could be seen.
Han Li made his way over to the edge of theke before stopping in his tracks and peering into the water with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
The surface of theke was rippling slightly, and the water was very clear, allowing Han Li to see that thekebed was riddled with countless rocks of different sizes, but he couldn''t see any fish or living creatures inside.
Momentster, Han Li withdrew his gaze, then carefully released his spiritual sense to epass the entire valley, but after some examination, he wasn''t able to find anything of note, and it was as if this really was just a normal valley.
The mission was for him to show his Mantra Treasured Axis in the White Finch Valley, and with that in mind, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed.
Chapter 269: The Eye of Truth
Chapter 269: The Eye of Truth
If this really is the so-called White Finch Valley, then perhaps something will happen if I summon my Mantra Treasured Axis here.
With that in mind, Han Li made a hand seal and activated his Mantra Axis Scripture cultivation art.
His Mantra Treasured Axis then appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light, and it began to revolve slowly in mid-air.
.
The 24 semi-transparent Time Dao Runes on the axis were shing incessantly while giving off bursts of powerfulw fluctuations, causing everything in a radius of 100 feet to slow down to such a degree that it was as if everything had fallen still.
The wind had stagnated, and even the flow of air had be extremely slow. Simrly, the ripples on the surface of theke also appeared to have been frozen solid.
The mist rising up from the surface of theke resembled pirs of white smoke that were moving extremely slowly, andpared with the mist in the distance, which was moving at a normal speed, the mist affected by the Mantra Treasured Axis may as well have not been moving at all.
Han Li slowly spun around as he inspected his surroundings, trying to find abnormal change in the environment, but even after a lengthy period of observation, he wasn''t able to spot anything.
Right as he was beginning to think that he was in the wrong ce, something out of the ordinary finally happened.
A burst of white light suddenly appeared in front of him, and a palm sized white finch appeared out of thin air, pping its wings as it flew toward theke.
It was epassed within the 100-foot effective radius of the Mantra Treasured Axis, but it seemed to have beenpletely unaffected as it descended gently onto the surface of theke, sending ripples spreading in all directions around it.
Han Li was staring at the white finch, unsure of what to do next.
Right at this moment, the white finch suddenly turned back to take a nce at him, then gently pecked down onto the surface of theke with its gray beak.
Han Li felt as if he could hear the chime of a bell ring out, immediately following which circles of ripples appeared on the surface of theke before spreading outward in all directions.
The further outward the ripples spread, therger the waves that they swept up were, and upon reaching the stone banks on either side of theke, the waves had be sorge that they were sendingrge volumes of water sshing in all directions.
A ck hole around the same thickness as an adult human''s torso had appeared at the center of the waves, and a glowing ck octagonal array emerged above it, giving off powerful spatial fluctuations.
"There''s a secret area here!" Han Li eximed as his brows furrowed slightly.
The white finch that had triggered all of this seemed to have been rather displeased by his hesitation, and it spread its wings and circled around in the air for a while before flying into the ck hole, vanishing amid a sh of light.
Han Li didn''t hesitate any longer as he withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis, then leaped up into the air before also falling into the ck hole.
However, as soon as his feetnded upon the opening of the ck hole, he appeared to have been kept out by an invisible barrier, unable to pass through the array.
Blue light shed within his eyes as he attempted to find a way to bypass the array.
Some timeter, his brows furrowed slightly as he raised his fist before punching down on the invisible barrier beneath him, he felt as if his fist had struck a wall of cotton, and most of its power was instantly nullified.
After that, Han Li attempted several more methods to try and break through the restriction, but all to no avail. The restriction was extremely profound and seemingly had no weaknesses at all.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he pondered what to do next.
Judging from what had just happened, it seemed that he had guessed right, and that this was indeed the so-called White Finch Valley.
However, the white finch had already flown into the secret area, and it seemed to have been guiding him into it as well, so why was he unable to enter.
Could it be...
A thought suddenly urred to him as he flipped a hand over to produce his elder badge, then pointed it at the octagonal array above the ck hole.
A burst of ck light flew out of the array and onto the badge, upon which 9,000 merit points were instantly deducted, leaving him with a measly 132 merit points.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which an ted look appeared on his face.
Before he had a chance to think about anything else, light shed from the array above the ck hole, then swept up to envelop his entire body before dragging him straight into the hole.
After that, the ck hole abruptly vanished.
The ripples surging across the surface of theke still hadn''t subsided, but the mist that was rising up from it had already returned to normal.
Han Li felt a brief rush of dizziness before finding himself standing on a white stone za.
He inspected his surroundings to find a cluster of mountains behind him, while there was a massive deity statue that was over 1,000 feet tall situated to both his left and to his right. Each of the deity statues was wielding a giant weapon that was resting on the ground, and both statues were glowering directly at Han Li.
Han Li only took a brief nce at the statues before directing his gaze directly up ahead.
At the end of the za was a golden pce with no end in sight, and above it was ayer of lustrous clouds that were glowing bright.
There was a pavilion with no walls in front of the pce, and a pair of sage-like figures were seated across from one another in the pavilion, ying a game of go. Behind each of them was a pair of celestial maidens in ptial dresses, holding incense burners and cups of tea, and none of them were looking in Han Li''s direction.
At the gates of the pce were two teams of warriors d in suits of golden armor, and as soon as they spotted Han Li, they immediately began rushing toward him with fierce killing intent.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and instead of stepping forward to meet the approaching assants, he sat down with his legs crossed instead.
A burst of blue light then shed within his eyes as he made a hand seal, then released his enormous spiritual sense in all directions without any restraint.
The sound of sshing waves rang out, and a formidable aura erupted in all directions with Han Li at the center.
Countless rifts were instantly torn into the white stone za beneath him, and the entire earth was peeled back before crumbling away. The two deity statues on either side of him copsed violently before disintegrating into dust, while the cluster of mountains behind him also vanished without a trace.
Before the golden-armored warriors had a chance to reach him, they were also torn to shreds by this wave of destruction, and it didn''t take long before the golden pce up ahead also crumbled away, along with the pavilion in front of it and the people situated in the pavilion.
The entire illusion around Han Li had been destroyed, while he remained seated on the ground.
However, the white stone za beneath him had turned into mossy dirt, and he was surrounded by lush mountains. It appeared that he was situated in a vast area, but he could clearly sense the presence of spatial barriers around him.
It seemed that this secret area was far smaller than he had imagined.
With that in mind, he slowly rose to his feet, then habitually dusted off his robes before casting his gaze directly forward.
There, he spotted a giant stone monument that was over 100 feet wide.
A strange beast that resembled both a dragon and a serpent was engraved on either side of the stone monument, but the monument was extremely severely damaged, and it was clearly missing arge chunk on top, so it was impossible to tell exactly what it was.
The fractured part of the stone monument was covered in moss, giving it a dpidated appearance, but thankfully, the bottom half had been preserved very well, and it was riddled with golden seal text.
Han Li quickly made his way over to the base of the stone monument, and after just a single nce, he was immediately rooted to the spot.
This is the Mantra Axis Scripture!
The text recorded on the broken monument had clearly been split up into two parts, between which was a nk area.
The part of the monument near the ground was covered by some short weeds, and the recorded text was very familiar to Han Li. It was none other than the first level of the Mantra Axis Scripture, while the second level was recorded near the top of the monument.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he fell into deep thought.
If the Mantra Axis Scripture was in the sect''s Merit Conveyance Pce, then why had this strange stone monument been erected here? And why was it so difficult to ess? Could it be that the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture in the Merit Conveyance Pce also had to be obtained from this ce?
After all, it had cost him the same price of 9,000 merit points to enter this ce, and this was something that he could perhaps indirectly enquire about the next time he went to the Merit Conveyance Pce.
At the same time, he couldn''t help but wonder if it was a coincidence that he had noticed the fleeting line of text on the stone wall in the High Profound Pce that had led him to this ce.
Right at this moment, a burst of white light suddenly appeared above him, and the white finch that had guided him into this ce reappeared before descending onto the broken monument to nibble at the moss on its fractured surface.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the white finch to find that it had a slightly illusory appearance, making it impossible to see it clearly.
Right as he was observing the white finch, it suddenly stopped what it was doing, then turned to him and opened its beak to speak: "Why are you looking at me? You only have half a day here, so hurry up and memorize the cultivation!"
Han Li was caughtpletely off guard by the fact that the white finch was able to speak. Its way of speech was slightly awkward, so it had clearly been granted the ability to speak by some type of restriction, but Han Li still found this to be quite surprising.
Thus, he couldn''t help but look at the white finch for a moment longer.
"Stop looking at me!" the white finch protested.
Han Li hurriedly withdrew his gaze with a sheepish expression before focusing his attention on the stone monument.
Just like the first level of the Mantra Axis Scripture, the second level was also written in golden seal text, and an ancient method ofnguage formtion was used, making it very difficult to understand.
Thankfully, given the foundation that he had established from the first level of the cultivation art, Han Li wasn''t at aplete loss, but he was still only able to read through the text very slowly.
As he read through the text engraved on the stone monument, he was forciblymitting it to his memory using his formidable spiritual sense.
After about four hours, a faint sheen of sweat had already appeared on his forehead, and he exhaled deeply, having finallypletely memorized the second level of the cultivation art.
Attached to the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture was a secret technique known as the Eye of Truth, which apparently granted anyone that mastered it the ability to see through all illusions.
However, in order to cultivate this secret technique, one had to have already attained at least 12 Time Dao Runes on their Mantra Treasured Axis.
Chapter 270: Space-time Restoration
Chapter 270: Space-time Restoration
With that in mind, a peculiar look shed through Han Li''s eyes.
Even though he had only mastered the first level of the cultivation art, he had already manifested 24 Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis, so he was naturally able to cultivate the Eye of Truth secret technique.
He made a hand seal as he began to chant an incantation, and his Mantra Treasured Axis instantly appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
The white finch standing on the stone monument was still nibbling at the moss, but it immediately raised its head and turned to Han Li upon sensing thew fluctuations emanating from the Mantra Treasured Axis, and its movements weren''t slowed down at all.
Han Li took another nce at the cultivation art recorded on the stone monument, and a determined look appeared in his eyes as he began to chant the mantra for the second level of the cultivation art.
Shortly thereafter, he suddenly switched to a different hand seal, and his chanting also grew faster.
Meanwhile, the Mantra Treasured Axis began to revolve at a higher speed behind him while radiating dazzling golden light.
Initially, only six of the Time Dao Runes on the axis had been glowing, but the rest of them were lighting up one after another.
With each Time Dao Rune that lit up, the flow of time within a radius of 100 feet around Han Li would slow down a bit further, while the rotation of the Mantra Treasured Axis became faster.
Before long, the axis was revolving so quickly that it had turned into a blur, and faint golden threads could be seen surging out of the axis before converging toward the hole at the center of the axis.
Han Li could feel the immortal spiritual power in his body being rapidly expended at twice the rate of expenditure that he experienced during pill refinement.
He immediately flipped a hand over to summon an Immortal Origin Stone, using it to replenish his immortal spiritual power.
Shortly thereafter, the 12th Time Dao Rune lit up, and the entire Mantra Treasured Axis began to emit a loud buzzing sound as it abruptly ceased in its rotation.
All of the golden threads that had converged in the hole at the center of the axis had intertwined to form a fist-sized golden ball, which was shimmering with golden radiance.
Han Li''s chanting also ceased upon seeing this, and all of a sudden, the light radiating from the ball of golden threads became as bright and dazzling as the sun.
The light was too bright for Han Li to stare into, so he involuntarily closed his eyes.
Several secondster, the dazzling golden light finally began to gradually dim.
Han Li massaged his own eyes for a moment, then turned to look at the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him.
The axis had originally only been around a foot in size, but it seemed to have swelled slightly in size, and there was arge vertical eye that was tightly shut situated in the hole at its center.
So this is the Eye of Truth...
Han Li made a hand seal ording to the description in the secret technique to activate the Eye of Truth, and this time, there was no massive outflow of immortal spiritual power like before.
12 of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis lit up in unison while releasing a burst of peculiar fluctuations, and the vertical golden eye shuddered, following which its golden eyelids parted down the center to the left and the right, revealing a golden eyeball.
The eyeball waspletely golden in color, but its coloration wasn''t even throughout. The golden hue at the center of the eye''s pupil was clearly more vibrant, resembling a ball of molten gold.
The golden light radiating from the edge of the pupil was slightly less vibrant, and there was a concentrated circle of strange runes around it. Outside the circle of runes, the golden coloration was even fainter, and it wasn''t even as pronounced as the golden color of the eyelids.
As soon as the Eye of Truth sprang open, the circle of runes around the pupils instantly began to rapidly revolve, while a burst of faint golden light was projected out of the pupil.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon seeing this, and he began to inspect his surroundings through the Eye of Truth instead of his physical eyes.
The surrounding mountains instantly fell away to reveal a series of semi-transparent spatial barriers, outside of which was a vast expanse of murky gray space, as if the entire area were enshrouded within a cloud of gray mist.
That''s it?
If this were the extent of the power of the Eye of Truth, then it really wasn''t much different from his Brightsight Spirit Eyes. It appeared that the Eye of Truth only allowed him to see some concealed things with a little more rity, and that fell far short of his expectations.
He began to slowly turn around, and the Mantra Treasured Axis mirrored his movement, while the Eye of Truth also began to turn.
As Han Li turned to face the stone monument, the Eye of Truth did the same, and ayer of faint white light suddenly appeared over the monument.
Theyer of light resembled a veil of thin smoke that obstructed his gaze, rendering him unable to clearly make out the text on the stone monument, and the white finch standing on the monument had also transformed into a ball of energy simr to the world''s origin qi.
Han Li was very surprised to see this, and he began to activate his Mantra Treasured Axis to its full capacity.
Bright golden light emanated from the axis as the semi-transparent Time Dao Runes lit up one after another, and before long, all of them had been illuminated.
After all 24 Time Dao Runes had been activated, the golden light radiating from the Eye of Truth suddenly grew brighter, immediately following which a beam of golden light shot out of the eye''s pupil, striking theyer of white light on the stone monument before instantly passing through.
The beam of white light was like a sharp de that had sliced through the white light barrier and was beginning to tear it apart.
Right at this moment, the stone monument abruptly shuddered, startling the white finch and causing it to fly up into the air.
A burst of golden light appeared, and strange fluctuations began to surge out from within the stone monument. All of a sudden, Han Li was able to sense some rather faint yet familiar powers of time.
This stone monument is a treasure that contains the power of time!
Han Li was very much taken aback by this revtion, yet there were still more surprises toe.
A vast expanse of golden light began to surge out of the stone monument''s fractured surface, and the broken section of the monument was rapidly being restored by the golden light.
Before long, the entire monument had been restored to its original state, looking as if it had beenpletely reconstructed, and even the damaged heads of the pair of beasts engraved on either side of the monument had been restored.
Could it be that this Eye of Truth is also able to repair objects and reconstruct treasures?
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li sprang up into the air,nding on top of the stone monument before reaching down to stroke the surface restored section of the monument.
However, as soon as his hand came into contact with the surface of the monument, it instantly passed right through.
So this is nothing more than a projection reflected by the Eye of Truth.
Han Li wasn''t very surprised by this oue, and he flew back down onto the ground before directing his gaze toward the restored section of the monument.
As soon as he did so, he was rooted to the spot once again.
As it turned out, another passage of golden seal text had appeared above the second passage, and the two of them were separated by another nk area.
This third passage of text was none other than the third level of the Mantra Axis Scripture!
Han Li was both astonished and ecstatic upon seeing this, and he knew that this was an immensely fortunate opportunity.
Right at this moment, a rather mechanical voice rang out from beside him. "You still have two hours left."
The voice belonged to none other than that white finch. Even with the assistance of the Eye of Truth, Han Li was unable to identify exactly what this white finch was.
He hurriedly focused his attention on the third passage of text upon hearing this, memorizing the third level of the Mantra Axis Scripture as quickly as he could.
With all 24 Time Dao Runes and the Eye of Truth activated at once, Han Li was rapidly burning through his immortal spiritual power reserves. Even though he was using an Immortal Origin Stone to replenish his energy, it still only took a few minutes for all of his immortal spiritual power to be depleted, rendering him unable to use the Eye of Truth any longer.
As the Eye of Truth faded away, the restored section of the stone monument also disintegrated into specks of golden light, while the Mantra Treasured Axis behind Han Li was withdrawn into his body.
Han Li gently exhaled as he flipped both hands over to summon a pair of Immortal Origin Stones, holding one in each hand to replenish his immortal spiritual power
There was a faint smile on his face, and the excitement in his heart refused to die down. He had onlye to this ce to try his luck, and he certainly wasn''t expecting to have reaped such significant rewards from this trip.
Not only had he secured the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture, he had managed to acquire the third level of the cultivation art as well, so he was naturally ecstatic.
"Time''s up," the white finch dered as it flew back onto the stone monument.
"Thank you... Er... Senior," Han Li replied, deciding to refer to the white finch as senior after a moment of deliberation.
"I''m no senior, I''m nothing more than a manifestation of the restrictions in this secret area," the white finch replied.
Han Li still wanted to ask more questions, but the white finch didn''t give him a chance to do so, spreading its wings and flying directly toward him. It appeared to have been moving very slowly, but it reached him in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was still holding the Immortal Origin Stones in his hands when felt the entire space moving toward him along with the white finch, and he was swallowed up before he had a chance to do anything.
In the next instant, the surface of theke in the Half Moon Valley began to churn violently as if the water had been brought to a boil, and Han Li slowly emerged from the water onto the surface.
He looked down to find that the surface of theke was already gradually returning to a tranquil state, with only faint ripples spreading through the water, and he could see a reflection of himself looking back at him.
The light in the valley was rather dim, and the snow was reflecting the light of the setting sun. It was already close to night time.
Chapter 271: The Function of the Eye of Truth
Chapter 271: The Function of the Eye of Truth
The next morning.
Han Li returned to the Crimson Dawn Peak without alerting anyone, and he quickly passed through the courtyard before entering his cave abode.
After activating all of the restrictions in the cave abode, he made his way into his secret chamber, then sat down with his legs crossed on a cushion before flipping a hand over to summon a white porcin teacup.
This wasn''t a treasure or artifact. Instead, it was just an ordinary cup, one that wasmonly seen in wealthy mortal ns, and it was something that Han Li had taken from the table while passing through the hall.
He held the teacup in one hand as he gently flicked a finger against its rim.
A faint crack rang out as a piece of porcin on the rim of the teacup was snapped off.
Han Li nodded to himself as he ced the broken teacup onto the ground in front of him, then made a hand seal, and his Mantra Treasured Axis immediately appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
The axis then began to slowly revolve, while a vertical golden eye appeared at its center.
Han Li began to chant an incantation, and the Mantra Treasured Axis instantly sped up in its rotation while emitting a faint buzzing sound.
The semi-transparent Time Dao Runes on the axis lit up one after another, and it didn''t take long before all 24 Time Dao Runes were activating, releasing circles of golden ripples that illuminated the entire secret chamber.
The eyelids of the vertical eye at the center of the axis also peeled back to reveal the golden eyeball within.
The circle of runes at the center of the eyeball also began to rapidly revolve, following which a beam of faint golden light was projected out of the pupil.
Han Li directed his gaze toward the broken teacup, and the beam of golden light that was projected out of the Eye of Truth was also turned to the teacup.
The golden light illuminated the white teacup, giving the entire cup a translucent appearance.
However, the broken part of the teacup remained broken, not disying any changes at all.
It looks like it can''t restore ordinary items...
Han Li wasn''t all that surprised by this oue as he wasn''t expecting the Eye of Truth to be able to work on ordinary items in the first ce.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he flipped a hand over to produce a miniature ck octagonal pagoda.
This pagoda was once a spirit treasure of quite a high caliber, possessing the ability to trap a target inside, but it was severely damaged, and as a result, its effectiveness was also severely diminished. However, there were some rather special runes engraved upon it that Han Li was rather interested in, and that was why he hadn''t thrown the treasure away.
The pagoda was quite intricately crafted, and even though it was only around a foot tall, it wasplete with pirs, doors, windows, and even ques hanging above every single door, upon which were inscribed runes that spelled out profound mantras.
The pagoda was supposed to have seven levels, but due to the damage that it had sustained, the top level and the roof had both gone missing.
Han Li set the pagoda down onto the ground in front of him, then took a deep breath before activating his Eye of Truth again and directing its gaze toward the pagoda.
The pagoda was basked in golden radiance, and it began to glow with ck light while releasingyers of peculiar fluctuations. A series of hidden runes concealed under the eaves of the pagoda and behind its pirs were also revealed.
However, just like with the teacup from before, its missing section remained missing.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he fell into deep thought.
Momentster, he swept a hand through the air to stow the pagoda away, then summoned a damaged red seal that he ced onto the ground before repeating the same process.
The Eye of Truth released another beam of golden light that epassed the entire seal...
Close to a dayter, Han Li was still seated with his legs crossed on his cushion, and he was holding an Immortal Origin Stone to replenish his immortal spiritual power.
There were 17 or 18 items littered on the ground in front of him, and all of them were treasures that were damaged in some way.
These were all of the damaged treasures that were currently in his possession, and they covered a wide array of attributes, such as wind, lightning, water, fire, etc. He had tested the Eye of Truth on every single one of these treasures one by one, but none of them were restored in the form of a projection as had been the case for the stone monument.
"How strange... What am I missing?" Han Li murmured to himself while replenishing his immortal spiritual power reserves.
The Eye of Truth has no effect on ordinary items, nor is it effective on spirit treasures that contain spiritual power, yet it works on that stone monument in the White Finch Valley secret area.. What''s so special about that monument?
He refused to believe that the Eye of Truth could only be effective on certain items. Instead, there had to have been a certain ssification of items that it could work on.
Could it be...
All of a sudden, a thought sprang into his mind, and he flipped a hand over to produce a rectangr white jade box, upon which was adhered an azure talisman that could preserve spiritual qi.
Han Li gently stroked his hand over the jade box, and the talisman instantly vanished amid a sh of azure light.
He then opened the jade box, and a rich medicinal aroma instantly wafted throughout the room.
Inside the jade box was a high-grade spirit nt that had light purple leaf veins and was giving off a faint glow.
This was a Night Cloud Herb that was around a foot in length, and it was a primary ingredient for refining a type of earthly pill. This particr Night Cloud Herb had been matured to an age in excess of 50,000 years by the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial.
Han Li stowed the Immortal Origin Stone away, then made a hand seal to summon his Mantra Treasured Axis again.
With all 24 Time Dao Runes activated, the Eye of Truth released a beam of golden light that fell upon the purple spirit herb.
Purple light began to emanate from the Night Cloud Herb, and under the scrutiny of the Eye of Truth, it began to rapidly shrink, quickly reverting back to only around an inch in length. The specks of light emanating from its leaf veins that were an indication of maturity had also faded, and it had reverted back into the form of a tender seedling.
I was right! The Eye of Truth only works on things that contain the power of time.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he had his suspicions confirmed.
After a brief pause, he reached out a hand to touch the seedling, but his hand passed right through the projection, and what he was actually touching was the mature spirit herb underneath.
Judging from the effect of the Eye of Truth on this spirit herb, it seems like the stone monument wasn''t restored. Instead, it was only reverted back to an older version of itself, back when it was still whole. If the Eye of Truth really is able to reveal the past forms of items that contain the power of time, then it should work on those things as well.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over once again, and a rectangr green jade box appeared out of thin air amid a sh of light.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the jade box was opened, and a gray rocky ball flew out from within. It was none other than the lone eyeball of the Primordial Fei Beast.
Han Li directed the gaze of the Eye of Truth toward the eyeball, and as it was basked in golden light, the eyeball gradually began to transform.
Rays of golden light began to radiate from its surface, forming a series of golden threads that extended outward, then intertwined with one another to form a golden skeleton, followed by a giant body.
Before long, a projection of the Primordial Fei Beast had been conjured up, and it wasid out t in mid-air inside the secret chamber.
Due to how massive the Primordial Fei Beast was, half of its body had already vanished into one of the walls of the secret chamber, so Han Li was unable to see it in its full glory.
Han Li rose to his feet and made his way over to the head of the Primordial Fei Beast projection, and only after some close examination did he withdraw the Eye of Truth.
The massive projection in the secret chamber instantly vanished, leaving only the lone eye hovering in mid-air.
Han Li exhaled as he stowed the eyeball away, then flipped a hand over to produce another item. This time, it was a semi-transparent crystal the size of a water droplet.
This crystal was none other than a crystal that contained the power of time manifested by the Heaven Controlling Vial.
Han Li directed the gaze of the Eye of Truth toward the crystal, and the crystal instantly became enshrouded within a beam of faint golden light, following which it began to release a burst of dazzling white light alongside tremendous spiritual power fluctuations.
Han Li was quite startled by this turn of events, and he hurriedly attempted to stow the crystal away, but it was already toote.
A faint crack rang out, and the crystal fell apart within the golden light.
Before Han Li had a chance to react, the goldenw thread within the crystal shot out like a steel needle, passing straight through Han Li before piercing into the Eye of Truth within his Mantra Treasured Axis.
Han Li felt as if the Mantra Treasured Axis had been dealt a heavy blow, and as a result, he was sent stumbling back in an involuntary manner.
Immediately thereafter, he felt the axis behind him begin to tremble while releasing bursts of invisible fluctuations.
He hurriedly cut off the secret technique to close the Eye of Truth, yet even after doing that, the Mantra Treasured Axis continued to tremble.
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this. He didn''t know how to intervene, nor did he dare to withdraw the axis back into his body in its current state, so he could only force himself to calm down as he carefully observed the axis.
Thankfully, the tremors running through the Mantra Treasured Axis subsided after only around 15 minutes.
All of a sudden, an incredulous look appeared on Han Li''s face. He discovered that a new Tie Dao Rune had appeared on the Mantra Treasured Axis.
Chapter 272: Reversal True Axis
Chapter 272: Reversal True Axis
A hint of bewilderment shed through Han Li''s eyes, and he began to scrutinize the Mantra Treasured Axis intently with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes. He carefully counted the Time Dao Runes on the axis to find that there were now indeed 25 of them.
Could it be that the Eye of Truth also has the ability to absorb the power of time?
Han Li didn''t know whether this additional Time Dao Rune was temporary or permanent, but if it were thetter, then this would be an incredible turn of events.
With that in mind, Han Li was immediately tempted to try more, but unfortunately, he only had a single crystal on hand, so he would have to wait a month before he could try the same thing again.
As for his Earthly Deity Avatar, it would just have to do without the crystals for now.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh to suppress the excitement in his heart, then withdrew the Mantra Treasured Axis back into his body.
After that, he reached into the cor of his robes to pull out the Heaven Controlling Vial around his neck.
This was something that had been with him ever since the beginning of his cultivation journey. It contained the most tremendous power of time out of anything in his possession, and it was the treasure that he wanted to make sense of the most.
He brought the vial closer to his own eyes, and a look of focus appeared on his face as he scrutinized the leaf-shaped patterns on its surface.
The Heaven Controlling Vial was his most important treasure and one of his most well-kept secrets. What had happened with the crystal just now hadn''t resulted in any detrimental oues, but he was still concerned that something bad could happen to the Heaven Controlling Vial.
After some careful consideration, he decided to try something. He had always really wanted to find out the origins of the Heaven Controlling Vial, and at this point, he was confident that a treasure of the Heaven Controlling Vial''s caliber wouldn''t be damaged so easily.
After making up his mind, he set the vial down onto the floor in front of him, then activated his Eye of Truth and directed its gaze toward the vial.
The eye projected a beam of golden light onto the vial, which immediately shuddered slightly before rising up into the air.
Han Li''s entire body was tightly wound, and there was an anxious look on his face as he scrutinized the vial through his Eye of Truth.
Right at this moment, a speck of white light the size of a grain of rice appeared within the vial, illuminating it from the inside to give it a translucent appearance. All of the leaf-shaped patterns on its surface became extremely vibrant and life-like as a result.
Right as Han Li thought that a projection was going to appear, the light within the vial suddenly turned a dark green color, and it devoured the beam of golden light shining into it like a vortex.
Han Li was quite startled by this, and his first reaction was to close the Eye of Truth, but he then discovered that the vial wasn''t disying any further changes beyond what had just happened.
After waiting for a while longer, there was still nothing of interest happening, and Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief. Following a brief pause, he decided to activate his newly attained 25th Time Dao Rune as well.
With all 25 Time Dao Runes glowing in unison, the Eye of Truth projected another beam of golden light onto the Heaven Controlling Vial, and this time, something unexpected happened.
A sh of light appeared over the surface of the vial, and it devoured the beam of golden light before shooting out a beam of green light toward the Eye of Truth.
Han Li was stunned to discover that even though the beam of green light wasn''t moving very quickly, for some reason, it feltpletely unstoppable to him.
The beam of green light fell silently upon the Eye of Truth, turning it a bright green color. At the same time, the entire Mantra Treasured Axis began to tremble violently, and the golden light radiating from it began to warp and blur in an unstable fashion.
It was as if the entire axis were about to copse!
Han Li hurriedly tried to stabilize the axis upon seeing this, but he quickly discovered that a burst of suction force had emerged in the axis out of nowhere, and it was rapidly drawing upon his immortal spiritual power.
This was a rather concerning turn of events, but Han Li didn''t dare to stop as he could sense that the Mantra Treasured Axis was slowly being stabilized by the influx of his immortal spiritual power.
Around 15 minutes passed by, during which over two thirds of Han Li''s immortal spiritual power had been depleted, and the tremors in the axis finally ceased, while the green light on its surface had also faded.
It seemed that the Eye of Truth had been forcibly shut.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief, and after verifying that the axis and the Eye of Truth were unscathed, he withdrew the axis into his body with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes. He then carefully examined the Heavenly Controlling Vial and was quite relieved to find that it was also unharmed.
"Looks like I''ve been underestimating you all this time. You''repletely fine, whereas the majority of immortal spiritual power has been depleted. I should continue to conduct these experiments once I''ve further enhanced the Eye of Truth," Han Li murmured to himself with a wry smile.
After that, he stowed the Heaven Controlling Vial away, then sat down with his legs crossed and closed his eyes. At the same time, the image of the stone monument in the secret area sprang into his mind, particrly the section with the third level of the Mantra Axis Scripture inscribed upon it.
At this point, he was already extremely familiar with the first level of the cultivation art, so he was focusing solely on examining the second and third levels with his spiritual sense, trying to see if those two parts contained any information pertaining to the Eye of Truth.
He sat for seven days and seven nights, carefully reading through both of thetter parts of the cultivation art during this time.
However, in the end, he was unable to find anything. Aside from the records of the Eye of Truth secret technique, there was no further content regarding the Eye of Truth in the rest of the cultivation art.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes and stretchedzily as he rose to his feet.
Even though he hadn''t found what he was looking for, he wasn''t disappointed in the slightest. Instead, there was a hint of tion in his eyes.
This was because during the reading process, he had summoned the Mantra Treasured Axis on multiple asions for reference, and he discovered that the 25th Time Dao Rune still remained without disying any signs of fading away. It appeared to have been just as permanent as the 24 other Time Dao Runes.
Furthermore, he could sense that the flow of time in the area epassed within the golden ripples had slowed down a little further. It wasn''t a significant change, but a noticeable one, nheless.
This meant that the Time Dao Rune that had arisen after the Eye of Truth absorbed the crystal manifested by the Heaven Controlling Vial was most likely permanent, but further observation would be required to confirm this.
In any case, Han Li was very excited by this discovery.
Aside from that, he had also made another encouraging discovery while inspecting the third level of the cultivation art.
Attached to the mantra of the third level of the cultivation art was an ability called the Reversal True Axis, and this was an ability that had thepletely opposite effect to the Mantra Treasured Axis, elerating the flow of time rather than slowing it down.
However, this ability only applied to its user. ording to the description of the ability, it required one to keep the Mantra Treasured Axis in their body and reverse it, thereby elerating the flow of time for them and enhancing their speed.
There was a prerequisite to cultivating this ability as well, which was that one had to have manifested at least 18 Time Dao Runes on their Mantra Treasured Axis, and it had nothing to do with which level of the Mantra Treasured Axis that one had progressed to.
However, ording to the description in the Mantra Axis Scripture, only after mastering the third level of the cultivation art was it possible for one to attain 18 Time Dao Runes, which meant that it should''ve been impossible to cultivate this ability at any point before that.
However, Han Li had already attained 25 Time Dao Runes, so theoretically speaking, he should''ve been able to attempt cultivating this ability.
His original n was to go into seclusion to cultivate the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture, but he decided to set that n aside for now to focus on cultivating this ability instead.
If he could master this ability, then hisbat prowess would immediately receive a significant boost.
With that in mind, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed once again before closing his eyes.
After taking several days to prime himself into the best possible condition, Han Limenced his seclusion.
The Reversal True Axis appeared to have been quite a simple ability, but it was actually far from easy to cultivate.
It was theplete opposite of how one would normally use the Mantra Axis Scripture, so not only were all of the insights that had developed through cultivating the Mantra Axis Scripturepletely useless, they were serving as obstacles to a certain extent.
Inside the secret chamber, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed while making a hand seal with both hands, and the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him was slowly revolving while releasing faint golden light. 18 of the Time Dao Runes on its surface had lit up in unison, and they were releasing bursts of peculiar fluctuations throughout the entire secret chamber.
Right at this moment, Han Li brought his palms together, then folded down two his fingers before turning both hands toward to make a strange hand seal while also chanting an incantation.
The Mantra Treasured Axis behind him shuddered slightly, and the buzzing sound that it was emitting gradually subsided. The speed of its rotation was also gradually decreasing, and it looked as if it were going to stop revolving altogether.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li switched to yet another different hand seal, and the Mantra Treasured Axis instantly began spinning rapidly once again, except in theplete opposite direction to before.
Han Li was quite ted to see this, and he was just about to attempt to withdraw the axis into his body when he felt some tightness in his chest, following which blood began to gush up toward the back of his throat.
He immediately stopped what he was doing, and the Mantra Treasured Axis reverted back to its original state before vanishing into his body on its own.
As expected, it''s not that easy. Just the method of immortal spiritual power cirction alone is quite difficult to grasp. It appears I won''t be able to sessfully cultivate this ability without at least several hundred attempts while making adjustments along the way.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he wiped away the blood that was trickling down from the corner of his lips.
Just now, the immortal spiritual power had begun to circte in opposite directions, thereby shing against itself, and if he had continued in that fashion, he would''ve been sure to sustain internal injuries.
After taking a moment to rest and adjust the cirction of immortal spiritual power in his body, Han Li summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis once again.
Chapter 273: Shock
Chapter 273: Shock
Three yearster.
A streak of blurry golden light was shing back and forth through the air within a valley in the Crimson Dawn Peak''s territory. It was flying at an incredible speed, leaving trails of afterimages in its wake, and it was impossible to follow with the naked eye.
What was even more peculiar was that there was no rhyme or reason to the streak of golden light''s movements. One moment, it would be whizzing directly forward, only to appear in the opposite direction the next instant.
All of a sudden, the streak of golden light drew to an abrupt halt, and Han Li was revealed.
At this moment, his face was slightly flushed, and there was an irrepressible look of joy in his eyes. His entire body was enveloped in ayer of faint golden light that was giving off bursts of strange fluctuations, and he murmured to himself, "If I activate all 25 Time Dao Runes at once, my speed is indeed enhanced. It looks like as I attain more and more Time Dao Runes, this ability will only be enhanced further. Having said that, it is also extremely taxing on my immortal spiritual power..."
Theyer of golden light around him then began to gradually fade, but instead of disintegrating, it vanished into his body instead.
As it turned out, thatyer of golden light hade from the Mantra Treasured Axis in his body.
During the first year or so in which he had been cultivating this ability, he wasn''t even able to circte his immortal spiritual power in the correct fashion, and that proved to have been a very difficult hurdle to ovee.
There were instances in the past where there had been a mountain norger than the size of a grain of rice from his perspective, but after activating the cultivation art, he would reach the mountain in the blink of an eye and crash headfirst into it in an uncontrolled manner.
During this period of time, he had inadvertently smashed through several hundred mountains, severely ravaging the surrounding scenery in a radius of several thousand kilometers while also sustaining some minor injuries in the process.
Thankfully, this area was part of his territory, so there weren''t any problems.
The silver lining on the dark cloud was that fundamentally speaking, this ability wasn''t actuallypletely opposite to the original cultivation art. Instead, the two shared some simrities, so after failing over 100 times, Han Li was gradually able to master the process of reversing the axis before drawing it into his own body.
At this point, he had be so skilled at this process that he didn''t even need to summon the Mantra Treasured Axis at all. Instead, he could reverse it while it was still in his body, thereby significantly enhancing how quickly he was able to unleash the ability, as well as making it much more covert.
Additionally, he was very excited by the fact that the 25th Time Dao Rune had remained all this time without disying any signs of fading away.
With this ability up his sleeve in conjunction with his lightning teleportation array, he was confident that he would be able to escape even in the face of the average Golden Immortal.
I''ve spent a very long time mastering this cultivation art. It''s time to move onto something else.
With that in mind, Han Li descended toward his cave abode down below.
Before long, he had reappeared in his secret chamber, and he sat down with his legs crossed, then summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis before opening its Eye of Truth.
Sitting on the palm of his hand was a small semi-transparent crystal, which was being basked in the golden light released by the Eye of Truth.
In order to focus on mastering the Reversal True Axis, all of the spirit liquid produced by the Heaven Controlling Vial during the past three years had been used to water spirit nts by Han Li''s puppet, so he had only recently taken the time to manifest another crystal.
A faint crack rang out, and the golden thread flew out from within before shooting into the Eye of Truth.
Han Li''s entire body shuddered violently as if he had been dealt a heavy blow, but this time, instead of closing the Eye of Truth, he allowed the golden thread to fuse into it.
Momentster, a 26th Time Dao Rune appeared on his Mantra Treasured Axis amid a sh of white light.
A relieved smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and it was finally confirmed to him that the Eye of Truth could indeed add Time Dao Runes to his Mantra Treasured Axis by absorbing these crystals.
This meant that as long as he manifested a crystal each month, he would be able to attain a new Time Dao Rune every single month!
For the average immortal, the Mantra Axis Scripture was extremely difficult to cultivate, and it was often the case that two immortal acupoints had to be opened to attain a single Time Dao Rune, yet through this method, it would only take him a single month to attain each new Time Dao Rune, and there didn''t appear to have been any upper limit to this!
24 Time Dao Runes were enough to slow time down to less than a 10th of its original speed, and with each cluster of six Time Dao Runes attained, this slowing effect would be noticeably enhanced, so what would happen once he attained 30 Time Dao Runes, 36, or even 60 or 108?
As long as he continued to cultivate the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture while manifesting crystals every month, it wouldn''t take long at all before he got there!
Han Li suppressed the excitement in his heart as he switched to a different hand seal and closed his Eye of Truth.
After that, he closed his eyes as well and began to chant an incantation,mencing his cultivation of the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture.
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10 years passed by in the blink of an eye.
During this time, Han Li had been cultivating the second level of the Mantra Axis Scripture while manifesting crystals for the Eye of Truth to absorb, and at this point, the number of Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis had already increased to 108.
For some reason, the number of Time Dao Runes refused to increase further from that point, and it appeared that some type of limit had been reached.
However, Han Li wasn''t overly disappointed by this. After all, ording to the Mantra Axis Scripture, even mastering the third level of the cultivation art should''ve only given rise to 18 Time Dao Runes, and up to this point, no one in the ze Dragon Dao had been able to aplish that.
Compared with before, the Mantra Treasured Axis''s effective range hadn''t changed, but it was capable of slowing down the flow time within its effective area to an astonishing degree of less than one thousandth of its normal speed.
He had experimented by instructing a puppet of his to attack him, and as soon as its attack entered the effective area of the Mantra Treasured Axis, it was slowed down to the point that it appeared to have fallenpletely still.
Additionally, the speed enhancement effect of his Reversal True Axis had also reached an extraordinary level, allowing him to fly through the air like a shooting star in apletely untraceable fashion.
However, activating either of the aforementioned abilities to their full extent was incredibly taxing on his immortal spiritual power, and his current immortal spiritual power reserves weren''t able to support such an astonishing level of expenditure for long at all, so he was only going to use these abilities against extremely formidable opponents.
At this moment, his entire secret chamber was filled with dazzling golden radiance.
Han Li made a hand seal, and the Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him with all 108 of the Time Dao Runes on its surface radiating golden light, basking his entire body in a golden glow that made him resemble a Buddha statue.
As the Time Dao Runes lit up one after another, the Mantra Treasured Axis also began to slowly revolve, and all 108 Time Dao Runes had lit up within the span of just a few seconds.
Han Li''splexion had paled slightly, and he could sense his immortal spiritual power being rapidly expended, but he was already prepared for this, and he flipped both hands over to produce a pair of Immortal Origin Stones to replenish his energy.
He then began to chant an incantation, and the axis turned into aplete blur, while a series of golden threads emerged from its surface before converging toward the hole at its center.
These golden threads then intertwined to form a fist-sized golden ball that was shing incessantly with golden light.
Immediately thereafter, the golden light radiating from the ball of golden threads brightened significantly, and it transformed into the Eye of Truth.
A beam of faint golden light was projected out of the Eye of Truth, and Han Li closed his eyes to inspect his surroundings through the Eye of Truth.
All of the restrictions that he had set up on the surrounding walls were instantly revealed in a transparent state, and there were countless spiritual power runes surging over them. Han Li could see all of the minute changes taking ce in the restrictions as clearly as the back of his own hand.
The space up ahead had also turned into a vast expanse of murky grayness, and Meng Yungui, Meng Qianqian, and the others were all gradually revealed alongside the scenery outside the Crimson Dawn Peak.
It seemed that the Eye of Truth was able to peer directly through space itself, and Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon seeing this
The ability of the Eye of Truth to see through illusions wasn''t much different from that of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, but after the number of Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had increased to 108, the Eye of Truth had be significantly more powerful, able to observe far more than his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
He had an ability that couldbine his Law Destruction Eye and his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, but even that was now severelyckingpared with his Eye of Truth.
Han Li gently exhaled as a solemn look appeared on his face, and he flipped a hand over to summon his Heaven Controlling Vial.
Right as he was about to observe the vial with his Eye of Truth, an unexpected turn of events suddenly unfolded.
The vial flew out of his hand before hovering mid-air, and dazzling light began to radiate from its surface, making it resemble a tiny green sun.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of tremendous force surged out of the green light, and Han Li was caughtpletely off guard, flying back involuntarily through the air until his back struck the wall behind him.
A surprised look appeared on his face, and before he had a chance to do anything, his Mantra Treasured Axis flew over to the Heaven Controlling Vial while radiating dazzling golden light that was several times brighter than normal.
In particr, the Eye of Truth was glowing extremely bright, and the circle of runes around the pupil were all squirming rapidly as if they had sprung to life.
It was as if the two were resonating with one another.
Han Li hurriedly set down the pair of Immortal Origin Stones in his hands so that he could make a hand seal, but to his surprise, both the Heaven Controlling Vial and the Mantra True Axis were no longer under his control.
All of a sudden, the Eye of Truth shot a beam of golden light into the Heaven Controlling Vial, and the vial began to rapidly swell in size, reaching the size of a human head in the blink of an eye.
Countless green runes then appeared on the surface of the vial, and they resembled countless swimming tadpoles.
A thick pir of green light shot out of the vial, then tore through the space up ahead before vanishing into it.
Instead of closing over, the torn space began to warp violently, resembling arge ck mouth that convulsing incessantly.
In the next instant, a vast expanse of light erupted out of the spatial rift.
The light was very radiant, but not blindingly so, and it was flowing out of the spatial rift like a gentle stream of water.
At this point, Han Li had already risen to hsi feet and was observing the scene unfolding before him with a bewildered expression, unsure of whether this was going to spell fortune or disaster.
Even though the Mantra Treasured Axis was currently out of his control, he could still make it disappear by cutting off the immortal spiritual power flowing out of his body, but he wasn''t sure if he wanted to do that.
Right as Han Li was hesitating about how to proceed, the situation took another turn.
Chapter 274: Lecture From the Big-eared Monk
Chapter 274: Lecture From the Big-eared Monk
All of a sudden, the spatial rift began to tremble violently before extending toward both the left and the right, forming an opening that was constantly growing wider.
As the opening continued to expand, more and more light came surging out of it like turbulent waves of the sea, and a translucent wall of light that was around 50 to 60 feet in size took shape in front of Han Li.
The Mantra Treasured Axis brightened even further while beginning to rapidly revolve, and the Time Dao Runes on its surface were also trembling violently, causing the nearby space to twist and warp.
An indecisive look appeared on Han Li''s face at the sight of the unfolding phenomenon, but in the end, he decided to wait and observe for now.
There were countless specks of light that were surging incessantly over the wall of light, and the things depicted on its surface were rapidly changing.
Initially, everything was shing extremely quickly, and it was impossible to make out exactly what was being depicted on the wall of light, but it didn''t take long before the image began to stabilize, forming a few concrete outlines.
Han Li was able to tell from these outlines that he seemed to have been looking at a group of people.
Right at this moment, a dull fizzling sound rang out, and one of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis quickly dimmed before turning a dull gray color.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this.
Even though the axis was currently out of his control, his spiritual connection with it was still intact,and just now, he could feel that his connection to that gray Time Dao Rune had been severed.
It felt like some type of mysterious power had sucked something out of his body, leaving him with a sense of emptiness, and this was something that had never happened before.
However, instead of immediately withdrawing the Mantra Treasured Axis, he forced himself to remain calm and continue observing as he had a feeling that there was something special about this wall of light.
With the dimming of that Time Dao Rune, the scene depicted on the wall of light gradually became a little clearer, and it seemed to have been depicting a mountaintop with arge object at the center, surrounded by several blurry figures of different statures.
Furthermore, there were also some colorful things shing over the sky above.
Right as Han Li was about to activate his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to take a closer look, a dull fizzling sound rang out once again, and another one of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis turned gray.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, but a contemtive look had also appeared in his eyes.
Immediately thereafter, one more Time Dao Rune turned dark.
It seemed that the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis were progressively dimming at set intervals, and an enlightened look appeared in his eyes as he hurriedly turned his gaze back to the wall of light.
Sure enough, with the dimming of those two Time Dao Runes, the image on the wall of light had be clearer once again.
After around five or six more Time Dao Runes turned gray, Han Li discovered that he was able to make out a mountain summit with a forest of lush trees around a strange rock.
The mountain summit was enshrouded within a boundless sea of clouds, and at the center of the scene was a round stone tform that was around 10,000 feet in radius and roughly 1,000 feet tall.
The tform had an azure coloration, and it was connected to the mountain below it, appearing to have been a naturally formed structure.
There were several cracks on the surface of the stone tform, and it was covered in moss and vines, indicating that it was a very old structure.
At this moment, there were five or six figures spread around the stone tform, and all of them were extremely strange in appearance.
One of them was very tall, but he was as thin as a bamboo stick, and he was wearing an extremely loose-footing yellow robe that draped down all around him.
Additionally, his hair resembled a mop of withered yellow wheat, and his face was also extremely yellow and uneven, riddled with pockmarks like the bark of an old tree, as was the case with the skin on his hands, and he resembled a being from the Wood Tribe of the Spirit Realm.
Beside him was a very short figure that was no more than five foot tall, and he was also very thin and. Compared with the extraordinarily tall man beside him, he resembled a small child, yet his head was asrge as a water vat, making him appear extremely unbnced, as if he could fall t on his face at any moment.
The third person had a set of remarkably long arms and legs, as well as huge hands and feet the size of banana leaves. The skin of his bared upper body was a fiery red color, as if he had been roasted, and there were circles of extremely strange patterns inscribed upon his skin. There was also a tuft of fiery red hair on the top of his head, with tiny mes springing out asionally from within.
The fourth person was a child that appeared to have been around five or six years of age. He had a round body and a round head, resembling a small ball stacked onto arger ball. He was wearing a dudou, as one would expect of an ordinary child, but his arms were twice the length of the average person''s, hanging down to his knees, and they also each had an extra joint, giving them an extremely strange appearance.
The final person was enormous in stature, several timesrger than everyone else, and he was wearing some type of demon beasthide garment. His skin was a dark green color, and he stood like a metal tower on the mountaintop.
None of these strange beings appeared to have been humans, yet their facial features somehow resembled human ones.
The five of them formed a circle with several thousand feet separating each of them, and they were either standing, sitting, or kneeling on the ground, while their eyes were collectively focused on a portly red-robed monk seated with his legs crossed at the center of the tform.
.
The folds of fat on the monk''s facepressed his eyes to a pair of tiny slits, and his earlobes were so long that they draped all the way down to his shoulders. Below his head was an extremely rotund bod, to the point that his already extremelyrge red robes kasaya robe wasn''t even able to cover his entire body. As a result, his enormous belly was exposed, and it hung all the way down onto the ground, making him resemble a mountain of flesh.
At first nce, a strange thought sprang into Han Li''s mind.
Is this person able to walk or even stand up?
However, that thought only shed through his mind for a moment before he spotted several interesting details about the rotund monk.
Firstly, the kasaya robe that he was wearing was no ordinary garment. There were many gemstones of different colors attached to it, all of which were glowing brightly. Furthermore, he was holding a string of jade prayer beads, and all of the beads were glittering and translucent in appearance, releasing a faint azure glow that disoriented the senses, while runes could be seen dancing inside the beads.
As for the monk himself, while it was true that he was extraordinarily fat, his entire body was giving off a faint sheen, and it was as if he were the center of the entire world.
The monk''s lips were moving, and he seemed to have been speaking.
However, instead of sounds, a string of five-colored runes was flowing out from between his lips, forming a stream of five-colored light that spread through the surrounding area before rising up into the air and disintegrating, seemingly resonating with heaven and earth.
Countless specks of light emerged from the stream of light before transforming into gusts of fierce wind that formed several massive tornadoes.
However, these tornados would instantly fade away as soon as they took shape, transforming into a storm of fire that came raining down from the heavens.
Before the rain of fire had a chance to descend onto the ground, it transformed into a storm of ice that froze the surrounding air...
All of these phenomena were extremely life-like, but every single one of them would vanish as soon as they appeared, causing the nearby space to tremble incessantly, while the sea of clouds surged and churned.
Han Li was very much intrigued by what he was seeing.
He noticed that regardless of what phenomena were being conjured up, the stone tform and the environment around it remainedpletely unaffected, and even the leaves on the surrounding trees remainedpletely still.
At the same time, there were countless golden lotus flowers blooming behind the portly monk''s head, forming a huge golden cloud that was extremely profound in appearance.
As the cloud gently swayed from side to side, ripples that were visible even to the naked eye could be seen surging through the space around it.
The strange-looking figures around the stone tform paid no heed to the phenomena taking ce up above, and they continued to stare intently at the portly monk, listening to him speak in apletely enraptured state.
After speaking for a while, the portly monk paused for a moment, and the streak of five-colored light surging through the air faded alongside all of the phenomena.
The trembling space and the churning sea of clouds gradually settled down as well, and the tall yellow-robed figure suddenly rose to his feet before extending a salute toward the monk.
The monk and the other figures all turned to him, and the yellow-robed figure began to speak while making a series of hand gestures, seemingly raising a question to the monk.
All of the other figures were nodding along unconsciously as they listened to him speak, as if they shared the same question, and all of them then turned to the portly monk with expectant expressions.
The portly monk threw his head back and burst intoughter upon hearing the yellow-robed figure''s question, causing all of the bby rolls over his body to tremble with mirth.
The space around the mountain also began to rumble with the portly monk''sughter, while the sea of louds churned and the mountain trembled.
A stunned look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this. Who exactly was this portly monk to be able to affect the environment around him so severely with just hisughter alone?
After hisughter subsided, the portly monk began to speak again while making a series of gestures with his rotund hands, seemingly answering the yellow-robed man''s question.
An enlightened look appeared on the yellow-robed man''s face as he listened to the portly monk''s answer, and he extended a respectful bow to the monk before sitting down again.
Everyone else was enlightened by the answer provided, and they all bowed to the portly monk as well before sitting back down.
The portly monk lowered his hands as he continued his lecture, and the five figures around him began to listen intently with enraptured looks on their faces.
Looking at the intoxicated expressions on everyone''s faces, Han Li was suddenly ovee by a strong desire to hear what the monk was saying. However, even the image disyed on the wall of light had be countless times clearer than before, he was unable to hear anything at all, so he could only look on in dismay.
Chapter 275: The Price of Eavesdropping
Chapter 275: The Price of Eavesdropping
As time passed, the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis continued to fade one after another, while the image being depicted on the wall of light became more and more stable.
To Han Li''s tion, as the image stabilized, he began to be able to hear some sound from the wall of light, but it was very muffled and staggered, making it impossible for him to make out what was being said.
During this time, the portly monk said some other things, and just like before, a stream of five-colored runes surged out of his mouth as he spoke. These runes rose up into the air before transforming into a five-colored stream of light, which then transformed into a series of strange-looking nts and ferocious beasts that Han Li had never seen before, presenting a kaleidoscope of fascinating sights to behold.
The five figures seated around the stone tform asionally raised some questions before sitting back down with enlightened expressions after hearing the monk''s answers.
Han Li was bing really agitated about not being able to hear what was being said, but he could only force himself to remain calm. As opposed to being concerned about the rate at which the Time Dao Runes were fading, he was now beginning to hope that they would dim faster.
A short whileter, the image on the wall of light was finallypletely stabilized, and the sounding from the image became a little louder.
It was still rather muffled and unclear, but Han Li was able to make out some of the things that were being said.
Han Li immediately flew over to the wall of light until he was no more than a foot away from it, then sat down with his legs crossed before making a hand seal. All of the immortal spiritual power in his body was injected into his ears at his behest, and he activated an auditory enhancement ability that he had learned by chance in the past before listening intently to the sounding from the image.
Thanks to this ability, the sounding from the wall of light instantly became clearer.
The monk''s voice was warm and ethereal, striking the listener with a sense of awe and veneration, and even though he was speaking in an unfamiliarnguage, Han Li''s eyes quickly lit up as he listened to the monk''s lecture.
He couldn''t understand what was being said, but just hearing the voice of the monk alone was giving him an extremely profound sensation, as if he had attained some type of enlightenment, but he couldn''t tell exactly what he had been enlightened to.
Even so, he was still feeling ecstatic, and he carefully memorized everything that he was hearing.
After only listening to a single sentence, lights of all types of different colors, including gold, azure, and silver, emerged from his body one after another. All of the cultivation arts and abilities in his body were being activated by the monk''s voice!
Han Li was astonished by this turn of events, and he began to listen even more intently.
He still couldn''t understand what was being said, but the same enraptured look on the faces of the five figures in the image had appeared on his face as well.
As time passed, the lights shing from his body were bing brighter and brighter, and arcs of silver lightning emerged alongside a projection of a Lightning Bird.
A projection of a giant azure bird emerged within a sh of azure light.
A giant golden ape then appeared amid a sh of golden light, pounding its chest as it roared to the heavens.
One true spirit projection after another emerged from his body, and in the blink of an eye, all of Han Li''s current true spirit forms had appeared around him before revolving around his body.
The same applied to all of his other cultivation arts as well, and the cirction of immortal spiritual power in his body was bing faster and more forceful by the second.
Right after the portly monk uttered his eighth sentence, apletely inexplicable turn of events began to unfold.
Han Li''s entire body shuddered, immediately following which he was struck by a numb sensation. His dantian had also be scorching hot, but it was a very warm andfortable sensation.
In the next instant, a clear thud rang out from within his body, and Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which an ted look appeared in his eyes.
Before he had a chance to do anything, seven more thuds rang out in session within his body.
In the next instant, eight specks of light emerged on his body, and they were identical to the 12 existing ones.
He had just opened eight immortal acupoints in one go!
Immediately thereafter, he felt the surrounding world''s origin qi surging toward him in a frenzy, forming an enormous vortex of spiritual qi, and the immortal spiritual power in his dantian was rapidly elevating!
Han Li was ecstatic to sense these changes in his body, and he took a nce at the Mantra Treasured Axis in the air to find that over half of the 108 Time Dao Runes had already been snuffed out.
He still had some time left, and he was determined to take full advantage of it. Hence, he continued to listen intently to the portly monk''s ninth sentence.
The eight sentences that he had heard up to this point had allowed him to open up eight immortal acupoints, and he felt as if he were in a dream.
He couldn''t help but wonder what was going to happen upon hearing the ninth and tenth sentences, and his heart was brimming with excitement.
However, it seemed that his luck had finally run out.
The portly monk was halfway through his ninth sentence, and Han Li could sense that his ninth immortal acupoint was beginning to budge, but all of a sudden, the portly monk stopped talking as he turned to Han Li''s direction with a surprised look on his face.
The other five figures also turned to the same direction, and the tall yellow-robed figure instantly rose to his feet before yelling something in an enraged voice. He was speaking in the samenguage as the portly monk, but his words didn''t seem profound to Han Li in the slightest.
The other four figures exchanged a few nces with different looks on their faces, and they remained silent, but it was clear that they weren''t very happy.
I''ve been caught!
Han Li''s heart instantly tensed up in anxiety, but before he had a chance to do anything, the portly monk suddenly said something, and the wall of light exploded into countless specks of light that quickly faded away.
The spatial rift was also instantly closed, while the Mantra Treasured Axis shed erratically with golden light, and all of the Time Dao Runes that remained lit were instantly snuffed out amid a string of faint cracks.
Han Li''s entire body shuddered as he threw up a mouthful of blood, and his face instantly turned extremely pale, while the immortal spiritual power in his body was thrown intoplete disarray,surging chaotically in all directions.
An rmed look appeared on his face as he hurriedly summoned a white pill vial, within which was a batch of white pills, and he didn''t have time to count them before tipping them all into his own mouth and swallowing them. After that, he immediately closed his eyes to digest the pills.
A string of dull thumps rang out incessantly from within his body, while lights of different colors shed over his body, shing and conflicting with one another.
One moment, the azure light suppressed all of the other lights, but in the next instant, the golden light overwhelmed the azure light, following which the silver lightning rose to the fore.
Han Li''s face was also alternating rapidly between purple and blue, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
However, as time slowly passed by, the lights surging over his body gradually faded, and hisplexion slowly returned to normal as well.
Only after close to a day had passed did he slowly open his eyes, and his face was still rather pale, but his aura had already stabilized.
Fortunately, he had reacted very quickly, devouring those meridian stabilization pills in a timely fashion. Otherwise, he would''ve most likely suffered from qi deviation.
Han Li gently exhaled, and an ted look reappeared on his face as he felt the eight newly opened immortal acupoints in his body.
Even though the situation just now had been an extremely perilous one, he had also reaped tremendous rewards, opening up eight immortal acupoints just by hearing the portly monk''s lecture through the wall of light.
The ninth acupoint wasn''tpletely opened, but it was already beginning to budge, and he was certain that he would be able to open it given some time.
Due to the fact that he had focused primarily on attaining additional Time Dao Runes during the past 10 years of cultivation, he hadn''t been able to open any new immortal acupoints, yet he had managed to open eight in what was virtually the blink of an eye!
Perhaps it was because these breakthroughs hadn''t been attained through cultivating the Mantra Axis Scripture, or perhaps it was because there were already 108 Time Dao Runes on the axis. In any case, he hadn''t attained any additional Time Dao Runes as a result of these breakthroughs.
He was naturally ecstatic to have made such significant progress in such a short time, but what excited him the most was the eight and half sentences that he had heard from the portly monk.
The more he thought back to those eight and half sentences, the more profound and unfathomable he felt them to be, and it seemed to him like they were part of the mantra for a certain cultivation art.
To think that that monk was able to help me open up multiple acupoints just by speaking alone... Could it be that he''s a Dao Ancestor?
Han Li sat down with his legs crossed as a contemtive look appeared on his face, but in the next instant, a thought suddenly urred to him, and he hurriedly summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis amid a sh of golden light.
All 108 of the Time Dao Runes on the axis had be dull and gray, seemingly having lost all of their vitality.
It seems like this was both a blessing and a curse. In order to hear that monk''s preaching, I''ve had to let all of my Time Dao Runes go dark. |
Han Li heaved a faint sigh, then consumed a restorative pill before closing his eyes.
Three days and three nightster.
Han Li opened his eyes, and at this point, he had already fully recovered from his injuries, but as he turned to his Mantra Treasured Axis, he discovered that the 108 Time Dao Runes on its surface were stillpletely dark.
How could this be?
It suddenly urred to him that that final nce from that portly monk may have harmed the foundation of the Mantra Treasured Axis.
With that in mind, he hurriedly tried to unleash the axis''s time-slowing effect, but it waspletely unresponsive.
He then tried to unleash his Reversal True Axis ability, but the oue was identical, and a grim look appeared on his face.
The Mantra Axis Scripture was currently his main cultivation method, and if the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis had been permanently destroyed, then he wouldn''t be able to cultivate the Mantra Axis Scripture any longer.
He shook his head and forciblyposed himself, then activated the Mantra Axis Scripture to try and sense the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis.
Momentster, his eyes sprang open as a hint of tion appeared on his face.
It was very faint, but he could still sense some power of time within the Time Dao Runes, and his spiritual connection to them hadn''t been severed, either.
This was quite a relief. As long as the spiritual connection still remained, there was a chance that the Time Dao Runes on the axis could be restored.
With that in mind, Han Li continued to cultivate the Mantra Axis Scripture, attempting to recover his Time Dao Runes while also pondering the eight and a half sentences that he had heard from the portly monk.
Chapter 276: Century-long Seclusion
Chapter 276: Century-long Seclusion
A year flew by in the blink of an eye.
Inside his secret chamber, Han Li sat with his legs crossed, and his Mantra Treasured Axis was slowly revolving behind him while radiating dazzling golden light, and there were countless golden runes surging rapidly over its surface.
One of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis suddenly began to sh, and all of the golden runes around it lit up before converging into the Time Dao Rune.
The dull Time Dao Rune immediately began to light up at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, and after just a few seconds, it was restored to its former state, but the other Time Dao Runes were still a dull gray color.
Han Li opened his eyes, and he was ovee by a sense of relief at the sight of the recovered Dao Rune.
Just as he anticipated, it was possible to recover his Time Dao Runes, but it seemed that every single one of these Time Dao Runes was going to take around a year to recover, which meant that it was would take over a century to recover all 108 of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis.
His cultivation was most likely going to be severely hampered during this time, but that couldn''t be helped.
In any case, a century was nothing more than the blink of an eye to Han Li, and he could take this time to carefully ponder the eight-and-a-half-sentence mantra that he had heard.
During this past year, he wasn''t able to make much progress in this endeavor, but he was bing more and more confident that he would be able to glean some useful things from the mantra given sufficient time.
Additionally, he could also use this time to nurture some pill refinement ingredients.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce a jade box, which contained the six or seven pill recipes that he had obtained from Ping Yaozi. Two of those recipes were for pills that were fit for mid-True Immortal cultivators to consume, one of which was for the Growth Bearing Pill, while the other one was for a pill called the Jade Bnce Pill.
After examining the ingredients on the pill recipes, he discovered that none of them were all that precious or rare, but they had to have been very advanced in age before they could be used in the recipes.
He had already spent the majority of the Immortal Origin Stones and spirit stones that he had saved up frompleting Transient Guild missions on pill refinement, and even though he still had some left, it was nowhere near enough to purchase sufficient pill refinement ingredients for both recipes.
My priority is to restore my Time Dao Runes, so for now, I''ll use the spirit liquid produced by the Heaven Controlling Vial to mature spirit nts instead of using them to manifest crystals.
Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis had been severely affected by the event that had taken ce a year ago, but his Heaven Controlling Vial hadn''t been impacted at all, so he could still use it to mature spirit nts as usual.
With that in mind, Han Li rose to his feet and emerged from his secret chamber, then summoned amunication array te before casting an incantation seal onto it.
Momentster, Meng Yungui and Sun Buzheng arrived in the main hall of the cave abode, then extended a collective salute toward Han Li, who was seated beside the stone table.
"We pay our respects to Elder Li!"
"I will be going into seclusion for some time. During this time, I need you two to go out and secure some ingredients for me. Here is a list of the ingredients I want."
Han Li handed each of them a jade slip that contained a list of ingredients from the two pill recipes as he spoke.
The two of them epted the jade slips, then inspected its contents with their spiritual sense, upon which surprised looks appeared on both of their faces.
Most of the ingredients listed in the jade slip were very precious, and they weren''t going to be easy to find.
"I know that the ingredients won''t be easy to collect, but this is not an urgent matter, so take your time. All you need to do is find me a sufficient amount within the next century, and if you make any progress during that time, you can bring what you''ve collected back to me at any time."
Han Li pulled out a pair of storage pouches that were filled with spirit stones as he spoke.
The two servants were quite relieved to hear this, and they epted the storage pouches before promptly departing.
Following their departure, Han Li also returned to his secret chamber.
Over 100 years passed by in the blink of an eye.
During this time, some events had taken ce in the Bell Toll Mountain Range, and there were some new arrivals, while others had departed, but this was nothing out of the ordinary for the Bell Toll Mountain Range. As long as the 13 Golden Immortals of the sect were still present, the foundation of the sect would still be intact.
The Crimson Dawn Peak was quite a secluded ce to begin with, and it was bing more and more dormant. Additionally, Han Li always liked to keep a low profile, so everyone eventually forgot about him, and he barely received any visitors.
Of course, even if anyone dide to visit Han Li, they would discover that the Crimson Dawn Peak was closed to all visitors.
It was verymon to see a True Immortal going into seclusion for centuries, and for some True Immortals who were attempting to make important breakthroughs, even seclusions thatsted thousands or tens of thousands of years were quitemonce.
During his seclusion, Han Li barely left his cave abode at all, spending the majority of his time pondering the eight-and-a-half-sentence mantra that he had heard from the portly monk over and over again.
The only times that he would stop to take a break were when Sun Buzheng or Meng Yungui returned with seeds of certain ingredients listed on the two pill recipes, and Han Li would instruct his giant ape puppet to nt those seeds ording to his needs.
Inside the secret chamber, the air had be stagnant, and even the tiny dust particles in the air seemed to have bepletely still.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed, and his Mantra Treasured Axis was slowly revolving behind him. All 108 of the Time Dao Runes on its surface had lit up, and they were giving off powerfulw fluctuations.
Momentster, he withdrew his hand seal, and the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him vanished into his body amid a sh of golden light.
It was as if some type of restriction had suddenly been lifted, and speed of the air flow in the secret chamber returned to normal, while all of the dust particles also began to drift freely again.
"It''s finally all recovered," Han Li murmured to himself, then rose to his feet and made his way out of his secret chamber.
The sky above the Crimson Dawn Peak was bright and clear, just like his current mood, and the sun was hanging high up in the sky, basking the snow-covered mountain in a warm glow.
Han Li emerged from his cave abode, then flew up into the air as a streak of azure light, intending to travel to the valley that he often frequented to test out the new abilities that he had gleaned from the eight-and-a-half-sentence mantra, but he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Meng Qianqian and few of his other servants were gathered on the spirit fields on the mountain.
Thus, he flew over to them before descending out of the sky, and the group of servants hurriedly extended respectful salutes upon spotting him.
Han Li waved a dismissive hand in response, then cast his gaze toward his mountain guardian beast up ahead.
Ever since he adopted this beast, he hadn''t paid it much attention, mostly leaving it to be looked after by his servants, but to his surprise, it had reached the mid-Body Integration Stage.
However, what had caught his attention wasn''t the Two-headed Griffin. Intead, it was the strange azure bird straddled atop one of its necks.
The bird had a huge head and a disproportionately slender neck. Its body was close to 20 feet in length and covered in countless arrow-like feathers, and there was a fleshy pouch that was over five feet in size hanging in front of its chest.
It was casually straddled atop the Two-headed Griffin, which was countless times more massive than itself, looking around like a proud general riding atop his noble steed.
However, the bird seemed to have been startled by Han Li''s arrival, and it pped its wings in rm as a hint of fear shed through its eyes.
Only after receiving a reassuring nce from Meng Qianqian did it settle down, but it wasying itself t against the Two-headed Griffin''s back while covering its head with its wings, peeking out at Han Li through its feathers.
"Is that Featheryearn?" Han Li asked as he turned to Meng Qianqian.
"That''s right," Meng Qianqian replied with a smile.
"It''s only been 100 years since Ist saw it, and it''s already close to the Nascent Soul Stage," Han Li remarked with an impressed look in his eyes.
"Indeed. Its appetite is absolutely enormous, and that probably has something to do with its fast progress. I haven''t fed it any spirit nts or pills outside of the wind-attribute spirit nts from the fields, but it would asionally sneak out of the Crimson Dawn Peak, and I don''t know what it''s been eating during its outings," Meng Qianqian said as she took a nce at Featheryearn.
Han Li pointed at the Two-headed Griffin, which wasying on the ground with a rather bored look on its faces, and he asked, "What''s the deal with these two?"
"Featheryearn once snuck out of the Crimson Dawn Peak two years ago, and as it wasing back, it was being hunted by a Deity Transformation Stage demon beast. At the time, the mountain guardian beast swooped in to eat that demon beast and save Featheryearn, and the two of them seemed to have be friends after that," Meng Qianqian exined.
"I bet it went out to hunt for other demon beasts, but ended up biting off more than it could chew and almost became prey for something else instead," Han Li remarked with an amused smile. "By the way, have your brother and Sun Buzheng not returned yet?"
"They already came back seven or eight years ago, but both of them seemed to have encountered some opportunities during their outing, and not long after they came back, they went into seclusion to attempt breakthroughs to the Deity Transformation Stage.
¡°Both of them are still in seclusion right now, and all of the spirit nts they brought back have already been nted in the fields. Oh, I almost forgot, they also brought back these seeds as well," Meng Qianqian replied as she handed a storage pouch to Han Li.
Han Li epted the spiritual sense and inspected its contents with his spiritual sense. He then made his way over to the spirit fields and was quite pleased by what he saw.
Meng Yungui and Sun Buzheng had brought back a lot of seeds and spirit nts during their outings, enough for several dozen batches'' worth of pill refinement ingredients.
This was not an easy task for them at their current cultivation bases, so it was clear that they had been very diligent.
"They did a good job. I may be going into seclusion after this, so they may not get to see me when theye out of seclusion. Here are two vials of pills for cultivation base stabilization, make sure to give these to them in my stead," Han Li said as he tossed a pair of pill vials to Meng Qianqian.
Meng Qianqian hurriedly caught the vials before extending a grateful curtsey toward Han Li as she said, "Thank you, Elder Li."
Han Li gave her a dismissive wave, then reached toward the spirit fields with azure light glowing from his hands.
The earth began to tremble slightly, and over 100 spirit nts of different colors were enveloped by azure light before being uprooted from the ground. There were still droplets of dew on their leaves and dirt clinging to their roots as they rose up into the air before flying toward his cave abode.
These spirit nts weren''t of a sufficient age to be used, so they had to be transferred to the medicine garden in his cave abode to be matured using the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial.
Chapter 277: Mantra Domain
Chapter 277: Mantra Domain
An hourter, in the territory of the Crimson Dawn Peak.
A streak of azure light flew onto a in that was riddled with scattered rocks, then faded to reveal Han Li.
This ce was actually once a scenic valley, but while cultivating the Reversal True Axis a over a century ago, Han Li had inadvertently toppled all of the mountains on either side of the valley, therebypletely filling the valley to create this rocky in.
Han Li was hovering in mid-air with a solemn look on his face, and there was a burst of peculiar fluctuations emanating from his body.
Right at this moment, a burst of golden light suddenly appeared in his eyes, and he released his vast spiritual sense to epass the entire surrounding area in a radius of dozens of kilometers.
A circle of extremely tiny runes then appeared within his pupils, spelling out the mantra that he had heard from the portly monk, but not in its entirety. Instead, it was only three and a half sentences of the mantra.
These three and a half sentences were depicted in the form of runes, but not disyed in the order in which they had been uttered by the monk. One of the sentences had beenpletely scattered before having all of its characters rearranged, seemingly in apletely haphazard fashion.
It seemed that the meaning of the mantra wasn''t all that important. Instead, what was important were these characters, which innately contained some type of special power. After studying them extensively, Han Li had been sessfully able to integrate them with his tremendous spiritual sense to develop a unique ability that he named the Mantra Domain.
"Let there be wind," Han Li dered.
Theplexion of the entire in was instantly altered as dense dark clouds came drifting in out of nowhere to obscure the formerly bright and clear sky. As a result of the converging clouds, the entire sky instantly darkened.
A gust of fierce wind blew past, sweeping the snow on the in into the heavens, and a vast expanse of yellow sand was also swept up by the wind, while huge rocks began to roll and tumble over the ground, crashing against one another to produce a string of resounding booms.
"Let there be lightning," Han Li called out, and the dark clouds in the sky were swept up into a frenzy to form a massive vortex.
Bursts of rumbling were ringing out incessantly deep within the vortex alongside shes of blue lightning.
All of a sudden, a pir of blue lightning that was as thick as a water vat came crashing down from the heavens before striking the ground, instantly causing the giant rocks down below to explode into a massive cloud of dust and rock shards.
Immediately thereafter, more pirs of lightning came raining down incessantly from the heavens amid rumbling thunderps, severely ravaging the entire in.
The earth was charred ck and littered with countless rock fragments, while arcs of blue lightning danced over its surface, and there was an acrid charred odor wafting through the air.
"Let heaven and earth be turned on their heads!" Han Limanded, and the world around him instantlyplied.
A burst of indescribably formidable power was unfurled, epassing the entire surrounding area.
Han Li felt a blue sh before his eyes, and he was struck by a rush of dizziness. By the time he was able to see clearly again, he discovered a vast expanse of dark clouds that was rumbling incessantly with thunder beneath his feet.
He then looked up to find that a vast expanse of earth that stretched as far as the eyes could see in all directions had appeared above his head.
Up close, he could see countless scattered rocks, as well as ayer of dust that enshrouded the surface of the ground, while in the distance were a series of upside-down mountains that resembled enormous stctites, the closest of which was none other than his Crimson Dawn Peak.
However, what was quite interesting was that despite the fact that everything had been flipped upside-down, none of it was disying any signs of falling, not even theyer of dust that was hanging over the entire surface of the earth.
Han Li looked around for a long while before a smile appeared on his face, and he gently pped his hands together, upon which heaven and earth were instantly restored to their correct configuration, and all of the dust, dark clouds, lightning, wind, and scattered rocks instantly vanished.
The entire area returned to normal in the blink of an eye, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.
The circle of runes in Han Li''s eyes had also vanished, and his pupils had returned to their normal state.
That worked even better than I expected. Looks like I now have another trump card against formidable enemies in the future.
At its core, this Mantra Domain ability was actually just an extremely powerful illusory technique, but it didn''t require any array or cultivation art to unleash.
All he had to do was spread his spiritual sense over an area around him, and he would be able to manipte the entire area in any way that he saw fit, creating an illusion that he could trap his opponent in.
As long as his opponent didn''t possess superior spiritual sense or any special treasures capable of counteracting illusions, they would inevitably be disrupted by this ability, but to varying extents.
If Han Li were facing an opponent of a simr level to himself, then this Mantra Domain could very well catch thempletely off guard, and they would only have to reveal the slightest of openings for their defeat to be sealed.
Around 15 minutester, Han Li returned to his cave abode.
Inside his secret chamber, he sat down with his legs crossed with a purple jade board sitting on hisp. There was a floral design that wasprised of countless extremely thin patterns engraved onto the surface of the jade board, presenting a beautiful sight to behold.
This was the jade board that he had found in Ping Yaozi''s purple jade box, and he had been unable to bypass the spiritual sense restriction on it, so he had left it up to this point.
He had chosen to bring it out again on this day as all of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had already recovered, so he was able to use his Eye of Truth again.
With all 108 Time Dao Runes activated, the Eye of Truth was currently already over 10 times more effective than his Brightsight Spirit Eyes when it came to seeing through illusions and restrictions.
Han Li made a hand seal with both hands, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
He then began to chant an incantation, and the Eye of Truth at the center of the Mantra Treasured Axis slowly opened before projecting a beam of golden light onto the purple jade board.
The floral design on the jade board also shed with golden light before releasing a series of golden runes to obstruct the beam of light projected by the Eye of Truth.
However, the beam of light was able to bypass the runes with ease before shining down upon the jade board.
Instead of seeing the jade board with his eyes, he began to view it through his Eye of Truth.
Golden light was rippling like water on the surface of the board, and the flower design was hovering above the rippling light.
However, Han Li was able topletely disregard it to see what was under theyer of rippling golden light.
It was like he was seeing through a golden river straight to the riverbed, where there was a fineyer of golden sand, upon which was a passage of golden seal text.
Han Li swept his gaze over the passage of text, and a hint of tion instantly welled up in his heart.
Just as he anticipated, the passage of golden text was none other than a recipe for a dao pill!
His heart was brimming with excitement, but his tion began to fade a little as he looked at all of the extremely unfamiliar ingredient names listed on the recipe. It was most likely going to be an extremely difficult task to gather all of these ingredients.
The main ingredient for the recipe, Lightning Pond Golden Elixir, was an extremely rare natural treasure, and there was only a chance for it to arise in the body of a Lightning Devouring Beast that was over 100,000 years of age after devouring a vast amount of Nine Heavens True Lightning.
It was also exactly because of this that this Lightning Pond Golden Elixir contained traces of lightningw powers.
It was no longer just a matter of time for spirit ingredients of this caliber to emerge. Instead, there were many more factors that had to align, and obtaining such ingredients was almost entirely a matter of luck.
However, Han Li had already anticipated that this would be the case, so he wasn''t all that disheartened. Instead, this only bolstered his confidence in just how incredible the dao pill was going to be if he could sessfully refine it.
He read through the list of ingredients, then turned his attention to the refinement method listed below, memorizing everything that he read. As he reached the final passage of text, a surprised look appeared on his face.
The passage read: "When ites to the refinement of the dao pill, the supplementary ingredients form the foundation, determining the grade of the pill, while the primary ingredient serves as the catalyst, determining the attribute of the pill. As long as the foundation remains the same, the grade of the pill won''t change, but the attribute of the pill hinges entirely on the primary ingredient used..."
An enlightened look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
This passage of text was telling him that in all dao pill recipes, the supplementary ingredients could remain the same, but the attribute of the pill could be altered depending on the primary ingredient used.
In other words, if he were to rece the Lightning Pond Golden Elixir in the recipe with heavy water, which contained waterw powers, then he would be able to refine a water-attribute dao pill. while a time-attribute dao pill would arise if he used a crystal manifested by the Heaven Controlling Vial as the primary ingredient.
However, the second half of that passage also stated that ingredientpatibility was an important factor to consider in pill refinement, so if one were to use a different primary ingredient, they would still be able to refine a dao pill, but the chances of sess could vary drastically.
However, Han Li wasn''t too fazed by this. He had been trying to glean thews of time through the Mantra Treasured Axis, but hadn''t been able to make any progress. Hence, it was already enough for him to know that this pill recipe could allow him to refine a time-attribute dao pill.
He suppressed the tion in his heart as he withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis into his body, then stowed the jade board away as well before flipping a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask, which he promptly put on.
All of the spirit medicines listed on the pill recipe were extremely difficult to find, and he wasn''t going to be able to gather everything in a short time. Hence, he decided to conduct a search through the Transient Guild first, and if he could find some of the required ingredients, that would naturally be ideal, but if not, then he would just have to release some missions to search for them.
At this point, he had already spent virtually all of his spirit stones, and he did have some Immortal Origin Stones left, but not a whole lot, either. Hence, he didn''t have very high requirements for the spirit medicines. As long as the species was correct, he was willing to purchase even seeds.
A burst of azure light was projected from the mask, forming a massive array te on the wall, and Han Li immediately focused his gaze on the exchange column...
Several dayster, several new spirit medicines had appeared in the spirit medicine garden in Han Li''s cave abode. Most of them were seedlings that were no more than 10 years of age, while the two exceptions were seeds that were still yet to germinate.
Chapter 278: Reversal
Chapter 278: Reversal
Half a dayter.
Han Li''s secret chamber was filled with bright golden light, and he was standing beside his cushion with a rather tense look on his face.
His Mantra Treasured Axis was rapidly revolving behind him while glowing radiantly, and the Eye of Truth at its center was opened while projecting a beam of golden light forward.
Now that all of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasure Axis had recovered, he had naturally thought of the portly monk that he had seen in that wall of light again.
Even though the portly monk seemed to have caught him eavesdroppingst time, surely there was no way that he could attack Han Li through the projection, even with his unfathomable power.
With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath, then pulled out his Heaven Controlling Vial before cing it into the beam of golden light.
As soon as the golden light came into contact with the vial, thetter immediately rose up into the air on its own, radiating dazzling green light while releasing a burst of tremendous force.
This time, Han Li was prepared, and he crossed his arms in front of himself as a barrier. As a result, he was only blown back by about 10 feet before drawing to a halt.
All 108 of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis were glowing brightly, while Heaven Controlling Vial was also shining like a green sun as it hovered in mid-air.
It didn''t take long before a pir of green light erupted out of the Heaven Controlling Vial to tear open a spatial rift.
A vast expanse of translucent light surged out of the spatial rift, and the same wall of light as before quickly appeared in front of Han Li.
The scene disyed on the wall of light was extremely blurry andpletely silent, but Han Li was already prepared for this, so he naturally wasn''t worried at all, waiting patiently as the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis were snuffed out one after another.
As the image became clearer and clearer, Han Li''s breathing began to elerate involuntarily.
However, after just a few seconds, a bewildered look appeared on Han Li''s face.
The image depicted on the wall of light this time waspletely different fromst time.
On this asion, he was greeted by the sight of a vastndscape that was riddled with massive volcanoes.
There was a dense nket of inky-ck clouds hanging in the sky, within which crimson light was shing incessantly, while all of the enormous volcanoes down below were erupting with full force, releasing vast plumes of ck smoke that were almost connected to the dark clouds up above.
Scorching redva was surging out of the volcanic craters, forming a series of molten rivers that were over 1,000 feet wide. The molten rivers flowed in all directions before converging at the lowest point in the terrain to form a massiveke ofva.
Bursts of loud rumbling were ringing out from within the wall of light, and the entirendscape was quaking violently. A series of massive trenches were appearing in the earth like cobwebs before extending and widening to split the ground up into massive chunks.
Countless thick and burly worm-like beasts with red skin were constantly being flung to the surface by the churning earth before digging into the soil in a frenzy, attempting to return to their burrows beneath the earth.
There were too many of these creatures to count, and all of them were squirming desperately in an attempt to burrow themselves back into the earth, but they were being crushed by the rocks that were constantly tumbling down from above, splitting their bodies into countless chunks.
These creatures seemed to have possessed extraordinary vitality, and even after their bodies had been split apart, they were still attempting to burrow into the earth with resilience and tenacity.
However, the flow ofva had already seeped into all of the rifts in the earth, drowning all of these creatures and incinerating them into nothingness.
Han Li was rooted to the spot, staring at this doomsday-like scene with astonishment in his heart. His hands were clenched into tight fists, and his palms were sweating profusely.
Right at this moment, a dull thud suddenly rang out, and one of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis shuddered before quickly fading into a dull gray color.
At this point, around half of the Time Dao Runes had already been snuffed out.
Han Li instantly snapped back to his senses and recalled his objective for conjuring up this wall of light in the first ce.
However, the scene depicted in the wall of light waspletely different fromst time, and that had caught him off guard.
There''s something that I''ve been meaning to try...
With that in mind, Han Li patted the spirit beast pouch on his waist, and a demonic wolf with strands of spittle hanging down from its mouth appeared out of thin air amid a sh of azure light.
As soon as the demonic wolf appeared, it immediately tried to escape, but Han Li was able to grab onto the scruff of its neck with ease before hurling it toward the wall of light.
The demonic wolf was writhing and twisting with all its might as it flew through the air, but it was unable to stop itself from crashing into the wall of light. Upon making contact with the wall of light, its body seemed to have passed through some type of invisible barrier, and it appeared on the other side.
As soon as itnded, it immediately turned around and lowered its center of gravity while snarling at Han Li with its fangs bared.
It worked!
Han Li was ecstatic to find that it really was possible to pass through the wall of light.
However, in the next instant, he noticed that the demonic wolf''s fur was beginning to turn a lifeless gray color, and the light in its eyes was also rapidly fading.
Taking into ount the demonic wolf''s lifespan, it was as if it had aged close to 1,000 years in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, the pelt and flesh of the demonic wolf rotted away to reveal aplete skeleton, which was then reduced to ashes before being swept away by the wind.
Another dull thud rang out as one more Time Dao Rune on the Mantra Treasured Axis was snuffed out.
This time, Han Li didn''t turn his gaze to the Mantra Treasured Axis. Instead, he was staring at the spot where the demonic wolf had just disappeared with a contemtive look on his face.
Momentster, he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized mirror that was azure on side and red on the other.
This wasn''t a particrly powerful treasure. Instead, it was only a low-grade treasure that was capable of releasing waves and mes. He couldn''t even recall when he had obtained it, and he hadn''t gotten around to selling it yet.
Just like with the demonic wolf, he tossed the mirror at the wall of light, and it was also able to pass through without any trouble.
Han Li immediately activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, trying to see through the wall of light to find out exactly what was happening.
He watched as the mirror reached the other side, and even before itnded on the ground, azure and red light began to radiate from its surface, as if it had been activated by someone and was about to unleash its waves and mes.
In the next instant, a quiet thud rang out, and the light radiating from the mirror shed momentarily before the entire mirror exploded.
To Han Li''s surprise, the mirror hadn''t exploded into shards or pieces. Instead, it had disintegrated into a cloud of colorful mist that was rising up into the air before quickly converging to form around a dozen types of ore of different colors, all of which then fell toward the ground.
Han Li wasn''t unfamiliar with these materials. Among them, the ones that could be seen in thergest quantities were the red me Spirit Rock and the azure Origin Water Rock.
These two types of ore were the primary materials for refining the mirror, while the other types of ore were all supplementary materials for refining the same treasure.
A hint of intrigue appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, all of the chunks of ore quickly began to take on a transparent form before vanishing entirely.
At this point, over half of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis had already faded.
After that, he continued his experiments, tossing things like spirit stones and even Immortal Origin Stones into the wall of light, and eh discovered that as soon as those objectsnded on the ground, they would quickly fuse as one with the earth, following which the spiritual power inside them faded away, and they werepletely assimted with the earth before also vanishing into thin air.
As time passed, the rate at which the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis were fading seemed to have been growing faster and faster.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he stared at the wall of light and the doomsday-like scene disyed upon it. All of a sudden, he flipped a hand over to produce an azure longsword, which he held in his hand.
He then took a step back before raising the longsword and shing it down upon the wall of light.
A draconic roar rang out as a burst of rippling swordlight emerged over the surface of the azure longsword, then swept directly toward the wall of light up ahead.
After swinging the sword through the air, Han Li bent his knees slightly while holding the sword horizontally in front of himself in a defensive stance. At the same time, he was making a hand seal with one hand, and golden lightning was shing from his fingertips as he braced himself for any potential bacsh.
The sound of a gentle breeze blowing past rang out as the streak of swordlightnded upon the wall of light.
However, contrary to Han Li''s expectations, the wall of light wasn''t destroyed, nor was there any spatial copse. Instead, a burst of faint ripples swept over the surface of the wall of light, following which the streak of sword light disintegrated into nothingness.
At the same time, a string of dull thuds rang out from the Mantra Treasured Axis in a rapid session, and in the instant that the ripples on the surface of the wall of light subsided, the final Time Dao Rune on the axis faded.
A burst of five-colored light emerged from the wall of light amid a faint thump, and the wall of light disintegrated into countless specks of light, while the spatial rift also sealed over.
With all of the Time Dao Runes snuffed out, the Mantra Treasured Axis had also dimmed slightly, and it vanished into Han Li''s body.
The light radiating from the Heaven Controlling Vial also faded, and it reverted back to its original size before falling out of the air.
Han Li reached out to catch the vial, then ced it back around his own neck before tucking it into the cor of his robes.
Everything had returned to normal in the secret chamber.
Han Li sat down with his legs crossed, then flipped a hand over to produce a yellow pill. After swallowing the pill, he closed his eyes to meditate.
Maintaining the Mantra Treasured Axis and the Eye of Truth had been extremely taxing on his immortal spiritual power, leaving him feeling quite depleted, but he had naturally fared far better thanst time.
Some timeter, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he offered some words of constion to himself.
"It looks like I was merely lucky to have seen what I didst time, and that luck isn''t necessarily guaranteed every time. For now, I should just focus on collecting pill refinement ingredients and cultivating while recovering my Time Dao Runes."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he rose to his feet and exited his secret chamber.
Chapter 279: Sprouting of the Primary Bean
Chapter 279: Sprouting of the Primary Bean
One day, several yearster.
Above the frozen sea to the north of the Ancient Cloud Continent, gusts of fierce wind were howling, while countless snowkes were fluttering through the air.
The sound of the wind was virtually deafening, and the drifting snow had inundated the entire area.
Han Li was hovering in mid-air beneath the dark clouds in the sky with his Transient Guild mask on.
"This should be the ce," Han Li murmured to himself, but his voice was drowned out by the howling wind.
He swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of azure light, which transformed into an azure longsword that plunged down directly toward the frozen sea below.
As soon as the flying sword descended out of the sky, Han Li also swooped down right behind it.
A sharp ng rang out as the azure longsword pierced into the surface of the ice, plunging through it with ease before drilling into the water.
Han Li immediately followed along, plunging into the sea as well.
A string of loud cracks that even the sound of the wind couldn''t drown out rang out across the entire area, and a massive chasm that extended for hundreds of kilometers appeared in the ice, and it was only continuing to extend even further.
Meanwhile, Han Li cast a simple water repulsion restriction onto himself as he entered the water, then sped along behind the azure flying sword toward the seabed with a faint blue light barrier around his body.
Only around 15 minutester did he draw to a halt, havingnded beside a volcanic crater on the seabed. The azure flying sword was plunged into arge rock up ahead, and it was shing with blue light.
The volcanic crater waspletely gray and wasn''t giving off even the slightest bit of heat, indicating that this was either an extinct volcano, or one that had been dormant for many years.
Han Li approached the volcanic crater, pulling the azure longsword out of the ground along the way.
As the sword was pulled out, the rock beside the volcanic crater split apart slightly, and a faint glimmer of golden radiance shone out from within the crack.
Han Li lowered his head to take a closer look while shing his longsword through the water, releasing a burst of azure light. Countless tiny glowing azure sword projections instantly surged forth, slicing into all of the rocks around the volcanic crater.
After the entireyer of rock around the volcanic crater was stripped away, a vast expanse of golden radiance was revealed, instantly illuminating the pitch-ck seabed.
As it turned out, there were numerous fist-sized ovr golden balls that resembled some type of egg littered around the volcanic crater.
These things were called Golden Dragon Urchins, and it was a very special type of pill refinement that wasn''t a nt, a type of ore, or any living creature. Instead, it was abination of the three.
Originally, it was a living creature by the name of the Sea Dragon Urchin, and after its death, ayer of moss would gradually grow over its carcass. After that, the carcass had to be covered in moltenva, and only after these conditions were satisfied could it turn into Golden Dragon Urchin after at least 10,000 years.
Due to the fact that this ingredient contained powers of three different attributes, it was often used to harmonize medicines, so it was present in many pill recipes.
Normally, Han Li wouldn''t have epted an ordinary ingredient collection mission like this one. However, this ingredient was required in the earthly pills that he was nning to refine, so he decided to take on this mission. Not only would he be securing an ingredient that he needed, he would be receiving a reward forpleting the mission as well, so it was killing two birds with one stone.
Not only did he have to gather ingredients for the earthly pills that he was going to refine, he had to make preparations for dao pill refinement as well. To say that the amount of spirit stones and Immortal Origin Stones required for this was astronomical would be aplete understatement, so he had no choice but to begin taking on as many Transient Guild missions as he could again.
This mission was already the fourth one that he hadpleted in the past few months, and afterpleting this mission, he immediately began rising up toward the surface of the sea without pause.
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10 yearster.
In a nameless long valley, three figures with animal masks on their faces jumped down from the rock faces on either side of the valley. They looked at the dead beast in the valley, then nced at the tall figure standing beside it, and all of them were at a loss for words.
None of them had anticipated that this mission to kill an early-True Immortal Stage demon beast would''ve beenpleted so easily.
On the way here, they had been a little disdainful of the tall man who had always liked to keep to himself and was unwilling to participate in their strategic nning process. However, to their astonishment, as soon as they arrived in this ce, the tall man had immediately disyed incrediblebat prowess.
He was able to take down the demon beast on his own, making all of the ns that they had made on the way here seem like aplete joke.
After witnessing the fearsome power disyed by the tall man with the title of Wyrm 15, all of their prior disdain had beenpletely reced with awe and veneration.
Han Li wasn''t a fan of showing off, and under normal circumstances, he would''ve kept a much lower profile, but he didn''t want to waste any time here as he had to go on another mission elsewhere in a month.
¡¡
30 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, the light of the rising sun was basking the Crimson Dawn Peak in a warm glow, but Han Li''s cave abode was looking rather cold and bleak.
Not long after Sun Buzheng and Meng Yungui sessfully progressed to the Deity Transformation Stage, they were sent out by Han Li to search for spirit medicine seeds, and shortly thereafter, Meng Qianqian had also left the Crimson Dawn Peak on a journey of her own.
She had taken Featheryearn with her on her journey, and the mountain guardian beast had been left feeling depressed for a very long time in the wake of their departure.
Inside the secret chamber of the cave abode, Han Li emerged amid a sh of azure light, then slowly took off his Transient Guild mask before stowing it away.
He had justpleted a mission that had earned him a reward of over 100 Immortal Origin Stones, but that was only a trifling amountpared with his current needs.
After emerging from the secret chamber, he went to the spirit medicine garden in the cave abode.
At this point, the garden had already been virtuallypletely filled with all types of spirit nts. nted in an area to the left were several spirit vines that were crawling up a wooden frame, and they would be able to bear fruits once they reached a sufficient age. In another area to the right were countless tiny little flowers that were releasing a cloud of purple qi alongside a strong floral aroma.
The entire spirit garden was thriving and brimming with vitality, with the only exception being the southwestern corner.
That part of the spirit garden waspletely empty, and it was as if nothing had ever been nted there.
Whenever Han Li inspected his spirit garden, his gaze would only linger in the southwestern corner for a moment before quickly moving on.
However, on this day, something caught his attention as he swept his gaze over that corner, and he noticed that something seemed to have changed.
He raised an eyebrow as he walked along the edge of the garden to make his way to the southwestern corner. After taking a brief nce, he stepped onto the soft and loamy soil of the garden before crouching down.
Nestled beneath a fist-sized chunk of gray soil right in front of him was a delicate green seedling that was even thinner than a bean sprout, and it was raising up one corner of that chunk of soil, causing it to tilt to the side.
The seedling appeared to have been quite frail, but it was filled with abundant life energy, and it hade from none other than that primary bean.
It sprouted!
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this.
During the first century after he nted the primary bean, he had asionally watered it with the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial, but the primary bean showed no signs of germinating, so he began prioritizing other spirit nts, as well as on manifesting crystals. Hence, he wasn''t expecting it to have suddenly germinated on its own.
After carefully examining the seedling for a moment, he noticed that its two delicate leaves bore circles of indistinct dark golden patterns, giving them a rather peculiar appearance.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he flipped a hand over to produce a thin yellow book.
After carefully reading through the book for a moment, the befuddlement on his face only became more pronounced, and he murmured to himself, "Why is it different from this description in Elder Hu Yan''s book?"
Even after some extensive examination, he was unable toe up with an answer. In the end, he moved the chunk of soil above the seedling side, then drew out a picture of the golden patterns on its leaves before departing from his cave abode.
Around two hourster.
A streak of azure light descended from the heavens toward a mountain down below.
Upon itsnding, the azure light faded to reveal Han Li, and not far in front of him was arge estate with arge red gate, above which was a que that carried the words "Hundred Wine Cottage" in free-flowing characters.
Han Li took a nce at the wobbly and inebriated-looking characters on the que, and he was just about to step forward when the gate was suddenly opened from the inside.
A voluptuous woman in a white dress then emerged from the estate. The woman was wearing some light makeup, and her hair was arranged into a tall bun, while her entire body was giving off a breathtaking aura of seduction.
The woman was none other than Bai Suyuan''s mistress and one of the 13 Golden Immortal dao lords, Yun Ni.
At this moment, there was an enraged look on her face as she hurriedly emerged from inside the estate.
Elder Hu Yan was trailing along behind her in a gray Daoist robe with a pair of gourds hanging from his belt, and he seemed to have wanted to say something, but was also too embarrassed to say it, so he was looking rather awkward.
Upon spotting Han Li outside the estate, the awkward look on his face became even more pronounced, and he stopped in his tracks, not following Yun Ni any further.
As for Yun Ni, she stormed right past Han Li in a fit of rage without even taking a nce at him, then flew away as a streak of white light.
Elder Hu Yan was left looking up at the departing streak of white light with a slightly dazed look on his face, so Han Li could only gently clear his throat to catch his attention.
Elder Hu Yan immediately snapped back to his senses, and he was trying to put on aposed fa?ade while unnecessarily exining himself, "I''ve been really busy with official sect duties recently..."
"Indeed, you''ve always been extremely diligent, and I''m sure Dao Lord Yun came to see you just now for official matters," Han Li replied with a smile and a nod.
Elder Hu Yan gave a pleased nod upon hearing this, then asked, "What brings you here all of a sudden? Let me make this clear in advance: I don''t have wine for you to drink!"
"I was out on a mission recently, and I just so happened to have obtained a jar of fine wine that''s said to have been brewed using 67 different precious spirit medicines, and I immediately thought of you," Han Li replied with a smile, then flipped a hand over to produce a red jar of wine that he offered to Elder Hu Yan.
Elder Hu Yan''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, but he immediately put on aposed and restrained fa?ade as he said, "So you do have a conscience, after all! Come in."
Chapter 280: Dao Warrior Mutation
Chapter 280: Dao Warrior Mutation
Han Li and Elder Hu Yan entered the estate together, and they passed through the verandah beside the front yard before arriving in the guest hall. Not long after the two of them sat down, a young servant entered the hall to present them each with a cup of tea.
Elder Hu Yan didn''t even take a nce at the cup of tea as he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a wine cup, then filled with the contents of the red jar that Han Li had brought him before downing the entire cup of wine in one go.
He then smacked his lips together for a long while with an enraptured expression, as if he were carefully savoring the wine''s vor, then exhaled as he praised, "This Red Fur wine really is one of the fiercest wines out there!"
"You know of this wine, Senior?" Han Li asked with a slightly surprised expression.
"I drank this wine once while I was exploring the northern region of the Primordial Wave Continent, so I have some recollection of it. This wine is brewed by soaking the bones and blood essence of many types of demon beasts and sealing them in jars for hundreds of years.
¡°Its color is as red as blood, and it''s far too strong for mortals to consume. Even for cultivators, this wine is lethal poison to all those below the Deity Transformation Stage, but of course, it''s harmless to immortals like ourselves," Elder Hu Yan exined.
"You are by far the most knowledgeable wine enthusiast I''ve ever met, Senior. For that, you have my utmost admiration," Han Li said with a faint smile.
"Stop trying to tter me, kid. If you have something to say, then say it. Seeing as you did bring me this jar of Red Fur Wine, I''ll agree to any request of yours as long as it''s not too unreasonable," Elder Hu Yan said with a smile.
"While inspecting my spirit medicine garden today, I noticed by chance that the Dao Warrior that I had nted earlier had sprouted. However, its seedling doesn''t quite match the description in the book that you gave me, so I came to you to be enlightened on this matter," Han Li said.
Elder Hu Yan''s interest was instantly piqued at the mention of Dao Warriors, and he asked, "Oh? In what way is it different?"
"Some strange golden patterns have appeared on my Dao Warrior seedling," Han Li replied.
"What type of patterns? I''lle with you to take a look," Elder Hu Yan said as he raised an eyebrow.
"I made a drawing of the patterns, please take a look at them, Senior."
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a sheet of paper as he spoke, then offered it to Elder Hu Yan.
Elder Hu Yan epted the piece of paper, and after looking at it for only a short while, a smile appeared on his face as he said, "You may be in luck, kid. It looks like your Dao Warrior has undergone a mutation."
"How?" Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
"There are many factors that could cause a Dao Warrior to mutate, including the type of soil it''s nted in, the spirit liquid used to water it, and the properties of the Dao Warrior itself. A multitude of factors have to be taken into ount before the reason can be pinpointed," Elder Hu Yan exined.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he couldn''t help but wonder if the mutation had been brought on by the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial or perhaps the underground fire veins.
"Having said that, don''t thank your lucky stars just yet. Dao Warrior mutation is something that can''t be controlled, and it could change the Dao Warrior for the better or for the worse. It all depends entirely on luck," Elder Hu Yan added after downing another cup of wine.
Han Li could tell that there seemed to have been something on Elder Hu Yan''s mind, so he decided no to interrupt him any longer.
"In that case, I''ll just have to let the Dao Warrior develop as normal and examine the changes when they arise. Thank you for enlightening me, Senior, I''ll be taking my leave now," Han Li said as he extended a parting salute.
"Go on, I''ll have a few more cups of wine by myself," Elder Hu Yan replied with a dismissive wave.
......
Two dayster, in the secret chamber of Han Li''s cave abode.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask before putting it on, and a massive azure array te was projected onto the wall from the mask.
After ensuring that no adverse changes had taken ce in the Dao Warrior, he decided to continue going on Transient Guild missions to earn more spirit stones.
The missions column on the left was constantly being updated with new missions added andpleted missions removed, and the mission turnover rate was usually quite high with the exception of some special missions.
Han Li''s gaze traveled down the missions column until he spotted a very special mission.
The reason why this mission was special was because the missions released in the Transient Guild generally didn''t have any specific details attached. Only after all of the people required for the mission were assembled were the finer details revealed, yet this mission had bucked that trend, having been released with all specific details and mission requirements enclosed.
The mission required one to go to an important ce in the Holy Puppet Sect and defend it from an enemy invasion.
Han Li had seen some records of the Holy Puppet sect, and he knew that it was situated in the northwestern part of the Thunderstorm Sea. It was a medium-sized sect that wasn''t too far away from the Ancient Cloud Continent, and it was renowned for crafting and selling all types of puppets.
It was naturally unable topare with the ze Dragon Dao when it came to overall size, but due to its special nature, it had always had financial dealings with many immortal sects and ns looking to purchase its puppets, so it was far wealthier than other sects of the same caliber.
Furthermore, the mission could only be taken on by Transient Guild members who held azure masks or above, and that was a clear indication that this was most definitely going to be quite a perilous mission.
However, the reward offered by the Holy Puppet Sect was also extremely handsome, equivalent to over 10 times the reward offered in other normal missions. Han Li was currently in desperate need of spirit stones, and after some deliberation, he decided to ept this mission.
There was still some time left until the assembly date for the mission, so Han Li refined the spirit ingredients that he had acquired up to this point into two batches of pills, then also made some further preparations for the uing journey to the Holy Puppet Sect.
Several monthster.
In the southwestern region of the Ancient Cloud Continent was a small coastal city by the Windview City. Due to its close proximity to the Thunderstorm Sea in the south, it had a slightly warmer climate and was one of the few ces on the entire Ancient Cloud Continent where one could experience all four seasons.
There was an official road that was around 50 to 60 feet wide leading out of the city to the coast, and it passed through a lush forest of willow and elm trees.
Inside the forest, there was a wooden pavilion constructed every few kilometers along the official road, serving as resting spots for those traveling along the official road.
At this moment, everything in a radius of several kilometers around the third pavilion in the forest was enshrouded within a cloud of dense white mist, and within the mist, visibility was limited to only around a foot.
However, the area directly surrounding the third pavilion waspletely unaffected by the mist, and there were around a dozen figures seated on the long benches inside. Each of these figures was wearing an azure animal mask with no exception, but in contrast with everyone else, there was a voluptuous woman standing outside the pavilion with a crimson fox mask on her face, and her entire body was giving off a mysterious and seductive aura.
Not far away from her was a slender woman in a pink dress, and she was wearing an azure rabbit mask that was riddled with spirit patterns.
Even though both of them had their faces concealed, the feminine auras that they were giving off were still a sight for sore eyes, and many of the people inside the pavilion were sneaking furtive nces at the two of them.
Right at this moment, a streak of golden light appeared above the forest before descending toward the pavilion.
The golden light pierced straight into the dense mist beforending outside the pavilion, then faded to reveal a tall male figure wearing a ck cloak and an azure deer mask. It was none other than Qilin 9.
As soon as hended on the ground, he immediately approached the voluptuous woman before extending a respectful bow, to which the woman nodded in response.
Immediately thereafter, a streak of azure light flew into the mist as well, then alsonded outside the pavilion before fading to reveal the cow-masked Wyrm 15.
Both of the new arrivals attracted a few nces from those who were already seated in the pavilion, but the arrival of Wyrm 15 in particr had caught everyone''s attention.
After all, he had be extremely renowned for the frequency at which he waspleting Transient Guild missions.
Han Li paid no heed to everyone''s prying eyes, but he was rather surprised to have noticed the presence of the woman with the azure rabbit mask that bore the number of "11".
This was because he knew that the owner of this mask was none other than Bai Suyuan.
The mask had concealed her aura, making it impossible to detect her exact cultivation base, but given her Moonlight Immortal Physique, it was safe to assume that she was most likely already a Grand Ascension cultivator.
There was no way that someone of her cultivation base should''ve been allowed toe on this mission, and that was why Han Li was particrly surprised by her presence here.
However, he didn''t disy any overt reaction to this, and he approached the fox-masked woman who was clearly the leader of the group before extending a respectful salute, then nodded at Qilin 9, who he hadpleted a mission with in the past. After that, he made his way into the pavilion before sitting down with his legs crossed, taking no further nces at Bai Suyuan.
Bai Suyuan hadn''t managed to identify Han Li. After all, she had only ever seen Han Li adopt disguises using his Transient Guild mask, but she had never seen the mask itself. However, she was somewhat familiar with his reputation forpleting guild missions at an extraordinary rate, and thus, she took a few extra nces at Han Li out of curiosity.
Around 15 minutester, two more people arrived one after the other.
Following their arrival, Qilin 3 turned to everyone in the pavilion as she dered, "Time is of the essence, so now that everyone has arrived, let''s set off to the Holy Puppet Sect right away. I''ll exin the finer details of the mission to everyone along the way."
Everyone immediately rose to their feet and emerged from the pavilion upon hearing this.
Han Li noticed that aside from Qilin 9, there were several other Transient Guild members that he had previouslypleted missions with, and they all exchanged slight nods with one another as a form of greeting.
Qilin 3 swept a hand through the air, releasing a sparkling expanse of silver light, which transformed into a crescent-shaped spirit boat in the blink of an eye.
The boat was around 300 to 400 feet in length with rings of profound runes engraved all over its surface. It was also radiating a bright silver glow, and it was clear that this was a flying spirit treasure of quite a high caliber.
Qilin 3 flew onto the deck of the spirit boat, and everyone else quickly followed suit, with a few of them inspecting the spirit boat with envy in their eyes as they flew onto it.
Chapter 281: Holy Puppet Sect
Chapter 281: Holy Puppet Sect
On the silver crescent-shaped spirit boat was a three-pavilion that was entirely white in color, looking as if it had been chiseled out of a chunk of jade, and there were also all types of beautiful diagrams and hidden runes engraved upon its surface.
"The first floor had resting chambers that each of you can choose one of. We''ll assemble here again in three days, and I''ll exin the mission to all of you then. However, I don''t know too much myself, and all of the details will be revealed once we get to the Holy Puppet Sect," Qilin 3 said to everyone, then rose up into the air.
With each step that she took through the air, a projection of a snow lotus flower would bloom beneath her feet, forming a staircase that led to the third floor of the pavilion, where she opened the door before stepping inside.
Han Li was looking up at the third floor of the pavilion with a perplexed look on his face.
Qilin 3 was wearing a crimson mask, just like the one worn by Wyrm 3, so she was clearly a higher level member than Transient Guild members with azure masks. Even though he was unable to detect her cultivation base, he had a feeling that there was a very good chance that she was a Golden Immortal.
If this mission really were being led by a Golden Immortal cultivator, then it was most likely going to be a very difficult one, so he had to be very careful.
Right at this moment, he was approached by Qilin 9, who smiled as he said, "I didn''t think that you would''ve also epted this mission, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15. It looks like we''ll be working together again."
"The reward offered is quite substantial, so I couldn''t not be tempted," Han Li replied with a smile.
"This mission is a rather special one. I''m sure you''ve also noticed that, right, Fellow Daoist?" Qilin 9 asked.
Han Li nodded in response. "You''re referring to the circumstances surrounding the mission and the inexplicably high reward being offered, right?"
"Precisely. The puppets created by the Holy Puppet Sect have always been exceptional and possess remarkable spiritual nature, making them extremely popr among many sects. Hence, they''re on very good terms with arge number of sects, and I''ve heard that the sect master of the Spirit Taste Sect and the mountain master of Lurking Armor Mountain share extremely close personal ties with the sect master of the Holy Puppet Sect.
¡°However, ording to my knowledge, the Holy Puppet Sect hasn''t turned to either of these sects to ward off the enemies described in the mission. Instead, they''ve turned exclusively to the Transient Guild," Qilin 9 mused.
"Perhaps the Holy Puppet Sect has encountered some severe trouble on this asion, so those smaller sects may not have sufficient power to help them. In any case, that''s not something for us to worry about. All we need to do isplete the mission for the reward," Han Li replied with a nonchnt smile.
"That''s true. In any case, the Holy Puppet Sect is extremely wealthy, so I''m sure they''ll be able to afford the offered reward. I''ve been running a bit short on Immortal Origin Stones recently," Qilin 9 chuckled.
Both of them already had an idea of one another''s identities, but neither of them chose to voice their suspicions. Instead, they began to chat about some inconsequential subjects, and there even seemed to have been some type of tacit understanding between them not to discuss the previous mission.
Momentster, the spirit boat began to tremble slightly as all of the runes all over its surface lit up, it set off from the coast of the Ancient Cloud Continent, flying in the southwestern direction.
Everyone one spirit boat quickly made their way to the first floor of the pavilion before each selecting a room for themselves and going inside.
Qilin 9 also did the same, and it didn''t take long before Han Li was the only one left on the deck, looking out into the distance.
The slightly murky seawater near the coastline was crashing against all of the jagged rocks on the shore, sending clumps of white foam sshing in all directions.
¡¡
Several monthster.
In the southeastern corner of the Infernal Frost Continent was a vast blue sea with rippling waves and a light breeze blowing over its surface.
In the clear, blue sky above, a crescent-shaped spirit boat was rapidly approaching from afar with about a dozen people standing on its deck, peering into the distance, where a gray smudge could be seen on the horizon.
As the spirit boat drew closer and closer, the gray began to expand before its full appearance was finally revealed.
It was a massive ovr ind that was riddled with rocks and some sparse vegetation, and even from a very long distance away, one could see the stone halls littered throughout the ind.
Around the ind were seven or eight smaller inds that surrounded it like guards, and it didn''t take long before the spirit boat arrived in the sky directly above the ind.
Han Li was standing to the left of the spirit boat next to the railing, peering at the ind down below with blue light shing in his eyes, and he suddenly raised an eyebrow.
He had discovered that the entire ind and the surrounding smaller inds were all epassed under a near-transparent semi-spherical light barrier with wave-like ripples constantly surging over its surface.
All of the giant rocks on the ind had been sliced into even and uniform shapes before being piled up along the coastline in a way that appeared to have beenpletely without rhyme or reason, but was actually meticulously thought out.
For those who weren''t proficient in the art of arrays, they would''ve most likely thought that these rocks had been piled up to form a rather uneven defensive wall, but Han Li could tell that these rocks were the foundation of the array that protected the ind, while the surrounding inds were important points in the array.
He directed his gaze toward the smaller ind that was nearest to him, and he noticed that at the center of the ind was a round pagoda, which was surrounded by a series of wide paths that were interconnected to form an array.
Right at this moment, the ind down below suddenly began to tremble violently amid a loud buzzing sound.
Wary looks appeared on the faces of everyone on the spirit boat upon seeing this, and they looked down to find that seawater surrounding the ind had begun churning violently as if it had been brought to a boil, sweeping up massive waves that were hundreds of feet tall.
The seawater was rtively clear a moment ago, but it had be quite murky in the wake of this disturbance.
A series of uniform rifts that were each several dozen feet wide opened up on the ind, and they continued to expand further and further, slowly opening up the entire ind like a box.
Amid the loud rumbling, manyrge sections of the ind began to slowly rise up from the ground into the air before shifting horizontally to reveal the areas down below.
The area of the entire ind was instantly significantly increased, and with the sections that were hovering in mid-air, it had turned into a three-tier ind.
In contrast with the gray and barren topyer, the two loweryers were lush and vibrant with far more beautiful environments.
Thoseyers were riddled with forests and rivers, one of which flowed from the secondyer to the bottomyer, forming a vertical waterfall in mid-air that presented a uniquely stunning sight to behold.
Even all the Transient Guild members on the spirit boat couldn''t help but be surprised by what they were seeing, clearly impressed with the mechanisms set up on the ind.
Right at this moment, the protective array above the ind shed, and an opening appeared in its center that was justrge enough to amodate the spirit boat.
The spirit boat passed through the array, then slowly descended toward a white stone za on the first level of the ind.
After everyone had disembarked from the boat, Qilin 3 stowed it away with a sweep of her hand.
At this point, there were already around a dozen people waiting on the za, led by a woman in a blue pce dress. She wasn''t very tall, but she had a very curvaceous figure, and even through the thin veil that obscured her face, one could still see the outlines of a set of gorgeous facial features, leaving much to the imagination.
Han Li quickly noticed that the woman was ate-True Immortal cultivator, and her aura was very stable and condensed, indicating that she had already been at thete-True Immortal Stage for many years.
The dozen or so people standing behind her were also True Immortal cultivators, but most of them were only at the early-True Immortal Stage.
There were no particrly noteworthy expressions on any of their faces, but for some reason, all of them seemed to have been harboring hints of concern deep in their eyes.
"You must be tired from your travels, fellow daoists. Please take a rest in the hall, and I''ll disclose the details of the mission to all of you soon," the woman in the pce dress said as she extended a slight curtsey.
Qilin 3 nodded in response, and the woman in the pce dress led everyone into the hall.
The terrain around the za varied quite drastically, and the entirendscape was riddled with round or square gray stone pirs, upon which were engraved all types of hidden runes and strange lines, while the ground was also covered inplex array patterns.
Han Li could even detect hints of array fluctuation from the antiquated buildings that were concealed among the trees in the surrounding forest.
He wasn''t surprised in the slightest to make this observation. Most cultivators who were adept in the art of puppetry also held considerable degrees of expertise in arrays, given that a high level of mastery in arrays was required for puppet refinement.
Back in the Spirit Realm, Han Li had be quite an expert in the art of puppetry, but ever since his arrival in the Northern cial Immortal Region, he had constantly been busy with cultivation and hadn''t dabbled in the art of puppetry for quite some time.
Now that he hade to the renowned Holy Puppet Sect of the Northern cial Immortal Region, he was going to try and find an opportunity to ask about how he could refine a suitable new vessel for Daoist Xie.
However, for now, his priority was to help the sect ovee its current crisis first.
With that in mind, he couldn''t help but wonder who their enemies were going to be.
Everyone walked along the za for a long while before finally arriving at a slightly antiquated-looking red hall.
During this time, Han Li noticed that the woman in the pce dress had turned around on several asions, and on every single one of those asions, her gaze hadnded upon the rabbit-masked Bai Suyuan.
After entering the hall, the woman in the pce dress and Qilin 3 sat down onto the two main seats, while the elders of the Holy Puppet Sect and the rest of the Transient Guild members sat down on either side of them.
The servants waiting by the entrance of the hall had already brewed some spirit tea, which was offered to everyone as soon as they sat down.
The translucent green tea was poured into cups, sending clouds of white steam rising up into the air, and the entire hall was filled with a fragrant aroma.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he looked down into his teacup to find a series of tea leaves that were as green and vibrant as jade unfurling in the water. Furthermore, they were releasing abundant spiritual qi, indicating that this was an extremely high-quality spirit tea.
He was just about to pick up his teacup when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that there were some faint circles of golden patterns on the fingers of their teapot-bearing hand.
He was rather taken aback to see this, and he immediately looked up to discover that these servants were all puppets, despite the fact that appearance and the smoothness of their movements were no different from a normal person, and they were giving off auras that were identical to low-grade cultivators.
The devil was always in the details, and from this alone, Han Li could tell that the Holy Puppet Sect truly did have some unique expertise in the art of puppet refinement, and that only made him more curious about the sect''s puppetry techniques.
Chapter 282: Stationed for Three Years
Chapter 282: Stationed for Three Years
"Thank you all foring all this way to our Holy Puppet Sect. Please take a rest and enjoy some spirit tea. I am the deputy sect master of the Holy Puppet Sect, and I will be overseeing proceedings in this defensive battle. I hope that all of you can assist me in the uing battle, and all of you will be rewarded if we can ward off the enemy," the woman in the pce dress said.
"We came here to carry out our mission, so don''t hesitate to call on us. What my fellow daoists from the Transient Guild and I are most worried about is the current situation of the Holy Puppet Sect, as well as who our enemies are going to be, when they''ll being, and how many of them we''ll have to face," Qilin 3 said in a direct and straightforward manner.
All of the Transient Guild members, including Han Li, turned to the woman in the pce dress upon hearing this.
"To tell you all the truth, I don''t have answers to any of those questions," the woman in the pce dress replied with a wry smile after a brief hesitation.
"What?"
"You don''t even know who your enemies are? Is this a joke?"
"We have no intention of fighting a battle that we''ll know nothing about!"
"If no onees to attack the sect, does that mean we''ll just have to stay here indefinitely?"
Many of the Transient Guild members immediately began to voice their protests upon hearing this, clearly not satisfied with the answer being provided.
Their mission was to protect the Holy Puppet Sect, and the identity of the enemy wasn''t explicitly stated, so they were taking a risk by epting this mission. Of course, they were lured in by the substantial reward being promised, and they were also quite confident in their own powers, but they still had to know who their enemies were so they could weigh up the risks and rewards to devise the best possible strategy.
If the mission were too difficult or dangerous toplete, then they would rather abandon the mission at the cost of having to pay the penalty rather than risk their own lives. Of course, that was only the worst case scenario.
Qilin 3 had disclosed some details of the mission to everyone on the way to the Holy Puppet Sect, but she had left out many key pieces of information, and everyone had thought that all of their questions would be answered upon arriving at the Holy Puppet Sect. However, the deputy sect master appeared to have beenpletely in the dark as well, and that was naturally not a very encouraging sign.
Qilin 9 and the others weren''t saying anything, but all of them were looking expectantly at Qilin 3, waiting for her to speak up.
As for Han Li, his expression remained unchanged, but he was also feeling rather speechless.
However, prior to setting off, he had evaluated the power of the Holy Puppet Sect, and his conclusion was that even if there were Golden Immortal Stage beings among the enemy invaders, given his current power and abilities, he would''ve still been able to ensure self-preservation, so he was one of the few Transient Guild members present who remained calm and collected.
"Please remain calm, everyone. All of us have already epted this mission, so our priority should be to consider how toplete it as best as possible. Of course, if you want to withdraw now, you can do so, but ording to the guild''s rules, you''ll have to pay a penalty of three times the Immortal Origin Stone reward being offered," Qilin 3 said in an unhurried manner.
Her voice wasn''t very loud, but it carried an innate sense of authority, and all of the Transient Guild members who were raisingints exchanged a few nces upon hearing this before falling silent.
"Deputy Sect Master, while it''s true that we epted this mission for the reward on offer, so we''re bound by duty toplete it, but there''s only so much that we can do. If you do not know who your enemy is, then I presume your sect must''ve made ample preparations, right?" Qilin 3 asked as she turned to the woman in the pce dress.
"Please bear with me, I''m not intentionally trying to withhold any information. Instead, I truly don''t have the answers to your questions. Our sect only learned through some reliable avenues not long ago that some forces were being assembled to target our Holy Puppet Sect. Our sect master is currently on another continent and unable to get back in time, and that''s why I''ve turned to recruiting external allies.
¡°I''ve already stated in the mission that all you need to do is help our sect weather this storm, and the mission duration is three years. During this time, all of you are free to cultivate in our sect as you please, and even if no enemy invasion urs during those three years, you''ll still receive your rewards in full," the woman in the pce dress exined.
The expression of all of the Transient Guild members eased slightly upon hearing this.
"Additionally, our sect may be small, but it''s been standing for many years, and it certainly won''t be brought down easily. Even though we do not know who our enemies are going to be, if they dare to invade, then we''ll be sure to give them a good taste of our sects countless restrictions, and arrays, and puppets.
¡°Having said that, excessive confidence is never a good thing, so as a safety precaution, some of our sect''s core disciples have already been evacuated, and all of the 3,000 or so sect members who remain on the ind are ones who have vowed to defend our sect with their lives," the woman in the pce dress continued.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive look on his face upon hearing this. It was no wonder that he hadn''t seen many cultivators on such arge ind.
"How many of those 3,000 sect members are True Immortal cultivators?" Qilin 9 asked.
Everyone else immediately turned to the deputy sect master as well, and it was clear that they were also very interested to hear the answer to this question.
This was a very understandable reaction. In battles of this level, Golden Immortal cultivators were going to be the most powerful beings on the battlefield, but they were often subjected to many restraints, so more often than not, the number of True Immortal cultivators that each side possessed was the main factor that decided the oues of the battles.
"At the moment, we have over 30 True Immortal cultivators. Aside from these elders with us right now, there are also some other elders who are stationed at key points on the inds, and I''m sure you''ll be meeting all of them in due time," the woman in the pce dress exined.
The Holy Puppet Sect wasn''t a first-rate sect, and it naturally couldn''tpare with the ze Dragon Dao, so it was already quite remarkable that it had a Golden Immortal Stage sect master and over 30 True Immortal Stage elders. Among sects of the same caliber, it had to have already been considered to be quite the powerhouse.
"In that case, in addition to all of our Transient Guild members, there are at least 50 True Immortal cultivators on the ind. With such a formidable lineup and the whole host of restrictions and defensive measures set up on the ind, we should be well-equipped to deal with most enemy invasions," Qilin 3 remarked.
Her words instantly instilled a sense of reassurance into the hearts of most of the Transient Guild members present. After all, she was the leader of this mission, and her crimson mask reflected both her power and her status in the Transient Guild. Many of the Transient Guild members present had worked with crimson-masked members in the past, so they were aware of just how formidable and experienced those higher-ranking members were.
Hence, her judgment was one that everyone was willing to support.
Han Li didn''t share the same sentiment. Instead of trusting in the judgment of others, he was cing his trust in his own power.
"Alright, so the mission objective is clear: all we have to do is protect the sect for three years. If you wish to withdraw from the mission, this is your final chance to do so," Qilin 3 dered.
At this point, themotion had already died down. Most of the Transient Guild members had alreadymitted themselves to seeing the mission through for the sake of the reward, and the hesitant minority ultimately also decided not to withdraw.
"Very Good," Qilin 3 remarked with a slight nod, then turned to the woman in the pce dress again as she asked, "Is there anything in particr that we need to do?"
"All of our sect''s elders are stationed on this ind, so we''re stretched a little thin when ites to defense of the other eight inds. At the moment, there''s only a single True Immortal cultivator or some Grand Ascension cultivators stationed on each of those inds. Hence, we''ll be requiring your services in assisting with defending those inds," the woman in the pce dress replied.
All of the Transient Guild members'' expressions changed once again upon hearing this.
"If we don''t have enough numbers, then why don''t we focus all of our forces on defending this ind and simply abandon the other inds, then reim them once the crisis is over?" Qilin 9 asked, raising a question that was shared by everyone.
The main ind was clearly the likeliest focal point of the enemy attack, so everyone couldn''t help but feel a little suspicious about this arrangement.
However, Han Li didn''t feel this to be strange in the slightest. Essentially, they were like mercenaries to the Holy Puppet Sect, so they were naturally going to be stationed on the front lines. There was no way that they could just expect to nestle down in cozy bunkers on the main ind and earn such a massive reward.
Of course, the deputy sect master definitely had other reasons for making this arrangement as well.
"To tell you all the truth, the eight array inds form the most formidable defensive line of our sect, and if we can keep them defended, then we''ll be able to maintain an upper hand over the enemy to a certain extent. Hence, those inds require extra protection. Besides, even if I were to assign all of you with the task of controlling all of the arrays and restrictions on the main ind, you may not necessarily be up to the task," the woman in the pce dress exined.
Everyone was enlightened upon hearing this.
"There are 16 of us in total, how do you n to distribute us?" Qilin 3 asked.
The woman in the pce dress seemed to have already anticipated this question, and she replied, "Out of the eight array inds, only one is being defended by two True Immortal Stage elders, while the other seven inds will all require extra reinforcement. As for how everyone is to be distributed, I''ll leave that up to you, Fellow Daoist Qilin 3."
After some contemtion, Qilin 3 said, "In that case, all of you can form groups of two and pick an ind to defend, while Qilin 11 will remain on the main ind with me."
Everyone immediately epted this arrangement with no objections, including Han Li, but his heart stirred slightly upon hearing this.
It seemed that Qilin 3 was going out of her way to look out for Bai Suyuan, so could it be that she was aware of Bai Suyuan''s true cultivation base? Alternatively, could it be that the two of them knew each other outside of the Transient Guild?
With that in mind, a bold theory about Qilin 3''s identity began to take shape in his mind.
Right at this moment, a familiar voice rang out in Han Li''s mind. As it turned out, Xiong Shan had reached out to him through voice transmission.
"How about you and I form a team to defend one of the inds, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15?"
"I was just about to propose the same thing."
Having previously worked with Qilin 9, Han Li was naturally aware of his power, and he was more than happy to ept this arrangement.
¡¡
A few minutester, everyone emerged from the hall in teams of two before being led toward the surrounding inds by the elders of the Holy Puppet Sect.
"Let''s go, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15," Qilin 9 said as he approached Han Li, to which Han Li nodded in response without saying anything.
With that, the two of them were led toward the southwest by an elderly man with a white beard.
Chapter 283: Ancestor of the Bai Clan
Chapter 283: Ancestor of the Bai n
Shortly thereafter, Han Li''s trio arrived in the air above a circr ind before descending toward it.
The ind wasn''t veryrge, with a radius of only several hundred kilometers, and the only noteworthyndmarks on it were several short mountains and a smallke, giving it a slightly barren appearance.
Some sparse red buildings could be seen on those mountains and beside theke, and the ground at the central area of the ind was quite uneven, riddled with troughs that were each around 10 feet wide.
These troughs were interconnected with one another to form aplete set of patterns, at the center of which stood a round white pagoda that was around 1,000 feet tall with the same patterns engraved on its surface.
The old man with the white beard led Han Li''s duo to the pagoda, which was surrounded by over 100 cultivators that were split up into three teams to patrol the area in shifts, and all of those cultivators stopped in their tracks to extend respectful salutes at the sight of the old man.
At the entrance of the pagoda was a semi-transparent light barrier, and the bearded old man pulled out a Holy Puppet Sect badge to release a burst of white light. Only then did the light barrier fade away, granting the trio entry.
Only after entering the pagoda did Han Lie to discover that it wasrger than it appeared on the outside.
The entire interior of the pagoda was hollowed out, and there were around a dozen massive water-droplet-shaped runes engraved onto the surrounding walls. At the center of each rune was embedded a translucent blue spirit stone, all of which were high-grade spirit stones or above.
All of the runes on the walls were connected to a square stone tform that was around half the height of a grown man situated at the center of the pagoda on the ground. There was an array te engraved onto the tform''s surface, and it was giving off a gentle white glow.
Around the stone tform were eight shorter stone tforms situated right up against the walls, upon each of which sat a Grand Ascension cultivator. All of these Grand Ascension cultivators were seated with their legs crossed and their eyes closed, disying no reaction to the arrival of Han Li''s trio.
Beside the main stone tform was a young man dressed like a lumberjack. He seemed to have also been a Grand Ascension cultivator, and at this moment, he was staring at the array te with his brows tightly furrowed and a rather dazed look on his face. Only upon sensing the arrival of Han Li''s trio did he return to his senses before asking, "What are you doing here, Elder Chu? Aren''t you overseeing the restricted area behind the mountain?"
"Elder Qi, these two fellow daoists are allies recruited by our deputy sect master. They''ll be stationed here with you, and I was instructed to bring them here," the bearded old man replied.
"I see," the young man replied with a nod.
With that, the bearded old man departed, while the young man extended a salute toward Han Li''s duo as he said, "My name is Qi Heng. May I ask your names, seniors?"
"I am Qilin 9," Qilin 9 replied as he pointed at the number on his mask.
Han Li also responded in kind. "I am Wyrm 15."
He had actually already been looking at this young man for quite some time, and he felt a very faint sense of familiarity at the sight of him, but he was unable to recall whether they had ever met before.
The three of them briefly exchanged some small talk, following which Qi Heng said, "There are some vacant cave abodes beside theke on the ind that the two of you can stay in. During your time here, you can go anywhere on the ind as you please, but do take care not to trigger any of the restrictions. I still have to keep an eye on things over here, so I won''t apany you to theke."
Han Li''s duo nodded in response, then departed from the pagoda to make their way to theke together.
In the end, they intentionally chose cave abodes quite far away from one another''s, with one situated to the west of theke, while the other was in the east.
The eastern side of theke was slightly more abundant with vegetation, and a courtyard with red walls and ck roof tiles was situated there. Upon arriving at the entrance of the courtyard, Han Li discovered that there were runes engraved onto the gates, clearly indicating that there were restrictions set up here as well.
However, the fact that Qi Heng hadn''t apanied them here indicated that they should''ve been able to bypass these restrictions without assistance. With that in mind, he made his way over to the gate before pushing on them, and sure enough, they swung open without posing any resistance.
Upon entering the courtyard, Han Li discovered that its furnishings andyout weren''t much different from mortal courtyards, but there were some tiny arrays littered throughout the courtyard in discreet ces.
For example, there was a small cleansing array beneath the stone table at the center of the courtyard, and it would be activated on its own every once in a while to clear up all of the dust and the fallen leaves and branches in the courtyard.
Inside the hall was a pair of servants, one male and one female. Both of them appeared to have been quite young with delicate skin and rosy lips, presenting a very pleasant sight to behold, but Han Li could tell just from a single nce that they were just puppets rather than living people.
They were just a pair of servants, so they naturally weren''t puppets of a particrly high caliber, but there were still some unique aspects in the way that they were crafted that were quite intriguing to Han Li.
He was already quite an expert in the art of puppetry, but most of his knowledge in this field had been umted in the Spirit Realm. The puppets of the Immortal Realm were quite different from those of the Spirit Realm both in terms of the materials used and the craftsmanship, so this was a good opportunity for him to learn some new things.
After all, if he wanted to restore Daoist Xie to its former state, his current puppetry expertise most likely wasn''t going to be enough.
¡..
Over two years passed by in the blink of an eye.
During this time, everything was quite peaceful in the Holy Puppet Sect, and no enemies showed up. However, the entire sect was still in a state of high alert, but the mindsets of all of the Transient Guild members had already somewhat changed.
Han Li and Qilin 9 were walking side by side on the small path along theke, making their way toward the nearby mountain.
"It''s been over two years, yet nothing has happened. Perhaps we''ll be able toplete this mission with unexpected ease, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 15," Qilin 9 said in a rxed voice with a smile on his face.
"It would naturally be ideal if the rest of the mission duration can pass by just as peacefully," Han Li replied with a smile of his own as he took a nce up at the clear, blue sky.
During these past two years, he had explored every single inch of this entire ind, tracking down all of the hidden arrays and puppets before carefully examining them multiple times.
He would also asionally go to the round pagoda to observe the runes on its surface. As a result, he had be quite familiar with Qi Heng, and the two of them would discuss some matters rted to puppetry from time to time.
Qi Heng''s cultivation base wasn''t particrly advanced, but he was quite an expert in the art of puppetry, and he was happy to speak to Han Li, but he was extremely tight-lipped when it came to any matters that were rted to the secrets of the sect.
Meanwhile, in a secret chamber on the main ind of the Holy Puppet Sect.
The deputy sect master was seated on a stone chair in a blue pce dress. The veil on her face had been removed to reveal her gorgeous features, and there was a gentle look in her eyes.
Seated before her was none other than Bai Suyuan, but she had removed her rabbit mask as well to face the deputy sect master in her true appearance.
"Suyuan, you may think that I''m cruel for abandoning our n, but I have my reasons. Ever since I left the ze Dragon Dao and the Ancient Cloud Continent, I had cut all ties with everything there, and I haven''t been back even once all this time," the deputy sect master said with a hint of apology in her voice.
"If you''ve cut off all ties, then why did you send someone toe after me?" Bai Suyuan asked in an indifferent voice.
It had been revealed to her that this woman was none other than her ancestor, Bai Fengyi, but she couldn''t bring herself to feel any intimacy toward this person. Whenever she thought of how her grandfather had been killed by that heavenly devil so she could escape, she would find herself struggling to forgive Bai Fengyi for abandoning their n.
If Bai Fengyi hadn''t disappeared without a trace, perhaps she would''ve been able to save their n and prevent all of the tragedies that had ensued.
Right at this moment, Qilin 3, who was also present in the room, heaved a faint sigh. "Fengyi is not to me for all of this. The circumstances that led to her departure all those years ago were veryplicated, and as her mistress, I should bear the brunt of the me."
Just like Bai Suyuan, she had also removed her Transient Guild mask to reveal her stunning features, and she was none other than one of the 13 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords of the ze Dragon Dao, Yun Ni.
"Mistress..."
Both Bai Fengyi and Bai Suyuan called out in unison.
"How foolish you are, my disciple. You thought that the two of us woulde together after you left, but you failed to ount for the fact that he''s a bastard and a coward. I asked him toe with me to help you on this asion, but he said that he didn''t know how to face you and didn''t dare toe and see you," Yun Ni said with a wry smile.
"That does seem like something he would do," Bai Fengyi chuckled.
"Who are you talking about, Mistress?" Bai Suyuan couldn''t help but ask.
"He was once a dashing and handsome immortal, but now, he''s nothing more than sloppy old drunkard, so there''s no need to waste our time talking about him," Yun Ni scoffed, but there was the faintest trace of a smile ying on her lips as she spoke.
Despite what she''s saying, she still can''t help but smile whenever she thinks of him. Looks like Mistress''s feelings toward him haven''t changed at all, Bai Fengyi sighed to herself upon seeing this.
"By the way, it''s already been over two years, yet nothing has happened. Could it be that something''s changed?" Yun Ni suddenly asked.
"The information that we received is definitely reliable. I fear that the longer the enemy spends in preparation, the more ferocious their assault will be when they do finallye," Bai Fengyi replied as her brows furrowed slightly.
"If they happen to attack exactly a yearter, you most likely won''t be able to assemble so many True Immortal cultivators on such short notice, even through the Transient Guild. What will you do then?" Yun Ni asked.
"Our sect master should be back by then, and with his cultivation base and that immortal puppet, we should be able to deal with this crisis even without the assistance of the Transient Guild," Bai Fengyi replied.
Yun Ni nodded in response, and she was just about to say something when her expression suddenly changed slightly.
Immediately thereafter, a resounding boom rang out, and the entire secret chamber began to tremble violently.
Yun Ni and Bai Fengyi exchanged a nce, and the former immediately put on her Transient Guild mask. Bai Suyuan hurriedly did the same upon seeing this, and the three of them rushed out of the secret chamber together.
Chapter 284: Another Hidden Force
Chapter 284: Another Hidden Force
The weather was originally quite clear and fine, yet all of a sudden, a vast nket of dark clouds suddenly converged in the sky above the main ind of the Holy Puppet Sect. The dark clouds stretched for thousands of kilometers, and they descended to such a low altitude that they had virtuallye into contact with the sea down below.
All of a sudden, it was as if night had descended upon the ind, and gusts of howling wind swept over the sea, raising massive waves.
Yun Ni''s trio arrived on the za outside the secret chamber to find that the dark clouds up above were churning incessantly with lightning shing within them, and there were several dozen massive golden and ck spirit boats that wereden with people hanging in the sky, resembling a series of floating fortresses.
In contrast with normal flying spirit boats, every single one of these spirit boats was carrying a ck tform that was over 100 feet tall, upon which were engraved all types of runes, giving them the appearance of altars.
Bai Fengyi''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and she swept a hand through the air to summon a stone b array te, then swiped a finger over it a few times as she instructed, "Activate all restrictions and prepare for battle!"
As soon as this instruction was issued, a sharp screeching sound rang out across the entire main ind and the eight surrounding inds.
Immediately thereafter, the spirit patterns on all of the gray stone pirs on the ind lit up, and all of the arrays engraved onto the ground and the buildings on the entire ind were also activated.
Bursts of loud rumbling rang out as the entire main ind began to tremble violently, and its terrain began to undergo drastic changes.
A dense cloud of smoke rose up from the peak of the tallest mountain on the ind, and the entire mountain summit slowly descended into the belly of the mountain to reveal a massive hole. Hundreds of flying boats that were riddled with golden spirit patterns rose up out of the hole in unison, hovering in mid-air in anticipation for battle.
At the bend in the river, the flow of water was drawn below the ind by a massive passageway that had suddenly appeared, and bursts of golden light emerged on the riverbed as a series of massive turtle-like puppets were revealed. The runes on the bodies of these puppets began to glow with dazzling radiance while releasing bursts of formidable water-attribute spiritual power fluctuations.
In the forest on the second level of the ind, the sound of snapping trees rang out incessantly as a series of tiger and leopard-like puppets rushed out into the open. Every single one of these puppets was around 10 feet tall, and they assembled themselves on the edge of the second level of the ind as they roared soundlessly up at the sky.
Several True Immortal Stage elders flew onto the za from all parts of the ind, and each of them was followed by several dozen disciples and hundreds of humanoid puppets.
Some of the important areas on the ind had alsoe under the protection of armies of disciples and puppets, led by more True Immortal Stage elders.
Within a span of no more than 10 seconds after the first sign of disturbance, all of the restrictions on the main ind had been activated, and everyone was prepared for battle.
Meanwhile, the sea around the main ind was churning violently while swirling around the eight smaller inds, forming a series of massive vortexes.
White light was glowing radiantly within the vortexes, and the white pagodas standing on those inds resembled beacons on the surface of the sea, releasing halos of dazzling light that illuminated the entire surrounding area.
Han Li and Qilin 9 had already returned to the za outside of the pagoda and were standing among the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators stationed on the ind.
Blue light was shing in Han Li''s eyes as he looked up at the dark clouds in the sky, and he could clearly see some humanoid figures standing above the clouds.
These people all had pieces of ck cloth concealing their faces, and they were dressed in ck cloaks rather simr to the one that Qilin 9 was wearing. However, there was golden golden embroidery on the edges of their sleeves and cors, and there was a cross-shaped design emzoned on each of their chests.
This design was not unfamiliar to Han Li as he had previously seen it on the Ubiquitous Pavilion badge that he had obtained from Ping Yaozi.
"I didn''t think we''d be facing people from the Ubiquitous Pavilion," Han Li murmured to himself.
"Strictly speaking, they''re not from the Ubiquitous Pavilion. Instead, they were merely assembled by the Ubiquitous Kill Order," Qilin 9 corrected.
"Oh? What do you mean by that, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9?" Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
"As one of the most powerful hidden forces in the Northern cial Immortal Region, the Ubiquitous Pavilion is actually rather simr in nature to our Transient Guild, except they mostly focus on the fields of intelligence and assassination. Furthermore, the missions that they ept and release are open to everyone, not just members of the organization.
¡°In other words, anyone can release missions as long as they have enough money, and anyone can ept their missions as long as they''re confident in their own powers. Anyone that releases or epts a Ubiquitous Pavilion mission counts as an elementary member, so their organization isn''t as strict and rigorous as our Transient Guild. As a result, its internal rtions are far moreplicated and convoluted," Qilin 9 exined.
"So you''re saying that even Transient Guild members could release and ept Ubiquitous Pavilion missions, and that these people were assembled by something called a Ubiquitous Kill Order?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. The Ubiquitous Kill Order is an order that''s issued to eradicate an entire sect or n, and it''s very expensive to release. It gathers power from an entire immortal region to target a sect or n, and all those who participate in the mission will be able to keep all of the spoils that they reap during the eradication operation without any fear of repercussions," Qilin 9 exined.
Han Li was enlightened upon hearing this. The most fearsome thing about such an order was how much allure it posed to the enormous number of itinerant cultivators in an immortal region, particrly those who were at or below the Grand Ascension Stage and were stuck at bottlenecks, but were alsocking in cultivation resources. If they didn''t do anything, their lifespans would eventually run out anyway, so it made sense for them to take risks and grasp onto any opportunities that they could.
Once people like them epted a Ubiquitous Pavilion mission, their identities would be protected by the Ubiquitous Pavilion, and that allowed them to act without any inhibitions, so they were often far crueler and more brutal in their assault against the sect or n that they were targeting, both to secure more cultivation resources and to vent the resentment and envy that they harbored toward these establishments.
Throughout its long history, the Holy Puppet Sect had umted an astronomical amount of wealth just from selling puppets alone, making it an extremely alluring target for these desperate cultivators.
While the two of them were speaking with one another, the ground beneath their feet suddenly began to tremble violently, and the troughs in the ground were quickly being filled with white light that was flowing like molten silver.
Bursts of rumbling rang out from beneath the entire ind, and a circle of massive rifts began to appear on the ground surrounding the za, separating the area around the pagoda from the rest of the ind.
Immediately thereafter, this isted area was rapidly elevated by several thousand feet.
Han Li rose up into the air before casting his gaze toward the ind to find that the entire central area of the ind had risen up from the rest of the ind, having transformed into a massive stone puppet.
The puppet resembled an enormous warrior that was constructed from a material that resembled white jade, but was as hard as steel, and it was wielding a giant silver saber that was several thousand feet in length and was riddled with spirit patterns that were giving off astonishing sharp fluctuations.
The same thing had taken ce on all of the other array inds, and some of the giant puppets resembled primordial giant apes, some resembled giants d in stone armor, and some were simr in appearance to massive wolves. In any case, all of them had different forms, and in addition to that, the colors and shapes of the spirit patterns on their bodies were also different.
Some were dark yellow and formed circles around the torso of the puppet, some were crimson and draped over the arms and body of the puppet like strips of red silk, and some were ck and emzoned on the chest of the puppet like tattoos.
At this moment, there were three figures standing side by side on an inky-ck spirit boat high up in the sky within the dark clouds.
One of them had an extremely long and deep scar on their face, running across the left side of their forehead to their right eye, then down their cheek, where the rest of it was concealed by the ck cloth covering their face.
To their right was a young man with a slender build and a sword strapped to his waist. Half of his face was also concealed behind a ck cloth, but the skin on the exposed half of his face was as fair as jade, and beneath his bushy eyebrows was a pair of bright and piercing eyes.
Both of them possessed incredibly formidable auras that indicated that they were Golden Immortal cultivators.
The third figure was a burly man with a slightly yellowplexion. He was standing at close to 10 feet tall, and even though he was wearing a hooded cloak, a dark azure metallic gleam could be seen in front of his forehead, indicating that he was wearing some type of metallic headgear.
He was only at the pinnacle of the True Immortal Stage, yet he was able to stand alongside this pair of Golden Immortals, and that was a clear indication that he was no ordinary True Immortal.
"Are you satisfied with the arrangements made by our Ubiquitous Pavilion, Fellow Daoist Lu Ji?" the man with the scar on his face asked as he turned to the fair-skinned young man beside him.
"I paid such a heavy price to employ the services of your Ubiquitous Pavilion precisely because of your organization''s vast influence, but I''m still quite surprised that you were able to gather so many people. Having said that, aren''t the cultivation bases of these people a little too varied? How much power could such a ragtag bunch of cultivators possibly possess?" the young man by the name of Lu Ji replied.
While it was true that these spirit boats were carrying 2,000 to 3,000 cultivators, there were only fewer than 50 True Immortal cultivators among them, while the rest consisted of Grand Ascension cultivators and even quite arge number of Body Integration and Spatial Tempering cultivators, so it wasn''t incorrect to refer to them as a ragtag bunch.
"These people are all itinerant cultivators, and all of them had to fight their way up the ranks to get to their current cultivation bases, so among those of the same cultivation base, there''s no way they''d be inferior to these weaklings of the Holy Puppet Sect who only know how to make puppets," the man with the scar on his face replied with a smile.
"I don''t believe this is the right time to be chatting among ourselves, fellow daoists. I''vee to the Ancient Cloud Continent with a mission from my master, so let''s finish things here as quickly as possible, Fellow Daoist Xue Han," the yellow-faced man suddenly said.
"There''s no need to be in such a hurry, Fellow Daoist Zhong Luan. We''ve only done some light probing up to this point. Now that they''ve revealed all of their defenses and we can confirm that their defensive measures are identical to what''sid out in the intelligence that we''ve collected, we can proceed ording to our original n. However, don''t forget what we agreed on earlier once we get into the Holy Puppet Sect," the scar-faced man by the name of Xue Han chuckled.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist," Zhong Luan replied in an indifferent voice.
Chapter 285: Breached Array
Chapter 285: Breached Array
The scar-faced man by the name of Xue Han slowly turned around upon hearing this, then ordered, "Get into formation and attack!"
The group of figures behind him gave a collective affirmative response before flying away, and it didn''t take long before all of the dozens of spirit boats hanging suspended within the dark clouds to abruptly swoop down.
At the same time, they were moving in all directions, forward, backward, to the left, and to the right, as if they were soldiers adopting their positions in a pre-set formation, and all of the spirit boats quickly arranged themselves into a ring-shaped array.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of thunderous chanting rang out, and the dozens of ck tforms on the spirit boats began to tremble in unison. The golden patterns engraved upon them also lit up with dazzling radiance while giving off powerful energy fluctuations.
A resounding boom rang out as all of the tforms on the spirit boats shuddered in unison, following which a golden pir of light erupted from each of them directly into the sea of dark clouds up above.
The sea of clouds instantly began to churn violently with traces of golden light shimmering within them, immediately following which an enormous projection of a round te appeared. The projection was over 10,000 feet in radius and was riddled with strange patterns that were radiating dazzling golden light.
All of a sudden, a burst of rumbling that resembled a string of thunderps rang out, and the entire sea of clouds began to surge like boiling water.
A series of giant millstone-sized fireballs shot out of the projection with scorching golden mes burning on their surfaces, then came crashing down toward the main ind of the Holy Puppet Sect and the eight inds around it.
Thousands of golden fireballs were crashing down with long fiery tails behind them, resembling an almighty meteor shower.
It was as if the entire sky had been set alight with golden radiance, and even the dark clouds had been given a golden lining.
However, all of these fireballs were stopped cold in their tracks close to 100,000 feet above the main ind, as if they had suddenly crashed into an invisible wall, and they exploded violently to send countless golden sparks flying in all directions.
As the explosions rang out one after another, a near-transparent semi-spherical light barrier was revealed. Azure light was shing over its surface, and the constant barrage of exploding fireballs were sending ripples surging incessantly over the light barrier.
One massive crater after another appeared on the light barrier, only for it to bounce back and revert back to its original form amid shes of azure light, and it was able to keep itself intact against the barrage of fireballs.
On the za on the main ind of the Holy Puppet Sect, everyone was looking up at the sky with tense expressions.
"They won''t be able to keep up an assault this ferocious for too long. How much longer can your defensive arrayst? " Yun Ni asked as she stood beside Bai Fengyi.
Bai Fengyi considered the question for a moment, then replied, "If this is all that we have to deal with, then we shouldn''t have any problems. However..."
Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, the spirit patterns on the massive te projection within the dark clouds faded, and the storm of golden fireballs subsided.
That''s it?
Everyone was rather perplexed by this turn of events.
However, the golden te projection then immediately began operating once again, and this time, it was releasing evenrger golden fireballs that were falling twice as fast as before, building up tremendous downward momentum.
A resounding boom rang out as the golden fireball came crashing down.
The defensive light barrier shuddered violently as an enormous indentation appeared on its surface, and as opposed to light ripples, there were now turbulent waves surging over the light barrier.
Before the light barrier had a chance to recover, several hundred more golden fireballs came crashing down in rapid session, and the entire light barrier waspletely warped, looking as if it were going to copse at any moment.
"It looks like the array won''t be able tost much longer. Once the battle begins, I''ll only be able to take on one of the two enemy Golden Immortals. What are you going to do about the other one?" Yun Ni asked.
"I''ll think of a way to keep the other Golden Immortal at bay. Our cultivators and puppets outnumber them, so if we can quickly kill as many of their True Immortal cultivators as possible, we''ll be able to severely dent their morale," Bai Fengyi replied.
"Indeed. These people have banded together solely for profit, so if we can force them onto the back foot, they''ll immediately fall apart like sand. Hence, we have to go all-out from the outset and crush them from the get-go. Only then will we have a chance of securing victory," Yun Ni said.
Bai Fengyi nodded in response, then summoned an array te before issuing a series of verbal instructions into it.
On the spirit boat high up in the sky, Xue Han was looking down at the array on the ind with a hint of surprise on his face. "This array is more sturdy than I anticipated. Fellow Daoist Lu Ji, looks like we''ll have to trouble you to do the honors."
Lu Ji offered no reply, merely nodding silently in response before flying out of the spirit boat, where he hovered in mid-air.
He then removed the silver longsword that was strapped to his waist, holding the scabbard in one hand while gently sweeping the index and middle fingers of his other hand over the hilt of the sword.
A sharp ng rang out as the silver longsword flew out of its scabbard before rising up toward the dark clouds above.
A circle of white sword qi that was visible even to the naked eye began to swirl around the sword in a frenzy, instantly piercing a giant hole with a radius of several thousand feet into the dark clouds in the sky.
A ray of bright sunlight passed through the hole, illuminating the entire area around Lu Ji and making him resemble a majestic sword immortal. The eyes of everyone down below were unconsciously drawn to him, and Han Li was also looking up at the massive hole in the clouds while standing next to the giant stone puppet on the ind that he and Qilin 9 were stationed on.
The sword had risen up, but it hadn''t descended.
The phenomenon created by the rising sword wasn''t actually all that astonishing, but given Han Li''s expertise in swordsmanship, he was able to see some things that others couldn''t.
The concentration and sharpness of the sword qi around the flying sword were unlike anything he had ever seen before, and he had a feeling that once the sword did fall, it would do so with devastating effect.
Sure enough, mere momentster, dazzling silver light erupted within the dark clouds, and a string of loud sounds that were different from thunderps rang out as a menacing aura began to emanate through the air.
Blue light shed within Han Li''s eyes as he cast his gaze toward the sky, and he discovered a streak of pristine white swordlight that was over 10,000 feet in length standing among the clouds like a massive mountain.
Streaks of sword qi were surging around it in a frenzy, and bursts of rumbling resembling what one would hear in an avnche were ringing out incessantly.
In the next instant, the streak of white swordlight descended like a snow-covered mountain crashing down toward the sea of dark clouds.
Theyers of clouds melted away like snow and ice in the face of the swordlight, and a massive opening that was over 100,000 feet wide quickly emerged.
The streak of swordlight looked as if it were going to slice the entire heavens apart, and it descended with unstoppable force toward the light barrier down below, which was already severely warped from the barrage of fireballs.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as an enormous indentation appeared in the defensive light barrier, quickly stretching to several thousand feet in length before elongating even further.
The light barrier was already close to being a spent force, and it was unable to revert back to its original form, exploding violently and disintegrating into countless specks of light.
However, the massive streak of swordlight that had destroyed the light barrier was barely slowed down as it continued to descend.
All of a sudden, a burst of dazzling white light erupted into the heavens from the main ind, and an enormous white snow lotus flower projection appeared, shing against the swordlight tens of thousands of feet in the sky to result in a violent explosion.
Bursts of powerful shockwaves instantly erupted in all directions, sweeping up enormous waves in the surrounding sea within a radius of thousands of kilometers.
All of the cultivators assembled by the Ubiquitous Pavilion on the dozens of spirit boats in the dark clouds erupted into excited cheers at the sight of the defensive array being broken, and their eyes were glowing as if they could already see the countless spirit stones waiting for them to plunder.
"Now that the defensive array has been destroyed, how much you can plunder from the Holy Puppet Sect will be up to you, fellow daoists," Xue Han cackled.
As soon as his voice trailed off, countless figures instantly sprang down from the ck spirit boats in the dark clouds, and they swooped directly toward the main ind down below like a flock of starving crows.
However, right as they were approaching the ind, the spirit patterns on the bodies of the eight giant puppets situated around the main ind suddenly lit up.
Pirs of light of different colors that were hundreds of feet thick erupted out of the pagodas on top of the giant puppets'' heads before converging toward the main ind, where they came together to form a colorful light barrier that epassed the entire ind.
The hundred or so Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators who were charging at the forefront hurriedly tried to stop themselves in their descent, but were unable to arrest their own momentum and crashed straight into the light barrier.
Aside from several True Immortals who were able to summon protective treasures in time and were only sent flying upon crashing into the light barrier, all of the other cultivators were instantly reduced to ashes, leaving only acrid plumes of ck smoke in the air.
This second defensive barrier had stopped all of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators cold in their tracks, and they quickly spread themselves out in all directions with wary looks on their faces.
Right at this moment, Bai Fengyimanded, "Engage the enemy!"
Streaks of light rose up from all over the surrounding inds as countless figures sprang up into the sky around the colorful light barrier, charging directly toward the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators.
They were immediately followed by several hundred mechanical flying boats that hurtled directly toward the ck spirit boats up above. In the meantime, some of the important locations on the inds were still being guarded by some cultivators and puppets in case of sneak attacks.
"I''m going ahead," Yun Ni said to Bai Fengyi, then rose up from the main ind.
Bai Fengyi turned around to take a nce at Bai Suyuan and the others with aplex look in her eyes, then instructed, "Make sure to stay here and don''t go anywhere."
After that, she also rose up into the air behind Yun Ni.
High up in the sky, Lu Ji was looking down to find a massive snow lotus flower projection rapidly ascending toward him from down below.
His expression remained unchanged as he raised a hand up high before making a beckoning motion, and a silver longsword swooped down from the giant hole in the dark clouds beforending in his grasp.
Chapter 286: Imminent Battle
Chapter 286: Imminent Battle
"You''ve saved me the trouble ofing after you," Lu Ji remarked in an indifferent voice, then raised his silver longsword before taking a step forward, upon which he instantly vanished from the spot.
Immediately thereafter, countless streaks of swordlight crashed into the petals of the oing snow lotus flower projection, with thousands of shes taking ce in an instant. An ear-splitting screeching sound rang out from the shing swordlight and flower petals, while the nearby space trembled violently.
"I''ll see you on the ind, Fellow Daoist Xue Han," Zhong Luan said, then flipped a hand over to summon a long ck saber before jumping straight down from the ck spirit boat, plummeting directly toward the nearest ind puppet.
"I''m sure that won''t take too long," Xue Han murmured to himself as he swept a sleeve through the air, and a palm-sized golden ring flew out amid a sh of golden light.
The golden ring then rapidly swelled in size to a diameter in excess of 1,000 feet before hovering in mid-air.
Xue Han then chanted an incantation, and denseyers of runes instantly appeared on the surface of the giant golden ring, releasing rays of yellow light and bursts of formidablew fluctuations.
A string of dull thuds rang out within the space epassed beneath the golden ring, and it was as if a burst of invisible pressure had isted the area and was forcefullypressing the air down below.
A deep indentation that corresponded with the golden ring also appeared on the surface of the colorful light barrier down below, and it began to tremble unsteadily amid a burst of incessant buzzing.
Xue Han let loose a loud roar as he thrust a palm forcefully downward, and a long rift was instantly torn open on the light barrier, making it appear as if it could copse at any moment.
Right at this moment, a streak of blue light hurtled rapidly through the air from down below, then struck the giant golden ring in the sky with a loud ng.
The golden ring shuddered violently upon being struck by the streak of blue light, and yellow light that it was releasing also began to sway in an unstable manner. As a result, the pressure on the light barrier down below was significantly alleviated, allowing it to return to its original form.
Xue Han''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he looked down to find a beautiful woman in a pce dress rising up toward him while wielding a shimmering blue sword, and she was apanied by a young daoist priest in a gray daoist robe.
There was a silver gourd strapped to the daoist priest''s waist and a golden horsetail whisk held in his hand. His appearance was no different from that of a normal human, but in reality, it was an extremely life-like high-grade puppet.
"A faux immortal puppet, I see," Xue Han chuckled as he licked his own lips.
He then made a beckoning motion with one hand, and the golden ring flew back to him before fitting itself around his wrist, following which he turned and flew directly toward the woman and the young daoist priest.
Meanwhile, the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators had already spread themselves out, and they were flying toward the surrounding array inds rather than continuing to charge at the colorful light barrier.
At this point, they had already noticed that the light barrier seemed to have been connected to the giant puppets around the main ind, so if they were to vanquish these puppets, then the light barrier would automatically be unraveled.
However, the cultivators of the Holy Puppet Sect naturally weren''t just going to allow them to do as they pleased, and they had already risen up into the air to oppose the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators.
A fierce battle instantly ensued.
The majority of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators were itinerant cultivators, so their powers and abilities were all quite varied.
In the northwest, one of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators opened up a spirit beast pouch to release several dozen strange-looking ferocious beasts, each of which was close to 1,000 feet in size, and they immediately pounced onto the army of puppets being controlled by the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators down below.
In the southeast, someone summoned a giant ck g that was over 2,000 feet in size, and the g released gusts of inky-ck yin wind that instantly stripped the flesh from the bones of many low-grade Holy Puppet Sect disciples.
In the southwest, someone opened a white bone box to release a swarm of countless golden hos that began attacking the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators with their highly toxic stingers.
In contrast, the powers and abilities of the Holy Puppet Sect disciples were far less varied, but they were determined to defend their sect with their lives, and with the army of puppets on their side, they far outnumbered the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, so they were able to gain the upper hand for now.
High up in the sky, all of the ck spirit boats dispersed as the golden patterns on their surfaces began to glow radiantly, and a series of golden spears that were several dozen feet thick shot out of the giant holes on the undersides of the boats before raining down amid a sharp screeching sound.
The hundreds of mechanical flying boats that had already risen up into the sky also began to glow brightly as the circr array at the center of each of the boats shed with red light, releasing a relentless barrage of crimson fireballs the size of millstones. These fireballs converged in mid-air to form a fiery storm to oppose the oing golden spears, and a string of deafening booms rang out as the fireballs shed against the golden spears.
Golden light and crimson mes erupted in all directions, plunging the entire sky into a state ofplete chaos.
While the battle was raging in the sky, a fierce skirmish was taking ce down below as well.
Some of the Ubiquitous Pavilion were locked in battle against Holy Puppet Sect disciples and puppets, while others were charging toward the eight giant puppets, led by True Immortal cultivators, aiming to destroy the puppets so that the light barrier that was protecting the main ind would be unraveled.
The hundred or so Holy Puppet Sect cultivators who were standing on the giant puppet on the southwestern ind were all holding a series of golden and silver talismans tightly in their hands while looking up at the sky with tense expressions.
This was the ind where Han Li and Qilin 9 stationed, and thetter was peering into the distance as he said, "There are over 200 cultivatorsing to our ind, three of whom are True Immortal cultivators, while the majority of the rest of them are below the Grand Ascension Stage."
"You and I can take care of those three True Immortals, while the Holy Puppet Sect''s cultivators deal with the rest," Han Li proposed.
"My thoughts exactly," Qilin 9 replied with a nod.
With that, the two of them didn''t waste any more time with words beforeunching themselves up toward the approaching Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators.
A chorus of incantations rang out as numerous talismans flew up into the sky from the top of the giant puppet''s head, and puppets of all types of shapes and forms flew out of the talismans amid shes of bright light.
The army of puppets was followed closely by the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators.
Among the three True Immortals from the Ubiquitous Pavilion, one of them was a burly and imposing young man, while to his left was a thin old man that was quite a bit shorter in stature, and to his right was a voluptuous woman, the type that Elder Hu Yan would''ve referred to as possessing big tits and a big arse.
As soon as the old man spotted Han Li and Qilin 9, his brows immediately furrowed slightly as he cursed to himself under his breath.
"What''s wrong?" the burly young man asked.
"Those two are fellow Transient Guild members, and they''re both azure mask members. What terrible luck," the thin old man replied.
"I recall hearing you speak about the hierarchy of your Transient Guild, and you told me that all of the guild''s azure mask members are quite formidable. It looks like we''re in for a rough battle," the burly man remarked.
"I''m starting to get a little scared after hearing that," the voluptuous woman chuckled. "In any case, I definitely don''t want to take on either of them on my own."
"The one with the cow mask seems a little weaker. I''ll take care of him by myself and leave the other one to you two," the burly man decided.
"Alright, we''ll do as you say," the thin old man immediately agreed, and the voluptuous woman had no objections, either.
As the two opposing forces reached within 10,000 feet of one another, all of the cultivators below the True Immortal Stage made a conscious effort to distance themselves from the True Immortal cultivators beforemencing their battle.
Meanwhile, the burly man flew directly toward Han Li, while the thin old man and the voluptuous woman charged toward Qilin 9, one from the left and one from the right.
Qilin 9 gave a cold harrumph as he rose up further into the air, opening up some distance between himself and Han Li as he met his assants head-on.
While he was still several thousand feet away, the burly man abruptly flicked his wrist through the air, sending a streak of ck light flying out of the palm of his hand directly toward Han Li.
The streak of ck light then swelled drastically in size, transforming into a massive ck ax the size of a small mountain in the blink of an eye before crashing down toward Han Li.
Even before the ax had reached Han Li, a ferocious gust of wind was already sweeping toward him, forcing all of the surrounding air to either side while threatening to slice the very space apart.
Han Li was caught slightly off guard, not expecting his opponent to unleash such a ferocious attack from the get-go, but that didn''t hamper his reaction speed at all as ayer of golden scales appeared over his arm, and he clenched his hand into a tight fist before swinging it forcefully into the de of the ax.
A resounding boom rang out as a gust of fierce wind swept through the air in all directions.
Han Li was forced down by over 1,000 feet before stomping his feet forcefully into the air below to stabilize himself.
Meanwhile, the giant ax was sent flying back, and it reverted back to its original size before being caught by the burly man, who also stumbled back a few steps involuntarily from the tremendous momentum that the ax carried.
"I didn''t expect you to also be a Profound Immortal," the burly man eximed.
Han Li paid no heed to him as he made a hand seal while chanting an incantation, and his Heavy Water True Axis instantly appeared before him, giving off powerful waterw fluctuations.
"Go!" hemanded, and the Heavy Water True Axis began to rapidly revolve in mid-air, transforming into a ck blur as it hurtled directly toward the burly man.
The Heavy Water True Axis was traveling extremely quickly, reaching the burly man in the blink of an eye.
The burly man''s expression changed slightly seeing this, and he grabbed onto the shaft of the ax with both hands before holding it in front of him like a shield.
This ax had been refined using many types of precious ore and earth-attribute materials, and there were also many bolstering runes engraved onto its surface, making it an extremely formidable treasure that was no less sturdy than a top-tier defensive treasures, so he was confident that he would be able to block this attack.
Chapter 287: Two VS Three
Chapter 287: Two VS Three
The Heavy Water True Axis reached the giant ax in the blink of an eye, and a Water Dao Rune on the axis released a burst of waterw powers amid a sh of blue light as it crashed into the ax with unfathomable power.
The spirit patterns engraved onto the ax instantly lit up, only to quickly break apart, immediately following which the entire ax itself also shattered into countless pieces.
A stunned look shed through the burly man''s eyes upon seeing this, and a burst of light instantly appeared on his chest, forming a yellow array projection that managed to keep the Heavy Water True Axis at bay.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
Through his spiritual connection with his Heavy Water True Axis, he could sense that it was as if the axis had fallen into a swamp, and all of its power was stripped away.
He immediately increased his immortal spiritual power output, and a resounding boom instantly rang out as the burly man felt a burst of mountainous pressure crashing into chest.
Even though the immortal talisman on his chest had nullified most of the power of the Heavy Water True Axis, it was still too much for him to bear, and he was sent flying back through the air with blood gushing out of his mouth.
Meanwhile, Qilin 9 was locked in a fierce battle against the other two True Immortal cultivators.
The voluptuous woman was wielding a purple whip with purple bars all over its surface. The whip was giving off a metallic gleam, and as she flicked her wrist through the air, the whip transformed into countless whip projections thatshed out at Qilin 9 from all directions.
Qilin 9 was wielding an antiquated golden sword that he was swinging through the air with tremendous power, unleashing countless streaks of golden swordlight that sliced the oing whip projections into shreds.
There were nine stars that were glowing brightly on the de of the sword, forming a secure barrier of dazzling light around him.
Right at this moment, a burst of ck light suddenly shed past behind him, and a thin figure sprang out of thin air in apletely silent manner. The thin figure was wearing a set of sharp silver ws on each hand, and he plunged those ws straight into the light barrier around Qilin 9''s body.
The runes on the silver ws lit up as the thin old man brought his hands apart in a forceful motion, tearing a gash into the light barrier.
A vicious look shed through his eyes as he suddenly opened his mouth, and a burst of ck light appeared inside his oral cavity before a dark green needle treasure shot out from within, piercing directly toward Qilin 9''s heart from behind.
Qilin 9 had been trying to keep tabs on the thin old man this entire time while facing the voluptuous woman, but he was still unable to detect his assant until it was toote.
"It''s time for you to die!" the old man cackled with a cold gleam in his eyes.
However, right as his voice trailed off, a burst of golden light suddenly appeared behind Qilin 9, and a square-shaped antiquated golden mirror appeared.
A faint ng rang out as the flying needle struck the surface of the mirror and was instantly repelled.
Immediately thereafter, a thunderous roar rang out from within the mirror, and a sense of foreboding welled up in the thin old man''s heart upon seeing this.
He immediately opened his mouth to recover his flying needle, then shot back in retreat.
All of a sudden, a burst of light shed over the golden mirror, and a giant golden tiger with fiery red stripes all over its body pounced out of the mirror with its cavernous mouth wide open, biting down upon the thin old man.
In response, the old man flicked a wrist through the air, and the thin green string flew off from around his wrist before transforming into a massive azure python that pounced at the giant tiger before winding itself around the tiger''s body.
Meanwhile, the old man retreated back to the voluptuous woman''s side several thousand feet away as heined, "This guy''s a real pain to deal with. I should''ve chosen the guy with the cow mask."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he heard an agonized howl, and he hurriedly turned around to find the burly man having his chest stomped on by Han Li, sending him plummeting down toward the sea below like a rucksack.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li also swooped down toward the surface of the sea as a streak of azure light.
"Looks like neither of them are easy opponents. If we don''t go all-out, not only will we not be able to plunder anything from the Holy Puppet Sect, we could easily lose our lives here," the thin old man said in a grim voice.
"We do indeed have to get serious. Please hold him off for me while I... get changed into something morefortable," the voluptuous woman said with a seductive smile.
The thin old man couldn''t help but shudder at the sight of her smile, and he swept a sleeve through the to summon arge yellow g, which he grabbed onto with both hands before charging toward Qilin 9.
At the same time, a vicious look appeared in the voluptuous woman''s eyes as she slid down the cor of her robes to reveal a shoulder, followed by a section of her arm, where a slender woman in a red dress was tattooed. The woman was holding a lute with a peculiar smile on her half-concealed face.
This tattoo wasn''t just a cosmetic essory. Instead, it was a powerful treasure that was crafted from human skin. She had been nurturing it with her own flesh and blood this entire time, and she was only willing to use it now as she had identified just how perilous this situation was.
She began to chant a peculiar incantation, and the tattoo of the woman on her arm suddenly became rather blurry, as if all of its colors were spreading and fading.
At the same time, the skin on her arm began to take on a red coloration, and what appeared to have been a rash quickly appeared before spreading over her entire body.
The woman let loose a pained groan as the ck cloak that she was wearing gradually faded, and she transformed into the woman in red that was tattooed on her arm. In the wake of her transformation, her cultivation base had been elevated from the mid-True Immortal Stage to thete-True Immortal Stage.
With a flick of her wrist, a crimson oil paper umbre flew out of the palm of her hand amid a sh of red light, then opened itself up in mid-air before flying toward Qilin 9.
The woman also drifted through the air behind the umbre as she said in a cold voice, "We have to put an end to him as quickly as possible."
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out from the sea down below, and a massive wave erupted upward, following which a figure flew out of the water, rising several thousand feet up into the air before drawing to a halt.
It was none other than Han Li, and his Heavy Water True Axis was revolving in mid-air behind him.
Immediately thereafter, a golden figure also erupted out of the water, and it was none other than the burly man that Han Li had just sent plummeting into the sea. At this moment, it was as if ayer of golden paint had been applied to his entire body.
At this moment, golden blood was pouring out of all of his orifices, and he was sorely regretting his decision to challenge Han Li on his own.
He had been forced to devour the Golden Rot Pill that he had cherished for many years, and only then was he able to withstand Han Li''s barrage of ferocious attacks.
He had no idea what that ck wheel treasure of Han Li''s was. It was clearly a water-attribute treasure, but it was incredibly heavy, as if it contained an entire ocean.
With a flick of his wrist, a white bone shard appeared on the palm of his hand. There were some peculiar crimson patterns engraved onto the surface of the bone shard, and they were giving off faint energy fluctuations.
A hesitant look appeared on the burly man''s face as he looked down at the bone shard in his hand.
Meanwhile, Han Li was hovering in mid-air with his Heavy Water True Axis continuing to revolve incessantly behind him.
He took a nce at Qilin 9 to find that he was gradually being forced onto the back foot by the woman in red and the thin old man, and a slightly grim look appeared in his eye as he turned his gaze back to the burly man.
The burly man''s heart immediately jolted slightly upon seeing this, and the hesitation in his eyes faded entirely as he brought his palms together, holding the bone shard in between them as he began to chant an incantation.
Wisps of smoke began to billow out from between the palms of his hands as the bone shard was set alight, transforming into an azure fire lotus flower that shot forth through the air.
This me was known as the Phosphorus Bone me, and it was an extremely rare me that could only arise under a set of extremely rigorous special conditions. Furthermore, it could only be stored in specially made bone shards of high-grade demon beasts. It was an extremely formidable me, but it was also a disposable item that could only be used once, and that was why he had been so hesitant to unleash it.
The burly man thrust both palms forcefully through the air, and the fiery lotus flower drifted toward Han Li at a deceptively fast speed, reaching no more than 1,000 feet away from him in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, balls of azure mes erupted from the fiery lotus flower before hurtling toward Han Li in a frenzy.
Han Li naturally wasn''t going to allow those mes toe into contact with his body, and the Heavy Water True Axis had already positioned itself in front of him at his behest.
He began to chant and incantation, and a burst of ck light erupted out of the axis as it hovered in front of the fiery lotus flower like a huge ck shield.
However, even aftering into contact with the Heavy Water True Axis, the Phosphorus Bone me wasn''t snuffed out. Instead, it quickly enveloped the entire axis while releasing a scorching aura.
Han Li could feel a burst of extremely strange power surging through his Heavy Water True Axis, and it seemed to have been causing the heavy water to evaporate, reducing the weight of the axis as a result.
The weight reduction was virtually negligible, but Han Li''s heart still jolted slightly upon detecting this. If he didn''t clear away these azure mes as quickly as possible, he didn''t know what other impact it was going to have on his Heavy Water True Axis.
With that in mind, he extended a hand forward, and a tiny fiery silver figure took shape on the palm of his hand. It turned around to give him a wide smile, then skipped down from his hand and transformed into a wave of silver fire that swooped onto the Heavy Water True Axis to intertwine itself with the Phosphorus Bone mes.
The silver and azure mes intertwined on the surface of the axis, and to the Phosphorus Bone me''s credit, it was able to temporarily hold its own against the Essence Fire Raven, with neither one able to devour the other.
Chapter 288: Saved in the Nick of Time
Chapter 288: Saved in the Nick of Time
While the me of Essence and the Phosphorus Bone me were locked in battle against one another, Han Li made a hand seal with one hand, then produced an azure longsword with a flick of his wrist, and he emerged from behind the Heavy Water True Axis before charging directly toward the burly man.
The burly man immediately switched to a different hand seal upon seeing this, and balls of azure mes erupted out of the fiery azure lotus flower before hurtling toward Han Li.
In response, Han Li shed his longsword through the air, unleashing a string of sword projections that bloomed like a lotus flower in front of him to repel the azure fireballs.
This me was supposed to have been extremely sticky, as evidenced by the fact that it was able to instantly cling to the Heavy Water True Axis, but it was unable to adhere to the azure longsword at all, much to the burly man''s surprise.
He gritted his teeth before expelling a mouthful of blood essence, then pointed a finger at it, and the ball of blood essence instantly transformed into a cloud of blood mist that vanished into the fiery azure lotus flower in a sh.
The fiery lotus flower instantly began to rapidly revolve, and all of its petals trembled before shooting through the air, transforming into a series of fiery azure des that swept toward Han Li in an all-epassing wave.
Han Li made a hand seal with one hand in an unhurried manner while shing his sword through the air with his other hand, instantly releasing countless massive sword projections that shot forth toward the burly man.
The wave of sword projections appeared to have been quite chaotic, like a disorganized army with no general, hurtling through the air in a seemingly haphazard fashion, but somehow, they were able to keep all of the fiery azure des at bay.
For the second time, a hint of foreboding welled up in the burly man''s heart, and he decided that it was too much of a risk to continue this battle. With that in mind, he switched to a different hand seal before pping his hand together.
A resounding boom rang out as the fiery azure lotus flower swelled to several times its original size, following which all of its petals exploded violently, creating a sea of azure mes that swallowed up the entire wave of sword projections.
All of a sudden, the entire sky was filled with sword projections and azure mes, sending waves of scorching heat and an aura of unmatched sharpness erupting in all directions.
After doing all of this, the burly man brought his index and middle fingers together without any hesitation, and a golden talisman was set alight between his fingertips, following which he vanished from the spot amid a sh of golden light.
However, a massive azure longsword then suddenly appeared out of thin air several dozen kilometers away, and the burly man within the streak of golden light struck its de with unerring uracy, instantly slicing his body into two.
Immediately thereafter, a purple nascent soul that was identical in appearance to the burly man emerged from his body before flying away with a terrified look on its face, only to be caught in arge silver before it was able to get very far.
A burst of crackling rang out as the nascent soul was zapped into a plume of smoke that was blown away by the wind.
Even in the instant right before he died, the burly man had no idea how Han Li had been able to cover a distance of dozens of kilometers in the blink of an eye to intercept him.
As it turned out, it was very simple. In the instant that the burly man detonated his Phosphorus Bone me, Han Li had already activated his Reversal True Axis ability to enhance his own speed, allowing him to cover a vast distance in the blink of an eye.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to stow the azure longsword away, then made a beckoning motion toward the burly man''s corpse, and the man''s storage bracelet and storage ring quickly flew into his grasp.
After taking a moment to inspect the contents of the storage treasures, he was very pleased to find that he had made a very good haul, and he stowed them storage treasures away before flying back toward his Heavy Water True Axis.
Without the support of the burly man''s immortal spiritual power, the Phosphorus Bone me was no match for the Essence Fire Raven and had already been devoured. At this moment, the Essence Fire Raven was in its miniature humanoid form, and it was seated on the Heavy Water True Axis while swinging its little legs back and forth with a blissful look on its face.
Upon spotting Han Li''s return, it immediately reverted back into the form of a silver fire raven before flying toward him.
Han Li smiled as he raised an arm so that the fire raven could fly back into his sleeve.
He then turned his gaze toward the giant puppet to find that both the Holy Puppet Sect and Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators there had already suffered severe casualties.
There were several Ubiquitous Pavilion Grand Ascension and Body Integration cultivators that had snuck away from the battle before flying toward the giant puppet, hoping to destroy it so that the light barrier epassing the main ind would be unraveled.
However, before they could even get close, the giant puppet suddenly swiveled its body to face them, and the runes on its giant silver de lit up before releasing gusts of fierce wind that swept directly toward the oing intruders.
The gusts of wind were carrying countless des of wind, and it swept up the nearest few Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators in the blink of an eye.
Those cultivators hurriedly summoned their protective treasures, but they were only able to keep the des of wind at bay for a few moments before their bodies were torn to shreds, while their nascent souls were only just barely able to escape.
Seeing as the giant puppet was able to protect itself just fine, Han Li began flying over to Qilin 9 with his Heavy Water True Axis trailing along behind him.
At this point in the battle, the situation had be quite dire for Qilin 9.
After transforming into that woman in the red dress, not only had the voluptuous woman had her cultivation base elevated, even her abilities had undergone a drastic change.
Furthermore, that red oil paper umbre of hers was extremely troublesome to deal with, able to release thin red threads down upon anyone situated under it, and if one were to be ensnared by those red threads, their immortal spiritual power cirction would be very sluggish.
Thankfully, the dazzling light radiating from his nine star golden sword had formed a protective barrier around him to keep the red threads at bay, so he was able to remainrgely unaffected.
At this point, the golden tiger that had been released from the antiquated golden mirror was already riddled with wounds, but it was still constantly prowling by his side, protecting him from any potential sneak attacks from his two assants.
The giant azure python released by the thin old man earlier had already been torn to shreds by the golden tiger, and it was clear that he intended to im the golden mirror to make up for that loss after Qilin 9 was killed.
"We have to end this now!"
The woman in red had already noticed that Han Li was approaching, and a hint of killing intent shed through her eyes as she encircled her arms in an embracing motion to summon a crimson lute that was as translucent as jade.
She began to gently strum the strings of the lute, producing a sound that immediately made Qilin 9''s skin crawl.
It wasn''t because the sound was extremely unpleasant. Instead, it was a very crisp and clean sound that was very pleasing to the ears, but as soon as the woman began ying the lute, the oil paper umbre above Qilin 9 suddenly swelled to twice its original size.
The crimson threads trailing down from the umbre were also bing denser, and they were pouncing at him like a nest of spirit snakes, moving at several times their original speed.
At the same time, the thin old man had also sprung into action. He raised a hand to release a three-colored ring, which flew through the air before transforming into countless three-colored ring projections to ensnare the golden dragon.
Meanwhile, the thin old man himself appeared above Qilin 9 in a wraith-like manner, then swept a sleeve through the air, sending a streak of dazzling swordlight that was over 100 feet in length sweeping down toward him.
Qilin 9 had no choice but to divert the golden mirror away to ward off the oing streak of sword light, but as a result, his back was left unguarded, and several red threads pierced into his shoulder and back in quick session.
As soon as the red threads pierced into his body, they immediately began to sprout branches that burrowed into his flesh like the roots of a nt.
Qilin 9 immediately felt a numb sensation spread through his shoulder and arm, and even more rmingly, his immortal spiritual power had be extremely sluggish.
Right at this moment, he spotted a ck shadow hurtling toward him out of the corner of his eye, and right as he was about to use a life-saving talisman to save himself from this dire situation, a glowing ck wheel shed through the air in front of him inches away from his chest to shield him from the oing dark green dagger.
Immediately thereafter, a figure arrived by his side in the blink of an eye, and with a sweep of their sword, all of the red threads that had burrowed into his body were instantly severed.
Those severed threads quickly turned a lifeless gray color like vines that had been stripped of their nutrients, and Qilin 9''s immortal spiritual power cirction returned to normal.
"I owe you one, Fellow Daoist!" Qilin 9 said in a solemn voice as he took a nce at Han Li.
"Let''s focus on taking care of these two before we talk about anything else," Han Li said.
Qilin 9 nodded in response, and he flexed his shoulder to find that the numb sensation from before had alreadypletely faded.
Meanwhile, the thin old man and the woman in red had also convened together, and as they exchanged a nce, each of them could see their own astonishment mirrored in one another''s eyes.
They had deemed Han Li to have been the weaker one of their two opponents, yet not only had he just in theirpanion in a very short time, he had also managed to ward off both of their attacks on his own, seemingly with ease.
"I''m not staying around to fight a losing battle," the thin old man sighed, then immediately sped away as a streak of light without any hesitation.
"Sly old bastard..." the woman in red cursed under her breath.
Having used that human skin tattoo treasure, she had already severely depleted her immortal spiritual power, and she had thought that at the very least, she and the thin old man would''ve been able to kill Qilin 9 to reap some spoils, but their n had been foiled by Han Li.
With the thin old man fleeing for his life, she naturally wasn''t going to stay and take on Han Li''s duo on her own.
Thus, the red oil paper umbre suddenly flew back to her at her behest, then carried her away at an incredible speed.
Chapter 289: Negotiations Falling Through
Chapter 289: Negotiations Falling Through
Qilin 9 was furious, and he was naturally unwilling to let his two assants get away. "You think you can just attack me as you please, then leave when you see fit?"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he flipped a hand over to produce a golden talisman before waving it through the air, and the talisman immediately burst into golden mes, which transformed into an expanse of light that enveloped his entire body.
Immediately thereafter, he vanished from the spot without any warning, and through his spiritual sense, Han Li was able to detect that he had teleported to several thousand kilometers away to intercept the woman in red.
He then cast his gaze toward the direction that the thin old man was fleeing in with a hint of mockery in his eyes.
In the next instant, he withdrew his Heavy Water True Axis back into his body, following which arcs of silver lightning emerged around him, then erupted all around him to form a lightning array that was around 10 feet in radius in the blink of an eye.
Tens of thousands of kilometers away, the thin old man was flying through the air above the Thunderstorm Sea with his entire body enveloped in a murkyyer of light.
"That was some terrible luck! Why did I have to run into those two freaks? If I hadn''t escaped when I did, I would''ve died back there!"
All of a sudden, the old man''s brows suddenly furrowed tightly, following which he drew to an abrupt halt before shooting back over 10,000 feet in retreat.
A burst of loud rumbling rang out in the sky ahead of him, and a vast expanse of lightning emerged out of thin air before transforming into a circr lightning array.
Countless arcs of lightning shed incessantly amid a rumbling thunderp, following which the lightning faded to reveal none other than Han Li.
"I''ve already made up my mind to take no further part in all of this. Seeing as we''re both members of the Transient Guild, would you be able to let me go this time, Fellow Daoist?" the old man implored.
Han Li was in no hurry to strike, and he smiled as he replied, "There''s no personal vendetta between us, so I''m not interested in a fight to the death, either, but you almost killed mypanion just now, and I can''t just let things slide. Shouldn''t you be leaving something behind aspensation?"
"In that case, how do you want to settle this?" the thin old man asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"If I''m not mistaken, that''s a 30,000-year-old Thistle Spirit Flower that I''m sensing on you, right?" Han Li asked with a smile.
Back when the trio of Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators first arrived on the ind, Han Li had already sensed that the thin old man was carrying 30,000-year-old Thistle Spirit Flower thanks to his enormous spiritual sense, and right there and then, he had decided that this was something he was definitely going to secure as the stamen of the Thistle Spirit Flower was one of the ingredients listed on his dao pill recipe.
The thin old man''s expression instantly darkened slightly upon hearing this.
He was indeed carrying a Thistle Spirit Flower on his body, and due to the fact that it was a live specimen, he couldn''t put it in his storage bracelet. On top of that, he had obtained the flower not long beforeing on this mission, so he had temporarily stored it in a special jade box.
However, he had already cast several seals onto the jade box, so no one should''ve been able to detect it.
Could it be that this man possesses spiritual sense superior even to that of a Golden Immortal?
The old man''s heart jolted slightly as this thought urred to him, but he then dismissed the notion.
Han Li''s aura suggested that he was only at the mid-True Immortal Stage, so in the old man''s eyes, there was no way that his spiritual sense could''ve been so formidable. Instead, he was most likely carrying some type of special treasure that allowed him to detect spirit medicines.
With that in mind, the old man swept his spiritual sense through the surrounding area to ensure that there was no one else nearby, then unleashed his enormous aura in full force as a cold smile appeared on his face. "You''re biting off more than you can chew, Fellow Daoist! Do you really think you can just walk all over me as you please?"
Han Li had already identified that the one among the trio with the highest cultivation base wasn''t that burly man at all, nor was it that voluptuous woman. Instead, it was this sly old man who had been concealing his true power this entire time.
Instead of attacking Han Li right away, the old man had initially tried to avoid a battle by putting on a fa?ade of weakness, so it was clear that he was someone who held no regard for his own dignity and prioritized survival and profit above all else.
If he had been willing to give up his Thistle Spirit Flower, Han Li would''ve naturally been happy to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but seeing as the negotiations had fallen through, a battle was unavoidable.
There was no one else present, and Han Li was confident that he would be able to take down his opponent in a one-on-one battle.
With that in mind, he made a hand seal with both hands, and his Heavy Water True Axis instantly appeared behind him amid a sh of ck light, then rose up while revolving rapidly before hurtling toward the old man at his behest.
A series of ck ripples that were visible to the naked eye spread through the air in the wake of the axis, and it was as if they were threatening to tear the very space apart.
The thin old man spread his hands open to summon a three-colored ring upon seeing this, and the ring transformed into a vast expanse of ring projections that sped toward the Heavy Water True Axis.
However, the Heavy Water True Axis was far heavier than he imagined, and it was able to tear through the countlessyers of ring projections with unstoppable force before crashing into the ring itself with a loud ng.
The three-colored ring was only able to hold itself intact for an instant before exploding into pieces, and the thin old man shuddered from the bacsh as an unnatural flush appeared on his face.
At the same time, he made a grabbing motion with one hand, and arge yellow g that was over 20 feet in length appeared in his grasp.
The image of a vast desert with three suns hanging above it was emzoned onto the g, and it was giving off a parched and scorching aura.
The old man took a step forward with his hands clenched tightly around the g''s shaft, then swept the g forcefully through the air.
The surface of the g rippled as a vast expanse of yellow sand surged forth in a frenzy, sweeping toward Han Li in an all-epassing wave that inundated everything within a radius of close to 100,000 feet.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as blue light shed within them, but he was still unable to see his surroundings clearly. He felt as if he had been swallowed up in a sandstorm that was severely limiting both his visibility and his spiritual sense, rendering him unable to detect his opponent''s location.
Right at this moment, the old man''s voice suddenly rang out from behind him. "Have a taste of my Three Sun Pass!"
As soon as Han Li turned around, he immediately spotted three balls of dazzling white light hurtling rapidly toward him from three different directions, releasing waves of scorching heat as they raced through the air.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he was just about to take some evasive measures when he suddenly noticed that he was unable to move.
He looked down to find that ayer of white crystals had crept over his calves without his detection, and it had frozen him to the spot like ayer of ice crystals.
Immediately thereafter, the same material began to appear over his shoulders, arms, and chest, and it was rapidly spreading over the rest of his body.
Upon closer inspection, he discovered that these were countless tiny grains of translucent sand that had been scorched into a semi-transparent crystalline material by the three suns. The material quickly spread to his neck, immobilizing his entire body.
Han Li was rmed by this turn of events, but he didn''t panic. Azure light surged over his body ,and he was just about to break free from the crystalline material when he spotted the thin old man abruptly appearing beside him, plunging a green dagger toward his be.
He gave a cold harrumph as a hint of golden light shed through his eyes, and he released a burst of tremendous spiritual sense to epass the entire surrounding area in a radius of several dozen kilometers.
The thin old man had already reached Han Li, but he noticed that a circle of extremely tiny runes had appeared around each of Han Li''s pupils, and he reflexively slowed down as a safety precaution.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s voice rang out with the volume of an enormous gong being struck. "Let heaven and earth be cleansed!"
His words were like an almighty decree, and all of the yellow sand immediately subsided. Even the dark clouds hanging in the sky had vanished, and it was as if the entire area really had been cleansed.
"Impossible!" the thin old man eximed with an astonished expression as he hurriedly darted back to open up some distance between himself and Han Li.
"Let heavenly fire descend!" Han Li dered, and a streak of white light descended upon him from the heavens, transforming into a burst of silver mes that enveloped his entire body.
"This is impossible! Not even a Golden Immortal can speak things into reality as they please! Who are you? Take the flower!" the thin old man yelled in a horrified voice while continuing to dart back in retreat?
A cold smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he scoffed, "Don''t you think it''s toote to be saying this now? Let there be lightning!"
In the next instant, a vortex of dark clouds appeared in the sky out of thin air, and lightning was shing incessantly within the vortex amid a string of rumbling thunderps.
All of a sudden, a bolt of blue lightning that was as thick as a water vat came crashing down upon the thin old man from above.
The old man hurriedly dodged to the side, yet he had only just barely evaded the first bolt of lightning when countless more came crashing down from the heavens like a relentless storm, cutting off all avenues for escape or retreat.
At this point, the old man was so shaken up that he hadpletely lost all will to fight, and as he continued to evade the bolts of lightning that were falling from the heavens, he had also summoned a golden talisman, which he was nning to use to facilitate his escape.
However, right at this moment, Han Li abruptly vanished from the spot, only to appear behind the old man without any warning in the next instant, and ayer of golden scales appeared over his arm as he plunged his hand straight through the old man''s heart.
The golden light in his eyes then gradually faded as he withdrew his spiritual sense, and all of the blue lightning in the sky vanished to reveal the yellow sandstorm that had been raging this entire time.
"It was all an illusion..." the thin old man murmured to himself with a wry smile as the light in his eyes gradually began to fade.
However, a burst of golden light then erupted out of his be alongside a burst of powerful energy fluctuations.
At this point, the old man knew that he wouldn''t be able to escape, and he had decided there and then to detonate his own nascent soul.
A cold gleam shed through Han Li''s eyes as a burst of silver light erupted out of his arm amid a loud thunderp, and the eruption of silver lightning instantly destroyed the old man''s nascent soul, following which his body fellpletely limp and lifeless.
Chapter 290: Observation
Chapter 290: Observation
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, but at the same time, he was gasping for air.
It seemed that he had just made short work of his opponent, but in reality, the situation had been far more perilous than it had appeared. Theyer of crystalline material that had trapped him was extremely resolute, and even with his tremendously powerful physical body and immense immortal spiritual power, it would''ve taken him at least five seconds to break free, which would''ve been more than enough to spell his demise.
If the old man had gone through with his attack, then Han Li would''ve been a sitting duck. While it was true that his physical body was immensely powerful, there was no way that his be would''ve been able to withstand a direct blow, and if his physical body had survived that attack, he would''ve most definitely suffered extremely severe injuries.
Hence, as ast gasp Hail Mary, he had unleashed his Mantra Domain ability to sow doubt into the heart of his opponent. After that, he had brought down that illusory streak of heavenly fire to act as a smokescreen for the Essence Fire Raven, which emerged to free him from theyer of crystalline substance while also convincing the old man that he truly did have the power to control everything in this space.
At that point, the old man had alreadypletely lost his bearings, and Han Li pounced on the opportunity, using his Reversal True Axis ability to deal the killing blow.
It seemed that all of these True Immortal cultivators had some trump cards up their sleeves, so he would have to be more careful when facing them in battle from now on.
With that in mind, Han Li raised a hand, and a burst of azure light swept out of his sleeve before enveloping the old man''s body so that it wouldn''t fall into the sea. After that, he consumed a restorative pill, then sat down to meditate.
At this point, only fewer than 40 of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had been recovered, and using the Reversal True Axis in session had severely taxed both his body and his immortal spiritual power.
A short whileter, he reopened his eyes and cast his gaze toward the body of the thin old man, and after some brief searching, he found a long green jade box and an azure tiger mask tucked under the cor of the old man''s robes.
There were several golden and purple talismans adhered to the jade box for the purpose of concealing the aura of the spirit nt inside, and Han Li tore the talismans away before opening the box to reveal a purple spirit flower with its roots stillpletely intact.
The entire flower was brimming with spiritual qi, and just its aroma alone was enough to instill within him a soothing sense of rxation.
It''s not quite old enough to be used, but it certainly is a Thistle Spirit Flower that''s over 30,000 years old.
The Thistle Spirit Flower was an extremely rare spirit nt that contained a hint ofw powers, and even its seed wasn''t something that could be found in the Transient Guild, so it was certainly a pleasant surprise for Han Li to have secured one on this mission.
If it weren''t for the sake of this flower, he wouldn''t have bothered toe after the thin old man at all. His mission was solely to protect the Holy Puppet Sect, and he certainly didn''t care if any of the invaders were to escape.
After closing the jade box, he ced the removed talismans back onto it as well, then added a couple of golden talismans of his own before carefully tucking it away under the cor of his robe.
After that, he took a closer look at the azure tiger mask to find that it bore the number "11", which was the same as the number on Bai Suyuan''s mask, indicating that he wasn''t a cultivator from anywhere near the Ancient Cloud Continent.
Han Li was just about to destroy the mask when a thought suddenly urred to him, and he decided to preserve the mask and stow it away instead.
After that, he also took the old man''s storage bracelet, as well as that yellow g and his other treasures, then flew back toward the ind.
It hadn''t been very long since he left the ind, and the battle nearby was still raging.
However, Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators had somehow added around a dozen more Grand Ascension cultivators to their ranks, and due to the absence of Han Li and Qilin 9, they were able topletely dominate the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators, who were on the verge of being wiped out.
Han Li was able to assess the situation from afar with his spiritual sense, so as soon as he arrived on the scene, he immediately charged into the fray, killing all of the Ubiquitous Pavilion Grand Ascension cultivators in a matter of moments, and all of the other Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators immediately fled the scene in a blind panic.
All of the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators had thought that this was where their lives were going toe to an end, and they were ecstatic to see Han Li reversing their fortunes with ease. Their morale was instantly elevated to unprecedented heights, and theyshed out at the remaining Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators topletely drive them off the ind.
Meanwhile, Han Li flew over to the giant puppet, then looked around to find Qilin 9 flying back to the ind from afar. Along the way, he slew several dozen Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, then quickly arrived beside Han Li.
He was carrying multiple injuries, and his clothes had be quite tattered, clearly indicating that he had just endured a rough battle as well.
"That woman had quite a few tricks up her sleeve. In the end, I was able to destroy her physical body, but her nascent soul managed to get away," Qilin 9 said in a slightly disappointed voice.
"If she had so many tricks up her sleeve, then surely she would''ve been quite wealthy as well, so you must''ve reaped some substantial spoils, right, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"She did have some treasures and materials, but nothing all that valuable," Qilin 9 replied in an ambiguous manner to gloss over the subject.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom suddenly rang out from the sea toward the east, causing the nearby space to tremble violently.
Immediately thereafter, the colorful light barrier above the main ind shed a few times before disintegrating into countless specks of light that then faded into nothingness.
The glowing pagoda beside Han Li and Qilin 9 also shed a few times before itpletely dimmed.
"It looks like the Ubiquitous Pavilion hase extremely well prepared. We''ve managed to guard our ind, but some other inds have fallen," Qilin 9 sighed.
"The situation is looking a little trim," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Do you think we should do something, Fellow Daoist?" Qilin 9 asked.
"I don''t recall receiving any instructions other than to protect this ind," Han Li replied.
"That''s exactly right! We''ve been tasked with protecting this ind, so it would be wise for us not to leave our post and just observe the battle for now," Qilin 9 chuckled.
Han Li gave an ambiguous nod in response, then cast his gaze toward the main ind with blue light shing in his eyes.
All of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators were ecstatic to see that the light barrier epassing the main ind had disappeared, and they took a moment to reorganize their ranks before converging toward the main ind.
That was the foundation of the Holy Puppet Sect, so if they wanted to reap the best spoils, then that was the ce that they had to go.
After a brief respite, the battle continued at an even higher degree of ferocity than before.
A string of deafening booms instantly rang out across the sky above the main ind, and even the main ind itself was trembling incessantly in the wake of the powerful shes taking ce above it, looking as if it could copse at any moment.
Due to the uneven distribution of forces on the battlefield, some of the parts of the defensive line where the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators had a numbers advantage were quickly overwhelmed, and the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators there immediately swooped down toward the main ind.
Some of the bolder individuals among them had gone straight past the outermost level of the ind and descended onto the second and even the third levels of the ind.
However, all of the restrictions and trapsid out on the ind were quickly triggered, and all of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators that had stormed recklessly onto the main ind were instantly met with a ferocious barrage of attacks.
Meanwhile, the ck spirit boats in the dark clouds up above were also beginning to rapidly descend toward the ind.
As for the mechanical boats that had been attacking them earlier, their defenses were too frail, and their attacks werecking in variety, so they were only able to destroy two of the ck spirit boats before all of them were wiped out.
Two of the ck spirit boats were descending toward a wide river on the main ind, yet before the pair of spirit boats had evennded on the surface of the water, the river down below had begun churning violently as if the water had been brought to a boil.
Right at this moment, around a dozen incredibly thick ck chains shot out of the river, nging loudly as they hurtled toward the pair of ck spirit boats. The massive metal anchors attached to the ends of the chains easily passed through the protective barriers around the boats before plunging straight into the boats themselves.
Immediately thereafter, the sound of grinding gears rang out from the riverbed down below, while the two spirit boats shuddered violently as all of the runes on their surfaces lit up at once as they attempted to rise up with all their might to struggle free from the chains.
All of a sudden, ayer of blue light appeared over the chains, and countless tiny runes emerged from the blue light, releasing a burst of tremendous power that fused the chains and the entire river into one. It was as if the entire river were dragging down the pair of spirit boats rather than just the dozen or so chains.
The sound of mechanical grinding continued to ring out as the pair of spirit boats were slowly brought down further and further before falling into the water, where they exploded into pieces with an almighty boom.
Not far away, around a dozen turtle puppets had assembled themselves into a line, and the spirit patterns on their shells were glowing brightly as they raised their heads up high, releasing pirs of blue light out of their mouths toward the descending spirit boats and Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators up above.
The entire ind had been plunged into a state ofplete chaos, and all of the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators that were fighting in the air immediately descended to reinforce the main ind.
Several dozen Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators had appeared on the za on the main ind, and they were led by a pair of True Immortal cultivators as they engaged the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators on the ind in a fierce battle.
Bai Suyuan''s cultivation base wasn''t very advanced, and at the moment, she was hanging back in the crowd, holding a silver longsword in one hand and a life-saving talisman given to her Yun Ni in the other as she inspected her surroundings with a wary expression.
As soon as the battle ensued on the main ind, even more puppets began to enter the fray, and as a result, the Holy Puppet Sect forces were suddenly vastly outnumbering the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, making it appear as if the tide were about to turn.
Chapter 291: Enemy Reinforcements
Chapter 291: Enemy Reinforcements
High up in the sky, the battle between the most powerful forces for both sides had also reached white-hot intensity.
The swordsman by the name of Lu Ji was standing in mid-air, and his robes were pping audibly in the wind. Sword qi was surging throughout the entire area over 10,000 feet in front of him, and countless streaks of swordlight of different colors had converged in one ce, forming what appeared to have been a pond of sword qi in the air.
Directly across from Lu Ji was a vast expanse of pristine white light, within countless translucent snow lotus flower projections were in full bloom, releasing a floral aroma that reached far and wide.
In the area where the two ces were connected, sword qi and floral projections were shing incessantly, sending powerful energy fluctuations erupting in all directions.
It was as if there were countless pairs of flower scissors ravaging the sea of flowers, but it also looked as if there were countless crystalline flowers constantly blunting the edges of the flower scissors.
It was quite a splendid sight to behold, but it was just as perilous as it was beautiful, and any cultivators below the Golden Immortal Stage would''ve been torn to shreds if they were to get between the pair ofbatants.
As for the twobatants themselves, it appeared as if they weren''t doing much, but in reality, both of them were rapidly burning through their immortal spiritual power, and if either side were to run out of immortal spiritual power, they would immediately be overwhelmed by the sword array or the floral sea unleashed by the other.
"You''re clearly not a member of the Holy Puppet Sect, so why are you willing to go so far for them? We can give you just as muchpensation as the Holy Puppet Sect has. As long as you''re willing to stay your hand, you''ll bepensated ordingly," Lu Ji said as he continued to control his sword array.
Yun Ni had used her Transient Guild mask to adopt an extremely seductive female appearance, and she giggled, "There''s no need for such a strong and handsome sword immortal like yourself to talk aboutpensating me. If you¡¯re willing toe into my snow lotus flower and have a good time with me, I''d even be willing to turn around and fight the Holy Puppet Sect by your side!"
Despite her carefree facade, she was actually quite concerned about the current situation. Her opponent''s power level was on par with hers, and if things were to continue like this, it was very difficult to say what the oue of this battle was going to be.
"If you''re unwilling to ept my goodwill, then you can die!" Lu Ji harrumphed coldly.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he made a strange hand seal with one hand, then pointed it at the hilt of his sword, and the sword instantly released a draconic roar.
The pond of sword qi before instantly began to churn violently, and all of the sword qi came together to form a rainbow-colored wyrm that pounced directly at Yun Ni.
Yun Ni had also switched to a different hand seal, and countless white flower petals rose up from within the vast snow lotus flower field before her, forming a floral wave that surged toward the oing sword qi wyrm.
Meanwhile, the scar-faced man by the name of Xue Han was situated several thousand kilometers away, and yellow light was pouring incessantly out of his sleeves, forming a series of yellow halos that flew directly forward.
The yellow halos descended upon the gray-robed daoist priest puppet, which swept its horsetail whisk through the air to release countless translucent white threads that spread through the surrounding area like translucent steel needles to keep all of the yellow halos at bay.
At the same time, the puppet removed the silver gourd strapped to its waist with its other hand before tossing it up into the air.
The silver gourd immediately rose up into the sky, rapidly swelling to almost the size of a house during its ascent. The spirit patterns on its surface also began to glow brightly as bursts of dull thunderps rang out from within.
Immediately thereafter, the stopper of the gourd was abruptly removed, and it released a flurry of silver lightning directly at Xue Han, illuminating the entire sky with silver radiance.
At the same time, blue light shed behind the daoist priest puppet, and Bai Fengyi rushed out of the blue light before sweeping her sleeves through the air to conjure up a pair of giant blue light barriers that hurtled toward Xue Han from two different directions, one from the left and one from the right.
Xue Han waspletely unfazed as he raised a hand in an unhurried manner, and a yellow bead rose up into the air before exploding to release countless specks of yellow light that epassed the entire area within a radius of over 1,000 feet around him.
The blue light barriers and the silver lightning arrived in unison, yet they werepletely kept at bay by the yellow light as if it were an impregnable fortress.
Bai Fengyi''s face was looking rather pale. Xue Han was far more powerful than her and the daoist priest puppet, and even the two of thembined were only just barely able to keep him upied.
However, thankfully, the Holy Puppet Sect had gained a clear upper hand in the battle taking ce on the main ind, so as long as she and Yun Ni could keep the two enemy Golden Immortals upied until the oue of the battle on the main ind was decided, then they would''ve been sessful in their defense.
Inside the yellow light, Xue Han wasn''t struggling in the slightest as he said with a mocking sneer, "If you''re trying to stall us in order to buy time for the other cultivators of your sect, then I''m afraid I''ll have to disappoint you."
He flipped a hand over as he spoke to summon a palm-sized dark azure linen pouch, upon which was embroidered the character for "fortune" in an ancient script, and it didn''t appear to have been remarkable in any way.
Heid a hand onto the pouch while chanting an incantation, and the empty pouch immediately swelled like a balloon, with countless little bulges appearing on its surface as if it had been crammed full with beans.
A hint of foreboding instantly welled up in Bai Fengyi''s heart upon seeing this, and she hurriedly injected more power into the pair of blue light barriers to exert more pressure on Xue Han.
However, the mocking sneer on Xue Han''s face only grew more pronounced, and in the next instant, the opening of the linen pouch abruptly sprang open at his behest as countless pea-like azure beans came flooding out of the pouch before raining down upon the main ind of the Holy Puppet Sect.
Uponnding on the ground, all of the azure beans rapidly swelled in size before taking on the form of warriors d in suits of azure armor.
Their height and appearance were no different from the average person, but all of them were identical in appearance. Furthermore, all of them wore the same wooden expression, and their bodies were riddled with patterns that were glowing with azure light. The only thing that set them apart was the weapons that they wielded, of which there was a great deal of variety.
Before long, thousands of these azure-armored warriors had appeared all over the main ind to engage the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators and puppets in battle.
These warriors moved extremely quickly and were far more agile than the average puppet, and they were able to quickly adapt to their environment, regardless of whether they were fighting in the mountains or in the rivers.
The Holy Puppet Sect cultivators were greatly rmed to see so many new opponents appearing on the battlefield at once, and the tide of the battle was quickly turning against their favor.
All of a sudden, it was the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators who were forced onto the back foot.
In contrast with the chaos unfolding on the main ind, the surrounding array inds had beenpletely abandoned by the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators.
After all, all of the spirit stones and treasures were on the main ind, and now that the main ind had been exposed, no one was going to waste any more time and effort attacking the array inds.
"I didn''t think the enemy would deploy Dao Warriors into the battle," Han Li mused as he observed the main ind from afar with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
"It looks like the Holy Puppet Sect is truly in severe trouble," Qilin 9 sighed.
While the two of them were speaking with one another, Qi Heng emerged from the entrance of the round pagoda with a grim look on his face, then cupped his fist toward Han Li''s duo in a salute as he said, "There''s no need to defend this array ind any longer, seniors. Please go to the main ind to join the battle there, and I''ll be with you shortly."
As he was speaking, he took a subtle nce at Han Li, and a peculiar look shed through his eyes.
Han Li paid no heed to this as he exchanged a nce with Qilin 9 before nodding in response.
They were being hired by the Holy Puppet Sect, and ording to the rules of the Transient Guild, they had to carry out the requests of those who had hired them.
Thus, the two of them heeded Qi Heng''s call and flew toward the main ind.
They had only just flown several hundred kilometers when they heard a burst of loud rumbling ring out from behind them, and they hurriedly turned to discover that the giant puppet on the array ind had suddenly begun to move.
It had stepped into the sea and was wading through the water toward the main ind, churning up massive waves as it did so.
All of the giant puppets on the other array ind that hadn''t been destroyed were currently also converging toward the main ind.
At this moment, on the za on the main ind, several hundred azure-armored Dao Warriors and several dozen Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators were locked in battle against several dozen Holy Puppet Sect cultivators and close to 100 silver-armored puppets. Many of the surrounding buildings had already been razed to the ground, and the area was littered with dismembered body parts, presenting a grisly sight to behold.
Meanwhile, Bai Suyuan had also been forced to one corner of the za alongside a Holy Puppet Sect elder and around a dozen disciples by over 100 Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators.
At this moment, she was holding a silver longsword in one hand, and there was a white jade bracelet around her other wrist. The life-saving talisman given to her by Yun Ni was already pressed against her wrist, and she could activate it any moment with an injection of magic power.
At this moment, she was looking up at the sky with a concerned expression, and the white jade bracelet around her wrist was releasing a white halo that epassed her entire body. Furthermore, she had also put on a white veil garment that was releasing specks of silver light outside of her original clothes.
On her belt beneath the veil garment was a square azure peachwood talisman that was riddled with glowing spirit patterns.
The peachwood talisman was a gift from Bai Fengyi, and it was a defensive treasure of a very high caliber, one that could withstand an all-out attack from an early-True Immortal cultivator.
However, it would only be able to withstand that single attack, after which its usefulness would be severely diminished, or it could be disabled altogether, so she wasn''t going to use it unless she absolutely had to.
A tall Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivator was staring intently at Bai Suyuan as he yelled, "That masked woman is carrying a bunch of really strong treasures! Let''s take her down and split everything among us!"
Greedy looks appeared in the eyes of all of the surrounding Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators upon hearing this, and all of them began to converge toward that corner of the za.
As a result, the chaotic za was plunged into even more chaos and disarray.
Chapter 292: Saved
Chapter 292: Saved
In the face of all of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators charging toward her, Bai Suyuan made a hand seal with one hand while shing her sword upward, and countless silver threads instantly shot out of the tip of her sword before flying in all directions.
The space in the wake of the silver threads twisted and blurred, and three Body Integration cultivators instantly had their bodiespletely dismembered, having been caught off guard by the attack.
A string of sharp ngs rang out as all of the surrounding Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators hurriedly adopted defensive measures to keep the silver threads at bay, not daring to get any closer.
Right at this moment, a streak of ck light flew through the air overhead, following which a figure wielding an inky-ck spear was revealed.
The figure was giving off the aura of a Grand Ascension cultivator, and he was swooping down toward Bai Suyuan like lightning.
Bai Suyuan''s reactions were quite sharp, and she immediately pierced her sword directly upward to strike the tip of the oing spear.
However, to her surprise, the ck spear abruptly melted into a liquid form, then flowed down the silver longsword toward her arm.
At the same time, her silver longsword was fizzling incessantly as if it were being severely corroded, and plumes of white smoke were rising up amid erratic shes of spiritual light.
Bai Suyuan was quite startled by this, and she hurriedly tried to shake the ck liquid off her sword, but the liquid was unexpectedly sticky and continued to flow toward the hilt of the sword, despite her best efforts to keep it at bay.
In this dire situation, she decisively tossed the longsword aside, then retreated back to over 1,000 feet away.
However, right at this moment, a burst of yellow light erupted out of the ground, then transformed into a thick vine that was enveloped in azure light before attempting to wind itself around her legs and her waist.
The white veil garment that she was wearing instantly began to glow with dazzling white light, conjuring up a light barrier to keep the vine at bay.
Meanwhile, Bai Suyuan summoned a white handkerchief with a flick of her wrist before waving it at the azure vine.
There was a crescent-shaped moon embroidered onto the white handkerchief, around which were a series of cloud-like spirit patterns that were rippling with moonlight.
As she swept the handkerchief through the air, the spirit patterns on the handkerchief began to glow brightly, releasing faint moonlight that surged along the azure vine to ensnare it tightly.
Immediately thereafter, the light on the handkerchief shed at Bai Suyuan''s behest, and the entire azure vine was instantly turned to stone before being reduced to dust by a gentle sweep of her hand.
The Grand Ascension cultivator that was charging toward her stopped in his tracks upon seeing this, seemingly a little wary of Bai Suyuan''s treasures.
The greed in the eyes of the other Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators became even more pronounced at the sight of her formidable treasures, but many of them had moved back to open up some distance between her and themselves.
They could see that she still had many trump cards up her sleeve, so it definitely wasn''t a good idea to rush in head-on. Hence, everyone was waiting for her to be worn down before they swooped in for the kill.
Bai Suyuan swept her gaze across her surroundings, and her heart immediately sank.
The situation was far from encouraging. Most of the Holy Puppet Sect''s elders and disciples were either dead or severely wounded, and at this rate, they weren''t going to be able to hold off the enemy for much longer.
A gim look appeared in her eyes upon seeing this, and she injected a wisp of magic power into the talisman that was adhered to her wrist.
The talisman immediately began to release golden light that enveloped her entire body, and she abruptly vanished from the spot.
However, almost at the exact same moment, the space nearby shuddered, and a golden light barrier appeared. A humanoid figure crashed into the light barrier before falling to the ground, revealing itself to be none other than Bai Suyuan.
After falling to the ground, she immediately scrambled to her feet, then swept a hand through the air to send the white handkerchief revolving around her.
There was an rmed look in her eyes, and she hurriedly looked around to find that all of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators were also looking very surprised, as if no one had any idea when this light barrier had been set up.
Right at this moment, a one-eyed elderly man with gray scales all over his face emerged from the back of the crowd. He was wearing a ck cloak, and he cackled in a raspy voice, "This girl is mine, so I suggest all of you get back if you know what''s good for you!"
Everyone immediately turned to discover that the old man was a True Immortal cultivator, so all of them had no choice but to do as they were told.
The most powerful Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators present aside from the old man were only at the Grand Ascension Stage, so no one dared to oppose him.
"You certainly don''t see someone with the Moonlight Immortal Physique every day! I have a dual cultivation method that suits your constitution very well," the old man chuckled as he stroked his own chin while sizing up Bai Suyuan with a lustful look in his eyes.
Bai Suyuan couldn''t help but shudder as a hint of disgust welled up in her heart, and she unconsciously tightened her grasp on the white handkerchief in her hand.
The old man licked his lips at the sight of this subtle gesture of hers, and he chuckled, "Resist all you want! It won''t be any fun if you give up right away."
As soon as his voice trailed off, a gray talisman flew out of his sleeve with a flick of his wrist before adhering itself to Bai Suyuan''s forehead in the blink of an eye.
The talisman was moving far too quickly for her to react, and her entire body waspletely immobilized, while her magic power cirction also stagnated.
The one-eyed old man reached out toward Bai Suyuan with a sinister smile.
Even if he didn''t reap any other spoils from this trip, Bai Suyuan alone would''ve already been an extremely prized acquisition.
Right as his hand was about toe into contact with Bai Suyuan''s clothes, a loud thunderp suddenly rang out in the sky, following which a burst of golden light plummeted out of the heavens before transforming into a shimmering golden flying sword.
A loud thump rang out as the flying sword pierced through the golden light barrier with ease, and the light barrier wasn''t even able to slow it down in the slightest.
The old man was very rmed by this, and he hurriedly darted back several thousand feet beforeing to a stop, sending around a dozen Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators and azure-armored Dao Warriors toppling to the side as he did so.
A sharp ng rang out as the golden longsword pierced into the ground, unleashing powerful shockwaves that sent Bai Suyuan and all of the cultivators and puppets around her flying back through the air.
Immediately thereafter, two streaks of light descended in front of her out of the sky, revealing themselves to have been none other than Han Li''s duo.
The one-eyed old man could see that Han Li and Qilin 9 were both True Immortals who weren''t any less powerful than him, and he immediately fled the scene, not daring to linger any longer.
"What a coward!" Qilin 9 harrumphed coldly as he picked up his nine star golden sword and cast his gaze toward the fleeing old man, but disyed no intention of going after him.
Yun Ni was still locked in battle against Lu Ji in the sky, and despite the intensity of her battle, she had made sure to keep an eye on the main ind this entire time. As soon as she noticed that Bai Suyuan was being targeted, she immediately used a secret technique to transmit a message to Qilin 9, imploring him to protect Qilin 11.
Qilin 9 and Han Li had only just arrived on the main ind at the time, and upon receiving this message from Yun Ni, he immediately realized who Qilin 11 was, and thus, he had hurried onto the za with Han Li to save her.
Han Li took a nce at the immobilized Bai Suyuan, and even though he had already guessed that Qilin 3 was most likely none other than Yun Ni, he was still left feeling a little perplexed about why Bai Suyuan hade on this mission when she was only at the Grand Ascension Stage.
He raised a hand and gently wiped it over Bai Suyuan''s forehead, releasing a burst of azure light that removed the gray talisman with ease.
Bai Suyuan shuddered and stumbled slightly before steadying herself, having been freed from the talisman''s restraints.
She immediately approached Han Li''s duo, then cupped her fist toward them in a salute as she said, "Thank you, fellow daoists."
Han Li and Qilin 9 merely nodded in response without saying anything.
The surrounding Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators naturally didn''t dare to attack them, but the azure-armored Dao Warriors had no such inhibitions, and after eradicating the nearby Holy Puppet Sect cultivators, they immediately converged toward Han Li''s duo.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li was surrounded by over 100 azure-armored Dao Warriors, all of whichshed out at him with their weapons.
Ayer of golden scales appeared over Han Li''s fists as he spun rapidly on the spot like a spinning top while simultaneously throwing punches in all directions to unleash a vast array of golden fist projections.
None of the azure-armored Dao Warriors were able to withstand more than a single blow, exploding into pieces as soon as they came into contact with any of the golden fist projections.
The pieces of the destroyed azure-armored Dao Warriors erupted through the air like shrapnel, punchingrge holes into the bodies of the Dao Warriors that were still yet to be eradicated.
At a rough visual estimate, Han Li determined that the physical constitution of these azure-armored Dao Warriors was roughly on par with that of the Golden Dao Warriors that he had fought against in the past, but these ones were faster and more agile.
At the same time, these Dao Warriors also seemed to have possessed stronger vitality, able to continue attacking without slowing down in the slightest even if their bodies had already been severely ravaged.
While Han Li continued to destroy more of the oing Dao Warriors, he was looking around with a hint of disappointment in his eyes. These Dao Warriors were just ordinary specimens, and there weren''t any primary beans among them. Otherwise, he would''ve had another primary bean to nt.
Around two hourster, not only had the number of people on the za not decreased, it was only increasing further and further, with streaks of light rapidly converging from all directions.
The Holy Puppet Sect was in a dire situation, and all of its remaining forces were converging toward the za on the main ind.
Chapter 293: Mystery Solved
Chapter 293: Mystery Solved
A burst of dull rumbling rang out as a giant puppet that was close to 10,000 feet tall stepped over a mountain situated in front of the za, then staggered through the masses of azure-armored Dao Warriors en route to the za.
It was clear that the journey had been quite rough, as evidenced by the fact that many parts of its enormous body had already been severely ravaged, and a huge hole had appeared on its chest, while arge chunk of the giant silver de that it was wielding was also missing.
Before it had even set foot onto the za, it was swarmed by over 100 azure-armored Dao Warriors that attacked it from all directions.
These attacks wouldn''t have been able to inflict much damage, but having already endured so much on the way to the main ind, the giant puppet was already a spent force, and it didn''t take long before one of its massive legs was snapped down the middle with an almighty crack.
As a result, the giant puppet fell heavily onto the ground, and its massive head rolled toward the za like a huge boulder.
All of the cultivators in its path hurriedly took evasive measures, but some weren''t quick enough to get away in time, and they were dealt severe injuries as they were sent flying back through the air.
The puppet''s head continued to roll forward without disying any signs of stopping, and Han Li finally decided to step in, rising up into the sky before sweeping a sleeve through the air to release a burst of white light, which flew in a circle around the puppet''s head.
A resounding boom rang out as the seemingly unstoppable head was drawn to an abrupt halt, having sunk deep into the ground.
The round pagoda on the head was also already in ruins, revealing a series of long-dead bodies that belonged to the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators that had been controlling the giant puppet.
Han Li swept his gaze over the wreckage, then suddenly raised an eyebrow as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which removed a chunk of the pagoda''s wall before dragging Qi Heng out from under the rubble.
Qi Heng''s face was deathly pale, and blood was flowing out of all of his orifices, but he was still alive.
It appeared that he had been reduced to such a sorry state as he had severely overexerted his magic power while controlling the giant puppet.
Han Li descended out of the sky, then fed Qi Heng a yellow pill before pressing a glowing azure hand against Qi Heng''s chest to help him digest and absorb the pill.
After that, heid Qi Heng t against the ground, and several elders and disciples immediately converged around him with concerned expressions.
Han Li turned to exchange a nce with Qilin 9, following which both of them took a nce up at the sky in unison, and they certainly weren''t encouraged by what they saw.
There really wasn''t much suspense left when it came to the battle taking ce on the main ind. With the assistance of the Dao Warriors, the cultivators of the Ubiquitous Pavilion had already seized the absolute upper hand, and the eight giant puppets of the Holy Puppet Sect had all been taken out.
Furthermore, over half of their True Immortal cultivators were either dead or wounded, while several of the Transient Guild cultivators were also missing, so they either fled the battle or met their demise as well.
In other words, if the Holy Puppet Sect didn''t have any more tricks up its sleeve, the battle would draw to a conclusion before the oue of the battle between the Golden Immortals in the sky was decided.
Right at this moment, a burst of yellow light exploded violently in the sky, sending bursts of terrifying shockwaves and gusts of ferocious wind sweeping several hundred kilometers in all directions.
A white figure then plummeted out of the sky before falling toward the za.
Close behind the white figure was a blue figure that hurriedly descended out of the heavens, then caught the white figure with a pained look on her face right before it smashed into the ground.
The white figure was none other than the daoist priest puppet that had been fighting alongside Bai Fengyi earlier, and it had been knocked out of the sky after shielding her from a particrly vicious attack from Xue Han.
Han Li took a nce at the puppet to find that the light in its eyes hadpletely faded, and its body wasn''t giving off any spiritual fluctuations. Furthermore, arge hole had been blown straight through the center of its chest, clearly indicating that its core had beenpletely destroyed.
A grim look shed through Bai Fengyi''s eyes as she stowed the puppet away, then quickly made her way toward Bai Suyuan.
Bai Suyuan hesitated momentarily before approaching Bai Fengyi, and Han Li was rather befuddled upon seeing this.
Is there some type of connection between them as well?
"Are you alright?" Bai Fengyi asked.
Bai Suyuan nodded in response as she gestured to Han Li and Qilin 9 as she replied, "I''m fine. These two fellow daoists from our Transient Guild saved me in the nick of time."
Bai Fengyi cast her gaze toward Han Li and Qilin 9 upon hearing this, then gave the two of them a slight nod.
Han Li became even more convinced that Bai Suyuan had to have been rted to this deputy sect master of the Holy Puppet Sect in some way upon seeing this.
"Li Feiyu..."
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out in Han Li''s mind, and he was rather rmed, but remainedposed as he subtly inspected the area around him. As it turned out, Qi Heng had woken up and was staring directly at him.
"Don''t be rmed, Fellow Daoist Li. I''m the one who''s speaking to you right now."
With that, it was confirmed that Qi Heng was the voicemunicating with Han Li through voice transmission.
"How did you recognize me?" Han Li asked.
"I don''t recognize you, but I recognize that ck wheel treasure of yours. I had the misfortune of facing that treasure in the Profound Ice Mountain Range, and in the end, you destroyed my physical body, with only my nascent soul managing to escape," Qi Heng exined.
Han Li was enlightened upon hearing this, then replied, "Ah, so you were the one back in the Profound Ice Mountain Range. No wonder I felt a sense of familiarity when I first saw you. Are you seeking vengeance for what happened back then?"
"That was originally my intention, but not only have youe to assist our Holy Puppet Sect in its hour of need, you also saved my life just now, so I can''t bring myself to resent you any longer. Besides, with your powers, even if I were at my peak, I would still be no match for you," Qi Heng replied as a wry smile appeared on his face.
"I''m only assisting your Holy Puppet Sect for the sake of the mission reward, and all I did just now was dig you out from under some rubble, so if you want to seek vengeance, then you''re free to do so. However, prior to that, I really want to know why you tried to abduct that disciple of our ze Dragon Dao," Han Li said.
"To be honest, that was all just a misunderstanding. That female disciple is an ancestor of Deputy Sect Master Bai, and I was acting under orders to bring her to the Holy Puppet Sect," Qi Heng exined with a resigned expression.
"In that case, why did you ambush her in the Profound Ice Mountain Range instead of visiting our sect and openly dering your intentions?" Han Li asked.
"Deputy Sect Master Bai instructed me to carry out this task in secret, but I was never told why," Qi Heng exined.
Han Li was left feeling rather speechless upon hearing this. Such a minor misunderstanding had almost led to the demise of a True Immortal, and it felt a little absurd.
A thought then suddenly urred to him, and he hurriedly asked, "What is your deputy sect master''s name?"
"Bai Fengyi," Qi Heng replied.
Han Li turned to take a surprised nce at the woman in the blue pce dress upon hearing this.
Right at his moment, another resounding boom rang out in the sky, and a streak of light came plummeting down toward the za from the heavens.
As the streak of lightnded on the ground, Yun Ni was revealed with a section of one of her sleeves torn away to reveal a part of her arm, but she didn''t appear to have sustained any injuries.
Bai Fengyi and Bai Suyuan hurriedly rushed over to her, and thetter asked with a concerned expression, "Are you alright, Mistress?"
"I''m fine. The other Golden Immortal came after me with a sneak attack, but I was able to escape just in time," Yun Ni replied.
"It''s all my fault for not being able to keep him at bay," Bai Fengyi said with a dejected expression.
"Now''s not the time to be pointing fingers and assigning me. At this point, the oue of the battle is alreadyrgely decided, and there''s not much point in continuing this battle," Yun N sighed.
"The main ind of the Holy Puppet Sect is a mechanical array in itself, and if worsees to worst, I''ll activate the array and detonate the entire main ind to send it sinking to the seabed. I won''t let these bastards get anything!" Bai Fengyi dered in a cold voice.
"If that coward had agreed toe with me, there''s no way we would be in this situation right now. What a foolish bastard he is! He''s lived for so long, yet he''s still dumber than a dog! Even after so long, he''s still hung up over a bunch of insignificant things," Yun Ni grumbled as a hint of displeasure shed through her eyes.
A faint smile appeared on Bai Fenyi''s face upon hearing this.
"It''s quite a rare urrence to hear you cuss, Mistress. I thought that after my departure, that would pave the way for you two toe together, but s... "
Her smile gradually faded as she spoke, and in the end, she couldn''t help but heave a forlorn sigh.
"You are the only one who did nothing wrong in all of this, yet you had to bear all the consequences, and that''s extremely unfair on you. Regardless of what happens here today, I''ll make sure that the two of you can escape safely," Yun Ni said in a decisive voice.
Bai Fengyi shook her head in response. "I owe a great debt to the Holy Puppet Sect and its sect master, so I definitely can''t leave at a time like this. Just take Suyuan with you when you go. Now that I''ve met her, I leave this world with no regrets."
An urgent look appeared on Bai Suyuan''s face upon hearing this, and she was just about to raise objections when Lu Ji and Xue Han descended from above, hovering high up in the sky as they looked down at everyone with cold expressions.
With the most powerfulbatants from both sides appearing on the scene, the battle that was taking ce on the main ind gradually drew to a halt.
All of the remaining Holy Puppet Sect cultivators formed a circle around Bai Fengyi, while the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators didn''t dare to get too close to Bai Fengyi and Qilin 3, so they surrounded the entire za alongside the azure-armored Dao Warriors.
Chapter 294: The Restricted Area and the Golden Immortal Puppet
Chapter 294: The Restricted Area and the Golden Immortal Puppet
"Fellow daoists of the Transient Guild, you''ve already done more than enough for the Holy Puppet Sect. Are you really going toy down your lives for a sect that has nothing to do with you? If you leave now, we won''t stop you," Xue Han dered in a booming voice that was audible across the entire main ind.
Bai Fengyi''s heart immediately sank slightly upon hearing this, and the remaining Transient Guild members also began exchanging uncertain nces with one another.
They had already fulfilled their mission by protecting the array inds to the best of their abilities, but they had failed due to factors outside of their control, and several of them had most likely already met their demise, while the rest of them were at a very real risk of meeting the same fate.
The reward offered by the Holy Puppet Sect was indeed quite substantial, but it certainly wasn''t worth dying for.
Right as everyone was hesitating about how to proceed, Yun Ni''s voice suddenly rang out in their minds.
"Thepensation issued by the Holy Puppet Sect is already in my storage bracelet, and they''ve given twice the promised reward. All you have to do to receive the reward is defend the Holy Puppet Sect to the best of your abilities."
Everyone''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, but it didn''t take long before they calmed down, and someone transmitted their voice to Yun Ni in response.
"Thepensation is indeed very alluring, but it won''t matter for anything if we''re dead. If we keep this up, there''s a very good chance that we''ll all be wiped out here."
"Rest assured, I naturally won''t let all of you die here. I''ll issue the order to retreat at the right opportunity, but prior to that, anyone who dares to flee will be deemed to have disobeyed orders. I''m sure you all know what the consequences of such a transgression are," Yun Ni threatened in a cold voice.
Some of the Transient Guild members were still reluctant to stay, but no one dared to leave in the face of thebination of the increased reward and Qilin 3''s threats.
Right at this moment, an earth-shattering boom suddenly rang out from behind the za of the Holy Puppet Sect, and a pir of white light erupted into the sky before disintegrating.
"Looks like Fellow Daoist Zhong Luan has already seeded on his end," Xue Han chuckled.
A hint of tion also shed through Lu Ji''s eyes as he nodded in response, while all of the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators were extremely rmed and infuriated by this turn of events.
"Something''s happened at the restricted area! How could this be? I left five elders there!" Bai Fengyi eximed.
"Haven''t all of the most precious treasures of the sect already been transferred elsewhere? Is there something important in the restricted area?" Yun Ni asked.
"There''s a Golden Immortal Stage immortal puppet in the restricted area, and it''s the most precious treasure of our entire Holy Puppet Sect," Bai Fengyi replied with a wry smile.
"If you had such a thing, then why didn''t you use it before?" Yun Ni asked with a perplexed expression.
"The immortal puppet has been passed down in our Holy Puppet Sect for a very long time, but it''s not aplete immortal puppet as it''s missing a suitable core. Hence, it can only be used when fused with our sect master, in which case it can disy mid-Golden Immortal Stage power. Outside of that, it''s constantly being nurtured in a spirit pond in the restricted area," Bai Fengyi exined.
As soon as her voice trailed off, seven or eight more pirs of white light erupted into the heavens in unison from behind the za.
"The restrictions in the restricted area are about to be broken!"
An rmed look appeared on Bai Fengyi''s face, and she was just about to fly away in that direction when she was stopped by Yun Ni.
"Don''t panic. You still need to oversee proceedings here, and if you leave, all of the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators will be without a leader. If that happens, I don''t think they''ll even be able to withstand a single wave of attacks," Yun Ni cautioned.
Bai Fengyi forced herself to calm down upon hearing this, then turned to several of the nearby Holy Puppet Sect elders as she instructed, "Elder Yu, Elder Fu... Go and reinforce the restricted area right now!"
Meanwhile, Yun Ni''s gaze roamed back and forth between Han Li and Xiong Shan for a moment before she finally decided, "Wyrm 15, go and give them a hand."
Han Li nodded in response before flying away with the three Holy Puppet Sect elders.
"Qilin 9, assist Deputy Sect Master Bai to keep that scar-faced man upied to the best of your abilities. I''m going to use a secret technique to try and wound the other Golden Immortal," Yun Ni said as she turned to Xiong Shan.
Xiong Shan also nodded in response before making his way over to Bai Fengyi''s side.
"Looks like it''s time for the final battle, Fellow Daoist Lu Ji," Xue Han chuckled as he watched the four True Immortals depart from the battlefield.
He then turned to the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators and the azure-armored Dao Warriors down below as he yelled, "Everyone, victory is imminent! Charge!"
His deration was met with a resounding collective wary cry as all of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators surged toward the center of the battlefield, and with that, the final stage of the battlemenced.
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Meanwhile, a string of resounding booms were ringing out incessantly within a well-concealed valley behind the za on the main ind.
As Han Li and the others arrived outside the valley, they saw eight pirs of white light erupting straight into the heavens, forming a vortex of white light up above.
"The array has already been breached! Perhaps the enemy has already entered the restricted area!" a Holy Puppet Sect elder with white hair and a white beard said in a concerned voice.
"We have to enter the valley right away," another azure-robed elderly man yelled in an urgent voice.
The four of them immediately flew into the valley, and along the way, they were greeted by the sight of toppled mountains, severed rivers, felled trees, and countless bodies that belonged to Holy Puppet Sect disciples and elders.
"Elder Lu!"
The azure-robed elder who was flying at the forefront suddenly shuddered as a pained look appeared on his face.
Everyone looked down to find that portly old man with a benevolent-looking face had been pinned to a cliff face up ahead by a longsword.
That man was none other than the azure-robed elderly man''s closest friend in the sect.
However, there was no time to stop and grieve, and everyone continued to fly toward the ce in the valley where the pirs of light had risen up.
Before long, they reached the end of the valley, where a waterfall that was over 1,000 feet tall awaited them.
The waterfall was cascading down from above, sending water sshing in all directions to form a series of arched-bridge-like rainbows in the air.
Beneath the waterfall was arge green pond, within which was an octagonal white stone altar, and that was what the eight pirs of white light were rising up from.
Outside the pond, a battle was still taking ce. A tall elderly man with his entire body drenched in blood was fighting alongside an eight-armed puppet against three Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, and it was clear that the elderly man wasn''t going to be able tost much longer.
Scattered around them were the remains of around a dozen Holy Puppet Sect cultivators and puppets, all of which were in horrific condition.
Out of the three Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, only one of them was at the True Immortal Stage, while the other two were both at the Grand Ascension Stage, so they were extremely rmed by the arrival of four enemy True Immortals and hurriedly took a nce at the vortex up above.
The azure-robed elder was furious, and he immediately charged toward one of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, who shed a crimson halberd through the air to release a streak of crimson light, which swept directly toward the azure-robed elder''s throat.
At the same time, he made a strange hand seal with his other hand, and ayer of crimson light appeared over his body.
"You''re not getting away!" the azure-robed elderly roared in a furious voice, then knocked the halberd aside with his longsword, and the a burst of azure light erupted out of the sword''s de, instantly elongating by several feet to decapitate the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivator.
At the same time, the azure-robed elder swept his other sleeve through the air to release a burst of mes that enveloped his opponent''s head before incinerating it into ashes along with his nascent soul.
The other two Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators didn''t dare to hesitate any longer upon seeing this, and they hurriedly fled in opposite directions.
One of them was only able to fly about 1,000 feet before he was pinned down firmly against the ground by a giant lion puppet.
As for the only True Immortal among the trio, his entire body was enveloped in ayer of hazy starlight, and with just a single punch, he was able to knock back the Holy Puppet Sect elder that was standing in his way, following which he leaped over 10,000 feet up into the air to escape from the valley.
Everyone was just about to give chase when the tall elderly man suddenly stumbled and began to fall forward.
Han Li immediately appeared beside the elder to support him, but he was looking in the direction that the Ubiquitous Pavilion True Immortal had fled in with a peculiar look on his face.
The tall elderly man''s body was riddled with over 100 wounds that were deep enough to expose bone, and not a single spot on his body wasn''t drenched in blood.
However, he paid no heed to the severity of his own injuries as he pointed at the vortex in the sky with a trembling finger and said in an urgent voice, "Hurry... Go... Someone has already entered the restricted area!"
The three Holy Puppet Sect elders'' expressions changed drastically upon hearing this.
The azure-robed elder pierced through the head of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivator pinned under the giant lion puppet with his sword, making sure to destroy his nascent soul as well, then returned to the tall elderly man''s side before feeding him a pill.
After taking the pill, the elderly man was finally unable to cling onto consciousness any longer, and he slumped to the ground in an unconscious state.
Meanwhile, the severely ravaged eight-armed puppet stumbled over to the elderly man''s side before falling apart into a pile of scrap materials.
The azure-robed elder hesitated momentarily, then approached Han Li as he said, "Fellow daoist of the Transient Guild, may I trouble you to go after the person that just escaped? It doesn''t matter if you manage to sessfully kill him or not, just make sure that he won''te back here."
Han Li took a nce at the vortex in the sky, and he knew that the three elders were about to enter the restricted area to pursue the intruder. As an outsider, he naturally couldn''t be allowed into the restricted area, and that was why he was being diverted away.
With that in mind, he nodded in response. "Sure."
After that, he vanished from the spot, flying away as a streak of light.
Following his departure, the azure-robed elder turned to his twopanions as he said, "Leave the snow lion puppet behind to look after Elder Fang. We have to go in right away."
The other two elders nodded in response, and the three of them flew into the vortex in the sky in unison.
Meanwhile, Han Li had only just flown out of the valley before stopping in his tracks.
He stood in mid-air as he swept his gaze across his surroundings, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he flew toward a forest outside the valley.
Chapter 295: Great Universe Origin Arts
Chapter 295: Great Universe Origin Arts
Before long, Han Li descended onto a plot of emptynd in the forest, then looked around momentarily, following which a faint smile appeared on his face.
"You''re quite a cunning fellow, aren''t you? You''re waiting for the battle in the secret area to be decided, ideally with both sides taking each other out so you can sneak back in and reap the spoils," Han Li mused as he cast his gaze toward a huge tree several thousand feet away.
As soon as his voice trailed off, an imposing figure slowly emerged from behind that tree, and it was none other than the True Immortal cultivator that had fled earlier.
"Isn''t it rather unwise for you to have pursued me here on your own, Fellow Daoist?" the burly figure chuckled, following which his hands balled up into tight fists.
At the same time, a string of loud cracks and pops rang out from within his body, and he had suddenly grown noticeably taller.
"If I hadn''te on my own, you most likely wouldn''t have revealed yourself so easily," Han Li chuckled.
He took a step back as he spoke, then adopted a casual fighting stance as he cast his gaze toward the burly figure.
"You sound very confident!"
The burly figure lunged forward like lightning, reaching no more than 1,000 feet away from Han Li in the blink of an eye before throwing a vicious punch.
Seven blue specks of starlight emerged on his chest and his abdomen, and his arm suddenly thickened significantly. His fist had also turned as translucent as jade, and it was hurtling through the air with tremendous force, leaving a trail of ripples that were visible even to the naked eye in the space in its wake.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as ayer of golden scales appeared over his arm, and the sound of metallic grating rang out from the joints of his fists as he met the burly figure''s fist with a punch of his own.
A resounding boom rang out as a burst of tremendously violent power erupted in all directions, sweeping up ferocious gusts of wind that tore through many of the surrounding trees, sending them tumbling down onto the ground while countless wood scraps and branches flew through the air.
The burly figure was sent flying back, and afternding on the ground, he stumbled back around a dozen steps before steadying himself. Meanwhile, Han Li hadn''t moved back even a single step, and a surprised look appeared in the burly figure''s face as he eximed, "You''re also a Profound Immortal?"
"Why do you sound so surprised?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"No wonder you dared to trade punches with me in such a casual manner. Looks like I was too careless," the burly figure mused.
A Profound Immortal would normally be able to gain a significant advantage if they could get close to a cultivator of the same cultivation base, but of course, that didn''t apply if the other person was also a Profound Immortal.
"It seems like you didn''t go all-out with that punch just now. How about you show me your full power?" Han Li asked.
Upon realizing that Han Li was also a Profound Immortal, the burly figure''s overbearing attitudepletely faded, and he replied in a softer tone, "If you wish to see my full power, then I''m happy to oblige."
As soon as his voice trailed off, the seven specks of blue starlight on his chest and abdomen appeared again, but right after that, more specks of blue light emerged on his shoulders, arms, and waist as well.
To his surprise, Han Li was able to count 18 specks of starlight on the burly man''s body, and that wasn''t even counting the ones that could''ve been present on his back.
His brows furrowed slightly, and this time, he didn''t wait passively for the burly man''s attack. Instead, he took a step forward, and ayer of golden scales appeared over his arm as seven specks of blue starlight appeared on his body as well.
"That''s the Big Dipper Origin Arts!" the burly man eximed upon seeing this.
However, neither of them disyed any intention of stopping as they traded another punch with an earth-shattering boom.
An enormous cloud of dust swept through the air in all directions, and all of the trees in a radius of close to 10,000 feet werepletely destroyed, opening up a huge, barren area around the twobatants.
Both Han Li and the burly man were sent flying back through the air with their feet plowing massive trenches into the ground, and only a distance of several thousand feet had been opened up between the two of them did they each draw to a halt.
Han Li sprang out of the trench beneath his feet, hovering in mid-air as he looked down at the burly man and asked, "Would you like to continue, Fellow Daoist?"
The burly man remained standing on the spot without making any moves, and a massive ck wheel had appeared right above him, revolving rapidly while releasing formidablew fluctuations.
He took a nce up at Han Li, then heaved a faint sigh as he lowered his fists, and the specks of blue light all over his body also faded away.
"Who are you? How did you manage to obtain the Big Dipper Origin Arts?" the burly man asked with a perplexed expression.
"Before I answer that, why don''t you tell me how you were able to open up so many profound acupoints with your Big Dipper Origin Arts?" Han Li asked with a smile.
Instead of answering Han Li''s question, the burly man asked, "What do you n to do to me?"
"What do you want me to do with you, Fellow Daoist Cold me?" Han Li countered through voice transmission.
The burly man shuddered upon hearing this and an incredulous look appeared on his face. Only after staring at Han Li for a long while did he ask through voice transmission, "Are you... Fellow Daoist Han Li?"
"You''re a smart man, Fellow Daoist Cold me."
Han Li made no attempt to deny his identity.
"Truth be told, the Big Dipper Origin Arts is a cultivation art that I obtained by chance in a set of ancient ruins, and I don''t believe it''s being passed down anywhere else. Hence, my chances of encountering someone else who''s also using this cultivation art are slim to none.
¡°On top of that, I felt a sense of familiarity from you, and that led me to the conclusion that you were Fellow Daoist Han Li. However, I didn''t think that you would reach the mid-True Immortal Stage so soon after your ascension. Your rate of progress is truly astounding," Patriarch Cold me sighed.
Instead of making small talk or catching up with Patriarch Cold me, Han Li said, "Indeed, it seems that we were fated to meet here, but before we talk about anything else, I''ll have to ask you to answer my question about how you managed to open up so many immortal acupoints."
A slightly hesitant look appeared on Patriarch Cold me''s face upon hearing this.
"I''m sure you''re not considering trying to deceive me, are you? You''ve already seen how formidable my spiritual sense is, and we are acquaintances of sorts, so don''t force me to use a soul search technique on you," Han Li warned in a meaningful voice.
Patriarch Cold me took a nce at the Heavy Water True Axis that was hanging above his head, thenposed himself as he replied, "I wouldn''t dare to try and deceive you, Fellow Daoist Han. Truth be told, the Big Dipper Origin Arts that you''re cultivating is rted to body refinement cultivation art that I obtained by chance from a set of ruins. After I mastered the cultivation art, Ipiled it into a simplified version for the descendants of my sect to cultivate."
"Oh? In that case, what is the name of theplete cultivation art that you discovered?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"It''s called the Great Universe Origin Arts. You can have a copy of it if you''d like."
Patriarch Cold me flipped a hand over to produce a gray stone b as he spoke, then handed it to Han Li without any hesitation.
Han Li made a grabbing motion to release a burst of azure light, which enveloped the stone b, and only after verifying that the b hadn''t been tampered with did he draw it to himself before carefully inspecting it.
The stone b was only around the size of a human hand, and it was riddled with tiny antiquated text on both sides.
Han Li inspected the stone b for a moment, following which his brows suddenly furrowed slightly as he asked, "If I''m not mistaken, the cultivation art recorded on this stone b is iplete, right?"
"I''m afraid that can''t be helped, Fellow Daoist. I only managed to obtain half of the Great Universe Origin Arts at the risk of my own life in those ruins, and I don''t have the other half," Patriarch Cold me hurriedly exined.
Han Li could tell that he didn''t appear to have been lying, so he flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip, then pressed it against the stone b before making a hand seal, and a few secondster, a copy of the cultivation art had been made.
After that, he withdrew his Heavy Water True Axis with a wave of his hand, but instead of returning the stone b to Patriarch Cold me, he tossed him the jade slip.
Patriarch Cold me''s expression remained unchanged as he watched Han Li stow the stone b into his storage bracelet while he caught the jade slip that was tossed at him.
"You''ve killed a bunch of people on the ind, so I''m sure you must''ve already reaped some substantial spoils, right? I advise you to leave the ind right away. The Holy Puppet Sect''s defeat is already sealed, but there''s no telling how ferocious its retaliation could be in its final moments, so it would be unwise for you to stay," Han Li advised.
"Thank you for your advice, Fellow Daoist, I was just about to leave," Patriarch Cold me said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Indeed, he was nning to leave after this foray into the restricted area anyway.
Furthermore, once the Holy Puppet Sect was destroyed, the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators would''vepleted their mission, and they would''ve no longer been bound by the Ubiquitous Pavilion.
Even if a battle didn''t immediately break out, there was inevitably going to infighting over treasures and resources, so leaving before that would spare Patriarch Cold me a great deal of trouble.
Han Li took a meaningful nce at Patriarch Cold me. Even back in the Spirit Domain Realm, he had felt Patriarch Cold me to have been quite a shrewd and cunning man who was more adaptable than the native immortals of the Northern cial Immortal Region.
That thought only shed through his mind for a moment before he turned and flew back toward the restricted area.
Patriarch Cold me looked on at Han Li''s departing figure, and he was holding onto the jade slip in his hand so tightly that the tips of his fingers were slightly pale.
Only after Han Li hadpletely disappeared out of sight did he heave a long sigh of relief before murmuring to himself, "That was way too close! Why did I have to run into him of all people? Thank heavens I managed to get out of that one unscathed! I really have to be more careful when taking on missions like this from now on."
After that, he stowed the jade slip away, then summoned a silver flying boat with a sweep of his sleeve before leaping onto it and flying away.
Chapter 296: Intense Clash
Chapter 296: Intense sh
Before long, Han Li was already back in the valley.
He looked up to find that the eight pirs of light were still standing, as was the giant vortex in the sky.
The elder with the Fang surname was also stillying beside the pond in an unconscious state, while the snow lion puppet was on guard duty by his side, and it disyed no reaction to Han Li''s arrival.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li descended out of the sky, yet before hended on the ground, he felt a burst of formidable spatial fluctuation erupting out of the white vortex above the pond.
He hurriedly stopped in his tracks, then looked up to discover that the vortex had begun to revolve rapidly while radiating dazzling white light.
Immediately thereafter, a figure plummeted out of the vortex with their body riddled with wounds that were deep enough to expose bone, while their azure robes werepletely drenched in blood.
He appeared to have been in just as horrific a condition as the unconscious Elder Fang, and as soon as he spotted Han Li, he immediately yelled in a frantic voice, "Save me, Fellow Daoist!"
Han Li only took a brief nce at him before turning his gaze to the vortex with tightly furrowed brows.
Another burst of white light surged within the vortex, following which a ck figure emerged from within.
The ck figure was holding a long ck de, and he chortled, "Why did you abandon yourpanion? Weren''t you talking about avenging Elder Lu not long ago?"
Han Li''s gaze immediately fell upon the long ck saber in the ck figure''s hand, and he discovered that it was none other than the saber that had been previously used by Fang Pan before being sold by him in the Transient Guild.
"Oh? Looks like there''s someone else here. I wasn''t really satisfied yet anyway, so I''ll take care of you as well," the ck figure chuckled as he spotted Han Li.
Beneath the figure''s ck hood was a slightly yellow face with some type of metallic headgear on his forehead, and it was none other than one of the three leaders of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, Zhong Luan.
With a flick of his wrist, he shed his ck saber toward Han Li.
It was a very casual-looking swipe, but in the instant that the saber was sent sweeping through the air, all of the spirit patterns on its surface instantly lit up, following which hundreds of extremely formidable ck saber projections erupted through the air, with the majority of them hurtling toward Han Li, while only a minority were aimed at the azure-robed elderly man.
The azure-robed elderly man was horrified to see this, and he injected what little remained of his immortal spiritual power into a pair of silver balls before hurling them forward, and the silver balls instantly transformed into a pair of silver puppets that situated themselves in front of him.
At the same time, a suit of already severely ravaged azure wooden armor appeared over his body amid a sh of azure light.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he flipped a hand over to summon an azure longsword, then shed it at the oing de projections.
Hundreds of azure sword projections instantly erupted out of the longsword before scattering far and wide to sh against the ck de projections.
A string of metallic ngs rang out as the ck de projections shed against the azure sword projections, all of which exploded violently into a vast expanse of ck and azure light.
All of a sudden, the azure-robed elderly man yelled, "Look out, Fellow Daoist! That ck de..."
Before he had a chance to finish, a peculiar turn of events began to unfold.
The ck de projections had already disintegrated into specks of ck light, but they quickly reformed into more ck de projections that continued to hurtle toward Han Li and the azure-robed elderly man, and their power hadn''t been diminished in the slightest.
The two silver puppets in front of the azure-robed elderly man were wielding jointed steel whips that theyshed out at the ck de projections with, but they were no match for the oing de projections, which shredded their whips before punching countless holes straight through their bodies to destroy them on the spot.
Immediately thereafter, the suit of azure armor that the elderly man was wearing also began to tremble violently in the face of the ck de projections, looking as if it could be torn apart at any moment.
This suit of azure armor was his final line of defense, and if it were to also be vanquished, then his demise would immediately follow.
In this dire situation, the nearby snow lion puppet suddenly pounced forward,nding in front of the azure-robed elderly man before swiping its front paws through the air to unleash countless w projections.
As soon as the w projections came into contact with the de projections, they were immediately destroyed, but most of the de projections were also nullified, while the snow lion puppet withstood the rest with its body.
A relieved look appeared on the azure-robed elderly man''s face upon seeing this, but he then threw up a mouthful of blood before slumping to the ground.
In contrast, Han Li was far more calm and collected.
With a flick of his wrist, he swung his longsword through the air, unleashing a string of sword projections that formed an azure sword barrier around him.
The ck de projections struck the sword barrier in a relentless barrage before exploding and reforming over and over again.
Only after many cycles of this did the de projections finally run out of spiritual power and disintegrate for good.
Up to this point, only a few seconds had passed since Zhong Luan unleashed his initial attack.
"Looks like you''re not quite as useless as those idiots! Very good. Let''s see how long you canst!" Zhong Luan cackled as he licked his own lips.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he closed both of his hands around the hilt of his saber, and bursts of ck light began to appear over his body.
Immediately thereafter, ayer of ck light appeared on the surface of the ck saber alongside a series of thin golden lines, forming numerous antiquated runes that were giving off terrifying energy fluctuations.
Gusts of ferocious wind were swept up in the surrounding air as the nearby world''s origin qi surged toward the ck saber in a relentless wave.
With the injection of the world''s origin qi, the golden lines on the ck saber glowed brighter and brighter, as did the runes on its surface, which looked as if they were about to emerge from the de itself.
Waves of ck and golden light surged through the surrounding area, carrying tremendousw power fluctuation that caused the entire space to tremble and quiver.
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly with befuddlement upon seeing this.
It was the same ck saber, but this man was able to unleash far more formidable power with it than he and Fang Pan had been capable of, and Han Li couldn''t help but wonder if he was the saber''s original owner.
Right at this moment, Zhong Luan suddenly let loose a loud roar, then spun around in mid-air, using the momentum of his pirouette to sh his saber at Han Li.
A sharp ng rang out as a ck and golden saber projection that was over 10,000 feet in length came crashing down from above, devouring all of the world''s origin qi in the area while giving off a burst of terrifying spiritual pressure.
A solemn look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he made a hand seal with one hand while shing his sword diagonally upward with the other.
The spirit patterns on the longsword were glowing brightly as it released wave upon wave of surging azure light, which transformed into dozens of azure sword projections in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, all of the sword projectionsbined as one to form a huge azure sword projection that was over 1,000 feet in length before hurtling toward the giant saber projection.
The sword projection was threatening to tear the very space apart, and an earth-shattering boom rang out in the sky as the pair of enormous de projections shed against one another.
Devastating tremors were sent sweeping across the entire main ind of the Holy Puppet Sect, to the point that all of the people battling on the za were stopped cold in their tracks for a moment before the battle resumed.
Even Yun Ni and the Ubiquitous Pavilion Golden Immortals detected the disturbance taking ce on the main ind, but the battle that they were engaged in was too perilous for them to get distracted, so none of them released their spiritual sense to check what was happening.
"Looks like the Holy Puppet Sect still has some more tricks up its sleeve, but I wonder if they''ll be able to contain a madman like Zhong Luan," Xue Han chuckled with a rxed expression.
Beside the pond in the valley, the azure-robed elderly man was struck by a burst of tremendous shockwaves resulting from the sh, and he threw up arge mouthful of blood before finally falling unconscious.
In the instant before he lost consciousness, his heart was filled with immense regret.
After witnessing Han Li''s power, it urred to him that if he had chosen to bring Han Li into the restricted area with him instead of diverting him away, perhaps the other two elders wouldn''t have died, and the immortal puppet wouldn''t have been taken.
However, there was no point in crying over spilled milk, and at this point, he could only pray that Han Li would be able to ovee his opponent.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as Han Li was sent plummeting out of the sky before crashing into the pond in the valley.
Dozens of enormous waves instantly erupted out of the pond, while a massive crater was smashed into its bottom, causing the water level in the pond to drop rapidly, revealingrge patches of the pond bed as a result.
As for Zhong Luan, he was also sent flying back by the sh and involuntarily rose up much higher into the sky.
A grim look appeared on his face, and after steadying himself, he immediately shot back toward the pond in the valley at an astonishing speed while shing his saber downward once again.
Right at this moment, a burst of loud buzzing suddenly rang out from within the pond, immediately following a ck wheel treasure emerged from the water while revolving rapidly.
The Time Dao Rune on the surface of the wheel was glowing brightly as it rose up with half of the water in the pond, ascending toward Zhong Luan with incredible power.
Chapter 297: Destined to Cross Paths
Chapter 297: Destined to Cross Paths
Zhong Luan let loose a low roar as the muscles on his arms bulged, mustering up even more power as he swung his long ck saber down onto the Heavy Water True Axis with ferocious might.
A resounding boom rang out, and a jolt of numbness shot through Zhong Luan''s arms. A burst of indescribable power surged along his saber, and he was stopped cold in his tracks as if he had hit a wall.
Immediately thereafter, bursts of tremendous waterw powers surged toward him, forcing him back and threatening to send him flying.
Zhong Luan''s expression immediately changed slightly as he felt the unique aura of the Heavy Water True Axis, and even though he was clearly on the back foot, he suddenly burst intoughter.
"I''ve been looking for you everywhere, but never did I think I would be able to find you here, Han Li! You''ve saved me a trip to the Ancient Cloud Continent!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, his eyes suddenly turned an inky-ck color, and he opened his mouth to release a glowing ck thread that vanished into his saber in a sh.
The ck saber began to tremble violently as ayer of translucent ck light appeared over its surface, and its weight was instantly multiplied by severalfold.
Zhong Luan let loose a thunderous roar as wisps of ck mist began to slowly seep out of his body, and he pressed his saber down with both hands, managing to force back the Heavy Water True Axis.
At this point, Han Li had already emerged from the pond, and he made a beckoning motion to draw the Heavy Water True Axis back to him as he hovered in mid-air while holding his azure longsword in one hand.
He cast his gaze toward Zhong Luan as he asked in a cold voice, "How are you rted to Fang Pan?"
Even though he had no idea who this person was, the fact that he was able to unleash the true power of the ck saber coupled with the fact that he knew Han Li''s true name indicated that he had to have been rted to Fang Pan somehow.
After all, Han Li had been using false aliases this entire time in the Immortal Realm, so no one should''ve been aware of his true name.
The three people that had attacked him all those years ago had been killed one after another, but that person that was able to control those mysterious chains from afar, the original owner of Fang Pan''s ck saber, and the person who had instructed Fang Pan toe after him were still all people that he had to be wary of.
There was a very good chance that this person was the original owner of the ck saber, but Han Li still didn''t know how he was tied to Fang Pan.
"That junior martial brother of mine may be an incapable of fool, but I had thought that it would''ve at least taken ate-True Immortal cultivator to kill him, but the information that I gathered from the Ubiquitous Pavilion told me that you''re only an early-True Immortal Stage Profound Immortal. I will admit, you do have some powerful tricks up your sleeve," Zhong Luan remarked as he looked at Han Li from afar.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "So you''re Fang Pan''s senior martial brother. Have youe to avenge him?"
"I have better things to do with my time than to avenge that idiot, but in order to take you down, he paid a heavy price to borrow this ck Emperor Immortal ying de of mine, only for you to turn around and sell it. Do you not owe me an exnation for this?" Zhong Luan asked in an unhurried voice.
"That saber of yours is indeed a rare treasure, and my intention was to return it to its original owner, and that''s why I put it up for sale in the Transient Guild to see if anyone recognized it. It looks like my efforts paid off and you were reunited with your saber, but there''s no need to thank me," Han Li replied.
"It sounds like I owe you a favor if you put it that way! However, the fact that my junior martial brother was so determined to kill you indicates that you must be harboring some important secrets. On top of that, I have to recover the Origin Separation Law Chains on your body for my master, so you''ll have to die. Rest assured, I''ll grant you a swift and painless death to repay you for returning my saber!" Zhong Luan chuckled.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the ck mist that was revolving around him instantly swelled to inundate his entire body.
Immediately thereafter, a gentle breeze blew past, and the ck mist was scattered to reveal nothing inside.
Han Li had already released his spiritual sense to epass the entire surrounding area, but in the instant before the mist was scattered, he was still of the opinion that Zhong Luan had been concealed within it.
In the next instant, a cloud of ck mist suddenly began to take shape in the air behind him, and before it had even fully formed, a ck saber shot out from within it, piercing directly toward the back of Han Li''s chest.
Han Li''s Heavy Water True Axis instantly appeared behind him at his behest, and a loud ng rang out as the tip of the ck saber struck the Heavy Water True Axis, grating against it with an ear-piercing screeching sound.
Zhong Luan slowly emerged within the ck mist with a cold smile on his face, and the wisps of ck mist around his ck saber formed a series of extremely thin ck needles that shot forth along the tip of the saber, piercing straight through the gaps in the Heavy Water True Axis to attack Han Li.
Ayer of golden scales instantly appeared all over Han Li''s body amid a sh of golden light, and a string of crisp ngs rang out as the ck needles struck Han Li''s golden scales before being repelled and shattering into ck mist again.
Han Li immediately swung around as he shed his longsword through the air, and with a single sweep of his sword, he was able to slice Zhong Luan''s body cleanly in half.
However, Zhong Luan merely grinned at him before the two halves of his body disintegrated into a cloud of mist.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this, and he instantly flew back tens of thousands of feet to get away from the cloud of ck mist.
However, before he had even drawn to a halt, he suddenly felt a cold sensation running down his back, as if there were a slippery snake slithering down his spine.
He hurriedly made a hand seal, and the protective spiritual light around his body instantly expelled the thing that was adhered to his back, revealing it to have been a small cloud of ck mist that resembled a living creature.
There were countless soft feelers that were as thin as strands of human hair on its surface, and those feelers were writhing incessantly, trying to get close to him and burrow their way into his body.
Han Li reached out to conjure a glowing azure palm projection to seize control of the cloud of ck mist, and he carefully inspected it to discover that it contained an extremely faint hint ofw powers.
It was so faint that he was unable to determine exactly what attribute thew power was, but thankfully, he hadn''t withdrawn theyer of protective golden scales over his body, and that had kept the ck mist at bay.
All of a sudden, the space around the cloud of ck mist began to tremble, and wisps of ck mist emerged out of thin air, following which Zhong Luan''s body re-emerged without any warning.
The piece of ck cloth that was obscuring his face had been removed, revealing arge yellow-skinned face, and he opened his mouth to release a thread of translucent ck light that shot directly toward Han Li''s face at an rming speed.
Han Li immediately shed his longsword diagonally upward, instantly shattering the ck thread into a burst of ck light upon contact.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately shot back in retreat.
As soon as he did so, another ck thread appeared at the spot where he had originally been standing, and it began to fly toward him again.
As expected, those ck threads can also reform after being destroyed, just like those de projections from earlier.
All of a sudden, the newly formed ck thread was somehow able to connect itself to the azure longsword in his hand from afar, and it darted up along the de of the sword before shooting into the palm of his hand.
Han Li felt a slight numb sensation in his hand, and he immediately began to inspect his own internal condition, but he didn''t notice anything else amiss aside from that fleeting sensation of numbness in his hand.
However, that only made him feel even more uneasy.
Right at this moment, he detected several auras approaching from afar through his spiritual sense, but he was unable to determine whether these were allies from the Holy Puppet Sect or more enemies from the Ubiquitous Pavilion.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed, and after a brief moment of contemtion, he made a beckoning motion with both hands to stow his azure longsword and Heavy Water True Axis away.
Regardless of whether the people approaching the scene were from the Ubiquitous Pavilion or the Holy Puppet Sect, he was nning to leave this ce.
His opponent''s abilities were extremely troublesome to deal with, and he seemed to have been able to wield some type ofw power rted to mist. Furthermore, Han Li was unable to go all-out here, and that ced him at a severe disadvantage.
With that in mind, he made a hand seal with both hands, and arcs of silver lightning sprang out of his body, forming a huge lightning array around him in the blink of an eye.
A loud thunderp rang out as several thick bolts of silver lightning erupted out of the center of the array, and in the next instant, Han Li vanished from the spot, leaving behind only a faint charred odor in the air.
"Interesting! I guess I can y with you for a while longer," Zhong Luan mused with a cold smile, following which his body disintegrated into a cloud of ck mist once again.
¡¡
Meanwhile, the battle on the za on the main ind was still raging, but themotion had already died down significantly.
Almost all of the Holy Puppet Sect''s puppets had already been destroyed, while the majority of the surviving disciples were carrying injuries and had been trapped in a far smaller encirclement than before.
What was quite moving was that despite the dire nature of the situation, not a single one of the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators surrendered or fled the battlefield. Instead, all of them continued to fight on with determination in their eyes.
One reason for this was that all of the people that had chosen to remain behind in the sect had already resolved themselves to defend the sect with their lives, while the other contributing factor was that all of them had rtives that had already been evacuated from the sect.
As long as those people remained safe, they were able to fight without any qualms.
In contrast, the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators hadn''t been able to gain much of an upper hand at all. Not only had the majority of them already perished or sustained injuries during the battle, many of them had departed in advance just like Patriarch Cold me, so there weren''t all that many of them left on the za.
At this point in the battle, everything had slowed down significantly.
All of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators who had managed to survive to this point were quite cunning, and they knew that a cornered beast was more dangerous than anything else, so they couldn''t afford to be overly aggressive in this situation.
Instead, it was much better to maintain the status quo and slowly grind down the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators so that they could secure an easy victoryter.
As a result, the Dao Warriors released by Xue Han had be the main force that was battling the remaining Holy Puppet Sect cultivators, and they were at the forefront of the encirclement.
Chapter 298: Imminent Defeat
Chapter 298: Imminent Defeat
Somewhere among the Holy Puppet Sect cultivators, Bai Suyuan''s clothes had already beenpletely stained ck by blood, and the drenched fabric was clinging to her body, further entuating her alluring curves. Even the pair of white earrings that she was wearing were covered in ayer of dried blood.
However, most of the blood on her body belonged to Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, and there was also a lot of blood that had sshed onto her from nearby Holy Puppet Sect cultivators. The only injury that she was carrying was a gash on her right arm from a sneak attack from a Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivator.
The attack had been aimed at her heart, but the peachwood talisman gifted to her by Bai Fengyi had saved her in the nick of time, diverting the attack away so that it had only managed to graze her arm.
She had retreated to the center of her crowd and taken her final regenerative pill to replenish her magic power, but she wasn''t actually as fearful and uneasy as she had been at the beginning of the battle.
In the past, she had only ever been involved in small-scale battles that couldn''t even have held a candle to a battle of this magnitude and this degree of brutality.
Not only did Bai Suyuan possess exceptional aptitude, she had been forced to fend for herself from a young age, so she was certainly no vulnerable little girl, and the battle unfolding around her had brought the cold and decisive side of her personality to the fore.
Not only that, but her cultivation bottleneck was also beginning to disy signs of budging, and she was confident that if she could survive this crisis, then she would definitely have been able to make a breakthrough after no more than 20 years of seclusion.
However, was this a crisis that she would be able to survive?
A grim look appeared in her eyes as this thought crossed her mind, and she looked up at the sky to find that a massive hole with a that was over 1,000 feet wide had been torn into the dark clouds up above, and it extended for several thousand kilometers.
Inside the hole, countless streaks of sword qi were surging incessantly, plunging the world''s origin qi intoplete disarray while relentlessly tearing at the very space itself amid bursts of deafening rumbling.
An enormous snow lotus flower projection could be seen slowly revolving within the hole, and glowing white petals that were giving off powerful energy fluctuations were flying off the lotus flower one after another.
A massive sword projection was bearing down upon the snow lotus flower projection with tremendous might, but it was unable to break through, and an impasse had ensued between the two.
Yun Ni was standing at the center of the lotus flower projection, making a string of hand seals while chanting an incantation that struck the listener with a sense of intoxication. Furthermore, there was a pink glow in her eyes, and her entire body was enveloped in a hazy floral projection, giving her an extremely seductive and unforgettable appearance.
As her chanting continued, countless barefoot women stepped out from the stamen of the snot lotus flower projection before springing up into the air from the flower''s petals.
A massive artwork was unfurled within the clouds, and there were hundreds of barefoot women depicted within it. There were colorful silken belts around their waists that spread open like the canopies of peacocks as the women danced through the sky, presenting an incredibly beautiful sight to behold.
If a mortal had even witnessed this scene, even for just a split second, their soul would''vee straight out of their body and entered the artwork to be sustenance for the dancing celestial maidens.
Even cultivators who werecking in cultivation base or mental fortitude wouldn''t have fared much better than mortals if they were to get too close to the artwork. At the very most, they would''ve only been able tost a few moments before their souls were also sucked out of their bodies.
Directly in front of the artwork stood Lu Ji with his sword held in his hand.
His clothes were smooth and pristine, not creasing in the slightest despite the ferocious wind blowing through the sky.
At this point, he appeared more like a peerlessly sharp sword than a human, and it was as if no amount of wind, no matter how fierce, would be able to crease his clothes even in the slightest.
Instead of looking at the artwork in the sky, his gaze was focused intently on Yun Ni inside the snow lotus flower projection. Ayer of faint pink coloration had already appeared in his left eye, but his right eye waspletely clear and unchanged.
Meanwhile, in the sky above the sea several thousand kilometers away, a nine star golden sword that was over 10,000 feet in length was glowing radiantly as it came crashing down upon Xue Han.
The sword leftyers of golden sword projections in its wake alongside countless specks of dazzling white light, resembling a spectacr golden starry sky.
Xue Han''s robes were tattered in many ces, but there was a mocking look on his face as he sneered, "It''s very impressive that a pair of mere True Immortals like yourselves were able to keep me upied for this long, but unfortunately, you won''t get to live to tell the tale."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a hand through the air to summon arge ck g that was around 10 feet tall.
The g was torn in many ces, and at the center of it was embroidered a series of golden vortex designs, around which were numerous antiquated runes that were giving off an incredibly formidable aura.
Xue Han closed both of his hands around the shaft of the g, then chanted an incantation before swinging the g through the air.
The surface of the g immediately began to ripple like the surface of a turbulent sea, and the runes that were embroidered onto its surface flew out one after another, releasing dazzling golden light that obscured the entire sky.
At the same time, the golden vortexes on the g also began to rapidly revolve as if they had sprung to life, then flew out of the g as well to send bursts of tremendous force surging through the air.
As soon as the golden starry sky came into contact with these vortexes, it was immediately sucked in by the immense suction force that the vortexes were releasing.
As the starry sky rapidly diminished in size, the aura of the nine star golden sword was also bing weaker and weaker, and by the time it actually fell upon the g, the sword had been reduced to no more than 1,000 feet in length. In its weakened state, it was barely even able to move the g before it was repelled.
Qilin 9 raised a hand to catch the golden sword, and he couldn''t help but stumble backward. He had expended so much immortal spiritual power that his immortal spiritual power cirction was bing a little stagnant.
"How are you doing?" he asked as he turned to the figure beside him.
"I''m just about ready to go. You can take some time to recover now," Bai Fengyi said as she rose to her feet with a slightly paleplexion.
Just now, she and Qilin 9 had attacked Xue Han together, and Xue Han had intentionally disyed a fa?ade of weakness to lure her in, only to unleash a golden ring treasure that struck her on her left shoulder. She was able to avoid major injury thanks to her protective treasures, but her immortal spiritual power was scattered, rendering her temporarily unable to draw upon it.
Thankfully, Qilin 9 had stepped in to protect her, allowing her the respite that she needed to take some pills and recover somewhat from her injuries.
At this moment, her left sleeve had already beenpletely torn away, and arge gash had also been torn into her cor, revealing arge patch of fair and delicate skin.
As a result, one could see that she was wearingyers of strapping around her chest beneath her robes, restraining the voluptuous peaks there to make them appear smaller and morepact.
She switched positions with Qilin 9 so that she was facing Xue Han, while Qilin 9 tossed a couple of pills into his own mouth before focusing on digesting them.
Xue Han gave a cold harrumph, and he was just about to close in on Bai Fengyi when his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he cast his gaze toward the main ind of the Holy Puppet Sect.
After a brief hesitation, he raised a hand to stow the ck g away, then sped away as a streak of light, quickly vanishing into the distance.
An rmed look appeared on Bai Fengyi''s face upon seeing this, and she hurriedly set off in pursuit.
If she couldn''t keep Xue Han upied, then he would be able to join forces with Lu Ji, and that would ce Yun Ni in grave peril.
However, as a True Immortal, there was no way that she could catch up to Xue Han, and he arrived beside Lu Ji in what seemed like no more than the blink of an eye.
A hint of wariness appeared in Xue Han''s eyes at the sight of the alluring artwork in the sky, and he took a nce at the peculiar pink coloration in Lu Ji''s left eye before calling out to him in a low voice.
Despite the low pitch of his voice, it was extremely prative, and the pink coloration in Lu Ji''s left eye instantly faded away as both eyes returned to their original rity.
Immediately thereafter, he took a stride forward as he raised his longsword, and he swept his joint index and middle fingers of his other hand over the de of the sword to release streaks of pristine white sword qi that transformed into a series of white dragons that revolved around the sword.
It seemed that all of this hade out of nowhere, but in reality, he had been preparing this attack for a long time.
Prior to this, he was on the verge of unleashing the attack, but at that critical juncture, he had fallen prey to Yun Ni''s secret technique, and that was why the attack had been dyed up to this point, but it was also exactly because of this prolonged stage of suppression that the attack had umted even more formidable power.
All of a sudden, a clear draconic roar rang out, and a streak of white sword qi that was over 10,000 feet in length swept through the heavens. All of the white dragons revolving around the sword also instantly swelled to over 100 times their original size before pouncing at Yun Ni.
All of a sudden, thousands of dragons were surging through the sky, churning up the dark clouds and stirring up gusts of ferocious wind.
Yun Ni''s expression remained unchanged as she witnessed all of this from inside her snow lotus flower projections, but she couldn''t help but heave an internal sigh.
An ordinary Golden Immortal cultivator would''ve already lost control over themselves after being exposed to her Illusory Celestial Maiden Artwork for so long. Even if they didn''t fall under her control, at the very least, they wouldn''t have been able to oppose her any longer.
However, Lu Ji''s mental fortitude far exceeded her expectation, and even though it appeared that he had fallen prey to her secret technique, he was able to immediately shut off his six senses to protect his own mind.
If Xue Han hadn''t intervened, it would''ve taken Yun Ni at least several more minutes topletely immobilize Lu Ji, at which point she would''ve been able to turn her attention to Xue Han, and perhaps this crisis could''ve been averted, but as things were now...
Chapter 299: I Dare You!
Chapter 299: I Dare You!
In the face of the formidable army of sword dragons, Yun Ni began to chant an incantation, and the pink coloration in her eyes gradually turned a golden hue, while her aura also underwent a drastic change.
Inside the giant artwork in the sky, the clothes worn by all of the barefoot women gradually blurred before transforming into suits of golden armor, and all of the musical instruments that they were holding also transformed into artifacts such as demon restraining vials and devil vanquishing pestles.
At the same time, the intoxicating music ringing out from the artwork also turned into Buddhist chanting, and in the blink of an eye, the entireplexion of the artwork had changed.
Bright golden light was glowing in Yun Ni''s eyes, and all of the golden-armored women on the giant artwork flew out at her behest, forming a huge shimmering golden array in the sky.
A massive female projection that was over 10,000 feet tall appeared at the center of the array, and it bore a very close resemnce to Yun Ni, but it wascking her seductive allure.
The projection was d in a suit of golden armor and was wielding a golden sword that it shed toward the oing sword dragons.
A vast expanse of golden light erupted from the golden sword to sh against the streaks of white swordlight, and the golden light exploded violently to illuminate all of the dark clouds in a golden hue, while gusts of fierce wind were sent sweeping in all directions.
Everyone on the za below was astonished by what was unfolding up above, and they all stopped what they were doing to look up at the sky.
After a brief impasse, the army of white sword dragons was able to break through the golden light before surging into the golden projection.
A burst of rumbling rang out as the golden projection was instantly split apart down the center, exploding into countless specks of light alongside all of the white dragons.
The sound of tearing fabric rang out, and the giant scroll in the sky was also torn apart down the center, then rapidly shrank down amid erratic shes of golden light before drifting down from above.
Yun Ni was struck by a sense of tightness in her chest, and she forcibly suppressed the blood that was threatening to gush out of her throat as she stowed away the two halves of the torn scroll.
At this point, Bai Fengyi had already arrived by her side, and she hurriedly approached Yun Ni asked in a concerned voice, "Are you alright, Mistress?"
"I''m fine," Yun Ni replied with a wry smile.
A dejected look appeared in Bai Fengyi''s eyes at the sight of Yun Ni''s expression, and she heaved an internal sigh.
She knew that Yun Ni had done everything in her power, but the Holy Puppet Sect was simply beyond saving.
However, the inevitability of the oue made her feel as if a heavy load had been removed from her shoulders, and a bright smile appeared on her face as she said, "Take Suyuan and leave, Mistress. I am honored to have been your disciple this lifetime."
A forlorn look appeared on Yun Ni''s face upon hearing this, and she opened her mouth to say something, but couldn''t find the words. In the end, she could descend toward the za down below with Bai Fengyi.
Lu Ji''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and he turned to Xue Han before extending a grateful salute.
"You have my thanks."
"Don''t worry about it, Fellow Daoist Lu Ji," Xue Han replied with a dismissive wave, then said, "I don''t know what Zhong Luan is up to, but he suddenly left the main ind and is already outside of my spiritual sensory range."
Lu Ji''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he replied, "You were the one who recruited him for this mission. Surely he hasn''t been ovee by greed and decided to take that iplete immortal puppet, has he?"
"I don''t think so. His branch of disciples have never been interested in puppetry, so he''s probably gone to do something else. In any case, I''ll be sure to contact him after everything is said and done to recover that immortal puppet for you," Xue Han assured.
"That would be best. For now, let''s eradicate the Holy Puppet Sect," Lu Ji replied in a cold voice.
As soon as Yun Ni and Bai Fengyi descended onto the za, they were immediately surrounded by remaining Transient Guild members.
"Fellow Daoist Qilin 3, while it''s true that you''re the leader of the mission, if you continue to try and force us to stay here and sacrifice ourselves, then don''t me us for resisting your orders!" one of them immediately said.
He wasn''tmunicating to her through voice transmission. Instead, he had spoken out loud, instantly drawing everyone''s attention as he did so.
"Indeed, we''ve already done everything that can be reasonably expected of us!"
"Even if we raise this matter to the guild''s supervisory division, we have a watertight case!"
All of the other Transient Guild members also immediately chimed in with theirints.
Yun Ni took a nce at Bai Fengyi and Bai Suyuan, then turned her gaze toward the other Transient Guild members as she dered, "This mission is over, you''re free to leave as you please now."
She summoned a batch of storage rings as she spoke and handed one out to each Transient Guild member.
After receiving their reward, all of the Transient Guild members briefly inspected the contents of the storage rings with their spiritual rings, and ecstatic looks appeared on their faces before allo of them departed one after another, with the exceptions of Bai Suyuan and Qilin 9.
For some reason, they were allowed to leave by the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators and the azure-armored Dao Warriors.
Before long, all that remained on the za were Yun Ni''s group and what little remained of the Holy Puppet Sect''s forces.
Qilin 9''s gaze roamed back and forth between Yun Ni and Bai Suyuan, and he appeared to have been rather hesitant.
"You can go as well," Yun Ni sighed.
Qilin 9 was silent for a moment, then cupped his fist in a salute toward Yun Ni before flying away as a streak of light.
¡¡
Meanwhile, in an area of the Thunderstorm Sea tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Holy Puppet Sect''s main ind.
A loud thunderp suddenly rang out as a pir of lightning as thick as a water vat crashed down from the heavens, striking the surface of the sea to churn up massive waves and raise a vast expanse of water vapor.
Immediately thereafter, a figure emerged from the lightning, standing on the surface of the water.
It was none other than Han Li, and as soon as he appeared, he immediately released his spiritual sense to epass the entire surrounding area in a radius of thousands of kilometers.
A few momentster, a hint of befuddlement appeared on his face.
Could it be that he''s noting after me? Wait, no...
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward a certain direction, and the space several dozen kilometers away began to ripple, following which a cloud of ck mist emerged out of thin air before transforming into Zhong Luan.
The befuddlement in Han Li''s eyes faded upon seeing this, and he made a hand seal to conjure up another lightning array to teleport himself away.
A mocking sneer appeared on Zhong Luan''s face upon seeing this, and he also vanished from the spot as a cloud of ck mist.
¡¡
Back on the za, the Holy Puppet Sect had fewer than 1,000 members left, and almost all of them were carrying injuries. At this point, they had lost all hope and had already prepared themselves to sink to the bottom of the sea with the main ind.
"You should go as well, Mistress," Bai Fengyi said as she took a long nce at Bai Suyuan.
"Ancestor..."
Tears began to well up in Bai Suyuan''s eyes.
"Work hard in your cultivation under Mistress, and don''t consider vengeance until you''ve reached a sufficient cultivation base," Bai Fengyi said as she slipped off her storage bracelet before putting it on for Bai Suyuan.
Bai Suyuan was silent for a moment before nodding firmly in response.
"Are you really not going toe with us? Even if I bring the two of you with me, there''s no way those two will be able to stop us as long as I sacrifice some of my cultivation base," Yun Ni said to Bai Fengyi through voice transmission.
Bai Fengyi merely shook her head with a faint smile and offered no response.
Yun Ni could tell that she had already made up her mind, so shetched onto Bai Suyuan''s hand and was just about to fly away when a loud voice rang out in the distance.
"You''re not getting away!"
Yun Ni was rather taken aback to hear this, and she turned to discover Lu Ji and Xue Han emerging from behind the other Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, all of whom parted to open up a wide path for the two of them.
"Oh? You think you can stop me?" Yun Ni scoffed with a mocking sneer on her face.
Lu Ji''s expression remained unchanged as he said in a calm manner, "I can tell that you have close ties with the Holy Puppet Sect, so if I let you leave now, that''ll be sure to spell trouble for us down the line."
Xue Han was originally against the idea of facing a Golden Immortal in a battle of life and death, but after hearing what Lu Ji had to say, he also realized that they had no choice but to strike down Yun Ni here.
He knew that it wasn''t going to be easy to y a Golden Immortal even with theirbined powers, but that was still a preferable option over having to constantly worry about vengeance from a formidable Golden Immortal like Yun Ni.
"You must really have fallen deeply in love with me if you want to kill me just to keep me. It''s a pity that I already have someone I love, so I must go today," Yun Ni said with a seductive smile as she gently tucked some strands of stray hair behind her ear, and all of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators interspersed throughout the azure-armored Dao Warriors were instantlypletely enraptured by her charm.
"Don''t fall for her seduction!" Xue Han yelled, and his voice wasn''t very loud, but it was clearly audible to all of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, who shuddered in unison as they snapped back to their senses before turning to Yun Ni with lingering fear in their eyes.
If Xue Han hadn''t snapped them back to their senses, they would''ve fallen under her control and been reduced to mindless puppets.
"Don''t be such a spoilsport. We''re significantly outnumbered here, so I was just trying to borrow some people from you," Yun Ni chuckled.
On the surface, she appeared to have been quite rxed, but internally, she was already considering using that secret technique that would burn through her cultivation base.
"We''ll hold them at bay while you get away, Mistress," Bai Fengyi said with a determined expression.
Xue Han immediately burst intoughter upon hearing this, as if he had just been told the most hrious joke. "You think you can stop us with this ragtag bunch of scrubs? What a joke!"
Before Bai Fengyi had a chance to respond, a thunderous voice suddenly rang out in the heavens.
"I dare you toy a hand on them!"
Chapter 300: Bad Signs
Chapter 300: Bad Signs
The voice seemed to havee from somewhere very far away, and it was reverberating incessantly in the sky.
Xue Han and Lu Ji both faltered slightly upon hearing this, and right as everyone was scrambling to see where the voice hade from, a streak of silver light came flying in from afar, dragging a fiery silver tail behind it, much like aet.
A myriad of emotions welled up in Yun Ni''s heart upon seeing this, and Bai Fengyi was slightly dazed for a moment before a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes.
Within the streak of silver light was a silver gourd that was around 70 to 80 feet in size, and it was covered with glowing spirit patterns, giving it quite a remarkable appearance.
A long red rope was tied into a love knot around the tapered section of the gourd, and the two ends of the rope were hanging down and swaying in the wind.
An daoist priest who appeared to have been in his forties was standing on the gourd in a pristine white daoist robe that was pping in the wind, giving off an air of grace and elegance that was simr to Lu Ji''s disposition.
If Han Li had been on the za at this moment, he would''ve been stunned by the sight of the neer as the person who was standing on the silver gourd was none other than the seemingly perpetually drunk Elder Hu Yan.
On this day, he had made a drastic change to his usual sloppy appearance. His graying hair had beenbed impably and arranged into a tall bun under a brand new purplish-golden lotus flower crown, beneath which was a slightly jaded face.
His facial hair had also been carefully groomed, and what was particrly noteworthy was that his normally sleepy and murky eyes were incredibly clear and bright at this moment, giving off a sharp gleam that waspletely uncharacteristic of the usual Elder Hu Yan.
Tied around the waist of his pristine daoist robe was a green jade belt, hanging from which was a red wine gourd that had also been restored to brand new condition.
A cold look appeared on Lu Ji''s face as he cast his gaze toward Daoist Hu Yan, and his longsword, which had already been returned to its scabbard, was drawn out by several inches once again, with its de reflecting a bright white gleam.
Xue Han''s expression changed slightly at the sight of Daoist Hu Yan, and heid a hand onto Lu Ji''s arm to stay his sword. "I know this man. He''s one of the 13 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords of the ze Dragon Dao, and he''s referred to as Daoist Hu Yan."
Daoist Hu Yan was renowned for being an avid wine enthusiast, as well as a master in the arts of pill refinement and puppetry. In his younger days, he would often leave the sect to go on long journeys, but it had been a very long time since he hadst left the Ancient Cloud Continent, so Lu Ji didn''t recognize him.
However, as an elder of the Ubiquitous Pavilion, Xue Han knew all of the important figures in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region like the back of his hand, so he was naturally able to identify Daoist Hu Yan right away.
However, he wasn''t wary of Daoist Hu Yan for his identity.
The Ubiquitous Pavilion had records on all 13 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords of the ze Dragon Dao, and those records included their history, cultivation arts, cultivation, and even their personalities and likes and dislikes. He clearly recalled all of the information that the Ubiquitous Pavilion had on Daoist Hu Yan, and when it came to the assessment of hisbat prowess, the Ubiquitous Pavilion''s records only contained one word: "Unknown".
Given how incredibly proficient the Ubiquitous Pavilion was at gathering information, there were definitely no more than 10 people in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region that had such a status in their records, and Daoist Hu Yan was one of them.
This was a clear indication that he was definitely not someone to be easily messed with.
"If you''re going to retreat just from a Golden Immortal''s verbal threat, then your Ubiquitous Pavilion is hardly worthy of its status in the Northern cial Immortal Realm," Lu Ji said in a cold voice.
"Hold on a second, Fellow Daoist Lu Ji. The fact that he''se here on his own indicates that he''s most likely made some preparations, so let''s watch the situation unfold for now. If he''s unwilling to settle this matter peacefully, then we can examine his power together," Xue Hanmunicated to Lu Ji through voice transmission while also informing him of the Ubiquitous Pavilion''s appraisal of Daoist Hu Yan.
Lu Ji''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but he didn''t immediatelysh out, either.
As for the other Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators, they didn''t know who Daoist Hu Yan was, but they could tell that he was on the Holy Puppet Sect''s side, and he wasn''t making any effort to conceal his immense Golden Immortal Stage aura, so everyone knew that he was no to be messed with.
At the moment, it appeared that the Ubiquitous Pavilion held the upper hand in the battle, but the ones that were truly going to decide the battle were still the Golden Immortal cultivators, and now that both sides had two Golden Immortal cultivators each, the situation had naturally taken a drastic turn.
In fact, many of the Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators were already contemting retreat.
At the center of the za, Yun Ni withdrew the disguise of her Transient Guild mask, and there was a slightly dazed look in her eyes as she looked up at Daoist Hu Yan.
After staring at him for a while, a warm smile appeared on her face.
"You came, after all..." she murmured to herself with a mixture of tion and displeasure in her voice.
In her eyes, Daoist Hu Yan''s figure was gradually blurring and ovepping with a younger version of him.
At the time, Hu Yan had been a handsome young man with a perpetually impable lotus flower crown on his head, and his white daoist robe was also always pristine, giving him a clean and refined appearance.
Back then, he hadn''t been such a heavy drinker, and in the ce of that red wine gourd, he had a crimson longsword strapped to his waist, giving him the appearance of a sword immortal more than a daoist priest.
However,ter on, that red wine gourd had appeared on his waist, while the crimson longsword was casually strapped to his back, and the sword immortal had turned into a drunken sword immortal that had a more casual and unrestrained ir about him.
He had never been good in matters rted to love, and in the love triangle between the three, both he and Bai Fengyi had chosen to run away, while Yun Ni was the only one left actively pursuing an oue, and she had already lost count of how many years she had been waiting for him.
However, her waiting had finally paid off, and now that he had arrived, he wasn''t going to be running away any longer.
Meanwhile, Bai Fengyi was also looking up at Daoist Hu Yan, then turned her gaze to Yun Ni, and a faint smile appeared on her face. In that instant, all of the pent-up guilt and internal conflict in her heart had washed away.
Xue Han took a step forward as he dered, "Dao Lord Hu Yan, need I remind you that your actions are pitting the ze Dragon Dao against our Ubiquitous Pavilion?"
"You sure talk big for such a cowardly bastard! There''s no need for the sect to intervene, I can take care of this matter on my own," Daoist Hu Yan said in an indifferent voice as he took a disdainful nce at Xue Han.
After that, he removed the wine gourd from his waist and took a swig of wine before sweeping his gaze across the za down below.
His brows furrowed slightly as he caught sight of Bai Fengyi, and he murmured to himself in a confused voice, "They don''t seem to be as big as I recall..."
Yun Ni couldn''t hear what he was saying, but she had a rough idea of what he was referring to judging from the look in his eyes, and her expression immediately darkened slightly.
As for Bai Fengyi, she was feeling a little uneasy under Daoist Hu Yan''s scrutiny and unconsciously averted her gaze.
Bai Suyuan had noticed the subtle silent exchanges taking ce between the trio, and given what she already knew, she was able to quicklye to some conclusions.
The bastard and coward that Yun Ni had been referring to was most likely none other than Elder Hu Yan.
He''s a little old, but he''s definitely way more handsome than Elder Li...
As soon as this thought urred to her, a faint blush immediately appeared on her face, and she couldn''t understand why her mind had automatically drawn aparison between Daoist Hu Yan and Han Li.
Daoist Hu Yan strapped his wine gourd back to his waist, following which he cast a cold gaze toward Lu Ji and Xue Han as he asked, "Are you the ones trying toy your hands on those finedies over there?"
At the same time, the giant silver gourd rapidly shrank down to its original size before returning to his grasp.
"If you want to fight, then let''s not waste any time with unnecessary words!" Lu Ji countered as he sprang up into the sky, facing off against Daoist Hu Yan from over 10,000 feet away.
"There''s no hurry. It looks like you''re enjoying quite a nice numbers advantage here, so how about I give you a taste of your own medicine? I just so happen to have to air out my beans as well. Otherwise, they''re about to grow mold," Daoist Hu Yan said with a smile, then made a hand seal with one hand while tipping the silver gourd in his other hand upside-down.
The spirit patterns on the silver gourd began to glow brightly as a burst of white light emerged from the opening of the gourd, following which countless pea-like ck beans were poured out onto the ground below.
All of a sudden, close to 1,000 ck beans had appeared in the sky, producing a sound that resembled falling rain.
As soon as each beannded on the ground, it immediately began to glow with ck light while swelling rapidly in size, transforming into a giant ck Dao Warrior that stood at around 10 feet in height.
These Dao Warriors were far taller than the average person, and they weren''t d in suits of armor. However, each of them was wielding a huge ck ax, giving them a very formidable appearance.
These ck Dao Warriors were far outnumbered by Xue Han''s azure-armored Dao Warriors, but their auras were significantly more powerful, and as opposed to the dazed and wooden expressions on the faces of the azure-armored Dao Warriors, the faces of these ck Dao Warriors were far more expressive.
A grim look appeared on Xue Han''s face upon seeing this, and thoughts of retreat instantly crept into his mind.
It was clear to him that these Dao Warriors were of a far superior caliber to his own, and at this point in the battle, most of the azure-armored Dao Warriors had already perished, so there was no way that they could contend against their superior adversaries.
Furthermore, with the arrival of Daoist Hu Yan, they had also lost their advantage in Golden Immortal numbers, so there was no point in continuing this battle.
Chapter 301: Baleful Qi
Chapter 301: Baleful Qi
"I don''t believe it would be wise to continue this battle any further, Fellow Daoist Lu Ji. Let''s make a retreat," Xue Han said to Lu Ji through voice transmission.
"My sword has already been drawn several inches out of its scabbard, I can''t just sheath it again for no good reason," Lu Ji replied in a cold voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he drew his longswordpletely out of its scabbard, sending an enormous streak of white sword qi hurtling directly upward.
"Impressive!" Daoist Hu Yan chuckled as he swept a hand through the air, and a crimson longsword appeared behind him out of thin air.
The golden spirit patterns on the sword''s de were glowing radiantly, and there was a massive sword projection that was over 10,000 feet in length around it. Crimson mes were surging out of either side of the sword projection, resembling a pair of giant fiery wings that had spread open in the sky.
All of a sudden, the air temperature within a radius of hundreds of kilometers elevated sharply, and scorching heat permeated throughout the entire area.
At the same time, the spirit patterns on the giant ck axes wielded by all of the ck Dao Warriors also lit up with scorching mes, and theyshed out at the azure-armored Dao Warriors and Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators.
The Holy Puppet Sect cultivators had already resigned themselves to death, and all of them were so ted by this turn of events that many of them had burst into tears. All of the sudden, the tide of the battle was turned once again.
Xue Han heaved a faint sigh upon seeing this, and he was just about to fly toward Lu Ji when Yun Ni and Bai Fengyi rose up into the air to get in his way.
With that, the melee on the za resumed.
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On the Thunderstorm Sea, somewhere hundreds of thousand of kilometers away from the Holy Puppet Sect.
Han Li was standing in mid-air, facing Zhong Luan from afar.
He had used his lightning teleportation array several times up to this point, but he had been unable to shake off Zhong Luan.
"You won''t be able to escape from me even if you flee to the corners of this realm, Han Li!" Zhong Luan dered as a mocking sneer appeared on his face.
"That''s quite a bit of insolence from someone who''s only gained some slight mastery over baleful qiws. It looks like you''re not much better than that idiot junior martial brother of yours!" Han Li jeered.
A cold look appeared in Zhong Luan''s eyes upon hearing this. "I didn''t think you would be able to identify my baleful qiws. It appears I may have underestimated you."
"I''m assuming you''ve been using baleful qi to track me this entire time and to unleash those sneak attacks against me, right?" Han Li chuckled.
"Indeed. The reality is that you''ve been bringing me with you this entire time, and I haven''t had to do anything," Zhong Luan openly admitted with a mocking sneer on his face.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but internally, he was rather intrigued.
He didn''t actually know much about baleful qiws as it was a very umon type ofws, so he wasn''t familiar with what was special about it.
That ck thread that Zhong Luan had shot into his body earlier was one that had been manifested from baleful qiws, and through it, he seemed to be able to track his location and teleport himself to his side.
Aside from that, Han Li could also clearly sense a violent and baleful energy umting in his heart. Even with his enormous spiritual sense, he was unable to forcibly suppress it, and the more he tried to do so, the quicker this baleful energy grew.
Han Li had a feeling that once this baleful energy developed to a certain point, that would be when his opponent would unleash his killing blow. Hence, the best course of action would be to finish this battle as soon as possible.
With that in mind, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to summon his Heavy Water True Axis amid a sh of ck light, then sent it hurtling directly toward Zhong Luan.
A faint smile appeared on Zhong Luan''s face, and instead of taking any evasive measures, he flew directly toward the axis.
In the instant that the Heavy Water True Axis was about to crash into his body, he transformed into a cloud of ck mist once again, allowing him to pass throughpletely unscathed.
Han Li immediately made a hand seal upon seeing this, and the Water Dao Rune on the Heavy Water True Axis began to glow brightly, while the axis itself swelled to around twice its original size and began to revolve rapidly.
All of the water-attribute spiritual qi in the area was churned up into a frenzy by the axis, which was releasing bursts of incredibly powerful tearing force, and it didn''t take long before an enormous vortex took shape on the surface of the sea.
All of a sudden, the cloud of ck mist that Zhong Luan had transformed into was sucked into the vortex, quickly vanishing into it before he had a chance to react.
However, Han Li knew that this was far from the end of the battle, and he made a beckoning motion to draw the Heavy Water True Axis back to himself, where it hovered in the air in front of him.
As a result, the vortex of water that had risen up into the heavens cascaded back down into the sea, raising a series of massive waves as it did so.
However, even after the waves hadpletely subsided, Zhong Luan was still nowhere to be seen.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this. Just now, a burst of aggression had risen up inexplicably in his heart without any warning, and wisps of ck mist were also beginning to seep out of his be.
Right at this moment, a ck shadow suddenly appeared in the seawater down below, much like the ink of a squid, and it quickly spread to stain all of the seawater in a radius of over 10,000 feet ck.
ck waves began to churn incessantly on the surface of the sea with wisps of ck mist surging out from within.
All of a sudden, a series of enormous waves rose up from all directions like a giant ck flower, and its petals closed in around Han Li, attempting to devour him whole.
Han Li immediately tried to take evasive measures, but right this moment, a sh of ck light suddenly appeared on his be, and he was struck by a burst of sharp pain in his consciousness.
As a result, he was momentarily immobilized, and before he could do anything else, he waspletely enveloped within the ck wave along with his Heavy Water True Axis.
Han Li inspected his surroundings to find that he was situated in apletely pitch-ck space.
Through the use of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he was able to see wisps of ck mist hovering in the air around him, but he was unable to see very far through it.
At the same time, he discovered that his spiritual sense had also been severely limited, and at this moment, all he could sense was a seemingly boundless expanse of baleful qi around him.
He took a deep breath before sweeping a sleeve through the air, and his Heavy Water True Axis immediately began to revolve rapidly beforeunching itself forward.
A dull thud rang out as the Heavy Water True Axis struck a wall of water, which shuddered violently a few times before releasing wisps of ck mist to ensnare the Heavy Water True Axis, rendering itpletely immobilized.
The more immortal spiritual power he tried to inject into the Heavy Water True Axis, the tighter the surrounding wisps of ck mist bound themselves to the axis.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he made a hand seal with one hand, and an azure longsword shot out of his sleeve, then split up into 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords amid a sh of azure light before flying away in all directions.
Each sword was glowing with azure light that was releasing more azure sword projections, amounting to several thousand sword projections that instantly filled the entire surrounding space.
If there were anyone situated outside this inky-ck space at this moment, then they would be able to see that it was a ck ball with a diameter in excess of 1,000 feet, and it was hovering above the sea, constantly absorbing the inky-ck seawater down below.
At the same time, countless bulges were appearing incessantly on the surface of the ck ball, stretching it into an irregr shape and making it resemble a spiky ck ball.
Situated in the sky not far away from the spiky ball was a ck crane with a golden crown and a metallic ck plumage that had a faint fiery sheen, indicating that this was no ordinary creature.
Atop the crane''s back sat Zhong Luan with his legs crossed. His ck saber was resting across his hands, and he was staring intently at the ck ball up ahead.
All of the spirit patterns on the surface of the ck saber were shing incessantly, and ck qi was also surging over its de.
"He''s causing quite a ruckus in there, Master," the ck crane said in a high-pitched voice as it swiveled its head around to face Zhong Luan.
"No matter. The more violently he struggles, the faster the baleful aura would converge, and the more he''ll be corroded by my baleful aura. When he''spletely spent and exhausted, that''s when we''ll put an end to his life," Zhong Luan replied with a smile.
"We wouldn''t have to go through so much trouble if we weren''t trying to uncover the secrets that he''s harboring. There''s no way he would be able to withstand your ck Emperor Immortal ying de, Master," the ck crane said in a fawning voice.
"I''m truly curious about secrets Fang Pan was so desperate to uncover. If I can uncover all of those secrets, that would certainly be worth all the extra time and effort I''m investing here," Zhong Luan said.
As the two of them were conversing with one another, the unrest in the ck ball gradually began to fade until it hadpletely subsided, and at this point, all of the ck seawater had already been fused into the ck ball.
However, strangely enough, not only had the ck ball not be anyrger, it had shrunk down significantly instead, and at this moment, it was resembling a giant ck crystal.
"Looks like it''s about time," Zhong Luan dered as he rose to his feet atop the ck crane''s back, then sprang up into the air and flew over to the ck ball before gentlyying a hand upon it.
A burst of ck light suddenly appeared at the center of his palm before transforming into a ck vortex, and a plume of ck smoke immediately surged out of the ck ball before entering Zhong Luan''s body through the vortex.
As more and more ck smoke emerged, the ck ball shrank down further and further, and Han Li''s figure was gradually revealed.
At this moment, his entire body waspletely stiff and still, and his eyes were tightly shut. The baleful qiw thread on his be had already disappeared, having been reced by an inky-ck baleful rune that appeared as if it had be a part of his body.
The 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and the Heavy Water True Axis beside him were all enveloped in a thinyer of ck crystal, and they were struggling to break free, but unable to do so.
Zhong Luan gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, then raised a finger toward the baleful rune on Han Li''s be.
As soon as his fingertip came into contact with the baleful rune, all of the secrets hidden in Han Li''s mind would immediately be fully revealed to him.
However, right at this moment, Han Li''s eyes suddenly sprang open, and a sh of blue light appeared in his pupils. A translucent thread then shot out of his be to shatter the baleful rune before hurtling directly toward Zhong Luan''s be.
Chapter 302: Fierce Clash
Chapter 302: Fierce sh
Zhong Luan was clearly caught off guard by this turn of events, and he reflexively sprang back, but didn''t take any measures to try and ward off the translucent thread, merely allowing it to fly toward his own be.
All of a sudden, a burst of azure light erupted out of the copper headgear on his forehead, and a projection of a four-eyed tiger-like beast emerged before opening its mouth to devour the translucent thread.
Meanwhile, ayer of golden scales had already appeared over Han Li''s arm, and his fist was glowing with radiant golden light as he threw an almighty punch toward Zhong Luan''s chest.
Zhong Luan forcibly suppressed his own bewilderment as he hurriedly raised his saber before him, then pressed a hand against the t of the de to brace it against Han Li''s punch.
A resounding boom rang out as a burst of golden light exploded in the sky, and Zhong Luan was sent flying back like an asteroid from the force of the sh, crashing heavily down onto the surface of the sea to raise a flurry of massive waves.
Han Li didn''t stop there, making a hand seal with both hands before sweeping his sleeves through the air, and the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately shattered the ck crystal around them, then flew through the air as streaks of azure light before plunging into the sea in pursuit of Zhong Luan.
At the same time, the Water Dao Rune on the Heavy Water True Axis abruptly lit up, and it also broke free from the ck crystalline material before crashing down toward the surface of the sea.
All of this had taken ce in the span of just a few seconds, and only after this sequence of events had unfolded did the massive ck crane in the sky finally react before pping its wings vigorously downward.
The fiery ck light on its wings brightened considerably, and they released a pair of massive ck fireballs that hurtled toward the Heavy Water True Axis.
Two resounding booms rang out in session as ck mes erupted over the surface of the Heavy Water True Axis, diverting it slightly to the side and causing it to plow through the sea for a moment before it righted itself and continued to fly back toward Han Li.
Han Li only took a brief nce at the giant ck crane before directing his gaze back to the surface of the sea.
Deep in the water, a ck shadow rapidly rose upward before flying out into the open with a ck saber held tightly in his hand, and heshed out behind him without any hesitation.
The spirit patterns on the surface of the saber light up, and one saber projection after another swept toward the sea like waves crashing against the shore.
Immediately thereafter, a series of glowing azure flying swords flew out of the water amid a string of sshes, and they crashed into the waves of saber projections with a piercing grinding sound.
The ck saber projections were shattered one after another, while the azure longswords were also stopped in their tracks.
Meanwhile, Zhong Luan continued to fly back through the air beforending on the ck crane''s back, and he cast a furious gaze toward Han Li.
"I didn''t think that you were able to free yourself from the corruption of my baleful qi. Even if your spiritual sense far exceeds that of your peers, there''s no way you should''ve been able to do that. Could it be that you''ve cultivated the forbidden Spirit Refinement Technique?" Zhong Luan asked.
Han Li remained silent, disying no intention of offering any response.
He swept his sleeves through the air, and the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately flew back to him, fusing into a single azure longsword beforending in his grasp.
"It looks like you really are harboring many secrets. No wonder Fang Pan was so determined to hunt you down. I''m really looking forward to capturing your nascent soul and seeing everything conealed in it!" Zhong Luan chuckled.
"Silence is a virtue," Han Li said with an indifferent expression, following which the Mantra Treasured Axis in his body abruptly began to revolve in reverse.
At the same time, over 40 of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis lit up at once, and he instantly vanished from the spot, not even leaving any afterimages in his wake before appearing on the ck crane''s back as if through instantaneous teleportation.
Before Zhong Luan even had a chance to figure out what had happened, Han Li''s azure longsword had already been plunged through his heart.
Zhong Luan''s eyes widened with incredulity as he looked down at the sword protruding out of his chest and the ck blood that was pouring out of the wound, which had already seeped through his robes.
"Master!" the ck crane screeched in a shrill voice.
Meanwhile, Han Li pulled his longsword out of Zhong Luan''s chest without any hesitation before darting back through the air.
He had only just flown off the ck crane''s back when Zhong Luan''s body disintegrated into a cloud of ck mist. As it turned out, that had only been a clone formed by baleful qi.
A cloud of ck smoke then appeared elsewhere in the sky, and Zhong Luan re-emerged. At this point, all of the mockery in his eyes had been reced by a cold and solemn look.
Han Li was feeling a little frustrated. His Mantra Treasured Axis still hadn''t recovered all 108 of its Time Dao Runes yet, so he wasn''t able to fully utilize his Reversal True Axis ability. As a result, he was unable to instantly y an opponent of Zhong Luan''s caliber with a single strike.
"I have indeed underestimated you. I didn''t think that you would''ve also mastered thews of speed just like Fang Pan, and your speed is even superior to his. No wonder you were able to kill him," Zhong Luan said with a serious expression.
Han Li naturally wasn''t going to correct Zhong Luan''s misevaluation of hisw powers, and he asked, "The fact that you were able to survive that blow must have something to do with Fang Pan, right?"
"That''s right. I did indeed prepare that clone as a safeguard against that junior martial brother of mine. He was developing a little too quickly, so I had no choice but to be wary of him, and I certainly didn''t think that the clone would save me from someone else instead," Zhong Luan mused.
As he was speaking, he was discreetly making a string of hand seals with one hand concealed behind his back.
The circles of strange patterns on the palm of his hand began to glow with crimson light, and the skin beneath his ck cloak was also beginning to take on a red coloration.
A hint of fear and rm shed through the ck crane''s eyes upon seeing this, and two balls of ck light were shing beneath its wings, clearly indicating that it was preparing itself to flee the scene at any moment.
Han Li had naturally noticed all of this, but his expression remainedpletely unchanged.His Heavy Water True Axis was hovering in front of him like a shield, and he held his azure longsword in one hand, while in his other hand were two balls of Heavy Water Veined Lightning, which he kept concealed up his sleeve.
A burst of chanting rang out as Zhong Luan''s pupils turned a crimson color, and wisps of red mist began to rise up from his body. At the same time, his ck saber was also graduallyh taking on a crimson hue.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he could sense a clear change in Zhong Luan''s aura. He could still detect baleful qi rising up from his body, but it wasn''t the same type of aggressive baleful qi as before.
"It''s time to put an end to this battle," Zhong Luan dered as he vanished from the spot as a crimson shadow.
In the next instant, he appeared below Han Li to his right before shing his saber diagonally upward,shing out at Han Li from an extremely awkward angle.
Han Li seemed to have already anticipated this, and he swung his longsword downward to sh against the crimson saber, then took advantage of the impact of the sh to fly back through the air and open up some distance between himself and Zhong Luan.
At the same time, the two balls of Heavy Water Veined Lightning had slipped out of his sleeve and fallen down in front of Zhong Luan.
The purple lightning veins on the surface of the balls of veined lightning abruptly lit up, immediately following which came a thunderous explosion.
A devastating halo of purple lightning spread through the air in all directions, epassing the entire surrounding area in a radius of several thousand feet.
Before the first explosion had a chance to subside, the other ball of Heavy Water Veined Lightning also lit up, but the lightning veins on this one were golden instead of purple.
Another violent explosion rang out, and two enormous ck suns rose up above the surface of the sea one after the other, while golden and purple lightning shed incessantly.
The eruption of light was so bright that it was impossible to see Zhong Luan within it, and the sea down below churned violently as countless tiny ck specks of heavy water erupted in all directions, causing the surrounding space to shudder violently.
The explosions had released waves of spherical shockwaves that swept up enormous waves over the surface of the sea, and the ck crane had already fled into the distance as a ball of ck mes.
At this moment, it was hovering in the sky over 100,000 feet away, looking back at Han Li and Zhong Luan with a fearful look in its eyes.
"It looks like the Divine Devilbane Lightning is still the more powerful of the two," Han Li remarked to himself as he looked at the purple and golden lightning that was shing above the surface of the sea.
Out of the two balls of Heavy Water Veined Lightning that he had just tossed out, one of them had been refined using the power of the purple crystalline that he had obtained from the Thunderstorm Sea, while the other one had been refined using Divine Devilbane Lightning followingtest refinement of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Of the former, he had already expended far too many of them while carrying sect and Transient Guild missions, so he didn''t have many left, and as for the former, that was very difficult to refine, so he didn''t have many of those, either.
Having just detonated one of each, it was clear that the Heavy Water Veined Lightning that was infused with Divine Devilbane Lightning was the more formidable of the two.
As the explosion subsided, torn scraps of a ck cloak could be seen floating on the surface of the sea, and there was a cloud of blood mist hanging in the air, but instead being ted to see this, a grim look appeared in Han Li''s eyes.
He could sense Zhong Luan''s aura permeating throughout the entire surrounding area in a radius of tens of thousands of feet.
Right at this moment, the surface of the sea, which had already been stained crimson, began to bubble and froth, and it didn''t take long before ayer ofrge bubbles had appeared over the entire surface of the sea in a radius of several hundred kilometers.
Chapter 303: Astonishment
Chapter 303: Astonishment
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward that area to find the crimson sea churning incessantly.
Turbulent waves were surging on its surface while over 100 massive shadows were slowly rising up from the depths, bringing with them an overwhelmingly nauseating bloody odor.
Han Li activated his Spirit Refinement Technique to protect his consciousness, and he unconsciously tightened his grip on his sword as he inspected the surface of the sea with blue light shing in his eyes.
Finally, all of the shadows rising up from below emerged out of the water one after another, revealing them to have been a series of different marine demon beasts of all types of different descriptions.
Han Li had seen all of these demon beasts in some of the books that he had read in the past, and he knew that their cultivation bases varied drastically, with the most powerful ones among them already at the True Immortal Stage, but at this moment, all of them were floating belly up on the surface of the sea, and they couldn''t have been any more dead.
Each of them had a giant round hole in their abdomen, from within which blood was pouring out incessantly, spreading through the seawater like a massive crimson veil.
Han Li could see that the skin and flesh around those wounds were spread outward, indicating that their bodies had detonated from the inside, rather than the injuries being a result of external force.
All of a sudden, a near animalistic roar rang out, and massive waves swept over the surface of the sea down below.
A massive crimson hand that was over 1,000 feet in size suddenly parted the waves and reached out of the sea to make a grab for Han Li, who immediately darted back in an attempt to avoid it.
However, right as he did so, another identical giant crimson hand emerged from the water right in the path of his retreat before grabbing toward him as well.
Han Li hurriedly changed directions as a streak of azure light, but right at this moment, two more massive crimson hands emerged, one in front of him and one behind, and they were closing in on him from both directions.
The huge crimson hands were astonishingly fast, to the point that Han Li was caught between them before he had a chance to react.
Immediately thereafter, the seawater began to churn violently, and an enormous figure that was over 10,000 feet tall slowly rose up from the depth.
As it turned out, it was a giant crimson figure with clearly defined muscr lines all over its body, and it waspletely naked with the exception of an azure loincloth around its waist.
It was like a giant that had just been skinned, and there was still blood all over its exposed muscles. Its face was extremely twisted and horrific, but some semnce of Zhong Luan could still be seen in it.
Aside from the pair of arms attached to its shoulder, the crimson giant had a pair of arms growing from beneath its ribs as well, and it was none other than the hands attached to that lower pair of arms that Han Li was trapped between.
At this moment, Han Li felt as if he were being crushed between a pair of massive mountains, and his bones were creaking and groaning incessantly.
He let loose a loud roar as ayer of golden scales appeared over both of his arms, and he pushed back at the pair of giant palms with all his might.
With his tremendous strength, he was able to push the giant palms slightly to the sides to open up a small gap.
The crimson giant immediately let loose a thunderous roar in response, and it exerted even more force through its hands, forcibly eliminating the gap that Han Li had just barely created between them.
Han Li''s face was bright red as he let loose a low roar, and in the next instant, all of his muscles began to bulge as his body swelled up rapidly like a balloon, quickly transforming into a giant golden ape that was over 10,000 feet tall.
At the same time, white light appeared over his body, and seven specks of blue starlight appeared on his chest and abdomen, while his body swelled even further in size.
The giant ape let loose another low roar as it glowered at the crimson giant, then spread its arms open forcefully, and not only was it able to force the crimson giant''s hands apart, it was able to grab onto them as well.
The golden ape then twisted its own arms, forcing the crimson giant''s hands outward, and the sound of cracking bone instantly rang out, immediately followed by a roar of pain.
However, at the same time, the crimson giant reached out with its other two hands to lock the golden ape''s arms in a vice-like grip.
Immediately thereafter, it began to chant an incantation in a rumbling voice, and as it did so, a series of strange corkscrew-shaped patterns on the palms of the hands that were locked around the giant ape''s arms, and a pair of crimson snakes slithered out before winding themselves around the golden ape''s arms.
Han Li immediately felt a burst of scorching pain shoot through his arms, and he hurriedly released the crimson giant''s hands before stumbling back around a dozen steps.
After opening up some distance between himself and the crimson giant, Han Li looked down to find circles of corkscrew-shaped marks running all the way up his arms to his shoulders, and it was as if it had been branded into his skin.
"With my baleful blood mark on your body, you''re as good as dead," the crimson giant dered in such a thunderous voice that the surrounding space was quivering incessantly.
As soon as his voice trailed off, it continued to chant its incantation, and a series of giant crimson runes began to appear over its body.
Han Li could feel the scorching pain in his arms bing more intense by the second, and he leaned forward to plunge his arms into the seawater in an attempt to lessen the pain, but to no avail.
What was even more rming was that all of his blood essence was currently surging violently through his body like a wild horse that had been let off its reins.
He could clearly sense that the temperature of his blood essence was rapidly rising, as if it were about to be set alight, and it wouldn''t be long before it tore through his veins, causing his body to detonate.
If it weren''t for the fact that he was a Profound Immortal with a physical body far more formidable than the average True Immortal, and he had cultivated the Organ Refinement Origin Arts, his organs would''ve most likely already exploded by now.
Han Li was astonished by this turn of events. The baleful qiw powers being wielded by his opponent was extremely difficult to deal with. First, it was the violent baleful qi that had swayed his spiritual sense, and now, this burst of blood baleful qi was attempting to control his blood essence.
He took a moment topose himself, then attempted to quell the unrest in his blood essence using his immortal spiritual power, but to no avail, once again.
With so many types of power true spirit blood essence infused into his bloodline, his blood essence was far more powerful than that of the average True Immortal, and it was impossible for him to suppress it with his immortal spiritual power alone.
All of a sudden, a draconic roar rang out from within Han Li''s body, following which a giant five-wed golden dragon projection emerged behind him amid a sh of golden light before roaring to the heavens.
The giant ape''s face became twisted with agony, and it also let loose a roar of pain.
"You possess a true spirit bloodline in your body? This is fantastic! The heavens are truly smiling down upon me!" the crimson giant eximed in an ted voice.
It then made a strange hand seal with all four of its massive hands, and a series of crescent-shaped runes appeared over its body, shimmering with a magma-like crimson and yellow glow.
Immediately thereafter, a clear phoenix cry rang out, and a rainbow phoenix projection emerged behind Han Li as well, hanging in mid-air right next to the golden dragon.
The ck crane, which had already retreated to over 100,000 feet away, was very surprised to see this.
"He has more than one type of true spirit bloodline in his body! Normally, possessing multiple true spirit bloodlines would be a great asset, but given Master''s abilities, those true spirit bloodlines will only work against him!" the ck crane chuckled.
As soon as its voice trailed off, an Azure Luan Bird projection appeared behind the giant ape amid a sh of azure light, followed by a Lightning Bird projection amid a sh of silver lightning.
Immediately thereafter came the projections of a Five-colored Peacock and a giant ck turtle.
"Impossible! How could he have this many?" the ck crane eximed in an incredulous voice.
At this moment, it wanted nothing more than to grow a pair of hands to rub its own eyes. It was simply inplete disbelief that someone could possess so many powerful true spirit bloodlines, particrly a human, which had the weakest physical body among all races.
Another agonized roar erupted out of the giant ape''s mouth, and the true spirit projections hovering behind it suddenly began to struggle violently, with someone trying to rise up into the heavens and others trying to descend into the sea.
The crimson marks on the giant ape''s arms also began to glow brightly, and the unrest in its blood essence was bing even more violent, causing it to crash through its veins like a wild bull.
This scorching sensation that came from within his body was even more painful than having his skin peeled and his bones plucked out.
Han Li could sense that the blood essence in his body was only continuing to grow more violent, and it would break out of his body as soon as it reached a certain threshold.
Once that happened, he would end up just like those dead marine demon beasts floating on the surface of the sea.
Chapter 304: Baleful Spirit Threads
Chapter 304: Baleful Spirit Threads
The crimson giant could tell that Han Li was close to reaching his limits, and a ghastly smile appeared on its hideous face as it roared, "It''s time for you to die!"
With this deration, Han Li immediately felt the agony in his body increase by severalfold, and it was as if there were countless sharp needles piercing back and forth through his meridians and even his bones.
Ayer of faint golden light appeared in his eyes, and he threw his head back and let loose a thunderous roar as he gave up on trying to suppress his blood essence with his immortal spiritual power, dedicating it fully to activating his Provenance True Devil Arts instead.
Ayer of purplish-golden scales appeared over his body, and two fearsome-looking heads and four purplish-golden arms emerged on his shoulders and below his ribs, respectively.
The six eyes on the three giant ape heads sprang open in unison, and a short silver horn appeared on the forehead of the two heads on either side of the central one.
After unleashing his Holy Nirvana Physique, the true spirit projections that were threatening to break free flew back into his body one after another, and as a result, Han Li grew significantly taller once again, allowing him to tower over the crimson giant.
The purplish-golden scales all over his body connected together to form a suit of purplish-golden armor with countless antiquated runes inscribed onto its surface, and it encased Han Li''s entire body while giving off an extremely formidable aura.
In the distance, Zhong Luan was looking on with an astonished expression.
He couldn''t understand for the life of him how Han Li had managed to escape from the control of his baleful blood mark, and a sense of unease had welled up in his heart at the sight of this new transformation that Han Li had adopted.
In reality, Han Li wasn''t confident that his Provenance True Devil Arts would be able to suppress the true spirit blood essence in his body, and he had only unleashed so that all of his true spirit bloodlines would be unified and guided to a collective cause, rather than continuing to rampage under the effects of the baleful blood mark.
Back in the Spirit Realm, he would often use all of his true spirit bloodlines to unleash his Holy Nirvana Physique, so this was not an alien process to him.
His three heads grinned in unison, following his six giant arms shed through the air in a blur, unleashing countless projections that hurtled directly toward Zhong Luan.
All of a sudden, countless golden fist projections emerged to obscure the entire sky before abruptly vanishing into the thin air.
Almost at the exact same moment, the space around the crimson giant surged and churned violently, and countless golden fist projections emerged out of thin air before crashing toward it with devastating force.
The crimson giant immediately raised its four arms and swung them rapidly through the air to unleash a flurry of fist projections of its own, and a string of resounding booms rang out incessantly.
Before the shes between the golden and crimson fist projections had a chance to subside, an enormous figure sprang up into the air, then came crashing down upon the crimson giant like a mountain. Raised above the enormous figures head was a huge crimson longsword, which was also being swung down with tremendous force.
In response, the crimson giant raised two of its hands and made a grabbing motion to conjure up a huge crimson saber, which it used to parry the massive azure longsword.
A thunderous boom rang out as the azure sword struck the crimson saber, sending a burst of astonishing force crashing down. The crimson giant was forced to one knee, and the back of its huge saber had also sunk deep into the flesh on its shoulder.
At the same time, massive waves swept over the surface of the sea, and even countless fish and marine demon beasts that were situated thousands of kilometers away were killed from the force of the almighty blow.
After forcing the crimson giant to one knee, Han Li strode forward before stomping a foot down onto the giant''s chest.
Crimson light shed within the giant''s eyes, and a massive opening abruptly appeared on its chest, within which were countless jagged white fangs that closed in viciously around the giant ape''s leg like an enormous bear trap.
However, all it saw was a blur sh before its eyes, following which it was struck by a burst of sharp pain in the chest.
As it turned out, the white fangs in its chest didn''t even get a chance to open up before it was trodden on by the giant ape''s foot, instantly snapping several dozen of them.
Furthermore, such was the force behind the enormous ape''s stomp that a massive hole had sunken into the crimson giant''s chest.
The crimson giant threw up a mouthful of blood as it thrust its long saber upward with all its might while punching at the giant ape with its other two hands.
The giant ape didn''t back down, continuing to force its sword downward while retaliating with its four remaining fists.
The crimson giant''s two arms were no match for the ferocious barrage from the giant ape''s four arms, and it was beingprehensively dominated.
A string of loud thumps rang out, and all of the seawater down below was quivering incessantly with every single thump.
Before long, the crimson giant''s chest and arms had been pummeled into a mangled mass of flesh and blood, presenting a sorry sight to behold.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly reached out with two of his hands to grab onto the pair of arms that Zhong Luan was using to hold his saber. As a result, he was able to liberate his sword-wielding arms, and he pulled the sword back before shing it toward the crimson giant''s head.
The crimson giant was greatly rmed by this turn of events, and it immediately attempted to take evasive measures, but it was unable to go anywhere as it was being crushed under the giant ape''s weight.
A thunderous howl rang out as half of its head was cut off by the crimson longsword, and having lost its head, the crimson giant''s four arms instantly slumped down in a limp manner.
"Master!" the ck crane called out in rm from afar.
Never in all of its years by Zhong Luan''s side had it ever seen him be reduced to such a sorry state, and its eyes were filled with wariness as it cast its gaze toward Han Li.
All of a sudden, the giant ape raised a hand, and a burst of golden light appeared on its palm as it prepared tosh out at what remained of the crimson giant''s head.
However, all of a sudden, the crimson giant''s body suddenly dissolved into a puddle of viscous bloody sludge that enveloped three of the giant apes hands and one of its feet.
The sludge then immediately began to exert enormous suction force that locked those hands and that foot firmly into ce, making Han Li feel as if he had stepped into quicksand.
At the same time, a series of peculiar golden threads appeared within the sludge, resembling a school of fish that was swimming through it, and they were traveling toward the giant ape''s arms and leg.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart as he detected thew fluctuations emanating from these golden threads, and he hurriedly drew upon his immortal spiritual power with all his might to try and extricate his arms and leg, but he was only able to pull them out around 10 feet before they refused to budge any further.
At this point, the golden threads had already arrived and were piercing toward him like golden needles.
Despite theyer of purplish-golden scales that covered his entire body, the golden threads were still able to pierce into his flesh without any impediment.
As soon as the golden threads entered his body, Han Li was immediately struck by a numb sensation, immediately following which all of his immortal spiritual power began to surge out of his body in a frenzy like floodwaters through a broken dam.
All of those thin threads were like a series of wide rivers that were channeling his immense immortal spiritual power out of his body and into that huge puddle of bloody sludge.
Han Li struggled vigorously to try and break free, but with the rapid loss of immortal spiritual power, the light radiating from his body gradually turned dim, and he also shrank down rapidly in size.
In just a few moments, he had reverted back to his normal human form, and half of his body was trapped in the sludge.
He was stillpletely unable to move, but thankfully, the golden threads that were funneling his immortal spiritual power out of his body had also disappeared.
Prior to unleashing his Holy Nirvana Physique, he had already stowed away his Transient Guilt mask, and at this moment, his exposed face was slightly pale, while his brows were tightly furrowed.
Over 1,000 feet away from him, a part of the puddle of sludge began to surge like a wave, quickly manifesting the top half of Zhong Luan''s body, while the bottom half of his body was still fused with the sludge on the surface of the sea.
"I really did underestimate you. You''ve forced me to use the baleful spirit threads that took I''ve been umting over the course of tens of thousands of years. If I don''t manage to unearth all of your secrets, this will have been an extremely severe loss," Zhong Luan said in a cold voice.
Hisplexion wasn''t much better than Han Li''s, indicating that the immortal spiritual power that had been funneled away hadn''t been directed into his body.
"Whose orders are you acting under? Why do you insist on hunting me down at every turn?" Han Li asked with a cold look in his eyes.
At the same time, he had already summoned an Immortal Origin Stone, which he was holding in his hand that was concealed within the blood sludge, and he was quickly absorbing the immortal spiritual power inside.
"I don''t know whose instructions Fang Pan was acting under, but you should worry about yourself right now. How about you tell me why Fang Pan and the others were so eager to hunt you down? That would save me the effort of having to search your soul. The soul search technique that I use is rather unique, and I''m sure you wouldn''t like it," Zhong Luan said.
"It just so happens to be the case that I''ve always been quite interested in soul search techniques, so I actually wouldn''t mind seeing just what''s so unique about yours," Han Li replied as a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Fine. If you insist on being punished, then I''ll grant your wish," Zhong Luan harrumphed coldly.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he made a grabbing motion with one hand, and the long crimson saber appeared in his grasp.
Immediately thereafter, he began to slide rapidly toward Han Li like a wave, then raised the crimson saber in his hand, and all of the patterns on the de of the saber began to radiate dazzling crimson light before the saber was swung down upon Han Li.
Chapter 305: Pulling Out All the Stops
Chapter 305: Pulling Out All the Stops
Han Li clenched his fists tightly before raising them with all his might, but he couldn''t raise them at all, as if there were a pair of mountains strapped to them.
The crimson saber projection reached him in the blink of an eye, but right when it was no more than 100 feet away and was about to strike his head, it suddenly slowed down to a snail''s pace, as if it had sliced intoyers of extremely resilient golden fabric.
At the same time, Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light, and it was slowly revolving while the 40 or so lit Time Dao Runes on its surface were releasing circles of golden ripples.
Several hundred feet away, Zhong Luan could sense thew fluctuations emanating from the Mantra Treasured Axis, and he discovered that no matter how much force he exerted, he was unable to force the crimson saber projection down any faster.
A thought immediately urred to him, and his expression changed drastically as he eximed, "Could this be... the power of timews? Burn him to death! Hurry!"
Upon realizing that Han Li was able to wield timew powers, he immediately decided against trying not to harm Han Li''s soul, and he shifted his focus to taking down his opponent as quickly as possible.
The longer the battle wore on, the more he came to realize that Han Li wasn''t someone that he could enforce his will over as he pleased.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a shrill cry rang out in the sky, and the giant ck crane swooped down from the heavens while pping its wings vigorously to send a sea of scorching ck mes sweeping directly toward Han Li.
As soon as the ck mes entered the golden ripples, the speed of their descent also slowed down to a crawl, rendering them unable to get close to Han Li for the time being.
Right at this moment, a tiny fiery silver figure appeared on Han Li''s shoulder amid a sh of silver light, and it patted its own belly as it cast its gaze toward the oing sea of ck mes, looking as if it were eager to embrace the feast being offered.
"Go on," Han Li instructed, and the fiery silver figure instantly sprang up into the air, then transformed into a giant silver fire raven that flew directly toward the sea of ck mes.
At the same time, a vast expanse of silver mes emerged from its body as well to sh against the ck mes, while the silver fire raven itself pounced at the giant ck crane.
High up in the sky, a fierce battle ensued between the two huge birds, one silver and one ck, as they released bursts of mes out of their wings.
At this point, Zhong Luan''s expression had already be extremely grim. He continued to force his saber down with one hand while making a hand seal with the other before plunging it into the bloody sludge down below.
As soon as he did this, circles of runes instantly appeared out of thin air around his hand before spreading outward in all directions.
The bloody sludge on the surface of the sea instantly began to churn as massive waves were raised before sweeping toward Han Li, but they were also unable to escape the fate of being slowed down by Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis.
The giant crimson waves around Han Li resembled a series of tall crimson walls that surrounded him from all directions, and it seemed that he was able to deal with all of the oing attacks with ease, but in reality, he was struggling immensely.
He had exhausted too much of his immortal spiritual power, and even though he had been able to replenish some of it using an Immortal Origin Stone, he still wasn''t going to be able to support his Mantra Treasured Axis for long.
Han Li made a hand seal with one hand as he chanted an incantation, and a vast expanse of azure light instantly surged out of the bloody sludge down below.
Immediately thereafter, 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords appeared before traversing arduously through the sludge, releasing countless streaks of azure swordlight that intertwined to form a huge ball of azure light beneath him.
Immediately thereafter, an earth-shattering draconic roar rang out, and the ball of azure light beneath Han Li exploded violently as an azure coiled dragon rushed out before ascending straight toward the heavens.
Han Li was standing atop the dragon''s head, and thanks to the Azure Coil Sword Array, he was able to force his way out of the bloody sludge and rise up into the air.
He had only just steadied himself when the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him shrank down into a ball of golden light before flying back into his body.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he scrutinized Zhong Luan intently while flipping a hand over to produce an azure pill. After swallowing the pill, he summoned another Immortal Origin Stone, with which he began to replenish his immortal spiritual power while making a grabbing motion with his other hand.
The azure coiled dragon immediately split apart into 72 azure flying swords once again, then fused into a single azure longsword that flew into his grasp.
With the Mantra Treasured Axis gone, Zhong Luan was able to move at his normal speed again, and he mmed his hands down onto the bloody sludge below to raise an enormous wave that propelled him into the sky.
At the same time, he opened his mouth to release a translucent crimson thread that shot into the palm of his hand.
The flesh on his hand was instantly exposed before slowly squirming as it fused itself into one with the crimson saber in his hand, and a pained look appeared on his face as he gave an involuntary groan.
At the same time, the patterns on the surface of the crimson saber in his hand began to bulge like veins while pulsing incessantly, as if it really were a living creature with blood coursing through its veins.
Zhong Luan''s body was still fused with the bloody sludge down below, and a series of cobweb-like golden patterns had lit up all over his body, extending all the way down into the crimson sea below.
As the veins on the crimson saber continued to pulse, the bloody sludge in the sea began to turn into pure baleful blood qi that flowed into the saber through these golden veins.
As a result, the saber swelled to around twice its original size, and it was giving off extremely formidablew fluctuations while the baleful blood qi emanating from it filled virtually the entire area of the sea.
By the time Zhong Lan was no more than 1,000 feet away from Han Li, all of the bloody sludge below him hadpletely flowed into his crimson saber, but the veins on the de were still pulsing incessantly, as if it were yet to be satiated.
His muscles began to slowly atrophy, and his cheeks also became sunken, making it appear as if the crimson saber were sucking him dry.
"Die!" Zhong Luan roared as he swung his crimson saber through the air in a circle, causing the surrounding space to tremble violently while unleashing a vast expanse of saber projections that swept toward Han Li.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face as he tightened his grip around his longsword, but instead of defending himself, he yelled, "Let heaven and earth be turned on their heads!"
The orientation of the sky and the sea was instantly flipped, with the boundless sea taking the ce of the sky, while the cloudy sky appeared down below, presenting an extremely bizarre sight to behold.
This was naturally quite jarring to Zhong Luan, and it was very difficult for him to process exactly what had happened in a short time.
All he could see was that his all-out sh was suddenly being directed toward the sea, which was theplete opposite direction to where Han Li was.
He immediately gritted his teeth and forcibly changed the trajectory of his sh, wrenching his crimson saber upward so that his attack would be back on track.
The massive saber projection unleashed by the crimson saber was glowing with golden light and emanating formidable baleful blood qi as it tore Han Li''s body in half down the middle.
More saber projections immediately followed in a relentless barrage, and only after unleashing over 300 shes did Zhong Luan finally exhaust all of the baleful blood qi in his crimson saber.
A string of resounding booms rang out as crimson light exploded in the air, and the clouds churned violently, while the surrounding space also shuddered incessantly.
"There''s no way you''re not dead after that!" Zhong Luan chortled, and at this point, the saber in his hand had already reverted back to its original ck color.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the sound of someone snapping their fingers rang out in the sky, and heaven and earth were immediately restored to their original orientation.
The sky was still filled with dark clouds, but a deep trench that was several hundred kilometers in length had appeared in the sea down below, within which crimson baleful qi was surging incessantly, parting the seawater like a miraculous act of the gods.
Zhong Luan''s entire body instantly stiffened upon seeing this, and he slowly shifted his gaze upward with an incredulous expression, where Han Li was standing with a mocking sneer on his face,pletely unscathed.
"How..." Zhong Luan murmured to himself.
.
Han Li''s sneer grew even wider upon hearing this, and he eagerly rubbed some more salt into Zhong Luan''s wounds. "Everything you saw just now was nothing more than an illusion."
The all-out attack that he had just unleashed had exhausted virtually all of his immortal origin stones and baleful blood qi, leaving him unfit for further battle. In contrast, Han Li had taken advantage of this opportunity to replenish arge chunk of his immortal spiritual power through the use of Immortal Origin Stones.
At this point, it seemed like the oue of the battle was already decided.
"Don''t think you''ve won just yet!"
A vicious look appeared in Zhong Luan''s eyes as he raised an arm, and the ck saber, which had already detached itself from his body, was sent hurtling rapidly toward Han Li.
In response, Han Lished out with his azure longsword to strike the ck saber, but in the instant that the two des shed, a tiny crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the ck saber amid a sh of crimson light.
Han Li immediately tried to stay his sword upon seeing this, but it was already toote.
A resounding boom rang out as a crimson sun that was over 10,000 feet in size rose up over the surface of the sea, radiating incredibly dazzling crimson light.
In the next instant, a burst of devastating shockwaves erupted in all directions, sweeping up enormous waves that swept over the surface of the sea down below.
Having just detonated his bonded treasure, Zhong Luan threw up a mouthful of blood, then crushed a ck jade pendant that he was already holding in his hand.
A cloud of ck mist surged out of the crushed jade pendant to envelop his body, and he vanished on the spot right before the waves arrived.
Chapter 306: Avoiding Trouble
Chapter 306: Avoiding Trouble
Meanwhile, high up in the sky tens of thousand of kilometers away, Zhong Luan''s giant ck crane steed let loose a sharp cry, sending a wave of scorching ck mes sweeping toward the giant silver fire raven situated over 10,000 feet away.
Immediately thereafter, it turned toward the direction where the crimson sun had just exploded with a hint of lingering fear in its eyes.
Thankfully, it had been chased all the way here by the silver fire raven. Otherwise, just the shockwaves from that explosion alone would''ve been almost too much for it to withstand.
In the face of the oing wave of ck mes, the silver fire raven pped its wings vigorously to release a series of balls of silver light, which exploded one after another into silver mes to destroy the approaching ck mes.
A hint of wariness shed through the ck crane''s eyes, and it jeered, "Cease your futile resistance, your master is already dead!"
The silver fire raven faltered slightly upon hearing this, then let loose a sharp cry as the silver mes around its body swelled up before forming a giant fireball that wasunched through the air, absorbing all of the scorching ck mes in its path.
The ck crane had no intention of continuing this battle any longer, and it swooped down from the sky while the silver fire raven was obstructed by its ck mes.
All of a sudden, it changed directions in its flight, and a cloud of ck mist appeared in the air tens of thousands of feet away in that direction.
Zhong Luan then stumbled out of the ck mist beforending on the ck crane''s back right as it was flying past.
"We have to get away from here! Hurry!" Zhong Luan yelled in an urgent voice as soon as hended on the ck crane''s back.
The ck crane didn''t dare to dy, and it immediately pped its wings vigorously to fly away.
However, right at this moment, countless arcs of golden lightning intertwined in the air up ahead over 10,000 feet away, immediately following which a golden lightning array that was several dozen feet in size appeared.
Han Li then emerged amid a tumbling thunderp with an azure longsword that was crackling with arcs of golden lightning, which he swung down upon Zhong Luan.
A hint of despair appeared in Zhong Luan''s eyes at the sight of Han Li. He had just detonated his bonded treasure, yet it hadn''t managed to harm Han Li at all.
He made a grabbing motion in front of his own chest, and a translucent round shield instantly flew out before situating itself in front of him.
At the same time, what little remained of the baleful blood qi in his body surged forth to manifest a suit of crimson armor.
Before the spirit patterns on the suit of armor had a chance topletely take shape, the azure longsword had already arrived.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as several dozen bolts of golden lightning erupted from the surface of the crimson shield, dancing through the air like whips of the lightning gods.
.
A string of crackling rang out incessantly, and an acrid charred odor wafted through the air.
Immediately thereafter, a faint crack rang out, and the crimson shield in front of Zhong Luan was shattered, following which Han Li''s longsword came shing down.
All of a sudden, a burst of azure light appeared in front of Zhong Luan''s forehead. The azure light wasing from his copper headgear, and it was able to stop Han Li''s sword in its tracks.
Han Li let loose a loud roar as golden scales appeared over his arms, and he forced his azure longsword down with all his might.
At the same time, arcs of azure lightning erupted out of the runes on the sword toplement its attack.
"No!"
Zhong Luan let loose an indignant roar as the copper headgear on his head cracked open.
Without anything left to oppose it, Han Li''s longsword came crashing down to slice Zhong Luan''s head into two, and the ck crane began to plummet toward the sea as if it had been dealt a heavy blow.
Right as it was about tond in the sea, it suddenly pped its wings and increased its altitude before flying away into the distance.
Without even requiring an instruction from Han Li, the Essence Fire Raven immediately set off in pursuit.
Meanwhile, Han Li grabbed onto Zhong Luan''s cor to catch his lifeless body, and after sweeping his spiritual sense over Zhong Luan''s remains, his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
Right at this moment, the shockwaves from the explosion of the crimson sun arrived, and even they were less than a thousandth as powerful as they would''ve been at the epicenter of the explosion, they still swept past Han Li as gusts of fierce wind, evoking within him a sense of lingering fear.
He had only noticed that something was wrong in the instant that the ck saber exploded, and it was already toote for him to defend himself. In that dire situation, all he could do was call upon his Mantra Treasured Axis again to dy the explosion of the crimson sun for a brief moment, and that window of opportunity allowed him to unleash his Reversal True Axis ability to escape.
After that, he used his spiritual sense to determine Zhong Luan''s location, then chased him down with his lightning teleportation array.
All of a sudden, a burst of ck light shed in Zhong Luan''s right sleeve, and a ck nascent soul wearing a transparent cloak flew out from within, then instantly vanished from the spot with a sh of ck light.
However, immediately thereafter, a loud explosion rang out, and the nascent soul stumbled out of thin air several thousand feet away amid a burst of violent spatial fluctuations.
It turned around with a horrified expression to find Han Li looking at it in an expressionless manner with a vertical ck eye on his be.
"The Law Destruction Eye..."
Zhong Luan''s heart was plunged intoplete despair.
Before the nascent soul had a chance to get away again, Han Li shed his sword through the air to unleash a streak of azure sword light, which swept up Zhong Luan''s nascent soul and the transparent cloak that it was wearing before tearing both to shreds.
Even after Zhong Luan''s nascent soul waspletely vanquished, Han Li still made sure to inspect the surrounding area carefully with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
Only after verifying that not even the slightest hint of Zhong Luan''s aura remained did he withdraw his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, following which he stowed Zhong Luan''s storage bracelet away before setting off in pursuit of the ck crane.
At this point, the silver fire raven had already caught up to the ck crane, and it had formed a massive ring of silver mes to trap the ck crane inside.
The ck crane was struggling with all its might to escape, but to no avail.
Never could it have imagined that its master would be defeated by such an ordinary-looking young man, yet this was the undeniable reality, and it had no choice but to believe it.
With Han Li closing in at a rapid rate, the ck crane hurriedly yelled in a panicked voice, "Spare me, Senior! I''m a primordial bird with an innate mastery over fire-attributews! If you spare my life, I''m willing to ept you as my master! Also, I know a lot of Zhong Luan''s secrets!"
However, Han Li paid no heed to the ck crane''s desperate pleas for mercy, and he made a hand seal with one hand while plunging his azure longsword straight down with his other hand.
A massive sword projection that was over 1,000 feet in length erupted out of the tip of the sword, piercing through the ck crane''s head in an instant.
The ck crane let loose an anguished howl before plummeting toward the sea, followed closely by Han Li, who reached down to pluck its nascent soul out of its head.
The nascent soul was a projection of a tiny ck crane, and it was struggling with all its might in Han Li''s grasp with a horrified look on its face.
The Essence Fire Raven swooped down and transformed into a fiery silver child thatnded on Han Li''s shoulder, and there was a clear look of yearning in its eyes as it gazed upon the ck crane''s nascent soul.
"You can have it soon," Han Li reassured with a smile, then closed his eyes as a burst of azure light emerged from his hand to envelop the nascent soul.
A short whileter, Han Li slowly opened his eyes with a series of mixed emotions in his heart.
The ck crane didn''t have many memories that contained information on Fang Pan, but from what little memories pertaining to Fang Pan that it did have, Han Li could tell that Zhong Luan was telling the truth in that he didn''t know who had instructed Fang Pan toe after him.
In the ck crane''s memories, Han Li also saw that earthy yellow pce situated in the vast desert, as well as the ck chains that littered the entire floor of the pce, and he immediately thought of the Origin Separation Law Chains.
He saw therge ck chair at the center of the pce and a figure dressed in the white cloak seated on the chair, but no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to make out the figure''s facial features.
The ck crane seemed to have been extremely fearful of this person, to the point that it didn''t even dare to look directly at him.
After a brief moment of silence, Han Li tossed the ck crane''s nascent soul to the fiery silver child, then flew onto the ck crane''s back to recover Zhong Luan''s storage bracelet, among other items.
The fiery silver child gleefully epted the ck crane''s nascent soul, eagerly devouring it whole.
A burst of light then began to glow through its round little belly, as if there were a scorching me burning in its stomach.
After extracting the ck crane''s demon core, Han Li turned back to the Essence Fire Raven to find that after devouring the ck crane''s nascent soul, it was beginning to stumble around as if it were drunk.
However, through their spiritual connection, he could sense that it was fine, and he made his way over to the fiery silver child before plucking it up with one hand and withdrawing it back into his body.
After that, he pulled out a pill and devoured it, then cast his gaze back toward the Holy Puppet Sect with a contemtive look on his face.
Given the situation that he had witnessed earlier, the Holy Puppet Sect was most likely beyond saving, so if he were to go back, he would''ve only been risking his own safety for no reason.
Furthermore, he had only been hired by the Holy Puppet Sect for protection, and he certainly wasn''t going to risk his life for the sect.
On top of that, Zhong Luan had ventured into the Holy Puppet Sect''s restricted area prior to his, and even though he didn''t know what Zhong Luan''s objective was, now that he had in Zhong Luan, going back to the Holy Puppet Sect would''ve only spelled trouble.
As for the reward for this mission, he was happy to leave it. After all, he had reaped a great deal of spoils from killing several True Immortal cultivators on this mission, and those spoils were more than enoughpensation.
With that in mind, he took one final nce in the direction of the Holy Puppet Sect before flying away as a streak of azure light.
Chapter 307: Immortal Puppet
Chapter 307: Immortal Puppet
The seasons passed, and over a year flew by in a sh.
On this day, a streak of azure light descended onto the Crimson Dawn Peak, then faded to reveal Han Li.
He hadn''t made any effort to conceal himself, so it didn''t take long before all of the servants in his cave abode were assembled to see him in the courtyard, but Meng Yungui and Sun Buzheng weren''t among them.
"When did you get back, Qianqian?" Han Li asked as he swept his gaze over the eight servants.
"I only got back less than a month ago. Here are some spirit medicine seeds found by my brother and Brother Sun, they asked me to pass the seeds onto you," Meng Qianqian said as she handed Han Li a storage pouch.
Han Li epted the storage pouch, then flipped a hand over to produce three more storage pouches that he offered to Meng Qianqian as he said, "Good. If you get the chance to meet them, pass these spirit stones and pills onto them. Also, you can distribute these pills among everyone in my stead."
Meng Qianqian epted the storage pouches as she nodded in response. "Yes, Elder Li!"
"Has anything of note happened on our Crimson Dawn Peak or in the sect during the past few years I''ve been away?" Han Li asked.
"Everything has been fine on our Crimson Dawn Peak, and not much has happened in the sect, either. However, I''ve heard that a Golden Immortal Stage dao lord will being out of seclusion soon and will be preaching about the Great Dao, but the spots are very limited, and generally speaking, only direct disciples are entitled to attend," Meng Qianqian replied with a hint of longing in her eyes.
The same expression was mirrored on the faces of all of the other servants, but at the same time, they were also looking a little dejected. After all, they would''ve been sure to benefit immensely from hearing the preaching of a Golden Immortal, but they knew that True Immortal servants like them had no chance of being allowed to attend.
"While it''s true that hearing the preaching of a powerful cultivator is a brilliant opportunity, everyone''s cultivation path is different. You can listen to the experiences of others, but ultimately, you have to figure things out for yourself. In order to a fulfill the Great Dao, you must forge a path of your own, do you understand?" Han Li asked.
Meng Qianqian faltered slightly upon hearing this before nodding in response, and the disappointment in the eyes of all of the servants immediately faded.
"Alright, if there''s nothing else you have to report, then you can all go for now," Han Li said with a dismissive wave.
Meng Qianqian and the others extended a collective bow before departing.
Meanwhile, Han Li remained standing on the spot for a while before entering his cave abode, and after activating all of the restrictions, he made his way into his secret chamber before sitting down with his legs crossed.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he summoned a trio of storage treasures, which he had obtained from the three True Immortals that he had in back at the Holy Puppet Sect.
Prior to this, he had been focused solely on making the return journey, so he didn''t get the chance to examine his spoils. Now that he had finally returned to his cave abode, he was naturally eager to see what he had obtained.
With that in mind, Han Li picked up a storage bracelet before emptying all of its contents, which spilled out onto the floor.
However, after a quick inspection, his brows furrowed slightly in disappointment.
These were the belongings of the burly man who had attempted to fight Han Li on his own, and he was so impoverished that his belongings consisted only of a few materials and spirit medicines, as well as several ordinary spirit treasures. Aside from that, there were only around a dozen Immortal Origin Stones, a pile of spirit stones, and some other misceneous items.
Given how impoverished he was, it was no wonder that he was willing to risk his life for that Ubiquitous Pavilion mission.
Han Li could onlyment his own ill-fortune, but nevertheless, he still patiently categorized everything before stowing them away into his own storage bracelet. After that, he picked up the thin old man''s storage treasure before emptying its contents as well.
This time, he was much more pleased with what he saw.
The majority of the old man''s belongings consisted of materials of a high caliber. In particr, there were several crimson crystals around the size of human heads, and they were giving off fiery red radiance, as if they were red-hot chunks of metal.
These crimson crystals were filled with extremely abundant spiritual qi, and there were fiery patterns on their surface that were giving off fire-attributew fluctuations, indicating that it was a type of material that containedw powers.
Aside from that, there were also around a dozen treasures, most of which were spirit treasures, as well as several vials of pills, over 500 Immortal Origin Stones, and arge pile of spirit stones.
Han Li stowed these items away as well before turning to Zhong Luan''s storage bracelet, which he had saved for the finale.
He had already anticipated that Zhong Luan was most likely going to be quite wealthy, but he was still astonished by what he saw after emptying out the storage bracelet''s contents.
There were countless types of spirit materials and spirit medicines, some of which containedw powers, and setting aside the spirit treasures, pills, and scriptures for now, there were around 5,000 to 6,000 Immortal Origin Stones as well.
The spiritual light radiating from all of the Immortal Origin Stones illuminated the entire secret chamber, and with all of this, in addition to everything that he had saved up thus far, he would most likely have sufficient funds to support his own cultivation for the next few centuries.
Han Li immediately stowed the Immortal Origin Stones away before slowly sorting through the rest.
"Origin Separation Treasured Scripture?"
Han Li faltered slightly after injecting his spiritual sense into a white jade slip, and a thought immediately urred to him, following which he hurriedly began to inspect the jade slip''s contents.
By the time he removed the jade slip from his forehead, over two hours had already passed by.
The initial section of the jade slip contained a devilish True Immortal Stage cultivation art of a very high caliber by the name of the Origin Separation Yin Devil Arts. It was said that one could cultivate this cultivation art to the High Zenith Stage, and it was no lesser in rarity than his Mantra Axis Scripture.
However, no matter how formidable this cultivation art was, there was no way that Han Li would abandon the Mantra Axis Scripture for it. What he was more interested in were the secret techniques recorded in thetter section of the jade slip. In particr, there was a secret technique that allowed one to conceal their aura by sealing themselves, and that was very intriguing to Han Li.
However, these secret techniques were very difficult to grasp, and they weren''t something that he could master anytime soon.
With that in mind, Han Li stowed the jade slip away before continuing to sort through everything else.
"Hmm? What''s this?"
All of a sudden, Han Li spotted a strange-looking yellow ball among the treasures. It had a diameter of roughly half a foot, and there were numerous profound yellow patterns engraved onto its surface, giving it quite a mysterious appearance.
The ball had been buried under some materials earlier, so he hadn''t noticed it initially. Furthermore, there were several white talismans adhered to the ball''s surface, seemingly acting as a seal.
Han Li brought the ball closer to his eyes for inspection, but was still not able to see anything special about it.
Furthermore, it wasn''t giving off any energy or aura fluctuations, and it didn''t appear to have been a treasure.
After a moment of contemtion, he decided to try and examine the item using his spiritual sense.
However, as soon as his spiritual sense came into contact with the ball, the talismans adhered to its surface immediately began to emit dazzling white light that formed a covert array that was invisible to the naked eye, keeping his spiritual sense at bay.
Han Li was rather intrigued to see this, and he began to carefully examine these talismans.
While it was true that these talismans were quite remarkable, it was clear that someone had ced them down in a hurry, and given Han Li''s mastery in talismans, it wasn''t going to be difficult for him to remove them.
After a brief pause, he made a hand seal and cast a series of incantation seals into the talismans while opening his mouth to release a burst of azure mes that enveloped the golden ball.
Momentster, several dull thumps rang out in session as all of the white talismans disintegrated into specks of white light that were devoured by the azure mes.
In the next instant, circles of spirit patterns appeared on the golden ball''s surface, immediately following which beams of yellow light began to radiate from the yellow ball, making it appear as dazzling as the sun.
The restrictions in the secret chamber immediately reacted, and countless azure runes appeared on the walls, forming an azure light barrier that attempted to contain the yellow light, but it was able to quickly pierce through the light barrier.
Han Li was rather taken aback by this, and he made another hand seal to activate all of the restrictions around the cave abode, conjuring up light barriers of different colors to envelop the entire cave abode.
The dazzling yellow light continued to proliferate outward, and it was able to pierce through several moreyers of restrictions, but was ultimately intercepted.
A faint crack rang out from the yellow ball, following which a series of bulges appeared on its surface, and it rapidly began to swell in size and transform.
In the span of just a few seconds, the ball transformed into a yellow-robed middle-aged man with an authoritative appearance who appeared to have been in his thirties.
This is... an immortal puppet!
The yellow-robed man had an earthy yellowplexion that was giving off a faint metallic gleam, it was giving off an immortal spiritual aura, much like a humanoid immortal treasure, much like Daoist Xie''s past form.
Han Li suppressed the excitement in his heart as his gaze fell upon the yellow robe worn by the puppet.
Some of the designs on the yellow robe were ones that he had seen on many past asions on other puppets in the Holy Puppet Sect, leading him to wonder if this puppet was also from the same sect.
With that in mind, he immediately thought back to when he first encountered Zhong Luan outside the Holy Puppet Sect''s restricted area, and it urred to him that this was most likely the very thing that Zhong Luan had ventured into the restricted area to obtain.
He had always been quite interested in puppets, and if this really were a True Immortal Stage puppet, then this would be a massive haul in itself.
Thus, Han Li immediately cast an incantation seal into the puppet''s body, and two specks of light emerged in the puppet''s eyes, while ayer of yellow light surfaced over its skin.
Immediately thereafter, a mountainous aura erupted forth, causing the surrounding spae and the entire cave abode to tremble violently.
Chapter 308: Modifications
Chapter 308: Modifications
Han Li was watching all of this unfold with a calm expression, but internally, he was nowhere near as calm as he looked.
However, the disturbance onlysted less than a second before abruptly subsiding, and the light radiating from the puppet''s body faded, as did the enormous aura it had disyed.
Han Li exhaled as a stunned look shed through his eyes.
The enormous aura that had just erupted out of the puppet''s body had been extremely formidable, and he was unable to gauge exactly how powerful it was, but he was certain that it was beyond the True Immortal Stage.
With that in mind, Han Li had to suppress his excitement once again as he made another hand seal.
However, this time, no matter what he tried, the puppet disyed no further reaction.
After some contemtion, Han Li closed his eyes and released his spiritual sense to inspect the puppet''s internal makeup.
A short whileter, he withdrew his spiritual sense out of the puppet''s body, then opened his eyes with an uncertain look on his face.
He had nevere into contact with an immortal puppet before, but given his expertise in the art of puppetry, he had already managed to track down the core area of the puppet, but to his surprise, the area was empty.
Aside from that, the entire puppet was missing an energy source, so the reaction it had just disyed was most likely only from a tiny amount of residual energy left in its body.
By his estimates, it was most likely going to require an enormous amount of Immortal Origin Stones to operate this puppet.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he flipped a hand over to produce the golden ball that was Daoist Xie''s core.
Han Li made a hand seal and cast an incantation seal into the ball, and it quickly transformed into a palm-sized golden crab amid a sh of golden light. The crab clutched at its own head with its pincers and shook it around a little, then stood up in a rather unsteady fashion.
The crab then cast its gaze toward Han Li as it asked in a slow voice, "What is it, Fellow Daoist Han? Why have you..."
It had been in a state of slumber ever since its return, and even now, it was still rather groggy and lethargic.
However, its voice suddenly trailed off as it turned around to stare intently at the yellow-robed puppet behind it.
"That''s an immortal puppet, and a linked puppet, at that! This is truly a rare find!" Daoist Xie murmured to itself with golden light glowing in its eyes.
It flew up from Han Li''s hand as it spoke andnded on the puppet, crawling joyfully up and down its body while touching the puppet with its pincers.
All the while, Han Li merely looked on in silence.
Only after a full 15 minutes had passed did Daoist Xie stop what it was doing before turning to Han Li as it asked, "Where did you obtain this immortal puppet from, Fellow Daoist Han? I can tell you that it''s a puppet of a very high caliber."
There was a clear hint of excitement in its voice.as it spoke.
"That''s a long story, but this puppet should have some close ties with a sect known as the Holy Puppet Sect," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.
"Holy Puppet Sect... I''ve never heard of such a sect before," Daoist Xie murmured to itself before turning back to inspect the puppet again.
"By the way, what did you mean by linked puppet just now, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked.
"Linked puppets are a very rare type of puppet. Generally speaking, once a puppet is refined, its power will be set at a certain level, and there''s very limited potential for growth. However, linked puppets are different in that theirbat prowess depends on the power of the spiritual sense of its user, as well as its degree of affinity to the user. To put it in simpler terms, it functions much like a treasure," Daoist Xie exined.
"I see. It seems like you''re very interested in this puppet. Is it something that you can use?" Han Li asked.
"I haven''t had a chance to fully examine the puppet yet, but it''s an earth-attribute puppet, so generally speaking, only someone who''s using an earth-attribute cultivation art will be able to use it. If you can reach the peak level of affinity with it, it should be able to disy mid-Golden Immortal Stage power," Daoist Xie replied.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "You possess lightning-attribute powers, so..."
"That''s right, I won''t be able to use this linked puppet," Daoist Xie confirmed with a nod.
/p>
"I see," Han Li replied with a hint of disappointment in his eyes.
While he possessed sufficiently formidable spiritual sense to use the puppet, he wasn''t very adept in any earth-attribute cultivation arts, so even if he were to use the puppet, he wouldn''t be able to use it to its full power.
Daoist Xie was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Having said that, if you give me a suitable environment and sufficient resources, it may not be entirely impossible."
An ted look appeared on Han Li''s face as he hurriedly asked, "What do you need, Brother Xie? I''ll do my best to provide you with the right conditions."
If Daoist Xie could sessfully control this puppet, then he would have a Golden Immortal Stage ally on his side.
"Firstly, I''ll need a lightning array. The array isn''t veryplicated to set up, but it requires something that can continuously provide lightning power as its core, and that is the key that''ll decide whether the modification will be sessful. On top of that, I also require arge sum of Immortal Origin Stones and lightning-attribute top-grade spirit stones to ensure that the modification process isn''t interrupted for even a single moment," Daoist Xie said.
It opened its mouth to spit out a small golden jade slip as it spoke, and the jade slip flew toward Han Li, who caught it before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
The jade slip contained the method required to set up a lightning array, and just as Daoist Xie said, it wasn''t veryplicated.
Aside from that, in order to maintain the array, close to 1,000 Immortal Origin Stones and a huge sum of lightning-attribute top-grade spirit stones were required. It seemed like a massive cost, but it was no problem with Han Li''s current wealth.
"Alright, I''ll be able to set up everything for you in seven days at the very most," Han Li said after a brief moment of contemtion.
Daoist Xie wasn''t all that surprised to hear this, and it replied, "it looks like you''ve done quite well for yourself since your return to the Immortal Realm, Follow Daoist Han. In that case, I''ll be counting on you."
¡¡
Several dayster.
Countless purple veins had been engraved onto the floor of the secret chamber, forminga?rge circr array. The yellow-robed puppet wasying t on a certain point in the array, around which were standing eight lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood.
Array patterns had also been engraved onto the lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood, and there were arcs of purple lightning shing asionally over their surface.
At the very center of the lightning array was an indentation, within which was embedded a round purple crystal. This was none other than the m jewel that he had obtained from that giant m while crossing the Thunderstorm Sea.
At this moment, Han Li was standing at the entrance of his secret chamber with Daoist xie perched on his shoulder.
He made a hand seal with both hands to cast a string of incantation seals into the purple m bead at the center of the array, and thunderps rang out one after another as all of the array patterns on the ground began to glow with dazzling radiance.
Countless arcs of purple lightning emerged from the array before springing up into the air to resemble a nest of wildly dancing lightning snakes.
In the blink of an eye, the entire secret chamber was transformed into a world of purple lightning.
"What do you think of this array, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked.
"You''ve done very well, Fellow Daoist Han. In particr, that crystal at the center of the array is very remarkable, and it seems to be holding an enormous amount of lightning power," Daoist Xie remarked as it pointed a pincer at the purple m bead.
Han Li gave Daoist Xie a recount of how he hade into possession of the m bead, and after hearing the story, Daoist Xie said, "Prior to this, I only had a 30% chance of sess, but with this setup, the chance of sess has increased to 50%."
After that, he crouched down before springing into the lightning array as a streak of golden light.
Countless arcs of lightning sprang out of all parts of the array before converging toward Daoist Xie, while dazzling golden lightning appeared over its body.
In the blink of an eye, it had beenpletely enveloped in a ball of golden lightning, following which it descended toward the yellow-robed puppet''s chest.
The ball of golden lightning vanished into the puppet''s chest in a sh, and the puppet''s body shuddered as dazzling yellow light appeared over its skin, while arcs of lightning crackled around its chest.
The purple lightning in the array was drawn to the puppet''s chest before fusing as one with it, and the lightning immediately began to spread toward other parts of the puppet''s body.
The lightning immediately began to sh against the yellow light on the yellow-robed puppet''s body, and explosions rang out asionally, causing the entire secret chamber to shudder along with the lightning array.
Han Li was standing at the entrance, watching everything unfolding inside the secret chamber with a hint of anticipation in his eyes.
ording to Daoist Xie, the fusion process could take several decades or even over a century. The m bead contained more than enough lightning power to support this process, and Han Li had prepared a sufficient number of Immortal Origin Stones and lightning-attribute top-grade spirit stones as well when setting up the array.
"Hopefully everything goes well," Han Li murmured to himself, then left the secret chamber and closed the door before setting up a restriction.
Before long, he had already sat down with his legs crossed in another secret chamber.
Now that he had set up everything that Daoist Xie needed, it was time for him to consider his own situation.
With all of the Immortal Origin Stones he had umted thus far, there should''ve been enough to support his cultivation for the next few centuries, barring any mishaps.
However, that encounter with Zhong Luan on this trip to the Holy Puppet Sect was one that struck a great deal of wariness into his heart.
Even though he had managed to y Zhong Luan in battle, it was clear from the ck crane''s memories that this was far from the end of the matter.
ording to what Zhong Luan had said, even if their encounter hadn''t taken ce in the Holy Puppet Sect, Zhong Luan had been nning to search for him on the Ancient Cloud Continent anyway, so he wasn''t necessarily safe just because he was in the ze Dragon Dao.
There was no guarantee that the enemy wouldn''t pursue him to the ze Dragon Dao, and he had to consider what he was going to do if Fang Pan and Zhong Luan''s master or some other formidable enemy came after him.
Chapter 309: Progressing to the Late-True Immortal Stage
Chapter 309: Progressing to the Late-True Immortal Stage
With that in mind, Han Li swept a hand through the air, and the remaining lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood in his possession appeared on the ground before him, along with some other lightning-attribute spirit materials.
Around a monthter.
Han Li was seated in the main hall in the courtyard outside the cave abode, sipping on a cup of spirit tea with a contemtive look in his eyes.
Momentster, Meng Qianqian made her way into the room.
"Elder Li."
"Qianqian, I called you here because I have something important I need you to do for me," Han Li said as he set down his teacup with a serious expression.
Meng Qianqian faltered slightly upon hearing this, then puffed out her chest as she replied, "Please go ahead, Elder Li."
"Don''t be so tense, it''s not that serious," Han Li said with a smile, then pulled out a storage tool that he handed to Meng Qianqian.
Meng Qianqian epted the storage tool before injecting her spiritual sense into it, following which she looked up at Han Li with a hint of befuddlement in her eyes.
Han Li said something to her through voice transmission, and a grim look appeared on her face.
"Is that too difficult a task?" Han Li asked.
"Rest assured, Elder Li, I''ll get it done even if it costs me my life!" Meng Qianqian assured with a serious expression.
"Good, but do be careful, and don''t let anyone else know about this," Han Li instructed.
"Yes, Elder Li," Meng Qianqian replied with a respectful curtsey, then departed from the room, flying away as a streak of crimson light.
Han Li stood at the entrance of his cave abode, watching as the streak of crimson light vanished into the distance before also flying away himself as a streak of azure light.
Only after two months did he return to the Crimson Dawn Peak, and during this time, he had sold most of the materials, spirit medicines, and treasures that he had obtained from the Holy Puppet Sect in batches for Immortal Origin Stones.
He had also purchased arge supply of ingredients required for the pills that he was going to refine, and havingpleted all of these preparations, he returned to his cave abode, then activated all of the restrictions before making his way into the secret chamber.
On the way there, a thought suddenly urred to him, and he made his way to his medicine garden instead, specifically to the corner where the primary bean had been nted.
To his surprise, he discovered that the seedling that had sprouted out of the primary bean had be several inches taller than before.
It had taken the primary a very long time to germinate, but ever since then, its rate of growth had be a lot faster.
As the seedling developed, the golden patterns on it had be a lot darker, but as for whether this supposed mutation was positive or negative, that was still yet to be seen.
In any case, after witnessing the Dao Warriors in action back at the Holy Puppet Sect, he was very much looking forward to acquiring his own Dao Warriors.
With that in mind, Han Li pulled out his Heaven Controlling Vial before handing it to the nearby giant ape puppet, then made his way back to his secret chamber.
Up to this point, all of the errands had been taken care of, and he exhaled as he flipped a hand over to produce a silver pill cauldron, which he set down at the center of the secret chamber.
After that, he summoned the Essence Fire Raven with a sweep of his sleeve, which descended near the cauldron as a fiery silver figure.
After devouring and absorbing the ck crane''s nascent soul, the Essence Fire Raven''s aura had clearly be more powerful than before, and its facial features had also be a bit more exuberant and expressive.
It seemed to have been aware of why it had been summoned, and after quickly flying in a circle around the cauldron, its round cheeks bulged, following which it sted arge plume of silver mes out of its mouth to envelop the underside of the cauldron.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already prepared all of the pill refinement ingredients that he had purchased into batches, and he sat down with his legs crossed.
¡¡
Several yearster.
The silver mes beneath the cauldron subsided, and the fiery silver figure jumped onto Han Li''s shoulder, where it sat down in an obedient manner.
There was a rather weary look on Han Li''s face as he cast an incantation seal through the air, and a faint pop rang out as the lid of the silver cauldron flew up, following which a rich medicinal aroma instantly filled the entire secret chamber.
After taking a whiff of the aroma, a pleased look appeared on Han Li''s face, and he made a grabbing motion to draw around a dozen longan-sized white pills out of the cauldron. All of the pills were emanating faint wisps of white mist, giving them quite a profound and remarkable appearance.
The white pills fell into a white jade vial that had been prepared earlier, and at this point, there were already over 100 of these vials ced beside Han Li.
"That should be about enough," Han Li murmured to himself, then swept a sleeve through the air to stow the silver cauldron and the Essence Fire Raven away before closing his eyes to meditate.
He was going to prime himself into the best possible condition before going into seclusion.
Over 200 years flew by in the blink of an eye, and the Crimson Dawn Peak had been closed to the outside this entire time.
During this time, the ze Dragon Dao weed itsrgest bout of snowfall in the past 500 years,sting several months.
Not only were all of the northern branches of the entire Bell Toll Mountain Range covered in a nket of snow, the same applied to the majority of the mountain range''s southern branches as well, and that included the Crimson Dawn Peak.
On this day, the snowfall finally subsided to reveal clear, blue skies, and Han Li''s servants began to clear away the snow around the cave abode, led by Meng Xiong.
There were very few people on the Crimson Dawn Peak to begin with, and Meng Yungui and the others were yet to return from their outings. In particr, in the absence of Meng Qianqian, it was very quiet, and even the calls of the birds were particrly clear and audible.
After all of the snow in front of the entrance of the cave abode had been cleared away, everyone went to the spirit medicine fields, which were protected by restrictions and arrays, but the snow there still had to be cleared away. Otherwise, the melting snow would result in excessive water that would drown the nts.
All of a sudden, the entire Crimson Dawn Peak abruptly shuddered, and an enormous pir of golden light erupted straight into the heavens from the cave abode. All of the world''s origin qi in a radius of thousands of kilometers rippled violently, forming an enormous cloud that revolveD around the Crimson Dawn Peak.
Spiritual light of all types of different colors shone down upon the Crimson Dawn Peak, and the phenomenon only subsided after a long time had passed.
Everyone had stopped what they were doing to observe the phenomenon, and Meng Xiong hurriedly urged, "Alright, let''s all get back to work. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go back to cultivate. Elder Li has provided us with an exceptional cultivation environment, so let''s not squander it."
Everyone immediately returned to work upon hearing this.
They were already ustomed to all of the phenomena taking ce on the mountain, and they knew that all of them resulted from Han Li''s cultivation, but they still couldn''t help but want to stop and watch whenever these phenomena took ce.
After all, these phenomena were being triggered by the cultivation of a True Immortal!
Inside the secret chamber of his cave abode, Han Li''s entire body was basked in golden light, and there were 24 specks of golden light on his chest and abdomen that were glowing as radiantly as stars in the night sky.
An enormous aura was emanating from his body, and it was as if he had been reborn anew.
He had progressed to thete-True Immortal Stage.
During the past two centuries, he had constantly been consuming earthly pills to enhance his own cultivation, and he had finally managed to open those four remaining immortal acupoints.
This rate of cultivation was naturally far faster than that of the average cultivator, but it was still significantly slower than before.
It had only taken him around a century to open up the previous immortal acupoints, yet it had taken far longer than that just open up these final three acupoints.
As the golden light gradually fused into Han Li''s body, the phenomenon taking ce within the secret chamber also subsided.
Han Li exhaled as he turned and cast his gaze toward the Mantra Treasured Axis hovering in mid-air behind him.
The Eye of Truth was shut, and at this point, all of the Time Dao Runes on the axis had already fully recovered.
However, there was a hint of disappointment in Han Li''s eyes.
Even after his progression to thete-True Immortal Stage, the number of Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis still remained stagnant at 108.
This was clearly not just a matter of bad luck. ording to the Mantra Axis Scripture, opening up the final four immortal acupoints should''ve earned him two more Time Dao Runes.
It was most likely the case that he had manifested too many Time Dao Runes by using the Eye of Truth to absorb the crystals created by the Heaven Controlling Vial, and the Mantra Treasured Axis had already reached its tolerance threshold.
Having said that, Han Li was already prepared for this oue, so he wasn''t overly disappointed.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he sensed the vast immortal spiritual power in his body, and instead of immediately rising to his feet, he continued to remain seated on the ground.
This breakthrough was naturally fantastic news, but there were more important things that he had to attend to right now.
He flipped a hand over to produce the eye of the Primordial Fei Beast, and at the same time, the sound of heavy footsteps rang out from outside as the giant ape puppet strode into the room.
It set down the Heaven Controlling Vial beside him, and there was already a drop of green spirit liquid inside it.
Han Li took a deep breath as he picked up the Heaven Controlling Vial, then consumed the drop of spirit liquid inside without any hesitation.
Once again, he was attempting to glean thews of time.
His immortal spiritual power began to circte in his body, while the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him lit up with dazzling golden radiance, and the 108 Time Dao Runes on its surface were also shing incessantly.
A vast expanse of golden ripples appeared around him to envelop the entire secret chamber, and a burst of indescribably formidable energy fluctuations erupted in all directions.
To Han Li, it felt as if even the flow of air in the surrounding area had slowed down, and he was able to hear everything with exceptional rity.
It seemed that everything around him had fallen into some type of profound tempo, and as time slowly passed, the golden light radiating from Han Li''s body continued to sh, causing the level of brightness in the secret chamber to fluctuate incessantly.
At this point, his body was already drenched in blood, but he paid no heed to that at all, as if it weren''t even happening to him.
Chapter 310: Two Flowers
Chapter 310: Two Flowers
All of a sudden, his eyelids fluttered slightly, and his eyes sprang open, following which two beams of golden light erupted out from within.
He began to make a rapid string of hand seals, bringing his palms together and linking them together before thrusting his joint index and middle fingers upward like a sword.
All 108 of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him instantly lit up at once.
At the same time, golden light emerged between the palms of his hands before traveling to his fingertips, and a translucent golden thread that was as thin as a strand of human hair began to slowly extend out from his fingertips.
However, it had only protruded around an inch out from his fingertips before it exploded into specks of golden light with a dull thump.
The golden light in Han Li''s eyes also slowly faded, and he looked down at his own bloodstained robes with a wry smile on his face.
He had made some progresspared withst time he had attempted this, but once again, he had ultimately fallen just short of manifesting a timew thread.
It looks like it''ll be extremely difficult to glean thews of time even by directly consuming the spirit liquid. Perhaps only by consuming a dao pill will I have a chance of seeding in this endeavor.
It had now be apparent to him why dao pills were so sought after in the Immortal Realm.
The difference here was like that between directly consuming a spirit medicine and a pill refined with that spirit medicine as the main ingredient.
A pill would give the consumer the best chance of gleaning thew powers contained within the spirit medicine, and that was naturally far more effective than directly consuming the ingredient itself.
Thankfully, he had umted a substantial amount of wealth and was able to easily obtain spirit ingredients that contained the power of timews. Otherwise, this wouldn''t have been a feasible path for him to pursue.
After heaving a faint sigh, he took a pill, and ayer of golden light appeared over his entire body once again.
Around half a monthter.
Han Li departed from his secret chamber, then made his way to the spirit medicine garden in his cave abode.
The medicine garden was filled with abundant spiritual qi and was thriving with vitality.
Inside the field, the giant ape puppet was holding an azure wooden bucket in one hand, out of which it was scooping pails of shimmering azure spirit liquid onto the garden.
This spirit liquid had been mixed using the recipe stipted in the book on nting Dao Warriors given to Han Li by Daoist Hu Yan, but he had been using it to water his other spirit medicines rather than on the primary bean.
Han Li swept his gaze across the various spirit medicines in the garden, and his eyes lit up as his gaze fell upon one corner of the garden.
The seedling that had sprouted out of the primary bean was gone, and in its ce was a massive golden nt that was around 10 feet tall.
Its trunk was an earthy yellow color, while its leaves had a golden hue.
The leaves were riddled with countless golden veins that were stacked on top of one another inyers, and these golden veins stretched all the way from the leaves to the branches and the main trunk of the nt.
Hanging below theyers of lush golden leaves were a series of azure bean pods, each of which was around a finger in length, and the bulges visible in the pods clearly indicated that they contained the beans that Han Li was aiming to grow.
Han Li was very ted to see this, and he hurried over to the tree before walking ap around it like a proud farmer, carefully counting the number of bean pods on the tree as he did so.
In total, he counted 75 pods, and under the assumption that each pod contained seven beans, that would''ve amounted to a total of over 500 beans, which, barring any mishaps, would''ve developed into over 500 formidable Dao Warriors.
However, these beans clearly hadn''t reached full maturity yet.
ording to Daoist Hu Yan''s book, once the Dao Warriors reached full maturity, the trunk, branches, and leaves of the tree would gradually begin to wilt, supplying all of their nutrition to the beans.
After that, the bean pods would break open on their own to release the beans inside.
Due to the fact that the beans hadn''t yet matured, Han Li couldn''t sense any special aura from them, so he didn''t know whether the mutation was positive or negative.
However, Han Li wasn''t overly concerned. There was a very good chance that the mutation had arisen as the primary bean had been watered using spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial, and anything that concerned the Heaven Controlling Vial generally wasn''t a bad thing.
Only after inspecting the tree for a while longer did Han Li turn to depart, but right as he did so, he spotted out of the corner of his eye that there were two small yellow flowers on top of the tree.
He stopped to look at the flowers for a moment, and a perplexed look appeared on his face. He flipped a hand over to summon the book given to him by Daoist Hu Yan, then flipped it open to a certain page.
A short whileter, he stowed the book away again, but the befuddlement on his face remained.
The book says that the flowering period of primary bean flowers is quite long, so they''ll generally only bloom after the beans have reached maturity, and there''s only supposed to be one of them, so why are there two here? Could this also be a result of the mutation?
If that were the case, then that would naturally be a good thing as the rate at which he could develop Dao Warriors would be significantly increased, but as a safety precaution, he decided that it was best to consult Daoist Hu Yan about this situation.
With that in mind, he turned and made his way elsewhere in the medicine garden.
This area of the medicine garden was filled with various different types of spirit medicines, and there weren''t many of them, but they were all giving off their own unique auras.
These spirit medicines were all ingredients stipted in the dao pill recipe that Han Li had obtained, and due to the fact that he had obtained them at different ages, the degree of growth that they were disying were all different.
The oldest of these spirit medicines were several dozen blue nts that looked as if they had been carved out of ice. They resembled boneset herbs with glowing and translucent leaves, and he had acquired them from the floating mountain secret area.
At the time, he didn''t know what they were, and onlyter did he discover that they were none other than the Hidden Mist Herb stated in the dao pill recipe.
Due to the fact that these spirit ns had been growing deep within the floating mountain secret area, they had been leftpletely untouched, and several of them had already exceeded 100,000 years of age, making them fit to serve as dao pill ingredients.
Not far away from the Hidden Mist Herbs, in a small area enshrouded within a small array, were around a dozen seedlings that looked as if they had only just sprouted.
These nts were known as Sandthrough Sunflowers, and they had been brought back by Meng Yungui over 100 years ago.
This spirit medicine appeared to have been growing very slowly, but its root systems underground were thriving, and if they weren''t enshrouded within this array, they would''ve most likely stretched across the entire garden, making it impossible for the other spirit medicines to survive.
Aside from the main ingredients, the supplementary ingredients on the dao pill recipe were also quite difficult to gather. Meng Yungui had been very fortunate to havee across these spirit nts, and on the way back, he had almost been killed by someone aiming to take the spirit nts from him. Thankfully, he was able to survive thanks to the protective treasures bestowed upon him by Han Li.
After receiving a reward from Han Li for his efforts, Meng Yungui cultivated on the Crimson Dawn Peak for over 10 years before resuming his spirit medicine search.
In addition to Meng Yungui, both Meng Qianqian and Sun Buzheng had also returned to the Crimson Dawn Peak once each during the past two centuries, but Han Li had been in seclusion on both of those asions, so he wasn''t able to see them.
Meng Qianqian stayed on the Crimson Dawn Peak a little longer than Sun Buzheng as she wanted to see if Han Li woulde out of seclusion, and also because Featheryearn didn''t want to part with the Two-headed Griffin.
Neither Sun Buzheng nor Meng Qianqian had been as fortunate as Meng Yungui, and they were only able to find some seedlings or seeds of spirit medicines stipted in Han Li''s earthly pill recipes, but Han Li wasn''t disheartened by this.
Up to this point, even he had only managed to secure several of the spirit medicines listed on the dao pill recipe, including that Thistle Spirit Flower, and no one had responded to the spirit medicine procurement missions that he had released in the Transient Guild.
After staying in the spirit medicine garden a while longer, Han Li made his way to another secret chamber.
Standing in front of the stone door, Han Li swept a hand through the air, and a series of runes instantly appeared on the door, following which it slid aside to reveal an opening that was as tall as a grown man.
The secret chamber was filled with purplish-golden light, and bursts of crackling were ringing out incessantly from within.
The lightning array inside was still operating, but the eight lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood situated around the array were looking a little dim, clearly having already been exhausted of much of their lightning power.
At this moment, the yellow-robed immortal puppet was seated with its legs crossed at the center of the array, and arcs of purple lightning were constantly shing all over its body, particrly its chest.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he noticed that the indentation at the center of the lightning array was empty, and the purple crystalline ball that was originally embedded in there was nowhere to be seen.
"Brother Xie," Han Li called out to Daoist Xie through spiritual sense voice transmission, but the yellow-robed puppet disyed no reaction.
After a moment of contemtion, Han Li decided to remain patient and wait.
A long whileter, the lightning surging over the yellow-robed puppet''s chest began to converge toward the center before quickly disappearing entirely.
At the same time, all of the purple lightning across the entire array also vanished, and the spirit patterns on the lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood gradually faded, while the entire array ceased operating.
A burst of golden light appeared in the puppet''s chest, and a palm-sized golden crab slowly emerged from within, then crouched down before springing toward Han Li, who spread a hand open to catch the crab.
"How did it go?" Han Li asked.
Compared with before, Daoist Xie''s aura had be far more stable, and there were numerous extremely thin purple veins on its eight legs that could only have been noticed upon close inspection.
Chapter 311: Implanting a Bean Into a Puppet
Chapter 311: Imnting a Bean Into a Puppet
"The construction of this immortal puppet is moreplex than I anticipated. I thought that I would be able to forcibly alter its internal makeup with the assistance of the lightning array, but it didn''t quite work out that way," Daoist Xie sighed.
"Don''t worry about it, it was just an idea, and there''s no need to try and force the issue. If the opportunity arises, I''ll be sure to find you a suitable puppet in the future," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"I suppose we have no choice but to ept this oue. Having said that, this was not an entirely fruitless endeavor. Even though I wasn''t able to modify the puppet, I''ve examined every single part of it in meticulous detail during the past 200 years.
¡°If you so wish, you can spend 1,000 years or so cultivating a suitable earth-attribute cultivation art, and I''m confident that I can make it so that you can use 60% of the puppet''s power. It won''t be its full mid-Golden Immortal Stage power, but it''ll definitely be more formidable than the average early-Golden Immortal cultivator," Daoist Xie said.
"You were aplete immortal puppet in the past, so I naturally trust your expertise in the art of puppetry, but let''s discuss this matter another time," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.
While it was true that being able to control an early-Golden Immortal Stage puppet would''ve been a great asset, he didn''t have time to consider this matter for the time being.
Even though he was in the ze Dragon Dao, his safety wasn''t guaranteed, so he couldn''t just go into seclusion for thousands of years at a time like other immortals. On top of that, the Mantra Axis Scripture and the Great Universe Origin Arts were more suitable cultivation arts for him to pursue, so he naturally had to prioritize them.
"Also, during this process, I discovered a hint of origin lightning power in the m bead, so I attempted to refine it, and it replenished quite a bit of the energy in my core," Daoist Xie continued.
"That''s fine, that thing wasn''t very useful to me anyway. In that case, there''s no longer any need for this array to continue to function, right?" Han Li asked as he cast his gaze toward the lightning array on the ground.
Daoist Xie shook his head in response, and Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that disassembled the entire array.
Meanwhile, Daoist Xie raised its pair of pincers before crossing them in front of itself, and a bolt of purple lightning instantly shot forth to strike the yellow-robed puppet.
A crisp crack rang out from the puppet, and it reverted back into a yellow ball amid a sh of dazzling yellow light. Immediately thereafter, Daoist Xie also reverted back into a golden ball, and both balls were promptly stowed away by Han Li.
¡¡
Around two hourster.
A streak of azure light descended onto a white stone za on a mountain near the High Profound Pce, then faded to reveal none other than Han Li.
He made his way to the end of the za, and arge expanse of courtyards appeared before him. On the que that hung above therge red gate at the center were inscribed the words "Hundred Wine Cottage" in free-flowing characters, and he couldn''t help but be amused whenever he saw the wobbly characters on the que.
No matter how he looked at them, they always resembled a bunch of drunkards leaning on one another for support.
Before he reached the entrance of the cottage, the gate was opened from the inside, and a pair of azure-robed servants emerged, carrying arge ck urn between them.
The two of them were familiar with Han Li, and they immediately set down therge urn before extending a collective respectful salute to him.
Han Li could smell a faint sour odoring from the ck urn, and he asked, "What is it that you''re carrying?"
"These are some distillers grains that have gone bad, and Elder Hu Yan instructed us to tip them into a creek in the mountains," one of the azure-robed servants replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then stepped around the pair of servants and made his way into the cottage.
He had only just passed through the corridor in the front yard and made his way into the main hall when he spotted Elder Hu Yan emerging from the inner courtyard.
To his surprise, Elder Hu Yan''s hair was impably groomed, and his clothes were also in pristine condition. Even his stride lengths had increased slightlypared with before, and he couldn''t help but wonder what could''ve happened in the past 200 years that had brought on these changes.
"You must have the nose of a dog! I only just finished brewing several jars of Hundred Flower Wine, and you''ve already sniffed it out! You came at just the right," Daoist Hu Yan dered with a wide smile.
"Are you celebrating something, Senior?" Han Li asked.
Daoist Hu Yan faltered slightly upon hearing this, then scoffed, "Why do you think that? Are you thinking to yourself that there''s no way someone as stingy as me would offer you wine unless there''s something I''m celebrating?"
Han Li merely smiled and offered no response.
Daoist Hu Yan also smiled as he gestured for Han Li toe in. "Take a seat."
After both of them had sat down, Daoist Hu Yan swept a hand through the air, and a white jade gon and a pair of peony cups appeared on the table.
He picked up the gon and tipped it slightly to the side, and a stream of light azure wine instantly came flowing out of the spout and into the cup, while an intoxicating floral aroma began to waft through the air.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon catching a whiff of this aroma, and Daoist Hu Yan was very pleased to see this reaction.
"Give it a taste."
Han Li did as he was told, picking up his cup before taking a small sip, and his mouth was instantly filled with a sweet and aromatic vor that wasn''t harsh on the mouth in the slightest.
"This is exceptional wine!" Han Li praised after swallowing the wine in his mouth, and a proud smile appeared on Daoist Hu Yan''s face upon hearing this.
"This is indeed a fine wine, but its vor isckingpared with the Red Mulberry Wine and the Fire Drop Wine, so it''s rather unlike the wines that you normally enjoy," Han Li remarked.
"This wine was brewed for someone else, not for me to drink," Daoist Hu Yan exined with a smile.
"Oh? Is it for Dao Lord Yun?" Han Li asked in a seemingly casual voice.
Daoist Hu Yan''s smile stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and he put on an angry fa?ade as he stowed the gon away. "Just keep your mouth shut and drink your wine!"
Han Li smiled and offered no response.
All of a sudden, Daoist Hu Yan''s expression changed ever so slightly, and he remarked, "I didn''t notice it earlier, but your aura has be a lot more powerful than before. It seems like you''ve been working hard!"
"I just so happened to encounter some strokes of fortune, and I went into seclusion for a while as well. I came to visit you as soon as I came out of seclusion," Han Li replied with a smile.
"It must''ve been quite a significant stroke of fortune for you to have made such significant progress in just a few centuries! Also, why have youe to visit me? You''re not the type to do things that won''t work to your benefit, so you must have something to ask of me, right?" Daoist Hu Yan asked.
"You know me very well, Senior. I came to you because for some reason, the primary bean that I nted produced two primary bean flowers, which is at odds with what''s stated in the book that you gave me, so I decided toe and consult you about it," Han Li replied with a serious expression.
"Two primary bean flowers?" Daoist Hu Yan eximed with an incredulous expression.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of his reaction, and he hurriedly asked, "Is there something wrong?"
"Wrong? Things couldn''t be less wrong! Generally speaking, a Dao Warrior Tree will only have a 50% chance of sprouting a primary bean flower, but not only has yours sprouted a primary bean flower, it''s sprouted two! It''s not that this has never happened before, but it''s extremely unlikely. How are you so lucky? I''m beginning to get a little envious of you," Daoist Hu Yan said as he picked up the red wine gourd strapped to his waist before taking a swig of its contents.
Han Li was quite relieved to hear this. He had already guessed that this was most likely a positive development, and he waspletely reassured after receiving confirmation from Daoist Hu Yan.
He knew that this was most likely a result of the spirit liquid that had been used to water the primary bean rather than just a matter of dumb luck, but he naturally wasn''t going to reveal that to Daoist Hu Yan.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and he asked, "If a Dao Warrior Tree doesn''t sprout a primary bean flower, doesn''t that mean it won''t be able to produce another Dao Warrior Tree?"
"That''s right. Do you think primary beans are that easy to obtain? In the field of Dao Warrior nting, the continuation of primary beans has always been a major problem. Forget it, you wouldn''t understand even if I exined this to you," Daoist Hu Yan harrumphed.
"In that case, it looks like I''m in luck," Han Li chuckled.
Daoist Hu Yan rolled his eyes at Han Li before taking another swig of wine.
Han Li paid no heed to Daoist Hu Yan as he mused in an excited voice, "If I nt both primary beans, after a couple of centuries, I''ll be able to develop twice the number of Dao Warriors!"
"If I were you, I definitely wouldn''t waste those primary beans by simply nting them," Daoist Hu Yan interjected.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Why would that be a waste, Senior?"
"If you can maintain this streak of luck, then just a single primary bean would be enough for you to nurture more Dao Warriors. As for the other one, you may as well keep it, and if you evere across a high-grade puppet, you can imnt it into that puppet," Daoist Hu Yan exined in a meaningful voice.
"Primary beans can be imnted into puppets?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"Some Dao Warriors are puppets to begin with. As long as the attributes are matching, a primary bean can be integrated into a puppet, and after that, the puppet will gain many characteristics of Dao Warriors, such as the ability to regenerate severed limbs.
¡°As long as the core remains intact, the puppet will be virtually indestructible, and due to the fact that these puppets will have runes inscribed upon them from the primary bean integration process, even if it they fall into the hands of others, no one else will be able to use them," Daoist Hu Yan exined.
Han Li immediately thought of the yellow-robed immortal puppet upon hearing this, and he said, "That sounds incredible! Would you be able to impart the integration method upon me, Senior?"
"Why? Could it be that you already have an immortal puppet in your possession?" Daoist Hu Yan asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he replied, "Of course not, but it can''t hurt to be prepared. What if I am fortunate enough toe into possession of an immortal puppet in the future?"
"You sure do like to cover all of your bases. The integration method isn''t exactly a secret, so I can bestow it upon you, but... I can''t just let you have it for free," Daoist Hu Yan said as a sly gleam shed through his eyes.
Chapter 312: Lightning Bean
Chapter 312: Lightning Bean
"Of course. I just so happened to have obtained a certain item recently, let me know if it catches your interest, Senior."
Han Li flipped a hand over as he spoke to produce a thin golden page.
"A pill recipe, eh? Don''t try to cate me with just any pill recipe. At the very least, it has to be an earthly pill recipe," Daoist Hu Yan chuckled.
He made a beckoning motion with one hand as he spoke, and the golden page rose up from Han Li''s hand beforending in his grasp.
"Growth Bearing Pill? This is indeed an earthly pill, and one that''s fit for consumption for mid-True Immortal cultivators, at that. I suppose this will suffice," Daoist Hu Yan mused, then stowed the golden page away before flipping his hand over to produce a white stone shard that he handed to Han Li.
Han Li epted the stone shard before pressing it against his own forehead to inspect its contents.
"The array diagram and the materials required to set it up have already been clearly annotated, and it shouldn''t be too difficult to set up, but you must make sure to prepare a sufficient number of spirit stones to support its operation. Otherwise, if it runs out of spirit power for even a single moment, then the entire process will fail. The puppet won''t be harmed as a result, but the primary bean will be destroyed," Daoist Hu Yan cautioned.
"Thank you, Senior," Han Li replied with a nod as he removed the stone shard from his forehead.
"Alright, if that''s all, then you can go. I still have other guests to attend toter," Daoist Hu Yan said in a direct and straightforward manner.
"In that case, I won''t take up any more of your time, Senior."
Han Li rose to his feet and extended a parting salute, then flew out of the Hundred Wine Cottage as a streak of light.
He had only just flown to the edge of the mountain when he spotted another streak of light descending toward the Hundred Wine Cottage, and it was none other than Bai Suyuan''s mistress, Yun Ni.
Back on the za in the Holy Puppet Sect, Bai Suyuan had referred to Qilin 3 as mistress, and Han Li was already aware of Bai Suyuan''s identity, so he was naturally tipped off to the fact that Qilin 3 and Yun Ni were one and the same.
Even though he hadn''t been present during the final stage of the battle at the Holy Puppet Sect, he had learned through some other avenues that the person who had saved the Holy Puppet Sect in the end was none other than Daoist Hu Yan, and that he was also one of the ze Dragon Dao''s 13 dao lords.
Given what he already knew about Bai Fengyi, he had guessed that there were some ties between Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni, but seeing as Daoist Hu Yan hadn''t mentioned this topic, he naturally pretended to have been oblivious.
Of course, he had gone out of his way to unearth all of this information not just to satisfy his own curiosity. Instead, he was trying to find out whether the Holy Puppet Sect hadunched a search for its lost immortal puppet. However, it seemed that not long after the attack, the Holy Puppet Sect moved away from those inds and seemingly disappeared.
With these thoughts shing through his mind, Han Li returned to the Crimson Dawn Peak.
After entering the secret chamber of his cave abode, he flipped a hand over to produce the stone shard given to him by Daoist Hu Yan, and an excited look appeared on his face as he closed his eyes and injected his spiritual sense into the stone shard.
The stone shard contained an array that was very simr to the one that Daoist Xie had requested, indicating that there were many fundamental simrities between them, but there were some differences in the finer details and in the materials required to set up the array.
After inspecting the array diagram for a moment, Han Li directed his attention to the materials and method required to set up the array. In doing so, he discovered five different sets of materials depending on the attribute of the primary bean.
Among them, he ced his focus on the earth-attribute materials. After all, he immortal puppet was an earth-attribute one, and his primary bean came from the Golden Dao Warrior, so there was a very good chance that it was also an earth-attribute one.
Some timeter, Han Li opened his eyes as he murmured to himself, "Infinity Sand..."
He then flipped a hand over to produce a pair of azure masks, one cow and one tiger.
Han Li''s gaze roamed back and forth over the two masks for a moment before he ultimately decided to put on the tiger mask.
At this point, Wyrm 15 had already be a little too renowned forfort, so it was best for him to switch identities.
This was the first time that he was using the mask since obtaining it, and it gave him the identity of Roon 11.
After that, he released an Infinity Sand procurement mission, and after some contemtion, he decided to release the same procurement missions for the dao pill ingredients that he had already released using the cow mask.
Only after doing all of that did he stow the mask away before sitting down with his legs crossed to cultivate.
¡¡
Over 10 years passed by in a sh.
On this day, Han Li was cultivating in his secret chamber when he suddenly heard a string of loud booms ringing out from within his cave abode.
His eyes immediately sprang open as he flew out of his secret chamber and traveled straight to his spirit medicine garden.
As soon as he entered the garden, the loud booms became even clearer.
A hint of tion appeared on Han Li''s face as he quickly approached the Dao Warrior Tree to find that it had alreadypletely wilted, and the bean pods hanging from it had also turned yellow and were exploding one after another, sending dark yellow beans raining down onto the ground.
Han Li caught one of the beans that had just erupted out of its pod, and he inspected it closely to find that its surface was riddled with golden lightning veins that would''ve been impossible to see had he not been looking at it so closely.
He then injected a burst of immortal spiritual power into the bean through his fingers, and the golden lightning veins on the bean instantly lit up before releasing a vast expanse of golden lightning.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this. As it turned out, the mutation that these Dao Warriors had undergone had granted them the lightning attribute.
Right at this moment, an explosion that was clearly louder than all of the previous ones rang out, and Han Li looked up to discover that the tworge bean pods at the top of the Dao Warrior Tree had erupted open at once, sending a pair of pea-sized primary beans flying through the air.
He hurriedly reached out to catch the pair of primary beans before inspecting them closely as well.
Aside from their size, these primary beans were almost identical to the other beans, except the lightning veins on their surface were darker, and the lightning power that was imbued within them was slightly more pure.
At this point, all of the beans had already been ejected out of their pods, and the Dao Warrior Treepletely wilted away, rapidly turning from yellow to gray before disintegrating into dust, all in the span of just a few seconds.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a yellow gourd, then patted the underside of the gourd, and a burst of yellow light immediately appeared at its opening, releasing a burst of tremendous suction force that sucked in all of the beans that had spilled onto the ground.
Of course, not just any object could be used to store Dao Warriors, and this gourd was something that Han Li had refined ording to the instructions enclosed in Daoist Hu Yan''s book.
This gourd functioned very simrly to a storage pouch, but it was actually closer in nature to a spirit beast pouch, and while stored inside it, the Dao Warriors could continue to absorb the world''s origin qi.
In fact, if he wanted to keep nurturing the Dao Warriors to elevate them to a higher caliber, he could even pour some premade spirit liquid into the gourd, and that was exactly what Daoist Hu Yan was doing with his Dao Warriors.
After collecting all of the beans, Han Li returned to his secret chamber in an excited manner.
Two dayster.
A ring-shaped array that was around 10 feet in radius had been engraved onto the ground in Han Li''s secret chamber.
There were numerous indentations distributed throughout the array, within which were ced various types of spirit materials and several Immortal Origin Stones.
At the center of the array was a golden tform of a moderate size that resembled a city, with four walls on top to create a cavity, where the hundreds of Dao Warrior beans were being stored.
This array was known as the Lightning Origin Locking Array, and it was a lightning-attribute array recorded in Daoist Hu Yan''s book that could be used to refine Dao Warrior beans.
The golden tform at the center of the array was a small altar that Han Li had constructed using Lightning Restraining Wood, and it was the core of the entire array.
The refinement array for Dao Warrior beans had to be chosen based on the attribute disyed by the beans after they reached maturity, and Han Li had thought that these beans would most likely have taken after the golden giant and developed the earth attribute, but due to the mutation, these beans did still contain earth-attribute spiritual power, but it was far outmatched by the lightning-attribute spiritual power within them.
Hence, when choosing a refinement array, Han Li had decided on the Lightning Origin Locking Array.
After everything was set up in the secret chamber, he sat down with his legs crossed in front of the array, then flipped a hand over to produce a pill, which he promptly consumed.
Daoist Hu Yan had warned him that setting up this array was going to be very taxing on his immortal spiritual power, so he had to prime himself into the best possible condition beforemencing the refinement process.
With that in mind, he sat down to meditate for a long time before opening his eyes and activating the array.
He made a hand seal with both hands, then pointed a finger at the golden tform at the center of the array, and an arc of golden lightning immediately shot out of his fingertip before springing into the tform like a spirit snake.
The sound of flowing electricity rang out as the entire golden tform instantly began to glow brightly, and countless arcs of lightning sprang forth in all directions, forming a spherical golden light barrier that epassed the entire array.
At the same time, all of the top-grade spirit stones that had been embedded into the indentations on the ground also began to glow brightly before releasing bursts of pure spiritual power into the array patterns on the ground.
At the same time, the golden tform began to tremble violently, and the beans inside also began to bounce up and down as a result.
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes upon seeing this, then thrust both palms upward at once, and all of the beans were immediately raised upward by an invisible hand, emerging from the tform to hover in the air within the spherical light barrier.
The two primary beans were hanging at the center like a pair of full moons, while the other beans were distributed around them like glowing stars.
Chapter 313: Exploring an Alternative Path
Chapter 313: Exploring an Alternative Path
All of a sudden, Han Li switched to a different hand seal, and the golden patterns on the golden tform instantly lit up as a pir of golden lightning erupted directly upward, striking the light barrier up above before splitting up into countless arcs of golden lightning.
The two primary beans were situated at the very center of the pir of lightning, while hundreds of arcs of lightning erupted in all directions to form a golden that epassed all of the surrounding beans.
Within the of lightning, all of the beans were interconnected by strands of lightning that resembled thin branches, while the pir of golden lightning beneath the primary beans resembled the main trunk, giving the entire setup the appearance of a small golden lightning tree.
The wisps of spiritual power released by the spirit stones on the ground flowed through the lightning tree''s trunk and branches and into the beans, causing all of the lightning veins on their surfaces to glow with dazzling radiance.
Han L felt as if he were looking at a golden tree that wasden with fruit, and a pleased look appeared on his face.
He took a deep breath before switching to yet another hand seal, and the entire array instantly shuddered as specks of ck light began to appear on many of the nodes in the array, then connected together to form an extremely peculiar bestial design.
The beast resembled a cow, but it had the horns of a dragon. It appeared to have been quite massive in stature, and its round belly was riddled with antiquated runes that were giving off formidable lightning power fluctuations.
What was even more peculiar was that the beast only had a single leg, making it resemble a giant ck hammer, and trailing behind it was a whip-like tail.
This was a Lightning Kui that was an extremely renowned spirit beast in the Immortal Realm, and it was born with the ability to control Nine Heavens True Lightning. It would often pound its belly with its own tail to produce rumbling thunderps that warded off all evil and malicious entities.
As soon as the bestial design took shape, Han Li took a deep breath, and he knew that the most important moment in the Dao Warrior refinement process was about to arrive.
He joined his palms in a new hand seal, then began to chant an incantation, and as he did so, the Lightning Kui diagram on the ground began to glow with ck light before rising up into the air, passing through all of the beans to reach the light barrier up above.
The blue light in Han Li''s eyes grew even brighter, and translucent threads formed by his spiritual sense began to fly out of his be before hurtling into the golden lightning tree, and at the same time, he was also sweeping his hand incessantly through the air.
As he did this, all of the beans hanging from the golden lightning tree began to tremble slightly, and specks of ck light began to appear around the lightning veins on the beans, indicating that the rune inscription process had officially begun.
Outside the array, Han Li''s hands were moving in a rapid blur, yet the ck veins that were appearing on the beans inside the array were doing so at an extremely slow rate.
Inscribing runes was an extremely painstaking process that was very taxing on one''s spiritual sense, and the average True Immortal would''ve most likely divided the beans up into batches for rune inscription to lessen the strain on their spiritual sense.
While this was a feasible option, the downside was that due to the fact that the beans were refined in batches, only the batch of beans that had refined with the primary bean would have a strong connection to the primary bean, while the same couldn''t be said for all of the other beans.
Under most circumstances, this wouldn''t have had much of a negative impact, and the Dao Warriors would''ve still been able to function as normal, but if the Dao Warriors were required to set up arrays, just as the Golden Dao Warriors had done, then their reactions would''ve been slightly slower.
Thanks to Han Li''s enormous spiritual sense, he was able to refine all of the beans in a single batch.
Time slowly passed by, and a month flew by in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was stillpletely engrossed in his work, oblivious to the passage of time.
He brought his palms together in front of his chest, and the final inscriptions were made on all of the beans in the array, following which the inscribed runes began to radiate dazzling ck light.
The blue light in Han Li''s eyes faded upon seeing this, and there was a slightly weary look on his face, but he was ted to have finallypleted this process.
The light glowing from the array in the secret chamber also gradually dimmed as all of the arcs of golden lightning began to converge toward the pair of primary beans, while the lightning light barrier vanished.
Shortly thereafter, the golden lightning also vanished, and all of the beans fell back into the golden tform.
Han Li pulled out the yellow gourd, then patted its underside, and a burst of yellow light immediately appeared at its opening, releasing a burst of suction force that sucked in all of the beans.
However, instead of allowing the pair of primary beans to be sucked into the gourd, he stowed them away into his chest pocket instead.
After that he exhaled deeply as he produced an azure pill, which he consumed before closing his eyes to meditate.
The next day.
In a certain snowy valley within the territory of the Crimson Dawn Peak, a streak of azure light descended out of the sky, then faded to reveal Han Li.
He swept his gaze across the valley, then flew over to a rtively t and open area.
There, he removed the yellow gourd from his waist, then chanted an incantation, and the the opening of the gourd immediately lit up with yellow radiance, following which a string of yellow beans flew out in rapid session beforending on the ground.
As soon as the beansnded in the surrounding area, each of them instantly transformed into an armored Dao Warrior that stood at around 10 feet in height.
They were rather simr to Golden Dao Warriors in appearance, but they were wearing suits of armor with lightning veins inscribed upon them, and all several hundred of them had arranged themselves into a uniform array, presenting a formidable sight to behold.
Han Li flicked a finger through the air, and a streak of azure sword qi swept through the air before striking one of the Dao Warriors on the chest.
The Dao Warrior was instantly sent flying with a resounding boom beforending heavily on the ground to create a huge indentation.
In the next instant, the Dao Warrior sprang out of the crater, and its armor had already pierced through, while a gash had also been sliced into its chest, but the gash wasn''t very deep and didn''t appear to have been affecting its movements at all.
Han Li gave a slight nod upon seeing this.
He had only used around one percent of his power to unleash that streak of sword qi, but it still would''ve been too much for the average Grand Ascension cultivator to withstand, and the fact that it was only able to slightly wound this Dao Warrior indicated that its defenses were even more formidable than he anticipated.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li decided to pit the Dao Warriors against each other. Arcs of golden lightning shed over their suits of armor, and they rushed into the valley at his behest, disying far superior speed to the Golden Dao Warriors that Han Li had faced in the past.
Upon entering the valley, the Dao Warriors immediately split up into groups of two to engage in battle, and bursts of loud rumbling akin to formidable thunderps instantly rang out.
The entire valley began to tremble violently, triggering avnches on all of the nearby mountains.
After some observation, Han Li discovered that these Dao Warriors were very simr to the Golden Dao Warriors in their style of battle in that they were just as reckless and uncaring for their own safety.
However, these Dao Warriors were clearly disying superior regenerative abilities, able to quickly recover from all injuries as long as they weren''tpletely destroyed, and that was a very encouraging sight for Han Li.
After that, Han Li controlled the Dao Warriors to set up a few arrays, but the results weren''t that great. However, he knew that this was due to ack of practice, so he didn''t pay it much heed.
He was already very pleased with the power being disyed by the Dao Warriors, and he stowed them away before returning to his cave abode.
After entering his secret chamber, he flipped a hand over to produce a golden metal ball, then called out, "Brother Xie..."
Momentster, several rifts appeared on the golden ball, out of which a series of thin metallic limbs emerged, and the ball transformed into a palm-sized golden crab amid a string of metallic clicking.
"Why have you called upon me, Fellow Daoist Han?" Daoist Xie asked as it looked up at Han Li from the palm of his hand.
"I recently came across an array that can integrate a Dao Warrior primary bean with a puppet, and I wanted to discuss it with you," Han Li replied.
"Are you considering fusing a primary bean with that immortal puppet, Fellow Daoist Han? I''m afraid that''s not going to work on an immortal puppet that''s missing its core," Daoist Xie said.
Han Li remained unfazed, and he smiled as he urged, "Don''t be in such a hurry to shut down the idea, Brother Xie. Why don''t you take a look at this primary bean first?"
He then flipped his other hand over to produce one of the primary beans, which had a series of golden lightning veins over its surface, as well as an image of the Lightning Kui beast.
Han Li set the primary bean down beside Daoist Xie, and thetter was immediately intrigued.
It made ap around the primary bean, inspecting it carefully, then looked up at Han Li as it mused, "This primary bean possesses both earth and lightning attributes. Are you thinking..."
"That''s right," Han Li interjected. "You were unable to fuse with the puppet due to mismatching attributes, but with this primary bean acting as an intermediary, perhaps it''ll work."
Daoist Xie was silent for a moment, then said, "That is indeed a potentially feasible method... Can you show me the integration array?"
Han Li offered the stone shard to Daoist Xie, who grabbed onto it with one of its pincers.
A short whileter, it released the stone shard, then turned to Han Li as it said in a solemn voice, "The lightning array that I asked you to set up earlier is one that works in a slow and subtle fashion, yet this array is far more aggressive. If the process fails, this priceless primary bean will for sure be destroyed, and that immortal puppet and I will most likely be harmed as well. Are you sure you''re willing to take this risk?"
Chapter 314: Fusion
Chapter 314: Fusion
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then said, "You''ll be harmed as well if the process fails? That''s something that I failed to consider. Having said that, risk and reward alwayse hand in hand. If you manage sessfully fuse with that immortal puppet, you''ll immediately attain Golden Immortal Stage power, so I think it''s still worth a try. Are you willing to take a gamble, Brother Xie?"
After ying Zhong Luan, Han Li had been able to spend the past 200 years in rtive peace, but he had never been able to shake off this prevailing sense of apprehension. Hence, after umting sufficient resources, he had constantly been cultivating arduously in the hope that he would be able to manifest a timew thread after reaching thete-True Immortal Stage so that he would be better equipped to take on Golden Immortal cultivators, but that endeavor had proven to be unsessful up to this point.
Now that he had been presented with the opportunity to potentially gain a Golden Immortal Stage ally, he naturally didn''t want to pass it up.
Daoist Xie fell into a hesitant silence.
"I won''t force you to make any decision on this matter, Brother Xie. Also, there''s one thing that I must make clear ahead of time: if the fusion is sessful, you will be fused as one with the puppet and the primary bean, thereby strengthening your connection to me, and due to the involvement of the primary bean, you''ll be more firmly under my control. This is unavoidable, and it''s something for you to consider," Han Li said in a candid fashion.
Daoist Xie remained silent for a while longer, then looked up at Han Li as it said, "Alright, I''m willing to give it a try as long as you don''t forget the promise you made to me back in the Spirit Realm."
"Alright. In that case, I''ll begin setting up the array right away," Han Li replied with a nod.
A month passed by in a sh.
During that time, Han Li had opened up arger secret chamber in his cave abode, within which was aplex array with eight lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood with runes inscribed all over them distributed throughout.
Various types of materials, including Infinity Sand, had been ced into the nodes of the array, and there were also Immortal Origin Stones embedded into several indentations around the array.
The yellow-robed immortal puppet was seated at the center of the array with its legs crossed, and Han Li was standing outside the array as he flipped a hand over to produce a golden metal ball.
A string of mechanical clicking rang out, and the golden ball quickly transformed into a golden crab.
"Everything is ready, Brother Xie. You can begin," Han Li said as he turned to the golden crab.
Daoist Xie offered no response, enveloping itself in a ball of golden lightning before flying toward the yellow-robed puppet''s chest and vanishing into it in a sh.
Han Li immediately sat down with his legs crossed upon seeing this, then made a hand seal as he began to chant an incantation.
A burst of yellow light emerged within the secret chamber amid a burst of buzzing, and gusts of yellow wind began to sweep over the array, forming a yellow vortex that enveloped the immortal puppet while also sweeping up all of the materialsid out across the array.
Immediately thereafter, a series of antiquated runes flew out of the immortal puppet''s robes before flying into the vortex.
As soon as the spirit materials in the vortex came into contact with these runes, they immediately disintegrated into powder before surging toward the immortal puppet.
At the same time, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce one of his two primary beans, then tossed it forward, and the primary bean fell into the array in a sh.
Upon entering the array, the primary bean hovered above the immortal puppet''s head, and several runes immediately adhered themselves to it as well, but it didn''t disintegrate. Instead, it abruptly lit up and produced a Dao Warrior Tree projection.
The projection was around 10 feet tall, and it was rooted to the array with the yellow-robed puppet enveloped within its trunk.
Han Li made a hand seal before leaning forward andying a palm against the ground, and as soon as he did this, all of the Immortal Origin Stones in the array lit up in unison, releasing a stream of immortal spiritual power into the trunk of the Dao Warrior Tree projection through its roots.
The tree projection began to glow brightly, and all of the broken down spirit materials vanished into the immortal puppet''s body, while the yellow vortex faded away.
The sound of flowing electricity rang out as the runes on the eight lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood situated around the array lit up, and arcs of golden electricity shot out like a nest of lightning snakes before converging toward the immortal puppet.
At the same time, a burst of purplish-golden lightning erupted from the puppet''s chest, and it was as if it had been draped into arge cloak of lightning.
This was a clear sign that Daoist Xie had already begun attempting to fuse itself with the puppet, and Han Li immediately switched to a different hand seal upon seeing this.
Right at this moment, a rumbling thunderp suddenly rang out, and a giant golden crab projection appeared behind the immortal puppet with lightning shing all over its body.
Han Li''s attention was focused fully on the array in front of him as he thrust his palms forward, and the immortal spiritual power in his body surged forth like a mighty river.
Bursts of rumbling rang out incessantly within the secret chamber, and the walls also began to tremble violently.
Fortunately, Han Li had already anticipated this, and he had set up stabilization and istion arrays in advance. Otherwise, these tremors would''ve caused quite a disturbance over the entire Crimson Dawn Peak.
As the tremors grew more violent, the yellow and purplish-golden light in the secret chamber also began to sh more erratically.
Han Li continued to cycle through a string of hand seals to maintain the outflow of immortal spiritual power, and he had also released spiritual sense threads to connect the primary bean, the immortal puppet, and Daoist Xie in order to forcibly integrate them.
Inside the secret chamber, the golden crab projection and the Dao Warrior Tree projection shrank down in unison from around 10 feet tall to only six to seven feet, then to two to three feet, and the yellow light and lightning enveloping them also began to converge toward the center.
Only after a long while did all of the lightpletely condense into a fist-sized ball of golden light that was hovering in front of the immortal puppet''s chest, and a tiny tree projection and a golden crab could be seen within the ball of light.
At this point, almost all of Han Li''s immortal spiritual power had flowed into the array, and his spiritual sense had been severely depleted as well, resulting in a slightly paleplexion.
"Fuse!" he roared, and in the next instant, all that remained of the immortal spiritual power in his body surged toward the immortal puppet without any reservation.
A faint crack rang out from the ground, and the Immortal Origin Stones embedded into the array also released all of their immortal spiritual power before shattering into pieces.
A vortex of light abruptly appeared at the immortal puppet''s chest to devour the ball of golden light, and a thick bolt of lightning erupted out of the puppet''s body amid a rumbling thunderp.
It resembled a pir of purplish-golden lightning that erupted into the heavens, sting straight through the ceiling of the secret chamber and causing the entire Crimson Dawn Peak to shudder violently.
Thankfully, the pir of lightning faded after only a few seconds.
Inside the secret chamber, Han Li''s immortal spiritual power had beenpletely exhausted, so he could only withstand the st of lightning with his Profound Immortal body alone, and he was sent crashing heavily into the wall behind him before throwing up a mouthful of blood.
After steadying himself, he took a nce at the immortal puppet, which remainedpletely still. He sat down with his legs crossed once again, then swallowed a yellow pill before summoning an Immortal Origin Stone that he held in his hand before closing his eyes to meditate.
Only after around 15 minutes had passed did he reopen his eyes before spitting out the remaining mixture of blood and saliva in his mouth.
All of a sudden, the immortal puppet''s eyelids fluttered, and it opened its eyes to reveal a pair of golden pupils.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was extremely excited as he said, "Congrattions on attaining a new body, Brother Xie. I was concerned that something would go wrong with the fusion process, but it appears my concerns were unnecessary."
The aura emanating from the immortal puppet''s body indicated that it already possessed early-Golden Immortal Stage power.
Perhaps it was due to the involvement of the primary bean, but a spiritual restriction had already been nted deep in the puppet, ensuring that it wouldn''t be able to turn on Han Li.
"It''s all thanks to your help, Fellow Daoist Han. However, even though the fusion process was sessful, due to the integration of the primary bean, the power in my body is a little chaotic, so I''ll have to go into seclusion for a while for everything to settle down," Daoist Xie continued.
"That''s not a problem. If you require any spirit stones or resources, feel free to tell me," Han Li replied with a nod.
Daoist Xie nodded expressionlessly in response, then closed its eyes to meditate.
Only now did Han Li allow a hint of tion to creep into his eyes, and he didn''t linger in the secret chamber any longer, getting up to depart.
With this matter settled, he had to turn his attention to something else that he had to do.
......
A streak of azure light descended from the heavens,nding in front of the golden pce on the Gourd Peak to reveal Han Li.
He took a nce up at the que above the pce''s entrance, then made his way inside.
The Immortal Medicine Pavilion was filled with medicine cabs and was quite lively and bustling. At the moment, Ye Nanfeng was attending to an elderly man in front of a cab near the entrance.
As soon as he spotted Han Li, Ye Nanfeng gave him a smile and a wave.
Han Li nodded in response, then began to browse through the medicine cabs on his own.
Before long, the elderly man seemed to have found what he was looking for, and he promptly departed after paying for his purchase.
Ye Nanfeng then quickly approached Han Li with a smile as he greeted, "Long time no see, Elder Li."
"It seems like your Immortal Medicine Pavilion has added a great deal of medicinal ingredients to its catalog since myst visit, Elder Ye," Han Li remarked as he withdrew his gaze from one of the medicine cabs.
"You have a keen eye, Elder Li. It''s all thanks to Dao Lord Mu that we''ve gotten all of this new inventory," Ye Nanfeng replied with a smile.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Dao Lord Mu of the Flying Feather Peak?"
"Is there another Dao Lord Mu in our sect?" Ye Nanfeng asked.
"That''s not what I meant. It''s just that I heard that Dao Lord Mu has already been in seclusion for close to 100,000 years, could it be that he recently came out of seclusion?" Han Li asked.
Chapter 315: Number One Dao Lord
Chapter 315: Number One Dao Lord
"You must''ve been in seclusion for quite some time, Elder Li. No wonder your aura has be significantly more powerful. Around a century ago, Dao Lord Mu suddenly came out of seclusion, then took several of his direct disciples on a trip to the Upper Arr Continent, and a lot of the new spirit medicines we acquired came from that trip," Ye Nanhua exined with a smile.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression. "I see. Speaking of spirit medicines, I came here to purchase some today. Please take a look for me, Elder Ye."
"Every time youe here, you always bring me a lot of business, Elder Li. I don''t mean to brag, but even on the entire Ancient Cloud Continent, our Immortal Medicine Pavilion is near unmatched when ites to the spirit medicine variety that we offer..."
Ye Nanfeng''s voice suddenly trailed off, and his smile also faded as he inspected the list of spirit medicines in the jade slip.
Han Li wasn''t all that surprised to see this change in Ye Nanfeng''s expression.
After a brief silence, Ye Nanfeng shook his head as he said, "As far as I''m aware, we don''t have even a single one of the ingredients on your list."
"It''s fine, these spirit medicines are indeed quite difficult to find. Having said that, I''m sure you have many sources and connections, so if you can supply me with any information regarding any of these ingredients, I''d be happy to pay for it," Han Li said.
A slightly awkward look appeared on Ye Nanfeng''s face, but he still replied in a polite manner, "I''m afraid I won''t be able to help you, Elder Li. All of the spirit medicines on your list are extremely rare, and there are some that I only vaguely recall reading about in some ancient scriptures. Of course, I''ll be sure to keep an eye out for any information and inform you if I doe across some leads."
"You have my thanks, Elder Ye."
Han Li didn''t waste any more time here as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
He had been searching extensively for the final few ingredients on the dao pill recipe, exhausting virtually all of the avenues avable to him, but to no avail.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Ye Nanfeng, and he said, "Don''t be disheartened, Elder Li. Under normal circumstances, it would be next to impossible to find these ingredients, but there may be some better chances for you at the moment."
"Oh? What do you mean by that, Elder Ye?" Han Li hurriedly asked.
Ye Nanfeng drew a little closer to Han Li, then said in a quiet voice, "This hasn''t yet been made public knowledge in the sect, but I''ve heard that in a few more years, Dao Lord Baili will being out of seclusion."
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this.
Dao Lord Baili Yan was the number one dao lord of the ze Dragon Dao, and it was said that he had already reached the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage, so he was only one step away from bing a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal.
However, he was always in seclusion, and very few people in the sect had ever seen him.
"You only joined the sect in the past 1,000 years, so it makes sense that you aren''t aware of this. After all, thest time Dao Lord Baili came out of seclusion was tens of thousands of years ago. Traditionally, whenever hees out of seclusion, Dao Lord Baili would always hold a preaching ceremony.
¡°When that timees, not only will all of the sect''s elders be in attendance, many fellow daoists from all over the Northern cial Immortal Region will travel from far and wide to attend as well. With such a massive influx of outsiders, there will generally always be some auctions and exchange events taking ce in the leadup to the preaching ceremony, so perhaps you''ll be able to find some of the spirit medicines that you''re looking for there," Ye Nanfeng exined.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "I see. I was indeed unaware of all of this. Thank you for enlightening me, Elder Ye."
"There''s no need to thank me, Elder Li. I''m sure news of this would spread throughout the sect soon anyway," Ye Nanfeng replied with a smile.
Han Li didn''t dwell on this subject any longer as he flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip, then said, "Elder Ye, I have another list of ingredients here that I''m also trying to procure."
The jade slip contained the ingredients required to refine a pill called the Myriad Axis Pill.
The Myriad Axis Pill was suitable forte-True Immortal cultivators to consume, and he had obtained the recipe from Ping Yaozi.
Now that he had progressed to thete-True Immortal Stage, the pills that he had refined in the past were no longer effective, so he had to search for new pills.
All of the ingredients required to refine the Myriad Axis Pill were quite rare and exotic, indicating that it was no ordinaryte-True Immortal Stage pill.
He had sent out Meng Yungui and the others several hundred years ago to search for the ingredients enclosed in the recipe, but they had only managed to find three or four of the supplementary ingredients, while the three main ingredients required to refine the pill remained elusive.
After inspecting the contents of the jade slip with his spiritual sense, a wry smile appeared on Ye Nanfeng''s face as he said, "These ingredients are also quite rare, Elder Li. I''m assuming they were requested by that Earthly Pill Master friend of yours, right?
¡°In particr, the Myriad Axis Fruit, the Herofall Flower and the Blood Crystal Lotus Root are very umon. I can supply you with all of the supplementary ingredients, but out of the three main ingredients, we only have the Herofall Flower."
He had always taken pride in theprehensive nature of the Immortal Medicine Pavilion''s inventory, but this was already the second time that he had failed to fulfill an order.
"That''s right. That friend of mine acquired an ancient pill recipe recently, but he''s been unable to secure all of the required ingredients, and that''s why he asked me for help. I''ll take whatever you have here and find the rest elsewhere," Han Li replied.
¡¡
Close to an hourter, Han Li emerged from the Immortal Medicine Pavilion with a slightly pained look on his face.
The ingredients for the Myriad Axis Pill were extremely expensive, and it had cost him a great deal of Immortal Origin Stones, even though he had only bought a few batches. Among them, the Herofall Flower was the most expensive, with a single 1,000-year-old specimen costing 15 Immortal Origin Stones.
Thankfully, he could mature and breed the flower with the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial, so this wasn''t a big problem.
After leaving the Immortal Medicine Pavilion, Han Li returned straight to the Crimson Dawn Peak.
ording to Ye Nanfeng, there were still several years left until Dao Lord Baili was going toe out of seclusion, and it was very likely that he would be able to find more of the ingredients that he needed around that time, but it was most likely going to be very expensive.
He had already exhausted a great deal of funds in his prior pill refinement, and even though he still had a decent supply of Immortal Origin Stones, it was best that he earned more as a safety precaution.
After sitting down in his secret chamber, Han Li injected his spiritual sense into his storage pouch, then swept a sleeve through the air, and a bunch of objects emerged, including spirit treasures, cultivation arts, and materials.
These were all spoils that Han Li had reaped from the three True Immortal cultivators that he had in at the Holy Puppet Sect, and he had already sold some of their belongings, but there was still quite a bit left. Given the circumstances, he didn''t have time toplete any missions, so the only way to secure Immortal Origin Stones in a short time would be to sell everything here.
Han Li flipped a hand over to put on his tiger mask, then summoned the array te and listed everythingid out before him in the exchange column, making sure to list everything at a slightly discounted price in order to sell them off quickly.
After that, he made his way to his medicine garden before pulling out a jade box, within which were several purplish-ck spirit flowers that were giving off a peculiar aroma.
These were the Herofall Flowers that he had purchased. In order to secure more seeds, he had to wait for the flowers to bear fruit, and that was only going to happen once they reached 30,000 years of age, but that was naturally not a problem for him.
He cleared out a new area in his medicine garden, then carefully nted the Herofall Flowers.
After that, he returned to the entrance of the medicine garden, and a series of emotions welled up in his heart as he looked at all of the precious and exotic spirit nts thriving in the garden.
He had expended an enormous amount of time and effort to build up this medicine garden to its current state, and it was all thanks to this garden full of spirit nts that he was able to progress so quickly in his cultivation.
After lingering in the medicine garden for a moment longer, he returned to his secret chamber before sitting down with his legs crossed.
Without the support of pills, his rate of cultivation progression was going to be very slow, so instead of cultivating, he decided to continue appraising the eight-and-a-half-sentence mantra to see if he could reap any additional rewards.
Just as Ye Nanfeng anticipated, it didn''t take long for news of Dao Lord Baili''s imminent emergence from seclusion to begin spreading in the sect, and it was officially announced that the preaching ceremony would be held in seven years.
The entire ze Dragon Dao erupted into a frenzy with the emergence of this news.
ording to sect records, Dao Lord Baili had held eight preaching ceremonies up to this point, and every single one of them had been an extremely prestigious event even in the context of the entire Northern cial Immortal Region.
What was special about this ceremony was that there were no restrictions on the people who could attend. In other words, even the outer sect disciples of the ze Dragon Dao were able to attend. As for how much they would be able to get out of it, that was up to them.
Apparently, this was a rule established by Dao Lord Baili himself, and it had always been upheld.
Some of the inner sect elders and direct disciples that were stuck at cultivation bottlenecks were extremely excited by this opportunity.
There was always a chance that some words of wisdom from Dao Lord Baili could address their cultivation problems and help them break through their bottlenecks. It was said that attending past preaching ceremonies was a major factor that contributed to many members of the sect ascending to the True Immortal Stage.
Some disciples who hadn''t yet reached the Grand Ascension Stage were just as excited nheless. After all, Dao Lord Baili already had half a foot in the High Zenith Stage, and being able to hear him preach was an extraordinary opportunity.
Seven years flew by in the blink of an eye.
This was not a short time for a mortal, but for cultivators, perhaps it wasn''t even as long as the duration of a session of meditation.
The gates of the cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak were opened, and Han Li emerged from within.
Even though he had been in seclusion these past few years, he had made sure to keep up to date on the sect''s affairs.
Dao Lord Baili''s preaching ceremony was going to take ce in seven days, and he had originally intended toe out of seclusion earlier than this, but while appraising the eight-and-a-half-sentence mantra during his seclusion, he had inadvertently gained some insight into the aura concealment secret technique enclosed in the Origin Separation Yin Devil Arts.
Only on this day did he finally achieve initial mastery of the secret technique, and he began to chant an incantation as azure light surged over his body.
Several chain projections appeared within the azure light before abruptly vanishing into his body, and his aura was instantlypletely concealed, yet it wasn''t forced in the slightest, and there were no signs to indicate the aura concealment that had taken ce.
Upon reaching the True Immortal Stage, unless one were topletely release their aura while in battle, it would generally be impossible for others to determine one''s cultivation base and exactly how many immortal acupoints one had opened.
However, someone with sufficiently formidable spiritual sense would still be able to glean the cultivation bases of others, but with this secret technique up his sleeve, even the average Golden Immortal wouldn''t have been able to detect his aura.
A pleased smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and he flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
Chapter 316: Invitation from Qi Liang
Chapter 316: Invitation from Qi Liang
Somewhere in the central region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, all of the snow and ice within a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers had melted away, revealing the lush greenery underneath.
The sky was as clear and bright as a blue crystal, and white clouds were hanging between the mountains, while resplendent five-colored light shone through the heavens. Countless cranes were flying through the clouds while letting loose clear cries, and the entire ce resembled an immortal paradise.
At the center of the area was a pristine white mountain that was very smooth and uniform, resembling an enormous white jade pir.
The mountain severed halfway up with an extremely smooth cross-section, looking as if it had been sliced into two by a giant de, creating an enormous teau that served as a za.
Even though only half the mountain remained, the white za was still situated far above the clouds.
At the center of the za was a huge white jade tform that was close to 10,000 feet tall with countless runes engraved onto its surface.
A staircase led from the tform all the way down the za, and there were thousands of round cushions ced on the steps of the staircase.
The ground surrounding the za was also riddled with countless cushions that stretched all the way to the edges of the za, and this tform on the White Jade Peak was where the preaching ceremony was set to take ce.
Prior to themencement of the ceremony, the za waspletely deserted.
No more than several hundred kilometers away from the White Jade Peak was a city that stretched for thousands of kilometers,plete with countlessvish pagodas and pavilions that were concealed within the cloud and mist.
In contrast with the deserted White Jade Peak, this city was extremely lively and bustling, and there were countless streaks of light flying through the air above the city.
asionally, people would fly out of the city in different directions, while others converged toward the city from afar.
Right at this moment, a streak of azure light arrived from the distance, then faded to reveal Han Li.
He cast his gaze toward the White Jade Peak in the distance, then quickly withdrew his gaze before descending toward the city down below.
The entire city was enshrouded within a huge azure light barrier with ze Dragon Dao disciples stationed all around it.
Upon his arrival, Han Li was immediately weed by a young ze Dragon Dao disciple, who extended a deep bow toward Han Li upon seeing his inner sect elder robes, then said, "Wee, esteemed elder. Apologies for the dy, but ording to the rules of the sect, anyone who enters White Jade City must first have their identity verified."
"That''s fine," Han Li replied as he pulled out his elder badge.
The young disciple pulled out a white jade talisman that he waved at Han Li''s badge, and ayer of white light emerged from the talisman to form a small screen of white light that disyed Han Li''s image and information.
The disciple took a nce at the information on the light screen, then flipped a hand over to produce an azure badge as he said, "Thank you for your cooperation, Elder Li. I''ll open the restriction for you right away."
With a wave of the badge, a streak of azure light shot out from within before vanishing into the light barrier that epassed the city.
The light barrier then shuddered before an opening that wasrge enough to fit a person appeared on its surface, and Han Li stowed away his elder badge before flying into the city through the opening.
He made his way along a street, traveling deeper into the city while inspecting his surroundings, and a hint of surprise soon appeared in his eyes.
Only after entering through the light barrier did he discover just how beautiful andvish the buildings in the city were. The wide streets extended throughout the city like a system of cobwebs, and they were lined with opulent shops, presenting a stunning sight that didn''t lose to any of therge cities that he had seen before.
Outside of his cultivation, he had made frequent forays throughout the Bell Toll Mountain Range during the past years, but he had never visited this ce before.
The shops that lined the streets were selling all types of wares, including materials, pills, and treasures, all of which were of quite a high caliber. The wares being sold weren''t inferior in the slightest to those sold in the markets in the ze Dragon Dao, and there were some things that were very rarely seen even in those markets.
Many of the shop owners clearly weren''t ze Dragon Dao disciples. Instead, they were most likely from subsidiary powers to the ze Dragon Dao, and they were aiming to sell some specialty local products during the leadup to the preaching ceremony.
After walking along the street for a while, Han Li stopped in front of a materials shop.
From the entrance, he could see dozens of shelves inside, all of which wereden with precious materials.
At this moment, the shop was filled with customers, and business appeared to have been booming.
After a brief pause, Han Li stepped into the shop, and he was immediately greeted by a young red-robed attendant.
"What materials are you looking for, Senior? We have aprehensive inventory of all types of spirit materials atpetitive prices..."
Before the young attendant had a chance to finish what he was saying, an elderly man who appeared to have been the shopkeeper hurriedly approached Han Li as he said, "Go see if the other customers need any help, I''ll attend to this customer myself."
The young attendant faltered slightly upon hearing this, then promptly departed.
"Wee, esteemed elder. What materials are you looking for today? I am from the Yi n in the west, and our n has been selling spirit materials for generations. We are a reputable business, and I''m sure you won''t be disappointed by our wares," the elderly man said in a respectful manner.
Han Li didn''t waste any time with words as he flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip, which contained a list of the remaining ingredients listed in the dao pill recipe, as well as the other two primary ingredients for refining the Myriad Axis Pill.
The elderly man epted the jade slip from Han Li, but after inspecting its contents, an apologetic look appeared on his face as he said, "These are all extremely precious items, and I''m afraid our shop does not have what you''re looking for."
"Do you know where I''ll be able to buy these things?" Han Li asked.
"I''ve only ever seen these materials in scriptures, and I''ve never heard of any being sold," the elderly man replied with a shake of his head.
Han Li nodded calmly in response, then took back his jade slip before turning to leave, and the elderly man hurriedly apanied him out of the shop.
After emerging from the shop, Han Li continued to walk along the street, and a short whileter, he made his way into anotherrge materials shop.
A short whileter, he emerged from the shop, once again without any luck, but he remained unfazed as he continued onward.
¡¡
Close to a dayter, Han Li emerged from a huge materials shop in the central area of the city, and his expression didn''t betray much emotion, but internally, he was starting to feel quite frustrated.
Thus far, he had visited most of the materials shops in the city, yet not only had he not been able to find what he was looking for, he wasn''t even able to gather any leads on where he could find the ingredients on his list.
There were still some shops left for him to visit, but seeing as thergest shops didn''t have what he was looking for, the chances that he would find sess in the remaining shops were quite slim.
With that in mind, he heaved a faint sigh and was just about to continue onward when a voice rang out from behind him.
"Brother Li!"
Han Li turned around to discover a white-robed man approaching him with a smile, and it was none other than Qi Liang.
"Long time no see, Brother Qi," Han Li greeted with a smile.
He had spent the majority of his time in seclusion, while the rest of his time was spent onpleting various missions, so it had already been close to 300 years since he hadst met Qi Liang.
Qi Liang was just about to say something when his eyes abruptly widened, and he was silent for a long while before finally finding his voice again. "Brother Li, your aura... Could it be that you''ve already reached the mid-True Immortal Stage?"
"Indeed. I encountered some strokes of fortune during the past few centuries, and I recently managed to make a breakthrough," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.
Qi Liang could tell that Han Li didn''t want to speak much on this matter, so he refrained from prying any further. "I am truly envious, Brother Li."
"When did you get here, Brother Qi?" Han Li asked, promptly changing the subject.
"I got here a few days ago, and I''ve been exploring the city ever since, but I didn''t see you before this. Could it be that you only just arrived? Why didn''t youe a little earlier? This ce has already been thriving for quite some time," Qi Liang said with a smile.
"Sounds like you''ve been busy, Brother Qi. My original intention was toe here a bit earlier, but I was dyed by some matters," Han Li exined with a smile.
"I suppose you haven''t really missed much. Generally speaking, the most precious treasures will only appear much closer to the preaching ceremony. By the way, I just so happen to be on my way to an exchange event for True Immortal Stage fellow daoists. Would you be interested in tagging along?" Qi Liang asked.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this, and he immediately nodded in response. "Of course!"
"I knew you wouldn''t pass up such a great opportunity. The event venue is just up ahead, and it should be starting soon," Qi Liang said with a smile as he led the way forward.
"I didn''t know there was such avish city in the sect. Why is it that I''ve never heard anyone speak of it before?" Han Li asked.
"White Jade City and the White Jade Peak are very important locations in our sect, and under normal circumstances, this city is closed to the outside. Entry is only granted during important asions like the preaching ceremony," Qi Liang exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
The two of them continued to chat, and after making their way down the street for a while, they turned onto another street, this one lined with buildings that were even morevish and opulent, and many of them were enshrouded within light barriers of different colors.
Han Li noticed that whenever the cultivators walking down the street cast their eyes toward these buildings, they would always do so with awe and veneration on their faces.
"This is the ce," Qi Liang dered as he stopped in front of a three-story pavilion.
This building was also enshrouded within a white light barrier that made it impossible to see into the building, giving it quite an aura of mystique.
Chapter 317: Heavenly Scorpion Badge
Chapter 317: Heavenly Scorpion Badge
Qi Liang strode forward, then flipped a hand over to produce a white badge that was giving off a faint white glow with a scorpion design engraved onto its surface.
With a wave of the badge, a streak of white light was released, and it vanished into the white light barrier in a sh.
An opening immediately appeared in the light barrier, and it instantly closed after Han Li and Qi Liang had passed through.
Only then was Han Li able to see the pavilion enshrouded within the light barrier in its full glory. It was an intricately constructed three-story pavilion that was entirely a pristine white color and appeared to have been constructed from some type of special jade.
Hanging above the entrance of the pavilion was a white que that bore the words "Heavenly Scorpion Pavilion" inrge characters, and some scorpion designs were engraved around the edge of the que, much like the badge that Qi Liang had pulled out earlier.
"This exchange event is being hosted by the Heavenly Scorpion Sect, which is a subsidiary sect to our ze Dragon Dao. The Heavenly Scorpion Sect isn''t a particrly powerful sect, but it has a great deal of expertise in all types of restrictions and the refinement of Dao Warriors," Qi Liang informed in a low voice.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression.
Qi Liang stowed his badge away before entering the pavilion.
The furnishings inside the pavilion were quitevish, with a lush red carpet on the ground and dragons and phoenixes engraved on the pristine white walls. The room was also surrounded by screens and immactely pruned potted nts, resembling the interior of a wealthy family''s estate.
Several maidservants dressed in red were situated around the room, and they immediately extended respectful curtseys toward Han Li and Qi Liang.
They appeared to have been no different from normal people, but in reality, they were merely Dao warriors, and all of them were giving off aurasparable to that of a Body Integration cultivator.
Han Li took a closer look at these maidservants to find that their movements were very natural, and their eyes were also just as bright and full of life as a normal person.
Having already refined a batch of Dao Warriors of his own, he had naturally gained a far better understanding of Dao Warriors, but even so, he was still unable to tell how the Heavenly Scorpion Sect had managed to refine these Dao Warrior maidservants.
His Dao Warriors were most likely far more formidable in battle than these Dao Warriors, but they were farcking when it came to how life-like they were.
Right at this moment a young woman emerged from deeper in the building, and she extended a respectful curtsey to Han Li and Qi Liang.
"Take us to the exchange hall," Qi Liang instructed.
"Yes, pleasee with me, seniors," the young woman hurriedly replied, then led the two of them up a staircase to a hall on the third floor.
The hall was quiterge, but it waspletely empty with the exception of some furniture.
At the center of the room was a giant screen that bore an extremely life-like scenic painting, making one feel as if they were situated in the depicted scenic location.
Han Li inspected his surroundings momentarily, following which his brows furrowed slightly as he turned his gaze back to the screen.
Right at this moment, the young woman chanted an incantation before releasing a streak of white light into the screen, and ayer of translucent white light instantly appeared on its surface.
The scenery depicted on it instantly sprang to life in a flurry of movement, and it was also releasing ck light that fused with the white light to form a ck door.
A hint of intrigue shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
The young woman continued to chant her incantation while making hand seals, and the ck door began to glow brighter and brighter with ck light while also rapidly expanding.
A dull thump rang out as the ck door flew out of the screen, hovering in front of it before opening to reveal a long passageway.
"Go ahead, seniors, the hall is just up ahead," the young woman informed.
Qi Liang nodded in response, then waved a dismissive hand, and the young woman quickly departed after extending a parting curtsey.
"Let''s go," Qi Liang said as he led the way into the passageway.
Han Li strode through the passageway while inspecting it closely, and he could tell that the passageway had been created using an extremely advanced spatial restriction that resulted in a very stable space.
Qi Liang could see that Han Li had taken an interest in the passageway that they were walking through, and he exined, "The Heavenly Scorpion Sect is very adept in spatial restrictions, particrly ones that create independent areas. I''ve heard that many of the secret areas in our sect were created with the help of the Heavenly Scorpion Sect."
Han Li nodded in response, but his brows then furrowed slightly as he asked, "This is just an exchange event, not some shady, under-the-table deal, so why have they gone out of their way to hold the event in this separate space? Could it be that there are going to be so many people in attendance that they can''t all fit in the hall outside?"
"There won''t be many people in attendance, but the Heavenly Scorpion Sect has always had a habit of doing this, both to provide a private area for all of the event attendees, as well as to show off their expertise in spatial restrictions," Qi Liang exined with a smile.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
"By the way, the exchange event here will be held once per day in the leadup to the preaching ceremony. If you''re interested, I can get them to assign you a Heavenly Scorpion Badge as well so you cane to the next few exchange events as well," Qi Liang said.
"I hope that''s not too much trouble," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Of course not! With your formidable cultivation base, the Heavenly Scorpion Sect would be scrambling to befriend you!" Qi Liang chuckled.
As they were chatting with one another, they reached the end of the passageway, where they arrived in a side hall and were greeted by an azure-robed elderly man with a warm smile on his face.
"Wee, Fellow Daoist Qi. May I ask who this fellow daoist is?"
"This is Elder Li, a good friend of mine who''s also from the ze Dragon Dao. He''s always in seclusion, so very few people know of him. Brother Li, this is Fellow Daoist Changhe of the Heavenly Scorpion Sect, he''ll be the one hosting the exchange event."
It seemed that Qi Liang and the elderly man were very familiar with one another.
"It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Fellow Daoist Changhe," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
The elderly man responded in kind. "The pleasure is all mine, Fellow Daoist Li."
"Brother Li only just got here today, so he doesn''t yet have a Heavenly Scorpion Badge. You wouldn''t turn him away on that basis, would you, Fellow Daoist Changhe?" Qi Liang asked in a joking manner.
"Of course not, Fellow Daoist Qi. Fellow Daoist Li is more than wee to attend our exchange events. Here''s a Heavenly Scorpion Badge for you, Fellow Daoist Li. We''ll be holding exchange events every day for the next few days, so feel free toe as you please," Daoist Changhe said as he offered a white badge to Han Li.
"You have my thanks," Han Li said as he epted the badge.
"You''re very much wee, Fellow Daoist Li. Please follow me, the exchange event will be starting very soon."
With that, Daoist Changhe led Han Li''s duo out of the side hall, and they passed through a corridor before arriving in a circr main hall.
The furnishings in this main hall were extremelyvish, and the ground was entirely paved with a type of premium material known as Green Pine Jade. There were also many bright gems embedded into the walls to fill the entire hall with dazzling radiance.
An antiquated little cauldron was ced in each of the hall''s four corners, and there was a stick of burning yellow incense in each cauldron, giving off a refined and elegant aroma.
At the center of the hall was arge round table, around which were ced around two dozen chairs.
The table and the chairs were all crafted from some type of blue jade material that was giving off a cool and refreshing energy, clearly indicating that this was some type of precious material.
At this point, there were already around a dozen True Immortal cultivators seated around the table, and everyone immediately turned to look at Han Li''s trio as they came in.
Some of them appeared to have been familiar with Qi Liang, and they only took a few nces at Han Li before averting their eyes.
Han Li made no eye contact with anyone, and only after taking seat did he begin to inspect the people around him.
Close to half of the people present were ze Dragon Dao elders, but Han Li only recalled two or three of them. As for those from outside of the ze Dragon Dao, he naturally didn''t know any of them.
Qi Liang had arge social circle and began to chat with many of the other people present, and the atmosphere in the hall gradually began to liven up a little.
Han Li took no part in the conversations, merely sitting in silence as he casually swept his gaze around the table.
With this tremendous spiritual sense, he was able to instantly determine that most of the cultivators present were at the early-True Immortal Stage, while only two were at the mid-True Immortal Stage.
One of those two was a portly middle-aged man dressed in ze Dragon Dao elder robes. He had a thin mustache and a pair of eyes that were constantly darting around, making him resemble a fat yet shrewd rat.
The other mid-True Immortal cultivator was a white-robed elderly man from outside of the ze Dragon Dao, and he was seated with his eyes closed, paying no heed to the people around him.
The portly ze Dragon Dao elder seemed to have detected Han Li''s gaze, and he looked back at Han Li before shing him a smile, causing his mustache to wiggle a little in a ratherical sight.
Han Li was rather amused by this, but he naturally wasn''t going to disy his amusement. He gave the portly elder a slight nod, yet right as he was about to avert his gaze, ayer of ck light suddenly appeared within the portly elder''s eyes before quickly transforming into a pair of tiny vortexes.
A burst of peculiar power erupted out of the vortexes to ensnare Han Li''s gaze, and all of a sudden, Han Li found himself situated in a world that was filled with white mist.
Several young women emerged from the mist, and their thin veil clothing didn''t leave much to the imagination as they made all types of seductive gestures toward Han Li with their alluring bodies.
Han Li was able to instantly tell that this was an illusion, and he paid no heed to the women around him as he gently blew out a breath.
All of the women around him instantly faded, and countless cracks abruptly appeared in the surrounding world of white mist without any warning, following which it shattered to reveal the hall that Han Li was situated in once again.
The portly elder shuddered slightly, and the ck light in his eyes was thrown into a state of disarray before fading away, revealing the stunned look in his eyes.
Han Li cast a cold gaze toward the portly elder, in response to which the elder offered up an apologetic smile.
This was only a very discreet sh between the two, but all of the other cultivators present were at the True Immortal Stage, so this naturally didn''t escape their notice, and all of them were rather taken aback by this turn of events.
Chapter 318: Exchange Event
Chapter 318: Exchange Event
"That man is quite a renowned mid-True Immortal Stage elder of our sect. His name is Shu Tiansheng, and illusions are his forte. He''s not a bad person, but he''s very mischievous and often uses his illusions to y pranks on others. Rest assured, he has no ill intentions," Qi Liang exined to Han Li through voice transmission.
It was indeed true that the illusion just now hadn''t tried to harm him in any way, so Han Li decided not to pursue the matter, merely withdrawing his gaze and paying no further heed to Shu Tiansheng.
Shu Tiansheng was quite relieved to see this, but he was still asionally darting curious nces at Han Li.
An hour passed by, and during this time, two more True Immortals arrived.
Another 15 minutes passed without any further new arrivals, and the white-robed elderly man opened his eyes as he said in a cold voice, "It''s about time we began, is it not, Fellow Daoist Changhe? I still have matters to attend to after this."
A hesitant look appeared on Daoist Changhe''s face upon hearing this. There was still some time left until the scheduled start, but it didn''t appear as if anyone else was going to show up.
"Alright, let''s begin. There are 19 fellow daoists attending this exchange event. On behalf of our Heavenly Scorpion Sect, I would like to thank you for your patronage."
Daoist Changhe rose to his feet and cupped his fist in a salute to everyone present as he spoke.
"Let''s skip all the formalities and begin, Fellow Daoist Changhe," a square-faced ze Dragon Dao elder said.
Despite being repeatedly rebuked, Daoist Changhe wasn''t irked in the slightest as he dered, "It seems like everyone''s in quite a hurry. The rules of this exchange event are the same as before. Everyone takes turns disying the treasures that they prepared, then provide a short description of the treasure, as well as what you''re looking for in exchange.
¡°If both sides agree to the deal, then it''ll be finalized. On top of that, our Heavenly Scorpion Sect is only providing this venue, and we''re doing so free of charge, so if any disputes arise after an exchange is made, we ept no responsibility. With that, let''s begin."
As soon as his voice trailed off, a bald man seated next to him immediately rose to his feet.
The man patted the storage pouch strapped to his waist, and a blue jade box appeared in his hand.
The jade box was surrounded by a small cloud of blue mist, and it was giving off a bone-chilling aura.
It was clear that the box held something quite remarkable, and everyone''s attention was immediately drawn to it.
A pleased look appeared on the bald man''s face at the sight of everyone''s reactions, and he opened the box in a slow and deliberate fashion to reveal a fist-sized blue crystal with liquid-like blue light flowing around it.
The crystal was giving off a cial aura coupled with faintw power fluctuations, and as soon as it was revealed, the air temperature in the hall plummeted, causing all of the moisture in the air to freeze into ice crystals, presenting a beautiful spectacle to behold.
"This is a piece of Blue-veined cial Crystal. It¡®s near-indestructible and contains extremely formidable cial qi, making it an ideal material for refining frost-attribute immortal treasures," the bold man dered with a proud expression.
Many of the people present were clearly interested in the crystal, but Han Li only took a nce at it before withdrawing his gaze.
To the average True Immortal, materials that containedw powers were very precious, but he possessed many such items, so this one wasn''t of particr interest to him.
"That''s a very precious material, Fellow Daoist Xin. Have you considered what you would like in exchange for it?" Daoist Changhe asked.
"I would like a metal-attribute spirit material or demon beast core of the same caliber," the bald man replied.
Everyone remained silent, and the people that were interested in the crystal could only shake their heads with wry smiles.
The Blue-veined cial Crystal was indeed a precious material, but what he was asking for was just as precious and rare.
The bald man''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
"I don''t have either of the two things that you stated, but I''m willing to purchase that crystal from you using Immortal Origin Stones," an elderly man wearing a round hat dered.
"I''m not short on Immortal Origin Stones at the moment. If no one can offer me what I asked for, then I''ll be keeping this crystal for now," the bald man replied as he closed the jade box and sat back down.
The elderly man wearing the round hat could only heave a forlorn sigh in response.
After the bald man sat down, the young woman seated next to him rose to her feet, then swept a hand through the air to release four or five azure bones, all of which were giving off a faint azure glow. "These are some True Immortal demon beast bones, and in exchange, I would like some pills to assist me in my cultivation."
Demon beast materials generally weren''t that precious, so the bones on disy didn''t attract much interest.
However, these were still the remains of True Immortal Stage demon beasts, so they were ultimately taken by a ze Dragon Dao in exchange for two vials of pills.
After the young woman came Shu Tiansheng.
"Fellow daoists, I''ve brought with me a set of 49 Lost Soul gs, every single one of which is a spirit treasure in their own right, while the three primary gs are top-grade spirit treasures. When unleashed all at once, the 49 Lost Soul gs are just as powerful as the average immortal treasure.
¡°In exchange for them, I would like one piece each of Profound Devilish Metal Essence and Heavenly Softwater Crystal," Shu Tiansheng dered as he swept a sleeve through the air, and 49 palm-sized ck gs appeared in front of him one after another, with three of them clearlyrger than the rest.
Shu Tiansheng made a hand seal, and a dark cloud that was as ck as ink erupted out of the gs to instantly fill the entire hall. A burst of horrific howling also rang out from within the ck cloud, causing the surrounding space to shudder.
Everyone was quite amazed to see this, and Han Li took an extra nce at the gs as well. Up to this point, these gs were the most precious item that had been presented, but he still wasn''t interested.
However, many of the other cultivators present were very keen to get their hands on this set of gs, and after a fierce round of bidding, they were ultimately exchanged for a piece of Profound Devilish Metal Essence and 2,000 top-grade spirit stones, as well as several other treasures.
The items presented by the next few people after Shu Tiansheng were also quite remarkable, and the atmosphere in the exchange event was gradually beginning to heat up.
Up to this point, the most precious items presented had been three purple flowers called Purple Devil''s Trumpets, and each one contained enough poison to kill a True Immortal. At the same time, they were an extremely precious type of spirit material for refining poison-attribute immortal treasures.
In exchange, the owner of the flowers was asking for the core of a True Immortal Stage demon beast known as the Crimson Crown Fire Crane, but no one had such a demon core in their possession.
As time passed, the atmosphere in the exchange event gradually peaked to a climax.
Qi Liang had his turn right before Han Li, and he was quite fortunate, exchanging a pair of spirit treasures for a 100,000-year-old spirit nt.
Finally, it was Han Li''s turn, and he swept a sleeve over the table to produce two items, namely a ck ball and a crimson crystal the size of a human head.
The ck ball was the demon core of Zhong Luan''s ck crane steed, while the crimson crystal was the material that contained firew powers that he had obtained from the thin elderly man.
Through some investigation, Han Li had discovered that this was a type of material known as Blush Cloud Fire Crystal, and while it did contain fire-attributew powers, its natural limitations meant that it couldn''t hold arge amount of fire-attribute spiritual power, thereby making it unfit for use as a tool refinement material.
However, it had an alternative use, which was to tame fire-attribute spiritual power.
Fire-attribute spiritual power was generally extremely violent, yet any fire-attribute spiritual power that was passed through a piece of Blush Cloud Fire Crystal would instantly be extremely mellow and mild.
It was exactly because of this that this crystal was one of the best materials for refining pill cauldrons or tool refinement cauldrons. Even if only a small amount of this crystal were added to a cauldron, its stability would be significantly enhanced. This chunk of Blush Cloud Fire Crystal was definitelyrge enough to refine an exceptional cauldron, so it would''ve definitely been able to fetch an astronomical price in a sect that was proficient in pill or tool refinement.
Compared with the Blush Cloud Fire Crystal, the ck demon core was also very precious, but far less so.
Daoist Changhe initially faltered slightly at the sight of the Blush Cloud Fire Crystal, following which an intense look appeared in his eyes as he stared at the crystal with an unblinking gaze, and he was so excited that his cheeks had be slightly flushed.
Most of the people present weren''t able to identify this crystal, but they could tell from Daoist Changhe''s expression that it was an extremely precious item, and they began asking one another about it through voice transmission.
"I have here a True Immortal Stage demon beast core and a piece of Blush Cloud Fire Crystal. I''m looking to exchange the demon beast core for a Myriad Axis Fruit and a Blood Crystal Lotus Root, both of which must be over 50,000 years of age, and I''ll ept anyone of a list of nine materials for the Blush Cloud Fire Crystal," Han Li dered, then rattled off the list of nine materials that he was searching for.
The excitement in everyone''s eyes gradually faded upon hearing what Han Li had to say, and a long period of silence ensued.
Right at this moment, the white-robed elderly man broke the silence, and he was looking at the ck demon beast core as he said, "I have a Myriad Axis Fruit, but no Blood Crystal Lotus Root. Would you ept something else as a substitute?"
"Let me take a look at your Myriad Axis Fruit first," Han Li said.
The white-robed elderly man pulled out an azure wooden box, but instead of immediately tossing it to Han Li, he asked, "Would I be able to take a closer look at that demon core as well, Fellow Daoist?"
"Of course," Han Li replied with a smile, then swept a hand through the air to release a burst of azure light that carried the demon core to the elderly man.
In return, the white-robed elderly man tossed his wooden box to Han Li as well.
There was a talisman adhered to the wooden box, and with a sweep of Han Li''s hand, the talisman was removed amid a sh of azure light, while the lid flew off on its own
A golden fist-sized spirit fruit wasying inside the box, and there was a series of ring-shaped patterns on its surface. The fruit wasn''t releasing any special aroma, but it was giving off an immense aura of vitality.
Han Li gently picked up the fruit for a closer inspection, then nodded with a pleased expression.
This was indeed a Myriad Axis Fruit, and it was at least 60,000 to 70,000 years old, so it was old enough for his pill refinement needs. Furthermore, the core of the fruit was alsopletely undamaged, so he would be able to nt it.
After inspecting the ck demon core for a while, the white-robed elderly man was clearly also quite pleased with what he saw, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release four or five more jade boxes of different colors.
"Like I said, I don''t have a Blood Crystal Lotus Root, but these items should beparable in value."
The elderly man swept his sleeve through the air once again as he spoke, and all of the lids of the boxes were removed to reveal their contents.
Han Li took a nce at the items in the boxes, then said, "These are indeed allparable in value to the Blood Crystal Lotus Root, but I''m afraid none of them fit my needs, so I''ll take some Immortal Origin Stones instead."
After their exchange wasplete, Daoist Changhe said, "Fellow Daoist Li, the nine materials that you''re looking for are extremely rare, and it seems like no one has what you''re looking for. May I ask if you''re willing to exchange that Blush Cloud Fire Crystal for spirit stones as well?"
Chapter 319: News
Chapter 319: News
As Daoist Changhe was speaking, Han Li noticed another pair of eyes being trained on him, and it was none other than Shu Tiansheng.
With Han Li looking his way, Shu Tiansheng immediately put on a fawning smile.
Han Li withdrew his gaze, then shook his head with a decisive expression. "My apologies, but I''m only going to exchange this Blush Cloud Fire Crystal for one of the nine aforementioned materials."
Daoist Changhe was quite disappointed to hear this, but he was still unwilling to give up. "Is there no room for negotiation at all, Fellow Daoist Li?"
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li said, "I won''t exchange this piece of Blush Cloud Fire Crystal for anything else, but I do have some smaller pieces of the same material that I''m willing to exchange for any leads on where I can obtain one or more of the nine materials I mentioned earlier."
He swept a sleeve over the table once again as he spoke, and a pair of fist-sized Blush Cloud Fire Crystals appeared.
Daoist Changhe took a longing nce at the two pieces of Blush Cloud Fire Crystal, but ultimately sat back down with a defeated expression.
Shu Tiansheng also sat down in his chair with a sullen expression, while Han Li heaved an internal sigh before stowing the three Blush Cloud Fire Crystals on the table away again.
The exchange event continued, but in contrast with the Blush Cloud Fire Crystals, everything else that was presented was made to lookpletely mediocre, and the atmosphere gradually died down.
An hourter, the exchange event concluded, and Han Li immediately stood up to leave with Qi Liang.
Once again, Daoist Changhe asked Han Li whether he was willing to exchange one of the two smaller Blush Cloud Fire Crystals for something else, and he brought out an array of rare and exotic items for Han Li''s consideration.
However, none of those items caught Han Li''s interest, and much to Daoist Changhe''s disappointment, he was turned down once again.
However, Han Li did leave amunication array te to Daoist Changhe so that he could contact Han Li if he ever dide across one of the nine materials or news on any one of them.
A glimmer of hope was sparked in Daoist Changhe''s heart, and he promised that he would do his best, while also imploring Han Li to save one or two of the Blush Cloud Fire Crystals for him.
Han Li was rather surprised by how urgent Daoist Changhe was in his pursuit for a Blush Cloud Fire Crystal, and he agreed to his request before departing with Qi Liang.
"Where are you going next, Brother Li?" Qi Liang asked.
"I''m going to go to some other ces to search for some materials. It''s not every day that I get this opportunity, so I have to make the most of it," Han Li replied.
Qi Liang nodded in response. "I have some matters to take care of as well, so I won''t apany you any further, Brother Li. Take Care."
"Alright, then I''ll see you at the preaching ceremony," Han Li said with a smile, then promptly departed.
Qi Liang looked at Han Li''s departing figure for a while, then heaved a faint sigh before departing in another direction.
Han Li made his way down the street for a while before suddenly stopping in his tracks, then turned around with a cold expression. "You''ve been following me for quite some time now. What business do you have with me?"
Standing not far away behind Han Li was none other than Shu Tiansheng.
"I am Shu Tiansheng of the Heavenly Sage Peak. Please ept my apologies for my rude actions during the exchange event, Fellow Daoist Li," Shu Tiansheng said in an earnest manner as he cupped his fist in an apologetic salute.
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "Don''t worry about it, it''s not a big deal. My question is why are you following me around?"
"Thank you for your understanding, Fellow Daoist Li. I came here to ask you if you were nning to continue searching for the materials that you mentioned during the exchange event just now," Shu Tiansheng exined.
"I don''t like to talk in circles, so if you have something to say, then be more straightforward," Han Li said.
"Truth be told, I have information on where you can secure one of those materials, but I didn''t want to say it in front of everyone back there," Shu Tiansheng replied as a serious look appeared on his face.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up slightly upon hearing this. "Which material do you have information on?"
Shu Tiansheng opened his mouth to reply, but then decided against it.
Han Li could see that Shu Tiansheng had some reservations, so he said, "Rest assured, the offer that I made earlier still stands. If you can provide me with information on one of the materials, then you can have one of my Blush Cloud Fire Crystals."
"Well... I do have information one of the materials, but instead of one of the nine, it''s the Blood Crystal Lotus Root," Shu Tiansheng said.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response. "That''s fine, that''s also one of the things that I''m looking for. What would you like in exchange for this information?"
"I can see that you''re a very straightforward man, so I''ll cut straight to the chase. I want to exchange the information I have for a Blush Cloud Fire Crystal," Shu Tiansheng said with a smile.
Han Li offered no response to this.
Shu Tiansheng took a deep breath, then continued, "I know that the Blood Crystal Lotus Root is lesser in value than the other nine materials that you mentioned, so I''m willing to throw in some Immortal Origin Stones as well in exchange for a small piece of Blush Cloud Fire Crystal."
"There''s no need for that. The Blood Crystal Lotus Root is one of the things that I''m looking for as well, so I won''t ask for any extra Immortal Origin Stones," Han Li said with a shake of his head.
His expression remained unchanged, but he was actually quite excited. Compared with the nine ingredients required for dao pill refinement, he would actually rather acquire the Blood Crystal Lotus Root as that was the final ingredient he was missing for refining Myriad Axis Pills.
"Thank you for your generosity, Fellow Daoist Li. At the moment, there are many cultivators gathered in White Jade City, and there''s nock of True Immortals among them, so there are many more auctions and exchange events toe. There''s a secret high-end auction that''s going to take ce in three days, and only those who are at or above the mid-True Immortal Stage can attend.
¡°I only learned about this auction by chance, and I''ve heard that the Blood Crystal Lotus Root will be one of the auction items," Shu Tiansheng informed through voice transmission.
An intrigued look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
The fact that only those at or above the mid-True Immortal Stage could attend the auction meant that most of the ze Dragon Dao''s elders would not have been granted entry, so this was quite a prestigious event.
"Seeing as you were able to dispel my illusion so easily, I''m sure the cultivation base restriction won''t be a problem for you," Shu Tiansheng said, having adopted his usual cheeky grin again.
Han Li paid no heed to this tant attempt at probing out his cultivation base as he nodded in response. "Alright, I''ll be sure to attend this auction, and I''ll give you a Blush Cloud Fire Crystal if a Blood Crystal Lotus Root really does appear."
A hint of tion shed through Shu Tiansheng''s eyes upon hearing this, and he nodded as he said, "Great! I''ll meet you back here at noon in three days."
After that, he promptly bade farewell to Han Li, and the two went their separate ways.
The day quickly flew by, and at night, a series of massive crescent-shaped gemstones appeared throughout White Jade City, releasing bright white radiance that made the city just as bright as it was during the day.
All of the buildings in the city also lit up, and with the night sky acting as a backdrop, the entire city appeared even more alluring and resplendent than it was in the day.
Right at this moment, Han Li emerged from one of the shops in the city.
He had visited all of the remaining materials shops in the city out of hope more than conviction, and sure enough, he hadn''t found any of the materials that he was looking for.
He was already prepared for this oue, but he still couldn''t help but feel a little disappointment, and he had no choice but to ce his hopes in the private auctions and exchange events.
However, his exploration of the city hadn''t been entirely fruitless.
For example, he had learned from the owner of one of the shops that another exchange event was going to take ce the next day.
This exchange event was likely going to be even smaller than the one held in the Heavenly Scorpion Pavilion, but Han Li wasn''t going to miss it.
A short whileter, Han Li arrived on a rather quiet street that was lined with inns.
Having explored the city for an entire day, he may not have exactly been tired, but it was still time to get some rest.
After looking around for a while, he chose one of the smaller inns and requested a peaceful room, upon which he was led by an inn employee to a room on the third floor.
"Have a good night, and if you need anything, just call for me,¡± the employee said.
Han Li took a nce around the room to find that it was to his liking, and he gave the employee a spirit stone as a tip before waving a dismissive hand, indicating for him to leave.
The employee was ecstatic and extended a grateful bow before quickly departing.
Han Li was just about to close the door when the sound of footsteps rang out nearby, and a woman in red passed by in front of his room.
The woman''s face was obscured by a veil, but she seemed to have been quite young and possessed an exceptional figure.
White Jade City was quite arge city, but due to the excessive number of cultivators in the city, most of the inns were most likely quite full.
The woman in red took a nce at Han Li, then quickly made her way past him and disappeared down the corridor.
A hint of befuddlement emerged in Han Li''s eyes as he looked on at her departing figure.
The woman had concealed her own aura, but with Han Li''s immense spiritual sense, he was able to instantly detect that she was a True Immortal cultivator.
At the moment, True Immortals were a dime a dozen in White Jade City, but this woman struck Han Li with a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen her before somewhere.
However, he couldn''t recall exactly where he had seen her before, so he could only set the train of thought aside.
After closing the door, Han Li set up ayer of restrictions in the room, then sat down with his legs crossed on the bed.
¡¡
Three days passed by in a sh, and Han Li arrived at the rendezvous location at noon.
Shu Tiansheng was already waiting there, and he immediately greeted Han Li with a wide smile. "Wee, Fellow Daoist Li."
Han Li merely nodded in response.
"The auction venue is quite obscure, so pleasee with me, Fellow Daoist Li," Shu Tianshengmunicated through voice transmission, then led the way ahead.
The two of them walked along the streets in silence, and only after walking for close to an hour did they arrive at a secluded little shop.
The shop didn''t have any customers, and there was only an elderly shopkeeper resting on a reclining chair behind the counter, looking as if he were about to nod off at any moment.
Chapter 320: Underground Auction
Chapter 320: Underground Auction
Shu Tiansheng shed Han Li a smile, then tapped the counter a few times as he yelled, "Rise and shine, Shopkeeper Gu."
The elderly man behind the counter opened his eyes and took azy nce at Shu Tiansheng and Han Li, then slowly sat up as he yawned and asked in a raspy voice, "What would you like to buy?"
"The best that your shop has to offer, of course," Shu Tiansheng was sliding his finger over the counter, and Han Li noticed that he was tracing out a strange pattern with his finger.
An alert look immediately appeared in the elderly man''s eyes upon seeing this, and he nodded in response before rising to his feet and making his way deeper into the shop, followed closely by Han Li''s duo.
Before long, the three of them arrived in a dpidated wooden shack in the backyard of the shop.
The elderly man tapped one of the walls of the shack a couple of times, and a string of cracks rang out as ayer of azure light appeared over the wall, then transformed into a shimmering azure door, beyond which was a dark pathway that appeared to have been leading underground.
"The auction venue is down there," the elderly man said as he pulled out a pair of white masks for Han Li''s duo.
Some star and moon designs were engraved onto the masks, and they were giving off rippling waves of blue and white light, giving the masks quite a profound appearance.
Shu Tiansheng epted the masks, then handed one to Han Li before leading the way into the passageway.
Han Li took a nce at the mask in his hand, then gave the elderly shopkeeper a nod before stepping into the passageway as well.
The stone gated behind him swung shut amid a burst of dull rumbling, and the interior of the passageway was plunged intoplete darkness.
However, this degree of darkness naturally wasn''t going to trouble Han Li.
The blue and light on Shu Tiansheng''s mask swelled to form a light barrier that enveloped his entire body.
Han Li was rather intrigued to see this. The blue and white light barrier was able to keep out even his spiritual sense, and it also concealed the majority of Shu Tiansheng''s aura.
If it weren''t for the fact that the two of them had been standing together this entire time, Han Li would''ve been unsure of whether this person actually was Shu Tiansheng.
The aura concealment effect of these masks was very simr to that of the masks of the Transient Guild, but they were farckingpared to the Transient Guild masks when it came to their ability to alter auras.
Han Li also put on his mask before injecting some immortal spiritual power into it, but to his surprise, it disyed no reaction at all.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, then increased his immortal spiritual power output.
However, the mask was like a bottomless pit, and its surface had lit up slightly, but it was nowhere to the same extent as Shu Tiansheng''s mask.
Han Li continued to increase his immortal spiritual power output until he was drawing upon most of the immortal spiritual power in his body, and only then did he manage to achieve the same effect as Shu Tiansheng''s mask.
Only then did Han Li realize that this mask was a device that verified one''s cultivation base, and that those below the mid-True Immortal Stage would''ve been unable to use it.
The two of them made their way down the dark passageway for a while before turning a corner and arriving in a stone chamber, at the end of which was a white door of light that was giving off a gentle glow in the darkness.
"The auction venue is just inside."
Shu Tiansheng seemed to have been quite familiar with this ce, and he strode through the door of light.
The blue and white light barrier around him resonated momentarily with the door of light, and he abruptly vanished.
Han Li also stepped through the door of light, following which he found himself situated in a hall with Shu Tiansheng standing not far away.
Han Li cast his gaze into the hall to find that it was ovr in shape and around 3,000 to 4,000 feet in size.
The furnishings in the hall were quite luxurious, and the ground was paved with beautiful dark red bricks, while several massive and intricately crafted pcenterns were hanging from the ceiling.
There were also many gemstones embedded into the walls, but even with the pcenterns and gemstones acting as light sources, the area was still rather dim.
There were several dozenrge chairs crafted from precious wooden materials in the hall, and many of them were already upied, but all of the people seated on the chairs were also enshrouded in blue and white light barriers, making it impossible to glean their true appearance.
In front of these chairs was a short stone tform, upon which was ced a rectangr table, and behind the table were three empty chairs.
The arrival of Han Li''s duo didn''t draw much attention, attracting only a few fleeting nces.
"Looks like the auction isn''t starting quiet yet. Let''s find some seats first," Shu Tiansheng said in a low voice.
Han Li nodded in response, and he and Shu Tiansheng sat down on a pair of neighboring chairs near the back of the hall.
From there, Han Li looked around the hall, and a peculiar look shed through his eyes.
There was a faint yellow light barrier over all of the walls of the hall, and it didn''t appear to have been all that remarkable, but Han Li could sense that the restriction was extremely thick and dense.
The restriction was clearly an earth-attribute one, and it seemed to have been drawing power from the vast earth, which meant that attacking the restriction would''ve been equivalent to attacking the entire earth itself.
Such an advanced restriction was extremely umon, and by Han Li''s estimates, even if he were to go all-out, he most likely wouldn''t have been able to break the restriction.
The fact that there was such a formidable restriction in the auction venue indicated that this was truly a very prestigious event.
Everyone in the hall was seated with their eyes closed, and the entire hall waspletely silent and filled with a tense and heavy atmosphere.
Two hours passed by in a sh, and during this time, two more cultivators arrived in the hall, both of which also sat down in silence.
Right at this moment, a wooden door swung open on the side of the hall, and three figures, two tall and one short, emerged from within.
These three figures were alsopletely enshrouded in blue and white light barriers that concealed their appearance, and they made their way over to the long table on the stone tform before sitting down behind it, with the shorter figure situated at the center.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting, fellow daoists. Before we begin the auction, allow me toy out what''s going to happen today," the short figure dered.
His voice was extremely clear and prative, and everyone below the tform immediately sat up straighter to listen.
"This auction will be split up into two parts. During the first half, the three of us will conduct the auction as normal, and after the auction, all of you will be wee toe up to the stage to disy any valuable items that you''re looking to sell or exchange, and you can negotiate your own terms without any intervention from the three of us. Alright, without further ado, let''s begin."
As soon as his voice trailed off, the tall figure to his left swept a hand through the air to produce a rectangr wooden box with several talismans adhered to it.
The short figure epted the wooden box, then removed the talismans before opening it.
Inside the box was an antiquated-looking blue longsword that was giving off dazzling blue light that was flowing over the de of the sword like water while producing a faint sshing sound.
Tiny blue runes could be seen drifting throughout the blue light, and the entire sword was giving off powerw power fluctuations.
"That''s an immortal treasure!" someone eximed before the short figure even had a chance to say anything.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this. The fact that the first auction item was an immortal treasure of a decent caliber certainly boded well for things toe.
"Indeed, Fellow Daoist. Our first auction item is this Sea Splitting Immortal ying Sword, and it''s a bona fide immortal treasure that contains immense waterw powers, far more so than the average immortal treasure..."
The short figure began to give a description of the sword, and he was an extremely eloquent speaker, sparing no praise in his description of the sword and making it out to be an unmatched weapon that would grant the wielder invincibility.
Many of the auction-goers were tempted by what they were hearing, and they were eager for the bidding to begin.
"The starting price for the Sea Splitting Immortal ying Sword will be 60 Immortal Origin Stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least two Immortal Origin Stones," the short figure dered.
"60!"
"65!"
"70!"
As soon as the short figure''s voice trailed off, a string of bids immediately began flooding in, quickly elevating the bidding price to 130 Immortal Origin Stones.
At this point, there were only a handful of people left participating in the bidding, and ultimately, the sword was purchased for 160 Immortal Origin Stones.
Han Li chose not to ce any bids.
While it was true that the Sea Splitting Immortal ying Sword contained immensew powers, he could sense that thew powers within it were a little chaotic, indicating that something had gone wrong during the refinement process, so this was above its deserved selling price.
The atmosphere had already livened up quite a bit, and the short figure was clearly very pleased to see this as he dered, "Our second auction item is a 100,000-year-old Soulbirth Flower. I''m sure I don''t need to tell you all how valuable such a spirit nt is. It''s the ideal supplementary material for refining avatars..."
The tall figure next to him pulled out a jade box, then opened it to reveal a golden spirit flower.
Many of the auction-goers erupted into chatter upon seeing this. The flower wasn''tparable in value to an immortal treasure, but it was certainly far rarer.
After praising the Soulbirth Flower for a while, the short figure dered, "The starting price will be 30 Immortal Origin Stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least one Immortal Origin Stone."
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes, and he clearly wasn''t expecting to see a Soulbirth Flower of such an advanced age here.
He still had some Soulbirth Flower seeds, so he naturally had no intention of bidding for the flower, but it seemed that Shu Tiansheng was very eager to obtain the flower, and he was participating in the bidding war.
However, after a few rounds of bidding, the price was quickly raised to over 80 Immortal Origin Stones, and Shu Tiansheng could only drop out of the bidding war. In the end, the flower was sold for 95 Immortal Origin Stones, much to Han Li''s intrigue.
He wasn''t expecting Soulbirth Flowers to be able to fetch such a high price even on the Ancient Cloud Continent. With the Heaven Controlling Vial in his possession, he could mature some Soulbirth Flowers at anytime, but all spirit nts watered with the Heaven Controlling Vial''s spirit liquid were imbued with traces of timew powers, which made selling such spirit nts quite risky and only something that he could turn to as ast resort.
With that in mind, Han Li could only heave an internal sigh.
The auction continued, and around 20 to 30 items were auctioned off in a sh.
All of the auction items had been extremely precious, with not a single one of them selling for below 50 Immortal Origin Stones, but the Blood Crystal Lotus Root still hadn''t appeared.
Han Li was starting to grow a little concerned, and Shu Tiansheng was also getting slightly agitated.
"Are you sure your sources are correct, Fellow Daoist Shu?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"I''m certain. I have some ties with the powers behind this auction, and there''s no way they would lie to me," Shu Tiansheng hurriedly replied.
Chapter 321: Kindred Mark
Chapter 321: Kindred Mark
Han Li offered no response to Shu Tiansheng, but his mind was racing.
At this point in the auction, the value of the auction items was gradually beginning to increase, with the exception of a few items that bucked this trend.
The Blood Crystal Lotus Root was quite a precious spirit nt, but it was already slightlycking in valuepared with the past few auction items, so it seemed increasingly unlikely that it was going to appear.
The same thought seemed to have urred to Shu Tiansheng as well, and he was bing more and more agitated. After all, if the Blood Crystal Lotus Root didn''t appear in the auction, then he wouldn''t be able to obtain a Blush Cloud Fire Crystal from Han Li, and he would most likely lose some trust from Han Li as well.
At this moment, an item had just been auctioned off, and a new item was brought out to rece it. The new item was a fist-sized fire-attribute True Immortal Stage demon beast core that was giving off a fiery red glow, within which were circles of tiny crimson runes.
"This is the demon core of a Golden Scale Red Wyrm at the pinnacle of thete-True Immortal Stage, meaning it was one step away from the Golden Immortal Stage at the time that it was in. Its core is imbued with tremendous fire attributew powers, making this an object of immeasurable value for those using fire-attribute cultivation arts. The starting price is 60 Immortal Origin Stones," the short figure dered.
Han Li nodded slightly to himself upon seeing this.
ording to the provided description, the demon beast that the core had been procured from had been at an extremely lofty cultivation base, and thew power fluctuations emanating from its core was far superior to that of the demon core of Zhong Luan''s ck crane steed. With that in mind, even Han Li was feeling a little tempted to participate in the bidding.
However, such a precious demon core was undoubtedly going to be quite expensive. He had already saved up quite arge number of Immortal Origin Stones, but after the past 200 years of cultivation and pill refinement, he only had just over 1,000 left, so he couldn''t afford to make unnecessary purchases.
"60!"
Shu Tiansheng had made the first bid.
"80!"
A female voice rang out, this time from Han Li''s other side.
Han Li turned in that direction to find a petite figure seated on a chair to his left near the edge of the venue, and judging from her voice, she seemed to have been quite young.
Han Li had some recollection of her as she was thest person to arrive at the auction venue, and she was giving off a cold and unapproachable aura.
"90!"
This bid hade from a tall cultivator seated to the right side of the venue.
"100!" Shu Tiansheng called out.
"120!"
The female cultivator seemed to have been insistent on cing bids in increments of 20 Immortal Origin Stones.
Shu Tiansheng hesitated momentarily, then decided to drop out of the bidding war. This was already a very high price, and it wasn''t worth making any further bids.
"130!"
The tall cultivator raised the price once again.
"140!"
The female cultivator waspletely unfazed.
Han Li shook his head slightly upon seeing this.
140 Immortal Origin Stones was quite arge sum, even for a mid-True Immortal cultivator, and it was already far too much to pay for ate-True Immortal Stage demon beast core.
The tall cultivator was silent for a moment, then ced another bid. "145!"
"150!"
A hint of disdain had crept into the female cultivator''s voice, and she seemed to have been losing her patience.
This time, the tall cultivator finally fell silent and didn''t ce any further bids.
Everyone present immediately turned to the female cultivator while shaking their heads, but she merely ignored them.
The short figure on the auction tform was naturally extremely pleased, and he quickly announced the sale of the demon core.
"A True Immortal Stage demon beast core is quite a precious object, but the next auction item is even more valuable, so be sure not to pass up on it," the short auctioneer dered as he swept a hand through the air, and arge crimson jade box appeared on the stage.
The entire box was giving off ayer of translucent crimson light, as well as a faint sweet fragrance that was wafting through the air in all directions.
The short auctioneer made a hand seal, and the lid of the jade box flew off on its own amid a sh of light.
Inside the box was a length of crimson lotus root that was around the same thickness as a human arm. It was preserved extremely well, and even the whiskers on the roots hadn''t been damaged in the slightest.
Furthermore, the lotus root was glittering and translucent, looking as if it had been carved out of blood jade.
The lotus root was giving off a gentle crimson glow that formed a band of crimson light several inches above it, and the rich aroma of sweetness that it was giving off was quite reinvigorating even to all of the formidable mid-True Immortal cultivators present.
Shu Tiansheng was both ecstatic and relieved to see this, as was Han Li.
It seemed that he had made a misjudgment. The Blood Crystal Lotus Root was indeed very hard to find, but as long as it wasn''t over 50,000 years of age, it would''ve beencking in valuepared with the previous few auction items. However, this one was definitely no less than 100,000 years of age.
However, in the next instant, his brows suddenly furrowed slightly.
He had noticed a subtle detail, which was that there was a gray area on the Blood Crystal Lotus Root that was around the size of a fingernail, and it seemed that the area had been contaminated.
"This is a Blood Crystal Lotus Root. Normally, a Blood Crystal Lotus Root wouldn''t have made an appearance thiste in the auction, but this one is already 150,000 years of age, making it an extremely rare specimen. I''m sure some of you have already noticed this gray spot on the lotus root. This is not a result of the lotus root being damaged. Instead, it''s a rare kindred mark," the short auctioneer dered.
Many of the auction-goers erupted into chatter upon hearing this.
"Some of you may not be aware of what a kindred mark is. Essentially, if two spirit medicines are growing too close to one another, their spiritual power will impact each other, thereby resulting in the emergence of kindred marks," the short auctioneer continued.
"ording to my knowledge, kindred marks can be both good or bad, and in bad cases, the energy in the spirit medicine will be very chaotic and weak, making itpletely unusable," one of the auction-goers dered.
Even though his body was concealed within a blue and white light barrier, just like everyone else, it appeared that this was quite a portly individual.
"That is indeed true, Fellow Daoist. Kindred marks can have different effects on spirit medicines, but we''ve already had this lotus root appraised by masters in spirit nt agriculture, and they''ve determined that this kindred mark has a positive influence. Not only is the energy in the Blood Crystal Lotus Root not chaotic in the slightest, it''s abnormally pure and dense, so all of you can rest assured," the short auctioneer replied.
This deration was followed by another smattering of chatter.
"The starting price for this item will be 80 Immortal Origin Stones, and each sessive bid must go up by increments of at least five Immortal Origin Stones," the short auctioneer dered.
"85!"
"90!"
"100!"
¡¡
The purported special characteristics of the Blood Crystal Lotus Root made it an even more desirable item to everyone. Not only was it an exceptional spirit nt for bodily nourishment, it was an extremely prized treasure for anyone using body refinement cultivation arts, and even before Han Li had ced a single bid, the price had already exceeded triple figures.
Han Li merely sat still in his chair, seemingly contemting something.
He was determined to acquire this Blood Crystal Lotus Root, but instead of being in a hurry to make a bid for it now, he was going to enter the bidding war at the end.
He turned to Shu Tiansheng as he said, "Looks like your sources were correct, after all. This is for you."
He flipped a hand over to produce a fist-sized Blush Cloud Fire Crystal as he spoke, then offered it to Shu Tiansheng.
They were seated near the back of the venue, and there weren''t many people around them, so they didn''t have to hide what they were doing.
The female cultivator who had purchased the fire-attribute demon core just so happened to look over at them at this moment, and she immediately sat up noticeably straighter at the sight of the Blush Cloud Fire Crystal.
Shu Tiansheng was ecstatic, and he hurriedly epted the crystal. "Thank you, Fellow Daoist!"
Han Li offered no response as he turned his attention back to the ongoing auction.
After a few rounds of bidding, the price had climbed all the way to 150 Immortal Origin Stones, and that bid had been made by none other than the portly figure from before.
In the wake of this bid, all of the other bidders fell silent.
"160!"
Han Li had finally made his first bid.
The portly man turned to take a nce at him, then harrumphed coldly as he called out, "170!"
"190!"
Han Li''s voice remained calm and level, and it seemed that had absolute confidence.
The portly man hesitated momentarily, then ced another bid.
"200!"
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he didn''t want this to drag on any longer, so he decided to put his foot down once and for all.
"250!"
Shu Tiansheng turned to Han Li with a stunned expression, as did many of the other auction-goers.
A 150,000-year-old Blood Crystal Lotus Root was indeed extremely precious, but this was far too heavy a price to pay.
Han Li paid no heed to everyone else, and even though he was looking directly at the Blood Crystal Lotus Root on the stage, he was also keeping tabs on the portly figure out of the corner of his eye.
This time, the portly figure hesitated once again before deciding to concede.
The short auctioneer was already very pleased with this price, and with no further bidsing in, he dered the Blood Crystal Lotus Root as having been sold to Han Li.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief as an excited look appeared in his eyes.
He had finally gathered all of the materials required to refine the Myriad Axis Pill, and all he needed was a piece of the Blood Crystal Lotus Root to grow more.
As these thoughts were running through his mind, the next auction item was brought out.
It was a piece of artwork that depicted a mountain, a river, and a pce.
The scroll that contained the artwork was blue in color, and it was giving off a cial aura. It was clearly a formidable treasure, and the cial qi that it was giving off was also interspersed withw fluctuations, indicating that it was an immortal treasure.
However, one corner of the scroll was slightly damaged, and that was the only imperfection.
"This is an immortal treasure by the name of the Profound cial Scenic Painting. It contains extremely formidable profound cial qi and can unleash several types of cial attacks. Unfortunately, it''s a little damaged. The starting price will be 65 Immortal Origin Stones," the short auctioneer dered.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly at the sight of the blue scroll.
This was indeed quite a formidable treasure that didn''t contain any lessw powers than the blue immortal sword from before, and the fact that it was a scroll indicated that it definitely had to have been more versatile than the sword and much more difficult to refine.
Even though it was slightly damaged, it was still quite a powerful treasure, and at this point, the bidding had already begun, with the price quickly rising to 90 Immortal Origin Stones.
"95!"
Han Li had also ced a bid.
He was quite interested in this immortal treasure, so he would be willing to purchase it as long as the price wasn''t too high.
"100!"
This bid was ced by the female cultivator who had purchased the fire-attribute demon core.
Han Li took a nce at the female cultivator, and right as he was considering whether he would continue to participate in the bidding, another voice rang out from the front row of the venue.
"150!"
Han Li immediately shook his head and decided to drop out of the bidding war. This was already higher than the price that the immortal sword had been purchased for, and all of the other bidders fell silent as well.
Chapter 322: Astronomical Bidding War
Chapter 322: Astronomical Bidding War
"200!"
To everyone''s surprise, the female cultivator who had purchased the demon core didn''t give up, and she had raised the price by 50 more Immortal Origin Stones in a single bid.
Everyone faltered slightly upon hearing this before turning to her with peculiar looks in their eyes.
200 Immortal Origin Stones wasn''t exactly a massive sum. All of the auction-goers present were at least at the mid-True Immortal Stage, and they hade to participate in this auction, so they could naturally afford this sum.
However, Immortal Origin Stones were extremely useful. Not only could they speed up one''s immortal spiritual power replenishment, they could also assist one in opening up immortal acupoints. Hence, True Immortal cultivators were perpetually in need of more Immortal Origin Stones, and they were very prudent with their spending of this resource. With that in mind, it simply wasn''t worth spending 200 Immortal Origin Stones for a damaged immortal treasure.
However, this still wasn''t the end of the bidding war.
"230!" the owner of the sharp voice retorted.
"250! The female cultivator wasn''t backing down, either"
"300!"
"350!"
¡¡
Both of them seemed to have been determined to acquire the scroll, and in the blink of an eye, the price had been raised to an incredible level.
Many of the auction-goers present were astonished by this turn of events. There was no way that a damaged immortal treasure would''ve been worth this much unless it was harboring some type of secret.
With that in mind, some other people began to throw in bids as well, and the price was quickly pushed above 800 Immortal Origin Stones.
At this point, everyone else dropped out of the bidding war, and it reverted back to a two-horse race.
Blue light was shing in Han Li''s eyes as he carefully inspected the blue scroll with slightly furrowed brows, but no matter how he scrutinized it, he wasn''t able to identify anything special about it aside from the profound cial qi that it contained.
On the surface, his cial qi didn''t appear to have been special in any way, but he noticed there seemed to have been more to it than met the eye after he inspected it with his spiritual sense a few times.
This was a feeling that Han Li couldn''t really describe, and if he had topare it to something, then it was a little like the Essence Fire Raven.
After inspecting the scroll for a while longer, he withdrew his gaze.
There was no way that he was going to spend so much money to acquire the scroll, so what was the point in thinking about all of this?
"1,000!"
At this point, the owner of the sharp voice had already lost theirposure, and it was clear that they were approaching their limit.
"1,200!"
The female cultivator''s voice remained as steady as ever.
This time, the owner of the sharp voice was silent for a long while, yet right before the short auctioneer dered the scroll as sold, they made one finalst-ditch effort.
"1,500!"
"2,000!"
The female cultivator seemed to have finally run out of patience and ced an astonishing bid.
Everyone was stunned beyond belief. This was a sufficient sum of Immortal Origin Stones to purchase more than 10 immortal treasures!
The owner of the sharp voice fell silent once again, and only after a long while did they give a cold harrumph. "Your determination is truly impressive. In that case, I''ll relinquish the scroll to you."
After that, they stood up and departed from the auction venue.
Han Li looked on at their departing figure, and he was specting whether they were leaving early as they were preparing to take the scroll from the female cultivator by force after the auction.
With that in mind, he took a nce at the female cultivator, only to find that she appeared to have beenpletely unconcerned.
The short auctioneer seemed to have been a little stunned as well, and it took him some time before he finally dered the sale of the Profound cial Scenic Painting.
Even though the scroll could only go to one person, everyone else felt as if they had been treated to a good show, so they weren''t all that disappointed.
The auction continued, and the items were bing more and more expensive, with many of the precious and exotic treasures being presented posing a great deal of temptation even to Han Li.
Unfortunately, none of the dao pill ingredients were among them, and as for the other treasures, he did have a decent wealth of Immortal Origin Stones, but he had to save up for his future pill refinement, so he could only let those treasures slip away right under his nose.
After close to two more hours, the final auction item was sold, and the auction reached its conclusion.
"Alright, that will be the end of the auction. It''s now time for the free exchange event. Any fellow daoists wishing to sell or exchange any treasures can feel free to step onto the stage in turns," the short auctioneer dered, then made his way down from the auction tform the two taller figures apanying him.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a streak of white light immediately flew onto the stage at an astonishing speed.
There were several other cultivators who wanted to go first, but they could only stop in their tracks upon seeing this.
In an exchange event like this, it was naturally best to go as early as possible. Otherwise, one risked having the treasures that they desired slipping away right before their eyes, and that was certainly not going to be a good feeling.
"Looks like I''ll be going first, fellow daoists," the man on the stage chuckled as he cupped his fist in a salute toward the cultivators that he had beaten to the stage, and judging from the sound of his voice, he seemed to have been an elderly man.
The ones who were beaten to the stage could only return to their seats, but there was one thin and tall figure who remained on the spot as he chuckled, "With your Bright Yang Light Wave Arts, your speed is unmatched, Brother Qiu. Whenever I participate in any exchange events with you, you always beat me to the punch."
"Fancy meeting you here, Brother Fu. My sincerest apologies, but I truly am in urgent need of a certain treasure," the elderly man on the stage replied with a smile.
The thin and tall figure merely shook his head in response before returning to his seat as well.
"Fellow daoists, I''ve brought two things with me today," the elderly man said as he flipped a hand over to produce a pair of jade boxes, onerge and one small.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the lids of the boxes were removed to reveal their contents.
Inside therger jade box was a spirit nt that was around a foot in height and resembled a bamboo sapling with only 12 leaves, but what was remarkable was that every single leaf was a different color, and they were also all glowing slightly.
"This is a Heavenly Spirit Bamboo that grows a leaf once every 10,000 years, so this is a 120,000-year-old specimen. As for what it can be used for, I''m sure everyone already knows, so I won''t waste everyone''s time with an exnation."
Immediately thereafter, the elderly opened the other jade box to reveal some fine golden sand that was giving off such dazzling golden radiance that it was too bright to look directly at.
"This is Profound Golden Sand, an exceptional material for refining metal-attribute flying swords, and it can also be mixed into other immortal treasures to significantly enhance their resilience and sharpness," the elderly introduced.
These two items immediately created a stir among the auction-goers, and it was clear that they had generated much interest.
"For this Heavenly Spirit Bamboo, I would like a Meridian Opening Herb above 100,000 years of age. As for this box of Profound Golden Sand, I would like a spirit material that contains earth-attributew powers in exchange," the elderly man dered.
Han Li was very much interested in the Heavenly Spirit Bamboo nt.
This was a type of spirit nt that contained a hint of poisonw powers, and theoretically speaking, it could be used as an ingredient to refine pills that could cure all poisons. There were some antidotal spirit nts in his medicine garden, but none that couldpare with this one.
Unfortunately, he hadn''t even heard of this Meridian Opening Herb, and it was clear that the elderly man wouldn''t have been willing to sell such a precious spirit nt for Immortal Origin Stones.
As for that box of Profound Golden Sand, that wasn''t of any interest to him.
Right at this moment, a thin cultivator rose to his feet, then swept a hand through the air to release a burst of red light, enveloped within which was a rectangr jade box, which flew onto the auction tform.
"Will this Meridian Opening Herb suffice, Fellow Daoist?"
The elderly man picked up the jade box and opened it ever so slightly, then immediately shut the lid again as he replied in a concise manner, "Deal."
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of white light that carried the Heavenly Spirit Bamboo to the thin cultivator, and Han Li could only heave an internal sigh upon seeing this.
However, there were no takers for the box of Profound Golden Sand, and in the end, the elderly man could only step down from the stage.
As soon as he left, a streak of green light immediately flew onto the stage like lightning, and it was none other than the man with the Fu surname from before.
"I''ve brought with me a stick of Seven Spirit Incense that can assist True Immortal cultivators greatly when ites to opening immortal acupoints. If you light this incense while attempting to open an immortal acupoint, your chances of sess will be raised by about 10%."
The man pulled out a sandalwood box as he spoke, then opened it to reveal a stick of red and ck incense, which was already giving off an indescribable aroma even though it hadn''t been lit.
Almost all of the auction-goers immediately had their attention drawn to the stick of incense.
Treasures that could help one make breakthroughs were naturally the most wee items in these exchange events.
The man with the Fu surname seemed to have been quite pleased with everyone''s reactions, and he dered, "In exchange for this stick of incense, I would like a Heavenly Musk Fruit."
Unlike everyone else, Han Li wasn''t very interested in this stick of incense. He was able to rely on therge number of pills he had refined to assist him in opening immortal acupoints, so this wasn''t something that he was all that keen to get his hands on, and even if he did acquire it, he couldn''t make more like he could with spirit medicines.
The stick of Seven Spirit Incense was indeed quite rare and precious, but Heavenly Musk Fruits weren''t easy toe by, either, and in the end, no one was able to provide one.
Many of the auction-goers offered to exchange the stick of incense for other spirit items or to directly purchase it using Immortal Origin Stones, but all of them were turned down.
The exchange even continued, and one cultivator after another flew onto the stage to disy their treasures. Some were fortunate enough to have been able to sessfully find what they were looking for, but the vast majority of the items disyed weren''t sessfully exchanged.
This wasn''t much of a surprise. After all, this wasn''t a veryrge event, and most of the cultivators present weren''t itinerant cultivators. Hence, they were generally all figures of rather lofty status, and the things that they were looking for definitely weren''t easy to obtain. Otherwise, they wouldn''t havee to participate in this exchange event.
Han Li merely sat in his chair rather thanpeting with others to fly onto the stage. He watched as a procession of treasures was presented, and it was quite an eye-opening opportunity, one that rarely presented itself.
As the exchange event neared its conclusion, there was gradually less and lesspetition between the people flying onto the stage, and there were even some instances of dys between one cultivator to the next.
It was during one of those dys that Han Li decided to fly onto the stage, but right as he was about to do so, a streak of ck light flew onto the stage ahead of him.
Even though the blue and white light barrier, it could be seen that the figure was enshrouded in a cloud of ck qi that was giving off a formidable baleful aura.
Han Li sat back down without saying anything, and just like everyone else, his gaze fell upon the figure on stage, wanting to see what it was that he was going to present.
Chapter 323: Those Who Know the True Value
Chapter 323: Those Who Know the True Value
The figure enshrouded in ck qi remained silent as he pulled out a pair of stone boxes that he ced down onto the auction tform, and with a sweep of his sleeve, the lids of both of the boxes flew off at once to reveal a semi-transparent purple crystal and a rather strange-looking ball of ck mud.
The crystal was around the size of a human fist, and its surface was riddled with pits and bums, as well as ovepping purple lightning veins.
These lightning veins were constantly shing with purple lightning, as if they were lightning captured in solid form, and they were giving off a violent lightning aura.
As for the ball of ck mud, it appeared to have been rather unremarkable at first nce, but upon closer inspection, one would notice that it was giving off ayer of extremely faint ck light that seemed to be able to devour all surrounding light, giving it a very mysterious appearance.
"I''m exchanging this Lightning Soul Crystal for a lightning-attribute immortal treasure or 300 Immortal Origin Stones, and this ball of High Zenith Yin Mud for a 100,000-year-old Yin Dragon Ginseng," the figure dered.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
He had thought that he had be far more knowledgeable about the spirit materials of the Immortal Realm since joining the ze Dragon Dao, but it seemed that this was still very much a work in progress as he hadn''t heard of either of those two types of materials.
His gaze settled on the ball of ck mud for a moment before quickly moving onto the purple crystal.
The ball of ck mud was clearly some type of yin-attribute material, so he didn''t have any use for it at the moment, but the purple crystal was giving him a sense of familiarity.
The lightning power imbued within it was very simr to the purple lightning in the m bead he had obtained from the Thunderstorm Sea, and he couldn''t help but wonder if this crystal hade from the same ce.
The purple crystal wasn''t veryrge, but it contained a truly formidable amount of lightning power, far more so than even that purple m bead.
There were also faint spiritual fluctuations emanating from the deepest part of the crystal, indicating that the lightning power contained within it was so dense and abundant that it had developed some sentience.
Han Li was carefully inspecting the crystal with a thoughtful look in his eyes when a voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
Daoist Xie had woken up, and hemunicated to Han Li through their psychic connection, "Fellow Daoist Han, please purchase this Lightning Soul Crystal. It will be of great use to me."
Ever since fusing with the Golden Immortal puppet, Daoist Xie had been in a state of hibernation, and Han Li had attempted to contact it a few times to no avail.
"What is this Lightning Soul Crystal and how will it be useful to you, Fellow Daoist Xie?" Han Li asked.
"The Lightning Soul Crystal is a type of special crystal that will only arise in ces with extremely abundant lightning power, and not only does it contain immense lightning power, there''s a type of special spiritual power interspersed within it as well. Not only is it very beneficial to those using lightning-attribute cultivation arts, it can also be worn to nourish the soul and avoid the negative influence of inner demons.
¡°I''ve been striving topletely fuse with the Golden Immortal puppet this entire time, but progress has been very slow. With this crystal, I''ll be able to gainplete control over the puppet in a very short time," Daoist Xie exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a contemtive expression.
As theirmunication was taking ce, the other cultivators present were also appraising the two items on disy, but no one was saying anything, and it seemed like there weren''t going to be any takers.
The ck figure remained standing still on the stage in silence, seemingly unfazed by theck of response.
A short whileter, a slightly raspy voice rang out to break the silence. "Are you not going to introduce these two types of materials? Pardon my ignorance, but I''ve never heard of this Lightning Soul Crystal or this High Zenith Yin Mud before."
"I''m only offering these two things to those who know their true value," the ck figure replied in an indifferent voice.
The one who had raised the question fell silent upon hearing this.
Right at this moment, a streak of light flew onto the stage, and it was none other than Han Li.
"I''ll take the Lightning Soul Crystal, here are 300 Immortal Origin Stones."
He pulled out a storage pouch and tossed it at the ck figure as he spoke.
Right at this moment, another portly cultivator also flew onto the stage, then pulled out a flying bident that was shing with dazzling lightning as he dered, "Hold on, I have a lightning-attribute immortal treasure refined using Lightning Raise Steel that I''m willing to exchange for this Lightning Soul Crystal."
The ck figure faltered slightly as he took a nce at Han Li''s storage pouch and the flying bident, then epted Han Li''s storage pouch in silence before handing the Lightning Soul Crystal to him.
"Hold on a second. If I''m not mistaken, surely you want a lightning-attribute immortal treasure more than those Immortal Origin Stones," the portly cultivator hurriedly said.
"That''s true, but you''re a little toote," the ck figure replied in an indifferent voice.
The portly cultivator faltered slightly upon hearing this, clearly not anticipating such a response. In the end, he could only stow his flying bident away again before flying back to his seat. "I hope you won''t regret this!"
Han Li was also rather surprised by the ck figure''s decision, and his surprise was also tinged with a hint of admiration. It was very rare to see someone who could abide by their word so strictly, particrly in the often deceitful and immoral world of cultivators.
For a mid-True Immortal cultivator, it was only a matter of time and energy for them to umte 300 Immortal Origin Stones, but the same certainly didn''t apply when it came to acquiring a suitable immortal treasure, particrly a lightning-attribute one.
Perhaps the portly cultivator was also aware of the value of the Lightning Soul Crystal, just like Daoist Xie, but he was slightly unwilling to part with his lightning-attribute immortal treasure, and that had allowed Han Li to seize the initiative.
With that in mind, he gave the ck figure a nod, then returned to his chair.
"Give me the Lightning Soul Crystal!" Daoist Xie urged as soon as Han Li sat down.
Han Li duly obliged, sending the Lightning Soul Crystal in his storage bracelet to Daoist Xie.
The Lightning Soul Crystal instantly vanished into Daoist Xie''s body amid a sh of golden lightning, and only then did Han Li notice that Shu Tiansheng''s seat was vacant.
He took a nce at his surroundings, but failed to discover Shu Tiansheng anywhere in the venue, and it seemed that he really had left.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he didn''t think much of it.
On the auction tform, the ck figure waited for a while longer, but there were no takers for his High Zenith Yin Mud, so he could only fly back down from the stage in the end.
Han Li rose to his feet upon seeing this, yet right as he was about to fly onto the stage, a female voice suddenly rang out from beside him. "You must be Fellow Daoist Li, right?"
Immediately thereafter, the female cultivator who had purchased the Profound cial Scenic Painting earlier appeared in Shu Tiansheng''s seat.
"Who''re you?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
The female cultivator dodged the question as she asked, "Would I be able to take up some of your time?"
Han Li hesitated momentarily, then sat back down as he nodded in response.
"Just now, I happened to notice you trading a Blush Cloud Fire Crystal with the fellow daoist that was sitting here before me. Do you have any more of these crystals in your possession, and if so, would you be willing to trade them? I''ll be sure to offer you a satisfactory price. For a fist-sized crystal like the one from before, I''m willing to offer you 100 Immortal Origin Stones, and the more you have to sell, the better," the female cultivator said in an earnest voice.
"You seem to already be aware that I have more Blush Cloud Fire Crystals in my possession, and you also know my surname. I''m assuming Shu Tiansheng must''ve told you those things, right?" Han Li asked in a calm voice.
The female cultivator nodded in response. "I did indeed learn these things from the fellow daoist from before."
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but he was contemting how to proceed.
Blush Cloud Fire Crystals were extremely precious, but he had quite a few of them, and he didn''t really need them at the moment, so he was certainly open to selling them for Immortal Origin Stones.
However, he wasn''t sure if he was going to have a use for them in the future, and if he were to sell them now, he could be left regretting his decision at someter point.
"Agree to her offer, Fellow Daoist Han."
Daoist Xie''s voice had suddenly rung out again.
"Why?" Han Li asked through their spiritual connection.
"I''ll tell you why once I''vepletely fused with the Golden Immortal puppet. For now, just agree to her offer," Daoist Xie said, then fell silent again.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing Daoist Xie''s ambiguous response, but after a brief hesitation, he nodded as he replied, "Alright, I can sell my crystals to you."
"You''ve definitely made a wise decision, Fellow Daoist. I can assure you that no one else would be willing to offer such a high price for these crystals."
The female cultivator''s voice was a little cold, but there was an unmistakable hint of tion as she spoke.
Han Li offered no response as he swept a hand over his storage pouch, and a new storage pouch appeared in his grasp with a sh of azure light.
He handed the storage pouch to the female cultivator, who epted it before inspecting its contents with her spiritual sense, then immediately flipped a hand over to produce a storage pouch of her own that she handed to Han Li.
Han Li epted the storage pouch and merely took a nce at it before giving the female cultivator a nod.
The female cultivator cupped her fist in a salute, then returned to her original seat.
Han Li looked on at her departing figure, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
Thanks to his immense spiritual sense, he was able to see through the blue and white light barrier to make out a blurry outline of the woman''s figure, and he felt as if he had seen her from somewhere before.
All of a sudden, he recalled who she was.
She''s the woman in red staying at the same inn as me!
Not only that, but the woman had struck him with a sense of familiarity back when he first saw her in the inn, and during their second meeting here, that sense of familiarity had only grown more pronounced.
Right at this moment, another cultivator just so happened to have stepped down from the stage, and Han Li immediately flew onto the auction tform, then disyed some of the precious materials in his possession whileying out the dao pill ingredients that he wanted.
Unfortunately, none of the auction-goers had any of those materials, and he was ultimately disappointed once again.
Close to an hourter, the final cultivator stepped down from the stage, and the exchange event drew to a conclusion.
Han Li issued the Immortal Origin Stones required to purchase the Blood Crystal Lotus Root, then examined it briefly before carefully storing it into a jade box. After that, he adhered a few talismans to the box before stowing it away in his storage bracelet.
Chapter 324: Refinement
Chapter 324: Refinement
A short whileter, Han Li appeared on a quiet street in White Jade City.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I require an array to help me refine this Lightning Soul Crystal," Daoist Xie requested.
"What do you need me to prepare?" Han Li asked as he continued to walk down the street without pause.
A stream of information was immediately transmitted into his mind,ying out the method and materials required to set up an array.
"Alright, I''ll get everything prepared as soon as possible, then arrange a secret chamber for you back on the Crimson Dawn Peak," Han Li said.
There were quite a few materials on the list, some of which weren''t that easy to find, and it would''ve most likely take him quite some time and effort to gather these materials under normal circumstances, but with all of these powers gathered in White Jade City and his membership in the Transient Guild, he was sure that it wouldn''t have been very difficult to gather everything as long as he was willing to do some spending.
Furthermore, the array did appear to have been ratherplex, but that wasn''t an issue for him.
"There''s no need for that, we can just get it done in the inn''s secret chamber. With the help of the array, I should be able topletely fuse with the puppet in the next few days," Daoist Xie said.
Han Li nodded in response, then flew toward the nearest materials shop.
Only after night had fallen did he return to the inn where he was staying, and after entering the secret chamber, he flipped a hand over to produce a stack of array gs, then casually tossed them through the air, distributing them around the room in a rather peculiar array.
Immediately thereafter, he began to chant an incantation, and five light barriers of different thicknesses appeared to epass the entire room.
After that, Han Li swept a hand through the air to release a burst of azure light, which carried all of the furniture into the room to one corner to vacate arge space, then summoned a bunch of different objects, including some lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s expression changed ever so slightly as he pulled a purple talisman that was riddled with silver patterns out of his storage bracelet. It was that Azure Wind Lock Immortal Talisman, and he had spotted it in a corner of his storage bracelet while summoning all of the other items required for the array.
All of a sudden, it urred to him that the woman in red was none other than the woman who had given him this Azure Wind Lock Immortal Talisman, Gan Jiuzhen.
Her aura was slightly different from Gan Jiuzhen''s, perhaps because she had intentionally altered it, and that was why he had only just made this realization.
"I didn''t think that she would be here in White Jade City as well," Han Li murmured to himself, then shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought before stowing the Azure Wind Lock Immortal Talisman away again.
He wasn''t particrly close with Gan Jiuzhen, and he didn''t care to know the reason behind why she hade to the ze Dragon Dao. Presumably, it didn''t have anything to do with him.
After taking a moment to settle his thoughts, he began to make some inscriptions on the ground.
After several hours of toil, day had transitioned into night, and a circr array that was around 100 feet in diameter had appeared on the ground in the room. The center of the array was riddled with spirit patterns that were surrounded by lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood, which were crackling with lightning.
Han Li exhaled as he patted his storage pouch, and a streak of golden light flew out beforending at the center of the array to reveal Daoist Xie.
Daoist Xie inspected its surroundings momentarily, then gave Han Li a nod before sitting down with its legs crossed.
"Do you need me to look out for you during the process, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked.
"There''s no need for that, I''ll be fine on my own," Daoist Xie replied.
"In that case, I''ll leave you to it," Han Li replied with a nod.
There were still a few days left until the preaching ceremony, and he wanted to take advantage of this window of opportunity to search for some more dao pill ingredients, so he didn''t want to waste any time here unless his presence was necessary.
Meanwhile, Daoist Xie quickly sprang into action, making a hand seal as it began to chant an incantation, and thick arcs of golden lightning emerged from its chest before spreading all over its entire body.
Arcs of golden lightning also emerged from the array on the ground before forming a series of profound lightning runes that resonated with the golden lightning shing over Daoist Xie''s body, quickly intertwining with one another before slowly revolving on the spot.
In the blink of an eye, a shing ball of golden lightning had appeared around Daoist Xie,and arcs of lightning were surging over its surface, while the asional bolt of stray lightning would spring forth in a random direction.
Thankfully, fiveyers of restrictions had already been set up in the room to contain the bolts of stray lightning.
Instead of immediately departing, Han Li remained in one corner of the room to observe the process.
A loud thunderp rang out from Daoist Xie''s head, and arcs of dazzling purple lightning emerged to envelop the entirety of its head.
A crystalline object could be seen within the purple lightning, and it was none other than that Lightning Soul Crystal.
Compared with the lightning released by the m pearl, this purple lightning was brighter and more translucent.
The purple lightning continued to sh as it rapidly spread over Daoist Xie''s body, and the light radiating from the puppet''s body became even brighter, as if some important points had been opened up.
Han Li gave a slight nod upon seeing this, and he was just about to depart when the purple lightning erupting out of the Lightning Soul Crystal abruptly swelled.
At the same time, it began to spread over Daoist Xie''s body faster than before, and it quickly fused with the golden ball of lightning around it.
The ball of golden lightning instantly began to ripple, and a huge bulge appeared on its surface.
A resounding boom rang out as the bulge exploded, and arcs of purple and golden lightning erupted in all directions to strike the first azure restriction in the room.
The restriction onlysted a second or two before being violently torn apart, and the remaining lightning continued onward to strike the second yellow restriction, which quickly dimmed and appeared to have been on the verge of breaking as well.
Not only that, but a second bulge had exploded on the ball of golden lightning, sending even thicker bolts of lightning erupting everywhere.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and four true spirit projections emerged around him, namely that of the Xuanwu, the Lightning Bird, the Giant Mountain Ape, and the Divine Dragon.
The four beast projections opened their mouths in unison to release bursts of ck, silver, yellow, and red light, respectively into the remaining four restrictions.
As a result, the four restrictions were instantly significantly bolstered, bing several times thicker than before, and the yellow light barrier abruptly brightened as a giant ape projection appeared on its surface.
Thick bolts of lightning struck the yellow light barrier, producing loud ngs that resembled the sound of metal striking against metal, and the light barrier began to sh erratically.
The giant ape projection on its surface quickly began to dim, and it was also rapidly thinning at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
Han Li immediately began to chant an incantation while making a rapid string of hand seals, and a series of four-colored halos instantly swept out of the four light barriers before proliferating outward in all directions.
The four light barriers then fused into a single four-colored light barrier that was several feet thick and was giving off a metallic sheen.
As soon as it took shape, it was immediately struck by bolts of golden and purple lightning, only for the bolts of lightning to instantly vanish into the light barrier without a trace.
The four-colored light barrier shuddered a few times, but disyed no signs of breaking.
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, but he still maintained his hand seal.
As time passed, the four true spirit projections around him became clearer and clearer, and they were continuously releasing pirs of light into the four-colored light barrier to bolster it.
This entire time, Daoist Xie''s remained seated at the center of the array with its eyes tightly shut, and it seemed to have beenpletely oblivious to its surroundings.
Han Li was left feeling a little speechless upon seeing this. If he hadn''t intervened in a timely fashion, all five of the light barriers would''ve been torn apart, and the entire inn would''ve been destroyed, thereby revealing the Golden Immortal puppet.
After a moment of hesitation, Han Li decided to ask Daoist Xie what was happening through voice transmission, yet he received no response, and it was as if Daoist Xie hadn''t heard him at all.
Han Li didn''t say anything further, but his ns to leave were naturally foiled, and he decided to stay and observe the unfolding situation.
Several hours quickly passed by, and not only had the purple lightning erupting out of Daoist Xie''s head not abated in the slightest, it was only bing brighter and more powerful.
The ball of golden lightning was bing more and more unstable as it churned violently, while even thicker bolts of purple and golden lightning were erupting in all directions without disying any signs of stopping.
Han Li continued to support the four-colored light barrier while standing in the corner of the room, and there was a slightly dark look on his face.
Given this current situation, it was clear that he wouldn''t be able to leave anytime soon.
Three dayster.
Han Li was seated on the ground with his legs crossed, continuing to maintain the four-colored light barrier.
At the center of the array, Daoist Xie''s entire body was enveloped in purple lightning, making it appear as if it were wearing a suit of purple lightning armor.
The ball of golden lightning formed by the array had also swelled significantly in size, taking up close to half the entire room, and it didn''t seem as if it were going to fade away anytime soon.
Han Li''s expression had darkened even further.
The preaching ceremony was going to begin on this day, and he didn''t know when this process was going to conclude. If he were dyed any longer, then he would have to miss the preaching ceremony altogether.
If he had known that this would happen, then he would''ve taken Daoist Xie back to the Crimson Dawn Peak. The restrictions in the cave abode there had been set up by him over the course of many years, and they were far more formidable than the ones here, so even without hsi support, they should''ve been able to contain the lightning that was constantly erupting in all directions.
However, it was toote to think about that now. At this point, there was no way that he could leave. Otherwise, it was very likely that all of the prior efforts that he had made would go to waste.
Right at this moment, the lightning array began to glow with dazzling radiance while countless lightning runes emerged everywhere.
Han Li hurriedly focused his attention on the array right as a string of crackling rang out.
The purple lightning around Daoist Xie''s body swelled drastically before being absorbed into its body in a sh, while the surrounding ball of golden lightning also fluctuated violently before also surging into Daoist Xie''s body in a frenzy.
Chapter 325: 10 Per Second
Chapter 325: 10 Per Second
At the center of the array, Daoist Xie''s entire body was radiating yellow, golden, and purple light. The three types of light weren''t conflicting with one another in the slightest. Instead, they were fused together in a harmonious bnce.
Countless three-colored spirit patterns were surging incessantly over the surface of its body, asionallying together to form a series of arrays, only to then split apart a momentter.
A Golden Immortal Stage aura was also emanating out of the puppet, and unlike in the past, this burst of spiritual pressure waspletely smooth and uninhibited.
Han Li was ecstatic, and he bolstered the four-colored light barrier in the room even further to contain this burst of Golden Immortal Stage spiritual pressure.
All of a sudden, Daoist Xie opened its eyes, releasing two bursts of dazzling light out of its pupils.
The two bursts of light shot through the four-colored light barrier with ease to create a pair ofrge holes, then pierced through the walls of the inn as well before erupting into the heavens, where they disappeared without a trace.
Thankfully, the two bursts of light were traveling diagonally upward and didn''t harm anyone.
Han Li was greatly startled by this, and he hurriedly made a hand seal to mend the two holes in the four-colored light barrier.
Meanwhile, the streaks of light flew into the sky above White Jade City before exploding violently, and all of the world''s origin qi above the city was swept up into a violently frenzy as gusts of fierce yellow, golden, and purple wind surged through the heavens, releasing a burst of enormous spiritual pressure as they did so.
The three gusts of wind were howling through the air with extraordinary force, and all of the cultivators throughout White Jade City were stunned by what they were seeing.
"There''s no way this amount of spiritual pressure can be released by a True Immortal!"
"Could it be that one of the dao lords has arrived in White Jade City?"
Many of the people on the streets outside had erupted into chatter, while Han Li was frantically making hand seals to iste Daoist Xie''s aura, preventing it from leaking any further.
At the same time, he had released his spiritual sense to epass everything within a radius of several thousand kilometers of the inn so that he would be able to immediately detect any disturbance.
Those two streaks of light had flown out of the city in the blink of an eye, and on top of that, the preaching ceremony was scheduled for this very day, so many of the cultivators in the city had already left.
The small portion of cultivators that remained may not have been able to detect that the aura hade from the inn, and everyone was wary of Golden Immortal cultivators, so even if someone did make the connection, they most likely wouldn''t have dared to approach the inn to confirm their suspicions.
The three-colored gale in the sky continued to swirl around for a while before quickly dissipating.
It had created quite a spectacr sight to behold, but it hadn''t caused any damage, so the people in the city only discussed the fleeting phenomenon for a short while before quickly dispersing, much to Han Li''s relief.
At the center of the array, Daoist Xie rose to its feet, and the light radiating from its body faded alongside the enormous spiritual pressure it was releasing.
"Finally, I''ve sessfully fused with this puppet," Daoist Xie dered.
"Didn''t you say that you were fine on your own and didn''t require my presence? If I hadn''t decided to stay for a moment longer, you would''ve attracted a great deal of trouble for us," Han Li said in a slightly usatory manner.
He had spent the entirety of the past three days here, rendering him unable to participate in any of the auctions and exchange events in the city.
At times like this, it was often the case that the most precious treasures would emerge near the end, and if he had been free to shop around these past three days, perhaps he would''ve been able to gather a few dao pill ingredients.
Daoist Xie could hear the displeasure in Han Li''s voice, and it exined, "I failed to anticipate how pure the Lightning Soul Crystal was and how much power it contained."
"So be it. In any case, it''s fantastic news that you were able to sessfully fuse with this puppet, and I should congratte you for it," Han Li said as a smile appeared on his face.
"Thank you for acquiring this immortal puppet for me and for looking out for me these past few days. If it wasn''t for your help, there''s no way I would''ve been able toplete this process smoothly. I''ll remember everything you''ve done for me," Daoist Xie said as it cupped its fist in a grateful salute.
Han Li merely waved a hand in response. "The power that you inadvertently released just now hasn''t exposed us, but even so, we can''t stay here any longer. On top of that, the preaching ceremony is about to begin, so let''s get out of here."
Daoist Xie nodded in response, then flew into Han Li''s storage bracelet as a streak of yellow light.
Han Li swept a hand through the to release a burst of yellow light to repair the two small holes on the wall, then emerged from his room.
Right as he was about to go downstairs, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, then cast his gaze toward the other direction down the corridor.
After releasing his spiritual sense just now, he had already detected that Gan Jiuzhen was no longer here.
A slightly peculiar look appeared on his face, and he quickly withdrew his gaze before making his way downstairs.
A thought urred to him as he asked through voice transmission, "By the way, you told me that you were going to tell me the reason why you asked me to sell those Blush Cloud Fire Crystals after you fused with the puppet. Can you tell me the reason now?"
Instead of answering Han Li''s question, Daoist Xie raised one of its own. "Fellow Daoist Han, what do you think is used as the power source for this Golden Immortal puppet?"
Han Li was rather taken aback by this question, while Daoist Xie continued, "All immortal puppets run on Immortal Origin Stones, and this one is no exception. On top of that, this puppet possesses Golden Immortal Stage power, and it''s extremely costly to use. The number of Immortal Spirit Stones that you previously had on hand was nowhere near enough."
"How many Immortal Origin Stones are required for you to unleash this puppet''s full power?" Han Li asked.
"If I were to go all-out, I would have to burn through 10 Immortal Origin Stones per second," Daoist Xie replied.
Han Li was already mentally prepared, but he was still caught off guard. "What? 10 per second!"
"That''s not that much. Immortal puppets require an enormous amount of immortal spiritual power for support, and there are some that use up dozens, even hundreds of times as many Immortal Origin Stones per second," Daoist Xie said.
"Have you seen such puppets before, Brother Xie," Han Li asked.
"No, it''s just that I''ve regained some memories as I was fusing with the Lightning Soul Crystal," Daoist Xie exined.
"Oh? Have you recalled anything about your former owner?" Han Li asked with an intrigued look in his eyes.
He was very interested in this person. Daoist Xie had told him in the past that its previous owner was dead, but it was still yet to be seen whether that was actually true.
"I''ve only recovered some bits and pieces of memories, most of which are rted to immortal puppets. As for those Blush Cloud Fire Crystals that you sold, you manage to obtain over 3,000 Immortal Origin Stones for them, and that''s enough to call upon my power several times," Daoist Xie said.
"I see. In any case, it''s about time that we left," Han Li replied with a nod, then cast his gaze toward the White Jade Peak.
¡¡
It was a bright and sunny day on the White Jade Peak.
There were pristine white clouds drifting over the clear, blue sky, and a rainbow was also hanging in the heavens like a giant bridge that stood above the clouds.
High up in the sky were hundreds of golden chariots that were drawn by winged dragon horses, and upon those carriages stood teams of tall cultivators wielding silver halberds and d in suits of golden armor, patrolling the sky in a radius of several hundred kilometers.
The entirety of the White Jade Peak was enshrouded under a golden light barrier that acted as a flight restriction, and it wasn''t giving off any particrly powerful energy fluctuations.
As long as one was at or above the True Immortal Stage, they would be able to fly into it without being affected, but those who were at or below the Grand Ascension Stage would''ve been kept out by the light barrier.
Hence, upon reaching the foot of the White Jade Peak, the majority of the ze Dragon Dao''s disciples were forced to climb the mountain on foot in order to attend the preaching ceremony.
At this moment, the white za on the mountain was extremely lively and bustling, with hundreds of thousands of ze Dragon Dao disciples and the core elders of many of the ze Dragon Dao''s subsidiary sects present. Even after all of the cushions had been upied, there were still more people constantly arriving, and the za was quickly bing extremely packed.
In fact, some people had even begun resorting to sitting down with their legs crossed somewhere halfway up the mountain to await themencement of the ceremony.
There were countless people gathered at the foot of the White Jade Peak as well, and it was no less crowded than on the za on the mountain summit.
However, there was a more diverse range of people gathered at the foot of the mountain, with many cultivators from some other small and medium-sized sects all over the Ancient Cloud Continent interspersed among the ze Dragon Dao disciples.
These people had set up a series of stalls along the paths leading up to the White Jade Peak, and these stalls were packed with treasures, pills, and materials that they were selling to passersby.
There were also ze Dragon Dao cultivators that were d in suits of golden armor standing around the stalls at set intervals, patrolling the area to maintain order.
In contrast with the exchange events that Han Li had previously participated in, these stalls were mostly aimed at cultivators at or below the Deity Transformation Stage, and it was much like the Great South Meeting that he had attended back in the Mortal Realm. [1]
At the center of the preaching tform on the summit of the White Jade Peak was arge purple table that didn''t have many engravings on its surface, nor did it appear all that beautiful or intricate, but it did have a more antiquated and natural appearance.
Behind the table was a copper cauldron that was around 10 feet tall, plunged into which were several hundred sticks of incense, all of which were lit and producing plumes of faint azure smoke.
On either side of the cauldron were close to 100 round gray cushions ced down in a symmetrical fashion, and at this moment, streaks of light were constantly approaching the scene before sitting down on the normal cushions on the stone staircase around the tform.
The only ones who were granted spots on the stone staircase were inner and outer sect True Immortal Stage elders of the ze Dragon Dao, as well as all of the dao lords'' core disciples, and given their lofty status, they were naturally far more restrained, so it was a lot less rowdy on the stone staircase than it was on the za.
Most of them were meditating with their eyes closed, silently waiting for the ceremony tomence, and only a small portion of them were greeting acquaintances or chatting quietly with one another.
Right at this moment, a streak of azure light flew in from the southwestern direction, then descended onto the preaching tform to reveal none other than Han Li.
He took a nce to find that all of the cushions near the top of the tform had already been taken, but there were still many vacant spots on the lower parts of the staircase.
Han Li made his way up the staircase, and after ascending for around 100 steps, he spotted a familiar figure waving at him to his left.
It was none other than Qi Liang, and Han Li gave him a smile before approaching him and sitting down onto the empty cushion next to him.
1. For more information on the Great South Meeting, please refer to RMJI Chapter 128: Great South Meeting. ?
Chapter 326: Gradual Arrivals
Chapter 326: Gradual Arrivals
"You''re a littlete, Brother Li! All of the good spots up there have already been taken," Qi Liang said with a smile.
"It''s fine. All I need to do is listen and absorb Dao Lord Baili''s teachings, why fret over whether I''m close or far away from the tform?" Han Li replied with a nonchnt shake of his head.
"Such a mindset is certainly true to your character, Brother Li. No wonder you''ve been able to make such rapid progress in your cultivation! If you ask me, once you reach thete-True Immortal Stage in the next 10,000 years, you''ll be able to im a spot among one of the 36 deputy dao lords. Make sure not to forget about me when that happens," Qi Liang chuckled.
"You''re far too kind, Brother Qi. Unless I can attain the Great Dao during this very preaching ceremony, there''s no way I could make another breakthrough in the next 10,000 years," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
Qi Liang burst intoughter upon hearing this, then changed the subject. "By the way, I haven''t seen you at all these past few days. Could it be that you''ve already obtained the treasures that you''re looking for."
"If it were so easy to find what I''m looking for, then I wouldn''t have been struggling with the task for so long. There were some unforeseen matters that I had to take care of the past few days, and that''s why I came here sote," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.
"Indeed. I had thought that I would be able to secure some prized treasures during such an auspicious event, but I still wasn''t able to find any of the things that I''ve been searching for," Qi Liang sighed in response.
While Han Li and Qi Liang were chatting with one another, a deafening boom suddenly rang out in the sky, and the two of them hurriedly looked up to see a massive bolt of purple lightning crashing down from the heavens, aimed at a certain spot on the white jade tform.
After the bolt of lightning faded, around a dozen figures emerged, one of which was the purple-robed Ouyang Kuishan, the current managing dao lord of the ze Dragon Dao.
As for the dozen or so figures apanying him, all of them had restrained their own auras, but many of the ze Dragon Dao''s members had already identified them to have been deputy dao lords of the sect.
Ouyang Kuishan sat on one of the cushions in the first row situated to the left of the cauldron, and only after that did all of the deputy dao lords apanying him sit down as well.
As soon as this collection of important figures appeared on the tform, all of the ze Dragon Dao elders and disciples seated on the surrounding stone staircase instantly sat up straighter, while the chatter around the tform also gradually died down. Even the exchange events taking ce at the foot of the mountain had been put on pause, and everyone was looking up at the mountain summit.
In the blink of an eye, the entire area within a radius of hundreds of kilometers of the white jade tform had fallenpletely silent.
A few minutester, a gust of golden wind swept forth from the distant sky, then faded as it neared the tform to reveal seven or eight figures.
The two figures that were leading the way were quite peculiar in appearance.
One of them appeared to have been no different from a normal woman, except she had silver skin and a pair of thin and pointy ears. Standing next to her was a burly man with his face covered in golden fur and scales growing on his eyelids.
The five or six figures behind them clearly also weren''t human.
The silver-skinned woman and the golden-furred man each gave a nod to Ouyang Kuishan, then sat down onto the cushions next to him before their entourage sat down as well.
Han Li had never seen these two people before, but it was clear that they were most likely also Golden Immortal Stage dao lords, while those apanying them had to have been deputy dao lords as well.
Not long after their arrival, a woman in a ck dress with a ck veil concealing her face arrived atop a giant ck crow steed.
In contrast with the previous dao lords to have arrived, she was doing so on her own without an entourage, and she gave Ouyang Kuishan a brief greeting before sitting down on a cushion not far away from him.
Immediately after her came a handsome man with a head of long golden hair, and he was apanied by 15 or 16 deputy dao lords.
Over the course of the next hour, more and more dao lords and deputy dao lords arrived, and Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni only arrived when there were only two vacant cushions left in the front row to the left of the cauldron.
On this day, not only had Daoist Hu Yan changed into a pristine white robe, his hair was also immactely groomed, and he was clean shaven as well, indicating that he was taking this event quite seriously.
Yun Ni was walking along beside him with a faint smile on her face, and she was still just as seductive as ever, with many of the dao lords and deputy dao lords unconsciously lowering their heads, not daring to look at her.
Ouyang Kuishan was rather taken aback to see Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni arriving together, and he rose to his feet for the first time after sitting down as he smiled and said, "Wee, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan, Fellow Daoist Yun. Now that you''re here, everyone has arrived."
"Surely we''re notte, Dao Lord Baili isn''t even here yet," Daoist Hu Yan said as he took a nce at Ouyang Kuishan.
"Indeed, but it''s about time for the ceremony to begin, so please take your seats," Ouyang Kuishan said as he took a nce at Yun Ni.
Daoist Hu Yan gave an indifferent nod in response before making his way toward the two vacant cushions with Yun Ni.
Han Li remained seated with his legs crossed as his gaze roamed over all of these figures that he had never seen before. He discovered that aside from the silver-skinned woman and the golden-furred man, there was another demonic man among the 12 dao lords, while the rest were all human. As for the 36 deputy dao lords, the only ones who weren''t human were the ones that had apanied those two demonic dao lords here.
Out of all of these people, he only recognized a few, including Xiong Shan.
These people formed the core of the entire ze Dragon Dao, and at this moment, they were all gathered on the summit of the White Jade Peak. Even though they were all restraining their auras, everyone around the tform was still struck by a sense of asphyxiation.
The entire mountain summit had be even more quiet, while the atmosphere was also a little tense.
Around 15 minutester, a burst of five-colored light suddenly appeared in the distant sky, enveloped within which was a huge five-colored camel, and it was rapidly approaching the scene.
The camel was around 1,000 feet in size with circles of five-colored runes inscribed all over its body, and the two humps on its back resembled a pair of small mountains. Seated atop one of the humps was an elderly man in a colorful robe.
"Yu Yangzi of the Five Light Temple hase to observe the ceremony," the elderly man dered as he approached the tform.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Yu Yangzi. You''re still looking as fine as ever! Would you happen to have any surplus Five Light Pills? I''ve been wanting to get some for a very long time, but they''ve proved very elusive to find," Ouyang Kuishan greeted with a smile.
"Of course I always have some to spare for you, Fellow Daoist Ouyang! As long as it''s not too much, I can certainly spare two or three vials," Yu Yangzi replied with a smile as he descended onto the white jade tform.
"Fantastic! I also have some Dense Summer Earth here. Are you interested, Fellow Daoist?" Ouyang Kuishan asked.
An ted look appeared on Yu Yangzi''s face upon hearing this, and he hurriedly replied, "Really? I''m happy to take all of it off your hands, just state your price!"
"There''s no hurry, Fellow Daoist Yu Yangzi. Once the ceremony is over, you cane to my cave abode, and we''ll discuss the matter over some tea," Ouyang Kuishan said.
"Alright, I''ll be sure toe," Yu Yangzi replied with a nod.
The Five Light Temple wasn''t quite on the same level as the ze Dragon Dao, but it was still a vastly renowned sect in the Northern cial Immortal Region, and that was why he had been arranged a seat in the first row to the right of the cauldron.
Shortly thereafter, a vast expanse of ck light swept in from the distant sky, containing a massive ck inkstone with intricate floral designs engraved upon it, giving it a gorgeous appearance.
"Layman Mo of the Fleeing Pce hase to attend the preaching ceremony," a low and raspy voice dered from the inkstone.
After that, the inkstone abruptly vanished to reveal a ck-skinned elderly man who was no more than five feet tall and was stroking his own thick beard.
"Wee, Layman Mo," Ouyang Kuishan said as he rose to his feet and cupped his fist in a salute.
Layman Mo merely returned his salute in a half-hearted fashion before walking past him, and Ouyang Kuishan''s expression stiffened ever so slightly, but he quickly recovered hisposure and sat back down.
Meanwhile, Layman Mo approached Daoist Hu Yan with a wide smile as he asked, "Why haven''t youe to my Fleeting Pce these past 10,000 years, you old drunk? Could it be that you''ve already forgotten this drinking buddy of yours?"
"You''re one to talk! You went into seclusion for tens of thousands of years withouting out even once! I visited you so many times, only to be kept out like some unwee guest! Having said that, you really dide at the right time, I''ve saved up quite a bit of fine wine that''s not inferior to your Ink Cloud Spirit Wine," Daoist Hu Yan dered with a proud expression.
A furious look immediately appeared on Layman Mo''s face upon hearing this. "There''s no wine in this world that''s more delectable than the Ink Cloud Spirit Wine I''ve personally brewed! You haven''t even had a drink yet, and you''re already spouting drunk nonsense! When have you ever been able to acquire a wine that''s superior to mine?"
"You can find out if my ims are true or not after the ceremony," Daoist Hu Yan replied, taking a nce at Yun Ni out of the corner of his eye as he spoke.
"Alright, you better not disappoint me."
A wide smile appeared on Layman Mo''s face as he made his way over to the right side of the cauldron before taking a seat next to Yu Yangzi.
Before long, around a dozen of the cushions to the right of the cauldron had been upied, while roughly half of them remained vacant.
This wasn''t because there weren''t that many people from other sects who wanted to attend the ceremony. On the contrary, the number of sects that wanted to be in attendance far surpassed this, but most of them were rather small and weak, so they had been arranged seats in other parts of the za.
The spots on the tform itself were limited, and it would''ve been rather unsightly for too many people to be crammed onto it.
Chapter 327: Five Decays
Chapter 327: Five Decays
All of a sudden, a burst ofughter rang out in the distant sky, and a streak of blue light shot forth from afar, flying into the golden light barrier before hovering in the air outside of the white jade tform.
"Luo Qinghai of the Vast Flow Pce hase to attend the ceremony!"
An enormous blue flower that was around 1,000 feet in size bloomed within the burst of blue light with this deration, and there were around a dozen figures standing atop the giant flower, all of whom were wearing the same blue robes and giving off formidable auras.
Everyone from the ze Dragon Dao instantly erupted into chatter upon seeing this.
Luo Qinghai was the current pce master of the Vast Flow ce, which ranked alongside the ze Dragon Dao as one of the three leading powers of the Northern cial Immortal Region.
Han Li quickly recalled all of the information that he had read about the Vast Flow Pce as he also cast his gaze upward, just like everyone else.
Within the giant blue flower was arge golden throne, upon which sat a tall and thin middle-aged man with hair that was as white as snow.
He had a set of benevolent facial features, and his eyes were as blue as the sea, while his aura was as vast as the ocean, and even from this far away, Han Li still couldn''t help but be rmed by the man''s formidable aura.
The dozen or so figures behind Luo Qinghai all appeared to have been very formidable as well.
One of them appeared to have been in his early twenties, and he had a very effeminate appearance with skin that was even fairer than that of a young maiden. If it weren''t for the fact that his chest waspletely t, he could''ve easily been mistaken for a woman.
Even though he was also wearing a blue robe, unlike everyone else in the ground, there were golden waves embroidered onto his cor and sleeves, making his attire more simr in appearance to Luo Qinghai''s.
"Wee, Pce Master Luo. Forgive me for noting out to wee you sooner," Ouyang Kuishan said as he rose to his feet and cupped his fist in a salute, while all of the other dao lords and deputy dao lords stood up as well.
"It''s a very rare asion that Fellow Daoist Bailies out of seclusion, and he always has very unique insights on the five decays. All of his preaching ceremonies are extremely prestigious events in our Northern cial Immortal Realm, so I certainly couldn''t miss it," Luo Qinghai replied with a smile.
Luo Qinghai and Ouyang Kuishan made some small talk, and instead of descending onto the preaching tform like everyone else, Luo Qinghai remained in the air atop his giant blue flower, hovering at the same height as the preaching tform.
Not long after the arrival of the Vast Flow Pce, a silver chariot that was drawn by eight silver-scaled dragon horses came flying in from afar. There were around seven or eight people on the carriage, and it remained hovering in mid-air on the other side of the tform.
"The Northern cial Immortal Region hase to attend the ceremony," a beautiful woman on the carriage dered.
"This is truly an honor, Deputy Pce Master Xue Ying," Ouyang Kuishan greeted as he rose to his feet, but it was clear that he wasn''t particrly fond of the new arrivals.
The other Golden Immortal dao lords also seemed to have been rather disdainful of everyone from the Immortal Pce, merely taking a nce at them before looking away.
The cultivators of the Immortal Pce didn''t appear to have been bothered by this, and they extended a greeting toward Luo Qinghai before hovering in the air on the other side of the preaching tform.
Following the arrival of the other two leading powers of the Northern cial Immortal Region, there were no further new arrivals.
Another 15 minutes or so passed by, and Ouyang Kuishan spoke to several of the dao lords beside him briefly, then rose his feet and swept his gaze across the vast crowds of people gathered around the za as he dered, "It''s time. Wee, Dao Lord Baili!"
His voice wasn''t very loud, but it was extremely clear, as if he were speaking right beside everyone on the za.
In the next instant, everyone rose to their feet, including those on the tform.
"Wee, Dao Lord Baili!" all of the elders and disciples of the ze Dragon Dao yelled in unison, causing the entire za to buzz and tremble.
In the next instant,yers of strange ripples suddenly began to appear in the sky, and a crimson fireball slowly emerged, then turned from red to golden in color, glowing as radiantly as the sun.
At the same time, a burst of enormous spiritual pressure erupted out of the ball of fire, and the entirety of the White Jade Peak instantly fellpletely silent.
Immediately thereafter, a humanoid figure stepped out of the ball of fire and onto the tall tform.
The man appeared to have been no more than 30 to 40 years of age, and his skin was slightly red in coloration and glowing brightly like a piece of wless crimson jade.
He stood tall and proud with an authoritative look on his face, and he had a head of long crimson hair that was arranged inside a gold mesh crown. He was also dressed in a fiery red robe that was riddled with draconic embroidery, and it was none other than the number one dao lords of the ze Dragon Dao, the man who was said to have only been one step away from the High Zenith Stage, Baili Yan!
"Brother Luo, if I recall correctly, it''s been over 100,000 years since west met in the battle in the Hidden Azure Sea," Baili Yan said with a smile as he cast his gaze toward the Vast Flow Pce camp.
"If you hadn''t gone into seclusion so quickly, the two of us could''ve had plenty of time to meet and chat," Luo Qinghai jibed.
"You''re here as well, Deputy Pce Master Xue Ying!" Baili Yan greeted as he turned to the Immortal Pce camp.
"You''re looking as handsome as ever, Dao Lord Baili. Now that you''vee out of seclusion, I''m sure you''re even closer to the High Zenith Stage. Allow me to offer you my congrattions in advance," the woman by the name of Xue Ying replied with a nod.
"I''m afraid your congrattions may be premature, Fellow Daoist Xue Ying. If the High Zenith Stage were that easy to reach, then I wouldn''t have gone to the trouble of going into seclusion so many times," Baili Yan chuckled, while Xue Ying merely smiled in response.
"I''m very honored to be hosting all of you here today. During this ceremony, I''m going to be sharing my cultivation experiences and insights in the hope that I can help you all further your own cultivation."
He swept his gaze calmly across the crowd gathered all over the White Jade Peak as he spoke, much like an emperor inspecting his own empire, giving off an unmatched sense of majesty and regal authority.
After that, he turned around and flew onto the tform, taking a seat with his legs crossed behind the purple table at its center.
The dozens of ze Dragon Dao dao lords and deputy lords and the cultivators from the ze Dragon Dao''s allied sects were seated on either side of him, making him resemble a bright moon surrounded by stars.
The sound of a loud gong being struck three times in session rang out, and a peculiar burst of fluctuations instantly spread over the entire mountain range.
Han Li was immediately instilled with a sense of calmness upon hearing this sound, and what little remained of the background noise quickly died down to result inplete silence.
Baili Yan cast his gaze directly forward as he began to speak, and his voice was surprisingly smooth and mellow.
His voice didn''t appear to have been remarkable in any way, and those who were further away from him were initially struggling to hear him, but it didn''t take long before his voice began to reverberate around the entire mountain.
His words were echoing incessantly, striking deep into the hearts of the listeners like the tolls of a giant bell, or like the mantric chantings of the Buddha.
Everyone was immersed in this unique sound, and as for exactly what Baili Yan was saying, it was bing a little indistinct.
However, this immersive atmosphere struck everyone with a sense offort both in the body and the soul, and many people could feel their magic power cirction bing a lot smoother, while certain bottlenecks were beginning to loosen.
However, most of the people experiencing this were at or below the Grand Ascension Stage, while everyone at the True Immortal Stage and above weren''t benefitting anywhere near as much.
As for Han Li, he was able to roughly understand what was being preached, but he was not experiencing any profound sensation like everyone else.
The reason for this was his enormous spiritual sense, which was even more formidable than that of the average Golden Immortal. As a result of this, the preaching of ate-Golden Immortal Stage dao lord wasn''t enough to ce him into an entranced state of immersion.
Furthermore, the preaching of the portly monk on the wall of light manifested by the Eye of Truth and the Heaven Controlling Vial was far more profound, and inparison, Han Li was left feeling a little disappointed.
However, he didn''t outwardly express his disappointment, merely sitting on his cushion with his legs crossed and meditating with his eyes closed.
After all, this was still the preaching of someone on the verge of reaching the High Zenith Stage, so it was still going to be somewhat beneficial to him.
As time passed, noon quickly arrived, and Baili Yan''s voice was still reverberating across the entire mountain.
In fact, it was audible even in White Jade City, and everyone in the city had stopped to listen, making the usually lively and bustling city uncharacteristically quiet.
"...Among the five decays, True Immortals must face three without fail, and those trials will either lead to one''s demise or rebirth. Only by cultivating arduously can one hope to..."
At this point in Baili Yan''s preaching, all of the True Immortals on the tform were leaning forward slightly, listening intently with focused looks on their faces.
Even the Golden Immortals present had sat up a little straighter to listen to what he had to say.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, and a hint of befuddlement appeared in his eyes.
He turned to look at Qi Liang to find that he was just focusing just as intently as all of the other True Immortals, seeminglytching onto Baili Yan''s every word.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Han Li took advantage of a pause in Baili Yan''s preaching to raise a question to Qi Liang through voice transmission, "Fellow Daoist Qi, may I ask what these three decays and five decays are?"
Qi Liang immediately turned to him with an incredulous expression. "You''re unaware of the three decays of the True Immortal Stage?"
"Please enlighten me, Brother Qi," Han Li said.
Chapter 328: Kept in the Dark
Chapter 328: Kept in the Dark
"In the eyes of cultivators at or below the Grand Ascension Stage, True Immortals have already reached the end point of cultivation and have ascended to the highest of heights, but as we all know, the True Immortal Stage is only the first step through the door of immortality, and in reality, there are still far loftier heights to be conquered.
¡°While it''s true that we possess limitless lifespans, we are not actually truly immortal, and the reason for that is precisely the tribtion of the three decays," Qi Liang exined to Han Li through voice transmission while also listening to Baili Yan''s preaching.
"Oh? Are the three decays simr in nature to the ascension tribtion that Grand Ascension cultivators must transcend? And how do we transcend them?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"The three decays are referred to as tribtions, but they have nothing to do with the ascension tribtion. Instead, they describe the three crises that all True Immortal cultivators will face during the course of their cultivation. The first of those is immortal decay, which results in one''s immortal spiritual power seeping away for no discernible reason, thereby damaging one''s cultivation base until they fall out of the True Immortal Stage altogether.
¡°The second decay is bodily decay, which results in the gradual weakening of one''s body until it''s no longer able to hold immortal spiritual power, thereby resulting in the body''s detonation. The third decay is acupoint decay, and it''s rted to one''s immortal acupoints. There are many ways to contend against these three tribtions, but their effects vary from person to person.
¡°However, one universal way to ward off the decays that works for everyone is to make significant progress in a certainw," Qi Liang exined.
"I see. No wonder all True Immortal cultivators are so desperate to masterw powers. Aside from enhancing their own powers, I presume the more urgent priority is actually tobat the three decays. When will the three decays happen? Or do certain conditions need to be met for them to arise?" Han Li asked.
His expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was feeling quite shocked. Perhaps it was due to his prior bout of amnesia, but he wasn''t aware of this at all, and only after hearing this exnation from Qi Liang did hee to realize that even True Immortal cultivators couldn''t just be content and rest on theirurels.
"The timing of the first two decay tribtions ispletely down to the will of the heavens. Some are fortunate enough to avoid them for millions of years, while others could encounter them in less than 100,000 years. I''m sure you still recall Elder Fang Zhuan of the Merit Conveyance Pce, right?
¡°He was once a mid-True Immortal cultivator and was only one step away from opening up 24 immortal acupoints, but he was blighted by immortal decay and forced all the way back down to the Grand Ascension Stage," Qi Liang revealed.
"Does that mean that if one progresses sufficiently quickly in their cultivation and reaches the Golden Immortal Stage in a very short time, then they''ll be able to avoid those two decays?" Han Li asked.
"That is indeed true. If someone can reach the Golden Immortal Stage within 10,000 years, then the chances of them being struck by those two types of decay are naturally extremely slim, but how many people in the Immortal Realm are capable of aplishing such a feat?
¡° It''s already extremely remarkable for someone to reach the mid-True Immortal Stage in just 10,000 years. On top of that, even if a True Immortal manages to avoid the first two decays, if they want to reach the Golden Immortal Stage, then they''ll have no choice but to face the third decay," Qi Liang said with a wry smile.
"Why is that?" Han Li asked.
"All I know is that all those attempting breakthroughs to the Golden Immortal Stage will inevitably have to undergo the third decay, and that it''s no less damning than the first two decays. That''s why there are so few Golden Immortal cultivators. As for exactly why this is, that''s beyond my knowledge," Qi Liang replied.
"I heard Dao Lord Baili mention just now that there are five decays. What are the other two?" Han Li asked.
"It''s said that after bing a Golden Immortal, one will face two more decays to amount to a total of five. As for exactly what those two decays are, I''m not sure. In any case, the path of cultivation is truly one that is fraught with..."
Before Qi Liang had a chance to finish his sentence, eight of the 12 ze Dragon Dao dao lords suddenly sprang up from their cushions before sweeping their sleeves through the air.
The sound of nging chains interrupted the peace and quiet as the eight dao lords, led by Ouyang Kuishan, released eight golden chains out of their sleeves.
Each chain was around the same thickness as a child''s arm, and they were riddled with shimmering golden runes as they shed through the air like a nest of spirit snakes.
The chains were aimed directly at Baili Yan, whose expression remained unchanged, but his preaching had drawn to an abrupt halt.
All of a sudden, a burst of crimson light rose up from the ground all around him, enveloping his body from all directions like a fiery red light barrier.
The chains scraped against the exterior of the light barrier, raising trails of sparks as they did so, but they were unable to get any closer to Baili Yan''s body.
At the same time, Baili Yan stomped a foot down onto the ground, and a burst of crimson light erupted beneath his foot. The entire white jade tform also shuddered violently, yet right as he was about tounch himself up into the heavens, the eight dao lords hurriedly each made a hand seal, upon which the golden chains began to glow brightly while constricting tightly to keep Baili Yan and the crimson light barrier firmly in ce.
As a result, Baili Yan was forced back down onto the tform.
A burst of crimson light emerged on his hands as he grabbed toward the surrounding golden chains, only for countless arcs of golden lightning to erupt out of the chains before surging along his arms.
Baili Yan felt a numbing sensation shoot through his arms, and he temporarily lost all feeling in them.
At the same time, the arcs of lightning that were springing out of the golden chains had intertwined to form a square golden cage that trapped him within.
Even though Baili Yan was able to immediately regain use of his arms, due to that split second of dy, it had be far more difficult for him to try and break free.
At this moment, every single golden pir in the golden cage around him was shing with lightning, andyers of scale patterns and antiquated runes had appeared on their surface, giving off clearw fluctuations.
These eight golden chains were clearly a set of high-grade immortal treasures that had been prepared specifically to deal with Baili Yan.
All of this had happened in the blink of an eye, unfolding so quickly and abruptly that none of the tens of thousands of cultivators around the za had even registered what had just happened.
The 36 deputy dao lords were greatly rmed to see this, and all of them began to exchange bewildered nces. It was clear that they hadn''t been tipped off in advance at all.
On the other side, Yu Yangzi and the others were also very much taken aback by this turn of events, and all of them rose to their feet.
Some of them wanted to ask what was happening, but the atmosphere in the air was rather peculiar, so they ultimately decided to hold their tongues.
Just like everyone else, Han Li was watching the unfolding situation with a perplexed look on his face.
"What''s going on?" Qi Liang asked with tightly furrowed brows.
On the white jade tform, Daoist Hu Yan stepped forward with a furious expression, only for two other dao lords to immediately get in his way.
"What are you all doing? Are you betraying the sect?" Daoist Hu Yan asked in a furious voice.
A hint of guilt shed through the faces of all of the dao lords who had taken action, but none of them said anything, and the two dao lords standing in Daoist Hu Yan''s way disyed no intention of backing down.
An rmed and furious look had also appeared on Yun Ni''s face, and she had distanced herself slightly from the dao lords beside her, unsure of who she could trust.
Given the current situation, it appeared that she and Daoist Hu Yan were the only ones who had been kept in the dark.
Inside the cage, Baili Yan slowly swept his gaze across everyone around him, and a burst of crimson light began to emerge on his arms.
A burst of scorching mes then erupted out of his arms to envelop the surrounding golden chains, and under the illumination of the mes, his already smooth and pristine skin was made to appear like crimson jade.
"This Golden Scale Dragon Locking Array won''t be able to trap me for long, so if you have anything else to throw at me, you better do it now," Baili Yan said in a cold voice.
However, none of the dao lords remained silent, and it was as if they had agreed in advance not to respond to anything that Baili Yan said.
Up to this point, all of the ze Dragon Dao disciples outside the za still had no idea what was happening, and they could only watch as the situation unfolded.
As for the elders from other sects who hade to attend the ceremony, they were also oblivious to what had happened, but they could sense that this was noughing matter, and all of them remained seated, not daring to make any sudden moves.
Atop the giant blue flower that was hovering in the sky next to the white jade tform, Luo Qinghai had already risen to his feet from his golden throne, and he was watching the scenes unfolding on the tform with his brows tightly furrowed.
The effeminate young man behind him approached him, then said, "Pce Master, should we..."
"There''s no hurry, let''s watch the situation unfold first. If this is an internal affair of the ze Dragon Dao, then it would be best for us not to get involved," Luo Qinghai said with a shake of his head.
Right at this moment, his expression suddenly changed slightly as he cast his gaze upward.
As it turned out, a golden line that was several thousand feet in length had suddenly appeared high up in the sky, and it swelled rapidly into a vast expanse of blinding golden light, from within which a group of 20 to 30 figures emerged.
They were led by a tall man with a square face and a thin and long silver mustache. The man was wearing a pristine white robe with golden cloud patterns embroidered upon it, and those patterns were giving off dazzling spiritual light, indicating that this was no ordinary robe.
Hovering in the air behind him were 20 to 30 men and women, most of whom were also wearing white robes, with only very few of them dressed in different attire. However, one thing that wasmon to all of them was their auras were extremely formidable, and their collective spiritual pressure struck one with a crushing sense of asphyxiation.
All of the cultivators of the ze Dragon Dao were already bewildered by everything that they were seeing, and this certainly didn''t help to settle their nerves.
Chapter 329: Wanted Fugitive of the Reincarnation Palace
Chapter 329: Wanted Fugitive of the Reincarnation Pce
As soon as the man with the silver mustache appeared, the expressions of everyone on the white jade tform instantly changed drastically, with the exception of the 10 dao lords.
As for all of the elders and disciples situated on the za and the surrounding stone steps, all of them were rather dazed and confused, clearly having no idea of what this group of white-robed figures were going to do.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and his mind was racing.
He didn''t know who these people were, but he could tell that the man with the silver mustache was definitely no ordinary cultivator, and his powers most likely weren''t inferior to Baili Yan''s.
As for why the 10 dao lords had suddenly decided to betray Baili Yan, that most likely had everything to do with this man, but he couldn''t figure out what the motive of Ouyang Kuishan and the others was.
Even though Baili Yan was the ze Dragon Dao''s first dao lord and its most powerful cultivator, he was constantly in seclusion and barely oversaw any matters in the ze Dragon Dao at all, so those who actually controlled the sect and benefited most from its resources were the other dao lords. There was no conflict of interest between the parties, and in fact, the dao lords benefited from the protection that Baili Yan provided to the sect.
While it appeared that he had been trapped for now, he hadn''t been injured at all, so given sufficient time, there was a very good chance that he would be able to break free from hid bindings, and once that happened, even the 10 dao lordsbined definitely wouldn''t have been a match for him.
However, the situation had taken aplete turn with the arrival of these white-robed figures, and Han Li could detect the minute changes in the expressions of Ouyang Kuishan and the others.
However, ultimately, none of this had anything to do with him, and he certainly didn''t want to be swept up in this mess.
Having said that, he couldn''t afford to act reckless given the current circumstances, so he would have to wait and see.
As these thoughts were shing through his mind, he was sweeping his gaze across the people in the sky, trying to see if he could gather any more visual information about them.
However, right as his gaze fell upon a young man holding a folding fan standing among the people behind the man with the silver mustache, his mind was suddenly struck by a burst of sharp pain.
He couldn''t help lower his head while massaging his own temples to try and alleviate the pain.
The young man was very handsome and was wearing a tight-fitting silver robe with intricate designs of flora and fauna embroidered upon it.
He was holding a white jade folding fan with an amicable smile on his face. He casually looked down from above, sweeping his gaze over the crowd down below before directing his gaze to the white jade tform.
After massaging his own temples for a while, Han Li seemed to have regained hisposure somewhat, but there was a look of bewilderment in his eyes.
Right at this moment, Xue Ying suddenly extended a respectful curtsey toward the man with the silver mustache as she greeted, "Xue Ying pays her respects to the pce master."
Everyone erupted into chatter upon hearing this.
Xue Ying was the deputy pce master of the Northern cial Immortal Region, so the man that she was referring to as pce master naturally had to have been Xiao Jinhan, the current pce master of the Northern cial Immortal Region.
Xiao Jinhan gave her a slight nod, then turned his attention to the golden cage down below, where his gaze just so happened to Baili Yan''s.
A mocking sneer appeared on his face, while a cold look shed through Baili Yan''s eyes.
On the tform, Yu Yangzi and Layman Mo exchanged a nce, and both of them could see their own apprehension mirrored in one another''s eyes. Both of them slowly began to move away from the center of the tform for fear of getting swept up in whatever was about toe.
Everyone else at the center of the tform also followed suit to vacate the entire area.
"Prior to this, I saw it as inappropriate for me to get involved in this matter as I thought it was an internal affair of the ze Dragon Dao, but it seems like the Northern cial Immortal Region is now getting involved. I believe you owe everyone an exnation for this, Pce Master Xiao," Luo Qinghai dered.
"Baili Yan is a wanted fugitive of the Reincarnation Pce being hunted by the Heavenly Court, and I''ve been ordered to apprehend him. Is that enough of an exnation for you, Fellow Daoist Luo?" Xiao Jinhan replied in a cold voice.
He swept a hand through the air as he spoke, and a streak of golden light that contained a golden scroll flew through the air.
The scroll then unfurled itself in a sh to reveal a passage of golden text, and sure enough, it was a wanted notice directed at Baili Yan.
All of the True Immortals of the ze Dragon Dao were rather befuddled by the mention of the Reincarnation Pce, clearly having no idea of what that was supposed to have been. Eevn Yu Yangzi was rather puzzled by what he was hearing, while only Layman Mo and Luo Qinghai seemed to have been aware of what was being discussed.
The former apologized to Daoist Hu Yan through voice transmission, then flew out of the white jade tform.
At the same time, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon that giant inkstone before flying away atop the treasure, unwilling to stay for even a moment longer.
As for Luo Qinghai, his brows furrowed even tighter upon seeing this, and he took a long nce at Baili Yan as he fellpletely silent, but didn''t appear to have had any ns of leaving right away.
Yu Yangzi and the others certainly weren''t fools, either, and they immediately fled into the distance, knowing that this wasn''t something that was wise for them to get involved in.
Only a few of them were unable to suppress their curiosity and only flew several hundred kilometers before stopping and turning around again to observe the unfolding situation from afar, and none of the cultivators from the Northern cial Immortal Region raised any objections to this.
Baili Yan withdrew his gaze, then turned to the dao lords who had trapped him as he asked, "Are all of you going to betray me?"
Crimson mes were surging over his body, releasing waves of astonishing heat that were constantly scorching the golden chains, but the chains remainedpletely still and weren''t showing any signs of melting.
However, it was clearly not an easy task for Ouyang Kuishan and the others to keep the chains in ce, as evidenced by the sheens of sweat that had appeared on their foreheads. None of them dared to rx in the slightest as they maintained their hand seals, doing everything in their power to stabilize the golden chains.
"Fellow Daoist Baili, our ze Dragon Dao is indeed quite a formidable sect, but we can''t contend against the Immortal Pce. They have the backing of the Heavenly Court! What do we have? We can''t just stand by and watch as the entire ze Dragon Dao is destroyed with you," Ouyang Kuishan sighed.
"What about all of you? Do you share the same opinion?" Baili Yan asked as he turned to the 36 deputy dao lords behind him, all of which immediately lowered their heads, unwilling to meet his gaze.
Meanwhile, all of the people on the stone staircase around the tform had been ced in a very awkward situation.
No matter how oblivious they were to the nature of the situation, at this point, it was clear that something was very wrong here.
Many of the people present were considering leaving the White Jade Peak. After all, they certainly didn''t want to get swept up in a battle between Golden Immortals. As for the cultivators of the Immortal Pce, they appeared to have been quite calm and collected, but they were constantly watching the people down below with alert looks in their eyes.
Han Li was looking up at the cultivators of the Immortal Pce, just like many of the people around him, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
At this point, Qi Liang had also fallen silent. It was clear that this was not a situation that a True Immortal Stage elder like him could y any meaningful role in.
All of a sudden, the entire tform had bepletely silent, and the atmosphere had be extremely tense.
"Ouyang Kuishan, what are you waiting for?" Xiao Jinhan suddenly urged in an authoritative voice.
Ouyang Kuishan and the others offered no response, but all of them immediately sprang into action, making a string of hand seals with one hand while holding onto golden chains with the other.
A burst of formidable energy fluctuations erupted out of their bodies, spreading through the entire surrounding space in a radius of dozens of kilometers. All of the space within this area was visibly rippling, causing the sceney to be rather blurry and unclear.
Within the rippling space, the surface of the golden cage was shing incessantly with golden light. At the same time, thin golden threads were emerging from the cage, piercing toward Baili Yan like a mass of countless feelers.
Right at this moment, a huge snow lotus flower projection abruptly appeared amid a sh of white light behind one of the chain-wielding dao lords.
Ouyang Kuishan spotted this out of the corner of his eye, and he immediately yelled out in rm, "Yun Ni, stop!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a pristine white hand that was as translucent as jade abruptly extended out of the lotus flower projection before striking the dao lord on the back.
There was a translucent bead situated at the center of the palm, and in the instant that it came into contact with the dao lord''s back, it abruptly exploded, releasing a burst of dazzling white light alongside gusts of ferocious wind.
The dao lord in question was focusing most of his attention on the chain in his hand, and everyone else was primarily keeping an eye on Daoist Hu Yan, so no one had anticipated that Yun Ni would suddenly strike.
Thus, the dao lord was caughtpletely off guard, and he didn''t have time to summon any treasures, so he could only release ayer of protective spiritual light before the palm struck him on the back.
A loud thump rang out as the spiritual light around the dao lord''s body was dispelled, and he immediately threw up a mouthful of blood as he wasunched forward like a kite with a snapped string, crashing into the golden cage around Baili Yan.
He was still gripping tightly onto the golden chain with one hand, but the hand seal he was making with his other hand had already unraveled.
In the next instant, the surface of the golden cage shuddered, and Baili Yan erupted into raucousughter as two beams of crimson light erupted out of his eyes.
At the same time, his aura also swelled drastically.
High up in the sky, Xiao Jinhan gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a shimmering golden rune, which flew directly toward the golden cage like an arrow while giving off bursts ofw fluctuations.
Daoist Hu Yan immediately sprang into action as well upon seeing this, raising a hand to release an azure ball that was riddled with runes. At the same time, he bit through the tip of his own tongue before spitting out a mouthful of blood essence.
Almost at the exact same moment, the dao lord standing in his way raised both hands up into the air, releasing a golden wheel that erupted into the heavens, hurtling directly toward the azure ball, while other dao lord outside of the eight that were maintaining the golden cage flew toward Yun Ni.
Daoist Hu Yan quickly made a hand seal, and fuelled by his blood essence, a series of golden veins instantly lit up on the azure ball.
Immediately thereafter, it vanished into thin air in a sh, leaving the golden wheel far behind.
In the next instant, the azure ball reappeared near the golden rune, and at the same time, the golden veins on its surface reached the peak of their brightness, following which the azure ball exploded, releasing a vast cloud of azure mist that swept through the air in all directions with tremendous force.
Before the cloud of azure mist had a chance to disperse, a streak of golden light suddenly shed past beneath it, and the golden rune continued to fly toward the cave,pletely unscathed.
Right as it was about tond upon the golden cage, a streak of transparent swordlight that was invisible to the naked eye struck the golden rune with unerring uracy like a stream of water.
The streak of swordlight dissipated upon making contact with the golden rune, but it was able to knock the rune off its original path.
It was still descending from above, but its trajectory was no longer one that could allow it tond on the cage.
All of this sounded like a long process, but in reality, it had all taken ce in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 330: Chaos
Chapter 330: Chaos
The entire scene waspletely silent.
Not only were the low-grade cultivators on the za stunned beyond belief, all of the ze Dragon Dao cultivators situated on the stone steps were also astonished by what they were seeing.
A hint of blue light shed through Han Li''s eyes, and he was able to see everything that had just taken ce.
The golden rune released by Xiao Jinhan was very elusive, able topletely ignore that attack from Daoist Hu Yan, but it was nullified by the streak of transparent swordlight released by Luo Qinghai.
Officially speaking, the Immortal Pce was the dominant power in the Northern cial Immortal Region, but it clearly had some differences with the Vast Flow Pce. At the very least, Luo Qinghai didn''t seem to have been a fan of Xiao Jinhan.
High up in the sky, Xiao Jinhan took a cold nce at Luo Qinghai, and his expression remained unchanged as he swooped down directly toward the white jade tform from above.
Meanwhile, Luo Qinghai slowly withdrew his right hand, which was concealed up his sleeve,then turned around and sat back down onto his golden throne.
The giant blue flower that he was situated on remained hovering in the sky, and he still wasn''t disying any intention of departing. The dozen or so blue-robed cultivators standing on the giant flower with him also appeared to have been just as calm and collected as he was.
Before Xiao Jinhan was able to descend upon the white jade tform, a draconic roar abruptly rang out, and scorching mes erupted out of Baili Yan''s eyes as he curled his fingers up into the ws, then abruptlyshed out at the golden cage before him.
Crimson mes rose up from his ws, then rose up to form a peculiar draconic head, which sted a pir of fire out of its mouth to strike a certain part of the golden cage.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as one of the pirs of the golden cage was swallowed up by the draconic head''s cavernous mouth.
Golden runes were constantly flying out of the scorching mes, while the pir was warping and twisting until it finally snapped.
The destruction of that one pir caused a chain reaction, and all of the other golden pirs quickly shattered one after another, causing the entire golden cage to copse.
A burst of dazzling golden light erupted forth on the white jade tform, following which several dozen draconic head projections flew in all directions, releasing a tremendously powerful aura as they did so.
Specks of golden light arose in the air, and immediately thereafter, the light barrier that enshrouded the entire mountain waspletely destroyed amid a resounding boom.
Half of the white jade tform down below was also destroyed, and the eight dao lords who were previously holding the golden cage together hurriedly summoned protective treasures as a defensive measure, but they were still sent flying back involuntarily.
Several of them were struck by the draconic head projections, and the light barriers formed by their protective treasures were instantly destroyed, causing them to tumble down from the tform while throwing uprge mouthfuls of blood.
Meanwhile, Daoist Hu Yan arrived by Yun Ni''s side in a sh, warding off several oing draconic head projections while sweeping her down from the white jade tform with him.
Even though there were around a dozen dao lords acting as a buffer, the 36 deputy dao lords were still sent flying in all directions from the shockwaves of the explosion that had just taken ce, but they took advantage of this to fly further away.
All of the cultivators on the stone steps also dispersed in a panic, flying away in all directions as quickly as they could. No one wanted to be the first person to try and flee for fear of being struck down by the Immortal Pce''s cultivators, but now that the entire scene had erupted intoplete pandemonium, an opportunity had arisen for everyone to get away.
Han Li and Qi Liang also fled the scene in a certain direction with the crowd.
Countless loose rocks were exploding in all directions, much to the rm of the hundreds of thousands of low-grade cultivators gathered around the za, and they also hurriedly summoned their protective treasures while fleeing as quickly as they could.
All of a sudden, countless streaks of light of different colors were flying in all directions from the White Jade Peak, presenting a marvelous spectacle to behold.
In the sky above, Luo Qinghai made a hand seal to conjure up a blue water barrier that epassed the entire giant blue flower, and the water barrier merely shuddered momentarily in the face of the shockwaves before settling down again.
On the other side, Deputy Pce Master Xue Ying of the Immortal Pce swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a semi-transparent protective barrier around the silver chariot, then cast her gaze toward Luo Qinghai.
However, Luo Qinghai appeared to have beenpletely oblivious to her scrutiny, looking as calm and collected as ever.
As for Xiao Jinhan, he paid no heed to the oing shockwaves at all, and he wasn''t slowing down in the slightest as he continued to swoop down from above.
Another loud explosion rang out as a vast expanse of cial qi erupted out of Xiao Jinhan''s body, and a giant white mountain of ice appeared in the sky amid a cloud of white mist, then crashed down onto the white jade tform with devastating might.
Half of the tform had already copsed, and under the tremendous weight and momentum of the mountain of ice, the rest of the tform also fell away without being able to offer much resistance.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already flown out of the White Jade Peak and was observing the unfolding scene from afar.
Loose rocks and chunks of ice had already piled up into a huge mountain in that direction, presenting a chaotic sight to behold.
Right at this moment, burst of crimson light suddenly appeared beneath the rubble, and immediately thereafter, a sharp ng rang out as a pir of crimson mes that was around as thick as an adult human arm erupted directly upward from the wreckage before sweeping vertically over the area to slice the mountain of ice and rocks in half down the middle.
A loud roar then rang out as Baili Yan flew out of the mountain of ice with crimson mes surging all of his body, and he was flying directly toward Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.
With a flick of his wrist, Xiao Jinhan summoned a translucent longsword, around which was a band of white mist that resembled a coiled snake, and he shed the sword in Baili Yan''s direction.
The cloud up above churned violently as hundreds of giant white pythons formed by cial qi twisted and writhed, descending upon Baili Yan like a flight of formidable dragons.
Baili Yan let loose another thunderous roar, and heshed out with a longsword that was enveloped in crimson mes, shing it horizontally through the air.
A scorching aura swept through the air as hundreds of giant pirs of mes emerged out of thin air tobat the cial pythons.
A burst of rumbling akin to a dull thunderp rang out in the sky as snow and ice shed with devastating force, and each side was taking up half of the sky.
Meanwhile, the za had already erupted intoplete chaos.
High up in the sky, Xue Ying suddenly asked in an usatory voice, "Are you trying to stand against our Immortal Pce, Pce Master Mo?"
Only then did Luo Qinghai finally turn to Xue Ying as he replied in a casual voice, "What are you talking about, Celestial Maiden Xue? I''m only spectating with a few of my disciples, and I don''t wish to y any part in the conflict between your Immortal Pce and the ze Dragon Dao."
Xue Ying offered no response to this, instead turning to a pair of cultivators beside her as she instructed, "Lu Yue, Dong Jie, take everyone and go and keep an eye on Daoist Hu Yan."
The two cultivators immediately heeded the order, setting off with all of the other cultivators situated on the chariot.
"I''ll be going ahead, Pce Master Luo," Xue Ying said as she stowed the silver chariot away before flying off in pursuit of Xiao Jinhan and Baili Yan as a streak of white light.
¡¡
At this point, the za around the White Jade Peak was already severely ravaged and littered with lifeless bodies.
Daoist Hu Yan was hovering in mid-air with Yun Ni beside him, and both of them were watching the battle taking ce between Baili Yan and Xiao Jinhan.
Right at this moment, a huge ck ax projection descended out of the sky, releasing a burst of tremendous suction force that caused the surrounding space to twist and warp.
Daoist Hu Yan seemed to have already anticipated this as he took a step forward and dragged Yun Ni closer to his side, evading the attack with ease.
After missing its target, the giant ax projection crashed down onto the ground with an earth-shattering boom, slicing a massive, bottomless trench that was over 10,000 feet in length into the ground on the za.
Many of the low-grade cultivators who hadn''t been able to get away yet were swept up by the attack, perishing on the spot before they even had a chance to cry out.
Immediately thereafter, the man by the name of Dong Jie raised his enormous mountain-splitting ax with both hands before swinging it down once again.
At the same time, the seven Immortal Pce cultivators, led by Dong Jie, suddenly appeared around the za to surround Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.
Earlier, they had somehow managed to conceal their cultivation bases, and at this moment, all of them were giving off Golden Immortal Stage spiritual pressure. In particr, Lu Yue and Dong Jie''s aura''s indicated that they were at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage.
They held no regard for the safety of the people who still hadn''t yet managed to escape from the za, and they summoned a whole host of formidable treasures to rain down a ferocious barrage of attacks.
The entire space was trembling violently as countless anguished cries rang out from all directions, with deaths and casualties piling up by the second.
Aplex look appeared on Ouyang Kuishan''s face as he took a nce at the chaotic scene unfolding on the za, and he turned to the dao lords beside him as he instructed, "Evacuate our sect''s disciples and try to save as many of them as possible."
Even though they had been struck by the shockwaves from when Baili Yan broke free from the cage, they remainedrgely unscathed, and they immediately dispersed, calling upon some of the deputy dao lords and True Immortal Stage elders who were still on the scene, and together, they began evacuating the ze Dragon Dao''s low-grade disciples from around the za in batches.
At the center of the za, Yun Ni conjured up her snow lotus flower projection to epass both herself and Daoist Hu Yan.
Countless attacks were raining down incessantly upon the snow lotus flower projection, and its petals were constantly trembling, looking as if they weren''t going to be able to hold up for much longer.
Meanwhile, Daoist Hu Yan summoned a ck pagoda treasure, then tapped a finger against it, instantly conjuring up a ck pagoda projection that epassed the snow lotus flower projection around them.
A string of loud ngs rang out as the oing attacks struck the pagoda projection, while Daoist Hu Yan turned to Yun Ni with a pained look in his eyes. "I have my reasons for why I must follow Dao Lord Baili, and that''s why I helped him, but you don''t know anything about that, and you could''ve easily chosen to save yourself, so why have you gotten yourself involved in this mess?"
Chapter 331: Slaughter
Chapter 331: ughter
A faint smile appeared on Yun Ni''s face upon hearing this, and she said, "Is it because of the Reincarnation Pce? While it''s true that I don''t know about all of that, that''s not important. As long as I can be with you, that''s enough. Thankfully, Suyuan is with Fengyi, so I don''t have to worry about her."
Daoist Hu Yan burst intoughter upon hearing this. "Alright, in that case, let''s take on these Immortal Pce small fry together!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, an earth-shattering boom rang out from above, and a golden sword projection came plunging straight down from the heavens to strike the ck pagoda projection, shattering the roof of the pagoda projection while also causing the entire projection to shudder violently.
At the same time, a crack also appeared on the miniature pagoda treasure in Daoist Hu Yan''s hand.
He looked up into the sky to find Lu Yue hovering up above with golden light swirling around his body, and there were several massive sword projections around him that were constantly swinging down upon the ck pagoda projection.
Meanwhile, Dong Jie and the other Immortal Pce cultivators were also constantly raining attacks down upon the ck pagoda projection, and they were being joined by around a dozen of the Immortal Pce cultivators that had apanied Xiao Jinhan here. They were led by a woman in a pink pce dress who was also a mid-Golden Immortal cultivator.
Daoist Hu Yan gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, then patted his own waist, and the silver gourd strapped to his belt immediately flew out of the snow lotus flower projection before swelling rapidly to the size of a house as it hovered in mid-air.
Immediately thereafter, Daoist Hu Yan began to chant an incantation, and the spirit patterns on the surface of the giant silver gourd began to sh erratically, while a burst of indistinct white light appeared at its opening.
A stream of ck beans came pouring out of the white light, and in the blink of an eye,. the entire sky was filled with ck beans that were raining down from the heavens.
Even beforending on the ground, the beans warped and elongated, transforming into a series of Dao Warriors that were at around 10 feet tall, dressed in ck clothes and wielding giant ck axes.
In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of these Dao Warriors had taken shape, and they were rushing toward the oing Immortal Pce cultivators in a frenzy.
Even though most of the ze Dragon Dao disciples had already been evacuated from the za, it had suddenly be very crowded once again.
Dong Jie immediately rushed into the fray, swinging his giant ax as he led the charge into the army of Dao Warriors, followed by several other Immortal Pce cultivators.
"I knew he would be a pain to deal with! I''ll find a way to keep him upied, all of you go and assist Elder Lu," the woman in the pink pce dress instructed, then sat down in mid-air with her legs folded over one another in a rather strange posture, following which she conjured up a translucent white guqin in front of herself.
She raised her hands before quickly strumming her fingers over the strings of the guqin, and a string of crisp notes rang out, immediately following which the chests of a group of Dao Warriors several thousand feet away abruptly exploded, rendering them unfit for further battle.
She then turned toward another direction before strumming the strings of her guqin again, and many more Dao Warriors immediately fell to the ground.
The sound of her guqin appeared to have been quite pleasant to the ears, but in reality, it was capable of casting one''s blood, energy, and magic power intoplete disarray, and even the Dao Warriors weren''t impervious to it.
Meanwhile, the dozen or so Immortal Pce cultivators pounced on this opportunity to converge toward Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.
Several hundred kilometers away, Han Li and Qi Liang were standing on a mountain summit with several dozen other True Immortal cultivators.
Han Li''s eyes were shing with blue light as he observed Daoist Hu Yan, then shook his head with a forlorn expression.
During the past few centuries that he had spent in the ze Dragon Dao, Daoist Hu Yan was the one who had offered him the most assistance, and their rtionship had always been quite cordial, so it was not a good feeling to see him in such a dire situation.
However, there was naturally no way that he would try to rush in and save him.
In the face of so many Golden Immortals, his powers were simply insufficient to make any substantial difference, and he would only be giving up his own life for nothing. On top of that, the silver-robed young man that he had noticed earlier was striking him with a strong sense of foreboding, but he couldn''t put his finger on exactly why this was the case.
Right at this moment, another resounding boom rang out in the sky above the za.
As it turned out, the silver gourd that Daoist Hu Yan was using to hold all of his Dao Warriors had exploded amid a sh of silver light.
All of the Dao Warriors inside, which totaled in excess of 100,000, had already been released, while the broken gourd transformed into a vast expanse of azure spirit liquid that rained down onto the Dao Warriors.
As soon as the Dao Warriors came into contact with the spirit liquid, bright ck light erupted out of their bodies, and they swelled to twice their original size as they charged toward the Immortal Pce cultivators.
Unfortunately, in the face of around two dozen Golden Immortals and True Immortals, these Dao Warriors were simply no match, and they were being cut down in swathes like crops in a field, but fortunately, they were able to keep Dong Jie and the others upied thanks to their vast numbers.
However, with the assistance of the attacks from the guqin of the woman in the pink pce dress, three of them were able to charge into the central area to attack Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni alongside Lu Yue.
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed that one of these three people was the silver-robed young man that he had felt quite apprehensive about.
He was behaving rather strangely in that even though he was also participating in the attack against Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni, he didn''t seem to have been very invested, merely wandering around the outskirts of the battlefield and very rarely unleashing any attacks, seemingly only there as a formality.
As a result, Han Li was unable to gauge his power or any of his cultivation arts.
After instructing all of the other dao lords to evacuate the ze Dragon Dao''s low-grade disciples, Ouyang Kuishan remained standing in mid-air not far away from the White Jade Peak, observing the battle from afar.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out as Lu Yue made a hand seal, and a streak of golden swordlight that was over 1,000 feet in length appeared before crashing down upon the ck pagoda projection with mountainous force.
The projection instantly copsed before disintegrating into specks of ck light, but the power of the streak of golden swordlight was also exhausted, dissipating before it even had a chance to reach the snow lotus flower projection down below.
Lu Yue''splexion paled as he stumbled in mid-air, then hurriedly summoned a pill that he promptly devoured, clearly having been severely taxed by the attack that he had just unleashed.
The two Immortal Pce cultivators who were participating in the attack immediately stopped what they were doing before positioning themselves in front of Lu Yue to protect him, while the silver-robed young man continued prowling around the area, unleashing attacks upon the snow lotus flower projection.
A series ofrge cracks had appeared on the ck pagoda treasure that Daoist Hu Yan was holding, and even though it hadn''tpletely shattered, it was clearly no longer fit for use.
"How dare you!" Daoist Hu Yan roared in a furious voice as he stowed the ck pagoda away, then pulled out his crimson gourd, grabbing onto the rope tied around the tapered section of the gourd with one hand while making a hand seal with the other before gently patting the gourd.
A sharp ng rang out as a crimson longsword was slowly drawn out of the opening of the gourd.
"I didn''t think that my Crimson Luan would ever be unsheathed again! Now that it''s seeing the light of day again, I suppose I have no choice but to ughter these small fry," Daoist Hu Yan chuckled as he took a swig of wine, then turned to Yun Ni as if he were asking for her opinion. [1]
Yun Ni gave him a warm smile and a nod in response.
A solemn look immediately appeared on Daoist Hu Yan''s face, and his aura had suddenly be as sharp as the edge of a de.
Immediately thereafter, he shot out of the snow lotus flower projection, hurtling directly toward Lu Yue.
Ayer of hazy light appeared all around him, and a series of fiery red runes lit up on the longsword in his hand. His robes were pping audibly in the fierce wind, and his aura had swelled drastically.
With the sword in his hand, it was as if he had turned into apletely different person.
The two Immortal Pcete-True Immortal cultivators didn''t even get a chance to react before a streak of crimson light shed past them, and their bodies were sliced into two with stunned looks frozen on their faces. Their nascent souls had only just begun to flee the scene when they abruptly erupted into mes and were incinerated into nothingness in the blink of an eye.
The woman in the pce dress immediately strummed the strings of her guqin upon seeing this, sending a burst of formidable ripples sweeping directly toward him.
Yun Ni raised her hands up into the air in response, and a huge flower petal detached itself from her snow lotus flower projection, then rose straight up into the air, shing with the wave of ripples to keep it at bay.
"Your opponent is me," Yun Ni said in a cold voice, and the woman in the pce dress gave her a faint smile before beginning to strum the strings of her guqin once again.
The sound of her guqin was like a turbulent river that swept toward Yun Ni in waves.
Meanwhile, after ying those twote-True Immortal cultivators, Daoist Hu Yan shed his longsword through the air, and a massive fiery Luan projection instantly appeared behind Lu Yue.
Immediately thereafter he let loose a loud cry that resembled the call of a phoenix, and the fiery Luan projection flew forward with unstoppable might.
At the same time, a burst of crimson mes surged out of Daoist Hu Yan''s longsword, and in the instant that it caught up to the fiery Luan projection, thetter immediately transformed into a massive sea of fire that swept directly toward Lu Yue.
In response, Lu Yue raised his sword before shing it forward, and a burst of dazzling golden light erupted out of the sword before rapidly expanding in mid-air to form a golden wall to keep the sea of fire at bay.
Even though the sea of fire had been stopped in its tracks, it didn''t dissipate. Instead, it continued to crash against the golden wall in formidable waves.
The wall was trembling violently, and the golden light that it was radiating quickly faded before it waspletely overwhelmed by the sea of fire.
Daoist Hu Yan held his sword in one hand as he strode over the sea of fire, putting on an extremely graceful and dashing disy.
Lu Yue harrumphed coldly as he raised a hand to release a circr golden shield, while flew into the sea of fire while revolving incessantly.
Immediately thereafter, he sprang up andnded on his feet atop the shield, quickly gliding over the sea of fire as he hurtled directly toward Daoist Hu Yan.
Their swords shed amid a resounding ng, and countless sword projections erupted in all directions.
1. The Luan is a mythical bird in East Asian mythology, this is the same Luan as the one in Han Li''s Azure Luan true spirit transformation. ?
Chapter 332: Underground Disturbance
Chapter 332: Underground Disturbance
While Daoist Hu Yan and Lu Yue were locked in a fierce battle, Yun Ni wasn''t doing so well on her end.
At this point, most of the petals of the snow lotus flower projection around her had already wilted, giving it a rather bare and broken appearance.
She was holding a thin green willow branch in one hand, and with each swing of the branch, thousands of willow-leaf-shaped des of light would be sent sweeping through the air to form a dense, preventing the woman in the pink pce dress from being able to approach her.
However, right at this moment, a burst of azure light suddenly appeared above her, and it transformed into a massive sword that came piercing down at her head in a nasty sneak attack.
Yun Ni''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and several flower petals immediately closed around her to form a protective barrier.
A loud thump rang out as those flower petals werepletely pulverized, and a sword-wielding figure was sent flying back by the resulting shockwaves, hovering in the sky around 1,000 feet away from Yun Ni.
"Do you still remember me, Dao Lord Yun?" the figure asked with a cold smile.
Yun Ni''splexion was rather pale after withstanding that attack, and she cast her gaze toward the sword-wielding figure d in azure armor to find that it was none other than Gu Jie.
It seemed that in order to exact revenge on Yun Ni, he had refrained from appearing this entire time, and he had only just emerged to unleash that sneak attack.
Daoist Hu Yan had already noticed what had just happened, and he immediately switched to a series of different hand seals. The sea of fire beneath him surged toward Lu Yue at his behest, while he descended out of the heavens tond beside Yun Ni.
"Are you alright?" he asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"I''m fine," Yun Ni replied before summoning a pill and swallowing it.
A cold and furious look appeared on Daoist Hu Yan''s face, and he turned to Gu Jie with intense killing intent in his eyes.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Gu Jie''s heart upon seeing this, and he gulped nervously.
"I''m going to kill you!" Daoist Hu Yan dered in a frosty voice, then sliced his sword across the palm of his own hand, opening up a gash out of which blood flowed onto his Crimson Luan sword.
Bright crimson light erupted from the sword, and the obscure runes on its surface also lit up.
Daoist Hu Yan then flung his sword through the air, and it instantly vanished amid a sh of crimson light.
Gu Jie''s heart jolted slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly conjured up ayer of protective spiritual light while retreating into the distance.
However, he had only just made it several thousand feet when a burst of crimson light abruptly appeared behind him, then pierced through theyer of protective spiritual light around him with ease before plunging straight into his body.
The clear call of a phoenix rang out as the sword pierced through his back before emerging out of the front of his chest as a fiery Luan bird.
In the instant that the sword pierced through his body, several jets of blood instantly shot out of the hole in Gu Jie''s chest, and he let loose an agonized howl as his entire body erupted into mes.
After flying out of the front of Gu Jie''s chest, the fiery Luan bird immediately swiveled around in mid-air, swooping down with the aim of piercing through Gu Jie''s body again.
Enveloped in ayer of crimson mes, Gu Jie let loose a loud roar as he joined his palms in front of his own chest.
A burst of green light immediately appeared over his suit of azure armor, and it flowed like water, enveloping the crimson mes around him.
The crimson Luan bird struck thisyer of azure light with tremendous force, but it immediately sank in as if it had struck a wall of cotton before being repelled back and falling away to the side.
Daoist Hu Yan made a beckoning motion, and the fiery Luan bird reverted back into the form of a longsword before returning to his grasp.
Immediately thereafter, plumes of white smoke began to rise up from Gu Jie''s body, and all of the crimson mes were quickly snuffed out.
However, at this point, he had already beenpletely disfigured from burns. His skin and flesh were charred ck and riddled with unsightly gashes that glowing crimson, presenting a ghastly sight much like that of glowing moltenva swimming beneath the parched and cracked earth.
All of the Immortal Pce cultivators were greatly startled to see this, and they all turned to Daoist Hu Yan with a hint of wariness in their eyes.
However, Gu Jie suddenly began to cackle in an inexplicable fashion, and at the same time, theyer of green light around his body began to slowly converge and envelop his body tightly like a tight-fitting robe, then fused into his body in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, all of the burns and gashes on his body began to heal at a rapid rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
Daoist Hu Yan gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, but didn''t appear to have been all that surprised.
As Golden Immortals, it was not so easy for one''s soul and physical body to be destroyed.
"Dao Lord Ouyang, the sooner all of thises to an end, the less destruction the ze Dragon Dao will have to endure," Lu Yue said in a cold voice as he turned to Ouyang Kuishan.
Ouyang Kuishan hesitated slightly upon hearing this, then rose up into the sky as a streak of azure light, quickly appearing on the za in a sh.
With his participation, the Dao Warriors were cut down at an even faster rate, and it wasn''t going to be long before they were entirely wiped out.
The four Immortal Pce Golden Immortal cultivators were freed up as a result, and they joined forces to set up a lightning array outside of the sea of fire. Dozens of bolts of azure and purple lightning that were as thick as water vats came crashing out of the array, wiping out even more Dao Warriors.
As the number of remaining Dao Warriors rapidly declined, Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni''s situation became more and more perilous.
Just like Han Li,plex looks had appeared on the faces of many of the ze Dragon Dao cultivators who were watching the unfolding battle, including some dao lords and deputy dao lords.
In their eyes, even though Baili Yan very rarely appeared in the sect, the past eight preaching ceremonies that he had held had benefited a huge number of cultivators, and he was the reason why the ze Dragon Dao had been able to remain standing in the Northern cial Immortal Region to this day and be a sect that could rank alongside the Vast Flow Pce.
This was an extremely sinister scheme from the Northern cial Immortal Region to attack during the preaching ceremony, and Baili Yan had clearly made an effort to avoid harming the spectators present, yet the Immortal Pce cultivators hadn''t disyed any aversion to coteral damage.
What was quite saddening to see was that among the 12 Golden Immortal Stage dao lords, only Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni dared to stand against the Northern cial Immortal Region, but it was clear that they were fighting a losing battle.
If they were to be defeated, Baili Yan would bepletely on his own, and he would surely be overwhelmed by the Immortal Pce cultivators.
Han Li couldn''t help but heave an internal sigh upon seeing this.
The power that Daoist Hu Yan had disyed hade as quite a shock to him. He had already guessed that there was more to the sloppy old man than met the eye, but never had he anticipated that he would be capable of keeping close to 10 Immortal Pce Golden Immortals upied on his own.
Unfortunately, the ze Dragon Dao had already fallen apart internally. Otherwise, if all of the dao lords had given Baili Yan their unwavering support, then there was a very good chance that they would''ve been able to ward off the Immortal Pce attack.
Luo Qinghai had clearly already identified this, and that was most likely why he hadn''t gotten involved. Otherwise, if the ze Dragon Dao and the Vast Flow Pce were to join forces, then Xiao Jinhan would have no choice but to immediately retreat.
Right at this moment, Han Li noticed that the silver-robed young man had gone missing from the group of Immortal Pce cultivators that were surrounding Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.
He quickly swept his gaze across the entire battlefield, but was unable to find the silver-robed young man, and a hint of foreboding welled up in his heart upon seeing this.
¡¡
High up in the sky, Baili Yan''s entire body was enveloped in crimson mes, giving him the appearance of a fiery deity.
Outside of the crimson mes were a series of rainbow halos that were giving off astonishing heat, causing the surrounding space to warp and twist.
Facing him from afar was Xiao Jinhan, who was holding a longsword that was riddled with ice spikes, and there was a translucent wheel of ice that was several dozen feet in size hovering behind him, giving off formidable cial qi.
Outside of that, there were also around a dozen more Immortal Pce cultivators, including Xue Ying, scattered around the area, but they were all keeping their distance from Xiao Jinhan, seemingly unable to bear the cial aura emanating from his wheel of ice.
"Baili Yan, why do you insist on resisting when your efforts are clearly futile? If you surrender now, perhaps the Heavenly Court would be willing to wee you with open arms and give you an opportunity to redeem yourself," Xiao Jinhan said in a cold voice.
"Wee me with open arms? What a joke! When has the Heavenly Court ever been willing to wee anyone from the Reincarnation Pce? I''d be lucky not to be tormented for the rest of eternity! Let''s cut the chit-chat and fight!" Baili Yan replied in a rumbling voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he shed his fiery longsword through the air, sending a vast wave of fire sweeping toward Xiao Jinhan. At the same time, bright crimson light appeared in his eyes as he began to chant an incantation.
A deafening boom suddenly rang out from beneath the entire Bell Toll Mountain Range, immediately following which the entirendscape within a radius of thousands of kilometers around the White Jade Peak began to tremble violently, causing countless beasts and birds to flee their homes in a panic.
Another peculiar sound rang out, this one even louder than the one before, causing the entire space to shudder and tremble.
All of the ze Dragon Dao cultivators at the scene immediately began looking around frantically, trying to figure out what was happening.
Right at this moment, the earth down below suddenly bulged upward, and the massive cracks appeared on the ground, while rivers were severed and countless trees were felled.
In the extremely far distance, around a dozen mountains were rising up at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, rising close to 1,000 feet in a matter of seconds, while countless giant rocks came rolling down the mountains, raising enormous clouds of dust.
Lu Yue and the others immediately turned to Ouyang Kuishan upon seeing this, and Lu Yue asked, "What''s going on here, Dao Lord Ouyang?"
However, Ouyang Kuishan merely shook his head in silence, clearly also unsure of what he aws witnessing.
In contrast, a faint smile had appeared on Daoist Hu Yan''s face.
Chapter 333: Giant Head
Chapter 333: Giant Head
"We can''t keep waiting! Set up the Purple Sun Array right away!" Lu Yue immediately instructed upon seeing this.
As soon as this instruction was issued, the four Golden Immortal cultivators around him immediately sprang into action, positioning themselves around Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni before each pulling out a purple talisman before tossing them forward onto the ground.
The four talismans erupted into mes before falling onto the ground in unison, then transformed into four lines of fire that connected together to form a square.
Immediately thereafter, the four of them began to chant an incantation in unison, and the fire on the ground instantly swelled drastically, forming four purple light barriers that erupted into the heavens to surround Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.
There were no visible mes on the purple light barriers, but they were giving off extraordinary heat that was even hotter than the mes on Daoist Hu Yan''s Crimson Luan sword.
At the same time, the four light barriers began to converge toward the center in unison.
Daoist Hu Yan immediately grabbed onto Yun Ni''s hand upon seeing this, and a burst of fire rose up around his body as he prepared to spring up into the heavens.
However, Lu Yue and the others were already prepared for this, and a thick pir of silver lightning came crashing down from above alongside a massive streak of golden sword light, forcing the two of them back into the Purple Sun Array.
At this point, the array had already constricted drastically, to the point that Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni were forced to press themselves tightly against one another in order to avoid being scorched by the surrounding purple light barriers.
Right at this moment, Daoist Hu Yan suddenly flipped a hand over to produce a translucent snow robe, which he draped over Yun Ni''s body, then summoned a small jade bell, which he tossed directly upward.
A massive green bell projection instantly appeared to epass both of them, keeping the purple light barriers at bay.
Meanwhile, the tremors and rumbling that were running through the earth were only growing more and more powerful, while balls of purple mes had ignited upon the green bell projection, which appeared as if it could shatter at any moment.
"Hurry!" Lu Yue urged, and the four Golden Immortals who had set up the array immediately bit through the tips of their tongues before spitting out mouthfuls of blood essence onto the purple light barriers.
The Purple Sun Array immediately began to glow far brighter than before while also elerating in itspression, forcing the green bell projection to be smaller and smaller.
Meanwhile, all of the other Immortal Pce cultivators were also attacking incessantly.
Daoist Hu Yan was making a rapid series of hand seals as he injected his immortal spiritual power into the green bell without any reservation, but he was still unable to stop the purple light barriers from continuing to close in around them, and sweat was beginning to bead up on his forehead.
Right as the green bell projection was about to copse, a resounding boom suddenly rang out from beneath the ground.
All of a sudden, a thunderous sound rang out from beneath the earth.
This time, it no longer sounded like the toll of a bell. Instead, it was more like the violent and animalistic roar of some type of primordial beast.
The entire earth shuddered violently as huge clouds of dust rose up all around the White Jade Peak, following which the entire mountain abruptly copsed.
Countless giant rocks came tumbling down amid a thunderousmotion, and it was like doomsday had arrived.
Everyone who remained on the za were caughtpletely off guard, and they plunged down several hundred feet with the copse of the mountain before hurriedly steadying themselves and rising up into the air.
In contrast, instead of fleeing upward, Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni allowed themselves to plunge straight down to the foot of the White Jade Peak, using the tumbling rocks and cloud of dust as a smokescreen to cover their escape.
"Don''t let them get away!" Lu Yue yelled in an urgent voice, then swooped straight down with his sword held in one hand.
Bright golden light emerged over his body, forming a giant golden sword projection that was over 1,000 feet in length, plunging straight down toward what little remained of the White Jade Peak.
The other Immortal Pce cultivators immediately followed along, while Ouyang Kuishan hesitated momentarily before deciding to remain hovering in mid-air.
Right at this moment, around a dozen of the mountains that neighbored the White Jade Peak copsed one after another, plunging the entire area in a radius of several thousand kilometers intoplete disarray.
As soon as Lu Yue and the others rushed into the cloud of dust, they were immediately met with a wave of scorching heat coupled with a terrifying aura that struck them with a sense of asphyxiation.
"Something''s not right here! Let''s retreat for now!" Lu Yue hurriedly yelled as he stopped cold in his tracks.
Dong Jie and the others immediately stopped as well upon hearing this, then flew back to distance themselves from the already copsed White Jade Peak.
All of a sudden, a burst of red light appeared within the dust amid the sound of thunderous rumbling, and immediately thereafter, a pir of moltenva that was over 1,000 feet in width erupted out of the ground like a crimson wyrm, rising up over 10,000 feet into the sky before raining down from the heavens.
Luo Qinghai immediately swept a hand through the air upon seeing this, and the giant blue flower carried himself and all of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators apanying him away to the north.
High up in the sky thousands of kilometers to the west of the White Jade Peak, around a dozen deputy dao lords were gathered together with grim looks on their faces. Earlier, they had followed Ouyang Kuishan''s instructions to evacuate some of the sect''s low-grade disciples to safe areas while also evacuating some of the other cultivators attending the preaching ceremony as well.
This was far from a morous event for the sect, and they didn''t want all of these outsiders to see what was happening before spreading the news to the outside world.
Afterpleting the task assigned to them, they decided to remain here instead of returning to the White Jade Peak in order to avoid unnecessary trouble.
At this moment, all of them were scrutinizing what was once the White Jade Peak with tightly furrowed brows.
¡¡
Meanwhile, on the summit of the Origin View Peak thousands of kilometers to the east of the White Jade Peak.
Han Li and several dozen other True Immortal Stage elders were gathered here, and all of them were also looking in the direction of the White Jade Peak.
"I wonder how Dao Lord Baili is faring..." an elder with a wide forehead and a head of white hair sighed with a concerned expression.
"Regardless of whether Dao Lord Baili can weather this storm, the ze Dragon Dao will no longer be the same," another elder sighed.
Another portly elder had a disgruntled look on his face as he grumbled, "The Northern cial Immortal Region has always dered itself to be a just and righteous sect, but how are they any different from a nest of bandits? We may as well..."
Before he had a chance to finish, another elder hurriedly interjected, "Be prudent with your words, Elder Zhu!"
The portly elder fell silent upon hearing this, then heaved a forlorn sigh.
Han Li was nning to sneak away from here, but upon arriving on this mountain summit, he didn''t immediately depart. Instead, he was standing on the edge of the za on the mountain summit while casting his gaze in the White Jade Peak''s direction with blue light shing in his eyes.
The entire sky in that direction had taken on a bright red hue, and the storm of moltenva had set the nearby forests alight.
The wind fanned the mes, causing them to spread rapidly, and plumes of dense, ck smoke immediately began to rise up within a radius of several hundred kilometers. The entire sky was obscured beneath the columns of ck smoke, while the ground below was quickly transforming into a sea of fire.
Red and ck seemed to have been the only colors left between heaven and earth, presenting a doomsday-like scene to behold.
Right as everyone was looking on in bewilderment, a massive ck shadow suddenly rose up from within the cloud and mes around the White Jade Peak.
"What''s that?" Qi Liang involuntarily eximed upon seeing this.
Everyone else was also astonished by what they were seeing.
Within the sea of fire, an incredibly enormous ck bridge had emerged, spanning the length of several mountains, and there were scorching ck mes burning all over its surface, presenting a very peculiar sight to behold.
The blue light in Han Li''s eyes brightened a little, following which his pupils contracted slightly.
He could clearly see that the surface of the fiery ck "bridge" was riddled with countless massive rhomboid scales that were no different from the ones seen on snakes and pythons.
Before he had a chance to process what he was seeing, a resounding boom rang out, and the entire Origin View Peak shuddered violently as if it were also about to copse.
Many of the cultivators standing atop the mountain had already risen up into the air, anticipating the mountain''s copse, but thankfully, it was able to withstand the violent tremors.
However, the already copsed White Jade Peak exploded once again, sending countless huge rocks flying in all directions.
Even more moltenva surged out of the ground from the epicenter of the explosion, forming dozens of winding rivers ofva that flowed over thendscape, charring all of the earth in their wake.
Given the current situation, the Immortal Pce cultivators immediately abandoned their attack against Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni, flying far away while conjuring up protective light barriers to keep the falling rocks andva at bay.
It didn''t take long before the entire area within a radius of several dozen kilometers of the White Jade Peak had beenpletely inundated byva, forming a massiveke ofva with massive bubbles asionally emerging and popping on its surface.
Lu Yue swept his spiritual sense over theva for a second, then yelled, "Thisva is a little strange. Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni are hiding beneath it. Don''t get close, let''s stay here and try to force them out."
"I''ll do it!" Dong Jie volunteered as he flipped a hand over to produce a shimmering ck rock, which he tossed at theke ofva down below.
He then began to chant an incantation, and a burst of loud buzzing instantly rang out from the ck rock, following which it rapidly swelled into a giant mountain that was over 10,000 feet tall, plummeting down toward the center of theke.
A resounding boom rang out as the bottom half of the mountain instantly plunged into theke, sending vast volumes of moltenva erupting in all directions to sweep up enormous waves.
However, theke ofva then quickly settled back down, while the ck mountain slowly sank into its depths bit by bit.
Right at this moment, a thunderous roar rang out from within theke ofva, causing its surface to ripple violently.
In the next instant, the ck mountain suddenly flew out of theke ofva, having beenunched into the sky before abruptly exploding.
Immediately thereafter, an enormous ck head that was evenrger than the mountain emerged from theke ofva.
Chapter 334: Retaliation of the Trapped Dragon
Chapter 334: Retaliation of the Trapped Dragon
The giant head reared up along with the enormous body that it was attached to, rising up into the sky like a winding behemoth.
The "bridge" that had emerged earlier also rose up into the heavens along with it.
Only after it hadpletely ascended into the sky did everyonee to realize that the owner of the giant head was a huge ck dragon that was over 100,000 feet in length.
The dragon had a pair of sharp curved horns that were giving off a menacing ck gleam, and ck smoke was swirling all around its enormous body, which obscured virtually the entire sky, plunging arge area around the White Jade Peak intoplete darkness.
What was even more astonishing was that the dragon had a very strange head with a human face that was countless times more massive than a normal human face.
The expressions of all of the dozens of deputy dao lords situated several thousand kilometers to the west immediately changed drastically upon seeing this.
Among them, even those who had stayed in the ze Dragon Dao for the shortest amount of time had already been here for over 100,000 years, yet they had never seen or even heard of such a formidable beast lurking under the White Jade Peak.
"Could this be... the ze Dragon?" Xiong Shan murmured with an astonished expression.
"Could it be that this is what''s been making all those strange sounds under the mountain range?" another deputy dao lord spected with a bewildered expression.
"That''s most likely the case. Many years ago, while venturing deep into the underground fire veins to collect Crimson Fire Essence, I detected an indistinct aura. At the time, I paid it no heed, but thinking back, that aura was virtually identical to the aura of this beast," a thin elderly man said with an enlightened expression.
"But why does its face look like that?"
"Isn''t that Dao Lord Baili''s face?"
On the Origin View Peak.
Han Li was looking at the enormous beast from afar, and the snippets of information that he had previously read about the primordial beast, the ze Dragon, quickly shed through his mind. Indeed, its physical description was almost aplete match with this gargantuan beast with only some minute differences.
For example, it was described that the face of the ze Dragon was only very slightly resembling that of a human, but this ze Dragon''s face bore a striking resemnce to Baili Yan.
Could it be that this is Dao Lord Baili''s true body?
As soon as this thought crossed Han Li''s mind, it was immediately dismissed.
This strange ze Dragon''s eyes were filled entirely with scorching ck mes and had no pupils, clearly indicating that it wasn''t an intelligent creature. Even if it did have something to do with Baili Yan, it was much more likely that it was an avatar of his.
Furthermore, for some reason, as soon as the giant ze Dragon appeared, Han Li immediately felt a strong sense of aversion to it deep within his soul.
He discovered that the ck mes burning all over the ze Dragon''s body seemed to have been imbued with extremely formidable baleful qi, more formidable than any that he had ever felt before.
Meanwhile, on the giant blue flower hovering in the sky several thousand kilometers to the north of the White Jade Peak.
The initially calm and unperturbed Vast Flow Pce cultivators now all had astonished looks on their faces, and they were too stunned to speak.
At this point, Luo Qinghai had also stood up from his golden throne, and he was staring intently at the enormous ze Dragon.
Only after a long while did he return to his senses before murmuring to himself, "I had thought that you had only gone into seclusion to dy the onset of the five decays, but never had I anticipated that you would''ve already ovee the five decays by forging such a unique path. How unfortunate... If you had been given just 10,000 more years, the Northern cial Immortal Region would''ve been no match for you."
The effeminate man behind him approached him with an uncertain expression, then asked, "Master, what should we do now?"
"All of you, watch carefully! This is an extremely rare opportunity. Even if the Immortal Pce manages to get what they want, it''ll almost certainly be at an extremely heavy cost," Luo Qinghai chuckled as he sat back down onto his throne and continued to observe the battle.
Baili Yan''s body was enveloped in ayer of rainbow light, and he was holding a crimson immortal sword in one hand and an octagonal fiery red mirror in the other, standing several thousand feet away from Xiao Jinhan.
The entire area within a radius of 20,000 to 30,000 feet around him was enveloped within a near-transparent hemispherical light barrier with white light surging over its surface, and it was also riddled with countless snowke patterns that were giving off cold cial qi.
There were around a dozen Immortal Pce cultivators, including Xue Ying, distributed around the light barrier, and each of them was holding a white jade tablet that they were injecting their immortal spiritual power into.
Over half of them were Golden Immortal cultivators, while the rest were allte-True Immortal cultivators, and it appeared that they had trapped Baili Yan here, but they hadn''t actually managed to gain the upper hand at all.
"Baili Yan, it''s no wonder the Heavenly Court views you as such a potent threat, you are indeed a remarkable man," Xiao Jinhan said as he cast his gaze toward the ze Dragon in the distance.
"There are no unremarkable people among those who have reached our cultivation base," Baili Yan replied with a cold smile.
"In any case, we made the right decision toe here today. Otherwise, if we had given you 10,000 more years, you would''ve been the one actively knocking on our Northern cial Immortal Region''s door, and we would''ve certainly been no match for the High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal that you would''ve be," Xiao Jinhan
"What makes you think you''re a match for me now?" Baili Yan sneered.
¡¡
In the sky above the White Jade Peak.
An earth-shattering roar rang out as the ze Dragon twisted its body from side to side, rising up toward Baili Yan.
Right as it was about to pass through the clouds up above, the severely ravaged ground down below abruptly shuddered, following which an enormous array projection appeared before releasing a vast expanse of dazzling golden radiance.
Eight huge golden pirs, each with a golden dragon coiled around them, rose up around the ze Dragon, swelling to over 100,000 feet tall in the span of just a few seconds, and the pirs were riddled with runes that were giving off more golden light.
Atop each pir stood a Immortal Pce Golden Pce, all of whom were chanting incantations while making hand seals to activate the array.
One of the Golden Immortals standing on the pirs was none other than Gu Jie, and at the same time, the woman in the pink pce dress suddenly appeared in the sky above the ze Dragon with her white guqin hovering in front of her.
She stroked her fingers over the strings of the instrument, and a burst of peculiar music suddenly rang out from the eight giant golden pirs, following which the eight massive golden dragons coiled around the pirs abruptly sprang to life.
A collective draconic roar rang out as the eight golden dragons pounced out of the giant pirs, plunging headfirst into the ck mes to tear at the ze Dragon with their ws and fangs.
Within the ck mes, the eight golden dragons wrapped themselves around the ze Dragon before opening their cavernous mouths and sinking their fangs into the ze Dragon''s body, only to find that they were unable to even bite through its scales.
The ze Dragon let loose a thunderous roar as it began to thrash around violently in an attempt to shake off the golden dragons.
As a result, it was constantly crashing into the giant golden pirs, causing a massivemotion.
However, the golden pirs remainedpletely unmoved, and it was as if they were a permanent fixture between heaven and earth.
This array was even more formidable than the Golden Scale Dragon Locking Array, and the ze Dragon was unable to break free.
All of a sudden, Lu Yue rose up into the sky as a streak of dazzling golden light, then raised a hand to summon a ck ox horn bow.
The bow''s design was very simplistic, as if it had been crafted without much care, and there weren''t any adornments or even runes on its surface. All it did was give off a faint ck sheen, and it had a very antiquated appearance.
Lu Yue cast his gaze toward the thrashing ze Dragon, then lunged forward and slowly drew the bow back.
As he did so, the muscles on his arms bulged and trembled incessantly, indicating that he was experiencing a great deal of strain.
The bow was slowly being drawn back, and as the bowstring came into contact with his chin, wisps of silver light began to appear between his hands, then connected together to form a shimmering silver arrow that was aimed straight at the ze Dragon''s head.
Lu Yue''s fingers had been sliced open by the bowstring, and blood was pouring out of the gashes, only to be absorbed by the bow. However, his aura was rather restrained, and he remainedpletely still, seemingly in no hurry to fire the arrow.
At the same time, a tiny speck of silver light appeared on the tip of the arrow, and initially, it was rather indistinct, but it was bing more and more substantial and giving off bursts ofw fluctuations.
The ze Dragon''s struggles continued to prove futile, and it was bing more and more furious by the second.
It twisted around and opened its cavernous mouth to st forth a stream of ferocious ck mes to incinerate, andpared with the ck mes on its body, the fire being sted out of its mouth was even hotter and imbued with more fierce baleful qi.
In mere moments, the eight golden dragons began to wilt under the intense heat, looking as if they were about to melt away.
The eight Golden Immortals standing atop the golden pirs were also feeling the heat, and their blood cirction had sped up by severalfold, while a sense of agitation welled up in their hearts, as if they were being roasted in a fiery pit.
Finally, one of the early-Golden Immortal cultivators was unable to withstand the heat any longer, and he involuntarily threw up a mouthful of blood.
Immediately thereafter, Gu Jie also threw up a mouthful of blood, having already sustained severe injuries from the blow dealt upon him by the Crimson Luan sword.
As a result, the entire array had been destabilized, and it looked as if it could copse at any moment.
Right as the surrounding golden pirs were about to be toppled, Dong Jie suddenly appeared in the sky in a sh, and through the use of some type of secret technique, he had expanded his own body to over 10,000 feet tall.
He was holding an enormous ax that he swung up into the sky with both hands while leaping into the air, then swung his ax down toward the ze Dragon''s neck.
Dazzling ck light erupted out of the runes engraved onto the de of the ax, and it began to release formidable tearing force that caused the surrounding space to warp and twist.
Right as the ax was about to tear through the ck mes and strike the ze Dragon''s neck, a burst of crimson light suddenly shot out of the top of the ze Dragon''s head like lightning, then rapidly expanded while flying through the air, transforming into a giant crimson sword that was several thousand feet in length before striking the sharp edge of the ax.
Chapter 335: Karmic Fire Remission
Chapter 335: Karmic Fire Remission
A resounding boom rang out as a blinding crimson sun exploded in the sky, sending countless bursts of fire hurtling toward the sharp edge of the giant ax.
The ax appeared to have been swinging through the air with unstoppable force, but it was snapped with a resounding crack, while the huge crimson sword pierced straight through Dong Jie''s chest.
A huge gash was instantly torn open on his chest, yet before blood had a chance to flow out of the wound, it was evaporated by the scorching mes burning on the giant sword.
Dong Jie swayed a few times before plummeting out of the sky as his body rapidly shrank back down to its original size, while the giant crimson sword flew back to position itself above the ze Dragon''s head again.
Immediately thereafter, the sword also shrank down rapidly, and Daoist Hu Yan stumbled out of it with an ashenplexion while gasping for air.
Just now, he had drawn upon the blood essence in his own body to fuse as one with his Crimson Luan sword, and only then was he able to severely wound Dong Jie with a single strike.
Despite how severely taxed he was, he didn''t immediately swallow any pills to assist in his recovery. Instead, he cast his gaze toward the woman in the pink pce dress.
A burst of indistinct white light abruptly appeared behind her, following which Yun Ni emerged amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, thenshed out toward the woman''s back with the green willow branch that she was holding.
Azure light was searching all over the willow branch, and as it was swung through the air, countless willow-leaf-shaped des of light were instantly released, sweeping directly toward the woman''s back.
At this moment, the woman in the pink pce dress had her attention focused entirely on stabilizing the array, which was on the verge of copse, and by the time she detected what was happening behind her, it was already toote.
The silk streamer that was draped over her shoulders immediately began to glow brightly, then rose up into the air to oppose the willow branch.
At the same time, a streak of light shed through the air as Ouyang Kuishan rapidly approached the scene from afar with aplex look on his face, holding a golden longsword that he was plunging directly toward Yun Ni''s heart.
A hint of finality shed through Yun Ni''s eyes upon seeing this, and she made no effort to take evasive measures, seemingly determined to go through with her attack even at the cost of her own life.
The flurry of willow leaf des we instantly tore a gash into the silk streamer before crashing heavily into the woman''s back, shredding through the protective spiritual light around her as her entire body pitched forward, and she threw up a mouthful of blood that sttered all over her guqin.
At the same time, Ouyang Kuishan had also arrived on the scene, yet right as his sword was about to plunge through Yun Ni''s heart, he suddenly twisted his wrist slightly to direct his sword away from its original trajectory, piercing it through Yun Ni''s shoulder instead.
"Is it really worth going so far for him?" he asked as a pained look shed through his eyes.
Yun Ni merely smiled and offered no response as her entire body scattered into countless white flower petals.
In the next instant, she reappeared beside Daoist Hu Yan.
Immediately thereafter, yet another earth-shattering roar rang out, and the ck mes over the ze Dragon''s body reared up significantly as it swiveled around in the sky, thrashing against the array that it was trapped in with ferocious might.
The surrounding golden pirs were already quite unstable, and the entire array began to copse toward the center in the face of the ze Dragon''s tremendous power.
As the ze Dragon reared up with all its might, the golden dragons coiled around its body were finally snapped into pieces before disintegrating into countless specks of golden light.
Immediately thereafter, the eight golden pirs exploded violently into an enormous arc of golden light that erupted in all directions. The eight Golden Immortals that were overseeing the array were all struck by bacsh in the wake of the array''s destruction, and they plummeted out of the sky with blood gushing out of their mouths.
Upon breaking free from the array, the ze Dragon continued to ascend, flying straight through the clouds before arriving on the other battlefield.
The space there was epassed within a massive white light barrier, within which gusts of frosty wind that were interspersed with countless snowkes were howling incessantly, and even the clouds had begun to freeze over, transforming them ice statues of all types of strange shapes and forms, making one feel as if they had suddenly arrived on the Infernal Frost Continent.
"That''s Xiao Jinhan''s Golden Immortal spirit domain!" Daoist Hu Yan eximed.
"There''s Dao Lord Baili!" Yun Ni called out as she pointed at the light barrier from afar.
Having already taken a restorative pill, the wound on her chest had alreadypletely healed, but herplexion was still quite pale.
At this point, she was pointing at a massive icy que that was hovering at the center of the area epassed within the light barrier, and it was giving off formidable cial qi.
Trapped within the giant que was none other than Baili Yan, and his body was enveloped within ayer of rainbow light that was shing incessantly, seemingly desperately trying to keep the surrounding cial qi at bay.
Upon seeing the approaching ze Dragon, aplex look shed through Baili Yan''s eyes.
Meanwhile, Xiao Jinhan was standing atop the giant que with his hands resting atop the hilt of his sword.
Hovering in the air behind him was a massive wheel of ice that was giving off radiant silver light while also releasing a constant stream of silver runes.
Whenever a rune came drifting down, it would flow down his longsword andnd upon the giant que, further reinforcing it while also bolstering the cial qi within it.
A hint of fury shed through Xiao Jinhan''s eyes at the sight of the approaching ze Dragon, and he released the hilt of his sword to make a hand seal before sweeping a hand forward in a forceful fashion.
Dazzling silver light erupted out of the wheel of ice behind him, conjuring up an enormous ice dragon that was over 100,000 feet in length above his head before swooping down toward the ze Dragon.
The two massive dragons shed with an almighty boom, and the ice dragon began to shatter inyers starting from its head, disintegrating into a vast expanse of ice crystals, while the ze Dragon continued onward, flying directly toward the white light barrier.
Right as its sharp horns were about to pierce through the light barrier, the sound of an arrow whistling through the air suddenly rang out across the entire sky.
Having umted as much power as he could, Lu Yue had finally let loose hsi arrow.
The silver arrow had a long fiery tail, and it was flying across the sky like a shooting star.
A silver vortex was revolving rapidly on the tip of the arrow, causing all of the space in its wake to shudder violently, while boundless world''s origin qi was converging from all directions before surging into the vortex.
The silver arrow rapidly swelled in size as it flew through the air, quickly extending to over 10,000 feet in length from its initial length of three feet, and it punched a massive hole through the clouds before hurtling toward the ze Dragon''s head from below.
A thunderous boom rang out as a massive hole was shot through the ze Dragon''s head, extending all the way from the bottom of its chin to the top of its head.
The giant silver vortex remained in its head, causing even more world''s origin qi to converge in a frenzy.
The spiritual pressure there was constantly elevating, and it quickly reached an extremely formidable level.
Daoist Hu Yan immediately grabbed onto Yun Ni''s hand and flew away into the distance upon seeing this.
He had only flown for just over 10,000 feet when a resounding boom rang out from behind him,. and the silver vortex exploded violently, sending chaotic world''s origin qi erupting in all directions, producing shockwaves that epassed the entire surrounding area in a radius of hundred os kilometers.
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni felt a vast wave of power sweeping toward them from behind, and both of them threw up a mouthful of blood in unison as they were swept involuntarily away into the distance like a pair of small rafts in an almighty storm.
During the explosion, the silver vortex was constantly expanding to destroy the ze Dragon''s massive head bit by bit, gradually reducing it to a cloud of dense ck mist.
However, instead of dissipating, all of the ck mist surged into the white light barrier, then rapidly passed through the vast expanse of snow and ice without any inhibition before converging entirely into the giant ice que.
All of a sudden, a ck sun exploded violently within the giant que, sending formidable shockwaves and countless ice crystals erupting in all directions.
White light shed over Xiao Jinhan''s body as he instantly flew away from the giant que, while Xue Ying and the others were sent flying back by the explosion.
Immediately thereafter, the wisps of ck mist in the air converged to form Baili Yan, who then slowly descended onto a frozen cloud.
There was ck mist surging all around his body, as well as a ball of ck mes hovering above each of his shoulders. His red hair had turnedpletely ck, and a small ck fire spirit rune had appeared on his be, while his eyes had be a darker shade of ck than before.
It was as if he had suddenly transformed into apletely different person!
At the same time, his aura had swelled by severalfold, and even the slightest gesture from him was enough to sweep up gusts of fierce wind.
"I went through so much trouble over the course of countless years to expel this karmic fire from my body, yet now, I''ve been forced into remission. The Heavenly Dao can truly be cruel," Baili Yan mused in an expressionless manner as he cast his gaze toward Xiao Jinhan.
"This is the baleful immortal that''s being hunted by the Heavenly Court! Having said that, in order to attain this power, you''ve doomed yourself to the fifth decay," Xiao Jinhan said with a cold expression.
"So be it. Seeing as things have alreadye to this point, let the karmic fire burn even brighter!" Baili Yan dered as a fierce look shed through his eyes.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a constant stream of ck mist began to surge out of his body, forming a massive wall of ck mist behind him. The wall of mist surged toward Xiao Jinhan, transforming into a ck spirit domain that was slowly eating away at the white light barrier in the sky.
At the same time, a cold look appeared in his eyes as he strode over the frozen cloud toward Xiao Jinhan.
The clouds beneath his feet began to shatter amid a string of crisp cracking, while Luo Qinghai heaved a forlorn sigh as he observed the unfolding scene from down below.
"He''s been forced into karmic fire remission... Let''s go."
With a wave of his hand, the giant blue flower flew away from the scene, carrying with it all of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators.
Thousands of kilometers away, Xiong Shan took one final nce up at the sky, then immediately flew away toward the west without any hesitation, and the other deputy dao lords quickly departed as well, as did many of the True Immortal Stage elders on the Origin View Peak.
The blue light in Han Li''s eyes faded, and he turned his gaze toward Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni. Upon noticing that they were also fleeing the scene, he immediately decided to do the same.
"I''ll be going ahead, Brother Qi," he said to Qi Liang.
Thetter faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "Farewell, Brother Li. I want to stay here for a while longer."
A battle between a pair of cultivators at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage was truly an extremely rare sight, and there were quite a few people like Qi Liang who were willing to take the risk to observe the battle in the hope that they would be able to benefit from it, perhaps even find a catalyst for a breakthrough.
"Take care," Han Li said with a parting nod, then flew away as a streak of azure light.
Chapter 336: Recollection
Chapter 336: Recollection
In the blink of an eye, the streak of azure light that Han Li had transformed into vanished into thin air, and when he reappeared a momentter, he was already hundreds of kilometers away.
As soon as he emerged, he immediately continued onward.
After getting a little further away, he immediately elerated, covering a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye before descending near a secluded mountain.
From there, he turned to take a nce back in the direction of the White Jade Peak before heaving a faint sigh.
Regardless of whether the ze Dragon Dao would be able to weather this storm, he couldn''t stay here any longer. In the wake of this incident, there would be no end to the troubles awaiting the ze Dragon Dao, and he was quite close with Daoist Hu Yan, so there was no telling whether he was going to be targeted as well.
Most importantly, that silver-robed young man had struck him with a very strong sense of foreboding. He couldn''t pinpoint why this was the case, but he had an unconscious urge to get as far away from him as possible.
Upon withdrawing his gaze, Han Li made a hand seal, and arcs of golden lightning sprang out of his body to instantly form a lightning array, immediately following which he vanished into thin air.
Not long after Han Li vanished from this spot, several streaks of light came flying over from the White Jade Peak before dispersing in different directions.
All of these people were members of the ze Dragon Dao, and there was nock of True Immortal Stage elders among them.
¡¡
In the sky above a mountain in the Bell Toll Mountain Range, a blurry golden line shed through the air, hurtling forward at an incredible speed.
The golden line resembled an arc of lightning, and the space in its wake was rippling slightly presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold. This was a movement technique thatbined the powers of space and lightning.
Lightning movement techniques allowed one to achieve a level of speed that was close to instantaneous teleportation, but they were two different things in that one was only transforming oneself into a state of lightning in order to enhance their own speed.
All of a sudden, the golden line began to slow down. A burst of invisible force had emerged in the space up ahead to obstruct the golden line, and it was as if it were moving through treacle.
The more the golden line tried to force its way through, the more formidable the obstructive force became, and before long, the golden line had been slowed down significantly.
All of a sudden, the nearby space rippled, and a golden lightning array appeared, following which Han Li emerged at the center of the array amid a rumbling thunderp.
He swept his gaze forward momentarily, and his expression darkened slightly as he continued onward as a streak of azure light, covering several hundred kilometers in the blink of an eye before drawing to a halt.
Up ahead was an enormous wall of yellow mist that extended straight up into the heavens, and there was no end to it in sight to the left or the right.
The wall of yellow mist was constantly churning, taking on all types of different forms, such as clouds and ferocious beasts.
Rays of yellow light were filtering through the mist, and one could just barely make out countless yellow array patterns shimmering within it. The wall of mist was also giving off an incredibly dense and heavy aura, making one feel as if they were standing before an immovable mountain.
Han Li flew over to the wall of mist, then attempted to release his spiritual sense into the wall, only for it to be instantly repelled upon contact.
His brows furrowed slightly as he began to inspect the wall of mist with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and momentster, the blue light in his eyes faded as well as he murmured to himself, "This is an extremely formidable restriction!"
His lightning teleportation array drew upon the power of space, so ordinary restrictions wouldn''t have been able to contain it unless the restriction was also imbued with spatial power.
Through the use of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he was able to see some of the finer details of the restriction, and he discovered that it contained ayer of dense and abundant spatial power, clearly indicating that it was a type of extremely formidable spatial restriction.
In addition to that, there were also several other types of restrictions within the wall of mist, and they werebined together using very advanced techniques.
Even for Han Li, breaking this restriction was going to take a very long time.
He took a nce at his surroundings, then released his spiritual sense with all his might, and several momentster, he withdrew his spiritual sense as his expression darkened even further.
The wall of mist was so vast that even with his formidable spiritual sense, he waspletely unable to detect where it began and where it concluded.
However, judging from what he had been able to glean thus far, he could tell that his wall of yellow mist was an enormous spherical array that epassed a huge area around the White Jade Peak.
He had passed through this ce on his way to the White Jade Peak, but this restriction definitely hadn''t been there at the time.
This must''ve been set up in advance by the Northern cial Immortal Region and those dao lords of the ze Dragon Dao.
It was clear that these people had been plotting and preparing extensively for this with the objective of preventing Baili Yan from getting away.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li swept a hand through the air, and 12 streaks of golden light shot out of his body, revealing themselves to be 12 lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood, all of which were riddled withplex lightning runes.
The 12 lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood had been arranged into an array, and as Han LI made a hand seal, all 12 lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood began to radiate dazzling golden light, following which an enormous lightning array was conjured up, within which countlessplex lightning runes were shing incessantly.
Han Li was situated inside the array, and his body began to take on a semi-transparent appearance amid a rumbling thunderp.
However, in the next instant, the lightning array suddenly began to tremble violently, and lightning was shing erratically within it in a chaotic and uncontrolled fashion.
A resounding boom rang out as the entire lightning array exploded, and Han Li stumbled out into the open.
After a brief pause, he swept a sleeve through the air to recover the 12 lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood, then cast his gaze toward the wall of yellow mist once again.
Right at this moment, a vast ck cloud suddenly appeared above his head, and countless rays of ck light shone down from the heavens, raining directly down upon him.
Han Li immediately vanished from the spot amid a sh of azure light, then reappeared tens of thousands of feet away.
The countless rays of ck light struck a mountain down below, instantly punching countless holes into it before toppling it entirely.
Han Li raised his head to look up, right as three streaks of light descended out of the sky before fading to reveal a trio of humanoid figures, led by none other than the silver-robed young man.
The two people apanying him were dressed in ck and standing slightly behind him in a respectful manner, seemingly serving as personal guards. One of them was a tall and portly man, while the other was quite short and as thin as a skeleton.
"What is the meaning of this? Your target is Baili Yan. I''m just a minor character, so surely there''s no reason for you to go out of your way toe after me," Han Li said.
As he was speaking, he swept his spiritual sense over the trio in the discreet fashion, and his heart immediately sank slightly.
The two guards dressed in ck were both at thete-True Immortal Stage, while the silver-robed young man''s exact cultivation base was undetectable to him, indicating that he had either cultivated some type of concealment secret technique, or he was a Golden Immortal.
"Well, well, well, color me impressed! Not only have you not died fromst time, you''ve be ate-True Immortal cultivator. I suppose I should congratte you," the silver-robed young man mused, disying no intention of answering Han Li''s question.
"It sounds like we''ve met somewhere before?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
The silver-robed young man seemed to have been very amused to hear this, and he erupted intoughter, while Han Li looked on with an uncertain expression.
"There''s no way he would remember what happenedst time after being struck by your Soul Destroying True Light, Young Master. It''s already a massive blessing for him that he hasn''t been reduced to a blubbering idiot!" the portly guard chuckled with a fawning smile on his face.
The silver-robed young man''sughter grew even louder upon hearing this.
All of a sudden, Daoist Xie''s voice rang out within Han Li''s mind. "Fellow Daoist Han, I remember who he is! He''s the one who severely wounded you all those years ago and sealed your Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and myself!"
Han Li''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, and he hurriedly asked through voice transmission, "Are you sure?"
"I''m certain. He possesses an array of strange abilities, and he seems to be able to seal away one''s memories. I was only able to recover some snippets of memories after fusing with this puppet, but I''m confident that this is the man who came after you all those years ago," Daoist Xie replied.
Han Li offered no response, but a cold look had appeared in his eyes.
"It looks like you''ve finally remembered something. I''ve had to spend a great deal of effort looking for you, and I certainly wasn''t expecting to find you here," the silver-robed young man said with a faint smile.
"It sounds like we''re truly tied together by fate," Han Li said in a cold voice.
"I don''t want to waste any time here. Hand over the secret behind how you''re able to produce those timew crystals and I can let you live," the silver-robed young man said.
"But I have no ns of letting you live," Han Li retorted with a shake of his head.
"It appears that my kindness is being mistaken for weakness! I''m not going to let you get away again this time."
The smile on the silver-robed young man''s face faded as he spoke, and he abruptly swept a hand through the air to release a streak of ck light.
As soon as the streak of ck light was sent flying through the air, it immediately brightened considerably before abruptly vanishing from the spot.
Han Li immediately dodged to his left while also making a hand seal, and four azure flying swords emerged from his body amid a sh of azure light.
The streak of ck light appeared beside Han Li without any warning, but it was kept at bay by one of the flying swords that was revolving around him.
A loud ng rang out as Han Li was sent flying back through the air like a cannonball, only managing to just barely steady himself after flying back for several hundred feet.
Only then did Han Li catch a clear glimpse of the streak of ck light, and it contained a small ck hammer that was around a foot in size with profound spirit patterns engraved all over its surface, giving off formidable spiritual power fluctuations.
Even though the azure flying sword had managed to ward off the hammer, it was trembling incessantly, clearly having been dealt a heavy blow.
Han Li flicked his fingers through the air, and the three other flying swords quickly shot forth to strike the ck hammer, sending it flying back amid a string of three consecutive resounding ngs.
Chapter 337: Integrated Five Extreme Mountains
Chapter 337: Integrated Five Extreme Mountains
At the same time, Han Li swept both sleeves through the air to release several dozen azure flying swords, then shot back in retreat without any hesitation.
These flying swords gathered in front of Han Li alongside the four previous flying swords. In the blink of an eye, all 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were assembled, and they immediately unleashed countless identical streaks of azure sword qi that surged toward Han Li''s three assants like a turbulent river, slicing through all of the space in their wake and presenting a formidable sight to behold.
The expressions of the two ck-robed guards changed slightly upon seeing this, while the silver-robed young man merely sneered as he withdrew the small ck hammer back up his sleeve, immediately following which a silver bell appeared in his hand, and he shook it gently to produce a crisp chime.
Immediately thereafter, waves of silver light erupted from the bell in all directions, instantly epassing a vast space up ahead.
As soon as the river of azure sword qi surged into the waves of silver light, the former immediately began to warp and twist before silently disintegrating, and the formidable stream of sword qi was nullified with ease.
Soon, only the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords remained, but they were also flying around in a chaotic and haphazard fashion, as if they had lost all sense of direction.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon seeing this, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which bright golden lightning erupted out of the scattered flying swords amid a resounding thunderp.
As a result, they were able to stabilize themselves within the waves of silver light, following which the arcs of golden lightning erupting out of all of the swords intertwined to form a strange pattern.
Immediately thereafter, all of the flying swords abruptly vanished amid a sh of golden light, then re-emerged as 72 streaks of flying swordlight amid a resounding thunderp.
Thick arcs of golden lightning sprang forth before connecting with one another to instantly form a lightning array around the trio, and all of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, so the trio didn''t have any time to react before they found themselves inside the lightning array.
A burst of formidable restrictive force spread through the array, and the trio immediately felt as if they had been plunged into a swamp, and their immortal spiritual power cirction had also be rather sluggish.
The two ck-robed guards were very rmed, and they immediately conjured up protective light barriers as they attempted to break free from the lightning array, while the silver-robed young man remainedpletely still as his gaze roamed over the surrounding Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
In the next instant, the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords began to release dazzling radiance as streaks of sword qi that were several times thicker and brighter than before swept toward the trio amid a wave of golden lightning.
"Young Master!" the pair of ck-robed guards yelled urgently in unison at the sight of the oing barrage of sword qi and lightning.
The silver-robed young man gave a cold harrumph, seeminglypletely unaffected by the restrictive effects of the lightning array, then swept a hand through the air to send an incantation seal flying into the bell that he was holding. After that, he shook the bell vigorously, and waves of silver light that were several times denser than before emerged before sweeping through the surrounding area, opening up a silver space that was several hundred feet in size.
The pair of ck-robed guard''s immediately regained their mobility, and their immortal spiritual power was able to circte as normal again as well, but at this point, the barrage of sword qi was already no more than 100 feet away.
Right at this moment, the silver-robed young man opened his mouth to release a burst of gray light, which then began to revolve above their heads, releasing a vast expanse of gray light that enveloped all three of them.
In the next instant, the formidable wave of sword qi and golden lightning arrived, forming an enormous ball of azure light that instantly inundated the trio.
Within the ball of light, streaks of sword and arcs of golden lightning were surging through the air in a frenzy, and everything down below was torn to shreds.
Han Li was hovering in mid-air several thousand feet away from the ball of azure light, holding an Immortal Origin Stone that he was using to quickly replenish his immortal spiritual power.
All of a sudden, he raised an eyebrow, and a faint crack rang out from a certain part of the ball of azure light.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of gray light tore through the azure sword qi and golden lightning, seeminglypletely unaffected, and it erupted out into the open before fading to reveal the silver-robed young man and his two personal guards.
A small gray mountain was hovering above them while revolving incessantly, releasing ayer of dense gray light that enveloped all three of them.
The pair of ck-robed guards were looking a little disheveled, but the silver-robed young man waspletely unscathed, and even his robes hadn''t been damaged in the slightest.
Meanwhile, Han Li cast his gaze toward the small gray mountain as aplex look appeared in his eyes.
Even though it was a little different from how it had previously looked, he was still able to identify it as one of the treasures that he had lost, the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain.
"This Acquired Immortal Treasure of yours was not bad, but the refinement method used was far too crude, and the five extreme mountains weren''t sufficiently pure, either. I had to expend a great deal of time and effort to refine it to this extent, and it''s actually the first time that I''m using it in battle. Let''s have you, its former owner, get a taste of its power," the silver-robed young man said in a casual voice as he raised a hand, and the gray mountain instantly swelled drastically in size.
At the same time, the countless profound spirit patterns engraved upon its surface released ayer of gray light as it crashed heavily down upon the ball of azure light below.
Even before the two made contact, the formidable pressure released by the giant mountain was already causing the ball of azure light to ripple and quiver.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he made a hand seal, and he quickly made a hand seal, upon which countless streaks of sword qi immediately converged inward from the surface of the ball of azure light, transforming it into an azure sword lotus flower with thick arcs of lightning shing over its surface in the blink of an eye.
The azure sword lotus flower spun around on the spot while radiating dazzling azure light, releasing countless streaks of azure swordlight toward the giant gray mountain.
However, at the same time, a burst of gray light swept forth from the underside of the mountain to meet the azure sword lotus flower.
The arcs of golden lightning shing over the sword lotus flower vanished without a trace within the gray light, following which the sword lotus flower itself crumbled away, reverting back into 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and the spirit patterns on the surfaces of the swords were shing erratically.
Han Li''s brows furrowed even more tightly upon seeing this.
He was naturally aware of the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain''s ability to suppress the power of lightning, but the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had absorbed an enormous amount of sword essence and been smelted using a whole host of precious materials, thereby significantly enhancing their power, so he didn''t think that it would be so severely affected by the gray light.
It seemed that the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain had also be far more formidable after being refined by the silver-robed young man.
Even as these thoughts were shing through his mind, Han Li continued to cycle through a series of hand seals, and azure light erupted from the surfaces of the 72 flying swords once again.
At the same time, they released countless azure threads that cleared open an area within the gray light, and before the gray light had a chance to recover, all of the flying swords instantly flew back toward Han Li.
"You sure have quite a few good treasures on you! This set of flying swords is not bad at all. I wanted to take themst time, but I suppose it''s still not toote," the silver-robed young man said with a faint smile as he made a hand seal.
All of the runes on the surface of the gray mountain lit up, and waves of gray light that were even denser than before surged forth before spreading downward, immediately enveloping the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which still hadn''t had a chance to get very far away.
The spiritual light glowing from all of the flying swords was shing and quivering incessantly, and they were like fish trapped in a.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly switched to a different hand seal, but this time, no matter what he tried, the 72 flying swords were unable to break free.
Meanwhile, the silver-robed young man opened his mouth to release a burst of ck light, which vanished into the gray mountain in a sh.
The waves of gray light being released by the mountain instantly transformed into countless gray runes, which then turned into countless thin gray threads that wrapped themselves around the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, instantly forming a series of gray cocoons.
The struggles of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords gradually grew weaker and weaker, while the gray light around them stabilized once again.
The silver-robed young man then opened his mouth a second time to produce a slightly viscous-looking ball of ck light, within which countless ck runes were shing, giving off a burst of peculiarw fluctuations.
The ball of light then split apart into 72 streaks of ck light, each of which fused into an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in the blink of an eye.
The sword qi and lightning being released by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords werepletely unable to keep the ck light at bay, and the spiritual light radiating from them instantly took on a slightly ck coloration.
Han Li knew that in order to recover his swords, he would have to directly attack the silver-robed young man, so that was exactly what he did.
The silver-robed young man turned to the oing Han Li, only for the portly guard beside him to hurriedly interject, "There''s no need for you to personally deal with a merete-True Immortal cultivator, Young Master. Just leave him to us while you focus on subduing that set of flying swords."
They had just been severely humiliated by Han Li''s earlier attack, and if they couldn''t prove their usefulness to the silver-robed young man, then they were going to be in a very perilous position.
The thin ck-robed guard also immediately nodded in agreement.
"Alright, in that case, I''ll leave him to you, but don''t kill him. I still have some things that I need to find out from him," the silver-robed young man replied with a nod.
The pair of ck-robed guards were ecstatic, and they immediately flew toward Han Li.
Dazzling starlight appeared over the portly guard''s body, and his belly abruptly swelled to three times its original size, giving him the appearance of a fat toad.
Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release a vast expanse of bright starlight, which swept toward Han Li like a resplendent wave.
Interspersed throughout the wave of starlight were countless glowing grains of sand that were rumbling like lightning, as if they could explode at any moment.
Meanwhile, the thin guard made a rapid string of hand seals, and balls of ck mes rose up over his body. Skull projections then emerged within the balls of fire, and they were cackling in a sinister voice as the ck fireballs shot forth toward Han Li at the thin guard''s behest, transforming into countless harrowing ghostly heads as they flew through the air.
The collective cackling of the ghostly heads was like a wave of countless steel needles threatening to surge into the listener''s mind.
Chapter 338: Might of the Treasured Axis
Chapter 338: Might of the Treasured Axis
In the face of the pair of oing guards, Han Li disyed no intention to take evasive measures. Instead, bright golden light emerged over his entire body as he flew directly toward the horde of ghostly heads.
The portly guard let loose a loud roar as he swept his sleeves through the air, and all of the starry sand converged toward Han Li before exploding violently into huge balls of lightning that inundated the entire sky, presenting a formidable sight to behold.
At the same time, the thin guard pointed a finger in Han Li''s direction, and all of the ghostly heads in the sky abruptly swelled drastically in size before opening their mouths to send bursts of ck light hurtling directly toward Han Li.
The ck light didn''t appear to have been all that remarkable, but they were giving off an extremely corrosive aura, and the space in their wake was rippling incessantly, as if the streaks of light were capable of corroding the very air itself.
The golden light radiating from Han Li''s body brightened, and he suddenly transformed into a golden blur, elerating drastically as he flew directly into the oing attacks.
Not only had he be extraordinarily fast, he was also disying immacte bodily control, weaving back and forth through the lightning and ck light, and he was always able to just barely squeeze through right before his body was inundated by the oing attacks.
This was all thanks to his Reversal True Axis ability, and the pair of guards hurriedly released their spiritual sense in an attempt to track down Han Li''s location, but they werepletely unable to keep up with his speed, and it was often the case that as soon as they spotted Han Li, he would already be gone.
The surrounding lightning and ck light were all extremely fast and formidable attacks, but he was making them appear downright slow and sluggish, and the pair of guards were astonished to see this.
Before they had a chance to do anything, Han Li had already passed through the vast expanse of lightning and ck light, then appeared no more than 1,000 feet in front of them in a wraith-like manner.
At this point, the dazzling golden light radiating from his body had already faded, and only now did the pair of guards manage to react, flying back in retreat with astonishment in their eyes.
However, aste-True Immortal cultivators, they possessed a vast wealth of battle experience, and they immediately devised strategies to counteract Han Li.
The portly guard opened his mouth to release a pair of triangr shields that revolved around him briefly before transforming into a thick light barrier, and at the same time, all of the starlight in the sky transformed into countless starlight rings that swept toward Han Li.
Meanwhile, the thin guard was chanting an incantation, and a string of loud cracks were ringing out from within his body as he rapidly swelled in size while his skin and flesh quickly peeled away, turning him into a massive ck skeleton that was over 100 feet tall in the blink of an eye.
The ck skeleton was giving off an enormous aura that was close to twice as formidable as before, and red light was shing within its eye sockets as it spread open its huge hands.
Its fingers resembled giant ck swords with ck mes surging around them, and it reached out to make a grab for Han Li''s head.
It was clear from their immacte teamwork that these two had been fighting alongside one another for a long time, and weren''t giving Han Li any opportunity to strike.
However, right at this moment, dazzling golden light erupted out of Han Li''s body again, and a golden wheel appeared behind him before rapidly revolving on the spot.
Ayer of golden ripples then surged forth from his body, instantly epassing the entire surrounding area in a radius of around 10,000 feet.
The two guards were also caught within the golden ripples, and their movements immediately became very slow and sluggish.
Additionally, the starlight rings that were falling out of the sky had alsoe to aplete standstill, as if they had been frozen in ce.
In truth, it wasn''t entirely urate to say that they had beenpletely stopped in their tracks. Instead, they had actually been slowed down to an extreme extent, to the point that it looked no different froming to aplete stop.
He''s using thews of time!
The silver-robed young man''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately flew toward the pair of ck-robed guards, leaving the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords behind as he did so.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already transformed into a giant golden ape that was over 1,000 feet tall, and there were silver patterns all over his massive fists as he swung them viciously at the pair of guards.
In response, the two guards remainedpletely still, as if they were oblivious to the oing attack.
The light barrier around the portly guard''s body waspletely pulverized by a burst of tremendous force, and the giant fist wasn''t slowed down in the slightest as it crashed into his body.
At the same time, the other fist struck the ck skeleton that the thin guard had transformed into, and right after the two guards were struck by Han Li''s fists, all of the golden ripples in the air receded as the flow of time reverted back to its original speed.
The portly guard''s body instantly exploded into countless scraps of mangled flesh, while the ck skeleton was also shattered into countless bone shards.
Their two souls had also been restricted by the Mantra Treasured Axis, rendering thempletely unable to react, so they were also destroyed alongside their bodies.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and the silver-robed young man had only just arrived in the sky above the giant ape with a furious look on his face.
Never had he imagined that Han Li would be able to y a pair ofte-True Immortal cultivators in such devastating fashion in such a brief span of time.
The silver-robed young man swept a hand through the air, and a streak of ck light flew toward him, containing a ck sword that was simr in shape to a beastly fang. The sword was riddled with countless ck runes that were giving offw fluctuations, and it swelled to around 1,000 feet in size in the blink of an eye, following which a ck wyrm projection appeared around it as it shed down upon the giant ape.
All of a sudden, the Mantra Treasured Axis behind the giant ape began to spin in reverse before vanishing into its body in a sh.
In the next instant, the giant ape abruptly vanished from the spot, and the huge ck sword struck nothing but empty air.
A trail of golden afterimages appeared in the air as the giant ape flew toward the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain in the distance at an incredible speed.
The silver-robed young man''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly flew back as quickly as he could, but he was still far from being able to match the golden ape''s speed.
By the time the giant ape arrived in front of the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain, the silver-robed young man was only halfway there.
The golden ape immediately opened its mouth to release a ball of blood essence, which was instantly ignited into a burst of crimson mes with countless crimson runes dancing within it as it hurtled toward the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The streak of crimson fire was able to pass through the gray light and gray cocoons without any inhibition before vanishing into the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which immediately began to glow with bright azure light again.
At the same time, they were able to tear through the gray cocoons around them, but it seemed that they still weren''t going to be able to break free from the gray light anytime soon.
The silver-robed young man was furious to see this, and he was just about to make a hand seal when the giant ape suddenly turned around with bright golden light radiating from its fists, and its arms shed through the air in a blur as it unleashed a barrage of countless fist projections.
The barrage of golden fist projections swept toward the silver-robed young man with tremendous force, and even before they descended upon him, a burst of tremendous force had already epassed the entire space within a radius of about half a kilometer around him, causing him to slow down involuntarily.
The silver-robed young man was unable to evade the attack, so he could only sweep a sleeve through the air to release a ck shield, which transformed into a ck light barrier in front of him.
Countless fist projections crashed into the ck light barrier one after another before exploding violently, but the light barrier remainedpletely unmoved.
However, the silver-robed young man was also temporarily kept at bay.
Golden light shed over the giant ape''s entire body, and a second pair of arms abruptly emerged from its ribs amid a sh of golden light before quickly making a hand seal.
The 72 flying swords glowed even brighter as they fused as one to form a single giant azure sword with thick arcs of golden lightning shing over its surface amid rumbling thunderps.
The giant azure sword began to shudder violently, then transformed into a streak of azure swordlight that was over 1,000 feet in length before shing viciously against the surrounding gray light.
A peerlessly sharp aura erupted out of the streak of azure swordlight, causing all of the space in its wake to twist and warp incessantly.
A gash was finally torn into the surrounding gray light, and the streak of azure swordlight instantly shot out from within before returning to the giant ape''s side, where it reverted back into a giant azure sword.
Immediately thereafter, the giant ape''s body blurred, and it vanished from the spot along with the giant sword.
In the next instant, Han Li re-emerged over 10,000 feet away with arcs of lightning shing over his entire body, and the giant azure sword was also present beside him, but it had shrunk down to no more than 10 feet in length.
Han Li opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence into the azure sword, and it immediately began to glow a shade of azure that was so bright that its radiance rivaled that of the sun.
The remaining ck coloration on the sword was instantly erased, and it let loose an ted ringing sound.
Meanwhile, the silver-robed young man remained still on the spot, watching Han Li with a dark expression as he made a beckoning motion to draw the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain back to himself.
The two stood in mid-air while looking back at one another, and neither of them was in any hurry to attack.
A short whileter, the silver-robed young man broke the silence. "Looks like I really did underestimate you."
Han Li paid no heed to him as he began to make a rapid string of hand seals.
The giant azure sword beside him split back up into 72 small swords, then circled around him momentarily before transforming into an azure sword array beneath him.
"I was going to take my time and y around with you a little, but it seems like you''re more of a pain to deal with than I expected. In that case, I''ll just crush you now, then slowly torture your soul," the silver-robed harrumphed coldly.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of ck light, which transformed into a ck inkstone treasure.
The inkstone was very antiquated in appearance, and as soon as it appeared, countless tiny golden runes immediately surged out of it in a frenzy.
At the same time, it was giving off a burst of peculiarw fluctuations.
The silver-robed young man''s aura also began to swell, and the enormous spiritual pressure that was emanating from his body was causing the nearby space to warp and shudder.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this.
The silver-robed young man was finally disying his full cultivation base, and just as Han Li anticipated, he was a Golden Immortal cultivator.
However, his aura was still far inferior to the likes of Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni, and it was rather unstable, indicating that he had only recently progressed to the Golden Immortal Stage and hadn''t had a chance to consolidate his cultivation base yet.
Even so, he was still a Golden Immortal cultivator, which was iparable rtive to ate-True Immortal cultivator.
Chapter 339: Giant Eye
Chapter 339: Giant Eye
The silver-robed young man began to chant an incantation, and a dense stream of runes surged out of his mouth, then swept toward the ck inkstone hovering in the air in front of him before vanishing into it in a sh.
The inkstone immediately began to swell drastically, quickly expanding to over 100 feet in size, and all of the scenery and creatures engraved on its surface took on an extremely life-like quality.
For some reason, a hint of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this.
The silver-robed young man switched to a different hand seal before flicking his fingers consecutively through the air, and the giant ck inkstone began to revolve on the spot while releasing a vast expanse of ck qi that resembled a puddle of ck ink that was swirling around in the air above the inkstone.
The ck qi quickly formed a dark cloud that was around 1,000 feet in size, and it epassed both the silver-robed young man and the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain while continuing to rapidly expand.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which his eyes narrowed slightly as he shot back in retreat without any hesitation while sweeping his spiritual sense through the surrounding area.
However, as soon as his spiritual sense entered the dark cloud, he discovered that it was like a vast expanse of nothingness that he couldn''t detect anything from.
Upon making this observation, he immediately raised a hand before pointing a finger forward, and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords around him immediately began to glow brightly before quickly forming an azure sword lotus flower around him.
The lotus flower began to rapidly revolve while releasing countless streaks of azure sword qi, which swept toward the ck cloud with tremendous might.
Countless streaks of sword qi tore through the ck cloud as balls of azure and golden lightning exploded incessantly, tearing countless holes through the cloud and threatening to scatter it altogether.
However, the ck cloud was still constantly expanding, and the holes that had been torn into its surface were quickly filled again, leaving the cloudpletely unscathed.
It seemed that the formidable storm of sword qi hadn''t affected the ck cloud at all, and it was as if the silver-robed young man inside had vanished into thin air.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he was just about to do something else when the ck cloud finally ceased in its expansion.
It then began to churn violently while releasing countless ck runes that converged toward the center, forming a ck ball the size of a house in the blink of an eye.
Han Li observed the scene unfolding before him for a moment, then swept a hand through the air, and the azure sword lotus flower in front of him swelled in size while its petals formed several azure light barriers before him.
All of a sudden, the ck ball shuddered, and a red line suddenly appeared on its surface before splitting apart in either direction to reveal a massive vertical eye.
The eye was a pristine white color with an inky ck pupil, and it appeared to have been no different from an ordinary eye, but it was giving off a peculiar aura, and as soon as its gaze turned to settle upon Han Li, the sense of foreboding in his heart instantly becamepounded even further.
He reflexively rushed away to the side, not willing to be under the direct scrutiny of the giant eye, but the eye was able to track his movements, and its gaze remained firmly fixed upon him.
Han Li was quite rmed to see this, and azure light emerged over his body alongside arcs of golden lightning as he rapidly flew through the air while constantly changing directions, yet no matter what he did, the giant eye continued to track him without fail.
Furthermore, white light was beginning to gather at the center of the eye''s pupil, and it seemed to have been preparing something.
All of a sudden, Han Li harrumphed coldly as he withdrew the azure sword lotus flower in front of him, then flew directly toward the ck cloud above the giant eye as a streak of azure light, plunging into the cloud in the blink of an eye.
As soon as he plunged into the dark cloud, Han Li immediately felt his surroundings go dark. He swept a sleeve through the air to release arge body of ck liquid, and it was none other than the heavy water that he had umted over the past years.
The heavy water circled around him once, instantly forming a massive ck spherical barrier that epassed the entire space within a radius of 100 feet around him to keep the ck mist at bay.
After doing all of that, he swept his gaze across his surroundings with blue light shing in his eyes, but all he could see wereyers uponyers of dark clouds, and even with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, visibility was limited to no more than 1,000 feet.
Furthermore, his spiritual sense remained severely restricted, and he was barely able to release it out of his body at all.
His brows furrowed slightly as he slowly flew forward with the heavy water barrier around him, and as he did so, he was doing everything in his power to find the silver-robed young man.
However, even after flying for a long while, his surroundings were still filled with nothing but dark clouds.
Furthermore, the cloud didn''t appear to have been all that big from the outside, but after entering it, he felt as if he had entered a boundless independent space.
Momentster, Han Li drew to a halt, then inspected his surroundings momentarily before abruptly sweeping a hand forward through the air.
A dull thump rang out as a thick streak of azure sword qi that was over 1,000 feet in length shot forth before plunging into the ck cloud up ahead, instantly piercing through it to open up a passageway that was several thousand feet long.
However, in the next instant, the surrounding ck clouds quickly converged from all sides, and the hole was instantly filled again.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he swept a sleeve through the air, and the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were released once again before fusing as one into a single giant azure sword that was several thousand feet in length.
The sword was giving off radiant azure light and incredibly thick arcs of golden lightning, and it was so bright that it was blinding to look at.
Arge area was instantly torn into the nearby dark cloud, and Han Li made a hand seal, upon which the giant sword beside him began to glow even more radiantly as it shed viciously through the space up ahead.
The ck cloud up ahead churned violently as a massive gash was sliced into it, and the sword strike was so formidable that it had almost sliced the entire ck cloud into two.
The entire space that Han Li was situated in began to tremble violently, yet aside from that, there was no other change, and a few momentster, everything reverted back to its original state, as if that sword strike had never been unleashed at all.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, but right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out.
"I didn''t think you would rush in here. That''se as quite a surprise, but don''t think that this will allow you to avoid my Soul Destroying True Light."
The voice belonged to none other than the silver-robed young man, and as soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of dazzling white light abruptly appeared in the ck cloud up ahead before hurtling rapidly toward Han Li.
Han Li remained still on the spot as the giant azure sword in front of him split up into 72 small swords once again, then came together to form an azure sword lotus flower that began to revolve above his head.
At the same time, the surface of the heavy water protective barrier around him also began to sh and ripple incessantly.
In the blink of an eye, the burst of white light reached no more than several thousand feet away from Han Li before drawing to a halt, revealing itself to have been the same ck inkstone from before, except it had be semi-transparent.
The silver-robed young man stood behind the inkstone with his hands sped behind his back and a cold smile on his face.
"I thought you were too much of a coward toe out," Han Li said with a cold smile as he took a nce at the huge inkstone.
A hint of fury shed through the silver-robed young man''s face upon hearing this, and he harrumphed in a cold voice, "If you''re so eager to die, then let me grant you your wish!"
The giant inkstone began to revolve on the spot while giving off rays of dazzling light that were as bright as the sun.
Countless white runes emerged, giving off extremely formidablew fluctuations, and a projection of a giant eye appeared before casting its gaze toward Han Li, just like what had happened outside the ck cloud.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately dodged to the side.
However, right at this moment, the ck cloud above him suddenly began to churn before abruptly splitting apart, and the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain emerged without any warning.
Countless gray runes were swirling around the mountain, giving off dazzling gray light.
A thick pir of gray light abruptly came crashing down from the heavens, forming a massive gray space that enveloped Han Li''s entire body in the blink of an eye.
Enshrouded within the gray light, the spiritual light emanating from the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately dimmed.
Han Li also felt an immense constrictive force around his body, locking him firmly in ce and preventing him from moving.
He let loose a low roar, and bright azure light erupted from his body as he struggled with all his might, but the gray light remainedpletely resolute, and there was some type ofw power surging within it, preventing him from breaking free.
Right at this moment, the giant inkstone up ahead revolved on the spot, following which a thick pir of white light shot out of the huge eye, hurtling directly toward Han Li.
Even before the pir of white light arrived, Han Li was struck by a burst of sharp pain directly in his soul, and he felt as if many of his memories were about to be extracted.
Thankfully, his enormous spiritual sense was activated on its own, and the disturbance in his soul was quickly quelled.
Even so, he was still quite rmed by this turn of events, and the heavy water barrier around him immediately converged to form a wall of heavy water in front of him at his behest, shielding him from the white light.
However, the white light was able to easily pass through the wall of heavy water, and it waspletely unobstructed.
In this dire situation, Han Li immediately opened his mouth to release his Heavy Water True Axis, which began to rapidly revolve while drastically expanding in size.
A vast expanse of watery light that was interspersed with countless ck runes emerged from the axis to form a barrier in front of him, and the Heavy Water True Axis was able to keep the white light at bay.
However, the white light was able to quickly seep through the watery light barrier released by the Heavy Water True Axis, passing through it after just a few seconds.
However, with this brief window of respite, Han Li was able to catch his breath, and he began to chant an incantation.
Bright golden light radiated from his body as his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him before releasing a vast expanse of golden ripples that gave off formidable timew fluctuations swept forth in all directions.
Perhaps it was due to the surrounding ck cloud, but the golden ripples weren''t able to spread any further than 1,000 feet.
In the next instant, the pir of white light entered the area epassed within the golden ripples, and it immediately came to an abrupt halt.
However, if one were to look closely, they would discover that the pir of white light was still approaching Han Li, except it had been slowed down by an extreme degree.
The silver-robed young man''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he gave a cold harrumph before beginning to chant an incantation while casting several incantation seals at the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain from afar.
All of the countless runes on the surface of the mountain instantly lit up, and the gray light that it was radiating brightened significantly, while countless gray runes surged forth before fusing into the gray area down below.
The gray space was instantly significantly bolstered, thereby further amplifying the restrictive force acting upon Han Li''s body.
A series of gray ripples appeared, giving off incredibly formidablew powers topress against the golden ripples around Han Li, and the two opposing forces shed together like powerful waves.
The golden ripples shuddered momentarily before shrinking even further, and the pir of white light was able to draw closer and closer to Han Li again.
Chapter 340: Luring in the Enemy
Chapter 340: Luring in the Enemy
900 feet...
800 feet...
700 feet...
Under the pressure exerted by the gray light emanating from the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain, the golden ripples being released by the Mantra Treasured Axis were constantly beingpressed, while the pir of white light began to steadily elerate.
At this rate, it wasn''t going to take much longer before the pir of white light broke through the shackles of time to reach Han Li.
Large droplets of sweat began to bead up on Han Li''s forehead, and he could clearly sense the sharp pain in his soul being exacerbated as the white light approached him.
His expression had darkened significantly, and he was constantly injecting more immortal spiritual power into his Mantra Treasured Axis, but that was only slightly slowing down the rate at which the golden ripples were beingpressed.
A pleased look appeared in the silver-robed young man''s eyes upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to release a ball of ck light, within which countless ck runes were dancing incessantly.
He quickly made a hand seal, and the ball of ck light split up into two parts, one of which fused into the giant inkstone, while the other vanished into the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain.
The inkstone and the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain immediately began to glow even brighter, while the gray space around Han Li had virtually taken on a substantial form.
Countless waves of gray ripples were surging forth incessantly to furtherpress the golden ripples around Han Li, forcing it down to a radius of less than 500 feet.
The pir of white light grew even brighter, and countless white runes were dancing around within it. It seemed as if it were about to break free from the golden ripples, and the golden ripples immediately around it were illuminated white as the pir of white light continued to close in on Han Li at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye.
Han Li''splexion began to pale, and despite his best efforts, the golden ripples around him were constantly being shrunk down by the surrounding gray light.
At this point, the pir of white light was already no more than 200 feet away from him.
The silver-robed young man could already taste his imminent victory, and he made a hand seal once again, upon which another burst of ck light emerged from his body.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out behind him, and a golden crab pincer projection the size of a house emerged. The projection was enveloped in countless arcs of golden lightning and giving off formidablew power fluctuations as it hurtled toward the silver-robed young man at an incredible speed.
The silver-robed young man''s expression changed drastically as he hurriedly switched to a different hand seal, and a suit of armor instantly appeared over his body amid a sh of ck light.
The suit of armor was of a purplish-ck color, and its helmet had been crafted in the shape of a dragon''s head, while several spikes could be seen on the knee and shoulder joints. The entire suit of armor was also riddled with ck patterns and giving off immense baleful qi.
The golden crab pincer struck the suit of purplish-ck armor with an earth-shattering boom, and the silver-robed young man was sent flying, while a series of shallow cracks had also appeared on the surface of the suit of armor.
Even with the suit of armor acting as a buffer, a burst of tremendous force was still transferred into the silver-robed young man''s body, churning up his internal organs and causing him to throw up a mouthful of blood.
After he was sent flying, the giant inkstone lost its source of immortal spiritual power, and it finally fizzled out no more than 100 feet away from Han Li.
The Integrated Five Extremes Mountain was still hovering above Han Li''s head, but the gray light that it was projecting downward had also be rather unstable.
The gray space around Han Li also rippled slightly, and the restrictive force that it was exerting was significantly diminished.
He immediately pounced on this opportunity, releasing several balls of light out of his body that transformed into a series of true spirit projections.
The projections circled around him momentarily before vanishing into his body, and ayer of purplish-golden light surfaced over his skin as his body swelled drastically, transforming into a purplish-golden giant with three heads and six arms.
At the same time, countless golden scales and silver spirit patterns appeared over his skin, and seven specks of dazzling starlight also emerged on his lower abdomen.
An enormous aura then erupted out of his body, causing the surrounding gray space to shudder violently.
The purplish-golden giant made a grabbing motion with one hand, and a huge azure sword appeared in its grasp before being swung down viciously.
An enormous crescent-shaped streak of azure swordlight swept through the air with thick arcs of golden lightning surging around it before crashing into the gray light barrier.
A resounding crack rang out, and this time, a gash was torn into the gray space, revealing the outside world.
The purplish-golden giant immediately flew out through that opening at an incredible speed, following which a vertical ck split open on his be.
A pir of translucent light shot out of the vertical eye, then transformed into an indistinct sword that vanished without a trace in a sh.
In the next instant, the sword appeared behind the silver-robed young man''s head without any warning before plunging directly forward.
Even though the silver-robed young man had been injured by the previous blow, his reactions remained quite sharp, and he hurriedly swept a hand through the air to conjure up a ck palm projection that grabbed toward the translucent sword.
However, in the instant that the ck palm projection closed itself around the sword, thetter abruptly vanished.
The silver-robed young man faltered slightly upon seeing this, and before he had a chance to figure out what had happened, the translucent sword reappeared in his mind before shing viciously down upon his soul.
"Argh!"
The silver-robed young man let loose a bloodcurdling howl as he threw his hands onto his own head.
Right at this moment, Daoist Xie appeared beside the silver-robed young man before spreading its hands open, and a pair of enormous balls of golden lightning appeared before it, both of which were as massive as mountains.
Thick arcs of golden lightning were shing incessantly over their surfaces, presenting a formidable sight to behold.
Furthermore, the balls of lightning were releasing countless golden lightning runes, each of which was the size of a table and giving off fiercew fluctuations.
Daoist Xie then joined its palms together, and the two massive balls of lightning fused as one before transforming into a gargantuan golden lightning sword amid a rumbling thunderp.
Golden halos were proliferating in all directions from the giant sword, and all of the surrounding ck mist was instantly scattered.
The entire surrounding space in a radius of several dozen kilometers began to buzz audibly, and countless five-colored balls of light formed by the world''s origin qi emerged before converging toward the giant sword in a frenzy.
Five-colored light was also surging over the surface of the giant lightning sword, causing the nearby space to ripple and quiver.
All of a sudden, the entirety of heaven and earth had taken on apletely differentplexion, and before the silver-robed young man had a chance to react, the giant sword had already crashed down upon him.
Countless cracks appeared on his suit of purplish-ck armor before it exploded amid a resounding boom, and his body was also inundated by a vast expanse of lightning before exploding into countless pieces.
Nearby, Han Li had already reverted back to his original form, and he heaved a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this.
Right at this moment, a tiny burst of ck light emerged from the silver-robed young man''s torn up remains, and it immediately vanished into thin air.
Blue light shed within Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and a beam of ck light shot out of the vertical eye on his be, striking a certain spot in the air in a sh before vanishing into it.
A dull thump rang out as that patch of space shuddered, following which a vast expanse of ck light emerged, and a tiny ck figure that was only several inches tall stumbled out into the open.
This was none other than the silver-robed young man''s nascent soul, and even though it had been forcibly revealed by Han Li''s Law Destruction Eye, it hadn''t sustained any injuries. However, there was a furious look on its face, and it was just about to make a hand seal when a burst of spatial fluctuations erupted out of the nearby area, following which a translucent chain shot out before wrapping itself around the nascent soul like lightning.
The entire chain was giving off translucent silver light and it had a rather insubstantial appearance.
An rmed look appeared on the nascent soul''s face, and it struggled with all its might to break free, but the chain remained as resolute as ever.
In the next instant, Han Li and Daoist Xie appeared right beside the nascent soul, and thetter was holding a pair of treasures in its hands, namely the ck inkstone and the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain.
Without the support of the silver-robed young man''s immortal spiritual power, Daoist Xie was able to seize these two treasures with ease.
The nascent soul seemed to know that it wouldn''t have been able to escape no matter what, and it took a nce at Han Li before turning its gaze to Daoist Xie.
"I didn''t think that you would have such a trump card up your sleeve. And this chain, if I''m not mistaken this is a spiritual sense chain, so you must''ve cultivated some type of forbidden technique, right?" the nascent soul asked in a calm voice.
Han Li paid no heed to the nascent soul as he swept a hand through the air to release a burst of azure light, which swept downward before retrieving a pair of storage treasures, the very same ones that the pair of ck-robed guards had been carrying.
After that, he released a burst of crimson mes to sweep up silver-robed young man''s remains, and after his body had beenpletely incinerated, the crimson mes surged back, carrying a ck ring with it.
Han Li stowed these items away in an unhurried manner, then turned to nascent soul as he asked, "Who are you and why have you repeatedlye after me? If you give me a satisfactory answer, I can grant you a quick and painless death."
"If you''re going to kill me, then do it! I''m not going to answer any of your questions!" the nascent soul replied with a cold smile.
Han Li didn''t say anything further as he reached out with one hand to grab onto the nascent soul''s head, and a burst of ck light erupted out of his hand, enveloping the nascent soul before attempting to infiltrate its body.
The nascent soul''s face instantly became twisted with pain, but a mocking sneer appeared in its eyes as it spat through gritted teeth, "To think that a mere True Immortal like you would attempt to search a Golden Immortal''s soul. What a joke!"
Han Li paid no heed to the nascent soul''s mockery as he continued to unleash his soul search technique with all his might.
Waves of ck light surged out of the palm of his hand to envelop the nascent soul, but sure enough, his efforts proved to be futile.
"It''s no use, Fellow Daoist Han. There is an evolution in one''s nascent soul from the True Immortal Stage to the Golden Immortal Stage, so there''s no way you''ll be able to search his soul. As for me, I''m just a puppet, so I can''t use any soul search technique, either," Daoist Xie said.
Han Li slowly released the nascent soul upon hearing this.
The nascent soul heaved a sigh of relief, following which a cold sneer appeared on its face as he said, "If you dare to kill me, then Xiao Jinhan will hunt you down no matter where you go! If you let me go, I can swear a soul vow to settle our differences, and on top of that, I can give you somepensation as well."
Chapter 341: Nascent Soul Refinement
Chapter 341: Nascent Soul Refinement
"I don''t recall ever saying that I n to let you live," Han Li said in an indifferent voice.
Before the nascent soul had a chance to reply, Han Li opened his mouth to release a burst of silver fire, which instantly enveloped the nascent soul, and it was none other than Han Li''s me of Essence.
The nascent soul immediately began to howl in agony within the silver mes, but not only was it not disying any sign of being incinerated, it was no exaggeration to say that its aura hadn''t even abated in the slightest.
In a very umon turn of events, it seemed that the me of Essence waspletely ineffective on the nascent soul.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and the silver mes immediately began to swirl around the nascent soul as a tiny fiery vortex at his behest, giving off heat that was several times more intense than before.
"Han Li! The Heavenly Court won''t let you get away with this!" the nascent soul howled, and it had taken on a slightly transparent quality within the fiery vortex.
However, the me of Essence was unable to affect the nascent soul any further beyond that.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li flicked a finger through the air, releasing a streak of azure sword qi that struck the nascent soul in a sh.
A loud thump rang out as the streak of sword qi exploded, and a faint mark appeared on the nascent soul from its head to its abdomen, but the mark quickly vanished without a trace.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
"Fellow Daoist Han, the nascent souls of Golden Immortal cultivators are extremely resolute and are fundamentally different from True Immortal Stage nascent souls. At this rate, it''s going to take at least several years for you topletely destroy it. This battle hasn''t gone on for very long, but there''s no guarantee that the people at the White Jade Peak haven''t noticed his absence," Daoist Xie said.
"What do you suggest I do with this nascent soul then, Brother Xie? If I just let it go free, there will be no end to the troubles toe," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls are quite difficult to destroy, but only for a True Immortal. With my current Golden Immortal Stage power, I can destroy this nascent soul for you, as long as you''re willing to spend the required Immortal Origin Stones," Daoist Xie replied.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up slightly upon hearing this. "Go ahead, Brother Xie, I''m willing to spend the Immortal Origin Stones."
Daoist Xie nodded in response, then opened his mouth to release a vast expanse of golden lightning, which intertwined briefly in the air to form a dense of lightning that ensnared the nascent soul.
Arcs of lightning were shing incessantly over the surface of the lightning, and it was giving off an astonishingly formidable aura, forming a golden and silver ball of light as it intertwined with the me of Essence.
The sound of crackling rang out incessantly as the nascent soul began to spasm violently, and it was bing transparent at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
Around 15 minutester, Daoist Xie made a hand seal, and all of the arcs of golden lightning faded to reveal a nascent soul that was enveloped in silver mes.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but then unfurrowed just as quickly.
The body of the nascent soul still remained, but it had already turnedpletely transparent with only faint traces of golden light left on its surface. Its eyes werepletely lifeless, and the spiritual fluctuations that it was giving off were extremely feeble, so it was clear that the spiritual power within it had already beenpletely destroyed, leaving nothing more than an empty husk behind.
"Why didn''t you destroy this nascent soul altogether, Brother Xie? Surely you still have some Immortal Origin Stones leftover from the 500 that I gave you," Han Li asked.
"I have no intention of saving Immortal Origin Stones for you, it''s just that I suddenly recalled that Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls are a primary ingredient for refining a pill known as the Golden Soul Pill, so it would be a waste to destroy it. At this point, even if there had been any restrictions nted in the nascent soul, they would''ve already beenpletely refined, so you don''t have to worry about keeping it by your side," Daoist Xie exined.
"What does this Golden Soul Pill do?" Han Li asked.
"I''m not sure. Recently, I''ve been recollecting tidbits of memories, and one of those contained information about the Golden Soul Pill. It seems to be quite a rare type of pill, and I''ll tell you what it does if I manage to recall," Daoist Xie replied.
"Alright," Han Li replied with a nod, then withdrew his spiritual sense chain.
After that, he pulled out a jade box and ced the nascent soul inside it, then adhered a few sealing talismans to the box before stowing it away.
"Congrattions on recovering a lost treasure, Fellow Daoist Han. This treasure here is also quite a formidable one," Daoist Xie said as it handed over the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain and ck inkstone that it was holding.
Han Li epted the pair of treasures, and an excited gleam appeared in his eyes as his gaze first settled upon the ck inkstone.
This was most definitely an Acquired Immortal Treasure of a very high caliber, and the Soul Destroying True Light that it was capable of releasing appeared to have contained some type ofw power that could directly harm one''s soul. This treasure was most likely the culprit behind his amnesia and subsequent descent into the Spirit Domain Realm.
Aside from that, the ck cloud space that it carried was also quite a good trapping device.
However, he had no time to inspect this treasure on an in-depth level for now, and he turned his gaze to the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain.
He had refined this treasure in preparation for his ascension tribtion transcendence, and he had invested immeasurable time, effort, and resources into the treasure''s creation. Now that he had recovered it, he couldn''t help but feel a little sentimental.
Just as the silver-robed young man had dered, the current Integrated Five Extremes Mountain was already far different from what it had once been. Its basis was still the five mountains, but each mountain had been infused with many types of spirit materials, and it had also been refined using a more advanced method.
Just the thought of the restrictive ability unleashed by the silver-robed young man using this treasure was enough to get Han Li rather excited.
However, time was of the essence right now, so he didn''t have time to closely inspect the pair of treasures, and he quickly stowed them away.
"We should get away from here as soon as possible, Fellow Daoist Han. We need to leave before the battle at the White Jade Peakes to an end," Daoist Xie warned.
"I want to get out of here as well, but this restriction is quite formidable and not so easy to break through. Do you have any ways to bypass it?" Han Li asked with a wry smile.
Daoist Xie flew over to the wall of yellow mist as he spoke, and he inspected it briefly before suddenly pressing a palm g against it, following which ayer of yellow light appeared over his hand.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which a hint of intrigue appeared in his eyes.
Ever since it had fully integrated itself with this puppet, Daoist Xie had be much more life-like and bore a much closer resemnce to an actual living cultivator.
Momentster, Daoist Xie withdrew its palm, and Han Li asked, "What do you think?"
"This is a very profound restriction with many interconnectedyers. Whoever set up this restriction has to be an exceptional master," Daoist Xie mused.
"Is there a way to break through it?" Han Li asked.
"There is, but it''s going to require arge sum of Immortal Origin Stones to activate one of this immortal puppet''s abilities," Daoist Xie replied.
"How many will you need?" Han Li asked.
"In addition to what I have left, I''ll need... about 300 more," Daoist Xie replied.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he said, "That''s fine, just do what you need to do."
In order to lure in the silver-robed young man so that Daoist Xie could attack him, he had already ced around 600 to 700 Immortal Origin Stones into Daoist Xie''s body, and now that he was having to spend 300 more Immortal Origin Stones, that was already close to a third of his entire wealth.
It seemed that he had to be sparing in his reliance on Daoist Xie unless it was absolutely necessary. He was still hoping to be able to purchase some dao pill ingredients using his Immortal Origin Stones, and that was going to be a significant expenditure.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce a storage pouch, which he tossed at Daoist Xie.
Daoist Xie wasted no time in pulling all of the Immortal Origin Stones out of the storage pouch before directly swallowing them, then said, "I''ll also require the assistance of your dao warriors."
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, but he duly obliged, handing over his dao warrior gourd to Daoist Xie.
Daoist Xie made a hand seal, and a burst of bright yellow light immediately emerged at the opening of the gourd, following which a series of dark yellow beans came falling out like rain.
Before long, several hundred dao warriors beans had been tipped out, and Daoist Xie began to chant an incantation, upon which the patterns on the surface of the beans lit up in unison.
The beans began to give off a bright yellow glow, but instead of transforming into dao warriors, they expanded slightly before slowly elongating to form what appeared to have been a series of yellow wooden rods.
Bright yellow light was radiating from these wooden rods, and they connected together to form a seemingly haphazard array, but in reality, it was far more profound than it seemed.
Han Li was quite intrigued to see this.
It wasn''t a rare urrence for dao warriors to be used to set up arrays, but Han Li had never seen anyone use dao warriors as array gs as Daoist Xie was doing here, and he couldn''t help but wonder if this method of dao warrior usage was something that Daoist Xie had recently recalled.
As Daoist Xie continued to chant its incantation, it released a series of incantation seals out of its hands, every single one of which fell upon the wooden rods with unerring uracy.
All of the hundreds of wooden rods shuddered in unison, and countless translucent yellow threads rose up from them before intertwining to form a yellow array.
Immediately thereafter, Daoist Xie thrust both palms forward, and all of the wooden rods instantly flew into the wall of yellow mist, which began to churn and produce ayer of yellow light to obstruct the wooden rods.
Daoist Xie was making a rapid string of hand seals, and countless bursts of yellow light were rapidly circting throughout the yellow array, forcibly nullifying the yellow light being released by the wall of mist as the wooden rods slowly progressed forward.
The section of the wall of mist that was epassed within the yellow array began to rapidly dissipate, creating a huge indentation.
As the yellow mist scattered, a translucent light barrier with lights of different colors surging over its surface was revealed, and it appeared to have been another profound restriction.
Han Li gave a slight nod at the sight of the array, while Daoist Xie sat down with its legs crossed as it continued to chant its incantation.
All of a sudden, thick arcs of golden lightning emerged over its body, giving off bursts of violentw fluctuations that proliferated in all directions.
All of the world''s origin qi in a radius of thousands of kilometers was stirred up, forming balls of purple light that converged toward Daoist Xie.
Chapter 342: Leaving the Sect
Chapter 342: Leaving the Sect
A series of dark clouds emerged, and they quickly came together to obscure the entire sky. Arcs of lightning could be seen asionally shing within the clouds amid deafening thunderps, and boundless lightning-attribute spiritual qi was converging from all directions before fusing into the clouds.
Daoist Xie made a hand seal as it chanted an incantation, and lightning was shing over its body before spreading outward to form an enormous lightning array that was several dozen acres in area.
The lightning array was rather peculiar in that it was very thin and long, and there were countless lightning runes drifting through the air within it.
All of a sudden, Daoist Xie opened its eyes before casting an incantation seal up toward the heavens, and bolts of lightning began to crash down from the clouds.
All of the lightning was injected into the lightning array around Daoist Xie, causing it to glow radiantly while giving off bursts of thunderous rumbling.
Han Li was standing in mid-air, and he appeared to have been quite calm andposed, but in reality, he was feeling quite tense.
His battle against the silver-robed young man had been quite brief, but it had caused quite amotion, and this lightning array was giving off extremely formidable energy fluctuations that were definitely detectable to those at the White Jade Peak.
He could only hope that the battle there was still raging so that he would have enough time to make his escape.
Right at this moment, Daoist Xie let loose a low roar, and the lightning array abruptly rose up from the ground, hovering in mid-air while rapidly shrinking down.
Just a few secondster, it had shrunk down from its original size of several dozen acres down to a ball of lightning that was only around 200 to 300 feet in size, and it was giving off blinding lightning that was too bright to look directly at.
"Go!"
Daoist Xie abruptly rose to its feet as it made a hand seal, and the ball of lightning shot forth as a streak of white light, striking the indentation in the wall of yellow mist at an incredible speed while revolving rapidly.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and all of the mountains within a radius of several hundred kilometers began to rumble violently. Massive trenches opened up in the earth, and some of the smaller mountains were toppled altogether, presenting a doomsday-like scene to behold.
The yellow mist restriction was also churning violently, and it was as if turbulent waves were rolling over its surface.
Incredibly thick bolts of lightning were erupting out of the ball of lightning before spreading through the yellow mist restriction, peeling it awayyer byyer, but at the same time, the surrounding yellow mist was also constantly converging to replenish the mist that was being stripped away, and an impasse had ensued.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I need your help!" Daoist Xie suddenly said.
Han Li immediately sprang up into the air without any hesitation upon hearing this, and after a few shes of azure light, he appeared no more than 1,000 feet away from the indentation in the yellow mist restriction.
He then swept a sleeve through the air to release 72 streaks of golden light, which circled around him momentarily before instantly forming a giant golden sword that was several hundred feet in length with golden lightning shing around it.
Han Li made a hand seal, and the giant sword shed forward at his behest.
All of a sudden, a streak of swordlight that was over 1,000 feet in length with golden lightning shing over the entirety of its de struck the indentation in the yellow mist with tremendous might.
A resounding boom rang out, and that sword strike from Han Li proved to be the final straw that broke the camel''s back, tearing apart all of the yellow mist that was converging from all directions to significantly slow down the restriction''s rate of recovery.
Daoist Xie let loose a loud roar upon seeing this, and the ball of light exploded violently into an incandescent sun as shockwaves that were visible even to the naked eye erupted in all directions. Finally, a huge hole the size of a house had been blown into the yellow mist restriction.
After unleashing that attack, the lightning shing over Daoist Xie''s body quickly faded, and it was looking rather weary.
Han Li immediately swept a hand through the air to cast an incantation seal, and the hundreds of dao warrior beans flew back out of the wall of yellow mist before returning to his gourd. Immediately thereafter, a burst of azure light erupted out of his body, sweeping up both Daoist Xie and the gourd before he flew out of the restriction through the massive hole.
Right after he had flown out through the hole, yellow mist converged from all directions to seal it again in the blink of an eye.
All of the unrest in the wall of yellow mist then quickly subsided, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the sky outside, and he heaved a long sigh of relief, feeling as if he had just escaped from the brink of death.
He then turned to Daoist Xie as he asked, "How are you feeling, Brother Xie?"
"The restriction was far more formidable than I anticipated. It''s a good thing that you intervened at the perfect time to break the restriction, but I''m going to have to take a long rest after this, Daoist Xie replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then swept a sleeve through the air to release 12 lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood, then began to chant an incantation.
Arcs of lightning emerged over the Lightning Restraining Wood, quickly forming a lightning array with countless lightning runes shing within it, causing the nearby space to warp and ripple.
Han Li closed his eyes momentarily to sense something, then quickly reopened them before giving a slight nod and withdrawing his hand seal.
The lightning array immediately ceased operating, and countless arcs of lightning flowed back into the lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood before they were stowed away.
The lightning teleportation array was functioning as normal, which meant that there were no further spatial restrictions up ahead.
"Even for the Immortal Pce, setting up this one restriction would''ve already been quite difficult, so there''s no way that there could be a second, evenrger restriction outside of it," Daoist Xie remarked.
"That may be the case, but the situation over at the White Jade Peak could take a turn at any moment, so let''s get out of here for now," Han Li said as he took a nce back at the yellow mist restriction, then made a hand seal to conjure up a smaller lightning array around himself.
Daoist Xie flew into Han Li''s grasp as a streak of golden light, following which both of them were teleported away.
¡¡
Around two hourster.
Arcs of golden lightning sprang out of the space above the Crimson Dawn Peak to form a lightning array, and Han Li emerged inside it, looking a little pale and weary.
He had unleashed his lightning teleportation array consecutively in order to reach the Crimson Dawn Peak as quickly as he could, and even with the support of Immortal Origin Stones, his immortal spiritual power reserves were still severely depleted.
Han Li took a deep breath before descending out of the sky.
All of the servants had already been alerted by the thunderp that had just rung out, and they hurriedly rushed forward to greet Han Li.
Many of the servants of True Immortal Stage elders had gone to attend the preaching ceremony as well, and at this moment, there were only three servants left on the mountain. After all, the mountain couldn''t just be leftpletely unattended.
The three servants were just about to extend bows to Han Li when he raised a hand and said, "No need for formalities. Wait here for a moment, I have something to speak to all of you about."
After that, Han Li immediately flew into his cave abode in a sh, arriving directly at the spirit medicine garden inside.
He had a habit of carrying important items on his body, but he couldn''t constantly carry these spirit medicines with him, and that was why he had taken the risk toe back here despite the urgency of the situation.
He had expended a huge amount of time, energy, and resources gathering these spirit medicines, and he certainly couldn''t just leave them behind.
He swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which instantly epassed the entire spirit medicine garden.
In the next instant, all of the spirit medicines rose up out of the ground alongside the surrounding plots of spirit soil before flying into Han Li''s grasp one after another. He then quickly stored them into suitable containers before stowing them away in his storage bracelet.
Momentster, the entire cave abode shuddered as all of the restrictions were removed, and a series of array tools flew out of all parts of the cave abode before also being stowed away.
Outside the cave abode, the three servants were exchanging puzzled nces with one another.
"What''s going on?" a square-faced young man murmured in an uncertain voice.
Meng Xiong was one of the three servants, and he shook his head in response. "I don''t know, but judging from Elder Li''s expression, something very important must''ve happened. Perhaps it has something to do with those violent tremors we felt earlier."
Right at this moment, Han Li appeared before them in a wraith-like manner amid a sh of azure light, and before the three servants had a chance to do anything, he said, "Time is of the essence, so I''ll keep it brief. The sect has encountered a major crisis concerning the Northern cial Immortal Region, and there will most likely be very far-reaching consequences.
¡°I''m nning to leave this ce right away, and you have two options right now:e with me, or stay here to fend for yourself. You''ve all been serving me for many years, so even if you choose to stay, I''ll leave you with some treasures and resources."
The expressions of the three servants changed drastically upon hearing this.
This was far too abrupt a turn of events, and they had no idea what to do.
"I''ll give you 10 seconds to make your decision," Han Li said as he sped his hands behind his back.
As soon as his voice trailed off, Meng Xiong stepped forward as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute.
"Elder Li, my aptitude is quite mediocre, and without everything you''ve given me, there''s no way I would''ve made it to my current cultivation base. I''m willing to continue to follow you."
Han Li nodded in response, then gestured for Meng Xiong to stand beside him.
Immediately thereafter, the square-faced young man also stepped forward, expressing a desire to follow Han Li.
The young man''s name was Meng Guang, and he was a man of few words.
The final servant remained standing on the spot with his head lowered, and he wasn''t saying anything, but his decision was clear.
Han Li didn''t say anything, either, flipping a hand over to produce a storage pouch that he tossed at the servant.
"Thank you, Elder Li," the servant said as he caught the storage pouch before hurriedly extending a respectful bow.
"Let''s go," Han Li said, then swept a sleeve through the air without dy, releasing a burst of azure light that swept up Meng Xiong and Meng Guang before flying away.
Shortly thereafter, on a mountaintop not far away from the Crimson Dawn Peak, Han Li''s trio was surrounded by a circle of Lightning Restraining Wood.
Han Li made a hand seal, and arcs of golden lightning sprang out of the Lightning Restraining Wood to form a huge lightning array around them.
The surrounding space began to ripple like water, and the ripples spread outward in all directions.
Meng Xiong and Meng Guang were quite rmed to see this, and both of them reflexively closed their eyes.
Immediately thereafter, the three of them vanished amid a sh of lightning and a rumbling thunderp.
Chapter 343: Plans
Chapter 343: ns
In a certain region of the sea to the west of the Ancient Cloud Continent.
This ce was near the Thunderstorm Sea, and the sky was filled with dark clouds with bolts of lightning shing within them.
However, in contrast with the lightning deep within the Thunderstorm Sea, the lightning here was far less formidable. asionally, a bolt of lightning or two woulde crashing down out of the sky, but for the average cultivator, as long as they proceeded with caution, they were at no threat of severe bodily harm.
The seawater here was extremely murky, almost like mud, and the entire surface of the sea was enshrouded under a dense nket of gray mist that seemed to have been infinitely vast, and there were strange gusts of wind howling within the mist that produced a sound resembling human sobbing.
This ce was known as the Sobbing Mist Sea, and it was a very renowned area to the west of the Ancient Cloud Continent, but not for good reasons.
Beneath this region of the sea was an enormous gray rock crystal mine, and after it had beenpletely exhausted of its mineral resources, the seawater had taken on this murky appearance, and this nket of gray mist had arisen.
The murky seawater and the mist weren''t harmful to human cultivators, but the marine demon beasts here seemed to intensely detest this environment, and most of them had moved away. As a result, the cultivator poption in the region was also decreasing year after year, making this ce more and more barren and deste.
Deep within the sea of mist was a ck ind that only had a radius of less than 10 kilometers, and at the center of the ind was an extremely deste ck mountain that was several thousand feet tall.
Right at this moment, a burst of golden light shed within an obscure cave at the foot of the mountain, and the entire mountain shuddered slightly.
The golden light shed a few times before abruptly brightening significantly, and even the surrounding ck mountain face had been illuminated a golden color, while an enormous aura was surging out of the cave.
However, right at this moment, an azure light barrier appeared at the opening of the cave with countless azure runes shing over its surface, intercepting the aura before it could spread even further.
Even so, the entire ind still shuddered violently, while the nearby gray mist was also churned up into a frenzy.
Right at this moment, a loud squawk rang out in the distance, and an azure shadow flew out at an incredible speed beforending near the ck ind, revealing itself to be an azure bird.
The bird was massive with a wingspan of around 200 to 300 feet, and it had arge head coupled with a thin neck. Its entire body was covered in arrow-like azure feathers, and there was arge fleshy pouch hanging in front of its chest, giving it a rather hideous appearance.
Standing atop the bird''s back was none other than the Meng Qianqian, and the bird was naturally Featheryearn.
A hint of elevation appeared in Meng Qianqian''s eyes at the sight of the golden lightning shing in the cave, and all of a sudden, the golden lightning in the cave brightened even further, while thick arcs of golden lightning began to emerge.
The parts of the ck rock walls that were struck by the arcs of golden lightning shattered like tofu, and it didn''t take long before the entire mountain copsed violently to reveal a ball of lightning that was several hundred feet in size.
The shadow of a massive lightning array could be seen within the ball of light, and arcs of golden lightning were crashing into the surrounding azure light barrier, causing it to tremble violently, but it remained intact.
All of a sudden, the ball of golden lightning shed once again, and an incredibly thick pir of golden light tore through the azure light barrier before erupting into the heavens.
All of the world''s origin qi within a radius of hundreds of kilometers churned violently, as did the nearby sea of mist, forming a huge vortex around the pir of lightning.
The pir of golden lightning remained for a few seconds before slowly dissipating, and the ball of golden lightning on the ind also vanished to reveal Han Li, Meng Xiong, and Meng Guang.
Meng Qianqian immediately flew down from Featheryearn''s back with an ted expression, and she was just about to say something when Han Li said, "Now''s not the time to talk. Come with me!"
Immediately thereafter, he summoned an azure flying boat amid a sh of azure light, and it instantly swelled to over 100 feet in size.
One either side of the flying boat were two rows of azure spirit wings that were formed by spiritual power.
This Azure Luan Boat was something that he had obtained from a True Immortal while undertaking a mission, and it wasn''t a treasure of a particrly high caliber, but it was quite fast, nheless.
Han Li flew onto the flying boat, closely followed by Meng Xiong and Meng Guang.
Meng Qianqian faltered slightly before also doing the same, then cast an incantation seal to stow Featheryearn into her spirit beast pouch.
With a flick of his finger, around a dozen thick streaks of azure sword qi were sent flying through the air before striking the ck ind down below, instantly destroying what remained of it and causing it topletely sink into the sea without a trace.
At the same time, Han Li made a hand seal with his other hand, and the azure flying boat began to glow radiantly as it shot forth into the distance as an azure shadow, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Not long after their departure, two streaks of light arrived from afar, revealing a pair of humanoid figures, one of which was a middle-aged daoist priest wearing a ck hat, while the other was a gray-robed elderly man.
"This is the ce! The spiritual qi fluctuations still haven''tpletely dissipated yet," the daoist priest said with a hint of excitement on his face.
There was an ted look on the gray-robed elderly man''s face as well, and he nodded in response. "Indeed, and these are some extremely formidable spiritual qi fluctuations. I spotted a huge pir of golden light rising up into the air from here. Could it be that some treasure is about to emerge?"
As he was speaking, he had already released his spiritual sense to inspect his surroundings.
"That''s definitely a possibility. This region of the sea has always been very unpredictable, so nothing would surprise me," the daoist priest replied, then flipped a hand over to produce a yellow te treasure with countless runes engraved on its surface.
Bursts of rippling yellow light swept forth from the te treasures, epassing the entire surrounding area within a radius of several kilometers.
After scouring the area for a while to no avail, the gray-robed elderly man asked, "Have you found anything, Fellow Daoist Wan?"
The daoist priest remained silent, continuing to use his te treasure to release halos of rippling yellow light.
Momentster, he withdrew his hand seal, and the gray-robed elderly man hurriedly asked, "How did it go?"
"That pir of light wasn''t a precursor for the emergence of any treasure. Instead, it was a result of someone unleashing some type of ability here," the daoist priest sighed.
The gray-robed elderly man''s face fell slightly upon hearing this, and he was still holding onto a shred of hope as he asked, "Are you sure?"
"All nineyers of restrictions in my Precious Domain te have been activated, so there''s definitely no mistaking it," the daoist priest replied with a roll of his eyes.
The gray-robed elderly man shook his head with a wry smile as he replied, "In that case, it looks like we got excited for nothing. By the way, have you managed to detect that person''s cultivation base?"
"Judging from the lingering spiritual qi fluctuations here, they were most likely at or above the Body Integration Stage," the daoist priest replied.
The gray-robed elderly man''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and a hint of lingering fear appeared in his eyes as he said, "In that case, it''s a good thing that we arrivedte. Otherwise, if we had been any earlier and irked that senior, then we would''ve been in severe danger."
"In any case, we should leave this ce right away to avoid any potential misunderstandings," the daoist priest replied in a calm voice.
"Indeed, Fellow Daoist Wan," the gray-robed elderly man immediately replied with a nod.
Shortly thereafter, two streaks of light rose up into the sky before flying away into the distance.
¡¡
At this point, Han Li and the others were already hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.
Han Li circled around above the sea for a while, then arrived in anotherrge coastal city in the western region of the Ancient Cloud Continent.
This ce was known as Heavenly Cloud City, and it was the capital of the Heavenly Cloud Nation. It was quite arge city that directly neighbored a spirit vein of a decent size, making it a very habitable ce.
Not only was the city quite close to the Thunderstorm Sea, itsrge size meant that many of the cultivators passing through the area would choose to stop here for some rest and to replenish supplies.
Some of the high-grade cultivators returning from adventures in the Thunderstorm Sea would alsoe to the city to sell or exchange their spoils.
As a result, Heavenly Cloud City was bing more and more prosperous by the day, and it had already be one of thergest cities within a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers.
Han Li and the others snuck into the city, then chose a secluded medium-sized inn to stay in.
Even the most formidable cultivator stationed in the city was only at the Body Integration Stage, so there was naturally no chance of Han Li being discovered.
That night, in the guest hall.
Han Li was seated on the main chair, while Meng Xiong, Meng Guang, and Meng Qianqian were standing respectfully before him.
After conjuring up a soundproofing restriction, Han Li gave the trio a brief recount of what had taken ce in the ze Dragon Dao.
At this point, Meng Qianqian possessed the most advanced cultivation base out of all of the servants, but she was quitecking in life experience, and she was momentarilypletely rooted to the spot after hearing such shocking news.
Meng Xiong and Meng Guang were already aware that something had to have happened during the preaching ceremony, but they were still astonished after hearing Han Li''s story.
"Qianqian, I''ll give you a choice just like I gave the others, and the conditions remain the same. What is your choice?" Han Li asked.
Meng Qianqian remained silent, seemingly still reeling from the bombshell that had just been dropped on her.
"If you need to discuss the matter with Yungui before you make a decision..."
"There''s no need for that," Meng Qianqian replied without any hesitation. "I wasn''t hesitating, Elder Li, I was just surprised. Regardless of what choice my brother makes, I''m willing to continue to follow you."
Han Li nodded in response, then said, "Right now, I''m no longer an elder of the ze Dragon Dao, so you''re not to refer to me as such in the future, understood?"
"Yes, Senior Li," the three servants immediately replied in unison.
Han Li didn''t say anything further as he rose to his feet, then made his way over to the window, casting his gaze out toward the distant Thunderstorm Sea with a contemtive look in his eyes.
After a long while, Han Li still hadn''t said anything, and after a brief hesitation, Meng Qianqian asked in a timid voice, "What are your ns from here, Senior Li?"
Han Li offered no response, seemingly still contemting something in silence.
Meng Qianqian''s trio exchanged a nce with one another, and they naturally didn''t dare to disturb him, so they could only wait in silence.
A long whileter, Han Li finally dered, "I''m nning to leave the Ancient Cloud Continent for a while."
Chapter 344: Spoils
Chapter 344: Spoils
Meng Qianqian faltered slightly upon hearing this, then hurriedly said, "Brother Li, my brother and Brother Sun still haven''t arrived yet, would you be able to wait a bit longer? They''re very loyal to you, and I''m sure they''ll choose to continue to follow you."
"Your cultivation bases are still quitecking, so I''ll leave all of you here in Heavenly Cloud City. This city has quite a good spirit vein nearby, and it''ll be perfect for your cultivation needs," Han Li replied.
Meng Qianqian was rather unwilling to ept this arrangement, but she could tell that Han Li had already made up his mind, so she could only nod in response. "Yes, Senior Li."
"Come with me," Han Li said, then began to make his way outside.
Shortly thereafter, the four of them arrived in a peaceful forest by the name of Moonview Forest in the western part of the city.
The forest was closest to the spirit vein, so the world''s origin qi here was very abundant, and there were individual courtyards littered throughout the forest, all of which were enshrouded in restrictions and separated by some bamboo forests and fake mountains.
These were temporary cave abodes constructed by high-grade cultivators who hade from outside the city. After all, some cultivators preferred peace and quiet and didn''t want to stay in inns.
At this moment, Han Li and his group were strolling through the forest under the guidance of a white-robed young man.
"All of our cave abodes were designed by master artisans, and the forest is split up into four areas, A, B, C, and D. The cave abodes in Area A have the most abundant spiritual qi, while the ones in Area D have the least spiritual qi.
¡°Right now, we''re in Area D, but even here, the world''s origin is far more abundant than other ces in the city, and it can elerate one''s rate of cultivation by a quarter, whereas the cave abodes in Area A can enhance one''s rate of cultivation by a half," the white-robed young man introduced in an enthusiastic fashion.
"Take us to Area A," Han Li said in an expressionless manner.
The white-robed young man could tell that Han Li was the one calling the shots, and he was ecstatic to hear this. "Pleasee with me, fellow daoists."
Momentster, the group passed through an archway and arrived in arge bamboo forest, within which some cave abodes could be seen.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. The world''s origin qi here was far more abundant than outside, almostparable with some of the mountains in the ze Dragon Dao, and Meng Xiong and Meng Guang were ecstatic to sense this, while Meng Qianqian was trailing along at the back in silence with aplex look on her face.
"This is Area A. What do you think, fellow daoists?" the white-robed young man asked.
Instead of replying to the question, Han Li asked, "Are there any vacant cave abodes here?"
The white-robed young man''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and he replied, "We do. There are three vacant cave abodes."
"What price can you do for me if I rent them long-term?" Han Li asked.
The white-robed young man took a nce at Han Li, then stated a price.
Han Li turned to inspect his surroundings, refraining from offering a response for now.
"Our cave abodes are the best in Heavenly Cloud City, so the rent is a little more expensive, but you''re definitely getting good value for money..."
Han Li waved a hand to cut off the white-robed young man, then pulled out a storage pouch that he tossed at him as he said, "I''ll rent all three cave abodes for 300 years for now."
The white-robed young man caught the storage pouch, then inspected its contents briefly with his spiritual sense, and an ecstatic look immediately appeared on his face.
He pulled out three azure badges before handing them to Han Li, then said, "These are the restriction badges for the three cave abodes. Do you need me to take you there?"
"No need, we''ll go on our own. You can go now," Han Li replied as he epted the badges.
The white-robed young man promptly departed, while Han Li pulled out another storage pouch before handing it to the three servants along with the three badges.
"There are some cultivation resources in this storage pouch. Stay here and cultivate, and I''ve already informed Meng Yungui and Sun Buzheng toe here."
Meng Xiong and Meng Guang both nodded in response.
"How long will you be gone for, Senior Li?" Meng Qianqian suddenly asked.
"At least a few decades, perhaps even over a century. If any of you change your mind during this time, then you''re free to leave," Han Li replied in a calm manner, then abruptly vanished from the spot.
Meng Qianqian hurriedly strode forward a few steps, but Han Li was already nowhere to be seen, so she could only heave a forlorn sigh, but a determined look then appeared in her eyes.
Several monthster.
A massive ck boat was sailing through the waves somewhere on the Thunderstorm Sea.
The seawater around the giant boat was churning incessantly, with waves that were several hundred feet tall asionally rising up, and the dark clouds in the sky were hanging at a very low altitude with thick bolts of lightning crashing down every once in a while.
The boat waspletely unobstructed by the waves and lightning, and it was rapidly advancing over the sea like a giant beast.
The ck was a Seafaring Lightning Boat, and it was traveling from the Ancient Cloud Continent to Thunderp City of the Primordial Wave Continent.
In contrast with the hostile environment outside, everything was very harmonious within the giant boat, with people constantly passing through the corridors, while the restaurants and tea rooms on the top floor of the boat were very lively and bustling.
Some of the cultivators in the boat had even gathered together to hold some small exchange events or to discuss cultivation insights and experiences.
One of the rooms in the boat waspletely enshrouded within a soundproofing azure light barrier, and on the bed inside the room sat a man with a darkplexion.
There were seven blue rings hovering around him, and they were drifting up and down incessantly while giving off a faint buzzing sound.
The man''s eyes were closed, and he was making a string of hand seals.
Meanwhile, the seven rings were glowing brighter and brighter, and a formidable burst ofw power fluctuations was spreading through the air.
A faint smile appeared on the man''s face as he made a hand seal, and the seven rings instantly fell into his grasp.
The man was none other than Han Li in disguise, and these seven rings were called the Seven Bright Star Rings, a rare set of immortal treasures that he had found in the portly ck-robed guard''s storage tool.
It was primarily used to trap enemies, and thew power that it contained was also geared toward trapping.
Han Li had conducted some experiments during the past few days to find that these Seven Bright Star Rings were quite formidable. In particr, when used during clear nights, the rings could resonate with the star power in the night sky to significantly enhance their power.
It was most likely the case that Han Li had struck with such efficiency and brutality that the portly guard didn''t even have a chance to summon this treasure before he was killed.
Han Li opened his mouth to produce a burst of azure light that stowed the rings back into his body.
Even though he had already recovered the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain, having more trapping treasures was naturally never a bad thing.
During the time that he had spent on the Seafaring Lightning Boat, the rings had already been partially refined, and it wasn''t going to take much longer for him toplete the refinement process.
Aside from that, the thin guard also had a formidable immortal treasure called the Asura Heavenly Ghost g in his storage tool.
However, this was a ghostly immortal treasure that wasn''t very suitable for his cultivation arts, so he only briefly inspected it before returning it to his storage bracelet.
As for the silver-robed young man, he was a Golden Immortal cultivator who clearly had very powerful backers, and he had far more treasures than his twote-True Immortal Stage guards, possessing four immortal treasures.
Aside from the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain and the ck inkstone, there was also the silver bell that he had summoned at the beginning of the battle and a ck fang-shaped sword.
With that in mind, Han Li opened his mouth to release the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain, and it hovered in front of him while revolving on the spot, releasing a vast expanse of gray light that was interspersed with gray runes and was giving off a burst of formidablew power fluctuations.
He had already carefully examined the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain to find that its outward appearance hadn''t changed much, but internally, it had changed drastically, with many spirit materials infused into all of the five extreme mountains.
Even though he had refined the five extreme mountains, materials like the Divine Essencefused Mountain and Arctic Origin Crystals had proven extremely difficult toe by, and he had only just barely managed to gather enough to refine the five extreme mountains.
Somehow, the silver-robed young man was able to find arge amount of all five types of materials, enhancing the power of the five extreme mountains by almost twofold. Furthermore, he had also used some type of refinement method topletely fuse the five mountains into one, thereby further significantly bolstering its power.
In particr, thew powers imbued within it had be far more formidable than before.
Various thoughts were shing through Han Li''s mind as he felt thew fluctuations emanating from the small gray mountain.
Back in the Spirit Realm, his cultivation base had been too lowly for him to be able to graspw powers, so he hadn''t paid much heed to the hint ofw powers that the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain contained.
However, things werepletely different now. Having already reached thete-True Immortal Stage, he had faced many formidable foes and witnessed many types ofw powers, thereby granting him better insight into thew fluctuations that the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain was giving off.
Thisw power was extremely profound, and it seemed to have been rted to trapping, but was alsopletely different from the trappingw powers imbued within the Seven Bright Star Rings.
However, as for how thesew powers differed and how he could hope to truly master them, Han Li still had no clue, and he shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought.
Even directly devouring the Heaven Controlling Vial spirit liquid that contained the power of timews wasn''t enough for him to master thews of time, so it was undoubtedly going to be even more difficult to try and master certainw powers through immortal treasures alone.
Seeing as he couldn''t figure it out, then there was no point thinking excessively about it. In any case, adding these formidable treasure to his collection was certainly a good thing.
With that in mind, he opened his mouth to swallow the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain again.
He was the one who had created this treasure, so it wasn''t going to take him long to refine it again now that he had recovered it.
Aside from the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain, Han Li had recovered another lost treasure from the silver-robed young man''s storage tool, namely the Thunderstorm Wings.
This treasure was nowhere near as powerful as the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain, but it had been with him ever since his time in the Mortal Realm, so he was naturally very happy to have recovered it.
Perhaps the Thunderstorm Wings hadn''t managed to catch the silver-robed young man''s eye, but it had never been refined, and it was casually tossed to the bottom of his storage tool, where it had most likely already stayed for many years.
Hence, he was able to easily break the seal and regain control over the Thunderstorm Wings, thereby saving him the trouble of having to refine it.
Chapter 345: Laying Low
Chapter 345: Laying Low
At the moment, Han Li was simultaneously refining the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain, the Seven Bright Star Rings, and that silver bell in his body all at once.
The bell was an immortal treasure that contained some type of soundwavew powers, and the fact that it was able to scatter the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords with just a single attack was clear testament to its power, and that was why Han Li had decided to work on refining it.
As for the ck fang-shaped sword, it was simr to the Asura Heavenly Ghost g in that it was also a yin-attribtue treasure, so he had set it aside.
At the moment, his spiritual sense wasparable to that of even early-Golden Immortal cultivators, but refining three immortal treasures at once was still his limit.
As for the ck inkstone that was capable of unleashing the Soul Destroying True Light, it contained far morew power than the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain, the silver bell, and the other immortal treasures.
Han Li naturally wanted to be able to make the treasure his own, but it seemed to be containing some type of restriction that made it impossible for Han Li to refine it no matter what he tried.
This left Han Li feeling a little frustrated, but he wasn''t short on immortal treasures at the moment, and he didn''t have that much time on his hands, so he could only set the inkstone aside for now.
Aside from immortal treasures, the trio''s storage tools also contained many other treasures, as well as countless pills and precious materials. In particr, the silver-robed young man alone possessed as many as over 10 materials that were imbued withw powers.
Additionally, the three of them had a total of over 10,000 Immortal Origin Stones, and with such a massive haul, Han Li wouldn''t have to worry about Immortal Origin Stones for a very long time.
However, the biggest pleasant surprise to Han Li was that he had found arge amount of dao pill ingredients in the silver-robed young man''s storage tool.
There were as many as seven of the nine ingredients listed on the dao pill recipe, and all of them were in quiterge quantities as well.
Han Li was initially quite shocked by this, but everything immediately made sense to him after he found an identical dao pill recipe to his own.
It seemed that the silver-robed young man also had intentions of refining a dao pill, and given his status and the enormous power of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, that wasn''t going to be a difficult objective to aplish, but now, those ingredients had fallen into Han Li''s hands.
At this point, he was only missing two dao pill ingredients, the Heavenmade Ginseng Root and the Dewform Herb, and he was sure that he would be able to acquire them as long as he kept an active eye on the information circting within the Transient Guild.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized golden badge, which was crafted from some type of special metal, and it was extremely heavy despite its small size.
On one side of the badge was a design of a golden dragon that was roaring to the heavens, giving off a sense of unmatched power and regal authority, while on the other side was a name: Tao Yu.
Above the name was a feather crown design, and Han Li''s expression darkened slightly at the sight of the golden badge.
Right at this moment, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as he opened the window of his cabin.
Outside was the turbulent Thunderstorm Sea, but the Seafaring Lightning Boat had restrictions all around it, so the sound of the thunder and the crashing waves was mostly kept out.
A faint glimmer of golden light appeared in the distant sky before vanishing in a sh, and in the next instant, a burst of spatial fluctuations erupted within Han Li''s cabin as a lightning array appeared, following which Daoist Xie emerged inside it.
The golden lightning array quickly surged into Daoist Xie''s body as arcs of golden lightning, and Han Li took a brief nce at Daoist Xie before remarking, "Looks like you''ve made aplete recovery."
Daoist Xie nodded in response. "I didn''t think the lightning power here would be so abundant. That was really beneficial to my recovery."
Han Li offered no response to this as he stepped aside to allow Daoist Xie into the cabin, then sat back down with his legs crossed.
Daoist Xie had severely exhausted itself from the earlier battle, and after arriving in the Thunderstorm Sea, it had immediately begun absorbing the extremely abundant lightning power here to replenish itself. To Han Li''s relief, it was able to make a full recovery in just a few months.
Having a Golden Immortal Stage ally was extremely helpful, so it was very important that Daoist Xie was in good condition.
"It looks like you''re still worried about that Tao Yu," Daoist Xie remarked as it caught sight of the golden badge that Han Li was holding.
"I wouldn''t exactly say that I''m worried. I already killed him, so there''s no point in thinking about it. I''m just wondering if the Immortal Pce has already found out that I''m the one who killed him," Han Li replied.
Previously, he had spent a great deal of Immortal Origin Stones to search for information on this golden badge in the Transient Guild, and his efforts had paid off.
This badge was an elder badge of the Immortal Pce, and Tao Yu was the name of the silver-robed young man. He was also a newly promoted elder of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and on top of that, he wasn''t actually from the Northern cial Immortal Region. Instead, he had been sent here from some other immortal region over 1,000 years ago to umte experience, and he certainly wouldn''t have anticipated meeting his demise in this foreign immortal region.
There was no way that the Northern cial Immortal Pce would let him get away with this, so at this moment, he was leaving the Ancient Cloud Continent with the intention of returning to the ck Wind Sea, both to check on his Earthly Deity Avatar and toy low for a while.
The ck Wind Sea was a very secluded ce that was virtuallypletely cut off from the outside world, thereby making it a suitable ce for him to hide from the Immortal Pce.
"Given the power of the Immortal Pce, it shouldn''t be difficult for them to identify you as the culprit, but you left in a very timely fashion, and thanks to that long-distance lightning teleportation array, even the Immortal Pce shouldn''t be able to track you down anytime soon," Daoist Xie said.
"I certainly hope that''s the case," Han Li said with a wry smile. "By the way, I didn''t think you would be able to master the lightning teleportation array so quickly. That came as quite a surprise to me."
"The array is quite profound andbines both lightning power and spatial power. It''s a good thing that I already have innate mastery over lightning power. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have been able to grasp it so easily," Daoist Xie replied.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he asked, "Have you noticed anything strange or interesting while cultivating in the Thunderstorm Sea, Brother Xie?"
"Not that I can recall. Are you referring to anything in particr?" Daoist Xie asked.
Han Li hesitated momentarily, then told Daoist Xie about the giant eye in the lightning cloud vortex that he had seen during hisst trip across the Thunderstorm Sea.
A solemn look appeared on Daoist Xie''s face as it eximed, "That''s very shocking to hear!"
"Does anything in your memories match the description of the eye?" Han Li asked.
"No. This is my first time here in this Thunderstorm Sea. Having said that, I don''t think even a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal would be able to severely wound you with just a single nce like that giant eye did," Daoist Xie said.
"Both Xiao Jinhan and Dao Lord Baili were only one step away from reaching the High Zenith Stage, but I feel like even if they were to reach the High Zenith Stage, they still wouldn''t have been able to disy even a fraction of that eye''s power," Han Li agreed with a nod.
"This ce is already quite close to the central region of the Thunderstorm Sea, and that''s where I encountered that giant eye. Now that you''ve already fully recovered, I suggest you remain inside the Seafaring Lightning Boat so you don''t run the risk of encountering that formidable being," Han Li said.
Furthermore, he had followed his own advice, remaining strictly within the Seafaring Lightning Boat during this entire trip thus far.
"Alright," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
¡¡
Meanwhile.
Ouyang Kuishan and the other dao lords that had turned on the ze Dragon Dao were standing in the main hall of the sect, and all of their auras were rather unstable, indicating that they still hadn''t recovered from their injuries.
Standing across from them were seven or eight other Golden Immortals from the Northern cial Immortal Pce, while Xiao Jinhan was seated on the main chair in the hall.
All of the dao lords were rather disgruntled to see Xiao Jinhan upying such an important seat in the sect, and a few of them were glowering at him with outright fury, but Xiao Jinhan paid no heed to them as he asked, "How are thingsing along?"
"We''ve already managed to track down Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni. Both of them fled to the Upper Arr Continent with severe injuries, and Elder Lu Yue has already gone after them with some other elders. I''m sure an oue will arise there soon. However, Baili Yan remains elusive to this day, and it''s unclear how he''s managed to do so," an elder of the Immortal Pce reported.
"Very good. Even though Baili Yan is still on the run, he''s already been severely wounded, and after his karmic fire remission, his past several million years of cultivation has all gone to waste, so he won''t pose a threat to anyone. In fact, he most likely won''t even be able to withstand the fifth decay," Xiao Jinhan said with a nod.
It seemed as if he was saying this to all of the Immortal Pce cultivators present, but all of the dao lords were also listening with mixed feelings.
"Dao Lord Ouyang, Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni havemitted the cardinal crime of treason by assisting the Reincarnation Pce. ording to the rules of the Heavenly Court, all of their rtives and disciples must be apprehended and sent to the Heavenly Court. Have you done this yet?" Xiao Jinhan asked as he turned to Ouyang Kuishan.
"Yes," Ouyang Kuishan replied with his eyelid twitching slightly.
"Very good. You can all go now," Xiao Jinhan said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
All of the Immortal Pce cultivators promptly departed, while the dao lords exchanged a few nces with one another, and only after a subtle gesture was made by Ouyang Kuishan did all of them exit the hall as well.
Momentster, all of the dao lords were gathered outside the hall, and the golden-furred man among them wore a furious expression as he grumbled, "What are the intentions of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, Dao Lord Ouyang? The incident concerning Baili Yan has alreadye to a conclusion, so why are they still here? Are they trying to take advantage of this opportunity to take over our ze Dragon Dao?"
"If I had known this would happen, I wouldn''t have helped them target Dao Lord Baili. If Dao Lord Baili were here, Xiao Jinhan definitely wouldn''t have dared to be so arrogant," the silver-skinned woman said in a cold voice.
Complex looks appeared on everyone''s faces upon hearing this, while Ouyang Kuishan remained silent with a wry smile on his face.
The Immortal Pce''s intentions were very clear. Following the recently concluded battle, the ze Dragon Dao had suffered severe losses, and it was no longer a match for the Northern cial Immortal Pce.
At this point, Xiao Jinhan alone would''ve been sufficient to wipe out the entire ze Dragon Dao.
Chapter 346: Wanted Fugitive
Chapter 346: Wanted Fugitive
While Ouyang Kuishan and the dao lords werementing the circumstances, a grim look had also appeared on Xiao Jinhan''s face inside the hall.
At this point, he had already stood up from his chair and was pacing back and forth with his brows tightly furrowed.
Momentster, a burst of white light suddenly rose up from his body, then transformed into a white light screen in front of him.
A white humanoid figure appeared on the screen with dazzling white light radiating from their entire body, giving them a rather blurry appearance, and one could only just barely make him out to be a middle-aged man.
Xiao Jinhan immediately ceased in his pacing as he forced a smile onto his own face. "Elder Tao."
"Xiao Jinhan, it''s already been several months, have you found out who the killer of my son is?" the white figure asked in a cold voice.
"It was an inner sect elder of the ze Dragon Dao by the name of Li Feiyu. He has already fled from the ze Dragon Dao, and we''ve sent out people to apprehend him," Xiao Jinhan immediately replied.
"An inner sect elder? You''re telling me a mere inner sect elder was able to kill Yu''er?" the white figure asked as a hint of fury crept into his voice.
"He''s no ordinary elder," Xiao Jinhan hurriedly replied. "ording to our investigation, he was only in the ze Dragon Dao for no more than 1,000 years, and when he first arrived, he was only at the early-True Immortal Stage, but we''ve since determined his cultivation base to have already reached thete-True Immortal, and he''s cultivating the ze Dragon Dao''s Mantra Axis Scripture. On top of that, he seems to be connected to Baili Yan as well. I have a feeling he most likely has some connection to the Reincarnation Pce."
"I don''t care who he is! I entrusted my son to you, and now, he''s been killed! Xiao Jinhan, you better provide me with a satisfactory oue. Otherwise..."
The white figure''s voice trailed off there, but the threat that he was making was already very clear.
Xiao Jinhan''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and he lowered his head slightly as he replied, "Rest assured, Elder Tao, I''ll be sure to get to the bottom of this."
The white figure gave another cold harrumph before vanishing amid a sh of light, following which Xiao Jinhan raised his head with a steely expression.
He then called out to someone outside the hall, and a golden-robed young man immediately flew in before falling to one knee.
"What are your instructions, Pce Master?"
¡¡
Two years flew by in a sh.
Outside Thunderp City, a giant boat slowly drew to a halt, and momentster, a series of figures flew out from within before descending onto a huge dock.
Han Li was among them, and a reminiscent look appeared in his eyes at the sight of Thunderp City.
At this moment, his aura was restrained to the early-Grand Ascension Stage, so he didn''t stand out among the cultivators around him.
He took a subtle nce at his surroundings, and upon verifying that there was nothing strange happening on the dock, his expression eased ever so slightly as he quickly made his way into the city.
Thunderp City hadn''t changed much since hisst visit. The Urgent Lightning Trees were still as vast as ever, and the streets were just as packed and lively.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li made his way toward a certain direction, and it didn''t take long before he arrived at the Thunderp City Immortal Outlet.
Just like before, the Immortal Outlet was very lively and bustling with many cultivators inside, most of whom were gathered around the missions wall.
Han Li also arrived in front of the missions wall, then cast his gaze upward, and a grim look quickly appeared on his face.
Near the top of the wall was an extremely eye-catching mission that was presented inrge golden text: "Apprehend ze Dragon Dao Elder Li Feiyu. Reward: 20,000 Immortal Origin Stones. Anyone who provides urate information on him can also receive a reward of 2,000 Immortal Origin Stones."
After the mission was a portrait of Han Li.
"Looks like things have gotten quite troublesome. These Immortal Outlets are present on all continents, so you''re most likely a fugitive all over the entire immortal region at the moment," Daoist Xie mused in Han Li''s mind.
"20,000 Immortal Origin Stones, eh? The Immortal Pce sure does think highly of me!" Han Li chuckled coldly internally.
"Who is this Li Feiyu? 20,000 Immortal Origin Stones is a huge reward!"
"Haven''t you heard? An internal conflict arose in the ze Dragon Dao several years ago, and it''s said that their first dao lord was working with an evil organization to try and take over the entire immortal region. Fortunately, Pce Master Xiao of the Immortal Pce discovered the plot in time and put an end to it. I''m assuming this Li Feiyu must be an ally of the ze Dragon Dao''s first dao lord."
"I see. He must''ve alsomitted some heinous crimes!"
"I''m sure he did. Otherwise, there''s no way they''d be offering such a huge reward for his capture."
There was a spirited discussion taking ce in the nearby crowd, and Han Li inspected the missions wall for a while longer, then walked around the Immortal Outlet for a bit before leaving in an unhurried manner.
Even though he was also confident that there was no way that the Immortal Pce would be able to track him down, he was currently being wanted everywhere, so he had to be careful. Otherwise, a single misstep could lead to his demise.
After leaving the Immortal Outlet, Han Li visited the materials shops in Thunderp City.
Thunderp City was an important city that connected the Primordial Wave Continent to the Ancient Cloud Continent, so it had an even more diverse array of materials than some of therge cities on the Ancient Cloud Continent.
After returning to the ck Wind Sea, it would be rather inconvenient to purchase things, and he couldn''t make all of his purchases solely through the Transient Guild, so he had to buy some things here first in case certain unprecedented needs arose.
After doing all of that, he left Thunderp City.
At this point, he had already adopted another disguise, transforming into a fair-skinned schr, and his cultivation base had also been restrained down to the Body Integration Stage.
He lingered momentarily outside the city, then flew away in an unhurried manner as a mundane streak of azure light.
"Aren''t there teleportation arrays in Thunderp City?" Daoist Xie asked in his mind. "Why didn''t you leave using one of them? That would''ve made things a lot easier."
"Thunderp City is a very renowned city on the Primordial Wave Continent. If the Immortal Pce is searching for me, this is most likely one of the ces that they''ll be keeping a close eye on, and there may be some treasures here that can expose my true appearance, so it''s better to proceed with caution," Han Li exined.
Not only was he going to refrain from using teleportation arrays in Thunderp City, he was going to avoid them elsewhere as well.
At his current speed, it would only take him several years to cross the Primordial Wave Continent anyway.
"You sure are as cautious as ever. Even while buying things in the city, you adopted several disguises."
"It can''t hurt to be careful."
At this point, Han Li had already flown a sufficient distance out of the city, and after confirming that he wasn''t being followed, he immediately elerated, flying into the distance at a far higher speed than before.
Unbeknownst to Han Li, the extra caution that he was exercising had indeed paid off.
In order to search for him, the Northern cial Immortal Region had invested a huge amount of effort and resources. Not only were they actively scouring the entire immortal region for him, special sensory restrictions had also been set up in the teleportation halls of all of the major cities.
The restriction had been set up in ordance with the aura that Han Li had left behind in the wake of his battle against Tao Yu, and it would raise the rm if Han Li were in its vicinity.
All True Immortals had some ways through which they could alter their auras, so this was far from a foolproof method, but it was already the best that the Immortal Pce could do.
In order to set up these restrictions, not only had the Northern cial Immortal Pce invested a huge amount of Immortal Origin Stones, Xiao Jinhan was forced to give up a massive portion of his personal wealth as well.
As for why these restrictions had been set up in teleportation halls, this was because, generally speaking, one would reflexively activate their cultivation arts to protect oneself in the instant that they were teleported away, and that was the best opportunity for the sensory restrictions to detect Han Li.
The poption density near Thunderstorm City was quite high, so Han Li didn''t fly at his full speed, only raising his speed to about the same level as the average True Immortal while also taking as secluded a route as possible.
Only after passing the areas of high poption density did he gradually begin to elerate.
The Primordial Wave Continent was a very perilous ce, but given his current powers, he would have no trouble traversing through it.
After about three years of travel, he finally arrived at Seaside City.
Instead of entering the city, he hovered in mid-air, looking down at the small city from above.
A short whileter, he cast his gaze toward another direction, where the teleportation array that led to the ck Wind Sea was situated.
"I''m finally back," Han Li murmured to himself, then flew in that direction as a faint azure shadow.
Even though many years had already passed by, he naturally hadn''t forgotten where the teleportation array was situated, and it didn''t take long before he was close to reaching the location.
All of a sudden, he stopped cold in his tracks as his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
As it turned out, the seaside cave had disappeared, and it had been reced by a city.
The city wasn''t veryrge, only less than 10 kilometers in size, and its walls were constructed from giant white bricks, standing at around 200 to 300 feet tall. The entire city was enshrouded under a dense light barrier that was giving off a gentle white glow, and through the light barrier, one could see a series of tall buildings.
At the center of the city was a white pagoda that was far taller than the surrounding city walls, presenting a magnificent sight to behold.
There was only a single city gate, above which was a que that read "Wave View City."
Han Li swept his spiritual sense through the surrounding area momentarily beforending outside the city gate, where there was already a long line of cultivators waiting to enter the city.
At this moment, Han Li had disguised himself into a young man with a yellowplexion, and his cultivation base had also been restrained down to the Body Integration Stage, so he didn''t stand out at all.
As soon as Han Li joined the line, the slightly portly young man in front of him turned around with a friendly smile as he said, "I don''t recall seeing you around these parts, Fellow Daoist. Is this your first time in Wave View City?"
"That''s right," Han Li replied with an indifferent nod.
The young man seemed to have beenpletely oblivious to Han Li''s rather cold demeanor, and his smile remained unchanged as he asked, "Where are you from, Fellow Daoist? Have you alsoe here because you want to go out to hunt for marine demon beasts?"
Han Li offered no response, merely taking a nce at the young man to discover that he was at thete-Body Integration Stage.
The young man''s smile stiffened slightly at the sight of Han Li''s slightly hostile gaze, and an awkward look appeared on his face as he said, "Please pardon my rudeness. My name is Qin Zhong, and I have a decent reputation in this city. If you want to form a demon beast hunting team, you cane to me at any time."
Chapter 347: Spot
Chapter 347: Spot
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he nodded in response. "I see. Greetings, Fellow Daoist Qin, my surname is Liu."
"It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Fellow Daoist Liu," Qin Zhong said with a smile.
He was a very talkative person, and after a brief chat, the tense atmosphere quickly mellowed out.
"Do you know when this city was constructed, Fellow Daoist Qin? I came here once several hundred years ago, and this city didn''t exist back then," Han Li asked.
"This city was only constructed just over 100 years ago, and there''s a teleportation array in the city leading to the ck Wind Sea, so there are often specialty local products from that region appearing in the city. As a result, it''s be more and more renowned and attracted many people, so it''s been quite prosperous ofte," Qin Zhong exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod, and his heart sank slightly upon hearing this.
This was a sign that the ck Wind Sea''s connection with the outside world had improved significantly, which was perhaps a good thing for the ck Wind Sea. After all, the ck Wind Sea had far less abundance in cultivation resources than the rest of the Northern cial Immortal Region, so this was certainly good news for the cultivators in the area.
However, this was certainly not encouraging news for Han Li, who was trying toy low.
While the two of them were chatting with one another, the line continued to progress onward, and it didn''t take long before it was their turn.
After submitting an entrance fee, Han Li was quickly allowed into the city.
Everything in Wave View City gave off a sense of newness. The ground and the streets were virtuallypletely pristine, as expected of a newly constructed city.
Han Li took a nce at his surroundings, then cast his gaze up toward the pagoda in the distance.
The white pagoda had five floors, and there were five blue jade pirs hovering above it, each of which several dozen feet tall and as thick as a bucket with countless runes inscribed upon them.
The five jade pirs were radiating blue light and bursts of formidable spatial power fluctuations that were resonating with one another.
Qin Zhong could see Han Li looking up at the pagoda, and he asked, "You must be on your way to the ck Wind Sea, right, Fellow Daoist Liu?"
Han Li nodded in response, then asked, "Does the teleportation still happen once per century?"
He didn''t bother to try and hide his intentions of going to the ck Wind Sea as many of the people who came to this city were en route to the same destination.
"That''s right. You came at a very good time as the next teleportation takes ce in less than two years. However, there are many people seeking to go to the ck Wind Sea at the moment, sopetition for spots is very fierce, and it most likely won''t be easy for you to im one," Qin Zhong said in a meaningful voice.
"It sounds like you have a way to secure a spot. If that''s the case, please enlighten me," Han Li said.
Indeed, judging from how many people were in the city, the teleportation spots most likely were going to be hotly contested.
Of course, if he were to disy his true power, then he would be able to secure a spot with ease, but that could expose his identity, so if he could acquire a spot from Qin Zhong instead, he was willing to do so, even at an inted cost.
"I do indeed have a spot right now, and if you''re interested, we can have a more in-depth conversation," Qin Zhong said as he nced at a nearby restaurant with a mysterious smile on his face.
"Of course," Han Li replied with a nod.
The two of them entered the restaurant, requested a booth, then ordered some food and wine.
"The clear spirit wine of this restaurant is quite exquisite. Have a taste, Fellow Daoist Liu," Qin Zhong said with a smile as he filled Han Li''s cup.
The wine was a clear green color with a thinyer of spirit mist drifting on top, giving off an intoxicating aroma.
Han Li took a nce at it, but remained unmoved.
In contrast, Qin Zhong seemed to have been quite an avid drinker, and he downed two cups of wine in a row.
Right as Qin Zhong was about to fill his cup a third time, Han Li finally interjected, "Let''s leave the drinking forter, Fellow Daoist Qin. How about we discuss the teleportation spot first?"
"Please pardon me, Fellow Daoist Liu. I no longer have a need for sustenance, but I''ve never been able to give up good food and wine. Let''s cut straight to the chase. I can tell that you''re quite a direct and straightforward person, so I won''t waste your time."
Qin Zhong set down his cup as he spoke, and a serious look appeared on his face.
"Go ahead," Han Li prompted.
"This is your first time here in Wave View City, so you''re probably unfamiliar with the state of affairs here. Right now, there are many people who want to go to the ck Wind Sea, but for some reason, the ck Wind Sea has severely tightened its regtion of teleportation spots, so not just anyone can im one with Immortal Origin Stones alone.
¡°On top of that, you need to have some local forces vouch for you, so it''s be a lot more difficult for outsiders to enter the ck Wind Sea," Qin Zhong prefaced.
"I''ve always heard that the ck Wind Sea is different from other ces in the immortal realm in that it''s a rtively isted area, and that the majority of its cultivators are descendants of the Earthly Immortals there, so they can''t be faulted for trying to mitigate risk. Tell me about the spot that you have, Fellow Daoist Qin," Han Li said.
There didn''t appear to have been any urgency in Han Li''s demeanor at all, so Qin Zhong could only continue, "My spot doesn''t actually belong to me. Instead, it belongs to a good friend of mine. She was originally nning to go to the ck Wind Sea for some business matters, but she just so happened to have reached a critical juncture in her cultivation and requires some pills, and that''s why she''s trying to sell her spot."
"I see, but if the teleportation spots really are so sought after, then surely she would''ve been able to sell it long ago instead of holding it to this point, so why does she still have it?" Han Li asked.
"To tell you the truth, this friend of mine is rather short on funds at the moment, so she''s asking quite a steep price for this spot," Qin Zhong revealed.
Han Li was actually rather relieved to hear this, and he asked, "How much is she asking for the spot?"
"15 Immortal Origin Stones," Qin Zhong replied after a brief hesitation.
"15? If I recall correctly, each spot used to cost five Immortal Origin Stones," Han Li said as he raised an eyebrow.
"The spots are still selling for five Immortal Origin Stones each, but as you know, demand is quite high right now, and spots have asionally popped up in the ck market for around 10 Immortal Origin Stones each.
¡°Furthermore, the ck market sellers aren''t responsible for finding anyone to vouch for you. 15 Immortal Origin Stones is a little steep, but my friend''s n is a very influential one in this area, and they can vouch for you free of charge," Qin Zhong replied.
"I see..."
Han Li stroked his own chin as a contemtive look appeared on his face, seemingly weighing up his options.
"You''re probably not aware of this, Fellow Daoist Liu, but at the moment, the ck Wind Sea is increasingly tightening regtions on its teleportation arrays. All those who enter and exit the ck Wind Sea are thoroughly examined, and if anyone causes any trouble in the ck Wind Sea, then the power that vouched for them would receive a very severe punishment.
¡°Hence, the reputable powers in the city normally aren''t willing to vouch for outsiders, and even if you pay someone to do so, five Immortal Origin Stones may not get the job done," Qin Zhong hurriedly added.
"In that case, why are you so certain that your friend''s n would be willing to vouch for me?" Han Li asked.
"My friend has already considered this eventuality, so she requested me to get to know someone before I offer them the teleportation spot. We''ve only just met, but I can tell through our conversation on the way here that you''re not some heinous individual," Qin Zhong exined with a smile.
Han Li nodded in response. "Alright, then I agree to your offer."
A hint of tion shed through Qin Zhong''s eyes upon hearing this, and he hurriedly said, "In that case, I''ll notify my friend toe here right away."
"Alright, I''ll wait here, please be back soon," Han Li replied with a nod.
Qin Zhong downed his cup of wine, then rose to his feet and cupped his fist toward Han Li in a parting salute before quickly leaving the booth.
Following his departure, Han Li also rose to his feet, then made his way over to the window and cast his gaze toward the white pagoda in the distance with furrowed brows.
It seemed that some significant changes had taken ce in the ck Wind Sea since his departure, and he wasn''t sure if he had made the right decision ining back.
An hour passed by in the blink of an eye, and Qin Zhong finally returned with a smile on his face.
Trailing along behind him was a figure dressed in white, wearing a veiled conical hat that obscured her features.
The figure lifted the veil to reveal a set of stunning features, but her skin was abnormally pale, as if there were ayer of frost over her skin, and her entire body was giving off a cial aura.
"Sorry to keep you waiting for so long, Fellow Daoist Li," Qin Zhong said in an apologetic manner.
"It''s fine," Han Li replied with a nod, then cast an inquisitive gaze toward the woman in white.
"That''s right, this is the friend of mine who has the teleportation spot."
Qin Zhong took a nce at the woman as he spoke, and his eyes were filled with affection, clearly indicating that he was head over heels for her.
The woman blushed slightly and red at Qin Zhong in a shy manner, but there was a hint of affection in her eyes as well.
Both of them had clearly been cultivating for countless years, yet they were acting like a pair of young lovebirds, and Han Li couldn''t help but roll his eyes internally upon seeing this.
"My name is Xue Luo, it''s a pleasure to meet you, Fellow Daoist Liu," the woman said to Han Li in a slightly shy manner.
"The pleasure is all mine, Celestial Maiden Xue. Would I be able to see the teleportation token?" Han Li asked.
Both Qin Zhong and Xue Luo were at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage, and thetter''s aura was fluctuating slightly, and that was a precursor for an imminent breakthrough.
"Of course."
Xue Luo pulled out a palm-sized ck badge, and on one side was inscribed the words "ck Wind", while "Teleportation" was inscribed on the other.
The badge was identical to the one that Han Li had once received from the master of ck Wind Ind, and he inspected it briefly before giving a nod, then swept a sleeve over the table to produce 10 Immortal Origin Stones.
Xue Luo''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and Qin Zhong''s face also fell slightly as he said, "Fellow Daoist Liu, we agreed on 15 Immortal Origin Stones!"
Chapter 348: Questions
Chapter 348: Questions
"Truth be told, I''m a little short on funds at the moment as well, and I only have 10 Immortal Origin Stones. Can I substitute the remaining five Immortal Origin Stones with these?"
Han Li swept a sleeve over the table once again as he spoke, and five fist-sized white crystals appeared, all of which were giving off wisps of cial qi.
Of course, he didn''t care about a mere five Immortal Origin Stones. Instead, the problem was that he was posing as a Body Integration cultivator at the moment, and it would''ve been far too eye-catching for him to easily produce 15 Immortal Origin Stones.
In the ck Wind Sea, even an early-True Immortal Stage Earthly Immortal wasn''t guaranteed to have 15 Immortal Origin Stones in their possession.
"These are Frost Soul Crystals!"
Xue Luo was ecstatic at the sight of the white crystals, and she immediately picked one up fro a closer inspection.
Qin Zhong was about to raise some objections, but he immediately decided to hold his tongue upon seeing Xue Luo''s reaction.
"I would like to substitute these five Frost Soul Crystals for five Immortal Origin Stones. Will that be alright?" Han Li asked.
"That''s perfectly fine," Xue Luo immediately replied with a nod, then immediately stowed the crystals away as if she were afraid that Han Li would change his mind.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he also stowed the badge away in an unhurried manner.
"Fellow Daoist Liu, I''ll have to trouble you toe with me to my n to finalize the vouching proceedings," Xue Luo said.
"That''s fine. Thank you, Celestial Maiden Xue," Han Li replied with a nod.
Xue Luo hesitated momentarily, then cast a hopeful gaze toward Han Li as she asked, "Also, would you happen to have more of these Frost Soul Crystals?"
"Why do you ask? Would you like to buy some?" Han Li asked.
Xue Luo exchanged a nce with Qin Zhong, then replied, "These crystals are very useful to me, so if you do have some more, I''m willing to purchase them from you."
"If you have any Frost Soul Crystals to spare, you''ll be doing us a huge favor, and if you need any help from me, I''ll be sure to heed your call," Qin Zhong immediately chimed in.
Han Li took a nce at the duo, then swept a sleeve over the table to produce a pair of white crystals as he said, "I do actually have two more Frost Soul Crystals."
Each of these two Frost Soul Crystals was around twice the size of each of the previous five, and Xue Luo was ecstatic to see this, but she refrained from immediately reaching out for the crystals.
Instead, she took a deep breath, then asked, "Would you be able to sell them to me, Fellow Daoist Liu? I''ll be sure to give you satisfactorypensation."
"I came across these Frost Soul Crystals by chance anyway, so if you want them, I can give them to you free of charge," Han Li said as he pushed the two Frost Soul Crystals toward Xue Luo.
A hint of surprise shed through Xue Luo''s eyes upon hearing this, and she shook her head as she replied, "I can''t just ept such a precious gift free of charge! Please state a price, Fellow Daoist."
"In that case, how about this? Seeing as youe from a prominent n in Wave View City, I''m sure you must have many information sources. Has anything major happened in the ck Wind Sea recently? Also, why has the ck Wind Sea suddenly be so much stricter in its examination of people seeking to enter the region? If you can answer those two questions, I''ll give you these two Frost Soul Crystals," Han Li said.
A hint of tion shed through the eyes of Xue Luo and Qin Zhong upon hearing this, and the former asked, "Is that a serious offer?"
"Most certainly so," Han Li replied without any hesitation.
Xue Luo took a moment to gather her thoughts, then said, "While Wave View City and the ck Wind City are only separated by a single teleportation array, there''s not much flow of information between the two ces, so we don''t know much ourselves.
¡°When ites to major events taking ce in the ck Wind Sea, all we''ve heard of is the battle between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind. Recently, the battle has gradually risen to the fore, and it''s bing more and more intense."
"Do you know if other more secluded parts of the ck Wind Sea have also gotten swept up in this conflict?" Han Li asked.
"I''m not sure about that, but I''ve heard from some people who came from the ck Wind Sea that the battle is still limited to only the central region, while the areas outside of that are still rtively peaceful. That''s all I know about the situation," Xue Luo replied.
Han Li nodded in response. Given what he had just heard, Dark Veil Ind was most likely still untouched.
"By the way, I heard from a fellow daoist who came from the ck Wind Sea about a decade ago mentioned an event that took ce there that had apparently caused quite a stir," Qin Zhong suddenly said.
"Oh? What exactly was this event?" Han Li asked with a hint of intrigue in his eyes.
"I''m not sure about the exact details, but apparently, the Castaway Gale around some parts of the ck Wind Sea had suddenly converged inward, destroying several inds in the process," Qin Zhong replied.
"I heard about that as well. The Castaway Gale is a natural barrier that istes the ck Wind Sea from the rest of the immortal region, and it''s already existed for countless years, but never had anything like that happened before that point," Xue Luo chimed in.
"I see. Would either of you be able to provide an answer to my second question?" Han Li asked.
Xue Luo and Qin Zhong exchanged a nce before both of them shook their heads in response. "Many people in Wave View City have actually been trying to find out why the regtions have suddenly be so strict, but no one has been able to get to the bottom of things so far."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly in contemtion as he replied, "I see. In any case, you''ve managed to answer one of my questions, so you can have one of these Frost Soul Crystals."
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Liu."
Xue Luo picked up one of the crystals before stowing it away, then cast her gaze toward the other crystal as she asked, "Would you be willing to sell this Frost Soul Crystal for two Immortal Origin Stones?"
Han Li didn''t refuse this offer, and the three of them remained in the booth for a while longer before departing.
Han Li made a trip to the Xue n with the duo, and it was arge trading house situated in the eastern part of Wave View City.
Xue Luo proved to be quite trustworthy, quickly finalizing the vouching proceedings for Han Li.
With that, both sides had gotten what they wanted, and it was a win-win situation.
Han Li tactfully turned down Xue Luo''s offer to stay and enjoy the Xue n''s hospitality, then promptly departed.
"That went quite smoothly," Daoist Xie remarked in Han Li''s mind.
"Indeed," Han Li replied as he flipped a hand over to produce a white badge.
One one side of the badge was engraved the image of a strange white bird with a t head and an eagle beak, while on the other side was inscribed the character for "Xue".
This was the Xue n''s token, and it had been given to him by Xue Luo.
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he inspected the white badge.
"Is there something wrong with the badge?" Daoist Xie asked.
"No, I just feel like the bird engraved on it is rather interesting," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
He had seen this design in the ck Wind Sea before, and if he recalled correctly, it was the symbol of arge ind near Dark Veil Ind, an ind by the name of Snow Kite Ind.
ording to the records on Dark Veil Ind, everyone on the entirety of Snow Kite Ind suddenly vanished tens of thousands of years ago, and that was still an unsolved mystery to date.
Han Li was wondering whether the Xue n was somehow tied to Snow Kite Ind, but he quickly rid himself of that trivial train of thought and stowed the badge away as a hint of concern appeared on his face.
"Are you still concerned about the changes that have taken ce in the ck Wind Sea? Didn''t you say that the most formidable cultivator there is the master of ck Wind Sea, and he''s only ate-True Immortal Stage Earthly Immortal? If that''s the case, surely you have nothing to fear," Daoist Xie said.
"That may be true, but for some reason, I can''t shake off this feeling of unease," Han Li replied.
"I think you''re getting a little paranoid from constantly having to worry about being apprehended by the Heavenly Court," Daoist Xie said.
"Perhaps so," Han Li replied in a self-deprecating manner, but the concern on his face wasn''t eased in the slightest.
As they were speaking with one another, Han Li arrived on a street in the eastern part of the city.
It was noon at the moment, and the street was teeming with people, most of whom possessed lofty cultivation bases.
There was nock of Spatial Tempering and Body Integration cultivators among them, and they were most likely itinerant cultivators who hade here to purchase different things.
Most of the shops that lined the street were material shops, and all of the spirit nts and demon beast materials sold inside were quite fresh, clearly indicating that they had been recently acquired.
Han Li wanted to take his mind off his current concerns, so he began wandering aimlessly through the shops.
Wave View City wasn''t veryrge, and it didn''t have many shops, but there was a high degree of diversity in the wares on offer, and he was able to find some things that he needed, thereby improving his mood.
Shortly thereafter, he drew to a halt in front of one of therger material shops, then cast his gaze into the shop to find that it was selling arge range of products, all of which had been ced on around a dozen shelves.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he made his way inside, and right at this moment, a white-robed young man just so happened toe out of the shop.
The two of them passed each other by, and Han Li stopped in his tracks before turning to look at the white-robed young man''s departing figure with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
The white-robed young man was disying ate-Body Integration Stage cultivation, but Han Li was immediately able to identify him as an early-True Immortal cultivator.
The aura concealment method that he was using was quite advanced, and Han Li may not have been able to see through his cover had it not been for his immense spiritual sense.
The white-robed young man didn''t notice Han Li''s gaze, and he quickly vanished into the crowd, while Han Li withdrew his gaze and stepped into the shop.
It was a very normal urrence for cultivators to conceal their cultivation base. After all, he was doing the exact same thing.
As soon as Han Li entered the shop, he was immediately greeted by the hospitable shopkeeper. "What can I help you with today?"
¡¡
Close to a dayter, Han Li had already visited all of the shops in the city, and he had found several good materials, as well as two types of rare spirit nt seeds.
Perhaps it was because this was a newly constructed city in a rather secluded location, but there was no Immortal Outlet here, and that put Han Li slightly more at ease.
At this moment, he was standing in the central area of the city, not far away from the white pagoda.
Under the night sky, the pagoda was giving off a faint white glow that matched the luster of the moon, presenting a marvelous spectacle to behold.
At this moment, the gates of the pagoda were tightly shut, making it impossible for anyone to see inside.
Han Li didn''t use his spiritual sense to forcibly inspect the interior of the pagoda, and after staying there for a while longer, he turned to depart, renting a room in a secluded inn to the west of the city before going into seclusion.
Chapter 349: Perplexing
Chapter 349: Perplexing
Han Li stayed in the secret chamber in the inn for close to two years.
During this time, he asionally came out of seclusion a few times in disguise, but only to visit all of the shops in the city, keeping an eye on any news about the Immortal Pce while also checking to see if there were any spirit materials worth buying.
Perhaps it was because the ck Wind Sea was truly too secluded, but even up to this point, the Northern cial Immortal Pce still hadn''t sent anyone to Wave View City. However, news of what had happened in the ze Dragon Dao had still managed to travel here, and it had be the most shocking piece of news in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region in recent years.
Han Li naturally paid some extra attention to this news, and he was quite relieved to hear that Daoist Hu Yan hadn''t fallen into the hands of the Northern cial Immortal Pce. However, at the same time, he was a little perplexed about why Daoist Hu Yan wasn''t also a wanted fugitive in the Immortal Outlets.
Aside from that, Baili Yan appeared to have still been alive as well.
Han Li didn''t have any ties to him, but he was still happy to see that Baili Yan hadn''t met his demise. After all, he was currently wanted by the Northern cial Immortal Pce, so it definitely wasn''t a bad thing that Baili Yan was diverting their attention away from him.
One day, at the center of Wave View City.
A burst of dazzling light erupted out of the five-story white pagoda, and a pir of blue light rose up from its rooftop straight into the heavens.
At this moment, many of the cultivators in the city were gathered around the pagoda, watching the cultivators entering the pagoda with undisguised envy on their faces.
All those who were entering the pagoda had naturally obtained teleportation spots, and it had been said that many cultivators had reaped benefits from the ck Wind Sea ofte. This was the primary reason why Wave View City was already so prosperous despite being such a new city.
In the crowd was a fair-skinned schr holding a folding fan, and he was staring at the white pagoda in an expressionless manner, making it unclear what he was thinking.
All of a sudden, he emerged from the crowd and stowed his folding fan away as he strode toward the pagoda.
This person was none other than Han Li in disguise.
After entering the pagoda, he passed through a short corridor to arrive in a spacious hall that was over 1,000 feet in size, and on either side of the hall''s entrance stood a cultivator wearing ck Wind Ind robes.
"Please disy your teleportation badge and vouching token," the ck-robed cultivator on the left said to Han Li in a calm manner.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce the two requested objects before handing them over.
The ck-robed cultivator summoned a white jade tablet, which released a burst of white light that enveloped the two objects, following which a pair of fist-sized golden runes appeared on the tablet before vanishing in a sh.
"Right this way, Fellow Daoist," the ck-robed cultivator on the right said as he gestured toward the entrance of the hall.
Han Li gave a slight nod in response, then made his way inside.
The hall was rectangr in shape, and the floor was paved with pristine white jade bricks. There were countless runes engraved upon the surrounding walls, and they were giving off a white glow that illuminated the entire hall.
Aside from several ck Wind Ind cultivators, there were already around two dozen cultivators dressed in different attire waiting inside the hall.
The teleportation array was situated at the very back of the hall, and even though it hadn''t been activated yet, it was already giving off bursts of faint spatial fluctuations.
Han Li''s arrival didn''t attract much attention, drawing only a few nces from some of the cultivators, while everyone else paid no heed to him.
He casually swept his gaze across the hall while making his way over to an empty corner of the hall, where he sat down with his legs crossed.
His expression remained unchanged, but he was actually rather intrigued to notice that the white-robed cultivator who had been concealing his own cultivation base that he had encountered upon first entering Wave View City was standing no more than 200 feet away from him.
This wouldn''t have been worthy of note on its own. After all, it wasn''t a strange urrence for a True Immortal to travel to the ck Wind Sea.
What had truly caught Han Li''s attention was that there were five or six cultivators around the white-robed young man, all of whom were also True Immortals that were only revealing Body Integration Stage cultivation bases. In particr, one of them, a middle-aged man with a square face and thin eyebrows, was at thete-True Immortal Stage, ranking alongside Han Li as the two most formidable cultivators present.
It was rather noteworthy that such a formidable force was collectively traveling to the ck Wind Sea, but as long as they didn''t get in his way, Han Li certainly wasn''t going to meddle in their business.
Time slowly passed by, and around a dozen more cultivators had arrived in the next two hours.
Right at this moment, a ck-robed elderly man emerged as he dered, "Sorry to keep you all waiting, everyone, it''s almost time for the teleportation array to be activated."
The deration immediately caused a stir among the crowd, and all of the cultivators who were meditating had opened their eyes and risen to their feet.
Han Li rose to his feet alongside everyone else, and he discovered that he had met this ck-robed elderly man once before; it was the itinerant immortal referred to as Elder Yi. [1]
"I''m sure you''re all aware that things are a bit different nowadays than they were before, so prior to entering the ck Wind Sea, I''ll have to get all of you to pass through this sensory array," the ck-robed elderly man said as he raised a hand and made a hand seal.
Several of the jade bricks on the floor between the elderly man and everyone else abruptly lit up with golden light, following which a series of golden runes flew out from within, quickly intertwining in mid-air to form a ring of golden light that was around 10 feet in size.
Inside the golden ring, balls of golden light of different sizes were whizzing incessantly through the air.
A hint of blue light shed through Han Li''s eyes, and he discovered that every single one of these balls of light was formed by countless golden seal text runes. His expression remained unchanged, but his heart sank slightly upon seeing this.
Most of the cultivators present seemed to have already been aware that this was going to happen, and aside from a few who disyed surprised reactions, the rest began to pass through the ring of light one after another.
Whenever someone passed through the rings of light, the balls of golden light around it would shudder slightly and disy some minute changes.
Meanwhile, Elder Yi''s gaze remained fixed firmly on the ring of light this entire time, seemingly observing something.
Before long, around a dozen people had already passed through the ring of life and entered the teleportation array. Even the white-robed cultivator that Han Li had noticed earlier had already passed through the ring of light, and up to this point, no abnormalities had been disyed.
Instead of immediately approaching the ring of light, Han Li made his way over to a purple-haired Body Integration Stage young woman beside him as he said, "Greetings, Fellow Daoist, I am Luo Feng of Dark Veil Ind. I had to leave the ck Wind Sea due to n matters several hundred years ago, and at the time, this procedure hadn''t been implemented. Could it be that something''s recently happened in the ck Wind Sea?"
Judging from her attire, she seemed to have been a cultivator from Cedar Gift Ind, which Han Li recalled was affiliated with ck Wind Ind.
The purple-haired woman was just about to make her way toward the ring of light when she stopped in her tracks, then turned to Han Li as she exined, "If you''ve been away for several centuries, then it''s no surprise that you don''t know about this. This is a new rule established by Ind Master Lu a century ago, and I don''t know the exact reasons why, but it seems to have something to do with a certain evil cultivator."
"I see. Thank you for enlightening me, Fellow Daoist," Han Li replied with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute.
The purple-haired young woman waved a casual hand before making her way forward.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s mind was racing as he cast his gaze toward the ring of golden light once again.
His first thought upon hearing mention of an evil cultivator was that it had to have been himself. After all, he had killed Tao Yu, who was clearly a very important figure, and it would''ve only made sense for him to have been deemed an evil cultivator by the Northern cial Immortal Pce.
However, he then quickly decided that this most likely wasn''t the case.
Not only had he not heard of any ties between ck Wind Ind and the Northern cial Immortal Pce prior to this, the fact that this restriction had already been set up for a century indicated that it clearly had nothing to do with him. After all, back then, he was still in the ze Dragon Dao and hadn''t done anything out of line.
Aside from that, the white-robed cultivator hadn''t triggered any reaction from the restriction, so it seemed that this restriction didn''t pay any heed to one''s true cultivation base.
As these thoughts were shing through Han Li''s mind, more cultivators continued to pass through the golden array. At this point, there was barely anyone left around him, and the other True Immortals that had concealed their true cultivation bases had also stepped into the teleportation array.
Thus, he took a deep breath before stepping into the ring of golden light.
The surrounding balls of golden light shuddered in unison, following which a burst of gentle force instantly enveloped his entire body, flowing over him like trickling water.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he continued.
One step!
Two steps!
Three steps!
All the while, Elder Yi continued to scrutinize the golden array with his hands sped behind his back.
The ring of golden light didn''t epass a veryrge area, and Han Li was able to pass through it in just a few steps without any mishaps, much to his relief.
Shortly thereafter, the remaining few cultivators also passed through the sensory restriction without any incident.
Only then did Elder Yi give a slight nod before sweeping a sleeve through the air to wave away the restriction. At the same time, streaks of blue light shot out of his other sleeve beforending upon Han Li and the others, revealing a series of blue talismans.
In the next instant, the teleportation array lit up with dazzling radiance, and Han Li''s entire field of view waspletely filled with white light.
A long whileter, the scene around him stabilized once again, and he found himself situated within a circr hall.
This was the interior of ck Wind Ind''s Heavenly Star Pagoda, so Han Li had some recollection of this ce.
A hunch-backed elderly woman wearing a ck robe was standing in front of the array, and she smiled as she dered, "Wee to the ck Wind Sea, fellow daoists!"
Everyone cupped their fists in a collective salute toward the elderly woman before stepping out of the array and making their way toward a nearby archway.
Han Li was walking slowly among the crowd, and all of a sudden, he slowed down slightly, seemingly having noticed something.
Just now, he had noticed out of the corner of his eye that the white-robed cultivator wasn''t following the crowd. Instead, he had stopped in the hall after stepping out of the teleportation array, and the same applied to all of the other concealed True Immortals as well.
The hunch-backed elderly woman didn''t raise any objections to this, and Han Li became even more curious about who these people were.
1. This guy showed up once back in chapter 156, he''s not an important character, so don''t worry if you don''t remember him. ?
Chapter 350: Lockdown
Chapter 350: Lockdown
After leaving the Heavenly Star Pagoda, Han Li made his way along the white stone za toward a nearby street, just like everyone else, and it wasn''t long before he entered the city.
ck Wind City was the most prosperous city in the entire ck Wind Sea, and this was the most prosperous area in the entire city.
The city remainedrgely unchanged since Han Li''sst visit, except several extremely opulent shops had opened up on the most lively and bustling crossroads in the area. Business was booming for these shops, and countless cultivators were constantly entering and exiting the establishments.
Han Li maintained a casual fa?ade as he made his way onto a nearby street, one that was lined with materials shops, and he turned back to take a nce at the Heavenly Star Pagoda before stepping into one of the shops.
The shop wasn''t veryrge, and there weren''t many customers inside.
Han Li was immediately greeted by an enthusiastic employee, who asked, "What can I help you with today?"
Han Li began to engage in a casual conversation with the employee, but his peripheral vision was still focused on the Heavenly Star Pagoda.
An entire hour passed by, and nothing happened on the za outside the pagoda.
All of a sudden, a group of cultivators appeared on an obscure corner of the za, and they were none other than the hunch-backed elderly woman and the group of concealed True Immortals, with thete-True Immortal Stage middle-aged man bringing up the rear.
As soon as the group appeared on the za, they immediately rose up into the air and flew away in a certain direction, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Han Li''s suspicions were confirmed upon seeing this.
If he recalled correctly, that direction was where the ind master''s manor was situated.
After purchasing a few materials to keep up appearances, Han Li left the shop, then cast his gaze toward the direction that the group had flown away in with a slightly hesitant look in his eyes.
However, he then shook his head and departed in another direction.
Regardless of how these people were rted to the master of ck Wind Ind or what their intentions were, they most likely had nothing to do with him, so it was best for him to avoid attracting unnecessary trouble.
With that in mind, Han Li passed through several more streets, and as he emerged from a secluded alley, he had adopted another disguise, transforming into a yellow-skinned man.
With the Transient Guild mask, adopting disguises was very easy, so he took on a new appearance in virtually every single ce that he passed through.
After that, he began to explore ck Wind City while replenishing some supplies.
Perhaps it was because the ck Wind Sea''s ties with the outside world had been strengthened, but the city really had be a lot more prosperous than before, and various types of materials and pills that had been quite rare in the past could now be found in all of the shops.
Close to half a dayter, Han Li rose up into the air as a streak of azure light before flying away into the distance.
Shortly thereafter, he descended onto the za in front of the ind master''s manor.
At a rough nce, this ce hadn''t changed much, either, except the manor was currently enshrouded underyers of light barriers of different colors, and there were also some cultivators patrolling nearby, indicating that security had be a lot tighter than before.
Han Li didn''t linger for very long here before making his way toward the Talisman Letter Pce where missions were released.
There were many more cultivators gathered in the pce than during hisst visit, and the number of missions on the stone wall inside had also increased significantly.
Furthermore, the contents of the missions had also changed drastically, and there were many more missions
There were even missions that offered rewards for killing certain Azure Feather Ind cultivators, each one with its own corresponding reward.
Han Li quickly read through all of the missions on the stone wall, but he was unable to find any rted to himself or even the ze Dragon Dao.
However, he still wasn''tpletely reassured.
He strolled around the hall for a while to strike up some conversations with other cultivators who were also looking at missions, and only after confirming that there were no signs of the Immortal Pceing after him here was he finally able to heave an internal sigh of relief.
However, prior to leaving, he took on a mission to acquire a certain demon beast material in order to avoid suspicion.
After leaving the Talisman Letter Pce, Han Li took another nce at the ind master''s manor before flying toward the city gate as a streak of azure light.
However, halfway to the city gate, a burst of dull rumbling suddenly rang out from all over the ind, apanied by the sound of sshing waves.
Han Li hurriedly stopped in his tracks, then looked around to find that pirs of blue light had erupted into the heavens around ck Wind City, forming a fence-like structure around the entire city.
Formidable energy fluctuations were emanating from the pirs of light, causing the surrounding space to tremble and quiver.
Waves of watery light then began to surge out of the pirs of blue light, causing them to bend and converge toward the center, quickly fusing together to be interconnected.
Before long, a thick blue light barrier had taken shape, epassing the entire city within it.
Countless ripples were surging over the light barrier, and it was clear that this was a very intricate array.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and after a brief moment of contemtion, he continued onward, quickly reaching the city gate.
There were many people gathered at the city gate, causing quite amotion.
Han Li descended discreetly by the edge of the crowd, then made his way into the throngs of people.
At this moment, the group of cultivators at the front of the line weremunicating to a ck-robed city guard.
"What''s going on? Why has the protective array suddenly been activated?"
"We urgently need to leave the city, would you be able to make an exception and let us through?"
"Ind Master Lu has ordered for the protective array to be activated as we''ve just received news that some cultivators from Azure Feather Ind intend to attack ck Wind City. This is just a safety precaution, and as soon as the threat is alleviated, we''ll immediately deactivate the array," the leader of the guards dered to everyone as he cupped his fist in an apologetic salute.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this.
He had already heard that the conflict between ck Wind City and Azure Feather Ind was worsening by the day, but he didn''t think that things were already this severe.
Judging from everyone''s reactions, it seemed that they weren''t overly surprised by this exnation.
Han Li pondered the situation momentarily, then turned to a red-robed elderly man beside him as he asked, "Fellow Daoist, could it be that the city''s protective array is activated quite often?"
The red-robed elderly raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and he asked, "Are you not from the ck Wind Sea?"
"I only just arrived on ck Wind Ind through the teleportation array, so I''m not very familiar with the state of affairs here," Han Li replied in a polite manner.
"I see. The conflict between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind has been getting more and more intense. ck Wind City is the stronghold of ck Wind Ind, but it''s still not all that safe, and the city''s protective array has already been activated many times in recent years," the red-robed elderly man exined.
"Which side has the upper hand in the conflict?" Han Li asked.
"Overall, ck Wind Ind is more powerful than Azure Feather Ind, but recently, Azure Feather Ind has managed to recruit many inds as allies, so they''re not able to stand toe to toe against ck Wind Ind. I wonder when this war is going toe to an end," the red-robed elderly man sighed.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive look in his eyes.
Right as the crowd was abuzz with conversation, a Grand Ascension Stage middle-aged man emerged from the crowd, then asked, "May I ask when the array will be deactivated? You can''t just expect all of us to wait indefinitely."
"I''m afraid I can''t give you a precise answer. Perhaps it''ll only be two or three days, perhaps it could be up to 10 days or half a month. If you need to leave the city for some urgent reason, you can go the ind master''s manor to request an audience with Ind Master Lu. If you can acquire an exit token from Ind Master Lu, then you''ll be free to go," the leader of the guards replied.
The man''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this, but he didn''t say anything further.
Many others were also reluctant to ept this arrangement, but they clearly didn''t dare to oppose the authority of the ind master''s manor. As for applying for an exit token, none of them actually had to leave the city that urgently, so after some more discussion, all of the cultivators gathered at the city gate quickly dispersed.
Han Li''s brows were slightly furrowed as he heaved an internal sigh.
It seemed that his luck was rather bad. If he had set off just a little earlier, perhaps he would''ve already been out of the city by now.
He took a nce up at the blue light barrier in the sky, then bade farewell to the red-robed elderly man before returning the same way that he hade.
The activation of the protective array had caused a stir in the city, but it quickly subsided. After all, this was a fairly regr urrence, so everyone quickly continued with what they were doing.
Before long, Han Li arrived in an inn in a secluded part of the city, where he rented a room.
Night soon arrived, and inside the secret chamber, Han Li''s eyes suddenly sprang open as he rose to his feet, then swept a sleeve through the air to release around a dozen streaks of azure light that descended all around the room to form a restriction.
Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal, and arcs of golden lightning appeared over his body before quickly spreading outward to form a golden lightning array.
The lightning array then shed with golden light, and he abruptly vanished from the spot.
The remaining traces of golden lightning lingered momentarily in the room beforepletely fading away.
Meanwhile, in a secret chamber deep beneath the ind master''s manor.
It was quite a dimly lit room that was surrounded by rippling ck light.
At the center of the secret chamber was arge blue jade tform, above which were hovering a series of blue array gs, of which there were at least 10,000.
Dazzling blue light was radiating from these array gs, forming a hemispherical blue light barrier that enshrouded the blue jade tform down below.
Engraved onto the tform was an image of a city, and upon close inspection, one would quickly be able to tell that it was none other than ck Wind City.
Chapter 351: Encountering a Conflict
Chapter 351: Encountering a Conflict
At this moment, a ck-robed elderly man was seated with his legs crossed beside the blue jade tform with dozens of blue jade tes hovering around him.
All of a sudden, one of the jade tes shuddered as a bright gleam shed over its surface, and the elderly man immediately opened his eyes and cast his gaze toward that jade te.
"What''s wrong, Elder Chu?"
A voice rang out as a ck-robed figure emerged out of the darkness, and it was none other than the master of ck Wind Ind, Lu Jun.
There hadn''t been much change to his physical appearance, and he still appeared as authoritative as ever.
"Someone has just passed through the city''s protective array," the ck-robed elderly man replied with furrowed brows.
"Passed through? As in someone managed to unravel the array?" Lu Jun asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"No, they''ve simply passed through it using some type of special movement technique," the ck-robed elderly man exined.
"How did they do that?" Lu Jun asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"They must''ve used some type of spatial secret technique. The city''s protective array can''t be bypassed through normal movement techniques, but it has no spatial restrictions, so it''s notpletely foolproof."
Another voice rang out as a third figure emerged from the darkness, and it was none other than thete-True Immortal Stage middle-aged man that Han Li had seen earlier.
The authoritative look on Lu Jun''s face was instantly reced with a respectful expression at the sight of the middle-aged man, and he said, "I''ve never encountered such a situation before. Perhaps it''s because the ck Wind Sea is too secluded and my knowledge iscking."
"This type of secret technique isn''t all thatmon on the outside, either, so I also wasn''t expecting to see one here," the middle-aged man replied.
"Could it be someone from Azure Feather Ind?" the ck-robed elderly man asked.
"Most likely not. I''ve had numerous battles with Daoist Master Azure Feather in the past, and even he doesn''t possess such an ability. Otherwise, things wouldn''t have been so peaceful all this time. I''m presuming it''s one of the cultivators who were teleported into the city earlier today," Lu Jun mused.
"We can only hope that this person doesn''t have anything to do with Azure Feather Ind," the ck-robed elderly man said.
"In any case, they''re definitely not one of our people, and it''s certainly not a good thing that there exists someone who can pass through our city''s protective restrictions as they please," Lu Jun said with slightly furrowed brows.
"There''s no need to be overly concerned, Ind Master Lu. I just so happen to have a restriction here that contains spatial power, and Fellow Daoist Chu can simply add it to the city''s protective array," the middle-aged man said as he flipped a hand over to produce a stack of shimmering silver array tools, which he handed to the ck-robed elderly man.
The ck-robed elderly man''s eyes lit up as he felt the faint spatial power fluctuations emanating from the array tools, and he hurriedly epted them before giving them a close inspection.
Lu Jun was also quite ted to see this, and he cupped his fist in a grateful salute as he said, "You have our thanks, Fellow Daoist Feng."
"Don''t worry about it. How are you going with the task that I assigned you?" the middle-aged man asked, abruptly changing the subject.
"After receiving your instructions, I immediately sent people to reinforce the defenses, and we''ll be sure to keep out all of the Azure Feather Ind cultivators," Lu Jun replied in a serious voice.
"The cultivators of Azure Feather Ind aren''t worthy of concern, the key is the Reincarnation Pce. If Azure Feather Ind is being supported in secret by the Reincarnation Pce, then things will be very troublesome, so we can''t afford to growcent," the middle-aged man said with a serious expression.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Feng," Lu Jun replied with a nod.
The middle-aged man also nodded in response before departing, and even though he was speaking in a rather haughty manner, neither Lu Jun nor the ck-robed elderly man disyed any displeasure, as if this were a normal urrence.
"I can take care of everything on my own here, Ind Master. You should go back to rest," the ck-robed elderly man said.
Lu Jun shook his head in response as he cast a concerned gaze toward the blue jade tform.
"Are you still worried about Young Mistress Yuqing?" the ck-robed elderly man asked.
"I can''t help but be concerned for her," Lu Jun sighed.
"Young Mistress Yuqing is only trying to share your burden. Besides, Waveflow Ind isn''t far away from ck Wind Ind, and she''s made significant strides in her cultivation base ofte, so she''ll definitely be fine," the ck-robed elderly man reassured with a smile.
Lu Jun seemed to have been slightly reassured upon hearing this.
¡¡
Close to 100,000 kilometers away from ck Wind Ind, arcs of golden lightning suddenly erupted out of thin air, forming a golden lightning array above the sea.
Han Li appeared at the center of the array, and his expression eased slightly as he inhaled the slightly damp and salty sea breeze blowing toward him.
After taking a moment to gather his bearings, he flipped a hand over to produce the jade slip that contained the map of the ck Wind Sea that he had previously purchased, then pressed it against his own forehead.
Momentster, he stowed the jade slip away, then flew away into the distance.
ording to what he had learned thus far, the area around ck Wind Ind wasn''t all that peaceful at the moment. Given his current cultivation base, he naturally had nothing to worry about, but he was still going to keep as low a profile as possible, and he was flying carefully at a low speed while taking care to conceal himself.
The night passed by quickly, and as the sun began to rise in the east, it was as if countless shimmering golden scales had appeared on the surface of the sea, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
The ck Wind Sea was the first ce Han Li had settled at upon his return to the Immortal Realm, so he harbored some special emotions for this ce. This was like his hometown in the Immortal Realm, and that made him particrly partial to the scenery here.
However, right at this moment, he suddenly cast his gaze toward a certain direction with a hint of surprise in his eyes, then immediately stopped in his tracks.
He had just detected some violent spiritual qi fluctuations several thousand kilometers away in that direction, and it seemed that a fierce battle was taking ce.
After a brief hesitation, he began to fly in that direction, but as he did so, his body slowly became transparent, and the azure light that he was giving off also faded, turning him into an invisible shadow.
At this current speed, he was able to cover several thousand kilometers to arrive at the scene of the battle in mere moments, and he concealed himself within a cloud in the sky before casting his gaze downward.
Enormous waves were rising up into the heavens alongside streaks of spiritual light of different colors, and resounding booms were also ringing out incessantly.
Out of the two opposing groups of cultivators, one of them consisted of five ck Wind Ind cultivators, two of whom were at the Grand Ascension Stage, while the other three were at the Body Integration Stage.
One of the Grand Ascension cultivators was a young woman who appeared to have been in her twenties, and she was wielding an azure feather fan, which conjured up gusts of fierce azure wind with each sweep.
The other Grand Ascension cultivator was a thin yellow-aged man with a rather yellowplexion, and there was a blue mirror hovering above his head that was asionally shooting forth thick pirs of blue light.
As for the three Body Integration cultivators, they were gathered around the young woman while controlling their own treasures, seemingly intentionally protecting her.
They were facing a pair of Azure Feather Ind cultivators, and even though the ck Wind Ind cultivators had the numbers advantage, they were in a terrible situation as one of the two Azure Feather Ind cultivators, a bald man with a fleshy growth on his head, was at the True Immortal Stage.
At this moment, there was arge ck g hovering in front of the bald man, and the image of the ck deity on the g bore a close resemnce to the lightning god of legends.
As he made a string of hand seals, bolts of ck lightning erupted out of the ck g in all directions to form a sea of ck lightning.
Thick bolts of lightning shot out of the sea of lightning, vanquishing the attacks from the ck Wind Ind cultivators with ease while also forcing them back into constant retreat.
Beside him was an elderly man with a goatee, and he was giving off a Grand Ascension STage aura.
The elderly man was wielding a pair of yellow spear treasures, which had transformed into a pair of earthy yellow dragons that were sting millstone-sized balls of yellow light out of their mouths to assist the bald man.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes at the sight of the young man as it was none other than the daughter of Ind Master Lu Jun, Lu Yuqing.
"I didn''t think you would dare to leave ck Wind Ind when you''re the sole heir to the ind. I wonder if I should call you brave or foolish," the bald man chuckled coldly as he made a hand seal, and thick bolts of lightning erupted out of the sea of lightning, then rapidly intertwined to form five giant lightning serpents that pounced at the five ck Wind Ind cultivators.
A grim look appeared on Lu Yuqing''s face upon seeing this, and she swept her feather fan through the air, unleashing a gust of ferocious azure wind that enveloped the five huge lightning serpents at once.
Countless threads of azure light could be seen within the gust of wind, and the giant lightning serpents were slowed down significantly.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man beside her made a rapid string of hand seals, and the blue mirror in front of him abruptly swelled to several hundred feet in size.
An incredibly thick pir of blue light then shot out of the mirror to epass the five lightning serpents while releasing vast cial qi, immediately following which the pir of light transformed into a massive blue ice mountain, freezing the five lightning serpents inside.
"Go, Young Mistress Yuqing! We''ll hold off these two!" the man yelled while making a string of hand seals, sending thick pirs of blue light erupting out of his mirror toward the pair of opposing cultivators.
The other three Body Integration cultivators also braced themselves to make a final stand as they began bombarding the two Azure Feather Ind cultivators with attacks.
A conflicted look appeared in Lu Yuqing''s eyes, but she then gritted her teeth and fled toward the distance as a streak of azure light.
"You''re not getting away!" the bald man dered with a cold smile as he switched to a different hand seal, and the five lightning serpents exploded violently into thick arcs of lightning that tore the blue ice mountain apart with ease.
Immediately thereafter, the arcs of lightning intertwined to form a huge lightning that swept toward the group of ck Wind Ind cultivators at an incredible speed, and it instantly fell upon the middle-aged man and the others, quickly charring their entire bodies ck.
Meanwhile, the elderly man with the goatee sped away as a streak of yellow light in pursuit of Lu Yuqing.
Chapter 352: Identity Exposed
Chapter 352: Identity Exposed
The other four ck Wind Ind cultivators were struggling with all their might under the lightning, but they were like insects trapped in a cobweb, unable to break free no matter how hard they tried.
A sinister grin appeared on the bald man''s face as he pointed a finger forward, and four thick bolts pirs of lightning instantly erupted out of the ck g above his head before striking the four cultivators in a sh.
The protective treasures around the three Body Integration cultivators were torn apart without being able to put up any resistance, and their bodies were reduced to ashes before they even had a chance to cry out.
The middle-aged man possessed a far superior cultivation base to those three, but a pir of lightning was still able to pierce straight through him, splitting his body into two with explosive force.
However, he was able to take advantage of this opportunity to struggle free from the lightning, and a vast expanse of crimson light emerged to envelop the two halves of his body before speeding away in a certain direction as a ball of crimson light.
The bald man immediately switched to a different hand seal upon seeing this, and ck lightning shed over the surface of his ck g, following which it swelled drastically in size before flying away in pursuit of the ball of crimson light, intercepting it in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, the ck g wrapped itself around the ball of crimson light before releasing a vast expanse of ck lightning, and an agonized howl rang out as the ball of crimson light was incinerated into ashes.
All of this had taken ce in the span of just a few seconds, and the bald man made a beckoning motion, following which the ck g quickly flew back to his side, reverting back to its original size as it did so.
At the same time, he cast his gaze toward the direction that Lu Yuqing had fled in.
Lu Yuqing hadn''t been able to get very far in such a short time, but the elderly man was still unable to catch up to her.
The bald man immediately sped off in that direction as an arc of ck lightning, and as a Grand Ascension cultivator, there was naturally no way that Lu Yuqing could outrun a True Immoratl, so the arc of ck lightning was quickly able to catch up to her.
"Did you really think you could get away from me? What a joke!"
A cold voice rang out within the ck lightning, immediately following which a massive ck hand that was around an acre in size and formed entirely from lightning emerged out of thin air before grabbing toward Lu Yuqing.
Even before the giant hand had fully descended upon her, she was already struck by an enormous burst of pressure that swept up gusts of fierce wind, causing her to lose control in her flight and swirl around in the air like a helpless leaf.
A panicked look appeared on her face, and the feather fan in her hand lit up as it swelled to around twice its original size, following which she swept it upward with all her might.
A thick pir of azure wind shot forth, and it was giving off an astonishing howling sound alongside faint spatial fluctuations, allowing it to keep the giant lightning palm at bay.
"That''s... a Profound Heavenly Treasure!"
The bald man reappeared in mid-air with a surprised look on his face, following which he gave a cold harrumph as he thrust his palm forward once again.
The giant ck lightning palm instantly swelled further by about twofold in size, and countless ck lightning runes emerged around it as it also began to emanate bursts ofw power fluctuations.
The pir of azure wind was instantly crushed, while the giant lightning palm continued to descend, and all of the air beneath it seemed to have congealed.
Lu Yuqing felt the surrounding space constrict around her, rendering herpletely unable to move, and a hint of despair appeared in her eyes.
Right as the giant palm was about to descend upon her, a burst of spatial fluctuations suddenly erupted beside it, immediately following which an azure shadow shed past in a wraith-like fashion.
The giant lightning palm was instantly stopped cold in its tracks without any warning, then exploded violently into countless arcs of lightning that quickly dissipated.
As a result, Lu Yuqing was freed, and she was both stunned and ted as she immediately flew through the air, covering a distance of tens of thousands of feet in a sh.
However, instead of fleeing the scene, she began to inspect her surroundings with wide eyes.
"Who''s there?" the bald man roared in a furious voice as he also began scouring the surrounding area.
Meanwhile, an rmed look appeared on the elderly man''s face, and he hurriedly flew back to the bald man''s side before releasing his spiritual sense to sweep through the air, yet neither of them were able to detect anything.
"You have to be a True Immortal to have dispelled my attack so easily, so why are you sneaking around like a cowardly rat?" the bald man goaded in a mocking voice.
"I have no intention of getting involved in the conflict between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind. It''s just that I have some ties with this woman, so it would be much appreciated if you could let her go."
An indifferent voice reverberated through the air in response, but neither the bald man nor hispanion were to ascertain where it wasing from.
"You want me to let her go? Why don''t you make me?"
The bald man abruptly turned around and cast his gaze toward what appeared to have been nothing but empty air, following which an incredibly thick pir of lightning erupted out of his ck g to strike the precise spot that he was looking at.
A vast expanse of dazzling lightning exploded with an earth-shattering boom, causing that stretch of space to shudder violently.
The lightning quickly dissipated, but there was still no one there.
An astonished look appeared on the bald man''s face upon seeing this, and right at this moment, a faint sigh rang out beside his ears, followed by an authoritative deration.
"Let there be wind!"
As soon as the voice trailed off, the bald man''s surroundings instantly changed drastically, and he was suddenly transported from the sea to a vast yellow desert.
Gusts of fierce wind were howling around him, and the desert stretched as far as the eyes could see with countless tornadoes raging on the horizon.
The bald man was astonished to see this, but he then immediately realized the situation that he was in.
"This is an illusion!"
Right at this moment, a streak of azure light pierced through his dantian. It was an azure flying sword, and there was a nascent soul pinned through its tip.
The bald man looked down with wide and incredulous eyes at the sight of the flying sword protruding out of his lower abdomen, and in the next instant, the azure flying sword destroyed the nascent soul before vanishing in a sh.
The surrounding desert faded away, and the sea was revealed again.
At this point, the bald man''s body waspletely limp and lifeless, and arge hole had been pierced through his lower abdomen as he plunged down toward the sea like a dead weight.
Right at this moment, a streak of silver fire suddenly emerged to strike the body, immediately setting it alight and incinerating it into ashes.
The elderly man''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he frantically looked around with a horrified expression.
Whoever the concealed enemy was, they were able to y a True Immortal cultivator in an instant, so he was naturally no match for them.
With that in mind, the elderly man began to tremble with fear as he fell to his knees and implored, "Please spare me, Senior..."
However, right at this moment, a streak of azure swordlight flew out of thin air, then flew in a circle around the elderly man''s body at an incredible speed.
The elderly man''s expression instantly stiffened, immediately following which several gashes appeared all over his body, splitting it into pieces.
At the same time, his nascent soul had also been destroyed, and the chunks of his body plummeted into the sea down below.
The streak of azure swordlight vanished once again, and peace and quiet was restored.
Lu Yuqing was rtively calm in the wake of this turn of events, and after returning to her senses, she immediately extended a curtsey as she said, "Lu Yuqing of ck Wind Ind sincerely thanks you for saving her life, Senior. Would you be able to show yourself?"
Concealed within the cloud in the sky, Han Li made a beckoning motion to recover an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, which was carrying a pair of storage tools and a small ck g.
He flipped a hand over to stow these items away, then prepared to leave, disying no intention of revealing himself.
All of a sudden, Lu Yuqing''s ecstatic voice rang out. "Brother Liu!"
Han Li was quite rmed to hear this, and he immediately stopped cold in his tracks before turning back to look at Lu Yuqing.
At this moment, there was ayer of rippling ck light within her eyes, and she was looking directly at him.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this. Under the scrutiny of her strange eyes, it felt as if he were entirelyid bare to her.
If she had been a cultivator of the same caliber as him, then he wouldn''t have been overly surprised, but it was very remarkable that a Grand Ascension cultivator like her possessed such an uncanny ocr ability.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li decided to reveal himself, descending not far away in front of Lu Yuqing.
Lu Yuqing faltered slightly at the sight of him, and Han Li was rather puzzled by her reaction, but didn''t say anything.
A slightly sulky look appeared on her face as she said, "You didn''t look like this back when west met. Are you in disguise now or were you in disguise back then? Or perhaps you''ve never revealed your appearance to me?"
"If you''re unable to see through my disguise, then how did you recognize me?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Lu Yuqing hesitated momentarily, then smiled as she replied, "I was born with a pair of Illusory Ghost Eyes that can see straight through the souls of others, thereby allowing me to identify them."
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but internally, he was quite surprised that such an innate ocr ability existed.
Transient Guild masks could only alter one''s appearance and aura, but not one''s soul, so it was no wonder that she was able to identify him, and that left Han Li with a rather difficult predicament.
He had saved Lu Yuqing as they were acquaintances, and he had thought that he could simply save her and leave without being detected or recognized, but his ns had been foiled.
However, he couldn''t just kill her in order to silence her. He simply wasn''t such a cold and callous individual that he could do such a cold-blooded thing to an innocent woman.
Chapter 353: Returning to Dark Veil Island
Chapter 353: Returning to Dark Veil Ind
Lu Yuqing seemed to have identified Han Li''s concerns, and she promised in a solemn voice, "Rest assured, Brother Liu, I won''t tell anyone about this, including my father."
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response. "You have my thanks. I''m just an itinerant cultivator, and I really don''t want to get involved in the conflict between your ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind."
"I should be the one thanking you, Brother Liu! You just saved my life!" Lu Yuqing chuckled.
Han Li merely responded with a faint smile.
After considering the situation, he had realized that it wasn''t much of a problem even if his identity were exposed.
All Lu Yuqing knew was that he was an itinerant cultivator by the name of Liu Shi, and he had altered his appearance back when he first arrived on ck Wind Ind, so there was very little chance that they would be able to make the connection that he was Liu Shi of Dark Veil Ind. After all, there were countless cultivators in the ck Wind Sea, and it wouldn''t have been umon to see people with the same name.
With that in mind, he felt even more reassured.
"Having said that, the conflict between our ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind will most likely only increase in scope, and it''s only a matter of time before the entire ck Wind Sea is swept up in the conflict, so it won''t be easy to remain uninvolved. You''ve saved my life twice, and I''m extremely grateful to you.
¡°My father also has a very high opinion of you, so if you''re willing toe to our ck Wind Ind, you''ll definitely be given very favorable treatment. Our ck Wind Ind has always been very kind to its elders," Lu Yuqing said.
Han Li merely smiled in response, silently turning down her offer.
A hint of disappointment shed through Lu Yuqing''s eyes upon seeing this, but she then pulled out a ck badge before offering it to Han Li.
"I can see that you''ve already made up your mind, so I won''t try to persuade you any further. This is my personal badge. If you ever need to go to ck Wind Ind for whatever reason, you''ll be able toe and go as you please with this badge."
Han Li epted the badge, then took a brief nce at it before stowing it away.
"I still have some matters to attend to, so I''ll be taking my leave. I suggest you return to ck Wind Ind as quickly as possible, Fellow Daoist Lu. This is not a safe ce," Han Li said, then sped away as a streak of azure light, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Lu Yuqing looked on at his departing figure with a slightly forlorn expression, then quickly flew back toward ck Wind Ind as well.
After flying for some time, Han Li suddenly changed directions in his flight, and around half a dayter, he had finally left the area in which the conflict between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind was taking ce.
From there, Han Li immediately elerated, hurtling through the air like a bolt of azure lightning.
After flying for about half a month, he had reached a very secluded area in the ck Wind Sea, and there were barely any inds to be seen.
All of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks, then released his spiritual sense throughout the surrounding area.
In the next instant, he abruptly swooped downward and plunged into the sea.
After roaming over the seabed for a moment, he arrived at a deepsea chasm, and he flew to the bottom of the chasm without any hesitation.
There, he found a patch of t ground before summoning a stack of array tools, which he set down one after another.
This was a ratherplex array, and it took Han Li over two hours to set it up topletion.
After that, he chanted an incantation, and a blue light barrier emerged, instantly epassing the surrounding area in a radius of several hundred feet.
The blue light barrier was very faint in color, and it was even more difficult to catch sight of in the sea. Furthermore, it wasn''t giving off any magic power fluctuations, so even if one were situated very close to it, they could still easily miss it.
After doing all of this, a pleased look appeared in Han Li''s eyes, and he swept a hand through the water to release around a dozen lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood, all of which were engraved with countless runes.
This was none other than his long-distance lightning teleportation array.
Even though Lu Yuqing had promised not to expose him, he didn''t dare to growcent.
After a day and a night, he was finally able toplete the lightning array.
He then cast an incantation seal through the water, and a burst of golden lightning instantly emerged within the lightning teleportation array as it began to operate.
However, the aura of the array waspletely isted within the blue restriction, so it waspletely undetectable outside.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, and after taking some more time to examine the array to ensure that there weren''t any issues, he promptly departed.
A monthter.
The sun gradually rose up over the horizon, but the entirety of Dark Veil Ind was still enshrouded in a murky veil of mist.
The mist slowly began to dissipate as gusts of sea breeze blew over the ind, and the branches of the trees all over the ind were rustling incessantly. Smoke from stove fires was rising up from all of the mortal settlements on the ind, and everything appeared serene and peaceful.
All of a sudden, Han Li appeared in the sky above the ind amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
At this moment, his entire body was enveloped within a faint watery light barrier, giving him the appearance of an indistinct shadow that could vanish at any moment.
His expression eased slightly at the sight of the serene scenes down below.
In the current ck Wind Sea, only secluded inds like Dark Veil Ind could still enjoy this level of peace and serenity.
He cast his gaze downward, and a hint of a surprise suddenly appeared on his face.
The ind remained virtually unchanged, except the vige-like settlement of the Luo n had beenpletely reced with a stretch of luxurious pcesplete with exquisite pagodas and pavilions, as well as some lotus flower ponds, resembling a glorious immortal abode.
Streaks of light were flying over the pces, and all of them were members of the Luo n.
There were far more of them than before, and their cultivation bases had also improved significantly on average. It seemed that Dark Veil Ind had been thriving since he wasst here, and some of the mortal cities all over the ind had also enjoyedrge poption spikes.
A pleased look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and abruptly vanished into thin air, then reappeared in front of a certain ce down below.
Inside the pce was a huge altar, upon which stood a deity statue of none other than Han Li.
At this moment, two people were kowtowing and praying to the deity statue.
Both of them were at the Grand Ascension Stage, and bursts of formidable power of faith were converging toward the statue.
Momentster, the two of them rose to their feet, then raised their heads to look up at the statue.
One of these two people was Luo Feng, and he had made significant strides in his cultivation base.
The other person was a middle-aged man withrge eyes and bushy brows, and Han Li recalled that he was a Body Integration Stage elder by the name of Luo Ming, but he had also progressed to the Grand Ascension Stage during the past few centuries.
Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps rang out from outside the pce, and a young man who was also dressed in Luo n attire arrived.
Instead of entering the pce, he extended a respectful curtsey while standing outside as he dered, "n Head, Grand Elder, the preparations for the ceremony areplete."
"Good. Have all of the ind masters arrived?" Luo Feng asked as he rose to his feet.
"Ind Master Tie Yan and Ind Master Chen Zhong have already arrived. Ind Master Ling Yun says that he has some matters to attend to on Dusk Cloud Ind, so he''ll being a littleter, but he definitely won''t dy the ceremony tomorrow," the young man replied in a respectful manner.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
Tie Yan and Chen Zhong were a pair of itinerant cultivators who had pledged their subordination to Dark Veil Ind in the wake of Han L''s ying of Han Qiu and Mistress Gu Gu, and they had been sent by him to oversee those two inds.
As for Dusk Cloud Ind, that was a nearby ind, and judging from what the young man had just said, it seemed to have pledged its subordination to Dark Veil Ind as well.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon hearing this.
It seemed that Luo Feng and the others had done quite well, and at this point, Dark Veil Ind was most likely one of the most powerful inds in this area.
As for the ceremony, this was an event that was held on Dark Veil Ind once every 50 years.
"Alright, you can go now. Proceed ording to the n, and do not gloss over any details," Luo Feng instructed with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Yes, n Head," the young man replied with a respectful bow before departing.
Following the young man''s departure,Luo Ming asked,"n Head, will Master Liu Shi be attending this ceremony?"
He then hesitated momentarily before continuing, "Master Liu Shi has already been in seclusion for several centuries. Is it possible that something''s gone wrong with his cultivation?"
"Cease your baseless spection! Master Liu Shi''s powers are unfathomable, how could any problem have possibly arisen in his cultivation? At his cultivation base, it''s verymon to go into seclusion for hundreds or even thousands of years, so don''t say anything like that ever again," Luo Feng scolded with a stern expression.
"I naturally also attribute no weight to these baseless ims, but after the disappearance of Ancestral God Luo Meng in the past, even though our ind has been peaceful these past few centuries, many of our people are still quite anxious about the possibility of the ancestral god disappearing again.
¡°On top of that, with all the conflict taking ce in the ck Wind Sea, those concerns have only been heightened, and to furtherpound these woes, Master Liu Shi hasn''t made an appearance in several centuries. Tie Yan, Ling Yun, and the others appear quite respectful and obedient on the surface, but if Master Liu Shi continues to remain in seclusion, there''s no telling whether they could hatch some nefarious ns," Luo Ming said.
Luo Feng''s brows also furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"n Head, I suggest you go and see Master Liu Shi and implore him to make an appearance at this ceremony, even if it''s just this once," Luo Ming advised.
"Alright, I''ll put that on my agenda," Luo Feng replied with a nod.
After that, the two of them began to discuss some finer details pertaining to the ceremony, and Han Li discreetly departed.
He hade to see whether Luo Feng had been acting ording to his instructions these past few centuries, and he was quite reassured to see that Luo Feng was still performing his duties and obligations.
After leaving Dark Veil Ind, Han Li arrived at a nearby region of the sea, where there was a vast vortex that was swirling incessantly.
Han Li flew into the water in a sh, quickly reaching the seabed.
There was a hemispherical blue light barrier that was around an acre in size overlooking the seabed, andyers of rippling blue light were shing over its surface.
Seawater was able to pass through the light barrier without any impediment, and Han Li cast an incantation seal through the water, upon which an opening immediately appeared on the light barrier, allowing him to fly through.
At this moment, his Earthly Deity Avatar was seated with its legs crossed on the seabed with a thread of blue light hovering above its head. This was a waterw thread, and it was far thicker than when Han List saw it, with countless tiny runes shing within it.
The avatar was enshrouded within a thickyer of blue light that was rippling incessantly, and all of the surrounding seawater was swirling around it.
Judging from the formidable spiritual pressure that it was giving off, the Earthly Deity Avatar had already reached the mid-True Immortal Stage, and it was approaching the pinnacle of that stage, so it wasn''t far away from thete-True Immortal Stage.
Chapter 354: Site Selection
Chapter 354: Site Selection
Han Li wasn''t all that surprised to see this.
This avatar had been constantly cultivating by manifesting heavy water using the time crystals, and even though there had been some asional interruptions, its rate of progression wasn''t much slower than Han Li''s, so it was no surprise that it had reached the mid-True Immortal Stage.
Right at this moment, the blue light radiating from the avatar''s body faded, and it rose to its feet, while the vortex in the sea slowly subsided.
"Thanks for your hard work," Han Li said.
"We are one and the same, so there''s no need to thank me. Here''s the heavy water I''ve derived these past years," the Earthly Deity Avatar replied as it flipped its hand over to produce a ck pouch, then offered it to Han Li.
Han Li reached out to grab the pouch, but the Earthly Deity Avatar didn''t let go right away. Instead, he cautioned, "Be careful, it''s very heavy."
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he braced himself, but in the instant that the Earthly Deity Avatar released the pouch, his arm was still abruptly dragged downward, and his entire body was almost thrown forward by the enormous weight of the pouch.
He let loose a low roar as the muscles on his arm bulged, while ayer of golden light appeared over his body, and only then was he able to arrest the pouch''s downward momentum.
A hint of surprise shed through his eyes upon seeing this.
Heavy water had to be refined before he could manipte it at will, but the fact that he was struggling to hold up such a small pouch even with his current tremendous strength indicated that it had to be containing an enormous volume of heavy water.
With that in mind, he injected his spiritual sense into the pouch, upon which he was once again rather surprised by what he saw.
This was a Heavenly Water Pouch that he had purchased from the Transient Guild for a high price, and it was able to store an entirergeke''s worth of water, yet it had almost beenpletely filled.
"Impressive!" Han Li remarked with a pleased nod.
"After I reached the mid-True Immortal Stage and the fourth level of the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome, my rate of heavy water derivation sped up significantly. This pouch of heavy water is almost enough to be refined into a small creek''s worth of level four heavy water," the Earthly Deity Avatar exined.
Han Li nodded in response, and he stowed the Heavenly Water Pouch away before producing two identical empty pouches that he handed to his avatar. "Keep cultivating, and I''ll try to supply you with as many time crystals as possible."
The Earthly Deity Avatar epted the pair of porches without a word, then sat back down with his legs crossed.
Immediately thereafter, blue light re-emerged over his body, while thew thread above his head gave off dazzling blue light, forming a tiny blue vortex.
The surrounding seawater was churned up into a huge vortex once again around Earthly Deity Avatar, and a tiny speck of heavy water was slowly gradually taking shape between the palms of the avatar''s hands, and it was expanding at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this, and he immediately urged, "Hold on a second!"
The blue light radiating from the Earthly Deity Avatar''s body instantly faded, and it rose to its feet once again.
"Did you just say that upon reaching the fourth level of the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome, your rate of heavy water derivation has significantly increased?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
The avatar nodded in response. "It increased by about threefold."
Han Li was quite stunned to hear this, and he immediately asked, "Threefold! Has the same thing been happening with each level that you''ve progressed in the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome?"
"For the first three levels, the rate has also been increasing, but not by much. However, upon reaching the fourth level, the rate suddenly increased drastically," the avatar replied.
A hint of excitement shed through Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
Progress was extremely slow in the early stages of the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome, and he certainly wasn''t expecting something like this to happen.
The Earthly Immortal who had created the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome had only just reached the third level before he gave up on the cultivation art, unable to bear its agonizingly slow rate of progression any longer, and he most likely hadn''t anticipated this, either.
At this point, Han Li was seriously beginning to doubt that the Earthly Immortal was actually the creator of the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome.
If he really had created the cultivation art, then this shouldn''t have been something that he had failed to anticipate. It was very likely that someone else had created the cultivation art, and he had only obtained it from somewhere before dering that he was the creator.
"Alright, you can keep cultivating," Han Li said with a contemtive look in his eyes.
He was really eager to find out whether there would be another significant jump in the rate of heavy water derivation upon reaching the fifth stage of the cultivation art.
If so, then with the assistance of the time crystals, the rate of heavy water derivation would reach an incredible level, and even deriving level eight and level nine heavy water at some point in the future wouldn''t have been unrealistic.
The Earthly Deity Avatar sat back down with its legs crossed to resume its cultivation, while Han Li observed it with a contemtive look in his eyes.
All of a sudden, he cast his gaze up toward the surface of the sea.
A streak of light had just flown over from afar and stopped outside the blue light barrier. It was none other than Luo Feng, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he greeted, "Luo Feng pays his respects to Master Liu Shi."
On the seabed, Han Li replied, "What is it, Luo Feng?"
Luo Feng faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which an ecstatic look appeared on his face as he hurriedly exined, "Master Liu Shi, our Dark Veil Ind''s bicentennial ceremony will be taking ce tomorrow. Would you be able to make an appearance during the event?"
He had visited Liu Shi several times in the past without receiving a response, so he was fully prepared to be disappointed again, and he was ecstatic that he had received a response for once.
The vortex in the sea continued to churn and swirl, and there was no response.
A sense of urgency welled up in Luo Feng''s heart, and he said, "I don''t wish to disturb your cultivation, Master Liu Shi, but there''s recently been a lot of unrest in the ck Wind Sea. The conflict between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind is bing more and more intense, and many of our ind''s people are growing quite concerned. If you can make an appearance tomorrow, that would surely be a very reassuring sight for everyone..."
"Alright, I''ll make an appearance during the ceremony tomorrow."
Han Li''s voice rang out from the seabed to cut off Luo Feng.
"Thank you, Master Liu Shi! I''ll be taking my leave now!"
Luo Feng was ecstatic, and he extended a respectful bow toward the seabed before flying back to Dark Veil Ind.
¡¡
Inside the light barrier, Han Li withdrew his gaze.
His Earthly Deity Avatar was going to make an appearance during the ceremony in his stead.
Given its current mid-True Immortal Stage power, it was more than enough to intimidate those early-True Immortal Stage itinerant cultivators.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce the jade seal that contained the map of the ck Wind Sea, then pressed it against his own forehead.
Now that everything had already been settled, it was time to find a ce to go into seclusion.
Dark Veil Ind was rtively safe and peaceful, but it wasn''t actually an ideal ce for him to go into seclusion.
While it was unlikely for his identity as Liu Shi to be exposed, there were no guarantees in the matter, and he didn''t want to risk the prospect of having the identity of Liu Shi traced back to him.
Around an hourter, a barely visible streak of azure light flew out of the sea and into the distance.
Only after three days and three nights did Han Li draw to a halt, and he had arrived in an area of the ck Wind Sea that was even more secluded than Dark Veil Ind, with nothing but ocean and small deserted inds as far as the eyes could see.
The inds werepletely uninhabited by humans, but there were many demon beasts on both the inds and the nearby sea, with nock of Body Integration and even Grand Ascension Stage demon beasts among them.
Han Li looked around to find that the spirit veins on these inds were decent, not quite on the same level as Dark Veil Ind, but there was still a rtive abundance of spiritual qi in the area.
This ce was already extremely far away from Dark Veil Ind, and virtually no cultivators ever came here, making it an ideal location for seclusion.
As for the demon beasts in the area, those naturally posed no threat to him.
With that in mind, he spread his enormous spiritual sense throughout the area, and a short whileter, he descended onto a small ind down below.
The ind wasn''t veryrge, only several dozen kilometers in diameter.
The environment on the ind was ratherplex, with a volcano that was around 1,000 feet tall situated at its center, and due to the frequent volcanic eruptions, there was no nt life around, only crimson rocks littered all over thendscape.
However, a bit further away from the volcano was a lush forest, and even further away were a series of ponds and swamps, as well as a vibrant grasnd.
It was a ce that was full of vitality, and there were even some spirit nts and spirit flowers growing here.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
The ind wasn''t veryrge, but its spirit vein was the best one in the nearby area.
He arrived at an obscure little canyon on the ind, then swept a hand through the air to release a streak of azure sword qi, which sliced through a mountain face like tofu, and before long, a cave abode had taken shape.
Han Li didn''t put too much effort into refining the cave abode, only paying a little extra attention when carving out the spirit medicine garden. After that, he pulled out a stack of array gs and array tes before setting them up near the new cave abode.
With the restrictions activated, a burst of gentle azure light appeared, following which the cave abode abruptly vanished, transforming into a lush forest that blended in with the nearby environment.
This restriction was the same as the one he had set up earlier on the seabed in that it wasn''t giving off any aura, so even if a True Immortal were to scour the area with their spiritual sense, they weren''t likely to discover it.
After that, Han Li summoned several more stacks of array tools that had been previously used to set up restrictions around his cave abode back on the Crimson Dawn Peak, and before long, the new cave abode resembled an impregnable fortress.
He had even pulled out another array and set it up around the entire ind, but he refrained from activating those restrictions right away, saving them for potential future enemy attacks instead.
After doing all of that, he strode into his cave abode and arrived at the medicine garden.
He had made sure to carve out arge area for the garden, even more so than the one back in his cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak.
After standing on the spot for a while, he swept a sleeve several times in session through the air, summoning clumps of spirit soil of different colors that descended into the medicine garden.
Some of these things had been prepared by him in advance, while others had been purchased on the way back to the ck Wind Sea.
Chapter 355: Sealing the Island
Chapter 355: Sealing the Ind
After that, Han Li pulled out various types of spirit liquid and began to mix batches of spirit soil while also setting up restrictions throughout the medicine garden to split it up into different sections.
Only after doing all of that did he pull out all of the spirit medicines in his storage pouch before carefully transferring them to this new medicine garden.
While Han Li was arranging his medicine garden, the ceremony on Dark Veil Ind had alsomenced.
At this moment, the entire sky above the ind was enshrouded in ayer of vibrant crimson light, and ck wooden pirs with lit braziers on top of them had also appeared all over the ind, giving the event a sense of prestige and asion.
On a giant za stood three huge lit wooden pyres, each of which was several hundred feet tall, and at the center of the pyres was a massive altar.
Atop the altar was a deity statue that was over 100 feet tall, and many people were gathered at the foot of the altar, including all of the cultivators of the Luo n.
Aside from them, there were also cultivators in alternative attire, and they were from Dark Veil Ind''s three subsidiary inds.
In front of the crowd stood four figures. The one on the very left was Luo Feng, and he was joined by a fair-skinned young man, a middle-aged schrly man with a ck mole on his face, and a beautiful woman wearing a long green dress that exposed a sliver of her fair and voluptuous cleavage.
At this moment, everyone was worshiping the altar, and these four were no exception.
Luo Feng wore a solemn expression and was impable in every single one of his movements, while the other three had hints of disdain on their faces and were clearly just going through the motions.
They were all True Immortal cultivators, so they were naturally quite reluctant to be worshiping a statue of another True Immortal.
As time passed, the ceremony quickly approached its conclusion.
At this point, Luo Feng and the other three figures beside him had already departed from the front of the crowd and sat down on some nearby chairs.
"n Head Luo, today''s ceremony is an important asion for Dark Veil Ind. Is Fellow Daoist Liu Shi still not going to make an appearance?" the fair-skinned young man suddenly asked.
"Come to think of it, I only ever met Fellow Daoist Liu Shi once several centuries ago, and he''s been in seclusion ever since then. Is he cultivating some type of ability or secret technique?" the schrly man asked.
The young woman was also looking at Luo Feng, and even though she wasn''t saying anything, the inquisitive look in her eyes was very apparent.
Luo Feng took a nce at the trio, then smiled as he replied, "I already met with Master Liu Shi yesterday, and he''ll be making an appearance today."
The expressions of the trio instantly changed slightly upon hearing this.
"Is that true?"
"Of course," Luo Feng replied with a smile.
The fair-skinned young man exchanged a nce with the other two True Immortals, then nodded as he said, "It would be great if Fellow Daoist Liu could make an appearance. At the moment, the ck Wind Sea is a state of widespread turmoil, and we''ll need him to make decisions on how our Dark Veil Ind is to proceed from here onward."
"Indeed, Fellow Daoist Tie Yan. All of the major powers across the entire ck Wind Sea are keenly observing the unfolding situation. ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind are far too formidable for a small ind like ours topare with, so we have to make sure that we don''t make any missteps. Otherwise, the consequences could be catastrophic," the schrly man chimed in.
The fair-skinned young man''s name was Tie Yan, while the schrly man''s name was Chen Zhong.
A grim look appeared on Luo Feng''s face upon hearing this, and he offered no response.
"There''s no need to be so pessimistic, everyone. With us and Fellow Daoist Liu joining forces, we''re certainly nothing to be scoffed at, and we should be more than enough to protect these few inds," the young woman suddenly said.
"You sure are optimistic, Fellow Daoist Ling Yun," Tie Yan replied with a faint smile, but it was clear that he wasn''t convinced.
The ceremony continued, yet even as it was about to reach a conclusion, Han Li still hadn''t made an appearance.
Luo Feng was still seated on his chair, but a hint of anxiety had crept into his eyes, he was asionally darting nces in the direction where Han Li was in seclusion, while the expressions of Tie Yan''s trio were also bing more skeptical by the minute.
"It looks like Fellow Daoist Liu may be busy and can''t make an appearance today, after all," Tie Yan remarked.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a speck of blue light suddenly appeared on the distant horizon before rapidly expanding as it approached from afar.
A burst of rumbling that resembled the sound of countless thundering horse hooves rang out, and all of the world''s origin qi in the surrounding area surged violently, forming streaks of blue light that converged from all directions, basking everything near the altar in a blue glow.
At the same time, a burst of tremendous spiritual pressure descended upon everyone down below from the blue light, and everyone was instantly rooted to the spot.
The expressions of Tie Yan''s trio changed drastically as they looked up into the sky, and Chen Zhong gulped nervously as he eximed to himself in a feeble voice, "He''s reached the mid-True Immortal Stage!"
Tie Yan and Ling Yun were just as astonished, and a hint of fear and rm had surfaced in their eyes.
All of a sudden, all of the blue light faded, and a blue figure slowly descended onto the altar before withdrawing their immense spiritual pressure.
The figure waspletely enshrouded in ayer of blue light that gave them an indistinct appearance, and one could only barely make out the outlines of a man standing with his hands sped behind his back.
Luo Feng was ecstatic, and he immediately extended a respectful salute. "Ancestral God Liu Shi!"
All of the Luo n''s cultivators were also relieved and ted to see Han Li''s arrival, and they hurriedly extended respectful salutes as well.
Everyone else from the other inds quickly followed suit, as did Tie Yan''s trio.
"No need for formalities," the blue figure said, and hsi voice wasn''t very loud, but it was clearly audible to everyone present.
Everyone immediately reverted to their original standing postures as they cast their eyes toward the blue figure.
All of the Luo n''s cultivators were looking at him with fervent tion, but the same didn''t apply to some of the cultivators from the other three inds.
"While it''s true that I''ve been in cultivation for the entirety of the past few centuries, I''ve been keeping tabs on everything that''s been happening on the inds and in the ck Wind Sea," the blue figure dered.
The expressions of Tie Yan''s trio instantly stiffened slightly upon hearing this.
"Luo Feng, you''ve managed the inds quite well these past few centuries. Here is a vial of Profound Moon Pills as a reward for your efforts," the blue figure said as he swept a hand through the air to send a burst of blue light flying toward Luo Feng, and the blue light quickly faded to reveal a white jade vial.
An ecstatic look appeared on Luo Feng''s face as he hurriedly extended a grateful bow. "Thank you, Ancestral God Liu Shi!"
A hint of admiration shed through the eyes of Tie Yan''s trio upon seeing this.
Profound Moon Pills were extremely renowned pills that had a substantial cultivation enhancement effect even on True Immortal cultivators. However, they were extremely rare, and ck Wind Ind was perhaps the only ce where they could be purchased in the entire ck Wind Sea.
"Keep working hard in your cultivation and strive to reach the True Immortal Stage as soon as possible," the blue figure instructed.
"I won''t disappoint you, Ancestral God Liu Shi!" Luo Feng vowed with a firm nod.
"Tie Yan, Chen Zhong, Ling Yun, the three of you have also worked hard. You can have these three spirit treasures," the blue figure continued as he swept his sleeve through the air once again, releasing three streaks of light that descended in front of the trio before revealing a set of treasures, namely a green jade scepter, a white bead, and a small yellow g.
All three treasures were premium spirit treasures that were giving off extremely formidable magic power fluctuations and were only one step away from immortal treasures.
Tie Yan''s trio was ecstatic, and they split the treasures among themselves before also extending grateful bows.
The blue figure swept a sleeve through the air a third time, this time sending a storage tool flying toward Luo Feng.
"Luo Feng, there are some pills and cultivation resources in there for you to distribute as you see fit and maximize the power of our Dark Veil Ind," the blue figure said.
Luo Feng immediately gave an affirmative response.
"As for the ongoing conflict between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind, that has nothing to do with our Dark Veil Ind, so in order to avoid getting swept up in the conflict, from this day forth, everyone is strictly forbidden from leaving the ind, and all inds will enter a period of lockdown," the blue figure dered.
This wasn''t a surprising decision from Han Li, and no one raised any objections.
The blue figure swept his gaze over everyone present as he dered, "Rest assured, everyone. So long as you remain loyal to Dark Veil Ind, I will ensure your safety."
Everyone was instilled with a sense of warmth and reassurance upon hearing this, and they extended another collective grateful bow.
After that, the blue figure didn''t linger any longer, promptly departing into the distance as a streak of blue light.
Tie Yan''s trio watched as the blue figure departed, then exchanged a few nces, and all of the skepticism they previously harbored had beenpletely erased, reced with nothing but awe and veneration.
¡¡
Several dayster.
On a small ind a vast distance away, Han Li was in a state of seated meditation when he suddenly opened his eyes as a faint smile appeared on his face.
His Earthly Deity Avatar had already informed him that Dark Veil Ind and its three subsidiary inds had all activated their protective arrays, cutting the inds off from all external contact.
This was naturally something that he had nned in advance.
By sealing the inds, he could minimize his chances of being swept up in the conflict between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind, thereby mitigating the risk of his identity being exposed as much as possible.
With that matter settled, he rose to his feet and arrived at his spirit medicine garden.
The garden had a radius of close to 1,000 feet, and it had already been split up into several dozen different sections through the use of light barriers of different colors. The environment in each section was different, allowing for different spirit medicines to thrive.
Some sections were hot, some sections were cold, and some werepletely shielded from all light, giving them a perpetual night-like environment.
The spirit medicines had be a little wilted after being stored in Han Li''s storage pouch for some time, but now that they had been rented, they were quickly recovering their vitality.
Aside from that, Han Li had also nted some of the spirit medicine seeds that he had recently acquired, as well as his other primary bean.
At the moment, he simply didn''t have a sufficient number of Dao Warriors at his disposal to serve any substantial purpose, so he had to grow some more.
Among these spirit medicines, Han Li was naturally particrly invested in the primary ingredients required to refine the Myriad Axis Pill, namely the Myriad Axis Fruit, the Herofall Flower, and the Blood Crystal Lotus Root. He had nted them in the best locations in the garden and also used the best spirit soil as well.
In particr, he had spent a great deal of time and effort crafting a spirit pond for the length of Blood Crystal Lotus Root that he had purchased during that auction.
He had already gathered a sufficient quantity of all of the Myriad Axis Pill''s supplementary ingredients, so once these three primary ingredients were ready, he would be able tomence the pill refinement process.
Chapter 356: Myriad Axis Pill
Chapter 356: Myriad Axis Pill
After carefully examining these three spirit medicines and instructing his giant ape puppet to water them with the Heaven Controlling Vial''s spirit liquid in a timely fashion, Han Li departed from the medicine garden and returned to his secret chamber before sitting down with his legs crossed.
At this point, it wouldn''t be long before all of the ingredients required to refine the Myriad Axis Pill were ready.
Hence, his current priority was acquiring the two remaining ingredients required for dao pill refinement, namely the Heavenmade Ginseng Root and the Dewform Herb.
With that in mind, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask before putting it on.
He then began to read through the missions in a well-rehearsed fashion, yet there were still no responses to the missions that he had released to acquire those two spirit ingredients.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he erased the previous missions before releasing them again, except the rewards were tripled this time.
With such substantial rewards on offer, he was confident that it was only a matter of time before he received some responses.
After doing all of that, he stowed his Transient Guild mask away, then pulled out a pair of storage tools, which he had obtained from the pair of Azure Feather Ind cultivators.
After briefly inspecting their contents with his spiritual sense, he couldn''t help but shake his head in dismay.
The cultivators of the ck Wind Sea were downright impoverishedpared with their counterparts in the outside world, and their storage tools contained nothing of sufficient value to catch his eye.
All of a sudden, he raised an eyebrow as he flipped a hand over to produce an azure badge.
This was an item in the bald man''s storage tool, and it had been crafted from some type of azure spirit jade. On one side was engraved the image of a phoenix-like azure spirit bird, while on the other side was inscribed the character for "Feather".
This must be some type of badge from Azure Feather Ind.
The badge didn''t appear to contain any information on the bald man, which set it apart from the average identification badge, and that left Han Li feeling a little perplexed.
He inspected the badge a moment longer before stowing it away. After all, he had no interest in native powers of the ck Wind Ind like Azure Feather Ind anyway, so he naturally didn''t want to waste any time or effort studying the badge.
After closing his eyes for a moment to prime himself into optimal condition, he began to examine the third level of the Mantra Axis Scripture.
Even though he had already reached thete-True Immortal Stage, he still hadn''t truly begun cultivating the third level of the Mantra Axis Scripture as it was far more difficult to understand than the previous two levels, and he was still yet topletely grasp it.
He was waiting for the three primary ingredients for the Myriad Axis Pill to mature anyway, so this was a good opportunity to study the cultivation art.
Over 30 years passed by in the blink of an eye.
Throughout this entire time, the gate of Han Li''s cave abode hadn''t been opened even once, and it was already covered in a thickyer of dust.
Of course, no one hade to visit him during this time, either.
At this moment, Han Li was standing in his medicine garden, and he was in the process of carefully picking three golden spirit fruits from a golden spirit tree that was around 10 feet tall. These were none other than Myriad Axis Fruits.
He gave a pleased nod at the sight of the fruits in his hands, and he stowed them away in his storage bracelet before leaving his medicine garden to make his way to the pill refinement chamber.
On the way, he stopped in his tracks and took a nce at another secret chamber.
This was where Daoist Xie was staying in seclusion. Around a decade ago, Daoist Xie had suddenly requested Han Li to arrange a secret chamber for it, and Han Li naturally wasn''t going to refuse such a request.
However, up to this point, nothing seemed to have happened in the secret chamber, and Han Li had no idea what Daoist Xie was doing in there.
Daoist Xie was only bing more and more mysterious in his eyes, and he couldn''t help but feel as if it were harboring some type of obscure secret.
However, as long as Daoist Xie wasn''t doing anything to his detriment, he naturally wasn''t going to meddle in its business. After all, he had far too much on his te already.
With that in mind, he made his way into his pill refinement chamber, then activated all of the surrounding restrictions before sitting down with his legs crossed.
During these past few decades, the vast majority of the spirit liquid that had been manifested by the Heaven Controlling Vial had been used to mature the Myriad Axis Fruit, the Herofall Flower, and the Blood Crystal Lotus Root.
At this point, he had finally matured sufficient ingredients to refine 30 batches of pills, and he could begin attempting to refine Myriad Axis Pills.
He meditated for half a day to prime himself into the best possible condition, then swept both sleeves through the air to summon that silver cauldron, as well as the fiery silver figure, which fell under the cauldron.
The fiery silver figure sat down with its legs crossed, then made a hand seal, and the silver mes on its body instantly reared up before splitting up into nine identical bursts of mes that enveloped the underside of the cauldron in an extremely even fashion.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air once again, and 30 batches of Myriad Axis Pill refinement ingredients emerged,id out beside him in an orderly fashion.
He had already thought about the refinement method for the Myriad Axis Pill countless times these past years, so he couldn''t have been more familiar with it.
He opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light that flew into the cauldron, and its lid instantly flew off on its own.
Han Li picked up a Myriad Axis Fruit, then flicked a finger through the air, and several streaks of azure swordlight shot forth, shredding the fruit into a clump of golden puree in the blink of an eye.
The core of the fruit had been set aside, and he carefully guided the puree into the cauldron, which was quickly heating up thanks to the silver mes.
The Myriad Axis Fruit puree quickly melted into a ball of golden liquid, following which Han Li picked up a white gel ingredient that he also guided into the cauldron.
Han Li proceeded to remain in the pill refinement chamber for three whole years.
On this day, the door of the pill refinement chamber abruptly swung open, and Han Li emerged from inside with an excited gleam in his eyes, indicating that he was in quite a good mood.
He flipped a hand over to produce a longan-sized pill amid a sh of golden light, and the pill was golden in color, giving off a gentle golden glow.
Upon closer inspection, one would discover that thisyer of golden light was formed byyers of thin golden patterns, presenting a profound sight to behold.
This was none other than a Myriad Axis Pill.
Despite the tiny size of the pill, there were over 10,000yers of these golden patterns on its surface, and that was most likely where it had gotten its name from.
As a pill that could enhance even ate-True Immortal cultivator''s cultivation base, not only had it been very difficult to acquire all of the ingredients required to refine it, the refinement process itself was also the mostplex out of any pill that Han Li had attempted to refine thus far.
Even though he was already a pill refinement master and had the assistance of the Mantra Treasured Axis, which could slow time down to a crawl, he was still only able to sessfully refine half a batch of pills after going through 10 batches of ingredients in the first year.
However, he had learned a great deal from these failures, and as a result, his sess rate had steadily risen. In the end, he managed to sessfully refine five and a half batches of pills in the past three years using the 30 batches of ingredients, amounting to a total of 55 pills.
For the ordinary Earthly Pill Master, even 10 batches of Myriad Axis Pill ingredients would''ve been impossible to gather in a short time, let alone 30. Furthermore, a sess rate of just under 20% didn''t seem to have been particrly impressive, but if Ping Yaozi were to learn about this in the afterlife, he would be so shocked that his jaw would drop straight to the floor.
Even for the likes of Xiong Shan, Myriad Axis Pills were worth fighting over, even at the risk of his life, and even if he were to obtain a Myriad Axis Pill, he would most likely choose to save it for an important breakthrough in his cultivation, rather than consume it right away.
After all, even in the context of the entire Northern cial Immortal Region, there were only several types of pills that could advance the cultivation bases ofte-True Immortal cultivators, and even a formidable sect like the ze Dragon Dao didn''t have many of these pills at its disposal. Otherwise, Golden Immortal cultivators wouldn''t have been so rare.
However, this wasn''t a problem for Han Li. In fact, he could refine even more Myriad Axis Pills in the future so that he would never have to stop taking them during his cultivation.
At this moment, Han Li was in quite a good mood, but not because of the number of Myriad Axis Pills that he had managed to refine. More importantly, he discovered that his pill refinement mastery had improved rapidly over the course of the past three years, and it reached a certain bottleneck.
He had a feeling that if he could progress through this bottleneck, then his pill refinement skills would reach a whole new level.
With that in mind, he took a deep breath and stowed the Myriad Axis Pills away, then emerged from the pill refinement chamber.
Before long, he had arrived at his medicine garden once again, and he stopped at the spot where the primary bean had been nted.
Under his instructions, the giant ape puppet would water it with a drop of spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial every once in a while, yet the primary bean still showed no signs of sprouting.
However, given his past experience, Han Li knew what to expect, so he wasn''t bothered or agitated in the slightest as he made his way over to a white spirit pond.
The pond was roughly 70 to 80 feet in size with ayer of faint white mist over its surface.
Several crimson lotus flowers were floating on its surface, and wisps of crimson mist could be seen drifting out of its stamen, releasing an extremely rich aroma of sweetness.
One of the lotus flowers was particrlyrge,parable to the size of a washbasin, while the other ones were all far smaller.
Han Li looked beneath that lotus flower to find a huge lotus root that was as thick as a bucket extending into the soil at the bottom of the spirit pond from the underside of the flower. The root was around 10 feet in length, and it was very translucent, giving off ayer of dense crimson light.
There were several smaller roots branching off from the main lotus root, but they were farcking in both thickness and colorationpared with the main root.
On the main root was a fist-sized gray mark that was very dark in coloration, resembling a smudge of ink.
This lotus root was the very same one that Han Li had purchased from the auction, and he was using it to breed more Blood Crystal Lotus Roots in order to support his Myriad Axis Pill refinement.
At this point, the lotus root had already been matured to at least 200,000 to 300,000 years old.
The older the main ingredient, the higher the sess rate of Myriad Axis Pill refinement, and the more efficacious the pills were going to be.
During the lotus root''s growth, the bonded mark on its surface had also changed slightly in appearance. Not only had it grownrger and darker, certain patterns had emerged within it, resembling the veins of a leaf.
Furthermore, Han Li could sensew power fluctuations emanating from the mark, albeit only very faint ones.
However, it wasn''t timew fluctuations. Instead, it was some other type of unknownw power.
This was quite a surprise to Han Li as he definitely hadn''t sensed anyw power fluctuations from the bonded mark before this, and they had most likely arisen due to the watering from the Heaven Controlling Vial spirit liquid.
In the wake of this discovery, he couldn''t help but feel a little intrigued by this bonded mark, and he was eager to see how it was going to change in the future.
Chapter 357: The Final Step
Chapter 357: The Final Step
Han Li stayed beside the white spirit pond for a while longer before leaving the medicine garden, then returned to his bedroom before immediately falling asleep.
These past three years, he had been refining Myriad Axis Pills without rest, and the entire pill refinement process was one that required his full attention. At the same time, he had to calcte the timing of his usage of the Mantra Treasured Axis, and even with histe-True Immortal Stage cultivation base and spiritual sense, he was feeling quite exhausted.
Prior tomencing his cultivation, he had to take some time to recover so that he could prime his body, mind, and magic power into the best possible condition.
He slept for three days and three nights, and upon awakening, he was once again raring to go, arriving in his secret chamber before sitting down with his legs crossed and summoning an azure jade vial.
He tipped the vial over slightly to produce a Myriad Axis Pill, and after holding it between his fingers and inspecting it for a while, he promptly swallowed the pill.
The pill quickly melted in his stomach before surging throughout all of his meridians as a powerful flow of warmth.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, and he felt as if this surge of warmth were like a pack of galloping wild horses that were flowing faster and faster through his meridians while gradually forming a series of vortexes, resulting in a painful and swollen sensation in those meridians.
Momentster, Han Li''s brows gradually unfurrowed as an ted look appeared on his face.
The Myriad Axis Pill was even more efficacious than he had anticipated.
He gently exhaled as he focused his attention on his Mantra Axis Scripture,mencing a process of immersive cultivation.
Ayer of gentle golden light rose up to envelop his entire body, and the years slowly passed.
The dust that was umting outside the gate of the cave abode was bing thicker and thicker, and at this point, it was virtually impossible to tell that there was still a gate on the mountain face.
500 years was an extremely long time for mortals. During this time, entire empires could rise up and copse, yet for cultivators, it was nothing more than one bout of seclusion.
On this day, countless dark clouds suddenly converged in the sky above the ind, and arcs of lightning were shing incessantly within the clouds.
All of the world''s origin qi in a radius of thousands of kilometers churned violently to form an enormous spiritual energy vortex that was slowly revolving in the sky.
Countless balls of spiritual qi appeared in the sky, and they converged toward the ind, drawn there by the revolving vortex.
Several dozen kilometers away from the ind was a fiery red ind that was only around a half a kilometer in radius, and it was a coral ind that was extremely beautiful and resplendent under the light of the sun.
All of a sudden, a crimson demon beast emerged from the water near the ind with a ssh.
The demon beast was over 100 feet in length and resembled a boar with steely crimson fur. There was also a pair of white tusks protruding out of its mouth, giving off a metallic gleam.
What was more remarkable about this creature was that it had six legs.
Its facial features were quite menacing, but its body was as round and rotund as a watermelon, so it appeared far moreical than it did threatening.
If any cultivators familiar with the ck Wind Sea were present, they would''ve been able to identify this demon beast as a Pig Dolphin Beast, a verymon low-grade demon beast in this region, except this one was already at thete-Nascent Soul Stage.
The beast''s rotund body abruptly swelled up, and it opened its mouth up wide to produce a burst of powerful suction force, allowing it to gobble up some of the balls of spiritual qi in the air.
Ayer of red light then began to sh over its body, and the phenomenonsted for about two hours before the balls of spiritual qi in the air faded away.
The Pig Dolphin Beast closed its mouth, and the red light radiating from its body was looking a little brighter than before.
The beast cast its gaze toward the ind in the distance, then oinked a few times as if it were asking for more.
It had already been residing here for a very long time, and several centuries ago, an extremely powerful human cultivator had arrived on that ind, leading to all of the formidable demon beasts nearby moving away.
However, at the time, it had just attained a basic level of intelligence and was still rather ignorant, so it didn''t leave.
The human cultivator had remained in his cave abode this entire time, and he hadn''t attacked any of the nearby demon beasts.
Due to the fact that all of the more formidable demon beasts in the area had moved away, the Pig Dolphin Beast had been able to enjoy a very safe andfortable life, and even though its intelligence had developed further since then, it had still decided not to leave.
As for why it had decided to stay, that was because during the past few centuries, that enormous spiritual qi vortex would appear every once in a while, and it had already appeared 11 times up to this point.
Whenever this happened, the Pig Dolphin Beast would use its innate ability to absorb some of the spiritual qi in the air, and that was how it had rapidly progressed from the Qi Refinement Stage to its current cultivation base in just a few centuries.
The Pig Dolphin Beast took a few more nces at the ind in the distance.
Its cultivation base was already approaching the pinnacle of the Nascent Soul Stage, and if that phenomenon hadsted a while longer, perhaps it would''ve already reached the Deity Transformation Stage.
Looks like I''ll have to wait for next time... the Pig Dolphin Beast thought to itself, then swam back into the sea.
Inside the cave abode, Han Li''s entire body was radiating dazzling golden light while also giving off a burst of tremendous spiritual pressure.
As many as 35 specks of golden light had appeared over his body, and as the golden radiance slowly faded, he opened his eyes to reveal a hint of excitement within them.
He had been making rapid progress in his cultivation, opening 11 immortal acupoints in less than 600 years.
If anyone else were to hear about this rate of progress, they would be stunned beyond belief, and if they were to hear that he had a virtually limitless supply of Myriad Axis Pills at his disposal, even a Golden Immortal would be so envious that they would be coughing up blood!
Even Han Li himself hadn''t anticipated that he would be able to open 11 immortal acupoints in just 500 years.
ording to his original estimates, it would''ve taken him at least 1,000 years to reach this stage, but in reality, he had gotten there far faster.
Aside from that, there was something that was rather perplexing to Han Li about the Myriad Axis Pill, and that was the issue of resistance.
Even though he had been taking Myriad Axis Pills throughout the past 500 years, his body hadn''t developed any resistance to it, thereby making it less efficacious.
He had spent some time trying to uncover the reasons for this, but his experiments hadn''t yielded any conclusive results, so he ultimately set the matter aside. After all, it wasn''t a bad thing, so there was no reason to dwell on it.
He shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, following which a contemtive look appeared on his face.
With 35 immortal acupoints opened, he only had one more left to reach the Golden Immortal Stage.
It was only a single step, but the difference was like that between night and day, and the degree of difficulty of making the breakthrough wasparable to a Grand Ascension cultivator ascending to immortality in the Spirit Realm.
In order to break through this bottleneck, not only did he have to open up 36 immortal acupoints, the most difficult part was oveing the final one of the three decays, namely the acupoint decay.
Up to this point, Han Li still hadn''t experienced any of the decays in his cultivation, but he had heard many stories about how damning these decays could be, so even with his current powers and abilities, he didn''t dare to growcent.
The best way to ward off the three decays was to truly master aw power.
He was cultivating thews of time, one of the three paramountws, and if he could truly master it, even a little bit, then that would most likely be extremely effective for warding off the three decays.
However, up to this point, he had exhausted all of his other options without any sess, and his only hope left was to refine a dao pill.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he rose to his feet and left his secret chamber before arriving in a section of his medicine garden.
There was a patch of ck spirit soil here, and the air was very cool and moist.
nted in the spirit soil was a white spirit ginseng root that was quite transparent in appearance, looking as if it had been carved out of white jade.
This was none other than one of the dao pill''s primary ingredients, the Heavenmade Ginseng Root.
Finally, his persistent efforts had paid off, and he had managed to purchase a young Heavenmade Ginseng Root from the Transient Guild at a high price.
Han Li gave a pleased nod at the sight of the ginseng root.
After obtaining the ginseng root, he had immediately instructed the giant ape puppet to water it with the Heaven Controlling Vial spirit liquid, and at this point, it was already over 100,000 years of age, making it fit for pill refinement.
At this point, all that he was missing was the Dewform Herb, but there was still no news on it.
This was almost entirely up to luck anyway, and given that he was currently in the ck Wind Sea, all he could do was rely on the Transient Guild.
With that in mind, he heaved a faint sigh and returned to his secret chamber before sitting down with his legs crossed.
Even though he was still unable to refine any dao pills for now, he naturally didn''t want to just sit around and do nothing. Instead, he was going to attempt to open up his 36th immortal acupoint, and at the very least, he was going to open it up most of the way to reach the pinnacle of thete-True Immortal Stage.
With that in mind, Han Li consumed another Myriad Axis Pill before closing his eyes to cultivate.
This area of the ck Wind Sea was virtuallypletely untouched, and it seemed to never disy any changes, giving one the impression that time stood still here.
Another 50 to 60 years passed by in the blink of an eye, and once again, the Pig Dolphin Beast appeared on the nearby coral ind before casting its gaze toward the ind that Han L was situated on.
ording to its past experience, the spiritual qi vortex was about to appear.
During these past few years, it came out virtually every single day to check, for fear of missing out.
However, close to 10 years had already passed since the date that it had predicted, yet the spiritual qi vortex still hadn''t appeared.
Not only that, but the ind waspletely silent, and some of the spiritual power fluctuations that had previously asionally emanated from it had also ceased to appear.
A slightly agitated look appeared in the Pig Dolphin Beast''s eyes as it continued to stare at the ind in the distance.
Could it be that the human cultivator had already left?
After some further hesitation, it turned and began to swim toward the ind.
Chapter 358: A Gift from the Pig Dolphin Beast
Chapter 358: A Gift from the Pig Dolphin Beast
For ate-Nascent Soul Stage Pig Dolphin Beast, a distance of several dozen kilometers could be easily covered, and before long, it had already swam to the ind.
It was doing its best to conceal its own aura as it swam along the edge of the ind toward the cave abode of the human cultivator.
Shortly thereafter, it arrived near the cave abode before casting its gaze in taht direction.
It was greeted by the sight of a lush forest that didn''t appear to have been any different from the forestry around it.
The beast stared at that area of the forest for a long time before opening its mouth to release a streak of faint blue light, which flew into that area.
As soon as the blue light came into contact with the forest, it immediately vanished without a trace.
The Pig Dolphin Beast was quite ted to see this. The restriction was still standing, which meant that the human cultivator still hadn''t left.
The Pig Dolphin Beast was quite relieved to see this, and it was just about to leave when an amused chuckle suddenly rang out nearby.
The Pig Dolphin Beast shuddered before turning in that direction, upon which it was so frightened that its soul almost left its body.
Standing on the shore not far away was an amused azure-robed young man, and it was none other than the human cultivator it had once seen from afar many years ago.
The Pig Dolphin Beast let loose an rmed oink as it hurriedly tried to flee back into the sea, but the azure-robed young man made a grabbing motion, and all of the seawater in a radius of roughly half a kilometers swept back before rising up into the air.
The Pig Dolphin Beast was trapped within the seawater,pletely unable to move.
"Ate-Nascent Soul Stage Pig Dolphin Beast? That''s quite rare," the azure-robed young man remarked.
The man was none other than Han Li, and his expression at the moment suggested that something was troubling him.
During the past few decades, he had continued to cultivate in seclusion in his cave abode, attempting to open up his 36th immortal acupoint, but even though he had continued to take Myriad Axis Pills without pause during this time, the final immortal acupoint remainedpletely unmoved.
On this day, he was feeling rather frustrated and was taking a stroll to take his mind off things, and he certainly wasn''t expecting to encounter such a demon beast.
The Pig Dolphin Beast oinked panic and rm as it struggled with its six stubby legs with all its might, but to no avail.
Its voice was extremely shrill, resembling the bloodcurdling howls of a fat pig that was about to be ughtered, and it was putting on quite an amusing disy that had put Han Li in a much better mood.
"Don''t worry, I won''t kill you," he said with a faint smile, then flicked a finger through the air to send a fiery red pill flying into the Pig Dolphin Beast''s wide open mouth.
Its rmed oinking instantly ceased, immediately following which red light shed erratically over its rotund body, and its aura began to rapidly elevate.
A dazed look appeared on its face upon sensing this, and its struggles also gradually subsided.
Meanwhile, the red light radiating from its body continued to grow brighter and brighter, and it quickly broke through a bottleneck to reach the Deity Transformation Stage.
At the same time, the red coloration of its skin and furpletely faded, leaving it as white as snow.
The muscles on its lower abdomen squirmed momentarily, and a pair of short stubs appeared, as if two more legs were about to emerge.
"You must have decent aptitude if you''re about to grow two more legs so quickly," Han Li murmured to himself before lowering his hand, and the seawater that was enveloping the Pig Dolphin Beast instantly fell back into the sea with a loud ssh.
The Pig Dolphin Beast was freed, but instead of flying away, it remained standing in mid-air, staring at Han Li with a dazed expression.
"I''ve already helped you break through your Deity Transformation Stage bottleneck, are you still not satisfied?" Han Li asked with a faint smile.
The Pig Dolphin Beast stared at Han Li for a moment longer, then suddenly flew back into the sea and disappeared into the waves.
Meanwhile, Han Li cast his gaze toward the distant horizon with a faint smile.
He was feeling a little frustrated, but certainly not disheartened or agitated.
It was only to be expected that a Golden Immortal Stage breakthrough would be difficult to make. Otherwise, Golden Immortal cultivators wouldn''t have been so rare. However, he hadn''t been able to find any way to resolve this problem.
Day quickly transitioned into night, and stars appeared in the night sky.
Han Li looked up at the starry night sky, and his eyes suddenly lit up as a thought urred to him.
He flipped a hand over to produce a gray stone b that was covered in tiny antiquated text, and it was none other than the Great Universe Origin Arts that he had obtained from Patriarch Cold me.
Not long after obtaining this cultivation art, Han Li had been swept up in a string of chaotic events. As a result, he had forgotten all about it, and this stone b had been sitting in his storage pouch this entire time.
The Big Dipper Origin Arts that he hade across in the Spirit Domain Realm had allowed him to open up seven profound acupoints, and after that, it hadn''t taken him much effort at all to open up his first seven immortal acupoints.
If he wasn''t mistaken, there seemed to have been some type of connection between profound acupoints and immortal acupoints. Perhaps it would be a lot easier for him to open his 36th immortal acupoint if he could first open 36 profound acupoints.
With that in mind, Han Li sat down onto the ground while holding the stone b instead of returning to his cave abode.
Back when he had first obtained this cultivation art, he had only inspected it briefly, and now that he was carefully examining it, the excitement on his face quickly faded, slowly reced by a wry smile.
Sure enough, both the Great Universe Origin Arts and the Big Dipper Origin Arts were simr in nature, and the former was even more profound.
However, just as Patriarch Cold me said, this stone b was holding half of the cultivation art, which would only allow one to open up 18 profound acupoints. That meant that he would have to find the second half of the cultivation art in order to open 36 profound acupoints.
Patriarch Cold me had obtained the first half of these Great Universe Origin Arts from a set of ruins, so Han Li would most likely have to go to the same ce to obtain the second half.
With that in mind, Han Li couldn''t help but internally reprimand himself for not asking Patriarch Cold me more questions about those ruins.
It most likely wasn''t going to be easy for him to find Patriarch Cold me again.
It appeared that Patriarch Cold me had most likely joined the Ubiquitous Pavilion, but trying to find someone from such an enormous organization was no different from searching for a needle in a haystack. Additionally, he didn''t know much about the Ubiquitous Pavilion to begin with, and just like in the Transient Guild, the identities of its members were most likely kept secret from one another.
After contemting the matter a moment further, he shook his head before stowing the stone b away.
There was simply nothing that he could do about this for now.
With that in mind, Han Li turned and made his way back toward his cave abode, only to suddenly stop in his tracks before turning back to look out at the sea.
A burst of urgent oinking rang out, following which the surface of the sea parted with a loud ssh, and the Pig Dolphin Beast flew out beforending beside Han Li.
It then opened its mouth, and a ck object dropped out before rolling over to Han Li.
A sizzling sound could be hearding from the Pig Dolphin Beast''s mouth, and there were some ck marks there, out of which some dark red blood was seeping out, as if that area had been corroded by something.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he swept a sleeve through the air to send a burst of azure light flying into the Pig Dolphin Beast''s body, and the injuries on its mouth quickly began to heal.
An ted look appeared in the Pig Dolphin Beast''s eyes, and it oinked at Han Li while wagging its tail from side to side, as if it were trying to suck up to him.
Han Li paid no further heed to the beast as he bent down to pick up the ck object on the ground.
It was a fist-sized ck rock that was giving off faint ck light, and even though it was already nighttime, the ck light emanating from the object was still very much visible, seemingly able to devour all of the light around it.
Han Li''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly as a burst of sharp pain shot through the fingers of his hand that were in contact with the rock. Immediately thereafter, a semi-transparent membrane appeared over his hand.
The ck light emanating from the rock seemed to possess some type of corrosive power that was too much even for his current physical body to bear.
After inspecting the rock for a moment, Han Li injected his spiritual sense into it, upon which a hint of surprise quickly shed through his eyes.
The rock contained a very special type of power that wasn''t anyw power, but it was also very profound, and he couldn''t tell exactly what it was.
"Are you giving this to me?" Han Li asked.
The Pig Dolphin Beast immediately nodded in response.
"This is a very interesting rock. Where did you get it from?" Han Li asked.
The Pig Dolphin Beast turned to the distance and opened its mouth to say something, but all it could do was oink, and an agitated look instantly appeared in its eyes.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he released a burst of azure light from his fingertip into the Pig Dolphin Beast''s throat.
In order for demon beasts to speak, they first had to refine a certain throat bone.
This Pig Dolphin Beast possessed a decent cultivation base, but it was still yet to refine that throat bone.
The azure light shed through the beast''s throat for a moment before quickly dissipating, and an ecstatic look appeared in the Pig Dolphin Beast''s eyes as it began to speak in a very inarticte fashion.
"Senior... Er..."
"Alright, can you tell me where you got this rock from now?" Han Li asked.
"Yes... This rock... Many years ago... I... Er... With my parents from elsewhere... While moving here... Er... Obtained from near an ind..." the Pig Dolphin Beast stuttered in response.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "Do you still recall which ind it was?"
"It''s been too long... I was too young at the time... So I don''t remember..." the Pig Dolphin Beast replied, and its speech was gradually bing more fluent.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air upon hearing this, and a ball of seawater instantly rose up before forming a screen of water that depicted a detailed map of the ck Wind Sea.
"Can you recall roughly where it was on this map?" he asked.
The Pig Dolphin Beast stared at the map for a long time, then pointed its snout on a certain spot as it said in an uncertain voice, "I think it may have been here."
Han Li cast his gaze toward that spot on the map, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
As it turned out, this was a ce that he had once been to. It was none other than Red Moon Ind, the ind on which he had carried out his first Transient Guild mission.
"So that''s where you found it," Han Li murmured to himself.
"Maybe, I''m not sure," the Pig Dolphin Beast said with an uneasy expression.
"It''s alright, I know it might be hard for you to remember. By the way, do you have any more of these rocks?" Han Li asked.
Chapter 359: Response
Chapter 359: Response
"No, I only have this one. I was going to keep it and try and figure out what it was, but it''s clearly beyond my ability toprehend, so I thought it would be best to give it to you, Senior," the Pig Dolphin Beast said as it lowered itsrge head in a fawning disy.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he flicked another pill through the air, and the Pig Dolphin Beast immediately opened its mouth to swallow the pill with an ecstatic expression.
A burst of light shed over its body once again, and its aura swelled even further.
"Go on. Make sure you don''t speak a single word of this to anyone," Han Li said.
The Pig Dolphin Beast hurriedly nodded in response, then rushed back into the sea before swimming away.
Han Li watched for a moment as the beast departed, then flipped a hand over to produce a red jade box.
This box was crafted from a type of special warm jade, and it was giving off a warm and soothing aura.
He ced the ck rock into the box, and after observing for a moment to ensure that the box wasn''t affected by the ck light emanating from the rock, he stowed the box away, then withdrew the True Extreme Film over his hand before returning to his cave abode.
Instead of returning to his secret chamber, he arrived in the section of his medicine garden where the primary bean had been nted.
He had been focused entirely on cultivation these past few decades, so he didn''t have the spare time or attention to manifest time crystals. Due to the fact that he already had a sufficient supply of Myriad Axis Pill, he instructed his giant ape puppet to use all of the Heaven Controlling Vial''s spirit liquid to water the primary bean.
Upon arriving in that section of the medicine garden, Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up as he discovered that the primary bean had already sprouted, and a thin green seedling had poked its way out of the soil.
Even though it was only a tiny seedling, it was giving off a vast aura of vitality.
He carefully observed the seedling for a moment to find that just like before, there were some faint golden patterns on its two leaves.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
Having already grown a batch of Dao Warriors, he had gained some experience and wasn''t as clueless as he had once been.
The most difficult and time-consuming part of the Dao Warrior nurturing process was getting the primary bean to sprout.
Once the primary bean sprouted, half of the work had already been done, and barring any mishaps, he would be able to quickly obtain another batch of Dao Warriors.
With that in mind, Han Li observed the seedling for a moment longer before leaving the medicine garden and returning to his secret chamber.
After rounding a corner, he cast his gaze toward another secret chamber.
Daoist Xie had already been in seclusion for several centuries in there, yet he still wasn''t disying any signs ofing out, and it was unclear what he was doing in there.
Han Li withdrew his gaze before entering his secret chamber and sitting down with his legs crossed. After that, he put on his Transient Guild mask, then activated all of the restrictions in the secret chamber before checking on his Dewform Herb acquisition mission, but there had still been no responses.
This wasn''t a surprise to him, and after heaving a faint sigh, he released two more missions, one of which was to acquire theplete Great Universe Origin Arts, while the other was to appraise the ck rock that he had just obtained.
For some reason, he felt like the rock was something quite special.
After doing all of that, he meditated momentarily before summoning his giant ape puppet to his side and taking the Heaven Controlling Vial from it.
There was already a drop of green spirit liquid swirling around in the vial, and he set the vial down in front of himself before making a hand seal.
The Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light, and all of the Tim Dao Runes on its surface were shing incessantly while giving off timew power fluctuations.
He made a hand seal, and the Mantra Treasured Axis instantly flew up before descending in front of him.
At this point, the number of Time Dao Runes on the axis had reached 130.
Back when he was still at the mid-True Immortal, the number of Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis seemed to have hit an upper limit at 108.
However, now that he had reached thete-True Immortal Stage, the number of Time Dao Runes on the axis had begun increasing again.
In that case...
Han Li picked up the Heaven Controlling Vial before injecting his immortal spiritual power into it.
All of the world''s origin qi around the cave abode instantly began to churn violently, forming a massive vortex that drew in countless translucent threads formed by the world''s origin qi.
Gusts of fierce wind blew over the surface of the sea, raising massive waves, and this astonishing phenomenonsted three days before fading.
Inside his cave abode, Han Li was holding a time crystal with a hint of weariness on his face.
With his current immortal spiritual power reserves, it was already far less taxing than before to manifest time crystals.
After resting for a brief moment, he made a hand seal, and the Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
He then began to chant an incantation, the Mantra Treasured Axis began to revolve, while the Time Dao Runes on its surface radiated dazzling golden light.
A ball of resplendent golden light appeared at the center of the axis, and it quickly transformed into a vertical golden eye that cast its gaze toward the time crystals in Han Li''s hand.
A faint crack rang out as the crystal shattered, and the golden thread within flew out before shooting into the vertical golden eye.
Han Li shuddered as if he had been dealt a heavy blow, and the golden light radiating from the Mantra Treasured Axis instantly became even brighter.
Momentster, a ball of dazzling white light emerged on the axis, then transformed into a semi-transparent Time Dao Rune, a very encouraging sight for Han Li.
Just as he had anticipated, more Time Dao Runes could now be added to the Mantra Treasured Axis.
He withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis, then handed the Heaven Controlling Vial to the giant ape puppet so that it could continue to produce more spirit liquid.
The more Time Dao Runes the axis had, the more powerful it would be.
¡¡
Over two decades flew by in the blink of an eye.
Inside his cave abode, Han Li''s entire body was radiating dazzling golden light, while the Mantra Treasured Axis was rapidly revolving behind him, giving waves of golden ripples that illuminated the entire cave abode a bright golden color.
The axis was riddled with rings upon rings of Time Dao Runes, which totaled 360.
During these past years, he had been constantly using time crystals to add more Time Dao Runes to the axis, yet upon reaching 360, the Mantra Treasured Axis seemed to have reached its upper limit once again, making it impossible to add more.
Han Li made a hand seal, and countless rings of golden ripples emerged before spreading outward in all directions.
These golden ripples were far brighter than before, and everything enshrouded within them came to aplete standstill.
The air and the world''s origin qi had all stopped flowing, as if they had been frozen in ce.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
The time-slowing effect of the Mantra Treasured Axis had be significantly more powerful once again, and by his estimates, time had been slowed down by a factor of roughly 1:3,000.
He swept a sleeve through the air, and the Mantra Treasured Axis disintegrated into specks of golden light that vanished back into his body.
With the increased number of Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis, it was also bing more taxing to use, and even with histe-True Immortal Stage immortal spiritual power, maintaining it was no easy task.
Han Li gently exhaled as he sat down with his legs crossed.
Not only had the increase in the number of Time Dao Runes enhanced the power of the Mantra Treasured Axis, the power of time imbued within it had also increased significantly, and whenever he used the axis, it would release an enormous amount of timew powers.
Given the abundance of timew powers in the Mantra Treasured Axis, perhaps he would be able to glean thews of time without having to rely on a dao pill.
With that in mind, he promptly devoured a recovery pill before closing his eyes again.
Close to half a dayter.
The space within Han Li''s secret chamber suddenly began to shudder, and even through all of the restrictions, one could sense formidable time power fluctuations emanating out from within.
Right at this moment, golden light shed from the stone door of Daoist Xie''s secret chamber, and the door slowly opened.
Daoist Xie slowly emerged from within with its entire body enveloped by countless thin arcs of golden lightning, making it appear as if he were wearing a veil of golden lightning.
Beneath the veil of lightning, its body was looking rather indistinct, as if it could vanish into thin air at any moment.
Upon emerging seclusion, its gaze quickly fell upon Han Li''s secret chamber, and after standing there momentarily, it turned around and made its way back into its own secret chamber.
Several dayster, the phenomenon taking ce in Han Li''s secret chamber finally subsided.
Inside the secret chamber, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed. His robes were rather tattered, and there were traces of blood all over his body, while hisplexion was also extremely pale.
Just as like his previous few attempts, this one had also concluded in failure.
It seemed that there was some type of force that was preventing him from gleaning thews of time.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he made a hand seal, and a burst of azure light surged over his body, upon which all of the gashes instantly healed.
He then changed into a brand new robe before taking a pill, and only after closing his eyes to meditate for another half a day did hisplexion gradually return to normal.
Han Li opened his eyes and cast his gaze directly forward, and after a prolonged silence, he heaved a faint sigh.
It seemed that it was truly going to be impossible to master thews of time without the help of a dao pill.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask, which he promptly put on before directing his attention to the missions section.
A hint of tion immediately appeared on his face, only to be quickly reced by disappointment.
As it turned out, there had been a response to one of his missions, but it was the ck rock appraisal mission rather than the Dewform Herb acquisition mission.
Despite his disappointment, Han Li still cast an incantation seal onto the mission.
It wasn''t the mission that he was most hoping for a response in, but he was also quite curious about that ck rock, nheless.
The text of the mission began to gently pulse while fluctuating in brightness, and around 15 minutester, the text released a beam of azure light, projecting it into the secret chamber.
A figure wearing a crimson dragon mask slowly took shape, and the number "3" was engraved onto their mask.
Han Li faltered slightly at the sight of this figure, but his expression was concealed behind his own Transient Mask.
This was the mask that belonged to none other than Wyrm 3.
Chapter 360: Full Collection
Chapter 360: Full Collection
"Greetings, Fellow Daoist," the masked figure said as they sped their fist in a salute, and judging from their voice, this was indeed Wyrm 3.
However, Han LI had never heard Wyrm 3 speak so politely to anyone, and he was rather befuddled by this, but he naturally didn''t disy his befuddlement outwardly, and he returned the salute before asking, "You''ve taken on my mission, so you must know what this object is, right?"
At this moment, he was wearing the mask of Roon 11, and he had also altered his voice, so he wasn''t worried that Wyrm 3 would be able to identify him.
"Of course. However, prior to that, I have a question: are you in the ck Wind Sea at the moment, Fellow Daoist?" Wyrm 3 asked, seemingly on apletely unrted note.
A hint of wariness welled up in Han Li''s heart upon hearing this, and he didn''t reply.
"Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist. Even the same type of ore can disy certain differences depending on where they came from, and that''s why I''m asking," Wyrm 3 said with a smile.
Han Li hesitated momentarily, then nodded in confirmation. "I am indeed in the ck Wind Sea at the moment."
"I see. In that case, I can tell you that the rock is called Hard Ink Crystal, and I once saw it in the ck Wind Sea many years ago. The material is so hard that even direct attacks from Acquired Immortal Treasures aren''t able to destroy it. On top of that, it contains a special type of power that''s extremely corrosive, making it an exceptional material for refining yin-attribute immortal treasures.
¡°If some of this material were incorporated into an existing yin-attribute immortal treasure, not only would that immortal treasure attain corrosive properties, it would also be far sturdier as well. If you offer this rock to cultivators using yin-attribute cultivation arts, I''m sure they''d be willing to exchange everything in their possession for it," Wyrm 3 exined with a smile.
Han Li nodded in response. "Thank you for such a detailed exnation. I''ll issue you thepensation right away."
It was rather surprising to him that this was such a valuable object.
"Before that, there''s something else I''d like to ask you, Fellow Daoist," Wyrm 3 suddenly said.
"Go ahead," Han Li prompted.
"Where did you obtain this Hard Ink Crystal from, Fellow Daoist?" Wyrm 3 asked in a direct and straightforward manner.
"Why are you asking me this?" Han Li asked in a slightly surprised manner.
"Truth be told, this is a treasure that I''ve been looking for for a very long time, but I need quite arge quantity of it. If you can tell me where you obtained this piece from, I can waive thepensation for this mission and give you substantialpensation to boot," Wyrm 3 said in an earnest voice as they cupped their fist in another salute toward Han Li.
"There''s no need for that. The origins of this object concern some private matters of mine that I don''t wish to disclose, so I''ll still issue you the missionpensation as agreed," Han LI replied with a shake of his head.
Despite the earnest tone of Wyrm 3''s voice, he could tell that they weren''t telling the truth. At the very least, they were omitting something important.
"Hold on a second. This is an extremely important matter to me, so please lend me your assistance, Fellow Daoist. I''m willing to pay 300 Immortal Origin Stones for this piece of information," Wyrm 3 hurriedly interjected.
Han Li was quite surprised to hear this.
No matter how precious this material was, surely 300 Immortal Origin Stones was too much to be paying just for some information on its whereabouts.
This made him even more convinced that Wyrm 3 was withholding some important information.
"My apologies, but I cannot disclose this information, so please don''t pursue this matter any further. I still have some other errands to attend to, so let''s end things here," Han Li refused once again with a shake of his head, and as he did so, he began to make a hand seal to conclude thismunication.
All he wanted was to cultivate in peace at the moment, and he certainly didn''t want to get swept up into any trouble just for some Immortal Origin Stones.
"Please wait, Fellow Daoist," Wyrm 3 hurriedly said in an urgent voice. "I noticed that you had released a mission searching for a Dewform Herb as well. I just so happen to have one in my possession, and I''m willing to exchange it for the whereabouts of the Hard Ink Crystal."
"You have a Dewform Herb?" Han Li asked as a hint of surprise and tion appeared in his eyes.
Wyrm 3 was slightly reassured by Han Li''s reaction, and they replied with a smile, "I do, and it''s over 100,000 years old, so it should be ready for you to use right away."
Han Li lowered his head in silence, seemingly still rather hesitant.
"Of course, the Dewform Herb is a precious spirit nt, but it''s certainly no top-tier treasure, so I''ll throw in an additional 200 Immortal Origin Stones. How about that?" Wyrm 3 asked, raising the stakes once again.
Han Li raised his head with a surprised expression upon hearing this.
This Hard Ink Crystal was only something that he had obtained by chance, and he had only turned down Wyrm 3 as he didn''t want to attract any potential trouble. In truth, he had already decided to agree to exchange the information for a Dewform Herb, and he was only considering some matters rted to dao pill refinement just now, but his silence seemed to have been misinterpreted.
"Given the generosity you''ve disyed, it would be rude of me to continue to refuse," Han Li said with a faint smile.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist."
Wyrm 3 was ecstatic to hear this, and they made a string of hand seals, upon which countless azure runes instantly appeared on the azure light screen in front of Han Li to form a teleportation array.
A storage ring then appeared within the array, and Han Li picked up the ring without any hesitation before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
Instead of immediately inspecting the contents of the storage ring, he carefully inspected the entire storage ring, and only after verifying that it hadn''t been tampered with in any way did he turn his attention to its contents, namely a small pile of Immortal Origin Stones and an azure jade box, which was around a foot in length and had several azure talismans adhered to it.
Han Li pulled the jade box out of the storage ring, and it was giving off a gentle azure luster.
He immediately identified the box to have been crafted from Azure Spirit Cream Jade, which was a type of premium spirit jade that was ideal for storing all types of spirit nts.
Han Li gently removed the talismans from the box before lifting its lid, and he was greeted by the sight of an azure spirit nt with long and thin leaves that were as green as jade, but its roots were white in color.
There were white spots that resembled beads of dew on the spirit nt''s leaves, and it didn''t appear all that remarkable, but it was giving off powerful spiritual qi fluctuations.
A cloud of white mist quickly appeared in the air around it, and within the mist were numerous transparent water droplets.
This was none other than the Dewform Herb that he had been searching extensively for, and just as Wyrm 3 imed, it appeared to have been over 100,000 years of age.
Furthermore, its roots werepletely unharmed, so he could continue to nurture it.
Han Li reced the lid on the jade box before stowing it away, then said, "The answer to your question is very simple: I picked up the Hard Ink Crystal somewhere in the ck Wind Sea by chance."
Wyrm 3''s eyes immediately lit up as they asked, "Oh? Do you still recall where it was that you picked it up from?"
"Let me think... If my memory is correct, then it was somewhere near a ce called Red Moon Ind," Han Li replied.
"Red Moon Ind..."
Wyrm 3 faltered slightly upon hearing this.
"Is there a problem, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li asked.
"No, it''s just that I''ve been there once, and it''s quite a bleak and deste ind, so I didn''t think that something like Hard Ink Crystals could be found near it," Wyrm 3 replied.
"I see. After picking up this piece of Hard Ink Crystal at the time, I searched the nearby area, but didn''t find any more, so the chances of you finding more of this material there are most likely rather slim. In any case, I wish you luck," Han Li said with a faint smile.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist," Wyrm 3 replied as they cupped their fist in a salute.
The two of them chatted for a brief while longer before concluding themunication.
Han Li took off his mask, then rose to his feet with a contemtive look on his face.
Judging from Wyrm 3''s words and actions just now, there was definitely some information that they were withholding.
With that in mind, Han Li thought back to the mission that he had carried out on Red Moon Ind, trying to think if there was anything special about the ind, but he then quickly rid himself of that train of thought, deeming it as nothing more than a waste of time.
After that, he cast an incantation seal to open the door of his secret chamber, then made his way to his medicine garden.
While it was true that he did now have a Dewform Herb of sufficient age, a single one wasn''t very much to work with.
It was almost certain that he was going to be failing many times in his attempt to refine a dao pill, so he had to prepare more batches of ingredients.
At this point, he had already nurtured many batches of all of the other ingredients, and the Dewform Herb was the only one that he had been missing.
He arrived in a corner of his medicine garden, then quickly cleared a new plot of soil before setting up some restrictions around it.
After that, he carefully nted the Dewform Herb there, and only after toiling away for close to half a day did he finally step back to examine his handiwork.
A faint smile appeared on his face at the sight of the nted Dewform Herb, and he issued an instruction to the giant ape puppet to use all of the Heaven Controlling Vial spirit liquid to water this nt, to which the puppet nodded stiffly in response.
After that, Han Li took another nce at the Dewform Herb before leaving the medicine garden.
He had only just emerged from the garden when a surprised look appeared on his face.
As it turned out, Daoist Xie was standing not far away.
"When did youe out of seclusion, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked.
"Not too long ago. I saw that you were cultivating in your secret chamber, so I didn''t go to disturb you," Daoist Xie replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then asked, "It looks like your seclusion was quite sessful."
"I recalled a couple of secret techniques, and I''ve mastered them to a decent extent over the past few centuries," Daoist Xie replied.
"Congrattions, Brother Xie," Han Li said with a smile.
"It''s all thanks to the Immortal Origin Stones that you provided me with. Speaking of those, I''ve used them all up during my seclusion," Daoist Xie said.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
He had given Daoist Xie over 1,000 Immortal Origin Stonesst time, and if it weren''t for the fact that he profited immensely from killing Tao Yu, he wasn''t going to be able to afford Daoist Xie''s upkeep.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a storage tool, then handed it to Daoist Xie as he said, "There are 1,000 Immortal Origin Stones in here. Make sure to use them sparingly as it''s not so easy to get more Immortal Origin Stones here in the ck Wind Sea."
Daoist Xie nodded in response, then made its way back into the secret chamber before going back into seclusion.
Momentster, a burst of lightning power fluctuations began to emanate out of the secret chamber even through the restrictions inside.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face once again upon seeing this, and he returned to his own secret chamber as well.
Chapter 361: Pill Tribulation
Chapter 361: Pill Tribtion
At this moment, countless kilometers away from Han Li''s cave abode, a gray-robed figure with a crimson dragon mask on their face was seated with their legs crossed in a dark underground space with.
This person was none other than Wyrm 3, who had just made that exchange with Han Li.
After remaining on the spot for a while longer, Wyrm 3 suddenly stood up, then turned and strode down one of the several passageways connected to this space.
After walking through the pitch-ck underground passageway for an indeterminate period of time, Wyrm 3 arrived in an open space in the form of a cave that was several hundred feet in size, at the end of which was a gray stone door behind a faint silver light barrier.
Wyrm 3 made a hand seal while chanting an incantation, and the silver light barrier shuddered before parting down the center.
Wyrm 3 opened the door to reveal a circr secret chamber that was over 200 feet in size, but waspletely empty aside from a stone table and a stone chair.
Seated atop the stone chair was an elderly man in a ck cloak who was sipping on a cup of spirit tea.
The tea was crimson in color and was also giving off a strong bloody odor.
The elderly man had a hooked nose that resembled the beak of an eagle, and there was a cold gleam in his golden eyes.
Wyrm 3 took a nce at the teacup that the elderly man was holding, and a hint of disgust shed through their eyes, only to be immediately concealed.
"Did you find out where he got it from?" the elderly man asked as he set down his teacup.
His voice was extremely ghastly to listen to, like the sound of two pieces of rusty metal scraping together.
Wyrm 3 sat down beside the elderly man, then replied, "He found it near Red Moon Ind."
"Red Moon Ind? Didn''t you already conduct a search there before?" the elderly man asked with a hint of surprise on his face.
"I visited Red Moon Indst time under the guise of carrying out a Transient Guild mission, but there''s no guarantee that my n wasn''t exposed in advance, so perhaps they took some measures to conceal things at the time," Wyrm 3 replied.
The elderly man offered no response to this, and he began tapping a finger absentmindedly against the table with a contemtive look on his face.
Wyrm 3 also remained silent, and some timeter, the elderly man broke the silence as he asked, "What do you think of this? Do you think it''s another red herring from ck Wind Ind?"
"I don''t think so. If ck Wind Ind is behind this, I don''t think they would''ve arranged for the location to be Red Moon Ind again," Wyrm 3 replied.
"I suppose that''s true. In that case, let''s search the entire area around Red Moon Ind again, then proceed ording to the original n," the elderly man said, to which Wyrm 3 nodded in response.
The elderly man rose to his feet before departing, and only after he had left the room did Wyrm 3 stand up before removing their mask and making their way outside.
As they walked, a murkyyer of light rose up over their body before quickly fading away, and they had transformed into a woman with an exceptional figure, while her gray robe had also turned into a red dress that drifted around her like a fiery red cloud.
Before long, she had faded into the darkness once again.
¡¡
Around a dozen more years flew by in the blink of an eye.
Inside his medicine garden, Han Li carefully uprooted a Dewform Herb that was around a foot tall, then ced it in a jade box.
This was already the third Dewform Herb that he had matured.
After stowing the jade box away, Han Li made his way out of the medicine garden, but instead of heading to his secret chamber, he exited his cave abode altogether.
Shortly thereafter, he appeared in the sky above the ind amid a sh of azure light, then flipped a hand over to produce several array tes of different colors.
He then began to chant an incantation, and the array tes began to glow brightly before flying downward as several streaks of light.
The space around the cave abode suddenly began to sh with spiritual light as a thick yellow light barrier emerged, releasing a vast expanse of yellow mist thatpletely inundated the entire cave abode.
At the same time, boundless blue light rose up from the sea around the ind to form a hemispherical blue light barrier that epassed the entire ind with shing runes of different sizes on its surface.
Han Li continued to chant his incantation, releasing several streaks of blue light that vanished into the light barrier.
A series of ripples immediately began to surge over the blue light barrier, following which the entire light barrier abruptly vanished along with the ind beneath it, making it appear as if this were just a stretch of empty ocean.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
He had personally altered these restrictions, and even if ate-True Immortal cultivator were to arrive here, they wouldn''t have been able to break these restrictions in a short time.
The outermost concealment restriction was one that he had learned from a scripture in Tao Yu''s storage tool, and it was even more profound, able to fool the spiritual sense of even early-Golden Immortal cultivators.
After doing all of that, Han Li turned and flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
Several dayster, he drew to a halt above a certain region of the sea.
This ce was just as barren and deserted as the area where he had chosen to construct his temporary cave abode, except the cave abode was situated in the northwestern region of the ck Wind Sea, while this was the southwest.
He released his spiritual sense, then flew toward a certain direction before descending onto an ind momentster.
The ind wasn''t veryrge, only several dozen kilometers in size, and it was home to a gray mountain. Aside from that, the entire mountain was covered in soil and gray rocks, but barely any nts, presenting a rather bleak sight to behold.
Han Li swept his gaze over the ind before flicking his fingers through the air to release streaks of sword qi that struck the gray mountain halfway up.
Countless rocks came tumbling down like rain, and before long, a crude cave abode had taken shape.
Han Li flew into the cave abode, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a flurry of several hundred array gs.
After that, he chanted an incantation before pointing at the array gs, and they instantly transformed into balls of light of different colors that vanished in a sh into different parts of the cave abode.
Several light barriers then quickly appeared to epass the entire ind before vanishing into thin air as well.
With all of the restrictions set up, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed, then swept a sleeve through the air once again to release a streak of golden light that transformed into Daoist Xie.
"Brother Xie, it''s very unlikely that anyone wille here, but if someone tries to barge into this ce while I''m in seclusion, then please do your best to keep them at bay," Han Li said.
"Rest assured, unless any beings far above the Golden Immortal Stagee here, I''ll be sure to keep them out of your way," Daoist Xie replied with a nod, then vanished into thin air amid a sh of golden lightning.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but internally, he was quite surprised to discover that his spiritual sense was no longer able to detect Daoist Xie''s location.
He immediately activated his Spirit Refinement Technique to enhance his spiritual sense, and only then was he able to detect a very faint trace of lightning fluctuations nearby.
If it weren''t for his enormous spiritual sense and the enhancement effects of his Spirit Refinement Technique, there was no way that he would''ve been able to detect these faint lightning fluctuations.
Despite his surprise, Han Li quickly shook his head and set the matter aside.
He had gone out of his way to construct a new cave abode and set up so many restrictions here as he was about to begin refining a dao pill.
ording to the scriptures, a pill tribtion could arise in the instant that a dao pill took shape.
The scriptures stated that pill tribtions arose due to the fact that all dao pills contained the purest ofw powers, to the point that they transcended the naturalws of the realm. As a result, the power of the realm would automatically reject dao pills, sending down pill tribtions to prevent dao pills from taking shape.
It was said that pill tribtions were extremely formidable, even more so than most lightning tribtions, and even though this ce was very secluded, there was still no guarantee that such a massive spectacle wouldn''t attract any unwee guests.
The problem with his former cave abode was that moving the medicine garden was quite a chore, and that was why he had decided toe here. Even if someone were to discover him here, with Daoist Xie buying him time, he would be able to make a getaway.
With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath before closing his eyes to meditate.
Only after three days and three nights had passed by did he reopen his eyes, following which he swept a sleeve through the air to produce a silver cauldron.
A streak of silver light then shot out of his other sleeve andnded beneath the cauldron, transforming into a ball of silver mes that contained a tiny fiery silver figure.
After that, he swept his sleeves through the air in session to summon various ingredients that almost took up the entire secret chamber.
At the same time, he was running through the dao pill refinement process in his mind, even though he had already envisioned the process countless times.
After making sure that he was fully prepared, he cast an incantation seal through the air, and the silver me instantly reared up, while the temperature in the cauldron above it quickly began to rise.
All of a sudden, a white crystal emerged at Han Li''s behest before flying into the cauldron.
It was none other than a time crystal, and it gradually began to melt in the face of the sweltering heat inside the cauldron.
The golden thread within the crystal was bing brighter while giving off bursts of timew power fluctuations, and at the same time, Han Li drew a jade box into his grasp, one that contained a Heavenmade Ginseng Root.
A burst of azure light emerged over his other hand before enveloping the Heavenmade Ginseng Root, and the azure light then took on the form of tworge hands that began to gently crush the ginseng root.
The Heavenmade Ginseng Root was an extremely rare spirit nt, but it wasn''t very hard at all, and it was instantly crushed to a pulp, releasing arge volume of white spirit liquid.
Han Li pointed a finger forward to release a burst of azure light that caught the spirit liquid, then carefully transported it into the cauldron.
The spirit liquid immediately began to boil, and wisps of white mist rose up from it.
There was a look of concentration on Han Li''s face as he controlled the silver me, and before long, the white spirit liquid had transformed into a small ball of white gooey substance that enveloped the time crystal.
Han Li immediately drew another ingredient over to himself upon seeing this, and this time, it was a small box of silver powder that looked as if it were some type of crushed bone.
He raised a hand to release a burst of azure light that enveloped the bone powder, then transported into the cauldron as well.
At the same time, his other hand was making a constant series of hand seals to keep the silver me beneath the cauldron in check.
The silver bone powder quickly melted as well, forming a ball of silver liquid that fused as one with the gooey white substance, immediately following which Han Li picked up another ingredient before transferring it into the cauldron.
In the blink of an eye, over half a day had passed by, and most of the ingredients in the secret chamber had already been transferred into the cauldron.
At this moment, there was a longan-sized white pill inside the cauldron, and its surface was rather rough and bumpy.
The white pill was gently revolving while being heated by the silver me beneath the cauldron, and it was giving off wisps of white spiritual qi.
Chapter 362: Time Reversal Revision
Chapter 362: Time Reversal Revision
In front of the pill cauldron, sweat had already begun to bead up on Han Li''s forehead, and his breathing was also slightly jagged.
He had already tried to mentally prepare himself for the level of difficulty of dao pill refinement, but only when putting the process into practice did he realize just how drastically he had underestimated the process.
Dao pill refinement waspletely different from that of normal pill refinement.
There were countless different pill recipes out there, but almost all of them involved refining all of the ingredients before gathering them together to condense into a pill.
In contrast, the ingredient that contained thew power was the core of everything in a dao pill. Hence, during the refinement process, he had to refine the ingredients while constantly fusing them with the material that contained thew power, resulting in a snowball process. Essentially, the ingredient refinement and pill condensing processes had to take ce in unison, and that resulted in a massive spike in difficulty.
To furtherpound his woes, he also had to simultaneously control the fire while bncing out the medicinal properties of all of the ingredients.
In particr, the timew powers within the time crystal had to form some type of bnce with all of the other ingredients in order to facilitate perfect fusion, and that only further increased the difficulty of the pill refinement process.
Han Li felt as if he were controlling an enormous army, trying to instruct them to adopt an extremelyplex formation, but none of the soldiers in the army were under his control, and on top of that, they were asionally shing against one another.
He had to bnce out all of the conflicts while guiding everyone into the right formation, and if it weren''t for the fact that he had made significant strides in his pill refinement mastery ofte, he would''ve already beenpletely worn out by now.
Even so, at this point, he was gradually beginning to feel the strain, but there were many ingredients that were still yet to be added to the cauldron, and with the addition of those ingredients, things were only going to be even more difficult to control.
Due to the fact that dao pills containedw powers, they couldn''te into contact with any otherw powers prior to thepletion of the refinement process. Otherwise, some unforeseen change would take ce in the pill, resulting in a failure in the pill refinement.
Hence, Han Li was unable to use his Mantra Treasured Axis to assist him, and he could only rely on his pill refinement skills.
He took a deep breath, then swept a sleeve through the air once again, sending another ingredient tumbling into the cauldron.
As time passed, a few more ingredients were transferred into the cauldron, and at this point, Han Li''s breathing had be extremelybored, and his eyes had be bloodshot, while an unnatural flush had appeared on his cheeks.
He took a deep breath as he released a burst of azure light to envelop another ingredient, this time a vial of green spirit liquid, then tipped it into the cauldron as well.
The green liquid swirled around in the cauldron momentarily before fusing into the white pill, which was already beginning to take shape.
Ayer of green light appeared over the white pill, but it then slowly faded, and right as it was about topletely vanish, the pill abruptly shuddered as lights of different colors appeared on its surface, shing erratically with one another.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he was just about to do something, but it was already toote.
A dull thud rang out from within the white pill, following which a crack appeared on its surface.
In the next instant, all of the light radiating from the pill faded, and the spiritual qi permeating throughout the surrounding area also abruptly vanished.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and everything instantly returned to normal, as if Han Li had only been refining a normal pill up to this point rather than a dao pill.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh as he released an incantation seal, and all of the silver mes beneath the cauldron instantly surged back to him to form a fiery silver figure that vanished into his body.
He then made a beckoning motion, and the remnants of the pill flew out of the cauldron before flying onto the palm of his hand.
He held the pill up close to his eye for a thorough inspection, and the slight frustration in his heart gradually subsided.
He was already mentally prepared for his first dao pill refinement attempt to conclude in failure, particrly considering this was going to be a dao pill that contained one of the three paramountws.
With that in mind, a faint smile appeared on his face.
This failed pill may have been useless to other pill refinement masters, but it was extremely useful to him.
He made a hand seal, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
All of the 360 Time Dao Runes on its surface were giving off dazzling golden light, and the Eye of Truth at its center slowly opened to reveal the eyeball inside.
A beam of radiant golden light shot out of the eyeball, and countless golden runes appeared on the surface of the eye, much like a night sky full of golden stars.
With the emergence of these runes, the golden light released by the Eye of Truth began to flicker incessantly, creating a chaotic kaleidoscope-like effect.
With 360 Time Dao Runes on the Mantran Treasured Axis, the aura and observative powers had both been significantly enhanced.
Han Li closed his eyes so that he could see the world through the lens of the Eye of Truth, and he was able to see through teh restrictions set up in his cave abode with ease.
Not only that, but he was even able to clearly see the flow of spiritual power on the restrictions.
Unfortunately, he only had a few restrictions set up at the moment, and that was nowhere near enough to test the true limits of the Eye of Truth''s observative powers.
There were definitely going to be more opportunities to test out the observative powers of the Eye of Truth in the future, but this wasn''t the time to be doing such a thing, so he returned to the task at hand, focusing its gaze on the failed pill in his hand.
The beam of golden light shooting out of the Eye of Truth instantly fell upon the pill, which immediately began to glow with dazzling golden radiance while giving off bursts of time power fluctuations.
In the next instant, the pill began to revolve in mid-air, and a burst of green spirit liquid abruptly surged out of it.
At the same time, lights of different colors were shing from the pill, and it was also disying various other minute changes.
Essentially, the pill refinement process was being yed out in reverse right in front of Han Li''s eyes, allowing him to clearly observe the entire process.
One of the main things that had given Han Li the confidence to attempt dao pill refinement was none other than this time reversal ability of his Eye of Truth.
Ayer of blue light surfaced in his eyes as he stared intently at the failed pill,tching onto every single detail.
All of a sudden, he spotted the misstep that had resulted in the pill''s detonation.
The green liquid had beenpletely extracted out of the pill, and all of the lights of different colors on the pill also faded, restoring it to the state before the green liquid was added.
The scene continued to unfold, and ayer of white light emerged over the pill, following which some white powder was extracted out of it.
Once again, lights of different colors emerged over the pill alongside various minute changes.
Han Li hadn''t made a mistake in this step, but he was still eager to see it again so that he could glean some insight and experience.
Thus, more and more ingredients continued to fly out of the pill one after another, and after reviewing the entire process, Han Li had developed a clearer understanding of the dao pill refinement process.
In the end, the pill was restored back to just the time crystal, which was then reverted back into the green liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial, but Han Li was naturally not interested in this part.
Following a few flickers of golden light, the failed pill re-emerged.
Even though Han Li had reached thete-True Immortal Stage, unleashing the Eye of Truth still exhausted most of his immortal spiritual power.
He exhaled as pulled out a pill before swallowing it, then sat down to meditate, digesting the pill while carefully reviewing the dao pill refinement process in his mind once again.
An hourter, he opened his eyes, feelingpletely reinvigorated.
However, he didn''t immediately begin another attempt at dao pill refinement as it would take another month to manifest a time crystal.
During the rest of the month, Han Li didn''t nothing aside from constantly using his Eye of Truth to review the pill refinement process over and over again.
A month passed by in the blink of an eye, and the Heaven Controlling Vial finally produced a drop of green liquid that was immediately converted into a time crystal by Han Li.
After that, he brought out another batch of ingredients and made his second pill refinement attempt.
Having reviewed the first attempt countless times, Han Li couldn''t have been more familiar with the process, and the pill refinement progressed very smoothly, quickly reaching the stage where the green spirit liquid was to be integrated.
He pulled out a vial of green spirit liquid before guiding it into the cauldron, and it quickly shrank down in volume under the sweltering heat.
Han Li raised a hand to release a burst of azure light that enveloped the liquid before integrating it into the pill, and this time, the process waspleted without a hitch.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this, then transferred another ingredient into the cauldron.
Perhaps it was due to his extensive revision of his first pill refinement, but this second attempt was progressing very smoothly, and before long, there were only six or seven ingredients left.
However, at this point, a sheen of sweat had appeared on Han Li''s forehead, and he seemed to be nearing his limits once again.
He gritted his teeth and braced himself as he transferred a white spirit gel substance into the cauldron, and a sh of white light abruptly appeared, followed by another dull thump, concluding with a charred odor wafting through the air.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he then quicklyposed himself.
After resting for a moment with his eyes closed, he retrieved the failed pill from the cauldron, then summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis and began scrutinizing the pill with the Eye of Truth.
A beam of golden light shot into the pill, and the pill refinement process was yed out in reverse once again.
Once again, Han Li was able to quickly pinpoint the reason for this failure.
One monthter, he repeated the same process,mencing his third pill refinement, and prior to this, he had once again extensively reviewed his previous failure.
The time reversal ability of the Eye of Truth was virtually allowing him to simte the pill refinement process over and over again, thereby granting him a huge amount of experience.
Just likest time, the pill refinement process progressed very smoothly, and before long, it was yet again time to add the white spirit gel substance into the cauldron.
He had already mastered the key to this step, and he was able toplete it without any trouble.
After that, he transferred another ingredient into the cauldron.
At this point, most of the pill refinement process was alreadyplete, and he should''ve been very happy to havee so far after just two failures, but his mood was immediately dampened just 15 minutester.
Another dull thump rang out from within the cauldron, heralding his third dao pill refinement failure.
Chapter 363: Arrival of the Tribulation
Chapter 363: Arrival of the Tribtion
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly as he withdrew his me of me of Essence with a sweep of his sleeve, then retrieved the failed pill from inside the cauldron.
This time, he hadn''t been able to make much improvement, only sessfully integrating one more ingredient before failing on the second one.
The closer he came to the conclusion of the pill refinement process, the more difficult it became, and his brows were tightly furrowed.
With the Eye of Truth, he could review the pill refinement process however many times he wanted, so he was certain that he would eventually find sess, but the problem was that he had only prepared nine batches of pill refinement ingredients, and there had already been used up, so there were only six left.
He took a deep breath and cast aside that train of thought, then trained his Eye of Truth on the failed pill once again.
A monthter, Han Limenced his fourth pill refinement.
Everything was progressing smoothly, and he quickly reached the stage where he had previously failed.
Thanks to his extensive revision, he was able toplete this step with ease as well, smoothly integrating a piece of golden honey into the pill.
He took a moment topose himself, then turned to find that there were still five ingredients left.
He gritted his teeth as he transferred the next ingredient into the cauldron, then began making a rapid string of hand seals with a look of intense focus on his face, pushing the limits of his pill refinement abilities.
Inside the cauldron, the pill was revolving on the spot with spiritual light of different colors shing over its surface.
With each ingredient that was added, Han Li had to regte the interactions between the new ingredient and the other ingredients that had already been integrated into the pill to reach a new equilibrium. It was like pouring cold water into hot oil while also ensuring that no oil spilled out.
Han Li was doing everything in his power to mediate the shes between the medicinal power of all of the ingredients in the pill, trying to stabilize everything, but his efforts proved to be futile.
A dull thud rang out, and Han Li''s expression instantly darkened once again.
This time, he had failed without being able to integrate even a single additional ingredient.
He sat in silence for a while before retrieving the failed pill and inspecting it through his Eye of Truth.
A monthter, the fifth pill refinement began.
Once again, progress was very smooth, but even though he had already exercised the utmost caution when adding in the next ingredient down the line, the process still concluded in failure.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and he repeated the same process of revision.
Two or three months passed by in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in his cave abode, cycling through a rapid string of hand seals.
Faint crackling sounds were ringing out asionally from within the cauldron, and even though the lid of the cauldron, shes of spiritual light of different colors could be seen.
There was also a strong medicinal aroma in the air, and this time, all of the ingredients had already been transferred into the cauldron.
During these past few months, progress had remained agonizingly slow despite Han Li''s best efforts, and he was only able to sessfully integrate one more ingredient each time.
Even though he had managed to gradually ovee one hurdle after another, he had exhausted all of his ingredients, and the pill in the cauldron at this moment contained the final batch.
He had already failed at this stagest time, so if the trend of one additional sessful ingredient integration per pill refinement attempt continued, then this would finally be the one where he was met with sess.
What he had to worry about right now was the uing pill tribtion.
He only had this final batch of ingredients left, and if he couldn''t ward off the pill tribtion, then he wasn''t going to get another chance for at least the next few centuries.
He still had some seeds and seedlings of things like the Dewform Herb and the Heavenmade Ginseng Root, so all he would have to do would be to mature them using the Heaven Controlling Vial spirit liquid, but the other ingredients that weren''t spirit nts weren''t going to be so easy to obtain.
They would have to be purchased using Immortal Origin Stones, and some of them were not so easy toe by. In particr, there were several primary ingredients that he had only found in Tao Yu''s storage tool, and he had no idea how much time and effort it would''ve taken to gather them on his own.
Not only was he currently in the ck Wind Sea, it was impossible to purchase those ingredients even from the Transient Guild.
Hence, this was his final chance, and he couldn''t afford for anything to go wrong.
With that in mind, Han Li reaffirmed his focus, observing all of the changes taking ce in the pill cauldron with his spiritual sense.
At this moment, all of the ingredients in the pill were shing violently against one another like a chaotic pot of boiling water, and even though he had identified the reason for his previous failure during his extensive revision, he was still having a great deal of trouble keeping everything in check.
Time slowly passed by, and Han Li gradually entered an immersive state of tranquility, as if his heart had transformed into the surface of a stillke.
The rate at which he was making hand seals began to slow down, but all of his movements had be more precise and profound.
Incantation seals were streaming out of his hands into the cauldron, and the originally incrediblyplex situation in the cauldron had suddenly be very simple in his eyes, allowing him to control everything with ease.
All of the shes taking ce in the pill began to subside, and the pill refinement process was rapidly nearing its conclusion.
A faint smile appeared on his face, and he could feel that his pill refinement abilities had broken through a bottleneck and reached a whole new level.
He took a deep breath as a serious look reappeared on his face, and he suddenly switched to a different hand seal.
A burst of loud rumbling akin to ps of thunder rang out within the cauldron, but this was due to all of the surging energy inside rather than the detonation of the pill.
The lights of different colors shing within the cauldron also became brighter and brighter while gradually fusing together to form pure golden light.
Han Li''s eyes lit up upon seeing this, and he knew that this was a precursor of the pill''s formation.
His hand seals became more urgent, while the golden light within the cauldron became more and more radiant, and the medicinal aroma in the air also became more pronounced.
Right at this moment, the sound ringing out within the cauldron abruptly took a turn, resembling an animalistic roar.
All of a sudden, a loud thump rang out, and a burst of dazzling golden light erupted out of the cauldron, sending its lid flying, while a longan-sized golden pill flew out from within.
Streaks of fiery golden light erupted out of the pill, forming a series of golden halos that spread through the air in all directions.
The pill was giving off a burst of incredibly profound timew fluctuations that approached the Heavenly Dao, and Han Li was ecstatic to see that there were two golden marks on its surface.
Never had he thought that he would be able to refine a second-tier dao pill. Perhaps this was due to the abundance of timew powers in the time crystal, or perhaps it was due to some other factor.
In any case, a second-tier dao pill was going to be far more efficacious than a first-tier one.
Right at this moment, countless specks of golden light suddenly began to appear in the clear blue sky up above, quickly forming a vast expanse of surging golden clouds.
The golden clouds had no end in sight, and it was as if they had taken up the entire sky, illuminating even the sea down below a bright golden color.
Vastw fluctuations were surging out of the golden clouds, while all of the world''s origin qi within a radius of close to 100,000 kilometers was churning violently.
Thew fluctuations emanating from the golden clouds were so immense that they were detectable even to cultivators close to 1,000,000 kilometers away.
The golden cloud was also churning violently while bing denser and denser, and before long, it had formed an opaque golden barrier thatpletely kept out the light of the sun.
The entire sea was illuminated a bright golden color, but there was an incredibly heavy sensation in the air, as if the sky were about to fall.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he sensed what was happening outside.
He had seen records of pill tribtions before, and he hadn''t anticipated it to be so formidable.
A burst of loud rumbling rang out within the golden cloud, and a vast golden vortex appeared, rapidly revolving as rays of incredibly bright golden light appeared at its center.
A burst of crushingw fluctuations surged out of the vortex, descending upon the entire cave abode.
Countless cracks began to appear on all of the walls of the cave abode, and all of a sudden, Daoist Xie appeared in the sky above the cave abode amid a sh of golden lightning.
It raised its head to look up at the golden cloud, and a hint of emotion shed past its wooden face.
Right at this moment, the golden vortex in the sky abruptly brightened, and a beam of piercing golden light surged out from within, hurtling down toward the cave abode below.
The golden light contained countless golden runes that were shing erratically while giving off formidable timew power fluctuations that were filled with aggressive intent.
Daoist Xie made no effort to stop the beam of golden light, merely standing still on the spot.
Right at this moment, the beam of golden light struck the cave abode before piercing directly into it.
However, the restrictions and walls of the cave abode remainedpletely unharmed, and the golden light passed right through them as if it had no substance.
Han Li was quite startled by this turn of events.
The pill tribtion had arrived far quicker than he had anticipated.
He hurriedly made a hand seal, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him before releasing countless golden ripples that instantly enveloped the golden dao pill.
At the same time, he opened his mouth to release the Seven Bright Star Rings, which became interconnected with one another to form a singlerge ring.
The ring released a burst of dazzling starlight to form a light barrier with countless stars shing on its surface, as if it were a miniature starry sky.
Countless tiny starlight runes were surging over the surface of the light barrier while giving off hints ofw fluctuations.
Before Han Li had a chance to do anything else, the beam of golden light came crashing down like lightning upon the starlight barrier, which immediately brightened considerably as it attempted to keep the beam of golden light at bay.
However, the beam of golden light was able to pass through it just as it had the ceiling of the cave abode, and it struck the dao pill with unerring uracy.
Chapter 364: Final Roll of the Dice
Chapter 364: Final Roll of the Dice
The golden dao pill shuddered violently upon being struck by the beam of golden light, and arcs of lighting were shing over its surface.
At the same time, the golden light that it was giving off quickly began to dim, and the enormous spiritual energy that it contained was beginning to disy signs of dissipating.
Most importantly, the two golden dao marks on its surface were also shing erratically, looking as if they were about to rise up from the dao pill and fly toward the golden vortex up above.
Han Li''s heart immediately sank upon seeing this.
He had already activated his Mantra Treasured Axis''s time-slowing effect, but the beam of golden light waspletely unaffected, perhaps because it was also imbued with the power of timews.
His mind was racing as he made a rapid string of hand seals in a desperate attempt to stabilize the dao pill.
At the same time, bursts of timew powers surged out of the Mantra Treasured Axis, enveloping the golden dao marks on the pill to keep them in ce.
However, even with his tremendous power, it was very difficult to stabilize the dao pill and keep the dao marks in ce, and at this rate, it would only be a matter of time before the dao pill waspletely destroyed.
The golden dao pill was trembling incessantly, as was Han Li.
Stabilizing the pill wasn''t just a matter of using as much effort as possible. Instead, he had to strike an extremely meticulous bnce, so his immense immortal spiritual power wasn''t helping him much here.
Right at this moment, the golden cloud in the sky began to churn once again in an even more violent fashion, resembling a turbulent golden sea.
The speed at which the golden vortex was revolving also increased significantly, and more rays of piercing golden light appeared at its center, resembling arcs of pulsing lightning.
In the next instant, a burst of even more suffocating pressure erupted out of the vortex before descending upon Han Li''s cave abode.
The entire cave abode shuddered along with the ind that it was situated on, and the cracks on the walls of the cave abode widened even further.
An urgent look appeared on Han Li as he sensed what was happening outside, and his Mantra Treasured Axis also began to revolve rapidly at his behest while all of its Time Dao Runes were giving off dazzling golden light.
A vast burst of golden light surged out of the axis, and it was filled with countless golden runes that were giving off intense timew power fluctuations.
This burst of timew power was almost twice as powerful as what it had previously released, and the burst of golden light instantly split up into several dozen streaks at Han Li''s behest, with every single one of them forming a shing thread of golden light, all of which were emanating formidable timew powers.
The dozens of strands of golden light shot forth before wrapping themselves around the golden dao marks on the pill, and the trembling of the dao marks finally subsided a little, while the violently surging spiritual power within the pill also settled down slightly.
However, Han Li didn''t dare to growcent, and he continued to try and stabilize the pill with all his might.
At the same time, a series of Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew out of his body before forming a circr sword barrier above his head.
Immediately thereafter, his Heavy Water True Axis also appeared, then swelled to over 10 times its original size before also positioning itself above him.
The Heavy Water True Axis was rapidly revolving while producing bursts of loud rumbling, while more treasures continued to fly out of Han Li''s body one after another.
There were the silver bell, strange sword, and Integrated Five Extremes Mountain that he had obtained from Tao Yu, as well as those two yin-attribute immortal treasures and all of the other formidable treasures in his collection.
During these past few centuries, he had alreadypletely refined these treasures, granting himplete mastery over them.
With the support of his immense spiritual sense and immortal spiritual power, all of the treasures releasedyers uponyers of thick light barriers that virtually filled the entire secret chamber.
Han Li had only justpleted these preparations when a resounding boom rang out overhead, and a pir of golden light that was far thicker than the one before came crashing down upon the cave abode.
The entire surrounding space shuddered violently as gusts of fierce wind swept through the area, raising waves that were several hundred feet tall over the surface of the nearby sea.
This pir of golden light was extremely bright, and it resembled a bolt of lightning, once again passing through the restrictions and ceiling of the cave abode with ease before striking the outermost starlight barrier formed by the Seven Bright Star Rings.
Just like before, the pir of golden light pierced through the starlight barrier without any trouble, then went on to strike the sword formed by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The golden pir of light was struck by countless peerlessly sharp streaks of sword qi, but once again, it remainedpletely unaffected, passing right through to strike the Heavy Water True Axis, which also posed no resistance.
All of the light barriers in the secret chamber were shing erratically, but their efforts to keep the pir of golden light at bay remainedpletely futile.
However, the pir of golden light had been slowed down a little, so it appeared that Han Li''s efforts weren''tpletely futile.
Even so, the situation was still quite dire.
He had already done everything in his power, yet the pill tribtion still refused to be stopped.
Up to this point, the dao pill still wasn''t even close to reaching a state of stability.
Given how damaging the first pill tribtion had been, if it were struck by this second pill tribtion that was even more formidable, then it would surely bepletely destroyed.
Never had he imagined that the realm would reject dao pills so vehemently.
He continued to resist with all his might while the pir of golden light passed through several more light barriers, and it was slowed down even further in the process.
All of a sudden, Han Li seemed to have noticed something.
The pir of golden light had seemed to have pierced through the first fewyers of light barriers without any trouble, yet he could tell that it had shrunk down a little.
It seemed that this pill tribtion wasn''t unstoppable, after all.
With that in mind, Han Li opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence, which split up into several smaller balls before vanishing into the treasures around him.
At the same time, he released all of his immortal spiritual power without any reservation, injecting it into the remaining treasures.
At this point, he had no choice but to make one final roll of the dice.
All of the treasures lit up significantly while giving off even more formidablew power fluctuations, while the pir of golden light continued to descend.
One light barrier after another was pierced through as the pir of golden light rapidly approached the dao pill, and Han Li''s expression darkened even further.
The pill tribtion had been weakened up to this point, but the effects were still too minimal.
Right at this moment, the pir of golden light passed through the ck g immortal treasure, then began descending toward the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain.
At this point, there weren''t many treasures left in its path.
Han Li took a deep breath, and 35 specks of golden light suddenly appeared over his body.
He was nning to unleash a secret technique that could stimte thetent potential of his immortal acupoints, and it could take up to a century for him to recover from the repercussions, but he had no choice.
All of a sudden, a burst of faint buzzing rang out up above.
Han Li looked up to see what was happening, and a surprised look instantly appeared in his eyes.
As it turned out, the bright gray light released by the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain had formed a gray barrier that had managed to stop the seemingly unstoppable pir of golden light in its tracks.
Neither the gray light nor the golden light seemed to be able to get the better of the other, and an ted look appeared on Han Li''s face as he hurriedly abandoned the secret technique that he was just about to unleash.
He cast his gaze toward the gray light around the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain to find that it was giving off bursts ofw power fluctuations, and this was the exact same type ofw power that he had been trying to identify before.
It was this burst ofw powers that had stopped the pir of golden light cold in its tracks, and an enlightened look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
The Integrated Five Extremes Mountain had the innate ability to weaken lightning tribtions, and he had refined it for the purpose of helping him transcend his ascension tribtion. This pill tribtion was most likely a type of lightning tribtion as well, so it was no wonder that the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain could pose meaningful resistance.
It seemed that this Integrated Five Extremes Mountain was a far more formidable treasure than he imagined.
The Integrated Five Extremes Mountain that he had initially refined had been quite powerful, but only in the context of the Spirit Realm, and it couldn''t even have been considered to be an immortal treasure in the Immortal Realm.
However, Tao Yu had dedicated arge amount of resources to refining this treasures, and Han Li had been rather perplexed by this, but he now realized that Tao Yu had most likely been willing to invest so much into the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain as he was already aware that it would be very effective at warding off pill tribtions.
However, this wasn''t the time to be pondering such matters.
The Integrated Five Extremes Mountain was able to keep the pir of golden light at bay, but the pill tribtion was extremely formidable, and the gray light being released by the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain was slowly being overwhelmed.
However, at the same time, the pir of golden light was also slowly shrinking.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately cast aside all of his other treasures to focus solely on supporting the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain.
One treasure after another came nging down onto the ground, but Han Li didn''t spare them so much as even a single nce.
He had invested countless time, effort, and resources into refining this dao pill, and he certainly wasn''t going to ept failure at thest hurdle.
Chapter 365: Undercurrents
Chapter 365: Undercurrents
The gray and golden light continued to sh in mid-air, causing a hugemotion while bursts of violent world''s origin qi surged through the area.
Neither side was able to gain the upper hand, and an impasse had ensued.
However, as time passed, both the gray light released by the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain and the pir of golden light were constantly being worn down.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this.
He didn''t have much immortal spiritual power left, and even with the support of Immortal Origin Stones, he wasn''t going to be able to keep this up for much longer.
What was even more concerning was that as it was warding off the pir of golden light, thew power that the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain contained was constantly being whittled down. At this point, most of it had already been expended, so not only was it also not going to be able tost much longer, it was most likely going to take a very long time to recover after this.
Han Li took a deep breath while replenishing his immortal spiritual power reserves with the Immortal Origin Stone in his hand, while his other hand was still making a series of hand seals so that he could continue to support the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain with his immortal spiritual power.
All of a sudden, the mountain in mid-air abruptly shuddered, following which the gray light that it was radiating quickly faded.
Thew power within the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain had finally been exhausted, and it was unable to oppose the pir of golden light any longer.
Thankfully, at this point, the pir of golden light had also been severely whittled down, and it struck the dao pill in a sh right after the gray light faded.
The dao pill shuddered violently once again as the two dao marks on its surface began to sh erratically.
At this point, Han Li''s immortal spiritual power was close to running out as well, but he made one morest-ditch effort as a burst of dazzling golden light erupted out of the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him, then split up into several dozen strands of golden light once again before wrapping themselves around the dao pill, forming a fist-sized golden ball.
His face had turned deathly pale, and what little remained of his immortal spiritual power had beenpletely drained, so he wasn''t going to be able to do anything else.
The golden ball shuddered while shing erratically, and it looked as if it could explode at any moment.
Han Li was looking on with an anxious expression, but there was nothing more that he could do.
Right at this moment, Daoist Xie abruptly appeared behind him, then thrust its palms forward, releasing two pirs of golden light that surged into Han Li''s body, filling his empty dantian with a burst of pure immortal spiritual power.
Han Li was ecstatic, and he immediately began making a string of hand seals, upon which the golden ball gradually stabilized itself.
Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief upon seeing this, and his Mantra Treasured Axis vanished alongside the golden ball at his behest, revealing the dao pill inside thetter.
Having transcended two pill tribtions, the dao pill appeared even brighter and more vibrant than before, the timew power fluctuations that it was giving off had also be more formidable.
However, there was no time for Han Li to give it a close inspection. The pill tribtion hadn''tsted a very long time, but it had caused a massive phenomenon, and it was sure to have attracted the attention of some nearby cultivators.
With that in mind, he quickly swallowed a pill, then carefully stored the dao pill into a jade box before turning around to give Daoist Xie a nod of gratitude.
"We have to get out of here. I can already sense peopleing this way," Daoist Xie said as it transformed into a streak of golden light that vanished into Han Li''s body.
Han Li didn''t waste any time with words, sweeping a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that stowed away all of the treasures on the ground, as well as the silver cauldron.
He then quickly swept his spiritual sense across the entire cave abode, and only after confirming that there was nothing left inside that could expose his identity did he fly out of the cave abode in a sh.
At this point, the vast golden cloud in the sky had already vanished, but the nearby sea was still slightly more turbulent than usual.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li retrieved all of the array tools near the cave abode, which flew up his sleeve as streaks of light.
He then made a hand seal, and a burst of golden lightning erupted out of his body as he prepared to unleash his lightning teleportation array.
However, right at this moment, gusts of azure wind abruptly emerged out of thin air nearby amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
In the blink of an eye, an azure array had taken shape, and it was giving off tremendous spatial power.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
The azure array was very simr to his lightning array, except itbined the powers of wind and space rather than lightning and space.
Some time was required to set up the lightning array, so it was already toote to get away without being detected by whoever was in the lightning array.
With these thoughts racing through his mind, Han Li immediately stopped in his tracks before flying back toward the cave abode.
At the same time, he put on his Transient Guild mask and adopted a disguise, transforming himself into a middle-aged man.
Mere momentster, a ck-robed man with a thin and tall figure emerged within the azure array. His eyes were quite long and thin, as were his eyebrows, giving him a rather sharp and hostile disposition.
The enormous aura emanating from his body indicated that he was also ate-True Immortal cultivator.
Han Li stopped in his tracks before turning to the ck-robed man with a surprised expression.
The man cast his gaze toward Han Li as well, and a wary look immediately appeared on his face.
"I don''t recall seeing you around these parts before, Fellow Daoist. My name is Miao Yan, and I just so happen to have been cultivating nearby, so I decided toe here and check out the phenomenon that had just taken ce. May I ask your name, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li said with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute, putting on a friendly fa?ade.
Despite his friendly demeanor, internally, he was very surprised.
He had never seen this person in the ck Wind Sea, and as far as he was aware, the ind masters of ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind were the only twote-True Immortal cultivators that were native to the ck Wind Sea.
Having said that, it was clear to Han Li that there were clearly other powers behind those two inds.
These thoughts were shing rapidly through Han Li''s mind while the ck-robed man inspected his surroundings briefly, then turned his gaze back to Han Li as he replied in a rather cold voice, "My name is Ge Yu."
"I see. Did you alsoe here to investigate the phenomenon that had just taken ce, Fellow Daoist Ge?" Han Li asked.
Ge Yu nodded in response, then took a meaningful nce at Han Li as he said, "I immediately came here using my teleportation array upon sensing what was happening here, and I thought I was already extremely fast, but it seems you were able to beat me here."
Han Li''s smile remained unchanged as he exined, "My cave abode is just nearby, and I also immediately came here upon sensing the phenomenon, so I naturally got here a little faster."
"Is that right?" Ge Yu mused as he descended toward the cave abode.
Han Li hurriedly trailed along behind him, then pretended to explore the cave abode.
Having already conducted a thorough cleanup job earlier, there was no chance that anything of note would be discovered here.
Sure enough, the two of them quickly searched through the cave abode without discovering anything worthy of note.
"It looks like we''re still toote, and whoever was here has already left. I wonder what they were doing to have triggered such a massive phenomenon. Could it be that some powerful treasure was created here? It seems like a bit of a stretch," Han Li mused with a perplexed expression.
Ge Yu merely took a nce at Han Li without saying anything.
Right at this moment, several streaks of light appeared on the distant horizon, then quickly flew onto the scene to reveal a group of cultivators, all of whom were at the early-True Immortal Stage.
Upon detecting the cultivation bases of Han Li and Ge Yu, all of the neers immediately chose to keep their distance.
Shortly thereafter, more cultivators arrived on the scene from different directions, and Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon seeing this, but internally, he was feeling a little uneasy.
The vast majority of these cultivators weren''t Earthly Immortals, so they were clearly outsiders. It seemed that the situation in the ck Wind Sea was far moreplex than he had anticipated, and it appeared that many True Immortals from the outside had entered this region during the years that he had been away.
Could it be that all of them hade to search for resources?
The problem with this theory was that while it was true that the ck Wind Sea was superior to the Spirit Realm, it was considered to be extremelycking in resources in the context of the Northern cial Immortal Region, and in this regard, it was inferior even to the Primordial Wave Continent.
"It looks like there''s nothing here. The situation may be moreplex with more people arriving on the scene, so I''ll be taking my leave," Han Li said with slightly furrowed brows as he cupped his fist in a parting salute toward Ge Yu, then flew away as a streak of azure light.
Ge Yu remained on the spot and watched Han Li depart for a moment before also flying away himself as a gust of azure wind.
Only then did the other cultivators nearby begin to approach the ind.
¡¡
Countless kilometers away, there was a stretch of ocean with an extremely dense cloud of ck mist hanging over its surface, and the sky was also very dim.
A burst of spatial fluctuations emerged over the surface of the sea, following which a golden lightning array took shape with Han Li inside it.
He swept his spiritual sense through the surrounding area, upon which his expression eased slightly.
After leaving the ind, he had teleported through the ck Wind Sea multiple times before arriving here, so even if there had been someone following him, he should''ve been able to shake them off his trail by now.
He took a nce at his surroundings, then abruptly swooped down toward the sea below, quickly descending to the seabed before sitting down with his legs crossed.
At this moment, his entire body was racked with sharp pain from using Daoist Xie''s immortal spiritual power.
He set up a couple of restrictions, then swallowed a pill before closing his eyes to meditate.
Three days and three nightster, he opened his eyes before rising to his feet.
The difort in his body had alreadypletely faded, and having endured this pill tribtion, he had gained a better understanding of the power of time as well, which should''ve been quite helpful in his bid to master thews of time through consuming the dao pill.
With that in mind, a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes.
Chapter 366: Early Onset
Chapter 366: Early Onset
Momentster, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to remove the surrounding restrictions, then flew out of the sea toward his cave abode.
On the way back, he suddenly felt a dull and heavy sensation in his head.
What''s going on? Could it be that I still haven''t fully recovered?
He closed his eyes, nning to inspect his own internal condition, yet right as he activated his Spirit Refinement Technique, the enormous spiritual sense in his mind suddenly began to churn and surge violently without any warning.
It was as if there were countless tiny des shing through his mind with reckless abandon, and the onset of pain was so severe and abrupt that he couldn''t help but let loose an agonized yell.
He threw his hands onto his own head, and his face instantly became as pale as a sheet.
Immediately thereafter, he stopped cold in his tracks, then plummeted straight out of the heavens, plunging into the sea down below like a dead weight.
His entire body was inundated by the cool seawater, yet it did nothing to relieve his pain, which was only worsening by the second. His sanity was gradually eroded by the agony, and ayer of faint crimson light had appeared over his eyes.
¡¡
Han Li reflexively tried to open his eyes, but he was feeling extremely groggy. He forced his own eyes open with great difficulty, but everything in front of him was an indistinct blur, and all he could hear were animalistic howls and roars ringing out around him.
These sound seemed to be able to prate directly into his mind, setting his blood alight. It was as if some long-repressed fury in his heart had finally risen to the fore, striking him with a sense of asphyxiation, and only by releasing all of this pent-up fury could he restore his own sanity.
His hands were swinging wildly through the air, throwing erratic punches and palm strikes in a frantic effort to release his unbridled frustration and fury.
He wanted to roar with all his might, but he couldn''t hear anything over the chaoticmotion ringing out around him. As he continued tosh out aimlessly at his surroundings, the surroundingmotion was bing louder and louder, and he seemed to have finally found an outlet through which he could vent his fury.
At this moment, hsi mind waspletely nk.
As themotion grew louder and louder, the fury in his heart slowly subsided, and he began to detect a strong bloody odor in the air.
Right at this moment, his vision began to slowly recover, andt he first sight that he was greeted by was a vast expanse of bright red.
It was as if he had fallen into a boundless sea of blood.
On top of that, there were countless mangled carcasses of all types of different creatures strewn all around him, and it seemed that a horrific ughter had just taken ce here.
Right at this moment, a burst of sharp pain speared through Han Li''s mind, and the rity of his vision was finallypletely restored.
He shook his head vigorously, slowly recovering from his stupor, and the rity in his mind also returned.
In this instant, he feltpletely feeble and powerless, and his entire body was throbbing with intense pain, as if he had just endured an extremely fierce battle.
However, as he raised his head once again to inspect his surroundings, he discovered that he was standing on an ind, facing the turbulent sea up ahead.
He felt as if his memories were a little jumbled, and he couldn''t recall anything from the time after he left the small ind on which he had been engaging in dao pill refinement. Thus, he had no idea how he had ended up here.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, attempting to recollect what had happened up to this point, yet as soon as he attempted to do so, a burst of agony instantly shot through his mind once again.
He hurriedly abandoned this train of thought before shaking his head once again, and only then did the pain subside a little.
All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have urred to him, and he turned around to look behind him, upon which he discovered that he was standing on quite arge ind that was several dozen kilometers in size, but it was severely ravaged and on the verge of copse.
At the center of the ind was what was once arge mountain range, but it had been split in half down the center, and a hugeke had appeared over the entire ind, with seawater gushing in to fill it.
All of the other mountains in the mountain range had also been destroyed, as had all of the vegetation on the ind, and it was truly a horrific sight to behold.
A stunned look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
At this point, most of the pain in his mind had already subsided, and he was able to release his enormous spiritual sense as normal to inspect his surroundings.
In doing so, he was shocked once again to discover that just like the ind, the seabed down below had also been severely ravaged, riddled with many deep craters and trenches, as if it were a field that had been plowed.
There were some spots where the rifts were so deep that the magma beneath the earth hade gushing out, but at this point, it had already solidified.
Through his spiritual sense, Han Li was able to detect that this destruction had been wrought over an enormous area.
All of the inds within a radius of thousand of kilometers had beenpletely destroyed, with some having sunk down to the seabed, while others resembled tattered old rags, just like the one that Han Li was situated on.
Interspersed throughout the remnants of the inds on the seabed were many demon beast carcasses, all of which had been quite formidable, with nock of Body Integration and even Grand Ascension Stage demon beasts among them.
All of them had been killed in extremely horrific fashion. A Grand Ascension Stage wyrm that was over 1,000 feet in length had been torn into seven or eight pieces, and its blood had stained a massive area of the sea red. Even in death, there was still a look of horror deep in its eyes.
Right at this moment, a bolt of golden lightning descended out of the sky,nding not far away from Han Li to reveal none other than Daoist Xie.
"What happened here, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked.
Daoist Xie was silent for a moment, then asked, "Do you not remember what just happened, Fellow Daoist? You''re personally responsible for all of this destruction."
"Me?"
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a hint of foreboding welled up in his heart.
"On the way back to your cave abode, it was as if you had suddenly gone insane. You went on a spree of destruction as if you had been possessed, and youpletely lost your sanity. No matter how I tried to call out to you, you disyed no reaction," Daoist Xie exined.
Han Li was silent for a moment upon hearing this, then asked, "How long was I in that... deranged state?"
"About 15 minutes," Daoist Xie replied after a brief moment of contemtion.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face as he fell silent.
Thanks to this reminder from Daoist Xie, he was able to recall what had happened prior to this short bout of amnesia.
During his flight, he had suddenly been struck by a burst of sharp pain in the head, and after that, he had quickly lost consciousness, and the only thing that he could recall was that hsi heart had been overwhelmed by intense killing intent.
How did this happen? Could it be that I fell prey to some kind of sneak attack?
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and he raised his head as he murmured to himself, "It''s the Spirit Refinement Technique..."
At his current level of power, even a Golden Immortal wouldn''t have been able to manipte his mind like this without his detection.
Thinking back to what had just happened, the Spirit Refinement Technique was the only possible exnation.
After a brief moment of hesitation, he tried to activate his Spirit Refinement Technique, and he was instantly struck by a burst of intense agony in his mind that caused him to give an involuntary groan.
He hurriedly stopped what he was doing, and only then did the pain in his mind slowly subside.
That confirmed his suspicions that all of this had been caused by the Spirit Refinement Technique, and his expression darkened even further as he arrived at this verdict.
ording to that immortal by the name of He Kang, [1] mastering the third level of the Spirit Refinement Technique should''ve ensured that he would be fine for the next 30,000 to 40,000 years. However, only less than 20,000 years had passed since he mastered the third level of the spiritual sense, so why had this spiritual sense crisis already arisen?
Had He Kang lied to him, or had some other factor resulted in this early onset of the spiritual sense crisis?
Han Li slowly exhaled as heposed himself.
In any case, seeing as the problem had already arisen, the most important thing for him to do now was to find a solution. Otherwise, he was going to be doomed to the fate of bing a mindless barbarian who only knew ughter and nothing else.
It was very fortunate that all of this had taken ce in a very secluded area, and the duration of his deranged rampage had been quite short, perhaps due to the fact that this was only the first onset. Otherwise, he could''ve easily attracted a great deal of attention andnded himself in a huge amount of trouble.
Even though the crisis had been averted for now, there was no telling when he was going to enter that deranged state again, and that was clearly a very dangerous state to be in. Furthermore, ording to what he had learned about the Spirit Refinement Technique in the past, these onsets of insanity were only going to be more prolonged with shorter intervals between each sessive onset.
ording to He Kang, the only way to resolve this issue was to cultivate the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Back in the ze Dragon Dao, Han Li had conducted some research into the Spirit Refinement Technique, but he had thought that he would have at least 20,000 to 30,000 years before the onset of the spiritual sense crisis, and he had many other matters to attend to at the time, so he hadn''t been very diligent in his research.
ording to what he had learned, there were very few records pertaining to the Spirit Refinement Technique in the Northern cial Immortal Region, and it had been a very long time since thest crisis that had arisen from the Spirit Refinement Technique, so very few people even knew about the forbidden technique.
The ze Dragon Dao''s Merit Conveyance Pce did carry the Spirit Refinement Technique, but it was listed as a forbidden scripture that couldn''t be essed by anyone other than the dao lords. On top of that, the Merit Conveyance Pce only carried the first three levels of the cultivation art, so that wouldn''t have helped Han Li anyway.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face as his brows became tightly furrowed.
Even a major sect like the ze Dragon Dao didn''t have the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique, so where was he supposed to find it in the ck Wind Sea?
1. For more information on He Kang, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2247: Spiritual Sense Chains and Punishment Lightning
Chapter 367: Taking the Pill
Chapter 367: Taking the Pill
Han Li remained standing on the spot for a moment in silence, and Daoist Xie didn''t say anything, either, merely hovering in front of him.
All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have urred to him, and he flipped a hand over to produce an azure tiger mask.
He looked at the mask in his hand for a moment with a contemtive look on his face, then stowed it away again.
Immediately thereafter, he stowed Daoist Xie away as well before flying away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
Several dayster.
Han Li appeared in the sky above his cave abode, and after sweeping his spiritual sense briefly over the area, he heaved an internal sigh of relief.
None of the restrictions around the ind appeared to have been touched at all, and the entrance of the cave abode was also tightly sealed. It seemed that no one had been here since hest left.
He swooped down and vanished into the restrictions in a sh, quickly entering the cave abode.
After briefly visiting all of the areas in the cave abode, he made his way into his secret chamber.
Once there, he swept a sleeve through the air, and a yellow light barrier emerged to epass the entire secret chamber.
Only then did Han Li put on the azure tiger mask before activating the Transient Guild array te projection. Right as he was about to release a mission, he stopped what he was doing.
Even though it was virtually impossible to track someone down in the Transient Guild using their mask alone, he had already been using this tiger mask for quite some time, so continuing to use it would only incur unnecessary risk. Hence, it would be best to find an opportunity to switch to a different mask in the future.
With that in mind, Han Li quickly released a mission searching for the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Due to the fact that the Spirit Refinement Technique was considered to be a forbidden art in the Immortal Realm, he only provided a very vague description of what the cultivation art was, mentioning that it had a significant enhancement effect on one''s spiritual sense without actually directly mentioning its name.
However, anyone who had cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique or were aware of it would definitely be able to tell that he was referring to none other than the Spirit Refinement Technique.
For this mission, Han Li offered quite a substantialpensation and even left room for negotiation if one weren''t satisfied with the reward.
After that, he stowed the mask away before heaving a faint sigh.
Given his current circumstances, all he could do was rely on the Transient Guild for now to see if there were any solutions. If he couldn''t find any, then perhaps he would have to venture out of the ck Wind Sea.
Back when he first joined the Transient Guild, it had provided him with many pleasant surprises, but as his cultivation base increased, the problems that he was facing also changed, and the Transient Guild was gradually bing unable to fulfill all of his needs.
For example, it had taken a very long time to secure the supplementary ingredients required for the dao pill, and he was hoping that he wouldn''t be disappointed once again.
He shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, then closed his eyes and activated his Spirit Refinement Technique.
His enormous spiritual sense began to circte throughout his mind, starting fast before slowing down.
As this happened, Han Li felt a cool and refreshing sensation in his mind without any difort, and it was as if that spiritual sense crisis had been nothing more than a distant dream.
This was quite a relief, indicating that his spiritual sense had already returned to normal. He didn''t know when the next spiritual sense crisis was going to strike, but it most likely wasn''t going to be anytime soon.
With that in mind, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce an azure jade box, then applied a few golden talismans to it.
Even with the talismans acting as a seal, there were still faintw fluctuations emanating from the box, and it contained none other than the dao pill that he had just refined.
He looked at the jade box for a moment, then set it aside before closing his eyes again, preparing to prime himself into his best condition.
As he reopened his eyes three dayster, his immortal spiritual power and spiritual sense were all in peak condition, and his heart was also as still as a calmke.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Daoist Xie was released amid a sh of golden lightning, and Han Li said, "Brother Xie, this is quite an obscure location that we''re in, but I''ll need you to keep a lookout for me again as a safety precaution."
Daoist Xie remained silent as he nodded in response, then vanished into thin air amid a sh of lightning.
Meanwhile, Han Li swept his sleeve through the air once again, and a dense azure light barrier appeared over the door of his secret chamber before fading away in a sh.
Only after doing all of this did Han Li pick up the jade box from the ground again, and he removed the talismans on its surface before lifting its lid to reveal the golden dao pill inside.
He gently picked up the dao pill between two of his fingers and gave it a close inspection before swallowing it.
In the next instant, his brows instantly became tightly furrowed in pain, and at the same time, vibrant golden light was radiating from his body.
Immediately thereafter, the Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him, revolving on the spot while also radiating dazzling golden light.
All 360 Time Dao Runes on the axis were also glowing brightly while rapidly revolving, giving off far brighter radiance than usual.
At the same time, a golden dao mark appeared over Han Li''s body, one that was identical to the dao mark on the dao pill.
A few secondster, a second golden dao mark appeared, and both were giving off bright golden radiance that illuminated his entire body a faint golden color.
The light that was radiating from the dao marks were filled with countless golden runes, all of which were giving off indescribably formidablew power fluctuations.
Han Li''s entire body was inundated by these golden runes, and his eyes were tightly shut as he made a rapid string of hand seals.
Five years passed by in the blink of an eye.
The entire ind that Han Li''s cave abode was situated on was still enshrouded under multiple restrictions thatpletely concealed it, and it would''ve been impossible to uncover the ind''s exact location unless one were in direct contact with it.
This morning, a series of ripples suddenly appeared on the calm surface of the sea, and it was gradually getting closer.
A loud ssh then rang out as the upper half of a white sea beast emerged from the waves, slowly swimming toward the ind.
The beast had a pristine white body that looked as if it had been carved out of jade, and it was none other than the Pig Dolphin Beast.
At this point, it had alreadypletely consolidated its Deity Transformation Stage cultivation base, and its eight legs were giving off a faint white light while acting as two rows of oars that were propelling it quickly through the water.
After making a breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Stage with Han Li''s assistance, it had been in seclusion in its cave abode this entire time.
Not long ago, it had consolidated its own cultivation base, and it had immediatelye out of seclusion, hoping to meet Han Li again.
While Pig Dolphin Beasts weren''t particrly formidable, they possessed an innate ability that granted them heightened sensitivity to all types of spiritual qi fluctuations, and they also liked to collect ore and spirit materials.
This time, it had brought its entire collection with it, and it was hoping that it could exchange its collection for some more benefits from Han Li.
It didn''t take long before the Pig Dolphin Beast had swam ap around the ind. The ind had disappeared, and there was an invisible barrier standing in its way.
The barrier was quite gentle and soft, but it was also just as unyielding.
It wasn''t overly surprised by this, and it knew that these restrictions had to have been set up by that almighty human cultivator, so it naturally wasn''t going to try and barge its way in by force.
However, it seemed that it wasn''t going to be able to meet Han Li this time.
With that in mind, the Pig Dolphin Beast took a couple more nces in the direction of the ind, then turned to swim away, but right at this moment, a burst of enormous energy fluctuations suddenly emerged to epass the entire ind and the nearby area.
The energy fluctuations were extremely formidable, striking the Pig Dolphin Beast with the impression that it was facing the wrath of the entirety of heaven and earth.
It began to tremble uncontrobly, but it didn''t dare to move even a single inch, and at the same time, the nearby world''s origin qi suddenly became extremely chaotic and turbulent, forming numerous golden spiritual qi vortexes of different sizes, some of which were in excess of an acre in area, while others were only the size of human fists.
Regardless of what size they were, all of the golden vortexes had countless radiant golden runes swirling within them, and the entire sea sea was filled with these golden vortex, producing what appeared to have been a golden spirit cloud that wasn''t any smaller than the one that had taken shape during the pill tribtion.
The countless swirling golden vortexes presented a stunning sight to behold, and formidablew power fluctuations were spreading out of the golden vortex in all directions.
All of a sudden, all of the golden vortexes converged toward a certain spot like the receding tide.
In the blink of an eye, all of the golden vortexes had disappeared without a trace, and all that remained was a massive thread of golden light that was several dozen kilometers in length hanging in hte sky.
The thread of light was quite translucent and was gently swaying from side to side as if it were a living creature.
Countless golden runes of different sizes were dancing over its surface, and it was giving off a burst of deafening rumbling alongside extremely formidable timew power fluctuations.
Even though it was only a single thread of light, it seemed to contain more power than all of the countless golden vortexesbined, and it was swaying in the air like a giant dragon that was imbued with boundless power.
All of a sudden, all of the golden light and runes around the thread of light quickly faded, and the thunderous rumbling also gradually subsided.
All that remained was a golden thread of light that was suspended peacefully in mid-air.
It had be even more translucent in appearance, and the timew power fluctuations that it was releasing had also be more formidable.
Furthermore, in contrast with before, the timew power that it was giving off at this moment wasn''t chaotic in the slightest. Instead, it was extremely profound andplied perfectly with the natural order.
Just like before, the thread of light continued to sway gently from side to side, but this time, all of the space in its wake seemed to have beenpletely frozen and immobilized.
This was very simr to the time-slowing effect of the Mantra Treasured Axis, but also seemingly a little different somehow.
Right at this moment, a burst of golden light shed past the cave abode down below, and the thread of light in the sky suddenly shrank down before vanishing into the cave abode in a sh.
The phenomenon in the nearby area instantly subsided, and everything returned to normal.
The Pig Dolphin Beast stared nkly in the direction of the ind for a moment, then hurriedly plunged headfirst into the sea, frantically swimming back to the coral ind.
The phenomenon that had just taken ce had been quite a spectacle to behold, but it was far smaller in its scale and impact than the dao tribtion, so it didn''t attract much attention.
Chapter 368: Youre Awake
Chapter 368: You''re Awake
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Immortal Realm.
This was a space that was filled with countless golden clouds of different sizes, filling the entire area with radiant golden light.
These golden clouds were drifting up and down incessantly while also constantly taking on all types of unidentifiable forms, presenting a mesmerizing sight to behold.`
On top of one of the golden clouds was an enormous golden stone que that was over 100,000 feet tall, and it was radiating bursts of golden light that were swirling incessantly.
A series of golden designs were inscribed upon the stone que, and they appeared to have been some type of runes, filling virtually the entirety of the que.
These golden runes varied in size and brightness, but generally speaking, therger tended to be brighter as well.
Thergest of the runes were the size of houses, giving off resplendent golden light, while the smallest ones were only fist-sized and were also quite dim.
Some of the golden runes werepletely still, while others were shing incessantly while giving off formidable timew power fluctuations.
Right at this moment, the stone que suddenly began to glow with dazzling golden radiance while also emitting a sharp screeching sound.
A new line of golden text then appeared on a nk spot near the bottom of the stone que, and the line of text was also gently shing with golden light.
It didn''t take long before the golden radiance emanating from the stone que subsided, and everything returned to its original state.
All of a sudden, countless specks of golden light appeared out of thin air in front of the giant que, and it formed a huge golden eye, following which an indistinct and emotionless voice rang out, one that didn''t sound male or female.
"It looks like one more person had mastered thews of time..."
The voice echoed in the space for a while before fading away, and in the next instant, the giant golden eye also disintegrated into specks of golden light again.
¡¡
Inside the secret chamber of his cave abode, Han Li''s entire body was basked in radiant golden light, while his Mantra Treasured Axis was slowly revolving behind him.
Hovering above his head was a translucent golden thread that was around a foot in length, and it was slowly swaying from side to side like a spirit snake.
Even though it had been shrunk down by countless orders of magnitude, the timew power fluctuations that it was giving off hadn''t abated in the slightest, and it was filling the entire secret chamber, influencing everything around it.
Aside from Han Li and the golden light that was radiating from his body, everything else in the secret chamber appeared to have beenpletely still.
Han Li opened his eyes, and a hint of excitement appeared on his face as he looked at the translucent thread above his head.
The process of mastering thews of time had been quite an arduous one, and it had taken him several years just to digest the dao pill.
After that, it had taken him several more years to master thews of time thanks to the power of the dao pill.
During this period, several mishaps had urred, but thankfully, he was quite well prepared and had arge supply of precious pills that allowed him to weather the storm.
Furthermore, even though his past attempts to master thews of time had ended in failure, he had gotten a little closer every single time, and that had assisted him in this process. It was only thanks to abination of all of these factors that he had managed to seed in this endeavor.
After mastering thews of time, everything had be different. He could sense that he had attained a special understanding of this mysterious power, and his interpretation of the Mantra Axis Scripture had also changed.
The clearest sign of this was that he felt a greater sense of control over his Mantra Treasured Axis.
In the instant that he attained this timew thread, he had even gleaned a trace of the passage of time in the entire world around him.
Only after a long while did the excitement in his heart slowly subside, and he made a hand seal, upon which the golden light radiating from the translucent golden thread vanished.
Everything in the secret chamber instantly returned to normal, and as he continued to make more hand seals, the golden thread began to transform ording to his will, elongating, shrinking, and even tying itself into knots at Han Li''s behest.
The different forms that it took on also had an impact on the timew powers that it was giving off, and an intrigued look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
It seemed that this timew thread was far more profound than he anticipated, but he would have plenty of time to examine it in the future.
Maintaining the timew thread was very taxing on his immortal spiritual power, so he was just about to stow it away when a thought suddenly urred to him, and he flipped a hand over to summon his Heaven Controlling Vial instead.
He had examined the vial countless times in the past without any notable oues, but now that he had mastered thews of time, perhaps he would be able to glean some more of the Heaven Controlling Vial''s secrets.
With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath, yet before he had a chance to do anything, the Heaven Controlling Vial suddenly began to glow as radiantly as a green sun, then flew out of his grasp before hovering in mid-air.
At the same time, the Mantra Treasured Axis behind Han Li also brightened considerably while revolving rapidly, and the golden timew thread shot forth into the axis in a sh.
The light radiating from the Mantra Treasured Axis had be 10 times brighter than normal, and all of its Time Dao Runes had lit up in unison.
The Eye of Truth quickly took shape at the center of the axis, and even though the eye was still closed, it was also radiating dazzling golden light with countless golden runes shing around it.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but he remained still on the spot, refraining from doing anything.
Just likest time, he could sense that the Heaven Controlling Vial, the Mantra Treasured Axis, and even the timew thread were no longer under his control.
A hint of anticipation welled up in his heart.
Whenever something like this happened, he almost always stood to benefit, so he was eager to see what was going to unfold this time.
All of a sudden, the Heaven Controlling Vial and the Mantra Treasured Axis began to resonate with one another, and the light that they were giving off became brighter and brighter, while bursts of formidable energy fluctuations began proliferating outward in all directions.
Right at this moment, the Eye of Truth sprang open, and the timew thread shot out from within before vanishing into the Heaven Controlling Vial.
The surface of the Heaven Controlling Vial instantly began to glow a radiant green color, and it rapidly swelled to the size of a millstone.
Countless green runes appeared on its surface, surging up and down while shing incessantly like stars in the night sky.
All of a sudden, the green runes rose up from the surface of the vial before converging inside it to form a green cloud that was churning incessantly, with a vortex slowly taking shape within it.
A burst of special energy fluctuations were emanating out of the green cloud, and they weren''t particrly formidable, but the space around the Heaven Controlling Vial was rippling violently.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and right at this moment, the green cloud within the Heaven Controlling Vial transformed into a thick pir of green light that erupted outward.
Countless bursts of translucent light emerged, forming the same translucent wall of light from before.
A hint of disappointment shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
While it was true that the wall of light was clearly something quite profound, he was hoping that the Heaven Controlling Vial would be able to disy something different this time, but that didn''t seem to have been the case.
However, he then noticed that a green vortex design had appeared on the wall of light, and it was the same green vortex that had previously appeared inside the vial.
The wall of light shuddered as countless streaks of light shed over its surface, and the green vortex suddenly began to sh, devouring all of the streaks of light as it began to rapidly expand.
Initially, it was only around the size of a washbasin, but in just a few seconds, it had swelled to the size of a house.
A burst of tremendous suction force erupted out of the vortex to envelop Han Li''s entire body, and he could sense that his body wasn''t being affected by this burst of suction force at all, but in the next instant, his spiritual sense was pulled involuntarily out of his mind and into the vortex.
Before he had a chance to do anything, he felt a burst of sharp pain in his head, immediately following which he fell unconscious.
An indeterminate amount of time passed by before Han Li slowly regained consciousness and opened his eyes.
He was greeted by the sight of a dpidated ceiling that was riddled with cobwebs and holes, through which he could see the sky overhead.
He could also hear something indistinct, but it was also very loud.
At this moment, his entire body was racked with agony, and even lifting a finger felt like a herculean task.
He turned his head to the side with great difficulty, and in doing so, he discovered that he wasying on a bed in what appeared to have been a dpidated temple.
As for the sound that he was hearing, it wasing from a yellow-robed young boy with light golden skin, and he was knelt down by his bedside, sobbing in grief.
Han Li waspletely dumbstruck upon seeing this.
Where is this ce? Wasn''t I in my cave abode examining the Heaven Controlling Vial? How did I end up here?
Han Li tried to recall what had happened, but all of a sudden, he was struck by a splitting headache, causing him to reflexively throw his hands onto his own head as he gave a muffled groan.
Thankfully, the pain subsided in an instant, and he had only just heaved a sigh of relief when his expression abruptly stiffened.
Just now, a stream of chaotic and alien memories had flooded into his mind.
These memories were fragmented and iplete, yet before he had a chance to examine them, the young boy beside his bed had heard his muffled groan, and he immediately raised his head with an ecstatic expression despite the tears that were still swimming in his eyes.
"Master, you''re awake!"
Chapter 369: Master and Disciple
Chapter 369: Master and Disciple
Master?
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this.
He didn''t recall ever epting such a disciple, but for some reason, the young boy looked a little familiar to him.
"I knew you''d be alright, Master! I managed to get two Dragon Gall Flowers from Master Zhen, and I''ve already brewed them into medicine. I''ll fetch it for you right now."
The young boy hurriedly wiped the tears from his face as he rose to his feet and made his way outside.
Han Li looked on with a dazed expression as the young boy departed, then took a nce down at his own body, only to be stunned to find that he had be a thin and withered old.
He was wearing an azure daoist robe, and his hands were as wizened as a pair of old tree branches.
What happened? How did I suddenly age so much? What is this ce, and who is that boy?
A string of questions shed through Han Li''s mind, none of which he had an answer for.
At this moment, the pain in his body had mostly abated, and he struggled up into a seated position, pressing a hand against the edge of the bed for support.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he hurriedly began inspecting his own internal condition, upon which he became even more concerned.
It had be clear to him that this body definitely wasn''t his, but for some reason, he seemed to have possessed it.
On top of that, this body had suffered extremely severe internal injuries to its organs. In particr, it had fallen prey to a type of lethal poison.
With Han Li''s normal cultivation base, he would''ve been able to recover from these ailments in a very short time, but this body only possessed ate-Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation base, so it waspletely unable to suppress the poison and these internal injuries.
In other words, this body didn''t have much life left in it, and it was only a matter of time before it met its demise.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he took a deep breath, then drew upon which little remained of the magic power in this body before flicking a finger through the air.
A series of water droplets instantly appeared in the surrounding air, then converged toward the space in front of him to form a mirror of water that was around a foot in size, through which Han Li was able to see the reflection of an elderly daoist priest with a white beard.
He then swept a hand through the air to scatter the mirror before falling into deep thought.
At this point, the pain in his head had mostly faded, and he had recalled what had previously happened.
The timew thread, his Mantra Treasured Axis, and the Heaven Controlling Vial seemed to have resonated with one another from that wall of light, and the vortex on the wall of light seemed to have sucked his soul into this ce.
Could this be some type of illusion?
Han Li raised his head to inspect his surroundings, only to find that everything around him was extremely realistic, with no signs of any illusion being present.
If this isn''t an illusion, then what could it be?
More snippets of memories began to surface in Han Li''s mind, and he attempted to sort through them.
Before long, he had already examined all of those memories, and an enlightened look appeared on his face.
These memories belonged to none other than the elderly daoist priest whose body he was currently possessing.
The daoist priest''s name was Ling Yunzi, while the young boy just now was his only disciple, Li Yuanjiu.
Ling Yunzi sustained severe injuries during a fight over a spirit nt, and even though he was able to escape, his injuries were too severe, and he perished not long ago.
However, Han Li''s soul had somehow possessed this recently deceased body, leading Li Yuanjiu to the false conclusion that his master had been resurrected.
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed something to his left.
Suspended in mid-air there was a very indistinct golden axis that was virtuallypletely invisible, and he wouldn''t have been able to notice it had he not just so happened to have looked in that direction.
The golden axis was none other than his Mantra Treasured Axis, and the 360 Time Dao Runes on its surface were gently shing.
At this point, around two dozen of the Time Dao Runes had already dimmed, and with each second that passed, one more Time Dao Rune would fade, just likest time the wall of light had been conjured up.
Han Li''s mind was racing, and he seemed to have grasped onto something, but it was unclear to him exactly what it was.
Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps rang out as Li Yuanjiu hurried into the room, carefully holding a y bowl with both hands. The bowl contained a ck medicinal liquid that was giving off a pleasant aroma, and Li Yuanjiu carried the bowl to the bed as he said, "Drink this medicine, Master."
Han Li took a nce at the medicine, and he could see that the spiritual qi fluctuations that it contained weren''t insignificant, indicating that the ingredients used had to have been quite precious for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
"Put it here, I''ll drink itter," Han Li said as he slowly stood up from the bed.
"Master, you''re carrying severe injuries right now, you need to rest!" Li Yuanjiu hurriedly said.
"Don''t worry about me, I know my own body," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
He had already grown ustomed to his body, so he was able to move in it just fine.
After taking a moment to gather his bearings, Han Li made his way out of the room.
Li Yuanjiu couldn''t help but feel as if his master were acting a little strange, but he didn''t dare to say anything as he set down the bowl of medicine and hurriedly followed Han Li outside.
Upon emerging from the dpidated temple, Han Li discovered that it was situated on a mountaintop that was surrounded by more lush mountains, presenting a piece of fine scenery.
However, this mountain range was rather secluded, and the calls of wild animals could asionally be heard, while the world''s origin qi here was also quite sparse.
Han Li released his spiritual sense to inspect the surrounding area.
For some reason, even though this body''s cultivation base was very muchckluster, it seemed to have inherited much of Han Li''s enormous spiritual sense, and he was quickly able to assess everything within a radius of several thousand kilometers.
However, the entire area was filled with more mountain ranges, and he was unable to ascertain his current location.
"Are you alright, Master?" Li Yuanjiu asked as he followed Han Li outside.
"Where is this ce, Yuanjiu?" Han Li asked.
"Th... This is the Mn Mountain Range where we''ve always been cultivating. Why would you ask this, Master?" Li Yuanjiu asked with a puzzled expression.
"My memories are a little jumbled right now, perhaps due to my injuries," Han Li exined.
A concerned look appeared on Li Yuanjiu''s face upon hearing this, but before he could say anything, Han Li continued, "Don''t worry, it''s not a major problem. Let me ask you this: which immortal region is this Mn Mountain Range situated in?"
"The Mn Mountain Range is situated on the Bramble Wood Continent of the Golden Origin Immortal Region," Li Yuanjiu replied.
Han Li had never heard of the Golden Origin Immortal Region before, but it was definitely outside of the Northern cial Immortal Region.
With that in mind, a contemtive look appeared in his eyes.
He cast his gaze to the left to find that the Mantra Treasured Axis projection had also followed him outside, and close to 100 of its Time Dao Runes had already faded.
"Master, I think you should rest. After you recover from your injuries, we can go back and exact our vengeance on those bastards!" Li Yuanjiu said as he gritted his teeth in fury.
He and Ling Yunzi were from a sect by the name of the Iron Beast Sect in the Mn Mountain Range, and Ling Yunzi was the son of one of the sect''s elders, but unfortunately, his aptitude was quite mediocre, and he was unable to reach the Core Formation Stage, something that he had received much disdain and heckling for over the years.
Li Yuanjiu was an abandoned infant that Ling Yunzi had picked up during one of his outings, and he had raised Li Yuanjiu before epting the boy as his disciple.
Ling Yunzi knew that his own cultivation aptitude was mediocre, so he gave all of his cultivation resources to Li Yuanjiu, but unfortunately, Li Yuanjiu''s aptitude wasn''t much better, and he was still stuck at the Qi Condensation Stage.
Even though they were master and disciple, they were just as close as any father and son.
Back when Ling Yunzi''s father was still alive, he and Li Yuanjiu were still able to get by in the sect, but several years ago, Ling Yunzi''s father had perished during a battle against a formidable foe.
As a result, Ling Yunzi and Li Yuanjiu''s statuses in the sect had plummeted, and they were deprived of all cultivation resources before being kicked out of the sect altogether.
Thus, the two of them had be itinerant cultivators.
Li Yuanjiu''s aptitude wasn''t anything special, but he worked extremely hard in his cultivation, and he had recently reached the pinnacle of the Qi Condensation Stage, bringing him to the cusp of the Foundation Establishment Stage.
The two of them had ventured into a perilous area to search for a type of spirit nt that was very helpful for making breakthroughs, and they had searched for about a month before finally finding the spirit nt, then went through a great deal of effort to y the demon beast that was guarding the nt.
During the battle, Ling Yunzi had sustained some severe injuries.
However, a group of Iron Beast Sect cultivators had arrived on the scene just then, and they were led by the son of another elder who had constantly been at odds with Ling Yunzi back when he was in the sect.
Those people had taken the spirit nt, and in his attempt to stop them, Ling Yunzi''s injuries had been even furtherpounded.
If it weren''t for a life-saving talisman that he had been carrying, he and Li Yuanjiu would''ve most likely been in right there and then.
Han Li didn''t have much of Ling Yunzi''s memories left in his mind, but they were enough to tell a story, and he heaved a faint sigh as he said, "The path of cultivation is a cruel and heartless one where only the strong get to live, while the weak are left to die. Your cultivation base is insufficient right now, so don''t think about revenge. You''ll only be throwing your life away for nothing."
"Yes, Master," Li Yuanjiu replied as he lowered his head with a dejected expression.
Han Li turned to the boy and swept his spiritual sense through the boy''s body, upon which he was surprised to discover that Li Yuanjiu possessed a false spiritual root just like himself, one that possessed four out of five attributes, with only the metal attribute missing. [1]
Hence, it was no wonder that his rate of cultivation progress was so slow. However, just like Han Li, his spiritual sense was also quite formidable for his cultivation, and Han Li couldn''t help but wonder if this was just a coincidence or if this meeting had been pre-ordained by fate.
"Yuanjiu, I haven''t been able to help you much in your cultivation, and you''ve been made to suffer by my side all this time. I don''t have much time left, and I''m going to bestow upon you a secret technique now. Make sure to work hard in your cultivation and live up to the high hopes I have for you," Han Li suddenly said.
Li Yuanjiu was horrified to hear this, and he hurriedly waved his hands in response. "No, Master! I don''t want any secret technique, I just want you to live!"
A stern look appeared on Han Li''s face as he said, "Yuanjiu, cultivators like ourselves are constantly attempting to defy the natural order, but my time in this world has already run out, and heaven and earth can no longer tolerate my existence. If you want to make something out of yourself and do me proud, then listen up."
Li Yuanjiu still wanted to say something further, but Han Li didn''t give him another chance to speak, sweeping a sleeve through the air to release a burst of spiritual light that vanished into the boy''s head in a sh.
1. For more information on false spiritual roots, please refer to RMJI Chapter 127: Knowledge on Spiritual Roots. ?
Chapter 370: Karma and Fate
Chapter 370: Karma and Fate
The burst of spiritual light scattered in Li Yuanjiu''s mind into countless tiny runes that revolved around his head, containing none other than the Great Development Technique. [1]
Li Yuanjiu''s entire body instantly stiffened, and before long, his eyes rolled over into the back of his head as he fell unconscious and copsed to the ground.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of spiritual light that picked up Li Yuanjiu before carrying him into the dpidated temple.
"It seems you and I were fated to meet here, and I''m temporarily borrowing the body of your master, so I''ll give you this Great Development Technique aspensation," Han Li said in an indifferent voice before preparing to fly away.
However, a hint of surprise then appeared on his face, and he discovered upon a closer inspection that Li Yuanjiu also possessed a remarkable spirit physique, except it hadn''t yet been awakened.
Following a closer examination, a hint of intrigue arose in Han Li''s eyes, and he swept his sleeve through the air once again to send another streak of spiritual light flying into Li Yuanjiu''s body.
"So be it. It''s not every day that I get to meet someone so simr to myself, so I''ll give you a bit more assistance."
The streak of spiritual light split up into two in Li Yuanjiu''s mind, and one of them exploded into countless tiny runes that depicted another cultivation art, namely Heavenbearing Devil Arts. [2]
This cultivation art was something that Han Li had obtained from Man Huzi, [3] and at the time, he had promised to find Man Huzi a disciple so that the Heavenbearing Devil Arts wouldn''t be lost, but he had never been able to find a suitable candidate.
On top of that, he had been busy preparing for a Deity Transformation Stage breakthrough at the time, so he had set the matter aside, and even now, he still hadn''t fulfilled that promise.
As it turned out, Li Yuanjiu''s spirit physique was perfect for the Heavenbearing Devil Arts.
As for the other streak of spiritual light, it shrank down into a tiny speck of light and hid itself in a corner of Li Yuanjiu''s mind.
That speck of light contained another cultivation art that came from the same origins as the Provenance True Devil Arts and the Heavenbearing Devil Arts.
However, the seal on it would only be undone once Li Yuanjiu reached the Deity Transformation Stage someday.
However, the path of cultivation was always one that was fraught with peril and unpredictability, so the chances of Li Yuanjiu reaching the Deity Transformation Stage before his lifespan ran out were slim to none, even with the assistance of the two cultivation arts, and his mediocre aptitude certainly wasn''t going to help his cause, but Han Li had already done everything that he could for the boy.
He hadn''t intended to offer the boy any assistance, but he couldn''t help but be moved by Li Yuanjiu''s devotion to his master.
With that in mind, Han Li heaved an internal sigh, shaking his head as he directed his gaze away from Li Yuanjiu.
Han Li cast his gaze into the distance, then made a hand seal as he released his enormous spiritual sense over the surrounding area once again.
All of the world''s origin qi in a radius of several dozen kilometers instantly converged to form a white cloud.
This was a secret technique that he had previously learned, allowing him to forcibly draw upon the world''s origin qi with his spiritual sense.
This secret technique was very taxing on one''s spiritual sense, but this body possessed far too little magic power, and Ling Yunzi wasn''t carrying any storage tools, either, presumably having lost them during the prior battle, so if he didn''t use this secret technique, then he wouldn''t even be able to fly.
Han Li drifted up into the air beforending on the cloud, and the white cloud churned slightly before hurtling away at an incredible speed as a streak of white light.
The matters concerning Li Yuanjiu werergely inconsequential. What was important for him was to find out as much about this ce as he could as there had to have been some reason that he had ended up here.
With that in mind, he began to scour the surrounding area with both his eyes and his spiritual sense, but after flying for a while, he discovered that the entire area waspletely mundane and unremarkable.
He cast his gaze to the left, where the Mantra Treasured Axis projection remained hovering by his side, and at this point, close to half of the Time Dao Runes on its surface had already faded.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he made a hand seal, upon which the white cloud beneath him elerated significantly.
A short whileter, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, then cast his gaze toward an obscure valley down below.
On a mountain face deep within the valley was a giant purple flower the size of a millstone. Its petals were extremelyrge and thick, and they were of a very vibrant reddish-purple color.
There were also some red feelers among the flower petals, at the top of which were a series of fist-sized water droplets that were giving off a sweet and fragrant aroma.
Han Li descended in front of the giant purple flower atop his white cloud, and an intrigued look appeared on his face.
This flower was clearly a spirit nt, and the aura that it was giving off was very simr to that of the Blood Crystal Lotus Root.
The purple flower was swaying gently in the wind, and Han Li hesitated momentarily before flicking a finger through the air, sending a gust of fierce wind sweeping toward the flower.
The giant purple flower shuddered, and all of its feelers instantly shot forth like lightning, elongating significantly before intertwining to form arge that descended upon Han Li.
Of course, Han Li wasn''t going to fall prey to something like this, and his white cloud shot back like lightning to evade the flower''s feelers.
The feelers waved around in the air while the flower''s petals began moving like a giant mouth, producing a faint screeching sound that expressed its rage and frustration.
After thrashing around for a while, the feelers quickly shrank back down to their original length, while the purple flower petals also stopped moving.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and a contemtive look appeared in his eyes.
The flower was indeed quite a remarkable spirit nt, but there was nothing else particrly special about it.
Thus, he promptly departed, flying out of the valley before continuing onward.
As he did so, he was surprised to discover more and more of those giant purple flowers appearing in the mountain range, but none of them were being picked.
He was rather perplexed by this, but he didn''t stop to investigate. Instead, he continued to make more hand seals to further elerate the speed of his flight.
Judging from the number of Time Dao Runes that remained lit on his Mantra Treasured Axis, he didn''t have much time left.
After flying for a while longer, a look of surprise and tion suddenly appeared on Han Li''s face, and he quickly drew to a halt in front of a col.
Within the col was a cluster of buildings, and there were many restrictions that were shing with spiritual light set up in the area. There were also some streaks of light flying through the air, and this was a sect.
From Ling Yunzi''s memories, Han Li learned that this was none other than the Iron Beast Sect.
He quickly began to chant an incantation while making a hand seal, and his spiritual sense surged out of his body, forming a series of invisible ripples around him.
All of the surrounding world''s origin qi also converged to form ayer of transparent spiritual light around him, following which he quickly descended onto a za in the sect.
He continued to search through Ling Yunzi''s memories while casting his gaze toward a mountain to his right, and atop that mountain stood an azure pavilion, which had the brightest of all restrictions in the sect around it.
This was the Iron Beast Sect''s scripture library, and it contained all types of cultivation arts and scriptures.
Han Li flew toward the pavilion before quickly descending in front of it, but his brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the restriction around the building.
The restriction wasn''t particrly advanced, and under normal circumstances, he would''ve been able to bypass or remove it with ease.
However, the magic power in this body was simply far toockluster, and his immense spiritual sense wasn''t going to help him much when it came to bypassing restrictions.
Right at this moment, a streak of light arrived from afar, descending in front of the scripture library as well.
The streak of light then faded to reveal a middle-aged man who was the early-Core Formation Stage, and there was a look of haughtiness and arrogance about him.
Before Han Li even had a chance to take a closer look, his body abruptly shuddered, and an overwhelming sense of fury and resentment welled up in his heart.
This man was the very same person who had severely wounded Ling Yunzi not long ago.
Even though Ling Yunzi had already perished, what remained of his will in this body still harbored intense resentment toward this man.
"Don''t worry, I''ve been using your body, so I''m naturally obliged to fulfill some of your wishes," Han Li mused internally as he cast a cold gaze toward the middle-aged man.
All of a sudden, the man shuddered as a chill ran down his spine, and he hurriedly looked around, but was unable to find anything.
He then swept his spiritual sense through the area several times, but to no avail, once again.
"What the hell!" he murmured to himself with tightly furrowed brows, then raised a hand to release an azure talisman into the restriction.
At the same time, he demanded in an arrogant voice, "Open the restriction! I''vee here to retrieve something under orders from the sect master!"
A gray-robed elderly man appeared within the restriction, and a hint of disdain shed through his eyes, but he then quickly put on a warm smile as he said, "Please wait a moment, I''ll open the restriction for you right away, Administrator Wang."
He pulled out a badge as he spoke, and a burst of light shot out of the badge, upon which an opening appeared in the restriction.
"Can you not have done that a little faster? How slow can you be?" the middle-aged man harrumphed coldly before flying into the scripture library without even sparing a nce at the gray-robed elderly man.
The gray-robed elderly man''s expression darkened slightly as he swept his badge through the air, and the opening on the restrictions was instantly sealed.
However, what they had failed to notice was that a transparent figure had also flown into the scripture library in the instant right before the opening was sealed.
1. For more information on the Great Development Technique, please refer to Chapter 232: Great Development Technique. ?
2. For more information on the Heavenbearing Devil Arts, please refer to RMJI Chapter 457: Heavenbearing Devil Arts. ?
3. For more information on Man Huzi, please refer to /wiki/Man_Huzi ?
Chapter 371: Illusion or Reality
Chapter 371: Illusion or Reality
The transparent figure was naturally none other than Han Li in Ling Yunzi''s body, and after following the middle-aged man through the light barrier, he didn''t immediately pursue him.
Instead, he remained on the spot and looked up at the pavilion before him. At the same time, he released his spiritual sense to examine the surrounding area, upon which his eyes immediately lit up.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man quickly made his way over to the entrance of the pavilion, and he was just about to enter the building when Han Li abruptly directed his gaze toward him.
At the same time, ayer of translucent light appeared on Han Li''s be, and a tiny translucent sword projection shot forth, covering a distance of thousands of feet in the blink of an eye before piercing straight into the middle-aged man''s mind.
The entire processsted no more than a second, and it was extremely silent and discreet.
All of a sudden, the middle-aged man stopped cold in his tracks, following which his eyes bulged, and he tipped forward without any warning before falling to the ground.
"Administrator Wang! Are you alright?"
The gray-robed elderly man hurriedly approached the middle-aged man before lifting him up from the ground, only to discover that his breathing had ceased, and there was no longer any hint of vitality left in his body.
After taking a moment topose himself, the gray-robed man swept his gaze through the surrounding area while also releasing his spiritual sense to examine the entire area epassed within the restriction.
However, with his cultivation base, it was naturally impossible for him to see through Han Li''s concealment technique, and after a brief moment of hesitation, he suddenly yelled, "Help!"
A burst ofmotion instantly rang out within the scripture library, and several cultivators emerged from the building. Upon spotting the gray-robed elderly man and the lifeless middle-aged man, they immediately had a rough idea of what had happened, and everyone erupted into a blind panic.
Han Li paid no heed to these people as he drifted calmly through them before entering the scripture library and releasing his spiritual sense once again.
The scripture library was split up into three floors, with the bottom two floors containing some misceneous books, including things like travel journals and illustrated handbooks.
None of these things were particrly valuable, so the bottom two floors were unguarded, and there were no restrictions set up there, either.
As for the third floor, it contained some cultivation arts, and the entire level was enshrouded within an intricate restriction.
Han Li naturally had no interest in those cultivation arts, and he began reading through the scriptures on the first and second floors.
At this point, everyone in the scripture library had already rushed outside, so Han Li didn''t have to worry about being noticed.
He had intentionally chosen to kill the middle-aged man at the entrance of the scripture library to draw everyone outside, and he quickly read through one scripture after another, learning a great deal about the Bramble Wood Continent in the process, but this information wasn''t very useful to him.
He turned to the left to find that fewer than a quarter of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis projection remained lit.
He didn''t know what was going to happen once all of the Time Dao Runes were snuffed out, but he had a rough idea of what was going to transpire.
However, he had no time to worry about things like this, and he quickly withdrew his gaze before continuing in his reading.
A short whileter, he suddenly stopped what he was doing, then cast his gaze toward a book that was slightly yellow with age.
This was a travel journal written by a cultivator who enjoyed exploring the continent, and an image on one of the book''s pages had caught Han Li''s attention.
The image depicted a bald and browless golden figure with a pair of long golden feelers on its head, as well as some golden hooked spikes on its body, presenting a fearsome sight to behold.
This was quite simr to a Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch.
After the illustration came a passage of text.
"Today, I traveled to the Golden me Mountain Range and encountered an almighty battle that shook the heavens andid waste to the earth. I presume this was a battle between immortals, but thankfully, I was able to get away in time to avoid a terrible fate. This creature was one of the two immortals in the battle, but I wasn''t able to identify it..."
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this.
This clearly wasn''t the same Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch as the one that he had before, so perhaps it was another one.
Up to this point, he still hadn''t managed to recover his Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch, and he had invested a great deal of effort into trying to recover it, but hadn''t been able to gather any useful leads thus far.
Aftermitting this snippet of information to memory, Han Li didn''t dy any further as he continued to read through the book, but there was no further information about the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch.
This left him feeling a little disappointed, but time was of the essence, and he quickly picked up another scripture about spirit nts.
After flipping through a few pages, he stopped once again.
On the page that he had stopped on was a vibrant purple flower, the very same type as the one that he had seen in that mountain range earlier.
"The Spirit Devouring Flower attracts living beings with its aroma before devouring them for sustenance. The flower can be used as an ingredient for body refinement pills, but it contains a type of corpse poison that must be expelled through the use of a secret technique before it can be used as a medicinal ingredient, and the secret technique is one that''s quite difficult to execute."
An enlightened look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
It was no wonder that the purple flowers appeared to have been quite abundant in spiritual qi, but they were left alone without anyone willing to pick them.
Right as he was about to keep reading, a burst of buzzing suddenly rang out nearby, and Han Li turned to discover that all of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis projection had already faded.
Immediately thereafter, the projection began to glow brightly while quickly taking on a more substantial form, and it was also rapidly revolving and giving off a loud buzzing sound.
Han Li cast his gaze outside, upon which a hint of intrigue appeared in his eyes.
The buzzing sound was extremely loud in his ears, but it seemed that none of the people outside were able to hear it at all.
Despite how rapidly the Mantra Treasured Axis was revolving, it didn''t cause any harm to its surroundings, and it seemed to have been somehow detached from this reality.
All of a sudden, a speck of ck light appeared at the center of the vortex, and it rapidly expanded, staining the entire axis ck in the blink of an eye.
As the Mantra Treasured Axis continued to revolve, a ck vortex that was very simr in appearance to the green vortex on the wall of light emerged, and all of this had taken ce in an instant.
Before Han Li had a chance to react, a burst of enormous suction force erupted out of the vortex,tching onto his soul and sucking it out of Ling Yunzi''s body. All the while, he waspletely powerless to resist.
The final thing that he saw was a glimpse of Ling Yunzi''s body, which abruptly shuddered before disintegrating to countless specks of light that dissipated into nothingness.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li felt his vision go ck, and his consciousness began to fade.
After an indeterminate period of time, he gradually awakened and opened his eyes.
Once again, he was greeted by the sight of the wall of light, and the ck vortex on its surface shed a few times before vanishing into thin air.
The wall of light itself also quickly disintegrated, and everything returned to normal.
Looking at the familiar cave abode around him, a mixture of tion and disappointment shed through Han Li''s eyes.
He was very d to be back, but at the same time, he felt rather disappointed that he hadn''t been able to reap any substantial benefits from this phenomenon generated by the Heaven Controlling Vial.
He immediately closed his eyes and quickly thought back over the entirety of the strange out-of-body experience that had just transpired, trying to find something useful from it, but ultimately, his efforts proved to be futile.
He heaved a faint sigh, then made a hand seal, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
As expected, the 360 Time Dao Runes on the surface of the axis had all been snuffed out, just likest time that wall of light had been conjured up.
The golden timew thread was wound around the Mantra Treasured Axis, but it had also be very dim.
Han Li made a beckoning motion with one hand, stowing the timew thread into his own body, and right at this moment, a loud thunderp rang out in front of him, following which Daoist Xie emerged amid a flurry of golden lightning.
"Congrattions on finally mastering thews of time, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie congratted.
"Even with the assistance of a second-tier dao pill, I was still very fortunate to have been able to master thews of time. As one of the three paramountws, thews of time are truly profound. By the way, you saw everything that happened here just now, right?" Han Li asked.
"What are you referring to?" Daoist Xie asked in a puzzled voice. "All I saw is that you seemed to have spaced out for a moment after conjuring up that wall of light. Is there something wrong?"
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, but instead of offering an exnation, he remained silent as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Judging from Daoist Xie''s answer, the 360 seconds that his soul had spent in the Golden Origin Immortal Region seemed to have only been the equivalent of an instant in the real world.
In that case, did this so-called Golden Origin Immortal Region truly exist? And was there actually such a sect as the Iron Beast Sect?
On top of that, were Ling Yunzi and Li Yuanjiu real people, or were they just figments of his imagination?
If all of that had been just an illusion, then why was it that it felt so incredibly real?
Han Li''s brows became slightly furrowed, and he was unable to make sense of what had just transpired.
A long whileter, he shook his head with a wry smile.
What had just happened had been extremely peculiar, and he couldn''t wrap his head around it at the moment, so he would just have to think about it at ater date.
Chapter 372: Unexpected Gains
Chapter 372: Unexpected Gains
Han Li heaved a faint sigh and wasted no further time contemting this topic.
Seeing as he had already mastered thews of time, his top priorities now were to secure the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique and make a breakthrough to the Golden Immortal Stage.
With that in mind, he put on his Transient Guild mask, then summoned the array te projection, only to find that his Spirit Refinement Technique acquisition mission still hadn''t received any responses.
He heaved a faint sigh, then stowed the mask away, but he wasn''t overly disappointed.
After all, this was a matter of luck, and at the very least, it seemed that he wasn''t going to enter that deranged state again anytime soon.
At this point, he was only one immortal acupoint away from reaching the Golden Immortal Stage, and if he could make the breakthrough, then that would significantly increase his chances of survival in the Immortal Realm.
However, he still had no idea how toplete the breakthrough.
A contemtive look appeared on his face, and he flipped a hand over to produce the gray stone b that contained the Great Universe Origin Arts.
He had released a mission in the Transient Guild searching for the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts, but that mission hadn''t received any responses up to this point, either.
He stared at the stone b for a moment, then abruptly rose to his feet before making his way outside.
Just now, he had decided to cultivate the Great Universe Origin Arts. Even though he only had the first half, perhaps it would provide him with some inspiration with regard to how he could break through the final immortal acupoint.
Even if that didn''t prove to be the case, the Big Dipper Origin Arts had significantly enhanced his physical prowess, so cultivating the moreplete Great Universe Origin Arts certainly couldn''t have been detrimental.
Han Li handed his Heaven Controlling Vial to his giant ape puppet, instructing it to continue watering the spirit nts in his medicine garden, then flew out of his cave abode and arrived on a mountain at the center of the ind.
This was the highest point on the entire ind, and from there, everything on the ind wasid bare before his eyes.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of azure sword qi, which shaved off a small chunk of the mountain summit to create a t and smooth stone tform.
After that, he swept both sleeves through the air to release a series of materials, all of which were giving off bursts of starpower.
These materials had virtually all been acquired from Tao Yu''s portly guard. That man had also been cultivating starpower-based abilities, and he had also been ate-True Immortal cultivator, so he possessed a huge supply of starpower materials.
From there, Han Li opened his mouth to produce a ball of azure mes that enveloped the mountaintop, quickly melting it down into a soft and malleable texture.
He then made a hand seal, and a series of materials came flying out beforending in the azure me, where they were quickly refined and fused as one with the mountain.
The originally mundane and unremarkable mountain quickly began to glow brightly, and four or five days passed by in the blink of an eye.
At this point, the mountain summit had already undergone aplete makeover. The mountain had already been cylindrical in shape, but it had been transformed into a pagoda, resembling a giant stone tform that was giving off radiant blue starlight.
There were also numerous runes that depicted all types of star designs engraved onto the stone tform, forming an extremelyplex array.
Everything here was very simr to the Star Gathering tform back in the Origin Realm Temple, except it was far more grand and spectacr.
Han Li had created the array on the stone tform by referencing the Star Gathering Array on the Star Gathering tform, while also infusing elements of star array design that he had mastered over the years.
The portly guard''s storage tool contained some very intricate star arrays, as well as some cultivation arts and secret techniques rted to stars. In order to refine the Seven Bright Star Rings, Han Li had previously taken some time to study those arrays, cultivation arts, and secret techniques.
A Seven Bright Starlight Array had been integrated into the array on the stone tform, so its ability to gather starlight would''ve undoubtedly been superior to that of the Star Gathering tform of the Origin Realm Temple.
Most importantly, this Seven Bright Starlight Array was closely linked to the Seven Bright Star Rings, so when using this array, Han Li could draw upon the power of the Seven Bright Star Rings to enhance the array''s effects.
After doing all of this, Han Li descended onto the tform, then gave a pleased nod.
He sat down onto the ground with his legs crossed, then closed his eyes as he began to study the gray stone b in his hand.
Before long, day had transitioned into night, and countless stars appeared in the night sky.
Han Li opened his eyes before casting his gaze upward, then swept a sleeve through the air to release eight blue crystals, which were giving off a collective aura that was very simr to that of the Starwash Stone.
These crystals were called Starheaven Stones, and just like Starwash Stone, they contained extremely pure starpower, except the starpower in Starheaven Stones was far more abundant than in Starwash Stones, making them an even superior energy source for star arrays.
These Starheaven Stones had also been acquired from the portly guard''s storage tool, but there weren''t many of them, so they weren''t going tost very long.
However, that wasn''t a problem as he had already released a Starheaven Stone acquisition mission in the Transient Guild. Starheaven Stones were quite precious, but not as rare as dao pill ingredients, so it shouldn''t be too difficult to acquire them.
The eight Starheaven Stones were urately embedded into the eight slots around the array, and bursts of blue light instantly emerged within those slots before quickly flowing over the array on the stone tform.
Before long, the entire array had lit up with dazzling blue radiance, while the stone tform had taken on a translucent appearance.
The blue light that was radiating from the tform projected a series of star diagrams in the air, and these diagrams were slowly revolving around the stone tform, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
Right at this moment, the starlight in the sky abruptly brightened, then came raining down from above, forming an incredibly thick pir of light that converged toward the stone tform before epassing the tform in its entirety.
This burst of starpower was at least 10 times as formidable as what the Star Gathering tform had been able to summon, and Han Li nodded to himself with a pleased expression, clearly quite happy with his own handiwork.
However, this level of starpower still wasn''t quite sufficient for his current needs, so he made a hand seal and began to chant an incantation, upon which the Seven Bright Star Rings flew out of his body before hovering above his head.
As soon as the seven rings were summoned, the array on the stone tform instantly brightened considerably, and seven huge spots of blue light appeared, each of which was around the size of a millstone with countless runes shing within them.
The seven spots of starlight appeared to have been arranged in a haphazard fashion, but in reality, they were organized in the arrangement of a profound array.
Right at this moment, the Seven Bright Star Rings also descended out of the sky and onto the seven spots of blue light on the tform.
The blue light radiating from the stone tform brightened even further, while the pir of starlight descending from the heavens also brightened considerably.
Bursts of starpower were cascading down like a waterfall, producing a massivemotion, and only upon seeing this did Han Li close his eyes before channeling the Great Universe Origin Arts.
This cultivation art also contained the manifestation method for the first seven profound acupoints, and it was far moreplex and profound than the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
A dull thump rang out as the pir of starlight split up into seven smaller pirs of light that surged into Han Li''s body.
Even though the pirs of starlight had shrunk down, the starlight that they contained had be even more concentrated, virtually forming substantial pirs.
Seven specks of blue light instantly appeared on Han Li''s body, and those were the seven spots where the seven pirs of starlight had descended upon.
Enormous starpower surged into the seven profound acupoints, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as a pained look appeared on his face.
A burst of tearing pain immediately shot through the profound acupoints that had already opened up, and it was as if there were countless steel needles poking around inside.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and his brows quickly unfurrowed again.
This level of pain was still tolerable to him.
He cycled through a series of different hand seals, and the starlight cascading down from the heavens became even brighter as it flooded into his body.
A vast expanse of blue mist emerged to epass the entire stone tform, and Han Li''s body was also enveloped in starlight.
The night passed by in the blink of an eye, and as the sun began to rise, teh stars in the sky quickly faded, while the starpower descending from the heavens also vanished.
At this point, Han Li''s robes were drenched in blood, and hisplexion was also a little pale.
He opened his eyes, and he was looking a little weary, but there was a hint of excitement on his face.
The seven profound acupoints on his body had clearly berger than before, while the True Extreme Film that had appeared over his body had also be slightly brighter and denser.
The Big Dipper Origin Arts that he had previously cultivated had only been a simplified version of the Great Universe Origin Arts, and now that he had begun cultivating thetter, the profound acupoints that had already been opened up in his body had expanded even further, while his physical prowess had also been enhanced.
He clenched his fists tightly as he sensed the changes that had taken ce in his body, and even though he had only been cultivating for one night, his True Extreme Physique was already disying some measure of improvement.
If he could open up all 18 profound acupoints, then his physical prowess would undoubtedly be enhanced even further.
He slowly exhaled as he suppressed the excitement in his heart, then took a restorative pill before closing his eyes to meditate.
A gentle azure glow appeared over his entire body, forming a ball of azure light.
It didn''t take long before night arrived once again, and the ball of azure light faded to reveal Han Li, who had already made a full recovery at this point.
He opened his eyes and took a nce up at the starry night sky, then immediately activated the array once again.
The array on the stone tform was activated, quickly drawing down rays of starlight that enveloped his entire body, and Han Li immediately began channeling his cultivation art to absorb the starpower cascading down upon him.
Over a year passed by in the blink of an eye, and Han Li had refined his seven existing profound acupoints once again using the method described in the Great Universe Origin Arts.
At this moment, he was seated with his legs crossed on the stone tform with blue light shing over his entire body.
His seven profound acupoints had be around twice as bright as before, while his physical prowess had also been significantly enhanced, and his True Extreme Film was looking even denser and more radiant.
A hint of excitement appeared on Han Li''s face as he felt all of these changes in his own body.
The physical enhancements were naturally quite wee, but that wasn''t what he was excited about.
During this past year of cultivation, he discovered that the immortal acupoint in his body that ovepped with his existing profound acupoints had also expanded significantly and also be more resilient, allowing them to take in more of the world''s origin qi.
This was very much a pleasant surprise, and he had never heard of immortal acupoints being able to undergo changes after they were opened.
Chapter 373: Response
Chapter 373: Response
Han Li took a deep breath topose himself.
He had only made an initial foray into his cultivation of the Great Universe Origin Arts. Furthermore, he had already previously opened up the first seven profound acupoints, and that was why he had been able to progress so quickly, but the remaining 11 profound acupoints most likely weren''t going to be so easy to cultivate.
With that in mind, Han Li exhaled before closing his eyes again.
The array on the stone tform began to operate once again, drawing a vast expanse of starlight down from the heavens and funneling it into Han Li''s body.
Five years passed by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, a thunderousmotion suddenly rang out from the ind, resonating across the entire heavens.
In the next instant, a glowing blue figure rose up into the sky from the ind before flying around in the air like a prowling dragon.
All of the space within a radius of hundreds of kilometers around the ind was buzzing and trembling incessantly, while massive waves swept over the surface of the sea, and all of the clouds in the sky were also scattered far and wide.
Some timeter, themotion ceased, and the blue figure also stopped in their tracks, revealing none other than Han Li.
At this moment, his entire body was enveloped within a translucent blue film of light that almost had a substantial form.
The film of light was adhered to the surface of his skin, and it was very simr to the True Extreme Film that had arisen following his attainment of his True Extreme Physique.
At this point, it was more appropriate to call it a suit of True Extreme Armor rather than a True Extreme Film.
Numerous streaks of blue light were surging incessantly over the film of light, making it appear as if there were countless stars orbiting around Han Li''s body.
On top of that, there were 18 specks of blue light shimmering on Han Li''s chest and abdomen.
After five years of arduous cultivation, he had finally mastered the first half of the Great Universe Origin Arts.
Even he was rather surprised by how quickly he had been able to master this cultivation art.
Given his past experience, he had originally predicted that it would''ve taken him a considerable amount of time to master this cultivation art, a projected time span of at least several dozen years, yet during his cultivation, he discovered that all of the bottlenecks that he thought he would encounter simply failed to pose any resistance, and he was able to open up one profound acupoint after another with ease.
All of these profound acupoints ovepped with the immortal acupoints that he had previously opened.
In retrospect, he could only specte that perhaps the immortal acupoints that he had previously opened made it easier for him to subsequently cultivate profound acupoints, and that was why he was able to master the first half of the Great Universe Origin Arts in such a short time.
Initially, he had been concerned that he wouldn''t have sufficient Starheaven Stones, but as things turned out, he had some to spare.
What was even more encouraging to him was that the immortal acupoints that ovepped with his profound acupoints had been significantly bolstered and expanded.
Right at this moment, Han Li let loose a low roar as he threw a punch at the sea down below.
A burst of tremendous force erupted out of his fist before striking the surface of the sea, and a massive fist-sized ck hole was smashed into the sea, parting all of the seawater around it.
The force unleashed by Han Li''s punch pierced straight through the waves before mming into the seabed, creating another unfathomably deep hole, at the bottom of which faint glimmers of red light could be seen.
Han Li then unclenched his fist before bringing his hand down in a chopping motion, and the sea down below was parted once again as a massive trench emerged.
Once again, the seabed was also split apart, forming an enormous rift that was just as unfathomably deep as the hole from before.
Han Li slowly withdrew his palm and gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
Even though he had only mastered the first half of the Great Universe Origin Arts, his already extremely formidable physical body had been significantly enhanced.
He had only put less than 30% of his strength into the two strikes that he had unleashed just now, yet they were already extremely formidable blows.
The True Extreme Film around Han Li''s body faded at his behest, and he flew back down onto the ind, quickly descending onto the stone tform.
He then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that enveloped the entire stone tform, and a burst of dull rumbling rang out as the stone tform was separated from the mountaintop.
After that, Han Li began to chant an incantation, and the stone tform rapidly shrank down before being stowed away.
Even though he had already mastered the first half of the Great Universe Origin Arts, this stone tform was something that had taken him a great deal of effort to construct, so he naturally wasn''t just going to discard it.
After doing all of this, Han Li flew back to his cave abode and arrived in his bedroom.
During these past five years, he had been going through a constant cycle of cultivating the Great Universe Origin Arts at night and recovering from his injuries during the day, so it had already been a very long time since he had taken a proper rest.
Now that he had sessfully mastered the cultivation art, he was finally allowing himself to rx, and a wave of exhaustion instantly swept over him.
Before long, he fell into a deep sleep on his bed, and only after a day and a night did he awaken before emerging from his bedroom,pletely reinvigorated.
The first thing that he did was check on the medicine garden, where he discovered that all of the spirit nts were thriving as usual.
The giant ape puppet had followed Han Li''s instructions, using most of the spirit liquid produced by the Heaven Controlling Vial on the primary bean, and at this point, it had already sprouted, so Han Li could look forward to another harvest of Dao Warriors soon.
From there, Han Li explored all of the other parts of his cave abode briefly before arriving in his secret chamber, where he sat down and began to consider his future ns.
At the moment, his top priorities were to find the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique and make a breakthrough to the Golden Immortal Stage.
However, both of these objectives were rather difficult to achieve in the ck Wind Sea, and he couldn''t help but be tempted to leave this secluded region.
Several centuries had already passed by, so the efforts that the Northern cial Immortal Region was taking to hunt him down would''ve surely lessened significantly. On top of that, he had be far more powerful than back when he faced Tao Yu in battle.
At his current level of power, he was confident that he would be able to take care of Tao Yu even without Daoist Xie''s assistance.
As soon as this thought appeared in his mind, it immediately began to take root.
Even though he had made significant strides in his cultivation during his time in the ck Wind Sea, it had also been a very miserable experience.
After some extensive consideration, Han Li decided not to leave the ck Wind Sea for now. At the very least, he had to get a good grasp on the situation in the outside world first.
With that in mind, he put on his Transient Guild mask and made a routine examination of the missions that he had previously released.
All of a sudden, an ecstatic look appeared on his face.
He had received a response on his Spirit Refinement Technique acquisition mission.
He immediately made a hand seal, and a burst of azure light emerged from the passage of text detailing the mission.
Around 15 minutester, the burst of azure light flew out into Han Li''s secret chamber, where it took on the form of a gray figure.
The figure was dressed in a gray cloak with an azure cat mask on their face that carried the number "16".
The figure behind the mask inspected Han Li with a sharp and piercing gaze, while Han Li cupped his fist in a salute and said, "Greetings, Fellow Daoist."
The gray figure merely nodded in response.
"You''ve taken on my mission, so I presume you already know what I want, right?" Han Li asked.
"There''s no need to be so ambiguous about it, Fellow Daoist," the gray figure chuckled in a slightly raspy voice. "There are all types of shady dealings taking ce in the Transient Guild. You''re looking for the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique, isn''t that right?"
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he smiled and said, "In that case, I won''t waste any time. Do you have the second half of the cultivation art, Fellow Daoist?"
"Of course," the gray figure replied, "Why else would I have taken on your mission?"
"That''s good to hear. Can we finalize things today? Rest assured, I''ll be sure to offer you satisfactorypensation in exchange for the cultivation art," Han Li immediately replied.
"Thepensation that you''re offering is indeed quite substantial, but the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique is extremely valuable, so I''m afraid what you''re offering won''t be sufficient," the gray figure said.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "In that case, what do you propose, Fellow Daoist?"
"If you really want to obtain the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique, thene to this ce in a month, and we''ll speak in person," the gray figure replied before specifying a location.
Before Han Li had a chance to reply, the gray figure ended themunication.
Han Li''s brows furrowed even tighter upon seeing this, and he slowly removed his mask.
He then flipped a hand over to produce the jade slip that contained the map of the ck Wind Sea, then directed his gaze toward the location specified by the gray figure, which was a location that was truly on the very outskirts of the ck Wind Sea.
Han Li stared at the jade slip in silence, and there was a contemtive look on his face.
Only after sitting in silence for half a day did he raise his head with a determined expression, seemingly having arrived at some type of decision.
After that, he stowed the jade slip away, then rose to his feet and quickly made his way to his medicine garden.
He slowly swept his gaze across his medicine garden, then abruptly began making a string of hand seals to release numerous streaks of azure light.
All of the restrictions in the entire medicine garden were instantly undone, and a series of array tools flew out of the garden beforending in his grasp.
In the blink of an eye, the entire garden had been deconstructed.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li released more streaks of azure light out of his hands to stow away all of the spirit nts in the garden along with the spirit soil beneath them.
The primary bean was also stowed away, and it didn''t take long before the entire garden had been cleared out.
After emptying out the medicine garden, he quickly departed and stowed away everything else in the cave abode as well.
Chapter 374: Exchange
Chapter 374: Exchange
Close to an hourter, Han Li appeared in the sky above the ind.
With a sweep of his sleeve, a series of restrictions appeared around the ind before disintegrating one after another, following which sets of array tools flew out into the open before vanishing up his sleeves.
He had already been cultivating on this ind for several centuries without any incident, but during his cultivation, he had triggered astonishing phenomena on quite a few asions on the ind, so it was no longer safe to continue to stay here.
Han Li took one final nce at the ind, yet right as he was about to depart, a white demon beast appeared on the surface of the sea down below with a loud ssh, then began calling out to him.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he looked down, and he was amused to find that the demon beast was none other than the Pig Dolphin Beast.
He descended toward the Pig Dolphin Beast, and thetter immediately began swimming toward him, sshing through the water with its tail.
"Have youe to say goodbye?" Han Li asked as he stroked the Pig Dolphin Beast''s smooth head with a smile on his face.
The Pig Dolphin Beast began rubbing its head gently against the palm of Han Li''s hand, and Han Li smiled as he flipped a hand over to produce a pill that he tossed through the air.
The Pig Dolphin Beast''s eyes immediately lit up as it opened its mouth to catch the pill.
"I have to thank you for the Hard Ink Crystal that you have me. It really did help me a lot. That pill is my parting gift to you," Han Li said.
The Pig Dolphin Beast faltered slightly upon hearing this, seemingly rather unwilling to part with Han Li.
Han Li gave the Pig Dolphin Beast''s head one final pat, then flew away as a streak of azure light, quickly vanishing into the distance.
The Pig Dolphin Beast stared nkly at the direction that Han Li had flown away in, and a long whileter, a determined look appeared in its eyes as it sank down into the sea.
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A monthter, on the outskirts of the ck Wind Sea.
A streak of azure light appeared above an ind that was close to 10 kilometers in size, then faded to reveal none other than Han Li in his azure tiger mask.
He was meeting someone from the Transient Guild, so he hadn''t adopted a disguise and was merely wearing his Transient Guild mask.
He inspected his surroundings briefly, then descended onto the ind.
This was an extremely secluded area of the ck Wind Sea, and there were sparse ck clouds in the sky, obscuring the light of the sun like ayer of ck mist.
These clouds weren''t just normal dark clouds, and they were giving off a cold and forbidding aura.
Han Li took a brief nce at the thin ck clouds in the sky, then quickly withdrew his gaze before sitting down with his legs crossed, and ayer of azure light quickly surfaced over his body.
This was the location that had been specified by the gray figure, and Han Li had actually already arrived here in secret two days ago.
During the past two days, he had conducted a thorough examination of the nearby area.
He had been invited here by someonepletely unfamiliar to him, and they were about to engage in a transaction concerning a forbidden art, so he naturally had to take the necessary precautions.
Before long, close to a day had already passed by.
All of a sudden, Han Li opened his eyes before rising to his feet, then cast his gaze toward a certain direction.
There, on the distant horizon, a speck of gray light appeared before approaching the ind at an incredible speed, appearing in the sky above the ind in the blink of an eye.
The gray light then faded to reveal a gray-robed figure wearing an azure cat mask that bore the number "16", and it was none other than the same gray figure that Han Li had spoken to earlier.
The two of them examined each other momentarily, following which the cat-masked figure cupped their hand in a salute as they said, "You must be Fellow Daoist Roon 11. I am Wildcat 16. Sorry for beingte."
"It''s fine, I only just got here as well," Han Li replied as he returned the salute.
"That''s good, I''m d to hear I didn''t keep you waiting for long," Wildcat 16 said.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he said in an indifferent, "Let''s skip the formalities and discuss the matter at hand."
Wildcat''s demeanor was very different from during theirstmunication, and that left Han Li feeling a little perplexed.
"Of course, but this is not the ce to talk, so pleasee with me, Fellow Daoist Roon 11," Wildcat 16 replied with a nod, then flew through the air as a gray shadow.
Han Li hesitated momentarily before deciding to follow along.
Before long, they had been flying for half a day, and Han Li had remained a set distance behind Wildcat 16 this entire time while also constantly keeping tabs on his surroundings using his spiritual sense.
The further they flew, the denser the ck clouds in the sky became, and in the end, the entire sky was filled with dense ck clouds that were giving off an astonishing cial aura.
The sea down below had also been influenced by the yin qi in these ck clouds, and the water had been stained ck while also releasing bursts of bone-chilling cial qi that were so formidable that even Body Integration cultivator would''ve quickly been frozen solid here.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he inspected his surroundings.
Meanwhile, Wildcat 16 continued to fly onward, disying no indication of stopping.
Han Li was growing more and more apprehensive, and he suddenly stopped cold in his tracks.
Wildcat 16 also drew to a halt, then turned around and asked, "Why have you stopped, Fellow Daoist Roon 11?"
"We''ve already been flying for a very long time, so I think it''s only right that you tell me where we''re going. I don''t exactly enjoy being led on a trip into the middle of nowhere," Han Li said in an indifferent voice.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Roon 11, we''re almost there. This is a matter that concerns a forbidden art of the Immortal Realm, so even though we''re already on the outskirts of the ck Wind Sea, we can''t afford to getcent. If anyone finds out what we''re up to, we won''t be able to remain in the ck Wind Sea any longer, so it''s best that we go somewhere safe before we continue our conversation," Wildcat 16 said in a serious voice.
"Don''t try to cate me, Fellow Daoist Wildcat 16. There''s not a single soul to be seen here, so I suggest youe clean and tell me the truth. Otherwise, I''ll have to take my leave," Han Li harrumphed coldly.
Despite his abrasive words, Wildcat 16 appeared to bepletely unbothered, and after a brief moment of contemtion, they said, "I understand your concern, Fellow Daoist Roon 11. Truth be told, I do not have the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique. Instead, it''s in the possession of a friend of mine, and that friend is waiting up ahead for us."
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, and Wildcat 16 continued, "Just as I said, this is a very serious matter, and my friend doesn''t wish to deal with this matter in person. That''s why they asked me to meet you on their behalf."
Han Li fell silent upon hearing this, and it seemed that he was contemting something.
"I can assure you that I''m telling the truth, Fellow Daoist Roon 11. If you don''t believe me, then there''s nothing I can say to convince you, and we''ll have to call off the deal," Wildcat 16 said in a resigned manner.
Han Li continued to remain silent, and his mind was racing as he weighed up his options.
Wildcat 16 also waited in silence, making no effort to try and hurry Han Li.
"Alright, in that case, I''lle with you, but do tell me how much longer we have to go," Han Li said after some extensive contemtion.
A hint of relief shed through Wildcat 16''s eyes upon hearing this, and they replied, "There''s not far left to go. At our speed, we''ll definitely be able to get there within two hours."
Han Li had noticed the fleeting hint of relief that had shed through Wildcat 16''s eyes, but he made noment on it.
With that, the two of them continued onward, and after flying for close to another hour, a burst of faint rumbling suddenly rang out up ahead.
The further they went, the louder this rumbling became, and a wary look appeared in Han Li''s eyes.
Shortly thereafter, the two of them drew to a halt.
Gusts of inky-ck yin wind had suddenly appeared up ahead, with thergest gusts resembling enormous tornadoes, while the smallest ones were only the size of houses.
The countless gusts of ck yin wind filled the entire space up ahead, and the sound of ghastly howling and sobbing could be heard ringing out within the yin wind.
Just these harrowing sounds alone were enough to strike Han Li with a sense of dizziness, and he hurriedly activated his Spirit Refinement Technique to alleviate this rush of dizziness, but the apprehension in his heart had been further exacerbated.
His current spiritual sense was not inferior to that of the average Golden Immortal, so there was no way that the sounds ringing out from within the gusts of yin wind should''ve been able to affect him.
All of a sudden, an rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face.
It was only very faint, but a hint of instability had arisen within his spiritual sense, and his heart immediately sank, thinking that the bacsh from the Spirit Refinement Technique was about to strike again.
"Is this your first time seeing this Soul Stirring Wind, Fellow Daoist Roon 11? They have an extremely potent disruptive effect on one''s soul, and unless the proper protective measures are taken, even True Immortal cultivators like ourselves won''t be able tost very long in there at all," Wildcat 16 said.
Han Li was rather relieved to hear this, and he asked, "Are you saying that we have to venture into these winds?"
"That''s right, but rest assured, we won''t be venturing very far into these Soul Stirring Winds, and I''ve also prepared some things for this very purpose," Wildcat 16 replied with a nod.
Han Li offered no response to this, seemingly waiting to see exactly what Wildcat 16 had prepared.
Wildcat 16 didn''t waste any more time words, either, and he raised a hand to produce an egg-sized ck bead that appeared to have countless shadows shing within it, presenting quite a profound sight to behold.
He then began to chant an incantation, and a ring of ck light surged out of the ck bead, stretching to a radius of over 100 feet to epass both Han Li and Wildcat 16.
The ghastly sounds ringing out up ahead immediately became much more subdued, while the biting chill in the air also subsided significantly.
Chapter 375: The Second Half
Chapter 375: The Second Half
"I didn''t think that you would have a treasure that could keep out the Soul Stirring Winds," Han Li said as he took an intrigued nce at the ck bead.
"It''s not that remarkable a treasure. Let''s go," Wildcat 16 said in a casual manner, seemingly not wanting to exin too much about the ck bead.
With that, he led the way forward, flying into the vast expanse of yin winds up ahead, followed closely by Han Li.
As they flew onward, the surrounding yin winds became more and more ferocious, epassing the entire space around Han Li''s duo.
However, the ring of ck light released by the ck bead remained resilient against the yin wind, and at most, the Soul Stirring Winds were only able to create some ripples on the surface of the ring of light.
With their powers, they were naturally able to ward off the effects of this significantly weakened Soul Stirring Wind, and they quickly continued onward.
All the while, the surrounding Soul Stirring Winds continued to be more and more formidable, and it was as if there were tens of thousands of evil spirits wailing around them.
"Do you know the origins of this Soul Stirring Wind, Fellow Daoist Wildcat 16? It feels as if these winds are blowing straight out of the depths of hell, and without that treasure of yours, I wouldn''t have dared to venture so far into this area at all," Han Li suddenly said as he inspected the surrounding gusts of yin wind.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Roon 11. These Soul Stirring Winds have already existed here for countless years, so I''m afraid I do not know their origins. However, there''s a rumor in the ck Wind Sea that this ce is connected to the Infernal Realm, and that''s where the Soul Stirring Wind is leaking out from," Wildcat 16 replied.
"Does the Infernal Realm really exist?" Han Li asked.
"The so-called Infernal Realm is nothing more than an unsubstantiated legend, and no one knows for sure whether it actually exists, so take these stories with a grain of salt," Wildcat 16 replied with a smile.
"I''ve heard that these Soul Stirring Winds epass a massive area, and it''s virtually impossible to pass directly through them. That''s why the ck Wind Sea is only connected to the outside world through the teleportation array on ck Wind Ind. I wonder if it''s possible for a Golden Immortal to pass through these winds," Han Li mused with a contemtive look on his face.
"ording to my knowledge, some powerful cultivators from the ck Wind Sea have previously attempted to pass through these Soul Stirring Winds, but none have seeded. Many years ago, a Golden Immortal Stage senior attempted this feat, and he was trapped inside for several decades before being forced toe back out.
¡°ording to him, the Soul Stirring Wind in the deepest part of this area is extremely formidable, so much so that even a Golden Immortal Stage soul isn''t able to withstand it," Wildcat 16 replied with a shake of their head.
"I didn''t think that these Soul Stirring Winds would be too formidable even for a Golden Immortal cultivator to pass through," Han Li mused with a contemtive expression.
Now that he had mastered thews of time and had Daoist Xie by his side, he was wondering if it would be possible to force his way through these Soul Stirring Winds to leave the ck Wind Sea if his true identity were ever exposed, but it seemed that this was not a feasible course of action.
"This is why this ce is known as an impregnable natural barrier. Perhaps only cultivators at or above the High Zenith Stage would be able to pass through these Soul Stirring Winds, but it''s yet to be seen whether there are even any High Zenith Stage Jade Immortals at all in the Northern cial Immortal Region," Wildcat 16 said.
Han Li nodded in response and didn''t speak any further on the subject.
Both of them flew onward in silence for some time, yet for some reason, past a certain point, the surrounding Soul Stirring Winds seemed to have reached a stable state and wasn''t growing any more formidable.
Right as Han Li was specting about why this could be the case, Wildcat 16 suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"Have we arrived?" Han Li asked as he also drew to a halt.
Wildcat 16 nodded in response, and after taking a couple of cautious nces at his surroundings he made a hand seal, upon which the ck light radiating from the ck bead instantly swelled, epassing the two of them as they descended into the sea down below.
The seawater here had already turned as ck as ink, and it was giving off a bone-chilling cial aura that was quite ufortable for Han Li''s duo even with the protection of the ck bead.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to draw a ball of seawater into his grasp, and he discovered that it was giving off extremely abundant yin qi that was not inferior to that of some yin-attribute true waters, but the energy that this seawater contained was extremely chaotic, rendering it unusable.
The two of them quickly sank down to the seabed, and Wildcat 16 was clearly very familiar with this ce, leading Han Li into a marine trench.
There, he flipped a hand over to produce a ck jade badge, then chanted an incantation, and the badge immediately began radiating a vast expanse of ck light that illuminated the seabed, causing it to tremble as five ck stone pirs slowly emerged.
Each pir was as thick as a water vat with countless runes that were radiating faint ck light inscribed upon them.
Han Li stood off to the side with his hands sped behind his back as he observed the proceedings through narrowed eyes.
Wildcat 16 continued to chant his incantation, and the ck light radiating from the five stone pirs grew brighter and brighter before connecting together to form a ball of ck light that was over 100 feet in size.
The ball of light began to revolve, picking up more and more speed as it did so, and all of a sudden, a faint crack rang out as an inky ck cylindrical spatial passageway appeared.
Han Li was quite intrigued to find that this ck spatial passageway was very simr to the one leading to that secret area on Dark Veil Ind.
He attempted to release his spiritual sense into the spatial passageway, only for it to be kept at bay by a burst of gentle force.
"This is the ce that I mentioned earlier, Fellow Daoist Roon 11. After you."
Wildcat 16 stepped away to the side and made an inviting hand gesture as he spoke.
Han Li nodded in response, then flew into the spatial passageway without any hesitation.
Wildcat 16 was a little surprised by Han Li''s willingness to cooperate, but he immediately followed along.
On the surface, Han Li appeared quite calm and collected, but deep down, he was feeling rather resigned.
Given how careful and cautious he had always been, he definitely wouldn''t have entered an unknown ce like this so easily under normal circumstances.
However, for the sake of the Spirit Refinement Technique, he had no choice but to cooperate. He had already made it to this point, and it was toote to turn back.
However, that didn''t mean that he waspletely at the mercy of whoever was waiting for him in the secret area.
Aside from hisws of time and Mantra Treasured Axis, Daoist Xie now possessed Golden Immortal Stage power, so if anything were to go awry, then he was confident that he would be able to strike down Wildcat 16 in a very short time and take his bead treasure before fleeing the scene.
As soon as Han Li stepped into the spatial passageway, his body was immediately enveloped by a burst of power, and his surroundings transformed into aplete blur.
He immediately drew upon the immortal spiritual power in his body, preparing to unleash his most powerful treasures at a moment''s notice, but thankfully, he didn''t have to.
Shortly thereafter, he found himself in a space with a radius of several dozen kilometers, and the entire area was filled with lush vegetation, simr to the environment in the secret area on Dark Veil Ind.
At the center of this secret area stood a ck mountain that was tens of thousands of feet tall, and there were several cave entrances on the mountain, indicating that there were cave abodes inside.
Furthermore, there was some type of restriction in this secret area that rendered Han Li unable to release his spiritual sense out of his body at all.
Han Li inspected his surroundings while drawing upon his immortal spiritual power, and a burst of golden lightning emerged over his body before fading in a sh, following which an ted look shed through his eyes.
He had just discreetly examined his connection with the lightning teleportation array that he had set up in the ck Wind Sea, and the connection was still intact, so he could teleport out of this ce at any moment.
Right after he left his cave abode on that secluded ind, he had made a trip to the lightning teleportation array to find that it waspletely untouched.
After that, he had taken some time to bolster the array, and with this life-saving trump card up his sleeve, he was feeling a bit safer.
Right at this moment, Wildcat 16 emerged beside Han Li.
"My friend is waiting for you up ahead, Fellow Daoist Roon 11," Wildcat 16 said, then flew directly toward the ck mountain before Han Li had a chance to reply.
Han Li trailed along behind Wildcat 16, and the two of them quickly flew into one of the cave entrances.
After traveling along a passageway for a while, a hall appeared up ahead.
The furnishings in the hall were quite minimalistic, with only a stone table, several stone chairs, and a ck screen that was shimmering with ck light and had different designs asionally taking shape on its surface.
A tall red-robed man was standing in front of the screen with his back facing Han Li''s duo, and Han Li was struck by a sense of familiarity at the sight of the man.
The red-robed man turned around upon hearing the sound of footsteps, and Han Li was rather taken aback to discover that he was none other than Wyrm 3.
"Fellow Daoist Roon 11, this is Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3, and he''s the one who''s actually taken on your mission," Wildcat 16 said.
Wyrm 3 took a nce at Han Li, then sat down on one of the chairs as he made an inviting hand gesture and said, "Take a seat, Fellow Daoist Roon 11."
Han Li did as he was told, while Wildcat 16 cupped his fist in a salute toward Wyrm 3 before turning to depart.
"I''ll leave you two to speak in private."
Han Li turned to look at the departing Wildcat 16 with a peculiar look in his eyes, while Wyrm 3 said, "Don''t mind him, Fellow Daoist Roon 11, I can exin the situation to you."
"Alright, in that case, I won''t waste any time with idle chatter. Do you have the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3," Han Li asked in a direct and straightforward fashion.
While Wildcat 16 had referred to Wyrm 3 as a friend of his, from Han Li''s observation, it appeared that they were more like superior and subordinate.
"Of course," Wyrm 3 replied with a smile, then swept a sleeve through the air to send a gray jade slip flying toward Han Li.
Han Li caught the jade slip, then cast an inquisitive gaze toward Wyrm 3.
In response, Wyrm 3 made an inviting hand gesture, and Han Li pressed the jade slip to his own forehead.
The restrictions here prevented him from releasing his spiritual sense out of his body, so he had no choice but to examine the jade slip through direct contact.
The jade slip contained a cultivation art, but only the first few lines were visible, while the rest were enshrouded in a concealment restriction.
However, the first few visible lines alone were enough to tell Han Li that this was indeed the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique that he had been searching for.
Chapter 376: Reincarnation Disciple
Chapter 376: Reincarnation Disciple
After reading through the first few lines in the jade slip several times, Han Li carefully swept his spiritual sense briefly over the concealment restriction that obscured the rest of the cultivation art, then promptly withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip.
He didn''t know exactly what this restriction was, but given his extensive experience and master in this field, he could tell that this was definitely no ordinary restriction. If he were to try and break through it by force, the jade slip would most likely be instantly destroyed, and his spiritual sense would be severely harmed in the process as well.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to send the gray jade slip drifting back to Wyrm 3''s side, then said, "Let''s not waste any time here, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3. What do you need me to do in exchange for the full cultivation art?"
A smile appeared on Wyrm 3''s face as he set the jade slip down onto the stone table beside him, following which he replied, "Before we discuss that, I have something to ask you, Fellow Daoist Roon 11."
"Go ahead," Han Li prompted.
"How much do you know about this Spirit Refinement Technique?" Wyrm 3 asked in a calm manner.
This was apletely unexpected question to Han Li, and he contemted the question momentarily before replying, "ording to my knowledge, this is a forbidden art of the Immortal Realm, and it can enhance one''s spiritual sense, but most of the people who cultivate it end up bing deranged monsters who wreak havoc across the Immortal Realm. Hence, it''s banned in all immortal regions, thereby making it a forbidden art."
"Is that all you know about it?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"That''s all. Is there something wrong with what I''ve said?" Han Li asked.
"That''s only the basic information that everyone knows about the Spirit Refinement Technique. If I''m not mistaken, you''ve already mastered the third level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, right? May I ask who it was that taught you the technique, and did they not go into further details about it back then?" Wyrm 3 asked.
The image of the immortal by the name of He Kang surfaced in Han Li''s mind, but he naturally wasn''t going to reveal that information, and he replied, "I obtained the first half of the Spirit Refinement Technique by chance, and at the time, I wasn''t aware that it was a forbidden technique, so I cultivated it on my own."
This wasn''t exactly a lie. All He Kang had done was bestow upon him the first three levels of the Spirit Refinement Technique, and he hadn''t gone into any further detail beyond that.
Wyrm 3 seemed to have been astonished to hear this. "You''re saying that you managed to master the first three levels of the Spirit Refinement Technique on your own without any guidance?"
"Is there a problem?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
Wyrm 3 was silent for a moment, then replied, "Not at all, I''m simply stunned by your exceptional cultivation aptitude."
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist. I was merely very fortunate to have made this much progress in the Spirit Refinement Technique," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice.
"Seeing as you don''t know much about the Spirit Refinement Technique, I''ll start from the beginning. Otherwise, it''ll be difficult to proceed with the rest of our discussion," Wyrm 3 said.
"Please enlighten me," Han Li prompted as a hint of intrigue appeared in his eyes.
"What you just said is all true. The Spirit Refinement Technique has a very severe drawback, but it''s also an extremely formidable secret technique that was once vastly renowned in the Immortal Realm.
¡°However, the Spirit Refinement Technique isn''t a forbidden art just because most of those who cultivate it end up bing insane. Additionally, the other main contributing reason to its forbidden status is the fact that it came from the Reincarnation Pce," Wyrm 3 revealed.
"The Reincarnation Pce?" Han Li was quite taken aback to hear this.
Wyrm 3 was rather surprised by Han Li''s reaction, but he then smiled as he remarked, "It seems like you''re already aware of the Reincarnation Pce, Fellow Daoist Roon 11."
"I have heard some things about the Reincarnation Pce, but not much. Please continue, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3," Han Li replied.
"Seeing as you''ve heard of the Reincarnation Pce, I''m sure you''re also aware that the Reincarnation Pce is an enemy of all of the Immortal Pces. At this point, all those who have cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique have some ties to the Reincarnation Pce, and that''s why they''re being hunted so vehemently," Wyrm 3 said.
"I have heard about that," Han Li confirmed with a nod as thoughts of Baili Yan and Daoist Hu Yan sprang into his mind.
"It''s said that the Spirit Refinement Technique was created by the founder of the Reincarnation Pce, and it''s always been a symbol of one''s affiliation with the Reincarnation Pce. However, countless years ago, the first half of the cultivation art was somehow leaked, but only the Reincarnation Pce has the second half.
¡°Furthermore, due to the fact that the first half was leaked, extra precautions have been taken to ensure that the second half isn''t also leaked, and it''s forbidden to bestow the second half of the cultivation art upon anyone outside of the Reincarnation Pce," Wyrm 3 continued.
"Does that mean you''re a member of the Reincarnation Pce, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right," Wyrm 3 replied with a nod.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this.
Wyrm 3 was a very important figure in the Transient Guild, and Han Li certainly wasn''t expecting him to be a member of the Reincarnation Pce as well.
It wasn''t exactly an umon urrence for people from different sects and powers to join the Transient Guild, but the majority of the guild''s members were ordinary members like Han Li.
The fact that Wyrm 3 held such a lofty status in the Transient Guild yet was also a member of the Reincarnation Pce was a rather intriguing revtion.
"If you want to obtain the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique, then all you have to do is actually something very simple," Wyrm 3 continued.
"Are you saying..."
"That''s right. As long as you''re willing to join our Reincarnation Pce, I''ll hand over this jade slip right away," Wyrm 3 dered in a direct and straightforward fashion.
Han Li gently drummed his fingertips against the surface of the stone table as he fell silent.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 3 also remained silent as he waited patiently.
Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps rang out, and a servant entered the room, carrying a tter that held two cups of spirit tea.
The teacups were translucent, and it was unclear what type of material they had been crafted from. The spirit tea that they were holding was also quite remarkable, and even though it wasn''t giving off much of an aroma, the white vapor that drifted up from the tea would asionally take on the form of cranes that flew around the teacup briefly before slowly dissipating.
"How rude of me to not have offered you any tea, even though you''ve already been here for so long. This White Mist Spirit Tea is unique to our Reincarnation, and it''s quite exquisite. Have a taste, Fellow Daoist Roon 11," Wyrm 3 said with a smile.
The servant set the two cups of tea down onto the stone table before quickly departing.
Han Li was still engrossed in his own thoughts, and only after hearing what Wyrm 3 had to say did he turn his attention to the tea on the table, upon which a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
The white mist wasn''t just normal water vapor. Instead, it was extremely rich immortal spiritual qi, and the fact that it could manifest certain forms on its own indicated that it was an exceptional spirit tea.
The immortal spiritual qi that was contained in this single cup of tea was enough to make up for a month of cultivation for him, and this was by far the most exceptional spirit tea that Han Li had evere across.
However, he didn''t have a habit of drinking tea in unfamiliar ces, so even though he was rather tempted, he decided not to touch the tea in the cup.
Wyrm 3 was rather amused by Han Li''s cautious approach, and he picked up his own teacup before taking a sip.
Meanwhile, Han Li remained seated in silence, and he appeared quite calm on the outside, but internally, he was feeling quite conflicted.
The crisis that had taken ce in the ze Dragon Dao had left a very deep impression on him. Baili Yan had already been on the cusp of reaching the High Zenith Stage, yet just because he was a member of the Reincarnation Pce, most of the Golden Immortal Stage dao lords had turned on him and plotted his downfall in coboration with the Northern cial Immortal Pce.
Daoist Hu Yan clearly had close ties with the Reincarnation Pce as well, and it was unclear whether he was dead or alive.
Han Li didn''t know much about the Reincarnation Pce, but he knew that it was a sworn enemy of the Northern cial Immortal Region and even the Heavenly Court.
Even though he was currently being hunted by the Northern cial Immortal Pce over his killing of Tao Yu, he still didn''t want to join the Reincarnation Pce and ce himself in direct opposition against the Immortal Pces.
He was still only ate-True Immortal cultivator at the moment, and he wanted to avoid trouble at all costs.
However, if he didn''t join the Reincarnation Pce, then he wouldn''t be able to obtain the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique, and that would be no different from an extended death sentence.
Neither of these options were particrly appealing to Han Li, and he remained silent for a long while.
Finally, Wyrm 3 set down his teacup as he broke the silence. "Are you worried that joining our Reincarnation Pce will pit you against the Northern cial Immortal Pce?"
"That''s right," Han Li replied in a candid fashion.
"I''m assuming you must''ve been residing in the ck Wind Sea for a long time, so you don''t know much about the world outside. The Northern cial Immortal Pce is quite a formidable power, but our Reincarnation Pce isn''t the only force that can stand against it. It''s just that none of those forces are willing to step forward for no good reason.
¡°On top of that, our Reincarnation Pce has always resided in the shadows, so it won''t be easy for the Northern cial Immortal Pce to find us," Wyrm 3 said with a smile.
"Is there any proof to support your ims? Surely you can''t expect me to just take your word for it," Han Li said in a solemn voice.
"Eventually, you''lle to find out whether I''m telling the truth or not. The fact of the matter right now is that you''ve mastered the first three levels of the Spirit Refinement Technique, so if you''re caught by the Immortal Pce, you''ll be dealt with as a member of our Reincarnation Pce anyway.
¡°On top of that, I can tell that you''ve recently suffered a bout of bacsh from the Spirit Refinement Technique, so if you can''t secure the second half of the cultivation art in a timely fashion..."
Wyrm 3''s voice trailed off here, but it wasn''t difficult to tell what he was implying.
Han Li''s heart sank slightly upon hearing this.
He had already done everything in his power to restrain his spiritual sense, but Wyrm 3 had still managed to detect the spiritual sense crisis that had recently befallen him.
Han Li fell silent once again as he continued to tap the stone table in an absentminded manner, but at this point, the choice was bing rather clear to him.
Wyrm 3 could tell that Han Li needed one final push, so he continued, "I don''t mean to brag, Fellow Daoist Roon 11, but our Reincarnation Pce is no less formidable than the Northern cial Immortal Region.
¡°We have all types of pills, materials, secret techniques, and cultivation arts, and we''re not inviting you to join our Reincarnation Pce as just an ordinary member. Instead, this is an invitation for you to be a Reincarnation Disciple."
Chapter 377: Joining the Reincarnation Palace
Chapter 377: Joining the Reincarnation Pce
"What is a Reincarnation Disciple?" Han Li asked.
"Just think of it as the most core members of the Reincarnation Pce, and not just anyone can be a Reincarnation Disciple. Not only does the candidate have to possess special aptitude, they can only be selected by the Reincarnation Pce," Wyrm 3 exined in a concise fashion.
"I''m just an ordinary itinerant cultivator with no special talents or aptitude to speak of," Han Li said.
"Don''t be so modest, Fellow Daoist Roon 11. You''re a Dao Pill Master, and that''s certainly an exceptional talent in my books," Wyrm 3 said with a smile.
Han Li immediately rose to his feet upon hearing this, and he was glowering intently at Wyrm 3 with a sharp and piercing gaze.
Wyrm 3 looked back at Han Li with a calm expression, directly meeting his gaze.
The two of them stared at each other for a long time, and Wyrm 3 remained calm and collected the entire time.
After a while, the sharpness in Han Li''s gaze slowly faded, and he asked, "How do you know about that?"
"Your Dewform Herb was obtained from me, and you released quite a few other dao pill ingredient acquisition missions in the Transient Guild, so it wasn''t difficult to figure out what you were up to," Wyrm 3 exined with a smile, while Han Li remained silent.
Wyrm 3 continued, "That pill tribtion that took ce in the ck Wind Sea not long ago was triggered by you, right? Given all of those factors, I would have to be a fool not to have deduced that you''re a Dao Pill Master."
"I assume that must mean Ge Yu is also a member of your Reincarnation Pce, right?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. He already realized at the time that you were a Dao Pill Master, and he simply chose not to confront you on the matter," Wyrm 3 conceded with a nod.
"The Reincarnation Pce truly is just as formidable as you proim. I thought I managed to fool him at the time," Han Li said as a self-deprecating look appeared on his face.
At the same time, he was feeling quite relieved.
It seemed that the Reincarnation Pce had only found out that he managed to refine a dao pill, but that was the extent of what they knew about him.
It wasn''t really a big deal that his identity as a dao pill master had been exposed.
"There''s no need to feel disheartened, Fellow Daoist. Ge Yu was only able to see through your ruse as he''s proficient in the use of a sensory secret technique. If someone else had been in his ce, they would''ve most likely been fooled.
¡°Having said that, if Ge Yu hadn''t found out about your dao pill refinement, then you wouldn''t have been able to obtain the second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique, so it all works out in your favor anyway," Wyrm 3 said with a smile.
"While your introduction has given me a rough understanding of the Reincarnation Pce, I still don''t know much about its internal structure. Would you be able to enlighten me on that subject, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3?" Han Li asked as he sat back down.
"Of course. Our Reincarnation Pce is different from other sects in that we have no set territory. Instead, we''re a rtively decentralized organization, and we don''t require our members to stay in certain ces.
¡°On top of that, membersmunicate using special treasures, so it''s very convenient for itinerant cultivators like yourself who are ustomed to freedom," Wyrm 3 replied with a smile.
"That sounds a lot like the Transient Guild," Han Li mused as he stroked his own chin.
Wyrm 3 fell silent upon hearing this, and it seemed that he was hesitating about something.
"Is there something wrong, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3?" Han Li asked.
"I was hesitating about whether to reveal a certain piece of information to you, but I suppose it can''t hurt," Wyrm 3 replied.
"Please go ahead," Han Li prompted.
"There are many powers in all of the immortal regions that are quite formidable, but they''re often unable to deal with everything that they need to address all the time. Hence, they''ll permit some smaller powers to be subsidiaries of theirs and work for them. The same applies to our Reincarnation Pce, and you can actually think of the Transient Guild as a subsidiary organization of ours," Wyrm 3 revealed.
"I see," Han Li replied with a surprised look on his face.
This revtion did exin some things. For example, it was no wonder that Wyrm 3 was a high-ranking member of the Transient Guild while also being a member of the Reincarnation Pce.
"Almost no one in the Transient Guild is aware of the rtionship between the Reincarnation Pce and the Transient Guild, and even in the Reincarnation Pce, only Reincarnation Disciples are made aware of this.
¡°After all, our Reincarnation Pce is a sworn enemy of the Heavenly Court, and if word of this were to be leaked, then members of the Transient Guild would be hunted down by the Heavenly Court. Hence, make sure you keep this a secret," Wyrm 3 said in a solemn manner.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3, I''ll be sure to remain tight-lipped about this subject," Han Li replied as aplex look appeared in his eyes.
It seemed that Wyrm 3 was revealing such an important piece of information to him as a sign of trust, but in reality, it was a very forcing gesture.
Now that he had been made privy to such an important secret, he most likely wasn''t going to be able to leave this ce unless he agreed to join the Reincarnation Pce.
"For the sake of convenience, all Reincarnation Pce members will wear Transient Guild masks when carrying out missions, and just like in the Transient Guild, members use these masks tomunicate, conduct exchanges, and release and ept missions," Wyrm 3 said as he pointed at the mask on his face.
"I''m assuming members of the Reincarnation Pce have certain obligations to fulfill, just like members of the Transient Guild, right?" Han Li asked.
"That''s correct. Once every 1,000 years, a Reincarnation Pce member mustplete a mission. Of course, they can choose not toplete the mission, but they''ll need to issue Immortal Origin Stones or other resources equivalent in value to the mission content," Wyrm 3 replied with a nod.
"In that case, high-ranking members of the Transient Guild may not necessarily be members of the Reincarnation Pce, but members of the Reincarnation Pce, including Reincarnation Disciples, are generally high-ranking members of the Transient Guild, right?" Han Li asked.
"You can think of it that way. That''s about as much information on the Reincarnation Pce that I can reveal to you at this point," Wyrm 3 said before taking another sip of tea.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then said, "You''ve been very earnest in your invitation for me to join the Reincarnation Pce, so it would be quite rude of me to continue to refuse. I agree to join the Reincarnation Pce."
"Great! I knew I was right to have approached you. While it''s true that itinerant cultivators enjoy more freedom, the more you progress in your cultivation, the greater your demand for cultivation resources will be, and eventually, you''ll hit a dead-end, so it''s definitely a wise decision for you to join our Reincarnation Pce," Wyrm 3 said as he set down his teacup.
"From this day forth, both of us will be members of the Reincarnation Pce. Please look after me, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3," Han Li said with a smile.
"No problem. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. You''re a Dao Pill Master, so I''m certainly more than happy to be on good terms with you," Wyrm 3 chuckled in a joking manner.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Wyrm 3.
Now that he had agreed to join the Reincarnation Pce, an unspoken barrier of apprehension between them seemed to have been torn down, bringing them a lot closer.
Wyrm 3 flipped a hand over to produce a crimson lion mask, upon which was inscribed the number "5", and he handed the mask to Han Li as he said, "This is your new mask. From this day forth, you''ll be Dragon Five, but you''re free to keep your Roon 11 identity if you so choose."
Han Li nodded in response as he epted the crimson lion mask.
He had been looking for a new mask, so this hade at the perfect time.
He made a hand seal and cast a streak of azure light into the mask, but to his surprise, it disyed no reaction.
"This mask is different from ordinary Transient Guild masks, and you can only use it with a special incantation seal of the Reincarnation Pce," Wyrm 3 said as he swept a sleeve through the air to send a jade slip flying toward Han Li.
Han Li caught the jade slip before pressing it against his forehead, and momentster, he chanted an incantation before casting an incantation seal into the crimson lion mask, upon which it immediately released a crimson light screen.
Han Li didn''t go any further beyond that, withdrawing his hand seal to scatter the light screen.
"On the surface, this mask doesn''t appear to be remarkable in any way, but it''s actually specially made by the Reincarnation Pce, and it has one additional benefit outside of all of the uses of a Transient Guild mask, and that''s its ability to conceal the aura of the Spirit Refinement Technique. It''s not perfect, but as long as you exercise some caution, you won''t be easily caught by the surveyors of the Heavenly Court," Wyrm 3 added.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this, and he took another nce at the crimson mask before stowing it away, then turned his gaze back to Wyrm 3.
Wyrm 3 seemed to be aware of what Han Li wanted, and he picked up the gray jade slip on the table and began chanting an incantation while casting several incantation seals into the jade slip.
Ayer of murky gray light appeared over the surface of the jade slip, and it was interspersed with specks of ck light, presenting an intriguing sight to behold.
The gray light then vanished in a sh, and a hint of excitement appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
"ording to the rules of our Reincarnation Pce, all those who join will receive one level of the Spirit Refinement Technique for free. This jade slip contains the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, so you''ll have to earn the rest of the cultivation art," Wyrm 3 said as he handed the jade slip to Han Li.
Han Li epted the jade slip with a hint of disappointment in his eyes.
He had thought that this jade slip contained the entire second half of the Spirit Refinement Technique, but it appeared that things weren''t going to be so easy for him.
Having said that, the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique was already sufficient for his current needs.
He pressed the jade slip to his forehead once again before injecting his spiritual sense into it, and sure enough, the concealment restriction inside had already been removed, and everything was revealed to him.
He suppressed the excitement in his heart as he quickly read through the cultivation art, which wasn''t very long, only spanning several thousand characters, and it didn''t take long for him tomit the entire thing to memory.
After that, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he sat still in his chair.
Wyrm 3 also sat in silence, and only after a full 15 minutes had passed did Han Li exhale as he opened his eyes.
The Spirit Refinement Technique had always been a major problem weighing on his mind, and now that it had been resolved, he felt as if a huge load had been lifted from his shoulders.
Chapter 378: Earthly List
Chapter 378: Earthly List
After Han Li opened his eyes, Wyrm 3 said, "Now that you''ve be a Reincarnation Disciple, there''s one more thing that you must be made aware of."
Wyrm 3 swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of yellow light as he spoke, and Han Li caught it to discover that it was a jade slip, then took a nce at Wyrm 3 before pressing the jade slip to his own forehead.
Momentster, he removed the jade slip from his forehead, then made a hand seal as he began to chant an incantation, and ayer of crimson light immediately emerged from his crimson mask before forming a crimson screen of light in front of him.
After sweeping his gaze over the screen of light, Han Li reached out a finger without any hesitation before tapping on a tiny stone que icon in the corner, upon which a projection of a white stone que that was around 10 feet tall instantly shot out of the icon.
At the top of the stone que were the words "Earthly List" inscribed in golden seal text, while down below were some lines of small golden text thatid out different cultivation arts, secret techniques, and pill recipes.
After those came some lines of small silver text that provided descriptions of the items on the list, and each of them ended with a number that seemed to be denoting the prices of the individual items.
It only took a quick nce over the list before an ted look appeared on Han Li''s face.
"Mountain Body Refinement Arts, earth-attribute Profound Immortal cultivation arts, uses the essence of mountains to refine the physical body... Can be cultivated to the Golden Immortal Stage 150 points."
"High Zenith Spirit Eyes, an ocr ability thatys bare everything between heaven and earth to the cultivator. 200 points."
"Recipe for the Origin Spirit Pill..."
"What you''re seeing right now is the Reincarnation Pce Earthly List that''s only essible to Reincarnation Disciples. The cultivation arts and secret techniques on the list have all been gathered by the Reincarnation Pce over the course of countless years, and I won''t go into detail about how valuable they are.
¡°As for the numbers at the end, theyy out the number of contribution points required to secure each item, and you earn contribution points bypleting Reincarnation Pce missions," Wyrm 3 exined.
"I see. It seems like there are many perks to joining the Reincarnation Pce. Any one of these items would be extremely sought after in the outside world, but it appears all I can do for the moment is take a look at the list," Han Li replied with a nod.
"That''s not true. All new Reincarnation Disciples receive 100 contribution points in addition to a free level of the Spirit Refinement Technique. You can choose something within 100 contribution points on the list now, or save up for the future."
Wyrm 3 flipped a hand over to produce a crimson jade badge as he spoke, then pointed it at the stone que projection in front of Han Li, releasing a streak of red light that vanished into the stone que in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, the number "100" appeared at the bottom of the stone que, and Han Li''s eyes instantly lit up upon seeing this.
He expressed his gratitude to Wyrm 3, then began browsing the items on the Earthly List.
There were many items on the list that were extremely tempting to him, and these 100 contribution points couldn''t havee at a better time.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s eyes lit up as he spotted all seven levels of the Spirit Refinement Technique on the stone que.
Perhaps it was because the first three levels had already been leaked, but those levels were quite cheap to obtain, but from the fourth level onward, the number of contribution points required spiked up drastically.
Among them, the fourth level cost 2,000 contribution points, while the fifth level cost a staggering 10,000.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
He didn''t know how muchpensation he could expect to earn frompleting missions, but judging from the contribution point costs of the other items on the list, it was clear that 10,000 contribution points was an astronomical sum that wasn''t going to be easy to umte at all.
Having said that, this was only to be expected. There weren''t going to be many avenues at all in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region that he could obtain this cultivation art through, so its rarity further increased its value.
Now that he already had the fourth level of the cultivation art, he would be able to stave off the spiritual sense crisis for the time being, and that should give him enough time to save up contribution points for the subsequent levels.
With that in mind, Han Li continued to browse through the list, and before long, another item on the list had caught his attention.
Recipe for the Golden Soul Pill... Didn''t Daoist Xie previously mention the Golden Soul Pill to me?
With that in mind, he turned his attention to the description for the item on the list, and his eyes immediately lit up.
The Golden Soul Pill wasn''t a pill that could enhance one''s cultivation base or provide any restorative effects. Instead, its only use was to stabilize one''s soul.
Most importantly, the description imed that this pill could increase ate-True Immortal cultivator''s chances of breaking through their Golden Immortal Stage bottleneck.
In order to prepare for his Golden Immortal Stage breakthrough, Han Li had read many scriptures throughout the years, and the process required one to open 36 immortal acupoints and ovee the first three decays in order to trigger an evolution in their immortal spiritual power.
After that, their soul would also evolve from an ordinary soul into a Golden Immortal Soul.
This process wasn''t as difficult as opening the 36 immortal acupoints or oveing the three decays, but it was definitely no easy feat, either.
He then turned his gaze to the listed price for the pill recipe to discover that it was exactly 100 contribution points.
"It seems like you''re interested in this Golden Soul Pill recipe," Wyrm 3 remarked.
Han Li nodded in response. "Do you know why this pill recipe only costs 100 contribution points, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3?"
"The reason for this is that even though a Golden Soul Pill can be very conducive to a sessful Golden Immortal Stage breakthrough, the primary ingredient required to refine it is aplete Golden Immortal Stage nascent soul, which is obviously something extremely precious.
¡°It''s very difficult to earn contribution points in the Reincarnation Pce, so I suggest that you exercise prudence in your use of these 100 contribution points and don''t just spend them rashly," Wyrm 3 cautioned.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression.
While it was true that finding aplete Golden Immortal Stage nascent soul was extremely difficult for other True Immortal cultivators, he just so happened to have one in his possession right now.
With that in mind, he quickly browsed through the remaining items on the list before his gaze fell back upon the Golden Soul Pill recipe, and he reached out a finger toward that item on the list.
Wyrm 3''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he interjected, "Fellow Daoist Dragon Five..."
"Thank you for the words of advice, but I''ve already decided to spend my 100 contribution points on this pill recipe," Han Li said in a determined voice.
"It''s up to you how you spend your contribution points, but do keep in mind that anything that you secure from the Earthly List must be kept secret, even from those closest to you, and anyone who goes against this rule will be severely punished," Wyrm 3 said in an indifferent voice.
"I''ll be sure to keep that in mind," Han Li replied with a nod.
He then tapped a finger on the Golden Soul Pill recipe, and his 100 contribution points were instantly deducted, while a teleportation vortex appeared at the center of the stone que projection.
Momentster, a white jade slip emerged from the vortex, and Han Li pressed the jade slip against his forehead before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
Shortly thereafter, he removed the jade slip from his forehead, and his expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was quite ted.
Aside from the Golden Immortal Stage nascent soul, none of the other ingredients required to refine the Golden Soul Pill were all that precious, so they should''ve been easy to gather.
"Fellow Daoist Dragon 5, I know that it''s a little unfair to push a mission onto you right after you''ve joined the Reincarnation Pce, but at the moment, there''s a very important mission that we need you toplete right away," Wyrm 3 suddenly said in a serious voice.
"That''s fine. What''s the mission?" Han Li asked.
"Don''t worry, this mission doesn''t pose any danger to you. It''s a pill refinement mission," Wyrm 3 revealed with a smile.
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this.
"After youplete this mission, you''ll be free to do whatever you want for the next 1,000 years, and you''ll also receive 50 contribution points," Wyrm 3 continued as he summoned a jade slip before handing it to Han Li.
Instead of epting the jade slip right away, Han Li asked, "Dao Pill Master''s may be rare, but I''m sure there are others in the Reincarnation Pce, so why are you assigning this mission to me?"
"We do have another Dao Pill Master, but he''s busy with some other things at the moment, so we have no choice but to turn to you," Wyrm 3 exined.
Han Li remained silent as a series of thoughts shed through his mind.
"Truth be told, while this is a Reincarnation Pce mission, it''s somewhat rted to me as well, so please lend me your assistance, Fellow Daoist Dragon Five," Wyrm 3 continued with a hint of an imploring tone in his voice.
"You''re the one who introduced me to the Reincarnation Pce, so seeing as this is a matter that concerns you, I''m obligated to help. I''ll ept this mission," Han Li said with a smile.
A hint of tion immediately appeared on Wyrm 3''s face upon hearing this, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist, I''ll remember this favor."
"There''s no need to be so formal, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3. We''re part of the same organization from now on, so it''s only right that we help each other," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
One of the reasons why Han Li had decided to ept this mission was so that Wyrm 3 would owe him a favor, and with that in mind, he epted the jade slip before pressing it against his own forehead.
The jade slip contained a pill recipe, but it was a recipe for a dao pill.
However, it was also not quite the same as other dao pills as the refinement process was simpler. It seemed that some steps had been removed, while some ingredients had also been reced, producing a rather strange recipe.
The primary ingredient for this recipe was a type of yin-attribute material, indicating that it was a recipe for a yin-attribute dao pill.
After Han Li removed the jade slip from his forehead, Wyrm 3 immediately asked, "Will you be able to refine the pill, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3?"
"I''ve nevere into contact with this pill recipe before, but the refinement process isn''t all thatplicated, so I should be up to the task," Han Li replied.
Wyrm 3 was ecstatic to hear this.
"Fantastic! You''re doing me a huge favor, Fellow Daoist Dragon 5!"
Chapter 379: Imprisoned
Chapter 379: Imprisoned
"I''m confident in my abilities to refine this pill, but there''s something that I have to make clear in advance," Han Li said.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Dragon 5, I''ll be sure to help you in any way that I can," Wyrm 3 prompted.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3, I''m not going to state any unreasonable demands. It''s just that this is apletely unfamiliar pill to me, so I''ll require many batches of ingredients for practice. I''m sure that''s something you''re already aware of," Han Li exined.
Wyrm 3''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he flipped a hand over to produce a storage ring as he replied, "There''s no need to worry about ingredients at all, Fellow Daoist. I''ve already considered this matter, and I''ve prepared 30 batches of ingredients for you to experiment with."
"It appears my concerns were unnecessary," Han Li said with a faint smile, then epted the storage ring and stowed it away without examining its contents.
He couldn''t release his spiritual sense out of his body, so it would''ve been rather inconvenient for him to examine the storage ring''s contents, but he was sure that there wouldn''t be any problems.
Additionally, he also developed a new understanding of just how wealthy the Reincarnation Pce was. The ingredients required to refine this pill weren''t quite as rare and precious as those for the dao pill, but they were certainly not easy toe by, either, so 30 batches would''ve amounted to an astronomical sum in Immortal Origin Stones.
"Ingredients are easy toe by, but a Dao Pill Master is far rarer. All you need to focus on is refining the pill within 10 years. Don''t worry about ingredients, if there''s not enough there, I''ll find a way to get you more," Wyrm 3 assured with a smile.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "10 years? I''m afraid that might not be enough time for me to guarantee a sessful oue."
"At the very most, we can only wait 15 years. This is a very important matter, so please do your best, Fellow Daoist. Our Reincarnation Pce will be sure to reward you handsomely for your efforts," Wyrm 3 said with a solemn expression.
"I''ll be sure to do my best, but I still can''t make any guarantees. After all, I only recently became a Dao Pil Master, so my skills may not yet be up to scratch," Han Li replied.
Wyrm 3 merely continued to look at Han Li in silence upon hearing this.
"Time is of the essence, so I won''t dy any longer. I''ll be taking my leave now," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
"You wish to leave this ce, Fellow Daoist?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"That''s right. I''ll return to my cave abode right away to study this pill recipe, and I''ll contact you if I need anything," Han Li replied with a nod.
"There''s no need to do that. We have a pill refinement chamber and a cauldron prepared for you, so just refine the pill here. If you need anything else, I would also be able to deliver them to you in a timely fashion," Wyrm 3 said.
"I appreciate the kind offer, but I''m more ustomed to refining pills in my own cave abode," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
Wyrm 3 cleared his throat, then said in a meaningful voice, "Truth be told, the ck Wind Sea is not very safe at the moment, so if you trigger another pill tribtion, you may not be able to make a safe retreat as you didst time."
"But..."
Before Han Li had a chance to protest, Wyrm 3 raised a hand to cut him off as he said in a cold voice, "If there aren''t any other problems, then I''ll take you to the pill refinement chamber right away."
Han Li could only give a resigned nod in response.
"Come with me, Fellow Daoist," Wyrm 3 said as he turned to depart.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he followed along.
The two of them quickly emerged from the cave, following which Wyrm 3 summoned a flying carriage that carried the two of them toward the outskirts of the mountain beforending halfway up another tall mountain.
This was quite arge area, but it was riddled with huge trees, and there was a waterfall nearby, but aside from the sshing of the waterfall, the environment was quite peaceful.
On the mountain face up ahead was an opening that was sealed by arge gate with ayer of azure light over its surface, and there were numerous runes surging incessantly over the azure light barrier, presenting a rather mysterious sight to behold.
Wyrm 3 strode forward before pulling out an azure badge, then waved it through the air to release a streak of azure light that vanished into the stone gate in a sh.
The azure light barrier outside the stone gate quickly faded, and the gate was slowly opened.
"This is where you''ll be staying, Fellow Daoist Dragon 5. I assure you that no one wille to disturb you during your pill refinement," Wyrm 3 said.
Han Li nodded in response, then made his way into the cave abode.
In the next instant, he was surprised to discover that the spiritual sense restriction hadpletely vanished as soon as he stepped into the cave abode, but his spiritual sense was still only restricted to the confines of the cave abode.
The cave abode wasn''t veryrge, but it was immactely maintained and had everything that one could require, including a pill refinement chamber, a secret chamber, and a medicine garden.
"This is quite a nice cave abode," Han Li remarked to Wyrm 3.
"I''m d you like it, Fellow Daoist. If you need anything, feel free to contact me anytime. In the meantime, I''ll be counting on you," Wyrm 3 said before departing from the cave abode, and as soon as he left, the gate of the cave abode swung shut, following which Han Li heaved a faint sigh.
It appeared that he had been imprisoned.
Following Wyrm 3''s departure, Han Li briefly explored the cave abode while flicking his fingers through the air to release a series of array tools that vanished into different parts of the cave abode.
Close to an hourter, Han Li arrived in a secret chamber in the cave abode before sitting down with his legs crossed.
The first thing that he did was remove the azure mask from his face before recing it with the crimson lion mask, and the mask immediately released a burst of gentle energy that spread over his entire body at his behest.
Han Li could sense that at this moment, his aura had been perfectly concealed, indicating that the restrictions in this crimson mask were more profound than the ones in his azure mask.
Most importantly, the special spiritual sense fluctuations generated due to his cultivation of the Spirit Refinement Technique had also been concealed.
Ever since he arrived in the Immortal Realm, Han Li had always been rather apprehensive when it came to meeting others, particrly those who possessed a superior cultivation base to his. He would always do his best to restrain his spiritual sense fluctuations so that no one would be able to detect that he had cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique, and thankfully, he hadn''t encountered any surveyors up to this point.
Now that he had this new mask, even if he did encounter some surveyors who had cultivated special detection secret techniques, he should''ve been able to fool them as long as their cultivation base wasn''t far superior to his.
Han Li made a hand seal, and ayer of red light immediately emerged over the crimson mask before forming a crimson light screen in front of him.
After that, he released several missions in session, all of which were acquisition missions for the other ingredients required to refine the Golden Soul Pill.
After doing all of that, he swept a sleeve through the air to wave the crimson light screen away, then flipped a hand over to produce the gray jade slip that contained the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Even though he only had 15 years to refine the pill, he wasn''t nning to begin right away.
For other Dao Pill Masters, 15 years would''ve indeed been a very tight timeframe, but this was naturally not a problem for Han Li.
At this point, only several of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had recovered since thest time it had conjured up the wall of light, but all he needed were 18 functional Time Dao Runes to fulfill his pill refinement needs.
Furthermore, the refinement process for this pill was far simpler than that of the Time Dao Pill, and with his Mantra Treasured Axis up his sleeve and so many batches of ingredients at his disposal, he naturally had no concerns.
Hence, his top priority at the moment was to cultivate the Spirit Refinement Technique and resolve his spiritual sense crisis.
With that in mind, Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip and carefully read through the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, then sat down with his legs crossed and began to cultivate.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 3 was walking down a ck passageway countless kilometers away from Han Li with a contemtive look in his eyes.
The passageway wasn''t very long, so he was able to quickly reach the end, at which point a ck stone gate that was over 30 feet tall appeared before him.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he sent an incantation seal flying through the air, and the ck stone gate slowly opened to reveal a spacious hall, at the center of which stood a figure dressed in a ck cloak.
There was a cross design embroidered onto the sleeve of the cloak, and upon hearing the sound of footsteps, the cloaked figure turned around.
It was a middle-aged man, but there was a horrific scar that ran across his forehead from its left corner all the way to his right eyelid before continuing down his cheek, presenting a menacing sight to behold.
"What are you doing here?" Wyrm 3 asked in a cold voice.
"I came here because I have something to speak to you about. Rest assured, no one would''ve been able to track me here," the cloaked man replied.
"Have you found out something?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"Just as you predicted, it really is under Red Moon Ind, but due to the involvement of ck Wind Ind, our people are unable to get close to the area for the time being," the cloaked man replied.
"ck Wind Ind? How are those people possibly able to stop us?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"What if I were to tell you that there are Golden Immortal cultivators among them?" the cloaked figure replied with a faint smile.
A sharp gleam immediately shed through Wyrm 3''s eyes upon hearing this. "Could it be..."
"ording to the information that we''ve gathered so far, the situation is exactly as you''re thinking right now," the cloaked figure replied with a nod.
"I don''t care how you do it, but you have to figure everything out about the situation on Red Moon Ind before the Origin Void Pill is sessfully refined," Wyrm 3 said in a categorical voice.
"I would''ve done that even if you hadn''t told me. I came here because I wanted to confirm something. I heard that you''re nning to assign the Origin Void Pill refinement mission to a new member who''s only just joined our Reincarnation Pce, is that correct?" the cloaked man asked.
Chapter 380: Unexpectedly Smooth Progress
Chapter 380: Unexpectedly Smooth Progress
"That''s right. Right now, his name is Dragon 5," Wyrm 3 replied without any hesitation.
The cloaked man''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "How much time did you give him?"
"15 years," Wyrm 3 replied.
"Pardon me for being blunt, but I don''t think even Master Ximen would be able to guarantee the sessful refinement of an Origin Void Pill in 15 years," the cloaked man said in a meaningful voice.
"That may be true, but at the moment, Master Ximen isn''t in this immortal region, and we have less than 20 years left to make our move. Do we have any other choice?" Wyrm 3 asked.
The cloaked man was silent for a moment, then said, "This is an extremely important matter, and that person has only just joined our Reincarnation Pce. Are you sure he''s reliable?"
"I don''t know, so I never didn''t allow him to leave," Wyrm 3 replied.
"What if he can''tplete the mission within 15 years?" the cloaked man asked with a concerned expression.
"So many things have happened recently. There weren''t many Reincarnation Disciples in the Northern cial Immortal Region to begin with, and the battle of the ze Dragon Dao has certainly not helped our cause. If we can seed in this endeavor, then everything that we''ve sacrificed up to this point will be worth it. Hence, sess is our only option," Wyrm 3 said in a determined voice.
"It sounds like you''re very confident in this person. Could it be that you''ve already been secretly observing him for some time?" the cloaked man asked.
"No, I''ve only juste into contact with him," Wyrm 3 replied with a shake of his head.
The cloaked man''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this.
"Rest assured, I take sole responsibility for this matter. All you need to do is focus on the task assigned to you and figure out what''s happening on Red Moon Ind," Wyrm 3 continued.
"Alright, if you''re that confident, then I won''t speak any further on this subject," the cloaked man said.
"I''ve answered all of your questions. This is not a ce you should stay at for any extended period of time, so you should leave, and let''s not meet again anytime soon," Wyrm 3 said in a cold voice.
"Alright, I''ll be taking my leave then," the cloaked man said as a burst of ck light appeared over his body, and he faded into the darkness like a shadow.
Wyrm 3 sat by himself for a moment, then rose to his feet and cast his gaze in the direction of Han Li''s cave abode.
¡¡
10 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in his peaceful cave abode, sitting as still as a stone statue.
His head was enshrouded within ayer of bright translucent light, making his facial features appear rather blurry and indistinct.
The translucent light was gently flowing like water, presenting a pleasant sight to behold.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s eyelids fluttered slightly before his eyes sprang open.
The translucent light circling around his head instantly surged into his be, vanishing without a trace.
Han Li exhaled as an ted look appeared on his face.
After 10 years of tireless cultivation, he had finally made some inroads into the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
His spiritual sense hadn''t been enhanced by much, but the lurking unrest in his spiritual sense had already subsided, restoring it to a stable and uninhibited state.
However, in the next instant, the tion in his eyes faded and was reced by a hint of befuddlement.
ording to the jade slip, the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique was far more profound than the third level, and it should''ve taken more than 10 times the amount of time to master the fourth level, so it should''ve taken him decades, perhaps even over a century to make the progress that he had already achieved.
Hence, he wasn''t even nning to get this far, and his initial goal was only to settle the unrest in his spiritual sense. After all, he still had the pill refinement mission on his te, so he didn''t have much time to work with.
However, to his surprise, his cultivation of the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique had been extremely smooth, and he hadn''t encountered any bottlenecks, thereby allowing him to make rapid progress.
His mind was racing as he tried to find a reason for this, but he remainedpletely stumped.
At the moment, he could only attribute it to aptitude. Perhaps his current constitution was simply very suited to cultivating secret techniques of this nature.
Thinking back, he had had a simr experience in his cultivation of the Great Development Arts.
In any case, he had to stop now. There were only five years left of the allotted 15 years, so he had tomence the pill refinement process.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce a storage ring, the very same one that had been given to him by Wyrm 3.
He then injected his spiritual sense into it to confirm that there were indeed 30 batches of ingredients inside.
Right as he was about tomence his first pill refinement attempt, his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he pulled out a batch of ingredients from the storage ring.
He paid no heed to the other ingredients as he focused his gaze on a fist-sized ck crystal.
The crystalline material was giving off ayer of faint ck light that seemed to be able to suck in all of the surrounding light, and at the same time, it was also giving off a burst of formidablew power fluctuations.
This was none other than the primary ingredient required to refine the Origin Void Pill, and it was called the ck Marrow Crystal.
Han Li reached out to pick up the ck Marrow Crystal, and he was immediately struck by a burst of sharp pain in his fingertips.
The peculiarw powers being released by the ck Marrow Crystal were extremely corrosive, and it was almost too painful for him to hold onto even with his Profound Immortal physique.
A burst of spiritual light appeared over the surface of his palm, instantly forming ayer of azure light that protected his fingers from the ck Marrow Crystal.
At the same time, he flipped his other hand over to produce the Hard Ink Crystal.
These two items were very simr in appearance and aura, except the aura emanating from the ck Marrow Crystal was many times more formidable than that of the Hard Ink Crystal.
It seemed that these two materials were somehow rted, and he couldn''t help but wonder if Wyrm 3 had previously asked him about the Hard Ink Crystal for the sake of these ck Marrow Crystals.
However, even Hard Ink Crystals were extremely rare in the ck Wind Sea, so how had he managed to acquire so many ck Marrow Crystals?
As soon as this thought sprang into his mind, Han Li immediately shook his head to cast it aside.
His mission was only to refine an Origin Void Pill, so there was no point in thinking about other unnecessary things.
With that in mind, he stowed the Hard Ink Crystal away, then pulled out the jade slip that contained the pill recipe before pressing it against his own forehead.
Half a month passed by in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed, and there were exactly 30 piles of identical spirit materialsid out on the ground around him.
All of a sudden, his eyes sprang open, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of silver light, whichnded on the ground in front of him before transforming into a silver cauldron.
Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release a stream of silver mes that began scorching the underside of the cauldron.
Han Li gave a slight nod upon seeing this, then raised a hand, upon which a certain material from one of the 30 piles of materials rose up into the air before flying into the cauldron.
At the same time, his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light, and his timew thread shot out of his fingertip before wrapping itself around the axis.
The timew thread was looking a little brighter than before, but it was still far from returning to its peak.
At this point, only 18 of the 360 Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis were lit, while the rest remained dim.
It seemed that the timew thread was connected to his Mantra Treasured Axis, and it was most likely the case that the timew thread would only make a full recovery once all of the Time Dao Runes were restored.
With that in mind, he made a hand seal, and a burst of golden ripples surged out of the Mantra Treasured Axis to epass the cauldron, instantly causing everything unfolding within it to slow down.
With only 18 Time Dao Runes restored, the axis''s time-slowing effect was quite limited, but it was already sufficient for Han Li''s needs.
While Han Li was busy with his pill refinement, the centennial teleportation array activation day had arrived on ck Wind Ind.
The streets and shops in ck Wind City were looking far less lively and bustling than before, and aside from some of the prosperous streets at the center of the city, the rest of the city appeared rather bleak and deserted.
There weren''t many pedestrians on the streets, and many shop employees looked as if they were on the verge of nodding off to sleep.
For some reason, there had been a huge spike in the number and frequency of natural disasters taking ce in the ck Wind Sea ofte, including tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and ferocious storms.
Many inds were destroyed during these disasters, resulting in countless deaths and casualties, and the entire ck Wind Sea was in a state of unease and apprehension, with some rumors even suggesting that the entire region was facing imminent destruction.
Even the conflict between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind had temporarily subsided in the wake of these horrific disasters.
ck Wind Ind wasn''t affected by these disasters, but business in ck Wind City severely impacted, and there weren''t even many people who had gathered to watch the activation of the teleportation array, an event that had always been highly anticipated in the past.
The teleportation array inside the pagoda was buzzing while radiating dazzling light, and two figures were standing nearby, one of whom was none other than the master of ck Wind Ind, Lu Jun.
At this moment, he was looking intently at the teleportation array with a hint of excitement in his eyes, and he was apanied by a white-robed man, the very same one with the Feng surname who had led that group of True Immortal cultivators into the ck Wind Sea.
He was also looking at the teleportation array, but he appeared far calmer and more indifferent.
All of a sudden, an enormous pir of light erupted out of the teleportation array, causing the entire teleportation pagoda to tremble slightly.
The pir of light faded after a few seconds, and a group of around two dozen people emerged within the teleportation array.
These people were split up into two roughly equal factions, and the two factions were standing quite far apart from one another.
Chapter 381: Various Powers
Chapter 381: Various Powers
Among the two factions of people that had appeared in the teleportation array, one of them were mostly wearing white-robed with golden clouds embroidered upon them, and if Han Li were present, he would''ve immediately been able to identify their leader as none other than the master of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, Xiao Jinhan.
Behind him were four or five other people dressed in Northern cial Immortal Pce attire, including Deputy Pce Master Xue Ying and the Golden Immortal, Lu Yue.
Aside from them, there were also three ze Dragon Dao dao lords led by Ouyang Kuishan.
As for the other group, they were all dressed in the signature blue robes of the Vast Flow Pce, and they were led by Pce Master Luo Qinghai.
Beside Luo Qinghai stood an effeminate young man who appeared to have been in his early twenties, and even though he was a man, he struck the beholder with the impression that they were looking at a beautiful woman.
As for the rest of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators, most of them had been present during the battle of the ze Dragon Dao.
There was an excited look on Lu Jun''s face as he stepped forward before extending a respectful salute. "I am the master of ck Wind Ind, Lu Jun, and I would like to extend a warm wee to Pce Master Jin and Pce Master Luo, as well as all other seniors and fellow daoists. It is truly an honor for our ck Wind Ind to be hosting all of you."
The man with the Feng surname beside him also stepped forward before extending a respectful salute toward Xiao Jinhan.
Xiao Jinhan merely gave the two a slight nod, then led the way out of the teleportation array.
Meanwhile, Luo Qinghai returned Lu Jun''s salute as he said, "You''re far too kind, Ind Master Lu."
After that, he and the Vast Flow Pce cultivators also emerged from the teleportation array.
Lu Jun''s duo immediately stepped aside upon seeing this, and it was as if the two of them were acting as servants, while all of the other ck Wind Ind cultivators present were standing respectfully to the side, not daring to make even a single sound.
"So this is the ck Wind Sea. The world''s origin qi here is a little sparse, but overall, it''s not a bad ce," Luo Qinghai remarked as he made his way over to a window of the teleportation pagoda before looking outside.
"I didn''t think that we would meet again so soon after west met in the ze Dragon Dao. What a coincidence this is, Fellow Daoist Luo," Xiao Jinhan said as he took a nce at Luo Qinghai.
"I also wasn''t expecting to see you again at Wave View City, Pce Master Xiao. May I ask why so many of your Northern cial Immortal Pce''s cultivators havee to this secluded region on this asion? If you require the assistance of our Vast Flow Pce, please feel free to tell me, and we''ll be happy to do your bidding," Luo Qinghai replied with a smile.
A cold smile appeared on Xiao Jinhan''s face upon hearing this, and he took a nce at the Vast Flow Pce cultivators before replying, "Why ask a question you already know the answer to, Fellow Daoist Luo? At the moment, the Vast Flow Pce is truly at the height of its powers.
¡°Not only does it have the Five Extreme Pce Masters on the Upper Arr Continent, the Seven Vast Flow Disciples are also vastly renowned. Even the young man standing beside you right now possesses exceptional aptitude that I''m extremely envious of. What right do I have to ask all of you to do my bidding?"
Luo Qinghai''s smile remained unchanged as he said, "Oh, how rude of me. This is my disciple, Nan Kemeng. Meng''er, pay your respects to Pce Master Xiao. Right now, Pce Master Xiao is the most powerful figure in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region. If you can receive some guidance from him, you''ll stand to benefit for the rest of your life."
Nan Kemeng''s brows furrowed slightly in reluctance, but he still did as he was told, stepping forward as he cupped his fist in a salute. "Junior Nan Kemeng pays his respects to Pce Master Xiao."
Xiao Jinhan merely nodded in response in an expressionless manner.
Luo Qinghai gestured for Nan Kemeng to step back behind him, then said, "As we both know, that ce has descended upon the ck Wind Sea. Given your powers and sources, I''m sure you''ve already uncovered the location of its entrance, right?"
"You have far too high an opinion of our Northern cial Immortal Pce, Fellow Daoist Luo. We''ve only just received wind of this matter," Xiao Jinhan harrumphed coldly.
"Is that so? If you still haven''t uncovered the location, then those people from the Dawn Fall Sect most likely haven''t found it, either. In that case, it looks like our Vast Flow Pce still has some chances," Luo Qinghai chuckled.
"Are you saying that there are already members of the Dawn Fall Sect here?" Xiao Jinhan asked.
"I''m not sure, I''ve only been hearing some rumors. Oh, by the way, I also heard that the grand elders of the Dawn Fall Sect seem to have alreadye out of seclusion," Luo Qinghai replied in an ambiguous fashion.
"You really do have some exceptional sources, Fellow Daoist Luo," Xiao Jinhan said as his eyes narrowed slightly.
"You''re far too kind, Pce Master Xiao. No one''s sources canpare with the Northern cial Immortal Pce''s in this immortal region. Baili Yan had done everything in his power to hide himself in the ze Dragon Dao, yet you were still able to find him," Luo Qinghai remarked as he took a meaningful nce at the three dao lords behind Xiao Jinhan.
An awkward look immediately appeared on the faces of Ouyang Kuishan''s trio, while Xiao Jinhan''s expression also darkened slightly upon hearing this.
"It looks like Ind Master Lu still has some matters to report to Pce Master Xiao, so I won''t stay here and act as an eyesore any longer," Luo Qinghai said with a smile as he nced at Lu Jun.
A slightly awkward look appeared on Lu Jun''s face upon hearing this, and he said, "Not at all, Pce Master Luo. Both of you are esteemed guests of our ck Wind Sea, so..."
However, he was cut off mid-sentence by Xiao Jinhan, who said in a cold voice, "If you wish to leave, then feel free to do so, Fellow Daoist Luo. I''m sure we''ll meet again soon."
Luo Qinghai cupped his fist in a salute toward Xiao Jinhan with a faint smile, following which he quickly led all of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators out of the teleportation pagoda.
They didn''t linger in ck Wind City, either, flying directly toward the city gate before quickly vanishing into the distance.
Meanwhile, Xiao Jinhan looked on at their departing figures with a contemtive look in his eyes, but it was unclear what he was thinking.
"Pce Master, he seems to know a lot about the situation," Xue Ying remarked as she approached Xiao Jinhan.
"He''s always been renowned for being a sly old fox, so it''s no surprise that he''s managed to gather some information," Xiao Jinhan replied in a cold voice.
"Do you think he''s already ascertained the location of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor?" Xue Ying asked in a slightly hesitant voice.
"That''s hard to say, but it doesn''t matter even if he has found out the location. While it''s true that he''s quite slippery and cunning, he doesn''t possess sufficient power to pose a significant threat. In contrast, I''m much more worried about the Reincarnation Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect," Xiao Jinhan replied.
"The Reincarnation Pce has always been a formidable foe, but as for the Dawn Fall Sect... Are you referring to their grand elder, Feng Tiandu?" Xue Ying asked.
"That''s right. There are only two people who I view as substantial threats in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region. At this point, Baili Yan is no longer worthy of concern, so Feng Tiandu is the only one left," Xiao Jinhan said in a cold voice.
Xue Ying didn''t know how to respond to this, so she could only stand off to the side in silence.
Xiao Jinhan also stood in silence for a while before turning to Lu Jun and the man with the Feng surname as he instructed, "Give me a detailed rundown of all of the information that you''ve gathered thus far."
¡¡
Meanwhile, there was a massive gray flying boat racing through the boundless Soul Stirrin Winds of the ck Wind Sea.
The boat was 2,000 to 3,000 feet in length and had been entirely constructed from some type of gray bone material. It appeared a little old and dpidated, and there were even somerge holes on some parts of the boat, while its surface was riddled with some indistinct patterns.
In the face of the boundless Soul Stirring Winds, the boat was made to resemble a small raft in a turbulent sea, looking as if it could capsize at any moment, but if one were to look closely, they would discover that the indistinct patterns on the boat were releasing a thinyer of gray light that kept the Soul Stirring Winds at bay.
The ghastly wailing and sobbing ringing out from the Soul Stirring Winds were also kept out by theyer of gray light, and that was why the boat was able to travel through the Soul Stirring Winds without any trouble.
Seated with his legs crossed at the bow of the boat was a thin and wizened middle-aged man.
His cheeks were extremely sunken, while his skin was green and purple in color, giving him the appearance of a zombie. Furthermore, there were countless dark azure chains wrapped around all parts of his body, and they were asionally swaying around in the air of their own ord, presenting a very peculiar sight to behold.
The zombie-like man was looking directly forward with two balls of green mes shimmering in his pupils, and there was aplex gray array engraved onto the boat beneath him, extending in all directions to all parts of the boat.
Right at this moment, a figure emerged from within the boat before arriving beside the zombie-like man.
It was a man who appeared to have been 30 to 40 years of age, and he was dressed in a gray brocade robe.
His left eye was tightly shut, and there was a deep scar on his eyelid, indicating that he had been dealt an extremely severe injury there.
"Can you still keep going, Senior Martial Brother?" the gray-robed man asked.
"I''m fine," the zombie-like man replied.
"It''s a good thing that we have this flying boat of yours. Otherwise, there''s no way we''d be able to pass through these Soul Stirring Winds," the gray-robed man said with a smile.
"These Soul Stirring Winds are indeed quite formidable, but there are many ways to pass through them," the zombie-like man replied in an indifferent voice.
"I would say that there are no more than three people in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region that can say that. I may be the master of the Dawn Fall Sect, but even I wouldn''t dare to make such a bold im," the gray-robed man said with a smile.
A hint of pride shed through the zombie-like man''s eyes upon hearing this.
"Rest assured, Senior Martial Brother, I''ll be sure to do everything in my power to help you obtain the treasures required for you to reach the High Zenith Stage," the gray-robed man vowed with a serious expression.
"You have my thanks, Junior Martial Brother," the zombie-like man replied with a nod.
"There''s no need to thank me, Senior Martial Brother," the gray-robed man said as he hurriedly waved a hand in response.
Right at this moment, a thought seemed to have urred to the zombie-like man, and a cold gleam appeared in his eyes as he said, "There''s been too much on my tetely, so I didn''t get a chance to ask, but have we still not managed to uncover the identity of the culprit who killed Fang Pan and Zhong Luan?"
Chapter 382: Backup Plan
Chapter 382: Backup n
"We''ve already managed to uncover the identity of the culprit. It''s a cultivator by the name of Li Feiyu, and he joined the ze Dragon Dao several centuries, but before we had a chance to go after him, the event concerning Baili Yan took ce in the ze Dragon Dao, and in the wake of the chaos, he went missing.
¡°The Immortal Pce is actively hunting for him, but ording to my knowledge, they still haven''t been able to capture him," the gray-robed man replied.
"Li Feiyu..." the zombie-like man murmured to himself as he brows furrowed slightly.
"Rest assured, Senior Martial Brother. Once we''re finished with what we''re doing here, I''ll be sure to send out more people to ensure his capture, and once we have him, you can do with him as you please," the gray-robed man hurriedly said.
The zombie-like man was silent for a moment, then said in a solemn voice, "The Origin Separation Law Chains that I bestowed upon Fang Pan and Zhong Luan have most likely fallen into his hands. Those chains must be recovered."
"Yes, Senior Martial Brother," the gray-robed man replied.
With that, the zombie-like man closed his eyes.
The gray-robed man promptly departed upon seeing this, making his way into the cabin, where there were many more people seated inside.
¡¡
On the other side of the ck Wind Sea, a ball of golden light that was several thousand feet in size was flying through the Soul Stirring Winds.
The golden light was extremely radiant, and it contained a massive golden beetle with purple patterns all over its body, giving it a very menacing appearance.
There were also threads of piercing translucent light interspersed throughout the golden light, and they appeared extremely sharp.
The golden beetle''s mouth was wide open, releasing a burst of suction force that allowed it to devour all of the Soul Stirring Winds surging toward it, and at this moment, there was a silver-robed woman seated atop the beetle''s body.
The woman appeared to have been in herte twenties, and she was wearing a silver crown and a pair of silver earrings. Her feet were bare with two silver rings around her ankles, attached to each of which were several bells.
She was quite a beautiful woman, but her eyes were extremely cold, like a cier that would remain frozen solid for the rest of eternity, and the ghastly sounds ringing out from within the Soul Stirring Winds seemed to have no effect on her at all.
A pleased look appeared in her eyes at how freely the golden beetle was able to fly through the Soul Stirring Winds, and she murmured to herself, "Not bad. It looks like all of the resources I invested into you were worth it."
The golden beetle immediately let loose a string of screeches in protest while swaying its body violently from side to side in an attempt to shake off the woman sitting on its back.
The silver-robed woman''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and she hurriedly began chanting an incantation while flicking her fingers through the air, sending a series of incantation seals flying into the golden beetle''s body.
The golden beetle shuddered as a series of silver threads around it, then transformed into thick silver chains that were embedded deep into its body.
The golden beetle immediately let loose an agonized screech and quickly settled down.
Only then did the silver-robed woman withdraw her hand seal, upon which all of the silver chains faded away.
"Why is it still so violent and untamed even though I''ve already used the Spirit Imprisonment Technique on it?" the silver-robed woman murmured to herself as her brows furrowed slightly.
After pondering this question for a while, she shook her head as she sighed, "I''ll address this matter after this trip."
She then made a hand seal, and her body transformed into a ball of bright silver light that slowly vanished into the body of the golden beetle beneath her.
The golden beetle immediately shuddered, and the golden light radiating from its body became roughly twice as bright, while the speed of its flight was also significantly enhanced.
¡¡
Close to five years passed by in the blink of an eye.
The secret area of the Reincarnation Pce was just as peaceful as usual, and in a hall within the mountain sat two figures across from one another. They were none other than Wyrm 3 and the man with the scar running down his face.
The scar-faced man had a rather grim look on his face, and even though Wyrm 3 was wearing a mask, it was clear from the look in her eyes that he was also feeling quite tense.
"How are things going on the outside?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"Xiao Jinhan came to the ck Wind Sea several years ago, and the same applies to the cultivators of the Vast Flow Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect. All of them are led by their respective sect masters, and I''ve heard that there''s a very good chance that Grand Elder Feng Tiandu of the Dawn Fall Sect has also arrived," the scar-faced man replied with a concerned expression.
"It looks like they''re all determined to capitalize on this opportunity," Wyrm 3 remarked with a cold smile.
"The current situation has already exceeded our expectations. Should we make a report to our higher-ups as a safety precaution?" the scar-faced man asked.
"There''s no need for that. The Northern cial Immortal Region, the Vast Flow Pce, and the Dawn Fall Sect are all in opposition against one another, and we can use that to our advantage, pitting them against each other while weplete our mission," Wyrm 3 replied with a shake of his head.
"That would naturally be ideal, but what I''m worried about is that they coulde to a secret agreement to join forces against us. If that happens, then we''ll be in trouble," the scar-faced man said with furrowed brows.
"The Northern cial Immortal Pce took advantage of the incident concerning Baili Yan to take over the ze Dragon Dao, and both the Vast Flow Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect are aware of this. They may not have openly expressed any discontent, but the chances of them working with the Northern cial Immortal Pce are very slim.
¡°Even if they doe to some type of coborative agreement, I''ve already made ns for such an eventuality, so there''s nothing to worry about," Wyrm 3 said.
"In that case, I feel a lot more reassured," the scar-faced man replied as his expression eased slightly.
"Have you ascertained the situation on Red Moon Ind, Fellow Daoist Chi?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"Rest assured, everything has already been finalized," the scar-faced man replied.
"Good," Wyrm 3 replied with a nod.
"All that''s missing now is the Origin Void Pill. The time limit of 15 years that you gave Dragon 5 is already up. Has he managed to refine an Origin Void Pill?" the scar-faced man asked.
Wyrm 3 fell silent upon hearing this, and his expression darkened slightly.
"It appears my concerns about him were justified. We don''t have much time left at this point. What do we do now?" the scar-faced man asked with a grim expression.
"We''ll have to fall back on our backup n, but the sess rate of that n will be significantly lower," Wyrm 3 sighed.
"I suppose we have no other choice. As for Dragon 5, I suggest we strip him of his status of Reincarnation Disciple with immediate effect. On top of that, he knows so many of our secrets, so we have to..."
Before the scar-faced man had a chance to finish, the entire surrounding space suddenly began to tremble violently.
The hall that the two of them were situated in also began to quiver and quake, and the two of them exchanged a nce before immediately flying out of the hall, emerging from the belly of the mountain in the blink of an eye.
The sky in the secret area had been bright and clear just a moment ago, yet a dense nket of dark clouds had suddenly taken shape, and there were countless bolts of ck lightning shing through the clouds, causing a deafeningmotion.
An ecstatic look appeared in Wyrm 3''s eyes upon seeing this. "Could it be..."
The same expression had also appeared in the scar-faced man''s eyes.
All of a sudden, all of the world''s origin qi in the entire secret area began to fluctuate violently before converging toward the dark cloud up above.
The ck cloud rapidly expanded outward in all directions while revolving on the spot, forming a ck vortex directly above Han Li''s cave abode.
At this point, several more True Immortal cultivators had flown out from all parts of the secret area, and one of them was none other than Wildcat 16, who had led Han Li to this ce.
"Activate the restrictions! Hurry!" Wyrm 3 instructed as he began making a string of hand seals.
Wildcat 16 and the others immediately sprang into action, flying to all parts of the secret area.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 3 began to chant an incantation, and a burst of dazzling golden light erupted out of his body before shooting up into the sky to form a massive pir of golden light.
There were countless golden runes shing over the pir of light, and bursts of tremendous energy fluctuations were surging through the air, causing the nearby space to tremble incessantly.
The scar-faced man shuddered in the face of these formidable energy fluctuations, and a hint of bewilderment appeared in his eyes as he flew several hundred feet to the side before turning his gaze to Wyrm 3.
At this point, eight more giant pirs of golden light had appeared all over the secret area, amounting to a total of nine pirs of golden light that were erupting into the heavens.
A vast expanse of golden light appeared over the entire secret area before spreading outward like rippling water, forming an enormous golden array that epassed the entire sky in the blink of an eye.
The ck cloud up above was enshrouded within the golden array, and it seemed to have fallen under some kind of restriction that prevented it from growing anyrger.
The enormousw aura emanating out the ck cloud was also sealed within the golden array, rendering it unable to spread outside of the secret area.
A hint of relief shed through Wyrm 3''s eyes upon seeing this.
Even though the ck cloud had been restrained, the surrounding world''s origin qi continued to converge toward it,pletely unobstructed by the golden array.
As time passed, the ck cloud became denser and denser until it almost appeared substantial in form.
Bursts of tremendousw fluctuations were emanating out of the ck cloud and sweeping toward the surrounding golden array, causing it to tremble violently, and the section of the array closest to the ck cloud suddenly crumbled altogether.
Wyrm 3 was very rmed by this turn of events, and he made a rapid string of hand seals to release a series of incantation seals, upon which the pir of golden light around his body instantly became significantly brighter. The other pirs of light also brightened as they surged into the golden array up above.
As a result, countless golden runes surged out of the broken section of the array, and it was quickly restored to its original state and had be even brighter than before.
Meanwhile, the fluctuations erupting out of the ck cloud were bing more and more formidable, and it didn''t take long before the golden array was torn open again, only to be quickly mended once again under the collective efforts of Wyrm 3 and the others.
The cycle of destruction and repair continued, and the golden array was shuddering incessantly the entire time, but it was able to confine the ck cloud to the secret area.
Chapter 383: Departure
Chapter 383: Departure
As the ck cloud revolved faster and faster, more and more bolts of ck lightning appeared within the ck vortex at the center of the cloud, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out as a thick pir of ck light came crashing down from the the center of the vortex, plummeting directly toward Han Li''s cave abode.
Right at his moment, a burst of bright gray light erupted out of the top of Han Li''s cave abode before forming a gray mountain projection in the blink of an eye.
The pir of ck light struck the mountain projection as soon as it took shape, and an earth-shattering boom rang out as the pir of ck light pierced straight through the projection before crashing into the cave abode down below.
The entire secret area shuddered violently as countless cracks appeared all over all of the nearby mountains, and countless rocks came falling down like rain.
After releasing the pir of ck light, the ck cloud in the sky rapidly shrank down before vanishing altogether in just a few seconds.
Everything returned to normal in the secret area, and it was as if the ck cloud had never even appeared.
After the ck cloud faded, the massive golden array that epassed the entire secret area was also stabilized.
Wyrm 3 made a hand seal, and the pir of golden light around him vanished.
An anxious look appeared on his face, and he flew toward Han Li''s cave abode before the pir of golden light had evenpletely faded.
The scar-faced man was just about to join him when a thought seemed to have urred to him, and he stopped in his tracks.
Wyrm 3 appeared in front of Han Li''s cave abode in a sh, but at this moment, the entire cave abode was enshrouded within several light barriers, making it impossible for Wyrm 3 to detect what was happening inside.
He was very anxious to find out what was happening, but he didn''t force his way into the cave abode.
Only after a full 15 minutes had passed by did all of the light barriers recede, revealing the gate of the cave abode, which was already wide open.
"Come in, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3," Han Li invited from within his cave abode.
Wyrm 3 was slightly reassured after hearing the calm tone of Han Li''s voice, and he immediately made his way inside.
At this moment, Han Li was standing in the guest hall of his cave abode. Hisplexion was a little pale, and his aura was also slightly unstable.
There was a ck jade box sitting on the table in front of him, and even though the box''s lid was tightly shut, there were still faintw power fluctuations emanating out from within.
Wyrm 3''s gaze immediately fell upon the jade box.
"What you want is inside the box, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3," Han Li said with a faint smile as he made an inviting hand gesture.
Wyrm 3 nodded in response, then drew the jade box into his grasp before carefully opening it after taking a deep breath.
Inside the box was a ck longan-sized pill that was giving off translucent ck radiance, and there was a ck dao mark on the pill that was giving off formidablew power fluctuations.
Wyrm 3''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, while Han Li sat down with a faint smile on his face.
"Fantastic! You truly are a man of your word, Fellow Daoist Dragon 5," Wyrm 3 said as he closed the box and stowed it away before raising his head to look at Han Li.
"I was very fortunate to have seeded. I''m still not very well-versed in the process of refining this Origin Void Pill, so I was only able to refine a single one after exhausting all of the ingredients," Han Li replied with a shake of his head, seemingly not very happy with his own handiwork.
"That''s perfectly fine," Wyrm 3 said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Thank you for your understanding, Fellow Daoist," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Upon noticing Han Li''s paleplexion, Wyrm 3 flipped a hand over to produce a red jade pill before offering it to him. "It looks like the pill refinement process was quite taxing on you. Here''s a vial of Vast Heaven Pills. They have exceptional restorative effects, and I''m sure they''ll be useful to you."
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist," Han Li said with a nod as he epted the jade pill.
Through his spiritual sense, he could detect that there were several crimson pills inside the vial, every single one of which was enveloped in ayer of bright crimson light, and they were giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations, indicating that they were very precious pills.
"You''re very much wee, Fellow Daoist Dragon 5. You''ve done me a huge favor here, so if anyone should be saying thanks, it should be me. This also serves as a test before you get to officially join the Reincarnation Pce, so congrattions on passing," Wyrm 3 said with a smile, then flipped a hand over to produce a crimson jade badge, out of which flew a streak of read light that vanished into the mask on Han Li''s face.
The Earthly List projection then emerged from Han Li''s mask, and the number contribution points on the bottom now read "60".
This was 10 more than thepensation that he had been promised, so it was a pleasant surprise.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3," Han Li said. "Now that I''vepleted the mission, I''ll be free to do whatever I please for the next 1,000 years, right?"
"Of course. Do you have any ns, Fellow Daoist Dragon 5?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"I just obtained the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, so I naturally n to return to my cave abode to cultivate," Han Li replied in a candid fashion.
"If you insist on leaving, then I won''t stop you. This is a secret base of our Reincarnation Pce, and I can assure you that it''s a safe location. If you ever need to take shelter from something or someone, you cane here at any time. This is the ess badge," Wyrm 3 said as he offered a ck badge to Han Li.
Han Li epted the badge, but a wry smile then appeared on his face as he said, "Unfortunately, I still don''t possess the ability to pass through the Soul Stirring Winds on my own."
"My apologies, I should''ve considered that. Here is a Wind Shelter Bead for you. This will allow you to travel safely through the Soul Stirring Winds, and you can have my personalmunication array te as well. If you encounter any problems, you can contact me directly, and I''ll be sure to lend you my assistance as long as your request is within the realm of my capabilities," Wyrm 3 said as he offered a ck bead and a ck array te to Han Li.
The bead was identical in appearance and aura to the one that Wildcat 16 had used, while the ck array te was giving off rings of ck light with countless ck runes surging over its surface like stars in the night sky.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist," Han Li said as he stowed the two items away.
Shortly thereafter, a streak of azure light flew out of the secret area.
A spatial exit appeared amid a sh of ck light, and the streak of azure light flew into it before vanishing without a trace.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 3 stood on the ck mountain, watching as Han Li departed with a contemtive look on his face.
Right at this moment, the scar-faced man emerged behind him amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
"Are you not nning to bring him along on this trip into the immortal abode? Perhaps his ability to refine Origin Void Pills will be useful to us," the scar-faced man said.
"He''s only just be a Reincarnation Disciple, so we still don''t know if he''spletely reliable. This is a very important mission, and it''s best to be more cautious," Wyrm 3 replied.
"While we do have a Void Origin Pill now, we still have a severe shortage of capable personnel. Baili Yan and Daoist Hu Yan have both gone missing, so we don''t even have anyone that can directly oppose Xiao Jinhan," the scar-faced man said with a concerned expression.
"ording to my knowledge, Baili Yan should still be alive. Now that the emergence of the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce is imminent, he''ll be sure to appear as long as he still harbors ambitions of reaching the High Zenith Stage. As for Xiao Jinhan, let''s do our best to avoid direct confrontation with him and have the Vast Flow Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect deal with him," Wyrm 3 said.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to the scar-faced man, and he said, "By the way, I''ve just received word that a strange person has appeared near Red Moon Ind."
"Who is it?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"It''s a silver-robed woman with a giant golden beetle steed. We don''t know who she is, but she appears to be a Golden Immortal," the scar-faced man replied.
"A silver-robed woman with a golden beetle... I don''t recall anyone of that description in the top three sects of our immortal region. If she''s appeared near Red Moon Ind, then she''s most likely targeting the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor as well," Wyrm 3 mused.
"I''ve already sent some people to follow her as a safety precaution, but I''m sure she won''t be able to have any substantial impact on her own. Now that we have an Origin Void Pill, we can proceed with our original n, so I have to go and make some preparations," the scar-faced man said.
Before Wyrm 3 had a chance to reply, a vast expanse of ck light erupted out of the scar-faced man''s body, following which he vanished into thin air.
Wyrm 3 didn''t linger much longer, either, flying away as a streak of light.
¡¡
Meanwhile, Han Li had already left the secret area, and he was faced with a boundless expanse of Soul Stirring Wind.
Instead of immediately summoning the Wind Shelter Bead, he raised a hand to conjure up an azure light barrier around his body, keeping out the surrounding Soul Stirring Winds.
Even though the Soul Stirring Winds were kept at bay, the ghastly noises they produced were still able to seep in through the azure light barrier.
Han Li stood with his hands sped behind his back, and he listened to these harrowing sounds for a while before giving a slight nod.
At the moment, his spiritual sense was extremely stable,pletely unaffected by the sounds outside, so it appeared that the spiritual sense crisis was well and truly behind him, at least for the time being.
In the next instant, he swept a sleeve through the air, and a miniature gray mountain flew out of his sleeve.
This was none other than the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain, and he swept his spiritual sense over it momentarily before giving a pleased nod.
He had only attracted a single pill tribtion following his sessful refinement of the Origin Void Pill, and the mountain had been able to withstand it with ease.
This served as further confirmation to him that this treasure was indeed able to ward off pill tribtions better than all other immortal treasures.
As for the paleplexion and unstable aura he had disyed at the end, that had merely been a facade to fool Wyrm 3.
On top of that, what he had said about using up all of the pill refinement ingredients was also untrue.
There were still seven batches of ingredients left in his storage bracelet, and he was nning to use them to refine some more Origin Void Pills so that he could study them.
He couldn''t shake the feeling that these Origin Void Pills were somehow connected to dao pills, and perhaps uncovering the nature of this connection would help him in his future pill refinement.
Chapter 384: Abnormalities
Chapter 384: Abnormalities
Having already sessfully refined one Origin Void Pill, Han Li was quite confident that he would be able to refine at least one more with the remaining ingredients in his possession.
This time, he was going to see exactly what was so special about these pills.
Having decided on this course of action, he flipped a hand over to summon the Wind Shelter Bead, then injected some immortal spiritual power into it, and it immediately released a burst of ck ripples that spread outward in all directions to scatter the surrounding Soul Stirring Winds.
He turned and cast his gaze deep into the Soul Stirring Winds as a contemtive look appeared in his eyes.
He was quite curious about whatid deep within the Soul Stirring Winds, and now that his spiritual sense crisis was behind him, he was considering exploring the area.
However, he then quickly shook his head to rid himself of that idea as he flew away toward the ck Wind Sea as a streak of azure light.
A day and a nightter, Han Li reappeared in the sky above a certain region of the ck Wind Sea, and he stowed his Wind Shelter Bead away as he heaved a faint sigh of relief.
Even though the Soul Stirring Winds were no longer able to affect him thanks to the Wind Shelter Bead, it was still quite an ufortable experience flying through them for an extended period of time.
Right at this moment, a thought seemed to have urred to him, and he flipped a hand over to produce his crimson mask before putting it on.
After that, he made a hand seal, and a projection of the missions tform emerged from the mask.
After taking a moment to inspect the missions that he had released, an ted look appeared on his face, and he summoned a small pouch of Immortal Origin Stones that he ced onto the vortex at the center of the missions tform while making a hand seal.
Momentster, those Immortal Origin Stones had turned into seven or eight different types of materials, namely two spirit nts, two demon beast materials, and the rest were all crystals of different colors.
These were all ingredients required to refine the Golden Soul Pill, and he wasn''t expecting to gather all of them so quickly.
Han Li carefully examined these materials, and after ensuring that there was nothing wrong with them, he categorized them before stowing them away one by one.
The Golden Soul Pill refinement process wasn''t veryplex, and given his current pill refinement skills and the trump card that was the Mantra Treasured Axis, one batch of ingredients was sufficient.
After doing all of that, Han Li flew away as a streak of azure light in an unhurried fashion.
Even though he had told Wyrm 3 that he was going to begin cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique, he wasn''t actually nning to begin right away. Now that he had temporarily ovee his spiritual sense crisis, his top priority was naturally to make a breakthrough to the Golden Immortal Stage.
Even though he had joined the Reincarnation Pce and be a so-called Reincarnation Disciple, he was still being hunted by the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and his new status as a Reincarnation Disciple would most likely only make him even more of a wanted fugitive in the Immortal Pce''s eyes.
In order to weather this storm, he had to do everything in his power to advance his own cultivation base before he considered anything else.
With the Golden Soul Pill all but obtained, he would have no problems undergoing the spiritual evolution process, so the only obstacle in his way right now was that final immortal acupoint.
It certainly sounded simple, but this was the very same hurdle that had stood firm in the face of countlesste-True Immortal cultivators in the past.
Han Li couldn''t help but heave a faint sigh as this thought urred to him.
He had been constantly searching for ways to make breakthroughs to the Golden Immortal Stage, and that included trying to find theplete cultivation art for the Great Universe Origin Arts.
He had released multiple missions in the Transient Guild alone, searching for any methods that could help him make a breakthrough or open that final immortal acupoint, and the rewards offered for those missions were all quite substantial, but there had been no responses thus far.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as a determined look appeared on his face, and he made a hand seal, upon which the crimson mask on his face released ayer of crimson light to envelop his entire body.
In the next instant, the crimson light faded, and he had taken on the form of a square-faced middle-aged man with bushy brows.
Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal, and the speed of his flight increased by roughly twofold as he flew directly toward ck Wind City.
However, he had only flown less than 100,000 kilometers when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out from the sea down below, and the calm surface of the sea suddenly began to churn violently as enormous waves swept forth in all directions, shing against one another to cause a deafeningmotion.
Additionally, the surrounding space had also begun trembling slightly, and Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this.
What''s going on?
This earthquake-like disturbance felt like an eruption of energy that had been umting for a long time, and it was certainly not amonce urrence in the ck Wind Sea.
Han Li looked down at the sea for a while longer before withdrawing his gaze and continuing onward.
¡¡
In a region of the sea near ck Wind Ind, the area was littered with coral, upon which grew a type of crimson seaweed. Looking down from above, it was as if this area were a massive go board that was riddled with countless crimson go stones.
This area had been named the Go Board Sea, and it was millions of kilometers away from ck Wind Ind. On top of that, it deviated away from all of the main waterways, so it was also a very sparsely popted area.
The world''s origin qi here was quite rich, and there was also an abundance of ore resources on the seabed. On top of that, there were many demon beasts residing in the area, several species of which possessed very precious demon cores and materials, so there were many cultivators who frequently visited the area on hunting trips.
There were simr ces all over the ck Wind Sea, so this wasn''t a rare sight.
After all, in the context of the entirety of the vast ck Wind Sea, the inds that were inhabited by cultivators only made up a tiny area, while the rest of the region was still predominantly inhabited by demon beasts.
While it was amon urrence for cultivators to hunt for demon beasts, it was also not umon to see cultivators being in and devoured upon encountering demon beasts too formidable for them to handle.
At this moment, there were several human cultivators on the Go Board Sea that were at risk of suffering this exact grisly fate.
It was a group of three cultivators consisting of a middle-aged man with a coarse beard, a red-robed young woman, and a ck-robed young man controlling an azure flying boat treasure that was racing through the air.
They were being pursued by a ball of blue light, and it was unclear what type of demon beast the ball of light contained, but there were arcs of blue lightning shing over its surface.
All three cultivators were at the Deity Transformation Stage, and the azure flying boat was riddled withplex spirit patterns while moving at a decent speed, indicating that it was an outstanding treasure.
However, the ball of blue light was slightly faster than the azure flying boat, and it was gaining on the three human cultivators with each passing second. Before long, the distance between them had been reduced to less than 10 kilometers.
"We won''t be able to get away at this rate!" the man with the coarse beard said in an urgent voice.
"What do we do then? This is already as fast as the flying boat can go!" the red-robed young woman said in a panicked voice.
There was also an urgent look on the ck-robed young man''s face, but he appeared rtively calm and collected in contrast with his twopanions.
"Fellow Daoist Mu, I recall that you possess a True Lightning Talisman. Use that to attack this LIghtning Worm Beast and I''ll simultaneously unleash my Extreme Yin Dome to trap it. Perhaps that''ll buy us enough time to get away," the man with the coarse beard urged.
"That won''t work," the red-robed young woman immediately said with a shake of her head. "Your Extreme Yin Dome is a yin-attribute treasure that''spletely suppressed by this Lightning Worm Beast''s lightning power, so you won''t be able to buy much time at all."
"I know, but we have no other alternatives right now. The longer we manage to keep that thing at bay, the greater our chances of survival will be. If we let that thing catch up to us, we''ll be torn to shreds in an instant! Hurry, Fellow Daoist Mu!" the man with the coarse beard urged.
The ck-robed young man gritted his teeth as he flipped a hand over to produce a purple talisman.
There were arcs of purple lightning shing over the talismans, and even though it hadn''t been activated yet, the ck-robed young man''s twopanions were already shuddering in the face of its power.
The ck-robed young man swept a hand through the air, and the purple talisman immediately shot forth as a bolt of purple lightning that hurtled directly toward the ball of blue light.
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out as the purple talisman exploded into around a dozen bolts of purple lightning, all of which were as thick as water vats, and they were converging toward the ball of blue light with astonishing power.
The ball of blue light instantly fell away to reveal the demon beast inside, and it was a blue demon beast that was over 100 feet in length and resembled a giant python.
However, there wasn''t a single scale on its body. Instead, its body was split up into numerous segments, giving it the appearance of an enormous blue worm.
After shattering the ball of blue light, the thick bolts of lightning struck the Lightning Worm Beast''s body with tremendous force, causing it to let loose a sharp screeching sound akin to the crying of an infant.
A series of wounds were inflicted onto its body, and blue blood came pouring out from within, but the wounds weren''t very deep at all and were only minor injuries.
However, the Lightning Worm Beast was infuriated by the attack, and a series of thick bolts of blue lightning instantly emerged over its body to keep the bolts of purple lightning at bay.
Right at this moment, a huge ck dome-shaped appeared in the sky above the Lightning Worm Beast, then descended upon it.
The was glittering and translucent in appearance with wisps of ck mes on its surface, but it was giving off an extremely cold and forbidding aura.
The descended upon the Lightning Worm Beast before tightening forcefully to bind the beast, and a series of ck gashes instantly appeared all over its body.
Plumes of smoke rose up out of the gashes, and the Lightning Worm Beast''s screeching instantly became even more shrill and high-pitched as it stopped in its tracks.
"We have to go! Hurry!" the man with the coarse beard yelled.
The red-robed young woman hurriedly made a hand seal while opening her mouth to release a ball of crimson light, which vanished into the azure flying boat.
All of the spirit patterns on the flying boat lit up in unison, releasing bursts of azure light as it shot forward through the air at an incredible speed.
Meanwhile, the Lightning Worm Beast was thrashing around violently inside the ck.
At the same time, a gash appeared on the front of its body, then opened up to reveal a terrifying mouth, inside of which were two rows of sharp white fangs.
Immediately thereafter, all of the blue lightning all over the Lightning Worm Beast''s body converged toward its mouth, forming an enormous ball of blue lightning in the blink of an eye before being sted forward with tremendous force.
A string of earth-shattering explosions rang out as blue lightning erupted in all directions, instantly tearing the ck apart.
The man with the coarse beard let loose an involuntary groan, and blood began to trickle down from the corner of his lips as hisplexion turned as pale as a sheet.
"Uncle!" the red-robed young woman eximed in a concerned voice.
"I''m fine, don''t worry about me! Hurry, we need to get out of here!" the man with the coarse beard yelled.
Chapter 385: Chance Encounter
Chapter 385: Chance Encounter
The red-robed young woman gritted her teeth as she shifted her gaze away from the man with the coarse beard, and she began making a rapid string of hand seals to further elerate the flying boat.
Meanwhile, the ck-robed young man beside her swept a sleeve through the air, sending a burst of gentle azure light flying into the body of the bearded man.
The bearded man''splexion instantly improved slightly, and he gave the ck-robed young man a grateful nod.
Right at this moment, the vast expanse of blue lightning faded to reveal the Lightning Worm Beast once again.
The injuries on its body seemed to have worsened a little, and many parts of its body were charred ck and stained with blue blood.
However, it then let loose a loud roar, and arcs of blue lightning reappeared over its body.
At the same time, all of the blue blood on its body was set alight, transforming into a burst of blue mes.
The mes and lightning intertwined to form a vast expanse of dense blue mist that surged around the beast''s giant body, and in the next instant, the blue mist abruptly exploded before vanishing into thin air along with the Lightning Worm Beast itself.
The ck-robed young man had been paying close attention to the Lightning Worm Beast this entire time, and his expression instantly changed drastically upon seeing this. "Be careful!"
The red-robed young woman and the bearded man had also been keeping tabs on the beast with their spiritual sense, and they were quite rmed by its sudden disappearance as well.
Before the three of them had a chance to do anything, a burst of spatial fluctuations suddenly emerged in front of the flying boat, following which a vast expanse of blue mist appeared, then swooped down upon the flying boat, instantly inundating the trio onboard.
As soon as the flying boat fell into the sea of blue mist, it was immediately stopped cold in its tracks as if it had flown into a swamp.
The three cultivators onboard also felt a tremendous burst of invisible force constricting around them, and they weren''tpletely immobilized, but much to their rm, their movements were severely restricted.
Immediately thereafter, the giant Lightning Worm Beast appeared in front of them, and its body had swelled even further, resembling a small mountain.
At the same time, it was giving off an immense Spatial Tempering Stage aura.
A hint of despair appeared in the eyes of both the red-robed young woman and the bearded, and a grim look had also appeared on the ck-robed young man''s face.
The Lightning Worm Beast opened its cavernous mouth, releasing around a dozen thick bolts of blue lightning that surged toward the flying boat at an astonishing speed.
At the same time, the surrounding sea of blue mist churned violently as it enveloped the trio of cultivators onboard.
The sea of blue mist then transformed into an enormous ball of mist that churned and swirled with tremendous force while arcs of lightning shed within it, and it was unclear what was happening inside.
Right at this moment, the ball of blue mist abruptly fell still, then bulged outward before exploding with a resounding boom to reveal the trio of cultivators inside.
At this moment, the ck-robed young man was holding a giant fiery crimson sword that was several dozen feet in length. The sword was burning with scorching crimson mes and giving off terrifying spiritual power fluctuations.
His face had turned as pale as a sheet, while his clothes were in tatters, and blood was trickling down from the corners of his lips.
The bearded man and the red-robed young woman were in even worse condition. Both of them had had their clothes torn to shreds, while their faces had turned deathly pale. In particr, the bearded man''s body was soaked in blood, and his left arm had been severed at the elbow.
The azure flying boat was nowhere to be seen, and the wreckage of a spirit boat could just barely be made out within the sea of mist behind the trio.
The mes on the surface of the giant fiery sword that the ck-robed young man was wielding shed momentarily before rapidly shrinking down, transforming into a crimson spirit talisman that was around half a foot in size with a fiery sword design emzoned on its surface.
The talisman was giving off formidable fier-attribute spiritual power fluctuations, but they were extremely unstable.
All of a sudden, the talisman burst into mes and was incinerated into ashes in the blink of an eye.
A pained look appeared in the ck-robed young man''s eyes upon seeing this, but there was no time to grieve over the talisman as he yelled, "Run!"
Immediately thereafter, he flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light, and the bearded man and the red-robed young woman also mustered what little remained of their strength as they flew away as quickly as they could.
However, they weren''t able to make it very far before the Lightning Worm Beast re-emerged from the blue mist behind them.
A long gash had appeared on its lower abdomen, and the wound was bleeding profusely. It was not an injury to be scoffed at, but over all, the beast was in far better condition than the trio of human cultivators.
Even though its prey was getting away, the Lightning Worm Beast didn''t appear to be worried at all, and a hint of mockery appeared in its eyes.
All of a sudden, the surrounding blue mist enveloped its entire body, and it set off in pursuit of the trio of the cultivators at an incredible speed.
All three of the human cultivators were carrying severe injuries, so they were flying far slower than before, but the speed of the Lightning Worm Beast hadn''t diminished in the slightest, and the distance between them quickly began to shrink.
The trio of cultivators were extremely anxious, but there was nothing that they could do.
Before long, the gap between them had already been closed down to less than five kilometers.
At this point, their magic power reserves were close to running dry, and none of them had any more powerful treasures up their sleeves, so the situation was looking very dire.
Right at this moment, a streak of azure light suddenly appeared on the distant horizon out of nowhere, and it was approaching them at a rapid speed.
The enormous aura emanating out of the streak of azure light far exceeded that of the trio of cultivators and the Lightning Worm Beast behind them.
The despair on the faces of the three cultivators instantly turned to hope and tion, and the three of them yelled out in unison, "Save us, Senior!"
The streak of azure light slowed down slightly, and the trio of cultivators were ecstatic to see this.
A hint of fear shed through the Lightning Worm Beast''s eyes at the sight of the streak of azure light, but as it turned its gaze back to its prey, the fear in its eyes was instantly reced by a vicious gleam.
All of a sudden, it stopped cold in its tracks before opening its mouth, and countless arcs of blue lightning appeared within the sea of mist before converging rapidly toward its mouth, forming a giant ball of lightning that was several hundred feet in size in the blink of an eye.
The ball of lightning then shot forth toward the trio of cultivators, while the Lightning Worm Beast turned and fled toward the distance with the sea of blue mist surging around it.
The ball of lightning was extremely fast, and it looked as if it were about to swallow up the trio of cultivators in the blink of an eye.
A cold harrumph rang out from within the streak of azure light, immediately following which a pir of azure light that was as thick as a bucket descended out of the heavens to strike the ball of lightning.
The pir of azure light pierced through the ball of lightning with ease, and the Lightning Worm Beast was terrified to see this.
The sea of mist around it churned violently as it fled into the distance at even faster speed, only for another pir of azure light to shoot out of the streak of azure light.
The pir of azure light was far faster than the Lightning Worm Beast, catching up to it in a sh before transforming into a giant streak of azure sword qi that was several thousand feet in length.
The sea of blue mist was instantly torn apart to reveal the Lightning Worm Beast inside.
The beast had stopped cold in its tracks, and a gash was running all the way down its body.
In the next instant, its enormous body split up into two halves, and a vast expanse of blue blood interspersed with internal organs rained down onto the sea below.
The trio of cultivators had all stopped in their tracks and were observing the unfolding situation with awestruck expressions.
Only then did the streak of azure light in the air fade to reveal a square-faced middle-aged man.
The trio of cultivators exchanged a nce with one another, then hurriedly flew toward the middle-aged man before extending deep, respectful bows. "Thank you for saving our lives, Senior!"
The fact that he was able to y the Lightning Worm Beast so easily indicated that he was at least a Body Integration cultivator, and he could even be a Grand Ascension cultivator, so they had to treat him with the utmost respect.
The middle-aged man took a nce at the trio, and his gaze lingered momentarily on the ck-robed young man as he asked, "Are you all cultivators of ck Wind Ind?"
"That''s right. We reside on ck Wind Ind, and I grew up in ck Wind City, so I''m very familiar with everything there. If you need anything, I''d be happy to be of service, Senior," the ck-robed young man immediately replied.
"You sound like a guide," the middle-aged man remarked with a faint smile.
"Truth be told, I did work as a guide for some time in the past," the ck-robed young man replied with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"What''s your name?" the middle-aged man asked.
"My name is Mu Xue. These two are Fang Xi and Fang Wei," the ck-robed young man replied in a respectful manner.
The middle-aged man raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and he didn''t say anything in response.
The man was none other than Han Li, who had finally arrived near ck Wind Ind after around a month of travel.
He was certainly not expecting to meet Mu Xue here, and if it weren''t for the fact that they were acquaintances, he wouldn''t have stopped to save them. After all, it was verymon for cultivators to perish during battles against demon beasts.
Back when they parted ways, Mu Xue had only been at the Core Formation Stage, yet he was had since reached the Deity Transformation Stage, and even though he had benefited from the spirit stones and cultivation arts bestowed upon him by Han Li, this was still quite an impressive rate of improvement.
Mu Xue naturally hadn''t identified him, and he had no intention of revealing his identity to Mu Xue, either.
Mu Xue''s trio was rather puzzled by Han Li''s silence, but they didn''t dare to interrupt him, so they could only stand together in silence.
"This ce is not very safe. I just so happen to be on my way to ck Wind City, so I''ll take you there," Han Li said.
He patted his storage pouch as he spoke, and a ball of azure light flew out from within, forming an intricate palm-sized spirit boat that resembled an azure bird.
The flying boat then rapidly swelled to over 100 feet in length, and four furry azure wings appeared on either side of the boat amid a sh of azure light. They resembled the wings of a fledgling, and they were pping rapidly to keep the flying boat aloft.
"Wow, it''s so adorable!" the red-robed young woman couldn''t help but exim.
The bearded man was currently attending to his own injuries, and he immediately turned to the young woman with a warning re upon hearing this.
The red-robed young woman immediately realized her mistake. It would''ve been appropriate for her to praise this senior''s flying boat as profound, but calling it adorable was not very appropriate at all, and she hurriedly lowered her head as a faint blush appeared on her face.
"It''s alright. Come onboard," Han Li said with a warm smile.
Mu Xue and the red-robed young woman immediately obliged, flying onto the boat, while the bearded man took a hesitant nce at Han Li, then looked back at the demon beast carcass down below as he said, "Please pardon me for my rudeness, Senior, but this Lightning Worm Beast carcass..."
"It''s fine. I have no use for this carcass, so if you want it, then you can have it," Han Li said in an indifferent voice.
Chapter 386: Warning Signs
Chapter 386: Warning Signs
"Thank you, Senior!"
The bearded man was ecstatic, and he extended a respectful salute toward Han Li, then flew down before dismembering the Lightning Worm Beast''s carcass in a well-rehearsed fashion.
He didn''t dare to dy for too long, so he only harvested several important materials before flying back.
Han Li made a hand seal, and he was just about to spur the flying boat into action when the surrounding sea suddenly began to tremble.
He cast his gaze downward to discover massive waves sweeping over the nearby sea amid bursts of loud rumbling.
At the same time, dense smoke began to rise up from an uninhabited ind hundreds of kilometers away, and a thick pir of crimson magma erupted into the heavens.
Mu Xue''s trio were quite rmed to see this, but Han Li remained calm and collected, so they didn''t dare to say anything.
Despite Han Li''sck of reaction, he was feeling rather intrigued.
On the way to ck Wind Ind, he had run into disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes quite frequently. Such disasters had taken ce in the ck Wind Sea in the past as well, but definitely not this frequently.
After observing the situation for a while, he withdrew his gaze before making a hand seal, and the flying boat began to radiate dazzling azure light, while the wings on either side of it swelled to several times their original size.
Immediately thereafter, the flying boat shot forth as a streak of azure light at an incredible speed, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
"Do you know what the situation on ck Wind Ind is like at the moment? Is the conflict between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind still ongoing?" Han Li asked in a casual manner.
"Ever since these natural disasters began taking ce all over the ck Wind Sea, a temporary truce was called between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind," Mu Xue replied.
"Are you referring to disasters like this tsunami?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"That''s correct," Mu Xue replied with a nod.
Han Li nodded with a contemtive expression upon hearing this, but he didn''t say anything, and Mu Xue''s trio didn''t dare to speak without being spoken to, so the four of them traveled in silence.
It didn''t take long for them to reach ck Wind City, and they stopped somewhere outside the city.
"Thank you for saving our lives, Senior. May we have the honor of knowing your name? We''ll be sure to remember it for as long as we live," Mu Xue said in a grateful manner on behalf of the trio as they disembarked from the flying boat.
"There''s no need for that, I just so happened to be passing by, so I didn''t have to go out of my way to save you. Cultivation is important, but always remember that you only have one life," Han Li said.
After that, he didn''t wait for the trio to say anything before flying toward ck Wind City.
The three of them watched as Han Li departed, and after he had disappeared out of sight, the bearded man turned to Mu Xue as he said, "Fellow Daoist Mu, it was all thanks to those two talismans of yours that we were able to survive until that senior came to save us, so rest assured, we''ll split the spirit stones from selling the Lightning Worm Beast''s materials evenly among the three of us."
Mu Xue nodded in response, then cast his gaze in the direction that Han Li had departed in with a contemtive look in his eyes.
"What is it, Fellow Daoist Mu?" the red-robed young woman asked.
"It''s nothing. Let''s go," Mu Xue replied with a smile, then began flying toward the city.
At the same time, he was thinking to himself that the senior from earlier struck him with a sense of familiarity.
However, he was unable to recall where he had met this senior before.
The protective array of ck Wind City had already been activated, and Han Li was quickly granted entry into the city after submitting an entrance fee.
He didn''t linger on the outskirts of the city, instead flying directly toward the center of the city.
He stopped on a main street in ck Wind City, at the end of which was a huge za where the ck Wind City teleportation pagoda was situated.
He cast his gaze toward the surrounding shops, upon which his brows furrowed slightly.
This was already the most prosperous area in ck Wind City, but there were still weren''t many people on the streets. Business in the shops that lined the streets was also suffering as a result, and this was very different from how the city had been during hisst visit.
He thought back to what Mu Xue had told him about the frequent urrence of natural disasters ofte, and with that in mind, he made his way into a nearby shop.
The shopkeeper immediately approached Han Li with a warm smile as he said, "Wee, esteemed customer. How can we help you today? Our shop may not be veryrge, but we have a huge range of wares, and you definitely won''t be disappointed."
The shopkeeper was a short and portly golden-robed man, and Han Li casually purchased several rare spirit nts from the shop.
After paying for the spirit nts, he struck up a conversation with the shopkeeper.
"I''ve been to ck Wind City several times in the past, and on those asions, the city had been quite prosperous. Why is it that it seems to have fallen into a recession since then?"
"It''s because of all of the recent natural disasters. For some reason, there''s been a great deal of unrest in the entire ck Wind Sea ofte, and I''ve heard that many inds have been destroyed outright.
¡°Nowadays, all inds are beginning to go into lockdown, and even though people are still free toe and go from ck Wind Ind, business has naturally suffered as a result of the current social climate," the shopkeeper replied with a resigned expression.
"Why have the natural disasters suddenly be so frequent?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"No one seems to know the reason why. There are some rumors that say this is caused by unrest in the marine spirit veins, and some have also said that an astonishingly powerful treasure is about to emerge. There are even some who specte that this is a sign that the ck Wind Sea is about to meet its destruction, but it''s impossible to say if any of these theories have any degree of truth to them," the shopkeeper replied.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. All of these theories sounded quite absurd.
"Setting that aside for now, do you know when the teleportation array connected to the outside world will be running next?" Han Li asked.
His primary objective foring to ck Wind City this time was to leave the ck Wind Sea and try his luck in the outside world. After all, he had determined that it appeared imusible for him to stay in the ck Wind Sea and wait for a way to reach the Golden Immortal Stage to fall onto hisp.
"If you want to go to the outside world, then I''m afraid you''re going to be disappointed. After thest time the teleportation array was used over 10 years ago, Ind Master Lu Jun dered that it was going to be closed to 1,000 years," the shopkeeper replied with a shake of his head.
"1,000 years? What is the reason for this?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I don''t know, but I''m sure Ind Master Lu has his reasons," the shopkeeper replied with a resigned shrug.
"I see," Han Li mused as he cupped his fist in a parting salute toward the shopkeeper, then turned to make his way out of the shop.
After emerging from the shop, he walked along the street for a while before stepping into another shop.
There was no reason for the shopkeeper to lie to him, but he had to confirm that what he had been told was true.
Before long, he emerged from this shop as well with a grim expression, then made his way into another shop.
Close to an hourter, Han Li was standing on a certain street.
He had visited around a dozen shops of different sizes, and the information that he had received was identical. The teleportation array couldn''t be used anytime soon, and Lu Jun had made this decision very abruptly without providing any exnation.
Han Li stood still for a moment with a dark look on his face before flying away in the direction of the ind master''s manor.
The ind master''s manor hadn''t changed muchpared with before, consisting of a series of ck buildings that resembled a pack of giant ck beasts.
All of the buildings were enshrouded within restrictions of different colors, and these restrictions were interconnected with one another.
These restrictions had be even more formidable than before, and together, they formed a giant ball of light that made it impossible to see what was inside from the outside.
The Talisman Letter Pce outside the manor was still standing, but at this moment, there were only several cultivators inside, in stark contrast with how lively and bustling it had previously been.
Han Li was standing at the entrance of the Talisman Letter Pce as he took a nce up at the ind master''s manor.
There didn''t appear to have been anything out of the ordinary here, but Han Li could sense many pairs of eyes and bursts of spiritual sense constantly scouring the area, keeping close tabs on anyone approaching the scene.
Han Li was rather taken aback by this as he strode toward the Talisman Letter Pce.
The security here was tighter than ever, and it clearly wasn''t just because of the increased frequency of natural disasters in the ck Wind Sea.
Right as he stepped into the pce, two more streaks of light approached from afar, thennded in front of the ind master''s manor in the blink of an eye to reveal a pair of figures.
One of them was a young woman who appeared to be around 30 years of age. She was wearing a daoist robe, but her head wasn''t shaved.
She was apanied by a white-robed man with a longsword on his back and a sharp look in his eyes.
Instead of immediately entering the manor, the white-robed man suddenly took an alert nce at his surroundings.
"What is it, Elder Lu?" the young woman asked.
"Nothing..." the man replied as he continued to sweep his gaze across the surrounding area with slightly furrowed brows.
Just now, his spiritual sense had detected that there seemed to be someone observing him from the shadows.
However, this feeling had only appeared for an instant before fading, and he couldn''t be certain whether it was just a figment of his imagination.
In order toy his suspicions to rest, he released his spiritual sense over the surrounding area, but was still unable to detect anything, and his brows furrowed even tighter.
"Let''s go. Time is of the essence," the young woman urged in a low voice.
The man nodded in response, and the two of them made their way into the ind master''s manor together, encountering no resistance from the guards at the entrance.
Only after a long while did Han Li emerge from the Talisman Letter Pce before departing without even taking a nce at the ind master''s manor.
He appeared quite calm and collected on the outside, but he was reeling internally.
He didn''t recognize that woman, but that white-robed man was familiar to him. It was one of the Northern cial Immortal Pce''s Golden Immortals, Lu Yue.
Why is he here in the ck Wind Sea? Could it have something to do with me?
As soon as this thought urred to him, his heart immediately sprang up into his throat. He continued to walk away in an unhurried manner, but his spiritual sense was focused firmly on the ind master''s manor behind him the entire time.
At the same time, he was discreetly channeling his immortal spiritual power, ready to unleash an all-out attack at the first sign of any disturbance.
Only after he was several dozen kilometers away from the ind master''s manor did he feel slightly more reassured, but he still didn''t dare to let down his guard as he picked up the pace and continued onward into the distance.
Two hourster, a streak of azure light flew out of ck Wind City before hurtling toward the distant sea.
After flying for tens of thousands of kilometers, arcs of golden lightning abruptly emerged from the streak of azure light before forming a lightning array with countless golden runes shing within it.
Before long, Han Li had vanished out of thin air alongside the lightning array.
Chapter 387: Chaotic State of Affairs
Chapter 387: Chaotic State of Affairs
Millions of kilometers away, a rumbling thunderp suddenly rang out in the sky above the sea, immediately following which arcs of golden lightning sprang forth before intertwining to form a profound lightning array.
The golden array then faded in a sh to reveal Han Li, and as soon as he appeared, he immediately released his spiritual sense throughout the surrounding area.
Only after confirming that there was no one else within a radius of thousands of kilometers did he finally feel a little safer, and he cast his gaze in the direction of ck Wind Ind with a contemtive look in his eyes.
Lu Yue had to havee to the ck Wind Sea for a reason, but it most likely wasn''t to hunt for him. Even though he was a wanted fugitive of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, he was still only a True Immortal cultivator, so it would''ve surely been considered overkill to send a Golden Immortal after him.
Even so, he still didn''t dare to drop his guard. He was confident that he would be able to at least ensure self-preservation in the face of a Golden Immortal, but it would still be quite troublesome for him if Lu Yue were to find out that he was in the ck Wind Sea.
On top of that, the fact that Lu Yue was able to enter the ind master''s manor so easily indicated that he had some ties with ck Wind Ind.
With that in mind, Han Li thought back to the strange group of people that he had encountered back when he first returned to the ck Wind Sea. Those people seemed to have had close ties with ck Wind Ind as well.
Could it be that they were also cultivators of the Northern cial Immortal Pce?
With that in mind, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a ck array te, then cast an incantation seal into it, and the array te immediately began to release balls of ck light that came together to form a voice transmission array.
After that, Han Li sent out a voice transmission message through the array, but even after waiting for a full 15 minutes, the array was still disying no reaction.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
This array te had been given to him by Wyrm 3 prior to his departure from the secret area, and he was nning to ask Wyrm 3 about the current state of affairs in the ck Wind Sea, but he wasn''t receiving any response.
Han Li shook his head as he stowed the array te away, then cast a contemtive gaze toward the sea down below.
At the moment, the ck Wind Sea resembled the sea beneath him. It appeared calm and cid on the surface, and even the conflict between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind had temporarily subsided, but there were undercurrents churning beneath the surface.
First, there was the Reincarnation Pce. This mysterious power that was a sworn enemy of the Northern cial Immortal Pce had suddenly appeared in the ck Wind Sea for some reason, and he had essentially been coerced to join them and refine that strange pill for an unknown purpose. Now, cultivators from the Northern cial Immortal Pce had also appeared here,
Given the chaotic nature of the situation, it simply didn''t make sense for him to stay here, and he should leave this ce as soon as possible.
However, the teleportation array leading to the outside world was inessible, so the only way out was through the Soul Stirring Winds, and he was confident that he would be able toplete the journey with the help of the Wind Shelter Bead.
He was quite curious about what was deep inside the Soul Stirring Winds to begin with, so this was a good opportunity for him to satisfy his curiosity.
With that in mind, Han Li was just about to fly away as a streak of azure light when he suddenly stopped in his tracks before turning toward a certain direction.
After a brief hesitation, he flew in that direction instead.
Meanwhile, in a dimly-lit hall in the ind master''s manor in ck Wind City.
The hall was only around 40 to 50 feet wide, but it was 200 to 300 feet deep, and there were two rows of wooden shelves on either side of the hall. The shelves wereden with lit candles that were giving off a peculiar aroma, but they weren''t shedding much light on the hall.
At the end of the hall was a three-tiered tform, atop which sat none other than Xiao Jinhan.
His eyes were tightly shut, and he seemed to have been cultivating with wisps of ck mist rising up from his body to epass an area in a radius of roughly 30 feet around him.
There was a peculiar, suffocating aura that enshrouded the entire hall, as if an invisible beast were prowling the hall, and standing at the foot of the tform were Lu Yue and the young woman in the daoist robe.
The two of them had faint sheens of sweat glistening on their foreheads, and both of them remainedpletely silent.
A long whileter, Xiao Jinhan opened his eyes, and the surrounding ck mist instantly vanished into his body, while the peculiar atmosphere in the hall also faded.
Lu Yue and the young woman''s expressions eased slightly upon sensing this, while Xiao Jinhan asked, "How did it go?"
"Rest assured, Pce Master, everything has been arranged ording to your instructions. The Distant Discement Array has also been reinforced, so there''s no way that the people of the Vast Flow Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect will be able to detect the location of the entrance," Lu Yue replied in a respectful voice.
"Our main enemy is the Reincarnation Pce," Xiao Jinhan said as his eyes narrowed slightly.
Lu Yue immediately felt a tremendous burst of pressure weighing down upon him, and hisplexion paled slightly as he hurriedly replied, "Yes, Pce Master. Right now, the people of the Reincarnation Pce definitely won''t be able to find the entrance, either."
Xiao Jinhan gave a slight nod upon hearing this, and he said in an authoritative voice, "This is a very important matter, so you must make sure that nothing goes wrong!"
"Rest assured, Pce Master!" Lu Yue immediately replied.
Xiao Jinhan''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he gave a dismissive wave.
Lu Yue and the young woman extended a parting salute, and only after they were far away from the hall did heave a collective sigh of relief.
"The pce master''s powers are bing more and more unfathomable. As long as this mission is a sess, he shouldn''t be far away from reaching the High Zenith Stage," the young woman said.
"It''s exactly because of this that failure is not an option," Lu Yue replied.
"I''m well aware of that," the young woman replied with a nod, and the two of them quickly faded into the distance.
Meanwhile, Lu Jun and Lu Yuqing were standing beside a window of a distant pavilion.
"Father, the Immortal Pce..."
Lu Jun hurriedly red at Lu Yuqing to cut her off, then closed the window before turning and making his way deeper into the pavilion.
Lu Yuqing stuck out her tongue with a slightly disgruntled expression before trailing along behind him.
Lu Jun stopped in a room deep within the pavilion, then swept his sleeves through the air to release a series of incantation seals.
Seven or eight restrictions instantly appeared in the room in quick session, following which Lu Jun thrust his palm into a nearby wall, and a secret opening appeared on the wall.
The two of them made their way inside, and the secret opening immediately closed itself.
Beyond the secret opening was a small room with walls that were constructed from a type of ck crystal that was giving off ayer of faint ck light.
As soon as they entered this room, it was as if they had entered a separate space that waspletely isted from the outside world.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Qing''er? There''s no telling how formidable the spiritual sense of those people are, so we have to exercise the utmost caution in everything that we say and do. This is perhaps the only safe ce in the entire manor," Lu Jun said in a stern voice.
"I understand, Father," Lu Yuqing replied with a nod.
Only then did Lu Jun''s expression ease slightly as he patted Lu Yuqing on the shoulder in a doting fashion, then sat down beside a table in the room.
"Father, we''ve been constantly working for the Northern cial Immortal Pce. Even if we set aside everything else, just the conflict against Azure Feather Ind alone has resulted in close to half of our 36 subsidiary inds falling into ruin. Now that the immortal manor is about to emerge, can they really not spare us even a single spot?" Lu Yuqing asked with a slightly indignant expression.
A wry smile appeared on Lu Jun''s face as he sighed, "The Northern cial Immortal Pce is too far above us for us to question its decisions."
The indignation on Lu Yuqing''s face became even more pronounced upon hearing this.
"We can''t ask for too much. All we can hope for now is that after all of this is over, the Northern cial Immortal Pce will abide by its promise not to meddle in the affairs of our ck Wind Sea any longer," Lu Jun sighed.
¡¡
Half a monthter.
A flurry of golden lightning emerged in the sky tens of thousands of kilometers away from Dark Veil Ind, following which Han Li appeared.
He took a brief nce at his surroundings before flying toward Dark Veil Ind, and upon arriving near the ind, he was quite relieved to find that it appeared untouched by the frequent natural disasters.
The entire ind was still in a state of lockdown, and all of the restrictions were still activated.
Han Li pulled out a storage bracelet, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that enveloped the storage bracelet, following which it vanished in a sh.
Inside a secret chamber on Dark Veil Ind, Luo Feng was seated with his legs crossed, and his body was enshrouded within a cloud of mist.
He seemed to have been cultivating some type of secret technique, and right at this moment, a ball of azure light containing a storage bracelet appeared in front of him without any warning.
The azure light faded, and the bracelet fell onto the ground.
The mist around Luo Feng immediately receded as he opened his eyes, and he faltered slightly at the sight of the storage bracelet on the ground, immediately following which Han Li''s voice rang out beside his ears.
"The ind is to remain in lockdown for the next century."
Luo Feng hurriedly rose to his feet, then cupped his fist in a respectful salute as he said, "Yes, Ancestral God Liu Shi!"
That was the only instruction issued to him, and Luo Feng waited for a moment before picking up the storage bracelet from the ground.
He then injected his spiritual sense into it, and an ted look immediately appeared on his face.
The storage bracelet contained arge batch of spirit stones and materials that was sufficient to support the ind''s operation for several centuries.
Meanwhile, Han Li had arrived at the ce where his Earthly Deity Avatar was cultivating.
Checking on the state of the ind was only the secondary objective for his visit, while hsi primary objective was to take the heavy water that his Earthly Deity Avatar had refined over the past years.
At this moment, Han Li was hovering in mid-air, looking down at the massive rumbling vortex on the surface of the sea down below with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
The vortex was several hundred kilometers in size, and it was raising enormous waves that were over 1,000 feet tall in all directions.
The vortex had never been this formidable before, and a thought suddenly urred to Han Li as he swooped straight down into it.
On a tform on the seabed, the Earthly Deity Avatar was seated with dazzling blue light radiating from its entire body, forming a giant ball of blue light that was several hundred feet in size around it.
Additionally, there was also a thread of blue light hovering above its head, and it had be roughly twice as thick as before with countless blue runes dancing around it.
An enormous aura was emanating from its body, indicating that it had already reached thete-True Immortal Stage.
Han Li was very pleased to see this, but not overly surprised.
This avatar had already previously reached the pinnacle of the mid-True Immortal Stage, and even though he had been quite busy with his own cultivation, he still asionally manifested some time crystals to send to the Earthly Deity Avatar. With a sufficient supply of time crystals, it was never going to be that difficult for it to make a breakthrough.
After all, in just the span of a few centuries, it had already managed to derive as much heavy water as the average cultivator would''ve done in several million years.
All of a sudden, the blue light around the Earthly Deity Avatar''s rippled before quickly vanishing into its body, following which it rose to its feet before casting its gaze toward Han Li.
"Give me all of your heavy water," Han Li instructed.
The Earthly Deity Avatar flipped its hands over to produce a pair of Heavenly Water Pouches, then offered them to Han Li.
Han Li inspected the contents of the two pouches with his spiritual sense, and his eyes immediately lit up.
One of the pouches was already full, while the other one was also close to halfway filled. It seemed that with the increase in its cultivation base, the Earthly Deity Avatar''s rate of heavy water derivation had also improved significantly.
He made a hand seal, and ayer of starlight appeared over his body as he reached out to grab the two pouches.
Even though he was already prepared this time, his arms still sank down slightly upon receiving the pair of pouches, and only as all of his 18 profound acupoints lit up was he able to bear the collective weight of the two pouches with ease.
A pleased look appeared on his face upon seeing this.
These two pouches of heavy water, in addition to the one from before, were already enough for him to use in battle.
He stowed the pair of Heavenly Water Pouches away, then flipped a hand over to produce three empty ones before handing them to the Earthly Deity Avatar. He then instructed it to continue producing more heavy water before promptly departing.
After flying for some time, Han Li arrived in a deserted area before unleashing his lightning teleportation array.
He had also already packed up the Lightning Restraining Wood teleportation array on the way back to Dark Veil Ind.
Close to a monthter, a streak of azure light shot forth from afar on the outskirts of the ck Wind Sea, then faded to reveal Han Li.
Up ahead were the Soul Stirring Winds that spread as far and wide as the eyes could see.
Han Li took a nce at the boundless Soul Stirring Winds, then flipped a hand over to produce his Wind Shelter Bead before flying directly forward.
The surrounding Soul Stirring Winds instantly converged toward him, but they weren''t able to have much of an impact on him thanks to the Wind Shelter Bead.
After taking a moment to limate himself to the environment, Han Li began to gradually elerate in his flight.
Due to the fact that the world''s origin qi was obstructed here, his immortal spiritual power recovery was severely inhibited, but prior toing here, he had already spent quite arge sum of Immortal Origin Stones to purchase a batch of recovery pills from the Transient Guild.
Time slowly passed by, and in the blink of an eye, Han Li had already been flying through the Soul Stirring Winds for four or five days.
The Soul Stirring Winds here were already far more formidable than the ones around the secret area of the Reincarnation Pce.
Instead of their previous scattered state, the Soul Stirring Winds here had gathered together to form huge pirs of ck wind that were hundreds, even thousands of feet tall, resembling countless giant ck tornadoes wreaking havoc over thendscape.
The tremendous force being released by these giant pirs of wind were severely diminished by the Wind Shelter Bead, but it was still extremely formidable,parable to an all-out attack from a Grand Ascension cultivator.
At this moment, Han Li had already conjured up his True Extreme Film, which was keeping the formidable power being released by the pirs of ck wind at bay with ease.
While the power of the Soul Stirring Winds posed no threat to him, the ghastly sounds ringing out from within them had be more than 10 times as formidable aspared when he first entered the Soul Stirring Winds, and even though these sounds were also being buffered by the Wind Shelter Bead, they were still a huge pain to deal with.
As a result, Han Li had no choice but to slow down while using his Spirit Refinement Technique to ward off the effects of those horrific sounds.
At this moment, he was flying through the boundless Soul Stirring Winds at a rapid speed like a tiny raft.
Chapter 388: Venturing Deep Into the Soul Stirring Winds
Chapter 388: Venturing Deep Into the Soul Stirring Winds
Time slowly passed by, and several dayster, all of the surrounding Soul Stirring Winds had already formed massive ck tornados that resembled enormous pirs connecting heaven and earth.
These pirs of wind were constantly moving, asionally ovepping with one another before separating again, and it was impossible to see anything through the suffocating darkness.
Han Li flew through the giant pirs of wind with his body epassed within the ck barrier released by the Wind Shelter Bead, and he was doing his best not toe into direct contact with these pirs of wind while also protecting his own consciousness as much as possible.
He could clearly sense the formidable cial aura emanating from these pirs of wind, something that he certainly didn''t want to be directly exposed to.
He was still advancing onward, but at a far slower rate than before.
The ghastly sounds here had be significantly louder once again, and he was still able to withstand it, but he didn''t dare to release his spiritual sense out of his body anymore.
One''s spiritual sense was an extension of one''s soul, so if he were to release his spiritual sense toe into contact with the surrounding Soul Stirring Winds, then the effects of the ghastly sounds ringing out from within them would be exacerbated.
Thankfully, he still had his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, which allowed him to see the movement of the pirs of Soul Stirring Winds around him even without the use of his spiritual sense. Otherwise, it would''ve been extremely difficult to make any meaningful progress.
All of a sudden, a giant pir of wind surged toward Han Li at an astonishing speed, but he was able to evade it by twisting to the side like an agile fish.
However, right at this moment, a ck shadow shot out of the pir of wind like a bolt of ck lightning.
Thankfully, Han Li was able to react in a timely fashion, sweeping his joined index and middle fingers through the air to release a streak of azure sword qi that struck the ck shadow with unerring uracy.
A dull thump rang out as the ck shadow was sliced into two, and the ck 1i on its surface dissipated to reveal an inky-ck snake inside.
The snake was around 10 feet in length with three horns on its head along with a pair of dark red eyes, and it was giving off an extremely forbidding cial aura.
Even after being sliced into two, it didn''t perish. Instead, it was able to instantly fuse its body back together, and it was as if it hadn''t been wounded at all, but the cial aura that it was giving off had diminished significantly.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and instead of fleeing the scene, the ck snake hissed at Han Li in a menacing fashion, indicating that it wasn''t a very intelligent creature.
All of a sudden, it shot forth as a blurry shadow, vanishing without a trace before reappearing behind Han Li and pouncing viciously at his back.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he reached out with one hand, conjuring up arge azure palm projection that caught the ck snake in a sh.
The ck snake writhed and struggled with all its might, but was unable to break free.
Therge azure hand brought the snake closer to Han Li, and began to inspect it with slightly furrowed brows.
This snake seemed to have been formed by the yin qi here, and unlike normal demon beasts, it had no physical body.
In order to prepare for this trip, Han Li had read many scriptures rted to Soul Stirring Winds, and one of them had mentioned that there were some yin beasts residing deep within the Soul Stirring Winds that were very difficult to deal with.
This snake was undoubtedly one such yin beast.
Han Li made a clenching motion with his hand, and therge azure hand immediately constructed around the ck snake, crushing it into a cloud of ck qi.
However, instead of dissipating, the ck qi began to writhe like a living creature, looking as if it were about toe together again.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly as he flicked a finger through the air, releasing a bolt of Divine Devilbane Lightning that struck the cloud of ck qi in a sh.
The ck qi instantly scattered as if it had met the bane of its existence, and an anguished screech rang out from within it before itpletely faded away.
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and he continued onward.
It seemed that the ck snake was a precursor for things toe, and Han Li was attacked by more and more yin beasts as he flew onward.
These yin beasts weren''t very powerful, but their insubstantial bodies made them rather difficult to deal with.
Thankfully, Han Li''s Divine Devilbane Lightning was perfect for dealing with these creatures, so he was able to dispatch them with ease.
As he continued to fly onward, a hint of surprise suddenly appeared on his face.
The number of pirs of Soul Stirring Wind around him had suddenly decreased, bing far sparser than before, and the few pirs of wind that remained were also significantly smaller than before.
Han Li was rather taken aback by this, but he continued to fly onward, and as he did so, the number of pirs of Soul Stirring Wind continued to decrease until they disappeared altogether.
All that was left in the ce of the Soul Stirring Winds was a boundless expanse of ck mist. The cial aura in the air had diminished significantly, and all of the yin beasts had also vanished without a trace.
The disappearance of the Soul Stirring Winds meant that the ghastly sounds they produced had mostly subsided as well, and it seemed that he had arrived in a peaceful area of ck mist.
Have I already passed through the Soul Stirring Winds? Han Li thought to himself, but then immediately shook his head.
He had only been traveling through the Soul Stirring Winds for less than half a month, so there was no way that he had already passed through them.
He was definitely still situated within the Soul Stirring Winds, but he seemed to have arrived in a special area.
Unfortunately, he wasn''t able to find many scriptures containing information on the Soul Stirring Winds, and there were no records of areas like this.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Han Li continued onward, but he had slowed down even further and was carefully observing everything around him with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
After flying for close to an entire day, there was still nothing but ck mist around him. In fact, the ck mist had be denser and denser, until it was also substantial in form.
At this point, his visibility was very limited even with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
Furthermore, the mist was no longer as peaceful as before. Instead, some strange high-pitched sounds had begun ringing out within it, resembling the sound of an infant''s crying.
The sound wasn''t very loud, and at times, it was barely audible at all, but it was even more formidable than the ghastly sounds from before.
He slowed down once again, and two beams of blue light that were each around a foot in length shot out of his eyes as he inspected his surroundings.
After advancing through the ck mist for a while, his expression suddenly changed slightly as he stopped in his tracks before casting his gaze forward.
A burst of rumbling was ringing out up ahead, and the previously peaceful mist had suddenly begun to churn violently.
The sound was bing louder and louder, while the disturbance in the surrounding mist was bing more and more violent, until it resembled a pot of boiling water.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed, and he was considering whether to continue straight ahead or skirt around the disturbance when all of the ck mist around him suddenly began to revolve in a frenzy, forming an enormous vortex.
The vortex was so massive that he wasn''t even able to see it in its entirety. In fact, he wasn''t even able to ascertain where its center was, and it was releasing tremendous suction force that enveloped his entire body, forcibly drawing him toward the center of the vortex.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly as the azure light radiating from his body brightened significantly, and only then was he able to stabilize himself.
At the same time, a ck shadow shot out of the ck mist up ahead.
It was a giant ck toad-like yin beast that was around the size of a house with lumps growing all over its body, presenting a horrific sight to behold.
The ck toad opened its mouth up wide to release a pir of dense ck light that hurtled directly toward Han Li, seemingly attempting to prevent him from leaving.
The pir of ck light was giving off astonishing cial power fluctuations, and it seemed to be capable of freezing the very space in its wake.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing an azure flying sword that instantly transformed into a giant azure sword that was over 100 feet in length with arcs of golden lightning shing over its surface.
The giant azure sword struck the pir of ck light, destroying it with ease before appearing above the toad yin beast''s head and shing down upon it.
The yin beast''s body was instantly cleaved into two with Divine Devilbane Lightning spreading over the two halves of its body, causing them to explode into two clouds of ck qi.
Even though Han Li had managed to y the yin beast, it had managed to dy him a little, and the giant vortex behind him had gotten closer to him, while the suction force that it was releasing had be even more formidable.
Han Li was just about to unleash a secret technique to fly away from the area when a giant ck tentacle shot out of the vortex at an incredible speed before wrapping itself around him.
However, thanks to his True Extreme Film, the tentacle wasn''t actually able to make contact with his body.
His expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but he then gave a cold harrumph as he made a hand seal, and two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly flew out of his body before striking the ck tentacle.
However, the tentacle was extremely resilient, and the pair of Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were only able to slice slightly into it before being brought to a halt.
A surprised look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and before he had a chance to do anything else, the ck tentacle abruptly pulled back with tremendous force, catching him off guard and dragging him into the huge vortex.
In the next instant, he appeared in the eye of a rapidly revolving storm with deafening rumbling akin to the sound of countless thundering horse hooves ringing out around him.
Bursts of tremendous suction force converged toward him from all directions, while the ck tentacle remained wrapped around his body.
Furthermore, it was rapidly constricting, but Han Li''s True Extreme Film remained firm.
Even though Han Li had been dragged into the vortex, he remained calm and collected, paying no heed to the ck tentacle around him as he inspected his surroundings with slightly furrowed brows.
Right at this moment, a low roar rang out from deep within the vortex, following which another tentacle shot out of the darkness before also wrapping itself around Han Li''s body.
Han Li withdrew his gaze before peering deep into the vortex, and a cold gleam shed through his eyes as he made a hand seal.
Chapter 389: Boundless Mist
Chapter 389: Boundless Mist
A loud crackling sound rang out, and arcs of golden lightning suddenly appeared over the surface of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that had sliced into the ck tentacle. Immediately thereafter, the pair of swords swelled to over 100 feet in size while rapidly revolving like lightning, slicing the two tentacles around Han Li into several pieces, all of which dissipated into clouds of ck qi.
A slightly raspy roar of pain rang out from deep within the vortex, and Han Li took a moment to steady himself before peering deep into the vortex with blue light shing in his eyes.
Deep inside the vortex was a huge ck shadow that was currently rapidly approaching him.
Han Li made no attempt to retreat or take evasive measures upon seeing this. The suction force in the surrounding space was still acting upon him, and while the force wasn''t strong enough to immobilize him, it was certainly inhibiting his movements.
He made a beckoning motion, and a sh of golden lightning appeared nearby, following which the flying sword that had just in the toad yin beast also flew back to his side.
The three golden lightning swords were hovering around him while slowly revolving through the air.
In the next instant, a huge ck shadow flew out of the vortex up ahead, revealing itself to be a massive octopus that was several hundred feet in size.
The giant beast had a pair of shing red eyes that were the size of water vats, and they were filled with fury and resentment.
There were around a dozen tentacles dancing behind the octopus, sweeping up gusts of fierce wind. The two tentacles that had just been severed were rapidly healing at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye, and the tremendous cial aura emanating from the beast''s body wasparable to that of ate-True Immortal cultivator.
As soon as the beast revealed itself, all of its tentacles instantly intertwined to form a huge ck next that swept toward Han Li.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
This yin beast was quite formidable, but it didn''t seem to possess a high level of intelligence. It was solely driven by its bloodlust and acted almost entirely on instinct. Han Li had learned a couple of secret techniques that could allow him to engage in basicmunication with spirit beasts, but those spirit beasts had to possess a certain level of intelligence.
He had originally nned to capture this beast and use one of those secret techniques to ask it some questions about this area, but it seemed that n wasn''t going to work.
With that in mind, he shook his head as he made a hand seal, and the three giant lightning swords arranged themselves into a triangr formation at his behest before hurtling directly toward the giant octopus yin beast.
The golden lightning on the three giant swords then reared up before intertwining to form a golden lightning with countless thick arcs of golden lightning erupting from its surface to sh against the huge formed by the octopus''s tentacles.
A string of dull thumps rang out as ck qi and golden light erupted in all directions.
As soon as the ck qi on the surface of the tentacles came into contact with the Divine Devilbane Lightning, it was instanty eradicated, while the arcs of golden lightning spread over the tentacles to inflict a series of wounds.
Even though the ck tentacles were inherently vulnerable to Divine Devilbane Lightning, they were formed by such dense ck qi that even the Divine Devilbane Lightning was unable to eradicate them with just a single strike.
An agonized roar rang out from the octopus yin beast''s mouth, and only then did a hint of fear appear in its eyes as it urred to the beast that this was an insurmountable opponent.
It immediately swiveled around with the intention of fleeing the scene, but Han Li certainly wasn''t going to allow it to get away.
A sharp gleam shed through his eyes as he made a hand seal, and the three giant swords instantly released a barrage of golden sword projections that surged rapidly toward the octopus''s tentacles.
Those tentacles had already been severely weakened, and they were instantly torn to shreds by the barrage of sword projections.
The octopus yin beast let loose another agonized roar, and it paid no heed to its own severed tentacles as it opened its mouth to release a ball of inky-ck liquid.
As soon as the liquid emerged, it immediately swelled to form a giant ck cloud that was around an acre in size to inundate the three giant golden swords and all of the sword projections.
The three giant swords were instantly immobilized by a burst of restrictive force within the cloud, while the severely wounded octopus yin beast fled into the distance at an incredible speed, seeminglypletely unaffected by the suction force from the vortex.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he made another hand seal, and the three golden swords instantly fused as one to form a massive sword that was around 1,000 feet in size.
Thick arcs of dazzling golden lightning then appeared over its surface, giving off an astonishingly formidable aura.
The enormous sword swiveled around slightly, then released a burst of tremendous power, and the surrounding ck cloud was instantly torn apart.
Immediately thereafter, the huge sword vanished amid a sh of golden lightning, and in the next instant, it appeared directly above the octopus yin beast''s head before swooping down upon it with unstoppable force.
The octopus yin beast waspletely powerless to resist as its body was sliced into two, following which the two halves of its body exploded into two vast clouds of ck qi.
The giant golden sword then shot back to Han Li at his behest before splitting back up into three azure flying swords that flew back up his sleeve.
However, in the next instant, a hint of blue light shed through his eyes, and he swept a hand through the air to release a burst of azure light into the ck qi.
The burst of azure light quickly returned to him, bringing with it a dark green ball.
It was a fist-sized ball enveloped within ayer of green light, and it appeared very simr to a wood-attribute spirit stone, except the cial energy fluctuations emanating from the object werepletely different from wood-attribute spiritual qi.
Could this be a demon core?
All of a sudden, he recalled the soul stones that he had gathered in the Umbra Realm back when he was still in the Mortal Realm. [1]
The aura emanating from this green bead was very simr to that of soul stones, except this bead''s aura was countless times more powerful.
Han Li flipped a hand over to stow the green bead away, then began inspecting his surroundings with a contemtive look in his eyes.
This area in the Soul Stirring Wind really was rather simr to that of Stormwind Mountain in the Umbrea Realm. [2] Could it be that these two ces were somehow rted?
Han Li only considered this matter for a moment before shaking his head and casting his gaze out of the vortex.
Right now, his top priority was to leave this vortex, so he had no time to ponder such trivial matters.
The suction force being released by the vortex was quite formidable, but it wasn''t enough to inflict any substantial harm upon his body.
However, it was going to make it rather difficult for him to leave.
After a brief moment of contemtion, a burst of azure light appeared over his body alongside arcs of golden lightning, and he transformed into a streak of golden and azure light as he flew toward the mouth of the vortex.
As soon as he left the central area of the vortex, the surrounding storm instantly became more powerful.
Han Li felt the surrounding air constrict around him, following which his body was swept up involuntarily by the storm.
He gave a cold harrumph as the light radiating from his body brightened, yet instead of forcibly going against the rotational force of the storm, he went along with it while simultaneously flying outward.
Momentster, Han Li emerged from the churning ck mist on the outskirts of the vortex.
Hisplexion was a little pale, and he continued flying until there was some distance between himself the vortex before he finally drew to a halt and heaved a sigh of relief.
The vortex had been more powerful than he imagined, and it had cost him a significant amount of immortal spiritual power to break out of it.
After taking a recovery pill, he reverted back to his true appearance as he removed his Reincarnation Pce mask.
After stowing the mask away, he continued to fly onward as a streak of azure light, and before long, he had been flying for several days once again.
There were no other hazards within this sea of ck mist aside from the asional giant vortex, and these vortexes came in a diverse range of sizes, but the vast majority of them wererger than the one that he had first encountered, with some of them even several timesrger.
He could tell that the suction force that thergest ones of those vortexes was releasing was too formidable even for him to deal with, and if he were to get too close, he would most likely be sucked in and trapped inside indefinitely.
However, whenever he encountered a smaller vortex, he would y the yin beast residing inside, and as a result, he ended up with quite a few more of those green beads.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out, and the sea of mist behind Han Li suddenly began to churn violently.
He stopped in his tracks as blue light shed within his eyes, and immediately thereafter, he hurriedly flew away to the side.
Not long after he did so, an enormous vortex surged rapidly through the sea of mist behind him before quickly vanishing out of sight.
Han Li remained still on the spot for a moment longer before continuing onward.
During the past few days, he had gradually be more and more proficient at avoiding these vortexes.
Shortly thereafter, a strange sound suddenly rang out from within the mist up ahead, and a cold look appeared on Han Li''s face as he immediately swept a sleeve through the air.
An azure flying sword shot out of his sleeve, then rapidly swelled to over 1,000 feet in size, and it was radiating dazzling azure light as it flew into the churning mist up ahead.
As soon as the giant sword flew into the mist, a resounding boom rang out, and the azure sword was sent flying back, while the azure light on its surface was thrown into a state of disarray.
A burst of tremendous force was transmitted to Han Li through the giant sword, and he shuddered as he took an involuntary step backward while sweeping his sleeve through the air once again at the same time.
Around a dozen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew out before also swelling to over 1,000 feet in size each, then plunged viciously into the mist up ahead.
Even though Han Li still hadn''t yet caught a glimpse of the yin beast up ahead, he could tell that it was more formidable than any that he had previously encountered.
Streaks of azure sword qi shot out of the mist up ahead, causing it to rumble and churn violently.
Immediately thereafter, all of the giant azure swords were sent flying back with a deafening boom.
On top of that, a thickyer of ck ice crystals had appeared over the des of all of the swords, and the azure light that was emanating from them had dimmed significantly.
1. For more information on soul stones, please refer to RMJI Chapter 681: Soul Stone. ?
2. For more information Stormwind Mountain, please refer to RMJI Chapter 593: Stormwind Mountain. ?
Chapter 390: Ghostly Head
Chapter 390: Ghostly Head
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he pointed a finger forward.
Arcs of golden lightning sprang out of all of the giant azure swords once again, instantly shattering the ck ice crystals clinging to the swords to restore them to their former state.
However, instead of unleashing more attacks, Han Li drew to a halt as he cast his gaze forward with a grim look on his face.
Right at this moment, the vast expanse of ck mist up ahead churned violently, following which a massive ck shadow flew out from within.
It was traveling at an incredible speed, yet it wasn''t making any sound at all, and it arrived near Han Li in the blink of an eye.
Before Han Li had a chance to react, a giant trident with ck mist swirling around it emerged from the ck shadow before being swung down at him with mountainous force.
Is it not a yin beast?
Han Li hurriedly made a hand seal, and the dozen or so giant azure swords around him instantly rose up into the air to form a uniform above his head.
At the same time, a series of thick arcs of golden lightning appeared over the swords.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the trident struck the of swords with astonishing power, almost shattering the sword in a single blow.
Arcs of Divine Devilbane Lightning erupted out of the swords to strike the trident, scattering much of the ck mist around it, but the trident itself remainedpletely unmoved.
Han Li let loose a low roar as he prepared to make another hand seal, but right at this moment, the trident shuddered before releasing three bursts of inky-ck mes out of its three tips, and those mes instantly spread through the air to envelop the sword while giving off a cial aura.
ck ice crystals instantly began to appear on the giant azure swords once again, and even the arcs of golden lightning surging over the swords were frozen solid, presenting a peculiar sight to behold.
All of a sudden, the trident swiveled around with tremendous force, instantly shattering the sword and sending the dozen or so giant azure swords flying in all directions.
The trident then pierced viciously toward Han Li as fast as lightning, and it was upon him in the blink of an eye.
A vast expanse of ck mes erupted out of the trident, forming a giant ck draconic head the size of a house, and it opened its mouth up wide in an attempt to swallow Han Li whole.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and it was already toote for Han Li to take evasive measures.
In this dire situation, he let loose a low roar as 18 specks of starlight appeared over his chest and abdomen, and at the same time, he thrust both fists upward with all his might.
Two starry fist projections that were several dozen feet in size erupted into the heavens to sh against the trident with another earth-shattering boom, sending violent tremors surging through the surrounding space.
Han Li''s entire body shuddered, and he was sent flying back over 1,000 feet before managing to steady himself. He then turned to discover that the fiery ck draconic head had faded, revealing the trident inside, which had also fallen still.
The massive ck shadow controlling the trident also shuddered slightly, seemingly having been struck by some recoil from the sh.
Han Li took a deep breath to suppress the churning blood and energy in his body, and an extremely grim look had appeared on his face.
Up to this point, he still hadn''t even managed to catch a clear glimpse of what the ck shadow was, but its powers weren''t inferior in the slightest to any of the Golden Immortals that he had encountered in the past.
At this point, he was already very deep in the Soul Stirring Winds, and even though he had encountered some perils along the way, nothing had posed a substantial threat to him. Prior to encountering this ck shadow, he was even beginning to suspect that the rumors about this ce were overstated.
As these thoughts were running through Han Li''s mind, the ck shadow began to fly toward him once again.
Han Li was already prepared for this, and a burst of azure light interspersed with arcs of golden lightning appeared over his body as he shot back like a speeding arrow.
However, he was being outsped by the ck shadow, and the gap between them was rapidly shrinking.
Han Li made a hand seal, and a sharp screeching sound rang out from within his body as a series of azure flying swords emerged before converging to form a ball of azure light in front of him.
The dozen or so azure giant swords that were encased in ck ice crystals also shattered the ice crystals around them once again before flying back and fusing into the ball of azure light.
In the blink of an eye, the ball of azure light transformed into an azure sword lotus flower that was around an acre in size.
At the same time, a vast expanse of ck mes emerged over the ck shadow, instantly transforming it into a giant ghostly head with a pair of crimson eyes, and it was certainly very menacing in appearance.
After taking on this form, the ck shadow''s speed was significantly enhanced, and it caught up to Han Li in just a few seconds.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he made a hand seal, and the azure sword lotus flower bloomed as it released countless giant streaks of azure sword qi with arcs of golden lightning shing over them.
The barrage of sword qi shot into the ck mist around the ghostly head, but much to Han Li''s rm, they were seemingly unable to inflict any damage upon the ghostly head at all.
The giant ghostly head abruptly swelled in size before opening its cavernous mouth to let loose a thunderous roar, sending ck soundwaves sweeping through the air to epass the entire azure sword lotus flower.
The sword lotus flower instantly began to tremble violently before being forcibly split up into 72 small azure swords that fell out of mid-air in an unstable fashion.
Han Li''s body also began to tremble involuntarily within the soundwaves, and it was as if there were countless tiny daggers twisting in his internal organs.
Additionally, his soul was also shuddering uncontrobly, and he couldn''t help but give a muffled groan.
These ck soundwaves contained some type of strange energy, and if an ordinaryte-True Immortal cultivator that wasn''t a Profound Immortal was in his ce, they would''ve most likely already been reduced to a pile of mincemeat.
The giant ghostly head let loose a low roar, and ck light shed within its mouth as the trident reappeared with ck light radiating from its tips.
An ear-splitting screech rang out as three thin streaks of ck light shot out of the tips of the trident before vanishing into thin air in a sh.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this, and he hurriedly made a hand seal to summon his Mantra Treasured Axis.
As soon as the axis appeared, it began to rapidly revolve while releasing waves of golden ripples in all directions.
At the moment, only fewer than 20 of the Time Dao Runes on the axis were lit, so the golden ripples were ratherckluster in appearance.
As soon as the golden ripples appeared, the space not far ahead of Han Li shuddered, following which three ck threads emerged before hurtling toward his chest at an extraordinary speed.
The ck threads were slowed down significantly by the Mantra Treasured Axis, but they were still flying through the air like lightning.
Han Li immediately took evasive measures, but the ck threads were too fast, and a small gash was inflicted onto his shoulder.
However, not a single drop of blood flowed out of the gash. Instead, wisps of ck qi emerged instead.
Han Li immediately made a beckoning motion to draw one of the nearby Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords back to himself, following which the sword cut viciously into his shoulder, severing the gash along with arge chunk of the flesh connected to it.
As soon as the chunk of flesh was severed, the ck qi instantly transformed into ck mes that incinerated the piece of flesh into ashes.
Han Li''s expression darkened even further upon seeing this.
If he had reacted even just a little slower than he had just now, the injuries that he sustained would''ve most likely been far more severe.
Meanwhile, the ck mes around the giant ghostly head churned, indicating that it was about to unleash some other type of attack, but before it could do so, Han Li made a hand seal, and all of the scattered Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords nearby immediately began to glow radiantly again.
At the same time, thick arcs of lightning sprang out of the swords, then intertwined to form a giant golden lightning in front of the ghostly head.
Right at this moment, around a dozen huge tentacles suddenly shot out of the ck mist around the giant ghostly head before sweeping toward the golden lightning up ahead.
However, as soon as these misty tentacles came into contact with the lightning, they immediately disintegrated into plumes of ck smoke.
The ghostly head let loose a furious roar, but it was unable to break through the lightning in a short time.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this. He had unleashed all of the Divine Devilbane Lightning in his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once, and that was finally enough to keep the ghostly head at bay for now.
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air to stow away all of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, following which he transformed into a giant silver bird with arcs of silver lightning shing all over its body.
This was none other than his Lightning Bird transformation, and as soon as he adopted this form, a second pair of translucent wings appeared on his back.
Those were none other than his Thunderstorm Wings, and with a p of all four wings at once, Han Li instantly vanished from the spot amid a sh of lightning.
There were unknown dangers littered throughout the Soul Stirring Winds, so he didn''t dare to unleash his lightning movement techniques prior to this, but in the face of an insurmountable enemy like this one, he had no choice but to take the risk.
The giant ghostly head let loose a furious, and the surrounding ck mist instantly converged toward it, causing the ck mes around its body to rear up violently.
All of a sudden, the ghostly head also vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile, the Lightning Bird had only just appeared somewhere far away amid a sh of lightning when a burst of spatial fluctuations emerged not far behind it, following which the giant ghostly head appeared, enshrouded within a vast expanse of ck mes.
As soon as the ghostly head appeared, it immediately opened its mouth to release three more ck threads that shot forth toward the Lightning Bird at an astonishing speed.
The Lightning Bird hurriedly flew through the air as a bolt of silver lightning, just barely evading the ck threads before vanishing once again.
The giant ghostly head began cackling with glee, like a predator stalking its prey, as it also vanished into thin air.
After that, Han Li continued to flee through the Soul Stirring Winds while the giant ghostly head gave chase, and no matter what Han Li did to try and escape, even resorting to his lightning teleportation array at one point, the giant ghostly head remained hot on his heels.
Chapter 391: Saved
Chapter 391: Saved
Some timeter, the Lightning Bird appeared somewhere within the Soul Stirring Winds amid a sh of silver lightning, but the arcs of silver lightning around its body had already diminished significantly.
All of a sudden, the Lightning Bird retracted its wings before reverting back to its human form.
Right at this moment, the space no more than 10,000 feet away shuddered, immediately following which the giant ghostly head emerged amid a vast expanse of ck mes.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
Continuing to run away like this was simply going to be futile, and even though he didn''t want to use Daoist Xie, he had no choice but to do so.
With that in mind, arcs of golden lightning emerged over his body, and Daoist Xie was getting ready to strike at any moment.
The giant ghostly head seemed to have also sensed something, and a serious look appeared in its eyes.
Right at this moment, the ck mist behind it was abruptly stirred up into a frenzy, following which a ball of dazzling yellow light shot out from within.
It was an ovr burst of yellow light that was over 100 feet in size, and it was revolving rapidly as it hurtled through the air.
Furthermore, the yellow light was very dense, making it impossible to clearly identify what was inside it, and it was giving off formidable energy fluctuations.
As soon as the burst of yellow light appeared, a streak of crimson light with countless crimson runes shing within it immediately shot forth.
All of the crimson runes then converged to form a translucent crimson thread that shot into the giant ghostly head at an astonishing speed, piercing through the ck mes around it with ease.
The crimson thread was so fast that only after it had flown into the giant ghostly head did it realize what had happened, upon which it instantly swung around.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom suddenly rang out from within the ghostly head, and it immediately stiffened, following which the ck mes around it began to churn violently.
Another resounding boom rang out as a pir of crimson mes exploded out of the ghostly head like a volcanic eruption, sending waves of scorching heat sweeping in all directions.
In the span of just a few seconds, the entire ghostly head disintegrated into a vast expanse fo ck mes.
A sharp screech rang out from deep within the ck mes, following which a ck shadow flew out from within, then sped away into the distance, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as blue light shed within his pupils, and he was able to catch a glimpse of the ck shadow.
It was a humanoid creature with a disproportionatelyrge head, and it was wielding the very same trident that Han Li had previously been attacked by.
Unfortunately, the ck shadow had fled too quickly for Han Li to get a good look at it.
Han Li withdrew his gaze as he turned his attention to the ball of yellow light. At the same time, he flew back in retreat while making a hand seal, and the Seven Bright Star Rings immediately emerged from his body.
The seven rings hovered around him, forming an orderly star array, and all of the rings were releasing dazzling starlight that connected together to form a starlight restriction.
Even though the ball of yellow light had helped him force the ghostly head into retreat, he was not so naive to believe that this was an ally, so he had to take the necessary safety precautions.
Meanwhile, the ball of yellow light swiveled around slightly, then faded to reveal a yellow flying boat that was around 40 to 50 in length.
It resembled a flying dragon, and it seemed to have been constructed from some type of yellow spirit wood.
At the front of the boat were embedded a pair of bright yellow egg-sized ovr crystals that were giving off a special type ofw fluctuation, but Han Li wasn''t able to identify the crystals.
There were two people standing next to each other on the flying boat, one of which was none other than Daoist Hu Yan!
There was a rectangr object on his back that was enveloped within a yellow cloth. The object was around a foot in length, and the yellow cloth seemed to be able to keep out spiritual sense, making it impossible for Han Li to see what was beneath it.
Standing beside Daoist Hu Yan was none other than Yun Ni, and a stunned look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
"Elder Hu Yan! Elder Yun Ni!"
"I sensed from afar that a battle was taking ce here, so I decided toe and take a look, but I certainly wasn''t expecting to see you here," Daoist Hu Yan chuckled.
Meanwhile, Yun Ni merely nodded at Han Li without saying anything.
"I was also not expecting to meet the two of you here," Han Li said with a smile as he made a hand seal to withdraw the starlight restriction around him.
Daoist Hu Yan was his closest acquaintance back in the ze Dragon Dao, and the two of them had been quite close.
Ever since the incident back in the ze Dragon Dao, Han Li had been keeping tabs on news pertaining to Daoist Hu Yan, but he certainly wasn''t expecting to run into him here.
"Looks like we really are connected by fate," Daoist Hu Yan mused with a smile.
"Thank you for stepping in and forcing that ck shadow into retreat, Elder Hu Yan," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute.
"Don''t worry about it, I just so happened to be passing through anyway. Speaking of which, how did you end up being pursued by that Yin Wraith? That thing is not easy to deal with, and you''re extremely fortunate not to have been devoured by it," Daoist Hu Yan said with a serious expression.
"So that''s what it''s called. That thing was indeed quite formidable. Do you know its origins, Elder Hu Yan?" Han Li asked.
"Yin Wraiths are a type of creature unique to this area. It''s impossible to ascertain their exact cultivation base, but even the average Golden Immortal would struggle to escape the fate of being devoured by one. However, these creatures generally only appear in the deepest parts of the Soul Stirring Winds, so it''s very rare to see one so far on the outskirts," Daoist Hu Yan mused with a befuddled expression.
"In any case, these Yin Wraiths are quite powerful, but they''re not very intelligent, so now that this one''s fled in retreat, it won''te back," Daoist Hu Yan continued.
"That''s good to hear. If I hadn''t run into the two of you here, I would''ve most likely met my demise," Han Li replied as he extended a grateful nod.
"Now that we''re no longer in the ze Dragon Dao, I think it would be best to do away with the ''elder'' title," Daoist Hu Yan said with a meaningful expression.
Han Li nodded in agreement.
He had joined the Reincarnation Pce, while Daoist Hu Yan was most likely already a member of the Reincarnation Pce, so they were once again part of the same organization, but Han Li chose not to reveal this information.
"I saw a while back that you''ve also be a wanted fugitive of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, Fellow Daoist Li. I must say, I feel a little guilty about this. If we hadn''t been so close back in the ze Dragon Dao, you wouldn''t have been implicated by connection," Daoist Hu Yan said in an apologetic voice.
"The Northern cial Immortal Pce isn''t actually after me because of my connection to you. Instead, I have other differences with the Northern cial Immortal Pce," Han Li exined in an ambiguous manner.
"I see. Hold on a minute, have you already reached the pinnacle of the True Immortal Stage? No wonder you were able to ward off that Yin Wraith," Daoist Hu Yan said with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
Yun Ni had been standing beside Daoist Hu Yan in silence this entire time, and she was clearly also quite taken back to hear this.
"I was simply very fortunate to have made some progress in my cultivation since west met," Han Li replied in a humble manner.
"Back when you first joined the ze Dragon Dao, you were still only at the early-True Immortal Stage, yet you''ve reached the pinnacle of thete-True Immortal Stage in just a few centuries since then. I''ve never heard of anyone in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region making such rapid progress!" Daoist Hu Yan eximed with an incredulous expression.
"You''re far too kind, Senior Hu Yan. I was only able to make such fast progress by obtaining some pills by chance," Han Li exined, once again intentionally keeping things very ambiguous.
"Is that so? I suppose with the right pills, one can indeed significantly enhance their rate of cultivation progress," Daoist Hu Yan mused with a thoughtful expression.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this.
Thanks to the Heaven Controlling Vial, he was able to make rapid progress in his cultivation, but the downside was that this incredible progress could attract much suspicion from those who had known him over any substantial period of time.
With that in mind, Han Li didn''t want to linger on this topic, so he quickly changed the subject. "By the way, what are you two doing here?"
"After escaping from the ze Dragon Dao, we''ve constantly been in hiding from the Northern cial Immortal Pce, but on this asion, we have to made a trip to the ck Wind Sea for an important matter, but the teleportation array is closed indefinitely, so we had no choice but to pass through these Soul Stirring Winds," Daoist Hu Yan exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a contemtive nod.
"Why are you also here, Fellow Daoist Li? Could it be that you just came from the ck Wind Sea?" Yun Ni suddenly asked.
"That''s correct, Senior Yun Ni. The ck Wind Sea is not a very safe ce at the moment," Han Li replied.
A hint of tion shed through both Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni''s eyes upon seeing this, and that certainly didn''t escape Han Li''s attention.
"Why did youe to a ce as secluded as the ck Wind Sea in the first ce, Fellow Daoist Li?" Yun Ni asked.
"Prior to joining the ze Dragon Dao, I actually stayed in the ck Wind Sea for some time. After bing a wanted fugitive of the Immortal Pce, I decided to lie low for a while, so I came back to the ck Wind Sea, and I''ve been able to cultivate in rtive peace for the past few centuries. However, there''s been a great deal of unrest in the ck Wind Sea ofte, and it''s no longer safe for me to stay there, so I decided to leave. I also decided to cross through the Soul Stirring Winds due to the inessibility of the teleportation array, but it seems I was overconfident in my own powers," Han Li said with a self-deprecating expression.
"What''s been happening in the ck Wind Sea recently?" Daoist Hu Yan asked.
Chapter 392: Imminent Emergence of the Immortal Manor
Chapter 392: Imminent Emergence of the Immortal Manor
Daoist Hu Yan swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of red light as he spoke, and the streak of light flew toward Han Li before hovering in front of him.
Han Li focused his gaze on the streak of red light to discover that it contained a golden jade vial that was giving off a faint medicinal aroma.
"This is a vial of Six Profound Pills that are very effective for both recovery and restorative purposes. It must''ve been quite a taxing journey for you through these Soul Stirring Winds, so these pills will be perfect for you," Daoist Hu Yan said.
"I appreciate the kind gesture, Senior Hu Yan, but I can''t ept these pills. You''ve already saved me from that Yin Wraith, so I certainly can''t ask forpensation just for answering a few simple questions," Han Li said with a shake of his head as he returned the jade vial to Daoist Hu Yan, who stowed it away again without raising any objections.
After a brief pause, Han Li gave Daoist Hu Yan a recount of what he had seen in the ck Wind Sea, as well as revealing that cultivators of the Northern cial Immortal Pce had appeared on ck Wind Ind.
However, he made no mention of the fact that he had joined the Reincarnation Pce. After all, even though he spected that Daoist Hu Yan was also a member of the Reincarnation Pce, this wasn''t something that Daoist Hu Yan had ever openly admitted to.
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni listened to what he had to say with contemtive looks on their faces, and they didn''t appear overly surprised, as if they had already anticipated that all of this would happen.
"It seems like the two of you already expected all of this to happen in the ck Wind Sea," Han Li remarked with a smile.
Daoist Hu Yan raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, while Yun Ni took a nce at him, and both of them remained silent.
"If you don''t want to answer the question, then just pretend as if I never asked," Han Li said with a faint smile.
"It would be rude of us to keep secrets, given how candid you''ve been with us, Fellow Daoist Li," Daoist Hu Yan said after a brief moment of contemtion.
"Hu Yan!" Yun Ni''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"It''s fine. Fellow Daoist Li is no stranger to us, and perhaps we may need his help for what we''re going to do," Daoist Hu Yan said in a meaningful voice.
Yun Ni didn''t say anything further upon hearing this.
"What do you mean by that, Senior Hu Yan? If there are someplicated circumstances involved, then I''m happy to be kept in the dark," Han Li said with slightly furrowed brows.
He was trying to stay out of trouble as much as possible at the moment.
"Don''t be so quick to jump to conclusions, Fellow Daoist Li. What I''m about to tell you could be a brilliant opportunity," Daoist Hu Yan said with a hint of mystery in his voice.
"Alright, then please go ahead, Senior," Han Li prompted.
"You just mentioned the increased frequency of natural disasters taking ce all over the ck Wind Sea just now, and there''s actually a reason for that. To put it in simple terms, an immortal manor is about to emerge, and that''s causing a disturbance in the spirit veins in the region. The cultivators of the Northern cial Immortal Pce have alsoe precisely for this immortal manor, and that is our objective as well," Daoist Hu Yan revealed.
Han Li was quite taken aback to hear this, but at the same time, this answered some of the questions that had been on his mind ofte.
This exined all of the strange actions that had been taken by ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind, as well as the sudden appearance of Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators in the ck Wind Sea.
The Origin Void Pill that he had refined for Wyrm 3 most likely had something to do with this immortal manor as well.
With all these thoughts racing through his mind, Han Li took a deep breath to collect himself, then continued to listen to Daoist Hu Yan had to say.
"This immortal manor is called the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, and it''s a cave abode that was left behind by an almighty senior referred to as the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord countless years ago. It''s impossible to ascertain just how many years it''s been, but it was said that this immortal lord had gone to great lengths to seal this immortal manor in a spatial rift before vanishing without a trace.
¡°After that, once every few tens of thousands of years, the immortal manor would appear somewhere in the Northern cial Immortal Realm. Inside the immortal manor are countless precious treasures, pills, cultivation arts, and even immortal treasures. It could be said that it''s the number one treasure trove of the Northern cial Immortal Realm," Daoist Hu Yan continued, and at the same time, he was observing Han Li''s expresion.
However, Han Li''s reaction was rather unexpected to him. Aside from the initial surprise that Han Li had disyed, he had remained quite calm thereafter.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "Could it be that the opportunity you were referring to earlier is the opportunity for me to apany the two of you into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor?"
"Precisely! Are you not interested, Fellow Daoist Li?" Daoist Hu Yan asked.
Instead of answering Daoist Hu Yan''s question, Han Li said, "It sounds like the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor has already existed for countless years, so it must''ve emerged quite a few times in the past. Even if there were many precious treasures inside, surely they would''ve already all been taken at this point."
"You don''t have to be concerned about that, Fellow Daoist Li. The immortal manor is rife with restrictions, and it''s not easy to obtain the treasures inside. There have been many who have bitten off more than they could chew and lost their lives in the immortal manor, and the possessions that they left behind have added to the treasures waiting to be imed.
¡°On top of that, it''s said that someone discovered an independent area within the immortal manor during itsst opening, and no one knows they found in that area," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
Instead of disying any excitement upon hearing this, Han Li fell silent once again.
Daoist Hu Yan didn''t try to rush Han Li into a decision, merely waiting in silence as he pondered the offer.
"Thank you for the invitation, Senior, but as the saying goes, risk and reward alwayse hand in hand, and I''m not prepared to take such a risk right now, so I''ll have to turn down the offer this time," Han Li decided after some deliberation.
His top priority right now was to find a way to reach the Golden Immortal Stage, and apanying Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni into this Infernal Frost Immortal Manor was only going to lead him astray.
Most importantly, the Northern cial Immortal Pce had also sent many cultivators into the ck Wind Sea on this asion, with nock of Golden Immortals among them, and if they were to uncover his identity, then the immortal manor would most likely be his final resting ce.
Daoist Hu Yan seemed to have gleaned Han Li''s thoughts, and he asked, "Are you worried about encountering Immortal Pce cultivators inside the immortal manor?"
Han Li nodded in response. "I am but a mere True Immortal cultivator, and I''ll bepletely powerless to defend myself if I encounter any Immortal Pce cultivators."
Furthermore, both Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni were also wanted fugitives of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, so apanying them into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor would only further increase his chances of exposure.
"There''s no need to be concerned about that. I know that you''ve also joined the Transient Guild, and the disguises that can be adopted using Transient Guild masks are so profound that even Golden Immortal won''t be able to see through them easily. If we disguise ourselves as a trio of itinerant cultivators, I''m sure the cultivators of the Northern cial Immortal Pce wouldn''t be able to identify us.
¡°On top of that, there are always many powers that send cultivators into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor whenever it emerges, and that includes the Vast Flow Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect. The Northern cial Immortal Pce may be formidable, but they''ll have their hands full dealing with theirpetitors, so they won''t be able to target itinerant cultivators like the ones we''ll be posing as," Daoist Hu Yan said.
"Are you saying that the Vast Flow Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect have also sent people to the ck Wind Sea?" Han Li asked as a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
"The top three sects of our Northern cial Immortal Region have never been absent from such an asion. Even though the ze Dragon Dao is no longer the force it once was, the other two sects are rtively unaffected, and I''m sure they''ve already sent people to the ck Wind Sea upon receiving wind of the immortal manor''s imminent emergence.
¡°Additionally, due to what happened to the ze Dragon Dao, the other two sects are harboring more enmity toward the Northern cial Immortal Pce than ever before, and there''s a decent chance that they''ll join forces to target the Northern cial Immortal Pce in the immortal manor," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
"So essentially, the Northern cial Immortal Pce will be too busy dealing with them to focus on us, is that correct?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right," Daoist Hu Yan replied with a nod.
Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
Daoist Hu Yan did have a point. After all, not only was the Immortal Pce at odds with the Vast Flow Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect, it also had the Reincarnation Pce to worry about.
It was very likely that Wyrm 3 was also nning to venture into the immortal manor, and with so many enemies at every turn, it was very likely that the Northern cial Immortal Pce would bepletely preupied.
Daoist Hu Yan could tell that Han Li was beginning to warm to the idea, so he continued, "On top of that, there are many treasures in the immortal manor, and at your current cultivation base, perhaps you''ll be able to find an opportunity in there that can help you break through to the Golden Immortal Stage."
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and he asked, "Are there really treasures in the immortal manor that can help one make progress to the Golden Immortal Stage?"
"I''ve only heard rumors that they exist, but I''m inclined to believe those rumors. After all, there has been a past instance of someone in the immortal manor finding a cauldron full of premium pills that can enhance the cultivation base of Golden Immortals," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
"It sounds like you don''t know too much about the immortal manor yourself, Senior. Perhaps there are some precious treasures in there, but I really don''t want to risk my life for what could possibly be nothing more than a pipe dream," Han Li said after some contemtion.
"That''s a reasonable viewpoint. Cultivators like us do everything in our power to mitigate risk as much as possible. Having said that, you''re currently cultivating the Mantra Axis Scripture, right?" Daoist Hu Yan asked.
Han Li didn''t know why this question was being raised, but he still nodded in response. "That''s correct."
"I presume you''re not familiar with the origins of this cultivation art, right?" Daoist Hu Yan asked with a mysterious smile.
"Please enlighten me, Senior Hu Yan," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"The Mantra Axis Scripture may be the premier cultivation art of the ze Dragon Dao, but it doesn''te from the ze Dragon Dao. Instead, it was taken by Dao Lord Baili from a sect called the True Mantra Sect many years ago," Daoist Hu Yan revealed.
Chapter 393: Return
Chapter 393: Return
Han Li nodded in response to this revtion, and he wasn''t overly surprised.
Even though this was the True Immortal Realm, it wasn''t much different in nature from lower realms in that there were still conflicts constantly taking ce between cultivators, and every single day, there were countless sects being destroyed, with their treasures and cultivation arts being plundered.
With that in mind, Han Li chose to remain silent. Daoist Hu Yan had clearly mentioned this topic for a reason, and there had to have been a follow-up.
Sure enough, after a brief pause, Daoist Hu Yan continued, "What I want to tell you is that there are more than just three levels of the Mantra Treasured Axis. Instead, the full cultivation art has nine levels."
Han Li''s expression instantly changed drastically upon hearing this.
After reaching the pinnacle of thete-True Immortal Stage, he had begun nning for this future cultivation once he reached the Golden Immortal Stage, and he had tried to search for cultivation arts rted to thews of time that were beyond the True Immortal Stage, but to no avail. Hence, he was naturally extremely excited to hear that there were more parts of the Mantra Axis Scripture.
Han Li took a deep breath to suppress his own excitement, then asked, "In that case, why did Senior Baili dere that there were only three levels to the Mantra Axis Scripture?"
"Even in the context of the entire True Immortal Realm, cultivation arts rted to thews of time are exceedingly rare, and those that can support one''s cultivation to the Golden Immortal Stage are already extremely sought-after. If it were revealed that the Mantra Axis Scripture had more than three levels, then endless troubles would''ve most likely awaited the sect," Daoist Hu Yan exined.
"That does make sense," Han Li mused with a contemtive nod.
"On top of that, Dao Lord Baili only obtained the first six levels of the cultivation art, and at the moment, I have all six levels in my possession," Daoist Hu Yan revealed.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was growing rather excited as he asked, "What do you need me to do, Senior Hu Yan?"
"All you need to do is apany us into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor and help me obtain a certain item. After that, I''ll give you thetter three levels of the cultivation art," Daoist Hu Yan replied with a smile.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, Daoist Hu Yan stood calmly with his hands sped behind his back, seeminglypletely unconcerned by the possibility that Han Li could reject him.
A long whileter, Han Li raised his head as he said, "If what you''re telling me is true, then I''m certainly open to considering the offer. However, I have to make sure that you really do have thetter three levels of Mantra Axis Scripture in your possession."
Daoist Hu Yan faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response as he flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip. After that, he cast a few incantation seals into the jade slip before tossing it at Han Li.
Han Li caught the jade slip before briefly inspecting its contents with his spiritual sense, then nodded as he dered, "This indeed a continuation of the Mantra Axis Scripture."
Only the first few lines of the jade slip were revealed to him, but having already mastered the first three levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture, he was naturally able to identify from those few lines whether this was the fourth level of the cultivation art.
"In that case, do we have ourselves an agreement?" Daoist Hu Yan asked with a smile.
"Before I answer that, I have a question that I''d like to ask you," Han Li replied.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Li," Daoist Hu Yan prompted.
"I am just a True Immortal cultivator, and my powers are far inferior to yours, so even if I apany you into the immortal manor, I struggle to see how I can offer you any meaningful assistance. I''m sure there must be a reason why you''re willing to offer me such substantialpensation for my participation, and I want to know that reason," Han Li said.
"Even if you hadn''t asked me this question, I would''ve exined it to you. I''ve already told you just now that I''m entering the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor in order to obtain a certain item. During this process, my chances of sess will be significantly increased if I can benefit from the assistance of your Mantra Treasured Axis," Daoist Hu Yan exined.
"If it''s a precious treasure that you''re going after, then there will surely be people fighting over it. Will that not put us in a dangerous situation?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"There will definitely be some danger, but the Mantra Axis Scripture is an extremely precious cultivation, so you can''t expect to obtain it without taking any risk. Of course, we''ll do everything in our power to keep you safe, but I can''t make any promises beyond that," Daiost Hu Yan replied.
Han Li still seemed to be rather hesitant upon hearing this.
"How about this? As a show of sincerity, as long as you''re willing to enter the immortal manor with us, I can give you the fourth level of the Mantra Axis Scripture right away, and after we obtain the item that I''m searching for, I''ll give you the subsequent two levels," Daoist Hu Yan said.
Han Li contemted the matter for a moment longer upon hearing this, then nodded in agreement to the offer.
"Alright, in that case, we have ourselves an agreement. Rest assured, you can count on me to follow through on my promises," Daoist Hu Yan said with a smile.
"That was never a concern for me, Senior Hu Yan. We''ve known each other for many years, and I''m well aware of your integrity and character," Han Li replied with a smile of his own.
"Come and board our flying boat, Fellow Daoist Li. We''re still inside the Soul Stirring Winds right now, and this is not a ce anyone should stay in for an extended period of time," Daoist Hu Yan said as he made an inviting hand gesture.
Han Li duly obliged, flying onto the yellow flying boat, and Daoist Hu Yan made a hand seal, upon which the entire flying boat began to radiate dazzling yellow light, forming a ball of yellow radiance that epassed the entire boat.
Immediately thereafter, the ball of yellow light set off at a remarkable speed, and it was giving offtype of special energy fluctuations that seemed to be capable of suppressing Soul Stirring Winds, as evidenced by the face that all of the Soul Stirring Winds in the path of the ball of yellow light instantly parted to grant it free passage.
Sitting on the flying boat, Han Li was surprised to discover that he was unable to hear the sounds of the Soul Stirring Winds at all.
It seemed that this flying boat had simr properties to his Wind Shelter Bead, except those properties were significantly more enhanced in the former.
With that in mind, he began to carefully inspect the flying boat, particrly the three yellow crystals embedded into the boat.
Yun Ni noticed what Han Li was looking at, and she exined, "Those crystalse from the remains of Evil Warding Beasts."
"Evil Warding Beasts? The same beasts that are said to be able to bring luck and ward off misfortune?" Han Li asked with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
He had seen records of this type of beast in some ancient scriptures in the past. It was said that these beasts possessed the innate ability to suppress all evil entities, thereby earning itself a resounding reputation in the True Immortal Realm.
It was also said that those who had such a beast by their side would always be blessed with good fortune, and for this reason, Evil Warding Beasts had been hunted to near extinction many years ago.
"I don''t know if Evil Warding Beasts can bring good fortune or not, but Hu Yan used their remains to refine this flying boat, and quite evidently, it''s very effective at warding off Soul Stirring Winds," Yun Ni replied with a faint smile.
"I see, as expected of a man of Senior Hu Yan''s talents. By the way, where is Bai Suyuan right now?" Han Li asked.
"Yuan''er had already left the ze Dragon Dao prior to the preaching ceremony, and she''s currently cultivating in a safe ce," Yun Ni replied.
"That''s good to hear," Han Li replied with a nod.
At the mention of Bai Suyuan, Han Li couldn''t help but think of Meng Qianqian and the others. In order to avoid exposing his own identity, he hadn''t contacted them at all sincest parting ways with them.
However, everyone had to forge rely on themselves in life, and perhaps Meng Qianqian and the others could carve out their own paths without his protection.
Han Li shook his head to rid himself of this train of thought, then closed his eyes and began to cultivate.
Three days passed by in the blink of an eye.
It only took the flying boat three days to cover the same distance that had taken Han Li about half a month to travel.
The three of them were standing in mid-air, looking at the sea up ahead, and Daoist Hu Yan mused, "So this is the ck Wind Sea..."
"The ck Wind Sea is on the outskirts of the Northern cial Immortal Region, so the world''s origin qi here is naturally far sparser than elsewhere. At the moment, we''re on the northwestern border of the ck Wind Sea. Here are some maps of the entire region," Han Li said as he pulled out a pair of jade slips before handing them to Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.
Daoist Hu Yan epted the jade slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it, upon which he raised an eyebrow as he remarked, "It looks like the ck Wind Sea is quite a massive region."
"The ck Wind Sea may be secluded, but it''s no smaller than the average continent," Han Li agreed with a nod.
Daoist Hu Yan''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing, and he stowed the jade slip away before flipping a hand over to summon a blue scroll, upon which was a piece of scenic artwork.
"That''s an Infernal Frost Scenic Painting!" Han Li eximed as his gaze fell upon the blue scroll.
"Oh? How do you know that, Fellow Daoist Li?" Daoist Hu Yan asked with a surprised expression.
"I once saw this item being sold in a secret auction held before the preaching ceremony, but that one had been an iplete artwork, yet even so, it had still been purchased for a very high price. Could it be that you were the one who purchased the item?" Han Li asked.
"An Infernal Frost Scenic Painting was sold at an auction before the preaching ceremony? This is the first time I''ve heard about this. However, I obtained this artwork from elsewhere, so it''s definitely not the same as the one that you saw," Daoist Hu Yan said with a surprised expression.
"Does that mean there are two of these Infernal Frost Scenic Paintings? Also, judging from its name, it seems to have something to do with the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, is that right?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. In order to enter the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, you must have an Infernal Frost Scenic Painting, so it acts as a key of sorts. ording to my knowledge, there are a total of eight of these paintings.
¡°The Northern cial Immortal Pce, the Dawn Fall Sect, the Vast Flow Pce, and the ze Dragon Dao all have one each, while the remaining four are missing. The one that you saw during that auction must''ve been one of those four," Daoist Hu Yan mused.
Chapter 394: Temporary Separation
Chapter 394: Temporary Separation
Han Li was enlightened upon hearing this.
It was no wonder that the mysterious red-robed female cultivator had been willing to pay such a high price for an iplete Infernal Frost Scenic Painting. With that in mind, Han Li couldn''t help but wonder which organization she was affiliated with.
"You just mentioned that the ze Dragon Dao also has one such painting. Could it be..."
"That''s right, the ze Dragon Dao currently no longer has an Infernal Frost Scenic Painting. The painting has always been in the possession of Dao Lord Baili, but now that Dao Lord Baili and I have both left the sect, we naturally took the painting with us," Daoist Hu Yan replied with a smile.
Han Li shook his head as he heaved a faint sigh. "At the height of its powers, our ze Dragon Dao was ranked alongside the likes of the Vast Flow Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect, with 13 Golden Immortal dao lords and thousands of True Immortals among its ranks, as well as countless subsidiary powers.
¡°If Dao Lord Ouyang and the others hadn''t colluded with the Northern cial Immortal Pce, there was no way that the Immortal Pce would''ve been able to do anything to our ze Dragon Dao."
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni''s expressions both darkened slightly upon hearing this, and it was clear that this was still something that weighed on their mind.
"To be honest, what you saw was only a surface-level picture. In reality, deep-rooted conflicts had already been raging between the 13 dao lords for a very long time, and if it wasn''t for Dao Lord Baili, the ze Dragon Dao would''ve been left in the dust by the Vast Flow Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect long ago. There''s no point in mentioning this now, let''s focus on the matter at hand," Daoist Hu Yan sighed.
With that, he began to chant an incantation while making a rapid string of hand seals, and streaks of blue light flew out of his hands to form a circr array projection that was radiating dazzling blue light.
After that, Daoist Hu Yan swept a hand through the air, and the Infernal Frost Scenic Painting that he was holding flew through the air as a streak of blue light beforending at the center of the array in a sh.
Wisps of blue light that resembled clouds and mist instantly began to rise up from the artwork, and a cial aura also began to spread through the surrounding area, causing the nearby air temperature to plummet.
In the blink of an eye, the surface of the sea within a radius of several dozen kilometers down below had frozen solid, while snowkes were drifting through the air.
The Infernal Frost Scenic Painting was hovering at the center of the array, and thetter was revolving around the former.
The two were resonating with one another, and the blue light that they were radiating intertwined together before shing in a rhythmic fashion, as if they were detecting for something.
A hint of curiosity appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, but he didn''t ask any questions as he didn''t want to distract Daoist Hu Yan.
As for Yun Ni, he wasn''t very familiar with her, so he naturally wasn''t going to ask her any questions, either.
Momentster, Daoist Hu Yan swept a sleeve through the air, and the entire blue array projection instantly disintegrated into specks of blue light that were then scattered in the wind.
The light radiating from the Infernal Frost Scenic Painting also faded before it returned to Daoist Hu Yan''s grasp.
At the same time, the cial aura in the air also receded, but the surface of the sea down below remained frozen solid.
"How are things looking?" Yun Ni asked.
"Judging from the current signs, there should be roughly three or four years left until the immortal manor emerges," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
Han Li took a nce at the blue scroll that Daoist Hu Yan was holding upon hearing this. It seemed that this painting wasn''t just a key.
"What about the exact location?" Yun Ni asked.
"I''m unable to detect it from here, so we must be too far away. Thankfully, we still have time. We can decide on a few locations on the map, then try again from those ces," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
Yun Ni nodded in response.
Daoist Hu Yan turned to Han Li as he asked, "Do you have any ns, Fellow Daoist Li? We still have some time left, would you like to stay with us or make some preparations on your own?"
Han Li considered his options for a moment, then replied, "If I''m going to be apanying the two of you into the immortal manor, then it would be best for me to make some preparations, so I think I''ll go off on my own for now."
"That''s probably a good idea. The immortal manor is fraught with peril, so it would be in your best interests to make some preparations," Daoist Hu Yan replied with a nod.
He then flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized red array te before handing it to Han Li as he continued, "Find a safe ce, and if you need anything from me, contact me using this Bonfire te."
Han Li epted the array te to find that there was a me design emzoned on its surface, and he nodded in response before stowing it away.
After that, Daoist Hu Yan cautioned Han Li not to be discovered by cultivators from the Immortal Pce, then promptly departed with Yun Ni.
Han Li lingered in the area for a moment longer, then flew away in a different direction as a streak of azure light.
Half a monthter.
Han Li emerged near Dark Veil Ind amid a sh of azure light.
He took a nce at the ind to find that all of the restrictions were still in ce, indicating that the ind remained in lockdown.
He then withdrew his gaze before flying away into the distance.
On the surface of the sea not far away from Dark Veil Ind was an enormous vortex that was rumbling like thunder. All of the seawater within a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers were converging toward the vortex before being sucked into it.
Han Li flew straight into the sea, and before long, he arrived on the seabed.
Within a blue restriction sat his Earthly Deity Avatar with its eyes closed and its legs crossed, and there was a waterw thread hovering above its head, slowly revolving in the same direction as the vortex up above.
The surrounding seawater was constantly converging toward the vortex before being rapidly converted into drops of heavy water, and at this point, there was already a ball of heavy water the size of a human head between the Earthly Deity Avatar''s palms.
The ball of heavy water didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way upon first nce, but Han Li could clearly sense that it was different.
In particr, its density far exceeded that of heavy water of the first level.
Han Li flew into the blue restriction as an azure shadow, then sat down with his legs crossed.
With only three or four years left, he couldn''t be bothered to search for another ce to go into seclusion, so he decided to return to Dark Veil Ind.
He made a beckoning motion, and the ball of second level heavy water flew out of his avatar''s grasp beforending in front of him.
Just this small ball of second level heavy water was already as heavy as a mountain that was several thousand feet tall.
Han Li closed his eyes as he released his spiritual sense, and he could sense tremendous water-attribute spiritual power surging out of the ball of second level heavy water, striking him with the false impression that he was currently standing in front of a vastke.
He opened his eyes, and a pleased look appeared on his face.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly, and he began considering refining all of his first level heavy water into second level heavy water.
However, he then shook his head to dismiss the thought.
He didn''t have much time on his hands at the moment, and it was best to leave such a time-intensive task until after he returned from the immortal manor.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li returned the ball of heavy water to his Earthly Deity Avatar, following which a contemtive look appeared on his face.
With only several years left before the emergence of the immortal manor, there wasn''t enough time for him to make any substantial progress in any of his cultivation arts. Hence, the only way that he could maximize his powers in a short time would be to work on his spirit treasures and immortal treasures.
Immortal treasures that he had taken from others like the Seven Bright Star Rings weren''t going to be easy to refine, so it seemed that his only options were the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and the Heavy Water True Axis.
With that in mind, Han Li raised a hand, and a series of streaks of azure light flew out of his sleeve, transforming into 72 small azure swords with thin arcs of golden lightning shing over them.
These were none other than his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and they were giving off a tremendous and peerlessly sharp aura, causing the nearby seawater to quiver and shudder.
The swords had been slightly damaged during his battle against that Yin Wraith, but after being nurtured in his body over the past few days, they were close to making a full recovery.
Han Li lifted his other hand, and his Heavy Water True Axis also flew out of his body.
He looked back and forth between the two treasures for a moment, then ultimately decided on the Heavy Water True Axis and stowed his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords away.
While his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were his bonded treasure, it was not going to be easy to enhance their powers in a short time, and doing so without a proper n could have a detrimental effect.
As for his Heavy Water True Axis, this was a faux immortal treasure that he had created using a cultivation art, and it still had much room for improvement. On top of that, even if it were damaged from a failed refinement attempt, the consequences would be far from catastrophic.
After making up his mind, Han Li took a deep breath, then made a hand seal, and the Water Dao Rune on the Heavy Water True Axis instantly lit up, releasing waves of blue ripples.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
As he had progressed in his cultivation through the years, he had developed a deeper understanding of how to use the Heavy Water True Axis in battle. It wasn''t going to be very difficult to enhance its power, and he had even considered refining the treasure again on multiple past asions.
He flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip, which contained the refinement method of the faux axis.
After that, he pressed the jade slip to his own forehead and closed his eyes.
Only after sittingpletely still for three days did he reopen his eyes, then rose to his feet before pulling out some materials and beginning to make some inscriptions on the ground.
A day and a nightter, an extremelyplex array had appeared on the ground.
Within the array were eight ring designs that were giving off bursts of blue light, and Han Li was seated at the center of the array.
His Earthly Deity Avatar had also stopped manifesting heavy water and was seated across from him.
Han Li made a hand seal while opening his mouth to release a ball of azure nascent mes, and at the same time, his Earthly Deity Avatar also opened its mouth to release a ball of blue mes that mixed together with the azure nascent mes.
The two mes came together to form a blue and azure fireball that was several feet in size, and it enveloped the Heavy Water True Axis to scorch it with intense heat.
All of the runes on the Heavy Water True Axis instantly lit up as it began to tremble and buzz.
Chapter 395: Remodeling
Chapter 395: Remodeling
Han Li began to chant an incantation while casting a series of incantation seals forward, and the array immediately began to operate.
The eight ring designs within the array blurred momentarily, following which a series of profound golden runes appeared within them, intertwining with one another to form numerous spherical projections in mid-air.
As Han Li continued to cast more incantation seals into the array, the spherical projections exploded into balls of blue mes, making it appear as if the entire array had been set alight.
Right at this moment, he switched to a different hand seal, and all of the balls of fire drifted out of the array before converging toward the Heavy Water True Axis.
The fireball around the Heavy Water True Axis rapidly swelled to the size of a millstone, and the heat that it was radiating was rapidly elevating, causing the surrounding air temperature to spike drastically.
In the face of these scorching blue mes, the spirit patterns on the surface of the axis gradually began to turn transparent.
A month flew by in a sh.
At this point, the Heavy Water True Axis had already turnedpletely transparent, resembling a translucent blue crystal that was radiating dazzling blue light.
However, this blue light was constantly pulsating, and it was as if the Heavy Water True Axis could sumb to the heat and melt into a liquid form at any moment.
At the same time, the Water Dao Rune on the axis had be even brighter and was giving off formidable waterw fluctuations.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, and seven or eight different materials appeared in front of him.
All of these materials were different shades of blue and contained waterw powers.
He made a hand seal while sweeping a sleeve through the air, and all of the blue mes in the entire array gradually converged into the eight ring designs in the array.
A few secondster, all of the blue mes in the array hadpletely gathered in the eight rings, forming eight pirs of blue fire.
With a wave of Han Li''s hand, the eight materials each flew into one of the eight fiery pirs.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li began to chant an incantation, and the eight pirs of blue fire began to rapidly revolve, transforming into eight fiery tornadoes that were radiating scorching heat.
The eight materials within the fiery tornadoes melted into balls of blue liquid one after another, and within each ball of blue liquid was a blue rune that symbolized thew powers that the materials contained.
Han Li gave a slight nod upon seeing this, then switched to a different hand seal once again, upon which the blue liquid within the eight pirs of fire flew out in unison before vanishing into the ball of fire around the Heavy Water True Axis.
Han Li then took a deep breath as a look of concentration appeared on his face, and he began to make a rapid string of hand seals.
Meanwhile, the ball of fire around the Heavy Water True Axis began to revolve, quickly forming a fiery vortex.
The eight pirs of fire within the array also converged and fused into the fiery vortex, causing it to rapidly expand while also increasing in heat.
Large beads of sweat were beginning to appear on Han Li''s forehead as he continued to make a rapid string of hand seals, and the eight balls of liquid gradually fused into the Heavenly Water True Axis while the fiery vortex continued to revolve.
With each ball of liquid that was infused, the blue light radiating from the axis would brighten slightly, and countless blue runes could be seen dancing within the light.
The blue light appeared very chaotic, while all of the blue runes inside were also jumping around in apletely haphazard fashion, causing the entire axis to tremble in an unstable fashion.
Right at this moment, the Earthly Deity Avatar''s eyes abruptly sprang open, and it made a hand seal as a thick blue translucent thread appeared above its head.
Immediately thereafter, the blue thread shot forth and infused itself into the Heavy Water True Axis.
A burst of blinding blue light erupted out of the Heavy Water True Axis, illuminating the entire seabed within a radius of several hundred kilometers.
A burst of formidable waterw fluctuations were emanating from the blue light, sending visible ripples spreading through the surrounding air.
All of a sudden, all of the blue runes around the Heavy Water True Axis were abruptly stabilized before vanishing into the axis in a sh.
Han Li immediately began casting incantation seals into the axis upon seeing this, and the axis began to buzz and tremble, as was the case with the blue light that it was emitting.
In the next instant, the surface of the sea within a radius of hundreds of kilometers began to churn violently, and countless vortexes appeared beneath the surface.
All of a sudden, countless des and arrows of water began to sweep through the seawater, shredding everything in their path.
All of the living marine creatures within a radius of several hundred kilometers were instantly ughtered, while a thickyer of the seabed had also been stripped away.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which an ted look appeared in his eyes.
He then took a deep breath, and the tion in his eyes faded. At the same time, the flow of azure nascent mes surging out of his mouth ceased, and the array on the ground instantly stopped functioning as well.
The Earthly Deity Avatar also withdrew the blue nascent me that was streaming out of its mouth. With all of the mes out of the way, all that was left was the semi-transparent Heavy Water True Axis hovering in mid-air.
Han Li opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence, fused into the Heavy Water True Axis in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, the semi-transparent axis quickly began to take on an opaque ck color, and at the same time, it was rapidly cooling down.
Blue light shed over the axis''s surface, and nine specks of gentle blue light emerged before transforming into nine Water Dao Runes.
A burst of waterw fluctuations that were several times more formidable than before surged out of the Heavy Water True Axis, and a hint of tion appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
After toiling away for over a month, he had finally seeded.
He was looking a little weary, and only after taking a recovery pill did hisplexion gradually improve.
Han Li exhaled as he examined the Heavy Water True Axis, and the satisfaction in his eyes grew even more pronounced.
The refinement had been unexpectedly sessful, and the axis''s power had been significantly enhanced. Even though he hadn''t tested it in battle yet, he estimated that it was at least four to five times more powerful than before.
The primary reason for this was the substantial investment that Han Li had made, infusing eight materials that contained waterw powers into the Heavy Water True Axis at once. Many of these materials had been obtained from Han Li''s past enemies, and they could''ve been used to refine an immortal treasure or two ofparable power to the Heavy Water True Axis.
Now that all of them had been infused into the Heavy Water True Axis, it only made sense that there was such a significant enhancement in power.
Aside from that, there was another important factor, which was that the waterw thread that the Earthly Deity Avatar had manifested from the power of faith had also been infused into the Heavy Water True Axis.
A waterw thread manifested by an Earthly Immortal wasn''t going to be as pure as one manifested by a True Immortal who had truly mastered thews of water, but it was still nothing to be scoffed at.
Han Li made a beckoning motion to draw the Heavy Water True Axis into his grasp, and he felt as if he were holding a vast sea, allowing him to control all of the water-attribute spiritual power within a radius of thousands of kilometers.
Han Li tossed the Heavy Water True Axis before making a hand seal, and the axis began to emit dazzling blue light as all nine of the Water Dao Runes on its surface lit up, forming a blue ring of light.
He closed his eyes as he carefully sensed the change taking ce within the blue ring of light, trying to glean thews of water.
Even though he was currently cultivating thews of time, it naturally couldn''t hurt to master morews.
Having just remodeled the Heavy Water True Axis, he had developed a deeper understanding of thews of water, and he was certainly going to take full advantage of this opportunity.
A burst of water-attributew powers began to spread through the area, and the nearby seawater began to churn violently once again, sending enormous waves sweeping over the surface.
Right at this moment, a burst of ck light shed from the Heavenly Water Pouch strapped to the Earthly Deity Avatar''s waist, and a ball of second level heavy water flew out from within.
As soon as the ball of heavy water emerged, it immediately flew toward the Heavy Water True Axis before fusing into it.
The light radiating from the Heavy Water True Axis rippled slightly, then became a little brighter.
Han Li''s eyes sprang open as a hint of surprise appeared on his face, but he made no effort to stop what was happening.
The Heavy Water True Axis continued to revolve as one ball of heavy water after another flew out of the Heavenly Water Pouch before fusing into the axis.
Due to the time constraints, the Earthly Deity Avatar hadn''t manifested much second level heavy water, and before long, the Heavenly Water Pouch waspletely emptied.
After absorbing all of this heavy water, the blue light radiating from the axis had be brighter, while the axis itself had also be significantly heavier.
This was a very pleasant surprise to Han Li.
Back when the Heavy Water True Axis was first refined, it hadn''t been all that powerful, and only after it had absorbed a huge quantity of first level heavy water did it be one of his trump cards.
Unfortunately, it was unable to absorb more heavy water beyond a certain point, thereby stunting its growth, but now, following its remodeling, it had regained the ability to absorb heavy water.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and a ball of first level heavy water flew out of one of his Heavenly Water Pouches before enveloping the Heavy Water True Axis.
However, the Heavy Water True Axis seemed to be rather resistant to level one heavy water and refused to absorb it.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he quickly realized why this was happening.
Not only had the Heavy Water True Axis be far more powerful following the refinement process, the energy that it contained had also be far purer.
Inparison, the energy imbued within the first level heavy water was of an inferior level, so it would''ve actually only been detrimental for the axis to absorb first level heavy water.
"It looks like I''ll have to refine all of my first level heavy water, after all," he murmured to himself as he flipped a hand over to produce a Heavenly Water Pouch, then handed it to his Earthly Deity Avatar.
At this point, there were only roughly three years left until the emergence of the immortal manor, so time was very tight, and the more second level heavy water that he could refine, the more powerful the Heavy Water True Axis would be.
The Earthly Deity Avatar epted the Heavenly Water Pouch, then drew out arge ball of first level heavy water.
At the same time, dazzling blue light began to radiate from its body as bursts of power of faith were transmitted to it from afar, while a tiny blue thread of light appeared above his head.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face at the sight of the thin blue thread.
All of the waterw powers that the Earthly Deity Avatar had manifested from the power of faith had been infused into the Heavy Water True Axis, thereby leaving the avatar''s cultivation base severely impaired, and now, it had to start all over again in its manifestation ofw powers.
Chapter 396: Preparations
Chapter 396: Preparations
The Earthly Deity Avatar made a hand seal as it channeled is ck Sea Heavy Water Tome, and the thread of light above its head began to emit beams of blue light with countless tiny blue runes within them, shining upon the first level heavy water in its hands.
The heavy water instantly began to condense, slowly evolving into second level heavy water.
However, this process was extremely slow, and Han Li could only heave a faint sigh upon seeing this.
The rate of heavy water manifestation was extremely slow to begin with, and now that the avatar''s waterw powers had been significantly impaired, this process was only going to be even slower.
At this rate, it wasn''t going to be able to manifest much second level heavy water at all in three years.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li flipped a hand over to summon his Heaven Controlling Vial, inside of which was a drop of green spirit liquid.
He then cast an incantation into the vial, and all of a sudden, countless dark clouds began to gather in the sky, while the world''s origin qi began to churn violently.
Several dayster, Han Li was holding a time crystal in his hand.
With his immensete-True Immortal Stage immortal spiritual power, manifesting these time crystals was no longer very taxing on him at all.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the time crystal flew over to his Earthly Deity Avatar, following which the translucent golden thread inside fused into the thread of blue light.
The thread of blue light instantly brightened significantly as ayer of golden light appeared on its surface, while the rate at which the ball of first level heavy water in its hands was being converted into second level heavy water was sped up significantly.
Before long, the entire ball of first level heavy water had been converted into second level heavy water.
The Earthly Deity Avatar stowed the ball of heavy water away, then produced another ball of first level heavy water to continue the conversion process.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this.
Thankfully, the time crystals were capable of elerating this process. Otherwise, he would''ve been at a loss for what to do.
After lingering on the seabed for a while longer, he rose up through the water and quickly broke through the surface.
From there, he inspected his surroundings briefly before descending onto a small coral ind near Dark Veil Ind.
The seabed was quite peaceful and safe, but the moonlight wasn''t able to reach the seabed, so he wouldn''t be able to manifest more spirit liquid.
With a sweep of his sleeve, a series of array gs flew out beforending near the ind.
This was a very secluded ce, so Han Li didn''t bother to be too meticulous with his security measures, only setting up a few arrays before sitting down with his legs crossed and setting down his Heaven Controlling Vial beside him.
After that, he swept his sleeve through the air once again to summon the ingredients required to refine the Golden Soul Pill.
He had already gathered all of the required materials, but he had been too busy to refine the pill prior to this.
Now that he had nothing to do anyway, he decided to take advantage of this opportunity to refine this pill in preparation for a future breakthrough.
After meditating for some time to prime himself into the best condition, he flipped a hand over to produce his silver cauldron, then opened his mouth to release his me of Essence onto the underside of the cauldron.
After doing all of that, he summoned the jade box that contained Tao Yu''s nascent soul, then removed all of the restrictions around the nascent soul before transferring it into the cauldron.
Once that was done, he opened his mouth to release a stream of azure nascent mes that mixed together with the me of Essence, and the temperature within the cauldron was instantly significantly elevated.
Enveloped within the two mes, the nascent soul was being subjected to scorching heat while Han Li observed the changes taking ce within the nascent soul with rapt focus.
At the same time, he was constantly making hand seals to control the two-colored mes within the cauldron.
Close to a month flew by in the blink of an eye.
At this point, the nascent soul within the cauldron had shrunk down into a fist-sized golden bead with streaks of translucent light surging over its surface.
Han Li picked up another ingredient before transferring it into the cauldron, and close to another month flew by in a sh.
On this day, the world''s origin qi in the area suddenly began to rumble and churn, while beams of golden light emerged to form a series of golden flowers.
At the same time, heavenly music was ringing out across the heavens, and an ecstatic look appeared on Han Li''s face as he stared at the cauldron in front of him.
Hovering in the air above the cauldron was a longan-sized golden pill that was giving off dazzling golden radiance, and it was none other than a Golden Soul Pill.
The refinement process for the Golden Soul Pill wasn''t actually all thatplicated, and with Han Li''s current level of pill refinement proficiency, he was able to sessfully refine the pill in less than two months.
There was a projection of a miniature humanoid figure around the pill, and it was as if the pill possessed a soul.
At the same time, it was giving off a peculiar medicinal aroma, and as soon as Han Li breathed in this aroma, he could feel his own soul beginning to disy signs of making a breakthrough.
"As expected of a pill that can elevate one''s soul," Han Li praised as he carefully stored the Golden Soul Pill into a jade box, then adhered a few talismans to the box before stowing it away into his storage bracelet.
After that, he made a beckoning motion to draw his Heaven Controlling Vial to himself, then cast an incantation seal into it, and all of the world''s origin qi around the coral ind instantly began to converge toward the Heaven Controlling Vial in a frenzy
Several dayster, the surging world''s origin qi around the coral ind gradually subsided, while the Heaven Controlling Vial slowly descended, and the drop of spirit liquid inside had been converted into a time crystal.
He stowed the vial away, then took a recovery pill before sweeping a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which enveloped the time crystal before transporting it to the seabed.
Momentster, the streak of azure light returned from the seabed, carrying a Heavenly Water Pouch.
It was flying in a rather sluggish manner, as if it were carrying a huge mountain.
Han Li reached out to grab the Heavenly Water Pouch, and his arm instantly sank down a little.
He released his spiritual sense to inspect the contents of the pouch, and to his tion, he discovered that it already contained enough second level heavy water to fill a pond.
It seemed that with the time crystal speeding up the process, the Earthly Deity Avatar was able to manifest second level heavy water quite quickly, even though the avatar''s waterw powers were severely hampered.
With that in mind, he summoned his Heavy Water True Axis, then drew a ball of second level heavy water around the size of a human head out of the Heavenly Water Pouch.
The ball of heavy water then spread over the axis at Han Li''s behest, and blue light began to radiate from the nine Water Dao Runes on the Heavy Water True Axis, illuminating the entire nearby area a bright blue color.
The nine Water Dao Runes began to rapidly devour the second level heavy water like nine mouths, and it didn''t take long before all of the heavy water had been absorbed, following which the light radiating from the axis became slightly brighter once again.
Han Li continued this process without pause, infusing another ball of heavy water into the axis.
One ball of second level heavy water after another flew out of the Heavenly Water Pouch before fusing into the Heavy Water True Axis, and after a day and a night, the Heavenly Water Pouch was finally emptied.
The axis was glowing with dazzling blue radiance, and as it revolved, it was giving off astonishing power that was causing the nearby space to tremble incessantly.
It was clear that the axis had be noticeably more powerful after absorbing the heavy water.
Furthermore, unlike before, when the axis''s spiritual connection with Han Li had been severed after it had absorbed too much first level heavy water, even though the axis had absorbed close to a pond''s worth of second level heavy water, its spiritual connection with Han Li still remainedpletely unaffected.
Han Li''s gaze fell upon the nine Water Dao Runes on the axis as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
The axis''s improved tolerance capacity for heavy water was most likely due to the increase in the number of Water Dao Runes.
This was certainly good news as he wouldn''t have to refine the axis with his nascent me like before.
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Three yearster.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on the coral ind, and it was as if he had never moved from that spot in the past three years.
At this moment, a ball of radiant blue light was hovering in front of him, and beside it was a ball of heavy water.
Within the ball of blue light was the Heavy Water True Axis, and even though it was merely hovering in mid-air, it was still giving off an incredibly heavy aura that was causing the nearby space to tremble and ripple, as if even the space itself were unable to bear its enormous weight.
Han Li made a hand seal, and the Heavy Water True Axis began to slowly revolve.
The trembling of the surrounding space instantly became even more violent, while enormous waves were swept up over the nearby sea and gusts of ferocious wind were howling through the air. Thankfully, the coral ind remained unaffected thanks to the restrictions that had been set up in advance.
The blue light radiating from the Heavy Water True Axis enveloped the surrounding heavy water before rapidly absorbing it.
Once all of the heavy water was gone, Han Li made a beckoning motion, and the Heavy Water True Axis instantly stopped revolving. The blue light that it was radiating also faded as it fell into Han Li''s grasp.
As soon as the axis ceased in its rotation, all of the unrest in the surrounding area also subsided, and it was as if nothing had ever happened here.
The Heavy Water True Axis looked no different from before aside from the fact that the nine Water Dao Runes on its surface had be noticeablyrger, and they resembled nine blue swirling vortexes.
Furthermore, they were giving off far more formidable waterw fluctuations than before.
The nine bursts ofw fluctuations came together to form a formidable stream, and in terms of sheer volume ofw power, the axis possessed far more than any of Han Li''s other immortal treasures.
With this significantly enhanced Heavy Water True Axis, Han Li''s chances of survival in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor would undoubtedly be increased.
A hint of excitement appeared on his face as he examined the axis. Even though it had been absorbing second level heavy water for the past three years, it showed no signs of slowing down, so it was clear that it could still absorb far more.
Chapter 397: Well-prepared
Chapter 397: Well-prepared
With that in mind, Han Li patted the Heavenly Water Pouch strapped to his waist.
He still had quite arge quantity of first level heavy water left. Up to this point, only around a third of the heavy water in the pouch had been converted into second level heavy water before being absorbed by the Heavy Water True Axis, and he couldn''t help but wonder how much more the axis would be able to absorb.
He promptly stowed the axis away before flipping a hand over to summon the crimsonmunication array te that had been given to him by Daoist Hu Yan.
Three years had already passed by, and ording to what Daoist Hu Yan had said, the emergence of the immortal manor was imminent, yet Han Li hadn''t been contacted at all.
Has there been a change of ns?
Initially, he hadn''t actually been all that eager to go to this immortal manor. After all, there were many powers involved, including the Northern cial Immortal Region, and with so many Golden Immortals in the mix, it was going to be a very perilous trip. Even if there were many precious treasures inside the immortal manor, they were simply not worth risking his life over.
However, after learning that Daoist Hu Yan possessed three more levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture, he had no choice but to take this matter seriously, particrly after already having witnessed the tip of the iceberg when it came to the unfathomable power of thews of time.
With these thoughts running through his mind, he was considering whether he should be the one to contact Daoist Hu Yan, but he quickly abandoned the idea after some contemtion.
Regardless of whether Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni had found the entrance to the immortal manor, he wasn''t going to be able to help them, so the best thing for him to do was to remain patient and not disturb them.
Even though the ck Wind Sea wasn''t very safe at the moment, with theirbined powers, they should be safe unless they encountered an opponent of Xiao Jinhan''s caliber.
With that in mind, Han Li stowed the array te away as a contemtive look appeared in his eyes.
All of a sudden, he flipped a hand over to produce a storage pouch, which contained the remaining batches of Origin Void Pill ingredients.
After that, he stowed his Heaven Controlling Vial, then flew toward a certain direction, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Only after flying for several days without pause did Han Li stop on a deserted ind countless kilometers away from Dark Veil Ind.
This ce was already quite close to the Soul Stirring Winds, so there was a great deal of disturbance in the world''s origin qi, coupled with howling winds and enormous waves.
He paid no heed to the terrible environment as he released his spiritual sense throughout the surrounding area, and only after confirming that there were no potential hazards around did he withdraw his spiritual sense.
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a thick stack of array tools.
He then began to chant an incantation, and all of the array tools flew to various parts of the ind before vanishing out of sight.
Momentster, a yellow cloud restriction emerged to epass the entire ind.
In the blink of an eye, the ind waspletely isted from the outside world, and it was as if it had be an independent space.
Before long, a thick azure restriction had also been set up outside of the yellow cloud restriction, following which a white mist restriction appeared outside of the azure one.
In the blink of an eye, seven or eight restrictions had taken shape to epass the entire ind, and the outermost one was a blue restriction with countless ripples surging over its surface. As soon as this restriction appeared, the entire ind instantly vanished, blending in with the sea around it.
These were the exact same restrictions that Han Li had used to protect his temporary cave abode, so he was able to set them up in a very well-rehearsed fashion.
Han Li took a nce at his surroundings, then sat down with his legs crossed onto a plot of t ground at the center of the ind.
He then raised a hand to release a burst of silver light, which transformed into a silver cauldron thatnded in front of him.
Immediately thereafter came another streak of silver light. This time, it was the me of Essence ,and itnded on the underside of the cauldron.
After preparing everything, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce the storage pouch from before, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a batch of Origin Void Pill ingredients.
After taking some time topose himself, he immediately picked up one of the ingredients beside him before transferring it into the cauldron.
He was nning to use the remaining time before the emergence of the immortal manor to try and refine another Origin Void Pill. He didn''t know what the pill could be used for, but he spected that Wyrm 3 was most likely nning to use it in the immortal manor for some purpose.
Initially, he was only a little curious about this pill, but seeing as he was also going to venture into the immortal manor, he may as well refine one for himself. It certainly couldn''t hurt to be well-prepared, and perhaps the pill coulde in useful.
He had chosen toe all the way here to refine the pill instead of refining it near Dark Veil Ind in light of the pill tribtion that had descended thest time he had refined this pill.
Thanks to his prior experience, he was already quite proficient in the refinement of the Origin Void Pill, and he was flying through the steps with efficiency and precision.
While Han Li was refining the Origin Void Pill, a blue-robed middle-aged man was standing in mid-air above a nameless ind countless kilometers away.
The man was none other than Luo Qinghai, and at this moment, his brows were tightly furrowed in agitation, in stark contrast with his normalposed and measured demeanor.
Standing behind Luo Qinghai was the effeminate young man by the name of Nan Kemeng, and at this moment, his brows were also tightly furrowed.
Neither of them were saying anything, and the atmosphere was a little heavy.
Right at this moment, a streak of blue light appeared on the distant horizon, and both of them immediately turned to that direction.
The streak of blue light quickly arrived in front of Luo Qinghai and Nan Kemeng, then faded to reveal a middle-aged man with a coarse beard.
As soon as the man appeared, he cupped his fist to extend a salute, only for Luo Qinghai to raise a hand to stop him as he asked in an urgent voice, "No need for formalities. Have you discovered anything?"
The bearded man was silent for a moment, then shook his head in response. "The seven of us have scoured the areas that we''re responsible for several times, but none of us have been able to find anything."
Luo Qinghai''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but Nan Kemeng could clearly detect that the air temperature had dropped slightly.
"Should we continue, Pce Master?" the bearded man asked in a hesitant voice.
"Yes. Expand the scope of the search, and make sure no detail is missed," Luo Qinghai instructed in a grim voice.
"Yes, Pce Master," the bearded man replied, then flew away as a streak of light.
"Master, is it possible that the information we''ve received is inurate, and the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor isn''t actually going to be emerging in the ck Wind Sea?" Nan Kemeng asked.
"No. The signs of the immortal manor''s imminent emergence have be more and more apparent in the ck Wind Sea in recent years, and the Infernal Frost Scenic Painting is also reacting here, so there''s no mistaking it," Luo Qinghai replied with a shake of his head.
"In that case, why are we unable to find the entrance? ording to past records, as long as one has the painting, it shouldn''t be difficult to find the entrance of the immortal manor," Nan Kemeng said.
"There''s only one possibility..." Luo Qinghai mused as his eyes narrowed slightly.
"What is it?" Nan Kemeng asked.
Luo Qinghai offered on reply as he flipped a hand over to produce a small blue mirror, then cast an incantation seal into it, and immediately swelled to several times its original size while radiating dazzling blue light.
A series of images rapidly shed over the mirror, and only after a long while did the image stabilize, revealing a middle-aged man with a purplish-red face.
"How are things going on your end, Junior Martial Brother Fan?" Luo Qinghai asked, and he was speaking in a much warmer tone than when he was speaking with the bearded man from before.
"Not well, I''m afraid. The people from the Northern cial Immortal Pce suddenly disappeared some time ago along with some important figures from ck Wind Ind, and we''ve been unable to track them down up to this point," the man in the mirror replied with a shake of his head.
Luo Qinghai''s expression darkened even further upon hearing this.
After hearing this exchange, Nan Kemeng also realized what Luo Qinghai had been alluding to earlier, and he asked, "Master, are you specting that the people from the Northern cial Immortal Pce have done something to prevent us from finding the entrance?"
"It''s most likely the case that Xiao Jinhan has sealed the entrance using some type of secret technique. Otherwise, it would''ve definitely already appeared by now, given that there''s less than a year left before the emergence of the immortal manor," Luo Qinghai replied.
"I don''t know much about the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, but I do know that the entrance of the immortal manor is a connective point between two realms, so there''s no way it could be sealed discreetly in a short time," Nan Kemeng said with furrowed brows.
"He was most likely somehow able to ascertain the location of the entrance in advance, then set up some restrictions there beforehand," Luo Qinghai harrumphed coldly.
An incredulous look appeared on Nan Kemeng''s face upon hearing this.
"There''s not much time left until the emergence of the immortal manor. What should we do, Pce Master?" the man in the mirror asked.
"We have to find the entrance of the immortal manor no matter what. Keep searching for leads on the people from the Northern cial Immortal Pce and the master of ck Wind Ind. There are so many of them, there''s no way that they could''ve simply disappeared into thin air without leaving any traces behind. Employ some extreme measures if necessary," Luo Qinghai said in a meaningful voice.
"Yes, Pce Master," the man in the mirror replied, then quickly vanished from the mirror.
Luo Qinghai made a hand seal, and the blue mirror rapidly shrank down before flying back up his sleeve.
After that, he remained standing on the spot for a moment longer, then abruptly swept a sleeve through the air to envelop both himself and Nan Kemeng before flying away into the distance.
Chapter 398: Time Running Out
Chapter 398: Time Running Out
Meanwhile
There were around a dozen figures standing in mid-air above a certain area in the ck Wind Sea.
All of them were dressed in ck robes, they were members of the Dawn Fall Sect.
They were led by none other than the zombie-like Feng Tiandu and the master of the Dawn Fall Sect.
Aside from those two, three of the other Dawn Fall Sect cultivators present were also Golden Immortals.
One of them was extremely tall and rotund, resembling a mountain of flesh from afar.
The other two had much more normal figures, but the coloration of their skin was very peculiar.
One of them had skin that was as ck as ink, and in dim light, it would''ve been difficult to even discern his facial features from one another. In contrast, the other man was as pale as a sheet, and even his hair and eyebrows werepletely white and devoid of color.
As for the rest of the Dawn Fall Sect cultivators, all of them were at the mid orte-True Immortal Stage.
The portly Golden Immortal turned to Feng Tiandu and the Dawn Fall Sect Master as he reported, "ording to our search, not only have the Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators disappeared from ck Wind Ind, Ind Master Lu Jun and several of his most important subordinates have also gone missing.
¡°After performing a soul search technique on one of the administrators, I learned that they had suddenly disappeared several days ago."
"It''s just as you say, Senior Martial Brother. Xiao Jinhan has most likely somehow concealed the entrance of the immortal manor," the Dawn Fall Sect Master said with a grim expression.
"Looks like we were too careless. This emergence of the immortal pce is more significant than previous ones, so I should''ve predicted that Xiao Jinhan would take some measures to prevent others from getting in," Feng Tiandu sighed.
"I also discovered that aside from our Dawn Fall Sect, there are several other powers that are also searching for the Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators," the portly Golden Immortal continued.
"Oh? How many are there?" Feng Tiandu asked.
"Around two or three, but all of them are very alert, so I didn''t dare to get too close, and I wasn''t able to find out too much. However, I''m certain that I spotted Western Extreme Pce Master Cui Can of the Vast Flow Pce''s Five Extreme Pces among them," the rotund Golden Immortal replied.
"Seeing as we were able to determine that the Northern cial Immortal Pce had to have concealed the entrance of the immortal manor, the other powers must''ve been able to arrive at the same conclusion as well," Feng Tiandu said.
"How could Xiao Jinhan do something so deplorable? He''s trying to keep everyone out of the immortal manor! What do we do now, Senior Martial Brother?" the Dawn Fall Sect Master asked as he turned to Feng Tiandu with tightly furrowed brows.
"There''s still some time left until the immortal manor emerges, and we have to find the entrance before then no matter what. Otherwise, if Xiao Jinhan obtains what he''s searching for, then our Dawn Fall Sect will be at risk for suffering the same fate as the ze Dragon Dao," Feng Tiandu said in a cold voice.
¡¡
In ck Wind City.
In a room in an inn at the center of the city sat a man and a woman.
They were none other than Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni in disguise, and there was avish feastid out before them, but neither of them showed any interest in it, and both appeared quite agitated.
"I didn''t think Xiao Jinhan would have a trick like this up his sleeve. We don''t have much time left, Hu Yan. What should we do?" Yun Ni asked with a hint of anxiety in her voice.
"It looks like continuing to wait in ck Wind City isn''t going to do us any good, so let''s go search elsewhere. In any case, we have to find the entrance of the immortal manor no matter what!" Daoist Hu Yan said with a determined expression.
"But we''re only two people, and the ck Wind Sea is so vast. How are we supposed to find the entrance on our own? Should we call upon Li Feiyu to help us? It most likely won''t make a difference, but I suppose we can always give that a try as ast resort," Yun Ni proposed.
"There''s no need for that. This region isn''t very safe at the moment, so we should avoid contact with others as much as possible. As for how we''re going to find the entrance, I have some ideas," Daoist Hu Yan said as he rose to his feet, then made his way out of the room.
Yun Ni knew that once Daoist Hu Yan made up his mind, there was no dissuading him, so she could only heave a faint sigh before following him out of the room.
¡¡
On a rather deste-looking ind elsewhere in the ck Wind Sea, a group of white-robed cultivators were gathered.
The group consisted of around a dozen people, all of whom were standing in small groups of two or three in silence.
Judging from the way that they were arranged, their leader appeared to be a square-faced elderly man standing at the center of the group, and his aura indicated that he was a Golden Immortal, while everyone else around him were True Immortals.
At this moment, all of them were looking around with anticipation in their eyes, seemingly waiting for someone or something.
Some timeter, a streak of silver light appeared on the distant horizon, and it was traveling at a rapid speed, arriving near the ind in the blink of an eye.
The streak of silver light contained a silver-robed woman, and the square-faced elderly man immediately approached her with a fawning smile on his face as he greeted, "Wee, Fellow Daoist Qu."
A faint smile appeared on the silver-robed woman''s face as she asked, "Have you made any discoveries?"
"Not at the moment, but even though our Xue n moved out of the ck Wind Sea many years ago, we still have many contacts here, and I''ve already sent out people to get in touch with these contacts while also helping out in the search, so I''m sure we''ll find something soon," the square-faced elderly man replied.
The silver-robed woman''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and she said, "There''s not much time left before the emergence of the immortal manor, so we have to do everything in our power to find the entrance. Otherwise, all of us will havee here for nought."
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Qu, we''re doing everything in our power," the square-faced elderly man immediately replied.
The silver-robed woman nodded in response, then spoke to the elderly man for a while longer before flying away as a streak of silver light.
A long-faced man swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a white light barrier around everyone, then approached the square-faced elderly man as he said, "Esteemed patriarch, that woman''s cultivation base is far superior to ours, and she ims that she wants to work with our Xue n to venture into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor together, but is she really being earnest and forting with us?
¡°She tries to hide her malice behind that smile of hers, but I can tell she''s not a kind person."
"I''m sure she won''t turn on us. Her cultivation base is indeed far superior to ours, but she''s on her own, while all of the other powers that havee to the ck Wind Sea have superior numbers on their side, so it makes sense that she would want to secure some allies," the square-faced elderly man replied.
The long-faced man didn''t say anything, but the concern on his face didn''t diminish at all.
"Rest assured, with the Snow Silkworm Array from the 10 of you and myself, we''ll be able to ensure at least self-preservation. Even if she wants to use us, it''s not like she can interfere with what we do once we enter the immortal manor," the square-faced elderly man said with a faint smile, seemingly quite pleased with himself.
The long-faced man''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he smiled as he said, "You''re right, esteemed patriarch. It seems I was just excessively cautious."
Meanwhile, the silver-robed woman was racing over the sea, and there was a longhorn beetle perched on her shoulder. Its body was a pristine white color, as if it had been carved out of jade, and at this moment, the voice of the square-faced elderly man wasing out of its mouth.
"... it''s not like she can interfere with what we do once we enter the immortal manor..."
"Pathetic little bugs," the silver-robed woman scoffed to herself with a cold sneer. "I suppose I''ll spare you for now, seeing as you''re still useful to me."
The silver-robed woman stowed the white longhorn beetle away, then began making a string of hand seals, and a cloud of white mist flew out of her sleeve.
The mist then quickly dispersed in all directions, revealing itself to be a swarm of tiny semi-transparent white insects.
A Core Formation Stage eel demon beast was swimming through the sea when it came into contact with a few of these white insects, and the insects immediately vanished into its body like water droplets into cotton, but the eel demon beast remainedpletely oblivious as it continued to swim through the water.
Simr scenes were unfolding across the entire nearby area at the moment, with these white insects entering the bodies of all types of marine demon beasts and even ordinary fish as they spread far and wide at a rapid speed.
¡¡
Meanwhile, a group of around a dozen cultivators were seated in a circr formation on a calm area of the sea.
There were three bald men hovering in front of the group, all three of whom were at the Golden Immortal Stage, while the others were all True Immortals.
Each of these cultivators had a small blue g hovering in front of them, with countless runes visible on each g.
All of the gs were giving off waterw fluctuations, indicating that they were immortal treasures, and they appeared to be part of the same set.
These cultivators were collectively chanting an incantation while making a constant string of hand seals, and dazzling blue light was radiating from the gs beforeing together to form an enormous blue light barrier that resembled a huge mirror.
Each of the three bald Golden Immortals had a palm outstretched, sending a pir of blue light surging into the giant mirror, and all of a sudden, the mirror shattered into several dozen smaller mirrors amid an audibel crack.
Each mirror depicted a different setting, varying from under the sea, or in the sky, or on an ind.
Different images were constantly shing over these mirrors, and all of the cultivators present were scrutinizing the mirrors intently to see what was happening in all of those ces.
¡¡
All of the major powers that hade to the ck Wind Sea were naturally feeling extremely agitated by their inability to track down the immortal manor''s location, and all of them were searching frantically.
Initially, they tried to cover their tracks as much as possible, but as time passed and they became more desperate, they gradually began to throw caution to the wind, not bothering to keep their search secretive any longer.
With so many formidable foreign cultivators suddenly appearing in the ck Wind Sea, all of the local powers were left feeling quite uneasy, and more and more inds were going into lockdown.
Chapter 399: Another Piece of News
Chapter 399: Another Piece of News
Half a year flew by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, the world''s origin qi in a certain area on the outskirts of the ck Wind Sea suddenly began to churn violently, and countless dark clouds appeared in the sky before forming a massive vortex.
Immensew fluctuations were emanating from the dark clouds, raising turbulent waves of the nearby sea and sweeping up ferocious gusts of wind.
Thankfully, this area was quite close to the Soul Stirring Winds, so the disturbance wasn''t all that apparent.
The ck cloud churned and rumbled for a while before a thick pir of ck light shot down from the vortex amid a resounding boom.
There seemed to be nothing but empty sea down below, but all of a sudden, multipleyers of restrictions appeared in the path of the pir of ck light.
In the blink of an eye, the pir of ck light pierced through these light barriers before continuing onward, only to be stopped cold in its tracks by a gray mountain projection.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the surrounding space shuddered, as did the nearby sea, and a series of massive rifts appeared on the seabed.
After releasing that pir of ck light, the ck cloud up above quickly dispersed, and the restrictions above the surface of the sea also faded to reveal Han Li.
Hisplexion was looking a little pale, but there was an ted look on his face.
He exhaled as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a ball of bright azure light that revolved rapidly around the ind, gathering all of the array tools distributed throughout the ind before returning them up his sleeve.
In the next instant, Han Li began to make a rapid string of hand seals, and arcs of golden lighting appeared over his body before spreading outward to form a golden lightning array.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li vanished from the array amid a rumbling thunderp.
¡¡
A tall and imposing figure was seated in a dim space somewhere in the ck Wind Sea.
Their entire body was enshrouded within ayer of ck mist, making it impossible to catch a clear glimpse of them, and there was a menacing aura emanating out of the ck mist.
There were several other figures seated around the tall figure, but none of them dared to get too close.
Right at this moment, all of the ck mist around the tall figure surged into their body, revealing none other than Xiao Jinhan.
A peculiar look appeared on his face as he cast his gaze toward a certain direction while rising to his feet, and everyone else around him hurriedly stood up as well.
These were none other than the Golden Immortal Stage elders of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and Deputy Pce Master Xue Ying was also among them.
"What is it, Pce Master?" Xue Ying asked in a respectful voice.
Xiao Jinhan paid no heed to her as he flipped a hand over to produce a white jade te that was around the size of a washbasin.
The entire te seemed to have been crafted from some type of white jade material, and there were many antiquated designs etched onto the edge of the te, while a series of white jade grids were present on the te, slowly revolving around the te''s center.
Gentle white light was radiating from the te, while a streak of ck light had emerged in one of the grids on the edge of the te, presenting a stark contrast.
However, the ck light only shed a few times before quickly fading away, but a hint ofw fluctuations could still be detected from the ck light before it vanished.
"Has someone refined a dao pill?" Xiao Jinhan murmured to himself.
A hint of surprise appeared on Xue Ying''s face as she said, "There''s now way that there would be a Dao Pill Master in a ce as secluded as the ck Wind Sea. Could it be someone from the Vast Flow Pce or the Dawn Fall Sect? But why would they refine a dao pill at a time like this?"
"I don''t have an answer to that. Perhaps they''re trying to use some type of alternative method to find the entrance of the immortal manor," Xiao Jinhan spected.
He then flipped a hand over to stow the white jade te away before making his way toward a giant blue gate of light not far in front of him.
The gate was over 1,000 feet in size with countless antiquated patterns engraved onto its frame, and it was radiating dazzling blue light.
The light at the center of the gate was even brighter, and it resembled flowing water, forming a blue vortex.
asionally, the blue light at the center of the gate would abruptly brighten before spreading outward, and there were nine giant white jade pirs standing around the gate of light, with each one riddled with profound engravings.
The ground surrounding the nine pirs were also covered inplex patterns, forming an enormous array, and at the top of each pir sat a cultivator with their legs crossed.
The three dao lords led by Ouyang Kuishan were among them, and they were chanting a collective incantation.
Radiant white light was surging out of the jade pirs and the array, forming a thick white light barrier that epassed the entire gate of light.
With each eruption of blue light, the white light barrier would shudder violently, as would the nine surrounding jade pirs and the cultivators seated atop them.
"The closer we get to the emergence of the immortal manor, the more powerful the tremors will be, so make sure to be on your guard and don''t slip up at this crucial juncture," Xiao Jinhan instructed.
"Rest assured, Pce Master, we''ve made extensive preparations for this, and we''ll make sure that nothing goes wrong," Xue Ying replied in a confident manner.
"On top of that, keep a closer eye on Ouyang Kuishan and the other dao lords. Make sure that they''re not cking off," Xiao Jinhan said.
"They wouldn''t dare," Xue Ying replied with a cold smile. "Besides, now that we''re already here, they have no choice but toply."
Xiao Jinhan nodded in response, then asked, "How are things going outside?"
"The people of the Dawn Fall Sect and the Vast Flow Pce are still searching frantically for us like headless chickens, but they haven''t made any progress," Xue Ying reported with immense schadenfreude in her voice.
A pleased smile appeared on Xiao Jinhan''s face upon hearing this, following which he said, "They''re not a major concern of ours. What are the people of the Reincarnation Pce up to?"
"The people of the Reincarnation Pce remain as secretive as ever, but even if they discover the outermost restrictions, if they try to break through those restrictions by force, the trap that we set up would be activated.
¡°It may not be able to wipe them all out, but it''ll be sure to pose them a great deal of trouble, and even if they can break through, it''ll take them at least a year or so, by which time the entrance of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor would''ve already closed long ago," Xue Ying replied with a smile.
Xiao Jinhan gave a pleased nod in response, then cast his gaze toward the blue gate of light with a look of yearning in his eyes.
Right at this moment, a burst of white light suddenly emerged on the body of a nearby white-robed cultivator.
This was none other than the man with the Feng surname who had arrived in the ck Wind Sea in advance, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face as he flipped a hand over to summon a white array te.
A small line of text appeared on the array te, and his expression instantly changed drastically after taking a nce.
He hurriedly made his way toward Xiao Jinhan as he dered, "We have bad news, Pce Master!"
¡¡
Arcs of golden lightning sprang out of thin air in the sky near Dark Veil Ind, following which a golden lightning array took shape.
Han Li appeared within the array before inspecting his surroundings while also releasing his spiritual sense, and only after confirming that the nearby area was safe did he flip a hand over to produce a jade box, which contained the Origin Void Pill.
Even though he had previously sessfully refined this pill, he was still only able to refine a single one after using up all of the remaining batches of ingredients.
A thoughtful look appeared in his eyes as he inspected the Origin Void Pill in his hand.
Through this pill refinement, Han Li had gained a deeper understanding of the pill. It was very simr to a dao pill, but its intended purpose seemed to be different.
However, he had no idea what its exact purpose was supposed to be.
He inspected the pill for a while longer before stowing it away, then cast his gaze forward with slightly furrowed brows.
Another half a year had passed by without any updates from Daoist Hu Yan, and he couldn''t help but wonder if something had gone wrong.
Han Li was silent for a moment before flipping a hand over to produce the crimsonmunication array te, then cast an incantation seal into it, and a crimson array immediately emerged.
Hemunicated a message into the array, but even after a long wait, there was still no response from Daoist Hu Yan.
Han Li''s brows became tightly furrowed upon seeing this.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he flew into the sea while putting on his Transient Guild mask.
If something really had gone wrong with the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, there should be some information on the subject being exchanged in the Transient Guild.
As soon as he put on his Transient Guild, Han Li was immediately rooted to the spot.
At the moment, the information exchange section of the Transient Guild was in a state ofplete pandemonium, and he hurriedly began to read through the pieces of information being released..
During these past few years, he had either been busy refining his Heavy Water True Axis or refining his Origin Void Pill, so he hadn''t kept up to date with thetest information on the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor.
It seemed that the entrance of the immortal manor still hadn''t appeared during the past three years, and all of the powers were searching frantically for it.
However, the reason why the Transient Guild had been stirred up into such a frenzy was due to the release of a certain piece of information.
"The entrance of the immortal manor is under Red Moon Ind."
It was unclear whether this information was actually urate, but it had created a massive stir in the Transient Guild, nheless.
"Red Moon Ind..." Han Li murmured to himself.
This was a very familiar ce to him. Was the entrance of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor really situated under that ind?
A contemtive look appeared on his face as he flipped a hand over to summon the Hard Ink Crystal that had been given to him by the Pig Dolphin Beast.
It had found the crystal near Red Moon Ind, and Wyrm 3 seemed to have been quite interested in it.
It seemed that all of the signs were pointing to Red Moon Ind.
Perhaps it really is true...
Chapter 400: Assembly
Chapter 400: Assembly
Right at this moment, themunication array beside Han Li suddenly lit up, following which a crimson projection of Daoist Hu Yan appeared, and it dered, "Fellow Daoist Li,e meet us at Sea Fig Ind right away."
This was the exact same ind that all of the Transient Guild members had been instructed to assemble at prior to carrying out the mission on Red Moon Ind.
"Sea Fig Ind... Could it be that the entrance of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor really is beneath Red Moon Ind?"
"It sounds like you''ve also seen that piece of information circting in the guild. The news is most likely true, soe and meet up with us right now," Daoist Hu Yan urged.
"Alright, I''ll set off right away," Han Li replied with a nod, then concluded themunication and stowed themunication array te away before flying toward the surface of the sea.
Momentster, a streak of azure light emerged from the sea, then flew away into the distance.
¡¡
Elsewhere in the ck Wind Sea, all of the Vast Flow Pce''s cultivators were traveling on arge blue flying boat.
"Red Moon Ind... Its location isn''t very secluded, nor is it close to the center of the ck Wind Sea, so it can be easily missed," Luo Qinghai murmured to himself with a contemtive expression as he stood at the bow of the boat.
Hovering in front of him was a small blue light screen that depicted all of the inds littered throughout the ck Wind Sea.
At this moment, there were four people standing behind him, consisting of a middlea-ged man wearing a feathered hat, a young schr with a fairplexion holding a blue feather fan, a quiet and serious-looking elderly man with a ck beard, and a man wearing a conical bamboo hat that was positioned very low to conceal his facial features.
What was particrly noteworthy was that the man in the conical bamboo hat was missing both of his arms.
As for the other Vast Flow Pce cultivators, including Nan Kemeng, they were all standing a bit further away.
"I did previously conduct a search on Red Moon Ind, but at the time, I wasn''t able to find anything. Perhaps I was too negligent," the young schr said slightly furrowed brows.
"If the Northern cial Immortal Pce really did set up concealment restrictions well in advance, then it would be impossible to uncover the location of the entrance through conventional means, so don''t me yourself. I don''t know who leaked this piece of information, but my intuition tells me that it''s true," Luo Qinghai said.
A hint of excitement appeared on the young schr''s face upon hearing this, and the serious-looking elderly man also raised his head with a faint gleam in his eyes.
Even the conical bamboo hat of the armless man shifted ever so slightly, and all of the other Vast Flow Pce cultivators that were further away were also disying reactions of excitement.
Luo Qinghai didn''t say anything further as he made a hand seal, and the blue flying boat instantly sped up, flying onward as a giant blue shadow.
¡¡
In the sky above another area of the ck Wind Sea, all of the Dawn Fall Sect cultivators were gathered together.
"Do you think this piece of information is true or not, Senior Martial Brother?" the Dawn Fall Sect Master asked as he turned to Feng Tiandu.
"There must be some truth to it. In any case, none of you have been able to find any leads thus far, so we may as well pursue this one," Feng Tiandu replied in an expressionless manner.
A slightly awkward look appeared on the Dawn Fall Sect Master''s face as he said, "In our defense, the Northern cial Immortal Pce is clearly somehow concealing the entrance of the immortal manor, so..."
Before he had a chance to finish, Feng Tiandu swept a sleeve through the air, releasing arge ck cloud that enveloped everyone before surging away into the distance, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
¡¡
Hovering in mid-air above a lush ind was the silver-robed woman by the name of Qu Ling.
She was wearing an azure mask that was projecting an azure light screen, and she was inspecting the light screen with a hint of a smile in her eyes.
Right at this moment, a ball of white light appeared on the distant horizon before rapidly approaching her, and Qu Ling took a nce in that direction, then removed the mask on her face before stowing it away.
Upon arriving above the ind, the ball of white light faded to reveal the Xue n cultivators, and there were even more of them thanst time.
"Fellow Daoist Qu, have you heard the rumor that the entrance of the immortal manor is located beneath Red Moon Ind?" the square-faced elderly man asked with an excited expression.
"I have. That piece of news has caused quite a stir in the Transient Guild," Qu Ling replied with a nod.
"Do you think the news is reliable?" the square-faced elderly man asked.
"There are many people in the Transient Guild doubting the validity of this news, but no one has been able to present any concrete evidence against it, so there''s a chance that it could be real. Regardless, we''ll have to make a trip to Red Moon Ind and take a look for ourselves," Qu Ling replied.
The square-faced elderly man nodded in response with a contemtive expression.
"I don''t know much about this Red Moon Ind," Qu Ling continued. "Your Xue n was once a local power of the ck Wind Sea, so I''m assuming you must know more than me about this ind, Fellow Daoist Xue Shan."
"In the past, Red Moon Ind wasn''t all that renowned in the ck Wind Sea, and our Xue n left the ck Wind Sea tens of thousands of years ago, so I''m afraid I don''t know much about the ind, either. All I''ve heard is that the ind master was quite a renowned and formidable Earthly Immortal, but for some reason, he was killed, and Red Moon Ind has been left abandoned since then."
"I see..." Qu Ling mused as her eyes narrowed slightly in contemtion.
"Seeing as we''ve already decided to go to Red Moon Ind, we should set off right away. If the entrance of the immortal manor really is there, then we have to strive to get there before anyone else," Xue Shan urged.
"Alright, let''s go," Qu Ling replied with a nod.
Xue Shan immediately swept a sleeve through the air upon hearing this, releasing a burst of white light that enveloped all of the Xue n''s cultivators, but before he had a chance to do anything else, a gentle breeze suddenly blew over his back, following which a burst of sharp pain speared through his lower abdomen.
He looked down to find a white snake head protruding out of his lower abdomen, and locked in the mouth of the snake was none other than his nascent soul.
Xue Shan''s eyes immediately widened with incredulity.
Even though there wasn''t much spiritual light radiating from his body, he was wearing apact suit of spirit armor that he had refined over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, yet it wasn''t able to pose any resistance against the white snake.
A burst of white mes shot out of the snake''s mouth before striking the nascent soul, instantly freezing it solid.
Immediately thereafter, the white snake opened its mouth up wide to devour the frozen nascent soul before shooting back toward Qu Ling.
Xue Shan gave a muffled groan, and his body was turned around by the force of the white snake''s withdrawal.
Standing behind him was Qu Ling with a cold look on her face and arge white snake wrapped around her body, flicking its forked tongue out in a menacing fashion.
"What the hell are you doing, you insane woman!"
"Patriarch..."
All of this had taken ce so abruptly that only now did the Xue n cultivators realize that their patriarch had been attacked, and all of them immediately red up with rage, releasing a vast array of spirit treasures in the blink of an eye, as if they were already prepared for something like this.
A cold sneer appeared on Qu Ling''s face as she swept a sleeve through the air to release a ball of golden light, which transformed into a giant golden beetle that was several hundred feet in size to keep the barrage of oing spirit treasures at bay.
"Why..." Xue Shan asked with great difficulty as the vitality rapidly seeped out of his body.
"I only approached your Xue n as I wasn''t familiar with the ck Wind Sea and required a guide. Now that the location of the immortal manor''s entrance has been revealed, I no longer require your services," Qu Ling exined in a cold voice, then flicked a finger through the air, and a hole was instantly punched through Xue Shan''s be.
The light in his eyes faded, and his lifeless body crumpled to the ground.
Qu Ling then cast her gaze toward the giant golden beetle, which was standing firm against the barrage of spirit treasures with ease,pletely unscathed by the attacks.
However, it certainly didn''t enjoy being attacked, and a furious look appeared in its eyes as it swept its two front legs through the air, releasing two translucent streaks of light that severed a pair of spirit treasures like a hot knife through butter.
All of the Xue n cultivators were astonished to see this.
"There''s no way we can defeat her! We have to split up and run!" the long-faced man roared, then flew away as a streak of white light, doing so in such a hurry that he was even leaving his spirit treasures behind.
Everyone else immediately snapped back to their senses upon hearing this before also fleeing in different directions.
"None of you are getting away!" Qu Ling sneered as she flicked a finger through the air, and the golden beetle instantlyshed out with its two front legs once again, releasing two thick streaks of translucent light that were each over 100 feet in length.
The two streaks of light shuddered slightly, then split up into around a dozen smaller streaks of light that swept toward the Xue n cultivators at an astonishing speed, reaching them in the blink of an eye before slicing through their protective treasures and the protective spiritual light around their bodies with ease.
A string of agonized wails rang out as all of the Xue n cultivators were sliced to shreds along with their spirit treasures, and a faint smile appeared on Qu Ling''s face as she swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of silver light, which swept up Xue Shan''s body before dragging it toward her.
She inspected the body briefly, then stowed it away as she turned to the golden beetle with a smile and said, "Golden Immortals make for good sources of sustenance, but there''s no need to hurry, the best delicacies are still yet toe."
After that, she withdrew the giant golden beetle as well before flying away as a streak of silver light.
Chapter 401: True Flame Sect
Chapter 401: True me Sect
Several dayster, on Sea Fig Ind.
A streak of azure light approached the ind from afar, then faded to reveal a burly male figure.
The man was none other than Han Li, but he had disguised himself as an unremarkable-looking middle-aged man with a darkplexion.
He hovered in mid-air in a still manner as he inspected his surroundings with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and right at this moment, an egg-shaped blue light barrier appeared over the ind down below.
Immediately thereafter, an opening appeared in the light barrier, and before Han Li had a chance to do anything, a voice rang out from within the light barrier.
"Come in, Tianyu."
Han Li raised an eyebrow, then descended into the blue light barrier, following which the opening was instantly sealed, and the light barrier itself also vanished shortly thereafter.
There was a hemispherical space that was no more than 1,000 feet in size beneath the light barrier, and the air temperature was quite high.
Upon entering the space, Han Li was surprised to find a group of cultivators that werepletely unfamiliar to him.
However, there was a ck-robed elderly man who was looking at him with a smile, and standing beside him was a woman in a yellow dress.
It didn''t take long for Han Li to figure out that these two were none other than Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni, and just like him, they had also adopted disguises.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Martial Uncle. I was dyed a little on the way here," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in an apologetic salute while taking a nce at the other people present.
Standing behind Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni were nine cultivators dressed in fiery red Daoist robes, each with an extremely lifelike fire raven embroidered onto the sleeve, and it seemed that they were all from the same sect.
There was an unnatural flush on the faces of all nine cultivators, and they were also giving off formidable fire-attribute spiritual power fluctuations, indicating that they were all using fire-attribute cultivation arts.
The nine cultivators were led by a trio that consisted of an elderly man with red hair and a red beard, a physically-imposing, bare-chested man, and a middle-aged woman who appeared to be in her forties.
Their auras weren''t as formidable as Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni''s, but the three of them were clearly all Golden Immortals, and the elderly man''s cultivation base was slightly more advanced than the other two.
"Come here, Tianyu. These are all fellow daoists from the Ancient Cloud Continent''s True me Sect, and they''ll be apanying us into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor. This is Sect Master Xu Yangzi, and these two are Elder Zhen Yun and Elder Lu Lan. Fellow daoists, Tianyu is my nephew, and he''s a very alert young man with a decent cultivation base, so he should be of some help to us in the immortal manor," Daoist Hu Yan introduced with a smile.
"Gu Tianyu pays his respects to the seniors of the True me Sect," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute.
He had heard of the True me Sect before.
On the Ancient Cloud Continent, it was considered to only be below the top three sects, and its members were particrly renowned for their mastery of fire-attribute cultivation arts. However, for some reason, its members very rarely left the sect, and they kept a rather low profile, so teh sect wasn''t as renowned as it should''ve been.
Xu Yangzi gave Han Li a slight nod, then turned back to Daoist Hu Yan as he asked, "Isn''t it a little premature to be discussing what happens after we enter the immortal manor when we don''t even know where the entrance is right now, Fellow Daoist Gu?"
As for the two elders, Zhen Yun and Lu Lan, both of them merely took a nce at Han Li before looking away.
Han Li wasn''t bothered by this, and he made his way over to Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni before standing behind them.
"I''m sure the three of you must''ve already heard about that piece of news that was released in the Transient Guild. Perhaps the entrance of the immortal manor may not actually be there, but at the very least, we have a lead to pursue," Daoist Hu Yan replied with a faint smile.
"It''s a great sign of trust that you approached us with the Infernal Frost Scenic Painting and offered to let us apany you into the immortal manor. For that, we should be extremely grateful, but at this point, we''ve already searched through the entire ck Wind Sea without being able to find any leads, and there''s no evidence to back up this piece of news, so I''m afraid I''m not very optimistic about its validity."
"While it''s true that this piece of news is unsubstantiated up to this point, regardless of whether its true or not, we should still go and take a look on Red Moon Ind," Yun Ni said.
"Pardon me for being blunt, but just like you said, no one knows if this piece of news is true or not, and there''s a chance that someone intentionally spread this rumor and set up a trap on Red Moon Ind for people to fall into. If that''s the case, then we''d be making a grave error by going to the ind," Zhen Yun said with a shake of his head.
Lu Lan''s brows were tightly furrowed as she chimed in, "Exactly. There''s a chance that this could be a trap set by none other than the Northern cial Immortal Pce, so it''s best to proceed with caution."
"The Infernal Frost Immortal Manor only emerges once every several tens of thousands of years, and in particr, someone discovered an entirely new area within itst time. There''s a very good chance that this area holds High Zenith Pills, which are immensely beneficial to anyone attempting to reach the High Zenith Stage.
¡°Otherwise, the Northern cial Immortal Pce wouldn''t have gone to such great lengths to conceal the entrance. This is an opportunity that''ll perhaps nevere around again. Are you really willing to just back down like this?" Daoist Hu Yan asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
Xu Yangzi''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he replied, "Well... I haven''t made any concrete decisions yet, I''m just saying that we should proceed with caution and take our time to make a decision."
Zhen Yun and Lu Lan didn''t say anything further, but it was clear that they were still rather doubtful about the situation.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
These Golden Immortals from the True me Sect were clearly tempted by the allure of the treasures in the immortal manor, but they weren''t disying any courage or decisiveness in this situation. If this was the personality of their sect master and elders, then it was no wonder that the sect had always kept such a low profile.
"I understand that you''re concerned about the Northern cial Immortal Pce. It''s true that if we run into them in the immortal pce, we''ll be no match for them. However, ever since the ze Dragon Dao incident, there''s been a great deal of discontent building against the Immortal Pce.
¡°ording to my knowledge, many powers, including the Vast Flow Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect, have been very displeased with the Immortal Pce''s handling of the ze Dragon Dao situation and in particr, their concealment of the immortal manor''s entrance.
¡°Essentially, they''ve made themselves public enemy number one, and I predict that all of those powers will definitely be sending people to Red Moon Ind," Daoist Hu Yan said.
"If the entrance of the immortal manor really is below Red Moon Ind, with everyone joining forces against the Immortal Pce, there''s no way they''ll be able to contend with all of us. Even if this is a trap, it''ll be impossible for them to trap us all, so what do we have to fear?" Yun Ni added.
"What you''re saying does make a lot of sense," Xu Yangzi mused as he stroked his own beard, seemingly tempted by what he was hearing, and the same applied to Zhen Yun and Lu Lan as well.
Even if they were to disregard the rumor that there were High Zenith Pills in the immortal manor, all of the other precious treasures inside were already extremely alluring to them.
"We don''t have much time left, so you''ll have to make a decision fast, fellow daoists. Are you really willing to just let this opportunity slip through your fingers?" Daoist Hu Yan asked.
A slightly conflicted look appeared in Xu Yangzi''s eyes.
"Of course, we can''t just go there recklessly. Instead, we have to establish a n in advance," Daoist Hu Yan continued.
Han Li took a nce at the True me Sect cultivators, then smiled as he asked, "I''m sure you already have a n prepared, right, Martial Uncle?"
Daoist Hu Yan merely smiled in response, then swept a sleeve through the air to remove the surrounding restriction.
After that, a ball of blue light flew out of his sleeve, then transformed into a blue flying carriage with a rather peculiar appearance. There was a cross-shaped windmill on both the front and the back of the carriage, and it was radiating dazzling light while also giving off formidable spiritual power fluctuations.
"This carriage is something that I obtained from the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor many years ago, and it has an exceptional concealment effect, so we should be a lot safer if we take this carriage to Red Moon Ind," Daoist Hu Yan said.
Han Li examined the carriage closely to find that it was refined from some special spirit materials, and there were countlessplex and profound spirit patterns engraved onto its surface, giving off faint waterw fluctuations.
Thanks to his Heavy Water True Axis, he was quite sensitive to waterw fluctuations, and he could sense that thew fluctuations emanating from the carriage were more geared toward concealment.
Han Li decided to lead by example, flying onto the carriage before everyone else, while Xu Yangzi hesitated for a while longer before also doing the same.
The two elders and the other six True Immortal cultivators of the True me Sect quickly followed suit, flying onto the carriage as well.
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni exchanged a smile before also flying onto the carriage.
Afternding on the carriage, Daoist Hu Yan made a hand seal, and a burst of misty blue light emerged to envelop the entire carriage, instantly concealing both its physical form and its aura, making itpletely undetectable.
Chapter 402: Entrance
Chapter 402: Entrance
Immediately thereafter, the flying carriage descended into the sea down below at Daoist Hu Yan''s behest.
Upon entering the sea, the blue light emanating from the carriage instantlypletely fused as one with the surrounding seawater, and it was as if the carriage had be a part of the sea.
The carriage then shot forth through the water as a streak of light, while Xu Yangzi praised, "This flying carriage of yours is indeed extremely profound, Fellow Daoist Gu. It looks like the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor really does contain some exceptional treasures."
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist. If we can enter the immortal manor, I''m sure all of you will be able to reap some exceptional spoils," Daoist Hu Yan replied with a smile.
"I''m looking forward to it," Elder Zhen Yun said with a smile.
"Hopefully, the entrance of the immortal manor really is beneath Red Moon Ind, and we manage to enter the immortal manor without any incident," Lu Lan said.
A faint smile appeared on Daoist Hu Yan''s face, and he didn''t speak any further as he gently stomped a foot down onto the flying carriage, upon which it elerated even further.
The carriage was traveling rapidly through the water in a wraith-like manner, and it wasn''t causing any physical disturbance or discement of water.
The fish and the demon beasts in the sea continued to swim around and forage for food,pletely oblivious to the carriage''s passing.
Han Li was inspecting his surroundings, and he was also quite impressed with the carriage.
The craftsmanship of this carriage was exceptional, and the person who had refined it clearly had outstanding mastery over thews of water as well, so it was indeed very safe taking this carriage through the sea.
However, judging from the immortal spiritual power fluctuations that it was giving off, it was most likely quite taxing on Immortal Origin Stones as well. It seemed that Daoist Hu Yan was making an investment here so that the True me Sect cultivators would be willing to apany them.
Han Li looked around momentarily before sitting down with his legs crossed in a corner of the carriage, then closed his eyes to meditate.
As for the other True Immortals of the True me Sect, all of them also did the same after the excitement and novelty of the carriage wore off.
Sea Fig Ind wasn''t far away from Red Moon Ind, and this carriage was extremely fast, so it only took them around two days to arrive at their destination.
Instead of directly reaching the ind, the carriage stopped in the sea several hundred kilometers away.
Everyone on the carriage had already risen to their feet, and they were observing the enormous ind up ahead in silence.
"I didn''t think this ind would be so massive. Even if that rumor is true, it won''t be easy to find the entrance of the immortal manor on such a huge ind," Daoist Hu Yan said as his brows furrowed slightly.
The Infernal Frost Scenic Painting wasn''t going to help them in this situation, and in order to remain covert, they couldn''t use their spiritual sense to search for the entrance, either.
Given those circumstances, searching such a huge ind was indeed going to be quite a difficult task.
Xu Yangzi and the others were all looking at one another, and it was clear that they were also at a loss for how to proceed.
"Let''s go around the ind and search its border. Perhaps we''ll be able to make some discoveries," Yun Ni suggested.
"I suppose that''s better than nothing."
Daoist Hu Yan couldn''t think of any better strategies, so he decided to adopt this idea, and the carriage set off once again at his behest.
Meanwhile, everyone was using their own covert abilities to scour the surrounding area.
Two beams of blue light that were several feet in length emerged from Han Li''s eyes as he inspected his surroundings, and Xu Yangzi''s brows instantly furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
"Don''t use your abilities recklesslessly! If you expose us, we''ll all be in grave danger! Besides, with your paltry cultivation base, it''s not like you''ll be able to contribute anything anyway."
"I understand your concerns, Senior Xu Yangzi, but this is a spirit eye ability of mine that doesn''t give off any aura, so you can rest assured," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Don''t worry, Fellow Daoist Xu Yangzi. If Tianyu wants to help, then why don''t we give him the opportunity?" Daoist Hu Yan said with a smile.
Xu Yangzi didn''t say anything further upon hearing this, and Daoist Hu Yan gave Han Li a slight nod, indicating for him to continue.
With the speed of the blue flying carriage, they were quickly able to make it halfway around Red Moon Ind, but no one had discovered anything.
Xu Yangzi''s expression had darkened once again, and Zhen Yun and Lu Lan were also beginning to look rather uneasy.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s expression changed slightly as he hurriedly said, "Please stop here for a moment, Martial Uncle."
Daoist Hu Yan raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and the flying carriage instantly drew to a halt at his behest.
At the same time, ayer of rippling blue light appeared over its surface, and it was once again indistinguishable from the seawater around it.
Mere momentster, a streak of light shot forth from afar from the left, then continued toward the seabed without pause, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
"That spirit eye ability of yours is quite impressive, Tianyu," Daoist Hu Yan praised.
"You''re far too kind, Martial Uncle, I was only lucky to have been looking in the right direction," Han Li replied in a humble manner.
Xu Yangzi''s eyelid twitched slightly, clearly feeling a little embarrassed to have been proven wrong like this, but he still cast his gaze toward the streak of light like everyone else.
"Perhaps the entrance is down there... Tianyu, can you see a little further?" Yun Ni asked.
Han Li took a deep breath as he channeled his Brightsight Spirit Eyes with all his might, but unfortunately, the sea here was too deep for him to see the bottom, and he could only turn to Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni with a resigned shake of his head.
"We''ve alreadye here, so some degree of risk is unavoidable. I think we should go down and have a look," Daoist Hu Yan suggested after some contemtion.
Yun Ni nodded in agreement, and Han Li naturally offered no objections, either.
"What do you think, Fellow Daoist Xu Yangzi?" Daoist Hu Yan asked as he turned to Xu Yangzi''s trio.
The three of them exchanged a nce, following which Xu Yangzi also nodded in agreement with this proposed course of action.
With that, Daoist Hu Yan made a hand seal, and the blue flying carriage swiveled around before descending toward the seabed.
The sea here was extremely deep, and even after flying for a long while, the flying carriage still hadn''t reached the seabed.
Furthermore, there were countless deep rifts and trenches on the seabed here, presenting a veryplex terrain that resembled a mountain range.
A hesitant look appeared on Daoist Hu Yan''s face, and he was no longer able to sense where the streak of light had gone.
He exchanged a nce with Yun Ni, in response to which she gave a shake of her head.
He then turned to Xu Yangzi''s trio with an inquisitive expression, but it was clear that they were just as lost as he was.
"He went down that trench, Martial Uncle," Han Li said as he pointed at a giant trench not far away.
An ted look immediately appeared on Daoist Hu Yan''s face and he asked, "What is this spirit eye ability of yours? How is it able to allow you to see so far?"
At the same time, he was making a string of hand seals, and the blue flying carriage immediately flew toward the trench that Han Li was pointing at.
"You think far too highly of me, Martial Uncle. There''s no way my spirit eyes can see that far, it''s just that the ability allows me to see spiritual power fluctuations, and I was able to see some of the traces that person left behind," Han Li exined with a smile.
At his current cultivation base, he was able to see faint spiritual power traces even withoutbining his Brightsight Spirit Eyes with his Law Destruction Eye.
"Even so, it''s quite remarkable that your spirit eye ability was able to detect such faint spiritual power traces," Yun Ni praised.
Xu Yangzi''s trio was also forced to re-evaluate Han Li upon hearing this, and Han Li merely gave them a modest smile in response.
At this point, the flying carriage had already flown deep into the trench.
The terrain here was also extremelyplex, without countless tunnels and passageways that led to unknown ces.
These passageways seemed to have been formed naturally, but it was unclear how they had arisen.
A peculiar look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
During the Gong Shuhong assassination mission, he had remained on the ind the entire time, so he was unaware of theplexities present beneath the ind.
Han Li continued to work with Daoist Hu Yan, with the former using his spirit eye ability to follow the spiritual power traces, while thetter controlled the flying carriage.
Some ces that they had to pass through were quite narrow, only several feet wide, but the carriage was able to expand or shrink at will, and all of the cultivators onboard were also able to manipte their own bodies through various means, so this was no obstacle for them.
Close to an hour passed by in the blink of an eye, and the blue flying carriage continued to traverse slowly through the water.
The rock tunnels on the seabed were blue in color, resembling ice crystals, and they were giving off wisps of spiritual qi, indicating that they were simr in constitution to some spirit materials.
It was extremely dark this deep in the sea, and the only source of light came from the faint blue radiance emanating from the rock tunnels.
Han Li continued to inspect his surroundings with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and at this point, he could detect many spiritual power traces, as if many people hade here before.
He immediately revealed this observation to Daoist Hu Yan and the others, and everyone was ted to hear this.
The fact that so many people had recently passed through this area indicated there was a very good chance that the entrance of the immortal manor was up ahead.
Daoist Hu Yan remained patient as he continued to slowly advance the flying carriage through the water, and after traveling for a while longer, bursts of rumbling suddenly began to ring out up ahead, as if there were a battle taking ce.
Everyone was even more encouraged upon seeing this.
"It should be just up ahead!"
"Looks like that piece of news was true, after all."
"Don''t let your guard down, everyone. We still can''t be sure yet, so let''s not getcent," Daoist Hu Yan cautioned as he made a hand seal, and the flying carriage elerated slightly.
Chapter 403: Seal
Chapter 403: Seal
As the flying carriage continued onward, the rumbling up ahead grew louder and louder, and all of the nearby seawater was also churning incessantly.
At the same time, the rock tunnels were beginning to tremble, and chunks of rocks of different sizes were asionally ttering down from above.
Lights of different colors were shing through the space up ahead, and at the same time, bursts of spiritual sense were sweeping forth from all directions in a tant fashion, making no attempt at subtlety and secrecy.
This was certainly not something that Han Li and the others had expected to see.
The flying carriage continued onward, reaching the end of the rock tunnel in the blink of an eye.
Up ahead was an enormous underground cave, the roof of which was riddled with countless blue stctites, and it seemed that this was a naturally forming karst cave that was several dozen kilometers in size.
At this moment, there were also dozens of cultivators gathered in the cave, all of whom were viciously bombarding a certain part of the cave with attacks.
They were collectively attacking a dense ck light barrier, beyond which one could just barely make out the entrance of a cave. There were some cultivators standing deep within the opening of the cave, but it was impossible to see them clearly due to the ck light barrier in the way.
One spirit treasure after another crashed into the ck light barrier, causing it to shudder incessantly, and it was unclear whether this cave had been artificially fortified or if it was this resilient to begin with, but it remainedpletely unscathed despite the powerful shockwaves released by the barrage of attacks.
"How dare you seal the entrance of the immortal manor!"
"The Infernal Frost Immortal Manor doesn''t belong to your Northern cial Immortal Pce! Remove these restrictions right now!"
Some of the cultivators were yelling to vent their fury as they continued to rain down attacks upon the ck light barrier.
Han Li and the others were ecstatic to see this, and Daoist Hu Yan flipped a hand over to produce the Infernal Frost Scenic Painting.
As soon as the painting was summoned, the blue light radiating from it instantly brightened before pointing in the direction of the ck light barrier. Due to the restrictions, it seemed that the painting was only able to detect the entrance of the immortal manor from very close proximity.
"It looks like the entrance of the immortal manor really is here!" Daoist Hu Yan said as he stowed his Infernal Frost Scenic Painting away, then cast a fervent gaze toward the ck light barrier, and Xu Yangzi and the others were also looking very excited.
Han Li was also quite ted, but not as much as the others, and he quickly calmed down before turning his attention to the other cultivators in the cave.
There were 34 cultivators present, all of whom were at or above the True Immortal Stage.
They were dressed in different attire and split up into three factions, the most eye-catching one of which was situated at the edge of the cave.
The group consisted of around a dozen blue-robed cultivators, led by a benevolent-looking middle-aged man.
This man was none other than the master of the Vast Flow Pce, Luo Qinghai.
As for the people standing beside Luo Qinghai, Han Li had no recollection of any of them aside from an effeminate young man.
The Vast Flow Pce cultivators were the most formidable faction of the three, with four mid-Golden Immortal cultivators alongside Luo Qinghai, who was at thete-Golden Immortal Stage.
In the face of such a formidable lineup, Han Li''s group waspletely outmatched.
On top of that, the majority of the rest of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators were at thete-True Immortal Stage.
After taking a brief nce at the Vast Flow Pce cultivators, Han Li turned his attention to the other two factions, one of which was dressed in ck robes, each of which had a skull design embroidered onto the chest.
This group also consisted of around a dozen cultivators, led by an elderly man with pockmarks all over his face, a petite young woman whose features were concealed behind a veil, and two other men, one tall and one short.
The pockmark-faced elderly man wore a vicious expression as he glowered his surroundings, while the veiled young woman''s entire body was enveloped within rings of translucent azure light.
As for the other two men, the taller one was over 20 feet in height and had an extremely imposing physique, giving him the appearance of an impregnable fortress on legs.
The shorter of the two was less than five feet tall with stubby arms and legs that gave him a ratherical appearance, but he possessed an extremely solid physique, much like an iron weight.
Despite the enormous disparity in the statures of the two men, their facial features were very simr in appearance, and it seemed that they were brothers.
All four of them were Golden Immortals, with the pockmark-faced elderly man at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, while the other three were at the early-Golden Immortal Stage, and the rest of the group were naturally all True Immortals.
The final group had a simr number of people to the other two factions, and they were all dressed in very strange attire. Regardless of whether they were male or female, all of them were wearing short vests with ck bandanas around their heads. Furthermore, it seemed that they were not of the human race.
There were four Golden Immortals among them as well, namely an elderly man with a darkplexion, an elderly woman with freckled skin, and a pair of physically-imposing men with nk and wooden expressions, as if they were puppets.
The four of them were holding a golden cane each, all of which were riddled with peculiar golden patterns while also giving off formidable auras that were resonating with one another.
At this moment, thetter two factions in the cave were attacking the ck light barrier, while the Vast Flow Pce cultivators were merely observing as bystanders.
Meanwhile, Luo Qinghai was asionally ncing down into the underground space beneath the cave entrance, seemingly waiting for something.
After their initial excitement, Daoist Hu Yan and the others gradually calmed down after assessing the situation.
Xu Yangzi hesitated momentarily, then asked in a quiet voice, "Should we reveal ourselves now or continue observing like this?"
"Seeing as there aren''t any traps here, I think we should reveal ourselves. Otherwise, if we''re somehow discovered, that would put us in a bad light. Having said that, this is not the right ce to be revealing ourselves," Daoist Hu Yan replied, following which the blue flying carriage beneath his feet flew back a little through the rock tunnel at his behest.
Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal, and the carriage rapidly shrank down before flying back up his sleeve, thereby revealing everyone.
"Let''s go."
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni led the way forward, and Xu Yangzi and the others immediately followed along.
As soon as they re-entered the cave, everyone''s attention was immediately drawn to them, including several pairs of eyes in the underground space beneath the ck light barrier.
Luo Qinghai took a nce at Han Li''s group, following which a hint of disappointment shed through his eyes, and he quickly averted his gaze.
The other two factions temporarily ceased in their attacks before turning to Han Li''s group as well.
Meanwhile, Daoist Hu Yan and the others feigned surprised expressions and stopped not far away from everyone else.
The pockmark-faced man put on a hideous smile as he approached Han Li''s group, and after taking a nce at Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni, he greeted, "I didn''t expect to see you here, Fellow Daoist Xu Yangzi. Who are these two fellow daoists? I don''t recall ever meeting them before."
As for Han Li, he was just a True Immortal, so he naturally didn''t attract much attention from the elderly man.
All of the other ck-robed cultivators also approached Han Li and the others behind the pockmark-faced elderly man.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Chen. These two are good friends of our True me Sect, and they''vee to explore this Infernal Frost Immortal Manor with us. Fellow Daoist Gu, this is Sect Master Chen Pi of the Ghost Wail Sect," Xu Yangzi introduced.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. The Ghost Wail Sect was a sect on the Ancient Cloud Continent that wasparable in power to the True me Sect.
Its members were proficient in all types of ghostly and devilish cultivation arts, and they had a notorious reputation, often killing others to take their souls for the sake of cultivating certain ghostly abilities and even going as far as topletely ughter some smaller sects, for which they had always been frowned upon by the ze Dragon Dao.
However, the sect was situated very far away from the ze Dragon Dao, so as long as they didn''t do anything to harm the ze Dragon Dao''s interests, there was naturally no incentive for the ze Dragon Dao to target them.
"I''ve heard much about the Ghost Wail Sect. My name is Gu Yan, and this is my Junior Martial Sister, Gu Ni. Both of us are itinerant cultivators," Daoist Hu Yan said with a smile, while Yun Ni merely nodded at the Ghost Wail Sect cultivators in silence.
"It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, fellow daoists," Chen Pi said.
He seemed to be eager to recruit Xu Yangzi, Daoist Hu Yan, and the others as allies, and the feeling was very much mutual, so the two sides quickly struck up a pleasant conversation.
As for the group of foreign race cultivators, they remained standing on the spot in silence, disying no intention of approaching Han Li''s group.
"Could it be that the entrance of the immortal manor is in there?" Xu Yangzi asked as he cast his gaze toward the cave beneath the ck light barrier.
"That''s right. The people from the Northern cial Immortal Pce are all in there, and they''ve set up a restriction to seal the entrance so that they can keep it to themselves! Other people may be scared of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, but I''m certainly not scared!
¡°You came at just the right time, Fellow Daoist Xu Yangzi. Our three factions should work together to blow this restriction open and give the Northern cial Immortal Pce what they deserve!" Chen Pi said with a cold smile.
"Three factions? Are you counting in those people over there?" Daoist Hu Yan asked as he cast his gaze toward the foreign race cultivators.
"Precisely. They''re cultivators of the Southern Dawn Race from the westernmost border of the Northern cial Immortal Region. They don''t mean any disrespect, they simply don''t like to interact with people outside of their own race," Chen Pi exined.
Daoist Hu Yan wasn''t bothered at all.
All races were generally quite apprehensive toward those of other races.
However, as long as there wasn''t any animosity beyond that, Daoist Hu Yan certainly wasn''t opposed to working with those Southern Dawn beings.
Chapter 404: Impasse
Chapter 404: Impasse
"Truth be told, I''ve alreadymunicated with them earlier, and they''re also very unhappy with what the Northern cial Immortal Pce has done here, so they''ll definitely be receptive to the idea of forming a temporary alliance with us. The restriction set up by the Immortal Pce is very resilient, but if we can get 10 Golden Immortals attacking the same spot on it at once, we''ll surely be able to break through it," Chen Pi said.
Xu Yangzi''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to Daoist Hu Yan for a verdict.
A hint of surprise shed through Chen Pi''s eyes upon seeing this, and he was forced to reassess the status of Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni in the group.
"The Vast Flow Pce cultivators are also here, why haven''t you joined forces with them to break this restriction?" Daoist Hu Yan asked.
"They''re a major sect that has no eyes for other sects and races beneath them, so they''re naturally unwilling to work with us," Chen Pi replied with a resigned expression.
Daoist Hu Yan was silent for a moment upon hearing this, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of gentle light that instantly formed a light barrier, epassing the surrounding area within a radius of over 100 feet.
After setting up the light barrier, Daoist Hu Yan said, "Sect Master Chen, in my opinion, it''s best for us not to break this restriction for now."
Chen Pi''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "Oh? Why do you say that, Fellow Daoist Gu?"
"The Northern cial Immortal Pce''s actions have already incurred widespread outrage from all of the powers that have gathered in the ck Wind Sea in search for the immortal manor. If our three factions join forces to break the restriction now, that''ll be sure to pit us in a direct conflict against the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and even if we can keep them at bay, we''ll only be benefiting others," Daoist Hu Yan exined.
A contemtive look appeared on Chen Pi''s face upon hearing this.
"I think that we should take a more patient approach. There''s still some time until the opening of the immortal manor, and the Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators won''t be able to simultaneously enter the immortal manor while also defending the restriction here.
¡°The location of the immortal manor''s entrance was leaked quite some time ago, so it''s only a matter of time before all of the powers assemble. Once that happens, surely the Immortal Pce wouldn''t dare to continue to oppose everyone," Daoist Hu Yan continued.
"Fellow Daoist Gu is right. This is not the right time to be breaking the restriction, and the Vast Flow Pce cultivators are most likely hanging back precisely for this reason. They would be ecstatic to see us engage in a direct battle against the Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators while they look on from the sidelines. Luo Qinghai is a sly old fox, and this is what he likes to do best," Xu Yangzi chimed in with a nod.
Chen Pi''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "That''s a good n, Fellow Daoist Gu. It seems I was too eager to strike. I was so infuriated by the Northern cial Immortal Pce''s actions that I was determined to foil their ns, even if it meant that I lost the chance to enter the immortal manor myself, but it appears there''s no reason to make such a sacrifice."
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Chen," Daoist Hu Yan replied in a modest manner.
Chen Pi and Daoist Hu Yan chatted for a while longer before the former departed and flew back to the group of Southern Dawn beings, where he beganmunicating with the four Golden Immortals.
The pair of imposing men disyed no reaction to what they were being told, but the elderly man and the elderly woman''s expressions changed slightly upon hearing what Chen Pi had to say.
The two of them then nodded in agreement with Daoist Hu Yan''s proposed course of action, and they refrained from continuing in their assault on the ck light barrier.
All of a sudden, it had be very peaceful in the cave.
Luo Qinghai took a nce at Daoist Hu Yan as a peculiar look shed through his eyes.
"It looks like someone with an ounce of intelligence has finally arrived, Pce Master," the fair-skinned schr remarked as he approached Luo Qinghai.
Even though Daoist Hu Yan had just set up a restriction to prevent others from eavesdropping on their conversation, it was very apparent what had just transpired.
"This is not a bad development. It may not necessarily benefit us for them to recklessly break the restriction, so let''s just continue waiting and observing," Luo Qinghai said in a contemtive manner.
"Indeed, Pce Master. It would be best to wait for everyone to arrive and force Xiao Jinhan to remove the restriction," the fair-skinned schr said.
Luo Qinghai merely smiled in response.
¡¡
Behind the ck light barrier was a cave, which led into a spacious area, one in which all of the Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators were situated.
At this point, the cultivators on the stone pirs had already stopped what they were doing and flown down from the pirs.
However, the array was still functioning to epass the gate of light.
Aside from them, there were also some cultivators dressed in ck Wind Ind attire, including Lu Jun, Lu Yuqing, and several of the ck Wind Ind elders.
At this moment, everyone was standing with their heads lowered, not daring to make even the slightest sound. Meanwhile, Xiao Jinhan was glowering at everyone with a furious expression, and there was a cloud of ck mist swirling around his body, giving off a fearsome aura of malice.
"Who can exin to me what''s happened here? How was the location of the immortal manor suddenly leaked without any exnation?" Xiao Jinhan asked in a cold voice.
None of the Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators could offer a response.
Xiao Jinhan turned his gaze to Deputy Pce Master Xue Ying.
Xue Ying hesitated momentarily, then said, "All of the people who are aware of the entrance''s location are gathered here right now, and the restriction set up cuts off allmunication with the outside world, so there shouldn''t be any way for the information to have been leaked."
"Then why don''t you exin to me how those people have shown up outside?" Xiao Jinhan demanded as he turned to Xue Ying with a sharp gaze.
Xue Ying''splexion instantly paled slightly, and she was at a loss for how to respond.
"This is the one task that I assigned to all of you, yet you''ve still managed to make aplete mess of things!" Xiao Jinhan spat in a cold voice.
After a tense silence, Lu Yue said in a feeble voice, "I believe that there are only two possible exnations, Pce Master."
"Go ahead," Xiao Jinhan prompted.
"The first possibility is that one of us leaked this information," Lu Yue said.
A cold gleam shed through Xiao Jinhan''s eyes upon hearing this.
"That''s impossible! All of the cultivators of our Northern cial Immortal Pce that were sent here are absolutely loyal and trustworthy. On top of that, even Golden Immortals like you and I are unable to send any information to the outside world through the restrictions here," Xue Ying immediately objected with furrowed brows.
"I''m also certain that everyone here is reliable and trustworthy, so there''s only a very slim chance of this being the case," Lu Yue said.
"What''s the other possibility?" Xiao Jinhan asked.
"The second possible exnation is that the Reincarnation Pce already discovered the entrance of the immortal manor well in advance, and they were the ones who leaked this information," Lu Yue replied.
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, while Xiao Jinhan''s brows furrowed slightly in contemtion.
The ck mist swirling around his body slowly dissipated, and the menacing aura in the air also faded, much to the relief of everyone else.
"We''ve been able to lead the Reincarnation Pce on one wild goose chase after another, pursuing a series of false entrances, but now that I think about it, things may have gone a little smoothly. The Reincarnation Pce has been able to contend with our Immortal Pce for many years, so they shouldn''t be this incapable.
¡°I think they must''ve already seen through our intentions, and they''ve only been pretending to fall for our ploys in order to lure us into a false sense of security," Lu Yue continued.
Everyone immediately began to discuss this theory.
"Be quiet!" Xiao Jinhan yelled, and everyone instantly fell silent again.
"Regardless of exactly what happened, there''s no use in specting now. Keep doing what you need to do, and I''ll deal with the rest," Xiao Jinhan said in an indifferent voice, having calmed down again.
With that, everyone returned to their original posts, including Ouyang Kuishan and the dao lords, who returned to the tops of their respective stone pirs.
A few people also made their way over to the ck restriction at the entrance of the cave before sitting down with their legs crossed.
Meanwhile, Xiao Jinhan cast his gaze outward with a cold look in his eyes, and it was unclear what he was contemting.
¡¡
Meanwhile, the cave outside waspletely silent.
Han Li was observing everyone as he stood behind Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.
Wyrm 3''s objective was also the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, so perhaps they had already arrived here. However, it was impossible to tell as all of the Reincarnation Pce cultivators also had Transient Guild masks that could conceal their appearances and auras.
He was inspecting everyone in the cave closely, trying to spot some telltale signs, but his efforts proved to be futile.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s expression suddenly changed slightly as he cast his gaze outside, and a hint of foreboding suddenly welled up in his heart.
Daoist Hu Yan noticed the change in Han Li''s expression, and he asked through voice transmission, "What is it?"
"I think someone else ising," Han Li replied.
Daoist Hu Yan cast his gaze toward the entrance of the cave upon hearing this, just in time to see a silver-robed woman appear amid a sh of silver light.
The woman took an expressionless nce at everyone else in the cave, then slowly made his way inside.
Her arrival created a small stir among everyone in the cave, and even Luo Qinghai''s eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the sight of her arrival.
Chapter 405: Assembled
Chapter 405: Assembled
A hint of wariness shed through Han Li''s eyes as he observed the woman.
Even with his tremendous spiritual sense, he was unable to detect her cultivation base, and he had only ever experienced this with Xiao Jinhan and Baili Yan. Not even Luo Qinghai had been so unfathomable in his eyes.
He observed the woman for a while longer, then closed his eyes to meditate.
The woman was none other than Qu Ling, and there was a small golden pouch hanging from her waist.
The pouch was glowing with spiritual light, and there were several peculiar patterns on its surface, giving off a burst ofw fluctuations.
Right at this moment, the pouch twitched ever so slightly, and Qu Ling''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this as she brushed a hand over the pouch in a subtle fashion.
A ball of silver light appeared over the palm of her hand before quickly vanishing into the pouch, upon which it fell still again.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s eyes sprang open as a hint of shock shed across his face, and he hurriedly lowered his head to conceal his expression.
Right at this moment, Qu Ling raised her head as she swept her gaze across everyone in the cave.
At this moment, everyone was also observing her, and as soon as anyone''s gaze met hers, they immediately felt a sharp pain in their eyes, as if they had been pricked by a needle.
Most of the people present hurriedly withdrew their gaze, and some with lesser cultivation bases couldn''t help but give muffled groans, as if they had suffered some internal injuries.
Some of the Golden Immortals present were rather displeased to see this, but they didn''t say anything.
Luo Qinghai''s brows furrowed slightly, and he said, "I wasn''t expecting to see you here, Fellow Daoist Qu Ling."
Just now, two of the Vast Flow Pce''s True Immortals had suffered some internal injuries from their brief eye contact with Qu Ling, and this was not good news for their imminent venture into the immortal manor.
"You''re constantly in seclusion, yet even you''vee here, so why can''t I be here?" Qu Ling countered as she took an indifferent nce at Luo Qinghai.
"The Infernal Frost Immortal Manor doesn''t belong to our Vast Flow Pce, so of course you''re free toe her as you please, but isn''t it rather unbefitting for someone of your status to be intimidating these juniors?" Luo Qinghai asked with a faint smile.
"If you keep these juniors in check so that they don''t go around gawking at others like idiots, perhaps I wouldn''t have to discipline them in your stead," Qu Ling replied with a cold sneer.
The other Golden Immortals of the Vast Flow Pce immediately red up with rage, yet Luo Qinghai raised a hand to stop them before they could say anything.
"You''re right, Fellow Daoist Qu, these juniors were indeed at fault for being so rude. It seems like you''ve advanced even further in your cultivation since west met. I must admit that I''m very impressed," Luo Qinghai said with a faint smile.
Qu Ling offered no response, taking a nce at the ck restriction before finding a ce to stand in the cave.
Luo Qinghai waspletely unbothered by this, and his smile remained unchanged as he averted his gaze in a calm manner.
"Who is this woman, Senior Hu Yan? It seems like even Luo Qinghai doesn''t dare to provoke her," Han Li inquired through voice transmission.
"Her name is Qu Ling, and she¡¯s quite an enigmatic figure, but she''s also very renowned in this immortal region. She already reached thete-Golden Immortal Stage over 100,000 years ago, and it seems that her cultivation base has advanced even further since then," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this.
"Despite her lofty cultivation base, what''s actually most fearsome about her is the vast array of spirit beasts and spirit insects in her possession. On top of that, she has a very cruel and unpredictable personality, and even the Northern cial Immortal Pce wouldn''t want to make an enemy out of her. If you run into her in the immortal manor, then make sure to stay away, and do not provoke her no matter what you do," Daoist Hu Yan continued.
"I''ll be sure to keep that in mind," Han Li replied.
Half a day passed by in the blink of an eye, and some of the people in the hall were beginning to grow rather agitated again, particrly the cultivators of the Ghost Wail Sect.
Chen Pi''s gaze was shing back and forth between the entrance of the cave and the ck light barrier, and right at this moment, an ecstatic look appeared on Chen Pi''s faces as another group of cultivators arrived.
They were none other than the cultivators of the Dawn Fall Sect, led by their sect master and Feng Tiandu.
"Wee, Elder Feng, Sect Master Qi. I''ve already been waiting here for you for quite some time," Luo Qinghai greeted with a warm smile.
"You arrived quite early, Pce Luo, and you''ve brought with you quite a formidable entourage. It looks like you''re determined to get your hands on some precious treasures in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor," the Dawn Fall Sect Master remarked.
"I wouldn''t even dare to considerpeting against the two of you. I''ve only brought these juniors with me on this asion to broaden their horizons, so rest assured, you won''t be facing anypetition from me," Luo Qinghai replied with a smile.
"You''re still as modest as ever, Pce Master Luo," the Dawn Fall Sect Master chuckled, clearlypletely unconvinced by Luo Qinghai''s words.
Meanwhile, Feng Tiandu remained silent as he swept his gaze across everyone else in the hall. He had changed into a clean gray robe, and he was still zombie-like in appearance, but he already appeared far more normal than before, and the chains around his body had also disappeared.
All of a sudden, his gaze fell upon none other than Qu Ling.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Qu," Feng Tiandu said with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
Qu Ling merely nodded in response.
Han Li was quite taken aback to see this.
Qu Ling had disyed a great deal of arrogance to everyone else in the cave, including even Luo Qinghai, yet she was far more restrained in the face of Feng Tiandu.
Having said that, it seemed that this was for good reason as Feng Tiandu''s cultivation base felt just as unfathomable as Qu Ling''s to Han Li.
"Senior Hu Yan, are these people from the Dawn Fall Sect?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"That''s right. The man with the scar on his face is the sect master, Qi Tianxiao. He''s always kept a low profile, so he''s not all that renowned. The one standing beside him is Feng Tiandu, the grand elder of the Dawn Fall Sect, and he''s a much more renowned figure in our Northern cial Immortal Region.
¡°Feng Tiandu, Dao Lord Baili, and Xiao Jinhan are considered to be the three most formidable Golden Immortals of our Northern cial Immortal Region, but for some reason, he went into seclusion tens of thousands of years ago and hasn''te out since then, but it seems that he''s finallye out of seclusion for this asion," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this.
He was carefully observing Feng Tiandu, and for some reason, he felt a sense of familiarity in Feng Tiandu, as if he had seen him somewhere before.
Right at this moment, Feng Tiandu seemed to have sensed Han Li''s gaze, and he turned to look at Han Li.
Their eyes met, and Han Li instantly felt a chill run down his spine. He felt as if Feng Tiandu were seeing right through him,ying himpletely bare and exposed.
Han Li hurriedly averted his gaze, while Feng Tiandu observed Han Li for a while longer with a peculiar look in his eyes before also looking away, turning his attention to the ck restriction in the cave.
"Are the Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators in there right now, Pce Master Luo?" Feng Tiandu asked.
"That''s right," Luo Qinghai replied with a nod.
Feng Tiandu observed the ck light barrier for a moment, then raised a hand, and a streak of ck light shot out of the palm of his hand like an arrow before striking the ck light barrier in a sh.
The streak of light wasn''t remarkable in appearance at all, and it wasn''t even all that bright, but the impact caused the ck light barrier to shudder violently, sending ripples surging over its surface.
Countless specks of ck light appeared on the light barrier to form a nine-grid array, and a burst of peculiar force emerged, quickly settling the ripples on the light barrier.
"This is the Nine Heavens Profound Array. Looks like Xiao Jinhan is indeed responsible for this," Feng Tiandu remarked as he turned to Luo Qinghai.
"Indeed, Elder Feng," Luo Qinghai replied with a smile.
"This restriction is certainly not easy to break, but given thebined powers of yourself and the other elders of your Vast Flow Pce, you''re definitely capable of breaking this restriction, so why have you still not done so, Pce Master Luo?" Feng Tiandu asked.
"You think far too highly of me, Elder Feng. Besides, seeing as all of us want to enter the immortal manor, we should all contribute our efforts to breaking the restriction," Luo Qinghai replied with a smile.
"I suppose you''re right, Pce Master Luo. What do you think, Fellow Daoist Qu?" Feng Tiandu asked as he turned to Qu Ling, in response to which she only gave a silent nod.
"Alright, in that case, let''s not waste any more time with idle chatter. Everyone, let''s all join forces for now and force the Northern cial Immortal Pce to remove the restriction so we can all enter the immortal manor. After that, we all go our separate ways. What do you all say?" Feng Tiandu dered as he swept his gaze over everyone else in the cave.
Everyone immediately expressed their agreement to this proposal, and with that, Feng Tiandu rose up into the air before descending in front of the ck restriction.
All of the other Dawn Fall Sect cultivators hurriedly followed along, as did the cultivators from the other powers gathered in the cave.
Han Li was naturally among them, but he intentionallygged behind a little, situating himself in a discreet corner near the back of the crowd.
An immense collective aura was emanating out of everyone''s bodies, cing tremendous pressure upon the ck restriction.
The very space was trembling in the wake of the enormous spiritual pressure, and even the entire cave was beginning to rumble.
The ck restriction was rippling incessantly as Feng Tiandu dered in a cold voice, "Xiao Jinhan, your n to keep the immortal manor to yourself has been foiled. Remove this restriction right now. Otherwise, we certainly wouldn''t mind doing so by force!"
The ck restriction continued to ripple, but remained in ce.
Chapter 406: Come In
Chapter 406: Come In
"Fellow daoists, it seems that the Northern cial Immortal Pce is determined to defy us to the end, so there''s no need for us to hold back any longer. Let''sbine our powers and break this restriction by force!" Qi Tianxiao dered in a cold voice.
Everyone in the cave had been frantically searching for the entrance of the immortal manor over the past few years, and as a result, they had developed a great deal of resentment toward the Northern cial Immortal Pce. Hence, they were more than happy to heed Q Tianxiao''s rallying call.
"Are we just going to leave it at that, fellow daoists? The Immortal Pce needs to suffer the consequences for what they''ve done! Not only are we going to break this restriction, we should kick them out of here and relegate them to the fate of not being able to enter the immortal manor, just like what they tried to inflict upon us!" Chen Pi yelled.
Everyone immediately fell silent upon hearing this, while contemtive looks appeared on the faces of all of the most formidable Golden Immortals present.
Generally, everyone tried to get along with the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and it was often referred to as the leading power of the Northern cial Immortal Region, but that was only due to how formidable the Immortal Pce was and the fact that there were generally no conflicts of interest between the Immortal Pce and other sects.
However, the Immortal Pce had put its ambition on full disy in the wake of the ze Dragon Dao incident, and their sealing of the immortal manor entrance was a move that encroached upon the rights of everyone, so it was no wonder that they had be widely condemned.
Luo Qinghai, Feng Tiandu, and all of the other Golden Immortals were clearly moved by the idea.
They didn''t know how many people the Northern cial Immortal Pce had sent to the ck Wind Sea, but there was no way that they would be a match for all of these formidable powersbined, so kicking the Northern cial Immortal Pce out was certainly a possibility.
Luo Qinghai and Feng Tiandu exchanged a nce with one another, and right as they were about to say something, the ck restriction suddenly began to ripple and quiver.
Immediately thereafter, the nine grids reappeared on its surface one after another, while the ripples became more and more pronounced.
A few momentster, all of the nine grids abruptly lit up with dazzling radiance, but the light faded just as abruptly as it appeared, following which the entire ck restriction was also lifted, revealing the dim cave beyond.
Everyone was already prepared tosh out, but all of a sudden, it was as if they had punched into a wall of cotton, and they began to exchange bewildered nces at one another, at a slight loss for what to do.
Immediately thereafter, a voice rang out from within the cave.
"Come in, fellow daoists."
Having seen Xiao Jinhan in person back in the ze Dragon Dao, Han Li could tell that this was Xiao Jinhan''s voice.
Luo Qinghai, Feng Tiandu, and the other prominent Golden Immortals present exchanged a few nces, then made their way into the cave.
Even Qu Ling decided to follow behind Luo Qinghai and the others after a brief moment of contemtion.
All of the True Immortals present immediately followed along, and that naturally included Han Li, who was trailing along behind Daoist Hu Yan.
Before long, everyone had entered the cave.
Not only had the ck restriction at the entrance of the cave been lifted, the entire array around the blue gate of light had also disappeared, but the nine stone pirs were still standing.
Without the seal in ce, the blue light radiating from the gate had be several times brighter than before, and it was also giving off a cial aura interspersed with formidable bursts of spatial power.
The cial aura and the spatial power intertwined while the blue light within the gate surged violently, looking as if it were about to erupt out of the gate altogether.
At the same time, the world''s origin qi above Red Moon Ind was also churning violently, forming a series of balls of dazzling radiance before exploding amid bursts of dull rumbling.
The Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators were situated near the gate of light, observing the cultivators making their way into the cave, and they were led by Xiao Jinhan, who was standing with a warm smile on his face, as if he were a hospitable host weing his guests.
Han Li was standing in an obscure corner, and after a quick count, he discovered that there were around two or three dozen Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators present, close to half of whom were Golden Immortals.
What was rather surprising to him was the three dao lords, including Ouyang Kuishan, were also present.
As for the rest of the Immortal Pce cultivators, they were either at thete-True Immortal Stage or at the pinnacle of the True Immortal Stage.
The Northern cial Immortal Region was clearly far more formidable than any single other power present, and it was certainly worthy of its title as the premier power of the Northern cial Immortal Region.
However, with so many power joining forces, the collective lineup of cultivators was significantly more formidable than that of the Northern cial Immortal Pce.
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed a group of ck-robed figures standing beside the Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators, among which were Lu Jun and Lu Yuqing.
He hurriedly ducked behind a physically-imposing man standing in front of him upon seeing this.
The disguise that he had adopted using his Transient Guild mask could fool others, but Lu Yuqing had shown that she was able to identify him through her innate ocr ability.
"Please pardon our intrusion, Pce Master Xiao," Qi Tianxiao said with a hint of a mocking sneer on his face.
Meanwhile, Feng Tiandu, Qu Ling, Luo Qinghai, and the others were all scrutinizing Xiao Jinhan in silence.
"It''s so good to see so many of my old friends here. My sincerest apologies for noting out to greet you sooner," Xiao Jinhan said with a faint smile.
Feng Tiandu clearly wasn''t in the mood for small talk, and he said in a cold voice, "Let''s not waste any time here, Pce Master Xiao. I''m sure you heard the discussion that we had outside, right?"
"I take responsibility for all of my actions, so all of you can do anything that you please. Our Northern cial Immortal Pce is fully prepared to bear the consequences," Xiao Jinhan replied in a calm manner.
Meanwhile, all of the Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators had ced their hand on their storage tools, and they weren''t disying any fear at all.
"Do you think that we wouldn''t dare to go through with our n, Pce Master Xiao?" Qu Ling asked as a cold gleam appeared in her eyes.
"Yourbined powers do indeed exceed that of our Northern cial Immortal Pce, but I suggest you think before you act. These stone pirs form an array that can be detonated at any that I please.
¡°The resulting explosion won''t be able to destroy the entrance, but it''ll certainly be sufficiently powerful to destroy the space near the entrance. As for what''ll happen to the entrance itself, you''re free to specte on that," Xiao Jinhan said in an indifferent voice.
Qu Ling''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and everyone else also became rather hesitant about how to proceed.
Before anyone had a chance to say anything, Qi Tianxiao yelled, "You think an empty threat like that is enough to stop us?"
"If you don''t believe me, then you''re free to give it a try," Xiao Jinhan replied in a calm andposed manner.
Meanwhile, Feng Tiandu and the others weremunicating to one another through voice transmission.
"Fellow Daoist Feng, you''re one of the top array masters of our Northern cial Immortal Region. Can you tell if those stone pirs really are capable of doing what he ims?" Luo Qinghai asked.
"Even I don''t recognize all of the runes on these pirs, but my experience tells me that this is indeed an extremely formidable array, and if it were to be detonated, the consequences would be catastrophic," Feng Tiandu replied.
"What a sly bastard that Xiao Jinhan is. Are we just going to let them off the hook?" Qi Tianxiao asked in a disgruntled voice.
"It''ll take a very long time to unravel this restriction, and if a battle breaks out, we definitely won''t be able to prevent him from detonating those stone pirs. Our top priority is to enter the immortal pce, so it looks like we have no choice but to adopt a more peaceful approach. Let''s see what he says first," Feng Tiandu said.
Luo Qinghai, Qi Tianxiao, Qu Ling, and the others were silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
"You''ve gotten the better of us this time, Pce Master Xiao. We''ll settle for a peaceful resolution," Feng Tianxiao said.
None of the other Golden Immortals said anything, but it was clear that Feng Tiandu had the authority to speak on their behalf.
Qu Ling began to make her way off to the side, and all of the True Immortals gathered in that direction hurriedly dispersed to give her a wide berth.
The other powers were feeling rather indignant, but seeing as the Vast Flow Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect had already given up on pursuing this matter, they naturally weren''t so foolish as to oppose the Northern cial Immortal Pce on their own. Even Chen Pi and the group of Southern Dawn beings had fallen silent at this point.
A subtle hint of relief shed through Xiao Jinhan''s eyes upon seeing this, and he said with a faint smile, "The Infernal Frost Immortal Manor is enormous and filled with countless treasures. Even though it''s emerged many times in the past, the treasures in it still show no signs of running out. All of us havee here for the immortal manor, so why ruin the peace with a pointless conflict?"
"You''ve been here for the longest out of all of us, when do you think the immortal manor will descend, Pce Master Xiao?" Feng Tiandu asked.
"It''ll definitely descend in two more days at most. However..."
"What is it?" Feng Tiandu asked.
"In order to reassure everyone, I''ve already withdrawn the restrictions at the entrance of the cave, but it would be best to keep the entrance of the immortal manor somewhat sealed. Otherwise, we''ll be faced with a difficult predicament if the profound cial qi within erupts outward," Xiao Jinhan replied.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the blue light within the gate abruptly began to churn and rumble, following which a thick pir of blue light erupted out from within, rising up directly toward the heavens.
The air temperature in the entire cave instantly plummeted drastically, and ayer of blue ice crystals quickly spread over the entire area.
Everyone hurriedly conjured upyers of protective spiritual light upon seeing this while flying away from the gate of light as quickly as they could, and the ice crystals spreading over the cave were also promptly shattered under everyone''s collective efforts.
However, the cial qi within the pir of light was so formidable that some of the weaker True Immortal cultivators present still suffered some internal injuries from the infiltration of cial qi into their bodies.
All of the Golden Immortals present hurriedly unleashed secret techniques or released spirit treasures to protect their entourages, and the entire cave erupted into a chaotic frenzy.
Chapter 407: A Request
Chapter 407: A Request
The pir of blue light continued to erupt outward for close to 20 seconds before slowly fading, and only then did the disturbance in the gate of light subside.
"It seems like the entrance really does need to be somewhat sealed. I think each of the powers present should send out a representative and have them join forces to seal the entrance. That way, everyone can rest assured that there won''t be any foul y afoot," Feng Tiandu suggested.
"I concur," Luo Qinghai immediately chimed in.
No one else raised any objections to this proposal, and each of the factions sent out a Golden Immortal representative, with the exception of Qu Ling, who was on her own.
Han Li''s faction sent out Xu Yangzi, and in total, there were six Golden Immortals surrounding the blue gate of light as they chanted an incantation while hovering in mid-air.
Lights of different colors erupted out of their bodies, then intertwined to form a rainbow-like cage of light that epassed the blue gate.
The light on the surface of the gate instantly began to shudder erratically while releasing shockwaves that were invisible to the naked eye in all directions. The cage of light still hadn''t fully taken shape yet, and it began to tremble violently in the face of the shockwaves, looking as if it could shatter at any moment.
However, it was ultimately stabilized as everyone sped up their incantation, but a burst of residual shockwaves was still able to sneak through before spreading outward in all directions.
The weaker True Immortals in the cave were unable to stand their ground in the face of these shockwaves, and they were forced all the way back to the cave wall before finally steadying themselves.
As a result, the originally orderly formation of cultivators in the cave had be a little chaotic.
Han Li was able to withstand the shockwaves, but in order to blend in and not draw any attention to himself, he pretended to stumble back to the cave wall as well.
From there, he observed the six Golden Immortals around the gate of light, and a thought suddenly sprang into his mind.
ording to Daoist Hu Yan, there were a total of eight Infernal Frost Scenic Paintings, yet there were only seven powers present, so was there one missing?
All of the Golden Immortals present were sly old foxes who had lived for countless years, so there was no way that they hadn''t noticed this. Hence, they must''ve simply refrained from mentioning this matter for some reason.
While Han Li was deep in thought, a familiar voice rang out beside him.
"Brother Liu!"
Han Li was immediately snapped out of his train of thought, and he turned to discover none other than Lu Yuqing standing not far away from him, sneaking nces at him with a hint of a smile in her eyes.
It seemed that in the wake of the orderly formation of cultivators being broken up by that burst of shockwaves, Lu Yuqing had taken the opportunity to sneak over to his side.
A resigned look appeared on Han Li''s face as he sighed through voice transmission, "I should''ve known I wouldn''t be able to hide from you."
"I wasn''t expecting to see you here, Brother Liu. Are you also interested in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor?" Lu Yuqing asked.
"Of course I am, given the abundance of precious treasures in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor. However, we belong to different factions at the moment. It looks like ck Wind Ind is currently a subsidiary power to the Northern cial Immortal Pce, so surely it''s inappropriate for you to be approaching me like this," Han Li replied.
"It''s fine, Brother Liu. We''ve only been brought here to prevent us from leaking the location of the immortal manor''s entrance. Now that the news has already been leaked, our presence here ispletely superfluous. On top of that, the situation is a bit chaotic right now, so no one will be paying any attention to us," Lu Yuqing said.
Han Li offered no response to this.
Lu Yuqing hesitated momentarily, then continued, "Brother Liu, there''s something I wanted to ask you. Time is of the essence, so I''ll keep things brief."
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this, but his expression remained unchanged as he prompted, "Go ahead."
"I also want to enter the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, and I''m hoping that the faction that you belong to can bring me along," Lu Yuqing dered in a direct and straightforward manner.
Han LI faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Isn''t your ck Wind Ind a subsidiary power of the Northern cial Immortal Pce? Why don''t you ask them to take you with them?"
"Are you not aware that each Infernal Frost Scenic Painting can only grant 12 people ess into the immortal manor? With such a limited number of spots, there''s no way that the Northern cial Immortal Pce would be willing to take me with them," Lu Yuqing said in a slightly self-deprecating voice.
"I was indeed unaware of that," Han Li replied.
Having said that, prior to this, he had already noticed that all of the each of the factions present seemed to have consisted of 12 people, but he hadn''t thought much of this as there had been other things on his mind.
"You and I are acquaintances, and I really want to help you, but as you can see, all 12 of our spots are already upied, so I''m afraid I won''t be able to help you," Han Li replied.
He was already taking quite a significant risk on this trip, and after seeing so many Golden Immortals here, he was even more determined to keep a low profile. He had decided that he was just going to y it safe and help Daoist Hu Yan obtain what he wanted in exchange for the next three levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture.
Han Li was confident that he would be able to secure a spot from Daoist Hu Yan, but in doing so, he would have to offend the True me Sect, and that was not a desirable oue for him.
"Don''t be in such a hurry to refuse, Brother Liu, I can be more of a valuable asset than you think. Our Lu n actually discovered the entrance of the immortal manor even earlier than the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and at the time, we obtained a stone que from here that contains a part of the immortal manor''s map and some other information.
¡°As I''m sure you''re aware, the immortal pce is fraught with peril. If you bring me along, I''m willing to share my knowledge with you," Lu Yuqing said.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up slightly upon hearing this.
They were venturing into the immortal manorpletely blind, so it would indeed be a lot safer if Lu Yuqing could act as a guide for them.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "Are you telling the truth?"
"I''m willing to swear a vow. If I''m lying to you here, then let me be racked with inner demons and suffer a terrible death," Lu Yuqing vowed in a solemn voice.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li nodded in response. "Alright, in that case, I can ry your request to the leader of our group, but I can''t guarantee whether he''ll agree or not."
"I knew I could count on you, Brother Liu!" Lu Yuqing said with a faint smile, seeminglypletely unconcerned.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he still approached Daoist Hu Yan before rying what Lu Yuqing had told him through voice transmission.
An ecstatic look instantly appeared in Daoist Hu Yan''s eyes after he heard what Han Li had to say. "What? She has a map of the immortal manor?"
"I''ve met her on several past asions, so I know her decently well, and I think she''s telling the truth," Han Li replied.
Daoist Hu Yan was silent for a moment, then nodded in response. "In that case, let''s bring her along."
"What about the True me Sect?" Han Li asked in a hesitant voice.
"Leave them to me," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then turned to Lu Yuqing and informed her of what had just transpired through voice transmission.
An ted look appeared in Lu Yuqing''s eyes, and she gave Han Li a slight nod from afar before returning to the group of ck Wind Ind cultivators.
At this point, the restriction set up by the six Golden Immortals around the gate of light had already been fully established, and a thick rainbow light barrier had appeared over the blue gate.
cial qi was surging violently within the gate of light, but the light barrier remained firm and resolute, standing against the waves of cial qi without any trouble. It seemed that his restriction was even more formidable than the one that the Northern cial Immortal Pce had set up here earlier.
"As expected of a master of arrays like yourself, Fellow Daoist Feng, this restriction of yours is quite profound," Xiao Jinhan praised as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"You''re far too kind, Pce Master Xiao," Feng Tiandu replied in an indifferent voice, then sat down with his legs crossed somewhere in the cave.
All of the other Dawn Fall Sect cultivators immediately sat down around him.
Meanwhile, Xiao Jinhan nced at Feng Tiandu for a moment longer before returning to the group of Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators.
The other factions in the cave were also waiting for the immortal manor to descend, and with so many people present, the cave was virtually entirely filled.
Xu Yangzi had also returned to the group, and Daoist Hu Yan approached him to exchange a few words.
After hearing what Daoist Hu Yan had to say, Xu Yangzi was initially quite disgruntled, glowering at Han Li with a furious expression, but as Daoist Hu Yan continued, the fury on Xu Yangzi''s face gradually faded, and in the end, he gave a reluctant nod.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this, then closed his eyes to meditate.
Two days passed by in the blink of an eye.
The gate of light in the cave had swelled to over twice its original size, and the patterns on its surface had be extremely clear, making it seem as if it really were a spatial gate that led to another world.
Hovering within the gate of light was a ball of blue light that was churning violently and giving off radiant blue light.
A spatial passageway could be seen within the ball of light, but it was unclear where it led to.
At this point, everyone in the cave had already risen to their feet and were intently scrutinizing the gate of light, which was trembling incessantly.
The nearby space was also buzzing and trembling, causing the entire cave to shudder and sway.
The rainbow cage of light around the gate was still standing, but it was clearly being overwhelmed.
The six Golden Immortals rose up into the air once again at Feng Tiandu''s instruction before attempting to fortify the cage of light, but their efforts proved to be futile as the light radiating out of the blue gate was bing brighter and brighter, slowly forcing the rainbow cage outward.
All of a sudden, the ball of blue light within the gate abruptly swelled to several times its original size, virtually filling the entire blue gate while fluctuating in size in an unstable fashion.
At the same time, waves of rippling blue light erupted out of the gate, and all of the space in the wake of the rippling immediately blurred and warped.
Before long, the rainbow cage waspletely shattered, and the six Golden Immortals around it were instantly sent flying back, but they were already prepared for this oue, and they were able to escape injury by activating some protective secret techniques.
"There''s not much time left, so there''s no need to continue," Feng Tiandu said as he stared intently at the gate of light.
Right at this moment, the entire gate of light exploded violently amid a resounding boom, transforming into a ball of radiant blue light.
A projection of a series of mountains, rivers, pces, and pavilions appeared deep within the ball of light, but it was unclear what location the projection was depicting.
Chapter 408: Entering the Immortal Manor
Chapter 408: Entering the Immortal Manor
The ball of blue light was slowly revolving while hovering in mid-air, and rays of translucent blue light were emanating from within alongside a cloud of faint white mist. The scene within the ball of light was already rather indistinct, and it was made even more obscure by theyer of faint mist.
After a brief silence, someone yelled in an excited voice, "There it is!"
Their excitement was contagious, and everyone else''s eyes immediately lit up.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense toward the ball of blue light, and his soul immediately shuddered violently. It was as if a rumbling thunderp had rung out directly beside his ears, and his expression remained unchanged, but he hurriedly withdrew his spiritual sense in rm.
At the same time, he could see that theplexions of many of the people present had also paled slightly, clearly indicating that they had also suffered some bacsh after extending their spiritual sense toward the ball of blue light.
Han Li''s spiritual sense wasparable to a Golden Immortal, yet even he had suffered some minor degree of bacsh, so the other True Immortals were naturally only going to fare worse. As for the Golden Immortals present, they were able to avoid substantial bacsh, but it seemed that they weren''t able to make much inroads with their spiritual sense, either.
"''Fellow Daoist Luo, Fellow Daoist Feng, why don''t you two go on ahead?" Xiao Jinhan offered with a smile.
"We couldn''t do that, Fellow Daoist Xiao. Your Immortal Pce has done such a good job of protecting the entrance up to this point, the right to enter the immortal manor first should be reserved for you. Wouldn''t you agree, Fellow Daoist Feng?" Luo Qinghai jibed.
Feng Tiandu''s expression remained unchanged, and he merely gave a cold harrumph in response.
Before Xiao Jinhan had a chance to respond, Qu Ling interjected, "If the three of you are unable to reach a consensus, then I''ll go first."
She then pulled out her Infernal Frost Scenic Painting and gave a gentle shake, upon which a vast expanse of light surged out from within to envelop her entire body before carrying her into the ball of blue light.
Everyone faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which a hint of agitation began to spread through the crowd.
Han Li looked on with a contemtive expression as Qu Ling vanished into the ball of blue light.
Xiao Jinhan turned to Xue Ying and the others, then instructed, "All of you,e with me. The rest will stay here."
He then summoned his Infernal Frost Scenic Painting, and a burst of blue light surged forth to envelop himself, as well as eight Immortal Pce cultivators and the three dao lords of the ze Dragon Dao.
Immediately thereafter, the group flew into the ball of blue light, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Immortal Pce cultivators and the ck Wind Ind cultivators remained outside.
After all of the Immortal Pce cultivators had entered the immortal manor, Luo Qinghai offered for Feng Tiandu to go ahead, but thetter remained unmoved. Hence, Luo Qinghai called upon the cultivators of the Vast Flow Pce before summoning his Infernal Frost Scenic Painting, and before long, they had also flown into the ball of blue light.
Only then did Feng Tiandu take a nce at Qi Tianxiao, and thetter instructed the Dawn Fall Sect''s cultivators to assemble before flying into the ball of blue light as well.
At this point, the number of cultivators present had been reduced by around half, and the remaining factions were naturally all raring to go.
Chen Pi spoke briefly with the Southern Dawn beings, then made his way toward Han Li''s group again.
"Fellow Daoist Gu, I think we should let the Southern Dawn beings go in first, and our Ghost Wail Sect will go in after them. Once we''re in there, we''ll wait for your group toe in so all of us can explore the immortal manor together," Chen Pi said.
"That sounds like a good n, Fellow Daoist Chen," Daoist Hu Yan replied with a smile.
Chen Pi could see that the Southern Dawn beings had already entered the ball of blue light, and he hurriedly said, "Alright, then we''ll be going ahead."
Following the departure of the Ghost Wail Sect cultivators, Daoist Hu Yan said to Han Li and the others, "Looks like it''s our turn."
Xu Yangzi gestured for everyone to gather together, and there was still a hint of displeasure in his eyes as his gaze swept over Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
"The immortal manor is filled with treasures, but also fraught with peril, so after we get in there, let''s do our best to stay together and not get separated," Daoist Hu Yan cautioned.
He then pulled out an Infernal Frost Scenic Painting of his own, and it released a burst of blue light that swept up everyone before flying into the blue entrance.
In the instant that they entered the ball of blue light, Han Li felt a burst of buzzing ring out beside his ears, immediately following which all of his senses virtuallypletely faded, leaving only a hazy consciousness behind.
It was an indescribable sensation that was very disconcerting, but thankfully, everything returned to normal after less than 20 seconds.
As Han Li''s senses gradually recovered, he heard the sound of howling wind blowing past his ears.
He was greeted by the sight of a pristine white world that was covered in snow, and the entire surrounding area was filled with cial qi. On the distant horizon were countless giant tornadoes that stood like pirs between heaven and earth, presenting an awe-inspiring sight to behold.
Ayer of azure light appeared over his body to keep the wind and snow at bay, but he could still feel a bone-chilling sensation seeping into his body.
He looked around to find that the factions that had previously entered the immortal manor were already nowhere to be seen.
Lu Yuqing had conjured up ayer of protective spiritual light as well, but ayer of frost had already appeared over her eyshes, and she eximed, "It''s so cold..."
The crimson robes being worn by the True me Sect cultivators were glowing brightly, and waves of heat were surging out from within, but even so, they weren''t faring much better.
Xu Yangzi and the other Golden Immortals were doing just fine, but the other True me Sect cultivators were all shivering uncontrobly.
"Please use your scenic painting to shelter everyone, Fellow Daoist Gu," Xu Yangzi said as he turned to Daoist Hu Yan.
Daoist Hu Yan nodded in response, then flipped a hand over to produce his Infernal Frost Scenic Painting, which unfurled in front of him.
Immediately thereafter, a spherical light barrier emerged from the painting to epass everyone.
As soon as the light barrier appeared, the sound of the howling wind instantly subsided, while the unbearing bone-chilling sensation was also kept at bay.
"The Southern Dawn beings and the Ghost Wail Sect cultivators are nowhere to be seen," Yun Ni remarked.
"There''s no integrity or reliability to speak of when ites to a bunch of ghostly cultivators and foreign race beings. They most likely already departed on their own as they didn''t want to fall behind everyone else," Elder Zhen Yun sneered.
"I don''t think that''s the case. Chen Pi took the initiative to approach us earlier, and I think he was earnest about forging an alliance. Compared with the likes of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, the Vast Flow Pce, and the Dawn Fall Sect, our individual factions are far too vulnerable, so it''s necessary for us to band together. Hence, I don''t think they would''ve gone back on their word just to get ahead of us," Xu Yangzi said with a shake of his head.
Han Li turned to Daoist Hu Yan as he said, "I can sense some traces of spatial power in the snowstorm here. Perhaps they were teleported elsewhere against their will."
"I also think that''s a possibility," Daoist Hu Yan replied. "Seeing as we can''t find them for now, let''s leave this area first. In any case, we must proceed with caution. Make sure to stay by my side and do not leave this light barrier from the Infernal Frost Scenic Painting."
Everyone immediately gave affirmative responses to this.
Right as Daoist Hu Yan was about to set off, Han Li''s voice suddenly rang out beside his ears through voice transmission.
"Senior Hu Yan, I''ve already entered the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor with you, so would you be able to give me the next three levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture now?"
Daoist Hu Yan faltered slightly upon hearing this, then grumbled, "Isn''t it too early to be asking forpensation? We''ve only just entered the immortal manor and haven''t even done anything yet!"
"But you promised that you would give me the fourth level of the cultivation art upon entering the immortal manor," Han Li replied with a smile.
Daoist Hu Yan was familiar with Han Li''s personality, so he wasn''t bothered by this, and he removed a storage pouch strapped to his waist before handing it to Han Li as he said, "The immortal manor is a very dangerous ce, so here are some life-saving treasures. Make sure you don''t lose them."
Han Li hurriedly epted the storage pouch, then briefly examined its contents with his spiritual sense before putting on a facade of gratitude and excitement as he said, "Thank you, Uncle."
No one was suspicious of this, thinking that this was just a routine precautionary measure.
"Which direction should we go in? Everything looks the same here," Han Li said as he stowed the storage pouch away.
He had just tried to examine the surrounding area with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, but no matter where he looked, he saw nothing but a vast expanse of snow and ice.
Daoist Hu Yan''s brows furrowed slightly as he turned his gaze to his Infernal Frost Scenic Painting, trying to find the right way forward when all of a sudden, Lu Yuqing pointed in a certain direction and said, "There seems to be an exit over there."
Everyone turned to the direction that she was pointing in, and sure enough, there was an indistinct ball of blue light in the extremely far distance, something that would''ve been impossible to spot unless one were to look very closely.
Han Li knew that Lu Yuqing possessed a special ocr ability, so he wasn''t all that surprised. However, he had previously looked in that direction, but hadn''t seen any speck of blue light, so it seemed that it had only just appeared.
A hint of bewilderment appeared in Daoist Hu Yan''s eyes as he took a nce at Lu Yuqing. After all, even with his eyesight as a Golden Immortal, he had failed to notice the speck of blue light.
Hence, everyone began to travel in that direction under the protection of the spherical light barrier.
Chapter 409: Separated
Chapter 409: Separated
As they drew closer and closer, the speck of blue light expanded further and further, and Han Li and the others were gradually able to see the entire thing.
It was indeed a blue spatial vortex, and it was releasing very simr energy fluctuations to the vortex that they had just entered through.
All of a sudden, the space up above abruptly shuddered, following which all of the snowkes in the sky were renderedpletely stationary.
Immediately thereafter, the snowke converged to form a giant snow dragon that was over 1,000 feet thick, swooping down upon everyone with tremendous power.
A resounding boom rang out as the blue light barrier around everyone was struck by the snow dragon and was violently shattered. The wind and snow that surged into the broken light barrier had be extremely violent, and it split up everyone in different directions before hurling them high up into the sky.
The power released by the exploding snow dragon was so fierce that an extremely violent windstorm was swept up, and everyone was frantically trying to steady themselves in mid-air, but they were unable to do so, and the gusts of ferocious wind sent them flying away in different directions.
Bright azure light emerged over Han Li''s body as his Thunderstorm Wings appeared on his back, and he pped them with all his might, doing everything in his power to stabilize himself.
He was just about to search for Daoist Hu Yan when he spotted a ck shadow hurtling rapidly toward him, following which he felt a soft body wrap itself around him.
Han Li had only just barely managed to steady himself, but the impact of having someone else crash into him tipped him off bnce once again, and he fell involuntarily into a gust of ferocious wind.
The world spun rapidly around him, and he didn''t get a chance to see who it was that was clinging to him before he fell unconscious.
¡¡
On a vast and windy snond.
The space in this area was far more stable than in the previous area, and thendscape was riddled with massive cedar trees that were covered in snow.
There were around a dozen figures standing in front of a cluster of cedar trees, and they were led by none other than Deputy Pce Master Xue Ying of the Northern cial Immortal Pce.
Even though they were standing together, it was clear that there was some division among them. The Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators were all gathered together, while the three dao lords of the ze Dragon Dao were standing a bit further away.
"The immortal manor will only be open for a year, why is it that Pce Master Xiao hasn''te to meet up with us?" Ouyang Kuishan asked as he took a nce at the snond around him.
"We wouldn''t have to act so urgently if the location of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor''s entrance hadn''t been leaked," Xue Ying said in a cold voice.
It was clear that she was suspecting the three dao lords of leaking the location of the entrance.
Ouyang Kuishan''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and he gave a cold harrump before falling silent.
"The pce master is taking care of the people entering the immortal manor after us. He''s going to send them into the spatial storm to separate them, and that''ll make them much easier to deal with. Even if any of them dare to oppose us, we''ll be able to divide and conquer them, rather than having to face them all at once," Xue Ying exined.
The three dao lords exchanged a nce withplex looks in their eyes upon hearing this.
¡¡
There was a nameless gray desert that was covered in gray pebbles of different sizes. The desert waspletely devoid of vegetation, and there were patches of snow littered across thendscape.
At the center of the desert was a winding channel that had seemingly been bored into the ground over time by flowing streams of melted snow, and there were some ponds of different sizes inside, the surfaces of which had all been frozen solid.
Laying beside the channel on the trunk of a fallen cedar tree were a pair of unconscious figures, one male and one female.
The man wasying face-down on the ground, so it was impossible to glean his appearance, while the woman was extremely beautiful.
At this moment, the woman''s arms were wound firmly around the man''s waist, while her face was pressed tightly against his side, presenting a rather intimate sight to behold.
Right at this moment, the man suddenly shuddered before regaining consciousness.
He turned over before getting up into a seated position, then began inspecting his surroundings with a slightly disoriented look on his face.
The man was none other than Han Li in disguise, and at this moment, there was no one else with him aside from the young woman that was clinging to his side.
Daoist Hu Yan, Yun Ni, and the others were all nowhere to be seen.
"Fellow Daoist Lu..." Han Li called out as he patted the woman on the shoulder with ayer of azure light over the palm of his hand.
The woman was none other than Lu Yuqing, and she gave a muffled groan before also regaining consciousness.
After taking a nce at Han Li, she inspected her surroundings with a dazed expression while massaging her own temples as she asked, "Where are we, Brother Liu?"
Han Li didn''t immediately reply. Instead, he began to inspect his surroundings with his spiritual sense and his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
A short whileter, he withdrew his gaze as he said, "We''re definitely still in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, but I don''t know exactly where we are."
"Where is everyone else? Why are we the only ones here?" Lu Yuqing asked with a puzzled expression.
"It seems like we were attacked earlier and swept up into a spatial storm that separated everyone. It appears we''re the only two to have ended up here," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
Only after hearing this did Lu Yuqing recall how she had clung desperately to Han Li in a blind panic during the storm, and a faint blush immediately appeared on her face.
"What do we do now?" she hurriedly asked in order to mask her own embarrassment.
Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this. The original n was for everyone to travel together, so he still didn''t get a chance to ask Daoist Hu Yan about the internalyout of the immortal manor.
"I scoured the area with my spiritual sense just now, and there are no clear spiritual power fluctuations nearby. However, the further we go in that direction, the lower the air temperature bes," Han Li said as he pointed in a certain direction.
"In that case, that''s where we should go. That should be the first area of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, the Light Frost Region," Lu Yuqing said.
"How do you know about this, Fellow Daoist Lu?" Han Li asked as he turned to Lu Yuqing with a puzzled expression.
"As I said earlier, our ck Wind Ind discovered the entrance of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor even earlier than the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and even though we''ve been ordered to keep everything about the immortal manor secret, my father still conducted a great deal of research into the immortal manor in advance," Lu Yuqing exined.
A peculiar look appeared on Han Li''s face as he asked, "In that case, was it your father that leaked the location of the immortal manor''s entrance in secret?"
This was not just apletely baseless theory from Han Li.
ck Wind Ind had guarded the entrance of the immortal manor for the Northern cial Immortal Pce for many years, yet they had received no reward at all for their efforts, and not even a single one of the Immortal Pce''s 12 spots had been granted to them.
As a result, Lu Yuqing had no choice but to implore Han Li to request a spot for her from Daoist Hu Yan, and only then was she able to enter the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor.
Lu Yuqing was terrified to hear this, and she hurriedly waved her hands as she denied, "Please don''t make such damning usations, Brother Liu! We wouldn''t dare to do something like that. If the Immortal Pce pins the me on us, then our entire ind runs the risk of being wiped out!"
Han Li had no intention of pursuing this matter, and he smiled as he reassured, "Don''t worry, I was just curious. I didn''t mean to cause any rm."
The location of the immortal manor''s entrance being leaked was a positive development for Han Li, and he didn''t care who it was that had leaked this information. Even though he had joined forces with Daoist Hu Yan and the True me Sect, they still couldn''tpare with the likes of the Northern cial Immortal Pce and the Dawn Fall Sect.
In the wake of the location of the entrance being leaked, many powers had been able to get involved, therebypletely muddying the waters, and that could only benefit people like Han Li.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li took a nce into the distance, then swept a hand through the air to summon an azure flying boat with four azure wings on either side.
"Let''s go. There''s no point in staying here any longer," he said to Lu Yuqing, then flew onto the spirit boat.
Lu Yuqing nodded in response before also springing up into the air andnding on the flying boat behind Han Li.
The flying boat then sped away as a streak of azure light at Han Li''s behest.
There was a nket of dark clouds hanging in the sky at a low altitude, giving the entire area a rather oppressive atmosphere.
It was a very bleak and deste area with no living creatures in sight, nor any sounds to be heard aside from that of the passing wind.
After flying for a few minutes, snowkes suddenly began to drift through the air. Initially, the snow was quite sparse, but as they continued onward, the snowfall became heavier and heavier.
At the same time, the environment beneath them gradually began to change. As they left the gray desert behind, they arrived on a vast ice field.
The clouds in the sky had darkened significantly, and the snowkes drifting through the air also appeared significantly heavier than before, falling from the sky thick and fast.
Thankfully, this area wasn''t filled with the same intense cold as the initial area that they had arrived in upon entering the immortal manor, and theyers of protective spiritual light over their bodies were sufficient to keep them warm.
Chapter 410: Snow Lion
Chapter 410: Snow Lion
Due to the dark clouds and heavy snowfall, visibility on the ice field was extremely low, and even though Han Li couldn''t detect any clear spiritual power fluctuations with his spiritual sense, he could never be sure where there were any unforeseen hazards lurking in this alien environment.
The snowfall was gradually bing heavier and heavier, and visibility certainly wasn''t improving.
The azure spirit boat was flying through the air quite slowly at Han Li''s behest, and the wings on either side of it were releasing ayer of azure light that enveloped the entire boat, as well as Han Li''s duo.
Dense flurries of snow were falling upon the azure light barrier, only to be kept at bay, and the heavy snowfall didn''t have much of an impact on the advancement of the spirit boat.
"This snowstorm is rather strange. My spirit eye ability is severely limited here. Can you see a bit further with your Illusory Ghost Eyes?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"I''m not able to see very far, either. On top of that, my spiritual sense is also being disrupted as well, and I''m only able to just barely detect things several kilometers away at most," Lu Yuqing replied with a shake of her head.
Han Li nodded in response. As the snowfall became heavier and heavier, he also found his spiritual sense being severely limited, and his sensory range was also fluctuating in an inconsistent manner.
After flying for several dozen more kilometers, Han Li suddenly pointed in a certain direction down below as he said, "There seems to be something over there."
"It seems to be some type of pce," Lu Yuqing mused as she turned in that direction.
The rooftops of a series of pavilions and tall pagodas could just barely be made out deep within the snow.
"Let''s go down and take a look," Han Li said, and the spirit boat swooped directly downward at his behest, arriving in front of the cluster of buildings.
Only after the spirit boat was stowed away and the two of themnded on the ground did they discover that the snow here wasn''t as deep as they had imagined. It only just barely reached their ankles, and beneath their feet were solid stone bs.
After taking a moment to inspect their surroundings, they began to trudge over the snow-covered za deeper into the cluster of buildings.
Standing directly in front of them was a red archway that was several dozen feet tall. It had only two pirs, and it wasn''t particrly ostentatious. There was a thickyer of snow on top of the archway, and the characters inscribed on it were rather indistinct, making it impossible to tell what had been written.
Only after getting close to the archway did Han Li and Lu Yuqing notice that its pirs were riddled with runes, but the spiritual qi that they contained had alreadypletely run out, indicating that they no longer served their original purpose.
The two of them didn''t linger here for long, passing through the archway before arriving in front of arge pce with a resting hill roof.
From the outside, the pce appeared mostly intact, with only one half of its gate missing. The stone staircase in front of the entrance was under the eave, so no snow had fallen upon it. However, there was a deep ck mark on its surface, as if someone had cleaved it in half with some type of weapon.
"I can understand the presence of runes on the pirs of the archway, but why are there runes on their stone steps as well?" Lu Yuqing asked with a perplexed expression.
"If I''m not mistaken, this area was mostly epassed within a concealment array, and the archway, these stone steps, and some of the bricks on the za collectively served as the core of the array, but they''ve clearly been destroyed," Han Li mused.
"Are you saying someone came here before us?" Lu Yuqing asked in a quiet voice as she took an uneasy nce at her surroundings.
"The spiritual qi in the array here has alreadypletely faded, so the array had to have been destroyed a very long time ago. I''m presuming someone came here during a previous asion of the immortal manor''s emergence before destroying the array and taking whatever treasures were in here," Han Li replied.
Lu Yuqing was quite relieved to hear this, but also a little disappointed that the treasures here were already gone, and she said, "In that case, let''s keep going and not waste any more time here."
"There''s no hurry. There should be many ces like this in the immortal manor, and we could encounter the same type of array going forward. If we examine how the array here was set up, we''ll be able to save a lot of time bypassing further arrays of a simr nature if we encounter any," Han Li said.
"You''re right! Why didn''t I think of that? You''re much more experienced and thoughtful than I am, Brother Liu," Lu Yuqing said with a hint of admiration in her eyes.
Han Li merely smiled as he made his way up the stone steps, then strode into the pce through the semi-destroyed gates.
Meanwhile, Lu Yuqing trailed along behind him in a cautious manner.
The pce waspletely empty, and there were several holes in the roof that snow was falling through, but the snow dissipated on its own before it couldnd on the ground.
After emerging from the back door of the pce, Han Li and Lu Yuqing were greeted by the sight of several more pces and a three-story pavilion. Just like the pce from before, there wasn''t any clear damage, and everything inside had already been looted.
"Let''s go."
Standing at the foot of the pavilion, Han Li summoned the azure spirit boat again, then called out to Lu Yuqing, and the two of them continued on their journey.
The snowfall up ahead was still quite dense and heavy, and the deeper they progressed into the ice field, the more clusters of buildings that they encountered. Thergest one of them was over 10 timesrger than the one they had first encountered, while the smaller ones were just individual pavilions and pagodas, and it seemed that was where the servants stayed.
However, all of them had already been looted, while the restrictions around them had been destroyed.
Han Li wasn''t surprised by this at all, but Lu Yuqing was pouting in disappointment, seemingly quite dismayed.
Fortunately, their journey proved to be quite peaceful thus far, and they didn''t encounter any other people or demon beasts.
The two of them continued deeper and deeper into the ice field, and the snowstorm was gradually bing more and more ferocious, while their spiritual sense was also being more and more heavily restricted, to the point that even Han Li''s spiritual sensory range had been cut down to only a few dozen kilometers.
After flying over a short snow-covered mountain range, Han Li spotted another cluster of buildings situated in a valley up ahead.
He alerted Lu Yuqing to this, then directed the spirit boat into the valley.
As they drew close to the valley, they saw a snow-covered stoned lion that was several dozen feet tall, standing to the left of the valley''s entrance. There was another stone lion on the right, and it was also covered in snow, but this one wasying on its side.
After descending in front of valley, Han Li made his way over to the stone lion on the left before brushing away the snow on it to reveal a series ofplex runes that were slightly different from the ones that he had seen earlier, but he could tell that they were roughly the same type of restriction.
"The restrictions here have already been destroyed, so it looks like we won''t have to enter the valley," Lu Yuqing mused with a disappointed expression.
Han Li was just about to respond when his brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and he grabbed onto Lu Yuqing''s shoulder before hurtling back in retreat until his back hit the rock wall behind him.
All of a sudden, the stone lion that wasying on the right side of the valley''s entrance abruptly sprung to life, springing up from the ground before sending a massive paw crashing down toward Han Li and Lu Yuqing with tremendous force.
A thickyer of snow fell off the stone lion''s body, yet there was nothing under the snow aside from more snow, and it was as if it were a snow beast that had a body of ice and snow.
Only in the instant right before it reared up from the ground was Han Li able to detect that it wasn''t just a lifeless stone lion as it seemed.
Han Li raised a fist, and ayer of azure light appeared over it as he threw a punch directly upward.
An azure fist projection tore through the wind and snow before shing against the paw of the snow lion, and a resounding boom rang out as the paw exploded into a cloud of snowy mist upon contact with the fist projection.
Before Han Li had a chance to withdraw his fist, his brows furrowed slightly, and he could feel a burst of intense chill seeping into his fist, upon which ayer of white frost instantly appeared over his knuckles.
He hurriedly withdrew his fist in rm, and in the meantime, a blue vortex was taking shape on the snow lion''s raised front paw.
Bursts of fierce suction force were emanating out of the blue vortex, sucking in all of the surrounding snow.
As more and more snow surged into the vortex, the destroyed front paw of the snow lion was mostly healed in the blink of an eye.
"That''s not a puppet or anything like that, Brother Liu, it''s a frost beast that''s unique to this immortal manor. If you don''t shatter the frost core in its body, it''ll be able to keep drawing upon the snow in the area indefinitely to heal its own wounds, making it near unkible!" Lu Yuqing hurriedly said.
"Frost core? What''s that?" Han Li asked while staring intently at the recovering frost beast.
"It''s an extreme frost crystal that''s nurtured in the body of the beast. It''s a bit like a demon beast''s demon core, and it''smonly found directly behind a snow beast''s eyes," Lu Yuqing hurriedly replied.
Han Li'' immediately focused his gaze on the blue eyes of the snow lion upon hearing this, following which an azure flying sword shot out of his sleeve, reaching the left eye of the snow lion in a sh.
The frost beast didn''t appear to be very intelligent, and in the face of the oing flying sword, it swatted directly at it with its front paw, the same one that was still yet to make a full recovery.
The flying sword was very fast, but it wasn''t imbued with much power. However, in the instant that it came into contact with the paw of the snow lion, a flurry of swordlight erupted forth in all directions like a blooming sword lotus flower, instantly destroying the entire leg connected to the snow lion''s paw.
At the same time, a streak of azure sword qi shot straight through the snow lion''s left eye, cleaving its head in half.
A sharp ng rang out as the tip of the flying sword pierced into the blue crystal that was around the size of a human head, but it was only able to prate around an inch into the crystal.
Traces of white light were surging over the crystal, and a flurry of snow instantly converged toward the snow lion''s head.
Chapter 411: Familiar
Chapter 411: Familiar
Han Li naturally wasn''t going to give the snow lion a chance to recover, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which arcs of golden lightning erupted out of the flying sword that was embedded into the blue crystal, forming a of golden lightning that instantly swallowed up the snow lion''s entire head.
The flurries of snow that was converging toward the snow lion''s head instantly exploded upon contact with the of golden lightning, unable to reach the snow lion to facilitate its healing.
A resounding boom rang out as the frost core in the snow lion''s head was reduced to powder by the eruption of golden lightning, and the snow lion instantly stiffened before copsing to the ground, disintegrating into a pile of snow that fell away in all directions.
Han Li made a beckoning motion, and the azure flying sword instantly flew back up his sleeve as a streak of light.
"That was amazing, Brother Liu!" Lu Yuqing cheered as she pped her hands together with glee, then hurriedly made her way over to the snow lion''s remains before rummaging through the pile of snow.
Momentster, she stood up with a hint of disappointment on her face and sighed, "Your attack was too powerful, Brother Liu. The frost core waspletely destroyed."
"Why do you want its frost core?" Han Li asked.
"The frost cores of these frost beasts contain immense cial qi, but they''re not of the yin-attribute. They''re very much sought-after in the ck Wind Sea, and they can be sold for quite a bit of spirit stones in ck Wind City," Lu Yuqing exined.
Han Li merely nodded in response and didn''t say anything as he made his way into the valley, then strode toward the cluster of buildings inside.
The mountain path in the valley was rather narrow, and the snow covering it was even thicker than what was outside the valley, easily reaching up to waist height. Hence, Han Li used a levitation technique to float above the snow as he strode into the valley.
Lu Yuqing did the same as she trailed along behind Han Li.
The two of them continued into the valley for a few more minutes without encountering any further frost beasts, and they arrived on a t and level za.
Just like before, the snowstorms in all of the ces where there were buildings were a bit less ferocious, and the snow on the ground also wouldn''t be as deep.
The cluster of buildings in the valley was quiterge, taking up virtually the entire valley, and it would''ve looked like a small town had it not been for the fact that all of the buildings were extremely grand and majestic.
Many of the pirs and eaves had profound runes inscribed upon them, but almost all of them had been destroyed as well, and the treasures in this ce had naturally also already been looted.
It took Han Li and Liu Yuqing close to two hours to examine all of the buildings one by one, and they only discovered some destroyed treasures inside that werepletely worthless.
After emerging from the final pavilion, Han Li cast his gaze into the distance to find that there was a translucent icy mountain face at the end of the valley.
At the foot of the mountain face was a cave that was several dozen feet tall, and it was impossible to tell how deep the cave ran.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing exchanged a nce with one another, then made their way to the end of the valley, arriving in front of the cave.
The two of them then peered into the cave to find that it was quite dim inside, but there was a speck of white light several thousand feet away, and that seemed to be where the cave ended.
Blue light shed within Han Li''s eyes as he released his spiritual sense into the cave, and momentster, he shook his head before making his way into the cave.
Lu Yuqing was about to ask if he had detected anything, but with Han Li striding forward in silence, she could only follow along.
Only after entering the cave did Han Li discover that the walls on either side, the roof of the cave, and even the ground beneath his feet were all t surfaces of hard, blue ice that were as smooth as mirrors.
It was very quiet inside the cave, and only the sound of Han Li and Lu Yuqing''s footsteps could be heard ringing out within it.
Han Li wasn''t walking very quickly, and he would asionally stop and inspect his surroundings momentarily before continuing onward.
After this had happened three times, Lu Yuqing was finally unable to suppress her curiosity, and she asked, "Why do you keep stopping, Brother Liu? Have you discovered something?"
Instead of giving a response, Han Li merely shook his head, then continued with what he was doing in silence.
Lu Yuqing could only follow along with a puzzled expression.
Upon reaching the exact middle point of the cave, Han Li stopped once again.
He stood with his eyes closed for a while, then crouched down and pressed a palm against the ground. Blue light was shing in his eyes, and he fell into deep thought.
Momentster, he said, "I can hear something down there."
Before Lu Yuqing had a chance to reply, Han Li abruptly thrust his palm downard, and a loud crack rang out, following which the ice beneath his palm was shattered, and a series of cracks spread outward in all directions like a system of cobwebs.
Han Li stood back up and took a few steps backward, following which the area that he had just pressed down on caved in to reveal an ovr hole that was around 10 feet in size.
The sound of blowing wind could be hearding from the hole, and it seemed that there was a huge space in there.
Han Li immediately jumped into the hole, and Lu Yuqing didn''t even get a chance to ask him what he had discovered before he was already out of sight.
Hence, she had no choice but to jump down as well.
The two of them fell through the hole one after another, and it was only a short fall before theynded on the ground.
Han Li could feel that the soil beneath his feet was a little damp and loamy, and he looked up to find a sheet of blue ice that was around three feet thick above his head.
Lu Yuqing looked around to find that they were standing in a pitch-ck underground passageway, and she asked in a puzzled voice, "What is this ce, Brother Liu? It feels a little strange here."
Han Li raised a finger to his lips in a quieting gesture as he said, "Stay quiet for now ande with me."
Lu Yuqing immediately fell silent and trailed long behind Han Li as he made his way down the passageway, which led downward on a gradual slope.
After descending for over 1,000 feet along the passageway, the two of them drew to a halt.
Faint rays of light were shining into the passageway from up ahead, and bursts of dull rumbling could also be heard ringing out in the distance.
The two of them exchanged a nce, then concealed their auras in unison before continuing onward.
Upon arriving at the end of the passageway, they discovered that the rumbling had grown even louder, and it was reverberating throughout the entire passageway.
Han Li strode over to the exit of the passageway to find himself standing atop a sheer cliff, beneath which was an enormous underground karst cave.
He cast his gaze toward the center of the cave to find that there was a battle taking ce there between a pair of humanoid figures and several enormous frost beasts.
At the very center of the cave was arge white stone za that had been artificially carved out, upon which stood a pce, but it had been destroyed and reduced to rubble.
Han Li noticed that the attire worn by the two figures on the za was quite familiar. One of them was a tall and imposing middle-aged man dressed in a ck robe with a skull design embroidered onto the cor, and he was clearly a Ghost Wail Sect cultivator.
The other figure was a short and wizened elderly man dressed in a ck vest with a ck bandana around his head, and he was a Southern Dawn being.
Prior to this, Han Li''s attention had been focused entirely on the Golden Immortals of the two factions, so he hadn''t paid any heed to the other Ghost Wail Sectand Southern Dawn Race cultivators. As a result, he had no recollection of these two.
Taking a closer look, Han Li discovered that despite the elderly man''s small stature, his powers were quite formidable. He was wielding a huge golden halberd that was twice as tall as himself, and it resembled a giant golden fan as he swung it through the air.
He was facing a pair of snow lions that were both dozens of feet tall, and whenever they tried tosh out at the elderly man with their paws, they would be struck by the halberd, which would either inflict huge gashes or sever the paws entirely from their bodies.
As for the middle-aged man from the Ghost Wail Sect, he waspletely unarmed and locked in battle against a pair of snow apes. White light was radiating from his fists, and there were specks of blue light shimmering within the white radiance.
With each punch that he threw, a resounding boom would ring out, and whatever part of the snow apes'' bodies that came into contact with his fist would instantly explode into powder.
It seemed that the two of them held a decisive upper hand, but in reality, this was far from a favorable situation for them. The frost beasts seemed to be unable to feel any pain, and regardless of how severe their injuries were, they were always able to quickly make a full recovery, regenerating significantly faster than the snow lion that Han Li and Liu Yuqing had faced earlier.
What was most damning of all was that aside from these four frost beasts, there was also a snow dove that looked as if it had been carved out of ice standing atop the wreckage of the destroyed pce, and it was staring intently at the two cultivators.
It was clear that if either of the two of them were to disy any signs of weakness orpses in concentration, then the snow dove would instantly strike with lightning speed.
In contrast with the four other frost beasts, it was able to shoot arrow-like strands of silver ice out of its sharp beak, and the strands of ice were imbued with ice-attributew powers, so the two cultivators had to be wary even with their True Immortal Stage cultivation bases.
After observing the ongoing battle and the cultivation arts being used by the two cultivators for some time, Han Li''s brows furrowed ever-so-slightly, following which a hint of surprise and recognition appeared on his face.
Could it really be them?
Chapter 412: Let’s Follow Them
Chapter 412: Let¡¯s Follow Them
Right Han Li was lost in thought, the snow dove suddenly spread its wings before swooping down from above, gliding past the pair of snow apes in the blink of an eye beforeshing out with its talons at the ck-robed middle-aged man, who was still slightly off bnce after throwing a punch.
The ck-robed man was quite startled by this abrupt sneak attack, but he seemed to have quite a vast wealth of battle experience, and seven specks of blue light appeared over his chest and abdomen, immediately following which 11 more specks of blue light emerged over the rest of his body.
Ayer of starry white light then surfaced over his entire body, just in time to protect him from the snow dove''s talon strike.
The hideous sound of metal grating on metal rang out as the snow dove''s talons scraped over the ck-robed man''s neck and shoulder, causing theyer of white light over his body to shudder, but it was ultimately able to remain intact.
After passing by the ck-robed man, the snow dove suddenly twisted around and opened its beak to release a strand of silver ice, which shot forth directly toward the ck-robed man''s heart like a speeding arrow.
At this point, the ck-robed man had already managed to withdraw his fist, and he immediately threw another punch toward the silver arrow as a ball of dazzling white light erupted out of his fist.
A resounding boom rang out as the silver arrow and the white light around the ck-robed man''s fist exploded in unison. A cloud of cial qi immediately spread through the air, while ayer of blue ice crystals appeared over the ck-robed man''s right arm.
Before he had a chance to remove theyer of ice crystals, one of the snow apes that he had been locked in battle against barreled into him from the side, sending him flying through the air.
Another resounding boom rang out as the ck-robed man crashed into a stone wall, and his entire body was embedded into it, while a series of cracks spread out over the wall around him in all directions.
However, the ck-robed man was quickly able to pull his arm out of the wall, then mmed his fist into the wall to propel his own body forward, and it didn''t appear as if he had suffered any injuries.
A displeased look appeared on the ck-robed man''s face as he yelled at hispanion, "Fellow Daoist Xiong Shan, if you continue to insisting on holding back and refrain from disying your full power, then I think it would be best for us to go our separate ways."
The elderly man was also quite disgruntled, and he countered, "What right do you have to criticize me? If you hadn''t insisted on taking this detour, we wouldn''t have fallen into this trap. Not only have we not managed to reap any rewards here, we''ve been forced to engage these frost beasts in this pointless battle."
"I only made a suggestion toe down here, and you raised no objections. There''s always an inevitable element of risk when ites to searching for treasures in a ce like the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor. There are only a few frost beasts here, so let''s just take care of them and move on instead of wasting any more time here," the ck-robed man argued.
"I said that we should focus on our primary objective, but you were determined toe down here, so what could I do but agree?" the elderly man grumbled.
The two cultivators in the cave were none other than Xiong Shan and Patriarch Cold me, both of whom Han Li was quite familiar with.
What was rather perplexing to Han Li was that one of them had clearlye here as part of the Ghost Wail Sect, while the other had concealed himself among the Southern Dawn beings, so how had they met up with one another?
Furthermore, not only had they appeared in the same ce, judging from their conversation, it appeared that they were working together. Could it be that they had been acquaintances prior to entering the immortal manor.
Patriarch Cold me knew that he wasn''t going to be able to win this argument, so he conceded, "Fine, I''ll admit that I''m at fault on this asion. If you insist on assigning me, then once we get to that ce and find what we''re looking for, you can go first and pick out whichever item you want. For now, let''s take care of these frost beasts and get out of here as soon as possible."
Xiong Shan didn''t waste any more time with words upon hearing this, and with a flick of his wrist, he stowed the golden halberd away before making a hand seal.
Immediately thereafter,te-True Immortal Stage spiritual power fluctuations began to emanate from his body, andyers uponyers of golden sword projections appeared behind him like the unfurling train of a peacock, radiating dazzling golden light.
All of the golden sword projections then instantly shot forth at his behest, surging toward the pair of snow lion frost beasts beforepletely inundating them like a turbulent wave.
Loud ngs rang out in rapid session within the wave of sword projections, and white and golden light shed incessantly.
By the time all of the sword projections had swept through the air, the bodies of the pair of snow lions had beenpletely stripped away to reveal their frost cores, which were hovering in mid-air while absorbing the nearby snow and cial qi.
Xiong Shan lunged forward with his golden longsword held in his grasp, instantly shattering the pair of frost cores with a single sh of his sword to put aplete end to the pair of snow lions.
Meanwhile, the snow dove circled around in mid-air before swooping toward him.
On the other side, all of Patriarch Cold me''s profound acupoints were glowing with dazzling blue light as he took a stride forward, and starpower converged toward his fist as he threw a vicious punch toward an oing snow ape.
The snow ape retaliated with a punch of its own, and the two fists shed with immense power.
A resounding boom rang out as a burst of tremendous force erupted out of Patriarch Cold me''s fist, culminating in a formidable shockwave that spread through the air in all directions.
The passageway that Han Li and Lu Yuqing were situated in wasn''t very wide, and as the shockwave swept through it, Lu Yuqing involuntarily stumbled.
Thankfully, Han Li was right beside her, and before she had a chance to cry out in surprise, he grabbed onto her sleeve with one hand while sping his other hand over her mouth. At the same time, a faint light barrier emerged to epass both of them.
Only after the shockwaves had subsided did Han Li make a quieting gesture before slowly removing his hand from over Lu Yuqing''s mouth.
Lu Yuqing pursed her lips tightly as she pressed herself against the stone wall of the passageway, not daring to make another sound.
Meanwhile, Han Li turned his attention back to Patriarch Cold me, and a contemtive look had appeared on his face.
In the wake of the sh, the snow ape''s arm had alreadypletely exploded, and there was a rapidly revolving blue vortex where its arm used to be, absorbing the nearby cial qi in order to facilitate regeneration.
Patriarch Cold me naturally wasn''t going to give it the chance to heal, and after evading an attack from the other snow ape, he sprang up into the air before stomping his foot heavily down onto the snow ape''s head.
Ayer of white starlight appeared on the underside of his foot, and a resounding boom rang out as the snow ape''s head exploded under the tremendous force of his stomp.
A translucent frost core shot out of its head before being caught in Patriarch Cold me''s grasp, and he quickly flipped his other hand over to produce a purple talisman that he adhered to the frost core, then hurriedly stowed it away into his storage ring.
Immediately thereafter, he sprang up into the air once again, charging toward the other snow ape.
Right at this moment, a sharp screeching sound rang out from up above, and an enormous streak of golden swordlight swept through the air. The snow dove was struck by the streak of golden swordlight, and its body was instantly torn in half down the middle.
The streak of golden swordlight continued onward, and the roof of the cave was unable to withstand its tremendous power as giant rocks the size of millstones came crashing down from above, opening up a massive rift that was several dozen feet wide.
A ray of natural light shone down through the rift in the roof of the cave, and gusts of fierce wind also blew in through the rift.
Xiong Shan stood atop the pile of fallen rocks as he slowly withdrew his longsword while casting his gaze toward Patriarch Cold me.
The battle over there had drawn to a conclusion as well. The second snow ape also proved to be no match for Patriarch Cold me''s tremendous starpower, and its head had exploded into powder with a single punch along with the frost core inside.
"Let me remind you that the circumstances surrounding this emergence of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor are far moreplex than on previous asions, so we cannot afford to take any further detours from here onward," Xiong Shan said in a cold voice as Patriarch Cold me approached him.
"It was only discovered during the previous emergence of the immortal manor that the already explored area of the immortal manor is collectively known as the Light Frost Region. The Light Frost Region is only the outermost section of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, and there''s no telling what manners of treasures could be found deeper in the immortal manor.
¡°With that in mind, it''s no wonder that the circumstances have be a lot moreplicated," Patriarch Cold me sighed.
"We''ve only managed to sneak into the immortal manor on this asion through the Transient Guild and the Ubiquitous Pavilion. Surely you don''t need me to tell you how much of a risk we''re taking here," Xiong Shan said with solemn expression.
"Of course I''m aware of that. However, there''s no need to be overly concerned. That ce is situated in a very secluded area, and all of the other people who discovered it with us back then have already perished, so there''s no way anyone would find that ce before we get there," Patriarch Cold me replied.
Xiong Shan''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "In any case, let''s get there as soon as possible, and after we''ve obtained what we want from that ce, we can split up and go our separate ways."
"That''s precisely my intention as well," Patriarch Cold me replied with a nod.
With that, the two of them didn''t waste any more time as they rose up into the air, flying through the rift in the roof of the cave to emerge into the wind and snow outside.
"Let''s follow them," Han Li said to Lu Yuqing, then flew out of the passageway, while Lu Yuqing hesitated momentarily before following along.
Chapter 413: Rumor
Chapter 413: Rumor
Lu Yuqing''s cultivation base was far inferior to that of Han Li, Patriarch Cold me, and the others, so she was naturally struggling to keep up.
Han Li noticed this, and he raised a hand to summon his azure flying boat, then gestured for her to fly onboard.
Lu Yuqing offered him her gratitude, then flew onto the spirit boat, as did Han Li.
Immediately thereafter, he began to chant an incantation, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a ball of heavy water, which transformed into ayer of ck light that quickly spread over the boat to envelop it in its entirety.
Enshrouded within the ck light barrier, all of the spiritual power fluctuations emanating from the spirit boat instantly subsided, and it transformed into an undetectable shadow that wasn''t giving off even the slightest aura.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this. This was a concealment ability that he had invented bybining his heavy water and thews of water that he had gleaned, and it seemed that it was quite effective.
As the flying boat continued onward, it didn''t take long before it caught up to Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan, but Han Li made sure to stay out of their spiritual sensory range, trailing along behind them from afar.
"Why are we following them, Brother Liu?" Lu Yuqing asked.
She didn''t dare to release her spiritual sense earlier for fear of being detected, so she didn''t hear the conversation between Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan.
"Judging from their earlier conversation, they seemed to have discovered an interesting ce thest time the immortal manor was opened, and they''re revisiting that ce now. This is our first time in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, so we don''t know much about it at all, and this isn''t one of the areas on your map, so as opposed to stumbling around without any direction, we may as well follow them," Han Li exined.
"It sounds like we''re in luck. These two are quite formidable, but they''re no match for you, Brother Liu. If they''re going after some treasures, then we can just spring up on them at thest second and im those treasures for ourselves!" Lu Yuqing said with a smile.
Han Li also smiled in response, then began to focus his attention on tracking Patriarch Coldme and Xiong Shan.
He wasn''t concerned about Patriarch Cold me, but Xiong Shan possessed quite an advanced cultivation base and was also very cautious and alert, so he didn''t dare to take him lightly.
Lu Yuqing could see that Han Li was trying to focus, so she fell silent in order to refrain from disturbing him, then sat down with her legs crossed on the spirit boat to meditate.
¡¡
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the immortal manor.
There was a vast ice field that spread as far as the eyes could see in all directions, and aside from some small hills, there was only a lone snow-covered peak at the center of the ice field, extending all the way up into the clouds.
The area was very quiet aside from the sound of the asional gusts of wind, and right at this moment, a semi-transparent white vortex emerged in front of the lone peak amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
The vortex then faded to reveal a green jade flying carriage that was around 100 feet in length.
The carriage was long and sleek, and there were intricate engravings on its surface, much like what one would expect to see on a jade scepter. Standing on the carriage was a tall man, and there were also a pair of halberd-wielding puppets d in golden armor on the carriage.
The man''s entire body was enshrouded within ayer of white light, giving him a rather hazy appearance, but one could still just barely make out his facial features.
As soon as he appeared, he swept his gaze over the surrounding area before setting his sights on a certain direction.
"It looks like I''m not toote," the man murmured to himself, following which the flying carriage beneath his feet shot forward as a ball of green light, vanishing into the distant sky shortly thereafter.
¡¡
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan continued in their travels without pause, and three or four days flew by in the blink of an eye.
At this point, the vast ice field down below had been reced by a mountainous region that was covered in a thickyer of glistening ice and snow, presenting a spectacr sight to behold.
asionally, some clusters of pces could be spotted among the snow-covered mountains, and some were even releasing hints of spiritual power fluctuations, indicating that they contained certain treasures.
However, Patriarch Cold me''s duo didn''t even bother to take a nce at any of these buildings as they continued to fly onward.
Han Li was rather intrigued and wanted to go down to take a look, but he had no opportunity to do so as he had to keep following the duo.
"Looks like they''re going somece very far away. I hope they won''t disappoint us," Lu Yuqing sighed.
"Let''s just wait and see," Han Li replied with a nod.
A few more days passed by in a sh, but even after flying for so long, they still didn''t seem any closer to reaching the end of the Light Frost Region.
Han Li was quite taken aback to see this. He had thought that this was only an immortal manor, yet the Light Frost Region alone seemed to beparable in size to the ck Wind Sea. With that in mind, the entirety of the immortal manor was most likely just as enormous as a small ne.
Patriarch Cold me showed no intention of stopping as they continued to fly onward, and a few more days passed by in the blink of an eye.
The snow-covered mountains below gradually faded away, and a boundless sea emerged up ahead.
The water in the sea was as ck as inky and appeared to be extremely viscous, as evidenced by the fact that there weren''t many waves sweeping over the surface of the sea despite the fierce wind.
The entire surface of the sea resembled an infinitely vast ck mirror, presenting a rather unsettling sight to behold.
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan flew directly onward without any hesitation, but Han Li stopped at the edge of the ck sea with slightly furrowed brows.
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan had been flying without pause this entire time, and he couldn''t help but wonder if they had perhaps already noticed him and Lu Yuqing and were intentionally leading them into a trap.
In this unfamiliar environment that was fraught with peril, he couldn''t afford to getcent.
He cast his gaze toward the ck sea up ahead, then turned to Lu Yuqing as he asked, "Do you know anything about this ck sea?"
"I''m afraid not, Brother Liu," Lu Yuqing replied with a shake of her head.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he fell into deep thought.
Lu Yuqing took a nce at her surroundings, then asked, "Should we keep following them, Brother Liu?"
At this point, she was also beginning to grow a little uneasy.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then replied, "It would be a waste to stop here after following them for so long. I want to see this through to the end."
With that, he made a hand seal and spurred the azure flying boat onward.
At this point, Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan had already vanished out of sight, but that wasn''t a cause for concern as Han Li could still follow the spiritual power traces that they had left behind.
It didn''t take long for Han Li to catch up to the duo, and close to two more days passed by in a sh.
Han Li was standing atop his flying boat with slightly furrowed brows. He didn''t know just how vast this ck sea was, but after flying for so long, he was certain that they were already quite deep in the area.
They had already been following Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan for close to 10 days. If they had spent that time searching for treasures on their own, they would''ve been sure to have reaped some spoils, yet they were still empty-handed right now, and they could only hope that the duo that they were following really was leading them to some exceptional treasures. Otherwise, the incurred opportunity cost would be quite significant.
All of a sudden, Han Li leaned forward slightly as if he had spotted something up ahead.
"What is it, Brother Liu?" Lu Yuqing asked.
As soon as her voice trailed off, clouds of white mist suddenly appeared over the sea up ahead.
Specks of white light were visible within the mist, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
Wisps of bone-chilling cial qi were emanating out of the white mist, significantly lowering the nearby air temperature.
A contemtive look appeared on Lu Yuqing''s face upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan stopped in their tracks, and they were ecstatic to see this white mist.
"We finally found it!" Patriarch Cold me eximed in an excited voice, and his tion was mirrored on Xiong Shan''s face as well.
The two of them then inspected their surroundings momentarily to check if they were being followed.
At this point, Han Li''s flying boat had also drawn to a halt, and his eyes instantly lit up as he heard the exchange between Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan.
It seemed that they had finally arrived at their destination.
As Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan began to scour their surroundings, Han Li hurriedly backtracked a little with his flying boat.
Thankfully, Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan didn''t notice anything amiss, and they quickly continued onward, flying into the mist at a far faster speed than before.
Han Li''s azure flying boat also elerated at his behest, and as soon as it flew into the white mist, it was instantly infiltrated by bursts of cial qi.
This cial qi was quite peculiar in that it resembled needles, making it extremely prative, able to pierce through the heavy water barrier, and ayer of frost was slowly beginning to appear on the surface of the flying boat.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a set of several dozen small blue gs that flew to the edges of the flying boat before vanishing into it.
A blue light barrier instantly emerged to envelop the flying boat, keeping the cial qi at bay.
Right at this moment, Lu Yuqing suddenly sprang to her feet.
Han Li was slightly rmed, and he immediately asked, "What''s wrong?"
"Brother Liu, I just recalled a rumor about the Light Frost Region. It''s said that there''s a sea of mist in the region that contains extremely formidable cial qi, and within the sea of mist lies the Light Frost Pce, the premier treasure trove of the entire region! However, no one has ever been able to find it. Could it be..."
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.
Thinking back to the excitement that Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan had disyed while discussing their destination, it was very likely that their objective was indeed to reach this Light Frost Pce.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately spurred on his flying boat to elerate a little further.
The more they advanced through this area, the denser the white mist became until visibility was virtually zero.
However, Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan seemed to be very familiar with this ce, and they were traversing through the mist without pause.
After flying for around three hours, the two of them abruptly drew to a halt.
Han Li had been keeping tabs on them this entire time, and he immediately stopped as well, concealing his flying boat in a cloud of white mist as he cast his gaze forward.
His eyes then instantly lit up as he spotted a ck ind situated in the sea up ahead. It was only a small ind that was around 10 to 15 kilometers in size, and it was entirely enshrouded in ayer ck light that looked as if it were formed by countless tiny ck needles.
The ck light was flowing like liquid, and beyond the ck light barrier was the faint outline of a majestic pce.
Chapter 414: Exposed
Chapter 414: Exposed
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan were observing the ind down below with excitement in their eyes.
"It looks like no one''s found this ce yet," Patriarch Cold me remarked as he took a nce at his surroundings.
"That''s only to be expected. This is an extremely secluded ce, and I wouldn''t have stumbled upon this ind back then if I hadn''t been frantically fleeing from that pack of frost beasts," Xiong Shan replied as he stared at the pce within the light barrier with fervent excitement in his eyes.
"You seem very confident, Fellow Daoist Xiong Shan. You must''ve made some extensive preparations for this trip," Patriarch Cold me chuckled.
"I bet you''ve done the same, Fellow Daoist Cold me. You''ve most likely alreadypletely mastered the Great Universe Origin Arts. I''m assuming you weren''t going all-out against those frost beasts from earlier," Xiong Shan harrumphed coldly in response.
"How could my paltry powers possiblypare with yours?" Patriarch Cold me chuckled in a modest fashion.
The two of them exchanged a nce, and both of them fell silent as a slightly tense atmosphere began to set in.
"We still haven''t entered the Light Frost Pce yet, so there''s no need for the two of us to be praising one another like this. Besides, our objectives are different, so there are no conflicts of interest between us. Let''s break this restriction as quickly as possible to avoid any unforeseen mishaps," Patriarch Cold me proposed.
"That sounds like a good n," Xiong Shan replied with a smile, then patted the storage pouch strapped to his waist, and a small golden sword instantly emerged, followed immediately by an azure wooden ruler and a small blue g.
All three treasures were giving off astonishing spiritual qi fluctuations, and they weren''t far off from immortal treasures.
At the same time, Patriarch Cold me swept a sleeve through the air to release two bursts of light, one red and one yellow, and they were revealed to be a crimson bowl and a small yellow seal, both of which were also top-grade spirit treasures.
As soon as the five spirit treasures were summoned, they immediately flew high up into the sky as five dazzling balls of spiritual light before vanishing out of sight in a sh.
The sky up above shuddered as a vast expanse of radiant five-colored light emerged, epassing the entire area within a radius of dozens of kilometers down below.
The five spirit treasures were visible deep within the five-colored light, and they had formed a circr array.
All of the world''s origin qi in the space epassed within the five-colored light becamepletely stagnant, as if it had been frozen in ce by some type of invisible force.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he observed what was unfolding up ahead using his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
"What are they doing, Brother Liu?" Lu Yuqing asked.
"They''re using spirit treasures of the five elements to unleash the Great Five-elemental True Light," Han Li replied.
As the two were conversing with one another, Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan had already begun chanting an incantation, upon which the five-colored light swirled momentarily before quickly transforming into a five-colored pir of light that shone down upon the ck light barrier.
The ck light barrier instantly brightened, and countless threads of thin ck light emerged one after another like streaks of ck sword qi, then converged to form a ck sword dragon that pounced at the pir of five-colored light.
The two shed, and the ck sword dragon was able to keep the pir of light at bay while tearing at it viciously with its ws, fangs, and tail.
Streaks of formidable ck sword qi were erupting out of the sword dragon''s ws and mouth, but the pir of five-colored light remained stable andpletely unmoved despite the sword dragon''s best efforts.
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan continued to chant their incantation while making hand seals, and five-colored spiritual light was rapidly revolving within the pir of light, forming a series of five-colored balls.
Each ball was the size of a millstone, and all of them were semi-transparent. They were quite spectacr to behold, but also struck the beholder with a sense of awe and foreboding.
The five-colored spiritual light at the forefront of the pir of light shed momentarily, following which all of the balls of five-colored light shot forth, crashing into the ck sword dragon''s body.
The five-colored balls of light then exploded into a vast expanse of light thatpletely inundated the ck sword, tearing it apart with ease amid an anguished howl.
Lu Yuqing''s eyes widened with incredulity upon seeing this, while Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, and it seemed that this was the anticipated oue for him.
After vanquishing the sword dragon, the five-colored balls of light continued onward without pause to strike the ck light barrier down below, which instantly began to warp and twist violently.
In the end, the ck light barrier was only able to withstand the assault for a few seconds before it was torn apart and disintegrated into countless specks of ck spiritual light.
However, an azure light barrier then emerged, and it seemed to be no less formidable than the ck light barrier.
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan didn''t seem surprised at all to see this, and the five-colored pir of light continued to descend while releasing more five-colored balls of light that surged toward the azure light barrier.
The five-colored light barrier brightened considerably while releasing gusts of fierce azure wind, and a string of earth-shattering booms rang out as the gusts of wind shed against the balls of five-colored light.
Ultimately, the azure light barrier wasn''t able to fare much better than its ck counterpart, and it onlysted a few minutes before it was also torn apart, following which a white light barrier emerged.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this.
The restrictions outside the pce were moreplex than he had imagined, and they were all quite formidable, so even for him, it would''ve taken a great deal of time and effort to bypass them.
However, judging from the expressions of Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan, they were clearly already aware of this and had prepared countermeasures.
The two of them continued to make more hand seals, and the five-colored pir of light shone brighter and brighter as more balls of five-colored light emerged before raining down upon the white light barrier.
Several hours passed by in the blink of an eye, and rumbling booms were ringing out incessantly on the ind, while spiritual lights of different colors shed erratically.
The five-colored pir of light had be thicker than before, and it was releasing countles balls of five-colored light that were raining down upon a gray light barrier.
The gray restriction was releasing extremely dense gray light that formed a dark gray cloud, and all of the balls of five-colored light that fell upon it exploded violently on contact.
The gray cloud didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way, but it proved to be extremely resilient, able to keep the barrage of five-colored balls of light at bay, albeit with great difficulty.
At this point, Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan were both looking rather weary.
During this time, they had already broken through over 10 different restrictions, of which each sessive one was more formidable than the previous one, and the balls of five-colored light weren''t making inroads anywhere near as quickly as before.
However, the barrages of attacks were still effective, and the gray cloud was slowly being stripped away bit by bit.
Close to an hourter, the gray cloud was finallypletely eradicated, thereby revealing the gray restriction down below.
Both Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan instantly seized this opportunity, renewing their efforts to send close to 100 balls of five-colored light erupting out of the pir of light at once.
Instead of crashing down right away, the balls of light converged to form an enormous ball of light the size of a house.
Furthermore, this ball of light was no longer semi-transparent. Instead, it had a virtually substantial form and was giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations.
The giant ball of light circled around in the air before crashing heavily down onto the gray restriction and exploding violently.
A five-colored sun that was over 1,000 feet in diameter appeared in the sky, and shockwaves that were visible even to the naked eye erupted forth in all directions, causing the surrounding space to tremble violently.
The gray light barrier was severely warped before exploding, and Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan heaved a collective sigh of relief upon seeing this.
Han Li was observing the proceedings from afar, and he was also quite pleased to see the restriction being broken.
The gray light barrier disintegrated into countless specks of gray light that quickly dissipated, only to be reced by another starry light barrier.
There were countless starry specks of light on the light barrier, and they were moving in a profound rhythm, as if they really were stars in the night sky.
"There''s still more? How many restrictions are there?" Lu Yuqing eximed upon seeing this.
"Don''t worry, this should be thest one. Those two sure have been made to work hard," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
Right at this moment, his expression suddenly changed slightly as a burst of dazzling starlight emerged to epass his entire body, and the source of the starlight was the storage pouch strapped to his waist.
The starlight was extremely bright, and it immediately burst through his concealment ability.
Lu Yuqing was greatly startled by this unforeseen turn of events, and she had to p a hand over her own mouth to prevent herself from yelling out loud.
The starry light barrier in the distance also began to glow brightly, and the specks of starlight moving over its surface suddenly elerated by severalfold, forming a series of profound constetions.
It seemed that the starry light barrier was resonating with the starlight radiating from Han Li''s body.
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan were also caughtpletely off guard, and they immediately swung around with bewildered expressions.
Han Li immediately tried to search for the source of the starlight in his storage pouch, only for a ball of dazzling starlight to fly out from within on its own, containing a gray stone b.
Chapter 415: Abrupt Battle
Chapter 415: Abrupt Battle
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this.
This was the very same stone b that contained the first half of the Great Universe Origin Arts that he had obtained from Patriarch Cold me.
At this moment, all of the runes etched upon the stone b were glowing with radiant starlight, and as soon as it appeared it immediately began flying toward the starry light barrier in the distance as if it were being summoned by something.
The stone b was quite valuable to Han Li, and this was clearly an abnormal turn of events, so Han Li certainly wasn''t going to just let it fly away, and he immediately reached out to grab it.
The starlight radiating from the stone b began to sway and struggle as it attempted to force its way out of Han Li''s grasp, and it was doing so with such tremendous force that even Han Li''s arm was trembling incessantly.
If an averagete-True Immortal cultivation had been in his ce, there was a very good chance that the stone b would''ve already flown out of their grasp.
With his attention diverted, there was a momentarypse in his concealment secret technique, and as a result, he and Lu Yuqing were exposed.
"Who''s there?"
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan immediately stopped what they were doing as they spotted Han Li''s duo, and as a result, the pir of five-colored light in the sky faded into nothingness.
Lu Yuqing reflexively took a couple of steps backward at the sight of the hostile looks on the faces of Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan, and she turned to Han Li with a concerned expression.
Han Li''s brows were slightly furrowed, and he did away with his concealment secret technique altogether.
Xiong Shan took a nce at Han Li''s duo, then said, "If I recall correctly, the two of you entered the immortal manor with the True me Sect. Why are you sneaking around and following us in secret?"
"That stone b... You''re Fellow Daoist Han!" Patriarch Cold me eximed at the sight of the gray stone b that Han Li was holding.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Cold me," Han Li said with a faint smile.
At the same time, he made a hand seal with his free hand, and countless azure runes instantly surged out of the hand that was locked around the stone b, forming a seal around it.
The light radiating from the stone b instantly diminished significantly, and its struggles also ceased.
Han Li then flipped a hand over to produce several talismans, which he adhered to the stone b in an unhurried fashion, and only then did the starlight on the stone bpletely vanish, following which he was able to stow it away.
"Fellow Daoist Han? Do you know this person, Fellow Daoist Cold me?" Xiong Shan asked as he turned to Patriarch Cold me with a suspicious expression.
"Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist. I''ve met him on several past asions, but I definitely wasn''t expecting to run into him here," Patriarch Cold me hurriedly exined.
Lu Yuqing''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"Even if he is an acquaintance of yours, isn''t it far too rude of him to have followed us in secret all the way up to this point?" Xiong Shan asked in a cold voice.
"I just so happened to see the two of you traveling together, and it seemed that you were going somewhere, so I decided to follow you out of curiosity. I certainly wasn''t expecting to be led to the Light Frost Pce. Given how massive this pce is, surely you two won''t mind if the two of us enter it with you," Han Li said with a smile.
At the same time, he casually made a hand seal, and the azure flying boat beneath his feet instantly shrank down significantly before flying up his sleeve.
He then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which swept up himself and Lu Yuqing before carrying both of them to a spot not far away from Xiong Shan''s duo.
Patriarch Cold me''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to Xiong Shan.
Back at the Holy Puppet Sect, he had already established that he was no match for Han Li, and he didn''t want to engage Han Li in a direct battle unless there were no other alternatives.
Xiong Shan''s expression darkened slightly, and a cold gleam shed through his eyes as he said, "If you want to enter the Light Frost Pce, then you''ll have to show me if you have what it takes!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, his robes billowed outward as golden light erupted out of his body, and thick streaks of golden sword qi emerged, resembling the branches of a flowering tree as they swept directly toward Han Li with astonishing might.
Initially, each streak of sword qi was only around a foot in length, but they swelled to close to 100 feet mid-flight, and they had converged to form a golden sword lotus flower that was descending directly upon Han Li.
Even before the sword lotus flower arrived, a burst of formidable sword intent had alreadypletely enshrouded Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
Han Li felt a burst of sharp pain over his entire body, and the shing golden light radiating from the sword lotus flower struck him with some type of illusion, as if he could already see himself being torn to shreds by the streaks of sword qi.
He immediately drew upon his own vast spiritual sense as an instinctive reaction, and the illusion was instantly dispelled.
In contrast, there was a horrified look on Lu Yuqing''s face, and her eyes were dazed and hollow, as if she had been plunged into the depths of despair by Xiong Shan''s immense sword intent.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he positioned himself in front of Lu Yuqing as 18 specks of starlight emerged over his body. As a result, he instantly grew a little taller, then threw a punch directly upward.
A burst of tremendous force was released from his fist, causing the surrounding space to warp and twist, and ripples that were visible even to the naked eye could be seen sweeping through the air.
The golden sword lotus flower''s downward momentum was instantly halted, following which it shattered and disintegrated into countless specks of golden light.
The tremendous sword intent in the air also faded with the sword lotus flower''s destruction, and Lu Yuqing shuddered before gasping for air, but at the very least, she had returned to her senses.
She had beenpletely immobilized by the sword intent just now, but she was still able to see what had just unfolded, and aplex look appeared in her eyes as she cast her gaze toward Han Li, who was standing up ahead with his back facing her.
The fearsome power released by Han Li''s punch was only stopped momentarily by the golden sword lotus flower before continuing to sweep toward Xiong Shan with astonishing might.
Xiong Shan instantly felt the space around him constrict, and it was as if he had suddenly been trapped within a wall of iron and steel.
"You''re also using the Great Universe Origin Arts!" Xiong Shan eximed as he made a hand seal with one hand, and his golden longsword instantly appeared in his grasp.
With his longsword summoned, his aura began to rapidly swell and take on a peerlessly sharp quality.
Immediately thereafter, he let loose a thunderous roar before shing his longsword through the air with a flick of his wrist, and several huge streaks of golden sword qi swept through the air around him to free him from the constricting space.
He then began to chant an incantation, and his golden longsword flew out of his grasp before transforming into a giant golden sword that was several thousand feet in size, giving off formidable metal-attributew fluctuations.
The giant golden sword shed through the air before crashing into the force generated by Han Li''s punch with an earth-shattering boom, and neither side seemed to be able to get the better of the other, with sword qi and fist intent erupting in all directions, causing the surrounding space to tremble violently.
Right at this moment, an indetectable smirk appeared on Xiong Shan''s face, and a giant golden g abruptly appeared behind Han Li amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
The g was radiating golden light with countless runes shing on its surface, and it was also giving off bursts of metalw fluctuations.
As soon as the golden g appeared, it instantly released countless thin golden threads that shot rapidly toward Han Li''s defenseless back.
Lu Yuqing''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, but the golden threads were too fast for her to react to.
Right as the two of them were about topletely inundated by the wave of golden threads, a burst of starlight suddenly shed over Han Li''s body, and the Seven Bright Star Rings flew out, arranging themselves into the formation of the Big Dipper as they situated themselves behind Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
Radiant starlight erupted out of the Seven Bright Star Rings, instantly forming a thick wall of light.
A string of dull thuds rang out in rapid session as countless tiny holes were pierced into the surface of the wall of light, but it was ultimately able to keep all of the golden threads at bay, much to Xiong Shan''s rm and dismay.
Right at this moment, another resounding boom rang out as Xiong Shan''s giant golden sword was sent flying back through the air, while the tremendous force unleashed by Han Li''s punch also faded away.
All of this had transpired in the blink of an eye, and Han Li remained standing on the spot in a calm andposed fashion, while Xiong Shan stumbled back a couple of steps before steadying himself.
He then made a hand seal, and the giant golden sword shrank down to half its original size before circling around in the air above his head.
Han Li paid no heed to the giant sword as he glowered intently at Han Li and the Seven Bright Star Rings behind him.
The Seven Bright Star Rings had appeared at the perfect time, and it was as if Han Li were a irvoyant that had predicted the emergence of the giant golden g.
"I''ve been here this entire time, so did you think that I wouldn''t notice when you summoned that golden g in secret before concealing it while the two of you were breaking the restrictions here?" Han Li asked with a faint smile.
Xiong Shan''s expression darkened even further upon hearing this, and he made a hand seal, upon which the giant golden g vanished from the spot before appearing behind him the next instant.
"I wonder if you had summoned that golden g as a precautionary measure to deal with unforeseen danger, or if you were nning to use it on someone else," Han Li said with a faint smile as he took a meaningful nce at Patriarch Cold me.
A furious look immediately appeared on Patriarch Cold me''s face upon hearing this, and he flew over 1,000 feet away from Xiong Shan in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 416: Joining Forces
Chapter 416: Joining Forces
"Don''t fall for his attempt to drive a wedge between us, Fellow Daoist Cold me! I had no other intention than to take some precautionary measures in case enemies arrived on the scene while we were busy breaking these restrictions, and it seems that my efforts were very much necessary," Xiong Shan said.
Patriarch Cold me''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, but he was still looking rather hesitant about who to believe.
"Is that so? In that case, why did you summon the g in secret without telling Fellow Daoist Cold me?" Han Li asked with a faint smile.
"That... was indeed an oversight on my part," Xiong Shan conceded in a slightly awkward manner.
He hadn''t actually summoned the g for the purpose of attacking Patriarch Cold me. Instead, it was just a hidden trump card that he could call upon to seize the initiative in the case of any mishaps. Of course, he was prepared to use it against Patriarch Cold me if necessary, but given the circumstances, things weren''t so easy to exin.
"You''re not to me, Fellow Daoist Xiong. I was simply too gullible and susceptible to the words of others," Patriarch Cold me said in an indifferent voice.
Xiong Shan knew that he was at fault here, so he didn''t dwell on the subject any longer.
"I would consider you to be an acquaintance of mine, Fellow Daoist Cold me. There are bound to be many precious treasures in this Light Frost Pce, it''s sure to be a very dangerous ce as well, so why don''t we join forces and explore it together? You''re aware of my powers, and I''m sure you know that I can be of great assistance to you," Han Li said.
Patriarch Cold me''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he offered no response.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Cold me, I simply want to repay you for bestowing the Great Universe Origin Arts upon me. I''m no saint, but at the same time, I wouldn''t stoop as low as to plot against my own allies," Han Li said as he took a subtle nce at Xiong Shan, in response to which Xiong Shan gave a cold harrumph.
Patriarch Cold me weighed up his options for a moment, then smiled as he said, "Alright, in that case, I''ll be in your care, Fellow Daoist Han."
"Likewise, Fellow Daoist Cold me. Shall we break this final restriction first?" Han Li proposed with a smile.
"What is the meaning of this?" Xiong Shan interjected with a dark look on his face.
"Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Xiong. It''s not like there''s any vendetta between us, it''s just that you attacked me without allowing me a chance to exin myself, and that resulted in a misunderstanding. In my opinion, let''s leave this matter behind us. At the moment, all of us have a shared objective, so we should work together to break this restriction. Time is of the essence, after all," Han Li said as he turned to Xiong Shan.
Xiong Shan was silent for a moment, then smiled as he replied, "I agree, Fellow Daoist Han. Please forgive me for my earlier rash actions, Fellow Daoist Cold me. If we do find any treasures in the pce, you can have the first pick."
"There''s no need to apologize, Fellow Daoist Xiong Shan. Now that Fellow Daoist Han and this fellow daoist have joined us, our chances of sess will naturally be greater than before. By the way, may I know your name, fellow daoist?" Patriarch Cold me asked as he turned to Lu Yuqing.
Xiong Shan also turned his attention to Lu Yuqing upon haering this.
"You''re far too kind, Senior. I wouldn''t dare to regard myself as an equal to the two of you with my paltry cultivation base. I''m only apanying Brother Han to broaden my horizons, and I would be more than satisfied if you could spare me a few treasures that aren''t up to your standards," Lu Yuqing hurriedly replied.
It was clear that Han Li had presented himself under a different identity to Patriarch Cold me, so she had immediately made an adjustment and begun referring to Han Li as Brother Han instead of Brother Liu.
Both Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan''s expressions eased slightly upon hearing this.
"The more time we waste here, the higher the likelihood that something could go wrong, so let''s begin right away. Keep doing what you were doing before, and I''ll also lend you my assistance to break this restriction," Han Li said.
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan both nodded in response, and thetter swept a sleeve through the air to stow away his golden longsword and golden g, then flew to the same position as before to resume his efforts.
Patriarch Cold me also sprang into action, and the five spirit treasures in the air lit up once again as the pir of five-colored light re-emerged.
Ayer of dazzling starlight emerged from the starry light barrier, and there were countless stars surging over its surface, presenting a profound sight to behold.
Balls of five-colored light flew out of the pir of light before striking the starry light barrier, and a string of resounding booms rang out as the starry light barrier trembled incessantly.
Meanwhile, Han Li stowed his Seven Bright Star Rings away, then channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts with all his might, and radiant starlight instantly appeared over his arms.
Immediately thereafter, heshed out at the starlight restriction down below with ferocious might, unleashing a barrage of fist projections that rained down upon the starry light barrier.
Lu Yuqing was also doing what she could to help, summoning an azure feather fan that she swept through the air to send countless azure des of wind hurtling toward the starry light barrier.
Theirbined efforts were extremely formidable, and the starry light barrier was unable to withstand the assault, quickly being stripped down to only a thinyer.
However, right at this moment, the sky above the ind suddenly began to rumble, and the white mist up above began to swirl, forming an enormous vortex.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he looked up into the sky, while Xiong Shan yelled,
"The restriction is trying to draw upon starpower from the heavens to replenish itself! If we can''t destroy it now, it won''t be long until it makes a full recovery, so it''s now or never!" Xiong Shan yelled.
"That''s right, we can''t allow it to recover!" Patriarch Cold me chimed in.
The two of them made a rapid series of hand seals, and the pir of five-colored light brightened considerably as countless balls of five-colored light shot out from within, then converged to form another enormous ball of light in the blink of an eye before descending toward the starry light barrier.
Han Li also responded to the call, taking on his Giant Mountain Ape form amid a sh of golden light.
At the same time, 18 specks of starlight appeared on his chest and abdomen toplement the golden light radiating from the rest of his body.
The Giant Mountain Ape pounded its own chest with its fists, then let loose a thunderous roar before swinging its fist viciously through the air.
An enormous golden fist projection instantly appeared with streaks of starlight revolving around it, and the fist projection fell upon the starry light barrier.
Lu Yuqing also renewed her efforts as her azure feather fan began to radiate dazzling azure light, and it released an azure wind dragon that swooped down with ferocious might.
Several earth-shattering booms rang out in session, and a series of cracks finally began to spread over the starry light barrier.
With one final resounding boom, the starry light barrier exploded into a vast expanse of starlight, but instead of dissipating, all of the starlight rapidly converged to form an enormous vortex that was releasing indescribably formidable suction power.
Han Li and the others didn''t have any time to react before they were sucked into the vortex, and Han Li was instantly ovee by a rush of dizziness as the entire world transformed into an indistinguishable blur.
Upon recovering his vision, he found himself standing on a spacious stone tform. Patriarch Cold me and the others were also nearby, but their eyes were tightly shut, seemingly still yet to regain consciousness.
The stone tform was quite antiquated in appearance. It had a dark azure hue and was over 1,000 feet in size.
Beneath Han Li and the others was a teleportation array that was still operating and radiating bursts of white light.
Han Li was still feeling a little dizzy, and he shook his head vigorously to clear away the dizziness before inspecting his surroundings.
At this moment, he was situated in a blue space with a sun up above. There were white clouds drifting through the sky and a light breeze blowing through the air, in stark contrast with the misty and forbidding ck sea from before.
This must be the real Light Frost Pce.
Around half a kilometer ahead of the stone tform was a mountain with a summit that was concealed within the clouds, indicating that it had to have been at least 40,000 to 50,000 feet tall.
The mountain was extremely steep and entirely silver in color.
There was a ball of faint purple light situated on the mountain summit, and Han Li could see the outlines of a purple pce within the ball of light.
A steep staircase extended straight from the purple pce to the foot of the mountain, and the staircase was a sparkling purple color, presenting a spectacr sight to behold, as if it were a staircase to heaven.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
For some reason, this environment struck him with a sense of familiarity.
He inspected his surroundings once again while trying to recall when he had seen this ce before, but to no avail, so he could only set aside that train of thought for now as he prepared to leave the teleportation array.
However, as soon as he attempted to leave the array, a burst of tremendous force surged out of it, locking his body into ce and rendering him immobilized.
He immediately cast his gaze toward the white light around him, and a contemtive look shed through his eyes.
Before long, Patriarch Cold me, Xiong Shan, and Lu Yuqing also regained their consciousness one after another, and Lu Yuqing began to look around with an awestruck expression.
In contrast, Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shanpletely ignored their surroundings as they turned to stare at the purple pce on the mountain summit with a fervent look in their eyes.
However, neither of them moved.
"So this is the Light Frost Pce... It really is a spectacr ce," Lu Yuqing praised as she tried to take a step forward, only to find herself also locked into ce, just like Han Li.
"The teleportation array is still operating. We''ll only be able to get out once itpletely ceases operation," Patriarch Cold me exined.
Lu Yuqing turned to him with a grateful nod upon hearing this, while Han Li also took a nce at him in silence.
He had intentionally driven a wedge between Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan in order to recruit the former to his side, and he had done this because Patriarch Cold me had already entered this ce once.
Having explored many secret areas in the past, Han Li knew how much an asset having an experienced guide could be.
Chapter 417: Pursuers
Chapter 417: Pursuers
The teleportation array beneath Han Li and the others continued to operate, but it was getting slower and slower, and the white light that it was releasing was also rapidly fading.
In the meantime, the four of them remained silent and didn''t make any further attempts to move. They took this time to inspect their surroundings, but of course, the majority of their attention was focused on that silver mountain.
The longing in Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan''s eyes was bing more and more intense, while Han Li remained expressionless, and Lu Yuqing''s eyes were constantly darting around, asionally stealing nces at Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan.
A short whileter, the operation of the teleportation array finallypletely ceased, and all of the white light also faded, allowing Han Li and the others to emerge from the array.
"Let''s go."
Upon stepping out of the array, Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan made their way down from the stone tform, then rushed toward the long staircase at the foot of the silver mountain, but they refrained from taking flight.
"Let''s follow them," Han Li said to Lu Yuqing, then quickly strode down from the stone tform as well.
Not long after the four of them left the teleportation array, the stone tform behind them abruptly shuddered, immediately following which the teleportation array began to radiate dazzling white light once again.
Han Li and the others were all quite startled by this turn of events, and they immediately stopped in their tracks before turning around, right as a group of six or seven figures appeared within the teleportation array.
These people were none other than the ck-robed Ghost Wail Sect cultivators, and they were led by their sect master, Chen Pi.
"Xue Han!" Patriarch Cold me eximed at the sight of Ghost Wail Sect Master.
A hint of befuddlement shed through Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
The Ghost Wail Sect Master had clearly been introduced as Chen Pi earlier, while Xue Han was the name of one of the Ubiquitous Pavilion''s Golden Immortal Stage elders and one of the two Golden Immortals who had attacked the Holy Puppet Sect.
Having just appeared in the teleportation array, Xue Han''s expression was a little dazed, but he then immediately returned to his senses.
He took a nce at his surroundings, and his gaze settled momentarily on Han Li and Lu Yuqing before immediately shifting to Xiong Shan and Patriarch Cold me.
Meanwhile, Xiong Shan and Patriarch Cold me exchanged a bewildered nce with one another.
It didn''t take long before Xue Han spotted the purple pce on the mountain summit, and an ecstatic look instantly appeared on his face as he cackled, "I knew it!"
A fearful look shed through Patriarch Cold me''s eye as he asked, "Xue Han, why are you here?"
"You thought you managed to shake us off, didn''t you? I knew you had an ulterior motive for entering the immortal manor, so I intentionally let you leave, but we''ve been following you this entire time! Having said that, I didn''t think you would lead us to the Light Frost Pce," Xue Han chortled.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
It was rather disturbing to him that he hadpletely failed to detect the Ghost Wail Sect cultivators on the way here.
However, given Xue Han''s Golden Immortal Stage cultivation base, if he had some special concealment techniques up his sleeve, then it was certainly possible for them to have remained undetected by Han Li this entire time.
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan''s expressions had darkened significantly at this point.
They had thought that they had been quite sneaky and cautious, but this entire time, they had been followed by two groups of people and remainedpletely oblivious.
The two of them exchanged a nce, then turned in unison to rush toward the staircase as quickly as they could.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing exchanged a nce, then immediately followed along.
Xue Han remainedpletely unconcerned upon seeing this, and he chuckled coldly, "You think you can get away! In your dreams!"
There was no way that a group of four True Immortals would be able to escape from a seasoned Golden Immortal like himself, particrly in what was clearly a sealed space with no way out.
With that in mind, he proceeded to pursue Han Li and the others, only to also find himself being held in ce by a burst of tremendous force, rendering him immobilized despite his Golden Immortal Stage cultivation base.
He immediately let loose a low roar as he struggled with all his might, but to his surprise, his efforts proved to be futile.
At this point, the other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators were also beginning to regain their consciousness one after another, only to find that they were also unable to move.
Han Li and the others seized this opportunity to rush to the foot of the silver staircase as quickly as they could, following which Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan immediately led the way up the staircase.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he noticed that the two of them had slowed down significantly upon stepping onto the staircase, and he cautiously set foot onto the first step.
Ayer of faint yellow light surfaced over the step beneath his foot, and a burst of tremendous force instantly descended upon him.
Lu Yuqing also stepped onto the staircase, following which her body immediately swayed slightly as an rmed look appeared on her face.
Her brows furrowed slightly as ayer of azure light appeared over her body, then transformed into a crane projection that spread its wings in an attempt to take flight, but no matter how frantically the azure crane projection pped its wings, the suction force acting upon Lu Yuqing from the step beneath her foot wasn''t diminished in the slightest.
"The gravitational restriction on this staircase can''t be countered through the use of immortal spiritual power or any spirit treasures, so you can only rely on your own physical prowess," Patriarch Cold me exined. "Given the urgency of the situation, I''m afraid I''ll have to go on ahead. Good luck."
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, while Lu Yuqing''splexion paled slightly in response.
Meanwhile, Patriarch Cold me continued to quickly scale the staircase. Having also cultivated the Great Universe Origin Arts, he had attained immense physical prowess, and at this point, he had already scaled 30 to 40 steps.
Xiong Shan''s physical prowess wasckingpared with Patriarch Cold me, but he was clearly also prepared, and he was able to keep up with Patriarch Cold me just fine.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he turned to take a nce at the Ghost Wail Sect cultivators, who were still trapped in the teleportation array.
The white light radiating from the array was rapidly fading, and it wouldn''t be long until they were freed.
"Hurry!" he urged as he began to quickly scale the staircase.
Lu Yuqing swept a sleeve through the air to dispel the azure light around her, then took a deep breath as she also began to climb the staircase.
The gravitational restriction on the staircase was indeed quite formidable, but as an early-True Immortal cultivator, her physical constitution was nothing to be scoffed at, so she was also climbing up the steps at a decent pace.
An agitated look appeared on Xue Han''s face as he watched Han Li and the others scaling the staircase.
At this point, he had already realized further struggles would only be futile, so he had resigned himself to waiting.
Finally, the white light radiating from the teleportation arraypletely faded, and he instantly instructed, "After them!"
Immediately thereafter, he flew toward Han Li and others as quickly as he could, followed by the other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators, but as soon as they flew out of the stone tform, they abruptly began to plummet toward the ground like dead weights.
They mmed into the ground one after another amid a string of resounding booms, smashing several huge craters into the ground in the process.
They hurriedly mbered to their feet, and even though they weren''t injured, they had been reduced to a rather disheveled state. A few of them hadnded head-first and were a little dazed as a result.
Xue Han was furious at the embarrassment that he had been subjected to, and none of the other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators dared to say anything at the sight of his enraged expression.
"So what if there''s a flight restriction here? I''ll hunt you all down regardless, and once I do, I''m going to make you regret ever going against me!" Xue Han spat through gritted teeth.
Immediately thereafter, he charged toward the staircase as quickly as he could, followed closely by the other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators.
Before long, all of them arrived at the foot of the silver staircase before immediately embarking on the climb.
As soon as he set foot on the first step, Xue Han''s brows instantly furrowed slightly, and he took a deep breath as he cautioned, "There''s quite a formidable restriction here, so be on your guard!"
All of the other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators hurriedly gave affirmative responses, while Xue Han took a nce at Han Li and the others before setting off in pursuit of them.
He was able to scale the staircase at a remarkable speed, quickly opening up quite arge gap between himself and the rest of the Ghost Wail Sect cultivators, and it seemed that the gravitational restriction here wasn''t affecting him much at all.
At this point, Han Li and the others had already scaled 400 to 500 steps, and Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan were still leading the way from the forefront, with Han Li and Lu Yuqing progressing up the staircase together a short distance behind them.
Upon noticing what was happening down below, a grim look appeared on Patriarch Cold me''s face, and ayer of faint starlight appeared over his body as he abruptly elerated.
Xiong Shan''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and ayer of golden light emerged over his body as he also sped up in an urgent fashion.
Meanwhile, Lu Yuqing was already sweating profusely, and with each step that she took, her body would shudder slightly.
With each sessive step, the gravitational restriction would be slightly more formidable, and at this point, the gravitational force was already three to four times stronger than it had been on the first step.
Lu Yuqing turned to nce at Han Li, and she was surprised to find that he didn''t appear to be struggling at all.
However, there was a rather peculiar dazed look in his eyes, as if his thoughts were somewhere else entirely.
"Brother Liu," Lu Yuqing called out to him through voice transmission.
Han Li immediately snapped back to his senses, then turned to her as he asked, "What is it?"
Lu Yuqing forced a smile onto her own face as she said, "The restriction here is too strong for me to continue. Go ahead without me, Brother Liu. "
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to find Xue Han rapidly scaling the staircase, doing so with such ease that he wasn''t even pausing from one step to the next.
At this point, it wasn''t going to take long before he caught up to them.
Meanwhile, Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan were only elerating further, and they had already left Han Li and Lu Yuqing far behind.
Chapter 418: Arduous Climb
Chapter 418: Arduous Climb
"Don''t worry about me, Brother Liu. These people have no vendetta against me, and I''m just a nobody anyway, so I''m sure they won''t do anything to me," Lu Yuqing said.
Han Li hesitated momentarily, then suddenly strode over to Lu Yuqing''s side before picking her up in his arms.
Lu Yuqing was swept off her feet before she even had a chance to react, and the force weighing down on her was instantly lifted, while the gravitational force acting upon Han Li was doubled.
However, this was still well within his tolerance capacity, and he began to quickly bound up the staircase.
"Brother Liu..."
"I agreed to bring you with me, so I have to do everything in my power to keep you safe," Han Li said in an indifferent voice.
Aplex look appeared in Lu Yuqing''s eyes as she lowered her head.
Both Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan had noticed what Han Li was doing, and they were quite taken aback by his actions.
"Looks like you''ve found yourself quite a womanizer of an ally, Fellow Daoist Cold me. I must say, I do admire his courage," Xiong Shan jeered with a mocking look in his eyes.
Patriarch Cold me''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. Even with his physical prowess and extensive preparation, he didn''t dare to take this gravitational restriction lightly at all, and he certainly wasn''t optimistic about Han Li''s chances of scaling the staircase while carrying an extra burden.
With that in mind, a cold look shed through his eyes as he turned his gaze away from Han Li.
Meanwhile, Han Li was elerating further and further, to the point that his speed wasparable with Xue Han''s, and as a result, the gap between them was steadily maintained.
Xue Han''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, while Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan were both quite surprised,
Never had they anticipated that Han Li would only be getting faster in this situation. In fact, he was beginning to slowly catch up to them.
Both of them immediately renewed their efforts, elerating further themselves, and before long, over an hour had already passed by.
At this point, all of them had already crossed the halfway mark of the staircase, and Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan were still leading the way, but Han Li was only fewer than 30 steps behind them, while Xue Han was around 100 steps behind Han Li.
As for the other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators, they had already been left so far behind that they were nothing more than tiny ck dots in the distance.
At this point, the gravity on the staircase had already reached an extremely formidable level, and everyone had slowed down significantly.
Patriarch Cold me''s entire body was enshrouded in ayer of bright starlight that resembled a veil, giving him a mysterious and powerful appearance.
He was still leading the way from the front, and he was climbing up the steps at a roughly consistent speed.
Meanwhile, Xiong Shan''s skin had also taken on a golden hue in addition to the radiant golden light emanating from his body, and he resembled a golden statue that was giving off a tremendous aura of physical prowess.
He was a few steps behind Patriarch Cold me, but he was progressing just as smoothly.
Patriarch Cold me was rather taken aback to see this. He could tell that Xiong Shan was using a very formidable body refinement secret technique.
Xiong Shan hadn''t mastered this ability thest time they were here, so he had most likely attained this ability since thest emergence of the immortal manor specifically for this purpose.
Having said that, this was no surprise as he had also made extensive preparations over the years.
Patriarch Cold me cast his gaze even further down the staircase to find that ayer of starlight had also appeared over Han Li''s body, and even though he was carrying Lu Yuqing, he wasn''t showing any signs of strain at all as he continued to scale the staircase in a calm and measured fashion.
As for Lu Yuqing, she had fallenpletely still, and her eyes were tightly shut, as if she had fallen asleep.
Patriarch Cold me was astonished to see this, and he was only just beginning to realize that Han Li''s physical prowess was far more formidable than he had imagined.
Han Li seemed to have detected Patriarch Cold me''s gaze, and as he looked up, their eyes met.
Patriarch Cold me gave Han Li a rather forced smile, then hurriedly averted his gaze.
Han Li''s expression remained indifferent as he also averted his gaze from Patriarch Cold me and turned his attention to the top of the silver staircase.
By his estimates, there were roughly 10,000 steps on this staircase, and he still had over 3,000 steps left until he reached the top.
He had only used a small portion of his physical powers at this point, so if the rate of increase of gravitational force remained consistent, then he anticipated that he would be able to reach the top of the staircase just fine.
However...
Han Li turned around to find that Xue Han wasn''t falling behind at all.
His physical prowess was rather average, so he held no special advantage when it came to scaling this staircase, but ultimately, he was still a Golden Immortal. At this rate, perhaps he wouldn''t be able to catch up to Han Li and the others, but he would most likely also be able to reach the top of the staircase, and once that happened, he would undoubtedly immediatelysh out at them.
While Han Li didn''t fear him, a battle against a Golden Immortal was naturally something that he wanted to avoid.
With that in mind, the starlight emanating from his body grew even brighter as he elerated even further.
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan were both astonished to see this, and they could only elerate themselves in order to maintain their lead.
However, it didn''t take long at all before Han Li was directly behind them, and at this rate, he would even overtake them soon.
Patriarch Cold me''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this. Even though he had agreed to forge an alliance with Han Li, the Light Frost Pce was just up ahead, and he certainly wasn''t going to allow Han Li to get there before him.
Hence, he let loose a low roar, and the starlight radiating from his body also became significantly brighter, while his True Extreme Film also emerged over his skin.
At the same time, his body swelled drastically in size, with his limbs in particr bing significantly thicker, and he was able to speed up once again.
Xiong Shan naturally wasn''t willing to be left behind, and he began to chant an incantation as his skin took on a darker hue and a metallic gleam, giving him an even stronger resemnce to a golden statue.
Furthermore, his stature was also dramatically enhanced, and with that came a significant increase in speed.
With Han Li''s trio picking up the pace in unison, Xue Han was instantly left behind, much to his rm and fury.
His cultivation base far surpassed those of Han Li''s trio, but his physical prowess wasn''t remarkable in the slightest, and he hadn''t prepared for this in advance, so he was already going all-out just to maintain this speed.
An urgent look appeared in his eyes as he watched Han Li''s trio getting further and further away from him.
He swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of white light, which contained a white talisman, upon which was inscribed an image of what appeared to be a giant humanoid deity.
He pped the talisman against himself, and it instantly vanished into his body, upon which a burst of dazzling white light appeared around him.
At the same time, a series of white spirit veins quickly spread over his body, and his physical prowess was significantly enhanced, thereby allowing him to remain in the race to the top.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and he identified the white talisman to be the Giant Strength Spirit Talisman, a powerful immortal talisman that could enhance one''s physical prowess.
However, he wasn''t all that concerned by this. After all, a talisman like this was inevitably going to wear off soon.
Around 15 minutes passed by, and at this point, everyone was only around 1,000 steps from reaching the top of the staircase.
At this point, even though Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan had sped up, Han Li was still able to catch up to them, but he didn''t overtake them, and the three of them were scaling the staircase alongside one another.
As for Xue Han, he was clearly beginning to struggle. The white spirit veins on his body had be quite dim, and a faint sheen of sweat had appeared on his forehead, while his breathing had also be ratherbored.
Earlier, he had only beengging behind by about 100 steps, but that gap had since widened to somewhere between 200 to 300 steps.
Furthermore, his pace was bing stagnant, while Han Li''s trio continued to make rapid progress, and the gap between them was only continuing to widen.
Ultimately, his talisman was unable to bridge the enormous disparity in physical prowess.
An uncertain look appeared on Xue Han''s face as he looked up at Han Li''s trio.
At this rate, they were going to reach the top far ahead of him.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to summon a palm-sized ck jade box, which was giving off a warm andforting aura, clearly indicating that the box had been crafted from some type of extremely precious material.
There were several talismans stered to the box, all of which were shimmering with spiritual light, indicating that whatever was in the box was being kept tightly under wraps.
Xue Han opened his mouth to release a burst of ck light that enveloped the jade box, and all of the talismans on the box immediately flew off their own, following which the spiritual light emanating from thempletely faded, indicating that they were disposable talismans.
Xue Han paid no heed to those spent talismans as he carefully opened the jade box to reveal a ck pill inside that was roughly the size of a pigeon egg.
The pill was giving off a burst of ck light, within which a demon beast projection could be seen.
The beast resembled a dragon with a lone horn on its head and a pair of wings on its back.
Tremendous energy fluctuations intermingled with a hint ofw power fluctuations were emanating from the ck pill, and a hint of reluctance shed through Xue Han''s eyes, but he ultimately swallowed the pill, nheless.
Even though Han Li''s trio was far ahead of Xue Han, the ck pill gave off such formidable energy fluctuations that their attention was instantly drawn to him, and a stunned look appeared on Xiong Shan''s face as he eximed, "That''s... a Profound Beast Essence Pill!"
"What kind of pill is that, Fellow Daoist Xiong?" Patriarch Cold me immediately asked.
Chapter 419: Battle Prohibition
Chapter 419: Battle Prohibition
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this exchange.
Thanks to the Heaven Controlling Vial, his cultivation advancement had relied heavily on pill consumption since his return to the Immortal Realm. Hence, whenever he got the opportunity, he would read through all types of books rted to pill refinement. This was particrly true back when he was still in the ze Dragon Dao, and during his readings, he had learned about the Profound Beast Essence Pill.
The pill was refined using the centas or eggs of certain powerful beasts as the primary ingredients. These demon beasts often possessed incredibly powerful physical bodies, and taking this pill would infuse the power of the demon beast''s bloodline into the body of the consumer. Not only would this drastically enhance their physical prowess, the consumer also had a chance of attaining that demon beast''s innate abilities.
If the primary ingredients were acquired from immortal beasts that had innate mastery over certainw powers, then there was a chance that the resulting Profound Beast Essence Pill would also be imbued with the samew powers, thereby serving the same purpose as a dao pill.
However, not only was the pill no less difficult to refine than a dao pill, the supplementary ingredients were also very difficult to find, thereby making them exceedingly rare. This one was clearly imbued withw powers, so it was even more remarkable than the average Profound Beast Essence Pill.
Xiong Shan briefly exined the effects of the Profound Beast Essence Pill to Han Li and Patriarch Cold me through voice transmission, and thetter''s expression instantly changed drastically upon hearing this.
All of a sudden, a burst of radiant ck light erupted out of Xue Han''s body, and his slightly paleplexion instantly returned to normal, then turned as red as blood.
At the same time, a string of cracks and pops were ringing out from within his body as thick veins began to bulge all over the exposed parts of his body.
His entire body then began to expand rapidly, reaching twice its original size in the blink of an eye, and ayer of thick ck scales that was giving off a metallic sheen appeared over his skin, while sharp ck ws emerged from the tips of his fingers.
All of a sudden, he had transformed into a half-human, half-draconic creature.
Not only that, but the muscles on his forehead and his back were squirming violently, as if something were about to emerge from those spots.
However, right at this moment, the ck light surging over his body subsided, and his squirming muscles also fell still.
As the ck faded, Xue Han''s new form was revealed in its full glory.
A stunned look shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this. The effects of the Profound Beast Essence Pill wereparable to that of his true spirit transformations.
Attaining those transformations had been an extremely grueling task for Han Li, yet for Xue Han, he was able to achieve the same effect just through taking a pill.
Han Li looked at Xue Han for a moment longer, then withdrew his gaze and continued to scale the staircase, and Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan hurriedly followed along.
Xue Han gently exhaled, and a sharp gust of wind shot out of his mouth, striking the stone step in front of him with an audible sound.
He then looked down at his own body before heaving a faint sigh.
Having taken the Profound Beast Essence Pill on such short notice, it hadn''t been very efficacious at all, and most of the pill''s power had been squandered, but this was already enough.
Xue Han took a step forward, climbing up two steps at a time as he rmenced his pursuit of Han Li''s trio.
Han Li and the others didn''t turn around to see what was happening behind them, but they could detect Xue Han''s rapid approach with their spiritual sense, and they hurriedly picked up the pace themselves.
However, in this new form, Xue Han''s speed far exceeded theirs, and it didn''t take long before the gap between them was shortened to only just over 100 steps.
At this rate, he would be able to catch up to them in no more than 15 minutes.
Xiong Shan''s expression darkened slightly as he chanted an incantation, and his body swelled even further in size amid a sh of golden light.
At the same time, all of the hair on his head quickly vanished, and a golden monk robe also appeared over his body.
In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a golden Arhat.
Following this transformation, Xiong Shan was also able to scale two steps at a time, and he was climbing the staircase at aparable speed to Xue Han.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he also began to channel his Great Universe Origin Arts with all his might.
A string of cracks and pops rang out within his body, while 18 specks of starlight appeared on his chest and abdomen, and a burst of tremendous power erupted out of his body, causing the surrounding space to tremble and quiver.
Han Li continued to only take one step at a time, but he wasn''tgging behind Xiong Shan at all.
As a result, Patriarch Cold me was instantly overtaken by the two of them, and an urgent look appeared in his eyes as he also began to channel his Great Universe Origin Arts with all his might, and 18 specks of starlight appeared on his chest and abdomen as well, but even though they were using the same body refinement art, it was clear that Han Li''s physical prowess far surpassed Patriarch Cold me''s.
Hence, even though Patriarch Cold me was also able to elerate by arge margin, he was still a little slower than Han Li, Xiong Shan, and Xue Han.
As a result, Xue Han was beginning to catch up, and in his urgency to get away, Patriarch Cold me flipped a hand over to summon four or five talismans of different colors, all of which he stered onto his own body in quick session.
The talismans instantly fused into body, and the starlight around him grew brighter as he sped up once again, allowing him to just barely keep up with Han Li and Xiong Shan.
At this point, they were fewer than 200 steps from the top.
The steps here had be even steeper, while the gravitational force was increasing at a far faster rate than before, thereby forcing everyone to slow down.
Han Li and Xiong Shan were still able to make steady progress, despite being forced to decelerate, but the same couldn''t be said for Patriarch Cold me.
The starlight radiating from his body had dimmed significantly, and he was also getting short of breath, indicating that he wasn''t going to be able to keep this up for much longer.
Having said that, Xue Han was also in a simr situation. Large sections of the ck scales over his skin had already receded, and his face was looking a little pale, while his footsteps were also bing rather unsteady.
A look of fury and frustration appeared on Xue Han''s face.
The bloodline power in the Profound Beast Essence Pill still hadn''tpletely fused with his body, and he wasn''t going to be able to maintain this form for much longer.
All of a sudden, more of the ck scales on his body faded, and he was forced to stop in his tracks.
Patriarch Cold me was ecstatic to see this, and he paused momentarily to catch his breath while also summoning a blue pill that was giving off tremendous starpower.
He immediately swallowed the pill without any hesitation, then channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts to digest it, and the starlight emanating from his body instantly became significantly brighter, following which he continued to scale the staircase.
A cold gleam shed through Xue Han''s eyes, and he abruptly raised both hands before flicking his fingers through the air in rapid session.
10 thin ck threads instantly shot out of his fingertip before vanishing in a sh.
In the next instant, the 10 ck threads appeared behind Patriarch Cold me without any warning, then hurtled directly toward his back at an rming speed.
However, right at this moment, ayer of bright yellow light appeared over the silver staircase, and a burst of tremendous gravitational force began to act upon the ck threads.
Seven of the ck threads were instantly diverted away from their original trajectories, but the remaining three were still hurtling directly toward Patriarch Cold me.
Patriarch Cold me''s expression changed drastically upon sensing this, and he let loose an rmed cry as he dodged to the side.
However, despite his best efforts, he was unable to evade the three ck threads, which tore through the protective spiritual light around him before piercing into his body, then exploded violently.
Three massive holes were instantly blown into his body, and blood was gushing out profusely.
He let loose an agonized wail as he fell to his knees, and both Han Li and Xiong Shan immediately turned around upon hearing this.
As for Xue Han, he was looking rather surprised, seemingly taken aback by how easily his sneak attack hadnded.
However, before he had a chance to do anything else, a resounding boom suddenly rang out directly above him, and a thick bolt of reddish-purple lightning appeared out of thin air before striking him with tremendous power.
His entire body was instantly inundated by radiant lightning, and a blood-curdling howl rang out before being abruptly cut off.
Xue Han''s body was torn to shreds within the lightning, and his nascent soul sprang out of his destroyed remains, only to be instantly destroyed by the lightning as well.
All of this had happened extremely abruptly, and Han Li waspletely rooted to the spot in astonishment, but naturally also quite relieved that Xue Han had been eliminated.
"What a fool!" Xiong Shan chuckled coldly, then paid no further heed to what was happening behind him as he continued to scale the staircase.
It was clear that there was some type of battle prohibition restriction on the staircase.
Instead of following Xiong Shan, Han Li remained on the spot as he cast his gaze toward Patriarch Cold me, who had just suffered extremely severe injuries, but was also quite relieved to see the demise of Xue Han.
He pulled out a crimson pill in a shaky manner before swallowing it, and ayer of bright crimson light instantly appeared over his body. The three holes in his body quickly healed, following which he struggled to his feet.
However, Han Li could tell that Patriarch Cold me''s internal injuries were still far from healed, and it was most likely going to take some time before he could continue to scale the staircase.
Thankfully, the other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators were still very far behind, and that should give Patriarch Cold me enough time to recover.
With that in mind, Han Li was just about to continue up the staircase when his expression abruptly stiffened.
Chapter 420: Reaching the Top
Chapter 420: Reaching the Top
As the bolt of reddish-purple lightning faded, Xue Han''s severely ravaged remains were revealed.
However, what had been revealed was not a body. Instead, it was a dark red wooden puppet with mysterious patterns engraved upon all of its parts.
Standing not far away from the wooden puppet was none other than Xue Han, and his face was looking a little pale, but aside from that, he waspletely unharmed.
Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan''s expressions instantly changed drastically upon hearing this.
That''s a substitution puppet!
Xue Han summoned a pill that he promptly swallowed, and his paleplexion quickly recovered.
"I didn''t anticipate there to be a restriction like this, but no matter. There are plenty of ways to kill someone without directly attacking them," he chuckled coldly, then began to slowly ascend the staircase once again.
Patriarch Cold me shuddered as he hurriedly tried to get away, but he had only just raised a foot when an unnatural flush appeared over his face, and he threw up a mouthful of blood before falling feebly to the ground once again.
A look of despair appeared in his eyes, and in an act of desperation, he turned to Han Li as he implored through voice transmission, "Save me, Fellow Daoist Han!"
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he remained unmoved.
It was already quite a struggle for him to carry Lu Yuqing, and if he were to ept another burden, then there was no way that he would be able to reach the top of the staircase.
The final glimmer of hope in Patriarch Cold me''s faded at the sight of Han Li''s expression, but in the next instant, a thought seemed to have suddenly urred to him.
"Fellow Daoist Han, do you want the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts?" he asked in an urgent manner through voice transmission.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and suppressed his own excitement as he asked, "Do you have it?"
"No, but if you save me, I can take you to it," Patriarch Cold me replied.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Are you saying that the second half of the cultivation is in this Light Frost Pce?"
"That''s right. The stone b that contains the first half of the Great Universe Origin Arts was actually something that I obtained after unintentionally triggering a restriction in the Light Frost Pce, and the main reason I came here this time is to secure the second half. That ce is extremely secretive, so there''s no way you''ll be able to find it without me," Patriarch Cold me replied.
Han Li didn''t offer an immediate response, and a contemtive look appeared on his face as he pondered the validity of Patriarch Cold me''s ims.
Judging from the conversation between Patriarch Cold me and Xiong Shan from earlier, both of them seemed to have reaped significant rewards thest time they visited the Light Frost Pce, and Patriarch Cold me hd once told him that he had obtained the Great Universe Origin Arts from a secret area, so it wasn''t all that far-fetched to imagine that this was the secret area he had been referring to.
Furthermore, the stone b that contained the first half of the cultivation had resonated with the starry light barrier earlier, indicating that there was definitely some connection between this ce and the cultivation art.
With that in mind, Patriarch Cold me''s ims were very likely to be true.
At this point, Xue Han had already scaled around a dozen steps, and he wasn''t far away from Patriarch Cold me.
A panicked look appeared on Patriarch Cold me''s face upon seeing this, and he hurriedly continued, "Are you suspecting that I''m lying to save myself? I''m willing to swear a vow on my life! If I''m lying to you, then let me be racked with inner demons and suffer the most painful death imaginable!"
Han Li finally made up his mind upon hearing this. "Alright, I''ll believe you this time."
"Wait here for me," Han Li said as he set Lu Yuqing down onto the stone step, then began to make his way toward Patriarch Cold me.
Lu Yuqing immediately nodded in response and did as she was told, standing still on the stone step.
Descending the staircase was far easier than scaling it, and Han Li was able to reach Patriarch Cold me in the blink of an eye before picking him and immediately returning the same way that he hade from.
Xue Han was furious to see this, but Han Li and Patriarch Cold me were still out of reach,and he didn''t dare to unleash any further attacks, so he could only watch as the two of them sped away from him.
Meanwhile, a hint of derision shed through Xiong Shan''s eyes as he witnessed Han Li''s actions.
Perhaps he could carry one person to the top, but in his eyes, carrying two people was no different frommitting suicide for a mere True Immortal.
It didn''t take long before Han Li reached the same step as before, and from there, he picked up Lu Yuqing as well.
With the burden of two people on his shoulders, his body instantly swayed slightly in an unsteady manner, much to the rm of Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing.
Han Li took a deep breath, then began to chant an incantation as ayer of dazzling purplish-golden light appeared over his body.
Immediately thereafter, several true spirit projections emerged before vanishing into his body, and he instantly swelled to several times his original size, while ayer of purplish-golden scales emerged over his skin.
At the same time, two additional sets of heads and arms appeared over his body.
With these six arms, he picked up Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing, then began to scale the staircase once again, andpared with before, he hadn''t slowed down in the slightest.
An incredulous look appeared on Xue Han''s face seeing this, and his expression was mirrored by Xiong Shan, who took an astonished nce at Han Li before withdrawing his gaze and continuing his ascent.
"Your physical prowess is extraordinary, Fellow Daoist Han! I am truly in awe!" Patriarch Cold me praised as a hint of tion shed through his eyes.
"There''s no need to tter me, Fellow Daoist Cold me," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice. "Also, I have a question for you."
A slightly awkward look appeared on Patriarch Cold me''s face, and he prompted, "Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Han."
"Earlier, you referred to the person behind us as Xue Han. We were both there at the battle of the Holy Puppet Sect, could it be that this is the same Xue Han from back then?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
Patriarch Cold me''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he was silent for a moment before nodding in confirmation.
A hint of befuddlement shed through Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this. "In that case, are all of those other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators also adopting fake identities?"
"Fellow Daoist Han, for your own sake, it''s best for you to know as little about this matter as possible," Patriarch Cold me replied in a meaningful voice.
"You''re right, I was curious," Han Li replied with a smile, then asked no further questions.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already scaled quite a few more steps, and he was only 30 to 40 steps from reaching the top.
Xue Han had been left far behind, while Xiong Shan continued to make steady progress and was about to reach the endpoint.
Han Li was observing the steps up ahead with a solemn look on his face.
These remaining steps were going to be the most difficult ones to conquer, and he didn''t dare to take them lightly at all.
Purplish-golden light continued to surge over his body as he steadily progressed up the staircase, and after scaling around a dozen more steps, he finally slowed down, having to take a short break with each step that he scaled.
The same was also happening to Xiong Shan.
The gravity here was astonishingly overbearing, to the point that even the air was buzzing audibly.
Han Li was looking slightly weary, and the purplish-golden light emanating from his body was also shing incessantly.
Lu Yuqing and Patriarch Cold me couldn''t help but feel concerned upon seeing this.
"Fellow Daoist Han, how about you put one of us down and take the other to the top, thene back and repeat the process?" Patriarch Cold me suggested.
"That would waste too much time. Rest assured, this is still not too much for me to bear," Han Li replied, and as he did so, he scaled another step.
Xiong Shan''s eyelids twitched slightly as he observed Han Li out of the corner of his eye, and he also took another step.
Han Li''s body was trembling slightly, and he took a deep breath as he braced himself before taking another step.
The summit was already within reach, and the sooner he could reach the top, the sooner he would be able tomence his treasure hunt.
With that in mind, both he and Xiong Shan were making one final all-out effort.
The gravitational force on the final dozen or so steps was so formidable that it took the two of them a full 15 minutes to reach the top, and in the instant Han Li stepped onto the summit, the gravity instantly returned to normal, leaving him feeling as light as a feather.
As a result, he inadvertently sprang up over 100 feet beforending on the ground again.
Even though he had scaled the staircase as quickly as he could, he had been forced to withstand three times the normal gravity due to the two people that he was carrying, so Xiong Shan was able to reach the top before him.
He heaved a long sigh of relief, then turned back to find that Xue Han was still 50 to 60 steps away, glowering up at him with a furious expression.
Han Li withdrew his gaze before setting down Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing, then reverted back to his normal form as he cast his gaze forward.
Directly up ahead was a purple gate that was several hundred feet tall, on either side of which was a pir with a golden dragon wound around it, and each of the golden dragons had a golden dragon bead sped in its mouth.
There was no writing on the que above the gate, only an artwork of an ice that was quite rough around the edges, but also somehow extremely life-like.
On either side of the gate was a tall purple wall that stretched into the distance as far as the eyes could see.
Han Li took a nce at the purple gate and the walls on either side of it to find that they werepletely ordinary construction that weren''t giving off any spiritual power fluctuations, and the dragon beads sped in the mouths of the two golden dragons were also just ordinary ornaments.
The only thing that caught Han Li''s attention was the artwork of the vast ice field, which resembled the ice field that they had flown through on the way here.
Chapter 421: Infinite Worlds
Chapter 421: Infinite Worlds
While Han Li was inspecting the sceneid out before him, Xiong Shan had already arrived at the entrance, and he only stopped for a brief moment to inspect his surroundings before rushing into the pce.
Han Li turned back to take a nce at the stone staircase to find that Xue Han and the others were still on the way up, but he wasn''t far away from reaching the top.
Hence, he also didn''t hesitate any longer as he passed through the gate with Lu Yuqing and Patriarch Cold me.
Upon arriving on the other side, Han Li caught sight of three enormous ptial buildings in the distance, all with zed roof tiles and red painted walls, while statues of mythical beasts sat in a row atop the ridge of the roof.
The three pces were situated in a triangr formation, with all of their main entrances facing the gate that Han Li had just passed through. They were built upon foundations that were several feet tall, making it appear as if they had been constructed atop raised tforms.
Between the gate and the pces was arge white stone za that waspletely empty.
Han Li swept his gaze across the za and the pces, and the sense of familiarity that he had been feeling grew even more pronounced.
Before he had a chance to pinpoint the source of this feeling, Xiong Shan had already flown ahead toward the pces.
However, as soon as he leaped into the air above the za, the space around him suddenly began to warp and ripple, immediately following which he vanished into thin air without any warning.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he began to inspect the za with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
Through his spirit eye ability, he was able to see ayer of white mist over the white stone za that he had previously been unable to see with his naked eye. There were faint spiritual power fluctuations surging throughout the white mist, and it was clear that there was an extremely profound illusory array inside.
Han Li withdrew his gaze as he turned to nce at the gate behind him once again, and all of a sudden, he was struck by a sense of realization.
This is the Vast cial Pce... [1]
The staircase with the gravitational restriction, the illusory array on the za, the triangr formation of the pces... This ce was very simr to the Vast cial Pce that he had once visited.
Could it be that there was some type of connection between the two secret areas?
Right at this moment, a heavy thud suddenly rang out from the gate behind them, and the three of them turned to discover that Xue Han had reached the top of the staircase.
"We have to go!" Patriarch Cold me said in an urgent voice, then immediately flew toward the za, while Han Li and Lu Yuqing hurriedly followed along.
The three of them instantly vanished into thin air right before Xue Han burst through the gate, and he gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, but instead of charging blindly into the illusory array, he stopped at the edge of the za to inspect his surroundings.
While entering the illusory array, Han Li maintained his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and he clearly saw himself fall into the misty array from above. In the next instant, the entire world spun around him, and he fell into another world.
"Steamed buns, warm and fluffy..."
"Top quality rouge, more fragrant than flowers and sweeter than honey..."
¡¡
The sound of peddling rang out from the surrounding area, and Han Li found himself standing on a crowded street that was extremely lively and bustling.
Not far away from him stood a massive city gate, and near the foot of the gate was none other than Lu Yuqing, who was looking around with an uncertain expression.
Right at this moment, Patriarch Cold me emerged from the city gate, then hurriedly beckoned to Lu Yuqing and Han Li.
Han Li was just about to approach him when a loud voice rang out from behind him.
"Make way! Make way! I''ve got a batch of cakes fresh out of the steamer!"
Han Li reflexively stepped to the side upon hearing this, right as a short and stocky man quickly strode past him, carrying a pair of steamers and on either side of a carrying pole slung over his shoulder.
Only after the man had passed him by did Han Li realize that he wasn''t the one being spoken to. Instead, the man had been speaking to a well-dressed young master.
It didn''t take long before Han Li came to the realization that the three of them didn''t seem to exist to the people in the illusion, and everyone was able to pass through their bodies like apparitions.
However, what was most striking to him was how realistic and lifelike this illusion was, even down to the fine details like the aroma of steamed cakes and the heating out of the steamers.
Even with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he was unable to see anything beyond the illusion presented to him.
Han Li made his way over to Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing, then remarked, "This illusion is extremely convincing. Even my spirit eye ability is unable to see through it at all."
"This is an array known as Infinite Worlds, and it''s the most astonishing illusory array I''ve ever seen, bar none. The array is able to create entire illusory worlds, and if you don''t know what you''re doing, you could easily get lost in here and find yourself eternally trapped," Patriarch Cold me said.
"I see. By the way, have any of you seen Xiong Shan?" Han Li asked.
"Thest time we came in here, we found ourselves on a primordial continent that was overrun by demon beasts, so that tells me that people who enter the array at different times are presented with different illusions. He came in ahead of us, and even though it was only by a slight margin, it''s very likely that he''s in another illusory world. Perhaps we''ll only be able to see him again after we leave this array," Patriarch Cold me replied.
"How did you two manage to get out of this array the first time?" Han Li asked.
"At the time, there were a total of eight people in our group, and some of them were extremely proficient in the art of the array. Through observing the stars at night, they were able to slowly piece together the way to exit the array, but even so, only four of us, including myself and Xiong Shan, were able to leave the array alive," Patriarch Cold me exined with a wry smile.
Han Li took a nce up at the sky to find that it was still early in the morning, so they were far from nighttime.
"Does the star observation method involve using the stars to determine the location of the bases of the array, then using the bases of the array to extrapte the location of the array''s exit?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right," Patriarch Cold me replied with a slightly surprised expression. "It sounds like you''re also a master in this art, Fellow Daoist Han."
Han Li paid no heed to his attempt at ttery as he took a nce up at the que above the city gate, then carefully inspected his surroundings.
"The que here says that this is the eastern city gate, but right now, it''s still early in the morning, yet the sun is in theplete opposite direction of where it should be, so one of them has to be lying. Having said that, seeing as you were able to find your way out of the arrayst time thanks to the stars, it''s more likely that the position of the sun is the more urate point of reference. Hence, this should actually be the western city gate," Han Li said.
An enlightened look instantly appeared in the eyes of Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing upon hearing this.
"Now that we''ve determined our orientation, the next step is to observe the bases of the array. My spirit eye ability is unable to see through the array. How about yours, Fellow Daoist Lu? Can you see anything?" Han Li asked.
"I already gave it a try earlier, and as soon as I use my spirit eye ability, everything around me disappears, and all I can see is a boundless expanse of gray mist," Lu Yuqing replied with a shake of her head.
"In that case, I only have one treasure that could possibly get us out of this bind," Han Li said, then swept a sleeve through the air overhead, and a giant golden eyeball instantly appeared up above amid a sh of golden light.
This golden eye wasn''t actually a treasure. Instead, it was the Eye of Truth from his Mantra Treasured Axis, except he had concealed its full appearance.
He hadn''t done this in order to conceal the fact that he was cultivating thews of time. Instead, he simply didn''t want them to see the 360 Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis. After all, this cultivation art was extremely renowned in the Northern cial Immortal Region, and there was a chance that Patriarch Cold me could''ve seen it before from somewhere else.
As soon as the golden eye emerged, Lu Yuqing and Patriarch Cold me immediately detected thew fluctuations emanating from it, and thetter''s expression instantly changed slightly, but out of respect, both of them refrained from using their spiritual sense to examine the so-called treasure.
Han Li was naturally quite pleased to see this, and he made a hand seal while closing his eyes so that he could see this space through the perspective of the Eye of Truth.
As soon as he did this, the entire world around him instantly vanished, and all that remained were near-transparent spiritual power fluctuations flowing through the air.
Everything wasid bare to him like the back of his hand, and after he had memorized everything that he had observed, he swept a hand through the air to withdraw the Eye of Truth.
"Did you find anything, Fellow Daoist Han?" Patriarch Cold me hurriedly asked as soon as Han Li opened his eyes.
"I''ve managed to find all of the bases of the array, but there could be some fake ones among them, so we''ll have to rely on your memory of the direction that you tookst time to find the right exit," Han Li replied.
Patriarch Cold me was ecstatic to hear this, and he immediately replied, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Han, I''ll do everything in my power to help."
1. For more information on the Vast cial Pce, please refer to /wiki/Vast_cial_Realm ?
Chapter 422: Replicating the Ploy
Chapter 422: Replicating the Ploy
"If we go three kilometers down this street, there''s an old house in an alley, and inside the yard of that house is a well, at the bottom of which is one of the bases of the array..."
Han Li began toy out the locations of the bases of the array, while Patriarch Cold me listened with rapt focus while nodding or shaking his head in response, using his recollection to determine whether these bases were genuine or false.
In the real world, the white stone za that they were situated on wasn''t veryrge at all, but this illusion was immeasurably massive. Starting from the well in the old house, the three of them passed through a wine shop and a brothel, and after a series of turns, they arrived in the backyard of a public office.
After that, they stepped onto a millstone to flip over a wall that was less than seven feet tall, arriving in a residential area in a quiet alley.
After emerging from the alley, they passed through seven or more streets before arriving at a school.
During this time, Lu Yuqing was gradually bing more and more disoriented, as if she were about to lose herself in the array, but thankfully, Han Li was able to snap her back to her senses using a spiritual sense secret technique.
The tender voices of children reading aloud could be hearding from inside the school, and outside the school gate was an elm tree that was over a century old. It wasn''t very tall, but it was extremely thick, and at this moment, Han Li''s trio was standing under its shadow.
"Last time, the exit of the array was the remains of a primordial demon beast, and it''spletely different this time, so I can''t be certain," Patriarch Cold me said in a hesitant voice as he looked at the old elm tree.
"The spiritual power fluctuations here are very different from what we''ve previously encountered, so I think this should be the ce," Han Li said while observing the elm tree through his Eye of Truth.
He then cast an incantation seal toward the elm tree, and the Eye of Truth above his head trembled slightly, then released a burst of golden ripples.
The elm tree instantly brightened significantly upon contact with the golden ripples, and a blue vortex emerged within the golden light, through which a long passageway could be seen.
Patriarch Cold me approached the blue vortex and inspected it closely for a while, then turned back to Han Li and Lu Yuqing before nodding in confirmation as he said, "This should be the ce. The passageway inside is almost identical as the one fromst time."
"Alright, then let''s go. We''ve already been dyed significantly here," Han Li said.
The Eye of Truth above his head faded as he spoke, and Patriarch Cold me led the way into the blue vortex, followed by Lu Yuqing, while Han Li brought up the rear.
A few minutester, a burst of peculiar fluctuations spread through the air above the za, and Han Li''s trio stumbled out into the open.
After taking a moment to steady himself, Patriarch Cold me immediately began looking around, but didn''t find Xiong Shan.
"Save your energy. He''s a master in arrays to begin with, and he''s already passed through this array once before, so he''s definitely already emerged ahead of us, and he should be on his way to the pces by now," Han Li said, then turned around to look at za again with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
The mist here was churning violently, and that, coupled with the chaotic spiritual power fluctuations emanating out from within, clearly indicated that Xue Han had also made his way into the array.
"Let''s get out of here while Xue Han is still trapped in the array. Take me to where the Great Universe Origin Arts is," Han Li said to Patriarch Cold me.
Patriarch Cold me nodded in response, then led the way toward the three pces.
The central pce in the triangr formation was the one that was closest to Han Li''s trio, and it was significantly taller than the two behind it.
In front of the pce were 10 golden pirs with countless runes inscribed upon them, and they had an extremely antiquated appearance.
The main gate of the pce was over 100 feet tall and entirely constructed from gold, and it was also riddled with runes. The left half of the gate was slightly ajar, and a section of its surface was charred ck.
"This pce is just a trap. There''s nothing inside aside from two puppets," Patriarch Cold me said, then skirted around the central pce as he made his way toward the pce on the right.
"Was the restriction on that pce destroyed thest time you came here?" Lu Yuqing asked.
"Do you recall how I said that a total of four of us emerged from the illusory array? The other two died in there," Patriarch Cold me replied.
Lu Yuqing''s face paled slightly upon hearing this, and the three of them remained silent as they made their way to the pce on the right.
This pce was smaller than the other one, but it was constructed using the same materials and in the same style. The only difference was that the gates of this pce were tightly shut, and the runes engraved upon it were also undamaged.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I found the first half of the Great Universe Origin Arts in the rear hall of this pce, and the other half is also in there," Patriarch Cold me said.
"There must be some reason why you didn''t secure both halves of the cultivation art at oncest time, right?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. The cultivation art is being guarded by an early-Golden Immortal Stage puppet," Patriarch Cold me replied with a nod.
A hint of suspicion appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
"Forgive me for being blunt, but if there''s a Golden Immortal Stage puppet in there, then I don''t see how it was possible for you to have stolen the first half of the cultivation art, particrly considering this was back before you cultivated the Great Universe Origin Arts."
"I understand your skepticism, Fellow Daoist Han. At the time, it was indeed true that I wasn''t even able to withstand a single attack from the puppet. Hence, I didn''t engage it in a direct battle. Instead, I released a few of my puppets to divert its attention, then used a concealment treasure to mask my aura before sneaking into the rear hall, and that was how I managed to obtain the first half of the cultivation art," Patriarch Cold me exined.
An enlightened look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
Aside from some special puppets that possessed high levels of intelligence, like Daoist Xie, puppets were generally ratherckluster at sensing auras, so if Patriarch Cold me had an aura concealment treasure, then there was indeed a chance that he could''ve snuck past the puppet.
"However, as soon as I secured the stone b that contained the first half of the Great Universe Origin Arts, the puppet immediately detected my presence, and I was severely injured after taking just a single punch from it. Fortunately, for some reason, it didn''t chase me out of the hall, and that''s the only reason I managed to survive," Patriarch Cold me recounted with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
"What level of intelligence did the puppet possess?" Han Li asked.
"Even though I only had a very brief sh against it, I could tell that it didn''t possess much intelligence at all. Otherwise, there''s no way that it would''ve fallen for my crude ploy at distraction," Patriarch Cold me replied.
"In that case, it most likely didn''t chase you out of the hall as its former owner restricted the area that it could move around in, thereby mandating it to remain in the hall to protect the cultivation art. Hence, it should be a simple task for us to secure the second half of the cultivation art," Han Li said.
"Are you suggesting that we use the same ploy again?" Patriarch Cold me asked in a rather hesitant voice.
"That''s correct. However, I''ll need your help in the execution," Han Li replied.
"Please tell me what you need me to do," Patriarch Cold me prompted.
Han Li gave Patriarch Cold me a rundown of his n, and after listening to what Han Li had to say, Patriarch Cold me nodded in response to express his approval.
Lu Yuqing had also heard Han Li''s n in its entirety, and after a brief hesitation, she asked, "Why have you not involved me in your n at all, Brother Han? Is it because you think I''m too weak to be of help?"
"That''s not the case. Our n is to infiltrate and steal, rather than confront and rob, so the fewer the number of people we can involve, the better. On top of that, the treasure that we''re going after will only benefit Fellow Daoist Cold me and myself, so there''s no reason for you to take the risk," Han Li exined.
"In that case, I''ll just focus on staying out of your way," Lu Yuqing replied with a nod.
Han Li and Patriarch Cold me took a pill each, then took a moment to rest before making their way up the stone steps in front of the pce.
The runes on the pce gates were stillpletely intact, and the spiritual power fluctuations emanating from them indicated that the seal on the gates were still in operation. Han Li examined the runes momentarily to find that it wasn''t a very advanced restriction, and he raised a hand to conjure up five balls of silver lightning, one on each fingertip, then abruptly thrust his palm toward the pce gates.
A loud thump rang out, and the gates of the pce instantly swung inward. A deep indentation had appeared on the spot on the gates where Han Li''s palm had struck, and the runes there had all been scorched ck by the balls of silver lightning.
At the center of the pce sat a copper humanoid puppet that was around 10 feet tall, and its eyes suddenly sprang open as a furious look appeared on its chiseled face as it bellowed in a thunderous voice, "All intruders must die!"
At the same time, its feet nged against the ground as it rushed toward the pce gates.
Han Li took a nce inside the pce, then flicked his fingers through the air several times in session, and streaks of yellow and azure light flew out of his fingertips before transforming into seven or eight giant ape puppets in a sh.
However, instead of attacking the copper puppet, all of the giant ape puppets split up and darted away in different directions as quickly as they could.
Chapter 423: Bait
Chapter 423: Bait
The copper puppet immediately charged toward one of the ape puppets upon seeing this, while Han Li and Patriarch Cold me exchanged a nce, then immediately took advantage of this opportunity to rush into the pce.
Han Li was using his Transient Guild mask to conceal his own aura, while Patriarch Cold me was achieving the same oue through the use of a dark red robe, and they were rushing toward a giant screen at the rear of the pce.
However, as soon as they stepped into the pce, a string of loud booms rang out in rapid session, and all of the giant ape puppets that Han Li had released were wiped out in an instant.
Immediately thereafter, the copper puppet stormed toward them before throwing a punch at both of them.
Han Li had his guard up for such an eventuality, so he was able to react quite calmly, crossing his arms to form a barrier in the face of the oing fist.
A resounding thump rang out, and both of his arms went numb as he slid along the ground before crashing heavily into the gate of the pce.
Meanwhile, Patriarch Cold me had fared even worse. He seemed to have been caughtpletely off guard, and he tumbled through the air like a ragdoll before mming into a wall, where he threw up a mouthful of blood.
After scrambling to his feet, he immediately turned to Han Li with a stunned expression before shaking his head.
It seemed that the circumstances were different from thest time he was here.
There was no time for Han Li to me Patriarch Cold me for feeding him false information, and he yelled, "I''ll deal with this thing, you go get the second half of the cultivation art!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately charged directly toward the copper puppet.
Han Li''s original n was for the giant ape puppets to keep the copper puppet distracted while Patriarch Cold me snuck in to steal the second half of the cultivation art, and Han Li would only be required to withstand a single attack from the puppet as Patriarch Cold me was getting away.
After that, both of them would be able to get away, while the puppet would remain trapped in the hall.
However, this was aplete deviation from the original n, and he had no choice but to engage the puppet in a direct battle to buy time for Patriarch Cold me.
Patriarch Cold me immediately did as he was told, charging directly toward the rear hall while making no further attempt to conceal his own aura.
At the same time, he couldn''t help but wonder how the puppet had suddenly developed such a high level of intelligence, and he was also worried that Han Li would think that he had intentionally fed him false information.
If Han Li were to arrive at that conclusion, then if they could obtain the Great Universe Origin Arts, Han Li was definitely not going to be pleased.
Having dealt with Han Li on multiple past asions, Patriarch Cold me had developed an understanding of Han Li''s character, and he knew just how unforgiving Han Li could be to those who betrayed or hurt him.
"How dare you!"
The copper puppet immediately swung around as soon as it sensed what Patriarch Cold me was doing, leaving Han Li behind to go after him.
Patriarch Cold me had only just reached the screen when the copper puppet swung a massive fist in his direction with astounding force.
He was just about to turn around to defend himself when Han Li''s voice rang out from behind him.
"Focus on grabbing the cultivation art, I''ll take care of the puppet!"
After a brief hesitation, he did as he was told, ignoring the fist that was hurtling toward him from behind as he rushed toward the screen.
Right as the copper puppet''s fist was about to strike him in the back, a burst of lightning suddenly shed over Han Li''s body, and he pped the Thunderstorm Wings on his back as he flew through the air, positioning himself between the puppet and Patriarch Cold me.
His brows were tightly furrowed as he stacked his hands together, one on top of the other, then thrust them both upward at once.
A pair of azure palm projections erupted forth, and they were also stacked on top of one another as they opposed the puppet''s fist.
A burst of tremendous force erupted out of its fist, causing Han Li''s robes to p audibly around him, but he remained still and unyielding. However, his arms were bent, and arge section of his legs had also sunk deep into the ground.
The copper puppet was furious to see that its attack had been withstood, and a starry white cloud gathered around its fist as itshed out at Han Li again.
Han Li''s fighting spirit was also ignited, and he let loose a loud roar as the muscles on his body bulged, while ayer of golden fur appeared over his body. The tips of a pair of tusks also came protruding out of his mouth, and in the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a Giant Mountain Ape.
He then threw a punch directly upward to oppose the oing fist of the copper puppet.
The two massive fists collided violently in mid-air, and a burst of dazzling white light appeared between them amid a resounding thunderp. A burst of shockwaves that were visible even to the naked eye instantly swept through the air, causing the entire pce to tremble violently.
Han Li''s arms bent slightly as he sank even deeper into the ground, while the copper puppet remainedpletely unmoved.
Even after drawing upon his Giant Mountain Ape bloodline, Han Li had stille off second best in a contest of strength against this puppet.
His brows were tightly furrowed as he pulled his legs out of the ground, then sprang up into the air, taking the initiative this time tosh out with a punch against the copper puppet. In response, the puppet lunged forward and retaliated with a punch of its own.
Han Li''s entire body was enshrouded within ayer of dazzling blue light, and specks of dazzling starlight emerged on his chest and abdomen, while his aura also swelled drastically.
Specks of starlight also emerged over the copper puppet''s body, and they had appeared in the exact same spots that corresponded to the profound acupoints cultivated through the Great Universe Origin Arts. However, the puppet had opened far more profound acupoints than Han Li, so the starpower that was swirling around its fist was naturally far more formidable than Han Li''s.
Even before the two fists had collided, the oue was already apparent.
However, right as the two fists were about toe into contact with one another, Han Li abruptly vanished into thin air before instantly reappearing behind the copper puppet, then threw a punch straight at the puppet''s back.
A loud thump rang out as a vast expanse of starlight erupted out of the profound acupoints on the copper puppet''s back, and it shed violently against the starlight radiating from Han Li''s fist, resulting in an eruption of blinding radiance.
The copper puppet''s momentum was already shifting forward as a result of the punch it had thrown, and with Han Linding a blow on it from behind, it immediately stumbled involuntarily forward.
Its enormous fist also mmed into the ground with a deafening boom as a result, and the entire pce shuddered violently as dust came raining down from the ceiling.
A bottomless rift that was over 100 feet in length had been smashed into the ground, and Han Li was very thankful for his own decision not to fight fire with fire.
Right before the sh was about to take ce, he had reversed his Mantra Treasured Axis to elerate himself, thereby allowing him to evade the copper puppet''s punch. Otherwise, at the very least, he would''ve been missing an arm by now.
What he found most surprising was that the copper puppet was also able to use starpower, and it seemed to have opened up an even higher number of profound acupoints than him.
Could it be that it had also cultivated the Great Universe Origin Arts?
Before Han Li had a chance to ponder this matter any further, an urgent voice suddenly rang out from the rear hall. "I''ve got the cultivation art, Fellow Daoist Han! Let''s get out of here!"
Immediately thereafter, Patriarch Cold me emerged from behind the screen, holding a gray stone b aloft. The stone b was riddled with countless antiquated characters, and it was clearly the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts.
Han Li immediately nodded in response, and the two of them arrived at the entrance of the pce almost at the exact same moment.
Han Li raised a hand to push the pce gates open, yet right at this moment, the entire pce suddenly began to tremble violently, and all of the runes engraved upon the entire structure joined together like squirming worms, as if they had sprung to life.
At the same time, a purplish-golden light barrier began to spread over the walls, the ceiling, and the ground, encapsting the entire space within the pce.
An rmed look immediately appeared on Patriarch Cold me''s face upon seeing this.
At this point, Han Li had already reverted back to his human form, and he raised a hand before thrusting his palm toward the pce gates.
Five balls of silver lightning emerged over his fingertips as he attacked the purplish-golden light barrier, and a loud crackling sound rang out as countless antiquated runes emerged over the light barrier, apanied by arcs of lightning that scattered the balls of silver lightning around Han Li''s fingertips.
The purplish-golden lightning surged forth in a frenzy, devouring all of the scattered silver lightning, and Han Li couldn''t help but draw a sharp breath as a numb sensation spread through his entire body.
At this point, the copper puppet had already returned to its feet, and it dered in a cold voice, "Unforgivable!"
At the same time, ayer of murky white light shed through its eyes, and the purplish-golden light radiating from its body also gradually dimmed while starlight surged out of its profound acupoints, giving its entire body a translucent appearance.
In the wake of these changes, the aura that it was giving off was also elevated drastically, reaching the pinnacle of the early-Golden Immortal Stage.
"I swear I didn''t lie to you, Fellow Daoist Han! None of this happened thest time I was here!" Patriarch Cold me hurriedly said in an urgent voice.
"I believe you," Han Li replied in a concise fashion.
Patriarch Cold me was quite taken aback to hear this, and he was temporarily at a loss fro words.
"The restriction outside the pce isn''t evenparable to the one inside it. Don''t you find that strange?" Han Li asked while keeping a close eye on the copper puppet.
An enlightened look instantly appeared in Patriarch Cold me''s eyes upon seeing this.
"This pce was never designed to keep people out. Instead, it''s to ensure that those whoe in aren''t able to get away. Just like the other pce, this is also a trap, and perhaps the Great Universe Origin Arts is being used as bait."
Chapter 424: Collaborative Strike
Chapter 424: Coborative Strike
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li spected, "Perhaps it was because too much time had passed, and some issues arose in the array, so when you came herest time, the array wasn''tpletely activated, nor had this puppetpletely awakened. I presume that''s how you were able to escape with your life."
A hint of lingering fear welled up in Patriarch Cold me''s heart, but at the same time, he was also very thankful for his own good fortune. Before he had a chance to reply, Han Li suddenly yelled in an urgent voice, "Here ites!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, Han Li had already vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, he appeared directly above the copper puppet''s head, then made a peculiar hand seal before thrust a palm directly downward.
A burst of ripples spread through the space beneath his palm, and a shimmering azure longsword emerged out of thin air in a sh, then flew down toward the copper puppet''s head.
The sound of crackling lightning rang out as a burst of piercing golden light appeared over the azure longsword, and arcs of formidable golden lightning emerged over the entire sword before it crashed heavily down upon the top of the copper puppet''s head.
A resounding boom rang out as a golden lightning vortex that was several dozen feet tall appeared within the pce, and arcs of golden lightning were springing out of the vortex in all directions to strike the surrounding purplish-golden light barrier.
Patriarch Cold me was peering intently into the lightning vortex, but he was unable to see the copper puppet at all, and he could only sense the vast and violent power contained within the golden lightning.
Is it dead?
All of a sudden, a strange sound rang out from within the golden lightning vortex, and a grim look instantly appeared on Patriarch Cold me''s face upon hearing this.
Immediately thereafter, a thick and strong arm that was as fair and translucent as jade suddenly erupted upward out of the lightning vortex, then clenched threw a vicious punch at the azure longsword up above.
A resounding boom rang out as a white cloud of starlight erupted out of the fist with countless specks of blue light shing within it, presenting a stunning sight that resembled a bright and starry sky.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of incredibly formidable power erupted forth, andyers uponyers of white light surged outward in all directions, expanding the golden lightning vortex further and further.
At the same time, the blue stars within the white light were snuffed out one after another as a destructive aura spread emanated through the air.
A thunderous roar rang out as the white light exploded once again, and the golden lightning vortex was finally torn apart, with countless arcs of golden lightning flying in all directions to strike the surrounding purplish-golden light barrier.
At the same time, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords up above was also sent flying back through the air, skidding across the purplish-golden light barrier on the ceiling to raise a trail of sparks before being repelled downward, where it was then it caught by Han Li right before it could pierce into the ground.
The azure longsword was trembling violently, and as a result, Han Li''s arm was trembling slightly as well.
Hisplexion had also paled noticeably, while his breathing had be a little ragged.
His brows were tightly furrowed as he cast his gaze toward the copper puppet, upon which he discovered that it had taken on apletely different form. Its entire body had taken on the same hue and translucency as green jade, and there were specks of blue light all over its body.
At this moment, there were still some faint arcs of lightning shing over its body, but it paid no heed to this at all as it took a step forward, then abruptly sped through the air as a blurry streak of light, reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye.
Instead ofshing out with a punch, it sliced its palm through the air in a chopping motion this time,shing out at Han Li''s neck with tremendous power.
It was so incredibly fast that Han Li didn''t have a chance to defend himself at all, and a dull thump rang out as he was sent flying into the purplish-golden light barrier in a dizzy and disoriented fashion.
A vast expanse of lightning instantly erupted out of the light barrier, and Patriarch Cold me immediately called out to him in rm.
His first instinct was to rush to Han Li''s aid, but after taking a nce at the copper puppet, he decided to remain still on the spot.
However, the puppet didn''t continue to pursue Han Li after striking him down. Instead, it turned to Patriarch Cold me with a pair of emotionless silver eyes.
A chill immediately ran down Patriarch Cold me''s spine, and he took a nce at the gray stone b in his hand before hurriedly tossing it away as if it were a hot potato.
It was unclear whether this was intentional, but the stone b ultimatelynded right beside Han Li, who had only just mmed down onto the ground after crashing into the purplish-golden light barrier.
There were plumes of white smoke rising up from his entire body, and many parts of his robes were also charred ck.
He rose to his feet, using his azure longsword as a crutch, picking up the gray stone b in the process, and after taking a quick nce at the stone b, a pleased smile appeared on his face as he stowed it away.
The copper puppet seemed to have beenpletely infuriated upon seeing this, and it immediately sped directly toward Han Li once again as a blurry streak of light.
Once again, itshed out in a chopping motion, and the white light on the palm of his hand took a serrated form as it thrust its hand directly toward Han Li''s heart.
This time, Han Li was already prepared, and his Mantra Treasured Axis instantly appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
All of the active Time Dao Runes on it lit up in unison, releasing ayer of golden ripples that epassed the area around him.
As soon as the copper puppet''s arm pierced into the golden ripples, it instantly became extremely slow, as if it had been thrust into quicksand.
However, all of the specks of blue light on the puppet''s body then suddenly grew even brighter, and all of the white radiance emanating from its body also surged toward its arm in a frenzy.
The light radiating from the copper puppet''s hand instantly turned from white to blue, and it also expanded to around twice its original size as it tore viciously at the surrounding golden ripples.
The golden ripples released by the Mantra Treasured Axis were starting to be a little unstable, and the puppet''s arm was beginning to travel forward again. It still wasn''t very fast, but the time-slowing effect of the Mantra Treasured Axis was undeniably being countered, and this was something that had never happened before.
"Are you still not ready, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked while struggling to support his Mantra Treasured Axis.
"I''m ready!" Brother Xie replied, and as soon as its voice trailed off, a burst of golden radiance suddenly erupted out of Han Li''s body, then expanded drastically into a flood of golden lightning that filled the entire pce in the blink of an eye.
It was as if the entire area had been inundated by a wave of golden lightning.
Ever since entering the pce, Patriarch Cold me had already been astonished so many times that he was beginning to feel a little numb.
At this moment, his mouth was slightly agape, and there was a dazed look in his eyes as he clung onto an azure bianzhong with all his might, conjuring up an azure light barrier to protect himself.
Within the vast expanse of golden lightning, a giant golden crab emerged, and its enormous shell was grinding against the purplish-golden light barrier beneath the ceiling, sending lightning of two different colors erupting in all directions.
A giant crab pincer shot out of the golden lightning, then snapped itself around the copper puppet''s waist, and two bursts of crisscrossing golden lightning shed past amid a rumbling thunderp.
The purplish-golden light barrier around the pce was instantly torn apart before fading away, and a giant rift was also sliced into the walls and the ceiling of the pce.
Immediately thereafter, all of the golden lightning within the pce gradually began to subside back into the golden crab''s body, and it transformed into Daoist Xie''s yellow-robed human form.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I''m afraid all of the Immortal Origin Stones that you gave me earlier have been used up in that attack," Daoist Xie said as he took a nce at the copper puppet, which had been snapped into two.
"That''s fine, I''ll give you some more a bitter. You have my thanks, Brother Xie," Han Li replied as he withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis.
"There''s no need to thank me. This puppet is quite formidable, and even though its intelligence was intentionally suppressed during the refinement process, its very simr in power to a Golden Immortal Stage Profound Immortal, so unless we joined forces, it wouldn''t have been so easy to defeat it," Daoist Xie replied, and he alluding to Han Li that it was best to keep the remains of the puppet rather than let it go to waste.
"I''ll be sure to take it with me. Do you have a way to repair it once we leave this ce?" Han Li asked.
"I didn''t hold back at all in that attack, and I''ve already damaged its core, so it''s hard to say whether it can be repaired or not," Daoist Xie replied in an ambiguous fashion.
At this point, the copper puppet had already reverted back to its original form, and it had been snapped all the way from its left shoulder to its right oblique. A dark golden metal ball could be seen exposed in its severed abdomen, and the ball had been severed as well.
A slightly forlorn look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, but he knew that it couldn''t be helped. After all, this was a Golden Immortal Stage opponent, and holding back could''ve easily spelled death.
Daoist Xie took a nce at Patriarch Cold me, who was still frozen in shock, then said, "If there''s nothing else you need from me, then I''m going back."
After that, he flew back up Han Li''s sleeve as a streak of golden light, following which Han Li stowed the two halves of the copper puppet away with a sweep of his sleeve before making his way toward the rear hall.
Patriarch Cold me continued to stare at Han Li as he slumped to the ground, and his entire body was already drenched in cold sweat.
Only now did hee to understand just how massive the gap between himself and Han Li was, and how foolish his earlier actions had been.
Han Li made his way around the giant screen, where he was greeted by the sight of a hidden doorway that could fit two people through at once.
He strode through the doorway to arrive in apletely isted and windowless space, but it wasn''t dark despite theck of natural light as ayer of luminescent stone powder had been painted over the walls, giving off a faint glow that illuminated the room.
At the very center of the rear hall was a small copper tform that was only around three feet tall, withplex patterns engraved onto its surface.
On the upper face of the tform were two indentations that were the exact same shape and size as the Great Universe Origin Arts stone bs, and there were also runes engraved inside.
Chapter 425: Treasure Hunt
Chapter 425: Treasure Hunt
Strewn across the ground behind the copper tform in a haphazard fashion were seven or eight ck wooden chests with talismans adhered to them.
It was clear that Patriarch Cold me hadn''t been able to take what was in the chests on the previous two asions that he was here.
Han Li swept his gaze across his surroundings before striding forward, and ayer of azure light appeared over his hand as he swept his palm over one of the chests, upon which the talismans adhered to its surface instantly disintegrated into dust.
He then opened the wooden chest, and a faint smile immediately appeared on his face as the chest''s contents were revealed.
Inside the chest were orderlyyers of palm-sized blue crystals that totaled in excess of 100, and they were none other than Starheaven Stones.
With so many Starheaven Stones at his disposal, cultivating the rest of the Great Universe Origin Arts was going to be much easier.
Han Li suppressed the excitement in his heart as he opened all of the remaining wooden chests as well, and he discovered that all of them were also filled with Starheaven Stones, taking the total tally to close to 1,000.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li stowed all of the wooden chests away into the storage bracelet on his wrist, and only after examining the rear hall to ensure that there was nothing else left inside did he exit through the secret doorway.
As he passed by the giant screen, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as he stopped in his tracks.
He raised his head to look at the starry night sky depicted on the screen, and a peculiar feeling suddenly welled up in his heart. After a brief moment of contemtion, he pressed a palm against the screen and stowed it away as well.
He then strode past Patriarch Cold me without even sparing him a nce before exiting the pce, upon which he was immediately greeted by Lu Yuqing with an anxious look on her face.
"Thank goodness you''re finally back," Lu Yuqing hurriedly said in a relieved voice.
"Is something wrong?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Just now, a loudmotion started over on the za," Lu Yuqing replied as she pointed in the direction of the white stone za.
As soon as her voice trailed off, a resounding boom rang out in that direction, following which a pir of crimson fire erupted into the sky.
"It looks like Xue Han and the others are already breaking through the array. We have to get out of here," Han Li said.
"We''ve alreadypletely diverted off our original route, and this area is outside of the map that I have. How are we going to get back?" Lu Yuqing asked in a concerned voice.
Han Li offered no response as he sprang up into the sky, then inspected his surroundings briefly from his new vantage point before descending back onto the ground.
"At this point, we''ll just have to take one step at a time and adapt with the circumstances. There are quite a few pces and pavilions on the mountain behind these three pces, and I''m sure there are some treasures waiting to be found there," Han Li said.
Lu Yuqing nodded in response.
Right at this moment, Patriarch Cold me emerged from within the pce, then asked in a slightly uneasy voice, "Fellow Daoist Han, can I continue to follow you for the rest of the trip?"
"I''m willing to let what you did earlier slide, but don''t take my kindness as a sign of weakness. I think it would be best for us to split up and go our separate ways from here onward," Han Li replied in a cold voice.
Right as they were speaking, another resounding boom rang out from the za, and two mow pirs of light erupted into the heavens.
Patriarch Cold me knew that he was at fault, so he made no attempt to argue as he replied, "Fellow Daoist Han, I no longer harbor any delusions of getting my hands on the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts. All I ask is that you take me with you. If I go off on my own now, even if we set aside whether I''ll be able to make it out of this secret area, I''ll surely be killed if I run into Xue Han and the others."
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and after a brief silence, he replied, "Alright, but I''ll only take you out of this area. Once we''re out of here, we go our separate ways."
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Han," Patriarch Cold me said as he extended a respectful bow, but Han Li stepped away to sidestep the bow, then turned and departed with Lu Yuqing in tow.
Patriarch Cold me heaved a forlorn sigh as he hurriedly followed along, and the three of them made their way down a mountain path, which was lined with pces and pavilions of different sizes, but they were far smaller than the previous three.
Han Li knew that theyout of this ce was very simr to that of the Vast cial Pce, so there was a very good chance that there would be a spirit medicine garden on the rear mountain. He was initially nning to go straight there, but he was feeling a little hesitant after inspecting the nearby buildings with his spiritual sense.
Lu Yuqing could tell that Han Li was rather distracted, and she asked, "What''s wrong, Brother Han?"
"Almost all of the buildings here have restrictions set up in them, but the quality of the restrictions vary drastically. Some are extremely crude, while others are quite advanced, indicating that there are treasures sealed inside, so it would be a real pity not to explore these buildings," Han Li mused.
A hint of concern appeared in Lu Yuqing''s eyes upon hearing this, and she said, "Brother Han, we still have Xue Han and the others hot on our heels, so..."
"It''s fine. Even if they''ve found a way to break the array, it''ll still take them some time to break out. On top of that, they''ll be sure to be tempted into exploring the three pces back there, so they won''te after us anytime soon," Han Li said.
A hint of excitement appeared in Lu Yuqing''s eyes upon hearing this, and she said, "Alright, in that case, I suppose we could explore this area for a while."
Just like everyone else who had entered the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, Lu Yuqing was also keen to secure some powerful treasures and useful resources for herself, so she was naturally enthused by the prospect of being able to do some exploring.
"Let''s split up and search for treasures independently, then meet back up here in an hour. If anything happens during that time, we meet back up early and get out of here," Han Li instructed.
Lu Yuqing gave an affirmative response, then immediately flew away in a certain direction.
Meanwhile, Patriarch Cold me was standing off to the side with an uneasy look on his face, but he didn''t dare to say anything.
Han Li took a cold nce at him, then flew away in the opposite direction of Lu Yuqing.
Only after Han Li''s departure did Patriarch Cold me heave a faint sigh, then flip his hand over to produce a jade slip, upon which a gleeful smile appeared on his face.
This jade slip contained the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts. As it turned out, he had made this replica of the cultivation art in secret while Han Li had been locked in battle against the copper puppet, so he had obtained what he hade here for, after all.
With that in mind, he stowed the jade slip away, then also flew away in a certain direction.
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Han Li drifted down onto a small bluestone za in front of a three-story pavilion.
Afternding on the za, he examined the pavilion to find that there was a small golden bell hanging from each of the eight corners of its octagonal roof. This pavilion had to have been standing for countless years, yet the bells weren''t disying even the slightest sign of rust or discoloration.
Han Li was rather intrigued to see this, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a gentle breeze, which swept over the pavilion, causing all of the 24 bells on the pavilion''s three rooves to sway and chime.
The sound was very pleasing to the ears initially, but Han Li quickly noticed that something wasn''t quite right.
The chiming of the bells should''ve gradually subsided over time, but instead, it was only growing louder and louder, until eventually, each strike was as loud as the strike of a gong, striking Han Li with a sense of dizziness and disorientation.
It seems that these 24 bells are a set of spiritually disruptive treasures... How intriguing...
He had already cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique to the fourth level, and even he fell prey to the bells'' disruptive effect for a moment, so he could only imagine how susceptible others would be.
In a battle, a moment of disruption was often enough to decide the oue, and with that in mind, Han Li was tempted to take these bells for himself.
However, as he reached out to draw the bells toward him, he discovered that they werepletely immovable.
A puzzled look appeared on his face as he carefully examined the entire pavilion again, and only then did he realize that the entire three-floor pavilion was a part of the set of bell treasures.
Furthermore, he spected that the bell chime sound was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to the pavilion''s full power. There was most likely much worse toe inside the pavilion, and if one were to growcent, thinking that they had weathered the storm after withstanding the bell chime restriction, then they would be sure to suffer once they entered the pavilion.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release Daoist Xie.
"Why have you summoned me again so soon? Have you encountered some trouble?" Daoist Xie asked.
"I do have to trouble you for something, Brother Xie," Han Li said in a slightly apologetic voice.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist," Daoist Xie prompted.
"This pavilion in front of us is a spirit treasure of an extremely high caliber, but it''ll take me some time to refine it, so in the meantime, please search the nearby buildings for treasures. Regardless of what you find, I''llpensate you with Immortal Origin Stones," Han Li said.
Daoist Xie hesitated momentarily, then nodded in response.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he flipped a hand over to produce a yellow gourd before handing it to Daoist Xie as he said, "You can send out the Dao Warriors inside to aid you in your search."
"That''s a good idea," Daoist Xie said as he epted the ground from Han Li, then vanished from the spot as a sh of lightning.
Meanwhile, Han Li began to focus on the task at hand, channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique as he strode into the pavilion.
This was clearly no ordinary pavilion, and its core was definitely inside. Hence, in order to refine it, the only way was to enter the pavilion itself.
Chapter 426: Mural
Chapter 426: Mural
Around 15 minutester, the door of the three-floor pavilion abruptly sprang open, and Han Li emerged from inside with an ted expression.
He then turned around and made a hand seal, and a vast expanse of golden light suddenly emerged over the entire pavilion.
There were countless runes shing within the golden light, and all of a sudden, the pavilion shrank down to only the size of antern before being stowed away into Han Li''s storage bracelet.
This treasure is more than powerful enough to trap a mid-True Immortal cultivator, and it can maybe even trap ate-True Immortal cultivator who hasn''t cultivated any spiritual enhancement secret techniques, but it won''t work on anyone beyond that. Having said that, I can use it in conjunction with other treasures, so it can still be quite useful.
Right as these thoughts were running through his mind, bursts of rumbling suddenly began to ring out in the distance, and he hurriedly turned to discover that the sound wasing from the three pces. Clearly, Xue Han and the others had begun invading the pces.
Right at this moment, Daoist Xie''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind. "Fellow Daoist Han,e here right now."
He immediately responded to the call, springing up into the air, and before long, he hadnded in a weed-infested courtyard.
Several Dao Warriors were in the process of searching for treasures in the side room of the residence, but the doors of the main room were wide open, and Daoist Xie could be seen inside.
Han Li made his way into the room to find that Daoist Xie was staring at a wall in the room.
"I didn''t find any noteworthy treasures in here, but this mural is quite interesting," Daoist Xie said without even turning around.
Han Li immediately cast his gaze toward the surrounding walls upon hearing this, and he discovered that they were covered in vibrant and colorful murals.
The things drawn in the mural varied drastically, and the scenes depicted were also extremely chaotic, with severely ravagedndscapes that were overrun withva, ferocious storms of lightning and fire, and it truly painted a doomsday-like scene.
As Han Li continued to observe the mural, he felt as if the depicted scenes were beginning to move. Theva on the ground was flowing, the fireballs in the sky were beginning to descend, and lightning was shing in the dark clouds up above.
Many figures dressed in all types of attire were also flying through the air, performing all types of different actions, such as making hand seals, raising weapons, swinging fists...
Aside from the battling cultivators, there were also many mountainous beasts depicted on the mural, all of which were extremely fearsome in appearance and possessed various different formidable abilities.
Having dabbled in the 12 Awakening Transformations, Han Li knew many species of powerful ancient beasts, but he wasn''t able to identify even a single one of the beasts depicted in the mural.
The mural depicted an immortal battle of an enormous scale, and even though Han Li was only witnessing the battle through the mural, he felt as if he were situated directly in the battle, and a chill instantly ran down his spine.
However, at the same time, he couldn''t help but feel a little perplexed.
All of the figures on the mural with clearly visible features seemed to belong to the same camp, yet all of their enemies had blurry facial features, as if they were enshrouded inyers of gray mist.
They appeared to be cultivators, but also somehow different.
"Do you know when the battle depicted on this mural took ce, Fellow Daoist Han?" Daoist Xie suddenly asked.
Han Li shook his head in response. "I don''t. Do you, Brother Xie?"
He was thinking back to all of the historical records he had seen in the Northern cial Immortal Region, but he couldn''t think of any battle that corresponded with this one.
"I don''t know, either. I just thought these murals were very strange, so I wanted you toe and take a look," Daoist Xie replied with a shake of his head.
Han Li had thought that he would be able to get some answers from Daoist Xie, so he was rather disappointed to hear this response, but this wasn''t an important matter anyway.
After that, he searched through some more buildings with Daoist Xie and gathered quite a few treasures of different calibers. There weren''t many that he could use, but he could certainly sell them for a lot of Immortal Origin Stones once he left the immortal manor.
Once the hour was up, Han Li stowed Daoist Xie and his Dao Warriors away, then returned to the same ce as before.
Lu Yuqing and Patriarch Cold me were already waiting there, and the former''s eyes were sparkling with excitement, while thetter wore a neutral expression, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
After reuniting, the three of them made their way toward the spirit medicine garden on the rear mountain.
Before long, the three of them descended onto a plot ofnd, right in front of a square garden that was over 10 acres in area.
The garden was surrounded by walls that were roughly 40 to 50 feet tall, constructed from some type of blue crystalline material.
The material was giving off ayer of watery blue light interspersed with specks of starry light that presented a very pleasant sight to behold.
Han Li swept his gaze over the walls, and a hint of surprise immediately appeared on his face.
He had identified this blue crystal to be an extremely rare type of material called the Heavenly Crystal Rock and it could be used to refine spirit treasures. It wasn''t particrly difficult to find in the outside world, but such an enormous quantity of it in one ce was still a very rare sight, and using it as bricks to construct walls for a garden was a disy of extreme opulence.
At each corner of the walls stood a thick stone pir that was riddled withplex array patterns, and dazzling starlight was radiating from the pir, forming a thick starry light barrier in the air that epassed the entire garden.
Countless star designs were shing over the light barrier as if they were ying out the movements of the celestial bodies in the sky, presenting a profound sight to behold.
From the outside, Han Li could see that there were all types of spirit nts in the garden, and there was a faint pleasant fragranceing out of the garden that even the starry light barrier wasn''t able to contain.
An ted look appeared in Han Li''s eyes, but as he took a closer look at the starry light barrier, his brows furrowed slightly in dismay.
This light barrier appeared rather simr to the starry light barrier that had to be bypassed in order to enter the Light Frost Pce, but this one appeared even more profound, so it was most likely going to be even more difficult to break.
"This restriction is most likely going to be very difficult to break through conventional means. Having said that, the Great Five-elemental True Light that you and Fellow Daoist Xiong unleashed earlier should be perfect for breaking this restriction," Han Li said as he turned to Patriarch Cold me.
A slightly awkward look appeared on Patriarch Cold me''s face upon hearing this, and he said, "While I do know the mantra for the Great Five-elemental True Light, five extremely pure five-elemental spirit treasures are required to unleash it, and I only have spirit treasures of the fire and earth attributes, so..."
"That''s not a problem, I just so happen to have a spirit treasure of each of the remaining three elements, and they should be at a sufficient level of purity for the task," Han Li replied as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a trio of treasures, namely a golden ring, a green wooden sword, and a blue badge.
All three spirit treasures were emanating astonishingly bright spiritual light, and they weren''t inferior in the slightestpared with the five spirit treasures that were previously used.
Han Li had in countless cultivators in the Immortal Realm, most of whom were True Immortals, so he naturally had arge collection of high-caliber spirit treasures.
"You are truly a wealthy man, Fellow Daoist Han. In that case, there won''t be any further issues. It''s just that the mantra for the Great Five-elemental True Light is a little difficult to grasp, but I''m sure it won''t be a problem for someone of your wisdom," Patriarch Cold me said.
He flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip as he spoke, then handed it to Han Li, who epted the jade slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
The mantra in the jade slip wasn''t very long, but just as Patriarch Cold me described, it was quite difficult toprehend.
Han Li quickly memorized the entire thing, then sat down on the spot and closed his eyes to mull over what he had seen.
"Let''s keep a lookout for Brother Han, Senior Cold me," Lu Yuqing suggested to Patriarch Cold me, to which thetter nodded in response.
Both of them then backed away to give Han Li some space while scouring their surroundings for any potential hazards.
Close to two hours passed by before Han Li abruptly opened his eyes, then rose to his feet.
Both Lu Yuqing and Patriarch Cold me immediately turned to him upon sensing this, while Han Li began to chant an incantation while pointing a finger at the three spirit treasures in front of him.
The three treasures instantly rose up into the sky, with each of them releasing a ball of dazzling light, and as Han Li made a hand seal, the three balls of light began toe together.
Patriarch Cold me was astonished to see this.
"Have you already mastered the mantra, Fellow Daoist Han?"
"I once cultivated a five-elemental ability in the past, so I was able to grasp this one a little faster than expected," Han Li exined.
He was naturally referring to the Divine Essencefused Light. Five-elemental secret techniques were notoriously profound and difficult to master due to having to incorporate and bnce five elements at once, but the mantra for the Divine Essencefused Light was rather simr to this one, and that was why it hadn''t been all that difficult for him to master this mantra.
"You really are full of surprises, Fellow Daoist Han," Patriarch Cold me chuckled, seemingly already ustomed to expecting the unexpected when it came to Han Li.
He didn''t waste any more time with words as he flipped a hand over to produce the crimson bowl and the yellow seal before also chanting an incantation, and the pair of spirit treasures instantly flew up into the sky while radiating dazzling spiritual light that fused with the spiritual light emanating from Han Li''s trio of spirit treasures.
Chapter 427: Medicine Garden
Chapter 427: Medicine Garden
Under the collective efforts of Han Li and Patriarch Cold me, countless five-colored runes surged out of the spiritual light radiating from the five spirit treasures, and they began to revolve incessantly around the spirit treasures.
The five balls of spiritual light quickly intertwined and fused together to form an enormous ball of five-colored light, within which the five spirit treasures had formed a circle and were rapidly revolving.
With each cycle of revolution, the five-colored ball of light would swell slightly, and it quickly reached over 1,000 feet in size, radiating dazzling five-colored light that illuminated the entire heavens, while Lu Yuqing looked on with a dazed and awestruck expression.
Right at this moment, Han Li and Patriarch Cold me both raised a hand in unison to cast an incantation seal toward the ball of light, and a pir of five-colored instantly shot out of the ball of light to strike the starry light barrier.
The two fused together, and the starry light barrier remainedpletely unaffected, but if one were to gaze upon this scene from afar, it would appear as if there were a five-colored passageway connected to a vast starry sky.
As Han Li and Patriarch Cold me continued to chant the incantation for the Great Five-elemental True Light, the pir of five-colored light instantly became even brighter, and countless five-colored arrows that were each around 10 feet in length took shape within the pir of light before raining down upon the starry light barrier.
The still surface of the starry light barrier instantly began to tremble violently, and balls of five-colored light appeared over its surface amid a string of resounding booms.
The light radiating from the starry light barrier quickly began to fade, and it was whittled down at a rapid rate, much to Han Li''s surprise and suspicion.
The starry light barrier appeared to be extremely profound, so why was it so inept?
Despite his surprise, he continued to make a string of hand seals, and more five-colored arrows came raining down from the pir of five-colored light.
As time passed, the starry light barrier was whittled down further and further, and after only 15 minutes, only a thinyer of it was left.
Han Li immediately switched to a different hand seal upon seeing this, and Patriarch Cold me did the same thing at almost the exact same time.
The pir of five-colored instantly brightened as all of the countless arrows within it fused as one wot form a giant arrow that was over 1,000 feet in size, with streaks of five-colored light surging all over its surface.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as the giant five-colored arrow came crashing down onto the starry light barrier, and an earth-shattering boom rang out as the starry light barrier finally crumbled into countless pieces.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, and the five spirit treasures in the sky instantly split up, with his three spirit treasures flying back up his sleeve, while Patriarch Cold me recovered his two spirit treasures as well.
With the starry light barrier out of the way, a burst of rich spiritual qi and medicinal aroma instantly began to waft through the air.
Han Li immediately flew down, followed closely by Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing.
The three of themnded in the garden in quick session, and as soon as they did so, balls of starlight abruptly emerged from the stone pirs situated in the four corners of the garden, and they released streaks of spiritual light that began to intertwine in mid-air.
In the span of just a couple of seconds, the starry light barrier had taken shape above the garden once again, except it was only a thinyer this time.
More streaks of starlight were being released out of the stone pirs to support the light barrier, and it was gradually bing thicker and more resilient.
Han Li took a nce up at the starry light barrier, and his brows furrowed slightly as if he had realized something, but he then shook his head and withdrew his gaze before turning his attention to the medicine garden around him.
The garden had been split up into different sections that were separated by fences crafter from a type of green jade material, and each area was enshrouded in restrictions of different colors, with all manners of different spirit nts growing inside them.
Han Li cast his gaze toward a section of the garden beside him that was several dozen feet in size.
This section was enshrouded under a red restriction with dozens of red spirit nts growing inside. The spirit nts were around two feet tall each, and they had ovr leaves with a bright red palm-sized flower at the top of each one, resembling a ball of scorching fire.
Even through the restriction, Han Li could still detect the formidable fire-attribute spiritual power fluctuations emanating from the n.
These are Wild me Herbs...
This was a type of renowned fire-attribute spirit nt that could be used to refine some top-grade fire-attribute pills and even fire-attribute dao pills, and it was extremely sought after for the fact that upon reaching 100,000 years of age, there was a very high likelihood that a hint of fire-attributew powers would emerge within the nt.
There were very few spirit nts that could producew powers on their own, and most of them had to be hundreds of thousands of years of age before reaching that stage, so the Wild me Herb was very much an anomaly.
Thew powers produced by this nt weren''t particrly formidable, but it could be used for dao pill refinement, and the age requirement was also quite low, so it was extremely sought after among all Dao Pill Masters.
Furthermore, judging from the size of these Wild me Herbs, they had to have been at least 300,000 to 400,000 years old, so the fire-attributew powers that they harbored were naturally going to be far more formidable than in 100,000-year-old specimens.
If he could mature them to 500,000 years of age with his Heaven Controlling Vial, then he would have a batch of priceless fire-attribute spirit nts on his hands.
However, instead of scrambling to pick these spirit nts, Han Li turned and made his way toward the other sections of the garden. It appeared that no one had been here for a very long time, so there had to be many spirit nts here more valuable than Wild me Herbs.
Meanwhile, Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing had also gone in different directions to search for spirit nts.
A short whileter, Han Li stopped beside a section of the garden that contained a series of thin purple spirit nts, each of which was only around half a foot tall, and they resembled wheat.
These spirit nts were giving off a rather peculiar odor that was both fragrant yet also a little rank.
Han Li was staring intently at these purple spirit nts, paying no heed to their peculiar aroma at all.
These were Farsight Weeds, and they were extremely renowned in the Northern cial Immortal Region.
Han Li had once read a story about an ind by the name of Nightlight Ind situated in the northernmost region of the Northern cial Immortal Region. There was a type of spirit hawk that resided on this ind, and they only grew to an upper limit of the Body Integration Stage. Furthermore, there weren''t many of them on the ind, so they never attracted much attention from anyone.
That was until a True Immortal Stage itinerant cultivator caught a Nightlight Spirit Hawk by chance on the ind and kept it as a spirit beast.
The Nightlight Spirit Hawk''s cultivation base wasn''t anything special, but it possessed extraordinary eyesight, able to see things tens of thousands of kilometers away. The True Immortal cultivator was ecstatic, and he earned himself quite a reputation through this bird.
The story of his exploits was eventually leaked, and many cultivators flocked to the ind to capture these Nightlight Spirit Hawks, only to find that their eyesight was quite mediocre and nowhere near as extraordinary as the story proimed.
The True Immortal Stage itinerant cultivator was rather surprised to hear this, and he returned to the ind to investigate. Only then did he notice that there were several spirit nts growing near the nest of the Nightlight Spirit Hawk that he had captured, and that particr hawk had only attained such exceptional eyesight after consuming this spirit nt.
After word of this spread, the spirit nt in question immediately became vastly renowned and was named the Farsight Weed, bing extremely sought after for countless cultivators.
However, Farsight Weeds grew very slowly and only in very unique conditions, so they were very rare to begin with, and with so many cultivators going after them, they had been picked to near extinction. No specimen had appeared in the past one million years, and Han Li certainly wasn''t expecting to see any here.
Furthermore, these Farsight Herbs had to have been at least 200,000 to 300,000 years old, so they were undoubtedly extremely valuable.
A hint of tion shed through his eyes as he cast his gaze elsewhere, and there were extremely precious spirit nts everywhere he looked, many of which had already gone extinct in the outside world.
Furthermore, all of the spirit nts in this garden were hundreds of thousands of years old, which meant that they were fit even for refining Golden Immortal Stage pills.
Aside from that, there were also several types of spirit nts in the garden that werepletely unfamiliar to Han Li, even with his extensive knowledge in the field.
However, all of them were brimming with spiritual power, and they were clearly extremely valuable spirit nts as well.
Sure enough, the medicine garden hadn''t disappointed him.
Right at this moment, a burst of rumbling rang out from nearby, and Han Li turned to discover that Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing had also begun attacking some of the nearby restrictions.
However, these restrictions didn''t appear to be all that remarkable, but they were unexpectedly resilient, remaining intact despite the attacks they were being subjected to.
Han Li immediately swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, and his 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly flew out, then circled around in the air before transforming into an azure sword array that epassed several restrictions at once.
Immediately thereafter, countless streaks of peerlessly sharp sword qi emerged at Han Li''s behest before striking the restrictions, and they were only able to hold themselves together for a few seconds before exploding violently.
With another sweep of his sleeve, Han Li released several hundred dark yellow beans, which transformed into an army of Dao Warriors, and with a third sweep of his sleeve, Han Li released hundreds of jade boxes and other types of containers amid a sh of azure light.
"Collect all of these spirit nts," Han Li instructed.
The Dao Warriors immediately picked up the containers and began to work.
At this point, Patriarch Cold me had only just broken through a restriction, and he was collecting the spirit nts inside one by one when he spotted what Han Li was doing, upon which a stunned look appeared on his face.
He had already been astonished by Han Li''s power, and it came as another shock to him that Han Li also had an army of Dao Warriors at his disposal, considering how Dao Warriors were notoriously difficult to nurture.
Chapter 428: Split Tree
Chapter 428: Split Tree
After issuing an instruction for his Dao Warriors to begin collecting the nearby spirit nts, Han Li remained still on the spot as he made a hand seal, and the azure sword array that he had conjured up immediately flew toward another nearby section of the medicine garden.
Countless streaks of azure sword qi came raining down upon the restriction, breaking through it with ease, and some of the Dao Warriors immediately flocked over to that area to collect all of the spirit nts there.
Right at this moment, all of the destroyed restrictions began to slowly re-emerged, indicating that they were capable of self-regeneration, just like the starry light barrier that epassed the entire garden.
Han Li was very impressed upon seeing this. The fact that these restrictions were still functional after so many years was already quite astonishing, and the fact that they were capable of self-regeneration indicated that whoever had set up the restrictions had to have been an extraordinary master in arrays.
With that in mind, Han Li was even more curious about who this Infernal Frost Immortal Lord was.
Han Li''s trio wasn''t holding back in the slightest, and it didn''t take them long to clear out the entire outskirts of the medicine garden.
However, Han Li was naturally far more efficient than Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing thanks to his sword array and his army of Dao Warriors, so the majority of the imed spirit nts had fallen into his possession.
During this time, he had even helped Lu Yuqing break several restrictions, much to the envy and dismay of Patriarch Cold me.
As the three of them progressed deeper into the garden, they discovered that the sections here were farrger in area than the ones before, and the restrictions were also brighter, making it impossible to see the spirit nts within from the outside.
Han Li swept his gaze around the area to ensure that there weren''t any abnormalities, then immediately unleashed his sword array to attack a glowing red restriction.
Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing also each chose a restriction of their own to attack, but this time, the sword array formed by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords wasn''t able to inflict much damage onto the red restriction beneath it.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he switched to a different hand seal, upon which the azure sword array abruptly converged toward the center to form a giant azure sword lotus flower.
He then began to chant an incantation, and the sword lotus flower gradually bloomed, while arcs of dazzling lightning shed over all of its petals as it swooped down toward the red light barrier.
Every single one of the lotus flower''s petalstched tightly onto the red light barrier before revolving forcefully to tear into the restriction, and the red light barrier instantly began to warp violently.
This time, it was only able to withstand the assault for a short while before it exploded into countless specks of red light with a resounding boom.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, but his expression then instantly stiffened as he caught sight fo a yellowish-brown spirit tree up ahead.
Its trunk was very coarse and riddled with deep cracks, but it was giving off a vibrant sense of vitality, clearly indicating that it was no ordinary tree.
However, the tree had been severed down the middle, and only a section of the trunk still remained. The cut was still quite fresh, and there were droplets of yellow sap leaking oozing out.
Han Li made his way over to the tree trunk with a contemtive look on his face.
Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing were just about to go to work on some other restrictions, but all of them also stopped what they were doing and approached Han Li upon seeing this.
"It looks like someone got here before us. Judging from how fresh the cut looks, they shouldn''t have been here any longer than a day ago," Patriarch Cold me surmised.
Han Li nodded in response, then took a nce up at the starry light barrier overhead.
It was no wonder that they had broken the restriction so easily, considering it had already been broken recently once before.
The restriction was capable of self-regeneration, but too little time had passed for it to make a full recovery, and that was the only reason why they had been able to bypass it with so little trouble.
"Who could it be? Xiong Shan?" Lu Yuqing murmured.
"No. Xiong Shan did get to the Light Frost Pce a little earlier than us, but there clearly wasn''t enough time for him to get here and break this restriction," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"In that case, who could it be?" Lu Yuqing asked.
"I don''t know, but that person didn''t touch any of the spirit nts prior to this. I don''t know if those spirit nts failed to catch their eye, or if they simply didn''t have enough time, but given that there are no signs of battle here, I''m assuming it was most likely the former. That leads me to believe that it was most likely a Golden Immortal Stage senior who passed through here before us," Han Li spected.
There were many Golden Immortals who had entered the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor on this asion, and he couldn''t tell exactly which one was responsible for this.
Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing exchanged a nce upon hearing this, then discussed the matter a little longer before parting ways to continue to work on other restrictions.
Meanwhile, Han Li continued to observe the severed tree trunk in front of him, and he gently dipped his finger in some of its yellow sap before taking a sniff, upon which he was immediately struck by a sense of reinvigoration.
His eyes instantly lit up as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of azure light, which enveloped the tree trunk before uprooting the entire thing along with the spirit soil around it.
He didn''t know what this tree was, but the fact that it had caught a Golden Immortal''s eye indicated that it was definitely a very precious spirit tree.
Even though the tree had been chopped down, there was still a chance for Han Li to revive it using his Heaven Controlling Vial.
After doing all of that, Han Li flew over to another section of the medicine garden before making a hand seal, and the sword lotus flower up above instantly swooped down to epass the bright blue light barrier down below.
The thick petals of the lotus flower then began to slice against the light barrier, causing a massivemotion, and it didn''t take long before the blue light barrier was destroyed to reveal what was underneath.
Han Li''s expression immediately darkened slightly at the sight that wasid out before him.
The spirit nts in this section had already been taken as well, and this time, not even the roots had been left behind.
Han Li remained still on the spot for a moment before flying over to another section, and around 15 minutester, yet another restriction was broken under the might of the azure sword lotus flower.
Once again, whatever was in this section had already been taken, and there was a hole that was several feet deep in the ground.
He shook his head as he withdrew his gaze.
At this point, most of the restrictions deep in the medicine garden had already been broken.
Of course, Han Li was the one who had done most of the work, and all of the spirit nts here had already been taken, with no exceptions.
Some of them still had their roots remaining, and Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing had no interest in such things, but Han Li picked up every single root that he encountered.
At this moment, Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing were still each working on a restriction, and Han Li took a nce at the two of them before withdrawing his gaze and turning his attention to the innermost part of the medicine garden.
There was a plot ofnd there that was over 1,000 feet in size, so it was far more massive than all of the other sections.
The entire section was enshrouded under a thick purple light barrier with arcs of purple lightning shing over its surface, and it was giving off a formidable aura, almost as if it were a massive purple beast that wasying dormant on the ground.
This section was clearly different from all of the other sections, so the trio decided to leave it forst.
Han Li turned his gaze toward the purple light barrier, and he was just about to call upon his azure sword lotus flower when a resounding boom rang out nearby.
As it turned out, Lu Yuqing had just broken a restriction.
This restriction was more formidable than all of the prior ones, and herplexion was a little pale, indicating that she had severely taxed herself to break it.
She quickly summoned a pill before swallowing it while casting her gaze forward, upon which a disappointed look appeared on her face.
Whatever had been here had already been taken, with even the roots being taken and there were only two huge holes left in the ground.
However, whoever hade here seemed to have passed through in quite a hurry, as evidenced by the fact that there were still some thin pieces of roots left behind.
Lu Yuqing pouted with dismay, and she was just about to turn and depart when Han Li approached her as he said, "These appear to be the roots of some type of spirit bamboo. Bamboo is different from other nts in that it can sprout even from root fragments given the proper care, and the newly grown bamboo should be quite valuable, so it would be a waste for you to leave these roots behind."
An ted look appeared on Lu Yuqing''s face upon hearing this, and she asked, "Do you recognize this spirit bamboo, Brother Han?"
Han Li shook his head in response. "I don''t, but these silver roots seem quite remarkable, so the spirit bamboo that they belong to must be very precious. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have been nted so deep in the medicine garden. If you can find someone who can identify these roots, you should be able to sell them for a good price."
Lu Yuqing nodded eagerly in response as she swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which carefully dug out the silver roots in the two holes before storing them into a pair of jade boxes.
She stowed one of the jade boxes away, then handed the other to Han Li as she said, "Thank you for your guidance, Brother Han. Otherwise, I would''ve passed up this entirely."
Han Li made no effort to refuse and epted the jade box as he really was quite interested in these silver spirit bamboo roots.
Meanwhile, a burst of rumbling wasing from another direction, and Patriarch Cold me was in the process of attacking a light blue restriction with a set of 12 flying dagger spirit treasures, all of which were spirit treasures of a very high caliber.
However, this was yet another starry light barrier, and it was extremely resilient.
Patriarch Cold me had already been attacking the light barrier for quite some time, but it was disying no signs of breaking at all.
A slightly agitated look appeared on his face as he took a nce at Han Li, and after a brief moment of contemtion, he stopped what he was doing before flying toward Han Li.
Han Li was examining the silver roots in his jade box when he noticed Patriarch Cold meing toward him, and he promptly stowed the jade box away.
"Fellow Daoist Han, that restriction over there is rather difficult to deal with. Would you be able to give me a hand with it?" Patriarch Cold me asked as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Of course, Fellow Daoist Cold me. Let''s go have a look together, Fellow Daoist Lu," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Han," Patriarch Cold me immediately said with an ted expression.
Before long, the three of them arrived at the starry light barrier, and Han Li began to examine it.
He had actually already noticed this restriction earlier, but he could tell that it was quite a formidable restriction, so he had decided to save it forter. However, it seemed that Patriarch Cold me had gotten to it first.
Chapter 429: Withered Vine
Chapter 429: Withered Vine
Han Li made a hand seal, and his azure sword lotus flower instantly descended upon the starry light barrier while revolving incessantly.
Countless streaks of formidable sword qi were released from the sword lotus flower, raining down upon the restriction, while Patriarch Cold me summoned the same set of flying dagger spirit treasures as before.
The 12 flying daggers then instantly swelled to over 1,000 feet in size each at his behest, and they came crashing down upon the restriction with astonishing might.
The starry light barrier was extremely resilient, but it wasn''t able to withstand this joint barrage from Han Li''s duo for long, and it was only a short while before the light barrier was shattered to reveal what was underneath.
Beneath the light barrier were around a dozen blue spirit nts, each of which was several feet tall.
The stems and leaves of these spirit nts were all glittering and translucent, as if they had been fashioned out of some type of semi-transparent blue jade, and they were also giving off radiant starlight.
Much to Han Li''s surprise, these blue spirit nts hadn''t been taken by the person who had passed through this ce before them.
A surprised look had also appeared on Lu Yuqing''s face, while Patriarch Cold me''s expression remained unchanged, indicating that he seemed to have already anticipated this.
These are Starlight Herbs!
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes as he identified these blue spirit nts.
This was a type of renowned spirit nt that contained starpower gathered from countless nights of exposure to starlight, resulting in the umtion of extremely pure starpower, thereby making it an exceptional ingredient for refining starpower-rted pills.
Judging from their size, they had to have been at least 500,000 years of age.
If he could get his hands on even just one or two of these Starlight Herbs and refine them into pills, then that would drastically shorten the amount of time it would take for him to cultivate the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts.
Right at this moment, a streak of light suddenly flew past him, then enveloped all of the Starlight Herbs before uprooting them and sending them flying toward Patriarch Cold me.
He then immediately stowed all of the Starlight Herbs away without any hesitation, and Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but he didn''t say anything.
"Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Han. If you require my assistance for anything, please feel free to call upon me," Patriarch Cold me said with a smile, making no mention of splitting the Starlight Herbs between them.
Han Li turned to look at Patriarch Cold me in silence, while Lu Yuqing''s brows furrowed slightly as she protested, "Fellow Daoist Cold me, you and Brother Han worked together to..."
Han Li raised a hand to cut her off before she could finish her sentence.
"Fellow Daoist Cold me was the one who discovered these Starlight Herbs first, so they naturally belong to him. There''s no need to dwell on this matter," Han Li said in an indifferent voice, then turned and began to make his way toward the plot ofnd in the innermost section of the medicine garden.
Lu Yuqing took a cold nce at Patriarch Cold me, then departed behind Han Li.
Patriarch Cold me also followed along with a gleeful look in his eyes.
Having interacted with Han Li on multiple past asions, he had developed a decent grasp of Han Li''s personality and character. His original n was for Han Li to bring up the matter of splitting the Starlight Herbs, in which case he would oblige, but in the process make Han Li owe him a favor so that he could continue to leverage Han Li''s assistance.
However, to his surprise, Han Li didn''t even bother to make such a request, seemingly as he didn''t want to lose face.
This was even better as he could continue to exploit this personality trait of Han Li''s to keep iming more things for himself, but of course, he would do so in moderation so that he didn''t turn Han Li entirely against himself.
The three of them quickly arrived at the final plot ofnd in the medicine garden, and Han Li briefly examined the purple restriction in front of him before making a hand seal, upon which a flurry of petals of his azure sword lotus flower flew off on their own one after another, transforming into around a dozen massive translucent swords that came crashing down upon the purple light barrier.
All of the giant swords were giving off extremely fearsome aura fluctuations and immense spiritual pressure that was making the nearby space tremble and quiver.
The giant translucent swords struck the light barrier with immense power, but all of them were repelled one after the other.
Meanwhile, the purple light barrier merely shuddered slightly before falling still again.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this. The purple restriction was far more resilient than even what he had anticipated.
Lu Yuqing was also eager to help, and she began attacking the restriction with a series of giant azure des of wind, while Patriarch Cold me was also contributing to the effort with his flying daggers.
The collective barrage of attacks from the trio was quite formidable, but the purple restriction remained strong, managing to hold itself intact without much difficulty.
"It looks like we won''t be able to break this restriction through conventional means, so let''s use the Great Five-elemental True Light again," Han Li said as he summoned the three elemental spirit treasures from before, and Patriarch Cold me also summoned his two flying treasures.
Momentster, a thick pir of five-colored light came crashing down from the heavens, releasing numerous balls of five-colored light that rained down upon the purple light barrier.
A burst of rumbling rang out incessantly, and the entire medicine garden was trembling.
The purple light barrier was extremely resilient, yet even it was no match for the Great Five-elemental True Light, and after one barrage of attacks after another, the light barrier was quickly whittled down to just a thinyer.
A sharp gleam shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which the dozen or so giant translucent swords came crashing down upon the purple light barrier at his behest.
Finally, the purple light barrier was unable to hold itself together any longer, and it imploded to reveal what was underneath.
Han Li''s trio immediately turned their attention to what had been revealed, and as it turned out, down below was a swamp that was filled with viscous dark purple mud, with the asional purple bubble appearing on its surface before popping with explosive force to release waves of heat coupled with bursts of purple gas.
A faintyer of purple mist was hanging over the swamp, and countless tiny arcs of lightning could be seen shing within it, giving off a fearsome aura.
The dark purple mud was rather hideous in appearance, but it was imbued with extremely abundant spiritual power, indicating that it was no ordinary soil.
This is Lightning Aura Soil!
In order to best nurture different types of spirit nts, Han Li had invested a great deal of time into improving his understanding of spirit soils, and at this point, he could be considered to be a master in this field.
The Lightning Aura Soil was a type of extremely precious spirit soil that was ideal for nurturing lightning-attribute spirit nts, but the method to prepare it had already gone missing long ago.
Han Li had tried extensively to search for this soil or its recipe in the past, all to no avail, and he certainly wasn''t expecting to see some here.
With a sweep of his sleeve, two Dao Warriors instantly appeared amid a sh of golden lightning.
He then summoned a pair of storage pouches that he tossed at the pair of Dao Warriors as he instructed, "Collect all of this soil."
The two Dao Warriors immediately obliged, beginning to collect the spirit soil in the area, and Patriarch Cold me''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this as he also swept a sleeve through the air to collect some of the dark purple mud beside him.
Meanwhile, Lu Yuqing was looking on with slightly furrowed brows, seemingly rather disgusted by the dark purple mud.
Han Li took a nce at Patriarch Cold me, then turned his attention to the center of the plot ofnd, where there was another hemispherical purple light barrier, this one far smaller than the previous one.
He flew over to the light barrier, followed closely by Lu Yuqing, and Patriarch Cold me also hurriedly followed along.
This purple light barrier was identical to the one from before, except it was far smaller and nowhere near as formidable.
Han Li was able to break the light barrier with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords without having to rely on the Great Five-elemental True Light, and a purple stone altar that was around 10 feet tall was revealed.
The altar had been entirely constructed from a type of purple crystal, and there were lightning patterns engraved upon it, seemingly forming some type of profound array.
At the top of the stone altar was yet another purple light barrier that resembled a box that concealed the top of the altar, making it impossible to see what was inside.
"How manyyers of restrictions are there?" Lu Yuqing couldn''t help butin.
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed that there were two humanoid puppetsying on the ground beside the stone altar.
The puppets were dark golden in color, and they were identical to the copper puppet that Han Li had encountered while securing the Great Universe Origin Arts.
However, one of the puppets had been split in half down the middle lengthwise, while the other had been decapitated, and both of them wereying on the ground in a lifeless fashion.
The wounds on the puppets appeared to be quite fresh, clearly indicating that they had been inflicted not long ago.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this.
As expected, this ce had already been visited as well, so whatever treasure on the stone altar had to have already been taken.
The same thought had clearly also urred to Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing, and a hint of dismay appeared on both of their faces.
Han Li shook his head with a hint of disappointment in his eyes, then turned his attention back to the pair of copper puppets. In particr, his gaze lingered on the decapitated puppet as a peculiar look shed through his eyes.
In the next instant, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which swept up the pair of puppets before stowing them away.
With these two puppets, particrly the decapitated one, which still had apletely intact core, Daoist Xie would surely be able to scrounge together aplete, functional puppet.
Han Li had witnessed the power of these copper puppets, and they would definitely be of great assistance to him in battle.
Patriarch Cold me''s brows furrowed slightly with displeasure upon seeing this, but he quickly reverted back to a neutral expression.
After gathering the puppets, Han Li flicked a finger toward the stone altar, releasing a pair of azure flying swords that swept over the purple light barrier.
The restriction wasn''t all that powerful, so it was torn apart with ease, revealing a wooden frame, around which was wound a long vine that still hadn''t been taken, much to Han Li''s surprise.
However, the vine had withered away, and it seemed to have perished long ago.
Chapter 430: Pursuers
Chapter 430: Pursuers
"What kind of vine is this? It has to be something very precious to have been kept here so securely. It''s just a pity that it seems to be long dead," Lu Yuqing sighed.
"Regardless, for whatever reason, it seems like the person who came here before us was unable to take this vine," Patriarch Cold me said with a hint of schadenfreude in his voice.
All the while, Han Li merely remained silent as his gaze roamed over the withered vine.
All of a sudden, he seemed to have noticed something, and he began to inspect the vine intently with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
"What is it, Brother Han?" Lu Yuqing immediately asked.
Instead of answering her question, Han Li flew directly toward the vine, immediately followed by Lu Yuqing and Patriarch Cold me.
Afternding beside the vine, Han Li lifted up a section of it for closer inspection, and the blue light in his eyes grew even brighter.
After a while, he suddenly heaved a forlorn sigh as he set down the withered vine with a disappointed look on his face.
Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing were both quite perplexed to see this, and they each picked up a section of the vine for themselves for closer inspection.
As it turned out, there were patterns on the vines that were rather simr to beveled silver text or golden seal text, but these patterns were more profound, as if they were the embodiment of the Great Dao itself.
The patterns were very faint, and they would''ve never been able to notice them had they not been scrutinizing the vine so closely.
"These are Profound Heavenly Patterns!" Patriarch Cold me eximed.
"There''s no mistaking it. These patterns that are imbued with the aura of the Great Dao can only be present on Profound Heavenly Treasures. This was most likely a Profound Heavenly Vine, but the Profound Heavenly Treasure on it has already been taken, and the vine has wilted on its own as a result," Lu Yuqing said with a wry smile.
Han Li pointed at a spot on the vine, and both Patriarch Cold me and Lu Yuqing turned their attention to that spot to find that there was a tiny incision, which wasn''t very pronounced due to how withered the vine had be, but it was still distinguishable upon closer inspection.
The incision had clearly been formed after something was taken off the vine.
Lu Yuqing heaved a faint sight upon seeing this.
Profound Heavenly Treasures were extremely precious and could be used to refine Essential Immortal Treasure, yet it had slipped through their grasp.
"There''s no point in crying over spilled milk. It looks like we''re simply not in luck on this asion," Han Li said.
Right at this moment, the two Dao Warriors arrived on the scene, holding a pair of bulging storage pouches, having stuffed them with virtually all of the nearby Lightning Aura Soil.
Han Li took the pair of storage pouches before stowing the two Dao Warriors away, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, the starry restriction above the medicine garden suddenly began to tremble violently as a resounding boom rang out.
Han Li''s trio immediately looked up at the sky with startled expressions.
At this point, the starry light barrier had only recovered a tiny fraction of its power, and it quickly shattered in the face of the formidable attacks being directed at it.
"What a rich medicinal aura! This is definitely the medicine garden!"
A burst of cackling rang out overhead, and the voice belonged to none other than Xue Han.
Patriarch Cold me''splexion immediately paled upon hearing this, and he hurriedly made a hand seal while chanting an incantation.
Immediately thereafter, he vanished into the ground beneath his feet.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he also quickly made a hand seal, upon which a faint light barrier enveloped himself and Lu Yuqing''s body before the two of them also vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile, the destroyed starry light barrier dissipated into countless specks of light, and not long after Han Li''s trio had concealed themselves, Xue Han and the group of Ghost Wail Sect cultivators descended onto the scene.
Uponnding in the medicine garden, Xue Han immediately began to inspect his surroundings, upon which his smile instantly stiffened.
Everyone else was also rooted to the spot.
There was not a single spirit nt left in the entire medicine garden. Not only had everything beenpletely uprooted, even the spirit soil nurturing the spirit nts that were previously here had also been taken. The entire ce had been left in a state ofplete chaos, and it would''ve been impossible to identify this ce as a medicine garden had it not been for the rich medicinal aura lingering in the air.
"Someone got here before us!" a yellow-skinned middle-aged man beside Xue Han spat in a vengeful voice.
Xue Han was clearly enraged, and there was a look of burning fury on his face.
Everyone else instantly fell silent at the sight of Xue Han''s incensed expression.
After a while, Xue Han exhaled as the fury on his face receded, and he snapped, "Don''t just stand there like idiots! Go and see if there''s anything left!"
Everyone hurriedly did as they were told, dispersing throughout the medicine garden to conduct a search.
Meanwhile, Xue Han remained still on the spot as he began to inspect the medicine garden with both his eyes and his spiritual sense.
At this moment, there was a faint shadow hovering behind arge rock in a corner of the medicine garden.
Within the shadow stood a pair of blurry figures, and they were none other than Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
There was a solemn look on Han Li''s face as he chanted an incantation while flicking his fingers through the air to release a string of incantation seals, which slowly vanished into the space around him.
Xue Han''s spiritual sense swept over the two of them without pause, clearly having failed to discover their presence.
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, but he still continued to make more hand seals to ensure that they were hidden more securely.
Right at this moment, Xue Han cast his gaze toward the stone altar deep in the medicine garden, and he swept a hand through the air to release a burst of ck light, which vanished into the stone altar in a sh before quickly flying back with the withered vine enveloped within it.
None of the other Ghost Wail Sect cultivators were able to find anything, and they all returned to gather around Xue Han upon seeing this.
"This is... a Profound Heavenly Vine!" Xue Han eximed with an astonished expression as he carefully inspected the vine.
"Looking at the patterns on the vine, that''s definitely a possibility! That means that the Profound Heavenly Treasure on it had to have already been taken by the scoundrel who got here before us!" the yellow-faced man cursed.
"This Profound Heavenly Treasure and all of the other spirit nts here had to have been taken by Cold me and the others! Thankfully, this Light Frost Pce isn''t a very big ce, and they seemed to have onlye through here recently, so if we go after them now, we should be able to catch them," a tall and thin daoist priest immediately said.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes as he eavesdropped on Xue Han and his entourage.
As soon as Xue Han left this ce, he and Lu Yuqing would be able to sneak away unnoticed.
He wasn''t actually all that fearful of Xue Han. With his current powers, even if he couldn''t defeat Xue Han in battle, he would at least be able to ensure self-preservation, but it would be difficult for him to protect himself as well as Lu Yuqing, and he was quite interested in the map in her possession, so he didn''t want to lose her.
After hearing what everyone had to say, Xue Han raised his head and slowly swept his gaze over the medicine garden, then suddenly made a hand seal to release a ball of ck light.
The ball of ck light squirmed around in mid-air like a living creature for a while, then abruptly swelled to form a huge ck that epassed the entire sky above the medicine garden.
Han Li''s expression immediately darkened slightly upon seeing this.
"It''s possible that whoever took the spirit nts and the Profound Heavenly Treasure haven''t gone far, but it''s also possible that they could still be hiding here! We can''t afford to pass up any opportunity to im the Profound Heavenly Treasure!" Xue Han dered as a hint of yearning shed through his eyes.
If he could obtain an immortal treasure refined using a Profound Heavenly Treasure, then his powers would be significantly enhanced, and that would allow him to leapfrog many figures currently ahead of him in the Ubiquitous Pavilion hierarchy.
"But there''s no one here," the yellow-faced man said with furrowed brows.
"Perhaps they used some type of secret technique to conceal themselves, and we''ve simply been unable to detect them up to this point. Master Xue Han is right, we can''t ignore any possibility!" the tall and thin daoist priest said.
"That is indeed possible," the yellow-faced man mused with a contemtive expression.
Xue Han paid no heed to the discussion taking ce around him as he began to chant an incantation, and a ball of silver light flew out of his body, containing a pristine white miniature pagoda that was around half a foot tall with a series of profound patterns engraved upon it.
The miniature pagoda quickly swelled to in excess of the height of a grown man, and all of the patterns on its surface had lit up at once.
A series of dazzling white ripples began to proliferate outward from the pagoda, and all of the surrounding world''s origin qi instantly began to tremble, as if it were resonating with these white ripples.
The white ripples quickly spread over the entire medicine garden, and Han Li and Lu Yuqing had also be epassed within them.
The faint light barrier around the two of them instantly began to tremble, and they were slowly being exposed.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he began to chant his incantation and make hand seals with more urgency.
However, his efforts proved to be futile, and it seemed that they were inevitably going to be exposed.
Right at this moment, a burst of faint light emerged from another corner of the medicine garden, then exploded with a dull thump to reveal Patriarch Cold me with a panicked look on his face.
"I knew it was you, Cold me!" Xue Han said in a cold voice.
Patriarch Cold me shuddered as a hint of despair appeared in his eyes, and he began to frantically look around as if he were searching for something.
"Traitors must die! Kill him!" Xue Han dered, and all of the Ghost Wail Sect cultivators instantly pounced at Patriarch Cold me, led by none other than the tall and thin daoist priest and the yellow-faced man.
The former swept both sleeves through the air to release balls of azure light that contained arcs of azure lightning, which hurtled directly toward Patriarch Cold me, while thetter instantly transformed into a pir of crimson light.
A massive ghostly projection emerged within the pir of light before biting down upon Patriarch Cold me with ferocious power, while ayer of starlight emerged over Patriarch Cold me''s body as he fled from the scene as quickly as he could.
"Layman Bone me! Daoist Clear Bright! How could you..."
Before he had a chance to finish, he was bombarded by a string of spirit treasures.
Chapter 431: Different Area
Chapter 431: Different Area
All of a sudden, a sharp gleam shed through Han Li''s eyes, and he abruptly did away with his concealment secret technique, instantly exposing himself and Lu Yuqing.
Immediately thereafter, he slung an arm around her waist as arcs of golden lightning began to emerge over his body, then converged above them to form a thick bolt of golden lightning that enveloped both of them and erupted into the air.
Xue Han was quite startled by this, and he hurriedly swiveled around, following which a cold smile appeared on his face.
"I knew you couldn''t have gone very far!"
The huge ck above the medicine garden suddenly began to rumble violently while also rapidly bing around twice as thick as before.
At the same time, a series of ck threads shot out of all of the connective points on the, then sped directly toward the bolt of golden lightning that was rising up into the sky.
The ck threads appeared to be moving in a rathernguid fashion, but they were astonishingly fast, even more so than the bolt of golden lightning.
The bolt of golden lightning was weaving from side to side to evade the ck threads as it approached the ck up above, but it was swarmed by the vast expanse of ck threads no more than 100 feet away from the.
A burst of constrictivew powers erupted out of the ck threads, and the bolt of golden lightning instantly faded to reveal Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
The surrounding ck threads didn''t stop even for a moment as they continued to sweep toward the two, and they were as dense as rain, making them impossible to evade.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, but he remained calm and collected as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which began to revolve rapidly before immediately vanishing back into his body.
Immediately thereafter, ayer of faint golden light emerged over his body, and he transformed into a golden blur as he continued to rush toward the ck overhead.
All of a sudden, he had be extraordinarily fast, allowing him to evade the seemingly unavoidable mass of ck threads with ease.
All of this had transpired in the blink of an eye, and before Xue Han had a chance to react, Han Li and Lu Yuqing had already bypassed the storm of ck threads and appeared directly underneath the huge ck.
A hint of surprise shed through Xue Han''s eyes upon seeing this, but he wasn''t overly rmed.
Even though Han Li and Lu Yuqing had managed to bypass the storm of ck threads, there was no way that they would be able to get through the ck.
Not only was the imbued with restrictivew powers, it was extremely resilient, which meant that it could trap even a Golden Immortal, let alone a mere True Immortal like Han Li.
With that in mind, Xue Han stowed away the miniature silver pagoda in his hand, then flew up toward Han Li''s duo.
Right at this moment, an incredibly powerful Golden Immortal Stage aura surged out of Han Li''s body, followed immediately by an eruption of thick and translucent arcs of golden lightning that were far more formidable than the golden lightning from before.
At the same time, a massive crab pincer emerged from Han Li''s body with thick arcs of golden lightning shing around it, and it closed around the huge ck like a giant pair of lightning scissors.
A gash was instantly torn into the, and it wasn''t a veryrge one, butrge enough for two people to pass through.
Xue Han''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this.
Han Li immediately flew out of the opening as a faint shadow, then fled into the distance without any hesitation, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
Right after Han Li got away, Xue Han immediately arrived outside the ck as well, and he cast his gaze toward the direction that Han Li had fled in as he roared in a furious voice, "After him!"
......
In a dense forest to the left of the mountain summit.
A streak of golden light descended out of the sky, then faded to reveal Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
"Brother Han, why are you flying away from this ce?" Lu Yuqing asked with a slightly panicked expression.
"We''re being chased by a Golden Immortal. If I were on my own, perhaps I would be able to outrun him, but I can''t guarantee the same if you''re with me, and if we flee to the sea, there won''t be anywhere that we can take cover, so it''ll be very difficult to shake them off," Han Li exined while quickly scouring his surroundings.
Lu Yuqing''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and she was very thankful that Han Li hadn''t abandoned her.
"Having said that, hiding here isn''t a permanent solution, either. We have to conceal our auras and hide elsewhere on the ind. Do you have an aura concealment spirit treasure on you?" Han Li asked.
"I do, my father gave me one before I came here," Lu Yuqing immediately replied with a nod.
She then flipped a hand over to produce an extremely thin white veil garment that she promptly put on.
Ayer of faint white light instantly emerged over the veil garment, and it vanished out of sight, having fused into her clothes in a sh.
At the same time, her aura had also be very subtle and difficult to detect.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense over her momentarily, then gave a pleased nod as he said, "That''ll do. Once we open up some distance between them and ourselves, we should be able to remain hidden."
At the same time, he was also using his Transient Guild and an aura concealment secret technique topletely stifle his own aura.
After that, the two of them made their way into the dense forest in the opposite direction from the medicine garden.
Not long after their departure, four figures descended out of the sky,nding where they had been standing not long ago.
"Their auras have vanished here," Layman Bone me said with tightly furrowed brows.
"They must be hiding like cowards because they''re scared of us!" a burly man with a formidable physique chuckled coldly.
"We have to find them. Otherwise, we''ll have to face the wrath of Master Xue Han," another Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivator said with a concerned expression.
"No need to panic, I have something here that should be able to help us track them down," Daoist Clear Bright said with a smile.
He then flipped a hand over to produce a miniature golden cauldron, on the lid of which was engraved a peculiar-looking beast with a remarkably long trunk of a nose.
Its eyes were closed, and its trunk was coiled, giving it a rather adorable appearance.
Daoist Clear Bright then summoned a piece of ck incense before tossing it into the miniature cauldron after setting alight. After that, he chanted an incantation beforeying a finger onto the head of the strange beast on the cauldron''s lid, and the beast''s eyelids instantly sprang open to reveal a pair of ruby-like eyes.
It began sniffing around the area before turning its trunk in the direction that Han Li''s duo had departed in before releasing a cloud of dense white smoke.
"This spirit cauldron can sniff out the magic power, scent, aura, and many other telltale signs left behind by cultivators in the air. In particr, it''s very sensitive to the bodily aroma of women. However, it won''t work if too much time has passed, so we have to get after them right away," Daoist Clear Bright said.
The other three Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators were ecstatic to see this, and they hurriedly set off in the direction that the cloud of smoke was pointing in.
Meanwhile, Han Li and Lu Yuqing had arrived in a dpidated garden.
All of the pavilions and buildings had already copsed, and there wereyers of slick moss and masses of tangled vines clinging to everything.
The garden wasn''t veryrge, and it had been constructed on the outskirts of the forest, which meant that leaving the garden equated to emerging from the forest.
The exit of the garden was a semi-copsed circr archway, outside of which was a small winding path that was covered in weeds leading all the way down the mountain.
"Someone''sing after us!" Han Li suddenly said as he stopped in his tracks and turned around.
"How? We''ve already concealed our auras!" Lu Yuqing eximed with a surprised expression.
"We may have concealed our auras, but that doesn''t mean that they don''t have other ways to track us. If worsees to worst, we''ll have to try and get away..."
Before Han Li finished his sentence, his voice suddenly cut off as a surprised look appeared on his face.
"What is it, Brother Han?" Lu Yuqing asked with a slightly anxious expression.
Han Li offered no response as he hurried over to the semi-copsed stone archway before carefully examining it.
Lu Yuqing also followed along and began to inspect the archway with tightly furrowed brows, and each of them were using their respective ocr ability.
Momentster, Lu Yuqing withdrew her gaze as she asked in a puzzled manner, "Is there something special about this archway, Brother Han?"
Han Li shook his head in response. "Do you not see anything, either? Looks like it must''ve been my imagination then. Let''s go."
With that, the two of them stepped through the stone archway, but as soon as they did so, the space around them instantly began to warp like a sheet of paper that had suddenly been poked inward, resulting inyers of creases.
Han Li was quite startled to see this, but it was toote for him to backtrack, and he stumbled forward before steadying himself.
Lu Yuqing also tipped forward involuntarily, and she would''ve fallen on her face had Han Li not reacted sufficiently quickly to catch her.
Upon witnessing the scene thatid out before her, Lu Yuqing immediately eximed, "Where are we right now?"
A thin and long mountain range that stretched for hundreds of kilometers had appeared in front of them, and it seemed that the mountain range was connected to the ind that they were currently on.
Han Li turned back to discover that the stone archway was still there, but it seemed very out of ce in this setting.
"It looks like this archway is the entrance to another area," Han Li mused.
Chapter 432: Realm Traversing Plaque
Chapter 432: Realm Traversing que
"That''s incredible! Neither of us detected any spatial fluctuations before we stepped through the archway!" Lu Yuqing said with an amazed expression.
"I have a feeling that perhaps this is a one-way passageway, and the triggering mechanism is on this side, so it was previously only possible to go from here to the garden. However, it seems like it''s since be a two-way passageway, perhaps due to the damage to the archway," Han Li spected.
Lu Yuqing immediately began to inspect the archway upon hearing this, and sure enough, there were indeed some faint spatial fluctuations emanating from it.
"Now that we''re in this hidden space, it should be very difficult for them to find us," Lu Yuqing said.
"Even so, we can''t getcent. After all, they managed to track us down earlier, did they not?"
Lu Yuqing fell silent upon hearing this.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li suddenly swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of golden light, which transformed into Daoist Xie.
Daoist Xie took a nce at Lu Yuqing, then said to Han Li through voice transmission, "Fellow Daoist Han, while it''s true that you''re my current owner, haven''t you been summoning me a bit too frequently these past few days?"
"My apologies, but we''re in a very perilous situation right now, so I have no choice but to call upon you," Han Li replied with a wry smile as he flipped a hand over to produce a storage pouch. "Here are some Immortal Origin Stones in case I need to call upon you for battle. Will that be enough?"
Daoist Xie epted the storage pouch, then inspected its contents briefly before replying, "That should be enough unless I''m required to use certain special secret techniques."
"Good. In that case, you can go back and rest. The next time I summon you will most likely be in the heat of battle," Han Li said with a nod.
Daoist Xie flew back up Han Li''s sleeve as a streak of golden light upon hearing this.
Lu Yuqing was watching in silence, and she was rather curious about Daoist Xie''s identity, but knew not to ask unnecessary questions.
"Let''s try and figure out what this ce is before we do anything else," Han Li said as he inspected the mountain range with his eyes and his spiritual sense.
Momentster, he withdrew his spiritual sense, and his brows furrowed slightly as he said, "This ce is rather strange. It seems to be an independent space. Whenever I try to release my spiritual sense beyond the boundaries of the mountain range, it hits an invisible wall."
"Then what should we do now? Should we explore the mountain range?" Lu Yuqing asked.
Han Li pondered the question for a moment, then replied, "If this is an isted area, then there''s definitely going to be more than one entrance and exit, so let''s go and search the mountain range. Perhaps we''ll be able to find a way out."
Lu Yuqing naturally raised no objections to this, and the two of them immediately set off, flying deep into the mountain range as two streaks of light.
Only while in mid-air did Han Li discover that the mountain range wasn''t actually in the shape of a straight line. Instead, it split apart down the middle at some point to produce two different branches.
"Which way should we go, Brother Han?" Lu Yuqing asked as she looked at the crossroads down below.
Han Li released his spiritual sense once again to try and detect something, but the results were rather dissatisfactory.
"I can''t tell any difference between the two branches at the moment, so we''ll just have to explore them one by one and..."
Before Han Li had a chance to finish his sentence, he suddenly discovered that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in his body had be rather restless for no apparent reason, and they were expressing some type of emotion to him through their spiritual connection.
It was a mixture of excitement, surprise, and agitation...
Han Li immediately flipped a hand over to summon one of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords,and it instantly shot forth toward the right branch of the mountain range.
If Han Li hadn''t forced it to a halt through their spiritual connection, the sword would have flown away without him.
"For some reason, my bonded flying sword seems to be attracted to that branch of the mountain range," Han Li said as he caught the flying sword in his grasp.
"That must mean that there''s something noteworthy there. We don''t know which branch to choose anyway, so why don''t we let the sword decide for us?" Lu Yuqing suggested with a smile.
Han Li considered this proposal momentarily, then nodded in response.
Thus, the two of them flew toward the right branch of the mountain range, but upon arriving at the point where the two branches intersected, Han Li suddenly stopped in his tracks, then cast his gaze in the direction of the stone archway as he asked, "Can I have a piece of fabric from your dress, Fellow Daoist Lu?"
Lu Yuqing was rather puzzled by this request, but she duly obliged, lifting the skirt of her dress before tearing off a piece and handing it to Han Li.
After epting the piece of fabric from her, Han Li summoned a pair of giant ape puppets, then tied the strip of fabric around the finger of one of the puppets.
After that, he injected a wisp of his spiritual sense into the body of the other puppet, then instructed them to fly toward the left branch of the mountain range.
Lu Yuqing''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and she praised, "That''s so smart of you, Brother Han! Even if you those people manage to track us up to this point, they''ll surely be fooled."
"If we''re lucky and they really do end up going the wrong way, regardless of whether they trigger any restrictions or engage my puppets in battle, as long as they make some noise, we''ll be alerted to their presence in advance," Han Li said.
Lu Yuqing nodded in response, and at the same time, she couldn''t help but wonder exactly what Han Li had to have gone through to make him so vignt and resourceful.
"Alright, let''s go," Han Li said, then flew toward the right branch of the mountain range, and Lu Yuqing hurriedly followed along.
The two of them had only just arrived above that branch of the mountain range when the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in Han Li''s hand suddenly began to tremble violently, and it flew down with tremendous force, dragging Han Li downward.
At the same time, a burst of azure light suddenly appeared within Han Li''s sleeve, and immediately thereafter, his sleeve abruptly burst open as one azure flying sword emerged after another, all of which were desperately trying to fly down as quickly as they could.
Han Li was quite startled by this turn of events, and he hurriedly closed his sleeve to prevent the rest of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords from flying out. At the same time, he tried to summon the dozens of flying swords that had already flown away back to himself, but they refused to heed his call, and it was as if they had gonepletely out of his control.
Han Li took a deep breath, then flew down after his flying swords, while Lu Yuqing also followed along without much hesitation.
Uponnding on the ground, Han Li was rmed to discover that his spiritual connection with the Azure Cloudswarm Bamboo Swords that had already flown away had suddenly been severed, so he was unable to sense them at all.
He forcibly suppressed the agitation that was rising up in his heart as he inspected his surroundings, and he found himself standing in an abandoned garden that was overrun with weeds and shrubs.
There seemed to be a small brick path beneath his feet, but it was barely visible at all underneath all of the soil and dead leaves and branches.
Han Li wore a grim expression as he scoured the surroundings with his spiritual sense, but to no avail.
At the same time, all of his remaining flying swords were still desperately trying to fly out of his sleeve.
Han Li took a nce down at his own bulging sleeve, then suddenly let go, releasing the flying sword in his grasp.
The flying sword instantly flew out of his grasp before hurtling deeper into the garden in a sh.
Han Li immediately focused his gaze intently on the flying sword as he set off in pursuit.
The flying sword flew straight to the deepest part of the garden, then plunged itselfpletely into a ck tombstone that was around half the height of a grown man.
The ck tombstone had clearly been weathered by the passage of time, and aside from ayer of dark and slick moss on its surface, there wasn''t any text inscribed upon it.
Behind the tombstone was a bulging mound that appeared to be no different from an ordinary grave.
Han Li swept his gaze over the ck tombstone with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and he was immediately greeted by the sight of a burst of spatial ripples that were invisible to the naked eye.
His brows furrowed slightly as he approached the tombstone, thenid a hand down upon it, and ayer of ck light instantly surged over the tombstone, then shed a few times before fading away.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he pressed down on different parts of the tombstone with the palm of his hand, but it disyed no reaction other than that brief sh of ck light.
At this point, Lu Yuqing had also arrived on the scene, and shended beside Han Li before turning her attention to the tombstone, upon which a hint of recognition shed through her eyes.
"Do you recognize this thing?" Han Li asked.
"If I''m not mistaken, this should be a Realm Traversing que. We have one in the ind master''s manor," Lu Yuqing replied.
"Realm Traversing que? What''s that?" Han Li asked.
"It''s a type of spatial treasure that''s simr to a teleportation array, except it only facilitates one-way teleportation," Lu Yuqing exined.
"Do you know of any way to activate this que?" Han Li hurriedly asked.
Chapter 433: The Lost Sword Sect
Chapter 433: The Lost Sword Sect
"I can give it a try," Lu Yuqing replied, then strode forward as she flipped a hand over to summon an octagonal ck jade pendant, upon which were engraved some very strange spiral patterns that wereyered on top of one another in a rather convoluted fashion.
"This is the key for the Realm Traversing que at our ind master''s manor. Apparently, it was passed down in our n from generations past along with the Realm Traversing que, but I don''t know if this key will actually work on this que as well," Lu Yuqing said as she cast an incantation seal onto the jade pendant.
A streak of azure light flew into the pendant, following which the spiral patterns on its surface instantly began to revolve, and it released a streak of ck light onto the Realm Traversing que.
A spiral pattern also appeared on the Realm Traversing que, and it warped and twisted momentarily before transforming into a palm-sized ck vortex.
The vortex was constantly fluctuating in size, as if there were two conflicting forces trying to expand and contract it in unison.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
Right at this moment, Lu Yuqing suddenly said, "Brother Han, it looks like this key of mine isn''t a perfect match with this Realm Traversing que, so I''ll need you to inject more immortal spiritual power into it to support me!"
Han Li immediatelyid a hand upon Lu Yuqing''s jade pendant upon hearing this, and his immense immortal spiritual power surged out of his body before injecting itself into the jade pendant.
The pir of ck light shooting out of the jade pendant instantly became thicker, causingyers uponyers of rippling ck light to emerge over the entire que.
At the same time, the palm-sized vortex at the center of the que seemed to have ovee the mysterious force that was trying to suppress it, and it was steadily expanding.
An ted look appeared in both Lu Yuqing and Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
The ck vortex on the Realm Traversing que began to revolve faster and faster, and a burst of tremendous suction force erupted out of it, instantly pulling in Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
Han Li felt the entire world spin around him, and his vision abruptly faded before quickly returning again.
However, before he had a chance to steady himself and inspect his surroundings, the remaining flying swords erupted into a frenzy once again.
This time, he didn''t even get a chance to stop them before all of them burst out of his sleeve, then shot up into the sky like dozens of rising azure dragons, vanishing into the clouds up above in the blink of an eye.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he took a nce down at his own empty sleeve, then swept his gaze over his surroundings.
Directly in front of him stood an enormous mountain that reached all the way up into the clouds.
The mountain was covered in dense vegetation, and it was thriving with vitality, in stark contrast with the environment from before.
Everything here waspletely different from the earlier setting, to the point that Han Li was even beginning to suspect that he had fallen into an illusion.
However, after inspecting the area with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes and his Eye of Truth, he confirmed that this was, in fact, the real world.
Right as he was looking around with a perplexed expression, Lu Yuqing stumbled out of the space beside him.
She was also quite befuddled by what she was seeing, and she couldn''t help but ask, "Have already entered the Realm Traversing que, Brother Han?"
"I presume so. This ce is a little strange. Right now, all of my bonded flying swords have flown onto that mountain," Han Li replied as he pointed at the mountain summit up ahead.
Han Li was feeling a little agitated from having his spiritual connection with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords severed, but now that he had entered the Realm Traversing que, the spiritual connection had been restored, and he was feeling a lot more reassured.
"Those Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators shouldn''t be able toe after us now. If your swords are on that mountain, then let''s retrieve them and meet back up with our fellow daoists from the True me Sect as soon as possible," Lu Yuqing said.
Han Li nodded in response, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light that enveloped both himself and Lu Yuqing before rising up into the sky.
However, he had only risen to an altitude of no more than 1,000 feet when the sky above him suddenly took on apletely differentplexion, and a burst of invisible pressure came crashing down without any warning.
Immediately thereafter, the clouds up above descended a little, and a burst of incredibly formidable sword qi surged down from the heavens. Countless streaks of semi-transparent swordlight swooped down from above with unstoppable might, and Lu Yuqing''s face instantly turned deathly pale upon seeing this.
Han Li was hovering in mid-air, and specks of blue light emerged over his body as he threw a punch at the vast expanse of swordlight in the sky.
A burst of invisible force erupted out of his fist, hurtling directly upward, and a resounding boom rang out as the entire sky trembled violently, while a string of audible cracks rang out, as if the very space itself had been shattered.
All of the streaks of swordlight were instantly slowed down in their descent, and countless streaks of swordlight were destroyed altogether, exploding into innumerable translucent shards that erupted in all directions to create a huge opening.
Han Li immediately flew toward the opening upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to reach it, the clouds up above descended even further, and ayer of shiny swordlight emerged to fill the hole that Han Li was trying to exploit.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this as a thrust a palm upward, and a burst of ck light instantly shot out of his hand, then transformed into his Heavy Water True Axis before hurtling directly upward.
With the infusion of second level heavy water, the Heavy Water True Axis had be incredibly formidable, and the Water Dao Runes on its surface were radiating dazzling ck light, making it resemble a ck sun.
At the same time, it was revolving rapidly like a giant ck millstone, pulverizing all of the streaks of swordlight that were descending upon it.
However, as moreyers of swordlight were destroyed, the clouds up above descended further and further. The swordlight in the sky was bing denser and denser as a result, and the pressure in the air had be so severe that Han Li felt as if the surrounding space had be slightly warped.
At this point, Han Li had arrived at the conclusion that if he were to go all-out and resist the swordlight descending from the heavens without any regard for consequences, then perhaps he would be able to force his way through thanks to his treasures and his Profound Immortal Physique, but doing so while avoiding injury was far from a sure thing.
There were potentially many more perilous situations that he was going to have to face in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, so he wasn''t willing to take the risk.
Thus, he descended back down to the ground as he said to Lu Yuqing, "The sword qi here is too vast for me to oppose, so we have no choice but to scale the mountain by foot."
"That''s fine. At our speed, it shouldn''t take us long to get to the top even on foot," Lu Yuqing replied with a nod.
With that, the two of them set off toward the foot of the mountain along the stone path beneath their feet.
After Han Li returned to the ground, the clouds that were bearing down from above slowly returned to their original altitude, and Han Li and Lu Yuqing didn''t encounter any further obstructions as they continued their journey on foot.
Upon arriving at the foot of the mountain, the two of them were greeted by the sight of a tall stone archway, upon which was a massive que that bore some golden seal text characters.
"Boundless Sword Sect"
The strokes of the characters were strong and forceful, but also full of casual ir. They were as sharp as a sword, yet also wild and unrestrained, unlike the straight edge of a de.
As soon as Han Li''s gaze fell upon the que, he was immediately struck by a burst of tremendous sword intent, and he reflexively stumbled back a few steps with a surprised look on his face.
The Boundless Sword Sect had always been shrouded in mystery, and it had suddenly disappeared over a million years ago. Never had Han Li anticipated that he would discover it here.
As these thoughts were running through his mind, he took a nce at Lu Yuqing, only to find that she wasn''t disying any special reaction. Perhaps it was because she was unable to sense the sword intent imbued within the que due to herck of affinity for the way of the sword.
Could there be some kind of sword restraining array that drew in my Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords?
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li strode through the stone archway with Lu Yuqing, and they continued their way up the mountain.
The ancient mountain path snaked up the mountain in circles like a spiraling staircase, and as Han Li and Lu Yuqing scaled the mountain, they encountered many mountains that were concealed within the undergrowth.
Upon closer inspection, they discovered that all of them were ordinary buildings that weren''t being protected by any arrays or restrictions, and most of them had already be extremely dpidated with age.
The closer they drew to the mountain summit, the peaceful the surrounding environment became, and there was a forbidding atmosphere in the air, a notion that certainly wasn''t helped by thepleteck of birds and beasts in the forest.
As they were passing through a green bamboo forest, Han Li suddenly stopped in his tracks as he spotted a dark green bamboo cabin deep within the forest.
After a brief moment of hesitation, he diverged from the stone path and made his way into the bamboo forest.
Lu Yuqing was rather curious about why Han Li had suddenly changed directions, but she remained silent and trailed along behind him.
Not long after making his way into the forest, he noticed some strange signs. For example, there were many sword marks on the bamboo trees that he was passing by, and the marks were all quite dark, clearly indicating that they had been inflicted many years ago.
Momentster, he stopped in his tracks, then grabbed onto a thick bamboo tree beside him before tightening his grip around it.
The bamboo tree immediately began to creak and groan, but it didn''t shatter right away.
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this, and he tightened his grip even further.
Finally, the bamboo tree exploded, sending countless pieces of shrapnel that were as hard as steel flying in all directions.
Chapter 434: Sword Resolution
Chapter 434: Sword Resolution
"What kind of bamboo is this? It''s so resilient!" Lu Yuqing asked with a surprised expression.
"It should be a type of Purple Essence Bamboo, one of the hardest types of trees in existence," Han Li replied.
He continued onward while speaking, making his way up the steps in front of the bamboo cabin before stepping through the entrance.
The cabin was barely furnished, with only a woven bamboo eight immortals table coupled with four long benches in the outer room, and seven bamboo beds in the inner room.
"These beds are so small and narrow... It feels like they''re meant for children," Lu Yuqing mused with slightly furrowed brows.
"It''s said that the Boundless Sword Sect was extremely strict in its recruitment of disciples. There was never anyrge intake of disciples. Instead, existing disciples were sent out to search for children with supreme swordsmanship attitude, and these children were nurtured from a young age. This is most likely some of those disciples stayed in their youth," Han Li spected.
"I see. I''ve read some records about this sect by chance in an ancient scripture, and I recall that the sect had extremely few members, all of whom very rarely left the sect, so it was a very mysterious entity, but I don''t know any more beyond that," Lu Yuqing said.
"If disciples of this sect wanted to leave as sect disciples, then they had to reach the Golden Immortal Stage first. Otherwise, they would have to stay in the sect until the day they died. During its heyday, there was once a story about the sect having seven Golden Immortals traveling the world together, but not many people know of this story nowadays," Han Li said.
"How do you know about this, Brother Han?" Lu Yuqing asked with a curious expression.
"Technically, I''m a swordsman myself, so I keep an eye out for things like this in my reading. There are many more legends surrounding the Boundless Sword Sect, and the most renowned one pertains to the Boundless Sword Sea in its inner sect," Han Li continued.
"What''s that?" Lu Yuqing asked with an intrigued expression.
Han Li began to make his way out of the bamboo cabin as he exined, "It''s said that the founder of the Boundless Sword Sect, the Boundless Daoist, had a hobby of collecting swords. Regardless of whether it''s a battle of life and death or just a casual spar, he would always take the flying swords of the opponents that he defeated to be kept in the sect''s sword pond.
¡°All of the disciples that he took under his wing adopted the same tradition as well, and whenever they left the sect to explore the world, they would search for swords to bring back to the sect, and over time, the Boundless Sword Pond turned into the Boundless Sword Sea."
After emerging from the bamboo forest, the two of them continued up the winding mountain path, arriving at a stone staircase that extended all the way up into the clouds halfway up the mountain.
To the left of the stone staircase stood a giant ck rock, upon which were inscribed the words "Sword Resolution Stone" in antiquated characters.
Han Li strode over to the giant rock, and upon close inspection, he discovered that there were two small lines of white text beneath the words "Sword Resolution Stone".
"True Immortals shall not take flight here, all swords of this world must bow their heads"
Every single character was giving off an indescribable aura of sharpness, as if each and every stroke wasprised of a streak of sword qi. It was clear that the inscription had been made by the same person as the one who had made the "Boundless Sword Sect" inscription on the que at the entrance.
"I can understand the first line alluding to how even True Immortals are unable to fly here, but what does the second line mean?" Lu Yuqing murmured to herself.
"The Boundless Sword Sea of the Boundless Sword Sect contains countless swords, and there''s norger collection of swords in this world. That''s most likely what it means for all swords to have to bow their heads. However, what I''m struggling to understand is what this Sword Resolution Stone is supposed to be," Han Li mused.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of thunderous rumbling suddenly rang out from the cloud above, and a burst of golden light emerged before spreading in all directions.
Han Li immediately looked to see what was happening overhead, while Lu Yuqing hurriedly asked, "What''s happening, Brother Han?"
"Some type of restrictions seems to have been activated above the clouds. My spiritual connection with my bonded flying swords have been severed again," Han Li replied with tightly furrowed brows.
Immediately thereafter, he turned and strode onto the first stone step beforeunching himself diagonally upward, scaling several hundred steps with just a single leap.
Lu Yuqing immediately followed along in the same fashion, and the closer they drew to the mountain summit, the more humid the air became.
By the time they had reached an altitude of several thousand feet, they found themselves enshrouded in a cloud of misty water vapor.
As they traversed through the sea of mist, their visibility was severely hampered, and their spiritual sense was also significantly restricted.
"Something''s not right with this mist... I can''t see through it with my spirit eye ability, so be careful," Han Li cautioned as he conjured up ayer of protective spiritual light over his body and elerated up the staircase.
Lu Yuqing was following along close on his heels with her ocr ability activated, and all of a sudden, she yelled, "Look out, Brother Han!"
As soon as her voice trailed off, two streaks of golden sword light came flying out of the dense mist above Han Li''s head before hurtling down with one crossed over the other.
Han Li looked up to find that the two streaks of swordlight had been unleashed by a pair of tall wooden puppets with long and slender limbs.
Instead of retreating in the face of the attack, Han Li lunged forward instead, flying straight under the two streaks of swordlight.
As soon as he steadied himself, he instantly swiveled around, and ayer of azure light surfaced over his palm as he swung it toward the puppets in a chopping motion.
The two puppets remainedpletely still, but their heads suddenly swiveled around 180 degrees to face Han Li in a rather unsettling fashion.
At the same time, the joints of their sword-wielding hands also swiveled around, and one of the puppets parried Han Li''s palm attack with its sword, while the other pierced its sword straight at Han Li''s chest.
Han Li hurriedly sprang back in retreat to evade the attack, and he was feeling quite surprised.
The two puppets weren''t giving off any aura at all, making it impossible to gauge their power level, but the swords that they were wielding were extremely formidable, as evidenced by the fact that it was able to slice through the azure light around his hand with ease.
Immediately thereafter, several more streaks of swordlight appeared above his head, then intertwined to form a golden sword that swooped down upon him.
Han Li raised a fist before throwing a punch upward, releasing an azure fist projection, which was instantly sliced apart upon contact with the golden sword.
Han Li swept a palm through the air once again, and this time, his Heavy Water True Axis flew out of his sleeve before rising upward like a revolving millstone.
The golden sword appeared to be quite formidable, but uponing into contact with the ck light emanating from the Heavy Water True Axis, it instantly melted away like snow tossed into a fire.
Right at this moment, five more streaks of swordlight shed through the air, and five additional wooden puppets appeared around Han Li without any warning.
As soon as these five puppets appeared, they were joined by the previous two puppets, which were charging at Han Li from behind with their swords aimed at the back of his chest.
However, before they had a chance to stride, two gusts of fierce azure wind rose up from down below, enveloping the pair of puppets before dragging them downward.
Han Li looked down to find Lu Yuqing wielding an azure feather fan that was radiating dazzling spiritual light, and with each wave, it was generating gusts of azure wind that trapped the wooden puppets inside.
Han Li made a beckoning motion with one hand, then thrust it forward, and the Heavy Water True Axis above his head instantly hurtled directly toward the puppet directly in front of him.
The puppet reacted quite quickly, making a hand seal with one hand while thrusting its longsword downward with the other.
A burst of golden light appeared on the tip of the longsword, and a massive golden sword projection erupted forth, crashing heavily into the Heavy Water True Axis.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and the golden sword projection was instantly vanquished, while the sword-wielding puppet''s body was also inundated and pulverized by the ck light surging out of the Heavy Water True Axis.
After absorbing so much second level heavy water, the Heavy Water True Axis had be far more formidable than before.
The other four sword-wielding puppets swiveled their heads around to lock their eyes on Han Li, and at the same time, a peculiar rune on each of their bes began to radiate golden light as they thrust the tips of their swords toward the heavens.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze upward, and a sense of foreboding instantly welled up in his heart.
Sure enough, the faint glimmers of light began to appear above the mist that enshrouded the entire area, and the sky quickly began to rumble as if a thunderstorm were approaching.
"Come to me, Fellow Daoist Lu!" he hurriedly yelled.
Lu Yuqing immediately swept her fan through the air without any hesitation, releasing two fierce gusts of wind that blew the pair of puppets aside, then flew over to Han Li''s side in a sh.
She had only just gotten under the Heavy Water True Axis when a burst of deafening rumbling began to ring out overhead, and a vast expanse of golden radiance descended from the heavens.
It was a mass of countless streaks of golden swordlight identical to the ones that Han Li had to contend with while attempting to fly to the mountain summit.
Those streaks of swordlight had only been present to prevent people from taking flight, whereas this golden sword array was purely designed to kill its target, so the swordlight within it was far more formidable than before.
Not only that, but the descending streaks of swordlight were also imbued with faint hints of metalw fluctuations, and that was why Han Li had called Lu Yuqing to his side so urgently.
Chapter 435: Sea of Swords
Chapter 435: Sea of Swords
A resounding boom rang out as the vast expanse of golden swordlight passed through the surrounding mist, then came crashing down upon the Heavy Water True Axis like a waterfall.
A string of loud ngs rang out in rapid session overhead, and Han Li immediately made a hand seal, upon which a vast expanse of ck light erupted out of the axis alongside several dozen bursts of heavy water, which intertwined in mid-air to form an enormous heavy water vortex.
Upon falling into the vortex, all of the golden swordlight was shredded into pieces without being able to put up any resistance.
All of a sudden, the Heavy Water True Axis shrank down to the size of a normal shield at Han Li''s behest, then flew through the air as a long streak of ck light, hurtling directly toward one of the wooden puppets.
The puppet remained still on the spot as it raised its sword to defend itself against the Heavy Water True Axis, and right as the two were about to sh, Han Li suddenly curled a finger upward, upon which the Heavy Water True Axis circled around in mid-air, avoiding the puppet''s sword before striking it on the head.
A loud thump rang out as the puppet''s head exploded amid an eruption of ck light, and its headless body instantly fell away to the side as if it had been sapped of all of its strength.
Meanwhile, the golden longsword in its hand flew toward the mountain summit as a bright streak of light as if it had been summoned.
The other puppets paid no heed to this at all as they continued toe after Han Li and Lu Yuqing with their swords raised.
We can''t afford to waste any more time here!
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he made a beckoning motion, and the Heavy Water True Axis instantly flew back to him before hovering above the palm of his hand, where it revolved incessantly.
At the same time, the Mantra Treasured Axis in his body began to revolve in reverse, and he abruptly shot through the air as a blurry shadow.
A string of afterimages suddenly shed over the stone staircase, then abruptly drew to a halt.
Immediately thereafter, a string of explosions rang out as four of the six remaining puppets fell to the ground, having been decapitated.
Their longswords also flew toward the mountain summit as if they had been sucked away by some type of invisible force.
Meanwhile, Han Li took a moment to steady himself, and hisplexion was looking a little pale. His breathing was also a littlebored, and his Heavy Water True Axis was gradually slowing down in its revolution.
Simultaneously using the Mantra Treasured Axis and the Heavy Water True Axis was extremely taxing on his immortal spiritual power, and at his current cultivation base, he couldn''t keep this up for long.
Lu Yuqing was still locked in battle against a pair of puppets, and she was rather taken aback to see both of them being decapitated in the blink of an eye.
Right at this moment, a burst of thunderous rumbling suddenly rang out from the mountain summit, and the entire mountain began to tremble violently.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly as he cast his gaze upward.
"There''s no time to waste, Brother Han. Leave me here and go retrieve your flying swords, I''ll be able to look after myself," Lu Yuqing suddenly said.
Han Li hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then nodded in response. "Alright, make sure to be careful."
After that, he sprang up thedder once again, and it didn''t take long before he vanished into the dense mist up above.
In the wake of Han Li''s departure, the two remaining puppets immediately tried to give chase, only for Lu Yuqing to appear in front of them in a sh.
At this moment, there was a rather peculiar look on her face, one that she had never adopted before. She appeared a little cold and distant, but also rather confused and disoriented, while a hint of moisture had appeared in her eyes.
With a flick of her wrist, she stowed the azure feather fan away, and it was reced by a silver longsword that was clearly a treasure of a far inferior caliber to the azure fan.
She looked down at the longsword in her hand as she murmured to herself, "Why does it suddenly feel like using a sword isn''t so bad?"
This wasn''t said in a joking manner. Instead, she seemed to be genuinely confused, as if she didn''t know herself why she suddenly wanted to use the sword.
......
After emerging from the area enshrouded within the dense mist, everything in front of Han Li immediately cleared up, and only then did he discover that he was still situated halfway up the mountain. There was still no end in sight to the stone staircase, but as Han Li continued to scale the staircase, he encountered no further obstructions.
Upon reaching the top, Han Li made his way along a bluestone mountain path toward the center of the mountain summit, and he spotted what appeared to be a daoist temple from afar, concealed behind a green bamboo forest.
The daoist temple wasn''t veryrge, and there were all types of designs engraved onto its white walls and ck tiled roof, giving it a rather intricate appearance.
Han Li naturally had no time to appreciate the scenery right now, and after verifying that there weren''t any restrictions in the daoist temple, he pushed its ck gate open before making his way directly inside.
The daoist temple was barely furnished at all. The first two of its three courtyards wasprised of around a dozen halls, most of which were empty, while the rest only had some unidentifiable deity statues inside.
There were also two halls that appeared to be pill refinement chambers with pill cauldrons ced inside, while the shelves on the walls were lined with containers of different sizes.
Han Li had no time to verify whether the contents of the containers could still be used, so he simply stowed everything away with a sweep of his sleeve.
The final courtyard of the daoist temple was quite far away from the first two, and down the center was a wide path paved with white stone bs.
Han Li made his way down the path before arriving in front of arge hall.
There were seven or eight wooden puppets that were identical to the ones that he had encountered earlier strewn over the ground outside the hall''s entrance.
Han Li swept his gaze over his surroundings, and he quickly noticed that the wooden frames of the hall''s doors and windows were all engraved withplex runes, clearly indicating that there was a formidable defensive restriction set up here.
However, the restriction had already been severely damaged, and there were wisps of residual sword qi present in many of the important points on the array, indicating that the damage had been inflicted not long ago.
There was a huge ck que hanging directly above the center of the hall''s entrance, upon which was inscribed the words "Ancestral Hall" in flowing golden characters.
Despite the shared name, the ancestral halls of cultivating sects and those of the mortal world were actually very different.
The ancestral halls of the mortal world were generally used to worship the memorial tablets of deceased ancestors. However, cultivators of the Immortal Realm led extremely long lives, so aside from a select few memorial tablets, the ancestral halls of the cultivating sects mostly contained treasures left behind by ancestors and founders.
These treasures weren''t necessarily extremely powerful. Instead, most of them were personal treasures that these ancestors and founders liked to keep with them during their cultivation journeys.
These treasures had the closest ties with the sect, and as a result, it gradually turned into a tradition for treasures of this nature to be kept in the ancestral halls.
An ancestral hall was the heart of a sect''s lineage, and it was often the center of a sect''s fortune. There were many stories of treasures being kept in ancestral halls that became nurtured by the fortune of a sect over time, thereby attaining sentience on their own.
A very fortunate sect disciple could be chosen by one such sentient treasure while engaging in worship at the ancestral hall, and that would often be the beginning of a meteoric rise.
The furnishings in the Boundless Sword Sect''s ancestral hall were very simplistic. There were two rows of eternal memps in the hall, the mes in which had, ironically, already burned out. Down the center of the hall between the two rows ofmps were four worship tables standing on tforms of ascending heights.
If we take each tier as one generation, that means that the Boundless Sword Sect''s heritage onlysted four generations...
Han Li was initially rather surprised by this observation, but it then quickly made sense to him considering the sect''s method of disciple recruitment.
Han Li swept his gaze over the hall to find that aside from worship tables on the second and third tiers, which had several memorial tablets ced on them in a haphazard fashion, the remaining two tables only held some sandalwood tters, all of which werepletely empty.
Han Li''s gaze lingered momentarily on the worship table on the highest tier to find that there was no memorial tablet for the Boundless Daoist there.
It looks like the Boundless Daoist was still alive when the Boundless Sword Sect fell...
Right as Han Li was inspecting his surroundings, a crisp and pleasant chime suddenly rang out from the rear of the ancestral hall.
The sound wasn''t very loud, but it was remarkably prative, traveling all the way here, and Han Li was able to hear it clearly even though he hadn''t been listening out for it.
He immediately left the ancestral hall, then made his way toward the mountain behind the hall along a small bluestone path.
After walking for a few minutes, Han Li arrived on a downward-sloping hill.
Standing before him was a ck rock that was only half the height of a grown man. It was a rather unremarkable structure, and it bore the words "Sword Sea" inscribed in antiquated text.
Han Li stood on the edge of the hill as he cast his gaze downward, and he spotted a glimmer of light in a meadow down below. He took a closer look, and a stunned look instantly appeared on his face.
As it turned out, there were countless flying swords plunged into the vibrant meadow down below. All of the swords had their tips pointing up at the sky, and they were swaying gently like des of grass in the light breeze, gently tapping against each other to produce the pleasant chiming sound that Han Li had heard earlier.
Among these flying swords were tiny ones that were as thin as sewing needles, enormous ones that were as wide as city gates, squiggly ones that resembled winding snakes, straight ones with parallel edges... Every type of longsword that one could think of could be found here.
They had been in this sword sea for countless years, yet not a single one of them was disying any signs of damage or rust, and all of them were radiating dazzling spiritual light.
Han Li''s gaze roamed over the sea of swords for a moment before his eyes finally settled on a spot in the meadow, where he spotted his 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords arranged in a uniform line, swaying gently alongside all of the other flying swords.
When he tried to summon them back to his side, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately began to sway in a more urgent and erratic fashion, as if they were trying to heed his call, but were also locked into ce by some type of suppressive force.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li raised a hand, and a section of his sleeve flew off on its own, enveloped in ayer of gentle azure light.
The piece of sleeve drifted past the ck rock and entered the sword sea, upon which barely visible streaks of light instantly shed through the air around it.
In the blink of an eye, that sliver of sleeve was shredded into dust inplete silence.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
Chapter 436: Lost
Chapter 436: Lost
Right at this moment, a burst of thunderous rumbling suddenly rang out in the sky.
Han Li looked up to find a single white cloud with a golden lining in the air above the sea of swords.
Atop the cloud sat a massive white stone altar that was octagonal in shape with eight giant golden pirs around it, each of which was several hundred feet tall. There were extremely life-like coiling golden dragons engraved onto the pirs, presenting a breathtaking sight to behold.
Han Li was just about to fly up to the cloud for a closer inspection when another burst of rumbling suddenly rang out from the altar, following which a sh of red light shot out of the cloud.
Immediately thereafter, a ball of crimson mes abruptly surged out of the center of the cloud, and the entire cloud instantly took on a bright crimson hue, as if it had been set alight.
At the same time, a sea of crimson mes had also appeared beneath the white stone altar, illuminating the entire sky a bright red color.
With the cloud scattered, Han Li spotted a thin and stocky middle-aged man standing on the floating altar, and it was none other than Xiong Shan.
At this moment, there was a solemn look on his face, and his arms were raised to heavens as he chanted an incantation.
Hovering above his head was arge ck metal te that had a slight bulge in the center that was identical in appearance to the beveled metal scriptures awarded to officials in mortal empires, [1] and upon it was inscribed the words "Uniting All Swords".
As Xiong Shan continued to chant his incantation, the mes beneath the altar began to burn brighter and brighter, and waves of heat that were visible even to the naked eye began to surge through the air, causing the surrounding space to warp and shimmer.
All of the countless flying swords in the meadow were also beginning to sway much more violently, nging against one another much more forcefully than before.
Han Li was initially a little perplexed upon seeing this, but he then quickly realized what was happening.
The so-called Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array that Xiong Shan had painstakingly created back in the ze Dragon Dao had most likely been an array that he had learned from the Boundless Sword Sect, and this was sea of swords had to have been the true spirit gathering sword array.
The sea of swords served as the foundation, the hovering altar was the cauldron, and the metal scripture filled the role of the catalyst, allowing Xiong Shan to draw upon the spirit of all of the countless flying swords here.
It was truly an extremely ambitious endeavor.
Right at this moment, a thunderous roar rang out from the altar up above, causing the entire area to rumble incessantly.
All of a sudden, the entire mountain had begun trembling, and all of the sword qi in the meadow erupted into the heavens.
From Han Li''s perspective, it appeared as if a gust of gentle wind had blown through the sea of swords, and all of the lush grass in the meadow was instantly severed before being shredded into countless pieces by the sword qi in the air.
At the same time, all of the swaying flying swords had bepletely still, standing straight like soldiers ready for battle with their tips pointed up at the heavens.
On the altar, Xiong Shan took a deep breath, then suddenly swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a golden flying sword that circled around momentarily in mid-air before hovering beneath the metal scripture.
Xiong Shan then joined the index and middle fingers of his right hand together, and a burst of golden light emerged over his fingertips as he swept them through the air, creating a golden rune that was around 10 feet in size.
The giant rune fell upon the metal scripture in a sh, and thetter immediately let loose an exultant ringing sound.
Immediately thereafter, a series of thin lines began to appear over the entire metal scripture, and they connected together before radiating dazzling golden light.
An incredibly thick pir of golden light erupted out of the metal scripture straight up into the heavens, then exploded high up in the sky like a firework, forming a dazzling golden light barrier with countless projections surging over its surface.
There was a giant deity d in golden armor wielding a massive de capable of splitting mountains. There was a wraith-like masked assassin wielding a sword as thin as sewing needles, plucking out the heart of an enemy general. There was a gorgeous celestial maiden wielding a sword as elegant and free-flowing as her dress. There was a thin elderly man with a long beard directing the vast expanse of sword qi around him...
All types of sword-wielding figures were depicted in these projections, and Han Li was staring at the unfolding scene with his brows tightly furrowed in concentration.
Specks of golden light began to appear in his pupils, and in the next instant, he felt as if had bepletely immersed in what he was witnessing.
He felt as if he had be another figure on the golden light barrier, wielding his 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords to conjure up one sword lotus flower after another.
At the same time, a change suddenly began to take ce in the sea of fire beneath the floating altar. The surging mes twisted around to form a massive fiery vortex, while then began to release bursts of formidable suction force.
All of the flying swords in the meadow down below immediately began to tremble and sway, then rose up into the air as if they had been summoned, hurtling toward the fiery vortex as a wave of flying swords.
The sky above the meadow instantly became extremely chaotic as a result, with swordlight of all colors shooting in all directions, slicing the entire space to ribbons. The invisible sword qi in the air was also no longer restricted to the meadow, beginning to spread in all directions instead.
The sound of tearing fabric rang out as Han Li''s robes were brushed by some of the spreading sword qi, and a pair of extremely long gashes had been torn into the fabric.
Han Li paid no heed to this as he remained still and looked up at the sky.
In the heavens above, over 1,000 flying swords had surged into the fiery vortex, and they were instantly scorched a bright red color while giving off a miserable wailing sound.
Balls of light of all types of different colors began to fly out of the swords, and those were none other than their sword essence.
The flying swords that were stripped of their sword essence quickly dimmed before being refined into puddles of molten liquid that quickly vanished into the mes.
The capacity of the fiery vortex was limited, only able to take in fewer than 2,000 swords at a time. Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were situated closer to the back, so it was going to take some time before they were drawn into the vortex, but it wasn''t going to be a very long time.
On the floating altar, Xiong Shan''s brows were tightly furrowed as he murmured to himself, "I''ll deal with you once I''m done refining my sword..."
He had already noticed Han Li''s arrival, but he had been too busy working the array to do anything about it.
There was a hollow area on the floating tform in front of him, and at this moment, balls of sword essence were emerging from that area before hovering in mid-air.
Xiong Shan was ecstatic to see this, and made a peculiar hand seal with both hands before pointing a finger at the metal scripture.
The golden patterns on the metal scripture instantly shed before releasing a vast expanse of golden light to envelop the golden longsword down below, forming a golden vortex upon it.
As soon as the vortex took shape, all of the sword essence hovering above the altar was instantly drawn to it before surging into Xiong Shan''s bonded flying sword in a frenzy.
The golden longsword began to tremble and ring while radiating halos of golden light.
While the sword essence was being absorbed on the altar, the fiery vortex down below was constantly drawing in more flying swords, and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords was getting closer and closer to the vortex.
Right at this moment, Han Li abruptly shuddered, and the golden light in his eyes gradually faded, reced by ayer of blue light.
"What a formidable array!" Han Li eximed to himself as a hint of tion appeared on his face.
The scenes depicted on the golden light barrier were very simr in nature to the Myriad Sword Artwork that he had obtained in the past, but this array was clearly far more profound, and it could even be said that the Myriad Sword Scroll was most likely a replica of this array.
While viewing the array, Han Li had actually intentionally opened himself up so that he would be immersed in it. Otherwise, given his current level of spiritual sense, there was no way that he would''vepletely lost himself just now.
Thanks to theplete immersion that he had opened himself up to, not only had he gained a deeper understanding of all sword arrays, he had also identified the key points in this array and the way that it operated.
On the altar, Xiong Shan''s expression changed drastically at the sight of Han Li suddenly snapping back to his senses, and he eximed, "Impossible!"
It was no wonder that he was so shocked. Back when he first witnessed this array, he had beenpletely immersed in it for seven days and seven nights, and it was only through a stroke of luck that he was able to awaken.
He had managed to learn the Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array from that experience, but his spiritual sense had been severely damaged, so he had no choice but to leave this area, and only after so many years had passed did he get another opportunity toe here.
Xiong Shan gritted his teeth in fury as he thrust both palms forward, pushing the balls of sword essence with his immortal spiritual power so that they would surge into his bonded flying sword at an even faster rate.
All of the flying swords in the sky twisted together before flowing incessantly into the fiery vortex, and at this point, Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were no more than 1,000 feet away from the fire.
He immediately stomped a foot down onto the ground upon seeing this, and the entire mountain shuddered violently beneath his feet as heunched himself up into the sky.
However, he had only just risen up into the air when a burst of asphyxiating pressure crashed down upon him from all directions, forcing him back down onto the ground.
At the same time, gusts of ferocious wind were sweeping through the air all around him, interspersed with countless streaks of sword qi that tore a series of gashes into his robes.
Han Li let loose a defiant roar as all of his profound acupoints lit up with blue light, and his True Extreme Film emerged over his body to keep all of the sword qi at bay.
The pressure weighing down upon him had mmed his body so heavily back down onto the ground that his legs had sunk deep into the earth.
Han Li looked up into the sky to find that Xiong Shan was standing on the edge of the altar, controlling the metal scripture with one hand while reaching out toward the sea of swords down below with his other hand.
At the same time, he was glowering intently at Han Li with fury and resentment in his eyes.
Only now had he realized that Li Feiyu was the one who had foiled his sword array all those years ago, the so-called "number one sword cultivator of Heavenly South".
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Chapter 437: Vendetta
Chapter 437: Vendetta
"This is the work of karma! You took my sword essence and spoiled my sword array, but looks what''s happened now! Everything is still mine in the end!" Xiong Shan chortled with glee, and his voice rumbled across the sky like thunder.
He had made many enemies in order to gather so many spirit swords for his Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array, yet all of his efforts had been for nought thanks to Han Li.
He had been made theughingstock of the entire ze Dragon Dao for years over this matter, so how could he not be ecstatic to exact his vengeance now?
"If you hadn''t tried to refine my bonded flying swords, I wouldn''t have foiled your sword array. You and I are both from the ze Dragon Dao and the Transient Guild, and we''ve worked together multiple times in the past, so how about we let bygones be bygones, and you let me recover my bonded flying swords?" Han Li proposed.
His voice wasn''t very loud, but it was able to pierce through all of theyers of obstruction like a sharp sword to travel into Xiong Shan''s ears.
"Shut your mouth! You''ve treated me like a fool this entire time! While it''s true that I gradually came to realize your involvement in foiling my ns, there was no good opportunity to strike, so I continued to bide my time, but now that you''ve presented yourself to me on a silver tter, I''m going to refine both you and your bonded flying swords into my unmatched immortal sword!" Xiong Shan harrumphed coldly.
"If you''re not willing to resolve this matter peacefully, then don''t me me for taking you down by force!" Han Li said in a cold voice.
"What a joke! Your death is imminent, yet you''re still spouting nonsense!" Xiong Shan scoffed, but for some reason, he couldn''t help but shudder internally in the face of Han Li''s threat.
All of a sudden, Han Li let loose a thunderous roar, and his body rapidly swelled to over 1,000 feet tall while tufts of golden fur appeared over his skin as he took on his Giant Mountain Ape form.
He then stomped down viciously onto the ground,unching himself up into the sky in the face of theyers of sword qi above.
As it drew close to the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, the giant golden ape reached out with a thick and muscr arm, and ayer of golden scales appeared over its fur as itshed out at the stream of swords flowing toward the fiery vortex.
A resounding boom rang out, and the entire stream of swords curved outward amid a chorus of chaotic ngs.
All of a sudden, all of the flying swords that were hurtling toward the fiery vortex were knocked off their original trajectory, and that included the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Immediately thereafter, the giant golden ape reverted back to its human form, and a pair of translucent wings abruptly appeared on Han Li''s back as he twisted around, changing direction in mid-air to fly directly toward his bonded flying swords.
However, before he had a chance to get close, a burst of invisible force erupted out of the entire sword array, gathering all of the flying swords and dragging them back on course to flow into the fiery vortex.
"I''m not letting you get your way a second time!" Xiong Shan dered in a cold voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he made a string of hand seals before pointing a finger at the metal scripture that was hovering in the air before him.
A drop of blood essence that was glowing with golden light flew out of his fingertip before falling upon the metal scripture, and the golden patterns on its surface instantly shuddered, following which a burst of faint red mist rose up and surged into the golden light barrier up above.
A resounding boom rang out as the golden light barrier in the sky exploded violently, but all of the projections on it lingered, falling into the sword array like a storm of golden rain.
With each projection that flew into the array, a sword would diverge from the stream of sword before falling into the grasp of the golden projection and flying toward Han Li.
Han Li was just about to try something else to forcibly recover his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords when he suddenly felt a shadow loom over him. He immediately pped his Thunderstorm Wings, flying back several dozen feet through the surrounding sword qi with great difficulty.
A giant sword that was as wide as a city gate came crashing down from above, just barely ncing past Han Li as it shed down with tremendous power.
Han Li immediately raised a fist before giving the broad side of the sword''s de a vicious punch, and a giant azure fist projection instantly erupted upon the massive sword, causing it to tremble violently.
The golden giant that was holding the sword also shuddered violently from the immense force that was transferred through the sword, and it disintegrated into countless specks of golden light.
However, before Han Li had a chance to withdraw his fist, another golden figure wielding an extremely long sword charged directly at him.
Behind this golden figure were countless more, including a gorgeous woman, a burly man d in a suit of golden armor, an elderly man with a long beard, a small child... Waves upon waves of sword-wielding figures were converging toward him once.
Han Li remained calm and collected as he took a stride forward, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of radiant golden light.
All of the projections and flying swords that entered the range of the ripples released by the Mantra Treasured Axis instantly came to a standstill, and Han Li was able to casually make his way past them as if he were taking a stroll in the park.
All of the swords that were pierced toward him had be his stepping stones, allowing him to progress steadily toward the altar.
It had already be clear to him that if he didn''t defeat Xiong Shan, then he would continue to use the power of the sword array to prevent him from retrieving his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. Once enough time psed, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords would inevitably be destroyed.
Xiong Shan was astonished to see this from the altar, and he looked on in shock as Han Li approached the altar from afar.
However, he then quicklyposed himself and gritted his teeth tightly as he made his way back to the center of the array, where he cast a series of incantation seals into the hollow area before him.
Immediately thereafter, he spread a hand open, and five longan-sized golden beads dropped into the hollow area at once to fall into the sea of fire down below.
All of the mes below instantly began to sway violently, as if a fierce gust of wind were blowing through them, and the fire was spread in all directions.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the mes to see five balls of golden light emerge within it, drawing in all of the surrounding fire to form five menacing draconic heads, all of which were turned to face him.
As soon as the draconic heads took shape, a thin jet of fire instantly shot out of each of their nostrils, and their eyes also lit up with radiant golden light, making it appear as if they were actual living creatures.
In the next instant, an animalistic roar rang out from within the sea of fire, and five fiery dragons that were as thick as water vats flew out, twisting around in mid-air before pouncing at Han Li with tremendous power.
Waves of scorching heat erupted forth in all directions, causing the entire space to warp and shimmer, to the point that even the golden ripples released by the Mantra Treasured Axis had begun to warp, thereby significantly shrinking their effective area.
In the face of the oing fiery dragons, Han Li raised a hand before sweeping it through the air, and his Heavy Water True Axis flew out of his sleeve, then swelled to the size of a millstone while revolving rapidly as it positioned itself in front of him.
At the same time, the Water Dao Runes on its surface began to glow radiantly as it released bursts of heavy water, which converged to form a huge heavy water vortex that surged toward the five fiery dragons.
The five fiery dragons opened their cavernous mouths, and there was moltenva bubbling inside while releasing plumes of ck smoke, making them resemble five volcanoes that were on the verge of eruption.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of thunderous rumbling rang out as vast torrents ofva and fiery rocks came pouring out of the five dragons'' mouths down upon the Heavy Water True Axis.
A string of deafening booms rang out as the entire sky was illuminated bright red.
As the ferocious storm of fire crashed down onto the Heavy Water True Axis, enormous ck waves were instantly raised, and even though the axis was able to hold its own, it was clearly struggling under the formidable barrage.
Han Li''s arms were raised aloft, and his entire body was trembling uncontrobly, indicating that he was clearly also struggling to keep the assault at bay.
All of a sudden, he let loose a thunderous roar, and instead of retreating, he thrust his palms forcefully against his Heavy Water True Axis, which instantly released an enormous wave of ck heavy water that swept toward the five fiery dragons in retaliation.
The fiery dragons also swooped down from above, and a sh of tremendous power took ce as fire and water intertwined with one another, causing a cloud of white mist to rise up into the sky.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly dered, "All-epassing ck wave!"
A burst of earth-shattering instantly rang out in the sky above the floating altar, and a bolt of white lightning shed past, tearing an enormous ck gash into the heavens.
What seemed like an infinite volume of heavy water surged out of the ck rift, forming a gargantuan ck waterfall that came crashing down from above.
Xiong Shan could only stare up at the heavens with his eyes wide with despair and incredulity.
How was it possible that a True Immortal could be capable of wielding such incredible power?
However, at this point, it was already far toote to try and call a truce.
With that in mind, he could only grit his teeth as he swept his sleeves through the air, releasing one incantation seal after another into the metal scripture.
The golden light radiating from the metal scripture immediately began to sh while releasing a string of golden runes, which fell upon the eight golden pirs around the array.
The golden pirs instantly began to glow radiantly, and the eight golden dragons coiled around the pirs raised their heads as beams of crimson light shot out of their eyes, then converged directly above the altar to form a crimson light barrier that was riddled with draconic patterns, just in time to oppose the vast torrent of heavy water that was crashing down from above.
Chapter 438: Sword Battle
Chapter 438: Sword Battle
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out incessantly as the crimson light barrier trembled violently, quivering under the weight of the ck waterfall.
Situated directly under the enormous torrent of heavy water, Xiong Shan could see the ck waterfall crashing down onto the crimson light barrier, and he could also clearly sense the tremendous pressure that was weighing down the light barrier from above.
A series of massive indentations had appeared all over the crimson light barrier in the face of the heavy water torrent''s immeasurable weight, and the golden draconic patterns on it were also shing incessantly, indicating that the light barrier wasn''t going to be able to withstand the assault for much longer.
Xiong Shan''s brows were tightly furrowed as he took a nce at the metal scripture that was hovering in mid-air, and he made a beckoning motion to draw it back into his grasp.
He then extended his index finger, and a burst of golden light shed over his fingertip, resulting in a tiny bleeding gash.
Using his finger as a brush and his blood as ink, he began to quickly inscribe a peculiar dark red rune onto the metal scripture.
As soon as the rune took shape, the golden patterns on the metal scripture began to take on a bright red hue, resembling a system of blood vessels and meridians.
Xiong Shan held the metal scripture in both hands as a determined look appeared on his face, and he brought the metal scripture to his own chest like a breastte.
Red and ck light shed over his chest, and the metal scripture vanished into his body in a sh, fusing as one with him.
The metal scripture was serving as the core of the entire array, and with its disappearance, the array instantly ceased to operate.
The sea of fire beneath the floating altar subsided, gradually reverting back into a scorching fiery cloud, while the crimson light barrier up above also disintegrated into a vast expanse of translucent red light.
All of the golden projections up above also vanished, but the flying swords that had been drawn toward the array didn''t descend back down onto the meadow. Instead, they continued to hover in mid-air, remaining locked into ce by a burst of invisible force.
The ck waterfall in the sky was nothing more than an illusion conjured up by Han Li''s Mantra Domain, and it had also faded away, restoring heaven and earth to their original state.
Without the obstruction posed by the golden projections and the fiery dragons, Han Li was able to ascend into the heavens at a rapid speed, and in the blink of an eye, he had already fallen upon the floating altar.
He cast his gaze toward Xiong Shan to find that thetter''s entire body had been encased in a suit of ck scale armor, and there was also ayer of crimson light around him.
Theyer of crimson light was formed by countless wisps of extremely pure sword qi that were so incredibly sharp that even the space around them had beenpletely shredded, and even the golden ripples released by Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis were unable to infiltrate them.
"To think that you would use such a precious treasure in such a suboptimal fashion. Don''t you think this is a massive waste?" Han Li asked with a forlorn shake of his head.
"It''s fine. I''m only using up some of the sword qi within it. As long as I can kill you, it''ll all be worth it," Xiong Shan replied as he strode over to the center of the altar, where he grabbed onto the hilt of his golden longsword.
As soon as his hand closed around his longsword, the dark red patterns on his suit of ck armor instantly lit up, and theyer of crimson light around his body surged forth to epass his bonded flying sword as well.
His aura remained at thete-True Immortal Stage, but it had be indescribably sharp, as if he had transformed into a peerlessly sharp immortal sword.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, but he remained unfazed.
Instead of immediatelyshing out at Han Li, Xiong Shan said in an unhurried manner, "There''s something that I''ve never been able to wrap my head around: how were you able to control my Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array back then? Could it be that you''re the heir to some side branch of the Boundless Sword Sect?"
"Didn''t the Boundless Sword Sect disappear over a million years ago? How could I be a side branch heir of the sect?" Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
"So you''re not a member of the sect... No matter, you''ve shown yourself to be worthy of facing me," Xiong Shan said as a hint of disappointment shed through his eyes, following which heunched himself directly at Han Li with his longsword pointed forward.
Han Li immediately drifted up into the air, and even after retreating all the way to the edge of the altar, he still showed no sign of stopping as he continued to fly back in retreat.
A burst of dark red light shed over Xiong Shan''s longsword, and a streak of crimson swordlight erupted out of its tip, instantly covering a distance of over 1,000 feet.
Only upon reaching within several feet of Han Li''s chest was the streak of crimson swordlight finally slowed down by the golden ripples released by his Mantra Treasured Axis.
Han Li took advantage of this opportunity to retreat several dozen feet further before stopping again.
The streak of crimson swordlight then slowly disintegrated as he looked on with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes. If he hadn''t retreated in a timely fashion just now, that sword strike would''ve definitely been fast enough to counteract the Mantra Treasured Axis''s time-slow effect and pierce straight through his chest.
If only all of the Time Dao Runes were recovered...
As this thought shed through Han Li''s mind, he swooped down toward all of the flying swords that were hovering mid-air.
However, before he was able to reach his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, he felt a burst of formidable sword qi sweeping toward him from behind, and a chill immediately ran down his spine.
He hurriedly reversed his Mantra Treasured Axis before dodging to the right, thereby allowing him to evade the attack.
A streak of crimson light flew past him in a sh before piercing straight into the vast array of flying swords up ahead, and a string of sharp ngs rang out as several dozen flying swords were shattered by the streak of swordlight.
Finally, Han Li was able to pounce on this opportunity to arrive beside his 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
He reached out to grab onto one of them before tugging on it with all his might, only to find that it remainedpletely unmoved, seemingly locked into ce by some type of tremendous force.
Before he had a chance to do anything, Xiong Shan arrived on the scene, then shed his longsword viciously through the air.
However, Han Li paid no heed to the attack as he continued to hold tightly onto the hilt of his flying sword while injecting a wisp of his spiritual sense into it.
The sword in his grasp abruptly shuddered before letting loose a crisp ringing sound, as if it were ted to have had its spiritual connection with Han Li restored.
At the same time, a longsword that was enveloped in ayer of crimson light swept through the air toward the back of his neck.
The dozen or so active Time Dao Runes on Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis lit up in unison, and the golden ripples radiating from the axis took on a slightly more substantial form.
However, the oing longsword was able torgely ignore the Mantra Treasured Axis''s time-slowing effect thanks to the formidable sword qi that it was enshrouded within, and the sword wasn''t slowed down to a sufficient degree for Han Li to evade the attack.
In this dire situation, Han Li''s Heavy Water True Axis flew onto the scene as a streak of ck light, positioning itself in the path of Xiong Shan''s sword like a giant ck shield.
A sharp ng rang out as Xiong Shan''s longsword pierced straight through the ck light around the Heavy Water True Axis before striking the axis itself.
The Heavy Water True Axis shuddered violently as arge section of the ck light radiating from it was shredded by the sword qi erupting out of Xiong Shan''s sword, inflicting a deep sword mark onto its surface.
Han Li could sense the power of that sword strike through his spiritual connection with his Heavy Water True Axis, and he was greatly rmed.
He immediately pulled out the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword that he had grabbed onto, and at the same time, blue light shed within his eyes as he released 71 wisps of spiritual sense at once, with each one entering one of the remaining 71 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
At this point, Xiong Shan had already made his way around the Heavy Water True Axis and was shing his sword at Han Li from his right.
This time, Han Li didn''t take any evasive measures. Instead, he met Xiong Shan directly retaliating with his own Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
The two swords shed, and ayer of dark red swordlight erupted out of Xiong Shan''s bonded flying sword, immediately following which a burst of golden lightning erupted out of Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword as well.
The dark red swordlight nced over Han Li''s sword-wielding arm, instantly slicing through his sleeve, but thankfully, his True Extreme Film remained resolute, so he didn''t sustain any injuries.
However, the sword qi imbued within the swordlight was extremely prative, and it felt as if it were slicing over the bones in his arm, causing him to wince in pain.
He ignored the pain as he made a beckoning motion with his other hand, and the Heavy Water True Axis behind him immediately shrank down to the size of a normal shield before hurtling directly toward Xiong Shan.
The armor on Xiong Shan''s arm shed with ck light, scattering the Divine Devilbane Lightning released by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, following which the de of the sword made direct contact with the armor itself.
At the same time, the Heavy Water True Axis crashed into Xiong Shan''s longsword, and the impact sent him flying back over 100 feet.
Right at this moment, Han Li made a hand seal before pointing a finger forward, and all of the remaining 71 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew out in unison alongside the sword in Han Li''s grasp, hurtling directly toward Xiong Shan as a wave of azure light.
As the flying swords raced through the air, countless streaks of azure swordlight intertwined and converged in the same spot to form a massive ball of azure light.
As it approached Xiong Shan, a thunderous draconic roar suddenly erupted out of the ball of azure light, ringing out across the entire sky.
Immediately thereafter, the giant ball of light exploded violently, and an azure coiled dragon sprang out from within with tremendous force before swallowing Xiong Shan whole.
At the same time, Han Li reversed his Mantra Treasured Axis while simultaneously summoning his Heavy Water True Axis back to him as he sprang forward in pursuit.
He was flying through the air far faster than the azure dragon sword array, and upon catching up to the head of the dragon, he focused his gaze downward, upon which a hint of surprise shed through his eyes.
As it turned out, Xiong Shan was standing in the dragon''s maw in a rxed andposed manner, and there were hundreds of streaks of swordlight attempting to pierce into his body, but his suit of ck armor was keeping himpletely unscathed.
Chapter 439: Pushed to the Limits
Chapter 439: Pushed to the Limits
Han Li gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and he sped directly toward the azure coiled dragon, leaving a string of afterimages in his wake.
His Heavy Water True Axis was revolving rapidly over the palm of his hand as it swept toward Xiong Shan, who let loose a thunderous roar as a burst of dard red swordlight erupted out of his suit of ck armor, instantly destroying the azure coiled dragon around him.
He then raised an arm and swung his longsword heavily down onto the Heavy Water True Axis, and a sharp ng rang out as the azure dragon sword array reverted back into 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that were scattered in all directions, while Xiong Shan flew back over 1,000 feet before steadying himself.
"Are you trying topete with me to see who has more swords?" he scoffed with a mocking sneer.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he tossed the longsword in his hand forward, then made a peculiar hand seal and chanted an incantation before sweeping his sleeves through the air.
All of the dark red patterns on his suit of ck armor lit up once again, and an antiquated rune appeared on his breastte.
As soon as that rune emerged, a vast and primordial aura instantly began to emanate out of Xiong Shan''s body.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this, and he hurriedly contacted Daoist Xie with his spiritual sense, telling it to prepare to intervene when necessary.
All of a sudden, the entire sky had be deathly silent, and even the sound of the wind had been stifled.
However, a burst of metallic screeching then suddenly rang out, breaking the silence in a very abrupt and disruptive fashion.
Han Li looked down to find that all of the swords on the meadow down below had begun moving again, and every single sword was enveloped in ayer of dark red swordlight,ing together to form what resembled a giant primordial beast that was only just beginning to awaken.
"Let''s see you deal with all these swords at once!" Xiong Shan roared with a furious expression, and all of the swords instantly surged through the air at his behest like a swarm of all-epassing locusts.
Han Li''s expression instantly changed slightly upon seeing this. Such a vast barrage of swords coupled with such formidable swordlight was abination that was clearly too powerful for either his Mantra Treasured Axis or Heavy Water True Axis to oppose.
With that in mind, the only feasible course of action for him was to run.
His sole objective foring here was just to recover his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and now that he objective had been achieved, there was no point in continuing this battle.
Xiong Shan was most definitely going to be a sworn enemy of his after this encounter, but that was something for him to worry about another time.
After making up his mind, Han Li immediately withdrew all of his treasures before making a hand seal, and a golden lightning array quickly took shape around him.
In order to conjure up the lightning array as quickly as possible, he had directly used his Divine Devilbane Lightning rather than drawing upon the power of the Lightning Bird, but even so, he was still too slow.
A streak of dark red swordlight came shing down from above, and the golden lightning array had only just taken shape before it was destroyed.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li was instantly inundated by countless flying swords of all types of descriptions.
His expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but he remained calm andposed as a streak of silver light flew out of his sleeve, transforming into a silver bell that rose up into the air above him while swaying incessantly from side to side.
A series of dense silver halos spread through the air in all directions, proliferating outward to epass an area that was several hundred feet in size.
At the same time, he opened his mouth to release the Seven Bright Star Rings, which connected together with one another in a sh to form an evenrger ring above his head.
Radiant starlight erupted out of the Seven Bright Star Rings, forming a starlight barrier with countless star designs shing on its surface, protecting him alongside the waves of silver ripples.
He had only just managed to summon these two treasures when the torrential wave of swords was already upon him, and in the blink of an eye, he was enveloped by swords from all directions.
The silver bell was chiming incessantly, yet the silver ripples that it was releasing continued to be worn down little by little, reducing the size of the safe area around Han Li.
The starlight barrier released by the Seven Bright Star Rings was also screeching incessantly as one speck of starlight was snuffed out after another.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he swept both sleeves through the air, and his Heavy Water True Axis and Mantra Treasured Axis emerged on either side of him in unison.
He then made a hand seal before thrusting a palm into his Heavy Water True Axis, and the ck light on its surface shuddered while a vast torrent of heavy water erupted out of its Water Dao Runes, forming a ck water dragon that surged into the wave of countless swords.
The heavy water dragon was enormous, and it resembled a vast river flowing through the sky, quickly sting an opening into the vast expanse of swords. Han Li immediately flew toward that opening, while Xiong Shan looked on with a cold sneer on his face.
"What''s the point? Your struggles are futile!"
Immediately thereafter, he wiped a hand over his own face, and the palm of his hand was instantly stained red.
There was a price that had to be paid for forcibly drawing upon the power of the metal scripture, and he was already beginning to bleed out of all of his orifices, but in his eyes, it would all be worth it if he could kill Han Li and recover those 72 swords.
All of a sudden, Xiong Shan let loose a thunderous roar, and all of the swords on either side of the opening that Han Li had created instantly converged at his behest, closing in around Han Li like a pair of impregnable walls.
The dark red light on the two walls of swords was bing denser and denser, and Han Li wasn''t even able to fly 1,000 feet before the sword array up ahead had alreadye together again, and the heavy water dragon was also destroyed under the immense pressure, disintegrating into droplets of heavy water that flowed back into the Heavy Water True Axis.
This was an even more dire situation than before, and his silver bell and Seven Bright Star Rings weren''t going to be able to afford him much more protection.
It wasn''t going to be long before these two treasures would also crumble under the pressure.
A string of faint cracks rang out from above Han Li''s head, and ayer of hairline cracks had already appeared on the starlight barrier above, clearly indicating that it wasn''t going to be able to hold itself together for much longer.
Han Li made a beckoning motion upon seeing this, and the starry light barrier faded, while the Seven Bright Star Rings flew back to him.
At the same time, the silver bell also shuddered slightly before circling around in mid-air and flying back to him as well.
In the next instant, purplish-golden light erupted out of his entire body alongside ayer of purplish-golden scales, and two additional sets of heads and arms emerged from his body.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li drew his Heavy Water True Axis back to himself, grabbing onto it with one hand like a shield while also sping each of his other five hands around an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
He was also channeling the Xuanwu bloodline that he hadn''t used in a very long time, forming a suit of dark green armor with antiquated runes all over its surface to protect his midsection.
Han Li''s physical prowess had always been his forte, and in his current form, his physical constitution was no less resilient than many defensive spirit treasures.
His Mantra Treasured Axis flew back into his body, then immediately began to spin in reverse, and instead of continuing to adopt passive defense, Han Li went on the attack, flying straight into the torrent of swords.
He was moving as fast as lightning, traversing through the sea of swords while leaving a string of blurry afterimages in his wake, and he was constantly swinging his five Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords with tremendous power, releasing formidable bolts of golden lightning with every single swing to scatter the nearby flying swords.
Despite the vast number of swords in the array, it was unable to strike Han Li down.
However, Han Li knew that he wouldn''t be able to keep this up for long. Maintaining this form over any extended period of time was simply far too taxing, and the instant that he ran out of immortal spiritual power would be the instant that spelled his demise.
He wasn''t flying headfirst into the oing torrent of swords as he had lost all sense of rationality and was charging forward out of desperation. Instead, he had done this to buy Daoist Xie some time to recover.
Back when he was conjuring up the lightning teleportation array earlier, he had already tried to call upon Daoist Xie to buy him some time, only to discover that Daoist Xie''s puppet body was still recovering from the attack that it had unleashed to vanquish that copper puppet, thereby rendering it unable to help.
Around 15 minutester, Han Li was clearly beginning to slow down. The suit of azure armor around his body was already riddled with sword marks, and his six arms were also lined with gashes.
Even with his incredibly formidable physical body, it was clear that he was nearing his limits.
"Are you still not ready, Brother Xie?" Han Li yelled internally in an urgent manner.
"I''m going to need a few more minutes," Daoist Xie replied through their spiritual connection.
Han Li''s heart sank slightly upon hearing this, but in this situation, all he could do was grit his teeth and persevere.
However, Xiong Shan wasn''t willing to drag this out any longer, not because he had seen through Han Li''s intentions, but instead because he was also not going to be able tost much longer.
At this point, blood was practically gushing out of his orifices, and he was beginning to feel a little faint from the blood loss.
He shook his head vigorously to clear the foggy sensation in his head, and his facial features became slightly twisted as he roared, "Die!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, heunched himself forward as a streak of crimson light, fusing as one with his bonded flying sword to transform into a giant streak of crimson swordlight that hurtled directly toward Han Li at an astonishing speed.
The streak of crimson swordlight was extraordinarily fast, and all of the swords in its path quickly parted, forming a passageway that led straight to Han Li.
Chapter 440: Sword Refinement
Chapter 440: Sword Refinement
Han Li''s vision had been obstructed by the vast expanse of swords before him, and by the time he spotted the streak of crimson swordlight, it was already toote for him to take evasive measures.
In this dire situation, he quickly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique before unleashing his Spirit Stun Thorn. [1]
All of a sudden, Xiong Shan felt a cold harrumph ring out in his mind, and a burst of sharp pain speared through the head, resulting in a split second of disorientation.
The streak of oing crimson swordlight abruptly shuddered and drew to a halt around 10 feet away from Han Li, and this minuscule dy was enough to turn the tide of the entire battle!
The Mantra Treasured Axis in Han Li''s body spun rapidly in reverse as he pped his Thunderstorm Wings vigorously while also drawing upon his Azure Luan Bird bloodline, allowing him to reach an astonishing speed as he flew to one side of the streak of crimson swordlight before piercing all five of his swords toward a single spot.
A resounding boom rang out as the streak of crimson swordlight exploded, and violent shockwaves erupted in all directions, causing Han Li to throw up a mouthful of blood as he flew back several thousand feet into the vast torrent of swords behind him.
At the same time, scraps of ck metal flew out of the streak of crimson swordlight that had just imploded, and they converged in mid-air to reform the ck metal scripture.
A figure then stumbled out of thin air, looking deathly pale, and it was none other than Xiong Shan.
A huge hole had been torn through his chest, and his heart had already beenpletely destroyed. The dark red patterns on his body appeared to be intact, but in reality, they had already been severed into countless pieces.
There was a deranged look on his face as he used his longsword as a crutch while stumbling toward the metal scripture, but with each step that he took, a chunk of flesh would fall off his body, and by the time he reached the metal scripture, only a bare skeleton of his remained.
Immediately thereafter, the golden longsword in his hand also shattered into countless pieces that flew away in all directions.
A streak of golden light flew out of the top of the skeleton''s skull, forming a golden nascent soul with a weary look on its face. The nascent soul turned to look at Han Li, who had only just steadied himself several thousand feet away, and it murmured to itself, "Is this the design of fate..."
As soon as its voice trailed off, the nascent soul also disintegrated into golden light, while Han Li looked on with mixed emotions.
He didn''t harbor much enmity toward Xinog Shan, and they had beenrades several times in the past. If it weren''t for Xiong Shan''s insistence on hunting him down, he would''ve avoided this battle entirely.
With Xiong Shan''s demise, the sword array in the sky instantly fell apart, and all of the flying swords suspended in the air came raining back down into the Boundless Sword Sea.
Han Li flew up into the air before drawing Xiong Shan''s storage bracelet into his grasp, then reached out to grab the metal scripture as well before descending onto the floating altar in the sky.
He examined the metal scripture in his hand to discover that it bore the appearance of a piece of shattered chinaware. Its surface was riddled with extremely deep cracks, and it looked as if it could crumble away at any moment.
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face as he scrutinized the metal scripture.
Having gleaned the secrets of the golden light barrier from earlier, he had learned how to use this sword refinement array, but he didn''t know if the metal scripture could support the sword refinement process in its current terrible condition.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he sat down with his legs crossed and set the metal scripture aside, then swallowed a pill before closing his eyes to meditate.
A short whileter, he rose to his feet and picked up the metal scripture again, then cast his gaze toward a certain direction as he murmured to himself, "I have to give it a try. I suppose it could be considered aspleting your dying wish in your stead."
With that, he tossed the metal scripture forward, and it immediately lit up as it flew back onto the altar.
After that, Han Li began to chant an incantation while making a rapid string of hand seals, and the cloud beneath the altar was reignited, transforming into a sea of crimson mes once again.
......
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor.
A green jade flying carriage that was around 100 feet in length was racing through the sky.
At the front of the carriage stood a tall man with a disk treasure held in his hands. Ayer of white mist was hovering above the treasure, and there was a speck of red light that was shing incessantly at its center.
"Could those maggots from the Reincarnation Pce be responsible for this?" the man murmured to himself with a perplexed expression.
There was a pair of golden armored puppets standing behind him with halberds held in their hands, and they disyed no reaction.
......
Halfway up the Boundless Sword Sect mountain, Lu Yuqing was standing with her silver longsword sped behind her as she looked up at the mountain summit.
Her vision was still obstructed by the dense mist up above, and there had been quite a loudmotion ringing out a little earlier, but it had since subsided.
It seemed that whatever was taking ce up there had concluded, and peace and quiet were restored.
As for the wooden puppets that she had been battling, they had already been reduced to a pile of wood scraps strewn all over the ground around her.
After a long hesitation, Lu Yuqing finally made up her mind, setting foot onto the stone staircase to make her way up toward the mountain summit.
......
On the floating altar, Han Li was sweating profusely as azure light surged all around him.
His 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were currently suspended above the hollow section at the center of the altar, and they seemed to have been arranged into some type of special formation with arcs of golden lightning surging between them.
Meanwhile, balls of glowing sword essence of different colors were constantly rising up and surging into the swords from the scorching mes down below.
As time passed, fewer and fewer swords remained in the Boundless Sword Sea, while the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords absorbed more and more sword essence, and the collective aura that they were releasing became more and more formidable.
Han Li was observing the process intently with bated breath.
As the final batch of sword essence flowed into the 72 flying swords, a faint crack suddenly rang out up above, and Han Li''s heart immediately sank slightly upon hearing this sound.
Immediately thereafter, radiant golden light erupted out of the cracks on the metal scripture, and it looked as if it were about to explode.
With the example set by Xiong Shan earlier, Han Li was well aware of the consequences that would ensue if the metal scripture were to be destroyed, so he hurriedly swept a sleeve through the air, trying to pull the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords away from the altar before getting away.
However, as soon as his immortal spiritual power came into contact with the flying swords, a burst of lightning that was interspersed with tremendous sword qi instantly erupted out of the swords to pulverize his sleeve.
Immediately thereafter, a numb sensation spread through his entire body, rendering him temporarily immobilized.
Right at this moment, a burst of white light suddenly shed over his storage bracelet, following which a peculiar palm-sized jade badge flew out from within before drifting directly toward the metal scripture.
Han Li was quickly able to identify the jade badge as something that had been given to him by Elder Qi Heng of the Holy Puppet Sect.
During their battle all those years ago, Qi Heng had once unleashed the Seven Deaths Sword Array of the Boundless Sword Sect, and it seemed that this strange jade badge was something from the Boundless Sword Sect as well.
Before Han Li had a chance to ponder this matter any further, the jade badge suddenly began to glow radiantly while bingpletely transparent, and a series of threads of golden light emerged within it to form a string of antiquated characters that read "Boundless Sword Core".
Following the emergence of the golden characters, the white jade badge gradually fused as one with the light radiating from the metal scripture,
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out, and a dense dark cloud suddenly appeared out of nowhere above the altar. Azure and purple light was shing incessantly within the dark cloud amid bursts of rumbling thunderps, and golden light abruptly shed within the eyes of the golden dragons coiled around the eight surrounding pirs, as if they had suddenly sprung to life.
At the same time, they were giving off vast auras, and it seemed that they could fly out of the pirs at any moment.
Immediately thereafter, the eight dragons opened their mouths at once to st forth streams of crimson mes toward the center of the altar, and the mes converged in mid-air to form a raging sea of fire.
As soon as Han Li''s bodily functions returned to him, he immediately flew through the air to situate himself outside the altar.
Immediately thereafter, the sea of mes came surging down from the heavens, inundating the entire altar in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, a resounding thunderp rang out in the sky, and a waterfall of azure and purple lightning came crashing down, plunging straight into the scorching mes.
It was impossible to see the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords through the lightning and fire, and even Han Li''s spiritual sense was unable to make any inroads.
Only now did the sword refinement truly begin.
Han Li wore aplex expression as he sat down in mid-air and observed from afar.
Three days passed by in the blink of an eye, and the mouths of the eight dragons coiled around the pirs surrounding the altars.
The sea of fire that engulfed the altar had expanded even furtherpared with three days ago, and bolts of azure and purple lightning continued to rain down from the heavens into the scorching mes below.
Han Li was standing near the sea of fire, and it seemed that he had already recovered from the injuries that he had sustained from the prior battle, but there was a slightly anxious look in his eyes.
The sword refinement process had gone on far longer than he had anticipated, and it waspletely out of his control, so all he could do was stand and wait. Fortunately, Xue Han and the others hadn''t entered this ce up to this point.
Inside the daoist temple down below was Lu Yuqing, who had arrived on the mountain summit some time ago.
At this moment, she was casually strolling through the daoist temple, stopping in front of a dpidated pavilion one moment, then crouching down in front of a moss-covered well the next.
She was constantly inspecting her surroundings with a slightly lost look in her eyes, and it seemed as if she were struggling to recollect something.
1. For more information on the Spirit Stun Thorn, please refer to RMJI Chapter 1046: Devil ying. ?
Chapter 441: A Sword to Split the Heavens
Chapter 441: A Sword to Split the Heavens
Finally, Lu Yuqing drew to a halt in front of the ancestral hall at the center of the daoist temple.
Her brows furrowed slightly as her gaze roamed over the memorial tablets before her, and she was looking a little dazed.
Right at this moment, a thunderous boom rang out in the sky, and she shuddered as she instantly snapped back to her senses, then hurriedly made her way out of the daoist temple to look up into the sky.
A streak of dazzling azure light was in the process of rising up from the sea of mes up above, and it transformed into a pir of azure light that erupted straight into the heavens.
Tremendous sword qi was emanating from the pir of azure light, stirring the sea of fire up into a frenzy, and the lightning that was crashing down from above was also thrown into a state of disarray.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to do anything, another resounding boom rang out as yet another pir of azure light rose up from the sea of mes while releasing aextremely formidable sword qi.
One pir of azure light rose up after another in rapid session, and a total of 72 pirs of light had emerged in the blink of an eye, all of which were giving off terrifying sword qi fluctuations.
The sea of fire was snuffed out with ease by this burst of collective sword qi, revealing the white stone altar inside.
The dark clouds up above were alsopletely scattered by the enormous sword qi in the air, while gusts of ferocious wind swept forth in all directions.
Han Li wore a calm expression as he made a hand seal, conjuring up his True Extreme Film to protect him.
As soon as the film took shape, a wave of scorching heat instantly surged over him, causing the True Extreme Film to crackle and sh incessantly.
However, Han Li remained as still as an immovable mountain within the formidable shockwaves, and his gaze remained focused intently on the altar in an unblinking fashion.
The shockwaves were so powerful that all of the greenery on the mountain summit down below was reduced to powder, and a thickyer of earth was also scraped up from the ground, producing an extremely t area.
The daoist temple was also swept up in the shockwaves, and the restrictions around it had already been broken by Xiong Shan, so it wasn''t going to take long before the temple was also razed to the ground.
Right at this moment, Lu Yuqing summoned her azure feather fan before waving it vigorously through the air, releasing a gust of fierce azure wind that formed an azure tornado to epass the entire daoist temple.
After traveling over such a long distance, the power of the shockwaves was already significantly diminished, but the azure tornado was still trembling incessantly.
Lu Yuqing''s face paled slightly as she bit through the tip of her tongue, then expelled a mouthful of blood onto the azure feather fan in her hand.
The fan immediately began to radiate bright spiritual light, and all of its feathers spread open like the train of a peacock before detaching themselves from the handle of the fan and vanishing into the azure tornado in a sh.
The tornado instantly swelled drastically in size while radiating bright azure light, and it became far more stable than before.
The shockwaves quickly subsided, but the entire mountain continued to sway violently as countless rocks of different sizes came tumbling down in a catastrophic avnche.
Momentster, the azure tornado around the daoist temple faded, and the temple remainedpletely unscathed.
Lu Yuqing was panting slightly, but her expression was quite calm, and she quickly swallowed a pill before looking up into the sky.
At this point, the sea of fire and cascade of lightning up above had already disappeared, and all that remained in the sky was the white altar.
Above the altar was a radiant ball of azure light that was several hundred feet in size, and it resembled an azure sun.
An ecstatic look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he unconsciously took a step forward.
Right at this moment, the azure sun exploded violently, sending rays of blinding azure light erupting in all directions.
Every single ray of azure light was a peerlessly sharp streak of sword qi that howled through the air, and the white altar was instantly punched full of holes before shattering into countless pieces.
The surrounding eight pirs suffered the same fate, reduced to countless pieces of scrap metal.
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face as he flew back in retreat while sweeping a sleeve through the air, and his Heavy Water True Axis instantly emerged before him, then released a thick heavy water barrier to shield him.
He was retreating very quickly, but he was still unable to outrun these rapid streaks of sword qi, and he was only able to get a small distance away before the streaks of sword qi struck his Heavy Water True Axis.
The axis instantly began to tremble violently as a string of metallic ngs rang out in rapid session, and the ck water barrier that it had released was quickly being worn down.
A rumbling thunderp erupted out of Han Li''s body as he elerated drastically in his retreat, flying back to several dozen kilometers away in the blink of an eye.
As for the azure sword qi, all of it abruptly dissipated after reaching a certain distance away from the altar, much to Han Li''s relief.
After waiting for a moment to ensure that there would be no more sword qiing after him, he swept a sleeve through the air to stow his Heavy Water True Axis away.
Meanwhile, the azure sun in the distance shed a few times, and the azure light that it was radiating rapidly dimmed before fading away altogether, revealing the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords hovering in mid-air in a circle.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up as he flew over to the circle of azure swords.
Following thistest refinement, the outward appearance of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords hadn''t changed much. They had be more translucent, and bursts of azure energy were just barely visible flowing inside.
Enormous spiritual power fluctuations were emanating out of the flying swords, causing the nearby world''s origin qi to shudder and tremble, and a massive spiritual power vortex had taken shape around them.
Upon sensing Han Li''s arrival, the 72 flying swords suddenly flew through the air in a blur, transforming into 72 streaks of azure light before vanishing into his dantian in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was quite startled by this, but he could sense that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were merely hovering in his dantian in a still manner.
With the flying swords inside his dantian, he was able to get an even clearer sense of the changes that had taken ce within them.
After absorbing such an immeasurable amount of sword essence, it was no exaggeration to say that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had been reborn anew.
In their current form, just a single one of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords contained far more spiritual power than any of his other immortal treasures, including even the Heavy Water True Axis that he had painstakingly refined.
However, due to the fact that this spiritual power came from the sword essence of countless different swords, it was a little chaotic and erratic.
This was something that had happened once before after the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had absorbed the sword essence from the Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Arrayst time, so Han Li wasn''t concerned.
Looking at the 72 swords in his dantian, he locked onto one of them with his spiritual sense before sweeping a sleeve through the air, and only after a few shes of azure light did the flying sword appear before him.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. It seemed that the flying swords had be more difficult to control, and they also felt heavier and more cumbersome.
However, this was only to be expected, considering how much more powerful they had be, and it should be possible to resolve these issues following another bout of refinement.
With that in mind, Han Li made a hand seal before pointing a finger forward, and ayer of azure light instantly appeared over the flying sword''s surface.
The sword then moved a few times before falling still again.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light that enveloped the flying sword in a sh.
The azure light radiating from the flying sword became even brighter, and once again, it moved a little before falling still.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he channeled all of the immortal spiritual power in his body, releasing two bursts of dense azure light out of the palms of his hands, both of which surged into the flying sword.
At the same time, his spiritual sense also flooded into the flying sword, and the azure light radiating from the sword''s surface instantly brightened even further.
All of a sudden, the flying sword twisted around before shooting through the air like an azure spirit snake while expanding drastically in size, swelling to over 1,000 feet in length as it radiated blinding azure swordlight.
The entire surrounding space began to tremble in the wake of the tremendous sword intent emanating from the giant sword, and all of the nearby world''s origin qi instantly converged toward it.
The light radiating from the huge sword continued to grow brighter and brighter as it pierced back and forth through the clouds like an enormous azure dragon.
The cloud in the sky surged and churned violently before rapidly dissipating to reveal the clear, blue sky up above.
Only then did a hint of relief appear on Han Li''s face, and a look of tion surfaced in his eyes at the sight of the giant sword.
The sword had be far more formidable than he anticipated, and it wasn''t inferior in the slightestpared with thebined power of the entire set of 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in their previous form.
All of a sudden, he made a hand seal, and arcs of thick and radiant golden lightning instantly emerged over the giant azure sword.
The arcs of lightning were shing over the de of the sword like a flight of prowling dragons, giving off a violent and primordial aura.
In the blink of an eye, the giant azure sword had transformed into a golden lightning sword and was giving off a devastating aura of destruction.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing these.
Theparison between these arcs of golden lightning and his Divine Devilbane Lightning from before was no different from that between night and day. Not only had the lightning be at least several times more powerful, there also seemed to be some type of new, unidentifiable property about them.
Han Li hesitated momentarily before making another hand seal, and the giant lightning sword in the sky instantly stopped in its tracks before bing even brighter.
Immediately thereafter, it swept through the air as if it were being swung by an enormous invisible hand.
A streak of gargantuan azure sword qi swept forth, and it was several kilometers wide with arcs of golden lightning surging over its surface, presenting an astonishing sight to behold.
The azure sword qi erupted in all directions, tearing through the very space itself to create countless ck spatial rifts while also causing the surrounding space to warp and tremble violently.
The streak of giant sword qi vanished into space in the blink of an eye, but the disturbance continued to rage on, and the entire secret area was beginning to tremble and sway.
Only after a long time had passed were peace and quiet restored.
Chapter 442: Collapse
Chapter 442: Copse
There were some mixed emotions in Han Li''s eyes as he looked on in silence.
After unleashing that sh, all of the golden lightning around the giant sword dissipated as if it had exhausted all of its power.
That power of that sh was approaching the level of an all-out attack unleashed by Han Li''s Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword in the past, and this was only the power of a single sword, so it was difficult to imagine just how powerful all 72 swordsbined would be.
With that in mind, a surge of excitement welled up in Han Li''s heart.
However, the problem was that it was taking virtually all of his immortal spiritual power and spiritual sense to control this single flying sword, rendering him unable to do much else.
With that in mind, much of Han Li''s enthusiasm was instantly dampened.
A thought then suddenly sprang into his mind, and he raised an eyebrow as he thought back to how the flying swords had just flown into his dantian on their own.
Perhaps the situation wasn''t what he imagined it to be.
With that in mind, Han Li enveloped the 71 flying swords in his dantian with his spiritual sense before attempting to draw upon them, but the only response that he received was a faint sh of azure light.
He then channeled all of his immortal spiritual power before attempting the same thing, but all of the flying swords remainedpletely still and unmoved.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh upon seeing this.
In their current form, the flying swords in his dantian had be incredibly heavy, and attempting to move them with his current level of immortal spiritual power was no different from an ant attempting to move a mountain.
Thankfully, his spiritual connection with the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords still remained, so he should be able to use them once he attained sufficient power.
After heaving another faint sigh, he made no further attempt to summon all of the remaining flying swords at once, instead focusing his spiritual sense on summoning just a single additional sword.
A second azure flying sword emerged in front of him at his behest, and Han Li took a deep breath before channeling all of his immortal spiritual power and spiritual sense before making a hand seal.
Bright azure light shed over the surface of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword a few times, but it remainedpletely still.
Meanwhile, Han Li was feeling a little dizzy from overexertion of immortal spiritual power and spiritual sense, and he hurriedly stopped what he was doing.
After that, he stowed the flying sword away as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
It seemed that at his current level of power, controlling a single Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword was already his limit.
The giant azure sword slowly flew through the air, and even though all of the formidable arcs of golden lightning on its surface had already faded, it was still giving off mountainous pressure.
Han Li made a beckoning motion, and the giant azure sword flew down while rapidly shrinking before vanishing up his sleeve as a miniature azure sword, following which he drifted back down onto the ground, where he was greeted by Lu Yuqing.
"Congrattions, Brother Han. I can see that your flying swords have be far more formidable," Lu Yuqing congratted with a beaming smile.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he asked, "The fact that you''re here must mean that all of the puppets from before have been taken care of, right?"
Lu Yuqing nodded in response.
At this point, the phenomena in the sky hadpletely faded, and the entire secret area was restored to its original state, while the clouds that had been scattered by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword were also slowly recovering.
"It doesn''t look like there are any other treasures in here, and we''ve already been here for a very long time. The entrance of this secret area is quite difficult to ess, but there''s no guarantee that Xue Han and the others won''t be able to follow us into this ce, so it''s best for us to leave as quickly as possible," Han Li said.
Lu Yuqing faltered slightly upon hearing this, and a slightly hesitant look appeared on her face.
"Is there something else that you have to do here?" Han Li asked upon noticing her expression.
"No. You''re right, Brother Han, it''s best for us to leave this ce as quickly as possible, but before that, please wait for me for a moment," Lu Yuqing said, then flew toward the ancestral hall of the daoist temple in the distance, where she swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that swept up all of the memorial tablets inside before stowing them away.
After that, she flew back to Han Li''s side and said, "I''m ready to go."
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this, but he didn''t ask any questions, and he began to fly down the mountain, followed closely by Lu Yuqing.
Perhaps it was due to the destruction of the white altar in the sky or the disappearance of all of the flying swords on the meadow. In any case, the boundless sword qi in the air hadpletely faded, allowing them to fly without any obstruction.
The two of them had only just risen up into the air when a burst of thunderous rumbling suddenly rang out, following which the entire secret area began to tremble violently.
"What''s going on?"
Han Li''s expression instantly changed slightly as he stopped in his tracks.
All of a sudden, a pir of white light had erupted into the heavens in the distance behind him.
The pir of white light was incredibly thick, with a diameter of at least several hundred feet, and it was giving off tremendous spiritual power fluctuations that were quite rming even to Han Li.
Lu Yuqing was also staring at the pir of white light in the distance with an astonished look on her face, and right at this moment, another rumbling boom rang out in another direction as the entire secret area shuddered violently once again.
A second pir of white light had appeared there, and it was also extending directly up into the sky.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing were even more rmed upon seeing this.
The two pirs of light seemed to be resonating with one another, and the trembling of the entire secret area was bing more and more violent, presenting a doomsday-like scene to behold.
"This secret area is about to copse! We have to get out of here!" Han Li eximed in an urgent voice as he flew down the mountain as a streak of azure light, and Lu Yuqing hurriedly followed along.
As he was flying down the mountain, Han Li''s mind was racing as he tried to pinpoint a reason for the copse of the secret area.
Could it be that the destruction of the white altar had triggered the secret area''s demise, or could it be that the sword strike that he had just unleashed had damaged some important point in the secret area?
However, he then quickly shook his head to rid himself of that thought. There was no point in pondering this matter, and his top priority now was to get out of this ce as quickly as possible.
With that in mind, he elerated even further, and the two of them arrived at the foot of the mountain in the blink of an eye, returning to the ce where they had first entered the secret area.
Meanwhile, a third pir of white light had risen up elsewhere in the secret area, and the tremors running through the entire secret area had be even more severe.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense through the nearby area, upon which his expression instantly darkened slightly.
The space here was extremely stable with no spatial passageways or teleportation arrays to facilitate their escape.
He had always thought that this ce served as both the entrance and the exit of the secret area, but it seemed that he was incorrect in that assumption.
Lu Yuqing had sensed the exact same thing, and a grim look had appeared on her face as well.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, I noticed that you''ve been exploring this secret area over the course of the past three days. Have you discovered any exits or any abnormal ces?" Han Li asked as he turned to Lu Yuqing.
"I''m afraid not. The entire secret area seems to have already been ransacked by Xiong Shan, and all I stumbled upon were some damaged buildings and destroyed restrictions," Lu Yuqing replied with a shake of her head.
Han Li cast his gaze forward once again upon hearing this.
At his current level of power, it was not very feasible for him to forcibly tear open a spatial passageway.
After all, the space in the Immortal Realm was far more stable than that of lower realms like the Spirit Domain Realm.
Furthermore, even if he could tear open the space here, there was no guarantee that the resulting spatial passageway would lead to anywhere safe, and there was a very good chance that he would be swept up by the boundless spatial currents and killed.
Right at this moment, a fourth pir of white light emerged in the secret area with another resounding boom, and the entire secret area was swaying extremely violently at this point.
A string of loud cracks rang out overhead as a series of white rifts appeared up above, and they quickly spread in all directions like cracks on the surface of a mirror.
Lu Yuqing''s face instantly turned deathly pale upon seeing this.
"There''s no time to waste, let''s split up and try to search for an exit," Han Li said in an urgent voice, then immediately flew away in a certain direction.
Lu Yuqing nodded in response before flying away in another direction, but she had only flown a short distance away when she suddenly stopped in her tracks, and a slightly befuddled look appeared on her face as she cast her gaze toward a spot halfway up the mountain.
After a brief moment of hesitation, she flew in that direction as a streak of azure light.
Meanwhile, Han Li was flying back up toward the mountain summit while scouring his surroundings with all his might using his spiritual sense and his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, as well as his Eye of Truth.
At his speed, he was quickly able to scour the majority of the entire mountain, and right at this moment, he suddenly stopped cold in his tracks.
All of the greenery further up the mountain had already beenpletely uprooted to reveal the bare mountain face, and he could see that there was nothing up there.
No additional pirs of white light had appeared after the fourth one, but the spatial rifts in the sky were rapidly spreading and expanding.
The tremors running through the entire secret area were bing more and more violent, and an agitated look shed through Han Li''s eyes as he hurriedly flew away in another direction.
Right at this moment, Lu Yuqing''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Brother Han,e to me! Hurry!"
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then cast his gaze in a certain direction before flying away as a streak of azure light.
At this moment, Lu Yuqing was standing somewhere halfway up the mountain, scrutinizing a section of the mountain face with ck light shimmering in her eyes.
Han Li arrived by her side amid a sh of azure light, then cast his gaze toward the same spot with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, but failed to discover anything.
"Have you found something, Fellow Daoist Lu?"
He summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis as he spoke, then began to observe the mountain face through his Eye of Truth, upon which an ted look instantly appeared on his face.
He flicked a finger through the air, releasing a streak of azure sword qi that struck the mountain face, and the streak of sword qi instantly vanished in a sh, while the mountain face rippled slightly before returning to its original state.
Chapter 443: Now or Never
Chapter 443: Now or Never
"There really is a restriction here! Looks like your spirit eyes are sharper than mine," Han Li said as his eyes lit up.
Lu Yuqing faltered slightly upon hearing this, then forced a smile onto her own face as she replied, "Not at all, I was simply lucky to have stumbled upon this ce. I wonder what''s behind the restriction."
Han Li noticed that Lu Yuqing''s expression was a little unnatural, but there was no time for him to ponder such matters as he replied, "There''s only one way to find out."
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a giant azure sword that was radiating dazzling azure swordlight.
Arcs of thick golden lightning sprang forth from the surface of the giant sword, instantly transforming it into a golden lightning sword that was giving off a terrifying destructive aura.
Han Li made a hand seal, and the golden lightning sword crashed heavily into the mountain face with tremendous force.
The restriction on the mountain face immediately began to radiate dazzling white light, forming a thick white light barrier to protect itself, and balls of white spiritual light were dancing around within it like living creatures to oppose the giant sword.
The white light barrier appeared quite profound, but it was torn apart with ease by the golden lightning sword, dissipating into countless specks of white spiritual light to reveal a small valley.
Arge azure hall was situated within the valley, and above the entrance of the hall was a que that read "Flying Immortal Pavilion".
The gate of the hall was slightly ajar with several dim specks of white light visible through it, interspersed with faint spatial fluctuations.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing were both ecstatic to detect these spatial fluctuations, and they immediately flew through the entrance of the hall to arrive inside.
Despite itsrge size, the interior of the hall was actually very empty, with only a stone tform inside that was around three feet tall and over 100 feet in diameter.
On the stone tform was a white array that was giving off faint white light, and Han Li immediately flew onto the tform in a sh, then quickly inspected the white array momentarily before giving a contemtive nod.
This was indeed a teleportation array, and it was most likely the exit of this secret area.
There was an Immortal Origin Stones embedded into each of the nodes on the array, amounting to a total of over 200 Immortal Origin Stones.
However, only a small proportion of these Immortal Origin Stones still hadn''t immortal spiritual power left within them, while the rest had already bepletely transparent.
Right at this moment, a string of resounding booms rang out overhead, and the four pirs of white light dissipated in a sh.
The entire secret area was finally beginning to truly copse, and a spatial rift had just extended over the mountain.
The mountain summit exploded violently, sending countless giant rocks tumbling down from above, and the valley was also at risk of being crushed under the avnche.
"Hurry!" Han Li yelled as he swept a sleeve through the air, and the Seven Bright Star Rings shot out in a sh, then connected together with one another to form arger ring.
Radiant starlight erupted out of the Seven Bright Star Rings, forming a starry light barrier with countless star designs shing on its surface to oppose the avnche that was tumbling down from above.
Meanwhile, Han Li and Lu Yuqing immediately sprang into action, plucking out all of the spent Immortal Origin Stones before recing them with new ones.
With a set of new Immortal Origin Stones installed, the white light radiating from the teleportation array instantly became several times brighter.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he was just about to step into the array when his brows suddenly furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward a corner of the array.
At this moment, the entire array was radiating resplendent white light with the exception of that corner, and the flow of immortal spiritual power through that area was also ratherbored.
Lu Yuqing had also noticed this, and an anxious look appeared on her face as she asked, "Is the teleportation array damaged?"
Han Li offered no response as he cast a series of incantation seals into the dim corner of the array, and the corner immediately lit up slightly, but then turned dark once again.
Han Li hurriedly stopped what he was doing upon seeing this, and he said, "It looks like the teleportation array is about to lose its effectiveness due to prolongedck of maintenance."
"What do we do then, Brother Han? Do you have a way to repair it?" Lu Yuqing asked in an urgent voice.
At this point, the tremors running through the entire secret area were bing more and more violent, and a series of giant cracks had also appeared on the mountain.
"This array is tooplex for me to repair, and even if I could, we don''t have enough time. Having said that, there''s no need to be concerned. The array is still just barely functional, and it should be able to work one more time," Han Li replied, then immediately stepped into the array.
Lu Yuqing''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and she immediately stepped into the array as well.
Han Li chanted an incantation before casting an incantation seal, and the teleportation array instantly lit up with radiant white light that erupted straight into the heavens.
Meanwhile, Xue Han and the other Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators had only just emerged at the entrance of the secret area at the foot of the mountain amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
There was an enraged look on Xue Han''s face, and he seemed to be in the process of scolding the other Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators. "You''re all a bunch of useless fools! You can''t do anything without me! How has it taken you three whole days just to find an entrance..."
Before he had a chance to finish, his voice abruptly cut off at the sight of the copsing secret area before him, and everyone else was also instantly rooted to the spot.
"Get back! This space is about to copse!" Xue Han roared as he immediately turned back the same way he hade from.
However, the spatial fluctuations at the entrance had already subsided, and the space waspletely stable, meaning that there was no way back.
Ayer of cold sweat instantly appeared on Xue Han''s forehead.
He was well aware of just how terrifying a copsing space could be, and even he wouldn''t be able to survive such a disaster.
"Look over there, Master Xue Han!" Layman Bone me yelled as he pointed at a burst of dazzling white light that had appeared halfway up the mountain.
Xue Han immediately released his spiritual sense in that direction seeing this, and an ecstatic look appeared on his face as he yelled, "It''s them! They''re trying to leave using the teleportation array!"
He then immediately set off in that direction as a streak of ck light, and everyone else hurriedly followed along.
Inside the hall, the teleportation array was glowing brighter and brighter, but Han Li didn''t dare to speed up the process too much for fear of exacerbating the existing damage in the array.
As time passed, the entire array glowed brighter and brighter, with the exception of the one damaged corner, which was only dimming with each passing second.
Droplets of cold sweat were beginning to bead up on Han Li''s forehead, and Lu Yuqing was also staring intently at that corner of the array with a tense expression.
All of a sudden, she turned toward the foot of the mountain with an rmed expression, where several streaks of light were rapidly approaching.
"Brother Han, Xue Han and the others are here!" she immediately yelled in an urgent voice.
Han Li''s attention was entirely focused on the array, so he wasn''t keeping tabs on what was happening around him, and he immediately raised his head upon hearing this.
At this point, the streak of ck light that contained Xue Han had already arrived outside the hall, and it was rapidly approaching.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly made a hand seal, upon which the starlight barrier above the valley abruptly disappeared.
The Seven Bright Star Rings emerged out of thin air, then vanished from the spot in the blink of an eye, and in the next instant, they reappeared in front of the hall before flying into the streak of ck light formed by Xue Han.
A furious roar rang out as Xue Han was stopped cold in his tracks, and a ring had appeared around each of his four limbs, his chest, his lower abdomen, and his neck, digging deep into his skin.
"What the hell is this!" he roared in a furious voice as he struggled with all his might, while ck light surged over his body.
The ck light quickly spread over the Seven Bright Star Rings like ink, overpowering the starlight radiating from them, but they remained resolute around Xue Han''s body.
Meanwhile, Han Li opened his mouth to release a ball of azure light into the array, and the white light radiating from the array brightened even further, seemingly having reached a certain threshold.
Bursts of spatial power surged out of the array to envelop Han Li and Lu Yuqing, and in the next instant, both of them vanished into thin air.
At the same time, the damaged corner of the teleportation array also reached its limits, and a series of cracks appeared over its surface.
The white light radiating from the array shed one final time before fading away as well, and Xue Han was still immobilized outside the hall.
At this moment, there was radiant ck light erupting out of his body, and the Seven Bright Star Rings were finally unable to hold on any longer, shattering into countless pieces that flew away in all directions.
Xue Han immediately stormed into the hall, and an extremely grim look appeared on his face at the sight of the damaged teleportation array.
At this point, Layman Bone me and the others also arrived on the scene, and their hearts immediately sank at the sight that they were greeted by.
Right at this moment, the secret area finallypletely copsed, and powerful bursts of spatial turbulence erupted out of the spatial rifts.
The entire mountain copsed violently, sending countless giant rocks crashing down to inundate the small valley.
......
In a certain dim space, there was a boundless ck desert down below, and the ground was riddled with ck rocks of different sizes. Vegetation was extremely sparse here, and the entire area looked extremely bleak and deste.
The sky was a dark yellow color, and all of a sudden, a rumbling thunderp rang out.
Immediately thereafter, bursts of ck light emerged before forming a ball of ck light that was several dozen feet in size, and arcs of ck light were shing incessantly over its surface.
The ball of ck light warped and twisted before suddenly elongating to form a spatial rift that was several dozen feet in length, and a pair of figures, one male and one female, stumbled out from within.
The two were none other than Han Li and Lu Yuqing, who had arrived here through the teleportation array, and at this moment, both of them were looking rather worse for wear. In particr, Lu Yuqing was as pale as a sheet, and there was a thin trail of blood running down from the corner of her lips.
Chapter 444: Completely Empty
Chapter 444: Completely Empty
After steadying themselves, both Han Li and Lu Yuqing heaved a collective sigh of relief.
The teleportation array seemed to have transported them out of the secret area earlier, but it had actually suddenly copsed at a crucial juncture, casting them into an area of spatial turbulence, and it had taken them a great deal of effort to escape.
The spatial rift shed a few times before abruptly vanishing, and Han Li inspected his surroundings briefly while releasing his spiritual sense throughout the nearby area.
Lu Yuqing''s expression eased slightly at the sight of the surrounding environment, and she quickly swallowed a pill, upon which herplexion immediately began to improve.
"Where are we right now? Have we been teleported out of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor?" she asked in a slightly uneasy manner.
Even a slight deviation in a teleportation array could result in a vast difference in the destination, and the fact that they had been cast into a spatial storm certainly wasn''t going to help the matter.
"I don''t think so. I can still detect the profound cial qi that''s unique to the Light Frost Region here, so we should still be in the immortal manor," Han Li replied.
"Good," Lu Yuqing said with a relieved expression.
"That teleportation array has already been destroyed, so Xue Han and the others will most likely fall to their demise along with that secret area. We should be able to take some time to rest and recuperate here," Han Li continued.
Lu Yuqing had sustained some rather severe injuries, and even though he was uninjured, he had virtually used up all of his immortal spiritual power in the process of escaping from the spatial turbulence.
This ce appeared to be quite bleak and deste, but at the very least, it seemed to be safe.
Lu Yuqing was in desperate need of some rest, and she immediately nodded in agreement.
Hence, the two of them descended onto the desert, then set up a few restrictions around themselves before sitting down with their legs crossed.
Han Li summoned a pair of Immortal Origin Stones to help himself replenish his immortal spiritual power, and close to a dayter, he had made a full recovery.
After withstanding a string of ordeals in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, his cultivation base had advanced a little further, but that final immortal acupoint still showed no sign of budging.
A resigned look appeared on his face as diverted his attention away from the stubborn immortal acupoint, then turned to the side to find that Lu Yuqing was still meditating with a spherical azure light barrier around her.
Han Li withdrew his gaze, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon a gray stone b, the very same one that contained the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts.
He had been too busy earlier to take a close look at the cultivation art, and he was eager to take advantage of this window of respite.
Blue light shed within his eyes as he inspected the stone b closely, and around two hourster, the blue light in his eyes faded as he withdrew his gaze.
He had alreadypletely memorized the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts, and just like the first half of the cultivation, the second half alsoid out the method required to open 18 profound acupoints.
He was confident that if he could master the second half of the cultivation art and open this second set of 18 profound acupoints, then he would be able to break through his final immortal acupoint with no issues.
Just like the first half, the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts also involved guiding starpower into the body to open up profound acupoints.
However, the second half of the cultivation art was far moreplex than the first half, and not only was an enormous amount of starpower required to open the second set of 18 profound acupoints, a considerably long time had to be spent on bodily refinement as well, making the process far more rigorous than what had beenid out in the first half of the cultivation art.
He wanted nothing more than to drop everything and immediately find a ce to go into seclusion, but this was clearly not a suitable ce for seclusion. On top of that, he still had to help Daoist Hu Yan secure whatever treasure he was searching for in the limited time left so that he could obtain the second part of the Mantra Treasured Axis, so he would have to save the Great Universe Origin Arts forter.
With that in mind, stowed the gray stone b away again, then cast his gaze forward with a contemtive look in his eyes.
He didn''t know where Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni were at this moment, and he also had no idea what the treasure Daoist Hu Yan had been referring to was.
The Infernal Frost Immortal Manor was far moreplex a ce than he had imagined. It was an enormous ce that rivaled a small continent, and he had no idea where to find Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.
Han Li shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, and right as he was about to close his eyes, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as if a thought had urred to him.
He then raised a hand, and Xiong Shan''s storage bracelet appeared in his grasp.
He still hadn''t had a chance to examine the storage bracelet yet. Considering he had been quite a formidable swordsman with unknown ties to the Boundless Sword Sect, surely his storage bracelet had to have been a precious treasure trove.
With that in mind, Han Li was feeling a little excited, but his smile instantly stiffened as soon as he injected his spiritual sense into the storage bracelet.
To his surprise, Xiong Shan''s storage bracelet waspletely empty!
That wasn''t entirely the truth as there were some items piled up in a corner of the storage bracelet''s internal space, but none of those things were very valuable.
The only things that were even slightly appealing to Han Li were several vials of recovery pills and a few scriptures, and there were barely even any Immortal Origin Stones.
Han Li was initially quite perplexed to see this, but he quickly came to understand why this was the case.
Xiong Shan had already exhausted all of his resources for the sake of his previous sword refinement attempt, and only several centuries had passed since then, so it was only to be expected that he had to empty his pockets again for this second sword refinement.
Furthermore, as soon as he entered the Light Frost Pce, he had immediately traveled straight to the Boundless Sword Sect, so he didn''t have any time to collect any treasures along the way, and that was why his storage bracelet was so barren and deste.
Han Li was slightly disappointed to see this, but he then quickly reminded himself that he had already reaped many rewards in the Light Frost Pce, and asking for any more would only be a sign of excessive greed, which was certainly not a good thing.
With that in mind, the disappointment in his heart quickly faded away, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release all of the storage bracelet''s contents, then briefly sorted through them splitting them up into different categories before stowing them away.
Before long, all that remained in front of him was a silver jade box, within which were there jade slips.
He was quite interested in the cultivation arts that Xiong Shan had been using prior to his death, and he picked up one of the three jade slips before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
This jade slip contained a cultivation art by the name of the Great Destruction Yang Sword Arts. The cultivation art could support one''s cultivation to the Golden Immortal Stage, and it had most likely been Xiong Shan''s primary cultivation art.
ording to the description of the Great Destruction Yang Sword Arts, the cultivation art granted one mastery over thews of metal, and it was rather simr in nature to thews of destruction.
Han Li hadn''t dabbled in metal-attribute cultivation arts in the past, and he had no intention of beginning now, so this cultivation art wasn''t very useful to him.
However, there were some sword-rted secret techniques and insights recorded at the very end of the cultivation art that could be useful for reference purposes.
He read through the entire cultivation art from beginning to end, then ced it back into the jade box before picking out another jade slip and injecting his spiritual sense into it.
This jade slip contained a body refinement cultivation art by the name of the Golden Arhat Arts, and it appeared to be the secret technique that Xiong Shan had unleashed while climbing the stairs outside of the Light Frost Pce.
This was quite a remarkable body refinement art that granted one tremendous physical prowess, but a mastery over thews of metal were required to cultivate it.
Han Li immediately lost interest in the cultivation art upon seeing this prerequisite, and he only briefly read through its contents before setting it down again and picking up the final jade slip.
This jade slip contained some pill recipes, most of which were for earthy metal-attribute pills, which would be quite helpful for True Immortals using metal-attribute cultivation arts.
Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip as a hint of befuddlement shed through his eyes.
None of the jade slips had contained any records of the Thousand Edge Spirit Gathering Sword Array. Could it be that Xiong Shan had destroyed those records?
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he pondered this matter, and he was just about to stow the jade box away when he suddenly seemed to have noticed something.
He fiddled with the jade box briefly, and it suddenly split apart down the middle with a faint crack. As it turned out, there was a hiddenpartment with what appeared to be a piece of gray cloth inside.
What''s this?
Han Li picked up the gray cloth to find that it was roughly square in shape, and it resembled a dirty rag, but upon closer inspection, he noticed some faint patterns on the cloth.
These patterns were very strange in appearance, and even with Han Li''s vast wealth of knowledge and experience, he was at aplete loss as to what they were.
However, there was something profound about these patterns that convinced him that they definitely weren''t just haphazard designs casually drawn onto a cloth.
The gray cloth was very smooth and slightly cool to the touch, and it was unclear what type of material it had been fashioned out of.
Han Li inspected the cloth back and forth for a long while, even using his Brightsight Spirit Eyes and Eye of Truth in the process, but was unable to find anything worthy of note.
The gray cloth wasn''t giving off any spiritual power fluctuations, and if it weren''t for those profound patterns, it would''ve appeared no different from a normal rag.
However, the fact that Xiong Shan had stored it away so carefully clearly indicated that it was no ordinary object.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he absentmindedly rubbed the cloth between his fingers, upon which a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
With his physical strength, that casual rubbing motion would''ve been enough to tear a steel b apart, yet the gray cloth remainedpletely unscathed.
Han Li grabbed onto the cloth with both hands and attempted to pull it apart, but it refused to budge.
He raised an eyebrow as he exerted even more force through his hands, but the gray cloth was able to easily hold itself together.
An intrigued look shed through Han Li''s eyes as he switched tactics, attempting to tear the cloth apart down the middle this time, but still to no avail.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
He had exerted sufficient force to tear apart even an ordinary spirit treasure just now, yet this gray cloth remainedpletely unscathed, so there had to be something special about it.
Chapter 445: Boundless Sand Sea
Chapter 445: Boundless Sand Sea
Han Li wanted to test the limits of the gray cloth''s resilience, and he continued to exert more and more force until he was going all-out, but he was still unable to tear the cloth apart.
A curious look appeared on his face as he began to inspect the gray cloth again.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he flicked a finger through the air, releasing a ball of crimson mes that enveloped the entire cloth, subjecting it to scorching heat, but it remainedpletely unscathed.
With a wave of his sleeve, Han Li snuffed out the me, then released a ball of heavy water to envelop the gray cloth, and once again, it waspletely unaffected.
Around an hourter, Han Li was staring at the gray cloth in his hand with a defeated expression.
During the past hour, he had tried everything that he could think of to get any type of reaction out of the gray cloth, but his attempts had ended inplete failure.
After staring at the gray cloth for a while longer, Han Li stowed it away with a resigned smile, deciding that he would look into it another time.
Right at this moment, the spherical azure light barrier around Lu Yuqing shed a few times before fading away, and as she opened her eyes, herplexion was looking much better.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Brother Han," she said as she rose to her feet.
"It''s fine. Take a look and see if you can identify roughly where we are right now," Han Li said as he gestured at their surroundings.
"ording to my knowledge, the Light Frost Region is a veryplex ce, and there''s more than one desert of this description in the region, so I can''t tell where we are based only on what I can see right now," Lu Yuqing replied with a shake of her head.
"In that case, let''s do some exploring. This ce looks quite barren and deste, but we shouldn''t underestimate it," Han Li said as he summoned his azure flying boat before stepping onto it.
Lu Yuqing naturally raised no objections and descended onto the flying boat as well.
Immediately thereafter, the flying boat sped away in a certain direction at Han Li''s behest.
Just like the ice field from before, there was a type of invisible force in this area that severely restricted one''s spiritual sense, and even Han Li''s spiritual sensory range had been reduced to only several hundred kilometers in radius, so he decided to proceed at a moderate speed as a safety precaution.
Momentster, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as he turned in a certain direction, and the azure flying boat also faltered slightly.
"Have you found something, Brother Han?" Lu Yuqing asked.
"I have, but it''s not worth very much. So be it, let''s go and take a look," Han Li said as the flying boat diverged slightly from its original path, quickly covering a distance of close to 200 kilometers to the left.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing then drifted down onto the ground from the flying boat.
Arge patch of dark purple mushrooms were growing over the ground down below, and every single mushroom was around 10 feet tall. The mushrooms were covered in dark purple spots, while their edges were a bright red color, giving them an extremely vibrant appearance.
This cluster of mushrooms took up an area of around an acre, and they resembled a vibrant sea of flowers growing on this barren desert, seeminglypletely out of ce.
"These are Mull Cloud Mushrooms!" Lu Yuqing eximed as her eyes lit up.
"Could it be that you''ve managed to ascertain our current location thanks to these mushrooms?" Han Li asked.
He had seen some records pertaining to Mull Cloud Mushrooms before, and he knew that they were extremely poisonous and could be used to refine certain poisons or poison-attribute treasures. However, their poison was only effective against cultivators below the True Immortal stage, while those who had attained immortal bodies were impervious to its effects.
"That''s right," Lu Yuqing replied with an excited expression.
She flipped a hand over to produce a green jade pendant as she spoke, then cast a streak of azure light into it, and a burst of green light surged out of the pendant, projecting a green light screen.
The light screen was a map that wasprised of around a dozenponents of different colors, and it appeared to be only half of a full map.
"Is this the map of the Light Frost Region that you mentioned previously?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. ording to the information that our ck Wind Ind was able to gather, the Light Frost Region consists of close to 100 different environments. Unfortunately, this map only contains around a dozen of those areas," Lu Yuqing replied with a nod.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression, and his gaze began to roam over the map.
The map was extremely detailed and life-like, presenting many details that would''ve been absent in the average map.
However, it didn''t contain the ice field, the ck mountain range, and the ck sea that they had passed through previously.
"None of the three areas that we passed through prior to this were on my map. Otherwise, we wouldn''t have been so lost," Lu Yuqing said.
"So where are we right now?" Han Li asked.
Only now was he beginning to develop a rough idea of the Light Frost Region''syout.
"We''re here. This ce is called the ck Rock Desert, and ording to my sources, there are three or four deserts in the Light Frost Region, but this is the only one where Mull Cloud Mushrooms can be found," Lu Yuqing replied as she pionted at a ck area on the upper part of the map.
"It''s good that we''ve finally managed to ascertain our location. Stumbling around in the Immortal Pce without any idea of where we are is far too dangerous," Han Li said.
"The ck Rock Desert is actually one of the safer areas on my map. There are no frost beasts here, nor anyrge-scale hazards like cial storms," Lu Yuqing said.
"We''re quite lucky not to have been teleported to a more dangerous area," Han Li said in an ambiguous fashion.
"Indeed, we''re extremely lucky, Brother Han," Lu Yuqing replied with a meaningful smile.
"Oh? Is there something I''m missing, Fellow Daoist Lu?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Do you see this ce here, Brother Han?" Lu Yuqing asked as she pointed at the upper region of the ck Rock Desert.
"Is there something special about that area?" Han Li asked.
"That ce is called the Boundless Sand Sea, and it''s the northernmost point of the Light Frost Region," Lu Yuqing replied.
"So what? Are there some precious treasures in this Boundless Sand Sea?" Han Li asked.
"I don''t know about that, but as you''re already aware, there are other unexplored regions in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor aside from the Light Frost Region, and it''s said that the one must go through the Boundless Sand Sea to ess those other regions," Lu Yuqing replied.
"Really?"
Han Li was very intrigued to hear this.
"Of course! The Light Frost Region has already been mostly explored by cultivators who had previously entered the immortal manor, and I''ve been meaning to go to the other regions to see what I can find there, but I haven''t been able to find the Boundless Sand Sea. Who could''ve predicted that we would end up so close to the Boundless Sand Sea after that mishap?" Lu Yuqing said with an excited expression.
"In that case, we really are extremely fortunate. Time is of the essence, so let''s set off right away," Han Li said as he returned to his azure flying boat.
The Light Frost Region had already been scoured countless times, yet even so, he was still able to reap many significant rewards. If he were to go to an unexplored region of the immortal manor, who knew what would be waiting for him there?
Lu Yuqing stowed her azure jade pendant away before also flying back onto the azure spirit boat, following which the flying boat sped away into the distance at Han Li''s behest.
Three dayster.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing appeared in front of a vast yellow desert.
The sand in the desert was a light yellow color and rather translucent in appearance, reflecting the light of the sun in a blinding fashion.
At the same time, waves of heat were surging through the air, and it was as if this entire ce were a massive lit furnace.
"This is the ce, right?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right, this is the Boundless Sand Sea," Lu Yuqing replied with excitement shimmering in her eyes.
Instead of immediately venturing into the area, Han Li asked, "This doesn''t look like a very safe ce. Do you know if there are any hazards present here?"
"You have a very sharp eye, Brother Han. There are indeed quite a few hazards in this area. For example, this desert is filled with fire poison, and anyone who sets foot into it will slowly be poisoned. Even Golden Immortals will be affected given enough time," Lu Yuqing replied.
"Fire poison? I''m assuming this is no ordinary fire poison," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Indeed. The poison can''t be treated with any ordinary pills, and the only cure is to find a water spirit area in the desert and use the special water spiritual qi there to gradually neutralize the fire poison. If one is unable to find a water spirit area and has be too severely poisoned, then even a Golden Immortal could die in this desert," Lu Yuqing said with a serious expression.
"What other hazards are there?" Han Li asked.
"Aside from the fire poison, it''s said that one could fall prey to extremely confounding mirages in the desert that could make one lose their way and be trapped in the desert forever. This desert is extremely notorious for these two hazards, and very few people who enter the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor set foot in this ce," Lu Yuqing replied.
"This does sound like an extremely perilous ce. You''re saying that there''s a pathway to another region somewhere in this desert?" Han Li asked.
"The pathway is deep within the Boundless Sand Sea, but there''s no need to be concerned, Brother Han. I have a map of the Boundless Sand Sea, so as long we proceed with caution and follow the map, we should be able to find the pathway just fine," Lu Yuqing replied as she summoned a jade slip before offering it to Han Li.
Chapter 446: Tribulation of Life and Death
Chapter 446: Tribtion of Life and Death
Han Li epted the jade slip from Lu Yuqing before pressing it against his own forehead, and a short whileter, he withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip before handing it back to Lu Yuqing as he remarked, "This is quite a detailed map. May I ask where you got it from? Was it from that stone que?"
"That''s right. It''s exactly because I have this map that I wanted toe to the Boundless Sand Sea, but even with this map in my possession, I''ll be counting on you to get us through the Boundless Sand Sea, Brother Han," Lu Yuqing replied.
"I''ll do my best," Han Li said in an ambiguous fashion, following which the azure flying boat beneath his feet flew into the desert at his behest.
Upon entering the Boundless Sand Sea, the two of them instantly felt the air temperature rise dramatically, making them feel as if they had entered a steamer.
"Let''s try and determine our current location before we do anything else, Fellow Daoist Lu," Han Li suggested.
"That''s a good idea. I don''t know exactly where we are right now, but I should be able to determine our location once we encounter two or three of the ces recorded on the map," Lu Yuqing replied with a nod.
......
At the same time.
There was a certain mountain range in the Immortal Realm that was extremely majestic, filled with steep, breathtaking peaks that resembled swords aimed straight up at the heavens.
Deep within the mountain range was an imposing, antiquated fortress.
The fortress had been constructed in a very unique style that incorporated all types of sword designs into every aspect of its construction, including its roof and all of its walls.
Large swords, small swords, short swords, long swords... Countless swords of all descriptions filled every single corner of the ancient fortress.
The fortress was brightly lit, and there were many people walking or flying back and forth through it.
All of these people were dressed in golden robes with a "Xiong" character embroidered onto the sleeve, and it appeared to be quite a formidable cultivating n.
Inside a dim secret chamber deep within the fortress was a ck stone tform that was around 10 feet in size, upon whichid a young man.
The man''s eyes were tightly shut, and he waspletely still and lifeless.
On the stone tform around the body were engraved a circle of profound spirit patterns, while a dark azure oilmp had been ced above the man''s head.
However, at this moment, the me in themp was very feeble, and it was constantly flickering, looking as if it could be snuffed out at any moment.
Adhered to the front of the man''s chest was a ck talisman with a series of profound runes inscribed upon it, and it was giving off a burst of special aura fluctuations.
All of a sudden, the door of the secret chamber creaked open to punctuate the silence, and two figures made their way into the room one after another.
The first figure was an elderly man with a head of white hair, but his face was extremely supple andpletely devoid of wrinkles, presenting a rather jarring contrast to behold.
Behind the elderly man was a strange-looking middle-aged man with a dark greenplexion and a pair of eyes with tiny ck pupils.
The two of them made their way over to the stone tform before turning their attention to the ck talisman.
"Today''s the day?" the white-haired elderly man suddenly asked.
"It is. My divination tells me that it''s today," the green-faced man replied as he pulled out an azure abacus-like object, and the beads on it were asionally sliding back and forth on their own.
"Shan''er possesses the best aptitude out of everyone of his generation in our n, but unfortunately, he''s had an upbringing as he hails from a side branch of our n, resulting in a very cold and arrogant personality. He''s refused to ept any assistance from our n and insists on forging his own path. Hopefully, following this ordeal, he can set aside all of his stubborn nature and realize what''s truly important," the white-haired elderly man sighed.
The green-faced man nodded in response, and he was just about to say something when he suddenly raised an eyebrow and eximed, "It''sing!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, the ck talisman on the young man''s chest suddenly ignited on its own, erupting into a ball of ck mes.
All of the patterns on the stone tform around the body also began to glow with radiant ck light, forming a ck halo that epassed the entire body.
The white-haired elderly man immediately flicked a finger through the air upon seeing this, releasing a streak of ck light that vanished into the ck me in front of the body.
The me instantly reared up, then split up into five parts, immediately following which several streaks of ck light flew out of the five balls of fire, then connected together with one another to form a pentagram array.
Fierce gusts of yin wind instantly began to sweep through the secret chamber, and the air temperature plummeted, but the white-haired elderly man and the green-faced man paid no heed to this as they stared intently at the pentagram array.
The space at the center of the array suddenly began to warp, and a ck shadow appeared, squirming and writhing as if it were a living creature.
The shadow squirmed around for a while, then abruptly split open to reveal a spatial rift.
In the next instant, a ball of golden light flew out of the spatial rift, then vanished into the young man''s body in a sh.
Some timeter, the body began to radiate dazzling golden light.
The white-haired elderly man''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of white light that enveloped the young man''s body.
Theplexion of the young man''s pale and lifeless face quickly reverted back to normal, and his heart also began to beat again as the vitality was restored to his body.
The azuremp above the young man''s head had also suddenly be several times brighter, and its me had be extremely stable.
Some more time passed, and the young man''s eyelids fluttered slightly before slowly peeling back to reveal a pair of dazed and disoriented eyes.
It took a long while for those zed over eyes to focus, and the young man began to look around in bewilderment, upon which he quickly spotted the two people beside him.
"Uncle, n Leader!"
His expression instantly changed drastically as he tried to sit up, only for the white-haired elderly man to press a hand down onto his shoulder as he said, "Lay still, Shan''er. The soul transference technique has only just beenpleted, so you can''t move yet."
The young man opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately remained silent andid back down.
"What''s going on, n Leader? I should already be dead by now, why have I returned to the n?" the young man asked.
"You have your uncle here to thank. A long time ago, he gleaned through divination that you were going to face a tribtion of life and death at some point, but he couldn''t determine when this tribtion was going to befall you.
¡°Hence, when you decided to leave the n, he secretly nted a soul transference secret technique onto your nascent soul, which ensured that if your nascent soul were to ever sustain lethal damage, it would automatically be teleported back to our n so that you can possess another body," the white-haired elderly man exined.
The young man was silent for a moment, then turned to the green-faced man as he said, "I see. Thank you, Uncle. If it wasn''t for you, I would already be dead by now."
"There''s no need to thank me. Don''t forget that you and I are rted by blood," the green-faced man replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Aplex look shed through the young man''s eyes as he said, "Uncle, every time you use your divination technique, you lose at least 10,000 years of your cultivation base. In order to glean my fate, you had to have lost at least 100,000 years of cultivation base. How can I repay you?"
"A mere 100,000-years-worth of cultivation base is nothing. I''m just d you''re back safe and sound," the green-faced man said with a smile.
The young man lowered his gaze and remained silent.
"What kind of enemy did you encounter in the Northern cial Immortal Region, Shan''er? There''s no way any ordinary cultivator could''ve struck you down," the white-haired elderly man suddenly asked.
A cold gleam shed through the young man''s eyes upon hearing this, but he refrained from answering the question.
"Forget it. If you don''t want to tell me, then I won''t pry any further. You can take care of this matter on your own," the white-haired elderly man said with a shake of his head.
"Thank you, n Leader," the young man replied with a nod.
"Now that you''re back, stay here for now. We''ll help you recover your cultivation base as quickly as possible, and the Immortal Pce has already sent us several summons, so you should go and ept your post there. As for everything else, we can discuss all of that some other time," the white-haired elderly man said.
The young man''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he was silent for a moment before nodding in response.
The white-haired elderly man and the green-faced man exchanged a nce upon seeing this, and both of them could see their own tion mirrored in one another''s eyes.
......
In the sky above a red in, two balls of radiant light, one red and one golden, were engaged in a ferocious battle.
The two balls of light were shing violently amid a string of earth-shattering booms, causing the surrounding space to tremble as gusts of fierce wind swept through the air in all directions.
asionally, a streak of light or two would spill down from above, smash giant craters into the ground while also sending vast clouds of red dust erupting into the air.
One of thebatants in the battle was none other than the silver-robed woman by the name of Qu Ling, and she was standing atop the back of the mountainous golden beetle, which was radiating dazzling golden light.
She was facing a group of seven or eight figures, all of whom were dressed in red robes with extremely life-like fire raven designs embroidered onto them. These were none other than the True me Sect cultivators, but Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni were nowhere to be seen among them.
All of the True me Sect cultivators were looking rather worse for wear. In particr, the three Golden Immortals among them seemed to all be carrying injuries.
The trio was led by Xu Yangzi, and they had instructed all of the True me Sect cultivators to form a me-shaped array. Hovering above each of them was arge red g with scorching mes burning upon them, and bursts of fire were erupting out of the eight gs toward Qu Ling and the golden beetle.
The fire was giving off scorching heat that caused the very space in its wake to tremble and warp, but Qu Ling wasn''t taking this battle seriously at all.
Instead, she was casually standing on the golden beetle''s back while fiddling with a green gourd in her hand, paying no heed to the ongoing battle at all.
Meanwhile, the golden beetle swept its two front legs through the air, releasing streaks of translucent light, each of which was around 10 feet in length.
The streaks of light came as thick and fast as rain to sh against the crimson mes, and a violent explosion rang out as the streaks of light and scorching mes dissipated in unison, with neither side able to get the better of the other.
"Qu Ling, there''s no bad blood between you and our True me Sect, so why have you suddenly attacked us?" Xu Yangzi roared in a furious voice.
"All of us have ventured into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor in order to search for treasures, but as you can see, I''m all on my own, and there''s only so much that I can do by myself. Hence, prior to entering the immortal manor, I nted some marks on all of you in secret.
¡°That way, all I have to do is let you go off on your own for a while, then hunt you all down, and all of the treasures that you''ve found will be mine. Isn''t that a much better strategy than going around searching for treasures on my own?" Qu Ling replied with a wide smile.
Chapter 447: Profound Heavenly Gourd
Chapter 447: Profound Heavenly Gourd
Xu Yangzi and the others were even more enraged to hear this, but at the same time, they were also extremely rmed as they hurriedly inspected themselves with their spiritual sense.
A mocking sneer appeared on Qu Ling''s face as she swept a sleeve through the air, and an enormous azure silkworm that was several hundred feet in length emerged on one side of her, while a pristine white python of a simr stature appeared on the other side.
Both of the massive creatures immediately pounced at Xu Yangzi and the others as soon as they appeared.
The azure silkworm had quite a bloated appearance, but it was quite a bit faster than the giant white python, and it reached the True me Sect cultivators in the blink of an eye before opening its mouth to release a dense mass of azure silk, forming a massive as it swooped through the air.
These azure silk threads were glittering and translucent, and they were also giving off faintw power fluctuations.
Xu Yangzi and the others were all quite rmed to see this, and Xu Yangzi hurriedly yelled, "Adopt the Golden Crow Formation!"
Immediately thereafter, he began to make a rapid string of hand seals while opening his mouth to expel a ball of blood essence into therge g above his head.
The spirit patterns on the surface of the g instantly began to glow radiantly while turning a golden color, and a pir of golden fire erupted forth from within.
Everyone else immediately did the same thing, and the gs above their heads also took on a golden hue while releasing pirs of golden mes.
The eight fiery pirs fused as one in the sky above, transforming into a golden brid that was over 1,000 feet in size. The bird had a phoenixb on its head and a set of long and fiery tail feathers. What was most remarkable about it was that it had three legs, and it spread its enormous wings before swooping toward the oing azure.
As soon as the azure came into contact with the golden bird, the former instantly erupted into mes and was quickly incinerated into ashes.
Qu Ling raised an eyebrow upon seeing this.
Meanwhile, the giant white python had also arrived near the True me Sect cultivators, and it opened its mouth up wide before releasing a thick pir of translucent white light.
As soon as the pir of white light emerged, it instantly shattered in silence into a cloud of white mist that was interspersed with white ice spikes that swept toward the True me Sect cultivators from all directions.
The cloud of white mist was giving off bone-chilling cial qi, and it seemed that even the nearby space had been frozen solid.
Meanwhile, the giant azure silkworm screeched in annoyance at having its attack foiled, and it opened its mouth once again to release a stream of countless silk threads that flew through the air like a volley of arrows.
At the same time, Qu Ling''s golden beetle steed was also contributing to the attack, and it swept its two front legs viciously through the air to release two streaks of translucent light, each of which was over 1,000 feet in length.
In the blink of an eye, the two streaks of translucent light appeared in front of the True me Sect cultivators before sweeping toward them in a crisscross arrangement.
The collective power of these three beasts was extremely formidable, and an rmed look shed through Xu Yangzi''s eyes as he hurriedly made a rapid string of hand seals, while everyone else was also looking on with grim expressions.
As the eight gs began to glow more and more radiantly, the me around the golden bird''s body also became brighter and brighter.
......
In the Boundless Sand Sea, the azure flying boat continued onward at a steady pace.
After flying for close to half a day, Han Li and Lu Yuqing had already traveled a considerable distance into the Boundless Sand Sea, and at this point, both of them were looking a little flushed.
Han Li was clearly faring much better, but Lu Yuqing''s cheeks were bright red, and she was giving off an unnatural aura of heat.
Han Li was standing at the bow of the boat, using his spirit eyes to scour the surroundings when he suddenly turned to the left.
There on the horizon was a faint spot of green, and it seemed that there was an oasis over there.
"That must be one of the mirages that this ce holds," Lu Yuqing said.
A hint of intrigue appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
"These mirages are very difficult to deal with, but we''ll have to go there if we want to ascertain our current location. However, I''m not very well-versed when ites to dispelling illusions, so I''ll be counting on you, Brother Han," Lu Yuqing said.
Han Li nodded in response in an ambiguous fashion, and the azure flying boat beneath his feet elerated significantly at his behest as it sped toward the oasis.
......
The battle was continuing to rage on above the red in.
A string of earth-shattering booms was ringing out incessantly, causing the nearby space and the ground down below to tremble violently.
All of the True me Sect cultivators were frantically making hand seals, and aside from the three Golden Immortals among them, all of the other cultivators were looking very pale.
The gs hovering above their heads had already taken on a bright golden hue, and the runes on their surfaces were surging incessantly. The golden crow was nowhere to be seen, and it had been reced by a sea of golden fire that was several thousand feet in size.
The sea of golden mes was keeping all of the attacks from the three formidable beasts at bay, and an impasse had ensued.
"Looks like I underestimated all of you. Then again, you must have some tricks up your sleeve if you''re going to enter the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor. In any case, this is a perfect opportunity to test out the power of this thing," Qu Ling said with a smile, then tossed the green gourd in her hand forward.
At the same time, a burst of silver light surged out of her mouth, then vanished into the gourd in a sh.
The gourd instantly shuddered before radiating dazzling green light, and it also swelled drastically in size to over 100 feet in length. The entire gourd looked as if it had been fashioned out of exquisite green jade, and its surface was riddled with profound patterns.
All of a sudden, the gourd began to tremble, and countless tadpole-like spirit runes emerged on its surface, radiating blinding silver light.
At the same time, a burst of tremendousw fluctuations surged out of the gourd in all directions, causing the surrounding space to tremble violently.
"That''s an Essential Immortal Treasure!"
The hearts of all of the True me Sect cultivators instantly sank upon seeing this.
At the moment, they werepletely tied down by the attacks being unleashed by the trio of formidable beasts, and there was simply nothing more that they could do.
A serious look appeared on Qu Ling''s face for the first time in the battle, and she made a rapid string of hands seals while releasing several balls of silver light out of her mouth in session, all of which vanished into the giant green gourd in a sh.
The green light radiating from the gourd instantly became even brighter, while the silver spirit runes on its surface began to writhe and squirm incessantly as if they were living creatures.
All of a sudden, a burst of green light erupted out of the opening of the gourd, then swept directly toward Xu Yangzi and the others.
A green ring then emerged within the stream of green light, giving off a burst of indescribablew fluctuations.
The nearby space instantly copsed, while all of the world''s origin qi within a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers was swept up into a frenzy. Countless balls of five-colored light emerged in the air, then converged toward the green ring before vanishing into it, causing it to swell further in size while thew power fluctuations it was giving off became even more immense.
The stream of green light struck the sea of golden fire in a sh, then pierced straight through it with ease before arriving directly above the heads of the True me Sect cultivators.
In the blink of an eye, the streak of green light swallowed up the eight gs suspended above the heads of the True me Sect cultivators, and the green ring within it abruptly expanded to epass the eight gs.
The golden mes burning over the eight gs were instantly snuffed out, following which the gs rapidly shrank down significantly in size.
The expressions of all of the True me Sect cultivators instantly changed drastically upon seeing this. Just now, their spiritual connection with the eight gs had suddenly been severed.
A pleased look appeared on Qu Ling''s face upon seeing this, and she cast an incantation seal into the air, upon which the streak of green light surged back into the giant green gourd, bringing the eight gs along with it.
Xu Yangzi and the others werepletely bbergasted to see this. Without the support of the eight gs, the sea of golden fire in front of them exploded violently into a vast expanse of fire before quickly fading away, and with that, there was no longer anything standing in the way of the attacks of the three formidable beasts.
Countless azure silken threads swept through the air, ensnaring all of the True me Sect cultivators before they had a chance to react.
Immediately thereafter, two thick streaks of translucent light emerged from the nearby space before sweeping toward them like lightning, instantly slicing the bodies of all of the ensnared True me Sect cultivators in half.
At the same time, a cloud of cial mist containing countless ice spikes arrived, releasing such formidable cial qi that a white mountain of ice that was several kilometers in diameter appeared out of thin air, encapsting all of the True me Sect cultivators within it.
All of the True me Sect cultivators had already perished at this point with the exception of the three Golden Immortals, but even they werepletely immobilized and only just barely clinging to life.
Qu Ling gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, following which her brows suddenly furrowed slightly as herplexion paled noticeably.
The green gourd was extremely powerful, but she still hadn''t refined it yet, so she had to expend an enormous amount of immortal spiritual power to use it.
She took a deep breath, and herplexion quickly returned to normal as she swept a sleeve toward the giant green gourd above her head.
In the blink of an eye, the gourd reverted back to its original size before returning to her grasp.
After that, she turned to the True me Sect cultivators encased in the mountain of ice with a cold expression, yet before she had a chance to do anything, ayer of crimson mes suddenly emerged over the bodies of the three Golden Immortals.
The three bursts of crimson fire quickly joined together to release a burst of astonishing power, and the giant mountain of ice shuddered as arge crack appeared on its surface.
The giant white python let loose a furious roar upon seeing this, but it was already toote for it to do anything.
All of a sudden, three streaks of crimson light shot out of the crack like lightning before racing away into the distance, and three nascent souls could be seen within the streaks of light.
Arge plume of azure silken threads shot forth, sweeping toward the three nascent souls at an astonishing speed, but they were clearly still too slow to catch the nascent souls.
Chapter 448: Brewing Storm
Chapter 448: Brewing Storm
"Why are you running all of a sudden?" Qu Ling chuckled as she casually flicked a finger through the air, releasing a streak of silver light that shot forth like lightning before vanishing into thin air.
In the next instant, it reappeared directly above the three nascent souls, revealing itself to be a small silver vial.
A burst of silver light surged out of the opening of the vial, instantly enveloping the three nascent souls, and the nearby space instantly became extremely heavy.
It was as if the three nascent souls had flown into a swamp, and they were barely able to move at all.
A vicious look appeared on the face of Xu Yangzi''s nascent soul as it opened its mouth to release a tiny crimson dagger, which came shing down upon its own head like lightning.
The nascent soul was instantly sliced into two, and one half of it was instantly set alight, transforming into a tiny fiery figure with countless crimson runes dancing within it.
The fiery figure reached out with both hands to grab onto the surrounding silver light, then brought its hands apart violently, tearing a gash into the silver light.
The other half of Xu Yangzi''s nascent soul immediately flew out through the opening, following which the tiny red de shattered, disintegrating into a ball of crimson light that enveloped this half of its nascent.
As a result, the nascent soul''s speed was instantly increased by severalfold, and it vanished into the distant sky in the blink of an eye.
A hint of surprise shed through Qu Ling''s eyes upon seeing this, and it was already toote for her to try and intervene.
However, she paid no heed to this as she pointed a finger at the small silver vial, and it instantly sucked in the other two nascent souls.
Meanwhile, the mountain of ice shattered, and the giant white python carried the storage tools of all of the True me Sect cultivators to Qu Ling on its head.
Qu Ling inspected the contents of the storage tools briefly with his spiritual sense, then gave a pleased nod before stowing them away, following which she patted the giant python on the head as she praised, "Well done today."
A fawning look instantly appeared in the giant python''s eyes as it bobbed its head at Qu Ling, then transformed into a streak of white light that flew into a small white pouch strapped to her waist.
The huge azure silkworm also flew over to her before vanishing into another pouch that she was carrying as a streak of azure light.
In the next instant, Qu Ling flew onto the back of the golden beetle, and it asked her in a rather tender voice, "Should we keep going?"
"You are the fastest of the three, yet both of the other two intervened to intercept the escaping nascent souls, so why didn''t you do anything?" Qu Ling asked as a cold look shed through her eyes.
"With your powers, if you really wanted to intercept those nascent souls, you could''ve done so with ease without my help," the golden beetle scoffed in response.
"Don''t think that you can just keep getting away with tant disobedience like this! I''m only pampering you because you have decent potential, but don''t mistake my kindness for weakness!" Qu Ling scolded in a cold voice.
The golden beetle merely buzzed in response, paying no heed to her thinly veiled threat.
A hint of anger shed through Qu Ling''s eyes, but she was unexpectedly tolerant of the golden beetle, and she quickly suppressed her anger as she instructed, "Keep going."
The golden beetle didn''t say anything else, either, and it continued onward as a streak of golden light.
Qu Ling sat down onto its back, then cast her gaze toward the green gourd in her hand.
A burst of azure light shed from the opening of the gourd at her behest, and the eight crimson gs flew out beforending in her grasp, upon which a hint of excitement appeared on her face.
"What''s the big deal? It''s just some crappy gourd," the golden beetle scoffed.
"This is no ordinary gourd! All Profound Heavenly Treasures are born from heaven and earth and contain unmatched power. They are true Essential Immortal Treasures, and this gourd has already been growing here for countless years. Thew powers nurtured within it are the most fundamental secret of this realm, and it''s certainly going to be even more formidable than the average Profound Heavenly Treasure!
¡°I still haven''t even refined it yet, and it''s already disying such immense power. Once I have a chance to refine and examine it further, it''ll be sure to serve me even better."
Qu Ling''s voice sounded quite calm and collected, but there was definitely an underlying hint of excitement.
"I didn''t know this gourd was that impressive. How remarkable!" the golden beetle chuckled.
"In any case, I really made the right decision toe here. With this Profound Heavenly Treasure in my possession, the High Zenith Pill will surely be mine! Once I reach the High Zenith Stage and master this treasure, there''s a chance I could even ascend to the Great Epassment Stage in the future! As long as you pledge your absolute loyalty to me, I''ll be sure to treat you well," Qu Ling said in an excited voice.
"I''ll be thanking you in advance then," the golden beetle replied in an indifferent manner, seemingly unimpressed.
Qu Ling''s brows furrowed slightly with displeasure, and she harrumphed coldly, "What an ungrateful little rascal you are!"
She then paid no further heed to the golden beetle as she continued to examine the green gourd in her hand.
All of a sudden, her expression changed slightly as her gaze fell upon the opening of the gourd.
The gourd was entirely green in color as if it had been carved out of a chunk of jade, but the coloration around the gourd''s opening was clearly a little light, indicating that it hadn''tpletely matured yet.
Looks like I harvested it too early, and it''s still quite some years away from reaching full maturity. In any case, once I leave this ce, I can find some suitable spirit soil and spirit liquid to nurture it, and a million years should be enough for it to mature.
She had found this green gourd in a medicine garden, and she had been ecstatic to stumble upon it. She knew that it hadn''tpletely matured, but after some consideration, she still decided to harvest it right away.
She knew that harvesting the gourd prior to full maturity was definitely going to have some type of negative impact upon it, but she certainly wasn''t going to wait for the next emergence of the immortal manor. Who knew if the gourd would still be there waiting for her next time?
......
In the sky above a crimson mountain, the Vast Flow Pce cultivators were flying through the air.
They were arranged in a line, collectively forming a long streak of blue light that resembled a giant dragon as they raced through the air.
The crimson mountain down below was filled with lush vegetation, among which there was nock of spirit nts that were giving immense spiritual power fluctuations.
Some of the True Immortal cultivators of the Vast Flow Pce were clearly tempted to make a detour to scoop up some of the spirit nts below, but Luo Qinghai showed no intention of stopping as he continued onward without pause.
As a result, no one else could stop to search for treasures, and the fair-skinned schr beside Luo Qinghai said, "I don''t think we need to be in such a hurry, Pce Master. Some of the spirit nts down below are quite useful, even to the likes of ourselves."
"Trust me, Junior Martial Brother, I have my reasons for doing this," Luo Qinghai replied.
The fair-skinned schr faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response before falling silent.
......
Meanwhile, the cultivators of the Northern cial Immortal Pce were currently standing in front of a blue pce.
The pce was shimmering with spiritual light, and there were clearly many precious treasures inside.
All of the Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators were looking at the pce with intense longing in their eyes, while Xiao Jinhan had his hands sped behind his back as he dered in an indifferent voice, "You can go in, but you only have 15 minutes. Once the 15 minutes are up, we set off right away."
All of the Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators immediately gave affirmative responses before flying inside, while Xiao Jinhan remained at the entrance of the pce, looking into the distance with a contemtive look in his eyes.
......
Within a gray cloud, a gray flying boat was racing through the air.
Bursts of ck light were shing within the gray cloud like arcs of ck lightning, but all of it was kept at bay by a light barrier around the flying boat.
The Dawn Fall Sect cultivators were seated in the cabin of the boat, with Feng Tiandu situated at the center, while everyone else was arranged around him in a circr formation.
Hints of gray light were emanating from their bodies, and it seemed that they were using some type of secret technique.
A long whileter, Feng Tiandu''s eyes suddenly sprang open, while his brows furrowed tightly.
"How could this be? I can''t detect the auras of those two Origin Separation Law Chains at all now... Where could he have gone?" he murmured to himself with a contemtive look on his face.
......
Elsewhere in the immortal manor, a ball of crimson light was flying through a vast sea of clouds in the sky at an extraordinary speed.
The ball of light contained none other than Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni, and both of them wore serious expressions as they flew along in silence.
......
In the sky above a swamp, the group of Southern Dawn beings had been surrounded by a flock of strange yellow birds.
These birds were around 40 to 50 feet in length with green fleshy lumps on their heads and extremely sharp beaks and talons.
Individually, they weren''t particrly powerful, but there were hundreds of them, and they were as fast as lightning.
The Southern Dawn beings were far more powerful than these birds, but they were still trapped here, unable to make any progress.
......
At this point, everyone had already been in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor for quite some time, and many people had already reaped significant rewards or fallen to their demise.
In the Boundless Sand Sea, the azure flying boat continued to race through the air, while Han Li stood at the bow of the boat, scouring his surroundings with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
Lu Yuqing was standing beside him, holding the jade slip that contained the map of the area.
Their unhealthy redplexions had already faded, and it was clear that they had already found a water spirit area that had allowed them to alleviate their fire poisoning.
Even though they would be slowly poisoned again after leaving the water spirit area, as long as they nned out a good route that would allow them to make regr stops at water spirit areas along the way, there shouldn''t be any problems.
Hence, the fire poison that the Boundless Sand Sea was extremely notorious for didn''t actually pose much of a threat to them.
At this point, the two of them had already ventured quite deep into the Boundless Sand Sea, and they weren''t far away from the pathway leading to the other region.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s attention was drawn to his right, where there seemed to be another oasis on the distant horizon.
Chapter 449: Relentless Mirages
Chapter 449: Relentless Mirages
Lu Yuqing had also noticed the oasis up ahead, and she said, "This is already the 83rd mirage, Brother Han. From this point, we have to begin traveling in the northeastern direction."
Han Li immediately summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis upon hearing this, the Eye of Truth appeared at the center of the axis at his behest.
Faint golden light was radiating from the eye as it cast its gaze forward, and immediately thereafter, the azure flying boat changed directions slightly, flying in the northeastern direction of the oasis.
Even though Han Li had changed directions, the oasis still appeared directly up ahead, and it began to expand on the horizon as the flying boat continued onward.
Han Li made no attempt to try and avoid the oasis, instead flying the spirit boat straight into it.
The surrounding scene suddenly changed as the barren and deste desert gave way to a lush oasis that was filled with dense greenery andkes.
The air had also be very moist, while the heatpletely faded, and it was as if they had arrived in a cool and refreshing world, one that was in stark contrast with the environment that they had just been in.
However, the surrounding oasis was constantly spinning, making one feel very dizzy and disoriented.
Han Li''s expression remained calm and collected, and it seemed that he was already ustomed to this. He continued to make a string of hand seals as he inspected his surroundings through his Eye of Truth, while Lu Yuqing had already closed her eyes and sat down with her legs crossed, channeling her cultivation arts to protect her mind.
The azure flying boat continued onward in a very stable fashion,pletely unaffected by the changes in the surrounding environment.
After flying for around 15 minutes, the surrounding oasis suddenly fell awayyer uponyer like a series of popped bubbles, and the environment reverted back to that of the parched desert.
Han Li disyed no reaction to this whatsoever, and he continued to look straight ahead while guiding the azure flying boat onward.
"I didn''t think that these mirages would be so unavoidable. Thank heavens you''re here, Brother Han. Otherwise, even if I had the map and knew the correct route, it would''ve been impossible for me to get to the destination," Lu Yuqing said with a smile as she slowly opened her eyes.
Han Li merely gave a faint smile upon hearing this.
"We''re already not far away from that passageway, but ording to what I''ve heard, the passageway is guarded by a Golden Immortal Stage demon beast, so it won''t be easy to bypass," Lu Yuqing continued.
"Do you know what type of demon beast it is?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"No. All I''ve heard is that it''s quite formidable, and that it''s already been guarding that passageway for countless years," Lu Yuqing replied with a shake of her head.
"I see. In that case, I suppose we''ll just have to adapt ording to the situation," Han Li said with a contemtive nod.
Han Li''s calm and confident demeanor instilled within Lu Yuqing a great deal of reassurance.
Close to a day passed by in the blink of an eye, and they encountered several more mirages during that time, all of which were smoothly negotiated by Han Li using his Eye of Truth.
ording to Lu Yuqing''s map, the passageway wasn''t very far up ahead.
At this moment, the flying boat was still flying onward, but Han Li''s brows had be slightly furrowed.
He was no longer concerned about the mirages in the Boundless Sand Sea, and the only thing that was weighing on his mind was the demon beast that was guarding the passageway.
If the demon beast really had already been guarding the passageway for countless years as Lu Yuqing proimed, then who knew if it had managed to develop some special abilities during that time?
Right at this moment, another oasis appeared up ahead, and Han Li hurriedly rid himself of his train of thought so he could focus on the task at hand.
Lu Yuqing examined her map momentarily, then said, "This is the final mirage before the entrance of the passageway. There''s no need to change directions, just fly straight ahead."
Han Li nodded in response, and he summoned his Eye of Truth once again as the azure flying boat continued directly forward.
Right as it was about to fly into the oasis up ahead, four more oases suddenly appeared consecutively up ahead.
The five oases formed a pentagon, with each one resonating with one another, and all of them began to glow bright in unison, transforming into an enormous ball of green light in the blink of an eye.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing were both quite taken aback to see this, but at this point, it was already toote to try and stop the flying boat.
The azure flying boat vanished into the ball of green light in a sh, and the surrounding desert vanished once again.
However, on this asion, instead of appearing in an oasis, Han Li and Lu Yuqing found themselves in a chaotic space with countless glowing green shadows shing, pulsing, and intertwining with one another, presenting a very disorienting sight to behold.
At the same time, bursts of formidable illusory force surged forth from all directions, and the illusion here was countless times more potent than the oases that they had previously encountered.
"How could this be?" Lu Yuqing eximed with a stunned expression.
As soon as her voice trailed off, a burst of formidable illusory power descended upon her, and her eyes instantly became dazed and zed over as she stoodpletely rooted to the spot, seemingly having already fallen under the control of the illusion here.
The same type of illusory power was surging toward Han Li as well, and he was naturally far better equipped to handle it than Lu Yuqing, but even so, he was still struck by a rush of dizziness.
He took a deep breath as he hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, and a cool and refreshing sensation instantly surged through his mind to erase the fog of dizziness.
Right at this moment, Lu Yuqing suddenly began iling her arms and legs erratically through the air as a hint of insanity appeared in her eyes.
Immediately thereafter, she turned to Han Li with fierce killing intent in her eyes, and a silver longsword appeared in her grasp amid a sh of silver light.
The sword was radiating extremely bright and pure silver swordlight in the form of countless threads of silver light, and it was pierced directly at Han Li at an astonishing speed.
Even before the sword arrived, a burst of extremely formidable sword intent had already descended upon Han Li, making him feel as if there were countless red-hot needles piercing into his soul.
Even with his formidable spiritual sense, he still couldn''t help but give a muffled groan, and he couldn''t help but feel stunned by this unexpected turn of events.
On the way here, he had never seen Lu Yuqing use a sword before, so it was a huge surprise to him that her mastery of the sword was already so advanced that she could already harm the souls of her opponents with her sword intent alone.
However, her sword intent was still nowhere near powerful enough to inflict any substantial damage upon him, and he immediately flicked his fingers through the air, releasing five streaks of azure sword qi that intercepted the oing silver longsword before threatening to tear it apart.
However, to his surprise, the silver longsword suddenly sprang up like an agile fish, even though it had already left Lu Yuqing''s grasp, and it was able to struggle free from the five opposing streaks of sword qi.
At the same time, radiant azure light erupted out of Lu Yuqing''s body as she abruptly vanished from the spot.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, and in the next instant, five identical Lu Yuqings appeared all around him, every single one of which was giving off formidable sword qi.
The silver longswords being wielded by the five Lu Yuqings lit up once again before being thrust directly at him, with each one aimed at one of his vital regions.
A film of starlight appeared over Han Li''s body to keep the five silver longswords at bay, and at the same time, Han Li swept his gaze across the five Lu Yuqings through his Eye of Truth, upon which a look of realization instantly appeared on his face.
Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release a thick arc of golden lightning, which hurtled toward one of the Lu Yuqings on his right at an incredible speed.
That Lu Yuqing instantly shed her sword through the air, conjuring up a dense silver sword barrier around her entire body.
The arc of golden lightning struck the sword barrier, and a burst of loud crackling instantly rang out as close to half of the lightning was eradicated by the countless opposing sword projections.
However, the silver sword barrier was also trembling unsteadily, and it didn''t take long before itpletely exploded, while the silver longsword in Lu Yuqing''s hand was also shattered into countless silver pieces.
What little remained of the arc of golden lightning struck Lu Yuqing with tremendous force, and she was instantly sent flying through the air like a ragdoll before crashing into the side of the flying boat, upon which the other four Lu Yuqings around Han Li vanished without a trace.
The only remaining Lu Yuqing gave a muffled groan before springing to her feet. The killing intent in her eyes hadn''t abated in the slightest, yet before she had a chance to do anything, a thick translucent chain emerged out of thin air around her, then wound itself around her body like lightning.
The chain was glowing faintly, and it had a rather insubstantial form.
It was a chain formed by Han L''s spiritual sense, and even though it had rendered Lu Yuqingpletely immobilized, the insane look on her face remained, and she continued to struggle with all her might.
Han Li quickly began to chant an incantation while flicking a finger through the air, releasing several incantation seals in rapid session, all of which vanished into Lu Yuqing''s body one after another.
Countless runes instantly emerged from Lu Yuqing''s body, then transformed into several translucent rings that constricted around her.
The protective azure light around her body instantly melted away like snow under the scorching sun, and she slumped to the ground in an unconscious state.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
This was a secret technique that he had invented by emting the restrictivew powers within the Seven Bright Star Rings, and evidently, it had worked quite well.
After sessfully subduing Lu Yuqing, a perplexed look appeared on his face.
The silver longsword that she had been using earlier was extremely mediocre. In fact, it couldn''t even be considered to be a spirit treasure, and if it weren''t for that, perhaps he would still be struggling to restrain her.
The power that she had just disyed had been far more formidable than what she had revealed prior to this point, and Han Li couldn''t help but wonder if she had been hiding her true power this entire time.
He took a long look at the unconscious Lu Yuqing, then quickly withdrew his gaze.
At this moment, he was still in quite a perilous situation himself, so he didn''t have time to ponder the true nature of Lu Yuqing''s powers.
With that in mind, the True Extreme Film around him faded, and he sat down with his legs crossed as he peered into the surrounding chaotic space.
This was quite a formidable illusion, but he could tell that fundamentally, it was no different from the oasis illusions that they had encountered prior to this.
With the experience that he had umted in breaking through those illusions, he was confident that he could break out of this one as well.
With that in mind, he immediately began to chant an incantation, and all of the immortal spiritual power was channeled into the Mantra Treasured Axis in front of him.
The axis immediately began to radiate dazzling golden light, and in particr, the Eye of Truth at its center had be extremely bright and translucent.
Chapter 450: A Step Behind
Chapter 450: A Step Behind
Han Li took a deep breath, then swept a sleeve toward the Eye of Truth, releasing a burst of golden light that vanished into the Eye of Truth in a sh.
The Eye of Truth instantly lit up even further, following which countless threads of golden light shot out from within.
These threads of golden light were extraordinarily fast, instantly spreading throughout the entire surrounding illusory space.
Han Li closed his eyes while making a rapid string of hand seals, and the Eye of Truth instantly began to sh, while the threads of golden light also began to tremble, inspecting everything within the illusory space like countless sensitive feelers.
Close to an hour passed by in the blink of an eye, and this entire time, Han Li remained seated with his legs crossed in apletely still manner.
Right at this moment, a faint thud suddenly rang out somewhere within the illusory space, and a burst of golden light suddenly erupted out of the one of the threads of golden light.
The space near that thread of light shuddered as ripples surged through the surrounding area, and Han Li''s eyes instantly sprang open as he turned to that direction while flicking his fingers rapidly through the air.
At the same time, an enormous burst of spiritual sense surged out of his be, and a burst of silver light shed near that patch of rippling space, following which eight or nine spiritual sense chains emerged there in unison.
All of the spiritual sense chains had sharp tips that pierced into the rippling space, and a burst of dazzling green light instantly erupted out of that area, then twisted and warped erratically before forming an extremely faint rift.
Han Li''s eyes instantly lit up upon seeing this, and the flying boat beneath him sped up drastically at his behest, transforming into a blurry green shadow that vanished into the rift in the blink of an eye.
The illusory space around Han Li instantly vanished, and the flying boat reappeared in the Boundless Sand Sea before continuing onward without pause.
Only then did he heave an internal sigh of relief.
That illusion had been far more formidable than the previous ones, and even he had almost fallen prey to it.
Meanwhile, Lu Yuqing has also returned to a sound frame of mind, and she was no longer struggling as sheidpletely still on the ground, seemingly having fallen unconscious.
Han Li turned his gaze to her with a hesitant look on his face.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he seemed to have arrived at a decision, and he released an incantation seal, upon which the spiritual sense chain around Lu Yuqing slowly faded away.
At the same time, the translucent rings of light around her also vanished, following which Han Li flicked a finger through the air to send a streak of azure light flying into her be.
She immediately gave a muffled groan, and her long eyshes fluttered slightly as she slowly opened her eyes. She was still looking a little disoriented, but at the very least, the deranged look in her eyes had faded.
After taking a moment to collect herself, her expression abruptly changed drastically as she hurriedly sat up before looking around with a panicked expression.
Only after realizing that she was safe on Han Li''s flying boat did her expression ease slightly, but there was still a hint of lingering fear in her eyes as she said, "It looks like you''ve already managed to get through that illusion, Brother Han. I didn''t think that the final mirage would be so formidable."
Han Li had been observing Lu Yuqing''s expression this entire time, and he remained silent as his brows furrowed slightly.
Lu Yuqing had naturally noticed the changes in his expression, and she asked, "What is it, Brother Han?"
Han Li shook his head as he replied, "Nothing. How are you feeling right now?"
Lu Yuqing faltered slightly upon hearing this, then pressed her hand over her own abdomen as a hint of pain and surprise appeared in her eyes.
"How did I sustain these injuries?"
"Back in the mirage, you fell prey to the illusion and suddenly attacked me, so I had no choice but to subdue you by force, and I was a little too forceful in the heat of the moment," Han Li exined.
Lu Yuqing faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which an apologetic look appeared on her face as she said, "I''m sorry for always being a hindrance to you, Brother Han."
Han Li waved a dismissive hand in response, then cast his gaze forward as he said, "Now that we''ve bypassed the final mirage, the passageway should be just up ahead. Let''s take a short break before we continue onward."
He swept a sleeve through the air to cast an incantation seal as he spoke, and the azure light radiating from the flying boat instantly rippled slightly as it drew to a halt.
Lu Yuqing nodded in response, then sat back down with her legs crossed before taking a pill.
Ayer of bright azure light quickly appeared around her, forming an azure light barrier that epassed her entire body.
A hint of befuddlement shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
It didn''t seem like Lu Yuqing was putting on an act, so could it be that she had alreadypletely forgotten what had happened in that final mirage?
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, but at the same time, he made a mental note to be on his guard.
With a sweep of his sleeve, numerous streaks of blue light were released, each of which contained an array g thatnded somewhere near the flying boat.
The array gs were radiating bright blue light, forming a thick blue light barrier that epassed the entire azure flying boat.
After setting up the array, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a crimson pill.
The pill was enshrouded in ayer of dense crimson light, and it was giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations. This was none other than one of the Vast Heaven Pills that had been given to him by Wyrm 3.
In order to break that final mirage, he had expended a great deal of immortal spiritual power, and he was going to have to face a Golden Immortal Stage demon beast up ahead, so he had to replenish his own immortal spiritual power reserves as quickly as possible.
After taking the pill, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed, then channeled his cultivation arts to digest the pill, and ayer of red light quickly appeared over his face.
......
In the sky above a ck desert in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, a green jade flying carriage was hurtling through the air.
This ce was none other than the ck Rock Desert that Han Li and Lu Yuqing had just passed through, and there was a tall man standing on the flying carriage, holding a white disk treasure with a speck of red light shing upon its surface.
All of a sudden, the man raised his head and cast his gaze forward as he mused in a cold voice, "I knew there was a Spirit Refinement Technique practitioner nearby! You''re not getting away from me!"
Immediately thereafter, the four wheels of the flying carriage transformed into four miniature azure tornadoes at his behest, and the speed of the flying carriage was instantly enhanced by severalfold as it shot through the air at an incredible pace.
......
An hour passed by in the blink of an eye.
On the azure flying carriage, Han Li opened his eyes, having alreadypletely replenished his immortal spiritual power reserves.
A short whileter, the azure light around Lu Yuqing also faded, and she appeared to have recovered from her injuries as well.
"Let''s go," Han Li dered, then swept a sleeve through the air to withdraw the array around the flying boat before continuing onward.
Both of them remained silent, and before long, they had already been flying for close to three hours.
This was supposed to be the deepest part of the Boundless Sand Sea, but the scorching heat in the air was gradually diminishing, and a slightly chilly aura had emerged in its stead.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly as he swept a sleeve through the air, and the azure flying boat instantly drew to a halt.
As it turned out, another oasis had appeared up ahead.
This oasis appeared to be around 40 to 50 kilometers in radius, and it was covered in lush greenery.
At the center of the oasis was a crescent-shapedke, the surface of which was glowing radiantly. Even though it was a bright and sunny day, theke was still extremely eye-catching, resembling a radiant moon that had fallen upon the Boundless Sand Sea.
Unlike the oases that hade before it, this one was not a mirage.
At the center of the crescent-shapedke was a rapidly revolving ck vortex that was several dozen feet in size.
Bursts of spatial fluctuations were emanating out of the ck vortex, and there was a faint speck of white light deep within it, seemingly leading to another world.
All of the water in theke around the vortex had been stirred up and was sshing audibly.
"That''s the spatial passageway!" Lu Yuqing eximed in an ecstatic voice.
However, Han Li wasn''t looking at the ck vortex. Instead, his gaze was focused on a small forest beside theke, and his expression suddenly changed slightly as he swept a sleeve through the air to stow the azure flying boat away, then descended toward the oasis down below.
Lu Yuqing faltered slightly upon seeing this, then immediately followed along out of habit.
As they drew closer to the oasis, a surprised look suddenly appeared on Lu Yuqing''s face as she stopped in her tracks.
As it turned out, there was a demon beast that was over 100 feet in sizeying in the forest down below.
The greenery in the forest was quite dense, and the demon beast had been concealed within the undergrowth, so Lu Yuqing had failed to spot it prior to this.
The beast resembled a giant ox, and it had an extremely intimidating physique, with bands of bulging muscles beneath ayer of azure jade-like fur.
However, as opposed to hooves, it had four sets of sharp talons that were giving off a cold gleam.
Even in death, the beast was still giving off a very formidable aura, so it had to have been an extremely powerful being.
However, it had been decapitated, and its huge head wasying on the ground not far away. There was a single ck horn on its head, and there was a horrified look in its eyes, as if it had witnessed something extremely terrifying right before it met its demise.
"It looks like someone already got here before us... That makes sense. All of the major powers who entered the immortal manor on this asion are aware that there''s a passageway leading to another region deep in this Boundless Sand Sea. They may not have a map of this ce, but given their powers, it''s certainly not impossible for them to find this ce before us," Lu Yuqing mused.
Han Li nodded in response, and a grim look appeared on his face as his gaze fell upon the wound on the demon beast''s neck.
The cross-section of the wound was very smooth and even, indicating that the beast had been decapitated by a single blow.
Furthermore, no signs of battle could be seen in the nearby oasis, indicating that it had been in by a single attack before it even had a chance to retaliate.
Only an extremely formidable cultivator could''ve dealt with a Golden Immortal Stage demon beast so easily.
Han Linded beside the body of the huge demon beast, then brushed a hand over the wound on its neck, picking up some of its blood before taking a sniff, upon which his eyes immediately lit up.
Lu Yuqing was rather taken aback by Han Li''s strange gesture, and she couldn''t help but ask, "Is there something wrong, Brother Han?"
"No," Han Li replied with a shake of his head, while a burst of azure light shed over his hand to remove the blood there. "In any case, now that the beast has already been killed, we won''t have to go through the effort of trying to get past it. Let''s go."
Lu Yuqing naturally had no objections to this, and the two of them flew over to the ck vortex before peering inside.
"There doesn''t seem to be any danger," Han Li concluded after a brief assessment, and with that, the two of them flew into the ck passageway.
Chapter 451: Palace
Chapter 451: Pce
Han Li felt his vision blur for a moment, and in the next instant, he was already in apletely new environment.
After taking a brief moment to gather his bearings, he inspected his surroundings to find that the terrain was quite t, and he was situated in a red and barren area that waspletely devoid of vegetation and living creatures.
Lu Yuqing was situated not far away from him, and at this moment, she was also gradually returning to her senses.
A whirlwind swept past not far in front of them, raising a cloud of red dust into the air, and there was a primordial aura permeating throughout the entire area.
Han Li slowly swept his gaze over his surroundings, and his brows suddenly furrowed slightly.
Just now, he had attempted to release his spiritual sense to scout the surrounding area, but he discovered that there was a type of restrictive force around his body that wasn''t impeding his movements at all, but rendered himpletely unable to release his spiritual sense out of his body at all.
"Just how big is this Infernal Frost Immortal Manor? And why are there so many strange things in this ce?" Han Li couldn''t help but sigh in a slightly exasperated voice.
In contrast, Lu Yuqing wasn''t very surprised by this, and she smiled as she said, "When I was a child, I once read an ancient scripture from my father''s study. ording to that scripture, the Northern cial Immortal Realm was formerly known as the Infernal Frost Immortal Region, but for some unknown reason, its name waster changed.
¡°If this Infernal Frost Immortal Manor has something to do with the former name of the immortal region, then it''s no wonder that it''s such a massive andplex ce."
Han Li was just about to respond when his expression suddenly stiffened slightly, and he was suddenly rooted to the spot with his mouth slightly agape.
Lu Yuqing was quite startled to see this, and she hurriedly asked, "Are you alright, Brother Han?"
Han Li was silent for a moment longer, then replied in an ambiguous manner, "I''m fine, I just suddenly recalled some things..."
Lu Yuqing wasn''t entirely convinced, but she didn''t ask any further questions.
Han Li''s gaze drifted over the surrounding area before settling on a certain direction deep within this barrennd, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
What had actually cut him off earlier wasn''t any thought that had suddenly popped into his mind. Instead, it was his Mantra Treasured Axis.
For some reason, as soon as he cast his gaze toward that direction, the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis would begin to sh, as if it could sense the presence of timew powers there.
"Which way should we go next, Brother Han? It looks like our spiritual sense isn''t going to help us here," Lu Yuqing said.
Han Li hesitated momentarily, then pointed in the direction that his Mantra Treasured Axis was responding to as he replied, "Let''s go in this direction first."
"Sure," Lu Yuqing replied with a nod.
Thus, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to summon that azure spirit boat, and after both he and Lu Yuqing had flown onto the flying boat, it sped away as a streak of azure light.
As they flew through the air, the sound of the howling wind instantly grew louder, and Han Li stood atop the flying boat as he continued to scour the barrennd down below.
Looking down from above, he discovered that the terrain here wasn''t as t and level as it had first appeared. Instead, some hills could be seen down below, but they were far too small to be considered anywhere near mountains.
The further they went, the moreplex the terrain down below became. Aside from those small hills, a series of ins and ravines of different sizes and depths had also begun to appear on thendscape. The ravines seemed to have been carved out by flowing water, but any bodies of water here had long since run dry.
After flying for a few minutes, Han Li suddenly raised an eyebrow as he spotted a set of ruins that appeared to have once been a city on the distant horizon, and the flying boat instantly elerated in that direction at his behest.
Upon reaching the edge of the set of ruins, the azure flying boat descended in front of a moat that was over 100 feet wide.
However, the moat was alsopletely dry, and the parched and fractured earth at the bottom of the moat indicated that it had also been dry for a very long time.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing cast their eyes forward to find that the city wall across from the moat was still rtively intact, but it had clearly been severely ravaged by all types of weapons, and it was quite remarkable that it was still standing.
The two of them made their way toward the city over a nearby stone bridge, and upon reaching the center of the bridge, Han Li suddenly spotted a piece of bone jutting out of the bottom of the dried moat down below.
It appeared to be the curved horn of some type of demon beast, and it was roughly as thick as a grown man''s arm.
Han Li stopped in his tracks as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which instantly raised that entire section of the ground down below to reveal aplete skeleton.
A hint of surprise instantly appeared on Lu Yuqing''s face as she caught sight of the full skeleton, and Han Li was also quite taken aback by what he was seeing.
The skeleton was very strange in appearance, and it was impossible to identify what type of demon beast it had once belonged to. However, one thing that was certain was that it had definitely belonged to an enormous creature that wasn''t inferior in size to the Giant Mountain Ape.
The piece of bone that Han Li had presumed was a horn was actually just a section of one of the creature''s teeth.
"Do you recognize this beast, Brother Han?" Lu Yuqing asked with a puzzled expression.
"No aura of the beast remains at all, and I can''t identify it based on its skeleton alone," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
While it was true that he didn''t know what this beast was, it urred to him that the skeleton looked as if it could belong to one of the beasts that he had seen on that mural in the hall near the spirit medicine garden from before.
Given that the mural depicted a battle, Han Li couldn''t help but wonder if the battle depicted on the mural had taken ce at this very ce.
However, as soon as this possibility urred to him, he immediately realized that this couldn''t be true. The battle depicted on the mural had been one of a massive scale, and if it had truly taken ce here, then this city would''ve definitely beenpletely razed to the ground.
After crossing the stone bridge, Han Li and Lu Yuqing arrived at the city gates to find arge que hanging overhead, bearing the words "Moon Lake City".
After passing through the city gate, a disturbance suddenly arose in Han Li''s heart, and he couldn''t help but stop in his tracks again.
The dozen or so active Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis in his body were shing incessantly, and they were reacting even more urgently than before.
Han L''s brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze into the city to find that it had already been reduced toplete ruins. There were copsed buildings everywhere, and some demon beast and human remains could be seen protruding out of the piles of rubble, but they were nothing more than bones.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing made their way down the main road deeper into the city, and it was more of the same, with more rubble and copsed buildings littering thendscape. Only as they reached the core area of the city did they spot a golden pce that was over 1,000 feet tall in the distance.
Compared with all of the other buildings that they had seen on the way here, this golden pce was exceptionally well preserved, with only some cracks on its walls and a slightly copsed roof.
Aside from that, the pce was glowing with dazzling golden radiance, as if there were a golden membrane over its surface that was reflecting the light of the sun.
Han Li was just about to approach the pce when he felt a burst of heat sh through his storage bracelet.
His brows furrowed slightly as he stopped in his tracks once again, then flipped a hand over to produce a glowing green jade box.
A faint crack rang out as he opened the jade box to reveal a gray eyeball inside. The eyeball looked as if it had been carved out of stone, and waves of faint gray light were constantly emanating from it.
"What''s this?" Lu Yuqing asked with an intrigued expression.
"It''s the eye of a Primordial Fei Beast," Han Li replied in a concise manner.
Lu Yuqing could tell that Han Li didn''t want to borate on the matter, so she didn''t ask any further questions.
Han Li examined the eye of the Primordial Fei Beast for a moment to find that all that it was doing was releasing faint waves of gray light. He was unable to tell what was happening, so he could only hold it in the palm of his hand as he continued to approach the golden pce.
Upon reaching around 1,000 feet away from the golden pce, Han Li''s eyes suddenly narrowed slightly as he grabbed onto Lu Yuqing''s arm, then dragged her behind a copsed wall for cover.
As it turned out, there was a silver-robed woman standing at the foot of the gate of the golden pce. She was making a hand seal with one hand and holding a damaged Drigug in the other while casting a series of incantation seals toward the pce gates. [1]
Lu Yuqing took a nce at the silver-robed woman over the copsed wall, then eximed, "Why is she here?"
Han Li hurriedly raised a finger to his own lips to make a silencing gesture.
Even though there was a spiritual sense restriction here, the silver-robed woman was clearly a very formidable Golden Immortal cultivator, and they could be overheard if they weren''t careful.
The woman was none other than Qiu Ling, and the Drigug that she was holding was riddled with antiquated runes.
Rays of golden light were emanating from its surface, and they were connected to a peculiar circr design on the gates of the golden pce, seemingly undoing the restriction on the gates.
Han Li could sense clear timew fluctuations emanating from both the Drigug in Qu Ling''s hand and the golden pce gates, and his brows were tightly furrowed as he carefully peered over the copsed wall.
Only then did he notice that there was a strange figure next to her.
Even though it was resting on its haunches, the creature was still standing at 70 to 80 feet tall, and at first nce, it resembled a yellow wall. Only upon closer inspection would one be able to notice the peculiar spirit patterns all over its body.
The creature had its back facing Han Li, so he wasn''t able to see what it looked like, but it reminded him very much of the Primordial Fei Beast that he had in all those years ago.
This creature was far smaller in stature than that Primordial Fei Beast, but the outline of its body, the coloration of its skin, and those peculiar spirit patterns were all virtually identical to that of the Primordial Fei Beast.
A perplexed look appeared on Han Li''s face, and he took a nce down at the eyeball that he was holding.
Right at this moment, the faint white light that was emanating from the eye suddenly brightened significantly, resembling a beacon that had suddenly lit up in the night.
The strange creature that was resting on its haunches next to Qu Ling instantly sprant to its feet, then turned around to reveal a hideous face with a t nose, a massive mouth, and a huge single eye situated at the center of its head.
Sure enough, this was just a miniature Primordial Fei Beast!
The Primordial Fei Beast let loose a thunderous roar as a thick pir of white light shot out of its eye, hurtling directly toward Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face as he grabbed onto Lu Yuqing''s wrist, then sprang up into the air to evade the pir of white light before descending onto the main path leading to the golden pce.
As a result, the two of them werepletely exposed.
1. A Drigug or Kartika is a Buddhist knife used for ceremonial purposes. ?
Chapter 452: Trapped
Chapter 452: Trapped
Qu Ling instantly spun around in the wake of themotion, and a slightly surprised look appeared on her face as she spotted Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
However, in the next instant, her gaze fell upon the gray eyeball in Han Li''s hand, and a furious look immediately appeared on her face.
Qu Ling turned around fully to face Han Li, and there were daggers shooting out of her eyes as she said in a furious voice, "So you''re the one who killed my other Primordial Fei Beast! I would''ve been done here a lot sooner if it wasn''t for you!"
Han Li''s mouth was suddenly feeling a little parched. At this point, it had be apparent that the Primordial Fei Beast that he had in all those years ago just so happened to have belonged to Qu Ling, and it seemed that it had been quite important to her as well.
His mind was racing, and he hurriedly said to Lu Yuqing through voice transmission, "We have to split up and run!"
Immediately thereafter, he turned and fled into the distance.
Lu Yuqing faltered slightly upon hearing this, seemingly still a little dazed and confused, but she then immediately reacted as well, flying away in another direction as a streak of azure light.
"You''re not getting away!" Qu Ling harrumphed coldly as she raised a hand and pointed a finger at Han Li from afar.
A streak of white light instantly shot out of her sleeve, revealing itself to be a white rope that was giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations interspersed with faintw fluctuations.
It was an immortal treasure, and it set off in pursuit of Han Li as a thin streak of white light.
At the same time, she turned to the little Primordial Fei Beast beside her and instructed, "Go and kill that woman."
The Primordial Fei Beast took a resentful nce at Han Li, but it clearly didn''t dare to go against Qu Ling''s orders, and it stomped a foot down onto the ground, propelling itself toward Lu Yuqing as a yellow shadow.
As Han Li was flying through the air, he could sense the white rope hurtling toward him from behind at an astonishing speed, and in the blink of an eye, it was only several kilometers away from him.
He hurriedly conjured up a pair of golden wings on his back, then began pping them rapidly to elerate further in his escape.
A cold smile appeared on Qu Ling''s face as she made a hand seal before pointing a finger forward, and the white rope instantly elerated as well, transforming into a blurry white shadow that caught up to Han Li in an instant, then split up into five or six identical projections that pounced at Han Li from both the left and the right.
Han Li was quite rmed to see this, and arcs of golden lightning surfaced over his Thunderstorm Wings amid a rumbling thunderp, allowing him to just barely evade the rope projections right before they closed in around him.
In the next instant, he reappeared close to 10 kilometers away amid a sh of lightning, but there was a very grim look on his face.
As it turned out, the spatial restrictions here were even more severe than the ones in the Light Frost Region, and that was why he wasn''t able to get any further away with his lightning movement technique.
All of a sudden, Qu Ling''s voice rang out from directly behind Han Li.
"Cease your futile resistance!"
Han Li was extremely rmed to hear this, and he didn''t even have time to turn around to examine the situation as he hurriedly summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which instantly began to spin in reverse.
At the same time, a sh of golden lightning erupted out of his Thunderstorm Wings once again, and he vanished for a second time amid a rumbling thunderp, this timepleting the sequence of actions several times faster than before.
Only after reappearing close to 10 kilometers away amid a sh of golden lightning did Han Li dare to turn around, and he discovered Qu Ling standing on the spot where he had just been a moment ago with a surprised look on her face.
"It looks like you''ve got some unexpected tricks up your sleeve, but that''s not going to save you!" Qu Ling harrumphed coldly, and dazzling silver light surged out of her body before forming a pair of indistinct silver wings.
The silver wings spread open, and Qu Ling instantly vanished from the spot.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly unleashed his Reversal True Axis ability in conjunction with his lightning movement technique once again, allowing him to vanish from the spot amid a sh of golden lightning yet again.
His lightning movement technique was greatly enhanced thanks to his Reversal True Axis, and he had only just vanished from the spot when Qu Ling appeared up above, then reached out with one hand, and five streaks of gray light shot out of her fingertips.
However, in the instant that the five streaks of gray light descended, Han Li had already disappeared, so she had failed to strike her target.
Qu Ling''s expression remained unchanged as she turned to a certain direction, where Han Li stumbled out of thin air amid a sh of golden lightning.
A cold sneer appeared on her face as she pped her silver wings, vanishing from the spot once again in a wraith-like fashion, this time picking up even more speed than before.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face as he continued to flee using his lightning movement technique, and thus, a chase ensued, with a streak of silver light pursuing a streak of golden light through the air.
The streak of silver light was only getting faster as time passed, and it was moving in apletely silent and wraith-like fashion, leaving a trail of silver afterimages in its wake.
However, the streak of golden light was able to keep up with its pace, and it was also getting faster and faster, just barely eluding the streak of silver light every single time.
The thunderps ringing out from Han Li''s lightning movement technique were ringing out more and more frequently, until it became one continuous rumbling sound with no gaps in between.
As the chase continued, for some reason, the two returned to the golden pce.
All of a sudden, Qu Ling emerged out of thin air amid a sh of silver light, and her brows were slightly furrowed.
Close to 10 kilometers away, Han Li also reappeared amid a sh of golden lightning, and he was panting slightly as he stared intently at Qu Ling.
Qu Ling didn''t continue toe after him, so he didn''t continue to run.
His immortal spiritual power was able to support both his Reversal True Axis and lightning movement technique at once, but moving at such a high speed was extremely taxing on his body and mind, so he was eager for some respite.
"I didn''t think a mere True Immortal like yourself would be able to elude me for so long. It looks like I''ll have to get a little serious," Qu Ling harrumphed coldly as she vanished from the spot once again amid a sh of silver lightning.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately sped away as an arc of golden lightning.
However, right at this moment, the space around him abruptly shuddered, and a vast expanse of gray light emerged, forming a gray area that instantly epassed everything within a radius of over 10,000 feet.
Streaks of gray light were surging throughout this area, and there were countless gray shadows everywhere. Even though this area only had a radius of just over 10,000 feet, it seemed to be apletely independent realm that was extremely far away from the outside world.
An arc of golden lightning appeared on the edge of the gray area, and it was like a fish that had been caught in a, unable to break free despite its desperate struggles.
As a result, Han Li was forced to reappear with a grim look on his face.
It was clear that this was a domain ability.
On that Transient Guild mission to kill Ping Yaozi, Han Li had witnessed Gu Jie''s avatar unleash a domain ability, but that was only a pseudo-domain, and it couldn''t even begin topare with this gray domain.
At this moment, he felt as if he had fallen into a vast gray swamp, and bursts of spatial power interspersed withw powers were converging toward him from all directions, rendering him virtuallypletely immobilized.
The countless gray shadows within the domain resembled countless ghosts that were pouncing at him from all directions, and they were the source of the bursts of restrictivew powers.
Even before the gray shadows arrived, Han Li was struck by a sense of feebleness, and his immortal spiritual power cirction had also be a little sluggish.
What kind ofw power is this?
Han Li was greatly rmed as he let loose a low roar, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared.
The timew thread on the axis was glowing radiantly, and it was releasing bursts of timew powers that enveloped his entire body.
Even though only a small portion of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis were active, and the timew powers they were releasing was rather sparse, thews of time were still one of the three paramountws, and the sensation of feebleness in his body was significantly alleviated.
Han Li immediately took advantage of this opportunity to make a hand seal, and a giant azure sword instantly appeared in front of him.
The sword was giving off dazzling azure light, and there were thick arcs of lightning surging all over its surface. It was giving off an astonishingly formidable aura, and it wasshed through the four times in different directions like lightning.
Four massive sword projections appeared before striking the surrounding gray shadows, and all of them were eradicated in an instant, but even more gray shadows continued to converge toward Han Li from all directions.
Han Li took a deep breath to muster up his resolve, thenshed out with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword at his surroundings over and over again, keeping all of the gray shadows at bay.
At the center of the gray domain stood Qu Ling with her hands sped behind her back, and at this moment, she was staring at Han Li with abination of shock and tion on her face.
"He''s a cultivator of thews of time, and he''s already manifested aw thread! Even the heavens are on my side!" Qu Ling chortled with glee, but a contemtive look then appeared on her face, and it seemed that she was rather conflicted about something.
However, a determined look then quickly surfaced in her eyes, and she began chanting an incantation while sweeping her sleeves through the air, and a gray throne appeared behind her amid a sh of gray light.
This throne appeared no different from the thrones of mortal emperors, except it was gray in color instead of golden, and there was a gray dragon wrapped around each of the armrests. In contrast with normal dragons, these two dragons were extremely sinister and menacing in appearance, and the entire gray throne was giving off a burst of vastw fluctuations.
Qu Ling sat down onto the throne, and her aura was elevated once again as ayer of silver light emerged over her face to obscure her facial features, and it was as if she had instantly transformed into a cold and regal queen.
She then raised a hand before setting it down onto the head of one of the gray dragons on the armrest, and the dragon instantly opened its mouth to release a ball of dense gray light with countless gray runes shing within it.
The ball of light was giving off terrifyingw power fluctuations, and it fused into the gray domain in a sh, upon which the size and number of gray shadows in the domain instantly increased drastically.
As a result, the pressure on Han Li also became severely heightened, and his expression darkened even further as he channeled all of his immortal spiritual power into his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, causing it to glow even more brightly as it swept toward the surrounding gray shadows.
At the same time, four treasures appeared above his head in session, namely a miniature gray mountain, a silver bell, a ck tusk sword, and arge ck g.
Chapter 453: Betrayal
Chapter 453: Betrayal
The four treasures that Han Li had just summoned were the very same immortal treasures that he had obtained after killing Tao Yu and his two guards.
Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release four balls of azure light into the four immortal treasures, and the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain swelled rapidly in size while releasing dazzling gray light.
Countless balls of gray light the size of water vats flew out of the mountain one after another toward the surrounding gray shadows, while the silver bell was also glowing radiantly with silver light while chiming loudly to send silver soundwaves surging through the air in all directions.
At the same time, the tusk sword and the ck g were also releasing formidable streaks of tusk-shaped sword qi and waves of ck light, respectively.
Out of these four immortal treasures, none of them had been refined much by Han Li with the exception of the Integrated Five Extremes Mountains, but theirbined power was still extremely formidable, and coupled with the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, they were able to keep the surrounding gray shadows at bay again.
However, right at this moment, Han Li felt a shadow suddenly loom over him, following which a giant gray dragon w emerged out of thin air amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
The dragon w was formed by gray mist, yet it was extremely imposing and appeared to have a substantial form. It seemed to possess boundless power, reaching straight through the sword qi released by the tusk sword before grabbing toward Han Li''s chest with unstoppable might.
Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as Daoist Xie abruptly appeared in front of him in its humanoid puppet form amid a sh of golden lightning, and it reached out with both hands to release thick arcs of lightning, which converged in the blink of an eye to form a giant golden lightning ax.
The ax was swung viciously through the air, and it shed against the gray dragon w with an earth-shattering boom.
Daoist Xie shuddered as it took a step back, but the gray dragon w was also repelled and faded away into the surrounding gray space.
Qu Ling raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, clearly not expecting Han Li to have a Golden Immortal Stage puppet on his side, but a cold sneer then appeared on her face as sheid a hand onto the other gray dragon on her armrest.
Her gray throne began to glow radiantly once again as three gray mirrors slowly emerged from behind it. On the surface of each mirror was inscribed an ancient character for "decay", "insanity", and "death".
The entire gray spirit domain began to ripple once again as all of the surrounding gray shadows surged violently, while the gray light within the domain rapidly became denser.
Han Li''s heart jolted slightly upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, the gray throne abruptly shuddered, and the dense gray light that it was releasing quickly faded, while the unrest within the gray domain also subsided.
Qu Ling was rather taken aback by this, and she quickly noticed that for some reason, threads of white light that were crackling incessantly had appeared within the gray light being released by her throne.
She immediately stopped what she was doing upon seeing this, then opened her mouth to release a burst of silver light that enveloped the entire throne.
Only then was the throne slowly stabilized, and the hints of white light within the gray light gradually began to fade away.
Qu Ling''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, but she continued to cast a string of incantation seals into the gray throne. At the same time, she swept her other sleeve through the air, releasing two streaks of light, one azure and one golden, and they transformed into a giant azure silkworm and a huge golden beetle, respectively.
"Go and capture that man, but take care not to hurt him as he''s going to be very useful to me," Qu Ling instructed.
The giant azure silkworm immediately heeded her call, flying through the air toward Han Li, while the golden beetle remained still on the spot.
Qu Ling''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and she instructed in a cold voice, "You go as well!"
"Alright..." the golden replied in azy voice, then began to fly toward Han Li at a leisurely pace.
Qu Ling gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, then turned her attention back to her gray throne and began releasing incantation seals with greater urgency.
Meanwhile, Han Li was busy keeping the surrounding gray shadows at bay with his five immortal treasures while searching for a way out.
Daoist Xie had already returned to his body. This was a trump card that he didn''t dare to use all the time, and he had to save it for unforeseen dangers like the situation that had just transpired.
At this moment, hsi face was rather pale, and his breathing was also a littlebored.
Enshrouded within Qu Ling''s spirit domain, he was unable to draw upon any of the world''s origin qi from the outside world, and that severely hampered his powers and his immortal spiritual power recovery.
Furthermore, using five immortal treasures at once was extremely taxing, and he didn''t have much immortal spiritual power left.
Not only that, but bursts of restrictivew powers continued to surge toward him incessantly from the surrounding spirit domain, and the timew powers around him were struggling to keep them at bay.
I have to find a way out soon!
Han Li''s mind was racing as he scoured his surroundings with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and all of a sudden, his gaze fell upon a certain point in the spirit domain.
Immediately thereafter, dazzling azure light erupted out of his body as he abruptly flew toward the edge of the domain while making a rapid string of hand seals.
Meanwhile, his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords also began to glow radiantly like a blinding azure sun, and the golden lightning that it was releasing had also brightened significantly.
Han Li pointed a finger at the sword from afar, and it instantly circled around in the air before transforming into a giant azure dragon that was over 1,000 feet in size.
Every single one of the dragon''s scales was shing with formidable sword qi, and thick arcs of golden lightning were surging over its entire body, while its aura had also been significantly elevatedpared with back when it was in its sword form.
The giant azure dragon pounced forward with formidable power, releasing countless streaks of peerlessly sharp sword qi that vanquished all of the gray shadows in its path.
Han Li was flying close behind the giant azure dragon, while the other four immortal treasures had also returned to his side, orbiting around him to shield him from the surrounding gray shadows.
It didn''t take long before he reached the edge of the gray spirit domain, but right at this moment, the huge azure silkworm appeared in front of him in a sh before opening its cavernous mouth to release countless silken threads, which intertwined with one another in mid-air to form a massive azure that descended upon him.
Han Li''s expression instantly changed slightly upon seeing this, but his mobility was severely restricted within the spirit domain, rendering him unable to take evasive measures.
The azure didn''t appear to be all that remarkable, but it was giving off bursts of specialw fluctuations, and if he were to be ensnared in it, it was most likely going to be very difficult for him to break free.
In this dire situation, Han Li pointed a finger at therge ck g beside him, and it instantly swelled drastically in size while releasing a vast expanse of ck light that surged toward the oing azure.
A dull thud rang out as the ck g was ensnared by the azure, and thetter instantly reverted back into countless azure silken threads that spun rapidly around the ck g, forming an azure cocoon in the blink of an eye.
The ck g was instantly immobilized within the cocoon, yet Han Li disyed no intention of trying to free it from the cocoon as he abruptly changed directions, flying around the azure cocoon before continuing onward.
The giant azure silkworm was just about to release another flurry of silken threads upon seeing this when the golden beetle suddenly appeared beside it.
Han Li instantly stopped cold in his tracks as he stared nkly at the golden beetle.
The golden beetle also looked back at Han Li with a bright gleam in its beady little eyes.
The azure silkworm was ecstatic to see that Han Li had suddenly drawn to a halt, and it opened its cavernous mouth to release another flurry of azure silken threads, which instantly formed another azure that swooped down upon Han Li.
Han Li immediately snapped back to his senses upon seeing this, withdrawing his gaze from the golden beetle as he pointed a finger at the ck tusk sword.
A vast expanse of ck swordlight surged out of the tusk sword, instantly forming a sea of sword qi that was around an acre in size to oppose the descending azure.
The giant azure silkworm screeched in derision as it opened its mouth once again, releasing a gust of fierce azure wind this time.
The gust of wind was filled with azure des of wind that swept rapidly through the air, hurtling toward Han Li from another direction to prevent him from getting away.
All of a sudden, a burst of bright golden light erupted out of the golden beetle''s body, then converged entirely onto its two front legs.
Two streaks of translucent light that were each several hundred feet in length instantly appeared on those two front legs, and they were giving off a peerlessly sharp aura.
With a wave of its two front legs, the golden beetle released the two streaks of translucent light, but instead of attacking Han Li, it was targeting the giant azure silkworm beside it.
The azure silkworm was greatly rmed by this, and it hurriedly attempted to fly back in retreat, but the two streaks of translucent light had been unleashed from very close proximity and were far too fast for it to evade.
Two dull thuds rang out, and green blood sttered in all directions as the giant silkworm''s body was sliced into three pieces by the two streaks of translucent light.
As a result, the descending azure and the gust of fierce azure wind instantly dissipated in unison.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and there was also a hint of nostalgia, as if he had been reunited with an old friend.
The azure silkworm screeched frantically, and the three sections of its body all began to radiate dazzling azure light as they continued to flee into the distance.
At the same time, they assembled themselves back together, and the flesh around the gashes was squirming incessantly while slowly fusing as one again.
The golden beetle immediatelyshed out once again upon seeing this, releasing a flurry of streaks of translucent light at once this time.
In the face of these streaks of translucent light, the azure silkworm''s body was as fragile as tofu, and it was instantly shredded into countless pieces.
At the same time, the golden beetle flew through the air as a streak of golden light, passing through the shredded remains of the azure silkworm before emerging on the other side in a sh.
Held in its mouth none other than the azure silkworm''s nascent, which appeared as if it had been carved out of green jade and was radiating dazzling azure light.
Immediately thereafter, the golden beetle opened its mouth before devouring the nascent soul whole.
After that, it still didn''t seem to bepletely satisfied, and a burst of golden light surged out of its mouth to draw in the scattered remains of the giant azure silkworm for its consumption.
All of this had taken ce in the span of just a few seconds.
Chapter 454: Assistance
Chapter 454: Assistance
Following the demise of the azure silkworm, the cocoon around the ck g also fell apart, and it immediately flew back to Han Li as a ck shadow.
However, before Han Li even had a chance to catch his breath, a thunderous roar of fury abruptly rang out from deep within the spirit domain.
"How dare you betray me!"
A streak of silver light shot rapidly through the air, then faded to reveal Qu Ling with an incensed look on her face.
As soon as she arrived on the scene, she immediately flipped a hand over to produce a red badge, which she closed her fingers around forcefully, and the badge was instantly crushed into pieces.
A pained look appeared in the golden beetle''s eyes as it threw up a small mouthful of golden blood, but aside from that, it remainedrgely unaffected.
Qu Ling faltered slightly upon seeing this, while the golden beetle flew over to Han Li''s side as it scoffed, "Did you really think that you could control me with a mere spirit subjugation badge? How naive are you!"
Qu Ling looked back and forth between Han Li and the golden beetle for a moment, then said in a cold voice, "So you must be the former owner of this Gold Devouring Immortal."
Indeed, the golden beetle was none other than Jin Tong, the Gold Devouring Immortal that Han Li had lost during his first foray into the Immortal Realm.
"I''ll keep her upied, you find a way to get out of here!" Jin Tong said to Han Li, and its body swelled drastically in size amid a sh of golden light as it pounced at Qu Ling.
Han Li took a nce at Jin Tong with mixed emotions in his eyes, then turned and continued to fly straight ahead.
"You''re not getting away!" Qu Ling yelled as she pointed a finger at Jin Tong, releasing a streak of white light that contained the white rope immortal treasure from before.
The white rope vanished into thin air in a sh, then abruptly re-emerged an instantter right next to Jin Tong before tying it up in the blink of an eye.
Jin Tong was instantly stopped cold in its tracks, but instead of immediately dealing with Jin Tong, Qu Ling began to make a hand seal, and all of the gray shadows within the spirit domain quickly transformed into balls of gray mes.
All of a sudden, the entire spirit domain had been transformed into a sea of gray fire.
A vicious gleam then shed through Qu Ling''s eyes, and a vast expanse of gray mes surged toward Han Li at her behest.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, numerous streaks of bright golden light suddenly shed past him from the side, tearing straight through the nearby gray mes.
Immediately thereafter, Jin Tong appeared in front of him, clutching the remnants of a torn white rope in its mouth.
"You thought this little string would be enough to keep me tied up?" Jin Tong scoffed as it chewed on the white rope a few times before swallowing it.
In the face of its peerlessly sharp mandibles, that immortal treasure may as well have been made out of tofu.
Qu Ling''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this.
Meanwhile, Jin Tong''s aura was fluctuating drastically in a very strange nad unstable disy.
The fury in Qu Ling''s eyes became even more pronounced as veins began to bulge on her forehead.
At this point, it had already be apparent to her that Jin Tong had been hiding its true power this entire time.
Han Li took a long nce at Jin Tong, then adopted his Giant Golden Mountain Ape form, transforming into a giant golden ape in the blink of an eye before flying onward.
He had discovered that while this spirit domain severely restricted one''s cultivation base, the impact that it had on one''s physical prowess was actually quite minimal.
In his Giant Mountain Ape form, Han Li''s entire body was brimming with primal power, and he was able to advance through the air far more quickly, reaching the edge of the spirit domain in the blink of an eye.
Qu Ling''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and she hurriedly pointed a finger forward.
A streak of light shot out of her fingertip before vanishing into the edge of the spirit domain as fast as lightning.
The gray light on the edge of the spirit domain instantly began to sh erratically, following which a gray cloud emerged, giving off formidablew power fluctuations.
In the blink of an eye, the entire spirit domain had transformed into an independent space.
A dull thump rang out as Han Li crashed straight into the gray cloud, only to be repelled as if he had run into a giant sponge.
His expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light that vanished into the body of the giant azure dragon.
The azure dragon let loose a long draconic roar, and it reverted back into a giant azure sword.
Han Li grabbed onto the hilt of the sword with both hands, then swung it viciously into the gray cloud, causing it to ripple and tremble violently, but it remained resilient.
"You''re a fool if you think you can escape from my spirit domain!" Qu Ling chuckled coldly upon seeing this, and she quickly made a hand seal, upon which the gray mes within the spirit domain instantly converged toward Han Li and Jin Tong.
As a result, the gray mes around them instantly became several times denser, turning from gray to ck.
A burst ofw powers that were several times more formidable than before surged out of the ck mes before sweeping toward Han Li, instantly shattering the timew powers around him to swallow up his entire body.
Han Li''s expression instantly changed drastically as his golden fur quickly began to lose its luster, and his enormous ape body was also rapidly bing depleted and wizened. At the same time, his immortal spiritual power cirction was slowed down drastically, and a sense of feebleness spread through his entire body.
Not only that, but a multitude of illusions had surfaced in his mind, and a burst of violent destructive intent welled up in his heart, as if he were being gued by inner demons.
Han Li was quite rmed by this, and he frantically tried to channel his cultivation arts and his timew powers to suppress the wild urges that were welling up in his heart, but it was apletely futile task.
Hints of red light were appearing in his eyes, and they were rapidly spreading, slowly filling the entirety of his eyes.
A hint of urgency shed through Jin Tong''s eyes upon seeing this, and it was just about to do something when the ck mes around it transformed into a series of fiery ck dragons that swept toward it from all directions.
In the next instant, Qu Ling appeared directly in front of it in a sh, blocking its path as she sneered, "Do you want to go save your former owner? Keep dreaming! You''re in my spirit domain right now, so you have to do as I say!"
Jin Tong gave a cold harrumph as bright golden light erupted out of its body, and streaks of sword qi surged forth in all directions, instantly shredding all of the surrounding fiery ck dragons.
Not only that, but the streaks of golden sword qi began to swirl to form a golden vortex, releasing a burst of tremendous suction force that devoured much of the nearby ck mes.
Immediately thereafter, Jin Tong pounced directly at Qu Ling, and two huge streaks of translucent light, both of which were around 1,000 feet in length, were sent hurtling toward Qu Ling from either side, slicing through all of the ck mes in their path with ease.
"Which is it? Are you going to face me or are you going to save your former master?" Qu Ling chuckled as she made a rapid string of hand seals, and bursts of ck mes converged from all directions to form two lines of ck light in a sh.
Bursts of tremendousw power fluctuations surged out of the two ck lines, and they flew through the air at Qu Ling''s behest to sh against the two oing streaks of translucent light.
A pair of dull thumps rang out as the ck lines and the streaks of translucent light dissipated in unison.
"If he can''t even deal with something like this, then he''s not worthy of being my master. All I can do to help him is keep you upied so you can''t attack him directly. If he still can''t escape from this spirit domain, then he''s far too weak and simply deserves to die," Jin Tong said in an indifferent voice as it swept its pair of front legs through the air once again, sending two more streaks of translucent light hurtling toward Qu Ling.
Qu Ling harrumphed coldly as she raised her arms, and bursts of ck mes shot forth to oppose the streaks of translucent light.
Meanwhile, the red coloration in Han Li''s eyes was bing more and more pronounced, and his eyes were about to turnpletely red.
Right at this moment, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in his body abruptly shuddered, following which thick arcs of golden lightning erupted out of his body amid a deafening thunderp that resembled the roar of a scorned primordial beast.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li''s entire body waspletely epassed within a sea of golden lightning, and an aura of righteousness erupted out of the Divine Devilbane Lightning before surging into his mind.
The insanity that clouded his mind instantly faded, while much of the red coloration in his eyes also receded.
He immediately pounced on this opportunity as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis once again.
Perhaps it was due to the fact that it was situated in the spirit domain, but on this asion, the Mantra Treasured Axis didn''t release the same golden ripples as it always had in the past.
Bursts of timew powers surged out of the axis to envelop Han Li''s entire body, acting as another barrier against the invasivew powers in the spirit domain.
At the same time, he channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might, and a cool and refreshing sensation instantly welled up in his mind.
The insanity and feebleness that had gued his mind and body quickly receded, and his immortal spiritual power cirction also returned to normal.
A hint of incredulity appeared in Qu Ling''s eyes upon seeing this, and she eximed, "How could this be..."
She then gave a cold harrumph before pointing a finger at Han Li, and a burst of ck mes was instantly sent flying his way, transforming into a ck arrow mid-flight.
However, the ck arrow wasn''t able to get very far before it crashed into a streak of translucent light, upon which both exploded violently.
"You want to switch opponents all of a sudden? I think you should stick with me," Jin Tong chortled as it positioned itself directly in front of Qu Ling.
Meanwhile, Han Li paid no heed to the battle taking ce in the distance as he cast his gaze toward the gray cloud up ahead, and a fierce look shed through his eyes as he opened his mouth to release three bursts of azure light, which surged into the silver bell, the tusk sword, and the ck g around him.
The three immortal treasures instantly shuddered in unison, and the light radiating from them brightened by severalfold, to the point that it was impossible to look directly at them.
"Go!" Han Li yelled, and the three immortal treasures short forth as three streaks of dazzling light before striking the gray cloud with tremendous force.
As soon as the three immortal treasures came into contact with the gray cloud, they immediately exploded into three balls of light, one silver and two ck.
The gray cloud also shuddered violently, as did the entire spirit domain, while arge section of the surrounding ck mes were swept away.
Chapter 455: A Little Girl
Chapter 455: A Little Girl
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
The detonation of three immortal treasures at once had worn down the gray cloud significantly, but it still wasn''t entirely wiped out.
Qu Ling was furious as she observed the unfolding situation from afar, but she was unable to free herself from her battle against Jin Tong, so she could only watch as Han Li continued to chip away at her spirit domain.
Right at this moment, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to summon that ck inkstone immortal treasure that he had obtained from Tao Yu.
He tossed the ck inkstone forward while making a hand seal, and a burst of piercing ck light interspersed with formidablew power fluctuations instantly surged out of the inkstone.
Thew powers imbued within this inkstone were far superior to that of the three previous immortal treasures, and even though Han Li hadn''t been able topletely refine the treasure, he still had sufficient control over it to trigger its self-detonation.
An rmed look appeared on Qu Ling''s face as she sensed the formidable aura emanating from the ck inkstone, and she immediately opened her mouth to release a burst of silver liquid, which fused into the ck mes around her in a sh.
The surrounding ck mes instantly swelled to exert more pressure on Jin Tong, and at the same time, Qu Ling swept a sleeve through the air to summon a green gourd amid a sh of green light.
An indescribably enormous aura instantly erupted forth as soon as the gourd emerged, and Han Li was quite stunned upon sensing this aura, but continued with what he was doing without pause.
The ck light radiating from the inkstone became brighter and brighter, and it was beginning to sh erratically.
Right at this moment, he opened his mouth to expel a mouthful of blood, which vanished into the ck inkstone in a sh, and the inkstone hurtled directly toward the gray cloud while glowing like a radiant ck sun.
Qu Ling gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and she pointed a finger at the green gourd, which released a burst of green light that swept toward the ck inkstone at an incredible speed.
Unfortunately, she was toote.
In the instant that the burst of green light reached the ck inkstone, thetter exploded violently into an eruption of ck light and countless ck runes. A terrifying aura surged through the area before fading away an instantter, and the gray cloud was worn down even further, trembling violently as a series of cracks appeared within it.
However, this spirit domain was truly extremely resilient, and it was still just barely able to hold itself together.
An urgent look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to expel another mouthful of blood, this time into his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
The sword instantly began to glow radiantly as it swept viciously toward the gray cloud, while Qu Ling responded by making a hand seal, and the burst of green light released by the green gourd circled around to wrap itself around the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
"Look out! That gourd of hers is a Profound Heavenly Treasure that can capture immortal treasures by force!" Jin Tong warned through voice transmission.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but it was toote for him to do anything.
As soon as the burst of green light wrapped itself around the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, thetter was instantly stopped cold in its tracks, and Han Li''s spiritual connection with it was also severed.
A cold sneer appeared on Qu Ling''s face as she made another hand seal, and the green light wrapped around the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword instantly brightened even further, while the giant sword shrank down rapidly before flying toward her.
Han Li fought the instinctive urge to recover his flying sword as he swept a sleeve through the air, and yet another giant azure sword emerged before him amid a sh of azure light.
Thick arcs of golden lightning erupted out of its de, and the aura that it was giving off was no less formidable than that of the previous sword.
A stunned look appeared on Qu Ling''s face upon seeing this.
There was a cooldown period that had to pass before she could use the green gourd to unleash another burst of green light, so there was nothing that she could do.
Right at this moment, Han Li swept his other sleeve through the air to summon his Heavy Water True Axis, which instantly began revolving rapidly, sending bursts of tremendous force erupting in all directions and causing the surrounding space to tremble violently.
Immediately thereafter, he cast a pair of incantation seals into the two treasures, and the light radiating from them brightened significantly as they swooped toward the gray cloud up ahead in unison.
At the same time, Daoist Xie shot out of Han Li''s body in its giant crab from amid a sh of golden lightning.
Bright golden lightning was surging over its entire body, and it swept its pair of massive pincers through the air to strike the gray cloud like a pair of peerlessly sharp giant des.
The gray cloud was already on itsst legs, and an earth-shattering boom rang out as a huge hole was finally sted through it.
After unleashing that attack, the golden light on Daoist Xie''s body rapidly dimmed, indicating that it had already used up all of its Immortal Origin Stones.
It flew back into Han Li''s body as a streak of golden light, while Han Li channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, sweeping up his giant azure sword and Heavy Water True Axis before flying through the hole in the gray cloud.
He was flying extremely fast, and he just so happened to be traveling downward, so he was unable to arrest his momentum and crashed straight into the ground, creating a massive crater beneath himself.
He immediately rose to his feet and took a quick nce at his surroundings before preparing to flee.
Even though he had escaped from the spirit domain, his immortal spiritual power were alreadypletely depleted, so he was unfit for further battle.
Right at this moment, his Mantra Treasured Axis suddenly emerged on its own, and as soon as it appeared, it began to revolve rapidly while releasing dazzling golden light, as was the case with the timew thread on the axis.
The golden gate up ahead also began to glow radiantly, and both the axis and the gate also began buzzing audibly, as if they were resonating with one another.
All of a sudden, the timew thread on the Mantra Treasured Axis shot through the air before vanishing into the golden gate in a sh.
A golden ring design instantly appeared on the golden gate, and a burst of dazzling golden light flew out from within before epassing Han Li''s entire body.
Han Li immediately felt a burst of immense yet gentle force descend upon him, rendering himrgely immobilized.
He was naturally quite startled by this, and he raised his head with great difficulty to cast his gaze toward the gate of the golden pce, upon which he was surprised to discover that Lu Yuqing was standing beside the gate.
She was being pursued by that young Primordial Fei Beast earlier, but she had somehow returned to this ce.
There was a stunned look on her face as well, and she was also looking back at Han Li with her mouth slightly agape.
Right at this moment, a burst of rumbling rang out from the gray spirit domain up above, and a streak of golden light flew out from within before transforming into Jin Tong.
At this moment, its body was riddled with gashes, and there was a weary look in its golden eyes.
Not far away, Qu Ling also appeared amid a sh of silver light.
She had already taken in the situation that was unfolding down below, and a furious look appeared on her face as she swept a sleeve through the air, upon which the gray throne reappeared before immediately fusing into the gray spirit domain above her.
The gray spirit domain instantly began to shrink rapidly as if it were copsing in on itself, shrinking to only several hundred feet in size in the blink of an eye, and its color had also be extremely dark.
A burst of tremendous power erupted out of the spirit domain, causing the nearby air to tremble and quiver, while gusts of ferocious wind were sent sweeping in all directions.
At the same time, an enormous gray dragon head projection appeared within the spirit domain. It had an extremely menacing appearance and was riddled with sharp spikes, but its eyes werepletely indifferent and emotionless.
Right as Han Li''s gaze fell upon the gray dragon head, it was also looking directly at him, and an indescribable sense of foreboding instantly welled up in his heart.
Right at this moment, the gray dragon head opened its mouth, and three bursts of light of different colors appeared within its maw, namely gray, ck, and white.
Each burst of light contained tremendousw powers that werepletely different from one another, yet were able to coexist in perfect harmony.
The gray dragon head let loose an earth-shattering roar, following which a thick pir of three-colored light erupted forth, hurtling directly toward Han Li at an incredible speed.
At this moment, Han Li waspletely immobilized, so he could only look on helplessly as the pir of three-colored light approached him at lightning speed.
In this dire situation, a streak of golden light suddenly shed through the air before him, and a little girl appeared in front of him without any warning.
The little girl was none other than Jin Tong, and it appeared that it had managed to attain a human form during the time that it had been separated from Han Li. The little girl appeared to be around eight or nine years of age, and her head of golden hair and porcin-like features gave her a very adorable appearance.
At this moment, she was wearing a suit of intricate golden armor, and there was a golden gleam in her bright ck pupils, but two lines of golden blood were trickling down from the corners of her lips, and her aura had be significantly weaker than before.
The little girl wore a grim expression as she raised her delicate arms, which instantly took on a golden coloration, as if they had been forged out of gold.
She then gritted her teeth as she swept her little hands through the air, and her arms instantly exploded, transforming into two thick streaks of translucent light that were each over 10,000 feet in length.
There were countless golden runes shing over the two streaks of translucent light, and they fused as one in a sh to form a thin line.
A burst of overwhelmingly formidablew power fluctuations surged out of the thin thread, causing the nearby space to quake violently as it swept toward the pir of three-colored light.
"Jin Tong!" Han Li called out as a series of mixed emotions surfaced in his eyes.
Right at this moment, a burst of dull rumbling suddenly rang out from the gate of the golden pce, and it opened up ever so slightly as a peculiar aura emerged from within.
The golden light around Han Li''s body instantly brightened before dragging him through the gate of the pce in a sh.
Chapter 456: Small City
Chapter 456: Small City
Han Li felt as if he had been plunged into a cloud of gray mist, and all of a sudden, the ground gave away beneath his feet, causing him to stumble forward involuntarily, only tond back on a solid surface an instantter.
He felt as if he had passed through some type of smoky illusion, and before he knew it, he was in another space.
He massaged his slightly sore temples as his blurry vision slowly recovered, and only then was able to see the moss-covered ground beneath his feet.
He quickly looked around to find that he was the one here, and that none of Jin Tong, Lu Yuqing, or Qu Ling had managed to follow him in here. His brows furrowed slightly as he heaved a faint sigh.
Never had he imagined that he would reunite with Jin Tong under these circumstances. Even though there hadn''t been many words exchanged between them, Jin Tong had swooped in to save his life without any regard for its own safety, and that was very touching to Han Li.
After all, ever since he hade to the True Immortal, he had never had a genuine connection with anyone and was constantly having to watch his back. Thest person that had felt true affection and concern for him had been Liu Le''er back in the Spirit Domain Realm.
Of course, the fact that he had always regarded Jin Tong as half a child of his also had something to do with this.
It was during the time they had been separated, Jin Tong had be significantly more powerful than before, allowing it to oppose ate-Golden Immortal cultivator for such a long time. However, Han Li knew that it was definitely no match for Qu Ling, considering her exceptional mastery overw powers, as well as her array of formidable treasures, including that peculiar Profound Heavenly Gourd.
At the moment, all he could do was pray that Jin Tong could somehow find safety, even if it meant having to temporarily submit to Qu Ling. Judging from what he had seen earlier, it seemed that Qu Ling had taken Jin Tong under her wing as a spirit pet.
If something were to happen to Jin Tong, then once he reached the Golden Immortal Stage, he would be sure to go after Qu Ling and make her pay the price.
As for Lu Yuqing, at some point, he had developed the impression that something was rather strange about her, but he couldn''t put his finger on exactly what it was.
Having said that, she was only an acquaintance of his, and they had entered the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor as coborative partners, so he didn''t feel any obligation to her. While it was true that she had run into Qu Ling because she was with him, she was the one who had chosen to follow him in the first ce, so she had to ept the risks that came with such a decision.
Now that he had been sucked into the ce somehow, she would just have to deal with Qu Ling''s wrath on her own.
Han Li cast these thoughts aside as he swept his gaze over the surrounding area.
In doing so, he discovered that he was standing in an old courtyard, surrounded by dpidated walls and copsed buildings that were overgrown with moss and weeds.
However, as he cast his gaze toward the rear section of the courtyard, a hint of befuddlement appeared in his eyes.
Hovering in the air above the upper right corner of a building in that direction was a roof tile, which was frozen in the process of blowing up into pieces. It was as if it were being held in ce by some type of invisible form, and the moment of its destruction had been forever immortalized.
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes while also releasing his spiritual sense to examine the roof tile, and a few momentster, he sprang up into the air beforending on the roof of the building.
There, he reached out to pluck a piece of the hovering roof tile out of mid-air, while the rest of the roof tile fragments remained in their original positions,pletely unaffected.
Han Li was rather bewildered and intrigued by this, and he cast his gaze out of the courtyard to find more sets of ruins in all directions, spreading as far as the eyes could see.
Among these copsed buildings, simr peculiar scenes as this hovering roof tile could be seen everywhere. All of those destroyed buildings and pavilions had been shattered into countless pieces, but not even a single fragment had fallen onto the ground. It was as if time had stopped in the instant that they were destroyed, leaving them trapped in their perpetual purgatory.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li slowly closed his eyes before releasing his vast spiritual sense over the surrounding area.
In contrast with that barren red area from before, his spiritual sense wasn''t restricted at all here.
However, only a few moments had passed before his eyes suddenly sprang open, and the blue light in his pupils faded as a peculiar look appeared on his face.
It seemed that by examining his surroundings, he had only be more perplexed.
As it turned out, this area was far smaller than he had anticipated. He had only just released his spiritual sense slightly, and it had already filled this entire space, which only had a radius of several dozen kilometers.
The entire space was surrounded in all directions by spatial walls, but theoretically speaking, the fact that he was able to enter this ce meant that it wasn''tpletely isted from the outside world.
At the very least, there had to be some fragile spots in the space here, and if he could track down those spots, then he would be able to break through the spatial walls to return to the outside world if such a need ever arose.
However, through his spiritual sense examination, he wasn''t able to identify any weak points in the space here for him to target.
After taking a moment to contemte how to proceed, Han Li made a hand seal, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
Following the emergence of the axis, the dozen or so active Time Dao Runes on its surface lit up one after another, and the Eye of Truth at its center began to scour the surrounding area while releasing a beam of golden light.
Han Li was unable to find any way out using his spiritual sense, so he had no choice but to turn to his Eye of Truth.
He flew up into the air, then turned his gaze to the center of the courtyard that he had first appeared in through the perspective of the Eye of Truth, but even under the scrutiny of the beam of golden light, the courtyard didn''t disy any abnormalities.
Han Li''s gaze slowly roamed over the ground to the stone table in the courtyard, then to the walls, the dead trees, and the buildings, but he wasn''t able to find anything worthy of note.
However, as the gaze of the Eye of Truth fell upon that room with the hovering roof tile above it, a burst of golden light suddenly erupted out of the roof of the building, following which it was quickly restored to its original state, as if it had been rebuilt anew.
Han Li was very surprised to see this.
Could it be that this building contains timew powers?
Before he had a chance to approach the building for a closer examination, the projection of the repaired building began to sh and waver in an unstable fashion.
Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis as he descended in front of the building, and he took some time to examine the outside of the building before entering it and conducting a thorough search, but he wasn''t able to find anything that contained timew powers.
How strange... Could it be that the timew powers here are too sparse to be detectable? Surely that''s not the case...
After some contemtion, he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis once again, then rose up into the air and left this courtyard to fly toward the other areas in this space.
Looking down from above, he could see that even though all of the buildings here were quite dpidated, the generalyout was quite orderly and well-structured. Theyout of this ce was very simr to that of the average mortal city, and Han Li began to do some exploring.
He started from the eastern side of the city and slowly made his way westward, making sure to examine all of the buildings that seemed to have been frozen in time along the way. Whenever he gazed upon them through his Eye of Truth, those buildings would present projections of back when they were whole, but those projections were also quite blurry and unstable.
It was as if faint timew fluctuations permeated throughout this entire city, but only to a very faint degree that waspletely undetectable.
It took Han Li only less than half a day to explore the entire city, but he wasn''t able to discover anything.
As night approached, the sun began to set.
In the southern part of the city, there stood a nine-story ck wooden pagoda in a garden that was overrun with weeds. The pagoda had many scorch marks on its surface, and it was tilted severely to one side, looking as if it could copse at any moment.
Han Li was standing on the ck roof tiles atop the pagoda''s roof with one hand resting on the tip of the pagoda as he cast his gaze toward the setting sun in the distance.
Standing beside him was the yellow-robed Daoist Xie with a neutral expression on its face.
"Can you see anything special about theyout of this city, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked.
"Not at all. At the very least, on the surface, it seems to only be following the standard protocol in the way normal cities are constructed. As for whether there are some special hidden mechanisms, it''s impossible to tell just by looking," Daoist Xie replied with a shake of its head.
Han Li was silent for a moment upon hearing this, then asked, "In that case, can I trouble you to examine this ce to see if there are any hidden mechanisms or arrays?"
Daoist Xie nodded in response, then vanished from the top of the wooden pagoda in a sh.
As the light of the dying sun gradually faded, Han Li abruptly shot through the air as a streak of azure light.
However, a resounding thump rang out in the air just a momentter, and Han Li was repelled back through the air like a cannonball, having just crashed into an invisible barrier.
However, as soon as hended on the ground, a burst of azure light instantly emerged over his body as he shot straight toward another direction.
Several days passed by in a sh.
In this ruined city was a private garden, within which was a lush forest. The forest was littered with numerous strange rocks, each of which was as tall as a grown man. These rocks were quite dark in coloration, and they were covered inyers of slick moss.
Two figures were making their way side by side toward the center of the forest down a winding path.
"There are quite a few restrictions and secret chambers in the city, but barely any of them are worthy of further examination. This is the only ce that I feel is worthy of note. At the very least, the array here stands out from the rest," Daoist Xie said while leading the way.
"In that case, there''s probably a good chance that this is the exit of this secret area," Han Li replied as a hopeful look appeared in his eyes.
Chapter 457: Concerns
Chapter 457: Concerns
Daoist Xie made his way down the small path until it arrived at a strange rock that resembled a hunched-over old ape, where it drew to a halt and said, "Come and take a look at what this is, Fellow Daoist Han."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he hurried over to the strange rock, then wiped a hand over it before conducting a careful examination.
A hesitant look appeared on his face as he asked, "Could this be... a Primordial Form Rock?"
"That''s exactly right," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
"No wonder I wasn''t able to detect any array fluctuations when I was examining this ce with my spiritual sense. Having said that, I didn''t think that the Primordial Form Rock''s concealment effect would be this potent," Han Li mused with a contemtive expression.
"These Primordial Form Rocks alone wouldn''t have been enough to keep you from detecting this array, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie said.
"Are you saying there''s something else here?" Han Li asked with an intrigued expression.
Daoist Xie offered no reply as it led Han Li deeper into the dense forest, and the two of them arrived in an open and spacious area.
Upon entering this area, Han Li discovered that the ground was entirely charred ck, and the shrubs that used to grow here had been scorched into ashes, revealing a millstone-sized stone tform.
The surface of the tform had also been scorched ck, and as a result, all of the engravings on its surface had be unrecognizable.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a gentle breeze that brushed away the dirt and soot on the stone tform to reveal what was underneath, but that only seemed to present more questions than answers for him.
"What is this thing?"
There were nine strange flower-petal-like designs engraved onto the stone tform, and they were assembled together to form what appeared to be a massive flower.
There were also many special andplex runes within the flower petals, and Daoist Xie exined, "If I''m not mistaken, this appears to be an extremely advanced dream concealment restriction that can work in conjunction with Primordial Form Rocks topletely conceal the auras of many treasures and arrays."
"If you''re familiar with this type of restriction, then I''m sure you must have a way of unraveling it, right?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Instead of providing a direct answer to Han Li''s question, Daoist Xie said, "Please take a look at the center of this restriction, Fellow Daoist Han."
Han Li did as he was instructed, but there didn''t appear to be anything there, and his brows furrowed slightly in befuddlement as he turned to Daoist Xie.
"That is where the stamen of the flower is supposed to be, but for some reason, it''s already beenpletely destroyed," Daoist Xie exined.
Han Li conducted a closer examination upon hearing this, and only then did he discover that there were indeed some signs of damage there.
"That shouldn''t be an issue, right? We should be able to adapt ordingly to unravel the restriction. Could it be that there''s some other problem?" Han Li asked.
"Have you heard of the concept of limitless dreams, Fellow Daoist Han? Dream concealment restrictions of this nature are extremely diverse and varied. Even if the slightest alteration is made to such a restriction, the way to unravel it will bepletely different. Even though I''m familiar with this type of restriction, I have no idea how to unravel it in its current state," Daoist Xie exined with a shake of its head.
"In that case, we''ll just have to resort to brute force and destroy this restriction," Han Li concluded after some contemtion.
"Well, about that... You can give that a try, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie said.
Han Li could tell from the peculiar look on Daoist Xie''s face that this wasn''t going to be a simple matter, but he still decided to make an attempt as he adopted his Giant Mountain Ape form amid a sh of golden light.
The profound acupoints on his body then lit up as he let loose a low roar before raising a massive fist and mming it heavily down onto the stone tform.
The entire stone tform shuddered violently as ferocious shockwaves erupted through the air in all directions, razing everything within a radius of several thousand feet to the ground before gradually subsiding.
At the same time, a burst of golden light also appeared on the inscriptions on the stone tform, and a series of vine-like golden liens spread over the stone tform before extending into the forest like a cobweb.
In his Giant Mountain Ape form, Han Li had a much clearer view of his surroundings thanks to his enormous stature, and he could see simr golden lines spreading over the entire secret area, presenting a spectacr sight to behold.
"By my estimates, one would have to be at least at the Golden Immortal Stage for them to have a chance at breaking this restriction by force. Even an all-out attack from me in my current state won''t be enough to get the job done," Daoist Xie said.
"Even if that were possible, we most won''t be able to do it. This restriction is connected to this entire secret area, so if we were to destroy it by force, the entire secret area would most likely copse, and that would be catastrophic for us," Han Li said as he quickly reverted back to his human form.
"That''s right," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he walked ap around the stone tform, and a thought suddenly urred to him as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis.
The Eye of Truth at the center of the axis slowly opened, then cast its gaze toward the stone tform, releasing a beam of golden light out of its pupil.
As the beam of golden light shone down upon the stone tform, all of the remaining char and soot on its surface instantly receded, restoring it to a pristine state.
A burst of murky light also appeared at the center of the restriction, and a series of lines began to gradually emerge, forming an extremelyplex stamen design.
Right as Han Li was about to take a closer look, the projection of the stamen suddenly began to vibrate rapidly in an extremely unstable manner.
Han Li was struck by a rush of dizziness from the jarring sight, and he had no choice but to avert his gaze and withdraw his Mantra Treasured Axis.
"Did you see anything?" Daoist Xie asked.
"This secret area is truly a very strange ce. Many of the ordinary-looking things here are imbued with timew powers, but only to an extremely faint degree. Whenever I try to examine them with my Eye of Truth, all I end up seeing is a jumbled blur, and this stone tform is no exception," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"Your Mantra Treasured Axis isn''t in its peak condition right now. Perhaps once it recovers all of its Time Dao Runes, you''ll be able to see the restriction more clearly," Daoist Xie suggested.
"I''ve already considered that, but the problem is that it would take too much time to wait for the Mantra Treasured Axis to return to the peak of its powers. The Infernal Frost Immortal Manor is only open for a limited time, and once the exit closes, who knows when the immortal manor will be open again?"
Han Li''s top priority at the moment was to find a way to get out of this ce. Of course, if he did manage to find a way out, then he would also be open to the idea of staying here for some time. After all, he didn''t know what had happened outside during the few days that he had been trapped in this ce, but he presumed that Qu Ling wouldn¡¯t waste much time waiting for him.
"You have a near-limitless lifespan, so why concern yourself with such matters? The world''s origin qi here is no less abundant than anywhere else in the Northern cial Immortal Region, so you could easily just cultivate here and wait for the next time the immortal manor is opened," Daoist Xie said.
Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
Having made an enemy out of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, he was not in a very good situation. Furthermore, he was now being targeted by Qu Ling as well, and there was also a chance that Feng Tiandu woulde after him eventually, so for him, the Northern cial Immortal Region was fraught with peril.
Inparison, it was indeed safer to stay in this secret area.
However, Han Li''s concerns still lingered as he said, "That may be true, but there''s no telling what could happen in this secret area once the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor closes. If things take a turn for the worse, we may end up in an even worse situation than having to face Qu Ling again."
What he didn''t mention was that if he were to be trapped in this secret area, even for hundreds of thousands of years, perhaps nothing would happen to him, but drastic changes would be taking ce in the outside world. At the moment, Jin Tong was in direct peril of being struck down by Qu Ling, and there were many more people important to Han Li that Qu Ling could potentially go after.
"In any case, we won''t be able to leave this ce right away, so I suggest you give it some time so that your Mantra Treasured Axis can recover. Perhap it won''t take too long before you''ll be able to get a clearer look at this restriction," Daoist Xie said.
"I suppose that''s all we can do for now," Han Li replied with a nod.
......
Several more days passed by in the blink of an eye.
A giant za with a radius of several thousand feet had appeared at the center of the ruined city.
The central area of the za was paved with white stone bs, while the edges were covered in newly unearthed reddish-brown mud that was interspersed with many fragments of broken tiles, rocks, and wooden frames.
It was clear that the za had only been recently constructed, and it was riddled with a series of extremely deep rifts that were connected together to form a veryplex array.
The array was called the Great Universe Star Gathering Array, and it had been included at the end of the second half of the Great Universe Origin Arts. It was an array that could assist one in cultivating the Great Universe Origin Arts, and it was far superior to the Star Gathering Array that Han Li had used in the past. Even the new and improved Star Gathering Array that Han Li had personally modified couldn''t hold a candle to this array.
The Great Universe Star Gathering Array had a total of 81 star points distributed evenly around the array, and each star point could fit a Starheaven Stone, which could help a cultivator absorb starpower at a faster rate.
By Han Li''s estimates, if he had ess to this array from the very beginning, then the time it would''ve taken him to get to this point in the Great Universe Origin Arts would''ve been reduced by at least half. However, he would also require a sufficient number of Starheaven Stones, and the pain he would''ve had to endure would''ve also been at least twice as excruciating.
Chapter 458: 500 Years
Chapter 458: 500 Years
Night fell, and countless stars appeared in the pitch ck sky up above.
Han Li was seated at the center of the white stone za with his legs crossed, looking up at the sky, and his eyes were like a pair of mirrors that could reflect the starlight shining down from above.
It would take a year for each of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis to recover, so a full recovery was going to take a very long time.
Seeing as he was unable to find any alternative ways out of this predicament, he had no choice but to bide his time, and during this time, he was nning to continue his cultivation of the Great Universe Origin Arts. In doing so, he would be able to open more profound acupoints, which should assist him in a breakthrough to the Golden Immortal Stage.
With a casual toss, a burst of blue light flew out of his hand, then split up into several dozen streaks of light, each of which fell into the one of the 81 star points around the array with unerring uracy.
As soon as these Starheaven Stones fell into ce, they immediately began to radiate dazzling starlight that illuminated the entire za.
At the same time, Han Li opened his mouth to release his Seven Bright Star Rings, and they circled around in the air before spreading out across the night sky.
These Seven Bright Star Rings weren''t a part of the array, but they were also quite beneficial when it came to gathering starpower, so Han Li naturally wasn''t going to neglect them.
He began to make a hand seal while chanting an incantation, and the entire array began to glow with radiant starlight, which gradually expanded to epass the entire za bit by bit.
Han Li continued to look up at the night sky, and he felt as if the distance between himself and the night sky were rapidly shrinking. The stars that had appeared incredibly tiny to him in the past were bingrger andrger, and they were also glowing brighter and brighter.
Every single star resembled a miniature sun that was blinding to behold, and if an outside observer were present, they would be stunned to discover that the ck pupils in Han Li''s eyes had disappeared, and the entirety of his eyes were filled with radiant white starlight.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out, and a vast expanse of starlight converged in the sky, forming over 100 pirs of white light that shone down onto the entire secret area from the night sky above.
The seven pirs of light passing down through the Seven Bright Star Rings appeared particrly thick and substantial.
The za that the Great Universe Star Gathering Array was situated on trembled violently as each of the Starheaven Stones released a pir of white light that hurtled directly toward Han Li at the center of the array.
The 81 pirs of starlight collectively struck Han Li with a resounding boom, and a muffled groan immediately escaped his lips, which a string of cracks and pops rang out incessantly from all of the joints in his body.
His 18 profound acupoints also lit up in unison, immediately following which each of them formed a miniature vortex that sucked in the vast expanse of starlight converging toward him.
The enormous influx of starpower instantly struck Han Li with a bloated sensation in his profound acupoints, as if he had already had a hearty meal, yet was being forced to eat more, and it was not a good feeling.
A pained look shed through his eyes as he gritted his teeth tightly, enduring the pain as his profound acupoints continued to devour starlight.
Right at this moment, the array beneath him suddenly shuddered violently, and a spatial vortex emerged under him. A burst of suction force instantly surged out of the vortex, sucking in the white starlight all over the entire za and drawing it toward Han Li.
All of the pirs of white light shining down from the heavens were sucked in by the vortex, causing them to veer off their original trajectories and descend toward Han Li instead.
Just a moment ago, the Great Universe Star Gathering Array resembled a vast sea formed by over 100 cascading waterfalls, while Han Li was like a small raft drifting over the sea in rtive safety andfort, but the situation waspletely different now.
With all of the pirs of starlight shining down upon him at once, the influx of starpower was countless times more immense than before, and a burst of unbearably tremendous force crashed down upon him, causing him to bend forward involuntarily, to the point that he was almost ttened against the ground.
Strands of translucent starlight were piercing into every single one of his pores, and his robes were instantly soaked with blood.
However, the blood would only flow for an instant before it was evaporated into nothingness by the starlight.
Han Li''s teeth were gritted tightly as a guttural snarl rang out deep within his throat. His hands were pressed firmly into knees, and veins were bulging on his arms as he struggled to push himself back into an upright posture.
His skin had already bepletely translucent thanks to the starlight flowing into his body, and even through his robe, one could see all of his bones and meridians.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of light, which instantly transformed into a massive screen that positioned itself above his head.
The screen was a transparent ck color with a series of glittering and translucent blue beads embedded onto its surface, giving it the appearance of a miniature night sky. This was the very same screen that he had taken from the pce in which the Great Universe Origin Arts had been hidden.
With all of the pirs of starlight shining down upon it, the blue beads on the screen began to radiate dazzling starlight, projecting a miniature starry sky.
At the same time, the entire screen became more and more transparent until it transformed into a ck veil-like light barrier that epassed Han Li''s entire body.
The light barrier was rippling incessantly under the vast volume of starlight shining down upon it, but it was able to afford Han Li some protection and alleviate some of hte pressure weighing down upon him.
As a result, he was able to catch his breath, and he made a hand seal as he closed his eyes to focus entirely on the absorption of starpower.
......
The days passed by one after another in a blur.
At night, Han Li would draw starpower into his body from the night sky, while during the day, he would continue to cultivate the Great Universe Origin Arts using the Starheaven Stones, and he did this without pause every single day.
During the first few years, Han Li would recover an additional Time Dao Rune every single year, following which he would take a break from his cultivation and travel to that garden to examine the dream concealment restriction on the stone tform, but he was unable to make any progress.
After that, he knew that the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor had to have already closed a long time ago, but nothing had changed in this secret realm. This instilled within him a sense of reassurance, allowing him to focus fully on his cultivation, and it didn''t take long before he opened his 19th profound acupoint.
His cultivation of the Great Universe Origin Arts wasn''t exactly all smooth sailing from there, but there were no major obstacles, either, and he slowly became immersed in the process, forgetting the passage of time.
500 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
On this night, pirs of starlight were shining down from the heavens as usual, illuminating the entire ruined city with their resplendent white radiance.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed at the center of the za,pletely enveloped by starlight, and his entire body looked as translucent as if it had been carved out of jade.
His long hair trailed down his back, and it had already turned from its former ck color to a glittering and translucent silver color.
At this moment, there were strands of starlight gathering at a certain point on his back, and a brand new profound acupoint was taking shape.
With that, the 36th profound acupoint was formed, and his cultivation of the Great Universe Origin Arts wasplete!
A faint crack rang out as the ck screen that had been hanging above Han Li this entire time suddenly disintegrated. At the same time, the pirs of starlight shining down from above also slowly dimmed before fading away altogether.
With that, the entire secret area was also plunged into darkness.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes as he rose to his feet, and his entire body was epassed within his True Extreme Film, which was looking denser and more resilient than ever.
He raised a hand before gently clenching his fist, and a burst of light appeared in the palm of his hand, seemingly containing some type of peculiar power.
He knew that this was a sign that the starpower in his body still hadn''tpletely stabilized in the wake of a newly formed profound acupoint, and that his body would soon return to normal.
Despite histest breakthrough, Han Li couldn''t help but heave a forlorn sigh.
He had anticipated that it would definitely take a very long time toplete his cultivation of the Great Universe Origin Arts, but he wasn''t expecting it to take this long.
All of a sudden, he raised his head to look up at the night sky, then took a step back before throwing a punch up at the heavens.
A burst of extremely formidable force was instantly released, forming a gust of white astral wind that was visible even to the naked eye as it erupted directly upward.
A resounding boom rang out, and it was as if the entire night sky were about to be torn apart by this burst of tremendous force. This was immediately followed by a loud whooshing sound as the surrounding air surged into the area vacuum left in the wake of the force released by Han Li''s fist.
The gust of white wind surged upward for several thousand feet, and only after that did it begin to gradually dissipate.
A pleased look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he slowly withdrew his fist.
Even though that hadn''t been an all-out punch, the power unleashed was already not inferior to that of a full-force blow from back when he had only cultivated half of the Great Universe Origin Arts.
By his estimates, if he were to return to that stone tform now, he would perhaps be able to destroy it even without progressing to the Golden Immortal Stage, but if he were to do that, then this entire secret area would most likely be destroyed along with the stone tform.
The blue light radiating from Han Li''s body slowly faded, and his True Extreme Film also disappeared at his behest.
At this point, he had already reached the pinnacle of the True Immortal, so the only thing that was keeping him from reaching the Golden Immortal Stage was that 36th immortal acupoint.
However, seeing as he had already attained 36 profound acupoints, opening this final immortal acupoint wasn''t going to be a difficult task, so the only concern currently on his mind was the final one of the three decays, acupoint decay.
This was an unavoidable tribtion that he would have to transcend in order to reach the Golden Immortal Stage. It was said that cultivating profound acupoints and masteringw powers would help one endure this decay, but he had never witnessed or experienced this process, so he was still feeling a little uneasy.
Han Li took a deep breath, then looked up at the moon in the sky.
He wasn''t nning to continue cultivating tonight, and he sprang up into the air beforending on the rooftop of a half-copsed building.
From there, he looked up at the moon once again, and a hint of mixed emotions shed through his eyes as heid down onto the rooftop, then closed his eyes to rest.
Chapter 459: The Third Decay
Chapter 459: The Third Decay
At around noon, three dayster.
Han Li reappeared on the white stone za, lookingpletely reinvigorated.
His immortal spiritual power and his spiritual sense had both been fully restored, and he swept his gaze across his surroundings, then raised a sleeve to release a bolt of golden lightning, which transformed into Daoist Xie not far away.
Daoist Xie took a nce at Han Li, and a faint smile appeared on its face as it said, "I can see that your cultivation base has advanced even further. Congrattions, Fellow Daoist Han."
"I did manage to make some progress, but we''ve already been in here for several centuries, and I can''t help but wonder how things are going outside. Today, I''m going to make another attempt to reach the Golden Immortal Stage to see if we can leave this ce a little sooner. This space may be an isted one, but there are still many risks involved when ites to forcing a realm open, so I''ll have to trouble you to keep a lookout for me, Brother Xie," Han Li said with a smile.
"Rest assured, just go ahead and do what you need to do," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
As soon as its voice trailed off, a sh of golden lightning surged over its body, and it vanished into thin air.
Han Li sat down with his legs crossed upon seeing this, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of azure light, which contained three or four white jade vials and an intricate jade box.
With another sweep of his sleeve, the stopper of one of the jade vials flew off on its own, and a longan-sized golden pill flew out from within beforending on the palm of his hand.
This was none other than the Myriad Axis Pill, the pill capable of assisting evente-True Immortal cultivators in advancing their cultivation base.
Han Li picked up the pill before promptly devouring it, and it immediately disintegrated into a surge of warmth that flowed through his meridians, butpared with the intense influx of heat and pressure from the first Myriad Axis Pill that he had taken, the effects had be far milder.
One reason for this was because he had already taken so many of these pills that he had developed some tolerance to them, and the other reason was that his physical body had be significantly enhanced after his attainment of full mastery over the Great Universe Origin Arts.
His brows furrowed slightly as he made a beckoning motion, and two more Myriad Axis Pill flew out of the vial, both of which he swallowed at once.
Only after that did he close his eyes and begin to cultivate.
As he began to chant an incantation, ayer of gentle golden light surfaced to envelop his entire body, and over 10 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
Throughout the 500 years that Han Li had spent cultivating the Great Universe Origin Arts and thistest passage of over a decade, the entire secret area remainedpletely unchanged from back when Han Li first entered this ce.
The sun rose and set every day, and there were different weather conditions on disy, but there was never any passage of seasons, and even the slick moss that was extremely prevalent throughout the entire secret area maintained its dark green hue perpetually.
At the edge of the city, Daoist Xie was standing on the rooftop of a three-story azure bamboo pavilion. Its yellow robes were pping audibly around it, but it stoodpletely still like a statue as its gaze remained fixed firmly on the center of the city.
Right at this moment, it suddenly murmured to itself, "It''s finally here..."
As soon as its voice trailed off, a resounding boom rang out from the center of the city, and the entire secret area shuddered violently as a pir of golden light erupted into the heavens.
Layers of dark clouds converged from all directions above the white stone za, and it didn''t take long before a vortex of dark clouds with a diameter of several dozen kilometers had taken shape.
Lightning was constantly shing within the vortex, letting loose bursts of dull rumbling, as if there were countless ferocious beasts trapped within the clouds.
At this moment, Han Li was seated within the pir of golden light. His robes had already been torn to shreds, and his chiseled yet proportionate muscles were basked in golden radiance, while his long hair was standing up in apletely vertical fashion.
All of the 35 immortal acupoints that had opened up on his body were glowing radiantly, while a golden vortex was taking shape within the 36th immortal acupoint at the center of his chest, looking as if it were going to bepletely opened up at any moment.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s eyes abruptly sprang open as he let loose an earth-shattering roar, and the golden light within the swirling vortex brightened even further as wisps of the world''s origin qi that were visible even to the naked eye rapidly converged toward the immortal acupoint.
The sound of howling wind rang out as the world''s origin qi gushed into the immortal acupoint, but it resembled a boundless abyss that was impossible to fill, and it was disying no signs of getting any fuller at all.
Han Li wore a solemn expression as he continued to make a rapid string of hand seals, carefully guiding the direction of flow of the world''s origin qi while also moderating the rate at which the immortal acupoint was absorbing the world''s origin qi to ensure that it wouldn''t burst of an excessive influx.
Only after around two hours had passed did the rate of influx of the world''s origin qi gradually slow down, while the light radiating from the immortal acupoint was only bing brighter and brighter, gradually approaching a state of stability.
At this point, Han Li was already sweating profusely, but he didn''t dare to let down his guard in the slightest, and he was constantly preparing for something to go wrong.
All of a sudden, a rumbling boom rang out in the sky, and the lightning that had been suppressed within the dark clouds was finally released.
A ck pir of lightning that was as straight as a spear pierced through the clouds before crashing down directly upon Han Li''s head.
Han Li immediately threw a punch upward in response, and a starlight fist projection erupted upward to oppose the pir of lightning.
Seven punches were thrown in session, and seven starlight fist projections, each of which was several dozen feet in size, flew up toward the pir of lightning. Halos of starry radiance surged out of the fist projections, connecting together to form a resplendent screen of silver light.
The pir of ck lightning crashed straight into the silver light barrier with an earth-shattering boom, and thetter shuddered violently before a huge hole was sted straight through its center by the pir of ck lightning.
At the same time, an even louder burst of rumbling rang out from within the dark cloud vortex in the sky, and a pir of ck lightning that was twice as thick as the previous one came crashing down, as if the heavens had been provoked and were determined to make Han Li feel their wrath.
Daoist Xie''s expression changed slightly as it witnessed this from afar, and it instantly vanished from the spot amid a sh of golden lightning.
In the next instant, it reappeared within the space between Han Li and the pir of lightning, and golden lightning erupted out of its entire body as it raised an arm toward the descending pir of lightning.
Ayer of golden lightning emerged from its arm, and its hand abruptly transformed into a giant golden crab pincer that mped down forcefully upon the pir of ck lightning.
An earth-shattering thunderp rang out as the pir of golden lightning was snapped into two before exploding violently, but the point at which the pir of lightning was severed transformed into a spherical lightning cage that trapped Daoist Xie within it in the blink of an eye.
Daoist Xie let loose a cry of rm upon seeing this, and it hurriedly reached out to make a grabbing motion, but it was already toote.
A burst of ck light emerged around the spherical lightning cage, and arcs of ck lightning as thick as a grown man''s arm shot out in all directions, causing the surrounding space to crackle and shudder.
One of these iling arcs of lightning struck Han Li''s back like a ck whip, instantly raising a trail of ck sparks and leaving arge section of his back charred ck.
His brows instantly furrowed slightly as he hurriedly turned his gaze toward his own chest, only to find that a hair-thin strands of ck light had suddenly appeared in the immortal acupoint that was taking shape there, and it quickly began to spread like a cobweb, staining the majority of the immortal acupoint ck.
Han Li''s pupils contracted drastically upon seeing this.
Even though he had never experienced it before, this appeared to be the acupoint decay of the three decays.
Han Li had already anticipated that this would happen, but now that it was truly happening, he still couldn''t help but feel a little panicked.
Throughout the ages, there had been countless prodigious cultivators who had ovee all types of obstacles and hardships to sessfully oppose the heavens and reach the True Immortal Stage. After that, they spent countless years grinding away, finally rising up above the other countless True Immortals to reach the pinnacle of the True Immortal Stage.
However, right as they were about to leave the True Immortal Stage behind altogether, they would be blighted by the curse of the acupoint decay, and all of their countless years of arduous cultivation could be for nought.
It was said that unlike the other two decays, the onset of acupoint decay was extremely fast and uncontroble, like a spreading wildfire. Once one immortal acupoint fell into decay, all of the immortal acupoints that the cultivator had painstakingly nurtured would also suffer the same fate.
Once all of one''s immortal acupoints fell into decay, one''s immortal body would also wither away, and all of their immortal spiritual power would dissipate. In the end, they would be reduced to a mere mortal. In fact, they would be in an even worse situation than a mortal as they wouldn''t even have the chance to begin cultivating anew.
The entirety of Han Li''s attention was drawn to that acupoint, and he couldn''t help but feel a little uneasy, fearing that all of his other acupoints could be infected one after another before decaying as well.
This was a very strange sensation that could only be experienced and not described.
It would be like if someone painstakingly nurtured a lotus flower, only for someone to drip a drop of lethal poison onto the flower right as it was about to bloom. The poison would quickly spread over the entire flower, then down its stem and across its leaves, leading to a rapid decay.
Right as Han Li was about to use his timew powers to counteract the decay, he noticed that something wasn''t quite right.
As it turned out, the contaminated acupoint maintained a half-ck, half-white coloration, and the decay didn''t spread rapidly as all of the ancient records imed it would.
What''s going on here?
Chapter 460: Nascent Soul Cleansing
Chapter 460: Nascent Soul Cleansing
Why is it progressing differently from what I''ve read?
Han Li didn''t know whether he should be concerned or ted by this turn of events.
Only upon closer inspection did he discover that there were hints of white light opposing the spreading ck strands in the acupoint, forming what appeared to be a white umbre that kept the ck strands at bay.
This is... starpower!
This immortal acupoint just so happened to ovep with one of the 36 profound acupoints that he had previously opened, and to his surprise, the starpower within the profound acupoint was able to counteract the spread of acupoint decay.
Han Li was quite relieved to see this, and it seemed that he wouldn''t have to resort to any extreme measures for now. With that in mind, he decided to continue observing the progression of the acupoint decay.
If the average True Immortal cultivator were to witness this, they would most likely be so envious and enraged that they would drop dead on the spot! How could there possibly be someone dealing with acupoint decay in such a leisurely fashion?!
At this moment, the ck strands and the starpower in the acupoint were shing like a pair of opposing armies, with neither side able to get the better of the other, and it seemed that they were evenly matched.
However, Han Li noticed that with each sh that took ce, the ck strands were always able to im a minute advantage. This wasn''t necessarily because they were more formidable than the starpower that opposed them. Instead, it was because even profound acupoints were still just that: acupoints.
While it was able to drastically enhance the immortal acupoint''s ability to oppose the effects of acupoint decay, thereby significantly slowing down its onset, it wasn''t able to fundamentally prevent the progression of acupoint decay.
In other words, the starpower within the profound acupoint could buy a cultivator precious time in the face of acupoint decay, but if the cultivator couldn''t find a way to truly counteract acupoint decay, then they would still inevitably suffer the same terrible fate that had befallen countless True Immortals before them.
After observing the acupoint for a moment longer, Han Li made a hand seal, and his Mantra Treasured Axis instantly appeared at his behest.
All 360 of the Time Dao Runes on the axis had already been restored at this point, and they were giving off formidable timew power fluctuations. At the same time, a beam of golden light shot out of the Eye of Truth at the center of the axis, shining down upon that immortal acupoint.
As soon as the golden light shone down onto the immortal acupoint, it immediately transformed into a series of golden threads of light that were visible to the naked eye, and they became entangled with the ck strands before slowly pulling them out like uprooting carrots from the soil.
As soon as these two powers came into contact with one another, Han Li immediately felt as if the skin there were being tugged on, and the intense, tearing pain made him draw an involuntary sharp breath.
An indescribable sense of agony was instantly transmitted from that immortal acupoint into his consciousness, and he hurriedly made a hand seal before pointing a finger at the Mantra Treasured Axis, upon which it began to revolve rapidly, while the golden light radiating from its Time Dao Runes grew even brighter.
At the same time, a translucent golden light suddenly shot out of the Eye of Truth.
This golden thread was none other than the timew thread that he had painstakingly manifested, and it was imbued with incredibly pure timew powers.
The timew thread shot through the air like an arrow, piercing into that immortal acupoint of Han Li''s in a sh.
As soon as the golden thread pierced into the immortal acupoint, ayer of golden light instantly emerged to epass the entire acupoint.
As soon as the ck strands within the immortal acupoint came into contact with this golden light, the former instantly began to melt away like snow under the scorching sun, and it didn''t take long before they werepletely cleansed.
All of this had taken ce in the span of just a few seconds, and after the ck strandspletely receded, the surrounding world''s origin qi began to surge into the immortal acupoints once again.
In the face of one of the three paramountws, the acupoint decay that had struck fear into the hearts of countlesste-True Immortal cultivators had been dispeled with ease.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this, and he closed his eyes as he continued to cultivate.
A few minutester, the 36th immortal acupoint was finallypletely opened.
A resounding boom rang out within Han Li''s body as all 36 of his immortal acupoints lit up in unison, forming a beam of blinding golden light that erupted upward from his body before piercing straight into the dark clouds up above.
A rare look of surprise appeared on Daoist Xie''s face as it witnessed this from above.
"How could this be? How did he manage to stave off the acupoint decay so quickly? Is thebination of a Profound Immortal Physique and timew powers really this potent at counteracting acupoint decay?"
Of course, this was naturally a good thing, and it returned to the rooftop of the azure bamboo pavilion on the edge of the city.
Meanwhile, rumbling thunderps rang out incessantly as the dark clouds in the sky gradually faded. However, instead of a clear, blue sky, what was revealed was a vast pool of golden lightning. The lightning inside had been liquefied and was shimmering radiantly.
Han Li took a nce up at the pool of lightning, then reached out to make a grabbing motion, and the intricate jade box that had been ced in front of him this entire time instantly flew into his grasp.
With a casual sweep of his sleeve, the talismans adhered to the box were removed, and the lid flew off on its own.
After the lid was removed, a peculiar medicinal aroma instantly wafted out of the jade box. Inside the jade box was a longan-sized golden pill, and it was none other than the Golden Soul Pill that Han Li had refined in the past.
Han Li plucked the pill out of the box between two of his fingers, then brought it up to his eyes for a closer examination before swallowing it.
As the pill slid down his throat, a burst of gentle golden light instantly appeared over his chest and abdomen, basking his face in a golden glow.
A burst of peculiar energy emerged within his chest and abdomen, but instead of descending into his dantian, it rose straight up into his consciousness to fuse as one with his soul.
The first thing that Han Li felt was a sharp pain in his head, immediately following which he became unprecedentedly sensitive and conscious. In that instant, he felt as if all of his senses had been elevated to a whole new level.
The world before him was still the same world, but it also seemed to bepletely different.
He was now able to see the flow of spiritual power in the air, he was able to hear the sound of dust particles colliding around him, and he was able to feel even the faintest gust of wind, as if all of his pores had beenpletely opened up.
Even without having to use his spiritual sense, he was able to detect everything in every single corner of this secret area. He was able to sense all of the changes taking ce around him, and even the faint pulsing of the core in Daoist Xie''s body had be clearly audible to him.
Right at this moment, his ears twitched slightly, and he felt as if he could hear something beneath the stone tform in that abandoned garden.
Right as he was about to focus on the sound and listen more carefully, this brief period of heightened sensitivity passed, and his senses returned to normal, while his soul became denser and more resilient.
Han Li immediately reined in his attention and began to focus. He knew that the final obstacle standing in the path of his progression to the Golden Immortal Stage had arrived.
After taking a deep breath, he tapped the top of his own head, and his nascent soul instantly flew out from within, enveloped within ayer of golden light.
Upon emerging from his body, his nascent soul flew around him for a moment before rising up into the air, flying headfirst into the pool of golden lightning up above.
As had been established, the nascent souls of Golden Immortals were far more formidable than that of True Immortals, and the reason for this was that during a Golden Immortal Stage breakthrough, a pool of heavenly lightning would emerge in the heavens. As long as a True Immortal Stage nascent soul could withstand the baptism by lightning, then it would be elevated to a whole new level.
As soon as Han Li''s nascent soul entered the pool of lightning, the entire pool instantly began to churn violently, much like a pot of hot oil that had just had a drop of water sshed into it.
The liquefied golden lightning within the pool began to crash into Han Li''s nascent soul in waves, while the nascent soul made a hand seal before sitting down within the pool with its legs crossed.
It remainedpletely still even as the pool of golden lightning churned violently around it, allowing the liquefied golden lightning to strike its body relentlessly.
Dense arcs of golden lightning appeared around the nascent soul like a golden robe, shing against the golden light radiating from its body.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s physical body remained seated in its original posture, but his brows were tightly furrowed in agony.
At this moment, his entire consciousness was churning just as violently as the pool of golden lightning.
Arcs of blinding golden lightning were shing and intertwining incessantly, filling virtually the entirety of his consciousness, and each sh of lightning was like a whip that struck his soul.
He was able to clearly feel the torment that his nascent soul was having to endure within the pool of lightning, and this agony on a spiritual level was even more excruciating to endure than any form of physical pain.
Han Li didn''t know much about what was involved in a breakthrough to the Golden Immortal Stage, and he was nning to enquire Daoist Hu Yan about the subject following the conclusion of this immortal manor adventure, but never did he think that he would be attempting a breakthrough in this random secret area.
For a True Immortal, opening the 36 immortal acupoints only took them halfway to reaching the Golden Immortal Stage, and the other half of the breakthrough hinged on the oue of this nascent soul refinement process.
The oue of the nascent soul refinement process was something that was dependent on both the resilience of the nascent soul and the will of the heavens.
Upon entering the lightning pool, the nascent soul would''ve essentially entered a lightning prison, and it was entirely up to the heavens when the lightning pool would fade. In some cases, the refinement process would end in just half a day, while others could be subjected to this torment for days on end.
The longer this process dragged on, the more significantly the nascent soul would be enhanced, but at the same time, the probability of the nascent soul being destroyed in the process would also steadily rise.
For those with unstable nascent souls, sending their nascent souls into the lightning pool would be no different frommitting suicide. There was no chance that a frail nascent soul would be able to endure this refinement process, and its destruction would be inevitable.
However, Han Li certainly didn''t fall into that camp. His nascent soul was far more resilient than that of the average True Immortal to begin with, and he had cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique to the fourth level, making his nascent soul more stable and resilient than that of many Golden Immortals. Furthermore, having just consumed that Golden Soul Pill, he was almost excessively well-equipped to endure this refinement process.
The only question left was how long this refinement process was going tost.
Daoist Xie was observing all of this from afar with a calm look on its face, and it was unclear what it was thinking.
Chapter 461: The Mystique of Laws
Chapter 461: The Mystique of Laws
With his nascent soul trapped within the lightning pool, every single passing second was an extremely grueling one for Han Li, and seven days felt like seven years.
On this day, a resounding boom rang out in the night sky, and a vast expanse of golden lightning surged through the heavens.
It was only for an instant, but it illuminated the entire night sky to be as bright as day.
Following this sh of golden lightning, the golden lightning pool also faded away,pletely vanishing into nothingness.
Han Li''s nascent soul slowly descended out of the heavens with a smile on its face, and its entire body was radiating dazzling golden light, giving it the appearance of a miniature golden sun from afar.
It slowlynded on the top of Han Li''s head, then looked around for a moment before vanishing into Han Li''s head.
Han Li''s eyes instantly sprang open, and two radiant beams of golden light erupted out of his eyes, extending for around three feet in front of him, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
After just a few blinks, the beams of golden light gradually began to recede until they vanished altogether, but there was still a very bright gleam in his eyes.
All of a sudden, he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, and it flew around him until it was situated in front of him, hovering in mid-air while revolving incessantly.
The axis was shimmering brightly, while the Time Dao Runes on its surface were shing incessantly. All 360 of the Time Dao Runes on its surface had already recovered, and at this moment, there were as many as three timew threads wrapped around the axis.
A hint of tion emerged in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
During that brief moment of heightened sensitivity immediately after consuming the Golden Soul Pill, he had been struck by an indescribable feeling, one that granted him a hint of enlightenment when it came to the power of timews.
At the time, he had already felt the timew thread in his body beginning to undergo a transformation, but a Golden Immortal Stage breakthrough was imminent, so he didn''t have time to dwell on the feeling.
During the few days that his nascent soul had been baptized within the lightning pool, he had constantly been in a state of excruciating torment, but at the same time, that same indescribable feeling emerged once again, triggering some minute changes in the power of time within his body. Before he knew it, he had already manifested two more timew threads.
In order to manifest his first timew thread, he had gone to extreme lengths, leaving no stone unturned and even going as far as to directly swallow the spirit liquid produced by the Heaven Controlling Vial, but still to no avail. In the end, it was only by refining a Time Dao Pill that he was able to attain the timew thread, so he was naturally ecstatic to have manifested two more so easily.
However, now that the nascent soul refinement process had concluded, he was unable to return to that mystical state of enlightenment again.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh as he made a beckoning motion, and the three timew threads instantly flew toward him from the Mantra Treasured Axis before wrapping themselves around his finger.
By injecting his spiritual sense into them, he could immediately feel bursts of formidable timew fluctuations.
Right at this moment, a burst of blinding light suddenly emerged over the Mantra Treasured Axis, and the Heaven Controlling Vial abruptly flew out of Han Li''s robes on its own, hovering in mid-air as it also began to glow as radiantly as a green sun.
The two were resonating with one another, and both were giving off bursts of formidable fluctuations.
All of a sudden, the three timew threads wrapped around Han Li''s finger shot forth through the air, hurtling toward the Heaven Controlling Vial like a trio of arrows before vanishing into it in a sh.
A dull thump rang out, and the spirit patterns on the surface of the Heaven Controlling Vial shed as the green light it was radiating became even more blinding to behold. At the same time, the vial itself was also rapidly expanding, and it didn''t take long before ti had swelled to the size of a millstone.
Countless green runes surged out of the surface of the vial while a green cloud gathered within the vial, forming a violently churning green vortex.
Bursts of special aura fluctuations were emanating out of the vial incessantly, while the green cloud within it transformed into a thick pir of green light that tore through the space before it, then manifested that same strange translucent wall of light that Han Li had seen on several past asions.
Here ites again!
Before long, the vortex had already swelled to the size of a house, and a burst of tremendous suction force abruptly surged out from within it, enveloping his entire body.
His soul was instantly sucked out of his body before vanishing into the vortex in a sh.
Han Li felt a sharp pain in his head, immediately following which his vision faded, and he lost all consciousness.
In the next instant, he felt as if he could hear a loudmotion ringing out around him, coupled with the sound of howling wind.
He hurriedly opened his eyes, and only then did he discover that he was situated high up in the sky and was flying rapidly through the air, while themotion was ringing out from behind him.
Given thest experience in which his soul had been ced into the body of that old man, Han Li already knew what to expect this time, so he wasn''t overly panicked, and he continued flying through the air while looking down to examine his own body.
To his surprise, his entire body was a shimmering golden color, and he was very short and stubby. On top of that, he was clutching a green storage bracelet in his arms. It seemed that he wasn''t a cultivator. Instead, he was a nascent soul that was frantically fleeing for its life.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this. While it was true that Ling Yunzi had been on the brink of death, at least his physical body was still intact!
Having said that, even though this was only a nascent soul, it was far more powerful than Ling Yunzi had been.
Han Li attempted to recollect some of this nascent soul''s memories, and he immediately felt as if a rumbling thunderp had erupted in his mind, causing his head to ring incessantly.
A series of fragmented memories and indescribable emotions instantly surged into his mind, and the sensory overload was so immense that he almost fell out of the sky.
Thankfully, this sensation onlysted an instant, and he was quickly able to stabilize himself again, but as a result, he had also been stopped cold in his tracks.
Instead of continuing to flee, he turned around to look behind him with a peculiar look on his face.
In the distance,rge chunks of the heavens and the earth were epassed within spherical light barriers of different colors, and even though he was already very far away from them, he could still sense extremely formidable energy fluctuations emanating from the light barriers.
Those were dozens, perhaps even close to 100 formidable spirit domains that were giving off tremendousw power fluctuations, and these spirit domains were either ovepping or shing against one another in a spectacr sight to behold.
This is the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce...
At this point, Han Li had already figured out the identity of the nascent soul that he had possessed. It belonged to a man by the name of Jin Hai, and he had once been a Golden Immortal Stage disciple of the Boundless Sword Sect.
The nascent soul had just fled from the sect, and the memories that Han Li had recalled were quite chaotic and jumbled, with most of them containing images of horrific battles that seemed to have taken ce quite recently.
Only after some extensive contemtion was Han Li able to extrapte some things from these fragmented memories.
It seemed that for some reason, the Reincarnation Pce''s forces had suddenly stormed into the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce two days ago, and even though the Immortal Pce was prepared for the invasion, they were still unable to keep the enemy at bay.
As a subsidiary power of the Immortal Pce, the Boundless Sword Sect naturally had to make a final stand alongside the Immortal Pce''s forces. They were nning to unleash the sea of swords on the enemy, even though doing so wouldpletely ruin the foundation of the sect, but right as they resorted to this n, an enemy High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal unleashed their spirit domain to trap the entire sect.
The spirit domain was filled with a type of unidentifiablew power that was able to suppress the vast sword qi within the sea of swords, thereby preventing the Boundless Sword Sect from using it in the battle.
The disciples of the Boundless Sword Sect had no choice but to form an array to force their way out of the Jade Immortal''s spirit domain, but after that, they found themselves right in the midst of the battle between the cultivators of the Immortal Pce and the Reincarnation Pce. Jin Hai''s martial brothers perished one after another, with some managing to flee in the form of their nascent souls, while others perished altogether.
After inadvertently stumbling into the spirit domain of a cultivator at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage, Jin Hai''s luck finally ran out, and he also met his demise. In the instant before he perished, he detonated his own bonded flying sword using a secret technique, and only then was his nascent soul able to escape.
Even so, his nascent soul was already severely wounded and on the brink of disintegrating. If it weren''t for the influx of Han Li''s spiritual sense, it would''ve most likely alreadypletely disintegrated into nothingness.
Why did the Reincarnation Pce attack the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce? Does this have something to do with the fall of the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce?
With all these questions in his mind, Han Li turned his gaze to his left, and sure enough, the faint projection of his Mantra Treasured Axis was hovering there.
The Time Dao Runes on its surface were shing with semi-transparent light, and around a dozen of them had already faded.
Han Li was rather perplexed to see this.
At this point, he had definitely already been in the wall of light for at least 30 seconds, so 30 Time Dao Runes should''ve been snuffed out at a minimum, so why was that not the case?
Could it be...
A thought urred to Han Li, and he began to scrutinize the Mantra Treasured Axis intently with an unblinking gaze.
Momentster, his brows unfurrowed, and a hint of tion appeared on his face.
He discovered that each Time Dao Rune was now able tost three seconds before fading away instead of one.
Perhaps this was because he now possessed three timew threads.
If the umtion of each additional timew thread really could extend the duration of time that each Time Dao Rune couldst, then as he continued to manifest more timew threads in the future, this duration would most likely only continue to extend!
With that in mind, Han Li couldn''t help but wonder if some other changes would take ce once the number of timew threads in his possession passed certain thresholds, if such thresholds truly did exist.
Chapter 462: Astonishment
Chapter 462: Astonishment
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li decided to fly back toward the Immortal Pce instead of continuing to flee.
He didn''t want to waste the limited time that he had, and he wanted to confirm some things.
Firstly, he wanted to see if he could figure out exactly how the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce had met its demise. After all, he was still trapped in the ruins of the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce and didn''t know how to get out.
Secondly, he wanted to find out why the Reincarnation Pce had attacked the Immortal Pce. At the moment, he was a Reincarnation Disciple, so knowing more about the Reincarnation Pce certainly couldn''t hurt.
Thirdly, he wanted to observe all of these spirit domains at a closer proximity.
He had actually alreadye into contact with a spirit domain back in the Spirit Realm, but that had only been a Profound Heavenly Spirit Domain unleashed by Bao Hua, which was really only just a faux spirit domain unleashed with the help of a Profound Heavenly Treasure. [1]
After arriving in the Immortal Realm, Han Li had spent some time searching for information pertaining to spirit domains, but opportunities to personally witness spirit domains had proven to be very few and far in between, so he naturally didn''t want to pass up this prime opportunity.
This nascent soul was quite powerful to begin with, and following the injection of Han Li''s spiritual sense, its speed had been enhanced by severalfold, so it didn''t take long before Han Li arrived near the battlefield.
At this point, a decent number of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had already faded.
Not far in front of him was an enormous yellow spherical light barrier, and even without entering it, Han Li could already sense a burst of tremendous earth-attribute energy fluctuations emanating from it.
Through the light barrier, Han Li could clearly see that all of the trees and buildings in the area epassed within the light barrier had been crushed under some type of tremendous force.
He could also just barely make out some cultivators in the extremely far distance, and all of them were doing everything in their power to oppose this force, but it was clear that they were fighting a losing battle, and they were so severely restricted that they could only fly at a very slow pace several dozen feet above the ground.
The other side of this light barrier ovepped with a silver spirit domain, within which were countless streaks of bright sword qi that were severely ravaging the space epassed within the spirit domain.
Further away in the distance, there were spirit domains that were evenrger and brighter, and each of them had their own unique properties.
Han Li waspletely bbergasted by what he was seeing, and he was wondering if he should venture into the spirit domain directly before him when he heard a thunderous roar ring out from extremely far away.
A burst of formidable soundwaves pierced straight into his mind without encountering any resistance, and it was like a giant de threatening to cleave his soul apart.
Han L''s consciousness was instantly plunged into a state of extreme turbulence and disarray, and he felt as if his spiritual sense were about to fall apart, causing him to involuntarily fall out of the sky.
However, right at this moment, his Spirit Refinement Technique was activated on its own, and ayer of ck light instantly spread over his consciousness to protect it.
In the instant before Han Li plummeted into the ground, his spiritual sense was finally stabilized again, and a stunned look appeared on his face as he hurriedly flew upward again to regain his elevation.
He turned to the direction where the roar hade from to find that most of the spirit domains there had already been broken. It was unclear whether they had been directly broken by that roar or if the spirit sense of the cultivators who had unleashed those spirit domains had been destroyed, thereby resulting in the disintegration of their spirit domains.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Han Li turned back to the same direction in which he had previously been fleeing and flew away even faster than before.
The power imbued within that roar wasn''t unfamiliar to Han Li. It was the power of the Spirit Refinement Technique, and it was simr in nature to the Spirit Stun Thorn, but enhanced by sheer orders of magnitude.
If Han Li were to remain on this battlefield, he wasn''t sure if he would be able to withstand another one of those attacks, or perhaps an even more formidable spiritual attack, and that was why he decided to flee again.
Even after fleeing for close to 100,000 kilometers, Han Li still disyed no intention of stopping, and only after he had reached the sea did he finally slow down slightly.
He swept his gaze across the surrounding area to find that on the surface of the sea not far away was a long and slender ind shaped like a willow leaf. Vegetation on the ind was very sparse, and the ground was littered with exposed gray rocks.
Isn''t this the ind inhabited by the Cold Crystal Race? Is this the ck Wind Ind?
Somehow, it seemed that he had arrived in the ck Wind Sea.
Right at this moment, he was struck by another burst of sensory overload, and fragments of Jin Hai''s memories began to surface once again.
However, the memories this time had nothing to do with the ongoing battle. Instead, they pertained to a treasure map.
Prior to themencement of this battle, Jin Hai seemed to have made an arrangement with someone to leave the Boundless Sword Sect to travel to another immortal region in search of treasures, but he never got the chance to make good on that promise.
The map appeared to lead to quite a remarkable treasure, as evidenced by the deep regret and disappointment from Jin Hai attached to this memory. Perhaps that was why this memory had sprung up in Han Li''s mind.
Only then did it ur to Han Li to examine the contents of Jin Hai''s storage bracelet, and in doing so, he discovered that the storage bracelet was filled with a vast abundance of resources, including a huge number of Immortal Origin Stones, as well as many treasures, pills, and ancient scriptures.
Many of those treasures and pills were unrecognizable to Han Li, but he was familiar with what those ancient scriptures were.
Jin Hai''s memories indicated that he treasured these ancient scriptures as much as his own life, and they contained the sword techniques and sword arrays of the Boundless Sword Sect.
If it weren''t for the fact that his time in this state was very limited, Han Li would''ve definitely decided to study these scriptures. After all, the Boundless Sword Sect was vastly renowned as one of the most brilliant sword sects in history, so which sword cultivator wouldn''t want to study its sword techniques?
Among the items in the storage bracelet, Han Li noticed a strange silken handkerchief, which, ording to Jin Hai''s memories, was supposed to hold the treasure map. The handkerchief was cool to the touch, and there was rainbow light shing over its surface, indicating that it was no ordinary handkerchief.
However, as he attempted to carefully observe the patterns on the handkerchief, he discovered that he wasn''t able to see anything clearly, so he was naturally unable to identify the map on it.
In order to conduct a better examination, Han Li called upon his Eye of Truth, and a beam of golden light shone down onto the handkerchief from the eye.
However, with his usage of the Eye of Truth, the rate at which the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis were fading was elerated, and he only had fewer than 20 active ones left.
The rainbow light on the surface of the handkerchief rippled before spreading outward from the center, and a veryplex map soon appeared on the handkerchief.
Han Li scrutinized the map intently, carefully looking over every single detail in order tomit everything to memory.
After that, he took a nce at his Mantra Treasured Axis, on which only several Time Dao Runes remained lit, and he stowed the map back into his storage bracelet before plunging down into the sea near the white ind as quickly as he could, plummeting into the water like a meteorite.
He descended rapidly through the water, leaving a white line in his wake as he hurtled directly toward the seabed.
Meanwhile, the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis hovering above him continued to fade one after the other.
With only five Time Dao Runes left, Han Li had already plunged over 10,000 feet into the sea, and he broke through the 100,000 feet mark with only three Time Dao Runes left.
......
Finally, Han Li reached the seabed, then pierced a hand straight into the seabed''s rocky surface to create a deep hole. After that, he tossed the storage bracelet into the hole, then lifted a huge rock before cing it over the hole.
Before Han Li had a chance to verify whether the opening of the hole had been properly sealed, the final Time Dao Rune was snuffed out, and a vortex abruptly appeared right next to him.
Another burst of sharp pain speared through his mind, following which his spiritual sense returned to his body.
Han Li looked on as the wall of light before him gradually faded, and he continued to recollect what he had just witnessed with a contemtive look on his face.
Only after some time had passed did he sweep a sleeve through the air, and all three of his timew threads emerged, having been reduced to a dull and lusterless state, and they returned to his Mantra Treasured Axis at his behest.
Immediately thereafter, the Mantra Treasured Axis also vanished into his body.
Han Li rose to his feet before sweeping a sleeve through the air once again, and a new azure robe appeared over his boy. He then summoned a white jade hairpin and briefly arranged his own hair before securing it with his hairpin.
Right at this moment, Daoist Xie flew over from afar beforending beside him.
"Congrattions on making such an important breakthrough, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie said as it cupped its fist in a salute.
"Thank you for keeping a lookout for me all this time, Brother Xie," Han Li replied with a smile.
"There''s no need to thank me, my fate is directly intertwined with yours. Now that you''ve reached the Golden Immortal Stage, I''m sure your Mantra Treasured Axis will have made a full recovery. Should we go and take another look at that dream concealment restriction?" Daoist Xie suggested.
Han Li smiled as he replied, "My thoughts exactly..."
However, his voice then abruptly cut off as he recalled that all of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had been snuffed out again.
"Is there something wrong?" Daoist Xie asked.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face, but he shook his head as he replied, "No, let''s go take a look at the restriction."
Thus, the two of them arrived in the abandoned garden once again, and everything remained much the samepared with during theirst visit.
Han Li strode over the stone tform and carefully examined it with his spiritual sense. Immediately thereafter, his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him, and sure enough, all of the Time Dao Runes on its surface were dull and devoid of luster.
He made a hand seal with both hands, and a beam of golden light shot out of the Eye of Truth at the center of the axis before striking the center of the stone tform.
Ayer of light emerged over the stone tform, but it quickly faded, and nothing else happened aside from that.
"I guess I shouldn''t be surprised," Han Li murmured to himself with af aint sigh.
A thought then urred to him, and his three timew threads flew out of his Mantra Treasured Axis at his behest before flying straight into the stone tform.
All of a sudden, the entire stone tform began to glow with dazzling golden radiance, and the golden light instantly spread in all directions like aplex system of tree branches, extending all the way to beyond the forest in which the stone tform was situated.
1. For more information on Bao Hua, please refer to /wiki/Bao_Hua ?
Chapter 463: Underground Palace
Chapter 463: Underground Pce
"Looks like not only has the core of the dream concealment restriction been revealed, even all of the array''s hidden points have surfaced as well," Daoist Xie said as it looked at the radiantly glowing stone tform.
"In that case, can you see if you can break the restriction now, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked.
"Judging from the repaired stamen, this should be a Nine Nightmares Restriction, the most special type of all dream concealment restrictions. It''s a good thing that we did try to break it by brute force. Otherwise, if we had activated this entire array, then this secret area would''ve been turned on its head! Having said that, now that all of the points of the array have been revealed, it''ll be far easier to unravel," Daoist Xie replied.
With that established, Daoist Xie borrowed some array gs and array tools from Han Li, then began to fly back and forth through the secret area, making the required preparations to break the restriction.
Meanwhile, Han Li remained still on the spot as he waited patiently.
Around 15 minutester, Daoist Xie returned to the stone tform while holding a white jade te withplex patterns engraved onto its surface.
Han Li was rather perplexed to see this, but he didn''t ask any questions.
Daoist Xie paused momentarily in front of the stone tform, then stepped onto it and ced the jade te at the center of the tform. The jade te was just the right size to slot into the empty area where the stamen of the restriction was supposed to be.
"I''m using this jade te as a substitute for the damaged part of the array. I hope it''ll work," Daoist Xie exined.
It then made a hand seal while chanting an incantation before pressing its palm down onto the center of the stone tform.
A beam of golden light surged out of the palm of its hand before passing through the jade te and into the stone tform, and the entire tform instantly shuddered violently before lighting up with blinding golden radiance.
All of the patterns on the stone tform glowed radiantly as a shimmering golden projection rose up into the sky.
The higher the projection ascended, the more it expanded, and in the end, it formed an enormous flower projection that epassed the entire secret area.
The points at which the golden lines on the nine flower petals met each corresponded with an important point in the array, and Daoist Xie had also already set up array gs at those points.
All of a sudden, hundreds of threads of golden light rained down from the dream flower projection to connect with these array gs, while a pir of golden light erupted out of the floral projection''s stamen to strike the center of the stone tform down below.
A burst of rumbling rang out as a system of cobweb-like golden patterns instantly began to spread across the ground at the foot of the stone tform, but these patterns only lingered for a few moments before fading on their own.
Immediately thereafter, the sound of rock grinding on rock rang out as the entire stone tform split apart into two down the center to reveal a hole that had a diameter or around five feet.
Han Li approached the hole for a closer inspection to find that there was nothing but inky darkness inside, but he could hear the sound of wind ringing out deep within the darkness.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he casually swept a sleeve through the air to summon seven or eight crimson fireballs, each of which was around the size of a human head. All of the fireballs descended into the hole, and it didn''t take long before they struck the ground, then bounced a few times before rolling deeper into the hole.
Thanks to the light radiating from the fireballs, Han Li was able to see that the hole was only several hundred feet deep, and that its bottom was paved with stone bs. It seemed to be a passageway, but it was clear that this wasn''t the exit of this secret area.
"It looks like we won''t be able to leave this ce just yet," Han Li remarked with a forlorn sigh.
"The fact that this ce was concealed under the dream concealment restriction indicates that it must be a special ce. Perhaps there''s a major opportunity waiting for us in there," Daoist Xie said.
"I don''t really care about that, all I want is to be able to get out of this ce as soon as possible," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"I didn''t have to expend much energy while keeping a lookout for you, but I''ve had to remain in the outside world for over 10 years, so I''ll need some time to rest and recuperate. You can call upon me if you need me," Daoist Xie said.
"Thank you, Brother Xie," Han Li said in a heartfelt manner.
Daoist Xie merely gave a dismissive wave of its hand, then flew into Han Li''s sleeve as a streak of golden light and vanished in a sh.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Han Li leaped into the hole in the ground.
Upon making anding at the bottom of the hole, he quickly discovered that the ground beneath his feet and the walls beside him were all very even and uniform. Directly in front of him was a passageway that led deeper into the darkness, and it was over 20 feet tall and around six feet wide.
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes while simultaneously releasing his spiritual sense, attempting to examine the depths of the passageway, and only then did he discover that he was situated in a massive underground pce, one that was no smaller than the city on the surface.
The underground pce waspletely undetectable to him due to the dream concealment restriction, but he was able to see in its full glory now.
Han Li made his way several hundred meters down the passageway before reaching its conclusion, and a bare stone wall appeared in front of him.
Heid a palm t against the stone wall before pushing it forcefully, and a burst of rumbling rang out as the entire stone wall slowly slid back several feet to reveal a horizontal passageway.
Han Li stood at the center of the passageway, and he took a nce in either direction before making his way down the right.
The passageway down the right hand side wasn''t very long either, and he reached the end after traveling for less than 200 meters. However, there was no crossroads here. Instead, there was a room that wasparable in size to a normal lounge.
Han Li pushed the door of the room open before making his way inside.
In contrast with the dark passageway outside, there were around a dozen palm-sized luminescent rocks embedded into the ceiling, and they were giving off a cold white glow that illuminated the entire room.
With just a single nce, Han Li was able to see the entirety of the room before him.
In a corner of the room was a ck wooden shelf that had already decayed into an almost unrecognizable state. The vials and containers previously ced on the shelf were strewn over the ground, and their contents were mixed together with the wood scraps on the ground to produce an indescribable odor.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li drew a ck porcin vial out of the putrid rotten wood, and the vial drew to a halt in mid-air in front of him.
The stopper of the vial flew out at Han Li''s behest, and a peculiar medicinal aroma instantly wafted out from within.
Han Li took a whiff of the aroma, then heaved a faint sigh as he lowered his hand, allowing the ck vial to fall to the ground before rolling away to the side.
The vial once contained a type of pill that would''ve been useful even to True Immortals, but their medicinal effects hadpletely faded after such an extended period of time spent in storage.
Han Li carefully inspected the rest of the room, but was unable to find anything useful, so he promptly departed and made his way toward the left branch of the passageway.
After walking for a few minutes, he arrived in front of another stone door, this one riddled with a series of antiquated sealing runes.
After a brief hesitation, he raised a hand, and five balls of light lit up over his fingertips as he pressed them into the stone door.
As soon as the five bursts of spiritual light entered the stone door, all of theplex runes spread across the entire door began to converge toward the center to form a strange circr pattern.
Han Li pressed the palm of his hand against the circr pattern, and the stone door began to rise up on its own amid a burst of dull rumbling.
As the stone door was raised up, a glimmer of light began to pass through it.
Almost as an instinctive reaction, Han Li summoned Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword into his own grasp with a flick of his wrist.
After the stone door waspletely raised, Han Li discovered that there was another passageway beyond it. The walls of this passageway were lined with a series of slots, within which some type of oil was slowly burning to give off a faint glow.
The oil seemed to be some type of fish fat, as evidenced by the fishy odor in the air, and Han Li took a quick whiff of the odor in the air before continuing onward.
From this point onward, the number of crossroads that he encountered began to increase, and there were also more rooms to explore, but barely any of them held anything important.
Initially, Han Li would enter those rooms to conduct an examination, but after a while, he began to inspect the rooms using his spiritual sense only, and he wouldn''t bother to enter the room at all if he couldn''t sense any special energy fluctuations inside.
Several hourster, Han Li emerged through a stone door and arrived in a straight passageway that was around 30 feet wide.
At the conclusion of the passageway was a pair of gates that were around 10 feet tall, both of which were tightly shut. Each gate had half of a fierce-looking beast''s head engraved upon it, and a series of twisted patterns spread out to cover the entirety of the gates from the beastly head at the center.
Han Li wasn''t able to identify the beast, but he could tell that this was a veryplex restriction.
Hence, he made a hand seal and began to examine the gates through the use of his Eye of Truth.
Momentster, he withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis, and his brows furrowed slightly in contemtion as he began attempting to unravel the restriction.
A string of incantation seals flew into the stone gates, and the runes engraved upon them began to give off a dull yellow glow, while the eyes of the beastly head also lit up like a pair of jewels.
A faint roar rang out as a beastly projection pounced out of the stone gates, and Han Li hurriedly took evasive measures by dodging to the side.
The beastly projection was only able to make it several feet out of the stone gates before vanishing in a sh, following which light glowing from the runes on the gates and the eyes of the beastly head also faded.
Han Li strode over to the gates before pressing a palm against one of them, then exerted force through his hand to push the gate inward, opening up a gap that was several feet wide.
Through this gap, Han Li was able to see a dim light source within the hall beyond it, and a series of indistinct humanoid shadows were being cast onto the ground in front of him.
His brows were tightly furrowed as he released his spiritual sense into the hall for a careful examination, but he didn''t discover anything abnormal.
However, upon entering the hall, he was instantly taken aback by what he saw.
There was a series of white stone statues around the same height as grown men spread throughout the hall, and thanks to the faint light emanating from the braziers hanging from the walls, Han Li was able to see that there were seven or eight of these statues in total.
The shadows that he had seen just now had been cast by the two stone statues closest to the gates.
Han Li made his way toward the center of the hall while carefully examining these stone statues, and in doing so, he discovered that they seemed to be acting as pirs that supported this underground hall.
The statues didn''t depict any formidable warriors or ferocious beasts. Instead, they were extremely lifelike statues of a collection of male and female figures, all of which were standing straight with their arms hanging down by their sides.
Chapter 464: Unmatched Genius
Chapter 464: Unmatched Genius
Han Li swept his gaze across the statues, and he discovered that a pair of statues among them, depicting an elderly daoist priest and a woman in a pce dress, were the most intricately crafted statues of the collection.
The elderly daoist priest was quite thin with a goatee on his chin, and the creases and folds on his daoist robes were quite pronounced, as if he were in the process of flying through the air, giving him quite a graceful and elegant appearance.
As for the woman in the pce dress, she was just as tall and imposing as a man, and her features were also rather sharp and angr, giving her an appearance that was rather unbefitting of her attire.
In Han Li''s opinion, it would''ve looked far more appropriate for her to have been presented in a suit of armor instead.
All of a sudden, Han Li raised a hand beforeshing out to his left.
"Owie!"
A cry of pain rang out, followed by a loud crack, and a skeleton that was as fair and translucent as jade was sent flying by the burst of power released by Han Li''s hand, crashing heavily into the wall before shattering into countless pieces.
"Who are you?" Han Li interrogated in a cold voice.
A faint glimmer of green light slowly rose up from the shattered skeleton, forming the indistinct projection of an elderly daoist priest that looked as if it wereprised of countless fireflies.
Upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that this was a soul fragment, and that it was identical in appearance to that statue of the elderly daoist priest.
"What a rude little bastard you are! What am I supposed to use as a vessel now that you''ve destroyed this skeleton of mine?" the soul fragmentined in a furious voice.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he asked, "Who are you? Answer me or I''ll erase you from existence!"
The projection of the elderly daoist priest waspletely unfazed, and it ced its hands on its hips as it scoffed, "Looks like you''re an arrogant little bastard too! Back when I reigned supreme over the Infernal Frost Immortal Region, you probably weren''t even born yet!"
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this. "Infernal Frost Immortal Region... Are you from the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor?"
The soul fragment took a nce at the longsword in Han Li''s hand, then remarked, "I can see that you''re a sword user. I''m sure you''ve heard of the Boundless Daoist, right?"
"Even to this day, the Boundless Sword Sect is still a vastly renowned sect across the entire immortal region, so of course I know of its founder," Han Li replied.
The soul fragment erupted into a furious fit upon hearing this, and it spat onto the ground as it yelled, "Ptui! Don''t try to trick me, you little brat! After what happened to the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, there''s no way that the lineage of the Boundless Sword Sect wasn''t severed! After all this time, I''m sure the sect has alreadypletely fallen into obscurity."
A hesitant look then appeared on the soul fragment''s face as it murmured to itself, "Could it be that that side branch managed to continue the sect''s lineage? No, that''s impossible. Those bastards wouldn''t have been capable of anything other than bringing disgrace to the sect''s name. How unfortunate. Back in the day..."
The soul fragment seemed to have recalled some unpleasant memories, and it began mumbling to itself,pletely lost in its own thoughts.
Han Li was bing more suspicious by the second, and he interjected, "Who are you? Don''t make me ask again!"
The soul fragment stood up a little straighter, seemingly trying to lend itself more prestige as it dered, "Listen up, kid! I am none other than the founder of the Boundless Sword Sect that you speak of! I am the Boundless Daoist!"
"What proof do you have to support that im?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
The soul fragment was furious to hear this, and it retorted, "Proof my arse! Do you know I am? Why do I need to prove my identity to a little shit like you?"
"Regardless of who you were in the past, I''m the one who calls the shots here, do you understand?" Han Li said with a faint smile as he raised the sword in his hand.
The soul fragment took a nce at Han Li''s longsword, and it seemed to have been intimidated into submission as it sighed, "How do you want me to prove my identity to you? You''ve already shattered my skeleton, so I can''t even demonstrate my sect''s sword techniques to you."
Han Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "Aside from the Profound Myriad Sword Badge, does your Boundless Sword Sect have any other inherited treasures?"
A mocking sneer appeared on the soul fragment''s face upon hearing this, and it scoffed, "Don''t think that you can get me with your sneaky little trap! There are two inherited treasures in our Boundless Sword Sect, one of which is the Myriad Sword Iron Scripture, which was passed down in the sect, while the other is the Boundless Sword Core, which was given to the side branch of the sect."
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this.
"Let me ask you this: does my Boundless Sword Sect still exist in some form?" the soul fragment suddenly asked.
Han Li thought back to Elder Qi Heng of the Holy Puppet Sect, and at this point, it had be clear to him that Qi Heng had to have been a member of the Boundless Sword Sect''s side branch.
"The lineage of the sect has indeed already been severed. As for the side branch, that''s also fallen into obscurity."
A hint of disappointment appeared on the soul fragment''s face upon hearing this, but it seemed to have already anticipated this answer.
"What about the legacy of myself and the Boundless Sword Sect? Are my sect and I still mentioned with reverence by everyone in the immortal region?"
Instead of answering the question, Han Li raised one of his own. "If you really are the Boundless Daoist as you proim, then how did you end up getting sealed in here?"
"Who told you I''ve been sealed in here?" the soul fragment asked with a furious expression.
Han Li offered no response to this. In reality, he had also been rather perplexed as it simply didn''t make sense to go to so much trouble just to seal away a soul fragment.
"Can''t you tell? I willingly sealed myself in this ce!" the soul fragment dered as it puffed out its chest in a proud manner.
"Alright, then why are you hiding here?" Han Li asked.
The soul fragment was instantly infuriated once again upon hearing the word "hide", but in the end, it could only heave a forlorn sigh as it replied, "It''s all because I have to take care of her."
"Her?" Han Li took a nce at the statue of the woman in the pce dress upon hearing this. "Who is she?"
"She''s a pain in the arse is what she is!" the soul fragment snapped.
After a brief pause, the soul fragment took a nce at the statue of the woman, then continued, "She''s a High Zenith Stage Gray Immortal from the Gray Realm. "
"The Gray Realm?"
Han Li was only bing more and more confused.
"The Heavenly Court has been hiding the existence of the Gray Realm this entire time, to the point that none of you are even aware of its existence. Perhaps that''s a blessing, perhaps it''s a curse, who knows?" the soul fragment sighed.
"What is this Gray Realm?" Han Li asked as the tone of his voice softened a little.
"You know what? I haven''t had anyone to speak to in a very long time, and I''m in a pretty good mood right now, so I''ll tell you about the Gray Realm. Just like our True Immortal Realm, the Gray Realm is another boundless realm inhabited by living beings unique to that realm, and those who attain immortality in the Gray Realm are known as Gray Immortals," the soul fragment exined.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "Does the fall of the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce have something to do with this woman?"
Instead of answering Han Li''s question, the soul fragment raised one of its own. "Why are you so interested in what happened to the Immortal Pce?"
"I still don''t trust you one bit, so I want to hear you talk about what happened to the Immortal Pce in order to help me form my judgment," Han Li said with a cold smile.
The soul fragment''s expression stiffened slightly upon seeing this, and it was about to put on an enraged facade once again, but it could tell that Han Li wasn''t going to be intimidated, so it could only heave a deted sigh.
A reminiscent look then appeared on its face as it began to recount the events of the distant past. "Back in the day, I had just be the master of the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce, and I was at the height of my powers, but this troublesome woman..."
"What did you just say?" Han Li interjected. "You became the master of the Immortal Pce? Wouldn''t that make you the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord?"
The soul fragment seemed to be rather displeased with Han Li''s rude interjection, and it raised an eyebrow as it retorted, "Who told you that the Boundless Daoist can''t also be the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord?"
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly with skepticism upon hearing this.
"Hmph, I suppose I can''t expect a mere mortal like yourself toprehend my unmatched genius. Listen up, kid, you better not go interrupt me again! Young people these days don''t even know how respect is spelt!" the soul fragment scoffed in a disgruntled manner.
Han Li adjusted his grip on the hilt of his sword in a subtle fashion as he prompted, "Please continue."
The soul fragment cleared its throat in a sheepish manner upon seeing this, then began to give Han Li a long-winded recount of his past.
ording to the soul fragment, his name was Lu Yun, and he was originally a member of a side branch of a medium-sized cultivating n on the Infernal Frost Continent. His aptitude was quite mediocre, so he didn''t receive much attention from the n, and he wasn''t given any of the n''s best cultivation arts.
Hence, he had no choice but to turn to the body refinement scriptures in the n, which no one wanted to pursue.
Through a series of strokes of fortune, he was able to embark on the path of bing a Profound Immortal, and he discovered that he was quite suited to using these body refinement cultivation arts.
After experimenting with countless body refinement methods, he was suddenly struck by inspiration one night while looking up at the stars in the sky, and he invented a way to refine one''s body using starlight. Ultimately,that led to the creation of the Great Universe Origin Arts, using which he was able to make rapid progress in his cultivation and progressed all the way to the Golden Immortal Stage.
At some point, he faced a Golden Immortal Stage sword cultivator who was half a cultivation rank above him in battle, and the battle concluded in a tie. Despite holding his own against an opponent of a superior cultivation base, he was extremely humiliated by this oue, and he turned to cultivating the way of the sword in a fit of rage and indignation.
After over 3,000 years in obscurity, he finally re-emerged into the world as the Boundless Daoist, reaching the pinnacle of the Infernal Frost Immortal Region and founding the Boundless Sword Sect.
Eventually, he was able to reach the High Zenith Stage, allowing him to reign supreme over the entire Infernal Frost Immortal Region, and he was able to be the master of the Infernal Frost Continent''s Immortal Pce without even having to join the Heavenly Court.
The soul fragment was telling the story in an extremely spirited and enthused fashion, and if it weren''t for the fact that it possessed no physical body, spittle would''ve been flying everywhere out of its mouth.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he listened to the story, but internally, he was quite astonished.
If this soul fragment were telling the truth, then Lu Yun''s feats went far beyond just "unmatched genius"!
Chapter 465: Core
Chapter 465: Core
Han Li suppressed the bewilderment in his heart as he continued to listen to the soul fragment''s story.
"Her name is Mo Yu, and back then, she used a secret technique to conceal her cultivation base before infiltrating my Infernal Frost Immortal Pce. She possessed decent aptitude, so I decided to take her under my wing as my disciple, teaching her my sword techniques and imparting upon her a spirit domain, but s..."
After a brief pause, the soul fragment continued in a slightly forlorn voice, "In the end, she tried to use my Immortal Pce as an entrance for a passageway to the Gray Realm so that the living beings of the Gray Realm could invade this immortal region. The Reincarnation Pce was colluding with the Gray Realm, and they also attacked my Infernal Frost Immortal Pce alongside the army of Gray Realm beings. Ultimately, thingspletely spiraled out of control and..."
The soul fragment''s voice trailed off there with another forlorn sigh, and Han Li concluded in his stead, "Your Infernal Frost Immortal Pce was defeated."
"We were indeed defeated, but they didn''t manage to reap any benefits from their victory, either! It''s just a pity that my Infernal Frost Immortal Pce was torn to pieces during the battle, and many of its regions have most likely already beenpletely lost," the soul fragment said in a forlorn voice.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he hurriedly asked, "Is there a region in your Infernal Frost Immortal Pce known as the Vast cial Realm?"
"There is. Why do you ask?" the soul fragment asked as it raised an eyebrow.
A hint of enlightenment instantly welled up in Han Li''s heart upon hearing this. The Vast cial Realm had most likely been lost from the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce in the wake of that battle, and it had since be a secret area in the Spirit Realm.
With that in mind, the Myriad Sword Scroll that he had obtained from the Vast cial Realm most likely once belonged to the Boundless Sword Sect as well.
The soul fragment was unbothered by theck of response from Han Li, and it continued, "You''ve asked me a bunch of questions, so it''s only fair that you answer a few questions for me now, right?"
Han Lipletely ignored this request as he asked, "How did that battle conclude, and how did you end up in here?"
The soul fragment was renderedpletely speechless for a moment, following which it eximed in an indignant voice, "How could you be so rude?"
Han Li remainedpletely expressionless as he subtly adjusted the positioning of the longsword in his hand once again.
"Ahem... To be honest, I don''t know how the battle ended. After the reinforcements from the Reincarnation Pce arrived, I was forced to battle Mo Yu and another formidable enemy on my own. I was able to severely injure both of them, but ultimately, I was defeated, and my physical body was destroyed. In the end, only this soul fragment of mine survived, and I was forced to flee here before sealing myself away so I could wait to be saved," the soul fragment exined.
"Why didn''t you receive any reinforcements from the Heavenly Court? Haven''t they always been sworn enemies of the Reincarnation Pce?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Even though I was the master of the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce, I was used to living with full freedom and autonomy, so I was unwilling to join the Heavenly Court, and I didn''t follow any of their orders. Hence, they were happy to see me go down in that battle so they could swoop in and reap the spoils. My guess is that the Infernal Frost Immortal Region has already beenpletely taken over by the Heavenly Court by now, right?" the soul fragment asked.
"The Infernal Frost Immortal Region has already been renamed to the Northern cial Immortal Region, and the current Northern cial Immortal Pce is indeed under the control of the Heavenly Court," Han Li confirmed with a nod.
The soul fragment faltered slightly upon hearing this, then fell into deep thought.
Han Li stowed his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword away, then took a nce at his surroundings before asking, "Where did these statuese from?"
"I have nothing to do in here anyway, so I made them to help pass the time. What do you think? They''re not bad, right?" the soul fragment chuckled.
"If you sealed yourself in here, did you not think to make a way out so that you could leave at some point?" Han Li asked.
The soul fragment took an exasperated nce at Han Li, then replied, "I created this ce for my own protection. If I left a way out, there would''ve been a way for my enemies to get in as well. Besides, I was in a real hurry when I fled into this ce, so I didn''t have time to think things over."
Han Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "In that case, you don''t know how to get out of this secret area, either, right?"
At the very most, Han Li was only willing to believe half of what the soul fragment was telling him. He had a feeling that the soul fragment was hiding some things from him, but he could find any holes in its story, either.
The soul fragment took a quick nce at Han Li, then shook his head as he scoffed, "You''re dreaming if you think you can get out of this ce at your current level of power!"
"What do you mean by that?" Han Li asked.
"Unless this secret area is opened from the outside, the only way to get out of here is to destroy its core. However, this core is directly connected to this entire secret area, and as soon as it''s attacked, it''ll draw upon all of the world''s origin qi within the entire secret area to defend itself.
¡°At the peak of my powers, I would''ve been able to get out of this ce with ease, but at the moment, you''re only at the early-Golden Immortal Stage, right? I suggest you resign yourself to your fate and stay here to keep mepany," the soul fragment chuckled.
"May I ask what your past cultivation base was, Senior?" Han Li asked, adopting a much more polite and respectful tone this time.
A smug grin appeared on the soul fragment''s face as it humble-bragged, "My cultivation base wasn''t that advanced, I was only at thete-High Zenith Stage."
Even though Han Li was already somewhat mentally prepared for this answer, he still couldn''t help but feel astonished upon hearing his suspicions confirmed.
"In that case, are you saying that only ate-High Zenith cultivator will be able to break the core of the secret area?" Han Li asked.
"Not necessarily, you should be able to pull it off starting from the early-High Zenith Stage, but you''re clearly not... Oh, by the way, what cultivation art are you using? Have you mastered the power ofws yet?" the soul fragment suddenly asked.
"How is that relevant?" Han Li asked.
"It''s extremely relevant! If you''ve only mastered some normalw powers, then you would naturally have to be at the High Zenith Stage to have a chance of breaking the core of this secret area, but if, by some miracle, you''ve mastered one of the three paramountws to a decent extent, then the mid-Golden Immortal Stage should suffice," the soul fragment exined.
Instead of immediately showing his hand, Han Li asked, "Could it be that the core of this secret area is somehow rted to the three paramountws?"
"The core of this secret area is an item that contains the power of timews. By my estimates, if you try to break it through brute force alone, you''ll need to be at least at the early-High Zenith Stage. If you deconstruct it using the power of spatialws, then you''ll have to be at thete-Golden Immortal Stage, and if you''ve mastered the power of timews, you''ll only have to be at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage," the soul fragment exined.
"May I ask where the core is? Would you be able to lead me to it, Senior?" Han Li asked.
The soul fragment seemed to be rather hesitant to oblige with this request, and it remained silent for quite some time.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Is there something wrong?"
"There are some restrictions in this ce that... I''m unable to enter in my current state," the soul fragment replied, seemingly rather embarrassed by its own admission of weakness.
"That''s not a problem. I have a Soul Nurturing Burner that you can temporarily reside in," Han Li said as he flipped a hand over to produce a small dark purple incense burner that was crafted from Soul Nurturing Wood.
"I suppose there''s no other option," the soul fragment sighed as it flew into the incense burner.
"Where do I need to go, Senior?" Han Li asked while holding the incense burner.
"To the left of this hall is a secret door. After you go through the secret door, keep going straight."
The soul fragment''s voice was sounding a little muffled,ing from inside the incense burner.
Han Li was constantly scouring his surroundings with his spiritual sense while making his way deeper into the underground pce under the soul fragment''s instructions.
After traversing through a maze-like system of passageways for around two hours, he finally arrived at the entrance of another hall.
"This is the ce?" Han Li asked.
"The core of this secret area is just inside. I won''t go in with you, just ce this burner down at the entrance," the soul fragment replied.
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes as he swept his gaze over the stone door of the hall, only to find that it waspletely devoid of any markings or spiritual power fluctuations.
All of a sudden, a sly grin appeared on his face, and he tossed the incense burner into the hall.
The burner ttered onto the ground, and countless hidden patterns on the ground instantly lit up with dazzling golden radiance to illuminate the entire hall.
"Get me out of here, you little bastard! You''re going to kill me!" the soul fragment wailed in panic.
Han Li briefly observed the golden light radiating from the hidden patterns on the ground, and he discovered that it had a suppressive effect on ghosts and spirits, much like his Divine Devilbane Lightning.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the incense burner was drawn back to him, and the soul fragment inside was still moaning and groaning incessantly, looking as if it could fade out of existence at any moment. It seemed that the soul fragment had been so severely weakened by that brief ordeal that it didn''t even have the energy to curse Han Li anymore.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a soul stabilization talisman, then adhered it to the incense burner before cing it down by the entrance before stepping into the hall.
As soon as he entered the hall, Han Li immediately noticed an increase in the surrounding air temperature, and only then did he discover that the floor was entirely paved with Yang Melt Rock, a type of yang-attribute material that was extremely harmful to souls and spirits.
The hall was quiterge, but it was also very empty, with nothing inside aside from a stone tform that was around half the height of a grown man.
Han Li strode over the stone tform before conducting an examination to find that it was riddled with all types ofplex patterns that stretched all the way down to the floor.
At its center was a circr indentation, within which sat a round stone te that was white in color.
The stone te was ced on a nt with a series of markings engraved onto its edge, marking out the 24 hours of the day, and at its center was an upright ck metal needle that was around half a foot in length. As it turned out, this was a sundial.
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes as he examined the sundial, and he noticed a faintyer of light surging over it like a gently rippling pond under the delicate light of the moon.
After some observation, Han Li wasn''t able to spot any amiss, so he reached out to touch the sundial, but as soon as his hand extended into the indentation that the sundial was sitting in, an unexpected turn of events instantly unfolded!
Chapter 466: Shady Cultivation Art
Chapter 466: Shady Cultivation Art
The ck needle on the stone te shuddered slightly, immediately following which an arc of ck lightning shot out like a springing viper to strike Han Li''s fingertip.
A burst of sharp pain speared straight into Han Li''s soul, and he snapped his hand back as he winced involuntarily.
At this point, the soul fragment in the Soul Nurturing Burner had already recovered some of its strength, and it began to cackle in schadenfreude upon hearing themotion ringing out within the hall.
However, in the next instant, the Soul Nurturing Burner was swept up by a streak of azure light before being wrenched into the hall.
The soul fragment instantly began to wail in panic and agony as the same burst of golden light rose up from the ground once again.
With a casual sweep of his sleeve, Han Li summoned a spherical light barrier that enveloped the entire Soul Nurturing Burner, and only then did the soul fragment''s wailing subside.
"I can''t believe I''m at the mercy of a rude little brat like you! Back in the day..."
Before the soul fragment had a chance to finish its sentence, Han Li extended the incense burner toward the sundial on the stone tform as he interjected, "What is this supposed to be?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know? Hey! Hold on, let''s be civilized now..."
Once again, before the soul fragment could say anything else, Han Li threatened to withdraw the spherical light barrier, and the soul fragment hurriedly began begging for mercy.
"This is an Extreme Yin Sundial, and it''s also the core of this secret area. Only bypletely destroying it will you be able to leave this secret area," the soul fragment exined in a deted voice.
A hint of intrigue appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this. "All I have to do is destroy this thing?"
"It''s not as easy as it sounds, kid. You''re dreaming if you think you can destroy this thing through brute force at your current cultivation base. If you''re not careful, the yin lightning bacsh from the sundial could easily send you to an early grave!" the soul fragment warned in a solemn voice.
"You were saying earlier that mastering thews of time or space would be very helpful to breaking the core of this secret area, right?" Han Li asked with a contemtive expression.
"Of course! Time and space are two of the three paramountws, and normalws arepletely iparable to them! All spatial barriers and restrictions are built upon the basis of spatialws, so mastery of spatialws will allow you to tackle this restriction directly at its roots. As for thews of time, that''s also relevant as the Extreme Yin Sundial is a pseudo-immortal treasure that contains the timew powers," the soul fragment exined.
Han Li''s brows instantly furrowed tightly upon hearing this.
During that brief inspection that he had just conducted, he wasn''t able to sense any timew powers from the sundial.
"I''ll be honest with you, Senior. I just so happen to be cultivating thews of time, so why is it that I wasn''t able to detect any timew powers in this sundial just now?" Han Li asked.
The soul fragment faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a mixture of tion and skepticism appeared in its eyes as it eximed, "What did you say? Is that supposed to be a joke? Don''t try to fool me! Have you managed to manifest any timew threads? If so, how many?"
"Answer my question first," Han Li said in an expressionless manner.
"Fine, I''ll believe you just this once. Honestly, from the moment I firstid eyes on you, I immediately knew you were no ordinary person! My eye for talent is unmatched, and I saw the talent in you right away! As for why you weren''t able to detect any timew powers from the Extreme Yin Sundial, that tells me that you''ve only manifested fewer than five timew threads," the soul fragment said.
"Are you saying my mastery of thews of time is insufficient?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Let me put it in simple terms for you: even if you''re cultivating thews of time, you''ll have to at least be at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage and have manifested at least six timew threads in order to have any chance at destroying the core of this secret area," the soul fragment replied.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "Truth be told, I''ve only recently reached the early-Golden Immortal Stage, so it''ll take me at least 10,000 years to progress to the mid-Golden Immortal Stage."
"What an impudent little brat you are! You think you can reach the mid-Golden Immortal Stage in just 10,000 years? For someone who''s cultivating one of the three paramountws, it''ll take you at least a million years to get to the mid-Golden Immortal Stage!" the soul fragment scoffed.
Han Li fell silent upon hearing this. The soul fragment wasn''t exaggerating. Indeed, without a supply of suitable pills, Han Li had no idea how long it was going to take for him to reach the mid-Golden Immortal Stage.
"Having said that, don''t be disheartened. You''re extremely fortunate to have met me, and I just so happen to have a way to help you drastically elerate your cultivation. It''s just a matter of whether you have the courage to pursue such a path," the soul fragment said with a hint of provocation in its voice.
"What do I need to do?" Han Li asked.
"The main obstacle to reaching the mid-Golden Immortal Stage is the 24 immortal acupoints that must be opened. These 24 immortal acupoints are far more difficult to open than the 36 immortal acupoints of the True Immortal Stage, but I have a cultivation method that can allow one to channel the power of baleful qi to drastically speed up the process," the soul fragment said.
"Baleful qi? I''m assuming using such a cultivation method will result in a whole host of futureplications, right?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I''m not denying that. That''s why this is a matter of courage. Let me finish what I have to say, and after that, you can decide whether you want to pursue this path or not. In essence, baleful qi is just like magic power in that both are inherently present in your body, except baleful qi doesn''t show itself under normal circumstances.
¡°Using this cultivation method will leave residual baleful qi lingering in your immortal acupoints. As for exactly what impact this will have, that varies from person to person, so I can''t tell you," the soul fragment exined.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to the soul fragment, and it hurriedly added, "Oh, by the way, there''s another downside to using this cultivation method. Just like the Spirit Refinement Technique, this cultivation art is forbidden by the Heavenly Court, so you''ll be in a lot of trouble if you run into any immortal envoys in the future."
Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
This cultivation art sounded extremely shady, and Han Li was confident that the soul fragment definitely hadn''t revealed all of its downsides. As for the fact that it was forbidden by the Heavenly Court, that didn''t matter to Han Li as he had already cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique anyway, so it hardly made a difference.
After some contemtion, Han Li asked, "How much will this cultivation art shorten the amount of time that I''ll need to reach the mid-Golden Immortal Stage?"
"That also varies from person to person. Those with more baleful qi... In other words, those who have killed more will harbor more baleful qi in their bodies, and that''ll make it easier for them to open their immortal acupoints using this cultivation art. As for those with less baleful qi, progress won''t be as fast.
¡°You don''t look like the type who''s done much killing, so I''d guess that your rate of progress will only be sped up by twofold at most. Having said that, this is still a drastic enhancement that you may not be able to achieve even with top-tier pills!" the soul fragment said.
"How can I check how much baleful qi my body harbors?" Han Li asked.
"That''s easy. I''ll teach you a baleful qi manifestation mantra. Listen up."
With that, the soul fragment recited a peculiar mantra to Han Li, who quickly memorized the mantra before repeating it himself.
As the final syble of the mantra was uttered, the entire hall shuddered violently, following which plumes of ck smoke began to rise up from the top of Han Li''s head before spreading through the hall like a ck cloud.
Before long, the entire ceiling of the hall waspletely concealed behind a dense ck cloud that was as dark as ink.
Even then, there was still more and more viscous ck qi constantly surging out of Han Li''s body.
The soul fragment''s mouth hadpletely gaped open in astonishment upon seeing this, and if it possessed a physical body, its jaw would''ve most likely already dropped onto the ground!
"This is incredible... How many people have you killed?!" the soul fragment murmured to itself in a bbergasted voice.
After releasing all of this baleful qi, Han Li was feeling much more rxed, as if a heavy load had been lifted from his shoulders, but at the same time, a series of wild and aggressive impulses were springing up in his heart.
Han Li suppressed these impulsive urges as he asked, "How is my baleful qi looking?"
"I''ve seen quite a few people with baleful qi as abundant as yours, but most of them also harbor immense bloodlust, so their baleful qi has a dark red coloration. However, your baleful qi ispletely different. Suck pure ck baleful qi is an extremely rare sight, and I''m sure that''ll help you significantly mitigate the negative side-effects of using this cultivation art of mine," the soul fragment praised.
Han Li nodded in response, then withdrew his hand seal, and the churning ck qi around him instantly receded back into his body.
"Why are you in such a hurry to withdraw your baleful qi? You haven''t even released all of it yet," the soul fragmentined.
Han Li paid no heed to itsints as he demanded, "Teach me your cultivation art."
"So you''ve decided to use it? Don''t take this decision lightly," the soul fragment chuckled.
Han Li offered no response to this. He hadn''t decided whether he was going to use the cultivation art yet. Instead, he was going to secure it first, then make up his mind on whether he was going to use itter.
After obtaining the cultivation art by the name of the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts from the soul fragment, Han Li returned it to the same hall as before.
In order to help the soul fragment stabilize itself, he left the Soul Nurturing Burner with it as well.
He still didn''t know just how much he could trust the soul fragment, but it did seem to know quite a bit about the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce, and a mere soul fragment wasn''t going to be able to pose any threat to him anyway, so he decided to keep it around for now.
With that in mind, Han Li arrived in arge secret chamber in the underground pce, and after closing the stone door of the secret chamber, he summoned a stack of array tools and began to set up some restrictions.
Chapter 467: Harnessing Baleful Qi
Chapter 467: Harnessing Baleful Qi
Close to an hourter, Han Li returned to the center of the secret chamber, then set down a cushion before taking a seat with his legs crossed.
After that, he pulled the storage pouch that had been given to him by Daoist Hu Yan out of a pocket of his robes.
Inside the storage pouch was a white jade slip with golden patterns engraved onto it, and Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip to inspect its contents.
The jade slip contained the fourth level of the Mantra Axis Scripture.
In contrast with the second and third levels of the cultivation art, which had led Han Li down a deep rabbit hole searching for that mysterious valley, the fourth level of the cultivation art had been obtained so easily that it almost felt a little surreal to Han Li.
However, it then urred to him that the broken monument in White Finch Valley was most likely something that Dao Lord Baili had ced there as a red herring to convince people that the ze Dragon Dao only had the first three levels of the cultivation art.
As for the jade slip in his hand, just like the first level of the cultivation art that he had received, it was only a replica.
The fourth level of the Mantra Axis Scripture was longer and also moreplex than the third level, and it took Han Li over a month of arduous reading to finally read through the entire thing once.
Even after mastering the first three levels of the cultivation art, he had only developed a rough understanding of how the cultivation art worked, but there were still some key points that were outside of his realm ofprehension for now.
However, there was one discovery that he had made that had been very encouraging for him.
Apparently, due to the fact that those who had already mastered the first three levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture had already umted a great deal of timew power in their body, once they began cultivating the fourth level, they would be able to actively manifest timew threads.
As for how many timew threads one could attain, that was dependent on how much timew power one had umted and how deep their understanding of thews of time was.
Over the next three months, Han Li didn''t immediately begin cultivating the Mantra Axis Scripture. Instead, he carefully revised the first three levels, thenpared them with the fourth level of the cultivation art.
This was quite a time-consuming process, but it barely yielded any benefits, and Han Li''s understanding of the cultivation art on a fundamental level wasn''t really deepened at all.
However, this was no surprise to him, and he was already prepared for such an oue. Seeing as he couldn''t'' leave this ce for now anyway, he may as well work on his cultivation while examining the entire cultivation art again. Perhaps that would reap him some unexpected rewards.
On this day, Han Li meditated for half a day in the secret chamber, then took a cultivation enhancement pill beforemencing his cultivation of the Mantra Axis Scripture.
His Mantra Treasured Axis emerged in front of him amid a sh of golden light, and as soon as he caught sight of the axis, a surprised look instantly appeared on his face.
As it turned out, one of the Time Dao Runes on its surface had already been restored, much to Han Li''s befuddlement.
He had been too busy reading through the Mantra Axis Scripture prior to this, so he hadpletely failed to notice.
Only less than four months had passed since all of the Time Dao Runes had faded, so theoretically speaking, none of the Time Dao Runes should''ve recovered yet. Could this be due to the two extra timew threads that he had attained?
The timew threads were very mysterious, and even now, Han Li still had no idea what purpose they could serve. However, if they could elerate the recovery of his Time Dao Runes, then that was certainly fantastic news.
After taking a moment to settle his own emotions, Han Li began to cultivate the Mantra Axis Scripture.
He made a hand seal while quietly chanting an incantation, and the Mantra Treasured Axis slowly drifted through the air until it was hovering behind him above his head while giving off dazzling golden radiance.
The golden light that it was radiating instantly filled the entire secret chamber.
......
Over a century passed by in the blink of an eye.
Inside the secret chamber, Han Li remained seated with his legs crossed like a statue, but there was faint golden light all over his entire body.
Some timeter, he slowly opened his eyes, and the faint golden light inside them quickly faded.
At this rate, I don''t think I''ll be able to open an immortal acupoint even after 1,000 years of cultivation. Will I really have to resort to the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts?
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly in hesitation as he mulled over this matter.
After some more contemtion, he decided to seek out another opinion, so he called out to Mo Guang.
The shadow that he cast onto the ground instantly warped slightly before elongating forward, and a shadowy figure emerged from Han Li''s shadow before rising to its feet.
After taking so many years to rest and recuperate, Mo Guang had already made a full recovery, and its aura was even superior to back when it was at its peak.
"You''ve finally called upon me again, Fellow Daoist Han," Mo Guang said with a faint smile, following which its expression changed drastically as soon as it detected the aura emanating from Han Li''s body.
Han Li paid no heed to its reaction as he said in an indifferent manner, "I''ve been through a lot over these past years, and there''s never been a suitable opportunity to call upon you. I have a question for you today, and I''m hoping you can help me, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang."
"I didn''t think you would already be a Golden Immortal, Fellow Daoist Han. Looks like I''ve gotten much better than choosing masters sincest time. What is it that you want to ask me?" Mo Guang prompted with a smile.
"How much do you know about the Gray Realm?" Han Li asked.
"The Gray Realm? That''s always been considered to be a taboo subject in this immortal region, and even Ma Liang didn''t get involved much with it back when he was alive. [1] Hence, I''m afraid I don''t know much about it. All I know is that it''s a realm that''s just as vast as the Immortal Realm," Mo Guang replied.
Han Li was a little disappointed to hear this, but he then asked, "What do you know about baleful qi?"
"When ites to baleful qi, cultivators like yourself should know more than I do. Whenever one engages in the act of killing, baleful qi would naturally form in their body. It''s just like how Extrarealm Heavenly Devils like myself can absorb devilish qi through killing. However, baleful qi normally can''t be manifested unless someone has umted so much baleful qi through ughter that their baleful qi has gained a substantial form," Mo Guang exined.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression, then asked, "Have you heard of any cultivation arts in the Immortal Realm that draws upon baleful qi to advance one''s cultivation base?"
"I am aware of the existence of such cultivation arts, but generally speaking, no cultivators would willingly choose to pursue such cultivation arts. I''ve heard that doing so will impact a certain part of one''s cultivationter down the line, essentially cing a bottleneck on oneself and sacrificing one''s long-term future for short-term gain," Mo Guang replied.
Han Li was silent for a long while upon hearing this, and Mo Guang also remained silent.
After some time, Han Li looked up at Mo Guang and said, "Thank you for answering my questions, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang. I''ll summon you for a chat once I''m out of my current predicament."
He then swept a sleeve through the air, and Mo Guang vanished back into his shadow.
"I can''t afford to wait tens of thousands of years..." Han Li sighed to himself as he made a strange hand seal, and a vast expanse of baleful qi instantly surged out of his body, inundating the entire secret chamber.
He then began to chant an incantation, and all of the baleful qi that was churning in a chaotic and haphazard manner was suddenly reined in, ceasing their outward expansion before gradually converging into a single cloud.
As a result, the color of the baleful qi was bing darker and darker, and it was also bing more and more dense.
As soon as the baleful qi came into contact with Han Li''s skin, he was immediately struck by a peculiar feeling that struck a hint of apprehension into his heart, but he didn''t stop what he was doing as he continued to guide the baleful qi toward the acupoints in his body.
The baleful qi surged toward an acupoint beneath his ribcage, just like magic power would, and the acupoint immediately disyed signs of loosening in the face of the violent influx of baleful qi.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately closed his eyes to focus on his cultivation.
Some timeter, a faint pop rang out from within Han Li''s body, immediately following which a tiny vortex emerged beneath his ribcage, and the vortex began drawing in all of the surrounding world''s origin qi in a frenzy.
Close to a minuteter, a speck of golden light emerged on that spot on Han Li''s body, signaling the opening of his 37th immortal acupoint!
Han Li inspected the immortal acupoint momentarily to find that not only was it filled with a vast volume of immortal spiritual power, there was also a wisp of ck baleful qi inside, but it was very faint in color and didn''t appear to be all that harmful.
Han Li was slightly reassured to see this, and with a sweep of his sleeve, he brought his Mantra Treasured Axis around until it was hovering in front of him.
Not only had quite a few of the Time Dao Runes on the axis already recovered, two more Time Dao Runes had emerged on its surface, taking the total to 362.
It seemed that the Time Dao Rune limit had been lifted once again, so perhaps he would be able to keep adding Time Dao Runes to his Mantra Treasured Axis using the time crystals manifested by his Heaven Controlling Vial, but that was something that he was going to save for ater date.
With that in mind, Han Li switched to a different hand seal to inject some immortal spiritual power into his Mantra Treasured Axis. The axis immediately began to glow radiantly while releasingyers of golden ripples, and it appeared to be no different from before.
During the next two days, Han Li paused in his cultivation and spent that time carefully examining his own internal condition, and only after confirming that there was nothing amiss did he rmence his cultivation.
......
Over 1,000 flew by in a sh.
On this day, gusts of ferocious wind suddenly began to sweep over the ruined city, and tremendous volumes of the world''s origin qi converged toward a garden in the city.
Before long, a vortex that hung over the entire city had taken shape in the sky, and it was like an all-epassing funnel that was directing all of the world''s origin into arge ck hole in the garden in a frenzy.
The surging world''s origin qi instantly filled the entire hole, flowing into a secret chamber deep in the underground pce like a vast, never-ending river.
1. Ma Liang was Mo Guang''s former master, and thetter pledged their allegiance to Han Li after he killed Ma Liang in battle. ?
Chapter 468: Spirit Domain
Chapter 468: Spirit Domain
At this moment, the entire secret chamber was filled with a churning sea of murky golden light.
Cloaked in the golden light, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed at the center of the secret chamber, and all that could be seen of him was a blurry outline.
Immense world''s origin qi converged from all directions, swirling around the center of the room to form a powerful vortex, causing all of the restrictions that Han Li had set up to sway and ripple incessantly.
Only after several hours did the disturbance gradually begin to subside, and right at this moment, Han Li''s eyes sprang open as he let loose a thunderous roar.
Beams of bright golden light shot out of his pupils, lingering for a long while in the air without fading.
Some timeter, he exhaled before immediately inhaling again, and all of the golden light in the entire secret chamber instantly converged together before being sucked into his belly.
Immediately thereafter, a speck of golden light appeared beneath his throat. The speck of golden light was extremely bright, and it was constantly absorbing the lingering world''s origin qi in the surrounding area.
With that, the final immortal acupoint required to reach the mid-Golden Immortal Stage had been opened.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis flew around from behind him until it was hovering in front of him, and it was radiating dazzling golden light, as were all of the Time Dao Runes on its surface, of which there were now more than 400.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as the golden light in his eyes faded, and he made a beckoning motion, upon which six timew threads instantly shot out of his Mantra Treasured Axis toward the palm of his hand.
Right before they struck his hand, the timew threads drew to an abrupt halt, then curled around his fingertips momentarily before falling onto the palm of his hand.
Through thistest bout of arduous cultivation, Han Li had managed to manifest three more timew threads.
He had thought that he would be able to manifest at least one more timew thread now that he had reached the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, but that didn''t turn out to be the case.
Over the course of the past 1,000 years, he had constantly been immersed in cultivation, and he had only awakened three times.
Each of those times came immediately after a state of enlightenment, which led to the formation of a timew thread, seeminglypletely by chance.
With each additional timew thread that he attained, his understanding of thews of time also seemed to have deepened, and as always, any bottlenecks that he encountered during the course of his cultivation of the Mantra Axis Scripture were simply resolved on their own, resulting in very smooth progress.
For a mortal, 1,000 years could span the course of several dynasties, yet for a cultivator, it was essentially only an instant. It was said that there were some immortals using special cultivation arts that could sleep for extraordinarily long periods of time, and even a nap for them could be thousands of years.
Hence, Han Li was astonished that he had managed to reach the mid-Golden Immortal Stage so quickly, and he was amazed by just how effective the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts had been.
Of course, at the same time, he was also feeling a little uneasy. After all, channeling baleful qi to elerate one''s cultivation was sure toe with negative side-effects. However, aside from the wisps of baleful qi in his immortal acupoint, which he was unable to eradicate, despite his best efforts, it seemed that there were no other negative side-effects.
Given the current situation, he could only hope for the best. Now that he had reached the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, he finally stood a chance of leaving this ce, and everything else would just have to wait until after he made his escape.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately rose to his feet, then withdrew all of the surrounding restrictions before leaving the secret chamber.
Upon arriving at the hall where the soul fragment was situated, even before entering the hall, Han Li could already hear the soul fragment mumbling to itself.
As he stepped into the doorway, Han Li caught sight of the soul fragment hovering in mid-air, talking to its own statue.
"I was so graceful and handsome back in the day. Not only was I an immortal lord, just the title of the Boundless Daoist was enough to have countless beautiful celestial maidens moring over me. How long have I been trapped in here? I''m sure all of my past lovers would''ve been distraught at my disappearance..."
Han Li was struck by the urge to roll his eyes in exasperation, and he cleared his throat to alert the soul fragment to his arrival as he said, "Looks like you''re recovering quite well, Senior. You''re certainly much more energetic than when I first saw you."
The soul fragment immediately turned around to look at Han Li with a surprised expression, following which an ecstatic look appeared on its face.
The soul fragment then began counting on its fingers as it eximed, "How could this be? It''s only been just over 1,000 years and you''ve already reached the mid-Golden Immortal Stage? This is preposterous! Unless..."
"Unless what?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly, thinking that there was something wrong.
The soul fragment looked up at him with a serious expression as it said, "Unless you''re also an unmatched prodigy like myself!"
Han Li was instantly rendered speechless upon hearing this.
"I came here to bid you farewell, Senior. Now that I''ve be a mid-Golden Immortal cultivator, I''ll be able to leave this ce. As for that Soul Nurturing Burner, it''s not anything precious, so you can keep it as a parting gift," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute, then prepared to turn and leave.
However, he was immediately interrupted by an urgent cry from the soul fragment.
"Hey, aren''t you going to take me with you?" the soul fragment yelled as it flew around to position itself in front of Han Li.
"When did I ever say I was taking you with me?" Han Li asked with a faint smile.
"You ungrateful little..."
The soul fragment''s voice abruptly cut off here, and it didn''t dare to hurl any insults at Han Li for fear of retaliation.
Han Li waspletely unbothered as he raised an eyebrow, seemingly encouraging the soul fragment to continue.
The soul fragment immediately changed tactics, putting on a pitiable expression as it said, "At the very least, I told you the way out, so you can''t just leave me here. Besides, once you destroy the core of this secret area, this underground pce will most likely be destroyed, so how am I supposed to survive?"
Han Li intentionally put on a contemtive expression, as if he was hesitating about how to proceed.
After a brief silence, he said, "I suppose you''re right. How about this? You teach me how to manifest a spirit domain, and I''ll take you with me."
The soul fragment was immediately struck by the urge to p itself.
It had boasted to Han Li earlier that it had taught Mo Yu how to manifest a spirit domain, and only now did hee to realize that Han Li had most likely been plotting this well in advance.
"I can teach you how to manifest a spirit domain, but what if you change your mind?" the soul fragment asked with a serious expression.
"If you have doubts about my character, then I suppose we''ll just have to part ways. I don''t want to force you to do anything against your will," Han Li replied with a casual shrug.
"You... You... Fine, you win! I''ll do as you say," the soul fragment sighed in a resigned manner.
" A wise decision, Senior!" Han Li praised with a faint smile.
The soul fragment was still feeling quite exasperated, and it asked in a sullen voice, "What do you know about spirit domains?"
"Not much, I''m afraid. Please start from the basics, Senior," Han Li replied.
The soul fragment rolled its eyes upon hearing this, then continued, "I''m sure you''ve already witnessed your fair share of spirit domains in the past. Essentially, spirit domains are a manifestation of the effect that a cultivator has on the environment around them once they''ve mastered a certain type ofw power. The size and potency of the spirit domain is directly corrted to the cultivator''s level of mastery overw powers."
"Can a spirit domain only be unleashed after mastering a certain type ofw power?" Han LI asked.
He recalled that back in the Spirit Realm, Bao Hua was able to unleash a spirit domain even without mastering anyw powers.
"Mastery overw powers is a prerequisite to whether one can unleash a spirit doman, but that''s not set in stone. Cultivators who haven''t masteredw powers can unleash spirit domains through the use of certain special treasures coupled with special cultivation arts. However, those spirit domains are nothing but low-quality counterfeits with many fatal ws, and they can''t even begin topare with true spirit domains," the soul fragment exined.
"I see. Seeing asw power is so integral to spirit domains, isw power also required to maintain a spirit domain?" Han Li asked.
"That''s correct. Furthermore, the stability and the power of a spirit domain is also corrted to how advanced the cultivator''s mastery overw power is. The morew threads you possess, the more powerful your spirit domain should be," the soul fragment replied.
As the conversation continued, the soul fragment imparted more knowledge pertaining to spirit domains upon Han Li, and in the end, the soul fragment concluded, "The cultivation art that I''m about to teach you has no name. It''s one of the mostmon spirit domain manifestation methods in the Immortal Realm, and it''s a method that''s both very prevalent and very safe. Listen carefully."
With that, it began to recite the mantra of the cultivation art to Han Li.
The soul fragment was making this cultivation art sound very mundane, as if it were something that one could easily find at any streetside stall, but that was only the case for a High Zenith cultivator as he had been in the past. For someone of Han Li''s current cultivation base, such a cultivation art was much more difficult toe by.
Back when he was cultivating in the ze Dragon Dao, he had tried to search for cultivation arts of this nature, and there were some in the inner sect, but they could only be essed by those at or above the Golden Immortal Stage. He was also able to find certain spirit domain manifestation cultivation arts in the Transient Guild, but all of them were being sold at an extremely lofty price.
"Have you memorized all of it?" the soul fragment asked.
"I have. It doesn''t seem very difficult, but I''ll have to give it a try first to find out," Han Li replied with a nod.
"I knew you wouldn''t believe me until you''ve given the cultivation art a try," the soul fragment grumbled in a disgruntled voice.
"It shouldn''t take too long, so please wait here for me for a bit longer," Han Li said with a smile, then departed from the hall, leaving the soul fragment behind to continue mumbling to itself.
Chapter 469: 2,000 Years in an Instant
Chapter 469: 2,000 Years in an Instant
Several more years flew by in a sh.
At this moment, Han Li was making his way slowly into a hall in the underground pce while holding a dark purple incense burner in his hand.
Traces of golden light emerged on the ground in the hall, giving off a faint hint of warmth.
"Please pardon me, Senior, but I''ll have to seal this Soul Nurturing Burner for your protection while I break the core," Han Li said as he drew to a halt at the center of the hall.
Perhaps the soul fragment was simply very eager to be finally getting out of this ce, or perhaps it was already ustomed to the disrespect that Han Li constantly directed toward it. In any case, it didn''t say anything to retaliate, merely sitting with its legs crossed in the incense burner in silence.
With a flick of his wrist, Han Li summoned a pair of golden sealing talismans before stering them across the incense burner,pletely cutting off the soul fragment''s connection to the outside world.
After that, he raised his left hand and tucked the incense burner up his sleeve.
He then took a deep breath before making his way over to the stone tform at the center of the hall, where the sundial was sitting.
In contrast with thest time he was here, this time, he could clearly sense the timew powers contained within the sundial.
The sundial''s timew powers remained as still as the surface of tranquilke when undisturbed, but now that Han Li was inspecting it with his spiritual sense, it immediately began to churn like a turbulent river.
Han Li was slightly taken aback by this, and he made a hand seal, upon which his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
He then closed his eyes as he made a hand seal, and a beam of golden light shot out of the Eye of Truth at the center of the axis, heading straight for the Extreme Yin Sundial.
Even before the beam of golden lightpletely descended upon the sundial, it suddenly shuddered slightly before rising up into the air.
At the same time, the ck needle at its center began to revolve rapidly while sting forth an arc of ck lightning to sh against the beam of golden lightning.
A loud crackling sound rang out as the beam of golden light was shattered into a flurry of golden powder that epassed the entire stone tform.
A resounding boom instantly rang out in Han Li''s mind, and he entered the same special state that he had been in while manifesting his past timew threads.
However, this time, instead of having his senses heightened, an illusion was disyed to him.
All of the sudden, the golden powder formed by the shattered beam of golden light swept upward like a golden river to swallow up his entire body.
He felt as if he were flying through a river of time, and there were translucent golden threads constantly passing him by. He desperately wanted to grasp onto these threads, but each time he tried, he would simply grasp onto empty air.
His agitation was growing by the second, and he unconsciously began to channel his Mantra Axis Scripture. As a result, the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him began to revolve, while all of the Time Dao Runes on its surface lit up in unison.
Situated within the river of time, a burst of golden light appeared over Han Li''s hand as he reached out again, and this time, he was able to grab onto one of those golden threads, which was none other than a timew thread.
Han Li was ecstatic, and he immediately reached out toward another golden thread.
As soon as a second timew thread fell into his grasp, the entire river of time instantly became extremely fast-flowing and turbulent, making Han Li feel as if he were drowning, and even breathing had be a struggle.
He began to struggle with all his might, but was unable to free himself from the powerful current.
Right at this moment, a massive golden wave came sweeping directly toward him, and all of a sudden, Han Li arrived at a decision.
A steely look appeared in his eyes as he charged directly at the oing wave while reaching out with both hands toward two more golden threads within the wave.
With that, two more timew threads fell into his grasp, and the entire river of timepletely fell apart with an earth-shattering boom.
Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li''s eyes abruptly sprang open, and he was gasping for air.
He looked down at his hands to find that they werepletely empty, and a hint of disappointment appeared in his eyes.
However, he then suddenly detected something, and he immediately turned to his Mantra Treasured Axis to find that there were now 10 timew threads wrapped around it!
As it turned out, that illusion hadn''t been an illusion at all, and he had obtained four additional timew threads in the blink of an eye!
Han Li was naturally ecstatic, and he returned his attention to the stone tform.
At this point, the Extreme Yin Sundial had already returned to the slot inside the stone tform, and the ck needle at its center was still rapidly revolving, but the markings around the sundial that indicated the 24 hours of the day had be extremely blurry and werepletely indistinguishable.
Han Li made a hand seal once again, and another beam of golden light shot out of the Eye of Truth, releasing formidable timew power fluctuations as it surged into the indentation on the stone tform.
This time, the Extreme Yin Sundial disyed no reaction. Instead, a series of golden patterns lit up on the stone tform, then began to spread like a system of cobwebs, instantly filling the entire ground in the hall before extending to every single corner of the underground pce.
Before long, golden patterns began to spread over the ruined city outside of the underground pce as well, basking the entire secret area in a golden glow.
All of a sudden, Han Li reached out with both hands to grab onto the edge of the stone tform, then injected his timew power into it in a frenzy. At the same time, the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis began to fade one after another.
A faint crack rang out, and a series of thin cracks began to appear over the surface of the stone tform, spreading outward in all directions alongside the golden patterns.
At the same time, countless tiny ck lines began to appear in the space around Han Li, and they intertwined with one another in a chaotic fashion. As the Time Dao Runes on Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis faded one after another, these ck lines continued to grow thicker and more concentrated.
A solemn look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately began holding his breath while his True Extreme Film appeared over his body.
Right at this moment, the 60th Time Dao Rune on his Mantra Treasured Axis faded, and an earth-shattering boom rang out as the entire secret area began to tremble violently.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as a radiant golden sun with a diameter of around 10 feet emerged up ahead, releasing blinding golden radiance before exploding violently.
Amid the eruption of golden light, all of the surrounding ck lines instantly became warped and misshapen, then converged toward the center incessantly to form an enormous ck vortex that was releasing boundless suction force, sucking in everything within the secret area.
Before Han Li had a chance to do anything, he was also wrenched into the vortex like a tiny raft in a turbulent sea.
......
The entire world spun around him for a moment, following which he stumbled out into the open, and he quickly inspected his surroundings, upon which a stunned look appeared on his face.
He discovered that he was standing in front of a golden pce, and the gates of the pce were behind him, while none other than Lu Yuqing was standing nearby, staring at him with her mouth slightly agape in shock.
In the distance, a girl with golden hair who appeared to be around eight or nine years of age was locked in a standoff against a barefoot silver-robed woman.
Around the woman was a ring of gray light that was several hundred feet in size, while above her was a massive dragon head projection with its cavernous mouth wide open. A pir of three-colored light was sting out of its maw, while the girl''s arms had exploded to form a pair of translucent threads that swept toward the oing pir of three-colored light.
The twobatants were none other than Jin Tong and Qu Ling, and this was the exact same scene that Han Li had left behind prior to entering the golden pce over 2,000 years ago!
The only thing that was different was that theyer of golden light around the golden pattern had be a little dim and was no longer as radiant as before.
What''s going on...
He had spent over 2,000 years inside that pce, yet it seemed nothing had changed in the outside world.
At this point, everyone else had also already noticed Han Li, and they were also very surprised to see him.
Lu Yuqing was just about to say something when the two translucent golden threads finally shed against the pir of three-colored light in the distance with an earth-shattering boom.
A burst of blinding light erupted forth as the entire sky was split in half, with one half filled with radiant three-colored light, while the other half was inundated by dazzling golden radiance.
The two halves of the sky shed violently against one another, and the entire space rumbled violently. In particr, the space where the two intersected was warping violently, looking as if it could shatter at any moment.
Everything on the ground below instantly melted away like snow under the scorching sun under the vast expanse of light, and the ground was also rapidly melting.
An rmed look appeared on Lu Yuqing''s face upon seeing this, and she hurriedly flew to a safe distance away as a streak of azure light.
In contrast, Han Li remained still on the spot as he conjured up his True Extreme Film, and at the same time, 36 specks of bright starlight emerged over his body.
Beams of light fell upon his True Extreme Film to produce an ear-splitting grating noise, and the True Extreme Film began to tremble slightly, but it disyed no signs of breaking or being worn down.
Han Li looked up at the sky with an intense, unblinking gaze as the pir of three-colored light became brighter and brighter, rapidly overwhelming the opposing translucent threads.
A grim look appeared on Jin Tong''s face upon seeing this, and she let loose a delicate roar as a new pair of arms emerged to rece the ones that had just exploded, but these new arms were semi-transparent.
She thrust the palms of her hands through the air, and two bursts of translucent golden light shot forth before transforming into another pair of translucent golden threads.
The pair of translucent threads crossed over one another to oppose the pir of three-colored light, but thetter was still advancing forward with unstoppable force, and the situation was quickly turning dire for Jin Tong.
Chapter 470: Intervention
Chapter 470: Intervention
Han Li could see that Jin Tong was being overwhelmed, and he immediately vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, he appeared right beside Jin Tong as if by instantaneous teleportation, and a glowing golden fist shot out of his sleeve like lightning.
The fist looked as if it had been carved out of radiant gold, and it was riddled with countless golden runes.
A pir of golden light that was as thick as a bucket erupted out of the fist with countless golden runes shing within it, and it was giving off bursts of fearsome timew power fluctuations.
The pir of golden light shed against the pir of three-colored light with a resounding boom, and the nearby space shuddered violently as a series of ripples spread through the surrounding area.
Much to Jin Tong''s relief, the pir of three-colored light was instantly stopped cold in its tracks, but as she turned to Han Li, a stunned look instantly appeared on her face as she eximed, "Your cultivation base..."
Qu Ling was also scrutinizing Han Li intently from afar, and she was just as incredulous to sense the enormous Golden Immortal Stage aura that was emanating from his body.
Han Li loosened his fist before pointing a finger forward, and a near-transparent golden thread instantly appeared within the pir of golden light.
The golden thread was quite simr in appearance to the translucent threads unleashed by Jin Tong, but this one was clearly more powerful and was giving off incredibly formidable timew power fluctuations.
As soon as the golden thread appeared, the entire sky instantly dimmed in contrast.
The golden thread shot through the air, appearing much like an extremely thin streak of golden sword qi, leaving a long tail of golden radiance behind it.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished into the pir of three-colored light before piercing directly toward Qu Ling, and the pir of three-colored light was being rapidly destroyed.
Jin Tong immediately pounced on this opportunity, making a hand seal to release two more translucent threads that also hurtled directly toward Qu Ling.
In the face of the threew threads, the pir of three-colored light fell away even faster, and most of it disintegrated in the blink of an eye like a mountain in an avnche.
Qu Ling''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and she immediately shot back in retreat.
All of a sudden, Han Li pointed a finger forward, and the thin golden thread abruptly vanished into thin air.
In the next instant, the space in front of Qu Ling buzzed slightly as the golden thread reappeared without any warning.
Countless bright golden ripples were sweeping out of the golden thread, instantly epassing the entire surrounding area with a radius of several hundred feet, and Qu Ling was caught in the ripples as well.
As a result, she was instantly slowed down significantly. Even though she was still flying back, she was suddenly doing so at less than a tenth of her original speed, much to her rm and astonishment.
In contrast, the golden thread didn''t slow down in the slightest as it continued to hurtle directly toward her.
Qu Ling''s expression changed drastically as countless patterns that resembled scales appeared over her entire body.
Plumes of gray mist surged out of these patterns, and thew power fluctuations emanating from this gray mist waspletely unaffected by the golden ripples as they enveloped her entire body to form a dense gray cloud that was several dozen feet in size.
The gray cloud had only just taken shape when the thin golden thread vanished into it in a sh, and the cloud was instantly sliced into two, only to immediately fuse back together again.
A muffled groan rang out from within the gray cloud, following which a section of an arm fell out from within, and it was still bleeding profusely.
After slicing through the gray cloud, the golden thread continued to fly onward for several thousand feet before finally stopping.
At the same time, the gray cloud abruptly began to churn violently while radiating dazzling gray light, and it was able to struggle free from the golden ripples before flying to several thousand feet away in a sh.
All of this had transpired in the blink of an eye, so Han Li didn''t have a chance to stop her, and his brows furrowed slightly as he made a beckoning motion, upon which the golden thread flew back to him in a sh like a spirit snake before vanishing into his body.
Immediately thereafter, the gray cloud began to churn even more violently while rapidly swelling to several thousand feet in size, and Qu Ling''s furious voice rang out from within it. "I didn''t think you were hiding your cultivation base. I''ll admit that you managed to fool me, but don''t think that you''ve got the better of me! I''ve lost count of how many Golden Immortals I''ve killed, and you''ll be thetest addition to the list!"
A burst of tremendousw power fluctuations erupted out of the gray cloud before spreading in all directions, and all of the surrounding world''s origin began to churn and buzz, while a series of ripples that were visible even to the naked eye surged through the nearby space.
Enveloped within this burst ofw power fluctuations, Han Li was immediately struck by a sense of feebleness, and a sense of panic also welled up in his heart, as if he had fallen into a nightmare that he was unable to wake up from.
Jin Tong''s brows also furrowed slightly as herplexion paled slightly.
Han Li quickly made a hand seal, and a burst of golden light erupted out of his body, forming a golden light barrier that epassed both himself and Jin Tong.
Bursts of timew powers were surging through the golden light, keeping thew powers released by the gray cloud at bay, and the feebleness and inexplicable panic that Han Li was experiencing instantly faded, while Jin Tong''s expression also eased slightly.
"You go and rest, I''ll take care of her on my own," Han Li said as he turned to Jin Tong.
"Mind your own business! This bitch imprisoned me for so long, I''ve been plotting her downfall this entire time! She may be strong, but there''s no way she can break through my defenses. I''m more than capable of taking her down on my own, but I suppose I''lll give you a chance to redeem yourself," Jin Tong harrumphed as she raised a hand to make a beckoning motion, and the pair of translucent threads flew back into her body.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and he made no attempt to argue with Jin Tong as he turned his attention back to the gray cloud in the distance.
Thew power fluctuations emanating from the gray cloud were very simr to those from the spirit domain from before, but also slightly different.
It seemed that she had mastered several types ofws and was able to switch between them at will.
However, Han Li was now a mid-Golden Immortal cultivator, and not only had his physical prowess been significantly enhanced thanks to hisplete mastery of the Great Universe Origin Arts, his body was also brimming with tremendous immortal spiritual power, so he didn''t fear Qu Ling at all.
Right at this moment, the gray cloud churned momentarily before suddenly fading away to reveal a gray dragon that was several thousand feet in length, giving off an immense aura.
There was not a single scale on the dragon''s body, but it was riddled with countless thick hooked spikes, and there were several particrly enormous bone spikes on its back, resembling a series of huge spears. The dragon''s ws also resembled giant swords, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
I knew it!
A hint of excitement appeared in Han Li''s eyes at the sight of the gray dragon.
"Looks like you''ve figured it out as well. Qu Ling''s true body is the true spirit, Nightmare Dragon, and her bloodline is quite pure, so she''s not going to be easy to defeat. You better redeem yourself! I''m not gonna follow someone who gets beaten by the same person twice!" Jin Tong scoffed with a disdainful look in her eyes.
After that, she turned and flew away into the distance to observe the battle from afar.
Meanwhile, Han Li cast his gaze toward the Nightmare Dragon in the distance, and he instantly shot forward through the air as a streak of golden light.
In response, two balls of gray mes appeared within the Nightmare Dragon''s eyes, and it opened its mouth to release a gray fireball the size of a house in retaliation.
The gray fireball was giving off scorching heat interspersed with bursts of tremendousw power fluctuations, causing the surrounding space to ripple violently.
Han Li''s expression remainedpletely unchanged, and he swept a hand through the air to release a dazzling streak of azure light, which transformed into a giant azure sword.
The giant azure sword was giving off huge streaks of azure sword qi that threatened to tear the surrounding space to shreds, while thick arcs of golden lightning surged over the de of the sword.
The nearby world''s origin qi erupted into a frenzy as countless specks of five-colored light emerged, then fused together to transform the entire nearby space into a vast expanse of chaos.
Now that Han Li had reached the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, using his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords no longer ced much of a strain on him, and he was able to unleash its true power.
Han Li made a hand seal, and the giant azure sword swept through the air to stroke the giant gray fireball, slicing it in half with ease.
Han Li flew straight through the split fireball, only for two bursts of light, one ck and one white, to shoot out of the two halves of the gray fireball like lightning, sweeping toward Han Li from two different directions.
The burst of white light transformed into a giant white python that was several hundred feet in length, and it opened its mouth to release a cloud of white mist that was giving off fearsome cial qi that was interspersed with countless snowkes and white ice spikes.
In the blink of an eye, the white mist formed a circr area of white ice and snow, and it descended from the heavens topletely inundated Han Li.
Meanwhile, the burst of ck light transformed into an inky ck fish ofparable size. Its body was long and thin and covered in ck spots, and its mouthful of sharp fangs gave it an extremely fearsome appearance.
Arcs of ck lightning were springing out of the ck spots all over the ck fish''s body amid rumbling thunderp, and they intertwined to form a forest of ck lightning that alsopletely swallowed up Han Li in the blink of an eye.
Concealed within the fireball, the pair of beasts had managed to get extremely close to Han Li and execute all of this in an instant.
The white cloud and the forest of ck lightning resembled a pair of enormous millstones with Han Li caught between them, and both were giving off tremendousw power fluctuations that threatened to crush Han Li into powder alongside his nascent soul.
Chapter 471: Battle of Domains
Chapter 471: Battle of Domains
In the distance, the Nightmare Dragon remainedpletely still as it observed the unfolding scene with gray light shing incessantly in its eyes.
Right at this moment, a tiny speck of golden light suddenly emerged at the center of the ck and white millstone, and it was as minuscule as a firefly, but also very eye-catching.
In the blink of an eye, the speck of golden light began to rapidly expand while spreading outward, and countless golden ripples began to surge throughout the surrounding area, giving off a vastw aura.
The white ice and ck lightning were both instantly slowed down significantly upon making contact with this golden light, which continued to expand rapidly, epassing an area that was over 10 kilometers in size in the blink of an eye to form a massive golden area.
The Nightmare Dragon''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and it instantly flew back to several dozen kilometers away, just barely avoiding the fate of being epassed within the golden spirit domain.
However, the white python and the ck fish weren''t able to react as quickly, and they were also swallowed up in the golden area, with their movements slowing down significantly.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li shot out of the ice and lightning,pletely unscathed.
He then raised a hand before flicking a finger through the air, and two extremely thin strands of golden light instantly shot forth, hurtling directly toward the pair of spirit beasts.
rmed and horrified expressions instantly appeared on their faces as they tried to take evasive measures, but the effects of Han Li''s timew powers meant that they were far too slow.
The two streaks of golden light shed over their bodies, and both of them were split into two from head to toe inplete silence.
The two halves of their bodies split apart extremely slowly, and they were still moving in the direction that the two of them had attempted to flee in, while the blood that was gushing out of their wounds was also moving just as slowly.
In contrast, the two threads of golden light were extraordinarily fast, and they vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye before reappearing in front of Han Li an instantter.
One of them was wound around a tiny white snake, while the other was wrapped around a miniature ck fish.
The two nascent souls werepletely immobilized, as if they had been frozen in time.
In a lightning-fast sequence, two Golden Immortal Stage demon beasts had been in.
The Nightmare Dragon''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this.
"Let''s not waste any more time with these unnecessary probing gestures, Fellow Daoist Qu Ling. Did you really think these two demon beasts would''ve been able to harm me at all?" Han Li scoffed as he cast his gaze toward the Nightmare Dragon, and at the same time, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of golden light, which swept up the pair of nascent souls.
The two nascent souls then instantly vanished from the spot, while the Nightmare Dragon eximed in a stunned voice, "This is impossible! If you had a spirit domain of your own, then there''s no way you would''ve been trapped in mine! Unless..."
"Your suspicions are correct," Han Li confirmed with a faint smile. "I really have to thank you, Fellow Daoist Qu Ling."
Up to this point, Han Li was able to confirm that the spirit domain manifestation method taught to him by the soul fragment was real, and it had allowed him to attain his own spirit domain. This was the first time that he was using it, and it had worked exceptionally well.
"What are you saying?" the Nightmare Dragon asked as a hint of fury shed through its eyes.
"Qu Ling, you tried to take my life with your spirit domain earlier, so let''s have our spirit domains sh and see which onees out on top!" Han Li dered in a cold voice as he flew through the air, and his enormous golden spirit domain followed him like a golden cloud.
In the distance, Jin Tong had pulled out a small gong, and she was beating it in a haphazard manner as she yelled in encouragement, "You can do it, Han Li! Take down that old witch!"
Meanwhile, Lu Yuqing was hovering in mid-air while observing Han Li from afar with amazement in her eyes.
He''s using thews of time!
In the next instant, a burst of light shed over her body, and she vanished into the city down below without attracting any attention.
Meanwhile, radiant gray light had emerged over the Nightmare Dragon''s entire body, and it was flying back in retreat, not allowing Han Li''s golden spirit domain toe into contact with itself.
At the same time, it raised one of its ws, and the gray cloud up above instantly descended to envelop its entire body.
In the blink of an eye, the gray cloud transformed into a gray spirit domain as well, and it began to expand outward, reaching close to 20 kilometers in size in the blink of an eye. Its spirit domain was close to twice the size of Han Li''s, and it swallowed up his spirit domain within it.
An rmed look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this. During their previous battle, the spirit domain that she had unleashed had been far smaller than this. He had guessed that that wasn''t the limit of her spirit domain, but he didn''t think that it could be expanded so drastically.
Epassed within the gray spirit domain, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he felt his strength rapidly seeping away, while his immortal spiritual power cirction was also bing rather sluggish.
He immediately gave a cold harrumph as a golden light barrier appeared over his body. Bursts of timew powers were flowing within the light barrier, alleviating much of the feebleness in his body.
However, in the face of Qu Ling''s true spirit domain, even his timew powers were unable topletely ward off the effects of her spirit domain.
While the Nightmare Dragon was flying back in retreat, that gray throne reappeared on the top of its head amid a sh of gray light.
Every single one of the spirit patterns on the gray throne instantly began to radiate dazzling gray light, while the three mirror projections emerged behind it once again.
The first mirror was radiating dazzling golden light, but the other two mirrors werepletely dull and devoid of luster.
The Nightmare Dragon pointed a w at the second mirror before releasing a streak of translucent light, and the second mirror instantly began to glow brightly as well, shooting forth a burst of radiant ck light that transformed into a giant ck sword before crashing down toward Han Li.
The ck sword was giving off a burst of formidablew power fluctuations, the samew power that was able to sow the seed of insanity in the target''s heart.
However, as soon as the giant ck sword entered Han Li''s spirit domain, it was instantly slowed down significantly, and he was able to dodge it with ease.
The Nightmare Dragon''s heart sank slightly upon seeing this.
Right at this moment, the golden spirit domain around Han Li suddenly swept back without any warning before vanishing into his body.
Without the protection of his timew powers, a pained look instantly appeared on his face, but he gritted his teeth and withstood it.
The Nightmare Dragon was rather taken aback to see this, but before it had a chance to do anything, Han Li began to chant an urgent incantation, following which his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him before beginning to spin in reverse.
Han Li''s entire body instantly lit up with dazzling golden light once again, and he shot forward at an incredible speed, leaving a trail of golden afterimages in his wake.
In the blink of an eye, he had covered over half of the distance between himself and the Nightmare Dragon.
The Nightmare Dragon''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and it let loose an rmed roar, btu right as it was about to do something, the golden light radiating from Han Li''s body brightened even further while spreading outward to form his golden spirit domain again in the blink of an eye.
Before the Nightmare Dragon had a chance to take any evasive measures, it was epassed within Han Li''s spirit domain.
As a result, its speed was drastically diminished, and the distance between itself and Han Li was shrinking even more rapidly.
The Nightmare Dragon''s expression changed drastically as it opened its mouth to release a pir of gray light.
Countless runes could be seen shing within the pir of gray light, and it vanished into the third mirror behind the gray throne in a sh.
Traces of white light instantly emerged on the surface of the third mirror, and even though the white light was very bright, it was alsopletely devoid of vitality, much like the bright gleam that a bleached skeleton would emit while being baked under the sun.
The Nightmare Dragon opened its mouth once again to release a ball of gray blood essence, which swelled drastically to form a cloud of gray mist, within which were nine translucent gray threads that wrapped themselves around the three mirror projections.
The three mirrors shuddered in unison while releasing a burst of suction force that suckedd in all of the gray mist in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, three pirs of light that were gray, ck, and white in color, respectively, shot out of the mirrors to form dozens of three-colored dragon projections, every single one of which wasparable in size to the Nightmare Dragon, and they were giving off three types ofpletely differentw power fluctuations.
The dozens of three-colored dragon projections instantly pounced at Han Li at the Nightmare Dragon''s behest, forming a profound array as they hurtled toward the oing Han Li.
Thanks to their special array, the dragon projections were able to move at an extraordinary speed, and even though they were affected by Han Li''s golden spirit domain, they weren''t much slower than him.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he then gave a cold harrumph as he swept a sleeve through their air, and three giant azure swords emerged in front of him.
Each sword was over 1,000 feet in length, and they were radiating dazzling azure light, giving them the appearance of three radiant azure suns.
Incredibly thick arcs of golden lightning emerged over the surfaces of the three giant swords.
Now that Han Li had reached the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, he was able to control three of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once without much trouble.
With a flick of his finger, three timew threads shot forth, and each of them vanished into one of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in a sh.
The three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly drew to an abrupt halt in mid-air, while the azure light that they were radiating became several times brighter, and it was interspersed with blinding golden light.
The thick arcs of Divine Devilbane Lightning shing over the swords also brightened significantly, then transformed into a series of giant lightning runes that revolved around the swords.
The three giant azure swords began to tremble as a burst of sword qi that was several times more formidable than before erupted forth, causing the entire surrounding space to shudder.
In the next instant, the three giant lightning swords released a flurry of lightning sword projections at Han Li''s behest, and the sword projections swallowed up all of opposing dragon projections before destroying them in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, Han Li only paused for a moment before continuing to fly forward like lightning, spurred on by his Reversal True Axis secret technique.
Before long, he was no more than several thousand feet away from the Nightmare Dragon.
Chapter 472: Slaying the True Spirit
Chapter 472: ying the True Spirit
"It''s time to put an end to this!" Han Li dered as he began making a rapid string of hand seals, and dazzling golden light erupted out of his body as the Mantra Treasured Axis abruptly began revolving in the right direction again.
Layers uponyers of golden ripples surged out of the axis, instantly permeating throughout the entire surrounding area in a radius of over 10,000 feet, epassing the Nightmare Dragon within them.
Everything that was swept up within the golden ripples was instantly immobilized, as if they had been frozen in time, and the same applied to the Nightmare Dragon, which was looking on with its mouth wide open in astonishment.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords appeared beside the Nightmare Dragon in a sh, then revolved around it like lightning.
The Nightmare Dragon''s body was instantly sliced into over 10 pieces, but the pieces of its body didn''t separate, nor did any blood emerge.
At the same time, a timew thread emerged out of thin air before piercing into the Nightmare Dragon''s head in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, the timew thread re-emerged while wrapped tightly around a miniature gray dragon, and it was none other than Qu Ling''s nascent soul.
A burst of golden ripples surged forth from the timew thread, epassing the gray nascent soul to ensure that it remained bound.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief as he swept a sleeve through the air once again, and his golden spirit domain instantly surged back into his body as a vast expanse of golden light.
The golden ripples around him also shed momentarily before surging back into the Mantra Treasured Axis, which, in turn, slowly faded away.
Right at this moment, a perplexed look appeared on his face, and his Mantra Treasured Axis reappeared behind him at his behest.
As it turned out, around a dozen more of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had faded, but he hadpletely failed to notice this earlier.
A hint of surprise shed through his eyes upon seeing this, and he injected some of his spiritual sense into his Soul Nurturing Burner to inform the soul fragment inside of this situation.
The soul fragment wasn''t surprised at all, and it said, "That''s only to be expected. You think immortal spiritual power alone would be enough to support an ability as formidable as a spirit domain? Maintaining a spirit domain will requirew power expenditure, so it''s no surprise that some of your Time Dao Runes have faded."
An enlightened look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
Thankfully, now that he had attained 10 timew threads, it wasn''t going to take very long to recover these Time Dao Runes.
With that in mind, he swept a sleeve through the air, and the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately flew back to him, following which the timew threads inside also vanished into his body.
The golden light radiating from the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly faded, and the aura that was emanating from them also diminished significantly.
Han Li was quite intrigued to see this.
His Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords already possessed tremendous power, yet just the injection of a timew thread was enough to enhance their powers significantly. If he could imbue these swords withw powers that were actually suitable for them, who knew just how powerful they could be?
With that in mind, a hint of excitement instantly welled up in his heart.
He took a deep breath topose himself, then withdrew the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords up his sleeve.
Even though he had managed to y Qu Ling without much trouble using his spirit domain in conjunction with his Mantra Treasured Axis, maintaining his spirit domain and using his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had both been quite taxing on his immortal spiritual power.
Even though he had already reached the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, the immortal spiritual power expenditure had still been quite immense, and he was currently looking a little pale.
The good thing about his spirit domain was that it epassed quite arge area, but its power was still rather limited, while the golden ripples released by the Mantra Treasured Axis covered a far smaller area, but were also significantly more formidable.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce a crimson pill, yet right after he swallowed it, Qu Ling''s nascent soul suddenly began to struggle vigorously as dazzling gray light erupted out of its body.
The timew thread around it was beginning to loosen slightly in the face of its struggles.
It seemed that the gray nascent soul had used some type of ability that had granted it immunity to the effects of Han Li''s timew powers.
A cold look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he pointed a finger at the gray nascent soul, upon which the timew thread glowed even brighter as it ensnared the gray nascent soul once again.
Right at this moment, the gray nascent soul let loose a piercing shriek, upon which its body swelled rapidly to four or five times its original size.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, while the timew thread around the nascent soul dug deep into its body.
Right as he was about to make a hand seal topletely seal the nascent soul, it abruptly exploded into a burst of gray light that vanished into nothingness.
A blurry dragon projection then shot out of the gray light, and it was none other than Qu Ling''s soul. The soul was enveloped within ayer of extremely faint silver light, and it was moving at an astonishing speed, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Han Li''s brows furrowed even further upon seeing this.
He had thought that Qu Ling''s nascent soul would bepletely immobilized by his timew thread, so it came as quite a surprise to him that it was able to get away.
It seemed that he had underestimated the power of a Golden Immortal Stage nascent soul.
He shook his head as he withdrew his timew thread.
Even if Qu Ling were a true spirit, only her soul remained at this point, so she wouldn''t be able to pose any further threat to him.
Right at this moment, the three-colored spirit domain that Qu Ling had unleashed earlier shuddered a few times before rapidly fading away.
The body of the Nightmare Dragon inside instantly fell apart before falling out of the sky.
With another sweep of his sleeve, Han Li sent an azure bowl flying through the air, and it swelled to around an acre in size in the blink of an eye, catching all of the parts of the Nightmare Dragon''s carcass without missing even a single one.
After that, the azure bowl flew back to him at his behest, shrinking as it did so, and by the time it fell onto the palm of his hand, it had already reverted back to its original size.
Han Li took a nce into the bowl, and a pleased look appeared on his face as he flipped a hand over to stow it away.
Immediately thereafter, he drew the gray throne that was still hovering in mid-air nearby to himself as well.
After a brief inspection, he stowed the gray throne away too.
Right at this moment, Jin Tong appeared beside him amid a sh of golden light, and the gong that she had been beating earlier was nowhere to be seen.
"How useless can you be, Han Li? You couldn''t even stop a nascent soul from self-detonating? What a waste!" Jin Tong grumbled with a displeased look on her face.
"A waste? Why do you say that?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression.
"Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls are filled with tremendous power, and they''re a fantastic food source for me!" Jin Tong grumbled.
Han Li immediately flipped a hand over to produce a white jade box upon hearing this, and the lid of the box flew off on its own to reveal a pair of nascent souls, one ck and one white. The two nascent souls belonged to none other than the white python and the ck fish that Han Li had in earlier.
Jin Tong''s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the two nascent souls, and she began staring intently at them.
"I was going to use these two nascent souls for something else, but you can eat them to help your recovery," Han Li said as he offered the jade box to Jin Tong.
The displeasure on Jin Tong''s face instantly turned to tion upon hearing this, and she swiped the jade box from Han Li as she said, "Looks like you''re not apletely ungrateful bastard! Seeing as you''re being so sincere, I suppose I can ept this nascent soul."
She took a deep breath, then opened her mouth to release a burst of golden light, which drew in the pair of nascent souls so that she could munch on them, and a blissful look instantly appeared on her round and childish face.
In her mouth, the two near-indestructible Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls were nothing more than a snack, and Han Li was left feeling a little speechless as he looked on with a hint of doting affection in his eyes.
Right at this moment, bursts of golden light emerged over Jin Tong''s body, and they rippled like water before surging toward her arms.
Her pair of semi-transparent arms quickly gained a more substantial form, and shortly thereafter, Jin Tong swallowed the pair of nascent souls, then wiped her mouth with the back of her new hand before letting loose a loud burp.
The golden light that was surging over her body quickly faded, and her arms also made a full recovery.
"Looks like Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls really are a good source of sustenance for you," Han Li remarked. "By the way, you''ve certainly changed a lot since we werest together."
"Do you not like what I look like now? Speaking of Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls, if I had one more, I would be able topletely recover from my injuries. It''s all your fault! We could''ve had three nascent souls if you were more careful!" Jin Tong said, still feeling a little disgruntled.
"Don''t worry. Right now, there are many Golden Immortals gathered in the immortal manor. Even if we don''t go to them, they''ll most likely end uping to us," Han Li said as he turned his gaze to a certain direction.
"You''re saying there are more of them toe? That''s great! With my powers and your spirit domain, none of them will be able to get away from us!" Jin Tong said with a confident grin, baring two rows of gleaming white teeth.
"Setting that aside for now, Jin Tong, there''s something that I want to ask you," Han Li said as a serious look suddenly appeared on his face.
Jin Tong was rather taken aback by the sudden shift in Han Li''s demeanor, and a slightly anxious look appeared on her face as she asked, "What is it?"
"Back when I first ascended to the Immortal Realm, I was forced back into a lower realm after running into a powerful enemy, and due to theirw powers, I lost a lot of my memories. Do you still recall what happened to us in the Immortal Realm prior to that?" Han Li asked.
Even though he had learned some things from Tao Yu and Fang Ban, he still hadn''t managed to fully piece together what had happened to him following his ascension, and now that Tao Yu''s inkstone had been detonated, he had lost his final lead.
For some reason, Han Li really wanted to recover these memories.
"I don''t remember anything from that time, either. My memories of the Immortal Realm start from the battle against that guy called Fang Ban. I was able to y a spirit pet that he sent after me, then circled back around to try and find you, but you were gone.
¡°After that, I ran into Qu Ling, and she captured me. She was quite good at nurturing spirit pets, so when I was with her, I always had stuff to eat, and my cultivation base improved rapidly. That''s why I decided to stay with her and pretend to have been subdued as a spirit pet," Jin Tong replied.
Chapter 473: Tallying the Spoils
Chapter 473: Tallying the Spoils
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
Even though he had managed to recover Daoist Xie and Jin Tong, he still had no idea what had happened during the 300 years immediately after his ascension. Furthermore, with the way that things were progressing, he became more and more convinced that there were some veryplex circumstances involved, and that there was a very good chance he had been swept up in some type of conspiracy.
On top of that, he had made quite a few enemies, some that he was aware of, while others were still in the shadows, and most of these enemies were present in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor. Fortunately, he had somehow stumbled into a massive opportunity, allowing him to progress all the way to the mid-Golden Immortal Stage.
With his current cultivation base, he now had the power required to protect himself. As for his lost memories, he would just have to find a way to recover them after he left the immortal manor.
"Let''s go and hunt down those Golden Immortals you were talking about, Han Li! That battle against that old witch was really taxing on me!" Jin Tong pouted as she tugged on Han Li''s sleeve.
"We should indeed be leaving this ce. Also, if you encounter an enemy that you can''t defeat in the future, then run away. Don''t bite off more than you can chew," Han Li cautioned with a serious expression.
"You''re so ungrateful! I did all that to save you!" Jin Tong grumbled in a disgruntled manner.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as a burst of azure light appeared over his body, and he was just about to depart when he swept his gaze over his surroundings with slightly furrowed brows.
In the wake of the battle that had just taken ce, the entire area aside from the golden pce had been razed to the ground, so everything wasid bare to Han Li, yet Lu Yuqing was nowhere to be seen.
"Jin Tong, did you notice where the woman who was with me went during my battle against Qu Ling?" Han Li asked.
"What woman? Oh right, that woman... She was observing the battle from afar initially, then suddenly unleashed some type of secret technique to vanish into the ground," Jin Tong replied.
"You''re saying she ran away?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"She did. She was with you, so I didn''t try to stop her. Otherwise, I could''ve done so with ease," Jin Tong replied with a wide smile.
Han Li paid no heed to Jin Tong''s boastful statement as he stood on the spot in silence, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
Jin Tong pouted slightly with displeasure upon seeing this, and she turned her head away, refusing to look at him any longer, but it didn''t take long before she began sneaking nces at him again out of the corner of her eye.
Right at this moment, Han Li rose up into the sky, and blue light shed in his eyes as he scoured his gaze over the surrounding area.
Momentster, the blue light in his eyes faded, but his brows became even more tightly furrowed.
He had just searched through the entire nearby area, but wasn''t able to detect the auras of any other cultivators, nor was there any residual aura left behind by Lu Yuqing.
"Are we going or not? I''m starving!" Jin Tongined as she nted her hands on her hips.
"I''m looking for her because she has an iplete map of the immortal manor. I was only able to make it to this ce thanks to her map," Han Li exined.
What he didn''t mention was that he felt like there was something rather strange about Lu Yuqing. In particr, her demeanor and behavior had be increasingly more peculiar after they left the Light Frost Pce, and it was very abnormal that she had suddenly disappeared without leaving any trace behind.
"If we don''t have a map, then we''ll just have to look on our own. What''s the big deal?" Jin Tong retorted with a nonchnt pout.
"You''re right, let''s go," Han Li replied with a nod, then flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light, while Jin Tong followed along as a streak of golden light.
The two of them flew for close to an hour before stopping near a semi-copsed pce.
"Let''s rest here for a bit," Han Li said as he took a seat in a side hall that was still rtively intact, then swept a hand through the air to release several dozen streaks of blue light to set up a blue array.
Jin Tong sat down beside Han Li, and thetter exhaled before closing his eyes and channeling his cultivation arts to digest the pill that he had taken earlier.
Ayer of gentle azure light appeared over his body, while Jin Tong took a nce at him before also closing her eyes to cultivate.
Close to a day passed by before the azure light over Han Li''s body faded, and at this point, he had alreadypletely replenished his immortal spiritual power reserves.
Meanwhile, Jin Tong was still enveloped in ayer of golden light, and the spiritual qi around her was constantly streaming into her mouth.
Han Li took a nce at Jin Tong, then withdrew his gaze before sweeping a sleeve through the air, and two objects appeared before him, namely the gray throne and the azure bowl that contained Qu Ling''s remains.
Han Li took a nce at the gray throne, then cast an incantation seal into it, and ayer of gray light instantly emerged over the throne, but it wasn''t all that bright.
As he continued to cast more incantation seals into the throne, the gray light that it was emanating gradually became brighter, and the three mirror projections slowly emerged, giving off gray, ck, and white light, respectively.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this. This gray throne was quite a formidable treasure that was superior to all of the immortal treasures in his possession.
What was even more remarkable was that it contained threepletely different types ofw power, and that was something that he had never seen before.
It was clearly an extremely powerful treasure, but unfortunately, it was Qu Ling''s bonded treasure, and it contained an extremely deep-rooted bonded mark that was impossible to remove.
Even if Han Li could forcibly refine the treasure, he would only be able to unleash 50% to 60% of its power at most.
With that in mind, Han Li heaved a faint sigh before stowing the gray throne away, then turned his attention to the azure bowl.
He made a grabbing motion with one hand, and several streaks of light flew out of the bowl beforending in front of him, revealing themselves to be four small pouches of different colors, a white jade belt with hundreds of gemstones of different colors embedded into it, and a ck ring.
All of these items had been carried by Qu Ling, and Han Li hadn''t had a chance to examine them yet.
First, Han Li picked up the four little pouches, and after a brief examination, his eyes instantly lit up slightly.
As opposed to storage pouches, these were spirit beast pouches, and they were all quite remarkable. Each of them had massive internal space, and they were essentially miniature secret areas.
Furthermore, each space was filled with extremely abundant spiritual qi and had differing climates and environments.
Refining a spirit beast pouch like this was definitely going to cost no less than what it took to refine a powerful Acquired Immortal Treasure.
However, the four pouches were allpletely empty, and Han Li presumed that they had been used to house the Golden Immortal Stage spirit beasts that he had already in.
A hint of tion shed through his eyes as he stowed the four pouches away.
Even though he still had no use for them for the time being, they were priceless treasures, and at the very least, he should be able to sell them to cultivators or sects that specialized in nurturing spirit beasts for arge quantity of Immortal Origin Stones.
After that, he picked up the white jade belt, and his eyes immediately lit up once again.
The belt was also an object used to store spirit beasts, and every single gem on the belt was an independent space, containing all types of different spirit beasts.
Some spaces only housed a single spirit beast each, while some housed thousands, even tens of thousands.
However, none of these spirit beasts were all that powerful, and True Immortal Stage ones among them were extremely rare, while most of them were below the Grand Ascension Stage.
Aside from that, each space contained a stone que that denoted the special characteristics and uses of the spirit beasts being kept inside. As it turned out, not all of them were meant for battle. Instead, there were also some who specialized in exploration and tracking.
At this point, Han Li had umted a vast wealth of experience, but even so, his horizons were significantly broadened as he browsed through this vast catalog of spirit beasts.
However, much to Han Li''s surprise and dismay, all of the spirit beasts within the jade belt were dead, and there wasn''t even a single one alive.
Furthermore, none of the spirit beasts had any visible injuries, and that made their deaths even more bewildering.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li summoned an azure deer carcass from the jade belt.
The spirit beast had blood flowing out of all of its orifices, and Han Li extended a finger forward to send a speck of azure light vanishing into the deer''s head.
Momentster, his brows furrowed slightly, and he summoned another carcass, this time of a white ice silkworm, before repeating the process.
A furious look shed through his eyes as he determined that all of the spirit beasts had perished due to a type of restriction.
Qu Ling had nted an extremely inhumane restriction in all of their bodies, one that would lead to the deaths of all of these spirit beasts should she ever meet her demise.
Han Li shook his head with a forlorn expression before stowing the jade belt away as well.
This jade belt was most likely even more valuable than the four high-grade spirit beast pouches.
Finally, he picked up the ck ring before pressing it against his own forehead, and as soon as he injected his spiritual sense into the ring, an astonished look instantly appeared on his face.
With a sweep of his sleeve, a huge pile of items appeared on the ground, almost filling half of the entire hall.
These items were very diverse, containing everything from spirit nts and materials to ore and treasures, and they were radiating lights of all types of different colors to illuminate the entire hall.
Furthermore, almost every single one of these items contained extremely potent spiritual power.
Han Li had found many treasures after entering the immortal manor, but none of them could even begin topare with Qu Ling''s astonishing collection.
However, some of these items clearly belonged to other cultivators, indicating that she had imed the lives and treasures of many past victims.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he flipped a hand over to produce a crimson badge, one that belonged to the True me Sect.
There were as many as six or seven identical badges in Qu Ling''s collection, telling him that all of the True me Sect''s cultivators had already been in by her.
Han Li couldn''t help but shake his head and heave another forlorn sigh. He wasn''t exactly fond of the True me Sect''s cultivators, but it was still rather saddening to see these temporary allies meeting their demise.
Han Li casually cast the True me Sect badges aside, then continued to examine Qu Ling''s collection.
A short whileter, his eyes lit up as he made a grabbing motion to draw a nearby green gourd into his grasp.
This was none other than the Profound Heavenly Gourd that Qu Ling had used earlier.
Chapter 474: This is Mine!
Chapter 474: This is Mine!
Han Li opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light, which vanished into the green gourd, and ayer of green light instantly appeared over its surface.
The green light was filled with countless tiny runes that were flowing like water while spreading outward, giving off an impression of abundant vitality.
A burst of faintw power fluctuations was also emanating from the gentle green light, and a hint of tion appeared in Han Li''s eyes.
It seemed that a faint spiritual connection had been formed between himself and the green gourd.
Han Li shed a fingernail over one of his fingertips, drawing a drop of blood essence that dripped onto the green gourd, but instead of fusing into the gourd, the drop of blood merely slid down its side.
However, not only was Han Li not disappointed to see this, his eyes lit up instead as he nodded to himself, confirming that this was indeed a Profound Heavenly Treasure.
Even though he once possessed the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword, he didn''t actually know very much about Profound Heavenly Treasures, and only after arriving in the Immortal Realm did he gradually begin to find some records and scriptures pertaining to Profound Heavenly Treasures.
These treasures were born from heaven and earth, and they were different from normal immortal treasures. One important property of Profound Heavenly Treasures was that they couldn''t be refined using blood essence. Instead, they could only be slowly refined over time in one''s body using their immortal spiritual power, and this refinement process was going to be a very lengthy one.
In the case of the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword, it had been nurtured in Han Li''s body for countless years before he was slowly able to wield it.
Furthermore, if the owner of a Profound Heavenly Treasure were killed, and the treasure fell into the hands of someone else, then that person would be able to wield it right away. In contrast, in a normal immortal treasure, the mark of the previous owner had to be removed first before it could be refined again, and even then, there was a chance that the new owner would never be able to tap into the treasure''s full power.
Han Li took a deep breath, then pressed the green gourd against his forehead, and he was only just barely able to force a wisp of his spiritual sense into it, upon which a surprised look instantly appeared on his face.
Inside the gourd was arge space that was filled with green light, which was swirling to form an enormous green vortex.
The space deeper within the gourd was rather blurry and indistinct, but there seemed to be something else in there.
Hovering at the center of the green vortex was none other than Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, which Qu Ling had captured earlier, and Han Li was quite relieved to see this.
The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were his bonded immortal treasures, and if he were to lose one, then that would spell a lot of trouble.
Instead of immediately recovering his flying sword, he continued to extend his spiritual sense deeper into the internal space of the gourd.
However, his spiritual sense had only just reached the edge of the vortex when it was stopped in its tracks by a burst of invisible force.
Han Li was rather taken aback by this, and he tried to force his way through, but to no avail.
It was clear that this invisible barrier couldn''t be bypassed using his spiritual sense alone, and he would have to find some other way to break through it. Perhaps this would only be achievable once he refined the gourd to the point that he was able to truly control it.
Of course, it was naturally the case that the more profound this gourd was, the more it would benefit him.
With that in mind, he withdrew his spiritual sense and wrapped it around the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword before tugging on it, and the sword immediately flew out of the opening of the gourd.
The azure light emanating from the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword had dimmed a littlepared with before, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
However, as he inspected the flying sword''s internal condition with his spiritual sense, he discovered that the dimming of the light that it was emanating wasn''t due to a reduction in the spiritual power that it contained.
Instead, not only had the enormous spiritual power within the flying sword not diminished at all, the previously rather chaotic and erratic spiritual power had be far purer and more condensed.
A hint of surprise and tion appeared in Han Li''s eyes, and he certainly wasn''t expecting the gourd to have such an effect.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that vanished into the green gourd, and a burst of green light emerged from the opening of the gourd totch onto the flying sword and draw it into the gourd again.
After that, Han Li swept his sleeve through the air once again to summon a miniature three-story pavilion, and it was none other than that immortal treasure that he had found earlier in the Light Frost Pce.
The miniature pagoda was sucked into the green gourd as well, and Han Li was eager to test out the gourd''s abilities.
After stowing the gourd away, Han Li turned his attention back to the vast collection of items on the ground, and his brows furrowed slightly in contemtion.
There were far too many thingsid out on the ground, and he didn''t recognize most of them, so it would take at least a day or two for him to sort through them.
After remaining silent for a while longer, Han Li called out to Mo Guang, who immediately emerged from his shadow.
"Can I help you with something, Fellow Daoist Han? Hold on a second... Your cultivation base has advanced yet again! How is this possible? You are truly an unmatched prodigy, Fellow Daoist!" Mo Guang eximed upon sensing Han Li''s aura.
It then took a moment to inspect its surroundings, and the surprise on its face became even more pronounced at the sight of Jin Tong and the vast array of items on the ground.
Han Li paid no heed to Mo Guang as he swept his sleeve through the air to summon Daoist Xie.
Mo Guang''s expression changed slightly once again upon sensing Daoist Xie''s aura, and it suddenly felt like everyone was leaving it behind.
Even though it had already returned to its former cultivation base, it was still only at the mid-True Immortal Stage, while Daoist Xie had be a Golden Immortal Stage immortal puppet, and Jin Tong had also reached the Golden Immortal Stage. On top of that, Han Li had gone even further beyond them, reaching the mid-Golden Immortal Stage!
"I just defeated a Golden Immortal just now, and these are her possessions. There''s quite a lot of stuff here, most of which I don''t recognize, so I need your help to identify all of this stuff," Han Li said.
"I see. That''s not a problem. I may becking in cultivation base, but I saw many things during my time with Ma Liang," Mo Guang said with a smile.
Daoist Xie also nodded in response, then sat down beside Han Li.
"Please help me organize these items and record their uses in a jade slip so I can identify them easily in the future," Han Li instructed as he pulled out a pair of nk jade slips before handing them to Mo Guang and Daoist Xie.
Right at this moment, Jin Tong made her way over to Han Li, having awakened from her cultivation, and her eyes were sparkling as she eximed, \"Woah, there''s so much good stuff here!"
"Long time no see, Gold Devouring Immortal. With Fellow Daoist Han on your side, I''m sure you''ll be a Dao Ancestor and reign supreme over the Immortal Realm someday!" Mo Guang greeted as it cupped its fist in a salute.
"Get away from me, you shady-looking bastard! I can''t stand the sight of you!" Jin Tong snapped as her brows furrowed slightly.
The smile on Mo Guang''s face instantly stiffened upon hearing this.
"Don''t be so rude, Jin Tong. All of us ascended to the Immortal Realm together, and it''s very fortunate that we''ve all been reunited here," Han Li scolded in a stern voice.
Jin Tong took another disdainful nce at Mo Guang, but didn''t say anything further, and her attention was instantly drawn back to the vast array of treasures on the ground.
"We''ve reeled in a massive haul, Jin Tong," Han Li said with a smile.
However, Jin Tong seemed to bepletely unable to hear him, and her cheeks bulged as she opened her mouth to release a burst of golden light, sweeping up a set of seven or eight golden flying daggers nearby.
Each dagger was giving off formidable spiritual power fluctuations, clearly indicating that they were spirit treasures of a very high caliber.
The burst of golden light carried the flying daggers into Jin Tong''s mouth, and she began to chomp on them with glee, chewing the daggers into pieces before swallowing them.
Both Daoist Xie and Mo Guang were very much taken aback to see this, while Han Li could only give a wry smile.
All of a sudden, a burst of golden light emerged over Jin Tong''s body before flowing into her arms to further reinforce them, and her aura was also elevated slightly as a result.
Immediately thereafter, she began looking around once again, and her gaze quickly settled on a heavy silver hammer as she opened her mouth to release another burst of golden light.
The hammer was drawn into her arms, and she cradled it to her chest as she took a bite out of the treasure.
A corner of the hammer was bitten off, and she began humming a blissful tune as she crunched on the piece of hammer like a chunk of crispy radish.
The silver hammer wasn''t far off from bing an immortal treasure, and Han Li raised a hand to stop Jin Tong, but lowered it with a resigned expression in the end.
He then turned to Daoist Xie and Mo Guang and tossed a pair of storage tools at them as he instructed, "Organize everything and stow them away."
The two of them caught the storage tools, then exchanged a nce before quicklymencing their work.
Meanwhile, Han Li swept his gaze over the surrounding area, and something quickly caught his attention. He swept a sleeve through the air in a covert fashion, sneakily drawing a purple saber, a golden, and a white archway to himself, and he was just about to stow them away when a little hand shot out from beside him like lightning to grab onto the purple saber.
"This is mine!" Jin Tong yelled as she looked up at Han Li.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and he stowed the golden and the white archway away as he negotiated, "There are so many other treasures here, and you can eat as many of them as you like, but these three are immortal treasures. Even if you eat them now, you may not be able to digest them, so I''ll give them to you next time, alright?"
"You''re so stingy!" Jin Tongined, disying no intention of releasing the purple saber.
"Alright, then how about this? You give this saber to me, and I promise you that I''ll kill a Golden Immortal for you and feed you their nascent soul," Han Li proposed.
This time, Jin Tong didn''t even bother to reply as she opened her mouth and bit down toward the purple saber.
Chapter 475: Courting Death
Chapter 475: Courting Death
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, yet right as Jin Tong¡¯s teeth were about toe into contact with the purple saber, she suddenly stopped, then raised her head to grin at Han Li as she asked, "Do your promises count?"
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response. "Of course."
A pleased look appeared on Jin Tong''s face upon hearing this, and she let go of the purple saber.
Han Li could only give a resigned shake of his head as he stowed the saber away as well, and he was nning to examine the three immortal treasures in closer detail once he left the immortal manor.
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed something else, and he swept a sleeve through the air, upon which a length of silver spirit bamboo that was several dozen feet in length and giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations flew toward him.
The silver bamboo had the same aura as the silver bamboo roots that he had dug out of the medicine garden, and beside it were some other precious spirit nts that looked as if they had all been recently picked.
It seemed that the person who had gotten to the medicine garden ahead of him and taken the Profound Heavenly Treasure had been none other than Qu Ling.
In that case, the Profound Heavenly Treasure on that vine had to have been this green gourd.
Close to half a day passed by in the blink of an eye, and all of the items on the ground were finally sorted.
Much to Han Li''s tion, Qu Ling was carrying far more treasures than he had anticipated.
Just the Immortal Origin Stones in her possession alone totaled in excess of 100,000, and that was truly an enormous sumparable to the entire wealth of manyrge sects.
Aside from that, there were also many precious materials, ingredients, pills, and scriptures, some of which were identified, while others remained a mystery.
However, most of the low-grade spirit treasures in Qu Ling''s collection had been devoured by Jin Tong.
At this point, her aura had already swelled to beyond its former peak, while her arms had also fully recovered, and there was a blissful look on her face.
Even now, Jin Tong was still just as greedy an eater as ever. However, this was a unique mode of cultivation, so while it pained Han Li to have to part with all of those spirit treasures, it was a bittersweet feeling, overall. After all, it was definitely a good thing for him to see Jin Tong attain more power.
"Thank you for your hard work, fellow daoists," Han Li said as he turned to Mo Guang and Daoist Xie.
"Our lives are interconnected, so there''s no need to thank me. Feel free to call upon me again if you need me, Fellow Daoist Han," Mo Guang said with a smile as it vanished back into Han Li''s shadow.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. Mo Guang was behaving very differently from in the past.
As for Daoist Xie, it merely cupped its fist in a salute toward Han Li in silence, then vanished into his body as a streak of golden light.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li emerged from the hall, and after taking a moment to inspect his surroundings, he suddenly looked down at a blue scroll that he was holding.
This was Qu Ling''s Infernal Frost Scenic Painting.
However, at this moment, the artwork waspletely dull and devoid of luster, looking as if it were nothing more than a normal painting.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he examined the artwork for a moment longer before stowing it away.
"Let''s go," he said to Jin Tong, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of golden light that swept up both of them before flying away.
......
Somewhere in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor.
There were three Southern Dawn beings making their way down a bluestone path that was overgrown with weeds in a set of severely ravaged ptial ruins, and all of them were looking quite weary.
"Wyrm 3 really got us good this time! He convinced us to enter this immortal manor, but we''ve run into far more peril than treasures! If you ask me, I think he coaxed us intoing in here to act as cannon fodder for him!" a short, dark-skinned woman grumbled in a disgruntled voice.
"I agree. You both saw how fast he ran away as we were exploring that pce earlier! He didn''t care at all whether we lived or died, and now, he''spletely disappeared," a burly man with a pair of bushy eyebrows chimed in.
"There''s no point in saying things like now. Thankfully, the three of us weren''t split up. I think we should take this as an opportunity to part ways with Wyrm 3 and search for treasures on our own, then leave the immortal manor once time''s up," the final member of the trio, a thin elderly man, said as he stroked his own goatee.
The other two Southern Dawn beings nodded in agreement.
Right as they were conversing with one another, a green jade flying carriage suddenly flew past in the sky, then circled around before drawing to a halt above the three of them.
Standing on the flying carriage was a tall and refined-looking middle-aged man, ying with a white jade Pixiu that was giving off a warm and slightly yellow glow. [1]
Standing behind him were two men d in suits of golden armor, but their wooden expressions and lifeless auras indicated that they were nothing more than a pair of puppets.
The three Southern Dawn beings took a nce at the man on the flying carriage, and a hint of wariness shed through their eyes, but they were all feeling a bit more reassured upon sensing the man''ste-True Immortal Stage cultivation base.
"Greetings, fellow daoists. Have any of you seen the cultivators of the Northern cial Immortal Pce?" the middle-aged man asked with a friendly smile on his face.
None of the Southern Dawn beings immediately replied, but they were feeling a little disgruntled.
While it was true that the middle-aged man was speaking in quite a friendly tone, there was a frustrating aura of superiority and condescension that he was exuding despite his lowly cultivation base.
"No," the thin elderly man replied.
None of the people who had entered the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor would be so foolish as to judge one''s power based solely on the cultivation base that they were disying, so the trio decided to adopt a cautious approach.
Most importantly, they didn''t recall seeing this man prior to entering the immortal manor, so he had to have altered his own appearance somehow.
"I''ll be on my way then," the middle-aged man said, then flew away atop his flying carriage.
As he flew away into the distance, the burly man turned to the elderly man and asked, "What do we think?"
"I wasn''t able to notice anything amiss with my spirit eye ability, so he should be a genue-True Immortal cultivator," the elderly man mused as he habitually stroked his own goatee.
"If I''m not mistaken, that flying carriage he''s using is quite a fine treasure," the dark-skinned woman suddenly said.
A hint of a smile appeared on the faces of both of the two men upon hearing this.
"Setting aside his storage tools, I want that piece of jade that he was holding," the burly man chuckled.
"I''m taking that robe of his," the thin elderly man dered.
Ultimately, the three of them were unable to suppress their greed, and they were nning to use their numbers advantage to hunt down the middle-aged man and take all of his treasures.
The flying carriage continued to fly through the sky at a leisurely pace several dozen kilometers away, and the smile on the middle-aged man''s face remained unchanged as he murmured to himself, "Throwing your lives away over a moment of greed... How unfortunate..."
As soon as his voice trailed off, three streaks of light appeared in front of his flying carriage in a sh.
"Could it be that you''ve recalled the whereabouts of the Immortal Pce''s cultivators, fellow daoists? If you could point me in the right direction, I would be extremely grateful," the middle-aged man said with a smile.
For some reason, a sense of foreboding welled up in the elderly man''s heart at the sight of the smile on the middle-aged man''s face, and he immediately decided that he would abandon his twopanions and run away should things go awry.
Meanwhile, the burly man and the dark-skinned woman exchanged a nce, and the two of them quickly summoned a ck stone ax and a silver longsword, respectively.
As for the thin elderly man, he summoned a seven-story golden pagoda that released a golden light barrier, which instantly swelled to countless times its original size to epass himself, his twopanions, and the middle-aged man.
"You think something that can''t even count as a pseudo-spirit domain can trap me?"
A cold look suddenly appeared on the middle-aged man''s face as he tightened his grip around the jade Pixiu in his hand.
The trio of Southern Dawn beings faltered slightly upon seeing this, yet before they had a chance to do anything, a burst of tremendous power suddenly converged toward them from all directions, instantly destroying the light barrier released by the seven-story golden pagoda.
Immediately thereafter, their bodies werepletely pulverized by this burst of power.
Their heads remainedpletely unscathed, but their bodies had already been crushed into mangled masses of flesh, blood, and bones.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye!
Three streaks of golden light shot up into the sky as the nascent souls of the three Southern Dawn beings fled in different directions in a blind panic.
The middle-aged man made a casual grabbing motion upon seeing this, and an enormous semi-transparent hand appeared out of thin air, causing the entire space around it to crease and fold as it grabbed onto the trio of nascent souls.
"Please spare us, Senior! It''s not worth dirtying your hands putting an end to our pathetic lives!" the nascent soul of the elderly man pleaded.
The middle-aged man ignored their desperate pleas as he cast his gaze toward the trio of nascent souls with a peculiar gleam in his eyes.
After a brief moment of observation, he crushed the three nascent souls into nothingness as he mused to himself, "It looks like they weren''t lying, they really don''t know where the Immortal Pce cultivators are. Having said that, there''s a bit of a pleasant surprise here."
He reached out to make a beckoning motion as he spoke, and three streaks of azure light flew out of the remains of the three Southern Dawn beings. The streaks of light contained their masks, one of a deer, one of a crow, and another of an ape.
The three masks flew into his hand, and he examined them briefly before sweeping a sleeve through the air, upon which a giant wooden shelf that wasden with all types of Transient Guild masks appeared.
If one were to conduct a count, they would discover that there were over 1,000 of these masks in his collection.
1. Pixius are creatures in Chinese mythology that are said to be symbols for wealth, good fortune, and protection. ?
Chapter 476: Undercurrents
Chapter 476: Undercurrents
"I''ve collected quite a few, haven''t I?" the middle-aged man chuckled to himself, then ced the three new masks onto the wooden shelf before stowing it away with a pleased nod.
After that, he flipped a hand over to produce a hollow golden te, which he tossed forward, and the te flew several feet through the air before swelling to the size of a round table, while all types ofplex runes lit up on its surface.
Immediately thereafter, an enormous pir of golden light erupted out the center of the te, rising directly up into the heavens.
Before long, specks of spiritual light began to converge, and three blurry figures appeared around the golden te. Their bodies were enveloped in flowing golden light, making it impossible to glean their appearance.
"What is it, Gongshu Jiu? Haven''t you gone to search the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor? Why have you suddenly contacted us?" one of the golden figures asked.
"Gan Jiuzhen is also in this immortal manor right now," Gongshu Jiu replied.
The same golden figure stirred slightly upon hearing this, and they asked, "Are you sure it''s her? Her identity is extremely mysterious in the Reincarnation Pce, and even the name ''Gan Jiuzhen'' may not be her true name. On top of that, she''s frequently changing her mask, so how can you be sure that it''s her?"
"I have no concrete evidence to prove it, but ording to the memories of a few Transient Guild members that I just killed, the way that their leader, Wyrm 3, likes to do things, is quite simr to Gan Jiuzhen''s style," Gongshu Jiu replied.
"In that case, please make sure that you capture her alive, Fellow Daoist Gongshu. As I''m sure you''re aware, she''s harboring many secrets that are worth exploring," one of the other golden figures said with a smile in their voice.
Gongshu Jiu nodded in response, and he was just about to conclude themunication when he suddenly recalled something, and he said, "Oh, I almost forgot. I discovered someone using the Spirit Refinement Technique in the immortal manor earlier, and from the looks of it, they''ve already cultivated it to at least the third level."
"To think that there are still people willing to risk their lives to cultivate the forbidden technique. There''s no need to capture that person alive, just execute them on the spot," the third golden figure dered in a cold voice.
Gongshu Jiu nodded in response, then swept a sleeve through the air, and the golden te reverted back to its original size before flying back up his sleeve, following which he flew away into the distance atop his flying carriage.
......
Meanwhile, high up in the sky a vast distance away.
Han Li and Jin Tong were flying through the air when the former suddenly stopped in his tracks before turning toward a certain direction.
"What is it?" Jin Tong asked.
"I just sensed a burst of extremely formidable energy fluctuations erupt into the sky in that direction, but it seems to be gone now," Han Li exined.
"Formidable energy fluctuations? Let''s go and take a look!" Jin Tong suggested as a hint of excitement appeared in her eyes.
Han Li was naturally aware of what her intentions were, and he shook his head as he replied, "Let''s not go out of our way to find trouble, we''ll have plenty of powerful enemies to face."
"How boring," Jin Tong scoffed with a disappointed pout.
Han Li took another nce in that direction with his brows slightly furrowed, then continued to fly away into the distance with Jin Tong.
......
In a well-preserved cluster of ptial buildings, four cultivators dressed in Vast Flow Pce attire were each using a treasure to collectively attack a restriction around a pce.
Right as they were about to seed, spiritual light suddenly shed over the surface of an antiquated mirror hanging directly above the pce gates, and a beam of white light shot out of it to strike the chest of one of the four cultivators, who instantly let loose an agonized howl as a hole was punched through his chest, sending him toppling to the ground.
A resounding thump rang out as the array that the four cultivators had jointly conjured up instantly exploded.
The fair-skinned schr who was the leader of the group instantly rushed over to the cultivator that had been struck down, then flipped a hand over to summon a golden pill to feed him.
Before long, the bones and flesh in the man''s chest began to recover, but he still gasping for breath.
Everyone else was quite relieved to see this, but they were still quite concerned about their current situation.
"It''s already been over half a month since we lost contact with the pce master and the others. We have to get out of this ce as soon as possible. Perhaps the pce master has already found that ce by now," the fair-skinned schr said with a grim expression.
The other three cultivators hurriedly gave affirmative responses, and after a short rest, they began working on breaking the restriction again.
......
On a charred hill in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, there were wisps of white smoke rising up everywhere.
Several hundred feet below the ground here was an underground pce, inside of which was arge ck stone chair. At the moment, the chair was being upied by none other than the grand elder of the Dawn Fall Sect, Feng Tiandu.
The ground in front of him was littered with giant ck rocks, and they seemed to be the remains of the puppets that had previously guarded this ce.
Feng Tiandu was inspecting the puppet remains on the ground with a dark expression when all of a sudden, the sound of footsteps rang out from outside the pce.
Momentster, Qi Tianxiao made his way into the pce, and he extended a salute toward Feng Tiandu as he said, "All of our people have already been sent out. There are two teams that we''re currently unable to get into contact with, while the rest of them are all still searching for the High Zenith Pce, but to no avail."
"Is there any news about the people from the Immortal Pce and the Vast Flow Pce?" Feng Tiandu asked.
"There has been some news, but it was only gathered yesterday. The Immortal Pce and the Vast Flow Pce have employed a simr strategy to ours, sending out all of their people to search for the High Zenith Pce, but it seems that they haven''t had much luck, either," Qi Tianxiao replied.
"There should still be some time before the heavenly cauldron opens. If we can find its location prior to that, we''ll be able to set up some measures in advance and seize the initiative," Feng Tiandu said.
"Rest assured, Senior Martial Brother, I''ll be sure to keep a close eye on everyone else," Qi Tianxiao said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
......
On a bleak and deste red in stood a pair of tall men dressed in Southern Dawn Race attire. Each of them was holding a golden cane as the sped through the air, and directly behind them were three cultivators who were dressed in Ghost Wail Sect attire, but were actually cultivators of the Ubiquitous Pavilion.
For some reason, no conflict had arisen between the two parties, and instead, it seemed that the trio of Ubiquitous Pavilion cultivators were merely following the pair of Southern Dawn beings.
The two Southern Dawn beings both wore wooden expressions, and they resembled puppets as they flew onward without anymunication.
After flying for a few minutes, the five of them spotted a set of ruins that resembled a city in the distance, and they hurriedly elerated toward it.
......
In another area of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, there was a series of undting hills, interspersed with valleys of different depths.
There were also lush forests, flowing rivers, fiery valleys filled with miasma... All types ofndmarks were present in the area.
Among thesendmarks was a small andpletely unremarkable-looking valley that wasn''t filled with miasma, nor did it have any greenery or rivers running through it.
It was just a little shorter than the valleys on either side of it, and there were currently three people gathered in the valley, discussing something in hushed tones.
All three of them had rather grim looks on their faces, and they were led by none other than Dao Lord Ouyang Kuishan of the ze Dragon Dao.
"Fellow Daoist Ouyang, we''ve already roused the suspicions of the Immortal Pce by leaking the location of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor''s entrance. If we warn Daoist Hu Yan and others in advance this time, surely we''ll be used of betraying the Immortal Pce," one of the other two figures said.
"So what? The Immortal Pce promised us so many things, yet have they followed through on any of them? Right now, we''re theughingstock of the entire Northern cial Immortal Region, and we''re constantly being restricted by the Immortal Pce in everything that we do. Rather than continue to live such a cowardly and pitiful existence, we may as well at least go out in a meaningful way," Ouyang Kuishan said as a hint of sorrow shed through his eyes.
"We only betrayed Dao Lord Baili so that we could save the ze Dragon Dao, but we should''ve known better than to expect that Xiao Jinhan would follow through on his promises. We have no one to me but ourselves for bing theughing stock of the entire immortal region," the third figure mused with a wry smile.
"This experience has taught me a valuable lesson: only by attaining sufficient power can one escape the fate of being controlled by others. I think this is an opportunity for us. All of the leading powers of the immortal regions are gathered here right now, so there''s no need for us to directly oppose the Immortal Pce.
¡°All we have to do is muddy the waters so that others can chip away at the Immortal Pce''s forces. The more the Immortal Pce is worn down, the less control they''ll be able to exert over us," Ouyang Kuishan said.
"You''re right. In any case, all we''re doing is tipping off Hu Yan and the others, and the Immortal Pce can''t find any evidence to prove that we tipped them off."
With the decision made, the three of them pulled out an octagonal copper array te each, then assembled them together, and the ze dragon design engraved onto their surface instantly lit up with crimson light.
Deep within the valley, there was a rippling light barrier that was quite blurry and indistinct, making it impossible to clearly see whatid beyond it.
......
Beneath a nket of dark clouds in the sky stood a ck mountain that was over 10,000 feet tall.
Near the mountain summit was a spacious cliff, and the white-robed Xiao Jinhan was standing on the edge of the cliff with his robes pping around him, looking into the distance with aplex look in his eyes, and he was apanied by Deputy Pce Master Xue Ying.
Chapter 477: Disturbance
Chapter 477: Disturbance
"ording to thetest news from Lu Yue and the others, the Vast Flow Pce cultivators don''t appear to have made a move for now. Up to this point, they''re still wandering around in search of the High Zenith Pce''s true whereabouts. As for the Dawn Fall Sect, we haven''t been able to gather any information on them for the moment," Xue Ying informed.
"Whenever a powerful treasure emerges, there will surely be a sign. There''s not much time left until the heavenly cauldron is set to open, so it won''t be long until some signs begin to appear. Everyone is currently desperately searching for the High Zenith Pce so that they can get there first before these signs emerge and conceal these signs to prevent others from finding the pce," Xiao Jinhan said.
"Lu Yue and the others are already searching as quickly as they can, so I''m sure they''ll be able to find it soon," Xue Ying said.
"What about Ouyang Kuishan and the others?" Xiao Jinhan asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"They''re searching through the area that we passed through earlier, and the High Zenith Pce most likely isn''t there," Xue Ying replied.
"If they remain obedient and don''t step out of line for the rest of this trip, then we can loosen my control over them a little and give them a bit more freedom," Xiao Jinhan instructed.
There was an element of finesse when it came to subjugating others, and constantly doing so with an iron fist wasn''t the way to go. As the master of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, Xiao Jinhan was naturally well aware of this.
"Yes, Pce Master," Xue Ying hurriedly replied.
All of a sudden, a slightly peculiar look appeared on Xiao Jinhan''s face, and he said, "You can go now. I want to stay here on my own for a while."
Xue Ying naturally didn''t dare to go against his wishes, and she hurriedly took her leave.
She had only just departed from the cliff when a figure that was enshrouded in a cloud of ck mist suddenly rose up from the foot of the cliff, then arrived directly in front of Xiao Jinhan.
After extending a respectful bow, the misty figure began to converse with Xiao Jinhan through voice transmission.
At the end of the conversation, the misty figure concluded, "All of the arrangements on our end are alreadyplete, so you can rest assured, Pce Master."
Xiao Jinhan''s expression remained unchanged as he nodded in response, then gave a dismissive wave of his hand, gesturing for the misty figure to leave.
The misty figure immediately obliged, flying back down into the valley before vanishing as a cloud of ck smoke.
Xiao Jinhan took a nce at the spot where the misty figure had just vanished, and he pursed his lips with a rather distracted look in his eyes.
Right at this moment, Xue Ying suddenly returned once again, and there was a hint of excitement in his eyes.
Xiao Jinhan immediately spotted the excitement in her eyes, and he asked, "Has the High Zenith Pce been found?"
"Ouyang Kuishan says that it''s where they are," Xue Ying replied with a nod.
"Let''s go," Xiao Jinhan instructed, and the two of them immediately flew away into the distance.
......
Close to half a monthter.
Han Li was speeding through the sky atop his azure flying boat, while down below was a bleak and deste red in that waspletely devoid of life.
The only thing that changed in this monotonous environment were the red clouds in the sky, some of which wererge, while others were small. Despite the wind blowing over the in, the clouds remainedpletely still and unmoved, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
Han Li was seated atop his flying boat, holding a jade slip that was pressed against his forehead.
The jade slip was a map, one that he had drawn based on his memory of Lu Yuqing''s map, and it definitely wasn''t a perfect replica, but it was the best that he could do.
He was referencing the map while observing the surrounding terrain, trying to ascertain their current location, but even though he had already been searching for the past few days, he was still unable to pinpoint the location of this red in on the map.
His brows furrowed slightly as he removed the jade slip from his forehead.
"So what if we can''t find where we are? It''s more exciting if we don''t know anything!" Jin Tong yawned as sheid on the deck of the flying boat in azy manner.
Han Li paid no heed to her as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Even though he had reached the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, he didn''t know what perils there were lurking in the immortal manor, so he didn''t dare to getcent.
After some contemtion, he stowed the jade slip away, then flipped a hand over to produce a crimsonmunication array te, the very same one that had been given to him by Daoist Hu Yan.
Han Li cast a series of incantation seals into the array te, and the spirit patterns on its surface shed with crimson light before converging to form a miniature crimson array.
Han Limunicated a message into the array te, and it continued to sh and revolve, but there was no response.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he stowed the array te away.
Theck of response could simply be due to the fact that Daoist Hu Yan was in a special environment where themunication array te couldn''t be used, or it could hint at something far more foreboding.
Han Li pondered this matter in silence for a moment, then cast aside this train of thought.
Seeing as he was unable to get into contact with Daoist Hu Yan, then he would just have to act on his own for now. With his current level of power, he should be able to ensure self-preservation under the vast majority of circumstances.
There was still quite some time left until the immortal manor was scheduled to close, and this was the first time that this region had been discovered, so there had to be many rewards still left to be reaped.
With that in mind, Han Li made a hand seal to elerate his azure flying boat, yet right at this moment, a resounding boom suddenly rang out in the distance, and the entire area within a radius of thousands of kilometers shuddered slightly.
Han Li immediately turned to the direction that the sound hade from, and there in the distance, countless dazzling balls of white light had emerged, flying over thendscape amid a burst of rumbling resembling that of countless thundering horse hooves.
The world''s origin qi trembled and churned as streaks of spiritual light surged through the air, raising gusts of ferocious wind that swept over heaven and earth.
A burst of tremendous pressure wasing from that direction, and even Han Li couldn''t but feel a little stunned as he swept a sleeve through the air to stop his azure flying boat cold in its tracks.
Right at this moment, the light in the distant sky began to ripple once again, but on this asion, instead of spreading outward, it was converging toward a certain spot, and in the blink of an eye, all of it had vanished without a trace.
The churning world''s origin qi also quickly subsided, and it was as if the phenomenon had never even taken ce at all.
At this point, Jin Tong had already sprung to her feet, and she was looking into the distance with wide eyes.
"That was such a massive phenomenon! Could it be that some powerful treasure has emerged? Let''s go take a look, Han Li!" Jin Tong urged.
Han Li was rather hesitant as he mused, "It doesn''t seem like the emergence of a treasure. The light just now contained a great deal of spatial power, so it seems more like the emergence of a secret area."
"Who cares? If we don''t go there now, someone will get there before us!" Jin Tong said in an urgent voice.
After some more hesitation, Han Li nodded in response. "Let''s go take a look, but be careful,and also, don''t call me by my name in front of others."
"Fine. Let''s go, Uncle!" Jin Tong replied with an excited expression.
Han Li was left feeling rather speechless upon hearing this, and he shook his head with a resigned expression before guiding his azure flying boat in that direction.
......
Meanwhile, a ball of white light was flying over a crimson hill.
Standing atop the ball of white light were a group of Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators, among which were Xiao Jinhan and Xue Ying.
All of a sudden, Xiao Jinhan''s expression changed slightly, and the ball of white light drew to an abrupt halt as he turned to a certain direction.
"What is it, Pce Master?" Xue Ying asked.
"I sensed a disturbance in that direction just now," Xiao Jinhan replied.
"A disturbance?"
Xue Ying faltered slightly upon hearing this. She hadn''t detected anything at all.
Ayer of white light surfaced over her eyes as she cast her gaze toward that direction, while Xiao Jinhan shook his head as he said, "The disturbance took ce too far away from here, so you wouldn''t be able to detect it at your cultivation base. On top of that, it''s already faded by now."
"Could it be that the High Zenith Pce has finally emerged?" Xue Ying spected as her eyes lit up.
Everyone else immediately turned to Xiao Jinhan upon hearing this, while Xiao Jinhan himself was standing still on the spot with a hesitant look on his face.
Even though he had sensed the disturbance in the distance, it was too far away for him to detect it clearly.
Right at this moment, a burst of white light appeared on Xiao Jinhan''s body, and he raised an eyebrow as he pointed a finger forward, upon which the burst of white light flew out into the open, revealing itself to be amunication array te.
The array te released a miniature array, which, in turn, conjured up a projection of Ouyang Kuishan.
"We''ve found the entrance of the High Zenith Pce, Pce Master!" Ouyang Kuishan dered with an ecstatic expression.
Xiao Jinhan''s expression remained unchanged as he asked, "Oh? Where is it? And how did you discover it?"
"Just now, a phenomenon took ce at the entrance, and I just so happened to be nearby. This is the location."
Ouyang Kuishan swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, releasing a burst of light that transformed into a map, upon which an azure speck of light was pulsing incessantly.
Xiao Jinhan took a nce at the map to find that the location of the purported entrance matched the direction where the disturbance had just arisen.
"Alright, make sure to keep the entrance guarded, I''ming right now," Xiao Jinhan instructed.
"The phenomenon has already subsided, but it caused a massivemotion just now, so please get here as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if other people get here first, we may not be able to keep them at bay," Ouyang Kuishan urged.
Xiao Jinhan''s expression darkened a little as he replied, "I''ll get there as soon as I can."
With that, he concluded themunication, and the projection of Ouyang Kuishan instantly vanished, while Xiao Jinhan remained on the spot with his brows slightly furrowed, seemingly contemting something.
Chapter 478: Entrance of the Palace
Chapter 478: Entrance of the Pce
After some time, Xue Ying couldn''t help but interject, "Isn''t the location that Ouyang Kuishan just pointed out in the same direction where the disturbance just arose? Surely that has to mean the information is reliable."
"There''s no hurry. If that really is the entrance of the High Zenith Pce, then it''ll surely be protected by restrictions and guards, so even if others manage to get there before us, they won''t be able to enter the pce anytime soon," Xiao Jinhan replied with a shake of his head.
"Are you saying that Ouyang Kuishan is lying to us? Surely not! If he had the courage to lie to us, then he wouldn''t have betrayed Baili Yan," Xue Ying said as a hint of derision shed through her eyes.
"Ouyang Kuishan is not to be fully trusted, and it''s always better to be safe than sorry," Xiao Jinhan said as he pointed a finger at the array te, upon which the samemunication array was conjured up again.
The array shed a few times, following which a projection of Lu Yue emerged.
"Greetings, Pce Master. Do you have some instructions for me?" Lu Yue asked with a respectful salute.
"Where are you right now? Did you sense anything just now?" Xiao Jinhan asked.
"I am currently situated in the southeast rtive to the location where we split up, and I didn''t sense anything just now," Lu Yue replied.
"I see. Keep searching that area, and report back to me immediately if you discover anything," Xiao Jinhan instructed.
Lu Yue nodded in response, and themunication was concluded.
Xiao Jinhan made a hand seal, and he was just about to contact someone else when a burst of ck light suddenly appeared on his body.
His expression instantly changed slightly as he swept a sleeve through the air, and a ck array te appeared in his grasp, emanating rings of ck light.
An indistinct ck figure was standing in the ck light, and it was the same person that he had spoken to atop the cliffst time.
"Pce Master Xiao, the entrance of the High Zenith Pce has already emerged. Feng Tiandu has already discovered it and is heading there right now. Everything has already been set up ording to our n," the ck figure dered.
A hint of tion shed through Xiao Jinhan''s eyes upon hearing this, but he remained level-headed as he asked, "Where is the entrance?"
The ck figure swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of ck light that conjured up a map, and there was a marked location on the map that was virtually identical to the location indicated by Ouyang Kuishan earlier.
"Alright, I''ming right now," Xiao Jinhan immediately said, and themunication was concluded.
"Let''s go!" Xiao Jinhan instructed as the ball of white light continued onward, and Xue Ying also cast an incantation seal into the ball of white light to elerate it even further.
The Immortal Pce cultivators flew onward for a while before a burst of blue light suddenly appeared to their right, and it was rapidly approaching them, reaching them in the blink of an eye.
Xue Ying''s brows furrowed slightly as the ball of white light drew to a halt at her behest, and she was just about to yell out at the approaching burst of blue light, but Xiao Jinhan gestured for her to remain silent.
The blue light up ahead faded, revealing a group of Vast Flow Pce cultivators, led by none other than Grand Pce Master Luo Qinghai.
"What a coincidence, Pce Master Xiao. You look like you''re in quite a hurry. May I ask where you''re going?" Luo Qinghai asked as he cupped his fist toward Xiao Jinhan and the others in a salute.
"How can I help you, Grand Pce Master Luo?" Xiao Jinhan asked in an indifferent voice.
"I discovered a set of ruins up ahead, but there''s a restriction inside that''s proving to be quite difficult to break. We''ve already been trying for several days to no avail, and we presume that there must be a precious treasure inside. Would you like toe and have a look with us, Pce Master Xiao?" Luo Qinghai asked with a smile.
"Where are these ruins?" Xiao Jinhan asked.
"Not far up ahead, only about half a day away from here," Luo Qinghai replied as he pointed in the direction that he came from.
Xiao Jinhan cast his gaze toward that direction to find that it was precisely the direction where the entrance of the High Zenith Pce was situated.
"From my observations, it seems like there''s an ancient tomb under the restriction. I don''t know who''s buried there, but it''s definitely a very important person," Luo Qinghai said as he pulled out a blue jade talisman.
The jade talisman released a burst of bright blue light at his behest, which transformed into a mirror of water that depicted a vast wilderness filled with howling wind and swirling sand.
There was also a massive yellow ovr light barrier in the image, and it was rather murky and indistinct, concealing what was underneath.
Only the outlines of a giant tomb could be made out through the light barrier, and it resembled a giant beast that was resting on the ground.
"Looks like you stumbled upon quite a stroke of fortune, Grand Pce Master Luo, but wouldn''t you have much preferred for your Vast Flow Pce to have imed this ce alone? Why are you inviting me?" Xiao Jinhan asked.
"I just told you. The restriction outside the tomb is extremely formidable, and all of us have been attacking it non-stop for several consecutive days without being able to make much progress at all. If we''re dyed any further, other powers will most likely begin to arrive on the scene.
¡°That''s why I''m inviting you toe and help us break the restriction, and we''ll split the treasures inside evenly between our two sects. What do you say?" Luo Qinghai asked as a serious look appeared on his face.
"If this is a restriction that even you can''t open, then it''s most likely beyond me as well," Xiao Jinhan refused with a shake of his head.
"Don''t worry about that, Pce Master Xiao. Even though we haven''t been able to break the restriction, I''ve managed to find a way to do so, but it requires six Golden Immortals working together at once, and that''s why I''m inviting you toe along," Luo Qinghai replied with a smile.
Xiao Jinhan contemted the offer momentarily, then turned to Xue Ying as he said, "Your Vast Flow Pce already has five Golden Immortals, so you only need one more. Xue Ying, take everyone else and make a trip to the ruins with Grand Pce Master Luo."
Xue Ying''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and she hurriedly said to Xiao Jinhan through voice transmission, "But Pce Master, what if this is a trap..."
"Don''t worry, I know what I''m doing," Xiao Jinhan interjected, and Xue Ying fell silent upon hearing this.
"Deputy Pce Xue Ying will also suffice for the task," Luo Qinghai said. "Time is of the essence, so let''s set off right away, Deputy Pce Master Xue."
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of blue light that swept up all of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators before flying away into the distance.
"I''ll be going then, Pce Master," Xue Ying said to Xiao Jinhan, then flipped a hand over to produce a bird-shaped flying boat for all of the Immortal Pce cultivators to pile onto.
"Make sure to help Grand Pce Master Luo to the best of your abilities," Xiao Jinhan instructed, making sure to ce extra emphasis on the word "help".
Xue Ying nodded in response, then made a hand seal, and the flying boat immediately departed, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Xiao Jinhan looked on as the two groups departed into the distance, and only after all of them hadpletely vanished out of sight did he continue onward as a streak of white light.
Several dayster, a streak of white light arrived from afar, then faded to reveal Xiao Jinhan in the sky above a giant canyon.
His hands were sped behind his back, and his robes were pping audibly in the wind as he inspected his surroundings.
The location that had been pointed out by both Ouyang Kuishan and the shadowy figure wasn''t very far away from this ce.
Some timeter, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he shot forth like lightning, flying toward a certain direction in the canyon inplete silence.
......
At the foot of the canyon was a giant rectangr stone wall that was white in color and several thousand feet in size. Its surface was extremely smooth, and it seemed to be an enormous gate.
There was a piece of scenery engraved onto the stone wall from left to right, and it was extremely vibrant and lifelike.
Behind the stone wall was a thick white light barrier that was shing incessantly, and there were many people gathered in front of the stone wall, split up into four different factions.
Thergest group consisted of the Dawn Fall Sect''s cultivators, with almost all of the Dawn Fall Sect cultivators who had entered the immortal manor present. All they were missing were a couple of True Immortal cultivators, who had presumably perished elsewhere in the immortal manor.
Not far away from the Dawn Fall Sect''s cultivators stood a group of Southern Dawn beings, but out of their four Golden Immortals, only the elderly man and the elderly woman were present, while the other two were absent.
As for their True Immortal cultivator, only about half of them were present, and it was unclear whether the other half had already perished or were still on their way.
The group with the second-least number of people was Ouyang Kuishan and the other two ze Dragon Dao Dao Lords, while the final group only consisted of two people, namely a man and a woman.
If Han Li were present, he would''ve immediately been able to identify them as Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.
Right at this moment, a figure emerged in the sky amid a sh of golden light.
The new arrival didn''t say anything, and there was no aura escaping from his body at all, but everyone was struck by a sense of pressure in his presence.
It was none other than Xiao Jinhan.
His arrival was met with varying degrees of dismay from everyone, with the exceptions of Ouyang Kuishan''s trio, who immediately approached him with ted expressions.
"We pay our respects to the esteemed pce master!"
"Good job. The three of you will be rewarded once we leave the immortal manor," Xiao Jinhan said.
"Thank you, Pce Master!" Ouyang Kuishan''s trio replied in unison.
Xiao Jinhan''s gaze then swept over the Southern Dawn beings and the duo of Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
"These people were most likely nearby as well, and they arrived not long after the phenomenon here subsided," Ouyang Kuishan hurriedly exined via voice transmissions at the sight of Xiao Jinhan''s expression.
Xiao Jinhan gave a slight nod and offered no response.
"Wee, Pce Master Xiao. I wasn''t expecting you to get here so soon. Why are you here on your own? Where are the other fellow daoists from the Immortal Pce?" Feng Tiandu asked.
Chapter 479: Observing from the Shadows
Chapter 479: Observing from the Shadows
"Everyone else is busy with other things. That''s none of your concern, Fellow Daoist Feng," Xiao Jinhan replied in an indifferent voice.
"I don''t mean to pry. It''s just that you''re normally always surrounded by your subordinates, so it''s rather strange to see you alone," Feng Tiandu said.
"To be honest, I prefer being on my own. Sometimes, when there are less burdens and hindrances around, it makes it easier to do what needs to be done without any unnecessary qualms. Wouldn''t you agree, Fellow Daoist Feng?" Xiao Jinhan asked.
"I''m not as much of a free spirit as yourself, Fellow Daoist Xiao. I still think having more people around makes things easier," Feng Tiandu replied with a smile.
"It does appear as if you have a numbers advantage over everyone else. Have you already decided to im this High Zenith Pce as a territory of your Dawn Fall Sect, Fellow Daoist Feng?" Xiao Jinhan asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Of course not, Pce Master Xiao. No one has any right to im ownership over the High Zenith Pce, and anyone cane and go from the pce as they please. In particr, now that you''re here, I feel much more at ease," Feng Tiandu replied with a shake of his head.
A faint smile appeared on Xiao Jinhan''s face as he took a nce at the people behind Feng Tiandu, then suddenly turned to the white stone wall before raising a hand.
A streak of white light flew out of the palm of his hand, transforming into a translucent arrow that struck the light barrier with a loud crack.
The arrow was instantly shattered, while the light barrier only shed momentarily before immediately returning to normal.
"What a sturdy restriction," Xiao Jinhan eximed as a grim look shed through his eyes.
"The Dawn Fall Sect cultivators have already tried to break this restriction through their collective power just now, but they were unable to make any progress, so it looks like breaking this restriction definitely won''t be an easy task," Ouyang Kuishan informed through voice transmission.
Xiao Jinhan gave a slight nod upon hearing this.
"Having said that, there''s no need to be overly concerned, Pce Master," Ouyang Kuishan continued. "The white light barrier over this stone wall was previously twice as thick as it is now, but for some reason, it''s constantly been getting thinner over time. I''m sure this trend will continue to hold true, and perhaps the restriction will eventually even disappear altogether. When that timees, we should be able to bypass it with ease."
"Oh? Is that true?" Xiao Jinhan asked as his expression changed slightly.
"I wouldn''t dare to lie to you, Pce Master. If you don''t believe me, just take some time to observe the restriction and see for yourself," Ouyang Kuishan hurriedly replied.
Xiao Jinhan took a long nce at Ouyang Kuishan upon hearing this, and thetter hurriedly lowered his head and averted his gaze. With no better course of action to pursue for now, Xiao Jinhan made his way over to arge rock off to the side, then sat down onto it and closed his eyes to rest.
Feng Tiandu took a brief nce at Xiao Jinhan before also looking away, while the rest of the Dawn Fall Sect cultivators behind him exchanged a few nces before sitting down with their legs crossed.
Everyone else present quickly followed suit as well, and a tense silence descended upon the entire scene.
Time slowly passed by, and before long, it had already been close to an hour.
Xiao Jinhan inspected the white light barrier briefly to find that it had indeed be a little thinner than before.
......
Meanwhile, in a discreet cave far away from the valley, Han Li and Jin Tong were standing next to each other in apletely still manner.
They had used some type of secret technique topletely conceal their auras, so even if someone were to sweep their spiritual sense over them, it would appear as if they weren''t there.
Through a gap between a pair ofrge rocks, Han Li was observing everyone in the distance with blue light shing in his eyes.
He had been quite close to the stone wall when the phenomenon had taken ce, so he had actually only gotten here a littleter than Ouyang Kuishan and the others.
However, as soon as he spotted Ouyang Kuishan''s trio, he immediately concealed himself and Jin Tong using a secret technique.
There are more and more people arriving on the scene... Judging from what they said earlier, this ce is the entrance of a so-called High Zenith Pce. What is this ce, and why is it garnering so much attention from the likes of even Xiao Jinhan and Feng Tiandu? Could it be...
Additionally, Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni were also present, and that was quite a relief for him.
Daoist Hu Yan was somewhere between a friend and a teacher for him, and Han Li had been quite concerned for him this entire time, so it was definitely a good thing to see him here safe and sound.
Jin Tong was standing beside him with a bored look on her face, and she suddenly tossed something into her mouth before chomping down onto it. The sound that was produced wasn''t very loud, but it gave Han Li quite a fright, and he hurriedly cautioned through voice transmission, "Be quiet! We''ll be in trouble if those people discover us."
Thankfully, the secret technique being used by Han Li concealed both sound and auras, and were quite far away from Xiao Jinhan and the others. Additionally, everyone''s attention was focused on the stone wall, so no one noticed Han Li and Jin Tong in the distance.
"Hiding here is so boring, Uncle! How much longer do we have to keep hiding?" Jin Tongined through voice transmission with a displeased pout.
"Be patient," Han Li replied.
"Are those people your enemies?" Jin Tong asked as her brows furrowed slightly.
"Some of them are," Han Li replied in an ambiguous fashion.
"Which ones?" Jin Tong asked as she prepared to rush out to face them.
Han Li hurriedly grabbed onto Jin Tong''s arm as he urged, "Wait! There are too many of them and only two of us, so we''ll be at a disadvantage in a direct battle. On top of that, it''s clear that all of them are plotting against each other as well, so perhaps they''ll start fighting even before the restriction is broken."
"You''re right!" Jin Tong eximed as a hint of excitement surfaced in her eyes. "If they don''t start fighting among themselves, then we''ll wait until they split up and hunt them down one after another. Aren''t I smart?"
"You''re a genius, Jin Tong," Han Li praised as he patted Jin Tong on the head.
"Fine. In that case, I''ll wait for a bit longer," Jin Tong said as she sat down and rested her head on her folded arms.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief as he continued his observation.
Several hours passed by in the blink of an eye, and Jin Tong had already fallen asleep.
At this point, all that remained of the light barrier over the stone wall was a thinyer, and no one else arrived during this time.
Furthermore, everyone, including Xiao Jinhan and Feng Tiandu, had already risen to their feet, and they were staring intently at the white stone wall.
The light barrier on the stone wall was still slowly bing thinner and thinner, and everyone was already channeling their immortal spiritual power with tense looks on their faces, bracing themselves to strike as soon as the light barrier reached its most fragile state.
At the same time, they were also making sure to keep tabs on one another.
"The restriction has already be very thin, Senior Martial Brother. If all of us attack it at once, we should be able to break through it. Should we strike now?" Qi Tianxiao asked through voice transmission.
"Let''s wait a bit longer until the restriction is reduced to its weakest state. After all, we also have Xiao Jinhan to worry about on top of this restriction," Feng Tiandu replied.
"You''re right, Senior Martial Brother," Qi Tianxiao said with a nod.
In the distant cave, Han Li was also staring intently at the stone wall with blue light shing in his eyes.
Right at this moment, the white light barrier, which had be as thin as a sheet of paper, suddenly shed momentarily, and countless thin strands of white light appeared over its surface as it abruptly began to thicken again.
Everyone''s expressions instantly changed drastically upon seeing this, and they allshed out in unison.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Xiao Jinhan released a streak of piercing white light, which contained what appeared to be a sharp spike.
It was an immortal treasure that had white lightning shing over its surface, releasing a burst of loud crackling and thunderous rumbling as it pierced viciously toward the white light barrier.
Ouyang Kuishan''s trio also sprang into action, with each of them summoning a golden flying sword, on the hilt of which was a beastly head that seemed to belong to a dragon, but was also somewhat different.
On one side of the sword''s de was engraved a piece of scenery, while on the other side was etched a vast starry sky.
The three flying swords were arranged in a triangr formation, and they gave off dazzling swordlight as they swept toward the white light barrier.
At the same time, the two elderly Golden Immortals of the Southern Dawn Race pointed their golden canes forward, and radiant golden light erupted out of their canes, transforming into a pair of golden dragons in a sh.
Both dragons were glowing radiantly, looking as if they had been forged out of pure gold, and they were giving off a peerlessly sharp aura as they swooped toward the white light barrier.
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni also summoned immortal treasures of their own, namely a crimson flying sword and a blue flying wheel. They didn''t appear to be immortal treasures of a particrly high caliber, but they were also sent flying toward the light barrier with ferocious power.
However, out of all of the people present, the collective assault unleashed by the Dawn Fall Sect''s cultivators was the most formidable one.
At this moment, all of the Dawn Fall Sect cultivators were gathered around in a loose circle, but there was a method to the way in which they were arranged, and it seemed that they had formed an array.
All of them began to glow with radiant ck light, which converged to form a series of thick beams of ck light that connected together before surging into Feng Tiandu''s body.
As a result, Feng Tiandu swelled noticeably in size, and his skin bulged as a countless thick green veins emerged over his body, wriggling and writhing like worms.
The aura that he was exuding instantly swelled drastically topletely exceed that of everyone else present, and even Xiao Jinhan''s expression changed slightly upon sensing this.
Immediately thereafter, he took a deep breath as he began to chant a rapid incantation, and hsi body took on a drastic change, bing withered and yellow and reverting back into what resembled a dried corpse in the blink of an eye.
A string of loud ngs rang out from within his body, following which a series of thick ck chains numbering in the dozens shot out of his robes, swaying from side to side around him like a mass of tentacles.
Every single chain was riddled with countless tiny ck runes, which were shing incessantly and giving off tremendousw power fluctuations.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly as he witnessed this from afar.
Even though they were situated quite far away from one another, he could clearly sense that the aura being emitted by the ck chains summoned by Feng Tiandu was identical to that of the two Origin Separation Law Chains in his possession.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately realized who Feng Tiandu was.
Chapter 480: Caught Off Guard
Chapter 480: Caught Off Guard
In front of the white stone wall.
Feng Tiandu closed his eyes while making a hand seal, and all of the chains in the air around him shuddered in unison, then shot forth through the air as countless ck lines, hurtling toward the white light barrier like rain.
A string of loud thumps instantly rang out in rapid session as specks of ck light emerged over the surface of the white light barrier, causing it to ripple incessantly.
At this point, all of the other cultivators present had also sprung into action,unching attacks of their own at the light barrier.
With so many True Immortals and Golden Immortals joining forces at once, the resulting assault was just as ferocious as it was spectacr to behold, and the white light barrier twisted and warped violently as countless runes surged out of its surface.
All of a sudden, an earth-shattering boom rang out, and the entire canyon suddenly began to tremble and sway violently.
Countlessrge cracks appeared over the ground and the mountain faces, intertwining with one another like a system of cobwebs.
In the face of so many formidable attacks, the light barrier was struggling to hold itself together, and a series of cracks had begun to appear on its surface.
This was naturally a very encouraging sight for everyone, and they all redoubled their efforts for one final push.
Finally, all of the runes on the surface of the white light barrier exploded, immediately followed by the light barrier itself, and the white stone face beneath it was finally exposed.
Feng Tiandu''s eyes sprang open, and a hint of tion appeared on his face.
He made a hand seal while chanting a quiet incantation, and all of the ck chains around him instantly vanished back into his body, immediately following which he took arge stride forward, yet right as he was about to say something, an unexpected turn of events abruptly unfolded.
Qi Tianxiao and three other Golden Immortals near himshed out in unison, raising their arms at the same time without any warning.
A chorus of loud ngs rang out as bright golden light emerged within the sleeves of the four Golden Immortals, and four golden chains with countless runes surging all over them shot forth in unison before wrapping themselves around Feng Tiandu''s limbs.
Each chain was radiating bright golden light that was filled with golden runes, and they were also releasing formidable restrictivew powers.
Feng Tiandu''s expression changed drastically as ayer of ck light abruptly appeared over his body, instantly forming a protective ck light barrier.
Almost in the exact same instant that the ck light barrier took shape, the four golden chains arrived and wound themselves around the light barrier.
As soon as the two made contact with one another, the golden runes on the surface of the chains instantly lit up in unison, and they were able to slice through the ck light barrier with ease like hot knives through butter before tying up Feng Tiandu like lightning.
Arcs of golden lightning erupted out of the four chains to strike Feng Tiandu, causing plumes of white smoke to rise up from his body.
Feng Tiandu let loose a muffled groan, and the ck light barrier around him was instantly shattered, much to the tion of the four Dawn Fall Sect Golden Immortals, who began chanting a collective incantation, upon which the four golden chains intertwined to form a square golden cage with Feng Tiandu trapped in the center.
A burst of incredibly formidable restrictive force surged out of the golden cage, causing the nearby air to ripple violently, and even the surrounding world''s origin qi had fallenpletely still.
Allf of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and everyone was caughtpletely off guard, looking on with dazed expressions, even temporarily forgetting about the white stone wall.
Han Li was also rather taken aback as he looked on from afar.
Looking at the four golden chains, he was immediately reminded of the eight chains that Ouyang Kuishan and the other dao lords had used against Baili Yan all those years ago.
Even though there were only four of these chains on this asion, they were several times thicker than the eight chains fromst time, and the aura emanating from this golden cage was also more formidable than that one.
"What is the meaning of this?" Feng Tiandu roared as he struggled with all his might, and ayer of ck light appeared over his body, only to be instantly suppressed by the enormous restrictive powers of the golden cage, rendering his tremendous cultivation basepletely useless.
"My apologies, Senior Martial Brother, but you''ve brought this entirely upon yourself, so you can''t me anyone else. Our master passed the position of sect master down to me, yet you''ve shown me no respect at all, forcibly taking over ownership of the sect and iming all of its resources.
¡°You''ve gone too far, and it''s time that someone stopped you," Qi Tianxiao dered in a cold voice while making a hand seal, and more thick arcs of golden lightning emerged over the golden cage before transforming into seven thick golden nails.
Each nail was around a foot in length with countless golden lightning runes on their surface, and they were giving off astonishing lightningw power fluctuations as they pierced viciously into Feng Tiandu''s be, chest, lower abdomen, and other vital regions.
Feng Tiandu gave another muffled groan as blood began to trickle down from the corner of his lips.
Arcs of golden lightning surged out of the seven golden nails before rapidly flowing over Feng Tiandu''s body while crackling incessantly.
A series of gashes instantly appeared over his skin, and blood came pouring out of those gashes as his aura diminished significantly.
Feng Tiandu''s eyes narrowed slightly as he gave an enraged harrumph, and his hands balled up into tight fists as began to chant a rapid incantation.
A burst of ck light instantly emerged over his body, and his entire body turned ck, while strings of ck runes surged out of the spots on his body that had been impaled by teh golden nails.
At the same time, a burst of rustling rang out within hsi body, and the seven chains shuddered before slowly pulling back, as if they were being forced out by something.
Qi Tianxiao''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, around a dozen ck chains shot out of Feng Tiandu''s body before wrapping themselves around the surrounding golden cage.
Inky-ck light emerged from the ck chains, quickly staining the golden cage ck, while the golden chains around Feng Tiandu began to rapidly dim while also disying signs of loosening.
Qi Tianxiao was greatly rmed to see this, and he hurriedly attempted to bolster the golden chains, but to no avail.
In the blink of an eye, half of the golden cage had already been stained ck.
Right at this moment, a white figure emerged behind Feng Tiandu without any warning, and it was none other than Xiao Jinhan.
With a flick of his wrist, a white shadow flew out of his sleeve, piercing directly toward Feng Tiandu''s throat like lightning. It was a translucent longsword that was giving off tremendous cial qi, and Qi Tianxiao and the others merely continued with what they were doing, disying no reaction to Xiao Jinhan''s sudden intervention.
Feng Tiandu''s pupils contracted slightly as he opened his mouth to release a streak of yellow light, which revealed itself to be a shield in the shape of a yellow turtle shell. The shield was riddled with profound patterns, and judging from the formidable earthw power fluctuations that it was giving off, this was clearly a powerful immortal treasure.
The yellow shield instantly swelled to several times its original size as it positioned itself in front of him, and the white longsword struck the yellow shield with a resounding ng.
Thetter was forced back from the force of the sh, but it was ultimately able to keep the longsword at bay.
"Qi Tianxiao! How dare you collude with Xiao Jinhan!" Feng Tiandu roared in a furious voice.
In the distant cave, Han Li continued to look on in silence, but a cold look had appeared in his eyes as he gazed upon Xiao Jinhan.
It was clear that he had employed the same tactics that he had used to bring down the ze Dragon Dao to sow dissension among the Dawn Fall Sect''s cultivators as well.
If Feng Tiandu were to also be eliminated, then the Vast Flow Pce would be the only one that remained of the Northern cial Immortal Region''s three premier sects. It would bepletely powerless to oppose the Northern cial Immortal Pce on its own, and before long, the entire immortal region would fall under the Immortal Pce''s control.
Jin Tong had been roused from her nap by themotion, and she rushed over to Han Li''s side as she pped her hands together with an excited expression and yelled, "They really have begun fighting! You were right, Uncle! Do we strike now?"
"Let''s wait for a bit longer. The best is still yet toe," Han Li said.
In the distance, the expressions of the Southern Dawn beings changed slightly at the sight of the scene unfolding before them, as was the case with Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni.
However, before they could do anything, Ouyang Kuishan''s trio abruptly appeared before them, standing in their way.
Ouyang Kuishan cast his gaze toward the Southern Dawn beings and Daoist Hu Yan''s duo as he dered in a threatening tone, "This has nothing to do with any of you, fellow daoists, so please do not intervene."
Daoist Hu Yan and the others exchanged a few nces upon hearing this, and they decided to oblige.
Xiao Jinhan was rather relieved to see this out of the corner of his eye, and he made a hand seal, upon which a burst of white mist with countless runes dancing within it erupted out of his white longsword before enveloping the yellow shield in a sh.
Bright yellow light shed from the yellow shield, and it was just about to release something,only for a burst ofw power fluctuations to surge out of the cloud of white mist to slow down the release of the yellow light.
Immediately thereafter, a millstone-sized chunk of white ice emerged, presenting quite a spectacr sight to behold.
The yellow shield waspletely encased within the block of ice, and all of thew power fluctuations it was releasing had been sealed away.
The block of ice then fell to the ground with a loud crack, while Han Li looked on from afar with a hint of admiration in his eyes.
To think that hisws of ice have been cultivated to such a degree that they''re capable of even freezing otherw powers! As expected of the master of the Northern cial Immortal Pce!
Chapter 481: A Good Show
Chapter 481: A Good Show
Feng Tiandu''s expression changed slightly upon seeing his shield being encased in ice, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which ck light began to surge through his eyes.
Radiant ck light also erupted out of his body to stain the golden cage at an even faster rate, and the seven golden nails were also being forced out of his body faster than before.
"Hurry, Pce Master Xiao! We won''t be able to restrain him for much longer!" Qi Tianxiao urged as he released two bursts of ck light out of his hands into the golden chain that he was holding.
At this point, his face was bright red, and a sheen of sweat had appeared on his forehead. His hands were also trembling slightly, clearly indicating that he was already going all-out, but it was still to no avail, and the same applied to the other three Golden Immortals as well.
Feng Tiandu was far more powerful than all of them had anticipated.
A hint of hesitation shed through Xiao Jinhan''s eyes, but he couldn''t just pass up such a prime opportunity to strike down Feng Tiandu. With that in mind, a fierce look appeared in his eyes as he advanced forward, leaving a flurry of snowkes in his wake.
At the same time, he pierced his sword through the air four times in rapid session, unleashing four streaks of white qi that hurtled directly toward Feng Tiandu like four white snakes.
However, right at this moment, a burst of spatial fluctuations erupted behind Qi Tianxiao, and an inky-ck hand appeared out of thin air. Faint ck mist was emanating from the hand as it crashed down toward the top of Xiao Jinhan''s head like lightning.
Xiao Jinhan was greatly startled by this unexpected turn of events, and radiant white light emerged over his body as he frantically sprang to the side.
However, his attention had been entirely focused on Feng Tiandu, so he reacted a fraction of a second toote, and he was unable topletely avoid the ck hand.
The hand crashed down onto his shoulder with a bone-splitting crack, and Xiao Jinhan stumbled slightly before steadying himself again not far away.
However, his left shoulder was clearly mangled, and a ck palm print had appeared on his back, giving off a putrid odor.
The robes on his also quickly withered away, as if they were being eroded, while the ckened part of his skin was rapidly necrosing amid a sinister hissing sound, and the rot was quickly spreading.
Xiao Jinhan inhaled briefly as he made a hand seal, and white light shed over his body as all of the swirling snowkes around him instantly revolved to form a white tornado that converged toward the wound. In the blink of an eye, ayer of white frost took shape over the ck palm print, preventing the rot from spreading any further.
At the same time, he spun around like lightning to see who it was that had attacked him, only to be stunned to find that it was none other than Qi Tianxiao!
At this moment, there was a faint smile on Qi Tianxiao''s face, and he didn''t appear to be under any strain at all.
While Xiao Jinhan was rooted to the spot in shock, eight chains appeared around him out of thin air, and they were none other than Origin Separation Law Chains.
Xiao Jinhan''s pupils contracted drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly opened his mouth to release a white jade bowl, out of which countless golden and silver runes surged forth to form a golden and silver of light that enveloped his entire body.
However, the eight ck chains were able to pass straight through the golden and silver without encountering any impediment before vanishing into his body in the blink of an eye.
Xiao Jinhan''s entire body stiffened as the white light around him quickly faded, and his aura also began to rapidly diminish.
Immediately thereafter, Feng Tiandu abruptly appeared behind him in a sh.
The seven golden nails in his body had already beenpletely removed, and he seemed to have made a full recovery. Eight ck chains were currently extending out of the palms of his hands, and the other end of the chains were lost into space.
Clearly, he was the one who had unleashed the eight Origin Separation Law Chains that had struck Xiao Jinhan.
Xiao Jinhan let loose a furious roar as the white light emanating from his body abruptly brightened, forming a translucent white barrier over his skin.
As a result, the rate at which the ck chains were piercing into his body was slowed down significantly.
Right at this moment, four golden chains arrived on the scene amid a sh of golden light before wrapping themselves around Xiao Jinhan, and they were the very same chains that had been used to restrict Feng Tiandu earlier.
At this point, the ck runes on the golden chains had alreadypletely faded, and they were radiating dazzling golden light while also giving off formidable restrictive power.
The four golden chains quickly intertwined with one another to form the same golden cage from before, this time with Xiao Jinhan trapped inside.
At the same time, Qi Tianxiao and the other three Dawn Fall Sect Golden Immortals appeared around Xiao Jinhan in a sh before making a rapid series of hand seals.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes as he observed the unfolding scene from afar.
"What are those people doing? Weren''t they targeting that old zombie before? Why have they suddenly started attacking the silver beard guy now?" Jin Tong asked in a surprised manner.
"The first part was all an act, and they''re actually all plotting against silver beard. He''s been betrayed by his own allies," Han Li exined as a hint of realization appeared in his eyes.
"That''s kind of sad, isn''t it?" Jin Tong mused as her brows furrowed slightly.
"Let this be a lesson to you, Jin Tong. Do not trust anyone, and always have your guard up," Han Li said in a solemn voice.
"Does that mean I can''t even trust you?" Jin Tong asked as she blinked in an innocent manner.
Han Li was left a little speechless by this question, and he replied in an exasperated manner, "I''m an exception, of course!"
......
"How dare you betray me! You''re all going to pay with your lives!" Xiao Jinhan harrumphed coldly as he made a hand seal, and a speck of dazzling white light emerged over his hand with countless white runes shing inside.
Qi Tianxiao and the other three Golden Immortals abruptly shuddered slightly, and ayer of white light appeared over their dantians, immediately following which a vast expanse of snowkes emerged above them.
A cruel smile appeared on Xiao Jinhan''s face as he prepared to initiate the killing blow, but right at this moment, a burst of ck light emerged over the dantians of Qi Tianxiao and the others, and there was a ck chain projection in each burst of ck light.
The chain projections whipped around in a forceful motion, and the white light around their dantians was instantly shattered like eggshells, while the vast expanse of snowkes above them also faded away.
"Impossible!" Xiao Jinhan eximed with a stunned expression.
"You thought such a crude nascent soul restriction would work on cultivators of our Dawn Fall Sect? Are you not aware that my Origin Separation Yin Devil Arts specifically targets the nascent soul?" Feng Tiandu scoffed with a cold sneer.
Xiao Jinhan''s expression darkened slightly, and before he could do anything else, several more figures suddenly appeared around him.
They were none other than Daoist Hu Yan, Yun Ni, and the two Southern Dawn Race Golden Immortals.
All of them had fierce killing intent in their eyes, and a crimson flying sword, a blue flying wheel, and two golden canes hurtled directly toward Xiao Jinhan at their behest.
Xiao Jinhan''s expression changed slightly once again upon seeing this, but he remained calm and collected as a ball of white light appeared in front of him.
All of the surrounding swirling snowkes instantly converged to form a semi-transparent wall of white ice, which was giving off a faint glow. Countless white runes were dancing over the wall of ice, while streaks of white light were shing within it.
Four resounding booms rang out as the four immortal treasures unleashed by Daoist Hu Yan and the others struck the wall of ice, and a series of cracks instantly appeared over the wall, following which it waspletely shattered, but the four immortal treasures were also sessfully repelled.
Immediately thereafter, Xiao Jinhan began to chant a rapid incantation, and all of the surrounding snowkes instantly converged toward him, forming a ball of white ice that was over 100 feet in size, epassing both himself and the golden cage within.
The golden cage and the eight ck chains were all frozen in the ball of ice, rendering thempletely immobilized.
Feng Tiandu''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately flicked a finger through the air, releasing a ck longsword that transformed into a streak of ck swordlight that was several hundred feet in length before striking the ball of ice with tremendous power.
A resounding boom rang out as a gash that was over 100 feet in length was sliced into the ball of ice, but it wasn''t very deep.
However, the streak of ck swordlight was also repelled, and it reverted back into a ck serpentine flying sword that circled around repeatedly above Feng Tiandu''s head.
Ayer of white ice crystals had appeared over the surface of the sword, and the ck swordlight emanating from it had also be rather erratic, indicating that its spiritual nature had been harmed.
Feng Tiandu''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of ck light that vanished into the flying sword.
The ck flying sword twisted and writhed like a spirit snake, and the white crystals on its surface were quickly shattered, restoring it to its normal state.
Meanwhile, all of the Golden Immortal and True Immortals present had converged to surround Qi Tianxiao.
Ouyang Kuishan''s trio wasn''t surprised in the slightest to see this, nor did they disy any intention to try and free Xiao Jinhan. Instead, all of them rose up into the air and began inspecting their surroundings as if they were standing on lookout duty.
Inside the ball of ice, Xiao Jinhan looked around at all of his assants with apletely fearless expression as he said, "I''m assuming the Vast Flow Pce is also involved in this, right? On the way here, Lu Qinghai made up an excuse to divert away all of my subordinates. Now that your n has seeded, why don''t you get him toe out as well?"
Everyone faltered slightly upon hearing this.
"Looks like there''s been a misunderstanding, Pce Master Xiao. We actually only hatched this n on the spur of the moment, and we''re not colluding with the Vast Flow Pce. However, it seems like even the heavens are on our side, and Grand Pce Master Luo has certainly saved us a lot of trouble by diverting your subordinates away," Qi Tianxiao chuckled.
"Xiao Jinhan, ever since you took over the Northern cial Immortal Pce, you''ve been nothing but a menace to our immortal region,shing out at all of the major sects that possess the power to oppose you for your own selfish gain! You''ve already brought down the ze Dragon Dao, and now, you''re trying to do the same to our Dawn Fall Sect!
¡°This is the day that you receive your retribution!" Feng Tiandu dered with a cold look in his eyes, while everyone else was also glowering intently at Xiao Jinhan with fierce killing intent.
Xiao Jinhan''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he dered in a cold voice, "I am the master of the Northern cial Immortal Pce! If you dare to harm me, the Heavenly Court will strike you all down! None of you will be able to get away from the envoys sent down to avenge me!"
"That''s right, we didn''t dare to touch you back in the Northern cial Immortal Region, but here in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, who''s going to find out?" Daoist Hu Yan chuckled coldly.
Chapter 482: Keep Watching
Chapter 482: Keep Watching
"Who are you? I don''t think we''ve met before, so there certainly shouldn''t be any vendetta between us. I presume you must be in disguise right now. Why is it that someone of your cultivation base doesn''t even dare to show their face? Are you perhaps harboring some ulterior motives?" Xiao Jinhan asked as he turned to Daoist Hu Yan.
Everyone else also turned to Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni with a hint of suspicion in their eyes upon hearing this.
In response, Daoist Hu Yan''s expression remained unchanged, and he disyed no intention of replying.
"Do not be swayed by Xiao Jinhan''s baseless usations, fellow daoists! He''s already a spent force, and he''s only trying to stall for time to dy the inevitable!" the elderly woman from the Southern Dawn Race suddenly said in a rather sharp and unpleasant voice.
"That''s right! All of us have to attack at once to strike him down once and for all! If we let him escape, there will no longer be a ce for us in the Northern cial Immortal Region!" Feng Tiandu dered with a determined look in his eyes.
Everyone''s hearts stirred slightly upon hearing this, and the killing intent in their eyes became even more pronounced.
Feng Tiandu took a deep breath, then made a hand seal, and bright ck light erupted out of his body, spreading in all directions to form a ck spirit domain that was close to 30 kilometers in size, epassing Xiao Jinhan within it.
A burst of formidable restrictivew powers spread through the spirit domain, immobilizing everything inside it.
Daoist Hu Yan and the others were caught off guard, and they also felt themselves being rooted to the spot, making any movement exceedingly difficult, while their immortal spiritual power cirction also slowed down significantly.
However, this sensation onlysted for an instant before fading, much to everyone''s relief, but it also instilled within them a sense of apprehension toward Feng Tiandu.
The cave that Han Li was situated in was very far away from the site of the battle, so it wasn''t epassed within the ck spirit domain, but he could still sense thew power fluctuations emanating from it.
This spirit domain seems to be even bigger than Qu Ling¡¯s...
The size of a spirit domain was an important indication of a cultivator''s power, so it seemed that Feng Tiandu was even more formidable than Qu Ling.
Enshrouded within Feng Tiandu''s ck spirit domain, the white light emanating from Xiao Jinhan''s body instantly dimmed, while the light within his ball of white ice also diminished significantly.
At the same time, the ck chains within his body suddenly lit up once again, seemingly resonating with the ck spirit domain.
Xiao Jinhan''s expression darkened even further upon seeing this.
Meanwhile, everyone else present also sprang into action.
Bright gray light erupted out of Qi Tianxiao''s body, spreading outward to form a gray spirit domain in the blink of an eye.
This gray spirit domain was far smaller than Feng Tiandu''s, but its gray light was tinged with a lifeless yellow color, and there was a nauseating odor of rot and decay permeating throughout it.
Furthermore, ripples that were visible even to the naked eye were spreading through the space within the spirit domain, as if even the very space itself were being eroded.
The spirit domain quickly spread to epass everyone present, but of course, no one else was affected aside from Xiao Jinhan.
This was partially due to the fact that Qi Tianxiao was controlling thew powers within his spirit domain so that they didn''t impact his allies, while the other factor was that his cultivation base was significantly inferior to Feng Tiandu''s, and everyone else had already channeled their ownw powers to protect themselves.
Almost at the exact same time, Daoist Hu Yan made a hand seal, and a burst of bright red light emerged over his body to form a series of scorching crimson fireballs.
The crimson light rapidly erupted outward in all directions, forming a fiery spirit domain that also epassed Xiao Jinhan.
Meanwhile, the elderly woman of the Southern Dawn Race swept her golden cane through the air, and a burst of crimson light erupted out of her body as well, forming another fiery spirit domain.
Outside of those four, none of the other Golden Immortals unleashed their spirit domains, but all of them had summoned various immortal treasures and spirit treasures to bombard Xiao Jinhan with attacks.
Epassed within four enemy spirit domains at once, a grim look appeared on Xiao Jinhan''s face, and the spiritual light emanating from his body also diminished significantly.
However, he disyed no fear in the face of the barrage of oing attacks, and white light began to swirl within his eyes, forming a pair of white vortexes that were revolving incessantly.
A burst of bright white light surfaced over his body before spreading outward, quickly forming a white spirit domain that was slightlyrger than Feng Tiandu''s.
Gusts of white cial wind were howling through the spirit domain, filling the entire area with a bone-chilling aura.
Enshrouded within the white spirit domain, everyone surrounding Xiao Jinhan involuntarily shuddered as their teeth began to chatter, and their bodies, immortal spiritual power, and souls were all encased within a burst of cial power.
Feng Tiandu and the other Golden Immortals were able to envelop themselves in their ownw powers to ward off some of this cial power, but the True Immortals were unable to do the same, and all of them were frozen solid in the blink of an eye.
All of the spirit treasures and immortal treasures that had been summoned were also frozen into chunks of ice, and many of them began falling out of the sky.
Even though the True Immortals of the Dawn Fall Sect had all been frozen solid,yers of protective spiritual light had emerged over their bodies to ensure that their lives wouldn''t be under threat for the time being. In contrast, the True Immortals of the Southern Dawn Race were a little weaker, and the one with the lowliest cultivation base among them was killed on the spot by the unbearable cial aura.
The elderly woman''s expression instantly changed slightly upon seeing this, and she swept a hand through the air to release a burst of red light that swept up the other Southern Dawn True Immortals before sending them flying away.
Feng Tiandu also swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of ck light that carried all of the Dawn Fall Sect True Immortals away as well.
In a sh between spirit domains andw powers, True Immortals were nothing more than cannon fodder.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and ayer of white ice crystals had appeared over the immortal treasures summoned by the Golden Immortals, thereby slowing them down significantly, but they were all still hurtling toward Xiao Jinhan.
Several of the immortal treasures struck the ball of white ice around Xiao Jinhan, and it shuddered slightly, but was able to withstand the blows.
Xiao Jinhan paid no heed to what was happening outside as he began chanting an incantation while spiritual light shed within his eyes, and eight translucent threads emerged around him before wrapping themselves around the surrounding ck chains.
Ayer of white light instantly appeared over the surface of the ck chains, and the restrictivew powers within them were suppressed even further.
Xiao Jinhan then grabbed onto the ck chains before tugging onto them forcefully, and all of them were instantly pulled out of his body.
With those ck chains removed, hisplexion instantly improved significantly.
"As expected of the master of the Northern cial Immortal Pce to be able to struggle free from my Origin Separation Law Chains even while being subjected to four spirit domains at once! Having said that, your struggles are futile!" Feng Tiandu chuckled coldly as he swept a sleeve through the air, instantly drawing the ck chains back to himself.
At the same time, he raised his other hand before spreading his fingers open, and five streaks of ck light shot out of his fingertips.
All of the ck light within the spirit domain instantly surged into the streaks of ck light in a frenzy, and they immediately swelled drastically in size before fusing as one to form a ck vortex that was several dozen feet in size.
A burst of tremendousw power fluctuations erupted out of the vortex, and Feng Tiandu pointed a finger at it, sending it hurtling toward Xiao Jinhan like lightning.
In the blink of an eye, the ck vortex appeared right in front of Xiao Jinhan, then exploded without any warning, sending countless streaks of ck light shooting through the air to strike the ball of white ice around him.
At the same time, a huge gray palm projection emerged behind him amid a sh of gray light, and it came crashing down while giving off a formidable aura of decay.
The palm projection had been unleashed by none other than Qi Tianxiao, who had appeared behind Xiao Jinhan with a cold look on his face.
At the same time, red light shed on either side of Xiao Jinhan, and Daoist Hu Yan and the elderly woman emerged one after the other, with the former wielding a giant crimson sword and thetter controlling a fiery dragon projection.
Both were giving off tremendous firew power fluctuations as they struck the ball of white ice, and in the face of this devastating barrage of attacks, countless cracks instantly appeared over the surface of the ball of ice.
Immediately thereafter, it exploded violently before beingpletely inundated by ck, gray, and red light.
Xiao Jinhan shot out of the explosion of light in a sh, but his robes were in tatters, and half of his body was drenched in blood, giving him a very disheveled appearance.
Right at this moment, another ck vortex appeared in front of him without any warning, and it swept up his body like a giant ck mouth.
As a result, Xiao Jinhan was instantly stopped cold in his tracks, then began to move involuntarily in ordance with the rotation of the vortex.
Immediately thereafter, Feng Tiandu appeared in front of Xiao Jinhan in a sh, and he swept a sleeve through the air as he dered, "Your fate is sealed, Xiao Jinhan!"
A huge ck sword projection erupted out of his hand, and it came crashing down upon Xiao Jinhan with tremendous power, slicing his body into two in the blink of an eye.
"Damn, I was kind of rooting for him. Oh well, at least that means I get to have his nascent soul now. I''ll grab it," Jin Tong said as she prepared to spring out of the cave in the distance.
"Wait!" Han Li called out as his hand shot forth like lightning to grab onto Jin Tong''s little golden braid.
"Hey, you promised that I would get some Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls!" Jin Tong protested as she attempted to struggle free from Han Li''s grasp, but to no avail.
"Keep watching, the show has only just begun," Han Li said.
......
Inside the valley, a faint smile appeared on Feng Tiandu''s face at the sight of Xiao Jinhan''s split body, but in the next instant, his smile abruptly stiffened.
As it turned out, no nascent soul had flown out of the two halves of Xiao Jinhan''s body. Furthermore, his remains had transformed into a pair of translucent ice statues, which shattered into specks of white light that surged into the surrounding white spirit domain.
Chapter 483: Domain Spirit
Chapter 483: Domain Spirit
As the ice statue shattered, a ball of white light emerged out of thin air in front of a mountain face around half a kilometer away from Feng Tiandu and the others, and it began to revolve on the spot, stirring up all of the surrounding snowkes into a frenzy.
These snowkes converged to form a block of ice that was around 10 feet tall in the blink of an eye, and the block of ice then exploded to reveal Xiao Jinhan, except he was looking even paler than before.
Even though he was looking rather worse for wear, the spirit domain that he had released still hadn''t faded, and upon closer inspection, one would discover that the white light in the area immediately around his body was particrly dense, forming a translucent protective barrier that kept the power of the four opposing spirit domains at bay.
Feng Tiandu turned his gaze to Xiao Jinhan, and he gave a cold harrumph while making a hand seal, upon which the giant ck sword in front of him instantly swiveled around before transforming into countless ck sword projections that swept toward Xiao Jin Han like a torrential wave.
All of the other Golden Immortals also instantly set off in pursuit of Xiao Jinhan while unleashing attacks of their own.
A giant gray palm projection, an enormous fiery sword, and a crimson fiery dragon were sent hurtling toward Xiao Jinhan once again, and they were even more formidable than before.
As for the other Golden Immortals, they had no spirit domains of their own, so their mobility was quite significantly impacted by Xiao Jinhan''s spirit domain, and as a result, they weregging far behind.
Even though Xiao Jinhan was looking a little worse for wear, he wasn''t disying any signs of panic as he flew straight down as a streak of white light. Uponnding on the ground,he remained still on the spot as he raised his head to look up at Feng Tiandu and the others.
The entire sky above his head was already filled with spiritual light, and an assortment of attacks came crashing down upon him.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out from the ground below, and all of a sudden, a white stone pir that was several hundred feet tall abruptly erupted out of the ground.
Four more resounding booms rang out as an additional four white stone pirs emerged, forming a circle around Xiao Jinhan.
The five stone pirs were of a translucent white color, looking as if they had been forged from ice crystals, and they were riddled with countless strange patterns. Furthermore, there were numerous glowing white gemstones embedded into the pirs, and they were shing incessantly like eyes.
Radiant white light erupted out of the five stone pirs, then quickly connected together to form a white light barrier that epassed Xiao Jinhan within it.
All of the attacks unleashed by Feng Tiandu and the others struck the white light barrier with tremendous force, causing it to warp and tremble, and the runes on its surface swirled and churned.
It looked as if the light barrier could shatter at any moment, but it was ultimately able to hold itself together, much to the surprise of Feng Tiandu and the others.
Far away in the cave, Han Li wasn''t all that surprised to see Xiao Jinhan escape from the spirit domains of his four assants. After all, he had dared toe here on his own, so he had to have been prepared, and as the master of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, it was only to be expected that he had some life-saving trump cards up his sleeve.
However, what did evoke a sense of surprise within him was the sight of the stone pirs that had emerged around Xiao Jinhan.
The five stone pirs were trembling slightly, and the spiritual light that they were releasing was bing more and more radiant. There were also countless white runes swirling within the spiritual light like snowkes before fusing into Xiao Jinhan''s spirit domain.
The spirit domain rapidly expanded as a result, and its area was increased by twofold in the blink of an eye.
This was rather rming to Han Li as the cave that he and Jin Tong were situated in was now also epassed within the spirit domain.
Additionally, all of the Dawn Fall Sect and Southern Dawn Race True Immortals, as well as Ouyang Kuishan''s trio, had also been swallowed up by the spirit domain.
Not only has the spirit domain expanded in size, the cial qi within it was also rapidly bing denser, as were the snowkes swirling around in the air, and the potency of the icew powers within the spirit domain had also been roughly doubled.
Inside the spirit domain, the rock faces of the valley were instantly covered in a thickyer of ice crystals, while a bed of snow appeared on the ground.
In the blink of an eye, the entire area within a radius of dozens of kilometers around the valley had been transformed into a world of ice and snow.
At the same time, ayer of ice crystals also appeared over the bodies of Feng Tiandu and the others, and they were instantly turned into ice statues.
The True Immortals in the distance were faring even worse. They had only just defrosted after being sent out of Xiao Jinhan''s spirit domain, and now, they were frozen solid once again, with even their expressions frozen on their faces.
However, immediately thereafter, lights of different colors began to appear within the ice crystals that Feng Tiandu and the other Golden Immortals had transformed into.
The ice crystals that they were encased in were quickly shattered, but all of them were looking slightly pale.
Ouyang Kuishan and the other dao lords knew they couldn''t just stand by passively any longer, and they also flew down to join Feng Tiandu and the others.
Meanwhile, for all of the True Immortals, this was the straw that broke the camel''s back, and all of them were quickly frozen to death on the spot.
Feng Tiandu and the others were furious to see this, but they had too much on their tes to worry about those True Immortals.
"What are those five pirs? I''ve never heard of anything that can enhance the power of a spirit domain so drastically! And when did he even set them up?" Qi Tianxiao asked with a stunned expression.
Everyone else exchanged clueless nces with one another, and they were clearly just as perplexed.
Even Feng Tiandu seemed to have no idea what these pirs could be.
Even though they had a numbers advantage, their aura was beingpletely outmatched.
"You think I waspletely oblivious to this little plot of yours? I was merely ying along so I could lure you all in and strike you all down at once! You will be the ones to die here today, not me!" Xiao Jinhan dered in a cold voice.
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon hearing this.
Right at this moment, the entirety of Xiao Jinhan''s spirit domain began to rumble once again, and it was gradually suppressing the other four spirit domains.
Grim looks instantly appeared on the face of Feng Tiandu and the others, and they all channeled their cultivation arts in an attempt to enhance their spirit domains to keep Xiao Jinhan''s spirit domain at bay, but to no avail.
"This is impossible! How could this restriction possibly elevate the power of a Golden Immortal''s spirit domain to this extent?" Feng Tiandu murmured to himself with tightly furrowed brows.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a ball of white light emerged in the air above the five stone pirs, and countless streaks of white light appeared around it before converging toward it.
The ball of light instantly began to rapidly expand, transforming into a giant white figure that was over 100 feet tall.
The top half of the giant figure belonged to a man, but the bottom half was nothing more than a cloud of indistinct white mist that was churning incessantly, and the entire figure was giving off an astonishingly formidablew aura.
"This is a domain spirit! His spirit domain has been elevated to the third level, the Spiritform Stage!" Feng Tiandu eximed in a grim voice.
Everyone''s expressions instantly changed drastically upon hearing this.
The domain spirit cast its gaze toward Feng Tiandu and the others, and its eyes were clear and lucid, looking no different from the eyes of a normal person.
With a sweep of its sleeves, the spirit domain around it instantly began to churn violently, and countless snowkes converged around it while swirling incessantly to inundate its entire body.
In the blink of an eye, an enormous white cial wave had taken shape, and it swept toward Feng Tiandu and the others with tremendous force.
Even before the giant cial wave arrived, a burst of fearsome icew powers had already descended upon everyone, and it epassed toorge an area for them to evade.
The entire space was encased in ayer of white ice crystals, and Feng Tiandu and the others were all frozen within it.
Immediately thereafter, spiritual light of different colors erupted out of their bodies to shatter the surrounding ice crystals, and Feng Tiandu dered, "Don''t hold back anymore, fellow daoists! Otherwise, we really will be the ones to die here!"
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and his ck sword instantly shot forth through the air, conjuring up countless identical ck sword projections that converged to form a sea of ck swords to oppose the cial wave.
Everyone else also summoned all of their immortal treasures to support the sea of ck swords, thereby further bolstering it as it surged toward the cial wave.
......
Inside the cave, Han Li and Jin Tong were also affected by Xiao Jinhan''s spirit domain, and both of them were instantly frozen into a pair of ice statues.
A burst of bone-chilling icew powers spread through Han Li''s entire body, striking him with a sense of excruciating pain. At the same time, his immortal spiritual power was also frozen solid, slowing its cirction to a crawl.
Han Li had faced icew powers in the past during his battle against Han Qiu back in the ck Wind Sea, butpared with Xiao Jinhan, Han Qiu''s icew powers were like a candle next to the sun.
Immediately thereafter, a golden light barrier appeared over Han Li''s entire body in a sh, and a burst of timew powers erupted out of the golden light barrier to keep the majority of the invading icew powers at bay.
At the same time, a burst of tremendous force surged out of his body to shatter the ice crystals around him, and he remained unharmed through that brief ordeal.
While it was true that Xiao Jinhan''s icew powers were extremely formidable, he was able to escape injury thanks to his incredible physical constitution.
Meanwhile, theyer of ice crystals around Jin Tong was also shattered amid a sh of golden light, following which she cast her gaze toward the five stone pirs in the distance with a furious look on her face.
Her physical constitution was superior even to Han Li''s, so she was naturally alsopletely unharmed, but being subjected to Xiao Jinhan''s icew powers had been a very painful experience for her.
In the next instant, radiant golden light emerged over her body, and a sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart as he hurriedly called out, "Jin Tong, wai..."
However, before he had a chance to finish his sentence, Jin Tong had already vanished from the spot.
His brows furrowed tightly as he stomped onto the ground in frustration, then abruptly vanished from the spot as well.
Chapter 484: Opposing the Domain Spirit
Chapter 484: Opposing the Domain Spirit
A resounding boom rang out as Xiao Jinhan''s white cial wave shed against the opposing wave of immortal treasures, resulting in a sh of epic proportions.
The entire valley rumbled and swayed, while countless criss-crossing rifts appeared over theyer of ice that covered the ground.
Thankfully, the entire valley had already been frozen solid by the ice conjured up by Xiao Jinhan''s spirit domain, which was far more resilient than normal ice. Otherwise, this entire area would''ve already beenpletely pulverized in the wake of such a formidable sh.
Even so, the valley was still beginning to copse, and it wasn''t going to be able to hold itself together for much longer.
The cial wave shuddered violently before exploding and reverting back into a vast expanse of snowkes that drifted away in all directions.
The wave of immortal treasures was also vanquished, and every single immortal treasure within it was also encased in a thickyer of ice that significantly hampered their spiritual nature.
Right at this moment, a white figure shot out of the swirling ice and snow, and it was none other than the white domain spirit.
The domain spirit was pouncing at the nearest Golden Immortal, which was a portly elderly man from the Dawn Fall Sect, and white light shed over its fingertips, upon which all of its fingernails elongated to several feet in length, resembling a set of sharp sword as they pierced toward the elderly man''s head.
The elderly man''s expression instantly changed slightly upon seeing this, and he shot back in retreat while opening his mouth to release a red flying dagger, which swelled to several times its original size in the blink of an eye.
There was an extremely life-like phoenix design engraved onto the dagger, and it was giving off radiant white light.
The elderly man made a hand seal, and the phoenix suddenly spread its wings as if it had sprung to life, and its entire body was radiating dazzling red light.
Bursts of crimson mes emerged over the flying dagger to form a fiery phoenix projection, which was giving off formidable firew power fluctuations as it swept toward the white domain spirit.
The domain spirit made no effort to take evasive measures, and radiant white light erupted out of its right hand as it reached straight into the phoenix projection.
The fiery phoenix instantly let loose an anguished wail as it faded away into nothingness, while the flying dagger was caught in the grasp of the domain spirit. It was instantly trapped in a thickyer of white ice, rendering itpletely immobilized.
The rotund elderly man was astonished to see this.
The red flying dagger didn''t appear to be all that remarkable, but it was actually one of his most powerful treasures. It had been refined using a set of true spirit phoenix remains that he had found by chance, and it was capable of unleashing extremely formidable phoenix true mes, but it was made to look like a toy in the face of the domain spirit.
The white domain spirit then swept its left hand through the air like lightning, releasing five streaks of white cial light that appeared in front of the rotund elderly man in the blink of an eye.
The elderly man was greatly rmed by this, and he hurriedly rubbed his hands together before thrusting his palms into his own body.
Several protective light barriers of different colors instantly appeared around him, and he shot back in retreat as quickly as he could.
However, the protective light barriers weren''t able to pose any resistance against the five streaks of cial light, and they were torn apart with ease.
A look of rm and horror instantly appeared in the elderly man''s face upon seeing this.
Right at this moment, a burst of gray light shot forth from the side, then transformed into a giant gray hand that managed to keep four of the streaks of cial light at bay, but one of them was able to slip through the cracks and glide past the elderly man''s left arm.
The arm was instantly amputated at the shoulder before plummeting out of the sky as a block of ice. No blood flowed out of the wound. Instead, it was covered in ayer of white ice crystals that began to rapidly spread toward other parts of his body.
The elderly man immediately summoned an azure talisman with his remaining hand before adhering to the wound.
The talisman instantly exploded to form a ball of green light that enveloped the wound, and the spread of the ice crystals was immediately slowed.
At the same time, the elderly man continued to shoot back in retreat until he was a rtively safe distance away from the white domain spirit.
The domain spirit immediately set off in pursuit, but right at this moment, the gray hand swelled to around twice its original size amid a sh of ck light, then grabbed onto the domain spirit like lightning.
At the same time, a giant white seal, an azure jade ring, and a gray jade scepter shot forth from afar. These were the immortal treasures of the other three Dawn Fall Sect Golden Immortals, and they struck the domain spirit with tremendous force, causing it to explode into a vast expanse of white light.
"Are you alright, Elder Yan?" Qi Tianxiao asked as he appeared beside the rotund elderly man before pointing a finger at him, and a crimson talisman shot out of his fingertip, giving off faint firew power fluctuations as it transformed into a ball of red light that vanished into the elderly man''s body.
Ayer of pulsing red light instantly appeared over the wound on his shoulder to ward off the invasive ice crystals.
"I''m fine. I didn''t expect this domain spirit to be so powerful. Thank you for saving me, Sect Master," the rotund elderly man replied.
"A domain spirit can draw upon all of thew power within a spirit domain, so it''s no less formidable than Xiao Jinhan himself. Make sure to be on your guard, everyone. I may not be able to protect all of you from here onward," Qi Tianxiao said in a grim voice.
Grim looks appeared on the faces of all of the Dawn Fall Sect cultivators upon hearing this, but they quickly realized that they had nothing to fear as the domain spirit had already been in just now.
Given how powerful the domain spirit was, surely it wouldn''t be easy to conjure one up, so they didn''t have to worry about it for the foreseeable future.
However, right at this moment, the vast expanse of white spiritual light that the domain spirit had disintegrated into suddenly began to converge toward a single spot, and another domain spirit emerged amid a sh of white light, much to the shock and dismay of all of the Golden Immortals present.
With a sweep of the domain spirit''s sleeve, all of the snowkes within the spirit domain began to churn and surge once again, forming another enormous cial wave that was evenrger than the one before.
Everyone immediately braced themselves to oppose the cial wave, only for Feng Tiandu to appear in front of them in a sh.
"A domain spirit isn''t that easy to destroy. Go and destroy those five stone pirs! In the meantime, I''ll hold off the domain spirit."
Radiant ck light erupted out of Feng Tiandu''s body as he spoke, and countless bursts of ck qi instantly surged out of the ck spirit domain around him.
At the same time, he began chanting an incantation while releasing a string of incantation seals, and a series of ck chains emerged within the ck qi.
All of the ck qi instantly converged toward a single spot to form a giant ck mountain, which stood directly in the path of the cial wave.
A resounding boom rang out, and the ck mountain shuddered violently, as did the chains around it, many of which were snapped, but the cial wave was ultimately kept at bay.
Feng Tiandu peered into the cial wave, and ck light shed within his eyes as he thrust a palm into the ck mountain.
ck light shed over the mountain as well, and a series of chains shot out of the mountain before piercing into the cial wave like lightning to tie up the white domain spirit.
Everyone''s expressions eased slightly upon seeing this, and they immediately swooped down toward the stone pirs below.
A cold harrumph rang out from within the white light barrier at the center of the stone pirs, and countless bursts of white light converged from all directions, forming a huge white that swooped toward everyone.
A burst of incredibly formidable icew powers instantly surged out of the, and everyone knew that they would be in immense trouble if they were to be ensnared by the.
Hence, they immediately stopped cold in their tracks, then parted down the middle to try and skirt around the.
However, the white abruptly expanded outward, instantly swelling to several times its original size to stop everyone again.
Qi Tian opened his mouth to release a burst of gray light, interspersed throughout which were four or five grayw threads, all of which vanished into the gray jade scepter.
The scepter instantly began to glow radiantly and swelled to several dozen times its original size. At the same time, gray light shed over its tip, and a gray serpentine head with arge fleshy growth on its head emerged.
The serpentine head opened its mouth to release a cloud of dense gray mist, which transformed into four or five huge gray pythons.
The serpent''s body was covered in scales that were riddled with countless gray patterns, giving it quite a fearsome appearance, and it released a vast expanse of corrosivew powers that struck the white.
The corrosivew powers instantly began eating away at the rapidly, and before long, severalrge holes had appeared on it.
The other Golden Immortals were ecstatic to see this, and they flew through those holes in the to continue on toward the stone pirs.
Qi Tianxiao made a hand seal, and the huge gray pythons abruptly fused as one into a giant python that was over 1,000 feet in length, then swooped down to strike the white light barrier around the stone pirs with tremendous force.
A resounding boom rang out as the white light barrier rippled slightly, then immediately returned to normal.
Qi Tianxiao faltered slightly upon seeing this.
They had previously attacked this white light barrier, but it hadn''t been that resilient at the time.
Immediately thereafter, everyone else''s attacks also arrived.
Three golden flying swords shot out of the bodies of Ouyang Kuishan''s trio, and they instantly transformed into three giant golden swords that were radiating dazzling golden light.
All of the patterns on the flying swords began to glow radiantly, and there were countless golden runes dancing within the golden light.
Each of the three ze Dragon Dao dao lords expelled a mouthful of blood essence, then made a hand seal, and the golden light radiating from the three giant swords brightened even further as they fused as one to form a single golden sword that was 3,000 to 4,000 feet in length.
Under the collective efforts of the three dao lords, the enormous golden sword reared up before crashing down toward the white light barrier.
Meanwhile, the elderly woman raised a hand, and the two golden canes shot forth through the air once again while transforming into a pair of golden dragons that were each several hundred feet in length.
At the same time, two balls of red light containing a pair of red bracelets flew out of her sleeve, and they fitted themselves around the necks of the two golden dragons in a sh.
Crimson mes were instantly ignited over the bodies of the golden dragons, transforming them into a pair of fiery dragons, and their auras also swelled drastically as they pounced at the white light barrier.
Immediately thereafter, the clear cry of a crane rang out across the entire valley.
A ball of scorching descended from the heavens, containing a fiery crimson bird that was several hundred feet in size. There was a fiery crown on its head, giving it a sense of regal majesty and an appearance simr to that of the legendary Vermilion Bird.
The fiery birdshed out with its enormous talons, unleashing streaks of crimson sword qi that also hurtled directly toward the white light barrier.
At the same time, a giant blue wheel that was over 1,000 feet in size appeared beside the fiery bird in a sh before immediately beginning to revolve rapidly..
Bursts of radiant blue light appeared over the giant wheel, then transformed into numerous blue ice spikes that filled the entire surrounding area in a radius of several hundred feet.
All of the ice spikes had hints ofw powers swirling around them, and in the next instant, all of them were also sent flying toward the white light barrier as if they had been fired out of crossbows.
The crimson fiery bird and the giant blue wheel were being controlled by none other than Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni, respectively.
Chapter 485: Unexpected
Chapter 485: Unexpected
Immediately following the crimson Vermilion Bird and the giant blue wheel came a massive white seal, an azure jade bracelet, and a crimson bead, all of which were hurtling through the air from different directions. The other three Golden Immortals of the Dawn Fall Sect had unleashed attacks of their own, and of course, they were all directed at the white light barrier as well.
It was clear that everyone was determined to kill Xiao Jinhan, and this barrage of attacks was significantly more formidable than the one that had been unleashed against the restriction at the entrance of the High Zenith Pce.
A string of earth-shattering booms rang out, and the white light barrier warped and trembled violently as the spiritual light on its surface quickly faded.
However, for some reason, it had be several times more resilient than before, and it disyed no signs of breaking.
Not only that, but countless white runes had appeared over the light barrier, and as these runes began to sh, countless specks of spiritual light converged within the surrounding spirit domain before surging into the light barrier, and spiritual light radiating from it began to quickly recover again.
Everyone''s expressions changed once again upon seeing this, and Qi Tianxiao''s brows furrowed slightly as he made a hand seal, upon which the giant gray python sprang forth before wrapping itself several times around the white light barrier.
Countless gray runes emerged over its body, and clouds of liquid-like gray mist spilled out to envelop the entire white light barrier.
Due to the corrosive effects of the gray mist, the recovery of the light barrier wasn''t instantly slowed, but the rate of erosion wasgging far behind the rate of recovery, so the detrimental effect was virtually negligible.
A hint of urgency appeared in Qi Tianxiao''s eyes upon seeing this, and he was just about to call upon everyone to attack again when a resounding boom suddenly rang out from the ground below.
Immediately thereafter, countless shards of ice were sent flying in all directions as a giant golden beetle that was several hundred feet in size flew out.
Qi Tianxiao faltered slightly at the sight of the golden beetle, which spread open its legs to grab onto the white light barrier before hacking viciously at it with its sharp ws.
The giant gray python was instantly sliced into several pieces by the gray beetle, and its body disintegrated into a vast cloud of gray mist amid an anguished wail.
Qi Tianxiao was astonished to see this. Even though the gray python had been formed by gray mist, it was interspersed with hisw threads, so it possessed just as much structural integrity as the average immortal treasure, yet the golden beetle had managed to tear it apart with ease.
Everyone else was alsopletely rooted to the spot, and they had no idea whether this golden beetle was friend or foe, but Feng Tiandu''s eyes lit up slightly as he caught sight of the golden beetle while still locked in battle against the white domain spirit.
The golden beetle paid no heed to any of the Golden Immortals present as it opened its mouth up wide, and a pair of scythelike sharp teeth sprang out of its mouth.
These two teeth were different from its other golden teeth in that their coloration was far lighter, and they were also slightly translucent.
The golden beetle chomped down onto the white light barrier with ferocious might, and its two sharp fangs were able to tear a pair of long gashes into the light barrier with ease, even though it had managed to withstand such a ferocious barrage of attacks from the other Golden Immortals.
Immediately thereafter, the white light barrier exploded with a dull thump to reveal the five stone pirs inside.
The stone pirs were riddled with countlessplex white patterns that extended all the way down onto the ground, where they intertwined to form an extremelyplex white array.
At this moment, Xiao Jinhan was seated at the center of the array, and he was just as bbergasted as everyone else.
"How dare you use your ice to freeze me!" the golden beetle yelled in the voice of a little girl, then pounced directly at Xiao Jinhan as a ball of golden light.
Is this... a Gold Devouring Immortal? But that''s impossible!
A perplexed look shed through Xiao Jinhan''s eyes, and he remained seated as he made a hand seal.
The white array around him instantly began to glow brightly as a thick streak of white light emerged, then instantly transformed into a sharp sword that shot forth like lightning to strike the ball of golden light.
A loud ng rang out as the ball of golden light was sent flying, and it faded to reveal the golden beetle tumbling end over end through the air.
However, after the golden beetle steadied itself, it was revealed that only a faint white mark had appeared on its golden shell.
In the next instant, the golden beetle began to rapidly shrink, reducing itself to only the size of a millstone, following which it pounced at Xiao Jinhan once again, this time reaching around twice the speed as during its previous attack.
However, as soon as it drew close to the stone pirs, the array on the ground lit up once again, and another streak of swordlight shot forth to strike it with unerring uracy, sending it flying back through the air once again.
The golden beetle was bing even more enraged, and it was just about to fly forward once again when it suddenly stopped in its tracks and took a nce in a certain direction, following which it abruptly vanished from the spot.
Xiao Jinhan was rather taken aback to see this, and before he could do anything else, Qi Tianxiao and the others descended out of the sky to surround him and the five stone pirs.
Everyone took a collective nce at the spot where the golden beetle had been just a moment ago, and a hint of bewilderment shed through their eyes, but they quickly turned their attention back to Xiao Jinhan.
"It looks like even the heavens are on our side! You should surrender and ept your fate, Pce Master Xiao!" Qi Tianxiao dered as he made a hand seal, and his gray jade scepter instantly began to glow radiantly while releasing a cloud of dense gray mist.
A giant gray dragon took shape around the gray scepter, and it pounced at Xiao Jinhan with almighty power.
All of the other Golden Immortals were also attacking Xiao Jinhan from all directions with their immortal treasures, and in response, Xiao Jinhan began to chant an incantation while flicking his fingers through the air in rapid session, sending a string of incantation seals flying into the five stone pirs around him.
The attacks unleashed by Qi Tianxiao and the others had only just drawn close to the stone pirs when the white array on the ground began to revolve rapidly, and around a dozen thick beams of white light shot out of the array in all directions.
A string of resounding booms rang out as all of the oing attacks were sent flying or kept at bay, and not even a single one of them was able to slip through the cracks, much to the dismay of the surrounding Golden Immortals.
Having observed the white array in action from above, the Golden Immortals had thought that Xiao Jinhan was actively controlling the array to ward off the golden beetle, but it seemed that this wasn''t actually the case. Instead, the array possessed the ability to sense attacks and react ordingly.
Right at this moment, the light emanating from the array suddenly began to fluctuate erratically in brightness, while the patterns on the five stone pirs were rapidly bing brighter.
Radiant white light erupted out of the five stone pirs, then converged to form a thick pir of white light that shot forth straight up toward the heavens.
The entire white spirit domain shuddered as countless specks of spiritual light converged from all directions, while the pir of white light grew brighter and brighter.
Seven or eight balls of white light appeared within the pir of white light in a sh, and they began to rapidly expand.
Feng Tiandu''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly yelled, "Stop him! He''s about to conjure up another domain spirit! You have to destroy these stone pirs before that!"
While it was true that he could hold his own against this formidable domain spirit, he wasn''t going to be able topletely destroy it anytime soon, and if even more domain spirits were to be conjured up, then everyone would be well and truly in a dire situation.
Upon hearing Feng Tiandu''s urgent call, Qi Tianxiao and the others hurriedly summoned a wide array of immortal treasures and high-grade talismans to attack the five stone pirs, but Xiao Jinhan merely made a hand seal with a derisive sneer on his face.
The white array shed momentarily before releasing several dozen more beams of white light to keep all of the oing attacks at bay once again.
An urgent look appeared in Qi Tianxiao''s eyes as he opened his mouth to expel a ball of blood essence, which vanished into his gray jade scepter.
The scepter immediately began to glow brightly, and the serpentine head on its tip detached itself from the rest of the scepter and flew out to transform into a giant gray serpentine head.
The serpentine head opened its cavernous mouth to devour the white light standing in its path, and with the obstacle eliminated, the jade scepter was able to fly forward as a streak of gray light, appearing in front of one of the stone pirs in a sh.
In the blink of an eye, the jade scepter transformed into a giant gray de, the edge of which was etched with countless gray runes. The de was giving off a burst of intensely corrosivew power as it struck the white stone pir with tremendous force, and a hint of surprise shed through Xiao Jinhan''s eyes upon seeing this, but he made no attempt to stop the attack.
The gray de exploded violently like a wave crashing against the rocks, and the jade scepter re-emerged, but the spiritual light on its surface had dimmed significantly, and it was sent flying back through the air.
As for the stone pir, it merely swayed slightly before immediately stabilizing itself again.
"Impossible!" Qi Tianxiao eximed.
This didn''t seem like a very remarkable transformation from the jade scepter, but it was actually its most powerful attacking form, yet it hadn''t even managed to leave a mark on the stone pir.
The stone pirs were extraordinarily resilient, and it was no wonder that Xiao Jinhan wasn''t concerned about them at all.
At the same time, a resounding boom rang out from the other side. As it turned out, a thin streak of golden light that resembled a de had erupted out of the elderly woman''s golden cane, and it had somehow managed to bypass the white array to strike another one of the stone pirs.
However, just like before, this pir also only swayed slightly before steadying itself again, and it remainedpletely unscathed.
The elderly woman and Qi Tianxiao exchanged a nce upon seeing this, and both of them could see their own astonishment mirrored in each other''s eyes.
A cold sneer appeared on Xiao Jinhan''s face as he continued to make hand seals, and the light radiating from the white array grew brighter and brighter, while streaks of white light converged from all parts of the spirit domain before surging into the balls of light within the pir of white light.
Limbs and heads began to sprout out of the balls of light, and an ecstatic look appeared on Xiao Jinhan''s face upon seeing this as he began to make hand seals with even greater urgency.
Right at this moment, things took apletely unexpected turn.
Chapter 486: Gold Devouring Immortal
Chapter 486: Gold Devouring Immortal
All of a sudden, golden light shed from the ground beneath one of the white stone pirs, and a golden beetle shot out of the ice before pouncing at the nearest pir.
A thick beam of white light shot out of the white array, transforming into a white sword in the blink of an eye as it hurtled toward the golden beetle at an incredible speed.
The golden beetle opened its mouth to release a ball of golden light, which transformed into a golden vortex, and the white sword was instantly sucked into the vortex, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, the golden beetle continued onward without pause, appearing in front of the white stone pir in a sh, then instantly swelled to several hundred feet in size before grabbing onto the pir with its legs.
It then opened its mouth again, and the pair of scythe-like fangs shot out before it chomped down viciously onto the stone pir.
In the face of its peerlessly sharp fangs, the stone pir was made to look extremely fragile, and a loud crack rang out as a mark was bitten onto it.
Xiao Jinhan''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of white light that vanished into the stone pir in a sh.
The pir instantly began to glow radiantly, and a translucent membrane much like Han Li''s True Extreme Film appeared on its surface, giving it an indestructible appearance.
However, the golden beetle''s fangs were able to pierce through this membrane with ease before sinking into the stone pir.
A crack instantly appeared on the pir''s surface, and the pir of white light above it immediately began to ripple violently, while the balls of light inside also began to tremble in an unstable fashion.
A furious look appeared on Xiao Jinhan''s face upon seeing this, and he sprang to his feet before sweeping both sleeves through the air.
The white array around him began to buzz and revolve rapidly as a thick beam of white light that was looking rather shaky and unstable was sent flying toward the golden beetle.
At the same time, two streaks of translucent white light shot out of Xiao Jinhan''s hands, and they were revealed to be a pair of long white halberds that were giving off a formidable cial aura and tremendousw power fluctuations.
As the pair of halberds hurtled through the air, they swelled drastically in size, transforming into two streaks of white light, and they reached the golden beetle before the beam of white light did.
Two metallic ngs rang out as the pair of halberds crashed down onto the golden beetle''s neck, sending sparks flying in all directions.
A pair of long white marks appeared on the golden beetle''s neck, and the skin there seemed to have split open slightly, but not a single drop of blood flowed out.
Immediately thereafter, the golden beetle reared up to devour the pair of white halberds, crunching on them a few times before promptly swallowing them. A burst of golden light then surged over its body, and the tiny gashes on its neck were quickly healed.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and Qi Tianxiao and the other Golden Immortals were naturally ecstatic to see this.
A Golden Immortal Stage Gold Devouring Immortal? How is this possible?
Xiao Jinhan felt as if he had been thrust into a nightmare. Those two halberds were a prized trump card of his that he had refrained from unleashing upon to this point, and they were capable of tearing through virtually anything, yet not were they barely able to scratch the shell of the golden beetle, they had been eaten!
Immediately thereafter, the thick beam of white light struck the golden beetle, and countless runes were shing within the white light, giving off an immense cial aura.
A white ice mountain abruptly appeared out of thin air, freezing both the golden beetle and the white stone pir within it.
Despite this, the golden beetle didn''t appear to have been affected at all, and it was able to quickly struggle free from the ice around it before continuing to sink its fangs into the stone pir, rapidly widening the cracks that had already appeared on its surface.
Before Xiao Jinhan had a chance to do anything else, the white stone pir was snapped with a loud crack.
With the destruction of the stone pir, the white array at the center of the pirs instantly dimmed slightly.
The pir of white light above the stone pirs also faded, and the balls of white light within it exploded immediately thereafter.
The white light around Xiao Jinhan''s body also shuddered violently, and hisplexion paled significantly as he threw up arge mouthful of blood.
This sequence of events also caused the white spirit domain that epassed the entire valley to tremble and ripple while rapidly shrinking down to its original size. In fact, it was even weaker than before and looked as if it could disintegrate entirely at any moment.
Qi Tianxiao and the others were ecstatic to see this, and three spirit domains, one gray and two red, instantly emerged, trapping Xiao Jinhan within them.
At the same time, a series of immortal treasures were sent flying toward him from all directions.
A hint of panic shed through Xiao Jinhan''s eyes as he hurriedly swept both sleeves through the air, and his spirit domain instantly shrank down even further, but as a result, it had be denser.
At the same time, countless snowkes began swirling around him, forming a white light barrier in the blink of an eye.
The light barrier was only able to withstand the barrage of immortal treasures for a few seconds before it was shattered, but the immortal treasures were also sent flying back.
Xiao Jinhan''splexion paled even further as he threw up another mouthful of blood, and his aura had also diminished significantly.
However, there was no time for him to rest, and bright white light erupted out of his body as he shot back in retreat.
Right at this moment, the space around him rippled, and around a dozen ck chains shot out in a sh before wrapping themselves around him almost instantaneously.
The white light around his body quickly faded, and he was instantly immobilized by the ck chains. His aura was alsopletely restrained in the blink of an eye, and it was as if he had been reduced to a mere mortal.
Immediately thereafter, Feng Tiandu appeared behind him in a sh.
"Feng Tiandu! If you kill me, the Heavenly Court will be sure to hunt you down!" Xiao Jinhan roared.
Feng Tiandu paid no heed to those threats as he dered, "Looks like even the heavens are against you, Pce Master Xiao."
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and a streak of translucent ck light shot out of his hand before gliding over Xiao Jinhan''s body.
His expression instantly stiffened, and in the next instant, his entire body was split in half from head to toe, sending blood and entrails gushing down onto the ground.
Right at this moment, a burst of white light shot out of his remains, and it was none other than his nascent soul.
The nascent soul waspletely unaffected by the three enemy spirit domains as it fled the scene at an incredible speed, covering a distance of close to 10 kilometers in the blink of an eye.
A cold sneer appeared on Feng Tiandu''s face as he flicked a finger through the air, and a burst of spatial fluctuations emerged in front of Xiao Jinhan''s nascent soul, following which a series of ck chains appeared.
It was as if the chains had already been set up there well in advance, and they intertwined with one another to form arge ck in the blink of an eye before sweeping toward the nascent soul.
Formidable restrictivew power fluctuations were emanating from the ck, sealing the entire surrounding space in a radius of several hundred feet.
Xiao Jinhan''s nascent soul wore a grim expression as it opened its mouth to release a white bead.
The white bead exploded to release an eruption of white light, which gave off a bone-chilling cial aura.
The ck of chains was slowed down significantly by the cial aura, and ayer of white ice crystals appeared over its surface, while its restrictivew powers were also significantly diminished.
The nascent soul took advantage of this brief opening to dart away to the side as a streak of white light, then continued to fly away into the distance.
Feng Tiandu''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately shot forth in pursuit of the nascent soul as a streak of ck light.
If he were to allow Xiao Jinhan''s nascent soul to get away, then the consequences would be catastrophic!
Right at this moment, a streak of golden light shed past up ahead, and Xiao Jinhan''s nascent soul abruptly vanished into thin air.
Feng Tiandu faltered slightly upon seeing this, and he stopped cold in his tracks before looking around to discover that the streak of golden light had stopped not far away from him.
The golden light faded to reveal the golden beetle, which had already freed itself from the ice mountain and had shrunk down to roughly the size of a human head.
Held in the golden beetle''s mouth was none other than Xiao Jinhan''s nascent soul, which was struggling with all its might, but inplete futility.
"You froze me, and now, I''m going to eat you, so we''re even, silver beard!" the golden beetle dered as a burst of golden light flew out of its mouth to suck in the nascent soul.
The surrounding spirit domain of snow and ice shed a few times before disintegrating, while the five stone pirs rapidly shrank down, reverting back to a set of pirs that were each only around 10 feet tall.
Feng Tiandu faltered slightly at the sight of Xiao Jinhan''s nascent soul being devoured, following which a hint of greed shed through his eyes as he sized up the golden beetle.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he released a burst of ck light that swept up Xiao Jinhan''s remains before delivering a white storage bracelet into his grasp.
Meanwhile, the other Golden Immortals had all stowed away their immortal treasures and were flying toward Feng Tiandu.
The golden beetle was on the verge of being surrounded by these formidable Golden Immortals, but it didn''t seem to have a care in the world as it swallowed Xiao Jinhan''s nascent soul, then climbed back onto the toppled stone pir and began munching on it once again.
Qi Tianxiao took a nce at Feng Tiandu, then began to fly around in a covert fashion to get behind the golden beetle.
Right at this moment, a streak of azure light suddenly shed past, and a figure instantly appeared between Qi Tianxiao and the golden beetle.
Qi Tianxiao immediately stopped in his tracks, and his brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the figure that had just arrived on the scene.
It was none other than Han Li in disguise, and upon spotting Han Li''s arrival, Jin Tong reverted back into the form of a little girl, which was still holding the remnants of the stone pir in her arms.
Han Li took a nce at Qi Tianxiao, then turned to Jin Tong as he asked, "Has someone been picking on you, Jin Tong?"
As he was speaking, he made no attempt to suppress his own aura, intentionally revealing the entirety of his mid-Golden Immortal Stage cultivation base.
"I just ate silver beard. That''s what he gets for freezing me!" Jin Tong replied as she licked her lips with her little tongue.
All of the other Golden Immortals immediately stopped what they were doing, and instead of continuing to approach Jin Tong, they began sizing up her and Han Li with wary looks in their eyes.
It had naturally already be apparent to them that this harmless-looking little girl was actually a Gold Devouring Immortal that possessed Golden Immortal Stage power.
None of them had ever heard of anyone from the Northern cial Immortal Region owning such a formidable Gold Devouring Immortal, and such a person was definitely not to be taken lightly.
Chapter 487: Golden Cloud Pill Tribulation
Chapter 487: Golden Cloud Pill Tribtion
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni were also quite startled by Han Li''s sudden arrival, and it was clear that they had no idea how Han Li had be a Golden Immortal in just a few months, as well as where he had gotten this Golden Immortal Stage Gold Devouring Immortal from.
"Why are you sote, Uncle?" Jin Tongined with a displeased expression,pletely unbothered by the sinister scrutiny she was receiving from the surrounding Golden Immortals.
Han Li turned to her and gave her a subtle look as he said, "If you''ve had your fill, then take a rest."
Jin Tong wasn''t actually a clueless child, so she was naturally able to glean Han Li''s intentions, and she pointed at the remnants of the array as she said, "This is all mine! I''m still not done eating yet, so make sure no one else takes it!"
"I''ll pack it all up for you to eatter," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Fine," Jin Tongplied with a reluctant expression.
With that, Han Li cast a string of incantation seals toward the four and a half white stone pirs that were still standing, casually stowing the entire array away right before everyone''s eyes.
Meanwhile, Jin Tong swept her gaze over Feng Tiandu and the others in a provocative manner, then said, "Make sure to call on me if you run into any other good treasures."
After that, she shrank down into a tiny golden beetle amid a sh of golden light, then circled around in the air for a moment beforending on Han Li''s left ring finger, fitting onto the finger like a golden ring. while everyone else looked on with mixed emotions.
Just now, Xiao Jinhan was only an instant away from unleashing his ultimate trump card, which wasn''t guaranteed to be able topletely turn the tide of the battle in his favor, but it would''ve definitely posed an immense challenge for everyone, and they would''ve all but certainly failed to strike him down.
It was precisely due to the sudden arrival of this Gold Devouring Immortal that Xiao Jinhan''s ns had beenpletely foiled, ultimately leading to his demise.
In the wake of Xiao Jinhan''s death, Han Li had suddenly arrived on the scene and casually subdued the Gold Devouring Immortal as its master, leading everyone to specte about his identity.
Feng Tiandu''s expression darkened slightly as he began to size up Han Li, while all of the other Dawn Fall Sect cultivators were also watching Han Li with a hint of wariness and enmity in their eyes.
Meanwhile, the two Golden Immortals of the Southern Dawn Race exchanged a puzzled nce with one another.
Prior to entering the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, they had interacted briefly with the cultivators of the True me Sect, so they had some recollection of Han Li''s current appearance.
However, they recalled that back then, he had only been at thete-True Immortal Stage and hadn''t disyed any remarkable traits, so how he had suddenly returned as a Golden Immortal?
Right at this moment, Daoist Hu Yan suddenly approached Han Li as he asked, "Where did you go, Tianyu? You had me worried sick!"
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he made his way over to Daoist Hu Yan in a leisurely fashion, while everyone else looked on with surprise in their eyes.
"My apologies, Uncle. I was trapped in an underground pce earlier, and as soon as I got out, I noticed that something was happening here, so I came here right away," Han Li exined.
On the surface, Daoist Hu Yan offered no response to this, but he was understandably raising questions to Han Li in secret through voice transmission. "What is going on, Fellow Daoist Li? How did your cultivation base..."
"Here, I''ll tell you the truth. I was trapped in an underground pce, only to re-emerge an instantter as a Golden Immortal. Do you believe me?" Han Li replied in a resigned voice.
"Of course not!" Daoist Hu Yan eximed.
Meanwhile, Yun Ni was alsomunicating to Daoist Hu Yan through voice transmission. "Perhaps he cultivated some type of reincarnation secret technique, and he concealed his own cultivation base in the past so that he could secure our sect''s Formless True Axis Scripture."
There was naturally no way that anyone would believe such a story, and the enmity that had earlier been solely directed toward Han Li from Feng Tiandu and the others had expanded to include Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni as well.
Right at this moment, Ouyang Kuishan''s trio suddenly approached Daoist Hu Yan as well, and it was clear that they were aware of his true identity.
Perhaps they had chosen to side with Daoist Hu Yan as they had once been part of the same sect, or perhaps they were simply wary of the Dawn Fall Sect. In any case, their decision hadpletely changed theplexion of the situation, and a tense atmosphere descended upon the entire scene once again.
A mocking sneer appeared on Feng Tiandu''s face as he cast his gaze toward the two Southern Dawn Race Golden Immortals, and among them, the elderly man turned to the elderly woman with an inquisitive expression, in response to which thetter shook her head, refusing to take either side.
Right as the tension in the valley was beginning to build, a resounding boom suddenly rang out high up in the sky, and everyone immediately turned their attention upward to find that countless rays of golden light had converged up above, quickly forming an enormous golden cloud.
Golden light was surging throughout the cloud, illuminating the entire sky with dazzling golden radiance, and tremendous energy fluctuations were sweeping out of the cloud, causing all of the world''s origin qi in a radius of several dozen kilometers to churn incessantly.
A burst of tremendous pressure came crashing down from above alongside a sh of blinding light, and everything was illuminated a bright golden color.
This was a phenomenon that wasn''t unfamiliar to Han Li, and his expression changed slightly as he turned to Daoist Hu Yan and said, "This is a pill tribtion! Could it be..."
"That''s right. This valley is most likely where the High Zenith Pce is situated, and that''s where High Zenith Pills are being refined. The arrival of the pill tribtion indicates that a critical stage has been reached in the pill refinement process," Daoist Hu Yan confirmed with a nod.
Feng Tiandu took a nce up at the sky, then turned his gaze to the white stone wall within the valley, and he discovered that the scenery engraved upon it seemed to have sprung to life, with the rivers flowing and the birds taking flight.
At the same time, the white light barrier around it began to be denser again.
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out in the sky above the valley. "You sure got here nice and early, Fellow Daoist Feng!"
A blue water lotus flower then slowly descended out of the sky, and it vanished into thin air as soon as itnded on the ground.
Two figures were revealed, and they were none other than Luo Qinghai and his young disciple, Nan Kemeng. As for the other Vast Flow Pce cultivators, they weren''t present for some reason.
Afternding on the ground, Luo Qinghai took a casual nce at everyone in the valley, and his gaze lingered on Han Li for an extra second.
"I may havee early, but you came at just the right time, Fellow Daoist Luo. You''ve arrived right as the pill tribtion emerged," Feng Tiandu replied with a fake smile.
Luo Qinghai paid no heed to Feng Tiandu''s cold demeanor as he said, "It looks like this must be the true location of the High Zenith Pce. Earlier, I discovered an underwater pce that was filled with traps, and we went to great lengths to traverse through the pce, only to find that it wasn''t even the right ce. By the way, where''s Fellow Daoist Xiao? He doesn''t seem to be around."
Internally, Feng Tiandu was cursing Luo Qinghai for his shamelessness. He had to have already arrived well in advance and observed the entire battle that was waged against Xiao Jinhan, only to show himself now in order to reap the spoils.
If it weren''t for the sudden emergence of the pill tribtion, he most likely wouldn''t even have shown himself now and would''ve onlye out of hiding after the Dawn Fall Sect cultivators had battled everyone else in the valley.
"Pce Master Xiao is a busy and blessed man. Perhaps he''s already stumbled upon a more significant treasure and is no longer interested in this ce," Feng Tiandu replied in a cold voice.
Among all of the powers in the Northern cial Immortal Region, the only one that he had regarded as a threat was the ze Dragon Dao, and among all of the immortal region''s cultivators, Xiao Jinhan was certainly a fierce rival of his, but in his heart, Xiao Jinhan was inferior to Baili Yan.
As for Luo Qinghai, Feng Tiandu had always looked down on him.
"I suppose we can only wish him the best of luck then. Speaking of Pce Master Xiao, I ran into him a short while ago," Luo Qinghai said with a smile.
"Now that you''re here, why don''t you take a look and see if you can break the restriction in this valley, Fellow Daoist Luo? You''re a master of arrays, so I''m sure you''ll have a way," Feng Tiandu proposed.
"I''ll spare myself the trouble. There''s no way that the restriction guarding the High Zenith Pce is something that I can break on my own. Instead, I''ll be requiring everyone''s help," Luo Qinghai said with a smile.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the golden cloud in the sky suddenly began to shrink, forming a giant vortex directly above the valley, and there were dull, rumbling thunderps ringing out within it.
Luo Qinghai''s smile instantly faded upon seeing this, and a serious look appeared on his face as he said, "The pill tribtion is about to descend, so the pills must be about to take shape. We can''t waste any more time here."
Feng Tiandu also nodded in response with a serious expression.
Luo Qinghai turned to everyone else and dered, "Fellow daoists, all of your efforts will be required in order to break this restriction. Otherwise, none of us will be able to enter the High Zenith Pce, and this massive opportunity will go to waste."
"We''re willing to help," Daoist Hu Yan answered.
The elderly woman from the Southern Dawn Race said in an unhurried manner, "I also have no objections to joining forces, but there are only two of us and so many of you. Once we enter the pce, we''ll most likely be struck down on the spot."
"We''re all here to secure treasures and opportunities, and risk and reward inevitablye hand in hand. If you wish to reap benefits without taking any risks, then I suggest you stay at home and wait for treasures to fall into yourp!" Qi Tianxiao scoffed.
"I think her concerns are actually quite valid, Sect Master Qi. Your Dawn Fall Sect has the most people out of all of us, so how can we not be wary of you? If you want everyone to work together with you, then I''m afraid you might have to make some concessions," Luo Qinghai said with a smile.
Qi Tianxiao was just about to respond when Feng Tiandu raised a hand to stop him, then said, "That''s fine. There are only two Southern Dawn beings present and also only two cultivators from your Vast Flow Pce, so how about we set a limit of two people per side to enter the High Zenith Pce?"
Chapter 488: Immortal Envoy
Chapter 488: Immortal Envoy
Everyone was rather surprised to hear this proposal from Feng Tiandu, and Luo Qinghai was no exception. Judging from his expression, it was clear that he wasn''t expecting Feng Tiandu to be so cooperative.
"I understand what all of you are concerned about, but your concerns arepletely unnecessary. Time is of the essence right now, so we must work together. Otherwise, I wouldn''t mind engaging all of you in battle in this valley, then turn to breaking this restriction once that battle is decided," Feng Tiandu said with a faint smile.
"This is a very good proposal from Elder Feng. Our Vast Flow Pce has no objections," Luo Qinghai said with a nod.
"The Southern Dawn Race agrees to this proposal as well," the elderly woman said in an expressionless manner.
Ouyang Kuishan was silent for a moment, then dered, "Our ze Dragon Dao also has no objections."
With that, the only side that was yet to make a deration was Daoist Hu Yan''s trio.
Han Li took a nce at Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni, and he could only heave an internal sigh. He also wanted to enter the High Zenith Pce, but he didn''t want to force Daoist Hu Yan to choose him, so he was already beginning to ponder ways to sneak into the pce once everyone else had gone in.
However, to his surprise, Daoist Hu Yan suddenly dered to both him and Yun Ni through voice transmission, "I''ll bring Fellow Daoist Li with me into the High Zenith Pce."
Yun Ni merely nodded silently in response to this decision, while Han Li turned to Daoist Hu Yan as he raised an eyebrow in befuddlement.
"I''ve never been able to get a good handle on you, but there''s one thing that I''m confident of, and that''s that you''re definitely not a treacherous person, so I have no qualms about bringing you with me. Most importantly, I have faith in your powers," Daoist Hu Yan exined.
"I think you''re not mentioning something. The main reason you''re taking me with you is because you don''t want Fellow Daoist Yun Ni to have to face the perils of the High Zenith Pce, right?" Han Li jibed.
"You didn''t have to expose me, Fellow Daoist Li!" Daoist Hu Yan chuckled as he discreetly handed Han Li something. "Once we''re done here, I''ll follow through on my promise and give you the final two levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture."
"You have my thanks," Han Li replied with a smile as he stowed the item away in a covert fashion.
Meanwhile, Yun Ni was watching Daoist Hu Yan with a faint smile on her face, but a hint of concern in her eyes.
Finally, Daoist Hu Yan turned to everyone else as he dered, "Our True me Sect has no objections, either."
"Alright, in that case, let''s begin right away, shall we?" Luo Qinghai proposed.
Everyone immediately gathered around and began making their way toward the stone wall upon hearing this.
"It appears to me that the scenic artwork engraved onto this stone wall is very simr to that of the Infernal Frost Scenic Painting, but at the same time, it''s notpletely identical. There are 13 of us present, and if all of us use the Nine Pces Array Shattering Formation while unleashing the Nine True Spirits Technique at once, then we should be able to break this restriction," Luo Qinghai dered.
Everyone present fell into a contemtive silence upon hearing this, while Han Li turned to Daoist Hu Yan as he raised an eyebrow.
The Nine Pces Array Shattering Formation was quite a prevalently used formation in the Immortal Realm, and as the name suggested, its purpose was to break restrictions.
As for the Nine True Spirits Technique, this was a technique that was slightly inferior to the Great Five-elemental True Light, but perhaps it could be more potent than the Great Five-elemental True Light when used in conjunction with the Nine Pces Array Shattering Formation.
"In that case, please oversee the proceedings, and we''ll begin right away," Feng Tiandu said.
Luo Qinghai nodded in response, then began instructing all of the Golden Immortals present to get into the correct formation, following which he gave everyone a detailed exnation of how to use the Nine True Spirits Technique.
After that, he dered, "Let''s begin."
In total, there were 13 Golden Immortals present, one from the Vast Flow Pce, two from the Southern Dawn Race, three from the ze Dragon Dao, and three in Han Li''s camp, and all of them began unleashing the Nine True Spirits Technique at once.
As everyone began to chant a collective incantation, their robes began to billow and sway as gusts of wind swept through the area, and the immortal spiritual power fluctuations emanating from their bodies were bing more and more pronounced.
Han Li was standing on a point in the formation, and a peculiar feeling welled up in his heart.
This was an array of individuals using the Nine True Spirits Technique at the same time, yet due to the fact that they were arranged in the Nine Pces Array Shattering Formation, some type of strange connection had formed between all of them. Their immortal spiritual power was like 13 streams that were drawn in by some type of force to converge into a singleke.
Luo Qinghai was situated at the forefront of the formation, and he was the only outlet for thiske.
Bright blue light was rippling around him as he made a peculiar hand seal before thrusting it forward, and all of the people in the formation instantly began to glow radiantly, while the immortal spiritual power in their bodies surged toward Luo Qinghai.
A vast volume of immortal spiritual power converged to form a lotus flower projection beneath Luo Qinghai, and it rose up like a lotus flower tform to elevate him in the sky. Blue light emerged within his eyes as well, and strands of azure light also appeared over his robes, roaming around as if they were living creatures.
He joined his palms together before pointing a finger at the white stone wall, and a pir of blue light instantly shot out of his fingertip to strike the stone wall.
The white light barrier on the surface of the stone wall immediately began to churn like boiling water, and a series of transparent ripples surged over its surface in all directions.
......
Meanwhile, in the sky above a misty greenke.
A loudmotion was ringing out, and massive waves that were in excess of 1,000 feet tall were constantly erupting out of theke, while streaks of light of all types of different colors were shing through the air.
There were a series of strange vortexes on the surface of theke that stretched all the way down to thekebed, and several figures were traversing over the water above the vortexes with great difficulty, shing against the blue figures that were constantly springing out of the vortexes.
It was unclear what these blue figures were. They appeared to be puppets, but their bodies were formed by water, and would be scattered upon being struck by powerful attacks, only to quickly reform to enter the battle once more.
The ones that these blue figures were attacking were none other than Xue Ying and the other Northern cial Immortal Pce cultivators, who had been recruited by Luo Qinghai to "assist" him.
Back when the Vast Flow Pce cultivators first arrived here, this ce had still been a vast yellow desert.
They had already set up the array that was required to shatter the ovr yellow light barrier here, and all they were missing was the power of an additional Golden Immortal.
As the deputy pce master of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, Xue Ying was certainly no slouch, and she had made sure to examine the array carefully. On top of that, she had also questioned Luo Qinghai extensively about the array and the surrounding environment, and only after she was absolutely certain that nothing was amiss did she agree to lend him her assistance.
However, right as the restriction guarding the ancient tomb was about to be broken, all of the sand in the vast desert suddenly began to churn violently.
Undting ripples surged through the desert like waves in the sea, and the giant ancient tomb suddenly sank down into the ground, while the entire surrounding area in a radius of several kilometers instantly transformed into a blueke.
At the same time, a vast golden array suddenly lit up from the ancient tomb that had sunk into theke, creating all of these vortexes which had released immense suction force to trap her and prevent her from getting away.
After that came these strange blue figures, of which there seemed to be no end.
By the time she finally managed to regain her bearings, she discovered that all of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators had already slipped away amid the chaos, while all of the Immortal Pce True Immortals that she had brought with her were also trapped above theke in their attempt to save her.
Xue Ying knew that she had fallen into a trap set by the Vast Flow Pce cultivators, and she was furious, but she was unable to free herself.
Right at this moment, a green jade flying carriage suddenly appeared from afar, then drew to a halt above theke.
A graceful middle-aged man was standing at the front of the flying carriage, and he looked down at theke with slightly furrowed brows before making a casual tossing motion.
The white jade Pixiu in his hand flew through the air in an arc, then fell into theke with a small ssh.
Momentster, a series of enormous waves suddenly swept over the surface of theke, and a pir of dazzling white light erupted out of thekebed to destroy all of the vortexes in the water.
A puppet in the form of a giant white Pixiu that was thousands of feet in size then emerged from the water with a ck millstone sped in its mouth, and it sprang up into the sky, then crunched down onto the ck millstone with its teeth until it was broken into pieces.
At the same time, the surface of theke gradually began to return to its former peaceful state, and only then were Xue Ying and the others freed.
After taking a moment topose herself, Xue Ying cast her gaze toward the flying carriage, then began to approach it before stopping around 10 feet away, where she extended a respectful curtsey toward the middle-aged man on the flying carriage.
"Junior Xue Ying pays her respects to Immortal Envoy Gongshu."
The middle-aged was none other than Gongshu Jiu, the immortal envoy sent by the Heavenly Court.
"Why are you being so formal and distant? Our ns are on very good terms with one another, and I''m also close friends with your father, so there''s no need for you to be so uptight around me, Gongshu Jiu said with a warm smile.
"My apologies, Uncle Gongshu," Xue Ying replied as a smile appeared on her face.
"I received your message telling me to pay the Northern cial Immortal Region quite some time ago, but I was busy with some other matters, so I wasn''t able to get here earlier. I didn''t think that things would already be this chaotic," Gongshu Jiu sighed.
"Pce Master Xiao..."
Xue Ying was just about to say something, but she suddenly stopped, then took a nce at the other Immortal Pce cultivators nearby.
"Go ahead, they won''t be able to hear you," Gongshu Jiu said with a smile as he casually swept a sleeve through the air.
Chapter 489: The World Beyond the Gate
Chapter 489: The World Beyond the Gate
Xue Ying''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, and she could sense that an invisible light barrier had appeared around herself and Gongshu Jiu.
"Over these past years, Pce Master Xiao''s cultivation base has progressed quite significantly, and he was determined to unite the entire Northern cial Immortal Region. For this purpose, he''s been making many moves, and as a result, the entire immortal region has been stirred up into a state of unrest.
¡°After what happened to Baili Yan, it appeared on the surface that the Dawn Fall Sect and the Vast Flow Pce became much more subdued, but the reality is that they were merely umting power.
¡°If Pce Master Xiao continues down this reckless path, I fear that an all-out war will eventually be triggered in the Northern cial Immortal Region, so I had no choice but to supersede his authority and contact you directly," Xue Ying exined with a solemn expression.
"You did the right thing. The Heavenly Court has aleady noticed the unrest that''s brewing in this immortal region. The Reincarnation Pce has be more and more active ofte, so this isn''t the only immortal region that could be under threat. I waste to get here precisely because I was taking care of some matters in another immortal region, and I came here directly after learning about the emergence of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor," Gongshu Jiu said.
"It''s very fortunate that you just so happened to be passing through, Uncle Gongshu. Otherwise, I''m embarrassed to admit that I don''t know how I would''ve gotten out of that trap," Xue Ying said as she cupped her fist in a grateful salute.
"This is a very intricate and powerful array that can only be broken by entering the water and destroying the mechanisms inside. The longer you''re trapped in the array, the more firmly entrenched in it you''ll be, so even if you possessedte-Golden Immortal Stage powers, it would''ve been very difficult for you to save yourself," Gongshu Jiu said with a smile.
"We all fell for Luo Qinghai''s trap," Xue Ying sighed as a hint of dejection shed through her eyes.
"Where is Xiao Jinhan right now?" Gongshu Jiu suddenly asked.
"I parted ways with him right beforeing here. I''ll take you to him right away," Xue Ying hurriedly replied.
"Let''s go," Gongshu Jiu replied with a nod, then swept a sleeve through the air.
At this point, the giant white Pixiu had already devoured the ck millstone, and it suddenly shrank back down into that jade trinket from before, then flew back into Gongshu Jiu''s grasp.
The only thing that was different about it was that a small ck spot had appeared within its belly.
After that, Gongshu Jiu and the Immortal Pce cultivators flew away into the distance.
......
Unbeknownst to them, there was a ck stone passageway that led downward under the ancient tomb at the bottom of theke, and the walls of the passageway were riddled with irregrly-shaped luminescent white rocks as a light source.
At this moment, there was a figure slowly making their way deeper into the passageway.
Basking in the glow of the luminescent rocks, her skin was as fair as snow, and it was none other than Lu Yuqing.
At this moment, her eyes were as bright as stars, but she was trudging along in apletely expressionless manner.
......
Inside the valley.
All of the mountains and rivers engraved onto the white stone wall were radiating dazzling golden light, and a series of golden runes were flying out of them before surging into the white light barrier.
With the injection of these golden runes, the white light barrier was significantly stabilized, and it had also taken on an extremely viscous quality.
Luo Qinghai''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he switched to a different hand seal as he let loose a low roar.
The lotus tform projection beneath him immediately began to glow brightly while taking on a more substantial form, and at the same time, the sound of a light breeze rang out around the tform as a blue vortex emerged, releasing tremendous suction force.
Han Li''s expression instantly changed slightly upon seeing this, and he could feel his own immortal spiritual power surging rapidly into the vortex like floodwaters through a broken dam.
He took a quick nce at everyone else in the array to find that all of them also wore peculiar expressions, indicating that arge amount of their immortal spiritual power had just been taken as well.
"Don''t be rmed, fellow daoists. This restriction is even more formidable than I anticipated, so I''ll need all of you to lend me more of your power," Luo Qinghai reassured.
"There''s no need to exin anything to us, Fellow Daoist Luo. If you''re trying to chip away at our immortal spiritual power, then this is far too crude a method, and I''m sure you wouldn''t stoop to something like this," Feng Tiandu said.
"I''m d I have your trust, Fellow Daoist Feng," Luo Qinghai replied with a smile.
As he was speaking, the lotus tform beneath him had already taken on apletely substantial form, and it looked as if it had been carved out of a piece of blue crystal.
All of a sudden, Luo Qinghai let loose a thunderous roar, and the lotus tform, which had harnessed a vast amount of immortal spiritual power from everyone, shot forth through the air.
Immediately thereafter, all of its petals drifted down from above, spiraling through the air as they passed through the golden light barrier tond upon the white stone wall.
Bursts of blue light appeared over the stone wall on the spots where the petals had descended, and a series of lotus flowers instantly bloomed to cover the entire stone wall.
Han Li was amazed to see this, but also a little apprehensive.
It had be apparent that Luo Qinghai had only asked them to adopt the Nine Pces Array Shattering Formation and use the Nine True Spirits Technique so that he could draw upon their immortal spiritual power, while what he was actually using to break this restriction was the blue lotus flower.
Before he had a chance to think about anything, Luo Qinghai thrust both palms forward in a slow and casual motion, looking as if he were pushing open the door of his own home.
As he thrust his palms forward, then parted them down the sides, the golden light barrier over the white stone wall instantly shattered, and a golden line also appeared directly down the center of the stone wall before parting like doors.
The stone wall slowly opened inward without making a sound, and everyone in the valley was alsopletely silent as they stared at the radiant white light beyond the stone wall with tense and nervous expressions.
After the stone wallpletely parted, all everyone could see was a vast expanse of blinding white light. No objects flew out from within, nor were there any formidable energy fluctuations.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a regenerative pill, which he promptly devoured, and he was also holding a pair of Immortal Origin Stones to replenish his immortal spiritual power reserves. At the same time, he peered into the white light with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
However, even with his spirit eye ability activated, all he could was still just a vast expanse of white light, and his spiritual sense wasn''t able to enter the white light at all.
"The restriction has already been opened. Please abide by our agreement and only send in two people per side. Otherwise, I''ll be forced to close the restriction again, and only the heavens know what''ll happen after that," Luo Qinghai said in a warm but imcable voice.
Feng Tiandu turned to Qi Tianxiao with a nod upon hearing this, and the two of them flew into the white light before vanishing on the spot, while all of the other Dawn Fall Sect cultivators remained outside.
Immediately thereafter, the two Southern Dawn Race cultivators flew into the white light, and Daoist Hu Yan spoke briefly to Yun Ni through voice transmission before also entering the white light with Han Li.
In the instant that he flew into the white light, Han Li felt a burst of sharp pain in his eyes, and he reflexively closed them.
In the next instant, as he reopened his eyes, he discovered that he was already situated in another strange world.
The entire surrounding area was filled with white mist that wasn''t very dense, and he was able to discern between mist and space in the nearby vicinity, but the two hadpletely fused into one further away.
After conducting a brief inspection, Han Li discovered that not only was his visibility obstructed here, he wasn''t able to release his spiritual sense very far, either.
The other people who had entered this space ahead of him were also hovering within the white mist, and they had all distanced themselves from one another as they inspected their surroundings with cautious expressions.
Having just entered this ce, everyone was feeling quite tense, and no one dared to charge recklessly into the mist.
Shortly thereafter, Ouyang Kuishan and another Golden Immortal from the ze Dragon Dao appeared in the mist, and they took a nce at Daoist Hu Yan, but only drew a little closer instead of flying directly to Daoist Hu Yan''s side.
Before long, Luo Qinghai and his disciple, Nan Kemeng, had also entered this ce.
"Why are you all still here, fellow daoists? Could it be that you were all waiting for me? I am truly honored," he said with a warm smile as he also began inspecting his surroundnigs.
No one offered a response, and everyone was still trying to find the best way forward.
Looking at the surrounding mist, a hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face. His Brightsight Spirit Eyes werepletely useless here, but perhaps he would be able to see something with his Eye of Truth.
However, this was still far too early to be exposing the fact that he was using a time-attribute cultivation art, and showing his hand too early was definitely not a good idea.
Right as he was hesitating about how to proceed, he suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye that a cloud of white mist seemed to have risen up in the eyes of Nan Kemeng, and he was staring into the distance in a certain direction with a dazed look on his face.
Meanwhile, Luo Qinghai was pretending to search the ce in an aimless fashion, but in reality, his attention had been focused on this disciple of his the entire time.
Han Li also cast his gaze in that direction in a subtle fashion, but he wasn''t able to see anything there aside from white mist, and he couldn''t help but wonder if Nan Kemeng possessed some type of special spirit eye ability.
With that in mind, Han Li decided to keep some tabs on him.
Momentster, Luo Qinghai suddenly said, "We can''t just stand around here forever. How about we each choose a direction and do some exploring?"
"This white mist is able to keep out spiritual sense, who knows what could be lurking inside? What if we fly in straight to our deaths?" the elderly woman from the Southern Dawn Race harrumphed coldly.
"If none of you are willing to take a risk, then I''ll be going on ahead," Luo Qinghai said with a smile, thentched onto the arm of his disciple before flying away.
Chapter 490: I Believe You
Chapter 490: I Believe You
"Let''s follow them, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan," Han Li immediately said to Daoist Hu Yan through voice transmission.
"Have you noticed something?" Daoist Hu Yan asked in a hesitant voice.
Under these circumstances, actively following someone could easily be seen as a gesture of provocation, and he didn''t want to oppose Luo Qinghai for now.
Many years ago, Baili Yan had told him that on the surface, Luo Qinghai appeared to be a very kind and easygoing person, but in reality, he was most prone to holding grudges, and making an enemy out of even someone like Qi Tianxiao was a better alternative to getting on Luo Qinghai''s bad side.
"I suspect that Luo Qinghai''s disciple has some type of special ocr ability that can allow him to ascertain the location of the High Zenith Pce, but I can''t be sure. However, what I can say for sure is that there''s definitely something strange about them," Han Li exined.
"Given Luo Qinghai''s personality, it would be much more characteristic of him to let others venture into the mist first, so it''s indeed rather suspicious that he''s going in first himself... Alright, let''s do as you say then," Daoist Hu Yan decided after some contemtion.
With that, the two of them immediately flew into the mist, following Luo Qinghai''s duo from afar.
Ouyang Kuishan took a nce at the other dao lord, and the two of them set off in another direction slightly to the left of where Daoist Hu Yan and Han Li had gone.
The pair of Southern Dawn beings also flew away in another direction, and thus, Feng Tiandu and Qi Tianxiao were the only ones left.
Momentster, Feng Tiandu suddenly said, "They should be sufficiently far away by now. Let''s go after them."
After that, he swept a hand through the air to conjure up a ck light barrier that epassed both himself and Qi Tianxiao, then set off in the same direction as Han Li.
Deep within the mist, Luo Qinghai and Nan Kemeng were flying onward at an even pace.
All of a sudden, Nan Kemeng stopped in his tracks, then took a nce at the mist behind him as he said, "Pce Master, there are people following us."
"That''s only to be expected. Who are the ones following us?" Luo Qinghai asked with a smile.
"Everyone," Nan Kemeng replied with slightly furrowed brows.
Luo Qinghai was rather taken aback by this answer, and a mocking sneer appeared on his face.
"The ones closest to us are the two cultivators from the True me Sect. The ze Dragon Dao and the Southern Dawn Race have both chosen more roundabout routes, but they''re all following us as well. As for the Dawn Fall Sect cultivators, they''re a bit further away, but it seems like they''re following the True me Sect cultivators," Nan Kemeng borated.
"True me Sect my arse! One of them is none other than Daoist Hu Yan of the ze Dragon Dao. As for that so-called nephew of his, I have no idea who that is. There''s no one that fits his description in our Northern cial Immortal Region, and it''s like he popped up out of nowhere," Luo Qinghai mused with tightly furrowed brows.
"What should we do then?" Nan Kemeng asked.
"The High Zenith Pills are about to be ready, so we have no time to waste here. Let''s go," Luo Qinghai replied.
He then made a hand seal to conjure up a blue light barrier, which epassed both himself and Nan Kemeng.
Immediately thereafter, the two of them vanished into thin air amid a flurry of rainbow bubbles.
A short whileter, Han Li and Daoist Hu Yan sped onto the scene, and thetter asked, "What happened?"
"No wonder they weren''t worried about us following them, they''ve already prepared measures to shake us off their trail," Han Li said.
"I should''ve known," Daoist Hu Yan sighed. "What do we do now?"
"There''s something I can try, but I need you to release your spirit domain to conceal me for a short while," Han Li replied after a brief hesitation.
"Alright, go ahead," Daoist Hu Yan hurriedly said, then immediately released his fiery spirit domain to epass the entire surrounding area in a radius of several thousand feet.
"I can''t expand the spirit domain any more beyond this point. Otherwise, I can''t guarantee that I''ll be able to conceal your energy fluctuations," Daoist Hu Yan exined.
"This is fine. If you make it any bigger, it''ll attract attention from the others," Han Li replied with a nod, then summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis amid a sh of golden light.
The radiant golden axis was riddled with Time Dao Runes, and despite Daoist Hu Yan''s vast wealth of experience, even he couldn''t help but be astonished by the formidable timew power fluctuations emanating from the axis.
His mouth sprang open in shock, and he waspletely rooted to the spot.
Han Li paid no heed to Daoist Hu Yan''s reaction as he focused on scouring the surrounding area with his Eye of Truth, and it didn''t take long before he spotted a burst of lingering spatial fluctuations to his right.
"I''ve found them!" Han Li dered as he withdrew his hand seal, and the Mantra Treasured Axis instantly vanished back into his body.
Daoist Hu Yan was still reeling a little as he praised, "I knew you were cultivating the Mantra Axis Scripture, but I didn''t think you had already reached such an extraordinary level of mastery over thews of time."
"I encountered some strokes of fortune in the past that elerated my mastery over this cultivation art," Han Li exined in an ambiguous manner.
"Be honest with me. Have you been concealing your true cultivation base this entire time, or have you also been cultivating thews of reincarnation in secret? Otherwise, I can''t think of any other way that you could''ve reached the middle-Golden Immortal Stage in such a short time," Daoist Hu Yan said with tightly furrowed brows.
Han Li heaved a resigned sigh upon hearing this.
"I was telling you the truth earlier. Not long ago, I stumbled into a strange secret area and cultivated for tens of thousands of years in there to reach the mid-Golden Immortal Stage. However, when I came out, I discovered that the flow of time in there waspletely different from that of the outside world, and not even a moment had passed by outside the secret area."
Daoist Hu Yan was stunned into silence upon hearing this, then forced a smile onto his own face as he sighed, "Just how lucky of a little rascal are you?"
Han Li rolled his eyes in response, and he didn''t bother to exin anything.
In his own eyes, he was far from fortunate. Whenever he encountered a stroke of fortune, it would always be preceded by extremely perilous situations that could''ve easily had him killed.
All of a sudden, Daoist Hu Yan reached out toward Han Li, then spread his hand open to reveal a pair of white jade slips with golden patterns etched upon them.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he asked, "What''s this, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan?"
"These are the fifth and sixth levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture, and I''m giving them to you now because I have something to ask of you," Daoist Hu Yan replied with a solemn expression.
"Tell me what you want me to do first," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Once we enter the High Zenith Pce, I want you to help me secure a High Zenith Pill. Just one will do," Daoist Hu Yan exined.
"I will do my best to assist you as long as it doesn''t ce me in any excessive danger," Han Li replied.
"I knew you would say that," Daoist Hu Yan chuckled. "Fine, you can have these jade slips."
Han Li epted the pair of jade slips from Daoist Hu Yan, then briefly examined them before stowing them away into his storage bracelet.
"Why didn''t you wait until we left the immortal manor before you gave these to me? I would''ve still agreed to help you nheless," Han Li asked.
"Would you believe me if I told you that I want to suck up to you because you''re the most prodigious cultivator I''ve ever seen?" Daoist Hu Yan asked.
"I believe you," Han Li replied with a serious expression.
"Well, you''re certainly not shy," Daoist Hu Yan chuckled with an amused expression.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as well as he flew away toward the right, followed closely by Daoist Hu Yan.
All of a sudden, Han Li vanished into thin air, much to Daoist Hu Yan''s rm, and he hurriedly elerated forward, upon which he also vanished into the white mist in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, he and Han Li appeared in another independent space one after the other.
Hovering in mid-air several thousand feet below the two of them was a smallndmass that was several hundred kilometers in size, and it was riddled with all types of intricate pavilions and buildings, as well as lush greenery.
Several rivers were flowing through the area like a series of jade belts, and they spilled down over the edge of thendmass to form numerous waterfalls that were exceptionally beautiful to behold.
On a spacious plot ofnd on the edge of thendmass was a lush spirit beast pen that was split up into hundreds of small areas, and there were hundreds of species of different spirit beasts being kept inside.
Directly across from the spirit beast pen was a vast spirit medicine garden with all types of spirit medicines growing inside, and their medicinal auras were so potent that they were rising up into the sky like wisps of smoke.
Daoist Hu Yan pointed some tall fiery-red horses and green jade-like lions in the pen as he eximed, "Those are Blusher Horses and Azure Bamboo Lions! They went extinct in the Northern cial Immortal Region tens of thousands of years ago!"
"That spirit medicine garden must have many high-grade immortal nts that are hundreds of thousands of years old growing in there. Otherwise, there wouldn''t be so much purple smoke rising up from it," Han Li also remarked.
There were also many ck-robed servants littered throughout the spirit beast pen and the spirit medicine garden.
Some of them were working in the fields while holding different types of tools, some were feeding the spirit beasts, some were watering the garden, some were grooming the beasts, and some were picking nts, fruits, and leaves from the garden.
All of them had their own duties, and they were carrying out those duties in an orderly fashion.
In between those two areas was a white stone mountain path that also had some ck-robed servants on it, and they were responsible for carrying the spirit beast materials and spirit medicinal ingredients gathered by the other servants to the top of the mountain.
Chapter 491: Secret Area
Chapter 491: Secret Area
After some observation, Han Li raised an eyebrow as he remarked, "These servants all seem to be puppets."
"That''s right, they are indeed all puppets," Daoist Hu Yan confirmed with a nod after some close scrutiny.
As the two of them were speaking, golden light began to converge up above, and a dense golden cloud emerged. The pill tribtion that had already appeared quite some time ago in the outside world had only just begun to make an appearance in this secret area.
Han Li tracked down the exact central point of the golden cloud, then cast his gaze downward to find that there was a resplendent golden pce with a round dome perched atop the tallest point on the mountain summit.
There were two figures on the za outside the golden pce, and bright blue light was radiating from their bodies as they cast strings of incantation seals at the gates of the pce.
"Looks like Luo Qinghai is already working on breaking the restriction. We should go as well," Han Li said.
"Fine by me," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a patch of space over 1,000 feet away began to warp slightly, following which Feng Tiandu and Qi Tianxiao appeared.
Feng Tiandu took a quick nce at Han Li, then immediately turned his attention to the golden pce in the distance as he flew directly toward the za with Qi Tianxiao by his side.
"How did they find this ce? Could it be that someone among them also possesses Void Spirit Eyes?" Luo Qinghai mused with a perplexed expression at the sight of the approaching Feng Tiandu and Qi Tianxiao.
"What do we do, Pce Master? The restriction is about to be broken soon," Nan Kemeng asked.
"So be it, let''s focus on getting into the pce first," Luo Qinghai replied as he thrust his palms forcefully against the pce gates.
A blue leaf that was riddled with silver patterns shot out of the palm of his leading hand before pressing itself against the pce gates.
The pce gates instantly began to glow with radiant blue light, and the leaf melted away before vanishing into the gates, leaving only the silver patterns intertwining with one another to form a series ofplex runes that spread over the gates.
All of the silver runes quickly turned into cracks, and before long, the golden gates were shattered amid a crisp crack.
Right as Luo Qinghai and Nan Kemeng were about to rush into the pce, Feng Tiandu''s voice rang out from behind them.
"All of us worked together to break the restriction and get to this point, surely you don''t intend to reap all the benefits for yourself and leave nothing for everyone else."
"Of course not, Fellow Daoist Feng. I just so happened to get here first, and time is of the essence, so I thought I''d open the pce gates to make things more convenient for everyone," Luo Qinghai replied with a smile.
Right at this moment, Han Li and Daoist Hu Yan also descended in front of the golden pce.
Luo Qinghai and Feng Tiandu both took a nce at Han Li''s duo in unison, and a smile appeared on the former''s face, while thetter remainedpletely expressionless.
Before anyone had a chance to say anything, four more streaks of light shed into the secret area one after another, and the two Southern Dawn Race Golden Immortals and Ouyang Kuishan''s duo also arrived before descending in front of the golden pce as well.
Uponnding on the ground, the elderly woman of the Southern Dawn Race immediately gate a cold harrumph to express her displeasure, while Ouyang Kuishan gave Daoist Hu Yan and subtle nod.
They had only been able to enter this ce as Daoist Hu Yan had informed them of the location of the entrance through a secret technique.
With that, everyone was once again reunited.
Right at this moment, the golden cloud in the sky above began to churn violently, and in the span of just a few seconds, it epassed the entire heavens, basking everyone in dazzling golden radiance.
Tremendous energy fluctuations were surging out of the golden cloud, striking even all of the Golden Immortals present with a sense of foreboding.
It was as if the golden cloud had alreadypletely fused as one with the sky, and there was an extremely heavy atmosphere hanging in the air, as if the entire sky were about toe crashing down.
Immediately thereafter, bursts of rumbling began to ring out incessantly from within the cloud, and an enormous golden vortex emerged, revolving rapidly on the spot.
A burst of dazzling silver light began to slowly take shape at the center of the vortex, and it resembled a giant silver water droplet with arcs of lightning constantly shing over its surface.
With the formation of this silver water droplet, a burst of terrifying spiritual power fluctuations descended from above, epassing the entirety of the golden pce.
Han Li swept his gaze over the golden pce to find that countless runes had been engraved onto its pirs, doors, and window frames, and at this moment, all of these runes were glowing as radiantly as stars in the night sky.
The ground inside the pce was also etched with rings of circr patterns that resembled circles of guards defending the giant jade-like pill cauldron at the center of the pce.
The cauldron stood at over seven feet tall, and it had three feet and a pair of handles, as was the case with most standard pill refinement cauldrons.
It looked as if the cauldron were forged from jade, but that wasn''t actually the case. There were scorching mes surging within the cauldron, but no heat could be felt outside of it, and that was a clear testament to its instive properties.
On top of that, there were nine coiled dragons engraved around the cauldron amid the masses of spirit patterns, and these dragons were extremely life-like. All of them had their mouths opened upward, aimed at a statue of a three-legged golden crow on top of the cauldron''s lid.
Han Li focused his gaze on the golden crow statue with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and he noticed that there were wisps of white light flowing the cauldron from its three legs, which were connected to the cauldron''s lid.
All of a sudden, the golden vortex up above brightened significantly, and the massive silver water droplet fell out of the sky before crashing into the top of the golden pce''s roof.
A vast expanse of blinding silver light instantly erupted forth, and arcs of silver lightning exploded in all directions, inundating the entire golden pce amid a deafening boom.
Everyone''s expressions changed drastically upon seeing this as they darted back in retreat, while the golden pce abruptly sank downward, as if a mountain had crashed down onto it, crushing it into the ground.
However, immediately thereafter, all of the runes on the surface of the entire pce lit up, and a vast wave of golden light swept forth to intertwine with the vast expanse of silver lightning up above.
The entire golden pce resembled a radiant golden sun, and at the same time, golden light spread from the center of its roof along its rafters to alleviate the tremendous force that was crashing down upon it.
Even so, a pir of silver light was still able to pierce straight through the center of the roof to strike the pill refinement cauldron, and a dull thump rang out as all of the runes engraved onto the ground inside the pce lit up in rapid session.
Immediately thereafter,yers of golden light barriers rose up from the ground, collecting the wisps of golden light and funneling them into the pill cauldron.
Radiant golden light emerged within the eyes of the nine dragons engraved onto the cauldron, while pirs of white light shot out of their mouths, converging from all directions to sh against the pir of silver light.
Meanwhile, Han Li was observing all of this from outside the pce with an awestruck expression.
It was extremely impressive that the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord had managed to construct this High Zenith Pce and have the entire thing run by puppets. Not only were these puppets capable of collecting ingredients on their own, they were even able to refine what was clearly a dao pill!
What was most incredible of all was that this golden pce was capable of opposing pill tribtions, and that was unfathomable to Han Li. Could it be that the old daoist priest really was an unmatched genius, as he proimed?
Upon emerging from that secret area, Han Li hadpletely sealed the soul fragment that belonged to the self-proimed Infernal Frost Immortal Lord into the soul nurturing burner so that it waspletely cut off from the outside world. Right now, he was contemting undoing the restriction so that he couldmunicate with the soul fragment.
All of a sudden, Daoist Hu Yan''s voice rang out to snap him out of his train of thought. "The pill tribtion is about toe to an end! Prepare yourself!"
Sure enough, the silver lightning that was raging over the ceiling of the pce had gradually begun to subside, and faint plumes of smoke were rising up from the golden pce, while a scorched scent was wafting through the air.
However, the entire pce was glowing even more radiantly than prior to the pill tribtion.
"Let''s go!" someone called out, and everyone immediately flew into the pce at once.
At this point, the pir of silver light inside the pce had already faded, but the golden light barriers were still standing, protecting the pill cauldron from all directions.
Han Li swept his gaze across the interior of the pce to find that there was a series of gray stone statues situated on either of the pce, and all of them were wielding different weapons. They were standingpletely still on the spot, but there were spiritual power fluctuations emanating from their bodies, and they were clearly all puppets.
Behind the pill cauldron was a tform that was raised about three feet above the ground, upon which was arge golden chair with dragons and phoenixes engraved upon it, giving it a very grandiose appearance.
Seated atop the chair was a middle-aged man wearing a dark green daoist robe.
His hands were resting on the armrests of the chair, and his eyes were closed. He had one leg crossed over the other while leaning against the back of the chair, giving him a ratherckadaisical appearance that was somewhat of a mismatch with his handsome appearance.
Everyone was greatly startled to see this, and they immediately prepared for battle, only to discover a moment that the middle-aged man seemed to be nothing more than a corpse that waspletely devoid of vitality.
However, that wasn''t entirely urate as his chest was rising and falling slightly in a rhythmic fashion as if he were breathing, and it was as if he was a living corpse.
Right at this moment, a small five-colored cloud rose up from the top of the cauldron, and out of the dragons engraved onto the cauldron, the one that was facing the pce gates suddenly shed momentarily with silver light, following which a longan-sized silver pill flew out of its mouth.
With the emergence of the pill, an incredibly potent medicinal fragrance instantly permeated throughout the entire pce.
Everyone immediately turned their attention to the pill with fervent looks in their eyes.
"Hold on a second, everyone! Those golden rings form a protective array for the cauldron, and if we charge in recklessly, the entire cauldron of pills could be destroyed!" Luo Qinghai yelled.
"The pill has already taken shape, who cares if the cauldron is destroyed?" the elderly woman from the Southern Dawn Race retorted as she prepared to step forward, but a blue light barrier abruptly rose up from the ground to block her path.
"Is it finally time to fight? I''ve been raring to go this entire time!" the elderly man chuckled.
Han Li and Daoist Hu Yan exchanged a nce, and they immediately channeled their immortal spiritual power as well.
All of a sudden, a very tense atmosphere had descended upon the pce.
Chapter 492: High Zenith Palace
Chapter 492: High Zenith Pce
"Let''s remain calm and civilized, everyone. I''m not intervening because I want to stop all of you from fighting over the pill, I simply don''t want to see the other eight High Zenith Pills destroyed just for this single one," Luo Qinghai hurriedly exined.
"Oh? Are you saying that there are as many as nine High Zenith Pills in that cauldron?" Feng Tiandu asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"That''s right. If I''m not mistaken, this pill refinement cauldron should be the Nine Jewel-bearing Dragons Cauldron, an incredible cauldron that always produced nine pills per batch, one out of each dragon''s mouth. However, the pills won''t emerge all at once, so we should wait until all nine are ready," Luo Qinghai exined.
"Now that you mention it, I also recall hearing about this cauldron. It''s said that countless years ago, an almighty figure once gathered many precious natural treasures of the True Immortal Realm, as well as the souls of true spirits to refine a pill cauldron of incredible power, and it contains some type ofw power that allow pill refinement ingredients tobine with one another in a more harmonious fashion. I certainly wasn''t expecting to see it here," the elderly woman mused.
Everyone''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, but a hint of greed had surfaced in their eyes as they turned their attention to the pill cauldron.
"That brings up another problem then. There are 10 of us here right now, yet only nine High Zenith Pills, so how are we going to split them?" Feng Tiandu mused with a contemtive expression.
As soon as this point was raised, everyone immediately tensed up once again.
"That''s not a problem. I already said that I''ve only entered the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce on this asion to broaden my disciples'' horizons, and that objective has already been achieved. In light of that, our Vast Flow Pce will only im one pill, so that evens things out perfectly." Luo Qinghai said with a smile.
Everyone was very surprised and befuddled to hear this.
Right at this moment, the golden light barriers around the pill cauldron suddenly faded, and a golden humanoid puppet suddenly stepped around from behind the pill cauldron, then reached out to grab the silver pill that had flown out of the dragon''s mouth before turning back around and making its way therge golden chair.
Everyone was rather perplexed to see this, but they still followed the golden puppet nheless.
Right at this moment, a vast cloud of ck mist suddenly emerged, then swept over everyone in a wave.
It was as if everyone had suddenly been sucked into an extremely viscous swamp, and not only was their mobility significantly hampered, even their immortal spiritual power cirction had been slowed down significantly.
The same applied to Han Li, but the timew powers in his body weren''t affected at all.
Bright azure light emerged over his body as he channeled his timew powers to force out the surrounding ck mist, and as he turned to look behind himself, he discovered that the source of the viscous ck mist was none other than Feng Tiandu.
Plumes of ck qi were surging out of his body, forming a ck spirit domain that had trapped everyone inside.
The ck spirit domain was extremely dense, but it wasn''t veryrge, only epassing less than half of the pce so it didn''t trigger the golden array around the pill cauldron.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this. During that battle between Feng Tiandu and Xiao Jinhan outside the High Zenith Pce, the spirit domain that he had unleashed had been nowhere near as formidable as this one, so it was clear that he had intentionally concealed his true power.
In a rare disy of animosity, the amicable smile on Luo Qinghai''s face faded as he yelled in a furious voice, "What is the meaning of this, Feng Tiandu? Do you intend to take all of the High Zenith Stage for yourself?"
Immediately thereafter, a vortex of radiant blue light emerged around him, and it revolved incessantly while expanding outward, forming a blue spirit domain in the blink of an eye.
Countless turbulent wave projections were churning throughout the entire spirit domain, and while it was inferior to Feng Tiandu''s ck spirit domain, the gap wasn''t all that significant.
In the face of the crashing blue waves, the ck spirit domain was scattered a little.
At the same time, Daoist Hu Yan and the elderly woman from the Southern Dawn Race also unleashed their fiery spirit domains, and thebined power of the three spirit domains was instantly able to ward off the majority of the ck spirit domain''s power.
As a result, the pressure on the other Golden Immortal Stages present was significantly alleviated, and they immediately summoned a series of immortal treasures tounch a barrage of attacks at Feng Tiandu.
Han Li also summoned an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, and it swelled drastically in size before hurtling toward Feng Tiandu alongside all of the other immortal treasures.
Even though Han Li had refrained from unleashing the true power of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, it still wasn''t inferior in the slightestpared with all of the other immortal treasures.
A cold sneer appeared on Feng Tiandu''s face as he swept a sleeve through the air, and 16 thick ck chains shot out of his body.
All of the chains were riddled with countless tiny translucent runes of different shapes and forms, and they were giving off extremely formidablew power fluctuations.
Feng Tiandu had unleashed these chains in the past, but as was the case with his spirit domain, these chains were far more formidable than the ones that he had previously disyed.
The 16 chains glowed with dazzling ck light as they swept through the surrounding area, and a string of resounding booms rang out as all of the oing immortal treasures were swatted away by the chains.
As soon as the 16 ck chains appeared, the entire ck spirit domain immediately began to ripple and sh erratically while rapidly bing denser and and more formidable.
As a result, the three opposing spirit domains were quickly suppressed, and the restrictive power of the ck spirit domain was significantly enhanced once again as it swept toward all of the surrounding Golden Immortals.
Everyone felt as if there were a giant mountain weighing down upon them, making it extremely difficult to move.
"Your spirit domain has also reached the Spiritform Stage!" Luo Qinghai eximed.
Immediately thereafter, bright blue light emerged over his body as he flew toward a certain direction, and everyone else also quickly dispersed in different directions upon seeing this.
Through that battle against Xiao Jinhan, they had all experienced just how formidable a Spiritform Stage spirit domain was, and topound their woes even further, Feng Tiandu''s spirit domain seemed to be far more formidable than Xiao Jinhan''s.
The only silver lining was that Feng Tiandu had kept his spirit domain very small in order to avoid triggering the restrictions around the pill cauldron, so it wouldn''t take long to fly out of the spirit domain.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to recover his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, then flew away into the distance with radiant golden light shining from his body.
At the same time, he was channeling his timew powers into his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and arcs of golden lightning sprang out of the sword,shing out at the ck spirit domain up ahead.
Right at this moment, Jin Tong flew out of his body, then transformed into a millstone-sized golden beetle in the blink of an eye.
With a sweep of its two front legs, a flurry of streaks of translucent light were unleashed.
In the face of Han Li and Jin Tong''sbined powers, a gash was torn into the ck spirit domain up ahead, and the two of them immediately flew toward the opening.
"You''re not getting away!" Feng Tiandu harrumphed coldly as he made a hand seal, and a pair of ck chains appeared around his body amid a sh of ck light.
These were none other than the two Origin Separation Law Chains that he had sealed away.
Han Li''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately attempted to take evasive measures, but it was already toote.
The pair of ck chains shot forth like lightning, then wrapped themselves around him and Jin Tong, rendering both of thempletely immobilized.
With the emergence of these two Origin Separation Law Chains, the entire spirit domain began to ripple once again while bing even denser.
Right at this moment, all of the 16 ck chains around Feng Tiandu shot forth in unison, then vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye.
In the next instant, numerous ck chains emerged throughout the entire ck domain, and they intertwined with one another to form a cage of chains in the blink of an eye, trapping everyone inside.
Each person had several chains wrapped around them, and they were like flies stuck on a cobweb.
Luo Qinghai had been tied up by ck chains like everyone else, but he remained calm and collected as he said, "I didn''t think that your spirit domain would''ve already reached the Spiritform Stage, but there''s no way that you can maintain this spirit domain for long before you exhaust all of yourw powers! Do not be intimidated, everyone!"
As he aws speaking, bright blue light erupted from his entire body, and countless blue wave projections emerged within the blue light, shing against the surrounding ck light.
These Origin Separation Law Chains could seal their immortal spiritual power, but it was unable topletely seal theirw powers.
All of the other Golden Immortals were also instilled with a sense of calmness upon hearing this, and they began to unleash their respectivew powers to resist against the ck chains, causing the cage of ck chains to tremble and rattle incessantly.
As a result, Feng Tiandu''splexion paled slightly, but he then gave a cold harrumph before expelling an egg-sized ball of blood essence out of his mouth.
Immediately thereafter, several drops of blood essence flew into every single one of the ck chains in the spirit domain at his behest.
Bursts of ck light surged over the cage of ck chains with this injection of blood essence, and it was gradually stabilized.
In the case of Xiao Jinhan, he had only been able to elevate his spirit domain to the Spiritform Stage using those five stone pirs.
Due to the fact that external assistance was at y, his spirit domain had been a little weaker than a normal Spiritform Stage spirit domain, but at the same time, it also made the spirit domain less taxing on him to maintain.
In contrast, Feng Tiandu was unleashing this Spiritform Stage spirit domain solely through his own power, and he was facing so many Golden Immortals at once, so this was extremely taxing on both his immortal spiritual power and hisw powers.
"All of you are important figures in our Northern cial Immortal Region, and today, you''ll get to bear witness to my ascension to the High Zenith Stage. For that, I will grant all of you a quick and painless death!" Feng Tiandu dered as he continued to maintain his spirit domain.
"In your dreams, Feng Tiandu! Even if I have to sacrifice the entirety of my cultivation base here, I won''t let you have your way!" Luo Qinghai roared in a furious voice.
At the same time, he also expelled a mouthful of blood essence to bolster his spirit domain, expending a great deal of power in the process, and the ck light on the surface of the cage of ck chains began to sh erratically once again.
"Fellow daoists, the High Zenith Pills are right in front of us! Are we just going to watch as Feng Tiandu takes them all for himself? I, for one, certainly won''t just stand by and let him do as he pleases! Our Southern Dawn Race will fight the Dawn Fall Sect to the death!" the elderly woman yelled.
Everyone else immediately sprang into action as well, redoubling efforts to free themselves from the ck cage.
Chapter 493: Intercepting the Pills
Chapter 493: Intercepting the Pills
"I''ll trap them here while you go secure the High Zenith Pills," Feng Tiandu said to Qi Tianxiao, paying no heed to the other Golden Immortals.
"Senior Martial Brother, why don''t we kill these people first, then take our time in securing the pills?" Qi Tianxiao suggested through voice transmission as a cold gleam shed through his eyes.
"Let''s secure one or two High Zenith Pills first. Even though these people have been trapped by me, it''s definitely not going to be an easy task to kill all of them. We have to prioritize securing the pills first!" Feng Tiandu replied.
Qi Tianxiao nodded in response, then immediately shot forth toward the golden puppet.
At this point, the golden puppet was already quite far away, and it was no more than 10,000 feet away from therge golden chair on the raised tform.
Qi Tianxiao rose up from the ground, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of gray light, which contained a gray flying sword.
The flying sword began to glow with radiant gray light, then abruptly transformed into dozens of threads of gray light that shot forth toward the golden puppet in unison.
However, right at this moment, the golden patterns on the ground lit up, and a pir of white mes erupted out of the ground, forming a wall of fire in front of the threads of gray light.
A burst of scorching heat erupted out of the wall of white mes, causing the nearby space to twist and warp.
As soon as the threads of gray light came into contact with the white wall of fire, they were instantly incinerated into nothingness.
Qi Tianxiao''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately stopped cold in his tracks.
Meanwhile, the golden puppet seemed to remain oblivious to everything that was happening as it continued to trudge toward the golden chair.
Qi Tianxiao turned his gaze to the middle-aged man seated on the golden chair, and a thought suddenly sprang into his mind.
Could it be that the puppet is going to offer the High Zenith Pill to that living corpse?
With that in mind, an urgent look immediately shed through his eyes.
Who knew what was going to happen if the pill were given to that living corpse.
The corrosivews that he had mastered were naturally somewhat suppressed by mes of this nature, but it seemed that he had no choice but to force his way through.
All the while, the golden puppet was drawing closer and closer to the golden chair.
400 feet...
350 feet...
300 feet...
Large beads of sweat began to appear on Qi Tianxiao''s forehead, and his mind was racing. All of a sudden, heid a hand onto his waist, and a white ring emerged in his grasp amid a sh of white light.
A pained look shed through his eyes as he tossed the white ring through the air with one hand while quickly casting an incantation seal with the other.
The ring instantly began to radiate dazzling white light while rapidly expanding to several times its original size, and countless runes were surging out of it in a frenzy.
Light also began to converge at the center of the ring, instantly forming a white vortex with bursts of spatial power emanating from within.
......
Meanwhile, all of the cultivators outside the High Zenith Pce had already found ces to sit.
The stone gate remained open, and the dazzling white light inside was unbearably bright.
asionally, one of the cultivators would take a nce at the white stone gate with a hint of greed in their eyes, but no one stepped out of line.
Not long after Han Li and the others entered through the stone gates, the rest of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators also arrived on the scene, led by the fair-skinned schr.
After some discussion, everyone arrived at a temporary agreement, which was that if the cultivators of any side were to try and enter the High Zenith Pce, then they would immediately be attacked by everyone else.
Among all of the cultivators present, the Vast Flow Pce had the most formidable lineup, which included four Golden Immortals. Aside from them, there were also several True Immortals among their ranks.
Second came the Dawn Fall Sect, which had three Golden Immortals.
Aside from them, the only ones left were Yun Ni and another one of the ze Dragon Dao dao lords, and the two of them were standing together, forming a triangr formation with the Vast Flow Pce and Dawn Fall Sect''s forces.
Right at this moment, two of the Dawn Fall Sect Golden Immortals exchanged a nce with one another, and one of them suddenly suggested, "Fellow daoists, I don''t think the people inside are going to being out anytime soon, and sitting around like this is really unproductive. There may be other treasures to be found in this mountain range, so how about we leave some people behind while the rest of us go and do some exploring?"
Peculiar looks appeared on everyone''s faces upon hearing this.
They had been ordered to stand on guard duty here, and that was their top priority, so there was no way that they could go wandering off now.
"Not interested," the fair-skinned schr of the Vast Flow Pce said. "If you want to go, then you can go by yourselves."
Yun Ni and the ze Dragon Dao Golden Immortal didn''t say anything, but it was clear that they had no intention of leaving, either.
"Suit yourselves. In that case, we''ll go on our own," the Golden Immortal of the Dawn Fall Sect said, then stood up with the other Golden Immortal, and both of them flew away into the distance, quickly vanishing out of sight.
Yun Ni''s brows were slightly furrowed as she watched them depart.
Once the two of them had flown out of everyone else''s spiritual sensory range, they immediately drew to a halt, then descended onto the ground in a secretive location.
There, one of the Golden Immortals flipped a hand over to produce a white ring, and the two of them cast a string of incantation seals into the ring, upon which it began to rapidly expand while giving off bursts of white light.
Before long, a white vortex had appeared within the ring as well, and the two of them immediately flew into the vortex.
After the two of them flew into the white ring, countless cracks instantly appeared over its surface, and it shattered before disintegrating into specks of white light.
......
Inside the High Zenith Pce, Qi Tianxiao was hovering in mid-air as he made a hand seal, and two streaks of light shot out of the white ring in front of him, then faded to reveal the pair of Golden Immortals from earlier.
The expressions of Han Li and the others instantly darkened slightly as they saw this from afar.
Following the arrival of the two Golden Immortals, countless cracks appeared over this white ring as well, and it was also shattered.
The two Golden Immortals were rather taken aback by the sight that they were greeted by, and they both cupped their fists in a salute as they greeted, "Greetings, Sect Master, Grand Elder."
"No need for formalities. I''ve teleported the two of you in here as I need you to unleash your Sun Moon Chaos Arts to help me break through this wall of fire," Qi Tianxiao said.
The two Golden Immortals knew that the situation was urgent, so they didn''t ask any further questions, and they immediately split apart, then began to chant a collective incantation as ck and white light emerged over their bodies.
Both the ck and white lights were giving off bursts ofw fluctuations, and Han Li was quite intrigued by this.
He could sense that these two bursts ofw fluctuations were very special, and they werepletely different from the five-elementalws that he was familiar with.
Thew power fluctuations emanating out of the white light were as radiant as the sun, while the ck light''sw fluctuations were dark and gloomy, but not cold or sinister in the slightest.
Could these bews rted to yin and yang? Han Li spected.
Right at this moment, Jin Tong''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind. "You''re not actually trapped by these chains, are you, Uncle?"
He turned to discover that Jin Tong was still struggling with all its might, and golden light was shing over its sharp ws as it hacked away viciously at the ck chains.
However, these ck chains were extraordinarily resilient, rendering its strugglespletely futile, so it could only turn to Han Li with a helpless expression.
Han Li gave Jin Tong a subtle look, but offered no response outside of that.
Jin Tong was ecstatic to see this, and it immediately urged, "So you do have a way to break out of these chains! Hurry and free me so I can go kill that old zombie!"
"Be quiet! The situation is really unclear right now, so we have to wait," Han Li hurriedly said through voice transmission.
Even though his immortal spiritual power was restricted by this Origin Separation Law Chains, he was still able to use his timew powers, so it wasn''t impossible for him to break free from these chains, but now wasn''t the right time to do so.
As Han Li and Jin Tong weremunicating with one another, the two Dawn Fall Sect Golden Immortals let loose a collective low roar, and the ck and white light around them immediately shot forth toward the wall of fire as two pirs of light, one ck and one white.
The ck and white pirs of light intertwined with one another before quickly fusing as one to form a ck and white vortex.
As the two Golden Immortals continued to make a rapid string of hand seals, the two bursts ofw powers also fused together.
The ck and white vortex instantly swelled significantly in size, while the two bursts ofw powers were also bolstered by about twofold in unison, and they struck the wall of fire with tremendous force.
This was the first time that Han Li had seen twopletely different types ofw powers that could enhance each other, and he was very intrigued.
At the same time, he was struck by a hint of enlightenment, as if he had just grasped a key point pertaining to the usage ofw powers, but in this situation, he couldn''t dwell on this train of thought for long, so he would just have to slowly explore it another time.
The ck and white vortex was revolving rapidly, while the wall of fire churned violently, and bursts of scorching mes surged toward the ck and white vortex as if they had a mine of their own, trying to incinerate the vortex. However, the vortex was only bing brighter and brighter as it flew rapidly into the wall of fire.
A few secondster, the ck and white vortex was able to pierce straight through the wall of fire to open up a ck and white passageway.
At this point, the golden puppet was already no more than 150 feet away from the raised tform.
Qi Tianxiao immediately shot through the ck and white passageway as a streak of gray light, hurtling toward the golden puppet like lightning.
He then swept a sleeve through the air to release the same gray jade scepter from before, and it swelled to the size of a house in the blink of an eye.
A vast expanse of dense gray mist was swirling around the scepter, and there were countless gray runes interspersed throughout the mist as the scepter came crashing down upon the golden puppet.
Meanwhile, the other two Dawn Fall Sect Golden Immortals also flew through the ck and white passageway before pouncing at the golden puppet.
At the same time, both of them opened their mouths to release two streaks of light, one white and one ck, and they contained a pair ofrge triangr gs.
One g was a pristine white color with a zing sun embroidered onto its center, and it was giving off blinding white light, while the other g was pitch-ck with a moon embroidered onto its surface, giving off a faint glow that was more subtle and profound.
The two of them cast a string of incantation seals into the pair of gs, and they instantly transformed into a pair of massive balls of light. A sun was hovering within one of the balls of light, and a moon in the other, both of which were giving off immense auras.
The two balls of light were giving off a thunderous rumbling sound as they hurtled toward the golden puppet from either side.
Chapter 494: Slain
Chapter 494: in
Right at this moment, the golden puppet abruptly turned around to look at its assants with a wooden expression, and bright golden light emerged over its body alongside a series of golden lightning veins.
A loud crackling sound rang out as thick arcs of golden lightning emerged. There were countless lightning runes dancing within the arcs of lightning, and they were giving formidablew power fluctuations.
Immediately thereafter, the golden puppet raised an arm before throwing a forceful punch, and a thick bolt of golden lightning erupted forth before striking the gray jade scepter.
A resounding boom rang out as the jade scepter shuddered violently, then tumbled back through the air end over end. The dense gray mist that it was emitting was torn apart by the golden lightning, and the spiritual light that it was giving off was also a little scattered, indicating that its spiritual nature had been harmed.
The golden puppet also shuddered violently, and only after stumbling back a few steps did it manage to steady itself. At the same time, the golden lightning surging over its body had also dimmed significantly.
The two Dawn Fall Sect Golden Immortals were ecstatic to see this, and the two giant balls of light instantly transformed into two massive hands at their behest, one ck and one white, before grabbing toward the golden puppet.
Right at this moment, two gray humanoid figures suddenly joined the golden puppet in a wraith-like manner.
As it turned out, two of the gray statues standing on either side of the pce had suddenly sprung to life, and yellow spirit patterns had appeared over the entirety of their bodies.
The two statues were giving off radiant yellow light that was interspersed with bursts of tremendousw power fluctuations, and each of them was wielding a pair of yellow sabers, which they shed through the air.
Two pairs of giant yellow saber projections were sent flying through the air, crossing over one another to form a pair of huge crosses.
Serrated edges appeared on the edges of the saber projections, giving them a menacing appearance, and they were giving off incredibly heavyw power fluctuations that caused all of the space in their wake to twist and warp violently.
Two resounding booms rang out as the pair of giant hands were destroyed, reverting back into a pair ofrge gs that were sent flying back through the air.
Meanwhile, the two gray statues remainedpletely still like a pair of immovable mountains.
Qi Tianxiao''s trio was stunned to see this, as were Han Li and the others.
Right at this moment, all of the gray statues on either side of the pce shot forth at once,nding at the center of the pce. There were somewhere between 40 to 50 of them in total, and they instantly surrounded Qi Tianxiao''s trio.
"Trespassers must be killed!" the statues roared in unison in a ghastly voice that resembled the sound of metal grating on metal.
Powerful soundwaves swept through the air in all directions, causing the entire pce to buzz and tremble.
The soundwaves converged from all directions, and ripples that were visible even to the naked eye appeared in the air, inundating Qi Tianxiao''s trio.
The three of them immediately began to tremble uncontrobly as painful looks appeared on their faces.
Right at this moment, bright yellow light began to radiate from the dozens of gray statues, and the yellow light quickly connected together to form a giant yellow go board projection around the three Golden Immortals in the blink of an eye.
Every single line on the go board projection was giving off extremely heavyw power fluctuations, and these fluctuations werepounding upon one another.
Epassed within the go board projection, Qi Tianxiao''s trio instantly felt as if there were countless mountains weighing down upon them, and even with their Golden Immortal Stage powers, they were renderedpletely immobilized.
After sessfully trapping the trio, the dozens of puppets shed their des through the air at once, unleashing a storm of saber and sword projections.
At the same time, all of the golden patterns on the ground abruptly lit up, releasing bursts of white mes that instantly inundated the entire go board projection, transforming it into a sea of mes.
Waves of scorching heat spread in all directions, causing the nearby space to shimmer and warp, and even Han Li and the others in the distance were feeling the intense heat.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and Han Li and the others were astonished by what they were seeing, but there was also nock of schadenfreude in their expressions.
"Thank heavens you didn''t free me, Uncle. It''s much safer here than over there," Jin Tong said with a hint of lingering fear in its voice.
Han Li offered no response, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
Meanwhile, Feng Tiandu''s expression had darkened significantly, and he wanted to assist his allies, but there was no way that he could leave after unleashing this cage of chains.
Looking at the sea of mes before him, a hint of remorse welled up in his heart.
If he had known that there were such formidable restrictions and puppets here, then he would''ve allowed Luo Qinghai and the others to test the waters first.
However, thanks to his greed, he had turned everyone against him, and there was no longer any possibility for a peaceful resolution. Furthermore, they had to deal with these restrictions and puppets as well, and they were well and truly stuck between a rock and a hard ce.
Right at this moment, one part of the sea of fire rippled slightly, and a streak of gray light shot out beforending near the pce gates to reveal Qi Tianxiao.
At this moment, his entire body was charred ck, and most of his hair had also been incinerated. Hisplexion was extremely pale, and there was blood trailing down from the corners of his lips, giving him a very sorry appearance.
Afternding on the ground, Qi Tianxiao stumbled a few steps before steadying himself, and there was a hint of rm and horror in his eyes.
Meanwhile, the sea of white mes began to rapidly recede, and before long, it had entirely vanished into the ground.
Shortly thereafter, the tworge gs from earlier drifted down onto the ground, but the spiritual light emanating from them hadpletely faded, indicating that they had also been severely damaged.
As for the other two Dawn Fall Sect Golden Immortals, they were nowhere to be seen, and it was clear that their bodies, nascent souls, and even their storage treasures had been incinerated into nothingness by the white mes, while only the pair of resilient immortal treasures remained.
Feng Tiandu''s expression darkened even further upon seeing this.
Han Li and the others were also all astonished by the power of these white mes.
Before long, the yellow light radiating from the dozens of gray statues also faded, as did the yellow go board projection.
The gray statues then turned and made their way back to their original spots before standing still again, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.
Meanwhile, the golden puppet continued to step forward, and it quickly arrived in front of the golden chair, following which the silver pill flew out of its grasp and into the living corpse''s mouth.
Everyone could only watch as the pill rolled down into the living corpse''s stomach, following which ayer of gentle green light quickly appeared over its body.
A few secondster, the green light faded, and the living corpse''s aura was slightly elevated.
Han Li and the others were all very surprised to see this.
Right at this moment, another one of the dragons engraved onto the pill cauldron opened its mouth to release a burst of five-colored light.
Almost at the exact same moment, yet another dragon did the exact same thing, and a vast golden cloud quickly took shape in the sky above the pce again, then transformed into a swirling golden vortex.
A terrifying aura that was even more formidable than that of the previous pill tribtion erupted out of the golden vortex, and everyone was immediately struck by a sense of asphyxiation, as if there were a huge rock weighing down onto each of their chests.
The immense pressure was weighing down upon the entirety of Feng Tiandu''s spirit domain, so he was the one who was most heavily impacted. He felt as if he had been dealt a heavy blow to the chest, and hisplexion instantly paled, while his spirit domain also began to ripple.
Luo Qinghai immediately pounced on this opportunity as radiant blue light emerged over his entire body, forming countless blue waves that swept toward the ck spirit domain with tremendous power.
An opening was sted into the spirit domain, and a speck of blue light appeared beside Luo Qinghai''s hand before shooting out of the opening like lightning, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
Feng Tiandu immediately swung around and swept both sleeves through the air, releasing two balls of ck light with countless runes shing within them.
The two balls of ck light quickly fused into the spirit domain, instantly stabilizing it, while the opening that had been created by Luo Qinghai was mended.
At the same time, bursts of ck light converged to suppress the blue light around Luo Qinghai once again.
A cold sneer appeared on Luo Qinghai''s face as he began making a string of hand seals while chanting an incantation, and the blue light around his body formed a light barrier with countless wave projections shing over its surface.
"What did you do just now, Luo Qinghai?" Feng Tiandu asked in a cold voice.
Luo Qinghai offered no response as he continued to make more hand seals, and the blue light barrier around him grew brighter and brighter.
It was unable to keep out the Origin Separation Law Chains, but all of the surrounding ck light was kept at bay.
A cold look shed through Feng Tiandu''s eyes, but before he had a chance to do anything, two bursts of water-droplet-like silver light emerged from within the golden vortex.
Arcs of lightning were shing incessantly over the burst of silver light, which then descended to fall upon the roof of the golden pce.
A vast expanse of blinding silver light instantly enveloped the entire golden pce, and all of the runes that riddled the pce instantly lit up once again, releasing dazzling golden radiance to keep the silver light at bay.
Thebination of silver and golden radiance was so bright that everyone was temporarily blinded.
......
Meanwhile, the entrance of the stone gates at the center of the valley suddenly shed momentarily, following which a streak of blue light flew out from within before shattering to form a blue light screen.
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon seeing this as they rose to their feet.
The blue screen of light rippled momentarily, following which a clear image appeared on its surface, depicting the scene during which the two Dawn Fall Sect Golden Immortals had flown into the pce.
"Those bastards! They said they were going to explore the mountain range, but they actually snuck into the pce!"
"The Dawn Fall Sect has broken the agreement!"
Everyone in the valley was furious, and they collectively turned to the only remaining Dawn Fall Sect cultivator present, an elderly Golden Immortal with a rotund frame.
The elderly man seemed to have been prepared for this eventuality, and he immediately began spinning like a top, then fled into the distance as a ball of azure light.
Everyone looked on with tightly furrowed brows, but no one set off to pursue him. Momentster, everyone turned their attention back to the entrance before them, then began to exchange nces with one another.
Chapter 495: Time to Strike
Chapter 495: Time to Strike
"Everyone, the Dawn Fall Sect has broken the agreement, so we should all disregard it as well!" the Golden Immortal of the ze Dragon Dao dered, then immediately shot forth through the air as if he were worried that the Vast Flow Pce cultivators would try and intercept him, vanishing into the stone gates in the blink of an eye.
Yun Ni took a nce at the four Vast Flow Pce cultivators, then also flew through the stone gates as a streak of silver light.
The Vast Flow Pce cultivators made no attempt to stop them.
With that, the only ones still left outside were the Vast Flow Pce cultivators, and they exchanged a nce with one another, then made a series of hand seals to cast a string of incantation seals into the blue light screen.
At the same time that the blue light screen emerged, they had received a secret message from Luo Qinghai through voice transmission.
The light screen rippled slightly, then rapidly shrank down into a blue door of light.
"Keep guarding the entrance," the fair-skinned schr instructed as he turned to the True Immortals of the Vast Flow Pce.
The True Immortals instantly nodded in response, following which the four Golden Immortals flew into the blue door of light in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, the door of light began to ripple before quickly beginning to fade away.
Right at this moment, Yun Ni appeared out of thin air amid a sh of white light, much to the surprise of the Vast Flow Pce True Immortals.
Yun Ni paid no heed to them at all as she also flew into the door of blue light, just in time before itpletely faded out of existence, leaving the Vast Flow Pce True Immortals to stare at each other with bewildered expressions.
......
Inside the pce, the vast expanse of dazzling silver light suddenly shed momentarily before receding like the tide.
All of the golden light within the pce faded away as well, and yet another pill tribtion was sessfully negotiated.
Two of the dragon''s engraved onto the pill cauldron opened their mouths, and a pair of High Zenith Pills shot out, filling the entire pce with a rich medicinal aroma once again.
A hint of greed shed through Feng Tiandu''s eyes at the sight of the two pills.
Right at this moment, two more golden puppets popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, then grabbed the pair of High Zenith Pills before making their way toward the golden chair once again.
"Are you alright, Junior Martial Brother?" Feng Tiandu asked through voice transmission.
Qi Tianxiao took a deep breath, then replied, "I had to use a secret technique to escape from that sea of fire, so I''m feeling a little drained, but I managed to escape serious injury."
"At this point, I definitely won''t settle for leaving this ce empty-handed, and I''m sure the same goes for you as well. Luo Qinghai most likely did something just now to contact all of the Golden Immortals outside, and once those people get in here, we''ll be in an even worse situation, so we must im High Zenith Pill now!" Feng Tiandu dered in a cold voice.
"But the restrictions and those statues are far too powerful for me to contend with on my own," Qi Tianxiao said with slightly furrowed brows.
"That''s fine. From my observations, it seems like while those gray statues are very formidable, they don''t appear to be very intelligent or adaptable. Here''s the n: I''ll find a way to distract them, and you take the pills while they''re distracted!" Feng Tiandu said.
"Alright, I''ll give it another shot," Qi Tianxiao replied after a brief hesitation.
While the two of them weremunicating with one another through voice transmission, Han Li took a nce at the other people around him.
The situation in the pce seemed to be worsening by the second. He was confident that he would be able to free himself from these Origin Separation Law Chains, but it would take some time to do so, and continuing to allow himself to be trapped like this didn''t seem to be a good idea.
Right as Han Li was hesitating about whether this was the right time to break free from the Origin Separation Law Chains, Feng Tiandu suddenly raised both hands to cast a pair of incantation seals into two of the ck chains, namely the ones wrapped around Daoist Hu Yan and Ouyang Kuishan.
The two chains instantly began to glow brightly as countless ck runes surged out of them, then converged to form a blurry ck figure that was around half a foot tall.
That''s a domain spirit!
As soon as the domain spirit took shape, it immediately flew into the bodies of Daoist Hu Yan and Ouyang Kuishan in a sh.
A series of ck patterns instantly began to spread rapidly over their bodies, and their expressions changed drastically as they channeled theirw powers to resist the invasive force with all their might, but to no avail.
"Feng Tiandu! What did you do?"
In the blink of an eye, the entirety of their bodies were covered in ck patterns, and their auras already took on a drastic change.
Immediately thereafter, the two of them were freed from the cage of chains andnded on the ground, but there was still a ck chain connected to each of their dantians.
"Go!" Feng Tiandu instructed, and the two of them immediately flew toward the pill cauldron.
A hint of tion appeared on Qi Tianxiao''s face upon seeing this, and he quickly took a regenerative pill as a gray cloud began to emerge out of his body.
Han Li immediately understood Feng Tiandu''s intentions, and a cold look appeared on his face.
He was quite close with Daoist Hu Yan to begin with, and thetter had just given him the next three levels of the Mantra Treasured Axis, so he definitely couldn''t just watch him fall to his demise.
With that in mind, golden light shed over his body, yet right as he was about to do something, a blue door of light suddenly appeared at the entrance of the pce.
The four Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals flew out from within, and they were clearly rather taken aback by the sight that they were greeted by.
Immediately thereafter, Yun Ni flew out of the door of light as well, and the surprise on the faces of the four Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals became even more pronounced at the sight of her.
As soon as Yun Ni appeared in the golden pce, she immediately spotted Daoist Hu Yan, and she conjured up a giant white snow lotus flower projection around herself, while a strange flying sword that resembled a lotus flower stem appeared in her hand.
The lotus flower projection flew through the air, carrying her with it as she shot forth toward Daoist Hu Yan as quickly as she could.
In this instant, it was as if she could see nothing but Daoist Hu Yan, and all of the surrounding perils werepletely disregarded.
"What a loyal woman you are!" Feng Tiandu remarked with a cold sneer.
At the same time, two ck chains shot out of the ck light barrier up above, then crossed over one another in mid-air before hurtling directly toward Yun Ni.
"Look out!" Daoist Hu Yan hurriedly called out in an rmed voice.
However, Yun Ni was desperate to save him, and even though she knew that an attack was descending upon her from above, she still refused to take evasive measures, instead elerating even further on a straight-line trajectory toward Daoist Hu Yan.
However, she was situated in Feng Tiandu''s spirit domain, and there was no way that he would allow her to do as she pleased.
Before she even had a chance to get close to Daoist Hu Yan, two more chains came flying at her from either side, and in conjunction with the pair of chains shooting down from above, all avenues for retreat and evasion werepletely cut off.
Right at this moment, a burst of bright golden light suddenly lit up on Han Li''s chest.
Immediately thereafter, the burst of golden light flickered slightly like a me, then instantly transformed into a golden light barrier that epassed the entire pce.
Countless golden ripples appeared in the air above, and they were giving off a burst of tremendousw power fluctuations.
In the instant that the chains converging toward Yun Ni came into contact with these golden ripples, they were instantly slowed down significantly.
An incredulous look shed through Yun Ni''s eyes as she slipped through the gaps between the chains with ease, then arrived by Daoist Hu Yan''s side.
"Nice one, kid!" Daoist Hu Yan eximed as he turned to take a nce back at Han Li.
At this moment, they were the only two people in this entire pce who weren''t affected by the golden spirit domain, while everyone else, including Feng Tiandu and Luo Qinghai, could feel a burst of pronounced timew powers hanging in the air.
Everyone was greatly rmed by this abrupt turn of events, and a furious look appeared on Feng Tiandu''s face.
At the same time, he pointed a finger directly at Han Li, and a ck chain shot out of his sleeve, then hurtled toward Han Li''s dantian at an incredible speed.
"You want to seal my nascent soul away again? Shouldn''t you know better than to try the same trick twice?" Han Li chuckled with a derisive sneer on his face.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a streak of azure light abruptly appeared in front of him. It was an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, and it swept directly toward the ck chain around Han Li''s body.
Arcs of golden lightning shed over the sword''s surface, further enhancing its already peerlessly sharp aura as it crashed into the ck chain with a loud ng.
The chain was instantly snapped, then disintegrated into a plume of ck mist that fused back into the ck spirit domain.
"Impossible!"
Feng Tiandu''s expression changed drastically as he stared intently at the sword in Han Li''s hand, and he was struggling to believe that just a single strike from this sword was able to sever his Origin Separation Law Chain.
Unbeknownst to him, this was actually three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords fused as one, and that was the maximum number that Han Li could control at once. At this moment, the boundless sword qi emanating from thebined sword was far more formidable than the aura of any average immortal treasure.
This seemed like quite a lengthy process, but in reality, all of it had taken ce in an instant.
After the chain around Han Li''s body was snapped, the other ck chain was already no more than an inch away from his lower abdomen, but all of a sudden, he abruptly vanished from the spot.
As it turned out, in the same instant that he had freed himself from that chain, he had also unleashed his Reversal True Axis ability to drastically enhance his own speed. After evading the oing chain, he arrived by Jin Tong''s side in a sh, then snapped the chain around her body as well with another sh of his sword.
Feng Tiandu''s expression darkened even further upon seeing this, and if it weren''t for the fact that he had to remain on the spot to control everyone else, he would''ve immediately stormed at Han Li to strike him down.
Aplex look had also appeared on Luo Qinghai''s face upon seeing this, and at this moment, the Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals that he had summoned into the pce were also moving around in a very slow and sluggish fashion under the effects of Han Li''s spirit domain.
Chapter 496: Chaotic Battle
Chapter 496: Chaotic Battle
After being freed from the ck chain, Jin Tong took a moment to stretch out her limbs as she said, "About time, Uncle! What do you need me to do? I''m itching for a fight!"
"Ignore him for now, focus on getting me a High Zenith Pill first," Han Li hurriedly instructed.
At this moment, everyone else was still trapped in Feng Tiandu''s cage of chains, so this was the perfect opportunity for him to secure a High Zenith Pill.
Jin Tong looked back and forth between Feng Tiandu and the pill cauldron for a moment, clearly feeling a little conflicted.
In the end, she conceded, "Fine. I''ve been dying to sink my teeth into that pill cauldron this entire time, so I guess I''ll just eat that first..."
Everyone present was astonished to hear this.
Everyone had seen how she had eaten Xiao Jinhan''s treasures and nascent souls, so they knew that she wasn''t bluffing, and if she were to eat the cauldron now, then all of the remaining pills inside would be ruined!
"No! Don''t do that!" Luo Qinghai hurriedly yelled in a panicked voice.
At the same time, the blue light around his body reared up in powerful blue waves, and it seemed that the chain wrapped around his body was about to burst apart at any moment.
Feng Tiandu immediately refocused his efforts on bolstering his chains, making sure to keep Luo Qinghai firmly under control. After all, out of all of the people in this pce, Luo Qinghai was the one that he was most wary of.
Feng Tiandu and Luo Qinghai possessed the most advanced cultivation bases among all of the Golden Immortals present, so even though they were also affected by Han Li''s time spirit domain, the impact that it had on them was far less significant.
Han Li was also feeling quite exasperated as he hurriedly called out, "There are still pills that are yet to be formed inside that cauldron, so you can''t eat it!"
"I can''t do this, I can''t do that! What can I do? It''s so annoying!" Jin Tong grumbled to herself, and it was unclear whether she was going to follow Han Li''s instruction as she flew directly toward the sea of fire.
A cold sneer appeared on Qi Tianxiao''s face upon seeing this, and he remained still on the spot as he observed Jin Tong from afar, making no effort to go after her.
Given the childish nature that she had disyed, Qi Tianxiao presumed that she had no idea just how formidable that sea of fire was. Once she flew into it, she would undoubtedly suffer severe burns, and once that happened, he would swoop in and restrain her before slowly taming her into his spirit pet over time.
However, to his surprise, Han Li also set off after her, then appeared in front of her in a sh.
He then made a strange hand seal, and a burst of silver mes emerged over the palms of his hands as he thrust them into the sea of fire.
As soon as his hands came into contact with the edge of the sea of fire, his brows instantly furrowed tightly as an agonized look appeared on his face.
These mes were far more formidable than he had anticipated.
He spread his hands apart, and the silver me instantly formed a ring-shaped fiery barrier that parted the surrounding mes to open up a circr hole that was slowly expanding.
However, as he did this, his time spirit domain was clearly impacted, and everyone inside it was freed up a little.
"Hurry up! I can''t keep this up for long..."
Han Li''s hands had already be bright red, and arge section of his sleeves had also been incinerated into ashes as he persevered with tightly gritted teeth.
Jin Tong immediately spread her wings and flew toward the hole, but right at this moment, a cloud of dense gray mist suddenly surged toward her from the side, then appeared in front of her before taking on the form of Qi Tianxiao.
"Piss off!" Jin Tong roared, but Qi Tianxiao refused to budge, releasing plumes of gray mist out of his sleeves, and the mist instantly transformed into seven or eight giant gray pythons that pounced at Jin Tong.
Jin Tong was infuriated and immediately began attacking the gray pythons.
Meanwhile, Han Li was struggling to hold on, and his hands had be virtually transparent, while his time spirit domain was also bing thinner and thinner.
"Don''t worry about me, go and secure the High Zenith Pill!" Luo Qinghai hurriedly yelled, and the four Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals immediately stopped in their tracks, then channeled theirw powers to oppose Han Li''s time spirit domain as they rushed toward the pill cauldron.
Luo Qinghai took a nce in that direction, then raised a question to Nan Kemeng through voice transmission. "Have you found a way to break the restriction?"
Nan Kemeng shook his head in response. "I''ve managed to spot a few weak points, but I haven''t been able to think of a way to break the restriction yet."
"That''s fine, just tell those four the weak points that you''ve spotted so they at least have some targets," Luo Qinghai replied.
Even though the conversation was taking ce through voice transmission, Feng Tiandu could see that they were plotting something, and he mused, "Looks like this disciple of yours has some interesting abilities, Grand Pce Master Luo. No wonder you bring him with you everywhere you go."
He made a hand seal as he spoke, and a ck chain shot out of his robes before instantly piercing into Nan Kemeng''s dantian.
The nascent soul inside was immediately sealed away by an Origin Separation Law Chain, while the light in his eyes instantly faded.
"Meng''er!" Luo Qinghai called out as his expression changed drastically.
At the same time, the blue light radiating from his body became even brighter, and they crashed against the Origin Separation Law Chain around him like an endless barrage of waves.
Feng Tiandu''s expression remained unchanged as he injected more immortal spiritual power into his chains to suppress Luo Qinghai, but internally, he was feeling very frustrated.
Never had he imagined the restrictions around the pill cauldron would be this formidable, to the point that two of his sect''s Golden Immortals had met their demise here without even being able to put up a fight. As a result, the overall power of the Dawn Fall Sect was significantly diminished, and it was now the Vast Flow Pce that had the upper hand.
On top of that, Han Li was also proving to be very troublesome, so there was a good chance that his ns could bepletely foiled here.
Before he had a chance to fully suppress Luo Qinghai, a resounding boom suddenly rang out from the chain that was connected to Daoist Hu Yan''s body.
Yun Ni''s lotus branch fire sword had been inserted into the chain no more than a foot away from Daoist Hu Yan''s lower abdomen, and the pink floral projection it abruptly bloomed before exploding, instantly snapping the ck chain.
At the same time, Yun Ni drifted down from above with blood trickling down from the corner of her lips as she stumbled backward.
Daoist Hu Yan immediately arrived by her side to catch her, and there was a pained look in his eyes as he yelled, "What are you doing? Don''t be so reckless!"
"I''m fine as long as you''re alright," Yun Ni said in a gentle voice as she wiped the blood from the corner of her lips.
Daoist Hu Yan''s brows were tightly furrowed, and he wanted to say something more, but she shook her head to stop him.
Not far away from them, Ouyang Kuishan was still involuntarily charging toward the sea of fire, but his gaze had been fixed on Daoist Hu Yan this entire time with a hint of envy and sorrow in his eyes.
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni exchanged a nce with one another, following which the two of them arrived on either side of Ouyang Kuishan in a sh.
With a flick of her wrist, Yun Ni sent a red streamer flying through the air, and it wrapped itself tightly around Ouyang Kuishan to lock him firmly into ce.
At the same time, Daoist Hu Yan made a grabbing motion, and a fiery flying sword appeared in his grasp.
He raised the sword up high before shing it down upon the ck chain that was protruding out of Ouyang Kuishan''s dantian, and a thin crimson line instantly appeared on the chain before it was split into two.
"You have my thanks."
Ouyang Kuishan gave the two of them a grateful nod as the ck patterns all over his body slowly faded.
Feng Tiandu''s expression darkened even further upon seeing this, and he made a beckoning motion with one hand, upon which the two Origin Separation Law Chains that had been severed by Han Li returned to his grasp.
"Finally, I''ve recovered the full set," Feng Tiandu murmured to himself as he stroked the pair of chains.
He then raised a hand, and the two chains instantly reared up like a pair of spirit snakes, then crawled up into his sleeve before trailing down onto the ground like his other chains.
Feng Tiandu took a nce down at the chains beneath him, following which he raised his head and began to cackle in a gravelly voice.
He reached out with both hands, and blood began to gather between his fingers before flowing down onto the ck chains beneath him.
A burst of crimson light spread over the chains, and a burst of urgent ttering suddenly rang out as countless dark red chains swept over the ground like an enormous mass of spirit snakes.
Luo Qinghai and the others, who were still trapped in the cage of chains, were instantly wrapped up inyers uponyers of additional chains, encasing each of them in a dark red cocoon.
Daoist Hu Yan immediately turned his sword upside-down upon seeing this, then pierced the tip of the sword into the ground.
A crimson light barrier instantly spread from the tip of his sword, and it was giving off waves of scorching heat that forced back the oing chains.
Meanwhile, each of the four Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals was holding a jade badge, all of which were radiating dazzling blue light, forming a square crystal house that also kept the chains at bay.
"What do we do?" one of the Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals, an elderly man, asked as he took a hesitant nce in Luo Qinghai''s direction.
"The pce master told us to prioritize securing the pills, so we''ll just have to follow his instruction," the fair-skinned schr replied.
With that, the four Golden Immortals began to discuss ways to ward off the sea of fire to secure the High Zenith PIlls within.
Meanwhile, Jin Tong felt like the pce was too confined a space for her to fight Qi Tianxiao to her heart''s content, so the two of them had taken their battle outside of the pce.
With the mass of dark red chains rapidly closing in on him, Han Li could only heave a faint sigh as he withdrew his hands, and with that, the opening in the sea of fire slowly sealed itself again.
Immediately thereafter, he flew over to Daoist Hu Yan''s trio, then summoned a pair of Immortal Origin Stones, which he was using to replenish his immortal spiritual power. At the same time, he had also already withdrawn his time spirit domain.
Simultaneously maintaining his spirit domain, using three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once, and releasing his me of Essence had been extremely taxing on his immortal spiritual power.
"Now that the Gold Devouring Immortal is gone, it''s time for us to settle the score," Feng Tiandu said as he cast his gaze toward Han Li with burning fury in his eyes.
As he was speaking, he began to drift toward Han Li and the others, while his lower body was concealed within the sea of hains down below.
Chapter 497: Infiltration
Chapter 497: Infiltration
"Your timew powers confirms it... You were the one who killed my disciples, weren''t you?" Feng Tiandu asked in a cold voice as he glowered intently at Han Li.
"That''s right," Han Li replied in a calm manner.
"Don''t think that you have a right to get cocky just because you''ve developed a half-assed mastery over thews of time! I''ll send you to your grave right here and now!" Feng Tiandu threatened in a dark voice.
"You killed two of his disciples? Well done! I''ll have to treat you to a cup of wine for that alone!" Daoist Hu Yan jibed.
"I want an entire gon," Han Li negotiated with a smile.
"Deal!" Daoist Hu Yan immediately chuckled as he tightened his grip around his longsword.
Right at this moment, Ouyang Kuishan took a nce at the pill cauldron, then eximed in an urgent voice, "We have to hurry! Those two pills are about to be fed to that living corpse!"
Daoist Hu Yan was just about to respond when Han Li said, "Focus on breaking the restriction and securing the pills. In the meantime, I''ll show Grand Elder Feng here just how cocky I can get with my half-assed mastery over thews of time!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he shot out of Daoist Hu Yan''s fiery spirit domain, charging toward Feng Tiandu alone.
Yun Ni and Ouyang Kuishan were both quite startled by this, and they turned to Daoist Hu Yan with surprised expressions.
"There''s no need to worry about him, let''s go secure the pills," Daoist Hu Yan said with a smile.
After that, the three of them really did abandon Han Li to face Feng Tiandu on his own, while they began to devise a n to break the fiery restriction.
However, what everyone failed to notice wast that one of the cocoons of chains not far away from the pce gates had suddenly toppled over, and the pile of dark red chains had ttered down onto the ground to reveal that the person who was supposed to be trapped inside was nowhere to be seen.
Almost at the exact same moment, a figure silently emerged above the undting sea of chains to the right of the pce, then rushed toward a corner of the pce, and it was none other than that elderly woman from the Southern Dawn Race.
At this point, her golden cane had already disappeared, and it was reced in her grasp by a palm-sized yellow badge that had a very irregr shape.
The badge was riddled withyers uponyers of strange runes, which were giving off peculiarw power fluctuations.
There was ayer of dark red light over her body, and she was traveling at an extraordinary speed, leaving a crimson shadow in her wake. Before anyone else had a chance to react, she had already arrived in front of the sea of fire.
Once there, she immediately tossed the yellow badge forward, and it vanished into the sea of fire in the blink of an eye.
As soon as the badge entered the mes, it immediately melted away as if it were made from wax, and a series of runes flew out of it before fusing into the surrounding mes.
On the other side of the pce, a string of loud ngs rang out as a barrage of dark red chains shot through the air like crimson spears, raining down upon Han Li with tremendous force.
Han Li was holding his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in one hand, while silver light surged over his body, and he was whizzing through the air in a wraith-like fashion, evading the barrage of dark red chains with ease.
Feng Tiandu was bing more and more frustrated by the second, and he began charging forward himself while making a string of hand seals, sending countless ck chains shooting toward Han Li from all directions out of his ck spirit domain.
At the same time, he made a beckoning motion with one hand, and a dark red chain abruptly sprang up from beneath Han Li''s feet like a spitting viper, and its sharp tip was giving off a cold me as it pierced toward his ankle.
Han Li had already anticipated such an attack, and he shed his longsword downward, releasing a bolt of golden lightning that struck the dark red chain in the blink of an eye.
The bolt of lightning shot through the chain as an electric current, rapidly spreading through all of the chains in arge area to form a sea of golden lightning.
As soon as Feng Tiandu flew into the sea of lightning, he felt as if he had jumped into a pot of scalding oil, and he involuntarily let loose an agonized howl.
Everyone''s attention was instantly drawn to him upon hearing this, and even the elderly woman from the Southern Dawn Race had temporarily diverted her gaze away from the sea of fire.
A hint of befuddlement shed through her eyes as she took a nce at Han Li, following which she returned her gaze to the sea of fire before her.
Right at this moment, the mes that the yellow badge had just melted into suddenly began to contract drastically, forming a series of tiny crimson mes.
The elderly woman''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and she shot through the opening in a sh.
She was immediately followed by the four Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals, who attempted to pass through the opening after her, but as soon as they got close, the opening was abruptly sealed again, and the mes almost swallowed up the Golden Immortal that was leading the way out of the four.
"What is that badge? It seemed to have contained some type ofw powers," Yun Ni mused with a puzzled expression.
"Could it be thews of fire?" Ouyang Kuishan spected with furrowed brows.
"No. I don''t know what it is, but I can sense that it''s not thews of fire. In any case, let''s focus on breaking this restriction," Daoist Hu Yan replied with a shake of his head.
Meanwhile, the elderly woman had only just charged into the sea of fire when she was confronted by a pair of white humanoid figures.
The yellow spirit patterns on their bodies were glowing brightly, and each of them was holding a standard yellow saber as they rushed at her from the left and the right.
Layers of ripples were spreading through the surrounding space, and a burst of extremely heavyw power fluctuations were converging from both directions, as if there were a pair of mountain faces closing in on the elderly woman.
The elderly woman could feel the air constrict around her, and right at this moment, a burst of dark red light shot out of her body, then instantly swelled to form a spirit domain that was over 100 feet in radius, justrge enough to epass the two gray puppets.
Immediately thereafter, a series of thin dark red threads emerged in the space within the spirit domain, and they shot forth toward all of the gray puppets'' joints.
The dark red threads were able to pierce through the bodies of the seemingly indestructible puppets with ease, making them appear like a pair of wooden puppets on strings.
However, what was rather strange was that their movements weren''t affected at all, and they continued to charge at the elderly woman,pressing the air around her to such an extent that her robes were tightly pressed against her body.
The elderly woman''s eyes narrowed slightly, and she crossed her hands over, upon which two of the thin threads that had pierced into the gray puppets abruptly stretched taut, yanking their heads backward.
"There it is," she murmured to herself as she made a rapid string of hand seals, and the pair of gray puppets instantly stiffened as bursts of yellow light lit up on the backs of their necks, flowing incessantly along the pair of dark red threads before dissipating into the air.
As the yellow light faded, so did the yellow spirit patterns on the puppets'' bodies, and by the time the yellow light waspletely gone, the pressure weighing down upon the elderly woman was alsopletely lifted.
Without their earthw powers, the two gray puppets could no longer pose any impediment to the elderly woman, and she passed between them in a sh, charging directly at the pill cauldron behind them.
The two golden puppets who were carrying the High Zenith Pills to the living corpse seemed to have sensed her approach, and they both swung around at once before each throwing an almighty punch.
Countless lightning runes surged over their fists, and a golden vortex took shape at the center, releasing a burst of peculiar suction force that acted upon the elderly woman''s body.
At the same time, the gray stone statues standing on either side of the pce began to move as yellow light emerged over their bodies, while the giant yellow go board projection was also beginning to take shape.
"What a fool," the elderly Golden Immortal from the Vast Flow Pce scoffed with a cold sneer on his face.
However, as soon as his voice trailed off, he felt a blur sh past his eyes, immediately following which the elderly woman appeared at the foot of the raised tform that held therge golden chair, having passed through between the pair of golden puppets in the blink of an eye.
The golden vortex between them was already nowhere to be seen, and there were only some thin arcs of golden lightning shing through the air, but they no longer held any degree of significant power.
As for the yellow go board projection, it didn''t even have a chance to activate before she was already past it.
Everyone was astonished to see this, and their attention was instantly drawn to the elderly woman.
Meanwhile, Feng Tiandu had already emerged from Han Li''s sea of golden lightning, and he seemed to have realized that Han Li was not an opponent to be taken lightly, so he was taking a more patient approach, temporarily engaging in a standoff against Han Li.
Both of them also had their attention drawn to what was happening on the other side of the pce, and to their befuddlement, they noticed that two golden puppets were still each holding a High Zenith Pill.
For some reason, the elderly woman hadn''t taken those pills as she was passing by the puppets.
Instead, she strode directly onto the stone tform, then flipped a hand over to produce a ck pill that was giving off hints ofw power fluctuations.
That''s an Origin Void Pill!
Han Li was immediately able to identify the pill as none other than the Origin Void Pill that he had personally refined, and he cast his gaze toward the elderly woman with slightly furrowed brows.
"What are you doing?" Feng Tiandu yelled as his expression changed drastically.
The elderly woman turned around to take a nce at everyone, following which a peculiar smile appeared on her face, and she pinched the living corpse''s chin between her fingers, then tilted its head back before feeding it the Origin Void Pill.
The pill slid straight down into the living corpse''s stomach, which the elderly woman observed it intently with anticipation in her eyes.
As for everyone else, they were all looking on in befuddlement.
Chapter 498: Seizing a Pill
Chapter 498: Seizing a Pill
Several seconds of silence passed by, and everyone was staring at the living corpse, unsure of what was going to happen next.
However, even after a long wait, nothing happened, and the living corpse remained seated on the golden chair in apletely still manner.
"How could this be?" the elderly woman murmured to herself in incredulity as the excitement and anticipation in her eyes slowly faded.
Everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief upon seeing this, thinking that it was only a false rm, while Feng Tiandu and Han Li returned their attention to the battle at hand.
However, right at this moment, a burst of gray light suddenly emerged from the living corpse''s body, and it instantly spread forth like a spirit domain, sending gusts of fierce wind sweeping in all directions.
The elderly woman was instantly sent flying by the ferocious wind, crashing into a gray puppet with a loud thump.
The green pill cauldron also shuddered violently, and only after a burst of green light had shed over its surface did it manage to stabilize itself again.
On top of that, the golden and gray puppets were swept off their feet by the tremendous force as well, and even the outermostyer of the sea of fire erupted outward before exploding violently.
The Vast Flow Pce cultivators hurriedly sprang back in retreat, but Daoist Hu Yan did the exact opposite, flipping a hand over to produce an antiquated oilmp that was lit with a golden me, then flew straight into the raging sea of fire.
It appeared that Yun Ni wasn''t tipped off in advance, and an rmed look appeared on her face as she yelled, "Hu Yan..."
Han Li immediately peered into the spirit domain with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, but he was unable to see anything aside from a vast expanse of gray mist.
Momentster, the gray mist slowly scattered, and Daoist Hu Yan shot out in a sh, thennded beside Yun Ni.
However, his clothes were in tatters, his entire body was charred ck, and his beard had been entirely incinerated away.
Despite his sorry appearance, there was a smile on his face as he said to Yun Ni through voice transmission, "I managed to get one High Zenith Pill, but those golden puppets are too strong, so I didn''t dare to try and get another one."
"Don''t ever do that to me again!" Yun Ni scolded with a stern re.
Once all of the dust had settled, the living corpse on the golden chair was revealed once again.
It was still seated in apletely still manner, and it seemed that nothing had changed, but the aura that it was giving off was alreadypletely different.
In the blink of an eye, the two golden puppets appeared beside the chair, and one of them fed another High Zenith Pill into the living corpse''s mouth, while the other puppet remained still on the spot with half of its body charred ck and an arm missing.
After swallowing the second High Zenith Pill, ayer of light emerged over the living corpse''s body, and its aura swelled even further.
At the same time, the two golden puppets joined the one that had delivered the first High Zenith Pill, and the three of them formed a protective encirclement around the living corpse.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, following which he took a nce at Daoist Hu Yan, just in time to see him remove the cloth pouch that he had been carrying this entire time from his back before lifting a corner of the pouch and quickly tossing the High Zenith Pill inside.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he immediately shot back in retreat as a streak of azure light, not wishing to prolong this battle against Feng Tiandu any further.
"You''re not getting away!" Feng Tiandu roared in a furious voice, yet right as he was about to give chase, a pir of blue light suddenly erupted into the heavens from behind him.
A tremendous aura was emanating from the pir of blue light, causing the entire pce to tremble and sway.
At the center of the pir of blue light was none other than Luo Qinghai.
At this moment, his entire body was basked in radiant blue light, and rippling blue radiance was surging out of his body, sweeping outward in all directions, while the chains around him were loosened significantly.
Feng Tiandu''s expression darkened slightly, and he was forced to abandon his chase of Han Li to focus on Luo Qinghai, releasing a burst of ck light from his sleeve to bolster the chains around him.
Out of all of the people here, Luo Qinghai posed the biggest threat to him, so he couldn''t allow him to break free no matter what.
All of the chains instantly lit up, then began to squirm and constrict like living creatures.
"It''s toote to try and restrain me now!" Luo Qinghai harrumphed coldly as he made a hand seal, and the pir of blue light around him brightened even further, remaining still and resolute in the face of the constricting chains.
At the same time, he began chanting an incantation, and his lower body instantly transformed into a blue serpentine tail, while his upper body took on a half-human, half-snake appearance, while his aura also swelled drastically.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li appeared beside Daoist Hu Yan, and thetter gave him a grateful nod as he said, "Thank you for keeping Feng Tiandu upied, Fellow Daoist Li."
Han Li merely gave a faint smile in response, and his gaze lingered for a moment on the yellow cloth pouch on Daoist Hu Yan''s back, which was tightly sealed, making it impossible to see what was inside.
A curious look shed through Han Li''s eyes, but he didn''t ask any questions as he turned his gaze toward Luo Qinghai, upon which he was quite startled by the sight of Luo Qinghai''s new form.
Ayer of translucent blue light surfaced over Luo Qinghai''s body as he struggled with all his might, and he was quickly shedding the chains around him.
Feng Tiandu''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately swept a sleeve through the air, upon which dozens of thick ck chains appeared around him.
The tips of these chains were extremely sharp, and they were giving off a cold ck gleam, giving them the appearance of a series of ck spears. There were also countless ck runes dancing over the chains, giving off incredibly formidablew power fluctuations.
"Go!"
Feng Tiandu made a hand seal, and all of the ck chains instantly shot forth like arrows out of crossbows,unching themselves at Luo Qinghai.
In response, Luo Qinghai flipped a hand over to produce a dark blue bead, which was giving off a formidable aura.
There appeared to be a tiny blue half-snake, half-humanoid figure sealed within the bead, but it couldn''t be clearly seen due to excessively bright radiance that the bead was releasing.
A slightly pained look appeared in his eyes, but he still swallowed the bead without any hesitation, and in the next instant, the blue light radiating from his body began to sh erratically, while streams of dark blue light surged through his body.
Right at this moment, the oing ck chains arrived, piercing through the pir of blue light with ease before punching through Luo Qinghai''s body as well.
In the blink of an eye, countless holes were stabbed into his body, but not even a single drop of blood flowed out, much to Feng Tiandu''s surprise.
A cold sneer appeared on Luo Qinghai''s face, and the blue light radiating from his body abruptly exploded outward as a series of ripples.
At the same time, an ancient incantation rang out, and it felt as if thenguage being used had existed since the beginning of time.
Feng Tiandu''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately switched to a different hand seal.
The ck chains around him shed with ck light once again, then shot forth through the air, piercing through the blue ripples in a frenzy, but inplete futility.
Meanwhile, Luo Qinghai''s chanting was bing louder and louder, and pirs of blue water were shooting out of the surrounding space before fusing into the blue waves.
In the blink of an eye, a ball of blue water the size of ake appeared, taking up close to half of the entire pce.
Light shed at the center of theke, and a ball of blue light emerged, containing a massive humanoid figure inside.
The figure was several hundred feet tall, and it had the upper body of an imposing middle-aged man wearing a loose-fitting blue robe that left his wide chest and sturdy shoulders exposed.
The man also had a long and curly blue beard that trailed all the way down to his chest.
However, the man''s lower body was a thick blue serpentine tail that was coiled several times and at least 1,000 feet in length.
The man had a set of extremely authoritative facial features, giving him the appearance of an ancient water god, and he was also giving off a tremendous aura that surpassed the Golden Immortal Stage, keeping the surrounding ck spirit domain at bay.
His aura has already reached the High Zenith Stage!
In the distance, Han Li and the others were all astonished to see this, and a hint of shock shed through Feng Tiandu''s eyes as well.
At this moment, Luo Qinghai was standing inside the projection of the giant blue man with radiant blue light glowing from his body, giving him a majestic and untouchable appearance.
All of a sudden, he raised a hand before casting an incantation seal, and the eyes of the giant blue man abruptly sprang open.
Arcs of blue lightning were shing within his eyes as the blue man raised a hand of his own, upon which a blue staff appeared in his grasp.
The staff was glowing so radiantly that it was impossible to make out its exact shape, and the giant blue manshed out with the staff at Feng Tiandu from afar.
A giant blue staff projection appeared, and there were countless arcs of blue lightning shing over its surface, giving off a burst of devastating power.
In this instant, it was as if the staff were the only thing that existed between heaven and earth.
Even from outside the spirit domain, Han Li and the others could clearly sense the formidable aura of the staff, and they immediately darted back in retreat.
The giant staff projection appeared to be moving very slowly, but in the eyes of Feng Tiandu, who was directly facing the attack, it was moving at lightning speed, striking his ck spirit domain without giving him any time to react.
His ck spirit domain rippled violently before exploding, and all of the ck chains inside the spirit domain were also snapped, freeing the elderly man from the Southern Dawn Race, the other Golden Immortal of the ze Dragon, and Nan Kemeng.
The three of them were ecstatic, and they immediately flew away in different directions.
After destroying the spirit domain, a significant amount of the staff projection''s power seemed to have been expended, and it shrank down to just over half its original size, but it was still crashing down toward Feng Tiandu with unstoppable might.
Chapter 499: Confrontation
Chapter 499: Confrontation
All of this had taken ce over the span of just a few seconds, and Feng Tiandu let loose an involuntary muffled groan upon having his spirit domain destroyed, seemingly having suffered some severe internal injuries.
His expression changed drastically at the sight of the oing staff projection, and he shot back in retreat while making a frantic string of hand seals.
A ck scroll flew out of his body, then unfurled itself to reveal that a lone, steep ck mountain was painted upon it.
The scroll released countless rays of ck light, while the ck mountain that was depicted shuddered violently, then flew out of the scroll and rapidly swelled to over 1,000 feet with ck mist swirling all around it.
The ck mist around the mountain was filled with countless ck runes that were giving off an incredibly heavy aura, and it was clear that this was a formidable treasure.
As soon as the ck mountain appeared, the staff projection also arrived, and the ck mist around the mountain was instantly scattered upon contact amid an earth-shattering boom.
In the instant that the two collided, a vast explosion of blue and ck light instantly erupted in all directions, and the entire mountain shuddered violently.
Countless cracks began to appear on its surface, following which it exploded with tremendous force, sending countless loose rocks flying in all directions, while the ck scroll was also torn into two.
However, the blue staff projection had also expended all of its power up to this point, and it shed a few times before fading away.
Even though Feng Tiandu wasn''t struck by the giant staff projection, he was still sent flying back several thousand feet by the shockwaves resulting from the sh, and a stunned look shed through his eyes after he steadied himself.
Meanwhile, the projection of the giant blue figure rapidly shrank down before fading altogether to reveal Luo Qinghai.
At this point, he had already reverted back to his human form, and there were rings of incredibly dense blue light surging out of his body, but hisplexion was extremely pale.
The four Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals and Nan Kemeng hurriedly flew over to his side before forming a protective encirclement around him.
"I''m fine," Luo Qinghai reassured as he flipped a hand over to produce a golden pill, which he promptly devoured.
An intrigued look shed through Han Li''s eyes as he noticed that the aura emanating from the pill was rather simr to that of the Golden Soul Pill.
A burst of golden light shed over Luo Qinghai''s face, and hisplexion quickly returned to normal.
Meanwhile, the battle between Jin Tong and Qi Tianxiao was still raging, and a resounding sh took ce between the two.
Jin Tong was sent flying by an eruption of gray light, while Qi Tianxiao was looking a little pale as he also shot back through the air as a streak of gray light.
As for Jin Tong, she was sent flying back several hundred feet, but she waspletely unscathed, much to Qi Tianxiao''s concern and dismay.
A furious roar erupted out of her mouth as she prepared to sh against Qi Tianxiao once again, but Han Li''s voice suddenly rang out from beside her ears.
"Come back, Jin Tong."
Jin Tong hesitated momentarily, then made a series of threatening gestures at Qi Tianxiao before flying back to Han Li''s side.
At this point, the Golden Immortal from the ze Dragon Dao had also arrived on the scene, and they were all gathered in a corner of the pce.
Meanwhile, Qi Tianxiao arrived by Feng Tiandu''s side with a concerned expression, and thetter promptly devoured a ck pill, upon which hisplexion began to slowly recover.
At the same time, the elderly man from the Southern Dawn Race flew through the air as a streak of crimson light beforending beside the elderly woman.
With that, four distinct groups of cultivators were formed, and all of them were looking at one another, but none of them were in a hurry to make the first move.
Jin Tong flew back to Han Li''s side beforending on his shoulder, then cast her gaze toward the two Golden Immortals from the ze Dragon Dao.
"When did these two show up? Are they good people? Are they strong?" Jin Tong asked.
A peculiar look shed over the faces of both Golden Immortals upon hearing this.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he cast his gaze toward Daoist Hu Yan with an inquisitive look in his eyes.
This was something that he wanted to ask as well. It seemed that the two Golden Immortals were allies of theirs, but he didn''t know whether that was confirmed to be the case.
"The situation was too chaotic earlier, so I wasn''t able to exin everything to you, but Dao Lord Ouyang and I have actually already made an agreement some time ago to join forces in the immortal manor," Daoist Hu Yan exined.
"Fellow Daoist Li, I didn''t think that you would already be at the Golden Immortal Stage. Congrattions," Ouyang Kuishan said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Han Li''s mind was racing as he smiled and nodded in response. "You''re far too kind, Dao Lord Ouyang. We were all part of the ze Dragon Dao at one point, so let''s continue to work together from here onward."
Ouyang Kuishan and Daoist Hu Yan were both very pleased to see that Han Li was willing to ept this arrangement.
Han Li had shown himself capable of opposing Feng Tiandu on his own, and on top of that, he had a Golden Immortal Stage Gold Devouring Immortal on his side, so he was definitely a powerful ally.
With his cooperation, they now had a total of six Golden Immortals, making the most formidable camp present, and that was naturally going to be immensely beneficial for their plight in securing more High Zenith Pills.
"Having said that, there''s something that I want to establish in advance," Han Li suddenly said.
"Please go ahead, Fellow Daoist Li," Daoist Hu Yan hurriedly prompted.
"We may all be working together right now, but the High Zenith Pills that each of us secure still go to ourselves, right?" Han Li asked.
Ouyang Kuishan''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this.
However, before he had a chance to say anything, Daoist Hu Yan replied, "Of course. We''re only joining forces to ward off the enemies present, but it''s still up to ourselves to secure High Zenith Pills."
Ouyang Kuishan''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he exchanged a subtle nce with the other ze Dragon Dao Golden Immortal.
They were currently the two weakest cultivators in the group, so they had the worst chances of securing High Zenith Pills, but seeing as both Daoist Hu Yan and Han Li approved of this arrangement, they had no choice but to agree as well.
"Good," Han Li said as a faint smile appeared on his face, following which he turned his gaze back to the green pill cauldron.
He had already fulfilled his promise of helping Daoist Hu Yan secure a High Zenith Pill, so he no longer had any qualms.
Meanwhile, Luo Qinghai was also observing Han Li''s group with a hint of wariness in his eyes.
At this point, only three of the nine High Zenith Pills had emerged, so there were still six left, and no one was in any hurry to strike.
The Dawn Fall Sect only had two people left, and Feng Tiandu had already disyed all of his trump cards. On top of that, he was undoubtedly severely taxed after that grueling battle, so he was no longer a cause for concern.
Instead, it was actually Han Li''s camp that posed the biggest threat, given his timew domain and the Gold Devouring Immortal on his side.
Han Li and the others all bristled slightly at the sight of the rather unfriendly gaze that Luo Qinghai was directing their way.
Just now, Luo Qinghai had disyed High Zenith Stage power to break Feng Tiandu''s spirit domain, and even though his aura had subsided since then, everyone was still quite wary of him.
"Be careful of Luo Qinghai, everyone. He possesses the bloodline of the true spirit Wa Serpent. [1] If I''m not mistaken, he must''ve devoured the true spirit core of a High Zenith Stage Wa Serpent just now, thereby allowing him to forcibly elevate his own cultivation base to the High Zenith Stage. Of course, in that form, he can''tpare with a true High Zenith cultivator, but he''s still not to be underestimated," Daoist Hu Yan informed Han Li and the others through voice transmission.
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon hearing this.
Han Li had once read some records pertaining to true spirit cores, so he knew that they were the origins of a true spirit being''s bloodline.
Once a normal cultivator perished, it was very difficult for someone else to use their body of nascent soul, but this was different in the case of true spirit cores.
As long as one possessed the same bloodline, they would be able to use a true spirit core to unleash power far beyond their own. However, this was quite a risky move to make, and it was also very taxing on one''s spiritual sense.
Han Li took a nce at Luo Qinghai, then asked through voice transmission, "Fellow Daoist Hu Yan, in your opinion, has Luo Qinghaipletely exhausted the power of that true spirit core?"
"I don''t think so. Given how cunning he is, I''m sure he wouldn''t prematurely show his hand, so we have to be careful," Daoist Hu Yan warned in a solemn voice.
Everyone immediately nodded in response.
Han Li then took a nce at Feng Tiandu''s duo before quickly shifting his gaze to the pair of Southern Dawn beings, upon which a peculiar look shed through his eyes.
"Do you know those two, Fellow Daoist Li?" Daoist Hu Yan asked as he noticed the direction of Han Li''s gaze.
"No," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
The pill that the elderly woman had brought out was most definitely an Origin Void Pill.
He had personally refined that pill, so there was no mistaking it.
However, at the time, he had given the pill to Wyrm 3, so how had it fallen into this woman''s hands? Could it be that this was Wyrm 3 in disguise?
The only problem with that theory was that the cultivation base didn''t seem to match up.
"We need to keep an eye on those two, especially that woman. She was able to avoid those stone statues just now with ease, but they don''t seem to be interested in High Zenith Pills. It seems like their objective is that living corpse instead, and it''s unclear what they''re up to," Daoist Hu Yan mused in a rather perplexed manner.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. That was exactly what he was wondering as well.
In fact, not only was the elderly woman interested in that living corpse, the same seemed to apply to Feng Tiandu as well.
The fact that it was situated in such an important ce in the High Zenith Pce indicated that it was definitely no ordinary corpse, and the aura that had erupted out of its body after being fed that Origin Void Pill was also nothing to be scoffed at.
In contrast with the priormotion, the pce was currently so silent that even the faintest of pin drops could be heard, and the atmosphere was rather oppressive, while the situation had also be quite murky.
Right at this moment, three of the dragons on the surface of the green pill cauldron lit up in unison with five-colored light, indicating that another three High Zenith Pills were about to take shape!
A vast expanse of golden light gathered in the sky above the golden pce once again, forming an enormous golden vortex that was significantly bigger than the two previous ones.
Everyone immediately turned their attention to the pill cauldron upon seeing this.
1. In Chinese mythology, the goddess of creation, N¨¹wa, is a half-human, half-snake being, and that''s what "Wa Serpent" is referring to here. ?
Chapter 500: Chaotic Battle
Chapter 500: Chaotic Battle
Han Li cast aside all of his errant thoughts as he focused his gaze intently on the green pill cauldron.
Three silver droplets emerged within the vortex, then fell upon the pce before exploding violently and crashing down as bolts of lightning.
Radiant golden light erupted out of the spirit patterns across the entire pce, forming a golden light barrier that kept the silver lightning at bay.
The golden and silver light shed, releasing extremely formidable energy fluctuations that caused the entire pce to tremble violently.
However, no one was looking at the pill tribtion unfolding up above. Instead, all of them were staring intently at the pill cauldron, waiting for the next batch of pills to emerge.
Just like before, the silver light quickly subsided, while the golden light in the pce also gradually faded.
It didn''t take long before both hadpletely faded, and yet another pill tribtion was sessfully endured.
The three dragons on the pill cauldron opened their mouths, and three more High Zenith Pills shot out of the cauldron.
Immediately thereafter, three additional golden puppets emerged, seemingly from out of nowhere, then caught a High Zenith Pill each.
At the same time, everyone in the pce also rushed toward the three pills as quickly as they could.
Lights of different colors surfaced over their bodies before expanding outward to form a series of spirit domains.
At this point, everyone knew that it was time to disy their true power, and eight or nine spirit domains of different colors had emerged within the pce in the blink of an eye.
All types ofw powers were surging toward Han Li from all directions, instantly slowing him down significantly.
Everyone else was also slowed down by the multitude of spirit domains in the area, particrly Han Li''s time spirit domain, which had the most significant slowing effect.
Han Li looked around momentarily, then abruptly slowed down so that he kept pace with everyone instead of darting ahead.
At the same time, all of the gray statues on either side of the pce also pounced forward once again.
However, they were also affected by all of the spirit domains in the area, and they were slowed down to an even greater extent than all of the cultivators present.
As for the golden array on the ground, it had just been destroyed by that eruption of gray light from the living corpse''s body, so the white me restriction wasn''t triggered.
Even though everyone''s speed was significantly diminished, the interior of the pce wasn''t exactly a massive area, so everyone was still able to reach the three golden puppets in the blink of an eye.
Radiant golden light erupted out of the three puppets'' bodies as they each threw a punch in a different direction, unleashing thick arcs of golden lightning that sprang forth in all directions.
The lightning attacks unleashed by these golden puppets were quite formidable, posing a threat even to Golden Immortals, but now that their attacks were scattered, they posed far less of a threat.
Hence, no one bothered to dodge the attacks as they briefly adopted some defensive measures before pouncing at the puppets to try and wrench the High Zenith Pills straight out of their hands.
Luo Qinghai harrumphed coldly as dazzling blue light erupted out of his body, and once again, his aura swelled to the High Zenith Stage.
The blue staff appeared in his hand amid a sh of blue light, and he swung it through the air, releasing a thick de of blue light that tore through the oing arcs of golden lightning with ease before striking the right arm of one of the golden puppets.
A loud crack rang out as the puppet''s arm was severed at the elbow, and the High Zenith Pill in its right hand was instantly sent flying through the air.
Daoist Hu Yan, Yun Ni, and the two ze Dragon Dao Golden Immortals just so happened to be nearby, and they immediately made a grab for the High Zenith Pill.
A cold look shed through Luo Qinghai''s eyes upon seeing this, and he swept his blue staff through the air once again, unleashing a thick staff projection that swept toward the four of them.
All four of them had witnessed the fearsome power of the staff projection, and they immediately shot back in retreat, not daring to stand their ground to try and secure the High Zenith Pill.
Luo Qinghai made no attempt to go after them, merely sweeping a sleeve through the air instead to release a burst of blue light that drew the High Zenith Pill into his grasp.
Even though Han Li was with Daoist Hu Yan and the others, he yed no part in the brief fight over this first High Zenith Pill.
Instead, he abruptly sped up by severalfold, appearing beside the second High Zenith Pill in the blink of an eye before sweeping a sleeve through the air to release an azure flying sword that hurtled directly toward the puppet.
The golden puppet reacted extremely quickly, swinging around before throwing a punch at the azure flying sword.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as he made a hand seal, and a translucent golden thread shot out of the flying sword to strike the golden puppet.
A burst of translucent golden light erupted out of the golden thread to envelop the puppet, and it was instantly stopped cold in its tracks, following which the azure flying sword swept over its body.
Just like the other puppet, this one''s arm was also severed, and a High Zenith Pill flew out of its grasp.
An ecstatic look emerged in Han Li''s eyes as he immediately made a grab for the pill, but right at this moment, several dark red threads of light shot forth through the air from the side, and the elderly woman from the Southern Dawn Race was rushing in to stop Han Li.
At the same time, the elderly man also rushed at him while releasing two streaks of crimson light, which transformed into a pair of crimson skulls that hurtled toward Han Li from both the left and the right.
Instead of taking evasive measures, Han Li opened his mouth to release a burst of golden light, which contained several translucent golden threads, and the oing dark red threads were instantly stopped cold in their tracks.
The two bursts of formidablew powers shed violently, causing the nearby space to tremble and rumble incessantly.
Han Li was rather surprised to see that these dark red threads were able to oppose his timew threads.
At the same time, Jin Tong shot forth through the air from his shoulder, rapidly swelling in size mid-flight beforeshing out with its two front legs.
Several hundred streaks of translucent golden light were unleashed, forming a golden wave that swept up the two crimson skulls in the blink of an eye, and it didn''t take long at all before they were destroyed.
Meanwhile, another golden figure emerged from Han Li''s body amid a sh of golden light, and it was none other than Daoist Xie, which was holding a pair of Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The two swords instantly swelled to over 100 feet in length, and arcs of thick golden lightning shed over their surface as they gave off a devastating aura.
Two giant streaks of golden sword qi shot forth with countless golden lightning runes surging over them, and they swept directly toward the pair of Southern Dawn beings.
The two of them were clearly caught off guard by Daoist Xie''s abrupt emergence, and they didn''t dare to directly withstand the two streaks of formidable sword qi, so they hurriedly took evasive measures.
Meanwhile, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light that swept up the High Zenith Pill before drawing it up his sleeve in the blink of an eye.
The elderly woman faltered slightly upon seeing this, then took a long nce at Han Li before darting back in retreat.
The dark red threads also disengaged themselves from their sh against Han Li''s timew threads and flew back up her sleeve.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s voice suddenly rang out beside the elderly woman''s ears. "I didn''t expect to see you here, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3."
Her expression stiffened ever so slightly upon seeing this, but she didn''t slow down in the slightest as she continued flying back in retreat, as did the elderly man with her.
Han Li made a beckoning motion to draw his timew threads and Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords back to himself, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he watched the elderly woman fly away into the distance.
At this point, he was all but certain that she was indeed Wyrm 3.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom abruptly rang out nearby, followed by an eruption of ck light.
Han Li turned to discover that all four Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals and Nan Kemeng had been sent flying through the air, while Feng Tiandu and Qi Tianxiao were standing not far away from them.
There was a cold sneer on Feng Tiandu''s face as he held a High Zenith Pill in one hand, and two halves of a golden puppet wereying on the ground at their feet.
It had only been a few seconds since the three High Zenith Pills had emerged, and all three of them had already been imed.
Meanwhile, the gray statues were heavily affected by all of the spirit domains in the area, so they were still yet to even reach the pill cauldron.
All of the gray puppets began to glow with radiant yellow light, which instantly connected together to form that giant go board projection again.
Individually, these puppets didn''t pose much of a threat, but this go board projection ability that they were collectively able to unleash was extremely formidable, and everyone hurriedly flew back in retreat upon seeing this.
Han Li also did the same, releasing a burst of azure light out of his sleeve to sweep up Jin Tong before flying away himself, while Daoist Xie flew back into his body as a streak of golden light.
However, right at this moment, two ck chains suddenly shot out the space behind him before wrapping themselves around his body, instantly stopping him cold in his tracks.
As a result, he was caught within the yellow go board projection, and he instantly felt as if there were an enormous mountain weighing down upon him.
He turned around with some difficulty to find Feng Tiandu watching him with a cold sneer on his face. Even as he was flying back in retreat, there were two ck chains protruding out of his sleeve.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as radiant golden light erupted out of his body in all directions.
At the same time, a resplendent golden wheel appeared behind him.
Countless incredibly dense golden ripples surged through the air, spreading outward at an incredible speed, and both Feng Tiandu and Qi Tianxiao were instantly caught within them.
Immediately thereafter, both of them were stopped cold in their tracks, and it was as if they had been frozen on the spot.
Some of the nearby gray statues and close to half of the yellow go board projection were also epassed within the golden ripples, and they were all slowed down to a crawl as well.
Luo Qinghai and the others were all astonished to see this, while Ouyang Kuishan eximed in incredulity, "Surely that''s not the Mantra Treasured Axis!"
As a dao lord of the ze Dragon Dao, he was naturally aware of the Mantra Axis Scripture, but this Mantra Treasured Axis was unlike anything that they had ever seen or heard of before!
In particr, the hundreds of Time Dao Runes on the axis was simply mind-boggling to him!
Chapter 501: Soul Restoration
Chapter 501: Soul Restoration
Out of everyone present, Daoist Hu Yan was the only one who remainedposed in the wake of this revtion as he had already previously witnessed Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis.
Basked in the golden light, Han Li was able to fly out of the go board projection with ease, and he appeared beside Feng Tiandu''s duo in the blink of an eye.
A hint of rm and fear shed through Feng Tiandu''s eyes, and ayer of ck light surfaced over his body, but it was only able to sh at an extremely low frequency as he fought with all his might to struggle free from the surrounding golden ripples.
Ayer of gray light appeared over Qi Tianxiao''s body as well, releasing a burst of corrosivew powers that began to eat away at the surrounding golden ripples.
However, these golden ripples were filled with bursts of incredibly formidable timew powers, and they remainedpletely unmoved in the face of the opposingw powers.
"Is that all you''ve got, Elder Feng? In that case, it''s my turn!" Han Li dered in a cold voice, then casually swept a sleeve through the air.
Two streaks of azure light shot out of his sleeve, revealing themselves to be a pair of tiny azure swords, and they were able to pierce through the protective spiritual light around the bodies of Feng Tiandu''s duo with ease before punching through their bes with a pair of dull thumps.
A walnut-sized hole appeared in each of their bes, but not even a single drop of blood flowed out. The two were still moving slowly along their original trajectories, but the light in their eyes was gradually fading.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he swept his sleeve through the air once again, releasing a burst of azure light that swept over the remains of the duo, drawing out their storage tools, the immortal treasures that they carried with them, and a pair of nascent souls before carrying them up his sleeve.
After that, he made a hand seal, and the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him vanished into his body at his behest.
The surrounding golden ripples also faded, and with that, everything was returned to normal.
Feng Tiandu and Qi Tianxiao''s bodies fell onto the ground with a dull thud, and it seemed that they had been in in the blink of an eye.
Not long ago, Feng Tiandu and Qi Tianxiao had been arguably the two most threatening figures out of everyone present, but all of a sudden, they had been reduced to a pair of corpses.
Everyone drew a collective sharp breath upon seeing this, and they all turned to Han Li with incredulity and wariness in their eyes.
Even Daoist Hu Yan was very much taken aback to see this, and he couldn''t help but chuckle to himself in amusement.
Han Li took a nce at everyone else, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
Having just disyed his true power to so many people, this could certainly spell trouble for him in the future.
However, a sense of pride then welled up in his heart.
Back when he first entered the Northern cial Immortal Region, he was constantly being hunted by enemies more powerful than himself, so he was perpetually having to be cautious in everything that he did, not daring to let down his guard even for a moment in case he suffered the same fate as before.
However, now that he had reached the mid-Golden Immortal Stage and mastered thews of time, he didn''t need to fear any Golden Immortal cultivator. Furthermore, he had already devised a n for what he was going to do once he left the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, so he didn''t have to worry about these people.
After the golden ripples faded, Jin Tong was also able to move freely once again, and she glowered at the pair of bodies on the ground as she protested, "Why did you kill them, Uncle? I told you I wanted to kill them myself!"
"I gave you a chance already, but you weren''t able to capitalize, so you can''t me me," Han Li replied with a wry smile, and before Jin Tong had a chance to reply, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that swept her up before flying toward the edge of the pce.
However, he had only just risen up into the air when he suddenly stopped in his tracks, then cast his gaze toward the green pill cauldron with a peculiar look in his eyes.
The cauldron had suddenly begun shaking again amid a loud rumbling sound, and the white mes beneath it suddenly reared up significantly, enveloping the entire bottom half of the cauldron.
An incredibly heated aura spread forth in all directions, causing the air temperature in the pce to spike drastically, and the surrounding space shimmered and warped, while the ground near the cauldron began to slowly melt.
The gray statues seemed to be quite fearful of these white mes, and they hurriedly sprang back in retreat. As a result, the yellow go board projection that they had released also faded.
At this point, everyone had gotten far away from the cauldron, and the gray statues had also flown back to their original spots on either side of the pce.
Everyone else in the distance was also quite shocked to see this, and all of their attention was immediately refocused on the cauldron.
The spirit patterns on the cauldron began to release bursts of green light, and the lid of the cauldron was trembling incessantly as thick pirs of white smoke erupted forth in all directions.
Dull, thunderous rumbling was also ringing out within the cauldron, but it was quickly able to stabilize itself again.
Immediately thereafter, a loud ringing sound rang out from within the cauldron, and the remaining three dragons began to glow with radiant five-colored light, indicating that more pills were about to take shape, much to everyone''s tion and befuddlement.
Prior to this, the release of each batch of pills had been punctuated by a cooldown interval, but on this asion, thest three pills had only just emerged a moment ago, yet the final three pills were already about to take shape.
However, everyone then quickly realized that this could be exined by that sudden eruption of white mes from beneath the cauldron.
Abruptly fanning the mes during the pill refinement process could indeed elerate the formation of the pill, but it was an extremely risky maneuver that could easily result in thne pills being ruined altogether.
The world''s origin qi above the pce began to churn once again, and countless golden clouds converged to form an enormous vortex.
Three bursts of silver light descended out of the vortex before striking the roof of the pce with tremendous force, and once again, the same sh of golden and silver light began to unfold.
A few secondster, a dull thump rang out in the sky, and all of the silver light faded away, as did the golden light within the pce.
Immediately thereafter, everyone pounced at the cauldron again, but this time, they didn''t get too close.
At this point, everyone had already gained some experience, and they had determined how far a distance they had to maintain from the cauldron in order to avoid triggering the gray statues.
Before long, the three dragons on the pill cauldron began to glow even more radiantly, following which a High Zenith Pill flew out of each of their mouths.
Everyone immediately converged toward the pill cauldron once again, and just like before, a multitude of spirit domains were summoned to epass the entire pce.
Even though Han Li had already secured two High Zenith Pills up to this point, it certainly couldn''t hurt to have more, and he was just about to rush at the cauldron as well when a burst of gray light suddenly shot out of his body before hurtling toward the cauldron.
The gray light contained the Soul Nurturing Burner that the soul fragment was housed in, but the talismans adhered to the burner had already be dull and devoid of luster, clearly having been rendered ineffective.
Han Li was very much taken aback to see this, and he hurriedly swept a hand through the air, conjuring a giant golden palm projection that made a grab for the streak of gray light, but all it managed to catch was an afterimage.
The streak of gray light was astonishingly fast, reaching the cauldron in the blink of an eye as if through instantaneous teleportation, and it seemed to have beenpletely unaffected by all of the spirit domains in the area.
The streak of gray light swept up the three High Zenith Pills like lightning, then continued to fly onward, appearing above the golden chair just an instantter.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and everyone immediately stopped cold in their tracks with stunned looks on their faces.
Immediately thereafter, the Soul Nurturing Burner abruptly exploded, and the soul fragment drifted out from within.
"I knew I could count on you, kid!" the soul fragment chortled with glee as it took a nce at Han Li, then flew into the body of the living corpse seated on the golden chair, taking the three High Zenith Pills with it.
All of a sudden, nine golden stone pirs erupted out of the ground near the chair, and a burst of golden light rose up from the stone pirs to form a thick golden light barrier that epassed the chair and the living corpse within.
Bursts of golden light were shing over the light barrier, giving it an indestructible appearance, while ayer of rippling gray light emerged over the living corpse''s body.
Even through the golden light barrier, everyone could clearly sense a burst of vitality rising up within the living corpse.
Right at this moment, two figures arrived on the scene, thennded beside the golden chair. It was the two Southern Dawn Race Golden Immortals, and both of them had excited looks on their faces.
All of a sudden, three golden puppets appeared to stand in the way of the two Golden Immortals, and they each threw a punch, sending three thick bolts of golden lightning hurtling toward the duo.
"Piss off!" the elderly woman yelled as a flurry of dark redw threads shot forth, then converged to form a dark red de of light that swept through the air while giving off a burst of tremendousw power fluctuations.
Han Li''s pupils immediately contracted slightly upon seeing this.
He could sense that this burst ofw powers wasn''t inferior to his timew powers.
The dark red de of light abruptly sped up, flying through the bodies of the three golden puppets as a dark red shadow, and the three bolts of golden lightning shuddered momentarily before exploding violently.
The three puppets were also stopped cold in their tracks before splitting apart at the waist and falling to the ground in a lifeless fashion.
The dark red de of light continued onward without pause, striking the golden light barrier with tremendous force, causing the light barrier to ripple violently, while the entire pce also shuddered.
However, just a momentter, the golden light barrier fell still again.
Chapter 502: Arrival
Chapter 502: Arrival
The elderly woman took a nce at the golden light barrier, and a hint of tion and approval shed through her eyes.
The elderly man didn''t say anything, but his gaze was firmly focused on the living corpse inside the golden light barrier, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
All of a sudden, Luo Qinghai flew through the air before also descending in front of the golden light barrier.
"What are you trying to do, Grand Pce Master Luo?" the elderly man asked in a cold voice.
"What am I trying to do? Most of the High Zenith Pills are in that thing''s body right now! Are you trying to im all of those pills for yourselves?" Luo Qinghai sneered as he began to chant an incantation, and a burst of radiant blue light appeared over his body.
The elderly man''s expression darkened slightly, and he was just about to do something when the elderly woman raised a hand to stop him.
"It''s fine, let him do as he pleases."
The elderly man''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he still did as he was told in the end.
Ayer of fiery blue light appeared over Luo Qinghai''s body, and he began to give off an enormous High Zenith Stage as he swept a sleeve through the air.
The blue staff projection appeared once again, and it was giving off a terrifying aura as it struck the golden light barrier.
The entire pce shuddered violently, as did the golden light barrier, but once again, it was able to remain firm.
Luo Qinghai''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and everyone else was also quite stunned by how resilient the light barrier was proving to be.
All of a sudden, the entire pce had fallen silent, and the only sound came from the scorching white me beneath the pill cauldron.
"What''s the deal with that soul fragment in that Soul Nurturing Burner, Fellow Daoist Li?" Daoist Hu Yan asked as he made his way over to Han Li.
Everyone else was also quite interested to hear the answer to this question, and all of a sudden, everyone''s attention was focused on Han Li again.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then exined, "I discovered the burner in a set of ruins, and I thought it was rather special, so I decided to take it with me. I didn''t know there was a soul fragment residing in it."
This was clearly not the truth, but Daoist Hu Yan merely nodded in response and didn''t ask any further questions.
As for everyone else, they were clearly also unconvinced, but just like Daoist Hu Yan, no one raised any further questions.
Luo Qinghai returned his gaze to the golden light barrier, then suddenly gave a cold harrumph before walking away.
The other Vast Flow Pce cultivators hurriedly approached him, and they began to converse with one another through voice transmission.
Meanwhile, Han Li was staring at the living corpse inside the golden light barrier with a contemtive look on his face.
How exactly were that soul fragment and the living corpse rted? Had the soul fragment asked him to take it out of that secret area so that it coulde here?
Also, Wyrm 3 had requested him to refine this Origin Void Pill well in advance, so was she already aware that this living corpse was inside the High Zenith Pce? If so, what was her objective?
All of these questions were shing through his mind, but he didn''t have answers for any of them.
In the end, he merely shook his head and refrained from pondering these matters any further.
It wasn''t like they had anything to do with him anyway. As long as Wyrm 3 and the others didn''t do anything to directly harm his interests, he had no intention of getting involved in their affairs.
Most importantly, all of the High Zenith Pills had already emerged from the cauldron at this point, and he had managed to secure two of them, therebypleting his objective, so he didn''t want to stay here any longer.
With that in mind, he was just about to turn around when he suddenly cast his gaze toward the living corpse under the light barrier as a hint of surprise shed through his eyes.
Just now, one of the living corpse''s fingers seemed to have twitched slightly.
However, it was only for an instant, and he couldn''t be sure that it wasn''t just a figment of his imagination.
"What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Li?" Daoist Hu Yan asked through voice transmission.
Han Li took a nce at everyone else to discover that no one else seemed to have noticed what he had just seen, and he shook his head as he replied, "Nothing."
Daoist Hu Yan didn''t pursue the subject any further, instead changing the topic as he suggested, "It doesn''t appear as if there are any other treasures in this pce, so how about we go somewhere else?"
Han Li immediately cast his gaze toward the roof of the pce and all of the surrounding restrictions upon hearing this.
Thebination of the pce''s roof and these restrictions was able to ward off pill tribtions, and as a dao pill master, he was naturally very intrigued.
However, having just unleashed his spirit domain, he had already determined that the roof of the pce was one with the rest of the pce.
Even after such a fierce battle had taken ce, the walls of the pce were stillpletely unscathed, indicating that the entire structure was near indestructible, so it was clearly impossible to remove the roof and take it with him.
With that in mind, Han Li heaved a forlorn internal sigh as he nodded in response.
Aside from the High Zenith Pills, he had reaped some other rewards as well. Having witnessed the golden pce withstand four pill tribtions, he had gleaned much of the profound elements of the restrictions set up within the pce, and there were some simrities between these restrictions and his Integrated Five Extremes Mountain.
"Have you recorded everything?" Han Li asked internally.
Somewhere inside his body, Daoist Xie was holding a white jade slip, which contained an extremelyplete and detailed image of all of the restrictions in the entire pce, and it gave an affirmative response.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes upon receiving this confirmation.
The restrictions in this ce were quite profound, and he was nning to study them carefully once he left the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor. If he could incorporate this set of restrictions into his Integrated Five Extremes Mountain, the result may not be inferior to this golden roof, and that would surely be immensely helpful to his future pill refinement.
Right at this moment, a loud crack suddenly rang out from the green pill cauldron, and Han Li turned to discover that Jin Tong had flown onto the cauldron in her beetle form.
He hadpletely failed to notice this, and at this moment, she was takingrge bites out of the cauldron.
The white me beneath the cauldron had already receded, and ayer of green light appeared over its surface in an attempt to keep Jin Tong at bay, but to no avail.
Perhaps it was because the white mes had just incinerated the restrictions around the cauldron, but on this asion, the gray statues on either side of the pce remainedpletely still.
"What are you doing, Jin Tong?" Han Li flew over to the cauldron in a sh, and a pained look shed through his eyes at the sight of the chunk that had already been bitten out of it.
Jin Tong was chewing on that chunk of the cauldron as she replied in a muffled voice, "I''m starving after so much exercise! I''ve had to hold myself back this entire time because you told me to wait until all of the pills were ready!"
"Fine, but there''s no time for you to eat the cauldron now," Han Li replied with a resigned sigh, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that enveloped the entire cauldron.
Regardless of how exceptional the cauldron was, there was no changing the fact that a chunk had already been bitten out of it, and there was no point in scolding Jin Tong. Furthermore, he didn''t possess the ability to repair a treasure of such a high caliber, so it would just have to serve as a snack for Jin Tongter.
Everyone else took a nce in Han Li''s direction, then quickly averted their eyes.
All of the High Zenith Pills had already emerged, while the cauldron itself had already been damaged, thereby significantly lowering its value, so it wasn''t worth fighting for, particrly if it meant having to oppose a Golden Immortal who had mastered thews of time.
With another sweep of Han Li''s sleeve, the burst of azure light raised the cauldron upward, and the entire pce shuddered violently as the cauldron''s deep-rooted legs were forcibly wrenched out of the ground.
The residual green light shing over its surface instantly faded, and Han Li stowed both Jin Tong and the cauldron away into a spirit beast pouch.
In the same instant that the cauldron flew into the spirit beast pouch, a white shadow shot out from within, then vanished into Han Li''s body in the blink of an eye.
Daoist Xie was currently seated with its legs crossed somewhere in Han Li''s body, and a burst of white light suddenly shed nearby, then transformed into none other than the me of Essence.
At this moment, the me of Essence was in its humanoid form, and not only had it grown up significantly, its facial features had be even more detailed and intricate.
Most importantly, the aura that it was giving off was several times more formidable than before, and waves of scorching heat were sweeping out of the white mes around its body.
Daoist Xie opened his eyes, and its brows furrowed slightly as it distanced itself slightly from the tiny fiery figure.
The me of Essence opened its mouth, and a High Zenith Pill flew out from within.
However, this pill was different from the other High Zenith Pills in that it was riddled with a series of silver patterns, which formed the visage of a three-legged golden crow, and it was also giving off a far more formidable aura than the other pills.
The tiny fiery figure tossed the High Zenith Pill upward, and it vanished into thin air amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
Inside the pce, a barely detectable hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes as he made his way toward Daoist Hu Yan and the others.
Right at this moment, two streaks of light suddenly descended from above, then faded to reveal a pair of figures.
They were none other than Xue Ying and Gongshu Jiu, and as soon as they arrived in the pce, they immediately took in the chaotic scenes around them.
Everyone''s attention was instantly drawn to the duo, and a benevolent smile appeared on Gongshu Jiu''s face as he remarked, "Well, well, well, it looks like there''s quite a bit going on here."
His voice wasn''t very loud, but it was clearly audible to everyone inside the pce.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of Gongshu Jiu. He didn''t know who this man was, but a sense of foreboding had welled up in his heart nheless as he waspletely unable to glean the man''s cultivation base.
Meanwhile, Luo Qinghai was observing Xue Ying with his brows furrowed slightly in befuddlement.
Gongshu Jiu swept his gaze across everyone in the hall, and his smile grew even wider as he mused, "Looks like it''s my lucky day today! Not only have I run into so many Reincarnation Pce cultivators in one ce, there are quite a few big fish among you! I really did make the right decision toe here."
As soon as his voice trailed off, a near-transparent light barrier slowly unfurled around him, instantly enveloping the entire golden pce.
Chapter 503: Too Late
Chapter 503: Too Late
Enveloped within Gongshu Jiu''s spirit domain, everyone hurriedly began to inspect the changes that had taken ce in themselves and the environment around them.
Han Li was holding tightly onto his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, and thin arcs of lightning were dancing over its surface. He discovered that the semi-transparent spirit domain wasn''t giving off any energy fluctuations, as if it almost didn''t exist, and that only made him feel even more uneasy.
Xue Ying took a step forward, then looked down at everyone in the pce with a haughty expression as she dered, "Esteemed Immortal Envoy Gongshu of the Heavenly Court is here,e and pay your respects!"
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon hearing this.
The title of "immortal envoy" meant that not only was this person an important figure in the Heavenly Court, it also indicated that he had to be at least an early-High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal.
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni exchanged a wary nce upon hearing this, while the pair of Southern Dawn Race Golden Immortals were also looking on with tightly furrowed brows.
As for Han Li, he immediately recalled the True Immortal by the name of He Kang that he had encountered while opposing the Stemborer Queen back in the Spirit Realm. He Kang had proimed himself to be an immortal emissary, and that he was under the directmand of an immortal envoy.
It was also from He Kang that Han Li found out for the first time that the Spirit Refinement Technique was a forbidden technique in the Immortal Realm, and that anyone who cultivated it would be hunted down by immortal envoys and emissaries.
After some hesitation, Luo Qinghai slowly strode over to Gongshu Jiu, then extended a respectful bow as he greeted, "Luo Qinghai of the Vast Flow Pce pays his respects to the esteemed immortal envoy."
"Grand Pce Master Luo, your Vast Flow Pce has been causing quite a bit of trouble for our Northern cial Immortal Pce over the years," Gongshu Jiu remarked with a smile.
Luo Qinghai waspletely unfazed as he continued in a respectful manner, "Our Vast Flow Pce has always followed the rules stipted by the Heavenly Court, and we''ve never gotten ourselves involved with evil forces like the Reincarnation Pce. Seeing as you''vee here to eradicate these Reincarnation Pce cultivators, all of us will leave now so we won''t get in your way."
He gave Nan Kemeng and the others a nod as he spoke, gesturing for them to leave.
However, right at this moment, a glimmer of golden light suddenly shed over the semi-transparent light barrier, and the entire spirit domain began to give off bursts of formidablew power fluctuations.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, and it felt to him as if all of the world''s origin qi had beenpletely frozen and immobilized.
"What is the meaning of this, esteemed immortal envoy?" Luo Qinghai asked.
"No one is allowed to leave until I''ve made sense of the situation here," Gongshu Jiu replied.
"Luo Qinghai! You deceived us and trapped us in thatke, and now, you''ve coborated with these Reincarnation Disciple scoundrels to kill Pce Master Xiao! I bet you''re already a member of the Reincarnation Pce yourself!" Xue Ying used.
A wry smile appeared on Luo Qinghai''s face as he argued, "That''s not the case, Deputy Pce Master Xue. Back at theke, I could tell that the restriction you were trapped in was quite formidable, so I decided to turn back to find Pce Master Xiao so that we could save you together.
¡°Unfortunately, I was dyed by the events here, and that''s why I wasn''t able to make it back to you. As for Pce Master Xiao, I swear on my life that I harbored no animosity toward him,and I certainly had no intention of harming him. Speaking of which, did something happen to him? I didn''t see him at all on the way here."
He swept his gaze subtly over a few of the other figures in the pce as he spoke, clearly trying to shift the me onto others.
A furious look appeared on Xue Ying''s face, and she was just about to say something else, only to be stopped by Gongshu Jiu.
"Over the years, Xiao Jinhan has always been plotting to unite the entire Northern cial Immortal Region, while our Heavenly Court has always been against the idea. However, he refused to listen to orders, and now that he''s perished, I suppose I can only say that he''s fallen onto his own sword," Gongshu Jiu said.
Luo Qinghai feigned a shocked expression as he eximed, "What? Pce Master Xiao has passed away?"
Gongshu Jiu paid no heed to him as he continued, "Having said that, it seems like his actions have inadvertently led to a good oue for me."
At the same time, a burst of tremendous, invisible force suddenly descended upon everyone in the hall from all directions, and they hurriedly released their own spirit domains to protect themselves.
Han Li and the others were all gathered together, and their spirit domains were stacked on top of one another in an attempt to ward off this immense pressure, but the effects were virtually negligible.
"What kind ofw power is this?" Ouyang Kuishan asked as a faint sheen of sweat began to appear on his forehead.
"It seems to be some type of qiws, and this man''s mastery overw powers is superior even to Feng Tiandu," Daoist Hu Yan mused with a grim expression.
Meanwhile, Han Li remained silent, but his mind was racing, and he was already contemting how to make an escape. However, he had to wait for the right opportunity to present itself.
It seemed that the sense of foreboding that he had felt earlier was warranted. In hindsight, with so many important figures of the Northern cial Immortal Region shing in one ce, it was almost inevitable that a transcendent figure would arrive to oversee proceedings.
Given his current mid-Golden Immortal Stage cultivation base and his mastery over thews of time, he was virtually invincible among Golden Immortals, but he still couldn''t oppose a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal.
Ultimately, he could only me himself for staying too long.
As a True Immortal, Nan Kemeng was naturally faring even worse than all of the Golden Immortals in the pce.
Even though she was situated in Luo Qinghai''s spirit domain, he was still struck by a sense of asphyxiation and excruciating pain all over his entire body. His ears were also buzzing so loudly that he was barely even able to hear anything else.
Luo Qinghai could see the terrible condition that his beloved disciple was in, and he was finally unable to suppress his temper any longer as he made a grabbing motion with both hands, instantly conjuring up a massive vortex of blue light that devoured Gongshu Jiu in the blink of an eye.
A series of indistinct water dragons were surging through the vortex, which was constantly shrinking in size,pressing toward the center with tremendous force as if it were attempting to pulverize whoever was trapped inside.
However, there seemed to be an invisible wall of qi between Gongshu Jiu and the wavy vortex, and no matter how much pressure the vortex exerted upon the wall of qi, it was unable to break through.
Luo Qinghai wasn''t surprised to see this, and he continued to constrict the vortex even further while giving a nod to the other Vast Flow Pce cultivators.
Having just forcibly elevated himself to the High Zenith Stage, he was currently severely taxed, so even just trapping Gongshu Jiu on a temporary basis was proving to be a struggle for him.
The four Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals immediately sprang into action, positioning themselves around Luo Qinghai and Nan Kemeng before each of them summoned a jade badge.
A collective incantation rang out as the images of the ancient sea beasts on the badges began to glow radiantly, with each of them releasing a burst of blue light that connected together to form a square array.
Before long, theplexions of the four Golden Immortals had turned very pale, clearly indicating that they were under immense strain, and a series of extremelyplex patterns began to appear on the ground, giving off formidable spatial fluctuations.
"I heard that in the past, four separate arrays had to be set up in order to unleash the Four Seas Roaming Array, yet to think that you''re able to aplish the same thing with just a set of four jade badges. How impressive, Grand Pce Master Luo," Gongshu Jiu remarked from within the wavy vortex with a hint of approval in his voice.
Luo Qinghai offered no response as he began to make a rapid string of hand seals.
The four Golden Immortals had indeed just unleashed the Four Seas Roaming Array, but it was only a simplified version, so it naturally couldn''tpare with the original, but it would still be enough to help them escape from this ce.
The patterns on the ground at the center of the array were bing brighter and brighter, while the spatial fluctuations emanating from within were also bing more and more formidable.
However, right as the array was about to be activated, the wavy vortex suddenly exploded.
Ayer of chaotic white qi had appeared around Gongshu Jiu, and it was only about three inches away from his body, but it was raging like a ferocious storm and seemed to contain tremendous power.
"Didn''t I just say that no one is allowed to leave until I''ve had a chance to make sense of the situation here?" Gongshu Jiu asked, and even though the smile on his face remained unchanged, all of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators felt chills run down their spines at the sight of it.
Immediately thereafter, Gongshu Jiu reached out with one hand before clenching it into a tight fist, and four loud thumps rang out in session as the badges in the hands of the four Golden Immortals exploded on after the other.
As a result, the array also exploded before scattering in all directions as countless specks of blue light.
The four Golden Immortals threw up a mouthful of blood in unison, and two of them copsed to the ground.
The fair-skinned schr hurriedly flipped a hand over to produce a pair of pills, which he fed to the copsed Golden Immortals.
Inside Gongshu Jiu''s spirit domain, the world''s origin qi hadpletely ceased flowing, and no one was able to draw upon the world''s origin qi outside the spirit domain to replenish their immortal spiritual power reserves, so they could only do so by using pills and Immortal Origin Stones.
Gongshu Jiu took a nce at Luo Qinghai, and a hint of derision shed through his eyes as he began to make his way toward Han Li.
While passing by the Vast Flow Pce cultivators, everyone saw a patch of space suddenly warp and twist, following which the two copsed Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals were crushed into the ground, instantly reduced to two piles of mangled flesh and bones.
Two blue nascent souls flew out of their remains, then rushed toward Luo Qinghai in a blind panic, but they weren''t able to get very far before they were caught by a burst of qi and dragged up Gongshu Jiu''s sleeve.
Luo Qinghai became even more furious upon seeing this, but in the end, he could only look on with tightly clenched fists.
Chapter 504: Joining Forces
Chapter 504: Joining Forces
"Chi Lijiao, Daoist Hu Yan, Wyrm 3... The three of you havemitted quite a few transgressions, particrly you," Gongshu Jiu said as he stopped in his tracks and pointed a finger at the elderly woman from the Southern Dawn Race.
A perplexed look shed through Daoist Hu Yan''s eyes as he cast his gaze toward the elderly woman.
It was clear that he had heard of Wyrm 3 before, but was unaware that the elderly woman was Wyrm 3 in disguise.
Wyrm 3''s expression stiffened slightly, but there wasn''t much fear in her eyes as she looked back at Gongshu Jiu. However, the same couldn''t be said for the elderly man beside her.
Meanwhile, Yun Ni turned to Daoist Hu Yan with a concerned look in her eyes.
"I''ve been looking everywhere for you three, but the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor had gathered all of you in one ce. This is fantastic! It''ll certainly save me a great deal of trouble," Gongshu Jiu continued as his smile widened even further.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as his gaze fell upon the living corpses seated on the golden chair.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately yelled, "Everyone, all of us have yed a hand in Xiao Jinhan''s demise, so we''re now inplete opposition against the Immortal Pce! This immortal envoy has clearly trapped all of us in his spirit domain with the intention of killing us all, so the only chance that we have at survival is to work together!"
Gongshu Jiu''s attention was drawn to Han Li upon hearing this, but he merely watched Han Li with a smile, making no intention to stop him, as if what Han Li was saying had nothing to do with him.
A wry smile appeared on Luo Qinghai''s face upon hearing this. In the wake of Han Li''s deration, his involvement in Xiao Jinhan''s demise was virtually set in stone. Even though he wasn''t actually a direct participant, Gongshu Jiu was certainly not going to believe that.
However, he wasn''t overly bothered by this. Han Li was correct in saying that Gongshu Jiu clearly harbored intentions of killing everyone in the pce, so he had no choice but to work with everyone else anyway.
In that case, there was nothing for him to hesitate about. If he could somehow survive this ordeal, then he would just have to lead the Vast Flow Pce to defect to the Reincarnation Pce, which had already tried to recruit the Vast Flow Pce on many past asions.
"Take this, Meng''er, it''ll help you better withstand his spirit domain. I may not be able to look after you once the battle begins," Luo Qinghai said to Nan Kemeng as he handed thetter a longan-sized blue bead.
He then taught him a mantra for a secret technique through voice transmission.
Nan Kemeng''splexion was still very pale, but he reassured, "Don''t worry, Master, I''ll be fine."
He then epted the blue bead and promptly swallowed it, then began to chant an incantation, upon which ayer of gentle blue light emerged over her lower abdomen, then swelled to form a blue light barrier with a radius of around 10 feet to epass her entire body.
Nan Kemeng instantly felt as if he had been enveloped in ayer of gentle force that alleviated much of the crushing pressure and sense of asphyxiation that were weighing down upon him.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
That''s a Profound Heavenly Spirit Domain!
Luo Qinghai had used a Profound Heavenly Treasure to help Nan Kemeng conjure up a faux spirit domain to ward off the power of Gongshu Jiu''s spirit domain.
The fact that he was doing this indicated that he had already decided to ept Han Li''s proposal.
Just like Luo Qinghai, everyone else had also realized that the only chance at survival that they had was to work together, and thus, all of them positioned themselves around Gongshu Jiu and Xue Ying, trapping them in an encirclement.
"What do you all think you''re doing? How dare you disy such tant disrespect to Immortal Envoy Gongshu? Are you trying to oppose the Heavenly Court?"
Despite the brave front that Xue Ying was putting up, she unconsciously sidled up a little closer to Gongshu Jiu, and it was clear that she was feeling the pressure.
"Looks like all of you think that you can beat me thanks to your numbers advantage, but if that really were the case, then why would anyone bother to cultivate? How unfortunate. I wonder how long it''ll take the Northern cial Immortal Region to recover after today," Gongshu Jiumented as he shook his head with a forlorn expression.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a sharp ringing sound suddenly rang out in the surrounding space.
Everyone in the pce was instantly struck by a burst of sharp pain in their eardrums, while the tremendous pressure surging toward them from all directions became several times more formidable.
Luo Qinghai immediately sprang into action, making a hand seal to conjure up a ball of blue light, which rapidly swelled in size to epass everyone within it like a turbulent wave.
After being epassed within the blue light barrier, the pressure on everyone was instantly lessened somewhat.
"Looks like you''ve made some decent progress in mastering thews of the sea. Your crimes aren''t all that severe, and I was originally only nning to make you serve as an immortal servant for a million years as a punishment, but you''ve insisted on digging your own grave," Gongshu Jiu remarked with a forlorn expression.
Daoist Hu Yan and the others also quickly followed suit, and light barriers of different colors emerged one after the other to epass the entire pce, while different types ofw power fluctuations surged toward Gongshu Jiu and Xue Ying.
However, Han Li had refrained from revealing his time spirit domain this entire time. His timew powers had been severely taxed during the prior battle, and while he hadn''tpletely run out, he also couldn''t afford to use it without discretion.
In the face of a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal, he had to be extremely meticulous, using every single ounce of hisw powers where they would truly make a difference.
Gongshu Jiu was instantly inundated by a multitude of spirit domains, but his expression remainedpletely unchanged.
He casually swept a sleeve through the air, and two bursts of golden light emerged to form a pair of halberd-wielding puppets that were d in golden armor.
As soon as the pair of puppets emerged, golden light that was filled with incredibly abundant metalw power fluctuations erupted out of their bodies, and their auras wereparable to those ofte-Golden Immortal cultivators.
"Go!" Gongshu Jiu ordered, and the pair of golden-armored puppets instantly charged at Daoist Hu Yan and Luo Qinghai.
"Leave this puppet to us, Pce Master," the fair-skinned schr said as he and the other Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortal charged at the oing golden-armored puppet.
Meanwhile, Ouyang Kuishan and the other dao lord had stepped forward to oppose the other puppet, while Yun Ni began drifting toward Xue Ying.
A hint of concern shed through Daoist Hu Yan''s eyes upon seeing this. Yun Ni had already sustained injuries while rescuing him earlier, so she was not in prime condition.
However, given the current situation, he couldn''t afford to get distracted. After all, Gongshu Jiu was a bona fide High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal, and even with Han Li, Wyrm 3, Chi Lijiao, and Luo Qinghai on his side, their chances of victory were probably still slim to none.
"At this point, there''s no use in thinking about anything else. Only by giving it our all will we have any chance at survival," Han Li dered through voice transmission.
"Your timew powers are extremely formidable, Fellow Daoist Li, so we''ll need you to make some significant contributions when it counts," Luo Qinghai said in a grim voice.
"I''ll be sure to do my best, and simrly, I hope that you''ll also unleash your full power. As the sect master of the Vast Flow Pce, I''m sure you have some more tricks up your sleeve," Han Li replied.
Luo Qinghai offered no response to this, and at the same time, Gongshu Jiu was already making his first move.
He began making a string ofplex hand seals, and bursts of viscous mist that were of a milky white color emerged behind Han Li and the others, then took on the form of a series of misty humanoid figures.
Everyone''s expressions changed drastically upon seeing this.
As it turned out, the outlines of these misty figures were identical to theirs, and it was as if they were their shadows. What was even more astonishing to them was that the auras of these misty figures were also extremely simr to their own.
"Are these domain spirits?" Daoist Hu Yan mused with tightly furrowed brows.
It was said that once one''s spirit domain reached thete-Spiritform Stage, it would be capable of conjuring up domain spirits simr to living beings, and these domain spirits were simr in nature to puppets and Dao Warriors, while their powers depended on the cultivation base andw powers of the owner of the spirit domain.
"I don''t think so," Luo Qinghai replied. "If these were spirit domains, then they wouldn''t be so simr to us. I think this is another ability of his qiw powers."
Before they had a chance to specte any further on this matter, the misty figures were already charging at them.
Daoist Hu Yan raised the longsword in his hand, and crimson mes were revolving around its de as he shed it horizontally toward the oing misty figure.
A burst of crimson light emerged around the misty figure as well, and scorching mes rose up over its entire body as it also summoned a fiery longsword before shing it through the air.
The two fiery swords shed with a resounding boom, and a wall of fire rose up between Daoist Hu Yan and the misty figure.
The two of them then flew through the wall of fire in unison before their swords shed once again.
On the other side, the misty figure that was facing Luo Qinghai had turned into a cloud of water vapor that seemed to have no substantial form, and it was sending waves upon waves crashing into Luo Qinghai''s defenses.
As for Wyrm 3 and Chi Lijiao, they were also being harassed by the same misty figures.
Meanwhile, Han Li was holding his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword tightly while locked in a standoff against his corresponding misty figure.
It seemed that even the misty figure''s personality was rather simr to his, and it also adopted a more cautious approach, watching him in a still manner instead of striking right away.
Gongshu Jiu was standing somewhere further away with his arms crossed, and it seemed that he wasn''t nning to get involved at all.
All of a sudden, Han Liunched himself forward, and as he did so, he abruptly vanished out of thin air.
In the next instant, he reappeared behind the misty figure before piercing his sword diagonally toward his opponent.
He had just used his Reversal True Axis to drastically enhance his own speed, so the sword strike hade very abruptly.
Right as the tip of his sword was about to pierce into the misty figure''s abdomen, it also vanished from the spot, leaving nothing more than a faint wisp of residual mist behind.
Could it be that this thing possesses the same abilities as me?
Han Li''s heart jolted slightly as he disappeared from the spot once again.
As soon as he reappeared, he immediately swept his sword horizontally behind him, and sure enough, the misty figure appeared right before him beforeshing out with its sword as well.
A sharp ng rang out, and Han Li was forced back several steps by the force of the sh.
The misty figure was also sent sliding back, while the sword in its hand was destroyed by streaks of azure sword qi sweeping toward it.
Gongshu Jiu''s brows furrowed ever so slighlty upon seeing this, and he focused his gaze on the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in Han Li''s hand.
Chapter 505: Misty Adversaries
Chapter 505: Misty Adversaries
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he sized up the misty figure standing before him.
White mist gently swirled around the misty figure''s hand, and another longsword slowly took shape.
What on earth is this thing?
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to find that each of the misty figures had a ball of light in their body that was pulsing in a rhythmic fashion.
The misty figure that was battling Daoist Hu Yan had a ball of crimson light in its body, the misty figure facing Luo Qinghai had a blue one, while the ball of light within Han Li''s assant was a light golden color.
However, aside from that, Han Li wasn''t able to spot anything else remarkable about these misty figures.
Right as he was wondering whether he should summon his Mantra Treasured Axis to take a closer look, a slightly feeble voice suddenly rang out in his mind, and it belonged to none other than Nan Kemeng.
At this moment, everyone else around Han Li could hear his voice as well.
"These misty figures have no substantial forms, but all of them havew powers in their bodies that correspond with yours. Right above each of their heads is a white thread that''s invisible to the naked eye, and these threads are connected to the immortal envoy''s fingertips. At the same time, there''s also a thread connecting their hearts to yours."
Han Li took a subtle nce at Gongshu Jiu''s crossed arms upon hearing this, and sure enough, he could see Gongshu Jiu''s fingers making tiny movements that were barely detectable.
It was as if he were a puppeteer that was controlling some puppets on strings.
While battling the misty figure before him, Han Li began to inspect his surroundings to find that all of the other misty figures were wielding the samew powers as the opponents that they had been assigned to.
A look of realization instantly appeared on his face as he called out through voice transmission, "Don''t waste any more energy on fighting these misty figures, fellow daoists. All of them are reflections of us that have been conjured up by the immortal envoy''sw powers, so their powers are virtually identical to ours, and it won''t be an easy task for us to defeat them."
"I''ve arrived at this realization myself as well, but how are we supposed to defeat these things?" Luo Qinghai asked.
"Do not waste any more of yourw powers. These reflections are connected to us through threads of mist, and theirw powers areing straight out of our bodies!" Han Li revealed.
"Now wonder I could feel myw powers being expended so quickly! The rate of expenditure is almost twice the normal rate for me!" Daoist Hu Yan eximed.
"He''s trying to use these things to wear us down, and once ourw powers arepletely exhausted, we''ll bepletely at his mercy," Wyrm 3 said.
"Alright, now that we''ve identified the crux of the matter, does anyone have a solution?" Chi Lijiao asked.
"These figures possess no intelligence and are being controlled solely by the immortal envoy. Ultimately, this is just an ability of his, so these are nothing more than manifestations of hisw powers. All we need to do is stop using ourw powers for now and focus all of our attacks on Gongshu Jiu himself. That''s the best solution I can think of right now," Han Li proposed.
"Sounds good to me! If things continue like this, we''ll be dead soon anyway, so we may as well make a final stand!" Daoist Hu Yan chimed in in agreement.
Luo Qinghai took a nce at Nan Kemeng, and upon receiving a nod from thetter, he immediately dered, "I also agree with this course of action."
Wyrm 3 and Chi Lijiao also expressed their approval of this idea, and with that, all of five of them immediately sprang into action.
The crimson mes over Daoist Hu Yan''s body were instantly snuffed out, and he spun around in mid-air, rising up like a tornado before hurtling directly toward the misty figure in front of him.
The mes around the misty figure''s body also faded as it rushed at Daoist Hu Yan in the exact same fashion.
The two of them shed in mid-air with a resounding boom, and Daoist Hu Yan allowed himself to be sent flying by the force of the sh, using it tounch himself at Gonshu Jiu.
Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li and the others also employed various strategies to disengage themselves from their battles against the misty figures before rushing at Gongshu Jiu.
A hint of surprise shed through Gongshu Jiu''s eyes upon seeing this.
"Have you already seen through it? It appears I may have underestimated all of you. Having said that, it''s not like it makes any difference," he chuckled, and as soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly made a wrenching motion with his left hand, upon which all of the misty figures were pulled toward him by a burst of tremendous force, reappearing directly in the paths of Han Li and the others in the blink of an eye.
"You think that it''ll somehow make a difference just because you''re not using yourw powers? You still stand no chance at all!" Gongshu Jiu jeered like a cat toying with some mice.
Right at this moment, a burst of golden ripple suddenly appeared behind him, and Han Li abruptly emerged out of thin air, thenshed out with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
The sword was shing with golden lightning, and right as it was about to strike Gongshu Jiu''s waist, he suddenly vanished amid a sh of white light, reced by the misty figures in the visage of Han Li.
In just the blink of an eye, he had managed to transpose himself with the misty figure, which was struck by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword andpletely torn apart.
Meanwhile, Gongshu Jiu reappeared not far away, and the smile on his face finally faded as a cold and furious look appeared on his face.
A hint of disappointment appeared on Han Li''s face in the wake of his failed attack, while Gongshu Jiu''s brows furrowed tightly as he mused, "Timew powers... Were you the one who killed Elder Tao''s son, Tao Yu? I can''t think of anyone else in this immortal region cultivating the Mantra Axis Scripture."
"That''s right, I''m the one who killed him," Han Li admitted with a bold grin.
Gongshu Jiu''s expression darkened even further as he said, "You can smile all you want now, but I bet you''re not going to be able to smile any longer once I take you back to Elder Tao! He''s an expert in crafting nascent souls into nascent soulmps, and you''ll be burning for at least 100,000 years at Tao Yu''s altar! You''ll be in such excruciating pain that you''ll wish you had been refined into a Golden Soul Pill instead!"
Han Li''s expression remainedpletely unchanged as he retorted, "I''ve had a Golden Soul Pill before, but I wonder what a pill refined using a Jade Immortal''s nascent soul will taste like."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he took a step forward andunched himself at Gongshu Jiu once again.
"How insolent!"
A cold look appeared on Gongshu Jiu''s face, and he continued to control the misty figures that were battling Daoist Hu Yan and the others with his left hand, while simultaneously making a grabbing motion with his right hand to summon a slender longsword that looked as if it had been fashioned out of white jade.
As the sword was shed through the air, an indistinct burst of qi seemed to sh through the air, then transformed into a series of extremely thin de projections as it swept toward Han Li.
Han Li immediately activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, which allowed him to identify the trajectories of these de projections.
At the same time, he shed his sword through the air repeatedly, unleashingyers uponyers of azure sword qi that formed a protective barrier around him, keeping all of the oing de projections at bay.
At the same time, he couldn''t help but feel a little awestruck. It was incredible to him that someone was able to utilize theirw powers to this extent. This was truly not a level of mastery that a Golden Immortal could hope to reach.
Due to the fact that he was constantly being suppressed by Gongshu Jiu''s spirit domain, it took Han Li a great deal of effort to finally pierce through theyers of de projections to close down the distance between himself and Gongshu Jiu.
He made a hand seal with one hand while shing his sword through the air with the other, and all of theyers of azure sword qi around him instantly bloomed like a lotus flower before hurtling toward Gongshu Jiu at once.
Gongshu Jiu''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he raised his sword horizontally in front of him, then shed it through the air with a flick of his wrist to conjure up a huge wall of white qi.
A string of loud ngs rang out incessantly within the pce, and all of the streaks of azure sword qi pierced into the wall of white qi, but were unable to make it all the way through.
A hint of disappointment appeared in Gongshu Jiu''s eyes upon seeing this, and he remarked, "Looks like I overestimated you."
However, right at this moment, a smile suddenly appeared on Han Li''s face as he gently flicked his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword with his finger, and all of the streaks of azure sword qi abruptly exploded in unison, releasing an extremely formidable shockwave that sted a huge hole into the wall of white qi.
The shockwaves continued to proliferate outward, causing the entire pce to tremble violently.
The green pill cauldron originally served as the core of this golden pce, but now that the cauldron had been eaten by Jin Tong and most of the restrictions inscribed onto the ground had been destroyed, a series of cracks began to appear on the walls in the face of these devastating shockwaves.
Gongshu Jiu was situated closest to the explosion, and he couldn''t help but stumble back in retreat in the face of these shockwaves.
Before he had a chance to steady himself, a crimson figure abruptly appeared behind him.
He immediately swung around in a manner that seemed to defy thews of physiques, and he discovered that it was Daoist Hu Yan who had arrived on the scene and was shing his fiery longsword directly at his head.
Gongshu Jiu immediately raised the slender longsword in his hand to parry the attack, and a sharp ng rang out as the pair of swords shed, sending mes and sword qi erupting in all directions.
In the instant that the two swords shed, a crimson gourd suddenly flew out of the cloth pouch on Daoist Hu Yan''s back, and the opening of the gourd was aimed diagonally downward, directly facing Gongshu Jiu as it hovered above both of their heads.
The ancient runes on the surface of the gourd were shing incessantly, and it was giving off waves of scorching heat.
Immediately thereafter, the stopper of the gourd flew out on its own with a loud pop.
Chapter 506: Was it Really Worth it
Chapter 506: Was it Really Worth it
A loud draconic roar instantly rang out across the entire pce, and a mighty ck dragon flew out of the opening of the gourd.
The dragon had ck mes all over its body, and it opened its mouth before biting down viciously upon Gongshu Jiu.
"Dao Lord Baili!" Luo Qinghai eximed upon seeing this.
A hint of enlightenment shed through Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this, and he realized that Daoist Hu Yan had most likely not been trying to secure a High Zenith Pill for himself. Instead, it was to save Baili Yan, who he had been carrying in that gourd of his this entire time.
In the wake of the internal conflict in the ze Dragon Dao orchestrated by Xiao Jinhan, Ouyang Kuishan and many of the other dao lords had worked with the Northern cial Immortal Pce to surround Baili Yan, and not only did they foil his n for reaching the High Zenith Stage, a n that he had been working toward for countless years, they also managed to severely wound him, but he was ultimately able to get away.
Fortunately, Daoist Hu Yan was also able to get away from the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and after leaving the ze Dragon Dao, he reunited with Baili Yan, and now, the two of them were here in the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce.
However, what Han Li wanted to know was how Daoist Hu Yan had been aware in advance that there were High Zenith Pills in the immortal manor.
As soon as Baili Yan flew out of the crimson gourd, Daoist Hu Yan had already darted back in retreat.
Scorching ck mes erupted out of the ck ze dragon''s mouth to instantly inundate Gongshu Jiu, and the misty figures that he was controlling instantly slowed down significantly, as if Gongshu Jiu had temporarily lost control over them.
Everyone immediately pounced on this opportunity to destroy the misty figures, following which they hurriedly gathered around Gongshu Jiu and the ze dragon.
Close to 20 secondster, the ze dragon closed its cavernous mouth, and it shrank down rapidly until it was norger than the average snake.
"The High Zenith Pill has been beneficial to my recovery and allowed me to expel the karmic fire in my body, but I need more time to refine it, so this is all I can do to help you for now," the ze dragon said.
"That''s fine. Go back into the gourd to rest," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
Baili Yan immediately flew into the gourd upon hearing this, and Daoist Hu Yan stowed the gourd back into the cloth pouch on his back.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and Luo Qinghai and the others were still reeling a little. However, thankfully, Baili Yan''s attack had allowed them to get rid of those pesky misty figures while also trapping Gongshu Jiu.
"Everyone, we need to take advantage of this opportunity to refine Gongshu Jiu''s physical body ,then capture his nascent soul!" Luo Qinghai urged.
Everyone immediately sprang into action upon hearing this, unleashing a barrage of attacks into the ck mes around Gongshu Jiu.
Crimson me, blue light, golden lightning... All manners of attacks surged into the ck mes from all directions,pressing it into a fireball that was only around 10 feet in size.
Han Li was scrutinizing the interior of the fireball intently with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and he discovered that there was still a spherical, semi-transparent wall of qi around Gongshu Jiu''s body that was keeping all of the mes and attacks at bay.
Furthermore, ayer of faint red light had appeared over the wall of qi, and it was bing brighter and brighter.
A hint of rm shed through everyone''s eyes upon seeing this, and they immediately attempted to take evasive measures, but it was already toote.
A burst of incredibly powerful shockwaves erupted in all directions, scattering all of the ck mes and everyone''s attacks before sending them flying back through the air.
The golden pce was already on the verge of copse, and it was finally unable to hold itself together any longer, falling in a heap to be reduced to a pile of rubble.
However, before everyone had a chance to stand up from amid the rubble, Gongshu Jiu had already emerged from the wreckage, and he sighed, "I was going to invite all of you toe to our Heavenly Court to repent for your crime so that you can perhaps change your ways, but it seems that my kindness is being treated as weakness."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept his hands through the air, and five bursts of radiant light emerged over his fingertips. Five feathers from some type of unknown bird then flew out from within before hurtling toward Han Lin and the others.
The light radiating from the feathers had an illusory quality to it, and it was also giving off bursts of subtlew power fluctuations.
A sense of foreboding welled up in his heart upon seeing this, and he hurriedly raised his sword to defend himself.
With a flick of Wyrm 3''s wrist, a silver bracelet that was riddled with ancient patterns slipped off her wrist, then began to revolve in front of her while radiating a vast expanse of bright silver light.
Meanwhile, Chi Lijiao raised both hands in front of himself to summon a golden badge, which transformed into a shimmering golden shield in the blink of an eye.
A string of loud ngs rang out one after another within the pce, and the sword in Han Li''s hand was bent to an extreme degree, with its de crashing heavily into his chest, sending him flying thousands of feet before crashing into a mountain face.
Luo Qinghai had summoned a jade fan treasure to protect himself, but it had beenpletely pulverized by one of the azure feathers, and a huge hole was punched into his chest while his entire body was mmed into the ground.
Wyrm 3''s silver bracelet was shattered, and she was also sent flying through the air, but didn''t appear to have sustained any injuries.
As for Chi Lijiao, his golden shield was also destroyed by an azure feather, which then pierced straight through his head, and in the blink of an eye, his nascent soul was captured by Gongshu Jiu.
In order to pick up his crimson gourd, Daoist Hu Yan was already a split second slower to react than everyone else, and by the time he looked up, one of the azure feathers was already no more than three feet away from his chest, so there was no time for him to take evasive measures.
In this dire situation, a figure suddenly shot forth from the side, then positioned themselves in front of him as a meat shield.
"Yun Ni!" both Daoist Hu Yan and Ouyang Kuishan eximed in unison.
The former hurriedly grabbed her by the arm in an attempt to drag her away, while thetter''s body turned bright red as he unleashed a secret technique to drastically enhance his own speed, arriving in front of Yun Ni an instant before the feather reached her.
A dull thump rang out as the feather pierced through several protective light barriers before punching through Ouyang Kuishan''s be, pulverizing both his head and his consciousness.
The three crashed heavily into one another and were sent flying together before falling to the ground.
A stunned look appeared on Yun Ni''s face as she hurriedly rolled Ouyang Kuishan over, only to find that his eyes had already zed over, but there was a satisfied smile hanging on his lips.
Aplex look appeared on Daoist Hu Yan''s face upon seeing this.
Yun Ni took a nce at Daoist Hu Yan, then turned her gaze back to Ouyang Kuishan, and for the first time in countless years, tears began to well up in her eyes.
She had actually met Ouyang Kuishan before Daoist Hu Yan in the ze Dragon Dao, and the two of them had embarked on multiple journeys together.
She had always been aware of his feelings, but she had never been able to reciprocate them.
Right at this moment, a golden nascent soul suddenly flew out of Ouyang Kuishan''s dantian, and it looked as if it could fade out of existence at any moment, but it was still staring intently at Yun Ni with its tiny eyes.
"Was it really worth it?" Yun Ni asked with tear-filled eyes.
"My entire life, I''ve pursued greater power in the hope that I''ll be able to attain freedom and do whatever I please someday, traveling this immortal region to my heart''s content with my beloved dao partner. Unfortunately, the more advanced my cultivation base became, the more I was weighed down by responsibilities. For the first time, I''ve been able to actpletely selfishly and for my own sake, so how was it not worth it?" the nascent soul replied in a feeble voice.
"You''ve earned my admiration, Ouyang Kuishan! Rest assured, I''ll do everything in my power to resurrect you!" Daoist Hu Yan promised as he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized sandalwood box.
Ouyang Kuishan took a nce at him, then silently flew into the box.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already flown back from the mountain face and descended beside Daoist Hu Yan.
He had naturally witnessed Ouyang Kuishan sacrifice himself for Yun Ni just now, and his expression remained unchanged, but internally, his opinion of Ouyang Kuishan had been improved significantly.
Wyrm 3 took a nce at Chi Lijiao''s body, then also flew over to join Han Li and the others. As for Luo Qinghai, he wasyingpletely still, and it was unclear whether he was dead or unconscious.
Perhaps it was because unleashing those feathers had been too taxing on him, but in any case, Gongshu Jiu didn''t unleash any further attacks, instead remainingpletely still on the spot.
"Why have you refrained from using your timew powers this entire time? Are you trying to save your energy so you can attempt to make an escape at the right opportunity?" Wyrm 3 asked through voice transmission as she turned to Han Li with a cold expression.
"I have a trump card ability that could perhaps kill Gongshu Jiu in a single strike, but I''ve expended too much of my timew powers earlier, so I have to be conservative and only strike at the right moment," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"I hope you''re not lying. If we manage to get out of here alive, I''ll give you the next level of the Spirit Refinement Technique. At your cultivation base, it''s next to impossible to escape from a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal, so don''t harbor any delusions," Wyrm 3 said.
"I''d advise you to also stop holding back, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3."
As Han Li was speaking, he took a seemingly casual nce at his surroundings to discover that the fair-skinned schr and the other Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortal had managed to destroy one of the halberd-wielding golden puppets. However, both of them had suffered severe injuries and weren''t able to ensure much else aside from self-preservation.
Xue Ying had no intention of sparing them, and she immediately flew in their direction.
Nan Kemeng had also been sent flying by the earlier explosion, and it was unclear where he had fallen.
As for the Golden Immortal from the ze Dragon Dao, he was severely outmatched by the remaining halberd-wielding puppet without Ouyang Kuishan''s assistance, and it wasn''t going to take long before he crashed to a defeat.
"Fellow Daoist Hu Yan, you two should go and help out your fellow dao lord. I''ll take care of things here," Han Li suddenly said.
Daoist Hu Yan was rather taken aback to hear this, and Han Li exined, "I''m sure it''s already be clear to you that having a numbers advantage doesn''t really help us at all against the immortal envoy. If we want to take him down, then we''ll have to resort to some unconventional and risky tactics."
"Fine, we''ll do as you say. You always seem to have more tricks up your sleeve, and I can never seem to get a good grasp on you. If we get out of here alive, I''ll treat you to an entire jar of my finest wine!" Daoist Hu Yan replied with a smile.
"You better not forget that promise!" Han Li chuckled.
Chapter 507: Who Do You Want to Kill?
Chapter 507: Who Do You Want to Kill?
"What exactly do High Zenith Pills do? Surely it must have some extraordinary effects, considering how desperate Luo Qinghai and the others were to get their hands on these pills," Han Li suddenly asked through voice transmission.
"High Zenith Pills are extremely sought after among all Golden Immortals, but they''re just as rare as they are revered," Daoist Hu Yan exined.
"Could it be that it has something to do with making a breakthrough to the High Zenith Stage?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. The most important effect of the High Zenith Pill is that it can help cultivators at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage ward off the fifth decay," Daoist Hu Yan confirmed with a nod.
"I see."
Han Li was ecstatic to hear this. Given Daoist Hu Yan''s exnation, it was clear that High Zenith Pills to Golden Immortals were no less important than Golden Soul Pills to True Immortals, and they were clearly even more precious.
Furthermore, he had managed to obtain the most premium High Zenith Pill from that entire cauldron, and that was a massive reward to im.
Daoist Hu Yan stowed away Ouyang Kuishan''s body, then flew toward the remaining halberd-wielding puppet with Yun Ni.
Meanwhile, Han Li took a brief moment to inspect his own internal condition, then tightened his grip around his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword as he exchanged a nce with Wyrm 3, indicating for her to prepare to strike.
Right at his moment, a burst of dull rumbling rang out from the golden chair, causing the entire pce to tremble violently.
Even though the pce had already copsed, the chair remainedpletely unscathed.
All of a sudden, the living corpse seated on the chair rose to its feet, and its entire body was giving off radiant gray light.
The golden light barrier seemed to have sensed something, and it also began to glow radiantly while countless palm-sized golden runes emerged within it.
However, that still wasn''t enough for it to contain the gray light, and before long, thin cracks were beginning to appear on its surface.
A burst of tedughter rang out from within the golden light barrier, and it wasn''t very loud, but everyone who heard it was struck by a burst of sharp pain in the head, as if there were countless red-hot needles piercing into their souls.
Everyone hurriedly channeled their cultivation arts to protect their souls as they darted back in retreat with rmed looks on their faces.
Han Li also flew back in retreat like everyone else, while Gongshu Jiu cast a bewildered gaze toward the golden chair.
Xue Ying flew over to Gongshu Jiu''s side, then also cast her gaze in the same direction.
Inside the light barrier, gray light was churning incessantly, and nine bursts of gray light that resembled plume of smoke surged out of the light barrier before wrapping themselves around the nine golden stone pirs, then snapped them with ease.
The golden light barrier immediately began to tremble violently as the cracks on its surface widened, following which it exploded with a resounding boom.
A figure slowly emerged from the vast expanse of golden light, and it was none other than the middle-aged daoist priest seated on the golden chair.
The daoist priest wore a faint smile as he walked along with his hands sped behind his back, and he appeared no different from a normal cultivator.
The only remarkable thing about him was that his eyes were entirely gray in color with no whites at all, presenting a rather unsettling sight to behold.
A hint of surprise and befuddlement immediately appeared on Gongshu Jiu''s face at the sight of the daoist priest, while Xue Ying asked, "Do you recognize this man, Uncle Gongshu?"
"I certainly wasn''t expecting to find a Gray Immortal here. Looks like I really am in luck!" Gongshu Jiu mused as he stared intently at the middle-aged daoist priest like a hawk.
The expressions on the faces of Luo Qinghai and the others all changed drastically upon hearing this, and he immediately swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of blue light that swept up all of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators before flying away into the distance.
The remaining dao lord of the ze Dragon Dao also hurriedly flew back to open up some distance between himself and the daoist priest, while Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni exchanged a nce before doing the same.
Han Li didn''t know why everyone was so wary of the daoist priest, but he also decided that it was best to maintain his distance, flying over to Daoist Hu Yan''s side as he asked through voice transmission, "What is a Gray Immortal, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan?"
The soul fragment had told him some things about Gray Immortals and the Gray Realm, but he hadn''t gone into much detail, and it seemed that everyone was quite fearful of this Gray Immortal.
"You may not have heard about this, Fellow Daoist Li, but once upon a time, our Northern cial Immortal Realm was actually called the Infernal Frost Immortal Region. The entire immortal region was split into two following a major battle, and that was during the invasion of the Gray Immortals. Gray Immortals are sworn enemies of us immortals, and we don''t know exactly where theye from, but it''s said that they can devour immortals.
¡°During that battle, all of the sects and powers in the entirety of the Infernal Frost Immortal Region joined forces while also recruiting some reinforcements from other immortal regions, and it was only with theirbined powers that they were able to force the Gray Immortals into retreat.
¡°However, close to half of all of the immortal region''s sects were wiped out, and many races were eradicated altogether. Ever since then, no other Gray Immortals have appeared in this immortal region," Daoist Hu Yan informed.
"Why is it that I''ve never heard of any of this before?" Han Li asked with a stunned expression.
"The battle that I mentioned took ce a very long time ago, and the Heavenly Court has always intentionally tried to conceal those past events, so only some of the top sects in the Northern cial Immortal Region, such as the ze Dragon Dao and the Vast Flow Pce, are aware of these events.
¡°You''re still quite young, and you were only in the ze Dragon Dao for a very short time, so it''s no surprise that you haven''t heard about any of this," Daoist Hu Yan exined.
What Daoist Hu Yan had just said matched what the soul fragment had described, and with that, Han Li was able to confirm that the soul fragment had been telling the truth, at least in this regard.
Right at this moment, a streak of red light descended beside the middle-aged daoist priest, then faded to reveal Wyrm 3, who extended a slight bow toward him.
"Wee back to the Immortal Realm, Daoist Master Mo Yu!"
Luo Qinghai and the others were all quite rmed to see this, clearly not expecting Wyrm 3 to be familiar with this Gray Immortal.
Meanwhile, Han Li was also looking at the middle-aged daoist priest with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
He had already heard from the soul fragment that the Reincarnation Pce had worked with Gray Immortals in the past, so he wasn''t that surprised to see that Wyrm 3 had ties with this Gray Immortal, but this didn''t match the story that the soul fragment had told him.
ording to the soul fragment, Mo Yu was the name of the High Zenith Stage Gray Immortal that had triggered the Gray Immortal invasion of the Northern cial Immortal Realm, but it had also told him that Mo Yu was a female disciple under the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord, while this Gray Immortal was clearly a man, so what exactly was the truth?
Before Han Li had a chance to ponder this matter any further, Gongshu Jiu suddenly eximed, "So you''re Mo Yu! I had heard that you had gone missing in the wake of that battle all those years ago, is this where you''ve been hiding this entire time?"
The middle-aged daoist priest paid no heed to Gongshu Jiu as he turned to Wyrm three and said, "Oh? I''m surprised there''s still someone who remembers me. Who are you?"
"I am Wyrm 3 of the Reincarnation Pce," Wyrm 3 replied.
Red light shed over her body as she spoke, and in the blink of an eye, she transformed into a beautiful woman in a red dress, but her face was concealed behind a crimson dragon mask.
"Wym 3, is it? I suppose I owe you a favor now. Who do you want to kill?" Mo Yu asked as he swept his gaze over his surroundings.
Wyrm 3 offered no reply to this, merely pointing a finger in Gongshu Jiu''s direction before flying away to the side.
Mo Yu turned his gaze to Gongshu Jiu with a faint smile, but he then suddenly turned his attention to Han Li.
"You''re in a real sorry state, kid. You''re bringing shame upon thews of time! I''ll chat with you after I''ve returned this favor," Mo Yu chuckled, and everyone else present immediately turned to Han Li with peculiar looks in their eyes upon hearing this.
"How are you rted to this Gray Immortal, Fellow Daoist Li?" Daoist Hu Yan asked through voice transmission.
"That''s a bit of a long story. I encountered that soul fragment of his in an underground pce, and I brought it with me after I left. At this point, I still don''t know whether he''s friend or foe," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"Could it be that you really did enter the legendary Moonlight Pce?" Daoist Hu Yan eximed with wide eyes.
"It looks like that must''ve been it," Han Li replied.
Meanwhile, Mo Yu''s gaze returned to Gongshu Jiu, and he sighed in a resigned manner, "I''m not someone who likes to owe favors to other people, so I''m afraid you''re going to have to die here. How would you like to die?"
"Howughable! Your soul has only just been restored, and your cultivation base is still unsteady! You''re just bluffing to try and buy time for yourself!" Gongshu Jiu harrumphed coldly as he made a hand seal, and 10 misty white figures emerged in front of him, each of which was several timesrger than the ones from before, and all of them pounced at Mo Yu at once.
"Oh crap, you got me! I didn''t think you''d see through me so quickly! Are all immortal envoys this smart nowadays?" Mo Yu eximed as feigned a panicked expression, only to then st a streak of gray light out of the palm of his hand as he dered, "One attack is all I''ll need to kill you!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, the streak of gray light exploded into countless gray threads, all of which were flying through the air at an incredible speed before piercing through the bodies of the misty white figures in the blink of an eye.
All 10 of the misty figures were instantly rooted to the spot, then exploded into a vast expanse of white mist, much to the surprise and incredulity of Han Li and the others.
Those misty figures had caused them no shortage of trouble earlier, yet this Gray Immortal had just eradicated 10 of them in the blink of an eye!
After piercing through the misty figures, the gray threads continued to hurtle directly toward Gongshu Jiu, who remainedpletely unfazed as he opened his mouth to release a ball of white light, which transformed into an antiquated white mirror.
The antiquated mirror released a burst of white light that was filled with countless runes, and it formed a thick white cocoon of light around his entire body.
Mo Yu immediately switched to a different hand seal upon seeing this, and all of the threads of gray light converged toward a single spot, forming a thick gray arrow in the blink of an eye.
A formidable cial aura was emanating from the arrow, and it was different from any type ofw power, but was also not inferior to any of them.
A series of gray corkscrews of light also appeared around the arrow, and they began to revolve rapidly while giving off a terrifying screeching sound.
Chapter 508: Perfect Opportunity
Chapter 508: Perfect Opportunity
As soon as the cocoon of white light took shape, the arrow of gray light also arrived, and thetter struck the former with tremendous force.
The white cocoon was instantly shattered like an eggshell to reveal Gongshu Jiu inside, and the gray arrow had already pierced through his body.
Arge hole had been punched through his chest, and blood instantly began to flow out of all of his orifices.
Just as Mo Yu dered, it had only taken him a single attack to strike down Gongshu Jiu!
Han Li was very much taken aback to see this, but also quite relieved.
However, in the next instant, Gongshu Jiu''s body abruptly dissipated into a cloud of white mist, following which he reappeared behind Mo Yu, then immediately opened his mouth to release a burst of dazzling five-colored light, within which was a semi-transparent crystalline rock.
The rock was surrounded by arcs of dazzling five-colored light, and it was giving off an incredibly destructive aura.
Mo Yu''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly fled to the side while a burst of gray mes appeared around him to form a fiery gray barrier.
However, it was already toote, and the five-colored rock caught up to him in the blink of an eye, then exploded into a ball of blinding five-colored lightning that inundated his entire body in an instant.
The destructive power erupting out of the burst of five-colored lightning was over 10 times more formidable than that of the pill tribtions from before, and the space around the five-colored lightning immediately became severely warped and fractured, looking as if it could shatter at any moment.
Arcs of five-colored lightning sprang forth in all directions, causing the surrounding space to tremble violently, and everyone hurriedly took evasive measures, flying back in retreat as quickly as they could.
Within the blinding five-colored light, Mo Yu had vanished without a trace, and it seemed that his body had beenpletely eradicated.
A faint smile appeared on Gongshu Jiu''s face upon seeing this, while Han Li and the others looked on with grim expressions.
If Mo Yu really had been in, then they would once again be in a dire situation.
The five-colored lightning shed a few times before quickly fading away.
All of a sudden, Gongshu Jiu''s expression stiffened as a ball of gray light emerged where the five-colored lightning had been just a moment ago. The ball of light was around the same height as a grown man, and there were wisps of dense gray qi swirling around it.
The gray light then parted to reveal Mo Yu once again, and hisplexion was a little pale, but aside from that, he waspletely unscathed, and even his clothes werepletely undamaged.
"You''re a Gray Immortal, how could you possibly have survived Heavenly Damnation Lightning? This is impossible!" Gongshu Jiu eximed in incredulity.
"I didn''t think that you would have a Heavenly Damnation Lightning Stone, but unfortunately for you, it''s one of the lowest caliber, and that won''t be enough to kill me," Mo Yu said with a shake of his head.
Gongshu Jiu immediately turned and fled toward the entrance of the pce as a streak of white light.
"Hey, don''t run! I have to keep my promises!" Mo Yu yelled as he swept his right hand through the air, and his left arm instantly exploded into a ball of dense gray light, which transformed into a gray chain that shot forth through the air in a sh.
In the next instant, the gray chain appeared around Gongshu Jiu, then wrapped itself around him in a sh.
Bright gray light erupted out of Mo Yu''s body before spreading outward, instantly forming a gray spirit domain with countless gray shadows swirling within it.
He then began to chant an incantation, and all of the gray shadows within the spirit domain converged toward a single spot to form an enormous gray dragon''s head.
The draconic head was riddled with ck runes, and it was giving off a terrifying cial aura that was only bing more and more formidable by the second.
In the instant the draconic head took shape, Han Li and the others were all instantly struck by a burst of sharp pain all over the entirety of their bodies, and they felt as if eevn their bone marrow were being frozen solid.
The protective spiritual light around them waspletely ineffective in warding off this cial aura, and they hurriedly flew away even further to protect themselves.
Gongshu Jiu''s expression finally darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he let loose a low roar as balls of dazzling white mes abruptly erupted out of his body.
Every single one of these white fireballs were giving off tremendousw power fluctuations, and they were scorching the gray chain intently while he was also struggling to free himself with all his might.
The gray chain immediately began to creak and groan, and it looked as if it cu9old burst apart at any moment, but at this point, the gray draconic head had alreadypletely taken shape, and it took up virtually the entire pce.
Its skin was riddled with gray scales that were giving off a cold gleam, and two balls of gray fire lit up within its huge eye sockets as it cast its gaze toward Gongshu Jiu.
A thunderous roar rang out as it opened its cavernous mouth to release a pir of ck light that struck Gongshu Jiu with tremendous force, resulting in an incredibly bright eruption of gray light that forced everyone to shield their eyes and look away.
After the gray light faded, Han Li discovered that Gongshu Jiu had been sent flying into one of the copsed walls of the pce.
His body was virtuallypletely embedded into the wall, and his robes had been torn to shreds. His hair waspletely disheveled, and it was clear that he had suffered extremely severe injuries.
"That''s all you''ve got? How frail. I don''t even feel like ying around with you anymore," Mo Yu sighed as he made a hand seal, and another burst of blinding gray light emerged within the mouth of the gray draconic head.
An rmed look appeared on Gongshu Jiu''s face as he hurriedly flew out of the wall as a streak of white light, and he didn''t even have time to address his own injuries as a swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a small white g and a yellow badge, which began to rapidly revolve around him to form a protective barrier.
Right at this moment, a pained look suddenly appeared on Mo Yu''s face, and he began to tremble uncontrobly, while his gray spirit domain also began to ripple violently.
A dull thump rang out as the gray draconic head exploded into a vast expanse of gray light, following which the entire spirit domain also vanished in a sh.
Gongshu Jiu was quite taken aback by this turn of events, but an ecstatic look then appeared on his face as he fled into the distance.
Right at this moment, a streak of golden light shed past, and a figure appeared in Gongshu Jiu''s path in the blink of an eye.
It was none other than Han Li, and radiant golden light erupted out of his body as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which immediately began to revolve rapidly.
Countless golden ripples surged out of the axis before epassing Gongshu Jiu''s entire body, instantly stopping him cold in his tracks.
Han Li then raised a hand to send an azure flying sword hurtling out of his sleeve, and it instantly swelled to over 100 feet in length, while thick arcs of golden lightning that were imbued with an incredibly destructive aura erupted over its surface.
A cold gleam shed through his eyes as he made a hand seal, and the giant azure sword abruptly appeared in front of Gongshu Jiu in a sh before crashing down with immense power.
Gongshu Jiu was already aware of the fact that he was a member of the Reincarnation Pce, so if he were to get away, then there would be no end to Han Li''s troubles.
He had already determined that even High Zenith Stage Jade Immortals weren''t impervious to his timew powers. Prior to this, he had no chance of getting close to Gongshu Jiu, but the perfect opportunity had just presented itself.
During the earlier battle, Xue Ying had made sure to keep her distance, but she immediately swooped onto the scene upon seeing this.
Things had progressedpletely differently from what she had anticipated, but she was naturally not going to allow a mere mid-Golden Immortal cultivator to do as he pleased.
As she flew through the air, she released a burst of white light out of her sleeve, and it contained a white rope immortal treasure that hurtled toward the giant azure sword.
However, as soon as the white rope entered the golden ripples, it was immediately slowed down to the point that it looked as if it had fallenpletely still.
Xue Ying had never seen Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis before, so she was very much taken aback by this turn of events.
A cold sneer appeared on Han Li''s face as he abruptly expanded the golden ripples outward, and they instantly swelled in diameter by twofold to epass Xue Ying as well.
As soon as she was caught within the golden ripples, Xue Ying was also rooted to the spot, and the shocked look on her face had alsopletely stiffened.
After trapping Xue Ying, Han Li pointed a finger at his giant azure sword, and it began to glow radiantly as it crashed down upon Gongshu Jiu.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the giant azure sword was sent flying back, and it was trembling violently, while the spiritual light around it was flickering erratically.
A surprised look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he hurriedly made a hand seal to stabilize his sword.
He then turned to Gongshu Jiu to discover that an eggshell-like ball of white light had appeared around him.
The ball of light was riddled with runes that were quite strange in appearance, and they weren''t golden seal text, nor beveled silver text.
The runes were arranged in a way that resembled the patterns on the back of a turtle''s shell, and it was somehow able to withstand an all-out strike from Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he made a hand seal, and the giant azure sword immediately lit up once again as it hurtled toward Gongshu Jiu.
At the same time, two more identical Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords emerged around him, and these two swords also swelled drastically in size before crashing down upon Gongshu Jiu with tremendous power.
Three earth-shattering booms rang out in unison, but all their swords were sent flying back once again, while the ball of light only rippled slightly before falling still again.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this.
Chapter 509: Ferocious Assault
Chapter 509: Ferocious Assault
At this point, Mo Yu''splexion had already improved slightly, and the gray light around him was no longer flickering, but instead of re-entering the fray, he was observing Han Li and Gongshu Jiu from the sidelines with an intrigued look on his face.
"That''s a Myriad Law Bead! I didn''t think that a mere immortal envoy would have so many fine treasures in his possession. It would almost be a pity to destroy this bead."
Wyrm 3 was also watching Han Li and Gongshu Jiu, and it was unclear what she was thinking.
As for Luo Qinghai and the others, they were all disying different reactions to Han Li''s abrupt interception.
Han Li took a nce at Mo Yu and Wyrm 3, and his brows furrowed slightly as he made a hand seal in preparation tosh out with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords again.
Right at this moment, a burst of white light suddenly shed over Gongshu Jiu''s body, and a burst of tremendousw power fluctuations erupted out of the ball of white light to strike the golden ripples, which immediately began to flicker erratically, while the timew powers within them were thrown into a state of disarray.
A surprised look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
With so many Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis, it was actually already far more powerful than his time spirit domain, albeit with a much more limited range, and this was the first time that someone had been able to disrupt it to this extent.
As expected, a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal was not to be underestimated.
Despite this, Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as he made a rapid string of hand seals,a nd his Mantra Treasured Axis began to revolve even faster while the Time Dao Runes on its surface released a burst of radiant golden light, injecting bursts of timew powers into the surrounding golden ripples to stabilize them.
However, before the disruption could bepletely quelled, another burst of tremendousw power fluctuations erupted out of the ball of white light to strike the golden ripples, and this time, they began to flicker and tremble even more erratically than before.
Han Li was doing everything in his power to stabilize the golden ripples, but thew power fluctuations surging out of the ball of white light were relentless, and each wave was more powerful than the previous one.
Before long, the golden ripples were beginning to fall part.
Mo Yu''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he remarked, "Looks like even with mastery over one of the three paramountws, it''s too much to ask for a Golden Immortal to take down a Jade Immortal."
He then proceeded to step forward, but Wyrm 3 stopped him as she interjected, "Don''t force yourself, Mo Yu. Allow me."
"Well, I''m certainly more than happy to sit back and watch," Mo Yu replied in ackadaisical voice.
Right at this moment, Luo Qinghai suddenly swept a sleeve through the air to summon a tall blue stone que that was riddled with blue patterns and giving off a peculiar aura.
He then pressed both hands against the stone que, and everyone around him immediately followed suit.
Even Nan Kemeng had flown over to his side, and his face was as pale as a sheet, but he pressed his palms against the stone que as well.
A burst of translucent blue light with countless runes shing within it erupted out of the stone que, then instantly enveloped all of them before flying away at an incredible speed, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
The ze Dragon Dao dao lord''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately opened his mouth to release several balls of crimson light, which epassed his entire body before also carrying him away into the distance in a sh.
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni were also struck by the urge to retreat upon seeing this, but they were hesitant to leave Han Li behind.
"Get out of here, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan. I did that Gray Immortal a favor by bringing him out of that underground pce, so he has no reason to target me. There''s no telling what could happen from here, and the longer you stay, the more danger you''ll be in," Han Li urged through voice transmission.
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni exchanged a hesitant nce with one another upon hearing this.
Right at this moment, Mo Yu suddenly began to approach the two of them as heined, "Why are all of you so scared of me? I''m a good person!"
His words of reassurance achieved thepletely opposite effect, and Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni immediately flew away in the distance at the sight of the approaching Mo Yu.
"How sad. I''m the savior here, yet I''m being treated like a viin," Mo Yu sighed with a shake of his head, and he made no attempt to pursue Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni as he turned his gaze back to Han Li.
Right at this moment, Wyrm 3 abruptly appeared on the edge of the golden ripples, then raised both hands to release two streaks of yellow light, within which were a pair of long yellow needles.
The pair of needles were giving off formidable earthw power fluctuations as they shot forth toward Gongshu Jiu, but they were also immediately stopped cold in their tracks upon flying into the golden ripples.
"What are you doing, Fellow Daoist Li?" Wyrm 3 asked as she turned to Han Li with furrowed brows.
Han Li could only give a wry smile in response.
Prior to mastering thews of time, the golden ripples released by his Mantra Treasured Axis hadn''t been all that formidable, and he had been able to control them back then so that they didn''t slow down his allies and their attacks.
However, now that he had reached the Golden Immortal Stage and made significant strides in his mastery over thews of time, his Mantra Treasured Axis had be countless times more powerful, but it had also be unwieldy and uncontroble.
Wyrm 3 seemed to have realized what the problem was upon seeing Han Li''s expression, and her brows furrowed even tighter.
If Han Li couldn''t control these golden ripples, then there was no way for her to help him.
Han Li took a deep breath as he summoned his time spirit domain to help him stabilize the golden ripples, but his efforts were proving to bergely futile.
The golden ripples were bing thinner and thinner, and at this rate, they weren''t going tost much longer.
The restrictive effect that the Mantra Treasured Axis had on Xue Ying was also significantly diminished, and a burst ofw power fluctuations erupted out of her body as well to fight back against the golden ripples.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he quickly made a hand seal, upon which the area epassed within the golden ripples instantly shrank down to a radius of no more than 1,000 feet, thereby releasing Xue Ying.
Xue Ying was ecstatic to have been freed, but she then took a fearful nce at Han Li and Wyrm 3 before immediately fleeing the scene, making no further attempt to assist Gongshu Jiu.
A cold look appeared on Wyrm 3''s face upon seeing this, and she immediately pointed a finger in Xue Ying''s direction.
At this point, her pair of yellow needles had also been freed, and they immediately shot forth toward Xue Ying at an incredible speed.
As for Xue Ying, her speed was hampered by Han Li''s time spirit domain, so the yellow needles were able to catch up to her in an instant.
Immediately thereafter, countless yellow runes surged out of the pair of needles, forming a pair ofrge yellows that surrounded Xue Ying from all directions.
Boths were giving off tremendousw power fluctuations, and they quickly ensnared Xue Ying before shrinking down to form a yellow ball in the blink of an eye.
A pleased look appeared in Wyrm 3''s eyes upon seeing this, following which she turned her gaze back to Han Li with a contemtive expression.
In terms of overall power, Xue Ying wasn''t only slightly inferior to her, so it shouldn''t have been anywhere near this easy for Wyrm 3 to capture her, yet here in this time spirit domain, Xue Ying had been caught in an instant.
However, right at this moment, the yellow ball began to bulge violently, swelling to several times its original size, and many small holes began to appear on its surface.
Beams of radiant white light were bursting through these holes, and they erupted forth in all directions before converging to a single spot to reform Xue Ying''s body.
However, in the wake of that brief ordeal, her face was looking a little pale, and as soon as she broke free from the yellow ball, she immediately continued to flee the scene even faster than before, reaching the edge of Han Li''s time spirit domain in the blink of an eye.
Wyrm 3''s expression darkened slightly as she gave a cold harrumph, and a burst of dark red light instantly erupted out of her body before expanding outward rapidly to form a dark red spirit domain in the blink of an eye, epassing the fleeing Xue Ying within.
Countless bursts of dark red light were surging throughout the spirit domain, significantly slowing down the streak of white light around Xue Ying while also constantly whittling away at it.
Right at this moment, the Wyrm 3''s dark red spirit domain and Han Li''s golden spirit domain suddenly ovepped with one another, and both spirit domains abruptly lit up significantly, as if they were resonating with one another.
The two spirit domains then began to buzz and tremble, and a series of golden flowers appeared in the sky before drifting down from above.
Not only had Han Li''s spirit domain brightened significantly, the same had happened to his golden ripples as well, and they were instantly stabilized, trapping Gongshu Jiu firmly within once again.
With both the time spirit domain and the dark red spirit domain bing several times brighter, Xue Ying was also stopped cold in her tracks, unable to move any further.
Both Han Li and Wyrm 3 exchanged a bewildered nce upon seeing this, while a hint of surprise appeared in Mo Yu''s eyes as well.
Han Li and Wyrm 3 had no idea what was happening here, but both of them knew that this wasn''t the time to ponder such matters, so they immediately returned their attention to the battle at hand.
Wyrm 3 made a hand seal, and the yellow ball exploded, transforming into a pair of long, yellow needles once again.
Radiant yellow light erupted out of the pair of needles, and they vanished without a trace, then appeared beside Xue Ying an instantter before sweeping directly through her.
Her body was instantly severed into several pieces, and blood was sent sttering in all directions.
Han Li paid no heed to what was happening on that end as he continued to stare intently at Gongshu Jiu.
Trapped inside Wyrm 3''s dark red spirit domain, the ball of white light around Gongshu Jiu had dimmed significantly, and this was naturally quite an encouraging sight for Han Li as a burst of radiant purplish-golden light erupted out of his body.
At the same time, several balls of light of different colors flew out of his body as well, then transformed into a series of different true spirit projections.
These projections revolved around Han Li momentarily before fusing back into his body, and he immediately began to swell drastically in stature.
Ayer of purplish-golden scales appeared over his body, and in the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a purplish-golden giant that was over 1,000 feet tall.
The muscles on his shoulders and beneath his ribs squirmed in a rather grotesque fashion, following which two heads and four arms sprang out of his body.
Han Li knew that it was time to pull out all the stops, and he had unleashed his Holy Nirvana Physique!
Chapter 510: Slaying a Jade Immortal
Chapter 510: ying a Jade Immortal
The purplish-golden giant''s entire body was riddled with countless golden and silver spirit patterns, and 36 specks of starlight had appeared on its lower abdomen. Thebination of the radiant starlight and the dazzling purplish-golden light emanating from the giant''s body made this form appear far more formidable than in the past.
Blue light shed within Han Li''s eyes as he let loose a low roar, and an incredibly formidable aura erupted out of his body, causing the surrounding space to tremble violently and sending rings of visible ripples surging outward in all directions.
A peculiar look shed through Wyrm 3''s eyes at the sight of Han Li''s Holy Nirvana Physique, and Mo Yu was also quite taken aback by the sight of this transformation.
Han Li made a grabbing motion with all six of his hands, and the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew into his grasp.
He then opened his mouth to release three translucent golden threads, which vanished into the three giant swords in a sh.
The azure light radiating from the three swords instantly brightened by severalfold, as did the arcs of golden lightning shing over them, and they transformed into countless golden lightning runes that swirled around the three swords.
The surrounding space shuddered once again in the face of the three swords'' collective aura, while Han Li''s Heavy Water True Axis appeared in one of three vacant hands.
As for the final two hands, a pair of purplish-golden weapons, namely a giant ax and a massive hammer, had taken shape within them.
These two weapons had been formed purely by spiritual power, but they were also giving off incredibly formidable auras.
Han Li took a step forward, and he abruptly vanished from the spot, then reappeared in front of the ball of white light an instantter before swinging all six of his weapons down upon it.
The three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, the Heavy Water True Axis, and the two purplish-golden weapons struck the ball of white light with an earth-shattering boom, causing it to tremble violently, while the part that had been struck caved in significantly.
However, the ball of light was incredibly resilient, and not only was it able to hold itself intact, it was able to repel all of Han Li''s weapons.
However, after withstanding those attacks, the ball of white light had dimmed slightly.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he immediately continued his assault, swinging his weapons down in a relentless barrage.
The sound of Han Li''s weapons pounding down onto the ball of white light resembled that of countless thunderps ringing out at once, releasing a burst of terrifying power that caused the nearby space to warp violently.
Mo Yu and Wyrm 3 were both astonished to see this.
Before long, the ball of white light waspletely inundated by the barrage of furious attacks,and it resembled a tiny raft that was swaying unsteadily on a turbulent sea.
The light that was emanating from it was bing dimmer and dimmer, and before long, only a thinyer of it remained.
Right at this moment, Han Li let loose a thunderous roar as blinding purplish-golden light erupted out of his body. His six arms became significantly thicker and stronger, while the six weapons in his hands also lit up significantly as they crashed down upon the ball of white light one final time.
A loud crack rang out as the ball of light was finally shattered into countless specks of white light, and Gongshu Jiu was revealed underneath with his hairpletely disheveled.
Blood was also pouring out of all of his orifices, seemingly from the impact of all of Han Li''s ;prior attacks, and there was an astonished look on his face.
A white bead was hanging in front of his chest, and it quickly shattered, just like the ball of white light.
Han Li''s six weapons were stopped in their tracks for a brief moment before continuing to crash down upon Gongshu Jiu, and a dull thump rang out as he was smashed into a pile of mincemeat.
A relieved look shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, but right at this moment, a nascent soul that was as fair and translucent as jade flew out Gongshu Jiu''s remains.
Around the nascent soul were several dozen wisps of white mes, which formed the shape of a lotus flower that epassed the nascent soul within it.
Each wisp of these white mes had a translucentw thread within it, but thesew threads were slowly shrinking, as if they were burning away.
A burst of incredibly formidablew powers erupted out of the white mes to force the golden ripples away, following which the white nascent soul vanished into thin air.
An rmed look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, but he didn''t panic, and his Law Destruction Eye instantly appeared on his be.
The eye was shing with a cold ck gleam as it scoured the surrounding area.
At the same time, a translucent spiritual sense chain shot out of his be as well, then also vanished into thin air in a sh.
This spiritual sense chain waspletely different from before. Not only had it be over two times thicker than in the past, a series of silver runes were also swirling around it, giving off a burst ofw power fluctuations.
Immediately thereafter, a dull thump rang out, and the translucent chain emerged over 10,000 feet away, with the white nascent soul ensnared within it.
The nascent soul was iling its little arms with all its might, fanning the white mes around it to incinerate the translucent chain, but thetter remained as resilient as an immovable mountain.
"You''re not getting away!" Han Li dered with a cold sneer on his face as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword that instantly transformed into a thin azure and golden thread.
A peerlessly sharp aura was surging out of the thin thread, causing the nearby space to tremble and sway.
The thin thread appeared in front of the white nascent soul in the blink of an eye, then pierced straight into its be, passing through with some difficulty.
With a hole punched into the nascent soul''s be, the white mes around it instantly subsided, and Gongshu Jiu''s consciousnesspletely faded, leaving only a pure nascent soul crystal behind.
Only then did Han Li heave a sigh of relief as he quickly reverted back to his human form.
Hisplexion had paled significantly, and he quickly withdrew his time spirit domain and his Mantra Treasured Axis as well.
Thebination of his spirit domain, Mantra Treasured Axis, and Holy Nirvana Physique had been extremely taxing to unleash all at once, and at this point, his immortal spiritual power had already beenpletely exhausted.
He raised a hand to make a beckoning motion, and the golden and azure sword thread flew back into his body with something wrapped within it, while the other two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and the Heavy Water True Axis were also stowed away.
He then flipped a hand over to produce a pair of pills that he promptly devoured, and only then did hisplexion improve slightly.
With Han Li''s time spirit domain withdrawn, Wyrm 3''s dark red spirit domain instantly returned to normal, and she took a long nce at Han Li before withdrawing her spirit domain as well.
After taking a moment to recover, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure that swept up Gongshu Jiu''s storage bracelet, a pair of immortal treasures, and that white nascent soul.
"Well done, kid! To think that a mere Golden Immortal like yourself was able to y a High Zenith cultivator! If word of this were to escape, then the entire Immortal Realm would be in awe! The paramountws are truly not to be underestimated," Mo Yu praised with a smile as he flew over to Han Li''s side.
However, Han Li knew that he couldn''t take full credit for killing Gongshu Jiu. If it weren''t for the fact that his spirit domain had resonated with Wyrm 3''s, thereby significantly enhancing its power, there was no way it would''ve been able to contain Gongshu Jiu.
With that in mind, the thought of the two Dawn Fall Sect Golden Immortals sprang into his mind. Their yin and yangw powers had enhanced one another in much the same way as the spirit domain resonance that had just taken ce.
Han Li cast his gaze toward Mo Yu as he asked, "Who exactly are you? Should I be calling you the Boundless Daoist right now, or Gray Immortal Mo Yu?"
"I am Gray Immortal Mo Yu, not the Boundless Daoist," Mo Yu replied with a smile.
Han Li didn''t seem all that surprised to hear this, and he asked, "In that case, how much of what you told me about the Boundless Daoist and the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord is actually true?"
"I concealed my identity so that you would be willing to take me with you out of the Moonlight Pce, but everything else I told you is all true. The Boundless Daoist and the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord are one and the same. In fact, she''s here right now," Mo Yu said as he cast his gaze toward a certain direction.
Han Li and Wyrm 3 were both rather taken aback to hear this, and they turned to the same direction.
"Why are you not showing yourself?" Mo Yu asked in a gentle voice.
A burst of spatial fluctuations emerged in that direction, and to Han Li''s surprise, Lu Yuqing appeared before his eyes.
However, her disposition had undergone aplete change, and she was giving a peerlessly cold and sharp aura, as if she were the personification of a mighty sword.
"We finally meet again after so many years apart," Mo Yu said as he looked deep into Lu Yuqing''s eyes, then approached her before grabbing onto her hands.
Lu Yuqing''s cold facade instantly crumbled, and a faint blush appeared on her face as sheined, "What are you doing? There are people watching..."
"That decision of mine kept us apart for so many years, and it almost permanently separated us. Now that we''ve been reunited, I''m never going to let go of you again," Mo Yu said in a firm voice.
Lu Yuqing briefly put up a halfhearted struggle, then gave up and allowed Mo Yu to do as he pleased.
Han Li and Wyrm 3 were feeling a little awkward, and both of them looked away.
At the same time, the image of Nangong Wan sprang into Han Li''s mind, and he couldn''t help but heave a forlorn internal sigh.
Chapter 511: Unexpected
Chapter 511: Unexpected
All of a sudden, a pained yelp snapped Han Li out of his train of thought.
Han Li turned in that direction to find Mo Yu with his head cocked to the side, and there was a pained look on his face, while his ear was plucked upward by Lu Yuqing.
Wyrm 3 was also rather bbergasted to see this.
"I told you to stop! You think you can just ignore what I say now?" Lu Yuqing yelled in an angry voice, presenting a stark contrast to the shy disy that she had put on just a moment ago.
"Ow! Ow! You''re going to tear it off! I''m sorry! I apologize! Please..." Mo Yu hurriedly implored in an agonized voice.
"You always apologize, but when have you ever actually changed? If it wasn''t for you, neither of us would''ve ended up like this!"
Lu Yuqing raised her hand further as she spoke, and Mo Yu''s head was also plucked up a bit further as a result.
"I already apologized, didn''t I? Please forgive me, there are people watching..." Mo Yu implored as he put on a fawning smile.
Lu Yuqing took a nce at Han Li and Wyrm 3, then gave a cold harrumph as she let go of Mo Yu''s ear.
Mo Yu hurriedly sped a hand over his ear while giving Lu Yuqing a sycophantic smile, looking much like a puppy eagerly trying to suck up to its owner.
"Why did you let those people from the Vast Flow Pce get away? If the Heavenly Court learns of what happened here, you know what the oue is going to be," Lu Yuqing asked with furrowed brows.
"Those are just small fry, it doesn''t matter whether they get away or not. Besides, even if I had killed them, there''s still no way that the news of our resurrection could be kept secret," Mo Yu replied.
Lu Yuqing raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and before she could respond, Mo Yu abruptly turned and cast his gaze toward Han Li and Wyrm 3 as he dered, "It''s all thanks to you two that we were able to finally reunite with each other. I''m no saint or gentleman, but I''ve always paid sure to repay those who have been kind to me, so if you have any requests, feel free to state them, and we''ll do our best to fulfill those requests."
Lu Yuqing continued to glower at Mo Yu for a moment, then also turned to Han Li as she said, "Thank you for protecting me all this time, Fellow Daoist Han. It was only thanks to your help that I was able to recover my memories. If I don''t repay this favor, then my dao heart will be inhibited, so please do tell us how we can make it up to you."
"Fellow Daoist Han? Weren''t those people calling you Fellow Daoist Li earlier? What is your actual name?" Mo Yu asked.
"A name is nothing more than a title. You can just call me Li Feiyu," Han Li replied.
"Even after all we''ve been through together, you''re still hiding your name? Aren''t you being a little too cautious?" Mo Yu grumbled in a disgruntled voice.
Wyrm 3 was clearly also curious to hear Han Li''s real name, but she didn''t say anything.
Han Li didn''t want to dwell on this topic any longer, so he turned to Lu Yuqing as he said, "In that case, I''m happy to oblige. Even though I''ve attained a spirit domain, I''m still not able topletely control it. Both of you are far more experienced with spirit domains than I am, so I''d like you to teach me how to use my spirit domain."
Mo Yu and Lu Yuqing exchanged a nce with one another upon hearing this, following which the former said, "Due to the disparities in thew powers mastered by each person, the way that a spirit domain is used will also differ from person to person, and the only way to truly master one''s spirit domain is through experimentation.
¡°Having said that, experiences and insights from others may prove to be useful. These are the insights that I''ve gleaned from all my years experimenting with my spirit domain, you can have them for reference purposes."
Mo Yu flicked a finger through the air as he spoke, sending a gray jade slip flying toward Han Li.
Han Li caught the jade slip, then briefly inspected its contents with his spiritual sense, following which a faint smile appeared on his face. "You have my thanks."
"What would you like, Wyrm 3?" Mo Yu asked as he turned to Wyrm 3.
A contemtive look appeared in Wyrm 3''s eyes, and she didn''t immediately respond . Only after a brief silence did she reply, "I came here to save you on someone else''s orders, so there''s no need topensate me. Having said that, during my time in the Reincarnation Pce, I''ve always heard that you''re an extremely knowledgeable and experienced person, so I would like to ask you a question."
"Go ahead," Mo Yu prompted with a slight nod.
"Just now, my spirit domain resonated with Fellow Daoist Li''s, and as a result, both of our spirit domains were significantly enhanced. Do you know why that happened?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"Throughout the entire Immortal Realm, the vast majority of Golden Immortals have mastered at least one type ofw powers. For those who haven''t mastered anyw powers, withstanding the three decays is far too difficult, and progressing to the Golden Immortal Stage is next to impossible for them. Generally speaking, the more advanced one''s mastery over theirw powers, the more powerful their spirit domain will be.
¡°However, as the most fundamental powers of this realm,w powers are extremely profound, and there will sometimes be certain connections between certainw powers. When somepatiblew powers are used alongside one another, they''ll be able to significantly enhance each other," Mo Yu exined.
"So you''re saying that somews can be used inbination with one another?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right, but it''s a very rare urrence, and not allw powers arepatible with one another. Only thew powers that are a good fit with each other have a chance of achieving resonance, such as thews of yin and yang, thews of wind and fire, you get the idea," Mo Yu replied.
"I see. In that case, myws of time had to have somehowbined with Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3''sw powers just now, and that resulted in an elevation of both of ourw powers," Han Li mused.
"ording to my knowledge, it''s very difficult tobinew powers like this, and even for those who possess theoreticallypatiblew powers, it still takes extensive practice to facilitate resonance ofw powers like this. Up to this point, Fellow Daoist Li have only met several times, and we''ve never practicedbining ourw powers in the past, so how did this just spontaneously happen all of a sudden?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"As I mentioned, allw powers are extremely profound, and I daresay even a dao lord doesn''t have full understanding over thews that they''ve mastered. As for spontaneousw resonance, this is not something that hasn''t happened before, so there''s no need to be rmed. If I''m not mistaken, you''re cultivating thews of reincarnation, right? I must admit, it''s extremely rare to see resonance take ce between two of the three paramountws," Mo Yu mused.
Wyrm 3 didn''t seem to be very convinced by this exnation, but she didn''t say press any further on this subject.
Meanwhile, Han Li turned to Wyrm 3 with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
Prior to this, he hadn''t been able to identify whatw powers Wyrm 3 had been using, but Mo Yu had just answered that question for him.
"Both of your requests have been fulfilled now. The two of us have only just returned to this realm, and we still have many things to do, so this is where we''ll part ways. I''ll send the two of you out of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor soon. In the meantime, please wait here for a moment," Lu Yuqing said, then swept a hand through the air.
Before Han Li and Wyrm 3 had a chance to respond, a burst of azure light swept up both her and Mo Yu before flying away into the distance, vanishing out of sight in a sh.
Han Li looked on at the departing duo with a contemtive look in his eyes.
Even though he had been skeptical about some of the things that the soul fragment had told him, never could he have imagined that he would be a Gray Immortal. As for Lu Yuqing, he certainly would''ve never guessed that she was the reincarnation of the Boundless Daoist and the true Infernal Frost Immortal Lord.
However, what came as the biggest surprise to him was that Mo Yu and the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord seemed to have be dao partners countless years ago.
Fate was truly a fickle and whimsical mistress at times.
As these thoughts were shing through his mind, he turned to take a nce at Wyrm 3, and he couldn''t see her expression through her mask, but it seemed that she was in deep thought.
He directed his gaze away from her, then descended onto the copsed pce down below before releasing his spiritual sense.
Before long, an ted look appeared on his face as he swept a sleeve through the air to release several streaks of azure light in all directions, and the streaks of light quickly carried some objects back to him, namely a few pieces of the shattered golden roof and two destroyed golden puppets.
The roof had been constructed out of some type of golden material with a series of spirit patterns engraved onto its surface, and these roof fragments were giving off a type of special aura that was rather simr to that of his Integrated Five Extremes Mountain.
The golden roof had shown itself to be extremely effective in warding off pill tribtions earlier, and even though it had been shattered, these fragments still retained their spiritual nature, so they were still very useful to him.
As for the two puppets, he was quite interested in them as well.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 3 remained still on the spot, disying no intention to scour the pce to spoils.
Han Li quickly stowed these things away, yet right as he was about to keep searching, a thick pir of golden light suddenly descended out of the sky without any warning, epassing both of them in the blink of an eye.
Han Li felt the air constrict around him, and there was tremendous pressure surging out of the golden light, instantly rendering himpletely immobilized.
Countless runes were surging incessantly throughout the golden light, then converged toward Han Li''s duo to form a pair of golden arrays.
Both of them felt the entirety of their fields of view beingpletely filled with golden radiance, following which they abruptly vanished from within the pir of golden light.
......
Elsewhere in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, there stood a rtively well-preserved three-story pagoda in a garden that was overgrown with weeds.
Two people were standing on the top floor of the pagoda, and both of them were looking into the distance.
They were none other than Mo Yu and Lu Yuqing, and the former had his arms wrapped around thetter as he gently stroked her shoulder.
"You''re a lot more petite than before. I wasn''t able to embrace you like this in the past," Mo Yu chuckled.
"Oh? It sounds like you like this body of mine better than my previous one," Lu Yun remarked as she raised an eyebrow.
Mo Yu''s expression instantly stiffened upon seeing this, and cold sweat began to bead up on his forehead as he hurriedly replied, "Your appearance isn''t important, what''s important to me is what''s on the inside!"
Chapter 512: Parting Ways
Chapter 512: Parting Ways
"I can''t be bothered beating you anymore. It''s a waste of my energy," Lu Yun scoffed.
"You''repletely right. My skin is really thick, so it doesn''t really hurt me, but if you hurt your hand while beating me, then I could never forgive myself," Mo Yu said with a wide grin.
"Do you really not me me for what I did all those years ago?" Lu Yun asked as she stepped out of Mo Yu''s embrace and made her way over to the railing in front of her.
"The first few centuries after you sealed me away, I was indeed quite angry and confused, and after that, I even came to resent you a little. However, as more time passed, I simply missed you and couldn''t work up the desire to resent you any longer," Mo Yu replied.
"I didn''t think that the Reincarnation Pce would react so aggressively, to the point that they attacked my Infernal Frost Immortal Manor. The situationpletely spiraled out of control from there, and the Heavenly Court ended up bing the main beneficiary," Lu Yun sighed.
"It''s alright, it''s all in the past... Now that we''ve returned to the Northern cial Immortal Region, it''s time that we settled the score with the Heavenly Court," Mo Yu said as he reached out to stroke Lu Yun''s shoulder once again.
A loud p rang out as the back of the hand was dealt a heavy blow.
"Don''t go touching me as you please when there are other people watching!" Lu Yun scolded with her back facing Mo Yu, but there was a faint smile ying on her lips.
......
In the sky above a vast, nameless ocean.
Countless streaks of light suddenly erupted out thin air, then converged to form a rectangr door of light that was several dozen feet tall and giving off bursts of formidable spatial fluctuations.
The radiant golden light within the door of light shed momentarily, following which a pir of golden light erupted out from within. A pair of figures were sent flying out of the door of light alongside the golden pir, following which the door of light quickly faded away.
The two figures were none other than Wyrm 3 and Han Li, both of whom had already adopted their disguises once again.
Not long after they parted ways with Mo Yu and Lu Yun, they were teleported out of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor.
After taking a moment to steady himself, Han Li looked around with a slightly lost expression as he asked, "Do you know where we are right now, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3?"
Wyrm 3 flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip that contained a map, and after inspecting the map for a moment to ascertain their location, she replied, "We''re still in the ck Wind Sea right now, but we''re very far away from Red Moon Ind."
"Would I be able to have a look at that map?" Han Li asked.
"It''s not worth much anyway, so you can have it. In any case, I most likely won''t being back to the ck Wind Sea ever again," Wyrm 3 said as she casually tossed the jade slip at Han Li.
Han Li caught the jade slip, then cupped her fist toward her in a grateful salute.
"Do you have any ns from here, Fellow Daoist Han?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"I still have some private matters to take care of in the ck Wind Sea. After that, I''ll probably be leaving the ck Wind Sea as well," Han Li replied.
"Just leaving the ck Wind Sea most likely isn''t going to be enough. My advice to you is that you should leave the Northern cial Immortal Region altogether," Wyrm 3 said.
"That was my intention further down the line. Once news of Xiao Jinhan and Gongshu Jiu''s demise reach the Heavenly Court, the entire Northern cial Immortal Realm is most likely going to undergo an enormous change. Those of us who have entered the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor will surely be targeted by the Heavenly Court, and that''s not to mention that I''m already a wanted fugitive of the Immortal Pce," Han Li mused.
Even though he had managed to y Gongshu Jiu in the immortal, there had been a huge element of luck in that battle.
If he were to unleash all of his most powerful abilities at once, then he really did possess the power required to y a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal, but the problem was that his limited immortal spiritual power reserves meant that he wouldn''t be able to maintain this peak form for very long.
If it weren''t for the fact that Gongshu Jiu had already been significantly worn down by Mo Yu and the resonance that had taken ce between his and Wyrm 3''s spirit domains, there was no way that he would''ve been able to secure that victory.
He was definitely going to be hunted by Heavenly Court immortal envoys ofparable cultivation base from this point onward, and the thought of that filled him with the burning desire to attain more power. Given the turmoil that was inevitably going to sweep through the Northern cial Immortal Region, this was clearly not a ce where he could continue to cultivate in peace.
"With your unfathomable powers, your future should be a bright one with limitless potential, but in reality, it''s one that''s fraught with peril, and even the slightest misstep could lead to your demise," Wyrm 3 suddenly said.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he replied, "If you have something to say, then say it. There''s no need to try and scare me."
"I''m not trying to scare you, Fellow Daoist Han, I''m merely stating the facts. The fact that you''ve cultivated both the Spirit Refinement Technique and thews of time means that your days are most likely numbered," Wyrm 3 said.
"What do you mean by that?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"There are some circumstances involved that I can''t exin to you right now, but what I can tell you is that the best way for you to weather this storm is to be a true core member of our Reincarnation Pce. I can submit a rmendation for you if you''d like. Once you have the protection of the Reincarnation Pce, it won''t be so easy for the Heavenly Court to target you," Wyrm 3 exined.
"Was I not a core member before?" Han Li asked.
"Reincarnation Disciples are supposed to be core members of our Reincarnation Pce, but due to the circumstances, your instatement as a Reincarnation Disciple was quite rushed, so none of the higher-ups of our Reincarnation Pce are aware of your existence," Wyrm 3 replied.
"I''m notpletely opposed to the idea, but does the Reincarnation Pce really have the power to oppose the Heavenly Court?" Han Li asked.
"Compared with the Heavenly Court, we don''t have any major subsidiary powers on the surface, such as the Immortal Pces. However, underground organizations like the Ubiquitous Pavilion and the Transient Guild are far more covert, and there are too many such organizations to count littered throughout the entire Immortal Realm. I''m sure you''re well aware of the cumtive power of such organizations," Wyrm 3 said.
Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
The Transient Guild was already an extremely powerful organization on its own, so if it really was just one of the countless subsidiary powers of the Reincarnation Pce, then the Reincarnation Pce would truly be a monolith of unimaginable proportions.
Even so, Han Li still didn''t immediately jump to a decision. "I need some time to think about this."
Wyrm 3 had already anticipated this response, and she replied, "That''s fine. I''m sure you''ll decide to join us one day."
"In any case, it''s true that I can''t stay in the Northern cial Immortal Region any longer. Can you suggest any good ways for me to leave this immortal region?" Han Li asked.
"There are different ways to travel between immortal regions, but the mostmon method is to use interregion gates. Back when the Northern cial Immortal Realm was under the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord''smand, there had been a total of eight interregion gates, but most of them have been destroyed since then, and at this point, there''s only a single one left. It''s under the control of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and it''s situated in the Extreme Star Pce."
"Only one? Doesn''t that mean that I''ll have no choice but to go through the Northern cial Immortal Pce if I want to travel to other immortal regions?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"This is the only official route, and of course, it''s inessible to our Reincarnation Pce, so we''ve created another avenue through which one can reach the nearest ck Mountain Immortal Region, but it''s far more time and energy-consuming than traveling through an interregion gate," Wyrm 3 replied.
"How so?" Han Li asked.
"I''m not sure if you''re aware of this, but aside from a very small number of immortal regions that directly neighbor one another, most of them are separated by vast primordialnds. These primordialnds vary in size, but all of them are extremely perilous. Through several million years of exploration, our Reincarnation Pce was able to establish a rtively safe route to the ck Mountain Immortal Region," Wyrm 3 exined.
"Why didn''t the Reincarnation Pce just construct an interregion gate of its own? Wouldn''t that be much safer and more convenient?" Han Li asked.
"An interregion gate is not just an ordinary super long distance teleportation array, Fellow Daoist Han. The entire teleportation process requires the participation of cultivators who are at or above the Golden Immortal Stage and are adept at using spatial powers. On top of that, an astronomical amount of resources is required to construct the gate, so it''s not just something that anyone can afford to construct," Wyrm 3 exined.
"Perhaps that would be a major obstacle for other powers, but surely the Reincarnation Pce possesses more than sufficient wealth to aplish such a feat," Han Li mused.
"You''re right. Given the wealth that our Reincarnation Pce possesses, we could construct even three or four interregion gates in this immortal region with no problems. However, the operation of an interregion gate involves the usage of spatialw powers, and thosew power fluctuations are impossible to conceal. Unless we construct the interregion gates but never use them, they''ll eventually all be taken over by the Heavenly Court," Wyrm 3 exined.
"I see. In that case, can I ess the established route that you just mentioned?" Han Li asked.
"As a Reincarnation Disciple, you have the right to use the route," Wyrm 3 replied with a nod, then flipped a hand over to produce a white jade badge that she tossed at Han Li.
"You can find all of the information pertaining to the route in this jade badge," Wyrm 3 said.
"Why didn''t you use this jade badge as leverage to force me to be a core member of the Reincarnation Pce?" Han Li asked as he caught the jade badge.
"There''s no need for me to do that. I''m sure you''ll willingly make the decision yourself in the near future. Oh, and here''s the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique that I promised you earlier," Wyrm 3 said, then flipped her hand over once again to produce another jade slip that she tossed at Han Li.
Han Li caught the ck jade slip, then briefly inspected its contents before stowing it away into his storage bracelet.
"I can see that you''re a woman of your word, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3. You have my thanks," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute.
"I still have some other matters to attend to in the Northern cial Immortal Region, so this is where we''ll have to part ways," Wyrm 3 said, then immediately turned to depart.
However, she then suddenly turned around again as she continued, "Your cautious nature really reminds me of someone else that I know. If you ever get to meet him someday, I''m sure the two of you would really get along."
After that, she flew away as a streak of light, quickly vanishing into the distance.
Chapter 513: Spoils
Chapter 513: Spoils
Han Li could only look on at Wyrm 3''s departing figure with a wry smile.
He took some time to closely examine the map of the ck Wind Sea, and he discovered that not only was he currently very far away from Red Moon Ind, he wasn''t particrly close to any of the inds on the map.
Momentster, he stowed the map away, then set off in the direction of Dark Veil Ind as a streak of azure light.
The wind blowing over the sea was carrying with it a slightly rank and salty smell, and after flying for tens of thousands of kilometers, Han Li removed the mask on his face and reverted back to his original appearance.
He then gently exhaled as he slowed down in his flight, inspecting his surroundings as he flew along at a leisurely pace, and it was a rare moment of serenity for him.
Even though the trip into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor had been fraught with peril, his luck had been quite exceptional, and not only was he able to ultimately survive the ordealpletely unscathed, he had reaped many rewards to boot.
His cultivation base had reached the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, he had managed to manifest arge number of timew threads, and he had also attained a spirit domain. On top of that, his entire set of Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had undergone an incredible evolution, and even Jin Tong and his Essence Fire Raven had both be significantly more powerful than before.
Additionally, he also had the storage tools of Xiao Jinhan, Feng Tiandu, and Gongshu Jiu, and he was very much looking forward to going through the contents of those storage tools.
Close to an hourter, a three-colored ind that was around 10 to 15 kilometers in size appeared in Han Li''s field of view down below.
He immediately swept his spiritual sense over the ind to find that it waspletely devoid of human habitation, so he decided that this would be a good ce to make a stop at.
As he descended toward the ind, he was able to catch a clearer glimpse of it.
The eastern part of the ind was filled with lush greenery, giving it a vibrant green color when viewed from afar, and the cries of apes and deers were ringing out incessantly from within. The central area of the ind was slightly barren, with sections of yellow earth exposed, while the western side of the ind was riddled with steep cliffs and mountain faces.
As soon as Han Li descended onto the ind, a burst of loud rustling instantly rang out from within the dense forest, and a flock of seabirds rose up from the greenery before flying away from the ind.
He found a patch of empty ground in the eastern part of the ind where the sunlight filtered through the trees, and he sat down there with his legs crossed.
Immediately thereafter, a speck of golden light emerged from his body, then quickly expanded to form a spherical light barrier that epassed the entire ind.
He then flipped a hand over to produce a trio of storage bracelets, while a small white g and a yellow badge also appeared on hisp.
The g bore the image of a sea of clouds with both beveled silver text and golden seal text runes embroidered within them, while the words "Cloud Talisman" were inscribed onto the shaft of the g, and that was presumably the name of the treasure.
This was a treasure of quite a high caliber, but there were no restrictions ced upon it, and Han Li was able to use it as he pleased after a brief stint of refinement.
He injected his immortal spiritual power into the g, and it immediately swelled drastically in size, forming a huge g that was close to 20 feet tall.
As he waved the g through the air, a vast expanse of white mist that resembled a sea of clouds surged out from within, inundating the entire ind in the blink of an eye.
All of the remaining birds and beasts on the ind instantly erupted into a panicked frenzy with the sudden descent of this cloud of mist.
Fortunately for them, Han Li was only testing out what the g could do, and he hadn''t unleashed any of its abilities, so none of the living creatures on the ind were harmed.
He discovered that this g seemed to actually be an offensive treasure, but in a fit of panic, Gongshu Jiu had used it as a protective treasure earlier, so its true power was never revealed.
Having said that, the fact that an early-High Zenith cultivator had summoned it in such a perilous situation to protect himself indicated that the g had to have some brilliant abilities, ones that Han Li was eager to explore in the future.
After stowing the g away, he pulled out the yellow badge before conducting a close examination.
The badge was enshrouded within ayer of yellow light, within which some extremely obscure runes were shing incessantly, and at the center of the badge was inscribed the words "Immortal Envoy" in golden seal text.
Han Li extended his spiritual sense toward the badge, but as soon as his spiritual sense came into contact with it, it immediately released a burst of yellow light that kept his spiritual sense at bay.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he attempted to channel his immortal spiritual power into the yellow badge as well.
All of a sudden, a string of runes abruptly erupted out of the badge before racing up into the heavens.
Han Li was greatly startled by this, and he immediately summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which released a wave of golden ripples that instantly epassed the entire surrounding area.
The string of runes was only able to fly for about 1,000 feet before they were epassed within the golden ripples, upon which they were instantly slowed down significantly, and Han Li made a grabbing motion with one hand to draw the runes back to himself.
The string of runes was struggling in his hand as if they were living creatures, and as soon as he tightened his grip around them, they were immediately scattered into specks of yellow light that quickly faded away.
Han Li presumed that these runes had been released by some type of concealed restriction in the badge, which would be activated as soon as someone outside of Gongshu Jiu tried to use the badge, and if those runes had been allowed to escape, then another immortal envoy from the Heavenly Court would most likely be on his trail soon.
Han Li gently exhaled as he stared at the yellow badge with a hesitant look on his face.
The badge had the potential to expose him, so his immediate thought was to destroy it right away. However, it was no ordinary object, and he couldn''t shake the feeling that it would be somehow useful to him in the future, so it would be a real pity to have to destroy it.
After some hesitation, Han Li decided against destroying the badge. Instead, he ced some thorough seals on it before stowing it away.
After that, he picked up Xiao Jinhan''s storage bracelet, and after briefly refining it, he released all of its contents, which took up the entire clearing that he was in.
Following a brief examination, Han Li discovered that there were over 30 treasures among the items, the most powerful ones of which were a set of two ice-attribute swords and a small blue g, both of which were Acquired Immortal Treasures that were imbued withw powers.
Aside from that, there were also several dozen vials of different pills, only a small number of which Han Li was able to identify, while the rest werepletely unfamiliar to him.
However, the medicinal auras emanating from all of these pills were far more formidable than the pills that he had regrly consumed to assist in his cultivation in the past, so it was clear that these were pills that were only fit for consumption for Golden Immortals.
Having reigned supreme over the Northern cial Immortal Region for so many years, Xiao Jinhan had umted a very impressive fortune, but all of it had now fallen into Han Li''s hands.
Han Li briefly split up these pills into different categories, then stowed all of them away as well with a sweep of his sleeve.
His gaze then fell upon a white scroll that was around a foot tall, and he casually drew it into his own grasp before opening it.
As the scroll was slowly unfurled, Han Li caught a glimpse of severalrge characters running vertically down the right side of the scroll, and the characters read "Huanan Pill Scripture".
He hurriedly unrolled the entire scroll upon seeing this, then began to pore over its contents.
A short whileter, he slowly rolled the scroll back up again, and a faint smile had appeared on his face.
There were only five pill recipes on the entire scroll, but all of them were for refining Golden Immortal Stage pills, so they were perfect for Han Li.
Furthermore, he could tell from the descriptions of the five pills that all of them were among the vials of pills that he had just stowed away.
Hence, he had both the pill recipes and some samples in his possession, and he would be able to refine more of these pills anytime that he pleased.
Han Li took a deep breath to suppress his tion before opening another scroll, and this one was filled with no fewer than 5,000 tiny ancient characters.
The characters had been inscribed in a very forceful fashion, to the point that the strokes had created deep indentations into the material of the scroll, and the text was giving off a cold and menacing aura.
Just the mere sight of the scroll was enough to make Han Li feel as if he were standing in a bone-chilling snowstorm.
This scroll contained the cultivation insights that Xiao Jinhan had gleaned over the course of his entire life pertaining to thews of water.
Han Li wasn''t cultivating thews of water, but the ck Sea Heavy Water Tome being cultivated by his Earthly Deity Avatar was a water-attribute cultivation art, and he also regrly used heavy water himself, so he was quite familiar with concepts rted to thews of water. As such, he was able to determine that these insights were extremely valuable, and this scroll would be highly sought after among those cultivating thews of water.
After stowing the two scrolls away, Han Li turned his gaze to all of the spirit medicines and materials that littered the ground.
A brief examination told him that all of these spirit medicines were very advanced in age, and they were most likely ingredients required to refine the Golden Immortal Stage pills from earlier.
As for the spirit materials, they were also all quite rare and precious, but most of them were ice-attribute materials that weren''t very useful for Han Li.
Aside from those things, all that remained of Xiao Jinhan''s belongings was a small mountain of Immortal Origin Stones, which were shimmering radiantly under the light of the sun.
He gleefully stowed all of these items away, then immediately moved onto the storage bracelet that had once belonged to Feng Tiandu.
A burst of azure light swept over the ground, and the entire clearing was once again filled with items of all descriptions, among which were three Acquired Immortal Treasures, namely a ck bone saber that was around two feet in length, an inky-ck rectangr inkstone, and a sheet of paper that had a jade-like quality to it.
After unraveling all of the restrictions ced upon them, Han Li refined all three treasures to an elementary extent.
On each side of the ck bone saber was engraved a crescent-shaped indentation, out of which faint wisps of baleful qi were emanating incessantly.
In contrast with the bone saber, the rectangr inkstone appearedpletely unremarkable in appearance. There was nothing inscribed upon it, and its only noteworthy feature was that its surface was riddled with irregr cracks. However, as soon as Han Li injected his immortal spiritual power into the inkstone, scorching ck mes instantly surged out of those cracks.
As for the sheet of jade-like paper, a beastly lion-like head was engraved onto one end, and following an injection of immortal spiritual power from Han Li, the head rapidly swelled in size to form an icy mountain that resembled a resting lion, and it seemed to possess formidable restrictive powers.
Chapter 514: Treasured Case
Chapter 514: Treasured Case
After briefly observing the trio of Acquired Immortal Treasures, Han Li stowed them away, then made a beckoning motion toward a case on the ground that was about a foot in size, and it slowly drifted over to him.
On each side of the case was a sealed mechanism, upon which was stered a silver talisman.
Han Li inspected the talismans briefly to find that they were a Azure Dragon Wood Trapping Talisman, a White Tiger Radiant Metal Talisman, a Vermilion Bird Fire Raising Talisman, and a Xuanwu Water Barring Talisman. Furthermore, all four of the talismans were of the highest possible quality.
Whatever''s in this case had to have been held in extremely high regard by Feng Tiandu if he was willing to seal it with a Four Symbols Talismanic Array, Han Li thought to himself.
With that in mind, he made a hand seal and began unraveling the array.
The Four Symbols Talismanic Array was quite troublesome to deal with as the powers of the Four Symbols supported one another, so the talismans couldn''t be removed one after another. Instead, all of them had to be removed at once. Otherwise, there was a very good chance that whatever was inside the case would be destroyed on the spot.
Hence, the best way to unravel such an array was to have four people with simr cultivation bases working together to remove all four talismans at the same time.
However, Han Li chose a much simpler and more direct approach, which was to epass the case within the golden ripples released by his Mantra Treasured Axis, then remove all four talismans in rapid session before they had a chance to react.
After sessfully removing the four talismans, the mechanisms on the case instantly sprang open, and Han Li lifted its lid before setting it aside.
Even after the lid was removed, not even the slightest hint of spiritual power fluctuations emerged from within the case.
Han Li peered into the case to find that there was a waxy yellow scripture and a palm-sized ck jade badge inside, ced around which were a series of ck nails that were arranged in an orderly fashion.
The first thing that Han Li did was pull out the ancient scripture, and he discovered that it was quite smooth to the touch, indicating that it had been fashioned out of the hide of a certain type of beast.
On the cover of the ancient scripture was inscribed the words "Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture".
This title was rather familiar to Han Li, and after some contemtion, he realized where he had heard of it before.
Back when he was searching for a time-attribute cultivation art in the Transient Guild, someone had once mentioned to him there existed a time-attribute cultivation art in the Dawn Fall Sect, and it was precisely this Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture.
When it came to time-attribute cultivation arts, Han Li had only evere into contact with the Mantra Axis Scripture, so he was unable to reference other cultivation arts of the same attribute to deepen his understanding of thews of time.
Hence, this Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture could provide him with a valuable learning experience.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he hurriedly summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, then directed the gaze of his Eye of Truth upon the ancient scripture.
A beam of golden light shot out of the Eye of Truth before shining upon the yellow scripture, and a burst of golden light shed momentarily over the surface of the scripture before immediately fading away again.
A hint of disappointment appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he stowed away both the scripture and his Mantra Treasured Axis.
Looks like this scripture is different from that stone que in the ze Dragon Dao. Both contain records of time-attribute cultivation arts, but this scripture doesn''t appear to be imbued with any timew powers...
With his immense spiritual sense, it didn''t take Han Li very long at all to read through the entirety of the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture, and he was very pleased to discover that even though this was also a time-attribute cultivation art, it waspletely different from his Mantra Axis Scripture. In particr, it mentioned that once one attained an Illusory Dawn Sand Domain, they would be able to influence the power of time within a certain area.
However, it seemed that neither Feng Tiandu nor Qi Tianxiao had been able to make much progress in this cultivation art. At the very least, neither of them were able to use this cultivation art in battle.
Han Li wanted nothing more than to begin studying this cultivation art extensively right away, but doing so would require centuries, perhaps even millennia of seclusion, a luxury that he absolutely couldn''t afford, given the current circumstances.
With that in mind, he could only suppress these urges and stow the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture away to be examined some other time.
After that, Han Li picked up the ck badge from the case.
The badge was extremely smooth, and it appeared to have a transparent exterior, but its center was as dark as ink, resembling a drop of ink frozen in an ice crystal.
Just like an ink droplet, the ck center of the badge was still able to flow slightly.
This appeared to be a badge that represented Feng Tiandu''s status as the grand elder of the Dawn Fall Sect, and after the close call with Gongshu Jiu''s badge, Han Li decided to set up ayer of restrictions, and only after that did he attempt to inject his immortal spiritual power into the badge.
However, no matter what he tried, the ck badge remainedpletely unmoved, and it was as if it were truly nothing more than an ordinary badge.
In the end, Han Li wasn''t able to uncover what purpose the badge could serve, and he could only give up on the endeavor.
With that, all that remained in the case were the ck nails, of which there were quite a few, 81, to be exact.
Han Li picked out one of the nails at random and inspected it closely for a moment to find that it was riddled with all types of patterns, including some type of ancient beast and many peculiar runes, clearly indicating that this was no ordinary nail.
On top of that, there were wisps of ck mist that resembled viscous ink swirling around the nail, further lending it a sense of mystique.
After picking up the ck nail, Han Li noticed that there seemed to be a ck metal b embedded into the bottom of the case, and it was riddled with inscriptions of different depths.
Only after fishing the metal b out of the box did he discover that it was an array te that was riddled with spirit patterns, and on the lower left corner was a line of text that read: "Dawn Fall Heavenly Array."
Han Li was holding the array te in one hand and the ck jade badge in the other, and he took a nce down at the 81 ck nails as he murmured to himself, "This seems to be some type of protective array..."
With that in mind, he stroked a finger over the array te to find that there was an indentation on its back that was identical in shape and size to the ck badge in his hand.
He immediately ced the badge into the indentation, and it fit inside perfectly with a faint crack.
A burst of ck light instantly surged over the array te, while the inky substance within the badge flew out from within before roaming over the surface of the badge.
Specks of dark golden light emerged over certain parts of the badge in the wake of the flowing ink, and an ted look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he hurriedly refined both the array te and the badge together.
After that, he set them down onto the ground, then picked up one of the ck nails before gently cing its tip down onto one of the specks of dark golden light.
As soon as the nail began to approach the array te, thetter abruptly released a burst of powerful suction force that caused the nail to slip out of Han Li''s hand before nailing itself into the speck of golden light.
Immediately thereafter, a thunderous rumbling sound rang out in the forest not far away, and Han Li turned to that direction to find that a ck pir of light that was several thousand feet tall had erupted out of the ground there.
There appeared to be a powerful beast coiled around the pir of light, and it was constantly releasing bursts of faint ck qi.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and he continued to ce more of the ck nails down onto the array te.
One nail after another was set down onto the array te, while more and more pirs of ck light rose up over the ind.
After the final pir of ck light emerged, the ck mist swirling around all of the pirs of light instantly spread outward to fuse together, quickly forming a ck light barrier that epassed the entire ind.
Immediately thereafter, all of the pirs of ck light that had appeared on the ind gradually became more and more transparent, until they vanished out of sight entirely.
Before long, the light barrier epassing the entire ind also faded away, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.
However, a miniature version of the ind had already appeared on the array te in front of Han Li, indicating that it was under the protection of the array.
After observing the array te for a moment, he rose to his feet, then flew out of the ind.
As he passed through the light barrier, he clearly felt a burst of spiritual power fluctuations sweeping over his body, but as the one who had activated the array, the light barrier naturally posed no obstacle to him.
Looking into the ind from the outside, it didn''t appear to be any different, and it was impossible to tell that it was enshrouded within an array. No spiritual power fluctuations could be detected, but as soon as Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, the entire array instantly became as clear as day to him.
He flew all the way to around 10,000 feet away from the ind, then clenched a hand into a tight fist and channeled his immortal spiritual power before throwing a punch at the ind.
A resounding boom rang out as the entire space shuddered violently, and a giant fist projection hat was over 1,000 feet in size emerged before hurtling directly toward the ind.
As soon as the fist projection came into contact with the light barrier, thetter was immediately revealed.
Radiant ck light emerged over its surface as a series of inky-ck dragons flew out of the 81 pirs of ck light, drawing upon the power of the array as they converged toward the spot on the light barrier that had been struck by the fist projection.
An indentation that was several hundred feet deep waspressed into the ck light barrier, and it looked as if it could copse at any moment, but Han Li could sense that it was still far from reaching its limits.
Han Li gave a slight nod of approval upon seeing this.
Even though he hadn''t unleashed that punch with his full power, it was still an extremely formidable blow, and the average True Immortal Stage protective array would''ve most likely already beenpletely razed to the ground at this point.
By Han Li''s estimates, the defensive prowess of this array was slightly inferior to that of the array that the Northern cial Immortal Pce had set up in the ze Dragon Dao to trap Baili Yan.
Even so, this was already a very remarkable protective treasure.
Generally speaking, the protective array employed by a sect would always be set up in an area with an abundance of spiritual qi, and specially refined array tes and array gs also had to be set up to further bolster the array.
With those measures in ce, the power of the array would be maximized, but it would also be permanently set in ce without any possibility of being moved. It would be very difficult for someone on the outside to break the array, but the array could easily fall prey to internal sabotage.
In contrast, this array was a portable one that could be activated using just an array te, so it was not only very convenient, but also quite difficult to damage.
With this array te in his possession, setting up cave abodes was going to be far less of a hassle in the future.
Chapter 515: Incredible Wealth
Chapter 515: Incredible Wealth
After returning to the ind, Han Li ced the array te back into the treasured case, then stowed the case away into his storage bracelet before continuing to sort through Feng Tiandu''s belongings.
In contrast with Xiao Jinhan, Feng Tiandu had far fewer pills and pill recipes in his possession, and what he did have were also of inferior quality, but he possessed far more spirit materials than Xiao Jinhan did.
Among them were as much as a quarter of a kilogram of Heavenly River Stardust, around a dozen palm-sized Vibrant Rainbow Crystals, and seven or eight vials of Serene Dark Water, all three of which were important spirit materials for refining Acquired Immortal Treasures, so they were always hotly contested during any major auctions that they appeared, even for the tiniest amount.
Aside from that, Feng Tiandu also had a pair of Silver Meridian Immortal Vines that were each around a foot in length and roughly the same thickness as an infant''s arm. These vines were vastly renowned in the Northern cial Immortal Region as an exceptional puppet refinement material, and they were impossible to buy from virtually anywhere.
ording to some unofficial historical records that Han Li had read on some scriptures, puppets refined using these vines possess bodiesparable to True Immortals in power, and they also develop a system of meridians in their bodies that allow them to channel immortal spiritual power and unleash immortal abilities.
After stowing all of these materials away, Han Li''s gaze fell upon a bamboo cane that was as green as jade.
The cane was only around three feet in length and as thick as an adult human thumb. It was split up into nine sections, and each section was giving off a faint white glow. Even though it was without a root, it still seemed to be teeming with vitality, indicating that it was imbued with woodw powers.
Han Li was cultivating thews of time, while his Earthly Deity Avatar was cultivating thews of water, so he didn''t know much about other types ofw powers, he was still aware of just how precious these materials that were imbued withw powers were.
In particr, for those cultivating thews of wood, this bamboo staff would be an extremely highly sought after treasure.
Han Li was going to require arge quantity of items that contained timew powers in order to manifest more timew threads in the future, so he could see if he could exchange these items for things that he needed.
Aside from that bamboo cane, none of the rest of Feng Tiandu''s belongings caught Han Li''s interest, not because there was nothing else of value, but simply because Han Li''s standards had be almost absurdly high. Otherwise, the mountain of Immortal Origin Stones in Feng Tiandu''s possession, which was evenrger than Xiao Jinhan''s collection, would be enough to leave the average Golden Immortalpletely bbergasted.
After sorting through all of Feng Tiandu''s belongings, Han Li paused momentarily, then refined Gongshu Jiu''s storage bracelet before also releasing all of its contents.
In the blink of an eye, a mountain of Immortal Origin Stones that exceeded even thebined wealth of Feng Tiandu and Xiao Jinhan appeared in the clearing. The Immortal Origin Stones on the top of the mountain slowly ttered down until they reached the edge of the clearing, while all of the other treasures were squished to the side.
Han Li''s mouth gaped open slightly at the sight of the small mountain of Immortal Origin Stones, which was quite a bit taller than himself, and he was stunned beyond words.
I can''t believe a High Zenith cultivator has so many Immortal Origin Stones...
In addition to the Immortal Origin Stones that he had taken from Qu Ling, Xiao Jinhan, Feng Tiandu, and the others, his current wealth exceeded two million Immortal Origin Stones, which was surelyparable to the entire wealth of a major sect.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li had be ridiculously wealthy, and it seemed that he had more money than he knew what to do with.
However, he then quickly regained hisposure.
The path of cultivation was a long arduous one, and the amount of resources that he would have to go through was immeasurable. It was going to take a vast amount of resources just to secure more items that contained timew powers, and that wasn''t even to mention all of the pill refinement resources that he required.
With that in mind, these two million Immortal Origin Stones were most likely nowhere near enough to even support his cultivation to the High Zenith Stage, and the tion in his heart immediately began to die down.
He made his way to the other end of the clearing, and from there, he continued to examine Gongshu Jiu''s belongings.
The first thing that caught his attention was a massive wooden shelf with multiple tiers, one that wasden with over 1,000 Transient Guild masks of all types of different descriptions.
A stunned look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
Aside from the numbers on these masks, they also had a variety of different prefixes, including Wyrm, Roon, Dragon, Crow, and Fox.
Looking at this vast collection of masks, Han Li couldn''t help but feel a sense of sorrow for these Transient Guild members that he had never met before. If he had perished by Gongshu Jiu''s hands, then his masks would''ve been added to this collection as well.
"It looks like I''ll never have to worry about running out of masks to use," Han Li chuckled as he swept a sleeve through the air to stow the entire wooden shelf away.
Due to how enormous Gongshu Jiu''s collection was, Han Li had to sort through one type of items at a time, and the first category of items that he had chosen to examine were the pills.
Gongshu Jiu had arge number of pills in his collection, all of which were of an extremely high caliber, and most of them were unidentifiable to Han Li, but he presumed that they had to all be High Zenith Stage pills.
Having said that, Han Li was a Heavenly Pill Master, so he was able to determine from the aromas and other characteristics of these pills that most of them were for recovery and regenerative purposes, while there were only two types for cultivation enhancement.
It just so happened to be the case that there was golden slip stered to each of the jade vials that contained these two types of pills, and the slips carried the names of these pills, namely Clear Jade Pills and Zenith Garden Pills.
However, what was rather disappointing to him was that there was only one of each pill left in the two jade vials.
As for the golden slips, their material was rather special, so he decided to give them a closer examination as well.
As soon as his hand came into contact with one of the golden slips, a series of golden characters emerged from within, denoting a series of medicinal ingredient names, such as Jade Yang Essence, Wind Spirit Seeds, Nine-leaf Silverberries...
Clearly, the golden slips contain the pill refinement recipes for these two pills.
Han Li examined the lists of ingredients while sorting through the spirit medicines in Gongshu Jiu''s collection, and he discovered that Gongshu Jiu still had a spare supply of most of these ingredients, while only a few ones were missing,
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
After that, he picked up a ck jade box, then tore off the golden talisman adhered to it before opening it.
As the lid of the box was removed, he was immediately greeted by a rich medicinal aroma.
There was a pill that was as fair as jade sitting in the jade box, and there were three golden lines on its surface, while faint wisps of mist were rising up from it to form a tiny white cloud around three inches above it.
Much to Han Li''s astonishment and tion, this was a third-tier dao pill imbued with qiw powers!
A dao pill of such a high caliber was most definitely a priceless treasure, and Han Li couldn''t help but examine it repeatedly with tion in his eyes, unable to bear the thought of putting it down.
Only after a long while did he close the jade box again before stowing it away.
After sorting through all of the pills, Han Li took a moment topose himself before working through Gongshu Jiu''s treasures.
To Han Li''s surprise, there were only two Acquired Immortal Treasures in Gongshu Jiu''s collection, and after some thought, he realized that perhaps High Zenith cultivators simply relied less on treasures than Golden Immortals.
One of the Acquired Immortal Treasures was a tiny, rusty bianzhong that was very shabby in appearance, looking as if it had just been unearthed long ago.
However, when Han Li tried to crush it with his immense strength, he discovered that he was unable to do so.
Aside from that, he discovered that no matter what he struck the bianzhong with, it didn''t produce any sound.
Even after some extensive experimentation, he was unable to find out how to use the treasure.
As for the other immortal treasure, that was a strange-looking ck ded weapon that was around five feet in length, with the hilt and de roughly equal in length, and its surface was riddled with lightning cloud designs.
Upon injecting his immortal spiritual power into the de, Han Li discovered that it would tremble and buzz, and all of the lightning cloud designs on its surface would turn golden in color, while arcs of golden lightning sprang forth.
However, as he attempted to inject the power of the Lightning Bird and the Divine Devilbane Lightning in his body into the de, it immediately began to tremble violently, clearly disying intense rejection.
After some contemtion, Han Li summoned Daoist Xie, who only took a brief nce at all of the spoils that littered the entire clearing before withdrawing its gaze.
"I managed to reap some spoils during the earlier battle, and this de is one of them. You''re adept in using the power of lightning, so why don''t you take a look to see if this is something that you can use?" Han Li proposed.
Daoist Xie remained silent as it swept its gaze over the de, upon which its expression changed ever so slightly.
Han Li immediately noticed this minute change in Daoist Xie''s expression, and he asked, "Is there something wrong?"
"If I''m not mistaken, the name of this de is Thundersh, and it''s a vastly renowned weapon from the ck Soil Immortal Region," Daoist Xie replied.
"The ck Soil Immortal Region? It sounds like you''ve recovered quite a bit more of your memories, Brother Xie," Han Li remarked.
"Ever since we arrived in the Northern cial Immortal Region, snippets of memories have been returning to me, and it''s bing more and more frequent an urrence ofte. Some memories that were previously iprehensible to me have also been contextualized, so I have indeed recalled many things," Daoist Xie exined.
"It''s fine, you don''t have to exin anything to me. Seeing as you''re able to identify the de, I''m sure you''ll be able to make good use of it, so you can have it," Han Li said with a smile.
Chapter 516: The Jade Pixiu
Chapter 516: The Jade Pixiu
"I can''t just ept such a precious gift for nothing," Daoist Xie said in an indifferent voice.
Han Li was familiar with Daoist Xie''s personality, so he wasn''t surprised by this response at all, and he said, "From the Spirit Realm to the Immortal Realm, you''ve assisted me greatly on many asions. Even though you''re contractually bound to do so, I still know better than to take you for granted.
¡°On top of that, I''ll most likely be requiring your assistance from here onward as well. With this de in your possession, yourbat prowess will be significantly enhanced, and that''ll only further benefit me."
After a brief moment of contemtion, Daoist Xie nodded in response. "I suppose you''re right."
It then epted the de from Han Li and grabbed onto its hilt with both hands as a sh of golden lightning lit up in its eyes.
A loud crackling sound rang out as all of the lightning cloud designs on the entire de began to radiate dazzling golden light, and the spiritual power fluctuations emanating from it were countless times more powerful than what Han Li had been able to manage.
After testing out the de for a while longer, Daoist Xie stowed it away as it promised, "I''ll be sure to repay you for this."
Han Li merely nodded in response with a smile on his face.
A curious look then appeared in his eyes as he wondered to himself, Could it be that Daoist Xie''s former master came from this ck Soil Immortal Region?
This was clearly a question that Han Li didn''t have an answer to, so he didn''t ponder if for long before he continued to sort through his spoils.
This time, his gaze fell upon a tiny white jade Pixiu.
It seemed to be no different from an ornamental antique, and it was giving off a warm gleam under the light of the sun.
Han Li examined the Pixiu momentarily with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, then smiled as he asked, "Are you going to reveal yourself, or do you want me to beat you until you have to?"
The Pixiu remainedying on the ground in apletely still manner, as if it really were just an inanimate object.
"If you''re going to force my hand, then don''t me me for what I''m about to do," Han Li said in a cold voice as his eyes narrowed slightly.
In the wake of Han Li''s threat, the white Pixiu finally began to move, and it swelled rapidly to transform into a giant white beast the size of a house.
"To think that a mere Golden Immortal would dare to..."
The giant white Pixiu''s voice abruptly cut off as its entire body stiffened.
As it turned out, three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had appeared around its neck, and all of them had their tips aimed directly at its throat.
The Pixiu had no doubt that if it were to step out of line, then those three swords would have it decapitated in an instant.
With that in mind, the Pixiu immediately shrunk down to the size of an average pet dof, and itid down in front of Han Li in a submissive manner as it said in a feeble voice, "Don''t be like that... Let''s just have a nice and civilized chat."
The three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords continued to hover in the air around it, disying no intention of letting it off the hook.
"You must be Gongshu Jiu''s spirit pet, right? I can sense that you have quite a powerful aura. Why didn''t you help him during his battle against us?" Han Li asked.
"Ptui! I''m a primordial true spirit, not a spirit pet! What right does he have to make me his spirit pet? I was only forced to follow him because he''d lived longer than me and possessed a superior cultivation base!" the Pixiu roared in a furious voice.
"Answer me! Why didn''t you help him?" Han Li asked as a cold look appeared on his face.
"Because even if I had helped him, there''s no way we would''ve been able to win," the Pixiu replied in a sheepish manner. "One of you had mastered thews of time, while the other had mastery over thews of reincarnation, and that''s not even to mention that old monster... Gongshu Jiu was an idiot for picking a fight with you, I certainly wasn''t going to go down with him!"
"Did he not have any way to force you to help him?" Han Li asked with a skeptical expression.
"He wishes he did! Unless he killed me on the spot, there was nothing he could do as long as I refused to sign a contract with him," the Pixius replied with a smug expression.
"So you''re telling me he was unable to do anything to you? Is your current body not one that''s been restricted by him using a secret technique? Otherwise, how could a true spirit like yourself have been turned into a little ornament that could be stowed away in a storage tool?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"That''s... That''s because..."
The Pixiu had no response for this.
"Tell me the truth! What abilities do you possess that convinced him not to ce any more forceful restrictions upon you?" Han Li asked in a demanding voice.
"Fine, I''lle clean to you. I have an innate ability that allows me to gather wealth. Over the years, that old bastard, Gongshu Jiu, managed to umte a great deal of wealth with me by his side, and that''s why he didn''t want to kill me," the Pixiu conceded.
"If you keep lying and insisting on testing my patience, then I''ll kill you right now. Your true spirit blood will be quite useful to me," Han Li mused as a hint of killing intent surfaced in his eyes.
"No, don''t do that!" the Pixiu hurriedly implored in an urgent voice. "All of you humans are so sly and cunning! My innate ability isn''t to gather wealth. Instead, it''s to uncover certain hidden natural treasures, and as I be more powerful, this innate ability will also continue to improve."
"Alright, I suppose only time can tell whether you''re being truthful to me. Now then, do you want to sign a contract with me or be ughtered for your true spirit bloodline?" Han Li asked.
"What choice do I have? Having said that, I like the look of you a lot better than Gongshu Jiu," the Pixiu sighed in a pitiable voice as it took a nce at the three Azure Bamboo Coudswarm Swords and the time spirit domain around it.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he raised a hand before extending a finger toward the Pixiu''s be.
After the contract was signed, the Pixiu said, "We''re on the same boat now, Master, and my first piece of advice to you is to destroy that thing."
Han Li turned to the direction that it was pointing in to discover a shimmering golden disk, and he asked, "What''s that?"
"It''s the thing that Gongshu Jiu used tomunicate with other immortal envoys and emissaries. As soon as the Heavenly Court learns that Gongshu Jiu has met his demise, they''ll be sure to send people to track down that thing," the Pixiu exined.
Han Li reached out to make a grabbing motion, drawing the disk into his grasp for a closer examination.
A cold look then appeared on his face as he said, "If this thing is destroyed by force, the Heavenly Court will immediately be tipped off! Are you trying to get us both killed?"
"Of course that would be the oue if you destroy it using conventional means, but if you give it to me, then I assure you that won''t happen. Now that a contract has been established between us, our lives are interconnected, so what would I stand to gain from screwing you over?" the Pixiu grumbled.
Han Li raised an eyebrow with a skeptical look on his face, but he still handed the disk over to the Pixiu, upon which thetter immediately swallowed the disk whole.
"I was born with no anus, and there''s an independent world in my belly, so nothing that goes in will be able toe out unless I allow it. Now that themunication disk is in my belly, it''spletely cut off from this world, so no one will be able to track it down," the Pixiu exined with a proud expression.
"It sounds like you''re the perfect thing to use to get rid of evidence after killing someone... This is your true innate ability, isn''t it?" Han Li jibed.
The Pixiu immediately realized that it had revealed too much, and it protested in a disgruntled voice, "Don''t even think about making me swallow anything dirty! I don''t eat anything aside from treasures and spirit materials!"
An amused smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he continued to sort through Gongshu Jiu''s belongings.
The Pixiu seemed to know Gongshu Jiu''s treasures like the back of its paw, and it proved to be a great help to Han Li as he sorted through the treasures.
After the treasures came the spirit materials and spirit medicines, of which there was a huge stash, and all of them were incredibly rare and precious pieces. There was also an iplete map of the Immortal Realm, which denoted many of the areas in the Northern cial Immortal Region.
To Han Li''s surprise and tion, he also discovered a pair of items that contained timew powers, one of which was a round fruit that was riddled with tiny golden spots, while the other was a broken dagger that was around a foot in length.
......
Before long, the sun set, and dusk was already beginning to transition into night.
It had taken Han Li the good part of an entire day to sort through all of his spoils, and he stretchedzily as he exhaled with a pleased smile on his face.
He then swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of golden light, and a little girl that appeared to be eight or nine years of age emerged.
She stumbled around a little before falling t onto her backside, and Han Li hurriedly cast a concerned gaze toward her, only to find that waspletely fine, but she was yawning non-stop with heavy-lidded eyes, looking as if she had just been woken up from a deep sleep.
"Why did you wake me up, Uncle?" Jin Tongined in a displeased voice, disying no intention of opening her eyes.
"Wake up, Jin Tong. It''s time to eat," Han Li said with a smile.
Jin Tong finally forced her eyes open slightly upon hearing this, and she asked, "What is there to eat?"
"Take a look for yourself," Han Li replied as he swept a sleeve through the air, and close to 20 treasures that were giving off formidable spiritual power fluctuations instantly appeared in the clearing, including the white stone pirs that Jin Tong hadn''t yet had a chance to finish.
"Woah, there''s so much!" Jin Tong eximed as she snapped wide awake in an instant.
She then flew through the forest as a blurry golden shadow, arriving in front of the collection of treasures in the blink of an eye.
She then wrapped her arms around one of the white stone pirs with an ecstatic look on her face, but right at this moment, a thought suddenly urred to her, and she turned to Han Li with her eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion and usation.
Han Li immediately felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of her piercing gaze, and he asked, "What''s wrong?"
Chapter 517: Verification
Chapter 517: Verification
"You were counting treasures without me, weren''t you, Uncle? These are just the things that you don''t need, aren''t they?" Jin Tongined with her brows tightly furrowed in displeasure.
"You were sleeping really soundly after eating that cauldron, so I thought I''d let you sleep," Han Li replied in a sheepish manner.
Jin Tong immediately pouted with displeasure upon hearing this, clearly not very satisfied with Han Li''s answer.
The jade Pixiu was looking back and forth at Han Li and Jin Tong upon seeing this, seemingly a little confused.
"This bracelet is for you. You can have everything inside it," Han Li said as he raised a hand to summon another storage bracelet, which he handed to Jin Tong.
The former owner of this storage bracelet was none other than Qi Tianxiao.
Jin Tong was still looking rather displeased as she epted the storage bracelet, but as soon as she inspected its contents, a wide smile immediately appeared on her face.
"You''re the best, Uncle!"
Jin Tong quickly put on the storage bracelet, then stowed all of the other treasures on the ground away as well, while Han Li looked on with a faint smile.
The jade Pixiu was feeling very indignant at the sight of this differential treatment, and it could onlyy its head down onto the ground with a dejected expression.
Only then did Jin Tong notice the white Pixiu that wasying on the ground nearby, and she skipped over to its side beforeying a hand down onto the top of its head.
"Where did you get this dog from, Uncle? Can I eat it?"
The jade Pixiu immediately sprang up onto its haunches upon hearing this, and it yelled, "What the hell are you saying, you little brat? I''ll have you know that I''m a primordial true spirit!"
"Did you just call me a little brat?"
A cold look appeared in Jin Tong''s eyes as she bared her teeth in a menacing fashion.
The jade Pixiu immediately felt a chill run down its spine, but there was no way that it would allow its honor to be trampled upon by a little girl, so it immediately swelled to the size of a house once again as it roared, "You asked for it!"
Jin Tong merely grinned as a burst of golden light appeared over her body.
An exasperated look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he turned and departed from the clearing.
......
A few minutester, peace and quiet returned to the ind.
"Let''s go. We need to make a trip back to Dark Veil Ind," Han Li said after erasing all traces of his visit from the ind.
He then swept a sleeve through the air to summon the green jade flying carriage that once belonged to Gongshu Jiu before flying onto it.
"Alright, let''s go!" Jin Tong yelled with an ted look on her face, and she was straddled atop the jade Pixiu, which looked as if it wanted to die.
"Hurry up, Xiao Bai!" Jin Tong urged as she gave it a p on the head. [1]
The jade Pixiu gave a distraught wail before carrying Jin Tong onto the flying carriage, which then sped away into the distance, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
......
Several dayster, a ball of green light appeared in the sky above an ind as if by instantaneous teleportation, and it left a long trail of afterimages behind it.
The ball of green light faded to reveal a green jade flying carriage, atop which stood Han Li, who was looking down at the carriage with a pleased look on his face.
As expected of a flying immortal treasure used by a High Zenith cultivator, the flying carriage was several times faster than the azure flying boat that he had previously used.
However, due to how incredibly fast the flying carriage was, he was still yet to fully control it, so it was a little jarring whenever it drew to a halt.
At this moment, Jin Tong wasying on her back on the flying carriage, sleeping soundly with her little belly exposed, while the Pixiu wasying in a corner of the carriage in a dejected fashion.
Jin Tong had eaten a bunch of spirit treasures these past few days, and as a result, she had be quite drowsy. Her aura was also fluctuating unsteady while slowly growing more powerful, indicating that a breakthrough was imminent.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes as he detected Jin Tong''s aura fluctuations.
Jin Tong was already extremely powerful at this point, and even Han Li wasn''t confident in his ability to defeat her in a one-on-one battle without using his timew powers.
If she were to make another breakthrough, then she would naturally be an even more formidable ally.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face, following which he swept a hand through the air to release a burst of azure light that swept up Jin Tong before carrying her into a spirit beast pouch.
She didn''t like staying in spirit beast pouches, but given that a breakthrough was imminent, it was safer for her to be in one.
The Pixiu immediately stood up upon seeing this, and before it had a chance to say anything, Han Li stowed it away into another spirit beast pouch, alongside some spirit treasures that were of no use to him.
"You can take a rest in this spirit beast pouch. Here are some spirit treasures that you can eat for your recovery."
After that, he cast his gaze toward the sea down below.
This region of the sea was previously a battleground between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind, but peace and quiet had since returned to the area.
In fact, over the past few days, Han Li hadn''t spotted even a single ck Wind Ind or Azure Feather Ind cultivator on the inds that he had passed by.
After some brief thought, Han Li quickly realized why the conflict had suddenly subsided.
It had to have been the case that the conflict between the two inds was only serving as a smokescreen set up by the Northern cial Immortal Pce to throw off all of the other powers so that they wouldn''t be able to find the entrance of the immortal manor.
Now that the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor had alreadye and gone, there was naturally no need for the conflict to continue.
This was good news for all of the inds in the ck Wind Sea, including Dark Veil InDark Veil Ind.
Han Li remained on the spot for a moment longer, then made a hand seal, upon which the green flying carriage flew into the distance, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
Several more days passed by, and Dark Veil Ind finally came into view on the distant horizon.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly stopped in his tracks, then cast his gaze to the left with a peculiar look on his face.
He then immediately flew in that direction, arriving on an ind not long thereafter.
The ind wasn''t veryrge, far smaller than Dark Veil Ind, and it was very long and thin, resembling a willow leaf. Vegetation on the ind was quite sparse, and there wererge patches of gray rock exposed everywhere.
An intrigued look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he inspected the ind down below.
This was none other than the ind inhabited by the Cold Crystal Race, and in the wake of Han Qiu''s demise, the ind was imed by Dark Veil Ind. At this moment, the entire ind was enshrouded under a blue light barrier.
Han Li took a nce at his surroundings, and he recalled that the scene that he had witnessed back in the Moonlight Pce after being sucked into the wall of light by the Heaven Controlling Vial was precisely this exact setting.
However, even though this was the same ind as the one he saw back then, there were still some differences between the two.
Could it be...
His eyes suddenly lit up slightly as he flew down into the sea near the ind, then continued to descend through the water, quickly reaching the seabed.
At the same time, he released his spiritual sense outward, and he quickly tracked down a giant rock on the seabed before unleashing a streak of sword qi to strike it.
A huge hole was sted into the rock, and Han Li reached into the hole to retrieve a green bracelet that was covered in mud.
"This is it!" he eximed with an ted smile on his face at the sight of the green bracelet.
This was the storage bracelet belonging to the Golden Immortal Stage nascent soul that Han Li had possessed during that vision.
This was proof that the vision had been real, and he really had possessed a nascent soul from the ancient past, back when the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce was destroyed.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce the Heaven Controlling Vial and began inspecting it in silence.
Its ability to drastically elerate the aging of spirit nts was already quite astonishing, yet in addition to that, it had also developed the ability to send Han Li''s soul into the past.
It seemed that the first vision that he had experienced, back when he had possessed Ling Yunzi, had also been a past event.
However, it was impossible to tell exactly what time period that was.
There was also the scene depicting the portly monk and his five disciples, and even to this day, that scene remained fresh in Han Li''s mind. Having said that, he still had no idea who the portly monk was. However, one thing was certain: the monk''s cultivation base had to have been far superior to his own. Otherwise, there was no way that he would''ve been able to make such significant strides in his cultivation just from hearing the monk''s preaching.
After pondering the matter for a moment longer, Han Li stowed the Heavenly Controlling Vial away.
It was impossible for him to tell just how many secrets the Heaven Controlling Vial was harboring, but it was clear that it was even more profound than he had once imagined.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li released a burst of blue light that expelled all of the surrounding seawater, creating an empty bubble on the seabed.
He then released the contents of the storage bracelet, revealing some Immortal Origin Stones, spirit treasures, and pills, among other things.
He had briefly examined these things during the vision, but due to the time constraints, he wasn''t able to inspect them very thoroughly, and now that he had a chance to do so, he was very pleased by what he saw.
There were around 50,000 to 60,000 Immortal Origin Stones on the ground, which was a trifling amountpared with his current wealth, but it was still quite a significant sum.
As for the spirit treasures, all of them were flying swords of high calibers, and there were as many as 60 to 70 of them.
With the exceptions of a few swords, all of them were a light blue color, and they were also identical in shape and design, clearly indicating that this was a set of flying swords.
After counting the swords thoroughly, Han Li discovered that there were 72 of them, just like his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and they were giving off bursts of faint starpower fluctuations.
Han Li only briefly examined these flying swords before looking away.
All of them were peak spirit treasures that were only one step away from bing immortal treasures, but they were still far inferior to his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and therefore not worthy of his attention.
1. Xiao Bai is a very generic dog name in China, essentially equivalent to Fido or something like that.
Chapter 518: Galactic Sword Array
Chapter 518: Gctic Sword Array
Aside from the set of 72 flying swords, there were also three more longswords on the ground, one white, one ck, and one green.
These three swords were all immortal treasures, and they were giving off bursts ofw power fluctuations.
Han Li picked up the white sword to find that while it was very straight, the surface of the was rather bumpy and uneven, indicating that it had been refined using the leg bone of some type of demon beast.
With a sh of the sword, it instantly lit up, and gusts of white yin winds began to swirl around it, giving off a bone-chilling cial aura.
Even with Han Li''s immensely powerful physical constitution, he couldn''t help but shudder slightly, but strangely enough, the surrounding seawater didn''t freeze at all.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this. It seemed that thew powers imbued within this sword were only effective on physical bodies, so it would be a good weapon to use against other opponents with formidable physical constitutions.
After setting the white sword aside, Han Li picked up the ck sword, which was inky-ck in color and far shorter than the average sword, only around a foot in length.
Furthermore, its de was very thin, and there were some dark green spirit patterns engraved onto it.
Han Li gently glided his finger over the de of the sword, and a gash was sliced into his finger.
The gash was ck in color, and the flesh around it began to rapidly necrose while spreading outward.
This is some extremely potent poison! Han Li thought to himself as a ball of golden light emerged over his fingertip, and the rate at which the poison was spreading was slowed down significantly, following which the wisp of poisonw powers in the gash was slowly forced out.
The ck gash quickly turned red again, then vanished altogether just a few secondster, and Han Li''s finger was restored to its original condition.
He set down the thin ck sword before turning his attention to the final immortal sword.
The sword was dark green in color and longer than the average grown man was tall. Its de had been crafted in the shape of undting waves, and it was giving off a cold gleam.
This sword contained the most formidable spiritual power fluctuations out of all three of the immortal swords, and it wasn''t inferior to any of the immortal treasures in the possession of Feng Tiandu and the others.
Han Li grabbed onto the hilt of the sword before lifting it, upon which his expression instantly changed slightly.
As it turned out, the sword was incredibly heavy, still far less so than his Heavy Water True Axis, but for a Golden Immortal who didn''t focus on physical cultivation, the sword would be almost entirely impossible for them to lift.
Han Li swung the sword through the air, and it immediately released a vast expanse of green sword projections, which were imbued with thews of destruction.
All of the sword projections then shrank down at Han Li''s behest, converging to form a pir of green light before crashing down onto the seabed.
The seabed was instantly torn apart like a frail rag, creating an enormous rift that was several dozen kilometers in length and hundreds of meters wide.
The entire seabed shuddered violently as if an earthquake had just taken ce, and the willow-leaf-shaped ind in the distance also trembled and swayed for quite some time before settling down again.
A hint of tion appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
He still hadn''t refined the sword yet, nor had he swung it with his full power just now, yet it was already extremely formidable, and its destructive power was further enhanced by the destructivew powers that it contained.
If he had unleashed that strike with his full power just now, he would''ve been able to easily shatter the entire seabed within a radius of hundreds of kilometers, and even the ind of the Cold Crystal Race would''ve been destroyed.
Right at this moment, a burst of spiritual sense erupted out of the ind before sweeping through the surrounding area, and it belonged to the itinerant immortal that had been assigned to the ind.
Han Li didn''t want to meet them right now, so he raised a hand to summon an azure light barrier to conceal himself, as well as the damage inflicted by the sword just now.
The itinerant immortal''s spiritual sense swept over the nearby area several times, but ultimately didn''t discover anything amiss and faded away.
Even so, Han Li didn''t withdraw his azure light barrier.
He took a nce at the dark green sword in his hand, then gave a nod of approval before stowing it away along with the other two immortal swords, following which he turned his attention to the pills on the ground.
After examining all of the pills, a faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face.
These pills weren''t inferior in the slightestpared with what he had found in the storage tools of Xiao Jinhan and Feng Tiandu, and most of them were recovery, regenerative, and antidotal pills, clearly collected in preparation for the adventure that he never had the chance to embark on.
After stowing the pills away as well, Han Li turned his gaze to the final few items, which consisted of two jade scriptures and a strange-looking silken handkerchief.
One of the jade scriptures was golden in color, while the other one was blue, and thetter was a lot thicker than the former.
He picked up the golden scripture first before quickly flipping through it.
It contained the Bright Moon Sword Arts, a very advanced sword cultivation art that was supposed to be able to support one''s cultivation to the High Zenith Stage.
The sword intent cultivated using this cultivation art was very different from what Han Li was cultivating, but there were still some things in this cultivation that he could reference.
After setting the golden scripture down, he picked up the blue one, and this one contained all types of powerful sword techniques, of which there were close to 1,000 in total, and every single one of them was extremely profound.
These sword techniques weren''t just designed for battle. Instead, there were also some that could allow one to y inner demons and hone their mental fortitude, among other things.
Han Li previously thought that he was quite an expert in swordsmanship and sword techniques, but after seeing this blue scripture, he realized that he had been far too ttering in his self-appraisal.
The art of swordsmanship was one that was filled with vastplexities, and his knowledge in this field was still severelycking.
With that in mind, Han Li sat down on the spot and began poring over the jade scripture in apletely enraptured fashion, and it didn''t take long before he finished the first half of the scripture.
As soon as he moved onto the second half, his eyes immediately lit up. As it turned out, the second half of the scripture contained all types of sword arrays that were even more profound than the sword techniques that hade before them.
......
One profound sword array after another wasid out before Han Li, and they served all types of purposes, such as ying enemies, trapping targets, defending the user, and there were even sword arrays that could stimte one''s acupoints and refine their physical bodies using sword qi.
It didn''t take long before Han Li read through the entire scripture, and an intrigued look appeared on his face at the sight of the final sword array recorded in the scripture.
As time passed, the intrigue in his eyes steadily grew more pronounced before eventually transitioning into amazement and tion.
Only after a long time had passed did Han Li raise his head with a bright gleam in his eyes.
This sword array was called the Great Gctic Sword Array, and it was an extremelyplex sword array that drew upon the power of the stars. It had been created by the Boundless Daoist over the course of 100,000 years after extensive observation of the stars in the night sky, and it was her supreme sword array of the Boundless Sword Sect, able to grant the user the power to y enemies one or two cultivation ranks above them.
It could even be said that all of the sword techniques and sword arrays up to this point in the scripture had been created for this final sword array, whichbined everything into one.
In order to unleash this sword array, 72 flying swords that were imbued with starpower were required, and they had to be of a very high caliber. Otherwise, they wouldn''t be able to bear the enormous power of this sword array.
Once the sword array took shape, each of the flying swords would resonate with one of the stars in the sky, allowing them to draw upon their starpower. It would appear as if a dazzling gxy of stars had appeared within the array, simting the Great Dao of heaven and earth.
The array was extremely powerful, but it also had very stringent prerequisites that had to be fulfilled, requiring the user to be at least at the High Zenith Stage while also possessing immense spiritual sense.
There was also a simplified version of the array called the Minor Gctic Sword Array that could be unleashed using just 36 flying swords, and this array could be unleashed byte-Golden Immortal cultivators. Of course, it wouldn''t be as powerful as the array''splete form, but it would definitely still allow one to sweep through all opponents of the same cultivation base.
Han Li slowly exhaled to suppress his excitement.
This Great Gctic Sword Array was extremely appealing to him.
Once one reached the High Zenith Stage, it would be virtually impossible to y an enemy of a superior cultivation rank, unless they had extremely formidable immortal treasures orw powers to assist them.
Hence, it was very bold to proim that this Great Gctic Sword Array could allow one to y an enemy one or two cultivation ranks above them.
Han Li turned his gaze to the 72 blue flying swords beside him, and he grabbed one of them before gently flicking its de with his finger.
The sword immediately began to quiver like a blue spirit snake while emitting a pleasant ringing sound.
It was clear that these flying swords had been refined for the purpose of unleashing the Great Gctic Sword Array, but as they currently were, Han Li wasn''t confident that they would be powerful enough to withstand the strains of the array.
There really was only one way to find out the answer to that question.
Even though the scripture stated that only after reaching thete-Golden Immortal Stage could one hope to unleash the Minor Gctic Sword Array, he possessed far more immortal spiritual power than the average mid-Golden Immortal cultivator, so there was a chance that he would be able to pull it off.
With that in mind, Han Li set down the flying sword in his hand as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
By his estimates, even if these swords could be used to unleash the Gctic Sword Array, they would only just barely be up to scratch.
If he wanted to unleash the Great Gctic Sword Array in its full glory, then he would have to refine another set of flying swords that were imbued with starpower.
His Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords also came in a set of 72, and they were far more powerful than these flying swords. Even though they didn''t contain any starpower, it wasn''t impossible to change that.
There were many profound sword nurturing techniques recorded in the scripture, and one of them was the Star Spirit Gathering Array, which allowed one to refine their flying swords using starpower.
This secret technique could draw upon starpower to eradicate the impurities within flying swords, thereby elevating their quality, and flying swords refined using this secret technique would slowly be infused with starpower.
Some annotations had been made in the scripture after this secret technique, so Han Li presumed that these flying swords had most likely been refined using this technique.
Having said that, he had no idea what effect this was going to have on his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
On top of that, following this trip into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, he was currently only able to wield three of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once, and it seemed that 36 swords was far out of reach, let alone 72.
With that in mind, Han Li shook his head with a wry smile.
Chapter 519: Arrangements
Chapter 519: Arrangements
Han Li took a deep breath, then turned his gaze to the final silken handkerchief, which he drew into his grasp.
ording to the vision that he experienced, this handkerchief carried a treasure map.
Back when he first experienced the vision, he had already briefly examined the handkerchief and noticed that it was no ordinary object.
With that in mind, he quickly summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, then gazed upon the silken handkerchief through his Eye of Truth.
A burst of rainbow light rippled over the silken handkerchief, and it spread outward from the center like a blot of ink, revealing aplex map.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he carefully examined the map, following which his brows furrowed slightly.
The map didn''t appear to be veryplete. Instead, it seemed to be a portion of aplete map, and with the limited information that the map presented, he was unable to determine what location it depicted.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s gaze fell upon a corner of the handkerchief, where there was a symbol of a round wheel, one that he had never seen before.
Momentster, he flipped a hand over to stow the silken handkerchief away.
ording to the memories of that nascent soul, this map depicted an area in another immortal region, and following the passage of so many years, it was unclear whether the area depicted on the map still even existed, so there was no point in pondering the matter.
With that in mind, he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light to stow everything else away, then withdrew the surrounding azure light barrier.
After that, Han Li didn''t linger here any longer, flying away toward Dark Veil Ind as a streak of azure light.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li appeared in the sky above Dark Veil Ind.
The ind was still in a state of lockdown, and all of the members of the Luo n were cultivating in seclusion, while the mortals on the ind led secure and peaceful lives. The ind was very serene and peaceful, seeminglypletely untouched by the conflicts that had ravaged the ck Wind Sea ofte.
Han Li flew down from above beforending near a vige that was surrounded by mountains on three sides.
At this moment, it was dusk, and plumes of smoke from cooking fires were rising up all over the vige, forming a thin veil of smoke in the sky, which presented a dreamy and beautiful sight under the light of the dying sun.
The vige was like a paradise from another world,pletely free from the conflicts and troubles of this realm.
Han Li could hear the sound of livestock and ying children in the vige, and an emotion that was rather difficult to identify welled up in his heart. Distant memories of his childhood began to surface in his mind, and he felt himself bing immersed in these memories.
He quickly snapped back to his senses as a hint of bewilderment shed through his eyes.
He had witnessed simr scenes on many past asions without feeling anything, yet why was it that he was suddenly ovee with such strong emotions? Could it be that something had gone wrong with his cultivation?
With that in mind, Han Li hurriedly inspected his own internal condition, but there was nothing amiss.
His brows furrowed ever so slightly upon seeing this, but then quickly unfurrowed again.
The momentary immersion that he had experienced hadn''t been detrimental to him at all. Instead, it had instilled within him a profound sense of rxation.
He gently exhaled as he shook his head.
Perhaps it was because he had been wound up too tightly throughout the foray into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, and now that he was witnessing such a serene and tranquil scene for the first time in such a long time, he was finally able to rx.
It seemed that it would perhaps be a good idea to visit the mortal world every once in a while as that seemed to have profound benefits on his mental cultivation.
Of course, this wasn''t the time to do so. He knew that immense turmoil was going to be sweeping through the Northern cial Immortal Region in the near future, and that was most likely going to be followed by an extended period of chaos.
After taking one final nce at the vige, Han Li quickly looked away, then flew away into the distance.
Momentster, he arrived in the Luo n, then descended silently in front of arge hall.
There was ayer of azure light that was gently swirling like a cloud over the gate of the hall, and it was clearly quite a profound restriction.
Of course, this restriction was nothing more than child''s y in Han Li''s eyes, and he flew through gates of the hall in a sh, while the azure restriction remainedpletely oblivious.
At the center of the hall sat Luo Feng atop a cushion with azure light swirling around his body.
Han Li appaered in front of Luo Feng in a stealthy manner, then gave a slight nod of approval as he observed Luo Feng''s cultivation.
Luo Feng possessed decent aptitude, and he had made some progress in his cultivation since theyst met, indicating that he had been working hard this entire time.
With that in mind, a burst of crimson light shed over Han Li''s body, and he reverted back to his original appearance.
Luo Feng seemed to have detected something, and he opened his eyes, upon which he hurriedly rose to his feet after spotting Han Li.
"Master Liu Shi!" Luo Feng greeted with a respectful salute.
"I came here today because I have some things to speak to you about," Han Li dered.
"Please go ahead," Luo Feng hurriedly prompted.
"I''m going to be leaving Dark Veil Ind for some time soon. In my absence, continue to oversee the ind as normal," Han Li instructed.
Luo Feng was very much taken aback to hear this, and he hurriedly asked, "How long will you be away for?"
Han Li had no concrete answer to this question, so he replied in a truthful manner, "I can''t say for sure, but it''ll most likely be a very long time."
Luo Feng''s face instantly paled significantly upon hearing this, and he hurriedly said, "Right now, the conflict between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind is still ongoing. Our Dark Veil Ind hasn''t been swept up in it for now, but it''s only a matter of time. Without your presence, there''s no way we''ll be able to withstand that ordeal on our own, and the allegiance of those itinerant immortals will most likely begin wavering again.
¡°If you''re not receiving sufficient power of faith to satisfy you, then I can instruct the mortals on the ind to be even more earnest in their worship..."
Han Li raised a hand to cut Luo Feng off, then said, "There''s no need to be concerned. Right now, the conflict in the ck Wind Sea is beginning to die down, and the animosity between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind has alsorgely subsided. On top of that, even though I''m leaving, my avatar will still remain on the ind, and it possesses sufficient power to keep those itinerant immortals in check so that they remain loyal to Dark Veil Ind."
"Really?" Luo Feng asked in a slightly uneasy fashion, and it was unclear whether he was asking about the conflict between ck Wind Ind and Azure Feather Ind or about Han Li''s Earthly Deity Avatar.
"Of course, so you can rest assured. Dark Veil Ind is quite an important ce to me, so there''s no way I''ll abandon it," Han Li assured.
Luo Feng was slightly reassured upon hearing this, and he immediately made a disy of loyalty. "Thank you, Master Liu Shi. Rest assured, our Luo n will be your most loyal servants for all of eternity!"
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he flipped a hand over to produce a storage tool, which he handed to Luo Feng as he said, "There are some cultivation resources in here for you to use."
Luo Feng epted the storage tool, and as soon as he injected his spiritual sense into it, he was instantly rooted to the spot.
There was an enormous array of spirit materials, pills, and spirit treasures within the storage tool, alongside countless spirit stones, and it was more than 1,000 times the Luo n''s current wealth.
Such a vast volume of resources had been unimaginable to Luo Feng in the past, yet it had suddenly fallen onto hisp, and he couldn''t help but feel stunned beyond belief.
"You can use these resources however you please, but don''t use them without discretion. Make sure to nurture the brightest talents in your n and the most prodigious cultivators on the ind. Only by constantly bolstering the ind''s power will it be able to truly stand firm in the ck Wind Sea, understood?" Han Li instructed.
Given his current astronomical wealth, the resources that he had just given to Luo Feng were barely worth anything to him.
Luo Feng immediately snapped back to his senses upon hearing this, and he hurriedly replied in an excited manner, "I understand! Rest assured, Master Liu Shi, I''ll be sure to put these resources to good use!"
With these resources at his disposal, he would definitely be able to develop a batch of high-grade cultivators in a short time, and a few of the elders on the ind who were at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage would also have a chance of reaching the Grand Ascension Stage.
With a few more Grand Ascension cultivators on the ind and the Earthly Deity Avatar leading the way, Luo Feng was confident that he would be able to protect Dark Veil Ind.
However, at the same time, he was also rather perplexed. Such a vast volume of resources was something that not even ck Wind Ind was guaranteed to be able to muster up all at once, so where had Liu Shi gotten all of this from?
"Good. I leave Dark Veil Ind in your hands," Han Li said, then departed from the hall, vanishing into thin air in the blink of an eye.
"You can count on me, Master Liu Shi!" Luo Feng dered loudly.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li appeared in the sky above Dark Veil Ind, then flew away from the ind to arrive at the location where his Earthly Deity Avatar was in seclusion.
On the surface of the sea was a huge vortex that was swirling and rumbling incessantly, and it was much more formidable than before.
A hint of tion appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he plunged down into the sea, quickly arriving beside his Earthly Deity Avatar.
The Earthly Deity Avatar was seated with its legs crossed, and there was a huge cocoon of blue light around it, while a thin blue thread was hovering above its head, giving off a burst of formidable waterw fluctuations.
Upon sensing Han Li''s arrival, the Earthly Deity Avatar ceased in its cultivation before rising to its feet.
"You''ve made some good progress," Han Li remarked with a nod of approval at the sight of the blue thread above the Earthly Deity Avatar''s head.
"Dark Veil Ind and the other inds have been developing nicely over the years, and the poptions on all of the inds have increased drastically. As a result, there are more worshipers, and therefore more power of faith directed to me, so I''ve been able to manifestw powers far faster than before," the Dark Veil Ind exined.
"Good. At this rate, it won''t take long until you fully recover yourw powers," Han li said.
Prior to this, Han Li had injected the Earthly Deity Avatar''s waterw thread into his Heavy Water True Axis, and he had been concerned that this would cause irreparable damage to the avatar''s waterw powers, but it seemed that his concerns were unnecessary.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li summoned a small blue g and three blue flying swords, thetter of which appeared to form a set. On top of that, there was also a light blue storage ring.
"These two are both water-attribute immortal treasures, one for defense and one for offense, while this storage ring holds some things that should be useful to you, as well as some vessels to store heavy water. Take these things and protect the ind while I''m away," Han Li instructed.
Dark Veil Ind was the first ce that he had arrived at during his second ascension to the Immortal Realm, so in some sense, this was his hometown in the Immortal Realm. Even though he had only be the ancestral god here by ident, the people here trusted him deeply and revered him as their deity, so he felt obligated to keep them safe.
The Earthly Deity Avatar epted these items with a nod, and Han Li issued a few more instructions to it before departing.
Standing high up in the sky, Han Li heaved an internal sigh as he looked down at Dark Veil Ind from above.
Following this departure, he didn''t know when he would be back again.
He shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, then flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light, vanishing into the distant sky in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 520: Sneaky Infiltration
Chapter 520: Sneaky Infiltration
Several dayster, a streak of light descended outside ck Wind City, then faded to reveal Han Li in a disguised form.
He took a nce at the tall and wide city gate, then made his way into the throngs of people in the city.
Thest time he tried to leave the ck Wind Sea, he had attempted to do so by crossing the Soul Stirring Winds, which had proven to be a very arduous experience. Even though his cultivation base had advanced significantly since then, he still had no intention of attempting the same thing again. Instead, he was nning to take the safer approach of using the teleportation array in the city.
After submitting the entrance fee, Han Li made his way into ck Wind City before making his way directly toward the ind master''s manor.
On the way there, he suddenly stopped in his tracks as he took a nce at the center of the city, then flew in that direction beforending in front of the teleportation za.
Bursts of white light were shing over the teleportation pagoda on the za, and it was giving off bursts of tremendous spiritual power fluctuations interspersed with spatial fluctuations.
Han Li knew that this was a sign that the teleportation array had already been activated, and that teleportation was about to be initiated.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he raised a hand to stop a middle-aged Nascent Soul cultivator who was passing by beside him, then said, "Excuse me, Fellow Daoist, I heard that the ck Wind Ind Master had dered that the teleportation array was going to be shut down for 1,000 years, so why is it suddenly running again."
The man was just about to fly into a rage at being stopped by Han Li, but as soon as he detected Han Li''s unfathomable aura, he hurriedly put on a fawning smile as he cupped his fist in a salute and replied, "You''ve must''ve only recently arrived at ck Wind City, right, Senior? The ck Wind Ind Master suddenly dered that the teleportation array was going to be in use again just yesterday, and the teleportation will be initiated at noon today."
"I see. Would you happen to know why the ind master suddenly changed his mind?" Han Li asked with a contemtive expression.
"That... I''m afraid not," the middle-aged man replied with a shake of his head.
"Thank you," Han Li replied with a nod, and the middle-aged man cupped his fist in a parting salute before quickly departing.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the teleportation pagoda with a contemtive look on his face, then raised his head to look up at the sun for a moment. All of a sudden, he abruptly vanished from the spot, flying toward the teleportation pagoda as a faint shadow beforending in front of the pagoda''s entrance.
The gates of the pagoda were tightly shut, and there were two ck Wind Ind cultivators standing guard on either side of them.
Han Li didn''t pause even for a moment as he flew straight through the gates in a wraith-like manner. There were severalyers of restrictions behind the gates, but none of them were triggered by his intrusion.
At this moment, there were as many as 80 to 90 people inside the pagoda, waiting for the teleportation to be initiated.
Han Li''s gaze was immediately drawn to several blue-robed cultivators standing at the forefront of the crowd, and they were none other than Luo Qinghai and the Vast Flow Pce cultivators, while Ind Master Lu Jun was standing beside them in a respectful manner.
It seemed that Luo Qinghai had left the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor before him, and he was also trying to leave the ck Wind Sea.
In the next instant, Han Li appeared behind everyone without attracting any attention, then tapped the back of a white-robed young man in front of him with his finger.
A zed-over look instantly appeared in the young man''s eyes, and he turned around before handing a blue talisman over to Han Li, then made his way to the side.
Aside from Luo Qinghai and a few others, no one else in the hall noticed what had just happened.
Luo Qinghai turned to examine Han Li, and a hint of befuddlement shed through his eyes, but his expression remainedpletely unchanged.
Meanwhile, Han Li stood on the spot with a calm expression, not shying away from Luo Qinghai''s scrutiny at all.
He wasn''t hoping to avoid detection from Luo Qinghai and the others in the first ce, and it didn''t matter to him even if they did notice him.
With his understanding of Luo Qinghai''s personality, he knew that he wouldn''t make any rash moves in this situation.
Sure enough, Luo Qinghai only inspected Han Li briefly before looking away again, making no effort to expose Han Li.
However, right at this moment, Han Li suddenly turned to another direction, where a group of people were gathered, chatting quietly among themselves.
Han Li''s brows furrowed ever so slightly.
Just now, he had detected someone scrutinizing him from that direction, but they had immediately looked away, so he was unable to tell who it was.
However, the fact that they had managed to detect what he had just done indicated that they were definitely also at the Golden Immortal Stage.
A hint of befuddlement shed through Han Li''s eyes upon arriving at this conclusion. Could it be Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni? Or was it someone else?
Before he had a chance to ponder the matter any further, a ck-robed elderly man standing beside the teleportation array suddenly stepped forward as he dered, "Sorry to keep you waiting, fellow daoists. It''s time, please enter the array."
Everyone that was holding a blue talisman filed into the teleportation array one after another, while the white-robed young man remained rooted to the spot with a dazed look on his face.
Lu Jun''s gaze shed over Han Li momentarily upon seeing this, but he didn''t say anything.
The ck-robed elderly man flipped a hand over to produce a white array te, then made a quick string of hand seals, upon which the array te instantly began to glow with radiant white light.
The teleportation array also began to glow bright, and the dazzling white spiritual light inundated everyone inside the array, following which all of them vanished without a trace.
A hint of relief appeared on Lu Jun''s face upon seeing this.
In the instant that everyone was teleported away, the rity returned to the white-robed young man''s eyes, and a panicked look appeared on his face as he eximed, "What just happened? Why am I standing here?"
"Get him out of here and return his spirit stones to him," Lu Jun instructed with a dismissive wave of his hand.
A pair of ck Wind Ind cultivators instantly heeded his call, escorting the white-robed young man out of the teleportation pagoda.
The ck-robed elderly man made his way over to Lu Jun''s side as he sighed, "Thank heavens they''re finally gone, Ind Master!"
"I''m afraid we may not be out of the woods yet," Lu Jun replied with a grim expression.
The ck-robed elderly man faltered slightly upon hearing this, while Lu Jun borated, "It wasn''t just the Vast Flow Pce that entered the immortal manor, yet they''re the only ones who have appeared here. What does that entail? To this day, the Immortal Pce cultivators are still nowhere to be found, and on top of that, everyone from the Dawn Fall Sect and the ze Dragon Dao has also seemingly vanished into thin air.
¡°I''m sure something must''ve happened in the immortal manor. Luo Qinghai ims that he knows nothing, but I highly doubt that. Regardless of what happened, it happened in our ck Wind Sea, so there could still be much more trouble toe."
"I thought that they must''ve already left the ck Wind Sea through some other avenues. After all, those people are all extremely powerful, and some of them didn''t arrive in our ck Wind Sea through the teleportation array in the first ce," the ck-robed elderly man said in a hesitant manner.
"You''re referring to the Soul Stirring Winds, right? We can only pray that they''ve already left our ck Wind Sea through the Soul Stirring Winds," Lu Jun mused with a wry smile.
"By the way, have you received any news about Young Mistress Yuqing from the people of the Vast Flow Pce?" the ck-robed elderly man asked.
"I''m afraid not, but I don''t know if they really didn''t know anything, or if they were just hiding what they knew from me," Lu Jun replied with a hint of concern in his eyes.
"Young Mistress Yuqing''s Origin Soul Lamp is still lit, so she''s definitely still alive. Perhaps she''s merely trapped somewhere at the moment, and she could be back soon, so don''t be too concerned, Ind Master," the ck-robed elderly man consoled,
Lu Jun offered no response to this, merely heaving a forlorn sigh with tightly furrowed brows.
The ck-robed elderly man didn''t know what else he could say, so he could only remain silent as well.
Lu Jun stood beside the teleportation array for a moment longer, then heaved another long sigh before turning to depart, but right as he did so, he suddenly spotted a white jade slip on the ground beside the array.
His brows furrowed slightly as he drew the jade slip into his hand, then injected his spiritual sense into it, and he found a short message inside:
"Fellow Daoist Lu Yuqing has encountered an opportunity in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, and she''s perfectly safe, so do not be concerned."
An ecstatic look immediately appeared on Lu Jun''s face upon seeing this, and all of the concern in his eyes was erased.
He stowed the jade slip away, then extended a deep bow toward the teleportation array, while the ck-robed elderly man looked on with a perplexed expression.
......
Han Li''s entire field of view was filled with white radiance, and the entire world spun around him in a blur.
Some timeter, his vision was restored, and he appeared in another white hall.
Han Li took a nce at his surroundings, and he identified this ce to the teleportation hall in Wave View City.
At this moment, there was another group of people standing in a corner of the hall, and they were clearly waiting to be teleported into the ck Wind Sea.
Han Li filed out of the teleportation array with everyone else, then quickly exited the teleportation pagoda.
After that, he promptly departed, quickly vanishing into the crowd on the street outside.
Luo Qinghai and the other Vast Flow Pce cultivators were gathered in a nearby pavilion, and all of them were looking in the direction where Han Li had just faded into the cloud.
"Do you know who he is, Pce Master?" the fair-skinned schr asked as he withdrew his gaze.
A contemtive look appeared on Luo Qinghai''s face as he replied, "I''m not sure, but judging from what he managed to pull off earlier, he has to be a Golden Immortal. I presume that he''s currently using a disguise conjured up by a Transient Guild mask, so that''s not his true appearance. Were you able to identify him, Meng''er?"
Nan Kemeng was still looking a little weary and frail, and he merely shook his head in response to the question.
"If he''s using a Transient Guild mask, then perhaps a member of the Reincarnation Pce," one of the Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals spected.
"Perhaps, but he could also be from the ze Dragon Dao, the Dawn Fall Sect, or some other power. Quite a few cultivators entered the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor on this asion, and we weren''t able to meet all of them," Luo Qinghai said.
"If he''s a Golden Immortal, then why is he sneaking around like this? I''m concerned that he may be harboring some ill intentions. Should I send someone to investigate him?" another Golden Immortal asked.
"There''s no need to do that. We''ve alreadypleted our objective for this trip, so it doesn''t matter who that man is and what his intentions are. In the wake of everything that had happened here, the Northern cial Immortal Region is sure to undergo a period of turmoil, so we have to return to the Vast Flow Pce and make some preparations," Luo Qinghai replied with a shake of his head.
The Golden Immortal was rather disappointed to hear this, but he still nodded in response.
With that, the group continued onward, and Nan Kemeng followed them for a few steps before ayer of peculiar blue light suddenly appeared over his face, then transformed into a thinyer of blue ice crystals.
She immediately swayed momentarily before tipping over, and Luo Qinghai hurriedly swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of blue light to catch him, while everyone else gathered around to see what had happened.
Chapter 521: Followed
Chapter 521: Followed
A grim look appeared on Luo Qinghai''s face as he made a hand seal, and the ball of white light that had lifted up Nan Kemeng split up into five before entering different parts of his body.
Theyer of blue ice crystals on his face quickly faded away, and his trembling also ceased.
"Pce Master, what is wrong with Martial Nephew Nan?" the fair-skinned schr asked.
"This is not the ce to talk. Let''s find somewhere to settle down first," Luo Qinghai replied with a grim expression, and the Vast Flow Pce cultivators quickly made their way into Wave View City before taking up residence in a quiet inn.
"Meng''er sustained some severe injuries during the prior battle, and in his injured state, he forcibly activated the Frost Crystal que, resulting in the cial qi within the que entering his meridians. If this isn''t addressed in a timely fashion, it could harm his cultivation foundation. I have to immediately use a secret technique to treat his condition.
I''m sure all of you must be tired after that ordeal in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, so you can all go and rest," Luo Qinghai said to the other Vast Flow Pce cultivators, then made his way into an independent small courtyard behind the inn with Nan Kemeng.
Momentster, a light barrier rose up from within to epass the entire courtyard.
"Martial Nephew Nan is in good hands with our pce master treating him, so there''s no need to be concerned. Let''s all go and take a rest," the fair-skinned schr as he made his way into a nearby courtyard, while the other Vast Flow Pce True Immortals each picked out a courtyard of their own.
However, one of the Golden Immortals among their ranks, an elderly man with a ck beard, remained still on the spot for a moment, then made his way into the courtyard that the fair-skinned schr was staying in.
The fair-skinned schr was rather surprised to see him, and he asked, "Why aren''t you resting, Pce Master Tie?"
"With our cultivation bases, I''m sure that trip was nowhere near enough to tire us out. I came here because I have something to discuss with you, Pce Master Qiu," the elderly man exined as he swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a light barrier.
The fair-skinned schr''s expression remained unchanged upon seeing this, and he prompted, "Go ahead, Pce Master Tie."
"Pardon my intrusion, but may I ask what rewards you''ve managed to reap from the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce?" the elderly man asked as he lowered his voice slightly.
"Why do you ask this, Pce Master Tie?" the fair-skinned schr asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"For the sake of reaching the High Zenith Pce as soon as possible, none of us were able to gather many treasures or resources on the way there. To make matters worse, we''ve expended many treasures, so overall, I would say it was a loss for all of us. Are you willing to return to the sect like this, Pce Master Qiu?
Out of the Five Extreme Pces, we are the only two pce masters to have apanied Grand Pce Master Luo into the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce. The other three haven''t said anything, but I''m sure they''re not very pleased. Given Grand Pce Master Luo''s personality, if another good opportunity arises in the future, he definitely won''t call upon the two of us again," the elderly man said in an indignant manner.
"If you have something to say, then please be more direct about it, Pce Master Tie," the fair-skinned schr urged in an indifferent voice.
"In that case, I''ll keep it concise. Even though we haven''t reaped many spoils on this trip, that doesn''t mean that others haven''t," the elderly man said in a meaningful voice as he pointed outside.
"You''re referring to that man from earlier?" the fair-skinned schr asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"That''s right. Seeing as he just came out of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, he must be carrying plenty of precious treasures and resources with him. Even if his luck in the immortal manor was quiteckluster, the entire wealth of a Golden Immortal is still enough to cover our losses," the elderly man said.
A contemtive look appeared on the fair-skinned schr''s face upon hearing this, but he then immediately shook his head as he said, "No, we can''t do that. We don''t know who that man is, and Grand Pce Master Luo has already told us to leave him be."
"This maye across as a little disrespectful, but of course Grand Pce Master Luo is unwilling to get involved in this matter, considering he''s already achieved his objective of securing a High Zenith Pill. In contrast, we''re still bothpletely empty-handed!" the elderly man said.
"How could you say that about Grand Pce Master Luo? Everything that he''s doing is for the sake of our Vast Flow Pce''s future!" the fair-skinned schr said in a cold voice.
The elderly man gave a cold harrumph in response. "I have no intention of ndering Grand Pce Master Luo. That man left in quite a hurry after spotting us, so he''s definitely not an ally of ours. In that case, he could be an enemy of our sect, so why shouldn''t we take advantage of this opportunity to eliminate him?"
"I suppose you''re right. The problem is that his cultivation base is unclear, so even if we join forces, we may not be guaranteed to be able to take him down," the fair-skinned schr mused with a hesitant expression.
An ted look immediately appeared on the elderly man''s face upon hearing this, and he said, "Not to worry, Pce Master Qiu."
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and two bursts of yellow light shot out of his hand, then transformed into a pair of earthy yellow puppets that were giving off formidable auras intermingled with hints ofw power fluctuations.
However, both puppets were quite severely damaged, and the auras that were emanating from them were also fluctuating in a rather unsteady fashion.
"These are Golden Immortal Stage puppets!" the fair-skinned schr eximed as a hint of greed shed through his eyes.
"With these two puppets on our side, I''m sure you''ll have no further qualms, right, Pce Master Qiu?" the elderly man chuckled.
"I didn''t think you would have such formidable puppets in your possession. With these two puppets on our side, we''ll surely be able to take him down," the fair-skinned schr replied as a decisive look appeared on his face.
Momentster, the two of them slipped silently out of the inn, then flew away into the distance.
......
Han Li emerged from a materials shop, holding a jade box with a pleased look on his face.
Inside the jade box were some Nightlight Herb seeds, a type of spirit nt that was only found on the Primordial Wave Continent.
The Nightlight Herb was the final ingredient that he was missing for refining Infernal Azure Pills, a Golden Immortal Stage pill in the Huanan Pill Scripture.
Nightlight Herbs were quite rare on the Primordial Wave Continent, so he wasn''t actually very confident that he would be able to find seeds of this spirit nt here, and this discovery hade as a very pleasant surprise. Even though he had only managed to secure some seeds, as opposed to actual specimens of the spirit nt, it made virtually no difference to him.
After stowing the jade box away, Han Li quickly left Wave View City, flying away as a streak of azure light and vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Not long after his departure, two faint shadows also flew out of the city, trailing along some distance behind him.
Han Li didn''t immediately summon the green jade flying carriage. The flying carriage once belonged to Gongshu Jiu, and even though there was most likely no one in Wave View City who recognized it, it was still better to take a more cautious approach and only summon the carriage once he was a bit further away from the city.
As he flew through the air, he flipped a hand over to summon the white jade slip that had been given to him by Wyrm 3, which contained the route that he could take to leave the Northern cial Immortal Region.
ording to the jade slip, the starting point of the route was a location somewhere in the southwest of the Northern cial Immortal Region.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he traced his finger over the jade slip in an absentminded manner.
Even though Wyrm 3 had told him two routes through which he could leave the Northern cial Immortal Pce, it was clearly not feasible for him to leave through the Northern cial Immortal Pce''s interregion gate.
Even though his Reincarnation Pce mask still hadn''t been exposed yet, the Reincarnation Pce was a sworn enemy of the Heavenly Court, so there was no guarantee that the Heavenly Court didn''t have any ways to see through Reincarnation Pce masks.
Hence, the only option avable to him was to cross the primordialnd.
However, he naturally wasn''t going to blindly trust Wyrm 3, so he had to verify through some other avenues that this was indeed a feasible route to take.
Aside from that, he also had to make a trip to the Ancient Cloud Continent prior to his departure.
All of a sudden, Han Li swept his gaze across the surrounding area. He discovered that he was already very far away from Wave View City, and he immediately swung around as he yelled, "Who''s there? Come out and face me!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a masked elderly man appeared ahead of him amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the masked elderly man, and he said, "I don''t believe we''ve met before. Why have you followed me all this way?"
Even though the elderly man''s entire body was enshrouded within a burst of invisible force, Han Li was struck by a sense of familiarity at the sight of him.
The masked elderly offered no response as he made a hand seal, and nine streaks of golden light shot out of his sleeve, then transformed into nine golden flying swords.
There were countless white runes swirling around the flying swords like radiant white mes, and they swelled rapidly to over 1,000 feet in length each, then arranged themselves into a line to form a formidable sword dragon that swooped down toward Han Li with tremendous power.
Even before the white sword dragon descended upon Han Li, a burst of incredible sharpw powers erupted out of its body, causing the surrounding space to tremble and warp.
However, Han Li waspletely unfazed by this, and a mocking sneer appeared on his face as he made a hand seal.
A burst of golden light shed over his body, and ayer of thick golden fur emerged over his skin as he transformed into a giant golden ape that was several thousand feet tall in the blink of an eye.
The giant ape made a grabbing motion with one hand, and a dark green sword instantly appeared in its grasp. This was none other than one of the three immortal swords that he had just obtained from the storage bracelet that he had dug up from the seabed.
As soon as the green sword was summoned, all of the spirit patterns on its surface instantly lit up, and it swelled to over 1,000 feet in size while giving off a burst of tremendousw power fluctuations.
The golden ape then let loose a thunderous roar as it swung its giant green sword into the white sword dragon, and the two bursts of opposingw powers shed with an earth-shattering boom.
The white light around the white sword dragon was instantly destroyed, as were thew power fluctuations that it was releasing, following which the entire sword dragon itself was sent flying like a ragdoll.
As the sword dragon tumbled through the air, it split back up into nine golden flying swords, every single one of which had dimmed significantly, clearly indicating that their spiritual nature had been severely damaged.
A stunned look shed through the masked elderly man''s eyes upon seeing this, but right at this moment, a vast expanse of ck mist surged out of the nearby space in a frenzy, and it instantly epassed the entire surrounding area in a radius of several dozen kilometers.
An ted look appeared on the elderly man''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately vanished into the ck mist.
Enshrouded within the cloud of ck mist, Han Li found himself trapped in a turbulent ck sea, immediately following which a series of ck sea beasts came pouncing at him from all directions.
All of these sea beasts were as enormous as mountains, and their auras indicated that they were all at the Golden Immortal Stage!
Chapter 522: Joyful Reunion
Chapter 522: Joyful Reunion
The giant ape didn''t panic in the slightest upon seeing this, and it harrumphed coldly, "Are you really expecting to fool me with such a weak illusion?"
It then shed its giant green sword horizontally through the air, instantly unleashing a burst of tremendous force that swept outward in all directions.
The surrounding illusion was unable to put up any resistance as it was instantly eradicated, and the original setting re-emerged.
However, at this point, a pair of yellow puppets had appeared on either side of the golden ape, and they were no more than 100 feet away. Both of the puppets were glowing with radiant yellow light that was interspersed with bursts of formidablew power fluctuations.
The two puppets swung their arms through the air, and two balls of yellow light flew out of their bodies, transforming into a pair of yellow dragons that were thousands of feet in length.
The two yellow dragons wrapped themselves around the golden ape''s arms in the blink of an eye, binding them into ce like a pair of chains.
Right at this moment, the masked elderly man reappeared in front of the golden ape, while another white-robed masked figure emerged behind it.
As soon as the masked elderly man appeared, he immediately made a hand seal, and the nine golden flying swords shot forth once again, fusing as one mid-flight to form an enormous golden sword that was over 1,000 feet in length.
The huge white sword swept through the air in an arc, forming an enormous white sword wheel as it hurtled toward the golden ape while giving off a burst ofw power fluctuations that were even more formidable than those of the white sword dragon from before.
At the same time, a burst of dark azure light flew out of his body before transforming into a massive hammer.
Balls of dark azure mes emerged over the hammer, and they were giving off a cial aura as the hammer swept toward the golden ape.
Meanwhile, the white-robed man swept a sleeve through the air to release an inky-ck wooden ruler, which swelled to over 1,000 feet in length in the blink of an eye before crashing down toward the golden ape with tremendous force.
A cloud of ck mist was swirling around the giant ck ruler, and it came crashing down like an enormous mountain, causing the nearby space to warp and buzz incessantly.
At the same time, the man opened his mouth to release a string of around a dozen purple beads, all of which were giving off an astonishingly fearsome lightning aura.
The golden ape waspletely unfazed by all of this, and bright purplish-golden light erupted out of its body as ayer of purplish-golden scales emerged over its fur. At the same time, a pair of heads and two pairs arms appeared on its shoulders and beneath its ribs, respectively, instantly transforming it into a purplish-golden devilish deity with three heads and six arms.
The devilish deity grabbed onto the pair of yellow dragons that were wrapped around its arm with its four free hands, then made a violent wrenching motion.
A burst of indescribably tremendous power erupted out of its body, causing the nearby space to ripple andpress to an extreme degree.
A resounding boom rang out as the pair of yellow dragons were torn apart as if they were made of tofu, then disintegrated into a vast cloud of yellow mist.
Immediately thereafter, all of the spirit patterns on the devilish deity''s body lit up, and the immortal spiritual power in its body surged into the giant green sword in its hand like a turbulent sea, causing the silver runes on the surface of the sword to glow several times brighter than before.
As the sword was swung through the air, it released a burst of mountainous interspersed withw power fluctuations in all directions, threatening to tear the very space apart.
A string of thunderous booms rang out as the two puppets, the white sword wheel, the dark azure hammer, and the giant ck ruler were all sent flying like weightless feathers as soon as they came into contact with the almighty green sword.
As for the purple lightning beads, all of them exploded into vast balls of purple light upon contact with the giant green sword, and they were giving off bursts of formidable lightningw fluctuations.
However, these purple balls of light were then instantly inundated and swept away by a wave of dark green swordlight.
The masked elderly man and the white-robed man shuddered violently as they were also sent flying back through the air, and they stumbled back for several thousand feet before finally managing to steady themselves.
Both of them had blood flowing down the corners of their lips, and they were utterly astonished by the unfathomable power of their opponent.
The white-robed man gave the masked elderly man a vicious re, then immediately turned and fled into the distance, doing so in such a hurry that he was even leaving his ck ruler behind.
The masked elderly also immediately fled the scene upon seeing this, but the devilish deity wasn''t about to let them get away, and it chuckled coldly, "Why don''t you stay and keep mepany?"
Immediately thereafter, the Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind it, releasing waves of golden ripples that instantly spread through the surrounding area in a radius of over 10,000 feet, epassing both the masked elderly man and the white-robed man within them.
The white-robed man''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and a look of immense horror and regret appeared in his eyes as he eximed, "You''re Li..."
Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, his voice was abruptly cut off as the time-slowing effect of the Mantra Treasured Axis took hold, and the masked elderly man was alsopletely rooted to the spot.
Meanwhile, the devilish deity looked down at the giant green sword in its hand as it gave a pleased nod.
The enormous weight of the sword and the immense destructivew powers that it contained made it an ideal weapon to use in this form.
Han Li made a hand seal, quickly reverting back to his human form, and the giant green sword also returned to its original size.
He then stowed the sword away before turning his gaze to the pair of immobilized figures within the nearby golden ripples.
He made his way over to white-robed man, then tore off his mask to reveal none other than the fair-skinned schr from the Vast Flow Pce.
He raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, then strode over to the masked elderly man before removing his mask as well, and he was able to identify the elderly man as another one of the Vast Flow Pce''s Golden Immortals.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as grabbed onto the elderly man''s head, and bursts of ck light emerged over his fingertips before vanishing into the elderly man''s head.
Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls were extremely resilient, so under normal circumstances, soul search techniques were very difficult to execute, but the task was made far easier by the time-slowing effect of the Mantra Treasured Axis.
Momentster, Han Li removed his hand from the elderly man''s head, and by then, he had already determined their motive foring after him.
The elderly man''s eyes had bulged slightly outward, but the light within them hadn''t faded.
Han Li was just about to destroy both of their nascent souls when he suddenly stopped what he was doing, and a contemtive look appeared on his face.
"I suppose it''s your lucky day," Han Li harrumphed coldly as he flicked a finger through the air, releasing a pair of crimson fireballs thatnded upon his two assants, quickly incinerating their bodies into ashes, leaving only a pair of storage tools and a pair of nascent souls behind.
Han Li then swept a sleeve through the to release a burst of azure light that drew the pair of nascent souls into his grasp, following which he stered a purple talisman to each of their heads.
A series of purple runes instantly emerged over the pair of talismans to restrict the two nascent souls, and only then did he stow them away.
After that, he seized their storage tools, the surrounding immortal treasures, as well as the pair of yellow puppets, then withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis.
All of the surrounding golden ripples faded away in a sh, and Han Li took a nce at Wave View City before quickly withdrawing his gaze.
Right as he was about to depart, the sound of apuse suddenly rang out.
"As expected of one of the paramountws. That was truly a formidable disy!"
"Who''s there?"
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward a certain spot, and a pair of figures immediately appeared there.
Much to Han Li''s tion, they were none other than Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni, and he made his way over to them as he said, "I''m d to see you''re both safe and well, fellow daoists!"
"I can see that you''re also doing just fine, Fellow Daoist Li," Daoist Hu Yan chuckled.
"When did you two get here?" Han Li asked.
"We only just got here, and we arrived just in time to see that impressive disy! The five Golden Immortal Stage pce masters of the Five Extreme Vast Flow Pces are all vastly renowned figures in the Northern cial Immortal Pce, yet they couldn''t even put up any resistance against you!" Daoist Hu Yan praised.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan. They were simply oblivious to my identity and caught off guard. If they had known who I was from the beginning, then it wouldn''t have been so easy for me to defeat them," Han Li replied in a modest manner.
"Sorry for leaving you behind on your own to face Gongshu Jiu and Mo Yu," Daoist Hu Yan said with a hint of apology in his eyes.
Yun Ni didn''t say anything, but she also extended an apologetic curtsey toward Han Li with a guilty look on her face.
"Don''t worry about it. The situation at the time demanded for such measures to be taken. We''re all alive and well now, so there''s no need to apologize for such trivial things. You''ve always been a really straightforward man, since when were you the type to get hung up over these things, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan?" Han Li jibed.
"Well, you''ve certainly be a lot more carefree than before!" Daoist Hu Yan chuckled, while a smile also appeared on Yun Ni''s face, and with that, they were once again just a trio of old friends enjoying each other''spany.
"We almost died on quite a few asions back in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, and the fact that we''ve survived is very much worthy of celebration. Let''s have a drink! Yun Ni doesn''t like drinking much, and it''s been really boring drinking on my own," Daoist Hu Yan said as he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a table and some chairs in mid-air.
"So you''re saying that you don''t enjoy mypany?" Yun Ni asked as her expression darkened slightly.
"Of course not!" Daoist Hu Yan hurriedly replied. "What I''m saying is that I don''t enjoy drinking on my own. Of course I love having you around!"
Yun Ni gave a displeased harrumph and turned away to ignore Daoist Hu Yan.
An amused smile appeared on Han Li''s face at the sight of their lovers'' quarrel, and he sat down onto one of the chairs as he dered, "I agree that a celebration is in order. Let''s all have a drink!"
"Fantastic! No matter what happens from here, whether that be the entire immortal region being swept up into turmoil, or the Vast Flow Pce reigning supreme as the only dominant force, none of that matters here and now. Today, all we''re going to focus on is drinking to our hearts'' content!" Daoist Hu Yan agreed as he also eagerly sat down.
"Seeing as Fellow Daoist Li is with us, I''ll let you off the hook for now. Otherwise..."
Yun Ni''s voice trailed off as she gave Daoist Hu Yan a cold re, following which she also sat down.
"You really saved my skin there, Brother. I owe you one!" Daoist Hu Yan said to Han Li in a grateful voice through voice transmission, while Han Li merely smiled in response.
Chapter 523: A Drink with Old Friends
Chapter 523: A Drink with Old Friends
Daoist Hu Yan swept a sleeve through the air, and a burst of red light shed over the table, upon which an orange wine jar appeared. The jar was around a foot in height, and judging from the antiquated patterns engraved onto its surface, it was clearly a very old jar of wine.
Even before the jar was opened, it was already releasing a mesmerizing aroma throughout the surrounding area.
Having discussed wine on so many past asions with Daoist Hu Yan, Han Li had umted a great deal of knowledge on the subject, and he immediately eximed, "This is exceptional wine! Judging from its fragrance, this must be Seasonal Dream, right?"
"Precisely! This jar of Seasonal Dream was brewed using Cloudborn Fruits as the main ingredient, and I had to spent countless years brewing it," Daoist Hu Yan said as he removed the stopper from the jar, then conjured up three pristine white cups, all of which he filled with wine.
The wine was as clear and pure as a mirror, and it had a light red hue that was further entuated by the white cup that it had been poured into.
Han Li took a sip, and his eyes instantly lit up as he praised, "This is indeed exceptional wine!"
As soon as the wine flowed into his mouth, it immediately transformed into a burst of heat that was as mellow as a cloud, filling his entire body with a sense of warmfort.
On top of that, the wine also contained immense immortal spiritual power, instantly replenishing the immortal spiritual power that he had expended during his battle against the two pce masters.
"Of course! My cultivation aptitude can only be described as decent at best, but when ites to brewing wine, just this jar of Seasonal Dream alone is sufficient testament to prove that I''m unmatched in the entire Northern cial Immortal Region!" Daoist Hu Yan replied in a proud manner.
"As soon as you have a bit to drink, you immediately start bragging like a fool!" Yun Ni scolded with a displeased expression, but she also took a small sip of wine from her cup.
The three of them exchanged some small talk, then began to talk about what had happened after they had parted ways in the immortal manor.
As it turned out, following Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni''s departure, they immediately hid somewhere secluded, but not long thereafter, they were teleported out of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor and ended up in the ck Wind Sea.
After some discussion, the two of them decided not to brave the Soul Stirring Winds again. Instead, they had the same idea of leaving the ck Wind Sea through the teleportation array. However, they encountered the Vast Flow Pce''s cultivators there, so they disguised themselves before entering the teleportation pagoda.
"I knew it! Prior to stepping into the array, I detected two familiar auras nearby. That was you two, right?" Han Li chuckled.,
"Indeed. I didn''t think you would have the courage to tantly steal a teleportation spot right under the noses of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators! I have to say, I was really impressed at the time," Daoist Hu Yan also chuckled in response.
"By the time I got to ck Wind City, it was already right on the cusp of the scheduled teleportation, so I didn''t have much of a choice," Han Li exined with a smile.
"How did you fare against Gongshu Jiu after we left, Fellow Daoist Li?" Yun Ni suddenly asked, and a serious look appeared on Daoist Hu Yan''s face upon hearing this.
"Gongshu Jiu is already dead," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice as he took another sip of wine.
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni had already guessed that this would be the oue, considering Han Li was alive and well, but they were still very much taken aback by this answer.
"Your powers are truly unfathomable, Fellow Daoist Li. To think that even a High Zenith cultivator is no longer a match for you. Your cultivation aptitude is truly unmatched!" Yun Ni said as she raised her cup with a hint of admiration in her eyes.
"Even back in the ze Dragon Dao, I knew that there was something special about you, but never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that you woulde so far in just a few centuries!" Daoist Hu Yan chuckled as he also raised his cup.
"You''re far too kind, fellow daoists. Gongshu Jiu died by the hand of multiple people, and I only made a very minor contribution," Han Li said in a modest manner.
"Then what about that Gray Immortal?" Daoist Hu Yan asked.
"The Gray Immortal immediately left following Gongshu Jiu''s demise, and he didn''t target me. After that, I left the High Zenith Pce, but I was also suddenly teleported out of the immortal manor shortly thereafter. There was still supposed to be some time left until the closing of the immortal manor, so I presume someone was pulling strings behind the scenes," Han Li replied, refraining from telling the two about Mo Yu and Lu Yuqing.
"Indeed, there''s a very good chance that the Gray Immortal was controlling everything from the very beginning. I''ve heard that he has some ties with the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord, and he was also clearly very familiar with all of the restrictions in the High Zenith Pce. It''s a good thing that he''s not a bloodthirsty individual. Otherwise, even if we managed to kill Gongshu Hong, there''s no way we would''ve been able to escape from him," Daoist Hu Yan mused.
"We were indeed very fortunate. While it''s true that he''s a Gray Immortal, his personality seems to be different from what Gray Immortals are said to be like," Han Li remarked.
"The death of an immortal envoy is a very important matter, and I''m almost certain that there will be a new immortal envoy sent to the Northern cial Immortal Region soon to investigate this matter. All of those immortal envoys are skilled in secret techniques that allow them to identify members of the Reincarnation Pce, so do be careful," Daoist Hu Yan cautioned with a serious expression.
"Thank you for the warning, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan. I''ll be sure to keep myself well-concealed from here onward," Han Li replied.
"With your powers, as long as you remain on your guard, you should be fine. If you can''t stay in the Northern cial Immortal Region, then just leave," Daoist Hu Yan advised.
"Do you know of a way to leave the Northern cial Immortal Region?" Han Li asked with an intrigued expression.
"I heard from Dao Lord Baili that there exists an interregion gate in the Northern cial Immortal Pce that leads to other immortal regions. However, apparently, each teleportation expends an enormous amount of resources, so even the pce master may not be able to use it whenever he pleases. Hence, that''s most likely out of the question.
Even if we manage to force our way to the interregion gate, we''ll most likely be confronted by immortal envoys sent by the Heavenly Court before we manage to figure out how to activate the gate," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
"I''ve also heard about this. If this is an unfeasible route to take, then are there any alternatives?" Han Li asked.
"The alternative option would be to cross the primordialnd between immortal regions. However, I''ve heard that such a journey is no less perilous than forcing our way into the Northern cial Immortal Pce, and even a High Zenith cultivator isn''t guaranteed to be able to make the journey safely. Having said that, it''s said that the Reincarnation Pce has carved out a rtively safe passageway through primordialnd, but I don''t know where this route is," Daoist Hu Yan replied.
Han Li nodded in response.
It seemed that Wyrm 3 had been telling him the truth.
"Fellow Daoist Li, the perils of the primordialnde primarily from how unchartered and unexplored it is. Many cultivators have tried to cross through it in the past, but most of them haven''t lived to tell the tale, so I advise you not to pursue that path unless it''s absolutely necessary," Yun Ni cautioned.
"Thank you for the advice, fellow daoists. I''ll be sure to consider this matter carefully. May I ask what your ns are from here onward? Now that your identities have been exposed, I''m sure the Heavenly Court will being after you as well," Han Li said.
"We''ll be sure to be on our guard as well, so there''s no need for you to worry about us. To tell you the truth, Dao Lord Baili has already taken the High Zenith Stage, and a breakthrough to the High Zenith Stage is imminent for him. Once that timees, we won''t have to fear any immortal envoys!" Daoist Hu Yan replied.
"In that case, I''ll be offering my congrattions to Dao Lord Baili in advance," Han Li said with a smile.
"At the moment, Dao Lord Baili is working on refining the High Zenith Pill, so he won''t be able toe out of seclusion to see you. However, he''s also very interested in you, so if we get a chance to meet again in the future, let''s all share a drink together!" Daoist Hu Yan said with a wide smile.
"That sounds great to me," Han Li replied with a smile.
After that, the three of them began to discuss the state of the Northern cial Immortal Region and what the future likely held, following which the conversation shifted to sharing cultivation insights and experiences.
The jar of wine was quickly finished, but Daoist Hu Yan had a virtually endless stash of fine wines, and he immediately brought out a new jar.
The time flew by in a sh, and before long, day had already transitioned into night.
THe three of them were thoroughly enjoying one another''spany, and they were reluctant to part ways, but it was time to say their goodbyes.
"It''s about time that we left, Fellow Daoist Li. Look after yourself!" Daoist Hu Yan dered as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
"Same to you, fellow daoists," Han Li replied with a nod.
Daoist Hu Yan stowed the table and chairs away, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of fiery red light that epassed both himself and Yun Ni.
The two of them then rose up into the sky before flying toward the setting sun in the distance, quickly fading out of sight.
Han Li stood with his hands sped behind his back while his robes pped audibly around him in the wind, remaining as still as a statue as he looked on at the setting sun.
A short whileter, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon the green jade flying carriage, then sped away in another direction.
Chapter 524: Visiting a Place of Old
Chapter 524: Visiting a ce of Old
Heavenly Cloud City, Ancient Cloud Continent.
It was the end of another year. For cultivators, this was just another insignificant moment in their long and busy lives, but for mortals, this was the most important time of the year.
Light snow was falling from the sky, and aside from some inns and taverns inhabited by cultivators, the rest of the city waspletely covered in a nket of snow. In ordance with an old tradition passed down from time immemorial, newly cut-down peach tree branches were stuck into the snow between the window frames, while vibrant and colorful couplets had been stuck onto the door frames.
The sun had already set, and dusk was transitioning into night.
On a street to the east of Heavenly Cloud City, all of the shops had put uprge rednterns, illuminating the entire street with a festive red glow.
There was steam rising up all over the street as all types of hot foods were being sold, and all of the merchants were loudly advertising their wares, giving the street a lively and bustling atmosphere.
A petite and beautiful young woman wearing a red cloak was currently slowly walking along the street with a delectable tanghulu in her hand.
Her entire face was concealed within therge hood of her cloak, and there was a lonesome look on her face.
"Big Brother and the others aren''t here, and Master Li is still gone... I''m all alone..." she sighed to herself in a dejected voice before taking a bite out of her tanghulu.
Right at this moment, she suddenly raised her head, and she spotted a tall azure-robed man at the end of the street, approaching her with a smile on his face.
Her eyes instantly sprang wide open with incredulity, and she hurriedly swallowed the mouthful of tanghulu before hurriedly rushing over to him.
Only when she had almost reached him did she notice that there was an adorable little girl by his side, grabbing onto his robe with both hands as she looked around with a curious expression.
"Master Li!"
The young woman immediately removed her hood upon reaching the azure-robed man, then extended a respectful curtsey.
The man was none other than Han Li, who had traveled all the way here from the Primordial Wave Continent, while the woman was Meng Qianqian.
"No need for formalities. I entered the city through the eastern gate, and I just so happened to sense your aura, so I came to pay you a visit," Han Li said with a smile.
Jin Tong''s gaze had been drawn to all of the food being sold along the street, but she turned her attention to Meng Qianqian before pursing her lips slightly in disdain as she asked, "Who''s this, Uncle? Her cultivation base is so low, and her aptitude is also terrible!"
An exasperated look appeared on Han Li''s face as he scolded, "Don''t be so rude! She''s your junior martial sister!"
Meng Qianqian lowered her head in a slightly embarrassed manner, then said, "It''s a pleasure to meet you, Senior Martial Sister."
"I have a junior martial sister now!" Jin Tong immediately eximed in delight, then summoned a vial of pills before tossing them at Meng Qianqian. "Here, this is for you."
None of the mortals dared to stop and stare at Han Li''s trio, but Han Li could tell that they were all sneaking furtive nces their way, so he said, "Let''s get back to the Moonview Forest first. I have some things to tell you."
"Yes, Master Li!" Meng Qianqian hurriedly replied.
"It smells so good here! I want to eat first before we go," Jin Tong protested as she caught a whiff of the fragrant aroma wafting out of a nearby restaurant.
Han Li naturally didn''t dare to leave her here on her own. If she were left unchecked, she could easily eat the entire city!
Hence, he had no choice but toply with her demands. "Alright, let''s have some food then. It''s been a long time since I''ve had mortal food myself."
"Which shop has the best food?" Jin Tong asked in an eager voice, and she was barely able to contain her own salivation.
"Are there anyrger restaurants nearby?" Han Li asked as he turned to Meng Qianqian, who hurriedly nodded in response.
"There are tworge restaurants nearby. I can take you to them right away."
He had explored the city quite extensively during her time here, so she was very familiar with the food being sold here, and she immediately led Han Li and Jin Tong to the nearestrge restaurant.
However, Jin Tong was already unable to wait any longer, and she was drawn to a steamed bun stall on the side of the street.
"The steamedmb buns here are quite popr. We can have some of them first," Meng Qianqian suggested.
Han Li nodded in response, and the three of them sat down at the stall.
The stall waiter could tell that these three were no ordinary customers, and he hurriedly rushed over to them with a warm smile as he asked, "What would you like to order? Our steamedmb buns are the best in the city!"
"We''ll have three steamers ofmb buns and three bowls ofmb offal soup," Meng Qianqian ordered as she pulled out a silver ingot.
"Coming right up!" the waiter dered before departing, and it didn''t take long before the order was brought to the table.
Jin Tong was already at her limit, and she grabbed into a steamedmb bun, which was evenrger than both of her handsbined, then sank her teeth into it.
The soft and sumptuous steamed bun instantly split open, and the golden soup inside spilled into her mouth, bringing with it a delectably meaty aroma.
A blissful look appeared on her face as she began to munch down the steamed bun at an speed.incredible speed.
The waiter was very rmed to see this, fearing that she would burn herself on the piping hot steamed buns, but before he had a chance to say anything, the first bun was already finished, and Jin Tong wiped the oil from her lips before stuffing a second bun into her mouth.
As she ate, her movements became faster and faster, and by the end, it as as if the steamed buns were being zapped out of existence, vanishing into thin air one after another.
All the while, the waiter gawked on with his mouth agape.
"These steamedmb buns are incredible, Uncle! Get me 100, no, 1,000 steamers of these!" Jin Tong yelled with an ecstatic expression.
Not only was the waiterpletely rooted to the spot, even the other diners had all turned to look at her.
"Are they really that good?" Han Li chuckled.
"They are!" Jin Tong insisted as she smacked her lips.
"How many more steamed buns do you have? We''ll take them all," Han Li said as he turned to the waiter with a smile.
The waiter was still reeling from what he had seen, so he didn''t reply right away.
Han Li thought that the waiter was concerned that he wouldn''t have enough money to pay for the meal, and he was just about to pull out some silver when he realized that he didn''t have a single tael of silver on him, only a mountain of Immortal Origin Stones.
Ironically, he was too rich to afford food in this city!
Meng Qianqian immediately came to his rescue, flipping a hand over to ce a mid-grade spirit stone onto the table.
Compared with the mortals of the Spirit Realm and the Mortal Realm, those of the Northern cial Immortal Region generally lived longer and were healthier. Even though the mostmonly used forms of currency among them were still silver and gold, they were not unfamiliar with immortal currencies like spirit stones.
Spirit stones contained the world''s origin qi, so even though a mortal couldn''t directly absorb spiritual power from them, they could still carry spirit stones around to extend their lifespans and improve their health.
Hence, spirit stones were a type of premium currency that was extremely sought after among the upper ss.
However, the spirit stone that Meng Qianqian had just pulled out was of a far better quality than normal spirit stones, making it a very rare sight in the mortal world, and it instantly attracted everyone''s attention.
Thankfully, the female boss of the stall had also had her attention drawn to Han Li''s table by all themotion, and after taking a nce at the mid-grade spirit stone on the table, she knew that it was her lucky day.
She immediately hurried over to the table with a wide smile as she said, "I''m extremely honored that you think so highly of my steamed buns, esteemed customers, but this spirit stone is far too precious for me."
Despite what she was saying, she had already silently slipped the spirit stone into her pocket.
After that, she dered that her stall was closed for business, then respectfully urged everyone to return the next day. All of the other customers could also tell that Han Li''s trio were no ordinary people, so they duly obliged. Only as they turned their attention back to their own tables did they realize that all of their steamed buns had already disappeared.
"This stuff tastes much better than treasures!" Jin Tong eximed with an ecstatic expression.
"Senior Martial Sister, you... you normally eat treasures?" Meng Qianqian asked with a stunned expression.
"Of course," Jin Tong replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "What other good stuff is there to eat?"
"There''s a ton of delicious food being sold on this street," Meng Qianqian hurriedly replied, then began to rattle off a list of avable foods, while Jin Tong listened with a pair of enraptured eyes.
"I don''t know what any of those things are, but they all sound really delicious! Let''s finish up here, then take me to the next shop!" she urged as she wiped away the drool that was threatening to dribble down her chin.
Right at this moment, the waiter arrived at the table with 10 more steamers of buns, all of which were sucked into Jin Tong''s belly in an instant.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he took a sip of hismb offal soup.
The soup was a little murky, and it was very vorful, and it filled his stomach with a sense of gentle warmth.
This was something that he hadn''t experienced in a very log time.
Han Li had already forgotten thest time he had enjoyed such mortal delicacies, and that sip of soup instantly sent him on a trip down memoryne, evoking memories of the small vige in the Mortal Realm that had been his first home.
He looked around at the lively and bustling street, and he couldn''t help but heave an internal sigh.
Having spent all his time cultivating, a change of scenery was quite a pleasant experience.
Chapter 525: Bottomless Pit
Chapter 525: Bottomless Pit
It was all hands on deck in the kitchen of the steamed bun shop as steamer after steamer of freshly cooked steamedmb buns were brought to Han Li''s table one after another.
Jin Tong was eating non-stop, and it didn''t take long before she had gobbled down 70 steamers of buns, while a small crowd of astonished onlookers had gathered nearby.
Han Li didn''t want to attract excessive attention, so even though Jin Tong was still eager for more, he dragged her away to the next shop, this one a shaobing shop.
The shop was run by only two people, an elderly man who was close to 80 years of age and his grandson. As a result, they were unable to churn out shaobing as quickly as the steamed bun shop, and it didn''t take long before they ran out of food to serve Jin Tong.
Shaobing was one of the mostmonce food items in the mortal world, but the elderly man had over 60 years of experience in cooking shaobing, and during that time, he had made many innovations to the simple dish, setting his shaobing apart from the rest.
Jin Tong was thoroughly impressed, and she immediately dered that the elderly man had to be rewarded, a request that Meng Qianqian happily obliged.
This was the first time that the elderly man had sold so many shaobing in one night, and he could tell Jin Tong truly loved his food, so he was also extremely pleased, praising Jin Tong for her voracious appetite.
After the bill was paid, Meng Qianqian took Jin Tong to eat glutinous rice balls cooked in fermented wine.
Thankfully, the shopkeeper of the stall had already prepared arge pot full of rice balls with all types of fillings, and the entire pot of rice balls was purchased by Han Li.
It didn''t take long before news of Jin Tong''s extraordinary feats of consumption spread across the entire street.
As a result, all of the shopkeepers were urging their chefs to cook up as much food as humanly possible in anticipation for Jin Tong''s visit.
They had even set up tables on the street outside, and whatever food that was churned out was immediately carried out of the kitchen and onto the tables.
Jin Tong was ecstatic to see this, and she swept through the street like a hurricane, eating everything in her wake while Han Li Meng Qianqian footed the bill.
Deep into the night, all of the shops that had been visited by Jin Tong had already run out of food and closed for the night, while the rest of the shops that she was still yet to visit were still open,and there were many shopkeepers standing on the street outside, eagerly awaiting her arrival.
It was said that not only did Jin Tong possess an extraordinary appetite, she was also extremely generous, and anyone who could serve up food that was to her liking would be rewarded. Furthermore, as opposed to silver, her rewards were issued in the form of mid-grade spirit stones, with some shops even receiving high-grade spirit stones, which were extremely sought after even among cultivators!
Meng Qianqian didn''t have much savings to begin with, and it didn''t take long before she ran out of money. Before she even had a chance to say anything, Han Li casually tossed a storage pouch at her.
As soon as she inspected the pouch''s contents with her spiritual sense, she was instantly rooted to the spot.
The pouch was filled with over 10,000 top-grade spirit stones!
Han Li had taken the storage pouch from one of the Golden Immortals that he had in in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, and in this rare moment of rxation, he was more than happy to spend some money so that Jin Tong could enjoy a good time.
Finally, the three of them arrived at one of therge restaurants that Meng Qianqian mentioned, and the shopkeeper was a short man dressed in a silken robe.
As soon as Han Li''s trio arrived at the entrance of the restaurant, he immediately rushed out before greeting them with a wide smile.
Han Li noticed that the shopkeeper was ate-Foundation Establishment cultivator, and he asked, "Do you have any vacant seats upstairs?"
"Certainly! Pleasee with me, esteemed customers," the shopkeeper immediately replied before leading the way up the stairs.
Upon reaching the upper floor, Han Li discovered that it was still brightly lit, but there weren''t any other customers inside, perhaps because it was toote at night, or perhaps the entire floor had been vacated by the shopkeeper in anticipation for Jin Tong''s visit.
The three of them took a seat by a window-side table, following which Meng Qianqian instructed, "Fill all of these tables with your finest dishes and wine."
The shopkeeper was ecstatic to hear this, and he immediately gave an affirmative response before rushing downstairs.
Meanwhile, Jin Tong was still holding arge cake in her hands, and for some reason, she was only taking small bites out of it at a time with a blissful look on her little face.
"Why are you the only one here? Where is your brother?" Han Li suddenly asked as he turned to Meng Qianqian.
Meng Qianqian''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and she hurriedly replied, "My apologies, Master Li, Ipletely forgot about that. My brother has returned to the Late Age Nation with everyone else."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he felt like this name was rather familiar.
Meng Qianqian was feeling a little uneasy at the sight of Han Li''s furrowed brows.
"The Late Age Nation is where you and your brother originally came from, right?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. After Brother Sun progressed to the Soul Formation Stage, he wanted to return to the Late Age Nation to avenge his n. My brother couldn''t dissuade him, so he decided to go with him," Meng Qianqian replied.
As the two of them were speaking, all manners of dishes and wine were being brought to the surrounding tables, and there were also waiters standing beside each table, introducing the dishes on their respective tables.
Jin Tong was the only one eating, while Han Li and Meng Qianqian remained seated at their table.
Meng Qianqian was feeling a little uneasy at Han Li''s silence, and she said, "Master Li, their intention was never to disobey your orders. It''s just that... we didn''t know how to contact you, so please don''t be displeased with them. Brother Sun always acts like he doesn''t have a care in the world, but in reality, this has been weighing on his heart this entire time. Otherwise, with his personality, he wouldn''t have worked so hard in his cultivation all this time."
"It''s fine. I never forbade you to go and seek vengeance, it''s just that you have to ensure that you possess sufficient power before you attempt to do so. I only came back to Heavenly Cloud City this time as I have some things to tell you and the others," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Meng Qianqian''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and she prompted, "Please go ahead, Master Li."
"It''s nothing major. It''s just that I''m going to be leaving the Northern cial Immortal Region soon, and I don''t know how long it''ll be before I return. All of us were brought together by fate, so it wouldn''t feel right to leave without making some arrangements for all of you," Han Li exined.
"You''re leaving, Master Li? Why don''t you take us with you? We may not be very useful, but at the very least, we''ll be able to perform some servant duties for you during your travels," Meng Qianqian hurriedly said.
"It''s going to be a very perilous trip, so I can''t take all of you with me. I''ve already prepared some pills, treasures, and cultivation arts for you and the others, and they''re all here in this storage bracelet. Seeing as they''re not here at the moment, I''ll get you to pass these onto them when they get back," Han Li said.
Meng Qianqian was slightly dejected upon hearing this, but didn''t say anything further.
"Additionally, there are 30 masks in this storage bracelet, all of which are exceptional aura concealment tools, and they''ve been specially treated to alter some of the restrictions within them. There''s a jade slip inside that tells you how to use the masks, and you can bring out these masks in your times of need to alter your appearances and auras for concealment purposes," Han Li continued.
He flipped a hand over as he spoke, summoning a white storage bracelet that he handed to Meng Qianqian, who epted the bracelet as she said, "Thank you for making such thorough preparations for us, Master Li."
"The entire Northern cial Immortal Region is going to have to endure a period of turmoil soon, and a storm ising. Once Yungui and the others get back, all of you must set off for Dark Veil Ind in the ck Wind Sea right away. I''ve already arranged for someone to meet you there," Han Li said.
"Yes, Master Li," Meng Qianqian immediately replied.
The two of them paused momentarily to take a look around, at which point they discovered that all of the surrounding tables had already been cleared out by Jin Tong.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he flipped a hand over to produce a gon of wine that had been given to him by Daoist Hu Yan, and he poured a cup of wine each for himself and Meng Qianqian, then raised his own cup to take a sip.
Meng Qianqian hurriedly epted her cup with both hands, then took a gentle whiff of the wine''s aroma, but she refrained from drinking the wine as she stared at Han Li, who was looking out the window.
It was getting quite deep into the night, and a veil of moonlight was draped over the roof of the restaurant, giving it a rather cold appearance.
Han Li was looking up at the moon in the sky as he pondered the journey that he was about to embark upon.
Right at this moment, his brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and he spotted a shadow plummeting into the city.
Immediately thereafter, Meng Qianqian also sensed something, and her expression instantly changed slightly.
"Let''s go," Han Li immediately said.
Meng Qianqian hurriedly nodded in response, then summoned a spirit stone before cing it onto the table.
Han Li immediately grabbed into Jin Tong, who was still munching on a pair of pig trotters, then grabbed onto Meng Qianqian''s shoulder with his other hand, and the three of them instantly vanished into thin air.
Immediately thereafter, they appeared in the Moon View Forest.
There were many restrictions littered throughout the forest, but theypletely failed to register their intrusion.
After entering a courtyard in Area A, Han Li spotted the figure that had just plummeted out of the sky. It was arge azure bird with its entire body riddled with wounds.
The bird seemed to have spotted Han Li''s trio as well, and its eyes immediately lit up as it began squawking at them in a feeble voice.
"Featheryearn!" Meng Qianqian eximed as she hurriedly flew over to therge bird, while Han Li set down Jin Tong before making his way toward the bird as well.
Jin Tong was naturally very displeased to have suddenly been dragged here in the middle of her meal, and she was just about toin when she spotted the injured bird.
She immediately gobbled down the rest of her greasy pig trotters, then rubbed her hands together as a sinister smile appeared on her face.
Featheryearn seemed to have detected her gaze, and it immediately pressed itself more tightly against Meng Qianqian in a fearful manner.
Chapter 526: Revenge
Chapter 526: Revenge
"What happened?" Han Li asked.
"They told me not toe with them, but I was worried about them, so I sent Featheryearn to apany them. At this point, it''s already at the Grand Ascension Stage, so I thought they would definitely be safe, but something must''ve happened to them," Meng Qianqian murmured with a distressed expression.
Han Li cast his gaze toward Featheryearn, thenmunicated with it momentarily using his spiritual sense before dering, "Yungui and the others have been trapped in a restricted area of the Late Age Nation''s imperial pce, and Featheryearn fled back here to inform you of this."
Meng Qianqian''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, following which she implored, "Master Li, please allow me to go and save my brother."
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked, "Why aren''t you asking me to help you save them?"
"I may not not be very smart, but I know that your departure from the Northern cial Immortal Region cannot be dyed. I''m already extremely grateful that you went out of your way toe and see us, and it would be far too greedy of me to dy your departure any longer," Meng Qianqian hurriedly replied.
"If Featheryearn was so severely injured even after reaching the Grand Ascension Stage, then you''re surely no match for these enemies, how can you expect to save them? Also, the Late Age Nation is quite far away, so how do you know that they''ll be able tost until you get to them?" Han Li asked.
"I..." Meng Qianqian had no response to this.
"Let''s go. It won''t take much time," Han Li said.
Before Meng Qianqian had a chance to reply, Jin Tong had already approached them, and there was still some oil on her lips as she assured, "You can count on me to look after this injured bird, Uncle."
All of the feathers on Featheryearn''s entire body instantly stood up on end at the sight of the approaching Jin Tong, and it desperately tried to get away, but it was too severely injured to do so.
"You''re not nning to eat it, are you?" Han Li asked with an exasperated expression.
"Of course not! I''m going to treat its injuries! I''ve been reading all of the scriptures in the storage bracelet that you gave me," Jin Tong immediatelyined with an indignant expression.
"I didn''t think you would be interested in reading. I thought you were only interested in eating,"Han Li chuckled with an amused expression.
"Don''t look down on me, Uncle! While I was reading the scriptures, I discovered that I already knew some of the things outlined inside. That must mean that I have talent!" Jin Tong protested in an indignant manner.
"Alright, then how are you going to look after Featheryearn?" Han Li asked.
"That''s simple!" Jin Tong replied with a proud expression, then summoned a pill before stuffing it into Featheryearn''s beak.
Featheryearn swallowed the pill, but it was still staring at Jin Tong with an alert and fearful expression.
Jin Tong pursed her lips in disdain as she scoffed, "You''re so weak and frail, unlike my Xiao Bai. Xiao Bai, where are you? Are you cking off again?"
Her gaze fell upon the miniature white jade Pixiu hanging from Han Li''s waist as she spoke.
"Leave me alone," the Pixiu groaned.
"I''m calling you so you cane and eat with me, you ungrateful little bastard!" Jin Tong scolded.
"I have no interest in mortal food," the Pixiu replied.
"You''d better not regret this!" Jin Tong threatened in a grumpy manner, to which the Pixiu gave no response.
With that brief interlude, the tense atmosphere instantly lightened up significantly., and Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a few more pills, then instructed Meng Qianqian to feed them to Featheryearn.
"I already know the location. Stay here and rest," Han Li said to Featheryearn, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon the green jade flying carriage.
After that, he swept his other sleeve through the air to carry Meng Qianqian and Jin Tong on the carriage, following which he sped away into the night sky, quickly vanishing into the distance.
......
Late Age Nation.
The gates of the capital city, Bright Cloud City, had been tightly shut for many days, and all of the city''s residents had also been prohibited from leaving their homes.
At the moment, it was veryte at night, and the streets in the city were very peaceful. There weren''t even many lit houses, and if it weren''t for some of the armor-d soldiers littered throughout the streets and alleys, one could easily mistake the city as one that was deserted.
In contrast with the deathly silence inside the city, the imperial pce situated in the southern part of the city was brightly lit and constantly being patrolled by imperial guards, while the imperial garden at the back of the pce had been surrounded by multiple protective encirclements.
The encirclements were formed by hundreds of people, all of whom were cultivators.
They were led by a tall and thin purple-robed elderly man, whose aura indicated that he was a mid-Spatial Tempering cultivator.
He was the patriarch of the Xu n, the cultivating n that was currently controlling the Late Age Nation from the shadows.
At this moment, his brows were tightly furrowed, and he was clearly not very pleased.
Half a month ago, a descendant of the Late Age Nation''s former imperial n had stormed into the imperial pce with some members of the Yun n, and they had coborated with some officials of the past imperial court to stage a surprise coup.
By the time he made an emergency exit from seclusion, over half of the Xu n''s cultivators had been killed or wounded. On top of that, the puppet emperor that they were supporting had been constantly indulging himself in wine, extravagant food, and debauchery, and he had been so frightened that he had died from a heart attack.
After settling the unrest in his n, he had immediatelye to the imperial pce to face the intruders in battle.
However, the intruders were both using cultivation arts of a far higher caliber than his, and they also had a seemingly endless supply of treasures at their disposal, so he was unable to defeat them, even though his cultivation base far surpassed theirs.
What was even more astonishing to him was that they were apanied by a Grand Ascension Stage bird, which had almost killed him on the spot. If it weren''t for the timely arrival of his backers, he would already be dead by now.
"Esteemed patriarch, those scoundrels have already been hiding in this dried well for two days. We''ve been chipping away this entire time at the restrictions that they''ve set up, and we should be able to break through them in just four more hours," a middle-aged man with a ck mole on his face reported to the elderly man in a respectful manner.
"The Yun n was a very formidable force in our Late Age Nation for many years, and those restrictions are not to be underestimated. Make sure to be on your guard at all times and ensure that they don''t make it out of here alive," Xu Shou instructed with a dark expression.
"If our savior hadn''t gone to pursue that demon beast, he could''ve easily broken those restrictions," the middle-aged manined.
Xu Shou was just about to scold him for his untoward remarks when he suddenly looked up into the night sky, where a streak of yellow light shed through the air beforending beside the dried well.
Xu Shou and the others immediately extended respectful bows as they greeted in unison, "Wee back, esteemed savior."
The yellow light faded to reveal a yellow-robed young man with a set of unremarkable features, and he took a nce at the middle-aged man who was knelt down beside Xu Shou, following which a cold gleam shed through his eyes as he decapitated the man with a casual sweep of his hand.
Xu Shou''s entire body was sttered with the man''s blood, but he only flinched slightly and didn''t dare to move even a single inch.
The young man drew the middle-aged man''s nascent soul into his hand, then casually crushed it in his hand.
Earlier, he had set off to pursue that strange azure bird, but it was even faster than ate-Grand Ascension cultivator, so he was unable to catch it, and that had left him in a very foul mood.
He was looking for someone to vent his fury on, and the middle-aged man had made those careless remarks at the worst possible time.
"How are things going?" the young man asked.
"The restrictions will be broken in just four more hours," Xu Shou hurriedly replied.
"I don''t have time for that. After I take care of things here, I have to get back to the sect. From this day forth, the annual offerings that your Xu n must submit to our Stone Ditch Pce will be doubled," the young man said, and Xu Shou''s heart immediately sank upon hearing this.
The Xu n had taken over the Late Age Nation as there was a Sunray Sand mine here, and most of the profits made from that mine had to be submitted to the Stone Ditch Pce. Now that the mandatory offerings had been doubled, there was no profit for them to be made at all.
"Is there a problem?" the young man asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Not at all, esteemed savior," Xu Shou hurriedly replied.
The young man paid no further heed to him as he swept a hand through the air, and a yellow paper talisman appeared on each of his fingers.
After chanting a brief incantation, the five talismans erupted into mes, then shot forth toward the opening of the well as five bursts of mes of different colors.
A burst of yellow light shed over the entrance of the well, and an array that had been set up around the well was activated, working with the five bursts of mes to attack the opening of the well.
A resounding boom rang out as a golden light barrier appeared over the opening of the well, only to then explode an instantter.
Immediately thereafter, seven or eight streaks of light of different colors shot out of the well, then rose up into the sky like fireworks before flying away in different directions.
However, before they had a chance to disperse, a giant five-colored umbre descended out of the sky, revolving on the spot while releasing a burst of invisible suction force to reel in all of the streaks of light, revealing them to be a group of cultivators.
The cultivators of the Xu n immediately surrounded the group of cultivators, and all of them were holding weapons with sinister grins on their faces.
Standing beside the well was an azure-robed young man with a crescent-shaped jade pendant hanging from his waist. Beside him was another young man who appeared to be of simr age and was built like a brick wall.
These two were none other than Meng Yungui and Sun Buzheng, while the ones around them were Meng Xiong and the others, and all of them were severely injured.
Chapter 527: Disappeared?
Chapter 527: Disappeared?
Sun Buzheng was quite severely wounded, and his face was deathly pale. His voice was rather unsteady as he said, "I owe you for getting us into this mess, Yungui, but it looks like I won''t be able to repay you this lifetime. Let''s be brothers again in our next lives!"
Meng Yungui heaved a concerned sigh upon hearing this. "How is Qianqian going to be able to fare on her own?"
The guilt on Sun Buzheng''s face became even more pronounced upon hearing this, and he gritted his teeth tightly.
The young man withdrew his five-colored umbre, then pointed his thumb at himself as he dered, "Don''t be in such a hurry to decide your own fate. Whether you live or die is up to me."
"If you''re going to kill us, then do it! Stop wasting time!" Sun Buzheng yelled in a furious voice.
"Tell me where you came from. How did you obtain all of those powerful treasures, and what''s the deal with that bird? If you answer these questions truthfully, perhaps I''ll find it in the kindness of my heart to spare one of you," the young man said.
Sun Buzheng''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. If possible, he wanted Meng Yungui to survive.
"So you want to kill us, but you''re afraid of our backers, and you want to know who they are before you kill us and get rid of the evidence, right? Save your energy, we''re not going to say anything!" Meng Yungui dered in a resilient voice.
"I gave you a chance, but you didn''t want it, so you can''t me me," the young man said with a sinister smile, then tossed his five-colored umbre up into the air with a flick of his wrist, and it rose up into the sky to epass everyone from above.
The runes on the umbre were shing incessantly, while countless bursts of five-colored light emerged over the umbre''s frame, then shot down toward Meng Yungui and the others like a storm of five-colored needles.
Meng Yungui was calmly prepared to face his death, and his final thought was still of his sister.
Right as everyone thought that everything was about toe to an end, the five-colored umbre hanging in the sky suddenly shuddered violently, following which it was forcibly closed, shutting in all of the five-colored needles of light before the umbre was sent flying even higher up into the sky.
Immediately thereafter, a hand reached out to grab onto the umbre, and with just a casual swipe, its connection to its former owner waspletely erased.
The young man gave a muffled groan as he looked up into the sky with shock and horror in his eyes.
A green jade flying carriage had appeared in the night sky up above, atop which stood three figures.
"Master Li! Qianqian!" Meng Yungui immediately eximed in an ecstatic voice.
Sun Buzheng and the others were also ecstatic, and tears were beginning to well up in Meng Xiong''s eyes.
"We pay our respects to Master Li!" all of them dered in unison as they fell to their knees.
"You did very well, Yungui," Han Li said with a nod of approval.
Meng Yungui didn''t know what Han Li was referring to, and a perplexed look appeared on his face, but Sun Buzheng knew that he was being praised for refusing to reveal his own identity even in the face of death.
With that in mind, a hint of lingering fear welled up in his heart. If he had let slip even a single word of information earlier, then they would''ve most likely all been left here to die.
"Big Brother!" Meng Yungui called out as she flew down from the carriage before descending by Meng Yungui''s side, then pulled a white jade vial that had been given to her by Han Li and tipped a few yellow pills from within before handing them out to everyone.
Just a moment ago, the young man had been confident and assured, but now, there was a fearful look on his face, and Xu Shou and the others were so terrified that they didn''t even dare to breathe too loudly.
"You''re from the Stone Ditch Pce, is that right?" Han Li asked as he nced at the young man''s attire.
The young man forciblyposed himself, then replied, "Yes, Senior, my name is Luo Hua, and I am an outer sect disciple of the Stone Ditch Pce."
Even though he was only at the pinnacle of the Grand Ascension Stage, he had seen extremely powerful figures during his time in the Stone Ditch Pce, and he knew that there was no way he could contend against this man, so he didn''t even try to put up any resistance.
To his surprise, Han Li suddenly asked, "Do you know Gao Sheng?"
Luo Hua faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Are you referring to Elder Gao Sheng, who once served in the Immortal Pce?"
"All I know is that he once served at an Ascension tform," Han Li replied.
"That''s him. Elder Gao Sheng disappeared several hundred years ago, and our sect has expended a huge amount of resources to try and find him, but to no avail so far," Luo Hua exined in a fearful manner.
"He disappeared? How?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I''m but a mere outer sect disciple, so my knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Elder Gao Sheng''s disappearance is very limited. Please forgive me, Senior," Luo Hua replied in an uneasy manner.
Han Li was unconvinced, and he reached out with one hand before making a grabbing motion, upon which Luo Hua was forcibly wrenched up from the ground.
Han Li caught him by the throat, and he struggled violently with a horrified look on his face as he pleaded, "Please spare me, Senior!"
Han Li extended a finger forward in an expressionless manner, and a burst of light emerged over his fingertip as he tapped it against Luo Hua''s be to employ a soul search technique.
He then raised an eyebrow as he discovered that there was a restriction in Luo Hua''s consciousness that was impeding his spiritual sense.
Of course, this posed no obstacle to him, and as soon as he channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, the restriction in Luo Hua''s mind instantly faded away.
After searching through Luo Hua''s memories for a moment, a furious look appeared on Han Li''s face, and the light glowing from his fingertip became even brighter.
Initially, there had been a horrified look on Luo Hua''s face, but his eyes quickly rolled over into the back of his head, and he began drooling in a ck-jawed manner. His expressions became stranger and stranger until finally, he fainted altogether.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, then pped him with such tremendous force that his body waspletely embedded into his ground. Not only had he been reduced to a pile of mincemeat, even his nascent soul, which had already been stripped of its spiritual nature by Han Li''s Spirit Refinement Technique, waspletely shattered as well.
Xu Shou and the others were astonished to see this.
In their eyes, Luo Hua had been an almighty deity, yet it was clear that this dark-skinned young man was countless times more powerful than he was, and they couldn''t and didn''t even dare to imagine just how lofty his cultivation base was.
At this moment, all of them were knelt down onto the ground, and they were trembling uncontrobly as cold sweat poured down their faces.
Han Li had be so incensed because Luo Hua had been tantly lying to his face.
He wasn''t just some ordinary outer sect disciple, as he proimed. Instead, he was one of the disciples of the Stone Ditch Pce specifically assigned with the task of gathering intelligence, and he had onlye to the Late Age Nation during the course of his investigation of Gao Sheng''s disappearance.
After that, he discovered that there was a Sunray Sand mine here, and in order to im it for himself, he assisted the Xu n in recing the Yun n and destroying the Sun n to take over the nation.
As for Gao Sheng, he was a direct disciple to the Stone Ditch Pce''s grand elder, and his disappearance had created a massive stir in the sect. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance were indeed quite murky. All that the sect knew was that it had to do with a certain mysterious person, and there were portraits of that person circting throughout the sect.
That mysterious person was naturally none other than Han Li.
There were many more intelligence-gathering disciples like Luo Hua, and they had been sent out several centuries ago to search for Gao Sheng.
Hence, he had instantly identified Han Li as the mysterious figure depicted in the portraits.
After killing Luo Hua, a hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face as he pondered whether he should make a trip to the Stone Ditch Pce to see if he could find any news about Gao Sheng. After all, the events that had unfolded several centuries ago were still a mystery to him.
However, ultimately, he decided not to make such a detour. It had already been some time since he had left the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, and it most likely wasn''t going to be long before the Heavenly Court made its move.
His top priority right now was to leave this immortal region as soon as possible.
With that in mind, Han Li pointed a finger at Xu Shou, releasing a burst of azure light that instantly bound him to the spot.
"I''m going to the mountain outside the city. You only have an hour," he dered, following which the green jade flying carriage vanished into thin air.
"Thank you, Master Li!" Sun Buzheng yelled as he knelt down in gratitude toward Han Li.
Shortly thereafter, the sound of blood-curdling howls rang out as a ughter ensued.
......
On the mountain outside Bright Cloud City, Han Li was seated in a pavilion on the mountain summit, resting with his eyes closed.
Jin Tong was seated on the ground with her legs crossed beside him, and she was holding a white longsword in her hands, which she was breaking up into pieces before eating. As she did this, her gaze was constantly roaming over her surroundings, and it seemed that she was quite interested in this area.
Han Li opened his eyes, then flipped a hand over to produce a disk treasure.
A hint of befuddlement appeared on his face at the sight of the peculiar patterns on the disk.
Just now, as he was channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique, the disk had suddenly reacted.
After some contemtion, Han Li channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique once again, and a cloud of white mist instantly rose up over the disk to epass its entire surface.
At the same time, a speck of pulsing red light emerged on the disk.
Han Li withdrew his Spirit Refinement Technique, and the speck of red light gradually faded.
After repeating this experiment several times, it became apparent to Han Li that this disk was capable of detecting those using the Spirit Refinement Technique nearby.
He didn''t know howrge its sensory range was, but the fact that it came from a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal like Gongshu Jiu meant that it had to be quite a powerful treasure. In the future, he had to be careful when using the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Han Li exhaled as he stowed the disk away, and he suddenly heard the sound of gentle snoring ringing out from beside him.
He turned to discover that Jin Tong had already fallen asleep whileying on the bench under the pavilion, and there was a faint smile on her face.
Chapter 528: Come Out to See Me
Chapter 528: Come Out to See Me
Han Li tried to rouse Jin Tong from her slumber through their spiritual connection, but she disyed no signs of waking up, so he could only put her back into his spirit beast pouch.
The breeze blowing over the mountain was very cool and refreshing, and the sun was already beginning to rise in the distance.
A short whileter, Meng Yungui and the others arrived on the mountain summit to meet Han Li.
He told them the same thing that he had already informed Meng Qianqian of earlier, then departed on his own without lingering any longer, leaving Meng Qianqian to look on with a sullen expression.
"Master Li''s cultivation base seems to have advanced even further. I think he''s be even more powerful than the Golden Immortal Stage Dao Lords of the ze Dragon Dao," Sun Buzheng murmured unadulterated admiration in his eyes.
"That''s why we need to work even harder in our cultivation. We may not be able to help him in the future, but we definitely can''t weigh him down," Meng Qianqian said.
"Qianqian''s right. We definitely can''t put ourselves in a position where Master Li has toe and save us again. Once everything is settled in Bright Cloud City, let''s follow Master Li''s instructions and travel to the ck Wind Sea right away," Meng Yungui said.
......
A monthter.
In the sky above a boundless blue sea, a streak of azure light was racing through the clouds, doing so at such an incredible speed that it was impossible to track with the naked eye.
However, after flying for some time, the carriage drew to an abrupt halt.
Han Li was standing atop the carriage in his usual azure robe, holding a shimmering golden spirit beast pouch.
A surprised look shed through his eyes as he opened the spirit beast pouch, and a mountainous golden beetle instantly emerged from within.
It was none other than Jin Tong in her true form, and her entire body was glowing with radiant golden light.
Furthermore, he entire body was riddled with countless peculiar patterns that were giving off a terrifying aura.
However, Han Li noticed that the beetle''s eyes were still closed, indicating that it was still sleeping.
Through raising Gold Devouring Beetles back in the Spirit Realm, he learned that they evolved by devouring one another, but it seemed that Jin Tong was currently on the cusp of a breakthrough after devouring arge number of treasures.
No wonder her aura''s been fluctuating unsteadily ever since she ate that cauldon... Han Li thought to himself, and the concern in his heart faded away as he sensed Jin Tong''s steadily rising aura.
Right as he was about to set up an array to conceal the signs of Jin Tong''s breakthrough, its eyes abruptly sprang open, and a thunderous burp rang out.
A pir of translucent light that was over 1,000 feet in length then erupted out of its mouth, covering a distance of several hundred kilometers in the blink of an eye.
The sea down below waspletely parted by the pir of light, to the extent that the entire seabed was revealed.
Immediately thereafter, the golden light radiating from Jin Tong''s body rapidly faded, and it quickly reverted back to a little girl.
The little girl stretchedzily with a bleary look in her eyes, seemingly having only just woken up.
Han Li was left feeling rather speechless upon seeing this.
At this moment, her aura indicated that she was already at thete-Golden Immortal Stage. She had made a breakthrough just by eating some things and taking a nap.
He knew that the key to Jin Tong''s breakthrough had to have been that pill cauldron from the High Zenith Pce, while the other treasures that she devoured thereafter only had a secondary effect.
It appeared that she had easily made this breakthrough, but in reality, she had devoured so much resources in the process that even the average High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal may not be able to support her.
As Jin Tong finally woke up, her tummy began to grumble, and she asked, "Is there anything to eat, Uncle?"
"Of course!"
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a giant ax that was riddled with runes before handing it over to Jin Tong, and she grabbed onto the ax with both hands before sinking her teeth into it.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he dragged Jin Tong back onto the carriage, then flipped a hand over to produce a white jade slip.
Everything in the Northern cial Immortal Region had already been taken care of, so it was time for him to leave, but before that, there was one more ce that he had to visit.
With that in mind, he made a hand seal, and the green jade flying carriage quickly vanished into the distance as a streak of light.
......
The Upper Arr Continent was situated to the south of the Northern cial Immortal Region, and in contrast with the Ancient Cloud Continent and the Infernal Frost Continent, the climate here was very warm, so it was a continent that was thriving with vitality. There were countless lush forests and swamps that were teeming with snakes and ferocious beasts, making it unfit for mortal habitation.
Hence, despite the continent''s fertilends and abundant resources, it only had a tiny poption of mortals, far below that of the northern continents. Due to the abundance of spirit veins here, the continent was teeming with spiritual qi and all types of spirit nts and precious beasts, so there were many cultivating sects here. As the number one spirit mountain range of the Upper Arr Continent, the Ancient Point Mountain Range was vastly renowned across the entire continent.
However, what was even more renowned was the Vast Flow Pce within the Ancient Point Mountain Range, while Grand Pce Master Luo Qinghai was an almighty immortal who ranked alongside the likes of Baili Yan of the ze Dragon Dao and Feng Tiandu of the Dawn Fall Sect.
The five extreme pce masters were also all Golden Immortals, and they presided over the five Vast Flow Extreme Pces that were littered all over the continent.
Aside from them, there were many more vastly renowned figures in the sect, but the Vast Flow Pce had always liked to keep a low profile. Most of its members spent the majority of their time cultivating in seclusion, and they very rarely left the sect, so not much was known about the sect to outsiders.
At this moment, a tall man with a thick beard was currently standing in the sky near the Ancient Point Mountain Range. It was none other than Han Li in disguise.
As he inspected the mountain range up ahead, he was recalling the information that he had gathered pertaining to the Vast Flow Pce.
From his perspective, the Ancient Point Mountain Range was enshrouded in a mysterious veil of cloud and mist.
The mountain range was filled with abundant spiritual qi, particrly that of the water attribute.
A short whileter, Han Li continued onward, and not long after he entered the Ancient Point Mountain Range, a streak of blue light instantly flew out from within to greet him. It was a blue spirit boat shaped like a fish, and there were several Vast Flow Pce disciples standing on it. led by a square-faced young man who appeared to be in his twenties.
Judging from their attire, they appeared to be patrolling disciples of the Vast Flow Pce, and all of them were at the Deity Transformation Stage, while their leader was a Spatial Tempering cultivator.
The square-faced young man was observing Han Li with a wary look in his eyes, but he still extended a respectful salute as he said, "I am Attendant Li Ang of the outer ce. May I ask your name and the purpose for your visit, Senior?"
Han Li wore a cold expression, and he didn''t even take a single nce at these people before a burst of tremendous spiritual pressure erupted out of his body without any warning.
The blue spirit boat was instantly sent flying like a leaf in a tornado, and all of the Vast Flow Pce disciples on it threw up mouthfuls of blood before falling unconscious on the spot.
Han Li continued onward without pause, but Li Ang was able to remain conscious, and he swept a sleeve through the air to send a burst of blue light erupting into the heavens as he yelled, "We''re under enemy attack!"
A resounding boom rang out as the burst of blue light exploded in the sky before spreading outward in all directions.
Han Li made no attempt to stop what he was doing. In fact, he didn''t even bother to take a nce at Li Ang as he continued to fly onward.
Immediately thereafter, countless streaks of light erupted out of all parts of the mountain range to stand in Han Li''s path.
These were all Vast Flow Pce cultivators who possessed far superior cultivation bases to Li Ang, and they were led by a group of early and mid-True Immortal cultivators.
"Stop! Who dares to encroach upon our Vast Flow Pce?" an elderly man yelled in a furious voice.
"Get Luo Qinghai toe out and see me," Han Li dered in an expressionless manner, following which a vast wave of azure light erupted out of his body, sending all of the surrounding cultivators flying through the air.
Right at this moment, an extremely deep and resonant voice rang out. "Wee, Fellow Daoist. Please forgive these juniors for their rudeness. May I ask your name?"
At the same time, a gentle breeze blew past, instantly scattering the wave of azure light.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he stopped in his tracks.
Immediately thereafter, a blue-robed elderly man appeared not far in front of him.
The man was quite tall, with a long beard that trailed all the way down to his chest, but his skin was dark green in color, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
The vast aura emanating from his body indicated that he was a Golden Immortal.
Han Li took a nce at the elderly man, but offered no response.
The elderly man wasn''t bothered by this, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "I don''t think we''ve ever met before, Fellow Daoist. What is the purpose of your visit?"
"Get Luo Qinghai toe out and see me," Han Li repeated.
"I''m afraid you haven''te at a good time, Fellow Daoist. Pce Master Luo left the sect a very long time ago, and he still hasn''t returned yet. If you have something important to discuss with him, you can leave a message with me, and I''ll be sure to pass on the message once he returns."
"The Infernal Frost Immortal Pce has already closed, and I ran into Grand Pce Master Luo in ck Wind City some time ago. Back then, he had already set off back to the Vast Flow Pce. Surely you''re not telling me that he still hasn''t returned?" Han Li asked with a mocking sneer.
The elderly man''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this.
"It''s fine if Luo Qinghai doesn''t want to meet me, but in that case, I''ll have to advise your Vast Flow Pce to select two more extreme pce masters," Han Li continued with a cold smile.
The elderly man''s expression changed drastically upon hearing this. "What did you just say?"
Meanwhile, everyone else was exchanging befuddled nces with one another.
Chapter 529: Visit
Chapter 529: Visit
"I''ll handle this, all of you can go now," the elderly man instructed.
Everyone else was quite curious to see what was going to happen next, but they didn''t dare to disobey the elderly man, and all of them promptly departed.
"Pleasee with me, Fellow Daoist," the elderly man said, then flew toward the Ancient Point Mountain Range.
Han Li seemed to have already anticipated this response, and he followed along as a streak of azure light.
It didn''t take long before the two of them were deep in the mountain range, and at this point, the dense mist surrounding the mountains had vanished, revealing the mountain range in its full glory.
There were countless mountains stretching as far as the eyes could see in all directions, and some buildings and restrictions were beginning toe into view.
"We just passed through the outskirts of the Ancient Point Mountain Range, only now have we entered the mountain range''s inner sanctum, and this is where our Vast Flow Pce is located," the elderly man said as he continued to fly onward.
Han Li casually took a nce at his surroundings in apletely expressionless manner, and the elderly man was left feeling a little deted by his reaction.
After flying for a while longer, Han Li suddenly spotted an enormous mountain up ahead that towered over all of its neighbors.
It stretched all the way up into the heavens, and all of the mountains around it were made to resemble tiny hills.
Han Li had witnessed quite a few majestic mountains in the past, but none that couldpare with this one.
The world''s origin qi near the mountain was far more abundant than it was elsewhere, and there were countless pces and pavilions constructed on the mountain, packed tightly together to resemble the interior of a beehive.
The mountain summit was enshrouded within a huge white light barrier, and it was impossible to see into the light barrier or pass one''s spiritual sense through it.
"I''ve heard that there are 19 enormous mountains referred to as the 19 Holy Peaks in the Vast Flow Pce, and they are the ces where the spirit veins of the Ancient Point Mountain Range converge.
The first grand pce master of the Vast Flow Pce used the spiritual power of the 19 Holy Peaks as a foundation to create a secret area on each mountain summit, collectively known as the 19 Holy Areas. Which one of the 19 Holy Peaks is this one?" Han Li suddenly asked.
"You''re certainly very knowledgeable, Fellow Daoist," the elderly man remarked with a surprised expression. "This is the Light Conception Peak."
Han Li nodded in response.
Beside the Light Conception Peak was an extremely wide river that was flowing into the distance.
The water in the river had a vibrant blue color and was giving off extremely abundant water-attribute spiritual power, indicating that it was some type of true water, rather than normal water.
Through the scriptures that he had read back in the ze Dragon Dao and the soul search technique that he had performed on the elderly man, Han Li had learned many things about the Vast Flow Pce.
Beside each of the 19 Holy Peaks was arge river, and these rivers were referred to as the 19 True Rivers.
These weren''t just ordinary rivers. Instead, the water within them had been converted into true water by the spirit veins in the Ancient Point Mountain Range, and the true water in each of the 19 True Rivers possessed different properties from one another.
The past cultivators of the Vast Flow Pce had created countless water-attribute cultivation arts and abilities based on these 19 True Rivers, and they were an extremely important asset to the sect.
As the two of them continued onward, they passed by several more holy peaks and true rivers, and Han Li could tell that all of the true rivers were converging to a single ce.
Close to an hourter, the elderly man suddenly stopped, and Han Li cast his gaze forward, upon which a surprised look appeared on his face.
There was an enormous round crater in the ground up ahead, and it was tens of thousands of kilometers in size, resembling a vast pit that led all the way to the underworld.
This was where the 19 True Rivers converged, and all of them were flowing into the crater as 19 breathtaking waterfalls, presenting a marvelous spectacle to behold.
The green-faced elderly man paused by the crater for a moment, as if he were intentionally showing Han Li the astonishing scenery here, and only after that did he begin to embark on a descent.
Han Li withdrew his gaze and followed along, and it didn''t take long before the two of them reached the bottom of the crater.
At the bottom of the crater was a vast body of blue water.
Even though there were 19 massive waterfalls pouring into the crater, the surface of the water was extremely calm without even the slightest wave to be seen, resembling an enormous blue gemstone.
A blue pce was hovering in the air above the water, and the entire pce had been constructed out of some type of blue crystal. There were no visible seams or connective points on the entire pce, as if it had been carved out of a single vast crystal.
The entire pce was riddled with spirit patterns that were glowing radiantly, and hanging directly above the entrance of the pce was a huge que that read "Vast Flow Pce".
The elderly man descended in front of the Vast Flow Pce with Han Li, and at this moment, there were already six or seven other Golden Immortals gathered there, with Luo Qinghai present among them, and all of them were looking at Han Li with some degree of animosity in their eyes.
In particr, there was a brawny man with a single blue horn on his forehead, and he was glowering at Han Li with a menacing expression.
At the same time, all of them were exerting pressure upon Han Li by releasing their auras, clearly trying to intimidate him.
"I believe we had a brief encounter back in Wave View City, Fellow Daoist. Please forgive me for noting out to greet you sooner," Luo Qinghai said as he approached Han LI with a smile.
It appeared that all of the Vast Flow Pce''s Golden Immortal cultivators were present, and this formidable lineup was a strong testament to the Vast Flow Pce''s power as one of the top sects of the Northern cial Immortal Region.
If none of the Vast Flow Pce''s Golden Immortals had perished in the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce, then the number of Golden Immortals in the sect wouldn''t have been inferior in the slightest to that of the ze Dragon Dao during its heyday, and three of the people present were at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, while Luo Qinghai was at thete-Golden Immortal Stage.
The elderly man who had led Han Li was one of those mid-Golden Immortal cultivators, while the other two consisted of a blue-robed young woman and that brawny man with the horn on his head.
In particr, the horned man''s aura indicated that he had already reached the pinnacle of the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, so he was only a step away from joining Luo Qinghai at thete-Golden Immortal Stage.
Their collective auras formed a crushing wave of spiritual pressure that surged directly toward Han Li, but having already faced Gongshu Jiu in direct battle, this amount of spiritual pressure was certainly not enough to intimidate him.
"It sure is difficult trying to request an audience with you, Grand Pce Master Luo," Han Li said in an indifferent voice.
It was clear that Han Li waspletely unfazed by the surrounding spiritual pressure, and Luo Qinghai''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, but his amicable smile remained unchanged as he exined, "I was cultivating in seclusion in the sect, so I informed everyone that I wasn''t going to meet with any visitors. Of course, you''re an exception to that, Fellow Daoist."
Han Li merely smiled and offered no reply.
"Pleasee in and take a seat, Fellow Daoist," Luo Qinghai said as he turned around to lead the way.
Han Li paid no heed to the other Golden Immortals present as he entered the blue pce without any hesitation.
All of the other Golden Immortals exchanged a few nces, then entered the pce as well.
Inside the pce was a guest hall that was around 300 to 400 feet in size.
Theyout of the hall was very simple, with around a dozen blue jade pirs inside, every single one of which had a rhomboid crystal embedded into it. These crystals were emitting a faint blue light that illuminated the entire hall, and there were two rows ofrge blue chairs ced in between these pirs.
Luo Qinghai sat down onto the main chair, then made an inviting hand gesture as he said, "Take a seat, Fellow Daoist."
Han Li duly obliged, and everyone else quickly sat down as well.
Luo Qinghai introduced everyone in the hall to Han Li, then said, "This is our second meeting, yet I''m embarrassed to say that I still don''t know your name. May I ask where you''vee from, Fellow Daoist?"
"My surname is Liu. As for where I came from, that''s not something for you to be concerned about. I''m not from the Northern cial Immortal Region, so even if I told you my ce of origin, you wouldn''t know of it anyway," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice.
"Wee, Fellow Daoist Liu. May I ask what your intentions are?" Luo Qinghai asked with a smile.
"I should be asking you that. After leaving the ck Wind Sea, I was nning to return to my sect, but I was ambushed by two Golden Immortals from your Vast Flow Pce near Wave View City. Thankfully, I was able to defeat them. Otherwise, I would already be dead by now. Were you the one who instructed them toe after me?"
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a pair of blue badges as he spoke, then pped them forcefully down onto the tea table beside him.
These were the identification badges of the two Golden Immortals that he had found within their storage tools, and all of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators'' expressions instantly changed slightly upon seeing this.
Luo Qinghai''s pupils also contracted slightly, but he didn''t say anything.
A cold sneer appeared on the horned man''s face, and he cast a provocative gaze toward Han Li as he said, "Surely there''s been a misunderstanding. Pce Master Tie and Pce Master Qiu both disappeared back in Wave View City, and they most likely fell prey to enemies of our sect. We''ve been desperately searching for them as well, yet you proim that they ambushed you? I''m afraid we''re all very confused."
The horned man''s name was Feng Hai, and he was the Southern Extreme Pce Master of the five extreme pces.
"So you''re saying that I''m framing them for something that they didn''t do?" Han Li asked as he turned to Feng Hai.
"Do you expect us to just take your word for it? If you''re going to im that they ambushed you, then you need to provide evidence. Otherwise, we''re not going to ept any culpability," Feng Hai said in a cold voice.
"I came here today to demand an exnation, but seeing as you don''t believe me, then I suppose there''s no point in continuing this conversation any further. Two of my juniors just so happen to be missing a pair of Golden Soul Pills anyway," Han Li said as he rose to his feet, then turned to leave the hall.
All of the Vast Flow Pce cultivators'' expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, and Feng Hai appeared in front of Han Li in the blink of an eye to block his path.
"What do you take our Vast Flow Pce for? An inn that you can check and check out of as you please? You can leave if you want, but you''ll have to leave the nascent souls of Pce Master Tie and Pce Master Qiu behind!"
Chapter 530: Negotiation
Chapter 530: Negotiation
"Who do you think you are? Get out of my way!"
A cold look appeared on Han Li''s face, and golden light shed over his body as one of his arms abruptly swelled drastically in size as he threw a punch at Feng Hai.
His arm instantly took on a radiant golden hue, looking as if it had been crafted out of pure gold, and it was also covered in countless strands of needle-like golden fur.
The space in the wake of the golden fist screeched and warped violently, as if it were about to be torn apart, and even before the fist arrived, a burst of terrifying force had already descended upon Feng Hai.
In response to Han Li''s attack, Feng Hai took a step backward, and ayer of bright blue light surfaced over his body, while his hands transformed into a pair of formidable dragon ws.
He then let loose a thunderous roar as he thrust his ws forward, and a pair of millstone-sized blue dragon w projections appeared in front of him.
Countless runes were pulsing incessantly on the pair of projections, while rippling waves of blue light were surging incessantly over their surface.
The two dragon w projections wereyered on top of one another to oppose Han Li''s fist, and a resounding boom rang out as the golden first crashed into the w projections, upon which thetter was instantly shattered into countless specks of blue light.
Not only that, but a radiant golden fist projection had erupted out of Han Li''s fist, and it was crashing toward Feng Hai with unstoppable force.
Feng Hai was greatly rmed to see this, and he hurriedly swept both hands through the air, releasing a pair of small triangr blue shields.
The shields transformed into a pair of translucent walls of blue light in front of him, and they had only just taken shape before they were struck by the golden fist projection.
A thunderous boom rang out as the golden fist projection exploded into a burst of powerful golden shockwaves, whichpletely inundated the two walls of light.
In the face of these golden shockwaves, the walls of blue light were unable to pose any resistance, instantly disintegrating under the pressure.
A burst of tremendous force exploded outward in all directions, causing the entire pce to shudder violently, and Feng Hai was forced to stumble back close to 20 steps before finally managing to steady himself.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and by the end of the sequence, Han Li had ended up where Feng Hai had been standing just a moment ago. The two triangr shields were held in his hands, and they had already been shattered into pieces.
Han Li closed his hands around the ruined shields, instantly reducing them to powder that slipped through his fingers before being blown away by a gentle breath.
Feng Hai''s expression had darkened significantly upon seeing this, and all of the other Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals had also sprung to their feet with astonished looks on their faces.
Even though Feng Hai was only at the pinnacle of the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, he possessed a Qiulong bloodline that granted him incredible physical prowess and a body that wasparable to a Profound Immortal''s True Extreme Physique. However, he had just beenprehensively beaten in a sh of strength, and it seemed like his opponent wasn''t even going all-out.
Han Li slowly withdrew his hands, then continued onward without even bothering to spare a nce at Feng Hai.
All of the Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals instantly appeared in front of Han Li to block his path, and it seemed that a battle was imminent.
"So this is how the Vast Flow Pce treats its guests? This is certainly some exceptional hospitality!" Han Li chuckled as bright golden light erupted out of his body, and ayer of golden fur emerged over his skin.
In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a giant golden ape that was over 100 feet tall, and his aura also swelled drastically to thete-Golden Immortal Stage. Furthermore, it was an aura that was filled with an astonishing degree of malice and violence, and it was sweeping through the air in all directions.
All of the Vast Flow Pce Golden Immortals were very much taken aback by this abrupt elevation in Han Li''s aura, and right at this moment, Luo Qinghai appeared between them and Han Li as he yelled, "Stop!"
"Do you want to have some fun as well, Grand Pce Master Luo?" the giant golden ape asked with a cold smile, disying no fear at all.
"Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Liu, I have no such intentions. All of you, go back to abodes and repent on your transgressions! None of you are toe out of seclusion without my permission! Fellow Daoist Liu is an esteemed guest of our Vast Flow Pce, and he must be treated as such!" Luo Qinghai scolded with a stern expression.
The Golden Immortals didn''t dare to raise any objections, and they flew out of the pce in quick session.
Feng Hai gave Han Li a vicious re before also departing.
In the wake of their departure, Han Li reverted back to his human form, and with that, he and Luo Qinghai were the only ones left in the pce.
"I''ll be honest with you, Fellow Daoist Liu. Our Vast Flow Pce suffered severe losses in the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce, and our woes werepounded even further by the unexined disappearance of Pce Master Tie and Pce Master Qiu, so everyone is quite tense and on-edge right now. I hope you can understand," Luo Qinghai said with a friendly smile.
"Unexined disappearance? Did I not just exin to you how they disappeared? It sounds like you also think I''m ndering them. In that case, there''s no point in continuing this conversation," Han Li said with a cold smile.
"Let''s not rush here, Fellow Daoist Liu. At our cultivation base, we''re rarely ever ovee by our emotions. Everything that we do is for the sake of personal interest, so I''m assuming you didn''t juste to our Vast Flow Pce to demand an exnation, is that correct?" Luo Qinghai asked with a faint smile.
Han Li offered no response to this.
"Pce Master Tie and Pce Master Qiu''s Origin Soul Lamps haven''t been snuffed out, so you must''ve spared them out of the kindness of your heart. Please allow me to apologize in their stead," Luo Qinghai said with a serious expression as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li.
"Don''t misconstrue my actions, Grand Pce Master Luo. I only spared them because I didn''t want to grant them a swift and painless death," Han Li said in a cold voice.
"Let''s be calm and civilized now, Fellow Daoist Liu. I don''t know why Pce Master Tie and Pce Master Qiu decided to go after you, but as long as you''re willing to return their nascent souls to us safe and sound, our Vast Flow Pce is willing to offer you satisfactorypensation," Luo Qinghai said.
"You sound very confident that I''ll agree to your proposal," Han Li remarked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I''m a firm believer in the notion that everything has a price. As long as the reward is sufficiently alluring, even sworn enemies can be friends," Luo Qinghai said.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then said, "In that case, I don''t have much for their nascent souls anyway, so I can return them to you."
Luo Qinghai was very relieved and ted to hear this, and he hurriedly cupped his fist in a grateful salute as he said, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist Liu. What would you like in return? Our sect has always been rathercking in resourcespared with the likes of the Dawn Fall Sect and the ze Dragon Dao, but I''ll do my best to satisfy you."
"There''s not much that can catch my eye in the Northern cial Immortal Region, but back in the Infernal Frost Immortal Pce, I heard from Fellow Daoist Gongshu that your Vast Flow Pce has a cultivation art by the name of the Water Divination Time Arts, and that it''s rted to thews of time. Is that correct?" Han Li asked as he sat down onto one of the chairs in the hall.
"That is indeed true," Luo Qinghai confirmed as a peculiar look appeared on his face. "By the way, by Fellow Daoist Gongshu, are you referring to Immortal Envoy Gongshu Jiu?"
"That''s right," Han Li replied with a nod.
"It sounds like you also entered the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, but I don''t recall seeing you there. Could it be that you entered the immortal manor together with Immortal Envoy Gongshu?" Luo Qinghai asked.
"I don''t believe that''s any of your business, Grand Pce Master Luo," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Forgive me. Please continue, Fellow Daoist Liu," Luo Qinghai said with an apologetic smile.
"There''s not much else to be said. Give me the Water Divination Time Arts, and I''ll return the nascent souls to you," Han Li replied in a direct and concise fashion.
"The Water Divination Time Arts is the premier cultivation art of our Vast Flow Pce. Even within our sect, we can only ess the cultivation art after securing majority approval from the panel of elders, so I''m afraid this may be a little too much to ask. Is there anything else I can do for you, Fellow Daoist Liu?" Luo Qinghai asked.
"That''s the only condition that I have, it''s up to you whether you want to ept it or not. I''m only going to wait two hours here. If I don''t see the Water Divination Time Arts in two hours, then I''ll just have to refine those nascent souls into Golden Soul Pills," Han Li said as he casually flipped a hand over to produce an object.
Han Li had summoned a white crystal ball, sealed within which was a blue nascent soul in the appearance of the fair-skinned schr, and Luo Qinghai''s pupils instantly contracted slightly upon seeing this.
The nascent soul was ecstatic to see Luo Qinghai, but it waspletely immobilized, and it wasn''t able tomunicate with Luo Qinghai through voice transmission, either.
Luo Qinghai shifted his gaze from the white crystal ball to Han Li, then said, "Please wait here for a moment, Fellow Daoist Liu, I have to discuss this matter with the others."
After that, Luo Qinghai promptly departed, leaving Han Li on his own in the hall.
......
Luo Qinghai emerged from the hall with his brows tightly furrowed in indecision.
After a brief pause, he quickly made his way into a side hall, where all of the other Golden Immortals were already waiting for him, and they immediately rose to their feet as he entered the room.
"How did it go, Grand Pce Master?" the green-faced elderly man asked.
Luo Qinghai gave everyone a brief recount of his conversation with Han Li.
"He wants the Water Divination Time Arts? He must be delusional!" Feng Hai harrumphed coldly.
"The Water Divination Time Arts is the most prized treasure of our Vast Flow Pce. How can we give it to an outsider?" the blue-robed woman chimed in.
"The problem is that this is the only condition that he''s stated. If we turn him down, what''s going to happen to Pce Master Tie and Pce Master Qiu?" the green-faced elderly man asked with tightly furrowed brows.
The blue-robed woman fell silent upon hearing this.
"He may be a formidable opponent, but if all of us attack him at once with the restrictions in the Vast Flow Pce on our side, surely we''ll be able to bring him down! Once he''s dead, we''ll be able to save Pce Master Tie and Pce Master Qiu''s nascent souls," Feng Hai suggested as a hint of killing intent shed through his eyes.
Everyone else was also quite tempted by this proposal.
Chapter 531: The Third Cultivation Art
Chapter 531: The Third Cultivation Art
"That man has a very peculiar aura, and I''ve never seen such fierce baleful qi in anyone, so he''s definitely no ordinary Golden Immortal. On top of that, I can sense that there''s some type of extremely formidable power that he still hasn''t disyed yet. Additionally, he seems to be an acquaintance of Gongshu Jiu''s, so he may be a very important figure in the Heavenly Court.
Regardless of whether we can take him down or not, attempting to do so will result in severe trouble for our sect, so that''s an option that we cannot explore," Luo Qinghai replied with a shake of his head.
"How are you so sure of that, Grand Pce Master?" Feng Hai asked.
"Back when the immortal manor first opened, only seven Infernal Frost Scenic Paintings appeared, and I saw all of the cultivators in possession of those seven paintings, but none of them possessed the same appearance or aura as that man.
Hence, he must''ve entered the immortal manor together with Gongshu Jiu using the eighth Infernal Frost Scenic Painting, which indicates that they had to have been quite close with one another," Luo Qinghai replied.
Everyone nodded in response upon hearing this.
"What do we do then? Are we really just going to hand the Water Divination Time Arts over to him?" Feng Hai asked in an indignant manner.
The other Golden Immortals all fell silent upon hearing this.
"You''ve always been the best decision-maker out of all of us, Grand Pce Master, so I think you should decide on how we should proceed," the green-faced elderly man said.
"I''m not exaggerating when I say that this has been the most tumultuous period in the Northern cial Immortal Pce in the past hundreds of thousands of years. The Northern cial Immortal Pce, the Dawn Fall Sect, and the ze Dragon Dao have all fallen from their pedestals, while only our Vast Flow Pce remains rtively intact.
In times of crisis, countless opportunities present themselves, and this is the ideal time for our Vast Flow Pce to expand its forces. If we can take full advantage of this opportunity, it''s very much possible for us to crush the Dawn Fall Sect and the ze Dragon Dao to be the number one sect in the Northern cial Immortal Pce," Luo Qinghai said.
Excited looks appeared on everyone''s faces upon hearing this.
Even though the Vast Flow Pce was one of the top three sects of the Northern cial Immortal Region, it had always been inferior to the Dawn Fall Sect and the ze Dragon Dao.
If they could surpass those two sects, not only would they be able to reap tremendous benefits, just the honor to be gained was already extremely appealing to them.
"What do you suggest we do, Grand Pce Master?" Feng Hai asked.
"If we want to achieve that objective, then Pce Master Tie and Pce Master Qiu are indispensable to us. Hence, I think we should recover their nascent souls in exchange for the Water Divination Time Arts," Luo Qinghai said.
"I agree. Ensuring the bright future of our Vast Flow Pce is far more important than the Water Divination Time Arts," the green-faced elderly man dered.
"Indeed. On top of that, the cultivation art is extremely profound and difficult to understand. Throughout the entire history of our Vast Flow Pce, barely anyone has been able to make any progress in this cultivation art, and even the exceptional prodigies who managed to make some inroads progressed far too slowly and were quickly outstripped by their peers who were cultivating otherw powers, so it really is just a waste of time."
"I also agree. The cultivation art is a small price to pay in exchange for two Golden Immortal Stage elders!"
Everyone else quickly nodded in agreement as well.
Feng Hai was still a little reluctant, but seeing as everyone else had already expressed the approval of the proposal, he didn''t raise any further objections.
"In that case, please go fetch the Water Divination Time Arts, Elder Qnig Fu," Luo Qinghai said to the green-faced elderly man, who promptly departed from the hall.
......
Han Li was sitting on his own while ying with the white crystal ball in his hand when the sound of footsteps rang out from outside, and Luo Qinghai and the green-faced elderly man entered the room.
"How did your discussion go, Grand Pce Master Luo?" Han Li asked.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Fellow Daoist Liu. This is the Water Divination Time Arts," Luo Qinghai said as he flipped a hand over to produce a blue jade slip before cing it onto the tea table beside Han Li.
"You''re a smart man, Grand Pce Master Luo," Han Li said as he also flipped a hand over to produce another white crystal ball, this one containing the elderly man''s nascent soul.
He tossed both of the crystal balls to Luo Qinghai, then reached out to grab the blue jade slip.
Luo Qinghai caught the pair of crystal balls, then injected a burst of blue light into each of them, upon which an ted look appeared on his face.
The two nascent souls inside had only been restricted but not harmed, so they could possess new bodies just fine.
Meanwhile, Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip for a moment, then quickly withdrew his spiritual sense as a surprised look appeared on his face.
Luo Qinghai had already stowed the pair of crystal balls away, and upon noticing Han Li''s expression, he asked, "Is there something wrong?"
"No. Now that the exchange is done, I''ll be taking my leave," Han Li replied as he stowed the jade slip away, then turned to depart.
An urgent look appeared in Luo Qinghai''s face upon hearing this, and he hurriedly said, "There''s no hurry to leave, Fellow Daoist Liu. Why don''t you stay at our Vast Flow Pce for a few days so I can show you some hospitality?"
"There''s no need for that. I don''t know anything about Fellow Daoist Gongshu or what happened in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, so there''s no need to waste your time on me, Grand Pce Master Luo," Han Li said.
Luo Qinghai''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, but it then quickly returned to normal as he turned to the green-faced elderly man as he said, "In that case, I won''t keep you any longer. Elder Qing Fu, please escort Fellow Daoist Liu out of the sect for me."
"Yes, Grand Pce Master. Pleasee with me, Fellow Daoist Liu," the green-faced elderly man replied, then led Han Li out of the hall before flying away into the distance.
Luo Qinghai watched as the two of them departed, and he remained standing at the entrance of the hall for a moment before also departing himself.
......
Close to a dayter, a streak of azure light flew out of the Ancient Point Mountain Range, then descended onto a small hill to reveal Han Li.
He turned back to the Ancient Point Mountain Range, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
At the same time, Jin Tong emerged beside him amid a sh of golden light.
"It''s a good thing you were with me, Jin Tong. Otherwise, that wouldn''t have gone so smoothly," Han Li said.
Back in the Vast Flow Pce, he hadpletely concealed his own aura while adopting his Giant Mountain Ape form, while Jin Tong had released herte-Golden Immortal Stage aura, thereby resulting in the illusion that Han Li possessed her aura, ultimately intimidating Luo Qinghai intoplying to his demands.
"I can''t believe you gave those nascent souls to them instead of feeding them to me!" Jin Tong said with a displeased expression.
Han Li smiled as he flipped a hand over to summon another pair of Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls, and the displeasure on Jin Tong''s face was instantly reced with tion as he grabbed the pair of nascent souls from him.
These two nascent souls had been a part of a Gongshu Jiu''s collection, of which there were five or six left. Perhaps he had secured these nascent souls from the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, or perhaps he had sourced them from elsewhere.
Han Li pulled out the jade slip that contained the Water Divination Time Arts, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
Even though he was still yet topletely grasp the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture that he had obtained from the Dawn Fall Sect, it had reminded him of the Vast Flow Pce''s Water Divination Time Arts.
He was going to be leaving the Northern cial Immortal Region anyway, so he may as well im all three of the immortal region''s time-attribute cultivation arts, hence his decision to visit the Vast Flow Pce.
At first nce, the Water Divination Time Arts was different from both the Mantra Axis Scripture and the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture in that it was a cultivation art that manifested timew powers using the power of water.
However, what was quite surprising to Han Li was that all three of them had certain simrities.
Could it be that the three time-attribute cultivation arts of the Northern cial Immortal Region are somehow connected with one another?
Han Li only considered this notion briefly before shaking his head and stowing the jade slip away again.
His top priority at the moment was to leave the Northern cial Immortal Region as soon as possible, so he would just have to study the cultivation art another time.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the green jade flying carriage appeared, and he released a burst of azure light to sweep up Jin Tong before flying onto the carriage.
Immediately thereafter, the carriage shot forth toward the entrance to the primordialnd as a ball of green light.
......
In a certain space countless kilometers away from the Northern cial Immortal Region.
The sky here was a radiant blue color with giant white clouds driftingzily through the air, while a series of spirit birds flew through them.
Everything here seemed to be particrly bright, as if there weren''t any darkness or shadows here.
Above the white immortal clouds was a vast world that consisted of countless giant mountains hovering in the sky, stretching as far as the eyes could see.
These mountains all varied in size, with some only tens of thousands of feet tall, while thergest ones stood at a staggering tens of millions of feet in size. Each mountain carried one or multiple majestic buildings, and these buildings were all of different styles, but they shared one simrity, which was that they were all radiating dazzling golden light.
The mountains were connected by bridges of rainbow light, presenting a spectacr sight to behold.
There was one mountain that was several million feet tall, hovering in mid-air, and it was riddled with radiant golden spirit patterns.
Around a dozen smaller mountains were hovering around it, much like stars around a moon.
On the summit of the mountain stood a golden pce that was glowing radiantly like everything else here.
The pce was around 1,000 feet tall and constructed from some type of unknown golden jade material, and it was extremely opulent and spectacr.
Above the entrance of the pce hung a silver que that read "Dawn Void Pce".
There were also many buildings littered across the smaller mountains around the giant golden peak, some of which were medicine gardens, while others were pill refinement chambers.
The nearest one of the smaller mountains had arge estate on its summit, within which numerous immortals were being kept, and it was looked after by several young servants.
Right at this moment, a streak of white light shot forth from afar, then shed over the estate before hurtling toward the summit of the giant golden mountain.
The streak of white light was releasing a burst of tremendous spiritual pressure, and a giant azure light barrier quickly surfaced around the estate to keep the immense spiritual pressure at bay, but some of it was still able to force its way through.
All of the immortal beasts in the estate immediately became anxious and restless, while all of the servants''plexions paled significantly as they copsed to the ground.
Only after the spiritual pressure hadpletely faded did they return unsteadily to their feet with looks of admiration and longing on their faces.
Chapter 532: Arriving at the Primordial Land
Chapter 532: Arriving at the Primordial Land
"Who was that? Their aura was incredible!" a tall and thin young man asked as he cast his gaze toward the summit of the giant golden peak with an excited expression.
"You were only just assigned to the Dawn Void Pce, so it''s no surprise that you don''t know of him. That was Xu Yunping, the fifth disciple of the Dawn Void Immortal Lord," one of the older servants replied.
"Master Xu seems to be more powerful everytime I see him," another servant with a pair of bushy eyebrows mused.
"I heard that Master Xu has been cultivating in seclusion for a long time, attempting to break through the mid-High Zenith Stage bottleneck. Now that he''se out of seclusion, I presume he''s already made the breakthrough. However, he doesn''t seem to have consolidated his cultivation base yet. Otherwise, there would be no spige of spiritual pressure," the older servant said.
"I heard that Master Xu has only been a disciple of the Dawn Void Immortal Lord, yet he''s already reached the mid-High Zenith Stage. If we had even a hundredth of his aptitude, we wouldn''t be stuck here," the servant with the bushy eyebrows sighed.
"Master Xu ascended from a lower realm, so it''s no surprise that he possesses exceptional aptitude. Even among the Dawn Void Immortal Lord''s disciples, he ranks near the top in terms of aptitude, so he''s certainly far beyond us," the older servant sighed with a self-deprecating expression.
After that, they began busying themselves with their respective duties again.
Meanwhile, the streak of white light descended in front of the pce on the summit of the giant golden mountain, then faded to reveal a golden-robed young man.
He possessed a pair of handsome features, most notably of which were a pair of bright eyes and sharp brows, and there was an aura of sharpness about him.
On either side of the pce stood a guard d in golden armor, and the skin on their faces was giving off a metallic sheen.
"Is my master inside?" the golden-robed young man asked.
"He is," one of the armored guards replied.
The golden-robed young man nodded in response, then made his way into the pce and passed through a few corridors to appear in a side hall.
The hall waspletely empty with the exception of a silver raised tform, upon which stood a golden chair.
A purple-robed middle-aged man was seated on the chair with his legs crossed. He had a darkplexion, and there was a powerful air of authority about him.
At this moment, his eyes were tightly shut, and bursts of purple light were emanating from his body, which was enshrouded within a cloud of faint purple mist.
The entire hall was also enveloped within a burst of strange power, and as the man breathed, the purple mist pulsed rhythmically, while the space within the hall trembled and buzzed, as if everything in the hall were in his control.
A hesitant look appeared on the golden-robed young man''s face, but he still gritted his teeth to muster up his courage as he dered, "Disciple Xu Yunping pays his respects to his master."
The purple-robed man''s eyelids fluttered slightly before springing open, and he cast a bright and piercing gaze toward the golden-robed young man, who shuddered involuntarily as hisplexion paled slightly.
The bright gleam in the purple-robed man''s eyes quickly faded, and his aura also became restrained as he asked, "Is there something you need from me, Yunping?"
"Master, I just received news from the Northern cial Immortal Pce, informing me that Pce Master Xiao Jinhan had ventured into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, but they suffered extremely severe losses, with Xiao Jinhan and several Golden Immortal Stage elders perishing in the immortal manor," Xu Yunping reported.
The purple-robed man''s expression remainedpletely unchanged as he asked, "Oh? If I recall correctly, Xiao Jinhan was at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage. How did he die?"
"After receiving this news, I immediately sent out people to investigate, but only a small handful of the Immortal Pce''s cultivators managed to return from the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor alive, and none of them knew exactly what had happened.
However, Xiao Jinhan had been attempting to unite the Northern cial Immortal Region for a long time, and as a result, a lot of tension had arisen between him and the other major powers of the immortal region, so I presume his demise must''ve had something to do with them," Xu Yunping replied.
"I''ve heard about what Xiao Jinhan had been doing recently. While it''s true that he was a little too aggressive, he was still a representative of our Heavenly Court, and his death cannot be tolerated! Send someone to the Northern cial Immortal Region to investigate this matter right away.
Find all of the people who contributed to his demise and have them all killed! The authority of the Heavenly Court is not to be challenged!" the purple-robed man dered as a cold look appeared in his eyes.
"I''ve already sent people to the Northern cial Immortal Region to investigate this matter, and I''m sure an oue will arise soon," Xu Yunping replied.
"Good. Make sure to get to the bottom of this," the purple-robed man said.
"I''ll do my best, Master. Also, I have something else to report to you," Xu Yunping said.
"What is it?" the purple-robed man asked.
"I heard that Immortal Envoy Gonshu of the Immortal Prison also entered the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor to pursue some members of the Reincarnation Pce, but he also seemed to have met his demise in there," Xu Yunping said.
"Gongshu? Are you referring to Gongshu Jiu from the Gongshu n?" the purple-robed man asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"That''s right," Xu Yunping replied.
"Gongshu Jiu wasn''t particrly powerful among immortal envoys, but he was still a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal, so there shouldn''t have been anyone in the Northern cial Immortal Region capable of killing him. Is the Reincarnation Pce behind this?" the purple-robed man asked as he rose to his feet.
"At this point, those details are still unclear, but we would''ve surely found out had the Reincarnation Pce sent a High Zenith cultivators into the Northern cial Immortal Region. Should I send out some people to investigate this matter as well?" Xu Yunping asked.
"There''s no need for that. The Immortal Prison has always acted as an independent entity, so they''ll be sure to send someone to investigate this matter, and there''s no need for us to get involved," the purple-robed man said.
"Yes, Master," Xu Yunping replied.
"You did very well in taking care of this matter. The Northern cial Immortal Region is under my jurisdiction, so it must not be allowed to descend into chaos. Go and arrange for a new pce master to be selected as soon as possible," the purple-robed man said.
Xu Yunping promptly departed after extending a parting salute, while the purple-robed man paced slowly back and forth in the hall with a contemtive look on his face.
Momentster, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, then vanished from the hall amid a sh of purple light.
......
Across the sea to the southwest of the Upper Arr Continent was an evenrger continent called the Primordial Edge Continent.
The eastern region of the continent was riddled with countless mountains, littered throughout which were innumerable dense forests and other perilous terrains, with very cities present.
Close to 100,000 kilometers ind from the east coast was a cliff that was over 10,000 feet tall and stretched for millions of kilometers, acting as a natural wall that sprawled over the continent from its north to its south.
It was still the same continent, yet it was as if thend had been sliced into two here. Above the cliff was a vast oasis, yet below it was a boundless desert.
Atop the cliff was a city that stretched for tens of thousands of kilometers like a resting ck dragon, and there were passes that were filled with restrictions and beacon towers positioned strategically along the city.
Even with all these passes and beacon towers, there was only one city on the border, and it was called "Primordial Origin City".
Close to nightfall, the sun in the sky had already set below the city wall, but its warm radiance could still be seen extending over the horizon, basking the cold, ck city walls in ayer of gentle warmth.
In the vast desert at the foot of the cliff to the west of the city, the sand was glowing gold under the light of dusk, and aside from the sound of the gentle breeze blowing through the area, there were no other sounds to be heard.
In stark contrast, on the other side of the city wall stood a massive city that was hundreds of kilometers in size. The city was filled with streets and alleys, as well as buildings of different description, and even though it still wasn''t nighttime yet, the city was already brightly lit.
Due to how enormous the city was, aside from the central region of the city, which was rtively well nned-out and organized, the rest of the city sprawled out toward the east in apletely disorganized and haphazard fashion.
At this moment, there were two figures, one tall and one short, slowly walking alongside one another on the ancient path leading toward the outskirts of the city.
The shorter of the two figures was a little girl who appeared to be eight or nine years old, wearing a festive little red coat with embroidered golden edges. She was holding three tanghulus as she walked beside a tall man dressed in an azure robe.
The man was none other than Han Li, while the little girl was Jin Tong.
The first stop on the map that Wyrm 3 had given him was the same location that Daoist Hu Yan pointed out to him, and after arriving in Primordial Origin City, Han Li decided to gather more information before he made a decision on how he was embark on this journey through the primordialnd.
"Why do I have to conceal my cultivation base, Uncle?" Jin Tong asked with a puzzled expression while munching on a tanghulu.
"Yourte-Golden Immortal Stage aura will attract too much attention here," Han Li replied as he cast his gaze toward the edge of the city.
"Isn''t that what we want? It would be great if we could lure a few Golden Immortals into attacking us, and after we kill them all, I''ll have more snacks to eat! I''ve constantly been feeling hungry recently," Jin Tong said in an excited manner.
"Our top priority right now is to leave the Northern cial Immortal Region, so you''re not allowed to cause any trouble. Otherwise, I''ll wear you on my finger as a ring instead of allowing you to follow me in your human form," Han Li warned with a serious expression.
"Don''t do that! Fine, fine, I''ll behave," Jin Tong sighed in a reluctant voice.
As the two of them were speaking, they had already arrived in the outer city of Primordial Origin City.
Chapter 533: Primordial Origin City
Chapter 533: Primordial Origin City
The streets in the outer city were lined with mud and short brick and tile buildings, most of which had rectangr tables in front of them, upon which were ced all types of merchandise. The majority of the merchandise catered toward mortals, so they were of no interest to Han Li.
As they approached the inner city, the streets became wider and much more uniform, and the buildings that lined the streets also became taller and more extravagant. However, in contrast with the other continents in the Northern cial Immortal Region, there was a clear disparity in the style in which the buildings were constructed.
There were very few cylindrical pirs incorporated into the buildings here, nor any intricate engravings that weremonce elsewhere. Overall, the style was simpler and rougher around the edges, and wascking in intricacy and thoughtfulness.
Furthermore, the wares being sold on the sides of the streets further entuated the fact that this continent was different from the others.
Even though it was getting dark, there were still quite a few people out on the streets, and after some observation, Han Li discovered that there were many foreign beings here that weren''tmonly seen elsewhere in the Northern cial Immortal Region. After walking for only a few hundred meters, Han Li had already spotted a decent number of foreign beings with peculiar appearances and strange attire.
However, this was no surprise, considering that this continent was situated on the border of the Northern cial Immortal Region.
"Something smells really good, Uncle..." Jin Tong eximed as soon as she finished the tanghulu in her hand, following which she immediately rushed over to a streetside stall.
Standing behind the stall was a dark-skinned man with a well-built physique, and he smiled as he asked, "How can I help you, little girl?"
Han Li followed Jin Tong to the stall to find that there was a huge copper pot full of bubbling oil ced beside it. Beside the pot was a table that wasden with freshly deep-fried food that was rather unappealing in appearance, but were giving off an alluring aroma.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the food being sold.
There were appendages of roughly the same thickness as human arms, giant pincers the size of tables, and an eyeball from some type of unidentifiable beast, all of which had been fried to a golden color and a crispy texture.
"You want to eat this stuff?" Han Li asked.
"I do! I''ll take all of it!" Jin Tong dered as she swept a hand through the air, and all of the food on the table was instantly stowed away into her storage bracelet.
A resigned smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he paid the stall owner, who was ecstatic to have sold so much food at once.
As Han Li and Jin Tong continued to approach the inner city, the streets were bing more and more packed with pedestrians.
There were many streetside stall owners loudly advertising their wares, and many verbal arguments could also be heard with no shortage of derogatory terms being thrown around.
There were also quite a few ces where there were scantily dressed women leaning against the railing or standing at the entrance, waving their fans and their sleeves to attract patrons to their doors.
Most of the people in the city were mortals, and there were quite a few cultivators as well, but the majority of them possessed very lowly cultivation bases. Han Li was listening to the conversations taking ce around him, trying to gather some useful information. However, that ultimately proved to be futile, so he grabbed onto Jin Tong''s arm and rose up into the air to fly directly toward the inner city.
As they flew through the sky, Han Li suddenly raised an eyebrow at the sight of the countless specks of light down below, and he murmured to himself, "It seems like this entire city is aplex array... Therger the city is, the more stable the array. No wonder there are no city walls constructed here. How brilliant..."
"What''s so brilliant, Uncle?" Jin Tong asked while crunching on a giant fried pincer.
An amused smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he chuckled, "Don''t worry about it, just focus on your food."
In contrast with the outer city, the buildings in the inner city were far more intricately constructed, and many decorative engravings could be seen on these buildings, but they were all depicting strange beasts that Han Li had never seen before.
The shops and restaurants that lined the streets had also turned into three-story pavilions, littered in between which were somerge inns.
What was most intriguing to Han Li was that there was a giant hemispherical building every few streets, and these were always the liveliest and most bustling ces on their respective streets.
Each of these buildings had four entrances, and the walls were riddled with fortification runes. Every once in a while, the sound of raucous cheering would ring out within these buildings.
"It sounds really fun in there, Uncle! Let''s go in and take a look!" Jin Tong suggested with an intrigued expression.
"Those are just arenas where different beasts are pitted against each other, while bets are ced by the spectators," Han Li exined with a shake of his head.
Jin Tong immediately lost interest upon hearing this.
"We''ve been traveling non-stop recently, so let''s take a rest in this city for tonight, then leave the city tomorrow to travel to the primordialnd," Han Li said as he took a nce up at the starry night sky.
"You can do whatever you want, Uncle. I''m feeling a little drowsy after my meal, so I''m going to sleep for a bit," Jin Tong replied, then shrank down into a tiny golden beetle beforending on Han Li''s finger as a golden ring.
Han Li could only shake his head with a resigned smile as he made his way toward the center of the city.
As he did so, he discovered that the buildings on the streets were bing sparser.
This wasn''t because the city wasn''t sufficiently prosperous. Instead, it was because all of the buildings in the core area of the inner city had been constructed in ordance with that giant array. Hence, they couldn''t be altered on a whim, and piling too many buildings into the area wouldpromise the array.
As Han Li made his way to the entrance of a street, he spotted a tall red archway. The pirs of the archway had intricate designs of dragons and phoenixes engraved upon them, and the words "Faint Smoke Garden" were inscribed on a que at the center of the archway.
Han Li peered into the archway with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to find that the world''s origin qi in the area beyond it was far more abundant than in other areas, and he began to make his way toward the archway.
Only as he approached the archway did he notice that there was a ck wooden que nearby, upon which were inscribed the words: "Only cultivators at or above the Deity Transformation Stage allowed."
Han Li stepped through the archway, and he was immediately weed by a tall and slender female cultivator in a pce dress.
"Wee, esteemed guest," the woman greeted as she extended a respectful curtsey.
Her etiquette and mannerisms werepletely impable, but her smile was a little too uniform and professional, making her slightly cold and uninviting.
"Do you have any spare rooms?" Han Li asked.
"There''s a vacant room in a peaceful location in the B-grade garden," the woman replied.
"There are different grades in the rooms here? Do you have any vacant rooms in your A-grade garden?" Han Li asked.
"This must be your first time in Primordial Origin City, right? There''s an unofficial rule in all of the immortal inns in the city, which is that all rooms are split into four grades, A, B, C, and D, and A-grade rooms are only essible to cultivators at or above the True Immortal Stage. Given your Grand Ascension Stage cultivation base, a B-grade room is most suitable for you," the woman exined with an apologetic expression.
"I see. That''s fine, please lead the way," Han Li replied with a smile.
He was only nning to stay here for one night anyway, so it didn''t really matter whether he stayed in an A-grade room or a B-grade one.
The woman hesitated momentarily, then asked, "You''re not going to ask about the price?"
"Arrange for some food and wine to be sent to my room, I''ll pay for everything when I leave tomorrow," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice.
"As you wish. Pleasee with me," the woman replied with another curtsey.
She then led Han Li out of the rear hall and along a winding corridor toward the backyard.
"If this is your first time here, why don''t you spend a few more days in Primordial Origin City?" the woman suggested as she led the way. "There are some ces that are worth visiting in the city, and it would be a pity not to pay them a visit."
"What are some of these ces?" Han Li asked in a casual manner.
"The exact time when Primordial Origin City was first constructed is unknown. Throughout its history, the city has been destroyed on many asions during battles between cultivators and primordial beasts, and the current iteration of the city was reconstructed with the support of all of the Northern cial Immortal Region''s top sects after the most recent war," the woman introduced.
"Does that mean primordial beasts have managed to attack their way into the city before?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. Thestrge-scale war was a very long time ago, so there aren''t many people around who still remember it, but I''ve heard that the primordial beasts were able to force their way into the city under the leadership of some primordial true spirits," the woman replied with a nod.
"Is the city jointly overseen by all of the major sects?" Han Li asked.
"That''s not the case. Due to the special location of the city, it''s currently being overseen by the city lord''s manor, and the major sects y no part in its management. However, the city is on good terms with all of the major sects, so it''ll generally receive reinforcements from those sects in its times of need," the woman exined.
"What about the Immortal Pce? Do they y no role in overseeing the city?" Han Li asked.
"The Northern cial Immortal Pce has expression intentions of taking over the city in the past, but they''ve been opposed by all of the major sects, and the city lord of Primordial Origin City is a cultivator at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage, so the Northern cial Immortal Pce has been unable to usurp the city lord''s manor. However..."
The woman''s voice trailed off here as a hesitant look appeared on her face.
Han Li could already guess what she wanted to say, but he still asked, "What is it?"
"In the wake of the ze Dragon Dao incident, the state of the Northern cial Immortal Region will most likely undergo a change, and Primordial Origin City may be affected as well," the woman said with a concerned expression.
Han Li was rather relieved to hear this.
It seemed like word of what had happened in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor still hadn''t spread across the Northern cial Immortal Region yet. At the very least, it appeared that those in Primordial Origin City were still oblivious to such matters.
Chapter 534: Sea of Sand
Chapter 534: Sea of Sand
"Indeed, there seems to be some unrest brewing in the Northern cial Immortal Region ofte," Han Li remarked.
"May I ask for what purpose you''re visiting Primordial Origin City, esteemed guest?" the woman asked.
"Truth be told, I''m nning to travel to the primordialnd tomorrow," Han Li replied in a candid fashion.
"You''re going to leave the city?" the woman asked as she stopped in her tracks with a surprised look on her face. "Are you traveling with someone else?"
"No, I prefer to travel alone," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"Please pardon me for sticking my nose into your business, but... with your cultivation base, leaving the city alone will be no different from throwing yourself to the wolves," the woman said as she extended an apologetic bow.
"Why is that? Is there some source of significant peril outside the city?" Han Li asked.
"Outside Primordial Origin City is an extremely vast sea of sand that''s filled with countless natural sand traps that are incredibly deep. Not only will it be impossible for a cultivator to traverse through the unforgiving terrain, even beasts from other deserts are unable to survive there. Only by traveling on one of therge ships in the city will you be able to reach the other side of the sea of sand," the woman exined.
"Why can''t a cultivator just fly over the sea of sand then? Are there some perils present in the sky as well?" Han Li asked.
"Even a Golden Immortal cultivator most likely wouldn''t dare to traverse through the sea of sand on an aerial route. Primordial Origin City is very close to the primordialnd, and there were often powerful primordial beings roaming through the sea of sand. Even manyte-True Immortal cultivators have met terrible fates upon running into some of these primordial beasts," the woman exined.
Han Li could tell from the tone of her voice that she wasn''t merely trying to scare him, and his brows furrowed slightly in contemtion.
"Aside from that, even if one is lucky enough to avoid all of those ferocious beasts, there are many mirages and illusions in the sea of sand that could easily lead one astray. If luck is on one''s side, perhaps they''ll be able to stumble their way back to Primordial Origin City in a few centuries, but if luck isn''t smiling upon them, then..."
The woman''s voice trailed off there, but the implications were already very apparent.
"Where can I go to board one of these ships?" Han Li asked after some contemtion.
"The ship dock is located near the beacon tower on the western city gate. These ships only make two trips a year, but you''re in luck as the next ship will be departing in just half a month," the woman replied.
"If cultivators are susceptible to being attacked upon entering the sea of sand, wouldn''t a ship full of cultivators be even more prone to attracting primordial beasts?" Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
"Rest assured, esteemed guest. These ships were crafted by the city lord''s manor, and I''ve heard that there are certain mechanisms in the ship thatpletely conceal its aura to avoid the detection of primordial beings," the woman exined.
"So you''re saying that the ship is guaranteed to be able to reach the other side of the sea of sand?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing is truly guaranteed in life, esteemed guest. As recently as eight years ago, one of the ships was struck down by a primordial true spirit, and there were barely any survivors," the woman replied with a wry smile.
"If it can conceal its own aura, then how was it struck down?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
The two of them arrived in the backyard as they were speaking.
"From what I heard, a True Immortal Stage primordial hunter on the ship had in a nest of juvenile Nine-eyed Centipedes on a hunting trip, infuriating the True Immortal Stage parent of the centipedes, which had been away from the nest at the time. It was able to catch a whiff of the cultivator''s bloodline aura from the blood that he had shed at the nest, and that was what ultimately resulted in that tragedy," the woman exined.
"By primordial hunter, you''re referring to cultivators who enter the primordialnd to hunt for primordial beasts, right?" Han Li asked.
"Yes, but also no. Hunting primordial beasts is indeed one of the objectives of primordial hunters, but on top of that, they''re also searching for strange and exotic nts, as well as ore, gemstones, and other resources from the primordialnd," the woman replied.
"I''m sure there must''ve been countless primordial hunters over the years. Have any of them ever been able to piece together a map of the primordialnd?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid not. If you''re going to visit any of the shops in the city, make sure to be on your guard as all of the merchants iming to have maps of the primordialnd for sale are frauds," the woman replied with a shake of her head.
"Why is that?" Han Li asked.
"While it''s true that countless cultivators have ventured into the primordialnd over the years, they''ve only been able to explore a very limited area. The only people who have dared to venture deep into the primordialnd and returned alive were almighty beings at or above the Golden Immortal Stage, and it''s said that only cultivators at or above the High Zenith Stage have been able to pass through the primordialnd to the neighboring ck Mountain Immortal Region. Cultivators of this caliber are extremely rare, and none of them would be willing to map out the primordialnd as a public service for others," the woman exined.
"That does make sense," Han Li mused with a slight nod.
"You must''vee to Primordial Origin City as you''re also interested in bing a primordial hunter, right? I advise you to limit your activities to the already charted areas of the primordialnd. There will be nock of bounties waiting for you even in those explored areas," the woman suggested.
Before long, the two of them had already arrived in front of a courtyard in the B-grade garden.
Han Li swept his gaze over the courtyard to find that it had been arranged in a triangr formation, with a main room at the center, on either side of which was a side room, and in the middle was a small garden filled with vibrant flowers and young immortal nts.
The woman pulled out an azure jade badge that was engraved with the words "Rain Hearing Courtyard", then swept it through the air.
The restriction that epassed the entire courtyard instantly split open, following which a gentle, fragrant breeze blew out from within, and a pair of maidservants emerged before extending a collective curtsey toward Han Li.
"Both of these maidservants are Core Formation cultivators with their virginities still intact. If you take a liking to them, then that would be a great honor for them. Otherwise, you can just have them perform some servant duties for you," the woman said as he offered the jade badge to Han Li with both hands.
"I don''t require any servants. I''m used to being on my own," Han Li said as he epted the jade badge.
The two maidservants weren''t inferior to the woman who had guided Han Li here in the looks department, and a hint of disappointment shed through their eyes upon hearing this, but neither of them dared to say anything.
"In that case, I''ll have them leave you in peace. Please rest for a moment, the wine and food that you ordered will be here shortly," the woman replied.
"You have my thanks," Han Li said as he tossed a brocade pouch toward the woman.
The woman caught the cloth pouch, then inspected its contents momentarily with her hand concealed up her sleeve, and abination of shock and tion appeared on her face as she eximed, "I am in awe of your generosity, esteemed guest. How about I take you to an A-grade courtyard instead?"
"There''s no need for that, this courtyard is just fine. You can all go now," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand, then made his way into the courtyard.
A faint smile appeared on the woman''s face as she looked on at Han Li''s departing figure, and she pulled a top-grade spirit stone out of the brocade pouch for closer inspection.
......
The next day, Han Li departed from the Faint Smoke Garden early in the morning.
Having slept an entire night, Jin Tong waspletely reinvigorated, and at this point, she had already picked up a wide array of different foods from the street side stalls.
"Are we leaving now, Uncle?" Jin Tong asked with a reluctant expression.
"There''s no hurry to leave," Han Li replied in an ambiguous fashion, then made his way toward the western city gate, quickly arriving at the dock there.
"What are we doing here, Uncle?" Jin Tong asked.
"Wait here for me for a bit," Han Li said to Jin Tong, then made his way into a nearby ck building.
A short whileter, he emerged from the building with a ck talisman in his hand, upon which was engraved a design of arge ship.
"What''s this?" Jin Tong asked with a curious expression as she grabbed the spirit talisman from Han Li.
"It''s a ship ticket," Han Li replied, then briefly exined to Jin Tong why they were going to travel by ship.
"With our powers, there''s no need to travel by ship. It would be much faster if we just flew straight through the sea of sand," Jin Tong said as she pursed her lips in displeasure.
"This is going to be our first foray into the primordialnd, so it''s better to be a bit more cautious. On top of that, seeing as there''s a ship that can cross this sea of sand, why wouldn''t we take advantage of it?" Han Li said with a smile.
Jin Tong thought about this for a moment, then shrugged her little shoulders before continuing to enjoy her feast.
After stowing the ship ticket away, Han Li made his way toward the bustling streets in the city.
Even though he had a veryrge collection of pills and resources, most of them had been taken from the storage tools of Gongshu Jiu and the others, so they may not necessarily be useful to him. Hence, he had to prepare some things in preparation for the uing journey.
Given this city''s close proximity to the primordialnd, there had to be many resources unique to the primordialnd being sold in the city, so it was definitely worth exploring.
However, Primordial Origin City was massive, and many ces were enshrouded in restrictions that could keep out spiritual sense.
It was going to take far too long to just explore the city blindly, so Han Li made his way into a nearby variety store, where he purchased a book that introduced the city to neers.
After reading through the book, he developed a rough grasp of the city''syout.
He stowed the book away, then continued onward, and it wasn''t long before he arrived in a prosperous area in the inner city.
In contrast with other parts of the city, this ce was a giant white jade za.
There were close to 100 wide streets branching out in all directions with the za acting as the central point, and hovering in the air above the za was a white pce that looked as if it had been entirely constructed out of pristine white jade.
There were countlessrge white runes swirling around the pce, releasing bursts of white light that enshrouded the entire za and all of the streets around it.
This was thergest business area in Primordial Origin City, and it was certainly living up to its reputation.
Chapter 535: Lost
Chapter 535: Lost
Han Li stood at the entrance of the street, looking up at the white pce in the sky with a thoughtful expression.
ording to the book that he had read, the pce had been created by the city lord of Primordial Origin City, and those inside it could oversee everything that happened along the entire street.
Due to the fact that Primordial Origin City was situated on the border of the immortal region, it had a reputation for being somewhat chaotic, but this street was always a very peaceful ce. The reason for this was that battles were strictly prohibited here, and anyone who went against this rule would be severely punished, even killed on the spot in some cases.
Over time, this floating pce became a symbol of power and a beacon of authority in the eyes of Primordial Origin City''s cultivators.
Han Li quickly withdrew his gaze, then began to inspect the street around him.
Even though there were many streets branching off from the za, it didn''t appear messy or cluttered in the slightest. Instead, everything had been arranged in an orderly fashion, and it was clear that theyout of the streets had been set out by experts in the field. Furthermore, all of the shops on each street specialized in only selling one type of merchandise, whether that be materials, or spirit treasures, or pills.
After observing his surroundings for a moment, Han Li made his way down one of the wider streets. All types of spirit nts were being sold in the shops on this street, and it was quite a lively and bustling street.
He began making his way toward one of therger shops on the street, yet right as he was about to step into it, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, then turned around to look behind him with furrowed brows.
As it turned out, Jin Tong had suddenly vanished.
Han Li released his spiritual sense to search for Jin Tong, and as it turned out, she had rushed over to the nearby food stalls again.
Han Li shook his head in exasperation, but didn''t summon Jin Tong back to his side.
Even though her powers still didn''t quite ce her at the very top of the Northern cial Immortal Region, he was confident that there was no one in Primordial Origin City capable of harming her.
With that in mind, he made his way into the shop, which was quiterge, spanning several thousand feet, and there were many shelves in the shop that wereden with spirit nts and materials.
At this moment, there were many other cultivators already in the shop, and Han Li was immediately greeted by an azure-robed employee.
"How can I help you, esteemed customer? We have the widest range and the cheapest prices that you''ll find in Primordial Origin City."
"I''ll take a look on my own," Han Li replied as he waved a dismissive hand.
The employee gave an affirmative response, but didn''t walk away. Instead, he continued to trail along some distance behind Han Li.
Han Li swept his gaze over the surrounding shelves as he gave an internal nod.
Due to its location, Primordial Origin City was rather isted from the rest of the Northern cial Immortal Region, but the materials here were very much eye-opening for Han Li. They were all very rare items in other ces, and in particr, most of the spirit beast materials here were unidentifiable to Han Li, so they most likely came from outside of the Northern cial Immortal Region.
Fortunately, all of the wares being sold in the shop had signs beside them thatid out their names and how they could be used.
It didn''t take long before Han Li had explored the entire shop, and he was looking a little disappointed.
While it was true that the materials in the shop were quite rare, none of them were of a very high caliber, and most of them were only useful to cultivators below the True Immortal Stage.
The azure-robed employee noticed Han Li''s expression, and he rushed over to Han Li before pointing at a staircase in the shop as he said, "Are you looking for some better materials, esteemed customers? The first floor only holds the ordinary spirit materials, while all of the high-grade materials are on the second floor."
"Alright, I''ll take a look," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Pleasee with me."
The employee led the way forward, and it didn''t take long before they arrived on the second floor.
In contrast with the first floor, there were only seven or eight shelves on the second floor, but they had clearly been constructed with better materials and design.
Han Li''s gaze roamed over the materials on the shelves, and his eyes quickly lit up.
These materials were far more abundant in spiritual power than the ones downstairs. Almost all of them were meant for True Immortal cultivators, and there were even a few that could be used by Golden Immortals.
As Han Li walked along the shelves, his eyes suddenly lit up as he stopped in his tracks, and his gaze settled on a red vine.
"This is a length of Heavenly Siphon Vine. It''s a very rare material, and we only recently secured it from a primordial hunter," the employee exined.
"Let me take a closer look at it," Han Li said.
The employee pulled out a badge to dispel the transparent restriction around the shelf, then carefully pulled out the red spirit vine before handing it to Han Li.
Han Li epted the spirit nt, and an ted look appeared in his eyes following a closer inspection.
The Heavenly Siphon Vine was one of the main materials for refining Heavenly Luster Pills, one of the pills in the Huanan Pill Scripture, so it seemed that he was in luck.
"I''ll take this vine. How much is it?" he asked.
Even though he had already gathered all of the ingredients required to refine Infernal Azure Pills, it naturally couldn''t hurt for him to refine as many of the pills on the Huanan Pill Scripture as possible.
"Heavenly Siphon Pills are useful even to cultivators above the True Immortal Stage, and this one is over 100,000 years old, so it''ll cost 350 Immortal Origin Stones," the employee replied after a brief hesitation.
350 Immortal Origin Stones was quite arge sum, even for ate-True Immortal cultivator, but Han Li didn''t even hesitate as he replied, "I''ll take it."
At the moment, he had over two million Immortal Origin Stones in his possession, so 350 was but a trifling sum.
The employee was ecstatic.
Han Li continued to browse through the wares on the shelves, but was unable to find any more materials that were useful to him.
Shortly thereafter, he left the shop with the Heavenly Siphon Vine.
However, instead of leaving this street, he made his way into another nearby shop.
Before long, almost an entire day had passed by, and Han Li had explored all of the materials shops in the area, securing many useful materials in the process.
Even though Primordial Origin City wasn''t asrge as some of the major cities in more prosperous parts of the Northern cial Immortal Pce, its location meant that there were many types of precious materials here, so it was no wonder that the Northern cial Immortal Pce wanted to seize control of the city.
Unfortunately, he was only able to find a few ingredients required for refining Heavenly Luster Pills, and there were still many missing.
The reason why he had been able to source all of the materials required for refining Infernal Azure Pills was because Xiao Jinhan had almostpleted the entire list for him.
Han Li wasn''t overly concerned or dismayed by this. He would just have to keep searching for Heavenly Luster Pill ingredients after he entered the primordialnd.
After that, Han Li departed from the street of shops selling materials, then made his way onto a street lined with variety stores. He made his way into thergest shop on that street, then quickly emerged with a gray jade slip in his hand.
The jade slip contained a map of the primordialnd, but ording to the shopkeeper, the map had been created based on information purchased from primordial hunters.
The primordialnd was fraught with peril, and a variety store like this one certainly didn''t have the ability to verify the information that they had been supplied by these primordial hunters, so the shopkeeper didn''t dare to vouch for the uracy of the map.
In other words, it could only be used for reference purposes, and Han Li was both amused and exasperated to hear this.
Having explored countless ces and purchased countless maps, this was the first time that he had heard something so irresponsible.
However, given the perils of the primordialnd, all of the maps being sold in the variety stores in the city suffered from the same pitfall.
Han Li inspected the jade slip for a moment, then injected his spiritual sense into it.
The map inside the jade slip was split up into two sections, a small section that was white in color, and a farrger section that was gray.
All of the white areas were quite close to Primordial Origin City, and there was very detailed information presented in those sections, including what demon beasts resided in those areas and what types of materials could be found there.
As for the gray areas, they represented the unknown.
ording to the shopkeeper, those white areas were ones that had been explored extensively by people sent out by the city lord, so they were essentially official maps that were very reliable.
As for the gray areas, the annotations on them had been made using information supplied by some primordial hunters, and it was impossible to verify the validity of the information.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li summoned another white jade badge, this one given to him by Wyrm 3, containing the map of the safe route through the primordialnd.
The route began at Primordial Origin City and led all the way to the ck Mountain Immortal Region, but there were only some sparse pieces of information presented on the areas that the route passed through, while the other areas had been leftpletely empty.
Han Lipared the contents of the two maps to find that Wyrm 3''s map and the official map supplied by Primordial Origin City were virtually identical.
However, outside of the official map, the gray areas disyed some rather significant differencespared with Wyrm 3''s map, and it was impossible to tell which one was more urate.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he made his way into another shop.
Before long, he had visited dozens of shops and purchased arge collection of maps.
There had to be some urate information on these maps, and it certainly couldn''t hurt to have more of them for his uing journey into the primordialnd.
By the time Han Li emerged from the final variety shop, night had already arrived.
All of the streets in this area were lined with a type of white crystal that gave off a gentle white glow in the night, illuminating the area and giving it an air of wonder and opulence.
At this moment, Han Li''s brows were slightly furrowed. He had just verified Jin Tong''s location using their spiritual connection, and she was still in Primordial Origin City, but for some reason, her spiritual sense was trembling slightly, a situation that generally only arose whenever she was in a state of heightened excitement while in battle.
Han Li immediately set off for Jin Tong''s location, quickly arriving in front of a huge dome-shaped ptial building.
The entrance of the pce was over 100 feet wide, and it was packed with people.
This was one of the arenas in Primordial Origin City, and there were restrictions set up nearby, making it impossible for someone to sense what was happening inside the building from the outside.
Han Li was rather perplexed to see this, and he immediately made his way into the arena.
Chapter 536: Demonic Man
Chapter 536: Demonic Man
From the outside, the ck pce didn''t appear all thatrge, but it was quite spacious on the inside with seven or eight giant rings that were enshrouded within transparent restrictions. Each ring was around 5,000 to 6,000 feet in size, and they were surrounded by raucous spectators.
Han Li stood at the entrance and swept his gaze over the surrounding area to find that fierce battles were taking ce on all of the rings. Some were one-on-one battles between two demon beasts, some battles had more than twobatants, and some battles were taking ce between demon beasts and cultivators.
Whenever any of thebatants sustained any injuries, the people gathered around the ring would immediately let loose thunderous cheers.
The raw brutality of these battles seemed to have ignited the bloodlust deep within the hearts of the spectators, and all of them were cheering with excitement.
At the center of the arena was arge stone que, upon which were inscribed the matchups for the ongoing and uing battles, as well as the odds on offer.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
He wasn''t unfamiliar with these types of arenas as he had seen other simr ces in the past, but he didn''t enjoy this type of environment much.
He continued to scour through his surroundings, and he quickly caught sight of a familiar figure in the crowd beside one of the rings.
Just like all of the spectators around her, Jin Tong was currently yelling loudly at the ring, and her face was brightly flushed.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he heaved a long sigh before making her way toward Jin Tong.
Jin Tong seemed to be oblivious to his approach, and she was yelling at the top of her lungs, looking as if she wanted to jump into the ring to fight herself.
"Jump! Use your tail... Agh, what an idiot!"
Han Li cast his gaze toward the ring in front of Jin Tong to find that there was a pair of ferocious beasts locked in battle inside.
One of them resembled a giant lizard that was over 100 feet in length with its entire body covered in dark purple scales. There were also several sharp hooked spikes on its tail, and its mouth was filled with fangs that resembled sharp swords, giving it a very menacing appearance.
The opposing beast resembled a lion that was 70 to 80 feet tall. It had a single horn on its head and an extremely fearsome physique, coupled with ws that resembled anchors.
A hint of intrigue appeared in Han Li''s eyes at the sight of the two beasts.
ording to his knowledge, both of the beasts in the ring were primordial demon beasts that had been captured from the primordialnd. They were extremely vicious, but their demonic power had been sealed, so there was no danger to any of the spectators.
At this moment, the two beasts were locked in an intense battle, with blood sttered in all directions, while scales and tufts of fur were flying everywhere.
It was clear that Jin Tong was supporting the lizard-like beast, but it was gradually being forced onto the back foot by its opponent.
Right at this moment, the lizard let loose a low roar before darting back like lightning, then swept its spiked tail horizontally through the air,shing out viciously at its pouncing opponent.
However, the horned beast possessed agility that belied its bulky appearance, and it quickly darted away to the side, allowing it to evade the lizard''s sweeping tail.
Before the lizard had a chance to do anything, the horned beast bit down like lightning, sinking its fangs into the midsection of the lizard''s tail before whipping its head ferociously to one side.
The lizard was swung through the air before crashing heavily into the restriction that epassed the ring.
Immediately thereafter, the horned beast pounced forward, and its horn pierced viciously into the lizard''s belly, pinning it into the restriction.
A vast volume of blood erupted out of the lizard''s body as it let loose an agonized wail, and it was struggling with all its might, but unable to break free.
As it continued to bleed, the lizard''s struggles quickly became feebler and feebler, until it finally fellpletely still.
The horned beast took a step backward, then whipped its head to the side again to send the lizard flying through the air.
A loud thump rang out as the lizard fell onto the ground, and its limbs spasmed a few times before quickly falling still.
A wave of thunderous cheers instantly erupted around the ring, and the horned beast stood with its head held high and its bloodstained horn pointed directly upward, as if it were basking in the cheers.
Jin Tong stomped her foot into the ground in frustration upon seeing this.
Standing beside her was a purple-robed young man, and he chuckled, "Looks like I win this time."
"Don''t get cocky just from winning one bet!" Jin Tong scoffed with a displeased pout.
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this.
Jin Tong had always been quite resentful toward cultivators other than himself, so it was very surprising for him to see her interacting with another cultivator like this.
With that in mind, he took a nce at the purple-robed young man, upon which his pupils immediately contracted slightly.
The man was giving off a True Immortal Stage aura, but with Han Li''s immense spiritual sense, he was immediately able to tell that this was a disguise, and that his true cultivation base was at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage.
Furthermore, the aura that he was giving off indicated that he was a demonic cultivator.
"Jin Tong," Han Li called out.
"Oh, what a coincidence, Uncle!" Jin Tong eximed as she rushed over to Han Li.
The purple-robed man also turned around to discover Han Li approaching him and Jin Tong.
The man appeared to be in his twenties with a head of slightly curly white hair and a set of handsome features. His eyes were particrly bright, and his pupils were a peculiar light purple color.
"I had toe looking for you because you''ve been gone an entire day, and it''s already nighttime!" Han Li grumbled.
Jin Tong scratched her head in a sheepish manner as she replied, "Is it already thatte? I didn''t notice. You shoulde and y with us, Uncle. It''s really fun here!"
Han Li paid no heed to Jin Tong as he asked, "Who is this fellow daoist, Jin Tong?"
"He''s a friend I just made, his name is Shi Chuankong," Jin Tong replied.
At this point, the purple-robed man had also made his way over to Han Li, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "I am Shi Chuankong, a primordial hunter. May I ask your name?"
As he raised his hands to cup his fist in a salute, his sleeves slid down his forearms to reveal ayer of fine purple scales over his skin.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and he returned the salute as he returned the salute and replied, "My name is Li Feiyu."
"It''s a pleasure to meet you, Fellow Daoist Li. Jin Tong and I have been getting along quite well, and we''ve been having some fun betting on the battles here. I hope I haven''t caused any trouble for you," Shi Chuankong said.
"Jin Tong has always been quite naughty, and I don''t know how to keep her in check, so I''m very grateful that you''ve been looking after her for me," Han Li replied with a smile.
"That''s good to hear. By the way, I heard from Jin Tong that the two of you have only just arrived in Primordial Origin City and are nning to travel to the primordialnd. I also n to travel to the primordialnd by ship in half a month, so how about we travel together?" Shi Chuankong proposed.
"Thank you for the kind offer, Fellow Daoist Shi, but we already have other ns," Han Li refused with a shake of his head.
"Is that so? What a pity," Shi Chuankong replied with a disappointed expression.
"We still have some other matters to attend to, so we''ll be taking our leave now, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li dered.
"Surely there''s no hurry to leave, Fellow Daoist Li. Why don''t you ce a few bets as well?" Shi Chuankong proposed.
Right at this moment, another wave of raucous cheers rang out from the nearby ring, and another battle had begun.
An excited look immediately appeared on Jin Tong''s face upon hearing this, but Han Li shook his head as he replied, "Once again, thank you for the kind offer, Fellow Daoist, but I''m not interested in betting on these arena battles, so I''ll leave you to it."
He then grabbed onto the reluctant Jin Tong and dragged her toward the entrance of the hall.
Shi Chuankong shook his head in disappointment before turning back to the ring again.
......
"Why were you with that man, Jin Tong?" Han Li asked after exiting the arena.
"He was constantly betting against me, so we started challenging each other," Jin Tong replied as she ced her hands on her hips.
"What do you think of him?" Han Li asked.
"He has a simr scent to yours, so I don''t detest him like other cultivators," Jin Tong replied as she summoned a tanghulu and began nibbling on it.
"That''s certainly a rare urrence," Han Li mused with a contemtive expression.
"Is there a problem with him, Uncle?" Jin Tong asked.
"There''s more to him than meets the eye, so make sure to be careful if you run into him again," Han Li cautioned.
"For sure! Next time I see him, I''ll definitely be more careful so that I don''t lose to him again!" Jin Tong replied with a firm nod.
Jin Tong was left feeling rather speechless by this response, and he took a nce back at the arena, then returned to the Faint Smoke Garden with Jin Tong.
The next day, he shopped for some more things that could be useful for the uing journey into the primordialnd, then returned to the Faint Smoke Garden and remained in his room the majority of the time thereafter.
As a safety precaution, he didn''t allow Jin Tong to continue wandering the city as she pleased.
During his infrequent outings, he wasn''t able to gather much information about the primordialnd, but he did hear some things about the sea of sand outside the city.
The sea of sand wasn''t just a barren desert. Instead, some earth-attribute spirit materials could be found there, and there was also a type of special sand beast residing in the area, beasts that could be in for their precious sand crystals, which were simr to demon cores.
Many of the cultivators in Primordial Origin City often ventured into the outskirts of the sea of sand to y some smaller sand beasts for their sand crystals.
However, there had been some unrest in the sea of sand recently, resulting in the disappearances of many of the cultivators who had ventured into it, so people were much more apprehensive about the area.
Chapter 537: Setting Off
Chapter 537: Setting Off
Half a month flew by in a sh, and the day that the ship was set to depart quickly arrived.
Han Li left the Faint Smoke Garden early in the morning, then traveled straight to the western city gate with Jin Tong sitting on his finger as a ring.
The biannual ship departures were considered to be important events in Primordial Origin City, so aside from the cultivators traveling on the ship, many spectators had also gathered at the city gate.
By the time Han Li arrived, he discovered that there were already hundreds of cultivators that were lined up at the entrance of the ck hall on the inside of the city wall, holding their ship tickets for examination.
Upon joining the line, Han Li briefly scoured through the surrounding crowd to find that only a small number of them were True Immortals, while the vast majority of them were Grand Ascension cultivators.
This wasn''t all that surprising to him. After all, past experience had already shown that the chances of survival for cultivators below the Grand Ascension Stage entering the primordialnd were simply far too low, even when it came to the already charted areas. However, even for Grand Ascension cultivators traveling through the same charted areas, their chances of survival also weren''t very high.
Despite this, they were still willing to take the risk for the chance of being able to secure opportunities that could allow them to ascend to immortality.
Even though the line was very long, there was barely anyone speaking, and even some of the cultivators who were here in groups were conversing with one another in hushed tones or through voice transmission, so the atmosphere was rather solemn.
A few minutester, the sun finally rose over the city wall, and the first ray of sunlight shone down upon the foot of the city wall, while the toll of a bell rang out from above.
As the bell toll rang out, a ck-robed elderly man emerged from the entrance of the ck hall, then announced that the ship was ready for boarding before beginning to examine the tickets and allowing the passengers into the hall.
The cultivators up ahead entered the hall one after another, and before long, it was Han Li''s turn.
As he offered up his ck spirit talisman, the ck-robed elderly man flipped a hand over to produce a white jade badge, which he pressed against the talisman, and thetter instantly turned into a wisp of ck smoke that seeped into the white jade badge.
Immediately thereafter, the words "A-grade cabin 13" appeared on the badge.
Han Li epted the badge from the ck-robed elderly man, upon which he discovered that there were many tiny characters engraved onto its back.
As he made his way into the hall, he flipped the badge over to see what was inscribed on the back, and at the top of the badge was inscribed the word "Rules", and the rules of the ship wereid out down below.
The first rule was that fighting was strictly prohibited on the ship, regardless of what purpose it was for, and breaking this rule was punishable by death.
The second rule was that no one was allowed to leave the ship for any reason, and this transgression was also punishable by death.
Overall, there were 17 rules in total, and death was the consequence for breaking most of them.
Upon entering the hall, Han Li caught sight of a stone staircase at the back of the hall that led up toward the top of the city wall, and there were currently many people making their way up the staircase.
Han Li did the same, and it didn''t take long before arrived at the top of the majestic city wall.
The city wall appeared even wider than it from down below, so wide that 100 people could easily walk along it side by side.
The giant bs of ck stone that were used to pave the city wall were riddled with marks that had been left behind by the passage of time, and at the moment, there were dozens of giant yellow louchuans hovering above the city wall.
These louchuans had bulging centers and tapered tips, and there weren''t any fancy decorations on them.
However, they had beenpletely encased in some type of special metallic material that was riddled with strange runes, giving them a rough and antiquated appearance.
Furthermore, almost all of the ships were riddled with gashes that varied in depth and severity, with some that barely scratched the surface, as well as some that tore through theyer of metal casing and even cut deep into the exposed dragon bone down below.
Groups of ck-robed cultivators holding disk treasures in their hands were gathered around the ships, using some type of special secret technique to repair them.
From Han Li''s observation, he could see that the mostmon types of damage disyed on the ships were long and thin gashes and giant conical holes, seemingly having been inflicted by one or two types of primordial beasts.
Right at this moment, a purple figure caught up to him from behind, then began to walk alongside him as they introduced, "That''s the handiwork of Sandthorn Snakes and Man-faced Scorpions. One possesses tails as sharp as des, while the other possesses spike-like pincers. They''re the two mostmon types of demon beasts in the sea of sand, and their offensive prowess is rather ordinary, but they''re very abundant in numbers."
Han Li''s brows furrowed ever so slightly as he greeted, "Wee, Fellow Daoist Shi."
The purple-robed figure was none other than Shi Chuankong, who Han Li had previously encountered in the arena.
"It''s good to see you here, Fellow Daoist Li. I''ve already been waiting for over three months in Primordial Origin City to take this ship. If I had to wait any longer, I would''ve died of boredom!" Shi Chuankong chuckled.
"I don''t think you would''ve been bored with all of the arenas in the city," Han Li said with a smile.
"I was only doing a little bit of gambling to pass the time," Shi Chuankong replied with a slightly embarrassed expression. "By the way, where''s the little girl who was with youst time?"
Before Han Li had a chance to reply, a gust of ck wind suddenly blew onto the scene from a beacon tower to the north, and a middle-aged man wearing an embroidered ck robe emerged.
The ck-robed man had a golden badge hanging from his waist, upon which were inscribed the words "Primordial Origin City", clearly indicating that he was from the city lord''s manor.
"He''s the ship overseer sent by the city lord''s manor, and he''s responsible for maintaining order on the ship and dealing with unforeseen mishaps. In the past, this duty was asionally assigned to severalte-True Immortal cultivators, but ever since the incident from eight years ago, it''s been solely Golden Immortals who have been assigned with this task," Shi Chuankong exined.
"It''s time to board the ship," Shi Chuankong continued as he took a subtle nce at the golden ring on Han Li''s finger.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the early-Golden Immortal Stage ship overseer descended onto a nearby ship, and shortly thereafter, what appeared to be an administrator emerged from the ship beforemencing the boarding process.
It didn''t take long for all of the passengers to board the ship, following which the administratorid out the rules of the ship, which were identical to the ones inscribed onto the white jade badge.
After that, the administrator dered for the ship to depart, and most of the passengers quickly dispersed, returning to their own cabins.
"They say the same things every single time, I''m starting to develop calluses in my ears from hearing this spiel so many times! This is your first time traveling on a ship like this, right, Brother Li? The scenery in the sea of sand is quite spectacr, but I''ve already grown sick of it after seeing it so many times, so I''ll leave you to appreciate the scenery on your own," Shi Chuankong said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist," Han Li replied as he returned the salute.
Shi Chuankong smiled as he said, "Surely there''s no need to be so cold and distant. How about you refer to me as Brother Shi from now on?"
Han Li merely smiled and offered no response to this.
Shi Chuankong shrugged in a nonchnt fashion, then casually strolled back to his cabin.
Han Li watched him depart for a moment, then turned his gaze elsewhere, but he was still pondering the motives of this excessively friendly demonic man.
It didn''t seem like he harbored any sinister intentions, but Han Li decided that it would be best to keep his distance.
As these thoughts were shing through his mind, the ship gradually began to ascend, rising up from the dock on the city wall.
After flying away from the city wall, the shipmenced a gradual descent, flying down the sheer cliff face toward the boundless sea of sand down below.
Right as the ship was about to descend into the vast sea of sand, all of the runes inscribed onto the ship lit up in unison.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of faint yellow light suddenly erupted out of the ship, forming a giant yellow light barrier that epassed the entire ship.
At the same time, a peculiar primordial aura also began to emanate from the ship.
An enlightened look appeared on Han Li''s face upon sensing this.
Now wonder the ship can avoid the detection of the majority of primordial beasts, it''s using a protective array with the core of a powerful primordial beast as a foundation to disguise itself as a primordial being...
Right at this moment, the underside of the ship seemed to have finallye into contact with the bottom of the sea of sand, and after bobbing up and down slightly for a moment, it continued onward in a smooth and stable fashion.
Han Li made his way over to the railing of the ship, then looked down to find that theyer of metal that the ship was encased in seemed to possess a special type of maism that repelled the sea of sand, allowing the ship to hover just above the sea of sand as it glided along.
All of a sudden, the light radiating from the ship brightened considerably, and it elerated drastically, shooting forward like a speeding arrow.
Han Li cast his gaze into the distance, and all he saw was a vast and peaceful expanse of yellow sand. There was no sound to be heard, and it seemed that the entire sea of sand waspletely deste and lifeless.
One of the rules on the jade badge was that cultivators weren''t permitted to release their spiritual sense to examine the sea of sand in case they alerted some particrly sensitive primordial beasts, and the administrator had also emphasized the importance of abiding by this rule.
Han Li didn''t want to cause any unnecessary trouble, so he was happy to follow the rule.
It was going to take at least half a year to reach the primordialnd, and after watching the sea of sand for around two hours, Han Li also grew bored of the monotonous scenery, so he returned to his cabin as well.
Chapter 538: Unfamiliar Aura
Chapter 538: Unfamiliar Aura
Han Li''s cabin was quite spacious, roughly twice the size of a normal room, and it was split up into two sections.
The inner room was the bedroom that housed a bed, while the outer room held a redwood table and a gray cushion.
The spirit fruits ced on the table weren''t exactly of the highest caliber, but they were giving off a very sweet and fragrant aroma.
Upon entering the room, the ring on Han Li''s finger immediately transformed into a golden beetle, then flew down onto the cushion, where it transformed into an adorable little girl wearing a red coat.
Jin Tong''s eyes immediately locked onto the spirit fruits on the table, and her hand shot out like lightning to grab onto an ovr spirit fruit that was riddled with golden seeds. She sank her teeth into the fruit, and the entire room was instantly filled with a fruity aroma.
"Why didn''t you let me show myself to that guy before, Uncle? The two of us get along quite well," Jin Tong asked while munching on her fruit.
"That man''s aura indicates that he''s a demonic cultivator, but it''s also somewhat different. I''m unable to see through him without using my Eye of Truth. On top of that, he clearly knew that you were the ring on my finger, yet he still asked where you were, and I can''t get a good grasp on his intentions," Han Li said in a thoughtful manner.
"Are you saying that he''s plotting against us, Uncle?" Jin Tong asked.
"I can''t say for sure for now, but given that we''re in apletely unfamiliar ce, it would be best to avoid trouble as much as possible," Han Li said.
"It would be great if he''s consideringing after us. I''d have another Golden Immortal Stage nascent soul to eat then!" Jin Tong mused with a sly grin.
Han Li was left feeling rather speechless upon hearing this.
He was just about to warn Jin Tong not to start any trouble when his expression abruptly stiffened slightly.
"What''s wrong, Uncle?" Jin Tong hurriedly asked.
"Just now, an extremely powerful aura locked onto the ship, but it vanished in a sh. Did you not sense it?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
Before Jin Tong had a chance to reply, Han Li held up a hand to stop her as he said, "There it is again..."
Jin Tong hurriedly focused on her senses upon hearing this, but she was only able to detect a slight trace of what Han Li had detected.
"Did you feel that, Xiao Bai?" she asked in a hesitant manner.
The jade Pixiu offered no response as it hung motionlessly from Han Li''s waist.
"How dare you ignore me? I think you''re asking for a beating!" Jin Tong threatened as she ced her hands on her hips in an angry disy.
"I''m not ignoring you, I just didn''t want to show you up. I already sensed that aura the first time that it appeared," the jade Pixiu exined.
"So you''re saying you''re better than me?" Jin Tong asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"No, no, not at all! I came from the primordialnd, so I''m naturally more sensitive to the auras of primordial beings," the jade Pixiu hurriedly exined.
"Can you determine the origins of this aura?" Han Li asked.
"I was born in the primordialnd, but I was captured by primordial hunters not long after I was born, and I only learned from Gongshu Jiu that I was a primordial true spirit. Hence, I don''t actually know much about the primordialnd. All I can do is detect this aura, but not discern it," the jade Pixiu replied.
Right as Han Li was about to speak, that faint aura epassed the entire ship once again.
"You stay here," he said to Jin Tong, then flew out of the room to emerge onto the deck outside.
As he did so, he discovered that there were only around 20 people on the deck gathered together in small groups, chatting with one another in a rxed manner, and it was clear that none of them had detected this aura.
On the other side of the deck, he spotted the familiar figure of Shi Chuankong, who was currently looking around with a peculiar expression.
He faltered slightly upon spotting Han Li, then gave him a knowing smile, in response to which Han Li gave a slight nod before returning to his cabin.
After sweeping over the ship three more times, the powerful aura finally disappeared once and for all.
However, Han Li remained on his guard, not daring to growcent at all. In fact, his wariness was only continuing to grow by the day.
......
Over five months passed by in the blink of an eye.
The journey proved to be rather uneventful, and the ship was about to reach the primordialnd.
Early in the morning, a cool morning breeze was blowing from the primordialnd. Han Li stood on the ship with his hands sped behind his back, peering into the distance with blue light shing in his eyes. At the end of his field of vision was a speck of green, indicating that there seemed to be an oasis on the distant horizon.
There were already close to 100 people gathered on the deck, all of whom were passengers who were eager to disembark.
Jin Tong was standing beside Han Li, copying him by sping her hands behind her back as well, and she asked, "Are you still worried about that aura, Uncle?"
"No, I''m thinking about how we should proceed once we reach the primordialnd. There are quite a few disparities between the maps we purchased and the one given to me by Wyrm 3. I feel like the route that she gave me isn''t actually the safest one, seeing as I haven''t truly agreed to join the Reincarnation Pce. At the very least, the supplied route seems to be iplete," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"Aren''t you tired thinking about so much all the time? If there''s no good path to take, then let''s just establish one of our own!" Jin Tong proposed with a nonchnt smile.
Right at this moment, an rmed voice rang out from within the crowd.
"What''s that?"
"Something''sing from over there!"
Han Li turned to discover a long ck line that was rapidly surging over the distant horizon like a ck wave, and he could clearly see that this ck line wasprised of countless giant creatures with human faces and ck scorpion bodies.
Each of the creatures had a thick and burly tail, at the end of which was a crescent-shaped hook that was giving off a cold and menacing gleam.
"Those are Man-faced Scorpions!" someone eximed.
Man-faced Scorpions weren''t particrly powerful among the demon beasts residing in the sea of sand, but there was an extremely vast number of them, and in the face of a beast tide of Man-faced Spiders, even True Immortals would struggle to keep them at bay.
Right at this moment, a deep and resonant voice rang out from the top floor of the louchuan.
"There''s no need to panic."
The ship overseer was standing there behind the railing, looking on with an unflustered expression, and hsi calm demeanor instilled within everyone on the ship a sense of confidence and reassurance.
"Those Man-faced Spiders aren''t anywhere near enough to pose a real threat. Make sure to keep yourselves grounded so that you don''t get jostled out of the ship. If you fall off the ship, no one wille to save you," the ship overseer dered in a cold voice.
All of the passengers withckluster cultivation bases hurriedly distanced themselves from the railing of the ship upon hearing this for fear of falling overboard, and some of them returned to their cabins altogether.
Han Li paid no heed to the warning as his gaze remained firmly fixed on the ck wave in the distance.
"There''s something else there in addition to Man-faced Scorpions," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
Jin Tong had also climbed onto the railing of the ship to look into the distance through narrowed eyes.
The sand beneath the wave of Man-faced Scorpions was constantly undting, indicating that there was something traveling through the sand at a rapid speed.
"It''sing!" Han Li said as he hoisted Jin Tong down from the railing.
The wave of Man-faced Scorpions quickly arrived to block the ship''s path.
Each Man-faced Scorpion was the size of a fully grown ox, and they were climbing on top of one another inyers, forming a small ck mountain in front of the ship in the blink of an eye.
The ship overseer''s brows furrowed slightly, and he seemed to have also realized that something wasn''t quite right.
Such arge-scale scorpion tide wasn''t verymon, but it wasn''t an unprecedented urrence, either. However, never had the Man-faced Scorpions ever attacked in such an organized fashion.
Before he had a chance to get a grasp on what was happening, the ship had already crashed heavily into the ck mountain with a dull thud.
The ship shuddered violently as it was slowed down significantly, and the yellow light barrier around it instantly began to glow brightly.
Immediately thereafter, all of the patterns engraved onto the ship also lit up, and the ship abruptly began to elerate, forcing its way straight through the ck mountain.
A string of grotesque cracks rang out incessantly, and it was the sound of countless Man-faced Scorpion exoskeletons being shattered one after another.
Everyone on the ship stabilized themselves while cheering at what they were seeing.
Han Li was holding onto Jin Tong with one hand while leaning over the ship''s railing to peer into the sea of sand down below.
The yellow sand down below was churning incessantly, and there were countless yellow demon beasts that resembled maggots the size of dogs squirming and writhing within the sand.
Han Li was quickly able to identify these things, and he immediately yelled, "There are sand beasts that are eating away at the ship from below!"
Everyone was very rmed to hear this, and they hurriedly rushed over to the railing of the ship to look down below.
At this point, there were already countless squirming sand beasts clinging to the ship, and its metal casing was already riddled with countless holes. To make matters even worse, there were several sand beasts that were significantlyrger than their brethren eating their way through the dragon bones at the front of the ship in a frenzy.
These sand beasts had virtually no facial features, and if it weren''t for their circr mouths that were lined with sharp fangs, it would be impossible to tell which end was their head and which was their tail.
Chapter 539: Sand Beasts
Chapter 539: Sand Beasts
The ship overseer''s expression also changed slightly upon seeing this. If these Sand Beasts were to bite their way through the dragon bone frame of the ship, the entire ship would be extremely frail, and it wouldpletely fall apart before it reached the primordialnd.
A grim look appeared on his face as he flew out of the ship, then descended out of the sky like lightning.
These Sand Beasts and Man-faced Scorpions were quite sensitive to cultivators, and as soon as they detected the ship overseer''s aura, they immediately converged toward him at once.
Circles of ck ripples instantly began surging out of the ship overseer''s body,pletely epassing both himself and the ship. He had unleashed his spirit domain, but it was clear that he didn''t want to cause too much of amotion, as evidenced by the fact that the spirit domain epassed only an area of 100 feet around the ship.
As soon as the surrounding demon beasts rushed into the spirit domain, they were immediately ensnared by wisps of ck mist, following which their bodies were corroded and liquefied.
The threerger Sand Beasts were slightly more powerful than their brethren, but even they weren''t able to get within 30 feet of the ship overseer before their bodies also disintegrated.
"Is that a spirit domain? That''s incredible!"
"As expected of a Golden Immortal Stage ship overseer!"
......
All of the passengers on the ship were full of praise upon seeing this.
However, right at this moment, Han Li''s expression suddenly changed slightly, and he grabbed onto Jin Tong before darting back in retreat as quickly as he could.
Immediately thereafter, the sea of sand in front of the ship abruptly erupted like a volcano, sending vast volumes of sand flying in all directions and flinging countless Man-faced Scorpions and Sand Beasts into the air.
In the next instant, an enormous Sand Beast that was over twice the size of the ship rushed out of the sea of sand. Its enormous mouth seemed to be capable of devouring heaven and earth, and it swooped down toward the ship with tremendous power.
An rmed and horrified look appeared on the ship overseer''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately attempted to flee, only for a dark red vortex to suddenly take shape within the Sand Beast''s gargantuan mouth.
The vortex was giving off bursts of tremendous suction force thatpletely disregarded his spirit domain and immobilized him on the spot.
With just a single bite, the Sand Beast was able to devour the ship overseer alongside half of the entire ship.
The severely damaged ship immediately began plummeting toward the sea of sand, and passengers onboard had no chance to escape before they werepletely inundated by Sand Beasts and Man-faced Scorpions.
A chorus of agonized howls rang out as the strong stench of blood spread through the air.
Aside from over 100 True Immortal cultivators who had reacted quite quickly and managed to survive the ordeal, all of the other passengers had been killed in the blink of an eye.
"Run!" someone yelled, and all of the True Immortals immediately fled in all directions in a blind panic.
Amid the chaos, a strange thought urred to Han Li: Where is Shi Chuankong?
Shi Chuankong hadn''t appeared at all ever since the beginning of this incident, and Han Li was certain that he wouldn''t have fallen to his demise so easily.
However, there was no time to ponder such matters as Han Li prepared to flee toward the primordialnd with Jin Tong, only to find that the giant sand beast was rushing directly at them.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this.
The Sand Beast was quite formidable, but it was only at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, so it naturally posed no threat to him.
Right as he was about to engage it in battle, Jin Tong''s voice suddenly rang out beside his ears.
"I''ll take on that thing, Uncle!"
Jin Tong''s eyes were glowing with excitement, and she sprang forward before Han Li had a chance to say anything, transforming into a golden beetle before pouncing at the giant Sand Beast.
Han Li hesitated slightly upon seeing this, but ultimately made no attempt to stop her as he watched her while standing in mid-air with his hands sped behind his back.
Jin Tong shed a pair of front legs through the air mid-flight, and hundreds of streaks of translucent golden light shot forth through the air, then dispersed before hurtling toward the Sand Beast from either direction.
The Sand Beast seemed to have realized that Jin Tong was a formidable opponent, and it stopped cold in its tracks, then conjured up two thick pirs of swirling sand that swept toward the oing streaks of translucent golden light.
Ayer of yellow light emerged over the surface of each pir of sand, and the yellow light was giving off bursts ofw power fluctuations.
Golden light shed within Jin Tong''s eyes as the streaks of golden light brightened considerably, then fused together to form two enormous streaks of light that were several thousand feet in length each before striking the two pirs of sand.
As soon as the two came into contact with one another, the two giant streaks of golden light were able to slice through the pirs of sand in an instant, and they weren''t even slowed down in the slightest as they continued to hurtle toward the giant Sand Beast.
The Sand Beast didn''t take any evasive measures. Instead, another dark red vortex took shape within its enormous mouth, this one far brighter than the one that it had used to kill the ship overseer.
A burst of tremendous suction force surged out of its mouth in a frenzy, instantly sucking in the two streaks of golden light, which flew into the vortex before vanishing without a trace.
A hint of surprise appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, but he still disyed no intention of entering the fray.
Bright golden light erupted out of Jin Tong''s body, and it transformed into a huge ball of golden light as it flew toward the Sand Beast, which opened its mouth up even wider, while the dark red vortex inside grew even brighter.
A burst of suction force that was several times stronger than before enveloped the ball of golden light, and the nearby space was copsing in on itself.
The ball of golden light was sucked into the San Beast''s mouth in a sh, and the white jade pendant hanging from Han Li''s waist shed momentarily before the Pixiu''s concerned voice rang out from within it.
"Are you not going to save her, Master?"
"There''s no need for that," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"But..."
Before the Pixiu had a chance to say anything further, an agonized roar suddenly erupted out of the giant Sand Beast''s mouth, and it copsed onto the sea of sand before writhing and squirming violently, as if it were enduring some type of immense pain.
A dull thump then rang out as a streak of radiant golden light shot out of the Sand Beast''s body, punching a huge hole into it.
Vast volumes of viscous white liquid came pouring out of the wound, and it was unclear if this aws blood or something else.
Another string of dull thumps rang out as more bursts of golden light erupted out of Sand Beast''s body, and before long, its entire body was riddled with holes.
Its thrashing became even more violent as it let loose a thunderous blood-curdling howl.
"Looks like I got worried for nothing," the Pixiu grumbled before falling silent again.
Finally, the giant Sand Beast let loose one final roar before its body exploded into countless chunks of flesh, following which Jin Tong flew out from its remains.
It was looking a little worse for wear, with several patches of its golden exoskeleton looking rather dull, as if it had been corroded, but these were only minor injuries.
At this moment, it was holding a yellow crystal the size of a human head, within which was a vortex of dark red light that was giving off bursts of formidablew power fluctuations.
It seemed that the crisis had been averted, but Han Li was looking a little concerned.
He felt like there was something abnormal about the roar that the Sand Beast had let loose prior to its death.
Jin Tong flew back to Han Li''s side, then flew in a circle around him before asking, "I killed it, Uncle! Do I get a reward?"
"Once we get out of here, you can eat to your heart''s content," Han Li promised with an amused smile, then reached out toward the yellow crystal that Jin Tong was holding. "Let me take a look at that crystal."
"No! It''s mine!"
Jin Tong flew back so that she was out of Han Li''s reach, then reverted back into her human form, following which the yellow crystal was stowed away amid a sh of golden light.
Han Li could only shake his head with a resigned expression as he said, "Let''s get out of here."
Right at this moment, the entire sea of sand began to rumble and tremble without any warning, and huge waves of sand erupted into the sky.
At the same time, a tremendous aura emerged beneath the sea of sand before approaching at an incredible speed.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly grabbed onto Jin Tong, while his Thunderstorm Wings appeared on his back.
Immediately thereafter, he vanished from the spot amid a sh of lightning.
In the same instant, the sea of sand down below exploded, and an enormous head shot out from down below before chomping down viciously, but at this point, Han Li was already gone, so it bit down onto nothing.
Close to 100 kilometers away, Han Li re-emerged amid a sh of lightning.
The giant head that had just attempted to swallow him whole belonged to another gargantuan Sand Beast, this one at least 10 times the size of the one that Jin Tong had just in.
The Sand Beast was giving off an immense aura that was infinitely approaching the High Zenith Stage, and a grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, but he didn''t immediately flee the scene.
The sea of sand waspletely unfamiliar to him, and if he were to flee blindly without any direction, he could run into even more trouble.
The mountainous Sand Beast had no eyes, but Han Li could sense its fury. All of a sudden, it opened its enormous mouth before letting loose a deafening roar, causing the nearby space to tremble and buzz violently.
Before Han Li had a chance to react, the head of the massive Sand Beast shot out of the sea of sand before pouncing at Han Li''s duo.
Despite its tremendous size, it was as fast as lightning, and it reached no more than 100 feet away from Han Li and Jin Tong in the blink of an eye.
Bright golden light erupted out of Han Li''s body as he shot back in retreat, while the giant Sand Beast opened its mouth to conjure up a gargantuan dark red vortex.
At this point, Han Li Jin Tong had only managed to fly no more than 10 kilometers away, and they were immediately caught within a burst of incredibly powerful suction force.
Chapter 540: Entering the Primordial Land
Chapter 540: Entering the Primordial Land
Han Li felt the surrounding air constrict around him, and he was stopped cold in his tracks before being sucked toward the giant Sand Beast''s mouth by the massive vortex.
A fierce look shed through Jin Tong''s eyes as she prepared to pounce at the Sand Beast, only to be stopped by Han Li, who cast an incantation seal onto her, transforming her into a ring that fitted itself around his finger.
At this point, Han Li wasn''t that far away from the giant Sand Beast to begin with, and instead of attempting to flee, he flew toward it instead, reaching its enormous mouth in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of golden ripples erupted out of his body before spreading rapidly in all directions, instantly forming a golden spirit domain that was close to 20 kilometers in size, epassing a small section of the Sand Beast''s body within it.
Everything within the golden spirit domain was instantly slowed down significantly, including the suction force surging out of the massive Sand Beast''s mouth.
As a result, Han Li was able to steady himself before using his Thunderstorm Wings once again, vanishing on the spot before appearing behind the mountainous Sand Beast''s head amid a rumbling thunderp.
Immediately thereafter, he let loose a low roar as he adopted his Giant Mountain Ape form.
At the same time, a giant green sword appeared in the golden ape''s grasp before it was swung at the Sand Beast with tremendous power.
An incredibly thick crescent-shaped dark green sword projection swept through the air, containing countless dark green runes that were giving off bursts of formidablew power fluctuations.
The mountainous Sand Beast immediately attempted to take evasive measures as it dodged to the side, and at the same time, a translucent yellow membrane of light emerged over the skin on the back of its head.
However, with its enormous body and crippling effect of Han Li''s time spirit domain, its evasive measures proved to bepletely futile, and the sword projection struck the back of its head with immense power.
The translucent yellow membrane shed erratically as it attempted to keep the sword projection at bay, but it was only able tost an instant before it was severed.
The crescent-shaped sword projection sliced into the Sand Beast''s body, inflicting an enormous wound that was close to 1,000 feet in length, and yellow blood immediately came gushing out from within, but Han Li wasn''t ted at all to see this.
Rtive to the Sand Beast''s gargantuan body, this was nothing more than a minor gash.
The giant Sand Beast let loose a thunderous roar, as if it had been enraged by the injury, and bright yellow light erupted out of its body with countless yellow runes swirling within it.
The yellow light expanded outward in all directions, instantly forming a yellow spirit domain that was close to 100 kilometers in radius.
As soon as Han Li was epassed within the yellow spirit domain, he immediately felt the surrounding gravity increase by several hundredfold.
Before he had a chance to do anything, a thunderous howling sound rang out, and he turned to discover that the Sand Beast''s tail, which wasn''t epassed within his time spirit domain, was sweeping toward him with devastating power.
Upon entering the time spirit domain, the tail was slowed down significantly, but it was still sweeping through the air with astonishing speed and power.
Han Li was also bogged down by the heightened gravitational force, so evasion was not an option for him, and he could onlysh out with the giant green sword in his hand.
A resounding boom rang out as the nearby space shuddered, and the golden ape was sent flying by the mountainous tail like a giant ragdoll before mming heavily into the sea of sand down below.
Half of its body sank into the sea of sand, while golden blood trickled down from the corner of its lips, and the webbing between the thumb and index finger of its sword-wielding hand had also been torn open, but that was the extent of its injuries.
At this moment, the sea of sand was swirling like water, forming a giant vortex that enveloped the giant golden ape before attempting to suck it into the depths.
At the same time, several Sand Beasts abruptly sprang out of the nearby sand to pounce at Han Li.
These Sand Beasts weren''t particrly massive, but they were entirely formed by sand, and they were giving off enormous Golden Immortal Stage auras.
At this point, the mountainous Sand Beast had also turned to Han Li and was chomping down upon him once again.
At the same time, the flesh on either side of the gash on the back of its head was quickly fusing together, and it wasn''t going to be long before the entire wound was healed.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he shed his giant green sword horizontally through the air.
At the same time, three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords emerged around him amid a sh of azure light before also sweeping through the air, unleashing bursts of peerlessly sharp sword qi that tore the surrounding sand apart.
As a result, Han Li was freed from the sand, and bright golden lightning instantly erupted out of his Thunderstorm Wings.
However, his lightning power was suppressed by the Sand Beast''s spirit domain, so it was only around 30% as effective as it normally was.
In the next instant, Han Li vanished from the spot amid a sh of golden lightning before reappearing close to 10 kilometers away, which wasn''t very far, but it allowed him to avoid the terrible fate of being devoured by the gargantuan Sand Beast.
His Thunderstorm Wings then lit up once again, and he began fleeing rapidly into the distance as an arc of golden lightning.
The giant Sand Beast let loose a thunderous roar of fury as it set off in pursuit, but its speed was slightlycklusterpared with Han Li''s.
After using his Thunderstorm Wings several times in session, Han Li was finally able to fly out of the Sand Beast''s spirit domain.
With another sh of golden lightning, he appeared several thousand kilometers away, far away from the giant Sand Beast.
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air, and arcs of golden lightning sprang out of his body to form a lightning teleportation array.
With a sh of lightning and a resounding thunderp, Han Li vanished into thin air, having teleported himself out of the giant Sand Beast''s spiritual sensory range.
The mountainous Sand Beast let loose a thunderous roar of fury as it mmed its giant tail into the sea of sand in frustration, causing all of the sand in a radius of thousands of kilometers to churn and rumble like turbulent waves.
......
In the sky above a dense forest, a ball of golden lightning emerged amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, then expanded to form a golden lightning array.
Han Li appeared within the array, having already reverted back to his human form, while the giant green sword and his three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were circling around him.
He swept a sleeve through the air to stow the swords away, then released his spiritual sense to inspect his surroundings, and he heaved an internal sigh of relief upon confirming that he had shaken the Sand Beast off their trail.
Jin Tong immediately flew off his finger, then yelled, "Why did you run away, Uncle? You could''ve let that thing swallow me, and I would''ve taken it down from the inside!"
"That smaller Sand Beast was already powerful enough to injure you, therger one would''ve surely been even more dangerous. I wasn''t going to let you take the risk," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"Master is right. Safety should always be our top priority, so there''s no need to take such risks," the jade Pixiu chimed in.
"Xiao Bai! Are you saying that I''m being stupid and unreasonable? I think you need to be taught a lesson!" Jin Tong yelled as she pounced onto the Han Li''s leg, then threatened to bite into the white jade pendant that was hanging from his waist.
The Pixiu immediately yelled in rm before begging for mercy.
Han Li picked Jin Tong up by grabbing onto her braids as if he were plucking a radish out of the ground, then scolded, "Be quiet, you two! We''re already in the primordialnd now, so we have to be careful."
Jin Tong didn''t say anything further, but she was still making menacing expressions as the white jade pendant, while the Pixiu had fallenpletely silent.
Han Li shook his head with an exasperated expression, then began to inspect his surroundings.
They were well and truly in the primordialnd now, and they were currently situated in a vast primordial forest that spread as far as the eyes could see in all directions.
The world''s origin qi here was just as abundant as some of the most prominent spirit veins in the Northern cial Immortal Region, but it was rather chaotic and unstable.
The Pixiu emerged beside Han Li amid a sh of white light, then closed its eyes while inhaling deeply as a blissful look appeared on its face.
Han Li scanned thendscape down below for a moment, then descended onto a branch of a huge banyan tree.
The tree was at least 1,000 feet tall, and this branch was very spacious, able to seat 10 people side by side with no problems whatsoever.
These banyan trees were quite prevalent in some of the warmer and more temperate ces on the Northern cial Immortal Region, but this one was at least 10 timesrger than even the most massive banyan trees on the Northern cial Immortal Region.
An intrigued look appeared on Han Li''s face as he inspected his surroundings.
Not only was this banyan tree absolutely enormous, all of the other trees that were recognizable to him were also far more massive than they were elsewhere.
In fact, the same applied to all of the nts in this forest, making Han Li feel as if he had somehow been shrunk down to the size of an ant.
Of course, there were also some smaller trees in the area, but there weren''t many of them.
"This ce looks pretty cool," Jin Tong remarked as she also inspected her surroundings with an amazed expression.
"Are all of the nts in the primordialnd so abnormally huge?" Han Li asked.
"This is how things are everywhere in the primordialnd. On the contrary, I would argue that the trees everywhere else are abnormally small," the Pixiu replied.
Han Li nodded to himself with a contemtive expression upon seeing this.
"Master, all of the demon beasts here are extremely violent and bloodthirsty, so make sure to be careful when traveling through the primordialnd," the Pixiu continued.
"Alright, I''ll make sure to be on my guard," Han Li replied with a nod.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a ferocious roar rang out from nearby, and ck ape that was around 20 feet tall with a dark red horn on its head sprang out from behind a nearby tree, then pounced at Han Li with its ws brandished.
Han Li remained still on the spot as he flicked a finger through the air, releasing a streak of azure light that instantly split the ck ape''s body in half, sending blood sttering in all directions.
"You certainly weren''t kidding about their violent tendencies," Han Li remarked as he turned his gaze away from the ck ape''s remains.
In any case, they had finally left the Northern cial Immortal Region, so he didn''t have to worry about the Heavenly Court for now, and that was a very pleasant thought for him. The primordialnd was fraught with peril, but with his current powers, he was confident that he would be able to survive.
After taking a deep breath, he flipped a hand over to summon two objects, one of which was the map that had been given to him by Wyrm 3, while the other was another map that he had purchased in Primordial Origin City.
He inspected both maps briefly before stowing them away again, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon the green jade flying carriage.
"Let''s go," he instructed.
The primordialnd was a very dangerous ce, but the fact that it was very rarely frequented by cultivators had to mean that there were many precious treasures and resources waiting to be uncovered. With that in mind, a sense of excitement welled up in his heart.
Jin Tong and the Pixiu also seemed to be quite excited, and they immediately jumped onto the carriage.
Han Li cast an incantation seal onto the flying carriage, and it immediately sped away as a streak of green light.
Chapter 541: Treasure Hunt
Chapter 541: Treasure Hunt
Not long after the green jade flying carriage sped away into the distance, the spirit patterns on its surface shed momentarily, following which a cloud of white mist emerged to epass the entire carriage.
This wasn''t just a normal white cloud. Instead, it was able to conceal all of the spiritual power fluctuations emanating from the flying carriage.
From the outside, the carriage appeared no different from a normal cloud, and it was flying through the forest in a stealthy fashion without giving off any energy fluctuations.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
As expected of a transportation treasure used by Gongshu Jiu, the carriage had many brilliant uses, and even now, he still hadn''t fully grasped all of the carriage''s abilities.
As the carriage sped through the air, Han Li released his spiritual sense to inspect his surroundings, trying to ascertain their location as soon as possible.
After flying for close to half a day, an ted look suddenly appeared on Han Li''s face, and the carriage began to fly to the left at his behest.
Shortly thereafter, a massive swamp emerged.
The ground in the swamp was a peculiar ck color, and all of the vegetation inside was also ck while giving off a putrid odor.
This swamp was most likely the ck Mud Swamp recorded on the map, and it was still quite far away from the route provided to him by Wyrm 3.
In any case, it had allowed Han Li to ascertain his current location, and he cast an incantation seal into his flying carriage, upon which it immediately elerated even further.
"This swamp looks really interesting, Uncle. There should be a lot of good stuff inside. Are we not going to take a look?" Jin Tong suddenly asked.
"The ck Mud Swamp has already been annotated on the map, so I''m assuming many primordial hunters havee here in the past. Hence, there''s no need to waste our time here. There will be many more ces for us to visit in search for treasures anyway," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"You''re right, let''s keep going," Jin Tong said with an eager expression.
"Pixiu, you told me that you''re very adept in searching for natural treasures and resources, this is your time to shine. I''ll give you 30% of all of the treasures that we find," Han Li said.
"Really?" the Pixiu asked in a shocked voice as it instantly stood up.
"Of course," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Alright, I''m on it!" the Pixiu replied, and its eyes were glowing with excitement.
"I want some too, Uncle!" Jin Tong yelled in protest.
"You''ll definitely get your share as well, but only if you contribute and don''t ck off," Han Li said with a smile.
Jin Tong immediately nodded vigorously in response.
Five dayster, a vast mountain range appeared before Han Li.
The mountain range wasn''t all that tall or remarkable, but the gaps between the mountains were filled with dense ck mist, making it very difficult to see the mountains, thereby enshrouding the entire mountain range in a sense of mystery.
"We''re finally here," Han Li gently exhaled as he cast his gaze toward the misty mountain range.
This was one of the points on the route supplied to him by Wyrm 3.
Even though the route given to him by Wyrm 3 wasn''t necessarily a truly safe one, he had no choice but to follow it.
......
"Master, there''s a great abundance of water-attribute spiritual qi in this mountain range. I''ve already sensed many spirit materials in here. Should we begin?" the Pixiu asked while sniffing at the air.
"Alright, let''s start here," Han Li replied with a nod, then made a hand seal, and the green jade flying carriage descended into the mountain range.
Thanks to the cloud of mist around the flying carriage, they hadn''t been attacked by any primordial beasts, and at this point, they had already made it quite far into the primordialnd.
In the beginning, Han Li had been able to spot the asional primordial hunter, but as they traveled deeper into the primordialnd, that was no longer the case.
At this point, there was no need to be in a hurry.
After flying into the sea of mist within the mountain range, the flying carriage became even more well concealed, and the Pixiu was scouring the area while continuing to sniff at the air as it said, "Around 1,500 kilometers directly up ahead is a spirit nt that should be over 100,000 years of age."
The flying carriage set off in that direction at Han Li''s behest, then quickly descended in front of a hollow inside a mountain stream.
In a secretive location within the hollow was a dark red spirit nt that resembled a deer antler that had been carved out of red jade.
A vast abundance of spiritual qi was emanating from the spirit nt, and Jin Tong''s eyes immediately lit up upon taking a whiff.
"This is a Deer Antler Herb," Han Li remarked.
This spirit nt could be used to refine some recovery pills at or above the True Immortal Stage, so it was very highly sought after, and the fact that it was a specimen that was over 100,000 years old only made it even more precious.
Right at this moment, a low roar rang out from within the mountain stream, and a giant green python that was several hundred feet in length sprang out before pouncing directly at Han Li.
The giant python possessed a formidable True Immortal Stage aura, but Han Li waspletely unfazed as he swept a sleeve through the air, upon which an azure flying sword flew out before sweeping over the python''s body like lightning.
The giant python instantly stiffened before its head separated from its body, and it began to thrash and struggle violently while blood gushed out of its decapitation wound.
Han Li paid no heed to the python as he slowly uprooted the Deer Antler Herb, then stowed it away before continuing onward.
Over an hourter, the Pixiu dered, "I can sense some precious spirit materials underground around 1,000 kilometers to our left."
Han Li quickly arrived at the specified location, then descended into the ground, and before long, he re-emerged with a fist-sized blue stone in his hand.
The sound of countless sshing waves could be hearding from within the tone, and it was as if there were an entirerge river inside.
This was a Thousandfold Profound Water Crystal that was an exceptional material for refining water-attribute immortal treasures, and it was a great find for Han Li.
......
In the blink of an eye, close to an entire month had already passed by since Han Li entered this mountain range.
The Pixiu hadn''t been exaggerating at all about its treasure-hunting abilities, and at this point, they had already collected a massive bounty of close to 100 spirit nts and materials.
The mountain range was enormous, and as they had been searching for treasures this entire time, they were advancing quite slowly, so they had only just reached the central region of the mountain range.
"Master, I can sense some spirit nts about 1,500 kilometers up ahead... And there appears to be about 20 to 30 of them!" the Pixiu dered in a slightly surprised voice.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and a short whileter, the flying carriage descended into a basin.
At the center of the basin was a plot of tnd that had a light purple hue, and there were indeed 20 to 30 purple spirit nts growing here, all of which were releasing abundant spiritual qi and giving off a strong fragrance.
"These are Serene Purple Herbs!" Han Li eximed with an ecstatic expression.
This was one of the main ingredients used to refine Heavenly Luster Pills, so it was certainly a pleasant surprise to be stumbling upon so many of them here.
He immediately swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light to collect the Serene Purple Herbs, but right at this moment, countless thin streaks of blue light erupted out of the ground near the basin before hurtling directly toward him.
These streaks of blue light were no less powerful than attacks unleashed by the average Golden Immortal, and Han Li was very much caught off guard by this.
Upon descending into the basin, he had already scoured the area with his spiritual sense, and he hadn''t detected anyone here.
Despite this, he was still able to react in a timely fashion, and he was just about to defend himself when Jin Tong suddenly flew up from the carriage as she said, "I''ll take care of this, Uncle!"
She then flicked her delicate little fingers through the air to release countless streaks of translucent golden light, which intertwined with one another to form a giant golden lotus flower in the path of the streaks of blue light.
The streaks of blue light struck the golden lotus flower in rapid session, and thetter only shuddered slightly before it was able to ward off the former with ease.
Han Li took a nce in Jin Tong''s direction, then turned his gaze back to the Serene Purple Herbs.
A burst of azure light flew out of his hand, forming a giant azure palm projection that gently scooped up the Serene Purple Herbs along with the purple spirit soil beneath them.
By the time he flew back to the flying carriage, the beings that had attacked him had already revealed themselves.
As it turned out, it was a group of four or five giant apes with blue fur that stood at around 70 to 80 feet tall.
These blue apes were shimmering with blue light and giving off True Immortal Stage auras, while their leader possessed Golden Immortal Stage powers.
The apes were seemingly chanting an incantation in some type of unintelligiblenguage, and thin threads of blue light shot out of their bodies to form a ball of blue light in front of them.
The blue apes were furious to see Han Li stowing away the Serene Purple Herbs, and the ball of blue light in front of them instantly brightened significantly as a flurry of threads of blue light shot out from within.
At the same time, the leader of the blue apes opened its mouth to release a burst of blue light, which transformed into a giant blue de that was over 1,000 feet in length before sweeping toward Han Li and Jin Tong.
Jin Tong harrumphed coldly as she switched to a different hand seal, and countless streaks of translucent golden light shot out of the stamen of the golden lotus flower before shing against the oing streaks of blue light.
The streaks of golden light were extremely dense and sharp, warding off the streaks of blue light with ease before quickly forcing them back.
Immediately thereafter, the streaks of golden light crashed into the giant blue de, punching countless holes into the de before destroying it altogether.
The wave of golden light then instantly descended upon the group of blue apes, which began to howl in agony, but ayer of blue light then abruptly emerged over their bodies.
A string of resounding booms rang out as their bodies exploded into streams of blue light that burrowed into the ground in a sh.
As soon as these streams of light surged into the ground, the auras of the blue apes instantly became one with that of the water veins underground, making it impossible to detect them.
Chapter 542: Deadly Swamp
Chapter 542: Deadly Swamp
All of this had taken ce so abruptly and was so unexpected that Han Li was left feeling quite surprised, and he finally realized why he hadn''t detected these blue apes earlier.
As soon as the blue apes burrowed into the ground, they immediately fled into the distance at an astonishing speed.
Han Li was looking on with a contemtive expression, but made no effort to pursue them.
These blue apes'' concealment ability was quite profound, but he could still just barely detect their presence. However, he had no intention of hunting them down.
Jin Tong''s senses weren''t as sharp as Han Li''s, and she immediately turned to him with a furious expression, clearly awaiting directions from him.
"Let them go," Han Li said with a shake of his head.
"Why aren''t we chasing after them?" Jin Tong asked in an indignant manner.
"Those things aren''t normal primordial beasts. Instead, I have a feeling that theye from a nearby primordial tribe, so it won''t be wise to blindly pursue them," Han Li exined.
"So what? I can take on 1,000 of these blue monkeys at once!" Jin Tong grumbled as she raised her little fist.
"Don''t underestimate these primordial beings. This is their home turf, and there''s often great strength to be found in numbers. I''m sure there''s nock of formidable beings among them, just like that Sand Beast we encountered earlier. Our objective is to pass through the primordialnd, so it would be unwise to seek out trouble," Han Li said.
Jin Tong''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and she didn''t raise any further argument.
"It seems like you know quite a bit about the state of the primordial world, Master," the Pixiu remarked.
"We''re going to be traversing through the primordialnd for quite some time, so I naturally had to do some homework," Han Li replied with a smile.
In reality, he hadn''t actually managed to find much information about the primordialnd while in Primordial Origin City. In the end, he was only able to gather some valuable information from the Transient Guild at quite a high cost.
"Let''s go. The primordial tribes here sorely detest primordial hunters, so I''m sure those things will be bringing back reinforcements soon," Han Li continued.
"This is so boring. I''m a little sleepy, Uncle. Call on me again when there''s something fun happening!"
Jin Tong gave an unenthusiastic yawn as she spoke, then transformed into a golden ring that fitted itself around Han Li''s finger.
Han Li then made a hand seal, and the flying carriage continued onward.
In order to avoid the reinforcements from the blue ape-like beings from earlier, they temporarily refrained from continuing their treasure-hunting endeavors. Instead, they traveled onward at full speed, and it didn''t take long before they left the misty mountain range.
After leaving the mountain range, the terrain up ahead instantly became a lot more level, and it didn''t take long before a slightly dark forest appeared up ahead.
From a distance, the trees in the forest appeared to be dark gray in color, and the foliage was very dense, so even though it was daytime, there was still a dark and foreboding aura about the forest.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he still spurred the flying carriage onward to fly into the forest.
"Something''s not quite right here... The world''s origin qi in this forest is quite abundant, but I can''t sense any spirit materials," the Pixiu suddenly said after they had been flying for some time.
At this point, Han Li had also developed a sense that there was something strange about this forest.
Not only were there very few spirit nts in the forest, his spiritual sense told him that there were any primordial beasts around, either.
However, Han Li didn''t pay this much heed. Theck of primordial beasts was something that he was happy to see as it would allow him to travel through the forest faster.
After flying for close to half a day, the Pixiu abruptly stood up as it dered in an excited voice, "I can sense extremely powerful spiritual qi fluctuationsing from the left! There must be something incredibly precious there!"
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, but after a brief moment of contemtion, he still redirected the flying carriage to set off in that direction.
Before long, a dead ck swamp had appeared up ahead.
The swamp was filled with decaying ck mud, and it waspletely deste and devoid of life. asionally, arge bubble would rise up from the mud, then pop loudly to release plumes of dark purple miasma.
"Didn''t you say there was something of value here?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
His spiritual sense was telling him that the world''s origin qi here was much sparser than it was in the rest of the forest, and he couldn''t even sense any living beings here, let alone any precious natural treasures.
"I''m certain that there''s something deep in the swamp! If we find something good this time, don''t forget that I was the one who led us here!" the Pixiu dered in a confident manner.
Han Li was still rather skeptical upon hearing this, but spurred on the flying carriage to continue onward, nheless.
After flying for a while, his expression suddenly changed slightly as he brought the flying carriage to a halt.
In this area, the dark purple miasma over the swamp had be extremely dense, making this ce as dark as if it were nighttime.
Han Li was unbothered by this miasma, and the flying carriage descended out of the sky at his behest, then stopped over 100 feet above the swamp.
There were countless carcasses in the swamp down below, most of which were already severely decayed, but he could still tell that they belonged to various types of demon beasts.
These carcasses all varied in size from just over 100 feet to in excess of 1,000 feet in size, and there were countless more of these carcasses up ahead, stretching as far as the eyes could see.
The Pixiu seemed to be quite startled by this, and it didn''t dare to say anything as it snuck a furtive nce at Han Li out of the corner of its eye.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, and after a brief pause, the flying carriage continued onward.
The further they ventured into the swamp, the more demon beasts carcasses that they saw until eventually, the entire swamp waspletely filled with them, and the air temperature was also dropping sharply.
"Is it still further up ahead?" Han Li asked.
"Well... Yes, but this ce is a little scary, so maybe we should turn back..." the Pixiu replied in an uneasy voice.
"I hope you''re right," Han Li said.
Having alreadye this far, he was naturally unwilling to turn back. ording to past experience, all precious natural treasures were guarded by powerful beasts. However, whatever guardian beast was here seemed to be quite formidable and was also very adept at concealing itself, to the point that Han Li still hadn''t managed to detect it.
However, at this point in the primordialnd, he had a feeling that he possessed sufficient power to at least ensure self-preservation, and if he encountered a foe too powerful for him to defeat, then he would just have to run away.
With that in mind, Han Li continued onward atop his flying carriage, but he had slowed down quite a bit and was also proceeding with caution.
Some timeter, the flying carriage drew to a halt at his behest.
They had already ventured very deep into the swamp at this point, and there was an astonishing number of demon beasts carcasses here, forming a series of massive mountains of bones.
Additionally, the carcasses here were also far more massive than the ones from before, and the area was littered with giant skeletons the size of mountains.
Even Han Li was beginning to get a little spooked.
"Master, the treasure is right there!" the Pixiu suddenly dered as it pointed forward.
Between two massive mountains of bones several kilometers up ahead was a green pond that was several dozen feet in size, and the water in the pond was so clear that one could see all the way to the bottom.
At the center of the pond was a shimmering golden lotus flower with nine petals, all of which were also golden in color, but in different shades. Despite this, they somehow didn''t appear to conflict with each other at all.
There were also nine golden rainbows of different shades hanging in the air above the lotus flower, and the flying carriage immediately began to approach it at Han Li''s behest.
Even as they were still several thousand feet away, Han Li could already catch a whiff of an incredibly fragrant aroma from the golden lotus flower, and just this aroma alone was enough to loosen several of the immortal acupoints in his body ever so slightly.
He had no idea what this golden lotus flower was, but its aroma alone told him that it was definitely an exceptional spirit nt.
Right as he was about to get even closer, a piercing screech suddenly rang out from the distant sky.
As soon as he heard this screech, his soul abruptly shuddered, while his body began to sway unsteadily.
However, with his tremendous spiritual sense, he was immediable able to steady himself, following which he looked up to find that a giant c beast had appeared up above.
The ck beast had an enormous body that wasn''t inferior in sizepared with the giant Sand Beast in the sea of sand, and it resembled a wyrm with ayer of huge ck scales all over its body, each of which was over 100 feet in size. There were also several huge ck bone spikes that were thousands of feet in length on its head, and its four sets of ws were astonishingly enormous.
The ck wyrm was staring intently at the golden lotus flower with a greedy look on its face, but its gaze then immediately fell upon Han Li as a ferocious gleam surfaced in its eyes.
"Oh, I''m also feeling a little sleepy, Master!" the Pixiu eximed in rm, then instantly flew back to Han Li''s waist as a jade pendant.
Before Han Li had a chance to do anything, a gust of scorching wind swept toward him as the ck wyrm whipped its tail at him with astonishing power.
Han Li felt the air constrict around him, and the giant draconic tail arrived before him in the blink of an eye, sweeping toward him with devastating power.
His expression changed drastically as he hurriedly swept a sleeve through the air, releasing three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that transformed into a trio of giant azure swords to form a protective barrier in front of him.
Before he had a chance to do anything else, the draconic tail struck the giant swords with an earth-shattering boom, and the three swords shuddered violently before they were flying in three different directions.
However, thankfully, they had managed to defend Han Li from the attack.
In the meantime, Han Li hurriedly made a hand seal, and the flying carriage shot back in retreat as he made a beckoning motion to summon his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords back to himself.
This ck wyrm was even more formidable than that giant Sand Beast!
Chapter 543: Battle
Chapter 543: Battle
After sending Han Li flying with a swipe of its ws, the ck wyrm paid no further heed to him and swooped down to make a grab for the golden lotus flower.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this.
He could tell that the ck wyrm possessed incredible power, but the golden lotus flower was an extremely rare and precious spirit nt, so he was naturally unwilling to pass it up without a fight.
With that in mind, he swept a sleeve through the air to stow the green jade flying carriage away, then flew directly toward the golden lotus flower as a streak of golden light.
However, he wasn''t able to get very far before the ground up ahead began to tremble violently, as if an earthquake were taking ce, and he instantly stopped cold in his tracks before darting back in retreat at an even faster speed.
Immediately thereafter, the ground up ahead split apart explosively, and an incredibly thick ck appendage shot out from underground before sweeping toward the ck wyrm.
The ck appendage was releasing a burst of tremendous force that swept up a gust of ferocious wind, and even though Han Li was already several thousand feet away, he was still sent flying back involuntarily like a fallen leaf in a storm.
His entire body was dealt an incredibly heavy blow, and he felt as if he were about to fall apart at the seams. If it weren''t for his fast reactions and his incredible physical prowess, he would''ve already been reduced to a pile of mincemeat.
After steadying himself close to 10 kilometers away, he cast his gaze forward to discover that the ck appendage was a gargantuan ck tentacle that was over 10,000 feet thick.
It was riddled with countless giant suction cups, and at this moment, the tentacle was wrapped around the ck wyrm, which was made to resemble a tiny chick that had been caught in the talons of an eagle.
It was roaring and struggling with all its might, but its efforts to free itself werepletely futile.
Several more resounding booms rang out in session, and a few more identical ck tentacles erupted out of the nearby ground before also wrapping themselves around the ck wyrm, while Han Li looked on in astonishment.
There had been no warning signs at all prior to the emergence of these ck tentacles, and he wasn''t able to detect them even with his tremendous spiritual sense.
The entire swamp began to tremble and sway as an enormous ck figure slowly rose up from the ground behind Han Li.
It was an unimaginably massive creature with a lizard-like upper body.
It had a long and thin neck and a bright red crown of flesh on its head that resembled theb of a rooster.
However, its lower body resembled that of an octopus, consisting of around a dozen giant tentacles.
The mountainous creature was several dozen timesrger than the ck wyrm, and its enormous body obscured the entire sky.
Its gargantuan tentacles were iling violently as they delivered the ck wyrm into its mouth, making it resemble arge worm in the beak of a rooster.
An unfathomably powerful aura was emanating from the creature''s body, and Han Li''s face had turned deathly pale as a sense of horror welled up in his heart for the first time in a very long time.
He immediately turned around and summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, then unleashed his Reversal True Axis ability to flee the scene as quickly as he could.
The creature''s bright red eyes immediately settled on him, following which a ck tentacle shot forth like lightning. Han Li was already several dozen kilometers away from the gargantuan creature, but its tentacle was able to catch up to him in the blink of an eye before wrapping itself around him.
Wrapped within the ck tentacle, a burst of tremendous force was constricting around Han Li from all directions, causing all of the bones in his body to creak and groan.
He gave a muffled groan as he reversed the direction of revolution of his Mantra Treasured Axis so that it was revolving conventionally again.
Countless golden ripples emerged before spreading outward in all directions, instantly epassing the surrounding area in a radius of over 10,000 feet, enveloping part of the ck tentacle as well.
The part of the tentacle that was enshrouded within the golden ripples was instantly immobilized, and the ck creature let loose a low roar as it tugged its tentacle back with tremendous force.
The golden ripples shuddered violently, looking as if they were about to fall apart at any moment.
Right at this moment, a burst of golden lightning shed past, and all of the golden ripples vanished in a sh.
As a result, the ck tentacle was freed, and it flew back to the gargantuan creature, which unfurled its tentacles, only to discover with a surprised expression that Han Li was already nowhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, Han Li appeared out of thin air thousands of kilometers away amid a sh of golden lightning. His face was deathly pale, there was blood trickling down from the corner of his lips, and one of his arms had been twisted to a grotesque angle.
He paid no heed to his own injuries as a burst of dazzling golden lightning erupted out of his body to form another lightning teleportation array, immediately following which he vanished from the spot once again.
......
In the sky above a lush forest, a golden lightning array quickly took shape, and Han Li appeared at the center of the array, then scoured his surroundings momentarily before heaving a long sigh of relief.
Immediately thereafter, Jin Tong and the Pixiu appeared beside him, and the former''s face was also pale from fright as she eximed, "What was that thing, Uncle? I was so scared..."
The Pixiu was also looking quite shell-shocked.
At this point, Han Li had regained some of hisposure, and he replied, "I''m not sure. It must''ve been some kind of primordial true spirit."
"Are primordial true spirits that scary? I thought they would all only be simr to that big Sand Beast," Jin Tong said with a hint of lingering fear in her eyes.
She then turned to the Pixiu with an enraged expression as she used, "Xiao Bai, weren''t you born in the primordialnd? How could you lead us into such a dangerous ce? Were you trying to get us killed?"
"I was born in the primordialnd, but I was taken away by primordial hunters not long after I was born, so I don''t know much about this ce at all. On top of that, I''ve already signed a contract with Master, and if he dies, I''ll be in a terrible position as well, so there''s no way I would''ve willingly led us into danger like that!" the Pixiu hurriedly argued.
This made sense to Jin Tong, and she gave a cold harrumph before dropping the subject.
"Looks like we''ve underestimated the primordialnd," Han Li murmured to himself.
They hadn''t encountered any significant peril during this journey through the primordialnd thus far, and as a result, he had be a littlecent, which had almost cost him his life.
He quickly swallowed a recovery pill to heal his broken arm, then cast his gaze toward the primordialndscape up ahead with furrowed brows.
It hadn''t been long since they entered the primordialnd, yet they had already encountered such a fearsome creature, and there was no telling what other perilsid up ahead.
"What do we do now, Uncle?" Jin Tong asked.
Han Li made a hand seal to conjure up a projection of a map in mid-air, one that depicted the areas that they had previously passed through, as well as areas that appeared repeatedly in the maps that he had previously purchased.
This was a map that he had put together by referencing the map given to him by Wyrm 3 and the ones that he had purchased from Primordial Origin City.
"Let''s go here," Han Li decided as he pointed at a hilly region on the map.
"Bright Deer Hill..." Jin Tong read aloud as she looked at the spot on the map that Han LI was pointing at.
"ording to the map, Bright Deer Hill isn''t too far away from here, and there aren''t anyrge primordial tribes residing in the area, so let''s go and rest there for a while before we make a decision on where to go next," Han Li said.
He then swept a hand through the air to erase the projected map, following which the green jade flying carriage set off into the distance at a low altitude.
In the wake of that close call, Han Li knew that he had to be more wary of the primordialnd, and he activated all of the flying carriage''s protective restrictions, even though doing so was quite costly in terms of Immortal Origin Stones. On top of that, he didn''t search for any more treasures, and after flying uneventfully for about half a month, they finally arrived on the edge of Bright Deer Hill.
The dense vegetation on the ground below was gradually bing sparser here, and even though it was alreadyte at night, Han Li could still see some ferocious beasts prowling through the forest for food or engaged in battle with one another down below.
Some of the more sensitive creatures were able to detect the flying carriage, and they immediately roared up at the heavens to establish their dominance.
Han Li cast his gaze into the distance, and a perplexed look suddenly appeared on his face.
He could sense bursts of powerful spiritual qi fluctuations surging through the air several hundred kilometers up ahead, and it seemed that there were many people locked in battle there.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to stow his flying carriage away, then put on his Dragon 5 mask, using which he disguised himself as an unremarkable-looking middle-aged man.
At the same time, hepletely concealed his own aura before flying toward the battlefield up ahead in a stealthy fashion.
As he flew through the air, the spiritual qi fluctuations up ahead became stronger and stronger, and upon reaching within 25 kilometers of the battlefield, Han Li descended into sparse forest down below before advancing through the forest on foot.
Before long, he arrived in front of a spacious clearing where an elevated bonfire stand was situated. There was a bright bonfire lit on the stand, illuminating the entire surrounding area, while two groups of strange-looking foreign beings were locked in a fierce battle.
One of the camps of foreign beings were humanoid in appearance, but they were very tall and wiry with extremely long necks. Each of them was standing at around 10 feet tall, and their bodies were dark green in color. Furthermore, there were pairs of long white tusks protruding out of their mouths before curling away to the side.
In contrast, their opponents were far more horrific in appearance.
These creatures were only around five feet tall, but they possessed extremely wide and bloated bodies that were gray in color and covered in thick bs of armor-like exoskeletons. They had virtually no necks, with nothing separating their chins and chests, and their lips were wide and thick, giving them the appearance of giant bipedal toads.
Chapter 544: Conflict
Chapter 544: Conflict
Han Li observed the unfolding battle with a contemtive look in his eyes.
Each side only had several dozen people, but they were disying some rather interesting modes of attack.
Among the humanoid creatures, some of them were holding short flutes crafted from some type of unknown material, some were holding small drums crafted from beast bones and beast hide, while others were holding copper bells, and they were ying these instruments to release bursts of soundwaves.
Under the influence of these soundwaves, hundreds of demon beasts of different descriptions were rushing toward the opposing toad-like creatures like puppets on strings.
As for the toad-like creatures, they were exposing their bellies, and it sounded as if there were someone pounding their bellies from inside their bodies, producing a peculiar sound that sent various types of spirit insects flying through the air or rushing out of the ground to swarm toward the opposing humanoid creatures.
Among these spirit insects were golden praying mantises the size of cows and horses, as well as some that were as tiny as bees. Individually, none of them were all that formidable, but under the influence of the toad-like creatures, their auras werebined as one, allowing them to match up against their opponents on equal terms.
Among the demon beasts, some had thick exoskeletons, some possessed enormous bodies, some were able to st forth mes and lightning, and some were extremely fast, but they were unable to keep the spirit insects at bay and were constantly being forced back further and further into retreat.
The humanoid creatures could see that the situation was unfolding against their favor, and one of them, a man with the longest neck, wearing a ne crafted out of beast bones, let loose a loud roar.
All of the sounds that were controlling the demon beasts and the spirit insects instantly subsided, and as a result, a temporary truce ensued.
The man then opened his mouth to say something that waspletely unintelligible to Han Li.
"Can you understand what they''re saying?" Han Li asked through his spiritual connection between himself and the jade Pixiu.
"He''s speaking in the universalnguage used by the primordial tribes, and he''s talking to a person called Tureev, asking him why they were so insistent on hunting down their Longneck Tribe, even though they had already abandon the forest that they had been residing in for generations to flee all the way here," the Pixiu tranted.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the toad-like beings.
One of the toad-like creatures that was wearing ayer of azure leather armor around its waist stepped forward, then said something in response in a loud and resonant voice.
"He says, don''t be naive, Taj. Our Gray Toad Tribe and your Longneck Tribe have always been sworn enemies. Now that your Longneck Tribe has fallen from grace, of course we have to hunt you down and eradicate all of you," Xiao Bai tranted without even being prompted by Han Li.
"How dare you! Are you trying to instigate a war between our Beast Race and your Insect Race? Are you not afraid of repeating the same horrific tragedy from millions of years ago? If you spark a war between our two races, our Beast Race will be sure to wipe out all of you once and for all!" Taj replied in a furious voice.
"I know that you''ve led us here as a distraction to try and divert us away, while your father led the majority of your tribesmen to the Peacock Spirit Tribe over at the Peacock River, but I can tell you now that your efforts arepletely futile. Even the Tower Elephant Tribe and the Dark Hog Tribe have already been conquered by our Insect Race, let alone the Peacock Spirit Tribe," Tureev chortled as he pped his own belly with hisrge hands.
Taj''s expression instantly changed drastically upon hearing this. "What did you say? That''s impossible!"
"In the face of the inspect spirits that we revere, the true spirits that you worship are nothing more than a bunch of toothless dogs! Our Insect Race has been plotting its revenge for the past several million years, and it''s finally time for your Beast Race to face the mes of our wrath!" Tureev continued as a fervent look appeared in his eyes.
After hearing Xiao Bai''s trantion, Han Li concluded, "Looks like this is a conflict between two primordial tribes that has nothing to do with us."
He then turned to depart, but right at this moment, the golden ring on his finger transformed into Jin Tong, whonded by his side, and her cheeks were slightly flushed with apprehension as she said, "Don''t leave just yet, Uncle, I''m getting a very strange feeling..."
"Could it be that you''ve been affected by the insect maniption techniques used by those creatures? Surely not! Even their leader is only a True Immortal, how could they possibly have affected you?" Han Li mused with a perplexed expression.
"I... I don''t know... I just feel... really strange..." Jin Tong stuttered.
As soon as her voice trailed off, a pair of golden praying mantises suddenly pounced at Han Li and Jin Tong from either nk beforeshing out with their scythe-like appendages.
Han Li immediately swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, releasing two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that shot forth toward the pair of oing praying mantises, slicing them in half in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, a swarm of ck beetles converged from all directions to surround Han Li and Jin Tong, and some of the Gray Toad beings also began to make their way toward Han Li''s duo.
Seeing as they had already been exposed, Han Li emerged into the clearing with Jin Tong.
Tureev took a nce at Han Li and Jin Tong, and his expression changed drastically as he began to speak again, and furious looks instantly appeared on the faces of the Longneck beings upon hearing what he had to say.
"What are they saying?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"Tureev is using the Longneck Tribe of falling into depravity and colluding with humans. He says that it''s no wonder that even the true spirits that they worship aren''t able to protect them, and the Longneck beings are very angry to hear this," the jade Pixiu replied.
"It sounds like humans aren''t very popr around these parts," Han Li mused with a wry smile.
"Humans aren''t the only ones that are denounced here, any beings of any race whoe from the immortal regions have alwayse to the primordialnd solely to plunder and steal and..."
The jade Pixiu''s voice trailed off here.
Indeed, the title of primordial hunter sounded quite prestigious, but they were nothing more than opportunistic gatherers and bandits.
"Tell them that we''re just passing through, and that we have no intention of getting involved in their conflict," Han Li said as he swept a sleeve through the air, and the jade pendant hanging from his waist flew through the air before transforming into a jade Pixiu that was around 10 feet in length.
Xiao Bai took a nce at Han Li, then turned to the two groups of primordial beings as it ryed Han Li''s message to them.
Tureev took a nce at Xiao Bai, then turned his gaze to Jin Tong before finally turning his attention to Han Li, following which it dered in thenguage of the Northern cial Immortal Region, "I would''ve been willing to let you go, but you just killed two of our spirit insects. How do you n topensate for that?"
"Whatpensation do you want from me?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Leave that little girl behind and I''ll let you go," Tureev dered as he pointed a finger at Jin Tong.
Han Li couldn''t help but heave a forlorn internal sigh upon hearing this. He knew that a peaceful resolution was out of the question now.
Sure enough, before he had a chance to say anything, Jin Tong had already stepped forward with an enraged expression as she began rolling up her sleeves.
"You want me to stay, do you?" she asked in a cold voice as her aura began to swell rapidly.
Tureev was very rmed to sense her rapidly elevating aura, and all of the ck beetles around Jin Tong instantly began to rush back in retreat out of an instinctive sense of fear.
Tureev took a few steps backward before hurriedly urging all of his tribesmen to spring into action, and the other Gray Toad beings immediately began to produce the same croaking sound from before with their bloated bellies.
A small portion of the spirit insects that they had summoned were still surrounding the Longneck beings, but the rest were all swarming toward Jin Tong.
"Go and help her," Han Lin instructed with slightly furrowed brows.
Xiao Bai immediately did as it was told, swelling drastically in size as it let loose a loud roar before pouncing at the swarm of spirit insects.
The dense swarm of ck beetles inundated Xiao Bai in an instant, but ayer of bright white light had emerged over its body to keep all of the ck beetles at bay.
At the same time, it opened its mouth to release a burst of tremendous suction force, which sucked in all of the surrounding ck beetles in a frenzy.
Meanwhile, Taj and the other Longneck beings were discussing how to proceed, yet all of them had fallen silent and were staring at Xiao Bai with stunned looks on their faces.
At the same time, Jin Tong had transformed into a giant golden beetle that was shing its front legs through the air in rapid session, releasing streaks of translucent golden light that swept forth in all directions, shredding all of the spirit insects in their path.
Tureev was horrified to see this.
In the blink of an eye, his army of spirit insects was on the verge ofplete eradication!
In contrast, Taj was ecstatic to see this, and he hurriedly began yelling something in the primordialnguage.
The Longneck beings were instantly reinvigorated, and they began ying their instruments again, spurring on their demon beasts to attack the surrounding swarm of spirit insects.
The previously orderly ranks of the Gray Toad beings were instantly thrown intoplete disarray by Jin Tong and Xiao Bai, and Tureev was frantically instructing his spirit insects to unleash a final wave of attacks while simultaneously instructing his own tribesmen to retreat.
Chapter 545: Esteemed Guest
Chapter 545: Esteemed Guest
Han Li couldn''t understand what Tureev was seeing, but he was immediately able to see through his intentions, and he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing several thousands dark yellow beans that transformed into Dao Warriors before rushing into the swarm of insects.
Meanwhile, Jin Tong flew out of the swarm of insects as a streak of golden light before arriving in front of the Gray Toad beings in a sh, thenshed out with her front legs to send a flurry fo streaks of translucent golden light sweeping through the air, instantly killing most of the Gray Toad beings.
Tureev could see that escape wasn''t going to be possible, and he immediately fell to his knees as he pleaded, "Please spare us! Why are you killing us when you''re a member of the Insect Race yourself? All of us Gray Toad beings are insect envoys, we are loyal servants of the revered insect spirits! I only asked him to leave you behind so that we could take you back to our Insect Race and save you from having to serve as that human''s pet!"
Jin Tong ceased in her attacks upon hearing this, and she reverted back to her human form before returning to Han Li''s side, then asked, "What is this insect spirit that you speak of?"
"I... I''m afraid I don''t know. Our Gray Toad Tribe is nothing more than a tiny branch of the Insect Race. Even though I''m the chief of the tribe, I''ve only ever heard of the revered insect spirit and never actually had the honor of meeting them," Tureev replied in a hesitant voice.
Jin Tong turned to Han Li upon hearing this, then asked, "Can we use a soul search technique on him, Uncle?"
"Sure," Han Li replied with a nod, then pointed a finger forward, upon which a thread of translucent light flew into Tureev''s be.
"No!" Tureev wailed with a horrified expression, only for his head to explode violently just an instantter.
"That''s quite a nasty restriction," Han Li remarked as his brows furrowed slightly.
The remaining Gray Toad beings were furious to see the demise of their chief, and they began charging at Han Li once again.
Several secondster, the entire clearing fellpletely silent, and all of the Gray Toad beings had been eradicated.
After stowing his Dao Warriors away, Han Li turned to the Longneck beings, who were clearly apprehensive of him, but didn''t dare to leave without permission.
All of the Longneck beings were also looking back at Han Li with a mixture of fear and confusion in their eyes, and it was clear that they didn''t know how to react to what had just happened.
The man by the name of Taj hesitated momentarily, then voluntarily approached Han Li before extending a grateful salute as he said in thenguage of the Northern cial Immortal Region, "Thank you for saving us, Senior."
"Seeing as you can understand mynguage, I''m sure you''re already aware that I didn''t kill those Gray Toad beings to save you and your tribesmen," Han Li said as he took a nce at Taj.
"In any case, you''ve saved all of us by killing those Gray Toad beings, and that is a great kindness that we must repay. However, at the moment, our tribe has been severely ravaged by the Insect Race, so I''m afraid we''re in no position to be holding a reception. Otherwise, we would be sure to invite you to our tribe as an esteemed guest," Taj replied in an apologetic manner.
Han Li wanted to dismiss the Longneck beings, but after taking a nce at Jin Tong, he decided to raise some questions instead. "What''s going on with the Beast Race and the Insect Race?"
A hesitant look appeared on Taj''s face, and only after a brief pause did he reply, "The Insect Race and our Beast Race have different beliefs, and as a result, we''ve be sworn enemies. We''ve been fighting relentlessly against each other over the years, and manyrge-scale wars have taken ce between our two races."
"What are these differing beliefs of yours?" Han Li asked.
"Our Beast Race is split up into many different tribes, and all of us worship different true spirit holy beasts. We don''t always see eye to eye, but all of us revere true spirits, while all of the tribes of the Insect Race worship different insect spirits," Taj exined.
"I see. That''s all I have to ask, you can go now," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Thank you, Senior," Taj hurriedly replied with a respectful bow, then began making his way back to his tribesmen.
"Let''s go," Han Li said as he turned to Jin Tong and Xiao Bai, thetter of which reverted back into a jade pendant before flying back to Han Li''s waist.
Meanwhile, Jin Tong was looking a little hesitant, and Han Li knew that this had to have something to do with those Gray Toad beings, so he didn''t try to rush her.
Right at this moment, Taj made his way back to Han Li, then extended another respectful salute as he said, "After careful consideration, I feel that it''s necessary to invite you to travel to the Peacock Spirit Tribe with us so we can show you some hospitality and repay you for your kindness."
"If you really want to disy your sincerity, then get your true leader toe out and see me," Han Li said in an indifferent voice.
A surprised look appeared on Taj''s face upon hearing this.
Immediately thereafter, the group of Longneck beings parted to open up a path, following which a a figure dressed in arge gray cloak with a gray cloth concealing their facial features emerged.
"Young Mistress Yifan, you can''t..."
Taj hurriedly tried to stop them, but the cloaked figure paid no heed to him as they made their way over to Han Li, then crossed their arms of their chest before extending a salute to him.
After that, they removed the gray cloth that was concealing their face to reveal an extremely intricate set of facial features that were virtually no different from those of a human. The only difference was that their skin was light blue, and their ears tapered to sharp points, while a pair of sharp fangs were protruding out from behind their lips.
"You''re not a Longneck being?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
Earlier, he had noticed that Taj seemed to have been acting under the instructions of someone else, and he had thought that perhaps the chief of the Longneck Tribe was among them, but that didn''t appear to be the case.
"I am Nuo Yifan, the daughter of the Calm Dawn Tribe, and I was sent here to unite all of the tribe of the Beast Race to put up a collective resistance against the Insect Race, but as soon as I arrived at the Longneck Tribe, we were attacked by the Gray Toad Tribe and several other tribes, and we fled all the way here. It''s only thanks to your timely intervention that we were able to survive, Senior," the blue-skinned woman said.
"Seeing as you''re the one calling the shots here, I presume it''s you who''s inviting me to the Peacock Spirit Tribe?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. You must be a primordial hunter, right, Senior? The Insect Race has recently be more and more aggressive. Not only are they attacking our Beast Race, I''ve heard that they instructed the Sand Beasts to attack a ship not long ago. If you''re not familiar with this area, then you could easily stumble into their territory, and even with your unfathomable powers, a grueling battle would be inevitable," Nuo Yifan said.
"So you''re extending this invitation to me for my sake?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I wish to repay you for saving all of us, but of course, my motives aren''t entirely unselfish. I''m hoping that you can protect us on the way back to the Calm Dawn Tribe," Nuo Yifan replied in a candid fashion.
"Would your tribe happen to have a map of the primordialnd?" Han Li asked.
"The primordialnd is an enormous ce, and many areas are ruled over by different powerful beings and tribes, making them inessible to others. Hence, even our Calm Dawn Tribe only has a map of some areas upied by our Beast Race. As long as you''re willing to escort us back to our Calm Dawn Tribe, I''ll do my best to collect all of the maps in the possession of the nearby tribes," Nuo Yifan promised.
Han Li considered the offer for a moment, then decided to agree.
A hint of tion immediately shed through Nuo Yifan''s eyes as she said, "Thank you, Senior! May I ask your name?"
"My name is Li Feiyu," Han Li replied.
As Taj brought Han Li and Jin Tong back to the rest of the group, the other Longneck beings all began to watch Han Li''s duo with clear apprehension and fear in their eyes.
Taj said something to everyone in the primordial tongue, and only then did all of the Longneck beings look away from Han Li and Jin Tong beforemencing the process of cleaning up the battlefield.
At the same time, some of them began to collect the carcasses of the Gray Toad beings and the spirit insects, clearly finding them to be useful as materials.
Shortly thereafter, one of the Longneck beings exchanged a nce with Nuo Yifan, following which the former carried a storage ring that was crafted out of bone andden with materials to Han Li.
Han Li wasn''t particrly interested in these materials, but he still epted the storage ring. After all, if he were to refuse, then that would most likely only make the Longneck beings even more uneasy as they could develop the false impression that he was harboring certain ulterior motives.
However, after epting the storage ring, he immediately assigned its contents to Xiao Bai and Jin Tong for them to split and devour as they pleased.
Shortly thereafter, the entire group of Longneck beings set off once again, this time toward the south.
Taj was leading the way from the forefront, while Han Li and Nuo Yifan were walking alongside one another at the center of the unit, surrounded by all of the other Longneck beings. As for Jin Tong and Xiao Bai, they had already turned back into a pair of essories that were fitted around Han Li''s finger and hanging from his waist, respectively.
"Once we pass over this hilly region, we''ll enter an area where a Hundred-eyed Centipede is active. The centipede is extremely formidable and aggressive, and it''s been known to attack anything flying overhead. Hence, we''ll only be able to take flight on demon beast steeds once we''ve passed through that area," Nuo Yifan exined.
"That''s fine. The primordialnd is a very dangerous ce, so it makes sense to take some safety precautions," Han LI replied in an indifferent voice.
At this point, they were already deep in the primordialnd, so he naturally had no interest in taking any risks unless it was absolutely necessary to do so.
As he continued to walk along, Han Li dered through voice transmission, "Xiao Bai, I want you to teach me the primordialnguage."
Xiao Bai was very much taken aback to hear this, and it eximed, "The cultivators of the immortal regions have always regarded the primordialnguage as a lowlynguage that''spletely beneath them. Are you sure you want to learn it, Master?"
"Languages are but tools formunication, so I don''t perceive anynguages to be above or below others," Han Li replied.
"Alright, if you want to learn, then I''ll teach you," Xiao Bai replied.
Chapter 546: Large Primordial Tribe
Chapter 546: Large Primordial Tribe
Over a month flew by in the blink of an eye.
In the sky above a lush, primordial forest, giant flying creatures of different descriptions were soaring through the air, carrying Longneck beings on their backs as they descended toward the center of the forest.
There was an unremarkable-looking male human among these Longneck beings, standing out like a sore thumb, and it was none other than Han Li.
Taj was straddled atop a winged ck deer while flying alongside Nuo Yifan, who was riding a white snow eagle, and they were on a diagonal descent toward a clearing at the center of the forest.
As for Han Li, he was riding a gray mammoth with a pair of ears that were asrge as wings, and he was also descending out of the sky a little behind the Longneck beings.
Afternding on the ground, Han Li inspected his surroundings briefly to find that there were some dome-shaped buildings concealed within the foliage, blending into the surrounding environment in a harmonious fashion.
However, most of these buildings had already been damaged. Some were half-copsed, while others had beenpletely razed to the ground, and a series of lifeless bodies were littered around the buildings.
Most of these bodies belonged to a type of short and petite gray-skinned creature withrge heads and facial features that were very simr to those of humans, except their eyes, noses, and mouths were all squished together, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
Additionally, there were also many bodies belonging to Longneck beings and demon beast carcasses strewn around the area, most of which had been horribly disfigured by spirit insect bites.
After conducting a brief search through the area, the expressions of all of the Longneck beings had darkened significantly, and all of them were clearly infuriated by what they had seen.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li saw Taj carrying the body of an elderly Longneck being out of the one of the semi-copsed buildings, and there was a grief-stricken look on his face.
The body''s facial features bore a strong resemnce to Taj, and this observation made it apparent to Han Li that this was most likely Taj''s father and the chief of the Longneck Tribe.
Nuo Yifan made her way over to Taj, then crossed her arms in front of her chest and extended a deep bow toward the lifeless body in Taj''s arms. After that, she patted Taj on the shoulder and said something to him in the primordialnguage.
Having already learned some of the primordialnguage from Xiao Bai on the way here, Han Li was able to discern that she was offering him some condolences.
Taj took some time topose himself, then fished a long length of ck bone that was as smooth as jade out of his father''s pocket. He raised the bone up high as he let loose a cry of grief, and all of the other Longneck beings immediately gathered around him while echoing the same sound.
Meanwhile, Nuo Yifan made her way over to Han Li''s side as she exined in a slight weary voice, "Taj''s father died in battle, and he''s about to be the new chief of the tribe."
"It looks like your Beast Race isn''t in a very good ce right now," Han Li remarked.
"Ever since we defeated the Insect Race during that war several million years ago, all of our tribes have been far toocent. We''ve always been keeping close tabs on the Insect Race''s activities, but they''ve been nning these attacks for a very long time, and they struck without any warning, so we were caughtpletely off guard.
¡°Having said that, the king of the true spirits that we worship are definitely far more powerful than their insect spirits, so once all of our tribes unite to summon our king, theplete eradication of the Insect Race will be imminent," Nuo Yifan replied in a determined voice.
Han Li wasn''t very interested in hearing about these matters, and he said, "I suppose I can only wish you the best of luck. How long left until we reach your Calm Dawn Tribe?"
"At our current speed, we''ll be able to return to our Calm Dawn Tribe in three more months at most," Nuo Yifan replied.
Han Li nodded in response and didn''t say anything further.
The Longneck beings held a simple ceremony to grieve the dead, then packed up the bodies of all of their fellow tribesmen and the Peacock Spirit beings before setting off once again.
After leaving the settlement of the Peacock Spirit Tribe, everyone clearly sped up significantly, perhaps because they were out of the territory under theplete control of the Beast Race. Aside from several asions where they had to slow down to avoid some particrly powerful primordial beasts, the rest of the time was spent traveling at full speed.
During this time, Han Li continued to learn the primordialnguage from Xiao Bai while keeping tabs on the area that they had passed through so that he could incorporate them into the map that he waspiling.
At this point, the maps that he had purchased from Primordial Origin City early werergely useless. The map given to him by Wyrm 3 was still somewhat useful, but it had no ovep with the route that he was currently taking, so he could only use it to ascertain his approximate location.
Two and a half monthster, Han Li and the Longneck beings finally made it out of the vast forest.
The Longneck beings were very familiar with this forest, so they were able to pre-emptively avoid many of the powerful true spirits residing in the area, but they were still intercepted by a few ambush attacks from enemy Insect Race beings. Han Li had refrained from getting involved in those battles, leaving Jin Tong and Xiao Bai to do the fighting for him.
Over time, the animosity and wariness that the Longneck beings harbored toward Han Li gradually faded, and Han Li was able to learn more about the primordialnd from Nuo Yifan and Taj.
At this moment, they had arrived in front of an enormous canyon.
This was the Dark Star Canyon where the Calm Dawn Tribe resided.
Even though Han Li had already been made aware that the Calm Dawn Tribe was one of the most powerful tribes of the Beast Race, he was still astonished by the sightid out before him.
Ahead of him was a majestic mountain range that stretched as far as the eyes could see, and there were countless acres of lush vegetation separated by a gargantuan white rift, much like a gash on the body of a giant beast.
At the entrance of the white canyon stood an enormous white stone pass, which was riddled with watchtowers and gs, giving it the appearance of a massive white fortress.
The entire fortress was over 100,000 feet tall, virtually the same height as the two lips of the canyon, and there were three giant arch gates that were around 60,000 to 70,000 feet tall standing at the center of the fortress, in front of each of which was a ck metal fence.
A massive, turbulent river was flowing through the central arch gate, and the water in the river was a rather murky green color, churning along while producing a sound akin to that of rumbling thunder.
Upon arriving at the fortress, Nuo Yifan removed the long gray cloak that she had been wearing the entire trip, revealing the luscious curves of her body, which were only entuated by the light and tight-fitting clothes that she was wearing underneath the cloak.
All of the male Longneck beings couldn''t help but gawk at her for a moment before hurriedly looking away.
As for Han Li, he was watching Nuo Yifan with a hint of surprise in his eyes. He didn''t know what material the gray cloak was woven from, but it hadpletely concealed Nuo Yifan''s aura, and only now did he realize that she was at thete-True Immortal Stage.
It seemed that even in the primordialnd, there existed some tool refinement techniques, but he presumed that only a small number of powerful primordial tribes would be able to afford the services of these tool refinement masters.
Right at this moment, several dozen figures flew out of the fortress, and all of them were rather simr to Nuo Yifan in appearance, with light blue skin and tapered ears, clearly indicating that they were also Calm Dawn beings.
The majority of them were men, who were slightly taller than their female counterparts and had some dark patterns on their skin. However, they weren''t physically imposing at all, and not only were they all quite handsome, there was a slightly effeminate appearance about them.
Their leader was a middle-aged man holding an azure jade staff, and he bore a strong resemnce to Nuo Yifan, except the lines of his face were more angr and defined, and he was wearing a long off white robe that gave him a schrly appearance.
"Yifan," the man called out, and an ecstatic look immediately appeared on Nuo Yifan''s face upon catching sight of him.
"Father!"
Meanwhile, the Longneck beings and Han Li were all hovering in the air some distance away.
At this point, Han Li was able to understand the primordialnguage without much trouble, but he still had some trouble speaking thenguage due tock of practice.
"I''m sorry for putting you through such an ordeal, my precious daughter. I''m so d that you''ve returned safe and sound," the middle-aged man said with a pained expression as he gently stroked Nuo Yifan''s hair.
"I wanted to go on this trip, so you''re not to me, Father. It was a dangerous trip, but thankfully, we''ve managed to contact all of the northern tribes, and they''ve all decided to join forces with our Dark Star Canyon. I''m sure it won''t be long before we unite the entire Beast Race in the war against the Insect Race," Nuo Yifan said.
"You did very well, my daughter. Over the past half a month or so, some tribes have already arrived at our Dark Star Canyon. However, I heard from them that the Longneck Tribe and the Peacock Spirit Tribe were attacked. Were you affected by the attacks?" the middle-aged man asked.
"While I was at the Longneck Tribe, we were attacked by several enemy tribes, including the Gray Toad Tribe and the Azure Scorpion Tribe, but Chief Tak of the Longneck Tribe was able to divert most of the enemy forces away by fleeing to the Peacock Spirit Tribe, while the other Longneck beings and I fled to Bright Deer Hill.
¡°After that, the Gray Toad beings caught up to us, but thankfully, Senior Li here intervened to save us and eradicate the Gray Toad beings," Nuo Yifan replied as she gestured to Han Li.
A hint of lingering fear appeared in the middle-aged man''s eyes upon hearing this, and he was feeling even more remorseful after hearing about his daughter''s close call.
Upon hearing that it was Han Li who had eradicated the Gray Toad beings, he cast his gaze toward his daughter''s savior, upon which his pupils instantly contracted slightly.
Not only was he very much taken aback to see that Han Li was a human, all of the other Calm Dawn beings disyed a simr reaction upon catching sight of him.
Due to the fact that Calm Dawn beings were quite simr in appearance to humans, Han Li could clearly see the detest and wariness etched on their faces.
Nuo Yifan could also see the animosity that everyone was disying, and she immediately added, "It was only thanks to Senior Li''s protection that we were able to make it back here safely."
The middle-aged man''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he flew toward Han Li with everyone else.
"Thank you for saving Yifan and escorting her back to our Dark Star Canyon. If you want anything forpensation, feel free to state what you desire," the middle-aged man said in thenguage of the immortal regions as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
It was clear that the chief of the Calm Dawn Tribe intended to send him away with some treasures, as opposed to allowing him to enter the Dark Star Canyon.
Chapter 547: Stay
Chapter 547: Stay
"There''s no need to thank me. On the topic ofpensation, I''ve already told your daughter what I want," Han Li replied in an expressionless manner.
The white-robed man''s brows furrowed with befuddlement, and he turned to her with an inquisitive expression, upon which Nuo Yifan ryed Han Li''s request for maps of the primordialnd to him through voice transmission.
The white-robed man''s brows furrowed even more tightly upon hearing this, and he turned back to Han Li as he said, "My apologies, Fellow Daoist Li, but I''m afraid that my daughter has made a promise that she can''t keep. Our Calm Dawn Tribe is quite arge tribe, but it''s stillpletely insignificant in the context of all of the Beast Race tribes, so we''re not capable of gathering all of the maps of the different tribes.
¡°Hence, I''ll have to ask you to state another condition. I know the rules of the human race, and I''ll be sure to offer you satisfactorypensation."
"I''m not a primordial hunter, and I''m only asking for these maps as I wish to cross the primordialnd en route to another immortal region. Hence, you can remove the locations of the tribes on the maps that you give me and only mark out the more dangerous areas and ces where formidable beasts reside," Han Li said.
A contemtive look appeared on Nuo Qinglin''s face upon hearing this, and he didn''t immediately respond.
Nuo Yifan approached him, and the two of themmunicated a while longer through voice transmission before thetter seemed to have finally arrived at a decision.
Nuo Qinglin turned back to Han Li, but still found himself unable to ascertain Han Li''s cultivation base.
"In that case, I''ll get you to stay in our Dark Star Canyon for a few days. The other tribes of the Beast Race will be gathering here over the next few days, and I''ll be able to collect their maps once they arrive," he said.
"I''ll be in your care then," Han Li replied with a nod.
While conversing with Nuo Qinglin, Han Li had been observing him the entire time as well, and he noticed that Nuo Qinglin seemed to have also concealed his own aura, and that he was most likely around the early-Golden Immortal Stage.
However, given how these foreign beings were able to use demon beasts in battle, their truebat prowess most likely had to be overestimated by half a rank. As for the other Calm Dawn beings behind Nuo Qinglin, they were all somewhere between the mid-True Immortal Stage and the early-Golden Immortal Stage, with the majority of them at the True Immortal Stage.
Nuo Qinglin gave Han Li a nod, then turned to Taj with a solemn expression as he said, "Thank you for escorting Yifan back to our Dark Star Canyon. Our Calm Dawn Tribe will remember what you''ve done, and after the war is over, we''ll be sure to do everything in our power to assist your tribe in rebuilding a home and making a resurgence."
"Thank you, Chief Nuo!" Taj replied with a grateful expression as he crossed his arms over his chest and extended a slight bow.
"Prior to that, you and your tribesmen can treat our Dark Star Canyon as your own home," Nuo Qinglin continued.
Taj and the other Longneck beings were even more grateful upon hearing this, and some of them had even burst into tears.
After that, Nuo Qinglin led Han Li and the others over the giant fortress before flying into the canyon.
As they flew over the fortress, Han Li could see that there was a giant lizard-like winged beast prowling behind each of the watchtowers on the fortress. Their scales were reflecting a ck gleam, and they asionally opened their eyes to look up at the sky.
Han Li could clearly sense that all of their animosity was directed toward him.
Only after passing over the fortress was the true scale of the Dark Star Canyon fully revealed to Han Li.
There was a green river that was over 10,000 feet wide flowing through the center of the canyon with the sound of rumbling thunder, and on either side of the river were sheer cliff faces that were as steep as they were majestic.
On the sheer mountain faces at an even higher altitude were a series of hollowed-out caves of different shapes and sizes, all of which were interconnected by a system boardwalks that were embedded into the mountain faces to form an enormous andplex cluster of buildings.
Furthermore, these weren''t just some simple and crude caves. Instead, there were intricate engravings and well-crafted pirs and railings on the outside, and their openings were sealed with round or rectangr wooden doors of different styles that also had beautiful engravings on them. On top of that, these caves were surrounded by moss, vines, and flowers to give them an even more delightful appearance.
If the Peacock Spirit Tribe settlement had been a small vige in a forest, then the Dark Star Canyon where the Calm Dawn Tribe resided would be the equivalent of a thriving human city.
The Dark Star River within the canyon was a winding river that twisted and turned, and the deeper Han Li flew into the canyon, the more surprised he became. A series of giant altar-like buildings had begun to appear on the surrounding mountain faces, and they were giving off bursts of faint array fluctuations.
Han Li knew that he was a rather sensitive figure here, so he only casually nced at the passing scenery instead of scrutinizing theyout of the entire canyon too closely, and he also refrained from using too much of his spiritual sense.
Nuo Qinglin had been secretly observing Han Li this entire time, and a pleased look appeared on his face upon seeing this.
As the group approached the center of the valley, everyone descended onto a cliff with rtively t terrain. Nuo Qinglin turned to Han Li as he said, "This is quite a peaceful ce. You can stay here for the next few days, Fellow Daoist Li."
Han Li inspected his surroundings to find that the cliff was surrounded by Calm Dawn Tribe settlements, and they weren''t overly close, but it was very convenient for them to conduct surveince on this ce or surround it on very short notice.
"Thank you, Chief Nuo," he said with a smile, and Nuo Qinglin and the others promptly departed, flying deeper into the canyon.
Nuo Yifan hesitated momentarily, then decided to stay behind as she approached Han Li with an apologetic expression as she said, "Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Li. Unfortunately, my tribesmen are still quite apprehensive of humans."
"I''ve always wanted to ask you this: why is it that you aren''t wary of humans like your tribesmen?" Han Li asked.
"Truth be told, my deceased mother was a human, so I''m half-human myself," Nuo Yifan exined after a brief hesitation.
Han Li nodded in response and didn''t say anything further.
After the two of them parted ways, Han Li inspected his surroundings briefly with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, then descended onto the cliff and began to make his way toward the hollowed-out cave abode there.
He opened the heavy stone doors of the cave abode, and his brows furrowed slightly at the state of the cave abode.
Everything was covered in a thickyer of dust, clearly indicating that it hadn''t been inhabited for a very long time. He swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a gentle breeze that swept out all of the dust in the cave abode.
Immediately thereafter, a series ofmps on the walls lit up on their own, illuminating the entire stone chamber while also giving off a faint musky aroma.
Han Li looked around to find that the cave wasn''t veryrge, and it was split into two rooms that were only slightlyrger than the average room.
In the outer room was a stone table and a stone chair, while only a stone bed could be found in the inner room, presenting a set of extremely minimalistic furnishings.
After closing the stone doors, Han Li pulled out a series of array gs and array tes before setting them up around the cave.
Around an hourter, the array wasplete, and Han Li sat down onto the stone bed with his legs crossed before tapping the golden ring on his finger.
The golden ring immediately took on Jin Tong''s human form beforending beside Han Li, and he said, "Jin Tong, I''ll be going into seclusion for a while to see if I can elevate my cultivation base a little. During this time, you and Xiao Bai will be tasked with protecting me."
"Why are you suddenly going into seclusion at a time like this, Uncle?" Jin Tong asked.
"During our time in the primordialnd, we''ve encountered many powerful primordial beasts. Even though we''ll be staying in the Calm Dawn Tribe for the near future, so we''ll be a little safer than before, but we still have to prepare for the journey ahead. The Heavenly Court isn''t going to stoping after me, and the primordialnd is far more perilous than I anticipated.
¡°Only by elevating my own powers as much as possible can we continue to survive here," Han Li replied.
"Alright, you can count on me, Uncle! No one will be able to disturb your cultivation as long as I''m here!" Jin Tong vowed with a determined expression.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he flipped a hand over to produce a storage pouch before handing it to Jin Tong.
"Here''s some food for you, make sure to eat it sparingly."
Jin Tong was ecstatic as she epted the storage pouch from Han Li, then skipped her way to the outer room before sitting down onto the stone table with her legs crossed to inspect the contents of the storage pouch.
"Don''t forget about me!"
Xiao Bai immediately jumped down from Han Li''s waist before rushing over to Jin Tong''s side and cuddling up to her like an affectionate little dog, only to be pped away by Jin Tong with a disdainful expression.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he withdrew his gaze before sweeping a sleeve through the air to activate the array and temporarily cut off the inner room from the outside world.
He then flipped a hand over to produce a pair of jade slips and an ancient yellow scripture, and these were none other than the three time-attribute cultivation arts of the Northern cial Immortal Region, the Water Divination Time Arts, the Mantra Axis Scripture, and the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture.
He had already read through the entirety of the three cultivation arts, and he felt like there was some type of connection between the three, but he had never gotten the chance to conduct a closer examination.
Hence, he was nning topare the three cultivation arts carefully here to see if he could glean some insights that could assist him in his cultivation.
Among the three cultivation arts, the Mantra Axis Scripture was naturally the most familiar one to Han Li. At this point, he had already obtained six levels of the cultivation art, and his progression in the cultivation art had been quite smooth thanks to the Heaven Controlling Vial.
He hadn''t begun using either of the other two cultivation arts yet, but given the foundation that he had already had, he was confident that he would be able to make fast progress in those two cultivation arts as well.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he picked up the Water Divination Time Arts first and began to carefully read through it.
Chapter 548: The Three Cultivation Arts
Chapter 548: The Three Cultivation Arts
Han Li pressed the jade slip that contained the Water Divination Time Arts to his own be, then closed his eyes and fellpletely still.
Initially, his brows were slightly furrowed in befuddlement, but they quickly unfurrowed again as if he had been struck by some enlightenment. However, shortly thereafter, his brows furrowed slightly once again before rxing for a second time, and the cycle continued to repeat itself.
As time passed, Han Li''s brows became more and more tightly furrowed, and this time, he remained stumped by the obstacle that he had encountered.
Sweat was beginning to bead up on his forehead, and remained in the same seated positino for three days and three nights.
Upon opening his eyes, his back was alreadypletely drenched in sweat, while his eyes were severely bloodshot, giving him an exhausted appearance.
"How could this be?" he murmured to himself as he removed the blue jade slip from his forehead.
The Water Divination Time Arts consisted of seven chapters, and during the initial phase of its cultivation, he had to manifest a treasure simr to the Mantra Treasured Axis.
This treasure was called the Clear Time Vial, and it could derive time water droplets from absorbing the light of the sun and the moon.
Upon reaching the fourth chapter of the cultivation art, one would be able to refine the time water droplets that they had collected in order to manifest threads of time.
These threads of time weren''t unfamiliar to Han Li. Even back in the Spirit Realm, he had seen these threads being produced by the Asura Spiders. [1] These were extraordinary threads that could only arise from the river of time, which contained timew powers, and they could extend the lifespans of mortals and low-grade cultivators, or dy the onset of heavenly tribtions for high-grade cultivators.
From the description in the cultivation, the threads of time refined using the Water Divination Time Arts were supposed to contain a greater abundance of timew powers, thereby making them even more potent, and they could even dy the onset of the three decays for True Immortals.
However, as was the case with the Mantra Treasured Axis, an item that contained timew powers was required to refine the Clear Time Vial. Additionally, many other precious natural treasures were also required, thereby posing a very steep barrier of entry for this cultivation art, and this was presumably why so many Vast Flow Pce cultivators had ultimately refrained from pursuing this cultivation art.
Unlike the Mantra Axis Scripture, this cultivation art didn''t allow one to open immortal acupoints as they progressed. Instead, the improvement in one''s cutivation base more so hinged upon the rate at which they were able to manifest time water droplets.
Apparently, once one umted sufficient time water droplets to form a river, they would be able to unleash even more unfathomable abilities. However, these time water droplets took a very long time to manifest, and in the initial phase of one''s cultivation, it would take centuries to umte even a single time water droplet, so it was unclear how much time it would take to umte an entire river''s worth.
From what he had read, Han Li determined that the Water Divination Time Arts was slightly inferior to the Mantra Axis Scripture, but it had its own unique advantages as well.
At this point, he had only read through the cultivation art several times, and he hadn''t begun cultivating it at all, so his understanding of it was naturally still rather limited.
He took a deep breath to suppress the befuddlement in his heart, then began to read through the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture.
The inner room waspletely silent with the exception of the sound of rustling pages, and over a day passed by in a sh before Han Li closed the book.
He massaged his sore be momentarily, but at the same time, a faint smile had appeared on his face.
The Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture was even more unique than the other two time-attribute cultivation arts. As opposed to a cultivation art, it was more urate to call it a tool refinement scripture.
The reason why Han Li thought this was because upon reaching a certain stage in the cultivation art, one would be able to break down certain items that contained timew powers to derive something called Illusory Dawn Sand.
After refining this Illusory Dawn Sand using a special technique, one would be able to to create a small closed-off space known as an Illusory Dawn Sand Domain using these grains of sand, and that coulde in any form, such as an Illusory Dawn Sand Box, an Illusory Dawn Sand Vial, etc.
Inside the space within these vessels, the rate at which time flowed could be altered.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li.
If I had a sufficient amount of Illusory Dawn Sand, would I be able to...
However, a self-deprecating look then appeared on his face.
Setting aside whether that''s even possible, how am I supposed to obtain so much Illusory Dawn Sand? Items that contain timew powers aren''t so easy to find.
With that in mind, he turned his gaze back to the three cultivation arts as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
All three of them were time-attribute cultivation arts, but they focused on different things, and aside from the Mantra Axis Scripture, which could be used as a cultivation art, the other two were more rted to treasures that contained timew powers.
After closely examining all three cultivation arts, Han Li became even more convinced that some type of connection existed between them.
Of course, there were bound to be some simrities, considering all three were time-attribute cultivation arts, but Han Li felt like the connection wasn''t as simple as that, but at the same time, he couldn''t put his finger on exactly what the connection was.
......
Around half a month flew by in a sh.
Inside the inner room of the cave, Han Li was standing while holding the three cultivation arts in his hands with a wry smile on his face.
Even after extensive examination and pondering, he was still no closer to a definitive answer.
"I should take a break. If I keep forcing myself deeper into this hole, I''m going to end up hampering my future cultivation," he sighed to himself, then stowed the three cultivation arts away.
Thews of time was one of the three paramountws, so its cultivation arts were bound to be different from the average cultivation art, and Han Li decided that he wasn''t going to pursue the other two cultivation arts before he figured out exactly what type of connection existed between the three.
Of course, another important factor behind this decision was that he didn''t have the time to go into seclusion for an extended period.
With that in mind, he sat back down with his legs crossed, then flipped a hand over to produce a white jade vial, and he tipped out a pill that was as translucent as jade from within before swallowing it.
The pill was called a Snow Soul Pill, and it was one of the Golden Immortal Stage pills that he had obtained from Xiao Jinhan, so it was perfect for him to consume.
After swallowing the pill, Han Li closed his eyes to meditate, and once his heart had settled into a calm and tranquil state, he pressed a white jade slip to his own be.
This jade slip contained the fifth level of the Mantra Axis Scripture.
Layers of golden ripples spread in all directions from the jade slip, basking Han Li in a soft, golden glow.
In contrast with how difficult the fourth level of the cultivation art had been to understand, the fifth level felt more straightforward to Han Li, and after memorizing its contents, he stowed it away again.
After that, he ced one hand over the other in front of himself to make a hand seal, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared before him.
The array in the room concealed the energy fluctuations of the Mantra Treasured Axis, but Jin Tong and Xiao Bai were still able to detect something through their spiritual connection with Han Li, and both of them turned to face the inner room.
The Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis lit up as a string of radiant miniature suns, and over three months quickly passed by in seclusion.
During this time, the Dark Star Canyon had be quite lively. Aside from the otherrge tribes that ranked alongside the Calm Dawn Tribe, close to half of the smaller Beast Race tribes had also traveled to the Dark Star Canyon.
As a result, things became very busy for the Calm Dawn Tribe. Nuo Yifan paid Han Li two visits in the first month, but on both asions, so he was told that Han Li was in seclusion, and she hadn''t returned since. It seemed that everyone had forgotten that there was still a human residing in the canyon.
On this day, both Jin Tong and Xiao Bai were staring at the light barrier that separated the room that Han Li was in from the outside world, and their eyes were wide with intrigue.
About an hour ago, Han Li had eaten a small round fruit that was riddled with tiny golden spots, and his Mantra Treasured Axis had immediately be brighter as a result.
At the same time, a tiny golden vortex had appeared on the outside of his thigh, and a vast expanse of golden light had begun surging toward the vortex. This was none other than his 61st immortal acupoint!
With the formation of this immortal acupoint, two more Time Dao Runes had appeared on the Mantra Treasured Axis.
A short whileter, the surrounding energy fluctuations gradually subsided, and Han Li slowly opened his eyes, but he was looking more concerned than ted.
Even after consuming a fruit that''s imbued with timew powers, I was only just barely able to open a single immortal acupoint. How much resources will it take to reach the High Zenith Stage?
With that in mind, a wry smile appeared on his face, but before he had a chance to dwell on this thought, the Heaven Controlling Vial suddenly flew up on its own.
Han Li hurriedly cast his gaze toward his Mantra Treasured Axis, upon which he was ecstatic to discover that an 11th timew thread had appeared around it.
The golden fruit that he had obtained from Gongshu Jiu had allowed him to manifest another timew thread, and that was certainly a pleasant surprise.
Furthermore, judging from the reaction of the Heaven Controlling Vial, it seemed that he was about to be sucked into another vision.
Sure enough, a burst of rumbling rang out, and the Heaven Controlling Vial, which had already swelled to the size of a millstone, released a thick pir of green light that struck the light barrier around the inner room to form a translucent wall of light.
Jin Tong and Xiao Bai were unable to tell what was happening inside due to the light barrier that was in their way, so they could only return to the stone table in a bored manner.
A green vortex slowly took shape within the wall of light, immediately following which a burst of tremendous suction force erupted forth, sucking his soul out of his body and into the wall of light in a sh.
1. For more information on Asura Spiders, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2287: Battle Against the Asura Spiders (1). ?
Chapter 549: Vision of the True Mantra Sect
Chapter 549: Vision of the True Mantra Sect
Han Li''s consciousness slowly returned to him, and he opened his eyes to inspect his surroundings.
He was already mentally prepared this time, so he wasn''t feeling panicked at all. Instead, there was only a sense of excitement and curiosity in his heart.
These experiences were extremely precious, and they had always benefited him greatly while only temporarily costing him the use of his Time Dao Runes.
As he looked around, he was greeted by the sight of several white zas, which were surrounded by a series of white jade pces that stretched as far as the eyes could see.
There were some mountains hovering in mid-air, and they were also riddled with pces.
It seemed that he was situated in arge sect.
However, at this moment, there was smoke rising up all over the sect, and many of the pces and hovering mountains in the sky had been damaged, indicating that a battle was taking ce.
Sure enough, there were countless cultivators locked in battle up above, and they were split into two sides, with one side dressed entirely in white robes, while the other side was dressed in golden robes.
The golden robes weren''t unfamiliar to Han Li as it was the attire of the Heavenly Court.
The two sides were quite evenly matched, and it didn''t appear as if a decisive oue were going to arise anytime soon.
After taking in his surroundings, Han Li cast his gaze forward to find that a faint projection of his Mantra Treasured Axis was hovering in front of him.
The Time Dao Runes on its surface were radiating semi-transparent light, and a couple of them had already faded.
The rate at which the Time Dao Runes was fading was the same as before.
He then turned his attention to the body that he had possessed, and he discovered that it was a white-robed cultivatorying in a corner of the za.
The man was tall and thin with a head of straw-like yellow hair, and his skin was as wrinkled and wizened as the bark of an old tree. It appeared that this was the body of a foreign being.
There was arge hole in the man''s lower abdomen, and his body had almost been sliced into two. On top of that, he wasying in a puddle of his own green blood, and he seemed to met his demise quite some time ago.
Hold on a second, this man looks so familiar... Where have I seen him before?
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he tried to recall where he had seen this man in the past, but was unable to do so.
He quickly shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, then attempted to inspect the man''s memories.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out in the sky, and the clouds up above began to rapidly revolve, forming a giant vortex in the blink of an eye.
The vortex was releasing an earth-shattering rumbling sound, and beams of golden light were shooting out from within it.
The golden light was as blinding as the sun, and Han Li was astonished to detect the tremendousw powers imbued within these beams of golden light.
This was a type ofw powers that was very familiar to him; it was the power of timews!
The timew powers within these beams of golden light was downright unfathomable, and they struck the beholder with a sense of awe and veneration.
In contrast, Han Li''s timew powers was nothing more than trash!
Who could''ve possibly cultivated the power of timews to such an extent?
Han Li was so astonished by what he was seeing that he forgot to draw upon the members of his host body.
All of a sudden, the beams of golden light that had erupted out of the vortex transformed into balls of fire that resembled lotus flowers before raining down from above.
One of the golden fireballs descended toward a Golden Immortal Stage white-robed cultivator, who hurriedly conjured up severalyers of protective barriers while shooting back in retreat.
However, the protective barriers weren''t able to pose any resistance against the golden mes, which passed through them with ease beforending upon the white-robed cultivator''s shoulder.
The white-robed cultivator didn''t even get a chance to cry out before his body rapidly aged within the golden mes before disintegrating into ashes.
Han Li drew a sharp breath upon seeing this.
Meanwhile, the other golden fireballs also descended toward other white-robed cultivators, avoiding the Heavenly Court cultivators with unerring uracy, and in the blink of an eye, close to half of the white-robed cultivators had been reduced to ashes.
Right at this moment, a radiant golden cloud rose up from thergest mountain that was hovering in mid-air, and it gave off rays of dazzling golden light.
Han Li was shocked to discover that the golden cloud was also giving off bursts of timew powers.
The timew powers radiating from the golden cloud wasn''t as formidable as that of the vortex in the sky, but it was still countless times more formidable than Han Li''s timew powers.
The cloud rapidly expanded to obscure the entire sky in the blink of an eye, keeping all of the golden fireballs at bay, but during the process, the golden cloud was also whittled down significantly.
All of a sudden, a rotund red-robed monk appeared above the golden cloud.
The monk was extremely tall and portly, resembling a mountain of flesh, and the rolls of b on his face had reduced his eyes to narrow slits.
Han Li''s eyes immediately widened in shock at the sight of the red-robed monk.
This was the very same lecturing monk that he had once seen through the Heaven Controlling Vial!
Upon catching sight of the red-robed monk, Han Li was also immediately able to recall that the host body that he had possessed belonged to one of the five people who had been listening to the red-robed monk''s lecture.
The red-robed monk wasrgely expressionless as he made a hand seal and dered, "Let there be wind!"
A string of azure runes flew out of his mouth, then transformed into an incredibly thick azure tornado, within which countless azure des of wind were swirling incessantly. The tornado left a series of inky-ck spatial rifts in its wake, while also sending waves of spatial fluctuations sweeping in all directions as it swept toward the vortex in the sky with devastating power.
This is his Mantra Domain!
Han Li was immediately able to identify the ability that had been unleashed by the red-robed monk.
It was thanks to overhearing part of the monk''s lecture that Han Li had been able to master this ability.
However, the Mantra Domain that he unleashed was nothing more than an illusion, yet this azur tornado was very much real.
By Han Li''s own estimates, if he were to be swept up in that tornado, then he would most likely be instantly reduced to a pile of mincemeat.
Gusts of howling wind were also sweeping through the white pce down below, and some of the weaker cultivators on the battlefield were instantly sent flying away.
The body that Han Li had possessed was also swept away by the fierce gusts of wind, and this was exactly what he wanted.
He hurriedly drew upon the remaining immortal spiritual power in the body, and ayer of yellow light appeared over his body as he vanished into the ground in a sh before fleeing into the distance as quickly as he could.
To Han Li''s surprise, not much of the body''s immortal spiritual power remained, but it was extremely pure, even more so than his own immortal spiritual power.
Right at this moment, a burst of golden light shed within the vortex in the sky once again, and an enormous golden hand appeared.
The hand was over 100 acres in size, and at its center was a huge golden halo, which descended from above as the hand came pressing downward while giving off a burst of tremendous timew powers.
The azure tornado instantly fellpletely still, as did the gusts of the ferocious wind that were sweeping through the air down below, as well as all of the otherbatants on the battlefield.
The red-robed monk above the golden cloud had raised his hands as if he were preparing to unleash some other ability, but he had also been immobilized.
Han Li''s escape also drew to an abrupt halt, and he had fallen still as well, suspended within the soil underground.
Everything in the world had fallen still, and the only thing that could still move was the giant golden hand that was descending from above.
As soon as the azure tornado came into contact with the giant hand, the former instantly disintegrated into countless specks of azure light.
Meanwhile, the enormous golden hand continued to descend without pause, thennded upon the red-robed monk in a seemingly gentle manner.
Right before Han Li''s astonished eyes, the red-robed monk''s body also disintegrated just like the azure tornado.
After ying the red-robed monk, the giant golden hand didn''t continue to descend. Instead, it shrank back into the vortex up above in a sh, and in the next instant, everything returned to normal.
The cultivators on both sides were a little dumbfounded, unsure of what had just happened, but they then spotted the remains of the red-robed monk falling from the sky.
The white-robed cultivators'' expressions instantly turned to grief and despair, while the Heavenly Court cultivators were ecstatic.
At this point, the Heavenly Court cultivators far outnumbered the white-robed cultivators, and morale had alsopletely plummeted for thetter, so the battle quickly became very one-sided.
Deep underground, Han Li was also able to move again in the wake of the disappearance of the giant golden hand.
What just happened?
Just now, his consciousness seemed to have faded, but it was only for a moment, and he couldn''t tell if it had merely been a figment of his imagination.
However, he then quickly realized that it hadn''t been his mind ying tricks on him as two of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had suddenly faded.
He immediately released his spiritual sense to inspect what was happening on the surface, upon which he noticed that in the ce of the red-robed monk now stood a pile of disintegrated flesh.
Despite this, Han Li was still able to identify the aura of the pile of remains, and his expression instantly changed drastically upon seeing this.
The red-robed monk had just disyed power that was far superior to any cultivator he had ever seen, yet he had been killed in an instant.
At this point, the vortex in the sky was also slowly fading, and before long, it had vanished entirely.
Han Li was momentarily rooted to the spot, then snapped back to his senses before channeling the immortal spiritual power of his host body once again. However, instead of fleeing further into the distance, he burrowed even deeper into the ground, and only after he was extremely deep underground did he draw to a halt.
There, he was finally able to heave an internal sigh of relief before drawing upon his host body''s memories.
A string of memory fragments instantly surged into his mind, and after sorting through these memories, Han Li discovered that the sect outside was none other than the True Mantra Sect.
Chapter 550: Past Secrets
Chapter 550: Past Secrets
ording to the host body''s memories, this immortal region was called the ck Soil Immortal Region, and it was countless timesrger than the Northern cial Immortal Region. As for the True Mantra Sect, it was the undisputed number one sect of the immortal region, and it had been in existence for countless years with innumerable disciples within its boundaries.
As for the body that Han Li possessed, it belonged to a man called Mu Yan, who was one of the True Mantra Sect''s five grand elders.
The red-robed monk was Sect Master Miro of the True Mantra Sect and also Mu Yan''s master. He was a Great Epassment cultivator who stood at the pinnacle of the ck Soil Immortal Region and was reverently referred to as Immortal Lord Miro.
Aside from Mu Yan, Immortal Lord Miro had four other direct disciples, and they were the four other grand elders of the True Mantra Sect, as well as the four other people listening to Immortal Lord Miro''s lecture from Han Li''s vision.
As direct disciples of Immortal Lord Miro, all five of them were High Zenith cultivators.
Despite Immortal Lord Miro''s unfathomable powers, he had been killed in an instant, so it was clear that the owner of the giant hand was an extraordinary figure. However, the only thing that Mu Yan seemed to be aware of was that this was a significant figure in the Heavenly Court.
As far as Han Li was aware, only a select group of people could kill a Great Epassment cultivator with such ease.
Could it be the Time Dao Ancestor?
It was clear that the True Mantra Sect had been attacked by the Heavenly Court, it seemed that the sect had ultimately fallen to its demise after Immortal Lord Miro was in by the Time Dao Lord.
Han Li couldn''t help but wonder why the Heavenly Court had been so determined to stamp out the True Mantra Sect, to the point that even the Time Dao Ancestor had been personally involved in the sect''s eradication.
As one of the three paramountws, thews of time were fundamentally superior to all otherws with the exception of its two counterparts. If it really was the Time Dao Ancestor who had in Immortal Lord Miro, then he was most likely one of a handful of the most powerful beings in the entire True Immortal Realm.
Han Li took a deep breath topose himself, then continued to browse through Mu Yan''s memories, trying to find out more information about the Heavenly Court.
After killing Gongshu Jiu in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, Han Li had well and truly be an enemy of the Heavenly Court. Even though he currently didn''t possess the power to oppose the Heavenly Court, it certainly couldn''t hurt to know more about the enemy.
Before long, Han Li''s heart was pounding with excitement.
As a High Zenith cultivator, Mu Yan possessed a vast wealth of knowledge and experience, and his memories contained a great deal of information pertaining to the Heavenly Court.
In the past, Han Li had attempted to gather information on the Heavenly Court, and he was able to uncover some things, but most of the information was publicly avable anyway, so it wasn''t very useful.
Right as Han Li was about to take a closer look at Mu Yan''s memories, he was suddenly struck by a rush of dizziness.
rmed by this sudden onset of dizziness, Han Li hurriedly stopped what he was doing, and only then did the dizziness subside.
Could it be because the person I''ve possessed on this asion is far superior to me when ites to cultivation base?
Even though he had possessed Mu Yan''s deceased body, its memories didn''t belong to him, and forcibly scouring through those memories was very simr to performing a soul search technique.
Mu Yan had been a High Zenith cultivator at his time of death, thereby possessing a far superior cultivation base to Han Li, and even though Han Li''s spiritual sense was far superior to that of other mid-Golden Immortal cultivators, it was still too much of a stretch for a Golden Immortal to search a High Zenith cultivators soul.
In fact, if it weren''t for the fact that Mu Yan was already dead, then Han Li wouldn''t have been able to get away with only such minor consequences.
With that in mind, Han Li could only give up on trying to glean more of Mu Yan''s memories, and he began inspecting his surroundings while waiting for his soul to recover.
At this moment, he was deep underground, and it wasn''t veryfortable having so much soil clinging so tightly to his body.
He swept a hand through the soil, and a burst of yellow light instantly spread outward, forming a space that was around 50 to 60 feet in size, forcing out all of the surrounding soil.
After that, he sat down with his legs crossed and began to rest and recuperate.
The Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis faded one after another, and only after over 30 of them had been snuffed out did his soul gradually return to its original condition.
After that, he continued to search through Mu Yan''s memories, attempting to connect the fragmented memories, and he was quickly able to uncover more information about the Heavenly Court.
As the most powerful official organization of the entire True Immortal Realm, the Heavenly Court exerted its control upon all of the immortal regions through Immortal Pces, while the Heavenly Court itself was situated in a ce known as the Middle Earth Immortal Region.
There was indeed a Time Dao Ancestor in the Heavenly Court, and he was the most prestigious and long-standing Dao Ancestor.
Once again, Han Li''s soul began to waver, and he was forced to stop for a second time.
Who exactly is this Time Dao Ancestor? Han Li thought to himself as he took some time to recuperate.
Time slowly passed by, and several dozen more of the Mantra Treasured Axis''s Time Dao Runes faded before Han Li was fully recovered once again, and he began to search through Mu Yan''s memories for a third time.
This time, a grim look gradually appeared on his face, and his expression only darkened further and further.
He had finally found some information pertaining to this battle.
Theoretically speaking, with a Great Epassment cultivator like Immortal Lord Miro at the helm, the True Mantra Sect should''ve been able to thrive for the foreseeable future. After all, no one aside from Dao Ancestors could reliably defeat Great Epassment cultivators.
However, unfortunately, Immortal Lord Miro was also the root cause behind the True Mantra Sect''s demise.
As it turned out, the Time Dao Ancestor had begun to regard Immortal Lord Miro as a threat, and the former had decided to strike before things could get out of hand.
As for why Immortal Lord Miro was viewed as a threat, that concerned a secret that very few were aware of.
All of the 3,000 Great Daows were derived from the Great Dao of heaven and earth. Just as two tigers couldn''t reside on the same mountain, eachw could only have a single Dao Ancestor, and if a Great Epassment Stage Immortal Lord''s mastery over a certain type ofws exceeded that of the corresponding Dao Ancestor, then the Dao Ancestor would be reced.
As for exactly what happened during this process, that was naturally something that wasn''t known to a High Zenith cultivator like Mu Yan.
However, it seemed that all Dao Ancestors paid a great deal of attention to cultivators who had mastered the same type ofw powers as themselves, particrly when it came to cultivators at or above the High Zenith Stage. Unless those cultivators were willing to pledge their subordination to the Dao Ancestor, they would be eliminated before they could develop their powers any further.
Even so, some Dao Ancestors had still been reced in the past, and it could be said that all Dao Ancestors had risen to the top by treading upon the bodies of other prospective Dao Ancestors as stepping stones.
Having already cultivated thews of time to the Great Epassment Stage, Immortal Lord Miro posed a significant threat to the Time Dao Ancestor, and even though he had done everything in his power to conceal his cultivation base, he was still eventually exposed, thereby leading to the demise of the True Mantra Sect.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
At the moment, he was still quite far away from the High Zenith Stage, but wouldn''t he eventually also have to worry about being targeted by the Time Dao Ancestor?
Cultivators really do constantly have the odds stacked against them...
For all cultivators who had mastered a type ofw powers, the corresponding Dao Ancestor was essentially the heavens, and only by oveing the heavens could one truly reach the pinnacle.
However, there was no way that he could currently contend against the Heavenly Court, so Han Li only considered this subject briefly before casting aside this train of thought to continue searching through Mu Yan''s memories.
At this point, only a small portion of Mu Yan''s fragmented memories were still yet to be inspected, and all of a sudden, an ted look appeared on his face.
As it turned out, these remaining memories contained aspects of Mu Yan''s cultivation. Just like his master, he had also been cultivating thews of time, and even though these memories didn''t contain the cultivation arts used by Mu Yan, they did contain much of his cultivation experiences and insights.
Han Li had never had anyone that he could turn to for mentorship in his progression in mastering thews of time, so this was exactly what he needed, and he immediately began poring over these memories.
A short whileter, an intrigued look appeared on his face.
He discovered that these cultivation experiences were all very much rted to the Mantra Axis Scripture, the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture, and the Water Divination Time Arts.
Han Li had always felt like these three cultivation arts were somehow connected, but he had never been able to find the connection.
However, through these memories, he seemed to have found some ways to integrate the three cultivation arts into one.
Could it be that some type of connection really does exist between the three cultivation arts?
After quickly browsing through Mu Yan''s remaining memories, Han Li raised his head to look up at the projection of the Mantra Treasured Axis.
At this point, most of the Time Dao Runes on its surface had already faded, and there were only several dozen that were still lit, indicating that he didn''t have much time left.
With that in mind, Han Li began to search Mu Yan''s body for his storage tools.
Presumably, Mu Yan''s storage tools had to contain the cultivation arts that he had been using, and if he could find them, then he should be able to uncover the connection between the three aforementioned cultivation arts.
However, he quickly discovered that Mu Yan''s storage tools were nowhere to be found.
They must''ve been taken by whoever killed him...
With that in mind, a disappointed look appeared on Han Li''s face.
All of a sudden, a burst of intense resentment rose up from within the remnants of Mu Yan''s soul at the thought of his killer, and it seemed that there had been some treachery involved.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he sensed this burst of fury, and only after some words of constion from him did the disembodied burst of anger begin to subside.
Chapter 551: Familiar Aura
Chapter 551: Familiar Aura
Could it be that he perished to a sneak attack?
The reason that Han Li was specting this was due to the wound on Mu Yan''s lower abdomen.
He wasn''t able to find out how Mu Yan was killed through his memories, but he could sense a great deal of resentment in the remnants of Mu Yan''s soul.
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed something on a corner of Mu Yan''s sleeve, and he reached out to tear the sleeve apart, revealing a small white silken handkerchief that was riddled with tiny text.
The material of the handkerchief was identical to that of his clothes, and it had been concealed very well. If it weren''t for the fact that Mu Yan''s sleeve was currently stained with blood, Han Li would''ve failed to notice the handkerchief.
After examining the handkerchief for a moment, an ted look immediately appeared on Han Li''s face.
The passage of the text on the handkerchief contained none other than the Mantra Domain secret technique, and this was most likely the full version, one that was much moreprehensive and even more profound than the iplete version that Han Li had derived from Immortal Lord Miro''s lecture.
He began to pore over the passage of text, and the more he saw, the more stunned he became.
The Mantra Domain was one of the most advanced secret techniques of the True Mantra Sect, and it was said that upon achieving full mastery of the secret technique, one could speak things into existence and influence heaven and earth with their words.
Of course, at the very least, one had to be at the High Zenith Stage to even have a chance of achieving such miraculous feats, and at Han Li''s current cultivation base, he could only use the Mantra Domain to unleash some illusions.
Even so, it had proven to be very useful in several past battles, and if he could use it wisely in conjunction with his time spirit domain, he was confident that it would serve him very well in future battles.
Han Li quickly read through the entire passage of text on the silken handkerchief,mitting it firmly to his memory, and not a moment too soon as the final Time Dao Rune on the Mantra Treasured Axis faded almost immediately thereafter.
After a rush of dizziness, Han Li''s spiritual sense quickly returned to his body.
The translucent wall of light in front of him was gradually dissipating, while he looked on with a dazed expression.
The vision had shown him what had happened in the final moments of the True Mantra Sect, while also disying to him the power of the Time Dao Ancestor.
Even though all of these things had happened in the distant past, Han Li was still reeling from what he had seen.
Through cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique, he had already pitted himself against the Heavenly Court, and now, his cultivation of thews of time was eventually going to set him on a collision course with the Time Dao Ancestor.
Even a Great Epassment Stage mighty figure like Immortal Lord Miro had stood no chance against the Time Dao Lord, how was a mere Golden Immortal like himself going to fare?
The Time Dao Lord most likely wouldn''t even have to lift a finger to kill him.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face at this sobering thought, but there was no point in thinking excessively about such matters. Inevitably, such a day woulde, but for now, he had to focus on bing more powerful and making it out of the primordialnd alive.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce a nk jade slip, then pressed it against his own forehead and recorded the Mantra Domain secret technique that he had just memorized into it.
Three more months passed by in the blink of an eye.
During this time, Nuo Qinglin had visited Han Li to apologize on several asions, iming that some major crises had swept through the entire Beast Race, and that there were many important tribes that were still yet to arrive, so the delivery of the maps that he had been promised was going to be dyed.
Han Li had spent this entire time reflecting on Mu Yan''s cultivation insights, and even though he still wasn''t able to identify the connection between the Mantra Axis Scripture, the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture, and the Water Divination Time Arts, he had developed a better grasp on thews of time. Hence, this peaceful cultivation environment was perfect for him, and he decided to stay.
Inside his secret chamber, Han Li sat with his legs crossed and his eyes closed while channeling the Water Divination Time Arts.
As he began to chant an incantation, waves of rippling golden light rose up over his body, then converged in front of him to form a ball of golden light.
Another week flew by in a sh.
Han Li remained seated with his legs crossed while making a string of hand seals, and the ball of golden light in front of him had already be as radiant as a miniature sun.
All of a sudden, a golden vial emerged at the center of the ball of light.
The vial had a wide bottom that gradually tapered upward, and it had a pair of crescent-shaped handles at its opening. The vial was very blurry, but it was still giving off a profound aura, and as soon as it appeared, all of the nearby golden light instantly surged into it.
All of a sudden, the ball of golden light vanished, leaving only the blurry vial projection hoveringpletely still in mid-air.
Han Li opened his eyes, and as his gaze fell upon the vial projection, a hint of tion and surprise appeared on his face.
Initially, he had only been nning to cultivate the Water Divination Time Arts a little so that he could get an initial grasp on it, but to his surprise, he had managed to manifest a Clear Time Vial with ease.
ording to the Water Divination Time Arts, this was supposed to have been extremely difficult, and that only someone who possessed exceptional aptitude and a certain degree of mastery over thews of time could have any chance of manifesting a Clear Time Vial after an extensive period of cultivation.
Evidently, this was not the case for Han Li.
Was this because he had already established a foundation through his cultivation of the Mantra Axis Scripture, or was there some other factor at y?
Han Li pondered this question briefly before setting the train of thought aside to continue his cultivation.
He began to chant an incantation while making a string of hand seals, and two thick beams of golden light shot out of the palms of his hands.
There were countless golden runes shing within the beams of light, and all of them fused into the vial projection, causing it to slowly revolve on the spot while attaining a more and more substantial form.
Some timeter, the vial projection had already turned into a semi-transparent vial that appeared as if it were a physical object.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this. With that, he hadpleted the cultivation art''s second chapter as well.
After taking a deep breath, he moved on to the third chapter.
A monthter, Han Li conjured up the Clear Time Vial once again, and this time, it was a little smaller than before, and countless white star designs had appeared on its surface.
Up to this point, Han Li had mastered the cultivation art''s third chapter as well.
He took a nce at the Clear Time Vial, then closed his eyes once again while making a string of hand seals, and countless specks of radiant golden light began to emerge within his body, every single one of which was giving off astonishing timew power fluctuations.
These specks of golden light surged steadily into the golden vial at Han Li''s behest, and a series of tiny specks of golden light instantly began to appear within the vial.
Close to a year flew by in a sh, and at this point, the Clear Time Vial was already filled with specks of golden light, resembling a translucent bottle that was filled with golden fireflies.
Han Li satpletely still on the spot with his legs crossed, and his entire body was basked in a radiant river of golden light, with countless specks of golden light continuing to surge out from within before entering the Clear Time Vial.
The vial seemed to have reached its maximal capacity, and all of the specks of golden light instantly began to converge to form a ball.
That ball of golden light then vanished into the vial in a sh, manifesting itself as a Time Dao Rune.
At this point, there were already five other Time Dao Runes on the vial.
With the addition of thistest Time Dao Rune, the Clear Time Vial began to buzz audibly, and Han Li suddenly stopped what he was doing, upon which all of the flowing golden light around him quickly vanished.
Immediately thereafter, he rubbed his hands together, and the Clear Time Vial vanished as well.
The fourth chapter had been far more difficult to cultivate than the third one, requiring one to manifest six Time Dao Runes, but once again, it had barely posed any obstacle to Han Li at all.
He rose to his feet and exhaled as he swept a hand through the air to withdraw the restrictions around his cave abode, then made his way over to one of the windows in the outer room.
It waste at night at the moment, and there were countless bright stars in the clear sky.
Han Li took a nce up above, then made a hand seal, and his Clear Time Vial appeared on the window sill in front of him amid a sh of golden light.
The six Time Dao Runes on the vial instantly began to sh, and tiny specks of white light emerged within the moonlight that was spilling in through the window before being drawn into the opening of the vial.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
However, the rate of absorption of moonlight was very slow, and at this rate, it was going to take a considerably long time to manifest a time water droplet.
Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps rang out from outside, and Jin Tong entered the cave abode while riding on Xiao Bai''s back.
Her brows were tightly furrowed, indicating that she was troubled by something, and Xiao Bai could sense that she was in a bad mood, so it was making sure to walk very carefully to avoid jostling her.
"What''s wrong, Jin Tong?" Han Li asked as he stowed his Clear Time Vial away.
Jin Tong opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to be rather hesitant.
"It''s alright, if you have something on your mind, then tell me. I''ll look out for you," Han Li assured with a smile.
"I''ve been feeling a very familiar aura... Well, it''s not actually that familiar, it''s just very simr to mine, like another me, and this aura is currently getting closer," Jin Tong revealed.
"An aura very simr to yours? Could it be..."
Chapter 552: Uniting Against a Common Enemy
Chapter 552: Uniting Against a Common Enemy
"Could it be another you?" Xiao Bai eximed before Han Li had a chance to reply.
"What did you just say? I think you need to have some sense beaten into you, Xiao Bai!" Jin Tong snapped as she began rolling up her sleeves.
"No, what I meant to say is, could it be another Gold Devouring Immortal?" Xiao Bai hurriedly amended with a fawning smile.
"Why would another Gold Devouring Immortal being here? Can you sense how powerful it is?" Han Li asked.
"It seems... to be a little more powerful than I am," Jin Tong replied in a concerned voice.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was quite stunned to hear this.
At the moment, Jin Tong was already at thete-Golden Immortal Stage, so did that mean that a High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal was currently approaching them?
Xiao Bai was also very rmed to hear this, and it urged in a trembling voice, "We have to run, Master!"
As soon as its voice trailed off, the sound of thunderous drumming rang out from outside, and the peaceful valley immediately erupted into action as countless figures rose up into the sky as streaks of light.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
"Stay in the cave abode for now, I''ll go out and take a look," he instructed, then made his way out of the cave abode.
At this moment, more and more beings for the Beast Race were flying out of the Dark Star Canyon, and they were all flying outside.
All of a sudden, a streak of light arrived from afar, thennded in front of Han Li''s cave abode to reveal Nuo Qinglin.
"How has your stay been so far, Fellow Daoist Li?" Nuo Qinglin asked with a smile.
"It''s been fine. Thank you for the hospitality, Chief Nuo. May I ask what''s happening right now?" Han Li asked.
"We''re being attacked by the Insect Race, but we already anticipated this and have set up defensive measures, so there''s nothing to fear," Nuo Qinglin replied in a confident manner.
"That''s good to hear. May I ask why you''vee to visit me then?" Han Li asked.
"We''re going to be using the restrictions within the Dark Star Canyonter to unleash a secret technique, and no one can remain in the canyon during this time, so I''ll have to ask you to leave the canyon with me," Nuo Qinglin exined.
"That''s not a problem. I''ll go pack up my belongings, thene back out to join you," Han Li replied with a nod, then returned to his cave abode, while Nuo Qinglin continued to wait patiently outside.
After entering his cave abode, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he made his way into his secret chamber.
"The Insect Race is attacking, and there''s a High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal among them! We need to leave right away, Master!" Xiao Bai immediately yelled in an urgent voice.
"What do you think, Jin Tong?" Han Li asked.
"I''m sure you already know what happens when two Gold Devouring Immortals encounter one another," Jin Tong said, and a hint of resolve and killing intent appeared in her eyes.
Han Li didn''t say anything upon seeing this.
"While traveling through some other immortal regions with Gongshu Jiu, we ran into some Gold Devouring Immortals, and at the same cultivation base, they''re far more powerful than primordial true spirits! There''s no way we can ovee a High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal, so we have to run!" Xiao Bai urged.
"There''s no running away from them. Gold Devouring Immortals are extremely sensitive to one another, so even if we run, it''ll definitely stille after us," Jin Tong replied with a shake of her head.
Xiao Bai opened its mouth to say something else, but ultimately decided against it.
"Just as Jin Tong said, even if we leave this ce, that Gold Devouring Immortal will definitely continue to pursue us, so we may as well stay here and wait for it," Han Li said.
A bitter look appeared on Xiao Bai''s face upon hearing this, and it reluctantly nodded in agreement.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that sucked both of them into a spirit beast pouch, then instructed, "Stay in the spirit beast pouch for now."
After that, Han Li withdrew the restrictions in the cave abode before emerging outside again.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Chief Nuo," he said.
"Not at all, Fellow Daoist Li. Pleasee with me," Nuo Qinglin replied, then flew up into the sky as a streak of light, while Han Li trailed along behind him.
As they flew through the air, he suddenly turned to a certain direction in the canyon, where there was a ball of churning ck qi in the distance.
The ball of ck qi was situated very far away, but with Han Li''s exceptional eyesight, he was able to see that there were dozens of giant stone pirs standing around it to form what appeared to be an array, which was giving off bursts of spatial power fluctuations, much like a teleportation array would.
Han Li was rather surprised to see this, but he didn''t ask any questions, and Nuo Qinglin also disyed no intention of exining anything to him.
Inside Han Li''s spirit beast pouch, Jin Tong suddenly said, "Xiao Bai, you once said that you have a space within your body that''spletely isted from the outside world, right?"
"That''s right, what an exceptional memory you have!" Xiao Bai confirmed in a fawning manner.
"Alright, I want you to eat me," Jin Tong said.
Xiao Bai was naturally astonished to hear this, and it immediately began shaking its head vigorously.
"You want to use the space in my body to conceal your aura? You can''t do that! Living beings can''t survive in my internal space, and any living being that enters will quickly be digested!"
"That may be the case for other living beings, but you won''t be able to digest me! Hurry up! I''m sure I''ll be fine as long as I don''t stay in there for too long," Jin Tong urged.
Xiao Bai could only reluctantly oblige upon hearing this, opening its mouth to release a burst of suction force that sucked Jin Tong into its belly.
......
Meanwhile, Han Li and Nuo Qinglin quickly arrived outside the Dark Star Canyon.
All of the Beast Race tribes were already prepared for this battle, so they had reacted very quickly, and all of them had emerged in full force, culminating in an army of tens of thousands.
Han Li swept his gaze over his surroundings to find that there were around 30 to 40 tribes present, and the Longneck beings were also here, but they were situated near the back.
There were also close to 1,000 giant ck war chariots that wereden with Beast Race beings hovering in the sky.
These ck chariots were giving off a metallic sheen, and there were also numerous glowing ck patterns engraved onto their surfaces, giving them an indestructible appearance.
Ahead of all of the Beast Race beings was an evenrger army of millions of demon beasts.
Somehow, the Beast Race beings had managed to arrange all of the demon beasts into several organized and uniform units that weren''t chaotic in the slightest.
Han Li couldn''t help but be a little surprised to see this.
"What do you think of our Beast Race army, Fellow Daoist Li?" Nuo Qinglin asked with a hint of pride in his voice.
"It certainly is a sight to behold," Han Li praised.
Nuo Qinglin burst intoughter upon hearing this, then flew up higher into the sky, while Han Li trailed along behind him.
Hovering in front of the war chariots was a ck tform that was over 1,000 feet in size and shimmering with spiritual light, clearly indicating that it was a powerful treasure.
At this moment, there were around 30 to 40 Beast Race beings standing on the tform, and it seemed that they were important tribal leaders.
Nuo Qinglin descended onto the tform with Han Li, and their arrival was immediately met with a furious reaction.
"Chief Nuo Qinglin, why have you brought a human primordial hunter here?"
Han Li turned to discover that a dark-skinned man who was built like a massive ck bear was the one who had spoken.
The man was at the pinnacle of the early-Golden Immortal Stage, possessing a slightly higher cultivation base than Nuo Qinglin.
Meanwhile, all of the other tribal leaders were also glowering at Han Li with animosity in their eyes.
There were over 10 Golden Immortals among them, but all of them were at the early-Golden Immortal Stage, while most of the remaining tribal leaders were at thete-True Immortal Stage.
"Don''t be rmed, everyone. This is Fellow Daoist Li Feiyu. He may be a human, but he''s not a primordial hunter. Instead, he''s only trying to pass through the primordialnd enroute to another immortal region, and on top of that, he has assisted our Beast Race, specifically the Longneck Tribe in the past, so he''s no enemy of ours," Nuo Qinglin hurriedly exined.
Nuo Yifan was also present, and she dered, "On the way back from the Longneck Tribe, we were attacked by the Insect Race, and it was only thanks to Senior Li''s intervention that we were able to return safely to the Dark Star Canyon."
Taj was standing near the edge of the tform, but he made his voice loud and clear as he chimed in, "That''s right. Fellow Daoist Li will forever be a friend of our Longneck Tribe."
Everyone else''s expressions eased slightly upon hearing this, but they still regarded Han Li with clear distrust in their eyes.
"Don''t mind them, Fellow Daoist Li. Human primordial hunters are sworn enemies of our Beast Race, so it''s nothing personal against you," Nuo Qinglin said with an apologetic smile.
"Ipletely understand, Chief Nuo. There''s no need to look out for me. My powers are very limited, but I can definitely look after myself," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"You''re far too modest, Fellow Daoist Li. If things take a turn for the worse for our Beast Race in the uing battle, I''ll be counting on you to lend us your assistance again," Nuo Qinglin said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
All of the other tribal leaders'' expressions changed drastically upon hearing this, and the burly dark-skinned man who had spoken earlier eximed in a furious voice, "Nuo Qinglin, we are the regal Beast Race! How could you ask for assistance from a deceitful and honorless human?!"
"Brother Ulu, do not forget that the enemy of our Beast Race is the Insect. In order to defeat them, we must recruit all possible allies and unite everyone against amon enemy. I have already spoken to our king about this, and he also approves of my decision," Nuo Qinglin said.
The dark-skinned man''s temper immediately died down upon hearing mention of their king, while the other tribal chiefs fell silent as well.
Chapter 553: Fierce Battle
Chapter 553: Fierce Battle
"You''re far too kind, Chief Nuo. I''m just a mere passerby in the primordialnd, and I came to your territory by chance to request a map, I certainly wouldn''t dare to get involved in a battle between your two races," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"My sincerest apologies about the map. This is the map that I''ve managed topile thus far. Once the final few tribes arrive, I''ll give you aplete one," Nuo Qinglin said as he summoned a white bone shard before handing it to Han Li, who epted the bone shard, then inspected its contents momentarily with his spiritual sense before giving a nod.
The bone shard was simr to a jade slip, and it contained a detailed map of the primordialnd. There were many missing areas, but it was certainly still much better than nothing.
"Also, I''d like to offer you a little something from our Beast Race in exchange for your services. Once we force back the Insect Race, we''ll be sure to issue an additional reward," Nuo Qinglin continued as he pulled out a bone ring before handing it to Han Li as well.
Han Li epted the ring, then injected his spiritual sense into it to find that it contained roughly 5,000 Immortal Origin Stones.
Han Li weighed the bone ring on the palm of his hand for a moment, then said, "Seeing as you''re being so sincere, I can offer my services just this once. However, let me make this clear in advance: I won''t take any undue risks. If the enemy is too strong, then I''ll prioritize my own safety."
At this point, 5,000 Immortal Origin Stones was no longer a significant sum for him, but for the Calm Dawn Tribe, this was most likely quite a huge expenditure. Most importantly, Han Li had some other intentions and was only pretending to have been roped in by this reward to further his own agenda.
The other tribal leaders were furious to hear this.
"Why call upon him, Chief Nuo? He''s clearly a coward!"
"Exactly! If you''re so scared for your own safety, then don''te to the primordialnd!"
"Everyone, we are currently facing a formidable enemy, so let''s all look at the bigger picture here. Fellow Daoist Li, proceed as you please," Nuo Qinglin said with a smile, defusing the situation.
Han Li gave Nuo Qinglin a nod, then made his way off to the side.
Nuo Qinglin asked Nuo Yifan to keep Han Lipany, then began to discuss strategy with the other tribal leaders.
Now that Han Li had a chance to take a closer look at the Beast Race army, he was rather taken aback by what he saw.
There were many tribes in the Beast Race, but three tribes clearly stood out in terms of poption.
One of them was a tribe of extremely muscr, bear-like beings with thick ck fur all over their bodies, looking much like Ulu from earlier.
The second tribe was the Calm Dawn Tribe, and at this moment, almost all of them were riding atop winged giant lizard beasts withrge blue bows slung across their backs.
The final tribe of beings were extremely simr to humans in appearance, except their skin was green, and each of them had a single green horn on their head.
The warriors from these three tribes made up close to 70% of the entire Beast Race army.
Nuo Yifan could see the intrigue in Han Li''s eyes, and she exined, "Those two tribes are the Violent Bear Tribe and the Monohorn Tribe, both of which are among the eight holy tribes of our Beast Race. Chief Ulu is the chief of the Violent Bear Tribe."
"What are the eight holy tribes?" Han Li asked.
"Our Beast Race has many tribes, and the eight most powerful ones among them are referred to as the eight holy tribes. Our Calm Dawn Tribe is also one of those eight tribes. It''s a pity that only three have gathered here. Otherwise, there''s no way the Insect Race would''ve dared to attack," Nuo Yifan said in a resentful voice.
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
All of a sudden, he raised his head and cast his gaze into the distance.
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out from that direction, and ck line appeared on the distant horizon before quickly expanding in Han Li''s field of view.
A vast spirit insect army had appeared where heaven and earth met, and it was even more enormous than the army of demon beasts.
Behind the spirit insect army was a massive gray cloud with tens of thousands of Insect Race beings standing atop it, and they also seemed to outnumber the Beast Race beings.
Han Li swept his gaze across the Insect Race army, and his expression remained unchanged, but he was stunned to discover that the Insect Race had close to 30 Golden Immortals, which, once again, far outnumbered that of the Beast Race.
It seemed that the Beast Race was at a disadvantage in all measures, and unless it had some special tricks up its sleeve, it was most likely going to lose this battle.
Grim looks appeared on the faces of all of the tribal leaders upon seeing this, but Nuo Qinglin then dered in a resolute voice, "Chief Ulu, Chief Marlon, Chef Sahan, let''s proceed ording to the original n."
The three of them stepped forward as they were called upon, and Han Li cast his gaze toward them.
He already recognized Ulu, standing beside whom was an imposing green-skinned man with a single green horn on his forehead. He was d in a suit of green armor, and his face and body were riddled with scars.
Nuo Yifan informed him that this man was Marlon, the chief of the Monohorn Tribe.
As for Sahan, he cut a very diminutive figure, and his entire body was concealed with arge dark red cloak, thereby hiding his features.
The three of them cupped their fists in a collective salute toward Nuo Qinglin, then descended from the tform down into the Beast Race army.
Chief Ulu swept a hand through the air, and a crimson giant rhinoceros beast appeared by his side. It was so enormous that it resembled a moving fortress, and it was giving off an extremely formidable aura.
Ulu jumped onto the rhinoceros beast''s back, then summoned a giant crimson ax, and he was instantly brimming with battle intent.
The crimson rhinoceros ascended into the heavens, carrying Ulu into the sky above the Beast Race army.
"Brave warriors of the Beast Race, our sworn enemies are up ahead, while our tribesmen stand behind us! We must defend the honor of our Beast Race! It''s time to fight!" Ulu roared in a thunderous voice, priming the Beast Race army for the battle toe.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
All of the Beast Race warriors echoed, and the earth trembled in the wake of their collective voices.
The Violent Bear, Calm Dawn, and Monohorn Tribes were charging at the forefront, while the army of demon beasts also rumbled forward with tremendous power.
As for the Insect Race army, it elerated even further upon seeing this, but all of the Golden Immortals of the Insect Race had stopped in their tracks to face Han Li and the others from afar.
The two armies were like a pair of formidable waves that were crashing toward each other with devastating force, causing heaven and earth to tremble violently.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this.
The armies of the two races had filled his entire field of view, and the atmosphere of battle in the air was getting even him a little worked up.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom suddenly rang out from behind him, and a series of giant fireballs wereunched up into the sky before hurtling toward the Insect Race army up ahead.
One giant fiery cloud after another erupted within the Insect Race army''s ranks, forming a sea of crimson fire that swept up all of the nearby spirit insects before incinerating them into ashes.
Han Li turned around to find that these fireballs hade from those ck war chariots, at the front of each of which was a thick cylindrical barrel that was glowing bright red.
The spirit patterns on the chariots lit up, and a thunderous boom rang out as a fireball that was over 100 feet in size shot out of each of the barrels before crashing down upon the Insect Race army.
"Those are our Beast Race''s Fire God War Chariots. They''re extremely powerful, but the materials required for them are quite difficult toe by, and they''re also very difficult to construct. If we could construct 10,000 of these chariots, they would be enough to wipe out the Insect Race on their own," Nuo Yifan exined, and Han Li gave a slight nod in response.
Right at this moment, a series of ck shadows that were roughly 1,000 feet in size rose up from the Insect Race army, then exploded into vast plumes of tiny ck shadows before hurtling toward the Beast Race army at an astonishing speed.
These tiny shadows were countless strange insects that were as tiny and sleek as tiny daggers, and they seemed to be extremely sharp.
A chorus of agonized howls rang out from the Beast Race army as many Beast Race beings had holes punched into their bodies by these insects, resulting in countless casualties.
However, upon piercing through their targets, these insects would also explode and perish themselves.
"Those are Bone Needle Insects!" Nuo Yifan eximed with a resentful expression.
With Han Li''s exceptional eyesight, he was able to see over 100 mountainous ck shadows at the back of the Insect Race army. Each of them was several thousand feet in size, resembling giant silkworm cocoons, and they were constantly rising up into the air one after another.
The rate at which these cocoons were releasing Bone Needle Insects was far inferior to the rate at which fireballs were being sted out of the Fire God War Chariots, but each cocoon contained an astonishing number of Bone Needle Insects, so there were many that managed to slip through the cracks.
This initial sh alone resulted in a huge number of casualties, but not a single warrior backed down.
The two armies were rapidly approaching each other, and at a certain distance, the Calm Dawn Tribe warriors suddenly stopped before rising up higher into the sky while raising their bows and nocking arrows.
These clearly weren''t normal arrows, as evidenced by the blue patterns engraved upon them, and they were shot into the Insect Race army like rain.
Large swathes of Insect Race warriors and spirit insects were instantly shot down before falling out of the sky, and the arrows were so powerful that some of them even managed to pierce through several Insect Race beings in session.
Not only that, but after piercing through their targets, the arrows would explode amid bursts of blue light, sending balls of blue flying spraying in all directions.
All of the Insect Race beings that came into contact with the blue mes were quickly reduced to sets of burning skeletons amid bloodcurdling howls.
The Calm Dawn Tribe warriors continued to rain down arrows relentlessly, severely ravaging the Insect Race army.
Right at this moment, an ear-piercing screech rang out, and a swarm of golden beings rose up from the Insect Race army.
These golden Insect Race beings all had wings on their backs and scythe-like arms that appeared extremely sharp, giving the the appearance of humanoid praying mantises.
Their wings were pping rapidly, and they were able to move with extraordinary speed, pouncing at the Calm Dawn Tribe warriors as streaks of golden light.
The Calm Dawn Tribe warriors were forced to divert their attention to these humanoid praying mantises, which were instantly inundated by a volley of arrows that exploded into a sea of blue fire.
However, in the next instant, all of the humanoid praying mantises that had survived the assault flew out of the sea of fire, and even though almost all of them were carrying injuries, most of them had survived as they continued to charge onward, reaching the Calm Dawn Tribe warriors in the blink of an eye.
As a result, the Calm Dawn Tribe warriors had no choice but to put their arrows away in exchange for long blue sabers to engage in meleebat.
Chapter 554: The Battle is Only Just Beginning
Chapter 554: The Battle is Only Just Beginning
"This is bad news..." Nuo Yifan murmured to herself as her brows furrowed slightly.
"What''s wrong?" Han Li asked.
"These are warriors of the Golden Mantis Tribe, a major tribe of the Insect Race simr to the eight holy tribes of our Beast Race. They''re supposed to be quite far away from here, residing near the Divine Elephant Tribe and the Falcon Wing Tribe. Simrly, the Bone Needle Insect nests are also very far away from here. On top of that, this attack is also one of a farrger scale than previous attacks," Nuo Yifan exined.
"Are you saying that this is a rather abnormal disy of aggression from the Insect Race?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. While our Beast Race and the Insect Race have always been sworn enemies, most of the conflicts that take ce between us are distributed throughout thend, and there''s never been an attack of this scale in a single ce before," Nuo Yifan replied as a concerned look appeared on her face.
"That does seem rather abnormal. It''s a good thing that you''ve made ample preparations. Otherwise, this ce would''ve most likely already been conquered," Han Li replied.
Right at this moment, the two armies down below finally shed as well.
The Violent Bear Tribe beings were charging at the forefront, and a series of crimson patterns appeared over their brawny bodies, causing them to expand even further in size. The axes that they were wielding were of a simr size to their bodies, and as they were swung through the air, a series of giant crimson ax projections were unleashed.
Even with its numbers advantage, the Beast Race army was unable to oppose the Violent Bear Tribe at all, and thetter tore through the former''s ranks, meeting no equal in their path.
The other Beast Race warriors rushed into the hole in the ranks of the Insect Race army torn open by the Violent Bear Tribe, and they were making rapid inroads.
Meanwhile, the bodies of the Monohorn Tribe warriors began to glow green, and a thickyer of enamel took shape, causing them to also expand drastically in size. At the same time, the horns on their heads had also thickened by roughly twofold, while a series of green patterns appeared upon them.
Beams of green light then shot forth from the horns toward the opposing Insect Race army, and these beams of light possessed tremendous prative power, with each one often piercing through the bodies of seven or eight Insect Race beings before finally dissipating.
The Insect Race warriors who were struck by these beams of green light were instantly rooted to the spot and immobilized, reducing them to sitting ducks for the Beast Race warriors.
Even though the Monohorn Tribe warriors weren''t making as bold and violent a statement as the Violent Bear Tribe, the rate at which they were ying enemies wasn''t slower in the slightest.
The Violent Bear Tribe and Monohorn Tribe warriors formed the spearhead of the Beast Race army, rapidly plunging deep into the Insect Race army''s ranks.
Right at this moment, a burst of peculiar screeching rang out from within the Insect Race army, and the Insect Race warriors in front of the Violent Bear Tribe warriors suddenly retreated like teh receding tide before countless giant ck ants emerged out of seemingly nowhere.
Each ant was the size of a millstone with gleaming ck bodies that gave off a metallic sheen. Their tiny eyes were glowing an eerie green color, and they presented a harrowing sight to behold.
The Violent Bear Tribe warriors roared as they swung their axes through the air, unleashing a flurry of ax projections toward the giant ants.
A string of loud ngs rang out as many of the ck ants were sent flying, but their bodies were extremely sturdy, and barely any of them were killed. All of the wounded giant ants instantly had their bloodlust ignited, and they began to rush forward once again.
The vast colony of ck ants formed a ck wave that stood in the path of the Violent Bear Tribe warriors, and even more of them were appearing on either nk.
The Violent Bear Tribe warriors were still attacking with all their might, but their speed was significantly hampered by these fearless ck ants.
At the same time, the earth in front of the Monohorn Tribe warriors began to rumble and churn, and an army of earthy yellow scorpions emerged.
Each scorpion was around the same height as a grown man, and what was particrly disturbing about them was that all of them had human faces.
The prative power of the beams of green light being released by the Monohorn Tribe warriors was significantly reduced upon striking these human-faced scorpions, and each beam of light was only able to pierce through one scorpion before fading away.
Furthermore, the human-faced scorpions were only immobilized for an instant after being struck by the green light before continuing to charge toward the Monohorn Tribe warriors.
As a result, the progress of the Monohorn Tribe warriors was also significantly hampered.
High up in the sky, the Calm Dawn Tribe warriors were upied by the Golden Mantis Tribe warriors, so they were unable to assist their fellowrades.
Initially, the Beast Race army had seized all the momentum, but all of a sudden, they were put in a very awkward situation where neither advancing or retreating seemed like appealing options.
The numbers advantage of the Insect Race army was gradually beginning to manifest itself, and the momentum was rapidly shifting, much to the concern of the Beast Race tribal leaders watching the unfolding battle from the ck tform in the sky.
"Inform Chief Sahan that it''s time to strike," Nuo Qinglin instructed in a grim voice.
One of the Calm Dawn Tribe beings beside him immediately vanished from the spot, departing to carry out the instruction.
Before long, a red-robed figure shot out from the front lines of the Beast Race army, then raised both hands to release three balls of gray light that appeared above the Beast Race army in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, the red-robed figure began to chat an incantation, and the balls of gray light exploded violently, causing the entire battlefield to tremble violently.
Three mountainous figures abruptly plummeted out of the sky, then crashed down at the center of the Insect Race army.
Countless giant ck ants and man-faced scorpions were crushed into mincemeat beneath the enormous weight of these mountainous figures, which were three gray-skinned giants that were over 10,000 feet tall.
Their upper bodies werepletely bared, while their lower bodies were covered up by loincloths formed by countless pieces of beast hide stitched together. Furthermore, each of them was wielding an enormous club that they swung toward the Insect Race army.
These gray-skinned giants were downright hideous, possessing giant faces that only had features of a single huge vertical eye, as well as apletely t and smooth nose consisting only of two nostrils.
The massive maces that they were wielding resembled giant pestles that ground down everything in their path into pulp, and countless giant ck ants were crushed, upon which vast volumes of fluorescent green fluid erupted out of their bodies.
The green liquid spread over the ground, corroding everything in their path to send plumes of white smoke rising up into the air.
Following a brief moment of panic, the ck ants took a moment to rearrange themselves before charging forward once again, quickly surrounding the three enormous giants.
The ants then began to climb up the bodies of the gray-skinned giants, tearing viciously into the giants'' skin with their sharp mandibles while more fluorescent green fluid gushed out of the mouths, corroding the giants'' bodies in conjunction with the slicing effect for their mandibles.
The gray-skinned giants were thrashing around frantically while attempting to swat the ck ants away with their hands, but these things were extremely stubborn and clung on with all their might.
Right at this moment, the sound of a loud horn rang out, and a unit of warriors with human upper bodies and zebra lower bodies appeared behind the Beast Race army.
Each of them was holding arge bow crafted from vines, and they were pulling out green arrows that were around half a foot in length each before nocking them on their bows.
Their movements were eerily synchronized, and all of them raised their bows to the heavens in unison. As they drew their bowstrings, azure light began to converge from all directions, forming an azure vortex above the tip of each arrow.
The arrows were then let loose, shooting up into the sky before raining down upon the Insect Race army as an azure volley.
The gray-skinned giants were extremely sturdy, and even after being ravaged by the ck ants for so long, they had only developed some red spots on their skin. As the volley of azure arrows fell upon them, they were able to remainpletely unscathed, but the ck ants weren¡¯t as sturdy, and they exploded one after another.
On the other side, Over 1,000 Beast Race demon beasts that were over 1,000 feet tall and d in thick yellow exoskeletons emerged. Each of them had a pair of thick conical horns on either side of their heads, and they rushed headfirst into the Insect Race army with tremendous power.
The Insect Race was at a clear disadvantage when it came to strength and physical attributes, and with the majority of the man-faced scorpion army at the forefront crushed into mincemeat, their formation was forced back by several dozen kilometers.
However, shortly thereafter, the Vajra Spider and Gray Toad Tribe warriors rushed forward to fill the hole, shing against the Beast Race army once again.
"It looks like your Beast Race has an advantage now, but they''re eventually going to run out of steam, and the Insect Race army far outnumbers you. At this rate, you''re going to be defeated," Han Li remarked.
"It''s too early to say that, Senior Li. The battle is only just beginning," Nuo Yifan replied in a confident manner.
As soon as her voice trailed off, the sound of dull drumming rang out, immediately followed by some type of strange chanting that was erupting all over the battlefield.
Thenguage being used for the incantation wasn''t thenguage of the Beast Race, nor was it thenguage prevalently used throughout the immortal regions. However, it still struck Han Li as being somewhat familiar.
After listening for some time, it suddenly urred to him whatnguage this was.
This seems to be thenguage of some type of true spirit...
Han Li swept his gaze over the battlefield to find that there were several special gray-robed beings interspersed throughout the armies of the Violent Bear Tribe, and the Monohorn Tribe, and the Calm Dawn Tribe.
All of them possessed different statures, but their attire was identical, and each of them was holding a ck wooden staff. At this moment, there were many Beast Race warriors dancing around them, and they were the ones chanting the incantation.
These gray-robed figures only formed a tiny part of the Beast Race army, yet their voices possessed a special prative quality that allowed them to be heard across the entire battlefield, and a peculiar atmosphere was beginning to arise.
Chapter 555: Evenly Matched
Chapter 555: Evenly Matched
Upon hearing the incantation from these gray-robed figures, all of the Beast Race warriors on the battlefield instantly became extremely excited, and some of them were even beginning to sing the war songs of their tribes mid-battle.
Compared with this strange incantation, the war songs of the Beast Race were more riveting and impactful, but it was the incantation that was more attention-grabbing to Han Li, and it was causing all of the blood in his body to churn in an involuntary fashion.
Han Li took a moment to regain his focus and shrug off that strange onset of emotion, and as he cast his gaze toward the battlefield again, he discovered that ayer of dark red mist was currently rising up over the Violent Bear Tribe warriors.
Crimson light emerged over the backs of all of the Violent Bear Tribe warriors, and projections of fierce beastly heads appeared within the crimson light, then bared their fangs in a menacing fashion before vanishing into their bodies in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li saw all of the eyes of the Violent Bear Tribe warriors turn bright red, while their bodies swelled several times further in size. In particr, the sharp fangs in their mouths were beginning to jut out, causing drool to flow down from the corners of their lips.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
A string of thunderous roars erupted out of their mouths, shaking the entire battlefield.
In that instant, the auras of all of the Violent Bear Tribe warriors had be filled with violence and bloodlust, and they resembled a pack of wild animals as they rushed at the Insect Race army in a frenzy.
On the other side, projections of beastly heads appeared on the bodies of the Monohorn Tribe warriors as well, but these projections glowed green, and each of them had a single horn on their head.
After these projections vanished into their bodies, the Monohorn Tribe warriors didn''t grow any taller, nor were they filled with bloodlust like the Violent Bear Tribe warriors. Instead, bones that resembled sharp des hade protruding out of their elbows and shoulder des.
At the same time, eight sections of long and thin bones that resembled spider legs emerged from their backs, and each one resembled a steel spear that had been refined hundreds of times.
Additionally, all of the other Beast Race warriors had also been enhanced in different ways.
"Is this a bloodlust technique of your Beast Race?" Han Li asked.
Nuo Yifan faltered slightly upon hearing this, then shook her head as she exined, "Bloodlust technique? That''s quite a fitting name, but that''s not what we call it. Instead, this is our totem sacrificial technique. The grand elders of all of the tribes sacrifice their own blood essence to draw upon some of the power of the true spirits revered by all of the tribes."
Only then did Han Li realize that the gray-robed figures among the tribes were the grand elders of their respective tribes, and the projections that had appeared on the bodies of the Beast Race warriors were totem symbols of the true spirits that they revered.
"If the tribes can call upon the true spirits that they worship, then why don''t they just summon the true spirits onto the battlefield?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression. "Surely that would easily put an end to this battle."
"Aside from the eight holy tribes of our Beast Race, each tribe worships their own true spirit, but this is not a true contractual rtionship. Hence, the revered true spirits only provide some protection to the territories of the tribes. As for whether they''re willing to lend their power to those tribes, that depends on how close the bond between tribe and true spirit is.
Having said that, our Beast Race has always been extremely reverent to our true spirits, so they''re willing to help us under the majority of circumstances. Even so, it''s very rare for any true spirit to personally descend onto a battlefield," Nuo Yifan exined.
"Is this not a major crisis that warrants their presence?" Han Li asked.
"There are many limitations on true spirits that descend through sacrificial techniques. In particr, if a true spirit is called upon outside of their territory, even the enhancements they''ll be able to provide to their worshippers will be lessened, and it''s certainly not possible for them to descend.
Here in the Dark Star Canyon, many of the tribes are already far away from their settlements, so that makes it even more difficult to summon any true spirits," Nuo Yifan exined.
Han Li gave a contemtive nod upon hearing this, and he felt like the rtionship between the Beast Race and these true spirits was rather to that between the people and the Earthly Immortals of the ck Wind Sea. Of course, in the case of thetter, the connection wasn''t as close as that of the former.
Right at this moment, one of the three gray-skinned giants that was tearing through the ranks of the Insect Race army suddenly toppled forward like a crumbling mountain.
Han Li''s pupils instantly contracted slightly upon seeing this.
As it turned out, the ground beneath the gray-skinned giant''s feet had suddenly caved in, and a Sand Beast that was even more massive than the giant had pounced out of the earth before opening its mouth, which was lined with circles of sharp teeth, before biting down upon the gray-skinned giant.
Han Li was immediately able to identify the Sand Beast as the very same one that had attacked the ship from Primordial Origin City, the one that was infinitely approaching the High Zenith Stage.
As the gray-skinned giant toppled forward, it was as if its head were being delivered into the massive Sand Beast''s mouth, and a loud crack rang out as the giant''s head was bitten off in an instant, sending blood spraying in all directions.
Blood began to gush incessantly out of the giant''s headless body, which was tilting to the side, but even in its dying moments, it was still swinging its club at the Sand Beast with all its might.
A resounding boom rang out, and the Sand Beast descended back into the earth in the wake of the almighty blow. Meanwhile, the headless giant tumbled to the ground, crushing thousands of giant ck ants that were too slow to get out of the way.
A burst of rustling then rang out as the earth churned incessantly, and countless smaller Sand Beasts rose up from the ground to inundate the gray-skinned giant''s headless body.
Several secondster, all of the Sand Beasts vanished back into the ground, and all that remained of the gray-skinned giant was an enormous puddle of blood.
The other two gray-skinned giants had witnessed the demise of the third giant, and they smashed the oing wave of man-faced scorpions into pieces with their clubs, then turned around and began retreating back toward the Beast Race army.
However, right at this moment, a short and green humanoid figure that was no more than six feet in height suddenly appeared at the back of the Insect Race army.
Han Li could see that its body was rather simr to that of a human, but its face was very strange and angr, and its eyes werepletely ck with no white sections within them.
Furthermore, there was a pair of thin and long antennae on its head, giving it the appearance of a giant humanoid grasshopper.
A strange call erupted out of its mouth, and the sound of pping insect wings instantly rang out from behind the Insect Race army. Immediately thereafter, a dark green cloud rose up from the ground, then began sweeping toward the Beast Race army.
"Those are Green Locust beings! How are there so many of them?" Nuo Yifan eximed in a stunned voice upon seeing this.
"Is there a problem?" Han Li asked as he took a nce at the dark green cloud.
"The Green Locust Tribe devours everything that they encounter, and any ce that they pass over is often leftpletely devoid of life. Hence, even in the Insect Race, they''re ostracized and denounced by all of the other tribes. They live in swamps all year round, and there aren''t supposed to be many of them, but it seems like their poption has increased drastically ofte," Nuo Yifan replied with tightly furrowed brows.
At this point, the dark green cloud had already caught up to the remaining two gray-skinned giants.
The giants were clearly also aware of how fearsome these things were, and instead of engaging the Green Locust beings in battle, they rushed back in retreat even faster.
Even though there was a vast number of Green Locust beings, they were unable to stop the gray-skinned giants in their tracks. Instead, they would surround the giants, only for thetter to charge straight through them, and the cycle would be repeated.
However, Han Li could tell that each time the giants broke out of an encirclement, their speed would be hampered, and by his estimates, they would only be able to escape seven or eight more times before they would bepletely surrounded.
As the gray-skinned giants drew closer and closer, the reinforcements from the Beast Race army also arrived.
A series of giant winged lizards rose up into the sky, then circled around momentarily in the air before opening their mouths to release bursts of scorching ck smoke that instantly inundated arge swathe of Green Locust beings.
The dark green cloud was instantly set alight, following which one Green Locust being after came tumbling out of the sky.
The remaining Green Locust beings instantly swooped downward to descend onto the Beast Race army, and these ordinary Beast Race warriors clearly didn''t possessparable physical constitutions to the gray-skinned giants.
In the wake of the Green Locust beings, countless pristine white skeletons were left behind, some of which were still in the process of carrying out whatever motion they had been in the middle of right before they died.
Finally, the two gray-skinned giants managed to escape from the Green Locust beings, but their bodies were riddled with countless tiny bite wounds, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
Their footsteps were quite heavy as they trudged back toward the Dark Star Canyon, and it seemed that they were going to take a rest before re-entering the battle.
However, what everyone had failed to notice was that a barely visible swarm of tiny crimson beetles with glowing tails like those of fireflies were flying toward the pair of giants, and they quickly wriggled their way into the tiny wounds on their bodies.
The two giants instantly stopped in their tracks and turned their gaze to the parts of their bodies that had been infiltrated by these insects, and a series ofrge red tumor-like growths instantly began to emerge from those wounds.
In just a few seconds, these growths had swelled to the same size as the giants'' heads, and both of them were extremely rmed to see this, but before they had a chance to do anything, the bulbous red growths exploded violently amid shes of red light, blowing the giants into countless pieces and sending vast volumes of blood sttering down upon the entire battlefield.
Chapter 556: Caught Off Guard
Chapter 556: Caught Off Guard
"Those are Blood Leeches!" Nuo Qinglin eximed.
A puzzled look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and Nuo Yifan exined, "These leeches are capable of entering a host''s body and fusing as one with their blood, making them almost impossible to expel. On top of that, they''ll devour the host''s blood to form blood tumors, then self-detonate to kill their host along with themselves.
Due to how tiny and fast they are, they pose an extremely potent threat, but these leeches are very difficult to nurture, so the Insect Race shouldn''t have too many of them."
Han Li nodded in response, and he was just about to say something when his expression suddenly changed drastically, and he grabbed onto Nuo Yifan before flying away from the floating tform as a streak of azure light.
Nuo Qinglin and the others faltered slightly before also doing the same, darting away in all directions.
In the next instant, the ground beneath the ck tform abruptly exploded, and a gargantuan mouth erupted out into the open. The mouth belonged to none other than that giant Sand Beast from before, and it swallowed the entire tform whole in one go.
Nuo Qinglin and the majority of the tribal leaders were able to escape just in the nick of time, but several of the True Immortal Stage chiefs were not so fortunate, and they were devoured alongside the tform.
A string of bloodcurdling howls rang out from within the giant Sand Beast''s mouth before quickly subsiding.
The tribes that had suddenly lost their chiefs were instantly plunged into a state of disarray, but thankfully, these tribes onlyprised a very limited portion of the entire Beast Race army.
Meanwhile, Han Li and Nuo Yifan reappeared in the sky close to 20 kilometers away.
Han Li''s brows were slightly furrowed, while Nuo Yifan was looking a little pale, and she hurriedly expressed her gratitude to Han Li.
After steadying themselves, Nuo Qinglin and the others were infuriated by the attack, and they immediately prepared to join forces to retaliate against the giant Sand Beast.
However, the Sand Beast paid no heed to them at all. Instead, it erupted out of the ground before pouncing at Han Li''s duo at an extraordinary speed.
Han Li immediately grabbed onto Nuo Yifan upon seeing this, and at the same time, a burst of golden lightning shed over his body, following which the two of them sped away as an arc of golden lightning.
Han Li''s lightning movement technique was extraordinarily fast, and even though he was dragging along someone with him, he was still significantly faster than the giant Sand Beast.
The Sand Beast let loose an enraged roar as a flurry of countless yellow runes surged out of its body.
Immediately thereafter, it shrank down to around half its original size, but as a result, its speed was drastically enhanced as it set off in pursuit of Han Li''s duo.
"Yifan!"
An urgent look appeared in Nuo Qinglin''s eyes as he turned to chase after his daughter, but Ulu raised an arm to stop him as he said, "I''m sure your daughter will be fine for now with that human cultivator protecting her, Chief Nuo. For now, we have to focus on the battle at hand."
Nuo Qinglin cast his gaze downward upon hearing this, and he was rmed to discover that several massive centipedes that were no smaller than the gray-skinned giants had appeared in the Insect Race army.
Even though they were still quite a bit smaller than the giant Sand Beast, they were still extremely eye-catching on the battlefield.
These centipedes were a bright silver color, and their legs were extremely sharp. They were charging straight into the Beast Race army while releasing toxic yellow mist incessantly out of their mouths, and any Beast Race warrior that came into contact with this yellow mist instantly began to rapidly dpose.
Some of the weaker ones among them were even reduced to puddles of toxic blood that continued to corrode the ground beneath them.
With the giant centipedes leading the way, the Insect Race army had seized the momentum, and it was eagerly pressing its advantage.
The Beast Race warriors were defending with their lives, but they were still being steadily forced back.
Nuo Qinglin quickly sent a male Calm Dawn being with a scar on his face after Han Li, then joined all of the other tribal leaders in the sky above the Beast Race army.
The tide of the battle hadpletely turned, and the Beast Race army was plunged into a state of panic and chaos, particrly in the wake of the ck tform''s destruction. However, upon spotting Nuo Qinglin and the others, all of the Beast Race warriors were instantly instilled with a sense of relief and reassurance, and morale was significantly elevated.
At the same time, three Beast Race Golden Immortals, led by a young woman whose face was concealed behind a veil, flew forward before summoning a small bone drum, a bone flute, and a white bone g, which began to circle around in the air in front of them.
The three of them began to chant an incantation, and ayer of cold white light emerged over the three treasures.
In the next instant, the ground beneath their feet began to rumble and sway, then abruptly split as a series of thick beast bones emerged from beneath the earth.
These beast bones were several thousand feet tall and there were thousands of them, arranged in a uniform line to form an impregnable barrier in the path of the Insect Race army.
There were countless bestial runes engraved onto the beast bones, and in contrast with normal array runes, these ones appeared rougher around the edges, but were giving off extremely formidable spiritual power fluctuations nheless.
All of a sudden, the veiled woman switched to a different hand seal, and a ck badge flew out of the top of her head amid a sh of ck light.
The badge was rather bumpy and crude, and it seemed to have been carved out of the skull of a demon beast.
A design of a beastly head was engraved onto the surface of the badge, and the veiled woman expelled a mouthful of blood essence, which vanished into the badge in a sh.
Ayer of ck light instantly emerged over its surface, and a peculiar aura began emanating out of the badge, immediately following which countless streaks of ck light shot out from within it before vanishing into the giant beastly bones.
The spirit patterns on the bones instantly began to glow brightly, and the bones themselves began to tremble as if they had sprung to life.
A series of spherical bulges abruptly emerged over all of the beast bones, following which countless sharp bone spears flew out within before raining down upon the Insect Race army like a volley of arrows.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and the Insect Race warriors at the forefront of the army were instantly punched full of holes.
The giant centipedes were the veiled woman''s main target, and countless bone spears were sent raining down upon them.
However, their exoskeletons were extremely sturdy, and the sharp bone spears only able to raise trails of sparks and leave some white marks on their bodies.
Even though these bone spears weren''t able to harm the giant centipedes, they clearly didn''t enjoy the barrage, and they were screeching incessantly as they scurried back in retreat.
Right at this moment, four streaks of light flew out of the Insect Race army at an rming speed.
All four streaks of light were giving off Golden Immortal Stage auras, and the veiled woman''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, following which she immediately cast an incantation seal into the white bone drum overhead.
The surface of the small drum shed momentarily as a burst of deafening drumming rang out, and streaks of viscous white light shot out of the drum before also vanishing into the beast bones down below.
A string of loud cracks rang out as all of the beast bones shattered in unison, forming a vast expanse of liquid-like spiritual light, which then rapidly fused together to form an enormous white light barrier in front of the Beast Race army.
All types of bestial designs surfaced on the white light barrier, and bursts of white light were flowing over the light barrier like water. The light barrier didn''t appear to be very sturdy at all, but it gave off an indestructible appearance.
The four Insect Race Golden Immortals arrived in front of the light barrier, following which the spiritual light around them faded to reveal a yellow-robed elderly man, a bald man with an intimidating physique, and two near-identical golden-robed women who appeared to be twins.
The four of them were all looking a little startled, clearly not expecting the white restriction to take shape so quickly.
However, the yellow-robed elderly man then immediately sprang into action, sweeping a sleeve through the air to release three streaks of golden light that crashed down heavily upon the white light barrier.
A series of ripples spread over the light barrier around the points where it was struck by the streaks of golden light, but the ripples quickly subsided.
Meanwhile, the golden light rapidly faded to reveal three strange insects with de-like bodies.
These insects were a radiant golden color, and they were giving off an incredibly sharp aura, resembling three almighty golden swords.
The yellow-robed elderly man''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he cast his gaze toward the three bone treasures up above as he remarked with a cold sneer, "I''ve heard that the Heavenly Devil Spirit Drum, the Threefold Origin Bone Flute, and the All-epassing White Bone g of the Calm Dawn Tribe were three treasures refined using three sets of High Zenith Stage true spirit remains. I''m curious to see if they can live up to their resounding reputation!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a sleeve through the air once again, and several dozen golden insects shot forth before quickly converging toward a single point.
The other three golden insects also flew over to join them, and in the blink of an eye, they hadbined together to form a shimmering golden flying sword.
The yellow-robed elderly man then expelled a mouthful of blood essence into the golden flying sword, and it instantly began to tremble, while the golden light radiating from it grew even brighter.
All of a sudden, it swelled to over 1,000 feet in size, giving off a peerlessly sharp aura as it came crashing down upon the white light barrier with devastating force.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as a long gash was sliced into the white light barrier, but the gash wasn''t very deep.
The three Beast Race Golden Immortals remainedpletely unfazed as they continued to chant incantations while making hand seals.
The white drum instantly swelled slightly in size while emitting a pounding sound, and the bone flute also began to blow, while the bone g pped through the air while releasing bursts of white light.
Immediately thereafter, the bodies of the deceased warriors of both races on the battlefield suddenly began to tremble violently.
The flesh on those bodies quickly peeled away to reveal sets of bloodstained skeletons, and these skeletons flew through the air before rushing into the white light barrier, mending the long gash on its surface in the blink of an eye.
The four Insect Race Golden Immortals were all quite surprised to see this, but a cold look then resurfaced in the yellow-robed elderly man''s eyes as he swung his golden sword down once again.
At the same time, the other three Insect Race Golden Immortal Stages alsoshed out.
The bald man swept a hand through the air, and a ball of radiant white light appeared in front of him.
Through the white light, one could see a white object that resembled a ball of putty that was constantly squirming and changing shape, presenting a rather harrowing sight to behold.
Chapter 557: Miscalculation
Chapter 557: Miscalction
The bald man from the Insect Race pointed a finger forward, and six semi-transparent wings abruptly sprang out of the clump of white putty-like substance, following which it began to fly toward the white light barrier.
As it turned out, the mass of putty-like substance appeared to be a strange spirit insect!
A series of corkscrew-shaped white ice crystals appeared in the space in its wake, indicating that it was giving off an almighty chill that seemed capable of freezing the very space itself.
At the same time, its body also swelled up like a balloon, quickly expanding to countless times its original size, and in the instant that it came into contact with the white light barrier, it exploded silently into a cloud of white mist that epassed the entire light barrier.
Ayer of white ice crystals instantly spread over the light barrier, causing the flow of white light over the light barrier to slow down significantly.
At the same time, the two golden-robed women swept their sleeves through the air in silence, releasing a pair of golden clouds that were actually two swarms of countless tiny golden insects.
These insects were only the size of ants, but they had wings on their backs, and their mouths were filled with de-like sharp teeth.
As soon as theynded upon theyer of white ice crystals, they immediately began sinking their teeth into the white light barrier, and before long, countless holes had been bitten into the light barrier.
The white light barrier was still replenishing itself and mending those holes by absorbing the surrounding skeletons, but it was clearly doing so at a far slower rate than before.
Right at this moment, the yellow-robed elderly man''s golden flying sword came crashing down with tremendous power once again, and an earth-shattering boom rang out as the sword shed with the light barrier.
Thetter was already severely ravaged, and several huge cracks instantly appeared on its surface, making it appear as if it could shatter at any moment.
The three Beast Race Golden Immortals'' expressions changed drastically upon seeing this, and all of them threw up a mouthful of blood in unison from the bacsh, but they had no time to tend to their own internal injuries as they hurriedly cast strings of incantation seals into the three bone treasures overhead.
The three treasures instantly began to glow brightly, while the white light that was moving sluggishly over the surface of the light barrier down below also sped up a little, but the three Golden Immortals knew that they weren''t going to be able tost much longer.
......
Meanwhile, far away from the battlefield, the Sand Beast was still pursuing Han Li, with the former racing through the air as a yellow shadow, while Han Li was shing through the sky as an arc of golden lightning.
At this point, the Sand Beast had shrunk down to less than a thousandth of its original size, and it was far faster than before.
Han Li had already summoned his Thunderstorm Wings and was unleashing his lightning movement technique with all his might, yet he was still unable to shake off the Sand Beast.
The main reason for this was because Nuo Yifan was by his side. With her essentially acting as dead weight, he was naturally bound to be slowed down significantly.
Right as the gap between them was closed to only several dozen kilometers, a ball of yellow light suddenly descended out of the sky toward Han Li. The ball of light was none other than the Sand Beast''s spirit domain, and it was giving off tremendousw power fluctuations.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and the Thunderstorm Wings on his back instantly released a burst of golden lightning that enveloped his entire body.
A loud thunderp rang out, and he and Nuo Yifan were only just barely able to evade the spirit domain, reappearing several hundred kilometers away.
Han Li didn''t pause for even a single instant as he vanished into thin air amid another sh of golden lightning, then re-emerged in the sky above a forest.
Finally, he was able to temporarily open up some distance between himself and the Sand Beast, and he hurriedly said to Nuo Yifan, "Get away from here, Fellow Daoist Nuo. The Sand Beast''s target is me, so it shouldn''t go after you."
Immediately thereafter, he sped away as an arc of golden lightning.
"Look after yourself, Senior Li!"
At this moment, Nuo Yifan''s face was still rather pale, but she remained calm and collected as she extended a grateful bow in Han Li''s direction, then flew back toward the canyon as a streak of light.
The Sand Beast arrived onto the scene in a sh, and Nuo Yifan''splexion paled even further as she sensed its approaching aura.
The spiritual light around her instantly glowed even brighter as she elerated in her escape.
The Sand Beast turned to take a nce in Han Li''s direction, but didn''t immediately set off in pursuit. Instead, it turned to pursue Nuo Yifan instead.
Nuo Yifan was naturally far slower than the Sand Beast, and the distance between them was quickly dwindling.
Several hundred kilometers away, Han Li''s expression changed drastically upon sensing this, and he clearly hadn''t anticipated that the Sand Beast would be so intelligent.
The reason why he had been unwilling to abandon Nuo Yifan earlier was because he still had to remain in this ce, and if she were to be killed because of him, then he would most likely be forced to leave this ce.
However, at this point, the two of them were very far away from each other, so it was impossible for him to save her.
All he could do was stop cold in his tracks, then turn back around to fly toward Nuo Yifan as quickly as possible.
Nuo Yifan''splexion had turned deathly pale as she sensed the rapidly approaching Sand Beast, and she hurriedly flipped a hand over to produce a white jade talisman, which she then instantly crushed.
A dull thump rang out as the ball of white spiritual light flew out of the jade talisman before vanishing into her body.
She immediately began to glow with radiant white light, and a pair of crane wings that were several dozen feet in size appeared on her back, instantly enhancing her speed by severalfold.
Even so, she was still slower than the Sand Beast, and the distance between the two was still constantly shrinking.
As the gap between them was whittled down to less than 100 kilometers, the Sand Beast opened its mouth to release a burst of yellow light that resembled a rope, and it swept directly toward Nuo Yifan.
Right at this moment, a thick bolt of silver lightning came crashing down upon the top of the Sand Beast''s head.
A huge ball of silver lightning then emerged, enveloping the Sand Beast''s head within it, and it was sending arcs of silver lightning flying in all directions.
Immediately thereafter, the scar-faced man from the Calm Dawn Tribe appeared beside Nuo Yifan amid a sh of silver lightning.
"Elder Katun!"
Nuo Yifan was ecstatic to see him.
"We have to get away from here, Young Mistress!"
The scar-faced man slung one arm around Nuo Yifan''s waist while holding a silver lightning hammer in his other hand. There was a silver lightning mark engraved onto the head of the hammer, giving off bursts of lightningw power fluctuations, and it was releasing arcs of silver lightning that enveloped both of them.
However, right as they were about to make their escape, a ball of yellow light shot out of the ball of silver lightning behind them, then pierced straight through the scar-faced man''s body at an incredible speed.
The ball of silver lightning rippled momentarily before quickly fading to reveal the giant Sand Beast, which waspletely unscathed aside the fact that its head had been slightly charred ck.
The ball of yellow light had been shot straight out of the Sand Beast''s be, and the scar-faced man''s expression stiffened as he looked down at the ball of yellow light embedded into his chest, which then abruptly exploded.
The scar-faced man''s body also exploded into countless pieces that fell out of the sky, but at the same time, the silver lightning hammer in his hand shot forth directly toward the Sand Beast with a tiny nascent soul just barely visible within it.
The lightning hammer reached the Sand Beast in a sh, then exploded violently into a giant ball of silver light that was giving off tremendous energy fluctuations, causing the nearby space to tremble and quiver while gusts of fierce wind were sent sweeping in all directions.
The giant Sand Beast waspletely inundated by the silver light, but its roar of rm and fury could still be heard.
Nuo Yifan was sent flying far into the distance by the ferocious gusts of wind, and tears began to well up in her eyes as she turned to look at the ball of silver light, but in the next instant, a determined look appeared on her face as she sped away as a streak of white light.
A few secondster, the Sand Beast flew out of the ball of silver light with its entire body riddled with injuries. In particr, its head had be entirely charred c, and it let loose a thunderous roar of fury before suddenly descending out of the sky.
Ayer of yellow light emerged over its body as it burrowed into the ground like a fish plunging into water, then quickly re-emerged elsewhere, at which point all of its injuries had disappeared, but its aura had be a little weaker.
Immediately thereafter, it continued to pursue Nuo Yifan as a yellow shadow.
Meanwhile, Han Li emerged amid a sh of golden lightning, and a stunned look appeared in his eyes upon witnessing the Sand Beast''s incredible regenerative powers.
He then quickly made a hand seal and vanished from the spot amid another sh of golden lightning.
......
At the entrance of the Dark Star Canyon, Nuo Qinglin turned around and descended onto the fortress behind him.
There were already two gray-robed grand elders waiting for him there, and as soon as he descended onto the fortress, the pair of grand elders instantly dered, "The preparations areplete, Chief Nuo."
Nuo Qinglin nodded in response with a solemn expression, then swept a sleeve through the air, and a loose-fitting purple robe with beautiful embroidered golden stars appeared over his body.
The three of them quickly made their way onto a spacious altar at the center of the fortress, then formed a triangr formation with another, following which each of them produced a wooden staff, which they tapped down onto the strange patterns on the ground.
The two grand elders remained silent, while Nuo Qinglin began to chant an incantation in the true spiritnguage toplement the tapping of their staves.
Momentster, he raised his staff before ramming its tip heavily down onto the ground, and the staff instantly pierced through the stone material of the altar.
The two grand elders did the same thing, immediately following which Nuo Qinglin raised an arm before swiping a finger across the palm of his hand, instantly inflicting a gash that was deep enough to reveal bone.
Glowing purple blood flowed out of the gash before dripping down onto the ground, but instead of sttering in all directions, the blood stayed together to form a tiny dark purple snake that began to extend forward.
Before long, the tiny snake had filled the entire array on the altar, and Nuo Qinglin''splexion had paled significantly as he gritted his teeth and rammed the bottom of his staff into the ground once again.
A faint buzzing sound rang out as a burst of radiant purple light erupted out of the entire altar, and aplex purple array projection emerged, within which were countless tiny specks of light that were dancing around like fireflies before converging to form a giant shadow the size of a small mountain.
Chapter 558: Suliu
Chapter 558: Suliu
The huge shadow was still for a moment before gradually rising up higher, and it was also taking on a more substantial form.
Even before the shadow''s body hadpletely taken shape, a voice rang out from within the array. "What''s wrong, kid? Is the state of the battle already so bad that you had to summon me?"
As the voice trailed off, the purple light within the array also gradually faded, revealing the giant shadow to be an enormous fox with azure fur, and it was seated with its legs crossed like a human cultivator.
The azure fox had a pair of thin and long eyebrows, and there was a symbol of a purple star on its be. There were also three long scars that ran parallel to each other over its right eye, looking as if they had been inflicted by the ws of some type of demon beast.
The azure fox was d in a suit of extremely beautiful azure armor, and it had six massive tails that were dragging along behind it as it looked at Nuo Qinglin with a disdainful expression.
Nuo Qinglin hurriedly extended a deep bow as he said, "My sincerest apologies, Master Suliu, but I had to call upon you as Yifan is in grave danger!"
"What?! Who dares to pick on Yifan?"
The giant azure fox was enraged to hear this, and its six tails began to il around in a disy of fury.
"Right now, Yifan is being pursued by the Sand Beast raised by the chief of the Sand Eating Tribe. At the moment, all of our warriors are busy battling against the Insect Race army, so none of us can go and rescue her," Nuo Qinglin exined in an urgent and fearful voice.
Suliu immediately turned around to scour the battlefield in search of Nuo Yifan while grumbling in a thunderous voice, "What kind of father are you, Nuo Qinglin? Yifan is my pride and joy! You won''t get away with it if something happens to her!"
As it was speaking, its gaze settled upon a certain spot on the distant horizon, where Nuo Yifan was being pursued by the Sand Beast.
"There she is..."
Suliu''s eyes narrowed slightly as it sprang up into the sky like a flying mountain, then flew directly toward Nuo Yifan with its six massive tails iling through the air behind it.
Fervent looks instantly appeared on the faces of all of the Calm Dawn Tribe warriors down below at the sight of Suliu, and they began to chant its name in reverence as they charged toward the Insect Race army with renewed vigor.
Meanwhile, Nuo Yifan was frantically fleeing from the Sand Beast, and in her haste to do so, she was getting further and further away from Han Li.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but all he could do was continue to fly after her in pursuit.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out, and the cliff face that Nuo Yifan was flying toward suddenly exploded.
The Sand Beast had burrowed into the ground, and it erupted out of the remnants of the copsed cliff face before pouncing at Nuo Yifan with its mouth wide open, having already reverted back to its original size.
Nuo Yifan was very rmed to see this, but to her credit, she remainedposed as she swung around in mid-air, then stepped onto a giant falling rock, using it as aunch pad to propel herself away from the giant Sand Beast.
However, right at this moment, a dark red vortex abruptly emerged within the Sand Beast''s mouth, and it was releasing a burst of tremendous suction force that was far too powerful for Nuo Yifan to withstand.
As a result, she wasn''t able to get away at all before she found herself being sucked toward the Sand Beast''s mouth.
Right as she was about to be devoured by the Sand Beast, Han Li hurriedly made a hand seal before pointing in a finger forward, and an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword reached Nuo Yifan in the blink of an eye, catching her during her rapid fall.
The sword was glowing brightly as it sent a burst of sword Qi erupting in all directions, counteracting the suction force surging out of the Sand Beast''s mouth. Immediately thereafter, the sword flew away into the distance, carrying Nuo Yifan on top of it.
The Sand Beast''s mouth was closed with tremendous power, but much to its fury and frustration, it had chomped down onto nothing more than empty air.
It shrank back a little while coiling itself like a spring, then shot up into the sky like a cannonball, hurtling directly toward Nuo Yifan.
Having only just barely escaped from the jaws of death, Nuo Yifan didn''t even get a chance to catch her breath before her demise was once again imminent.
"Don''t be scared, Yifan, I''ll take care of this thing!"
Right at this moment, Suliu arrived on the scene, and it sprang through the sky, leaping over Nuo Yifan to pounce onto the giant Sand Beast that was pursuing her.
The two enormous beings shed violently in mid-air, then came tumbling down to the ground together.
Meanwhile, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords swiveled around in the sky before carrying Nuo Yifan toward Han Li.
Nuo Yifan was still looking deathly pale, and after taking a moment topose herself, she said, "Thank you for saving my life, Senior Li. I''ll be sure to repay you for this."
Han Li merely nodded in response while making a beckoning motion to summon his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword back to himself.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out in the distance, and both of them turned to discover that the giant Sand Beast was currently stuck under Suliu, and despite its best efforts, it was unable to free itself.
Suliu was straddled atop the Sand Beast, and its tails were wrapped around the Sand Beast like six giant azure pythons, constricting tighter and tighter to crush its prey.
At the same time, it had also released its spirit domain, but not very far, only just enough to epass the Sand Beast.
"What''s that?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"This is Master Suliu, the true spirit revered by our Calm Dawn Tribe. His cultivation base isparable to that of early-High Zenith cultivators for you humans," Nuo Yifan exined.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression.
He had seen many different types of fox demons back in the Mortal Realm and the Spirit Realm, but most of them excelled in illusory and seductive techniques. It was the first time that he had seen a fox demon that possessed such immense physical prowess.
Having said that, given that the azure fox was a primordial true spirit, it had to have already been residing in the primordialnd since time immemorial, so it naturally couldn''t bepared with ordinary demons.
All of a sudden, Suliu made a grabbing motion with both hands, and a burst of ck light converged to form an enormous ck staff in his hands, one that was riddled with star patterns and glowing faintly.
Suliu let loose a thunderous roar, and the star patterns on the staff in his hands brightened significantly as a radiant vortex of starlight took shape on the tip of the staff before it was plunged down viciously toward the Sand Beast''s head.
Even though the Sand Beast''s body was temporarily immobilized, it was still able to swivel its head around, and it opened its cavernous mouth, then chomped down upon the ck staff as a burst of dark red light emerged within its mouth.
A small section of the staff was plunged into the Sand Beast''s mouth, and the starlight vortex shed against the dark red light.
Bursts of formidable energy fluctuations erupted out of the Sand Beast''s mouth as countless specks of starlight shed against the vast expanse of dark red light, and it seemed that the two were evenly matched.
A hint of concern appeared in Nuo Yifan''s eyes upon seeing this, but she knew that
"Don''t worry, Senior Suliu''s cultivation base is slightly superior to the Sand Beast''s, so he''ll be fine," Han Li consoled.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a series of golden ring patterns began to emerge over the Sand Beast''s body, and it began to swell in size, gradually forcing Suliu''s tails apart one by one until they were no longer able to trap it.
"You''re not getting away!" Suliu sneered, and the starry design on his be suddenly began to glow with dazzling radiant, while his eyes turned pitch-ck, following which an image of a starry night sky appeared within them.
Immediately thereafter, the aura that was emanating from his body also became as deep and vast as the night sky.
As Han Li looked into Suliu''s eyes, he was momentarily dazed, and for an instant, he felt as if he really were standing in the boundlessly vast night sky among the stars, waiting for a baptism of starlight.
In the next instant, all of the star patterns on Suliu''s staff lit up in unison, making it appear as if there were a starry night sky clinging to the staff, and it was releasing bursts of peculiar energy fluctuations that didn''t seem to belong to this world.
At the same time, a burst of blinding starlight erupted forth, and all of the energy fluctuations condensed together before descending to sh violently against the dark red light in the Sand Beast''s mouth.
Almost at the exact same moment, the Sand Beast finally struggled free from Sului''s tails, and a series of radiant golden rings surged up toward its head from its tail, as if it were focusing all of its power into its mouth.
The two bursts of tremendous power shed with an earth-shattering boom, and bursts of incredibly formidable shockwaves were sent sweeping through the air in all directions. The dark red light resembled the radiance of the dying sun, and itpletely exploded amid the countless specks of descending starlight.
Immediately thereafter, the Sand Beast''s enormous body exploded into countless grains of sand, resulting in an enormous sandstorm that erupted outward with immense power,pletely pulverizing all of the mountains and trees in its path.
Chapter 559: Cockroach
Chapter 559: Cockroach
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he swept a sleeve through the air to release several bursts of azure light, which intertwined to form an azure light barrier in front of himself and Nuo Yifan.
In the next instant, the violent sandstorm descended upon them with unstoppable force, and it was as if the azure light barrier were being barraged by countless arrows, but it remained as resolute as a mountain.
Gusts of yellow wind rapidly spread through an enormous surrounding area, hurling more sand up into the sky while countless trees were uprooted before being buried under the sand. In the blink of an eye, the entire area in a radius of tens of thousands of feet had been transformed into a sea of sand.
The battlefield between the Beast Race and the Insect Race was quite far away from where Suliu, and the Sand Beast were locked inbat, but even so, the gusts of fierce wind were still able to sweep over the entire battlefield, reducing visibility to near zero.
In fact, the weaker warriors on the battlefield found it extremely difficult just to remain still on the spot without being blown away, and as a result, the advance of the Insect Race army was slowed down significantly.
This was naturally good news for the Beast Race army, and in particr, the Golden Immortals of the Beast Race heaved a collective sigh of relief, then pounced on this opportunity to alter the army''s formation and fortify its defensive line.
The Beast Race army had the home advantage on this battlefield, and during this brief window of respite, some of the tribes were able to unveil the defensive measures that they hadn''t been able to reveal up to this point.
Shortly thereafter, the sandstorm subsided, and everything returned to normal.
The morale of the Beast Race army was lifted significantly upon witnessing their revered true spirit y such a powerful enemy, and they quickly arranged a counterattack under the instructions of their chiefs before charging toward the Insect Race army.
Due to how aggressive the Insect Race army''s attack had been, the Beast Race army had been caught slightly off guard, but now that they had been given a chance to regroup andunch an effective counterattack, it didn''t take long before the advance of the Insect Race army was stopped cold in its tracks.
At the center of the sea of sand, the Sand Beast was nowhere to be seen, and all that remained was Suliu, who was holding onto his ck staff with one hand, while clutched in his other hand was arge sand crystal.
This sand crystal was clearly of a far superior quality to the one that Han Li had obtained. Not only was itpletely translucent, there were some golden threads inside that were giving off bursts of formidable spiritual power fluctuations.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to do away with the azure light barrier, and Nuo Yifan immediately rushed over to Suliu''s side as she asked in an urgent voice, "Are you alright, Master Suliu?"
"Of course! I''m as fit as a..."
Suliu''s voice abruptly cut off mid-sentence as he threw up a mouthful of blood.
Nuo Yifan immediately flew around Suliu until she was in front of him, and only then did she discover that there was a huge hole on his chest. Arge section of the azure armor around the hole had been charred ck, and at this moment, the wound was slowly healing while releasing wisps of white smoke.
Meanwhile, Han Li merely stood and observed from afar.
At the same time, Jin Tong wasmunicating to Han Li through his spiritual sense, trying to goad him into taking that sand crystal from Suliu.
Prior to this, she had been staying in Xiao Bai''s belly. However, despite her incredible physical constitution, the internal space in Xiao Bai''s body also proved to be quite extraordinary, and she was forced to re-emerge not long ago.
"Forget it. Right now, we''re counting on the Beast Race to deal with the other Gold Devouring Immortal for you. If we try any funny business now, there''s a very good chance that we''ll be banished by the Beast Race, and we''ll have to face the Insect Race army on our own," Han Li replied through voice transmission.
"Speaking of the other Gold Devouring Immortal, it seems to be getting closer and closer!" Jin Tong eximed. "I have to hide again. Open your mouth, Xiao Bai!"
"You can hide in my stomach, but please don''t eat any more of my treasures. It''s not been easy saving up those immortal treasures, and you''ve eaten a third of them in one go!" Xiao Bai protested.
"Why are you stingy, Xiao Bai? Uncle has more than enough immortal treasures for both of us to eat!" Jin Tong retorted with a displeased expression.
"Master..." Xiao Bai wailed.
"If we manage to survive this ordeal, I''ll let you eat to your heart''s content, but if we can''t, then this might be the end for us," Han Li said in a grim voice as he cast his gaze toward a certain direction with blue light shing through his eyes.
......
"I''m d you''re safe," Suliu said with a pleased nod after carefully examining Nuo Yifan.
"It''s all thanks to you and Senior Li," Nuo Yifan replied.
"This is the human you were talking about?" Suliu asked as he turned to Han Li and rested the bottom of his staff against the ground.
"That''s right. Senior Li has saved my life twice now," Nuo Yifan replied with a nod.
"Oh? You sound very grateful to him. Could it be that you''re nning to repay him with your body?" Suliu jibed with a sly grin.
Nuo Yifan knew that Suliu was making fun of her, so she could only remain silent with a displeased pout on her face.
"Humans have always been very cunning, sometimes even more so than our Fox Tribe, so make sure you don''t be too close with him," Suliu continued as a serious look appeared on hsi face.
"I understand, Master Suliu," Nuo Yifan replied with a nod.
Right as the two of them were conversing with one another, Suliu''s expression abruptly changed drastically as he grabbed onto Nuo Yifan, then hurled her at Han Li as he yelled in thenguage of the immortal regions, "Take her away from here!"
Han Li seemed to have already detected that something was amiss, and in the instant that Suliu threw Nuo Yifan through the air, he had already vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, he appeared right in Nuo Yifan''s path, then caught her by the waist before vanishing from the spot once again.
After hurling Nuo Yifan away, Suliu picked up his ck staff, then thrust it into the space up ahead with tremendous force, and his attack was aimed in the exact same direction that Han Li had been observing just a moment ago.
The star patterns on the staff began to glow radiantly, and a burst of silver light emerged on the tip of the staff, then instantly expanded to form a radiant starry sky that was several thousand feet in size.
Immediately thereafter, a resplendent golden sun abruptly emerged in front of the starry sky out of nowhere.
The enormous ball of golden light crashed down upon the starry sky light barrier released by the ck staff like a meteorite, and an earth-shattering boom rang out.
The starry night sky instantly exploded, and in the face of this ball of golden light, Suliu''s staff was made to appear as fragile as a stick of sorghum, quickly shattering into countless pieces.
Ultimately, the countless stars were unable to contend against the single sun, and the entire starry sky exploded violently.
Suliu let loose an agonized roar as his giant body was sent flying back like a rucksack, plowing an extremely deep trench into the ground before he crashed heavily into a cliff face.
Countless loose rocks came tumbling down from the cliff face, instantly burying half of his entire body.
A trail of ck blood began to trickle down from the corner of his lips, and he gritted his teeth as he glowered intently at the ball of golden light, within which was a golden beetle that was over 10,000 feet in size.
Its entire body was giving off an indescribably fearsome aura, and even Han Li was fleeing toward the canyon with his back facing the golden beetle, he knew that it was none other than the Gold Devouring Immortal that Jin Tong had been referring to.
Even though it was virtually identical to Jin Tong in appearance, its aura was at thete-High Zenith Stage!
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon sensing the golden beetle''s aura, but he didn''t slow down at all. Instead, he began racing away even faster than before.
"Master Insect Spirit!"
The Insect Race army was struggling to ward off the aggressive assault of the Beast Race army, but all of the Insect Race warriors instantly erupted into thunderous cheers at the sight of the Gold Devouring Immortal.
All of the spirit insects that were being controlled by the Insect Race warriors were also reinvigorated, and they began rushing at the Beast Race army with renewed effort and bloodlust, restoring both armies to even footing once again.
At this point, Nuo Qinglin had already returned to the battlefield, and an rmed look appeared on his face at the sight of the Gold Devouring Immortal, following which he hurriedly cast his gaze toward Suliu in search for his daughter.
However, as he began to search for Nuo Yifan''s aura, he discovered that she had already been brought back to the canyon by Han Li.
"Hand it over!" the golden beetle said in a cold and thunderous voice that rumbled over the entire battlefield.
"Just like Father said, you''re as resilient as a cockroach! If you''re not killed, then you''ll onlye back stronger, but I didn''t think you would''ve already be this powerful since thest war..." Suliu jeered as he coughed up another mouthful of blood.
"Don''t make me repeat myself," the golden beetle said in a cold voice, then crossed its two front legs before sweeping them both violently through the air, releasing two streaks of translucent light that resembled a pair of massive cicada wings, which then instantly vanished in a sh.
However, Suliu seemed to have already been prepared for the attack, and he immediately sprang up from the ground, jumping up several thousand feet to evade the two streaks of translucent light just in the nick of time.
Han Li was closely observing the golden beetle from afar with blue light shing in his eyes, and he was astonished by what he saw.
As it turned out, even the dust particles and rays of light in the path of the two streaks of translucent light had been cleaved into two.
After Suliu dodged the attack, the cliff face behind him was struck by the two streaks of translucent light, and the entire cliff face was severed like tofu, unable to pose any resistance.
Suliu hovered high up in the sky, looking very much worse for wear as he yelled, "Father, this cockroach is picking on me!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a vast expanse of radiant starlight appeared in the sky, and an even more massive figure emerged from within.
Chapter 560: King
Chapter 560: King
This was another azure fox that was over twice the size of Suliu.
It was wearing a suit of beautiful golden armor that was riddled with countless shing silver runes, and there were nine massive tails trailing along behind it, giving it a very majestic appearance.
The nine-tailed fox also had a set of long and thin eyebrows, and there was also a radiant star design on its be.
At the same time, it was giving off an enormous aura that was slightly superior even to that of the golden beetle.
"Our king!"
Fervent looks appeared on the faces of all of the Beast Race Golden Immortals at the sight of the nine-tailed fox, while the Beast Race army down below enjoyed another significant morale boost.
"Father!"
Suliu immediately flew over to the nine-tailed fox''s side, but the golden beetle wasn''t paying any attention to Suliu or the nine-tailed fox. Instead, its golden eyes were roaming over its surroundings, seemingly searching for something.
Han Li was rather apprehensive at the sight of the golden beetle''s searching gaze, and he couldn''t be certain if Jin Tong really would be able to escape its detection by hiding in Xiao Bai''s stomach.
Thankfully, the golden beetle''s gaze swept over him without pause, and that came as quite a relief to him, but he still didn''t dare to let down his guard.
The nine-tailed fox gave Suliu a stern re, then raised a front paw to send a burst of azure light flying into Suliu''s body.
With this injection of azure light, most of Suliu''s injuries were instantly healed, and a wide smile appeared on his face as he said, "Thank you, Fa..."
"Stand down," the nine-tailed fox instructed, cutting him off in a serious voice.
Suliu nodded in response, then flew away into the distance.
"Leave this ce right now, Insect Spirit. Otherwise, you leave me with no choice but to strike you down!" the nine-tailed fox dered in a thunderous voice.
Only then did the golden beetle finally turn its gaze to the nine-tailed fox for the first time.
In the next instant, it abruptly transformed into a golden shadow, appearing behind the nine-tailed fox in a sh before opening its mouth to release a thick pir of translucent golden light, which pierced straight through the nine-tailed fox''s body in the blink of an eye.
The nine-tailed fox remainedpletely still on the spot, seemingly having failed to react, but in the next instant, he abruptly vanished, revealing that body to have only been an afterimage.
The golden beetle faltered slightly upon seeing this, and it stopped cold in its tracks.
Immediately thereafter, the nine-tailed fox appeared behind it out of thin air amid a sh of azure light, following which its nine tails shot out like lightning to ensnare the golden beetle while also releasing an azure spirit domain.
At the same time, ayer of ck spiritual light emerged over its nine tails, and starlight was shing incessantly over the tails as they rapidly constricted, tightening around the golden beetle''s body like nine ck pythons.
The nine-tailed fox then opened his mouth to release a pir of ck mes that struck the golden beetle before erupting into a sea of fire, and all of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye.
The sea of fire was giving off bursts of incredibly scorching heat that caused the nearby space to warp and tremble violently, and even though Han Li was quite a distance away from the sea of fire, even he had to fly into the distance, unable to bear the heat.
Suliu had also retreated into the distance as a pleased look appeared in his eyes.
Meanwhile, the nine-tailed fox continued its barrage of attacks, and a beam of starlight abruptly shot out of the star design on his be.
The beam of starlight was formed by countless ck starlight runes, and they were plunged into the sea of ck mes while giving off tremendousw power fluctuations.
As a result, the sea of fire reared up significantly, and the ck mes quickly became lighter in color, but the heat that they were giving off only continued to elevate.
The nearby space was tainted a ck color, and it also began warping far more violently than before, making it appear as if the very space were about to be set alight.
The golden beetle waspletely inundated by the sea of fire, and it seemed that it had already been incinerated into ashes.
Suliu was ecstatic to see this, as were all of the Beast Race Golden Immortals, while all of the Insect Race Golden Immortals were looking on in horror and despair.
However, in the next instant, the sea of fire suddenly began to churn violently, and a rapidly expanding vortex appeared within it, following which a burst of golden light emerged within the vortex.
Before the nine-tailed fox had a chance to do anything, the vortex abruptly swelled in size, while the golden light inside also brightened significantly, and all of the ck mes were instantly sucked into the vortex.
As a result, the golden beetle was revealed, and it was still ensnared within the nine tails, but there was golden light radiating from its mouth as it devoured the final wisp of ck fire.
The cheering from the Beast Race army instantly subsided, and the entire battlefield fell still for a moment, while Suliu was also looking on with his mouth agape in shock.
"How has the insect spirit be so powerful? It stood no chance against Master Yohu during thest war..." Nuo Yifan murmured to herself with a stunned expression.
"Is this your king?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. Master Yohu is the king that''s worshiped by all of our Beast Race tribes, and he''s also the father of our tribe''s true spirit, Suliu," Nuo Yifan replied with a nod.
"It sounds like this isn''t the first battle between your king and the insect spirit. How does the insect spirit match up against your kind? Does it have any weaknesses?" Han Li asked.
"The insect spirit has an incredibly sturdy body and can devour almost all attacks, so I can''t think of any physical weaknesses. I recall that Master Yohu had only been able to force it into retreatst time by using some type of spiritual attack," Nuo Yifan replied.
Han Li nodded in response.
He knew better than anyone else just how incredible the physical prowess of Gold Devouring Beetles were. However,pared with their near-indestructible bodies, their souls were indeed far more fragile.
Right as Han Li and Nuo Yifan were conversing with each other, the golden beetle suddenly turned his gaze to the nine tails around its body, following which two thin streaks of translucent golden light erupted out of its front limbs toward the tails.
The nine-tailed fox immediately withdrew its tails as quickly as it could while also fleeing into the distance, and even though it had reacted very quickly, two of its tails were still struck by the streaks of golden light.
Those two tails were instantly severed, and blood came gushing out of the wounds.
The nine-tailed fox drew to a halt close to 10 kilometers away, and a furious look appeared in its eyes at the sight of its severed tails.
It thrust its two front paws forward, and two resounding thumps rang out as a pair of giant beastly paw projections, one azure and one ck, emerged above the golden beetle.
The paw projections were giving off a faint azure glow, within which were countless dancing azure runes, following which an image of a starry night sky emerged on the paw projections.
The two projections drew back slightly, then came crashing down upon the golden beetle with tremendous power.
The golden beetle gave a disdainful sneer, following which two bursts of golden light that resembled pythons shot out of its body, then pierced through the pair of paw projections with ease before winding themselves around the projections and constricting viciously.
A burst of terrifying power instantly began acting upon the pair of paw projections, instantly shattering them into countless specks of azure and ck spiritual light, which spread through the entire surrounding area in a radius of close to 10 kilometers.
The nine-tailed fox raised its two front paws before drawing a pair of semi-circles in mid-air, and the scattered specks of azure and ck light suddenly began to sh before fusing together to form countless ck and azure threads of light that wound themselves around the golden beetle.
The golden beetle was clearly a little taken aback by this, but it remainedpletely unfazed as countless streaks of translucent golden light erupted out of its body to strike the ck and azure threads of light.
These threads of light didn''t appear to be all that remarkable, but they were incredibly sturdy, and only less than half of them were severed, while the rest remained firmly in ce.
A hint of surprise shed through the golden beetle''s eyes upon seeing this, and right at this moment, the nine-tailed fox appeared directly above its head.
ck light shed from the nine-tailed fox''s front paws, and two sets of scythe-like ck ws that each around 10 feet in length sprang forth.
The nine-tailed fox then swooped down with radiant starlight emanating from its ws, which scratched down viciously upon the golden beetle''s back to send sparks flying in all directions.
A burst of tremendous energy fluctuations erupted in all directions as the golden and ck light shed with immense power, and all of the ws on the nine-tailed fox''s front paws were snapped, while only a series of white marks had appeared on the golden beetle''s back.
The ws hadn''t even been able to draw any blood, and the nine-tailed fox''s expression instantly darkened significantly upon seeing this.
All of a sudden, the golden light radiating from the golden beetle''s body abruptly brightened significantly, and translucent threads of golden light could be seen within it, giving off a burst of tremendous suction force.
The ck light was instantly sucked into the golden light on contact, while the golden light continued to surge toward the nine-tailed fox.
The nine-tailed fox was clearly very wary of this golden light, and he immediately sprang away into the distance as an azure shadow.
However, right at this moment, the golden light around the golden beetle brightened even further, giving it the appearance of an incandescent golden sun.
The radiant golden light rapidly spread outward in all directions to form an enormous golden spirit domain, within which streaks of golden light were swirling around incessantly to form a series of vortexes of different sizes.
The nine-tailed fox wasn''t able to get very far away at all before it was caught within the golden spirit domain, upon which its speed was significantly hampered.
At this point, the threads of azure and ck light around the golden beetle''s body had already vanished, and it cast a cold gaze toward the nine-tailed fox before opening its mouth to release around a dozen goldenw threads.
As soon as thesew threads shot out of its mouth, they immediately swelled drastically in size while radiating dazzling golden light with countless golden runes shing within it.
Immediately thereafter, the dozen or so ergedw threads intertwined to form an extremely lifelike golden wyrm that was several thousand feet in length.
Chapter 561: Forced Intervention
Chapter 561: Forced Intervention
The golden wyrm was radiating dazzling golden light as it flew through the air with tremendous power and astonishing speed, reaching the nine-tailed fox in the blink of an eye.
The nine-tailed fox threw back its head and let loose an almighty roar upon seeing this, and all of the spiritual light within the azure spirit domain converged toward him before forming six azure light barriers in front of him.
Countless bursts of worm-like spiritual light were shing and squirming incessantly over the light barriers, giving off tremendousw power fluctuations.
The azure light barriers had only just taken shape when the golden wyrm arrived before crashing into the azure light barriers, which were shattered one after another in rapid session.
However, the golden wyrm had also been whittled down significantly, having been reduced to around half of its original size, but it hadn''t slowed down in the slightest.
A stunned look appeared in the nine-tailed fox''s eyes upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to release two bursts of light, one ck and one azure.
The two bursts of light then intertwined to form a massive ck and azure arrow, which crashed into the golden wyrm.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as a giant ball of golden light emerged, epassing everything within a radius of several dozen kilometers within it, including the nine-tailed fox.
ck and azure lights were interspersed throughout the golden light, but they were clearly being overwhelmed.
The entire battlefield was instantly illuminated as a burst of unfathomably enormous spiritual pressure erupted throughout the surrounding area, sweeping up ferocious gusts of wind in all directions.
Some of the weaker Insect Race and Beast Race warriors were sent flying by the fierce gusts of wind, and they didn''t even get a chance to cry out before they werepletely dismembered.
Right at this moment, a streak of azure light shot out of the ball of golden light, then faded to reveal the nine-tailed fox.
At this moment, he was looking quite disheveled, with several long gashes on his body. There was also arge hole on his lower abdomen, and the spiritual light around his body had also dimmed significantly, making it very apparent that he had suffered very severe injuries.
"Father!" Suliu eximed as he hurriedly arrived by the nine-tailed fox''s side, and all of the Beast Race warriors down below were looking on in despair.
Right at this moment, a sharp whistling sound rang out as the golden beetle arrived on the scene as a ball of golden light.
Even though the nine-tailed fox was very severely injured, it still stood up straight to face the enemy, while Suliu was also prepared for battle.
Right at this moment, a giant white archway abruptly appeared in the sky above the ball of golden light, then crashed down upon the golden beetle.
There was a series of ring-shaped designs engraved onto the archway, and they were giving off tremendous spiritual power fluctuations, indicating that this was a very formidable immortal treasure.
All of a sudden, the white archway began to glow with intense white radiance, which formed a giant halo that restricted the golden beetle''s body within it.
Following the emergence of the white halo, the golden beetle was instantly stopped cold in its tracks, much to the surprise of the two azure foxes.
"I didn''t think that a primordial true spirit like yourself would sink as low as to turn to a wretched human for help!" the golden beetle sneered as it swept its front limbs through the air, releasing a vast expanse of translucent golden light that instantly converged to form a streak of light that was several thousand feet in length before crashing into the white archway.
A resounding boom rang out as the streak of golden light shattered, and a deep gash was also sliced into the white archway, but it remained intact.
The white halo released by the white archway also shrank down significantly, but the golden beetle was very surprised to see that its attack had failed to destroy the target.
Right at this moment, a purplish-golden giant that was several hundred feet tall and had three heads and six arms appeared above the white archway.
It was none other than Han Li after adopting his Holy Nirvana Physique, and there was a determined look on his face as he swung his arms through the air with immense power.
Three streaks of light, one golden, one ck, and one white shot out of his hands, and they contained a golden, a ck wooden ruler, and a sheet of white paper, all of which were spoils that he had reaped from the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor.
The golden swelled drastically in size before descending upon the golden beetle, while the ck ruler also expanded rapidly before striking the beetle.
At the same time, countless huge ck runes appeared on its surface, then converged to form a ck array that epassed the golden beetle within it.
Meanwhile, the sheet of paper transformed into a vast white mountain in the blink of an eye before crashing down violently.
Bursts of white light surged out of the mountain to form a hemispherical white light barrier, which also epassed the golden beetle.
Thanks to the support from the three immortal treasures, the white archway was stabilized, and the four immortal treasures were temporarily able to trap the golden beetle.
However, Han Li didn''t let down his guard in the slightest upon seeing this, and he began to chant a rapid incantation.
He hadn''t decided to enter the fray out of the kindness of his heart. Instead, the problem was that Jin Tong wasn''t going to be able to hide in Xiao Bai''s body for long, and if Yohu were to be defeated, then he would be forced to face this High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal on his own once Jin Tong inevitably emerged from Xiao Bai''s belly.
With that in mind, Han Li was casting a rapid string of incantation seals into the four immortal treasures with four of his hands, while his other two hands were swept through the air to release Feng Tiandu''s full set of 36 Origin Separation Law Chains, which he had obtained in the wake of Feng Tiandu''s demise.
However, he still hadn''t been able topletely refine them, but even so, they had served as Feng Tiandu''s bonded treasure, so they naturally contained tremendousw powers, and they were particrly effective in sealing a target''s soul.
All three of Han Li''s heads were chanting an urgent incantation, and the 36 Origin Separation Law Chains instantly sprang to life as countless tiny ck runes surged out of them, giving off bursts of astonishingw power fluctuations.
The golden beetle was very rmed upon sensing the aura of the Origin Separation Law Chains, and it let loose a furious roar as all of the golden light around it abruptly surged back into its body, forming a series of shing golden spots that resembled countless eyes all over its exoskeleton.
A loud shrieking sound rang out as a streak of translucent golden light shot out of each of those golden eyes before striking the four immortal treasures.
The golden began to tremble violently, and it was the first one to be torn apart. After that, the ck array formed by the wooden ruler was only able tost a few seconds before it was also destroyed, immediately following which the giant ck ruler shattered into countless pieces.
The countless streaks of translucent golden light then struck white archway and the white mountain in a devastating barrage, but the pair of immortal treasures proved to be surprisingly resilient, managing to hold themselves together, much to Han Li''s relief.
Both the archway and the sheet of white paper were immortal treasures that had been crafted out of jade materials, and just as he had anticipated, such materials were more adept at warding off attacks from Gold Devouring Immortals.
He began to cycle through his hands seals even more urgently as all six of his eyes began to glow brightly, and a translucent sword projection suddenly shot out of the be of his central head, then reached the golden beetle in a sh.
The golden beetle immediatelyshed out at the sword projections with its front limbs at an astonishing speed, but before they were able to intercept the sword projection, it had already pierced straight into the golden beetle''s head.
A pained look instantly appeared on the golden beetle''s face, and its massive body began to tremble uncontrobly as it let loose an agonized cry.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to release a ball of purplish-golden blood essence, which transformed into a cloud of purplish-golden mist that fused into the 36 Origin Separation Law Chains.
After absorbing Han Li''s blood essence, the runes on the Origin Separation Law Chains began to glow even brighter, while thew powers that they released were also further enhanced.
As Han Li made one final hand seal, the 36 Origin Separation Law Chains abruptly vanished from the spot before reappearing in front of the golden beetle and attempting to burrow their way into its body.
Even though the golden beetle was still trembling uncontrobly, it was still able to remain lucid and conscious, and it released a burst of golden light with great difficulty, within which were 30 to 40 radiant goldenw threads.
The goldenw threads began to revolve on the spot, forming a golden vortex that swept up the 36 Origin Separation Law Chains to suck them in.
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he hurriedly began to make hand seals with all six of his hands, doing everything in his power to stabilize the Origin Separation Law Chains.
At the same time, another translucent sword projection shot out of his be before piercing into the golden beetle''s head in a sh.
The golden beetle wailed in agony once again, and the golden vortex shuddered slightly, but it remained intact and was continuing to suck in the Origin Separation Law Chains.
An urgent look appeared on Han Li''s face, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, an azure spirit domain abruptly appeared around the golden beetle before rapidly spreading outward in all directions.
Han Li immediately turned to discover Yohu flying to him.
At the same time, a series of azurew threads emerged around the golden vortex, and there were also around 30 to 40 of them.
The azurew threads flew into the golden vortex in a sh to impede the goldenw threads, and the speed of revolution of the golden vortex was instantly significantly slowed.
Yohu then opened his mouth to release a burst of ck and azure light, which formed another giant arrow, and it shrieked through the air before piercing into the golden vortex in a sh.
The golden vortex instantly began to bulge before exploding violently, freeing the 36 Origin Separation Law Chains, which instantly burrowed their way into the golden beetle''s body.
Chapter 562: Forced Into Retreat
Chapter 562: Forced Into Retreat
An rmed look appeared in the golden beetle''s eyes, and the golden light around its body was fading at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye before vanishing altogether.
Immediately thereafter, its enormous aura alsopletely faded, and it began to plummet out of the sky like a dead weight.
The white archway and the giant mountain had already been severely damaged by the golden beetle''s resistance, and finally, both of them exploded in the face of the shockwaves resulting from the sh between the two High Zenith Stage Jade Immortals.
The golden beetle was extremely rmed to discover that its nascent soul had somehow been sealed, rendering itpletely unable to draw upon any of its immortal spiritual power.
Yohu could also sense what was happening within the golden beetle''s body, and he took a surprised nce at Han Li while sweeping his front paws through the air.
Several ck and azure arrow projections instantly emerged before striking the golden beetle in a sh, and upon being struck by the arrows, the golden beetle''s fall was drastically elerated, sending it crashing into the ground to create an enormous crater.
Yohu was just about to give chase when he grimaced in pain, and the azure light emanating from his body quickly faded, immediately followed by his azure spirit domain.
"Father!"
Suliu hurriedly flew over to Yohu to support him while also releasing two bursts of azure light out of the palms of his paws into Yohu''s body.
Only then was Yohu''s aura somewhat stabilized.
Right at this moment a streak of golden light suddenly erupted out of the giant crater down below, and the golden beetle was flying rapidly into the distance.
The exoskeleton on its back had split open and was functioning as a pair of wings.
Even though its immortal spiritual power had been sealed, it still possessed its physical prowess, and even with just its wings alone, it was still able to fly at an astonishing speed.
"You''re not getting away!" Suliu roared as he prepared to set off in pursuit.
"Let it go," Yohu said. "Even though the insect spirit''s immortal spiritual power has been sealed, its physical prowess is still tremendous. With your powers, even if you manage to catch up to it, you won''t be able to kill it anyway."
Suliu stopped sheepishly in his tracks upon hearing this.
Yohu then turned to look at Han Li, who had also refrained from setting off in pursuit of the golden beetle.
At this point, he had already reverted back to his human form, and his face was quite pale, while blood was trickling down from the corner of his lips.
Even though he had only fought briefly in the battle, he had unleashed virtually all of his trump cards, and he only less than 10% of his immortal spiritual power left.
Even with pills and Immortal Origin Stones to replenish himself, he most likely wouldn''t have been able to hold on had the Gold Devouring Immortal juststed a few more seconds.
"Thank you for your assistance, Fellow Daoist," Yohu said to Han Li.
"You''re far too kind. If that insect spirit hade out on top, I would''ve been in quite a terrible situation," Han Li replied as he wiped the blood from his lips.
Yohu looked at Han Li for a moment longer, then began to fly toward the Dark Star Canyon.
Suliu was just about to follow along when Yohu instructed, "You stay here."
A displeased look appeared on Suliu''s face upon hearing this, but he still obliged in the end, and he turned to take a nce at Han Li as he said, "You''ve got some tricks up your sleeve, kid. Let''s have a fight once you''re recovered from your injuries."
After that, he flew down toward the battlefield below without waiting for a response.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he promptly swallowed a pill.
In the wake of the golden beetle fleeing the battlefield, the Insect Race army''s morale was instantlypletely crushed, and Suliu was able to tear through their ranks without equal.
Before long, the Insect Race army had beenprehensively defeated and began to retreat.
......
Deep within the Dark Star Canyon, there was a massive waterfall crashing down between two mountains, producing a vast cloud of water vapor that reflected a dazzling rainbow under the light of the sun.
The waterfall was gushing into an enormous pool, and waves were rippling incessantly over the surface of the water in the pool.
Right at the center of the pool stood a tall and majestic ck stone pce, and at this moment, there was a huge lit brazier at the center of the pce, illuminating the entire space.
Around the brazier were a series ofrge chairs, upon which were seated the chiefs of all of the Beast Race tribes.
The chair that was directly opposite the gate of the stone pce was upied by none other than Nuo Qinglin, and to his left were Ulu and the others, while the chairs on his right were vacant for now.
Several other Calm Dawn beings were standing behind Nuo Qinglin, one of whom was his daughter, Nuo Yifan.
"Has there been any news from the Azure Boar, Menace Lion, and Night Owl Tribes? When will they be able to get here?" Nuo Qinglin asked with a solemn expression.
One of the older Calm Dawn beings stepped forward and reported, "The Azure Boar Tribe sent word two days ago, stating that they''ll be here in three months, while the Menace Lion and Night Owl Tribes will arrive a littleter, but they should be here within half a year."
"Send out some Azure Jade Pigeons right away to inform them of what happened today and urge them to get here faster," Nuo Qinglin instructed.
"Yes, Chief," the Calm Dawn being replied, then immediately departed to carry out the order.
Following his departure, the pce fell silent again, and the atmosphere was a little tense.
During the prior battle, the insect spirit had put on an extremely formidable disy, and the Beast Race army had also been clearly at a disadvantage against the Insect Race army, so even though they had won the battle, morale was still very low.
"This attack from the Insect Race was very strange in quite a few ways, and it''s already quitemendable that we were able to ward them off on such short notice, so don''t be too hard on yourselves. Right now, we need to be on our guard in case they suddenly turn around for a second attack. Once all of our tribes are united, it''ll be time for us to retaliate!" Nuo Qinglin dered.
It wasn''t clear if everyone in the pce had actually been encouraged by his words, but they still all gave affirmative responses.
Following the departure of the other tribal leaders, the chiefs of the Violent Bear Tribe and the Monohorn Tribe remained seated with Nuo Qinglin.
"Where is that human right now?" Ulu asked with a hesitant expression.
"ording to the people that I have keeping an eye on him, he''s already returned to the cave abode I''ve arranged for him," Nuo Qinglin replied.
"His performance during the battle was extraordinary! Even our king wasn''t able to force back the insect spirit, yet he was able to do it on his own, and I don''t think he''s even shown us his full power. How about we give him a more detailed map and get him to leave as soon as possible?" the chief of the Monohorn Tribe proposed.
"I''m just worried that it won''t be so easy to get him to leave," Ulu mused with a concerned expression.
"I think your concerns are unnecessary. If he truly harbored sinister intentions against our Beast Race, then he wouldn''t have faced off against the insect spirit. Instead, he would''ve taken the opportunity to turn on us. On top of that, I''ve already instructed my people to keep a close eye on him, and I''ll immediately be informed as soon as he does anything," Nuo Qinglin said.
"I certainly hope you''re right... I just can''t shake the feeling that there''s something strange about the attack from the Insect Race. No matter how I look at it, it just doesn''t make sense for the Insect Race tounch such arge-scale attack at a time like this," Ulu said.
"If I recall correctly, it sounded like the insect spirit was searching for something..." the chief of the Monohorn Tribe mused.
"I also recall hearing it demanding that we hand something over," Ulu chimed in with furrowed brows.
"This is the territory of our Calm Dawn Tribe! Regardless of what it''s looking for, we won''t let it get its way!" Nuo Qinglin dered.
"Chief Nuo is right. The honor of our Beast Race is not to be vited! Once all of our tribes are assembled, we must exact vengeance upon the Insect Race!" Ulu dered.
The chief of the Monohorn Tribe didn''t say anything, but he also nodded in agreement.
Following the departure of the two chiefs, Nuo Qinglin and Nuo Yifan were the only ones left in the pce.
"Father..."
As soon as Nuo Yifan opened her mouth to speak, Nuo Qinglin immediately raised a hand to stop her.
"I know what you want to say. You feel guilty because we''re being so wary of someone who''s just saved our Beast Race, right?" Nuo Qinglin asked.
Nuo Yifan nodded in response.
"Humans are even more cunning and vicious than the Insect Race, so I have no choice but to be on my guard," Nuo Qinglin sighed.
"Wasn''t Mother also a human? Clearly, there are good people in all races and tribes," Nuo Qinglin argued.
A reminiscent look appeared on Nuo Qinglin''s face upon hearing this, and he replied, "Your mother was indeed an exception. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have taken her as my wife despite the objections of the entire tribe. However, it was exactly because she was too kind and pure and that she was killed by her own race."
Back when Nuo Yifan was still a child, her mother had been killed by human cultivators. Even though Nuo Qinglin had gone on to avenge her, his hatred for humans had be very deep-rooted in the wake of that incident.
"Don''t worry, as long as he doesn''t harm the interests of our Beast Race, I won''t do anything to him. Instead, once he decides to leave, not only will I give him the maps that I promised, I''ll also present him with other gifts to thank him for what he did for us," Nuo Qinglin said in a gentle voice as he gently stroked his daughter''s hair, and only then did a faint smile appear on Nuo Yifan''s face.
Meanwhile, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on the stone bed in the inner room of his cave abode, and he was resting with his eyes closed, while his entire body enshrouded within ayer of azure light.
Jin Tong wasying on the bed beside him, looking up at him with her eyes wide open.
Some timeter, Han Li exhaled as he slowly opened his eyes, and Jin Tong immediately asked, "How are you feeling, Uncle?"
"I''m alright. I just need to take some pills, then rest for a while longer, and I''ll be perfectly fine," Han Li replied.
"That''s good to hear," Jin Tong said with a relieved expression.
"How are you feeling? Are you afraid to have such a powerful Gold Devouring Immortaling after you?" Han Li jibed with a faint smile.
Chapter 563: Secret Plan
Chapter 563: Secret n
"When have I ever been afraid of anyone! That thing is just... a little stronger than I am... Even if I can''t eat it for now, I''ll definitely be able to cripple it, and if I can''t do that... Well, I still have you, don''t I?" Jin Tong''s voice became quieter and quieter as she spoke, and by the end, it was nothing more than a whimper.
"Right now, I''m definitely no match for it. If Yohu hadn''t been on that battlefield, we would''ve been in a great deal of trouble," Han Li sighed.
"Before we ran into that thing, I only had a vague sense of it, but after being in such close proximity to it,'' it''s alreadypletely locked onto my aura, so we won''t be able to get away from it unless we leave the primordialnd altogether," Jin Tong said with a dejected expression.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh and shook his head upon hearing this.
In the face of a Gold Devouring Immortal that was far more powerful than herself, Jin Tong instinctively wanted to devour them, but she also instinctively feared being devoured herself.
Jin Tong tugged on the corner of Han Li''s robe in an uneasy manner, hoping to get some reassurance, and Han Li sighed, "We''re in a pretty bad situation right now... We haven''t received the maps of the primordialnd from Chief Nuo yet, so even if we leave this ce, we''ll just get lost right away, and even if we do receive the maps, there''s no way we''ll be able to get out of the primordialnd in a short time."
"What do we do then?" Jin Tong asked with a concerned expression.
"Even though I was able to temporarily seal that thing''s nascent soul, given its powers, it won''t be long before it manages to undo the seal. The next time it attacks, even if Yohu and I join forces, we still may not be able to defeat it.
¡°Prior to that, I have to work harder in my cultivation to see if I can make some more progress, and at the same time, I''ll do my best to recover the power of my Mantra Treasured Axis. That way, we should have some chance of victory," Han Li mused with tightly furrowed brows.
"I knew you would have a way, Uncle!" Jin Tong eximed as her eyes lit up. "What are our chances of victory?"
"I''d say about 10%," Han Li replied.
Jing Tong''s face immediately fell upon hearing this. "That''s terrible!"
"Even then, that''s a very optimistic estimate. 10% is already quite high," Han Li said with a wry smile.
Jin Tong was silent for a moment, following which a thought suddenly urred to her as she asked, "Uncle, do you have any other treasures like that cauldron from before? If you could get me a few of those to eat, maybe I''ll be able to beat that thing after I take a nap!"
"Those types of treasures are extremely rare. Besides, I didn''t even get to examine it before you ate it, so I don''t even know what type of treasure it is," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
At this point, Jin Tong was desperate, and she turned to Xiao Bai as she urged, "Xiao Bai, try and sniff out some treasures nearby!"
Xiao Bai merely rolled its eyes in response.
......
Several monthster.
In arge pce at the foot of the waterfall in the Dark Star Canyon were dozens ofrge chairs ced around a bonfire, several of which were currently upied by foreign beings.
While there weren''t many of them present, all of them were chiefs of some of thergest tribes in the entire Beast Race, making them the most powerful figures in the Beast Race with the exception of the true spirits.
"Chief Nuo, you made a decision to summon our king on your own without waiting for all of the tribes to assemble. How are you going to exin yourself?" a purple-skinned man asked as he turned to Nuo Qinglin.
"What exnation do you require from me, Chief Deng Gui? What would you have done if the insect spirit had suddenly stormed onto the territory of your Night Owl Tribe with such a formidable army?" Nuo Qinglin countered.
"Don''t pin the me on Chief Nuo, it was Master Suliu who summoned our king," Ulu chimed in as he took a displeased look at the purple-skinned man.
"Let''s not descend into senseless bickering. There''s no way the insect spirit will just give up, so we have to devise a n for retaliation."
This time, it was a white-robed woman with a near-transparent body that had spoken.
Her facial features were quite simr to those of a human, and there were faint azure patterns around her eyes, which were extremelyrge and shimmering with a peculiar, seductive light.
"Chief Yinmei is right, let''s have a constructive discussion. Chief Nuo, I heard that a human yed a major role in forcing the insect spirit into retreat. Is that true?" a man who resembled a humanoid boar with sharp ck spikes all over his body asked.
While he had a hideous appearance, he possessed the highest cultivation base out of everyone present, and everyone immediately turned to Nuo Qinglin upon hearing this.
"That''s right. He saved my daughter and the Longneck Tribe back on Bright Deer Hill, then escorted them back to the Dark Star Canyon, so I allowed him to stay in the canyon," Nuo Qinglin exined.
"Have you gone senile, Chief Nuo? I can''t believe you would ept another human into your ranks," the purple-skinned man sneered.
"I''ve already issued orders for him to be ced under tight surveince. All he wants are some maps of the primordialnd, and once I''vepiled them and given them to him, he''ll be on his way," Nuo Qinglin replied in a cold voice.
"How was a mid-Golden Immortal cultivator able to y such a major role in forcing the insect spirit into retreat?" the boar-like man asked with a perplexed expression.
"Have you considered how much of a coincidence it was that the insect spirit attacked right after he came to the Dark Star Canyon? Perhaps they agreed on this n in advance to put on an act, and once we''re all here in the Dark Star Canyon, the insect spirit will return to wipe us all out," Deng Gui spected as he raised an eyebrow.
His spection wasn''t backed with any evidence, but it immediately sowed a seed of doubt in everyone''s hearts, and all of them turned to Nuo Qinglin for an answer.
"He''s not just an ordinary mid-Golden Immortal cultivator. He has a spirit pet that possesses the aura of a primordial true spirit, and there are also many types of true spirit bloodlines in his body. Do you think the insect spirit would be willing to work with a human that possesses beastly true spirit bloodlines?" Nuo Qinglin retorted.
"He possesses true spirit bloodlines?" Deng Gui eximed with a surprised expression.
"I wouldn''t have allowed him to set foot in my Dark Star Canyon otherwise," Nuo Qinglin replied with an indifferent expression.
"What do you think of this, Chief Ze Wushi?" Yin Mei asked as he turned to the boar-like man.
"If he possesses true spirit bloodlines, then there''s no way that he could be working with the Insect Race. However, there''s no way that we can trust a human. If he can be used, then we''ll use him, but if he can''t, then we have to make him leave as soon as possible," the boar-like man mused.
Yin Mei nodded as she agreed, "Given his powers and his cultivation base, it would be best not to make an enemy out of him."
"I have no objections," Deng Gui agreed with a shrug.
"In that case..."
"Hold on a second," an elderly voice interjected before Nuo Qinglin had a chance to finish his sentence.
Everyone immediately turned to the chair that was directly facing Ze Wushi''s, and an elderly man with a head of white hair and wrinkles all over his face leaned forward slightly before standing up from his chair.
At first nce he appeared to be no different in appearance for a human, but upon closer inspection, one would discover that there were eight or nine fist-sized lion heads growing around his face.
While everyone had been in discussion earlier, he had been leaning back against his chair with his eyes closed, looking as if he had fallen asleep and had only just woken up a moment earlier.
"What do you think, Senior Yin Shen?" Nuo Qinglin asked.
This man was the previous chief of the Menace Lion Tribe, so he was a very senior figure in the Beast Race. He had already passed down his position to his only son so that he could focus on cultivation, but his son was killed during a conflict with some human primordial hunters.
He had immediately stormed out of seclusion in a fit of rage and pursued those human cultivators for millions of kilometers, chasing them all the way to the northern city wall of Primordial Origin City, where he finally slew the final primordial hunter. After that, he had returned with several hundred human heads and piled them all up in front of his son''s grave before assuming the role of chief again.
"As I''m sure you''re all aware, the insect spirit''s physical prowess and regenerative abilities are even superior to those of our king. Not only was our Dark Star Canyon not prepared for this attack, the Insect Race also wasn''t able to draw upon all of its power on such short notice.
¡°Once it makes a recovery and attacks again with the Insect Race army, our king most likely still won''t have recovered from his injuries, so how will we be able to stop it?" Yin Shen asked in an expressionless manner.
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.
"Don''t try to build suspense, Chief Yin Shen. If you have a solution, theny it out for us."
The person who had spoken was a wizened elderly woman with a head of white hair. Her ears were extraordinarilyrge, and her nose was elongated into a trunk.
She wasparable to Yin Shen when it came to seniority, and she was the chief of the Divine Elephant Tribe.
"Indeed, Senior Yin Shen. Please tell us your n," Ze Wushi also urged.
"Seeing as that human possesses true spirit bloodlines, I don''t think I need to tell all of you how we can maximize his usefulness to us," Yin Shen said as he took a nce at Nuo Qinglin.
Deng Gui''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "You''re suggesting that we refine the true spirit bloodlines out of his body to speed up the recovery of our king?"
"We can''t do that! He may be a human, but he''s helped our Beast Race on several asions, we can''t repay his kindness with such atrocities!" Nuo Qinglin immediately eximed with tightly furrowed brows.
"Have you forgotten how your wife met her demise, Chief Nuo? You must be insane if you think humans are deserving of any trust or empathy!" Deng Gui scoffed.
"We''re weighing up the life of a single human and the existence of our entire race here. Surely you know what choice must be made, Chief Nuo," Ze Wushi said.
"Our king was only able to force back the insect spirit with his help, so there''s no way that our king would agree to this," Nuo Qinglin protested.
"That''s where you''re wrong. I wasn''t actually sleeping just now. Instead, I wasmunicating with our king, and he agreed to this n," Yin Shen said with a smile.
Nuo Qinglin was silent for a moment, then sighed, "In that case, I have no objections."
"Alright, let''s discuss how we''re going to trap and kill him..."
Chapter 564: Meeting Between the Eight Spirits
Chapter 564: Meeting Between the Eight Spirits
While this discussion was taking ce between the tribal leaders, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on the stone bed in the inner room of his cave abode. His eyes were tightly shut, and there was ayer of azure light swirling around him.
Neither Jin Tong nor Xiao Bai were currently with him, and it was unclear whether they had been stowed away.
He was stillpletely oblivious to the sinister plot that the Beast Race was hatching against him, and he was wholeheartedly focused on preparing for the battle that was toe.
Compared with his status as a wanted fugitive of the Heavenly Court, this situation was an even more difficult one to contend with, and it could be said that this was the biggest crisis that he had faced sinceing to the True Immortal Realm.
By some strokes of luck, he had been able to kill a High Zenith Stage Immortal Envoy of the Heavenly Court, but in this case, he was facing a formidable foe that was far more powerful than even Gongshu Jiu.
Even though the chances of oveing this ordeal were extremely slim, he naturally wasn''t going to just give up.
Time slowly passed by, and after a while, Han Li opened his eyes, while the azure light swirling around him also faded.
He cast an expressionless gaze toward the outer room, then slowly closed his eyes once again.
At the same time, a figure was racing through the sky near the valley that Han Li was staying in, and they arrived on the scene as a streak of azure light before drawing to an abrupt halt in mid-air.
It was none other than the white-robed Nuo Qinglin, and he extended a hand forward as he instructed, "Come with me."
A slender hand reached out of thin air to remove the hood of a cloak, and Nuo Yifan suddenly appeared amid a sh of gray light.
"Father, Senior Li has shown us nothing but kindness, how can we..."
"This is not what I want to see, either, but the decision was arrived at by all of our tribes, and I cannot go against it," Nuo Qinglin interjected before she had a chance to finish.
"But it''s the wrong decision! Father, you''ve always denounced humans as an honorless and treacherous race, but how are we any different from them with what we''re doing right now?" Nuo Yifan protested with tightly furrowed brows.
"This is a decision made by our king, what else can I do?" Nuo Qinglin sighed.
A disappointed look appeared on Nuo Yifan''s face upon hearing this, and she fell silent as she turned to look at the mountain face in the distance.
At this point, all of the Calm Dawn beings within a radius of several hundred kilometers had already been evacuated, and the entire area had been surrounded by an elite army of several thousand Beast Race warriors, led by dozens of grand elders from various tribes.
All of the chiefs of the eight holy tribes aside from Nuo Qinglin were also all hovering in the sky above the mountain face, staring intently at Han Li''s cave abode.
Chief Yin Shen of the Menace Lion Tribe swept a hand through the air, and a small yellow g appeared in his grasp before he waved it at the dozens of grand elders in the distance.
The grand elders raised the bone staves in their hands in unison upon seeing this, and they also began to chant a strange incantation.
As soon as their incantation rang out, the river that was flowing through the Dark Star Canyon instantly became extremely violent and turbulent, while bursts of azure and purple light emerged from the vines draped over the nearby mountain faces, forming a series of fox head totems.
As these fox heads emerged, the canyon suddenly began to turn dark, and before long, it was as if day had transitioned into night.
At the same time, specks of starlight rose up from all directions, forming a radiant river of starlight that descended straight down from the night sky, filling the entire canyon with a strange and profound power.
As the chanting from the grand elders continued, all of the thousands of elite Beast Race warriors began performing what appeared to be a ceremonial dance.
Before long, streaks of light had converged to form a massive restrictive array around the mountain face,pletely surrounding the entire mountain face and the cave abode upon it.
"Pleasee out, Fellow Daoist Li. The tribes of our Beast Race have something to discuss with you," Yin Shen dered in a thunderous voice, and his voice was echoing incessantly within the canyon.
There was no response.
"Pleasee out to see us, Fellow Daoist Li," Yin Shen repeated.
He could clearly sense that Han Li''s aura was still in the cave abode, so he wasn''t worried that Han Li had snuck away.
Many of the Beast Race warriors present had witnessed Han Li''s battle against the insect spirit, so even though they didn''t want to admit it, deep down, they were quite fearful of Han Li.
Not only was that the case for them, even the likes of Ulu and Nuo Qinglin were extremely wary of him, but they had no choice but to do this for the survival of their race.
After calling out for a third time, all of the Beast Race warriors present finally began to develop a sense that something wasn''t quite right.
"Is there something wrong?" Ulu asked with tightly furrowed brows, while the other chiefs were just as perplexed.
"He''s just ying mind games with us. I''ll force him toe out!" Deng Gui of the Night Owl Tribe harrumphed coldly, then swooped down toward the mountain face like a bird of prey.
However, before he was able to descend upon the cave abode, a resounding boom suddenly rang out from the mountain face, and the cave abode abruptly exploded violently, sending powerful shockwaves sweeping through the air in all directions.
Deng Gui''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly flew back in retreat, hovering in mid-air a safe distance away from the mountain face.
All of the other Beast Race warriors also began staring at the mountain face with apprehensive looks on their faces.
From the wreckage of the cave abode emerged an azure-robed man, who looked up at the Beast Race chiefs with a calm andposed expression.
Aside from a few of the chiefs present, none of them dared to meet his gaze. It was as if the proud Beast Race had lowered its head in the face of a human.
Among these few chiefs were Yin Shen, Nuo Qinglin, and the chief of the Divine Elephant Tribe.
At this moment, Nuo Qinglin was looking at Han Li with aplexbination of sympathy, apology, and resignation in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Han Li remained silent andposed, and he refrained from releasing his mid-Golden Immortal Stage aura. Even so, there was still a sense of immense pressure emanating from his body, and all of the Beast Race warriors were bing more and more uneasy by the second.
The entire area had descended into a strange silence, but right at this moment, Yin Shen roared, "Attack!"
As soon as this order was issued, all of the grand elders immediately began waving their bone staves through the air while chanting an incantation, and blood began to flow out of the palms of their hand before trickling down onto their bone staves, staining them a bright red.
At the same time, a giant true spirit projection began to emerge above the array that surrounded the entire mountain face, and it was gradually taking on a more and more substantial appearance.
Bursts of tremendous pressure also came crashing down from the sky, striking all of the Beast Race warriors present with a sense of asphyxiation.
Before long, the first true spirit descended upon the mountain face. It was none other than the armor-d six-tailed fox, Suliu.
Immediately after him came a giant rhinoceros the size of a mountain and a huge falcon with feathers that resembled dark metal.
Bursts of tremendous energy fluctuations surged through the air as all eight of the true spirits revered by the Beast Race emerged one after another, and all of them were glowering at the azure-robed man down below.
Even in the face of the eight true spirits, Han Li continued to stand in silence with his hands sped behind his back.
Suliu stared at Han Li for a moment longer, following which his brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and he swooped down from above with tremendous force before swinging one of his tails at Han Li.
A resounding boom rang out as the entire mountain face copsed, and Han Li was buried beneath the rubble.
Everyone else was quite dumbfounded to see this, unable toprehend what they were witnessing.
"You idiots! He''s already run away long ago!" Suliu eximed as he turned to all of the tribal leaders present with a furious expression.
As he lifted his tail, Han Li was nowhere to be seen. Instead, all that remained in his ce was a dark yellow bean and an azure horse mask, both of which were glowing faintly amid the wreckage.
Shortly thereafter, the bean fell dark after exhausting the final hint of spiritual energy within it.
Nuo Qinglin arrived on the scene, and Yin Shen turned to him as he asked, "How did this happen? How was that human tipped off in advance?"
A hint of fury welled up in Nuo Qinglin''s heart at Yin Shen''s usatory tone, and he asked in a furious voice, "How would I know? Are you suspecting me?"
"I heard that your daughter was quite close with that human..." Deng Gui mused in a suggestive manner.
"Shut your mouth!" Nuo Qinglin snapped. "Yifan has been sealed in her room ever since we decided on this n!"
Suliu also turned to Deng Gui with a menacing expression as he asked, "What did you say about Yifan?"
Deng Gui immediately lowered his head upon hearing this, not daring to say anything further.
Suliu wasn''t particrly powerful among all of the true spirits worshiped by the Beast Race, but he was the son of the king of the true spirits, Yohu, so it was certainly not a good idea for anyone in the Beast Race to get on his bad side.
Ulu and Marlon exchanged a nce with each other, and each of them could see their own schadenfreude mirrored in one another''s eyes. Everyone knew that Suliu was extremely fond of Yifan, yet it seemed that Deng Gui had a death wish.
One of the main reasons why the Calm Dawn Tribe was one of the eight holy tribes was because the true spirit that they worshiped was Suliu, and the other important factor was how fond Suliu was of Nuo Yifan.
The ck hawk was the true spirit revered by the Night Owl Tribe, and it also gave Deng Gui a cold, reprimanding re. Sweat immediately began to bead up on Deng Gui''s forehead as he fell into a fearful silence.
Chapter 565: Venturing Deep Into the Primordial Land
Chapter 565: Venturing Deep Into the Primordial Land
"Don''t go around ming women all the time for your own ipetence," Suliu scoffed, then gradually faded away into nothingness.
As for the other true spirits, they chatted briefly with one another, then departed as well.
In the sky above the rubble that used to be the mountain face, the members of the eight holy tribes were all looking on with tightly furrowed brows.
Several thousand feet away, Nuo Yifan was also observing what was happening in the distance while concealed in her gray cloak, and she was very relieved by what she saw.
......
On a lone peak that was tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Dark Star Canyon, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed under an enormous tree. His eyes were closed, and his entire body was enshrouded within ayer of golden light.
Right at this moment, his eyes suddenly sprang open as a mocking sneer appeared on his face.
"Why are you smiling like that, Uncle?" Jin Tong asked with a perplexed expression.
"The Beast Race has decided to attack me," Han Li replied.
A hint of disappointment appeared on Jin Tong''s face upon hearing this, and she turned with tightly furrowed brows to face Xiao Bai, who was grinning from ear to ear.
In the face of Jin Tong''s cold re, Xiao Bai hurriedly wiped the smile from its own face as it said in a careful manner, "I win the bet this time, so..."
Jin Tong harrumphed coldly as she raised a hand to toss a crystal that was brimming with spiritual qi toward Xiao Bai.
"These Beast Race bastards are nothing more than a bunch of ungrateful dogs!" she cursed in a furious voice, making sure to put heavy emphasis on the words "ungrateful dogs", and Xiao Bai was just about to swallow the crystal, but he almost choked on it upon hearing this.
All of a sudden, it was beginning to regret making a bet against Jin Tong on whether the Beast Race would target Han Li.
"I possess several true spirit bloodlines, and I''m apanied by a Pixiu that''s yet to reach full maturity, both of which will be immensely beneficial for their king''s recovery. On top of that, they resent humans no less than they do the Insect Race, so it would''ve been very unwise to stay there," Han Li said with a smile.
"Your wisdom and foresight are truly astounding!" Xiao Bai praised after swallowing the crystal.
"Since when did you be such a suck-up, Xiao Bai?" Jin Tong asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"Ever since I began following Master, my life has really taken a turn for the better. Not only do I have treasures to eat every day, I also get to enjoy the protection of someone as brave and powerful as yourself! This is something that I wouldn''t even have dared to imagine in the past," Xiao Bai replied while putting on an earnest facade.
Jin Tong was very satisfied with this response, and she nodded with a pleased expression. "I can definitely agree with that!"
"By the way, that substitution method that you used was incredible, Master! With that Dao Warrior dressed in your clothes and disguised with that mask, as well as the substitution talisman in its body, it would''ve been enough to fool anyone!" Xiao Bai praised.
"Alright, stop trying to tter me. Now that we''ve left the Beast Race, we''ll no longer be able to use their true spirits to deal with that Gold Devouring Immortal, so we''re in an even worse situation than before," Han Li said as he rose to his feet.
"Uncle, I can sense that that thing is slowly recovering its power," Jin Tong said in a concerned voice.
"I didn''t refine the Origin Separation Law Chains myself, so I definitely wouldn''t have been able to use them as effectively as Feng Tiandu. On top of that, given how powerful the Gold Devouring Immortal is, we can''t expect the chains to seal it for long, so I''m sure it''lle after us again before too long," Han Li sighed.
"What should we do then?" Jin Tong hurriedly asked in an urgent voice.
"At this point, we''ve already received some maps of the Beast Race''s territory, so we''ll just have to take things one step at a time. If we can buy enough time for me to recover all of my Time Dao Runes, then we''ll have some chances of taking it by surprise and severely wounding it before fleeing the primordialnd," Han Li replied.
Jin Tong nodded in response, then asked, "Where do we go now?"
Han Li didn''t immediately reply. Instead, he flipped a hand over to produce a map, then examined it for a moment before musing, "ording to the map, the area inhabited by the Beast Race and the Insect Race is still only on the outskirts of the primordialnd, so we''ll be getting deeper into the primordialnd if we travel southward. In any case, let''s get out of this area as quickly as possible."
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon the green jade flying carriage, and after the three of them had all flown onto the carriage, it set off as a streak of green light.
Close to half a dayter.
Han Li was standing at the front of the carriage, and immortal spiritual power was flowing incessantly into the carriage from the bottom of his feet to support its flight.
The spiritual patterns on the flying carriage were shing incessantly, releasing strands of green spiritual light that formed a light barrier around the carriage.
The carriage was flying so quickly that the surrounding scenery had be very blurry and impossible to discern, but at this moment, Han Li''s brows remained tightly furrowed.
While the carriage was flying at an incredible speed, he knew that this was far from its limit. In fact, he had most likely only unleashed 20% to 30% of its power. The former owner of this treasure was a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal, so it only made sense that a mid-Golden Immortal cultivator like him wouldn''t be able to unleash its full power.
This level of speed was sufficient for normal purposes, but it was rathercking given the current circumstances.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he raised a hand to summon Daoist Xie amid a sh of golden lightning.
"Pilot the carriage for me," Han Li instructed, then took a few steps backward before sitting down.
Daoist Xie''s immortal spiritual power was far inferior to Han Li''s, and after it took over from him, the spiritual light radiating from the carriage instantly dimmed a little, while its speed was also noticeably reduced.
Han Li paid no heed to this as he flipped a hand over to summon his Dragon 5 mask before putting it on, then conjured up a crimson light screen in front of himself.
Aside from the additional Earthly List included on the crimson light screen, it was no different from the screens of light conjured up using other Transient Guild masks.
From there, Han Li released a mission, searching for a way for Golden Immortal cultivators to use High Zenith Stage immortal treasures, and he was offering quite a handsome reward.
After that, he turned his gaze to the exchange section on the light screen before carefullybing through it.
Momentster, a stack of yellow array tools, a white umbre immortal treasure, and a green jade lock appeared on the ground beside him, all of which were giving off formidable spiritual power fluctuations.
Jin Tong''s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of these treasures, but it was clear that they were useful to Han Li, so she could only suppress her own desires and wrench her gaze away from the treasures.
Close to a day quickly flew by.
The crimson light screen rippled momentarily before fading away, following which Han Li removed his mask before stowing it away.
Jin Tong immediately approached him while riding atop Xiao Bai, then asked with a curious expression, "You spent a lot of Immortal Origin Stones, Uncle! What did you end up buying?"
"Those things are all useful to me, so I can''t let you eat them," Han Li replied as he swept a sleeve through the air, stowing away all of the itemsid out on the ground in front of him.
A displeased pout appeared on Jin Tong''s face.
"Can you sense anything from that Gold Devouring Immortal?" Han Li asked.
A grim look immediately appeared in Jin Tong''s eyes as she replied, "It seems to be recovering its power at a faster rate than before, but the good news is that it still hasn''te after us yet."
"How long can you stay in Xiao Bai''s stomach for?" Han Li asked with a solemn expression.
"There''s a special type of power in the internal space in Xiao Bai''s stomach, and even though it can''t digest my body, it does affect my soul, so I can only stay in there for an hour at a time at most before having toe back out," Jin Tong replied as she patted Xiao Bai on the head.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
While inside Xiao Bai''s internal space, Jin Tong was able to escape the detection of the Gold Devouring Immortal, and that was very useful, but an hour was simply too short a timeframe to make a substantial difference.
Essentially, this meant that the Gold Devouring Immortal would be able to lock onto them once every hour.
"Is there any way for you to extend the duration that Jin Tong can remain in your body?" Han Li asked as he turned to Xiao Bai.
"My internal space is an innate ability of our Pixiu Tribe, but unfortunately, I still haven''t reached full maturity yet, so I''m unable topletely control everything within this space. An hour is already the best that I can do. If we want to extend that duration, then we''ll have to think of something else," Xiao Bai replied with a shake of its head.
"In that case, as long as we can fortify your soul, you should be able to stay longer in Xiao Bai''s body. That''s something that''s easily achievable," Han Li said as he summoned his Reincarnation Pce mask before putting it on again, and the crimson light screen was conjured up a second time.
He turned to the exchange section once again, and after some searching, he quickly spotted what he was looking for.
"Soul Armor Talisman? What''s that?" Jin Tong asked with a curious expression.
"Give it a try, it might be useful for you," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
In order to deal with the bacsh from the Spirit Refinement Technique, Han Li had searched extensively for items that had effects on one''s soul, and during his search, he had seen these Soul Armor Talismans.
As the name suggested, this was a special talisman that could enhance the defenses of the soul. It was very effective, but also extremely expensive, costing 500 Immortal Origin Stones per talisman, and each one could onlyst a short time.
Han Li immediately purchased one such talisman, and it quickly emerged before him in a teleportation array amid a sh of white light.
There were some cloud designs etched onto the talisman''s surface, and it was giving off a peculiar aura alongside a burst of formidable spiritual power fluctuations.
Chapter 566: The Third Option
Chapter 566: The Third Option
"Jin Tong, give this a try to see if you can stay in Xiao Bai''s body for a bit longer," Han Li said as he handed the talisman to Jin Tong.
Jin Tong epted the talisman before adhering it to her own body, and it immediately vanished into her body as a ball of gentle white light.
A series of radiant white spirit patterns then appeared on her forehead, forming the same cloud-like designs that had been on the talisman.
A peculiar look appeared on Jin Tong''s face, following which she instructed Xiao Bai to open its mouth before flying toward it as a streak of golden light.
Xiao Bai hurriedly obliged, swallowing the streak of golden light.
An hour quickly flew by, but Jin Tong still hadn''te out, and Xiao Bai was growing a little anxious, pacing around the carriage in a concerned fashion.
Han Li was very encouraged to see this, and he continued to wait.
Another hour passed by before Xiao Bai''s expression suddenly changed slightly, and it opened its mouth, upon which Jin Tong flew out as a streak of golden light.
The white spirit patterns on her forehead had already vanished, and herplexion was looking a little pale.
Han Li didn''t immediately ask how she felt. Instead, he flipped a hand over to produce a green jade ruler before handing it to her.
Jin Tong immediately grabbed onto the ruler, then quickly crunched it down in just a few bites as if she were eating a stick of hard candy.
After that, ayer of azure light emerged over her face before quickly fading away, but herplexion was left looking a little better.
"How did it go?" Han Li asked.
"The talisman worked, Uncle! Before I had the talisman, I always felt really drowzy while inside Xiao Bai''s stomach, but the talisman made me feel a lot better," Jin Tong replied with a smile.
"How much longer do you think you''ll be able to stay in there if you had enough of these talismans at your disposal?" Han Li asked.
"Even with enough talismans, I feel like I''ll only be able to stay another hour in there at most," Jin Tong replied.
Han Li gave a contemtive nod upon hearing this.
It seemed that even with these Soul Armor Talismans enhancing her soul, she couldn''t stay in Xiao Bai''s stomach for very long. At the very most, she would only be able to stay in there for three hours at a time at the cost of two of these talismans.
This wasn''t a very long time, but it was already far better than before.
With that in mind, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to produce several more spirit treasures for Jin Tong to eat, then returned to the exchange section in the Reincarnation Pce interface to purchase over 100 Soul Armor Talismans.
This was a dire situation, so he wasn''t being stingy with his Immortal Origin Stones at all.
Right as he was about to withdraw the crimson light barrier, an ted look suddenly appeared on his face.
As it turned out, someone had already responded to the mission that he had just released.
He immediately cast an incantation seal onto the light screen, and a burst of red light emerged from within, then transformed into a blurry red figure with indistinguishable facial features.
However, the words "Phoenix 19" could be clearly seen etched on the figure''s mask.
"Given that you''ve responded to this mission, I presume you must have a way for Golden Immortals to use High Zenith Stage immortal treasures, right, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li said, wasting no time with small talk.
"Before I answer that question, I want to ask what type of immortal treasure you wish to use," Phoenix 19 replied.
The voice sounded like it belonged to a man, but it was surprisingly a little high-pitched.
"A flying immortal treasure," Han Li repiled.
"I see. Generally speaking, the immortal spiritual power requirements of flying immortal treasures aren''t very high, so this will be a rtively easy case. Having said that, I''ll need you to tell me about the restrictions in the treasure," Phoenix 19 said.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he offered no response.
"Are you under the impression that I''m trying to glean the secrets of your immortal treasure? The problem is that if I''m not aware of the restrictions in the flying treasure, then I can''t decide on the best way to use it," Phoenix 19 said.
Han Li continued to stare at Phoenix 19 in silence.
The flying carriage had once belonged to Gongshu Jiu, and the Heavenly Court had members all over the entire True Immortal Realm, so he had to be extremely careful not to expose himself as Gongshu Jiu''s killer.
However, Phoenix 19 was also telling the truth.
After some contemtion, Han Li ultimately decided to give Phoenix 19 a rough description fo the restrictions in the flying carriage.
After hearing what Han Li had to say, Phoenix 19 replied, "You''ve found yourself a truly exceptional flying treasure, Fellow Daoist! The restrictions used are quite advanced, but thankfully, they''re right in my wheelhouse. There are three ways that can allow you to tap into over 80% of the carriage''s power, but each of them have their own pros and cons."
Han Li was quite encouraged to hear this, and he urged, "Please enlighten me, Fellow Daoist."
"Well... All three of those methods are closely guarded secrets, and thepensation you''re offering is a little insufficient," Phoenix 19 chuckled.
"Rest assured, if the methods that youy out are truly effective, then I''m happy topensate you ordingly, but if you''re only bluffing..."
Han Li''s voice trailed off there, but the implications were very apparent.
Phoenix 19 seemed to have been slightly irked by Han Li''s skepticism, and they said in a cold voice, "Don''t look down on me, Fellow Daoist! All of my methods are secret techniques passed down from Hundred Creations Mountain, so you can rest assured of their efficacy!"
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing the term "Hundred Creations Mountain".
This was something that he had heard the Stemborer Queen mention while back in the Spirit Realm. It was a sect in the Immortal Realm, and the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra that he had cultivated in the past was also a secret technique from Hundred Creations Mountain. /wiki/Hundred_Meridian_Refinement_Mantra#:~:text=Hundred%20Meridian%20Refinement%20Mantra%20was,a%20Buddhist%20Impervious%20Vajra%20Body.[/ref]
Judging from what Phoenix 19 had just said, it seemed like this Hundred Creations Mountain was no ordinary sect.
Phoenix 19 seemed to have realized that he had lost hisposure a little, and he cleared his throat before continuing, "These are the three methods and thepensation that I require. As for exactly which one you choose, that''ll be up to you."
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to release three specks of light, which swelled to form three light screens in mid-air, all of which were filled with tiny text.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the first light screen to discover that it contained a special secret technique that could forcibly stimte the spiritual power within the flying carriage to make up for the subpar immortal spirit power of a Golden Immortal, and this method could tap into over 90% of the carriage''s power.
At the end, a price tag of 5,000 Immortal Origin Stones was disyed.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he turned his gaze to the next light screen.
ording to the first light screen, the enclosed method didn''t require much preparation, and it could be used as long as one knew the secret technique, but it was very harmful to the flying carriage, and it wouldn''t take long before the carriage''s spiritual power waspletely exhausted.
This would be a suitable method to use on a short-term basis, but he was going to have to rely on the flying carriage on this entire journey through the primordialnd, so it clearly wasn''t going to work.
As Han Li read through the content of the second light barrier, his eyes began to light up a little.
The second light screen contained an alternative secret technique that could temporarily fuse the immortal spiritual power of several Golden Immortals into one to reach the High Zenith Stage, and this was also the most effective of the three methods, able to tap into virtually all of the flying carriage''s power.
The price tag for this method was 10,000 Immortal Origin Stones.
However, Han Li quickly realized that this was a unfeasible method, not because of the steep price, but instead because the minimum personnel requirement to unleash this secret technique was a lineup of at least threete-Golden Immortal cultivators or at least eight mid-Golden Immortal cultivators.
The lineup of Han Li, Daoist Xie, Xiao Bai, and Jin Tong was still far from reaching this minimum requirement, by his estimates, they would only be able to tap into around 60% of the carriage''s power using this secret technique, which was an improvement, for sure, but still far from ideal.
With that in mind, Han Li heard an internal sigh before turning his attention to the third light screen, whichid out an array-based secret technique that was simr in principle to the second method, also involvingbining multiple sources of immortal spiritual power into one to elevate thebined immortal spiritual power to the High Zenith Stage.
However, this array drew upon the immortal spiritual power of the Immortal Origin Stones rather than cultivators, and as long as one had sufficient Immortal Origin Stones, they could theoretically tap into the flying carriage''s full power.
Of course, the number of Immortal Origin Stones required to sustain High Zenith Stage immortal spiritual power was downright astronomical, and it was far too steep a price for most Golden Immortals.
Perhaps it was because of this that the third method only had a price tag of 1,000 Immortal Origin Stones. It was clear that Phoenix 19 didn''t rmend this method, and he had only included it to highlight the first two methods as superior options.
"Have you made your decision yet, Fellow Daoist?" Phoenix 19 asked.
"I have. I''ll take the third method," Han Li replied.
Phoenix 19 was very much taken aback to hear this.
The third method was the cheapest of the three, but its ws were very apparent. It seemed to Phoenix 19 that Han Li was quite a prudent character, so it was very surprising to him that Han Li had chosen this method.
"Are you sure, Fellow Daoist?" Phoenix 19 asked.
"I am," Han Li replied with a nod.
Phoenix 19 didn''t ask any further questions, and the exchange quickly took ce.
Momentster, a white jade slip emerged from the teleportation array at the center of the crimson light screen.
Han Li immediately grabbed the jade slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it, and only after a full hour had passed did he withdraw his spiritual sense, upon which a hint of admiration appeared on his face.
The secret techniqueid out in the jade slip was definitely a viable one, and it was also perfectly catered to Han Li''s flying carriage, indicating that it had been modified by Phoenix 19 to suit this particr case.
The fact that he was able to do this in such a short time indicated that his expertise in this field far exceeded Han Li''s.
With that in mind, Han Li made sure to keep a mental note of Phoenix 19''s name so that he could seek him out if he had encountered any other problems in this field in the future.
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a bunch of materials required to set up the array before getting to work.
1. For more information on the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, please refer to ?
Chapter 567: Pursuit
Chapter 567: Pursuit
Han Li busied himself for three days and three nights, constructing a hexagonal array at the center of the flying carriage.
The array wasn''t overlyplex, but all of the lines and runes intertwining with one another on its surface were still enough to strike the beholder with a sense of disorientation.
On each node of the hexagonal array was a hole about the same thickness of a thumb, and there were dozens of these holes littered throughout the entire array.
Han Li swept his gaze over the array momentarily, then took a deep breath before pulling out a series of Immortal Origin Stones and slotting them into these holes.
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to release an incantation seal, and the entire array instantly lit up amid a faint buzzing sound.
The Immortal Origin Stones embedded into the array began to tremble slightly while releasing bursts of spiritual light, which flowed through the lines on the array like blood before converging to a connective point at the center of the array.
A ball of radiant white light that was giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations emerged over that point on the array, and these spiritual power fluctuations were at the High Zenith Stage!
Han Li finally heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing this.
The array fully lived up to the description that Phoenix 19 had provided, and it was worth all of the resources and effort that he had poured into it. However, as expected, it was burning through immortal spiritual power at an extraordinary rate, and Han Li could sense the immortal spiritual power in the Immortal Origin Stones in the array rapidly seeping away.
It was clear that this set of several dozen Immortal Origin Stones wasn''t going to be able tost very long.
Unfortunately, there were no other feasible options avable to Han Li, and he stowed Daoist Xie away before chanting an incantation while making a hand seal.
The ball of white light at the center of the array instantly began to elongate, transforming into a pir of white light that infused itself into the flying carriage.
The spirit patterns on the flying carriage immediately began to glow several times more radiantly than they had back when Han Li was piloting the carriage, and the green light barrier around the carriage also began to churn violently before transforming into a radiant green cloud.
The speed of the flying carriage was enhanced by severalfold, and it lurched forward at a terrifying speed while trembling uncontrobly.
This was because the flying carriage was traveling so quickly that Han Li was no longer able to fully control it.
The abrupt onset of turbulence gave both Jin Tong and Xiao Bai a huge fright, and they were snapped awake from their naps before hurriedly stabilizing themselves for fear of being thrown off the carriage.
Han Li wore a solemn expression as he made a rapid string of hand seals, doing everything in his power to control the flying carriage.
As time slowly passed, he gradually grew ustomed to the carriage''s newfound speed, and only then did he rx a little.
The speed of the flying carriage had instilled him with some confidence that they would be able to escape from the Gold Devouring Immortal that was pursuing them.
"Jin Tong, from now on, stay in Xiao Bai''s stomach as much as possible to minimize the duration that the Gold Devouring Beetle can detect you. As for the Soul Armor Talismans, save those for when we encounter some real danger," Han Li instructed.
Jin Tong was aware of the gravity of the situation, so she obediently obliged without raising a fuss, flying into Xiao Bai''s mouth as a streak of golden light.
Meanwhile, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed, piloting the flying carriage with a contemtive look on his face.
Even though Jin Tong now had the resources to remain in Xiao Bai''s stomach for a longer duration of time, and the flying carriage''s speed had also been greatly enhanced, he was still feeling very concerned at the prospect of having to face ate-High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal.
The only way he could ensure that they would be able to survive this ordeal would be if he could also be a Jade Immortal, but that was clearly impossible.
Even though he had a huge supply of all types of pills, it was virtually impossible to even reach thete-Golden Immortal Stage in a short time, let alone the High Zenith Stage.
With that in mind, Han Li''s brows became tightly furrowed with concern.
However, a thought then suddenly urred to him, and he flipped a hand over to produce a green gourd amid a sh of green light. It was the Profound Heavenly Treasure that he had taken from Qu Ling.
After leaving the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, he had constantly been busy with various affairs, and he had almost forgotten about this treasure.
He looked at the green gourd in his hand for a moment, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a series of streaks of azure light, which revealed themselves to be a set of array gs thatnded near Xiao Bai.
An azure light barrier then abruptly appeared, epassing the startled Xiao Bai within it.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li raised his hand, and the green gourd immediately rose up to hover in mid-air while giving off bursts of gentle green light.
Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the green space within the gourd, and it was no different from how it had been in the past.
The green space was still filled with green light that was slowly revolving to form a massive green vortex, at the center of which was a small azure sword and a miniature three-story pavilion.
These were the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword and the pavilion immortal treasure that he had ced in the gourd to test out its powers.
At this moment, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in the vortex was releasing waves of gentle azure light, and the enormous spiritual power within it had be far purer and more restrained, as was the case with the miniature pavilion treasure.
Some timeter, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the gourd as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Given how the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword and the pavilion treasure were both still unharmed after spending so much time in the gourd, it was clear that immortal treasures could be stored in the gourd without any problems.
With that in mind, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, summoning three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords while pointing a finger at the gourd.
A burst of green light shed over the surface of the gourd, and it released a streak of green light out of its opening to sweep up the three flying swords before sucking them in.
He repeated this process over and over again, sending his other Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords into the gourd in batches, then ced the gourd down onto the ground in front of him.
Enhancing his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords wasn''t actually the primary reason behind why he had summoned the gourd.
As a Profound Heavenly Treasure, this gourd was one of his most precious treasures, second only to his Heaven Controlling Vial.
Even though it didn''t seem to be an offensive Profound Heavenly Treasure, it would surely still be a great help against the Gold Devouring Immortal if he could fully refine it.
With that in mind, Han Li turned his gaze to the opening of the gourd to discover that the coloration of the gourd there was slightly lighter than ti was elsewhere, indicating that it had been picked prior to reaching full maturity.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he pulled out his Heaven Controlling Vial, and there was a drop of faintly glowing green liquid rolling around inside.
Han Li gently tipped the vial forward, and the drop of green liquid immediately flowed onto the opening of the gourd where the lighter coloration was.
In the next instant, the green light radiating from the gourd abruptly brightened by severalfold, and countless green runes emerged within the light before dancing and churning violently like boiling water.
A burst of formidablew power fluctuations erupted out of the gourd before spreading outward, and the nearby world''s origin qi was also stirred up into a frenzy, forming balls of spiritual light of different colors.
At the moment, the flying carriage was still racing along, and these balls of spiritual light were instantly left behind, forming a dazzling wave of rainbow light behind the carriage.
Han Li paid no heed to this as he stared intently at the gourd.
The drop of green liquid quivered momentarily on the surface of the gourd, then slowly seeped into it, following which the churning runes around the gourd slowly subsided.
He carefully inspected the gourd to find that its outward appearance hadn''t changed at all, nor had any changes taken ce within its internal space.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he wasn''t overly disheartened.
Back when he infused his Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword with the green spirit liquid, it had taken a very long time for the effects to manifest themselves, so he had to be patient.
With that in mind, Han Li rose to his feet and made his way over to a corner of the flying carriage, where he set up a miniature array before cing the Heaven Controlling Vial into it.
After that, he returned to his original spot and sat back down, then opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light, which swept up the green gourd before sucking it back into his body.
A month passed by in a sh.
Under the starry night sky, the green flying carriage was racing along like a green shooting star, continuing to travel at an extraordinary speed.
Down below was a vast mountain range, and at this point, they were already far away from the Dark Star Canyon.
Han Li was currently looking down at the mountain range below with tightly furrowed brows.
Over the past month, he had constantly been keeping tabs on the High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal through Jin Tong, and ording to Jin Tong, it had been rapidly recovering its power ofte, indicating that it had most likely already freed itself from the Origin Separation Law Chains.
Han Li took a nce up at the sky, then strode over the corner of the flying carriage before picking up the Heaven Controlling Vial and dripping the drop of green liquid inside onto the green gourd.
The green gourd began to glow brightly once again while releasing bursts of formidablew power fluctuations, but just likest time, the gourd returned to normal shortly thereafter.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, and he was jut about to set the Heaven Controlling Vial down onto its original spot when he suddenly raised an eyebrow, then stowed the vial away before rushing over to Xiao Bai.
There was a concerned look on Xiao Bai''s face as it said, "Master, Jin Tong says..."
"Is iting after us?" Han Li asked in a grim voice.
"Yes. ording to Jin Tong, it''sing after us at an even faster speed than our carriage is currently traveling at," Xiao Bai replied.
"Faster by how much?" Han Li asked.
Xiao Bai was silent for a moment, then replied with a fearful expression, "About twice as fast..."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he flipped a hand over to produce the Soul Armor Talismans that he had purchased earlier, then tossed all of them into Xiao Bai''s mouth as he instructed, "Jin Tong, stay in there for as long as you can."
After that, he turned and began casting a string of incantation seals into the flying carriage and the hexagonal array on the ground.
The flying carriage immediately began to glow even brighter as it abruptly swiveled around and set off in a different direction.
Chapter 568: Life on the Run
Chapter 568: Life on the Run
Meanwhile.
Countless kilometers behind Han Li, a ball of radiant golden light that was around an acre in size was racing through the air at an extraordinary speed amid a deafening rumbling noise.
Epassed within the ball of golden light was an enormous golden beetle that was pping its wings with all its might.
This was none other than the High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal, and at this moment, there was a hint of surprise on its face.
It could sense that its target was only at the Golden Immortal Stage, but they were extremely fast. Granted, it was still faster, but its target was somehow traveling at speeds superior even to what the average High Zenith Stage true spirit was capable of reaching.
Immediately thereafter, it stopped cold in its tracks as a perplexed look appeared on its face.
All of a sudden, it was no longer able to sense its target anymore!
This was the exact same thing that had happenedst time back at the Dark Star Canyon, and while it had been recovering from its injuries, there were also several asions where its target''s aura had disappeared, just like what had happened just now.
After a brief moment of contemtion, it continued to travel in the same direction as before.
Around three hourster, its target''s aura reappeared, but this time, it was in another direction, and it was quite a bit further away.
The High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal gave a cold harrumph upon sensing this, but it wasn''t overly concerned as it turned to set off in that direction.
......
In the sky above a mountain range, the green flying carriage was racing along.
Jin Tong seemed to have juste out of Xiao Bai''s body, and herplexion was quite pale, while her breathing was also a little ragged. As for Xiao Bai, it was hanging its head in a glum fashion.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of Jin Tong''s terrible condition, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a pile of spirit treasures, all of which seemed to be of quite a high caliber.
Jin Tong sat down on the flying carriage in silence, then picked up a spirit treasure before stuffing it into her mouth.
Xiao Bai really wanted to join in on the feast as well, but it knew that Jin Tong needed the sustenance more than right now, so it suppressed its appetite andid down onto the carriage.
Right at this moment, a golden storage ring fell onto the ground in front of it, and Han Li''s voice rang out beside its ears.
"Xiao Bai, you have something to eat as well."
"Thank you, Master!" Xiao Bai immediately rose up onto its haunches before gulping down the storage bracelet, while Han Li sat down with his legs crossed once again to focus on piloting the carriage.
Now that Jin Tong was no longer concealed, he didn''t bother to change directions and merely continued onward at full speed.
Over two hourster, Jin Tong rose to her feet and herplexion had alreadypletely recovered at this point.
Han Li immediately instructed Jin Tong to hide in Xiao Bai''s stomach once again before changing directions a second time.
The High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal was furious to discover that its target''s aura had disappeared again.
Whenever this happened, its target would be able to open up some distance between them, and that was naturally very frustrating to the Gold Devouring Immortal, but it had no choice but to keep going.
Three hourster, Jin Tong''s aura reappeared, and sure enough, she had changed directions and was once again very far away, ensuring that she was constantly out of reach.
However, the Gold Devouring Immortal had already calmed down at this point.
It had be apparent to it that its target was somehow able to periodically conceal their aura at set intervals, but as long as its target couldn''t do this for extended periods of time, they would never be able to get out of its sensory range.
Sure enough, over the next few months, the Gold Devouring Immortal was still unable to catch its target, but nor was its target able to shake it off their trail.
Just like before, its target''s aura would periodically disappear, and by the time it re-emerged, it would be in another direction, quite far away.
As a result, even though the Gold Devouring Immortal was far faster than its target, it was being led on a wild goose chase, rendering itpletely passive, which was naturally very infuriating, but there wasn''t anything that it could do.
......
The green flying carriage was racing through the sky above a lush forest, and Han Li was looking a little more rxed as he piloted the carriage.
As long as he could maintain the status quo, the Gold Devouring Immortal wouldn''t be able to catch them. Even though this was very taxing on his Immortal Origin Stone reserves, fortunately, he was extremely wealthy at this point, and theoretically, he could keep this up for about three more decades.
In his mind, surely the Gold Devouring Immortal was bound to give up at some point.
The only problem was that as they ventured deeper into the primordialnd, everything was very unfamiliar to them, and they had already been attacked by primordial beasts on countless asions. Even though they had managed to weather all of those storms, this was clearly not a sustainable strategy.
The deeper they ventured into the primordialnd, the more at risk they would be.
At this moment, Jin Tong was crunching on a spirit treasure, while Xiao Bai was resting off the side with its eyes closed.
Right at this moment, a hideous screeching sound rang out from the dense forest down below, and just that sound alone was enough to send a burst of sharp pain spearing into Han Li''s soul.
He hurriedly rose to his feet, just in time to see a massive gray shadow rising up from the forest down below, and it wasn''t much slower than the carriage.
Han Li immediately activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, upon which he was able to identify the gray shadow as an enormous gray bird with a fleshy ckb on its head. As opposed to feathers, the bird had ayer of short gray fur clinging tightly to its skin, giving it an unsightly appearance.
At the same time, it was giving off a tremendous aura that indicated that it was at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage.
Han Li had no interest in getting caught up in a battle against such a formidable primordial beast, and he immediately swept a sleeve through the air to release a small white g, which swelled to several thousand feet in size before unfurling itself to reveal a sea of clouds.
This was one of the immortal treasures that Han Li had secured from Gongshu Jiu.
The sea of clouds etched onto the g began to glow with spiritual light, and a boundless expanse of white mist instantly surged out of the g before descending toward the gray bird.
The giant gray bird screeched as theb on its head lit up with dazzling gray radiance, following which it pped its wings vigorously, releasing a gust of gray wind that transformed into a formidable gray tornado.
The gray tornado was giving off hints ofw power fluctuations, it tore through the sea of clouds with ease, then swept directly toward the flying carriage.
At the same time, countless massive des of gray wind appeared within the tornado, and it was clear that these were no ordinary des of wind.
Han Li hurriedly made a hand seal to bring the flying carriage to halt, then swept a sleeve through the air to release three yellow badges, which appeared in front, to the left, and to the right of the flying carriage.
Waves of yellow light surged out of the three badges, forming a thick yellow light barrier around the flying carriage.
As soon as the yellow light barrier took shape, it was instantly ravaged by the barrage of countless gray des of wind, causing it to ripple incessantly, but ultimately, it was able to keep the des of wind at bay.
Not only that, but the yellow light barrier was even able to repel some of the des of wind, sending them hurtling back toward the gray bird, which immediately took evasive measures, seemingly quite wary of the des of wind.
At the same time, Han Li opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light that flew into the white g, and another cloud of mist instantly surged out of the g before taking on the form of seven or eight dragons that wrapped themselves around the giant gray bird in a sh.
These misty dragons were imbued with a great deal of immortal spiritual power from Han Li, and they were able to temporarily restrain the gray bird.
However, instead of taking advantage of this opportunity to try and y the bird, Han Li immediately made a hand seal to send the flying carriage racing around the giant gray bird as a streak of green light.
A few momentster, a loud thump rang out from behind the carriage, and the gray bird had struggled free from the misty dragons before setting off in pursuit of the carriage once again.
Han Li paid no heed to it as he continued to pilot the carriage onward, and it didn''t take long before the gray bird was left far behind.
After shaking off the gray bird, Han Li heaved a faint sigh of relief, then stowed the white g and yellow badges away.
No more than two hourster, a burst of buzzing rang out from up ahead, and a massive purple cloud erupted out of the forest down below before sweeping toward the flying carriage.
Han Li focused his gaze on the purple cloud to discover that it was a swarm of countless purple hos, each of which was the size of a millstone.
They had sword-like hooked stingers that were glowing blue trailing along behind them clearly indicating that they were filled with extremely potent poison.
Han Li summoned those three yellow badges to protect the flying carriage once again upon seeing this.
At the same time, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon arge crimson g, which released a vast expanse of mes to create a sea of fire around the carriage, which continued to speed directly toward the swarm of purple hos without pause.
In the end, the carriage was only able to fly out of the swarm of hos after a struggle thatsted close to two hours.
At this point, Han Li was growing more and more concerned.
As they continued onward, they encountered more and more obstacles, to the point that they had to endure up to several dozen attacks from primordial beasts and various primordial tribes every single day.
Fortunately, Han Li was very well prepared, so he was able to weather those storms just fine, but their speed had been significantly hampered by these obstructions.
What was even more concerning to him was that the Gold Devouring Immortal didn''t seem to be having the same problem. ording to Jin Tong, no primordial beasts or tribes dared to attack it thanks to its tremendous power and formidable aura.
There wasn''t anything that Han Li could do aside from continue to forge ahead, but despite his best efforts, the distance between them and the Gold Devouring Immortal was only continuing to shrink.
Chapter 569: Repaying Treachery With Treachery
Chapter 569: Repaying Treachery With Treachery
Two monthster.
A green jade flying carriage was racing over an ancient forest, leaving an extremely long trail of green light behind it.
All of a sudden, it drew to an abrupt halt, and Han Li began adding a new batch of Immortal Origin Stones onto the array on the carriage.
The array had been burning through his Immortal Origin Stones at a rapid rate, but it was a necessary sacrifice if they were to have any hope of keeping the Gold Devouring Immortal at arm''s length.
At this moment, Jin Tong was seated with her legs crossed on the carriage with a sullen look on her face, while Xiao Bai wasying on the ground with an absentminded expression.
"Uncle, if we get to a point where we''re no longer able to get away from that thing, are you going to abandon me and run away on your own?" Jin Tong suddenly asked with a concerned expression.
A weary look shed through Han Li''s eyes as he chuckled, "If you have the time to be pondering nonsense like this, you should focus on recovering as quickly as possible, then get back into Xiao Bai''s stomach."
"That thing''sing after us faster and faster, I have to spend almost all of my time in Xiao Bai''s stomach now! It would be terrible if I were to die from asphyxiation in Xiao Bai''s stomach before that thing even has a chance to get to me!" Jin Tong sighed with a dejected expression.
"You''re one toin! With youing in and out of my stomach so much, I''ve been feeling really nauseoustely, yet you don''t hear me whining! The next time the Gold Devouring Immortales chasing after us, I''m not sure I''ll be able to resist the urge to throw you back up!" Xiao Bai groaned.
"If you don''t want me to stay in your stomach, then you can stay in mine! Given how much natural treasures and immortal treasures you''ve eaten, perhaps eating you will allow me to make a breakthrough just like that pill cauldron did! When that timees, the tables will be turned, and I''ll be the hunter instead of the prey!" Jin Tong countered as her eyes roamed over Xiao Bai in a sinister fashion.
Xiao Bai immediately turned away in a fearful manner upon hearing this.
Jin Tong was just about to tease Xiao Bai a little more when her smile suddenly stiffened, and she turned to Han Li with an urgent expression as she yelled, "Quick, Uncle! It''sing again!"
"Get back in Xiao Bai''s stomach," Han Li instructed as an anxious look appeared on his face.
Immediately thereafter, the flying carriage began racing through the air at his behest.
At the same time, Jin Tong pulled out a Soul Armor Talisman before adhering it onto her own body, then flew into Xiao Bai''s mouth as a tiny golden beetle, while Xiao Bai transformed into a white jade pendant that was stowed away into Han Li''s storage pouch.
"Uncle, I can sense that it''sing even faster than before. Can we go any faster?" Jin Tong asked through voice transmission.
"This is as fast as we can go for now. By your estimates, how much longer will it take for it to catch up to us?" Han Li asked.
"If it can maintain its current speed, then it''ll definitely be able to catch up to us within one and a half months," Jin Tong immediately replied.
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this.
Momentster, he swept a sleeve through the air to produce the map that he had received from the Beast Race, then examined it for a moment before bringing the carriage to an abrupt halt.
You betrayed my trust first, so don''t me me for this...
All of a sudden, the flying carriage swiveled around and raced away in another direction.
Over a month flew by in a sh.
The flying carriage was darting over a vast mountain range, and by following the map, Han Li was able to pilot the carriage to a red valley.
As they approached the entrance of the valley, Han Li stopped the carriage, then cast his gaze toward the valley''s entrance from afar. There was a giant humanoid lion engraved into each of the two mountain faces on either side of the valley, and one of them had its arms crossed over its chest as if it were conducting a prayer, while the other was wielding a huge ax.
In between the mountain faces was an enormous arched stone bridge, which was being patrolled by many foreign beings d in suits of bone armor.
These foreign beings were each twice the size of the average human and possessed extremely imposing physiques. Their faces were simr in appearance to humans, each of them had a circle of roughly five or six lion heads growing around their faces.
This ce was called the Red Spiral Valley, and it was where the Menace Lion Tribe, one of the Beast Race''s eight holy tribes, resided.
Beneath the arched stone bridge were three giant semi-circr caves, and vast volumes of water were gushing out of those caves, sending vast clouds of water vapor erupting into the air.
While checking the map over a month ago, Han Li had discovered that they weren''t very far away from the settlement of the Menace Lion Tribe, so he had changed directions to travel to this valley.
Along the way, Jin Tong would continue to periodically hide in Xiao Bai''s stomach, but the Gold Devouring Beetle wasing after them faster and faster, so the distance between them was gradually shrinking, to the point that over the past few days, Han Li was able to sense the Gold Devouring Immortal through his spiritual sense without even requiring any alerts from Jin Tong.
Han Li inspected the valley momentarily, then made a hand seal while chanting an incantation, and his aura was instantly suppressed to the point that it was virtuallypletely undetectable.
Immediately thereafter, he swooped down from above, then descended into the murky river down below.
A dull thump rang out as Han Li plunged into the river with a tiny ssh, thenmenced a rapid descent.
Uponnding on the riverbed, he began to trudge his way upstream over the soft and loamy river soil, all the while doing his best not to use any immortal spiritual power.
The terrain of the riverbed was extremelyplex, and there were extremely powerful eddies and whirlpools at ever turn, some of which were no less powerful than attacks from treasures, but thankfully, Han Li''s physical constitution was so tremendous that he was able to make his way smoothly over the riverbed even without the use of immortal spiritual power.
Before long, he had already arrived at the foot of the giant arched bridge by scaling up the gradually elevating riverbed.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly noticed bursts of irregr energy fluctuations surging through the water up ahead, and several hundred giant ck fish that were each around 10 feet in length came swimming directly toward him.
These ck fish were covered in hard ck scales that gave off a metallic sheen, and it was clear that these scales had been hardened and polished from being buffeted by the river sand that was being thrown up by the rapid currents. They opened their mouths to reveal rows of sharp teeth, clearly intending to intimidate Han Li, whose brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
After some deliberation, he could only heave an internal sigh before unleashing his Reversal True Axis ability, allowing him to slip through the school of giant ck fish in the blink of an eye.
Over the past few months, some of his Time Dao Runes had already recovered, so he was able to use his Mantra Treasured Axis.
Sure enough, the guards of the Menace Lion Tribe patrolling the bridge up above immediately detected the faint spiritual power fluctuations released through the use of Han Li''s Reversal True Axis ability, and they all turned to look into the river.
"Go and raise the rm, this could be an enemy attack from the Insect Race!" the leader of the group of guards immediately instructed.
"Given how minor those energy fluctuations were, it''s most likely a demon beast that inadvertently stumbled into the river. The ck Scale Fish should be able to take care of it," another one of the guards said.
"Our chief isn''t here right now, so we must be on our guard. In these sensitive times, even the most minor abnormalities must be ounted for. Go and raise the rm," the leader of the guards reiterated.
The other guard immediately gave an affirmative response before rushing over to the right side of the valley, and it didn''t take long before the sound of a horn rang out across the entire valley.
Even on the riverbed, Han Li was still able to clearly hear the sound.
Immediately thereafter, the sound of one horn after another rang out, progressively getting deeper and deeper into the valley.
Armor-d Menace Lion beings immediately began flying out of the caves on the mountain faces on either side of the valley, and they were arranged into teams to scour the river for any enemy presence.
At the same time, a series of massive wooden arcuballistas on either side of the valley were all aimed into the river, and the giant arrows in the arcuballistas were shimmering a faint green glow, indicating that they were smeared with lethal poison.
Han Li made his way to arge rock in the river, then drew to a halt as hemunicated through voice transmission, "You cane out and draw the Gold Devouring Immortal here now."
"Alright, you can count on me, Uncle!" Jin Tong replied with a sly grin.
Immediately thereafter, a streak of golden light flew out of Han Li''s sleeve, and Jin Tong appeared right beside him.
After getting some stable footing on the riverbed, she closed her eyes before releasing her aura without any restraint.
There was a Menace Lion being dressed in red elder robes standing on an altar to the left of the valley, and he was astonished to sense Jin Tong''s immense aura.
"Grand Elder Yin Tong, this aura... It seems to belong to that insect spirit!" he eximed to an early-Golden Immortal Stage grand elder beside him with an incredulous expression.
The grand elder by the name of Yin Tong was just as incredulous to hear this. "How is that possible? We just received word from our chief not long ago that we''re facing off against the Insect Race army at the Dark Star Canyon, how could the insect spirit have suddenlye here? There must be a mistake..."
"Hold on, this aura seems to be different. It..."
Before the elder had a chance to finish his sentence, his voice abruptly cut off, and he was rooted to the spot in shock and horror.
"What is it?" Grand Elder Yin Tong hurriedly asked.
"Th... There''s another oneing..." the elder murmured in a shell-shocked manner as he turned to the entrance of the valley.
"What do you mean by that? Exin!" Yin Tong urged in a frustrated manner.
"There''s another insect spirit... And this one seems to be at the High Zenith Stage..." the elderly exined as he turned to Yin Tong with an ashenplexion.
Chapter 570: Massacre
Chapter 570: Massacre
Yin Tong could hardly believe his own ears. After a brief moment of stunned silence, he suddenly turned and yelled, "Yin Liang, go and send a message to our chief! Yin Feng, evacuate all of the children, women, and elderly! Everyone else, prepare for battle!"
There were seven or eight Menace Lion Tribe elders ranging from thete-True Immortal Stage and the early-Golden Immortal Stage on the altar, and all of them immediately sprang into action.
Below the giant rock on the riverbed, Han Li could clearly sense the Gold Devouring Immortal''s enormous aura rapidly approaching them, and through its aura, he could even sense that it was currently extremely furious.
"What did you do, Jin Tong? I can sense that it''s aura is very unstable, like it''s extremely angry about something," Han Li asked.
"All I did was ask it how it feels to be able to see me but not eat me," Jin Tong replied with a smile.
"You canmunicate directly with it?" Han Li asked with a stunned expression.
"I can only sense it from far away, but now that we''re so close, it''s kind of like... we canmunicate through voice transmission. I don''t know exactly how to exin it, it''s like we''re connected by an invisible thread, and neither one is able to shake off the other," Jin Tong replied with a shrug.
Han Li wanted to ask more questions, but before he had a chance to do so, a deafening boom rang out in the distance, immediately following which a burst of tremendous shockwaves swept through the valley, causing the entire river to rear up like a reverse waterfall.
At the same time, the arched stone bridge exploded down the middle, and the Menace Lion beings standing on the remnants of the bridge were all looking on with furious expressions.
These were all of the warriors of the Menace Lion Tribe that hadn''t been sent to participate in the battle at the Dark Star Canyon and weren''t assigned with the task of evacuating the women, children, and elderly, and there were only around 4,000 to 5,000 of them.
Yin Shen rose up into the sky above the ruined stone bridge, then asked in a scathing voice, "Why is an almighty insect spirit like yourself attacking our Menace Lion Tribe instead of facing our Beast Race army?"
The enormous Gold Devouring Immortal was hovering in mid-air tens of thousands of feet away, and its pping wings were producing a deafening noise.
It paid no heed to Yin Shen as it scoured the valley back and forth with a pair of cold and furious eyes, then suddenly roared, "Come out!"
Its voice was like rumbling thunder as it echoed throughout the valley, producing such powerful soundwaves that the remnants of the stone bridge quickly fell away chunk by chunk.
Yin Shen was only just barely able to steady himself, and a perplexed look appeared on his face as he asked, "Who are you looking for?"
However, the Gold Devouring Immortal continued to ignore him as it crashed down toward the entrance of the valley like a golden mountain.
"Warriors of the Menace Lion Tribe, it''s time to fight!" Yin Tong dered.
However, the Gold Devouring Immortalpletely ignored all of the Menace Lion Tribe warriors as it continued to crash down toward the entrance of the valley with tremendous power.
All of the Menace Lion Tribe warriors hurriedly rose up into the air before retreating into the valley, and at the same time, several hundred enormous griffin-like demon beasts rose up within the valley tens of thousands of feet away, then opened their beaks before producing a strange sound akin to the weeping of infants.
In doing so, they were releasing bursts of peculiar soundwaves that were further enhanced as they traveled through the horn-shaped valley, bing progressively more formidable as they surged toward the Gold Devouring Immortal.
Even though Han Li and Jin Tong weren''t within the area that the soundwaves were traveling through, he was still struck by a burst of sharp pain in his head, following which came a rush of dizziness and nausea.
He hurriedly swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a spherical light barrier that epassed both himself and Jin Tong, and only then did the sense of difort subside.
The rest of the valley was quite wide and spacious, but it abruptly tapered to an extremely narrow area at the entrance of the valley.
After being enhanced by the tapered terrain of the valley, the soundwaves had be countless times more powerful than before, and the Gold Devouring Immortal rushed headfirst into them as it swooped into the valley.
Waves upon waves of invisible soundwaves exploded violently, and it was as if something invisible were shattering into countless pieces, sending shrapnel flying in all directions.
The Gold Devouring Immortal was instantly rooted to the spot, while its previously lucid eyes became zed over, and it was as if its spiritual sense had been destroyed by these soundwaves.
"Looks like the Menace Lion Tribe has some impressive tricks up its sleeve, Uncle! I can sense that its soul has been severely wounded, and it''ll most likely be in this disoriented state for quite some time. Should we take advantage of this opportunity to kill it?" Jin Tong asked as her eyes lit up with excitement.
Han Li was silent for a moment upon hearing this, then analyzed, "These shockwaves can indeed harm the soul, but I feel like they''re more so intended for physical damage. While it''s true that even I was affected, even if I had been in the direct path of these soundwaves, I would''ve only been disoriented for three seconds at most. With that in mind, does it really make sense that these soundwaves could incapacitate it sopletely?"
"You''re saying that it''s putting on an act to try and lure us out?" Jin Tong asked with a stunned expression.
"There''s no need for us to specte, someone else will find out for us," Han Li replied.
Sure enough, in the valley above, Yin Tong was observing the Gold Devouring Immortal with a hesitant expression, but ultimately, he gritted his teeth and ordered, "Attack!"
In the sky above the valley''s entrance, an elder immediately sliced open his own hand, shedding his blood onto his staff while chanting an incantation in thenguage of the true spirits.
As he began his incantation, an extremely strange aura arose within the entire valley, and ayer of crimson mist emerged, enshrouding the entirety of the valley within it.
Within the crimson mist, the eyes of all of the Menace Lion Tribe warriors also turned a crimson color, while dark red light began to glow from their cheeks as a lion-like demon beast totem appeared on each of their faces.
With the emergence of these totems, the Menace Lion Tribe warriors underwent drastic transformations, swelling to several hundred feet tall. At the same time, the lion heads around their faces disappeared, and their humanoid faces turned into lion faces.
Immediately thereafter, all of the Menace Lion Tribe warriors sprang up into the sky to surround the Gold Devouring Immortal before attacking it all at once.
Even though they had swelled drastically in size, they were still downright diminutive inparison with the Gold Devouring Immortal, and all of them began tearing at the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body with their sharp ws.
A string of loud ngs rang out incessantly, but the Gold Devouring Immortal remainedpletely unscathed.
"We have to find the weak points on its body!" Yin Tong yelled as he charged toward the Gold Devouring Immortal''s eyes.
Meanwhile, all of the other Menace Lion Tribe warriors charged toward the Gold Devouring Immortal''s joints, the bases of its wings, and other perceived weak points, led by the tribe''s elders.
As he approached the Gold Devouring Immortal''s right eye, the crimson totem on Yin Tong''s face glowed even brighter, and bursts of formidable spiritual power fluctuations surged through his meridians, converging toward the ws on his right hand.
His arm swelled drastically in size while glowing with radiant red light, looking rather cumbersome and disproportionatepared with the rest of his body, but the explosive power that it contained was certainly not to be scoffed at.
Let''s see if you can keep pretending now!
Even though Han Li was unable to see the battle from the riverbed, he could roughly guess what was happening based on the spiritual power fluctuations that he was sensing.
Yin Tong was injecting all of his power into this single strike, and he was already right in front of the Gold Devouring Immortal''s eye. In fact, he was so close that his ws could be seen reflected within the eye that he was attacking.
However, right at this moment, the disoriented look in the Gold Devouring Immortal''s eyes abruptly faded, and it turned its gaze to Yin Tong in a cold andpletely lucid fashion.
As soon as Yin Tong saw this, he immediately felt as if his entire body had been plunged into a cial pit, but at this point, it was toote to turn back.
All he could do was yell for everyone to retreat while he continued to thrust his ws toward the Gold Devouring Immortal''s eye.
A sharp ng rang out, and a flurry of sparks flew in all directions as a gash that was over 100 feet in length was scratched into the Gold Devouring Immortal''s closed eyelid, following which semi-transparent liquid that appeared to be blood began flowing out of the gash.
The Gold Devouring Immortal''s eyelid shuddered momentarily before springing open again, and it swept its front limbs through the air like lightning.
A series of crescent-shaped streaks of translucent golden light erupted forth, sweeping through the air in all directions like scythes designed to harvest lives.
Aside from the several hundred Menace Lion Tribe warriors who were able to retreat in time after hearing Yin Tong''s warning, everyone else, including Yin Tong himself, had been sliced into two.
The Gold Devouring Immortal had clearly been truly infuriated, and it pped its wings vigorously as its enormous body began to revolve rapidly on the spot, quickly transforming into an enormous golden storm that erupted through the air in all directions.
All of the dismembered Menace Lion Tribe warriors instantly had their bodies and nascent souls destroyed within the golden storm, and even their blood had been reduced to the tiniest of particles that rained down from above.
The remaining Menace Lion Tribe warriors fled back into the valley, and the only remaining elder looked up at the sky with an expression of fury and despair.
"The children, women, and elderly are still in the valley, so we cannot afford to retreat any further," the elder sighed.
A determined look then appeared on his face as he roared with all his might, "I offer up my blood and my body to Master Jiu Ling! Please descend upon us!"
Immediately thereafter, he closed his eyes and plunged his staff right into his own heart.
Chapter 571: Redirecting Trouble
Chapter 571: Redirecting Trouble
As the elder plunged his staff into his own heart, the other Menace Lion Tribe warriors were also chanting the same thing as they pierced their ws into their own hearts, sending blood spilling all over the entire altar they were standing on.
With the staff pierced through his chest, the elder''s vitality was rapidly fading as if it were being sucked away by the staff, but his eyes were only glowing brighter and brighter.
As the chanting continued, ayer of dark red light began to emerge over the bloodstained altar, and before long, theyer of light had risen up to form a pir of dark red light that was over 10,000 feet tall.
An enormous beastly projection appeared within the pir of light, and it gradually took on a substantial form. It was a mountainous primordial true spirit with nine lion heads growing on its neck.
Its fur was a dark purple color, and the mane around its neck was glowing purple while rippling slightly like a clump of seaweed, resembling a dark purple me.
A furious look appeared in the true spirit''s eyes at the sight of the horrific scenes in the valley, and all nine of its heads let loose a thunderous roar of fury in unison.
In contrast with the rtionship between the other Beast Race tribes and the true spirits that they worshiped, the Menace Lion Tribe were true descendants of the true spirit, thereby inheriting its bloodline. As a result, the bond between them was more intimate.
"How dare you!" Jiu Ling roared, following which one of its nine heads abruptly made an inhaling motion, releasing a burst of tremendous suction force.
The blood of the Menace Lion Tribe warriors that was permeating throughout the area converged from all directions before being sucked into its mouth, and at the same time, all of the altars littered throughout the valley suddenly lit up on their own.
The totems engraved upon them began to glow brightly, and a series of lit purple braziers rose up from their centers.
There were specks of faint purple light within these braziers that were drifting out like fireflies before surging into Jiu Ling''s mouth alongside the blood of its descendants, and it let loose a low roar as its muscles began to bulge outward.
At the same time, ayer of dark red scales emerged over its body, and the mane around its neck also grew to twice its original length, while its aura began to rapidly approach the mid-High Zenith Stage.
On the riverbed, a hint of surprise appeared on Han Li''s face upon sensing this, and he remarked, "It seems like the Menace Lion Tribe shares a different rtionship with their true spirit than the other Beast Race tribes.
¡°It''s a little simr to the Ancestral God system of the ck Wind Sea. Through the sustenance of their bloodline and the power of faith imbued within the altar, perhaps this true spirit really will be able to put up a fight against the Gold Devouring Immortal."
"Really?" Jin Tong asked with a skeptical expression.
"Setting aside the bloodline sustenance from the Menace Lion Tribe warriors, no one knows just how much power of faith has umted in these totems. It definitely won''t be able to defeat the Gold Devouring Immortal, it''s just a matter of how much of a fight it can put up," Han Li said.
A hint of intrigue appeared on Jin Tong''s face upon hearing this, and she was suddenly struck by the urge to spectate the battle, but there was no time for that.
Han Li gave her a pat on the head as he said, "We have to go."
Jin Tong faltered slightly upon hearing this, then flipped a hand over to produce a Soul Armor Talisman that she applied to her own forehead.
Han Li also swept a sleeve through the air to summon Xiao Bai, which immediately swallowed Jin Tong.
Momentster, a massive wave suddenly erupted out of the river, and a green jade flying carriage emerged before speeding away into the distance as a streak of green light, vanishing out of sight.
Outside the river, the Gold Devouring Immortal could sense that Jin Tong''s aura had vanished once again, and as it looked up into the sky, a cold gleam shed through its eyes as it set off in pursuit of the flying carriage.
However, right at this moment, a vast expanse of purple light suddenly emerged in front of it, and bursts of purple mes surged directly toward it, forming a scorching sea of fire in its path.
The Gold Devouring Immortal turned to discover Jiu Ling''s central head with its mouth wide open, releasing a torrent for purple mes.
At the same time, the four heads on its left also had their mouths open to release gusts of white wind that swept the mes into a massive vortex, trapping the Gold Devouring Immortal within. Simultaneously, its remaining four heads were releasing vast waves of purple lightning that were injected into the fiery vortex.
Hundreds of enormous fiery vortexes were conjured up, all of which were connected by the purple lightning to form an extremely powerful suction force, transforming the entire surrounding valley into a restricted area.
Anyone within this area would be made to feel as if their bodies and souls were being restricted by this burst of suction force, rendering thempletely unable to get away. All they could do was watch helplessly as the fiery vortexes were drawn closer and closer to them by the purple lightning until they were incinerated into nothingness.
At the same time, the hundreds of griffin-like demon beasts that had appeared in the valley earlier also emerged to surround the sea of purple mes while releasing the same screeching sound as before, sending powerful shockwaves sweeping directly toward the Gold Devouring Immortal.
A serious look finally appeared in the Gold Devouring Immortal''s eyes, and it pped its wings vigorously to release a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations...
Inside the Dark Star Canyon.
The chiefs of the eight holy tribes were seated next to each on therge chairs inside the pce next to the waterfall, while the chiefs of the smaller tribes were seated around them. At the center of the pce was a bonfire that was popping and crackling incessantly.
"Rest assured, everyone, our king has already made a full recovery," Nuo Qinglin dered.
"That is indeed a very good thing, but what I don''t understand is why the insect spirit hasn''t taken advantage of this opportunity to attack us all this time. Could it be that that human was able to inflict so much harm upon it that it''s still yet to recover?" Ze Wushi asked with a perplexed expression.
"That''s not very likely. If that human really were that powerful, then he wouldn''t have snuck out of our Dark Star Canyon and only left that substitute behind," Yin Mei said with a shake of her head.
"I agree. If he really had the power to do that, then he wouldn''t have feared a battle against us while our king was still injured," Nuo Qinglin chimed in with a nod.
"Have we still not been able to track down that human, Chief Nuo?" Yin Shen of the Menace Lion Tribe suddenly asked.
"Even though the insect spirit hasn''t attacked us again, our two armies are still locked in a very tense confrontation. Hence, the number of people I can send out to search for him is very limited, and I doubt we''ll be able to track him down anytime soon," Nuo Qinglin said.
A hint of displeasure appeared on Yin Shen''s face upon hearing this, and he was just about to say something when his expression abruptly stiffened, following which he pulled out a palm-sized white bone badge.
He slit his fingertip open before dripping a drop of blood onto the badge, and ayer of concealed runes and a totem symbol immediately emerged on its surface.
Yin Shen then raised the bone badge to his own forehead with both hands, looking as if he were conducting a prayer.
Momentster, his expression changed drastically as he abruptly sprang to his feet, doing so with such force that therge chair beneath him waspletely pulverized.
"What''s wrong, Chief Yin Shen?"
Nuo Qinglin knew that something extremely important had to have happened for Yin Shen to disy such a strong reaction.
"The insect spirit attacked my Red Spiral Valley..." Yin Shen murmured in a stunned voice, seemingly struggling toe to terms with this information himself.
"What? It led the Insect Race army to the Red Spiral Valley?" Ze Wushi asked with a surprised expression.
"No. It traveled to the Red Spiral Valley on its own, killing everyone there with the exception of the women, children, and elderly. Even Master Jiu Ling was..."
Yin Shen''s voice trailed off there as a grief-stricken look appeared on his face.
"No wonder the Insect Race army hasn''t attacked us since the initial attack..." Yin Mei mused.
"Does that mean that insect spirit currently isn''t among the Insect Race army outside the Dark Star Canyon?" Deng Gui suddenly asked as his eyes immediately lit up.
It was clear that he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to send out the Beast Race army in retaliation and wipe out the Insect Race army once and for all.
Yin Shen turned to Deng Gui with a furious expression upon hearing this, and only after a long while was he able to spit out the words: "I''m afraid my Menace Lion Tribe won''t be able to continue ying a part in this battle..."
"Don''t make any rash decisions, Chief Yin Shen. The Red Spiral Valley is clearly already beyond saving, so it makes no difference whether you go back or not. Instead, you should stay here and help us vanquish the Insect Race army to avenge your brethren! I''m sure that''s what everyone else present is also thinking, right?" Deng Gui dered.
No one in the pce responded, and the atmosphere had be rather awkward.
While it was true that this was what everyone was thinking, no one was willing to directly articte this thought.
"This is apletely unexpected tragedy, so I can understand Chief Yin Shen''s desire to return to the Red Spiral Valley as soon as possible. Don''t worry about the battle taking ce here, and if you need any help with anything, feel free to speak up, our Calm Dawn Tribe will be sure to assist you in any way that we can," Nuo Qingling said with an earnest expression as he rose to his feet.
Yin Shen''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he extended a parting salute toward Nuo Qinglin as he said, "Master Jiu Ling is extremely severely wounded, so he''s no longer able to provide protection for our Menace Lion Tribe. We won''t be able to contribute much by remaining here anyway, so I''ll be returning to the Red Spiral Valley."
"Rest assured, Chief Yin Shen, I''ll inform Master Suliu and our King of what happened. I''m sure they''ll be able to understand," Nuo Qinglin promised.
"You have my thanks, Chief Nuo."
At this point, Yin Shen''s heart was no longer here, and he hurriedly expressed his gratitude to Nuo Qinglin before leaving the pce.
Following his departure, all of the tribal chiefs contacted their respective tribes through the use of secret techniques, and they were all very relieved to confirm that their tribes hadn''t been attacked by the insect spirit.
Chapter 572: Impending Crisis
Chapter 572: Impending Crisis
"What do you think of this, everyone?" Nuo Qinglin asked as he turned to all of the other chiefs in the pce.
"The Insect Race spent several decades to assemble this elite army consisting of several hundred tribes, yet after a single defeat, the inspect spirit abandoned the army to attack the Red Spiral Valley on its own... It just doesn''t make sense..." Ulu mused with a perplexed expression.
"Indeed. Not only does it not make sense, it goes against the insect spirit''s personality as well," Marlon chimed in.
After some discussion, none of them were able to make heads or tails of the situation. Meanwhile, Nuo Yifan was standing in the pce as well, and a thought had urred to her.
Back when Senior Li was at the Dark Star Canyon, the insect spirit led the Insect Race army on an excessively aggressive attack, and now that Senior Li has left the Dark Star Canyon ,the insect spirit has inexplicably attacked the Menace Lion Tribe... Is there really no corrtion between these two events?
She recalled that back when she first met Han Li, there had been a strange golden beetle apanying him, and its aura had been rather simr to that of the insect spirit. However, it had in the Gray Toad beings without any hesitation, so she had regarded it as an ally, but thinking back now, she realized that something wasn''t quite right.
It was said that some Insect Race tribes liked to engage in cannibalism. With that in mind, could it be that the insect race had attacked the Dark Star Canyon for the sake of Han Li''s golden beetle?
A chill immediately ran down Nuo Yifan''s spine at this thought. If that were the case, then she waspletely to me for drawing the Insect Race army to the Dark Star Canyon!
Her face instantly turned deathly pale as she lowered her head, not daring to share this theory with everyone.
It wasn''t that she was afraid that her father or someone else would be reprimanded for this. Instead, she was worried that revealing something like this would draw ire from the other tribes toward the Calm Dawn Tribe, a consequence that was too much for her to bear.
......
Several more months passed by in a sh.
Even though the Gold Devouring Immortal had managed to severely wound True Spirit Jiu Ling of the Menace Lion Tribe, it had also been significantly worn down during that battle, so it was unable to pursue Jin Tong with the same level of intensity as before. Hence, Han Li was able to enjoy a rare period of peace.
However, that was only rtive to the dire situation that they had previously been in.
As they ventured deeper and deeper into the primordialnd, the environment was bing more and moreplex, and they encountered many primordial beasts that were even more formidable than Han Li and Jin Tong themselves.
Fortunately, at this point, they had begun to develop an understanding of theplex environment of the primordialnd, and thanks to his enormous spiritual sense, Han Li was able to pre-emptively avoid these formidable creatures instead of inadvertently encroaching upon their territory.
Even so, they were still unable to avoid being attacked by some primordial beasts, and regardless of whether they posed a threat or not, Han Li was unwilling to engage in battle against them for fear of being slowed down.
Despite this, they were still inevitably slowed down quite a bit by these regr attacks.
One night, Daoist Xie was piloting the flying carriage over a vast in.
As for Han Li, he was seated inside the cabin of the carriage, gently massaging a ck jade slip in his hand.
His brows were tightly furrowed as if he were contemting something, and he seemed to be quite hesitant.
After some time, he took a deep breath before pressing the jade slip against his own be.
The jade slip contained the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique. After obtaining this jade slip, he had cultivated it briefly to resolve the earlier issue of bacsh, but he had never fully mastered it, and he was nning to resume his cultivation once he crossed the primordialnd and found a safe ce to cultivate.
However, in this situation, he was forced to scrap those ns.
In the face of an opponent as formidable as the Gold Devouring Immortal, he had to elevate his own powers as much as possible. It was too difficult to advance in his cultivation base in a short time, but perhaps there was a chance that he would be able to make some progress in the Spirit Refinement Technique, which was also perfect as the Gold Devouring Immortal''s soul was its main weakness.
As the jade slip lit up, Han Li gradually entered a state of immersive meditation.
Meanwhile, Jin Tong was sitting on the edge of the flying carriage with her feet dangling over the side, and she was gently swinging them back and forth.
Seeing as Jin Tong would always reappear in a different direction after spending time in Xiao Bai''s stomach, the Gold Devouring Immortal had changed its strategy. Whenever Jin Tong''s aura disappeared, it would simply stop and wait, then continue its pursuit once Jin Tong re-emerged. Hence, Han Li was no longer making Jin Tong spend as much time in Xiao Bai''s stomach as possible. Instead, he only resorted to this in some critical junctures.
As a result, she was able to stay on the outside for longer than before.
At this moment, her face was devoid of its usual smile, and it was as if she had suddenly be a lot more mature and quiet.
It was certainly not a pleasant experience to be on the run from such a formidable enemy for so long.
She looked down at the winding river on the in below, and it resembled a shimmering white vein on the earth under the moonlight. She suddenly recalled that there was a simrly shimmering white crystal that she was still yet to finish, and she hurriedly summoned it before sinking her teeth into it as a blissful look appeared on her little face.
There were no clouds in the sky, so the moon was made to appear particrly bright.
Han Li was basked in ayer of faint white moonlight, making the lines of his face appear softer and more gentle.
However, at this moment, his body was trembling slightly, and what appeared to be an eye had opened up on his be, while numerous translucent threads were flying in and out of the eye, presenting a peculiar sight to behold.
Daoist Xie couldn''t help but turn around to take a nce at Han Li upon sensing these strange energy fluctuations, and its brows furrowed ever so slightly with concern.
At this moment, Han Li''s spiritual sense fluctuations were rather unstable. It was like a bubble that was constantly expanding and shrinking, and that was indeed what Han Li felt like was happening in his consciousness.
All of the spiritual sense in his consciousness was ebbing and flowing back and forth like the tide, the fluctuations were bing more and more pronounced, until they transformed into enormous waves.
Some timeter, his eyes abruptly sprang open, and he immediately began gasping for air.
Jin Tong was very startled to hear this, and she hurriedly rose to her feet and rushed over to his side before asking, "Are you alright, Uncle?"
Han Li offered no response, merely stowing his ck jade slip away with a slightly weary look on his face. He then swallowed a pill and wiped the sweat from his forehead as he replied, "I''m fine. I was just trying to rush a little in my cultivation earlier, and something almost went wrong."
The fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique was quite easy to understand, but the more he progressed, the more risk presented itself, and even the slightestpse in concentration could lead to qi deviation.
"You really scared me just now," Jin Tong said with a relieved expression.
"Is the Gold Devouring Immortal doing anything new?" Han Li asked.
"Not really, it''s still just following us like usual. Right now, it should be..."
Jin Tong began to examine what the Gold Devouring Immortal was doing through their spiritual connection as she spoke, and a grim look suddenly appeared on her face.
"Is it close?" Han Li hurriedly asked with an rmed expression.
"No, but it''s suddenly elerated," Jin Tong replied.
"How many days will it take for it to catch up to us?" Han Li asked.
"I don''t think we have days left, Uncle. At this rate, it''ll catch up to us in just a few hours," Jin Tong replied with a sullen expression.
"Brother Xie, you take a rest, I''ll pilot the flying carriage," Han Li said as he turned to Daoist Xie.
Daoist Xie nodded in response, then flew up Han Li''s sleeve as a streak of golden light.
Han Li took a nce at the Immortal Origin Stones embedded into the array on the carriage, and he could tell that they didn''t need to be reced for now, so he focused on piloting the carriage, sending it racing forward at full speed.
"Don''t worry, go back into Xiao Bai''s stomach for now. After that, I''ll change directions a few more times to see if we can buy ourselves some time," Han Li consoled as he turned to Jin Tong.
Jin Tong nodded in response, then pulled out a Soul Armor Talisman, yet right as she was about to press it to her own forehead, her expression abruptly stiffened as she eximed, "It''s sped up once again! It''s burning through its own essential power! Has it gone insane? At this rate, it''ll catch up to us in just three hours!"
"Looks like it''s run out of patience," Han Li mused with tightly furrowed brows.
All of a sudden, the green jade flying carriage drew to an abrupt halt at his behest.
"Why did you stop, Uncle?" Jin Tong asked with a perplexed expression.
"This isn''t going to work. It''ll inevitably be able to catch up to us sooner orter," Han Li replied as he cast his gaze into the night sky.
"But Uncle, your Time Dao Runes still haven''t fully recovered yet, so we have no chance against it in a battle," Jin Tong eximed.
"Who told you we''re going to engage it in battle? I''m just switching to a different strategy. Put on the Soul Armor Talisman and go into Xiao Bai''s stomach for now," Han Li said as a faint smile appeared on his face.
Jin Tong immediately obliged, doing as she was told, while Han Li summoned Xiao Bai before swallowing her.
After stowing Xiao Bai away, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he murmured to himself, "It sure ising fast..."
The Gold Devouring Immortal had already entered Han Li''s spiritual sensory range, so he no longer required any updates on its location from Jin Tong.
Han Li stowed the flying carriage away with a sweep of his sleeve, following which shes of silver lightning appeared in his eyes as he began making a string of hand seals.
Before long, the arcs of silver lightning around him had swelled to form a silver lightning array, and he abruptly vanished from within the array amid a bright sh of lightning.
Chapter 573: Intense Pursuit
Chapter 573: Intense Pursuit
Not long after Han Li vanished from the spot, a loud whooshing sound rang out in the distant sky, following which a speck of golden light appeared before rapidly expanding as it approached.
The ball of golden light was as blinding as a second sun, and none of the living creatures nearby dared to gaze upon it.
The edge of the golden light was as sharp as a de, and all of the space in its wake was rippling incessantly, as if it were about to be torn apart.
Finally, the ball of golden light drew to a halt where Han Li had been just a moment ago.
As the golden light faded, a massive golden beetle was revealed, and it was none other than the High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal.
It was clearly a little smaller than before, perhaps because it had burned through some of its essential power, or perhaps because it was still yet to make a full recovery from its battle against Jiu Ling. However, the fury in its eyes was burning brighter than ever.
Not long ago, it had just received word from the Insect Race army that the Beast Race army had suddenly retaliated in full force, led by King Yohu and all of the true spirits, and the Insect Race army had suffered a catastrophic defeat and extremely severe casualties.
What remained of the Insect Race army had already begun a full retreat, and it was inevitable that the Beast Race was going to be iming a lot of territory in the wake of this battle. The Insect Race had been in prime position to win the war, but the tables had beenpletely turned.
Even so, the Gold Devouring Beetle still had no intention of returning to the Insect Race.
In other words, the survival of the Insect Race wasn''t as important in its eyes as the hunt for the other Gold Devouring Immortal.
After sensing the residual lightning aura in the air, the Gold Devouring Immortal stopped in its tracks and took some time to rest. In its past experience, it was a far better course of action to continue its pursuit once its target reappeared, as opposed to going in the wrong direction and having to double back.
On top of that, it was confident that this type of spatial teleportation technique couldn''t be used for long, and eventually, it was going to be able to capture its target.
......
At the same time.
A burst of violent spatial fluctuations suddenly erupted forth in the sky above a certain mountain, and countless arcs of lightning sprang out of thin air to form a massive silver lightning array.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li appeared within the array, and after taking a moment topose himself, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a beast hide map, which he began inspecting carefully.
Momentster, he stowed the map away, then pulled out another map before closely inspecting it as well.
After inspecting several maps in a row, he began inspecting his surroundings with a contemtive look on his face.
Shortly thereafter, he seemed to have decided on the direction that he wanted to go in, and he summoned his flying carriage once again before setting off as a streak of green light.
Around an hourter, the flying carriage drew to a halt, following which he summoned Xiao Bai amid a sh of white light, and Jin Tong soon came flying out of its mouth.
Herplexion was a little pale, and she looked around to discover that she was currently hovering in the air above a snowy mountain, upon which she hurriedly asked, "Where are we right now, Uncle?"
"This area is no longer on the map given to us by the Beast Race, so we''ve most likely ventured so deep into the primordialnd that we''re already very far away from the Beast Race and Insect Race territories," Han Li replied.
After a brief pause, he continued, "My spiritual sense is unable to detect the Gold Devouring Immortal at all now. Can you try and see if you can determine its location?"
Jin Tong immediately closed her eyes and obliged, and some timeter, her eyes suddenly sprang open as an ted look appeared on her face.
"It''s really far away now! I can still sense it, but the connection between us is far weaker than before."
"That''s good to hear, but we can''t let our guards down. It doesn''t seem like it''s nning to give up at all. Xiao Bai, do you recognize this ce?" Han Li asked as he turned to the Pixiu.
"I feel like I came here once a very, very long time ago, but I can''t remember clearly. The primordialnd is enormous, and there are many ces with simr terrains. Having said that, if we really have already left the territories of the Beast Race and the Insect Race, then we are indeed already deep in the primordialnd," Xiao Bai replied.
"It looks like things will only get more dangerous from here onward, but at this point, turning back is no longer an option, so we can only keep advancing. By my estimates, we should be going in the right direction, so as long as we keep going, we''ll eventually reach the ck Mountain Immortal Region.
Jin Tong, stay out of Xiao Bai''s stomach for now and make sure to keep constant tabs on the Gold Devouring Immortal. If it begins burning through its essential power again, notify me right away," Han Li instructed,
"You can count on me, Uncle!" Jin Tong vowed in a confident manner.
Han Li then swept a sleeve through the air to summon Daoist Xie as he said, "I''m going to resume my cultivation of the Spirit Refinement Technique now. In the meantime, I''ll have to trouble you to pilot the carriage for me in my stead, Brother Xie."
Daoist Xie naturally had no objections to this, and with that, Han Li made his way into the cabin of the carriage, then swallowed a pill before sitting down with his legs crossed.
......
Close to a month passed by in a sh.
At this moment, Han Li was piloting the flying carriage, which was racing over an enormous ancient forest.
All of a sudden, he spotted a series of huge stone buildings peeking through the gaps in the trees down below through his peripheral vision.
Out of curiosity, he brought the flying carriage to a halt, and upon closer inspection, he discovered that there was a massive stone city down below.
The construction style of the city waspletely different from anything that he had seen in the immortal region and in the Beast Race settlements. It was constructed from countless giant stone blocks, upon which were engraved all types of peculiar beastly designs, none of which were identifiable to Han Li.
However, most of these buildings were covered in thickyers of green moss, and many areas had already copsed. There weren''t any spiritual power fluctuations in the area, nor did there seem to be any living beings nearby, and the entire area was eerily quiet.
After inspecting the ancient city for a moment, Han Li decided that it was best to continue onward rather than waste time inspecting these ruins.
However, the white jade pendant hanging from his waist suddenly transformed into Xiao Bai amid a sh of white light, and it said, "Master, there''s an extremely valuable treasure under those ruins! I can smell it!"
Jin Tong was sitting at the back of the carriage with a bored expression, but she was immediately intrigued to hear this, and she sprang to her feet as she yelled, "There''s a treasure here? Where?"
"The treasure is hidden underground beneath the city, and it''s concealed by special restrictions, so I can''t determine its exact location, nor exactly what it is. However, the special energy fluctuations that it''s releasing indicates that it''s definitely no ordinary treasure!" Xiao Bai replied in an excited manner.
"You can''t tell what it is just because there are some restrictions in the way? Why are you so useless? Try harder! Is it something of the same caliber as the pill cauldron that I ate before?" Jin Tong asked in an urgent voice.
"Regardless of what it is, we don''t have time to go after it. If we trigger the restrictions in the city and end up getting trapped here or dyed until the Gold Devouring Immortal gets here, we won''t be able to get away," Han Li said with a grim expression.
Xiao Bai and Jin Tong were both very disappointed to hear this, particrly Xiao Bai.
"Even though we haven''t encountered much trouble ofte, we still have to be on our guard. We cane back to explore this ce another time, but for now, we have to keep going," Han Li continued.
"I finally get a chance to make myself useful, yet it''s all in vain. Master, if you let me enter that city, I''ll be able to ascertain the exact location of the treasure in an hour at most, and perhaps I can even find a shortcut to the treasure! Can you just let me give it a try?" Xiao Bai implored as it stood on the edge of the flying carriage and looked down at the ancient city below with intense longing in its eyes.
Han Li was a little moved upon hearing this.
There wasn''t a single cultivator in the world who didn''t love treasures, and it was clear that this had to be an extraordinary treasure, given how desperate Xiao Bai was to obtain it, but this was simply not the time to go treasure-hunting.
Right as he was about to say something, Jin Tong''s expression suddenly changed drastically as she yelled, "We have to get out of here, Uncle!"
"What''s wrong?" Han Li hurriedly asked.
"That thing''s burning through its essential power again, and it''sing after us way faster than before!" Jin Tong replied in an urgent voice.
"Alright, go hide in Xiao Bai''s stomach," Han Li immediately instructed without any hesitation.
Jin Tong nodded in response, then put on a Soul Armor Talisman in a well-rehearsed fashion before flying into Xiao Bai''s mouth as a golden beetle.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li stowed both Xiao Bai and the flying carriage away, then conjured up another giant lightning array to teleport himself away.
Chapter 574: Nearing the Limits
Chapter 574: Nearing the Limits
In the sky above an enormous canyon, long arcs of silver lightning sprang forth amid violent spatial fluctuations, forming a lightning array in mid-air, and Han Li appeared at the center of the array amid a rumbling thunderp.
He looked around momentarily before summoning his flying carriage, which immediately began racing forward as a green shadow at his behest.
After that, he summoned Daoist Xie and instructed it to pilot the carriage in his stead, then sat down with his legs crossed to continue cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Countless kilometers away from Han Li, the Gold Devouring Immortal was giving off blinding golden radiance as it flew through the air at an astonishing speed.
Compared with how infuriated it had been in the past, it was now a lot calmer.
Clearly, it had already grown ustomed to its target''s strategy of periodically disappearing before reappearing elsewhere, and its strategy in response was just to keep pursuing its target without pause.
Given its cultivation base and the incredible physical constitutions of all Gold Devouring Immortals, it could easily keep this up indefinitely.
......
Close to a monthter.
As the Gold Devouring Immortal began approaching once again, Han Li had no choice but to flee again using his lightning teleportation array.
......
Half a yearter, the flying carriage was racing through a boundless sea of gray mist.
The mist was churning like turbulent waves, significantly hampering the speed of the flying carriage.
There were around a dozen gray lizard-like primordial beasts pursuing the carriage, every single one of which was at the Golden Immortal Stage, while one of them was around twice the size of the others and giving off a High Zenith Stage aura.
The lizard-like demon beasts were roaring with excitement as pirs of gray light erupted out of their mouths toward the flying carriage up ahead.
Meanwhile, Han Li was piloting the carriage with a grim look on his face, doing his best to avoid the pirs of gray light, while Jin Tong, Xiao Bai, and Daoist Xie were at the back fo the carriage, warding off the pirs of gray light that he wasn''t able to evade.
All the while, the Gold Devouring Immortal continued to stalk them from several million kilometers away.
......
Two yearster.
On the boundless yellow desert, gusts of ferocious wind were howling incessantly, and thendscape was riddled with enormous tornados that stood like pirs between heaven and earth.
There were bursts of yellow light shing within the tornados, and they were giving off a tremendous rumbling noise that caused the surrounding space to tremble as waves of spatial fluctuations swept outward in all directions.
asionally, two of these giant tornados would crash into one another, and countless spatial rifts would instantly appear as a result.
A ball of green light and a ball of golden light were flying through the desert one after another, and both of them were doing their best to avoid the tornados while forging ahead with great difficulty.
The ball of golden light was clearly much faster than the ball of green light in front of it, and the distance between the two was rapidly shrinking.
All of a sudden, arcs of silver lightning erupted out of the ball of green light, instantly forming a silver lightning array, following which the ball of green light vanished amid a rumbling thunderp.
......
Over a decade flew by in a sh.
At this moment, a ball of green light was racing through the sky above a boundless swamp.
The ball of light was green in color, but not a uniform green throughout. Instead, it was an amalgamation of all types of different shades of green.
Despite so many shades of green being mixed together, the ball of light was somehow very nondescript, and it was able to camouge itself against the surrounding space, making it very difficult to spot.
With the ball of light was the flying carriage that Han Li and the others were on.
The color of the flying carriage was far different from what it had been in the past. Previously, the carriage had looked as if it had been carved out of a single chunk of green jade, yet at this moment, it was a hideous patchy green color, as if something had been smeared over it.
While the flying carriage was looking far more unsightly than before, this patchy green light that it was giving off was able to conceal all of its spiritual power fluctuations, as well as the spiritual power fluctuations emanating from the hexagonal array on the carriage.
This green substance was a type of spirit tree sap that Han Li had obtained by chance while passing through a primordial tribe, and it had spared him a lot of trouble.
At this moment, there was a rather grim look on his face as he piloted the flying carriage, while a pale-faced Jin Tong was sitting beside him, nibbling on a spirit treasure.
Xiao Bai wasying on the ground on his other side, and it was clear that it was also taking some time to recover.
"It''s less than 100,000 kilometers away now," Jin Tong suddenly reported.
Han Li took a nce behind the carriage, and a hint of blue light shed through his eyes, following which he turned back around to face forward again before making a string of hand seals.
Arcs of silver lightning erupted out of his body, forming a lightning array around the flying carriage with countless lightning runes dancing within it.
A rumbling thunderp rang out as the lightning array lit up, following which the flying carriage vanished in a sh.
Mere moments after the flying carriage disappeared, a ball of golden light shot forth from afar, then drew to a halt where the flying carriage had just disappeared.
The golden light faded to reveal the Gold Devouring Immortal, and it inspected its surroundings momentarily, then continued onward with a cold sneer on its face.
At the same time, a burst of spatial fluctuations erupted in the air above a lush forest countless kilometers away, and a ball of golden lightning appeared before rapidly spreading outward to form a golden lightning array, at the center of which Han Li and the green flying carriage emerged.
Han Li cast an incantation seal into the flying carriage, and it immediately continued onward while releasing the same patchy green light as before.
Even though he had managed to open up some distance on the Gold Devouring Immortal once again, he didn''t rx in the slightest. Instead, he seemed to have only grown more concerned.
He had been fleeing from the Gold Devouring Immortal for over a decade up to this point, and during this time, he had encountered countless crises.
Not only had they been attacked by all types of primordial beasts, they were asionally even targeted by frighteningly powerful primordial true spirits, and that wasn''t even to mention all the types that they had stumbled into different perilous regions.
If it weren''t for his immense spiritual sense, timew powers, and therge collection of powerful treasures and allies at his disposal, he would''ve most likely already perished in the primordialnd even before the Gold Devouring Immortal caught up to them.
Of course, out of all of this, the Gold Devouring Immortal still remained the most potent threat.
Up to this point, he had pulled out all the stops, including even the Lightning Restraining Wood teleportation array that could facilitate ultra long-distance teleportation, and he had also attempted to lure the Gold Devouring Immortal into some perilous areas in the hope that it would be slowed down.
However, the Gold Devouring Immortal was extremely formidable, and not only were the primordial beasts that it encounteredpletely unable to pose a threat to it, it was also able to negotiate all of Han Li''s traps with ease.
Whenever the situation became truly dire, Han Li would use his lightning teleportation array to get away just in the nick of time.
He possessed the Lightning Bird bloodline in his body, and he also had the Divine Devilbane Lightning of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and the assistance of Daoist Xie, so as long as he didn''t run out of Immortal Origin Stones, he would be able to replenish his lightning power reserves indefinitely, but eventually, his resources were going to be exhausted.
Even though Han Li did everything in his power to speed up his own recovery after unleashing his lightning teleportation array, the process of conversion from immortal spiritual power to lightning power was a very time-consuming one, so it was certainly not sustainable.
In particr, the Gold Devouring Immortal seemed to have recently realized the sticky situation that Han Li was in, and it was exerting even more pressure in its pursuit. As a result, Han Li''s lightning power reserves were being quickly whittled down, and he was going to run out before too long.
With that in mind, he heaved a faint sigh as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis.
Most of the Time Dao Runes on its surface had already recovered, and that was a very encouraging sight.
With these Time Dao Runes recovered, even if the Gold Devouring Immortal were to catch up to them, he had some confidence in his ability to deal with it.
Right at this moment, Jin Tong suddenly stood up as she dered, "I''m ready to go, Uncle."
Daoist Xie immediately took over piloting the carriage from Han Li upon hearing this, while Han Li made his way over to Jin Tong''s side before sitting down with his legs crossed.
He then pressed a hand over her be while chanting an incantation, and ayer of translucent light emerged over his be.
As the incantation continued, the burst of translucent light grew brighter and brighter, and it flowed out of his body before surging into Jin Tong''s head through the palm of his hand.
A series of translucent spirit patterns instantly appeared on her forehead, and they were giving off faint spiritual power fluctuations.
The cloud-like patterns that had appeared on Jin Tong''s forehead were very simr to the ones imparted by Soul Armor Talismans.
Certain rare materials were required to craft Soul Armor Talismans, thereby making them very expensive, and even with Han Li''s enormous wealth, the expenditure was too much for him to maintain over a long period of time. Hence, he began to study the talisman, and he discovered that it worked by converting one''s spiritual sense into a substantial form before transforming it into a protective barrier that was infused into the talisman for others to use.
After figuring out the inner workings of the talisman, he immediately attempted to replicate it.
On top of that, he had been cultivating the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique with every spare moment that he had.
It was unclear whether he was truly really suited to cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique, or whether histent potential had been brought to the fore by the constant danger that he was in. In any case, he had been making rapid progress in the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique. At this point, he had almost fully mastered it, and his spiritual sense had been enhanced by around twofold.
With his enhanced spiritual sense, Han Li was better equipped to replicate the Soul Armor Talismans, and even though he wasn''t able to craft them due to ack of materials, he was able to reference them to cast ayer of protection over Jin Tong''s soul.
Jin Tong opened her eyes, then flew into Xiao Bai''s body as a streak of golden light.
Meanwhile, Han Li took over from Daoist Xie again, then immediately changed directions before flying onward.
Once again, the Gold Devouring Immortal found itself unable to detect Jin Tong''s presence, and it gave a cold harrumph, but it wasn''t concerned at all.
It could sense that its target was already nearing their limits, and they wouldn''t be able to run away for much longer.
With that in mind, the golden light radiating from its body grew even brighter as it raced forward at an even faster speed than before.
Chapter 575: Dire Straits
Chapter 575: Dire Straits
Several more months passed by in the blink of an eye.
In the sky above a primordial desert, a flying carriage was racing along like a bolt of green lightning, only appearing for an instant before vanishing into the distant horizon.
On the flying carriage, Han Li wore a grim expression as he made a rapid string of hand seals.
Daoist Xie and Xiao Bai were situated on either side of him, releasing a burst of yellow light and white light, respectively, into his body.
Han Li''s expression didn''t betray his emotions, but internally, he was feeling rather frustrated.
Over the past month, the Gold Devouring Immortal had been pursuing them like mad, and somehow, it had managed to speed up significantly, exerting immense pressure upon Han Li.
He was forced to use his lightning teleportation array on many asions in session in a short time, and at this point, the lightning power reserves in his body hadpletely run dry.
At this point, the Gold Devouring Immortal was only several hundred thousand kilometers away. Jin Tong was currently inside Xiao Bai''s stomach, so they weren''t in any danger for now, but once she came out, the Gold Devouring Immortal would be able to catch up to them in a very short time,and it had already been over an hour since Jin Tong had entered Xiao Bais stomach.
This meant that it wasn''t going to be long before he had to directly face an enemy far more formidable than himself.
Even in this dire situation, Han Li remained calm and collected. At this moment, he was releasing his spiritual sense to constantly keep tabs on his surroundings, and at the same time, his mind was racing as he tried to think of a way out of this predicament.
All of a sudden, something caught his attention, and he looked down in a certain direction.
At this point, the flying carriage had already emerged from the desert, and down below as a vast azure mountain range. The ground and all of the rocks on the mountains were all azure in color, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
Additionally, the world''s origin qi here was far more abundant than it was elsewhere.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
ording to past experience, certain powerful beings had to be residing in a ce with such abundant spiritual qi. Perhaps there were even some powerful primordial tribes in this mountain range, and that could present an opportunity for him to save himself.
With that in mind, he immediately activated his Spirit Refinement Technique to release his spiritual sense with all his might.
Right at this moment, Xiao Bai suddenly opened its mouth, and Jin Tong flew out from within.
At this moment, herplexion was deathly pale, and her aura was also in a state of disarray, clearly indicating that she had onlye out after reaching her absolute limits.
"I can''t stay in there any longer, Uncle..." Jin Tong said in a feeble voice.
A hint of sympathy appeared in Han Li''s eyes at the sight of her terrible condition, and he summoned a pile of spirit treasures for her as he said, "That''s fine. Take a rest, I''ll think of a way to save us."
Jin Tong nodded feebly in response, then sat down before picking up a spirit treasure and stuffing it into her own mouth.
Han Li took a deep breath as he continued to pilot the flying carriage forward while scouring his surroundings with his spiritual sense.
Even though the azure mountain range was very abundant in spiritual qi, there were no perilous terrains that could be used to his advantage, nor any signs of settlement from powerful primordial tribes.
As he continued to fly onward, his heart slowly began to sink.
......
Several hundred thousand kilometers away, the Gold Devouring Immortal was racing through the air with cold killing intent shing in its eyes.
The golden light radiating from its body was glowing brighter and brighter, resembling a scorching golden me, and it sped up even further.
It could clearly sense that the distance between itself and its target was rapidly shrinking.
Right at this moment, a burst of azure light shed over a mountain face deep in the azure mountain range, and the rock face began to warp, transforming into a giant face that cast its gaze toward the Gold Devouring Immortal.
The Gold Devouring Immortal paid no heed to this. Its only objective was to capture its target, so it merely ignored anything else that didn''t actively get in its way.
It continued to elerate as it flew past the mountain face without pause, and as time passed, it spotted a speck of green light on the distant horizon up ahead.
The ball of green light was flying away from the Gold Devouring Immortal, but at a far slower speed.
The Gold Devouring Immortal''s eyes instantly lit up with excitement upon seeing this, and it let loose a piercing screech as it sped up even further.
Just a few secondster, it appeared directly behind the ball of green light, which contained the flying carriage that Han Li was on.
Han Li and others were all very rmed and panicked at the sight of the Gold Devouring Immortal, and upon spotting the panicked expressions on their faces, a sense of immense joy welled up in the Gold Devouring Immortal''s heart.
It opened its mouth to release a thick pir of golden light, which appeared behind the flying carriage in a sh before crashing down with tremendous power.
Standing on the carriage, the spiritual light around Han Li''s body brightened significantly, as did the green light emanating from the flying carriage, and it moved several kilometers horizontally in the blink of an eye, allowing it to just barely evade the pir of golden light.
However, the pir of golden light then suddenly exploded into countless thin rays of golden light, which resembled countless golden flying swords that hurtled directly toward the flying carriage.
A resounding boom rang out as the flying carriage exploded into a ball of radiant green light, following which a streak of azure light shot out from within before fleeing into the distance.
A cold sneer appeared on the Gold Devouring Immortal''s face as itshed out with one of its front limbs, unleashing a massive de of golden light that was close to 10,000 feet in length.
The de of light was curved to resemble the de of a scythe, and there was ayer of rippling golden light over its surface as it swept through the air with tremendous power.
Bursts of immense invisible force were erupting out of the de, causing the entire space within a radius of several dozen kilometers topress forcefully toward the streak of azure light from all directions.
The streak of azure light was instantly slowed down significantly as a result.
Right at this moment, a thunderous roar rang out from within the streak of azure light, and a giant furry golden fist abruptly emerged amid a sh of golden light. There were countless golden runes surging around the fist, and it was crashing toward the giant golden de up above with unstoppable might.
At the same time, a piercing screech rang out as a huge streak of translucent golden light erupted forth, transforming into a golden sword projection that was over 10,000 feet in length before sweeping toward the giant golden de as well.
The golden sword projection was extremely fast, leaving a trail of afterimages in its wake, yet as soon as it shed against the giant golden de, it was instantly sliced into two.
However, the golden light radiating from the giant golden de also shuddered unsteadily, while its downward momentum was also somewhat arrested.
Right at this moment, the golden fist struck the golden de with tremendous power.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as a burst of blinding golden light erupted in all directions alongside waves of immense power that eradicated the restrictive force in the surrounding space.
The giant fist was almost sliced into two, and blood immediately came gushing out of the wound, but the golden de had also been destroyed.
A massive golden ape stumbled unsteadily out of the golden light, and it was panting heavily, whilerge sections of its fur were stained red with blood.
On one shoulder of the golden ape stood Jin Tong in her beetle form, while standing on his other shoulder were Xiao Bai and Daoist Xie, both of which had rather unsteady auras, indicating that they had been injured when the flying carriage was destroyed.
Furthermore, Daoist Xie''s left arm was nowhere to be seen, while Xiao Bai was carrying a massive gash on its back.
Jin Tong cast a vicious gaze toward the Gold Devouring Immortal, but the fear deep in her eyes was very apparent.
The Gold Devouring Immortal paid no heed to Han Li and the others as it focused its gaze solely on Jin Tong, and a hint of greed shed through its eyes.
In the next instant, it abruptly vanished from the spot.
The giant golden immediately sprang into action upon seeing this, darting away to the side as a massive golden shadow.
However, right at this moment, an even faster streak of golden light emerged before shing past the golden ape, instantly inflicting a deep wound that began bleeding profusely.
The golden ape flew away into the distance before drawing to a halt, and it was revealed that a massive gash had been sliced into its body from its chest to its lower abdomen, and the wound was so deep that bone was visible through it.
At the same time, one of Jin Tong''s front limbs had also been severed, and there was a pained look on her face.
Meanwhile, the streak of golden light drew to a halt not far away, then faded to reveal the Gold Devouring Immortal, which was holding Jin Tong''s severed front limb in its mouth.
A burst of golden light flew out to sweep up the limb before sucking it into its mouth, and a blissful look appeared on its face, as if it were savoring the finest delicacy in the world.
The giant golden ape hurriedly pressed a hand over the huge gash that had been sliced into body, and ayer of green light shed over the palm of its hand, upon which the massive gash quickly sealed, while the bleeding also ceased.
Immediately thereafter, it sprang through the air before taking on Han Li''s Azure Luan Bird form amid a sh of azure light, then began flying away as quickly as it could.
At the same time, bursts of golden light emerged from the Azure Luan Bird''s body, and the faint projection of a rapidly revolving golden wheel could be seen within the golden light.
All of a sudden, around a dozen identical golden and azure projections emerged from the Azure Luan Bird''s body, all of which were also giving off identical auras as they shot forth in different directions, and they were no slower than the Gold Devouring Immortal.
A hint of surprise shed through the Gold Devouring Immortal''s eyes as it sensed the timew aura emanating from the golden wheel, and itshed out with both of its front limbs in unison.
Violent spatial fluctuations instantly swept through the surrounding area in a radius of several hundred kilometers, and countless bursts of radiant golden light erupted out of thin air, instantly forming a golden spirit domain that epassed all of the Azure Luan Bird projections, slowing them down significantly.
Chapter 576: Karma
Chapter 576: Karma
The Gold Devouring Immortal opened its mouth to release a thick pir of golden light, which shed through the air like a bolt of lightning, and within it were numerous translucent golden threads that were giving off a terrifying destructive aura.
In the next instant, a resounding boom rang out as the pir of golden light split apart into around a dozen smaller beams of light, each of which shot forth toward one of the Azure Luan Bird projections.
These beams of light were extremely fast, while the Azure Luan Bird projections had been slowed down significantly, so the former was able to catch up to thetter in an instant.
A string of thunderous explosions rang out as the beams of golden light were detonated in unison, transforming into radiant golden suns that released devastating auras of destruction, creating countless spatial rifts in the surrounding area.
All of the Azure Luan Bird projections were instantly destroyed amid the explosions of golden light, with the exception of a single one.
This was the true Azure Luan Bird, and its feathers were in a state ofplete disarray, while the wound stretching from its chest to its lower abdomen had been split open and was once again bleeding profusely.
Jin Tong was standing on the Azure Luan Bird''s back, and she was also riddled with injuries, with countless thin cracks lining her entire exoskeleton.
As for Xiao Bai and Daoist Xie, they were nowhere to be seen, but numerous white and golden fragments could be seen littered throughout the nearby space.
The Azure Luan Bird threw up a mouthful of blood, but the defiance in its eyes didn''t waver as it summoned its Mantra Treasured Axis once again.
However, before it had a chance to do anything else, several dozen translucent golden threads suddenly appeared directly beneath it, then pierced through its body and emerged from its back before it had a chance to react.
The Azure Luan Bird''s entire body instantly stiffened, while the Mantra Treasured Axis also abruptly ceased in its rotation.
Immediately thereafter, the translucent golden threads converged forcefully, slicing the Azure Luan Bird''s body into countless pieces, all of which began raining down toward the ground below.
Jin Tong wasn''t struck by these translucent threads, but her expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and she immediately fled into the distance as a ball of golden light.
However, before she was able to get very far, the translucent golden threads intertwined with one another to form a huge golden, trapping her within it.
Immediately thereafter, the Gold Devouring Immortal appeared directly before her, then opened its mouth to release a burst of golden light that epassed her entire body.
A horrified look appeared on Jin Tong''s face as she struggled with all her might, and golden light erupted out of her body, frantically attempting to keep the golden at bay, but her efforts proved to bepletely futile.
A derisive sneer appeared on the Gold Devouring Immortal''s face, and it opened its mouth up wide, releasing a burst of golden light that sucked in Jin Tong in a sh.
Trapped within the golden light, Jin Tong''s body shrank down rapidly before vanishing into the Gold Devouring Immortal''s mouth.
The Gold Devouring Immortal hovered in mid-air with its eyes tightly shut, and the golden spirit domain around it rippled momentarily before vanishing into its body.
Momentster, radiant golden light erupted out of its body, forming waves of golden light that swept forth in all directions alongside its tremendous aura, which was slowly elevating bit by bit.
"I''ve finally found another one... Someday, I will return to my full power..." the Gold Devouring Immortal murmured to itself, then closed its eyes once again.
......
On the edge of a vast forest.
There was a small mountain here that was lined with jagged rocks, and a green jade flying carriage was rapidly approaching from afar before crashing heavily down onto the ground like a shooting star.
The entire mountain shuddered violently as countless rocks came tumbling down, raising an enormous cloud of dust.
On the flying carriage, Han Li gave a muffled groan as he forcibly swallowed the mouthful of blood that had already gushed to the base of his throat.
"Uncle! Are you alright?" Jin Tong eximed in a concerned voice.
Han Li waved a hand to indicate that he was fine.
He then released his spiritual sense to scour the surrounding area momentarily, following which his brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Jin Tong, can you sense where the Gold Devouring Immortal is right now?"
Jin Tong hurriedly closed her eyes to focus on her spiritual connection with the Gold Devouring Immortal upon hearing this, and momentster, she reopened her eyes as a perplexed look appeared on her face.
"For some reason, it''s not moving... It''s still in the same ce that it was originally at, and it doesn''t appear to have moved at all."
"It''s not chasing after us?" Han Li asked as he swallowed a pill.
"No, but..."
"But what?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Its spiritual sense and immortal spiritual power are all fluctuating violently in a very abnormal fashion. It''s almost as if it''s locked in a fierce battle, but that''s clearly not the case. Why is that?" Jin Tong mused with a puzzled expression.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li said, "ording to your description, I think it must''ve fallen into some type of powerful illusion."
"Illusion? How did it suddenly fall into an illusion?" Jin Tong eximed.
"I don''t know, but in any case, this is good news for us. Let''s keep going, we can''t afford to dy here any longer," Han Li replied.
Jin Tong immediately nodded in response.
The flying carriage lit up once again, yet right as it was about to rise up into the sky, Han Li was suddenly struck by a rush of dizziness, following which a voice rang out within his consciousness.
"I''ve temporarily trapped that Gold Devouring Immortal for now, but the illusion will onlyst 20 years. At your current cultivation base, continuing onward will be no different frommitting suicide, so I suggest that you turn back and go back to where you came from."
Han Li was very rmed to hear this voice, and he immediately channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique to protect his own consciousness while asking internally, "Who are you, and why did you help me?"
However, there was no response to his question, and the dizzy sensation clouding his mind also faded.
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly as he released his spiritual sense to scour the surrounding area, but he was unable to find anything amiss.
Jin Tong was rather perplexed by Han Li''s strange actions, and she asked, "What''s wrong, Uncle?"
Han Li offered no reply as he stood rooted to the spot in a daze, seemingly contemting something in silence.
Momentster, he heaved a faint sigh and shook his head, and the flying carriage sped away into the distance at his behest.
......
There was an enormous peach blossom forest countless kilometers away.
Under an enormous ancient peach blossom tree in the forest was a massive bed chariot, reclined on top of which was a huge white fox. The fox had a shock of golden fur on its be, resembling a heavenly eye.
Its eyes were slightly narrowed, making it appear as if it were half-asleep, and its entire body was enshrouded in a faint glow, making it appear as if it were a fox deity.
Not far away from the giant white fox was a gorgeous young girl in a short white dress. There was a slightly seductive quality to her stunning beautiful features, which were currently disying a concerned expression, and after some hesitation, she asked, "Esteemed patriarch, if you could trap that Gold Devouring Immortal, then why didn''t you help him a bit more and kill it altogether?"
"You know that I don''t have any fondness for humans, Le''er. If it isn''t for the fact that he looked after you in the Spirit Domain Realm, I would''ve already killed him for encroaching upon the territory of our Spirit Fox Tribe!" The white fox replied with a cold harrumph.
The girl that it had just referred to as Le''er was none other than Liu Le''er, who had spent much of her formative years with Han Li back in the Spirit Domain Realm.
"But esteemed patriarch..."
"That''s enough!" the white fox snapped as its eyes abruptly sprang open. "I helped him this time not just to repay him for looking after you in the past, but also to sever the karma between you and him. This matter concerns your future cultivation, and while I do spoil you in other things, this is non-negotiable! If you refuse to ept this oue, then I''ll go and kill him right now to sever the karma at its roots!"
"No, don''t do that! I''m sorry, esteemed patriarch," Liu Le''er hurriedly said in an rmed manner.
A hint of sympathy appeared on the white fox''s face upon seeing her panicked reaction, and he sighed, "Killing that Gold Devouring Immortal will incur severe consequences, even for me. I have no idea how that man made an enemy out of that Gold Devouring Immortal, but there''s no need to worry.
As long as he knows what''s good for him and turns back, it won''t be impossible for him to make it back to the nearest immortal region in 20 years."
Liu Le''er wasn''t relieved at all to hear this, and the concern in her eyes only grew more pronounced.
......
Close to a year passed by in a sh.
During this time, Han Li had continued to venture even deeper into the primordialnd without pause.
However, as they advanced in their journey, the primordial beasts that they encountered became more and more powerful. As a result, they had no choice but to slow down and proceed with caution.
Even so, they had still in advertently incurred the wrath of extremely formidable primordial beasts on several asions, thereby forcing them to flee for their lives.
Thankfully, none of these primordial beasts were anywhere near as persistent as the Gold Devouring Immortal, and at the very most, they would only pursue the flying carriage for a few days before giving up.
Half a month ago, Han Li had flown the carriage into a valley in order to escape from a High Zenith Stage primordial beast.
The valley was quiterge, and there was a peaceful ancient forest inside.
However, only after entering the valley did Han Li realize that it was littered with primordial beast carcasses.
This was clearly a terrible sign, but before he had a chance to back out of the valley, countless vines converged from all directions to form a massive cage around the flying carriage.
As it turned out, this forest was actually an incredibly powerful tree demon.
In the end, Han Li was only able to escape from that ordeal after drawing upon the Divine Devilbane Lightning in his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword to conjure up a lightning teleportation array.
Chapter 577: Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Chapter 577: Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard ce
It was a bright and sunny day, and gusts of fierce wind were howling incessantly over a mountain with sparse vegetation, but a thinyer of mist remained lingering in the air despite the ferocity of the wind.
Right at this moment, a streak of green light appeared in the distance, then rapidly approached the mountain before fading to reveal a green jade flying carriage.
Han Li leaped down from the carriage, then inspected his surroundings briefly before making his way over to arge tree that waspletely devoid of leaves. He sat down with his back against the tree, then took a pill before closing his eyes to rest.
Jin Tong and Xiao Bai also descended from the flying carriage before arriving by his side.
Both Han Li and Jin Tong appeared to be exhausted, and even Xiao Bai was hanging its head in a lethargic manner as itid down onto the ground.
Some timeter, Han Li exhaled as he opened his eyes, and he was looking a lot more energized than before, but there was still a hint of concern in his eyes.
After a brief hesitation, Jin Tong said, "It''s already been over half a year, yet that thing still hasn''t moved at all."
"It looks like whoevermunicated with me back then had to have been an extremely powerful being. This is ate-High Zenith Stage spirit insect, and even though its spiritual sense is its weakness, it''s still an extraordinary feat to trap it in an illusion for so long. It appears the Gold Devouring Immortal really will be trapped in that illusion for 20 years," Han Li mused.
"Is that person really helping us?" Jin Tong asked.
"That''s hard to say for now, but given that this is the primordialnd, anything is possible," Han Li replied in an ambiguous fashion.
"Even in the Northern cial Immortal Region, there was so much treachery going on, I don''t think anyone in the primordialnd would be so kind as to help us for no reason," Jin Tong sighed.
"I wouldn''t say that''s entirely urate," Xiao Bai suddenly interjected. "Many of the immortals of the immortal regions appear to be wise and benevolent on the surface, but behind the scenes, they''re constantly engaging in treacherous dealings. In contrast, even though the primordialnd is constantly ravaged by conflict, everyone is much more forting here."
"Shut your mouth!" Jin Tong snapped as she pped Xiao Bai on the top of its head. "Have you forgotten what the Beast Race did to us after we helped them?"
"You can''t just focus on a single example! The Beast Race is only a tiny race on the outskirts of the primordialnd. In contrast, the major primordial races are far more honorable!" Xiao Bai countered.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing mention of the major primordial races, and Jin Tong just so happened to spot the change in his expression, upon which she hurriedly asked, "Have you thought of something, Uncle?"
"Seeing as that person is able to trap the Gold Devouring Immortal for 20 years and was able tomunicate directly into my consciousness without my detection, they have to at least be at thete-High Zenith Stage, and they could even be a Great Epassment Stage being. I''ve never met anyone of such a lofty cultivation base, but there''s a chance that they could be from one of the major primordial races mentioned by Xiao Bai just now," Han Li replied.
"Does it really matter? As long as they''re helping us, who cares if theye from a major primordial race or a smaller one? It would be great if they could trap the Gold Devouring Immortal for 200 years, even 2,000 years!" Jin Tong said.
Han Li was rather amused to hear this, and he jibed, "Why 2,000 years and not for the rest of eternity?"
"If I can spend 2,000 years traveling and eating with you, there''s a good chance I''ll be even more powerful than that thing. Once that timees, I''ll wait for it to deliver itself to me so I can eat it. That would save me the trouble of having to search for it!" Jin Tong replied in a confident manner.
"Are you sure you''re not the one who''s going to be eaten?" Han Li asked in an exasperated voice.
"For some reason, ever since I could remember, I''ve always had an innate urge to devour all of the other Gold Devouring Beetles that I encounter, and this urge became even stronger as that thing was pursuing us," Jin Tong replied with a serious expression.
"Perhaps that''s simply a mission that all Gold Devouring Beetles share," Han Li mused in a contemtive fashion.
Jin Tong didn''t really understand what that meant, but she didn''t ponder it, either, as she asked, "What should we do from here, Uncle? Maybe we should listen to whoever helped us and return to the Northern cial Immortal Region."
"That''s not an option. I''m definitely already a wanted a fugitive in the entire immortal region, so going back would be no different from suicide," Han Li said with a wry smile.
"Then should we keep going forward?" Jin Tong asked.
"After being chased by that Gold Devouring Immortal for so long, we''ve alreadypletely diverged from the route that we were supposed to take. At our current cultivation bases, if we keep forging ahead blindly, we''llnd ourselves in hot water sooner orter. We can''t just ignore the advice of someone capable of trapping ate-High Zenith Stage being in an illusion for 20 years," Han Li said.
"Well, what can we do then? Surely you''re not nning to just stay here and cultivate!"
"That''s exactly what I intend to do!" Han Li dered, much to the astonishment of both Jin Tong and Xiao Bai.
"We''re just going to stay here in the middle of nowhere? Is that supposed to be a joke? Besides, we won''t be able to make any significant progress in our cultivation in 20 years anyway," Jin Tong said in a concerned manner.
"There are no other feasible options. At this point, we''re stuck between a rock and a hard ce, and we can''t retreat or advance, so we may as well take our chances here. At the very least, I think this is the best way to proceed," Han Li said.
"In that case, I''ll ce my trust in you, Uncle. You can go into seclusion and focus on your cultivation, I''ll make sure you don''t get disturbed," Jin Tong vowed as she puffed out her chest in a disy of confidence, while Xiao Bai buried its own head under its two front paws, seemingly resigning itself to its fate.
"There''s no hurry. We haven''t just been traveling aimlessly for the past half a year. During this time, I''ve been searching for a suitable ce to go into seclusion, and I''ve made my choice, but it''s not here," Han Li said with a smile.
"Why not? There aren''t any primordial beasts nearby. Isn''t this a good ce to cultivate in seclusion?" Jin Tong asked with a perplexed expression.
"Do you still remember that ravine that we recently passed by?" Han Li asked.
"I do, it''s not far away from the valley where that tree demon was. It was so dark, and even from really far away, it reeked of blood and baleful qi. Surely you''re not nning to go into seclusion in there," Jin Tong eximed.
"That''s right. Here in the primordialnd, all of the formidable primordial beasts have their own territories, and generally speaking, they won''t encroach upon the territories of others. That tree demon was extremely powerful, and that''s why that other primordial beast stopped pursuing us as soon as we entered the tree demon''s territory. As long as we stay in its territory, we won''t be disturbed by other primordial beasts," Han Li exined.
"That sounds correct, but the tree demon isn''t just going to allow us to cultivate on its territory!" Jin Tong countered in a puzzled manner.
"I''m not sure if you noticed, but the tree demon''s roots were spread out over the entire valley and even arge area outside the valley, but they didn''t extend into that ravine. Do you know why that is?" Han Li asked.
Jin Tong hadn''t noticed this at all, and she could only shake her head with an inquisitive expression.
"Water and sunlight are mandatory for the nourishment of all nt life, so nts generally prefer warm and humid environments. That applies even to nt demons. That ravine is extremely dark andpletely devoid of sunlight, and that''s why the tree demon wasn''t willing to extend its roots there," Han Li exined.
"I see," Jin Tong replied with an enlightened expresion.
"More importantly, the ravine is extremely abundant in baleful qi, and that''s exactly what I need. Alright, we''ve taken some time to rest, let''s set off for that ravine right away," Han Li dered.
With that, the three of them flew onto the flying carriage, which sped away as a streak of green light.
Around half a monthter, the flying carriage drew to a halt in the sky above a ravine that was several dozen kilometers in length and several thousand feet wide.
Han Li was standing at the front of the carriage, looking at the ravine down below with a hesitant expression.
While he had already decided that this was going to be where he went into seclusion, there was still a major element of risk associated with this n.
The primordialnd was rife with formidable beasts, and there was no guarantee that there weren''t creatures even more powerful than the tree demon lurking in the ravine. Perhaps it wasn''t theck of sunlight that made the tree demon unwilling to spread its roots here. Instead, perhaps ,it was weary of some other formidable being inside the ravine.
Han Li shook his head to rid himself of those meddling thoughts. At this point, it was already toote to turn back.
In the next instant, he swooped down into the ravine, and as soon as he entered its depths, he was immediately plunged into darkness.
A nauseating bloody odor permeated throughout the entire ravine alongside an extremely fearsome baleful aura.
Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as he conjured up an azure light barrier around himself, and only after descending to a depth of close to 10,000 feet did he release his spiritual sense to scour the ravine.
In doing so, he discovered that the ravine was far deeper than he imagined, and not only was it impossible to determine where its bottomid, Han Li couldn''t sense any living beings inside at all.
He continued to descend rapidly along a sheer cliff face of the ravine, and the more he descended the more rmed he became.
The cliff faces on either side of the ravine were riddled with jagged and uneven rocks, interspersed among which were slightly tter and more even stone tforms that varied in size.
Littered all over these jagged rocks and stone tforms were piles of skeletons that were burning with fluorescent green mes. There was a huge number of these skeletons, and just like the stone tforms, they also varied drastically in size.
Han Li was rather confused to see this.
Could it be that the baleful qi here was so abundant because this was where the tree demon had been discarding the skeletal remains of its victims?
Chapter 578: Descent
Chapter 578: Descent
Around 15 minutester, Han Li descended onto one of the stone tforms protruding out of the cliff face, and he swept a sleeve through the air to scatter the dozens of skeletons on the tform, sending them plunging down deeper into the ravine.
Han Li briefly inspected his surroundings, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon Daoist Xie, Jin Tong, and Xiao Bai amid three streaks of light, two golden and one white.
As soon as Jin Tong appeared, she was immediately struck by a sense of difort, and she hurriedly asked, "Where are we, Uncle?"
"There''s an extreme abundance of baleful qi here," Daoist Xie remarked with tightly furrowed brows.
"We''re already deep within the ravine right now. This amount of baleful qi should still be tolerable for all of you, but if we go any deeper, you run the risk of suffering baleful qi contamination, so I''ll leave all of you to stay here for now while I continue my descent," Han Li said.
"Just focus on your cultivation and don''t worry about anything else, Uncle," Jin Tong dered with a reassuring nod.
Han Li patted Jin Tong on the head, then turned to Daoist Xie as he said, "brother Xie, as a safety precaution, I''ll have to trouble you to set up an array with me."
Daoist Xie nodded in response.
"Master, this feels like such an eerie ce... Is it really alright to stay here?" Xiao Bai suddenly asked in a concerned manner.
"Just as the baleful qi in here is unbearable for all of you, I''m sure the same applies to other primordial beasts as well. On top of that, my spiritual sense wasn''t able to detect any living beings in here, so there shouldn''t be any problems," Han Li replied.
Xiao Bai nodded silently in response.
"Jin Tong, even though that person told us that the Gold Devouring Immortal will be trapped for 20 years, we can''t just take their word for it. Make sure to keep constant tabs on the Gold Devouring Immortal, and if it begins moving, notify me right away," Han Li instructed.
"You can count on me, Uncle," Jin Tong replied with a serious look on her little face.
After that, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce an array te, following which he and Daoist Xie sprang into action, flying over the cliff faces of the ravine to set up an array.
"Back when I was with Qu Ling, I was always the one doing the hunting, but now that I''m back with Uncle, I''ve suddenly be the one being hunted," Jin Tong suddenly remarked.
"Are you regretting returning to Master''s side?" Xiao Bai asked.
Jin Tong pped it on the head as she smiled and said, "How could I possibly regret it when being with Uncle is so exciting? Besides, Uncle will definitely find a way out of this predicament, I''m sure of it!"
A faint smile appeared on Xiao Bai''s face upon hearing this.
......
A few minutester, Han Li parted ways with Daoist Xie and Jin Tong, then continued his descent deeper into the ravine.
As he did so, the gusts of wind were sweeping through the air beside him, picking up specks of fluorescent mes from the nearby skeletons before blowing them in different directions.
These specks of green mes resembled stars in the night sky, except they were far more eerie and unsettling to behold.
The deeper Han Li descended into the ravine, the more perplexed he became.
He had thought that there would be an even distribution of baleful qi throughout the entire ravine, but as it turned out, the deeper he went, the denser the surrounding baleful qi became, and strangely enough, the number of skeletal carcasses on the cliff faces on either side were also bing fewer and fewer.
After descending for about 30 kilometers, all traces of light ceased to exist, and the baleful qi in the surrounding area was so dense that it felt like a suffocating nket.
At this point, even Han Li was beginning to feel very ufortable, despite the fact that he had previously used baleful qi to open up some of his immortal acupoints.
His brows furrowed slightly as he fought through the difort and continued his descent.
As he descended, the surrounding baleful qi only continued to grow denser and denser, and even the protective spiritual light around him wasn''t able topletely keep it at bay.
As he neared the 50-kilometer mark, the surrounding baleful qi suddenly began to churn violently, and gusts of howling yin wind swept through the air.
The nearby air temperature also plummeted drastically, and ayer of ck ice crystals appeared over the cliff faces, while some sections had been so badly frozen that the rock had cracked and split apart.
Han Li was caughtpletely off guard, and a thickyer of ck ice emerged over his body, while all types of violent and aggressive thoughts forced their way into his mind.
All of a sudden, he found himself seeing red, and he felt as if he had been transported to a battlefield riddled with vast mountains of demon beast carcasses and rivers of blood.
At the same time, a chorus of ghostly howls rang out beside his ears.
Before he had a chance to do anything, countless crimson ghostly hands extended out of the mountains of carcasses and rivers of blood, attempting to tear away his sanity.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he remained in a state of lucidity.
He was aware of the detrimental effects that baleful qi contamination could have on one''s spiritual sense, and he had already channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique to protect his own mind.
He closed his eyes while focusing on channeling the Spirit Refinement Arts, and a cool and refreshing sensation welled up in his mind, while the horrific illusion of the battlefield began to fade.
However, gusts of yin wind were still sweeping incessantly through the area, and while the illusion was fading, it refused to disappear altogether.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique several more times, and the illusion was finallypletely dispeled.
With that, he gently exhaled, following which theyer of ck ice crystals around him was shattered amid a sh of azure light. However, instead of continuing his descent from there, he peered down into the ravine with a wary look in his eyes.
The baleful qi here was far more formidable than he had anticipated, and if any other mid-Golden Immortal cultivator who hadn''t cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique had been in his ce, they would''ve most likely already been driven insane by the illusion from just now.
Gusts of yin wind were howling incessantly down below alongside clouds of churning ck mist, and it was clear that he was far from reaching the bottom of the ravine.
On top of that, the boundless baleful qi and yin wind here severely obstructed his spiritual sense, thereby restricting his spiritual sensory range.
He was originally nning to reach the bottom of the ravine to take advantage of the more abundant baleful qi there to assist in his cultivation, but at this point, he had already reached his limits, and descending any further could result in aplete loss of his sanity.
If the same illusion from before were to present itself to him again in an even stronger form, then he wasn''t confident that he would be able to ovee it.
Right as he was hesitating about how to proceed, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as a hint of tion appeared in his eyes.
He had discovered that by oveing the earlier illusion through channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique, he had made some significant progress in his Spirit Refinement Technique, equivalent to the progress that he had made over the past few years of cultivation!
In this environment, his spiritual sense was constantly on the verge of copse, and it seemed that this was greatly beneficial for the cultivation of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
His original n was only to take advantage of the baleful qi in this ce to open up more immortal acupoints, so this discovery was certainly a pleasant surprise.
It was extremely rare to see such a vast abundance of baleful qi in any ce, and this only made him even more curious about what was at the bottom.
Momentster, Han Li decided to continue in his descent.
This time, he was only able to descend a few more kilometers before the effects of baleful qi contamination began to rear their ugly heads again, and he immediately drew to a halt while simultaneously channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique.
The same illusion of the horrific battlefield had surfaced in his mind, and this one was even stronger than the one from before.
Han Li was channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might to withstand the illusion, and only after close to an entire day had passed did he finally exhale before opening his eyes.
Just as he had anticipated, he had made significant progress in the Spirit Refinement Technique once again.
A hint of tion surfaced in his eyes, and at this rate, it wasn''t going to take long before he fully mastered the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
After taking a brief rest, he continued his descent.
The more he descended, the more formidable the surrounding baleful qi and yin wind became, and it was as if this ravine were connected directly to the depths of hell.
Just like before, Han Li would periodically stop at certain points, using the yin wind and baleful qi to assist him in his cultivation of the Spirit Refinement Technique, and using this method, he was able to make rapid progress.
Several monthster, Han Li had already reached the pinnacle of the fourth level of the cultivation art, he was only one step away from full mastery.
At this moment, he was standing on a giant rock protruding out of the cliff face, looking down into the ravine below.
By his estimates, he had already descended close to 500 kilometers into the ravine, yet he still didn''t appear to be close to the bottom.
He briefly inspected his surroundings, and after some contemtion, he began to descend again.
A short whileter, he stopped in his tracks with a surprised expression.
At this point, the ravine had be very narrow, and gusts of yin wind were sweeping through the area, stirring up the nearby baleful qi to form a series of vortexes of different sizes.
The baleful qi here was several times more formidable than before, and the gusts of yin wind were also blowing with increased ferocity.
Bursts of violent intent forced their way into Han Li''s mind, and even though he was constantly channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique, he was struggling to retain his sanity.
Before he had a chance to do anything else, an incredibly thick pir of yin wind suddenly erupted out of the ravine down below before sweeping up his entire body.
A burst of extremely formidable baleful qi surged out of the pir of yin wind, instantly shattering the defenses of the Spirit Refinement Technique in his mind.
Chapter 579: Succumbing to Depravity
Chapter 579: Sumbing to Depravity
A burst of fierce killing intent instantly flooded into Han Li''s mind.
His eyes quickly turned bloodshot, while his vision blurred, and he was once again thrust into another illusion.
All around him was a sea of blood with countless demon beast skeletons and carcasses submerged within, and the entire surrounding area was filled with the nauseating stench of blood and gore.
Han Li immediately bit down onto the tip of his own tongue, using the pain to help him recover some of his lucidity. At the same time, he was channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique to protect his own mind as much as possible, but as he swept his gaze over his surroundings, his pupils instantly contracted slightly.
The previous illusions had been able to affect his mind, but they were still tolerable, and he was able to free himself from them by channeling the Spirit Refinement Technique.
However, this illusion was different. He seemed to have fallenpletely into it, and it wasn''t going to be so easy to break free.
Even though he was doing everything in his power to cling to his sanity, he could feel all of the blood in his entire body churning violently, and a wave of irrepressible fury rose up in his heart with such ferocity that it felt as if it were about to tear his chest apart.
He had experienced something like this before, back when he had been struck by that abrupt onset of Spirit Refinement Technique bacsh in the ck Wind Sea. However, that problem should''ve already been ironed out through his cultivation of the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, at least on a temporary basis.
Could it be that this illusion was forcibly triggering premature bacsh from his Spirit Refinement Technique?
With that in mind, Han Li hurriedly channeled the Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might, and a cool and refreshing sensation coursed through his mind to slowly snuff out the fury in his heart.
After that, he began to ponder how he could break free from this illusion.
Right at this moment, a burst of sshing rang out nearby, and Han Li turned to discover that a demonic wolf carcass that was over 100 feet in length had slowly stood up within the sea of blood not far away.
Two specks of eerie red light appeared in its eye sockets, and it let loose a ferocious roar before pouncing at Han Li, who flicked a finger through the air, releasing a streak of azure light to slice the demonic wolf carcass in half.
Immediately thereafter, two more demon beast carcasses rose to their haunches beforeunching themselves at Han Li, and they were also promptly in.
However, before Han Li had a chance to do anything else, more and more carcasses came pouncing at him from all directions, and he was forced to retaliate, striking them down one after another.
Initially, these carcasses weren''t all that powerful, but as more and more of them sprang to life, they also became progressively more formidable, and before long, there were even some True Immortal and Golden Immortal Stage demon beast carcasses among their ranks.
At this point, Han Li had already adopted his Giant Mountain Ape form, and he was swinging his enormous golden fists through the sea of blood around him, eradicating all of the surrounding carcasses.
However, there seemed to be no end to these carcasses, and it didn''t take long before he waspletely surrounded.
Right at this moment, a green tail that was over 1,000 feet in length abruptly emerged from the sea of blood down below, then swept toward him with tremendous force.
Han Li was busy warding off other attacks, so he could onlyunch a hurried punch at the sweeping tail to release a golden fist projection, and a resounding boom rang out as the fist projection shed against the giant tail, upon which the former was instantly shattered like an egg.
As for the massive tail, it wasn''t even slowed down in the slightest as it crashed straight into Han Li''s side, sending him flying like a ragdoll into the throngs of demon beast carcasses in that direction.
The nearby carcasses immediately began roaring with excitement as they piled onto all at once,pletely inundating him before tearing at his flesh in a frenzy.
The Giant Mountain Ape was normally renowned for its incredible physical constitution, yet in this moment, its defenses had be extremely frail, and almost in the blink of an eye, most of its flesh had been torn away, revealing the bone underneath.
Han Li was furious, and his arms glowed with radiant golden light as heshed out in all directions.
A burst of tremendous power erupted out of the golden light, causing the surrounding space to warp and rumble violently.
All of the nearby carcasses were sent flying, while the giant golden ape sprang up to a higher elevation, allowing it temporarily free itself from the encirclement.
Han Li looked down at his own severely ravaged body, and the fury in his eyes gradually faded.
Even though half of his body had gone missing, he didn''t feel as if he had suffered any severe injuries, and his body instantly reverted back to normal amid a sh of golden light.
He immediately realized that he had been swept up in the heat of the moment, and as a result, he had forgotten that he was in an illusion.
Of course, the main reason why he had almost fallen prey to the illusion was the mental disturbance that had been caused by the premature onset of Spirit Refinement Technique bacsh.
If he were to allow himself to get lost in this illusion, then he would never be able to break free from it.
Before he had a chance to ponder the subject any further, all of the demon beast carcasses came springing up at him once again from down below.
Han Li exhaled as he closed his eyes while channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might, paying no heed to all of the converging carcasses.
A glimmer of translucent light emerged on his be, then quickly expanded and grew brighter until it was as radiant and blinding as the sun.
The group of demon beast carcasses that were charging at the forefront were only around 10 feet away from Han Li at this point, and as soon as the translucent light shone upon them, they immediately began screeching with agony before being reduced to dust in the blink of an eye.
The rest of the demon beast carcasses hurriedly shot back in retreat upon seeing this, flying deep into the sea of blood, not daring to show themselves again.
All of a sudden, not a single carcass could be seen, and all that remained was the sea of blood peacefully rippling around him.
Momentster, Han Li''s eyes abruptly sprang open, and there was radiant golden light glowing within them. His gaze quickly roamed over the surrounding area, following which a thick beam of translucent light erupted out of his be, forming a giant translucent de that was over 1,000 feet in length before striking the space directly up ahead.
The crimson space in the path of the translucent de rippled momentarily, but then instantly returned to normal.
Even though Han Li was unable to tear the space open, he was very much encouraged to see this, and his be lit up once again, but right at this moment, the sea of blood down below suddenly began to churn and bubble violently.
Immediately thereafter, a mountainous green carcass slowly began to emerge from the depths.
The carcass belonged to an enormous green rat with an almost entirely dposed body. There were two balls of green and red mes burning within its eye sockets, presenting a very peculiar sight to behold, and there was a massive green tail that was just as long as the rat itself trailing along behind it.
The giant green rat was giving off an enormous aura that caused the nearby space to tremble and groan incessantly, as if the very space itself were unable to bear the enormity of its aura.
The aura of the green rat was far more formidable than that of the High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal, and among all of the powerful beings that Han Li had seen, perhaps only Immortal Lord Miro couldpare with it.
Despite his rm, Han Li didn''t panic.
Regardless of how formidable this giant green rat was, it was nothing but an illusion.
Upon spotting the tail trailing along behind the rat, he immediately realized that this was the very same tail that had sent him flying earlier.
Right at this moment, the giant rat''s eyes lit up, and it pounced at Han Li as an enormous green shadow.
Han Li immediately made a hand seal, and a thick pir of translucent light shot out of his be before striking the green rat directly on the head.
However, the giant rat merely opened its mouth to swallow the pir of light, and it wasn''t slowed down in the slightest as it crashed straight into Han Li like an enormous meteorite.
Han Li''s be lit up once again, and a huge shield of translucent light was conjured up in front of him.
However, as soon as the translucent shield took shape, it was instantly shattered, following which a burst of tremendous force crashed into Han Li''s body, sending him flying for close to 10 kilometers before he was finally able to steady himself.
Before he had a chance to retaliate, a long green shadow shot forth like lightning before piercing straight through his body. The green shadow hade out of the giant rat''s mouth and, and it appeared to be the rat''s tongue, but there was ayer of green mes burning over it.
Han Li instantly felt a burst of scorching pain re up in his mind, as if his entire soul were being incinerated, and he couldn''t help but give a muffled groan. However, he was able to suppress the pain as he reached out with both hands to grab onto the green tongue, but before he could rip the tongue into two, it wrapped itself around his hands like a spirit snake, then rapidly wrapped itself around the rest of his body as well.
Immediately thereafter, the green rat opened its mouth to produce a burst of immense suction force that acted upon Han Li, while its tongue was also rapidly retracted.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li was sucked into the giant rat''s mouth.
His vision blurred momentarily, following which he found himself in a dark space, surrounded by dposing chunks of dark purple flesh, which were constantly exuding putrid and nauseating pus.
Bursts of tremendous force were alsopressing toward him from all directions, and he remained firmly tied up by the green tongue.
Han Li fought back his disgust as he struggled with all his might, but to no avail, and his heart immediately sank.
However, he then suddenly ceased all struggles and closed his eyes, seemingly resigning himself to his fate.
All of a sudden, bursts of green mes appeared all around him, and theynded upon his body, setting him alight.
The green mes were giving off incredible heat that directly scorched Han Li''s soul, and the pain was so unbearable that he couldn''t help but give a muffled groan.
Chapter 580: From Crisis to Fortune
Chapter 580: From Crisis to Fortune
Han Li gritted his teeth in agony before abruptly letting loose a thunderous roar, and a shimmering golden nascent soul suddenly emerged from the top of his head.
The nascent soul had a grim look on its face, and it rubbed its hands together, following which a burst of golden light shed through its eyes before it vanished into Han Li''s body again.
In the next instant, Han Li felt a cool and refreshing sensation spreading through his spiritual sense, slightly counteracting the scorching pain that was ravaging his soul.
However, the heat radiating from the green mes was only bing more and more intense, and it was impossible to alleviate, even as Han Li channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might.
At this point, Han Li had already conjured up his True Extreme Film to help him withstand the tremendouspressive force that was acting upon him from all directions, but he was still trembling uncontrobly, while cracks and pops were ringing out incessantly from within his body, as if all of his bone were about to be shattered.
Time passed by in an agonizingly slow fashion.
All of a sudden, Han Li shuddered as a twisted look appeared on his face.
The heat in his spiritual sense had risen to a terrifying degree, and he felt as if his entire soul were slowly shrinking amid the unbearable heat.
His consciousness slowly began to blur, as if it were slowly leaving his body, but right at this moment, what appeared to be the sound of something shattering rang out deep within his soul.
A speck of translucent light then abruptly emerged somewhere in his spiritual sense, and it began to release a burst of suction force.
The scorching heat that permeated throughout his spiritual sense seemed to have suddenly found an outlet, and it surged toward the speck of translucent light in a frenzy to form a scorching vortex.
In the span of just a few seconds, all of the scorching heat in Han Li''s mind had faded, and the twisted look on his face also disappeared.
Immediately thereafter, a resounding boom rang out from within his soul, and it was rapidly being enhanced and elevated to a whole new level.
Only after around 15 minutes had passed did these changes gradually subside, and everything returned to normal.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes, and he was ecstatic to discover that not only had his consciousness returned to normal, his spiritual sense had be two to three times more powerful than before.
It was as if there were countless glittering and translucent streams flowing through his mind, giving off tremendous spiritual sense fluctuations.
Never had he anticipated that he would achieve full mastery of the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique while on the brink of disaster.
Perhaps the reason why he hadn''t been able to reach this step up to this point was because his spiritual sense was too powerful, so he had never been in a situation where his soul had been on the verge of copse.
In his desperation to attain more power in order to stand a chance against the Gold Devouring Immortal, he had ventured deep into this mysterious ravine, and in an enormous stroke of luck, it had allowed him to achieve full mastery of the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Han Li swept his gaze over his surroundings, following which his be began to glow brightly, and bursts of radiant translucent light shot out from within like sharp swords in all directions.
All of a sudden, bursts of blinding translucent light erupted out of the giant green rat''s body, following which it exploded violently into streams of green light that flew away in all directions.
Before long, Han Li was revealed, having already reverted back to his human form.
Piercing translucent light was radiating from his body, illuminating the surrounding crimson space.
All of a sudden, he made a hand seal, and the translucent light converged to form an enormous sword that was able to instantly slice the crimson space apart.
Han Li''s vision blurred momentarily, and in the next instant, he found himself back in the dark ravine.
He gently exhaled as he inspected his surroundings momentarily, then descended onto a nearby protruding cliff before sitting down with his legs crossed.
With his current drastically enhanced spiritual sense, the surrounding yin wind and baleful qi were no longer able to affect him.
He closed his eyes to carefully experience the enormous spiritual sense in his mind, and he was ecstatic with what he saw.
Momentster, his eyes abruptly sprang open, and a burst of translucent light shed over his be, following which a radiant translucent sword projection shot forth, vanishing into the ck mist in a sh before racing up the ravine.
High up in the sky above the ravine, a True Immortal Stage azure eagle was flying past when the translucent sword projection suddenly pierced straight into its head, and it was only able to muster up a cry of shock and agony before the light in its eyespletely faded.
At the same time, its aura also vanished, and its lifeless body tumbled down into the forest that was actually the body of the tree demon.
The vines and branches in the forest immediately awakened, and they converged to ensnare the body of the azure eagle in a cocoon, following which a string of grotesque crunching sounds rang out.
Inside the ravine, a hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes.
With his significantly enhanced spiritual sense, his Sword Observation Art had be several times more powerful, making it an even more effective weapon against the Gold Devouring Immortal.
After that, he tested out a few more spiritual attacks, all of which had also be immensely more powerful.
Following his experimentation, he closed his eyes once again, and momentster, several translucent chains shot out of his be, then quickly intertwined with one another to form a rectangr cage.
The chains were riddled with barely distinguishable ck runes that were giving off a faint ck glow, which intertwined with the translucent light emanating from the chains, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the cage of chains, which was hovering in mid-air, then pointed a finger in its direction, and the cage instantly split back up into several translucent chains before vanishing into thin air.
Deep within the forest outside the ravine was a huge tree that stood at several thousand feet tall. The tree had an extremely dense canopy, and the trunk was as green as jade, as were all of its branches and leaves. Furthermore, there was an enormous face on the trunk of the tree.
At this moment, the eyes of the face were tightly shut, and a snoring sound wasing out of its half-agape mouth, indicating that it seemed to be sleeping.
Right at this moment, several translucent chains emerged beside the tree amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, then vanished into the tree in a sh.
The giant face on the tree instantly opened its eyes as it let loose a roar of rm and fury, and its thick branches began to il around violently like arms.
At the same time, an immense High Zenith Stage aura erupted out of its body, and bursts of green light shot out of the tree''s trunk in a frenzy beforending in the nearby valley.
Everything that came into contact with this green light was instantly destroyed, and the earth in a radius of several hundred kilometers rumbled and quaked violently, sending huge clouds of dust rising up into the air.
However, in the next instant, the iling branches of the giant tree suddenly stopped moving, and the expression on its face also abruptly stiffened, but the radiant green light glowing from the tree and its immense aura still remained.
Deep within the giant tree was a green space that was filled with dense green mist, and hovering at the center of the mist was a green soul in the form of a humanoid tree.
However, at this moment, the soul was trapped in a cage formed by translucent chains, and the cage was giving off ayer of translucent light that isted the green soul from the sea of mist outside.
The green soul was struggling frantically within the cage, taking on all types of different forms to try and break free, but no matter what it tried, its efforts proved to bepletely futile.
After briefly trapping the soul for some time, the cage suddenly split back up into several translucent chains that vanished into thin air.
The tree demon was instantly able to move again, and a confused look appeared in its eyes as it scoured its surroundings in a perplexed fashion.
......
Deep within the ravine.
The translucent chains appeared beside Han Li in a sh, then immediately vanished into his body.
Hisplexion was rather pale, but there was a hint of tion on his face.
That cage just now was a secret technique called the Spiritual Sense Cage, which could only be unleashed after mastering the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique. It was capable of trapping enemy souls to temporarily sever the connection between their body and their soul.
While it was true that the tree demon had been caughtpletely off guard, the fact that this secret technique was able to temporarily seal away the soul of a High Zenith Stage being was still a testament to its immense power.
After taking a brief moment to catch his breath, Han Li''splexion gradually began to recover, and a contemtive look appeared in his eyes.
The secret technique was very powerful, but it was also extremely taxing on his spiritual sense. Even though he had only unleashed it for a very short time, only 30% of his spiritual sense remained, and it was going to take at least a month for him to recover.
However, this was still very much a worthy trade.
After sitting in silence for a moment, Han Li summoned a ck jade slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
This jade slip contained the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
The Spirit Refinement Technique was far more powerful than Han Li had anticipated. Originally, he had been nning to take advantage of the vast abundance of baleful qi here to open up more immortal acupoints, but it seemed like cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique was actually the better option.
After reading through the entire fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly with concern.
The contents of the fifth level were far deeper and more difficult to grasp than the fourth level. Having said that, Han Li had seen countless profound cultivation arts in the past, and no matter how difficult the fifth level was to grasp, it had to be a continuation of the fourth level, so it shouldn''t be a problem for him to interpret it as long as he was willing to spend the time.
With that in mind, he injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip once again.
Chapter 581: Gathering of Immortals
Chapter 581: Gathering of Immortals
Around an hour ago, right when Han Li achieved full mastery of the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Countless kilometers away from the ravine that Han Li was in, there stood a white mountain that reached all the way up into the clouds.
On the mountain summit was an azure tform that had been constructed out of stone blocks, and at the center of the tform was a square stone table, around which were ced four stone chairs of the same style, but in different colors.
At this moment, three of the stone chairs were upied.
One of them was upied by a ck-robed young man with a darkplexion. He had a pair of silver horns on his head, and there was a very cold and inhospitable air about him.
The second chair was upied by a white-robed man who appeared to be 30 to 40 years of age. He was extremely handsome, with a head of flowing white hair, down the middle of which was a lock of eye-catching golden hair.
The final person toplete the trio was a hunch-backed elderly man with red hair and a red beard, holding a crimson cane in one hand.
Hovering above the stone table in front of the trio was a white mirror of water, within which was a swirling expanse of white light.
A dark ravine could just barely be made out beneath the white light, and there were wisps of ck qi drifting out of the ravine.
"Those are some very powerful spiritual sense fluctuations... Could it be that someone on Old Man Gu''s territory made a breakthrough to the Great Epassment Stage?" the ck-robed young man mused.
"A breakthrough to the Great Epassment Stage would''ve triggered far more significant phenomena. If you ask me, this looks like something that would arise from someone cultivating some type of spiritual secret technique," the white-robed man said.
The ck-robed man''s brows furrowed slightly as he took a nce at the white-robed, then gave a cold harrumph.
The white-robed man paid no heed to him as he turned to the red-haired elderly man and asked, "What do you think, Brother Yu?"
"I''m not too sure what to make of this, but seeing as this is happening on Fellow Daoist Gu''s territory, we''re in no position to intervene," the red-haired man replied in an ambiguous fashion.
"Today is our once-in-a-million-year gathering, yet Fellow Daoist Gu has already been absent several times in session, and now, something strange seems to be happening on his territory. I really do wonder what he''s up to," the white-robed man sighed as he shook his head with a resigned smile.
"Don''t mind him, Fellow Daoist Gu has always been a very mysterious man," the red-haired elderly man chuckled.
"Maybe you should mind your own business instead of prying into Old Man Gu''s matters, Brother Liu. Recently, one of your subsidiary branches in the Dark Star Mountain Range suddenly attacked and took over the entire Insect Race territory in that area. How do you exin that, Brother Liu?" the ck-robed young man asked.
"So that''s what''s on your mind! I was wondering why you were being so hostile to me. Both of us have countless descendants spread across the vast primordialnd, and they''ve always lived and died by thews of natural selection, so why concern yourself with these matters? If you''re truly bothered by this, then just send some of your people to recover the territory," the white-robed man replied with a nonchnt smile.
"In that case, I don''t believe there''s any need for this gathering to drag on any longer. I''ll be going ahead now," the ck-robed man dered as he suddenly rose to his feet, then abruptly vanished into thin air.
"Looks like Brother Zuo''s temper is still as fiery as ever. Brother Liu, I''ll also be taking my leave now. See you in a million years," the red-haired elderly man said as he also rose to his feet, then waved his cane through the air, and a white spatial rift appeared in front of him, then slowly widened to form a spatial passageway.
After that, the red-haired elderly man calmly stepped into the spatial passageway and departed as well.
Meanwhile, a faint smile appeared on the white-robed man''s face as he mused, "That human brat is quite brave. He''s neither advancing or retreating, instead choosing to remain where he is to cultivate. Let''s see if he has what it takes to dig himself out of this hole."
As soon as his voice trailed off, the white mirror hovering above the tform abruptly vanished, and the white-robed man was also nowhere to be seen.
......
It took Han Li around half a month to fullyprehend the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
His spiritual sense was far superior to that of the average Golden Immortal to begin with, and now that he had mastered the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, he naturally fulfilled the spiritual sense prerequisites to cultivate the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
However, the fifth level of the cultivation art was extremelyplex, and it seemed that many risks also had to be taken during its cultivation, and that left him a little hesitant about how to proceed.
However, given the impact that the baleful qi in the ravine had on his spiritual sense, it urred to Han Li that perhaps he could further enhance his own spiritual sense by descending deeper into the ravine.
With that in mind, he stowed the jade slip away, then rose to his feet and rmenced his descent.
However, it didn''t take long before Han Li''s brows began to furrow slightly, and as he continued his descent, the concern on his face only grew more pronounced.
Contrary to his expectations, the yin winds deeper in the ravine had only be weaker instead of stronger.
Even though the baleful qi was only bing denser the deeper he went, without those yin winds toplement it, the baleful qi alone wasn''t sufficient to conjure up those illusions in his mind.
A disappointed look appeared on Han Li''s face, and after a brief pause, he returned to the depth where the yin wind was strongest before sitting down with his legs crossed to try and cultivate the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Half a year flew by in a sh.
As Han Li opened his eyes, a rather frustrated look appeared on his face.
During the past six months, he had been cultivating constantly without rest, but progress had been extremely slow. Not only was progress far slower than when he was able to take advantage of those baleful qi illusions to cultivate the Spirit Refinement Technique, it was significantly slower than even under normal circumstances.
Han Li took a deep breath topose himself.
Back when he was cultivating the third level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, he had encountered the same problem, but eventually, he was able to master the third level with enough time. However, in this situation, he simply didn''t have time to make slow and steady progress.
After some contemtion, he made a hand seal, and his body shuddered slightly, following which all of the surrounding baleful qi abruptly converged toward him, inundating him in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, he felt as if he could hear the blood-hurdling howls of countless demon beasts ringing out beside his ears, and at the same time, bursts of sinister and violent intent began infiltrating all parts of his body.
He took a deep breath and didn''t channel any of his cultivation arts to defend himself.
Bursts of dense baleful qi surged erratically throughout his body, and it felt as if there were countless tiny daggers twisting in his meridians.
His brows furrowed slightly, but then quickly unfurrowed again, and he promptly devoured a cultivation enhancement pill before channeling his Profound Baleful Spirit Arts.
All of the baleful qi that had umted in his body instantly erupted forth, manifesting itself as a vast expanse of ck light that resembled a cloud of dense mist.
The ck light instantly fused as one with the surrounding baleful qi, stirring up the nearby baleful qi into a frenzy, causing them to form a series of vortexes around him before surging into his body at an even faster rate than before.
All of a sudden, Han Li waspletely inundated by a dense ck cloud, and he felt as if there were countless needles piercing into his skin.
As he continued to channel the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts, the bursts of erratic baleful qi in his body began to converge toward a single point, forming a vast wave of baleful qi.
He couldn''t help but give a muffled groan, and his brows became tightly furrowed with agony.
Earlier, the bursts of baleful qi had been spread out all over his body, and they had caused him some pain, but it wasn''t all that severe. However, now that all of the baleful qi had converged to one ce, the pain was far more unbearable than before.
Thankfully, there didn''t seem to be any other detrimental effects aside from the excruciating pain for now, and Han Li was able to grit his teeth and persevere as he directed the baleful qi toward his 62nd immortal acupoint.
He was well aware of the fact that because this was extraneous baleful qi that he hadn''t umted in his body, he would instinctively reject it. On top of that, this extraneous baleful qi was only going to be even more ferocious and untamed than the baleful qi that was already in his body.
Simrly, the sinister and violent intent imbued in this baleful qi was only going to be even more ferocious, and if he wasn''t careful, it could easily overwhelm his immortal acupoints andpletely destroy his consciousness.
However, time was of the essence here, and extreme measures had to be taken, so despite the severe degree of risk involved, he was still nning to use this extraneous baleful qi to help him open up his immortal acupoints.
"It''s... still... not enough..." Han Li spat through gritted teeth with tightly furrowed brows.
He made a rapid string of hand seals, and the ck light around him brightened significantly, while the rate of influx of baleful qi sped up by twofold, but at the same time, the pain also became twice as unbearable.
Han Li forcibly suppressed the excruciating pain as he continued to absorb more baleful qi into his own body before channeling it toward his immortal acupoint.
The baleful qi within the ravine began to churn violently, causing the demon beast carcasses on the cliff faces on either side of the ravine to tumble down before shattering into powdered bone and specks of fluorescent mes in mid-air.
As time slowly passed, the baleful qi in the surrounding area began to thin out, while the baleful qi directly around Han Li became denser and denser.
Over three months passed by in a sh.
On this day, a resounding boom suddenly rang out within the ravine.
Deep within the ravine, Han Li was hovering in mid-air, and a small vortex was taking shape on his back beneath his shoulder des. The vortex was voraciously absorbing the world''s origin qi that was surging down from above the ravine, and only after close to 20 seconds had passed did the influx of the world''s origin qi slowly subside.
At this point, the vortex had been reced by a speck of golden light, and it was none other than Han Li''s 62nd immortal acupoint!
Han Li took a moment to inspect the immortal acupoint, and he discovered that aside from the vast amount of immortal spiritual power within it, there was arge quantity of baleful qi as well, far more than what was present in his previous immortal acupoints.
It was clear that opening acupoints using extraneous baleful qi was different from doing so using one''s innate baleful qi.
Chapter 582: No Turning Back
Chapter 582: No Turning Back
Han Li shook his head and set aside his concerns for now, then summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, upon which he discovered that two more Time Dao Runes had appeared on its surface.
He then gently exhaled before casting his gaze down into the dark ravine below.
Due to the fact that the baleful qi at this altitude had virtually beenpletely absorbed by Han Li, the baleful qi down below was quickly rising up to fill the void left behind. Despite this, Han Li was still unable to see the bottom of the ravine from where he was.
After devouring a pill and taking some time to rest, Han Li rose to his feet, then plunged rapidly down into the depths of the ravine, instantly sinking into the boundless baleful qi down below.
Just as he had anticipated, the deeper he descended, the more viscous the surrounding baleful qi became.
After descending for only around 30 kilometers, he could already sense that the yin winds and baleful qi swirling around him had be several times more powerful than before, and all types of horrific illusions began to surface in his mind again.
However, with his current spiritual sense, he had be significantly more impervious to these illusions, and he continued descending without pause.
After descending for close to another 20 kilometers, the surrounding yin winds subsided somewhat once again, but the baleful qi in the area had be even denser, to the point that Han Li felt as if he were encountering physical resistance in his descent.
Right at this moment, numerous specks of green light suddenly appeared directly in front of him, and they quickly converged to form the same giant green rat from before.
However, this time, it was several times more massive than before, and its body was so severely charred and ravaged that it looked as if hot oil had been poured all over it. The skin and fur on its face had beenpletely stripped away, and its two massive eyeballs looked as if they could fall out of its eye sockets at any moment.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as the giant rat came charging directly at Han Li, bringing along with it an indescribable odor of blood and gore, an odor so intense that Han Li felt as if there were a boundless wave of blood crashing toward him.
However, Han Li was already mentally prepared, and he remainedpletely unfazed as he channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique while letting loose a thunderous roar.
A burst of tremendous spiritual sense instantly swept through his consciousness, cleansing his mind like a storm on a hot summer''s day.
The giant rat illusion was instantly dispeled before it could reach Han Li, and he took only a brief moment topose himself before continuing his descent.
He knew that the purer and denser the baleful qi he had ess to, the quicker he would be able to open his immortal acupoints and elevate his own cultivation base.
Time was quickly ticking down, and he had to make the most of every single moment. The more power that he could attain, the greater his chances of surviving this ordeal.
However, he was forced to draw to a halt after descending for only several thousand more feet.
This time, what had stopped him wasn''t an illusion. Instead, it was the baleful qi, which had be dense to the extreme.
The baleful qi that was currently beneath him wasn''t even present in the form of mist anymore. Instead, it resembled an unmoving ck wall that was formed by solidified ink.
Han Li could clearly sense that the baleful qi within this wall was different from the baleful qi that was currently swirling around him, but he couldn''t put his finger on exactly what was different.
After a brief moment of hesitation, he leaned down before attempting to plunge one of his hands into the wall.
However, as soon as he reached into the wall of baleful qi, his wrist and hand were instantly struck by a burst of sharp, bone-chilling pain as the surrounding baleful qi morphed themselves into sharp needles as if they were living creatures, then pierced themselves into his skin.
Han Li shuddered as he hurriedly attempted to withdraw his hand, only to discover that he was unable to do so as his hand had somehow been locked into ce.
He immediately activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, upon which he discovered that those needles of baleful qi were anchoring his hand firmly into ce, rendering itpletely immobilized.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as a bolt of golden lightning shot out of the palm of his hand, and the intrusive needles of baleful qi immediately sprang back in the face of his Divine Devilbane Lightning, but they were still circling around his hand like a pack of predators stalking their prey.
Han Li took advantage of this opportunity to pull back his hand, and his pupils immediately contracted slightly in response to what he saw.
At this moment, the palm of his hand was riddled with countless tiny red spots, all of which were tiny holes as thin as strands of hair. As it turned out, the needles of baleful qi had pierced all the way through his hand, and there were wisps of ck qi permeating throughout these tiny holes.
Another burst of Divine Devilbane Lightning erupted out of his hand, and the residual wisps of baleful qi were instantly eradicated, while the tiny holes on his hand also quickly healed, but there was still a hint of lingering fear in Han Li''s eyes.
If he hadn''t reacted as quickly as he did, then this hand would''ve beenpletely destroyed.
It seemed that the deeper he went, the more aggressive the baleful qi became, and at this point, the baleful qi was actively invading his body without requiring any guidance. With that in mind, it most likely wasn''t going to be a simple task to control the baleful qi here and guide it toward his immortal acupoints.
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face as he stared at the ck wall down below.
If he were to allow the baleful qi within the ck wall to infiltrate his body, then he would be taking a huge risk, and he could easily fall to his demise. However, if he could control the baleful qi here, then he would undoubtedly be able to make rapid progress in opening further immortal acupoints.
After grappling with this dilemma for some time, Han Li finally made up his mind.
At this point, there really was no turning back. He had already chosen to ce all of his eggs in one basket, so he could only continue down the path of no return.
With his mind made up, Han Li plunged straight into the ck wall without any further hesitation.
As soon as he entered the ck wall, he immediately felt as if an enormous weight had crashed down onto his consciousness. A sharp screeching sound was reverberating incessantly in his mind, and he felt as if he had been robbed of all of his senses.
His entire body was enveloped in viscous baleful qi, which formed countless sharp needles that pierced through his skin and flesh, all the way until they reached his bones.
The physical and spiritual pain from the experience was so immense that Han Li immediately began to tremble uncontrobly, and his consciousness was on the verge of fading away.
He gritted his teeth with all his mind, and with his final shred of lucidity, he began to channel his Spirit Refinement Technique.
As soon as he did this, he immediately felt as if a gust of wind were sweeping through his consciousness, instantly silencing the sharp ringing sound while also restoring his spiritual sense to its normal state.
With his spiritual sense recovered, he was able to protect his own mind while simultaneously channeling the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts, guiding the immense baleful qi in his body toward his 63rd immortal acupoint.
However, to his rm and horror, only a part of the baleful qi in his body was sessfully guided toward his immortal acupoint, while the rest continued to surge toward all parts of his body in apletely unrestrained fashion.
A string of loud cracks and pops instantly rang out from within Han Li''s body, and a series of massive bulges began to appear beneath his skin.
As a result, his body began to inte rapidly like a balloon, and it looked as if he were about to explode at any moment.
Despite his rm, Han Li was able to remainposed, and he began to make a rapid string of hand seals in an attempt to control the baleful qi that was continuing to surge into his body, but at this moment, his body was like a broken dam that was impossible to seal.
His body continued to swell further and further, but at the same time, a small vortex had appeared on his shoulder, and it was absorbing a portion of the iing baleful qi.
That vortex was actually another one of Han Li''s immortal acupoints. Due to the excessive influx of baleful qi, that immortal acupoint had opened up on its own, and it was absorbing baleful qi as quickly as it could alongside Han Li''s 63rd immortal acupoint.
Han Li gritted his teeth tightly as he persevered through the excruciating pain. At the same time, he was channeling his Profound Baleful Spirit Arts with all his might, trying to guide as much of the baleful qi in his body toward the two immortal acupoints as possible.
......
Over 10 years flew by in a sh.
Jin Tong was seated with her legs crossed on the cliff at the entrance of the ravine, and in a rare disy of discipline, she was cultivating through seated meditation.
Xiao Bai wasying on the ground not far away from her with its front paws resting beneath its chin, and it seemed to have fallen asleep.
Right at this moment, a burst of golden light descended from above beforending on the cliff.
Xiao Bai took a nce to discover that it was Daoist Xie, who had returned from examining the array, then closed its eyes again. Meanwhile, Jin Tong''s eyes remained closed the entire time.
Right at this moment, a burst of rumbling akin to resounding thunderps rang out from deep within the ravine, immediately following which a cloud of baleful qi rose up from down below, all the way until it spilled over the edge of the cliff.
Only then did Jin Tong''s eyes spring open, and she jumped to her feet, then rushed over to the edge of the cliff before peering down into the ravine with an anxious expression.
Xiao Bai had also gotten up from the ground, and it jogged over to her side before casting its gaze into the ravine as well.
"Uncle..." Jin Tong murmured to herself with aplex look on her face, one that was abination of anticipation, concern, excitement, and unease.
Chapter 583: Bottom of the Ravine
Chapter 583: Bottom of the Ravine
A resounding boom rang out as the sky above the ravine shuddered, and wisps of the world''s origin qi that were visible to the naked eye converged from all directions, forming an enormous funnel in the sky, directing a vast quantity of the world''s origin qi into the ravine.
In the valley not far away from the ravine, a giant human face appeared on a huge tree, then cast its gaze toward the ravine. The root system beneath it also began to rustle violently as the entire tree moved toward the ravine.
The ground within the valley split open as the trees on either side moved back to clear a wide path, allowing the giant tree demon free passage.
There was a perplexed look on the tree demon''s faces as it rushed through the valley, but it suddenly stopped cold in its tracks as it discovered that the vast funnel of the world''s origin qi was hovering directly above the ravine that was filled with baleful qi.
A wary look appeared on its face upon seeing this, and after a brief hesitation, it suddenly turned around before rushing back into the valley.
Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers deep in the ravine, Han Li was standing in mid-air, glowing as brightly as the sun, and the golden light radiating from his body was keeping all of the surrounding baleful qi over 100 feet away from him.
The radiant golden light formed countless threads that intertwined with one another to create a golden cocoon that enveloped his entire body, and only a faint silhouette was visible through it.
The vast world''s origin qi that had been funneled into the area came cascading down like an enormous golden waterfall, forming a massive rippling vortex around the golden cocoon.
No light had reached this point in the ravine for countless years, yet the entire area was suddenly illuminated by the radiant golden light, and even though it was unable topletely shine through the dense baleful qi, it was still a stunning sight to behold.
The golden waterfall continued to cascade down for three whole days before finally fading, following which a roar of exaltation suddenly rang out from within the ravine.
A burst of scorching golden light rose up within the giant golden cocoon, and it swept through the cocoon like a sword to slice it into two.
Han Li flew out of the cocoon with golden light shing in his eyes, then opened his mouth to release a burst of tremendous suction force, drawing all of the golden light in the ravine into his belly, and the golden cocoon also disintegrated into specks of golden light before surging into his mouth.
At the same time, a speck of golden light appeared on his back, and it was shing incessantly while absorbing the residual world''s origin qi in the air.
With that, his 84th immortal acupoint had finally been opened!
Just like his previous immortal acupoints, this one also had some hints of ck baleful qi within it, and it was actually even more apparent in this particr immortal acupoint.
Han Li swept a hand through the air with a calm expression, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared in front of him amid a sh of golden light, then began to revolve on the spot while releasing waves of golden ripples.
At this point, there were over 400 Time Dao Runes on the axis, and all of them lit up in unison. At the same time, there were also now as many as 18 timew threads wrapped around the Mantra Treasured Axis.
Han Li raised a hand to make a beckoning motion, and the 18 timew threads immediately turned as straight as arrows before flying toward him, only to curl around his fingers upon reaching him.
Sensing the energy fluctuations emanating from the timew threads, Han Li murmured to himself, "I didn''t think that I would attain so many additional timew threads by mastering the fourth level of the Mantra Axis Scripture. Now that the Mantra Treasured Axis has be even more powerful, I''ll stand a better chance against the Gold Devouring Immortal."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a sleeve through the air to stow the Mantra Treasured Axis away again.
As all of the golden light around him faded, the surrounding baleful qi converged once again to inundate him.
Han Li had absorbed much of the baleful qi in this area, so it wasn''t as dense as it had originally been, but down below was still a vast expanse of imprable darkness, and it seemed that the density of the baleful qi deeper in the ravine hadn''t changed at all.
Han Li took a deep breath, then sat down with his legs crossed and swallowed a cultivation base consolidation pill before closing his eyes to meditate.
......
Three days and three nightster, Han Li reopened his eyes, then rose to his feet.
There''s not much time left until the 20 years are up, so it''s about time that I discussed some strategy with Brother Xie and the others...
With that in mind, Han Li cast his gaze upward, yet right as he was about to ascend out of the ravine, a familiar voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Fellow Daoist Han, we''ve already made it to this point, don''t you want to go to the bottom of the ravine to see what''s down there?"
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, following which he asked with furrowed brows, "Didn''t I already cut off your perception of the outside world? How do you know where I am right now?"
"Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Han, I''m not to me for this. It''s just that the sudden drastic increase of the baleful qi in your body has strengthened my connection to the outside world slightly," Mo Guang hurriedly exined.
"Aren''t you a Heavenly Devilish Monarch? I never knew that you could make use of baleful qi," Han Li mused as he raised an eyebrow.
"Baleful qi is not something that only humans and demon beasts possess. Instead, it arises within all living beings who have taken the lives of others. On top of that, our Heavenly Devils are even more sensitive to these types of negative energies than humans," Mo Guang exined.
While conversing with Mo Guang, Han Li covertly examined the connection between himself and Mo Guang, and he was relieved to find that there was indeed nothing amiss.
"Why have you suddenly proposed for me to go to the bottom of the ravine, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang? Have you discovered something?"
"Not exactly, I only have a vague feeling that there seems to be something very special down there. This is only a suggestion from me. If you feel like it''s not worth the trip, then don''t worry about it," Mo Guang replied.
After a brief silence, Han Li decided, "It can''t hurt to go down and have a look."
With that, he continued to descend deeper into the ravine.
After descending for several hundred kilometers, the surrounding baleful qi had be so dense that even Han Li was feeling rather ufortable, despite his current cultivation base and spiritual sense.
By drawing upon the baleful qi in the ravine to open up his immortal acupoints for such an extended period of time, both his body and soul had undergone some slight changes, allowing him to gradually integrate himself into this environment.
However, the 20-year time limit was fast approaching, and there wasn''t enough time left to make any further significant progress, so he had decided that he was immediately going to turn back if the baleful qi were to be too dense to bear.
However, right at this moment, an enormous green skeleton suddenly appeared in his field of view.
The skeleton was long and sleek, with a spine that resembled a winding ridge. On either side of the spine were racks of ribs, beneath which the bones of the creature''s four limbs were still intact. On top of that, the limbs were all standing straight, supporting the skeleton in an upright position, as if it had died standing and remained that way, even in death.
Han Li flew down until hended beside the skeleton, and by his estimates, he was currently at least 1,000 kilometers away from the entrance of the ravine up above.
He walked around the mountainous skeleton until he was standing directly in front of it, and he discovered that the skull of the skeleton was resting on the ground, while bursts of baleful qi were rising up incessantly out of its massive eye sockets before spreading into the surrounding space.
The head was quite wide up top, but then tapered to a point, and there was a pair of massive front teeth protruding out of front of its long mouth, giving it the appearance of a massive rat.
Han Li immediately recalled the giant green rat that he had seen in the baleful qi illusions earlier, and it urred to him that this seemed to be the rat''s carcass.
At the very center of the giant rat''s be was a hole with smooth and even edges that pierced all the way through the back of its head, and it seemed that had been the killing blow.
The skeleton was alreadypletely devoid of spiritual power fluctuations, but as Han Li stood in its presence, he was still struck by a sense of insignificance and inferiority, as if he were standing before a vast mountain.
What was particrly noteworthy about the giant rat were its two front teeth, which were of a slightly darker green color than the rest of its body, and there were bursts of clearw power fluctuations emanating from them.
Han Li was rather curious to see this, and he was just about to take a closer look when he suddenly noticed that the body of a purple-robed man wasying behind the giant rat''s head.
A hint of surprise appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
The body of the man wasrgely quite well preserved, but it was looking extremely wizened, and its skin was a purplish-green color. On top of that, its clothes were inplete tatters, and there was ayer of ck dust-like granr substance all over the entire body.
Han Li skirted around the giant rat''s head to approach the body, and he was immediately struck by a wave of incredibly fierce baleful qi, causing him to stop in his tracks as his brows became tightly furrowed.
He cast his gaze toward the body''s face to find that its features didn''t actually appear very old, and it was only due to its severely sunken cheeks and eyes that it had initially appeared like a wizened elderly man.
Within its sunken eye sockets, the body''s eyes were still open, and what was particrly harrowing was that its pupils were apletely dull and lifeless gray color.
Chapter 584: Two Bodies
Chapter 584: Two Bodies
This is a Gray Immortal... No wonder I felt a slightly familiar aura just now...
Just like Mo Yu from the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, this purple-robed body had also belonged to a Gray Immortal.
His gaze roamed back and forth between the two bodies, following which he turned his attention to the baleful qi in the surrounding area, and he immediately realized that these two bodies were the source of the terrifying baleful qi in the ravine.
Han Li didn''t get too close, keeping his distance as he made ap around the Gray Immortal''s body, and he didn''t spot many injuries on the body. In fact, the only one he could see was an uneven wound on its right temple, and that wound seemed to have been somewhat corroded as there was a dark green coloration on its jagged edges.
Judging from what he could see, it appeared that the giant rat and this Gray Immortal had fought in a battle countless years ago, ultimately leading to their mutual demise.
Perhaps this enormous ravine had been created during the course of their battle.
Han Li withdrew his gaze from the Gray Immortal as he returned his attention to the giant rat carcass, and a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Even though it''s already been dead for countless years, its body is still giving off such formidable spiritual power fluctuations. If I can get Jin Tong to devour it, perhaps she''ll be able to advance further in her cultivation base...
With that in mind, Han Li cast his gaze toward the rat''s two massive front teeth, then raised a hand, and an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword appeared in his grasp.
He injected his immortal spiritual power into the sword beforeshing out at the base of the pair of front teeth, and a sharp ng rang out as a burst of dark green light erupted out of the base of the teeth.
A wave of formidable sword qi surged through the air alongside the eruption of dark green light, and a burst of intensely corrosive energy fluctuations surged forth from within the teeth.
A burst of azure light rose up around Han Li''s body, and only then was he able to keep this corrosive aura at bay.
Close to 20 secondster, the corrosive aura fluctuations gradually subsided, and an ted look had appeared on Han Li''s face.
Even though he hadn''t gone all-out in that attack just now, it was still quite extraordinary that the rat''s teeth had managed to remainpletely unscathed.
After a brief pause, Han Li summoned three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once, thenbined the three into a single sword. Arcs of electricity surged over the sword alongside bursts of formidable sword qi as heshed out once again at the base of the teeth, and only then did the pair of teeth fall out of the giant rat''s mouth.
Han Li gently exhaled as he stowed the swords and the pair of front teeth away, then made his way over to the body of the Gray Immortal to conduct a closer inspection.
The purple robe on the body appeared to be made from quite an exceptional material, but unfortunately, it was already ruined.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light to flip the body over, and a gray cloth pouch fell out.
An ted look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he hurriedly picked up the cloth pouch before injecting his spiritual sense into it, and sure enough, it was a storage pouch!
He emptied the contents of the storage pouch onto the ground, and to his slight dismay, it only amounted to an unexpectedly small pile of items, most of which were materials that were either gray or ck in color.
Han Li swept his gaze over the pile of items, and several fist-sized ck crystals suddenly caught his interest.
The crystals were giving off a faint ck glow that seemed to be capable of devouring all of the surrounding light, and they were also releasing formidablew power fluctuations. These were none other than ck Marrow Crystal, the primary ingredient for refining Origin Void Pills.
Furthermore, these ck Marrow Crystals were clearly of a far superior quality to the ones that Wyrm 3 had given him.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light that picked up one of the ck Marrow Crystals for a closer inspection, then stowed all of the ck Marrow Crystals away.
Outside of the ck Marrow Crystals, most of the materials on the ground were unfamiliar to Han Li, but many of them were giving off powerful energy fluctuations that weren''t inferior to those of the ck Marrow Crystals.
In particr, there were three items that were giving off energy fluctuations that set them apart from everything else.
One of these items was a gray bone that was around a foot in length. It was extremely hard, and if it weren''t for the gray patterns present on its surface, it would appear no different from a normal rock. It was clear that this was a very ancient artifact, but Han Li had no idea what type of creature the bone belonged to.
The second item was arge ck spirit flower with crimson spirit patterns on all of its flower petals, and they connected together to form the design of an unsettling smiling face.
The final one of the three items was a vial of gray liquid. Ayer of gray mes could be seen on the surface of the liquid, but it was somehow giving off an intense chill that could be felt even through the vial.
The auras of these materials werepletely different from those of normal spirit materials, so Han Li could only presume that these things could only be found in the Gray Realm.
After conducting a brief inspection, he stowed all of these materials away, and the only things that remained on the ground were a pair of immortal treasures and a ck jade box.
One of the immortal treasures was a ck spear with an antiquated shaft and a gleaming ck spearhead, within which a red mark could be seen, giving off formidable killing intent.
The other immortal treasure was a gray veil that was as thin as a cicada''s wing, and it was etched with numerous star designs that were giving off a faint gray glow.
Han Li bent down to pick up the ck spear, but to his surprise, it was extraordinarily heavy, almostparable in weight to his Heavy Water True Axis.
He mustered up some more strength to pick up the ck spear, then thrust it forward thrice in rapid session, and three vibrant spear projections instantly emerged before exploding one after the other, causing the nearby space to tremble violently.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and he began injecting his immortal spiritual power into the spear, but the influx of immortal spiritual power didn''t draw any reaction out of the spear.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, but it then urred to him that the energy in a Gray Immortal''s body had to have beenpletely different from immortal spiritual power, so this was most likely a weapon that could only be used by a Gray Immortal.
With that in mind, a disappointed look appeared in his eyes, and he was just about to stow the spear away when he suddenly noticed that a thinyer of ck light had appeared on its surface.
As it turned out, while injecting immortal spiritual power into the spear, some of the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints had also surged into it, and that had drawn a slight reaction out of the spear.
Could it be that this weapon can be powered by baleful qi?
With that in mind, Han Li released the pent-up baleful qi in his body, and it began to swirl around him as a cloud of ck mist.
He then slowly guided the baleful qi into the spear, and the ck light emanating from it instantly brightened significantly.
At the same time, the red mark in the spearhead also began to glow radiantly while releasing strands of crimson light that circled around the tip of the spear incessantly.
To Han Li''s surprise, this weapon really could be powered using his baleful qi.
However, he could tell that this was a weapon of an extremely high caliber, and that he was only able to tap into a small portion of its power.
After stowing the ck spear away, he picked up the gray veil, which was as soft and insubstantial as a cloud and as light as a feather.
Han LI inspected the veil briefly, then injected his baleful qi into it, and ayer of gray light instantly emerged over the veil, which had also be several times thicker than before.
At the same time, a series of antiquated patterns appeared on its surface, and in contrast with normal spirit patterns, these ones seemed to be far more haphazard, but also somehow more profound.
In this thicker form, the veil was still very soft and pliable, but also extremely resilient, indicating that it was an exceptional defensive material.
Right at this moment, a curious look appeared in his eyes as his gaze settled upon the patterns on the veil''s surface.
These patterns were somewhat familiar to him, and he felt as if he had seen them before somewhere.
It didn''t take long before he recalled exactly where he had seen something like this before, and he immediately summoned a silver jade box, within which was a piece of soft material. This was none other than the mysterious gray cloth that he had obtained from Xiong Shan.
He spread the gray cloth open, and there were some enigmatic patterns etched on its surface. These patterns were slightly different from the ones on the veil, but it was clear that they were of the same style.
Looks like this gray cloth is also from the Gray Realm...
With that in mind, Han Li injected his baleful qi into the cloth, but it disyed no response.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and he began to wonder if he was mistaken.
However, he continued to persevere, injecting more and more baleful qi into the gray cloth, but even after a full 15 minutes had passed by, the cloth still wasn''t disying any reaction.
Han Li grew a little disheartened upon seeing this, and he was just about to withdraw his baleful qi when ayer of faint gray light suddenly appeared over the cloth''s surface, ayer of light so faint that it was barely detectable at all.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and he took a deep breath before redoubling his efforts, further increasing the outflow of baleful qi.
The light emanating from the gray cloth gradually became brighter and brighter, and the antiquated patterns on its surface also slowly lit up while bing clearer and clearer.
However, even as Han Li continued to inject more baleful qi into the gray cloth beyond this point, the light emanating from it didn''t be any brighter, nor did the antiquated patterns on its surface be any clearer.
It looks like I don''t possess sufficient baleful qi to fully reveal what''s on the cloth, Han Li thought to himself, then stopped what he was doing and inspected the gray cloth for a while longer before stowing it away again.
The cloth was something that Han Li had obtained by chance anyway, so it would naturally be great if he could uncover its secrets, but even if he couldn''t, it wasn''t going to weigh on his mind.
After that, he stowed the gray veil away as well, then picked up the ck jade box, which was sealed by a gray talisman.
Chapter 585: Split Soul
Chapter 585: Split Soul
Han Li''s gaze rested on the gray talisman for a moment, and he discovered that the runes on it were drastically different from normal runes, but the patterns on the gray cloth and the gray veil were rather simr.
After some contemtion, he cast an incantation seal onto the talisman, and ayer of gray light instantly appeared over its surface to repel the incantation seal.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as a burst of golden light that was giving off faint timew power fluctuations emerged from his hand, yet that was also repelled upon making contact with the gray talisman.
His expression remained unchanged, and this time, he channeled the baleful qi in his body before attempting to make contact with the gray talisman again.
This time, the gray light on the talisman shed momentarily before fading away, and it didn''t'' reject the baleful qi.
Han Li was very encouraged to see this, and he immediately began injecting baleful qi into the talisman.
The seal within the talisman wasn''t actually all thatplex, and he was quickly able to undo it.
Around 15 minutester, the gray talisman flew off the ck jade box on its own, following which the box sprang open to reveal a crimson mask inside.
Han Li picked up the mask, and a surprised look appeared on his face.
This was a crimson mask assigned to the Reincarnation Disciples of the Reincarnation Pce. It was quite simr in appearance to his dragon mask, and the words "Dragon 4" were inscribed upon it.
"Dragon 4... Could it be that this Gray Immortal was from the Reincarnation Pce?" Han Li murmured to himself.
The Reincarnation Pce mask given to him by Wyrm 3 bore the words "Dragon 5".
Han Li didn''t think much of this as he stowed both the mask and the jade box away, then turned his attention back to the body of the Gray Immortal.
Right at this moment, Mo Guang''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Looks like we''re in luck, Fellow Daoist Han. This is a very well-preserved Gray Immortal body, and this Gray Immortal was most likely at the High Zenith Stage back when they were alive."
"So what? No matter how powerful they were, they''re nothing but a corpse now. Why do you sound so excited, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang?" Han Li asked.
"Back when I was with Ma Liang, I came across a scripture in a set of ruins that contained some information pertaining to Gray Immortals. That scripture contained a secret technique that can be used to refine the body of a Gray Immortal into an avatar. After obtaining this scripture, Ma Liang had always wanted to find a Gray Immortal body, but wasn''t able to do so. I certainly wasn''t expecting to find one here," Mo Guang exined.
"Is that right?"
Han Li was quite intrigued to hear this.
Back in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, he had witnessed just how powerful the High Zenith Stage Mo Yu was, and if he coulde into possession of a High Zenith Stage Gray Immortal avatar, then he would stand a much better chance against the Gold Devouring Immortal.
"I wouldn''t dare to lie to you, Fellow Daoist Han. Gray Immortals are different from normal cultivators in that following their demise, the energy in their bodies won''t quickly dissipate. Instead, most of it remains in their body, thereby making it possible to refine their bodies into avatars. You''re truly in luck, Fellow Daoist Han. If you can sessfully refine this body into an avatar, then you''ll be able to use it against that Gold Devouring Immortal," Mo Guang said.
"Show me the refinement method," Han Li requested.
Mo Guang immediately emerged from the shadow beneath his feet, following which Han Li handed a white jade slip to him, and Mo Guang epted the jade jade slip, then made a copy of the refinement method before handing it back to Han Li.
After briefly inspecting the refinement method in the jade slip, Han Li''s brows began to furrow slightly.
The refinement method was quite different from normal avatar refinement methods, and many prerequisites had to be satisfied, one of which was that the user had to possess tremendous baleful qi.
During the refinement process, the user had to inject their baleful qi into several important points in the Gray Immortal''s body in order to be able to control it.
Secondly, the user had to split their own soul using a special secret technique, then use another secret technique to fuse their baleful qi and a split portion of their soul, converting it into a baleful soul that could possess the Gray Immortal''s body.
Only with both conditions met could one ensureplete control over the avatar.
"The first condition is easy to meet, but the second condition, the one that requires splitting one''s soul before creating a baleful soul, is that detrimental to the user in any way?" Han Li asked.
"There will inevitably be some detrimental effects that arise from splitting one''s soul, and following the conversion into a baleful soul, it''ll regrly transmit negative emotions of violence and bloodlust into the user''s mind. However, that''s only to be expected. The energy in a Gray Immortal''s body is directly contrary to that of a cultivator, so the two will conflict with each other.
¡°If a normal soul were to enter a Gray Immortal''s body, it would quickly be destroyed. Only after a conversion into a baleful soul would it be able to reside long-term in a Gray Immortal''s body," Mo Guang replied.
The excitement in Han Li''s heart slowly faded upon hearing this.
If he could refine this Gray Immortal body into an avatar at only a minor cost, then he would be happy to pursue this option, but not only was this soul splitting technique going to be very harmful to his soul, it would also affect him on an emotional level, and those consequences were simply uneptably severe.
"If you feel like the detrimental effects are too much, there''s actually another solution," Mo Guang suddenly said.
"What is it?" Han Li asked.
"It''s very simple: you can allow me to enter the Gray Immortal''s body in the ce of your split soul," Mo Guang replied.
Han Li was very surprised to hear this.
"I am a Heavenly Devilish Monarch," Mo Guang continued. "I possess no form or substance, which makes me very simr to a soul. On top of that, I possess a very high level of natural resistance to the energy in the bodies of Gray Immortals, so I should be able to enter the body just fine."
Han Li was silent for a moment upon hearing this, then asked, "Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, how long has it been since we signed our contract back in the Spirit Realm?"
"I''m always in a state of slumber, so I don''t have much of a concept of the passage of time, but it should''ve been at least 10,000 years by now. Why do you ask, Fellow Daiost Han?" Mo Guang asked.
"Given how many years we''ve been together, I''m sure you''re very familiar with my personality, and I''m sure you would''ve known that I wouldn''t have agreed to using the soul splitting technique. From the very beginning, your n was to possess this body yourself, right?" Han Li asked.
Mo Guang''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, following which a wry smile appeared on his face as he sighed, "Looks like I can''t hide anything from you. My intention was indeed to possess this Gray Immortal body myself, but I don''t harbor any ill will toward you. All I want is to be able to help you in the uing battle against the Gold Devouring Immortal. If you''re killed by the Gold Devouring Immortal, I''ll also be in a terrible situation."
"That''s the extent of your intentions?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Of course, I also want to attain more power for myself. You''ve already reached thete-Golden Immortal Stage, while Jin Tong and Daoist Xie have both reached the Golden Immortal Stage as well, leaving me as the only one still stuck at the True Immortal Stage, and it''s not a good feeling to be left behind like this," Mo Guang sighed with a hint of dejection on his face.
Han Li remained silent as he stared at Mo Guang with a contemtive look in his eyes.
Momentster, he suddenly raised a hand to release a burst of azure light that enveloped the Gray Immortal''s body.
Strands of translucent azure light emerged before wrapping themselves around the body, quickly forming a cocoon around it.
As a result, the immense baleful qi being released by the body was sealed in and unable to spread through the surrounding area.
"We''ll discuss this matter some other time," Han Li said as he stowed the cocoon away.
Mo Guang nodded in response, then vanished into Han Li''s shadow again.
After that, Han Li returned to the giant rat carcass with slightly furrowed brows.
The giant rat carcass contained immense spiritual power, but as one of the sources of baleful qi in this ce, it also contained tremendous baleful qi, so it was definitely inedible to Jin Tong and Xiao Bai.
However, there was a solution to this.
After some contemtion, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to summon a stack of array tes and array gs, then set them up near the rat carcass.
A day and a nightter, a gourd-shaped array had taken shape around the carcass, and within the array were four ck rings the size of round tables.
The lines in the array were particrly concentrated near these rings, indicating that they were the four most important points in the array.
Han Li began to chant an incantation while making a hand seal, and specks of ck spiritual light emerged all over the gourd-shaped array.
In particr, four pirs of ck light had erupted out of the four rings, and they were swaying back and forth like the tentacles of a living creature.
All of a sudden, Han Li switched to a different hand seal, and the four pirs of ck light instantly shot into the giant rat''s carcass in unison.
The immense baleful qi surging out of the carcass instantly subsided, following which countless ck runes abruptly appeared within it.
Immediately thereafter, a dull thump rang out, and the baleful qi flowing out of the giant rat carcass became even denser, and the rate of outflow had also sped up by severalfold.
Countless waves of incredibly dense baleful qi were spreading through the surrounding area, plunging the bottom of the ravine intoplete darkness, and Han Li was quite pleased to see this.
This array was something that he had created on the spot using several other different arrays as a foundation, and he wasn''t sure if it was going to work, but thankfully, it was working exactly as nned.
Han Li began to make a rapid string of hand seals to operate the array, but right at this moment, the giant rat carcass abruptly shuddered, following which a string of loud cracks began to ring out.
At the same time, two specks of green light emerged within its eye sockets, and they resembled a pair of eyes that were directed at Han Li.
Han Li immediately felt as if he had been plunged into a cial pit at the sight of its scrutiny, and his back instantly became drenched in cold sweat.
If the giant rat carcass had somehow sprung back to life, then he was in an enormous amount of danger! With that in mind, he hurriedly sprang back in retreat as a streak of azure light.
Almost at the exact same moment, the giant rat carcass opened its mouth to release a green shadow that hurtled directly toward Han Li.
The green shadow was moving far faster than Han Li, and it reached him in the blink of an eye before attempting to pierce into his body.
Right at this moment, countless arcs of bright golden lightning suddenly emerged over Han Li''s body amid a rumbling thunderp, and they rapidly converged to form a single thick bolt of light to oppose the green shadow.
Chapter 586: Averting a Crisis
Chapter 586: Averting a Crisis
A resounding boom rang out as the bolt of golden lightning exploded violently upon making contact with the green shadow. The entire surrounding area was instantly illuminated a bright golden color, while the nearby space shuddered violently.
The green shadow that had shot out of the rat carcass''s mouth was also sent flying back by over 100 feet.
However, it remainedpletely unscathed, and after steadying itself, itunched itself at Han Li once again, this time even faster than before.
Han Li immediately let loose a loud roar as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which began releasing countless waves of golden ripples around him.
Everything in the surrounding area instantly fell still, including the churning baleful qi and the trembling space, and at this point, the green shadow was only about 10 feet away from Han Li.
A faint sheen of cold sweat had appeared on his head, and he heaved a faint sigh of relief.
The green shadow was extraordinarily fast, and if it weren''t for his lightning-fast reactions and his timew powers, it would''ve definitely already pierced into his body.
He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, then began to inspect the green shadow with a hint of intrigue in his eyes.
Right at this moment, the green shadow suddenly trembled slightly, then released a burst of bright green light that stained the surrounding golden ripples green as well.
Han Li was very rmed to see this, yet before he had a chance to do anything, a burst of formidablew powers suddenly erupted out of the green shadow.
A green line then shot out of the green shadow, hurtling directly toward Han Li at a terrifying speed, and it was slicing straight through the golden ripples in its path.
However, slicing through the golden rippled was clearly very arduous for the green line, as evidenced by the fact that the light emanating from it was rapidly dimming, but in the end, it was still able to reach Han Li.
All of a sudden, the green shadow trembled once again before abruptly bing extremely thin, resembling a sheet of green paper, and it also flew toward Han Li behind the green line, covering a distance of around 10 feet in the blink of an eye.
Before Han Li had a chance to react, the green shadow had already vanished into his body, immediately following which it transformed into a burst of tremendous baleful qi that spread rapidly throughout his entire body.
As the baleful qi flowed through Han Li''s body, all of his meridians instantly became numb and as cold as ice, rendering himpletely immobilized and unable to muster up any immortal spiritual power.
The golden light radiating from his body rapidly faded away, as did the surrounding golden ripples, and he found himselfpletely enveloped within ayer of faint green light.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, giving him no time to react.
His heart immediately sank, but he remained calm as his mind began racing to find a way out of this predicament.
Right at this moment, a burst of sinister cackling suddenly rang out within his mind, and a glowing green rat suddenly appeared in his consciousness, then immediately pounced at his nascent soul.
The golden nascent soul''s eyes sprang open, and a furious look appeared on its face as it rubbed its hands together before thrusting them forward, instantly releasing a translucent sword projection to strike the green rat.
Even though Han Li''s immortal spiritual power had bepletely stagnant, his spiritual sense remained uninhibited, and the green rat was instantly sliced into two.
However, the green rat waspletely unfazed, and it wasn''t even slowed down in the slightest as it continued to pounce at Han Li''s nascent soul, this time as two balls of green light.
The nascent soul''s brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this, and it raised its hands again to release a pair of translucent chains, which ensnared the two balls of green light in the blink of an eye, but didn''t constrict any further for fear of splitting the green rat''s body up into additional segments.
The two balls of green light immediately began to struggle frantically within the translucent chains, and even though they weren''t very bright, they were imbued with immense spiritual power.
As they struggled, the pair of chains around them began trembling incessantly, and they were disying signs of loosening.
The nascent soul made a hand seal, and the two chains instantly intertwined with each other. At the same time, several more translucent chains emerged before also quickly intertwining with one another.
A cage of chains quickly took shape, and it was none other than Han Li''s Spiritual Sense Cage, which had trapped both of the balls of green light inside.
The two balls of green light fused as one to form a single green rat again, and there was an rmed and furious look on its face as it struggled against the Spiritual Sense Cage with all its might while also tearing viciously at it with its teeth.
The Spiritual Sense Cage was trembling incessantly, but it was able to hold firm.
However, before Han Li even had a chance to catch his breath, the immense baleful qi that had been brought into his body by the green shadow suddenly became extremely erratic.
With the green rat trapped in the Spiritual Sense Cage, there was no one to control the baleful qi, and it had erupted into a chaotic frenzy.
Han Li was still unable to channel his immortal spiritual power, but the baleful qi in his body had emerged on its own upon sensing the extraneous baleful qi.
As a result, a cloud of dense ck mist appeared over his entire body.
The baleful qi released by the green shadow immediately fused into the ck mist surrounding Han Li, and the cloud of mist began to swell drastically in size, as if it were receiving tremendous sustenance.
At the same time, Han Li''s Profound Baleful Spirit Arts was activated on its own, and it was rapidly absorbing the extraneous baleful qi.
All of a sudden, a horrified look appeared on the face of the green rat that was trapped in the Spiritual Sense Cage, and it began to screech frantically in a state of panic.
The green light emanating from its body was shing erratically, and with the absorption of this extraneous baleful qi, the rat''s body began to shrink at a very slow rate, much like a deting balloon.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, but a thought then suddenly seemed to have urred to him, and aplex look shed through his eyes.
Inside his spiritual sense, his nascent soul continued to focus on keeping the green rat contained in the Spiritual Sense Cage.
As the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts continued to operate, the surrounding baleful qi also began to churn violently before flooding into Han Li''s body. Furthermore, the immense baleful qi emanating from the giant rat carcass had formed a thick pir of baleful qi, which was also surging incessantly into his body.
All of a sudden, Han Li was experiencing apletely unprecedented rate of baleful qi influx.
As the vast volumes of baleful qi surged into his body, it formed an enormous wave that crashed toward his closed immortal acupoints.
Han Li was astonished by what he was seeing, but at this moment, he was stillpletely immobilized, so he could only look on helplessly as the situation continued to unfold.
The immortal acupoints in his body were quickly beginning to loosen in the face of this overpowering wave of baleful qi, and they were forced open one after another.
Within mere moments, three of his immortal acupoints had been opened in rapid session!
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, but his tion quickly turned to concern as his face suddenly turned a dark crimson color.
With his immortal acupoints being opened so forcefully and aggressively, his meridians were trembling violently, and the resulting pain was countless times more severe than when he had previously been channeling baleful toward his immortal acupoints.
However, there was nothing that he could do aside from grit his teeth and fight back the pain.
As time passed, Han Li''s Profound Baleful Spirit Arts began to operate in overdrive, and all of the baleful qi released by the green shadow was quickly integrated into his own baleful qi.
At this point, the green rat in the Spiritual Sense Cage had shrunk down to nothing more than a tiny speck, and with one final screech of despair, it disintegrated into nothingness.
Han Li was quite relieved to see this, and he withdrew his Spiritual Sense Cage.
With all of the extraneous baleful qi absorbed, he was able to regain control over his own body, but the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts were stillpletely out of his control, continuing to rapidly channel the surrounding baleful qi toward his immortal acupoints.
Two dull thumps rang out in rapid session as two more immortal acupoints were opened.
Han Li shuddered as the crimson coloration of hisplexion deepened even further. A trail of blood began to trickle down from the corner of his lips, which his chest heaved violently, and his aura was bing very erratic.
He hurriedly channeled his immortal spiritual power to protect his own body and meridians, but he ultimately decided not to attempt to arrest the frenzied operation of the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts.
After what seemed like an eternity, the density of the baleful qi around Han Li had reached a terrifying level, and it looked as if there were balls of ck mes dancing all over his body.
His face had turned such a dark shade of crimson that it was virtually ck, and blood continued to flow down from the corners of his lips, but his eyes were filled with tion.
At this point, 106 immortal acupoints had already been opened in his body, yet the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts was still operating in overdrive, frantically devouring the surrounding baleful qi.
A dull thump rang out within Han Li''s body as yet another immortal acupoint was opened, and he shuddered as he involuntarily threw up a mouthful of blood, but the tion in his eyes only became more pronounced.
With 107 immortal acupoints opened, he had reached the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage, and just a single step further would take him to the High Zenith Stage.
Right at this moment, all 107 of the immortal acupoints suddenly began to tremble in unison as if they were resonating with one another, and the surrounding world''s origin qi began to surge rapidly into them.
Upon entering Han Li''s body, the world''s origin qi was converted into bursts of pure immortal spiritual power that flowed through his meridians like a turbulent river.
It seemed that the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts had finally run its course, and it slowly ceased its operation before stopping entirely.
Han Li slumped to the ground in an utterly exhausted fashion, looking as if he didn''t have a single ounce of strength left in his body.
Afterying still for a while, he summoned a restorative pill before devouring it, then sat up straight and closed his eyes to meditate.
A long whileter, he opened his eyes, and the crimson coloration of hisplexion hadrgely faded, clearly indicating that he had mostly recovered from his injuries.
After taking a deep breath, he rose to his feet, and as he felt the immense immortal spiritual powers coursing through his body, he couldn''t help but clench his fists in excitement.
The sequence of events that had unfolded just now had been extremely perilous. It seemed that there had been a residual soul fragment left in the giant rat carcass, or perhaps the skeleton had developed its own sentient will over the course of countless years. In any case, it had attempted to use its vast baleful qi to infiltrate Han Li''s spiritual sense.
In the face of such an enormous influx of baleful qi, he had beenpletely immobilized, and even if the average High Zenith cultivator had been in his ce, their soul would''ve been destroyed long ago, forcing them to surrender their body to the green rat.
It was only thanks to thebination of his Profound Baleful Spirit Arts and his tremendous spiritual sense that Han Li was just barely able to weather the storm, and he had reaped some significant rewards during the process.
With 107 immortal acupoints opened, he was now only a single step away from reaching the High Zenith Stage.
However, the obvious downside to all of this was that there was now an enormous amount of baleful qi deposited in his body, and that was rather concerning to him.
Chapter 587: Shared
Chapter 587: Shared
After taking a moment topose himself, Han Li turned his attention back to the giant rat carcass nearby.
At this point, the baleful qi emanating from it was far sparser than before.
Instead of immediately approaching the carcass, Han Li made a hand seal to reactivate teh array around it, speeding up the process of baleful qi dissipation.
Close to an hourter, all of the baleful qi in the carcass had finally been expelled.
At this moment, the skeleton was looking even more translucent than before, to the point that Han Li could almost see the spiritual power flowing through it.
Han Li inspected his surroundings momentarily before sweeping a sleeve through the air to stow away the carcass and the array tools around it, then began flying back up the ravine as a streak of azure light.
On the stone cliff at the top of the ravine, Jin Tong was pacing back and forth with an anxious expression while asionally peering down into the ravine.
"Settle down, Jin Tong. I''m sure Master is fine," Xiao Bai said as itid on the ground with a bored look on its face.
"I can''t just sit around and do nothing! There''s not much time left until the 20 years run out, yet Uncle still hasn''te out yet. Something must''ve happened to him! I have to go down there!" Jin Tong decided with a grim expression.
Daoist Xie drifted over to her side to stop her, then said, "I''ll go. I''m a puppet, so I''ll be less affected by the baleful qi in the ravine."
A grateful look appeared on Jin Tong''s face upon hearing this, and she was just about to say something when she suddenly turned her gaze back to the ravine.
A streak of azure light was racing up from down below, and it broke through the dense baleful qi before quickly arriving atop the cliff.
The azure light faded to reveal none other than Han Li, and a displeased look immediately appeared on Jin Tong''s face, but before she had a chance toin to Han Li for his bted return, her expression suddenly changed drastically as she eximed, "Uncle! Your cultivation base..."
Xiao Bai and Daoist Xie also approached Han Li, and a stunned look appeared on the former''s face as it eximed in tion, "Master, you''ve reached the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage! How?"
"You''re certainly never one to disappoint, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie praised.
"Did you find some treasure down there and eat it without telling me? Is that why your cultivation base suddenly went up by so much?" Jin Tong yelled in an usatory voice.
However, she then noticed that there was something different about Han Li''s physical appearance, and she asked, "Also, why have your eyes suddenly turned gray? They look so cool!"
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he raised a hand to conjure up a mirror formed by water vapor.
Sure enough, his pupils had indeed turned gray, giving him a rather simr appearance to Mo Yu.
It looks like Mo Yu wasn''t telling me the full truth about the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts, after all, Han Li thought to himself as he heaved a internal sigh.
Jin Tong was a little concerned by Han Li''s silence, and she hurriedly asked, "What''s wrong, Uncle? Did something happen?"
"I''ll tell you about what happened in the ravine another time. For now,e with me, I found some things that should be of help to you in the ravine," Han Li replied.
"So there really is a treasure down there?" Jin Tong eximed as her eyes lit up with excitement.
"But I didn''t sense anything..." Xiao Bai mused with a puzzled expression.
"You''ll see what it is once we get there. Brother Xie, I''ll have to trouble you to keep overseeing the array up here in our absence," Han Li said as he turned to Daoist Xie.
After that, he took another nce at his own reflection in the mirror that he had conjured up, only to discover that his pupils had returned to their original color.
Daoist Xie nodded in response, and Han Li cupped his fist toward it in a grateful salute, then flew back down into the ravine as a streak of azure light, taking Jin Tong and Xiao Bai with him.
Before long, the three of them had all vanished into the baleful qi down below.
After absorbing all of the baleful qi in the giant rat carcass, Han Li had be far more sensitive to baleful qi, and his body''s rejection of baleful qi had also diminished significantly.
At the same time, the effect that the surrounding baleful qi had on him had be virtually negligible, and he was even able to control the baleful qi on a very rudimentary level.
Upon returning to the bottom of the ravine, Han Li made his way over to the giant rat carcass, then began making a quick string of hand seals.
A burst of invisible force erupted out of his body to force back the surrounding baleful qi, creating a space that waspletely devoid of baleful qi.
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to release two streaks of light, one golden and one white, and they transformed into Jin Tong and Xiao Bai.
As soon as she appeared, Jin Tong''s brows immediately furrowed slightly as sheined, "There''s so much baleful qi here..."
In contrast, Xiao Bai''s gaze was immediately drawn to the giant rat carcass.
Upon noticing the object of Xiao Bai''s fixation, Jin Tong''s gaze also fell upon the mountainous green skeleton, and an ecstatic look appeared on her face as she rushed toward it as a streak of golden light.
However, she had only just begun flying toward the carcass when she was pulled back by Han Li.
"Hold on a second! This carcass previously contained a vast amount of baleful qi. Even though the baleful qi has since been eradicated, there''s still no guarantee that it won''t have a detrimental effect on you, so you should conduct a careful examination before you begin eating," Han Li advised.
"Don''t worry about it, this amount of baleful qi isn''t enough to hurt me! Let me go, I''ll die if I don''t eat this thing! After I''m done with it, maybe my cultivation base will go up by a lot as well!" Jin Tong urged in an insistent voice as she wiped away the drool that was flowing down the corner of her lips.
"Can I have some as well, Master?" Xiao Bai asked with a hopeful expression.
"The circumstances are a bit special right now. If eating this skeleton can help Jin Tong make a breakthrough, then we''ll stand a better chance against the Gold Devouring Immortal, so I''m afraid we''ll have to prioritize Jin Tong for now," Han Li replied.
"Alright..." Xiao Bai sighed in a dejected manner.
"If we can survive this ordeal, I''ll make sure to think of some other way topensate you," Han Li consoled as he patted Xiao Bai on the head.
Jin Tong''s attention had been focused on the skeleton this entire time, and her impatience had been mounting by the second. She turned to Han Li with an eager expression as she asked, "Can I begin eating now, Uncle?"
Han Li could only give a resigned nod in response.
Jin Tong was ecstatic, and she immediately sprang forward as a giant golden beetle, digging into the delectable feast that wasid out before her, while Xiao Bai could only watch with an envious expression.
However, not long after Jin Tong began her feast, she suddenly reverted back to her human form, then flew down from the giant rat skeleton, holding a long green bone around the same thickness as a human arm in her hand.
She then flew over to Han Li with a perplexed expression as she said, "Take a look at this bone, Uncle. I almost chipped my tooth when I tried to eat it!"
Han Li epted the bone from Jin Tong upon hearing this, then began to inspect it closely, upon which a surprised look appeared on his face.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of azure light emerged over his hand as he injected a wisp of immortal spiritual power into the bone, and it immediately began to glow brightly as a rune that Han Li had never seen before appeared on its surface, giving off bursts of powerful spatial fluctuations.
"This is a spatial treasure... Could this be its storage tool?"
Han Li attempted to inject more of his immortal spiritual power into the bone, but all that did was make the bone glow brighter and brighter, and it became as radiant and translucent as a piece of wless jade, but it disyed no other reaction.
No matter what Han Li tried, all the bone did was glow, and Han Li was unable to refine it, nor figure out what it was meant to be used for.
At this point, Jin Tong had already flown back onto the giant rat skeleton in her golden beetle form.
Some timeter, a streak of golden light flew down from the skeleton, then reverted back to Jin Tong''s human form, and she wiped the back of her hand over her own lips, then patted her bulging belly as she gave a content burp.
"I''m full. You can have the rest, Xiao Bai," she dered in a generous manner as she pointed at what remained of the skeleton.
Xiao Bai waspletely caught off guard by the offer, and Jin Tong gave it a p on the head as she urged, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up before I change my mind!"
Xiao Bai naturally wanted to take up the offer, but it was still a little hesitant.
"You''re one of us, so I can''t just have the entire skeleton for myself and leave nothing for you. Besides, this skeleton really is quite filling. Even at the halfway mark, I was already starting to feel a little stuffed.
It''s definitely going to take me a while to digest what I''ve eaten. On top of that, I ate quite a few of your immortal treasures while I was inside your stomach, so this makes up for that," Jin Tong said.
Xiao Bai was very touched to hear this, but it still didn''t immediately take Jin Tong up on her offer. Instead, it turned to Han Li for approval first.
"We''ll do as she says," Han Li said with a nod, and Xiao Bai was certainly more than happy to oblige, swelling drastically in size before devouring the rest of the skeleton in a single bite.
After that, it reverted back to its original size, while Jin Tong praised, "I have to admit, your ability to swallow anything in one go is really impressive. Even I can''t help but feel envious!"
"Alright, focus on digesting the skeleton now," Han Li said with a smile.
"Now that you mention it, I''m starting to feel a little sleepy..."
Jin Tong gave an involuntary yawn as she spoke, then quickly transformed into a tiny golden beetle before drifting down toward the ground.
Han Li reached out to catch her, then stowed her away into a spirit beast pouch.
"Master, that skeleton contained an enormous amount of energy, so I''ll have to go into seclusion for a while as well," Xiao Bai.
Han Li nodded in response, then flipped a hand over to produce another spirit beast pouch before stowing Xiao Bai away as well.
Chapter 588: Final Stand
Chapter 588: Final Stand
After the giant rat skeleton was gobbled up by Jin Tong and Xiao Bai, the bottom of the ravine had suddenly be a lot more spacious.
Han Li swept his gaze over his surroundings, and he suddenly noticed that there were some specks of shing green light at the foot of the cliff face that had previously been concealed by the skeleton.
He approached the area, then leaned down to take a look, and he discovered that there were around a dozen semi-transparent nts growing there, each of which was around a foot in height.
Their leaves were as thin and transparent as ice crystals, and the veins inside were very clearly visible and giving off faint green light.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense over the strange nts briefly, but wasn''t unable to detect any special aura from them.
Even though he was unable to identify these nts, it was clear that they were no ordinary nts, considering they had been able to grow at the bottom of a ravine with such immense baleful qi around.
However, he didn''t have the time to be pondering such matters.
Thus, he flipped a hand over to produce around a dozen white jade boxes, then uprooted all of the green nts before carefully cing them into the boxes, then adhered a silver talisman onto each of the boxes.
After that, he remained still on the spot for a moment, seemingly in deep thought, then suddenly said, "Come out, Mo Guang."
As soon as his voice trailed off, his shadow suddenly became as ck as ink, then gradually elongated to around twice its original length, following which Mo Guang emerged from it.
"Have you made a decision on my proposal, Fellow Daoist Han?" Mo Guang asked with a smile.
"I am aware of the value of a Gray Immortal''s body. We''re in the midst of a major crisis right now, so if you can maximize the body''s value, then I have no reason to turn down your proposal," Han Li replied.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist, a Heavenly Devil Contract has been signed between us, so there''s a rtionship of codependence between us. The more powerful I be, the more powerful you be, so ultimately, it''ll still be beneficial to you," Mo Guang said as a hint of tion shed through his eyes.
"That''s true. However, my understanding of Gray Immortals is very limited, so as a safety precaution, I''ll have to nt a few restrictions in your body. Will that be eptable?" Han Li asked.
Mo Guang faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response. "Of course."
Han Li wasted no further time with words as he joined his middle and index fingers before pointing them at his own be, releasing a burst of spiritual sense that fell upon Mo Guang.
After that, he made a hand seal and channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, upon which several translucent threads shot out of his be before flying into Mo Guang''s be, chest, dantian, and several other vital regions.
Mo Guang gave a muffled groan as his face became slightly twisted with pain, but he merely suffered in silence.
Some timeter, the pain etched on his face faded, and Han Li removed his fingers from his own be as he dered, "These restrictions won''t affect you in any way under normal circumstances, but once you enter the Gray Immortal''s body, if you inadvertently fall under the control of its residual soul or something like that and try to do something out of line, then those restrictions will activate on their own.
If that happens, even I may not be able to react in time to stop the restrictions from taking effect."
"Rest assured, Fellow Daiost Han, these restrictions will never have to take effect," Mo Guang said with a smile.
"That would naturally be best. Before you begin refining the Gray Immortal''s body into an avatar, I''ll have to trouble you to give me a detailed rundown of the refinement process," Han Li said with a serious expression.
Mo Guang nodded in response and did as he was told.
Han Li listened to the refinement process that was being described whileparing it against the contents of the jade slip that he had been given by Mo Guang earlier, raising questions whenever there was something that he didn''t understand.
Three dayster, a triangr array with ck Marrow Crystals embedded onto it had taken shape at the bottom of the ravine. Han Li and Mo Guang were standing on either side of the array, while the Gray Immortal''s body was ced at its center.
The two of them exchanged a nce, then sat down with their legs crossed in unison, making a hand seal while chanting a collective incantation.
As the ck Marrow Crystals in the array began to lit up, a ck me that wasn''t giving off any heat rose up at the center of the array, enveloping the Gray Immortal''s body tomence the refinement process.
Close to a year passed by in the blink of an eye.
The bottom of the ravine was teeming with baleful qi, and the triangr array waspletely enshrouded in a cloud of dense ck mist.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed around 30 feet away from the array with ayer of azure light shimmering over his body, and waves of golden ripples were also spreading from his body, giving off peculiar energy fluctuations.
Momentster, a burst of ck baleful qi suddenly drifted out of his face, then shed momentarily before vanishing again.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li opened his eyes, and his pupils were glowing a bright silver color.
Recently, his eyes had been periodically taking on this gray color, and the timing and duration fo these bouts of eye color changes were seeminglypletely haphazard.
Furthermore, with each sessive onset, Han Li could sense a burst of baleful qi deep in his consciousness bing stronger and stronger, while an unreasonable sense of aggression rose up in his heart.
If it weren''t for his tremendous spiritual sense, he would''ve most likely already fallen prey to this aggressive intent.
Han Li exhaled as theyer of baleful qi over his face gradually faded, and his pupils also returned to normal, following which he closed his eyes to meditate once again.
......
Two monthster.
A burst of loud rumbling suddenly rang out from the bottom of the ravine, and the dense baleful qi there began to churn violently.
The baleful qi rose up until it had almost spilled out of the entrance of the ravine, and a perplexed look appeared in the eyes of Daoist Xie as it observed the unfolding scene from above.
At this moment, there was an enormous vortex of baleful qi that was swirling violently as it converged toward the center of the triangr array.
Outside the array, Han Li and Mo Guang were standing with their hands psed behind their backs, and both of them were looking rather weary.
"My sincerest apologies, Fellow Daoist Han. I thought that the refinement process would beplete in just 64 days, never did I think that it would take this long," Mo Guang said while intently scrutinizing the enormous baleful qi vortex at the center of the array.
"It''s fine, we still have enough time. How confident are you in your ability toplete the fusion process?" Han Li asked as his gaze fell upon the Gray Immortal body at the center of the array.
Compared with when it was first discovered, the body had grown significantly in stature, and it was also looking more supple and full of vitality. Its wizened and sinsiter features had also be a lot softer, and it was finally beginning to resemble a living person.
"Truth be told, my chances of sess are only at around 50%. If I can sessfully take over this body, my cultivation base will rise all the way to the Golden Immortal Stage, and I could even progress straight to thete-Golden Immortal Stage. However, if I fail, then I''ll be trapped in this body, doomed to be sustenance for it," Mo Guang replied with a wry simle.
"Why did you propose this method if there''s such a major element of risk involved?" Han Li asked.
"I had no choice! Your cultivation base has been progressing at an extraordinary rate, and all of your spirit pets and puppets are also far more powerful than I am. Right now, I''m nothing more than a piece of redundant baggage for you. If I don''t take such this leap of faith, I''ll eventually just bepletely forgotten or abandoned altogether," Mo Guang sighed.
"That''s a very interesting way of looking at things," Han Li replied in an ambiguous fashion.
"Alright, here I go. Wish me luck, Fellow Daoist Han," Mo Guang said, then flew into the swirling vortex as a ck shadow.
A resounding boom rang out, and the Gray Immortal''s body at the center of the triangr array suddenly sprang bolt upright.
Its eyes were still apletely lifeless gray color, but its mouth had gaped open to an extreme extent.
Han Li watched as Mo Guang flew headfirst into the body''s mouth, quickly entering its belly as a stream of ck mist.
Immediately thereafter, the Gray Immortal''s body began to tremble in an uncontroble fashion while moving its own limbs around erratically in a jerky and uncoordinated fashion.
Furthermore, holes that resembled countless immortal acupoints had emerged all over its body, and they were devouring the ck baleful qi in the ravine in a frenzy.
This spectaclested an entire month before the vortex of baleful qi in the ravine finally disappeared, and at this point, the Gray Immortal''s body had already returned to normal, but it was still hovering in mid-air in apletely still manner.
Han Li was standing nearby, and he swept his spiritual sense over the body, only to find that it wasn''t giving off any energy fluctuations.
If it weren''t for his connnection to Mo Guang through their Heavenly Devil Contract, he would''ve already been led to believe that Mo Guang had already been devoured by the Gray Immortal''s body as sustenance.
Han Li shook his head as he heaved a faint sigh.
All of a sudden, he raised an eyebrow before sweeping a sleeve through the air to summon Jin Tong, then asked, "How did it go? Have you consolidated your cultivation base?"
"After eating the two pills you gave me, I''ve consolidated by current cultivation base, but I haven''t been able to go any further beyond that," Jin Tong replied with a slightly disappointed expression.
Han Li was rather amused by Jin Tong''s disappointed expression, and he said, "The High Zenith Stage is a major hurdle that''s extremely difficult to ovee. Just look at how those guys were fighting tooth and nail for High Zenith Pills back in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor! All you had to do to reach the High Zenith Stage was eat half a skeleton, how could you still be unsatisfied?"
Seven days ago, Jin Tong had suddenly awakened and reached the early-High Zenith Stage.
Furthermore, it seemed that she hadn''t been afflicted by any of the five decays, much to Han Li''s amazement.
Chapter 589: Awakening
Chapter 589: Awakening
"If only I could''ve reached the early-High Zenith Stage. That way, we''d have a much easier time against that guy," Jin Tong sighed.
A pang of sympathy welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this. It seemed that Jin Tong had been forced to mature a lot during the time that they had been pursued by the Gold Devouring Immortal.
However, what Jin Tong said next immediately made him realize that she was still just the same greedy little girl as before.
"This body looks really good, Uncle! Should I eat it as well? Maybe that''ll allow me to get to the mid-High Zenith Stage!"
"This is the body of a Gray Immortal, and it''s filled with baleful qi. Are you sure you want to eat it?" Han Li asked with an exasperated expression.
Jin Tong immediately began shaking her head vigorously upon hearing this. "On second thoughts, I still haven''tpletely digested what I ate earlier. Xiao Bai has a much better appetite than I do, so it can have this body..."
Right at this moment, the sound of breathing suddenly rang out from the body, and Han Li hurriedly approached it to discover that its chest was heaving slightly as if it had begun breathing.
Furthermore, its eyes had fallen shut, and its eyeballs were frantically darting around beneath its eyelids, as if it had fallen into some type of nightmare and was desperately trying to wake up, but to no avail.
Jin Tong was very startled to see this, and she asked, "Why is this thing suddenly alive again? And by the looks of it... Is it having a nightmare?"
Han Li offered no response, and he suddenly recalled what he had seen back in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor. At the time, Mo Yu''s body had also been a living corpse, but it had been unable to awaken due to theck of a soul.
The fact that this body had been sessfully resurrected meant that the refinement process and the integration of Mo Guang had been sessful, but why was it still unconscious? What was the problem?
After a prolonged period of deep thought, an enlightened look suddenly appeared in Han Li''s eyes.
Aside from the restoration of Mo Yu''s soul, there had been one more vital contributing factor to the awakening of the body in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, and that was the Origin Void Pill!
Back then, Wyrm 3 had gone to great lengths to seek out Han Li to refine an Origin Void Pill for her, and that definitely wasn''t a pointless gesture. As it turned out, the Origin Void Pill had yed a pivotal role in Mo Yu''s resurrection.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately flipped a hand over to produce an Origin Void Pill, then squeezed the Gray Immortal''s cheeks between his fingers to force its mouth open before feeding it the pill.
After that, Han Li retreated back to around 30 feet away to continue observing in silence.
Jin Tong was rather perplexed to see this, but she didn''t ask any questions as she also retreated back to a safe distance away with Han Li.
A short whileter, a loud burp rang out, and a plume of dense ck smoke billowed out of the Gray Immortal''s mouth.
An apprehensive look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately dragged Jin Tong behind himself while channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique.
Right at this moment, Mo Guang''s voice suddenly rang out from the Gray Immortal''s body. "Don''t attack, Fellow Daoist Han! It''s me!"
After that, the Gray Immortal''s body began to move, shaking out its own limbs as if it were growing ustomed to itself.
"Prove it!" Han Li demanded in a cold voice, not letting down his guard in the slightest.
"Mo Guang" hesitated momentarily, then made a hand seal before opening his mouth, releasing a cloud of inky ck baleful qi, which transformed into a ck scroll that slowly unfurled itself in front of Han Li.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense over the scroll to discover that it was the Heavenly Devil Contract that they had signed, but even so, he remained wary and vignt.
Mo Guang could sense the restrictions that had been nted in his body by Han Li''s Spirit Refinement Technique, and he opened his mouth to swallow the ck scroll again, then sighed in a resigned manner, "Your cautious nature really will never change, will it, Fellow Daoist Han?"
"If I wasn''t this cautious, Ma Liang would still be your contractual partner right now," Han Li said in an indifferent voice.
"I didn''t really think much about this in the beginning, but the more time I spend with you, the more Ie to realize that the likes of Ma Liang really couldn''t ever hope to hold a candle to you," Mo Guang said with a smile.
"Instead of trying to tter me, why don''t you exin your current cultivation base? Why is it different from what you told me it would be?" Han Li asked in a cold voice.
At this moment, Mo Guang was at the early-High Zenith Stage, but his cultivation was constantly fluctuating like a me that was swaying in the wind, unable to find any semnce of stability.
Jin Tong could hear the animosity in Han Li''s voice, and she didn''t suppress her early-High Zenith Stage aura any longer as she began glowering at Mo Guang with an unfriendly expression.
Mo Guang hurriedly raised his hands in surrender upon seeing this, then exined, "Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Li. Only after I entered this body did I realize that it was far more powerful than I anticipated. I had beenpletely suppressed by it, and if you hadn''t fed me that pill in a timely fashion, I would''ve most likely already ceased to exist by now."
"The integration process has only just beenpleted, yet you''re already at the early-High Zenith Stage. It doesn''t look to me like you were in any danger at all, Fellow Daiost Mo Guang," Han Li countered in a skeptical fashion.
"I''m only at the True Immortal Stage at the moment, so I was actually biting off far more than I could chew by trying to take over this body. As a result, my cultivation base is quite unstable at the moment. Once it stabilizes, I''ll be back down to thete-Golden Immortal Stage. At the very most, I can only stay at the High Zenith Stage for a short time," Mo Guang replied with w wry smile.
Through their spiritual connection, Han Li could sense that Mo Guang''s aura was indeed gradually falling back down to thete-Golden Immortal Stage, and the apprehension in his heart finally faded.
"It looks like you''re telling the truth. In that case, I''ll ce my trust in you. Rest assured, and take some time to recuperate, I''ll keep a look out for you," Han Li said.
"You have my thanks," Mo Guang replied, then immediately sat down with his legs crossed and began to meditate.
......
In the sky above an azure mountain range, a giant ball of semi-transparent white light was hovering in mid-air.
The ball of light was several dozen acres in size, and there were waves of white light constantly rippling over its surface, presenting a kaleidoscope-like effect that entranced the beholder.
The ball of light was extremely eye-catching, but none of the nearby demon beasts dared to approach it. On the contrary, all of them were frantically attempting to get as far away from it as possible.
A giant golden beetle could be seen at the center of the ball of white light, and it was none other than the High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal.
At this moment, it waspletely still, as if it had been frozen in ce, and its eyes were half-open in a rather dreary fashion.
Furthermore, a tiny white vortex could be seen swirling around in each of its pupils.
If these white vortexes were to be magnified by a hundredfold, one would discover that they were formed by countless specks of white light, within each of which was a shing image.
In one of the images, the Gold Devouring Immortal had already returned to the Insect Race, and it had led the Insect Race army to eradicate all of the nearby Beast Race settlements, securing a vast amount of territory and resources in the process.
Not long after that, another Gold Devouring Immortal appeared in the primordialnd in one of the other images.
After some struggle, it was able to hunt down and devour this Gold Devouring Immortal too...
In an underground cave deep below the Insect Race''s territory, the Gold Devouring Immortal was curled up into a ball on a massive golden stone bed, and there was a pained look on its face.
Its entire body was giving off extremely radiant golden light alongside tremendous aura fluctuations that were undting incessantly while steadily trending up toward a bottleneck.
Right at this moment, the aura fluctuations surging out of its body became even more violent, and they were crashing against the bottleneck like turbulent waves.
With each wave that swept through the underground cave, it would tremble violently as countless rocks shards came ttering down from above.
Resounding booms rang out one after the other, and the intervals between them were steadily shrinking.
All the while, the golden light radiating from the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body was bing brighter and brighter, until it was as radiant as the sun.
The golden light filled the entire underground cave, and it was rippling like water. Even though the walls of the cave had been reinforced by the Gold Devouring Immortal, countless cracks were still appearing on their surfaces, and these cracks were gradually widening by the second.
Right at this moment, a loud screeching sound suddenly rang out from within the golden light, following which a tremendous aura erupted forth.
The surrounding underground cave was instantlypletely destroyed without being able to put any resistance, and the entire mountain also disintegrated.
Countless rocks of different sizes came plummeting out of the sky, only to instantly be repelled upon contact with the golden light.
At this moment, there was a massive golden cocoon hovering at the center of the golden light, and it was riddled with profound golden patterns that were giving off formidablew power fluctuations.
The nearby world''s origin qi converged in a frenzy to form balls of radiant golden light that were constantly streaming into the golden cocoon, making it thicker and thicker. At the same time bursts of thunderous rumbling were ringing out incessantly within the cocoon, as if something terrifying were taking shape.
Within the golden cocoon, the Gold Devouring Immortal had transformed into a tall and imposing man with bushy eyebrows and a square face that was riddled with golden patterns, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
Rays of golden light were constantly surging into the man''s body from the surrounding golden cocoon, and his aura was still steadily elevating.
"Finally! I''ve finally returned to the Great Epassment Stage!" the man roared with excitement as he threw his head back in exaltation, but right at this moment, his surroundings suddenly shuddered violently, following which a series of cracks emerged over the surrounding scene.
In the end, the entire scene shattered like a pane of ss, then disintegrated into specks of translucent light.
The man''s ecstatic expression stiffened as he stoodpletely rooted to the spot.
Chapter 590: Final Preparations
Chapter 590: Final Preparations
In the sky above the azure mountain range, the ball of white light began shing erratically as countless white runes surged out of it.
A dull thump then rang out as the ball of light abruptly exploded, scattering into countless specks of white spiritual light.
The Gold Devouring Immortal shuddered as a hint of lucidity slowly returned to its zed-over eyes, and the white vortexes deep within its pupils faded as it looked around with a bewildered expression.
"What happened? Haven''t I already returned to the Insect Race and progressed to the Great Epassment Stage? What am I doing here?" it roared in an rmed and furious voice.
All of a sudden, its expression stiffened as it cast its gaze forward.
It had detected the aura of its target, the target that it was already supposed to have captured and devoured, and its aura had be significantly more powerful than before!
Could it be that I fell prey to some type of illusion?
The fury in the Gold Devouring Immortal''s eyes gradually faded as it turned to inspect its surroundings.
It was a calm and pleasant day with a warm breeze blowing over the azure mountain range, and there didn''t appear to be anything amiss.
The Gold Devouring Immortal quickly withdrew its gaze as a hesitant look appeared on its face.
It raised one of its front limbs before extending it forward, and the golden light radiating from its body suddenly converged in front of it to form a circr golden array.
There were countless golden runes dancing within the array, and it seemed that some type of secret technique was being used.
All of a sudden, a stunned look appeared in the Gold Devouring Immortal''s eyes as it eximed, "I''ve already been here for 20 years!"
A fearful look then appeared on its face as it hurriedly began scanning its surroundings again.
The Gold Devouring Immortal had been residing in the primordialnd for countless years, so it was naturally far more familiar with the primordialnd than an outsider like Han Li.
The Insect Race and the Beast Race were nothing more than insignificant races situated on the outskirts of the primordialnd, while the true rulers of thend were the four monarch races.
All of the four monarch races were extremely powerful and presided over enormous territories, iming all of the regions of the primordialnd with the most abundant spiritual qi.
Furthermore, there were countless powerful beings among their ranks, including a whole host of Golden Immortals and Jade Immortals, and each of the four races was led by a Great Epassment Stage patriarch, the four of whom were collectively known as the four sages.
The Gold Devouring Immortal was already at thete-High Zenith Stage, so it didn''t fear the four monarch races, but it was very much apprehensive of the four primordial sages.
At this point, it had already entered the territory of one of the four monarch races, namely the Almighty Rat Race.
The Gold Devouring Immortal hade all this way in pursuit of Han Li and Jin Tong, but it had been inexplicably trapped here in an illusion for 20 years.
20 years was not a very long time, but the Gold Devouring Immortal knew that the only ones in the primordialnd capable of trapping it in an illusion for this duration were the four sages.
With that in mind, a contemtive look appeared in its eyes.
It was said that Patriarch Gu of the Almighty Rat Race was a mysterious figure who was barely ever in the primordialnd, and he wasn''t supposed to be particrly adept in illusions, either. Instead, the Heavenly Fox Race, which directly neighbored the Almighty Rat Race, was far more skilled in casting illusions.
Could it be that the Great Epassment Stage patriarch of the Heavenly Fox Race did this to me? But why? Is he trying to warn me not to set foot in the territory of the four monarch races?
Countless thoughts were racing through the Gold Devouring Immortal''s mind, but in the end, its greed won out over its caution, and it continued onward as a giant ball of golden light.
......
Above the sheer cliff at the entrance of the dark ravine, two balls of light, one golden and one white, were hovering in mid-air, giving off tremendous auras.
The balls of light contained none other than Jin Tong and Xiao Bai.
Even though both of them had be significantly more powerful than before, they were still unable to limate themselves to the baleful qi at the bottom of the ravine, so they hade up to the surface to cultivate.
Right at this moment, the ball of golden light suddenly faded to reveal Jin Tong, and she turned to a certain direction with a grim look on her face.
Deep within the ravine, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on arge rock, channeling his immortal spiritual power while assessing the state of the baleful qi in his own body.
Mo Guang was also seated with his legs crossed nearby, and ck light was shing over his body as he continued to absorb the baleful qi in the surrounding area.
Even though he had sessfully taken over this body, further consolidation was still required toplete the integration process.
At this moment, the body was looking even more supple than before. Its skin had be clean and smooth, while its previously wizened muscles had beenpletely filled out. Dressed in a ck robe, it appeared no different from a normal person.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s eyes sprang open, and Jin Tong''s voice rang out within his mind.
"We''ve got trouble, Uncle! That guy must''ve woken up and ising after us right now!"
Han Li immediately rose to his feet upon hearing this, then took a moment to calcte the time, following which he murmured to himself, "It''s been 20 years on the dot... Looks like that voice wasn''t lying to me."
He then turned to take a nce at Mo Guang, and he decided not to disturb Mo Guang from his cultivation as he began to ascend up the ravine as a streak of azure light.
Mere moments following Han Li''s departure, Mo Guang opened his eyes as he cast his gaze upward with a contemtive look in his eyes.
It didn''t take long before Han Li arrived on the cliff where Jin Tong was, and both Jin Tong and Xiao Bai were standing before him.
"Uncle..." Jin Tong began in a nervous voice, but didn''t seem to know what to say.
"Jin Tong, are you Gold Devouring Immortal fearful of baleful qi?" Han Li suddenly asked as he nced at the dense baleful qi in the ravine.
"Not really, but we definitely don''t like baleful qi, either," Jin Tong replied.
"If it was possible for us to get away, we would''ve escaped from that Gold Devouring Immortal long ago. Seeing as we can''t get away, we may as well just wait here for it and spare it the trouble of having to keep chasing after us!" Han Li said with an amused smile.
"My thoughts exactly! Both of us have be way more powerful than before, and we''ve got that phony, Mo Guang, as well! With all of our powersbined, I''m sure we''ll be able to win!" Jin Tong replied as her eyes lit up with excitement.
"Don''t forget about me!" Xiao Bai protested in an unconvincing voice.
"Oh yeah, we''ve got Xiao Bai as well... You should be able to withstand at least one attack..." Jin Tong said as she patted Xiao Bai on the head.
"While it''s true that all of us have be a lot more powerful, we can''t afford to growcent in the face of ate-High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal. Jin Tong, how much longer will it take to get here?" Han Li asked with a grim expression.
"At its current speed, it should be able to get here in about a month," Jin Tong replied.
"That should be enough time," Han Li murmured to himself upon hearing this.
Jin Tong and Xiao Bai could tell that Han Li had a n, and both of them were feeling much more reassured.
"Continue cultivating here in the meantime. Jin Tong, make sure to keep constant tabs on the Gold Devouring Immortal, and tell me right away if anything changes," Han Li instructed.
"You can count on me, Uncle!" Jin Tong replied.
After that, Han Li flew back into the ravine, and he quickly reached the bottom.
Mo Guang had already gotten up from his cultivation, and upon spotting Han Li, he immediately rose to his feet before cupping his fist in a salute.
Han Li briefly ryed what he had been told by Jin Tong to Mo Guang, then added, "We''ll be requiring your power to oppose the Gold Devouring Immortal, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang."
"I''m happy to help. I''ll begin preparing right away. I can''t promise too much, but at the very least, I should be able to maintain my High Zenith Stage powers for 15 minutes when ites time to battle," Mo Guang replied.
"That''s good to hear," Han Li said with a smile, while Mo Guang returned to his seated cultivation.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face, and swept a sleeve through the air to summon arge stack of array tools of different colors, while Daoist Xie also appeared beside him amid a sh of golden light.
"Daoist Xie, please help me set up these arrays here," Han Li said.
Daoist Xie nodded in response, then took some of the array tools from Han Li, and the two of them
The two of them were busy at work for close to half a month beforepleting the arrays.
At this moment, Han Li was hovering in mid-air while chanting an incantation, and specks of light were shing incessantly throughout the entire ravine.
Bursts of tremendous power were also surging through the area, some of which were extremely hard and strong, while others were more soft and resilient, and they were all working together to stir up the surrounding baleful qi.
All of a sudden, all of the specks of light and the bursts of power faded, leaving no trace behind, and the unrest in the baleful qi also quickly subsided.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, then descended to the bottom of the ravine, where he sat down with his legs crossed before sweeping a sleeve through the air, summoning a series of immortal treasures, all of which were glowing radiantly while giving off bursts ofw power fluctuations.
Han Li picked up these immortal treasures before examining them one by one, making some final preparations for the uing battle.
He had already done everything that he could to brace himself for the imminent storm, but the opponent was going to be ate-High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal, so he had to be extra meticulous.
After carefully examining all of the immortal treasures, he stowed them away again, and all that was left on the ground at this moment was the Profound Heavenly Gourd.
Han Li observed the gourd for a moment, then picked it up and began to examine its opening.
That part was still lighter in coloration than the rest of the gourd, but it had be a lot darker than before, and the green light emanating from the gourd had also be brighter.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
Even though he had been fleeing from the Gold Devouring Immortal this entire time, he had made sure to consistently water the gourd using the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial, and it was clearly working.
At this rate, it should be able to reach full maturity in no more than a century.
Han Li examined the gourd for a moment longer, then opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light that vanished into it.
Ayer of countless tiny runes instantly emerged over its surface, and the runes were constantly flowing like water while releasing bursts ofw power fluctuations that kept all of the baleful qi within a radius of several dozen feet at bay.
Chapter 591: Swords in the Gourd
Chapter 591: Swords in the Gourd
Han Li took a deep breath before closing his eyes, then injected his spiritual sense into the glowing green gourd, arriving in the green space within.
The green space didn''t appear to be any different from before. It was still filled with countless wisps of green light, which were slowly revolving to form a green vortex.
However, these wisps of green light were clearly a bit brighter than before, and they were also giving off a very peculiar aura. This was most likely the result of the nourishing effect of the Heaven Controlling Vial''s spirit liquid.
Hovering at the center of the green vortex were several Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, as well as that miniature pagoda immortal treasure that he had obtained from the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor.
After so many years of refinement, the spiritual power of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had bepletely self-contained, and they were giving off faint azure spiritual light, seemingly no different in appearance from normal spirit treasures.
As for the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword that had been ced into the gourd first, its spiritual power had be restrained to the extreme, to the point that it wasn''t even glowing with spiritual light anymore, making it resemble an ordinary mortal sword.
However, through his spiritual connection with the sword, Han Li could sense that it contained tremendous spiritual power that could be unleashed at any moment at his behest.
After withdrawing his spiritual sense from the gourd, Han Li opened his eyes before sweeping a sleeve through the air, and one of the flying swords emerged from the gourd, thennded in his grasp.
After catching the flying sword, Han Li injected some of his immortal spiritual power into it, and an earth-shattering thunderp instantly rang out as a vast expanse of radiant golden lightning erupted forth.
Countless thin arcs of lightning also sprang out of the sword in all directions, instantly epassing the entire surrounding area.
These arcs of lightning were extremely bright, and all of the nearby baleful qi instantly surged back in retreat to avoid them.
A pleased look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
Sure enough, following this period of refinement in the Profound Heavenly Gourd, all of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had be significantly more powerful than before.
Immediately thereafter, eight more Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew out of the gourd at Han Li''s behest, and they rose up into the air along with the one that was already in his hand.
The nine swords circled around in mid-air as thick arcs of golden lightning emerged over them amid rumbling thunderps, and the space in the wake of the nine flying swords was also trembling and rippling violently.
Ever since Han Li reached thete-Golden Immortal Stage, he had be able to control as many as nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once, and that was undoubtedly a massive boost to his power.
The nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords circled around in mid-air momentarily, then returned to the gourd at Han Li''s behest.
As for the miniature pavilion immortal treasure, its spiritual power had also be more self-contained, but it hadn''t changed to anywhere near as significant an extent as the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, perhaps because it was simply a treasure of an inferior caliber.
After directing the nine flying swords back into the gourd, Han Li rose to his feet as he observed the gourd with a hint of excitement in his eyes.
In the next instant, he raised a hand to toss the gourd up into the air, then cast a rapid string of incantation seals into it, and the green light emanating from the gourd instantly brightened, while the green runes began to revolve at a blinding speed.
All of a sudden, a thick beam of translucent light shot out of his be before vanishing into the gourd in a sh.
With his recent cultivation base progression and his mastery of the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, his spiritual sense had be far more powerful than before, and he wanted to try and refine this treasure to see if he could make some progress.
This gourd was an extraordinarily rare and powerful Profound Heavenly Treasure, and Han Li was confident that it was definitely capable of more than just purifying the spiritual power of treasures stored within it.
With that in mind, Han Li continued cycling through a string of hand seals, injecting more and more immortal spiritual power into the gourd.
At the same time, he released his spiritual sense deep into the internal space within the gourd, but it didn''t take long before he encountered some resistance in the form of a gentle yet resilient barrier that kept his spiritual sense at bay.
This was the same resistance that he had encountered during his previous attempt to explore the internal space of the gourd with his spiritual sense, but the resistance was significantly weaker than before.
This was naturally very encouraging to Han Li, and he hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, extending his spiritual sense deeper and deeper into the gourd.
Even though progress was very slow, his spiritual sense was still constantly advancing.
With every single inch of progress that was made, a huge amount of spiritual sense had to be expended, but Han Li was determined to persevere.
All of a sudden, the green light emanating from the gourd began to sh erratically, and bursts of formidablew power fluctuations surged forth, stirring up the nearby baleful qi into a frenzy once again.
Han Li paid no heed to this as he focused wholeheartedly on advancing his spiritual sense further and further into the green vortex, and two whole hours passed by in a sh.
Right as Han Li''s spiritual sense was whittled down to past the halfway mark, a faint yet clearly audible cracking sound rang out from within the green gourd, as if some type of bottleneck had been broken.
The resistance that Han Li''s spiritual sense was encountering instantly fell away, and it entered another green space.
At the same time, the resistance in the path of his immortal spiritual power also faded, allowing it to flow effortlessly into the gourd.
At the same time, the shing green light around the gourd suddenly settled down again, but it had be brighter than before, as was the case with the green runes on the surface of the gourd.
Han Li didn''t dare to let his guard down as he carefully advanced his immortal spiritual power deeper and deeper into the gourd, but most of his attention was still focused on his spiritual sense.
The green space that his spiritual sense had entered appeared to be very simr to hte space from before, but this space wasrger than the previous one.
However, this space waspletely empty with the exception of a ball of green light hovering in mid-air.
The ball of green light was shing asionally, and it seemed to be very mysterious.
A hint of curiosity welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this, and he immediately began inspecting this green space with his spiritual sense.
It didn''t take long before his spiritual sense explored the entire space, but there was nothing special in it aside from the ball of green light.
Han Li turned his attention back to the ball of green light, and after a brief hesitation, he extended his spiritual sense toward it.
However, as soon as his spiritual sense came into contact with the ball of green light, it immediately brightened significantly while rippling like a green fireball.
Immediately thereafter, a resounding boom rang out as a burst of tremendous power erupted out of the ball of light to forcefully repel Han Li''s spiritual sense.
Han Li was instantly struck by a rush of dizziness, and he hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique to steady himself as a surprised look appeared on his face.
After taking a moment topose himself, he increased his spiritual sense output as he attempted to examine the ball of green light again, but just likest time, his spiritual sense was repelled once again.
However, he was mentally prepared on this asion, so he wasn''t struck by the same rush of dizziness, but he was still quite astonished, nheless.
Unwilling to give up, Han Li continued to extend his spiritual sense toward the ball of green light, even turning to his spiritual sense chains, Spiritual Sense Cage, and Sword Observation Arts, but his efforts were thwarted every single time.
In the end, he had no choice but to withdraw his spiritual sense.
In the meantime, his immortal spiritual power had managed to make some progress, but it had once again encountered some resistance.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he observed the green gourd.
Even though he wasn''t able to get to the bottom of its secrets, his control over the gourd had improved significantly.
With that in mind, he released his spiritual sense to enter the first green space within the gourd, and the green vortex instantly sped up in its revolution, releasing a burst of bright green light that struck a nearby mountain face.
A deep indentation appeared on the mountain face as the section of rock struck by the burst of green light vanished into thin air, having been sucked into the gourd.
Han Li gave a nod of approval upon seeing this.
After countless years of direct contact with the immense baleful qi in the ravine, the rock face had be extremely hard, so it was quite remarkable that the green light had been able to tear through it so easily.
It seemed that as the green vortex sped up in its revolution, its ability to suck in objects had be significantly enhanced.
The chunk of rock that was sucked into the gourd appeared at the center of the green vortex, and as soon as it was epassed within the green light, it immediately folded together like putty into a ball of ck rock.
As the vortex continued to speed up in its revolution at Han Li''s behest, the green light it was releasing became brighter and brighter.
The green light swept over the bottom of the ravine, and everything that it came into contact with was torn apart before being sucked into the gourd.
At this point, Han Li''splexion had paled slightly, and he withdrew his spiritual sense from the gourd.
Using a Profound Heavenly Treasure was extremely taxing, and most of his immortal spiritual power had been exhausted in this brief span of time.
Only after taking a pill did hisplexion gradually begin to improve, upon which he immediately extended his spiritual sense into the first green space within the gourd once again.
At this point, the green vortex had already returned to its normal slow andnguid speed of revolution.
Previously, Han Li had been unable to control the vortex at all, but now, he was able to speed up and slow down its rate of revolution at will.
As he continued to observe the vortex, a thought suddenly urred to him, and he decided to see what would happen if he made the vortex spin in reverse.
Chapter 592: Inevitable Clash
Chapter 592: Inevitable sh
As the green vortex began to revolve in reverse, its bright green coloration abruptly turned into a shade of dark green, and the suction force surging out of the vortex also transformed into a burst of powerful repulsion force that enveloped the ck stone ball at the center of the vortex.
Ayer of bright green light instantly appeared over the surface of the stone ball, only to vanish an instantter.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of blurry green light flew out of the gourd before striking the mountain face.
The entire mountain face shuddered violently along with the ground beneath it, as if an earthquake were unfolding, but the tremors instantly subsided, and Han Li cast his gaze forward to discover that a millstone-sized hole had appeared on the mountain face.
The edge of the hole was extraordinarily smooth, and it was so deep that there was no end in sight.
He injected his spiritual sense into the hole, and a stunned look appeared on his face.
As it turned out, the hole extended several hundred kilometers!
Han Li looked down at the green gourd in his hand with an ecstatic look on his face.
The repulsion force released by the gourd had imparted incredible destructive power upon that ordinary stone ball.
If he had shot a spirit treasure or even an immortal treasure out of the gourd as opposed to an ordinary stone ball, how powerful would that blow have been?
A hint of excitement welled up in Han Li''s heart at the thought, and after taking some time to recover through the use of pills and Immortal Origin Stones, he injected his spiritual sense into the green gourd once again.
Just now, it had sted out his spiritual sense along with that stone ball.
Inside the green space, the green vortex had already reverted back to its former state, and it was slowly revolving in its original direction.
Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and that miniature pavilion were still hovering at the center of the vortex.
At Han Li''s behest, most of the flying swords and the miniature pavilion flew away to hte side, leaving only a single Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword at the center of the vortex.
After that, the vortex began revolving in reverse again while also turning a darker shade of green, and the same burst of repulsion force re-emerged, this time acting upon the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
The sword was instantly enveloped in a ball of piercing green light, and it was trembling violently, on the verge of being sted out of the gourd, but instead of allowing the burst of repulsion force to be released, Han Li was suppressing it with all his might.
As time passed, hisplexion began to pale, and his body also began to tremble, clearly indicating that he was nearing his limits.
All the while, the repulsion force in the gourd was continuing to build, and bursts of dull rumbling were ringing out within the gourd as if it were a volcano on the brink of eruption.
By suppressing the release of the repulsion force, the vortex would continue to revolve faster and faster, but at a certain point, Han Li wouldn''t be able to suppress it any longer.
Instead of persevering beyond this point, Han Li released the repulsion force, and the green gourd shuddered slightly, as did the space in front of it.
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to their full capacity, and only then was he just barely able to catch a glimpse of a green shadow.
The green shadow was only visible for an instant before it pierced into the rock face up ahead and vanished.
Almost at the exact same moment, the same green shadow flew out of the earth several thousand kilometers away.
Even after piercing through the earth for thousands of kilometers, the sword was still as fast as lightning, and it rose straight up into the sky, vanishing out of sight in a sh.
An extremely thin spatial rift was left in its wake, while Han Li looked on in astonishment from the bottom of the ravine.
Only after a long while did he gently exhale, and even though he had turned as pale as a sheet, there was an ecstatic look in his eyes.
The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword sted forth by the gourd had been so powerful that it had been able to instantly pierce through thousands of kilometers of earth while also slicing through the very space itself.
Some of his most powerful attacks were able to shake the space around him, but never had been able to tear through the space outright, so this was truly an extraordinary sight.
On top of that, the attack was far faster than any of Han Li''s other attacks, and he was confident that even a High Zenith cultivator wouldn''t be able to evade it from close range.
With that in mind, Han Li summoned an Immortal Origin Stone to aid in his own recovery, then swept his other hand through the air to release an incantation seal.
Shortly thereafter, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew down from above beforending in his grasp.
Only after conducting a careful examination to ensure that the sword hadn''t been harmed di Han Li return it to the gourd.
......
Around half a month passed by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, a ball of golden light shot forth from afar, then appeared near the ravine in the bilnk of an eye.
The golden light faded to reveal none other than the Gold Devouring Immortal, and a tremendous aura erupted out of its body, causing all of the demon beasts within a radius of thousand of kilometers to flee in a panic.
The High Zenith Stage tree demon was also awakened, and it looked up at the Gold Devouring Immortal with an apprehensive expression.
"Piss off if you don''t want to die!" the Gold Devouring Immortal warned, then turned its gaze to the ravine.
A furious look shed through the tree demon''s eyes, but it didn''t retaliate. Instead, it lifted up all of its enormous roots out of the soil before also fleeing the scene.
The Gold Devouring Immortal paid no heed to it as it continued to scrutinize the ravine intently.
The baleful qi inside the ravine was so immense that it was left feeling a little apprehensive. Furthermore, it wasn''t able to release its spiritual sense very far into the ravine at all due to the obstructive baleful qi, so it couldn''t detect what was inside the ravine.
After a brief moment of contemtion, it flew down into the ravine as a ball of golden light, but as soon as it did so, a burst of thunderous rumbling abruptly rang out near the ravine, and thick pirs of ck light emerged before erupting into the heavens.
This was none other than the Dawn Fall Heavenly Array, and it was giving off tremendous spiritual power fluctuations.
The pirs of ck light resonated with one another to release countless ck runes, which abruptly exploded to form balls of ck light that collected the pirs of ck light together, forming a vast sea of ck light that epassed the entire ravine and the Gold Devouring Immortal.
At the same time, Daoist Xie appeared near the sea of ck light, then began to chant an incantation while making a string of hand seals.
The sea of ck light instantly began to churn, and countless bands of ck light that resembled giant tentacles emerged within it before sweeping toward the Gold Devouring Immortal.
All of the bands of ck light were shing with ck runes that were giving off immense restrictive force, but the Gold Devouring Immortal merely harrumphed in disdain as it swept its two front limbs through the air.
Streaks of peerlessly sharp green light were instantly sent flying in all directions, severing the bands of ck light that were attempting to ensnare it.
Immediately thereafter, itshed out with its front limbs once again, sending two giant des of golden light slicing into the surrounding sea of ck light.
A string of cracks and pops instantly rang out from within the sea of ck light, and it began to churn violently while rapidly dimming as if it were about to copse.
Right at this moment, a sharp screeching sound rang out from deep within the sea of ck light, followed by two thunderous dull thumps, and two explosions of golden light took ce before quickly fading away.
The Gold Devouring Immortal''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this. It seemed that the attacks it had just unleashed had been withstood by something.
The churning sea of ck light was stabilized again, and it was rapidly bing brighter.
At the same time, around a dozen giant ck pythons suddenly shot out of the sea of ck light, each of which was several thousand feet in length, and they pounced at the Gold Devouring Immortal in unison.
A cold look appeared in the Gold Devouring Immortal''s eyes as itshed out with one of its front limbs, and countless streaks of golden light instantly erupted out of its body, forming thousands of golden beetle projections thatunched themselves at the oing ck pythons.
A string of resounding booms rang out as the dozen or so ck pythons were wiped out in an instant, disintegrating into countless specks of ck light.
With yet another sweep of its front limb, all of the golden beetle projections converged to form an enormous golden sword projection, which swept through the surrounding sea of ck light with tremendous power.
However, right at this moment, countless ck runes surged out of the sea of ck light, giving off burst of formidablew power fluctuations, and the remnants of the ck pythons converged to form a series of giant ck rings, which instantly appeared around the golden sword projection, stopping it cold in its tracks.
The Gold Devouring Immortal let loose a furious roar upon seeing this, and it raised its two front limbs up high as bright golden light erupted out of its body.
There wereyers of golden runes interspersed throughout the golden light, and they revolved momentarily in mid-air before forming a ball of golden light that was several thousand feet in size.
Blinding golden radiance erupted out of the ball of golden light, and it resembled a golden sun that forced back the sea of ck light to create an open area, following which the ball of golden light shot forth at the Gold Devouring Immortal''s behest to strike the sea of ck light with devastating power.
The ball of golden light instantly exploded with an earth-shattering boom, and ferocious gusts of golden wind swept forth in all directions,pletely eradicating the surrounding sea of ck light, which disintegrated into countless specks of ck light.
As the sea of ck light vanished, the Gold Devouring Immortal found itself back at the entrance of the ravine.
At the same time, Daoist Xie stumbled back in retreat as if it had been dealt a heavy blow.
Itsplexion was quite pale, its robes were in tatters, and tworge gashes had appeared on its chest and lower abdomen, clearly indicating that it had been severely wounded.
After flying back for over 10,000 feet, Daoist Xie fled the scene as a streak of golden light, making no attempt to engage the Gold Devouring Immortal in battle.
Chapter 593: Luring in the Enemy
Chapter 593: Luring in the Enemy
The Gold Devouring Immortal didn''t immediately give chase. Instead, it was hovering outside the ravine, observing the immense baleful qi down below with a hesitant look in its eyes.
All of a sudden, a thunderous, jeering voice rang out from deep within the ravine. "How was your 20-year-long dream?"
The Gold Devouring Immortal was infuriated by Han Li''s taunt, but it remained still on the spot.
Immediately thereafter, Jin Tong also began to fan the mes as she jeered, "If you wanna eat me, then you''re gonna have toe get me! I''ll be waiting for you..."
The Gold Devouring Immortal waspletely tipped over the edge upon hearing this, and the golden light emanating from its body began to swirl and churn like golden mes.
Ayer of golden ripples emerged over its body, and it quickly shrank down to less than 1,000 feet in size. At the same time, the golden light around its body became denser than before, making it appear as if it were enshrouded in ayer of golden mes.
Immediately thereafter, the Gold Devouring Immortal swooped down into the ravine, and the fiery golden light around it acted as a protective barrier that kept the surrounding baleful qi at bay.
Even so, it was clear that the Gold Devouring Immortal was very ufortable in this environment.
Nevertheless, it was descending down the ravine far faster than Han Li had back when he was making his initial descent.
It didn''t take long before it spotted Han Li and Jin Tong at the bottom of the ravine, and a hint of befuddlement shed through its eyes.
It simply didn''t make sense for them to have advanced so significantly in their cultivation bases in just the short span of 20 years, and even though it was still far above them at thete-High Zenith Stage, a hint of caution had welled up in its heart.
Instead of blindly continuing its descent, it hovered in mid-air to observe the area from above, and it quickly noticed that there were some things concealed within parts of the bottom of the ravine where the baleful qi was particrly dense.
Faint spiritual power fluctuations were emanating out of those areas, and it seemed that some type of array had been set up.
A hint of disdain shed through the Gold Devouring Immortal''s eyes as it suddenly opened its mouth to release a golden tornado, which swept through the bottom of the ravine, causing all of the baleful qi to recede and revealing a series of circr stone tforms and triangr ck gs.
The stone tforms and ck gs were blown all over the ce in the face of the golden tornado, and the entire array was instantly ruined.
"This is what you had set up for me?" the Gold Devouring Immortal asked.
Han Li and Jin Tong both remained silent.
All of a sudden, a hint of self-deprecation welled up in the Gold Devouring Immortal''s heart. What was it so worried about? How could an early-High Zenith Stage brat and a human at the pinnacle of the Gold Devouring Immortal possibly pose any threat?
"You and I were one to begin with, you''ll realize this when you be a part of me. All these years that you spent fleeing werepletely pointless. As opposed to continuing your futile struggles, I suggest you give up now," the Gold Devouring Immortal said.
"By your logic, why aren''t you surrendering and allowing yourself to be eaten by me? You said we were one to begin with, so what does it matter?" Jin Tong scoffed.
The Gold Devouring Immortal remained calm as it replied in a measured and patient voice, "Even though you and I were part of a single entity, there''s a high level of disparity in our intelligence levels and cultivation bases, so it''s far easier for me to devour you than the opposite.
Even if you don''t get devoured by me, you''ll be devoured by another Gold Devouring Immortal eventually, so why not surrender yourself to me now? Perhaps I could even choose to preserve some of your memories. Honestly, I''m quite d to see that you''ve reached the early-High Zenith Stage."
Han Li had been silent this entire time, but he finally interjected, "If you want to devour Jin Tong, then you''ll have to ask me, her master, for permission first."
The Gold Devouring Immortal immediately burst into fury upon hearing this. "A mere Golden Immortal Stage human like you dares to proim himself to be the master of a Gold Devouring Immortal? Your insolence is astounding!"
At the same time, it swung both of its front limbs through the air, releasing two crescent-shaped streaks of translucent light that sped directly toward Han Li.
The streaks of translucent light appeared no different from the ones unleashed by Jin Tong, but they were several times faster, and Han Li was immediately struck by an asphyxiating sense of pressure as he stood in their path.
Fortunately, he was already prepared for this, and he unleashed his Reversal True Axis ability, darting away with Jin Tong to evade the attack.
At the same time, he swept a sleeve through the air to send two streaks of light, one ck and one white, hurtling toward the Gold Devouring Immortal.
The Gold Devouring Immortal had some recollection of the white object. It was the same sheet of paper that Han Li had used during their previous battle, and it had already been severely damagedst time, so the Gold Devouring Immortal certainly wasn''t expecting to see it again.
A gust of howling wind swept through the air as the sheet of paper swelled drastically in size, transforming into a white mountain that was riddled with cracks before crashing down upon the Gold Devouring Immortal.
As for the ck object, that was a rectangr inkstone that descended onto the ground directly beneath the Gold Devouring Immortal, then transformed into a sea of ck mes before rising up into the air.
Both of them were formidable immortal treasures that Han Li had secured from Feng Tiandu, but they were made to look quiteckluster in the face of the Gold Devouring Immortal, whichshed out with one of its front limbs, sending a streak of translucent light sweeping toward the white mountain up above.
The mountain immediately split apart down the middle with a resounding boom, then reverted back into a sheet of paper that had been sliced into two before drifting down onto the ground.
Immediately thereafter, the Gold Devouring Immortal opened its mouth to release a burst of tremendous suction force, and the sea of ck mes down below was sucked into its stomach as a swirling vortex in the blink of an eye.
With the sea of ck mes gone, a series of white jade pirs with all types of runes engraved upon them suddenly rose up from the ground, forming a huge white stone array that hurtled directly toward the Gold Devouring Immortal.
At the same time, the mountain faces on either side of the ravine began to glow with radiant silver light, and four enormous runes emerged upon them, then transformed into four giant runic projections that converged toward the Gold Devouring Immortal.
These four runes contained the Azure Dragon Wood Trapping Talisman, the White Tiger Radiant Metal Talisman, the Vermilion Bird Fire Raising Talisman, and the Xuanwu Water Barring Talisman, all of which Han Li had found in that treasured case that he had also obtained from Feng Tiandu.
The roars of tigers and dragons rang out in unison as an azure wyrm and a giant white tiger pounced at the Gold Devouring Immortal, and they were joined by a crimson fiery bird and a enormous turtle, trapping the Gold Devouring Immortal in the middle.
The Gold Devouring Immortal merely gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and countless des of translucent light that were as thin as cicada wings erupted out of its body, punching countless holes into the array down below in the blink of an eye.
The Four Symbols summoned by the array were also no match for these des of light, and they were eradicated in the blink of an eye.
However, before the Gold Devouring Immortal had a chance to do anything else, an enormous shadow came crashing down from above, and it was a giant three-story pavilion that fell upon it like a cage.
The pavilion had a veryvish and opulent interior, and waves of strange sounds rang out within it, striking the Gold Devouring Immortal with a sense of disorientation. All of a sudden, it felt as if it had been cast back into that illusion where it had managed to capture Jin Tong and reach the Great Epassment Stage.
A thunderous roar abruptly erupted out of its mouth, and the resulting soundwaves were so formidable that they instantly drowned out all of the strange sounds, while countless cracks appeared over the surrounding pavilion.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this. It seemed that the Gold Devouring Immortal''s spiritual sense seemed to have be more formidable after being stuck in that illusion for 20 years.
He had thought that the pavilion immortal treasure that had been refined in the Profound Heavenly Gourd would be able to trap the Gold Devouring Immortal for around 10 seconds, thereby buying him enough time to unleash his Mantra Treasured Axis, but it wasn''t even able tost three seconds.
A resounding boom rang out as the three-story pavilion exploded into countless fragments, and at the same time, Han Li yelled, "It''s time, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a ck humanoid figure that waspletely enshrouded in baleful qi abruptly appeared behind the Gold Devouring Immortal, and they were gripping an antiquated ck spear that they plunged directly at the Gold Devouring Immortal''s back.
The humanoid figure was naturally none other than Mo Guang, and just as he had promised, he was currently disying early-High Zenith Stage power.
The spear in his hand began to glow radiantly with ck light, while the crimson mark in the spearhead was also glowing brightly, and a lotus-flower-like spear projection had emerged from the tip of the spear.
Mo Guang was racing through the air as he plunged the spear toward the Gold Devouring Immortal with fierce killing intent, and the spear was disying several dozen times the powerpared with back when Han Li had been experimenting with it.
The Gold Devouring Immortal had already detected the attack, but it made no attempt to take evasive measures as it opposed the spear with its two front limbs.
Chapter 594: Repeated Blows
Chapter 594: Repeated Blows
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and waves of tremendous shockwaves erupted in all directions from the point where Mo Guang and the Gold Devouring Immortal shed, causing the nearby mountain faces to tremble violently as loose rocks came tumbling down like rain.
The ck spear was bent like a bow before abruptly straightening out again, propelling itself and Mo Guang directly upward like a cannonball.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face as he watched Mo Guang flying back into the dense baleful qi. If it weren''t for the fact that Mo Guang had taken over the body of an unfathomably powerful Gray Immortal, the force of that sh alone would''ve most likely been enough topletely pulverize his body.
As for the Gold Devouring Immortal, it was forced involuntarily downward, and right at this moment, Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis emerged amid an eruption of bright golden light.
The 18 timew threads around the axis vanished into it, and all of the Time Dao Runes on its surface, of which there were over 400, were glowing radiantly.
Waves of golden ripples surged through the air as a huge golden space instantly took shape, epassing the Gold Devouring Immortal within it.
The Gold Devouring Immortal immediately felt as if it had fallen into a swamp, and all of its movements became extremely slow and sluggish.
It wanted tosh out and destroy the golden axis, but the cirction of its immortal spiritual power had slowed down to a crawl, making it very difficult to muster up any power.
At the same time, golden light was shing erratically over its body, indicating that it was struggling with all its might to oppose the Mantra Treasured Axis.
Bursts of formidablew power fluctuations surged out of its body tobat the surrounding golden ripples, and the entire golden space began to tremble, but much to Han Li''s relief, it wasn''t disying any signs of copsing for now.
If he hadn''t progressed to the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage, the Gold Devouring Immortal would''ve most likely already freed itself at this point.
With no time to waste, Han Li cycled through a rapid string of hand seals as he injected his immortal spiritual power into his Mantra Treasured Axis without any reservation, using the axis to trap the Gold Devouring Immortal.
He knew that he wouldn''t be able to trap the Gold Devouring Immortal for long, and with that in mind, he immediately swept a sleeve through the air to summon the Profound Heavenly Gourd.
A circle of tiny runes around the gourd began to sh erratically as a burst of radiant green light erupted out of its opening, and there was a burst of repulsion force that was being suppressed within the gourd.
Having to simultaneously control both the Mantra Treasured Axis and the Profound Heavenly Gourd, Han Li''s immortal spiritual power and spiritual sense were both being expended at an rming rate.
All of a sudden, he let loose a low roar while making a hand seal, and the green light at the opening of the gourd instantly reached an unprecedented level of brightness, while a burst of thunderous rumbling rang out within the gourd.
Immediately thereafter, one Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword after another shot out of the gourd at an incredible speed, and there were eight of them in total, all of which were aimed directly at the Gold Devouring Immortal''s heart.
......
A string of sharp ngs rang out alongside shes of blinding golden lightning.
In order to ensure that the power of the swords wasn''tpromised, Han Li was attacking with the swords themselves, rather than unleashing any sword projections.
Enhanced by his time spirit domain, the flying swords were sped up even further, and in the span of just a few seconds, several hundred blows had already been dealt upon the same spot on the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body, but it remainedpletely unscathed.
The Gold Devouring Immortal was still struggling violently against the time spirit domain, but it waspletely unconcerned as it chortled, "Struggle all you want! Once you run out of tricks, your fate will be sealed!"
All the while, Jin Tong was looking on while gritting her teeth in frustration and remorse. If she had worked harder in her cultivation during her time with Qu Ling, perhaps she wouldn''t be so powerless right now.
Right as she was racking her brains to try and think of a way to break through the Gold Devouring Immortal''s defenses, Han Li suddenly began to make one final push, drawing upon all of his remaining immortal spiritual power before releasing it like floodwaters through a broken dam.
At the same time, runes on the surface of the Profound Heavenly Gourd became blindingly bright, and the tip of a sword began to emerge from the opening of the gourd.
The green vortex within the gourd was revolving at an incredible speed, and it had umted so much power that it resembled a volcano on the brink of eruption.
All of a sudden, Han Li let loose a loud roar, and the entire gourd shuddered violently as the tip of the sword protruding out of its opening abruptly vanished.
In the same instant, a green shadow struck the Gold Devouring Immortal''s chest like a bolt of lightning, and a resounding ng rang out as the Gold Devouring Immortal shuddered violently.
At the same time, a flurry of golden lightning and bursts of formidable sword qi erupted forth in all directions,pletely eradicating the surrounding baleful qi.
The bottom of the ravine and the two mountain faces on either side of it were also severely ravaged in the blink of an eye, with giant gashes that were over 1,000 feet deep sliced into the solid rock.
The golden light over the Gold Devouring Immortal''s chest shatteredyer afteryer, and a tiny crack that was as thin as a strand of hair finally appeared on its incredibly resilient exoskeleton.
The Gold Devouring Immortal''s pupils contracted drastically as it felt its own defenses being breached, and it began to struggle even more violently.
As a result, the time spirit domain became extremely unstable, and it looked as if it could be overwhelmed at any moment.
A hint of disappointment shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, but he wasn''t surprised by this oue.
The final sword that had just been released was the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword that had been refined in the gourd for the longest period of time, and it had already disyed more power than Han Li had expected.
If that sword had struck any otherte-High Zenith Stage being that wasn''t the Gold Devouring Immortal, they definitely wouldn''t have been able to get away with such a minor injury.
Han Li didn''t dwell on his disappointment as he immediately switched to a different hand seal, and the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords converged to form a single sword.
Instead of continuing to control the flying swords with his spiritual sense, Han Li grabbed onto the sword formed by the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords before charging directly at the Gold Devouring Immortal.
At this point, the Gold Devouring Immortal had already flown into a blind rage, and it was continuing to struggle with all its might, but Han Li paid no heed to this as he plunged his sword straight at the tiny crack on the Gold Devouring Immortal''s chest.
In this instant, he was releasing his immortal spiritual power, Divine Devilbane Lightning, and sword qi without any reservation.
A resounding ng rang out as Han Li swiveled around before instantly unleashing another strike, and he repeated the process over and over again in rapid session.
Each sessive blow fell faster and stronger than the previous one, andyers uponyers of Divine Devilbane Lightning and sword qi were building upon each other, all of which were umting at the crack on the Gold Devouring Immortal''s chest like a volcano that could erupt at any moment.
At this point, Mo Guang had already returned to the ravine, but he didn''t immediately re-enter the fray. Instead, he could see what Han Li''s intentions were, and he knew that it was best to stay away for now.
As for the Gold Devouring Immortal, it could sense the threat that Han Li was posing, and it had alreadypletely lost itsposure as it struggled frantically against the Mantra Treasured Axis.
As Han Li''s time spirit domain was steadily whittled down, the Mantra Treasured Axis was also affected, and it began to tremble violently, as did all of the Time Dao Runes on its surface.
At this point, Han Li''s spiritual sense was severely overexerted, and his eyes had turnedpletely bloodshot, while blood was trickling out of his ears and flowing down his cheeks like a pair of tiny crimson snakes.
However, his hands remained as steadily as ever as he delivered one sword strike after another.
Despite his efforts, the crack on the Gold Devouring Immortal''s chest hadn''t been erged at all.
Finally, with the 361st sword strike that was unleashed, Han Li was unable to suppress the Divine Devilbane Lightning and sword qi that had been building up this entire time any longer, and an earth-shattering boom rang out as a vast explosion of golden lightning took ce, forming a lightning vortex thatpletely epassed the Gold Devouring Immortal.
At the same time, a vast sea of sword qi exploded from a single, concentrated spot on the Gold Devouring Immortal''s chest.
The golden lightning and white sword qi intertwined to form a giant pir of golden and white light that erupted directly upward, almost piercing through the entire ravine.
An agonized roar erupted out of the Gold Devouring Immortal''s mouth, and its fury was elevated to an unprecedented peak.
The wings on its back abruptly exploded, releasing a burst of tremendous power. The Mantra Treasured Axis was already only just barely containing the Gold Devouring Immortal, and it was instantly sent flying back through the air with tremendous force.
The Gold Devouring Immortal took a furious nce down at the extremely deep and long gash on its chest, and it spat through gritted teeth, "You''ll pay for this!"
Normally, it would''ve been able to recover from an injury like this in a matter of seconds, but this gash was disying no signs of healing.
As it turned out, the residual lightning and sword qi around the gash were severely hampering the healing process.
Chapter 595: Battle of Life and Death
Chapter 595: Battle of Life and Death
Han Li couldn''t help but heave a forlorn internal sigh upon seeing this. All of his painstaking efforts had only managed to break the Gold Devouring Immortal''s exoskeleton, but hadn''t inflicted any substantial injuries.
Right at this moment, the Gold Devouring Immortal opened its mouth and a thread of translucent light roughly the size of a spear shot forth, hurtling directly toward Han Li''s chest.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis back to his side to slow down the enemy attack, but as he did this, he realized that something wasn''t quite right.
The Time Dao Runes on the axis were clearly glowing, but no golden ripples were released.
Before he had a chance to figure out what was happening, the translucent spear had already reached him, and it was toote for him to take evasive measures.
In this dire situation, Jin Tong suddenly sped over to him as a streak of golden light, positioning herself in front of him as a shield.
The spear pierced straight through her shoulder, then sent her body crashing heavily into Han Li, and blood sttered in all directions amid the grotesque sound of shattering bones.
The two of them crashed into the rock face behind them with so much force that it triggered an avnche, sending huge rocks tumbling down from above.
Blood was trickling down from the corner of Han Li''s lips as he flew toward Mo Guang while cradling Jin Tong in his arms, and Mo Guang immediately sprang into action as well, positioning himself in front of them.
Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis into his own body while inspecting Jin Tong''s condition, and he could sense that her aura had diminished significantly, but much to his relief, her life wasn''t under threat.
Having devoured that strange pill cauldron and that giant rat carcass, Jin Tong had progressed to the High Zenith Stage and attained a far superior physical constitutionpared with before. Only then was she able to withstand that blow.
Otherwise, even with her acting as a meat shield, Han Li would''ve suffered grievous wounds from that spear strike, nheless.
"Are you alright?" Han Li asked as he observed the Gold Devouring Immortal intently.
"I''m fine," Jin Tong replied with a determined look in her eyes, then pulled out the translucent spear before stuffing it into her own mouth.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s attention remained focused solely on the Gold Devouring Immortal.
Even though it had already detonated both of its wings, a pair of giant five-colored wings of light had emerged on its back to take their ce, and with a single p of those new wings, the Gold Devouring Immortal vanished from the spot.
Han Li''s pupils contracted drastically upon seeing this, and he hurled Jin Tong away into the distance while raising his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword to defend himself.
At the same time, Mo Guang abruptly swelled to several dozen feet tall, and bright ck light emerged over his body as he raised his ck spear before thrusting it directly forward.
A ck line shot through the air in a sh, following which a boundless expanse of ck qi erupted forth in a formidable wave.
A resounding ng rang out as the Gold Devouring Immortal abruptly reappeared, having withstood Mo Guang''s spear strike with its exoskeleton, and its front limbs were reaching around Mo Guang to attack Han Li.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and Han Li had only just raised his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword when the Gold Devouring Immortal''s front limbs were already upon him.
"Let heaven and earth be turned on their heads!" Han Li dered in a thunderous voice, and the Gold Devouring Immortal immediately felt a burst of indescribable power sweep through the entire ravine.
Its vision blurred momentarily, and when it was able to see clearly again, it discovered that heaven and earth had indeed been flipped on their heads, and it had been hovering above the ravine just a moment ago, yet it now found itself at the bottom of the ravine.
Is this another illusion?
The Gold Devouring Immortal was quite bewildered by this, and it reflexively slowed down in its attack as a result.
"Let there be lightning!"
Another thunderous deration rang out, and the ground at the bottom of the ravine abruptly split open as an incredibly thick pir of golden lightning erupted out of the earth to instantly inundate the Gold Devouring Immortal.
Bursts of rumbling rang out incessantly as countless arcs of golden lightning ravaged the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body, and this was clearly no illusion.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to the Gold Devouring Immortal, and it opened its cavernous mouth to send a vast expanse of translucent light sweeping toward the bottom of the ravine.
A resounding boom rang out as the ground at the bottom of the ravine exploded, but as opposed to any rocks or dust being raised by the explosion, there were only waves of baleful qi that were scattered in all directions.
As a result, it was revealed that there was a golden figure holding a ck ded weapon that was riddled with lightning cloud designs, and they quickly drifted back into the waves of baleful qi, vanishing without a trace.
As it turned out, heaven and earth hadn''t actually been flipped on their heads, and that pir of golden lightning had just been unleashed by Daoist Xie using the Thundersh de.
By the time the Gold Devouring Immortal came to realize this and turned its attention back to Han Li, it discovered that Han Li''s eyes were tightly shut, and a speck of translucent light was glowing from his be.
In the next instant, a cage of ck chains abruptly took shape in front of the Gold Devouring Immortal, then transformed into several translucent chains that instantly vanished into thin air.
Immediately thereafter, the Gold Devouring Immortal waspletely rooted to the spot, immobilized in mid-air.
Within a golden space deep in its consciousness was a miniature golden beetle. This was its nascent soul, and it was currently trapped in a cage formed by translucent chains.
A series of ck runes were engraved upon the chains, and the chains didn''t appear to be particrly sturdy, but also seemed to have some type of unbreakable quality about them.
The Gold Devouring Immortal''s nascent soul was furious, and it crashed repeatedly against the chain with all its might. The golden light within its consciousness was also crashing against the cage in powerful waves, but the cage remained as still as an immovable mountain.
Inside the ravine, Han Li heaved a faint sigh of relief, but he didn''t dare to let his guard down at all.
Thanks to thebination of his Mantra Domain ability and that decoy from Daoist Xie, he had managed to trap the Gold Devouring Immortal''s nascent soul in a Spiritual Sense Cage.
However, even though the Gold Devouring Immortal''s soul was its weakness, it was still ate-High Zenith Stage being, so Han Li wouldn''t be able to trap its nascent soul for long.
"Jin Tong, hurry!" he yelled in an urgent voice.
Jin Tong had been waiting for this opportunity, and she gritted her teeth to suppress the pain from her injuries as she transformed into a golden beetle the size of a water vat, then flew over to the gash on the Gold Devouring Immortal''s chest before scurrying her way inside.
As soon as she entered the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body, she immediately began sinking her teeth into the flesh inside.
The grotesque sounds of tearing flesh and chewing rang out incessantly, and it didn''t take long before Jin Tong''s entire body was drenched in blood.
With each mouthful of flesh that she devoured, more power would arise in her body, and the wound on her shoulder that had been inflicted by the translucent spear would recover a little.
Even though the Gold Devouring Immortal''s nascent soul had been sealed away, its body was still trembling violently from the excruciating pain that it was experiencing.
Its nascent soul had been driven to a blind rage, and it was crashing against the Spiritual Sense Cage with reckless abandon, seeminglypletely unconcerned by the possibility that it could harm itself in the process.
Han Li could feel his own spiritual sense shuddering violently, and hisplexion paled slightly as he involuntarily threw up a mouthful of blood.
However, he had no time to tend to his own internal injuries as he channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might.
Maintaining the Spiritual Sense Cage was already extremely taxing on his spiritual sense, and he was having to expend even more spiritual sense in order to stabilize the cage against the Gold Devouring Immortal''s frenzied assault.
Before long, his robes werepletely drenched in sweat, and he was gritting his teeth so tightly that they were audibly creaking and groaning. He had even stowed his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and the Profound Heavenly Gourd away as he didn''t dare to divert even the slightest modicum of attention away from the cause at hand.
As time passed, Jin Tong continued to rapidly eat her way through the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body, and her aura was steadily being elevated in the process, but it was still significantlyckingpared with the Gold Devouring Immortal''s tremendous aura.
15 more minutes passed by.
At this point, Han Li was so drenched with sweat that he looked as if he had just been fished out of a pond, and his face was as pale as a sheet, while his eyes were dull and dim from exhaustion.
Finally, his spiritual sense ran out, and the Spiritual Sense Cage within the Gold Devouring Immortal''s consciousness immediately began to fade.
The Gold Devouring Immortal''s nascent soul pounced on this opportunity to unleash one final wave of ferocious attacks, and the Spiritual Sense Cage fell away without being able to pose any further resistance.
Upon regaining control over its own body, the Gold Devouring Immortal immediately let loose an agonized screech that caused the entire ravine to tremble violently.
With its nascent soul trapped in the Spiritual Sense Cage, it had been deprived of the majority of its senses, so it hadn''t been able to feel the excruciating agony of having its own body eaten away from the inside.
Now that it had returned to its senses, it was struck by a wave of indescribable pain that was almost too much for it to bear.
The golden light emanating from its body immediately began to tremble erratically, and a string of cracks and pops rang out from its bones as it flexed all of its muscles at once topress down upon Jin Tong.
At the same time, all of the immortal spiritual power within its body also began to surge toward Jin Tong.
Chapter 596: Back Against the Wall
Chapter 596: Back Against the Wall
Up to this point, Jin Tong had been steadily eating her way toward the Gold Devouring Immortal''s vital internal organs, and her entire body was covered in blood, while the gaps between her teeth were filled with bloody muscle fibers, presenting a terrifying sight to behold.
Right as she was about to bite through ayer of muscr membrane to tear hear way into the Gold Devouring Immortal''s abdominal cavity, the muscles of the Gold Devouring Immortal around her suddenly began topress toward her, while bursts of formidable immortal spiritual power were also converging toward her in an attempt to trap her.
However, having devoured so much of the Gold Devouring Immortal''s flesh, Jin Tong''s aura was rapidly approaching the mid-High Zenith Stage, and she was able to fight against thepressing flesh around her as she tore through the muscr membrane before forcing her way into the Gold Devouring Immortal''s abdominal cavity.
The Gold Devouring Immortal was furious, but also at a loss for what to do. The problem was that Jin Tong was wreaking havoc inside its body, so it couldn''t unleash any powerful attacks for fear of harming itself.
Originally, it wouldn''t have been a bad thing for Jin Tong to have burrowed her way into its abdominal cavity.
Its soul was superior in power to Jin Tong''s, so it should''ve been able to directly devour Jin Tong''s soul, then digest her body, and that would''ve been the end of the matter.
However, its soul had been severely exerted during its escape from Han Li''s Spiritual Sense Cage, whereas Jin Tong''s aura had been growing steadily more powerful as she ate her way through the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body.
As a result, the Gold Devouring Immortal was no longer confident in its ability to devour Jin Tong''s soul, so it could only stay put for now and wait for its own soul to recover.
The helplessness of its situation made it even more infuriated, and it turned to Han Li with burning fury in its eyes.
If it weren''t for this detestable human, it would''ve already hunted down its target long ago, and the Beast Race would''ve also been razed to the ground. Instead, it had been trapped in an illusion for 20 years and was now in a state of unprecedented peril.
This was all because of that human!
In this instant, Han Li became the sole object of the Gold Devouring Immortal''s fixation, and it was determined to kill him.
Han Li had already anticipated this, so as soon as the Gold Devouring Immortal returned to his senses, he had already taken several pills to recover his own immortal spiritual power while also stabilizing his spiritual sense.
All of a sudden, the golden light emanating from the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body faded, and a burst of scorching power was released from its body, manifesting itself as wisps of white steam.
Enshrouded within the steam, the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body instantly became rather blurry and indistinct.
Han Li immediately activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, but before he had a chance to peer through the steam, a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart, and he reflexively dodged to the side.
Almost at the exact same moment, the Gold Devouring Immortal appeared right where he had been standing just a moment ago.
As soon as Han Li steadied himself, a streak of translucent light immediately came sweeping toward him.
Han Li was greatly rmed, and he reflexively unleashed his Reversal True Axis ability, allowing him to vanish from the spot in a sh and evade the attack.
Only then did it ur to him that his Mantra Treasured Axis seemed to have recovered, and he was ecstatic.
A spherical light barrier instantly erupted out of his body, forming a giant time spirit domain that epassed the entire bottom of the ravine.
As soon as the light barrier swept over the Gold Devouring Immortal, it immediately felt as if ayer of invisible force were acting upon it, thereby significantly slowing down its movements.
Compared with the Mantra Treasured Axis, the time spirit domain was able to epass arger area, but its slowing effect was far less potent. Hence, even though the Gold Devouring Immortal''s speed was hampered in the time spirit domain, it could still catch up to Han Li in an instant if he weren''t careful.
Furthermore, he could sense that the Mantra Treasured Axis in his body hadn''t actuallypletely recovered, and it could suddenly be useless again at any moment, so he could only continue to take evasive measures while urging Jin Tong to speed up through their spiritual connection.
At the bottom of the ravine, two streaks of light, one azure and one golden, were shing incessantly, with thetter pursusing the former, and even with Mo Guang''s eyesight, he was struggling to keep track of the two streaks of light.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out as the Gold Devouring Immortal crashed into one of the nearby mountain faces, causing an enormous avnche.
Han Li flew through the massive cloud of dust that had been raised by the avnche, then propelled himself directly upward until hended on a protruding stone tform that was jutting out of the opposite mountain face.
The Gold Devouring Immortal''s patience had beenpletely exhausted at this point, and it let loose a feral roar of fury and frustration.
Instead of continuing to pursue Han Li, itid down onto the ground, and its wings began to tremble violently as the light emanating from its body rapidly contracted. Even the waves of scorching heat that had been released from its body were being withdrawn, forming ayer of strange substance around it that was somewhere between gas and light.
As more and more of this substance umted, it began to release waves of extremely strange energy fluctuations, and a sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this.
Inside the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body, Jin Tong was tearing away at its internal organs as quickly as she could when she suddenly noticed that these internal organs had begun trembling violently, and some of the tissues had begun to disintegrate into gas before seeping out of its body.
At the same time, its internal bodily temperature began to rise rapidly, and it didn''t take long before Jin Tong felt as if she were in a lit furnace.
On top of that, there was a very strange burst of pressure rising up within the Gold Devouring Immortal''s abdominal cavity, and the pressure was so immense that even Jin Tong was beginning to feel quite fearful and apprehensive.
Could it be that it''s nning to self-detonate?
As soon as this thought urred to her, Jin Tong immediately called out to Han Li through their spiritual connection.
"Run, Uncle! This thing''s going to self-detonate!"
"Get out of there, Jin Tong!" Han Li hurriedly urged with tightly furrowed brows.
"No! I''m going to see this through to the end!" Jin Tong replied in a determined voice.
Han Li gritted his teeth momentarily, then unleashed his Reversal True Axis ability, flying directly upward as quickly as he could with Mo Guang right behind him.
The two of them had only just begun ascending up the ravine when an explosion of blinding white light erupted beneath them.
A deafening boom rang out from the bottom of the ravine, and waves of devastating shockwaves crashed against the mountain faces on either side of the ravine one after another.
In this instant, it was as if a second sun were rising up from the depths of the ravine, and all of the darkness and baleful qi was instantly reced by blinding white radiance.
The walls of the ravine began to copseyer afteryer in the face of the explosion, causing the ravine to widen rapidly as all of the tumbling rocks were melted away within the scorching light.
At the same time, an enormous pir of white light erupted straight into the heavens, incinerating all of the baleful qi in the ravine before rising up all the way to an altitude of close to 10,000 feet above the opening of the ravine.
A ck humanoid figure emerged from within the pir of white light in apletely spreadeagled fashion, floating in the air like a kite. The figure''s entire body was severely charred and ravaged, looking as if they were on the verge of being vaporized.
On this figure''s back was another humanoid figure that was curled up into a ball and epassed within ayer of azure light, seeminglypletely untouched by the explosion of white light.
After flying out of the ravine, the two figures flew several kilometers to the left to escape the explosion.
These two were naturally none other than Han Li and Mo Guang.
Han Li was hovering in mid-air as he turned to the severely disfigured Mo Guang and asked, "Are you alright?"
A smile that was more hideous than even the most horrific of grimaces appeared on Mo Guang''s unrecognizable face as he chuckled, "Looks like you''ve made another winning gamble, Fellow Daoist Han."
His voice was extremely feeble, clearly indicating that he was severely injured, and the flesh of his cheeks had beenpletely stripped away, revealing two full rows of teeth that presented a harrowing sight to behold.
The explosion of white light had spread far too quickly for them to escape it.
In that dire situation, they had no choice but to take a gamble, using the Gray Immortal''s body as a shield against the white light while Han Li used his time spirit domain to slow down the explosion as much as possible.
Ultimately, they were only able to fly for several hundred kilometers before Han Li''s time spirit domain failed, and ultimately, the Gray Immortal''s body was what had saved their lives.
Through their spiritual connection, Han Li could sense that Mo Guang''s injuries were extremely severe, but he could also tell that Mo Guang was in no life-threatening danger, and he couldn''t help but be amazed by the resilience of the Gray Immortal''s body.
Right at this moment, a burst of thunderous rumbling rang out from down below.
Han Li looked down to find that the ground below was copsing incessantly, and the ravine was continuing to expand, forming an enormous basin.
The nearby valley where the tree demon was residing had also copsed before being buried into the earth and inundated by the waves of spreading baleful qi.
A string of panicked roars rang out from within the valley, only to subside a few momentster.
Mo Guang immediately flew into the waves of baleful qi that were rising up from down below, and as the baleful qi entered his body, his skin began to regrow.
His internal injuries weren''t going to heal so quickly, but at the very least, he was gradually recovering from his external injuries.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly turned his gaze to a certain direction, where he spotted a giant shadow rising up out of the clouds of dust and baleful qi.
It was the Gold Devouring Immortal, and it was pouncing at Han Li once again as it roared with fury and indignation, "Why are you still not dead?!"
Han Li hurriedly cursed to himself under his breath before fleeing the scene, and right at this moment, Jin Tong''s voice rang out in his mind.
"Hold on for just a bit longer, Uncle. Once I sever the arteries leading to its heart, it''ll..."
For some reason, her voice abruptly cut off before she had a chance to finish.
Chapter 597: Outcome of the Battle
Chapter 597: Oue of the Battle
"What''s wrong, Jin Tong?" Han Li hurriedly asked in a concerned voice through their spiritual connection, but received no response.
He activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes as he turned his gaze back to the Gold Devouring Immortal, upon which he discovered that it had descended back down onto the ground, and it waspletely concealed within the vast cloud of dust and baleful qi that was hanging in the air.
Right at this moment, Daoist Xie, who had fled the scene earlier, arrived by Han Li''s side, and Han Li immediately said, "Something seems to have gone wrong on Jin Tong''s end, so I have to go and take a look. Please look after Fellow Daoist Mo Guang in my absence, Brother Xie."
Daoist Xie gave an affirmative response, and Han Li immediately flew down into thepletely copsed ravine.
He quickly traversed through the dust and baleful qi, and it didn''t take long before he arrived at the body of the Gold Devouring Immortal.
At this moment, the Gold Devouring Immortal wasying on the ground in apletely still manner, and there was ayer of near-transparent light over its body, but Jin Tong was nowhere to be seen.
If it weren''t for the faint spiritual connection that still existed between the two of them, Han Li would''ve been led to believe that Jin Tong had already met her demise.
After taking a moment topose himself, Han Li immediately swept his spiritual sense over the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body, upon which he discovered it was still teeming with vitality, and that its spiritual sense fluctuations were particrly strong.
It immediately urred to Han Li that the Gold Devouring Immortal had to have forced its way into Jin Tong''s consciousness in an attempt to devour her soul, seeing as she was about to sever the arteries leading to its heart.
As it turned out, this was precisely the case.
At this moment, there were two golden beetles that were tearing ferociously at each other within Jin Tong''s consciousness.
One of the beetles wasrger in stature, but the light emanating from its body was rather dull, clearly indicating that it was still yet to make a full recovery. In contrast, the smaller beetle was enshrouded in ayer of radiant golden light, and it held the home advantage, so it was not apparent which one of the two was going toe out on top.
There was nomunication at all between the two of them, and each of them was focused solely on killing the other.
The sounds of tearing rang out incessantly as the two golden beetles tore away at each other''s bodies, but no blood flowed out of the wounds. Instead,yers of misty golden light emerged in the ce of blood.
The High Zenith Stage beetle lunged forward, only for Jin Tong to evade its attack, and before it had a chance to arrest its own momentum, Jin Tong bit down onto its wing before tearing off a chunk.
However, right at this moment, the High Zenith Stage beetle suddenly swiveled around, paying no heed to its injured wing as it bit down toward Jin Tong''s head.
Jin Tong was unable to evade the attack, and it seemed that she was going to be decapitated, bu in this dire situation, a streak of translucent white light suddenly appeared in her consciousness, then struck the High Zenith Stage beetle on the head like a bolt of white lightning, causing it to tumble down from above.
However, the streak of white light also sent a burst of sharp pain spearing through Jin Tong''s soul.
After gritting her teeth momentarily to suppress the pain, Jin Tong immediately flew toward the High Zenith Stage beetle then bit down toward its head.
Outside the body of the Gold Devouring Immortal, Han Li was seated on the ground with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.
He had sensed the peril that Jin Tong was in, and he had channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique once again to forcibly send a spiritual sense thread into her consciousness, thereby saving her just in the nick of time.
......
The next day, at around noon.
A loud crack suddenly rang out, rousing Han Li from his seated meditation.
He took a nce at Mo Guang and Daoist Xie, who were seated not far away from him, then turned his gaze to the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body, upon which he discovered that theyer of translucent light over it had already faded. At the same time, its vitality was seeping away at a rapid speed.
Immediately thereafter, Jin Tong flew out of the gash on the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he was just about to say something when Jin Tong dered in an expressionless manner, "Please keep a lookout for me, Uncle."
Han Li''s brows furrowed ever so slightly at the sight of her cold demeanor, but he still nodded in response.
After that, he, Daoist Xie, and Mo Guang all retreated to several kilometers away, forming a triangle around Jin Tong and the body of the High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal.
Jin Tong took a nce at the three of them, then rose up into the air above the body before slowly closing her eyes.
With a sweep of her hand, a vast expanse of golden light surged out of her body, then began to swirl in mid-air, forming a golden vortex that was rapidly expanding, reaching several thousand feet in size in the blink of an eye.
Countless golden runes were swirling within the vortex, giving off bursts of formidablew power fluctuations that contained some type of violent aura, and the body of the Gold Devouring Immortal was slowly being sucked into the vortex.
All of a sudden, Jin Tong''s eyes sprang open, and the golden light radiating from her body became even brighter while also taking on a more substantial form.
In the next instant, all of the world''s origin qi within a radius of thousands of kilometers began to converge toward the golden vortex in a frenzy, and the nearby ground also split open as bursts of spiritual power surged out of the underground spirit vines and into the golden vortex.
In the blink of an eye, an enormous five-colored spirit cloud appeared in the sky above the golden vortex, and arcs of five-colored lightning were shing incessantly within the cloud.
Inside the golden vortex, Jin Tong''s body was gradually enshrouded within the surrounding golden light until she waspletely out of sight, but her aura was clearly elevating and steadily growing stronger.
Han Li was standing in mid-air not far away, observing the unfolding scene in silence.
Mo Guang was also standing in silence with his hands sped behind his back, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
As for Daoist Xie, it had sat down and closed its eyes to meditate, seeminglypletely uninterested in what was happening to Jin Tong.
Xiao Bai arrived by Han Li''s side, then looked up at the five-colored cloud in the sky with a hint of envy in its eyes as it eximed, "She''s about to make another breakthrough!"
The golden vortex was revolving faster and faster, while the Gold Devouring Immortal''s body continued to be sucked into it bit by bit.
All of a sudden, the golden vortex expanded drastically, and an incredibly bright ball of golden light appeared at its center, while countless golden runes of different sizes emerged around the ball of golden light.
Immediately thereafter, a series of massive bulges suddenly began to appear over the surface of the ball of the golden light, and it was also swaying and trembling incessantly.
At the same time, a string of low roars rang out from within. It was Jin Tong''s voice, and she sounded both agitated and in a great deal of pain.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and a grim look appeared on his face.
Right at this moment, a projection of a giant golden beetle suddenly emerged within the golden vortex. The projection was identical to the Gold Devouring Immortal that had just been killed, and it was roaming throughout the vortex while roaring with fury, disying intense animosity toward the ball of the golden light at the center of the vortex.
"Jin Tong has destroyed that Gold Devouring Immortal''s soul, but there''s still some residual resentful intent left in its body. If Jin Tong is topletely absorb the Gold Devouring Immortal, then she must defeat its resentful intent first," Mo Guang suddenly exined.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a thunderous roar rang out from within the ball of golden light, immediately following which a thick pir of golden light erupted forth from within, then faded to reveal another giant golden beetle projection, this one representing Jin Tong.
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out as the projection of Jin Tong pounced at the other golden beetle projection with tremendous power, and the other projection did the same, meeting Jin Tong with an equal degree of ferocity.
A battle immediately ensued between the two, and a string of resounding booms rang out as they shed over and over again.
The beetle projection formed by Jin Tong was a little smaller in staturepared with its opponent, and it was constantly being forced back, seemingly on the back foot.
"She''s in trouble, Master! We have to help her!" Xiao Bai yelled in an urgent voice upon seeing this.
"We can''t help her. She has to face this battle alone," Han Li replied with a calm shake of his head.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a resounding boom rang out as Jin Tong''s projection was sent flying back through the air.
The other golden beetle projection let loose a roar of excitement as it sprang forward in pursuit whileshing out with its pair of massive front limbs, preparing to tear Jin Tong''s body to shreds.
Right at this moment, Jin Tong steadied herself before twisting around in mid-air, flying through the gap between her opponent''s front limbs before appearing behind it in the blink of an eye.
Before the golden beetle projection had a chance to react, Jin Tong wrapped her legs tightly around it from behind,pletely immobilizing it.
At the same time, she raised her front limbs and shed them at the golden beetle projection''s head.
Even though the golden beetle projection wasn''t able to turn around to face her, it was still able to raise its own front limbs to withstand the attack, and a loud ng rang out as the two pairs of front limbs shed, sending flurries of sparks flying in all directions.
A deranged look appeared in Jin Tong''s eyes as she suddenly threw her head back and roared to the heavens, following which both of her front limbs began to glow with blinding golden light.
Another resounding ng rang out as Jin Tong''s front limbs sliced through those of her opponent, then severed its head in one swift and violent stroke.
The decapitated body of the golden beetle projection instantly exploded into a vast expanse of golden light, and Jin Tong immediately opened her mouth to release a burst of suction force, upon which all of the golden light surged into her mouth like a golden wave.
Chapter 598: Severing Karmic Ties
Chapter 598: Severing Karmic Ties
A burst of spiritual light shed over the golden beetle projection formed by Jin Tong, and it instantly took on a far more substantial form, following which it began to undergo a transformation into a tall and thin humanoid form.
An incredibly tremendous burst of pressure erupted out of the humanoid figure''s body, and it was different from spiritual pressure in that it seemed to being from a higher life form, like the aura of a deity in the face of mere mortals.
Han Li and the others were gathered nearby, and all of them were instantly enshrouded within this burst of crushing pressure.
Xiao Bai was the one who fared the worst out of everyone, letting loose an agonized cry as blood began to flow out of all of its orifices, and it instantly reverted back into a white jade pendant that attached itself back to Han Li''s waist.
As for Han Li himself, his vision turnedpletely dark, and he felt as if he had been dealt a heavy blow to the chest, causing him to stumble back close to 20 steps before steadying himself.
Daoist Xie had already flown back into Han Li''s body for shelter, while Mo Guang remainedrgely unaffected despite the severe injuries that he sustained, once again putting on disy the incredible physical constitution of the Gray Immortal body that he had attained.
The golden humanoid figure only lingered in mid-air for a few seconds before flying into the ball of golden light, following which the golden vortex abruptly expanded even further like a gargantuan golden mouth.
A burst of tremendous suction force then erupted out of the vortex, sucking in the five-colored spirit cloud up above.
The golden vortex was like an insatiable, bottomless pit, and it continued to slowly expand as it devoured the spirit cloud in the sky.
Around 15 minutester, the entire spirit cloud had disappeared without a trace, and only then did the golden vortex begin to shrink.
A few secondster, the golden vortex vanished as well, and all that remained in the sky was a golden ball that was around 10 feet in size, resembling a giant golden egg.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this, but he was still reeling from the recollection of the terrifying golden figure that he had just witnessed.
The golden ball continued to hover in mid-air as streaks of dazzling golden light asionally shed over its surface.
At the same time, it was giving off bursts of formidable aura fluctuations, and it seemed that there was something extremely fearsome being nurtured inside.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li flew over to the golden ball, following which a streak of white light slid out of his sleeve, then transformed into a small white g.
This was one of the immortal treasures that he had obtained from Gongshu Jiu, and it instantly began to swell drastically at his behest, forming a giant white g that was several hundred feet in size.
A vast expanse of white mist surged out of the g, forming a white cloud that was several acres in size in the blink of an eye,pletely concealing the golden ball within it.
The cloud seemed to have an aura concealment effect, and the astonishing aura emanating from the golden ball was instantly significantly diminished.
"Let''s get out of here for now," Han Li said, and he was just about to depart with the white cloud and the golden ball when he suddenly stopped cold in his tracks.
A white-robed young man had appeared not far in front of him,pletely without his detection.
The man was extremely handsome, and he appeared to be 30 to 40 years of age with a head of flowing ck hair, running down the middle of which was a lock of faintly shimmering golden hair.
Even with his enormous spiritual sense, Han Li waspletely oblivious to the man''s arrival, and Mo Guang had clearly also been caught off guard.
It was as if the man had been conjured up out of thin air.
Even though there was no powerful aura emanating from the man''s body, Han Li''s instincts told him that the man possessed unfathomable power.
The white-robed man took a nce at Han Li and Mo Guang, and he made no attempt to announce his intentions.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "May I ask your name, Senior?"
Instead of answering Han Li''s question, the white-robed man smiled and remarked, "You did very well. I must say, you really did surprise me."
Han Li was even more rmed upon hearing this.
It was clear from this remark that the white-robed man had arrived on the scene long ago, and perhaps he had even witnessed the entire battle that Han Li had fought against the Gold Devouring Immortal.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he eximed, "Your voice! Could it be that you were the one who trapped that Gold Devouring Immortal for 20 years?"
"That''s right," the white-robed man replied in a calm manner.
"Thank you for helping me in my time of need, Senior!" Han Li said in a serious manner as he extended a grateful bow.
If the Gold Devouring Immortal hadn''t been trapped for those 20 years, he and Jin Tong would''ve most likely already met their demise at this point, so it was no exaggeration to say that this man had saved their lives.
"I only acted on the request of someone else," the white-robed man said in an indifferent voice.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this.
"I helped you to repay you for helping Le''er all those years ago. From this day forth, any connection between the two of you is severed," the white-robed man exined.
"Le''er? Liu Le''er? Is she with you right now, Senior? How is she?" Han Li immediately asked.
"Le''er is doing very well. Like I just said, the two of you shared some history back in the Spirit Domain Realm, but any ties between the two of you have already been severed, so you are not to meet her again," the white-robed man said in a cold voice.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then nodded in response.
Even though the white-roebd man hadn''t disyed his cultivation base, Han Li was confident that he had to be a Great Epassment Stage being.
In the face of such a formidable being, Han Li had no choice but toply with all of his demands. In any case, Han Li was happy as long as Liu Le''er was doing well.
The white-robed man''s expression eased slightly at the sight of Han Li''spliant disy, and he added, "Also, you''re forbidden from telling anyone about what happened here."
Once again, Han Li was rather surprised to hear this, but he didn''t disy his surprise as he nodded in response once again.
After that, the white-robed man flipped a hand over to produce an azure jade slip before tossing it at Han Li, who reflexively caught it.
"This is a map, get away from this ce as soon as possible, and don''te back again," the white-robed man said, then took a nce at Mo Guang as a peculiar look shed through his eyes, following which he abruptly vanished from the spot.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which a wry smile appeared on his face.
It seemed that human cultivators really were very unpopr in the primordialnd. If it weren''t for his past ties with Liu Le''er, perhaps the white-robed man would''ve struck him down on the spot.
After a brief silence, Mo Guang turned to Han Li as he said, "That man felt even more fearsome to me than that High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal... Could it be that he''s a Great Epassment Stage being?"
Han Li offered no response, and after taking a deep breath topose himself, he injected a wisp of his spiritual sense into the azure jade slip.
Much to his tion, the map provided by the white-robed man was quite detailed, marking out four enormous territories that belonged to four major races, and all of them were marked as forbidden areas.
The area that Han Li had passed through earlier was part of the Heavenly Fox Race''s territory, and with that in mind, it urred to him that the white-robed man from earlier was most likely the patriarch of this Heavenly Fox Race.
As for Liu Le''er, she was said to have been taken by a member of her own race, so she was most likely a member of this Heavenly Fox Race as well.
In that case, it seemed like Han Li didn''t need to be concerned for her.
Outside of these four areas, there was also a rtively safe route leading to the ck Mountain Immortal Region marked out on the map.
After a brief inspection, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense out of the jade slip.
"What do you n to do from here, Fellow Daoist Han?" Mo Guang asked.
"We''re clearly not wee here, so let''s leave this ce before we''re forced to leave," Han Li replied as he summoned the green jade flying carriage, then made a hand seal, and the white cloud rapidly shrank down into a ball of dense white mist that carried the golden ball that contained Jin Tong onto the carriage.
"Fellow Daoist Han, would you happen to have a yin-attribute spirit beast pouch?" Mo Guang suddenly asked.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then searched through his belongings briefly before producing a ck spirit beast pouch that he handed over to Mo Guang.
This was a yin-attribute spirit beast pouch that he had obtained from Qu Ling, and it had quite arge internal space.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Han. Please wait for me for a moment," Mo Guang said, then flew down into the ravine, quickly reaching the bottom.
At this point, the ravine had already been transformed into an enormous crater that was riddled with holes, and only a tiny portion of the immense baleful qi that was originally in it remained.
Mo Guang made a hand seal, and the spirit beast pouch immediately flew forward before opening up wide to release a burst of tremendous suction force.
The remaining baleful, qi at the bottom of the ravine instantly surged forth, injecting itself into the spirit beast pouch as a pir of ck qi.
There wasn''t much baleful qi left, so it didn''t take long before all of it was sucked into the spirit beast pouch, which immediately swelled up, and the sound of sloshing liquid could be hearding from inside it.
The pouch was originally as light as a feather, but it had since increased in weight to around 150 kilograms, and even through the pouch, one could sense the incredibly dense baleful qi inside.
An ted look appeared on Mo Guang''s face as he stowed the spirit beast pouch away, then rose up into the sky beforending atop the flying carriage.
Han Li took a nce at Mo Guang, but didn''t say anything as he swept a sleeve through the air to summon Daoist Xie.
"Please pilot the carriage along this route, Brother Xie," Han Li instructed as he handed the jade slip to Daoist Xie, who briefly examined the map that it contained before making a hand seal, and the flying carriage immediately shot forth as a streak of green light.
Meanwhile, Han Li made his way over the side of the carriage and closed his eyes as he focused his attention on the immortal acupoints in his body.
Out of his 107 opened immortal acupoints, most of them had been opened through the use of the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts, and all of those immortal acupoints had varying amounts of baleful qi within them.
In particr, the immortal acupoints that had been opened while in the ravine were especially abundant in baleful qi.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this. Even though he had drastically elerated his own cultivation progress using the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts, it was most likely going to be exceedingly difficult for him to progress to the High Zenith Stage.
After all, making a breakthrough to the High Zenith Stage required one to face the fifth decay, and all of this baleful qi was going to pose a massive problem.
After a brief silence, he shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, then closed his eyes to meditate and recover from the injuries that he had sustained during the earlier battle.
Chapter 599: The Fifth Decay
Chapter 599: The Fifth Decay
Somewhere in the True Immortal Realm.
There was a silver pce hovering in mid-air within a certain golden space, and four or five figures were seated on a raised tform in the pce, seemingly discussing something.
All of them were enshrouded inyers of spiritual light in different colors that concealed their facial features.
"Fellow Daoist Xiong, it''s already been some time since you came to our Immortal Prison. How are you finding things here?" a figure enshrouded in ayer of white light asked.
The one that the question had been directed at was enshrouded in ayer of golden light, and his features were rather indistinct, but it seemed that he was a young man.
"Everything has been great," the young man replied with a smile.
"Your n and mine have always been extremely close, and you just made a breakthrough to thete-Golden Immortal Stage, so if you need time to consolidate your cultivation base and wish to be exempt from carrying out any missions during this time, feel free to tell me, and I''ll put in a word for you with our higher-ups," the man enshrouded in white light said.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Xuan. My cultivation base has already been consolidated, so no special arrangements need to be made for me," the man enshrouded in golden light replied.
"As expected of a prodigious swordsman like yourself, Fellow Daoist Xiong. Back when you first joined our Immortal Prison, you were able to y mid-Golden Immortal Stage Reincarnation Pce cultivators on your own, even though you were only at the early-Golden Immortal Stage at the time. With the rapid progress that you''ve since made in your cultivation base, I''m sure you''re destined for great things," another figure that was enshrouded in red light praised.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Di. I was very fortunate to have seeded on that asion. By the way, why isn''t Fellow Daoist Gongshu here?"
The figure enshrouded in golden light didn''t want the topic of discussion to linger on himself any longer, so he changed the subject.
"One of Gongshu Tian''s close nsmen perished in the Northern cial Immortal Region some years ago, and he''s always wanted to go after the culprit, but our higher-ups have never given him permission to do so.
¡°Not long ago, our Supervisory Heavenly Mirror detected that someone in the primordialnd between the Northern cial Immortal Region and the ck Mountain Immortal Region seemed to have mastered the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, and Gongshu Tian volunteered to go and investigate this matter," the figure enshrouded in red light replied.
"When did this happen? I haven''t heard anything about this at all. It''s not all that rare to find someone who''s cultivated the first three levels of the Spirit Refinement Technique, but someone who''s mastered the fourth level has to be a core member of the Reincarnation Pce," the figure enshrouded in white light said in a grim voice.
"It happened not long ago. All of you were out on missions, and I was the only one here at the time," the figure enshrouded in red light exined.
"The primordialnd is a veryplex and sensitive ce. Those primordial races are extremely resentful to us human cultivators, and even more so to cultivators of our Heavenly Court, so it most likely won''t be easy to carry out an investigation there," the figure enshrouded in golden light said.
"Indeed. I presume Gongshu Tian will only be returning in futility," the figure enshrouded in red light said in an indifferent manner, while a contemtive look appeared in the eyes of the man enshrouded in golden light.
......
Close to a year flew by in the blink of an eye.
A streak of green light shed through the sky above a certain barren region of the primordialnd, vanishing into the distance in an instant.
The streak of green light contained a green flying carriage, atop which sat Han Li, who was cultivating in silence, while a white cloud was hovering in front of him.
Some timeter, the golden light around his body slowly faded, and he opened his eyes.
Following this period of cultivation, all of his injuries had been healed, and his spiritual sense had also made a full recovery.
He cast his gaze toward the white cloud up ahead, and there were still no signs to suggest that Jin Tong was going to emerge from the golden ball anytime soon.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, only to quickly unfurrow again.
Having just devoured ate-High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal, it made sense that Jin Tong would go into an extended slumber, and with the map provided by the patriarch of the Heavenly Fox Race, the going had been quite smooth, so there was nothing for him to be concerned about.
With that in mind, he turned his gaze to Mo Guang and Xiao Bai, thetter of which wasying on the ground in a corner of the carriage, sleeping peacefully.
As for Mo Guang, he was seated with his legs crossed with ayer of ck light around him, holding that ck spirit beast pouch in his arms, and wisps of baleful qi were constantly flowing out of the pouch and into his body.
All of a sudden, a curious look appeared in Han Li''s eyes at the sight of the ck light around Mo Guang''s body.
Even though Mo Guang was currently using baleful qi to cultivate, the baleful qi fluctuations emanating from his body were very faint.
Now that he had possessed the body of a powerful Gray Immortal, he was essentially no different from a normal Gray Immortal, so the baleful qi fluctuations emanating from his body should''ve been far more pronounced.
Mo Guang seemed to have detected Han Li''s scrutiny, and he paused in his cultivation and opened his eyes as he asked, "What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Han?"
Han Li took a nce at Mo Guang''s eyes to discover that their pupils are far closer in color to the ck pupils of a human rather than the gray ones of a Gray Immortal, and he asked, "How are your baleful qi fluctuations so faint? Have you used some type of secret technique to conceal your aura?"
He had previously been pondering how he was going to conceal the immense baleful qi in Mo Guang''s body so that they could enter the ck Mountain Immortal Region without attracting attention, but it seemed like this wasn''t an issue.
Mo Guang faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "I haven''t used any aura concealment secret techniques, Fellow Daoist Han."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he also detected the faint baleful qi fluctuations emanating from his own body, upon which a surprised look appeared on his face.
"How could this be?" he murmured to himself, seemingly just as perplexed.
"If you haven''t done anything, then why do you appear no different from a normal person?" Han Li asked.
"Now that you mention it, I don''t feel any difort right now. That wasn''t the case back when I first left that ravine. All of this seems to be attributable to a strange vortex that''s currently in my dantian, and it took shape after you fed me that pill earlier," Mo Guang exined after taking a moment to inspect his own internal condition.
"You''re saying the Origin Void Pill has a baleful qi concealment effect?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. This vortex is able to conceal the aura of baleful qi. It''s already been quite some time since I took the pill, but I never noticed that it had such an effect," Mo Guang replied.
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this, while Mo Guang continued, "I can sense that the vortex formed by the power of the pill isn''t permanent. Instead, it''s dissipating bit by bit, and it''ll probably only be able tost a few years, maybe around a dozen years at most."
Han Li gave a thoughtful nod upon hearing this.
Originally, he had thought that the purpose of the Origin Void Pill was to awaken the soul of a Gray Immortal, but given what he was currently observing in Mo Guang, it seemed that the true effect of the pill was to allow a Gray Immortal to limate themselves with the world''s origin qi of the True Immortal Realm while also suppressing the baleful qi in their body, thereby allowing them to awaken.
If he and Mo Guang intended to go to other immortal regions, this pill was going to be indispensable.
Thankfully, he had obtained arge quantity of ck Marrow Crystals, which was the main ingredient for refining Origin Void Pills, from the Gray Immortal''s storage tool. He was still missing the other ingredients, but they weren''t all that rare or precious, so he should be able to purchase them from the Reincarnation Pce.
With that in mind, Han Li summoned his Reincarnation Pce mask, then offered some rewards for those ingredients in the exchange section.
After that, he pulled out a ck Marrow Crystal and began to carefully inspect it.
Inside the crystal were wisps of baleful qi that were pure to the extreme.
These ck Marrow Crystals were of a far superior quality to the ones that Wyrm 3 had given him. When it came to pill refinement, bnce was very important, so if he were to use these crystals to refine Origin Void Pills, then he would most likely have to adjust some steps of the process.
Right as these thoughts were running through his mind, the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints suddenly stirred before erupting into a violent frenzy.
Han Li shuddered as bursts of baleful qi that were as viscous as ink shot out of his body, then rapidly expanded outward, instantly filling the entire surrounding area within a radius of several hundred feet.
At the same time, Han Li''s eyes began to glow crimson, and it was as if he had transformed into a terrifying baleful deity.
Everyone else on the flying carriage was instantly inundated by the baleful qi that had erupted out of his body, and they were naturally very startled.
The flying carriage instantly drew to a halt, while Han Li abruptly rose to his feet as he warned, "All of you, stay here and don''t follow me."
After that, he flew out of the carriage and descended out of the sky.
Down below was an undting mountain range that was quite abundant with spiritual qi, and there was a massive canyon between two mountains that a river was slowly flowing through.
There were many demon beasts residing in the mountain range, and they immediately fled for their lives upon sensing the terrifying aura that was currently emanating from Han Li''s body.
Han Li flew straight into the canyon before throwing an almighty punch, sting a huge hole into the mountain face up ahead.
He then flew into the makeshift cave that he had just created, then hurriedly set up ayer of restrictions around himself before sitting down with his legs crossed.
Ayer of bright golden light emerged to envelop his entire body, but ck baleful qi was still surging out incessantly, and it was bing denser and denser.
"What''s happening with Master?" Xiao Bai asked in a stunned manner as it looked down from the flying carriage.
"It looks like Fellow Daoist Han has been befallen by the fifth decay, the baleful decay," Mo Guang said.
Daoist Xie took a nce at Mo Guang, then cast an incantation seal into the flying carriage, upon which it descended into the canyon, but drew to a halt still quite far away from the cave that Han Li was in.
"Master has only just reached the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage, how could the baleful decay have befallen him so quickly?" Xiao Bai asked with a grim expression.
"Fellow Daoist Han was using baleful qi to force his own immortal acupoints open, so an enormous amount of baleful qi has umted in his body, thereby leading to the premature onset of baleful decay," Mo Guang exined.
"The baleful decay is the most difficult final hurdle that must be ovee in order to reach the High Zenith Stage. While I was with Gongshu Jiu, I saw countless cultivators fall at this hurdle, ultimately driven insane and killed by baleful qi bacsh. Master has only just reached the pinnacle of the Gold Devouring Immortal, and he''spletely unprepared..."
Xiao Bai''s voice trailed off here, but the implications were very apparent.
Both Mo Guang and Daoist Xie remained silent as they observed the cave from afar.
Chapter 600: Internal Battle
Chapter 600: Internal Battle
Inside the cave.
Han Li was seated on the ground with his legs crossed, channeling his Mantra Axis Scripture with all his might.
His Mantra Treasured Axis had emerged, and bursts of pure timew powers were permeating throughout the rippling golden light around him, enveloping his entire body.
Han Li was well aware that the fifth decay, baleful decay, was upon him.
Due to the extreme measures that he had taken in the ravine, his cultivation base had progressed by leaps and bounds, so he most likely wasn''t going to have to face the fourth decay that other Golden Immortal cultivators had to ovee. However, now that he was only one step away from the High Zenith Stage, the fifth decay was entirely unavoidable.
The main contributing factors leading to the premature onset of the baleful decay seemed to be his cultivation of the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts and his mastery of the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Even though he was already mentally prepared for such an eventuality, he was still caught off guard by this sudden crisis.
However, seeing as it was already happening, he had no choice but to face it head-on.
In contrast with the acupoint decay that he had previously endured, the onset of baleful decay was extremely violent. He could sense the baleful qi that had previouslyid dormant in his body gradually being stirred up into a frenzy, constantly attacking his consciousness. At the same time, some of the baleful qi had also triggered the dozens of immortal acupoints in his body that contained baleful qi, causing the baleful qi inside to seep outward.
At this moment, Han Li could feel an unbridled sense of aggression constantly building in his body, and if it weren''t for his exceptional willpower, he would''ve already been driven insane.
A series of dark clouds had appeared in the sky above the cave that Han Li was in, and indistinct red shadows could be seen shing through the clouds amid the sound of ghostly wailing.
All of the nts within a radius of several hundred kilometers quickly wilted away, while the ground and the rocks slowly turned a lifeless gray color.
This was a ce that had been teeming with spiritual qi just a moment ago, yet it had been transformed into an infernal hell in the blink of an eye.
Shortly thereafter, several ck spots emerged over Han Li''s body, and they were slowly expanding, while the pure spiritual sense in his consciousness was also gradually being contaminated by wisps of ck light.
The crimson light in his eyes glowed even brighter, and waves of intense bloodlust were rising up in his mind.
All of a sudden, he let loose a low roar as he made a hand seal, and thick arcs of Divine Devilbane Lightning emerged over his body amid a dull thunderp.
At the same time, several bursts of spiritual light released by immortal treasures had also shot out of his body.
Normally, Divine Devilbane Lightning was extremely effective at suppressing baleful qi, but in this instance, it waspletely ineffective against the baleful qi surging out of Han Li''s body.
On the contrary, in the face of the corrosion from the tremendous baleful qi, the arcs of Divine Devilbane Lightning were quickly snuffed out like frail candle mes.
As for the immortal treasure spiritual light that Han Li had conjured up, they quickly faded away as well, and only the innatew powers that they contained were still posing some resistance against the baleful qi.
However, the baleful qi was simply too formidable to be suppressed, and thew powers were quickly ovee as well. In the end, all that remained standing against the baleful qi was Han Li''s timew powers.
Han Li wasn''t surprised to see this, and he continued to make a string of hand seals, while his Mantra Treasured Axis revolved rapidly behind him, releasing bursts of timew powers to keep the baleful qi at bay.
Despite the ferocity at which the baleful qi was raging, Han Li''s timew powers remained firm and resolute, much to his relief.
While it was true that he hadn''t made any preparations for this baleful decay, he had studied it quite extensively, so he was aware of just how violent and ferocious it was,pletely unlike the slow and subtle onset of the other four decays.
The majority of cultivators were unable to withstand the fierce eruption of baleful qi, causing them to fall insane not long after themencement of their baleful decay, ultimately resulting in the detonation of their bodies and nascent souls.
Thankfully, he had one of the three paramountws to protect him. Otherwise, there was a chance that he could''ve already fallen at the first hurdle as well.
The problem was that even though his timew powers were very formidable, the baleful qi that it was contending against wasn''t from an extraneous source. Instead, it came directly from his own body and immortal acupoints, so despite the best efforts of his timew powers, some of the baleful qi was still slowly seeping into his body and mind.
The ck spots on his body were rapidly expanding, and at this point, they covered close to half of his entire body. At the same time, his eyes were glowing ever more crimson with bloodlust.
Han Li was channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique to suppress the violent thoughts that were arising in his heart while sweeping a sleeve through the air to summon a white jade box, upon which was stered a glowing silver talisman that was giving off hints ofw power fluctuations.
Han Li then quickly chanted an incantation, and the silver talisman abruptly erupted into mes before burning away into nothingness.
The jade box sprang open on its own, and inside was a longan-sized silver pill that was giving off an incredible medicinal aroma. This was a High Zenith Pill.
Han Li was feeling extremely thankful that he had obtained three High Zenith Pills from the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor. Otherwise, he would truly be at aplete loss for what to do.
He swallowed the pill right away, then enveloped it with his immortal spiritual power to refine it within his own body.
The silver light emanating from the pill instantly grew brighter, and it was also giving off bursts of scorching energy that struck Han Li''s lower abdomen with a sense of burning pain, as if there were a silver fireball burning inside.
Han Li took a deep breath to suppress the pain while continuing to refine the High Zenith Pill using his immortal spiritual power.
The silver light emanating from the pill lit up even further, releasing streams of warmth that quickly flowed through Han Li''s body, melting away all of the baleful qi that they encountered.
However, at the same time, those streams of warmth were also constantly being whittled down.
The crimson light glowing in Han Li''s eyes instantly stopped bing brighter, then slowly began to dim, while the ck spots on his body also began to recede, much to his tion.
He continued to make a string of hand seals, using the power of the High Zenith Pill to counteract the baleful qi within his body, and ayer of silver light quickly appeared around him, intertwining with the existingyer of golden light.
A peculiar medicinal aroma wafted out of the silver light, and it could be clearly smelled by Mo Guang and the others, even though they were situated very far away.
"Master''s beginning to refine the baleful qi! Could it be that he already made preparations for the baleful decay in advance?" Xiao Bai eximed in an ecstatic voice.
A hint of surprise appeared on Mo Guang''s face, but he didn''t say anything.
Meanwhile, Daoist Xie began to pilot the flying carriage closer to the cave before having it draw to a halt again.
With no responseing from either Mo Guang or Daoist Xie, Xiao Baiid down onto the carriage again.
Close to a year passed by in the blink of an eye.
Most of the baleful qi in Han Li''s body had been expelled, while only some tiny ck spots remained on his body, and the baleful qi in his consciousness had also been virtuallypletely eradicated.
However, the High Zenith Pill that he had devoured had also beenpletely refined.
At this point, the residual baleful qi in Han Li''s body had already been forced into a corner, but as the streams of warmth released by the High Zenith Pill slowly faded, the baleful qi immediately began to stir once again.
Han Li was quite rmed to see this, and he immediately flipped a hand over to summon another white jade box, which contained a second High Zenith Pill that he swallowed without any hesitation.
As soon as the pill was devoured, the more streams of warmth instantly began to flow through his body again, surging toward the remaining baleful qi.
Before long, all of the remaining baleful qi had been eradicated, and the ck spots on Han Li''s body vanished.
His skin had be as translucent as jade, to the point that his bones could be made out through his skin and flesh.
However, his expression remained grim. Even though the baleful qi in his body had been eradicated, he knew that the baleful decay hadn''t beenpletely ovee yet.
Out of his 107 opened immortal acupoints, 71 of them had been forced open using baleful qi.
While the baleful qi within his body had been eradicated by the High Zenith Pills, the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints still remained, much to his concern and dismay.
Just as he had anticipated, the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints were posing as a major obstacle to his progression to the High Zenith Stage.
Having said that, even though the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints hadn''t been cleansed, most of the medicinal power from the second High Zenith Pill was still active in his body, and he also had a third, even more potent High Zenith Pill, and that should be more than enough to eradicate the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints.
With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath, then directed the streams of warmth in his body toward his immortal acupoints.
The baleful qi in his immortal acupoints was instantly stirred up by the streams of warmth, but unlike the baleful qi from before, this baleful qi showed no signs of receding, and it was as if they had taken root in the immortal acupoints.
Han Li''s heart sank slightly upon seeing this, and he adopted a different approach, enveloping the baleful qi in the medicinal power of the High Zenith Pill before gnashing away at it.
Another few months flew by in a sh, and at this point, Han Li was no longer looking asposed and unconcerned as before.
Through these past few months of toil, he had managed to make the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints slightly dimmer than before, but that was all that he had to show for his efforts.
Not a single one of his 71 immortal acupoints had beenpletely cleansed of baleful qi.
A cold look shed through Han Li''s eyes as he clenched his fists tightly, and right at this moment, a faint thud rang out from within his body as the second High Zenith Pill was finallypletely refined.
As a result, the streams of warmth instantly receded out of his immortal acupoints, and the baleful qi inside immediately lit up once again, threatening to make a resurgence after being repressed for so long.
Chapter 601: Temporary Fix
Chapter 601: Temporary Fix
The immortal spiritual power within Han Li''s body was instantly sucked into these immortal acupoints, and the world''s origin qi outside his body also began to surge into them.
A strange bubbling sound rang out from within these immortal acupoints, and wisps of baleful qi emerged from within them, spreading throughout Han Li''s body again.
These wisps of baleful qi were incredibly dark, seemingly able to devour all light, and they were even more formidable than the baleful qi that had previously been in Han Li''s body.
Furthermore, some of these wisps of baleful qi were spreading through the other immortal acupoints that had no baleful qi within them.
Han Li was naturally very rmed to see this, and he hurriedly channeled his timew powers to oppose the baleful qi.
However, this eruption of baleful qi was even more ferocious than before, and even Han Li''s timew powers were struggling to withstand it.
Han Li immediately made a hand seal to inject more immortal spiritual power into his Mantra Axis Scripture, and at the same time, he summoned a white jade box, then opened it to reveal a High Zenith Pill sitting inside.
In contrast with the previous two High Zenith Pills, this one had a series of silver lines on its surface that came together to form the design of a three-legged golden crow, and it was also giving off a far more formidable aura than the other two High Zenith Pills.
Han Li carefully plucked the High Zenith Pill out of the box, but hesitated right as he was about to eat it.
The onset of baleful decay had been far more violent than he anticipated, and even though this High Zenith Pill was of a far superior caliber than the previous two, he still wasn''t confident in its ability to eradicate the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints.
Given what had happened with the previous two pills, the chances of failure were quite high.
The averagete-Golden Immortal cultivator would inevitably have to kill and umte baleful qi in their body during their cultivation, but for them, just a single normal High Zenith Pill should be enough to eradicate all of their built-up baleful qi. In contrast, Han Li had so much baleful qi in his body that he was essentially half a Gray Immortal.
Unless he could find an effective solution to the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints and restore himself to his normal state, taking more High Zenith Pills most likely wasn''t going to help him.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and he set down the High Zenith Pill in his hand before stowing it away, then called out through voice transmission.
At this moment, Mo Guang and the others were all seated with their legs crossed in an obscure valley not far away from the cave that Han Li was in. The green flying carriage was hovering above a corner of the valley, and Jin Tong was still disying no signs of awakening.
All of a sudden, Mo Guang''s eyes sprang open as he rose to his feet.
Xiao Bai immediately sprang up onto its haunches, standing in Mo Guang''s path with a wary look on its face as it asked, "What are you doing?"
"Your master has asked me to go to him," Mo Guang exined, then set off as a streak of ck light, arriving in front of the cave that Han Li was in shortly thereafter.
The restrictions in the cave opened up on their own to create a passageway, and as soon as Mo Guang stepped into the cave, he was immediately struck by a wave of incredibly dense baleful qi.
His expression remained unchanged as he continued onward, and it didn''t take long before he spotted an indistinct seated figure that was entirely enshrouded in ck qi and golden light.
"Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, I need your help," Han Li said while channeling his timew powers with all his might, and speaking seemed to be quite a difficult task for him.
"I know what you need me to do. This will actually be quite beneficial for me," Mo Guang replied with a nod, then sat down with his legs crossed beside Han Li, who didn''t waste any more time and immediately sprang into action.
With a sweep of his sleeve, hundreds of ck array gs shot out in unison beforending all around the cave.
He then made a rapid string of hand seals, and ck light shed erratically over the array gs as a series of ck array patterns quickly emerged to form an array that was several dozen feet in size.
After that, Han Li began to chant an incantation, then opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence into the array.
The ck array immediately lit up, and several bursts of ck light that were roughly the same thickness as adult human arms appeared around him, then pierced into his body.
The churning baleful qi within Han Li''s body immediately stiffened, then flowed into the array long these bursts of ck light.
Every single line of the array was glowing with faint ck light, and dense baleful qi was rapidly flowing over those lines.
In the span of just a few seconds, the entire array was filled with baleful qi.
Right at this moment, the array patterns around Mo Guang lit up as well, and several bursts of ck light emerged before piercing into his body.
The baleful qi in the array seemed to have found an outlet, and all of it surged into Mo Guang''s body, causing him to shudder slightly, but an ted look then appeared on his face as he closed his eyes to absorb the iing baleful qi.
Before long, roughly 30% of the baleful qi in Han Li''s body had been transferred into Mo Guang''s body through the array.
This entire time, Mo Guang''s eyes remained tightly shut as he focused on refining the influx of baleful qi, while the strain on Han Li''s face was steadily easing.
All of a sudden, he began to chant another incantation, then made a grabbing motion with his right hand, and a golden vial slowly took shape in his grasp.
There were six Time Dao Runes on the surface of the vial, and it was none other than his Clear Time Vial.
Inside the vial was a drop of semi-transparent golden liquid that was shimmering with faint spiritual light, and aside from the difference in coloration, it was very simr in appearance to the green spirit liquid produced by the Heaven Controlling Vial.
It wasn''t entirely urate to say that Han Li hadn''t made any preparations for the baleful decay. During these past years, whenever he had some free time, he would release his Clear Time Vial so that it could absorb the light of the sun and the moon to manifest time water droplets.
After so many years of persistence, he had finally managed to produce a single droplet.
Han Li pointed a finger at the Clear Time Vial, and a beam of golden light immediately shot out of his fingertip before vanishing into the vial.
The Time Dao Runes on the vial instantly began to glow brightly while a series of golden runes emerged within it, and the time water droplet also slowly rose up from the bottom of the vial.
All of the nearby golden runes converged toward the time water droplet before fusing into it, and the golden spiritual light emanating from the droplet instantly brightened significantly.
At the same time, all of the nearby world''s origin qi was also stirred up into a frenzy, and countless balls of five-colored light appeared in the surrounding area before surging into the time water droplet as well.
Han Li continued to cycle through a string of hand seals, releasing one beam of golden light into the Clear Time Vial after another, and the time water droplet glowed brighter and brighter while also gradually transitioning into a solid state before slowly spreading outward.
Three days flew by in a sh, and at this point, the time water droplet inside the Clear Water Vial had transformed into a translucent golden thread around the same length as a human finger.
Formidable timew power fluctuations were emanating from the translucent golden thread, yet it was different from the timew power fluctuations released by Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis.
At this point, most of Han Li''s body had turned ck, and his eyes were glowing a crimson color, but he was still able to retain his own sanity.
All of a sudden, an ted look appeared in his eyes, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which the translucent golden thread flew out of the Clear Time Vial before vanishing into his chest.
Immediately thereafter, a vast expanse of golden spiritual light erupted out of his body, and a series of golden halos appeared before spreading outward.
Bursts of timew powers were surging throughout the golden light, causing the nearby space to be rather blurry and indistinct, and Han Li''s body was also bing less and less visible.
At the same time, the ck array abruptly ceased to function, and Mo Guang opened his eyes before rising to his feet before casting his gaze toward Han Li.
At this moment, his aura had be slightly more formidable than before.
The golden light around Han Li continued to sh erratically for about 15 minutes before finally fading away, upon which it was revealed that both his body and his eyes had returned to their original color, and it was as if the baleful decay had been nothing more than a distant dream.
"Congrattions, Fellow Daoist Han," Mo Guang said.
"Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, but I''m afraid this is only a temporary fix," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"There''s no need to thank me, Fellow Daoist Han, I''m just d I could help," Mo Guang said with a shake of his head.
Han Li withdrew his gaze from Mo Guang, then took a deep breath before inspecting his own internal condition, upon which a wry smile appeared on his face.
The translucent golden thread produced by the Clear Time Vial was a thread of time, and it was able to dy the onset of the five decays, so it had temporarily suppressed his baleful decay.
This was the first time that he was using a thread of time, so he didn''t know how long it could dy the onset of his baleful decay for, but he felt like it should be able to dy his baleful decay for at least a few centuries.
After taking a moment topose himself, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to recover all of the array tools in the surrounding cave before flying out into the valley as a streak of azure light, followed closely by Mo Guang.
An ecstatic look immediately appeared on Xiao Bai''s face at the sight of Han Li, but the tion on its face then gradually faded as it caught sight of Han Li''s rather grim expression.
Meanwhile, Daoist Xie rose to its feet, but merely cupped its fist in a salute toward Han Li without saying anything.
Han Li gave Daoist Xie a nod, then put on a reassuring smile as he patted Xiao Bai on the head.
After that, he turned his gaze to the white cloud before asking, "Has Jin Tong still not shown any signs of waking up?"
"Not at all, Master. Will she be alright?" Xiao Bai asked with a slightly concerned expression.
"Don''t worry, she''ll be fine," Han Li replied.
Xiao Bai was quite relieved to hear this, and it asked, "Where do we go from here, Master?"
Chapter 602: Parting Ways
Chapter 602: Parting Ways
Han Li took a nce at his surroundings, then turned to Daoist Xie as he said, "We''ve already wasted enough time, so let''s keep going, Brother Xie."
Daoist Xie nodded in response, then flew onto the green flying carriage before releasing an incantation seal, and the carriage immediately sped away as a streak of green light.
At the center of the carriage, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed, assessing his own internal condition.
Even though his baleful decay had already been dyed by timew powers imbued within the thread of time, the baleful qi in his body still hadn''t receded at all, and three of his originally uncontaminated immortal acupoints had also been infiltrated by baleful qi.
Han Li''s heart sank slightly upon seeing this, but a thought then suddenly urred to him, and he opened his eyes before flicking a finger through the air, conjuring up a mirror of water in front of himself.
Through his reflection in the mirror, Han Li could see bursts of gray light asionally shing through his eyes, turning his pupils a murky gray color, and it seemed that the frequency at which his pupils were turning gray had increased from before.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li swept away the mirror as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Given what he currently knew, it appeared that the Northern cial Immortal Region was only a small and rather secluded immortal region in the True Immortal Realm, one that had barely any High Zenith cultivators. Hence, even though he had been trying to gather information on the five decays, his efforts hadrgely proven to be futile.
On top of that, his current situation was rather different from the normal fifth decay that one could expect to experience, and his only option at this point was to try and find a solution after he reached the ck Mountain Immortal Region.
All of a sudden, another thought urred to Han Li, and he flipped a hand over to produce his Dragon 5 Reincarnation Pce mask before putting it on.
Sure enough, there had already been quite a few responses to the requests that he had made for Origin Void Pill refinement ingredients.
Close to an hourter, as Han Li stowed away the mask again, a small pile of these ingredients had already appeared beside him.
He instructed Daoist Xie and the others to keep a close eye on Jin Tong, then quickly scoured the surrounding area to ensure that nothing was amiss before sweeping a sleeve through the air to summon his silver pill cauldron.
With another sweep of his sleeve, his me of Essence was released, and itnded beneath the cauldron in its miniature humanoid form.
A burst of terrifying heat instantly erupted out of the fiery figure''s body, and it seemed to have be even more powerful than before.
The fiery figure yelled something unintelligible up at Han Li in an excited voice, then sat down before making a hand seal, and the scorching white mes all over its body instantly surged forth as 12 uniform bursts that evenly coated the underside of the cauldron.
Before long, the interior of the cauldron had be extremely hot.
Thanks to the pill refinement experience that he had rued back in the Soul Stirring Winds, Han Li was extremely familiar with the process of refining Origin Void Pills. The only problem was that he would have to make some adjustments for bncing purposes as the ck Marrow Crystals that he was using were of a far superior quality to before.
However, this was not a major problem for him, given that he had the power of timews on his side.
After taking a deep breath topose himself, Han Li picked up one of the ingredients before tossing it into the cauldron tomence the pill refinement process.
Seven or eight years flew by in a sh.
The green flying carriage continued to race over the boundless primordialnd, speeding over all types of different terrains.
The route that had been marked out on the map provided by the patriarch of the Heavenly Fox Race required them to go on a far longer journey than if they were to cross the primordialnd in a straight line, but it did prove to be a very safe route.
asionally, some primordial beasts would get in their way, but none of them stood a chance against Mo Guang, Daoist Xie, and Xiao Bai.
All the while, Han Li remained seated within a light barrier, casting a string of incantation seals into the silver cauldron in front of him.
Right at this moment, a burst of silver light shed over the cauldron, and the lid flew off on its own to reveal a glistening ck Origin Void Pill inside.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he carefully stowed the pill away, then stowed the silver cauldron and the me of Essence away as well.
Up to this point, he had exhausted all of the ingredients that he had purchased, and with those ingredients, he had managed to refine around two dozen Origin Void Pills.
He picked up one of the pills, then scrutinized it for a moment before swallowing it.
He had to take one of the pills to ensure that it was indeed what he needed.
As soon as the Origin Void Pill entered his stomach, it immediately began to melt, turning into a burst of cold power that flowed through his body.
Nothing of particr interest took ce. The power of the pill merely resonated somewhat with the baleful qi in his body, but it did nothing aside from that.
However, Han Li knew that the pill took some time to truly take effect, so he wasn''t overly concerned, and he closed his eyes to meditate while waiting for the pill to do its work.
Close to a year passed by.
All of a sudden, the burst of cold power formed by the Origin Void Pill drew to a halt near Han Li''s lower abdomen, where it transformed into a strange vortex that was constantly revolving while forming a special connection with the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints.
The baleful qi in his body gradually began to fall dormant, and even the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints had be a lot more sluggish.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he flicked a finger through the air to conjure up a mirror of water, and through his reflection, he could see that the gray light in his eyes had alreadypletely faded, restoring his pupils to close to their original color.
This was naturally quite a relief.
If his pupils were to asionally turn gray once he entered the ck Mountain Immortal Region, then it most likely wouldn''t be long before he became a target of the Heavenly Court.
Even though he could take certain measures to disguise the abnormal coloration of his eyes, there was no guarantee that he wouldn''t be exposed. Now that his baleful qi had entered a dormant state and his pupils hadrgely returned to normal, his chances of being exposed were significantly decreased.
This supply of Origin Void Pills should be enough tost him and Mo Guang quite some time in the ck Mountain Immortal Region, but as a safety precaution, Han Li released a few more missions for the acquisition of Origin Void Pill ingredients in the Transient Guild.
Right at this moment, a dull thud suddenly rang out.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to remove the surrounding restrictions, and a hint of tion immediately appeared on his face as he identified the source of the sound.
At this moment, the golden ball within the cloud at the end of the flying carriage was glowing radiantly, while the cloud had been stirred up into a frenzy.
An enormous aura was surging out of the golden ball in all directions, and Xiao Bai was roused from its slumber as it hurriedly rose to its haunches.
Mo Guang was seated with his legs crossed on the other side of the flying carriage, and he only opened his mouth to take a nce in the golden ball''s direction before closing his eyes again.
"Brother Xie, find a ce to stop the carriage," Han Li instructed.
Daoist Xie did as it was told, casting an incantation seal into the flying carriage, upon which it immediately swooped down before drawing to a halt in a misty valley.
All the while, the golden light radiating from the golden ball was bing brighter and brighter, and at this point, it was glowing as radiantly as the sun.
Han Li cast an incantation seal to withdraw the white g, and almost immediately thereafter, a series of cracks appeared on the surface of the golden ball, then quickly spread before a massive hole was sted into its surface, following which a slender figure emerged from within.
It was a young girl who appeared to be in her teens, and she had shoulder-length golden hair and a set of gorgeous facial features.
With her emergence, the golden ball exploded into a vast expanse of golden powder that rained down into the valley below.
The young girl began to make her way toward Han Li and the others, and even though golden powder was falling all around her, none of it was able tond on her at all.
"You''re... Jin Tong, right?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
Both this young girl''s appearance and aura werepletely different from Jin Tong''s, and the only simrity that they shared was the color of their hair.
This made Han Li feel as if he were looking at someonepletely alien to him, and Xiao Bai was also staring at the girl with a dumbstruck expression at a loss for what to do.
The girl gave Han Li a nod, then stretchedzily as she said, "Even now, when I look back on what happened over these past years, it still feels like a dream."
Her voice had also changed drastically, and it was extremely pleasing to the ears, but waspletely devoid of emotion.
Han Li''s brows remained furrowed as he scrutinized Jin Tong with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and some skepticism still remained on his face.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Uncle? If I''m not Jin Tong, then who am I? The Gold Devouring Immortal that was chasing after us? I''ve gained a lot of new memories after devouring that thing, but I''m still the same Jin Tong from before," Jin Tong said as a mischievous smile appeared on her face, only to fade immediately thereafter.
"Have you recalled something?" Han Li asked as his brows finally unfurrowed.
Through their spiritual connection, he could tell beyond a reasonable doubt that this was indeed Jin Tong.
Jin Tong was silent for a moment, then suddenly extended a curtsey toward Han Li as she said, "Thank you for looking after me for so long, Uncle. Without you, I would''ve never been able to make it to this point."
"Why are you suddenly saying this?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"I want to go out on my own and search for other Gold Devouring Immortals," Jin Tong replied.
"Have you already found some other Gold Devouring Immortals?" Han Li asked.
"No, but I have a vague sense of where they are," Jin Tong replied.
"While it''s true that you''ve be significantly more powerful than before, I still don''t think its safe for you to go off on your own," Han Li said.
"Master''s right, the True Immortal Realm is a really dangerous ce! Why don''t you stay with Master? You''ll always have stuff to eat, and with yourbined powers, even if you encounter anotherte-High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal, you''ll be able to take it down together!" Xiao Bai said.
Jin Tong waspletely unmoved, and she shook her head as she said, "Searching for other Gold Devouring Immortals is my destiny. You also have things that you need to do as well, don''t you, Uncle?"
Han Li fell silent upon hearing this.
Xiao Bai opened its mouth to say something, but decided against it after seeing the determined look on Jin Tong''s face.
After a brief silence, Han Li asked, "Have you made up your mind?"
Jin Tong nodded in response.
Chapter 603: A Game of Go
Chapter 603: A Game of Go
"In that case, I won''t try to stop you. As the saying goes, all unions must conclude with separation someday," Han Li sighed.
Jin Tong extended another curtsey toward Han Li, then turned to depart, but Han Li called out to stop her before tossing an intricate green jade bracelet at her.
Jin Tong reflexively caught the bracelet, and Han Li exined, "There''s a map of the primordialnd inside, as well as some spirit treasures and Immortal Origin Stones, which should be enough tost you a while. Aside from that, there are also a few Transient Guild masks in there. If you need anything, feel free to reach out to me."
When it came to Jin Tong, his feelings were very mixed. To him, she was like an intimaterade, but also like a daughter that he had raised from birth.
Aplex look shed through Jin Tong''s eyes at the sight of the bracelet, but she didn''t refuse it, and she silently put it on her left wrist.
"I''ll go with you, Jin Tong," Xiao Bai suddenly said before springing over to her side, much to Jin Tong''s surprise.
"You said that you were making me yourckey, so you can''t just leave me behind!" Xiao Bai said as it rubbed its head against the back of Jin Tong''s hand.
"Take Xiao Bai with you. If you run into any other Gold Devouring Immortals more powerful than yourself, you''ll at least be able to hide in Xiao Bai''s stomach for some time," Han Li said.
"Alright, I''ll take you with me, but you better hurry up and get stronger! If you dare to get in my way, then I''ll leave you behind without a second thought!" Jin Tong threatened as she patted Xiao Bai on the head.
Xiao Bai immediately nodded in response with an ecstatic expression.
"By the way, I once read in a scripture that a Gold Devouring Immortal of unknown power seemed to have appeared some time ago in the Golden Origin Immortal Region. I don''t know if it''s still there, but you can go to try your luck there if you can''t find any other leads," Han Li said.
"I see. Thank you, Uncle. Take care," Jin Tong replied with a nod, then took one final nce at Han Li before speeding away with Xiao Bai as a streak of golden light, instantly vanishing into the distance.
Han Li looked on in the direction that Jin Tong had departed in for some time before withdrawing his gaze, following which he instructed in a calm manner, "Let''s continue."
Shortly thereafter, a streak of green light rose up from the ground before speeding away into the distance.
Momentster, a burst of spatial fluctuations emerged nearby, and Jin Tong and Xiao Bai re-emerged onto the scene.
"Uncle, I would love to stay with you for longer, but what I''m going to be facing from here onward is far more perilous than what you can imagine... We only just barely survived this ordeal by the skin of our teeth, I really don''t want to be a burden to you anymore," Jin Tong murmured to herself in a forlorn voice.
"Surely there was no need to do this," Xiao Bai said in a timid voice. "Even though I''ve only been with Master for a short time, my instincts as a primordial true spirit tell me that he''s a good person, and he definitely doesn''t mind having you around as a burden."
"So you''re saying I really am a burden to him?" Jin Tong asked as she turned to Xiao Bai with a hostile expression.
"N-no, what I meant to say is that you''re so wise and powerful, you could easily explore this world on your own!" Xiao Bai hurriedly amended.
"Even though I''ve managed to recover some of my memories, some things are still quite unclear to me. However, I get a vague sense that I don''t just seem to be an ordinary spirit insect. Xiao Bai, you''ve decided to follow me, so I''ll be sure to treat you well. As long as you help me find what''s rightfully mine, you can eat anything you want from here onward," Jin Tong said.
"Rest assured, I''ll follow your everymand and eat anything that you tell me to!" Xiao Bai dered with a serious expression.
"You''ve be just as much of an ass-kisser as Mo Guang!" Jin Tong scoffed in a disdainful voice, then flew away into the distance. "Let''s go. ording to this map, the Golden Origin Immortal Region is very far away."
"Wait for me!" Xiao Bai hurriedly called out as it set off in pursuit.
......
In the northern region of the ck Mountain Immortal Region.
There was a peaceful valley that was filled with lush, green bamboo trees, and a clear stream was flowing through the center of the valley. The bamboo forest on either bank of the creek was filled with mist, and the clear and pleasant call of an oriole could asionally be heard.
Deep in the forest, wild deer with white pelts that carried cherry blossom patterns could be seen traversing through the undergrowth.
The midsection of the stream was situated in the steepest and most precarious part of the valley, with jagged rocks on either bank. From there, the stream flowed down a long and winding curve, then pooled into a deep, green pond.
To the left of the pond was a huge stone tform, atop which sat an azure-robed middle-aged man with his legs crossed, strumming a dark purple guqin.
The man had a set of handsome facial features and a head of long hair that spilled down his back. His slim and fair fingers were gently strumming over the strings of the guqin, producing wonderful music toplement the sound of the flowing stream.
Seated across from the azure-robed man was an elderly man with a head of ck hair and another elderly man with a head of white hair, ying a game of go.
The ck-haired elderly man''s clothes were pristine andpletely devoid of creases, while his ck hair was also immactely groomed, giving him a very clean and sharp appearance, much like a drawn sword.
In contrast, the white-haired elderly man seated across from him was far less meticulous in maintaining her appearance. He was wearing a white robe with some embroidered me designs littered haphazardly over it, and his hair waspletely wild and disheveled as he sat in a bleary-eyed fashion.
The ck-haired elderly man had the white stones, and he yed each move swiftly and forcefully, ensuring that there was an audible ck with each stone that he ced down. In contrast, the white-haired elderly man was far slower to make his moves, and he also ced his stones down much more softly and quietly.
The ck-haired elderly man seemed to be ustomed to this, and he didn''t urge his opponent to y faster, merely closing his eyes after making each move to calcte how the position could unfold.
A brown-robed elderly man was watching the game, and he chugged down a mouthful of wine, thenined, "As usual, you''re unbearably slow, you old fart! If I didn''t know any better, I''d suspect you to be an old turtle that attained a human form through cultivation!"
"If you don''t have anything nice to say, then keep your mouth shut! Fellow Daoist Duan hasn''t even said anything, why are you chirping, you old drunkard? Go drink your horse piss!" the white-haired elderly man scoffed, but it was clear that he wasn''t actually enraged.
"How long did that game between you and Lu Guanzi from the Sunny Valley drag on for? 30 years! In the end, you stalled for so long that he couldn''t bear it anymore and resigned..."
Before he had a chance to finish, the white-haired elderly man loudly interjected, "That''s because Lu Guanzi heard that an extremely beautiful female True Immortal hade from the Rainbow Phoenix Valley, and he couldn''t resist the urge to go and take a look. Otherwise, that game would''ve gone on for at least 20 more years!"
"Extremely beautiful my arse! I went to go see her as well, and at the very most, she''s only above average. Only someone with terrible taste like Lu Guanzi would be into someone like that," the brown-robed elderly man scoffed with a shake of his head.
The white-haired elderly man massaged his own chin as he stared intently at the go board. It seemed that he had found himself in a difficult position, and he was ignoring the brown-robed elderly man to focus on the game.
"Talking to the three of you is no fun at all. I wonder what Fellow Daoist Li is up to. He hasn''t been around for a while," the brown-robed elderly man mused as he turned to take a nce at the entrance of the valley.
The azure-robed man stopped strumming his guqin upon hearing this, then turned to the brown-robed elderly man as he said, "I heard that Fellow Daoist Li has been refining a batch of Five Stone Pills ofte. I sent a message to him some days ago, but I''ve received no response, so I presume he''s still in seclusion."
As soon as his voice trailed off, an azure-robed young man emerged from deep within the bamboo forest, then began to approach the stone tform where the four men were gathered.
The man was none other than Han Li, who was wearing a disguise adopted using his Reincarnation Pce mask, and it had already been over 400 years since he parted ways with Jin Tong and Xiao Bai in the primordialnd.
At this point, Han Li had been living in this Floating Cloud Valley for close to 200 years.
The brown-robed man immediately rose to his feet at the sight of Han Li and yelled, "You''re finally here, Fellow Daoist Li! Come and have a drink with me!"
The two elderly men seated at the go table also returned their stone to their respective holders, then rose to their feet as well. As for the guqin-strumming young man, he remained seated, but he had also turned to Han Li with a friendly smile.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and he rose up into the air, then descended onto the giant stone tform.
"Fellow Daoist Hot me, Fellow Daoist Jingyang, Fellow Daoist Duan, Fellow Daoist Ziqi, my apologies for my tardiness," Han Li said with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute toward the four men present.
"Don''t worry about it. You''re a pill refinement master, so your priority should be pill refinement. Only useless old men like us who have nothing to do can waste our time pursuing such trivial hobbies," the white-robed elderly man chuckled.
His name was Immortal Lord Hot me, and he was the grand elder of a medium-sized sect in the ck Mountain Immortal Region. He was a veryzy man who didn''t want to have to attend to any official sect duties, so he had dumped all of his responsibilities onto a junior martial brother of his and came to the Floating Cloud Valley to live a life of leisure.
Despite his disheveled appearance, he actually possessed the highest cultivation base of the four men at thete-Golden Immortal Stage.
Chapter 604: Relaxation and Leisure
Chapter 604: Rxation and Leisure
The ck-haired elderly man who had been ying go with Immortal Lord Hot me was named Duan Yuzai, and he was also from the ck Mountain Immortal Region.
As for the guqin-strumming man and the brown-robed man, they were Yu Ziqi and Daoist Master Jingyang, respectively. Both of them had traveled to the ck Mountain Immortal Region from other immortal regions, and one of them was at thete-True Immortal Stage, while the other was at thete-Golden Immortal Stage.
Despite the vast cultivation base disparity between them, they shared the closest bond out of the four men present.
Aside from Han Li and these four men, there were many more cultivators residing in the 72 valleys and 36 ravines of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.
Most of them were itinerant cultivators or traveling immortals who had no chance of making any further progress in their cultivation, so they settled down here to live out peaceful and leisurely lives instead of continuing to toil away in the world of cultivation.
Over time, the Floating Cloud Mountain Range gained a new name, which was "Rxation Mountain".
The valley that Han Li and these four men resided in was originally called the Cloud Deer Valley, but it had since been renamed to the Leisure Valley.
There was a set of rules that had to be followed in the mountain range, which prohibited residents from prying into the past of other residents, forbade conflicts and battles from taking ce in the mountain range, and also forbade any external powers from disrupting the order in the area.
ording to Immortal Lord Hot me, these rules had been established by an itinerant cultivator who had once resided in the mountain range. Initially, no one paid any heed to these rules, but the cultivator was extremely brutal in enforcing those rules, and he had the power to match, killing everyone who dared to break his rules. As a result, everyone was forced to follow those rules.
Apparently, that cultivator held an important post in the Heavenly Court, and following their departure, those rules gradually became set in stone on Rxation Mountain, even in their absence.
"Rxing and pursuing trivial hobbies is the norm here on Rxation Mountain, so I''m the odd one out here. My constant seclusion and pill refinement really brings shame to the good name of this ce," Han Li said with a wry smile.
"Thank heavens you''re a pill refinement master. If it wasn''t for that Golden Soul Pill that you provided in such a timely and generous fashion, I would''ve surely perished while attempting my Golden Immortal Stage breakthrough," Duan Yuzai said with a serious expression.
"Please don''t mention this every time you see me, Fellow Daoist Duan. I just so happened to have a spare Golden Soul Pill on hand, and after that, you were the one who introduced me to this ce, so you''ve repaid me for the favor," Han Li said with a wry smile.
"You saved my life! How could I possibly ever repay you?" Duan Yuzai protested as a hint of guilt shed through his eyes.
Han Li was already ustomed to Duan Yuzai''s serious personality, so he knew that there was no point in dwelling on this subject any further.
Hence, he looked around momentarily, then changed the subject as he asked, "Where''s Celestial Maiden Mo? Is shete as well?"
"You know what Mo Wuxue''s like, she''s gone to meditate on the Light Breeze Cliff," Yu Ziqi scoffed.
"Meditate my arse, all she does is stare off into space for decades, even centuries at a time! There are a lot of strange people gathered in this mountain range, but she surely ranks near the top," Daoist Master Jingyang scoffed with a hint of disdain in his voice.
"Even if pursuing the Great Dao is bound to be a futile endeavor, she still shouldn'' just waste her life like this. Instead, why not enjoy some mortal pleasures in the time that we have left?" Yu Ziqi sighed in a slightly wistful manner.
Han Li knew that Yu Ziqi had been harboring romantic feelings for Mo Wuxue for quite some time, and he jibed, "Some mortal pleasures are impossible to enjoy alone, so you have to give her a hand."
Yu Ziqi''s smile remained unchanged, but he could only heave an internal sigh.
Mo Wuxue was an early-Golden Immortal cultivator, while he was only at thete-True Immortal Stage. On top of that, with his limited aptitude, there was no hope for him to ever reach the Golden Immortal Stage, and with the five decays constantly looming, he simply couldn''t bring himself to ask her to be his dao partner.
Right at this moment, Daoist Master Jingyang approached Han Li with a fawning smile as he asked, "By the way, I hear that you''ve recently been refining a batch of Five Stone Pills, Fellow Daoist Li. can you sell one to me?"
"Sell? I can''t ept any money from you, Fellow Daoist Jingyang," Han Li said with a shake of his head.
Daoist Master Jingyang''s smile instantly widened even further upon hearing this, but his smile then immediately stiffened once he heard what Han Li had to say next.
"There''s no need for you to buy a Five Stone Pill from me, just give me a gon of your Green Fermented Wine in exchange."
Green Fermented Wine was a very special type of wine that Daoist Master Jingyang had learned to brew from an ancient scripture. It incorporated the essence of over 100 different precious spirit nts, and it was no less precious than a Five Stone Pill.
Everyone was very amused by the sight of the pained look on Daoist Master Jingyang''s face at the thought of having to part with a gon of his precious wine.
Ultimately, Daoist Master Jingyang was unwilling to give up a gon of his wine, and he grumbled to himself, "I don''t need any pills, wine tastes much better anyway..."
An amused smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he suddenly swept a sleeve through the air to release four streaks of light, each of which flew toward one of the four men on the stone tform.
The four men hurriedly caught the streaks of light to discover that each of them contained a white jade vial.
"What''s this, Fellow Daoist Li?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked.
"There''s one Five Stone Pill for each of you in those vials, but I''m not giving out any more than that!" Han Li said.
The four men were very surprised to hear this. Five Stone Pills were Golden Immortal Stage pills that were very effective both for cultivation base consolidation and cultivation advancement, so it was definitely not something to be given out casually like this.
"To tell you the truth, I''m giving all of you these pills because I have something to request of you," Han Li said. "I''m sure all of you have already noticed the abnormal abundance of baleful qi in my body. Right now, I''m enduring the baleful decay."
A hint of enlightenment appeared on the faces of the four men upon hearing this.
They all knew that the five decays were unavoidable, and that this was perhaps going to be a hurdle that would stump them as well, so they were very sympathetic to Han LI''s situation.
"A while ago, I obtained a recipe for a pill that can temporarily ward off baleful qi bacsh, but I''ve been struggling to find an ingredient for the pill known as the Profound Zoysia Crystal, and I''m hoping that all of you can help me search for it," Han Li continued.
The recipe that he was speaking of was for a pill by the name of the Baleful Quelling Pill, and it was an obscure pill recipe that he had obtained from the Transient Guild. As opposed to temporarily warding off the baleful qi bacsh, the pill was actually capable of cleansing baleful qi to help Golden Immortals ovee the baleful decay.
However, this was only the purported effect of the pill. The reality was that the pill was so rare that its effects hadn''t been verified on a widespread basis.
In order to refine this pill, the two main ingredients were of the utmost importance, and one of them turned out to be none other than those dozen or so strange spirit nts that Han Li had harvested from the bottom of the ravine.
Through the Transient Guild, he learned that the spirit nt was known as the Bitter Ornament Herb, and it only grew in ces with high densities of baleful qi. At the very least, tens of thousands of years were required for this spirit nt to arise, and they were extraordinarily expensive.
As for the other main ingredient, that was the Profound Zoysia Crystal.
Out of the four men, three of them had clearly never even heard of this material before, while Immortal Lord Hot me was silent for a moment before asking, "Fellow Daoist Li, are you referring to the legendary Floral Heart Stone?"
"That''s right, have you seen this material before, Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Han Li hurriedly asked.
"This is a spirit material of an exceptionally high caliber that I''ve never had the pleasure of witnessing for myself, but I''ve heard that it once appeared in the Jade Kun Pagoda of Jade Gathering City several centuries ago," Immortal Lord Hot me replied.
"What exactly is this Profound Zoysia Crystal? It sounds so mysterious," Daoist Master Jingyang asked with a curious expression.
"The Profound Zoysia Crystal is a type of premium spirit stone that serves as a primary ingredient required to refine many High Zenith Stage pills. It starts off as a nt, which only produces a flower after tens of thousands of years, and once that flower blooms, a tiny crystal will appear in the heart of the flower. That is the Profound Zoysia Crystal," Immortal Lord Hot me exined.
"Unless external forces act upon it, the flower will never wilt, and the crystal will continue to grow. The older the crystal, the more potent the spiritual power and medicinal power that it contains.
¡°However, if even the slightest of external forces act upon it, the crystal will fall off, and the entire nt will instantly wilt away. As a result, they often grow in extremely secluded ces, thereby making them extremely rare and expensive," Han Li added.
"It sounds like these Five Stone Pills of yours are going to be wasted," Daoist Master Jingyang mused with a shake of his head.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, I may not be the most outgoing person, but I do have a few friends in the spirit materials business, and I''ll be sure to ask them to keep an eye out," Duan Yuzai said in a serious manner.
"You have my thanks," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"I don''t think I''ll be of much help here. Old Man Hot me can enter Jade Gathering City as he pleases, so he should be able to gather some information for you. Perhaps what you''re looking for will reappear in the Jade Kun Pagoda someday," Daoist Master Jingyang said.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, I''ll pay Jade Gathering City a visit as soon as I finish this game," Immortal Lord Hot me said, then returned his attention to the game at hand.
"I resign," Duan Yuzai dered without any hesitation.
"You... Fine, fine, I''ll make a trip to Jade Gathering City right away," Immortal Lord Hot me sighed in a resigned manner, then bade farewell to everyone before flying away toward the south.
Chapter 605: Keeping a Low Profile
Chapter 605: Keeping a Low Profile
Tens of thousands of kilometers to the south of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range stood thergest and most prosperous city in the northern region of the ck Mountain Immortal Region, Jade Gathering City.
In contrast with the cities of the Northern cial Immortal Region, which were mostly inhabited by mortals, there were hundreds of immortal powers in Jade Gathering City, including both cultivating ns and sects, and the vast majority of the city''s residents were also cultivators.
Perhaps this was why the Immortal Pce was particrly stringent in its regtion of the city, which was split up into two sections, the outer city and the inner city. All cultivators could ess the outer city as they pleased, but there were many restrictions on those wishing to enter the inner city.
Cultivators below the True Immortal Stage and weren''t registered with any of the ck Mountain Immortal Region''s local sects were barred from entering the inner city, and that included even local itinerant cultivators.
Only those who were at least at the High Zenith Stage were free to enter the inner city without having to satisfy any other conditions.
It was said that an immortal envoy from the Heavenly Court was constantly stationed in the inner city of Jade Gathering City, and that they possessed unfathomable power.
Back when Han Li first arrived in the ck Mountain Immortal Region, he had actually gone straight to Jade Gathering City as opposed to the Leisure Valley.
As soon as he entered the city, he spotted a za, upon which was a hovering tform named the Immortal ying List.
The tform hovered over 10,000 feet above the ground, and there were figures from all types of different races depicted upon it, beneath which were lines of text that stated their crimes and the rewards on offer for their capture or demise.
Han Li spotted quite a few familiar figures on the list, including Baili Yan, Daoist Hu Yan, and Wyrm 3.
Wyrm 3 was ranked even higher on the list than Baili Yan, but the name attached to her visage was Gan Jiuzhen, and instead of revealing her true appearance, the image of her only depicted her wearing a crimson mask.
As Han Li''s gaze neared the bottom of the list, he spotted himself.
In the image, he was dressed in an azure robe while holding a sword in one hand. His appearance was slightly inurate, but it was certainly very vibrant and lifelike.
Beneath his image was a small passage of text that read: "Li Feiyu, cultivated forbidden arts and participated in the killing of an important Heavenly Court official. 5,000 Immortal Origin Stones, dead or alive."
Han Li''s brows instantly furrowed tightly upon seeing this, not because he was on the list, but because he was feeling indignant at the measly reward being offered for his capture, which was only 5,000 Immortal Origin Stonespared with 100,000 for Wyrm 3.
Setting aside his killing of Tao Yu, surely the reward on offer for him should''ve been higher, given the role that he had yed in killing Gongshu Jiu, a High Zenith Stage immortal envoy.
With that in mind, Han Li turned his gaze back to the image of Gan Jiuzhen on the list, upon which he discovered that she was being used of a far more extensive list of crimes, including cultivating forbidden arts, killing immortal officials, and colluding with Gray Immortals.
An enlightened look instantly appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this. It seemed that Gan Jiuzhen and Mo Yu were being regarded as the main culprits behind Gongshu Jiu''s death, while he was only considered to be an aplice.
After that, Han Li was nning to leave the city right away, but he quickly discovered that even though there were countless cultivators in Jade Gathering City, barely anyone ever stopped to check the Immortal ying List.
Upon closer inspection, he discovered that most of the people on the list were wanted by the ck Mountain Immortal Pce and the Heavenly Court, so they were already very familiar to the majority of the people in Jade Gathering City. Hence, they naturally weren''t going to waste any time checking the list unless they had gathered some leads.
Of course, another important factor was that most of the people on the list were formidable figures that were not to be messed with.
Hence, Han Li decided to temporarily stay in Jade Gathering City to find a way to resolve the issue for the baleful qi in his body. However, his efforts proved to be futile, and given the special circumstances surrounding himself and Mo Guang, they encountered many inconveniences in the city, so after encountering Duan Yuzai by chance, he decided to move to the Leisure Valley.
Everyone was quite amused to see Immortal Lord Hot me storming away.
"There really was no need to do that, Fellow Daoist Duan. This is not a matter that I expect to have resolved anytime soon, so you could''ve easily finished your game with Fellow Daoist Hot me before sending him on his way," Han Li said with a smile.
"It''s fine. The heart is the most important thing in the game of go. I had already lost interest in the game, and I''m sure that was apparent to Fellow Daoist Hot me as well. Besides, I have the position memorized, so we could easily continue the game another time," Duan Yuzai replied, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of ck light that swept up the go board and the stone holders.
Right at this moment, Daoist Master Jingyang approached Han Li with a smile as he said, "Fellow Daoist Li, you mentionedst time that you were going to brew a few jars of Fire Drop Wine. How has that been going?"
"Fire Drop Wine isn''t as difficult to brew as your Green Fermented Wine, so my batch is already done," Han Li replied with a smile.
"My batch of Green Fermented Wine is still a few thousands years away from being ready, so if I were to bring it out now, it would be a terrible waste," Daoist Master Jingyang exined with a slightly embarrassed expression.
"There''s no need to exin yourself, I know you''re not a stingy person, Fellow Daoist Jingyang," Han Li assured, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a yellow wine jar in front of Daoist Master Jingyang.
Daoist Master Jingyang hurriedly grabbed onto the jar with an ecstatic expression, then opened the y seal before taking a whiff, upon which a blissful look instantly appeared on his face.
"Exceptional!"
A perplexed look then appeared on his face as he asked, "Why does this wine look like it''s been sitting for at least several centuries? It doesn''t look like something that only just finished brewing recently."
"We''re all friends here, so I naturally have to bring out my best wine. This is a prized jar from my collection, so you''re all in luck," Han Li exined with a smile.
Duan Yuzai and Yu Ziqi weren''t avid drinkers, but they were more than happy to have a drink as a small circle of friends.
As night fell, Han Li took his leave and returned to his cave abode, which had been dug into a mountain face deep within the bamboo forest, quite far away from the cave abodes of the other four men.
At this moment, the stone gate of the cave abode was tightly shut, and there were two Dao Warriors standing on guard duty on either side of it.
The two Dao Warriors were looking far different from before, with both of them disying increased statures and drastically elevated auras, and some peculiar corkscrew patterns had also appeared on their bodies.
On top of that, there was a hint of intelligence shing in their eyes, and both of them extended a collective bow toward Han Li upon his return.
Han Li paid no heed to the pair of Dao Warriors as he made his way into the cave abode, upon which the stone gate swung shut behind him on its own.
The cave abode wasn''t veryrge, consisting of only a main hall and several secret chambers.
He took a nce at two of the secret chambers to the left, which were where Mo Guang and Daoist Xie were cultivating in seclusion.
Even though Mo Guang''s baleful qi was being concealed through consumption of Origin Void Pills, that was still not a foolproof solution, and in particr, he had almost been exposed on multiple asions back in Jade Gathering City.
Hence, upon arriving in the Leisure Valley, Mo Guang had remained in the cave abode the entire time.
As for Daoist Xie, he had also suddenly gone into seclusion for some reason after arriving in the ck Mountain Immortal Region.
Han Li withdrew his gaze as he made his way into the secret chamber where he normally cultivated, then sat down with his legs crossed in silence.
Following his separation with Jin Tong, he had followed the route on the map given to him by the white-robed man, which had allowed him to avoid most of the dangerous areas in the primordialnd. Even so, he still encountered several crises that left him on the verge of death.
If it weren''t for his current cultivation base and his timew powers, as well as the apaniment of Mo Guang, he would''ve most likely already fallen to his demise.
On one asion, they were pursued by several High Zenith Stage Lightning Beasts for three whole years. Those Lightning Beasts were extraordinarily fast, and they were able to use a teleportation secret technique simr to Han Li''s lightning teleportation array.
For some reason, they were intent on hunting Han Li down, and in the end, Han Li was unable to shake them off his trail, so he had no choice but to fight them.
He and Mo Guang joined forces to y two of the Lightning Beasts, intimidating the remaining Lightning Beasts into retreat, but he had also suffered severe injuries during the battle, injuries that took him several years to fully recover from.
On another asion, he inadvertently stumbled into a naturally arising secret area that was filled with fire, and in the end, he was only able to escape after over 10 years of toil with the help of the Essence Fire Raven.
While it was true that this had been an extremely perilous journey, he had also reaped many rewards.
Setting aside all of the precious primordial materials that he had gathered, he had also snuck into the settlements of some primordial tribes along the way and learned many of their secret techniques and cultivation arts.
The two Dao Warriors at the entrance of his cave abode had been refined using one of those secret techniques.
Under normal circumstances, he would''ve been ecstatic to have reaped so many rewards, but at the moment, the threat of the baleful decay was constantly looming over his head, so he was constantly under a great deal of pressure.
After sitting in silence for a moment, he suddenly made a hand seal, and a series of bright golden halos emerged in front of him, then converged toward a single spot to conjure up his Clear Time Vial.
The vial was significantlyrger than before, and it appeared almost substantial in form. There were hundreds of Time Dao Runes shing on its surface, and a series of long streaks of golden light were wrapped around the vial, giving off formidable timew power fluctuations.
Over the past years, he had attempted to incorporate the experience that he had rued while cultivating the Mantra Treasured Axis, using the time crystals produced by the Heaven Controlling Vial to increase the number of Time Dao Runes on the Clear Time Vial, and it had worked without a hitch.
Han Li inspected the Clear Jade Vial momentarily, then set it down beside him before making another hand seal, upon which bursts of golden light surged out of his body.
He began to chant an incantation while continuing to make hand seals, and the streaks of golden light transformed into grains of golden sand that hovered in the surrounding air while giving off faint golden light and timew power fluctuations.
More and more of these grains of golden sand were emerging, and in the span of just a few seconds, they had formed a golden sand pit that was over 100 feet in size, filling up virtually the entire secret chamber.
Chapter 606: Fusing Time Law Powers
Chapter 606: Fusing Time Law Powers
A special type ofw power was flowing through the golden sand pit, while the golden light in the air was shing incessantly while fluctuating in brightness, presenting a rather disorientating sight to behold.
What was most remarkable was that in the space epassed within the sand pit, the flow of air and the world''s origin qi was clearly far faster than it was in the area outside.
Due to the presence of baleful qi in his immortal acupoints, Han Li was unable to make any progress in his cultivation beyond the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage. Hence, he had spent the majority of time cultivating the Water Divination Time Arts and the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture.
Perhaps he really did possess exceptional aptitude in the cultivation of thews of time, but he was able to make rapid progress in both cultivation arts, having already reached the sixth chapter of the Water Divination Time Arts, and he had also reached a very high level in the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture, allowing him to unleash the Illusory Dawn Sand Sea ability.
As he flicked a finger through the air, the golden light emanating from the Clear Time Vial abruptly brightened, and the streaks of golden light around it began to circte far faster than before, resonating with the Illusory Dawn Sand Sea down below.
Han Li made another hand seal to summon his Mantra Treasured Axis, and at this point, the number of Time Dao Runes on its surface had increased significantly.
By consistently producing more time crystals with the Heavenly Controlling Vial, Han Li had been able to reach the current upper limit of 720 Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis.
A vast expanse of golden radiance erupted out of the Mantra Treasured Axis to fill the entire secret chamber.
The three bursts of golden light from the Mantra Treasured Axis, the Clear Time Vial, and the Illusory Dawn Sand Sea all seemed to be resonating with one another, causing the surrounding space to tremble and buzz faintly.
Han Li wasn''t all that surprised to see this.
Back when he first obtained the Water Divination Time Arts and the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture, he had already noticed that they seemed to be somehow connected to the Mantra Axis Scripture, and his suspicions had only been confirmed through his pursuit of the three cultivation arts.
The three cultivation arts were so closely intertwined with each other that it almost felt as if they hade from a single cultivation art, but Han Li was unable to conclude whether this was truly the case as he still hadn''t reached full mastery of all three cultivation arts.
Right at this moment, Han Li closed his eyes and began to chant an incantation, upon which the three bursts of golden light began to sh in unison before graduallying together as one at his behest.
The three bursts of different timew powers were also intertwining with one another, seemingly attempting to fuse with each other, but there was some resistance that existed between them, preventing their fusion.
Through his cultivation, Han Li had gained a deeper understanding of the three cultivation arts and the power of timews.
As one of the three paramountws, thews of time was one of the most central and fundamentalws of heaven and earth. On a small scale, it directly impacted the life cycle of a living being or the decay of an object, while on a grand scale, it could be said that time was the driving force that was pushing the entire True Immortal Realm along.
It was as if there were a pair of invisible hands that raised up thews of time so that it transcended above all otherws, and the reason why it was renowned as one of the paramountws was because it was unaffected by the vast majority of otherws, but could also affect or alter somews.
For example, the mostmonly seenws of water and fire had their powers significantly diminished under the influence of thews of time.
Through the use of the Mantra Treasured Axis, the Mantra Axis Scripture allowed one to control the speed of the passage of time in a certain area, which was already an extraordinary ability, but that was only one of the uses of the power of timews.
In other words, thews of time were extremely vast and profound, and the Mantra Axis Scripture alone certainly wasn''t enough to epass it in its entirety.
As for the Water Divination Time Arts and the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture, they were merely also alternative interpretations and uses of the power of timews.
It was a very rare feat for anyone to be able to expertly control and use any particrw power. For the average True Immortal, even if they could sense the power ofws, there was no way for them to control these powers due to their limited immortal spiritual power, whereas Golden Immortals satisfied the minimum immortal spiritual power requirement to begin delving into the realm ofw powers.
The best way to improve one''s mastery over a type ofw power was to develop a better understanding of saidw power.
This was why Han Li had decided to use all three of these cultivation arts at once in order toe into contact with different types of timew powers, thereby furthering his understanding.
As he continued to cycle through a string of hand seals, the three bursts of golden light in the secret chamber gradually came together to form a swirling golden vortex.
All three bursts of timew powers had been incorporated into the vortex, but they wer still separate entities that showed no signs of fusion.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he began to cycle through his hands seals even faster.
As a result, the golden vortex began to revolve faster while gradually shrinking in size.
The three bursts of timew powers were shing together forcefully, and countless golden runes surged out of the center of the vortex, giving off violent timew power fluctuations.
However, the three bursts of timew powers still showed no signs of fusing together. Instead, it felt as if they were on the brink of exploding.
Han Li hurriedly stopped what he was doing upon seeing this, and the golden vortex instantly stopped shrinking, while the violent timew power fluctuations also subsided.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he shook his head with a resigned expression.
Over the years, he had tried many different methods to fuse the three different timew powers, but all of his attempts had concluded in futility.
Was there simply no way to fuse these three timew powers, or was there something that he was missing?
All of a sudden, a fierce look appeared in Han Li''s eyes, and he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a flurry of over 1,000 azure array gs, all of which vanished into different parts of the secret chamber.
Azure light shed erratically within the secret chamber to form a thick light barrier, upon which countless profound runes were shing incessantly, giving the light barrier an indestructible appearance.
At the same time, he drew upon his Xuanwu bloodline, and pieces of massive azure turtle shells appeared over his body,ing together to form a suit of dark green armor that encapsted his entire body.
After that, Han Li still wasn''t content, and he opened his mouth to release several defensive immortal treasures, which transformed into protective barriers of different colors around him.
With all of the preparationsplete, he resumed what he had been doing before, and the golden vortex began to shrink once again as the three timew powers shed fiercely to produce an explosive aura.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and instead of stopping, he pressed on even more aggressively.
The golden vortex was revolving rapidly, and the golden light at its center had be unbearably bright, while countless golden runes were surging violently within it.
In the next instant, a terrifying aura erupted out of the center of the vortex, and it felt as if it could explode at any moment.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he redoubled his efforts, and the golden vortex shuddered violently before shrinking even further.
As a result, the ball of golden runes at the center of the vortex waspressed even more aggressively, and it was truly on the verge of explosion now.
However, right at this moment, the three timew powers seemed to have beenpressed beyond a certain threshold, and they suddenly became mellow and docile, sumbing to Han Li''s will and fusing together.
The violently churning golden runes copsed inward, then rapidly shrank down to form a shimmering ring of golden light, which sucked in the surrounding golden vortex.
All of the golden light within the entire secret chamber quickly faded, and all that remained was a tiny golden ring that was glowing radiantly while hovering in mid-air.
This was apletely unexpected turn of events for Han Li, and was looking on with abination of tion and astonishment in his eyes.
However, the golden ring wasn''t very stable, and it quickly began to tremble violently while a series of cracks appeared over its surface, looking as if it could shatter any moment.
An incredibly tremendous burst of timew power fluctuations swept out of the golden ring, rapidly whittling down the azure light barrier within the secret chamber on contact.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
While he did have other restrictions set up in the cave abode, they most likely wouldn''t be able to contain this burst of timew power fluctuations, either.
Right as he was to do something, a ball of green light suddenly flew out of his robes, and it was none other than his Heaven Controlling Vial.
The vial hovered in mid-air with its opening facing the golden ring, and it was glowing as radiantly as a green sun.
A burst of immense suction force surged out of the vial, sucking in the golden ring in a sh.
With the golden ring gone, the burst of terrifying timew power fluctuations also faded, and the azure light barrier in the secret chamber was able to remain intact.
Meanwhile, the Heaven Controlling Vial rapidly expanded as countless green runes emerged within it, then came together to form a churning green cloud.
A burst of formidablew power fluctuations surged out of the green cloud, causing the nearby space to ripple incessantly.
Right at this moment, a vertical golden eye abruptly sprang open at the center of the Mantra Treasured Axis, and a translucent golden thread shot out from within before vanishing into the Heaven Controlling Vial in a sh.
The green cloud within the vial instantly brightened before erupting forth as a thick pir of green light.
The space in the path of the pir of green light parted as countless rays of translucent light surged out of the resulting spatial rift, forming a translucent wall of light with a series of images rapidly shing over its surface.
A hint of disappointment appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this. He had thought that something different would be triggered out of the Heaven Controlling Vial, but that didn''t seem to be the case.
Right at this moment, two beady little ck eyes suddenly appeared on the surface of the Heaven Controlling Vial before turning to Han Li.
At the same time, a faint voice rang out in his mind.
"It''s about time..."
Chapter 607: Mysterious River
Chapter 607: Mysterious River
Han Li''s expression instantly changed slightly upon hearing this voice, but before he had a chance to do anything, an enormous vortex suddenly appeared on the translucent wall of light.
A burst of tremendous suction force erupted out of the vortex to envelop Han Li''s entire body, and this burst of suction force was several times more formidable than on the previous asions where Han Li had been sucked into the wall of light.
However, in the next instant, the burst of suction force suddenly faded, and Han Li felt a sharp pain in his mind, following which hepletely lost consciousness.
Some timeter, Han Li returned to his senses in a rather disoriented fashion, and he looked around to discover that he was situated in a murky gray space, while down below was a barren dark red in that stretched as far as the eyes could see.
The in waspletely devoid of vegetation, and above it was a glittering silver river that was flowing through the sky amid a burst of dull rumbling.
Upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that as opposed to water, what was flowing through the river were actually water-droplet-like balls of light.
Han Li was very surprised to see this, but he didn''t immediately move.
This instance of spiritual transmigration seemed to be different from the previous few asions.
There was a mysterious aura permeating throughout the entire surrounding environment, and he couldn''t help but think of the eyes that had appeared on the Heaven Controlling Vial and the faint voice that he had heard in his mind.
Those eyes weren''t unfamiliar to him as they belonged to the vial spirit of the Heaven Controlling Vial.
As for the voice that he had heard, that had most likelye from the vial spirit.
Han Li couldn''t see the vial spirit anywhere nearby, nor could he make sense of what it had said, so he set the thought aside for now and began to examine his surroundings.
All of a sudden, he noticed that unlike his previous spiritual transmigrations, he didn''t seem to have possessed anyone. Instead, his bare soul was hovering mid-air.
It appeared that all of this had been triggered by the golden ring formed by the three bursts of integrated timew powers, and it seemed to have reacted somehow with the Heaven Controlling Vial.
With that in mind, Han Li swept his gaze over his surroundings once again, but didn''t find anything of note over the boundless barren in around him.
After withdrawing his gaze, he began to approach the river in the sky, and from up close, he was able to see that the river was flowing from somewhere too far away for Han Li''s eyes to reach, and there was no end to it in sight, either.
There were countless balls of light of different sizes flowing through the river, with some asrge as millstones, while others were as tiny as grains of rice.
Each of the balls of light contained a shimmering image, but they were flowing by too quickly for Han Li to be able to catch a clear glimpse of any of the images.
The entire river was giving off an indescribable aura of mystique, and after staring at it in a transfixed fashion for some time, Han Li began carefully approaching the river again before peering into one of therger water droplets that was passing by.
This water droplet depicted an image of a yellow desert that was rapidly changing.
After a brief hesitation, Han Li released his spiritual sense onto the water droplet in an attempt to catch a clear glimpse of the image on it, but right as he did this, the water droplet immediately began to glow brightly before releasing a burst of tremendous suction force.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li''s soul was sucked into the water droplet without being able to put up any resistance.
His vision instantly faded, and only after an indeterminate period of time did he slowly return to his senses, upon which a slightly ragged voice tinged with a hint of lingering fear rang out from nearby.
"What a terrifying opponent that was... Even with the five of us joining forces, three of us were still killed."
Another high-pitched voice rang out in response, and it was also sounding a little out of breath.
"That man had already reached the pinnacle of the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, so he was bound to be an extremely formidable opponent. Those three were far too eager to im the reward on his head, and they rushed in without any preparation like idiots! Having said that, it''s a good thing that those three did rush in and weaken him. Otherwise, we wouldn''t have been able to take him down."
"In any case, we suffered extremely heavy losses here. Will we be in trouble with our higher-ups?" the first voice asked in a concerned manner.
"It''ll be fine. Us immortal envoys are always tasked with perilous missions, so some casualties here and there are inevitable. All we have to do is bring this man''s head back to our higher-ups, and we''ll surely be handsomely rewarded," the high-pitched voice replied in a gleeful fashion.
Han Li''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing this conversation, and he hurriedly restrained his own spiritual fluctuations, then began to inspect his surroundings in secret.
Just like during the previous few spiritual transmigrations, he had possessed a corpse.
The body belonged to a ck-robed middle-aged man with a head of disheveled long hair and a long and thin face. Even though he was already dead, there was still a fierce look about his sharp facial features.
At this moment, he wasying on a yellow desert, and countless huge craters had been sted into the ground all around him.
Plumes of dense smoke were billowing out of some of these craters, releasing an acrid sulfurous odor.
It was clear that an intense battle had just taken ce here not long ago.
There were two men d in suits of golden armor nearby, and the symbols on those suits of golden armor were precisely the insignia of the Heavenly Court.
One of the armor-d figures was a tall elderly man with a tall nose and a pair of thin eyebrows, while the other one was a bald young man with a round face and a rotund frame.
At this moment, both of them were looking rather pale, and the bald young man was looking particrly worse for wear, with blood trickling down from the corner of his lips and signs of damage on his suit of golden armor.
Strewn over the ground further away were there more bodies d in suits of golden armor.
Han Li only briefly inspected his surroundings before immediately withdrawing his spiritual sense and directing it deeper into the mind of the body that he had possessed.
Through that brief inspection of his surroundings, Han Li had determined that the two armor-d men were both at the High Zenith Stage, and their cultivation bases were far superior to that of Gongshu Jiu, indicating that they were at least at the mid-High Zenith Stage, perhaps even thete-High Zenith Stage.
Through their conversation, Han Li had learned that they were both immortal envoys of the Heavenly Court, and if they were to discover that another soul had appeared in this body, then they would be sure to kill it right away.
His soul had been transmigrated to this ce by the Heaven Controlling Vial, so he wasn''t sure what the consequences of being killed here would be, but he wasn''t keen on finding out.
Right as Han Li''s soul began to burrow deeper into the ck-robed man''s mind, a tremendous burst of heat suddenly surged forth before fusing into Han Li''s soul.
The burst of heat was a burst of enormous and extremely pure spiritual sense, and it quickly began to inte Han Li''s soul like a balloon.
The burst of immense spiritual sense carried with it a series of memory fragments belonging to the ck-robed man, and they also flooded into Han Li''s mind.
Perhaps Han Li''s soul had already grown ustomed to all of this from the previous few instances of transmigration, but he was able to easily receive the ck-robed man''s memories without much pain or other adverse effects.
Han Li''s soul was able to easily harness these fragmented memories, but the burst of spiritual sense was too immense, and only a small portion of it had surged into Han Li''s soul before full saturation was reached.
The remaining spiritual sense swirled around Han Li''s soul, forming a glittering and translucent white cloud that was rapidly revolving along an extremely profound trajectory.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this. This burst of spiritual sense was far more powerful than his own, and this method of channeling spiritual sense was the exact method stipted in the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Han Li had been arduously cultivating the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique over the years, but it had been far more difficult to grasp than he had anticipated, and even after toiling away for several centuries, not much progress had been made.
As he felt this burst of spiritual sense swirling around him, he found solutions to many of the problems that had previously stumped him in his cultivation, and he was struck by a sense of enlightenment.
However, given the current situation, he couldn''t afford to immerse himself in all of this.
His eyes abruptly sprang open as he swept a sleeve through the air, and a ck flying sword shot out of the palm of his hand.
As soon as the flying sword was released, it instantly vanished into thin air, immediately following which countless ck sword projections emerged, forming a massive sword mountain that swept toward the pair of armor-d men.
There was no way that the two men would''ve failed to notice the eruption of spiritual sense from the ck-robed man''s mind, and sure enough, both of them turned to the body on the ground with astonished expressions before hurriedly darting back in retreat.
However, in their panic, both of them had failed to notice that a streak of translucent light had shot out of Han Li''s be before vanishing into thin air.
"How are you still not dead?!" the tall elderly man eximed in an incredulous voice as he made a grabbing motion with one hand, and countless blue ripples instantly surged out of the pal of his hand, forming a massive blue wyrm projection that swooped down toward the ck sword mountain.
The giant blue wyrm wrapped its body around the ck sword mountain, then released a burst of formidable cial power that instantly froze the entire surrounding space.
The ck sword mountain was also frozen solid and drew to an abrupt halt as a thickyer of blue ice crystals appeared over its surface.
As for the portly young man, there was a fearful look in his eyes, but he also sprang into action, sweeping a sleeve through the air to release a pair of crimson curved daggers, each of which was around three feet in length.
Bursts of crimson mes were burning over the curved daggers, forming a series of fiery crimson flowers that were giving off a terrifying scorching aura.
The two curved daggers circled around in the air before hurtling directly toward Han Li as two streaks of crimson light.
Right at this moment, Han Li thrust his hands into the ground,unching himself upward like a weightless sheet of paper, allowing him to just barely evade the two streaks of crimson light.
At the same time, a faint smile appeared on his face as he abruptly made a hand seal, and several translucent chains shot out of thin air behind the tall elderly man before vanishing into his head in a sh.
A horrified look appeared on the elderly man''s face, yet before he had a chance to do anything, his eyespletely zed over, while his body also became suspended in mid-air in apletely still manner.
The sneak attack from Han Li hade far too abruptly and unexpectedly, and the elderly man was barely able to disy any of his power before his soul was trapped within a Spiritual Sense Cage.
Chapter 608: Fragments
Chapter 608: Fragments
"Senior Martial Brother Gao!" the portly young man called out in an rmed voice, and the fear in his eyes became even more pronounced.
A cold smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he flew directly toward the young man with translucent light shing from his be.
The portly young man immediately flew away as a streak of crimson light in a blind panic, and he was in such a hurry to escape that he had even abandoned his pair of curved dagger immortal treasures.
The streak of crimson light vanished into the distance in the blink of an eye, and Han Li immediately stopped in his tracks upon seeing this, choosing not to give chase.
All of a sudden, hisplexion became extremely pale, and he was panting heavily as he drifted back down onto the ground.
There wasn''t much immortal spiritual power left in this body to begin with, and it had been virtuallypletely exhausted while Han Li was unleashing his Spirit Sense Cage on the elderly man, so if the portly young man had fought back, then he would''ve beenpletely powerless to resist.
Thankfully, the young man had a very cowardly personality, and he immediately fled the scene at the slightest show of intimidation.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce an Immortal Origin Stone that he held in his hand to recover his immortal spiritual power, and at the same time, he pointed a finger forward, mustering up what little remained of his immortal spiritual power to shoot a beam of ck light out of his fingertip, which pierced through the tall elderly man''s head.
The elderly man''s head instantly exploded, and his headless body toppled to the ground.
After doing all of that, Han Li also slumped to the ground, feelingpletely spent.
Now that the immediate threat had been dealt with, he was finally able to take a look at his surroundings, and he discovered that this yellow desert was rather simr to the setting that he had seen in that water droplet.
After sitting in silence for a short while, Han Li looked up to discover a Mantra Treasured Axis projection hovering above his head, and at this point, only a small portion of its 720 Time Dao Runes had faded.
He closed his eyes as he carefully sensed the cirction of the enormous spiritual sense in his mind, experiencing the feeling of the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique while also examining the memories of the body that he had possessed.
As it turned out, the ck-robed man''s name was Lu Renjia, and he was a Reincarnation Disciple of the Reincarnation Pce.
In contrast with Han Li, he was a true Reincarnation Disciple, granting him ess to a vast array of the Reincarnation Pce''s cultivation resources. However, in return, he had to periodicallyplete missions released by the Reincarnation Pce.
It was during one such mission that Lu Renjia hade to this ce, which was called the Open Origin Immortal Region, and he was ambushed by five immortal envoys of the Heavenly Court, thereby leading to his demise.
Han Li really wanted to know more about the Reincarnation Pce, so he closely examined Lu Renjia''s memory fragments, and a long whileter, he raised his head with slightly furrowed brows.
Most of Lu Renjia''s memory fragments contained cultivation information that was useless to him, and Han Li was only able to find very little information about the Reincarnation Pce.
Lu Renjia had already been a Reincarnation Disciple for over two million years, but he was a cultivation fanatic who was constantly cultivating in seclusion in his cave abode, very rarelying out to go anywhere.
Even though he was a Reincarnation Disciple, he had no intention of bing excessively involved with the Reincarnation Pce. He had carried out many Reincarnation Pce missions, but never had he met any of the Reincarnation Pce''s leading figures. The person that he came into contact with the most was a reincarnation envoy, who served as the contact between him and the Reincarnation Pce.
Aside from that, there was no other information pertaining to the Reincarnation Pce.
Han Li shook his head before raising his head to look up at the Mantra Treasured Axis projection once again, and at this point, over a quarter of the Time Dao Runes on its surface had already faded.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li rose to his feet, then made his way over to the body of the tall elderly man before tracking down his storage tool.
He then strode over to the other three bodies and collected their storage tools as well.
After that, he sat down and ced the four storage tools on the ground in front of himself along with Lu Renjia''s storage ring, then began to examine their contents one by one.
All five of these deceased cultivators had been at the High Zenith Stage, so they were extremely wealthy, and their storage tools contained enormous numbers of Immortal Origin Stones, as well as many immortal treasures, materials, and pills of an extremely high caliber.
Unfortunately, there was no way that Han Li could take these things with him, so he began focusing on things that could be of use to him.
Momentster, a small pile of items appeared on the ground in front of him, consisting mostly of some scriptures and jade slips, as well as a golden disk, a golden badge, and a white te.
Han Li picked up the golden disk and the white te for a brief examination, then set them down before picking up the golden badge.
He had seen both of these items in Gongshu Jiu''s storage tool before. The golden disk was the item that was used formunication between immortal envoys, while the white te was what they used to detect the aura of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
As for the golden badge, that appeared to be an identity badge, and each one of the four armor-d figures had one in their possession.
There was a beautiful dragon engraved onto the edge of the badge, and on one side was engraved the character for "Prison", while the other side carried a number.
Han Li briefly inspected the badge for a moment, then quickly set it aside before turning his attention to the scriptures and jade slips, most of which contained cultivation arts and secret techniques.
These were naturally all very remarkable cultivation arts, given that they were part of collections of High Zenith cultivators, and they were certainly very eye-opening for Han Li.
Even though he still had time, he didn''t want to spend too much of it here, so he quickly flipped through the scriptures one after another, making no attempt to memorize their contents.
All of a sudden, he spotted a gray jade slip, which contained a pill recipe as opposed to any cultivation art or secret technique.
The recipe was for a pill by the name of the Vajra Iron Bone Pill, and it contained thews of metal, able to enhance the consumer''s physical constitution while also aiding in the mastery of thews of metal.
Han Li took a nce at the Mantra Treasured Axis projection above his head to find that only less than half of its Time Dao Runes remained lit.
He then withdrew his gaze before taking some time to memorize the pill recipe, following which he tossed the jade slip aside before continuing to check through the other items.
It didn''t take long before he had examined all of the scriptures and jade slips, and he swept a sleeve through the air to stow them away, then picked up the five storage tools before flying away into the distance.
Shortly thereafter, he descended onto an oasis in the desert, at the center of which was a smallke.
He swept a sleeve through the air once again to release a burst of ck light that enveloped the storage tools, carrying them to thekebed before burying them.
After that, he sat down beside the oasis with his legs crossed and continued the experience the intricacies of the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
He hadn''t closely examined the contents of the storage tools as he wanted to dedicate as much time to experiencing the Spirit Refinement Technique as possible.
As time slowly passed by, the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis projection faded one after another, and as the final Time Dao Rune turned dark, the axis projection suddenly turned a ck color, then transformed into a vortex.
A burst of tremendous suction force surged out of the vortex, and Han Li''s soul was sucked into it without being able to pose any resistance.
Once again, his consciousness faded, and some timeter, he slowly opened his eyes, upon which he discovered that he had returned to his cave abode.
The Heaven Controlling Vial was still hovering in mid-air, but the green light that it was giving off was rapidly fading, and in the end, it returned to its original size before falling down from above.
Han Li reached out to catch the vial, then briefly examined it before injecting his spiritual sense into it, trying to contact the vial spirit that he had caught a brief glimpse of.
However, despite his best efforts, he was unable to garner any response from the vial spirit, and it was as if it had fallen into a slumber once again.
Han Li could only heave a resigned sigh before stowing the Heaven Controlling Vial away.
After that, he flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip, then transferred the Vajra Iron Bone Pill recipe that he had memorized onto it so that he wouldn''t forget it.
After stowing the jade slip away, Han Li took a deep breath before closing his eyes once again.
During this instance of spiritual transmigration, he had been transported into that mysterious space and witnessed that mysterious river, which had left him with many questions.
It seemed that the scenes flowing through the river depicted the history of certain people.
It appeared that all of these people had already died or were on the brink of death, and by possessing their bodies, Han Li was able to examine some of their memories and learn some things.
As for whether he could choose which target he could possess, that was something that he would have to examine next time.
The problem was that with each spiritual transmigration, all of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis would be snuffed out, and even though they were currently able to recover far faster than before, it would still take quite a bit of time for a full recovery.
The main reward that he had reaped from this instance of spiritual transmigration were the cultivation insights pertaining to the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique that he had gleaned from Lu Renjia.
With these newly gained insights, he was confident that he would be able to make far faster progress in his cultivation of the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Right as he was about to begin cultivating, he suddenly opened his eyes before casting his gaze outside.
A ball of white light light had flown in from outside the cave abode, and it circled around in Han Li''s secret chamber momentarily before suddenly shattering.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he rose to his feet before deactivating the surrounding restrictions, then made his way out of his secret chamber.
The gate of the cave abode was opened to reveal a gray-robed elderly man standing outside. The man had a goatee on his chin, and he had a rather snide and sneaky appearance.
Han Li faltered slightly at the sight of the elderly man, then smiled as he said, "Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Lu."
The elderly man was Lu Guanzi, who lived in the nearby Sunny Valley, and he got along very well with Daoist Master Jingyang and Immortal Lord Hot me, regrly paying them visits, so over time, Han Li had also be well acquainted with him.
"Please pardon my intrusion, Fellow Daoist Li," Lu Guanzi said with a smile.
"Come in! What brings you here today?" Han Li asked as he made an inviting hand gesture.
"It''s alright, let''s just talk here," Lu Guanzi refused with a faint smile.
Chapter 609: Return to Jade Gathering City
Chapter 609: Return to Jade Gathering City
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then smiled as he prompted, "Please go ahead, Fellow Daoist Lu."
"Recently, several fellow daoists and I discovered a set of ruins deep in the Heavenly Peak Mountain Range in the north. However, there are quite a few powerful restrictions and some other hazards present in the ruins, so we all decided toe back and recruit some more people to explore the ruins together.
You''re one of the most powerful cultivators in the few nearby valleys, so I thought I''de and ask if you were interested ining with us to try your luck," Lu Guanzi said with a smile.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he didn''t immediately offer a response.
The smile on Lu Guanzi''s face faded slightly at the sight of Han Li''s reaction, but he didn''t try to hurry Han Li into making a decision.
"Thank you for the invitation, Fellow Daoist Lu, but I''m busy with some other things at the moment, so I''m afraid I won''t be able to explore the ruins with you," Han Li replied after a brief silence.
Lu Guanzi could see that Han Li had already made up his mind, and a slightly disappointed look appeared on his face as he cupped his fist in a parting salute. "In that case, I''ll leave you to do what you need to do."
After escorting Lu Guanzi out of the cave abode, Han Li closed the gate and returned to his secret chamber before sitting down with his legs crossed.
He hadn''t turned down Lu Guanzi solely because he was busy cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique. Instead, there were some other factors at y as well.
With that in mind, he made a hand seal, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light, with all 720 of its Time Dao Runespletely dull and devoid of luster.
With his Mantra Treasured Axis in its current state, Han Li''s powers were significantly hampered, making it very unwise to venture into a set of potentially dangerous ruins.
After withdrawing the Mantra Treasured Axis back into his body, Han Li closed his eyes, and ayer of faintly rippling translucent light surfaced over his be.
The stone gate of his cave abode remained shut, and none of the residents of the Leisure Valley came to disturb him.
Over 30 years flew by in the blink of an eye, and on this day, a streak of light arrived from afar before descending in front of Han Li''s cave abode.
A disheveled elderly man emerged from the streak of light, and it was none other than Immortal Lord Hot me.
Before he even had a chance to announce his arrival, the gate of the cave abode swung open, and Han Li emerged from within with a smile on his face.
"My apologies for noting out to greet you sooner, Fellow Daoist Hot me."
"There''s no need to be so formal with me. Besides, I only just returned, so how could you have known toe out sooner than you did?" Immortal Lord Hot me said with a smile of his own.
"Pleasee in," Han Li said as he made an inviting hand gesture.
Immortal Lord Hot me waved a hand in response. "It''s alright, I won''te in. I came here today to deliver something to you. You''ve constantly been in seclusion ofte, so I could only wait until today."
An ted look immediately appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he eximed, "Could it be that you''ve found a Profound Zoysia Crystal?"
"I''m afraid not, Fellow Daoist Li. A material of such exceptional rarity is not that easy to find," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a wry smile.
"Oh? What else could it be then?" Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
A burst of white light shed over the palm of Immortal Lord Hot me''s hand, and he tossed an object at Han Li.
Upon catching the object, Han Li discovered that it was a palm-sized white jade badge, upon which was engraved a red leaf design, to the left of which was inscribed the words "outer sect elder badge" in ancient text.
This was an outer sect elder badge from the Fire Leaf Sect, which was the sect that Immortal Lord Hot me belonged to.
Han Li flipped the badge over to find that the words "Li Han" were engraved onto the other side.
"What is the meaning of this, Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Han Li asked.
"With this badge, you''ll officially be a registered cultivator at our Fire Leaf Sect, so you''ll be able to visit the inner city of Jade Gathering City as you please. Having said that, this badge is only a symbolic token, and you won''t be receiving any elder benefits from our sect. Ours is only a small sect, and we can''t afford any Golden Immortal Stage outer sect elders," Immortal Lord Hot me chuckled.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Hot me. Rest assured, if I''m going to serve as an outer sect elder of the Fire Leaf Sect, then I''ll be sure to do my part. From now, I can guarantee the provision of a batch of True Immortal Stage pills every 300 years. Of course, your sect will have to provide the ingredients," Han Li said.
"There''s no need for that, Fellow Daoist Li. All of us havee to this ce to unburden ourselves from responsibilities. I''m not giving this badge to you because I want something in return, so there''s really no need for you to promise me anything," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a serious expression.
"Rest assured, refining a batch of True Immortal Stage pills every 300 years is not much of a hassle for me at all. I presume it wasn''t easy for you to secure this elder badge for me, so it''s the least that I can do," Han Li said.
Even though Immortal Lord Hot me wasn''t explicitly asking for anything in return, Han Li naturally couldn''t just take the badge free of charge. Furthermore, it was clear from the barely concealed delight in Immortal Lord Hot me''s eyes that this was the exact oue that he had been hoping for.
In the short term, a batch of True Immortal Stage pills every 300 years wasn''t going to have much of an impact, but how would it look after tens of thousands of years? It wouldn''t exactly be enough to elevate the Fire Leaf Sect to a whole new level, but it would certainly allow the sect to put some distance between itself and its closestpetitors.
Even though Immortal Lord Hot me hade to reside in the Leisure Valley to escape from his worldly responsibilities, it was clear that the Fire Leaf Sect still held an important ce in his heart.
All official personnel changes inrge and medium-sized sects within the territory of Jade Gathering City had to undergo a screening and registration process with the ck Mountain Immortal Pce.
Outer sect disciples weren''t considered to be official sect members, but all inner sect disciples, outer sect elders, core disciples, and inner sect elders fell into that category, and the higher one''s rank in the sect, the more rigorous the screening process would be.
"I have some acquaintances in the ck Mountain Immortal Pce, so the registration process shouldn''t be a problem," Immortal Lord Hot me said.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Hot me," Han Li said as he extended another grateful salute.
"If you insist on being so formal with me, then I''m going to take back the badge," Immortal Lord Hot me said in a stern manner.
Han Li chuckled in response as he stowed the badge away, and the two of them chatted for a while longer before Immortal Lord Hot me departed, while Han Li returned to his cave abode.
......
Two monthster.
Jade Gathering City was riddled with countless streets and alleys, and there were shops and merchant carriages stretching as far as the eyes could see, interspersed throughout which were throngs of people, presenting an extremely lively and bustling sight to behold.
Numerous enormous merchant ships could also be seen in the sky, flying along set trajectories before descending onto the docks in the city in an orderly fashion, transporting all types of different wares.
The outer and inner cities were separated by a giant city wall that was over a thousand feet tall, which was patrolled by cultivators, and there was a huge city gate in each direction, north, south, east, and west, all of which were overseen by True Immortals.
The people streaming through the northern gate of the inner city was rtively sparsepared with the other three gates, and there were only fewer than two hundred people gathered there in a line, waiting to be examined before being granted permissions to enter the inner city.
Near the back of the line was none other than the azure-robed Han Li, who was currently inspecting the city gate up ahead.
Numerous array patterns had been engraved into the city wall around the gate, and they would glow with azure light whenever someone made their way through the gate.
It seemed that this was a measure in ce to examine the cultivation bases of those wishing to enter the city. Whenever the array patterns lit up, that meant that the person being examined was at least at the early-True Immortal Stage, and as long as they were verified to be registered with a local sect, then they were granted free passage into the inner city.
Han Li was slowly advancing forward in the line when someone suddenly flew directly past him, flying directly toward the city gate without any regard for the line or disying any items of identification.
Right as everyone was wondering what this person was doing, the array patterns engraved into the city wall suddenly began to glow with dazzling golden light, indicating that the new arrival was a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal.
Even though Jade Gathering City was the number one city in the northern part of the ck Mountain Immortal Region, High Zenith cultivators were still a very rare sight here, so everyone was looking on in awe and wonder.
Before anyone had a chance to catch a clear glimpse of the Jade Immortal, they had already drifted into the inner city and vanished out of sight.
After a brief disturbance, the line settled down again before continuing to advance toward the city gate.
A few minutester, Han Li arrived at the city gate, and the array patterns around the gate began to glow white, reflecting his Golden Immortal Stage cultivation base.
At the request of the cultivators stationed at the city gate, Han Li offered up his Fire Leaf Sect elder badge, and one of them epted the badge before cing it onto a nearby stone tform.
The miniature array on the stone tform immediately lit up to examine the badge, and momentster, the badge was returned to Han Li by a middle-aged cultivator, who said in a respectful manner, "You''re free to enter the inner city, Senior."
Han Li recovered his badge before making his way through the city gate, and as soon as he set foot into the inner city, he instantly felt as if his surroundings had be a little brighter, while the spiritual qi in the surrounding air had also be more abundant.
Han Li examined his surroundings briefly to discover that there were countless strange runes engraved onto the ground and the walls of the nearby buildings, and he couldn''t help but remark to himself, "This entire inner city has been constructed like an immortal sect! No wonder the people on Rxation Mountain always speak of the inner city of Jade Gathering City with such reverence."
As he made his way deeper into the inner city, he discovered that it was far more peaceful here than in the outer city.
There weren''t many pedestrians on the streets, and most of them were traversing from one shop to another.
Han Li picked out a shop that was situated in arge three-story pavilion before making his way inside, but it didn''t take long before he was escorted back out of the shop by an apologetic-looking shopkeeper.
ording to the shopkeeper, only three shops in Jade Gathering City had any chance of having a Profound Zoysia Crystal in their catalog, and even if they did, they were very unlikely to be willing to sell such a precious material.
Han Li had already anticipated this, so he wasn''t overly disappointed, but he still decided to try his luck in the city.
Chapter 610: Golden Jade Silk Square
Chapter 610: Golden Jade Silk Square
Over the course of the day, Han Li visited dozens of shops, but the oue was the same every single time. In fact, many of the shopkeepers had told him that while a Profound Zoysia Crystal had indeed once appeared in Jade Gathering City, the chances of it reappearing in the city were slim to none.
However, Han Li remained unfazed as he continued to go from one shop to the next.
At this point, it was getting quite close to night time, and Han Li had arrived at the Jade Kun Pagoda that Immortal Lord Hot me had spoken of.
In contrast with Han Li''s expectations, the Jade Kun Pagoda wasn''t some particrly grand and majestic building. Instead, it was an octagonal pagoda with red walls and green roof tiles, looking much like a building one would find in the mortal world.
At this moment, the pagoda''s southern entrance was closed, and there was a sealing talisman that bore the insignia of the ck Mountain Immortal Pce stered to it.
After asking around, Han Li learned that the Jade Kun Pagoda was not just some ordinary shop. Instead, it was an auction venue that only opened during the city founding celebration, which took ce once every three thousand years, and there were still two hundred to three hundred years until the next celebration.
Hence, Han Li made his way to a rather secluded immortal inn in Jade Gathering City, then rented a cave abode for himself there, going out to continue his search during the day while cultivating at night.
Five or six years flew by in a sh.
During this time, Han Li didn''t have any luck in his search for the Profound Zoysia Crystal, but he learned many things about Jade Gathering City.
This ce was truly a central hub for countless immortals and businesses, and the number and variety of things like spirit materials, spirit medicines, treasures, and cultivation arts being sold here far surpassed that of any city in the Northern cial Immortal Region.
Furthermore, the wares being sold here held significant advantages in terms of quality and price as well.
Compared with the free market system adopted in the Transient Guild, the prices of the wares being sold in Jade Gathering City were clearly determined in a much more organized and systematic fashion. Hence, during his search for a Profound Zoysia Crystal, Han Li had sold many of his redundant immortal treasures, spirit materials, and other items, and he had also purchased many supplementary ingredients for refining Baleful Quelling Pills.
However, he didn''t dare to splurge excessively on those items, only buying one or two of each supplementary ingredient. After all, he was going to need all of the Immortal Origin Stones that he could save up if he really did encounter a Profound Zoysia Crystal.
He had made a killing back in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, but in the wake of his journey through the primordialnd and the expenditures that he had made in Jade Gathering City, he currently only had fewer than five hundred thousand Immortal Origin Stones left.
This sounded like quite a significant sum, and it was, but it was only a fraction of the wealth that he had possessed prior to entering the primordialnd. This rate of spending was quite rming to Han Li, and he decided that he had to be more frugal from now on.
At this point, he had already visited most of therge shops in the city, but he still hadn''t received any news on the Profound Zoysia Crystal. During his search, he had significantly neglected hsi cultivation, so he left Jade Gathering City and returned to the Leisure Valley once again.
The days spent in the valley were just as peaceful and leisurely as usual, and less than half a year following Han Li''s return, he suddenly received a message from Daoist Master Jingyang, inviting him to a gathering at the Wave Ripple Pavilion in the valley.
He dered that the Purple Seductress wine that he had been brewing was ready, and he wanted everyone to have a taste.
Han Li initially turned down the invitation, but Daoist Master Jingyang was very persistent, sending him two more invitations, so Han Li had no choice but to oblige in the end.
The Wave Ripple Pavilion was situated quite deep in the Leisure Valley, and it was closest to Mo Wuxue''s cave abode. It was a waterside pavilion constructed at the center of a pond, and it wasn''t veryrge, but it was a beautiful disy of intricate craftsmanship.
By the time Han Li arrived, everyone had already gathered in the pavilion.
Duan Yuzai and the others were seated around a stone table that wasden with immortal fruits, beside which was a green jade wine gon that contained fragrant dark purple wine, while Yu Ziqi was seated with his legs crossed behind a guqin further away from everyone else.
His slim fingers were gently strumming the strings of his guqin, and there was a warm smile on his face as he asionally nced at the only woman in the pavilion.
"Fellow Daoist Li, you are the only one in this valley whose taste is on aparable level to mine. If you didn''t show up, I would''ve been absolutely distraught!" Daoist Master Jingyangined at Han Li''s tardy arrival.
"My apologies, Fellow Daoist Jingyang. I only just came back from Jade Gathering City, and I still had some errands to attend to. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have turned down your initial invitation," Han Li replied as he cupped his fist in an apologetic salute.
Mo Wuxue was a beautiful young woman in a white dress, and she asked, "I hear you went to Jade Gathering City to find a Floral Heart Stone. Did you manage to find one?"
"I''m afraid not, Celestial Maiden Mo," Han Li replied with a wry smile and a shake of his head.
Duan Yuzai was in his usual pristine ck robe, and he said, "None of my old friends were able to provide any news on a Profound Zoysia Crystal, either."
"I suppose there isn''t much that we can do aside from wait. Let''s not discuss this matter today. Otherwise, it would spoil the mood and do aplete injustice to Fellow Daoist Yu''s music and Fellow Daoist Jingyang''s exquisite Purple Seductress,''" Han Li said with a faint smile.
"Indeed, Fellow Daoist Li! I propose a toast!" Daoist Master Jingyang said with a wide smile as he presented a filled jade cup to Han Li.
Han Li epted the cup, then took a slight whiff of its contents before listing out a string of ingredients, then concluded, "You''ve truly added a whole host of exceptional ingredients to this wine, Fellow Daoist Jingyang."
"That''s extraordinary, Fellow Daoist Li! You''ve just listed almost all of the ingredients in my wine brewing recipe, and you haven''t even taken a sip yet! How did you manage to do that?" Daoist Master Jingyang eximed.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Jingyang, this is nowhere near as impressive as you make it sound," Han Li chuckled in a modest fashion.
Back in the ze Dragon Dao, Han Li had tasted a vast array of exceptional wines with Daoist Hu Yan, and the two of them had discussed wine brewing extensively, thereby allowing Han Li to develop a very deep andprehensive understanding in this field.
The wine soon began to flow, and as everyone was enjoying the Purple Maiden brew, Daoist Master Jingyang suddenly turned to Immortal Lord Hot me with a gloating look on his face as he asked, "Old Man Hot me, you''ve been in Jade Gathering City for a long time, have you ever attended a Jade Kun Pagoda auction?"
"The auction only takes ce once every three thousand years, and the spots are always limited. The Golden Jade Silk Squares required for entry to the auction is exceptionally rare, and I recall one time that someone was reselling a Golden Jade Silk Square for as high as six hundred Immortal Origin Stones!
I may be the grand elder of the Fire Leaf Sect, but even I can''t just go wasting six hundred Immortal Origin Stones on a Golden Jade Silk Square, so I''ve naturally never attended one of these auctions," Immortal Lord Hot me replied.
"So that means you''ve never seen a Golden Jade Silk Square before, right?" Daoist Master Jingyang asked with a smug smile.
"What are you trying to say?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked as a disgruntled look appeared in his eyes.
"I wanted to show you something..."
Daoist Master Jingyang raised a hand as he spoke, and a palm-sized golden silk square appeared amid a sh of golden light.
The silk square looked as if it had been woven out of countless incredibly thin silk threads, and an octagonal pagoda design was embroidered onto its center, surrounded by images of various types of birds, beasts, insects, and fish.
It was immediately apparent to Han Li that the octagonal pagoda was the Jade Kun Pagoda.
"Impossible! There are still over two hundred years until the next auction, there''s no way the Golden Jade Silk Squares would be released this earlier!" Immortal Lord Hot me eximed as he sprang to his feet with a stunned expression.
"What? Are you saying that my Golden Jade Silk Square is fake?" Daoist Master Jingyang asked as a displeased look appeared on his face.
"Of course I know it''s not fake. These Golden Jade Silk Squares were created by the Hundred Creations Mountain, and there''s no way this level of craftsmanship can be faked. On top of that, with the ck Mountain Immortal Pce overseeing these auctions, who would dare to make a counterfeit? Only someone with a death wish would do that!" Immortal Lord Hot me grumbled.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing mention of the Hundred Creations Mountain.
He wasn''t unfamiliar with this sect. In fact, the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra that he had cultivated back in the Spirit Realm hade from the Hundred Creations Mountain, and he had also heard mention of this sect on multiple asions since then.
Even in the context of the entire True Immortal Realm, the Hundred Creations Mountain was an extremely prominent tool refinement sect, and it was extraordinarily powerful, with branches set up in many major immortal regions.
Yu Ziqi also stood up and made his way over to Mo Wuxue''s side upon seeing this.
With everyone''s attention focused on him, Daoist Master Jingyang was feeling even more smug, and he feigned an expression of modesty as he said in a nonchnt voice, "It''s no big deal..."
"You didn''t invite all of us here to drink wine, you old fart! You made all of use here so that you could show off your Golden Jade Silk Square!" Immortal Lord Hot me denounced.
"No, no, I''m showing all of you this Golden Jade Silk Square because I wanted to tell Fellow Daoist Li that I''ll be keeping an eye out for any Profound Zoysia Crystals during the Jade Kun Pagoda auction, and that if I see one, I''ll be sure to secure it for him," Daoist Master Jingyang exined.
"In that case, why don''t you just do Fellow Daoist Li another favor and give him this Golden Jade Silk Square outright?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with a sly grin.
"Well... I also want to see if any treasures that are to my liking will show up during the auction," Daoist Master Jingyang said with a faint smile as he stowed the Golden Jade Silk Square away.
Han Li was naturally quite eager to secure the Golden Jade Silk Square for himself, and he transmitted his voice directly to Daoist Master Jingyang as he asked, "Would it be possible for you to give me the Golden Jade Silk Square, Fellow Daoist Jingyang? I can repay you in anything, whether that be Immortal Origin Stones, pills, treasures, or even the wine recipes that you''ve always wanted."
Chapter 611: True Identity
Chapter 611: True Identity
Daoist Master Jingyang was silent for a long while, seemingly mulling over Han Li''s offer, but ultimately, he replied, "My apologies, but this Golden Jade Silk Square was quite difficult toe by, so I can''t give it to you. Rest assured, I''ll definitely secure a Profound Zoysia Crystal for you if it shows up during the auction."
"In that case, can you at least tell me how you managed to obtain this Golden Jade Silk Square?" Han Li asked.
"Even though the auction is set to take ce over two hundred yearster, the preparations for the event have already begun. I hear that they''re missing a pill refinement master for pill appraisals, and I can see that you''re a verypetent pill refinement master, so perhaps you can apply for the role," Daoist Master Jingyang replied.
"Is that how you were able to secure your Golden Jade Silk Square, Fellow Daoist Jingyang?" Han Li asked.
"I''m trying to do you a favor here, Fellow Daoist Li, please don''t pry into my personal matters," Daoist Master Jingyang replied in a resigned manner.
"My apologies. You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist."
Immortal Lord Hot me and the others were naturally oblivious to the conversation that had just taken ce, and they continued to drink wine while denouncing Daoist Master Jingyang for being too stingy.
......
Half a monthter, Han Li left the Leisure Valley once again.
In ordance with the instructions provided to him by Daoist Master Jingyang, he traveled directly to the Jade Kun Pavilion upon entering Jade Gathering City.
Just likest time, the doors of the Jade Kun Pagoda were tightly shut and sealed with talismans.
Han Li made his way around the Jade Kun Pagoda, then traveled down a street behind the pagoda until he entered a dead-end that was around six feet wide.
He strode over to the wall at the conclusion of the dead-end, then conjured up some immortal spiritual power over the palm of his hand before pressing it against the wall, upon which his entire body sank into the wall.
Han Li''s vision turned dark for a moment, following which he arrived in a spacious courtyard.
Immediately thereafter, the sound of nging armor rang out, and several warriors d in suits of bright silver armor converged to surround him.
Han Li swept his gaze over these warriors and was surprised to discover that none of them were living beings. Instead, they were all Dao Warriors, and what was most remarkable about them was their suits of armor were riddled with spirit patterns that were giving off formidable energy fluctuations.
Each one of them seemed to possess Grand Ascension Stage power, which was naturallypletely insignificant in the face of a Golden Immortal, but there were potentially some other special restrictions concealed in their bodies.
"Who goes there?" one of the Dao Warriors asked in a rather mechanical voice.
"I heard that the Jade Kun Pagoda requires a pill refinement master, so I''vee here to try my luck," Han Li replied in a direct and straightforward manner.
"Come with me," the Dao Warrior instructed, then began to make its way toward a hall at the back of the courtyard.
Han Li followed along behind the Dao Warrior, while the other Dao Warriors also trailed along, continuing to surround Han Li in a loose encirclement.
Upon arriving at the entrance of the hall, the Dao Warriors formed two lines on either side of the entrance before falling still, while Han Li took a brief nce at his surroundings before entering the hall.
The interior of the hall was brightly lit, and there were threerge chairs ced at its entrance. The chairs on either side were upied by a thin elderly man wearing a tall hat and a burly elderly man with a dark redplexion, while the middle chair was vacant.
Both of the men were wearing the same attire with a me design embroidered onto the chest of their robes, within which was what appeared to be a pair of iron hammers crossed over each other.
"You''re here to apply for the role of pill appraiser?" the thin man on the left asked in a slightly raspy voice.
"That''s right," Han Li replied.
"Do you know what prerequisite must be satisfied for the role?" the burly man on the right asked.
"No," Han Li replied.
"We need a pill refinement master that can refine at least High Zenith Stage pills. Do you fit the bill?" the thin man asked.
"Does that mean that if I can refine High Zenith Stage pills, I''ll receive a Golden Jade Silk Square?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. If you can do that, then you''ll be able to attend the auction, but of course, you have to fulfill your duties as a pill appraiser at the event," the burly man confirmed with a nod.
Han Li didn''t waste any more time, cutting straight to the chase as he asked, "Do you have a pill refinement chamber here that I can use?"
"You can use the side hall to your left," the burly man replied.
Han Li did as he was told, making his way into the side hall before closing the door.
Right at this moment, a figure slowly emerged from the back of the hall, then sat down casually onto the middle chair. He then took a nce at the side hall to the left and chuckled, "It looks like he''s set up an istion restriction of quite a high caliber. How cautious..."
"Is he really able to refine High Zenith Stage pills, Deputy Mountain Master?" the thin man asked as he turned to the man in the middle chair.
"Who knows? We''ll just have to wait and see..."
......
Close to half a year flew by in the blink of an eye, and on this day, the door of the side hall finally swung open.
After one failure, Han Li used his final remaining batch of ingredients to refine three Clear Jade Pills.
"These pills are of an exceptional quality and contain tremendous spiritual qi! Out of all of the Clear Jade Pills I''ve seen, these definitely rank among the top three!" the thin man praised in an ecstatic voice as he examined the freshly refined batch of pills.
The burly man was far more calm andposed, but there was still a pleased smile on his face as he agreed, "Indeed! You definitely possess the pill refinement nous required to take on the role of pill appraiser during the auction."
Han Li epted the Clear Jade Pills that were being handed back to him by the thin man, then smiled as he asked, "In that case, it''s about time that Fellow Daoist Jingyang came out to see me, right?"
The expressions of both men stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and they exchanged an awkward nce with one another.
Right at this moment, Daoist Master Jingyang emerged from the back of the hall as he chuckled, "As expected of you to have correctly guessed my identity right away, Fellow Daiost Li."
He was also wearing a robe of the same style as the other two men in the hall, except the me design embroidered onto the chest of the robe was golden in color.
"It was quite obvious. Back when I first arrived here, they didn''t even ask who I was before allowing me tomence my pill refinement attempt right away, so they clearly already knew who I was in advance. On top of that, they were already aware that I woulde here.
¡°To make things even more obvious, the main chair in the hall had been left vacant, all but telling me that there was someone else overseeing the proceedings from behind the scenes," Han Li said with a smile.
"You really should learn to be more subtle and tactful, Fellow Daoist Li," Daoist Master Jingyang chuckled as he took a nce at the vacant chair in the hall.
After that, he dismissed the other two men, then began making his way toward the back of the hall.
"I wanted toy things out to you in a more direct fashion, but this auction is being jointly held by the ck Mountain Immortal Pce and our Hundred Creations Mountain, and there are some rules that I have to follow. I''m already aware of your pill refinement prowess, so I only asked you toe here as a formality more than anything else," Daoist Master Jingyang exined.
"Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Fellow Daoist Jingyang. May I ask what you true identity is?" Han Li asked.
Daoist Master Jingyang heaved a faint sigh upon hearing this, and he pulled out a wine gourd from beneath his robe, then took a sip of wine before replying, "I am one of the 72 deputy mountain masters of the Hundred Creations Mountain, and I''m responsible for overseeing our ck Soil Immortal Region branch."
"ck Soil Immortal Region? Not the ck Mountain Immortal Region?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression.
"The ck Soil Immortal Region, the ck Mountain Immortal Region, the Concealed Lake Immortal Region, and the Origin Contention Immortal Region are very close to each other, and aren''t separated by any primordialnds, so they''re collectively known as the four allied immortal regions.
¡°Our Hundred Creations Mountain branch is set in the ck Soil Immortal Region, but it oversees all of the four allied immortal regions. Otherwise, a deputy mountain master like myself wouldn''t have been assigned to this ce," Daoist Master Jingyang exined.
"In that case, why have you concealed your identity and settled in the Leisure Valley?" Han Li asked.
"I''m a lot like Old Man Hot me, I can''t stand having to deal with a bunch of official responsibilities. I came to the ck Mountain Immortal Region because I had heard that the Floating Cloud Mountain Range was a great ce to escape from worldly responsibilities, and I met Yu Ziqi and became close friends with him on the way here," Daoist Master Jingyang exined.
Daoist Master Jingyang could see that Han Li was still looking a bit skeptical, and a disgruntled look appeared on his face as he eximed, "Quit suspecting me of foul y! I didn''t even have to personally oversee this auction, nor did I want to get involved, but I did so anyway just to gather information about Floral Heart Stones for you! You should be grateful rather than suspicious!"
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and he asked, "Is that really the case?"
"Well, I suppose that''s not entirely true. I alwayse to attend these auctions, but only on my own behalf, it''s just that this time, I''m getting involved in the official side of things," Daoist Master Jingyang admitted as a sheepish smile appeared on his face.
"In any case, I must thank you, Fellow Daoist Jingyang. You can have the brewing recipes for Fire Drop Wine and Red Mulberry Wine in return for what you''ve done for me. As for everyone else in the Leisure Valley, rest assured, I won''t speak of this to anyone," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute.
Daoist Master Jingyang immediately gave Han Li a thumbs up as he praised, "You''re a good man, Fellow Daoist Li! Come, let''s go and have a drink together. Neither of us is going home until we''re both drunk!"
Chapter 612: Insider Information
Chapter 612: Insider Information
Two hundred years was nothing more than the blink of an eye in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.
Over the past two hundred years, the residents of the mountain range continued to while away their days, engaging in various hobbies and leisurely activities, enjoying life in the ways that they saw fit, as opposed to focusing on cultivation.
During this time, some more residents had moved into the mountain range, while some had left, but not much attention was paid to these personnel shifts.
The True Immortal Realm was still the same True Immortal Realm, but several generations had already passed by in the mortal world, and perhaps even dynasties hade and gone.
Every once in a while, Han Li would return to Jade Gathering City to search for Profound Zoysia Crystals, and during those trips, he had sold and bought pills and spirit medicines from many of the shops in the inner city.
As a result, they had all be quite familiar with him, and it soon becamemon knowledge that there was an outer sect elder of the Fire Leaf Sect searching for a Floral Heart Stone.
However, during his past few visits to the city, Han Li noticed that many ces in the city were under repair, and decorations had already been put up on some of the main streets in anticipation for the celebratory ceremony that was to take ce in the city once every three thousand years.
In particr, over the past few months, ships had been flying into the city from all parts of the ck Mountain Immortal Region and even from the neighboring few immortal regions, so all of the docks in the city had be very busy.
There were also all types of signs and banners hung up outside the shops in the city, carrying phrases like "great quality and fair prices" and "all immortals and mortals wee". There were also some more unique advertisements like "buy one get one free", "big discounts inside", and "don''t miss these once-in-three-thousand-years savings".
Compared with the past, there were more people in Jade Gathering City, and all of the immortal inns in the city had already reached full capacity. As a result, many of the sects in the city had opened up their spare courtyards for visiting merchants and cultivators to live in, earning some rent in the process.
Even the usual peace in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range had been broken, with many of its residents nning to enter Jade Gathering City during the festivities to see if they could acquire some items to their liking.
Even though they lived quite close to Jade Gathering City, they were anticipating the celebrations just as eagerly as all of the foreign cultivators who had gathered from far and wide.
This was because during the seven days in which the celebrations were held, all of the restrictions in the city were lifted, and everyone was allowed to visit the outer and inner cities as they pleased.
On top of that, hundreds of auctions hosted by various different powers were going to be held in the city, and the most prominent one of all of them was none other than the auction jointly held by the ck Mountain Immortal Pce and the Hundred Creations Mountain in the Jade Kun Pagoda.
The reason why this auction was garnering so much attention wasn''t just because of its powerful official backing. Instead, it was because there were several premium items that appeared in virtually every single auction that were highly sought after even for High Zenith Stage Jade Immortals.
Whenever such a treasure appeared, a fierce bidding war would inevitably follow, and regardless of who managed to secure the item in the end, it would be a story that was told for a long time toe.
Seven days before themencement of the ceremony, Han Li arrived in the Jade Kun Pagoda with Daoist Master Jingyang.
There was an underground pce inside the pagoda, within which were all types of intricate arrays and restrictions, and there were also three Golden Immortal Stage elders stationed inside at all times. This was where all of the auction items were being stored.
Han Li and the other two pill appraisers began to appraise the pills and spirit medicines among the auction items with Daoist Master Jingyang in apaniment, cataloging the items one after another.
Only on the eve of the ceremony were all of the auction items finally cataloged and stored away appropriately.
Having already grown ustomed to a peaceful life of leisure, the past few days of toil had taken quite a toll on Daoist Master Jingyang, and as soon as all of the tasks that he had to attend to werepleted, he immediately made his way to the courtyard that Han Li was staying in.
Even before he announced his arrival, Han Li had already opened the door before inviting him into the room.
After Daoist Master Jingyang had taken a seat, Han Li poured a cup of tea for him, then jibed, "It''s a good feeling to be doing everything in person, isn''t it?"
"It''s been a very long time since I''ve had to conduct official duties like this, and I have to say, it''s quite exhausting," Daoist Master Jingyang replied with a wry smile.
He then took a slightly disdainful nce at the tea that Han Li had poured for him before asking, "Do you have any more Fire Drop Wine?"
"Didn''t I already give you the wine recipe? Why are you still asking me for wine?" Han Li asked.
"Don''t be so stingy! Your wine is much more aged than mine! My wine is only less than 150 years old, so it doesn''t taste anywhere near as good. Also, I''m not just drinking your wine for free, I have some insider information to divulge to you," Daoist Master Jingyang said as he lowered his voice in a mysterious manner.
Han Li could only give a wry smile upon hearing this, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon a dark gray wine jar.
"This is the final jar in my collection, and it''s even older than the one I treated you tost time, so whatever insider information you have for me better be worth my while," Han Li said as he removed the y seal of the jar.
As the rich fragrance of the wine filled the entire room, Daoist Master Jingyang''s eyes immediately lit up, and he eagerly filled a teacup with wine before downing it in one go, then smacked his lips with a blissful expression as he savored the residual vor of the wine.
"This is truly some exceptional wine," Daoist Master Jingyang praised as he reached out for the wine jar again, only to be stopped by Han Li.
"What insider information do you have to tell me?" Han Li asked.
"Can''t you wait for me to have a few more cups of wine first?" Daoist Master Jingyangined.
"Hurry up!" Han Li urged.
"Fine... The Profound Zoysia Crystal that you''re looking for has turned up. The final batch of auction items that arrived this afternoon just so happened to include a Profound Zoysia Crystal," Daoist Master Jingyang revealed.
An ecstatic look immediately appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
"Don''t celebrate just yet!" Daoist Master Jingyang continued. "The projected starting price for the crystal will be one thousand Immortal Origin Stones, and the final selling price could easily be several times the starting price. Do you have enough money to afford it?"
Han Li was internally rather amused to hear this. For the average Golden Immortal, several thousand Immortal Origin Stones would indeed be a significant sum, but it wasn''t a concern at all for Han Li.
"Don''t forget that I''m a pill refinement master, Fellow Daoist Jingyang. My spending is very extravagant, but I can earn money just as quickly. I''ve already nned for this for a very long time, so I''m naturally well prepared," Han Li replied with a smile.
Despite Han Li''s reassurance, Daoist Master Jingyang wasn''t entirely convinced that Han Li wasn''t being overconfident. Having attended so many of these auctions himself, he had seen far too many people going in with what they perceived to be more than sufficient funds, only to fall well short in the end.
However, instead of directly expressing his skepticism, Daoist Master Jingyang said, "If you don''t have enough Immortal Origin Stones on the day, you can pawn some pills to our Hundred Creations Mountain, and I''ll make sure to offer you some good prices. If you wish to buy back the pills, you can do so at the same price. How does that sound?"
"That''s very kind of you, Fellow Daoist Jingyang," Han Li replied as he pushed the entire jar of Fire Drop Wine toward Daoist Master Jingyang.
......
The next morning, a resounding bell chime rang out across the entirety of Jade Gathering City.
All four of the inner city''s gates were opened, and the cultivators stationed at the city gates had also been removed, but the number of cultivators patrolling the city walls had increased by severalfold.
As the restrictions on the city gates faded, all of the cultivators that were already waiting outside eagerly poured into the inner city.
The peaceful streets and alleys of the inner city instantly became very rowdy and lively as throngs of people spread throughout the inner city, with some visiting the shops that lined the streets, while others went to attend the auctions being held.
All of a sudden, the inner city had be even more lively and bustling than the outer city.
At night, the decorativenterns in the inner city were lit, basking the entire ce in a bright red glow, and fireworks were also set off atop the city walls to further enhance the celebratory atmosphere.
Six days flew by in a sh, and it was finally time for the heavily anticipated Jade Kun Pagoda auction.
As part of the auction''s organizer panel, Han Li and Daoist Master Jingyang were able to enter the auction venue ahead of everyone else.
From the outside, the Jade Kun Pagoda appeared to be no different from an ordinary pagoda, but it was extraordinarily spacious inside.
At the center of the pagoda was arge circr stone tform that was clearly going to be used to disy the auction items, and there was a tight and orderly circle of small guest suites around the stone tform.
Overall, there were several hundred of these guest suites on the first, second, and third floors.
Each suite contained a table and a cushion, and on each table was ced an incense burner, as well as some spirit fruits and a gon of fine wine.
Han Li and Daoist Master Jingyang made their way into a guest suite on the second floor, and inside was a young woman in a pce dress, who immediately brought in an additional cushion before filling their cups with wine.
Han Li took a nce at the woman, and to his surprise, she was not an actual person. Instead, it was a puppet that was giving off a Core Formation Stage aura.
Han Li withdrew his gaze from the puppet, then asked, "Are you really not going to host the auction, Fellow Daoist Jingyang?"
Chapter 613: Unexpected First Item
Chapter 613: Unexpected First Item
"Have I not been busy enough these past few days?" Daoist Master Jingyang harrumphed in an indignant manner. "Right now, all I want to do is participate in the auction in peace and acquire whatever catches my eye."
"If your Hundred Creations Mountain is overseeing this auction, then why are you taking such a roundabout route by attending the auction? Why not just purchase whatever you want before the auction begins?" Han Li asked.
"Not all of the auction itemse from our Hundred Creations Mountain, Fellow Daoist Li. Some were sent here from elsewhere by the ck Mountain Immortal Pce, while others came from certain major sects in the immortal region. There are many significant parties involved in this auction, so I can''t just do whatever I please," Daoist Master Jingyang exined with a shake of his head.
"In that case, it sounds like I won''t be able to save any Immortal Origin Stones through my connection to you," Han Li said with an amused smile.
"There''s a set of rules that dictate how the auction is run, and the event is also overseen by people from the Immortal Pce, so no one has an unfair advantage over anyone else. The only thing that any of us can do is prepare as many Immortal Origin Stones as possible. Just like fine wines, fine treasures are priceless, and if you spot one, you have to make sure to im it so you don''te to regret it in the future," Daoist Master Jingyang replied.
As the two of them were chatting with each other, some of the auction-goers had already begun filing into the venue, and they were making their way into the guest suites on the third floor.
Around two hourster, all of the hundreds of guest suites in the entire Jade Kun Pagoda had been upied, and after a brief examination, Han Li discovered that all of their upants were at or above the early-Golden Immortal Stage, including some unfathomable figures whose cultivation bases were undetectable to him.
Given how precious those Golden Jade Silk Squares were, they were all but unobtainable for the average cultivator, so it made sense that everyone attending the auction possessed such lofty cultivation bases.
Having said that, there were hundreds of other auctions that those other cultivators could attend, so their visit to the inner city certainly wouldn''t be in vain.
Right at this moment, the thin elderly man from the Hundred Creations Mountain and a white-robed male representative of the ck Mountain Immortal Pce stepped onto the round stone tform together.
"That man''s name is Fu Yuhai, and he''s the head of the ck Mountain Immortal Pce''s northern branch. He''s also ate-Golden Immortal cultivator, but he doesn''t have much actual jurisdictive power here. The one that''s truly calling the shots is still that immortal envoy from the Heavenly Court that''s stationed in the city, but he rarely ever makes an appearance," Daoist Master Jingyang exined.
"Do you know the cultivation base of that immortal envoy?" Han Li asked in a seemingly nonchnt, conversational manner.
"I do not. He''s very mysterious, and even I''ve never had the chance to meet him," Daoist Master Jingyang replied with a shake of his head.
During the brief course of their conversation, Daiost Master Jingyang had already downed an entire gon of wine on his own, and the puppet immediately brought out another gon.
At this point, Fu Yuhai had alreadypleted his introduction of the event, and the thin man from the Hundred Creations Mountain stepped forward to take his ce as he dered, "Make sure to stay within your means during the auction and don''t bite off more than you can chew. Once a bid is made, it cannot be revoked, so if anyone is found to be unable to afford a bid that they''ve made, then there will be consequences."
Fu Yuhai swept his gaze over the surrounding area, then took over from the thin man again as he dered, "Let the auction begin!"
With that, both of them stepped down from the stage, and they were reced by a foreign male being dressed in colorful attire.
The man had a very strange appearance with an extremely wide face and a huge mouth, but a long and slender neck that made it resemble a colorful bird with the head of a toad.
This foreign being was the auctioneer that was going to be hosting the auction.
"Wee to the Jade Kun Pagoda, esteemed guests. Today, I have the honor and privilege of serving as your auctioneer..."
Despite his rather unsightly appearance, the auctioneer had a very clear and engaging voice that was extremely pleasing to the ears.
"Without further ado, allow me to present our first item, the Phoenix Call Guqin."
As soon as his voice trailed off, a beautiful female cultivator stepped onto the stage while holding a red guqin with a professional smile on her face.
Everyone''s attention was instantly drawn to the guqin.
Han Li swept his gaze over the instrument to find that it had been crafted out of a type of precious wood known as Chicken Blood Wood, and the head of the guqin had been carved into the shape of a phoenix''s head, while its tail resembled a spruce of phoenix tail feathers.
The entire guqin was as translucent as jade, and there were crimson cloud-like patches within the material, presenting a gorgeous sight to behold.
Under instructions from the auctioneer, the female cultivator began to gently y the instrument, and even those who weren''t well-versed with guqins could tell from the music that this one produced that it was of an exceptional quality.
However, arguably the most remarkable thing about the guqin was that it was just a normal instrument that waspletely devoid of spiritual power fluctuations.
It was very puzzling to Han Li that the first item being sold in this prestigious auction was an ordinary, albeit high-quality, guqin.
"I''m sure all of you have heard of Pei Qingling, the Thousand Finger Goddess. Prior to embarking on her cultivation journey, this guqin was the instrument that she cherished the most. Only after she began cultivating did it gradually fall into disuse before ending up here today. The starting price is fifty Immortal Origin Stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least five Immortal Origin Stones."
As soon as the introduction wasplete, a bid of fifty Immortal Origin Stones was instantly made by someone in a guest suite on the third floor.
The price was then immediately raised to sixty Immortal Origin Stones.
"Seventy!"
"Seventy-five!"
"Who is this Pei Qingling, Fellow Daoist Jingyang? Why is it just a normal instrument used by her is going for such a high price?" Han Li asked.
While it was true that the instrument disyed exceptional quality and craftsmanship, it was still just an ordinary instrument, and it wasn''t even worth several dozen spirit stones, let alone Immortal Origin Stones.
For this sum of money, even certain Golden Immortal Stage pills or precious spirit materials and immortal treasures could be purchased.
"You''ve never heard of Pei Qingling?" Daoist Master Jingyang asked with a surprised expression. "She came from a family of musicians in the Golden Origin Immortal Region, and she possessed outstanding cultivation aptitude from birth, but chose to pursue music over cultivation during her formative years.
¡°On her sixteenth birthday, she performed the Soaring Phoenix Bad, then suddenly dered that she was going to begin cultivating. From there, she made extraordinary progress, mastering thews of sound and ultimately reaching the Great Epassment Stage."
"I see..." Han Li replied with a contemtive expression.
"You may think this item isn''t worth the price, but if someone ever gets the opportunity to present something like this to its original owner, then that would be a gift that''s unmatched in terms of sentimental value. If Pei Qingling bes the Sound Dao Ancestor, then this guqin''s value will increase by an immeasurable degree," Daoist Master Jingyang continued.
Han Li nodded in agreement with this notion.
"I''ve heard that Pei Qingling is also a woman of extraordinary beauty, and that exins why there are so many male cultivators fighting over this instrument. It''s clear that they''re hoping that this guqin will somehow give them an outside chance of starting a blossoming romance with her, but of course, that''s nothing but a naive dream," Daoist Master Jingyang chuckled.
In the end, the guqin was sold to a schrly middle-aged man for 120 Immortal Origin Stones.
"Congrattions on securing the Phoenix Tail Guqin, Fellow Daoist. Our second auction item is a batch of Purple Yang Pills."
The female cultivator carried the guqin off the stage, and she was reced by another female cultivator holding a purple tter, atop which sat a palm-sized white jade box.
"The Purple Yang Pill can be taken by both Golden Immortals and Jade Immortals, and there are thirteen in total in this batch. These pills are of an exceptional quality, and they''re not to be missed. The starting price is one hundred Immortal Origin Stones," the auctioneer dered as he opened the jade box to reveal thirteen intricate pills that were shimmering with faint purple light, and a fragrant medicinal aroma instantly spread through the entire venue.
This was one of the many pills that Han Li had appraised, and they were indeed of an outstanding quality, so the starting price of one hundred Immortal Origin Stones was very reasonable.
"110!"
"120!"
"130!"
Before long, the price for the batch of Purple Yang Pills had been bid up to 160 Immortal Origin Stones.
This was a roughly suitable price, and any higher than this would be crossing into the territory of overbidding. Hence, no further bids were made beyond this point, and the pills were sold to a ck-robed cultivator.
The third auction item was an Acquired Immortal Treasure of an extremely high quality. It was a formidable lightning fire badge that could be used even byte-Golden Immortal cultivators, and the starting price was 130 Immortal Origin Stones, while the final selling price turned out to be two hundred.
Chapter 614: Abnormal Occurrence
Chapter 614: Abnormal urrence
As one auction item was brought out after another, the atmosphere in the venue became more and more electric.
Han Li''s mind was focused solely on the Profound Zoysia Crystal, so he couldn''t work up any interest in the treasures before him.
However, right at this moment, the auctioneer suddenly dered, "Our next item is called a Time Severing gon, a treasure that contains some timew powers. Anything put into the gon, whether that be ordinary items or spirit and immortal treasures, will be preserved in their original state as if time has been stopped, and no change will ur even after millions of years. The starting price is five hundred Immortal Origin Stones."
"510!"
"520!"
"550!"
The price was quickly bid up to 670 Immortal Origin Stones.
Right at this moment, a ck-robed figure ced a bid of seven hundred Immortal Origin Stones, and a brief silence ensued in the wake of this bid, only to be quickly broken again.
"710!"
This bid had been made by Han Li.
The ck-robed man, who was also on the second floor, took a nce at Han Li, then ced a bid of 720 Immortal Origin Stones, to which Han Li immediately responded with a bid of 750.
The ck-robed man remained unfazed and bid the price up to 760.
"Eight hundred!"
Once again, Han Li was raising the price by a significant increment, and almost everyone in the entire venue instantly turned to look at him with surprised expressions.
The ck-robed man finally backed out of the bidding war.
"Is that gon really worth that many Immortal Origin Stones?" Daoist Master Jingyang asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"For pill refinement masters like myself, we often have to refine certain special spirit liquids that are very expensive to make and can''t be preserved for long, resulting in a great deal of waste. With this gon, I''ll be able to save far more Immortal Origin Stones down the line than what I''m paying for it now," Han Li exined.
In reality, he wanted to see if this gon could store the spirit liquid or time crystals produced by the Heaven Controlling Vial, and even if it couldn''t, this was still a rare item that contained timew powers, so it was worth the price for Han Li.
After that, the auction continued, and each subsequent auction item was more remarkable than the previous one, while the prices also steadily rose.
The bidding was bing more and more intense, and among the auction items were two that had soul nourishment effects. Han Li participated in the bidding for both of them, but it seemed as if the ck-robed man were intentionally targeting him, raising the prices until Han Li backed out of the bidding war on both asions.
Han Li wasn''t in desperate need for those items anyway, and he didn''t want to attract too much attention, so he didn''t insist on securing them.
Six hours flew by in a sh, and at this point, the auction had already progressed past the halfway mark, but the Profound Zoysia Crystal still hadn''t appeared.
Han Li was unable to suppress his agitation, and he asked through voice transmission, "When will the Profound Zoysia Crystal appear, Fellow Daoist Jingyang?"
Daoist Master Jingyang suppressed his amusement as he replied, "Rest assured, as long as my memory serves me correctly, it should be the next auction item."
As soon as his voice trailed off, the auctioneer dered, "The next item is no ordinary treasure. Ites from a near bottomless ravine where countless living creatures have lost their lives. Despite the filth and decay that ran rampant in its environment, it remained pristine and untarnished. It is referred to as the essence of the soul, and just a single one can enhance the soul of a Golden Immortal by 10% to 30%."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he cast his gaze toward the stage as the auctioneer concluded, "The item that I am referring to is a Myriad Soul Herb, and the starting price is one thousand Immortal Origin Stones."
Han Li turned to Daoist Master Jingyang with a perplexed expression upon hearing this, and thetter was also looking back at him with a stunned expression, clearlypletely taken aback by this turn of events.
"What''s going on here, Fellow Daoist Jingyang? Could it be that you misremembered the sequence of items?" Han Li asked.
"I do enjoy my wine, but I''m not such a drunkard that I would misremember something so simple, particrly when it pertains to something that''s so important to you. Hold on a second, I''ll ask them what''s happening," Daoist Master Jingyang replied with a slightly awkward expression, then immediately closed his eyes.
Meanwhile, a fierce bidding war was taking ce, and it didn''t take long before the price was bid up to over two thousand Immortal Origin Stones.
Treasures with soul nourishment effects were quite appealing to Han Li as well. With this Myriad Soul Herb, perhaps he would be able to speed up his progress in the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Hence, after a brief hesitation, he decided to also participate in the bidding, but right at this moment, Daoist Master Jingyang opened his eyes, seemingly having justmunicated with someone through voice transmission.
Han Li immediately turned to Daoist Master Jingyang with an inquisitive gaze, and thetter looked back at him with a slightly apologetic expression as he exined, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, this item was ast-minute addition to the auction catalog. The next item should be the Profound Zoysia Crystal for sure."
"I see. Does this happen often?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Not at all. The final list of auction items is generally not going to be altered in any way. After all,st-minute additions need to be appraised on ast-minute basis as well, and that can be rather troublesome to arrange," Daoist Master Jingyang replied.
"I''ve already waited for so long, I can wait for a while longer. Having said that, whoever requested for thisst-minute addition must be quite an important figure to have been granted such a privilege," Han Li said with a smile.
"Indeed. I was told that this person has some connection to the immortal envoy in the inner city, but if you ask me, I think this Myriad Soul Herb came directly from the immortal envoy himself. Only someone of his unfathomable cultivation base would be willing to put up such a precious item for auction," Daoist Master Jingyang said.
Han Li nodded in response, and he suppressed the urge to participate in the bidding for the Myriad Soul Herb.
All abnormal urrences had to be treated with caution, and his instincts were telling him that something wasn''t quite right here.
After a fierce bidding war, the ck-robed man ultimately secured the Myriad Soul herb for the price of 3,500 Immortal Origin Stones.
The auctioneer seemed to be quite excited by the unexpectedly high price that the Myriad Soul Herb had been sold for, and he dered in an enthusiastic voice, "The next item is something that I''m sure many of you have been anticipating for a very long time."
As he was speaking, a green brocade box was delivered onto the stage by a yellow-robed young woman, and there were several talismans stered to the box.
The young woman removed the talismans on the box, and it opened up on its own to reveal a fist-sized green crystal sitting inside.
The crystal was giving off a faint green glow, and it wasn''t all that remarkable in appearance. Deep inside the crystal was a system of veins that formed the image of a flower.
The green crystal was giving off a peculiar fragrance, and everyone who caught a whiff of this fragrance instantly felt as if all of their internal organs had been cleansed.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the crystal, and he reflexively sat up a little straighter.
"This is a Profound Zoysia Crystal, otherwise known as a Floral Heart Stone, and it''s a premium ingredient for refining pills that can help one expel baleful qi and ovee their baleful decay. I''m sure there''s no need for me to tell you all just how valuable something like this is for fellow daoists seeking to reach the High Zenith Stage.
¡°On top of that, this Profound Zoysia Crystal came from a Profound Zoysia Flower that was over two hundred thousand years of age, and our Jade Kun Pagoda had to go to great lengths to secure it, so it''s not to be missed. The starting price is one thousand Immortal Origin Stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least one hundred Immortal Origin Stones," the auctioneer dered.
"One thousand!"
"1,100!"
"1,300!"
A string of bids immediately came rolling in.
Just as the auctioneer had described, this was a highly sought after item for anyone wishing to make a breakthrough to the High Zenith Stage, so it was naturally going to be very hotly contested.
In the blink of an eye, the price was elevated to beyond two thousand Immortal Origin Stones, and at this point, the rate at which the bids were being made began to slow down.
"Haven''t you been searching for this crystal all this time, Fellow Daoist Li? Why have you still not made a bid?" Daoist Master Jingyang asked.
"I''m determined to secure this crystal, but there''s no need to get involved in the bidding war right away," Han Li replied in a calm manner.
As the price breached the 2,500 mark, the entire venue suddenly fell silent.
The bid had been made by a portly man dressed invish clothes. He appeared to be more like a merchant than a cultivator, and in his arms was a pair of extremely beautiful female cultivators who were feeding him tea and snacks, which he devoured with glee.
"Fellow Daoist Gui of the Heavenly Treasure Trade House has made a bid of 2,500 Immortal Origin Stones. Is anyone going to make a higher bid?" the auctioneer asked as he scoured the venue.
"Three thousand!"
The same ck-robed man who had purchased the Myriad Soul Herb was also getting involved in the bidding war, and he had raised the price by five hundred Immortal Origin Stones in a single bid, causing quite a stir in the process.
A Profound Zoysia Crystal was extremely precious, for sure, but this price was already slightly higher than what it was worth.
"3,100!" the portly man retaliated.
"3,500!" the ck-robed man harrumphed coldly, and it seemed like a sum of several hundred Immortal Origin Stones was nothing to him.
The portly man''s expression darkened slightly, and he didn''t ce any further bids.
The two female cultivators beside him could see that he was quite incensed, and they sat beside him in a still and obedient manner, not daring to make any moves for fear of irking him even further.
"3,600!"
Yet another auction-goer was tossing their hat in the ring, and this one was an elderly man with a head of gray hair.
Han Li turned to take a nce at the gray-haired elderly man to discover that thetter possessed a tremendous aura, and it was one of the people whose cultivation base had been unfathomable to him.
"Do you recognize this man, Fellow Daoist Jingyang?" Han Li asked in a seemingly casual manner.
"That man is Feng Tianyao, a High Zenith Stage elder of the Purple Lightning Sword Sect situated on the northeastern border of the ck Mountain Immortal Region. If he''s also trying to get his hands on the Profound Zoysia Crystal, then I''m afraid that you''re going to be facing some very stiffpetition, Fellow Daoist Li," Daoist Master Jingyang replied with a slightly sympathetic look in his eyes.
Chapter 615: Another Beast Bone
Chapter 615: Another Beast Bone
"I see..." Han Li replied in an ambiguous fashion.
"3,800!"
As the two of them were speaking to one another, the ck-robed man had ced another bid, this one only raising the price by two hundred Immortal Origin Stones.
"Four thousand!"
Han Li had finally ced his second bid.
He had already secured two auction items prior to this, and thistest bid attracted the attention of many of the people present, including Feng Tianyao and the ck-robed man, both of whom were clearly less than pleased.
"4,100!" Feng Tianyao dered.
"4,200!" the ck-robed man immediately retaliated.
"4,300!" Han Li dered in an unhurried manner.
Before long, the price had been raised to five thousand Immortal Origin Stones, and the bid had been made by the ck-robed man.
Many of the cultivators present were very surprised to see this. While it was true that this was an extremely precious spirit material, this was still far too steep a price to pay.
Such an enormous sum of Immortal Origin Stones could be spent on a whole host of other things, and it seemed that the price was still set to increase even further.
"Five thousand Immortal Origin Stones for a Profound Zoysia Crystal? The two of you clearly have too much money on your hands!" Feng Tianyao sneered before backing out of the bidding war.
Han Li paid no heed to Feng Tianyao''s mockery as he calmly ced another bid of 5,100 Immortal Origin Stones.
"5,200!"
The ck-robed man refused to relent.
"5,500!" Han Li dered, and at this point, many of the other auction-goers had begun shaking their heads.
"Fellow Daoist Li, as a word of advice from one friend to another, while this Profound Zoysia Crystal is of quite a high quality, this is still far too steep a price to pay for it. Under normal circumstances, 4,500 Immortal Origin Stones should be the upper limit, so there''s really no point in making any further bids," Daoist Master Jingyang said.
"Thank you for the advice, Fellow Daoist Jingyang, but this is something that I must acquire. Just as you said earlier, fine treasures and fine wines are priceless, so they must be secured to avoid future regrets," Han Li said with a smile.
"You''re using my own words against me! Fine, do as you please. If you don''t have enough Immortal Origin Stones, feel free to tell me," Daoist Master Jingyang chuckled.
The ck-robed man was silent for a moment, then ced a bid of 5,600 Immortal Origin Stones, only to be immediately outdone by Han Li with a bid of six thousand.
The ck-robed man took a long nce at Han Li, then finally fell silent and made no further birds.
The auctioneer was a little disappointed to see the fierce bidding ware to an end, but this was already a far higher price than he expected the Profound Zoysia Crystal to fetch, and after three calls were made with no further bids ced, the crystal was sold to Han Li.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but internally, he wasmenting the enormous sum of Immortal Origin Stones that he had been forced to part with.
"You''re really going all-out, Fellow Daoist Li. It looks like you''re far wealthier than I imagined! Then again, I suppose some things must be done. After all, this is something that you may never encounter again," Daoist Master Jingyang consoled.
"Please don''t make fun of me, Fellow Daoist Jingyang. In terms of personal wealth, how could I possiblypare with a deputy mountain master of the Hundred Creations Mountain like yourself?" Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"Speaking of our Hundred Creations Mountain, we''re constantly on the search for brilliant individuals like yourself. If you''re interested, you cane and serve as a guest elder for us," Daoist Master Jingyang offered.
"It''s been a very long time since I''ve affiliated myself with any sect. Otherwise, I wouldn''t havee to a ce like the Leisure Valley. I''m already content just to cultivate in such a peaceful paradise, surrounded by friends like you, Fellow Daoist Jingyang," Han Li replied, tactfully turning down the offer.
Meanwhile, the auction continued.
Several more precious items were carried out one after another, with all of them fetching high prices, further heating up the atmosphere in the venue.
At this point, the auction was close to reaching its conclusion.
"Coming up next is one of our final three auction items, and of course, we''ve saved the best three forst. This is a cultivation art by the name of the Rippling Horizon Arts," the auctioneer dered as he set down a blue box onto the stage, within which was an antiquated blue jade slip.
Many of the auction-goers were rather perplexed, seemingly having never heard this name before, while shes of recognition appeared in the eyes of others.
"Is this the cultivation art used by the Clear Sea True Lord who once reigned supreme over the ck Mountain Immortal Region?" a blue-robed man asked in an excited voice.
"That''s right, this was indeed the primary cultivation art used by the Clear Sea True Lord several million years ago. It can support one''s cultivation to the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage, and it can definitely rank among the top five water-attribute cultivation arts of the ck Mountain Immortal Region.
¡°Not only can this cultivation art allow one to master thews of water, there''s a chance that the cultivator can even master the more advancedws of tides, allowing them to unleash the Horizon Tidal Wave, which was once the Clear Sea True Lord''s signature ability.
¡°During the battle in the Moon Sea, the Clear Sea True Lord had used this very same ability to strike down tens of thousands of primordial beasts with a single attack, so its power cannot be overstated.
¡°The mantra for this ability is naturally enclosed in this cultivation art, but of course, the prerequisites for using the cultivation art are quite stringent. For one, the cultivator must possess a water-attribute spirit physique, and a water-attribute immortal physique would be even better.
¡°On top of that, prior to reaching the True Immortal Stage, they had to have exclusively used water-attribute cultivation arts, and the True Immortal Physique that they''ve attained must not be contaminated with spiritual power of any other attributes.
¡°That''s all I''m going to say about this cultivation art. The starting price is three thousand Immortal Origin Stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least two hundred Immortal Origin Stones."
Han Li wasn''t aware of this Clear Sea True Lord, but it was clear that the mention of his name had stirred up a great deal of excitement among the auction-goers, and the bidding immediatelymenced.
It was extremely rare to encounter a cultivation art of such a high caliber, and if it could be used well, then perhaps it could serve as the foundation of a powerful cultivating n or sect.
Han Li wasn''t swept up by the hype, and he continued to chat with Daoist Master Jingyang.
While this was an exceptional cultivation art, it clearly didn''t suit him, so he was content to serve as a bystander.
As more and more people began to participate in the bidding, the price was quickly raised to over seven thousand Immortal Origin Stones, and Han Li was quite surprised to see this.
"Ten thousand!"
All of a sudden, the price was raised by three thousand Immortal Origin Stones in a single bid, and all of the other bidders immediately fell silent.
Han Li turned to discover that the one who had made the bid was none other than the blue-robed man who had asked the question from before.
He was only at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, so it was very remarkable that he possessed such immense wealth.
The blue-robed man was ecstatic to see that no further bids were being ced, but right at this moment, a bid of eleven thousand Immortal Origin Stones was made by a daoist priest holding a horsetail whisk.
The man possessed a tremendous High Zenith Stage aura, but the blue-robed man wasn''t intimidated by hispetitor''s lofty cultivation base as he raised the price further to twelve thousand Immortal Origin Stones.
"Thirteen thousand!" the daoist priest dered in a calm voice.
"Fourteen thousand!"
"Fifteen thousand!"
......
Both of them seemed determined to secure the cultivation art for themselves, and in the blink of an eye, the price had been bid up to in excess of twenty thousand.
All of the auction-goers present were shaking their heads upon seeing this. This was far too steep a price to pay, and one could easily purchase two cultivation arts of the same caliber for the same price.
"Twenty-two thousand!" the daoist priest dered, and it seemed that he wasn''t even close to reaching the limit of his budget.
In contrast, the blue-robed man was breathing rather heavily, and it seemed that he was at his limit.
"Elder Zhu of the Water Mirror Sect has made a bid of twenty-two thousand. Is anyone going to outbid him?" the auctioneer asked, and his question was met with silence.
After waiting for a while longer, the auctioneer was just about to dere the cultivation art as sold when the blue-robed man suddenly rose to his feet, then flipped a hand over to produce a beast bone that was as green as jade before dering, "Hold on, I don''t have enough Immortal Origin Stones on me, so I wish to pawn this item!"
The auctioneer faltered slightly upon hearing this, but this was indeed within the rules of the auction, so he hurriedly called for the auction to be put on pause, then instructed the female cultivator on the stage with him to deliver the beast bone to a nearby appraiser.
Han Li immediately sat up straighter as an intrigued look appeared in his eyes.
The green beast bone produced by the blue-robed man was extremely simr in both size and appearance to that bone that he had secured from the skeleton of the giant green rat.
However, his spiritual sense wasn''t able to detect any spatial fluctuations or spiritual power fluctuations from this beast bone, and it was as if it were nothing more than a bone from a mortal beast.
Maybe it''s only simr in appearance...
Han Li had examined the green beast bone extensively over the years, and he had be more and more convinced that it was a spatial treasure, but some extremely advanced secret technique had been cast upon it, making it inessible to Han Li.
All of a sudden, Daoist Master Jingyang abruptly rose to his feet, and he was staring at the beast bone intently with a fervent look in his eyes.
The intrigue in Han Li''s eyes grew even more pronounced at the sight of this reaction from Daoist Master Jingyang.
"Do you recognize this beast bone, Fellow Daoist Jingyang?" he asked in a casual manner.
Daoist Master Jingyang immediately realized that he had lost hisposure, and he hurriedly sat down again, but instead of answering Han Li''s question, he lowered his head in deep thought as if he were pondering something extremely important.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, but didn''t say anything further.
Shortly thereafter, the beast bone was taken to a long table, seated behind which were three cultivators dressed in ck attire, namely a middle-aged schr, a white-haired elderly man, and a young woman whose face was concealed behind a veil.
These were all appraisers from the ck Mountain Immortal Pce.
The Jade Kun Pagoda auctions had always reeled in immense profits that were very tantalizing to the ck Mountain Immortal Pce, and in order to get a share of these profits, it had been sending more and more personnel to these auctions with each passing edition.
For this auction, close to half of the personnel involved hade from the ck Mountain Immortal Pce, and this was something that Han Li had heard from Daoist Master Jingyang over the course of one of their conversations.
Chapter 616: Astonishing Turn of Events
Chapter 616: Astonishing Turn of Events
The three appraisers took turns inspecting the green beast bone, and all of them were rather perplexed, seemingly unable to identify the item.
The three of them exchanged a nce with one another, following which the white-haired elderly man asked, "How many Immortal Origin Stones are you nning to pawn this item for?"
"Thirty thousand!" the blue-robed man dered, immediately creating quite a stir in the venue.
Thirty thousand Immortal Origin Stones was not a small sum. In fact, it was higher than the price of the majority of the treasures sold during this auction thus far, and it was even higher than the current price that the Rippling Horizon Arts had been bid up to.
"This is a rather interesting item, but it has no spiritual power fluctuations at all. May I ask exactly what''s so special about this bone that you''re asking thirty thousand Immortal Origin Stones for it?" the middle-aged schr asked.
"This bone is something that I obtained from a set of primordial ruins, almost at the cost of my own life. It may not possess any spiritual power fluctuations, but as far as I can tell, it''spletely indestructible, able to remainpletely unscathed even in the face of attacks from immortal treasures.
¡°I tried to have the bone refined into an immortal treasure, but no one is able to mold it at all. Hence, I''m certain that this bone is an exceptional treasure," the blue-robed man dered, but it was clear that he was iling a little.
A hint of mockery shed through the middle-aged schr''s eyes upon hearing this, and he exchanged another nce with his two colleagues.
Having worked as an appraiser for so long, he had seen countless people who proimed something to be a priceless treasure just because it possessed certain special attributes.
"It sounds like you''re also unaware of the value of this item. In order to ensure a policy of fairness and openness, we''ll only ept items with clear values, so I''m afraid we can''t ept this bone," the middle-aged schr dered.
"Fei Bin, you idiot!" Daoist Master Jingyang cursed under his breath as a frustrated look shed through his eyes.
A furious look immediately appeared on the blue-robed man''s face upon hearing this, and he was even more embarrassed by all of the mocking looks that were directed his way.
He had actually approached several appraisers with this beast bone in the past, and all of them had given him the same response.
However, with so many powerful figures gathered in one ce here, he was hoping that someone would be able to identify the item, but it seemed that his hopes were misced.
At the same time, he couldn''t help but waver slightly in his own conviction. Could it be that this bone really was a valueless piece of junk?
Right at this moment, a middle-aged man wearing a golden crown suddenly dered, "Hold on, I''ll take that bone from you for thirty thousand Immortal Origin Stones."
The man was a High Zenith cultivator, and he was staring intently at the beast bone with a bright gleam in his eyes.
The entire venue immediately erupted into chatter upon hearing this, and everyone turned their attention back to the beast bone.
The three appraisers behind the table also faltered slightly upon hearing this, while the blue-robed man was ecstatic, and he was just about to agree to the offer when Daoist Jingyang interjected, "I''ll give you thirty-five thousand!"
The blue-robed man''s mouth immediately gaped open in astonishment upon hearing this, and before he had a chance to recover, the man wearing the golden crown increased the price to forty thousand!
"Fifty thousand!" Daoist Master Jingyang immediately retaliated.
"Sixty thousand!"
"Seventy thousand!"
......
The two of them were going back and forth in increments of ten thousand Immortal Origin Stones, and at this point, it had be clear to everyone that his beast bone was definitely some type of extraordinary treasure.
Before long, several more High Zenith cultivators had also entered the bidding war, and the blue-robed man was excited beyond belief.
Meanwhile, the three Immortal Pce appraisers behind the long table were left feeling a little awkward. The beast bone that they had deemed to bepletely worthless was now the center of an astronomical bidding war, and each bid that was ced was like a p across their faces.
Even the auctioneer was looking on in apletely stunned silence.
In the blink of an eye, the price for the beast bone had been bid up to two hundred thousand Immortal Origin Stones.
At this point, Daoist Master Jingyang and the man wearing the golden crown were the only ones who were still persisting.
"220 thousand!" Daoist Master Jingyang spat through gritted teeth.
The man wearing the golden crown could see that Daoist Master Jingyang was reaching his limits, and a cold sneer appeared on his face as he raised the price to twenty-five thousand.
"260 thousand!"
"270 thousand!"
"280 thousand!"
"Three hundred thousand!"
At this point, it was clear from the expression of the man wearing the golden crown that he was also nearing his limits.
"350 thousand!" Daoist Master Jingyang dered with a hint of strain in his voice, and all of the auction-goers instantly drew a collective sharp breath upon hearing this.
"350 thousand Immortal Origin Stones? Do you really possess such immense wealth? If you can bring out that many Immortal Origin Stones or things of equivalent value right here, then I''ll concede the bone to you, but if you can''t, then you''ll be liable for intentional meddling!"
Daoist Master Jingyang''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, while Fu Yuhai turned to him with slightly furrowed brows, then dered, "Of course. The rules of the auction cannot be broken by anyone without consequences."
"Good. Let''s see the Immortal Origin Stones now," the man wearing the golden crown said with a cold sneer.
Han Li took a nce at Daoist Master Jingyang.
Perhaps this wasn''t apparent to others, but he was seated right next to Daoist Master Jingyang, so he could tell that thetter was feeling very uneasy.
It seemed that he really didn''t have enough Immortal Origin Stones to support his bid.
"I''ll present the Immortal Origin Stones to this blue-robed fellow daoist here after the auction," Daoist Master Jingyang harrumphed coldly.
"This bone is not an auction item, so there''s no need to wait until the end of the auction. If you truly possess sufficient wealth to support your bid, then why not show everyone? Could it be that you don''t actually have as much money as you im?" the man wearing the golden crown sneered.
"Fine, if you insist, then take a good look!" Daoist Master Jingyang said as he rose to his feet, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of white light, enveloped within which were around a dozen items, most of which were materials, but there were also two immortal treasures and a vial of pills.
The collection of items descended onto the appraisers'' table, and every single one of them was giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations.
"Please appraise these items to determine how many Immortal Origin Stones they''re worth," Daoist Master Jingyang requested.
The three appraisers exchanged a nce with one another upon seeing this, thenmenced the appraisal process, while the man wearing the golden crown looked on with slightly furrowed brows.
At the same time, Daoist Master Jingyang''s voice rang out in Han Li''s mind. "Fellow Daoist Li, do you have any spare Immortal Origin Stones? I need to borrow some from you."
"How much do you want?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"Eighty thousand," Daoist Master Jingyang replied.
"That''s not a small sum," Han Li mused.
Daoist Master Jingyang was ecstatic to see that Han Li hadn''t turned him down, and he immediately said, "I know, but rest assured, I can return the entire sum to you within 10 years."
"That beast bone must truly be an exceptional treasure for you to have spent so much money on it. I''ve examined it carefully with my spiritual sense, but haven''t discovered anything remarkable about it. May I ask exactly what it can be used for?" Han Li asked.
"Truth be told, the beast bone is a spatial treasure, but its aura has been concealed by an extremely advanced restriction, and that''s why you can''t detect anything from it," Daoist Master Jingyang exined after a brief hesitation.
"I see..."
"How about this? If you lend me the eighty thousand Immortal Origin Stones, regardless of what''s inside the beast bone, you can have a third of its contents," Daoist Master Jingyang proposed.
"Given the sincerity of your offer, it would be downright rude of me to refuse. Having said that, I want to be present when you''re opening this spatial treasure," Han Li said.
Daoist Master Jingyang''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but ultimately, he nodded in response. "Alright, but please don''t tell anyone about what you see when the timees."
Han Li also nodded in response, then pulled out a small storage ring before covertly stuffing it into Daoist Master Jingyang''s hand.
Daoist Master Jingyang inspected the contents of the storage ring momentarily, following which a hint of tion shed through his eyes.
The appraisal was quicklypleted, and the middle-aged schr dered, "We''ve appraised these items to be worth no less than 120 thousand Immortal Origin Stones."
Daoist Master Jingyang swept a sleeve through the air once again, and two streaks of light containing a pair of storage rings descended in front of the three appraisers.
"The rest of the Immortal Origin Stones are in there," he dered.
The three appraisers briefly examined the pair of storage rings, and it was dered that one ring contained eighty thousand Immortal Origin Stones, while the other contained seventy thousand, and that was sufficient to cover the cost of the beast bone.
"If you''re still not convinced, then I invite you to examine the storage rings yourself, Fellow Daoist," Daoist Master Jingyang said as he turned to the man wearing the golden crown.
The man merely gave a cold harrumph and didn''t respond.
With that, the impromptu auction for the green beast bone drew to a conclusion.
Chapter 617: Trap
Chapter 617: Trap
The bone was quickly delivered to Daoist Master Jingyang by a beautiful female cultivator, and he held it in a white-knuckled grip as he examined it intently as if he were looking over a priceless treasure.
However, it then seemed to have urred to him that he wasn''t alone, and he carefully stowed the beast bone away before giving Han Li a faint smile.
At the same time, the enormous sum of Immortal Origin Stones and the collection of valuable items from Daoist Master Jingyang were delivered to the blue-robed man, who gave the three appraisers a disdainful sneer, then loudly dered, "I''ll pay 23 thousand Immortal Origin Stones for the Rippling Horizon Arts!"
The daoist priest made no further bids upon seeing this, and in the end, the Rippling Horizon Arts was sold to the blue-robed man for exactly twenty thousand Immortal Origin Stones above its starting price.
The auction continued, and the final two items were brought out in session.
The two items turned out to be a scroll capable of summoning Dao Warriors and a formidable golden ax, both of which were naturally sold for very high prices, but in the wake of the stunning impromptu auction for that green beast bone, these two treasures were made to look ratherckluster inparison, and the reception was also rather lukewarm.
Following an enthusiastic final address from the auctioneer, the auction drew to a conclusion, and at this point, the three appraisers had already departed.
Daoist Master Jingyang and Han Li had both gotten what they wanted, and they began to make their way toward the exit of the venue, as did all of the other auction-goers, some of whom were clearly very content and cheerful, while others were less ted.
Having said that, no one was overly frustrated. Good things were always hard toe by, and the search was also a part of the process.
On top of that, there were still some other auctions and exchange events scheduled to take ce in the, so they weren''t entirely without chances to secure the items that they were searching for. Additionally, the prospect of being able to meet up with some old friends that they hadn''t seen for thousands of years was also quite an exciting one.
Many of the auction-goers filing out of the venue were still discussing the events of the auction in a spirited fashion, and of course, the subject of most of these conversations was the beast bone that had been sold for 350 thousand Immortal Origin Stones. As a result, Daoist Master Jingyang also became a center of attention, and quite a few people approached him to strike up a conversation, trying to figure out exactly what that beast bone was.
However, Daoist Master Jingyang had no interest in making any conversation. At this moment, the only thing on his mind was returning to his cave abode as soon as possible. If he were approached by anyone that he knew or someone of a lofty status, then he would briefly respond in an amicable fashion, while the rest were outright ignored, and everyone else quickly learned not to approach him.
With Daoist Master Jingyang drawing all of the attention, Han Li had be nothing more than an afterthought to everyone, and he was quite happy to see this, trailing along behind Daoist Master Jingyang as they left the auction venue together.
Right at this moment, a ck-robed man strode past Han Li, and it was none other than the ck-robed man who hadpeted against Han Li for a couple of auction items.
The man''s appearance had previously been concealed by the hood of his ck robe, but now that they were in close proximity to one another, Han Li could see that this was a thin and handsome young man, but his face was rather abnormally pale.
The ck-robed man just so happened to look at Han Li right as Han Li was looking at him, and the two of them exchanged a polite nod before the ck-robed man continued onward.
Trailing along behind him was a purple-robed cultivator, and the two of them seemed to bepanions.
The purple-robed figure had a head of shoulder-length purple hair and skin that was as fiar as jade, as well as a set of intricate features that made it impossible to tell whether they were male or female.
The purple-robed cultivator also took an expressionless nce at Han Li, then quickly withdrew his gaze before departing, but Han Li had stopped cold in his tracks to look at the two parting figures with slightly furrowed brows.
At this moment, Daoist Master Jingyang''s mind waspletely preupied with that beast bone,so he didn''t notice the two men that had just passed them by, and he asked, "What is it, Fellow Daoist Li? Have you spotted some acquaintances?"
"No, it must''ve just been my imagination," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"In that case, let''s go," Daoist Master Jingyang urged, clearly very eager to get back.
Han Li nodded in response, and the two of them made their way out of the auction venue.
"Come with me," Daoist Master Jingyang said to Han Li in a quiet voice, then turned in a certain direction, but right at this moment, a crimson cloud abruptly appeared in the sky before rapidly revolving.
At the same time, a series of crimson spirit patterns appeared over the surrounding ground, forming a red array that resonated with the cloud up above.
At this point, all of the auction-goers had only just emerged from the Jade Kun Pagoda, and all of them were instantly rooted to the spot by the tremendous restrictive force released by the array.
"What''s going on?"
"It''s a restrictive array!"
"Who dares to do something like this in the inner city?"
A chorus of rmed and angry voices instantly rang out, while Han Li turned to Daoist Master Jingyang and asked, "What''s happening?"
"I''m not sure, but no one would dare to do something like this in the inner city for no good reason, so let''s wait and see what happens," Daoist Master Jingyang replied in a calm manner.
Han Li didn''t say anything further, but his mind was racing.
He could sense that the surrounding crimson array was an extremely formidable restrictive array that also seemed to contain a burst of tremendousw powers that he hadn''t noticed at all prior to the array''s activation.
Before Han Li had a chance to think about anything else, two figures, one red and one azure, descended out of the sky.
Han Li immediately turned to the two figures to discover that both of them were wearing suits of golden armor identical to the ones worn by the Heavenly Court immortal envoys that he had seen during histest instance of spiritual transmigration.
The duo was led by a man with a head of red hair. There were crimson mes burning all over his body, and his aura was so immense that the space around him was warping slightly.
This man''s aura was far superior to even Gongshu Jiu''s, indicating that he was a mid-High Zenith cultivator.
He was holding a giant crimson sword that was even taller than himself, and it was riddled with crimson scales. Furthermore, the sword was curved to resemble a fiery wyrm, the tail of the wyrm serving as the tip of the sword, while its head was the hilt.
Bursts of crimson light were flowing over the sword like blood, and it was clearly an extremely formidable weapon.
The other figure was a man who was as tall and thin as a reed stick, and his body was enveloped in ayer of radiant azure light.
His aura wasn''t inferior in the slightest to that of hispanion, and their distinctive attire immediately revealed their identities as immortal envoys.
"Don''t be rmed, everyone. We''vee here to capture criminals of the Reincarnation Pce, who are among you right now. Everyone else, please wait for a moment, and we''ll be releasing you shortly," the red-haired man said as his sharp gazebed through the crowd.
Han Li''s heart immediately jolted slightly upon hearing this.
Could it be that he had been exposed?
His mind was racing as he secretly channeled his immortal spiritual power, but his expression remained unchanged.
"You, you, and you,e with us for interrogation," the red-haired man ordered as he pointed at several people in session, one of which was none other than the ck-robed young man.
Han Li turned to the people that the red-haired man had pointed out, and a hint of relief instantly welled up in his heart.
All of these cultivators had ced bets on the Myriad Soul Herb from earlier. It seemed that his intuition had been correct, and that Myriad Soul Herb had indeed been a trap.
After picking out that selection of people, the red-haired man''s gaze continued to rake through the crowd, and everyone who came under his scrutiny felt a sharp, pricking pain in their eyes.
All the while, Han Li remained calm and collected.
Even though he had cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique, and he possessed such immense baleful qi that he was close to a Gray Immortal, he had been consuming Origin Void Pills this entire time, so as long as he didn''t channel his Spirit Refinement Technique, he shouldn''t be exposed.
Sure enough, the red-haired man''s gaze swept over Han Li without pause, but a hint of panic shed through the eyes of a pair of red-robed cultivators beside him.
Even though it was only for an instant, it had failed to escape the red-haired man''s notice, and he immediately picked them out of the crowd as well.
"Why are you detaining us? We''re not members of the Reincarnation Pce!" one of the red-robed cultivators protested.
The red-haired man paid no heed to hisints as he continued tob through the crowd before picking out several more people.
"Everyone that I just picked out needs toe with me, the rest of you can leave," the red-haired man dered as he made a hand seal, and the restrictive array that had bound everyone to the spot instantly faded.
Everyone that hadn''t been picked out heaved a collective sigh of relief before hurriedly departing, including Han Li and Daoist Master Jingyang.
The two of them quickly departed from the area where the Jade Kun Pagoda was situated, and at this point, many people had already gathered around the area to see what was happening.
Han Li''s duo quickly made their way into the crowd, and Daoist Master Jingyang wanted to leave right away, but Han Li wanted to stay and find out what was happening.
Daoist Master Jingyang was quite reluctant to stay, but he couldn''t just rebuke Han Li after borrowing such arge sum of Immortal Origin Stones from him, so he could only begrudgingly stay.
Thus, the two of them began to look on at the unfolding scene from within the crowd.
Chapter 618: Strange Thief
Chapter 618: Strange Thief
At this point, only around a dozen people were left standing in front of the Jade Kun Pagoda, all of whom had been picked out by the red-haired man.
Most of them had participated in the bidding for the Myriad Soul Herb, but for some reason, the blue-robed cultivator who had sold the beast bone for 350 thousand Immortal Origin Stones was also among them, and he was looking downright terrified.
Aside from that, the purple-robed cultivator with the ck-robed young man hadn''t been picked out, but he hadn''t departed, either.
Han Li was in the crowd of spectators close to 10 kilometers away, and his pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this.
The red-haired man paid no heed to the bystanders as he swept a sleeve through the air, summoning a white jade flying boat beforemanding, "Get on the boat."
There was a crimson cage of light on the flying boat with arcs of crimson lightning shing over its surface, presenting a formidable sight to behold.
All of a sudden, a hint of rm shed through Han Li''s eyes.
Earlier, he had felt like the red-haired man looked a little familiar, and upon closer inspection now, he realized that his facial features were quite simr to Gongshu Jiu''s, so the two of them were most likely rted.
Right at this moment, a blue-robed elderly man stepped forward as he harrumphed coldly. "You immortal envoys can''t just do whatever you please! We''re not members of the Reincarnation Pce, we''ve onlye here for the Jade Kun Pagoda auction! You can detain anyone else you want, but I''m not just going to hand myself over!"
At the same time, bright blue light erupted out of his body alongside his peak Golden Immortal Stage aura, and a burst of cial power swept through the surrounding area, instantly freezing the nearby space.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of blue ripples that were giving off cialw power fluctuations surged out of the elderly man''s body, basking the entire area in a radius of over a hundred feet around in a cold blue glow.
A dull thump then rang out as the elderly man propelled himself up into the heavens.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and all of the bystanders only saw a sh of blue light before the elderly man rose up into the sky.
"Did I say you could leave?" the red-haired man asked in a cold voice, and the giant sword in his hand began to glow brightly as he shed it through the air.
A resounding boom instantly rang out above the elderly man''s head, and a massive fiery wyrm projection emerged out of thin air.
A burst of tremendous heat erupted out of the wyrm projection''s body alongside a tremendous aura, and it came swooping down upon the elderly man with unmatched power.
The blue spirit domain around the elderly man instantly began to tremble violently, and despite his headstart, the fiery wyrm projection had caught up to him in an instant.
In his desperation to get away, the elderly man opened his mouth to release a short blue spear immortal treasure, which shot forth toward the wyrm projection as a streak of blue light.
The fiery wyrm projection opened its mouth up wide, releasing a ball of crimson mes that rapidly swelled to form a fiery cloud the size of a house.
A resounding boom rang out as the fiery cloud and the streak of blue light shed before both instantly exploded, and the fiery cloud swelled up even further to devour the blue spear, then continued to rumble directly toward the blue-robed elderly man.
In the blink of an eye, the elderly man was inundated by the fiery cloud, and a roar of fury and agony rang out from within.
Immediately thereafter, the fiery wyrm projection up above swooped into the fiery cloud as well, and an explosion rang out, following which the elderly man''s voice abruptly faded.
The fiery cloud then disintegrated into countless specks of red light that quickly dissipated, and no trace of the blue-robed elderly man was left behind.
Everyone else was stunned into silence upon seeing this.
"Don''t make me repeat myself," the red-haired man said in a cold voice.
After that disy of intimidation, no one dared to raise any further objections, and they quickly flew onto the green flying boat before entering the crimson cage.
All of the bystanders in the distance were also stunned by what they had seen.
The red-haired man was even more powerful than Han Li had anticipated, but his gaze only lingered on him for a moment before he turned his attention to the ck-robed young man, who hadn''t flown onto the boat like everyone else.
The red-haired man turned to the ck-robed young man with a cold look in his eyes, and thetter remainedpletely unfazed as he said with a nonchnt smile, "I have an avid interest in all flying spirit treasures, but I''m afraid I''m not a fan of cages."
The red-haired man exchanged a nce with hispanion, following which thetter instantly appeared behind the ck-robed young man.
"You were the one who purchased the Myriad Soul Herb, right, Fox 3 of the Reincarnation Pce?" the red-haired man asked.
"Fox 3? Are you speaking to me? You have the wrong guy, but that''s not a bad name. I like it," the ck-robed young man said with a rxed grin.
"Ever since you snuck into the Vast Heavens Immortal Pce to steal that precious treasure a hundred thousand years ago, you''ve been periodicallymitting crimes across various immortal regions. We''ve finally managed to lure you out this time!
¡°If you know what''s good for you, then surrender right away, and if you hand over the treasure that you stole, I can grant you a swift and painless death!" the red-haired man dered as the crimson mes around him began to steadily brighten.
A tremendous, scorching aura resembling that of a volcanic eruption surged out of his body, and the nearby ground instantly split open while bing charred ck.
A terrifying wave of heat swept forth in all directions, and all of the bystanders hurriedly retreated even further.
"So he''s the renowned thief, Silver Fox!" Daoist Master Jingyang murmured to himself.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this. Back on the Immortal ying List in the city, he had indeed seen a man by the monicker of "Silver Fox".
ording to the enclosed description, he was a member of the Reincarnation Pce, and he specialized in stealing all types of precious treasures, most of which belonged to the immortal pces of various immortal regions.
Furthermore, before each of his crimes, he would always openly broadcast what he was going to do, but he had never been foiled, and he had alreadymitted countless crimes to date.
"A treasure stolen from the Vast Heavens Immortal Pce? Now that you mention it, I do recall hearing about this. If I recall correctly, it was a Profound Heavenly Treasure that had been discovered by Pce Master Situ Bowen of the Vast Heavens Immortal Pce, and he was nning to offer it to the Heavenly Court.
¡°For that asion, he had even held a grand ceremony with many Golden Immortals and even several immortal envoys sent from the Heavenly Court in attendance. Unfortunately, the treasure was stolen the day before the ceremony. What a pity!
¡°How embarrassing must that have been for that pce master and those immortal envoys? Having said that, why are you ming me for this? Are you trying to find some random person to y the role of scapegoat?" the ck-robed young man asked.
This had always been an extremely embarrassing incident that the Heavenly Court had tried to keep secret, yet the ck-robed young man had just revealed the details of the incident in front of so many people.
This revtion naturally created quite a stir among the crowd of bystanders, and no one dared to say anything in the presence of these immortal envoys, but the ridicule and amusement in the eyes of some of the bystanders was very apparent.
Veins began to bulge on the red-haired man''s forehead, and the killing intent in his eyes was growing by the second.
"No matter what you say, you''re not getting out of Jade Gathering City alive!" the thin man standing behind the ck-robed young man dered in a cold voice, while the red-haired man stepped forward with a cold sneer on his face.
The thin man also began to make his way forward, and the two of them approached the ck-robed young man together while releasing their tremendous spiritual pressure.
"What a pain in the backside. Why am I always being harrassed by you people? All I want is to be able to live in peace, even if it''s only for a short while. Is that really too much to ask?" the ck-robed young man sighed in a resigned manner.
As soon as his voice trailed off, his body suddenly transformed into a warped silver line that vanished from the spot in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, the purple-robed cultivator was standing with his hands sped behind his back while looking up at the sky, and it seemed that he had no intention of stepping in.
"You''re not getting away!" the red-haired man roared as the mes burning over his body swelled up even further while rapidly spreading in all directions, instantly forming a crimson spirit domain that epassed most of the Jade Kun Pagoda and several of the nearby buildings.
The crimson spirit domain was filled with incredible heat, and all of the buildings epassed within it with the exception of the Jade Kun Pavilion were quickly incinerated into nothingness.
The bystanders looking on from afar retreated even further upon seeing this, but thankfully, they were already a sufficient distance away that they weren''t epassed within the crimson spirit domain.
After summoning his spirit domain, a hint of surprise shed through the red-haired man''s eyes.
He was unable to detect the presence of the ck-robed young man through hsi spirit domain or his spiritual sense, and it seemed as if he had truly vanished.
In the instant that the ck-robed young man made his escape, the thin man also immediately made a hand seal before releasing a beam of azure light that pierced into the space up ahead, and in the next instant, an enormous azure light barrier that epassed an area with a radius of several dozen kilometers emerged.
It was a hemispherical light barrier with countless tornado projections raging through it amid bursts of thunderous rumbling.
Spatial fluctuations were emanating out of the azure light barrier, and it was clear that there were spatial restrictions inside that prevented the ck-robed young man from using any teleportation techniques.
The two immortal envoys were clearly very well prepared in their bid to capture Silver Fox.
After doing all of that, the thin man also began searching for the ck-robed young man, but all of a sudden, he noticed that the purple-robed cultivator was still standing with his hands sped behind his back inside the red-haired man''s fiery spirit domain.
He hadn''t channeled any cultivation arts to protect himself, but the surrounding crimson mes were somehow kept three feet away from him by a burst of invisible force.
The thin man raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and he was just about to conduct a closer examination when a loud roar suddenly rang out as the red-haired man swiveled around while shing his giant sword through the air.
A sharp ng rang out as the giant sword shed against a streak of silver swordlight that was as thin as a cicada''s wing, and it was giving off a faint glow, as well as a flurry of silver runes.
A cold sneer appeared on the red-haired man''s face as the mes on his giant sword reared up with tremendous force, and the streak of silver swordlight was instantly shattered.
However, at the exact same moment, a burst of spatial fluctuations erupted behind the red-haired man, and two identical streaks of silver sword light emerged out of thin air before hurtling directly toward him from behind.
Chapter 619: True Appearance
Chapter 619: True Appearance
The red-haired man''s brows furrowed slightly, but he remainedposed as he opened his mouth to release a burst of crimson light, which instantly swept through the air until it was behind him.
The burst of crimson light then transformed into a round crimson shield, and two sharp ngs rang out as the streaks of silver swordlight pierced into the shield, sending sparks flying in all directions.
The round shield shuddered slightly, but it was instantly able to stabilize itself again.
However, before the red-haired man even had a chance to catch his breath, four more identical streaks of silver swordlight emerged on either side of him before piercing toward him as well, and they were even faster than the precious streaks of swordlight.
The red-haired man''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and the giant sword in his hand suddenly began to glow radiantly as four fiery crimson sword projections were released.
All of the sword projections were giving off bursts ofw power fluctuations, and they positioned themselves directly in the path of the four streaks of silver swordlight.
Three dull thumps rang out in session as three streaks of silver swordlight were intercepted before exploding alongside the sword projections that they had crashed into, but right as the final streak of silver swordlight was about to sh against the sword projection that was in its path, thetter was suddenly moved slightly to the side.
The streak of silver swordlight just barely passed by the fiery sword projection, then abruptly appeared in front of the red-haired man''s lower abdomen before plunging down at an incredible speed.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
In the instant that the crimson sword projection was diverted to the side, Han Li had sensed the aura of spiritual sense chains.
Right at this moment, a burst of radiant azure light abruptly appeared beside the red-haired man, then transformed into an azure spear that struck the streak of silver swordlight.
A dull thump rang out as the streak of silver swordlight exploded, while the thin man appeared beside the red-haired man before asking, "Are you alright, Brother Gongshu?"
Ayer of cold sweat had beaded up on the red-haired man''s forehead, and there was a hint of lingering fear in his eyes as he replied, "I''m fine. Thank you, Brother Wang?"
At the same time, he made a hand seal, and his giant sword rose up into the air above his head, where it released a burst of radiant crimson light that conjured up countless streaks of crimson sword qi, forming an enormous sword array that began revolving incessantly around him.
At the same time, the crimson shield behind him transformed into a thick crimson light barrier around his entire body in case of further sneak attacks.
"Silver Fox may only be an early-High Zenith cultivator, but his powers are nothing to be scoffed at. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been able to avoid capture for all these years, so do be careful, Brother Gongshu," the thin man cautioned.
At the same time, he swept a sleeve through the air to release an azure bamboo tube immortal treasure, while transformed into a cylindrical azure light barrier around him.
The red-haired man nodded in response, and anycency in his heart had beenpletely erased.
Right at this moment, the ck-robed young man''s mocking voice rang out.
"Gongshu Tian, I heard that you''re supposed to be the number one prodigy of the Gongshu n and a renowned figure even in the Immortal Prison. Is this all of you''ve got? You have to rely on yourpanion to protect you? How disappointing..."
His voice was reverberating throughout the entire surrounding space, making it impossible to pinpoint where it wasing from.
A furious look appeared on the red-haired man''s face, but he then took a deep breath and paid no heed to the taunts being directed at him.
"Even my spirit domain is unable to detect Silver Fox''s presence. What type ofw power has he mastered?" he asked through voice transmission while scouring his surroundings.
"I''m not sure. I''ve heard that he possesses a powerful spatial treasure that can allow him to fuse as one with space itself, making it impossible to track him down using spiritual sense or spirit domains. Having said that, it''s not entirely impossible to determine his location," the thin man replied.
A hint of realization instantly appeared in the red-haired man''s eyes upon hearing this.
All of a sudden, a burst of azure light emerged over the thin man''s body, and it spread outward to form an azure spirit domain that stacked on top of the surrounding crimson spirit domain.
Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal, and a series of azure tornados instantly emerged within the azure spirit domain.
The red-haired man also sprang into action, chanting an incantation, and a series of pirs of crimson fire rose up within his spirit domain, quickly intertwining with the azure tornados.
The fiery pirs quickly fused with the azure tornados, and the mes reared up significantly as the entire crimson spirit domain brightened by severalfold, but no change could be observed in the azure spirit domain.
However, all of the swirling crimson mes were obstructing everyone''s view while also keeping out the spiritual sense of the bystanders, and everyone was quite disappointed to see this.
For the vast majority of the bystanders, witnessing High Zenith cultivators in battle was an extremely precious learning experience, but it seemed that the spectacle had be inessible, at least for now.
A hint of disappointment also shed through Han Li''s eyes, and a contemtive look appeared on his face as he thought back to the instant that the crimson sword projection had been shifted to the side.
He hadn''t managed to catch a clear glimpse of the process the first time, but if he could see it a few more times, then he was confident that he would be able to make sense of what had happened.
This was clearly a very advanced use of one''s spiritual sense, and if he could master it, he would have another potent weapon that he could use in battle.
Inside the crimson spirit domain, the red-haired man made a hand seal, and the crimson mes within the spirit domain instantly began to churn violently, then converged to form a giant white fireball that resembled a scorching sun hanging in mid-air.
A terrifying fieryw aura was emanating from the white sun, causing the nearby space to tremble violently.
The red-haired man''splexion was slightly pale, clearly indicating that this was a very taxing ability for him to unleash, and he chanted an incantation while abruptly making a grabbing motion with one hand.
Countless strands of white light instantly shot out of the white sun, then pierced through the space down below in a sh.
The strands of white light were extremely fast, and they instantly permeated throughout the entire crimson spirit domain.
"There he is!"
The red-haired man''s eyes suddenly lit up as he switched to a different hand seal, and countless strands of white light suddenly stretched taut as they dragged the ck-robed young man out of thin air.
Those strands of white light were wrapped around his body, and there was a surprised look on his face.
"Die!" the thin man roared as he swept a sleeve through the air, sending an azure badge hurtling toward the ck-robed young man.
A dull thud rang out as the azure badge transformed into an azure beastly projection with the head of a snake and the body of a tiger mid-flight, then opened its mouth up wide as it pounced at the ck-robed young man.
The aura emanating from this projection was far more formidable than that of the thin man himself, and it was almost at the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage.
A grim look appeared on the ck-robed young man''s face as he hurriedly made a hand seal, and two bursts of bright silver light appeared in his eyes before quickly spreading over his entire body.
Immediately thereafter, his body exploded into countless specks of silver light that dissipated in all directions.
As a result, the azure beastly projection missed its target, and it let loose a frustrated roar before quickly reverting back to the same azure badge from before, except this time, the azure light emanating from it had dimmed significantly.
Meanwhile, the specks of silver light converged in the distance to form Silver Fox''s body once again, but his appearance had changed drastically.
His hair had turned silver, as had his previously ck pupils. His ears had elongated drastically, and ayer of silver fur had emerged over them.
Wisps of misty silver light were revolving around him, giving him a rather indistinct and mysterious appearance.
The thin man''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he drew his azure badge back to himself while sweeping a sleeve through the air to release an antiquated azure mirror.
As soon as the mirror appeared, a burst of azure light instantly shed over its surface, and it swelled to the size of a house in the blink of an eye.
Countless azure runes surged out of the mirror, then transformed into balls of azure light.
At the same time, the thin man opened his mouth to release a ball of azure light, which intertwined with all of the balls of azure light, instantly transforming them into giant des of azure wind with arcs of azure lightning shing over them.
All of the des of wind swept toward Silver Fox with incredible speed and tremendous power, while the red-haired man made a hand seal, and a second flurry of strands of white light erupted out of the white sun before hurtling toward Silver Fox as well.
A disdainful sneer appeared on Silver Fox''s face, and a burst of silver light shed over his body before transforming into several dozen silver figures, all of which appeared to be clones of himself.
These silver figures darted away in all directions, leaving trails of afterimages in their wake, and the des of azure wind instantly swept through them, but were unable to inflict any damage at all.
The strands of white light were alsopletely ineffective as they pierced through the silver figures.
"You two aren''t half bad, but I''ve spent enough time ying with you. I still have things I need to do, so I''ll be leaving now. See you never!"
Silver Fox''s mocking voice rang out once again as the silver figures abruptly sped up while continuing to dart away, and they seemed to bepletely unaffected by the two surrounding spirit domains.
"You''re not getting away!" the thin man roared as he flew into the air, appearing above the antiquated azure mirror while making a hand seal, then opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence that fused into the mirror.
The mirror instantly lit up as a vast expanse of azure radiance surged forth from within. It was as if it had been set alight, and it took on a semi-transparent appearance before fusing into the azure spirit domain in a sh.
The entire azure spirit domain instantly transformed into an enormous azure mirror surface, and bursts of translucent azure light surged out of the mirror while giving off peculiarw power fluctuations.
All of the silver figures were instantly rooted to the spot, and at the same time, the thin man switched to a different hand seal before thrusting both of his palms down toward the mirror surface.
Countless translucent azure threads shot out of the azure mirror surface before piercing through the silver figures, and this time, they were finally able to harm those silver figures, which dissipated one after another until there was only a single one left.
Chapter 620: Spectating
Chapter 620: Spectating
"Now, Brother Gongshu!" the thin man yelled.
At this point, hisplexion had paled significantly, and his arms were trembling as he pressed the palms of his hands down onto the mirror surface, clearly indicating that he was severely exerting himself.
Gongshu Tian began to chant a rapid incantation, then made a grabbing motion with both hands before dragging them downward, and ayer of white mes emerged over the white sun that was hovering in mid-air, which came crashing down upon the silver figure.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the white sun exploded to inundate the silver figure with radiant white light, which also filled the entire spirit domain.
A burst of unfathomably formidablew power fluctuations erupted out of the explosion before spreading through the surrounding area, and countless rifts instantly began to appear in the nearby space.
The azure mirror surface instantly vanished and reverted back to an azure spirit domain, but in the face of this burst of formidablew power fluctuation, the azure spirit domain quickly disintegrated as well.
After destroying the azure spirit domain, the burst ofw power fluctuations struck the crimson spirit domain, and Gongshu Jiu let loose a fierce roar as he held the crimson spirit domain together with all his might.
If he couldn''t contain the power of this explosion, then at least half of the entirety of Jade Gathering City was going to be razed to the ground.
A few secondster, thew power fluctuations finally subsided, and the radiant white light that filled the entire spirit domain also faded.
At this moment, Gongshu Jiu''splexion was looking deathly pale, but there was an ted look in his eyes as he withdrew his crimson spirit domain before casting his gaze toward the silver figure.
That white sun was something that had been conjured up by thebination of his and hispanion''sw powers. Even though theirw powers weren''t perfectlypatible with each other''s, that attack was stillparable in power to an all-out blow from ate-High Zenith cultivator.
Silver Fox was only at the early-High Zenith Stage, so there was no way that he would''ve been able to survive a direct strike from the white sun. Having said that, Gongshu Jiu was hoping that Silver Fox''s body wasn''t too severely damaged. Otherwise, there would be insufficient proof that he had actuallypleted his mission.
As the spirit domains and the dense wall of fire faded, a stir immediately began to run through the crowd of bystanders. At this point, even more people had gathered around the scene, and they were all staring intently at the epicenter of the explosion.
Before long, the white light hadpletely faded, and a charred ck body was revealed on the ground.
However, as soon as Gongshu Tian caught sight of the body, his smile instantly stiffened. As it turned out, the body belonged to hispanion.
At this moment, his entire body was charred ck and riddled with cracks, but there was no longer any blood flowing out of those gashes. He resembled a burned rucksack, and the only silver lining was that he was still breathing, albeit very faintly.
"Senior Martial Brother Wang!" Gongshu Tian eximed, then immediately rushed over to the thin man''s side before flipping a hand over to summon a pair of talismans, one green and one red.
Both talismans were giving off astonishing spiritual power andw power fluctuations, indicating that they had to be very precious talismans, but in this urgent situation, Gongshu Tian put them to use without any hesitation.
The two talismans lit up at his behest, then vanished into the thin man''s body as two balls of light, one green and one red.
The thin man''s charred body instantly began to revert from ck to red, and all of the gashes on his body also began to heal, while his aura was also steadily recovering.
Gongshu Tian was very relieved to see this, but all of a sudden, he turned his attention to the spot where the thin man had been standing just a moment ago, and it was Silver Fox who was standing there instead.
His hands were sped together in a seal in front of his chest, and they were releasing blinding silver light.
All of a sudden, Silver Fox undid his hand seal, and the silver light immediately faded, revealing a faint smile on his face.
Meanwhile, the purple-robed cultivator remained at the exact same spot as before with his hands still sped behind his back. His clothes werepletely spotless and undamaged, and he hadn''t been affected by the battle that had just taken ce around him at all.
He turned to take a nce at Silver Fox and the two immortal envoys, then quickly looked away again.
All of the bystanders were astonished to see this.
It seemed like Silver Fox had taken on two immortal envoys at once ande out on top!
"I can''t believe you''ve mastered thews of illusion to such an advanced degree!" Gongshu Tian eximed with a stunned and furious expression.
He then scooped up the thin man''s body from the ground before flying back in retreat.
"Did I say you could leave?" Silver Fox asked as he raised a hand, and his fingertip began to glow with bright silver light.
Right at this moment, a burst of spatial fluctuations erupted overhead, and a bolt of five-colored lightning appeared before crashing down upon Silver Fox at an astonishing speed.
Silver Fox immediately darted back in retreat with an rmed expression, but the bolt of five-colored lightning was too fast for him to evade, and it wrapped itself around his raised left arm as if it were a living creature.
A dull thump rang out as Silver Fox''s arm was snapped into pieces before being incinerated into ashes, but at the same time, he had retreated to over a thousand feet away.
However, the bolt of five-colored lightning wasn''t done there, and it shot forth in hot pursuit before attempting to strike other parts of Silver Fox''s body.
A cold look appeared on Silver Fox''s face as he swept his right arm through the air, and a translucent chain shot out of his be, instantly diverting the bolt of lightning to the side so that it nced past him before burrowing into the ground.
A bottomless hole was instantly punched into the ground with plumes of smoke billowing out of it.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up with intrigue upon seeing this.
This was the second time that Silver Fox had unleashed this spirit sense secret technique.
Immediately thereafter, Silver Fox darted back another thousand or so feet, then opened his mouth to release a burst of crimson light that fell upon his left shoulder, where his arm had been severed.
A series of crimson threads instantly shot out of his shoulder, then rapidly intertwined to form a new arm, following which he looked up into the sky, where a figure emerged amid a sh of five-colored lightning.
It was an enormous middle-aged man who was almost twice the height of the average grown man. His skin was bronze in color, and his facial features were so sharp and angr that they looked as if they had been chiseled out of stone.
He was wearing a suit of golden armor, indicating that he was also an immortal envoy.
"Su Liu!" Silver Fox spat through gritted teeth.
"That''s Immortal Envoy Su Liu!" Daoist Master Jingyang eximed with a surprised expression.
"Immortal Envoy Su Liu? Is he the immortal envoy stationed in Jade Gathering City?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. Immortal Envoy Su Liu is at the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage. I don''t think Silver Fox will be able to get away this time," Daoist Master Jingyang sighed.
"Silver Fox is a wanted fugitive of the Heavenly Court, while you''re a deputy mountain master of the Hundred Creations Mountain, which is affiliated with the Heavenly Court, so why is it that you seem rather concerned that Silver Fox is going to be captured?" Han Li asked.
Daoist Master Jingyang shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and he hurriedly looked around, but much to his relief, everyone''s attention was currently focused on Su Liu, so no one had overheard their conversation.
"Please don''t make such damning jokes, Fellow Daoist Li. If someone from the Heavenly Court overhears you, I''ll be in a world of trouble," Daoist Master Jingyang implored through voice transmission.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Jingyang, I''ve already cast a soundproofing restriction around us, so no one would''ve been able to overhear our conversation. I''m not so careless that I would discuss such sensitive matters without taking the necessary precautions," Han Li replied with an amused smile.
Daoist Master Jingyang faltered slightly upon hearing this, then looked around to discover that there was indeed a barely visible restriction around them, a discovery that left him feeling both relieved and astonished.
The two of them had been standing so close to each other, yet Han Li had cast this restrictionpletely without his detection, indicating that Han Li was most likely even more powerful than he anticipated.
Meanwhile, a wary look appeared in Silver Fox''s eyes as he conjured up dozens of identical silver figures once again, all of whom fled in different directions.
"Why are you in such a hurry to get away?" Su Liu sneered as he reached out with both hands, and dozens of arcs of five-colored lightning instantly shot out of his fingertips before hurtling toward those silver figures.
The silver figures were extremely fast, but those arcs of lightning were even faster, and they caught up to the silver figures in a sh before wrapping themselves around them.
Immediately thereafter, the arcs of lightning exploded violently to eradicate all of the silver figures in the blink of an eye, leaving only one behind.
That final silver figure was Silver Fox''s true body, and he was in the process of fleeing the scene.
A cold sneer appeared on Su Liu''s face as he brought his fingers together, and the arcs of five-colored lightning instantly converged to form four five-colored lightning dragons, each of which was over a hundred feet in length.
The four lightning dragons swooped down before appearing directly above Silver Fox in the blink of an eye, then pounced on him at an astonishing speed.
A burst of tremendous power erupted out of the lightning dragons'' bodies to significantly hamper Silver Fox''s speed, and his expression changed drastically as he hurriedly made a string of hand seals.
Several spiritual sense chains shot out of his be in a sh, and four lightning dragons were diverted ever so slightly to create a small opening.
Silver Fox''s eyes immediately lit up as he darted through the opening, but right at this moment, an earth-shattering boom rang out, and an enormous ball of radiant five-colored lightning emerged.
Thick arcs of five-colored lightning shed through the air, instantly eradicating everything that they came into contact with, and the ball of lightning was like an all-devouring giant beast.
However, in the instant that the ball of five-colored lightning appeared, Silver Fox shot out from within, looking rather disheveled.
Hisplexion had paled even further, his clothes were in tatters, and a series of charred gashes had appeared over his body, but they weren''t severe injuries.
All of a sudden, he turned around and yelled, "I did tell you not to get involved, but you can''t just stand there and do nothing but watch!"
Chapter 621: Its Him
Chapter 621: It''s Him
Su Liu took a nce at the purple-robed cultivator upon hearing this, and his expression changed ever so slightly, but he continued with what he was doing without pause as the ball of five-colored lightning split back up into four lightning dragons at his behest before hurtling toward Silver Fox.
Silver Fox was clearly quite apprehensive of these lightning dragons, and bright silver light erupted out of his body as he rushed toward the purple-robed cultivator, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake.
"Alright, but let''s make this clear: you''re asking for my help, so after this, I don''t owe you anything anymore," the purple-robed cultivator said with a faint smile, and his voice indicated that he was a man.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. The purple-robed cultivator''s voice struck him with a sense of familiarity.
"Fine!" Silver Fox snapped as he drew to a halt beside the purple-robed cultivator, who rubbed his hands together, and bright purple light surged out of his body before forming a vast cloud of purple radiance.
A burst of formidable devilish qi fluctuations erupted out of the purple light, and Han Li''s heat stirred slightly upon seeing this.
Not only was this burst of devilish qi tremendously powerful, it was also exceptionally pure, far more so than the devilish qi that he released while unleashing his Provenance True Devil Arts.
The purple light rippled slightly, then immediately swept back toward the purple-robed cultivator to form a huge purple projection with three heads and six arms behind him.
The projection''s three heads were all different from one another. One of the heads had a single horn with a furious look on its face, another wore a me-shaped helmet with its eyes shut, seemingly in a state of slumber, while the final head wore a sympathetic expression with a vertical eye on its forehead.
In fact, all three heads had a vertical eye on each of their foreheads, but at this moment, these eyes were tightly shut.
The six arms were also all wielding different weapons, and right at this moment, the purple-robed cultivator''s sleeves rolled up on their own to reveal a fineyer of purple scales on the skin of his arms.
A hint of recognition shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he murmured to himself, "It''s him..."
The purple-robed cultivator was most likely Shi Chuankong, the man that he had met back in Primordial Origin City.
At this moment, the purple scales on his arms were also glowing brightly as a series of purple veins spread over his entire body, and he swelled to several times his original size. Originally, he had a tall and slender build, but his body became extremely muscr and imposing, and a series of devilish patterns had appeared over his skin, while his eyes had also turned a dark purple color.
An enormous aura erupted out of his body, but it was only at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage.
He made a hand seal to release two beams of purple light into the devilish projection behind him, and the projection''s horned head suddenly began to glow brightly, while the vertical eye on its forehead also sprang open.
A beam of silver light shot out of the vertical eye, giving off incredible formidable spatialw power fluctuations that caused the nearby space to ripple incessantly.
The silver light then instantly vanished into thin air, and in the next instant, a ball of bright silver light appeared behind Silver Fox before transforming into a swirling silver vortex.
The four lightning dragons converged onto the scene, but the silver vortex abruptly expanded to epass the lightning dragons, and in the next instant, the lightning dragons and the silver vortex vanished in unison.
A hint of surprise appeared on Su Liu''s face upon seeing this, and right at this moment, a silver vortex suddenly appeared behind him.
The four lightning dragons shot out of the vortex, catching himpletely off guard and striking him on the back to send him flying forward with tremendous force.
"Bravo! Su Liu''s really shot himself in the foot there!" Silver Fox chortled with glee.
"We have to get out of here. Su Liu is not someone that we can take on right now," the purple-robed cultivator said as he made a hand seal, and the purple projection behind him wrapped its six arms around him and Silver Fox, then fled into the distance as a ball of radiant purple light.
"Get back here!"
A thunderous roar of fury rang out as arcs of five-colored lightning instantly spread through the surrounding area to form a lightning spirit domain that epassed the purple lightning within it.
The lightning spirit domain was virtually substantial in form, and once again, it obstructed the view of all of the bystanders.
Arcs of five-colored lightning converged from all parts of the spirit domain,shing viciously against the ball of purple light like whips.
The ball of purple light rippled violently, and it was being rapidly whittled down by teh relentless lightning strikes.
All of a sudden, Su Liu appeared at the center of the lightning spirit domain.
The armor on his back was damaged, revealing arge section of his bronze-colored skin, but he was clearly unscathed.
However, he seemed to have been infuriated by the fact that his own attack had been used against him, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which all of the five-colored lightning in the spirit domain converged to form a giant ax.
Bursts of thunderous rumbling erupted out of the ax, and a tremendously fearsome aura spread through the entire surrounding area.
Su Liu raised an arm before bringing it down again in a swift and forceful motion, and the lightning ax came crashing down with unmatched power, tearing through the nearby space as it descended upon the ball of purple light.
Almost at the exact same moment, a giant crimson sword the size of a mountain came hurtling forth from afar, and wrapped around it was an enormous fiery wyrm projection that was giving off tremendous firew power fluctuations.
The crimson sword wasn''t as powerful as the lightning ax, but it was certainly nothing to be scoffed at, and it was also leaving a spatial rift in its wake as it swept toward the ball of purple light.
The sword hade from none other than Gongshu Tian, and at this point, the thin man had also regained consciousness, but he was still yet to recover from his injuries, so he refrained from entering the fray.
Right at this moment, a burst of bright silver light suddenly appeared within the ball of purple light, then quickly spread outward to form a silver spirit domain.
The spirit domain had only just taken shape before both the lightning ax and the giant sword arrived, and the silver spirit domain immediately began to warp and twist.
All of the surrounding space within a radius of several thousand feet also twist and elongate, and the lightning ax and the giant sword were swept up by the twisted space, diverting them away from their original trajectories.
As a result, they nced past the silver spirit domain, then shed against each other with a an earth-shattering boom.
The silver spirit domain also dimmed significantly, indicating that it had been severely exerted. However, at the same time, it rapidly elongated into the shape of a spear, then pierced into space and vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Almost at the exact same moment, the azure light shuddered violently before a cracking sound rang out from inside, it exploded into countless specks of azure light that quickly dissipated.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and all Su Liu and Gongshu Tian saw were a few shes of silver light before Silver Fox and the purple-robed cultivator vanished out of sight.
"Shit!" Gongshu Tian cursed to himself with a frustrated look on his face, and the thin man was also looking far from pleased.
Su Liu''s brows were slightly furrowed, and the fury in his eyes slowly abated as the giant lightning ax faded at his behest.
"Fellow Daoist Su, yourws of lightning were the perfect counter to Silver Fox! If the three of us had joined forces from the very beginning, Silver Fox wouldn''t have gotten away, and Brother Wang wouldn''t have been injured, either!" Gongshu Tian said as he turned to Su Liu.
"Are you questioning me?" Su Liu asked as he turned to Gongshu Tian with a cold expression.
Gongshu Tian''s expression stiffened slightly, and the tone of his voice softened a little as he replied, "No, I''m just stating the facts. The three of us were assigned the mission of capturing Silver Fox, yet now, not only has he gotten away, he''s taken the Myriad Soul Herb as well. How are we going to answer to our higher-ups?"
Su Liu took a nce at the severely ravaged inner city, then at the people in the cage on the flying boat, and he sneered, "Capturing Silver Fox is your mission, I was only instructed to help you.
¡°I did everything I needed to do, and it''s up to you to think about how to answer to our higher-ups. As for everyone on that boat, they''re all esteemed guests who came to attend the Jade Kun Pavilion auction, so you''d better think carefully about what you want to do with them."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he withdrew his lightning spirit domain, then vanished from the spot before Gongshu Tian had a chance to say anything.
With the lightning spirit domain gone, Gongshu Tian and the thin man were revealed to everyone.
At this point, an enormous crowd of bystanders had gathered at the scene, and the two immortal envoys clearly weren''t very pleased with all the attention.
Gongshu Tian gave a cold harrumph, and the two immortal envoys promptly departed as two streaks of light.
The flying boat beside them also flew away after them, while the people in the cage were dumped out in a rather unceremonious fashion.
All of the freed cultivators were extremely relieved, and they immediately departed, as did the crowd of bystanders.
"Judging from their expressions, it seems that they failed to capture Silver Fox," Han Li remarked as he watched the departing the immortal envoys.
At the same time, the thought of Shi Chuankong shed through his mind.
It seemed that the three-headed projection that he had conjured up was somehow rted to the Provenance True Devil Arts, and on top of that, he had also mastered thews of space.
It was a real pity that Su Liu''s lightning spirit domain had obstructed everyone''s view and prevented him from seeing the final moments of the battle.
"The fun''s over now, so let''s get out of here, Fellow Daoist Li. I don''t think it would be wise to linger here," Daoist Master Jingyang urged.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Fellow Daoist Jingyang. Let''s go," Han Li agreed.
Chapter 622: Flower, Bird, Fish, Insect
Chapter 622: Flower, Bird, Fish, Insect
At the center of Jade Gathering City was a white pagoda that stretched all the way up into the clouds.
All of a sudden, Su Liu appeared in a side hall within the pagoda, and beside him was a white-robed young man who was seated in a chair, sipping on some spirit tea.
Upon spotting Su Liu, he remained seated as he remarked, "You intentionally let those two get away, didn''t you?"
Su Liu took an indifferent nce at the white-robed man, then asked, "You saw everything?"
"That man in purple had spatialw powers up his sleeve, but with your powers, you were perfectly capable of preventing him from getting away. Why did you do that? Those old geezers aren''t as easy to fool as Gongshu Tian. If the higher-ups find out about this, it could be bad for you," the white-robed man said.
"That man''s identity is quite sensitive, so capturing him would''ve spelled far more trouble. Even if the higher-ups find out about this, they won''t me me for what I did," Su Liu replied.
"Oh? Who is he?" the white-robed man asked with a surprised expression.
"He''s from the Vast Origin House," Su Liu repiled.
The surprise in the white-robed man''s eyes became even more pronounced upon hearing this, and he asked, "Are you sure?"
"I know what I''m doing," Su Liu assured.
"Then what about Silver Fox? He''s a renowned fugitive on the Immortal ying List. You could''ve easily captured Silver Fox while letting hispanion go," the white-robed man said.
Su Liu''s expression darkened slightly in the face of the white-robed man''s persistent questioning, and he said, "I told you that I know what I''m doing. I have my reasons for letting Silver Fox go. Everything will be clear to you in the future."
The white-robed man could see that he wasn''t going to be able to get an answer out of Su Liu, so he could only shake his head with a wry smile.
......
In a certain secret chamber in Jade Gathering City.
"What a farce that turned out to be! After what just happened, who''s going to dare to attend the Jade Kun Pagoda auction in the future? I''ll be sure to report this matter to my superiors. If worsees to worst, we''ll just have to cancel our coboration with the ck Mountain Immortal Pce. Otherwise, the reputation of our Hundred Creations Mountain will be swept to the ground sooner orter!" Daoist Master Jingyang Jingyang grumbled.
"Don''t get so worked up, Fellow Daoist Jingyang. You were never all that interested in overseeing affairs rted to the auction anyway, so why not just return to your life of rxation in the Leisure Valley and leave this to someone else?" Han Li chuckled.
Despite his rxed and casual facade, internally, there was a great deal of lingering fear in his heart. If he had outbid Silver Fox for that Myriad Soul Herb during the auction, he would''ve been the one detained by the Immortal Pce.
"I''m afraid the Leisure Valley is also no longer the ce it used to be," Daoist Master Jingyang sighed.
"Let''s not discuss these vexing matters anymore. How about we take a look at the beast bone that you purchased at the auction?" Han Li proposed.
"Fellow Daoist Li, why does it feel to me like you''re more of a businessman than you are a pill refinement master?" Daoist Master Jingyang asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Which cultivator isn''t a calcting businessman?" Han Li countered with an amused smile.
"I suppose you''re right," Daoist Master Jingyang sighed with a wry smile.
With that, he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized octagonal box, then pressed his palm down onto the center of the box, upon which the box immediately split open into eight triangr pieces that resembled the petals of a flower.
Han Li stood off to the side with blue light shing in his eyes, intently observing all of the spirit patterns on the octagonal box, as well as every single motion that Daoist Master Jingyang performed.
Daoist Master Jingyangid the octagonal box upside-down onto the ground, then joined his index and middle fingers before pressing down them toward the box, only to suddenly stop what he was doing.
Han Li could see what he was thinking, and he jibed, "What? Are you feeling apprehensive about showing me how to open this treasure? Setting aside the fact that I have no idea what you''re doing, even if I did, where could I possibly find an identical spatial treasure to this one?"
"You''re right," Daoist Master Jingyang chuckled with a self-deprecating expression. "To be honest, no advanced techniques are required to open this treasure. It''s just that the process is very specific, and not many people in the Hundred Creations Mountain are willing to learn it as they''ll most likely never get to use it anyway."
"How did the Hundred Creations Mountain find out this method then?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Daoist Master Jingyang hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then exined, "Earlier, I told you that this beast bone is a spatial treasure, but that''s actually not correct. Strictly speaking, it''s actually a domain treasure."
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, and the Domain Bead instantly sprang into his mind. [1]
The Domain Bead was the most prized artifact of the Space Fish Race, an exceptional treasure capable of housing even mountains and seas. If this beast bone were also a treasure of the same nature, then it would truly be a priceless treasure.
Unfortunately, Han Li was unable to bring the Domain Bead with him during his ascension to the True Immortal Realm, so he could only leave it in the Spirit Realm.
"In contrast with normal spatial treasures, domain treasures often haverger internal spaces, and the world''s origin qi inside can circte freely, so even living beings can survive inside, making it perfect for raising spirit nts and spirit beasts," Daoist Master Jingyang exined.
Han Li was naturally already aware of the distinction between the two types of treasures, but he still nodded in response.
"In the immortal regions, domain treasures are often extremely expensive, but they''re not exactly rare. If I were to purchase one through my connections in the Hundred Creations Mountain, then I could do so with ease, so do you know why I was so eager to acquire this particr domain treasure?" Daoist Master Jingyang asked with a hint of excitement in his eyes.
"How could I know the answer to that?" Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"This beast bone is called the Fish Branch, and it was created by the third mountain master of our Hundred Creations Mountain, Jie Jinyuan. This is one of a set of four domain treasures that he crafted, and the other three are the Flower Branch, the Bird Branch, and the Insect Branch, collectively known as the Four Branches. With this branch recovered, only the Flower Branch is still lost," Daoist Master Jingyang exined.
"That''s a set of rather romantic names. This third mountain master must''ve been quite an interesting person," Han Li remarked with a smile.
"Our third mountain master had the strangest personality out of all of our past mountain masters, but he''s also the one most revered by the disciples of our Hundred Creations Mountain, second only to our founder.
¡°It was said that he had always possessed exceptional aptitude in tool refinement, and even back when he was a disciple, he was constantlying up with new and innovative ideas. For that, he was often denounced asckadaisical and unfocused by the elders.
¡°However, heter went on to catch the eye of the second mountain master, who took him under his wing, and ultimately, he became an exceptional mountain master," Daoist Master Jingyang said with a smile.
"Where do these strange namese from? And how is this Fish Branch supposed to be opened?" Han Li asked.
"I already told you that our third mountain master had a very strange personality, so who knows how he decided on these names? Perhaps it was simply on a whim. I can see that you''re eager to see what''s inside this Fish Branch, so I won''t waste any more time," Daoist Master Jingyang chuckled, then began to engrave a small array onto the ground around the octagonal box.
After that, he pulled out the Fish Branch before cing it onto the upside-down octagonal box.
"I didn''t think the process would be soplicated," Han Li remarked with slightly furrowed brows.
"If it wasn''tplicated, that clueless Golden Immortal would''ve already opened it," Daoist Master Jingyang replied.
"That''s true," Han Li said with a nod.
"The array that I''ve engraved onto the ground is called the Eight Origins Unraveling Array. Following the demise of their original owner, some domain treasures cannot be opened by anyone else, and the only way to reopen such a domain treasure would be refine it using this array, after which one will be able to open and close the treasure at will like a storage ring," Daoist Master Jingyang exined.
"I see."
"Alright, I have to focus now, so don''t distract me," Daoist Master Jingyang said as a serious look appeared on his face.
Han Li immediately made his way to the side of the room, where he continued to observe in silence.
Meanwhile, Daoist Master Jingyang began to make a hand seal while silently chanting an incantation.
Through observing his lips, Han Li was able to get a rough idea of what he was chanting, but this was clearly not a reliable method to learn the incantation, and with that in mind, Han Li''s brows became slightly furrowed.
Momentster, Daoist Master Jingyang raised a finger to release a beam of white light into the beast bone, and ayer of resplendent silver light instantly appeared over its surface, then spread over the entire bone, while a golden fish design roughly the size of a copper coin appeared on the tip of the bone.
"Please wait a moment while I refine this treasure, and after that, we''ll be able to open it," Daoist Master Jingyang said to Han Li as he picked up the Fish Branch.
Han Li was still pondering the incantation that he had just extrapted, and he nodded silently in response.
Daoist Master Jingyang sat down with his legs crossed, then brought his palms together with the bone sped between them tomence the refinement process.
Only after around six hours had passed did he rise to his feet. At this point, he was sweating profusely, and it seemed that he had just severely exerted himself.
Despite his weary expression, his eyes were glowing with joy, and he smiled as he dered, "It''s time to reap the spoils, Fellow Daoist Li."
"I''m excited to see what''s inside," Han Li replied with a smile of his own.
Daoist Master Jingyang swept a hand over the Fish Branch, and all of a sudden, it becamepletely transparent, while the bright silver light that was emanating from it transformed into a door of light that was around ten feet tall.
A glimmer of green could be seen within the door of light, and a gentle breeze was also blowing out of it.
"Come on in, Fellow Daoist Li," Daoist Master Jingyang invited, then stepped into the door of light, disappearing out of sight.
1. For more information on the Domain Bead, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2304: Domain Bead. ?
Chapter 623: Island on a Lake
Chapter 623: Ind on a Lake
Han Li briefly inspected the door of light, then also stepped into it behind Daoist Master Jingyang.
As soon as he did so, he immediately found himself standing above a vast body of water, and the surrounding environment was filled with clean and refreshing air.
After inhaling a lungful of fresh air, he inspected his surroundings to find that the body of water down below was several dozen kilometers wide, so it could be referred to as a smallke.
Further in the distance around theke was a vast expanse of mist that perhaps led to somewhere else, or perhaps they signified the boundaries of this space.
At the very center of theke was a round ind that was filled with lush greenery, and at the center of the ind was an intricate courtyard with white walls and ck roof tiles.
Han Li and Daoist Master Jingyang were hovering in the air above theke, and they could see schools of plump golden carp swimming and ying through the water in a joyful manner.
"I didn''t think that there would be such an abundance of spiritual qi in this domain," Han Li praised.
"Indeed, this ce isn''t inferior to some of the secret areas that are closely guarded by major sects. I can see that there are at least two spirit springs in thiske. It seems like legends about the third mountain master are true. He really was a genius far beyond fools like myself," Daoist Master Jingyang sighed, then picked up his wine gourd before taking a long swig.
"Why do you always speak of him in the past tense, Fellow Daoist Jingyang? Is he no longer the mountain master of the Hundred Creations Mountain?" Han Li asked while appreciating the beautiful scenery around him.
"Indeed. The third mountain master is nothing more than a legendary figure of the past now. Our current mountain master is the fifth mountain master," Daoist Master Jingyang sighed.
As the two of them were speaking, they had already glided through the air to the small ind at the heart of theke.
Upon reaching the ind, they were immediately greeted by the sound of pleasant birdsong and the sweet fragrance of flowers. The two of them made their way down a small pebble path on the ind deep into the forest, and they quickly arrived at the ck and white courtyard.
To the front left of the courtyard was a small spirit field, around which was a purple light barrier, and there were various types of different spirit nts and spirit medicines growing inside.
Daoist Master Jingyang''s eyes lit up slightly as he approached the spirit field. The light barrier hadn''t been maintained for countless years, and he was able to dispel it with ease before turning back Han Li as he asked, "Fellow Daoist Li, you''re a pill refinement master, so I''m sure you recognize everything in here, right?"
Han Li stepped into the spirit field, then swept his gaze over the surrounding spirit nts, and his eyes immediately lit up slightly as he replied, "Almost all of the spirit nts in this field are over a hundred thousand years old, particrly those Nine-leaf Cornelian Cherries and that Ink Fragrance Herb. They''re at a perfect age to be used, and they''re an exceptionally rare find."
"I knew I could count on you, Fellow Daoist Li. In ordance with our prior agreement, you can pick out a third of the spirit nts in here. If you think that''s not enough, I can sell some to you in Immortal Origin Stones as repayment for the debt that I owe you," Daoist Master Jingyang said.
"Could it be that back when you were borrowing money from me, you had already thought of the idea of repaying me using the treasures in this domain treasure? As expected of a shrewd businessman of the Hundred Creations Mountain, your foresight is truly outstanding," Hundred Creations Mountain praised.
"You''re mistaken, Fellow Daoist Li. The main reason why I decided to purchase this Fish Branch for such a steep price is due to its ties with our sect. As for what''s going to be in it, that''s nothing more than a blind gamble for me. After all, there''s no way for me to tell if someone else has already essed this space before this Fish Branch fell into the hands of that Golden Immortal," Daoist Master Jingyang replied.
"I can''t allow you to repay this favor so easily, Fellow Daoist Jingyang. I''ll stick by our original agreement and pick out only a third of the spirit nts here. As for the Immortal Origin Stones that you owe me, you can repay me over time," Han Li said with a smile, then began to pick out the spirit nts that he wanted from the field.
Meanwhile, Daoist Master Jingyang had already opened the restriction on the gate of the courtyard, but he didn''t make his way inside on his own. Instead, he stood by the entrance while sipping on wine and appreciating the surrounding scenery, seemingly not in a hurry at all.
Only after Han Li had secured the spirit nts that he wanted did the two of them make their way into the courtyard together.
In contrast with the average immortal abode, theyout of this courtyard was more simr to what one would expect to see in a mortal courtyard.
Around a dozen paces away from the entrance stood a white screen wall, upon which was painted a pair of carp, one ck and one red. Their heads and tails were interconnected to form a ring, and there was ayer of translucent white light shimmering over the screen wall.
Han Li briefly activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and he noticed ayer of white mist that was invisible to the naked eye rising up from beneath the screen wall. Rich spiritual qi was gathering and dissipating there, and it seemed that this screen wall was the key to the entire domain treasure''s operation.
After making their way around the screen wall, Han Li and Daoist Master Jingyang stepped into the first section of the courtyard, where they saw a series of puppets strewn over the ground, with their spirit corespletely spent.
Daoist Master Jingyang approached those puppets for a brief inspection, then shook his head with a disappointed look on his face.
"What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Jingyang?" Han Li asked.
"These puppets weren''t crafted by our third mountain master, and there are no signs to indicate who it was that left them here. The craftsmanship is quite remarkable, but they''re nothing more than a pile of scrap metal now," Daoist Master Jingyang replied.
"ording to your description, this Fish Branch has already been around for countless years, and it could''ve had multiple owners during that time, so there''s naturally no way that everything could be preserved in their original state," Han Li said.
"That''s true," Daoist Master Jingyang replied with a nod.
The two of them continued to make their way through the courtyard, and during the course of their exploration, they discovered that the former owner of this domain treasure had been an avid collector of paintings and calligraphy pieces from mortal masters.
Many of them were extremely important pieces in the world of art and calligraphy, and there was nock of pieces from extremely renowned masters among them.
Hanging in the main hall was a piece of calligraphy from a small mortal nation that had existed in the Golden Origin Immortal Region over a hundred thousand years ago, and it had been written to pay homage to the calligrapher''s ancestors.
The strokes were extremely masterful and diverse, making the characters resemble roaming ink dragons, to the point that it almost resembled an immortal talisman.
Han Li wasn''t very well versed in the art of calligraphy, but even he could tell that the former owner of this ce had very good taste.
Aside from these mortal pieces, there was also a secret chamber in the domain treasure that was dedicated to storing immortal artifacts, including treasures, pills, and spirit materials.
Han Li briefly examined the collection in the secret chamber to find that all of the items were of quite a high caliber, most of which could even be used by High Zenith cultivators. The two most valuable pieces among them were a crimson fan that contained firew powers and a wooden ruler that contained timew powers.
The former had been fashioned out of the feathers of some type of spirit bird, and it contained immense firew powers, allowing it to easily melt the average Golden Immortal Stage treasure into molten liquid.
Thetter was green in color and as smooth as jade, with densely packed markings etched onto its surface. However, prior to refining the treasure, it was impossible to tell what it could be used for.
Daoist Master Jingyang''s attention was immediately drawn to the fan, and he said, "Fellow Daoist Li, I recall that you were particrly interested in time-attribute treasures during the auction.
¡°Out of these two treasures, I think this wooden ruler suits you best, so how about you leave this fan to me? I''ll admit that I''ve be quitezy ofte, but I''m still a tool refinement master, after all, and this fan will be of great help to me in my tool refinement endeavors."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he replied, "I only purchased that Time Severing gon for its ability to store spirit liquids. This wooden ruler is a treasure of an even higher caliber than the gon, but it''s not very useful to me. In contrast, this fan can also be very useful in my pill refinement."
Daoist Master Jingyang was silent for a moment, then proposed, "How about this, Fellow Daoist Li? If you leave this fan to me, you can choose an additional three items out of everything here after you''ve picked out your share of a third of these items?"
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and after a brief moment of contemtion, he acquiesced, "Alright, we''ll do as you say."
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Li," Daoist Master Jingyang hurriedly said with a grateful expression.
After that, Han Li stowed the azure wooden ruler into his storage bracelet, then collected his share of the treasures in the secret chamber.
After splitting the spoils, Daoist Master Jingyang reopened the door of light, and the two of them emerged from the domain treasure one after the other.
Upon returning to the secret chamber, Daoist Master Jingyang turned to Han Li with a smile, then suddenly said, "It''s rare that I find someone that I get along so well with, Fellow Daoist Li. I have a proposal for you."
"You''re not going to ask me to serve as a guest elder at your Hundred Creations Mountain again, are you?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"Precisely! This time, it''s an official invitation. With your skills in pill refinement, you''ll most definitely be held in very high regard in our Hundred Creations Mountain, and in exchange, you''ll have ess to the immense resources at our sect''s disposal," Daoist Master Jingyang said with a serious expression.
"I''m afraid I''ll have to turn down your kind offer once again, Fellow Daoist Jingyang. At the moment, I''m still troubled by my baleful decay, and my top priority right now is to resolve this issue," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"Have you not already obtained the Profound Zoysia Crystal? Once you''ve refined that pill, you''ll be able to expel all of the baleful qi in your body, and the baleful decay will no longer be a concern," Daoist Master Jingyang said.
"I certainly hope so. Once I get back to the Leisure Valley, I''ll be going into seclusion to refine the pill in question, and that will be my focus for the immediate future," Han Li said.
"I suppose that makes sense. I also have some matters to take care of in the wake of the auction, so let''s part ways here. Once you sessfully expel the baleful qi from your body, I''ll open a jar of my Green Fermented Wine to celebrate," Daoist Master Jingyang said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
Han Li nodded in response, and with that, Han Li departed.
Upon returning to the inner city of Jade Gathering City, he discovered that the unrest in the wake of the recent incident had alreadypletely subsided, and the city was still as lively and bustling as ever.
After leaving Jade Gathering City, he returned straight to the Leisure Valley.
Chapter 624: Flower Branch
Chapter 624: Flower Branch
Upon returning to his cave abode, Han Li paid a visit to Mo Guang, only to find that thetter was still cultivating in seclusion. Hence, he returned to his own secret chamber, then strode over to the table inside and began drawing on a sheet of paper.
Under the tip of his brush, a design of an octagonal box gradually took shape, and it appeared to be quiteplex and profound.
Afterpleting a design of one side of the box, Han Li briefly examined it before setting it aside, then pulled out another sheet of paper to continue the process.
Before long, seven or eight designs had beenpleted, each of which depicted the octagonal box from a different angle.
Han Li swept his gaze over the designs, then nodded with a pleased expression before pulling out yet another sheet of paper.
On this one, he replicated the array that Daoist Master Jingyang had engraved onto the ground around the octagonal box earlier.
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
"Is that the Eight Origins Unraveling Array?"
"You recognize this array, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked while continuing to draw the array.
A hint of befuddlement shed through Daoist Xie''s eyes, and it seemed that it was just as perplexed about how it had managed to identify the array.
"I don''t know how, but I suddenly recalled the array as soon as I saw these designs," it exined.
"Could it be that some of the memories that your former owner sealed away were awakened?" Han Li asked.
"I''m not sure," Daoist Xie replied, then strode over to the table to pick up a few of the designs for a closer examination.
All of a sudden, it said, "This part isn''t quite right. It needs to be adjusted, or the effect of the array will be hampered."
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up as he asked, "You know how this thing is made?"
"I should be able to make it as long as I have the right materials," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
It then took Han Li''s brush before writing out a long list of materials onto a sheet of paper, then handed it to Han Li as it said, "If you can prepare these materials, I''ll be able to craft this Eight Origins Key."
"Eight Origins Key..." Han Li murmured to himself as he read through the list of materials, and it immediately made sense to him why Daoist Master Jingyang wasn''t concerned about showing him the Eight Origins Unraveling Array. If he didn''t have this list of materials, he wouldn''t even be able to make an Eight Origins Key.
That only made him more curious about how Daoist Xie had ess to this knowledge.
However, it was clear from Daoist Xie''s expression that it was just as confused as he was.
"I recall that the Eight Origins Unraveling Array is only effective on certain special domain treasures. What are you trying to open, Fellow Daoist Han?" Daoist Xie asked.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce the section of tailbone that from the giant rat skeleton upon hearing this, and he handed the bone to Daoist Xie while observing its expression, trying to see if it disyed any reaction to the bone, but Daoist Xie''s brows only furrowed slightly with befuddlement, and that was the extent of its reaction.
"Do you recognize this thing, Fellow Daoist Xie?" Han Li asked.
Daoist Xie examined the bone for a moment, then handed it back to Han Li with a shake of its head. "I wouldn''t have been able to identify this object as a domain treasure at all if you hadn''t told me."
"If I hadn''t seen something that was identical to it in aura and appearance during the auction, I wouldn''t have known that this was a domain treasure, either. Once I have these materials prepared, I''ll have to trouble you to refine the key for me," Han Li said.
"I can do that," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
After that, Han Li asked some more questions about the Eight Origins Key, then left his cave abode to make another trip to Jade Gathering City.
......
Over two monthster.
A small array had already been engraved onto the ground in Han Li''s cave abode.
Daoist Xie was holding an octagonal box with one hand, and the box sprang open before being ced upside-down at the center of the array.
"ce your domain treasure on top of the box, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie instructed.
Han Li immediately obliged, summoning the beast bone before setting it down onto the box.
"Regarding the incantation..."
Before Han Li had a chance to finish, Daoist Xie interjected, "There''s not much point in only knowing the incantation, it has to be used in conjunction with a specific method of channeling your immortal spiritual power."
"I''m assuming you know this method, right, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"Leave it to me," Daoist Xie replied with a nod, then began making a string of hand seals while silently chanting an incantation identical to the one used by Daoist Master Jingyang.
After that, a beam of white light shot out of its fingertip and into the beast bone.
A burst of green light shed over the beast bone, followed by a burst of radiant silver light that flowed over the bone''s surface like rippling water, while a flower design the size of a copper coin appeared at the end of the bone.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this.
Just as he had predicted, this was indeed the Flower Branch refined by the third mountain master of the Hundred Creations Mountain.
"The seal on this treasure has already been unraveled. All you need to do is refine it before you can open it," Daoist Xie said as it returned the bone to Han Li.
"Thank you, Brother Xie," Han Li replied with a nod, then inspected the Flower Branch momentarily before sitting down with his legs crossed.
After that, he joined his palms together with the bone held between them and began the refinement process.
Around four hourster, Han Li''s eyes abruptly sprang open, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead before rising to his feet.
There was a hint of irrepressible tion in his eyes, and he took a nce at Daoist Xie before gently sweeping a hand over the Flower Branch.
The bone instantly shuddered before turning transparent, while the radiant silver light that it was releasing formed a door of light that was around ten feet tall.
"Why don''t youe inside with me, Brother Xie?" Han Li proposed with a smile, then stepped into the door of light.
Daoist Xie was standing in front of the door of light, and it was just about to step inside as well when it suddenly stalled momentarily, then immediately returned to normal before vanishing into the door.
After entering the door of light, Han Li appeared on a spacious meadow.
He cast his gaze forward to discover a lush forest beyond the meadow, and there was faint smoke rising up from the forest, giving it a rather hazy and indistinct appearance.
Instead of immediately entering the forest, Han Li flew in a circle around the space first.
The sky in this space was only around a hundred thousand feet tall, and there was a spatial barrier beyond that altitude, preventing one from flying any higher. There were also spatial barriers surrounding the domain as well, creating invisible walls on all sides.
Through his exploration, Han Li discovered that the internal space within the Flower Branch was farrger than that of the Fish Branch, but the abundance of the world''s origin qi was roughly on the same level in both domains.
Following his brief inspection, he descended into the forest with Daoist Xie, and as soon as he entered the forest, he could immediately feel the presence of faint baleful qi in the air.
On the ground in front of him was a small white path paved to form all types of strange designs, and it was extending deep into the forest in a winding fashion, seemingly leading to the source of the baleful qi.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he crouched down to give the stone path a closer inspection, upon which he discovered that it wasn''t paved with white stone bs or jade or anything like that. Instead, it was paved with human and beast bones of different sizes.
"Given this gruesome hobby, it''s no wonder that rat carcass possessed such immense baleful qi," Han Li remarked.
As Han Li made his way down the bone path, the baleful qi in the forest began to diminish, and many different spirit nts appeared on either side of the path. Some of these spirit nts were familiar to Han Li, while unidentifiable, but all of them appeared to be quite advanced in age.
Instead of immediately picking these spirit nts, Han Li continued down the path until he reached a purple bamboo forest that was only several thousand feet in size.
The forest was teeming with spiritual qi, and a two-story pavilion could be seen inside. The area around the pavilion waspletely devoid of baleful qi, and it resembled an immortal abode.
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to carefully examine the purple bamboo forest for a moment, and after making sure that there were no restrictions inside, he made his way into the forest.
After walking a few hundred meters, Han Li spotted a fenced courtyard up ahead. Upon entering the courtyard, he noticed a small pond with purple smoke swirling inside it, and at the center of the pond was a series of purplish-golden lotus flowers.
"It looks like the core of this domain treasure is this pond and these lotus flowers inside," Han Li remarked with a contemtive expression.
"That does appear to be the case," Daoist Xie agreed with a nod.
The two of them made their way over a purple bamboo arched bridge over the pond, then arrived in front of the two-story pavilion on the other side of the pond.
The entire pavilion was also constructed from purple bamboo, and its foundation seemed to be rooted to the ground. In fact, some roots could be seen burrowing into the ground from the underside of the pavilion, and it was clear from theyer of purple light around it that restrictions had been set up inside.
"This pavilion is quite remarkable. It draws upon the power of the lotus flowers in the bond, fusing as one with their roots. If we were to forcibly break this restriction, perhaps we''d be able to gain ess to the pavilion, but in doing so, we''d surely damage the foundation of this domain," Han Li remarked after examining the pavilion briefly.
"That''s not a problem. All we have to do is slightly modify the Nine True Spirits Technique, and we''ll be able to unravel these restrictions without harming the lotus flowers," Daoist Xie said.
"It sounds like you have it all figured out. Can I count on you again, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked with a smile.
Daoist Xie nodded silently in response, then began to work on unraveling the pavilion''s restrictions.
Chapter 625: Integrating the Flower Branch
Chapter 625: Integrating the Flower Branch
A few minutester, a faint thump rang out, and the entire purple bamboo forest shuddered slightly, following which theyer of faint purple light over the pavilion quickly receded before fading into the ground.
Only then did Daoist Xie''s eyes spring open, and it proposed, "Let''s go in and take a look."
With that, Han Li and Daoist Xie made their way up the staircase in front of the pavilion, then pushed the bamboo doors open.
Upon entering the bamboo pavilion, they were immediately greeted by a cool and refreshing sensation that struck them with a sense of rxation and reinvigoration.
"This pavilion is able to draw upon the power of the lotus flowers in the pond to draw in all of the surrounding world''s origin qi, resulting in a significantly heightened abundance of spiritual qi. I must say, I''m really impressed with the innovative mind of whoever created this domain," Daoist Xie suddenly praised.
"This pavilion can gather spiritual qi, but it doesn''t trap it, so the cirction of the world''s origin qi in the domain isn''t affected. On top of that, the spiritual qi that seeps out of this pavilion will nourish the nearby bamboo forest, making this the area with the most abundant spiritual qi in the entire domain. This would be a perfect ce to set up a spirit medicine garden," Han Li said.
Daoist Xie nodded in agreement.
The first floor of the bamboo building was rather barely furnished, with an antiquated scroll hanging on the wall directly opposite the entrance. Arge "zen" character was inscribed onto the scroll in a rather wobbly script that resembled a piece of artwork more so than a piece of calligraphy.
At the foot of the scroll was a cushion woven out of coarse linen, and judging from the severe wear and tear that it disyed, it appeared to have been used very frequently.
To the left of the main hall was a side room, within which was a purple bamboo bed, upo which was a small square table that carried an unlit oilmp, a ck teapot, and a pair of matching teacups.
To the right of the bed was a staircase that led to the second floor of the pavilion.
On the second floor, Han Li and Daoist Xie discovered three storage cabs, all of which were sealed using secret techniques.
After unraveling the seals, Han Li was ecstatic to discover that the first cab contained a huge amount of spirit medicines and spirit materials, among which were some Fire Vein Ganoderma and Jade Marrow Polygonatum that were hundreds of thousand of years old, as wellrge quantities of Heavenly River Stardust, Ice Soul Frost Crystals, and Nine Yang Flint.
These were the only materials that Han Li was able to identify, while the rest were all things that he had never seen or even heard of before, and he presumed that they could be used for refining certain high-grade pills and treasures.
Han Li stowed all of the materials into his storage bracelet, then moved onto the second cab, which contained around a dozen cultivation arts, only a small number of which were fit for human cultivators, while the vast majority were meant for demonic cultivators and other foreign cultivators.
Han Li only briefly flipped through these cultivation arts and didn''t study them in any fine detail. At the moment, he was already far too busy working on his time-attribute cultivation arts and his Spirit Refinement Technique, so he had no time to look at anything else.
As for Daoist Xie, it took interest in a cultivation art by the name of the Righteous Lightning Technique, and Han Li was more than happy to let it take the cultivation art.
After stowing all those cultivation arts away as well, Han Li opened the third cab, and just as he had anticipated, it was filled with immortal treasures, but all of them were damaged to different extents.
One of them was a bright longsword forged out of exceptional materials, and it had most likely been a very formidable Acquired Immortal Treasure, but there was a long crack that extended all the way down the de of the sword, much to Han Li''s disappointment.
The giant rat true spirit''s physical body would''ve been sufficient to stand up against immortal treasures, so it most likely wouldn''t have required such weapons. Hence, these were most likely the spoils that it had reaped from battle.
At the bottom of the storage cab, Han Li discovered a gray storage pouch, and after refining the pouch and opening it, he discovered that it contained dozens of transparent crystals that contained extremely pure immortal spiritual power.
"This is a huge haul of mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones! I barely saw any of these during all my time in the Northern cial Immortal Region," Han Li eximed with an ted expression.
"Mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones are far more difficult to create than normal Immortal Origin Stones, so it''s no surprise that they''re extremely rare. The Northern cial Immortal Region didn''t even have many High Zenith Stage Jade Immortals, so mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones will naturally be in very short supply there," Daoist Xie said.
"Even in the ck Mountain Immortal Region, only some major sects are in possession of mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones, and all of them are cherished like precious treasures," Han Li said.
After that, Han Li carefully examined the entire bamboo building to ensure that he wasn''t missing anything, then re-emerged from the bamboo forest with Daoist Xie.
He swept a sleeve through the air to release around a dozen giant ape puppets, and they immediately sprang into action at Han Li''s behest, with some of them cutting down trees, while others dug out rocks from the ground, and before long, arge plot of emptynd was created.
The puppets then used the felled bamboo trees to construct a fence around the entire plot ofnd, following which Han Li began to set up restrictions around the fence.
He was only setting up a simple array that sucked in the spiritual qi seeping out of the nearby purple bamboo pavilion, so it didn''t take him very long at all toplete it.
After that, he summoned tworge vats of spirit liquid that he had prepared in advance, but had never gotten a chance to use, then gave them to two of the giant ape puppets so that they could water the garden.
"It''ll take at least a few decades for the soil to absorb the spirit liquid and be a spirit field fit for growing spirit nts, so let''s get out of here for now," Han Li said, then made a hand seal, and the door of silver light hovering outside the forest instantly appeared in front of him.
As the connective point between the two spaces, it was impossible to close a domain treasure while the owner was still in it. This was something that Han Li had failed to notice while exploring the Fish Branch with Daoist Master Jingyang, but it had be quite apparent to him after he entered the Flower Branch.
On top of that, he could open up this door of light in any location in the domain as he pleased.
With that, he and Daoist Xie stepped through the door of light and returned to the cave abode together.
Standing inside his secret chamber, Han Li grabbed onto the Flower Branch again, and by the time he turned around, the door of silver light had already vanished.
He took a nce down at the Flower Branch, and a hint of tion shed through his eyes.
"I''m very interested in that lightning cultivation art, so I''m going back to study it," Daoist Xie said.
Han Li nodded in response, and after Daoist Xie returned to its secret chamber, Han Li sat down with his legs in his own secret chamber.
As he gently massaged the Flower Branch, the thought of a cultivation art that he hadn''t used for a very long time sprang into his mind, namely the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra.
This bone was a little toorge to be made into a ne or pendant, so it would be quite cumbersome to carry around, and given the enormous space that it contained, he didn''t dare to put it in any storage tool.
Seeing as the giant rat was able to refine this item to be a section of its tailbone, then he should be able to do the same. On top of that, the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra came from none other than the Hundred Creations Mountain, and the giant rat had perhaps used a simr cultivation art to refine the domain treasure as well.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately went into seclusion to cultivate the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra.
Over thirty years flew by in a sh.
In the northern part of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, a streak of radiant swordlight suddenly descended out of the sky. The swordlight was enveloped in ayer of golden lightning, and it crashed into a forest like a golden lightning dragon.
A resounding boom rang out as a vast expanse of golden lightning erupted in all directions, and all of the trees in the wake of the lightning were instantly incinerated out of existence, while the entire ground in a radius of several dozen kilometers had been charred ck.
However, there was an ancient tree at the center of the charred area that remainedpletely unscathed, and atop the tree stood an azure-robed man with the index and middle fingers on his right hand joined together and pointed up at the heavens.
The man was none other than Han Li, and those two fingers of his were as translucent as jade, with silver flower design shing upon them.
sped between the pair of fingers was the sharp edge of an azure longsword that was still shing incessantly with golden lightning.
"I didn''t think that refining this domain treasure into my fingers would have such an extraordinary effect. Even an attack from my Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword can be withstood with ease! No wonder even Jin Tong wasn''t able to devour the domain treasure," Han Li remarked to himself as he stowed his longsword away, following which he sped away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
Upon returning to the secret chamber in his cave abode, the floral design on Han Li''s two fingers shed momentarily at his behest, following which a burst of silver light shot out from within to form a door of silver light.
Han Li immediately entered the Flower Branch domain through the door, but instead of flying through the air, he made his way down the small bone path on foot.
Over the course of the past few decades, he had been solely focused on cultivating the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra to fuse the Flower Branch into his fingers, and he hadn''t entered the domain during this time.
Upon entering the domain, he discovered that the giant ape puppets in the spirit medicine garden had dispersed themselves around the forest to look after the spirit medicines growing there after watering the plot ofnd with the two vats of spirit liquid.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li discovered them to pick all of the spirit medicines littered along the small path in the forest before transferring them to the spirit medicine garden.
Chapter 626: A New Home for Mo Guang
Chapter 626: A New Home for Mo Guang
After such an extensive period of care, the spirit soil within the spirit medicine garden had alreadypleted the initial conversion process, and thanks to the array that Han Li had set up earlier, the world''s origin qi in the garden was far more abundant than before.
Han Li was very pleased with the setup here, and he instructed the giant ape puppets to split the spirit medicines up into different categories before renting them.
After that, he also nted many of the spirit medicines that he had previously sourced into different areas of the garden.
In the innermost section of the garden, Han Li nted that brownish-yellow spirit tree root that he had obtained from the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, then pulled out his Heaven Controlling Vial before pouring a drop of green spirit liquid onto it.
As the spirit liquid dripped onto the tree root, it was immediately absorbed amid a sh of green light and disappeared out of sight.
Han Li remained on the spot to observe the tree root for a moment, but didn''t notice any special changes taking ce, so he turned his attention to the other spirit medicines in the garden.
Some timeter, he realized that he had collected so many spirit medicine seeds that the spirit medicine garden wasn''trge enough to amodate them all, so he could only summon another group of giant ape puppets to expand the garden.
The expanded section of the spirit garden hadn''t been nourished with spirit liquid and also contained very little spiritual qi, thereby making it unfit for nting high-grade spirit medicines, so Han Li could only stop what he was doing for now.
He made his way over to a corner of this newly expanded section of the garden, then summoned clumps of dark purple mud that were enveloped within immortal spiritual power.
The mud fell onto the ground, and Han Li began to slowly wave his hands through the air above it. A pair ofrge palm projections formed by immortal spiritual power emerged, and it spread out and smoothed out the dark purple mud so that it could fuse as one with the spirit garden.
Before long, the expanded section of the spirit garden had been transformed into a muddy swamp, on the surface of which purple bubbles would asionally burst to release waves of scorching heat.
Han Li observed the purple mist that was beginning to take shape above the swamp and the tiny arcs of lightning shing within it, and he gave a pleased nod. Finally, he had somewhere to deposit the Lightning Aura Soil that he had collected.
After that, he rented his Dao Warrior primary beans into the swampy soil.
After doing all of that, Han Li made his way into the purple bamboo pavilion and stayed in there for a while, and as he emerged from the pavilion, a thought suddenly urred to him as he flipped a hand over to produce a jade box.
The box was opened to reveal the roots of a silver bamboo tree, and Han Li nted it on a plot of vacantnd in the bamboo forest.
After that, he examined his new medicine garden once again like a diligent old farmer, then emerged from the Flower Branch Domain to return to his secret chamber.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li departed from his secret chamber and made his way to Mo Guang''s secret chamber before rousing him from his cultivation.
Following such an extensive period of cultivation, Mo Guang had integrated himself very well with this Gray Immortal body, and his aura had stabilized at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage.
On top of that, through the use of a secret technique, he could reach the pinnacle of the early-High Zenith Stage for a duration of around forty-five minutes, so his powers were certainly nothing to be scoffed at.
"Do you need something from me, Fellow Daoist Han?" Mo Guang asked.
"I found a good ce for you to go into seclusion, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang. With that new ce set up, you won''t have to be confined to this tiny space any longer," Han Li exined.
"Oh? Does that mean I can leave the cave abode now?" Mo Guang asked with a perplexed expression.
"No. The ce I''ve arranged for you is inside a domain treasure with quite arge internal space for you to stay in," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"Looks like I''ll have to congratte you on securing such a precious treasure," Mo Guang said with a smile of his own.
Han Li didn''t waste any more time with words, and the silver flower design on his fingers shed momentarily, following which a door of silver light took shape in front of Mo Guang, who rose to his feet to examine the door of light.
"Come in. There''s quite a bit of baleful qi left in this space, and you can use it during the course of your cultivation," Han Li said.
Mo Guang didn''t hesitate any longer as he stepped into the domain, and upon setting foot on the small bone path, he inspected his surroundings before remarking, "This is quite an interesting treasure to be able to allow both spiritual qi and baleful qi to coexist in one ce..."
Right at this moment, Han Li''s voice rang out from outside.
"You can stay in that purple bamboo pavilion and cultivate in peace. I won''t disturb you unless something importantes up."
As soon as his voice trailed off, the door of silver light vanished, and Han Li returned to his own secret chamber.
......
Half a monthter.
Han Li was standing in his secret chamber with his hands sped behind his back, observing a silver pill cauldron on the ground with a contemtive look in his eyes.
Momentster, he swept a sleeve through the air to release the Essence Fire Raven, which circled around in mid-air, then transformed into a tiny fiery figure thatnded on top of the cauldron''s lid.
An apologetic smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he said, "Ever since I came to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, I''ve had to constantly hide you, and I wasn''t able to provide any spirit mes for you to devour, either, so you must be terribly bored. Once I sessfully refine a Baleful Quelling Pill and resolve my baleful decay problem, we''ll be able to leave this ce."
It wasn''t clear if the fiery figure had understood Han Li or not, but upon seeing his apologetic expression, it jumped onto his shoulder and gave him a gentle pat, as if it were trying to console him.
"I''m fine, I''m just a little unsure of whether the Baleful Quelling Pill is actually going to work. In any case, let''s refine it first," Han Li said as he turned his gaze to the fiery figure, and it immediately jumped down onto the pill cauldron from his shoulder, following which ayer of scorching silver mes emerged over its body as if it were dering its readiness tomence the refinement process.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he reached out toward the pill cauldron, upon which the fiery figure immediately sprang up into the air.
Its round cheeks bulged, and it sted an enormous jet of mes far bigger than itself out of its mouth.
The silver mes formed a wave that surged to the underside of the cauldron, and it didn''t take long before the air temperature within the secret chamber began to rise drastically from the scorching heat.
The spirit patterns on the silver pill cauldron lit up, as did the eight runes engraved onto its surface, and it gradually turned from silver into a crimson color.
At the same time, it was being lifted up into the air by the silver mes, and it hovered in mid-air while trembling incessantly.
The fiery figure was rather restless, springing into the me beneath the cauldron one moment, then flying up to sit atop the lid of the cauldron the next moment to stare at Han Li.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s attention remained focused solely on the cauldron and the silver me, and once he determined the time was right, he made a beckoning motion with one hand, upon which several dozen ingredients, including the Profound Zoysia Crystal, flew out of his storage bracelet.
Those ingredients were all crushed into powder by a ball of azure light before being drawn into the cauldron, and shortly thereafter, Han Li began pouring a type of dark green spirit liquid into the mix as well.
As the spirit liquid entered the cauldron, ayer of light green powder instantly appeared over the cauldron''s internal surface, but it then quickly vanished as an indescribable smell began to spread through the secret chamber.
As the smell began to gradually fade, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce three semi-transparent nts, each of which was around a foot tall.
Their leaves were as translucent as ice crystals, and the veins inside them were clearly visible. These were none other than the Bitter Ornament Herbs, and they were also crushed up by the ball of azure light before flying into the cauldron.
After doing all of that, Han Li took a nce at the cauldron, then summoned a cushion before sitting down on it with his legs crossed.
He took a nce at the ceiling of his secret chamber before suddenly joining the index and middle fingers of his right hand before thrusting them upward, and a beam of silver light instantly shot out of his fingertips before piercing into the ceiling up above.
A faint thump rang out as a hole that was roughly as thick as an infant''s arm was punched through the ceiling of the secret chamber, allowing a ray of moonlight to shine down from above.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li removed the Heaven Controlling Vial from around his neck, then ced it under the moonlight.
......
Three years flew by in a sh.
At this moment, there was a vast expanse of silver fire in the secret chamber that enveloped the entire pill cauldron, and its lid was trembling incessantly, looking as if it could fly off at any moment.
However, the fiery figure was seated atop the lid of the cauldron while pressing down upon it with both hands, keeping it firmly in ce.
Meanwhile, Han Li was standing beside the cauldron, observing it with a solemn expression.
Right at this moment, a cloud of ck mist that resembled baleful qi seeped out of a small gap from under the lid of the cauldron before being incinerated into nothingness by the silver mes.
"It''s done," Han Li immediately dered, and the fiery figure instantly sprang into the air upon hearing this, while the silver mes around the cauldron surged back into its body.
Without the support of the silver mes, the cauldron fell back onto the ground with a loud ng, while its lid flew off with a dull thump, and three balls of ck light flew out from within before being drawn into Han Li''s grasp.
Chapter 627: Finding Alternative Solutions
Chapter 627: Finding Alternative Solutions
Han Li peered into the ck light to find three longan-sized ck pills sitting on the palm of his hand.
The three pills were as ck as ink, and there was a rather spicy aroma wafting out of them.
Han Li inspected the pills for a moment long, then swept a hand through the air to stow the silver pill cauldron away before sitting down onto his cushion with his legs crossed.
The fiery figure flew over to him with a curious look in its eyes, drawing to a halt beside Han Li''s hand as it stared at the three strange pills with a pair of wide eyes.
Han Li originally had very high hopes for these three Baleful Quelling Pills, but now that they had been sessfully refined, he was starting to feel a little uneasy.
The pill recipe only stated that they had a chance to eradicate all of the baleful qi in the consumer''s body, but as for how big that probability was, there was no definitive conclusion.
"I suppose there''s only one way to find out," Han Li murmured to himself with a wry smile.
He then turned to the fiery figure with a smile as he said, "You can keep an eye on me to make sure nothing goes wrong."
The fiery figure immediately nodded in response, then flew to thirty feet away as it crossed its arms in front of its chest, wearing an expression that said: "you can count on me."
Han Li looked at it for a moment longer with an amused smile on his face, then closed his eyes to meditate.
Around an hourter, he tossed one of the Baleful Quelling Pills into his mouth, and an intensely spicy vor instantly spread through his esophagus as the pill rolled down into his stomach.
Han Li felt as if he had swallowed a mouthful of fire, and his face turned bright red as a pained look shed through his eyes.
Before the burst of scorching heat faded, a burst of cial power began to spread throughout his entire body from his lower abdomen, making him feel as if he had been plunged into a cial pit.
This baptism by fire and ice caught Han Lipletely off guard, and all of his acupoints opened up without any conscious effort.
Immediately thereafter, ck mist began to surge out of his acupoints, instantly forming a ck vortex that enveloped his entire body.
The fiery figure immediately began to fly toward him upon seeing this, intending to eradicate the ck mist with its mes, but Han Li extended a hand out of the ck mist to stop it as he said, "It''s fine, I''m alright."
His voice was slightly high-pitched, indicating that he was enduring immense pain, but there was also a hint of tion in his voice.
The ck mist continued to surge out of his body, quickly permeating throughout the entire secret chamber, and some of it was even seeping out of the secret chamber through the hole in the ceiling.
Han Li immediately tossed out a pair of storage pouches, which began to suck in the ck mist in the secret chamber, quickly restoring the room to its former state, but the ck mist immediately surrounding Han Li remained as viscous as ink, resembling a huge ck cocoon around him.
Time slowly passed by, and more and more baleful qi seeped out of the ck cocoon before being sucked into the storage pouches.
After those two pouches were filled, Han Li released two more, and after he ran out of storage pouches, he turned to storage rings.
......
Over three years flew by in a sh.
Inside the secret chamber, a burst of ck light shed momentarily over the surface of the ck cocoon, and no more baleful qi was released.
At the same time, the torturousbination of scorching and cial agony faded from Han Li''s body, and the baleful qi around him also dissipated.
At this moment, he was looking a little pale, and after taking a moment to collect himself, he slowly raised his head to reveal a disappointed look on his face.
Never had he anticipated that the Baleful Quelling Pill would be so limited in its efficacy.
While it was true that quite a bit of the baleful qi in his body had been expelled over the past three years, the job was nowhere near finished, and the baleful qi that remained in his immortal acupoints still posed a constant threat to his cultivation.
For the average person, the Baleful Quelling Pill would''ve been very effective. In fact, there was a decent chance that it would allow an average Golden Immortal to ovee their baleful decay altogether, but that was nowhere near the case for Han Li.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li raised his hand and swallowed both of the remaining Baleful Quelling Pills at once. A burst of agony that was even more intense than before instantly spread through his body, and before long, he was once again inundated within a cloud of dense ck mist.
Ten more years passed by in the blink of an eye.
Han Li had remained seated in his secret chamber this entire time, and right at this moment, his eyes sprang open.
The three Baleful Quelling Pill that he had gone to such great lengths to refine had only cleared out part of the baleful qi in his body, thereby dying the onset of his baleful decay, but they hadn''t aplished anything else in addition to that.
Han Li was already mentally prepared for such an oue, so he wasn''t overly disappointed. In any case, this was still a positive oue, and the dy in the onset of his baleful decay would buy him more time to find another solution.
Looking back over his cultivation journey, he had encountered countless hardships of different magnitudes, and he was confident that this was going to be just another hurdle that he would eventually ovee.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he flipped a hand over to produce his Dragon 5 mask, then released a mission in the Transient Guild, searching for ways to expel baleful qi and ovee the baleful decay.
After that, Han Li pulled out amunication array te before injecting some immortal spiritual power into it.
......
There was a wooden pavilion in the Hundred Creations Mountain branch in Jade Gathering City.
Outside the pavilion was a huge garden of flowers of all types of vibrant colors, surrounding the pavilion like a floral sea.
Daoist Master Jingyang was seated on a reclining chair in the pavilion, and he made a beckoning motion to stow away the white array te that was hovering in front of him.
"I didn''t think that he would fail... Having said that, this is an opportunity," he murmured to himself as a faint smile appeared on his face, following which he snapped his fingers, and a green-robed young woman instantly appeared behind him.
The woman appeared to only be around sixteen to seventeen years of age with a set of beautiful facial features. She appeared to be mature beyond her years, and she extended a curtsey toward Daoist Master Jingyang as she asked, "What can I do for you, esteemed deputy mountain master?"
"Go tell the others to search for ways to expel baleful qi," Daoist Master Jingyang instructed.
A hesitant look appeared on the green-robed young woman''s face upon hearing this.
"Is there a problem?" Daoist Master Jingyang asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"You''ve already used up all of your Immortal Origin Stones, and the next resource allocation will only happen in a hundred years. All methods of baleful qi expulsion are quite expensive, so will you be using money from the inner mountain? If it''s discovered that you''re using those funds..."
"Don''t worry about that," Daoist Master Jingyang interjected. "Just do as I say."
The green-robed young woman didn''t say anything further upon hearing this, and she flew away as a petite green shadow, resembling a spritely green bird.
......
Inside Han Li''s secret chamber.
Han Li made a beckoning motion to stow away hismunication array te.
Due to the incident concerning Silver Fox following the conclusion of the Jade Kun Pavilion auction, Jade Gathering City was still on high alert, so he was reluctant to go there. Hence, he could only turn to Daoist Master Jingyang for help.
He had already made use of all of the avenues avable to him, and all he could do now was wait.
He cast his gaze directly forward as he nned out what he was going to do next.
At the moment, he had encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation. Without oveing his baleful decay, he had no hope of reaching the High Zenith Stage. In terms of time-attribute cultivation arts, aside from the Mantra Treasured Axis, he wasn''t that far away fromplete mastery of the other two cultivation arts, but they weren''t all that helpful to him, and the two cultivation arts were also iplete.
As he considered his options, he recalled how Silver Fox had used the Spirit Refinement Technique to divert the attacks of Gongshu Tian and Su Liu, and a hint of excitement immediately welled up in his heart.
Even though he had a rough idea for what this advanced use of the Spirit Refinement Technique entailed, unfortunately, he still hadn''t had a chance to put it into practice.
He hadn''t been swept up in the Silver Fox incident, but it had served as a warning to him nheless. At this moment, he was situated in the ck Mountain Immortal Region, not the Northern cial Immortal Region or the primordialnd, and there was a far greater Heavenly Court presence here.
Three immortal envoys had appeared at just a single auction, and it was impossible to tell exactly how much of the Heavenly Court''s forces were lurking in the ck Mountain Immortal Region.
Even though Silver Fox had already escaped, those two immortal envoys could still be lingering near Jade Gathering City, and on top of that, Su Liu was also not someone to be messed with.
With that in mind, this was clearly not a good time to be cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique.
He had already verified that cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique wouldn''t trigger the white te treasure, there was no guarantee that the immortal envoys didn''t have other detection methods up their sleeve, so it was best to proceed with caution.
After some further contemtion, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to summon a damaged dagger, a small white gon, and an azure wooden ruler, all of which were giving off faint timew power fluctuations.
The damaged dagger was something that he had found in Gongshu Jiu''s storage tool, while the white gon was the Time Severing gon, and the wooden ruler was the immortal treasure that he had just obtained from the Fish Branch.
Han Li made a hand seal to summon his Mantra Treasured Axis, and the Eye of Truth appeared at the center of the axis at his behest, then released a beam of golden light that fell upon the damaged dagger.
A burst ofw power fluctuations instantly swept over the dagger, and it began to glow with radiant golden light before quickly being restored to its former condition.
A brand new dagger was presented to Han Li, and it was riddled with runes while also giving off a cold gleam that gave it an extremely sharp appearance.
Han Li closed his eyes as he carefully examined the timew powers within the dagger, and momentster, he opened his eyes as he gave a slight nod.
The dagger didn''t contain much timew powers, but it was different from the three types of timew powers that he was currently cultivating, and there was a slightly chaotic aura about it.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li withdrew the beam of golden light, and the dagger returned to its original state before falling to the ground.
Chapter 628: Searching
Chapter 628: Searching
Immediately thereafter, the Eye of Truth released another beam of golden light that vanished into the Time Severing gon in a sh, and a burst of radiant golden light appeared over its surface as well.
The gon was looking rather old and battered, and it quickly reverted back to its brand new form while giving off a burst of formidable timew power fluctuations.
Han Li closed his eyes to examine the timew powers to discover that it was rather simr to that of the Mantra Treasured Axis.
Both timew powers had a time-slowing effect, and due to the ovep, there was no need for him to waste time on examining this treasure any further.
After setting down the Time Severing gon, he pulled out his Heaven Controlling Vial, then tipped the drop of green spirit liquid into the gon before closing his eyes to examine what was happening inside the gon with his spiritual sense.
Some timeter, he reopened his eyes and heaved a faint sigh.
The Time Severing gon was indeed able to slow down the rate of decay of its contents, but it couldn''tpletely counteract the effects of time. The drop of green spirit liquid was dissipating at a rate slower than normal, but it was still slowly dissipating, nheless.
With a shake of his head, he turned to the azure wooden ruler before gazing upon it with his Eye of Truth.
A beam of golden light shot forth before vanishing into the ruler, causing it to shudder slightly.
Externally, its appearance didn''t change much, and it began to glow with radiant golden and azure light. Furthermore, the timew power fluctuations that it was giving off were even more formidable than that of the Time Severing gon.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately closed his eyes to conduct a closer examination.
In doing so, he discovered that the timew powers imbued within the wooden ruler had a time eleration effect simr to that of his Reversal True Axis.
However, unlike his Reversal True Axis, which only affected the user, the timew powers within the wooden ruler could alter the rate of passage of time in an area.
In this regard, it was rather simr to the Illusory Dawn Sand Sea.
After stowing away his Mantra Treasured Axis, Han Li took a deep breath, then closed his eyes to ponder the three types of timew powers that he had just witnessed.
Around half a month passed by in a sh, and as Han Li opened his eyes, a hint of enlightenment shed through them.
It seemed that he had further deepened his understanding of thews of time.
In particr, after repeatedly examining the timew powers imbued within the azure wooden ruler, he had improved his understanding of the connection between the Mantra Axis Scripture and the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture.
He made a hand seal to summon his Mantra Treasured Axis, and at the same time, he also summoned his Clear Time Vial.
Simultaneously, a burst of golden light emerged over his body before spreading outward to form countless grains of golden sand.
Channeling all three time-attribute cultivation arts at once, three bursts of different timew powers surged through the secret chamber before intertwining with one another.
Compared withst time, the three timew powers were resonating far more strongly than before, particrly the timew powers of the Mantra Treasured Axis and the Illusory Dawn Sand Sea.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he began to fuse the three timew powers once again.
The three bodies of golden light intertwined with one another to form a rumbling vortex, and given what had happenedst time, Han Li decided it was best to take some precautionary measures.
With that in mind, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a string of azure array gs that were littered throughout the entire secret chamber to form a thick azure light barrier.
Immediately thereafter, he also released a flurry of yellow array gs that formed a semi-transparent yellow restriction in the air.
The azure and yellow restrictions fused with each other to form an even more resilient light barrier, while Han Li summoned several defensive immortal treasures to protect himself before he continued with what he was doing.
The golden vortex began to rapidly elerate in its revolution while slowly shrinking in size, and countless golden runes of different sizes appeared within it before shing violently against one another, sending violent timew power fluctuations surging through the air.
Given his previous experience, Han Li already knew what to expect, and he pressed on without pause, causing the golden vortex to brighten and contract even further.
A fearsomew aura surged out of the center of the vortex, and it seemed to be on the brink of exploding.
After a brief hesitation, Han Li continued to persevere, and the golden vortex abruptly shrank down even further, bringing it even closer to the verge of explosion.
Right at this moment, the three bursts of fiercely shing timew powers suddenly mellowed out before fusing as one, while the churning golden runes stiffened before transforming into a tiny golden ring.
A hint of relief surfaced in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
With that, he had confirmed that he hadn''t just fused the three timew powers by blind luckst time.
He had no idea what this golden ring was, but it clearly possessed extraordinary power.
Bursts of vast timew power fluctuations were surging out of the golden ring, causing the nearby azure and yellow light barriers to ripple violently, but they were able to hold themselves together.
Right at this moment, the Heaven Controlling Vial suddenly flew up from the ground before approaching the golden ring.
At the same time, the three time-attribute immortal treasures on the ground had also flown up alongside the Heaven Controlling Vial, much to Han Li''s surprise.
The golden ring seemed to have detected something, and it began to glow more radiantly than ever.
The three immortal treasures were clearly far lighter than the Heaven Controlling Vial, and they were the first to be sucked into the golden ring.
A loud explosion rang out as the three immortal treasures instantly exploded upon flying into the golden ring, forming three balls of radiant golden light that vanished into the ring.
The golden ring lit up even further, and it abruptly expelled eight translucent golden threads. These were none other than timew threads, and they shot into Han Li''s body in a sh before appearing around his Mantra Treasured Axis.
With that, the number of timew threads around the Mantra Treasured Axis had increased to twenty-six, and all of them were glowing radiantly, much to Han Li''s shock and tion.
It seemed that this golden ring was capable of refining time-attribute immortal treasures into timew threads!
Right at this moment, the Heaven Controlling Vial began to glow with dazzling green radiance before being sucked into the golden ring, upon which it instantly swelled to the size of a house, and countless green runes emerged within the vial to form a churning green cloud.
A burst of formidablew power fluctuations erupted out of the green cloud, and the Mantra Treasured Axis behind Han Li abruptly lit up, following which the Eye of Truth appeared at its center.
The Eye of Truth released a translucent golden thread that shot into the Heaven Controlling Vial in a sh, and this golden thread was far thicker than the one fromst time.
All of a sudden, a thick pir of green light erupted out of the Heaven Controlling Vial to part the space up ahead, and a vast expanse of translucent light surged forth to form a translucent wall with countless scenes rapidly shing over its surface.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
In the past, his spiritual transmigrations had taken cepletely out of his control, but he had finally found a way to trigger the Heaven Controlling Vial into activating this ability.
The wall of translucent light glowed brighter and brighter, and an enormous rumbling vortex appeared on its surface.
The vortex released a burst of suction force that was far more tremendous thanst time, and it enveloped Han Li''s entire body before sucking him toward the vortex.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this. Could it be that this vortex was going to suck in his physical body as well.
However, it seemed like vortex''s suction force wasn''t sufficient to get the job done, and in the next instant, hended back on the ground.
However, his soul was still sucked out of his body without being able to pose any resistance, and his consciousness instantly faded.
Some timeter, he slowly returned to his senses, then began to inspect his surroundings, upon which he discovered that he had returned to that murky gray space once again, with the huge silver river flowing through the air beside him.
A contemtive look appeared on his face upon seeing this.
It seemed like whenever the Heaven Controlling Vial was triggered by the immense timew powers of the golden ring, his soul would be transported to this ce.
He carefully thought back to what had taken ce just now, and it urred to him that during both of thetest transmigrations, the vortex on the translucent wall had disyed signs of sucking in his physical body.
On top of that, the suction force released by the vortex just now was clearly far more powerful than before.
Compared with thest transmigration, neither his powers nor his mastery over thews of time had improved, and the only real difference was the eight timew threads that he had suddenly attained.
Could it be that if I can attain a sufficient number of timew threads, my physical body will also be transported to this ce?
After mulling over this notion for a moment, Han Li quickly cast aside this train of thought before flying over to the silver river.
There were countless balls of light of different sizes flowing through the river, each of which depicted a different shing image.
Given his previous experience, he now knew that each ball of light represented something that had happened in the past. He didn''t know where these balls of light came from, but through them, he could choose where his soul was sent to.
Han Li made sure to keep his distance from the balls of light as he observed them from afar, and he also refrained from extending his spiritual sense toward them.
The balls of light flowed past peacefully without sucking in his soul, and Han Li was quite relieved to see this.
It seemed that as long as kept his distance and restrained his own spiritual sense, no transmigration would take ce.
With that in mind, he began to carefully inspect the passing balls of light.
They were all traveling at an astonishing speed, but with his exceptional eyesight, he was still able to see many things.
Chapter 629: The Heavenly Court and the Devil Race
Chapter 629: The Heavenly Court and the Devil Race
Through his observation, Han Li was able to make some new discoveries.
All of these balls of light contained different images depicting a vast array of different settings and beings.
Furthermore, these balls of light varied drastically in size, and it was clear that their sizes had to have something to do with the scenes depicted within them.
All of a sudden, Han Li raised an eyebrow as he cast his gaze toward a giant ball of light that was flowing toward him.
This ball of light depicted a ck desert with a series of shadows shing incessantly through it. It seemed that there were many people locked in a fierce battle there, and just now, a dark purple projection with three heads and six arms had shed past.
Isn''t that the cultivation art used by Shi Chuankong?
The giant ball of light passed by in front of Han Li without pause, and he decided to release a wisp of spiritual sense toward it.
As soon as his spiritual sense made contact with the ball of light, thetter immediately released a burst of suction force that sucked in Han Li''s soul.
Some timeter, he began to slowly recover his consciousness, and the deafening sounds of a ferocious battle rang out all around him, while the surrounding space trembled violently.
Han Li opened his eyes ever so slightly to inspect his surroundings, and sure enough, he was situated on the ck desert that he had witnessed through the ball of light.
High up in the sky were thick ck clouds that were extremely dense, resembling enormous chunks of lead that struck the beholder with a sense of foreboding.
Thick bolts of dark purple lightning were shing through the clouds, and two groups of cultivators were locked in an intense battle beneath the clouds.
One side consisted mostly of humanoid cultivators d in suits of purple armor, but there were also some among them who had strange appendages like beastly heads, wings, or long tails. All of them were giving off fierce devilish qi, and they were clearly all devilish beings.
There were at least two hundred to three hundred thousand of these devilish cultivators, and the majority of them were at the Spatial Tempering and Body Integration Stages.
There were also many True Immortals and Golden Immortals among them, and they were led by over ten Jade Immortals, all of whom were standing at the forefront of the devilish army with blinding purple light radiating from their bodies.
One of them had summoned a purple projection with three heads and six arms behind them, and that was most likely what Han Li had spotted just now.
This was clearly a battle of an enormous scale, and Han Li cast his gaze toward the opposing side to discover that all of them were d in suits of golden armor, and they weren''t outnumbered by the devilish army in the slightest.
Even though these suits of golden armor were somewhat different from the ones worn by immortal envoys, it was clear that these cultivators belonged to the Heavenly Court.
The Heavenly Court army wasn''t inferior to the devilish army at all, and they were also led by over ten Jade Immortals who were locked in battle against the devilish Jade Immortals.
In the air behind the Heavenly Court army was an enormous golden vortex that was several dozen kilometers in size, and at its center was a giant pathway that was around half a kilometer wide.
The vortex was releasing formidable spatial fluctuations, indicating that it was a spatial passageway, and more cultivators d in suits of golden armor were constantly pouring out of the vortex to join the Heavenly Court army.
The two armies continued to sh as lights of different colors erupted forth in all directions amid earth-shattering booms, and the battle between the High Zenith cultivators was particrly terrifying. The ground was already riddled with enormous trenches and craters with crimsonva bubbling beneath them, and countless spatial rifts were constantly being torn open, as if this very space itself were unable to withstand the intensity of the battle.
This is a battle between the Devil Race and the Heavenly Court!
At this moment, he had taken over the body of a deceased devilish warrior wearing a suit ofvish purple armor. He appeared to have possessed quite a lofty cultivation base, and he had perished from a hole that had been pierced through his lower abdomen.
All of a sudden, a thunderous roar of fury rang out from beneath the ground.
A massive bulge rapidly appeared on the ground in front of the devilish army before exploding, and an enormous figure slowly emerged from beneath the earth.
Han Li turned his gaze to that direction, and he couldn''t help but draw a sharp breath at what he saw.
The giant figure was a rotund creature that was just barely humanoid in form. It had a pair of thin and long eyes, a t nose, and a cavernous mouth that was filled with yellowish-ck sharp fangs with viscous drool flowing out incessantly, presenting a disgusting sight to behold.
The creature was extremely tall, close to a hundred thousand feet in stature, and it had a bulging belly. Its skin was a withered yellow color that resembled coarse rock, and its body was covered in moltenva, but it appeared to bepletely unbothered as it walked along while dragging an enormous club behind it.
A terrifying aura that wasn''t inferior to any of the High Zenith cultivators in the sky was emanating from the creature''s body, and it let loose an earth-shattering roar, causing the nearby space to tremble violently.
Immediately thereafter, it began to lurch forward with extremely heavy footsteps that caused the entire earth to tremble, and it charged at the Heavenly Court army, creating such violent tremors that some of the nearer Heavenly Court cultivators were unable to remain on their feet.
What is that thing?!
In the next instant, the ground began to tremble violently once again, and more of those massive bulges appeared in front of the devilish army, following which a collection of twenty to thirty of those massive creatures emerged from the earth before charging at the Heavenly Court army with their clubs held aloft.
In the face of these enormous clubs, the Heavenly Court cultivators were crushed like insects, and the front of the army immediately began to copse.
However, right at this moment, the sound of a loud horn rang out from within the Heavenly Court army, and all of the Heavenly Court cultivators immediately began to retreat, while several hundred silver giants emerged.
These silver giants were each close to ten thousand feet tall, with spiky silver hair that resembled steel needles on their heads. Furthermore, there were huge silver wings that were shing with silver lightning on their backs.
In the left hand of each giant was a short silver awl, while in the right was a massive silver hammer, both of which were giving off astonishing lightning auras.
In the face of the small army of mountainous creatures, the silver giants remainedpletely expressionless, and they immediately raised their hands to aim their awls at the opposing creatures.
Immediately thereafter, they raised their hammers before striking them heavily against the backends of their awls, and bursts of rumbling thunder rang out as several hundred incredibly thick bolts of silver lightning erupted out of their hands before striking the rotund creatures like a volley of giant silver lightning spears.
Tremendous lightningw power fluctuations surged out of the silver lightning, causing the ck lightning in the dark cloud up above to churn violently.
The rotund creatures were rather rmed by this sudden assault, and they roared as they swung their clubs through the air, conjuring up countless club projections to defend themselves.
However, the club projections stood no chance against the silver lightning, and thetter was able to st a series of huge holes into the seemingly indestructible bodies of the giant creatures.
In the blink of an eye, most of the giants exploded into countless scraps of flesh, and the few that survived had also suffered severe injuries.
However, the silver lightning on the bodies of the silver giants had alsopletely faded, and they were all looking quite weary. At the same time, their lightning hammers and awls had also bepletely dull and devoid of luster. Some of them had even begun to crack, and they seemed to be disposable treasures.
Right at this moment, the dark clouds above the silver giants suddenly began to churn violently, and all of the ck lightning within a radius of hundreds of kilometers converged to form a massive ck lightning hand that was several dozen acres in size before swooping down upon the silver giants.
The giant ck hand was giving off a terrifying aura that threatened to crush the entire space beneath it, but right at this moment, a ball of golden fire suddenly appeared above the silver giants.
It was a fiery golden figure that was entirely enshrouded in golden mes, and as soon as they appeared, they immediately reached up with one hand before making a grabbing motion.
A resounding boom instantly rang out as a giant draconic w formed by golden mes took shape, then shed against the massive lightning hand with tremendous force.
The giant lightning hand was instantly stopped cold in its tracks.
"You thought you could fool me with your little tricks, Li Mozi? Even a child would''ve been able to inly see that you were using those Titanic Devils to lure out by Lightning God Brigade!" the fiery golden figure sneered.
"Is that so?"
A cold voice rang out from the ck clouds up above, and right at this moment, one of the giant creatures that was on the verge of death opened its mouth to release a ball of radiant crimson light, which sped over to the silver giants in a sh before revealing itself to be a fist-sized crimson ball.
The ball was riddled with what appeared to be a system of blood vessels, and it was pulsating incessantly like a living creature.
An rmed look instantly appeared on the face of the fiery golden figure upon seeing this, and they immediately attempted to flee, but the voice within the dark clouds up above rang out once again.
"You''re not getting away that easily!"
The giant lightning hand began to glow brightly as it forced the opposing fiery draconic w downward, and at the same time, one of the lightning hand''s fingers twitched ever so slightly.
Two thick bolts of ck lightning instantly sprang out of the tip of the finger, appearing in the path of the fiery golden figure in a sh before slicing toward him like the des of a pair of giant lightning scissors.
Chapter 630: Evenly Matched
Chapter 630: Evenly Matched
The fiery golden figure let loose a furious roar upon seeing this, and they instantly swelled to several times their original size, revealing themselves to be a burly man with a head of golden hair. His entire body was enveloped within ayer of murky golden light that was releasing formidablew power fluctuations, and it seemed to be his spirit domain, but only limited to a range of several dozen feet.
At the same time, a pair of golden dragon horns appeared on his head, and ayer of golden scales surfaced over his face, as well as the exposed sections of his arms. Toplete the transformation, his hands turned into a pair of golden dragon ws.
A golden dragon projection appeared around him, then shot forth through the air before vanishing into the fiery draconic w up above.
The fiery w immediately lit up further, and it was able to keep the giant lightning hand at bay again.
The golden-haired man let loose a thunderous roar while thrusting a fist forward, summoning an enormous golden fist projection that instantly destroyed the two bolts of ck lightning before reaching down toward the crimson bead below.
However, it was already toote.
A burst of crimson light shed over the bead, following which it exploded with a deafening boom, releasing a giant crimson sun that epassed all of the silver giants within it.
The golden-haired man up above was also inundated by the crimson sun, which was giving off bursts of tremendousw power fluctuations.
The ground down below was also unable to escape the crimson sun''s incredible heat, and it melted away rapidly like wax, disintegrating into plumes of smoke.
Many of thebatants from both armies were also swept up in the crimson sun, and they were instantly melted into puddles of blood.
That bead contained bloodw powers!
Han Li was astonished to see this.
The master of Red Moon Ind had also been a user of thews of blood, but he was only a True Immortal who had attained hisw powers through the power of faith, so his bloodw powers couldn''t even begin topare with that of the crimson sun.
A streak of golden mes shot out of the crimson sun beforending in the distance, then faded to reveal the golden-haired man.
The golden dragon scales on many parts of his body had be damaged, with some even splitting open entirely, and he immediately made a hand seal to conjure up ayer of golden mes over his own body.
As a result, his injuries began to rapidly heal, and in the blink of an eye, he had made a full recovery.
Meanwhile, the crimson sun was rapidly fading, but the silver giants within it had beenpletely wiped out with no trace left behind.
The golden-haired man''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he looked up into the sky right as a purple-robed middle-aged man slowly descended out of the dark clouds above.
The man appeared to be in his forties, and there was a series of purple devilish patterns all over his face. His eyes were long and thin, while his nose resembled a hook, and there was cold baleful qi surging out of his entire body.
Incredibly tremendous auras erupted out of the bodies of both men before shing violently, causing the nearby space to tremble and ripple incessantly, while heaven and earth also began to tremble and sway.
Han Li was astonished to discover that both of them possessed auras far superior to that of thete-High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortal, indicating that they were most likely at the Great Epassment Stage.
The battlefield down below was quite far away from the two of them, but both armies seemed to have been affected by the spiritual pressure that they were releasing, and a temporary ceasefire ensued as everyone cast their eyes upward.
The shing High Zenith cultivators also disengaged themselves from battle before arriving behind the golden-haired man and the purple-robed man.
"Did you think that destroying my Lightning God Brigade would turn the tide of this battle? How naive!" the golden-haired man sneered as he swept a hand through the air, and golden light shed within the spatial passageway behind him, following which a fleet of around forty to fifty golden ships emerged from within.
The ships were all glowing with radiant golden light that illuminated the dark clouds in the sky a golden color.
All of the ships were tens of thousands of feet in length and were riddled with golden and silver runes, resembling a pack of resting giant beasts.
The decks of all of the ships were packed with Heavenly Court cultivators that were busy at work, and there were thick golden pirs extending out of the front of each ship. All of these pirs were hollow in the center, resembling cannon barrels, and the ships spread out in a horizontal line with those barrels aimed straight at the devilish army.
The purple-robed man''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and even from afar, Han Li could sense that these ships were extremely dangerous.
"As long as this spatial passageway remains, more and more reinforcements will continue toe through, and it''ll only be a matter of time before we destroy the entire Devil Realm. if you know what''s good for you, then immediately pledge your allegiance to our Heavenly Court to oppose the Reincarnation Pce with us!" the golden-haired man threatened.
"Our Devil Realm has already made it plenty clear that we''ll y no part in the conflict between your Heavenly Court and the Reincarnation Disciple," the purple-robed man replied with a shake of his head.
"In that case, prepare to suffer the consequences of your decision!" the golden-haired man dered in a cold voice as he raised a hand high above his head, and the Heavenly Court army immediately began charging at the devilish army.
The devilish army stood firm in their path, and the battle resumed.
However, the purple-robed man refrained from entering the fray. Instead, he was observing the battlefield with a hint of purple light in his eyes.
All of a sudden, the golden-haired man in the distance burst intoughter as he shot forth through the air, appearing above the giant golden ships in a sh. At the same time, his right arm swelled to several times its original size, transforming into a giant golden dragon w before grabbing viciously down upon the space beside him.
The purple-robed man''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this.
The golden dragon w tore straight through the space there before vanishing into it, and an earth-shattering boom rang out, followed by an eruption of tremendous spiritual pressure that tore the spatial rift there ten times wider.
A purple figure stumbled out of the spatial rift, and it was none other than the purple-robed man. His left sleeve had beenpletely torn away, revealing several bleeding wounds.
Bursts of golden mes emerged from those wounds before attempting to burrow into his body as if they were living creatures, and his expression instantly changed slightly as purple light shed over his wounds to snuff out the golden mes, following which he sped away into the distance.
Meanwhile, the purple-robed man who was standing in the distant sky above the devilish army vanished into thin air.
"You tried to use the same trick again? You must take me for a fool!" the golden-haired man sneered as he shot forth like a golden arrow, aggressively pursuing the purple-robed man while making a hand seal, upon which all of the runes on the surfaces of the dozens of giant golden ships lit up.
Bursts of golden light began to flow over the ships, while thunderous rumbling rang out within them.
The ck barrels in front of the giant ships began to glow with golden light that was rapidly bing brighter while giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations, and all of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out as over a hundred thick pirs of golden light erupted out of the ships before striking the devilish army.
Agonized howls instantly rang out in all directions as all of the devilish beings who came into contact with the pirs of golden light were instantly obliterated, and each pir of golden light only slowly dissipated after piercing through hundreds of devilish beings.
In the wake of this first round of attacks, tens of thousands of devilish beings had disappeared without a trace.
At this moment, Han Li wasying behind the devilish army, so he wasn''t affected, but he was still stunned to see this.
Each of those pirs of golden light had beenparable in power to an all-out attack from a High Zenith cultivator.
The purple-robed man was furious to see the pirs of golden light inflicting such extensive damage throughout the devilish army, and he loose a thunderous roar as he thrust a palm toward the oing golden-haired man.
An antiquated wheel flew out amid a sh of ck lightning, and the wheel was entirely ck in color with a diameter of around a foot.
There were all types of demon beasts engraved onto the edge of the wheel, while at the center was a ck humanoid design.
The humanoid figure was wearing a tall hat, and his mouth protruded outward like the beak of a bird. There were four huge ck wings on his back, and he was standing atop a pair of ck lightning snakes. It was a very strange sight to behold, and it seemed to be depicting some type of ancient deity.
As soon as the antiquated wheel emerged, it immediately began to expand rapidly, swelling to over a hundred feet in size in the blink of an eye. At the same time, all of the designs etched onto its surface began to release radiant ck lightning, and in particr, the humanoid deity was shing incessantly, as if it had sprung to life.
A burst of incredibly formidable lightningw power fluctuations erupted forth, causing the nearby space to shudder violently, and bolts of ck lightning came falling incessantly out of the sky before fusing into the ck wheel, making it glow brighter and brighter.
A stunned look shed through Han Li''s eyes as he observed the ck wheel from afar, and the golden-haired man had also adopted a far more serious expression as he made a hand seal to summon a golden g that was around ten feet in size with a fiery river depicted on its surface.
Firew power fluctuations that weren''t inferior to thew power fluctuations released by the ck wheel erupted out of the golden g, yet before the golden-haired man had a chance to activate the g, a sharp bird call rang out from the ck wheel.
The sound wasn''t very loud, but it had an excessively piercing quality, and the golden-haired man shuddered as a hint of disorientation shed through his eyes.
Immediately thereafter, seven or eight tree-branched-shaped bolts of lightning sprang out of the ck wheel before hurtling silently toward the golden-haired man.
Even though this lightning was still ck in color, it was a far lighter shade that was almost transparent, but the lightningw powers that it contained were extremely formidable.
Chapter 631: Leverage
Chapter 631: Leverage
The golden-haired man immediately snapped back to his senses, then let loose a loud roar, and the golden g in front of him instantly swelled to over a hundred times its original size, then released countless balls of golden light that formed a fiery golden river around him.
Several thick bolts of lightning struck the golden river, triggering violent waves, and the entire golden river began to tremble violently, looking as if it were about to disintegrate.
Radiant golden light erupted out of the golden-haired man''s body, and he transformed into a giant golden dragon that was tens of thousands of feet in length.
The body of the dragon was long and sleek, yet still powerful in appearance, and it was entirely covered in a thickyer of golden scales. Every single scale was riddled with golden spirit patterns that gave them an indestructible appearance, while the dragon''s ws were shing with golden light and seemed to be able to tear through anything.
An enormous aura that was almost twice as powerful as that of the golden-haired man in his human form erupted out of the dragon''s body, and it opened its cavernous mouth to send a thick pir of golden light shooting into the golden river.
The golden river instantly brightened significantly while expanding to several times its original size, and the golden mes within it also began to flow several times faster than before.
The bolts of lightning were swept up in the golden river before quickly being inundated.
The purple-robed man made a hand seal upon seeing this, and a burst of ck lightning erupted out of his body before quickly spreading outward to form a ck lightning spirit domain that was dozens of kilometers in size, epassing the golden-haired man within it.
Countless arcs of lightning were churning incessantly within the spirit domain, and there were around a dozen tall ck humanoid figures standing amid the lightning, all of which were giving off astonishing lightningw power fluctuations.
The golden dragon''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, following which it prepared to also release its spirit domain as it roared, "If you insist on making this a battle of life and death, then I''m more than happy to oblige!"
However, the purple-robed man was a little faster, and he seized the initiative, chanting an incantation before pointing a finger at the ck wheel, upon which all of the dozen or so humanoid figures in the spirit domain shot forth like lightning before vanishing into the ck wheel in a sh.
The wheel instantly swelled drastically in size once again, and it turned semi-transparent while giving off blinding lightning.
Dozens of thick bolts of lightning shot out of the wheel, and most of them were hurtling toward the golden-haired man, but a small portion of them were being directed toward the giant golden ships.
"How dare you allow yourself to get distracted when facing me?"
The giant golden dragon was furious to see this, and the golden mes all over its body erupted outward, but instead of forming a spirit domain, it transformed into a giant golden fiery cloud.
Countless runes were churning within the cloud, producing an incessant rumbling sound, then converged before sweeping toward the purple-robed man with tremendous power, paying no heed to the lightning that was hurtling toward the giant ships down below.
The golden cloud shed against the bolts of lightning, but there was no sound.
The bolts of lightning pierced through the golden cloud in a sh, then continued to hurtle directly toward the giant golden dragon without being slowed down at all.
However, the same applied to the golden cloud as well, and it continued to sweep toward the purple-robed man, appearing in front of him in a sh.
The fiery cloud then began to rapidly transform as if it were a living creature, taking on the form of a mountainous golden dragon''s head that opened its cavernous mouth to devour the purple-robed man whole.
The purple-robed man''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he shot back in retreat while making a hand seal, upon which the ck wheel swooped over from afar to block the golden dragon''s head.
At the same time, all of the lightning within the spirit domain converged to form a massive ck lightning that enshrouded the dragon''s head.
The dragon''s head whipped to the side to force the ck wheel back, then let loose a thunderous roar, releasing a burst of devastating soundwaves that conjured up countless indistinct de and spear projections, which pierced through the of ck lightning before inundating the purple-robed man.
The ck lightning was torn apart, and the nearby space was also shattered like a mirror.
The purple-robed man''s body trembled violently in the face of the torrent of soundwaves, and gashes began to appear over his skin, as if his body were about to be torn apart.
Blood began to spray out of those gashes in all directions, and he was sent flying back through the air.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and at this moment, the golden dragon''s entire body was enveloped within the river of golden mes.
Dozens of thick bolts of lightning pierced into the fiery golden river amid an earth-shattering boom, stirring the river of fire up into a frenzy.
However, the bolts of lightning were ultimately no match for the raging golden river, and the former quickly subsided.
At the same time, a string of explosions rang out down below as most of the giant golden ships were destroyed by the remaining bolts of lightning.
The golden dragon paid no heed to this at all as it shot forth directly toward the purple-robed man.
A thunderous draconic roar rang out as a giant dragon w projection appeared in the sky above the purple-robed man before crashing down with vicious power, but right at this moment, a ck vortex suddenly appeared beneath the purple-robed man before instantly sucking him in.
As a result, the dragon w projection struck nothing but empty air, much to the golden dragon''s bewilderment.
Several dozen kilometers away, the ck vortex reappeared, and the purple-robed man flew out from within, following which a pir of green light also shot out of the vortex into the purple-robed man''s body.
He was instantly enveloped in ayer of bright green light, and his injuries began to rapidly heal, vanishing in virtually the blink of an eye.
The golden dragon was just about to pounce at the purple-robed man, but it stopped in its tracks with a hesitant expression upon seeing this.
The purple-robed man was looking rather pale, but he was able to move just fine now, and he stood up before extending a deep bow toward the ck vortex. "Thank you, esteemed Devilish Monarch."
The golden dragon''s expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and it abruptly turned and fled toward the spatial passageway without any hesitation.
Right at this moment, a cold, seemingly omnipresent voice rang out. "You think you can just get away after ughtering so many of my brethren?"
As soon as the voice trailed off the space above the fleeing golden dragon abruptly caved in, and a giant silver spatial hand that was several acres in size emerged before descending upon the golden dragon.
The golden dragon was instantly slowed down, and even though the silver hand still hadn''t fully descended upon it, the surrounding space had be incredibly heavy as itpressed upon it from all directions.
In that instant, it was as if time were standing still. All sounds faded, and the only thing that the golden dragon could see was the giant silver hand expanding in its field of view.
"No!"
The golden dragon roared with all its might as bursts of ferocious golden me erupted out of its body.
A series of massive holes were instantly scorched into the surrounding space that waspressing toward it, but the pressure weighing down on it wasn''t lessened at all.
The giant silver hand gently descended upon the golden dragon, and thetter was instantly crushed into a huge pile of mincemeat like a fragile egg.
Everyone at the scene waspletely rooted to the spot, unable to believe what they were seeing.
The entire battlefield had be deathly silent, but in the next instant, a chaoticmotion ensued as all of the Heavenly Courts High Zenith cultivators fled toward the spatial passageway as quickly as they could.
The giant silver hand gently flicked a finger through the air, and a burst of silver light shot out of its fingertip.
A string of dull thuds rang out as all of the Heavenly Court''s High Zenith cultivators were abruptly rooted to the spot. A hole had appeared on each of their foreheads, and blood and intracranial fluids were gushing out from within.
The light in their eyes quickly faded, and they began to plummet out of the sky like dead weights.
The silver hand then flew toward the golden vortex before crashing into it with tremendous power, and the spatial passageway was instantly cast into a state of violent instability.
However, right at this moment, strips of golden runes surged out of the spatial passageway, forming a golden array that was doing everything in its power to stabilize the passageway, but it seemed that this was only dying the inevitable.
A cold harrumph rang out from within the giant silver hand, following which it closed tis fingers around the spatial passageway before grabbing down with unmatched power.
The spatial passageway finallypletely copsed, and it slowly closed amid a resounding boom, quickly vanishing into thin air.
The Heavenly Court army was cast intoplete despair upon seeing this.
In contrast, the morale for the devilish army was significantly elevated, and they were able to easily tear through the ranks of the opposing army tomence a one-sided massacre.
The purple-robed man paid no heed to what was happening down below as he flew over to the giant silver hand with an embarrassed look on his face. "My sincerest apologies for my ipetence, esteemed Devilish Monarch. If you hadn''t intervened, the consequences would''ve been catastrophic."
The silver hand transformed into a humanoid silver figure, then said, "Our Devil Realm still isn''t powerful enough to stand toe to toe against the Heavenly Court, so even if someone else had been in your ce, the oue wouldn''t have been any different."
The purple-robed man''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this.
"Don''t kill all of these Heavenly Court cultivators. Only kill a third of them, then restrict the cultivation bases of the rest and send them to Asura Ind to serve as ves," the silver figure continued.
"Why should we spare their lives? They''ve killed many of our brethren. If we spare them, that could elicit a great deal of dissent," the purple-robed man asked with a perplexed expression.
"Right now, the primary enemy of the Heavenly Court is the Reincarnation Pce. Even though they''ve sent out an army against our Devil Realm, there are no Dao Ancestors leading this army, which indicates that the Heavenly Court isn''t going to fully dere war on us.
¡°Otherwise, they run the risk of having to face both our Devil Realm and the Heavenly Court at once, and that''s not a situation that they want to be in. This battle is going to end very soon, and killing a third of the enemies will already be enough to satisfy most of our brethren.
¡°By keeping the rest alive, we''ll have leverage that we can use in negotiations with the Heavenly Court, and we''ll be able to enjoy some peace for the immediate future," the silver figure exined.
"Your wisdom is truly unmatched, esteemed Devilish Lord!" the purple-robed man praised with a slight bow.
"I''ll leave things to you here. Make sure to continue to conduct stringent surveince over the Heavenly Court," the silver figure instructed, then vanished into the nearby space.
The purple-robed man stood in silence for a moment, then descended toward the battlefield down below.
Behind the battlefield, the body that Han Li had possessed cracked open its eyelid a tiny sliver, then heaved an internal sigh of relief.
That giant silver hand had struck him with a far more formidable sense of pressure than even the two Great Epassment Stage beings on the battlefield, and as soon as it appeared, he immediately retracted his spiritual power so that it was hiding in the deepest recesses of the body''s mind, and only now did he dare to peek out ever so slightly.
Chapter 632: Devil Realm
Chapter 632: Devil Realm
After taking a moment topose himself, Han Li carefully released his spiritual sense, spreading it in all directions to observe the current state of the battlefield.
After the golden-haired man and all of the Heavenly Court''s High Zenith cultivators were struck down by the silver figure, all of the remaining Heavenly Court cultivators immediately began fleeing in all directions in a blind panic, while the devilish army set off in hot pursuit, led by their High Zenith cultivators.
Instead of directly participating in the battle, Li Mozi released his lightning-attribute spirit domain to epass an enormous area, and all of the devilish cultivators within it had lightning garments draped over their bodies, significantly enhancing their speed. In contrast, all of the Heavenly Court cultivators were slowed down by the disruptive lightning in their way.
In the span of no more than fifteen minutes, the Heavenly Court army had alreadypletely copsed. However, instead of ughtering all of the Heavenly Court cultivators, the devilish army took most of them as prisoners, sealing away their cultivation bases, then confiscated their storage treasures before throwing them into a fleet of giant flying ships to be sent away.
The remaining few giant golden ships from the Heavenly Court were also imed by the devilish army, while others began to clean up the battlefield down below.
Han Li was epassed within Li Mozi''s spirit domain, so he didn''t dare to move at all, and he continued toy on the ground in apletely still fashion, allowing himself to be carried away by devilish cultivators into a giant ship that was filled with bodies.
Seeing as he wasn''t going to be able to leave this ce, Han Li decided to take this time to examine the memories of the body that he had possessed, and an enormous wave of memories instantly flooded into his mind.
This body contained far more memories than the ones from his previous few stints of spiritual transmigration, and even though he had already grown ustomed to this process, he was still struck by a sense of tearing agony.
He gritted his teeth to fight back the pain, and only after a long while did the agony recede.
At this point, countless memory fragments had already appeared in his mind, and he immediately began to search carefully through them.
He had many questions on his mind pertaining to what he had just witnessed, and he was hoping to be able to find some answers in these memories.
As it turned out, the body that he possessed belonged to ate-High Zenith Stage devilish cultivator by the name of You Ao, and currently, he was in a ce known as the Devil Realm.
Even back before he ascended to the True Immortal Realm, he had made a journey through hte Devil Realm. He had found it rather strange that he had encountered extremely few cultivators using devilish cultivation arts ever since his ascension to the True Immortal Realm, but You Ao''s memories exined to him why this was the case.
Those who used devilish cultivation arts would always appear in the Devil Realm through normal ascension, and You Ao was precisely one of the cultivators who had ascended to the Devil Realm from a lower realm.
ording to his knowledge, the Devil Realm was also situated somewhere in the True Immortal Realm, neighboring several of its immortal regions, but it had always been an independent, standalone region.
Han Li tried to search through the memories for some information pertaining to the owner of the giant silver hand, but was unable to find anything, perhaps because the memories were missing, or perhaps simply because You Ao didn''t have such knowledge to begin with.
As for why this battle had taken ce, Han Li had already gathered a rough idea from the conversation between Li Mozi and the golden-haired man. It seemed that the Heavenly Court wanted to recruit the Devil Realm as an ally to contend against the Reincarnation Pce, but the Devil Race wished to remain neutral and take no part in this conflict.
This revtion forced Han Li to see the Reincarnation Pce through new eyes. He had originally thought that the Reincarnation Pce was just an underground organization that wasn''t all that powerful, but it seemed that the Reincarnation Pce posed far more of a threat to the Heavenly Court than he first imagined.
Given what he currently knew, not only did the Reincarnation Pce have certain core members in the form of Reincarnation Disciples, it also had many branch organizations like the Transient Guild and the Ubiquitous Pavilion. On the surface, these organizations appeared simr to trading houses, but in reality, they were trying to lure in members for the Reincarnation Pce.
With that in mind, Han Li couldn''t help but wonder who was controlling the Reincarnation Pce behind the scenes, and what their objectives were.
Han Li shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought, then continued to examine You Ao''s memories.
All of a sudden, he made an interesting discovery, which was that You Ao was a cultivator under the Vast Origin House, and he had been sent here by none other than the Vast Origin House. Unfortunately, he was met with a sneak attack from two Heavenly Court High Zenith cultivators as soon as the battle began, thereby leading to his demise.
Isn''t the Vast Origin House the organization overseen by Lan Ying? Is this just a coincidence, or could it be that the Vast Origin House in that lower realm is a branch of the Devil Realm''s Vast Origin House? [1]
ording to You Ao''s memories, not only was the Vast Origin House the number one trading house in the entire Devil Realm, and it had many contacts in other immortal regions. It was an extremely powerful organization, so it would be no surprise for it to have developed some branches in lower realms.
The thought of Violet Spirit immediately sprang into Han Li''s mind in association with the Vast Origin House. /wiki/Wang_Ning[/ref]
She was closely connected to the Vast Origin House in that lower realm, and Han Li couldn''t help but wonder if she had also managed to ascend.
However, given that she was using devilish cultivation arts, if she were to ascend, she would most likely end up in the Devil Realm.
On top of that, it was also unclear what had be of Nangong Wan in the Spirit Realm.
Unfortunately, he was currently in no position to go and search for them.
With that in mind, he heaved an internal sigh before refocusing his attention on the task at hand. At this moment, most of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis projection hovering before him had already faded.
Watching the battle between the Devil Race and the Heavenly Court had taken a lot of time.
It seemed that You Ao had only perished recently, so there was a vast volume of memories left in his mind, and it was going to take a very long time to examine all of them.
Hence, there was no time to waste, and Han Li continued to search through the memories for any information that would be useful to him.
His top priority at the moment was to expel the baleful qi in his body and reach the High Zenith Stage, so he turned his focus to the memories rted to You Ao''s High Zenith Stage breakthrough.
Much to his tion, those memories had been preserved quite well, and he hurriedly began to examine them, but it didn''t take long before his tion began to fade.
As it turned out, just like normal cultivators, devilish cultivators also had to expel the baleful qi in their bodies in order to make a breakthrough to the High Zenith Stage.
The method of baleful qi expulsion that had been chosen by You Ao was quite an interesting one. Instead of taking any pills to expel the baleful qi in his body, he tracked down a devilish beast found in the Devil Realm known as the Dream Tapir to devour all of his baleful qi.
The Dream Tapir was a very special devilish beast that was capable of devouring all things, including even dreams and memories.
These beasts were extremely rare, even in the Devil Realm, and whenever one was tracked down, it would immediately be captured by certain powerful figures to be their spirit pets.
After all, its ability to devour baleful qi was extremely useful, and even Great Epassment cultivators held Dream Tapirs in very high regard as they were ideal for nurturing up-anding juniors.
You Ao was only able to secure an opportunity to use a Dream Tapir through the Vast Origin House, and in exchange, he had to pledge lifelong servitude to the Vast Origin House.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this. At the moment, he was situated in the ck Mountain Immortal Region, so this method of baleful qi expulsion was entirely unavable to him.
He was feeling a little disappointed, but he continued to search through You Ao''s memories in the hopes of making further discoveries.
As ate-High Zenith cultivator, You Ao''s memories contained many precious nuggets of useful information, and Han Li soon found himselfpletely absorbed in examining all of You Ao''s cultivation insights and experiences, particrly pertaining to devilish cultivation arts and secret techniques.
A short whileter, an ted look appeared on Han Li''s face as he discovered a secret technique called the Infernal Devilish Eyes in You Ao''s memories.
As the name suggested, this was a spirit eye ability that granted one exceptional ocr powers.
However, the prerequisites for cultivating this secret technique were also extremely stringent, and even in the entire Devil Realm, not many cultivators had been able to master this ocr ability. Even though You Ao was in possession of this secret technique, he hadn''t attempted to cultivate it.
In order to cultivate this secret technique, one had to first possess a certain spirit eye foundation. Otherwise, their eyes would be able to bear the power of the technique and would be destroyed, rather than enhanced.
Furthermore, cultivating this secret technique was an extremely lengthy endeavor, and one had to constantly inject their hard-earned devilish qi into their eyes to slowly nourish them.
On top of that, a special medicinal fluid was required toplement the cultivation of the Infernal Devilish Eyes, and all of the ingredients required for this medicinal liquid were extremely precious and had to be very advanced in age.
Given these three hurdles, it was no wonder that even ate-High Zenith cultivator like You Ao had decided against pursuing it.
However, a hint of excitement welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this.
While these three hurdles were indeed quite difficult to ovee, they were not entirely insurmountable for him.
In terms of a spirit eye foundation, he possessed the Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and he could cultivate devilish qi using his Provenance True Devil Arts, which should be enough to support the cultivation of the Infernal Devilish Eyes.
Thanks to his timew powers, Han Li no longer had much reliance on his Provenance True Devil Arts, so the devilish qi that it had cultivated would be perfect for nourishing his eyes.
As for the supplementary medicinal fluid, with the Heaven Controlling Vial in his possession, this wasn''t a problem, either.
He had seen the recipe for the medicinal fluid, and while the required ingredients were all indeed quite precious, they were not impossible to find. The main obstacle in that regard was that all of the ingredients had to be of quite an advanced age.
Furthermore, in a very fortuitous turn of events, one of the primary ingredients on the recipe was the Farsight Weed, something that he had obtained arge supply of from the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor and nted in the Flower Branch space, so all that was left was to mature it.
Han Li read through the Infernal Devilish Eyes secret technique a few more times, ensuring that he had it well and truly memorized, and only then did he move on to You Ao''s other memories.
Before long, all of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis faded, and a burst of tremendous suction force erupted out of the axis to suck Han Li''s soul out of You Ao''s body.
1. For more information on the Vast Origin House, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2124: Vast Origin House. ?
2. For more information on Violet Spirit, please refer to ?
Chapter 633: Cultivating the Infernal Devilish Eyes
Chapter 633: Cultivating the Infernal Devilish Eyes
Inside the secret chamber.
Han Li shuddered slightly as he found himself back in the real world once again.
As the translucent wall of light gradually faded, the Eye of Truth on the Mantra Treasured Axis also slowly closed, and Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to stow the axis away, along with the Clear Time Vial and the Illusory Dawn Sand Sea.
A contemtive look then appeared on his face as he summoned his Dragon 5 mask, and he released a series of missions in the Transient Guild interface, searching for the ingredients required to refine the medicinal fluid for the Infernal Devilish Eyes.
After releasing all of the missions, a floral pattern appeared over the index and middle fingers of his right hand, following which a burst of silver light shot forth to create a silver door of light that was around ten feet tall in front of him.
He made his way into the Flower Branch space through the door and arrived directly outside his spirit medicine garden.
The garden was filled with abundant spiritual qi, and around a dozen giant ape puppets were busy at work, having expanded the garden even further.
Han Li slowly made his way into the garden, and he noticed that most of the spirit nts had already grown ustomed to their new environment, while only a small number of them were looking a little withered and unhealthy.
He called upon one of the giant ape puppets, then gave it a jade vial and instructed it to water those slightly withered spirit nts with the spirit liquid inside the vial once every fifteen days.
After that, Han Li made his way to the section of the garden where the Farsight Weeds were nted.
At this point, all of them had been matured to tens of thousands of years old, so they were fit to be used.
However, ording to the Infernal Devilish Eyes secret technique, when it came to many of the ingredients used in the medicinal fluid, the older they were, the more efficacious they would be.
With that in mind, Han Li removed the Heaven Controlling Vial from around his neck, then tipped it upside-down above the Farsight Weeds.
A drop of green spirit liquid flowed out of the opening of the vial, and as it began to descend, Han Li flicked a finger in its direction, causing it to explode into a small cloud of mist that sprayed down evenly upon all of the Farsight Weeds.
Han Li watched for a moment as the spirit liquid fell upon the Farsight Weeds, then continued deeper into the medicine garden.
In a corner of the garden near the back was a plot of dark purple spirit soil that resembled mud from a swamp. The Dao Warrior primary beans growing inside wereing along quite nicely, and the entire area was enshrouded within a cloud of purple mist, giving it a rather indistinct appearance.
However, Han Li could tell from their auras that the primary beans were growing just fine.
Beyond this point in the spirit garden was a more recently expanded area, and even though it had already been watered with spirit liquid, it was still looking rather barren as nothing had been nted there.
All of a sudden, a voice rang out nearby.
"Can I offer you a piece of advice, Fellow Daoist Han?"
Han Li turned to discover Mo Guang making his way toward him, and he nodded in response.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang."
"The world''s origin qi is able to circte within this domain treasure, but it''s ultimately still limited and can''t quitepare with the outside world. Hence, if you nt too many things in here and exceed the limits of what this space can tolerate, that could result in spiritual qi failure, leading to the demise of this space," Mo Guang said.
"I''ve already considered that, I came here on this asion to bolster the restrictions within the domain," Han Li replied with a nod.
"In that case, it seems that my advice was unwarranted," Mo Guang said with a smile.
"Not at all, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang. I appreciate you looking out for me. I managed to expel some baleful qi from my body and collect it, and I was nning to go to the bamboo pavilion to give it to you, but you''ve saved me the trouble," Han Li said as he tossed a ck storage pouch through the air.
Mo Guang caught the storage pouch, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face as he inspected its contents.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Han."
"Don''t worry about it," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Let''s go to the bamboo pavilion."
The two of them made their way to the pond in front of the purple bamboo pavilion, and Mo Guang entered the pavilion to continue his cultivation.
Meanwhile, Han Li walked a couple ofps around the pond, tossing some round stones that were riddled with array patterns into the pond at strategic locations.
After all of the stones were deposited, he flipped a hand over to produce an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, then carefully began marking the ground around the pond, injecting immortal spiritual power and sword qi into the ground with every single stroke.
Before long, a massive andplex array had taken shape around the pond, and Han Li exhaled as he stowed his sword away upon seeing this.
Immediately thereafter, a mid-grade Immortal Origin Stone appeared in his hand.
He gripped the stone tightly in his hand with a pained look in his eyes, but ultimately, he made his decision and tossed the Immortal Origin Stone into the pond, where it vanished into the water beneath the purplish-golden lotus flower.
Immediately thereafter, the water in the pond was stirred up into a frenzy, and one huge bubble after another emerged from beneath the lotus flower before popping in session.
Bursts of dense purple mist emerged from the popped bubbles, permeating over the entire pond and inundating the arched bamboo bridge sitting over the pond.
Han Li felt an invisible breeze rise up from the center of the pond before sweeping through the air in all directions, releasing abundant spiritual qi that instantly struck him with a sense of rxation andfort.
After standing beside the pond for a moment, Han Li suddenly vanished from the spot.
Almost in the exact same instant, he appeared elsewhere in the domain, then flipped a hand over to produce an array te that he had refined earlier. After installing some normal Immortal Origin Stones into the array te, he buried it deep in the ground.
After that, he continued to make his way throughout the domain before burying more array tes that were fitted with Immortal Origin Stones.
By the time all of the array tes were nted, it was as if the domain had be a giant go board, and a metallic ng rang out as all of the array tes were activated in unison, sending pirs of light erupting into the sky.
At the center of the pond near the purple bamboo pavilion, the lotus flower lit up, and a fist-sized flower bud suddenly emerged beside it before blooming as well.
"Very impressive, Fellow Daoist Han. You''ve sacrificed a mid-grade Immortal Origin Stone to produce another lotus flower, and now, you won''t have to worry about this domain running out of spiritual qi for at least the next century," Mo Guang praised as he stood in front of a window on the second floor of the bamboo pavilion.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he was quite pleased with his work.
A few minutester, all of the phenomena taking ce within the domain subsided, and Han Li examined the entire space to ensure that nothing was amiss before returning to his secret chamber.
By the time he emerged from the Flower Branch domain, it was already veryte at night, and a beam of moonlight was shining down upon the ground in front of him through the hole in the ceiling above.
Han Li pulled out his Heaven Controlling Vial before setting it down under the moonlight.
......
Over thirty years flew by in a sh in the Leisure Valley, and nothing really changed throughout the years.
During this time, Han Li purchased various ingredients for the medicinal liquid from the Transient Guild, then nted them in his spirit medicine garden before maturing them with the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial.
At this point, the primary ingredients required to refine the medicinal fluid had already been matured to a far more advanced age than the minimum threshold stipted in the secret technique, so the medicinal fluid that he was able to refine was far more efficacious than normal.
At this moment, he was meditating with his eyes closed in his secret chamber.
On the stroke of midnight, all of themps in his secret chamber were suddenly snuffed out, plunging the room intoplete darkness with the exception of the beam of moonlighting through the hole in the ceiling.
ced under the moonlight in front of Han Li was a y vase with arge mouth but a thin neck, inside of which was some translucent purple liquid that was shimmering incessantly.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s eyes suddenly sprang open, and a burst of bright blue light shed through them.
At the same time, ayer of purplish-golden scales emerged over his skin, and the immense immortal spiritual power was being converted into inky ck devilish qi before surging out of the gaps between his scales.
He began chanting the Infernal Devilish Eyes mantra internally while making a string of hand seals, then swept a sleeve over the vase sitting on the ground, and a ball of purple liquid immediately flew out from within before being guided into his eyes.
As soon as the liquid made contact with his eyes, Han Li immediately felt a burning pain that struck him with the reflexive urge to close his eyes, but he was able to resist the urge to do so.
Cleansing one''s eyes with the ready-made medicinal fluid was the first step to cultivating the Infernal Devilish Eyes, and it was also an extremely important step that set the foundation for all of the subsequent steps.
Tears began to flow out of Han Li''s eyes, carrying with them some tiny impurities that were otherwise undetectable, leaving two faint white streaks on his cheeks.
Through the cleansing process, the blue light in his eyes had be a little dimmer, but it had also be clearer, while his eyes themselves were bing rather bloodshot.
All of a sudden, he switched to a different hand seal, then flipped his hands upward, raising both index fingers before extending them toward his own eyes.
Chapter 634: Strange Happenings
Chapter 634: Strange Happenings
Right at this moment, the ck devilish qi within the secret chamber began to swirl, forming two small vortexes, which then transformed into a pair of ck spirals that surged directly toward Han Li''s eyes.
The blue light glowing in Han Li''s eyes instantly began to glow brighter, but it also became more murky and indistinct with this injection of devilish qi.
His eyes were like a pair of bottomless holes that were greedily devouring the devilish qi, and it didn''t take long before they had be as dark as a pair of abysses.
At the same time, he made a strange hand seal with both hands and maintained it as he sat in apletely still fashion.
A series of purplish-golden halos emerged beneath his body before spreading outward.
......
Several years flew by in a sh.
Han Li remained seated with his legs crossed in his silent secret chamber, making the exact same hand seal as before.
The purplish-golden scales over his body had already faded, as had the devilish qi around him, and all that remained were the purplish-golden halos that were still constantly expanding outward.
Right at this moment, his eyes suddenly sprang open, and two pirs of golden light erupted out of his pupils, illuminating the entire secret chamber.
All of the tiny dust particles inside the secret chamber instantly became clearly visible, as was the case for all of the restrictions that he had previously set up.
Han Li raised his head to peer through the hole on the ceiling of his secret chamber, and he was able to see everything, from the white clouds in the sky to every single feather on the birds flying up above, and even the minute air currents created by the pping of their wings.
It was as if nothing could remain hidden in the face of his eyes.
With that, he had achieved elementary mastery of the Infernal Devilish Eyes. As for whether these spirit eyes had any other abilities, that was still yet to be seen.
In any case, his eyesight had improved significantlypared with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.
Momentster, all of the light in Han Li''s eyes faded, and they reverted back to their original color.
A faint smile appeared on his face, and he adopted a disguise using his Dragon 5 mask, transforming into an ordinary-looking young man with a paleplexion.
After that, he stood up before taking a moment to stretch out his body, then emerged from his secret chamber.
He had gone into seclusion for a rather long time, and during this time, both Daoist Master Jingyang and Immortal Lord Hot me hade to visit him, only to be informed by a puppet that Han Li was in seclusion, and they had departed without disturbing him.
Hence, aftering out of seclusion, Han Li nned to pay the two of them a visit each.
It was winter in the Leisure Valley, and the entire valley was covered in a nket of snow that was around a half a foot thick.
After making his way out of his cave abode, Han Li chose to walk through the valley on foot instead of taking flight, and he made his way deeper into the valley while appreciating the surrounding scenery.
All of a sudden, he noticed some buildings deep in the forest that hadn''t been there before, and they had clearly been constructed during his seclusion.
A perplexed look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and right at this moment, a figure emerged from behind arge rock on the mountain path.
It had already stopped snowing, but the figure was still holding a dark red oil paper umbre as he made his way toward the exit of the valley.
As the two drew closer to each other, Han Li was able to see that the approaching figure was an extremely handsome young man with a very paleplexion that was made to appear even paler in contrast with therge red cloak that he was wearing.
As the two passed each other by, the man gave Han Li a smile and a nod, but didn''t say anything, and Han Li also responded in kind.
After the two had passed each other, they continued to walk in opposite directions, getting further and further away from one another.
Is he a new resident of the valley?
Han Li was rather perplexed, but he didn''t think much of it as he continued to make his way deeper into the valley.
After walking for several kilometers along the mountain path, he arrived on the cliff where Immortal Lord Hot me''s cave abode was situated, and he just so happened to spot a figure flying up from the cliff, setting off into the valley.
"Where are you going, Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Han Li hurriedly called out.
Immortal Lord Hot me faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately descended back down onto the ground as he greeted with a smile, "Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Li."
"I just came out of seclusion today, and I heard you came to visit me during my seclusion, so I''m here to return the favor," Han Li exined with a smile.
"I heard you were in seclusion during my visit, so I didn''t disturb you," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a nod.
"Was there something you needed to speak to me about?" Han Li asked.
"It''s nothing overly important. I just wanted to tell you to try and avoid using the elder badge of the Fire Leaf Sect to enter Jade Gathering City in the immediate future," Immortal Lord Hot me said.
"Why is that?" Han Li asked.
"Jade Gathering City has not been very peaceful these past two hundred years. The ck Mountain Immortal Pce is conducting more stringent examinations on people entering the city, and I was worried that you couldnd yourself in trouble if you weren''t careful," Immortal Lord Hot me exined.
"What''s been happening in the city?" Han Li asked, thinking that the unrest must''ve resulted from a continuation of the events that had ensued following the auction.
"It''s a bit of a long story. Everyone just so happens to be meeting up today, so why don''t youe with me, and we''ll discuss this with everyone else?" Immortal Lord Hot me proposed with a smile.
Han Li could only suppress his curiosity for now and depart with Immortal Lord Hot me.
Thus, the two of them rose up into the air together and quickly arrived on a spacious cliff deep in the valley.
The cliff was situated on a mountain face on the right side of the valley, and it protruded out of the mountain face by several hundred feet. There was an octagonal pavilion constructed on the cliff, and it was also covered in a thickyer of snow.
Inside the pavilion was a stone table with three figures already gathered around it, namely Yu Ziqi, Mo Wuxue, and Duan Yuzai.
After everyone had exchanged some greetings, Duan Yuzai turned to Han Li as he asked, "When did youe out of seclusion, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"I just came out of seclusion today, and it seems that I did so at just the right time," Han Li replied with a smile.
"I heard from Fellow Daoist Jingyang that..."
Before Yu Ziqi had a chance to finish, Mo Wuxue tugged on his sleeve to cut him off, and he immediately realized that he had brought up a rather sensitive subject, upon which a guilty look appeared on his face.
"It''s fine, it''s not like this is a taboo subject. The pills I refined did indeed fail to achieve the intended effect, I''ll just have to search for another solution in the future," Han Li said with a carefree smile.
"My apologies, Fellow Daoist Li. It appears I overreacted," Mo Wuxue said with a faint smile.
"Not at all, Celestial Maiden Mo. I should thank you for looking out for me. Speaking of Fellow Daoist Jingyang, where is he right now?" Han Li asked.
"Fellow Daoist Jingyang said that he had some things to take care of, and he hasn''t been back to the valley for over a hundred years," Yu Ziqi replied.
Han Li spected that he most likely had some important duties to take care of in the Hundred Creations Mountain, so he didn''t dwell on this subject.
"How unfortunate for him. I just so happened to bring some of my Red Mulberry Wine today. Would everyone care to have a taste?"
Everyone''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.
Everyone returned to their seats, while Han Li brought out a jar of wine and filled some cups. As he did so, he noticed that Yu Ziqi wasn''t ying his guqin as he normally did, nor had Duan Yuzai set up his go board, and his brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
"By the way, what were you saying earlier, Fellow Daoist Hot me? What''s been happening recently?" Han Li asked.
Immortal Lord Hot me had already raised his cups to his lips, but he set it down again as he replied, "I''m sure you''ve already noticed that many new residents have settled in our Leisure Valley ofte."
"I did indeed encounter a young man in arge red cloak on the way here. He must be one of those new residents, right?" Han Li asked.
"That man''s name is Feng Qingyuan, and he''s only one of about fifty to sixty new residents who have moved into the valleys of Rxation Mountain over the past two hundred years," Duan Yuzai replied.
"There were that many?" Han Li eximed.
While people were free toe and go as they pleased in Rxation Mountain, the mountain range never had arge number of residents. After all, it was very rare for someone to be able to settle in one ce and give up on aspirations of future cultivation progression, even if the endeavor were clearly futile.
Hence, this was a very abnormal turn of events.
"If that''s the only change, then it wouldn''t be all that noteworthy, as long as everyone abides by the rules and doesn''t interfere with others. However, there have been many strange happenings in the mountain range, and many people have been disappearing from the valleys," Mo Wuxue exined.
"Justst month, the cave abode of a pair of Dao partners was destroyed overnight in the nearby Flower Moon Valley, and both of them disappeared," Yu Ziqi added.
Han Li had met the pair in question, and he knew that they were a pair of early-True Immortal cultivators.
"Has there been any shared trait among the people who''ve disappeared?"
"Not at all. From Golden Immortals to Deity Transformation cultivators, from beautiful female cultivators to elderly men... There doesn''t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the disappearances," Yu Ziqi replied.
"Has no one investigated this matter?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"How? All of the people residing in the mountain range are here to live lives unburdened by responsibilities, and there are no factions or unified organizations here, so who''s going to investigate this matter? There have only been some private investigations, and they haven''t yielded any useful leads.
¡°On top of that, like Fellow Daoist Ziqi said, it seems like there''s no rhyme or reason to the victims, so it''s almost impossible to pinpoint anything," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a wry smile.
"Exactly. Who knows if those people simply left the valley? Having said that, in the past, people would generally inform their good friends in the mountain range prior to the departure, and there''s never been such an unannounced mass exodus like this before," Yu Ziqi chimed in.
Chapter 635: Another Incident
Chapter 635: Another Incident
"The only thing that we can be almost certain of is that these events have something to do with the new residents who''ve moved in over the past two centuries. After all, the valley has been a very peaceful ce prior to their arrival," Duan Yuzai said.
"In that case, why hasn''t anyone investigated these new residents?" Han Li asked.
"On the surface, these people all appear to be very normal, and due to the rules in the valley, everyone was initially reluctant to pry into these matters. However, with all these strange urrences taking ce ofte, some people have begun investigating, but the results of their investigations are extremely bizarre, and many strange rumors havee out of these investigations," Yu Ziqi sighed.
"What are these rumors?" Han Li asked.
"Some say the mountain range has been infiltrated by man-eating devils, some say this is the work of bloodthirsty evil cultivators, some proim that the Immortal Pce sent spies here to disrupt the peace and eradicate themunity here as it''s outside of their control, and some have even spected that all of this is rted to the Silver Fox case that took ce in Jade Gathering City.
¡°They say that Silver Fox wasn''t able to flee the ck Mountain Immortal Region, so he''s hiding in Rxation Mountain. In any case, it''s all a bunch of unsubstantiated nonsense," Duan Yuzai sighed.
"If you ask me, I think these rumors were intentionally spread by the perpetrators to serve as red herrings that throw people off their trail," Immortal Lord Hot me said as he took a sip of wine.
Han Li''s mind was racing upon hearing this.
If these strange happenings did indeed have something to do with the Silver Fox incident, then there really was a chance that the perpetrators had been sent into the mountain range by the ck Mountain Immortal Pce. If that were the case, then things would most likely only continue to grow more chaotic in the future.
"Rxation Mountain has never fallen under the jurisdiction of the Immortal Pce or any sect, so it''s essentially awless ce. The peace here has only been maintained thanks to the rules established by that powerful senior, but at this point, there''s no longer anyone around to enforce the rules, so I''m afraid things will only get worse from here," Mo Wuxue sighed, and everyone fell into a solemn silence upon hearing this.
All of a sudden, Immortal Lord Hot me mmed his wine cup heavily down onto the table as he dered, "Even if the skyes falling down, there will be others above us to catch it before it falls on us, so what''s there to worry about? It''s not like this is the only ce of its kind in the entire True Immortal Realm. If things be too dangerous here, we can just go somewhere else!"
"That may apply to all of us, but as the grand elder of the Fire Leaf Sect, I doubt that you can just leave this ce anytime you please," Han Li jibed with an amused smile.
"Why do you have to be so direct, Fellow Daoist Li?" Immortal Lord Hot meined with a displeased expression.
Everyone else was quite amused to see this, and the solemn atmosphere was slightly alleviated.
After having some more wine, everyone chatted for about half a day longer before parting ways.
No further mention was made of the disappearances that had taken ce in the mountain range, but it was clear that it was still constantly in the back of everyone''s minds.
Han Li departed with Immortal Lord Hot me, and as they parted ways, thetter once again cautioned him against using his identity as an outer sect elder of the Fire Leaf Sect in case he ran into any trouble as a result.
As for the exact reasons, he didn''t go into further detail, and Han Li didn''t ask any questions, either.
Upon returning to his cave abode, Han Li entered his Flower Branch abode to check on his spirit medicines and Dao Warriors, then went into seclusion in his secret chamber to continue working on his time-attribute cultivation arts.
However, only about half a year passed by before an incident took ce in the Leisure Valley.
One morning, Han Li was nning to make a trip to his spirit medicine garden to water his Dao Warrior primary beans when he discovered that Duan Yuzai hade to visit.
Hence, he opened the entrance of his cave abode to see Duan Yuzai, and he was just about to extend a warm greeting, but it was clear from Duan Yuzai''s urgent expression that he was in no mood for small talk.
"What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Duan? Why do you look so distressed?"
"Yu Ziqi was attacked and is on the verge of death! Please save him, Fellow Daoist Li!" Duan Yuzai replied in an urgent voice.
"Where is he right now?" Han Li hurriedly asked.
"He''s on Light Breeze Cliff," Duan Yuzai immediately replied, and Han Li instantly vanished from the spot.
Duan Yuzai faltered slightly upon seeing this, then also departed as a streak of light.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li appeared on Light Breeze Cliff, and he immediately noticed that arge patch of snow on the edge of the cliff had been soaked in blood and frozen into red dark red ice crystals.
In the middle of the bloodstained ice crystalsid a young man with his white robepletely drenched in blood. Hisplexion was deathly pale, and his eyes werepletely zed over.
Mo Wuxue was kneeling in the snow beside him, looking just as pale, and she had conjured up a silver light barrier that epassed his body while also injecting him with a steady supply of immortal spiritual power.
"Fellow Daoist Li!"
A glimmer of hope instantly appeared in Mo Wuxue''s distraught eyes at the sight of Han Li.
Han Li gave her a nod, then quickly made his way over to Yu Ziqi before reaching into the silver light barrier to sp a hand around his wrist. At the same time, purple light shed within his eyes as he roamed his grave over Yu Ziqi''s body.
As he inspected Yu Ziqi''s physical conditions, his brows became tightly furrowed, while a grim look appeared on his face before slowly turning into anger.
Mo Wuxue could tell from his reaction that the situation was dire, and herplexion paled even further.
"It''s alright, he can still be saved," Han Li said.
Mo Wuxue''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, following which tears began to well up in her eyes, and she made no attempt to conceal her feelings any longer as she turned her gaze back to Yu Ziqi.
Meanwhile, Duan Yuzai was standing a bit further away, and only after hearing that Yu Ziqi could still be saved did he hurriedly approach Han Li''s trio.
Han Li withdrew his Infernal Devilish Eyes, and his brows remained tightly furrowed as he flipped a hand over to produce a translucent, jade-like pill, then gently pried Yu Ziqi''s mouth open by squeezing his cheeks before feeding him the pill.
However, Yu Ziqi disyed no reaction, nor was he able to swallow the pill, so Han Li had to manually guide the pill down his esophagus and into his stomach.
Immediately thereafter, ayer of faint white light emerged over his lower abdomen before flowing toward all of his limbs and meridians.
Mo Wuxue could hear a string of faint cracks ringing out across Yu Ziqi''s entire body, and a perplexed look appeared on her face as she turned to Han Li.
"That''s the sound of his bones reconnecting and mending. As I''m sure you could already see, all of his bones and meridians have been snapped, and his soul has also beenpletely ravaged as a result of a forced soul search. At the moment, his body is like a dpidated house that''s full of holes, and it''s extremely fragile," Han Li exined.
"That''s why we asked you toe here instead of carrying him to your cave abode," Duan Yuzai said with a nod.
"All I fed him just now was a True Immortal Stage pill to help mend his bone and meridians, and only after that will I be able to administer further treatment. In any case, it seems that he should be able to survive now," Han Li sighed.
Both Mo Wuxue and Duan Yuzai were very relieved to hear this, but they were still no less concerned.
After all of the cracking sounds faded, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a white jade vial, which was filled with a type of purple liquid.
This was a soul nourishment liquid that he had refined using the Soulbirth Flower. Back when he refined his Earthly Deity Avatar, he discovered that this liquid was very effective for treating spiritual damage, so he had refined some more.
However, thanks to his Spirit Refinement Technique, his soul had be more and more powerful, so there was never a need for him to use this liquid himself.
He removed the stopper of the vial, then poured all of its contents into Yu Ziqi''s mouth, upon which a peculiar fragrance spread through the air.
After that, Han Li brushed a hand over Yu Qi''s eyelids to close his eyes.
"Who could''ve possibly harbored such a vendetta against him that they would beat him into such terrible condition?" Mo Wuxue asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"Perhaps there''s no personal vendetta at all. Perhaps the perpetrator only wanted to secure some information from him," Han Li said with a shake of his head.
"From the looks of it, they seeded," Duan Yuzai sighed.
"Not necessarily. Judging from the damage sustained by Fellow Daoist Yu''s soul, the perpetrator most likely triggered some type of restriction while using a soul search technique on him, thereby detonating his consciousness.
¡°However, it''s also exactly because of this that the perpetrator seems to have flown into a rage and broke all of Fellow Daoist Yu''s bones, then left him here to die," Han Li analyzed with a grim expression.
Mo Wuxue shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and her hands had already balled up into tight fists in her sleeves.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he hurriedly crouched down before pressing a palm down onto Yu Ziqi''s be.
A burst of invisible fluctuations surged out of the palm of his hand, and after a thorough examination, he withdrew his hand as he murmured to himself, "I see..."
"What is it, Fellow Daoist Li?" Mo Wuxue hurriedly asked.
"The perpetrator even went as far as to nt a restriction on Fellow Daoist Yu''s nascent soul, preventing it from being able to escape his body, so if his physical body were to perish, then his nascent soul would also meet its demise, eliminating any possibility for it to escape and possess someone else in the future.
¡°However, you managed to save him by sealing his consciousness in a timely fashion while also injecting him with immortal spiritual power, and only then was he able to survive long enough for me to get here," Han Li said.
A puzzled look appeared on Mo Wuxue''s face upon hearing this.
"His consciousness has been sealed? I didn''t do that at all, all I did was inject immortal spiritual power into his body."
Han Li turned to Duan Yuzai with an inquisitive gaze upon hearing this.
Chapter 636: Sword Integration
Chapter 636: Sword Integration
"It wasn''t me, either. Celestial Maiden Mo was the first one to have discovered Fellow Daoist Yu, and she was worried that you could be in seclusion, so she sent me a message, asking me to go look for you," Duan Yuzai exined.
"With all of this recent unrest, I was nning to meditate for a while, but I was unable to enter a tranquil state, so I came here in the morning, and I discovered himying in the snow. At the time, I thought he was already dead," Mo Wuxue sighed.
Han Li didn''t say anything further upon hearing this.
He rested the palm of his hand down onto Yu Ziqi''s be to conduct a further examination, then rose to his feet with a perplexed look in his eyes, wondering exactly who it was that had sealed his consciousness.
"How is he right now, Fellow Daoist Li?" Mo Wuxue asked.
"His body and soul have been stabilized for now, but he''s still not out of the woods yet. Take him back to my cave abode. I''m going to need to administer extensive treatment to him before he can truly be saved," Han Li said.
"Thank you, Fellow Daost Li," Mo Wuxue said in an earnest manner.
Han Li''s gaze roamed back and forth between Mo Wuxue and Yu Ziqi for a moment, and it urred to him that this near-death experience may have just been a blessing for Yu Ziqi.
With that in mind, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light hat picked up Yu Ziqi before carrying him back to his cave abode.
......
Close to a monthter.
Daoist Master Jingyang had only just returned to the valley when he received a message from Han Li, and by the time he arrived at Han Li''s cave abode, Immortal Lord Hot me and the others were already gathered there.
Just like Mo Guang, Daoist Xie had also been deposited in the Flower Branch domain, so there were only some puppets and Dao Warriors left in the cave abode, and Yu Ziqi was staying in the room previously upied by Mo Guang.
Following this period of recovery, his aura had stabilized a little, but he still wasn''t showing any signs of waking up as the spiritual damage that he had sustained was extremely severe.
Immortal Lord Hot me and Daoist Master Jingyang were always bickering with each other, but in a rare disy of camaraderie, both of them united to dere that they were going to find the perpetrator and give them a taste of their own medicine.
"I told all of you that there was going to be some unrest, but I didn''t think that things would be so bad so quickly," Daoist Master Jingyang sighed.
"Do you know something that we don''t, Fellow Daoist Jingyang?" Mo Wuxue asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"The information that I have ess to aren''t exactly secrets. As long as you''re willing to spend some Immortal Origin Stones, you can purchase this information from Jade Gathering City," Daoist Master Jingyang replied.
"None of us have been to Jade Gathering City for some time now, so we''ll be relying on you to ry this information to us, Fellow Daoist Jingyang," Han Li said.
"Hurry up and spit it out!" Immortal Lord Hot me urged.
"I''m sure all of you have heard about the Silver Fox incident. After the incident, some other things happened, and there''s a chance that the pce master of the ck Mountain Immortal Pce used this as an excuse to join forces with the immortal envoy stationed in Jade Gathering City, exerting pressure upon the itinerant cultivator who established the rules of Rxation Mountain so that he would allow Immortal Pce cultivators to ess and search the mountain range as they please," Daoist Master Jingyang revealed.
"So you''re saying that the perpetrator in this case could be someone from the ck Mountain Immortal Pce?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"I said no such thing. All I''m saying is that the ck Mountain Immortal Pce has sent people into Rxation Mountain to ruin the peace here. In all honesty, there are even more people from the Robe Change Order in the mountain range, and neither of those organizations are to be messed with," Daoist Master Jingyang said.
"It''s not like members of the Reincarnation Pce have only recently infiltrated the valley, but none of them have ever disturbed the peace. If you ask me, I still think the Immortal Pce cultivators are to me," Duan Yuzai said.
Just like the Ubiquitous Pavilion and the Transient Guild, the Robe Change Order was also a far-reaching subsidiary power of the Reincarnation Pce.
"Could it be that Fellow Daoist Yu is a member of the Reincarnation Pce?" Han Li asked.
Immortal Lord Hot me and Duan Yuzai turned to Daoist Master Jingyang and Mo Wuxue upon hearing this. One of them was Yu Ziqi''s closest friend in the valley, while the other was Yu Ziqi''s romantic interest, but neither of them seemed to know the answer to that question.
"There''s no point in making all this empty spection. Let''s ask Fellow Daoist Yu when he wakes up," Mo Wuxue said.
"In any case, all of us have to be more careful from now on," Daoist Master Jingyang said.
After everyone departed, Han Li began to feel more and more uneasy, and he no longer felt like this was a safe ce to stay.
However, if he were to leave the Leisure Valley at a time like this, he would most likely only be attracting the attention of the Immortal Pce cultivators, so he would just have to stay put and wait for now.
On top of that, he also had to stay with Yu Ziqi for a long time to administer his treatment.
After some contemtion, he began working on removing the restriction on Yu Ziqi''s nascent soul.
Over five years passed by in a sh.
One morning, Han Li was seated in his secret chamber, holding his Heaven Controlling Vial in one hand and the Profound Heavenly Gourd in the other.
He opened the Heaven Controlling Vial before tipping a drop of green spirit liquid onto the mouth of the gourd.
Over the years, the mouth of the gourd had been steadily nourished by the green liquid to the point that it was almostpletely blending in with the rest of the gourd, but Han Li still felt like it wasn''t fully mature yet.
A pleasant sound rang out from the gourd, and the drop of green spirit liquid was instantly absorbed by it.
Immediately thereafter, the gourd began to radiate incredibly bright green light, and all of the countless geren runes on its surface began to sh incessantly.
At the same time, an unfathomable burst ofw power fluctuations surged through the surrounding area, and a faint pop rang out from the mouth of the gourd.
To Han Li''s surprise, the gourd had opened on its own without any outside force.
Does this mean it''spletely matured?
Before Han Li had a chance to draw any conclusions, a burst of green light shot out of the mouth of the gourd, transforming into a green me that enveloped the entire gourd while keeping it suspended in mid-air.
Some timeter, the me began to shrink before finally vanishing altogether, and the gourd was left looking as if it had been reborn anew. It had be entirely as translucent as jade, and it had a warm and smooth tactile sensation to the touch.
A hint of tion welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this, and he was just about to conduct a closer examination when a burst of burning pain suddenly arose in one of his arms.
He hurriedly pulled up his sleeve and looked down to discover that a faint green sword mark had appeared on his arm, and it was none other than the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword that had already been missing for many years.
Immediately thereafter, he felt all of the blood in his arm converging toward the sword mark, and as a result, the previously indistinct sword mark was gradually bing clearer and clearer.
Is the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword about to return?
Han Li was ecstatic to see this.
Even though the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword was a treasure from a lower realm, it was still a Profound Heavenly Treasure that epassed thew powers of an entire realm, making it equivalent to an Essential Immortal Treasure in the True Immortal Realm, so it had to be harboring many secrets that had remained hidden to him up to this point.
Right at this moment, the pain in his arm intensified even further, and the green sword mark suddenly tore through his skin as a streak of green light, then instantly flew into the gourd through its mouth.
Han Li was very startled by this turn of events, and he immediately grabbed onto the gourd before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
The green vortex within the internal space of the gourd was still slowly revolving as usual, and the seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were hovering peacefully within the vortex, giving off a faint azure glow.
After searching through this space, Han Li was unable to find the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword, so he extended his spiritual sense further into the second space within the gourd.
As soon as he did this, he was immediately struck by a sense of disorientation, and he felt as if there were bursts of green light shing incessantly in front of his eyes.
He focused his gaze directly forward to find the green ball hovering within this space, and it was currently fluctuating in brightness while releasing a series of green halos that were giving off peculiar energy fluctuations.
A green sword-shaped mark had appeared on the ball, and it was none other than the mark of the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword.
As he attempted to extend his spiritual sense toward the sword mark, thetter instantly released a burst of green light that exploded to shatter the spiritual sense being extended toward it.
Han Li immediately gave a muffled groan as his eyes sprang open, and he was gasping for air.
His head was ringing incessantly while throbbing with agony, and he hurriedly closed his eyes to recuperate.
A long whileter, hisplexion hadrgely returned to normal, and he opened his eyes as he massaged his own throbbing be with a contemtive expression.
He didn''t know how it had happened, but it appeared that the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword had fused as one with the gourd.
Instead of a resurrection for the Profound Heavenly Spiritsh Sword, it seemed that the destructivew powers within it had been sucked into the gourd, and he couldn''t help but wonder if this would somehow alter the gourd''s properties and abilities.
Chapter 637: Laying Low
Chapter 637: Laying Low
With that in mind, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a fire-attribute immortal sword that circled around within the secret chamber before hurtling directly toward him.
At the same time, Han Li patted the underside of the Profound Heavenly Gourd, and it immediately turned so that its mouth was facing the oing sword, then released a burst of green light toward it.
As soon as the fiery sword was bound by the green light, the former instantly drew to aplete halt, while the mes on its surface were quickly snuffed out.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, then made a hand seal to try and extricate the flying sword out of the green light, but as soon as ayer of mes re-emerged over its surface, a beam of dark green light instantly shot out of the gourd topletely pulverize the sword.
The shattered fragments of the sword were then disintegrated even further within the green light before being sucked into the gourd.
All of this had taken ce so quickly that Han Li was left a little dumbstruck by what he had seen, and he hurriedly extended his spiritual sense into the gourd, where he discovered the remnants of the fire-attribute immortal sword within the second space inside the Profound Heavenly Gourd.
Those remnants were currently adhered to the energy fluctuations around the green ball, and they were slowly revolving while releasing specks of translucent light.
The spiritual power that they contained was slowly being stripped away to reciprocate the gourd, and to Han Li''s surprise, he noticed a tiny crimson speck of light hovering in the air outside of the green ball with faint firew power fluctuations emanating from it.
Clearly, thew powers of the fire-attribute immortal sword hadn''t been absorbed by the gourd. Instead, it had simply been stored away.
Han Li was bing more curious by the second, and he wanted to see just how the Profound Heavenly Gourd''s abilities had changed, but right at this moment, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as he withdrew his spiritual sense from the gourd, then turned to the door of his secret chamber.
After that, he stowed the Profound Heavenly Gourd away, them emerged from his secret chamber before making his way into the secret chamber previously upied by Mo Guang.
As soon as he entered the room, he saw Yu Ziqi struggling to try and sit up on the bed, but it seemed that he was still too feeble and weak to do so.
"Don''t be in a hurry to get up, Fellow Daoist Yu. You sustained very severe spiritual damage, so you must be feeling very dizzy right now," Han Li said as he made his way over to Yu Ziqi before gently lowering him back down onto the bed.
"You were the one who saved me, right, Fellow Daoist Li? I could sense that it was you, but I just wasn''t able to wake up and thank you."
Yu Ziqi''s speech was very smooth and steady, but his eyes were still looking a little dull, and he also seemed to be having difficulty focusing his gaze on Han Li.
"There''s no need to thank me. Do you recall who it was that attacked you?" Han Li asked with a grim expression.
"I''ve been pondering this question ever since I regained my consciousness, but I can''t recall who my attacker was. I only have a vague recollection of them interrogating me about someone in the valley, but I can''t remember who exactly that person was, either," Yu Ziqi replied with a shake of his head, and it seemed that he couldn''t even recall the horrific torment that he had been subjected to.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he couldn''t help but wonder if the perpetrator had been trying to interrogate Yu Ziqi about him.
After all, not only was he on the Heavenly Court''s Immortal ying List, he was also a member of the Reincarnation Pce and had cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique, all of which were crimes punishable by death.
He had to go to great lengths to buy himself these past few centuries of peace and serenity, but he wasn''t sure if he could continue to stay in the Leisure Valley at this rate.
"How long has it been since I was attacked?" Yu Ziqi asked.
"Not long, only just over five years," Han Li replied.
"So I slept for five whole years... I really must thank you, Fellow Daoist Li. Not only did you save my life, you''ve been looking after me for the past five years as well. I truly don''t know how to repay you," Yu Ziqi sighed.
"I''m not the one that you should feel indebted to. The one who actually found you and saved your life is Celestial Maiden Mo. If it wasn''t for her, you would''ve perished before I had a chance to save you, and she''s also been paying you frequent visits over the past five years," Han Li said.
A hint of emotion appeared in Yu Ziqi''s eyes for the first time upon hearing this, and he hurriedly asked, "Is that true?"
"Are you saying I would lie to you about something like this?" Han Li countered.
"Of course not, but..."
Han Li was starting to grow a little disgruntled, and he asked, "You were even able to let go of your attachment to pursuing the Great Dao, why can''t you get over something minor like this? Are you waiting for Celestial Maiden Mo to confess to you instead?"
"Of course not," Yu Ziqi hurriedly replied.
"Think about it: if we weren''t able to save you this time, would you not have regretted not confessing your feelings to Celestial Maiden Mo?" Han Li asked.
Han Li didn''t have much experience when it came to romance and rtionships, but he knew that the man had to take more of the initiative in such matters, and that was precisely the case between him and Nangong Wan.
Yu Ziqi was silent for a long while upon hearing this, then finally sighed in an earnest voice, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist Li. I know what I need to do now."
Han Li could see that Yu Ziqi had been truly convinced, so he didn''t dwell on this subject any longer.
He fed Yu Ziqi a soul nurturing pill, then instructed him to rest and refrain from strenuous activity before sending him away.
Following Yu Ziqi''s departure, Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly with concern.
A month after Yu Ziqi''s departure, Han Li also began to prepare for his departure from the Leisure Valley and even the entire ck Mountain Immortal Region as a whole.
Several more years passed by in a sh, and the disappearances and attacks taking ce in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range were only bing more and more frequent.
As a result, many of the cultivators residing here had begun to leave, and at this point, Han Li had also already packed up all of his belongings.
He wanted to leave a long time ago, but he refrained from doing so in order to avoid drawing attention to himself.
However, now that many people had already begun to leave the mountain range, he now had an excuse to leave himself.
Of course, if he were to detect someone following him, then he certainly wouldn''t mind luring them into a secluded ce before permanently silencing them.
After meditating in his secret chamber for some time, Han Li left his cave abode, then made his way over to the pavilion where he often met up with Immortal Lord Hot me and the others.
To his surprise, Immortal Lord Hot me and the others were already gathered in the pavilion at this moment, and they were all discussing something with rather grim expressions.
Yu Ziqi was also among them, and he was looking a little pale. Mo Wuxue was standing beside him, and the two of them were speaking to each other in hushed voices.
Everyone stopped talking upon seeing Han Li, and Daoist Master Jingyang beckoned to him as he said, "You came at just the right time, Fellow Daoist Li. We were just about to go and look for you."
"What are all of you doing here?" Han Li asked as he made his way into the pavilion.
"The valley is bing more and more dangerous. Three fellow daoists were attacked justst month alone, and one of them was even killed," Duan Yuzai said with a grim expression.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
In order to avoid drawing attention to himself, Han Li had been in seclusion in his cave abode all these past years, and he had made no attempt to unearth the root cause behind the unrest in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.
It seemed that the situation was even more chaotic than before.
"Indeed. The Floating Cloud Mountain Range is no longer the ce it once was, and we''re all gathered here to discuss what we should do from here," Immortal Lord Hot me sighed.
"What are you nning to do, Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Han Li asked.
"What else can I do but return to the sect for now? At the very least, it should be a bit safer over there," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a wry smile.
"I''m also nning to leave for a while and go to Auspicious Cloud City. I have some acquaintances there that I can live with for now," Duan Yuzai sighed.
"How about you, Fellow Daoist Li?" Daoist Master Jingyang asked.
"I really don''t want to leave the Leisure Valley, but it is indeed no longer the ce it once was, so I''m also nning to leave just like all of you," Han Li replied.
"Do you have a ce to go, Fellow Daoist Li? If not, why don''t youe to our Hundred Creations Mountain for now? Your safety will definitely be ensured there, and if you have any other requests, feel free to state them, and I''ll do my best to satisfy you," Daoist Master Jingyang proposed.
At this point, Daoist Master Jingyang had already revealed his identity to Immortal Lord Hot me and the others, so they weren''t perplexed to hear this offer.
"Thank you for the invitation, Fellow Daoist Jingyang, but I''ve already decided on where I want to go next," Han Li replied, turning down the offer in a tactful manner.
"I see. If you ever change your mind, feel free toe and find me at the Hundred Creations Mountain at any time," Daoist Master Jingyang said with a hint of disappointment in his eyes.
"What are your ns, Fellow Daoist Yu?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked.
Yu Ziqi turned to look at Mo Wuxue with a hesitant expression, while thetter remained silent as she stared out into the distance.
"Fellow Daoist Yu, if you and Celestial Maiden Mo don''t have anywhere to go for now, then you can alsoe to our Hundred Creations Mountain," Daoist Master Jingyang said as he turned to Mo Wuxue and Yu Ziqi with a smile.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Jingyang, but I have no ns of leaving this ce for now," Mo Wuxue replied with a shake of her head.
Everyone was quite surprised to hear this with the exception of Yu Ziqi, who seemed to have already been aware of her decision.
Chapter 638: Nine Grades of Immortal Treasures
Chapter 638: Nine Grades of Immortal Treasures
"Celestial Maiden Mo, the Floating Cloud Mountain Range is fraught with peril right now. Even for a Golden Immortal like yourself, it''s far too dangerous to remain here," Duan Yuzai urged.
Daoist Master Jingyang and the others also chimed in in agreement, trying to dissuade her from her decision, but Mo Wuxue shook her head with a determined expression as she said, "Thank you for your concern, everyone, but I''ve already sworn a vow to remain in the Leisure Valley and wait for the return of a certain person."
Yu Ziqi''splexion paled slightly as he lowered his head upon hearing this.
Han Li naturally noticed this reaction from Yu Ziqi, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly, but he didn''t say anything.
It seemed that Yu Ziqi had already confessed his feelings to Mo Wuxue, but there appeared to be some obstacle standing between them.
Immortal Lord Hot me and the others exchanged a nce with one another, and all of them chose to remain silent as well.
It was simply not in their ce to bementing on the rtionships of others.
"Having said that, please take Fellow Daoist Yu with you to the Hundred Creations Mountain, Fellow Daoist Jingyang. He still hasn''t fully recovered from his injuries, so he needs some more time to rest and recuperate," Mo Wuxue said.
Daoist Master Jingyang was just about to reply when Yu Ziqi sprang to his feet and dered, "Of you''re not leaving, then I''m staying here with you."
Aplex look appeared in Mo Wuxue''s eyes upon hearing this, and she lowered her head as she heaved a forlorn sigh, but didn''t turn him down.
A slightly awkward silence descended upon the pavilion.
"Seeing as both of you have already made up your minds, we won''t say anything further. I''ll set up some Hundred Creations Mountain restrictions around the valleyter, and I''m sure that''ll at least be somewhat effective in intimidating whoever it is that''s been wreaking havoc in the valley," Daoist Master Jingyang said.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Jingyang," Mo Wuxue said with a grateful expression.
Just because she had chosen to stay here didn''t mean that she didn''t fear death. The Hundred Creations Mountain was vastly renowned near Jade Gathering City and throughout the entire ck Mountain Immortal Region, so with this restriction in ce, they would be much safer in the valley.
Yu Ziqi also hurriedly rose to his feet to express his gratitude.
Everyone chatted for a while longer before parting ways, and Daoist Master Jingyang flew out of the valley to begin setting up the restriction.
Mo Wuxue also returned to her cave abode, and before long, Han Li and Yu Ziqi were the only ones left in the pavilion.
Meanwhile, Yu Ziqi stared after Mo Wuxue with a dazed expression, only withdrawing his gaze after she had already entered her cave abode.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this, but there was no further part that he could y in their rtionship.
Even though he had only been with these people for a few centuries, he had found some warmth and friendship here, both of which were extremely rare and precious things in the harsh world of cultivation, and that was why he was willing to help them.
Perhaps only by casting aside the fulfillment of certain desires could one hope to regain some precious things that they had lost in the past, but ultimately, such a lifestyle was destined to be nothing more than a fleeting affair.
"Fellow Daoist Yu, these pills are for you, and they should be helpful for your recovery," Han Li said as he summoned a storage ring before handing it to Yu Ziqi.
"I already owe you a great deal for saving my life, I can''t ept any more of your pills. I''ll be fully recovered in a few more years at most, so I won''t waste your precious pills," Yu Ziqi hurriedly refused.
"These pills are no longer very useful to me, so don''t turn them down, Fellow Daoist Yu. The sooner you recover from your injuries, the less that Celestial Maiden Mo has to worry about you," Han Li said as he set the storage ring down beside Yu Ziqi.
Yu Ziqi was silent for a moment upon hearing this, and a dejected look appeared on his face as he sighed, "I have only myself to me for being so weak..."
"Don''t be disheartened, Fellow Daoist Yu. You possess decent cultivation aptitude, so it''s not entirely impossible for you to reach the Golden Immortal Stage someday," Han Li said.
"Perhaps," Yu Ziqi replied with a wry smile.
"I''ll be leaving the valley now. Farewell and take care, Fellow Daoist Yu," Han Li dered as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
"You''re leaving so soon?" Yu Ziqi asked with a surprised expression.
Han Li nodded silently in response, then promptly departed.
Yu Ziqi stared after Han Li for some time, then picked up the storage ring, and as soon as he injected his spiritual sense into it, he was instantly rooted to the spot.
Not only did the storage ring contain some recovery pills, it also contained a Bell Valley Pil that could stabilize one''s dantian, as well as several types of pills that could assist one in reaching the Golden Immortal Stage.
These pills should be more than sufficient to help him break through his Golden Immortal Stage bottleneck.
I''ll never forget what you''ve done for me, Fellow Daoist Li, Yu Ziqi thought to himself, gripping the storage ring tightly in his hand as he vowed to repay Han Li in the future if the opportunity ever arose.
......
As Han Li flew out of the Leisure Valley, he was greeted by Daoist Master Jingyang, who seemed to have been waiting for him.
"You''re leaving so soon, Fellow Daoist Li?" Daoist Master Jingyang asked.
"I have to leave sooner orter, and I''ve never been one to procrastinate," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Are you really not going to consider joining our Hundred Creations Mountain, Fellow Daoist Li? If you have any requests, please do state them," Daoist Master Jingyang said, making one final effort to recruit Han Li.
"Thank you for thinking so highly of me, Fellow Daoist Jingyang, but as opposed to joining any power, I much prefer to be free," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"I knew from the very beginning that you were a free spirit. In that case, I suppose this is where we''ll part ways for now," Daoist Master Jingyang sighed as he shook his head with a wry smile.
Han Li offered no response.
"Having said that, you and I are good friends, andpetition between the deputy mountain masters of the Hundred Creations Mountain has always been extremely fierce, so I need your help with something in the future, you''d better not refuse!" Daoist Master Jingyang said.
"Of course," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Before you leave, I''m afraid I have a piece of disappointing news for you. I''ve done my best to search for baleful qi expulsion methods, but to no avail," Daoist Master Jingyang revealed.
Han Li was a little disappointed to hear this, and he said, "That''s fine. That was always going to be a difficult task. Thank you for your efforts so far, and please continue your search. Also, there''s something that I''d like you to source for me."
"What is it, Fellow Daoist Li?" Daoist Master Jingyang asked.
"Items that contain timew powers, whether that be materials, immortal treasures, anything is fine," Han Li replied.
Having gained eight timew threadsst time, the rate of recovery of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had increased significantly, and at this point, all of the runes had recovered.
Of course, while Han Li was very pleased to see this, his main objective for trying to secure more timew threads was to see whether ruing a sufficient number of them will actually allow him to physically transmigrate using the Heaven Controlling Vial.
Daoist Master Jingyang raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and after a brief moment of contemtion, he flipped a hand over to summon a small golden lock.
The golden lock was giving off incredibly formidable timew power fluctuations, far superior to that of the Time Severing gon and the azure wooden ruler that Han Li had previously acquired, and his eyes immediately lit up at the sight of it.
"This is a time-attribute immortal treasures. It''s only a ninth-grade one, but given that it contains one of the three paramountws, its value is equivalent to that of a normal seventh-grade immortal origin stones.
¡°I still owe you eighty thousand Immortal Origin Stones fromst time, and now that you''re leaving, I have to repay my debt, so I''ll be doing so in the form of this lock," Daoist Master Jingyang said, and it was clear that he was very reluctant to part with the lock, but he still handed it to Han Li.
"A ninth-grade immortal treasure? There are grades among immortal treasures? Why have I never heard of this before?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression.
"You''re not aware of this? I suppose that makes sense. Generally speaking, only High Zenith cultivators are privy to this information," Daoist Master Jingyang replied with a smile. "All treasures of a sufficient caliber that containw powers can be referred to as immortal treasures, but there are huge discrepancies between immortal treasures.
¡°Our Hundred Creations Mountain invented a grading system depending on how muchw powers an immortal treasure contains, with the ninth grade being the lowest, and the first grade being the highest. As I just said, this golden lock is a ninth-grade immortal treasure."
"If this lock contains such immensew powers, yet is only a ninth-grade immortal treasure, then doesn''t that mean that most immortal treasures wouldn''t be graded at all?" Han Li asked with a stunned expression.
"That is indeed the case. Graded immortal treasures are extremely precious, and generally speaking, they''re only in the possession of High Zenith cultivators. As for cultivators below the High Zenith Stage, the vast majority of the immortal treasures that they own are ungraded.
¡°For someone at or below the Golden Immortal Stage, obtaining an immortal treasure is already a very difficult task in itself," Daoist Master Jingyang exined with a smile.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod, then looked down at the golden lock in his hand.
The lock contained such immensew powers that it outshone almost all of the immortal treasures in his possession, and it was definitely worth more than eighty thousand Immortal Origin Stones, so this was clearly a gesture of goodwill from Daoist Master Jingyang.
"This is too precious a treasure to be worth a measly eighty thousand Immortal Origin Stones, but it is indeed something that I require, so I won''t refuse. I owe you a favor for this," Han Li said with a serious expression as he stowed the lock away.
"There''s no need to be so serious about it, Fellow Daoist Li. I''m d that it''s to your liking," Daoist Master Jingyang replied with a faint smile.
He had a good grasp on Han Li''s personality, and he knew that Han Li wasn''t the type of person who would ept kindness without reciprocation. As a Heavenly Pill Master, Daoist Master Jingyang knew that Han Li would definitely be able to assist him greatly in the future.
After that, the two of them chatted for a while longer before parting ways.
Right as Han Li was about to depart, a voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Fellow Daoist Li, no matter where you go from here, make sure you do not use that Fire Leaf Sect elder badge ever again."
Han Li stopped in his tracks as he turned back to the Leisure Valley with a surprised look in his eyes.
That voice belonged to none other than Immortal Lord Hot me.
At this moment, Immortal Lord Hot me''s cave abode waspletely empty, and only a faint burst of spatial fluctuations remained within its walls, but that also quickly faded.
Despite the restrictions present in Immortal Lord Hot me''s cave abode, they were unable to keep out Han Li''s Infernal Devilish Eyes.
Chapter 639: Trouble for Immortal Lord Hot Flame
Chapter 639: Trouble for Immortal Lord Hot me
Han Li withdrew his gaze from Immortal Lord Hot me''s cave abode, and his brows furrowed slightly as he flew out of the valley as a streak of azure light.
While hovering in mid-air, he took a nce in the direction of Jade Gathering City, but instead of flying in that direction, he chose to fly southward instead.
While there were teleportation arrays in Jade Gathering City that led to other cities, the circumstances in the city were veryplicated, and he would have to use his Fire Leaf Sect elder badge to ess those teleportation arrays, something that Immortal Lord Hot me had just explicitly told him not to do.
He actually didn''t have any concrete ns from here onward. He was just going to go somewhere secluded to avoid the unrest in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, then create a temporary cave abode and continue to try and find ways to expel the baleful qi in his body.
At the moment, there was unrest across the entire True Immortal Realm, and Han Li had no idea how long the conflict between the Heavenly Court and the Reincarnation Pce had been raging for, but it was clearly only bing more and more intense.
He was nothing more but a mere Golden Immortal, and while he could dominate his fellow Golden Immortals in battle and even ensure self-preservation against normal High Zenith cultivators, he was still far too powerless to y any significant role in this conflict.
The only usible n from here onward was to try and make a breakthrough to the High Zenith Stage as soon as possible so that he could stand a better chance of surviving in this chaotic world.
Only by ensuring his own survival first could he even begin to think about anything else.
ording to the map, the nearest major city southward of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range was Auspicious Cloud City, and it would take around two to three months to get there.
Han Li was constantly keeping tabs on his surroundings while flying onward, and it didn''t take long before he emerged from the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.
Up to this point, he hadn''t encountered any trouble, and he heaved an internal sigh of relief as he summoned his green jade flying carriage before continuing his journey.
......
Close to a month flew by in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, Han Li was seated on the flying carriage with a small golden lock hovering in mid-air before him, and it was giving off radiant golden light alongside bursts of timew power fluctuations.
He was making a series of hand seals to cast a string of incantation seals into the lock, refining it while also carefully assessing the timew powers imbued within it.
Some timeter, a hint of enlightenment shed through his eyes, and the lock fell into his grasp at his behest.
He hadn''tpleted the refinement process yet, but he had gotten a good grasp of the timew powers that it contained. It was a type of restrictivew powers simr to that of the Mantra Treasured Axis. Furthermore, the lock contained far morew powers than even the previous three immortal treasuresbined.
The lock would most likely be able to yield quite arge number of timew threads, but given how powerful it was, Han Li was rather reluctant to part with it.
Let''s just wait and see for now. It''s not like I''m in any hurry anyway.
With that in mind, Han Li opened his mouth to release a burst of golden light, which enveloped the lock before drawing it into his body to continue the refinement process.
After that, he flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip, which contained a map of the ck Mountain Immortal Region.
Up to this point, he hadn''t detected anyone following him, and that was why he felt like it was safe to bring out the golden lock.
Below the flying carriage was an undting mountain range that was entirely pitch ck in color, and the mountain range was also enshrouded in a cloud of ck mist, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
Most of the mountain ranges that Han Li had passed by on the way here were of the same color, and that was probably why this ce was called the ck Mountain Immortal Region.
Han Li withdrew his gaze from the strange ck mountain range, then pressed the jade slip against his own forehead.
The Floating Cloud Mountain Range and Jade Gathering City were both situated in the northernmost region of the ck Mountain Immortal Region close to the primordialnd, and it was said that Jade Gathering City had been constructed on a massive plot ofnd that the Heavenly Court had managed to secure tens of millions of years ago, following a huge battle against the fierce beasts of the primordialnd.
It was a simr story for most other immortal regions. Whenever human cultivators managed to expand their territory into the primordialnd, a major city like Jade Gathering City would be constructed, and that would act as a foundation for further expansion, eventually resulting in the formation of an entire immortal region.
Sightings of primordial beasts were quite infrequent near Jade Gathering City, but that didn''t mean that it was a safe ce. To the south of Jade Gathering City was a rather barren area that was filled with mountain ranges and forests, but this area was actually far safer than the city, and many mortal cities and nations were constructed there.
The flying carriage quickly flew over the ck mountain range down below, and a massive river appeared up ahead.
The river was close to five hundred kilometers wide, and there were massive waves churning over its surface, as if there were an enormous wyrm wreaking havoc within the depths, presenting a spectacr sight to behold.
ording to the map, this river was called the ck Pine River, and further up ahead was a mortal nation by the name of the Prosperous Origin Nation.
Right at this moment, something suddenly caught his attention, and he turned to the side with purple light shing in his eyes, upon which a hint of surprise quickly appeared on his face.
He could sense violent spiritual power fluctuations in the distance in that direction, interspersed with hints ofw power fluctuations, indicating that a battle between cultivators of at least the Golden Immortal Stage was taking ce there.
This area had very sparse spiritual qi, and there were only several Body Integration Stage sects in a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers, so why were there Golden Immortals locked in battle here?
Han Li made a hand seal to conceal the flying carriage while carefully releasing his spiritual sense in that direction, and all of a sudden, a hesitant look appeared on his face.
After some contemtion, he stowed the flying carriage away, then began to fly in that direction as a faint shadow.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li descended in front of an enormous col in another ck mountain range.
Lights of different colors were rising up into the sky from the col that was several hundred kilometers up ahead, and sure enough, a fierce battle was taking ce there, with three golden-robed cultivators, two male and one female, attacking a white-haired elderly man.
Judging from their attire, the three golden-robed cultivators were all Heavenly Court cultivators, and they were led by an imposing man with a head of yellow hair. Judging from the aura that he was exuding, he was an early-High Zenith Stage immortal envoy, while hispanions were both at thete-Golden Immortal Stage.
As for the white-haired elderly man, he was none other than Immortal Lord Hot me.
Why is Fellow Daoist Hot me here? And why is he fighting Heavenly Court cultivators?
There was a dense cloud of yellow mist around the yellow-haired man, epassing the entire surrounding area in a radius of dozens of kilometers while giving off formidable earthw power fluctuations.
The cloud of yellow mist was crashing down in waves upon Immortal Lord Hot me at the man''s behest, while the other two Heavenly Court cultivators were attacking with a pair of giant purple swords that appeared to be a set of extremely formidable twin immortal swords.
Their assault was as relentless as it was formidable, and even though Immortal Lord Hot me was clearly on the back foot against his three assants, his situation wasn''t all that dire.
There was arge crimson g hovering above his head, upon which was embroidered a majestic silver peacock.
Thick pirs of fire were erupting out of the g incessantly, forming a churning sea of mes to ward off the oing attacks.
However, that g wasn''t the reason why Immortal Lord Hot me was able to withstand the attacks from his three opponents. Instead, what was truly keeping him in this battle was a ball of radiant golden light that was glowing from his waist.
It was an ovr golden mirror that was around a foot in size and quite antiquated in appearance.
Bursts of golden ripples were surging out of the mirror, epassing an area with a radius of several thousand feet around Immortal Lord Hot me, and as soon as the attacks from his three assants entered the area epassed within the golden ripples, they were instantly slowed down by tenfold, allowing Immortal Lord Hot me to evade or block them with ease.
These golden ripples were giving off formidable timew power fluctuations, and Han Li''s pupils instantly contracted slightly upon seeing this.
That golden mirror was clearly also a time-attribute immortal treasure, and it didn''t'' seem to be inferior to Han Li''s golden lock.
The yellow-haired man was unable to break through Immortal Lord Hot me''s defenses, but he remained unfazed as he yelled, "Huo Zhuozi, surrender and hand yourself over to us right now! Our Heavenly Court could use a man of your talents!"
Waves of yellow mist were surging out of his sleeves before converging toward Immortal Lord Hot me from all directions to prevent him from getting away.
Meanwhile, the other two Heavenly Court cultivators were also racing through the air around Immortal Lord Hot me while raining down bolts of lightning upon him.
"Who the hell is Huo Zhuozi? I am Immortal Lord Hot me, an elder of the Fire Leaf Sect! Stop trying to frame me!" Immortal Lord Hot me yelled in a furious voice as he opened his mouth to release a burst of crimson energy into therge g above his head, then began to chant an incantation.
The crimson g instantly swelled to around twice its original size, and the pirs of mes erupting out of it became several times thicker than before.
These fiery pirs fused as one in a sh to form a mountainous crimson sword, which struck the cloud of yellow mist with tremendous power amid the sound of a volcanic eruption.
A huge opening was instantly torn into the cloud of mist, and much of it was evaporated by the mes around the giant sword.
However, the fiery sword was also slowed down significantly, but the mes around it were still erupting outward with immense power.
The yellow-haired man remainedpletely unfazed, and he sneered, "You think a mere Golden Immortal like yourself can break my Yellow Sand Tent?"
He made a hand seal as he spoke, and all of the nearby yellow mist instantly began to churn violently, then formed an enormous yellow mountain directly in front of the fiery sword.
The giant sword struck the mountain with a resounding boom, and it was instantly stopped cold in its tracks.
On top of that, tendrils of yellow were shooting out of the surrounding yellow mist before wrapping themselves around the fiery sword, binding it tightly into ce.
Chapter 640: Looks Like I Found the Right Targets
Chapter 640: Looks Like I Found the Right Targets
"Now!" the yellow-haired man yelled, and his twopanions instantly pounced on this opportunity, sending bolts of purple lightning raining down upon the giant sword.
Purple and red light intertwined incessantly on the surface of the giant sword, and a series of cracks began to appear on its de before rapidly expanding, looking as if it could explode at any moment.
However, right at this moment, a peculiar look shed through Immortal Lord Hot me''s eyes, and he opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence, which exploded to form a ball of radiant crimson light that vanished into the crimson g above his head in a sh.
A resounding boom rang out as the purple peacock shot out of the crimson g, then flew away in the opposite direction of the fiery sword, plunging headfirst into the cloud of yellow mist in that direction.
After the silver peacock emerged, the crimson g erupted into me and was incinerated into ashes in an instant.
Immortal Lord Hot me paid no heed to the g as he made a rapid string of hand seals, and a vast expanse of silver mes erupted out of the silver peacock''s body to strike the cloud of yellow mist.
A violent explosion rang out as the two shed, and it was like aing together between cold water and hot oil.
The silver peacock ws clearly far more formidable than the fiery sword, and it was immediately able to eradicate the yellow mist directly in front of it before easily tearing a massive gash into the cloud of yellow mist up ahead.
In the blink of an eye, the silver peacock was on the verge ofpletely tearing through the cloud of yellow mist, and Immortal Lord Hot me was flying along in hot pursuit behind it.
The yellow-haired man''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to release a yellow feather fan that was riddled with spirit patterns and giving off radiant spiritual light.
He grabbed onto the handle of the fan before sweeping it viciously through the air, and a burst of dense yellow light instantly erupted out of the fan before rapidly expanding to form an all-epassing yellow storm that swept up both Immortal Lord Hot me and the silver peacock.
The storm was extremely powerful, and the entire col was instantly epassed within an enormous pir of yellow wind, along with arge area around it.
The pir of wind erupted into the heavens, and the clouds up above were also torn apart.
As soon as the silver peacock was swept up by the storm, it was instantly unable to advance any further, and it was beginning to move involuntarily in the direction of the ferocious wind.
Even though Immortal Lord Hot me was also caught in the storm, the fierce winds were slowed down significantly by golden ripples around him, so the storm wasn''t able to affect him very much, but he was also forced to stop in his tracks.
Meanwhile, the yellow-haired man vanished from the spot, then instantly appeared directly in front of Immortal Lord Hot me before releasing an enormous yellow spirit domain that epassed the entire col.
Everything within the col instantly became extremely heavy, and the yellow-haired man thrust a fist forward with tremendous force, conjuring up a gargantuan yellow fist projection that struck Immortal Lord Hot me with incredible power.
The fist projection was too massive for the golden ripples around Immortal Lord Hot me to ward off, and he was sent flying back through the air, forced back into the encirclement once again.
In the distance, Han Li remained still on the spot. The yellow storm conjured up by the yellow-haired man was extremely powerful, but Han Li was sufficiently far away from it that he remained unaffected.
However, at this moment, his brows were tightly furrowed, and there was a hesitant look in his eyes, but it didn''t take long before he seemed to have made up his mind, and he abruptly vanished from the spot.
After forcing back Immortal Lord Hot me, the yellow-haired man turned to the silver peacock, then pointed a finger at it, and a burst of radiant yellow light emerged on his fingertip, then transformed into a shimmering yellow needle that shot forth through the air, leaving a trail of afterimages in its wake.
The silver peacock was still trapped within the yellow storm, and it was desperately pping its wings in an attempt to stabilize itself, but right at this moment, a thin streak of yellow light shot past, and the peacock''s struggles instantly ceased as a fist-sized hole appeared on its be, running through the entirety of its head.
It immediately let loose an anguished cry before exploding into countless specks of silver mes that were instantly devoured by the surrounding yellow storm.
Meanwhile, the fiery sword had also been destroyed under thebined effort of the other two Heavenly Court cultivators, and it exploded into crimson mes that were also swept up by the surrounding storm.
With the silver peacock and the fiery sword destroyed in quick session, Immortal Lord Hot me''splexion instantly paled slightly, while the protective spiritual light around him also dimmed significantly.
The golden ripples around him also shuddered before shrinking down to epass a far smaller area.
The yellow-haired man was ecstatic to see this, and he tossed the yellow feather fan in his hand forward before opening his mouth to release a burst of yellow energy into it.
The fan immediately began to glow with radiant yellow light while rapidly expanding, reaching in excess of a thousand feet in size in the blink of an eye. At the same time, all of its feathers had spread apart, while the spirit patterns inscribed upon them shed erratically, and thew power fluctuations that it was giving off had be several times more powerful than before.
The other two Heavenly Court cultivators hurriedly flew back in retreat for fear of being caught in the attack.
Right at this moment, a streak of green light shot forth from afar, then drew to a halt in front of the giant yellow fan, revealing itself to be a green gourd.
A thick beam of green light shot out of the gourd before wrapping itself around the yellow fan, and the radiant yellow light around it instantly faded, while the fan itself rapidly shrank back down in size.
Immortal Lord Hot me was just about to make a final stand, and a surprised look appeared on his face upon seeing this.
"Who''s there?" the yellow-haired man roared in a furious voice as he cast an incantation seal into the yellow fan.
The dim yellow light on its surface instantly brightened ever so slightly, and it began struggling violently to try and free itself from the binding green light, but right at this moment, a beam of dark green light shot out of the gourd before also wrapping itself around the yellow fan.
A loud crack rang out as the beam of dark green light destroyed the yellow fan with ease, following which the remnants of the fan were sucked back into the gourd.
Immediately thereafter, an azure figure appeared behind the gourd, and it was none other than Han Li.
However, at this moment, his entire body was enshrouded in ayer of blurry azure light, making it impossible to make out his appearance.
A hint of surprise shed through Immortal Lord Hot me''s eyes at the sight of Han Li.
"Who are you? You must have a death wish to be opposing our Immortal Prison!" the yellow-haired man said in a cold voice as he turned his gaze to Han Li.
"Looks like I found the right targets," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice.
"Insolence! I don''t know where you got this Profound Heavenly Treasure from, but you''re still nothing more than a mere Golden Immortal! Let''s see if you can still be so cocky once I''ve torn your nascent soul out of your body!" the yellow-haired man said in a cold voice as he reached for the storage pouch strapped to his waist, but Han Li beat him to the punch, thrusting a palm into the underside of the gourd like lightning.
The mouth of the gourd turned slightly to face the yellow-haired man, and a burst of dazzling golden light emerged from its opening amid the sound of thunderous rumbling.
At this moment, the green vortex within the gourd was revolving rapidly in the direction that was opposite from its normal direction, and an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword was hovering at the center of the vortex, trembling violently while on the verge of being sted out of the gourd.
However, right at this moment, a ball of yellow light shot out from deep within the gourd. There were countless yellow runes shing within the ball of light, and it was giving off astonishingw power fluctuations that came from the destroyed yellow fan.
The ball of yellow light appeared in the green vortex in a sh, and as soon as it entered the vortex, the two seemed to resonate with each other, causing both to light up.
The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword within the vortex was instantly sent flying out of the vortex by a burst of tremendous force, and a hint of surprise appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
This was apletely unexpected turn of events.
A beam of yellow light shot out of the gourd at an astonishing speed, and the yellow-haired man''s expression changed drastically as he hurriedly flew back in retreat.
At the same time, countless yellow spirit patterns emerged over his body, then flew out to form an antiquated yellow shield in front of him.
In the next instant, a resounding boom rang out, and the yellow shield shuddered violently as a burst of blinding yellow light erupted from its surface, only to then instantly vanish.
Arge hole had appeared on the shield, and the yellow-haired man behind it had a dazed and incredulous look on his face.
Arge hole had been punched through his lower abdomen as well, piercing straight through his dantian. The hole was smooth and charred ck, and not a single drop of blood was flowing out.
The hole extended all the way into the ground beneath him, where the beam of yellow light had burrowed an unfathomable distance into the earth.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and the other two Heavenly Court cultivators were looking on with their mouths agape in incredulity, as was Immortal Lord Hot me.
Chapter 641: Sought Out
Chapter 641: Sought Out
A hint of surprise and tion shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he pointed a finger at the yellow-haired man.
In the next instant, a small azure sword appeared above the yellow-haired man''s head, then swooped down with incredible speed and power.
The man''s body was instantly sliced into two, and his soul was alsopletely torn to shreds.
Only now did the other two Heavenly Court cultivators return to their senses, and they immediately turned and fled in two different directions while summoning a string of immortal treasures to defend themselves.
All of a sudden, Immortal Lord Hot me appeared in front of the female cultivator, blocking her path as he swept both sleeves through the air, sending a wave of golden ripples surging toward the woman.
As soon as she flew into the golden ripples, she was instantly slowed down significantly.
"It''s my turn now!" Immortal Lord Hot me chortled as he made a hand seal to send several fiery red flying swords hurtling directly toward the woman.
Han Li took a nce in Immortal Lord Hot me''s direction, then turned to the final Heavenly Court cultivator, but didn''t immediately strike.
Instead, he turned his gaze to the green gourd before thrusting a palm into its underside once again.
The third Heavenly Court cultivator, a portly young man, was flying extremely quickly, and he was just about to disappear into the distance when a streak of crimson light shot out of the gourd at an incredible speed, appearing behind the portly young man in a sh.
Theyers of protective spiritual light around his body were torn apart by the streak of crimson light with ease, and arge hole was punched through his lower abdomen, destroying the nascent soul inside.
Immediately thereafter, a small azure sword appeared above his head, then swooped down to slice his body into two as well.
After that, a burst of azure swordlight surged out of the sword, picking up the portly young man''s storage tool before carrying it back to Han Li, who remained still on the spot, observing the green gourd with a contemtive expression.
That streak of crimson light was the burst ofw powers that had been sucked into the gourd in the wake of the destruction of that fiery immortal sword.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he stowed the green gourd away, following which two small azure swords appeared beside him, both of which were carrying storage tools belonging to the yellow-haired man and the portly young man.
Han Li stowed the two swords and storage tools away, then flicked a finger through the air, releasing two balls of fire that quickly incinerated the remains of the two in Heavenly Court cultivators into ashes.
Right at this moment, an agonized wail rang out, and Han Li turned to discover that the female Heavenly Court cultivator had already been set alight with silver mes.
She was frantically trying to douse the mes, but her efforts werepletely futile, and she was also incinerated into ashes in the blink of an eye.
In the next instant, Han Li appeared beside Immortal Lord Hot me, and thetter asked, "It''s you, right, Fellow Daoist Li? Thank you for your help."
"Now''s not the time for small talk, let''s get out of here first," Han Li said as he made a hand seal to release two thick bolts of golden lightning, conjuring up a lightning array.
A loud thunderp rang out, and the two instantly vanished into thin air.
Shortly thereafter, an arc of five-colored lightning arrived on the scene, drawing to a halt in the sky above the col.
The lightning then faded to reveal Su Liu and a schrly-robed man, both of whom had grim looks on their faces.
"It looks like Yi Lian and his twopanions were all killed," Su Liu remarked in a grim voice.
"Huo Zhuozi is only at thete-Golden Immortal Stage, so there''s no way that Yi Lian and his twote-Golden Immortal Stage subordinates should''ve been killed by him, especially not this quickly," the schrly-robed man said with tightly furrowed brows.
Su Liu swept his gaze over the battlefield, and all of a sudden, something caught his attention as he descended beside the bottomless hole that had been pierced into the earth by the beam of yellow light that hade out of Han Li''s gourd.
He crouched down to examine the hole a little closer, and the grim look on his face became even more pronounced.
The schrly-robed man flew down beside him, and after briefly inspecting the hole, he dered, "This is definitely not something that the likes of Huo Zhuozi and Yi Lian could''ve done. Someone must''ve killed Yi Lian and his subordinates and rescued Huo Zhuozi."
The schrly-robed man then began to chant an incantation, and a wave of rippling white light surged out of his be before instantly spreading over the entire surrounding area in a radius of several dozen kilometers.
Shortly thereafter, he continued, "I can sense the aura of a fifth cultivator here outside of Yi Lian and the others, and that person was most likely the culprit. However, the aura that they''ve left behind is very faint, so they must''ve anticipated that someone woulde to search the battlefield. In the end, they appear to have used some type of lightning spatial array to flee the scene with Huo Zhuozi."
"Can you find out the destination of the lightning array?" Su Liu asked.
"I''m afraid not. The lightning array has already teleported them outside of my sensory range," the schrly-robed man replied.
Su Liu fell silent upon hearing this.
"What do we do now?" the schrly-robed man asked after a brief silence.
"We can''t find any leads, so let''s go back for now," Su Liu replied.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of five-colored lightning, which swept up both of them before sending them flying back the same way that they hade from.
......
In the sky above a lush forest in the ck Mountain Immortal Region, a vast expanse of silver lightning cascaded down like a waterfall, forming a lightning teleportation array that contained Han Li''s duo.
After the lightning faded, the two of them traveled southward for several days before descending into a small town concealed within a col.
Uponnding, neither of them said anything as they busied themselves with concealing their own auras, and only after that did they make their way into the town along the bumpy stone path.
At the entrance of the town was a wooden archway that was in a state of severe disrepair. The ck tiles on top of the archway were covered in moss, and the words "Green Forest Town" were engraved onto lintel below.
The archway was tilting slightly to the side, and upon catching sight of the town''s name, Han Li suddenly recalled the first town that he had stayed in after leaving his vige countless years ago as a child. That town''s name had been Green Ox Town, and there was only a difference of one word, but the two were worlds apart.
"What is it, Fellow Daoist Li?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked at the sight of Han Li''s distracted expression.
"It''s nothing, I was just reminiscing about some past events," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"You''re still in the mood to be reminiscing about the past in a situation like this? You certainly seem much moreposed and rxed than I am," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a wry smile.
"We''ve been traveling southward this entire time, but along the way, we''ve changed directions eastward and westward several times, and it doesn''t seem like we''re being tailed by anyone at the moment, so there''s no need to be overly anxious," Han Li said with a smile.
The two of them passed through the archway to discover that the town wasn''t veryrge, but it had everything that one could hope to find in a town like this, including restaurants, shops, and inns.
Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me entered a teahouse, then requested a booth on the second floor before sitting down next to the window.
The waiter brought to their table a pot of premium tea and some well-made snacks before departing, leaving Han Li''s duo on their own.
Han Li lifted the teacup before taking a whiff, and he couldn''t help but raise an eyebrow in surprise at the refreshing fragrance of its contents.
"I didn''t think there would be such fine tea in such a secluded ce."
Immortal Lord Hot me took a sip of tea upon hearing this, then immediately set his cup down again, clearly not as impressed with the tea as Han Li was.
"I''m even more indebted to you now, Fellow Daoist Li," Immortal Lord Hot me said as he turned to Han Li with a serious expression.
"Before we discuss that, why don''t you tell me why you were being attacked by Han Li cultivators?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid I can''t answer that question, Fellow Daoist Li," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a slightly awkward expression.
"It''s fine, I can roughly guess the reason. Something must''ve happened in your sect, right? I''m assuming this is also why you told me not to use my identity as an outer sect elder of the Fire Leaf Sect any longer. You helped me in the valley, so I''m only repaying the favor here," Han Li said.
"That was part of my consideration, but mostly, I just didn''t want any more trouble," Immortal Lord Hot me sighed.
Han Li picked up his cup to take a sip of tea, btu right as he was about to speak again, his expression suddenly changed drastically as he stood up from his chair, and an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword appeared in his grasp in a sh.
Immortal Lord Hot me immediately sprang out of his chair as well upon seeing this, and he followed Han Li''s gaze, turning his attention to the entrance of the booth.
At the same time, a burst of silver light appeared there without any warning, giving off formidable spatial fluctuations.
A burst of azure light immediately emerged over Han Li''s body as he prepared for battle, and the aura that had erupted out of his body in that instant was so immense that Immortal Lord Hot me couldn''t help but be momentarily dumbstruck.
Right at this moment, a slightly familiar voice rang out.
"Settle down now, fellow daoists. We are not from the Immortal Pce, and we don''t mean you any harm."
Two figures emerged from within the silver light, one of whom was a handsome purple-robed young man, while the other was a thin ck-robed young man.
Chapter 642: Refusal
Chapter 642: Refusal
Han Li was immediately able to identify the two as Shi Chuankong and Silver Fox of the Reincarnation Pce, but he didn''t lower his guard in the slightest.
Instead of saying anything, he turned his gaze to Immortal Lord Hot me as he noticed that both Shi Chuankong and Silver Fox were also looking at him.
Immortal Lord Hot me swept his gaze over Silver Fox, then turned to Shi Chuankong as he asked, "Who are you?"
"My name is Shi Chuankong. You probably haven''t heard of me, but that''s not an issue. All you need to know is our objective foring here to see you," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
As he was speaking, he took a quick nce at Han Li, and a hint of befuddlement appeared deep within his eyes.
"You were at the Jade Kun Pagoda auction, right? Considering all the bidding wars we were involved in, you must be a very wealthy man," Silver Fox remarked as he turned to Han Li.
"Surely the vastly renowned Silver Fox hasn''te all the way here to seek retribution over such a trivial matter," Han Li said with aposed smile.
"Rest assured, I''m not that petty. We''re here today for Fellow Daoist Host me," Silver Fox replied with a smile of his own.
"What do you want from me?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with a wary look in his eyes as he unconsciously shuffled a little closer to Han Li.
"Let''s not waste time here, Fellow Daoist Hot me. I''m sure you know why we''vee here to see you," Shi Chuankong said.
Han Li turned to Immortal Lord Hot me with an inquisitive expression upon hearing this.
"I don''t know what you''re talking about. There''s no vendetta between us, so let''s all go our separate ways. Come one, Fellow Daoist Li, we''re leaving," Immortal Lord Hot me said.
"Do you not want to go back to visit our sect?" Silver Fox suddenly asked as he raised his voice a little.
Immortal Lord Hot me was silent for a moment upon hearing this, then asked, "What''s the point? It''s nothing more than a set of ruins anyway. I don''t understand why you can''t just let the past go."
Han Li was rather perplexed by this conversation, but he could see that Silver Fox and Shi Chuankong didn''t harbor any animosity, so he stowed his longsword away.
"It''s not that we''re unwilling to let go of the past, Fellow Daoist Huo, it''s the Heavenly Court that refuses to let bygones be bygones. Why is the Fire Leaf Sect under the Immortal Pce''s surveince? And why is there so much unrest in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range? I''m sure you''re fully aware of the underlying reasons," Silver Fox sighed.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this.
It was no wonder that Immortal Lord Hot me had warned him not to use his identity as an elder of the Fire Leaf Sect. It seemed that there were some mysterious circumstances involved.
Even though Han Li had already guessed that this was the case, it was all but confirmed now that Yu Ziqi had been attacked because of Immortal Lord Hot me.
Immortal Lord Hot me was silent for a moment, then asked once again, "Who are you?"
"I am a member of the Reincarnation Pce, while Fellow Daoist Shi herees from the Devil Realm," Silver Fox replied.
"What? Even the Devil Race has chosen to join forces with your Reincarnation Pce?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with a surprised expression.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Hot me, I don''t possess anywhere near the level of status or power required to represent the entire Devil Race. I''m here today as I was invited by Fellow Daoist Silver Fox, and I''m also curious about what happened to the True Mantra Sect. Would you be able to enlighten me, Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Shi Chuankong asked with a smile.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but internally, he was reeling upon hearing mention of the True Mantra Sect.
This was not a sect that he was unfamiliar with. Not only did the Mantra Axis Scripturee from this sect, one of his spiritual transmigrations had taken him to the sect.
On top of that, it was clear to him that Shi Chuankong was downying his own importance. He had mastery over thews of space, which was one of the three paramountws, so how could he possibly just be some insignificant no-name as he proimed?
"During the fall of the True Mantra Sect, I just so happened to be trapped in a set of ruins while out on a mission for my master. By the time I finally managed to free myself, close to a thousand years had already passed. All of the surviving members of our sect had be wanted fugitives of the Heavenly Court, so I had no choice but to alter my own appearance and leave.
¡°I also really want to find out what happened to our sect. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have taken the risk toe to the ck Mountain Immortal Region and establish this Fire Leaf Sect," Immortal Lord Hot me sighed.
"So you''ve been residing in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range this entire time to evade the Heavenly Court?" Han Li asked.
"Not entirely. I spent most of my time in the Leisure Valley as I got along very well with Fellow Daoist Duan and the others, but ultimately, my troubled past followed me to the valley and brought disaster upon everyone," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a guilty expression.
"There''s no need to me yourself, Fellow Daoist. The Immortal Pce has been aiming to target the Floating Cloud Mountain Range for quite some time now, and their primary objective is to eradicate the members of our Reincarnation Pce residing in the mountain range," Silver Fox consoled.
"I have a question. Some time ago, one of the fellow daoists living in our valley was attacked. Was the perpetrator someone from your Reincarnation Pce or from the Immortal Pce?" Han Li asked.
"Are you talking about the one that was left on that cliff to die? He was attacked by some guy who dressed up like a woman and had a red umbre. He looked more like the subordinate of an immortal envoy than someone from the ck Mountain Immortal Pce to me," Silver Fox replied.
"Does that mean you were the one who saved him?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"He detonated his own consciousness rather than allow his own soul to be searched, and I was impressed with his courage, so I decided to help him out. Having said that, I didn''t think you would actually be able to save his life. That was also very impressive," Silver Fox praised.
"We''re going off on too much of a tangent, Silver Fox. Let''s finish discussing the matter at hand first," Shi Chuankong interjected.
"Sorry, I do tend to get distracted. So how about it, Fellow Daoist Huo? The Heavenly Court has already tracked you down, so you''ll have to go back on the run anyway. Why don''t you be our ally and we''ll search for the ruins of the True Mantra Sect together? After that, I can submit a rmendation for you to join our Reincarnation Pce, and you''ll receive protection in exchange," Silver Fox said.
A hesitant look appeared on Immortal Lord Hot me''s face upon hearing this, and he didn''t immediately reply.
"The ruins of the True Mantra Sect will be hard to find, but you don''t necessarily have to join us to find it. If you don''t wish to join us, then we won''t force you to do so, but in that case, you''ll have to face the Heavenly Court on your own," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"Fellow Daoist Shi is right. The Heavenly Court won''t let you off the hook, and you may not be able to get away next time. Are you not interested in uncovering the mysteries behind the True Mantra Sect''s demise? Working with us will be a win-win situation for everyone," Silver Fox chimed in.
Han Li watched in silence as the two took turns trying to convince Immortal Lord Hot me, and he didn''t interject as this had nothing to do with him anyway.
"Besides, surely you don''t want the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra left behind by Patriarch Miro to be taken by the Heavenly Court," Silver Fox, and Immortal Lord Hot me immediately shuddered slightly upon hearing this.
"There''s no need to be so surprised, our Reincarnation Pce has some very good sources. One of the main reasons why the Heavenly Court has always wanted to enter the ruins of the True Mantra Sect is precisely for the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"Does the same not apply to you?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with a cold sneer.
"As opposed to saying that our objective is to obtain this cultivation art, it''s better to say that we want to avoid having the cultivation art fall into the hands of the Heavenly Court. In that regard, we have amon objective," Silver Fox replied with a smile.
Immortal Lord Hot me was silent for a long time upon hearing this, following which he finally arrived at a decision.
"Alright, I agree to your proposal."
"You won''t regret the decision, Fellow Daoist Huo! This is why I love working with smart people," Silver Fox said with a gleeful expression.
"Hold on a second! If you want me to join you, then you have to agree to a condition of mine," Immortal Lord Hot me suddenly said.
"Go ahead," Silver Fox prompted.
"In order to save me, Fellow Daoist Li has killed cultivators of the Immortal Pce, so he needs to go on the run as well. Hence, you have to bring him along as well," Immortal Lord Hot me said as he took a nce at Han Li.
A slightly hesitant look appeared on Silver Fox''s face upon hearing this.
"I think that''s fine. We''ve been observing Fellow Daoist Li for a few days now, and I can tell that he''s not a member of the Heavenly Court, so why don''t we have hime along?" Shi Chuankong said.
"In that case, I''ll extend the invitation to Fellow Daoist Li as well," Silver Fox replied with a nod.
"I appreciate the kind offer, but I only saved Fellow Daoist Hot me as he''s a friend of mine, and I wanted to repay some favors that he had done for me in the past. I don''t have much interest in these True Mantra Sect ruins that you speak of, so I think we should go our separate ways," Han Li said.
Everyone was quite surprised to hear this.
"Fellow Daoist Li, perhaps you''re unaware of just how powerful the Reincarnation Pce is. If you go with them, you''ll be able to use their power and resources, and that''ll save you a lot of trouble. Even if you don''t want to go to the True Mantra Sect ruins, at least apany us until we get to a safe ce before going off on your own," Immortal Lord Hot me hurriedly said to Han Li through voice transmission.
"As you''re aware, I''m currently dealing with my baleful decay, and that''s already taking up all of my time and energy, so I really don''t have the spare capacity to pursue anything else. No one from the Immortal Pce was there to bear witness to the part that I yed in that battle, so as long as I proceed with caution, I should be alright," Han Li replied, doing so openly instead of through voice transmission.
He was well aware of just how powerful the Reincarnation Pce was, and he could tell that Immortal Lord Hot me was genuinely thinking for his benefit, but at the moment, his sole focus was to ovee his baleful decay, so he had no interest in exploring any ruins.
Chapter 643: Reunion
Chapter 643: Reunion
Shi Chuankong and Silver Fox exchanged a nce with each other upon hearing this, but neither of them said anything.
Immortal Lord Hot me could see that Han Li''s mind was already made up, and he said, "In that case, it appears that this is where we''ll part ways. I''ll repay you for everything that you''ve done for me when we meet again."
"May we meet again someday," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
Immortal Lord Hot me returned his salute, and Han Li gave Shi Chuankong and Silver Fox a nod before flying out of the window as a streak of azure light, instantly vanishing into the distance.
"I''m sure the two of you are already aware that the ruins are in the ck Soil Immortal Region. When do we set off?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked.
"There''s no hurry, we''re still missing one person," Silver Fox replied with a smile.
"In any case, let''s leave this ce right away. The confounding arrays that we set up earlier may not be enough to fool those immortal envoys, and perhaps they could even be on their way here as we speak," Shi Chuankong said.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he made a hand seal, and a burst of silver light appeared in front of him, giving off powerful spatial fluctuations. The silver light quickly inundated all three of them, and they vanished from the teahouse.
......
Over three years flew by in a sh.
In an undting ck mountain range in the ck Mountain Immortal Region was a short and unremarkable mountain between a pair of taller mountains.
There was apletely overgrown stone path in a mountain in the forest, and it led to a rundown Daoist temple with two ancient locust trees nted in front of the entrance.
The temple had alreadypletely copsed with the exception of a single side hall, which was covered in moss and vines and just barely hanging on for dear life.
Late at night, a faint white light could be seen through the dpidated windows of the side hall, casting elongated shadows onto the stone steps outside.
An azure-robed man was seated on an old cushion with his legs crossed, and there was a small green vial sitting on the ground in front of him.
The man was none other than Han Li, and after parting ways with Immortal Lord Hot me, he had left Green Forest Town before teleporting several times in session using his lightning array, following which he embarked on a southbound journey on his green jade flying carriage.
He would travel by day, then find some ces in the wilderness near cities and towns to rest at night, allowing him to avoid other cultivators and demon beasts so that he could focus on his time-attribute cultivation arts.
The Baleful Quelling Pills that he had taken had expelled much of the baleful qi in his body, so the journey thus far had been a safe and smooth one, but he couldn''t visit any major cities where powerful cultivators were present.
After a few minutes, a drop of spirit liquid took shape within the Heaven Controlling Vial from the moonlight that it had absorbed.
Han Li flicked a finger toward a nearby pile of lumber to ignite it and start a fire, then picked up the Heaven Controlling Vial before raising it up to his own eyes.
Thanks to the light of the fire, he was able to see through the wall of the vial that there was a drop of liquid slowly rolling around inside.
Right as he was contemting entering the Flower Branch domain to water his Dao Warrior primary beans, the Dragon 5 mask on his face abruptly emerged on its own.
Han Li was rather taken aback by this, and he made a hand seal, upon which a beam of red light shot out of the be of his mask, producing a projection of a humanoid figure.
The figure was over twenty feet tall, almost as tall as the side hall that Han Li was staying in. They were wearing a loose-fitting ck robe, and there was a menacing dark red mask on his face.
A hint of surprise appeared on Han Li''s face as he discovered that this figured looked exactly like the reincarnation envoy that he had seen in Lu Renjia''s memories.
"You''re Dragon 5, right? It''s already been close to a thousand years since you became a Reincarnation Disciple, so you''ll need toplete a mission for the next thousand-year period," the reincarnation envoy dered in an indifferent voice.
"Has it already been a thousand years? Time really does fly," Han Li sighed.
"Are you going to ept this mission or issue Immortal Origin Stones for exemption?" the reincarnation envoy asked.
"Please tell me the contents of the mission first," Han Li said.
"For this mission, you''ll have to meet up with Fox 3 on Magpie Coop Mountain to assist him in exploring a set of ruins. He''ll inform you of the specific details once you meet up with him. As for the reward for the mission, you''ll be receiving twenty thousand Immortal Origin Stones and an ungraded immortal treasure from Fox 3 in addition to the spoils that you reap from the ruins," the reincarnation envoy exined.
A thought urred to Han Li upon hearing this, and he asked, "Is this Fox 3 the renowned Silver Fox?"
"You can ask him that yourself when you meet him," the reincarnation envoy replied in an indifferent voice.
Even though this wasn''t direct confirmation, Han Li already knew the answer to his question.
"If I choose to pay Immortal Origin Stones instead, how much will it cost?" Han Li asked.
"Fifty thousand," the reincarnation envoy replied.
Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
Fifty thousand was not an insignificant sum, but it wasn''t outside of his means, either. However, who would be willing to forfeit fifty thousand Immortal Origin Stones for nothing? With that in mind, he couldn''t help but begin to reconsider the True Mantra Sect ruins.
He was quite interested in the True Mantra Sect, and the main reason why he had turned down the offer to explore the ruins was because he didn''t trust Silver Fox and Shi Chuankong.
However, now that this had be a Reincarnation Pce mission, things were different.
As for his baleful decay, the missions that he had released in the Reincarnation Pce hadn''t received any responses up to this point, so it didn''t really matter whether he was in the True Mantra Sect ruins or out on the run.
"Make up your mind," the reincarnation envoy suddenly urged.
"I''ll take on the mission," Han Li finally decided.
"Alright, once youplete the mission, you''ll be free for the next one thousand years, and you can ess all of the Reincarnation Pce''s resources as long as you issue the corresponding sum of Immortal Origin Stones," the reincarnation envoy replied with a nod.
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of silver light, which formed arge map, at the center of which was a glowing red dot, above which were the words "Magpie Coop Mountain."
"Memorize this map. You will have to meet Fox 3 on Magpie Coop Mountain within half a year, and if you''re not there by then, you''ll be punished on the basis of refusing toplete your mission," the reincarnation envoy said, following which his body began to dissipate.
Han Li carefully inspected the map before him, and after identifying severalndmarks on the map, he quickly tracked down the mountain range that he was currently in, discovering that its name was "Old Indent Mountain."
The mountain range wasn''t far away from Magpie Coop Mountain, and it would only take around three months for him to get there on his flying carriage.
Shortly after Han Li memorized the map, it vanished into thin air, and he took a moment to recollect the map in his mind once more, then opened his Flower Branch domain and stepped into it.
......
Over three monthster.
Three figures were seated around an intricately crafted white jade table on a lone mountain that was several thousand feet tall.
Each of them was holding a silver cup, and they were exchanging toasts with one another.
The cups were filled with dark red wine that was giving off a slightly astringent aroma, and one of the three figures was a ck-robed young man who was holding a cup in one hand and a silver wine gon in the other, asionally drinking straight out of the gon whenever the mood struck him.
The gon seemed to be some type of treasure with a limitless capacity, and it seemed as if its contents were never going to run out.
Sitting across from the ck-robed young man was a white-haired elderly man, and he said, "Fellow Daoist Li was also an avid wine enthusiast. If he hadn''t left, I''m sure you two would''ve bonded over your shared love for wine."
These three were none other than Immortal Lord Hot me''s trio.
"Is that right? What a pity. Having said that, he had already made up his mind, so we weren''t going to convince him to stay," Fox 3 replied with a smile.
Shi Chuankong was looking at the distant scenery in an absentminded manner, taking no interest in the wine as he asked, "When is the final member of our party going to arrive, Fox 3?"
"He should be here in a month or two. The higher-ups are taking this mission quite seriously, so I''m sure the one that they''ve chosen toplete our party was carefully selected," Fox 3 replied.
As soon as his voice trailed off, his eyes suddenly lit up slightly as he chuckled, "Looks like he''s a little earlier than I expected."
Right at this moment, a streak of green light shot forth from afar, then drew to a halt up above, following which an azure figure descended in front of the trio.
Fox 3 and the others were astonished to see this azure figure.
"What are you doing here, Fellow Daoist Li?" Immortal Lord Hot me eximed with a surprised and ted expression.
"Long time no see, fellow daoists," Han Li said with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong exchanged an uncertain nce with one another.
"Are you the one sent by our Reincarnation Pce to assist us on this mission?" Fox 3 asked.
"That''s right. As it turns out, my current thousand-year mission is to assist you in exploring the True Mantra Sect ruins," Han Li sighed.
He wiped a hand over his own face as he spoke, and his Dragon 5 mask was revealed.
Fox 3 carefully inspected the mask for a moment, following which he suddenly eximed, "So you''re Dragon 5!"
"Oh? You''ve heard of me?" Han Li asked as he reverted back to his original appearance.
"I heard from Wyrm 3 that you''re an exceptional prodigy in both pill refinement and cultivation. I''ve always wanted to meet you, but I didn''t think my wish would be granted so soon," Fox 3 replied with a smile.
It was Immortal Lord Hot me''s turn to be in disbelief now, and he turned to Han Li as he asked, "Fellow Daoist Li, you''re also a member of the Reincarnation Pce?"
Chapter 644: Departure
Chapter 644: Departure
"My apologies for keeping this identity from you," Han Li said as he cupped his fist toward Immortal Lord Hot me in an apologetic salute.
He had considered altering his appearance beforeing here, but that didn''t seem like a good idea.
He had resided in the Leisure Valley alongside Immortal Lord Hot me for quite some time, and if he were toe here under an alternate identity, there was a very good chance that Immortal Lord Hot me would eventually catch on, and that would likely attract him much suspicion from Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong.
Hence, it was better for him toe clean right away to avoid potential misunderstandings.
"There''s no need to apologize, Fellow Daoist Li. After all, I hadn''t been entirely forting with you, either," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a wry smile.
"The fact that we all know each other certainly makes things easier," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"Fellow Daoist Huo was just telling me about how you and I are both avid wine enthusiasts. Come, let''s have a drink before we discuss anything else," Fox 3 said with a wide smile.
Han Li didn''t turn down the offer, and he sat down across from Shi Chuankong, where he was handed a silver cup.
Back in the Leisure Valley, Immortal Lord Hot me was second only to Daoist Master Jingyang when it came to his penchant for drinking, and it seemed like Fox 3 shared this interest.
Fox 3 was a little loose andckadaisical in his personality and demeanor, but that didn''t bother Han Li.
......
ck Mountain Immortal Region, Origin Turtle Continent, Flowing Cloud City.
The Origin Turtle Continent was situated on the southeastern border of the ck Mountain Immortal Region, while Flowing Cloud City was on the southernmost tip of the Origin Turtle Continent. However, despite its secluded location, it was one of the most prosperous mega cities in the ck Mountain Immortal Region.
The city walls were so tall that they were almost concealed in the clouds, and the city was filled with wide streets and countless tall and majestic buildings stretching as far as the eyes could see.
There were people everywhere, as well as streaks of light whizzing through the sky, presenting an incredibly bustling and prosperous sight to behold.
This was a coastal city, so outside the city was the boundless ck sea. The surface of the sea was churning violently, and there were enormous waves passing through one after another.
This sea was referred to as the Violent Sea, and the conditions here were terrible all year round, making for an extremely hostile environment.
Despite the terrible conditions in the Violent Sea, it harbored a vast abundance of the world''s origin qi, so it was home to countless demon beasts and precious spirit materials. Hence, countless cultivators flocked to Flowing Cloud City to venture into the Violent Sea in search of treasures, and that was how the city had be so prosperous over time.
The other important reason for the city''s prosperity was that it was home to a teleportation array that led to the ck Soil Immortal Region.
The four allied immortal regions weren''t separated by primordialnds, but they weren''t directly connected to one another, either, and there were some perilous terrains to be traversed between them.
The Violent Sea was the obstacle that stood between the ck Mountain Immortal Region and the ck Soil Immortal Region.
At the center of Flowing Cloud City was a giant white mountain that extended all the way up into the clouds, and there were countless buildings constructed on the mountain.
From afar, the entire mountain resembled a giant beehive, presenting a spectacr sight to behold.
Halfway up the mountain was a three-story white pagoda, hanging above the entrance of which was a que that was several dozen feet in size, bearing the words "Flying Immortal Hall."
This was the teleportation hall of Flowing Cloud City, and it was entirely constructed from white jade blocks.
After stepping into the hall and passing through a white corridor, one would arrive in a giant white hall that was several thousand feet in size.
To the left of the hall was a rectangr white jade table, behind which stood several golden-robed Heavenly Court cultivators who were processing documents for the cultivators lined up in front of the table.
To the right of the hall were dozens of teleportation arrays of different sizes, beside each of which stood a jade que that denoted the destination of the array.
These teleportation arrays were all buzzing incessantly while asionally shing with white light, teleportation cultivators in and out of the city.
Right at this moment, a burst of blinding wind light erupted within one of the teleportation arrays, and around a dozen figures emerged within it.
Among them was a group of four figures, three young men and a white-haired elderly man, and they were none other than Han Li''s group.
All four of them had altered their appearances somewhat in order to avoid trouble.
They had traveled here mostly through teleportation arrays, only asionally traveling by flight instead whenever some trouble arose, and it had taken them over thirty years to finally arrive at Flowing Cloud City.
"We''re finally here. Let''s go," Fox 3 said as he made his way out of the teleportation array.
"Are we not going to take a teleportation array from here? The Violent Sea is not going to be easy to traverse," Immortal Lord Hot me hurriedly asked.
"Taking interregion teleportation arrays is different from traveling on normal teleportation arrays. The checks are very stringent, so we have to make some preparations first," Fox 3 exined through voice transmission.
Immortal Lord Hot me gave a slight nod upon hearing this and followed along, as did Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
Fox 3 had spent countless years traveling from one immortal region to another, ruing a tremendous amount of experience as a result, so he was responsible for organizing the itinerary for this trip.
In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that he had yed a vital role in getting everyone to Flowing Cloud City safely.
He seemedckadaisical and unreliable on the surface, but in reality, he possessed impable attention to detail and often considered things in a more in-depth fashion than hispanions.
The four of them quickly made their way out of the white pagoda, which was situated at quite a high altitude, so the city down below and the Violent Sea outside were all clearly visible from this vantage point.
"So this is the Violent Sea. It really is a spectacr sight," Han Li praised as he looked out at the turbulent sea in the distance.
Bursts of thunderous rumbling were ringing out incessantly from afar, and even teh white mountain was trembling slightly.
"This is nothing. The waves deep in the Violent Sea are far more massive, and that''s where the real fun is," Fox 3 said with a smile.
"Oh? Have you ventured deep into the Violent Sea before, Fellow Daoist Fox 3?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"That was a very long time ago. On that asion, I was also traveling to the ck Soil Immortal Region from Flowing Cloud City. At the time, I decided on the spur of the moment that I would cross the Violent Sea, and it took me several decades toplete the journey," Fox 3 replid with a smile.
"I''ve heard that not only is the Violent Sea home to all types of demon beasts, there''s also a very special race of beings residing there. Not only are they extremely powerful themselves, they can control the marine demon beasts in battle, and with all of the natural hazards present in the Violent Sea to boot, very few people are able to make that journey," Han Li said.
Immortal Lord Hot me and Shi Chuankong turned to Fox 3 with intrigued expressions upon hearing this.
"You''re a very knowledgeable man, Brother Li. The Violent Sea is indeed a very dangerous ce. In particr, that race of sea-dwelling beings that you spoke of are extremely resentful of human cultivators, and very few people can survive an encounter with them.
¡°I was unfortunate enough to have been pursued by those beings during my journey, and they hunted me for over a decade. In the end, I was only able to escape using a spatial immortal talisman, but I still sustained some injuries in the process," Fox 3 said with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
"May I ask what your cultivation base was back then?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked in a hesitant manner.
"That was many years ago. At the time, I had just progressed to the High Zenith Stage, so my ego was severely inted, and that was what led me to do something so foolish," Fox 3 chuckled.
Han Li was astonished to hear this.
He had witnessed Fox 3 in battle, and the fact that he was unable to cross the Violent Sea at the early-High Zenith Stage was sufficient testament to just how dangerous a ce it was.
"I''ve heard that there are Great Epassment Stage beings among the race of sea-dwelling beings. Even the Heavenly Court couldn''t eradicate them, and that was why it had gone to such great lengths to construct this interregion teleportation array," Fox 3 continued.
"I see," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a nod.
"Let''s go and find an inn in the city to stay in for now," Fox 3 said, then took flight and departed from the pagoda.
Han Li''s trio followed along, and the four of them quickly arrived in a clean and quiet inn, where they booked four rooms.
After setting down some belongings in his room, Han Li made his way to Fox 3''s room and asked him what measures they had to take in order to ess the interregion teleportation array.
"There''s no hurry. It''s not every day that we get toe to Flowing Cloud City, so it would be a great pity if we left so quickly. I know of a restaurant in the city that serves exceptional dishes and wine. Let''s go have a meal there before discuss anything else."
Instead of answering Han Li''s question, Fox 3 began to enthusiastically introduce all of the fine restaurants in the city, much to Han Li''s exasperation.
On the way here, whenever they passed through a city, Fox 3 would be sure to explore all of the delicacies that the city had to offer, and at times, they would even stay in a city for half a month at a time, thereby severely dying their itinerary.
"Did I hear fine wine?"
At this moment, Immortal Lord Hot me and Shi Chuankong also entered the room, and the former was immediately enthused upon hearing mention of delectable wine.
"It''s been hard work traveling all this way, so it would be good to take a rest," Shi Chuankong said with a faint smile.
"I couldn''t have said it better myself, Brother Shi. Let''s go right away," Fox 3 said in an eager voice as he patted Shi Chuankong on the shoulder, then made his way out of the room.
Han Li could only heave an internal sigh before following along.
He wasn''t all that interested in the delicacies that the city had to offer, but it would be rather unbing of him to refuse to go along.
Chapter 645: The Finer Things in Life
Chapter 645: The Finer Things in Life
Fox 3 led Han Li''s trio through a series of twists and turns in the city, and they soon arrived at an opulent five-story restaurant.
The bottom two levels of the restaurant were normal dining areas consisting of open halls filled withrge tables, while the third, fourth, and fifth floors were dedicated solely to VIP booths.
Even though it wasn''t mealtime yet, the first two floors were alreadyden with people, and all of the patrons were cultivators of decent cultivation bases.
Furthermore, there were also many cultivators lined up outside the restaurant, just like one would see in a mortal restaurant, and Han Li''s trio was quite surprised to see this.
Fox 3 didn''t seem to be surprised at all to see this, and he made his way into the restaurant, then pulled out a badge before waving it at an approaching waiter.
"Wee, esteemed guests. Pleasee with me."
As soon as the waiter caught a glimpse of the badge, he immediately let the group to a booth on the fifth floor.
All of the furniture in the booth was very tasteful and refined, striking a good bnce between luxury and practicality, and as soon as Fox 3 sat down, he immediately rattled off a long order, capped off by arge gon of wine that was around a foot in height.
Wisps of white mist were rising up out of the mouth of the gon before slowly dissipating in the air, releasing a peculiar aroma that immediately drew the interest of Immortal Lord Hot me and Shi Chuankong.
"This is some exceptional wine!" Immortal Lord Hot me praised with an excited gleam in his eyes.
"Of course. Most of the people whoe to this restaurant are here for this wine," Fox 3 said as he poured everyone a cup of wine each, then downed his own cup of wine in one go, following which a blissful look appeared on his face.
Han Li took a sip from his own cup of wine, and his eyes also lit up.
The wine was a transparent amber color, and it coated his entire tongue in an indescribable rich fragrance that slowly seeped through his entire body.
The vor of the wine consisted of abination of over a hundred different exquisite vors, some of which he was familiar with, some of which he had never tasted, and some of which he had never even thought of.
Despite the vast abundance of vors, all of them were able to shine through without any particr stealing too much of the spotlight, and it was more exquisite than any wine that Han Li had ever tasted.
"How truly exquisite! What is the name of this wine?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked after taking a sip out of his cup.
"This wine is called Amber Immortal, and it''s the main reason why this restaurant is so famous. Whenever the Heavenly Court holds its Gathering of Immortals, this Amber Immortal is always the drink of choice," Fox 3 introduced.
"What''s this Gathering of Immortals?" Han Li asked as he set down his cup.
"It''s an event held by the Heavenly Court. Every once in a while, the Heavenly Court will gather all of the pce masters of the Immortal Pces to the Heavenly Court to discuss certain important matters, and it could be said that this is the most important event on the Heavenly Court calendar," Fox 3 exined.
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this, but Fox 3 paid no heed to this as he began digging into the meal.
Shi Chuankong also seemed to be quite an avid foodie, while Immortal Lord Hot me was much more interested in the Amber Immortal and was having one cup after another.
Before long, the entire table of dishes and wine had been devoured, and Fox 3 patted his own slightly bulging belly as he sighed, "Nothingpares with the feeling of a good meal. What''s the point in working so hard in cultivation if you can''t even enjoy the finer things in life?"
"I agree!" Immortal Lord Hot me concurred loudly, while Shi Chuankong remained silent.
"Now that we''re all fed, let''s discuss how we''re going to get to the ck Soil Immortal Region," Han Li said as he set down his cup.
At the same time, he made a hand seal to conjure up an azure light barrier around the entire booth.
"Do you ever rx, Brother Li?" Fox 3ined in azy voice.
"Brother Li is right. Flowing Cloud City is a major city in the ck Mountain Immortal Region, so it''s constantly under strict surveince from the Heavenly Court. Hence, it''s best for us to leave this ce as soon as possible," Shi Chuankong said with a serious expression, while Immortal Lord Hot me also nodded in agreement.
"Fine, fine, let''s get serious then," Fox 3 sighed as he put away his joking expression.
"Just as Brother Shi said, Flowing Cloud City is constantly under heavy surveince from the Heavenly Court. In particr, that interregion teleportation array is very closely monitored, and anyone who wishes to use it must undergo stringent examinations," Fox 3 said.
"What does that entail?" Han Li asked.
"There are two areas of scrutiny, the first of which pertains to one''s identity. In order to ess the interregion teleportation array, one requires an official identity that''s recognized by the ck Mountain Immortal Region. That''s not difficult to arrange as long as we''re willing to spend the Immortal Origin Stones. The problem is the examination by Heavenly Mirror," Fox 3 exined.
"What''s this Heavenly Mirror?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked.
"It''s a sensory array developed by the Heavenly Court, and it''s extremely sensitive to auras. It has a memory function, and it''s said to be holding information pertaining to all fugitives currently wanted by the Heavenly Court, including their appearance, the cultivation arts and immortal treasures that they use, etc.
¡°For wanted fugitives like ourselves, we could easily fall prey to this Heavenly Mirror Array, and I''m sure I don''t need to exin what''ll transpire if that happens," Fox 3 replied.
"A sensory array that can record all of the information of the Heavenly Court''s wanted fugitives?That''s very impressive!" Han Li praised.
"I''m not a fan of the Heavenly Court, but it''s undeniably a vastly powerful and resourceful organization that is unmatched in many areas. However, setting up a Heavenly Mirror Array is extremely costly andplicated, so they''re only present in a handful of important locations," Fox 3 said.
Everyone else nodded in response.
"Brother Shi, after what happened back in Jade Gathering City, you''re most likely on the Immortal ying List as well, and the same applies to Brother Huo, so the two of you need to find ways topletely conceal your auras to avoid detection," Fox 3 said as he turned to Shi Chuankong and Immortal Lord Hot me, both of whom nodded in response once again with contemtive expressions.
"As for Brother Li, I don''t know if you''re wanted by the Heavenly Court, but the Heavenly Mirror Array''s primary function is to catch members of the Reincarnation Pce, so you have to be careful as well. I can sense that there''s an abnormally high abundance of baleful qi in your body. I can also see that you''re somehow concealing it, but the concealment isn''t perfect, and you''ll definitely be caught by the Heavenly Mirror Array," Fox 3 said.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this. He had constantly been taking Origin Void Pills to conceal the baleful qi in his body, but Fox 3 was somehow able to see through it right away.
"I''m currently facing a baleful decay, so there''s naturally going to be more baleful qi in my body than normal. Surely everyone at this stage in their cultivation will have the same problem. Is that alone enough for the Heavenly Court to use me of being a member of the Reincarnation Pce?" Han Li asked.
"Now matter who it is, as long as they''re determined to possess an abnormally high amount of baleful qi in their body, they''ll immediately be captured by the Heavenly Court. As for why that is, I''m not sure myself," Fox 3 said.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a thought urred to him.
It was clear that the Heavenly Court wasn''t doing this for no reason. There seemed to be some type of connection between the Reincarnation Pce and Gray Immortals, and the most prominent trait of Gray Immortals is baleful qi.
"In terms of baleful qi concealment, I have something that could work," Fox 3 said after a brief hesitation.
"Oh? Please enlighten me, Brother Fox," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Fox 3 flipped a hand over to produce a silver jade vial, then tossed it at Han Li.
Han Li caught the vial before removing the stopper, and a small silver pill rolled out from inside.
To his surprise, the pill was different in color from the Origin Void Pill, but it possessed a very simr aura, except this pill''s aura was far more pronounced.
"What is this?" Han Li asked as he turned to Fox 3.
"This is an Origin Baleful Pill that''s very effective for concealing the aura of baleful qi," Fox 3 replied.
"This must be a very precious pill, I can''t just take it from you," Han Li said with a hesitant expression.
"It''s fine, I don''t have any use for it anyway, so why not give it to someone who can actually make use of it?" Fox 3 replied, brushing off Han Li''s concerns.
Han Li turned his gaze back to the pill, and after carefully inspecting it momentarily with his spiritual sense, he didn''t hesitate any longer before taking the pill.
As soon as he swallowed the pill, it immediately melted into a burst of cool energy that flowed through his entire body, suppressing all of the baleful qi that it encountered.
Even the baleful qi vortexes in his immortal acupoints had virtuallypletely stopped revolving, and it didn''t take long before most of the baleful qi in his body had been suppressed, much to his tion.
Furthermore, the Origin Baleful Pill still hadn''t beenpletely refined yet, so its baleful qi concealment effect still hadn''t been fully realized.
By Han Li''s estimates, the pill''s effect couldst for around a decade.
Chapter 646: Preparations
Chapter 646: Preparations
"Do you have any more of these Origin Baleful Pills, or perhaps the pill recipe, Fellow Daoist Fox 3? I''m willing to purchase them from you or exchange other items for them," Han Li said.
"I''m afraid not. I only secured this pill by chance, so I don''t have any more pills or the recipe," Fox 3 replied with a shake of his head.
"In that case, would you be able to tell me where you got this pill from?" Han Li asked.
"Prior to reaching the High Zenith Stage, I saw someone purchase a vial of Origin Baleful Pills for a thousand Immortal Origin Stones at an underground exchange convention, so I decided to steal it. There were two pills in the vial, and I used one of them. Aas for where these pills came from, I have no clue," Fox 3 replied.
Han Li fell silent upon hearing this.
Shortly thereafter, he raised his head and summoned a storage tool as he said, "In any case, I have to thank you, Brother Fox. Here are five hundred Immortal Origin Stones for the pill."
"Don''t bring money into this, I''m giving this pill to you as a friend," Fox 3 said as he rose to his feet, refusing the storage tool being handed to him.
"Just ept the pill. Fox 3 isn''t going to hold a grudge against you for it," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Fox 3," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute.
"I''ve been to this city quite a few times, so just leave the matter of official identities to me. Give me a few days, and I''ll have that sorted out, but you''ll have to find your own ways to deal with the Heavenly Mirror Array.
¡°Let me warn you that this is not to be taken lightly, so don''t think you can just get by with some half-arsed scheme," Fox 3 said with a serious expression, then vanished from the spot as a burst of silver light, leaving Han Li''s trio behind with grim looks on their faces.
Shortly thereafter, the three of them also departed from the restaurant and returned to the inn.
......
Close to half a monthter.
Han Li''s trio were gathered in Fox 3''s room, and Fox 3 himself had just returned, looking a little weary, but also rather excited.
"It looks like all of you are well prepared," Fox 3 remarked with a nod and a smile.
At this moment, the only thing that remained unchanged about Han Li''s trio was their appearances, while everything else had undergone aplete transformation.
Shi Chuankong had changed into a white robe, and his devilish aura hadpletely faded, reced by a burst of pure yang-attribute aura fluctuations.
Immortal Lord Hot me was holding a purple cane with arcs of purple lightning asionally shing over its surface, and the fiery power in his body had transformed into an aura of lightning that resonated perfectly with his purple cane.
Han Li had also changed into some different clothes, and there were bursts of water-attribute energy fluctuations emanating out of his body.
During the past few days, he hadn''t set foot outside of the inn at all, focusing all of his efforts on refining the Origin Baleful Pill to suppress the baleful qi in his body. At the same time, he had stowed everything that could expose him, including his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, the Profound Heavenly Gourd, Daoist Xie, the me of Essence, and even the storage tools that he normally used into the Flower Branch domain.
As an additional safety precaution, Han Li had even set up an array inside the Flower Branch domain that epassed everything and masked their auras, including even Mo Guang.
"You issued us a very serious warningst time, so we had to take you seriously," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a smile.
Fox 3 nodded in response, then pulled out three identification tokens before handing them to Han Li''s trio.
The tokens were yellow badges that seemed to have been crafted out of some type of wooden material.
Han Li nced at his own badge to find his name etched on it, but only his Li surname had been preserved, while the rest of his name had been altered.
On the other side was a hexagonal floral design, and it seemed to be the emblem of some n or sect.
"Right now, we are outer sect elders of the Flowing Sand Continent''s Heavenly Sand Sect. We are currently traveling to the ck Soil Immortal Region to purchase some cultivation resources under orders from our sect master," Fox 3 said.
As he was speaking, his body began to slowly transform within ayer of warped white light, and he quickly transformed into a white-haired young man with apletely different aura from before.
Han Li''s trio collectively nodded in response, and the four of them emerged from the room before flying toward the giant white mountain in the city, arriving at the entrance of the Flying Immortal Hall once again.
Just likest time, the Flying Immortal Hall was very busy, with many cultivators entering and exiting the building.
Instead of entering through the main entrance, Fox 3 led Han Li''s trio to a side entrance, at the foot of which was a staircase.
The four of them had only just stepped onto the staircase when Fox 3 suddenly turned around and instructed, "Each of you, give me two hundred Immortal Origin Stones."
Han Li''s trio faltered slightly upon hearing this.
"What for?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"To avoid some trouble, of course," Fox 3 replied with a mysterious grin.
This was not a very satisfactory answer, but Han Li''s trio had no reason to doubt him, so they did as they were told, giving him two hundred Immortal Origin Stones each.
After that, the four of them quickly scaled the staircase and arrived in a white hall.
There were several Heavenly Court cultivators standing inside, and as soon as Han Li''s group entered the room, the cultivator closest to them, a silver-haired young man, immediately approached them with a warm smile as he asked, "Are you nning to use the interregion teleportation array, seniors?"
The other people in the hall were a little vexed upon seeing this, but none of them said anything.
"That''s right," Fox 3 replied with a nod.
The silver-haired young man was ecstatic to hear this, and he immediately said, "Pleasee with me, seniors."
The young man led Han Li''s group into another hall, within which was a stone table with an imposing man seated behind it and an elderly man standing beside him.
The imposing man was a Golden Immortal, and the golden robe that he wore was far more luxurious than the ones worn by the silver-haired young man and the elderly man.
The imposing man immediately turned to Han Li''s group upon hearing their footsteps, and the silver-haired young man reported, "Administrator Fang, these seniors wish to use the interregion teleportation array."
The imposing man nodded in response, then turned to Han Li''s group as he dered, "The teleportation fee is one thousand Immortal Origin Stones per person. Before that, I have to verify your identification information and conduct a screening process by having all of you pass through an inspection array."
Han L''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
Fox 3 hadn''t informed them of the teleportation fee prior to this, and Han Li was quite surprised by how expensive it was. A thousand Immortal Origin Stones was enough to purchase a graded immortal treasure, albeit only one of the lowest grade.
"Here are our identity tokens," Fox 3 said with a smile as he summoned his wooden badge before handing it to the imposing man, and Han Li''s trio quickly followed suit.
The man fished a gold-covered book out of his robe pocket, then waved it at the wooden badges, and the book released a beam of golden light that enveloped the four badges.
Immediately thereafter, ayer of golden light emerged over the book, and some lines of text and apanying images appeared on its pages.
"So the four of you are elders of the Heavenly Sand Sect. Why are you traveling to the ck Soil Immortal Region?" the man asked.
"We are under instructions from our sect master to purchase a batch of pill refinement ingredients from the ck Soil Immortal Region," Fox 3 replied as he took a step forward, then covertly stuffed a storage ring into the man''s hand.
The man briefly inspected the contents of the storage ring with his spiritual sense, and his demeanor instantly softened significantly.
"I see. That certainly is a long way to travel just to purchase some pill refinement ingredients. There are no issues with your identification tokens. Come with me," the burly man said as he rose to his feet, then returned the four wooden badges to Han Li''s group while leading the way deeper into the hall, followed by the silver-haired young man and the elderly man.
Han Li''s group was led into another hall that waspletely constructed from a type of silver stone material that was emitting a fluorescent glow.
At the center of the hall was a circr golden array that was several hundred feet in size. There were countlessplex and intertwining array patterns within the array, and there were also eight golden pirs around it, each of which stood at several dozen feet tall.
The stone pirs and the walls of the hall were also riddled with array patterns that were connected to the array down below, and atop each pir sat a golden-robed cultivator, all of whom were currently meditating with their eyes closed.
Hovering directly above the golden array was a massive golden mirror, and the air within the array was buzzing incessantly.
An intrigued look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
So this is the Heavenly Mirror Array...
"Activate the array and conduct a close examination. Make sure not to miss even the smallest of details," the imposing man instructed with a serious expression.
The eight golden-robed cultivators opened their eyes before chanting an incantation while releasing a string of golden incantation seals.
A burst of radiant golden light interspersed with countless golden runes immediately erupted out of array, forming a pir of golden light that surged into the mirror up above.
A series of golden patterns instantly appeared on the mirror before rapidly spreading outward, quickly filling the entire mirror.
These golden patterns formed a series of strange designs that resembled blinking golden eyes, and waves of golden ripples surged out of these eyes to epass the array down below.
"Please take turns walking through the array, fellow daoists," the imposing man said as he turned to Han Li''s group.
The four of them exchanged a nce with one another, following which Fox 3 led the way, stepping into the golden array first.
The array rippled slightly, and countless threads of golden light emerged from the array patterns on the surrounding pirs, gently roaming over Fox 3''s entire body like feelers.
The ripples surging out of the eyes on the golden mirror also brightened slightly while fusing as one, forming a series of golden halos that epassed Fox 3''s body.
Fox 3 remained calm and collected as he made his way forward, and he quickly made his way to the other side of the array without any incident.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this.
"Next," the imposing man said as he beckoned to Han Li''s trio.
Shi Chuankong was the second one to make his way into the golden array, and the same inspection process was carried out.
Just like Fox 3, Shi Chuankong was also able to make it out of the array without any incident.
Before the imposing man had a chance to speak again, Han Li stepped into the golden array in a calm manner.
Chapter 647: Underground City
Chapter 647: Underground City
As soon as Han Li stepped into the array, he immediately felt a burst of indescribable pressure weighing down upon his body.
He felt as if he were standing on a seabed with a boundless volume of water above him, and in that instant, he waspletely immobilized.
The threads of golden light converged from all directions, surrounding him before revolving around his body, while a series of golden ripples descended upon him from above.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he felt two bursts of power surge into his body from the array, one gentle and inquisitive, while the other was vast and insistent.
The two bursts of power surged through his entire body, inspecting everything that they passed through.
Han Li made no attempt to resist these two bursts of power as they only lingered in his body for a brief moment before his mobility was restored, and he continued to make his way out of the array with a calm expression.
Ever since he left the inn, he had been circting his immortal spiritual power in ordance with the method stipted in the Water Divination Time Arts.
On top of that, he had also used a secret technique to seal away the majority of the tremendous energy in his body, concealing most of the aura of his true spirit bloodlines and the Great Universe Origin Arts.
He had done everything that he could to conceal any information that could expose him, and if the Heavenly Mirror Array could still identify him, then he would just have to ept such an oue.
The golden array continued buzzing as the two bursts of power flowed through Han Li''s body, lingering momentarily at the seals in his body and in the fingers of his right hand, but ultimately raising no rm.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief, then made it the rest of the way through the array to arrive by Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong''s side.
The two of them gave Han Li a nod, then turned their attention to Immortal Lord Hot me, who had also stepped into the array at this point, and was able to make it through without incident as well.
"You cane through to the interregion teleportation array now, fellow daoists. The teleportation fee will be one thousand Immortal Origin Stones per person," the imposing man said.
Han Li and the others each handed over a thousand Immortal Origin Stones to the man, and while handing over his teleportation fee, Fox 3 snuck yet another storage ring into the man''s hand.
A faint smile appeared on his face, and he instructed Han Li''s group toe with him, then led the way into another hall.
There was a teleportation array that was over a hundred feet in size on the ground in the hall, and there were countless silver patterns in the array, not inferior in number to that of the Heavenly Mirror Array.
Bursts of silver light were shing incessantly within the array, giving off formidable spatial fluctuations.
Han Li''s group made their way into the teleportation array under instructions from the imposing man, who then swept a sleeve through the air to release four streaks of white light, each of which adhered itself to one of Han Li and hispanions, revealing themselves to be four white triangr talismans.
After that, the imposing man summoned a silver badge and began chanting an incantation, and the silver-haired young man and the elderly man also made their way over to the other side of the array before summoning a jade badge each.
The silver light within the teleportation array instantly brightened significantly, and Han Li''s group vanished shortly thereafter.
Following the sessful teleportation, the shing light and spatial fluctuations in the array quickly subsided, and the silver-haired young man and the elderly man made their way over to the imposing man''s side.
"You two can have these Immortal Origin Stones," the imposing man said as he summoned a storage tool before tossing them at the two men.
The two of them were ecstatic, and they immediately extended a collective curtsey.
"Thank you, Administrator Fang!"
Only after the imposing man had departed did the two of them open the storage ring to find a hundred Immortal Origin Stones inside, with each of them iming half.
"I''d always heard that working on the second floor of the Flying Immortal Hall was a very lucrative job, but I didn''t think it was this good! At this rate, it won''t take long before I can afford a graded immortal treasure!" the silver-haired young man said in an excited manner.
"Of course! Why else do you think so many people want toe here?" the elderly man chuckled.
The two of them chatted for a while longer, then departed from the hall.
......
In the northern region of the ck Soil Immortal Region was a long and thin continent by the name of the ck Dragon Continent.
The northern part of the continent was filled with mountains and rivers with extreme topographic variance and veryplex terrains.
Due to the special terrain in the region, there were very many cities there, but very fewrge ones, and thergest of all of the continent''s northern cities was ck ze City, which was situated in the Drawer Beam Mountain Range.
Even though the northern region of the ck Soil Immortal Region was very sparsely popted, it wasn''t a very perilous ce. Instead, it was rife with all types of precious spirit soils, and as a result, it was home to many spirit medicines and mountain spirits.
Many of the trading houses in the nearby immortal regions that were in the spirit medicine business saw this ce as a blessing from the heavens, and there were many branches of these trading houses established nearby, harvesting and nting spirit medicines while also mining for mineral and spirit soil resources.
ck ze City derived its name from a special type of ck spirit soil found in the Drawer Beam Mountain Range.
ck ze Soil contained abundant spiritual qi, but it couldn''t be used for nting spirit medicines. Instead, it was far better suited to being fired into puppets.
Due to its unique cohesiveness and spiritual qi retention properties, introducing certain ratios ofck ze Soil during the puppet refinement process could significantly increase the chances of sessful refinement, as well as the caliber of the final puppet.
It was exactly because of this that ck ze Soil was extremely sought after, and following the past close to one million years of excavation, almost all of the ck ze Soil in the entire mountain range had been exhausted.
With all of the underground ck ze Soil reserves emptied out, the entire Drawer Beam Mountain Range had sunk downward. As a result, it had be a tter and smoother area than nearby ces, thereby making it an ideal site for constructingrge ferry stations for ships to dock at.
Hence, starting from over a hundred thousand years ago, all mining activities had ceased in the Drawer Beam Mountain Range. Severalrge ferry stations had been constructed in some areas of the mountain range, while the rest of it had been covered in spirit soil and converted into spirit medicine fields.
As for the central area of the mountain range, a giant underground city had been constructed there, and that was ck ze City.
The city bore several hundred kilometers deep into the earth and was split up into seven levels, thereby giving it its alternative name of "Sevenfold City."
On the deepest seventh level of the city was arge teleportation hall that received cultivators who hade from the nearby ck Mountain Immortal Region.
At this moment, there were four figures making their way out of the teleportation hall, and they were none other than Han Li''s group.
Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong were leading the way, while Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me trailed along behind them, and thetter was looking rather tense.
"What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Hot me? Are you feeling a little uneasy now that we''ve returned to the ck Soil Immortal Region?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"The ck Mountain Immortal Region isn''t far away from the ck Soil Immortal Region, but I''ve never dared toe back here. Hence, I don''t know what this immortal region is like now, and I can''t help but feel a little apprehensive," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a wry smile.
"This ck Soil Immortal Region really does seem to be a unique ce. I''ve never seen a teleportation hall constructed so deep underground."
Han Li inspected his surroundings to discover that the ceiling of the hall was extremely tall, and there was a series of giant glowing jewels embedded into it, giving off dazzling radiance that illuminated the entire space.
The hall behind him was embedded into the rock face, while up ahead was a spacious hall, and there were two wide passageways branching off from the hall, leading to the left and the right.
"Right now, we are inside an underground city constructed out of a mine. In addition to this teleportation hall, there are also many inns and shops down here. I''ll take you on a tour of the nearby area so you get to see what this ce is all about," Fox 3 said to Han Li, seemingly quite familiar with the area.
"I''m looking forward to it," Han Li replied with a smile.
The four of them made their way down the passageway on the left, and sure enough, there was a series of buildings embedded into the mountain faces on either side of the passageway, and there were many signs outside the buildings, just like one would expect to see in inns and shops in normal cities.
"You won''t find many merchants or travelers on the seventh level of the city, but the branches of all of the major trading houses have been set up here, and the tworgest inns in the city are also on this level," Fox 3 introduced as the group made its way down the boardwalk.
They passed through an arched opening, then walked a few hundred meters before arriving in a spacious hall. There was a two-story stone archway situated in the hall near the mountain face, and there were all types of intricate designs engraved upon it, presenting a mesmerizing sight to behold.
At the top of the archway was a huge que that bore the words "Hundred Creations Pavilion" inrge, golden characters.
Han Li had stopped in front of the archway and was looking up at the que, and upon noticing this, Shi Chuankong asked, "Do you want to take a look inside, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"Does this ce have anything to do with the Hundred Creations Mountain?" Han Li asked.
"Have you not heard of Hundred Creations Pavilions, Fellow Daoist Li? The Hundred Creations Mountain is renowned across the entire True Immortal Realm for its tool refinement prowess, and it has shops set up across many immortal regions in the form of these Hundred Creations Pavilions," Shi Chuankong exined.
"I see. It seems like I really do need to get out more," Han Li replied with a smile.
Even though he had spent a lot of time with Daoist Master Jingyang in the past, most of the conversations between them pertaining to the Hundred Creations Mountain were rted to the art of tool refinement, so he wasn''t aware of these other facets.
"I suppose that''s not too surprising. I''ve heard from Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3 that you''ve been living in the Northern cial Immortal Region prior toing to the ck Mountain Immortal Region. The Northern cial Immortal Region is a very secluded ce, and I don''t think there are any Hundred Creations Pavilions there," Fox 3 said.
Shi Chuankong''s brows furrowed ever so slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to take a subtle nce at Han Li.
Han Li noticed his gaze and gave him a smile, and Shi Chuankong nodded in response before looking away.
Chapter 648: Ferry Station
Chapter 648: Ferry Station
After walking a few more kilometers, Han Li''s group drew to a halt in front of another arched opening.
Han Li''s trio turned to Fox 3, and thetter said, "In here is one of the teleportation arrays leading to the sixth level that I was telling all of you about. There are quite a few more of these littered throughout the city."
With that, Fox 3 stepped through the opening, followed by Han Li and the others.
As soon as they made their way through the opening, Han Li caught sight of a teleportation array that was over a hundred feet in size on the ground not far away.
Beside the array was a table, behind which sat a green-skinned being that resembled a lizard. At the moment, the foreign being seemed to be sleeping, and it disyed no reaction to the arrival of Han Li''s group.
Fox 3 made his way over to the table, then tossed a pouch of top-grade spirit stones onto it, then led Han Li and the others into the array.
The green-skinned being took a moment to inspect the contents of the pouch, upon which he discovered that there was an additional tip enclosed on top of the teleportation fee. An ted look appeared on his face as he hurriedly sprang up from behind the table, working to activate the array while extending a bow toward Fox 3, who nodded in response.
Following a sh of light within the array, Han Li''s group vanished from the spot.
The green-skinned being turned back to the top-grade spirit stones sitting on the table with an excited expression, yet right as he was about to inspect the contents of the storage pouch again, his expression suddenly stiffened.
He looked down at his own bare fingers, and his tion was instantly reced by fury.
On the sixth level of the city, Fox 3 was ying with a green storage ring as he made his way out of the teleportation hall.
"You''re going tond yourself in trouble sooner orter if you keep dabbling in petty theft like this," Shi Chuankong sighed with a resigned expression.
"That was very impressive, Fellow Daoist Fox 3. You were able to instantly sever that man''s connection with his storage ring without being detected at all," Han Li praised with a smile.
Immortal Lord Hot me remained silently as he reflexively checked his own storage bracelet, and he was quite relieved to see that it was still there.
"I''ve been sticking to the straight and narrow for too long recently, so I was getting a little antsy," Fox 3 chuckled.
Upon reaching the sixth level, there was a noticeable increase in the number of people making their way along the boardwalk, and most of them appeared to be human, but there was also a clear increase in the number of foreign beings around.
There were also far more shops that lined the mountain faces, and all manners of gs and banners had been hung up outside the shops, most of which were selling spirit soils and spirit nts, but of course, there were also some shops that sold treasures and pills.
After that, Han Li''s group made their way up a few more levels, and the things were much the same, but the higher they went, the more densely popted the levels became, and as a result, their surroundings also became progressively more bustling and chaotic.
However, Fox 3 seemed to be quite fond of this type of chaotic environment, and the higher he went, the more leisurely his pace became. Along the way, he even stopped by a restaurant and treated everyone to a meal.
The restaurant was quite renowned for the spirit wine that it served, and Fox 3 had heard that Han Li was an avid wine enthusiast as well, so he offered to gift a few gons to Han Li. However, having spent so much time with Daoist Hu Yan, Han Li had developed a taste only for the finest spirit wines, and the spirit wine in question wasn''t quite up to his standards, so he tactfully turned down the offer.
By the time Han Li and the others made their way up to the surface, half a day had already passed by.
It was close to nighttime, and the light of the dying sun was spilling down from the west, basking the city in a warm, red glow.
Han Li could see a series of giant docks situated around the outskirts of the city, hovering beside which was a collection of mountainous immortal ships.
"The True Mantra Sect ruins are located somewhere in the Illusory Smoke Swamp of the Floating Mountain Continent, which is, in turn, situated in the central region of the ck Soil Immortal Region. There won''t be many teleportation arrays along the way, so we''ll mostly be traveling by ship, and it''ll take us around thirty years to get there," Fox 3 said.
"Why are we traveling by ship? Surely it''ll be faster for us to travel using our flying immortal treasures," Han Li said in a perplexed manner.
"That''s correct, but there are some special rules in the ck Soil Immortal Region, so flight is prohibited in certain areas. There are even some restrictions set up in some ces, and if you try to force your way through them, there''s a very good chance you''ll catch the attention of the Immortal Pce," Fox 3 exined.
"I didn''t know there were so many annoying rules in the ck Soil Immortal Region," Immortal Lord Hot me scoffed.
"There are many spirit fields and mines in the south, most of which are privately owned by the major trading houses, so trespassing is strictly prohibited. On top of that, there are also massive swamps between the continents of the ck Soil Immortal Region, some of which are home to many fearsome demon beasts.
¡°In fact, even Great Epassment Stage demon beasts have been known to prowl those areas, so it would be very dangerous to try and fly through them," Fox 3 exined.
"These are all rules put in ce by the ck Soil Immortal Pce in order to strengthen their control. The rules aren''t enforced all that tightly in some more rural ces, but things get a little troublesome near therger cities," Shi Chuankong added.
"All of the ships of the trading houses have set routes that have been registered with the Immortal Pce, so they''re able to make the journey without drawing any ire," Fox 3 said.
"Back when our True Mantra Sect was still standing, the ck Soil Immortal Region didn''t have any of these bullshit rules!" Immortal Lord Hot me sighed in an indignant and mncholic fashion.
"In that case, it does sound like traveling by ship is our best option," Han Li said with a nod.
"Not necessarily. Even though all of the trading houses have registered routes and have issued enormous sums of Immortal Origin Stones to the Immortal Pce, their ships are still subject to checks at some ferry stations for all manners of arbitrary reasons. In those situations, the ships will either have to ept the checks and be dyed for several months, or issue another sum of Immortal Origin Stones as a toll of sorts," Fox 3 said.
"That does sound like a real pain in the backside," Han Li said with an amused smile.
"Thankfully, we won''t have to worry about any of that with Brother Shi here with us. Out of all of the ships, only those owned by the Hundred Creations Pavilion and the Vast Origin House are granted certain privileges, and during most trips, those ships won''t be subject to these impromptu checks," Fox 3 said with a smile.
"The Vast Origin House''s ferry station is a bit further away from here. Pleasee with me," Shi Chuankong said with a smile, then flew away into the distance.
Han Li and the others followed along, and the group began to travel southward.
After rising up into the sky, Han Li looked down to discover that there were far more ferry stations on the ground below than he had seen earlier. All of them were spread out in an orderly fashion in an area with a radius of several hundred kilometers.
There were also some markets and streets interspersed throughout these ferry stations, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.
Momentster, the group arrived at arge ferry station before making their way into an administrative hall.
There was an elderly administrator inside, who immediately approached Han Li''s group at the sight of them.
The administrator seemed to be familiar with Shi Chuankong, and a wide smile appeared on his face, but right as he was about to speak, Shi Chuankong beat him to the punch.
"Long time no see, Shopkeeper Zhu. I''ll have to trouble you again."
"Not at all! It''s always an honor whenever youe to our ferry station, Fellow Daoist Shi. These must be your friends, right? Come in and take a seat, everyone," the elderly man said.
He led Han Li''s group into a booth as he spoke, then poured cups of tea for everyone before asking, "What brings you here today, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
"When is our Vast Origin House''s ship to the Floating Mountain Continent scheduled to set off?" Shi Chuankong asked with a smile.
The administrator considered the question for a moment, then replied, "We recently collected a batch of spirit soil, and some of the spirit nts in our fields have also matured. We''ll be ready to set off once everything is loaded, and that should only take about half a month."
"It sounds like we came at just the right time then," Fox 3 said.
"Indeed, you have," Shopkeeper Zhu replied with a smile. "There''s an arena in ck ze City that''s opening in a few days. Why don''t you go and check it out to kill some time?"
Shi Chuankong was very intrigued to hear this, and he immediately sat up straighter as he asked, "Is it the ck Fence Arena? What are the draws like?"
"That''s right. I''ve heard that there are going to ten fights, and all of thebatants are high-grade demon beasts captured from the primordialnd north of the ck Mountain Immortal Region, two of which even possess true spirit bloodlines, so it''s certainly a stacked draw," Shopkeeper Zhu replied.
"How about it? If you''re interested, we can all go and take a look together, fellow daoists," Shi Chuankong proposed as he turned to Han Li and the others.
Han Li was rather amused by Shi Chuankong''s enthusiasm. Fox 3 was a thief and an avid drinker, while Shi Chuankong was a gambler, so they certainly made for a good pair. Having said that, he wasn''t interested in watching the arena battles, so he turned down the offer.
"I''ll pass as well," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a smile.
"How about you? Surely you''reing along," Shi Chuankong asked as he turned to Fox 3.
"Of course I''m going! Why not? You lose in every single bet that you make, so I just have to bet against you, and I''m guaranteed to win!" Fox 3 dered.
"Nonsense! When have I ever lost?" Shi Chuankong protested.
After chatting here for a while, everyone was arranged ces to stay by Shopkeeper Zhu.
That night.
Han Li was meditating in his room when he suddenly received a visit from Immortal Lord Hot me.
Han Li invited him into the room, then poured him a cup of tea and sat down across from him ub silence.
Right as the atmosphere in the room was beginning to grow a little awkward, Immortal Lord Hot me finally broke the silence.
"Fellow Daoist Li, I have something to say, but I''m not sure if I should say it..."
Before he had a chance to finish, Han Li raised a hand to conjure up an invisible light barrier that epassed the entire room.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Hot me," Han Li prompted with a smile.
"You''ve been waiting for me, haven''t you, Fellow Daoist Li?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with a wry smile.
Chapter 649: The Lost Sect
Chapter 649: The Lost Sect
"If I were in your shoes, I would also definitely want to find an ally," Han Li said with a smile.
"That''s exactly why I''m here, and it''s also why I wanted you toe with us, but you turned down the offerst time before I could bring up this topic," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a resigned shake of his head.
"If I didn''t have so much on my te already, perhaps I would''ve agreed at the time. In any case, we''re both still traveling together anyway, it''s just that both of us are members of the Reincarnation Pce now," Han Li said.
A hesitant look shed through Immortal Lord Hot me''s eyes upon hearing this, and he was silent for a moment, then said, "Fellow Daoist Li, I consider you to be a friend from the time that we spent together in the Leisure Valley, so can I ask you to be candid with me and tell me exact what mission the Reincarnation Pce assigned to you? Does it have anything to do with the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra?"
"Truth be told, I''m not a true core member of the Reincarnation Pce, and the mission that I received only requires me to assist Fox 3 in exploring the True Mantra Sect''s ruins. As for exactly what his ns are, that''spletely unknown to me," Han Li replied in a truthful fashion.
"I see. I don''t trust Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong. Ours is only a partnership of convenience, and I don''t know what their objectives are, so I want a definitive response from you in regard to whether you''d like to form an alliance with me," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a serious expression.
"I''m carrying out a mission for the Reincarnation Pce, so there are some things that I must do, but if your lifees under threat, I can''t guarantee that I''ll do everything in my power to save you, but I definitely won''t just stand by and watch," Han Li dered.
"That''s all I need, Fellow Daoist Li. I''ll be sure to repay you handsomely once all of this is over," Immortal Lord Hot me said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Han Li returned his salute, and the two of them chatted for a while longer before Immortal Lord Hot me departed.
......
One morning, around two weekster.
Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me arrived at a dock, upon which they discovered that Fox 3 was the only one waiting for them there.
"Where''s Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked after greeting Fox 3.
"Brother Shi has some things that he needs to do, so he''ll be a littlete. Where did the time go? I still haven''t had anywhere near enough fun yet!" Fox 3 yawned in azy manner.
"It sounds like you went to the arena again yesterday," Han Li remarked with a faint smile.
"Sure did," Fox 3 replied.
Around 15 minutes passed before Shi Chuankong and Shopkeeper Zhu arrived, and the two of them apologized for their tardiness before everyone boarded the ship together.
There was ate-Golden Immortal Stage elder of the Vast Origin House and an early-True Immortal Stage administratoring on the trip, and the former only appeared for a brief chat with Han Li''s group before returning to his living quarters, while thetter arranged ces to stay for everyone.
The ship was enormous, tens of thousands of feet in size, and aside from cargo warehouses, there were also over three hundred guest rooms, but they were generally reserved solely for members of the trading house.
Han Li chose a room that was situated close to the bottom level, and the conditions were a littlecklusterpared with the rooms on the higher levels, but it was quieter and more inconspicuous.
The True Immortal Stage administrator apanied Han Li through the cargo warehouse to his room, and as they passed through the warehouse, Han Li caught sight of a collection ofrge ck crates with some special restrictions engraved upon them stacked in an orderly fashion.
A hint of intrigue emerged in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
"Administrator Hu, why does it feel to me like the spiritual power fluctuations on these ck crates are simr to those of storage pouches?" Han Li asked.
"That''s a very astute observation, Senior, these ck crates are indeed storage tools, and they''re actually a little easier to craft than storage pouches. They can contain a hundred times their volume''s worth of cargo, but things can''t be stored in them for as long as they can in storage pouches. However, they''re more than sufficient for transporting things like spirit soils," the administrator exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
As he looked deeper into the warehouse, Han Li spotted some special cages that ranged from only around three feet in size to over a thousand feet tall. There were arcs of lightning shing over them, and all of them had restrictive talismans adhered to them.
Inside the cages were a series of wounded orpletely defeated demon beasts, and before Han Li even had a chance to ask about them, the administrator pointed at the cages and exined, "There are always people willing to pay exorbitant prices for exotic beasts. Take that Primordial Sand Lion, for example: it was specifically requested by the arena in Spirit Swamp City, and we had to go to great lengths to capture one from the primordialnd."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he didn''t say anything further.
The administrator could see that Han Li didn''t want to speak on this matter, so he also fell silent.
Upon apanying Han Li to the entrance of his room, he couldn''t help but ask, "Are you really not going to switch to a premium room, Senior?"
"There''s no need for that. I appreciate the thought, but I prefer a more peaceful room," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Alright, I won''t disturb you any further then, Senior. Feel free to call upon me if you need anything," the administrator said, then promptly departed.
Following the administrator''s departure, Han Li entered his room, and only then did he discover that it was very spacious, consisting of a bedroom, a meditation chamber, and a guest room.
There was a small window in each of the meditation chamber and the guest room, and he could see the sky outside through the windows.
After briefly inspecting the room, Han Li began to set up a series of array tools, and only after the setup waspleted did he make his way into the meditation chamber, where he sat down with his legs crossed.
As night fell, the light of the moon spilled into the room through the window, illuminating a patch of ground that was around a foot in size.
Han Li removed the Heaven Controlling Vial from around his neck, then ced it onto the illuminated patch of ground. After that, he flipped a hand over to summon the jade slip that contained the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique before pressing it against his own be.
......
Over thirty years passed by in a sh.
By alternating between ships and teleportation arrays, Han Li and the others were able to cross the ck Dragon Continent without any incident and enter the Floating Mountain Continent.
On this day, Han Li was cultivating in seclusion when he received a knock on his door from Fox 3.
"Don''t get too absorbed in your cultivation and forget the task at hand, Fellow Daoist Li. We''re almost at Smoke Wave City, which is where we need to disembark," Fox 3 said with a smile.
"Even if I wanted to forget about all of this, I''m sure you wouldn''t let me. Go on ahead, Fellow Daoist. I''ll pack up my belongings, thene meet up with everyone on the deck," Han Li jibed.
Fox 3 nodded in response before departing.
Han Li closed the door of his room, then packed up all of the array treasures and his other belongings. After that, he erased all residual aura of himself in the room before setting off for the deck.
A few minutester, Han Li and the others disembarked from the ship,nding on the official road outside Smoke Wave City before making their way into the city.
"Why didn''t we disembark at Illusory Smoke City like we nned? I''ve already had everything arranged there in advance, why do you insist on disembarking here instead?" Shi Chuankong asked with a displeased expression.
"You mustn''t be so inflexible, Brother Shi. Everyone knows that the emergence of the illusory smoke is a precursor to the emergence of the True Mantra Sect ruins, but not everyone knows where the illusory smoke arises," Fox 3 said with a disdainful expression.
"So you''re saying the illusory smoke has arisen near Smoke Wave City?" Shi Chuankong asked in a skeptical manner.
"Smoke Wave City, Illusory Smoke City, and Flowing Smoke City are all spread out across the bank of the Illusory Smoke Swamp, but during the past few instances in which the illusory smoke has arisen, it''s almost always been sighted first in Smoke Wave City, so that city must be the nearest one to its origins. My guess is that it could be somewhere near Serene Floating Ind," Fox 3 exined.
"What is this illusory smoke that you speak of, Fellow Daoist Fox 3?" Han Li asked.
"I''ll exin that. For some reason, after the True Mantra Sect was destroyed, almost the entire sect vanished aside from a few fragments. Roughly every 3,600 years after that, a type of purple smoke would arise from the Illusory Smoke Swamp, and parts of the True Mantra Sect''s ruins would emerge, but in most cases, they only appear for a moment before vanishing again like mirages," Immortal Lord Hot me exined.
"It sounds like you''ve been looking extensively into the True Mantra Sect ruins as well, Fellow Daoist Hot mes," Shi Chuankong remarked.
"I''ve only heard some passing rumors," Immortal Lord Hot me replied in a nonchnt fashion.
"The True Mantra Sect ruins actually didn''t exist in the past, and the Illusory Smoke Swamp also had a different name," Fox 3 revealed.
"There were no ruins?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"That''s right. The illusory smoke only appeared in this area for the first time tens of thousands of years ago. That was when the ruins of the True Mantra Sect began to emerge, and it was also from that time that this ce became known as the Illusory Smoke Swamp," Fox 3 replied with a nod.
"So the True Mantra Sect ruins just suddenly popped up out of the blue? How is that possible?" Han Li asked with furrowed brows.
"Up to this point, there has been no conclusive answer to that question. However, Brother Shi spectes that the battle that led to the fall of the True Mantra Sect was so earth-shattering that it cast the entire sect into a spatial rift, thereby causing it to disappear, and it''s only re-emerged tens of thousands of years ago due to some unknown reasons," Fox 3 exined.
"That''s just apletely baseless guess from me, so do take it with a huge grain of salt," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"You''re being far too modest, Fellow Daoist Shi. I think there''s a very good chance that this was exactly what happened," Han Li said.
As the group was chatting with one another, they arrived at the gate of Smoke Wave City, where there was a group of cultivators conducting checks on those wishing to enter the city. However, they were only led by an early-True Immortal cultivator, and the tests weren''t very stringent, either.
Hence, Han Li''s group was able to quickly make its way into the city after submitting an entrance fee.
Chapter 650: Emergence
Chapter 650: Emergence
"This is a city inhabited by both mortals and cultivators, and only cultivators will be screened, while mortals are left alone. Even the tests administered on cultivators are nothing more than a formality. After all, the city lord is only a mid-Golden Immortal cultivator, so he''d do well to stay out of trouble," Fox 3 said.
"That makes things much more convenient. It sounds like you considered the options carefully before choosing this ce," Han Li said.
With that, the group passed through the northern part of the city, which was inhabited by mortals, and arrived in the southern part of the city.
The southern section took up a third of the city, and the city lord''s manor was situated there.
In the city not far away from the manor was a small mountain by the name of Smoke Watch Mountina, and it was only around five thousand feet tall. Thergest immortal inn in the entire city was perched on the mountain summit, and that was where Han Li''s group chose to stay.
ording to information from the Reincarnation Pce, thest time that the illusory smoke appeared on the Illusory Smoke Swamp was around 3,500 years ago, so it should only be about a century before the illusory smoke was set to appear again.
For cultivators of Han Li''s caliber, a century was nothing more than the blink of an eye.
Han Li and the others had thought that it wouldn''t be long before they entered the Illusory Smoke Swamp, but even after over 130 years had passed, there was still no sign of the illusory smoke that they were searching for.
Fox 3 was naturally the one who was feeling most agitated by the unexpectedly long wait, and Shi Chuankong and Immortal Lord Hot me were also feeling rather apprehensive, while Han Li remained unbothered. He was much more interested in getting his hands on a baleful qi eradication method, but unfortunately, there had been no responses to the missions that he had released in the Reincarnation Pce.
On the bright side, through his extensive seclusion, he had begun to make some very encouraging progress in the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, and all of hte spirit nts in the Flower Branch domain were alsoing along nicely.
On this day, Han Li had just finished watering his Dao Warrior primary beans, and he emerged from the domain, then cast his gaze out of the window of the room that he was staying in to observe the Illusory Smoke Swamp in the distance.
At the moment, it was around noon, and it was also a bright and sunny day, so most of the mist above the swamp had cleared up. As a result, he was able to see Serene Floating Ind in the distance even without using his spirit eye abilities.
Strictly speaking, Serene Floating Ind wasn''t really an ind. It was nothing more than a conglomeration of waterweeds and mud with ayer of soil on top. It was less than ten kilometers in size, and there were some shrubs with shallow root systems growing on it.
Han Li''s n was to look at the ind for a short while before resuming his cultivation of the Spirit Refinement Technique, but right at this moment, an intrigued look appeared on his face as he activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
He had spotted a gray stone pir jutting out of the shrubs on the ind in a rather jarring fashion. It was as if it had grown out of the ind, and it was only around six feet tall, just barely taller than the shrubs, so it would''ve been almost impossible to spot had it not been for Han Li''s exceptional eyesight.
Immediately thereafter, wisps of pink mist suddenly began to emerge from around the stone pir, and it was bing thicker and thicker while quickly spreading over the surrounding area to inundate the entire ind.
Finally...
Almost at the exact same moment, a voice rang out from outside his room.
"Fellow Daoist Li, the illusory smoke has already emerged, we must set off right away."
Han Li could tell that it was Fox 3''s voice, and he immediately replied, "I''ll be with you in a moment, Fellow Daoist Fox 3."
Shortly thereafter, Han Li''s group appeared on the summit of Smoke Watch Mountain, preparing to set off for Serene Floating Ind.
"Please pardon my urgency, fellow daoists. This bout of illusory smoke has emerged quite a bitter than anticipated, and many other cultivators have already arrived in Smoke Wave City to try their luck.There''s no way they''ll be able to find the entrance to the ruins, but it still won''t be a good thing for too many people to see us," Fox 3 exined.
"It''s fine. Time is of the essence, so let''s set off right away," Shi Chuankong said.
Han Li exchanged a nce with Immortal Lord Hot me, and both of them nodded in unison.
With that, the four of them rose up into the air,pletely disregarding the rule that prohibited flying over the city wall.
Upon emerging from Smoke Wave City, Han Li suddenly heard a chorus of chaotic sounds ring out from down below, and he looked down to discover a group of several hundred people making their way toward the Illusory Smoke Swamp while ying a series of percussion instruments.
The group was led by several dozen figures who were wearing extremelyrge and strange masks, holding onto burning tobo stalks as they led the way forward while dancing with peculiar and exaggerated motions.
"Those are all mortals, aren''t they, Fellow Daoist Fox 3? What are they doing?" Han Li asked.
Fox 3 took a nonchnt nce down below, then exined, "These people used to be indigenous inhabitants of the Illusory Smoke Swamp, and they''re no different from normal humans, but all of them have remarkably long lifespans, able to live for over two hundred years. They only moved out of the swamp just over ten thousand years ago.
¡°Their ancestors don''t know what the illusory smoke is, but every time it appears, some of their brethren would die or go missing. Over time, they came to regard the illusory smoke as some type of divine punishment from the gods, so they''ll perform this ceremonial dance whenever it arises."
"At this point, they''re already learned about what the illusory smoke is from the cultivators passing through this area, but they''ll still abide by their traditions whenever it appears, performing their ceremonial dance at the edge of the swamp," Shi Chuankong added.
"I see," Han Li replied as he turned his gaze away from those people.
A few minutester, the group arrived at the edge of the Illusory Smoke Swamp before descending onto it.
There was smoke swirling all over the surface of the swamp, resembling a vast river, and upon approaching the swamp, one would discover dark green waterweeds gently swaying beneath the water. Some white bubbles would also asionally emerge on the surface of the water, producing a faint popping sound whenever they burst.
The illusory smoke was spreading quite quickly, and at this point, it had already epassed the entire surrounding area within a radius of several dozen kilometers of Serene Floating Ind. At this point, even mortals could clearly see the pink mist spreading over thendscape.
"I''ve already said this many times, but I still want to remind all of you once again that this illusory smoke can be very dangerous. Once we enter it, make sure to protect your mind so that you aren''t fooled by the illusions presented to you," Fox 3 warned with a serious expression.
"I''ve prepared some Divine Spirit Pills that can stabilize the soul and cleanse the consciousness. They should be somewhat effective against the effects of the illusory smoke, so I suggest all of us take one each," Shi Chuankong said a he flipped a hand over to produce a dark green jade box.
"Where did you get these pills from? I haven''t even been able to purchase them from the Reincarnation Pce!" Fox 3 asked with a surprised expression.
"Just because the Reincarnation Pce can''t acquire these pills doesn''t mean that the Vast Origin House is in the same boat," Shi Chuankong replied, then opened the jade box and plucked out one of the pills before swallowing it.
"This will certainly make things a lot safer," Fox 3 said as he also took one of the pills.
Meanwhile, Immortal Lord Hot me turned to Han Li with a slightly hesitant look in his eyes.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li said with a smile, then plucked out a pill for himself.
He briefly inspected the pill to ensure that there was nothing amiss about it, then promptly swallowed it.
However, as soon as he closed his mouth, a burst of silver mes emerged from his throat to envelop the pill, sealing it within his stomach.
He was quite confident in his own spiritual sense, so he wasn''t nning to actually take the Divine Spirit Pill unless it was absolutely necessary to do so.
With the example set by Han Li, Immortal Lord Hot me also followed suit, taking a pill as well.
"Fellow daoists, all of us have to make sure to maintain our spiritual connections with one another so we don''t get split up in the illusory smoke," Fox 3 said, then swept a sleeve through the air to produce an intricate silver flying boat thatnded on the surface of the swamp.
Everyone stepped onto the boat, and Fox 3 made a hand seal, upon which a burst of silver light emerged from all of the runes on the boat, and it was lifted up by about half a foot before shooting over the water.
Only then did Han Li notice that the water in the swamp was a lot heavier than normal water. The momentum of the flying boat should''ve been enough to send waves churning in all directions, but there were only slight ripples surging over the swamp''s surface.
He leaned down and extended two of his fingers, the ones with the Flower Branch refined into them, into the water, and he immediately realized why this was the case.
As it turned out, the water here was interspersed with some type of ck sandy substance that possessed certain corrosive properties, but of course, it was unable to harm his Golden Immortal body.
Even though the boat still hadn''t entered the illusory smoke yet, the sun was already beginning to set, making the smoke on the swamp appear darker and denser than before.
As they passed by a giant mass of green duckweed, the surface of the water suddenly exploded, and a massive wave erupted upward as a huge ck shadow sprang out of the swamp before crashing down upon Han Li''s group.
Han Li turned to discover that it was a giant fish that was covered in ck scales. The mass of duckweed was actually a plume of disheveled hair on its head, and its cavernous mouth was filled with sharp teeth.
Han Li and the others had already detected the approaching fish even before it attacked, and none of them had paid it any heed, with Fox 3 even jokingly mocking its hideous appearance.
Shi Chuankong casually swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a streak of silver light that sliced the fish into two with ease.
However, no blood seeped out of the fish''s body as its wounds were sealed by a burst of spatial power, and only after it had fallen back into the swamp did its blood begin to spread through the water.
Chapter 651: Return to a Place of Old
Chapter 651: Return to a ce of Old
"Don''t getcent, everyone. There''s no telling what other manners of strange creatures we could encounter in this ce."
As soon as Shi Chuankong''s voice trailed off, a giant twin-headed crocodile rushed out of the swamp with mud all over its body, opening one of its mouths in an attempt to swallow the entire flying boat whole.
"You spoke it into existence, Brother Shi," Fox 3 said with an amused smile.
Shi Chuankong paid no heed to him as he made a hand seal, conjuring up a seemingly extremely thin silver light barrier around the flying boat.
The twin-headed crocodile crashed into the silver light barrier, both of its heads were instantly pulverized upon impact, as if a gargantuan mountain had fallen upon them.
"This thing''s not very smart, but it certainly has strength to spare," Immortal Lord Hot me remarked.
"There''s something else up ahead," Han Li suddenly said, an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword appeared in his grasp, following which he sprang up into the air before shing his sword forward.
A streak of azure swordlight was released, vanishing into the swamp up ahead in a sh before exploding violently.
An agonized roar rang out as a huge volume of blood gushed into the water, and immediately thereafter, a creature that was identical in appearance to the strange fish from earlier, except erged by tenfold, rose up to the surface with its body already sliced into two.
The silver flying boat was able to fly straight down the middle between two halves of its body, and Fox 3 chuckled, "With the two of you standing on guard duty, I don''t have to worry about anything aside from piloting the boat!"
As the flying boat rushed into the illusory smoke, thetter was also surging toward the former, and it didn''t take long before the two made contact hundreds of kilometers away from Serene Floating Ind.
As soon as the flying boat entered the pink smoke, it immediately slowed , and everyone released their spiritual sense to scour the surrounding area.
"As expected, spiritual sense is severely restricted within the illusory mist, so we won''t even be able to discern our location," Fox 3 said.
"In that case, let''s be a bit more careful, and we''ll each focus on one direction," Shi Chuankong suggested with a cautious expression.
As for Han Li, his brows were slightly furrowed, and there was a hint of surprise in his heart. Even with his immense spiritual sense, his sensory range within the illusory mist was only around a dozen kilometers.
"It''s fine, I''ll be able to sense it if the sect ruins emerge," Immortal Lord Hot me assured.
He flipped a hand over as he spoke to produce a longan-sized pink bead, which appeared to be no different from a normal m pearl, except it was riddled with tiny golden runes that were shing incessantly.
"What''s that?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"This is a True Mantra Bead that was given to me by my master. Originally, it was only meant as something to facilitate convenient travel for me within the sect, allowing me to use the teleportation arrays in the sect as I please, but in the wake of the sect''s destruction, this is perhaps the only bead of its kind left in the outside world," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a reminiscent expression.
"So you''re saying this True Mantra Bead can help us find the ruins?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"This bead can establish a connection with all of the teleportation arrays in the sect, of which there are over three hundred. However, due to the presence of this illusory mist, I''m guessing that its sensory range will be severely limited to no more than a few dozen kilometers," Immortal Lord Hot me exined.
"That''s better than nothing. If we can find an intact teleportation array, perhaps we''ll be able to teleport straight into the True Mantra Sect," Fox 3 said.
Han Li cast his gaze into the distance as he listened to the ongoing conversation, and he spotted a corner of a building''s roof jutting out of the mist up ahead.
Immediately thereafter, a three-story archway that was around a thousand feet tall came into view. It was extremely dpidated, and it looked as if it wasn''t all that far away from toppling over entirely.
"This is the ck Beam Archway, one of the ten archways on the merchant street in the sect!" Immortal Lord Hot me eximed upon catching sight of the archway.
"Looks like we''re in luck," Fox 3 said with an ted expression, and the flying boat began traveling in that direction at his behest.
"Hold on, Fellow Daoist Fox 3, you''re running into an illusion!" Han Li suddenly dered.
The flying boat drew to a sharp halt over a thousand feet away from the archway, and everyone turned to discover a peculiar purple light glowing in Han Li''s eyes.
"Those are Infernal Devilish Eyes! Fellow Daoist Li, how did you master this spirit eye ability of our Devil Race?" Shi Chuankong asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I came across the secret technique by chance, and I just so happened to have dabbled in a devilish cultivation art in the past, so things worked out quite well for me," Han Li exined in an ambiguous fashion.
A hint of befuddlement shed through Shi Chuankong''s eyes upon hearing this, but he didn''t pry any further. As for Immortal Lord Hot me, he couldn''t help but turn to Han Li with an intrigued look on his face. They were bothte-Golden Immortal cultivators, but Han Li struck him as someonepletely unfathomable.
"Looks like Fellow Daoist Li was the perfect final member to round out our group!" Fox 3 praised, then swept a sleeve through the air, sending a streak of light hurtling toward the archway.
In the instant that the streak of light struck the archway, a vast expanse of silver radiance erupted forth, forming a giant silver vortex with a radius of over a thousand feet. The vortex was releasing a burst of terrifying spatial power that twisted the entire archway into a ball before devouring it, and in the end, all that remained was a fist-sized ck hole that also slowly disappeared.
Fox 3''s smile instantly stiffened slightly upon seeing this.
"Thank heavens Fellow Daoist Li was able to see through the illusion. Otherwise, we would''ve most likely already been sucked into a spatial rift by now," Shi Chuankong said with a hint of lingering fear in his voice.
Right as his voice trailed off, an intoxicating aroma began to spread through the area, and everyone looked around to discover that arge area of ptial structures had appeared within the mist.
Their silver flying boat was no longer traveling over the swamp. Instead, it was traversing through a lush sea of flowers, sending countless flower petals drifting down in all directions.
Around the sea of flowers was a series of intricate pavilions and pagodas that connected to the ptial structures in the distance, and there was a group of gorgeous celestial maidens in pce dresses standing on a covered bridge.
Some were holding delectable spirit fruits, some were holding gons of fine wine, and some were carrying pcenterns as they made their way gracefully toward the nearby pavilions.
There were many immortals seated in these pavilions, sharing wine, reciting poetry, or ying go, and it seemed that Han Li''s group had unwittingly stumbled its way into a banquet.
The flying boat immediately drew to a halt at Fox 3''s behest, and he turned to Shi Chuankong as he said, "Your Divine Spirit Pills don''t seem to be working, Brother Shi. Why are these illusions only bing more and more potent?"
"The Divine Spirit Pills are working as intended, it''s just that this illusion is too powerful. If we hadn''t taken those pills, we would''ve most likely already bepletely immersed in the illusion and be unable to discern it from real life," Han Li exined in Shi Chuankong''s stead.
He hadn''t taken his Divine Spirit Pill, so he was aware of just how powerful this illusion was. If he hadn''t already channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique to protect his own consciousness, even he would''ve most likely already fallen prey to it.
"Fellow Daoist Li, can you dispel this illusion with your spirit eye ability?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked.
"My spirit eyes can only help us avoid danger, but it can''t dispel illusions. However, I think Fellow Daoist Shi can perhaps dispel part of the illusion by using his spatialw powers to force back some of the nearby illusory mist," Han Li replied.
"Theoretically, that''s possible, but it would be far too taxing, and I won''t be able to dispel any illusions that epassrge areas, so I''m afraid that''s not a very feasible solution," Shi Chuankong said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"How about this? We''ll have Fellow Daoist Li use his spirit eyes to help us avoid danger, while Fellow Daoist Hot me uses his True Mantra Bead to detect for teleportation arrays. Once we discover something, we''ll get Brother Shi to dispel the illusion in that area. As for myself, I''ll continue to pilot the boat," Fox 3 proposed.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce upon hearing this, and both of them nodded in approval of this proposal.
Immortal Lord Hot me naturally had no reason to object, and with that, the flying boat slowly continued onward.
"Turn left once we emerge from this field of flowers," Han Li instructed as he scoured his surroundings with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
"You want me to crash straight into that bridge?" Fox 3 asked in a hesitant manner.
"Trust me," Han Li insisted, and Fox duly obliged, guiding the boat in that direction.
After emerging from the field of flowers, the boat turned left and crashed straight into the covered bridge, only for it topletely disintegrate upon contact, and Han Li''s group passed straight through the bodies of the celestial maidens on the bridge.
"From here, go straight for about seven hundred feet, then turn right..."
Under Han Li''s guidance, the flying boat was able to traverse through one illusion after another, and around an hourter, the boat was passing through an illusory pond when Immortal Lord Hot me suddenly eximed, "I''ve found it!"
Chapter 652: Repair
Chapter 652: Repair
Han Li and the others immediately turned to Immortal Lord Hot me upon hearing this, and at this moment, the True Mantra Bead in his hand was glowing brightly, as were all of the golden runes on its surface.
"Is there a teleportation array here?" Fox 3 asked with an ted expression as he brought the flying boat to a halt.
Immortal Lord Hot me nodded in response.
"Alright, looks like it''s up to you now, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li said as he turned to Shi Chuankong.
Shi Chuankong offered no response as he closed his eyes and joined his palms in front of himself, then chanted a silent incantation, and a burst of radiant silver light and spatial fluctuations immediately emerged from between the palms of his hands.
All of a sudden, his eyes sprang open as he brought his hands apart, then thrust both palms upward, and the burst of silver light between the palms of his hands instantly began to expand rapidly, forming a silver light barrier.
As the light barrier continued to expand, the surrounding pond began to disintegrate, and the nearby illusory mist was also pushed further and further away.
The silver light barrier expanded to epass an area with a radius of over ten thousand feet before drawing to a halt, and the swamp was revealed in that area.
Han Li''s eyes were glowing with radiant purple light as he swept his gaze across his surroundings, and he immediately spotted a pile of loose white rocks up ahead, lookingpletely out of ce.
"Over there!"
Under Han Li''s guidance, Fox 3 immediately piloted the spirit boat in that direction until it arrived at the pile of rocks.
The pile of rocks was only several dozen feet wide, and it looked like the remnants of a destroyed stone pir.
"This is a stone pir that would''ve once belonged to a teleportation array, but at this point, the entire array is alreadypletely destroyed," Immortal Lord Hot me sighed in a disappointed manner.
"It''s alright, the ruins aren''t supposed to be easy to track down," Fox 3 said, not disheartened in the slightest.
With that, the search continued.
......
Over a month passed by in a sh.
During this time, Han Li''s group was able to find some sets of ruins, but most of them were just toppled buildings. As for the few teleportation arrays that they encountered, all of them had been destroyed beyond repair.
"We''re already quite far away from Serene Floating Ind at this point. Should we consider going in another direction, Fellow Daoist Li?" Fox 3 proposed.
"We can try heading toward Illusory Smoke City," Han Li replied after a brief moment of contemtion.
Right at this moment, Immortal Lord Hot me suddenly interjected, "Hold on a second, there''s another teleportation array nearby."
"Alright, let''s go check it out first," Fox 3 said in an expressionless manner.
At this point, everyone had already been drained of the initial joy that they had experienced whenever a teleportation array was discovered.
However, as Shi Chuankong cleared away the surrounding illusory mist, everyone was stunned by the sight that was revealed.
On a white sand dune around ten thousand feet away stood seven or eight giant white stone pirs that were riddled withplex array patterns, but they weren''t giving off any spiritual power fluctuations.
As the spirit boat flew over to the sand dune, the entire teleportation array came into view.
The array was surrounded by eleven stone pirs, but only seven of them were still fully intact, while another one was still half-standing, and the rest hadpletely copsed.
Immortal Lord Hot me inspected the array momentarily, following which his brows furrowed slightly as he said, "This is one of the eight teleportation arrays outside the sect, but it''s also damaged beyond repair."
Han Li paid no heed to him as he walked ap around the entire teleportation array, then cast his gaze toward the center of the array with a contemtive look in his eyes.
Momentster, he turned to Shi Chuankong as he asked, "Fellow Daoist Shi, do you have anything that contains spatialw powers in your possession?"
"Do you intend to use such items to substitute these stone pirs and repair the array? Forgive me for being blunt, but that''s not going to work," Shi Chuankong replied after a brief hesitation.
"We won''t know for sure unless we give it a try," Han Li countered with a smile.
"You have that pair of stone lions, don''t you, Brother Shi? Don''t be so stingy! I''llpensate you if they somehow get damaged," Fox 3 said as he slung an arm across his shoulder.
Shi Chuankong paid no heed to Fox 3 as he continued to look at Han Li with a skeptical expression.
"Can you really repair this array?"
"I''d say there''s a 30% chance of sess. How about it? Do you want to take a gamble?" Han Li asked.
"My luck hasn''t been great ofte, so I''m probably going to lose again," Shi Chuankong sighed in a resigned manner as he flipped a hand over to produce a pair of gray stone lions, each of which was around three feet tall.
Han Li smiled as he made a beckoning motion, and the two stone lions were lifted up by a burst of azure light before descending onto the teleportation array.
After that, he flipped a hand over to produce a stack of array tools andmenced the repair process.
Several hourster.
"All done," Han Li dered as he slotted the final array te into ce.
"It''s... fixed now?" Fox 3 asked with a skeptical expression.
"The spatial power within the stone lions should be sufficient to support the entire array''s operation, but these array gs and array tes aren''t so sturdy, so they''ll only be able tost a very short time before they''re destroyed," Han Li exined.
"Will that be enough time toplete the teleportation?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked.
"It should be. This array was designed to be able to teleport several hundred people at once, so it should be able to teleport us in an instant. There''s only one more thing that I need now," Han Li said as he turned to Fox 3.
"What is it?" Fox 3 asked.
"Immortal Origin Stones, and it looks like the array will require at least mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones," Han Li said with a smile as he pointed at the indentations on the ground.
"Surely you could''ve filled those slots yourself, Fellow Daoist Li," Fox 3 said in a resigned manner.
"I''m but an itinerant cultivator, so I don''t have many Immortal Origin Stones on me, particrly when ites to mid-grade ones," Han Li replied with a smile.
Fox 3 exchanged a nce with Shi Chuankong upon hearing this, and they couldn''t help but smile in amusement.
Prior to this, they didn''t believe that Han Li was truly just an itinerant cultivator, particrly given all of the abilities that he had disyed up to this point, but in the wake of this stingy disy, they were starting to believe him.
The group filed into the center of the array, following which Fox 3 fitted several mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones into the indentations on the ground.
After that, Han Li made a hand seal, and the entire array began to glow brightly.
Shortly thereafter, the entire group disappeared, and the light radiating from the array began to fade. Sure enough, the two stone lions remainedpletely unscathed, and most of the array tools that Han Li had set up were also preserved.
......
Momentster, Han Li and the others arrived in front of a giant mountain.
There was a majestic entrance standing in front of the mountain, beyond which was a giant hovering white stone za that was enshrouded in a cloud of mist. There seemed to be a spatial barrier within the mist that kept out all spiritual sense, and in front of the entrance stood several enormous stone pirs that extended all the way up into the clouds.
On top of that, the entrance was enshrouded under a white light barrier, which was clearly some type of powerful restriction.
Immortal Lord Hot me looked up at the majestic entrance, and tears began to well up in his eyes, while a reminiscent look appeared on his face.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom snapped him out of his train of thought, and he turned to discover Shi Chuankong attacking the white light barrier.
However, no matter what he tried, the light barrier remained firm, disying no sign of breaking.
"Let me have a go!" Fox 3 said as his entire body abruptly swelled to over a hundred times its original size, and he raised a hand, curling his fingers into ws before swiping them viciously through the air.
Five massive w projections appeared before tearing into the white light barrier.
A burst of radiant five-colored lightning instantly erupted out of the light barrier, causing the surrounding space to rumble incessantly.
However, after the lightning subsided, the white light barrier remainedpletely unscathed.
"Save your energy. This restriction is imbued with both spatialw powers and timew powers, so it''s impossible to break it through conventional means," Shi Chuankong said.
Even though Han Li hadn''t made an attempt at attacking the light barrier, he had arrived at the same conclusion through his observation.
Fox 3 immediately reverted back to his original form upon hearing this, and he asked, "Is it that troublesome to deal with? Can you see any way to break the restriction?"
"I can set up an array to weaken the spatial power within the restriction, and that might make it possible for us to break the restriction if we all attack it together," Shi Chuankong said.
"Alright, time is of the essence, so let''s begin," Fox 3 said in an eager manner.
......
Meanwhile, on the edge of the Illusory Smoke Swamp stood a man who was built like a steel pagoda. His hands were sped behind his back as he stood facing the swamp, and his fiery red hair was swaying gently in the wind.
His facial features were extremely chiseled and well-defined, and his appearance was quite simr to that of a human, except he had a rhinoceros horn for a nose, and his ears were also very long and tapered, with arge golden ring hanging from each of them.
At this moment, the man was peering into the illusory smoke in the swamp with an angry look on his face.
Right at this moment, a streak of green light shot forth from afar, and when it was still several hundred kilometers away, it was enveloped within a fiery red spirit domain, following which it was instantly teleported to the brawny man''s side.
A resounding boom rang out as a green jade flying carriage abruptly appeared before mming heavily down onto the ground.
On the carriage was a red-haired man, another man who was thin as a bamboo pole, and a third handsome red-robed man. All three of them jumped off the flying carriage at once, then extended a collective salute toward the brawny man in a slightly awkward fashion as they greeted in unison, "We pay our respects to Senior Chi Rong."
These three men were Gong Shutian, his senior martial brother, Wang Xiaosen, and his most prized disciple, Feng Qingyuan.
"You''rete, and by two whole weeks, at that," the brawny man used in a cold voice.
Chapter 653: Multiple Factions
Chapter 653: Multiple Factions
"My sincerest apologies, Senior Chi Rong. Silver Fox made an appearance in the ck Mountain Immortal Region, and we were dyed in our attempt to capture him," Gongshu Tian informed.
"Did you catch him?" the man by the name of Chi Rong asked.
"Unfortunately, Silver Fox was able to escape with the help of a man from the Devil Race..."
"Useless trash!" Chi Rong denounced before Gongshu Tian had a chance to finish.
The expressions of Gongshu Tian''s trio changed slightly upon hearing this, and a hint of fury shed through their eyes, but then quickly faded.
"Forget it. We''re already way behind schedule, and the True Mantra Sect ruins will only be around for a short time, so we have to make haste. I''ll deal with this matter at someter date, but for now, we need to set off right away," Chi Rong said in a cold voice.
Gongshu Tian''s trio was quite relieved to hear this, and the three of them gave a collective affirmative response.
Chi Rong swept a sleeve through the air to release a wave of fire, which swept through the air in front of him before transforming into an enormous spirit boat in the visage of a fiery dragon.
The spirit boat sped forward as a streak of red light with the four men onboard, plunging straight into the illusory smoke.
Mere minutes following their departure, several streaks of light flew onto the scene from Illusory Smoke City, then descended onto the edge of the swamp.
The streaks of light then faded to reveal four figures, three male and one female.
They were led by a middle-aged man who was close to one and a half times the height of an average grown man, and his skin was bronze in color. His facial features were very angr, and he was wearing a suit of golden armor, outside of which was a purple and golden cloak. The man was none other than Su Liu of Jade Gathering City.
"It seems these insolent fools have no respect for me, even when they''re only my territory," Su Liu harrumphed in disdain.
Standing behind him was a man in a schrly white robe, and he said in a casual manner, "They''re also part of the Heavenly Court like we are, but we''ve never interfered with each other''s work, and I''ll agree that they''ve overstepped their boundaries bying here without even notifying us first. Having said that, why are you so angry about this? With our four allied immortal regions joining forces, there''s no way that treasure could fall into anyone else''s hands."
"Fellow Daoist Zhao Zhen is right. The Illusory Smoke Swamp is our territory, and they''re just a bunch of outsiders stumbling into itpletely blind. There''s no way they''ll actually be able to aplish anything in there," a seductive woman in a purple pce dress chimed in.
She was the current city lord of Illusory Smoke City and also the dao partner of the ck Soil Immortal Pce''s pce master. She was only at thete-Golden Immortal Stage, but she had quite a lofty status in the four allied immortal regions.
Zhao Zhen was the name of the schrly-robed man, and he was the immortal envoy stationed in Abyssal Lake City of the Concealed Lake Immortal Region.
The final person to round out their group was a short and slightly hunched over elderly man, and he was peering into the swamp with his hands sped behind his back, taking no part in the ongoing conversation.
"Senior Lu, we''ve all tried to enter the True Mantra Sect ruins on our own at some point, but none of us have found sess. Now that we''ve chosen to join forces, I think you have an obligation to be open and candid with us. Are you really confident in your ability to find a spatial node?" Zhao Zhen asked as he turned to the short elderly man.
He was none other than Wu Liang, the current pce master of the Origin Contention Immortal Pce.
"Rest assured, I wouldn''t have said anything if I didn''t have absolute confidence. All of you are aware of how to open the spatial node, just make sure you don''t hold back too much," the elderly man replied in a coarse voice.
"I''m certainly feeling much more reassured now," the seductive woman said with a faint smile.
"Alright, that''s enough chit-chat, let''s set off as well," Su Liu dered, and with that, he sped into the Illusory Smoke Swamp as an arc of five-colored lightning, while the other three quickly followed along.
......
Meanwhile.
Hovering in mid-air above a section of the swamp countless kilometers away was a giant stone staircase with several hundred steps.
At this moment, there were several men and women dressed in blue cloaks making their way up the staircase.
They were led by a tall and gorgeous woman with light blue skin and curly green hair, wearing a suit of light scale armor. She walked in an elegant and seductive fashion, moving like a beautiful snake that one couldn''t look away from.
Trailing along behind her was an imposing man who was built like a stone wall with a giant sword on his back, and a thin and wizened elderly man who looked as if he were suffering from tuberculosis.
The imposing man was looking straight ahead with a solemn and slightly anxious look on his face, while the elderly man was looking much more rxed, with his gaze tantly roaming over the blue-skinned woman''s body in a lustful fashion.
All of a sudden, the blue-skinned woman drew to a halt before turning around.
Her gorgeous features hadpletely frozen over, and she turned to the elderly man with a pair of piercing golden eyes that were brimming with killing intent.
"Take your filthy eyes off me, or I''ll kill you right here and now!" the blue-skinned woman spat through gritted teeth.
The elderly man was instantly rooted to the spot, feeling as if a bucket of ice water had just been dumped over his head. The fear that he was feeling wasn''t in response to the threat being directed at him. Instead, it stemmed from the peculiar light within the woman''s golden pupils.
"Y-yes, Celestial Maiden, Bi She, I''ll k-keep my eyes to myself," the elderly man stuttered in response.
"Celestial Maiden Bi She, hasn''t it always been customary for members of our Robe Change Order to carry out missions in pairs? Why are we traveling as a group of three this time?" the imposing man asked.
The blue-skinned woman''s expression immediately warmed up upon hearing this, and a seductive smile appeared on her face as she replied, "If it isn''t because that old pervert can set up spatial arrays, you''d have me all to yourself for this mission again."
The imposing man''s expression became even more anxious upon hearing this, and he hurriedly said, "Please don''t make such jokes, Celestial Maiden Bi She."
The blue-skinned woman seemed to be quite amused by this, and her smile became even more seductive, while the elderly man could only look on with a dejected expression.
......
At the entrance of the True Mantra Sect ruins, Han Li''s group was busy at work, setting up a collection of array tools and a small pile of silver crystals.
At this moment, Shi Chuankong was engraving a silver array into the ground, and as he did so, he was instructing Han Li and the others to install all of the array tools and silver crystals into the array.
With all four of them working at once, progress was rapid, and it didn''t take long before aplex and resplendent silver array waspleted.
"Step back a little," Shi Chuankong said to Han Li''s trio as he made his way into the silver array.
The three of them did as they were told, and Shi Chuankong made a hand seal before pointing a finger at the silver array, upon which all of the spirit patterns on its surface instantly lit up.
The entire array began to radiate dazzling silver light, and boundless world''s origin qi surged toward it in a frenzy from all directions, making the array glow brighter and brighter.
All of the silver light then converged to form a silver cloud that was several hundred feet in size, and there were countless silver runes surging within it, giving off formidable spatial fluctuations.
Shi Chuankong rose up into the air, standing above the silver cloud, and his entire body was enshrouded within ayer of radiant silver light, giving him a deity-like appearance.
He began to chant an incantation, and a silver badge appeared in his grasp. The badge was shimmering with silver light, and it was also giving off bursts of spatial fluctuations.
Shi Chuankong tossed the badge forward, and itnded beneath the silver cloud.
At the same time, he began to chant an incantation, and the silver cloud immediately surged into the badge in a frenzy.
The badge instantly swelled rapidly to several dozen feet in size, and it began to radiate dazzling silver light, while the spatial fluctuations that it was releasing became significantly more powerful.
Han Li and the others were also doing their part, channeling their immortal spiritual power in preparation to attack.
Shi Chuankong continued to chant his incantation as he gestured toward the silver badge with his hand, and five streaks of silver light shot out of his fingertips before vanishing into the badge.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as a silver crescent moon that was several dozen feet in size flew out of the badge, then struck the white light barrier while rotating rapidly.
However, there was no earth-shattering boom as anticipated, and the silver crescent moon fused straight into the white light barrier upon contact.
A dull explosion rang out from within the white light barrier, and it shuddered violently as ayer of silver light appeared over its surface, giving off formidable spatial fluctuations.
Theyer of silver light was flickering erratically, but it then quickly stabilized itself.
Theyer of silver light was the spatial restriction within the white light barrier, and its emergence indicated that Shi Chuankong''s attack had been effective.
An ted look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon seeing this, and he began to make a rapid string of hand seals, upon which more silver crescent moons shot out of the badge in a frenzy, with all of them striking theyer of silver light.
A burst of dull rumbling rang out as theyer of silver light flickered erratically while bing dimmer and dimmer.
However, using the silver badge seemed to be extremely taxing on Shi Chuankong, and hisplexion was quickly bing paler and paler. Thankfully, the silver cloud that was surging out of the silver array was constantly injecting itself into the badge to support it.
After a round of ferocious attacks, theyer of silver light was finally shattered, and it distintegrated into specks of spiritual light.
As a result, the white light barrier was also left looking much more vulnerable than before.
"Hurry! I''ve only temporarily broken the spatial restriction, but it''ll be back very soon!" Shi Chuankong yelled in an urgent voice.
Chapter 654: Seizing the Initiative
Chapter 654: Seizing the Initiative
Han Li''s trio had been preparing for this very moment, and they immediately sprang into action.
Immortal Lord Hot me was the first to act, joining his palms before splitting them apart again to produce an antiquated golden mirror, the same time-attribute immortal treasure that he had used in that previous battle.
He then began to chant an incantation while rubbing his hands together, and two bursts of golden light shot forth before vanishing into the golden mirror.
The golden mirror instantly swelled to the size of a house, and a vast expanse of golden light surged out of its surface, then converged to form a giant golden rune that was over a hundred feet in size.
There was radiant golden light and tremendous timew power fluctuations surging out of the giant rune, and Immortal Lord Hot me thrust his palms forward, upon which the golden rune shot forward to strike the white light barrier with tremendous force.
The golden rune vanished into the white light barrier upon contact, and thetter shuddered violently, following which a shingyer of golden light appeared over its surface.
Theyer of golden light was quickly bing dimmer and dimmer, but it didn''t shatter like theyer of silver light from before.
At the same time, Fox 3 began to chant an incantation, and four figures that were identical to himself shot out of his body amid a sh of silver light.
The five Fox 3s each made a grabbing motion in unison, and bursts of menacing crimson light erupted out of their hands.
Immediately thereafter, all five of them opened their mouths, releasing five bursts of silver light that vanished into the crimson light in their hands in a sh.
The bursts of crimson light rapidly shrank down to form giant crimson axes that were each around a hundred feet in size, and arcs of crimson lightning were shing over the axes.
The five giant crimson axes came crashing down viciously upon the white light barrier, and at the same time, nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords appeared in front of Han Li side by side, with all of them radiating dazzling azure light.
He opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light that injected itself into the nine flying swords, and they quickly fused as one to form an enormous azure sword that was over a thousand feet in size, with thick arcs of golden lightning shing over them.
Tremendous sword qi erupted out of the giant azure sword, causing the nearby space to ripple and warp.
Having been nurtured in the Profound Heavenly Gourd for so many years, Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had once again be significantly more powerful than before.
The giant azure sword came swooping down as a blurry shadow, appearing in front of the white light barrier in the blink of an eye before swinging down with immense power.
At this point, Shi Chuankong''splexion was looking quite pale, but he also took a deep breath before contributing to the collective effort by summoning a ck wheel immortal treasure, which crashed down upon the white light barrier with an earth-shattering boom.
In the face of such a formidable assault, theyer of golden light had already been torn apart, and the white light barrier was also being rapidly whittled down until there was only a thinyer of it left.
Countless translucent white threads appeared within what remained of the light barrier, and they intertwined with one another to form a giant.
Despite how thin it had be, the white light barrier was disying incredible resilience, withstanding everyone''s attacks in a herculean effort.
Not only that, but golden and silver light had emerged from the edge of the white light barrier, and they were rapidly converging toward the center.
"It''s time to go all out, everyone! If we let those restrictions recover, all of our efforts up to this point will be for nought!" Shi Chuankong yelled, then flipped a hand over to produce a faintly glowing purple pill.
After a brief hesitation, he swallowed the pill, and radiant purple light erupted out of his body, while hisplexion also quickly returned to normal.
He made a beckoning motion to summon the ck wheel immortal treasure back to himself, then began to chant an incantation, and a devilish purple projection with six arms and three heads appeared behind him.
Immediately thereafter, he made a rapid string of hand seals before pointing a finger up at the sky, and a burst of purple light erupted into the heavens.
In the next instant, a thunderous boom rang out, and a massive dark purple hole appeared in the sky with boundless devilish qi cascading down from it.
The devilish qi raining down from the heavens converged to form a series of giant dark purple runes, which surged into the weapon held in one of the purple projection''s hands.
The weapon in question was a massive bow, and with the injection of dark purple runes, it was rapidly bing clearer and clearer, almost taking on a substantial form.
Ayer of purple scales with dark purple runes inscribed upon them appeared over the bow, and on each end of the bow was a demonic dragon head with the two ends of the thick bowstring held between their teeth.
With one of its other arms, the purple projection drew back the bowstring, and a giant arrow projection appeared before being released like a shooting star and striking the white light barrier.
Meanwhile, Fox 3 was chanting a rapid incantation, and all five Fox 3s instantly fused back into one, following which his body began to expand at an rming rate, swelling to several hundred feet tall in the blink of an eye.
An enormous silver fox projection then appeared behind him amid a sh of silver light, and the five giant crimson axes also fused as one to form a gargantuan crimson ax that was over a thousand feet in size.
Bursts of crimson mes then emerged over the ax, and they burned with such ferocity that even the nearby space seemed to be melting away.
All of a sudden, Fox 3 let loose a thunderous roar as he swung his enormous ax down upon the white light barrier.
Meanwhile, Immortal Lord Hot me had stowed away his antiquated golden mirror, and he was chanting an ancient incantation with a solemn look on his face.
A vast expanse of crimson mes erupted out of his body, forming a giant fiery figure with a crown of mes on its head and a staff of fire in its grasp. Its facial features were blurry and indistinct, but it was giving off the boundless regal authority of a fiery deity.
Immortal Lord Hot me made a rapid string of hand seals, then pointed a finger at the white light barrier, and the fiery figure behind him raised its staff of mes before also pointing it forward.
A piercing shriek rang out as a thin line of mes shot out of the tip of the staff, then vanished into thin air in a sh.
In the next instant, the thin line of fire abruptly appeared in front of the white light barrier before plunging viciously into it.
At the same time, Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as a ball of green light shot out of his body before transforming into the Profound Heavenly Gourd.
All of the countless tiny runes on its surface were shing with green light, and the nearby world''s origin qi was instantly stirred up into a frenzy.
The Profound Heavenly Gourd swelled rapidly in size at Han Li''s behest, and the runes on its surface brightened considerably, while a burst of blinding green light erupted out of the mouth of the gourd. At the same time, dull rumbling could be heard ringing out within the gourd, and it was as if there were a volcano on the brink of erupting inside.
"Go!" Han Li yelled, and the gourd instantly shuddered violently, as did the space around it.
A blurry golden and azure shadow then shot out of the mouth of the gourd before striking the white light barrier.
The ferocious assault unleashed by Han Li and his allies resulted in an enormous eruption of purple, crimson, silver, and azure light, and a devastating aura of destruction surged forth in all directions.
Amid the eruption of four-colored radiance, the purple and azure lights were glowing particrly bright, and there were countless purple and azure runes churning violently within them, stirring up the nearby world''s origin qi into a frenzy.
The white light barrier rippled violently as countless cracks appeared over its surface, and finally, it was torn apart with a resounding boom.
The entire light barrier was shattered before disintegrating into a huge white cloud, and two gs, one golden and one silver, emerged from within the cloud.
Both gs had countless star designs embroidered upon them, and the golden g was giving off formidable timew power fluctuations, while the silver one was giving off tremendous spatialw power fluctuations.
Han Li''s eyes instantly lit up as he pointed a finger at his Profound Heavenly Gourd, and a burst of green light immediately shot out of the mouth of the gourd, covering a distance of several hundred feet in the blink of an eye to capture the golden g.
At the same time, a giant purple palm projection emerged before grabbing onto the silver g.
The hand belonged to the purple projection behind Shi Chuankong, and Han Li was rather dismayed at the sight of the other g being captured.
The burst of green light sucked the golden g into the Profound Heavenly Gourd at his behest, while the giant purple palm projection carried the silver g back to Shi Chuankong.
By the time Fox 3 and Immortal Lord Hot me realized what had happened, the two gs had already been imed by Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
The two of them exchanged a nce with each other, and both of them could see their own disappointment mirrored in one another''s eyes.
It was clear that those two gs formed the basis of the restriction that they had just broken, and they were both immortal treasures of a very high caliber, with each imbued with the power of one of the paramountws.
However, Fox 3 and Immortal Lord Hot me didn''t feel any resentment toward Han Li and Shi Chuankong. Exploring a set of ruins was always a test of one''s abilities and luck, and they only had themselves to me for their slow reactions.
"Congrattions. We haven''t even entered the ruins yet, and you two have already imed a pair of powerful treasures," Fox 3 said with a smile as he reverted back to his original form.
"Brother Li and I were able to seize the initiative this time, but I''m sure there are many more treasures in the ruins for the two of you to im," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile of his own as the purple devilish projection vanished into his body.
The dark purple hole in the sky also faded away, and right before it disappearedpletely, Han Li took a nce into it with purple light shing in his eyes.
The hole was filled with devilish qi, and it was so incredibly deep that he wasn''t able to see all the way through it, even with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
It seemed to be a spatial passageway, but he had no idea where it led to.
Casting aside that train of thought, Han Li made a beckoning motion, and the Profound Heavenly Gourd immediately descended out of the sky before vanishing up his sleeve.
The giant azure sword also flew back to him before splitting back up into nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that returned to his sleeve as well.
Chapter 655: Turbulence
Chapter 655: Turbulence
"The two of you contributed the most to breaking the restriction, so you deserve those two treasures," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a smile, and the crimson figure behind him vanished into his body as he spoke.
"Now that I think about it, that gourd that you summoned earlier was an Essential Immortal Treasures, right? It was certainly extraordinarily powerful," Fox 3 suddenly said as he turned to Han Li, and Shi Chuankong also turned to look at him with an intrigued expression.
As for Immortal Lord Hot me, he had already seen Han Li use the gourd in battle in the past, so he wasn''t all that surprised.
"That''s right. That gourd is an Essential Immortal Treasure that I managed to obtain by chance many years ago," Han Li replied in an ambiguous fashion.
There were a couple of reasons for why he had decided to summon the Profound Heavenly Gourd here. Firstly, Immortal Lord Hot me was already aware of its existence, so there was no need to hide it. Secondly, he wanted to disy some power so that Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong didn''t regard him as some Golden Immortal Stage pushover who posed no threat to them.
Of course, he had altered the power and aura of the gourd somewhat before summoning it.
"All Essential Immortal Treasures possess tremendous power, and they''re only acquired by those with immense fortune. It looks like you''re a very lucky man, Fellow Daoist Li. Hopefully, some of your luck can rub off on all of us on this trip," Fox 3 chuckled.
Han Li merely smiled and offered no response.
As this conversation was taking ce, the white mist within the entrance of the sect had begun to churn violently, and it quickly transformed into a massive white vortex with a narrow passageway at its center.
Faint rays of light could be seen within the passageway, presenting a rather mysterious sight to behold.
"It''s already taken us quite some time to break that restriction, so let''s not waste any more time here," Fox 3 said as he flew into the passageway as a streak of silver light, followed immediately by Immortal Lord Hot me.
Han Li was just about to follow along as well when he suddenly noticed that Shi Chuankong didn''t seem to be disying any intention of moving from the spot, and he asked, "Are you noting in, Brother Shi? All of the treasures inside could be taken if you''re too slow."
"Go on ahead, Brother Li, I''lle in right after I''ve packed up this array. This array is a closely guarded secret of our Devil Race, so I can''t afford to just leave it here," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of purple light that began quickly picking up the array tools on the ground.
"Alright, in that case, I''ll be going on ahead as well," Han Li said with a nod before flying into the passageway as a streak of azure light.
A peculiar gleam shed through Shi Chuankong''s eyes as he watched Han Li enter the passageway, and after packing up the silver array on the ground, he quickly followed suit.
However, in the instant that he flew into the passageway, a small purple ball sprang out of his body before hovering in mid-air.
The ball was around the size of a walnut, and there were countless tiny silver runes etched onto its surface, giving off bursts of spatial fluctuations.
The purple ball shuddered momentarily before exploding to form a dense purple devilish cloud with countless silver runes shing within it.
The purple devilish cloud was swirling and twisting like a living creature as it burrowed into space, but the silver runes within it were left behind to form a silver array that was several dozen feet in size.
The space at the center of the array shuddered violently before a rift opened up, then split apart even further to create a dark purple spatial passageway.
However, the spatial passageway seemed to be extremely unstable and looked as if it could copse at any moment.
Three figures shot out of the spatial passageway beforending in front of the entrance of the sect.
All three of them were purple-robed devilish beings that were giving off tremendous devilish qi.
The trio was led by a thin elderly man with a darkplexion and a head of sparse hair. His eyes were sunken extremely deep into his face, and he resembled a skeleton wearing a skin suit, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
Furthermore, there was no flesh or blood on his arms whatsoever, and the ck arm bones beneath were revealed with a series of worm-like purple runes engraved upon them, giving off formidable devilish qi fluctuations.
Standing beside him was a tall and extremely handsome purple-haired young man with a head of purple hair so long that it could trail all the way down onto the ground.
At the moment, his hair was arranged into a tall bun that was bouncing along behind him, and beneath his purple robe was another red feather robe that seemed to have been woven out of the feathers of some type of spirit bird. The red robe was extremely vibrant, and toplete his extravagant outfit, he was wearing a pair of rainbow-colored boots that were riddled with gemstones.
His overall appearance resembled that of a fancy rooster.
Standing beside him was a purple-robed young woman with a head of luscious hair and an exceptional figure, but her facial features were concealed behind a white veil.
After the three of them flew out of the spatial passageway, it was finally unable to hold itself together any longer, and it quickly copsed before vanishing altogether.
"The fact that the spatial passageway copsed so quickly indicates that where we are right now is extremely far away from the ck Soil Immortal Region. It''s no wonder that we haven''t been able to ascertain the location of these ruins prior to this. If it weren''t for the young master guiding us, we could''ve searched for ten thousand more years without any luck," the elderly man remarked, then turned his gaze toward the white vortex.
"That''s the entrance. It looks like the young master and hispanions have already broken the restriction. Let''s go in," the purple-haired young man said.
However, the elderly man raised an arm to stop him, and several threads of purple light shot out of his fingertips.
"Hold on. The young master told us to wait for a few minutes after we arrive before we enter the ruins."
The young man''s expression changed slightly at the sight of the threads of purple light, and a sheepish smile appeared on his face as he said, "My mistake, let''s wait for a bit before we go in."
The elderly man gave a cold harrumph before lowering his arm.
......
As soon as Han Li flew into the vortex passageway, his body was instantly swept up by a burst of tremendous power, following which he found himself in a vast expanse of violent white currents.
The currents of white light were surging in apletely haphazard and chaotic fashion, crashing against one another to produce a deafening noise.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this.
These white currents were somewhat simr to the spatial turbulence that he had to endure during his ascension to the True Immortal Realm from the Spirit Domain Realm. However, these currents were far more powerful and interspersed with hints of timew powers.
Even though Han Li had grown countless times more powerful since the time he first arrived in the True Immortal Realm, he was still unable to steady himself, and he was involuntarily pulled along by the white currents.
Bursts of tremendous power were constantly tearing at his body from all directions, and in response, he conjured up his True Extreme Film to form a protectiveyer over himself.
After that, he took a moment to inspect his surroundings, but all he could see were more chaotic white currents, while Fox 3, Immortal Lord Hot me, and Shi Chuankong were nowhere to be found.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he was just about to do something when a giant ball of white light suddenly appeared up ahead before sweeping up his entire body.
The ball of white light was filled with a burst of extremely chaotic timew powers, and Han Li was forced to close his eyes in the face of the blinding white light.
In the next instant, he was abruptly pulled downward by a burst of tremendous force.
A resounding thump rang out as he crashed into something, and all of the spatial turbulence around him instantly vanished.
Upon opening his eyes, he was ecstatic to discover that he had emerged from the white currents, and he had mmed into the ground, creating a massive crater with his fall.
He flew out of the crater before rising up into the air and inspecting his surroundings, upon which he discovered that he was situated on a t and barren in that was almostpletely devoid of vegetation.
There was white mist all around him, and the sky was also a murky white color.
Due to the presence of this white mist, he wasn''t able to see very far, but as soon as he released his spiritual sense to try and get a better grasp on his surroundings, he discovered that there was a burst of peculiar spatial power in the surrounding area that severely restricted his spiritual sense.
Even with his current spiritual sense, he was only able to spread it over an area with a radius of three thousand to four thousand feet.
Hence, he decided to turn to his Infernal Devilish Eyes instead, and that allowed him to see a little further, but visibility was still restricted to only around ten thousand feet.
The surrounding white mist was no ordinary mist, and it posed much impediment to his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
Despite the strange nature of the surrounding environment, Han Li remained calm and collected. He had explored countless ruins and secret areas, and he had encountered more than his fair share of strange ces during those adventures.
After descending back down onto the ground, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a palm-sized purple jade te with aplex silver array engraved upon it.
This was a teleportation array te that Shi Chuankong had given him before they entered the Illusory Smoke Swamp, and it had been refined using a secret technique unique to the Devil Race. The array te was imbued with a hint of spatial power, allowingmunication to take ce even through spatial barriers, so it was far more useful in secret areas like this one than normalmunication array tes.
The array te rose up into the air at Han Li''s behest, and it released a purple halo that was constantly shing and fluctuating in brightness.
A long time passed, but no response came from the array te.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he waited for a while longer before stowing the array te away.
For some reason, he was unable to establishmunication with Fox 3 and the others using the array te.
If he couldn''t find Fox 3, then there would be no way for him toplete this Reincarnation Pce mission, so this was a rather awkward predicament.
At this point, he still didn''t even know what the mission entailed. He had raised the question to Fox 3 on multiple asions in the past, but all Fox 3 had told him was that he would answer that question once they arrived at their destination. However, now that they had arrived, they were no longer in the same ce.
Chapter 656: Dead City
Chapter 656: Dead City
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li shook his head as his brows unfurrowed.
Seeing as he couldn''t find Fox 3 and the others, he would just have to explore this ce by himself for now. After all, he was also very curious about these ruins.
As far as he was aware, the Mantra Treasured Axis and the Mantra Domain had bothe out of True Mantra Sect, and neither of them wereplete, so perhaps he could find their full versions in this ce.
Right as Han Li was about to set off, a thought suddenly urred to him, and he swept a sleeve through the air to summon his Profound Heavenly Gourd.
A streak of golden light flew out of the gourd at his behest, and it was none other than the golden g that he had captured earlier.
He grabbed onto the g before conducting a close inspection, and in doing so, he discovered that the g was even more remarkable than he had first thought.
The golden star designs on the g were shing like living creatures, and it felt as if they could fly out of the g at any moment.
Furthermore, he could sense tremendous timew power fluctuations surging out of the g, and they were even more formidable than the timew power fluctuations in the golden lock given to him by Daoist Master Jingyang.
This is also a graded immortal treasure!
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes at this realization, and he opened his mouth to release a burst of golden light, which enveloped the g before sucking it into his body for refinement.
At the moment, he was in an unknown and potentially dangerous ce, so he had to elevate his own powers through any means possible.
With that in mind, Han Li stowed his Profound Heavenly Gourd away, then inspected his surroundings momentarily before flying away in a certain direction.
Due to the limitations on his spiritual sense and eyesight, he was flying very slowly while also constantly scouring his surroundings with his spiritual sense and his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
Even though everything appeared to be peaceful and serene here, there was an indescribable sense of pressure in the air that kept him constantly on edge.
Right at this moment, Mo Guang''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Could it be that you''ve already entered the True Mantra Sect ruins, Fellow Daoist Han? I heard about the True Mantra Sect back when I was with Ma Liang. You''re on your own, right? Why don''t you release me to help you out?"
"You''vee out of seclusion?" Han Li asked, clearly rather taken aback to suddenly be hearing Mo Guang.
"After all these years of hard work, I''ve finallypletely fused with his body, and I won''t have to worry about falling out of the High Zenith Stage anymore," Mo Guang replied in a gleeful voice.
"Is that right? Congrattions," Han Li replied.
Mo Guang seemed to be unable to suppress his own excitement, and he continued, "Who would''ve thought that I would get to the High Zenith Stage before you, Fellow Daoist Han?"
Han Li merely smiled in response, unbothered by Mo Guang''s slightly boastful tone.
Given his mastery of thews of time, his power didn''t correspond with his cultivation base at all. Even if Mo Guang were already at the mid-High Zenith Stage, he was confident in his own ability to deal with him.
Mo Guang seemed to have realized that he had let his own excitement get the better of him, and he hurriedly added, "Of course, given your exceptional aptitude, it won''t be long before you also reach the High Zenith Stage, Fellow Daoist Han."
"Even though you''ve sessfully stabilized your cultivation base, I think it''s best for you to keep consolidating in the Flower Branch domain, and I''ll call upon you if I need you," Han Li said.
These ruins seemed to be quite a strange ce, and it was best to keep Mo Guang concealed as much as possible, given that he was currently in the body of a Gray Immortal.
"Alright," Mo Guang sighed before falling silent, and Han Li continued to focus on scouring the surrounding environment.
Close to a day passed by in the blink of an eye, and the surrounding environment hadn''t changed much at all.
At this point, Han Li was looking a little weary. Constantly maintaining his spiritual sense and his Infernal Devilish Eyes was quite taxing on him, and he had only just taken a recovery pill when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Something seemed to have caught his attention, and he drifted down onto the ground, right in front of an object buried in the ground.
It appeared to be arge rock, but it was concealed under a thickyer of soil, so it was impossible to tell exactly what it was.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a whirlwind that was several dozen feet tall, and the whirlwind swept away the soil up ahead to reveal therge, blue rock underneath.
It was a part of the remnants of a building, and it seemed to have been crafted out of some type of special stone material. Even after being buried here for countless years, it hadn''t sumbed to erosion.
A hint of tion appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately continued onward.
As he progressed onward, he noticed more and more vegetation. The area was no longer as barren as before, and he also spotted more and more fallen buildings.
A short whileter, he descended onto the ground once again.
Up ahead was a massive pce that was several thousand feet in size and two hundred to three hundred feet tall, entirely constructed out of the same blue stone material.
Back when it was fully intact, the pce would''ve undoubtedly been extremely majestic, but right now, it was severely ravaged, and arge section of it had copsed altogether.
The ground near the pce had also been torn to shreds, indicating that a fierce battle had taken ce here at some point.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li released his spiritual sense to inspect the surrounding area, and some timeter, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as he flew over to arge rock, then pushed it aside to reveal the skeletal remains of a body.
The skeleton was wearing a white robe that had mostly sumbed to erosion, but Han Li was still able to tell that it was the same True Mantra Sect disciple attire that he had seen during his previous spiritual transmigration.
He heaved a faint sigh at the sight of the body.
He was using the True Mantra Sect''s cultivation arts, so in a way, he was somewhat connected and indebted to this sect.
He had heard about what the True Mantra Sect had been like during its heyday from Immortal Lord Hot me, and it was certainly a sobering sight to see such a powerful sect fall into ruin.
Han Li quickly set aside that train of thought, then swept his spiritual sense over the body, but wasn''t able to find any storage tools.
He remained unfazed as he departed and continued to search through the rest of the pce. Before long, he had discovered several more bodies in True Mantra Sect attire, but their storage tools were also missing.
It didn''t take long before he had explored the entire pce, and he had nothing to show for it.
He was rather disappointed by this, and he promptly departed, flying away as a streak of azure light.
Shortly after he left the pce, his expression suddenly changed slightly as he stopped cold in his tracks, and he peered into the distance with his Infernal Devilish Eyes while sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of thick azure sword qi that struck the space up ahead.
The space there rippled violently as a vast expanse of ck light appeared, and the streak of azure sword qi instantly vanished upon contact, seemingly having been devoured by the ck light.
As for the ck light itself, it rippled and squirmed slightly like a living creature before slowly fading away.
Is that a spatial rift?
The ck light had beenpletely concealed in space and wasn''t giving off any aura, so there was no way that he would''ve noticed it had it not been for thebination of his spiritual sense and his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he swept a sleeve through the air once again, this time sending a thick arc of golden lightning crashing into the spot where the ck light had just faded.
The ck light reappeared, and it was able to devour the arc of golden lightning with ease as well.
A hint of surprise appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he swept a sleeve through the air for a third time, releasing a crimson flying sword that rapidly swelled to over a hundred feet in size before striking the ck light.
A dull thud rang out as the giant sword made contact with the ck light, only for the former to be snapped in half in an instant.
Han Li''s heart jolted slightly upon seeing this.
Thankfully, he had noticed the arc of ck light ahead of time. Otherwise, if he had unwittingly flown into it, he would''ve definitely been severely injured, if not killed on the spot.
With that in mind, Han Li picked up the two halves of the snapped sword, then skirted around the arc of ck light as he continued onward.
In the wake of that close call, he became even more cautious, and he didn''t dare to withdraw his spiritual sense or Infernal Devilish Eyes for even a moment.
As he continued onward, more and more ruins appeared in his path, and all of them had been destroyed as coteral damage from previous battles.
It didn''t take long before another day passed by, and at this point, he was starting to grow a little disgruntled.
The True Mantra Sect ruins had been destroyed to such an extent that he hadn''t been able to find anything of use aside from several spirit medicines of a decent quality.
This entire area was like apletely dead city.
The terrain down below was still very t, but some mountains had asionally begun to appear.
Han Li flew onward for a moment longer before his expression suddenly changed slightly.
The ground up ahead hadpletely sunken downward to form a massive valley, and there were some pces down in the valley that appeared to be rtively intact.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up as he flew down into the valley.
The valley was enormous, and he was only able to see a small section of it with his spiritual sense and devilish eyes.
The ground in the valley was quite t and smooth, and there were white stone bs that paved the earth as far as the eyes could see.
It seemed that this had once been quite an important ce.
The valley wasn''t spared from the ravages of battle, but the buildings here had been constructed using far better materials, so most of them were still rtively intact.
A hint of excitement welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this, and he continued to scour his surroundings while venturing deeper into the valley.
It didn''t take long before he was quite deep into the valley, and there were many bodiesying here, belonging to both True Mantra Sect disciples and Heavenly Court cultivators.
Based on what he had seen thus far, it appeared that there was a giant city in the valley, and the buildings that lined the streets he was walking along appeared to be shops.
Prior to its destruction, this would''ve been quite a majestic city, and along the way, Han Li had found several decent materials.
Upon arriving at the conclusion of a wide street, a huge za suddenly appeared ahead of him.
Chapter 657: Battle in the Water Divination Palace
Chapter 657: Battle in the Water Divination Pce
Han Li quickly swept his gaze over the za, and something caught his attention.
He rose up into the air, then flew over to a giant pce across from the za.
This pce was far more massive than the other ones, and it had been constructed out of some type of translucent, dark blue crystalline material. There was ayer of faintly rippling blue light over its surface, giving it the appearance of a seabed crystal pce.
Han Li was able to identify this blue crystalline material as Seablue Crystal, a type of water-attribute crystal that was renowned for its sturdiness. It wasn''t exactly a premium material, but it was still quite precious, and constructing an entire pce out of it was a huge show of extravagance.
However, he hadn''t been drawn to the pce by its construction materials. Instead, he was intrigued by what was inside.
It was very faint, but he could sense a burst of timew fluctuations deep within the pce.
Perhaps it was because the pce had been entirely constructed from Seablue Crystal, but it was almost perfectly preserved, despite the fact that all of the other pces in the same area were disying damage to different extents.
Hanging above the entrance of the pce was a que that read "Water Divination Pce", and Han Li was just about to step into the pce when his gaze was suddenly drawn to something by the entrance.
It was a dark blue stone statue that had toppled to the ground. The statue was over a thousand feet tall, and it depicted a strange child with a massive head and a disproportionately thin body.
The base of the statue had been shattered, and as Han Li looked at the statue of the strange child, he was struck by a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen it before somewhere.
All of a sudden, he recalled where he had seen the child before.
Back when he was eavesdropping on Patriarch Miro''s lecture through the translucent wall of light, there had been five figures seated around him, and one of them had been this strange child.
Why is there a statue of him here? Does he have something to do with this Water Divination Pce?
After lingering at the entrance of the pce for a short while longer, Han Li cast that train of thought aside before stepping inside.
As soon as he stepped into the pce, he immediately found himself in a rather dim setting with a subtle sense of pressure in the air.
His brows furrowed slightly, but he continued onward.
The pce was rather empty, with nothing inside with the exception of a few giant Seablue Crystal pirs. There were many signs of battle in here as well, and one of the stone pirs had even been severed altogether.
Han Li swept his gaze across the pce, but didn''t discover anything, so he continued onward, and it didn''t take long before he had reached the pce''s deepest point.
There was a giant gate on the wall on either side of him, and beyond those gates were a pair of long ck tunnels that extended as far as the eyes could see before vanishing into darkness.
While Han Li was outside the pce, he had noticed many more pces behind this one, and it seemed that this was quite arge cluster of buildings.
Han Li could sense that the burst of timew fluctuations was situated somewhere to his right, so he immediately made his way into the tunnel on the right without any hesitation.
The tunnel had been entirely constructed out of a type of ck stone material, and it was giving off a cold aura.
There were many signs of battle here as well, including countless gashes that had been sliced into the walls and a series ofrge cracks on the ground.
However, these ck walls were extremely sturdy and hadn''t beenpletely destroyed.
On top of that, there were also some bodies belonging to True Mantra Sect disciples or Heavenly Court cultivators littered throughout the tunnel, and perhaps it was because this was a rather isted ce, but the baleful qi here was quite dense, and there were gusts of yin wind sweeping through the air from up ahead.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this. At the moment, he was struggling with his baleful decay, so he was naturally not fond of an environment like this one, but he wasn''t going to turn back over such a trivial matter.
The ck tunnel was remarkably long, and even after walking for several minutes, Han Li still hadn''t reached the end. However, the more he continued onward, the wider and taller the tunnel became.
At the same time, the baleful qi in the air was also bing denser and denser, stirring up some unrest in the baleful qi in his own body.
Han Li hurriedly channeled his cultivation arts to protect himself and keep out the external baleful qi.
After continuing onward for a while longer, his expression suddenly changed slightly as he stopped in his tracks.
He could hear the sound of faint rumbling ringing out up ahead, and it seemed that a battle was taking ce.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he chanted an incantation to conjure up a dim light barrier that enveloped his entire body, then silently shot forward as a faint shadow.
It didn''t take long for him to reach the end of the tunnel, and a series of connected dark pces appeared up ahead.
All of the pces were connected by passageways, resulting in aplexwork of passageways.
Han Li followed the sounds that he was hearing and passed through around a dozen pces, upon which he discovered the source of the sounds in a giant pce that was tens of thousand of feet in size.
There were a series of thick stone pirs standing in this pce, and all of them were riddled with countless runes.
Most of these pirs had already copsed to create arge, open area, and at this moment, there were three cultivators in that open area, locked in battle against five or six ck shadows.
The three cultivators consisted of a brawny man in a blue cloak, wielding an enormous blue sword, an elegant purple-robed woman with a veil over her face, and handsome red-robed man who seemed to be wearing some makeup on his face, giving him a rather effeminate appearance.
The purple-robed woman had dense devilish qi swirling all around her, and it was clear that she was a being of the Devil Race.
As for the red-robed man, Han Li was able to identify as Feng Qingyuan, the man that he hade across once back in the Leisure Valley, and he certainly wasn''t expecting to see him again here.
It seemed that the Heavenly Court had also had its sights set on the True Mantra Sect ruins, but it was unclear to Han Li how they had managed to enter the ruins.
The ck shadows that the three of them were battling were some type of ck humanoid creature that was several dozen feet tall.
Their bodies were covered in ck fur, giving the appearance of giant apes, and each of them also had a pair of dark red horns on their heads, as well as mouthfuls of fearsome-looking fangs.
What are those things?
To Han Li''s surprise, these ck ape-like creatures were quite formidable. Despite their enormous statures, they were able to move as swiftly as the wind, and their bodies were so resilient that they could directly sh against the immortal treasures of Feng Qingyuan''s trio without sustaining any injuries.
asional bursts of ck mes erupted out of the ck apes'' mouths, and Feng Qingyuan''s trio seemed to be quite apprehensive of these ck mes, mostly choosing to evade them, rather than withstand them head-on.
Even though Feng Qingyuan''s trio was firmly on the back foot in this battle, they were clearly all seasonedbatants, and they remained calm and collected, managing to keep the ferocious assault from the ck ape creatures at bay.
Han Li only observed the battle for a short while before turning his gaze to the rest of the pce, but he didn''t notice any treasures here.
It seemed the three of them hadn''te here to pursue any treasures. Instead, they were simply unfortunate to have encountered these ape creatures.
Seeing as there were no treasures here, Han Li naturally had no intention of revealing himself, yet right as he was about to slip away, a ck beastly w suddenly appeared behind him out of thin air before making a grab for his heart.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly as he shot forward like lightning while hurriedly sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing a streak of azure swordlight that appeared behind him in a sh before shing toward the ck w.
A resounding boom rang out as the streak of azure sword light was shattered, reverting back into an azure flying sword that tumbled back through the air.
As for the ck w, a long gash had been shed into it, one that had almost sliced the w into two.
A giant ck ape creature then shot out of the darkness before letting loose a furious roar in Han Li''s direction.
This ape creature was around twice the size of the others, and its entire body was riddled with a series of crimson patterns. There was also a cloud of ck qi swirling around his body, hovering within which was arge ck g that was giving off thew power fluctuations of an immortal treasure.
ck light was rapidly shing from the palm of the ck ape creature''s hand, drawing the surrounding baleful qi into its body, and the gash on its hand was fully healed in the blink of an eye.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he summoned the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword back to himself before descending onto the ground.
All of this had taken ce in an instant, and Feng Qingyuan''s trio was currently also staring at Han Li with surprised looks on their faces.
The giant ape creature let loose a thunderous roar before pouncing at Han Li as a ck shadow,and Han Li gave a cold harrumph in response as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a thick arc of Divine Devilbane Lightning toward the oing creature.
All of the nearby baleful qi in the wake of the arc of golden lightning instantly disintegrated into nothingness, but the ape creature waspletely unfazed as it opened its mouth to st forth a burst of ck mes.
A resounding boom rang out as the lightning and mes shed, and they began tearing at each other like a pair of wyrms, one golden and one ck, with neither one able to get the better of the other.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to release another azure flying sword, which pierced straight through the lightning and mes at an astonishing speed.
A dull thump rang out as the ck mes were scattered, while the azure flying sword continued onward, appearing in front of the giant ape creature in the blink of an eye before piercing directly toward it.
Chapter 658: A Band of Four
Chapter 658: A Band of Four
The giant ape creature let loose a low roar, and the ck g above its head swooped down while giving off radiant ck light, catching the oing azure flying sword like a giant ck hand.
A cold sneer appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which the azure flying sword shuddered violently while releasing incredibly bright azure light alongside thick arcs of golden lightning.
The ck g was instantly torn to shreds, while the azure flying sword continued onward without pause.
A stunned and fearful look appeared on the giant ape creature''s face, and all of the crimson patterns on its body lit up.
Immediately thereafter, a pair of crimson wings of light appeared on its back, and it pped those wings vigorously, darting to the side while leaving a trail of afterimages in its wake.
A dull tearing sound rang out, and the giant ape creature reappeared several hundred feet away with a long and deep sword gash on its left shoulder. Its entire left arm had almost been severed, but no blood was flowing out of the wound, and the creature didn''t seem to possess a body of flesh and blood.
Han Li wasn''t surprised to see this, and he casually raised a hand, upon which the azure flying sword instantly flew back to him, then split up into three smaller azure swords before flying back up his sleeve.
At this moment, there was a furious look on the giant ape creature''s face, but instead of pouncing at Han Li again, it opened its mouth up wide to release a relentless torrent of ck mes toward him.
The ck mes epassed an enormous area, making them seem impossible to evade.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and countless arcs of golden lightning erupted out of his body, then surged forth to form a wave of golden lightning that shed against the wave of ck fire.
A string of earth-shattering booms rang out, and an impasse ensued, with neither side able to get the better of the other.
The nearby stone pirs immediately began to shatter, sending loose rocks flying in all directions, while the entire pce trembled violently.
However, the pce didn''t copse, perhaps because it possessed the innate structural integrity required to hold itself intact, or perhaps because there were fortifying restrictions set up within it.
Right at this moment, Han Li made a hand seal, and he abruptly vanished from the spot amid a sh of golden lightning.
The giant ape creature was quite alert, and it immediately spread its crimson wings to flee the scene upon seeing this.
However, a cold harrumph suddenly rang out in its mind, and a burst of extremely sharp spiritual sense speared into its consciousness, causing it to let loose an agonized roar while also rendering it temporarily immobile.
Almost at the exact same moment, arge golden lock appeared beside it out of thin air, then locked onto its right arm.
Boundless golden radiance erupted out of the golden lock, forming a giant golden rune that imprinted itself onto the ape creature''s body, instantly rooting it to the spot.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li appeared behind the ape creature amid a sh of golden lightning, then reached out and gently tapped two of his fingers against the back of the creature''s head.
A burst of piercing light that contained a silver flower design instantly vanished into the creature''s head, splitting it into several pieces, but instead of falling apart, the pieces remainedpletely still.
Han Li withdrew his fingers, then made a hand seal, and the giant golden rune on the ape creature''s body instantly faded, while the golden lock also reverted back to roughly the size of the palm of his hand before falling into his grasp.
Over the past years, he had alreadypletely refined the lock, and it was just as powerful as he had hoped.
As soon as the golden lock was removed, the ape creature''s head instantly exploded into a vast expanse of baleful qi, and its headless body shuddered momentarily before also disintegrating into baleful qi, following which a ck crystal came falling out.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that swept the ck crystal into his grasp, upon which he discovered that it seemed to be the ape creature''s core, and it was giving off incredibly formidable baleful qi.
So that thing was an earth soul demon...
Despite the "demon" in its name, earth soul demons were actually a type of ghostly creature that only had a chance of emerging in ces with a high abundance of corpse-derived baleful qi. They were very adept at concealing themselves and were also quite intelligent, making them very dangerous to unsuspecting targets.
Right at this moment, Mo Guang''s voice rang out in Han Li''s mind.
"Give that crystal to me, Fellow Daoist Han. It''ll be very useful for my cultivation."
Han Li took a nce at the ck crystal, then flipped a hand over to stow it away into the Flower Branch domain.
The other ck ape creatures screeched in horror at the sight of their leader''s demise, and they immediately turned and fled into the distance, quickly vanishing out of sight, while Feng Qingyuan''s trio made no effort to stop them.
The three of them stowed their immortal treasures away, then turned collectively to Han Li.
"Thank you for ying that Earth Soul Ghost Monarch and scaring away its minions, Fellow Daoist. Otherwise, I don''t know how much longer we would''ve been trapped here for," the brawny man said with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li, and his twopanions also expressed their gratitude.
"You''re far too kind, fellow daoists. Given your powers, you could''ve easily defeated those ghostly creatures even without my help," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
Even though all three of them had used secret techniques to conceal their cultivation bases, Han Li was able to tell that they were all at least at thete-Golden Immortal Stage.
None of them had disyed their full power when dealing with those earth soul demons, and it seemed that they were more wary of each other than they had been of those creatures.
"In any case, I should still thank you for your help," the brawny man said with a smile.
Han Li gave a slight nod in response, and he appeared calm and collected on the surface, but internally, his mind was racing.
He couldn''t tell what the brawny man''s affiliations were, but he knew that Feng Qingyuan most likely had ties to the Heavenly Court, while the purple-robed woman was clearly a devilish being, so why were the three of them seemingly traveling together in the True Mantra Sect ruins?
"Now that we''ve all run into each other, why don''t we get to know one another and explore these ruins together? After all, no one knows what could be waiting for us up ahead, so it would surely be a good idea to band together andbine our powers," the brawny man proposed.
"That''s true. This is a very mysterious ce, so it would indeed be a good idea for all of us to travel together," Han Li replied.
The presence of these people in the True Mantra Sect ruins made Han Li feel as if there were some mysterious circumstances at y here.
Even though the three of them were all quite formidable, Han Li was confident in his ability to handle them, and perhaps he could uncover some secrets by traveling with them.
Feng Qingyuan and the purple-robed woman considered this offer briefly before also nodding in agreement.
"Great! Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Ren Hao," the brawny man said as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li''s trio.
"My name is Feng Jiangliu," Han Li dered, providing the name on the Heavenly Sand Sect token that Fox 3 had arranged for him.
"I''m Yuan Feng," Feng Qingyuan said.
"My name is Feng Lin," the purple-robed woman said with a smile.
None of them knew if the names provided by the others were real or not, but with the self-introductions out of the way, the atmosphere had warmed up a little.
Despite Ren Hao''s imposing stature, he was surprisingly sociable and outgoing, and with him initiating some lighthearted conversation, the atmosphere lightened up even further.
"How long have the three of you been in here? I only just got here, and it''s been a real pain trying to navigate this ce as my spiritual sense is severely restricted," Ren Hao said with a wry smile.
"I only just got here as well, probably eventer than the three of you, so I''m also still just trying to get my bearings," Han Li said.
Feng Qingyuan and Feng Lin also offered simr responses, and it seemed none of them had any more information than the others.
"In that case, let''s keep going. This ce is still rtively intact, so perhaps there are some treasures in here. Just make sure to be careful and not trigger any restrictions," Ren Hao cautioned, and Han Li''s trio raised no objections.
With that, the four of them continued onward, asionally chatting with each other as they walked along, but still made sure to keep some distance between one another.
Han Li was walking at the very rear of the group, inspecting his surroundings with a contemtive look on his face.
He didn''t know if Fox 3 and the others were aware of the Devil Race and Heavenly Court presence in these ruins.
If they didn''t, then that would be fine, but if they already knew but were intentionally keeping him in the dark, then he would have to tread with caution.
With that in mind, Han Li was beginning to regret taking on this mission, but at this point, he could only forge ahead.
After passing through a few more pces, the group finally emerged from the cluster of pces, upon which they arrived in an open area at the foot of a hill.
There was a wide and straight white jade path that led all the way up the hill, and at this point, Han Li could sense that the burst of timew power fluctuations had be quite potent, and that it wasing straight from ahead of the jade path.
Given how pronounced the timew power fluctuations were, Ren Hao''s trio had to have already sensed it as well, so he would have to think about how he was going to im whatever it aws that was at the end of the path.
With that in mind, he took a subtle nce at the trio, and he was surprised to discover all three of them looking onward with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension in their eyes, but no sense of tion, whatsoever.
Chapter 659: Five Paths
Chapter 659: Five Paths
Han LI was rather surprised to see this. Judging from their reactions, it seemed like Feng Qingyuan¡¯s trio hadn¡¯t detected the timew power fluctuations at all.
If they were merely acting, then this was an extremely convincing act that Han Li couldn¡¯t find any holes in.
¡°It looks like there are more buildings up ahead, but we haven¡¯t even explored the cluster of pces that we just passed through. What do you all want to do? Should we keep going or return to those earlier pces for future exploration?¡± Ren Hao asked.
Han Li¡¯s trio remained silent, but all of them cast their eyes directly forward.
¡°It looks like we¡¯re all on the same page. Onward we go,¡± Ren Hao said with a smile.
With that, the four of them continued onward in a single-row formation.
The white jade path was quite wide, but it wasn¡¯t very long, and the four of them quickly reached its conclusion, where they arrived before a za that was over ten thousand feet in size on the mountain summit.
The ground was paved with white jade bs, and at the center of the za was another stone statue of the same child with therge head.
This statue hadn¡¯t been damaged, and it seemed to have already been standing here for countless years.
Han Li and the others took a nce at the statue, then quickly turned their attention to the front of the za.
There were five smaller white jade paths that branched off in different directions from the za before fading into the white mist up ahead.
There was a tall blue jade que next to each path, and they carried five ce names: Disciple Meadow, Three Water Pagoda, Five Spirit Pavilion, Heavenbearing Pce, and Heavenly Medicine Valley.
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li¡¯s eyes as he looked at the five ce names.
The Disciple Meadow and the Heavenly Medicine Valley were most likely where the True Mantra Sect disciples resided and where their spirit medicines were stored, respectively. However, the Three Water Pagoda, the Five Spirit Pavilion, and the Heavenbearing Pce didn¡¯t reveal much just based on their names alone.
Ren Hao, Feng Qingyuan, and Feng Lin were also observing the five paths with hesitant expressions.
¡°Looks like we¡¯ll have to split up from here. Which paths are all of you nning to take?¡± Ren Hao asked.
Han Li turned his gaze to the second path, the one that wasbeled ¡°Three water Pagoda¡±.
He could sense that this was where the timew power fluctuations wereing from.
Before he had a chance to speak, Ren Hao suddenly said, ¡°I¡¯ll choose this path. I¡¯m using a water-attribute cultivation art, so I should be able to find something useful at this Three Water Pagoda.¡±
A hint of vexation shed through Han Li¡¯s heart upon hearing this, but his expression remained unchanged.
¡°I want to take a look at this Heavenly Medicine Valley. Hopefully, I¡¯ll be able to find some useful spirit medicines there,¡± Feng Lin said.
¡°In that case, I¡¯ll go with the Heavenbearing Pce. It sounds like an important ce, so maybe I¡¯ll have some luck there,¡± Feng Qingyuan said, then wasted no time as he promptly departed.
Han Li remained silent as he made his way onto the third path, the onebeled ¡°Five Spirit Pavilion¡±.
¡°Alright, it looks like everyone has made a decision. This is where we part ways, I wish you all good fortune,¡± Ren Hao said with a smile, then stepped onto the second path, quickly disappearing into the mist.
Han Li¡¯s trio also quickly vanished into the white mist on their respective paths, and peace and quiet returned to the za.
Momentster, an azure shadow shot back out of the third path, then descended onto the za, revealing itself to be Han Li.
He took a quick nce at his surroundings, then flew down the pathbeled ¡°Three Water Pagoda¡±.
Shortly thereafter, a figure emerged on the fourth path, and it was none other than Feng Qingyuan.
He also immediately began making his way down the second path without any hesitation.
Mere momentster, Feng Lin also reappeared on the white jade za before taking the same path as everyone else.
Han Li¡¯s aura waspletely concealed as he made his way down the second path, and it didn¡¯t take long before he arrived in an open area, where a giant three-story pagoda was standing over ten thousand feet up ahead.
The bottom level of the pagoda was octagonal in shape and constructed out of giant azure stone blocks that were riddled with tiny runes, and there was a huge arched entrance that was around thirty feet tall directly facing him.
Han Li briefly inspected his surroundings, but wasn¡¯t able to find Ren Hao, and after ensuring that there was nothing amiss, he began making his way toward the pagoda.
Upon reaching the arched entrance, he discovered that the ck pagoda gates were opened inward, and there were some signs of damage on them, indicating that whatever restrictions that had been ced upon them had been destroyed.
Instead of immediately entering the pagoda, he peered into its interior from the entrance, but all he could see was a faintyer of mist that was almost non-existent, but made it impossible to see what was inside.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he stepped into the pagoda.
As soon as he did so, he immediately felt as if the surrounding blue mist had suddenly be several times denser, and there was also an acrid stench in the air that caused his brows to furrow slightly.
He looked down at his own feet, upon which he was astonished to discover that he was standing on a crimson sea of fire, and the acrid odor that he had just caught a whiff of hade from his burning boots and robes.
This is another illusion...
As soon as Han Li made this realization, he immediately channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique.
In the next instant, a cool and refreshing sensation permeated throughout his consciousness restoring his rity of mind.
At the same time, the mes all over his body quickly faded until all that remained in the room was the same blue mist from before, which still refused to dissipate.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes, then quickly swept his gaze over the surrounding area, and the entire room was instantly made clear to him.
The empty hall was severely ravaged, littered with destroyed stone pirs and chunks of wood, while the ground was caked in dried blood.
Virtually the entire hall was covered in ayer of bodies, all of which appeared to have suffered very horrific deaths.
From the robes that still hadn¡¯tpletely sumbed to erosion, Han Li could see that the bodies belonged to both True Mantra Sect disciples and Heavenly Court cultivators, indicating that a fierce battle had taken ce here.
On top of that, there were also many blue humanoid puppets interspersed among the bodies, but they had all been destroyed beyond repair.
There were multiple partitions in the hall, and as Han Li made his way through the area, he saw more of the same, namely severely ravaged walls, bodies strewn everywhere, and the ground caked in dried blood.
Upon reaching the deepest point of the hall, Han Li spotted a white jade staircase that led up to the second floor of the pagoda.
There was an enormous sword that was still plunged into the staircase, but it was extremely severely eroded and was nothing more than a huge piece of scrap metal.
Piles of bodies were strewn around the sword, stacking up to several dozen feet tall, and after scanning the area, Han Li wasn¡¯t able to find anything useful, so he moved on to the second floor.
As soon as he made his way onto the second floor, he was immediately struck by a bone-chilling sensation, and the immortal spiritual power in his body began to circte on its own to protect him from the chill.
It was as if he had entered a cial space, and everything, from the ground, the pirs, the walls, the window frames, and even the ceiling was all covered in ayer of blue ice crystals.
For a moment, Han Li came under the impression that the second floor was evenrger than the first one, but he then quickly realized that this only appeared to be the case as the partitions on the first floor were absent from the second floor.
However, just like on the first floor, the second floor was also littered with bodies belonging to True Mantra Sect and Heavenly Court cultivators, all of which had suffered horrific deaths, but the owners of these bodies clearly possessed superior cultivation bases back when they were alive, as evidenced by the fact that some of the bodies hadn¡¯tpletely decayed yet.
On top of that, Han Li also noticed many giant demon beast carcasses near the walls, but all of them were so severely damaged that it was impossible to tell what they had been.
The baleful qi on the second floor was far denser than it was on the first floor, and Han Li made his way past the bodies in an expressionless manner, walking toward the staircase up ahead, which was also encased in ice.
However, after walking only several hundred feet, his expression suddenly changed slightly as he looked down, only to discover that there as nothing on the icy floor aside from his own reflection.
I clearly sensed something just now...
Right at this moment, he suddenly rasied an eyebrow as he noticed that an extremely exaggerated and gruesome smile had appeared on the face of his own reflection on the ground.
In the same instant, he summoned an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword before plunging it firmly into the ground.
However, his reflection was able to evade the sword strike as if it were an agile fish in water, and it sprang out of the ice directly ahead of Han Li before plunging its hands directly toward his chest.
Chapter 660: Corpse Wraith
Chapter 660: Corpse Wraith
At this point, Han Li¡¯s reflection no longer bore any resemnce to him. Its body was no different from that of a normal person, but its clothes were in tatters, and its face had decayed to the point that the bone underneath was clearly visible, giving it a zombie-like appearance.
As it plunged its hands toward Han Li, its nails elongated to over a foot in length each, with dense baleful qi clinging to them.
This is a Corpse Wraith!
Han Li immediately withdrew his sword, then raised it in front of his own chest to defend himself.
A loud ng rang out as a trail of sparks erupted from the de of the sword, and Han Li was sent flying back by a burst of tremendous force.
Corpse Wraiths were entities thatbined corpses and yin souls. They were undead creatures that could only arise after being trapped in ces of immense baleful qi after tens of thousands of years, and they relish in devouring the flesh and blood of living beings.
Corpse Wraiths were already dead, so they couldn¡¯t be ssified as living beings, and they couldn¡¯t enter the cycle of reincarnation, so they weren¡¯t ghosts, either. Instead, they were liminal beings that belonged nowhere, and this particr one possessed High Zenith Stage power.
However, Han Li could see from its eyes that it was still yet to attain intelligence, and that came as quite a relief.
It was said that once a Corpse Wraith devoured sufficient blood and flesh, it would be able to attain intelligence, thereby making it a far more formidable foe to deal with, often possessing far superior power to living cultivators of the same caliber.
This Corpse Wraith had most likely been trapped here its entire existence, thereby robbing it of any opportunity toe into contact with living beings, and that was why it hadn¡¯t attained intelligence. It was also because of this that Han Li wasn¡¯t fleeing the scene right away.
If anotherte-Golden Immortal cultivator had been in Han Li¡¯s ce, they would¡¯ve most likely already fallen prey to that initial sneak attack.
All of a sudden, the Corpse Wraith vanished from the spot. Han LI¡¯s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he immediatelyunched himself backward in retreat.
Almost in the exact same instant, the Corpse Wraith reappeared where he had been standing just a moment ago, and its hands pierced straight through a stone pir, shattering it into countless pieces.
While still darting back in retreat, Han Li chanted a silent incantation, and a ball of golden light instantly erupted out of his body, forming a golden light barrier that epassed the entirety of the second floor.
As soon as the time spirit domain was conjured up, everything on the second floor instantly slowed down.
Han Li turned to discover the High Zenith Stage Corpse Wraith charging toward him while leaving a trail of afterimages in its wake, disying tremendous speed even within the time spirit domain.
Han Li swiveled around before piercing the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in his hand directly toward the Corpse Wraith, and a resounding ng rang out as the sword forcibly parted the Corpse Wraith¡¯s ghostly ws before piercing straight into its chest.
However, the Corpse Wraith¡¯s physical constitution was far more formidable than Han LI anticipated, and the sword was only able to scratch several white marks onto its chest, but was unable to harm it in the slightest.
Meanwhile, the Corpse Wraith had already withdrawn its hands, and its sharp fingernails elongated even further before piercing through the air toward Han Li¡¯s neck from both directions.
Han Li thrust the palm of his hand against the base of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword¡¯s hilt, and it immediately began piercing into the Corpse Wraith¡¯s chest with renewed power while also releasing arcs of Divine Devilbane Lightning.
The Corpse Wraith howled like a wounded animal as its entire body stiffened before toppling backward.
Its chest had beenpletely charred ck, and there were plumes of nauseating ck smoke rising up from the wound.
Han Li instantly darted over to the Corpse Wraith, aiming to deal the finishing blow before it had a chance to get back up, but all of a sudden, a burst of purple light shed through the Corpse Wraith¡¯s eyes, and its body disintegrated into a plume of smoke right before Han Li was able tond his attack.
Han Li¡¯s heart jolted slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly darted back in retreat.
Right at this moment, the Corpse Wraith¡¯s body reverted back to a substantial form, and it reappeared right behind Han Li before thrusting its ws toward the back of his chest.
Thankfully, its speed was significantly hampered by the time spirit domain, so Han Li was able to easily evade the attack before swiveling around and shing his sword toward his assant.
Dozens of arcs of golden lightning sprang out of the sword, then intertwined with each other to form a golden lightning, which cut off all possible avenues of retreat for the Corpse Wraith.
A loud, metallic ng rang out as the sword struck the Corpse Wraith on the head, and its entire body was inundated by golden lightning.
Countless arcs of golden lightning sprang forth in all directions as plumes of ck smoke rose up incessantly.
The Corpse Wraith howled in agony as its body was being rapidly charred ck, but its aura didn¡¯t weaken in the slightest, so it was clear that this wasn¡¯t going to be anywhere near enough to kill it.
Right as Han Li was about to summon a few more Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords to help his cause, the Corpse Wraith¡¯s body disintegrated once again before fleeing into the icy ground.
Plumes of dense, ck baleful qi began to converge from all directions beneath theyer of ice, then surged into the Corpse Wraith¡¯s body in a frenzy.
As a result, all of the injuries that the Corpse Wraith had sustained from Han Li¡¯s Divine Devilbane Lightning were quickly healed.
Han Li¡¯s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he took a step forward, then abruptly vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, he appeared directly above the Corpse Wraith, then swung his sword upon its head.
A resounding boom rang out as the ice on the ground exploded, and the Corpse Wraith darted out like a slippery eel, taking on a substantial form once again as it pounced at Han Li.
Han Li raised his sword to keep it bay, but itpletely disregarded the Divine Devilbane Lightning as it grabbed onto the sword with both hands, then opened its mouth up wide and let loose a shrill shriek.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li¡¯s heart upon seeing this, and he immediately held his breath while also cutting off his five senses, but he had reacted just a split second toote.
A plume of dark purple corpse baleful qi shot forth like an arrow before striking him in the face, instantly causing his face to go numb.
Immediately thereafter, he felt a burst of burning pain in his throat and airways, and his eyes also became extremely sore and dry, causing his vision to blur.
He gritted his teeth against the difort as he injected his immortal spiritual power into his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, unleashing a powerful eruption of Divine Devilbane LIghtning to force back the Corpse Wraith.
At the same time, he darted back in retreat before moving back and forth throughout the hall, ensuring that he was constantly in motion.
The Corpse Wraith immediately pounced at him once again, pursuing him intently as it attempted to tear him to shreds.
At this moment, Han Li¡¯s five senses were sealed, so he could only track the Corpse Wraith with his spiritual sense while continuing to take evasive measures.
Somehow, despite the effects of the time spirit domain, the Corpse Wraith was bing faster and faster, and before long, it had managed to tear several gashes into Han Li¡¯s robes.
Right at this moment, the Corpse Wraith suddenly split up into five identical figures.
All of a sudden, Han Li could detect five identical auras in his spiritual sense, and his brows immediately furrowed slightly. His eyes has been infiltrated by corpse baleful qi, so he was unable to use his Infernal Devilish Eyes to determine which of the five figures was the real Corpse Wraith.
The five Corpse Wraiths formed an encirclement around Han Li before darting at him in unison, and all of them had their ws aimed at different vital regions on his body.
Regardless of which direction Han Li chose to flee in, he would inevitably be intercepted by one of the Corpse Wraiths, following which the others would also get to him.
In this dire situation, a burst of radiant golden light abruptly erupted out of his body, and the five Corpse Wraiths were instantly rooted to the spot roughly ten feet away from Han Li as the golden light washed over them.
At the same time, Han Li opened his mouth, and a cloud of corpse baleful qi erupted out of his mouth before mming into the ground, where it exploded.
The purple mist on his face immediately faded, and bright purple light appeared in his eyes as he cast his gaze toward the five surrounding Corpse Wraiths.
In doing so, he discovered that one of the Corpse Wraiths had several times the amount of baleful qi in its bodypared with the others, and he immediately aimed the tip of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword at that Corpse Wraith¡¯s dantian.
A ball of golden lightning then quickly took shape at the tip of the sword before beingunched through the air, and a thick pir of golden lightning emerged, instantly inundating the Corpse Wraith¡¯s entire body.
The entire blue hall shuddered violently, and the four other Corpse Wraiths disintegrated in rapid session, leaving only the Corpse Wraith that had been struck by Han Li¡¯s Lightningwield Technique, still suspended in mid-air from the effects of the True Mantra Axis.
Chapter 661: Body of the Large-headed Child
Chapter 661: Body of the Large-headed Child
What a pain in the backside...
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly as he watched the Corpse Wraith re-emerge while the lightning faded.
The Corpse Wraith didn''t possess any intelligence, but its physical constitution wasn''t inferior to that of a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal, and Han Li''s Lightningwield Technique had inflicted severe injuries upon it, but wasn''t enough to kill it.
Given the current circumstances, he couldn''t afford to waste much time here.
Right as he was considering summoning the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword that had been nurtured for the longest time in his Profound Heavenly Gourd or releasing the Essence Fire Raven to incinerate the Corpse Wraith, Mo Guang''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Fellow Daoist Han, while it''s true that this thing possesses simr attributes to ghostly creatures, its high cultivation base grants it some resistance against lightning and fire-attribute attacks, so it won''t be easy for you to take it down. How about you leave it to me instead?"
"You have a way to kill this thing?" Han Li asked.
"Indeed. I just so happen to know where its fatal weaknesses are, and if you leave it to me, I can kill it in a very short time," Mo Guang replied.
Han Li considered Mo Guang''s proposal for a moment, following which a floral design appeared on the middle and index fingers of his right hand.
A door of light that was around ten feet tall then appeared beside him, and at the same time, Han Li swept his left hand through the air, stowing his Mantra Treasured Axis away up his sleeve.
With the Mantra Treasured Axis gone, the Corpse Wraith instantly regained its mobility, and it continued to charge forward, aiming directly at Han Li''s be.
Right at this moment, a ck figure shot out of the door of silver light, and it appeared before the Corpse Wraith in a sh, then reached out with one hand. There was baleful qi swirling around the hand, and it was thrust straight through the point where the Corpse Wraith''s chest and abdomen were connected.
The ck figure was none other than Mo Guang, and at this moment, his hand was protruding out of the other side of the Corpse Wraith''s body with a fist-sized chunk of ck flesh sped within it.
The chunk of flesh resembled a heart, but had seven orifices, and it was pulsing rhythmically as if it were breathing.
"The fatal weakness of a Corpse Wraith does not lie in its dantian, its head, or its heart. Instead, it lies in this thing, which is known as a baleful embryo. It''s through this thing that it was able to gather baleful qi and be a Corpse Wraith. However, it''s also exactly because of this that the baleful embryo is particrly vulnerable to baleful qi attacks," Mo Guang exined as he slowly withdrew his hand.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the Corpse Wraith''s body disintegrated into countless dark purple sand-like granules before dissipating into a cloud of ck smoke.
"What do you n to do with this baleful embryo, Fellow Daoist Han?" Mo Guang asked.
"You slew the Corpse Wraith, so its baleful embryo naturally goes to you," Han Li replied.
Mo Guang gave a nod of gratitude, then crushed the baleful embryo into powder to reveal a longan-sized bead inside.
Before Han Li had a chance to catch a clear glimpse of the object, Mo Guang had already tossed it into his own mouth before swallowing it.
"If you don''t need anything else from me, then I''ll go back to seclusion," Mo Guang said.
"Thanks for your help," Han Li replied with a nod.
With that, Mo Guang stepped back into the door of silver light, then returned to the main building, where he sat down with his legs crossed atop his cushion.
Shortly thereafter, the door of silver light gradually faded at Han Li''s behest, and he promptly swallowed a pill, then took a moment to rest and recuperate before continuing to make his way deeper into the hall.
Upon reaching the staircase that led to the third floor of the pagoda, he released his spiritual sense to scour its entrance.
Ren Hao had chosen the second path, so he should''ve entered this pagoda as well, yet Han Li hadn''t been able to detect his presence at all on the way here, and that was very strange.
Could it be that he didn''t enter this pagoda?
After conducting a brief inspection, Han Li didn''t discover anything amiss, and only then did he make his way up the staircase.
Upon reaching the third floor, Han Li spotted an antiquated screen not far up ahead. The scenic painting on the screen was also severely faded, with only a faint outline remaining.
The surface of the screen was also riddled with gashes, and there were many cracks and sword marks even on the frame of the screen, so it was a small miracle that it was even standing at all.
Han Li took a step forward, then stopped in his tracks for a moment as his expression changed ever so slightly, only to continue onward as if nothing had happened.
As he reached the screen, he was able to see several wooden shelves littered throughout the room through the gashes on the screen. The shelves wereden with all types of vases and books, and it seemed that this had once been a study.
However, only after making his way around the screen did he discover that there were close to a hundred of these shelves, but most of them had already beenpletely destroyed, and the ones that he had seen through the screen were the only ones that remained standing.
Han Li slowly made his way through the toppled shelves, then picked up one of the books that was still rtively intact, and inscribed on the cover of the book was the title "Metal Stone Journal".
He briefly flipped through the pages of the book to discover that it wasn''t a cultivation art or secret technique at all. Instead, it was a book dedicated to cataloging different metals and minerals.
After that, he flipped through a few more books, only to discover that they were also just ordinary misceneous books.
It looks like whoever was living here had a very broad range of interests...
Han Li continued onward, passing through a series of doors before reaching the deepest point on the third floor.
As soon as he stepped through the final door, he immediately felt a burst of formidable timew power fluctuations surging toward him.
He cast his gaze forward to discover a blue pond with a radius of around two hundred to three hundred feet, and the water in the pond was extremely clear.
The term "waters of time" immediately sprang into Han Li''s mind upon seeing this.
Why are the timew power fluctuations so potent here? Could it be that this pond is filled entirely with the waters of time?
Intrigued by this discovery, Han Li carefully searched through the pond with his spiritual sense, upon which he discovered that aside from just timew power fluctuations, there was also a burst of immense vitality present within the pond.
He strode over to the pond before peering over its edge, and only then did he discover that there was a body floating on the surface of the water.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes at the sight of the body.
The body was no more than five feet tall, and it was as thin as a reed stick, but had an extraordinarilyrge neck that made it appear extremely disproportionate, as if it could sink headfirst into the water at any moment.
However, the body was floating on the surface of the water in apletely still and stable fashion, and it looked as if it were fast asleep.
The body was identical in appearance to the statue that Han Li had seen earlier at the entrance of the Water Divination Pagoda.
Furthermore, it was perfectly preserved without any signs of damage, but it waspletely devoid of aura fluctuations. It looked as if it had only perished not long ago, and it was in vastly better condition than the dposed bodies that Han Li had seen earlier.
Han Li turned his attention from the body to the water beside it, upon which he noticed a blue shield that was around two feet in size. The shield was shimmering brightly and had a series ofplex patterns etched all over its surface.
No more than a few inches away from the badge was a blue crystalline flute that was also floating on the water. Hanging from one end of the flute was an intricate-looking tassel that had been fashioned out of seven or eight bamboo leaves.
The two objects were brimming with spiritual qi, and the ravages of time didn''t seem to have affected them at all. Furthermore, both of them were giving off formidable timew power fluctuations, indicating that they were powerful time-attribute immortal treasures.
Instead of immediately reaching out to grab the two objects, Han Li turned slightly to the side, sneaking a nce at a round stone pir situated in the northwestern corner of the hall with faint purple light shing in his eyes.
Somehow, Ren Hao had managed to fuse as one with that pir, and his aura had almost beenpletely concealed.
Thanks to the progress that Han Li had made in the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, his spiritual sense had be even more sensitive than before, so he was able to detect Ren Hao''s aura fluctuations as soon as he stepped onto the third floor, but he was unable to ascertain exactly where he was.
At the same time, he knew that Ren Hao had to have spotted him as well, so he had put on an oblivious act, pretending not to have noticed Ren Hao at all.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly raised an eyebrow, then abruptly vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, hended on one of the horizontal beams up above, thenpletely restrained his own aura and spiritual sense fluctuations, and it was as if he had vanished into thin air.
Shortly thereafter, Feng Qingyuan emerged from the stairwell, and he slowly made his way into the hall with a slightly tense expression.
As he passed through the copsed shelves, he briefly flipped through some of the pages strewn all over the floor, just as Han Li had done, only to also toss them aside upon realizing that none of them were very useful.
As he did this, the tension in his eyes seemed to have faded a little, but he was walking even slower than before.
Chapter 662: Bait
Chapter 662: Bait
Feng Qingyuan appeared to be moving in a casual fashion, but in reality, he was on high alert, covertly scanning his surroundings while also releasing his spiritual sense to epass the entire hall.
However, Han Li and Ren Hao were too well-concealed for him to detect anything.
All of a sudden, Feng Qingyuan sped up in his footsteps, rushing over to the pond in the deepest part of the hall in a sh, and from there, he immediately spotted teh blue shield and the blue flute.
A hint of greed shed through his eyes at the sight of the two immortal treasures, but just like Han Li, he also refrained from taking them.
He had seen Ren Hao make his way down this path, and on the way here, he had noticed some clear signs of battle on the second floor, so it clearly didn''t make sense for there to be no one on the third floor.
"I can see where you are, Fellow Daoist Ren. Why don''t youe out to meet me?" Feng Qingyuan suddenly dered.
Han Li reflexively cast his gaze toward the stone pir that Ren Hao was concealed in upon hearing this, and he could see that Ren Hao had no intention of revealing himself, so he knew that Feng Qingyuan had to have been merely bluffing.
As Feng Qingyuan''s voice trailed off, the hall fell into silence once again.
Feng Qingyuan''s brows furrowed slightly in the wake of his failed bluff, and after some extensive contemtion, he was unable to suppress the greed in his heart as he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a golden eight-armed puppet.
The puppet sprang onto the surface of the pond at his behest, darting over the water like an agile spider as it reached out for the pair of blue immortal treasures.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he intently scrutinized the golden puppet, preparing to take the immortal treasures from the puppet as soon as they fell into its grasp.
However, right as the golden puppet was about to grab onto the pair of immortal treasures, the still surface of the pond suddenly began to ripple violently, following which a blue figure shot out of the water, sending the golden puppet flying.
A resounding ng rang out as the golden puppet fell heavily onto the edge of the pond.
Immediately thereafter, arge blue foot stomped down onto its chest. The golden puppet wasparable in power to ate-True Immortal cultivator, yet it was unable to pose any resistance as its core crumbled under the foot of its assant.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and Feng Qingyuan had already shot back to over a thousand feet away in retreat. At the same time, a red oil paper umbre had appeared in his grasp as he cast a wary gaze forward.
The foot that had stomped down onto the puppet''s chest belonged to a creature with the head of a fish, but the body of a man, and its skin was covered in shimmering scales. Its aura was undetectable, but it was giving off extremely formidable timew power fluctuations.
A hint of remorse appeared in Feng Qingyuan''s eyes at the sight of the creature, and he took a nce at the stairwell out of the corner of his eyes as he nned his escape.
However, before he had a chance to do anything, the humanoid fish creature opened its mouth to reveal two rows of sharp teeth, then let loose a silent roar.
Immediately thereafter, its body disintegrated into a cloud of blue mist, which surged directly toward Feng Qingyuan, who instantly opened his oil paper umbre for protection.
Wisps of crimson light emerged from the umbre, epassing his entire body to form a ball of crimson light, which sped away toward the stairwell.
However, the cloud of blue mist was able to keep up with him with ease, and it reached the stairwell in the blink of an eye beforepletely inundating the ball of red light.
A strangled cry of agony rang out from within the blue cloud, followed by the sound of something crashing to the ground, which was, in turn, followed byplete silence.
Shortly thereafter, the blue cloud reverted back into the humanoid fish creature, and it jumped back into the pond, paying no heed to the pair of immortal treasures in the process.
All that remained at the stairwell was a body that resembled a shriveled prune, and a tattered oil paper umbre that waspletely devoid of spiritual qi.
Han Li was astonished to see this.
Right at this moment, a purple figure emerged at the entrance of the third floor, and it was none other than Feng Lin.
Han Li hurriedly concealed himself once again upon seeing this, and Feng Lin slowly made her way into the hall, then took an indifferent nce at Feng Qingyuan''s body, seeminglypletely unsurprised by what she was seeing.
"Are you two hoping that I would also provoke that creature on my own? I''m afraid I''m not quite as foolish as Yuan Feng. Come out now, I know where you are," Feng Lin said as she nced at the spots where Han Li and Ren Hao were hiding.
At this moment, there was ayer of purple light shing over Feng Lin''s eyes, and Han Li was very surprised to see that not only was she also cultivating the Infernal Devilish Eyes, her level of mastery in the ocr technique was superior even to his.
Furthermore, her disposition had changed drastically. Gone was her former gentle and seductive demeanor, and in its ce was the cold and regal aura of a detached queen.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li emerged from his hiding spot, and Ren Hao also followed suit.
"That was not our intention at all, Fellow Daoist Feng. That Feng Lin was nothing more than a reckless fool who''s unworthy of traveling with us. In contrast, I hold a great deal of admiration for you and Fellow Daoist Li," Ren Hao said with a smile.
Han Li took an expressionless nce at Ren Hao and didn''t say anything.
"Speak up! The treasures are right in front of us, so how about we join forces to kill that thing? As for who gets the treasures, that''ll be decided by our abilities," Feng Lin harrumphed coldly.
"I''m fine with that. That fish thing has some tricks up its sleeve, but it''s definitely no match for all three of us," Ren Hao agreed with a nod, while Han Li continued to remain silent.
"Do you not agree to this proposal, or do you have a better way to proceed, Fellow Daoist Li?" Feng Lin asked as she turned to Han Li.
"I have no objections with joining forces, but before that, would the two of you be able to enlighten me on exactly what that creature is? I''m afraid I''m not very knowledgeable in such matters," Han Li said.
The humanoid fish creature waspletely different from the average cultivator in that it seemed to be some type of being formed by spiritual power.
"I''m afraid I don''t have an answer to that," Feng Lin said with a shake of her head, while Ren Hao also shook his head, expressing the same sentiment.
Han Li was a little disappointed to hear this.
With the n established, Han Li''s trio briefly discussed some strategy, then collectively darted toward the blue pond from three different directions.
Ren Hao was the fastest of the three, reaching the pond in a sh before reaching out to make a grabbing motion with one hand.
A blue beastly w the size of house instantly appeared above the pond, and the w aws brimming with immense power as it made a grab for the blue shield in the pond.
The blue fish creature emerged from the pond once again, and it raised a hand to summon a blue staff, which struck the beastly w with a resounding thump.
The beastly w was instantly destroyed upon contact, but Ren Hao didn''t appear all that surprised to see this as he quickly made a hand seal.
The giant blue sword behind him instantly rose up into the sky as a streak of blue light at his behest, and it swelled drastically to over a thousand feet in size before crashing down upon the blue fish creature.
The sound of turbulent waves rang out in the nearby space, and the air became incredibly heavy.
Meanwhile, Feng Lin had also sprung into action, raising a hand to release a burst of ck light, which transformed into a giant ck gate.
The gate was over a hundred feet tall and twenty to thirty feet wide, and it seemed to be covered in dried blood.
There was a pair of dark purple rings on the gate, and a pair of fearsome devilish deities were engraved onto its surface.
Boundless devilish qi was surging out of the giant gate, and Feng Lin chanted an incantation before opening her mouth to release a ball of blood essence that fused into the gate.
The eyes of the devilish deities engraved onto the gate instantly began to glow red, and they opened their mouths in unison to release two bursts of crimson light, which transformed into a pair ofrge crimson hands that grabbed onto the purple rings before wrenching the gate open.
The sound of ghostly howls instantly rang out from beyond the gate, and a thick pir of ck light erupted out from within, hurtling directly toward the blue fish creature.
The ck light churned as it took on the form of a series of human and beastly faces, all of which were twisted in agony and howling in torment.
Meanwhile, Han Li had also arrived at the pond, and he was instantly struck by a sense of difort in the face of the pir of ck light, forcing him to channel his Spirit Refinement Technique to clear his own mind.
He took a brief nce at Feng Lin, then swept a sleeve through the air to release three small, azure swords, all of which instantly swelled drastically in size as thick arcs of golden lightning emerged over them.
Chapter 663: Joining Forces
Chapter 663: Joining Forces
Han Li began to chant an incantation while sweeping a sleeve through the air, and the three giant azure swords hurtled directly toward the humanoid fish creature with golden lightning crackling all around them.
In the face of all of the oing attacks, a fierce look appeared on the creature''s face as it swept its staff through the air, unleashing countless blue staff projections around itself, forming a light barrier to withstand the assault.
It was unclear whether Han Li''s trio was actually going all out, but in the face of these relentless waves of attacks, even the average early-High Zenith cultivator would''ve already been overwhelmed.
A string of earth-shattering explosions rang out, and the barrier of staff projections was rapidly whittled down before copsingpletely.
The staff in the humanoid fish creature''s hand was also shattered, but in the next instant, an antiquated blue fishing rod appeared in its grasp, with an extremely thin and fragile-looking blue line attached to it.
The creature swung the rod through the air, and the line immediately began to spin rapidly around it, conjuring up waves of blue light in its wake.
The space around the creature began to warp, forming a series of rapidly revolving blue vortexes, and the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords came crashing down upon the vortexes to release a vast eruption of golden lightning, but the lightning was instantly devoured upon contact.
As for the vortexes, they merely shuddered slightly before returning to a stable state.
Han Li felt as if his three swords had struck a vast sea, and the tremendous power that they possessed waspletely devoured by the boundless seawater, therebypletely nullifying them.
Almost at the exact same time, the giant blue sword summoned by Ren Hao also struck the blue vortexes with tremendous force, only to also bepletely nullified.
Meanwhile, the pir of ck light that had erupted out of the ck gate had also been withstood by the blue vortexes, but Feng Lin seemed to have already anticipated that this would happen, and she quickly made a hand seal, upon which a series of silver spirit patterns appeared on the giant ck gate.
Immediately thereafter, countless silver runes erupted out of the gate before fusing into the pir of ck light, causing it to turn semi-transparent.
A dull thump rang out, and with some difficulty, the pir of ck light was able to pierce through the blue vortexes before inundating the humanoid fish creature.
A pained look immediately appeared on the creature''s face, and its movements also appeared to have been severely inhibited.
Feng Lin made another hand seal, and a giant figure with devilish qi swirling around its body abruptly sprang out of the pir of ck light.
The devilish creature was around a hundred feet tall and extremely menacing in appearance, with a pair of curved horns protruding out of its head of crimson hair. Its hands and feet were covered in scales, and it was holding a ck steel trident.
Furthermore, it was giving off an incredibly fearsome aura that instantly filled the entire hall, and even Ren Hao and Han Li couldn''t help but shudder slightly at the sound of its sinister cackling.
All of a sudden, Mo Guang''s rmed voice rang out in his mind.
"This is one of the thirteen devilish kings among our Extrarealm Heavenly Devil Race, the Vyasa King! Be on your guard, Fellow Daoist Han. The Vyasa King is different from normal Extrarealm Heavenly Devils as it doesn''t specialize in using inner demons and illusions to harm others. Instead, it can directly harm the soul of its target, thereby making it very difficult to deal with."
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this.
Right at this moment, Feng Lin let loose a loud cry, and a burst of radiant ck light erupted out of the trident in the Vyasa King''s hands as it was thrust into the humanoid fish creature''s body.
A dull thump rang out as the creature exploded into a cloud of blue mist, and an ted look appeared in Feng Lin''s eyes as a burst of ck qi erupted out of the pir of ck light, then reached out for the pair of treasures in the pond like a giant ck hand.
An urgent look appeared in Ren Hao''s eyes upon seeing this, but with the blue vortexes standing in his way, all he could do was watch.
In contrast, Han Li merely looked on without doing anything.
Right as the pair of treasures was about to be swept up by the burst of ck qi, the cloud of blue mist suddenly converged to reform the humanoid fish creature, and it appeared to bepletely unharmed.
As soon as it reappeared, the creature swung its fishing rod through the air, and the burst of ck qi instantly exploded.
"Impossible!" Feng Lin eximed in an incredulous voice.
This Vyasa Gate was her bonded immortal treasure, and it had taken her an immeasurable amount of time and effort to refine it in ordance with an ancient tool refinement manual that she had obtained from a set of ruins in the Devil Realm.
For this immortal treasure, she had spent virtually all of her savings, but given the treasure''s immense power, it was a decision that she didn''t regret.
Just that pir of Vyasa Devilish Light alone would''ve been enough to harm the soul of a cultivator of same cultivation base as herself, and the Vyasa King projection could stand toe to toe against even a High Zenith cultivator, yet somehow, the humanoid fish creature waspletely unscathed after being struck by both!
Right at this moment, the creature swung its arm through the air again, and the blueeee fishing line swept through the air before intertwining to form a blue, which epassed the Vyasa Gate.
Feng Lin''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and she hurriedly made a rapid string of hand seals.
The Vyasa Gate began to glow with radiant ck light as it trembled violently in an attempt to free itself from the, but the only continued to constrict tighter while pulling the Vasya Gate quickly toward the pond like a floundering fish.
At the same time, two more blue lines shot out of the fishing rod, springing toward Han Li''s three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and Ren Hao''s blue sword.
Having witnessed the power of the fishing line, Han Li immediately sprang into action, and the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords darted back in retreat amid a sh of golden lightning to evade the fishing lines.
Ren Hao also hurriedly summoned his blue sword back to himself, and the two of them exchanged an astonished nce with one another.
The fact that the humanoid fish creature was able to gain the upper hand while facing all three of them at once was nothing short of extraordinary.
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he considered whether eh should use his timew powers. Otherwise, defeating this creature seemed next to impossible.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out from Feng Lin''s direction, and a wave of ck light erupted out of her body, then expanded rapidly in all directions to form a ck spirit domain that instantly epassed the entire hall.
Countless ck devilish shadows were shing within the spirit domain, letting loose harrowing howls of agony.
As soon as the ck spirit domain emerged, it seemed to resonate with the Vyasa Gate, and the ck light radiating from thetter brightened significantly, while the pair of devilish deities engraved upon it also seemed to have sprung to life, letting loose a collective thunderous roar.
An incredibly violent burst of power erupted out of the Vyasa Gate, causing the nearby space to tremble violently, and the gate shuddered to a halt.
Enshrouded within the ck spirit domain, the blue vortexes around the humanoid fish creature dimmed significantly, and Ren Hao''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this as he made a hand seal.
Bright blue light erupted out of his body, then spread outward to form another spirit domain.
Countless blue waves were churning and rumbling incessantly within the spirit domain, and the blue vortexes around the humanoid fish creature dimmed even further.
"Fellow Daoist Li!" Ren Hao yelled as he turned to Han Li, and it was clear what he wanted.
Han Li was rather hesitant to oblige, but in the end, he chose toply, unleashing his own time spirit domain.
Both Ren Hao and Feng Lin were astonished upon sensing the timew power fluctuations within Han Li''s spirit domain.
All of thews of the Great Dao contained the profound secrets of the world, so mastering any single one of them was exceedingly difficult, and this was especially the case for the three paramountws, one of which was thews of time.
Han Li was but a Golden Immortal just like them, yet not only was he cultivating thews of time, it was clear from his spirit domain that he had reached quite a high level of mastery in thews of time, so how could they not be astonished?
Epassed within Han Li''s time spirit domain, the humanoid fish creature was rooted to the spot, and at this point, the blue vortexes around it could barely even be seen at all.
Right at this moment, a fierce look appeared in Han Li''s eyes, and nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew out of his sleeve in rapid session, then collectively swelled drastically in size.
In the next instant, all nine swords came crashing down upon the blue vortexes at his behest.
Ren Hao immediately snapped back to his senses, letting loose a thunderous roar as the giant blue sword beside him shot forth through the air.
At the same time, he began to chant an incantation, and all of the blue wave projections within his spirit domain surged into the blue sword.
As a result, the blue light radiating from the sword brightened even further, and it abruptly vanished into thin air, only to reappear above the blue vortexes just an instantter. At this point, it had already swelled to several thousand feet in size, and it came crashing down right behind Han Li''s nine swords.
Even though Feng Lin''s bonded immortal treasure was still trapped, she also gritted her teeth and swept a sleeve through the air to release a fist-zied ck seal with a ck tiger projection around it.
She then began to chant an incantation as she thrust a palm toward the ck seal, and a thunderous tiger''s roar instantly rang out as the ck tiger projection opened its mouth up wide, causing all of the ck shadows within her spirit domain to surge into the ck seal.
As a result, the seal swelled rapidly in size, reaching the size of a house in the blink of an eye, and it was radiating dazzling ck light as it came crashing down upon the blue vortexes.
Chapter 664: Treachery
Chapter 664: Treachery
A hint of unease finally appeared on the humanoid fish being''s face, and it attempted to swing its blue fishing rod through the air, but its movements were extremely slow and sluggish in Han Li''s time spirit domain, so it was unable to react before the oing attacks struck the blue vortexes around it.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as radiant light of different colors erupted into the heavens, presenting a blinding sight.
The blue vortexes trembled violently, and a series of cracks appeared over them. The cracks quickly spread, following which the vortexes copsed to reveal the humanoid fish being behind them.
"Die!" Feng Lin yelled as she thrust her palms forward, and the ck light radiating from the ck seal brightened even further as it hurtled directly toward the creature.
Ren Hao also let loose a low roar before swinging an arm through the air, sending the giant blue sword crashing down upon the creature.
A hint of panic finally appeared on the humanoid fish creature''s face, and it opened its mouth to release a cloud of dense blue mist, which drifted toward the ck seal and the blue sword while the creature sprang back toward the pond.
At the same time, blue light shed erratically over its body, releasing violent timew power fluctuations, and it was quickly recovering its speed and agility.
"You''re not getting away!" Han Li yelled as he flipped a hand over to summon the small golden lock, then opened his mouth to release a burst of golden light into it.
The lock instantly lit up with dazzling golden radiance, transforming into a ball of golden light that vanished into the time spirit domain in a sh.
In the next instant, a giant golden lock appeared beside the humanoid fish creature amid a sh of golden light, and it locked itself around one of the creature''s arms.
Immediately thereafter, a giant rune emerged from the lock before epassing the creature''s entire body.
Thanks to the support provided by Han Li''s time spirit domain, the rune released by the golden lock was several timesrger than before, and not only was it able to trap the humanoid fish creature, most of the blue mist around the creature was also epassed within it.
Both the humanoid fish creature and the cloud of blue mist were instantly immobilized, and in the next instant, the ck seal and the blue sword came crashing down upon the creature''s body in unison.
A dull thump rang out as the creature''s body exploded into a burst of blue liquid that sttered in all directions.
Much of the blue liquid sttered onto the immortal treasures being wielded by Han Li''s trio, and a sizzling sound instantly rang out as the spiritual light on the surfaces of the three immortal treasures shed erratically, then began to rapidly dim, as if they were being subjected to severe corrosion.
Ren Hao hurriedly withdrew his blue sword to avoid further damage, but right at this moment, Han Li and Feng Lin shot right past him, flying toward the blue pond without any regard for their respective immortal treasures.
Ren Hao also sprang into action upon seeing this, letting loose a loud roar as he shot forward as quickly as he could, but ultimately, he was too slow to react, and at this point, Han Li and Feng Lin had already arrived above the pond.
Feng Lin swept a hand through the air, releasing a burst of ck light to envelop the blue flute, while Han Li released a burst of azure light, which transformed into arge azure hand that grabbed onto the blue shield.
The shield was slightly cool and soft to the touch, but was also quite resilient and sturdy.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes, and he was just about to stow the shield away when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.
The space beside him was rippling slightly, and immediately thereafter, a crimson bead appeared out of thin air.
Han Li''s expression changed drastically as bright golden light erupted out of his body, but before he had a chance to do anything else, an earth-shattering boom rang out as the crimson bead exploded into a crimson sun that was several hundred feet in size,pletely inundating his body.
Bursts of white mes emerged within the crimson sun, and they were giving off incredibly fearsome heat, burning a series of holes into the nearby space.
The time spirit domain that epassed the entire hall instantly vanished, reverting the flow of time in the area back to normal.
A burst of devastating shockwaves spread through the air in all directions, forming ferocious gusts of wind, and the entire hall trembled violently, but managed to remain standing.
The hall had to have been constructed out of some type of exceptionally sturdy material, considering it had survived everything that had transpired up to this point.
A ball of blue light tumbled through the air, and it was none other than the blue shield.
Ren Hao rushed over to the shield in a sh, then grabbed onto it with an ecstatic expression.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Feng Lin yelled in a cold voice as she darted away to avoid being caught up in the crimson sun.
At the same time, the ck seal and the Vyasa Gate shot back through the air before circling around above her head.
With the humanoid fish creature in, the threads of blue light that were trapping hte Vyasa Gate had vanished.
"What am I doing? I''m iming this treasure, of course!" Ren Hao chuckled coldly as he opened his mouth to release a ball of blue light, which carried the blue shield into his body.
"That was a Nine Destructions me Bead just now! I''ve heard that it''s capable of killing even High Zenith cultivators. Looks like I underestimated you," Feng Lin said in a cold voice as she took a wary nce at the raging crimson sun.
Having been struck by such a powerful weapon, Han Li was most likely already dead.
"Of course I had to have some trump cards up my sleeve for this foray into the True Mantra Sect ruins. I''m sure you also have simr treasures in your possession, you''re simply saving them for another time," Ren Hao chuckled.
"We agreed to join forces against that creature, then let our abilities decide who gets to im the two treasures in the pond, yet you''ve betrayed our agreement and attacked your own ally! As expected, the Robe Change Order is filled with treacherous scum!" Feng Lin spat in a cold voice.
"This is how things should be. I don''t feel safe traveling with someone capable of wielding timew powers, and only by killing him can I ensure that you and I won''t be under threat from him, wouldn''t you agree? Besides, he deserved what he got. If he had been more powerful than me, then he would''ve been well within his rights to kill me instead," Ren Hao scoffed with a disdainful expression.
Right at this moment, a cold voice rang out from within the crimson sun.
"Is that right? In that case, I''ll take you up on that offer."
Ren Hao and Feng Lin''s expressions changed drastically upon hearing this, with the former disying a particrly strong reaction.
Right at this moment, Han Li emerged from the crimson sunpletely unscathed, and even his robes hadn''t been damaged at all.
His Mantra Treasured Axis was slowly revolving behind him, and the entire area within a radius of roughly ten feet around his body was enshrouded within a series of golden ripples.
In the face of the golden ripples, all of the surrounding fearsome white mes fellpletely still, and only after he passed them by did the mes revert back to normal.
Ren Hao stared at Han Li with an astonished expression for a moment, then fled toward the stairwell as a blue shadow.
A cold sneer appeared on Han Li''s face as he instantly released his time spirit domain to epass the entire hall, and Ren Hao''s escape immediately slowed down to a crawl.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li appeared in front of him amid a sh of golden lightning, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The nine swordsbined into a single giant azure sword at his behest, and he swung the sword down upon Ren Hao with tremendous power.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as Ren Hao shot back like a cannonball before crashing heavily into a wall, causing the entire hall to tremble violently.
He immediately scrambled to his feet with a horrified look on his face, having donned a suit of blue armor that consisted of countless blue scales.
He was also wearing a helmet that resembled a dragon''s head, while his limbs were sheathed in protective armor that resembled dragon ws. It was as if he had suddenly transformed into a blue dragon.
The nostrils on the helmet were dting and contracting incessantly as if they were breathing, and the entire suit of armor was giving off an incredibly formidable draconic aura.
However, there was currently arge gash on the shoulder of the suit of armor, clearly having just been inflicted by Han Li''s sword strike.
"That''s the Dragon Battle Armor of the ck Soil Immortal Region''s Holy Dragon Pce!" Feng Lin eximed at the sight of the suit of blue armor, and a hint of surprise appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
Upon arriving in the ck Soil Immortal Region, he had been reading extensively to learn as much as he could about the immortal region, and during the process, he was able to umte a great deal of knowledge pertaining to all of the major sects in the immortal region.
The Holy Dragon Pce was one such sect, and it was founded by a formidable cultivator who carried a true dragon bloodline. Hence, the dragon was a symbol of reverence for the sect, which ranked among the top five sects of the ck Soil Immortal Region.
Furthermore, the Holy Dragon Pce excelled in refining all types of immortal treasures and armor, and in particr, the armor that it produced wasn''t inferior evenpared with the armor refined by the Hundred Creations Mountain.
During a conversation with Daoist Master Jingyang in which they had discussed matters rted to tool refinement, Daoist Master Jingyang had mentioned this sect with a great deal of praise and respect.
As it turned out, the armor of the Holy Dragon Pce truly did live up to its resounding reputation, allowing Ren Hao to survive that all-out sword strike from Han Li.
"You think a mere suit of armor will be enough to save your life?" Han Li sneered, and instead of immediately pouncing at Ren Hao, he remained still on the spot as nine balls of light of different colors erupted out of his body, then took on the form of a series of true spirit projections.
In addition to Han Li''s previous collection of true spirit bloodlines, he now also possessed the Nightmare Dragon bloodline, which he had obtained from Qu Ling.
After ying Qu Ling, Han Li had taken her body, and while traversing through the primordialnd, he had taken the time to refine Qu Ling''s Nightmare Dragon bloodline and integrate it into his own body.
All of a sudden, all of the true spirit projections vanished into Han Li''s body at his behest, and in the next instant, he transformed into a purplish-golden devilish deity with three heads and six arms.
With a flick of his wrist, nine timew threads shot forth before fusing into the giant azure sword in his grasp, and a row of golden runes instantly appeared on its surface.
The nearby world''s origin qi shuddered, then converged to form countless specks of five-colored light that surged toward the giant sword from all directions, drastically enhancing its already formidable aura.
Chapter 665: Pleasant Surprise
Chapter 665: Pleasant Surprise
All of the color was drained from Ren Hao''s face at the sight of Han Li''s astonishing disy of power, and he hurriedly fled the scene as a blue shadow.
At the same time, he swept a sleeve through the air to release seven or eight glowing immortal treasures, filling the entire hall before hurtling toward the devilish deity from all directions, ensuring that there was no way for Han Li could get to him through the immortal treasures.
However, Han Li waspletely unconcerned as he swept an arm through the air, releasing a vast expanse of green light that swept up all of the immortal treasure.
The spiritual light emanating from the immortal treasures instantly faded, and all that remained were the immortal treasures themselves, suspended in mid-air within the green light like fish caught in a.
With another sweep of Han Li''s arm, all of the immortal treasures vanished along with the green light, and all of this had taken ce in an instant.
An incredulous look appeared on Ren Hao''s face upon seeing this.
After stowing the immortal treasures away, Han Li took a step forward, instantly vanishing from the spot.
In the next instant, he appeared right in Ren Hao''s path, blocking his path of escape as he swung down his giant azure sword.
Enshrouded within the time spirit domain, Ren Hao was far slower than Han Li, and there was no way for him to escape.
"Curse you!" Ren Hao roared in a desperate voice as a hint of despair surfaced in his eyes, and heshed out with his giant blue sword.
The two swords shed, and the azure sword was able to slice its counterpart into two with ease, then continued onward without pause to strike Ren Hao with immense power.
Ren Hao''s eyes opened up wide as he opened his mouth to release a burst of blood essence into his suit of armor, and at the same time, he injected all of the immortal spiritual power in his body into his armor as well.
The suit of armor instantly began to glow radiantly, and a blue film of light simr to Han Li''s True Extreme Film emerged to oppose the azure sword.
However, the giant azure sword possessed unmatched power, and it was able to quickly slice through the blue membrane of light before striking the suit of armor, where it drew to a halt for a split second before slicing into the armor as well.
"No! You''re going to regret this!" Ren Hao howled in a despairing voice as his body exploded into countless scraps of flesh and blood.
The tremendous sword qi of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had infiltrated his body and detonated it from the inside.
On top of that, his nascent soul had also beenpletely destroyed by the sword qi, while the suit of blue armor had exploded into countless pieces as well.
Han Li made a beckoning motion with one hand, plucking out a shimmering blue storage ring from Ren Hao''s remains, then reverted back to his human form in the blink of an eye, while the giant azure sword also split back up into nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords before vanishing into his body.
A hint of wariness emerged in Feng Lin''s eyes as she gazed upon Han Li, but Han Li didn''t even bother to look at her as he turned his gaze to the body of therge-headed child instead.
He didn''t have to expend much of his energy in killing Ren Hao, but senseless battle was still something that he wanted to avoid, so he had no intention of fighting over the flute with Feng Lin, and his attention was instead turned to the body floating in the pond.
He was aware of who this child was, so even during his battles against the humanoid fish creature and Ren Hao, he had been keeping an eye on the body this entire time, but he didn''t notice anything amiss during his observation.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li reached out to make a grabbing motion, and a burst of azure light surged out of his sleeve, gently enveloping the child''s body before slowly dragging it out of the pond.
All of a sudden, the body elerated without any warning, arriving before Han Li in an instant. Itsrge head was almost in direct contact with Han Li''s forehead, while the tip of its nose was on the verge of reaching Han Li''s chin.
Under normal circumstances, Han Li would''ve been able to react in a timely fashion, btu for some reason, the body''s movements were extremely strange and also seemed to be imbued with some type of timew powers, catching himpletely off guard.
Immediately thereafter, the body''s eyelids shuddered slightly before its eyes sprang open, and it observed Han Li momentarily through a pair of blue eyes, then abruptly opened its mouth to release a ball of blue light toward him.
The ball of blue light struck him on the be, and he felt as if a thunderp had exploded in his consciousness, causing his ears to ring incessantly.
Before he had a chance to inspect his own internal condition, the body uttered the phrase "kill Qi Mozi", following which its eyes and mouth fell shut again.
Immediately thereafter, countless thin cracks that were glowing with blue light emerged over the body, and it began to shatter like a piece of porcin before disintegrating into a cloud of blue smoke that dissipated into nothingness in an instant.
Han Li shuddered as he snapped back to his senses, and he felt as if he had just awoken from a dream.
Meanwhile, Feng Lin was standing several thousand feet away, looking on with a perplexed expression. From her perspective, Han Li seemed to have experienced a moment of disorientation after bending down, and she had no idea what had happened after that.
However, when she turned to look into the pond again, she was surprised to discover that the body of therge-headed child had vanished.
Right at this moment, the sound of sshing rang out from within the pond, and Feng Lin noticed that a vortex that was around half a foot wide had taken shape within it.
The vortex swept up all of the blue liquid in the pond, sending it rapidly funneling downward, and the pond was almostpletely emptied in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was right beside the pond, and he reacted very quickly, hurriedly making a grabbing motion to conjure up arge azure hand that scooped up a ball of blue water from the bottom of the pond.
However, that was all that he managed to scoop up before the remaining water in the pond waspletely funneled away.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh as he flipped a hand over to produce a white jade vial, then deposited the blue water into it before stowing the vial away in his storage bracelet.
He then took a nce at the bottom of the pond to discover that there were thousands of fist-sized blue rocks embedded into its surface, and they were giving off abundant spiritual qi. They contained now powers, but they were clearly some type of exceptional water-attribute material.
"There are still some water-attribute materials left in this ce. How about we split them among ourselves and avoid further battle, Fellow Daoist Feng?" Han Li proposed as he turned to Feng Lin with a smile.
"That would be best," Feng Lin replied with a smile of her own.
With that, both of them sprang into action, collecting the water-attribute materials in the pond and the rest of the hall.
After that, the two of them conducted a thorough search through the three-story pagoda, and only after ensuring that there was nothing else of value to be taken did they exit the pagoda together.
"I''m nning to keep going down this path. Would you like to apany me, Fellow Daoist Feng?" Han Li asked as he cast his gaze toward the area beyond the pagoda, which was enshrouded in mist.
"I''ll pass. I''m nning to return the same way I came and go down one of the other paths," Feng Lin replied.
After witnessing Han Li''s powers, she had be very apprehensive of him, so she naturally didn''t dare to apany him any longer.
Of course, this was precisely the response that Han Li wanted, so he made no effort to keep her.
"In that case, this is where we part ways. Take care, Fellow Daoist Feng."
Following Feng Lin''s departure, Han Li directed his spiritual sense deep into his own consciousness to conduct a close inspection.
At this moment, all was calm and tranquil in his consciousness, but there was a ball of blue light hovering within it.
As soon as Han Li''s spiritual sense made contact with the ball of blue light, it immediately transformed into a screen of blue light that was rippling incessantly, and there was a passage of text consisting of thousands of golden characters on the screen.
Han Li discovered that this was the full nine-part cultivation art of the Water Divination Time Arts, two more than what he had received from the Vast Flow Pce.
Enclosed after the cultivation art were some of the insights that therge-headed child had gleaned while cultivating the Water Divination Time Arts, and that by itself was over three thousand characters in length.
After Han Li memorized everything, the screen of blue light faded away along with the golden characters inscribed upon it.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes as a hint of tion shed through them, but given his current circumstances, this was naturally not the right time to be studying the cultivation art.
With that in mind, he continued to make his way deeper down the path.
Beyond the pagoda was a sparse forest that was also filled with the same mist that impeded both visibility and spiritual sense, so Han Li had no choice but to progress slowly through the area.
Thankfully, the trip proved to be quite uneventful, and all Han Li encountered along the way were some bodies belonging to True Mantra Sect and Heavenly Court cultivators.
After traveling for around six hours, the surrounding vegetation became even sparser, but the mist up ahead had be even denser.
Upon emerging from the forest, Han Li discovered that there was a giant lotus pond that was over ten thousand feet in radius up ahead, and the water in the pond resembled rippling green jade.
White mist was surging incessantly over the pond, and there were numerous pink and white lotus flowers littered over its surface, presenting a breathtaking sight to behold.
Unfortunately, Han Li was in no mood for sightseeing, and he was just about to pass over the pond when he suddenly spotted something and drew to a halt.
Interesting... No wonder the world''s origin qi is so abundant here.
Chapter 666: Translucent Lotus Flower
Chapter 666: Translucent Lotus Flower
Han Li hovered in mid-air as he carefully observed the pond below for a moment, and he discovered that the lotus flowers on the pond appeared to be distributed in apletely haphazard fashion, but in reality, they were arranged into arge array.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he descended onto the pond, then looked down with his Infernal Devilish Eye, which allowed him to see the distribution of lotus flowers over the pond with even greater rity.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he swept a hand through the air, releasing a burst of silver mes that transformed into a silver fire raven, which flew in a circle around the pond, and all of the lotus pads in the pond were instantly set alight.
Within mere moments, all of the lotus pads in the pond had been incinerated into ashes by the Essence Fire Raven, and the pond had bepletely barren and lifeless.
Even so the dense white mist over the pond refused to dissipate, and the lotus flowers also still remained.
This seemed to havee as no surprise to Han Li, and he made a beckoning motion to summon the Essence Fire Raven back to himself.
Upon flying back to Han Li, the fire raven transformed into a tiny silver figure that skipped its way onto his shoulder.
The silver figure then began to look around with a perplexed expression, wondering why Han Li had instructed it to burn down all of the lotus flowers in the pond, but not finish the job.
If it had been granted just a little more time, it would''ve reduced all of the lotus flowers to ashes as well.
All of a sudden, specks of green light began to appear around the lotus flowers, following which some green buds began to sprout among them, and the surrounding mist also began to swirl violently.
Shortly thereafter, the buds began to unfurl at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, and before long, the entire pond was filled with lotus pads once again.
This was not the result of some illusion. Instead, there was simply such an immense abundance of spiritual qi in the pond that these lotus pads were able to almost instantly regrow, albeit with the assistance of an array.
The silver figure''s eyes widened with shock upon seeing this, and silver mes rose up all over its body as it prepared to swoop down to incinerate the lotus pads once again.
However, Han Li raised a hand to pat it on the head, indicating for it to stay put, and the mes around its body faded, following which it flew back up Han Li''s sleeve.
At this point, theyout of the pond had already be clear to him, and he flew several thousand feet horizontally, arriving above one of the pink lotus flowers before reaching down toward it.
He then made a grabbing motion, and arge azure hand appeared, then grabbed onto the pink lotus flower before uprooting it.
Its roots were glowing blue, and there was an incredibly beautiful translucent blue lotus flower hanging from them.
As soon as this blue lotus flower emerged from the water, all of the other pink lotus flowers in the pond instantly began to wilt.
However, all of the lotus pads in the pond were still standing instead of also withering away, but they had lost their previous green luster, as if they had also been robbed of their vitality.
At the same time, the dense white mist over the pond slowly began to dissipate bit by bit.
Han Li paid no heed to the changes taking ce in the pond as he observed the translucent blue lotus flower in his hand, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he sensed the potent waterw power fluctuations emanating from it.
All of a sudden, his right index and middle fingers lit up, and a door of silver light emerged before him.
He stepped through the door into the Flower Branch domain, arriving at the golden lotus pond outside the bamboo building before nting the blue lotus flower and the pink lotus flower that it was connected to into the pond.
The blue lotus flower instantly took root where it was nted, and six pink lotus flowers quickly emerged within the pond, releasing wisps of faint mist.
At the same time, a faint breeze began to blow through the area, carrying the faint mist to all parts of the domain, creating an even greater abundance of spiritual qi in the entire area.
Mo Guang was cultivating on the second floor of the bamboo building, and his eyes instantly sprang open as he sensed this sudden change.
However, he only briefly observed the changes that had taken ce in the domain, then took a nce in Han Li''s direction before closing his eyes again.
Over at the spirit medicine garden, Daoist Xie was standing by the railing of a recently constructed bamboo building, looking on with a surprised expression.
Han Li stood in mid-air with a faint smile on his face and his hands sped behind his back, allowing his robes to p in the breeze.
After ensuring that nothing was going amiss, he gave a pleased nod.
With this blue lotus flower working in conjunction with the existing array and the golden lotus flowers, the cirction of spiritual qi in the domain had be far more fluid, thereby severely reducing the rate of energy expenditure from the Immortal Origin Stones.
With no more work left to be done, Han Li emerged from the Flower Branch doman, then flew over the lotus pond outside to continue onward.
......
Meanwhile, in another set of ruins somewhere in the True Mantra Sect.
The ruins were filled with copsed buildings, walls, and pirs, and littered throughout the wreckage were countless bodies belonging to True Mantra Sect and Heavenly Court cultivators. Some of them clearly possessed very advanced cultivation bases at their time of death, as evidenced by the fact that their skeletons were still glowing faintly, even though it had already been countless years since they perished.
At the center of the set of ruins was a rtively well preserved giant pce, but it was rather strange in appearance, looking much like a crimson me that waspletely still. Above the entrance of the pce hung a giant que that read "Flowing Fire Pce".
Even now, there were still waves of heat slowly surging forth from the walls of the pce, causing the nearby air to shimmer and warp, and it was unclear whether this was because the pce had been constructed out of some type of special material, or if there were things like pill refinement cauldrons inside it.
At this moment, a string of resounding booms were ringing out incessantly in front of the entrance of the pce.
There were two spirit domains ovepping one another, one purple and one yellow, and inside the two spirit domains was a seductive woman in a purple pce dress locked in battle against an hunch-backed elderly man with a sickly yellowplexion.
The woman was none other than Yan Ziyan, the city lord of Illusory Smoke City.
At this moment, there was a furious look in her eyes, and her brows were tightly furrowed, pushing the red mole on her be. She was holding a purple jade lute, and her fingers were quickly strumming over the lute''s strings.
Beautiful maidens conjured up out of illusory smoke emerged one after another, and all of them were holding curved purple des as theyunched themselves at the hunch-backed elderly man, who was swaying back and forth on the za in front of the pce, evading the oing smoky maidens with ease.
His cultivation base was far superior to Yan Ziyan''s, so there was no fear in his eyes, whatsoever. Instead, his eyes were filled with mockery, and he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the experience of having so many beautiful women around him, even if they were only conjured up out of smoke.
His gaze was tantly roaming over Yan Ziyan''s chest and backside, and there was perverted smile on his face as he chuckled, "You and I stuck in the middle of nowhere in these ruins, all by ourselves, so why don''t we engage in some more fun activities than senseless battle, City Lord Yan?"
"You recognize me?" Yan Ziyan asked in a grim voice.
"How could I not? You''re the mistress of the vastly renowned Pce Master Fu. Unfortunately for you, Fu Yuanhai isn''t around to save you in these ruins," the elderly man chuckled.
"You''re nothing but a perverted coward! If you truly had a spine, then you''d discard your Robe Change Order disguise and show me your true appearance! I assure you that once we''re out of these ruins, I''ll call on Pce Master Fu, and the two of us will pay you a visit together!" Yan Ziyan spat through gritted teeth.
Despite what she was saying, she didn''t dare to look down on her opponent. The elderly man''s cultivation base was far superior to hers, and if it weren''t for the fact that he was intentionally toying with his prey, there was no way that she would''ve been able to survive to this pointpletely unscathed.
"Fine. If that''s what you want, then your wish is mymand." the hunch-backed elderly man said with a smile, then grabbed onto his own cor from behind before wrenching it forward.
As a result, his robes and his skin were torn away, revealing a handsome man in a pristine white robe.
"How about now? Is this appearance of mine more appealing to you?"
Not only had his appearancepletely changed, his demeanor and voice had also been drastically altered, and in the blink of an eye, he had be apletely different person.
Yan Ziyan could see that there were no longer any signs of disguise on his body, indicating that this really was his true appearance, and a sense of foreboding immediately welled up in her heart.
The fact that he was willing to reveal his true appearance to her indicated that he was going to make sure that she wasn''t going to live to tell the tale of their encounter.
The white-robed young man licked his lips at the sight of Yan Ziyan''s apprehensive expression, then burst intoughter as he said, "Rest assured, there''s no way I could bring myself to kill a woman as beautiful as you. Instead, I''m going to cut off all of your limbs and deprive you of all of your senses, then add you to my collection."
A chill ran down Yan Ziyan''s spine upon hearing this, and she grabbed tightly onto her lute, then suddenly pulled back its strings like bowstrings before releasing them in the white-robed young man''s direction.
A loud twang rang out as a pir of purple light erupted out of the lute, transforming into a giant purple bat that swooped directly toward him.
Within Yan Ziyan''s purple spirit domain, the bat let loose a sharp screech, sending invisible soundwaves sweeping through the air.
Chapter 667: Fire Age Fireflies
Chapter 667: Fire Age Fireflies
In the face of thistest round of attacks, the white-robed young man merely smiled as he raised a hand, then released a string of incantation seals that vanished into the surrounding space.
In the next instant, a series ofrge disks of light appeared within his yellow spirit domain, and they were revolving incessantly to weaken the soundwave attacks unleashed by the purple bat, butyers of creases were still appearing on his white robe.
Shortly thereafter, the sound of tearing rang out, and countless tiny gashes appeared on his robes, while the disks of light began to disintegrate one after another.
At the same time, the ptial ruins beside and behind the white-robed young man were trembling incessantly in the wake of the soundwaves, and they quickly disintegrated into dust.
A hint of tion appeared in Yan Ziyan''s eyes upon seeing this, and she hurriedly began chanting an incantation while rapidly strumming the strings of her lute.
A fierce look shed through the purple bat''s eyes, and it spread its wings before hurtling toward the white-haired young man as a streak of purple light.
A hint of anger shed through the young man''s eyes at the sight of his torn robes, and he yelled, "I gave you a chance, but seeing as you insist on making things difficult for yourself, I suppose it can''t be helped!"
He flipped a hand over as he spoke to summon a giant metal fan that was around six feet in length. Circles ofplex yellow runes were etched onto the fan, and they were giving off formidable earthw power fluctuations.
The metal fan spread open in front of him with a loud ng, revealing a creature with yellow fur etched onto its surface. The creature burst out of the fan as if it had sprung to life, then opened its cavernous mouth to release a ferocious tornado that was interspersed with yellow sand.
A burst of violent rumbling rang out as the tornado swept through the air, pulverizing the purple bat in its path.
All of a sudden, Yan Ziyan felt her own body be impossibly heavy, and she was unable to take evasive measures at all as she was sent flying by the yellow tornado, crashing through the gates of the Flowing Fire Pce behind her.
"Crap! I should''ve held back more. I really hope I didn''t scar that pretty little face of hers," the white-robed young man cursed to himself as he hurriedly stowed away his metal fan before rushing before.
However, before he had even reached the entrance of the pce, he suddenly heard a buzzing sound that resembled the sound of countless beetles pping their wings at once.
Immediately thereafter, Yan Ziyan''s panicked voice rang out from within the pce.
"No! What are these things?!"
As soon as her voice trailed off, she shot out of the hall, but only managed to rise about a thousand feet up into the air before plummeting to the ground with a heavy thump.
The white-robed young man faltered slightly upon seeing this, but he then immediately drew a sharp breath as soon as he caught a clear glimpse of Yan Ziyan.
At this moment, her entire body was covered in tiny dark red insects with specks of red mes dancing over their bodies.
She was rolling on the ground in a frenzied panic with an agonized look on her face while moaning hoarsely, and there was ayer of faint golden mist around her. Wrinkles were beginning to appear on her youthful face at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, and her hair was also beginning to turn white.
Whatever those insects were, they seemed to be burning through her vitality!
Even though Golden Immortals were unable to avoid baleful decays, aside from that, they were theoretically immortal, so it was extraordinary that these insects were able to do this to her.
A grim look instantly appeared on the white-robed young man''s face, and he was just about to flee the scene when a giant figure came crashing down from the heavens like a steel pagoda, following which a fiery red spirit domain instantly spread over the surrounding area.
The white-robed young man turned to discover an imposing foreign being with fiery red hair and the nose of a rhinoceros. There was arge golden ring hanging from each of his tapered ears, and a look of cold disdain on his face.
The man was none other than Chi Rong.
The white-robed young man was instantly plunged into the depths of despair upon sensing thete-High Zenith Stage aura emanating from Chi Rong''s body.
"To think that a mere Golden Immortal would dare to try and im Master''s Fire Age Fireflies! Let''s see how long it''ll take to burn through your vitality!" Chi Rong harrumphed coldly.
What? Fire Age Fireflies actually exist?
The white-robed young man''s entire body stiffened upon hearing this, and he recalled a rumor that had been circting in the True Immortal Realm for a very long time.
It was said that Fire Age Fireflies were a type of spirit insect that was very simr in appearance to fireflies of the mortal world, but they possessed mes of time, which were imbued with timew powers, thereby allowing them to burn through the vitality of living beings. This vitality is then used as energy for them to reproduce, and anyce that these insects pass through is generally leftpletely devoid of living beings.
However, their lifespans were extremely short, generally only living for around a month, and if they couldn''t find any living beings to incinerate, then they wouldn''t be able to reproduce. Hence, there hadn''t been many sightings of them.
However, it was said that some cultivators who were adept at raising insects could use certain time-attribute treasures or special restrictions to preserve these insects and only release them when necessary.
It was clear that such a restriction had existed in the Flowing Fire Pce, and only after Yan Ziyan inadvertently broke the restriction were these insects freed.
With that in mind, a sheen of cold sweat surfaced on the white-robed young man''s forehead,a dn he was contemting how he was going to escape when he noticed the red-haired man staring intently at him.
His heart instantly jolted slightly upon seeing this, and he made a hand seal without any hesitation, upon which a yellow vortex appeared beneath him, swallowing up his body in the blink of an eye.
However, it was a few secondster when the white-robed young man was forcibly ejected out of the earth several thousand feet away, having been plucked out of the ground by a giant fiery hand extending out of the surrounding crimson spirit domain.
"Did you think you could get away?" Chi Rong chuckled as he raised a hand before pressing it downward forcefully, and therge fiery hand emted this gesture, forcing the white-robed young man into the ground.
Immediately thereafter, Chi Rong pulled a dark red flute out of the chest of his robes. The flute was covered in ck spots, giving it the appearance of an old blowpipe.
As Chi Rong began to y the flute, an ancient melody rang out, and the sound of buzzing from the Flowing Fire Pce grew louder and louder as thousands upon thousands of Fire Age Fireflies were freed from the restriction, then converged upon the white-robed young man.
A blood-curdling howl instantly rang out, but Chi Rong paid no further heed to Yan Ziyan and the white-robed young man as he crossed the za to the other side.
A rtively intact statue of a foreign race being stood on the other side of the za.
The foreign being''s hands and feet were asrge as banana leaves, and their hair resembled mes. Their upper body was bared, and a series of strange patterns were etched onto their skin.
Chi Rong made his way over to the statue, then extended a deep bow as he said, "Master, please forgive me foring here of my own ord to im these Fire Age Fireflies. The intruders of our Flowing Fire Pce have already been dealt with."
......
Around half a monthter.
An azure figure was flying through the air on a green jade flying carriage above a forest in the True Mantra Sect ruins. It was none other than Han Li, having adopted another disguise, and after passing through the lotus pond from before, he had only encountered some sporadic sets of ruins.
He wasn''t met with any more danger, but nor had he found any more treasures.
On the flying carriage, he cast his gaze into the distance, and all of a sudden, his brows furrowed slightly, following which the carriage descended toward the ground at his behest.
Upon hisnding, Han Li stowed the flying carriage away, then made his way down a small bluestone path in the forest, quickly arriving before a giant arched bridge.
The bridge was over three hundred feet wide and primarily constructed from wood and stone, consisting of a bluestone staircase and a t carriage path, as well as a gray stone lion ced on either side of the bridge''s entrance.
Han Li strode forward before raising a hand to stroke one of the stone lions, which was even taller than himself, and he was able to ascertain that they were nothing more than normal stone lions that werepletely devoid of spiritual power fluctuations.
After a brief hesitation, he made his way onto the bridge, but right as he was about to reach the center of the bridge, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
The bridge had been snapped here, and up ahead was a giant spatial rift that was tens of thousands of feet in length. The spatial rift was filled with nothing but darkness, and there were formidable spatial fluctuations constantly surging out of it.
It seemed that the other half of the bridge had been devoured by the spatial rift.
Aside from this giant spatial rift, there were also countless smaller rifts around it, and even though they hadn''tpletely blocked Han Li''s path forward, he didn''t dare to recklessly pass through them.
Han Li peered into the spatial rift, but couldn''t see anything in it, and the longer he stared into it, the more an irrational fear of being devoured by the rift began to take root in his heart.
He withdrew his gaze before turning his attention to either side of the bridge, upon which he discovered that half of all of the trees and buildings within an area that spanned tens of thousands of feet had been erased.
What was left was either standing resiliently like this half-intact bridge, or hadpletely copsed, presenting a very strange sight to behold.
Chapter 668: Spatial Storm
Chapter 668: Spatial Storm
Looks like I won''t be able to keep going forward...
With that in mind, Han Li began to make his way down from the bridge, but he had only just raised his foot when the bridge beneath him began to tremble.
He instantly swiveled around to discover bursts of fearsome spatial fluctuations surging out of the giant ck rift behind him, and the area around it was slowly beginning to expand like a giant mouth aiming to swallow what remained of the arched bridge.
Han Li hurriedly darted forward before descending beside the stone lions, and by the time he turned around again, themotion had subsided. The spatial rift had expanded slightly, but it seemed to have stabilized itself again.
Could it be that the True Mantra Sect ruins are still in a state of ongoing spatial disintegration?
If that were the case, then he would have to proceed with more caution.
Right at this moment, a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations suddenly erupted out of the ground beneath the stone lion beside him, immediately following which a ck vortex that was over a hundred feet in radius emerged without any warning, and it was continuing to expand while releasing tremendous suction force.
Han Li hurriedly channeled his Mantra Treasured Axis as he attempted to flee the scene, but he was locked into ce by a burst of formidable spatial power, rendering him unable to get away.
His expression instantly changed drastically as he hurriedly released his time spirit domain, and ayer of golden scales appeared over his body, as did the suit of dark green armor formed by his Xuanwu bloodline.
However, before he had a chance to summon his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, the burst of suction force became significantly more powerful, and he was sucked into the vortex along with the stone lion.
All of a sudden, Han Li felt the ground give way beneath his feet, and he found himself in a dim, ck space.
The stone lion that had fallen into the spatial rift with Han Li was swept up by a whirlwind that enshrouded in murky gray light, and it was instantly reduced to dust.
Han Li knew that he had been sucked into a spatial rift, and he immediately began to carefully inspect his surroundings with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
At the same time, he flipped both hands over at once to summon his Profound Heavenly Gourd and a sword formed by ninebined Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The sound of howling wind was ringing out incessantly from all directions, and everywhere he looked, he could see a series of gray spatial vortexes and spatial rifts of different lengths, giving the surrounding area an extremely unstable appearance.
Hovering extremely far away in the distance werendmasses of different sizes, and they seemed to be enveloped within transparent bubbles as they hovered between all of the spatial rifts and vortexes.
Some of thendmasses wererger and appeared rtively more stable, while some of the smaller ones were disintegrating at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye under thepressive and tearing forces exerted by the surrounding spatial rifts.
Right at this moment, a deafening boom rang out in the distance, and Han Li hurriedly turned in that direction to discover an enormous gray current sweeping rapidly toward him.
The space in its wake was trembling incessantly, and the spatial fluctuations being released by the wave were so formidable that even the surrounding darkness was warping slightly. None of the nearby spatial rifts were able to hold themselves together, and they were all sucked into the wave.
That''s a spatial storm!
Han Li couldn''t help but curse his own luck. It was already extremely unfortunate that he had been inexplicably sucked into a spatial rift, and now, his woes were beingpounded even further.
Even with his current physical constitution, he still wouldn''t dare to face such formidable spatial power head-on.
Not daring to remain where he was any longer, he cast his gaze toward the nearest floatingndmass, then channeled his Reversal True Axis as he sped toward it.
Due to the abundance of spatial rifts in the area, Han Li didn''t dare to elerate too much, and he could only move toward thendmass in an extremely wary fashion.
After flying for just over ten thousand feet, Han Li took a nce back at the spatial storm, and a grim look instantly appeared on his face.
The spatial storm had only been around a hundred thousand feet in size just a moment ago, yet since then, it had swelled to several times its original size. Even though it wasn''t advancing directly toward Han Li, as it continued to expand, it was only going to exert more and more influence upon this already unstable space.
If he couldn''t reach thendmass up ahead before the spatial storm reached him, then he would be sucked into the storm and pulverized.
If he were to die here, not only would his remains bepletely destroyed, even his nascent soul would be eradicated as well.
I have to make a run for it!
Han Li gritted his teeth as the time spirit domain around him swelled to several times its original size, and he abruptly sped up significantly, racing through the air as a streak of golden light.
As thendmass drew closer and closer, Han Li was able to see thendmarks on it with increasing rity, and he was even able to catch a whiff of the scent of spirit nts in the air.
Right as he was about to reach the edge of the continent, a resounding boom suddenly rang out, and the enormous spatial storm suddenly exploded as a ball of blinding white light appeared within it, which countless des of gray light erupted forth in all directions.
These des of gray light ranged from only around an inch in length to several thousand feet long, and they were imbued with immeasurable spatial power.
Han Li''s expression darkened even further upon sensing this, but he had no time to turn around, and he could only continue to rush toward thendmass up ahead as quickly as he could.
Right at this moment, he felt a burst of violent spatial fluctuations behind him, and before he had a chance to do anything, several loud explosions rang out behind him as several des of gray light struck his time spirit domain.
The spirit domain didn''t even get a chance to exert its slowing effect before it was torn apart by the des of gray light, and Han Li let loose a desperate roar as he sped toward thendmass with all his might.
A loud thump rang out as he crashed into an invisible, yet extremely sturdy spatial barrier, and he was sent flying back from the force of the collision.
At this point, it was already toote to make a second dash for thendmass as there was a de of gray light that was around three feet in length hurtling toward him from behind.
In this dire situation, he had no time to think as he ced his Profound Heavenly Gourd behind himself while making a rapid string of hand seals with his other hand.
The gourd began to glow radiantly as a vortex appeared at its opening, and a faint thud rang out as the de of gray light was sucked into the gourd.
A burst of tremendous force surged through the gourd, almost wrenching it out of Han Li''s grasp, and he hurriedly tightened his grip around the gourd before darting toward thendmass again.
Right at this moment, he suddenly felt a sharp, burning pain in his hand.
He looked down to discover that the gourd had be red hot, resembling a piece of smelted metal, and it was also trembling incessantly, looking as if it could explode at any moment.
Han Li immediately stowed his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords away upon seeing this, then thrust his palm firmly into the underside of the Profound Heavenly Gourd.
A faint thud rang out as the de of gray light that had been sucked into the gourd erupted forth before hurtling toward the spatial barrier around thendmass, and a long and thin gash simr to a spatial rift was instantly sliced into the surface of the spatial barrier.
The gash was several dozen feet in length, but it was very unstable and looked as if it could disappear at any moment.
Han Li knew that this was his only opportunity, so he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability to its limits, then shot through the gash at an astonishing speed.
In the next instant, he began plummeting toward the ground like an asteroid, crashing straight through a mountain and emerging on the other side.
From there, he hovered in mid-air as he looked up at the gash in the spatial barrier, which was slowly closing, and he heaved a long sigh of relief with more than a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
If he had reacted just a little slower, or he didn''t have the Profound Heavenly Gourd in his possession, then he would''ve most likely been in a world of trouble.
It seemed that under the tranquil facade of the True Mantra Sect ruins was an extremely dangerous ce, and he had been toocent up to this point.
Momentster, he slowly drifted down onto the ground near a lush tree, then sat down onto a strange-looking rock.
He then raised the Profound Heavenly Gourd in his hand, which was still carrying some of its residual heat, but it was no longer as scorching hot as before. Furthermore, its red coloration was slowly fading as it gradually reverted back to its original green color.
After inspecting the gourd momentarily with his spiritual sense, he discovered the cirction of spiritual power within it had be a little chaotic, but aside from that, it waspletely fine.
Hence, he stowed the gourd away, then promptly swallowed a pill before closing his eyes to meditate.
Around an hourter, his eyes sprang open, and at this point, his aura had settled down again.
After rising to his feet, he began to inspect his surroundings, upon which he discovered that there were many more strange rocks like the one that he had been sitting on in the surrounding forest, and they extended all the way into the forest.
What is this ce? Is it still somewhere within the True Mantra Sect ruins?
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li began to make his way along the trail of strange rocks.
Chapter 669: Reliving an Old Vision
Chapter 669: Reliving an Old Vision
As soon as Han Li emerged from the forest, he immediately stepped into an open area.
He inspected his surroundings momentarily before continuing onward, and it didn''t take long before he arrived at a rocky forest formed by all types of strange-looking rocks.
At the exact center of the rocky forest was a round stone tform that was around ten thousand feet in radius and roughly a thousand feet tall. It was connected to the mountain below it, and its surface was riddled with cracks and moss, indicating that it was a very old structure.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he felt like this tform was somewhat familiar.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he sprang up into the air beforending on the tform.
The entire tform was riddled with cracks that were filled with green vines, and the one remarkable thing about the structure was that it was giving off a hint of faintw power fluctuations.
Furthermore, there was a giant stone que that was around a thousand feet tall standing on the edge of the tform, and it was also crawling with moss and vines.
Only after Han Li drew close to the que did he discover that the words "Mantra Domain" were inscribed upon it inrge golden characters beneath the masses of vines.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he turned around to inspect his surroundings once more, and a look of realization suddenly appeared on his face.
This was the exact same stone tform that he had witnessed Patriarch Miro deliver his lecture from on the translucent wall of light.
At the time, he had only heard eight and a half sentences of Patriarch Miro''s profound lecture, and that had allowed him to open up eight immortal acupoints in session.
Unfortunately, he was never able to conjure up that same vision again since then.
However, he had now arrived at the site of the lecture in person, seeminglypletely by chance, or perhaps fate had guided him here.
All of a sudden, Han Li made a hand seal, and his Mantra Treasured Axis emerged behind him, then began to revolve on the spot.
In the next instant, he rose up into the sky and stood in mid-air.
The wall of translucent light had restricted his field of view, preventing him from seeing the entirety of the stone tform, but he was able to see everything from this vantage point.
He made a hand seal as he chanted an incantation, and all of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis lit up in unison.
The Eye of Truth at the center of the axis also sprang open, and a beam of golden light erupted out of the giant eyeball before shining down upon the stone tform.
Basked within the golden light, the stone tform also began to glow faintly with a golden hue, and a series of familiar figures began to take shape.
I knew it!
He turned his gaze to the yellow-robed tree being by the name of Mu Yan, then to therge-headed child that he had seen earlier in the Water Divination Pce. One after another, his gaze roamed over the people seated on the stone tform before finally settling on the rotund monk that was Patriarch Miro.
He wore a benevolent expression as he sat in a casual manner with his legs crossed, gently massaging a string of green jade Buddhist prayer beads as he delivered his lecture.
Whenever he opened his mouth, a string of five-colored runes would emerge from within, then rise up into the sky as a burst of five-colored light to resonate with heaven and earth and conjure up all types of phenomena.
Even though this was already Han Li''s second time witnessing this scene, he was still stunned by what he saw.
However, in contrast withst time, everything that was unfolding was merely a projection that was being restored by the Eye of Truth, and it wasn''t happening in real time. Hence, he wasn''t able to glean the same profound insights as before.
He watched as all types of phenomena emerged one after another, and as he did so, a hint of befuddlement welled up in his heart.
Even with his unfathomable powers, Patriarch Miro was still unable to prevent his own death, nor the destruction of the True Mantra Sect. In that case, just how powerful was the Time Dao Ancestor that hadid waste to the True Mantra Sect?
Momentster, Mu Yan raised a question, and Patriarch Miro offered a response, to which all five of his disciples reacted with enlightenment and gratitude.
Patriarch Miro continued his lecture, but all of a sudden, he stopped as a surprised look appeared on his face, and he turned his gaze to a certain direction.
Han Li turned his gaze in that direction, but didn''t see anything there.
Right as he was wondering what Patriarch Miro had just reacted to, his five disciples also snapped back to their senses before turning to the same direction, and Mu Yan sprang to his feet as he said something in a loud, questioning voice with an angry look on his face.
Only then did Han Li realize that this was the scene where he had been caught eavesdropping on Patriarch Miro''s lecture.
A wry smile appeared on his face as he turned his gaze back to Patriarch Miro, and he spotted a fat rat seated on the cushion that Mu Yan had just gotten up from. It was standing upright on its hindlegs, and it was also looking in the same direction as everyone else.
It immediately urred to Han Li that this rat was identical to the giant green rat that he had seen in that abyss in the primordialnd, except this one was far smaller.
Right at this moment, Mu Yan returned to his seat, flicking the fat rat on the head to send it tumbling several thousand feet away.
As soon as the rat got up, it immediately rushed over to Patriarch Miro''s side, where it sat down right beside him with its legs crossed, much like a human would.
Patriarch Miro took a nce down at the rat and made no attempt to chase it away as he continued his lecture.
Mu Yan also made no further effort to chase the rate away upon seeing this.
Even though Han Li wasn''t able to benefit from this vision as he didst time, he still observed carefully as Patriarch Miro answered his disciples'' questions, memorizing all of the gestures made by Patriarch Miro and his disciples.
Some timeter, as Patriarch Miro''s lecture drew to a close, a warm smile appeared on his face, and his gaze roamed over his disciples one after another as he waved a hand to dismiss them.
A stunned look appeared on Han Li''s face as he stared at Patriarch Miro. Just now, he felt as if Patriarch Miro''s gaze had settled on him for a brief moment.
It was only for a split second, but it was a very profound feeling, as if there were some deeper meaning to that look from Patriarch Miro.
Could it be that not only had Patriarch Miro noticed him eavesdropping on his lecture, he had also discovered the current Han Li, who was reliving this scene through his Eye of Truth?
After some contemtion, Han Li felt like this wasn''t very usible, and he shook his head with a wry smile, feeling as if he were overthinking the situation.
Even after all of the disciples and the fat rat had departed, Patriarch Miro remained seated in silence for a while, then stowed his prayer beads away before slowly rising to his feet.
He then shuffled over the stone wall with the words "Mantra Domain" inscribed upon it, and he observed it in silence for a moment before suddenly raising a hand to point at one of the golden characters.
A beam of golden light shot out of his fingertip before vanishing into that character in a sh, and after that, he sped his hands behind his back as he looked up at the sky.
His body began to blur, as if he were integrating himself into heaven and earth, and before long, he had vanished altogether.
For some reason, Han Li was struck by a sense of loneliness at the sight of Patriarch Miro''s rotund figure, and he was left in a daze for a long while.
After the scene had yed out in full, Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis, then flew over to the stone que.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he conjured up a gust of wind that cleared the moss and vines from the surface of the que to reveal the character that Patriarch Miro had been pointing at in the scene from earlier.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li carefully gazed upon that character with his Infernal Devilish Eyes, and sure enough, there was ayer of faint golden light glimmering at the topmost tip of the character, indicating that it was harboring some type of secret.
Han Li reached out with his right hand, and he was able to pierce his index and middle fingers into the stone wall with ease before slowly pulling out an azure bamboo slip from within.
He then channeled his immortal spiritual power to refine the bamboo slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it, and momentster, his eyes abruptly sprang open as an ecstatic look appeared on his face.
As it turned out, the bamboo slip contained the nine levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture, as well as a strange text titled "Sumeru Insights."
The Mantra Axis Scripture was naturally very familiar to him, and he quickly read through the entire scripture to find that some of the passages were a little different from what he had seen in the past. However, these differences were very minute, so they had no significant bearing and certainly wouldn''t lead to qi deviation.
Furthermore, enclosed within the scripture was a detailed ount of the Mantra Domain ability that he had already obtained from Mu Yan, and in this case, there were also some minor, insignificant differences.
As for the Sumeru Insights text, that waspletely unintelligible to Han Li. It only consisted of several thousand words, but the contents were very difficult to understand, and it didn''t seem like a cultivation art, nor did it appear to be any type of secret technique.
Han Li spent a long time reading through the text, but to no avail, so he could only give up for now.
After that, he carefully examined the nine levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture once more, and he suppressed the tion in his heart, as well as the urge to begin cultivating on the spot, as he flew over to the stone que again.
There, he gazed upon the "Mantra Domain" inscribed on the stone wall, then extended a deep and respectful bow toward the long-gone figure before flying down the mountain.
Chapter 670: Frozen in Time
Chapter 670: Frozen in Time
It didn''t take long for Han Li to reach the foot of the mountain, and it seemed that he had arrived in a huge valley with a rtively t and level terrain.
There were numerous tall buildings standing in the valley, and itsyout was rather simr to that of the Water Divination Pce from before.
However, these buildings were primarily golden in color, and even though most of them were damaged, they were still glowing radiantly.
Han Li began to search through the valley, and before long, close to half a day had passed by.
During this time, he had searched through most of the valley, but wasn''t able to find much of use aside from some spirit medicines.
Hence, he continued deeper into the valley, and he had only flown a few hundred kilometers when a hint of tion suddenly appeared on his face.
He could sense another burst of timew power fluctuations a few hundred kilometers up ahead!
He immediately flew in that direction without any hesitation, but at the same time, he made sure to keep constant tabs on his surroundings with his spiritual sense.
Shortly thereafter, he was able to find the origins of the burst of timew power fluctuations, and he found himself standing in front of a golden pce.
The pce was constructed beside a mountain, and it was several thousand feet tall, taking up an area in excess of a thousand acres. It was entirely constructed out of some type of jade material that was ted in ayer of golden material, giving it a shimmering golden appearance.
There were many signs of battle around the pce, and holes had even been punched through some ces. Beams of golden light were shining through these holes, giving off formidable timew power fluctuations.
A hint of tion appeared on Han Li''s face at the sight of the golden pce, and he carefully released his spiritual sense to scour the area around the building.
Only after ensuring that there was no danger did he slowly make his way over to the shut gate of the pce, and heid a palm t against the gate before giving it a firm push.
The gate shed momentarily with golden light, then swung open, much to Han Li''s surprise.
A burst of blinding golden light instantly erupted out of the pce, and it was as if there were a golden sun trapped inside.
Instead of immediately stepping into the pce, Han Li first used his spiritual sense to inspect its interior.
However, his spiritual sense had only just extended into the pce when it was stopped in its tracks by a burst of gentle yet resilient force, preventing it from advancing any further.
Hence, Han Li had to turn to his Infernal Devilish Eyes, but he soon discovered that his Infernal Devilish Eyes were also unable to see through the burst of gentle force within the pce.
All he could see were several indistinct shadows, but he couldn''t make out exactly what they were.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li stepped into the pce, and as soon as he did so, his vision immediately blurred, and he felt as if he had entered another space.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of tremendous force enveloped him from all directions, making it impossible for him to even lift a finger.
Thankfully, his vision hadn''t faded, and he hurriedly cast his gaze forward in an rmed manner.
The entire pce was filled with waves of golden light that were rippling like water while giving off bursts of formidable and profound timew powers, and it was precisely these timew powers that had immobilized Han Li.
In addition to Han Li, there were several dozen more cultivators split up into two factions in the pce, and judging from their attire, it was apparent that one side consisted of Heavenly Court cultivators, while the other consisted of True Mantra Sect disciples.
In contrast with the bodies outside, these people still appeared very much alive, and they were still locked in poses that suggested that they were engaged in battle, with all type of treasures hovering around them.
Han Li was unable to detect their cultivation bases, but judging from the visual clues that he was able to gather, he spected that most of them were True Immortals, while the leader of each group were Golden Immortals.
At this moment, all of them werepletely still, as if they had been frozen in time, presenting a very peculiar sight to behold.
Han Li was astonished to see this.
It was clear that this had something to do with the burst of timew power fluctuations in the pce, and they seemed to have a simr effect to that of his Mantra Treasured Axis, except his Mantra Treasured Axis was only able to slow the flow of time, while time seemed to havepletely stopped here.
These cultivators had most likely already been trapped here and immobilized for countless years.
Han Li was stunned by what he was seeing, but he quickly gathered himself as an important question sprang into his mind.
Now that he had stumbled into this ce, how was he going to get out?
His physical strength was clearly insufficient to struggle free from the restrictive effects of the timew powers here, and the only thing that he could take sce in was that his immortal spirit power and timew powers hadn''t also been restricted. Instead, they were able to circte at a very slow speed.
Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that he was using a time-attribute cultivation art.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately attempted to channel the immortal spiritual power with all his might, and a speck of golden light emerged over his body, then slowly expanded topletely inundate him.
This would''ve only taken him an instant under normal circumstances, but the same maneuver took him several hours toplete here.
Han Li remained patient as he continued to circte his immortal spiritual power while also using his own timew powers to ward off the effects of the external timew powers as much as possible.
After what seemed like an eternity, his Mantra Treasured Axis finally appeared behind him, following which he was able to unleash his Reversal True Axis ability.
The flow of time within his body began to speed up as a result, slowing counteracting the restrictive forces around him.
His body was still immobilized, but his immortal spiritual power and timew powers were beginning to circte a little faster.
This came as quite a relief to Han Li, but he still didn''t dare to let down his guard as he continued to channel his Reversal True Axis with all his might.
As the Mantra Treasured Axis revolved in reverse faster and faster, the restrictive forces around him quickly lessened, and over an hourter, the Mantra Treasured Axis had picked up so much speed that it had transformed into a blurry golden disk.
An ted look shed through Han Li''s eyes as he was finally able to slowly raise an arm.
However, even with his Reversal True Axis ability activated to its limits, he was still unable to ward off the surrounding restrictive forces.
Thankfully, the entrance of the pce was just nearby, so he wouldn''t have to move far to leave.
With his mobility restored, Han Li was feeling much more reassured, and he began to inspect his surroundings again.
His gaze fell upon the two nearby groups of cultivators, and he began to make his way toward them in an extremely slow and sluggish fashion.
All of them were still carrying their storage tools, and the treasures hovering around them also appeared to be quite powerful.
Han Li strode over to these cultivators before stowing away their storage tools and the treasures floating in the air around them one by one.
After that, he began to make his way toward the other parts of the hall.
These storage tools and treasures made for a nice haul, but they weren''t all that appealing to him. Instead, what he was far more interested in was finding out why time hade to a stop here, and that was why he hadn''t left the pce right away.
Unfortunately, with his spiritual sensepletely impeded here, he could only inspect the pce with his eyes.
The pce wasn''t veryrge, and it didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way. At the deepest part of the pce was a stone tform that resembled an altar, and it had already mostly copsed.
Han Li quickly examined the rest of the pce, but didn''t find anything worthy of note.
He turned his gaze to the copsed altar, then made his way up the steps leading up to it.
As soon as he set foot on the stone tform, Han Li immediately felt a burst of incredibly potent timew power fluctuations.
His eyes immediately lit up, and he knew that he had found the source of this time-stopping effect.
He really wanted to speed up, but the timew power fluctuations up ahead only became more and more potent, so he was slowing down further and further instead. Fortunately, he wasn''t immobilized again.
It took Han Li half a day to finally step onto the small altar, and at the center of it was a bottomless hole that seemed to have resulted from some type of attack.
Within the hole was a ball of radiant golden light that was giving off tremendous timew power fluctuations, and that was the reason why time had fallen still in this pce!
The ball of golden light didn''t contain any time-attribute immortal treasure or anything like that. Instead, it seemed to be some residual power left behind by some type of attack.
Han Li raised his head to discover that there was arge hole in the ceiling of the pce as well, and its angle was identical to that of the hole in the ground.
A stunned look appeared on Han Li''s face upon making this discovery.
Just the residual power from whatever attack had been unleashed was enough to bring time in the pce to aplete standstill for so many years. Han Li couldn''t even begin to fathom just how powerful the one who unleashed the attack had to have been.
Could it have been the Time Dao Ancestor?
The Eye of Truth slowly appeared at the center of the Mantra Treasured Axis, and a beam of golden light shot out of the eye and into the hole.
A burst of bright golden light appeared within the hole, and the ball of golden light began to rapidly change form, reverting back into a golden finger projection that was several feet in length before flying back up into the sky.
The broken altar also quickly reverted back to itsplete form, but Han Li paid no heed to it as his gaze was focused solely on the golden finger projection.
Bursts of golden light were shing over the finger projection, and upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that the finger projection was formed by numerous timew threads intertwined together in an extremely profound fashion.
The finger projection seemed to be able to pierce through all things, and Han Li was struck by a sense of vulnerability just from looking at it.
Ever since his arrival in the True Immortal Realm, he had been constantly working hard in his cultivation, and he was now able to wield the power of timews, but in contrast with this golden finger projection, his mastery of timew powers was downright abysmal.
Chapter 671: Already Dead
Chapter 671: Already Dead
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li.
Back in the Water Divination Pce, therge-headed child had bestowed upon him some memories containing his cultivation insights in addition to the Water Divination Time Arts.
In those memories, the term w abilities" was brought up, but no exnation of exactly what this concept was had been provided.
At the time, Han Li had only memorized all of this information in the hope that it would be useful to him in the future, and it seemed that perhaps it had something to do with this.
Could it be that this golden finger projection is a type ofw ability?
However, he didn''t dwell on this train of thought for long as he began staring intently at the golden finger projection, carefully observing the timew power permutations and distribution of timew threads within it.
The profound permutations in the timew powers were extremely mesmerizing to behold, and he quickly found himselfpletely immersed, as if he were looking at a piece of unmatched artwork.
The finger projection flew back upward, and it quickly vanished through therge hole in the ceiling.
Han Li immediately closed his Eye of Truth upon seeing this, then closed his own eyes as he carefully recalled the incredibly profound sight that he had just witnessed.
A long whileter, his Eye of Truth sprang open again at his behest, and a beam of golden light shot out of it and into the hole.
Once again, the same golden finger projection appeared, and Han Li was able to observe it for a second time.
He repeated this process over and over again, and in doing so, he was able to slowly glean a great deal of insight into the golden finger projection, but at the same time, he discovered that there were only more and more things that he didn''t understand.
However, he had already memorized all of the timew power permutations within the golden finger projection, so he would be able to continue studying it once he left this ce.
At this point, not only was he utterly exhausted, he had also gained as much insight as he could into the golden finger projection, so there was no point in continuing this exercise any further.
With that in mind, he cast his gaze into the hole up ahead, and the ball of golden light inside was still shing incessantly.
With his Reversal True Axis ability channeled to its maximal extent, he quickly recovered his mobility, then raised an arm as a burst of bright golden light that was interspersed with ten timew threads appeared over the palm of his hand.
He then made a grabbing motion, and the golden light and timew threads instantly transformed into arge golden hand that grabbed onto the ball of golden light before pulling it upward.
However, the ball of golden light seemed to bepletely rooted to the spot, refusing to budge.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly seeing this, and he took a deep breath, following which sixteen additional timew threads appeared within therge golden hand.
The hand instantly swelled to around twice its original size, and the timew power fluctuations emanating from it were significantly enhanced.
Even so, the ball of golden light still appeared to bepletely unmovable.
A hint of surprise appeared on Han Li''s face as he withdrew the golden hand, and after a brief moment of contemtion, he raised his hand once again, this time to summon his Profound Heavenly Gourd.
A dull thump then rang out as a beam of green light shot out of the gourd before hurtling directly toward the ball of golden light.
However, the beam of green light had only just shot out of the area epassed within the Reversal True Axis when it was instantly stopped in its tracks by the surrounding timew powers.
Han Li slowly crouched down upon seeing this, extending his hand into the hole on the ground, and only then was the beam of green light able to make contact with the ball of golden light inside.
The beam of green light then attempted to drag the ball of golden light into the Profound Heavenly Gourd, but despite its best efforts, the ball of golden light remainedpletely still on the spot.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he stowed his Profound Heavenly Gourd away before unleashing another secret technique...
Some timeter, Han Li stopped what he was doing as a resigned look appeared on his face.
He had already tried everything that he could think of, but the ball of golden light simply refused to budge.
A conflicted look appeared on his face as he gazed upon the ball of golden light inside the hole.
Was he really just going to have to leave something so precious behind?
He simply couldn''t bring himself to give up.
The ball of golden light contained more timew powers than his golden lock and his golden gbined, and that wasn''t even taking into ount all of the profoundplexities that it also harbored.
If he could secure it, then it would undoubtedly be very useful to him.
All of a sudden, a thought sprang into Han Li''s mind, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which a burst of radiant golden light erupted out of his Mantra Treasured Axis.
At the same time, the golden light in front of him converged to form the Clear Time Vial.
Han Li then switched to a different hand seal, and the golden light around his body swept through the surrounding area before forming countless grains of golden sand.
The three bursts of timew powers intertwined to form a golden vortex that was revolving rapidly, and the vortex then began topress inward at his behest.
A burst of incredibly formidable timew powers shed past, and the golden vortex transformed into a revolving golden ring.
At this point, Han Li was able to conjure up this golden ring using his three time-attribute cultivation arts with rtive ease,
"Go!"
Han Li thrust his palm forward, and the golden ring immediately shot forth before making contact with the ball of golden light.
The golden ring then began to revolve rapidly while giving off dazzling golden light, easily outshining the pervasive golden light that filled the entire pce.
At the same time, a burst of tremendous suction force erupted out of the golden ring to envelop the ball of golden light.
Finally, the surface of the ball of golden light began to ripple slightly, and this was the first sign of wavering that it had disyed thus far.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this.
Several strands of golden light rose up reluctantly from the ball of golden light, then vanished into the golden ring.
The ball of golden light seemed to be trying to resist, but to no avail.
At the same time, the golden ring was glowing brighter and brighter, and more and more golden light was drawn upward before being sucked into the golden ring.
Momentster, the golden ring shuddered as it released a strand of golden light, which vanished into Han Li''s body in a sh before appearing on the Mantra Treasured Axis.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he continued to inject more power into the golden ring.
The suction force released by the golden ring became stronger and stronger, and more and more golden light was sucked out of the ball of light before vanishing into the golden ring, only to then transform into timew threads.
The ball of golden light was rapidly shrinking at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, and it didn''t take long before it disappeared entirely.
In the instant that the ball of golden light vanished, all of the golden light within the pce rippled slightly before fading away.
The restrictive timew powers within the pce also vanished, and for the first time in countless years, the flow of time was restored to normal.
Immediately thereafter, a string of dull thumps rang out as the Heavenly Court cultivators and True Mantra Sect disciples fell out of the air before crumpling to the ground.
A surprised look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he withdrew the golden ring before making his way over to the cultivators that had crumpled to the ground, only to discover that they were all dead.
How did this happen? They looked very much alive just a moment ago...
The bodies were entirely unharmed, and the nascent souls were still present within them, but their souls hadpletely vanished without a trace.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense carefully over the bodies, and he quickly noticed something.
As it turned out, there was an extremely faint timew aura left behind in the mind of the body closest to him, and if it weren''t for his tremendous spiritual sense and the fact that he had cultivated thews of time, there was no way that he would''ve been able to detect it.
The timew aura was imbued with a burst of extremely aggressive intent, simr to that of the golden finger projection, and it was clearly this aggressive finger intent that had destroyed this person''s soul.
Han Li then examined all of the other bodies to find that they had suffered the same fate.
So not only does that golden finger projection possess tremendous prative power, it can also attack one''s soul!
With that in mind, Han Li was only bing more intrigued by the golden finger projection.
After determining the cause of death of these cultivators, Han Li captured the nascent souls of the two Golden Immortals in the pce, then paid no further heed to the bodies as he turned his gaze to the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him.
At this point, there were as many as thirty-nine timew threads around it.
By refining that ball of golden light, Han Li had earned himself thirteen timew threads.
However, all of the profound timew power permutations within the ball of golden light had been erased after it was converted into timew threads, and that was a little disappointing to Han Li, but having already gained thirteen timew threads, it would''ve simply been excessively greedy to ask for anything more.
After that, Han Li searched through the pce one more time, but wasn''t able to find anything else of use.
After departing from the pce, Han Li continued to make his way deeper into the valley.
Before long, he reached the end of the valley without encountering any more buildings, and he flew out of the valley to continue his search.
Chapter 672: Heaven Piercing Finger
Chapter 672: Heaven Piercing Finger
While flying through the air, Han Li summoned a series of storage tools before injecting his spiritual sense into them one after another.
These storage tools were the ones that he had just obtained from the True Mantra Sect disciples. He hadn''t taken the storage tools because the treasures inside appealed to him. Instead, he wanted to find out more information about the True Mantra Sect for risk mitigation purposes, as well as to aid him in his search for more treasures.
It hadn''t been very long since he entered these ruins, but he had obtained both the Water Divination Time Arts and the Mantra Axis Scripture. On top of that, he had also acquired that golden g, the blue shield, thirteen additional timew threads, and dozens of storage tools, amounting to an incredible haul.
He was very much looking forward to seeing what else he could find in these ruins, and he didn''t really care about his Reincarnation Pce anymore. Even in the worst case scenario, he would just have to fail the mission and submit the fifty thousand Immortal Origin Stones instead.
It didn''t take long before Han Li had checked through all of the storage tools, but to his dismay, none of them contained any useful information pertaining to the True Mantra Sect.
Han Li stowed the storage tools away, then began examining the storage tools of the Heavenly Court cultivators as well.
e, and a jade slip emerged in his grasp amid a sh of white light.
It was a map of the True Mantra Sect that he had found from the storage tool belonging to the Heavenly Court Golden Immortal.
He didn''t really have much high hopes for the storage tools of the Heavenly Court cultivators, so this was certainly a pleasant surprise.
That Golden Immortal had most likely obtained this map through whatever means in the hope that he would be able to scour the True Mantra Sect for treasures during the Heavenly Court invasion, and now, the map was going to benefit Han Li countless yearster.
Han Li drew to a halt, then descended onto a mountain and injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip.
Perhaps the map had been made in a hurry, but it was quite crude, only marking out the mainndmarks and areas of the True Mantra Sect.
ording to the map, the True Mantra Sect had been far more massive than the ze Dragon Dao, and it was split up into five areas, namely Water Divination, True Mantra, Flowing Fire, Earth Dawn, and Wood Emperor. Every single one of those areas was several times the size of the ze Dragon Dao, and the True Mantra area was situated at the center, while the other four areas were located in the north, south, east, and west.
The Water Divination Pce was most likely in the Water Divination area, while I currently appear to be in the True Mantra area.
After stowing the jade slip away, Han Li rose up into the air to inspect his surroundings.
There was some white mist in the air here, but it was far thinner than in the Water Divination area, so Han Li was able to enjoy much better visibility with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
Down below as a rather unremarkable mountain range with no standout features, and the map was too crude, so it was impossible for Han Li to determine exactly where he currently was in the True Mantra area.
However, he remained unfazed as he continued onward.
It was already a great development that he had a rough map of the True Mantra Sect ruins. At the very least, he wouldn''t be stumbling aroundpletely blind anymore. Furthermore, some of the important locations in the five areas had beenbeled on the map, so as long as he could ascertain his approximate location, he should be able to follow the map to the importantndmarks in the sect.
Around a week flew by in a sh.
On this day, a streak of azure light shot forth from afar before descending onto a mountain.
The azure light faded to reveal Han Li, and on the way here, he had made some more useful discoveries.
Judging from what he had seen in the past few days, Han Li had be even more convinced that he was in a fragmented section of the True Mantra area. Unfortunately, he still hadn''t been able to ascertain exactly where he was on the map.
At this moment, Han Li was looking a little wary, and he took a pill before resting for a moment, then quickly continued onward.
After flying for a while longer, his expression suddenly changed slightly as he darted to the side.
There was a spatial rift that was over a hundred feet in length hanging in the air up ahead, and he carefully skirted around the rift before continuing.
He had almost lost his life after unwittingly falling into that spatial rift, so he was making sure to proceed with extra caution.
It didn''t take long before another spatial rift appeared up ahead, and there were also bursts of spatial fluctuations surging through the air.
A thought urred to Han Li as he raised an eyebrow, and he carefully flew forward before descending in front of a cliff.
This was the end of thendmass that he was situated on.
Ahead of the cliff was a vast expanse of nothingness that was filled with countless spatial rifts of different sizes, resembling sets of all-devouring mouths.
Further away in the distance was a giant translucent light barrier that connected heaven and earth, and it was the spatial barrier that he had encountered earlier.
Outside the barrier were countless chaotic spatial currents, but Han Li paid no heed to the spatial turbulence and spatial rifts as he cast his gaze even further into the distance.
There, he could see another spatial barrier, beyond which was what appeared to be a corner of anotherndmass.
Even through the spatial turbulence and spatial barriers, he could still detect hints of spatial fluctuations emanating from thatndmass.
A hesitant look appeared on his face as he peered into the raging spatial turbulence, but he quickly made a decision as he summoned a pair of treasures, one golden and one blue.
These were the two time-attribute immortal treasures that he had obtained earlier, and at this point, he had been able to mostly refine them.
He began to chant an incantation, and waves of rippling blue light emerged from the blue shield to epass his entire body, while the golden g also swelled to several times its original size.
Countless specks of golden light surged out of the g, then rapidly revolved around his body, forming a glittering river of golden light that presented a spectacr sight to behold.
Han Li took a nce at the pair of immortal treasures around him, then gave a pleased nod as he flew straight into the space up ahead.
The space here was extremely unstable, and the area was rife with spatial rifts.
The spatial rifts weren''t moving like the ones in the spatial storm from earlier, but that certainly didn''t mean that they were stable.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes to their limits as he carefully traversed through the space between the spatial rifts, and he was able to make decently fast progress.
Before long, he arrived at the spatial barrier, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of azure swordlight that struck the barrier in a sh, and the streak of azure swordlight instantly shattered before being repelled back as an azure flying sword.
As for the spatial barrier, it only shuddered slightly before reverting back to normal.
Han Li was rather surprised to see this, and he stowed his flying sword away before extending a finger forward.
Bright golden light appeared over his body as thirty-six timew threads emerged before converging toward his finger in unison, and an indistinct golden finger projection shot forth toward the spatial barrier.
Not only was the finger projection formed by thirty-six timew threads, it was also imbued with bursts of timew powers. It was the best attempt that Han Li could currently muster up at replicating the finger projection that he had seen, but it was still very far from the real thing.
The finger projection unleashed by Han Li was very indistinct, and it possessed nowhere near the power of the finger projection from the pce, but it was still far more formidable than the sword strike that he had just unleashed.
A faint thud rang out as his finger tore through the spatial barrier like a sheet of paper, and an ted look appeared on his face as he lowered his arm while murmuring to himself. "Not bad. I think I''ll call this the Heaven Piercing Finger."
After that, he flew out into the spatial turbulence from therge hole in the spatial barrier.
As soon as he did this, he was immediately buffeted by a gust of ferocious gray wind from the side, but he was already prepared for this and summoned a pair of protective immortal treasures to help him weather the storm.
At the same time, the river of golden light swirling around his body swelled drastically in size and instantly overcame the gust of gray wind.
As it turned out, the golden g was a very rare immortal treasure that possessed both defensive and offensive capabilities.
After vanquishing the gust of gray wind, Han Li continued onward without pause, quickly flying toward the otherndmass in the distance.
Gusts of fierce wind were howling in all directions alongside cial currents and even waves of fire, as well as countless spatial vortexes and spatial rifts.
This spatial storm was significantly more formidable than thest one he had encountered, and he was feeling rather perplexed to see this.
Ever since he entered the True Mantra Sect ruins, he had encountered three spatial storms, with each sessive one more powerful than the other.
Han Li channeled the river of golden light around him to ward off the oing waves of spatial turbulence as he forged ahead as quickly as he could
The spatial turbulence by itself wasn''t a cause for concern, but the spatial rifts carried by the spatial turbulence were extremely powerful and contained immense spatial power. Even the river of golden light around Han Li struggled to contend with them, so Han Li was forced to repel them through other means, and as a result, his progress was very slow.
Thankfully, the twondmasses weren''t very far apart, and it didn''t take long before most of the distance was covered.
Right at this moment, what sounded like a furious draconic roar rang out, and Han Li turned to the source of the sound, upon which his expression instantly changed drastically.
As it turned out, an enormous white storm was hurtling toward him, tearing through the surrounding spatial turbulence with ease, and it was yet another spatial storm.
This spatial storm was even more formidable than the one that Han Li had encountered after being sucked into that spatial rift, and it was filled with des of white light that were imbued with violent spatial power capable of shredding through everything in their path.
The spatial storm was extremely fast, and it reached Han Li in the blink of an eye before swallowing him up.
Chapter 673: Acquaintance
Chapter 673: Acquaintance
Situated in the spatial storm, Han Li was like a leaf that had fallen into a vast sea. There were turbulent currents all around him, tossing him around against his will.
He immediately released his time spirit domain, and the surrounding spatial storm instantly slowed down significantly under the effects of the spirit domain, allowing him some respite, but the des of white light weren''t slowed down by much at all as they continued to rain down upon him.
Han Li took a deep breath, then made a rapid string of hand seals, and the golden g around him brightened even further before fusing into his time spirit domain.
The surrounding river of golden light instantly swelled to around ten times its original size with a dull thump, and the golden stars within it also expanded drastically as it surged forward with tremendous power.
The blue shield was also glowing radiantly as it swelled to several times its original size, and a projection of a winding river appeared on its surface.
As soon as the des of white light entered the river of golden stars, they were all involuntarily swept away, so none of them were able to strike Han Li.
However, there were far too many of these des of light, and some would asionally force their way through the river of golden stars, but they were kept at bay by the blue shield, which was also a very profound treasure.
All of the des of white light would instantly warp upon making contact with the shield, causing them to veer off their original trajectories, and Han Li was feeling very reassured upon seeing this.
He was able to refocus his attention on forging ahead, but he didn''t have much time. After all, using his spirit domain and two time-attribute immortal treasures at full capacity at once was extremely taxing, and even he wouldn''t be able to keep this up for long.
Around fifteen minutester, Han Li was finally able to rush out of the spatial storm and stumble out into the open.
However, the sight that greeted him on the other side was far from an encouraging one.
The entire surrounding space was filled with chaotic spatial turbulence, and both of the nearby continents had vanished without a trace.
He immediately came to realize that he had been swept away to an unknown ce by the spatial storm from earlier, and he currently had no idea where he was.
The spatial turbulence was extremely dangerous, and he didn''t have much immortal spiritual power left, so if he couldn''t find a safe ce soon, then he really was at risk of dying here.
With that in mind, he immediately took a pill, then flipped his hands over to produce a pair of mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones, replenishing his immortal spiritual power while doing his best to recall the location of the two continents from before.
However, he hadpletely lost all sense of direction while in the spatial storm, so there was no way that he could recall where those two continents were.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he set off in a certain direction while continuing to maintain his time spirit domain and the two immortal treasures.
Even though using all three of those things at once was very taxing on his immortal spiritual power, it also allowed him to traverse quickly through the spatial turbulence, and his current top priority was to find somewhere safe.
Thankfully, his luck wasn''tpletely terrible, and after flying for some time, he spotted andmass up ahead.
An ecstatic look appeared on his face as he hurriedly flew toward thendmass, and at teh same time, he channeled the remaining immortal spiritual power in his body as he extended a finger forward.
A golden finger projection instantly appeared before striking the spatial barrier, poking arge hole through it.
Han Li shot through the hole like lightning, and the surrounding violent pressure instantly faded.
At this moment, he was looking as pale as a sheet, and he withdrew his time spirit domain and the two immortal treasures, then took a few deep breaths to steady himself.
He cast his gaze downward to discover arge mountain range down below. The mountain range was quite abundant with spiritual qi, and it appeared to be free from the ravages of battle.
The white mist that obstructed one''s view was absent here, so even though he still couldn''t release his spiritual sense very far, he had great visibility with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
After taking a moment to observe his surroundings, he descended out of the sky, avoiding several nearby spatial rifts en route to the ground.
He then sat down with his legs crossed to rest, and close to half a dayter, he opened his eyes before setting off in a certain direction.
He was constantly scouring his surroundings with his eyes and spiritual sense as he flew through the air.
The mountain range here stretched as far as the eyes could see, and it was covered in lush greenery, including some spirit nts that were abundant with vitality.
Han Li naturally wasn''t going to leave these spirit nts behind, and all of them were stowed away into storage tools.
While flying through a valley, Han Li''s expression suddenly changed slightly as he turned to a certain direction with a peculiar look on his face.
There were violent spiritual power fluctuationsing from that direction, and it was clear that a battle was taking ce there.
It seemed that all of thebatants possessed lofty cultivation bases, and they had to also be cultivators who had entered the True Mantra Sect ruins in search of treasures.
At this point, Han Li''s mindset had changed from back when he first entered the ruins. All he wanted was to mind his own business and search for treasures, and he had no desire to be swept up in pointless conflicts.
However, right as he was about to depart, a burst of radiant crimson light suddenly erupted into the air from the site of the battle, and the aura fluctuations emanating from the crimson light weren''t unfamiliar to him.
He heaved a faint sigh, then began flying in that direction as an indistinct shadow.
At his speed, he was able to reach the site of the battle very quickly, and sure enough, there were two figures up ahead, locked in a heated battle.
One of them had a giant fiery crimson sword hanging above his head and an antiquated golden mirror strapped to his waist, and it was none other than Immortal Lord Hot me.
His assant was a tall and thin azure-robed man. It was the same immortal envoy that had appeared in Jade Gathering City with Gongshu Tian all those years ago, and Han Li recalled that his surname was Wang.
Instead of immediately revealing himself, Han Li observed the battle from a hiding spot nearby.
The azure-robed man''s cultivation base was far superior to Immortal Lord Hot me''s, and he was definitely the one with the initiative.
A giant azure moon projection was hovering above his head, releasing waves of azure light, and each wave of azure light would transform into hundreds of beams of light that hurtled directly toward Immortal Lord Hot me.
The giant fiery sword above Immortal Lord Hot me''s head was revolving rapidly as it released waves of crimson sword projections toward the oing beams of azure light.
At this moment, he had changed into a crimson robe with a series of fiery holy birds, including the phoenix and the vermilion bird, embroidered upon, and it appeared to also be an immortal treasure that was constantly sting forth bursts of scorching crimson mes.
The beams of azure light appeared to be quite unremarkable, but they were extremely formidable, able to pierce through the opposing sword qi and mes with ease before raining down upon Immortal Lord Hot me.
Thankfully, the waves of golden light released by Immortal Lord Hot me''s golden mirror were able to significantly slow down the beams of azure light.
However, there were simply too many of these beams of azure light, and Immortal Lord Hot me was still forced to constantly take evasive measures.
"Don''t test my patience any further, Huo Zhuozi! Hand over the map, and I''ll let you leave. If you continue to resist, then I''ll just have to kill you first!" the azure-robed man yelled.
There were already quite a few wounds on Immortal Lord Hot me''s body, but he wasn''t backing down in the slightest as he spat, "Shut your mouth, you Heavenly Court scoundrel! If you want the map, thene and get it!
"In that case, I''ll grant you the fate that you desire and send you to your grave!" the azure-robed man harrumphed coldly as a hint of killing intent shed through his eyes.
Immediately thereafter, the azure moon above his head swelled drastically in size at his behest, and the number of beams of azure light that it was releasing instantly increased by severalfold.
A grim look appeared in Immortal Lord Hot me''s eyes upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence into the golden mirror strapped to his waist.
The mirror immediately shot forth while releasing bursts of fiery golden light, and at the same time, it swelled to several times its original size before positioning itself in front of Immortal Lord Hot me like a shield.
The mirror had only just settled into ce when it was struck by countless beams of azure light, and the golden ripples released by the mirror still had their usual slowing effect, but these oing beams of azure light were far faster than the ones from before, so the slowing effect wasn''t all that apparent.
A string of resounding ngs rang out as the golden mirror trembled violently, and the golden light emanating from it was also flickering incessantly, looking as if it couldpletely fade at any moment.
However, the mirror remained in ce in a resilient fashion, and the golden light around it refused to fade.
A hint of surprise shed through the azure-robed man''s eyes upon seeing this, and a greedy look appeared on his face as he gazed upon the golden mirror.
He then gave a cold harrumph as a burst of azure light erupted out of his body, forming an azure spirit domain that was several dozen kilometers in size.
Right at this moment, a burst of green light suddenly appeared beside the azure moon without any warning, then instantly enveloped it.
The azure moon instantly dimmed as the azure light emanating from it faded, revealing it to be an azure jade bead immortal treasure.
At the same time, arge golden lock appeared out of thin air behind the azure-robed man, then sped toward him like lightning.
"Who goes there?"
The azure-robed man''s expression changed drastically as he swiveled around while opening his mouth to release a silver te, which shed against the golden lock with a loud ng.
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air to release an azure bamboo slip immortal treasure that transformed into an azure light barrier that epassed his body from all directions.
At the same time, he reached out with his other hand to make a grabbing motion toward the azure jade bead up above, and a resounding boom rang out as a mountainous azure hand appeared above the jade bead before grabbing forcefully down upon the burst of green light.
The green light was instantly shattered with a dull thump to reveal a green gourd, and there were countless green runes surging around the gourd, giving off tremendousw power fluctuations that caused the nearby space to buzz and tremble incessantly.
That''s an Essential Immortal Treasure!
The azure-robed man was ecstatic to see this, and a massive azure rune appeared over the mountainous azure hand at his behest, following which the enormous hand closed itself around the green gourd.
The gourd immediately began to tremble violently, as if it were struggling to free itself, but the giant azure hand held it firmly into ce, refusing to let it escape.
Chapter 674: Concerns
Chapter 674: Concerns
That gourd! Could it be...
A peculiar look shed through Immortal Lord Hot me''s eyes at the sight of the green gourd.
The azure-robed man quickly inspected his surroundings, then made a hand seal, and the rune on the mountainous azure hand lit up as it released a burst of tremendousw powers.
A loud thump rang out as the protective green light around the gourd was crushed, and the gourd''s struggles instantly ceased.
An ecstatic look shed through the azure-robed man''s eyes as he made a beckoning motion to draw the green gourd back to himself.
The gourd was no more than several dozen feet away from the azure-robed man when a burst of spatial fluctuations erupted behind him, and Han Li appeared out of thin air in a stealthy fashion.
As soon as he appeared, he immediately swept both sleeves through the air, releasing a pair of giant azure swords that came crashing down upon the azure-robed man.
Radiant azure swordlight erupted out of the swords, and they were giving off tremendous power that threatened to slice the very heavens into two.
The azure-robed man''s expression remained unchanged, save for a disdainful twitch of his lips, and it seemed that he had already anticipated such a sneak attack.
He made a hand seal with one hand, and the azure jade bead above his head freed itself from the green light released by the Profound Heavenly Gourd, then began to glow radiantly as it released two thick pirs of azure light that struck the pair of oing swords.
Two earth-shattering thumps rang out as the nearby space shuddered violently, and the pair of giant swords shrank down significantly while flying back through the air. The azure swordlight radiating from them had also dimmed significantly, as if their spiritual nature had been severely damaged.
Han Li''splexion paled slightly, and he stumbled back in retreat as if he had also sustained substantial internal injuries.
The azure-robed man turned to Han Li with a cold sneer, then turned his attention back to the green gourd.
From his perspective, histe-Golden Immortal Stage assant clearly had a death wish, but at the same time, he had to thank him for fetching him this Essential Immortal Treasure.
The green gourd continued to fly toward him while locked in the grasp of the giant azure hand, but right at this moment, the gourd suddenly began to tremble violently once again.
At the same time, radiant green light erupted from its surface, while a burst of thunderous rumbling rang out within it.
The azure-robed man''s expression changed drastically, yet before he had a chance to do anything, a burst of blinding golden light shot out of the gourd before striking the protective azure light barrier around him.
A resounding boom rang out, and despite the azure bamboo slip''s indestructible appearance, the burst of golden light was able to pierce through it with ease before going on to punch arge hole into the chest and abdomen of the azure-robed man.
His entire body was almost split into two, but not a single drop of blood flowed out of the wound, and the edge of the hole was smooth and charred ck.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and even Immortal Lord Hot me was astonished by what he had just witnessed.
Arge torrent of blood gushed out of the azure-robed man''s mouth as a shocked and enraged look appeared on his face.
If he hadn''t managed to dodge slightly to the side just in the nick of time, the burst of golden light would''ve already pierced through his dantian and killed him on the spot.
Despite his bewilderment, he reacted very quickly, making a hand seal as he opened his mouth to release a ball of azure mes. The azure fire spread outward to epass his entire body, and he fled the scene as an azure fireball, abandoning all of his immortal treasures with the exception of the azure jade bead.
However, right at this moment, several translucent chains appeared out of the space around him without any warning, and they pierced straight into his mind, with the protective light barrier around him unable to pose any resistance.
He was instantlypletely immobilized, and the look on his face abruptly stiffened.
He was still flying forward, but his speed had been drastically reduced.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li appeared in front of the azure-robed man amid a sh of lightning.
Hisplexion had returned to normal, and he immediately threw a powerful punch forward, conjuring up an azure fist projection that struck the azure-robed man on the head, smashing it like a watermelon.
A translucent cage was revealed inside, trapped within which was an azure soul.
Han Li flicked a finger through the air, and an arc of golden lightning shot out of his fingertip and into the Spiritual Sense Cage, instantly destroying the soul inside it.
The Spiritual Sense Cage then reverted back into several translucent chains that vanished into his mind.
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to capture the azure-robed man''s remains and the immortal treasures around him before stowing them into the Flower Branch Space.
"There was no need for you to employ such underhanded tactics against a mere mid-High Zenith cultivator, Fellow Daoist Han," Mo Guang remarked in Han Li''s mind in an unimpressed voice.
Han Li paid no heed to Mo Guang. He would''ve indeed been able to kill the azure-robed man with ease using his timew powers, but he didn''t want to reveal too much to Immortal Lord Hot me for the moment.
He made a beckoning motion to summon his Profound Heavenly Gourd, the two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and the golden lock back to himself, then turned around to face Immortal Lord True me.
"You''ve saved me yet again, Fellow Daoist Li. I really don''t know how to thank you," Immortal Lord Hot me said in a grateful voice as he flew over to Han Li.
"There''s no need to thank me, Fellow Daoist Hot me. We agreed to forge an alliance, so it''s only right that I do what I can to help you. Having said that, I certainly wasn''t expecting to run into you here. Where are Fellow Daoist Fox and Fellow Daoist Shi right now?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid I don''t know. We were all separated by the spatial turbulence, and initially, upon being teleported here, everything was going quite smoothly for me, but I encountered that immortal envoy not long ago. If you hadn''t arrived when you did, I would''ve most likely died here,"Immortal Lord Hot me sighed.
"I''ve also encountered some outsiders during my time in these ruins, not just from the Heavenly Court, but from some other powers as well," Han Li said.
Immortal Lord Hot me was very surprised to hear this, and he immediately asked, "Were you able to determine where those people hade from?"
"As far as I''m aware, there was a member of the Robe Change Order and a devilish being from the Devil Realm," Han Li replied.
"The Robe Change Order? How did they find an entrance to these ruins? And a devilish being as well?"
Immortal Lord Hot me''s brows furrowed tightly as he fell into deep thought.
Han Li waited for Immortal Lord Hot me to process this information, but after some time, thetter was still silent, so Han Li called out to him.
"Fellow Daoist Hot me..."
"My apologies, I got too caught up in my own thoughts. Back when our True Mantra Sect was destroyed by the Heavenly Court, Patriarch Miro had used his unfathomable power to transfer our entire sect into the boundless expanse of spatial turbulence, so there shouldn''t be anyone aside from me who knows the location of the entrance.
¡°Could it be that we''ve been followed this entire time without our knowledge?" Immortal Lord Hot me mused with tightly furrowed brows.
"Those people have already made it in here, so there''s no point in thinking about them. There are many treasures in these ruins, so let''s focus on exploring this ce and improving our chances at self-preservation," Han Li said, and Immortal Lord Hot me nodded in agreement.
"There''s most likely no one nearby, but we did cause quite amotion just now, so we should leave this ce as a safety precaution, then think about what we want to do next," Han Li said.
Immortal Lord Hot me nodded in response, and the two of them departed.
"You were a disciple of the True Mantra Sect, so you must be very familiar with everything here, right, Fellow Daoist Hot me? I''m sure you must''ve reaped a lot of rewards already. I recall that you entered these ruins for the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, right? Have you found it yet?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid not. My luck has not been great, and I didn''t get much of a chance to do any treasure-hunting before I ran into that immortal envoy. As for the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, I don''t even know where it''s hidden, so how could I possibly have found it?" Immortal Lord Hot me sighed with a wry smile.
"Oh? You''re also unaware of where the cultivation art is hidden? That''s a bit of a problem," Han Li said with a slightly surprised expression.
"If the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra remains permanently lost, then that would be fine, but I''m worried that the Heavenly Court or some other power could get their hands on it," Immortal Lord Hot me sighed with a concerned expression.
Han Li offered no response to this.
"Right now, it seems like there are many powers in the True Mantra Sect ruins. If the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra emerges, I''m doubtful of my ability to secure it on my own, so I hope that you can help me secure it. I''ll be sure topensate you for your help," Immortal Lord Hot me said as he turned to Han Li with a serious expression.
"At the moment, it''s unclear how many powerful cultivators are currently in the True Mantra Sect ruins, so I can''t make any promises, but as long as my life doesn''te under threat, I''m willing to lend you my assistance," Han Li replied.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Li," Immortal Lord Hot me said with an ted expression.
"Speaking of which, what exactly is this Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra? You mentioned that it''s a cultivation art?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. The Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra is a time-attribute cultivation art. As I''m sure you''re aware, there are many time-attribute cultivation arts in the True Mantra Sect, and the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra is the most confidential one," Immortal Lord Hot me exined.
"I see. In that case, we really do have to ensure that it doesn''t fall into the hands of any outsiders," Han Li replied with a nod.
Immortal Lord Hot me was secretly observing Han Li''s expression, and he was quite relieved to see that there was no greed on Han Li''s face as he spoke of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
Chapter 675: Untitled
Chapter 675: Untitled
[1]
As it turned out, the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra really wasn''t all that alluring to Han Li. After all, he had already obtained the entirety of the Mantra Axis Scripture, and ording to its description, that should be sufficient to support his cultivation to the Great Epassment Stage.
The Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra was the highest caliber cultivation art that the True Mantra Sect had to offer, but it was definitely not going to be easy to cultivate, so it may not be the most suitable choice for him.
At the same time, Han Li knew the dangers of being sucked into the game of jumping from one cultivation art to another in pursuit of greater power. Ultimately, that would only result in failure to master any one cultivation art.
At the moment, his top priority was to attain more power and advance in his cultivation so that he could ensure self-preservation in the ever more chaotic True Immortal Realm. Only then could he think about anything else.
Of course, he was still curious about this cultivation art, and if he could get his hands on it, he certainly wouldn''t reject such an opportunity.
The two of them continued to chat while flying through the air, and the terrain up ahead was gradually bing tter, smoothing out from an undting mountain range to a series of hills.
These hills were rather peculiar in that most of them were standing in clusters of two, much like camel humps, and it was unclear why this was the case.
Despite the change in the terrain, thendscape was still extremely abundant with vegetation.
"The spiritual qi here is quite abundant. Which area of the True Mantra Sect are we in right now?" Han Li asked.
A hint of surprise shed through Immortal Lord Hot me''s eyes upon hearing this.
"It sounds like you know quite a bit about theyout of our True Mantra Sect, Fellow Daoist Li."
"I obtained a rough map of the True Mantra Sect earlier, so I know the generalyout," Han Li exined.
"I see. Right now, we''re in the Wood Emperor area, but we''re near the edge of the area, so there won''t be many valuable treasures. Right now, we''re traveling toward the central region, and there used to be many medicine gardens there. Hopefully, they haven''t been destroyed," Immortal Lord Hot me sighed.
"Please lead the way," Han Li replied with a nod.
With that, the two of them sped up a little, flying through the air as two streaks of light before vanishing into the distance.
......
At the same time.
A streak of purple light was flying over a set of barren ruins enshrouded in white mist. Trailing along close behind it were two more streaks of light in hot pursuit.
The streak of purple light contained a purple-robed young man with curly white hair, and at this moment, he was racing along with tightly furrowed brows, and he was taking asional backward nces with a hint of disgust in his eyes.
Close to ten kilometers away, a slightly hunch-backed elderly man with a bald spot was flying through the air alongside a man in a white schrly robe, and the two of them were riding atop a sleek flying shuttle.
These two were none other than Pce Master Lu Wuliang of the Origin Contention Immortal Region and Immortal Envoy Zhao Zhen, who was previously stationed at Abyssal Lake City of the Concealed Lake Immortal Region, and the person that the two of them were pursuing was Shi Chuankong.
"I didn''t think that his mastery over thews of space would be so advanced. Even with the two of usbining our powers to pilot this seventh-grade immortal treasure flying shuttle, he''s still able to keep us at arm''s length," Lu Wuliang mused with tightly furrowed brows.
"It''s fine. Using one of the three paramountws is extremely taxing on one''s immortal spiritual power, and he''s already slowed down quite a bit, so he''s clearly feeling the strain. He won''t be able tost much longer at this rate. On top of that, given the current fragmented state of the True Mantra Sect, thendmass that we''re currently on most likely isn''t thatrge, so he''ll have nowhere to run once we force him to the edge," Zhao Zhen said in aposed fashion.
"That''s true. Right now, it''s only a matter of time before he''s cornered," Lu Wuliang chuckled.
"The main issue now is deciding what to do with him once we catch him," Zhao Zhen said as a hesitant look appeared on his face.
"Oh? Why is that a concern?" Lu Wuliang asked with a perplexed expression.
"You may not have heard of this, but this man has previously appeared in Jade Gathering City. He fought briefly with Fellow Daoist Su Liu, and I''ve heard that his identity is rather sensitive," Zhao Zhen said.
"Don''t leave me hanging, Fellow Daoist Zhao. What exactly is so special about his identity?" Lu Wuliang hurriedly asked.
"He''s from the Vast Origin House, and he seems to possess a very high status there. It''s a pity that we can''t get into contact with Fellow Daoist Su Liu right now. Otherwise, we''d be able to get a concrete answer," Zhao Zhen said.
A hesitant look appeared on Lu Wuliang''s face upon hearing this, but it didn''t take long before he arrived at a decision.
"Given the current circumstances, a peaceful resolution is already out of reach. In any case, we''re in the True Mantra Sect ruins right now, so let''s kill him here so he can''t exact revenge on us at ater date."
"I suppose that''s the only feasible option," Zhao Zhen replied with a nod.
As the two of them were speaking to each other, the streak of purple light up ahead suddenly descended toward arge valley down below, and the two of them hurriedly followed along atop their flying shuttle.
There were two tall mountains facing each other at the entrance of the valley, and many holes had been burrowed into the mountains with all types of runes engraved onto the rock face around them. It seemed that some type of restriction had been set up here, but it had since been destroyed, and in particr, half of the mountain on the right hand side had already copsed.
Zhao Zhen and Lu Wuliang flew into the valley, and they soon spotted a figure on a giant stone za inside the valley, setting up something around a ck rock at the center of the za.
"He''s just going to stop here? Does he have a death wish?"
Lu Wuliang was rather taken aback to see this.
"Don''t getcent, Fellow Daoist Lu. As a cultivator of spatialw powers, he''s far more dangerous than the average cultivator of the same cultivation base," Zhao Zhen said in a solemn manner.
"Regardless of what he''s trying to do, we just have to stop him before he can get it done," Lu Wuliang said with a cold sneer, and as soon as his voice trailed off, a yellow spirit domain instantly erupted out of his body, epassing the entire surrounding area in a radius of over ten thousand feet.
Immediately thereafter, he sprang forward as his skin turned an earthy brown color, and while in mid-air, he suddenly began to plummet rapidly toward Shi Chuankong as if he had be as heavy as a mountain.
Zhao Zhen opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it in the end and merely looked on with a tense expression.
Lu Wuliang''s body was crashing down with such tremendous force that even the air around him was rumbling incessantly, and the very space within the spirit domain was copsing downward beneath him.
Right as he was about tond on the stone za andpletely pulverize Shi Chuankong, a burst of silver light suddenly erupted out of Shi Chuankong''s body, forming a silver spirit domain that instantly epassed the entire surrounding space within a radius of several dozen feet.
Lu Wuliang saw a blur sh before his eyes, and the space around him became slightly distorted and indistinct. In the next instant, he crashed down onto the ground with a deafening boom.
An enormous cloud of dust rose up into the air as rock fragments and debris erupted in all directions. The entire earth had caved in by close to a thousand feet, forming an enormous crater in the ground.
Zhao Zhen''s eyelids twitched slightly as he observed the unfolding scene from above.
From his perspective, Lu Wuliang had clearly been crashing down toward the white stone za, yet somehow, he hadnded outside the za.
He hurriedly flew down right as Lu Wuliang flew out of the crater, and he asked, "What happened, Fellow Daoist Lu?"
"I''ll give it to him, that kid does have tricks up his sleeve. In the instant that I was about to crash down onto him, he used some type of spatial distortion technique to divert me far away from my intended target. Having said that, this is no cause for concern. All I have to do is immobilize him so that he can''t use the same technique again, and he''ll be a sitting duck for you, Fellow Daoist Zhao," Lu Wuliang said with a cold smile.
"I''ll be counting on you then, Fellow Daoist Lu," Zhao Zhen said as he turned to Shi Chuankong with a hint of skepticism in his eyes.
Lu Wuliang nodded in response, yet right as he was about to do something, Shi Chuankong suddenly turned in their direction and gave them a provocative smirk.
Immediately thereafter, he flipped a hand over to produce a fist-sized te, then extended the index finger of his other hand over the te to drip a drop of silver blood essence onto it.
All of the spirit patterns on the te lit up one after another with dazzling silver radiance, and it began to release bursts of formidable spatial fluctuations.
At the same time, a circr array lit up around the ck rock behind Shi Chuankong, and the silver light that it was releasing was so radiant that Zhao Zhen and Lu Wuliang were forced to avert their eyes.
After the silver light faded, the two of them discovered that two people had appeared within the silver array.
The one on the left was a seductive woman with a white veil over face, and it was none other than Feng Lin. Standing beside her was a young man wearing arge red feather robe with his purple hair arranged into a tall bun, and as soon as the two of them appeared, they immediately extended a collective respectful bow toward Shi Chuankong.
"We pay our respects to Young Master Shi."
At this point, the te that Shi Chuankong was holding had already beenpletely destroyed, and he casually discarded it as his brows furrowed slightly, and he asked, "Why are there only two of you? Where''s Elder Jing?"
"I was separated from Elder Jing and Zi Qing after we entered the ruins," Feng LIn hurriedly replied.
The purple-haired young man by the name of Zi Qing cupped his fist in a salute as he exined, "While exploring a set of ruins, Elder Jing and I either triggered some type of restriction or fell prey to a sneak attack.
¡°In any case, Elder Jing was swallowed up by a cloud of gray mist, and he vanished before he had a chance to resist. I immediately retreated upon seeing this, and I was summoned here before I had a chance to investigate any further."
1. Not sure why, but this chapter and the next one (chapter 676) both appear to be untitled. ?
Chapter 676: Untitled
Chapter 676: Untitled
Shi Chuankong was silent for a moment, then said, "Forget about it. I''ve already found some leads on what I''m looking for, so let''s take care of this matter first, then get out of here."
Both Feng Lin and Zi Qing heaved an internal sigh of relief upon hearing this.
Zi Qing cast his gaze toward Zhao Zhen''s duo, and a mocking sneer appeared on his face as he scoffed, "You two must have a death wish to be attacking the young master of our Vast Origin House. Have you grown bored of your immortal lives as Jade Immortals?"
At this point, Zhao Zhen and Lu Wuliang had already retreated to over ten thousand feet away, and all of a sudden, they felt like they had made a grave mistake.
......
Several dayster.
Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me were making their way through a wide passageway toward a pce.
The passageway was lined with weeds and tall grass, as well as broken stone statues andnterns, presenting a bleak sight to behold.
"This is where ceremonies used to be conducted in our sect. The round altar that we passed by earlier was used for the major ceremony that was held once every one thousand years. At the time, the concept of the four allied immortal regions still didn''t exist, but every single one of those ceremonies was treated as a grand event, with all of the nearby immortal regions sending representatives to attend the event.
¡°It''s very saddening to see the sect reduced to such a state now," Immortal Lord Hot me sighed with a reminiscent look in his eyes.
"Countless empires and sects have risen and fallen over the course of history. It''s impossible to predict the future, so don''t dwell on reminiscing about the past or fearing the future. Right now, we should focus on finding the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra," Han Li consoled.
Immortal Lord Hot me nodded in response, but it was clear that he was still lost in his own thoughts.
The pce at the end of the passageway was enormous, and even though most of it had already copsed, the part of it that was still standing presented a glimpse into how majestic the building would''ve been in its heyday.
There was a tall gate not far away, hanging above which was a que that read "Reverence Pavilion" inrge golden characters.
Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me made their way to the pce, and they looked up at the giant gate for a moment, then exchanged a nce with each other, following which thetter stepped forward to push the gate open.
The gate creaked open with a depressing sound resembling a reluctant sigh from the ancient pce, and Han Li''s duo stepped into it to find that it was in a state ofplete disarray.
There were broken tiles and bricks everywhere, and everything was covered in slick moss and messy weeds.
There was half a jade que jutting out of the debris, and half a golden character that seemed to read "heaven" was visible on it.
It was impossible to tell what furnishings had originally been in the pce as most of the ce had been reduced to rubble, and the only areas that were somewhat clearly visible were the ones directly adjacent to the walls.
As Han Li passed by a wall, he noticed that there were some extremely vibrant murals painted upon them. Even though it had already been countless years, the colors were still very bright and fresh, as if they had only just been drawn.
"What are these?" he asked.
"This Heaven Calendar Pavilion is a very special ce in our sect, and it holds many of our sect''s secrets. It''s strictly off limits to ordinary disciples unless express permission is given, and the murals here mostly depict some important events in our sect''s history.
¡°If the array in the pce were still intact, all of the murals would be able to move and depict different scenes, but with the array destroyed, they''ve been reduced to still images," Immortal Lord Hot me sighed with a shake of his head.
Han Li turned to one of the murals beside him, and his attention was immediately drawn to it.
Immortal Lord Hot me also turned his gaze to the mural to discover that it depicted what appeared to be a grandiose banquet.
The main color tone of the mural was a vibrant and festive red, and there was a lively and bustling celebration taking ce within it.
The murals beside it also presented different scenes that depicted the same event, with Patriarch Miro, his five disciples, and many other important figures of the True Mantra Sect asionally featuring in the murals.
"Fellow Daoist Hot me, am I correct in saying that the people depicted here are from the Heavenly Court?" Han Li suddenly asked as he raised an eyebrow.
In one of the murals, the guests in attendance were dressed in attire that was identical to that of the Heavenly Court cultivators.
"That''s right. This banquet was held to wee a group of extremely prestigious envoys from the Heavenly Court. They were official envoys from the Middle Earth Immortal Region, so a wee of the highest order was arranged. That was truly a grand event of the True Immortal Realm, and I still remember it like yesterday," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a nod.
"In that case, it sounds like the True Mantra Sect and the Heavenly Court weren''t on bad terms. Why did the two ultimately go up in arms against each other?" Han Li asked.
Immortal Lord Hot me shook his head in response. "One of the reasons I came back to the sect is to find out the answer to that question. Not long after this banquet, I was sent out on a mission, so I know very little about the events that transpired next."
Han Li nodded in response, but he was left feeling even more perplexed.
After a brief pause, he continued to roam his gaze over the wall, and he noticed a corner of a mural protruding out from behind a rubble, so he swept a sleeve through the air to sweep the rubble aside, revealing the full mural to discover that it was depicting a rather strange image.
The setting was a dimly lit underground pce, and a meeting was taking ce between Patriarch Miro, the yellow-robed tree being by the name of Mu Yan, the imposing man with the fiery red hair, the dark-skinned young man who was built like an iron pagoda, and a mysterious figure wearing a ck cloak with their entire body shrouded in gray mist.
Particr attention had clearly been paid to the illustrations of Patriarch Miro and his three disciples, and Han Li was even able to see the minute differences in their expressions, which told a story of surprise, fear, suspicion, and befuddlement.
However, the face of the cloaked figure waspletely concealed beneath the hood of his cloak.
At the end of the mural, Patriarch Miro traveled alone into another strange space, where he obtained a millstone-sized silver te from a devilish being with a pair of curved horns on their head.
That was where the images concluded, and there were no further murals on the copsed wall.
"Do you know who that is, Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Han Li asked as he pointed at the cloaked figure.
"I''m aware that our patriarch, my master, and some others suddenly left the banquet at some point, but I don''t know what they were doing, and I don''t know who that mysterious visitor is," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a shake of his head.
"Your master? Which one of these was your master, Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Han Li asked.
"The man with the red hair was my master, Qi Mozi. The yellow-robed man was my Senior Martial Uncle, Mu Yan, and the dark-skinned man behind him was my Third Martial Uncle, Wu Yang. The other two child-like figures that you saw at the banquet were my Fourth Martial Uncle, Jin Yuanzi, and my Fifth Martial Uncle, He Ze," Immortal Lord Hot me replied.
Han Li''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing the name "Qi Mozi". He thought back to therge-headed child that he had seen in the Water Divination Pce, the one whose name was He Ze, and that child had clearly told him to kill Qi Mozi.
Was He Ze referring to Immortal Lord Hot me''s master? If they were fellow martial brothers, then why had they be sworn enemies?
A perplexed look appeared on Han Li''s face as he grappled with these confounding thoughts.
"Is there something wrong, Fellow Daoist Li?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked.
Han Li hesitated momentarily, but ultimately decided against telling Immortal Lord Hot me about his encounter with He Ze. Instead, he merely shook his head and replied, "No, I''m just curious about what they were discussing. I presume that mysterious visitor was no ordinary person."
"There''s no way to tell what they were discussing, but it''s clear that they were discussing something very important. Otherwise, there''s no way that our patriarch would''ve left my martial uncles behind to entertain the Heavenly Court guests on their own, while he took my master and my other two martial uncles to see this visitor," Immortal Lord Hot me mused.
"So you left the sect not long after that, and it was during your absence that the True Mantra Sect was attacked, is that right? In that case, perhaps this visit from this mysterious figure had something to do with the Heavenly Court. Perhaps it was even the key to the True Mantra Sect''s downfall," Han Li spected with a contemtive expression.
Immortal Lord Hot me offered no response as he also fell into deep thought while staring at the mural with slightly furrowed brows.
Han Li didn''t speak any further on this matter, and he returned his gaze to the mural as he also became lost in his own thoughts.
Some timeter, Han Li suddenly asked, "By the way, do you know the location of the secret chamber depicted in this mural?"
"I''m not certain, I can only think of several possible locations, but there''s only one way to find out if any of them is actually where the secret chamber is situated," Immortal Lord Hot me replied.
"Given the importance of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, I''m sure Patriarch Miro would''ve treasured it greatly as well. Hence, there''s a decent chance that he hid it here or somewhere of simr importance. I guess we''ll just have to see," Han Li said.
Immortal Lord Hot me nodded in response, and the two of them carefully searched through the area before departing and continuing onward.
Chapter 677: Remains
Chapter 677: Remains
Over half a monthter.
Han Li''s duo had arrived at a ripplingke, and they were hovering in the sky above it, looking ahead with tightly furrowed brows.
The space there had been severed once again, and the entire area was filled with countless spatial rifts. Even theke down below had been sliced into two, and on the edge was an invisible barrier that resembled a wall of water.
On the other side of the spatial rifts was a moderate-sizedndmass and a series of independent mountains that had dense clusters of white jade pces on them. However, most of them were disying signs of damage, and some of the mountains had even mostly crumbled away.
As he gazed upon the floating mountains and the white za, a sense of familiarity welled up in his heart, and right as he was trying to figure out where he had seen it before, Immortal Lord Hot me''s voice suddenly rang out beside him.
"It looks like we won''t be able to continue any further, Fellow Daoist Li. We may have to find another path."
"Do you recall what ce thatndmass used to be, Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Han Li asked.
Immortal Lord Hot me faltered slightly upon hearing this, then stared at thendmass for a moment before replying in a hesitant voice, "I think that was the Twin Birth Pce of Senior Martial Uncle Mu Yan. It''s one of the most important locations in the sect outside of our patriarch''s True Mantra Pce. Having said that, this entire space is in a state ofplete disarray, so I can''t say for sure."
At this point, Han Li was almostpletely certain that this was where he had been during the instance of transmigration where he had witnessed the fall of the True Mantra Sect, and it was also where he had hidden Mu Yan''s body.
"If it''s that important a ce, then we should check it out. What if the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra is hidden there?" Han Li said.
"But the problem is that we can''t advance any further beyond this point. Let''s go somewhere else, and there may be another route that we can take," Immortal Lord Hot me replied.
Han Li scoured his gaze over the area for a moment, then pointed in a certain direction as he said, "There''s no need for that. The spatial rifts here are quite concentrated, but it''s not like there''s no way through at all. Take a look over there, that''s a passageway that leads to the otherndmass, is it not?"
Immortal Lord Hot me turned his gaze to that direction to discover a pir of water that was around ten feet in radius extending out of the edge of theke several thousand feet away, and it resembled a water bridge that led to thendmass close to ten kilometers away.
"Is that supposed to be a joke, Fellow Daoist Li? That pir of water is surrounded by spatial rifts in all directions, and we could easily get sucked into one of them if we''re not careful. On top of that, the other side is also cut off by a spatial barrier, so even if we can make it safely through the pir of water, we''ll only be hitting a deadend anyway. Why take the risk?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with a perplexed expression.
"Risks have to be taken. We may not be able to find an alternative route to thatndmass, and even if we can, it would be too much of a dy, so the best course of action is to cross from here," Han Li countered.
He had already used this method to sessfully crossndmasses, so he had built up some confidence.
Immortal Lord Hot me knew that he wouldn''t be able to dissuade Han Li, so after some contemtion, he didn''t raise any further objections, but he was clearly still rather hesitant.
"Once we reach the other spatial barrier through the pir of water, I''ll find a way to open the spatial barrier, and we''ll burst through in one go," Han Li said.
"Do you really have a way to break open the spatial barrier without impacting the nearby spatial rifts?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked as he raised an eyebrow in a skeptical manner.
"The spatial barrier here is far more brittle than spatial barriers you''ll find elsewhere, so it won''t be difficult to break it. As long as we''re fast enough, I''m at least 70% sure that we''ll seed," Han Li reassured with a smile.
Immortal Lord Hot me was left a little speechless upon hearing this, but at this point, he could only take a gamble on Han Li.
Afterpleting the required preparations, the two of them darted straight into theke down below before swimming toward the oppositendmass through the channel of water like a pair of fish.
After entering the channel of water, both of them were extremely anxious, and they advanced extremely slowly while also suppressing their spiritual power fluctuations as much as possible for fear of inadvertently moving one of the nearby spatial rifts.
It took the two of them over two hours to cover the short distance of less than ten kilometers, ans as they drew close to the spatial barrier, Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes as he summoned his Profound Heavenly Gourd, aiming its mouth up ahead while also turning to Immortal Lord Hot me, gesturing for him to get ready.
After that, he thrust the palm of his hand firmly into the underside of the gourd, and a burst of piercing green light erupted out of its mouth amid a thunderous boom.
Immediately thereafter, an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords shot out of the green vortex within the gourd, then pierced into the spatial barrier up ahead as a blurry sword projection.
A burst of violent rumbling rang out, and before the spatial barrier was shattered, the channel of water began to churn violently from the shockwaves resulting from the force of the impact.
The surrounding space was also affected, and the tenuous bnce was instantly broken as all of the surrounding spatial rifts instantly expanded to devour the surrounding water while converging toward Han Li''s duo.
Immortal Lord Hot me''s expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and he hurriedly summoned his golden mirror before injecting his immortal spiritual power into it with all his might.
A vast expanse of golden light erupted forth, forming a golden area around Han Li''s duo, and the rate of expansion of the surrounding spatial rifts slowed down significantly, but they were still expanding ever so slightly.
Right at this moment, a loud crack rang out, and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword finally pierced through the spatial barrier up ahead to create an opening that was only around half the height of a grown man.
Han Li immediately grabbed onto Immortal Lord Hot me''s cor before rushing through the opening, and after that, he summoned his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword back to himself and flew forward for over ten thousand more feet before turning back around.
The spatial passageway that they had opened up was still open, but the channel of water had already beenpletely destroyed by the spatial rifts, and there were tiny ck cracks entering through the opening on the spatial barrier.
However, thankfully, the cracks were all extremely small, and they didn''t expand the opening any further.
Momentster, the opening slowly closed, and Han Li heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing this.
"Thanks for holding off those spatial rifts back there, Fellow Daoist Hot me," Han Li said with a smile as he stowed his Profound Heavenly Gourd away.
At this moment, there was still a hint of lingering fear in Immortal Lord Hot me''s eyes, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he sighed, "I now understand how you became so powerful, Fellow Daoist Li. Fortune truly does favor the brave."
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Hot me. I have been very fortunate in the past, but I''m far from brave," Han Li replied with a smile.
After a brief rest, the two of them began to make their way over the white za that was littered with scattered rocks, and they soon spotted an enormous set of ptial ruins.
In contrast with the ruins from before, this pce had clearly been severely burned. Many of the remaining pce walls were disying signs of melting under intense heat, but there wasn''t a single body to be seen, as if they had all been incinerated into nothingness.
"I was right, this is indeed the Twin Birth Pce of old. In the past, Senior Martial Uncle Mu Yan was responsible for taking care of most of the sect''s affairs, so his Twin Birth Pce was the busiest ce in the sect, but it appears that it''s also the most severely damaged ce in the sect," Immortal Lord Hot me sighed.
During the battle that he had witnessed, Han Li recalled that the attack unleashed by the Time Dao Ancestor hadnded not far away from here. The center of the battlefield couldn''t have been far from this ce, so it was no wonder that it was so severely damaged.
Upon arriving near the pce, Han Li began to examine it while recollecting his memories of the area.
Some timeter, his gaze fell upon a tall pile of rubble, and he stopped in his tracks, then began to inspect the pile of rubble with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
Immortal Lord Hot me also stopped in his tracks upon seeing this, and Han Li feigned an uncertain expression as he said, "Fellow Daoist Hot me, there seems to be something under that pile of rubble over there."
"Is there? Could it be a hidden underground pce?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I don''t think so, but there''s only one way to find out," Han Li replied.
With that, the two of them flew over to the pile of rubble before digging into the ground beneath it, and a long whileter, they emerged with a body carried on Immortal Lord Hot me''s back.
The body was wearing a tattered yellow robe, and it had a head of limp, yellow hair that resembled withered straw. It was none other than Mu Yan!
His body was virtuallypletely unchanged from when Han Li hadst seen it during his transmigration, except hisplexion had grown a little darker, and his yellow robe had also be severely dposed.
"That spirit eye ability of yours is truly incredible, Fellow Daoist Li. It''s amazing that you were able to detect Senior Martial Uncle Mu Yan''s body when it was buried so deep," Immortal Lord Hot me said as he smoothed down Mu Yan''s yellow robe.
In reality, given the spiritual sense restrictions in these ruins, there was no way that Han Li would''ve known that there was a body here if he wasn''t the one that had buried it in the first ce.
"I don''t know whatpelled me, but as soon as I got here, I had an instinctive feeling that there was something under here," Han Li exined as he feigned an oblivious expression.
"In that case, it sounds like it was fate at work," Immortal Lord Hot me said.
"Is Senior Mu Yan carrying the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra?" Han Li asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"No, but there''s a chance that it could be hidden in his Twin Birth Pce," Immortal Lord Hot me replied as he cast his gaze toward thepletely copsed pce in the distance.
After that, he hoisted Mu Yan''s body back onto his own back, then made his way toward the pce with Han Li in apaniment.
Nothing remained of the wooden structures in the pce, and the brick walls that were still standing had been melted into apletely unrecognizable state.
Immortal Lord Hot me strode over to a half-standing brick wall at the rear of the pce, then swept away the soot and dust on it with his hand to reveal a set of strange patterns that resembled the rings of a tree, upon which he eximed in an ecstatic voice, "I knew it!"
In response to Han Li''s perplexed expression, he exined, "This is a secret chamber symboL. There was one in my master''s Flowing Fire Pce in the past, and there''s one here as well, in the exact same location, at that."
"Were they on good terms with each other?" Han Li asked in a seemingly casual manner.
"Well... Senior Martial Uncle Mu Yan had a very short temper, so they got along worst out of Patriarch Miro''s five disciples, but overall, my master and my senior martial uncles were very close," Immortal Lord Hot me replied.
Han Li nodded in response and didn''t speak any further on this matter.
Immortal Lord Hot me picked up one of Mu Yan''s hands before pressing it down upon the secret chamber symbol. He then injected some of his immortal spiritual power into Mu Yan''s body, and ayer of azure light appeared over the palm of Mu Yan''s wizened hand, much like a dead tree recovering some of its vitality with the arrival of spring.
The secret chamber symbol shed with azure light, and an azure doorway of light that was around as tall as a grown man emerged from it.
Immortal Lord Hot me ceased his injection of immortal spiritual power upon seeing this, and Mu Yan''s hand returned to its original lifeless, gray color.
He then took a nce at Han Li, indicating for him to follow along before stepping into the door of light with Mu Yan''s body on his back.
Han Li hesitated momentarily before stepping into the door of light as well, and in the next instant, the two of them appeared in a giant underground pce.
Chapter 678: Baleful Embryo
Chapter 678: Baleful Embryo
Han Li took a moment to regain his bearings, then nced at Immortal Lord Hot me before casting his gaze forward.
The underground pce waspletely dark and silent, and it was impossible to tell whatid ahead.
"Let''s go, Fellow Daoist Li," Immortal Lord Hot me said as he led the way from the front, flipping a hand over to summon a bright, walnut-sized jewel, which he tossed upward to send it burrowing its way into the ceiling above.
The jewel was giving off radiant white light that illuminated the entire underground pce, and it was revealed that there was a strange wooden chair up ahead.
The chair seemed to have been interwoven out of the branches of a pair of short trees, and half of it was a dark green color, while the other half had a withered yellow hue.
"I thought this would be where Senior Martial Uncle Mu Yan stored his spirit pills and immortal nts, but it appears that there''s nothing here," Immortal Lord Hot me said as a hint of disappointment shed through his eyes.
"Given how secretive this ce is, I''m sure there''s more to it than meets the eye. Perhaps there''s something hidden here, and we just need to look a little harder," Han Li said as his gaze fell upon the wooden chair.
Immortal Lord Hot me nodded in response, and he strode forward until he reached the wooden chair. After that, he gently set Mu Yan''s body down onto the chair so that it was in an upright seated posture, then extended a respectful bow toward the body.
Meanwhile, Han Li waited for Immortal Lord Hot me to pay his final respects to Mu Yan, and only after that did they begin to search through the pce together.
Some timeter, the two of them met back up at the center of the pce, and they exchanged a nce to discover their own disappointment mirrored in each other''s eyes.
"I wasn''t able to find any concealed mechanisms or restrictions here," Immortal Lord Hot me said.
"It looks like whatever was in here has most likely already been taken," Han Li sighed in response.
All of a sudden, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Mu Yan''s body seemed to have moved ever so slightly.
He immediately turned his gaze to Mu Yan''s body, only to find that it remained seated in apletely still manner on the strange wooden chair, but he was certain that he hadn''t just imagined the movement.
"I don''t think so. I doubt anyone else aside from myself would''ve been aware of the existence of this underground pce," Immortal Lord Hot me mused, clearly having failed to detect what Han Li had just seen.
"Perhaps the True Mantra Sect was already looted when it was destroyed all those years ago..."
All of a sudden, Han Li''s voice trailed off as his expression changed drastically, and he yelled, "Look out, Fellow Daoist Hot me!"
At the same time, ayer of peculiar green light emerged over Mu Yan''s body, and ck baleful qi was gathering within therge wound on its abdomen, forming a grape-sized bead in the blink of an eye.
There was ck qi swirling incessantly around the bead, presenting a strange sight to behold.
Immediately thereafter, the branches on the wooden chair beneath Mu Yan''s body suddenly parted as if they had sprung to life, then swept toward Immortal Lord Hot me like masses of vines.
All of this had taken ce in an instant, and even though Immortal Lord Hot me had been alerted by Han Li, he was still just a little toote to react, and he had only just sprung into action when several of the vines wrapped themselves around his arm.
He immediately let loose an agonized howl as the sleeve around his arm was instantly reduced to ashes, and a series of ck char marks appeared over the exposed skin of his arm. At the same time, his arm was being rapidly drained of its vitality, and his skin was bing as wizened as tree bark.
He immediately opened his mouth to release a burst of scorching crimson mes, which flowed along the vines ensnared around his arm toward the wooden chair.
However, these incredibly formidable mes simply slipped off the vines like rain, and the vines were leftpletely unharmed.
Right at this moment, a streak of azure swordlight shot forth through the air, swooping down with arcs of golden lightning shing around it.
A loud snap rang out as the vines were severed, dark green liquid came gushing out alongside bursts of baleful ck smoke.
As soon as Immortal Lord Hot me was freed, he immediately rushed over to Han Li''s side, then summoned a golden talisman that he pressed onto his arm with his uninjured hand.
A faint sizzling sound rang out as plumes of pungent white smoke began to rise up from the talisman.
Immortal Lord Hot me was sweating profusely from the intense agony, but he had no time to dwell on his own pain as he hurriedly asked, "What''s going on, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"I''m not sure, but it looks like Senior Mu Yan is about to transform into a baleful entity," Han Li replied with tightly furrowed brows.
At the same time, he was staring intently at the strange wooden chair. At this point, all of its vines had shrunk back and were waving incessantly like a head of devilish hair, but they were no longershing out at Han Li''s duo.
"How is that possible? It''s already been countless years, how could it possibly be that this just so happens to be the exact moment that he transforms into a baleful entity?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with an incredulous expression.
"I don''t have an answer to that, but I feel like it most likely has something to do with that wooden chair," Han Li spected.
Immortal Lord Hot me faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which a thought suddenly urred to him, and he hurriedly yelled, "That''s not a wooden chair, that''s a..."
Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, Han Li interjected in an urgent voice, "He''s about to form a baleful embryo! Fellow Daoist Hot me, help me ward off those vines!"
At this moment, Mu Yan''s body had begun trembling violently, and his eyes were darting around back and forth beneath his eyelids, looking as if they could spring open at any moment.
Han Li immediately sprang forward while summoning nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once, thenbined them into a single sword before piercing it directly toward Mu Yan''s abdomen, where the baleful embryo was taking shape.
As soon as he reached within several hundred feet of the body, the nearby vines instantly erupted into a frenzy,shing out at him from all directions.
Immortal Lord Hot me hurriedly summoned his golden mirror upon seeing this, then tossed it forward before making a hand seal.
The mirror shuddered violently as aplex rune appeared on its surface, and it released countless rays of golden light that epassed the entire space around Han Li.
A burst of formidable timew power fluctuations surged through the golden light, and all of the vines that were sweeping toward Han Li instantly became extremely slow and sluggish.
At the same time, Han Li channeled his Reversal True Axis ability to drastically enhance his own speed while a ball of Divine Devilbane Lightning was conjured up at the tip of his azure longsword using his Lightningwield Technique.
The sword was able to pierce straight through the barrier formed by interwoven vines before plunging into the hole in Mu Yan''s abdomen, and a resounding thunderp rang out as the ball of golden lightning exploded in all directions as countless tiny arcs of golden lightning, instantly tearing the baleful embryo to shreds.
The destroyed baleful embryo reverted back into baleful qi that waspletely eradicated, but right at this moment, Han Li saw Mu Yan''s body open its eyes.
However, the figure that was reflected in the pupils of Mu Yan''s eyes was Qi Mozi instead of Han Li.
In the next instant, countless bursts of formidable sword qi erupted in all directions, tearing Mu Yan''s body to shreds along with the two trees beneath it.
"No!"
An anguished cry rang out, followed by a forlorn sigh, and the former hade from Immortal Lord Hot me''s, while the sigh had been heaved by Mo Guang.
As soon as Han Linded on the ground, Mo Guang''s voice rang out in his mind.
"What a pity... If only I hadn''t been so engrossed in my cultivation just now..."
Han Li was naturally aware of what Mo Guang was referring to. If he could''ve devoured that baleful embryo, then his cultivation base would''ve definitely advanced even further, but deep down, that wasn''t what Han Li wanted to see.
An early-High Zenith Stage Mo Guang was already rather difficult to control, if he allowed Mo Guang to be even more powerful, then there was no telling what could happen.
"My apologies, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang. The situation was very urgent, so I had to act," Han Li said,municating internally with Mo Guang.
"It''s fine, it simply wasn''t meant to be," Mo Guang sighed.
Han Li turned to Immortal Lord Hot me, then asked, "Why did you call out to stop me just now, Fellow Daoist Hot me?"
At this point, Immortal Lord Hot me had already stowed his golden mirror away, and he stormed over to Han Li, then looked down at the charred wooden chair with a forlorn expression as he sighed, "You went too far overboard, Fellow Daoist Li."
"What''s the problem?" Han Li asked with furrowed brows.
"This thing is not some wooden chair. Instead, it''s an immortal nt by the name of Twin Birth Tree. I recall that this was the thing that Senior Martial Uncle Mu Yan used to ovee his baleful decay," Immortal Lord Hot me exined.
An intense pang of remorse instantly welled up in Han Li''s heart upon hearing this, but there was nothing that he could do.
He leaned down to examine if there was any chance that the tree could be saved, and in doing so, he noticed a green branch among all of the charred branches. Only after plucking out that particr branch did he discover that it was actually a branch-shaped jade slip.
Immortal Lord Hot me''s expression instantly changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly asked, "Could this be the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra?"
"Why don''t you find out?" Han Li asked as he handed the jade slip over to Immortal Lord Hot me without any hesitation.
Immortal Lord Hot me was rather embarrassed by Han Li''s forthright attitude, and he said, "To think that I still harbored some reservations about you, even after you saved my life so many times. I''m truly ashamed. Regardless of whether the jade slip contains the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, you can examine its contents. But after that..."
Chapter 679: Ethereal Bamboo Melody
Chapter 679: Ethereal Bamboo Melody
"Of course, this jade slip belongs to you after that," Han Li said with a smile before Immortal Lord Hot me had a chance to finish his sentence.
"You''re a far better man than I am, Fellow Daoist Li," Immortal Lord Hot me said in a genuine voice as he extended a respectful salute toward Han Li.
Han Li waved a dismissive hand, then picked up the jade slip and pressed it against his be to inject his spiritual sense into it.
Immediately thereafter, he raised an eyebrow as he discovered a passage of small golden text hovering within a body of azure light within the jade slip.
It was a ratherplex cultivation art, but it was one by the name of the Eastern Vicissitudes Scripture, rather than the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
It took Han Li only a moment to memorize the entire cultivation art, following which he removed the jade slip from his forehead and handed it to Immortal Lord Hot me, who hurriedly epted it before also inspecting its contents.
Han Li watched as his expression gradually turned from tion to disappointment, which was then reced with a pleased smile.
The Eastern Vicissitudes Scripture had a total of nine parts, and it was also a time-attribute cultivation art. On top of that, it seemed to be closely interconnected to the Water Divination Time Arts and the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture.
"Fellow Daoist Li, this may not be the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, but it''s still a secret cultivation art of our sect, nheless, so please don''t distribute it to any outsiders," Immortal Lord Hot me said in a serious manner after stowing the jade slip away.
"Of course. By the way, if you have no use for this ruined Twin Birth Tree, then may I have it?" Han Li asked.
"You''ve alreadypletely destroyed the tree''s vitality with yourst attack, why would you want to keep it?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with a surprised expression.
"I was thinking that if, by some miracle, I could resurrect this Twin Birth Tree, then I''ll have a chance of oveing my baleful decay," Han Li replied with a wry smile, but internally, he was wondering if he could somehow revive the tree using the spirit liquid produced by his Heaven Controlling Vial.
"I see. In that case, be my guest, Fellow Daoist Li," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a smile.
"Also, do you know how Senior Mu Yan used this Twin Birth Tree to ovee his baleful decay?" Han Li asked while carefully stowing away the remnants of the tree.
"I''m afraid I''m not familiar with the intricacies of Senior Martial Uncle Mu Yan''s cultivation, but I presume it''s just the same old process of guiding one''s baleful qi out of their body and into an external object," Immortal Lord Hot me replied.
"I thought so, too. In that case, it makes sense why Senior Mu Yan''s body suddenly began to transform into a baleful entity. It most likely had something to do with therge quantity of baleful qi within the Twin Birth Tree," Han Li said with a nod.
After the tree was packed away, the two of them didn''t immediately depart. Instead, they only left the underground pce after Immortal Lord Hot me''s arm was mostly healed.
"If the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra isn''t in the Twin Birth Pce, then there aren''t many ces left in the sect where it could be hidden. The Hidden Truth Valley shouldn''t be far away from this ce, assuming it''s not on a separatendmass, so let''s go there first," Immortal Lord Hot me suggested after the two of them returned to the za.
"What was this Hidden Truth Valley previously used for?" Han Li asked.
"The Hidden Truth Valley was where Patriarch Miro normally cultivated in seclusion. Our patriarch spent most of his time there and only came out to deliver lectures or to address important sect affairs. Hence, I think it''s one of the ces where the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra could be hidden," Immortal Lord Hot me exined.
"Alright, then let''s go," Han Li replied with a nod.
After that, the two of them got onto a flying boat, then set off in the direction of the Hidden Truth Valley under Immortal Lord Hot me''s guidance.
Along the way, they could see the ground below was severely ravaged by all types of fearsome attacks.
Han Li couldn''t help but think back to the scene that he had witnessed during his transmigration, particrly that almighty palm strike that had descended from the heavens, the recollection of which still struck him with a sense of lingering fear.
With that in mind, he couldn''t help but look up into the heavens, but of course, he saw nothing but the clear, blue sky.
Close to an hourter, the flying boat flew over arge set of ruins, then arrived in the air above arge in, where it slowed down significantly.
"It''s a good thing that the Hidden Truth Valley hasn''t copsed and is still connected to the Wood Emperor area," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a smile as he cast his gaze toward an azure valley in the distance.
Han Li was also observing the valley, and he noticed that the two mountains on either side of it weren''t very tall, and the terrain in the valley was quite t, so most of the valley was basked under the light of the sun.
"This valley doesn''t appear to be remarkable in any way. I''m assuming there must be some special restrictions set up here, right?" Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
"You''re overthinking things, Fellow Daoist Li. This is not the ce in our sect with the most abundant world''s origin qi, nor have I heard of any hidden restrictions here. Our patriarch chose this ce to cultivate purely because he likes the Ethereal Bamboo growing here," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a smile.
"I see," Han Li mused with a slightly surprised expression.
Right as they were speaking to each other, the two of them arrived at the entrance of the valley.
Even before theynded on the ground, they heard a collection of pleasant sounds ringing out within the valley, culminating in a beautiful melody.
"What''s this?" Han Li asked with an intrigued expression.
Immortal Lord Hot me basked in the sound with his eyes closed for a moment, then exined, "That''s the Ethereal Bamboo Melody, whiches from the sound of the Ethereal Bamboo striking against each other in the wind. Listening to the melody for long periods of time can clear one''s mind and calm one''s heart."
"No wonder Patriarch Miro chose this ce to go into seclusion, this is truly an exceptional ce to be," Han Li praised.
"We''re only at the entrance of the valley right now. Inside the valley is a type of spirit bird by the name of the Windchime Magpie. Their birdsong is very pleasant on the ears, and it forms a truly exquisitebination with the Ethereal Bamboo Melody," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a proud expression.
Not long after they entered the valley, Han Li spotted clusters of thin bamboo trees littered across the mountains on either side. The bamboo trees were thin and ramrod straight, and sure enough, they were gently crashing into each other in the wind to produce a beautiful melody.
The deeper they advanced into the valley, the denser the bamboo trees on either side became, until they took up virtually the entire valley. All that was avable for Han Li''s duo to walk on was a small stone path that was around six feet wide, leading deeper into the bamboo forest.
Sure enough, Han Li began to feel more and more at ease as he listened to the Ethereal Bamboo Melody, and the same applied to Immortal Lord Hot me as well.
After walking for over an hour, a cloud of murky mist emerged within the bamboo forest, causing the sound of the Ethereal Bamboo Melody to be slightly muffled.
Han Li peered into the mist, which was only growing denser and denser, and a hint of unease welled up in his heart.
He activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes as he swept his gaze over his surroundings, but his visibility was limited to no more than a thousand feet, beyond which he was unable to see anything.
What was even more rming to him was that all of the Ethereal Bamboo deep within the mist had turned a strange gray color, and they weren''t producing much sound as they tapped against each other.
"Something''s very strange about this mist, Fellow Daoist Hot me. It''s extremely restrictive on spiritual sense, and it also seems to be interspersed with some baleful qi. Could it be that we''ve unintentionally triggered some restriction in the valley?" Han Li asked with furrowed brows.
"Our patriarch once issued an order prohibiting the setup of restrictions in the Hidden Truth Valley, and disciples of our sect were free to enter the valley as they pleased, so I''ve been here many times. asionally, some mist would arise here, but it''s always very thin, and I''ve never seen mist this dense and strange. Perhaps this mist only arose at some point after the sect''s demise?" Immortal Lord Hot me spected.
"In any case, it''s definitely not a good thing that our spiritual sense has been so severely restricted, so we need to be on our guard," Han Li said with tightly furrowed brows.
Right at this moment, a loud explosion suddenly rang out, and hundreds of specks of green light suddenly emerged deep within the surrounding mist, then shot forth toward Han Li''s duo from all directions.
"Look out!" Han Li yelled as he flipped a hand over to summon an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword with arcs of golden crackling all over its de.
With a sh of his sword, the golden lightning converged to form a while that swept through the surrounding area.
At the same time, Immortal Lord Hot me summoned his golden mirror in one hand and arge crimson fan in the other before sweeping the fan toward the dozens of specks of green mes directly up ahead.
The whip formed by the Divine Devilbane Lightning swept through the air in front of Han Li in a golden arc, instantly striking the balls of ghostly mes amid a string of resounding booms.
Over a hundred balls of ghostly mes instantly exploded like overripe watermelons, but they didn''t dissipate. Instead, they split up into countless fist-sized balls of fire that continued to hurtle toward Han Li''s duo, although slightly slower than before.
At the same time, a series of fiery patterns lit up on the crimson fan, and crimson fireballs of aparable size to the green fireballs shot forth before shing against the green mes and exploding violently.
The green and crimson mes seemed to be able to cancel each other out, and one fireball after another was snuffed out as they shed against one another.
"It looks like my mes can counteract these things, Fellow Daoist Li!" Immortal Lord Hot me yelled.
Han Li immediately sprang into action upon hearing this, summoning his me of Essence, which appeared on his shoulder in the form of a fiery silver figure.
The tiny figure stretchedzily as it inspected its surroundings, then turned to the surrounding green mes with an eager expression, looking as if it were raring for battle.
Chapter 680: Strange Beings
Chapter 680: Strange Beings
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face at the sight of the silver figure''s eager disy, and he instructed, "Go!"
The silver figure immediately sprang into action, spreading its arms and transforming into a giant silver fire raven as it flew toward the oing wave of green fireballs.
Immortal Lord Hot me had his back facing Han Li, and he was given quite a fight by the scorching heat that erupted behind him. As he turned around, he caught sight of the silver figure transforming into a fire raven, and he eximed, "That''s a me of Essence!"
An envious look then appeared on his face as he turned his gaze to Han Li, who paid no heed to his reaction.
He had already heard from Ma Liang about just how extraordinary his Essence Fire Raven was. It was an extremely rare being, even in the True Immortal Realm, and it had been a massive waste for him to use it solely for pill refinement all these years.
A string of loud explosions rang out as the Essence Fire Raven swept a wing through the air, releasing a burst of silver mes that caused the green fireballs to explode in rapid session.
However, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this as just now, he had clearly sensed an emotion of disgust well up in the Essence Fire Raven''s heart.
In the past, it had always been extremely excited to devour any new me, yet this time, it was clearly averse to these green mes, and that was very abnormal.
As a safety precaution, Han Li hurriedly summoned the Essence Fire Raven back to his side, but to his surprise, it didn''t immediately return to him. Instead, it continued to fly through the forest, eradicating all of the strange green fireballs while also evaporating much of the surrounding mist in the process.
Only then did Han Li discover that there were many strange figures littered throughout the forest, previously concealed by the mist.
Most of them were hunched over like elderly men, and behind them were seven or eight giant figures that were each over a hundred feet tall, with a series of sharp spikes all over their bodies.
At the center of these strange figures was another special figure who appeared to be no different from the average person. They seemed to be wearing a long robe, which was gently pping in the wind.
The figures were all standingpletely still within the mist, and it was as if they were one with the mist. If the Essence Fire Raven hadn''t evaporated much of the surrounding mist, Han Li wouldn''t have been able to detect them at all.
Right at this moment, the Essence Fire Raven flew back to Han Li''s side, thennded on his shoulder after reverting back to its humanoid figure, and it was looking a little weary.
Han Li examined its condition and was relieved to find that it was only suffering from minor spiritual power overexertion.
"What are those things?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with a puzzled expression as he retreated back to Han Li''s side.
Han Li shook his head and offered no response.
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out up ahead.
"I was hoping that those Grave Oil mes would''ve been enough to kill the two of you without your detection, but you''re more alert than I expected..."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, and he noticed that the one who had spoken was the robed figure at the center of the group.
"Who are you?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked.
The robed figure offered no response. Instead, it said something in a foreignnguage, and all of the figures enshrouded in the mist up ahead abruptly sprang into action.
Despite their hunched-over appearance, they were extremely agile, spreading themselves out before springing up into the air to rush over the tops of the bamboo trees, surrounding Han Li''s duo from all directions.
Meanwhile, the giant figures behind them were even more direct, simply charging straight at Han Li''s duo, destroying all of the bamboo trees in their path.
The only one who did nothing was the robed figure in the middle, who remained still and quickly vanished again into the converging mist.
"Here theye!" Han Li warned as he looked up into the sky with his Infernal Devilish Eyes, and Immortal Lord Hot me hurriedly looked up as well.
At this point, the hunched-over figures were already descending upon them, and they were revealed to be around a dozen ape-like creatures, but withpletely hairless gray bodies.
On top of that, there seemed to be a pair of fleshy gray wings under their armpits, and they would spread those wings whenever they leaped through the air, allowing them to glide using the air currents.
As they drew close to Han Li''s duo, the ape-like creaturesunched themselves from the Ethereal Bamboo trees, and Han Li immediately stepped away to the side to evade their attacks.
A resounding boom rang out as the ape-like creature at the forefront of the group mmed forcefully into the ground, causing the earth to tremble and crack violently.
Han Li raised an eyebrow with a surprised expression.
These creatures weren''t veryrge, but they were extremely fast and strong, but what was truly surprising to Han Li was the deathly gray color of their eyes.
Before he had a chance to think about anything else, several more figures came pouncing down at him from above, and all of them were wielding clubs that they were swinging at him from different directions.
Han Li raised a hand to summon two balls of lightning, one golden and one silver, and they flew up into the air before shing against each other and exploding in unison.
A vast expanse of golden and silver lightning spread through the air, and from within it emerged a giant ring of golden lightning that erupted outward in the form of an incredibly formidable shockwave.
An acrid, charred odor instantly wafted through the air, and plumes of smoke rose up from the bodies of the ape-like creatures as they were sent flying back before tumbling toward the ground.
Meanwhile, the crimson fan in Immortal Lord Hot me''s hand was shing incessantly, and it was releasing a steady stream of fireballs to strike the ape-like creatures. However, he was also only able to keep them at bay, but was unable to inflict any severe injuries upon them.
Right at this moment, Han Li abruptly vanished from the spot, then appeared in front of one of the ape-like creatures that had just fallen to the ground before plunging his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword forcefully down toward it.
The creature was clearly quite startled by this, but it reacted very quickly, raising its gray club to defend itself.
The tip of Han Li''s sword struck the gray club, and in the next instant, a faint crack rang out as the club split open to release a burst of dense, ck baleful qi that surged directly toward Han Li''s face.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he sent the ape-like creature flying with a kick, and it crashed into one of the oing giant figures.
The giant creature was over a hundred feet tall, and its entire body was covered in gray scales, much like those of a crocodile. Its head resembled that of a giant lizard, but it had no pupils, and its cavernous mouth was filled with sharp and serrated teeth.
It wasn''t able to move very quickly with its short and stubby legs, and it swatted the oing ape-like creature away with its powerful arms, then opened its mouth to st a giant green fireball directly at Han Li.
In response, Han Li raised a hand to pat the silver figure perched on his shoulder, and thetter immediately spread over his entire body like a film of liquid, forming a suit of fiery silver armor that left no part of his body exposed.
Han Li then grabbed onto the hilt of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword with both hands and stepped forward while channeling his Reversal True Axis, slicing the fireball into two with a single sh of his sword before bursting straight through it under the protection of his me of Essence.
A streak of golden light erupted out of the two halves of the fireball before striking the scaled creature, following which arge golden lock appeared around the creature''s neck without any warning.
A burst of radiant golden light erupted out of the lock to form a giant golden rune, which emzoned itself directly upon the creature''s cheek, and it was instantlypletely immobilized and rooted to the spot.
Han Li continued to rush at the creature as arcs of golden lightning began to emerge over his sword, and a drop of golden liquid emerged at its tip as he thrust it toward the creature''s head.
Right as the tip of the sword was about to pierce into the creature''s head, a burst of green light suddenly erupted out of the creature''s mouth, even though it had already been immobilized by the golden lock.
The burst of green light sprang forth as a green fireball, and at this point, Han Li was too close to the creature to take evasive measures.
Hence, he could only allow the fireball to strike him on the chest, and he was sent flying back like a cannonball before crashing heavily down onto the ground.
The green mes immediately reared up in an attempt to spread over the rest of his body, but they were instantly snuffed out by the me of Essence around him.
Han Li rose up from the ground, then took a nce at Immortal Lord Hot me, who was being attacked by around a dozen ape-like creatures and one of the giant scaled creatures. Despite this, he appeared to be quite calm andposed.
He then turned to look at the scaled beast that had been immobilized by the golden lock immortal treasure, and he discovered that there was currently a white-robed human-looking young man standing on its shoulder, looking at him with a faint smile on his face.
This was the mysterious robed figure that had been enshrouded in mist earlier.
At first nce, he appeared to be very handsome, but there was something strange about his appearance, as if his face had been pieced together by different facial features taken from different people, presenting a very unbnced and disharmonious appearance. What was even more surprising to Han Li was that his eyes were gray in color, indicating that he was a Gray Immortal.
Chapter 681: Creatures of the Gray Realm
Chapter 681: Creatures of the Gray Realm
"This is the first time I''ve fought humans, and I was rather curious, so I decided to observe for a while. Yourpanion over there isn''t really remarkable in any way, but you''re rather interesting. I can sense an aura of our kind within you," the white-robed man said.
Han Li offered no response as he continued to stare intently at the white-robed man.
He noticed that there was ayer of faint gray light over his body, and the aura that was emanating from it was very simr to Mo Yu''s.
"You''re not going to say anything? I''ve heard that your Immortal Realm has always seen our Gray Realm as a primordialnd filled with barbaric and unintelligent beasts, but from what I''ve seen, it seems like your kind is nothing special," the white-robed man sneered in a derisive fashion.
After that, he sat down onto the shoulder of the scaled beast, and ayer of gray light appeared over his hand as he pressed his palm onto the golden lock around the creature''s neck. The golden light radiating from the lock immediately dimmed slightly, as if it were being suppressed.
Ayer of faint gray light then appeared over the scaled beast''s body, and it was able to move again.
How is he suppressing the timew powers in the lock? Han Li thought to himself with a bewildered expression.
Before he had a chance to ponder this matter any further, the dozen or so ape-like creatures around him came pouncing at him once again.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce the gourd that contained his Dao Warriors, then tossed it up into the air before casting an incantation seal onto it.
Numerous dark yellow beans instantly shot out of the mouth of the gourd amid a sh of yellow light, and they transformed into hundreds of Dao Warriors before rushing at the ape-like creatures.
"Oh? This is what your kind refers to as Dao Warriors, right? How interesting," the white robed young man remarked with an intrigued expression.
"There''s no need to protect me anymore, go and help Fellow Daoist Hot me," Han Li said to the Essence Fire Raven.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the suit of fiery silver armor on his body instantly receded before reverting back into a silver fire raven that was perched on his shoulder. After that, it spread its wings and let loose a clear cry as it flew toward Immortal Lord Hot me.
At this moment, Immortal Lord Hot me had his hands full dealing with the scaled beasts and the ape-like creatures, and if it weren''t for the slowing effect of his golden mirror, he would''ve most likely already been defeated.
Only after receiving reinforcements in the form of the Essence Fire Raven and arge number of Dao Warriors was he finally able to catch his breath and take a nce in Han Li''s direction.
At this moment, Han Li and the white-robed young man were still observing each other from afar, and neither of them was in a hurry to attack.
"I hear that you Gray Immortals have cultivation arts that allow one to integrate baleful qi into their body, do you have any cultivation arts to expel baleful qi?" Han Li suddenly asked.
The white-robed young man was initially rather taken aback by this question, but a thought then urred to him, and he erupted intoughter.
"Now wonder there''s so much baleful qi in your body, you must''ve somehow gotten your hands on one of our cultivation arts, right?"
Looks like it''ll be faster to just search his soul...
With that in mind, Han Li sprang up into the air, then channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, and he instantly vanished from the spot.
The white-robed young man faltered slightly upon seeing this, and only then did he realize that Han Li had intentionally concealed his own power and was now moving far faster than before.
A burst of bright gray light appeared in his eyes as he clenched his fists tightly and let loose a loud roar.
Ayer of dense baleful qi erupted out of his back like a giant ck shield right as Han Li appeared behind him, and Han Li''s sword struck the baleful qi shield with a resounding ng before being repelled upward.
With a wave of his hand, the golden lock around the scaled beast''s neck lit up, then shrank down rapidly before locking itself around the Gray Immortal''s ankle, upon which a golden rune appeared on his chest.
The Gray Immortal''s body instantly stiffened, while the ck baleful shield behind him also fellpletely still.
Despite this, Han Li didn''t immediately rush in for the kill. Instead, he flipped a hand over to summon his Profound Heavenly Gourd, and he aimed the mouth of the gourd directly at the Gray Immortal, upon which the spirit patterns on the surface of the gourd lit up in unison.
Immediately thereafter, he thrust the palm of his hand firmly into the underside of the gourd, and a green vortex appeared at its mouth, following which a burst of tremendous power erupted forth from within.
The Gray Immortal''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he no longer pretended to be immobilized as he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized ck badge, then tossed it upward, and the badge instantly rose up into the air before swelling to the size of a shield.
A head of a beast that Han Li had never seen before was engraved onto the badge, and its eyes suddenly began to glow with dark red light as if it had sprung to life.
At the same time, it opened its mouth to reveal a crimson vortex, which was giving off bursts of peculiar energy fluctuations.
A low roar rang out from within the crimson vortex, following which it released a burst of radiant crimson light, which struck the oing Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, and a loud ng rang out as the azure light around the sword faded.
The flying sword was stopped cold in its tracks, while the burst of crimson light was also shattered and swept back into the badge.
At this point, the Gray Immortal had finally realized that his human was not going to be a pushover as he expected, and a serious look had appeared on his face to rece his previous mocking sneer.
With a flick of his wrist, a burst of gray light appeared over his hand, and it was as if he had put on an extremely thin gray glove.
He grabbed onto the golden lock around his ankle, and the golden light around the lock flickered erratically before fading altogether, following which it was forced open with a faint crack.
After summoning his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword back to himself, Han Li took a deep breath as a surprised look appeared on his face.
He had no idea how this Gray Immortal was able to suppress thew powers contained within a ninth grade immortal treasure.
He took a nce at Immortal Lord Hot me to find that with the assistance of the Essence Fire Raven and the Dao Warriors, he had already managed to y several of the ape-like creatures, but he was still locked in a fierce battle against the remaining ape-like creatures and the scaled beasts.
Han Li didn''t know if the Gray Immortal had any allies nearby, or any reinforcements on the way, so he had to end this battle quickly.
With that in mind, he immediately released his golden spirit domain, but only to the point that it epassed himself and the Gray Immortal, as well as the scaled beast beneath thetter.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li channeled his Mantra Domain ability and dered, "Positional shift..."
Before the white-robed young man had a chance to do anything, he and Han Li somehow switched positions, and he was hovering in mid-air in the spot where Han Li had just been standing a moment ago, while Han Li was standing on the shoulder of the scaled beast.
From there, Han Li sliced off the scaled beast''s head with a swing of his sword, sendingrge volumes of green blood sttering in all directions.
Some of the blood sprayed onto the white-robed young man''s face, and he wiped it from his cheek with his hand to find that it was warm and sticky, seemingly not an illusion.
A hint of panic finally shed through his eyes at the sight of Han Li, and right at this moment, Han Li spoke once again.
"Decapitate..."
A faint thud rang out, and the white-robed young man felt a cold sensation on his neck, following which the world began to spin around him.
His head had already been separated from his body, and as it tumbled toward the ground, it let loose a scream of horror and indignation.
A streak of silver light instantly shot out of his eyes, then transformed into a tiny silver figure that was around three inches tall. The silver figure had a set of indistinct facial features, and immediately attempted to flee the scene.
However, it had only just flown out of the Gray Immortal''s body when it discovered that its physical body was still standing on the scaled beast''s shoulder, and it hadn''t been decapitated at all.
Only then did it realize that it had fallen prey to an illusion.
A look of rm and fury appeared on the tiny silver figure''s face as it attempted to fly back into its body, but right at this moment, a golden vortex appeared behind the silver figure without any warning, and it was instantly rooted to the spot.
However, instead of allowing the vortex to devour the silver figure, Han Li flew onto the scene and grabbed onto the silver figure, following which a translucent thread shot out of his be as he prepared to forcibly search the silver figure''s soul.
The silver struggled violently for a short while, but after realizing that its struggles were futile, a burst of gray light suddenly appeared on its abdomen.
Han Li''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly tried to ce a restriction upon the silver figure, but it was already toote, and it exploded with a dull thump.
A resigned look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and began to fly back down toward the scaled beast.
To his surprise, the scaled beast had sensed the demise of its master, and it immediately opened its mouth to try and devour the Gray Immortal''s body whole.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as three balls of golden lightning emerged from the tip of his sword, and he swooped down from above before shing his sword at the scaled beast.
A resounding boom rang out as the scaled beast''s body was sliced into two alongside the ground beneath it, and green mes erupted in all directions, while its green blood gushed onto the ground.
With a flick of his wrist, Han Li drew the Gray Immortal''s body to himself, and after conducting a search, he was unable to find the ck badge that the Gray Immortal had used before. However, he did find a white bone bracelet on his wrist.
Is this a storage tool?
Han Li attempted to refine the bracelet, but it disyed no reaction, so he slipped it onto his own wrist for now.
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to open the Flower Branch domain, then tossed the body of the Gray Immortal onto the first floor of the pavilion where Mo Guang was staying.
Immediately thereafter, he closed the domain and withdrew his spirit domain before rushing over to Immortal Lord Hot me''s side.
It didn''t take very long at all for the two of them to eradicate all of the remaining enemies, and Immortal Lord Hot me''s brows were tightly furrowed as he stared at all of the bodies strewn over the ground.
"Are these beings all from the Gray Realm?"
Chapter 682: First Signs of Unrest
Chapter 682: First Signs of Unrest
"I believe so. The man that I just fought against was a Gray Immortal, so it stands to reason that these creatures were all from the Gray Realm as well. Should we continue our search, or get out of this ce for now, Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Han Li asked.
"At this point, will you really be content with turning back without getting to the bottom of this?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with a wry smile.
"I suppose we don''t have a choice in the matter then, do we?" Han Li chuckled.
The two of them took a moment to rest then continued to make their way deeper into the valley, but they had only walked for a few hundred meters before they spotted a circr array that was around a hundred feet in size on the ground.
The array was constructed out of white stone blocks of different shapes, and there were plumes of gray mist rising up out of it, while spatial fluctuations could be detected around the array.
"I''m assuming this array wasn''t always here, right, Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"I''ve never seen this array before, and there''s no way that our True Mantra Sect would''ve set up this array," Immortal Lord Hot me replied with a shake of his head.
"In that case, those people from the Gray Realm were most likely responsible," Han Li said.
"I''ve heard that the interrealm barrier between the Gray Realm and the True Immortal Realm is notoriously difficult to break through, how were those Gray Realm beings able to get here? Could it be that they relied solely on this array?" Immortal Lord Hot me mused.
"That''s not very likely. I can sense spatial fluctuations here, but they''re not very strong, nowhere near strong enough to break through an interrealm barrier. On top of that, the array doesn''t look veryplete, either. Instead, it looks like a part of arger spatial array. If you ask me, those Gray Realm beings most likely came in from elsewhere," Han Li said with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
"You''re saying that only a small part of this array has been set up?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked.
"The array here is most likely an important point in arger array, and the Gray Realm beings that we encountered could''ve been assigned here to protect this location. Once the entire array isplete, it''s very likely that they''ll be able to establish a passageway that connects the Gray Realm to the True Immortal Realm," Han Li borated.
"If that''s true, then our True Immortal Realm is about to face a cmitous disaster!" Immortal Lord Hot me eximed.
"I wouldn''t go that far. The Gray Realm beings most likely chose the True Mantra Sect ruins as an incision point as they somehow discovered that the space here is very chaotic, thereby making it far easier to ess from the Gray Realm. However, what they don''t know is that the spatial bnce here is extremely fragile, so it most likely won''t be able to withstand the establishment of arge-scale spatial passageway," Han Li said.
"So you''re saying that if they forcibly set up a spatial passageway here, then this space will copse?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with a concerned expression.
"I''ve witnessed more than my fair share of copsed spaces in the past. The spatial bnce here is already very tenuous, and if the bnce is broken copse is almost certainly imminent," Han Li replied with a solemn expression.
"In that case, we have to make haste and find the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra as soon as possible, then leave this ce right away," Immortal Lord Hot me said.
"Now that even Gray Realm beings have entered these ruins, we really do have to hurry. Otherwise, if we encounter more powerful Gray Immortals, then we may not be so lucky to emerge alive," Han Li agreed.
With that, the two of them disassembled the white stone array and split the materials between each other.
After that, they scoured the valley, upon which they discovered that the cave abode that Patriarch Miro had once cultivated in had already been destroyed, presumably during the battle that led to the demise of the sect.
Hence, they could only leave the valley and travel to the True Mantra Pce ording to Immortal Lord Hot me''s recollection of its location.
......
While Han Li''s duo was being attacked by the Gray Realm beings, the battle between Shi Chuankong''s trio and the two immortal envoys was drawing to a close. They valley waspletely unrecognizable, with both of the mountains at its entrancepletely copsed, and a series of giant craters had appeared on the za within the valley.
There were two people standing on one of the few rtively intact spots in the valley, and they were Shi Chuankong and Feng Lin.
Both of them were looking rather pale, and they had sustained some substantial injuries. In particr, Feng Lin was as pale as a sheet, and even the veil on her face couldn''t disguise her horribleplexion.
There were three broken bodiesying on the ground next to the two of them, and two of those bodies belonged to none other than Zhao Zhen and Lu Wuliang.
Both of them had been decapitated, and the cuts were extremely smooth.
The final body belonged to Zi Qing, and his entire body was a strange, dark purple color. His skin was asionally bursting open, and whenever this happened, dark purple blood would spray out in all directions.
As soon as the blood droplets fell onto the ground, a faint sizzling sound would ring out as they easily corroded tiny holes into the ground.
At this moment, Zi Qing''s nascent soul was hovering in the air above the body, and it was looking down at its ruined physical body with a disgruntled look on its face.
"I didn''t think that Zhao Zhen would have such a vicious technique up his sleeve. Looks like your body''s beyond saving, Zi Qing," Feng Lin remarked with a hint of schadenfreude in her voice.
A hint of fury shed through the eyes of Zi Qing''s nascent soul upon hearing this, and it turned to give Feng Lin a vicious re.
"Don''t worry about your body, Zi Qing. You''ve made a significant contribution in killing those two immortal envoys. Once we return to the Devil Realm, I''ll find a suitable body for you to possess, and I''ll also ask Father to grant you permission to cultivate in the Devilish Origin Holy Pond. You''ll be back to your peak in no more than ten thousand years, and perhaps you could even go beyond your former peak," Shi Chuankong said.
The fury on Zi Qing''s face instantly turned to tion upon hearing this.
"Thank you, Young Master!"
"In your current state, you''re no longer fit for battle, so just stay and recuperate in this Devilform Gourd for now," Shi Chuankong said as he summoned a ck gourd, and a burst of ck light surged out of the gourd at his behest to envelop Zi Qing''s nascent soul before sucking it into the gourd.
"You did very well, too, Feng Lin. You''ll also be rewarded once we return to the Devil Realm," Shi Chuankong said as he flipped a hand over to stow the gourd away.
"Thank you, Young Master!" Feng Lin immediately replied with a hint of tion on her face.
"We''ve already wasted a lot of time here, so let''s clean up the battlefield, then continue onward," Shi Chuankong said.
Feng Lin naturally raised no objections to this, and she began to fly toward the edge of the valley, while Shi Chuankong made his way over to the bodies of the two immortal envoys before looking down at them with a contemtive expression.
Right at this moment, the space outside the valley abruptly shuddered, and strange specks of gray light appeared, following which a thin gray rift emerged without any warning.
Boundless gray mist surged out of the rift and into the valley, instantly filling the nearby area, and it was quickly expanding toward the rest of the valley.
Shi Chuankong''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he made a hand seal, upon which a glowing purple ring shot out of his body, then hovered above his head, raining down rays of purple light to protect him.
Feng Ling also immediately noticed that something was amiss, and she hurriedly returned to Shi Chuankong''s side, following which arge purple g appeared around her.
The nearby gray mist was quickly bing denser and denser, and ghostly howls were ringing out within it alongside arcs of gray lightning that were shing incessantly, presenting a peculiar sight to behold.
"Young Master, we have to get out of here! This is the same gray mist that swallowed up Elder Jing!" Feng Lin said with a solemn expression.
"Let''s go!"
Shi Chuankong immediately raised a hand without any hesitation upon hearing this, conjuring up a ball of purple light that enveloped them both before speeding away into the distance.
Almost at the exact same moment, a thick bolt of gray lightning shot out of the gray mist, instantly covering a distance of tens of thousands of feet before striking the gray light at an incredible speed.
A loud thump rang out as the purple light exploded, and Shi Chuankong and Feng Lin were struck out of the sky before mming down onto the ground.
Feng Lin seemed to have been struck by the bolt of lightning, and she threw up a mouthful of blood, which stained the veil over her face red, following which she fell unconscious.
"Feng Lin!"
As soon as Shi Chuankong steadied himself, he noticed that Feng Lin had fallen unconscious, and he hurriedly released a burst of purple light out of his hand to raise up her body so that he could administer some treatment.
Right at this moment, four gray humanoid figures shot out of the gray mist before pouncing at Shi Chuankong and Feng Lin.
These figures were all dressed in gray robes, and they were led by a short figure who possessed a gray, skeletal body as opposed to a body of flesh and blood.
The other three figures behind him all had normal bodies of flesh, and one of them was a young man in a suit of gray armor. He was holding a purple spear, and his long, silver hair was dancing in the wind behind him, adding a sense of ir to his already handsome appearance. However, his murky, gray eyes presented a rather jarring sight to behold.
There was also a tall and beautiful young woman whose exceptional figure showed through even her loose-fitting robe, and as she flew through the air, she was taking asional nces at the silver-haired young man.
The final figure to round out the trio was a gray-robed elderly man who was quite hideous in appearance, and there was a cold look in his murky, gray eyes.
Trailing along in the gray mist behind them were a variety of gray demon beasts, including lions, tigers, wolves, and apes, and all of them were enormous.
As soon as Shi Chuankong caught sight of the four figures, he immediately identified them as Gray Immortals.
It was naturally quite rming to see Gray Immortals here, but he remained calm andposed as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing four palm-sized ck talismans that were giving off extremely formidable lightningw power fluctuations and devilish qi fluctuations.
A resounding boom rang out as all four of the ck talismans exploded in unison, transforming into four thick bolts of ck lightning that crashed down upon the four Gray Immortals.
Chapter 683: True Mantra Palace
Chapter 683: True Mantra Pce
"Don''t let this battle drag on!" the gray skeleton leading from the forefront said in a raspy voice.
At the same time, a bone staff appeared in his grasp amid a sh of gray light, and he swept the staff through the air to release a long streak of gray light, which swept up the four bolts of ck lightning unleashed by Shi Chuankong.
As soon as the bolts of lightning came into contact with the streak of gray light, they instantly vanished without a trace, but at the same time, most of the streak of gray light also dissipated.
A stunned look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon seeing this, and he held Feng Lin in his arms as he darted away into the distance as a streak of purple light.
The gray skeleton swept his staff through the air once again, and what remained of the streak of gray light immediately shot forth in hot pursuit.
At the same time, the other three Gray Immortals also sprang into action. The gray-haired young man thrust his spear forward, and a thick gray dragon of light shot out of the tip of the spear.
The young woman flipped a hand over to summon a gray whip, using which she released a thick gray whip projection, while the gray-robed elderly man opened his mouth to release a long streak of gray light.
The four bursts of gray light quickly intertwined to form arge gray that caught up to Shi Chuankong in a sh.
Faint gray mes were drifting over the as it fell upon Shi Chuankong and Feng Lin at an rming speed, and in response, Shi Chuankong opened his mouth to release a ball of ck light before casting an incantation seal into it.
The ball of ck light instantly transformed into a short ck halberd that shot forth upward, and engraved onto the front of the halberd was a fearsome-looking dragon''s head that was giving off tremendous devilish qi.
A fierce look then appeared on his face, and with a flick of his wrist, the ck halberd swelled to around a thousand feet in size while releasing a high-pitched shriek.
Countless bursts of ck light erupted out of the giant ck halberd, and in particr, the dragon head design on its tip was shing incessantly as if it were about to spring to life.
The giant halberd was imbued with tremendous power, slicing through the very space in its path as it crashed heavily down upon the gray, but the only trembled slightly before withstanding the attack with ease.
However, it had been slowed down slightly in its descent.
Shi Chuankong was astonished to see this. This Devilish Dragon Halberd was a vastly renowned weapon in the Devil Realm, yet it wasn''t even able to put a scratch on the gray!
Right at this moment, the gray skeleton swept his staff through the air a third time, releasing a burst of gray mes that vanished into the gray.
The gray mes on the instantly reared up, then transformed into countless thin strands of gray fire that wrapped themselves around the giant halberd.
Ensnared by the gray mes, the ck halberd rapidly shrank back down to its original size, and the devilish light emanating from it also quickly faded as if it were being corroded, while the dragon head design engraved upon it let loose an agonized howl.
The gray shuddered slightly before continuing to descend, and a grim look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon seeing this, following which he gritted his teeth as he made a hand seal.
The ck halberd immediately began to radiate blinding ck light before exploding with a resounding boom, and a massive ball of ck light emerged from the explosion.
Numerous ck dragon projections erupted out of the ball of ck light before flying away in all directions, and the surrounding space warped violently as countless spatial rifts emerged.
Bursts of spatial turbulence seeped in through the rifts, forming gusts of ferocious silver wind that swept through the surrounding area.
The gray was once again stopped cold in its tracks by the ck dragon projections and the gusts of silver wind, following which it was sent flying upward.
The detonation of the ck halberd had unleashed devastating power, and many of the ck dragon projections and gusts of silver wind were able to force their way through the gray to strike the four Gray Immortals behind it.
The gray skeleton was unleashing one secret technique after another, and it seemed that he was struggling to withstand the onught.
Right at this moment, the gray-haired young man stepped forward, and the purple spear in his hand glowed radiantly before releasing countless spear projections like a peacock spreading its canopy.
A string of dull thumps rang out in rapid session as most of the oing assault was counteracted by the spear projections, and the residual shockwaves were enough to force the four Gray Immortals back a few steps, but all of them remainedpletely unscathed.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Shi Chuankong opened his mouth to release a burst of silver light, which swept up himself and Feng Lin, then transformed into a silver shuttle projection that split up into hundreds of identical versions of itself before flying away in different directions, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
The four of them chose not to give chase upon seeing this, and the gray demon beasts behind them also drew to a halt.
"He got away so fast!" the gray-robed elderly man eximed with a stunned expression.
"He seems to have unleashed a spatialw ability at the end, so it won''t be easy to catch him. What do we do now, Mr. Gu?" the gray-haired young man asked as he turned to the gray skeleton.
The skeleton didn''t immediately respond. Instead, he swept his staff through the air, and the gray instantly spread open.
He then flipped a hand over to produce a small gray te, hovering above which were five gray bone badges, each of which carried a projection of a miniature humanoid figure.
One of the bone badges was already broken and had fallen onto the te.
"What? Fang Jin is already dead?! How is that possible? As arrogant as he may be, he''s at the mid-High Zenith Stage and has two silver lizards at his disposal! How could he have been killed?" the young woman eximed with an incredulous expression.
"All of the people who''ve entered the True Mantra Sect ruins are powerful figures of the True Immortal Realm. We just encountered someone capable of wielding spatialw powers, did we not? Fang Jin is indeed quite powerful, but he''s always been very arrogant. He insisted on acting alone in this mission, and his decision has caught up with him," the gray-robed elderly man sneered.
"How could you say that, Gui Tian? Fang Jin was our ally, yet here you are, all but celebrating his death!" the young woman used in an appalled voice.
The gray-robed elderly man made no attempt to defend himself. Instead, he merely took a nce at the young woman, particrly making it a point out of having his gaze linger on her voluptuous breasts.
The young woman was furious to see this, yet before she had a chance to say anything, the gray skeleton said, "That''s enough! We''re carrying out a mission right now, so we can''t afford to get distracted."
"Your right, Mr. Gu," the gray-robed elderly man hurriedly replied with a nod, but there was still a sly grin ying on his lips.
The gray-haired young man made a calming gesture at the young woman, and she took a deep breath to suppress her fury.
"Seeing as Fang Jin is dead, the array where he is has most likely been destroyed as well. How do we proceed from here, Mr. Gu?" the gray-haired young man asked.
The gray skeleton considered the question for a moment, then turned to look behind himself before sweeping a sleeve through the air to release a burst of gray light, which quickly carried the bodies of Zhao Zhen and Lu Wuliang back to him.
He examined the two bodies momentarily, then stowed them away before swinging his staff through the air.
The gray mist behind him instantly began to churn violently as it swept forward in a frenzy, swallowing up all of the gray demon beasts.
After that, the gray mist continued onward without pause, epassing the four Gray Immortals as well, then sped forward as an all-devouring gray wave, seemingly in pursuit of Shi Chuankong''s duo.
......
Elsewhere in the True Mantra Sect ruins, Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me were flying through the air over a swamp as two streaks of light.
There were numerous pools and puddles littered throughout the swamp, and asionally, plumes of purple mist would rise up from within it, simr to the illusory smoke of the Illusory Smoke Swamp, except this mist was only a normal miasma with no illusory qualities.
"The True Mantra Pce is not far up ahead. It was another ce where our patriarch often went into seclusion," Immortal Lord Hot me said.
"That means that it could be where the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra is hidden, right?" Han Li asked.
"Yes, but it''s only a possibility. Having said that, even if the cultivation art isn''t hidden there, there should be some other treasures inside. I hope they haven''t been destroyed," Immortal Lord Hot me replied.
"Many powers have made their way into these ruins. Right now, even the Gray Immortals have shown up here toplicate things even further, so we should speed up a little more to avoid trouble as much as possible," Han Li said.
"I agree, but just because this ce looks safe doesn''t mean that there aren''t any hidden spatial rifts nearby. If we recklessly speed up without discretion, we could be subjecting ourselves to a great deal of risk," Immortal Lord Hot me replied in a concerned manner.
"It''s fine, my spirit eyes can see through those hidden spatial rifts," Han Li said as he made a hand seal, and a series of purple patterns emerged over his body, giving off formidable devilish qi.
Immortal Lord Hot me''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but Han Li paid no heed to his reaction as bright purple light emerged within his eyes before projecting outward to form two beams of purple light that were around a foot in length.
Countless purple runes were shing within the beams of purple light, and there were also countless specks of purple radiance dancing within his eyes, presenting a profound sight to behold.
"Alright, let''s go," Han Li said as he sped up significantly, and Immortal Lord Hot me hurriedly followed along.
The two of them flew for close to another two hours, and the swamp down below gradually faded, reced by a vast sea.
This area of the sea was quite cold, and asionally, snow could be seen falling from the sky. Large chunks of ice had also taken shape on the surface of the sea, reflecting the light of the sun in beautiful ways.
Upon arriving at the sea, Immortal Lord Hot me pulled out a te treasure, seemingly to ascertain their current location, then flew away in a certain direction.
The two of them flew onward for a while longer when an ind that was close to ten thousand kilometers in size suddenly appeared up ahead.
From afar, one could see a huge mountain at the center of the ind. The mountain was as straight and sharp as a giant white sword, and on the mountain summit was a huge pce that was as pristine white as jade.
The pce seemed to have been constructed out of some type of white jade material, and rays of white light were asionally rising up from it, presenting a majestic sight to behold.
In contrast with the destroyed pces that Han Li''s duo had encountered up to this point, this pce waspletely unscathed.
There was a huge que hanging up the entrance of the pce that read "True Mantra Pce" inrge, golden characters that were glowing radiantly under the light of the sun.
Chapter 684: Loss of Contact
Chapter 684: Loss of Contact
"This is great! This ce has been perfectly preserved!" Immortal Lord Hot me eximed in a celebratory voice.
"The surroundings of this pce have been tampered with, so I don''t think it''ll be easy to enter the pce," Han Li mused as he inspected the area around the pce with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
"Indeed, our sect''s Heaven and Earth Dust Array has been set up around the True Mantra Pce. It''s one of our sect''s most powerful concealed arrays, and even High Zenith Stage beings struggle to detect it, so it''s very impressive that you were able to see it right away!" Immortal Lord Hot me said in a surprised voice as he took an extra nce at Han Li''s glowing purple eyes.
"You sound very confident, Fellow Daoist Hot me. Could it be that you already have a way to bypass the array?" Han Li asked as the purple light in his eyes faded.
"For an outsider, bypassing the array would be near impossible, but you can count on me to get us through, Fellow Daoist Li," Immortal Lord Hot me assured with a smile.
Immediately thereafter, he flipped a hand over to produce a silver jade te before tossing it upward, and at the same time, he cast an incantation seal into the jade te with his other hand.
Bright silver light instantly rose up from the surface of the jade te, and it transformed into a ball of silver light that descended to epass Han Li''s duo.
Immortal Lord Hot me then began to chant an incantation before pointing at the pce up ahead from afar, and the ball of silver light instantly flew away in that direction at a rather lethargic pace.
After flying for a short distance, the space around the ball of silver light suddenly began to buzz, following which a series of criss-crossing streaks of white light emerged.
These streaks of white light varied in length and size, and they were distributed throughout an area in a radius of close to ten kilometers around the True Mantra Pce, taking on all types of different permutations.
Han Li observed the white light with his Infernal Devilish Eyes, and he discovered that this was only the very surface of the array, while the permutations deeper inside were eevn moreplex.
Through the use of his Infernal Devilish Eyes, he was able to see countless specks of white light of different sizes in the surrounding space, presenting a resplendent sight to behold.
However, if he were to focus his gaze on any individual speck of light, then he would discover that it epassed a tiny, independent world that contained all types of living creatures, the sky, the sea... It was all extremely realistic and profound.
Han Li was surprised to discover that the array was even more profound than he imagined.
These specks of light appeared to all be independent, but some type of connection existed between all of them, and if any of them were to sh against each other, then the entire array would instantly be activated to eradicate the intruder.
Despite the confidence with which Immortal Lord Hot me had spoken with earlier, he was proceeding with extreme caution, meticulously controlling the ball of silver light as it weaved through the specks of white light.
After close to two hours, the two of them had only covered about half the distance through the array.
All of a sudden, the array up ahead changed once again, and a series of balls of ck light emerged before revolving on the spot while releasing waves of ck ripples.
As these ripples gradually expanded outward, the scene up ahead gradually took on an indistinct appearance, and a menacing atmosphere arose in the air.
"The second half of this array is even more difficult to deal with. I''ll need to be fully focused, so make sure that you absolutely do not distract me, Fellow Daoist Li," Immortal Lord Hot me warned.
Han Li nodded in response, and Immortal Lord Hot me knew that Han Li was a reliable person, so he had only issued this warning as a safety precaution.
He took a deep breath, yet right as he was about to direct the ball of silver light onward, the ck ripples up ahead were suddenly thrown intoplete disarray before rapidly fading away.
The balls of ck light also shrank down significantly, and the space up ahead was instantly cleared, allowing Han Li''s duo to see the gates of the True Mantra Pce.
In the array behind them, all of the white light also quickly faded, and it was as if the array had somehow been suddenly deactivated.
Both Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me were quite taken aback to see this, but thetter reacted very quickly, pouncing on this opportunity to elerate the ball of silver light drastically.
In the span of just a few seconds, it passed through the rest of the array before arriving at the gates of the True Mantra Pce.
"What happened just now?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked.
"I''m assuming the core of this array must be in the True Mantra Pce, so I can only assume that something''s happened in there," Han Li spected.
"Could it be that someone has already gotten here before us?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked as he also hurriedly cast his gaze toward the pce.
From afar, the gates of the True Mantra Pce hadn''t appeared all thatrge, but only now that they were standing directly before them did he trulye to realize just how enormous they were.
Standing in front of the pce gates, the two of them were made to look like a pair of tiny ants, and they could see a long passageway beyond the entrance of the pce, but for some reason,the passageway was very dimly lit.
Even with his exceptional eyesight, Han Li was only able to see just over a hundred feet into the pce from the entrance, and the darkness inside struck him with a peculiar sense of foreboding.
He attempted to extend his spiritual sense into the passageway, only for it to be instantly repelled by a burst of invisible force.
His brows furrowed slightly as he turned to Immortal Lord Hot me with an inquisitive expression.
"Don''t look at me, Fellow Daoist Li, this is my first time here as well. I only know the way to traverse through the Heaven and Earth Dust Array outside as I just so happened to see the array diagram once," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a shrug.
"Well, we certainly can''t turn back at this point, so let''s go in," Han Li said, then stepped into the pce, and Immortal Lord Hot me hurriedly followed along.
There seemed to be some type of special restriction set up within the passageway, and no matter what light sources Han Li''s duo tried to use to illuminate the path ahead, they were only able to see less than two hundred feet up ahead at most.
Beyond that point, everything was enshrouded in darkness.
The area was deathly silent with the exception of their footsteps, and even after they had been walking for fifteen minutes, there was still no sign that they were approaching the end of the passageway.
As a safety precaution, neither of them dared to speed up, and they continued at a slow and steady pace.
Theplete silence and suffocating darkness culminated in a very unsettling environment, and before long, Immortal Lord Hot me''s breathing was beginning to be a littlebored.
Even Han Li was gradually bing more and more flustered as they continued down the seemingly never-ending path.
Right at this moment, the sound of faint sobbing rang out up ahead.
Han Li immediately stopped cold in his tracks as he channeled his immortal spiritual power, but the sound up ahead abruptly faded as if it had been nothing more than a figment of his imagination.
"Did you hear that, Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Han Li asked as he turned to Immortal Lord Hot me, only to discover that he was no longer there.
"Fellow Daoist Hot me!" Han Li called out as he injected some of his immortal spiritual power into his voice, causing the nearby ground and walls to tremble violently.
However, there was still no response, and it was as if Immortal Lord Hot me had truly vanished.
Have I fallen into an illusion?
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly as he channeled the immense spiritual power in his mind, but he couldn''t sense anything to indicate that he had fallen prey to an illusion.
"Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, can you..."
All of a sudden, his voice trailed off there as he discovered that his connection with Mo Guang hadpletely faded.
It seemed that his spiritual sense had been sealed by some type of mysterious power, restricting it strictly to the confines of his mind.
Not only had his connection with the Flower Branch domain been severed, the same applied to all of his other storage tools as well.
It wasn''t clear whether he had fallen under any illusion, but at this point, Han Li knew that he had to have triggered some type of restriction in the passageway.
He looked forward and back with a hesitant expression for a moment, then suddenly quickened his pace as he continued onward.
He had already been walking down the passageway for a long time, so turning back now would be a huge waste. On top of that, he didn''t know if he would be able to turn back and leave even if he wanted to.
A short whileter, a burst of ck light suddenly emerged up ahead. It was an arrow of ck light that was racing through the air at an astonishing speed, hurtling directly toward his chest.
He only had less than two hundred feet of visibility, but his reactions were extremely sharp, and he was able to sidestep the arrow with ease.
The arrow continued to pierce into the darkness behind him, quickly vanishing out of sight.
"Who''s there?" Han Li roared as he stopped in his tracks.
The entire passageway rumbled violently for a long while before settling down again, and no response rang out from up ahead.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he continued onward, but he had only taken a few more steps when another arrow of ck light shot out of the darkness, hurtling toward him at the same speed as the previous one.
A perplexed look shed through his eyes upon seeing this. No matter how many more of these arrows were sent flying at him, they were simply not fast or powerful enough to pose a threat, so what was the point?
With that in mind, he was just about to dodge to the side when all of a sudden, the only remaining light in the surrounding area abruptly faded, plunging him intoplete darkness.
A piercing shriek rang out, and Han Li gave a muffled groan as he stumbled a couple of steps backward.
Due to the sudden onset of darkness, he had been a split second too slow to react, and as a result, the second arrow had managed to nce his shoulder.
Even though it was only a ncing blow, Han Li felt as if someone had pierced a red-hot dagger viciously into his soul, inflicting excruciating pain.
Han Li suppressed the frustration in his heart as he hurriedly channeled his immortal spiritual power to try and conjure up some azure light to illuminate the darkness, but no matter what light sources he tried to summon, the surrounding darkness refused to fade, leaving him unable to see or sense anything.
Chapter 685: Loss of All Six Senses
Chapter 685: Loss of All Six Senses
Is the restriction here devouring all light? No, the problem is that my eyes can no longer see!
As soon as this realization dawned on him, a grim look instantly appeared on Han Li''s face.
At this moment, he was unable to release his spiritual sense, and his eyesight had been sealed, leaving himpletely vulnerable, should there be any more arrowsing his way.
Sure enough, as soon as this thought sprang into his mind, another piercing shriek rang out up ahead.
Han Li hurriedly turned to use his hearing to determine the direction that the arrow wasing from, then attempted to sidestep the projectile, but a cold sensation shed over his lower abdomen, followed by a burst of intense pain that caused him to give another muffled groan.
Han Liid a hand onto his lower abdomen to find that arge chunk of flesh was missing there, seemingly having been eaten away by something.
He immediately channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts, and bursts of cool energy surged toward the wounds on his shoulder and his lower abdomen from his thirty-six profound acupoints.
After mastering the Great Universe Origin Arts, not only had he attained incredible strength, his regenerative abilities also improved significantly, and the pain from his two wounds was instantly significantly alleviated.
At the same time, he swept a sleeve through the air to release the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, the blue shield, the golden lock, and the Profound Heavenly Gourd from his body.
All of his other immortal treasures were in his storage tools, which he was no longer able to sense, so they were inessible to him.
Before he had a chance to do anything else, another piercing shriek rang out.
Upon determining the location of the arrow with his hearing, Han Li immediately threw a punch in that direction.
The nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords also instantly shot forth before intertwining with one another to form a giant azure sword lotus flower that descended upon the ck arrow.
At the same time, a burst of green light shot out of the mouth of the gourd toward the arrow, while the blue shield swelled to several dozen feet in size before positioning itself in front of him.
As for the golden lock, it wasn''t a defensive immortal treasure, but it was also serving as a shield.
However, in the next instant, Han Li felt another cold sensation over his lower abdomen, followed by a burst of excruciating pain, and he was sent flying backward as blood came gushing out of his mouth.
He was unable to see, but he could feel that arge hole had been pierced through his lower abdomen, and it felt as if his internal organs were being simultaneously burned by scorching mes and eaten away by corrosive acid.
He fell heavily onto the ground, then immediately sprang to his feet.
Such an injury wasn''t enough topletely disable him, and he was channeling his Great Universe Origin Arts with all his might to elerate his recovery.
What the hell is happening? Han Li thought to himself in a bewildered manner.
Through his spiritual connection with his immortal treasures, he was able to sense that the ck arrow of light had pierced straight through them as if it had no substantial form at all.
At this moment, Han Li couldn''t help but feel a little panicked. Losing his sight and spiritual sense was already terrible, and now, it seemed like there was no way for him to defend himself from these fearsome ck arrows.
Before he had a chance to think of a way out of this predicament, that familiar shriek rang out once again.
Topound his woes even further, the ck arrows seemed to being faster and faster.
Han Li immediately positioned all of his immortal treasures in front of himself once again, and he also summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which released waves of golden ripples in all directions while he dodged to the side.
A faint thud rang out as Han Li was sent flying once again, this time with the arrow piercing through his shoulder.
In the next instant, he sprang back to his feet, and he was feeling even more panicked.
His trump card, his Mantra Treasured Axis, hadpletely failed him!
Right at this moment, a stunned look appeared on his face as his entire body stiffened.
The surrounding area had fallenpletely silent.
He had lost his sense of hearing...
Han Li''s heart immediately sank.
Without his hearing, how could he determine the location of the arrows? Was he not just a sitting duck at this point?
All of a sudden, he felt a gust of wind nce over his skin, and he hurriedly dodged to the side, but he had only just sprung into motion when a burst of excruciating agony tore through his chest, sending him flying once again.
Arge hole had been punched through his chest, but thankfully, it had missed his heart.
He sprang to his feet once again with his expression twisted with panic and fury.
Without his spiritual sense, eyesight, and hearing, there was no way that he could evade those arrows.
Even with his tremendous regenerative abilities, all it would take would be a single arrow through one of his vital regions to put an end to his life.
Was he going to die here?
Han Li let loose a desperate roar as he paid no further heed to the threat of the arrows and rushed forward with all his might.
However, in the next instant, yet another arrow came flying at him.
At this moment, he was flying forward with all his might, so he was unable to take any evasive action, and a burst of intense pain shot through his right arm, following which his entire arm was amputated at the shoulder.
Han Li gritted his teeth through the pain as he continued to fly onward with all his might.
All of a sudden, hsi expression stiffened once again.
His body was drenched in blood at this point, but he couldn''t smell any of it.
Have I lost my sense of smell as well?
Immediately thereafter, yet another arrow shot forth from up ahead, this time piercing through his right leg.
He continued to forge ahead while disregarding his injuries, but he was bing more and more frustrated by the second.
It seemed that there was no end to this dark passageway, and for the first time since arriving in the True Immortal Realm, he was plunged intoplete despair.
However, there was one final shred of rity in his mind, and it urged him not to give up.
In the blink of an eye, he was struck by seven or eight more arrows, blowing several morerge holes into his body. The only silver lining was that he still had his sense of touch, so he was able to sense the wind swept up by the arrows and dodge at thest second, thereby allowing him to save his vital regions from being struck.
However, even with his tremendous physical constitution, he was starting to grow a little woozy from his severe injuries.
I can''t keep going like this!
All of a sudden, Han Li stopped in his tracks, then descended onto the ground, gasping for air.
He had thought that the passageway wouldn''t be very long, that he would be able to reach the end in a short time if he were to fly at full speed, but he was clearly incorrect in his evaluation.
He channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts with all his might in an attempt to recover from his injuries, but they were far too severe for his regenerative abilities to keep up with.
What do I do?
Han Li''s mind was racing as he tried to think of a way out of this dire situation.
Right at this moment, his expression stiffened once again.
He had lost his sense of touch!
With the deprivation of his sense of touch, all possibility of him evading the ck arrows had been erased.
Right at this moment, a cold sensation pierced through his dantian, followed by the all-too-familiar burst of excruciating pain.
Han Li wanted to roar in indignation, but was unable to utter even a single sound.
With the destruction of his dantian and his nascent soul, his consciousness was quicky fading into darkness, and he was unable to hold on despite his desperate efforts to do so.
Right at this moment, the alluring figure of Nangong Wan sprang into his mind.
"Wan''er!" Han Li yelled from the bottom of his heart, and what remained of his consciousness clung stubbornly to this ne of existence, refusing to dissipate.
He couldn''t die here... There were so many things that he still had to do... He couldn''t give up!
Han Li clung desperately onto his final shred with lucidity with all his might, refusing to sink into the abyss.
Time passed by in an agonizingly slow fashion, and after what seemed like an eternity, a faint crack rang out within his mind, as if something had shattered.
In the next instant, an enormous flow of warmth surged into Han Li''s consciousness, causing him to involuntarily rx and pass out.
"Fellow Daoist Li! Fellow Daoist Li!"
An urgent voice rang out beside Han Li''s ears, and initially, it seemed to be from another world, but it was slowly bing clearer and clearer.
Han Li''s consciousness slowly returned to him, and he discovered that he was standing in an azure pce with his bodypletely unscathed.
At this moment, Immortal Lord Hot me was standing beside him, watching him with a concerned expression.
"What just... How..."
Han Li was stumbling over his words as he struggled to fathom what he had just experienced.
He quickly inspected his surroundings as he spoke, and he discovered that there was a dark passageway behind him, the very same one that they had passed through at the entrance of the pce.
Bursts of ck light were shing incessantly within the passageway while constantly taking on all types of different forms, and it was as if they had a life of their own.
"This is Patriarch Miro''s Six Senses True Mantra Restriction. I only recalled it after I entered the passageway. The restriction is one that refines the mind by dragging you into an illusion where you''re deprived of all six of your senses," Immortal Lord Hot me exined.
"That was an illusion? It felt even more realistic than reality," Han Li said with a wry smile.
"Those with insufficient mental fortitude willpletely lose consciousness after being stripped of one or two of their senses, causing them to be forever lost in the array. Very few people are able to evenst until their third or fourth senses are deprived.
¡°This restriction''s primary purpose is to ward off external enemies, but it was also used as a test of willpower by our sect''s disciples. I''ve experienced the restriction on several past asions, and that''s why I was able to ovee it.
¡°In contrast, you stepped into this restrictionpletely unprepared, yet you were still able to make your way out, and that shows incredible mental fortitude," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a hint of admiration in his eyes.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daiost Hot me. I was simply extremely fortunate to have ovee the restriction," Han Li said with a wave of his hand, and internally, he was feeling a little disgruntled.
Immortal Lord Hot me seemed to have sensed Han Li''s displeasure, and he exined, "My apologies, Fellow Daoist Li, I had no idea that this restriction had been set up here. The restriction is an extremely perilous one, but it can also benefit one immensely. In particr, one stands to gain the most from their first time experiencing the restriction. Take a look and see if your spiritual sense has been enhanced, Fellow Daoist Li."
Chapter 686: Powerful Treasures
Chapter 686: Powerful Treasures
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then conducted a brief internal inspection, upon which a hint of tion appeared on his face.
Indeed, his spiritual sense had been enhanced by roughly 50%, and even the fifth level of his Spirit Refinement Technique was on the verge of a breakthrough.
On top of that, due to the sensory deprivation that he endured, he had also gained a deeper understanding of his Mantra Domain.
However, this wasn''t the time to be focusing on cultivation, so Han Li quickly turned his attention back to the azure hall before him.
The hall wasn''t veryrge, only around a thousand feet in size, and it waspletely empty with the exception of four stone pirs, one at each corner.
However, at the other end of the hall was a dark passageway that seemed to lead somewhere deeper.
"How long was I unconscious for?" Han Li asked as he turned to Immortal Lord Hot me.
"Not very long, maybe about fifteen minutes," Immortal Lord Hot me replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then contacted Daoist Xie through their spiritual connection.
"Did he do anything strange while I was unconscious, Brother Xie?"
While he did trust Immortal Lord Hot me as an ally, it was always better to be safe than sorry.
"No, all he did was observe the surrounding environment," Daoist Xie replied through voice transmission.
Han Li felt very reassured to hear this, and he said to Immortal Lord Hot me, "My apologies for the dy, Fellow Daoist Hot me. Let''s keep going."
Immortal Lord Hot me naturally didn''t object to this. He would''ve continued onward long ago if he didn''t have to stay behind to look after Han Li.
With that, the two of them stepped into the passageway up ahead, and the light here was also quite dim, but there were no restrictions set up.
The passageway wasn''t very straight, but it wasn''t all that long, either, and before long, the two of them reached the end, at which point they encountered a white door of light.
The sound of a battle could be heard ringing out from within the door of light, and sure enough, someone else had already gotten here ahead of them.
Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me exchanged a nce with each other, then concealed themselves before flying into the door of light in a covert fashion.
Immediately thereafter, they appeared in a giant hall that was over ten thousand feet in size, and it waspletely empty aside from two rows of white stone pirs on either side of the hall.
At this moment, there were five figures locked in a fierce battle in the hall, causing the entire ce to tremble and rumble violently.
However, the hall was constructed out of some type of extremely resilient material, and it remainedrgely unscathed despite the intensity of the battle taking ce within it.
As Han Li swept his gaze over the five figures, he noticed quite a few familiar faces.
The five figures were split up into two opposing factions, one of which a two-man faction, among which was none other than Fox 3.
He was joined by a blue-skinned woman in a blue cloak with a head of curly green hair. As she moved, her body swayed from side to side like a seductive snake, making it impossible to look away.
The opposing group consisted of three people, two of whom Han Li was able to identify as Su Liu and Gong Shutian, and the final person to round out the trio was an extremely burly and imposing man with a pair ofrge golden rings hanging from his ears.
Han Li hid behind a stone pir, and Immortal Lord Hot me did the same.
Fox 3 and the blue-skinned woman were definitely on the back foot, but they didn''t appear as if they were going to be defeated anytime soon, so both Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me had chosen to conceal themselves and merely observe for now.
Among the fivebatants, Han Li didn''t recognize the blue-skinned woman and the imposing man, but he did recognize the blue cloak that the woman was wearing. It was the same cloak as the one worn by the member of the Robe Change Order that he had in earlier, so she was most likely from the same order as well.
As for the imposing man, he wasn''t wearing the customary golden robe of Heavenly Court cultivators, but some of the essories on his body carried Heavenly Court symbols, and that was a clear indication of where he hade from.
Han Li observed the battle for a while, then peered deeper into the hall, upon which he noticed an altar-like tform at the very back of the hall.
The tform was enshrouded in ck and white light to form a circr array that was several dozen feet in size, and it resembled a miniature version of the Heaven and Earth Dust Array outside the True Mantra Pce.
The ck and white lights within the array were intertwining with one another to form a yin yang symbol, and on the eye of each half of the yin yang symbol was a golden te and a silver lute, seemingly acting as the cores of the array.
The golden te had a series of patterns on its surface, and at its center was a thumb-sized protrusion, extending out of which was a golden needle that was slowly revolving.
The te was shing with golden light and giving off bursts of timew power fluctuations, indicating that it was a time-attribute immortal treasure. Furthermore, the timew power fluctuations that it was giving off were far superior to those of any of Han Li''s time-attribute immortal treasures.
As for the silver lute, it was glowing bright with silver light and also giving off formidablew power fluctuations, except thesew power fluctuations were of the space attribute.
Aside from that, there was also a dhvaja hovering above the array, and there were countless runes engraved onto the dhvaja, which was split up into five levels, with each level a different color.
From top to bottom, the colors of the levels were gold, green, blue, crimson, and yellow.
The lights of the five colors intertwined to form a scripture, which was giving off five different types of timew powers, three of which were very familiar to Han Li as they were identical to the auras of the Mantra Axis Scripture, the Water Divination Time Arts, and the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture.
However, the timew power fluctuations being released by the dhvaja were far more profound than the timew powers that he was cultivating.
The dhvaja was enshrouded under a faint five-colored light barrier, which also epassed the Heaven and Earth Dust array, the golden te, and the silver lute.
The two treasures were giving off golden and silver radiance that didn''t conflict against the five-colored light barrier at all. Instead, there was a subtle bnce between them.
Right at this moment, Han Li sensed something, and he turned his gaze to Immortal Lord Hot me, only to discover that thetter was staring intently at the three treasures at the back of the hall, particrly the dhvaja.
He was so excited that even his breathing was bing a little heavier, and it immediately urred to Han Li that perhaps the dhvaja had something to do with the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
The problem was that Immortal Lord Hot me was so worked up that he seemed to be unable to keep his own emotions in check, and Han Li was just about to remind him to ensure that he was well-concealed when a loud roar suddenly rang out.
"Who''s hiding there? Come out!"
Immediately thereafter, a red sword projection struck the spot where Han Li''s duo was hiding, and the stone pirs that they were hiding behind were instantly snapped into two.
Han Li hurriedly sprang away to take evasive measures, and Immortal Lord Hot me was also snapped out of his reverie before darting away to the side.
As a result, the two of them werepletely revealed, and they discovered Gongshu Tian glowering at them from afar while holding a giant sword with scorching mes swirling around it.
"So it was just a pair of Golden Immortal Stage insects. You two must have a death wish to havee here!" Gongshu Tian sneered.
Immediately thereafter, his giant sword slipped out of his grasp, then swelled to over a thousand feet in size, and a giant crimson dragon projection emerged over it as it came crashing down upon Han Li''s duo with tremendous power.
Even before the sword fully descended upon them, Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me found themselves having to contend with an incredibly scorching aura.
The entire space within a radius of over a thousand feet seemed to have been set alight, and it began to ripple and warp violently.
Han Li immediately swept both sleeves through the air to release nine azure flying swords, whichbined as one to form a single giant sword with thick arcs of golden lightning shing over its surface.
The azure light radiating from the sword was so bright that even the scorching mes tumbling down from above were unable to outshine it.
The giant azure sword rose up into the air at Han Li''s behest, and the two enormous swords shed with an earth-shattering ng that caused the surrounding space to tremble and fracture.
The fiery sword was instantly stopped cold in its tracks, and an incredulous look appeared on Gongshu Tian''s face upon seeing this, clearly not expecting his attack to be withstood by a mere Golden Immortal.
Han Li took advantage of this opportunity to grab onto Immortal Lord Hot me, and the two of them vanished amid a sh of golden lightning before reappearing near the entrance of the hall.
At the same time, the giant azure sword forced back the opposing fiery sword a little figure, then shot back to Han Li''s side.
Gongshu Tian turned to Han Li with a cold expression, but didn''t immediatelysh out again as the other fourbatants in the hall had also disengaged themselves from battle, with Fox 3 and the blue-skinned woman arriving by Han Li''s duo.
Fox 3''splexion was a little pale, but there was an ted look on his face as he said to Han Li''s duo through voice transmission, "You''re finally here, fellow daoists! There''s no time to waste! Those three items on that altar are all extremely powerful treasures.
¡°In particr, that dhvaja very likely contains the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, the paramount cultivation art of the True Mantra Sect, so we absolutely cannot allow them to fall into the hands of the Heavenly Court!"
Even though Han Li had already guessed that the dhvaja could contain the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, he was still ecstatic to hear confirmation from Fox 3, and he immediately replied, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Fox, we''ll do everything we can to help you!"
In contrast, Immortal Lord Hot me''s brows furrowed ever so slightly upon hearing this.
Chapter 687: Unconvinced
Chapter 687: Unconvinced
Han Li noticed the minute change in Immortal Lord Hot me''s expression, and he asked through voice transmission, "Can we trust Fox 3? Is the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra really in that dhvaja?"
Immortal Lord Hot me hesitated momentarily, then gritted his teeth as he replied through voice transmission, "That dhvaja was once a prized immortal treasure of Patriarch Miro''s, and it does indeed contain the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra. Please help me secure the treasure, and once you do, all I ask for is the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra. You can keep the dhvaja in return."
"I''ll do my best," Han Li promised.
The blue-skinned woman was in slightly better condition than Fox 3, and she took a nce at Han Li''s duo, but immediately lost interest as soon as she sensed that they were only a pair of Golden Immortals.
"By the way, this is Celestial Maiden Bi She from the Robe Change Order. She''s currently fighting alongside us to take on these Heavenly Court cultivators," Fox 3 exined.
Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me both issued greetings to the blue-skinned woman, but shepletely ignored them as she took a blue pill.
A slightly awkward look appeared on Fox 3''s face at the sight of Bi She''s lukewarm reception, and he exined to Han Li''s duo through voice transmission, "Please don''t be offended, fellow daoists. Celestial Maiden Bi She is from the Sea Demon Race, so she harbors some enmity toward us human cultivators."
The Robe Change Order was a subsidiary organization of the Reincarnation Pce, but that didn''t give him any authority over Bi She. On top of that, she was ate-High Zenith cultivator, so he absolutely could not afford to get on her bad side.
Having said that, he had to ensure that Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me were happy as well. In particr, even though Han Li was only a Golden Immortal, Fox 3 couldn''t help but feel as if there was something unfathomable about him.
Han Li naturally wouldn''t take offense over such a minor transgression, and he assured Fox 3 that he didn''t mind.
"Fellow Daoist Li, we were separated as soon as we entered these ruins, so I never got the chance to tell you about your Reincarnation Pce mission. Your mission is to help me secure that dhvaja and the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra inside it," Fox 3 said.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, and he immediately replied through voice transmission, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Fox, I''ll do my best."
At this point, he had promised both Immortal Lord Hot me and Fox 3 that he would help them secure the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra. As for exactly who he was ultimately going to help, he would just have to decide depending on the circumstances.
Immortal Lord Hot me twitched ever so slightly, and he took a subtle nce at Han Li and Fox 3.
As Han Li and the others were conversing with one another, the three Heavenly Court cultivators were alsomunicating with each other through voice transmission.
"The longer this drags on, the more likely something goes wrong, so let''s not hold back anymore!" Chi Rong said in a grim voice.
"You''re one to talk! You''re the one who''s holding back the most out of the three of us. Don''t think that I don''t know your true identity," Su Liu sneered.
Chi Rong shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and a hint of cold killing intent surfaced in his eyes, but Su Liu merely continued to look at him in a calm andpletely fearless manner.
Gongshu Tian took a curious nce at Chi Rong upon hearing this, but then immediately averted his gaze.
Chi Rong took a deep breath, and the cold look on his face faded as he said, "Now''s not the time to be bickering. I say we kill these four before we discuss anything else. Any objections?"
"I concur," Su Liu replied, raising no objections.
"Alright, in that case, I''ll take on Bi She. Su Liu, you take on Fox 3, and Gongshu Tian, you go after those two Golden Immortals," Chi Rong instructed.
Once again, Su Liu and Gongshu Tian raised no objections.
Right as they were about to spring into action, Immortal Lord Hot me suddenly stepped forward and said, "Hold on, fellow daoists, I''d like to say something."
Chi Rong''s trio exchanged a surprised nce with each other, and Han Li and the others were also rather taken aback to see this.
"On the way here, Fellow Daoist Li and I were attacked by Gray Immortals, and their numbers were not insignificant. On top of that, they''ve also set up an interrealm teleportation array here, and they''re most likely also targeting the treasures in here.
¡°There''s a very good chance that they''ll be here very soon. Gray Immortals are the sworn enemies of the entire True Immortal Realm, so let''s set our differences aside for now and eradicate the Gray Immortals together when they arrive, then fight over these treasures after that," Immortal Lord Hot me proposed, offering a truce.
Everyone was very surprised to hear this, with the exception of Han Li.
"Gray Immortals? Is that true?" Fox 3 asked with a bewildered expression.
"It is. As I said, Fellow Daoist Li was with me, and he also fought against the Gray Immortals," Immortal Lord Hot me replied as he turned to Han Li.
"I can vouch for Fellow Daoist Hot me," Han Li confirmed with a nod.
Despite this, he was feeling a little perplexed, wondering why Immortal Lord Hot me had suddenly mentioned this. Did he really think that this would be enough to culminate in a ceasefire?
A grim look appeared on Fox 3''s face, and he seemed to have fallen into deep thought, while Bi She''s brows also furrowed slightly.
Chi Rong, Su Liu, and Gongshu Tian exchanged a nce with one another, following which the three of them pounced collectively at Han Li and the others.
"Surely you could''vee up with a better excuse to stall for time!" Gongshu Tian sneered as scorching mes erupted out of his giant sword, giving it the resemnce of a fiery dragon, and it came crashing down upon Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me with far more power than before.
Su Liu also raised a hand as incredibly thick bolts of five-colored lightning erupted out of his body, then converged to form two five-colored lightning pythons, each of which was over a hundred feet in length.
The lightning pythons sprang up into the air, then swooped down toward Fox 3.
At the same time, Chi Rong opened his mouth to release a fiery crimson cloud, which was rumbling and churning incessantly.
Countless balls of fire came raining down upon Bi She out of the fiery cloud, and it was clear the the three of them didn''t believe Immortal Lord Hot me at all.
Han Li and the others hurriedly sprang into action as well, with Immortal Lord Hot me darting back in retreat as he summoned his crimson fan before sweeping it forcefully through the air.
A crimson pir of fire erupted out of the fan before rising up into the air, and at the same time, he opened his mouth to release a glowing azure talisman that vanished into the pir of fire in a sh.
The talisman was instantly shattered, transforming into an azure tornado that fused as one with the pir of crimson mes, which instantly swelled to over a hundred feet thick as it rumbled toward the giant fiery sword.
A cold sneer appeared on Gongshu Tian''s face as he made a hand seal, and the mes around his giant sword took on the form of a fiery dragon''s head before inhaling sharply.
The giant pir of fire was instantly sucked into the dragon''s mouth, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Immortal Lord Hot me''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to do anything else, the giant fiery sword up above had already crashed down upon him, enveloping his entire body in a burst of scorching heat.
He felt as if he were being crushed under a giant mountain, and all of his movements had be extremely slow and sluggish.
His face instantly turned bright red under the sweltering heat, and he felt as if he were about to burst into mes.
Right at this moment, a giant azure sword appeared in front of Gongshu Tian''s fiery sword, and the two swords shed with a deafening ng, with the fiery sword once again stopped cold in its tracks.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of azure light shot forth from behind, sweeping up Immortal Lord Hot me''s body before dragging him back by over a thousand feet in the blink of an eye.
Han Li then appeared in front of Immortal Lord Hot me, but not only was Gongshu Tian not infuriated to see his attack foiled, a faint smile appeared on his face, as if some sinister plot of his had just been realized.
The dragon''s head on the fiery sword opened its mouth to st forth ten bursts of crimson mees, each of which contained arge crimson g. All of the gs had mes swirling around them, forming countless fire ravens, fire pythons, fiery tigers, and other ming projections, all of which were giving off incredible heat.
The ten fiery gs instantly formed a fiery cage that trapped the giant azure sword within it, and Han Li''s connection to his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords was instantly weakened significantly.
His expression changed slightly as he hurriedly attempted to summon the sword back to himself, but despite its violent struggles, the giant azure sword was unable to break free from its fiery cage.
"Let''s see how you''ll fare without that little sword of yours!" Gongshu Tian sneered as a vast expanse of crimson mes erupted out of his head and into the giant fiery sword up above.
The mes around the fiery sword reared up even further, but instead of crashing down again, a ball of blinding white light began to appear on its surface.
The ball of white light shot out of the tip of the sword, and initially, it was only the size of a bowl, but it then rapidly swelled to several dozen feet in diameter before crashing down toward Han Li like an asteroid.
Extremely pure and translucent white mes were swirling around the fireball, and all of the space in its wake warped and twisted violently.
These white mes were capable of incinerating the very space itself, and what was even more rming was that six or seven more of them had shot out of the fiery sword at Gongshu Tian''s behest, with all of them crashing down toward Han Li one after another.
All of a sudden, Han Li found himself surrounded with nowhere to run.
Chapter 688: Returning the Favor
Chapter 688: Returning the Favor
A serious look appeared on Han Li''s face as he raised an arm to release a small blue shield, which swelled to around seventy to eighty feet in size, then transformed into a blue water barrier.
A turbulent river projection appeared over the water barrier, and it was giving off bursts of thunderous churning and rumbling noises.
A string of resounding booms rang out as the white fireballs struck the blue water barrier one after another, sending waves of blue and white light erupting in all directions.
The blue water barrier trembled violently, and several vortexes then appeared on its surface, but in the blink of an eye, it was back to normal again.
Gongshu Tian''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, Han Li made a hand seal, and his giant azure sword spilt back up into nine small swords before tumbling down out of the air as if they had lost all of their power.
Immediately thereafter, nine more azure swords flew out of his sleeves before hurtling rapidly toward Gongshu Tian.
At this point, Immortal Lord Hot me had also been given a chance to catch his breath, and he chanted an incantation, upon which a row of crimson runes appeared on the surface of his fan before it was swept forcefully toward Gongshu Tian.
Nine bursts of mes of different colors erupted out of the fan, and all of the mes converged to form a giant fiery phoenix that was around a thousand feet in size, with nine long tail feathers trailing along behind it.
The phoenix spread its wings before pouncing at Gongshu Tian with tremendous power, and Gongshu Tian''s expression darkened slightly as he summoned his giant sword back into his grasp before shing it viciously through the air.
Countless thick streaks of fiery sword qi surged forth in a frenzy, forming a vast of fire that swallowed up the fiery phoenix, following which a string of resounding booms rang out.
While Han Li was locked in battle against Gongshu Tian, he was asionally checking on Fox 3 and Bi She, who were battling Su Liu and Chi Rong, respectively, and both of them were clearly on the back foot.
At this moment, arcs of five-colored lightning were crackling around Su Liu, and he was able to conjure up enormous spears of lightning at will. At the same time, there were around a dozen formidable lightning swords flying circling around above his head, forming a lightning sword array that protected him from all directions.
In the face of the all-epassing barrage of five-colored lightning spears, Fox 3''s illusoryw powers werepletely suppressed, and he could only passively evade the oing attacks with his movement techniques and that spatial treasure of his.
However, that spatial treasure was truly extraordinary, and it always seemed to be able to save him from lethal attacks just in the nick of time, so Su Liu wasn''t able to strike him down for now.
As for Bi She, she was not faring well against Chi Rong at all. There were eight millstone-sized blue beads revolving around her, all of which were glowing with blue light and giving off formidable cial qi, and the blue light released by the eight beads hade together to form a translucent blue light barrier.
However, the blue light barrier was enveloped within a sea of crimson mes, and a fiery dragon could be seen dancing within it.
A burst of indescribable heat was surging out of the sea of mes, threatening to set the surrounding space alight.
Waves of crimson mes crashed ferociously against the blue light barrier, causing it to rapidly soften and melt away.
Bi She was frantically making a string of hand seals as she struggled to maintain the blue light barrier, and all of a sudden, a burst of blue light erupted out of the top of her head, then transformed into a giant blue serpentine projection that was around a thousand feet in size.
The serpent had a t and level head, and its entire body was covered in ayer of white scales. There were numerous blue ice spikes growing on its back, and it was giving off an incredibly formidable cial aura.
As soon as the serpentine projection appeared, it immediately opened its mouth to release bursts of blue cial qi that fused into the blue light barrier, which instantly brightened significantly before being restored to its former, undamaged state.
Chi Rong''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he took a nce at the other two battles, upon which his dismay deepened even further as he could see that neither Gongshu Tian nor Su Liu were close to finishing off their opponents.
Red light shed within his eyes as he made a hand seal, and the mes around his body expanded rapidly outward, filling the entire hall in the blink of an eye to form a giant fiery spirit domain that epassed everyone within it.
Immediately thereafter, all of the mes within the spirit domain converged above his head, instantly forming a shimmering, crimson bell.
The bell was extremely antiquated in appearance, and it looked as if it had been forged out of fire copper. There were different designs such as mountains, rivers, and celestial bodies engraved upon it, as well as many squiggly, worm-like runes.
Han Li''s heart jolted slightly at the sight of the crimson bell.
Not only was the bell giving off an incredibly formidable fiery aura, that fiery aura was also interspersed with incredibly potent timew power fluctuations.
Chi Rong raised a hand before mming his palm down upon the crimson bell, producing a melodious chime that seemed to be able to prate one''s souls.
As soon as Han Li heard this bell chime, he instantly felt himself bing a lot more sluggish, and even his nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had been slowed down by tenfold.
Immortal Lord Hot me, Fox 3, and Bi She were all also affected, moving far slower than before, but Gongshu Tian, Su Liu, and Chi Rong himself weren''t affected at all.
Chi Rong made a hand seal, and the mes within the spirit domain converged once again to form eight fiery dragons that appeared around the blue light barrier in a sh.
The fiery dragon that had been prowling within the sea of mes also emerged, and together, the nine fiery dragons circled around Bi She while letting loose a collective roar that caused the entire hall to tremble violently.
"Go!" Chi Rong yelled, and the nine fiery dragons swooped down in unison to crash against the blue light barrier, which was instantly shattered, following which the nine fiery dragons crashed into Bi She with immense power.
Bi She attempted to take evasive measures, but in her slowed state, she was unable to dodge the attack. As a result, she was sent flying back through the air, smashing a massive crater into a wall like a plummeting asteroid, and scorching mes could still be seen surging within the crater.
Almost at the exact same moment, Su Liu began to make a rapid string of hand seals, and the lightning swords above his head instantly swelled to over a hundred times their original size as all of their tips turned to face forward.
A vast expanse of five-colored lightning then erupted out of his body before fusing into the lightning swords, which instantly took on a translucent appearance.
Su Liu then raised an arm before swinging it down upon Fox 3, and the dozen or so giant lightning swords above his head vanished in a sh, only to reappear near Fox 3 an instantter.
An rmed look appeared on Fox 3''s face as several translucent chains shot out of his be before sweeping toward the giant lightning swords, and at the same time, he attempted to flee from the attack, but he was far slower than Su Liu.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as a vast explosion of five-colored lightning swallowed up Fox 3''s entire body.
Enormous streaks of sword qi interspersed with five-colored lightning shed up and down within the ball of light, releasing blinding light.
On the other side, Gongshu Tian was ecstatic to see Han Li''s duo suddenly moving so slowly, and he immediately swooped in for the kill.
He let loose a loud roar as the giant fiery sword in his hand shot forth through the air, then suddenly vanished before transforming into two streaks of fiery sword qi, each of which was three hundred to four hundred feet in length.
There were countless tiny runes shing over the two streaks of sword qi, giving off intensely formidable firew power fluctuations.
As soon as the two streaks of fiery qi appeared, they immediately vanished into thin air.
In the next instant, the two streaks of sword qi appeared behind Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me amid a burst of spatial fluctuations before shing toward them.
Han Li and Immortal Lord Hot me were greatly rmed by this turn of events, but they were far too slow in their current state to evade the streaks of oing sword qi.
Gongshu Tian''s eyes were glowing, and he could already envision the decapitation of Han Li''s duo, but right at this moment, a golden wheel suddenly appeared behind Han Li.
The wheel revolved rapidly, and Han Li''s sluggish body suddenly became extremely fast and agile.
He swept both sleeves through the air in a rapid motion, and the blue water barrier in front of him instantly swept back until it was behind him.
At the same time, the water barrier extended outward by several thousand feet to protect Immortal Lord Hot me as well.
Two resounding booms rang out as the two streaks of sword qi struck the water barrier in unison, and bursts of crimson mes and sword qi crashed viciously against the water barrier, causing it to tremble incessantly, but it was able to keep the oing attacks at bay.
The excitement in Gongshu Tian''s eyes instantly stiffened upon seeing this, following which it was reced by incredulity.
Han Li turned to take a nce at Fox and Bi She, then immediately made a hand seal, upon which his spirit domain was also released, epassing the entire hall in the blink of an eye.
Enshrouded within Han Li''s time spirit domain, Su Liu, Chi Rong, and Gongshu Tian were also slowed down significantly, to the point that they had be even a little slower than Han Li and his allies.
A stunned look shed through Immortal Lord Hot me''s eyes at the sight of the surrounding golden spirit domain, while Su Liu and Chi Rong were both astonished.
"This is a time spirit domain!"
"Impossible!"
Chapter 689: Identified
Chapter 689: Identified
Bi She initially faltered slightly in the wake of the release of Han Li''s spirit doman, following which an ecstatic look appeared on her face, and she instantly shot out of the crater in the wall, appearing several thousand feet away in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, the suit of soft blue armor that she was wearing was severely damaged, revealing much of the skin underneath, which was covered in ayer of fine blue scales, many of which had also been shattered, causing her to bleed profusely.
She hurriedly swallowed a pill while turning her gaze to Han Li, and aplex look shed through her eyes.
At the same time, a figure shot out of the vast expanse of five-colored lightning in the hall, and it was none other than Fox 3.
His clothes were in tatters, and his body was riddled with char marks, presenting a sorry sight to behold, but his aura was still quite stable, and he was clearly in far better condition than Bi She.
"I owe you one, Fellow Daoist Li. If we get out of this alive, I''ll treat you to the as much wine as you want for three days!" Fox 3 chortled as he summoned a green talisman before pping it onto his own body, and the injuries that he had sustained immediately began to heal rapidly.
Chi Rong and Su Liu certainly weren''t just going to stand by and allow Fox 3 and Bi She to recover, and they immediately pounced forward in pursuit.
Bi She and Fox 3 were currently a little faster than Chi Rong and Su Liu, but there wasn''t enough space in the hall for them to do much maneuvering, so they had no choice but to face them in battle again.
Meanwhile, Gongshu Tian was glowering intently at Han Li with a newfound resentment in his eyes, and Han Li heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this.
Sure enough, Gongshu Tian suddenly roared, "You''re Li Feiyu!"
Han Li wasn''t surprised to hear his identity exposed.
He had been forced to unleash his time spirit domain, and with two immortal envoys present, it wasn''t a surprise at all that he had been identified.
He had been reluctant to unveil his time spirit domain precisely for fear of this exact scenario, but he had no choice, considering how everyone on his side had been in grave peril just now.
"I should''ve known that it was you! Everyone thought that Wyrm 3 was the one who killed Gongshu Tian, but I know that you''re the true culprit! I didn''t think that you would dare toe to the ck Soil Immortal Region. Did you really think that you could go wherever you please just because you have some basic mastery over thews of time?" Gongshu Tian sneered with a furious expression.
"There are countless people who want to kill me, you''re nothing special. Leave him to me and go help Celestial Maiden Bi She, Fellow Daoist Hot me," Han Li said with a faint smile.
Immortal Lord Hot me opened his mouth to respond upon hearing this, but ultimately remained silent as he flew toward Bi She.
Gongshu Tian was even more infuriated by Han Li''s tant disrespect, and he roared, "You''ll pay for your arrogance!"
At the same time, radiant crimson light erupted out of his body before sweeping outward in all directions, forming a fiery spirit domain that epassed the entire hall in an instant.
Immediately thereafter, all of the mes in the spirit domain converged to form a fiery giant that was over a thousand feet tall, and its entire body was giving off fearsome firew power fluctuations.
Enshrouded within the fiery spirit domain, Han Li felt the surrounding air construct around him, while the air temperature spiked drastically. He felt as if he had been dropped into a zing furnace, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.
However, ayer of silver mes then emerged over his body, and the surrounding heat instantly faded, following which he began to dart back in retreat.
Gongshu Tian was bewildered to see Han Lipletely unaffected by his spirit domain, and he "You''re not getting away!"
He made a hand seal as he spoke, and the mes on the surface of the fiery giant reared up as it raised an arm up high, then sent a gigantic fist crashing down upon Han Li.
The enormous fist left a series of long spatial rifts in its wake, and even before it arrived, Han Li was struck by a sense of asphyxiating pressure that threatened topletely immobilize him.
However, he remained calm and collected as he made a rapid string of hand seals, and the blue water barrier in front of him quickly shrank down to form a wall of water that was around three feet thick.
The river projection appeared on the wall of water once again, but it was flowing much slower than before, and the blue light emanating from it was also a little dim.
Han Li knew that the shield''s power was greatly diminished due to the tremendous fire w powers that filled this entire space.
The wall of water had only just taken shape when the fiery fist crashed into it with an earth-shattering boom, and red and blue light erupted in all directions alongside plumes of white smoke.
The river projection within the wall of water was rapidly shrinking, and the blue light emanating from it was also flickering unsteadily.
The fiery giant continued to pile on the pressure, and its other fist came crashing down like a ming asteroid.
The river projection within the blue wall of water instantly shrank down into a tiny stream that almost dried up entirely, and with the third punch from the fiery giant, the wall of water exploded into a vast expanse of blue light before dissipating altogether.
In the face of the fiery giant''s fourth punch, Han Li remainedpletely unfazed, and thirty-six profound acupoints lit up in unison on his chest as he retaliated with a punch of his own.
Much to Gongshu Tian''s astonishment, as soon as the two fists shed, the fiery giant''s fist instantly exploded into countless bursts of crimson mes along with its entire arm, and much of the mes were devoured by theyer of silver mes on Han Li''s fist.
Thanks to the tremendous firew powers within the fiery spirit domain, but the fiery giant was instantly able to regrow a new arm, but it didn''t immediatelysh out again.
"That''s a me of Essence! To think that a mere Golden Immortal would have so many trucks up his sleeve. Now wonder Gongshu Jiu fell to his demise at your hands. I''ve always been searching for a spirit me of heaven and earth to act as an intermediary to integrate all of my spirit mes, this me of Essence will be perfect!" Gongshu Tian sneered as he stood atop the fiery giant''s head.
Han Li paid no heed to Gongshu Tian as he made a hand seal, and his nineAzure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords shot forth through the air with arcs of golden lightning shing over them before converging toward Gongshu Tian from all directions at an astonishing speed.
The nine azure flying swords were arranged in a formation that resembled an azure sword lotus flower, and countless bursts of fearsome sword qi were sweeping through the air, threatening to slice Gongshu Jiu into pieces.
Gongshu Tian''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he summoned a giant fiery sword into his grasp before sweeping it forcefully through the air.
A vast expanse of scorching mes surged forth, transforming into a fiery wyrm that swiveled around in mid-air to send countless streaks of fiery sword qi erupting out of its mouth.
Azure and crimson sword qi shed incessantly around Gongshu Tian, resulting in explosions of light that were almost too bright to behold.
Most of the fiery sword qi was destroyed, but the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were also sent flying.
As the fiery wyrm roamed through the area, countless streaks of fiery sword qi re-emerged, and at the same time, Gongshu Tian opened his mouth to release a ball of white light, within which was a small ruler that was only around an inch in length.
Gongshu Tian pointed a finger at the ruler as he chanted an incantation, and the ruler rapidly swelled to several dozen feet in length, with countless five-colored rune etched onto its surface.
All of the five-colored runes on the ruler lit up in unison, and ayer of five-colored spirit me emerged over them. At the same time, a series of identical five-colored spirit rulers appeared within Gongshu Tian''s fiery spirit domain without any warning, and all of them began revolving on the spot to present a mesmerizing sight to behold.
Immediately thereafter, balls of five-colored me erupted out of the spirit rulers before raining down upon Han Li.
Initially, there were only dozens of these five-colored fireballs, but in the blink of an eye, that number swelled to tens of thousands, and Han Li was bombarded from all directions.
He immediately raised a hand upon seeing this, and the silver mes around him reared up to form a fiery silver barrier that enveloped him from all directions, but to his astonishment, the me of Essence was unable to devour these five-colored mes. Instead, it was only just barely able to keep them at bay.
Right as Gongshu Tian was about to do something else, Han Li raised his hand once again to summon a golden g, and it began revolving in mid-air above his head.
The g then swelled to ten times its original size at his behest, and countless specks of golden starlight surged out of it, forming a starlight vortex that rapidly expanded outward.
Han Li and the me of Essence were swallowed up by the torrent of golden starlight, and both of them vanished in a sh.
The five-colored mes converged upon the golden starlight, only to merely pass through as if it had no substantial form.
The golden starlight quickly spread through the surrounding area, instantly filling the entire nearby area in a radius of several hundred feet, and it was still continuing to expand.
A wary look appeared in Gongshu Tian''s eyes upon seeing this, and he immediately flew back in retreat.
The fiery giant also did the same, and as it retreated, its body rapidly shrank down to around the size of an average grown man as it remained close by Gongshu Tian''s side.
Despite all of the derision that he had directed at Han Li, Golden Immortal Stage didn''t dare to look down on Han Li in the slightest.
After vanishing into the starry vortex, it was as if Han Li had truly disappeared. Gongshu Tian was unable to sense his presence, but his time spirit domain still remained. Its time-slowing effect was severelypromised due to the influence of Gongshu Tian''s fiery spirit domain, but he still didn''t dare to let his guard down.
Chapter 690: Perilous Battle
Chapter 690: Perilous Battle
Right as Gongshu Tian was hesitating about how to proceed, countless golden runes suddenly appeared nearby amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
Gongshu Tian''s entire body was enveloped by these golden runes, and he was slowed down even further as a result.
At the same time, the river of golden starlight brightened significantly, as if it were resonating with the time spirit domain, and its rate of expansion abruptly sped up by severalfold, swallowing up Gongshu Tian in the blink of an eye.
Gongshu Tian immediately felt as if he had been plunged into a pit of quicksand, and bursts of tremendous pressure were constricting toward him from all directions, dragging him deeper into the starlight.
He immediately sprang into action, releasing countless streaks of crimson sword qi out of his giant fiery sword to eradicate the surrounding golden starlight.
At the same time, he swept his other sleeve through the air, and the five-colored spirit ruler shot forth and swelled drastically in size before falling into the grasp of his fiery domain spirit.
The five-colored mes emanating from the spirit ruler suddenly came together to form a pure white me, and the domain spirit raised its hand, upon which balls of white mes shot out of the spirit ruler toward the surrounding golden starlight.
All of the nearby starlight was instantly incinerated upon contact with these white mes, and with the two of them joining forces, they were instantly able to clear out arge area.
Gongshu Tian immediately shed his fiery sword through the air, releasing streaks of sword qi that enveloped both himself and the fiery domain spirit to form a rhomboid streak of swordlight that sped away from the river of starlight.
Not only was the streak of rhomboid swordlight extremely fast, it was also peerlessly sharp, and it tore through the river of starlight with ease.
However, right as it was on the verge of escaping the river of starlight altogether, numerous threads of golden light shot out from within. They were Han Li''s timew threads, and there were as many as twenty to thirty of them.
These timew threads intertwined with one another to form arge golden that stood in the rhomboid swordlight''s path, and the golden copsed inward to a massive degree, but it remained intact and was able to stop the swordlight in its tracks.
At the same time, Han Li appeared behind the streak of rhomboid swordlight without any warning, and the thirty-six profound acupoints on his chest and abdomen lit up once again as he threw a punch to strike the swordlight.
The rhomboid swordlight was instantly shattered with a resounding boom, and Gongshu Tian and his fiery domain spirit were sent flying as a stunned look appeared on his face.
Han Li immediately flew after Gongshu Tian in pursuit, and ayer of golden ape fur emerged over his body as he swelled rapidly in size, transforming into a giant golden ape before mming both fists down with tremendous power.
Two giant golden fist projections erupted out of his hand before hurtling toward Gongshu Tian, who raised a hand to conjure up a string of fiery shields that were around a foot in size in front of himself.
The two golden fist projections sted straight through the shields in their path, but there seemed to be no end to these shields, and they were able to keep the fist projections at bay.
However, before Gongshu Tian had a chance to catch his breath, several translucent chains shot out of Han Li''s be, then appeared behind Gongshu Tian''s head in a sh before attempting to burrow their way in.
Simultaneously, a burst of azure light shed behind Gongshu Tian, and the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords reappeared before forming another azure sword lotus flower that revolved rapidly to send countless streaks of formidable azure sword qi raining down upon Gongshu Tian.
The golden also flew through the air, but instead of flying toward Gongshu Tian, it appeared in front of the fiery domain spirit, separating it from Gongshu Tian.
In this instant, Han Li was going all-out in an attempt to kill Gongshu Tian.
As for whether Su Liu would detect the Spiritual Sense Cage that he had unleashed, that was something that he would just have to worry aboutter.
Gongshu Tian could sense Han Li''s determination and killing intent, but he merely sneered as he opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence into the giant sword in his hand.
"You''re not going to get me that easily!"
The sword instantly took on a crimson color, and it began to give off an extremely formidable aura.
As the sword was shed through the air, thousands of streaks of crimson sword qi appeared around Gongshu Tian, eradicating the pair of golden fist projections before also keeping the azure sword lotus flower at bay.
As for the spiritual sense chains, as soon as they came into contact with Gongshu Tian''s head, a ball of white light suddenly emerged from his head to form a white light barrier that stopped the chains in their tracks.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and before he had a chance to do anything else, Gongshu Tianshed out with his sword as he roared, "It''s my turn now!"
An incredibly long crescent-shaped crimson sword projection was unleashed at Han Li, and it was so fast that it reached him in the blink of an eye, as if by virtue of instantaneous teleportation.
A burst of cial sword intent erupted out of the sword projection, making Han Li feel as if all of his blood were about to freeze solid in his veins.
His entire body instantly stiffened, and even though he was able to instantly recover, it was already toote for him to take evasive measures, so he could only raise an arm to shield himself from the sword projection.
The sword projection struck Han Li''s fist before rapidly spreading upward along his arm, and right at this moment, Han Li let loose a loud roar, upon which a series of true spirit projections emerged behind him before fusing into his body.
His giant ape body instantly swelled drastically in size before transforming into a purplish-golden devilish deity with three heads and six arms. Countless silver spirit patterns also appeared over his body alongside ayer of purplish-golden scales.
The crescent-shaped sword projection was still advancing onward, but it had already slowed down significantly.
The two heads on the shoulders of the devilish deity opened their mouths in unison, and each of them released a burst of purplish-golden light to strike the crescent-shaped sword projection, destroying it upon contact.
A hint of surprise shed through Gongshu Tian''s eyes upon seeing this, and he immediately began to fly back in retreat.
A cold look appeared in the devilish deities as it raised all of its arms aside from the wounded one, then swung its fists through the air to release five balls of golden light that appeared near Gongshu Tian in a sh, then fused as one to form a radiant golden vortex.
A burst of tremendous suction erupted out of the golden vortex before epassing Gongshu Tian''s entire body, instantly immobilizing him.
Gongshu Tian immediately let loose a thunderous roar as the mes all over its body reared up, while his fiery spirit domain shrank down to only several hundred feet in size in the blink of an eye.
However, the mes within his fiery spirit domain became far more formidable as a result, turning into a golden color while giving off an unprecedentedly scorching aura.
The golden vortex around him was instantly destroyed by these golden mes, unable to withstand their immeasurable heat.
However, right at this moment, the purplish-golden devilish deity appeared behind him in a sh, following which a massive golden axis emerged behind the devilish deity.
A vast expanse of golden ripples erupted out of the axis, instantly epassing the entire surrounding area within a radius of a thousand feet, enveloping both Gongshu Tian and his fiery spirit domain within it.
Gongshu Tian instantly fellpletely still, as did the golden mes in his fiery spirit domain, and it was as if both of them had been frozen solid.
The Mantra Treasured Axis was able to immobilize everything within its scope of influence, but GonGongshu Tian''s fiery spirit domain was so formidable that the golden ripples were trembling violently while gradually dissipating, as if they were also unable to withstand the heat.
Han Li immediately sprang into action without any hesitation, and his nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords shot forth once again before shing through Gongshu Tian''s body.
In the blink of an eye, Gongshu Tian''s body was sliced into dozens of pieces, and his nascent soul was also destroyed.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, at the end of this sequence, Han Li''splexion had turned deathly pale, but he still mustered up the strength to withdraw his Mantra Treasured Axis.
With the Mantra Treasured Axis gone, Gongshu Tian''s fiery spirit domain instantly dissipated, while the fiery domain spirit in the distance also exploded before fading away.
At the same time, the fiery cage that Han Li''s other nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were trapped in also reverted back into ten fiery gs, while the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords inside fell onto the ground.
Han Li paid no heed to all of this as he reverted back to his human form while focusing on sensing what was happening outside.
At the moment, the Mantra Treasured Axis was his biggest trump card, and given theplex circumstances in the True Mantra Sect ruins, he definitely didn''t want to have his trump card exposed to everyone.
The sea of golden stars was able to cut off the sensory ability of spirit domains, and that was why he had gone out of his way to drag Gongshu Tian in here.
Everyone outside was still locked in battles of their own, and it appeared that none of them had detected the aura of his Mantra Treasured Axis.
This came as quite a relief to Han Li, and he stowed his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords away, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which picked up Gongshu Tian''s immortal treasures, then swept over his body as well before returning to Han Li.
The burst of azure light returned with the ten fiery gs, the giant crimson sword, a red storage bracelet, and a white talisman.
At this moment, Han Li''s attention was focused solely on the white talisman.
It was something that he had found from the top of Gongshu Tian''s head, and there were several squiggly spirit patterns engraved onto it, giving off a peculiar aura fluctuation that resembled spiritual power, but was also somewhat different.
He examined all of the items briefly before stowing them away as now wasn''t the time to be studying them in depth.
Han Li then flipped a hand over to produce a green talisman that he adhered to his own arm, and radiant green light seeped into the arm from the talisman, quickly healing the wound there until there was only an imperceptible red mark left.
A pleased look appeared on his face upon seeing this, and he withdrew the sea of golden starlight to reveal himself.
The pieces of Gongshu Tian''s body instantly fell to the ground, and Su Liu and Chi Rong were very rmed to see this, while Fox 3 and the others were ecstatic.
Chapter 691: Star Official
Chapter 691: Star Official
Han Li swept his gaze around the hall, then immediately flew toward Fox 3, who was locked in battle against Su Liu.
Immortal Lord Hot me wasn''t all that powerful, but his golden mirror was able to slow down all attacks, providing immense defensive value, and with his assistance, Bi She should be able to hold her own against Chi Rong for now.
In contrast, Fox 3''s situation was a little more dire, and at this point, all he could do was passively defend against Su Liu''s lightning attacks.
Upon spotting the approaching Han Li, Su Liu opened his mouth to release a ball of five-colored light, which transformed into an antiquated five-colored cauldron.
A plume of five-colored lightning threads then erupted out of the top of the cauldron, and it transformed into a five-colored lightning that descended upon Han Li.
However, right at this moment, a burst of golden lightning abruptly erupted out of Han Li''s body, and he instantly vanished from the spot, causing the five-colored lightning topletely miss its target.
In the next instant, a burst of golden lightning appeared behind Chi Rong, and Han Li emerged out of thin air without any warning before sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing nie Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that hurtled directly toward Chi Rong.
Chi Rong was very much taken aback by this turn of events, and a burst of crimson light erupted out of his body alongside countless crimson runes, which revolved above his head in a frenzy.
In the blink of an eye, a giant crimson shield took shape, and the nine swords came crashing down upon it with a resounding boom.The crimson shield trembled violently amid an eruption of crimson and azure light, and it was able to temporarily keep the nine swords at bay.
However, this crimson shield was something that he had conjured up on very short notice, and it was already beginning to crack, indicating that it wouldn''t be able tost much longer.
Chi Rong immediately attempted to flee the scene, but right at this moment, arge golden suddenly appeared before him.
It was the same that was formed by Han Li''s interwoven timew threads, and it immediately ensnared him while releasing formidable timew power fluctuations that immobilized him in mid-air.
A cold gleam shed through Han Li''s eyes as he thrust a palm forward, and a giant golden palm projection instantly appeared above Chi Rong''s head before crashing down with tremendous power.
A dull thump rang out as Chi Rong''s body exploded, but not into flesh and blood. Instead, it had exploded into balls of crimson mes that scattered in all directions.
Immediately thereafter, an ancient incantation rang out, and the balls of crimson mes converged in the distance to reform Chi Rong''s body, except he was looking much paler than before.
Immortal Lord Hot me and Bi She had beenpletely dumbstruck by this abrupt turn of events, and only now did they snap back to their senses before rushing over to Han Li''s side.
"I don''t think I''ve ever met a Golden Immortal like you. You''re the first opponent that I''ve been excited to fight for the past ten thousand years," Chi Rong said with intense killing intent in his eyes.
Han Li paid no heed to this as he made a hand seal, and his nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly transformed into nine enormous azure swords with arcs of golden lightning dancing over them.
A rumbling thunderp rang out as nine giant swords hurtled directly toward Chi Rong, while the formed by timew threads vanished into Han Li''s time spirit domain, seemingly having concealed itself again.
Immortal Lord Hot me and Bi She exchanged a nce with each other upon seeing this, then immediately sprang into action as well.
The former chanted an incantation before sweeping his crimson fan through the air, and a resounding boom rang out as another fiery phoenix flew out of the fan before swooping down upon Chi Rong.
Bi She also made a hand seal, and bright blue light erupted out of her body as the giant blue serpentine projection reappeared behind her.
The serpentine projection opened its mouth to release a burst of blue mist, which split up into four or five misty blue serpents that pounced at Chi Rong from another direction.
With the three of them joining forces, their collective attacks carried devastating power, and with the time spirit domain on their side, their teamwork waspletely wless.
Even a cultivator of Chi Rong''s power didn''t dare to take the attacks from the trio head-on, and he shot back in retreat while sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing a glowing white pouch that shed against one of Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The pouch instantly exploded upon contact, and tens of thousand of dark red insects the size of grains of rice emerged from within, forming a dark red cloud that emitted a thunderous buzzing sound.
There were specks of red mes burning over the bodies of these tiny insects, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold, and the swarm was instantly scattered upon being struck by the attacks from Han Li''s trio.
Immediately thereafter, the insects began to fly away in all directions in a speedy and agile fashion, and virtually none of them had been killed by the oing attacks.
Immortal Lord Hot me''s expression changed drastically at the sight of these insects, and he instantly stopped cold in his tracks.
Han Li and Bi She faltered slightly upon seeing this, then stopped where they were as well, but they continued to unleash more attacks.
All of a sudden, a dark red flute appeared in Chi Rong''s grasp, but instead of blowing on it, he swept it through the air a few times, then pressed his fingers over the holes of the flute in a certain sequence.
Melodious flute music rang out, and the scattered insects instantly flew further away in all directions, as if they had received some type of instruction, skirting around the attacks from Han Li''s trio before flying toward them.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and azure light began to sh over his body, while Bi She also raised her hands in preparation to attack.
"Look out, fellow daoists! Those are Fire Age Fireflies that are capable of burning through the lifespans of others! Make sure you don''t let them get close to you, and leave them to me!" Immortal Lord Hot me suddenly dered.
He summoned a dark red peptachord as he spoke, then quickly ran his fingers over its strings, producing stunning music that resembled draconic roars and rumbling thunderps.
As soon as the Fire Age Fireflies heard this music, they instantly stopped cold in their tracks and began to circle around on the spot as if they were drunk.
"That''s the Vast Sea Dragon Roar Melody! How do you know how to y this melody?" Chi Rong asked as he turned to Immortal Lord Hot me with a stunned expression.
As soon as he stopped in his tracks, the attacks from Han Li''s trio instantly caught up to him, but he remained calm and collected as he made a grabbing motion to summon arge crimson bell, which began to chime in an urgent fashion.
All of a sudden, everything around the bell became extremely slow, and the attacks from Han Li''s trio were still flying onward, but they had also been slowed down significantly.
Chi Rong then began to chant an incantation, and a burst of crimson light emerged over his body, following which he vanished into his fiery spirit domain.
As soon as he disappeared, the attacks from Han Li''s trio finally struck the crimson bell, which shattered upon contact, restoring the surrounding flow of time back to normal.
Immediately thereafter, Chi Rong reappeared elsewhere before immediately turning his gaze to Immortal Lord Hot me, who also turned to look at him with a bewildered expression.
After scrutinizing Immortal Lord Hot me for a while, a hint of surprise and tion appeared on his face as he eximed, "You''re Senior Martial Brother Huo Zhuozi!"
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, and both he and Bi She refrained from attacking Chi Rong for now.
Right at this moment, an urgent voice rang out from afar.
"Oi, if you''re not going to fight, then can I get some help over here?"
Han Li turned in that direction to find that Fox 3 was in a rather dire situation, having almost been backed into a corner by Su Liu.
He immediately made a hand seal, and arge golden appeared above Su Liu before descending upon him.
Even before the had fully descended, it was already releasing a burst of formidable timew powers.
Even though Su Liu had been fighting against Fox 3 this entire time, he had constantly been keeping a close eye on the other battle as well, so he was already aware of just how powerful the golden was.
In response, he quickly made a hand seal, and the five-colored cauldron beside him instantly rose up into the air, following which a plume of five-colored lightning threads erupted forth from within, forming a of lightning.
The twos shed, and the lightning and the five-colored cauldron were instantly immobilized, but the golden was also kept at bay for an instant.
Taking advantage of this brief window of opportunity, Su Liu shot forth to the side as an arc of five-colored lightning, appearing several hundred feet away just an instantter.
Fox 3 hurriedly flew back in retreat to open up some distance between them, while Chi Rong said, "Hold on a second, Fellow Daoist Su Liu, I have some things that I want to ask them."
Su Liu took a nce at the golden, and a hint of wariness shed through his eyes as he obliged with Chi Rong''s request.
"Master once told me that I had a senior martial brother. The fact that you''re able to tame Master''s Fire Age Fireflies means that you must be Senior Martial Brother Huo Zhuozi!" Chi Rong said as he stared intently at Immortal Lord Hot me.
"Who is this master that you''re referring to?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked in a skeptical manner.
"My master''s name is Qi Mozi," Chi Rong replied in a reverent voice.
Immortal Lord Hot me immediately shuddered upon hearing this, and he asked in a trembling voice, "Master is still alive?"
Thinking back to everything that he had seen in the ruins, Han Li already guessed that Qi Mozi was most likely still alive, and he turned to Immortal Lord Hot me with a peculiar look in his eyes.
"What do you mean by that, Senior Martial Brother? With our master''s unfathomable powers, what could''ve possibly led to his demise?" Chi Rong asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"This is... This is fantastic news!" Immortal Lord Hot me murmured to himself as tears welled up in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Su Liu was looking on with his brows tightly furrowed in contemtion.
Immortal Lord Hot me suppressed the joy in his heart as he said, "Our master must''ve been extremely fortunate to have survived the fall of our sect all those years ago. May I ask where he is right now?"
A peculiar look appeared on Chi Rong''s face upon hearing this, and only after a long silence did he reply, "Our master is currently serving as a star official at the Heavenly Court."
Chapter 692: Circumstances Behind the Sects Demise
Chapter 692: Circumstances Behind the Sect''s Demise
Immortal Lord Hot me was instantly rooted to the spot upon hearing this, following which an incredulous look appeared on his face.
"Why is Master serving at the Heavenly Court?"
Han Li had already anticipated this, and his gaze roamed over Immortal Lord Hot me and Chi Rong in a contemtive fashion.
Su Liu seemed to be aware of what had happened all those years ago as well, and he was observing the two disciple brothers with a look that was bordering on amusement.
"The circumstances from back then are ratherplex, so you should ask Master directly when you see him. For now, let''s join forces and take care of these Reincarnation Pce scoundrels first," Chi Rong said with slightly furrowed brows.
Fox 3 and Bi She exchanged aplex nce with each other upon hearing this.
Immortal Lord Hot me appeared to be rather insignificant, but given the current circumstances, even a slight change in the power bnce would severely impact the state of the battlefield.
On top of that, without Immortal Lord Hot me on their side to tame the Fire Age Fireflies, they were not going to be easy to deal with.
A hesitant look appeared on Immortal Lord Hot me''s face upon hearing this."Is it still not already clear enough to you, Fellow Daoist Hot me? Qi Mozi was only able to survive the demise of the True Mantra Sect as he had already betrayed the sect and defected to the Heavenly Court well in advance!" Han Li dered.
Chi Rong''s expression instantly darkened significantly upon hearing this, and he turned to Han Li with a furious expression as he spat through gritted teeth, "Who are you to be referring to my master directly by his name?"
"Why did Master do this?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked.
"Why do you say that like our master did something wrong? At the height of its powers, the True Mantra Sect was the sole dominant force in the entire ck Soil Immortal Region, but it was still nothingpared with the Heavenly Court. It''s just a pity that aside from our master, everyone in the sect denied this fact, harboring delusions that the sect could coexist with the Heavenly Court in harmony," Chi Rong sneered.
"That''s impossible... Our patriarch was always so kind and benevolent. Even though our sect was going from strength to strength, we never had any conflict with the Heavenly Court, and we''ve evenly actively suppressed our own expansion. Otherwise, given our patriarch''s powers and reputation, we could''ve easily taken several of the nearby immortal regions.
¡°On top of that, we were in support of the Heavenly Court''s n to established the Four Allies Immortal Pce to oversee the four allied immortal regions, but it was the Heavenly Court that went back on their word to attack us," Immortal Lord Hot me said in a disbelieving voice.
"I didn''t think you were so naive, Senior Martial Brother. No wonder Master made up an excuse to send you away from the sect in advance. Back then, the Heavenly Court had proposed for the True Mantra Sect to nominate a disciple to serve as the pce master of the Four Allies Immortal Pce in order to forge a friendly alliance with the True Mantra Sect.
¡°On the surface, it appeared to be an act of appeasement, but in reality, it was nothing more than a form of cation," Chi Rong scoffed.
Immortal Lord Hot me was still rather perplexed upon hearing this, but Han Li was already able to read between the lines, and he said, "So it was all a ploy to divide and conquer the True Mantra Sect. Even without this Four Allies Immortal Pce, the four immortal regions were all in the True Mantra Sect''s scope of influence anyway, so the Heavenly Court was essentially just gifting the True Mantra Sect control of an area that they had already had control over.
¡°Once the Immortal Pce is established, it''ll gradually grow more and more distant from the True Mantra Sect, bing a thorn in its side. The fact that the True Mantra Sect agreed to this proposal at all is already a huge concession, so why is it that the Heavenly Court still decided to wipe out the sect?"
Chi Rong took a nce at Han Li, then said in a meaningful voice, "If the True Mantra Sect had epted the Heavenly Court''s proposal to make Master the first pce master of the Four Allies Immortal Pce instead of insisting on nominating Mu Yan, perhaps the sect would''ve ultimately fallen into destitution anyway, but it definitely would''ve have been wiped out in such brutal fashion."
At this point, realization had dawned upon Immortal Lord Hot me as well, and he asked, "You''re saying that master had already defected to the Heavenly Court even before the Heavenly Court sent those envoys to our sect to discuss this matter?"
"That''s right. In fact, our master was the one who proposed the establishment of the Four Allies Immortal Pce to the Heavenly Court. If things had continued ording to their original trajectory, then a battle between the sect and the Heavenly Court would''ve been inevitable. Our master was trying to find a way for our sect to survive," Chi Rong replied with a nod.
"Don''t make him sound so noble! He was trying to find a way for the sect to survive? All he did was sacrifice the sect''s interests for his own selfish gain! If he wanted to defect to the Heavenly Court, then he would''ve had to prove himself useful, and what better way to do that than to offer up the heads of Patriarch Miro and his four disciples on a silver tter?" Han Li sneered.
At this point, Chi Rong couldn''t be bothered to try and make any further excuses for Qi Mozi, and he merely replied, "Patriarch Miro was the biggest threat to the Time Dao Ancestor, so he would''ve ultimately met his demise regardless of whether Master decided to take this route."
"So the proposal to establish the Four Allies Immortal Pce and for one of Patriarch Miro''s disciples to serve as its first pce master was nothing more than a sham. The Heavenly Court only used this excuse to send those envoys into the True Mantra Sect as scouts in preparation to take down the sect," Han Li said in a derisive fashion.
Chi Rong''s expression darkened even further upon hearing this, and he turned to Han Li with barely repressible fury in his eyes.
At the same time, he couldn''t help but wonder how Han Li was able to be so spot-on with all of his analysis of this situation;
Immortal Lord Hot metook a moment topose himself, then said, "I have another question: who was the mysterious individual that suddenly came to visit the True Mantra Sect while the Heavenly Court''s envoys were here?"
"It was the pce master of our Reincarnation Pce," Fox 3 replied before Chi Rong had a chance to.
Han Li turned to Fox 3 with a surprised expression upon hearing this.
"Our pce master came to warn Patriarch Miro of the Heavenly Court''s intentions. Unfortunately, Patriarch Miro had some deep-rooted biases against the Gray Realm, and he regarded our pce master as untrustworthy due to our Reincarnation Pce''s connection to the Gray Realm.
¡°Hence, he wasn''t willing to join forces with our Reincarnation Pce. Otherwise, there''s no way that he would have perished under such tragic circumstances," Fox 3 sighed.
This was a clear indication of just how weary cultivators of the True Immortal Realm were of beings from the Gray Realm.
"So that means you already knew the truth behind our True Mantra Sect''s demise even beforeing here. In that case, why did you deceive me?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked with tightly furrowed brows.
Fox 3 hesitated momentarily, then replied in a candid fashion, "Firstly, I didn''t know if you were actuallypletely oblivious to the circumstances leading to the demise of the sect, and secondly, I really did you to lead me into these ruins."
"Why are you still wasting time talking to him, Senior Martial Brother? Do you not want to return to the Golden Origin Immortal Region with me to see our master?" Chi Rong asked with a disdainful expression.
"I came here to find out the truth behind the demise of our sect, and I fully intend to get the answers that I came here for. I want to know what kind of role our master yed back then," Immortal Lord Hot me said as he turned to Chi Rong.
"Is it not already obvious enough? He was a traitor! Your senior martial uncles, Mu Yan and He Ze, both perished by his hands," Fox 3 dered in an expressionless manner.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, and he immediately understood why He Ze had told him to kill Qi Mozi back in the Water Divination Pce, and why Mu Yan had been filled with so much resentment and indignation at his time of death.
"What happened after that visit from the Reincarnation Pce Master?" Immortal Lord Hot me asked as he turned to Fox 3.
Fox 3 took a moment to collect his thoughts, then replied, "Patriarch Miro didn''t agree to join forces with our Reincarnation Pce, but the seed of doubt had been sowed in his mind, so he paid a visit to the Devil Realm to borrow a spatial immortal treasure from the Devilish Monarch using a time-attribute immortal treasure as coteral.
¡°He used the immortal treasure to secretly bolster the True Mantra Sect''s protective array, and if he had sessfullypleted the procedure, then even if the Heavenly Court had attacked, the sect would''ve been able to put up some resistance. Unfortunately..."
Immortal Lord Hot me could already guess what Fox 3 was going to say, but he still couldn''t help but ask, "Unfortunately what?"
"Unfortunately, Qi Mozi reported Patriarch Miro''s meeting with our Reincarnation Pce Master to the Heavenly Court, so the Heavenly Court attacked the True Mantra Sect, using it of colluding with the Reincarnation Pce and the Gray Realm. The True Mantra Sect''s new protective array still hadn''t beenpleted, and Patriarch Miro was weakened from the strain of setting up the array, so the sect was wiped out," Fox 3 sighed.
"No one could''ve anticipated that the Time Dao Ancestor would make an appearance during the battle to kill Patriarch Miro. Both of them possessed unfathomable power, and their battle spread fear and panic across the entire ck Soil Immortal Region.
¡°If it weren''t for the conscious effort that Patriarch Miro had made to keep the battle within the boundaries of the True Mantra Sect, much more would''ve been destroyed than just this one sect," Fox 3 continued.
"Up to this point, you''ve only mentioned three of Patriarch Miro''s five disciples. What happened to the other two?" Han Li suddenly asked.
"After the battle, Jin Yuanzi vanished for a long time. It''s said that heter returned at a far higher cultivation base than at the time of the sect''s destruction and challenged the Time Dao Ancestor, but was also killed. As for Wu Yangzi, he joined our Reincarnation Pce and is currently serving as a deputy pce master," Fox 3 replied.
"Senior Martial Uncle Wu is still alive?"
At this point, Immortal Lord Hot me didn''t know whether he should be ted or concerned in response to this news.
"Back when our pce master visited Patriarch Miro, Deputy Pce Master Wu had also been present, and he was the only one willing to heed our pce master''s warning. Unfortunately, he couldn''t go against his master''s wishes, and he couldn''t join our Reincarnation Pce on his own.
¡°However, after the event, he did contact our pce master in secret, imploring our pce master to save Patriarch Miro should he ever be in life-threatening danger, but due to Qi Mozi''s betrayal, everything happened far too abruptly, and our pce master was only able to save him," Fox 3 said.
Immortal Lord Hot me fell silent, while Han Li was mulling over what he had just heard.
Chapter 693: Abrupt Interruption
Chapter 693: Abrupt Interruption
"Are you two done catching up? What''ll it be then, Huo Zhuozi? Will you continue to oppose us or be our ally?" Su Liu asked.
A serious look appeared on Chi Rong''s face as he said, "There''s no point in getting hung up on all of those past matters. Our master sent you away from the sect all those years ago as he cherished you as a disciple, and now, it''s time for you to go back with me to see him."
All of the Fire Age Fireflies began to flicker incessantly as he spoke, and Immortal Lord Hot me took a nce at Chi Rong, then turned back to Han Li and Fox 3 with a torn look on his face.
A hint of wariness shed through Bi She''s eyes upon seeing this, and she distanced herself from him a little.
A faint smile appeared on Su Liu''s face, and he began to prepare for battle, while Han Li also tightened his grip around his sword.
The atmosphere in the pce had be very tense once again.
However, right at this moment, amotion suddenly rang out from outside the pce, and Han Li detected a burst of powerful spatial fluctuations.
His brows furrowed slightly as he turned to the entrance of the pce, just in time to see a purple figure stumbling inside while holding a woman in his arms.
These two were none other than Shi Chuankong and Feng Lin, and an immediately ted look appeared on Fox 3''s face at the sight of them as he called out, "Brother Shi!"Han Li could sense that Shi Chuankong''s aura was in a state of disarray, indicating that he had just endured a grueling battle.
Su Liu also turned his gaze to Shi Chuankong, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
At this point, Feng Lin had already regained consciousness, and Shi Chuankong set her down after taking a moment to steady himself.
Feng Lin was still as pale as a sheet, and she said to Shi Chuankong, "Thank you, Young Master."
Shi Chuankong nodded in response, and his gaze roamed over everyone in the pce. He then faltered slightly upon catching sight of the three treasures in the pce, but his gaze only lingered on them briefly before he looked away.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, Shi Chuankong took a nce out of the pce, then dered, "They''reing, everyone."
Han Li immediately understood what Shi Chuankong was referring to, and his expression changed ever so slightly, while a grim look also appeared on Immortal Lord Hot me''s face.
"Are you referring to the Gray Immortals?" Su Liu asked.
Shi Chuankong nodded silently in response.
"Could it be that these two were telling the truth earlier? Have those filthy scoundrels really crossed into our realm? If that''s the case, then we have to report this matter right away," Chi Rong said with tightly furrowed brows.
"How many of them are there?" Su Liu asked.
Shi Chuankong hesitated momentarily, but ultimately still replied in a truthful manner, "I encountered four Gray Immortals, all of whom are roughly at the High Zenith Stage. On top of that, they''re also apanied by an indeterminate number of other Gray Realm creatures."
"Hasn''t your Reincarnation Pce always been really close with the Gray Realm? If you ask me, you were the one who brought them here, weren''t you?" Chi Rong suddenly used as he turned to Han Li and Fox 3.
A peculiar look appeared on Fox 3''s face upon hearing this, and he didn''t deny these usations.
Bi She''s brows were tightly furrowed, and she also remained silent.
As for Han Li, he had no idea where these Gray Immortals hade from, so he naturally couldn''t form any judgments.
Theck of denial from the trio was taken as an admission of guilt, and the expressions of everyone in the pce changed ever so slightly.
"Senior Martial Brother Huo Zhuozi, regardless of what happened all those years ago, the True Mantra Sect had always opposed the invasion of the Gray Realm. Are you going to collude with these treacherous bastards? These are outside enemies who must be killed!" Chi Rong yelled as he turned to Immortal Lord Hot me.
A conflicted look appeared on Immortal Lord Hot me''s face as he turned to Han Li.
"Regardless of whether you believe us or not, we truly have no idea why these Gray Realm beings are here or how they managed to get here," Fox 3 sighed.
Chi Rong was clearly unconvinced, and he scoffed, "You can take those lies to the afterlife!"
Immediately thereafter, he thrust a palm forward, and an enormous crimson wheel of fire erupted out of his hand.
The wheel was revolving incessantly with crimson mes all over its surface, and the Fire Age Fireflies before him also began to buzz loudly, looking as if they were going to swarm Fox 3 at any moment.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly detected something, and he yelled, "They''reing!"
Everyone hurriedly turned to the entrance of the pce upon hearing this, but there was nothing there.
Due to the strange restrictions in this space, they weren''t able to release their spiritual sense very far at all, and after waiting for a moment, there were still no further developments.
Chi Rong immediately red with rage as he roared, "Don''t try to y me for a fool!"
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and the fiery crimson wheel was immediately sent hurtling directly toward Han Li.
"Idiot!" Han Li sighed in frustration as a burst of golden light emerged over his body, and he used his Reversal True Axis ability to evade the attack with ease.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of rumbling rang out in the distance, much like the sound of an approaching sandstorm, and several indistinct figures quickly arrived at the entrance of the pce within a vast cloud of gray mist.
Chi Rong stopped in his tracks as he cast his gaze toward the entrance of the pce, while Su Liu turned to Han Li with a surprised expression, seemingly taken aback by how powerful Han Li''s spiritual sense was.
The four indistinct figures emerged from the gray mist before entering the pce, and they were none other than Shi Chuankong and Feng Lin''s pursuers.
The four of them were led by that skeletal figure, and he paid no heed to Han Li and the others as his gaze instantly settled upon the three treasures in the pce.
In particr, the stark white mes in his eye sockets flickered slightly at the the sight of the silver lute within the array, and he hurriedly yelled in excitement, "That''s the Virata Lute! Once we obtain that lute, our realm defying array will be close toplete, and we''ll be able to open up a stable passageway for our army to invade this immortal region! Secure the lute right away!"
The other three Gray Immortals hurriedly heeded his call,unching themselves at the three treasures in the array.
"You''re not getting your hands on anything!" Su Liu roared, but instead of trying to stop the Gray Immortals, he turned to pounce on the three treasures himself.
Everyone else immediately followed suit, and no one tried to stop the Gray Immortals for fear that the three treasures would be taken by others while they were locked in battle against the Gray Immortals.
In contrast, Han Li chose to remain still on the spot as he secretly released his time spirit domain, but suppressed it to the extreme so that it only epassed a tiny area around his own body.
The Gray Immortals were furious to see this, and the gray-haired young man raised his purple spear, upon which a thick gray tornado erupted out of the tip of the spear before sweeping directly toward Su Liu.
At the same time, the young womanshed out with her whip, and a loud whip crack rang out as countless gray whip projections emerged, forming a giant gray in mid-air to epass Shi Chuankong and the others.
As for the hideous gray-robed elderly man, he spread his arms open to reveal a pair of extremely thin gray fleshy wings, and he shot through the air at an incredible speed, flying past Fox 3 and the others in the blink of an eye as he gained rapidly on Su Liu.
In response, Su Liu spread his right hand open, and an inky ck rune appeared on the center of his palm to release a sh of radiant lightning.
A loud thunderp rang out as a vast expanse of five-colored lightning erupted forth from between his fingers, then spread out as a screen of five-colored lightning that instantly vanquished the oing gray tornado.
At the same time, Su Liu sped up significantly with his body enshrouded within five-colored lightning, opening up more distance between himself and the others.
A resounding boom rang out not far behind him, and Chi Rong crashed through the gray with what appeared to be a miniature crimson sun hovering in front of him, eradicating every obstacle in his path.
The gray skeleton raised his white bone staff up high upon seeing this, then began to chant an incantation, and bursts of gray mes instantly erupted out of the staff before hurtling toward all of the True Immortal Realm cultivators present, including even Han Li, who was ying no part in the fight for the three treasures.
Instead of taking any evasive measures, Han Lished out with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and arcs of Divine Devilbane Lightning converged toward the tip of the sword before erupting forth to sh against the gray mes.
A dull thump rang out, and there was no eruption of mes or lightning. Instead, as soon as the two attacks shed, they immediately began whittling each other down.
Fox 3 and the others were also warding off these gray mes through different means, and as a result, they were inevitably slowed down.
Su Liu was the one being targeted the most, and the five-colored lightning around him was being rapidly worn down. As a result, he was forced to slow down, and the gray-robed elderly man overtook him to lead the charge toward the three treasures.
Right as he was about to rush into the array to secure the Virata Lute, Shi Chuankong abruptly vanished from the spot without any warning.
Almost at the exact same moment, a dark rift appeared in the space beside the array, and Shi Chuankong stepped out of the rift with hisplexion deathly pale and blood flowing from the corners of his eyes, then reached out to make a grab for the silver lute.
Chapter 694: Frozen
Chapter 694: Frozen
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.
In the instant that the tip of Shi Chuankong''s came into contact with the silver lute, its strings abruptly shuddered slightly, seemingly having been strummed by an invisible hand.
A melodious note rang out as a burst of silver light erupted out of the lute before sweeping forth in all directions.
Shi Chuankong was the closest to the lute, so he was struck first by the silver light, and his eyes widened in surprise as he was sent flying back, only to then be suspended in mid-air in aplete still fashion.
Before anyone else had a chance to do anything, the burst of silver light swept through the entire pce, and everyone rose up involuntarily into the air like Shi Chuankong. Regardless of how they struggled, they could only flounder on the spot, unable to move forward or descend back down onto the ground.
Immediately thereafter, the golden te at the center of the array also seemed to have been triggered by this burst of power, and it began to revolve rapidly while a burst of golden light erupted out of its center, then also spread through the surrounding area like the wave of silver light.
Everyone could only look on helplessly as the wave of golden light washed over, following which they were all immobilized in mid-air.
In that instant, it was as if time hadpletely stopped. Even the vast cloud of gray mist outside the pce had fallenpletely still, standing on the spot like a dirty gray wall.
Everyone had dazed looks on their faces, as if even their consciousness had been frozen, and only Han Li''s eyes were still trembling slightly, but he was unable to move them at all.Even so, he was already in a much better state than everyone else. At the very least, his consciousness hadn''t been frozen, so he was still able to think, albeit only very slowly.
This wasn''t because there was anything special about Han Li. Instead, it was simply because hispressed time spirit domain had acted as a barrier around his body to help him somewhat withstand the detrimental effects of the waves of silver and golden light.
A strange silence descended upon the entire pce, and everyone was hovering in mid-air in apletely still fashion.
Right at this moment, the space within the pce suddenly began to tremble violently, and a ck spatial rift that was several dozen feet in length suddenly appeared behind the gray-robed elderly man, releasing bursts of formidable spatial fluctuations.
At the same time, another ck rift that was around three feet in length abruptly appeared beside Feng Lin''s neck, and it extended further to slice a gash into her ear.
However, both of them remainedpletely immobilized, and it seemed that they were oblivious to what was happening around them.
Han Li knew that there was a very good chance that the spatial bnce in the entire set of ruins had most likely already been broken, and that this space was going topletely copse soon.
With that in mind, he began to channel his Mantra Treasured Axis with all his might, but under the dual time and spatial restrictions, his consciousness and immortal spiritual power were both moving extremely slowly. As a result, his Mantra Treasured Axis was also failing to respond.
Right at this moment, a burst of dull rumbling rang out within the pce, and the two spatial rifts shuddered in unison before expanding at a far quicker rate than before.
Immediately thereafter, the ck rift behind Feng Lin''s ear abruptly swelled to several times its original size, forming a t ck hole that decapitated her in the blink of an eye.
Her head was hovering above the ck hole, while her body remained beneath it, and it was as if they were separated by a ck light barrier. There was no sound, nor any blood flowing out of her body, presenting a very strange sight to behold.
On the other side, the ck rift behind the gray-robed elderly man had also expanded by about twofold, and it had torn through his chest like a spear, slicing through both his heart and his ribs, but there was also no blood flowing out of the wound.
The tip of the ck spatial rift had already reached the back of Shi Chuankong''s chest, and if it were to elongate any further, then it would impale him as well.
A hint of urgency surfaced in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, but all he could do was channel his immortal spiritual power and his Mantra Treasured Axis with all his might in an attempt to regain his mobility. At the moment, his body was stillpletely immobilized, but he was now able to move his eyes left and right, and the rate at which his consciousness was recovering had also sped up significantly.
However, right at this moment, the dreaded rumbling rang out once again, but this time, the two existing spatial rifts remained very stable, and they posed no threat to him for now.
However, as he cast his gaze down below, he was horrified to find that a ck rift that was around ten feet wide and over thirty feet in length had appeared beneath him.
It was like a gaping ck mouth that was eager to devour him, and Han Li continued to channel his Mantra Treasured Axis with all his might, but progress was agonizingly slow.
In the past, he had been able to forcibly free himself from certain restrictions using his Mantra Treasured Axis, but this time, things were looking dire.
He was beginning to feel extremely agitated, unsure of what to do as he had never encountered a situation like this, where his will and his body werepletely out of sync.
Right at this moment, a thought urred to Han Li, and he began to channel his Spirit Refinement Technique, but once again, he was only able to do so very slowly.
As he did this, the same dull rumbling rang out a third time, and a spatial rift appeared beside Immortal Lord Hot me as well.
Han Li drew upon his spiritual sense with all his might, and a slight gleam suddenly shed through his eyes as his Spirit Refinement Technique finally began to function.
With the help of his Spirit Refinement Technique, his consciousness was restored to normal, and the rate at which he was able to channel his Mantra Axis Scripture was sped up significantly. Finally, he was able to actually sense the Mantra Treasured Axis in his body.
All of a sudden, the spatial rift beneath him lurched open while also expanding upward by several feet, sucking in a corner of his robe.
Han Li''s heart shuddered upon seeing this, and finally, a burst of golden light emerged behind him, following which his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared.
As soon as the axis emerged, it immediately began to radiate countless rays of golden light, and working in tandem with his time spirit domain, they were able to create a small area of golden light to resist against the restrictivew powers within this space.
As a result, Han Li was finally able to regain some of his mobility, and he was able to lift the fingers of his sword-wielding hand ever so slightly.
However, this was still nowhere near enough to free him from his current predicament.
Right at this moment, two of the timew threads wrapped around his Mantra Treasured Axis lit up at his behest.
Initially, they were only glowing very faintly, but the light quickly began to grow brighter and brighter until it appeared like a smoldering golden me.
The me analogy was quite apt here as Han Li really was burning his timew threads in order to release the timew powers imbued within them.
As the two timew threads were set alight, the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis began to light up one after another, glowing far brighter than they ever had as they released bursts of extremely formidable timew power fluctuations in all directions.
Han Li attempted to move his own body, only to discover that everything still felt incredibly heavy, and even the slightest movement felt downright impossible.
He looked down at the spatial rift below, which was close to reaching the underside of his feet, and he gritted his teeth as a third timew thread around his Mantra Treasured Axis was set alight at his behest.
With the release of the timew powers that it contained, the golden light radiating from the Mantra Treasured Axis grew even brighter, and it began to tear at the surrounding space like a golden saw.
A hint of tion appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he began to move to the side with immense difficulty.
The invisible barriers formed by the time and spatialw powers in the pce were torn apart bit by bit in the face of the Mantra Treasured Axis, and Han Li began to move with great difficulty, as if he were trudging through a swamp.
After finally escaping from the spatial rift down below, Han Li immediately began to make his way toward the three treasures at the center of the pce without any dy.
At this point, the rumbling in the surrounding space was bing more and more frequent, and Han Li''s brows were furrowed tightly with concern, but there was a determined look in his eyes.
He had chosen to venture deeper into the pce instead of immediately fleeing as the three immortal treasures were extremely alluring, and on top of that, he really had no choice.
He had no idea just howrge an area these restrictive time and spatialw powers epassed, so blindly fleeing the pce would be no different from suicide. Hence, it was a much better course of action to try and secure the three immortal treasures, then attempt to disable the restriction from there.
Even if these ruins were about topletely copse, at the very least, he could try to flee through a spatial rift.
Upon arriving by Immortal Lord Hot me''s side, Han Li hesitated momentarily, then decided to take the time to grab onto Immortal Lord Hot me''s shoulders before moving him several feet to the side, out of the way of the ck rift that was posing an imminent threat to his life.
Thanks to the influence of the Mantra Treasured Axis, Immortal Lord Hot me''s consciousness was temporarily restored during the brief moment in which he was in close proximity to Han Li, but he was stillpletely unable to move or even speak.
As Han Li continued onward, his consciousness was frozen once again.
After what seemed like an eternity, Han Li finally arrived in front of the three immortal treasures.
Chapter 695: (1): Saving Shi Chuankong
Chapter 695: (1): Saving Shi Chuankong
In contrast with when Shi Chuankong had tried to secure the three immortal treasures, they no longer felt as if they were enshrouded in invisible energy fluctuations. Instead, all that remained between them was an extremely faint and slightly peculiar aura.
A serious look appeared on Han Li''s face as he reached out toward the golden te, which was the nearest of the three immortal treasures to him.
This time, nothing out of the ordinary happened, and he was able to easily grab onto the golden te.
A burst of golden light shed past, and the golden te vanished, having been stowed away into Han Li''s storage bracelet.
As soon as the golden te vanished, the flow of time in the pce instantly resumed.
The slowly expanding spatial rifts abruptly swelled to several times their original size in unison, and two dull thumps rang out as arge geyser of blood sprayed out of Feng Lin''s neck before falling like rain, while bursts of gray mist also erupted out of the gray-robed elderly man''s body.
The two of them didn''t even get a chance to react before they were both devoured by the expanding spatial rifts, and everyone else hurriedly flew away from the spatial rifts in rm.
Immortal Lord Hot me quickly darted away from the spatial rift that was close to him, and a hint of lingering fear welled up in his heart as he recalled that brief memory snippet from before. If Han Li hadn''t stopped to help him on his way to the three immortal treasures, he would''ve most likely already met the same fate as Feng Lin and the gray-robed elderly man.
With the restrictive forces around Han Li''s body lifted, he turned his gaze to his Mantra Treasured Axis, upon which he discovered that the three timew threads had already been incinerated into nothingness.He immediately rushed forward once again as he attempted to grab the Miro Dhvaja, but right his hand was about toe into contact with the dvaja, a burst of powerful spatial fluctuations suddenly erupted forth.
A spatial rift that was far more fearsome than the other ones in the pce appeared without any warning behind the Miro Dhvaja and the Virata Lute, devouring half of the entire pce in an instant.
The Miro Dhvaja and the Virata Lute fell into the rift one after another, plunging into the boundless darkness.
Han Li peered into the enormous, all-engulfing spatial rift, and he could only heave a forlorn internal sigh. He didn''t want to see such a powerful pair of treasures go to waste, but the risk was simply too great. With that in mind, he withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis and sent it revolving in reverse, enhancing his own speed so that he could get away as quickly as possible.
Right at this moment, he noticed out of his peripheral vision that Shi Chuankong had put on a suit of strange ck and silver armor, and the light around his body warped momentarily, following which he abruptly vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, Han Li turned to look deep into the abyssal spatial rift to discover that Shi Chuankong had reappeared next to the Virata Lute, then grabbed onto the lute, following which his body began to take on an indistinct appearance again.
He''s insane!
Han Li was momentarily bbergasted, but then paid no further heed to Shi Chuankong as he turned to fly out of the pce.
Immortal Lord Hot me and the others were already fleeing out of the pce, but the gray-robed skeleton was doing the opposite. He was rushing deeper into the pce, and he passed Han Li by en route to Shi Chuankong.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of radiant gray light emerged from the bone staff in his hand, and it swelled rapidly to be a white bone scythe that was over a hundred feet in length, unleashing a giant scythe projection that swept through the air toward Shi Chuankong.
Shi Chuankong had only just barely made it out of the abyssal rift, and hisplexion was deathly pale, while the suit of armor that he was wearing had also bepletely dull and devoid of luster, as if it had been drained of all spiritual qi. In his current state, it was impossible for him to withstand or evade the oing attack.
A look of resolution appeared on his face as a sharp white bone abruptly protruded out of the palm of his hand, and bright red blood that was gleaming with silver light was flowing out of the bone. He brushed the bone over the Virata Lute, then strummed his fingers firmly over the lute''s strings to produce an indescribable, high-pitched sound.
Meanwhile, Han Li was just about to leap out of the pce gates when he was struck by a burst of invisible soundwaves, and he was rooted to the spot as if some type of peculiar force hadtched onto him.
Immediately thereafter, he felt a burst of incredibly formidable spatial fluctuations erupt forth from behind him.
By the time he turned around, he was no longer even able to see Shi Chuankong or the gray-robed skeleton. All he could see was that the chaotic space had be even more fractures, and enormous ck or gray spatial rifts and vortexes had appeared everywhere,pletely tearing the entire pce apart.
Han Li''s heart immediately sank upon seeing this, and it was already toote for him to burn through more of his timew threads. Inside the pce was an enormous gray vortex of mist that was over a thousand feet in size, and it was rapidly expanding, devouring him like an all-engulfing mouth.
He felt as if he had fallen into a rapidly spinning whirlpool, and as the world spun around him, he felt as if his entire body were falling apart at the seams, and even his consciousness was gradually fading.
After an indeterminate period of time, Han Li felt a burst of sharp pain spear through his mind, and only then did he regain consciousness.
He pressed his palms against the ground and struggled up into a seated position, and he discovered that his palms were pressed against some type of incredibly dry and fine powder.
He fought through the throbbing pain in his body as he brought his hand closer to his eyes for an inspection, only to discover that his vision waspletely blurry, and that he was unable to focus his gaze onto the palm of his own hand at all.
He shook his head in exasperation as he channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, and only after a long while did his vision begin to clear up.
After recovering his eyesight, he was able to see that there was ayer of gray powder over his hand, and he only had to rub his fingers together gently for this powder to stick together slightly.
His brows furrowed slightly as he dusted off his own hands, then swept his gaze over his surroundings to find that this gray powder stretched as far as the eyes could see in all directions.
What is this ce?
The memory of being sucked into the spatial vortex earlier sprang into his mind, and he didn''t know what to make of this situation.
The sky up above was very dark and forbidding, and it seemed that there was ayer of incredibly dense dark clouds overhead. As a result, there wasn''t much distance between the sky and the horizon, presenting the illusion that heaven and earth were only separated by about a thousand feet.
Deep within the dark clouds, Han Li could just barely make out three orbs of dim yellow light hanging high up in the sky, and they appeared to be a trio of suns.
The low-hanging sky, the gray and lifeless color tones, and the indescribable feeling hanging in the surrounding air all made him feel very ufortable, and an oppressive feeling welled up in his heart.
Han Li took a moment to collect himself, then inspected his own internal condition to discover that he had no injuries. However, his expression then darkened slightly as he discovered that his connection with heaven and earth seemed to have been severed, and that his body was no longer able to absorb the world''s origin qi.
Could it be that my immortal acupoints have been sealed?
Han Li hurriedly closed his eyes to conduct a more thorough internal inspection, and momentster, he reopened his eyes with abination of relief and concern on his face.
His immortal acupoints werepletely fine, the problem arose from the environment that he was currently in.
This ce had no world''s origin qi at all. Instead, there were only wisps of baleful qi interspersed throughout the surrounding air. Back when he first regained consciousness, he had thought that it was the baleful qi in his own body that was causing trouble, but he now realized that it was actually the surrounding environment.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li took a yellow pill, then slowly rose to his feet.
In any case, I have to figure out what kind of ce this is.
With that in mind, he activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes while also releasing his spiritual sense to scour his surroundings.
Momentster, an intrigued look appeared on his face as he cast his gaze in a certain direction.
Due to how low the sky was hanging, all he could see was a vast expanse of murky grayness there. After a brief hesitation, Han Li rose up from the ground before flying in that direction as a streak of azure light.
After flying for close to ten kilometers, Han Li stopped in mid-air, and he could see an indistinct humanoid figure in the distance, seemingly in the process of sinking into a strange, brown area.
His brows furrowed slightly as he flew in that direction, and as he got closer, the humanoid figure became clearer to him. As it turned out, it was none other than Shi Chuankong.
At this moment, he seemed to be unconscious. His aura was extremely feeble, while his spiritual sense had all butpletely faded, and he was sinking into a dark brown, bubbling swamp.
Chapter 696: Tally
Chapter 696: Tally
Han Li observed the six moons concealed deep within the dark clouds, and a thought suddenly urred to him as he pulled out his Heaven Controlling Vial, then ced it onto the ground and waited for the moonlight to shine upon it.
However, even after waiting for a long while, the vial disyed no reaction at all.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he took a nce up at the sky, then stowed the vial away again with a wry smile.
Even though there were six moons in the sky, their light was unable to pass through the thick cloud cover, so they weren''t able to activate the vial''s ability to produce its usual spirit liquid.
After stringing the vial back around his own neck, Han Li briefly inspected his surroundings before raising his right hand. A glowing floral design appeared on his middle and index fingers, following which a door of silver light that was around ten feet tall emerged in front of him.
As soon as the door of silver light was opened, bright radiance spilled out of it alongside rich world''s origin qi that was a faint azure color, presenting a stark contrast with the drab and gray colors of the surrounding area.
Han Li stepped into the door of light, appearing directly inside the bamboo building behind the golden lotus pond, and Mo Guang was currently standing at the stairwell leading to the second floor, seemingly waiting for him.
"Why have you suddenly contacted me, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang?" Han Li asked.
A smile immediately appeared on Mo Guang''s face at the sight of Han Li''s arrival, and he said, "I wanted you toe and see me as I have something to discuss with you, Fellow Daoist Han.""You want to leave the domain and go outside, right? If that''s the case, then I''m afraid I''ll have to let you down. The current circumstances outside are ratherplex, so it would be best for you to stay in here for now," Han Li replied.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I presume you''re still unaware of where you currently are right now, is that correct?" Mo Guang asked with a sheepish smile.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and Mo Guang faltered slightly upon seeing Han Li''s reaction, then continued, "It seems like you already have some idea. I can confirm to you now that we''re currently in the Gray Realm."
"It sounds like you''re quite familiar with the Gray Realm," Han Li remarked with an inquisitive expression.
"Not at all, Fellow Daoist Han. The Gray Realm has always been strictly off-limits in all of the immortal regions, so very little is known about the Gray Realm. I was only able to hear some stories about the Gray Realm during my time with Ma Liang," Mo Guang replied in an ambiguous fashion.
"What exactly do you want to say, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang? I don''t have much time," Han Li said.
"Given your current struggles with your baleful decay, it''ll be quite detrimental for you to have to deal with the prevalent baleful qi in the Gray Realm. Hence, I was thinking that I could travel through the Gray Realm in your stead to lessen your burden," Mo Guang said with a smile.
"I appreciate the thought, but at the moment, I can still handle things myself," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
Mo Guang was just about to press his case further when Han Li continued, "Rest assured, if a suitable opportunity arises, or I require your services with something, I''ll be sure to call upon you. Right now, the situation outside is still rather unclear, so it would be best for you to stay in here for now. On top of that, if you have any way to return to the True Immortal Realm, then please do tell me."
It was clear that Han Li had no intention of letting him out of the Flower Branch domain, so Mo Guang could only inform Han Li that he had no way of returning to the True Immortal Realm, then took his leave and returned to the second floor.
Han Li watched as Mo Guang departed, then took a nce at the body of the Gray Immortal that he had thrown into the bamboo building earlier before making his way into a silent cultivation chamber on the first floor.
Once inside, he conjured up an aura concealment array, then sat down with his legs crossed on the bed.
At this point, Mo Guang had already sat back down on the second floor, and he stared into empty space in a contemtive manner for a moment before closing his eyes to meditate.
During this past foray into the True Mantra Sect ruins, Han Li had reaped a great deal of rewards, including theplete versions of several time-attribute cultivation arts and the storage tools of Ren Hao, Gongshu Tian, and the Gray Immortal by the name of Fang Jin.
Now that he finally had some time on his hands, this was the perfect opportunity to tally his spoils.
First, he pulled out Ren Hao''s blue storage ring, and he briefly refined it before emptying out its contents.
A small pile of glittering Immortal Origin Stones appeared on the ground in front of him, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he stowed the Immortal Origin Stones into his own storage bracelet without any hesitation.
After that, he tipped out a bunch of jars and vials from the storage ring, and he examined them one by one to discover that all of them contained various pills for recovery and cultivation enhancement purposes. Among them, there was an extremely valuable vial of pills suitable for consumption for mid-High Zenith cultivators, but aside from that, all of the pills were quite ordinary.
Of course, they could only be considered ordinary for someone like Han Li, who ate pills as if they weremon fruits. For the average Golden Immortal, all of these pills were extremely precious and would be worth fighting over in the outside world.
Aside from those pills, the storage ring also contained many water-attribute materials, among which were some scale-like objects that were presumably kept as spare parts to repair that suit of blue scale armor of his.
There was also a particrly eye-catching blue crystal that was around the size of a human head, and it was riddled with wavy patterns while also giving off formidable waterw power fluctuations.
Aside from that, all that remained in Ren Hao''s storage ring were some water-attribute treasures, the most powerful of which were that giant blue sword and the suit of dragon scale armor, but unfortunately, both had already beenpletely destroyed.
However, sorting through Ren Hao''s storage ring hadn''t been aplete waste of time. During the process, he had discovered a longan-sized crimson bead with nine different me patterns engraved upon them, and it was none other than the Nine Destructions me Bead that Ren Hao had used against him in the past.
This was an extremely formidable treasure, and there was no way that Han Li would''ve been able to emerge from the explosionpletely unscathed if it weren''t for his timew powers.
Han Li carefully examined the bead for a while with an ted expression, then carefully stowed it away to be used in a future battle.
After tallying the contents of Ren Hao''s storage ring, Han Li pulled out Gongshu Tian''s fiery red storage bracelet.
A burst of red light shed past, and a collection of items appeared on the ground once again.
It was a small mountain of Immortal Origin Stones that wasn''t any lesser in quantitypared with the haul that he had secured from Gongshu Jiu all those years ago, and there were even around two dozen mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones among them.
Han Li was very pleased to see this. With this massive haul, his pockets were once again full.
He stowed all of the mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones away separately, then stowed away the rest of the Immortal Origin Stones before moving onto the other contents of the storage bracelet.
There were many containers in Gongshu Tian''s storage bracelet as well, all of which contained High Zenith Stage pills.
At this point, Han Li was already a very aplished pill refinement master, and he had obtained many different types of High Zenith Stage pills in the past, so he was able to identify most of these pills, while only a small portion of them were unrecognizable to him.
At the moment, High Zenith Stage pills were a bit too powerful for him to consume. He could take them if he really wanted to, but most of the medicinal effect would be wasted, and it could do more harm than good.
Having said that, this collection of pills would be sufficient to support his cultivation for some time once he reached the High Zenith Stage.
Aside from that, there were also many scriptures and jade slips in Gongshu Tian''s storage bracelet, most of which contained his fire-attribute cultivation arts and secret techniques, and there were also what appeared to be a few maps of different immortal regions.
Han Li briefly examined everything to find that the main cultivation art used by Gongshu Tian had been the Great Heaven Incinerating Arts, an advanced cultivation art that could allow one to attain firew powers. There were also many cultivation insights from Gongshu Tian enclosed with the cultivation art, making it a very precious find.
As for the secret techniques, there were too many of them to go through, they all required firew powers for support, so Han Li only conducted a rough examination of them before setting them aside.
The remaining maps came as a bit of a surprise to Han Li. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that not only were there maps of the Northern cial Immortal Region and the four allied immortal regions, there were also maps of the Calm Wind Immortal Region, the Golden Origin Immortal Region, and a part of the Middle Earth Immortal Region. The maps weren''t very detailed, but they certainly saved him the trouble of having to collect them.
Han Li split the maps up into different categories before stowing them away, then turned his attention to a trio of familiar items, namely a golden te, a golden badge, and a white disk.
The golden badge was Gongshu Tian''s immortal envoy badge, while the golden te was what immortal envoys used tomunicate with each other, and the white disk was what they used to detect the aura of the Spirit Refinement Technique. Now that he was in the Gray Realm, he wasn''t worried about being detected by cultivators of the Heavenly Court, so he stowed the three items away instead of immediately destroying them.
Gongshu Tian''s storage bracelet also contained arge number of spirit materials, one of which was a golden flower with ten petals. As the white jade box that it was housed in was opened, rays of golden light shone out from within, and they were as warm andforting as the light of the rising sun.
If he were to nt this flower in his spirit medicine garden, it would surely be beneficial to the growth of all of the other spirit nts there.
With that in mind, Han Li gathered all of the spirit nts that he had found in the True Mantra Sect ruins in one ce.
After that, he turned his gaze to a palm-sized spherical silver box. The surface of the box was riddled with intricate andplex patterns, and there was a miniature golden talisman adhered to its surface, sealing the box tightly to ensure that the aura of its contents remainedpletely contained.
Han Li carefully examined the golden talisman to find that it was one of a very high caliber, and that it wasmonly used to seal some extremely powerful natural mes.
Hence, whatever was inside this silver box had to be quite remarkable.
Chapter 697: Devouring the Pill Sand
Chapter 697: Devouring the Pill Sand
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he stared at the spherical silver box and the golden talisman.
A short whileter, he suddenly raised a hand to cast a few incantation seals into the talisman, thereby allowing him to remove it, and the silver box sprang open with a faint crack.
In the instant that the box was opened, a wave of heat surged out from within before spreading in all directions, drastically elevating the air temperature in the entire room.
Inside the box was a trio of longan-sized beads that were crimson, orange, and purple in color.
Is this Rainbow Fire Pill Sand? Han Li wondered to himself with an uncertain expression.
ording to ancient records, Rainbow Fire Pill Sand came in a total of seven colors that corresponded with the colors of the rainbow. They were extremely rare fire-attribute objects that were more powerful than any natural me, and they were truly capable of melting mountains and evaporating seas.
On top of that, these things were naturally urring objects, and they could emerge high up in the heavens, or in impossibly deep valleys. It was impossible to reliably track them or create them artificially, making them as rare and precious as Profound Heavenly Treasures.
The problem was that there were only three of these beads here, and they didn''t appear to be special in any way aside from the intense heat that they were giving off, so Han Li was rather hesitant about identifying them.
Right as Han Li was pondering how he should proceed, a burst of silver light emerged on his shoulder, and the tiny silver figure appeared, then rushed over to the spherical silver box and began running in circles around it in an ecstatic fashion."You want to eat this?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
The silver figure turned around and nodded firmly at him while gesturing frantically. At the same time, it was darting constant nces at the three beads, as if it were afraid that they would disappear if it looked away for too long.
"I can let you have them, but the problem is that I still don''t know exactly what they are yet... Let''s do it this way: you can have one of them for now, and if there are no adverse effects, then you can eat the other two as well," Han Li decided.
The silver figure was absolutely overjoyed to hear this, and it gave Han Li another firm nod before hurriedly turning back to the silver box, then began walking in circles around it, seemingly unable to decide which one it wanted to eat first.
Han Li was rather amused to see this, and he made no effort to hurry the silver figure as he set the silver box onto the ground and began to examine the other objects.
If he were dealing with Jin Tong, then she would most likely devour all three of the beads at once as soon as he turned his back on her. However, the Essence Fire Raven had always been very obedient to him, so he wasn''t concerned.
Gongshu Tian''s giant sword and those ten fiery gs were already in Han Li''s storage bracelet, and there were still seven or eight more treasures in Gongshu Tian''s storage bracelet, but most of them were ungraded immortal treasures.
There was only a golden bell that appeared to be an ninth-grade immortal treasure, and it contained some timew powers.
After refining the bell, Han Li discovered that when shaken, the bell would release bursts of golden ripples capable of hindering the spiritual sense of all targets that they came into contact with. If one were at or below the early-High Zenith Stage or possessed weak spiritual sense, then they would bepletely immobilized.
However, this bell was far less effective against those cultivating timew powers or were at or above the mid-High Zenith Stage, and that was presumably why Gongshu Tian never used it against Han Li.
After sorting through these treasures, Han Li turned his attention back to the Essence Fire Raven, upon which he discovered that it had one hand resting on the crimson bead and the other on the orange one, while its gaze was fixed on the purple bead, and it still hadn''t made a decision.
An amused smile appeared on his face as he flipped a hand over to produce a white talisman, which was something that he had found from the top of Gongshu Tian''s head.
Earlier, he had noticed that the talisman was giving off peculiar aura fluctuations that were simr to spiritual power, and after a close examination, he was ecstatic to discover that it was an eighth-grade immortal treasure that could protect one from spiritual sense attacks.
This was what Gongshu Tian had used to ward off Han Li''s Spiritual Sense Cage.
However, even with Gongshu Tian''s cultivation base, he wasn''t able to unleash the treasure''s full power as it had a rather interesting property, which was that it drew upon the spiritual sense of the user, so the most powerful the user''s spiritual sense was, the more formidable the treasure would be.
Han Li picked up the white talisman before pressing it to his own be, and a burst of white light shed past as the talisman vanished into his consciousness, where it transformed into a white mountain.
The runes on its surface were shing incessantly, and at its very center was a string of golden characters that read "Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman".
After that, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a golden te, and as soon as it emerged, a burst of formidable timew power fluctuations immediately spread through the entire room.
Even the silver figure''s attention was drawn to the timew power fluctuations, and it looked up from the three beads to see what was happening, but it then quickly turned its attention back to the three beads.
Han Li gently stroked the golden te to discover that its surface was riddled with subtle patterns, and the golden needle protruding out of its center was still revolving on its own. With each revolution that it made, ayer of golden light would flow over its surface.
Han Li attempted to refine the object, but was surprised to discover that he waspletely unable to do so.
How could this be? Is it because this is a treasure of too high a caliber, so normal refinement incantations don''t work on it?
Right as Han Li was pondering this subject, a burst of powerful energy fluctuations suddenly erupted behind him, and he hurriedly turned around to find the fiery silver figure with its fists tightly clenched, throwing its head back in a silent roar to the heavens.
Radiant red light was erupting out of all of its orifices, causing the concealment array that Han Li had set up to tremble violently.
Han Li made a beckoning motion to draw the silver box on the grand into his grasp, and he discovered that only the orange and purple beads remained, so it was clear that the crimson one had already been devoured by the Essence Fire Raven.
After stowing the silver box away, he heard a resounding boom ring out as the surrounding space shuddered violently, but themotion was contained by the concealment array.
He turned to discover that the fiery silver figure was currentlyying spread-eagled on the ground, and its body was swelling rapidly in size as it reverted back to its fire raven form.
At the same time, it was as if an outer garment of crimson mes had emerged over its body, and the silver and crimson mes were intertwining with each other to give off incredible heat that even Han Li was astonished by.
A string of loud thumps rang out as the array that he had set uppletely copsed, following which the entire bamboo building began to tremble and sway violently.
Mo Guang''s eyes instantly sprang open as he detected this wave of heat and violent tremors, and he immediately stood up from the ground with tightly furrowed brows, then flew straight out of the bamboo building to avoid the scorching heat.
The walls and ground in the silent cultivation chamber were being scorched by the waves of fire, and it looked as if they were on the verge of exploding from the waves of tremendous heat.
Han Li was quite startled to see this, and he hurriedly conjured upyers of azure light barriers that forcibly suppressed the waves of fiery power erupting out of the Essence Fire Raven''s body.
At the same time, the bamboo forest in the entire domain began to rustle incessantly, sending countless bamboo leaves raining down from the sky.
Wisps of spiritual qi were constantly being funneled toward the bamboo building through the underground roots of the bamboo trees, and the parched bamboo walls of the building were instantly revitalized.
Simultaneously, the water in the pond in front of the bamboo building was churning violently as if it were boiling, and all of the golden lotus flowers were swaying incessantly while releasing plumes of white spirit mist that enveloped the entire bamboo building from all directions.
The entire area was quickly enshrouded in mist, making it resemble an ethereal immortal abode.
Over at the newly constructed bamboo building near the spirit medicine garden, Daoist Xie was also snapped out of its meditation, and it flew onto the top of the bamboo building to see what was happening.
Inside the bamboo building, the crimson me around the Essence Fire Raven''s body gradually receded while fusing as one with its silver mes, and the fire-attribute energy fluctuations that they were releasing were also constantly diminishing.
Han Li was quite relieved to see this, and he began setting up restrictions in the surrounding area once again.
Some timeter, the silver and crimson mes around the Essence Fire Raven''s bodypletely receded, and it had transformed into a silver ball that was riddled with crimson patterns and was hovering in mid-air.
Han Li was ecstatic to see the constantly shing crimson patterns on the silver ball.
It seemed that he really had obtained three balls of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand.
However, given the Essence Fire Raven''s current state, it most likely wasn''t going to be able to wake up anytime soon.
Hemunicated briefly with Mo Guang through voice transmission, then departed from the bamboo building to make his way over to the spirit medicine garden.
"What just happened, Fellow Daoist Han?" Daoist Xie asked while standing outside its bamboo building.
"The Essence Fire Raven devoured a ball of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand," Han Li replied in a truthful fashion.
"I see. No wonder there was such a massivemotion," Daoist Xie mused.
"Brother Xie, here are some storage tools that I don''t have the time to sort through, so I''ll have to trouble you to examine their contents for me. Aside from items that contain timew powers, you can take anything that catches your fancy without having to consult me," Han Li said with a smile.
"Alright, leave it to me," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and arge pile of storage bracelets and storage rings appeared in front of Daoist Xie.
Daoist Xie very rarely expressed any emotion, but even it couldn''t help but disy a look of surprise at the sight of all of the storage tools.
Han Li was rather amused to see this, and he bade farewell to Daoist Xie, then made a trip to the spirit medicine garden, where he nted all of the spirit nts that he had acquired.
After that, he picked out a good spot to nt the ruined remnants of the Twin Birth Tree, then watered it with some spirit liquid that he had prepared earlier.
He knew that the chances of reviving the tree like this were extremely slim, but he didn''t have ess to the Heaven Controlling Vial''s spirit liquid for now, so this would have to suffice.
Seeing as he was currently in the Gray Realm, Han Li didn''t dare to stay in the Flower Branch domain for too long for fear of something happening in the outside world, so he quickly emerged from the domain.
Chapter 698: Agreement
Chapter 698: Agreement
Seven days and seven nights flew by in a sh.
Han Li remained in the valley this entire time, and he noticed that in this area, the dark clouds in the sky were perpetually present regardless of whether it was daytime or nighttime.
There were three suns in the sky during the day and six moons at night, and the moons were perpetually full, never going through any type of lunar cycle.
With the ever-present dark clouds in the sky, Han Li wasn''t able to produce any spirit liquid with his Heaven Controlling Vial.
At times, bursts of rumbling would ring out deep within the dark clouds at night, striking him with the impression that there could be certain powerful beasts lurking in the clouds, but nothing ever arose from that.
One morning, ayer of dense mist rose up from the ground, causing the surrounding baleful qi to be even denser.
While meditating, Han Li suddenly heard a faint cough, and he opened his eyes to discover that Shi Chuankong had regained consciousness.
He struggled into a seated position, then took a nce at Han Li before examining his own storage tools in a slow and methodical manner, following which a puzzled look appeared on his face as he asked, "Why?"
"Why did I save you, or why didn''t I kill you?" Han Li asked in an expressionless manner.Shi Chuankong massaged his own be as the memories leading up to his loss of consciousness gradually returned to him, and he said, "I was attacked by some type of demon beast as soon as I got here. Were you the one who saved me?"
"I don''t think it was a demon beast. At the very least, it was a demon beast in the sense that we''re used to. Instead, it was a creature unique to this ce," Han Li replied.
"What is this ce?" Shi Chuankong asked as he inspected his surroundings.
"If I''m not mistaken, we were sucked into the Gray Realm through a spatial vortex in the True Mantra Sect ruins," Han Li replied.
Han Li had spected that this was the Gray Realm upon his arrival, but he wasn''t able to confirm that this was indeed the case. However, in light of the observations that he had made here and everything that he had learned about the Gray Realm in the past, he felt sufficiently confident in passing judgment on the matter.
"The Gray Realm?!" Shi Chuankong eximed in an incredulous fashion, then hurriedly began taking a closer look at his surroundings, following which a contemtive look appeared on his face.
"I didn''t think that I woulde to the Gray Realm under such strange circumstances," Shi Chuankong mused with a wry smile after a long silence.
"Earlier, your body was infiltrated by the baleful qi here, and I fed you a Baleful Quelling Pill to clear out some of it, but it looks like there''s still some left. Now that you''re awake, I''m sure you have a way to take care of it yourself," Han Li said.
"Why were you willing to feed me a Baleful Quelling Pill? Surely it would''ve been more beneficial for you to allow that thing to kill me or even kill me yourself so you can take my treasures," Shi Chuankong asked.
"If I''m not mistaken, you''re no ordinary devilish being. Instead, you have very close ties with the Vast Origin House, right?" Han Li asked.
"You saved me because of my status? I don''t think you''re that type of person, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong scoffed in an unconvinced manner.
"Regardless of what you think, you owe me your life now. Once we return to the True Immortal Realm, I need you to draw upon as much resources as you can from the Vast Origin House to help me find a person. That shouldn''t be too difficult for you, right?" Han Li asked.
Shi Chuankong could tell from the look in Han Li''s eyes that he seemed to be telling the truth, and he didn''t know what to make of this situation.
"That''s the only reason you saved me?" he asked in a skeptical fashion.
"There''s no point in discussing this matter now, I''ll give you more details once we return to the True Immortal Realm. At its core, the Vast Origin House is a business organization, so I''m sure it takes its reputation very seriously right?" Han Li asked.
Shi Chuankong was finally convinced upon hearing this, and he nodded in response. "I can help you find whoever you''re looking for, and I can even do everything in my power to help you once at someter date should you ever encounter any trouble."
"What are your conditions?" Han Li asked.
"No conditions. My life isn''t worth so little that I have to attach further conditions to mypensation," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"Alright, in that case, we''ll stay here for a few more days so you can rest and recuperate, but we''ll have to leave after that. We have to figure out where we are right now, then find a way to return to the True Immortal Realm," Han Li said, then closed his eyes to resume his meditation.
Shi Chuankong took a long nce at Han Li, finding him to be aplete enigma. He then shook his head and took a pill before sitting down with his legs crossed to meditate.
Several dayster, the two of them set off in a certain direction atop Han Li''s green jade flying carriage, departing from the valley.
Even after flying for a few days, the surroundings were still as drab and gray as ever, and the terrain remainedrgely unchanged as well.
Han Li was standing at the front of the carriage, watching the monotonous scenery sh past.
Despite how drab the color tone here was, it wasn''t actuallypletely barren. There was a great deal of vegetation on the ground, and Han Li had even spotted some insects and small beasts.
Somehow, these living creatures werepletely unaffected by the great abundance of baleful qi in the environment, and it seemed that they were sustained by the baleful qi, just as living beings of the True Immortal Realm were sustained by the world''s origin qi.
"Looks like this really is the Gray Realm. We may be in some trouble," Shi Chuankong mused as his brows furrowed slightly with concern.
"Why do you say that, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked.
"I''ve never been to the Gray Realm, but I''ve heard that there are many powers in this realm that harbor a great deal of enmity toward cultivators of the True Immortal Realm and the Devil Realm like ourselves, so we''ll be in a great deal of trouble if anyone finds out who we are," Shi Chuankong replied in a grim voice.
"I''ve heard about that as well. In that case, it would be a good idea to put up some disguises," Han Li mused as he made a hand seal, and a burst of ck light surged out of his body to envelop the entire flying carriage.
Countless strands of ck light then shot out at Han Li''s behest before wrapping themselves around the flying carriage, and they were also releasing steady streams of ck runes that were also surging into the carriage.
The green coloration of the carriage quickly turned ck, as did the green light that it was emanating, and it was also giving off bursts of baleful qi fluctuations.
"I didn''t know that you were such a skilled tool refinement master as well, Fellow Daoist Li. This carriage looks nothing like it did just a moment ago," Shi Chuankong praised.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Shi. Cosmetically altering the carriage is quite simple, but it''ll be much more difficult to alter our auras," Han Li replied.
At the moment, his body was filled with baleful qi, and he also had Mo Guang with him, so it would be very easy for him to pass as a Gray Immortal. The problem was whether Shi Chuankong would be able to do the same.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, I can handle that myself," Shi Chuankong assured with a faint smile.
Han Li nodded in response, then focused on piloting the flying carriage.
Meanwhile, Shi Chuankong flipped a hand over to produce a small white bead, then cast an incantation seal onto it.
The bead immediately began to release bursts of white light, and a rapidly revolving white vortex appeared within it.
All of the baleful qi in the nearby air instantly converged toward the bead, and the white vortex within it quickly turned gray, as did the light that it was giving off.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he took a nce at the bead before quickly looking away again.
After flying onward for close to half a day, the terrain down below finally began to change. The ground became tter and more level, and countless dark gray wheat-like nts appeared down below, making the area resemble a grasnd.
The gray nts in the grasnd swayed in the wind like rippling waves, presenting a majestic sight to behold.
After flying onward for a while longer, Han Li suddenly raised an eyebrow as he brought the flying carriage to an abrupt halt before turning his gaze to a certain direction.
Shi Chuankong turned to the same direction, and there, he spotted a long procession slowly advancing forward close to a thousand kilometers away. At the forefront of the procession was a convoy of around a dozenrge carriages that were drawn by giant rhinoceros-like beasts.
The convoy of carriages was apanied by three thousand to four thousand tall and imposing humanoid figures.
These figures had humanoid lower bodies, but the heads of lizards, and their skin was also covered in gray scales.
At the very rear end of the procession was a herd of gray deer-like creatures with translucent, coral-like antlers growing on their heads. There were over ten thousand of them, and they were slowly being ushered along.
This procession appeared to be a traveling tribe of farmers migrating across the grasnd.
These humanoid lizard creatures were clearly intelligent life forms, and their auras were also quite powerful. In fact, one of them was at the Grand Ascension Stage, and Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged an ted nce with each other at the sight of these creatures.
Finally, they had someone to enquire about their current whereabouts.
Han Li immediately stowed his flying carriage away, following which a vast expanse of gray mist surged out of his body. In the blink of an eye, his aura had changed drastically, and his entire body was releasing dense baleful qi, while his eyes had also turned a gray color.
In an instant, Han Li''s aura had changed into one that was virtually identical to those of the Gray Immortals that had appeared in the True Mantra Sect ruins, and Shi Chuankong was astonished to see this.
For his part, he swallowed the bead that he had summoned earlier, and bursts of gray qi surged out of his body as well, while his eyes also took on a gray color.
Shi Chuankong''s transformation wasn''t as perfect as Han Li''s, but it was quite convincing, nheless.
Afterpleting their transformations, the two of them were just about to approach the process of humanoid lizard beings when a resounding boom suddenly rang out from up ahead.
"Looks like we''re in luck!" Han Li said with a faint smile, then shot forth through the air, vanishing in a sh.
Shi Chuankong''s eyes also lit up slightly as he flew along close behind Han Li as a streak of gray light.
At this moment, the procession of humanoid lizard beings had been thrown into a state of panic, and the reason for this was a flock of seven strange gray birds that were flying toward them from deeper within the grasnd.
These birds were each over a hundred feet in length, and they resembled giant featherless bats with draconic heads. The sharp fangs in their mouths were giving off a cold gleam, and they had sets of sharp ck ws that were several feet in length, resembling a series of lethal ck swords.
The gray birds were squawking excitedly as they swooped down toward the herd of deer at the rear end of the procession with their ws extended.
Chapter 699: Tribe
Chapter 699: Tribe
"Get back!"
A cold roar rang out from one of the carriages at the front of the procession, and a humanoid lizard being shot out from within.
He was far more imposing in stature than his brethren, and he had a round head with facial features that very closely resembled those of a human. The only difference was that his face was covered in gray scales, and he was giving off a tremendous Grand Ascension Stage aura.
With a sweep of his hand, a burst of radiant gray light was released, and it contained a gray bone sword that hurtled directly toward one of the oing gray birds.
The bird immediately attempted to take evasive measures in a startled fashion, but it wasn''t able topletely get out of the way, and a long gash was sliced into its lower abdomen as it let loose an agonized squawk.
Three more figures flew out of the other carriages, and all of them were giving off Body Integration Stage auras as theyshed out at the other gray birds with various bone treasures of their own.
The gray birds let loose fierce squawks as they opened their beaks to release flurries of des of gray wind toward the humanoid lizard beings. At the same time, their ck ws began to glow radiantly as they reached out to grab at the bone treasures.
A ferocious battle immediately ensued, and the procession of humanoid lizard beings were plunged into a state ofplete chaos.
The gray deer began to flee in all directions in a blind panic, while the humanoid lizard beings hurriedly chased after them before herding them away from the battlefield.Before long, the humanoid lizard beings had been forced onto the back foot.
They were outnumbered by the gray birds, most of which were at the Body Integration Stage, and the Grand Ascension Stage humanoid lizard being was the most powerful figure on the battlefield, but a the moment, he waspletely preupied with dealing with three of the gray birds at once.
The other three humanoid lizard beings were clearly struggling to contend against the remaining four gray birds, and if it weren''t for a gray bone shield that was blocking most of the attacks from the gray birds, the three of them would''ve already sustained injuries.
Even so, the situation was rapidly worsening, and the three humanoid lizard beings clearly weren''t going to be able tost much longer.
"We''re in trouble, Chief!" the humanoid lizard being wielding the gray bone shield yelled in an urgent voice after withstanding another w swipe from one of the gray birds.
Their chief had already noticed the perilous situation that his three brethren were in, and he was desperate to do something, but he was beingpletely nullified by the three gray birds.
All of a sudden, an agonized howl rang out as one of the humanoid lizard beings was struck by a burst of w projections in a momentarypse in concentration. Several long gashes were instantly torn into his body, and one of his arms was almostpletely amputated, only just barely hanging onto his body by some small shreds of skin and flesh.
At the same time, he was sent flying by the attack, and their triangr formation was instantly shattered.
One of the gray birds squawked with excitement as it set off after the wounded humanoid lizard being, and an rmed and furious look appeared in the chief''s eyes as he opened his mouth to release a burst of gray light into his gray bone sword.
The gray sword instantly swiveled around before transforming into a massive ball of gray light that was churning and shing incessantly.
Formidable sword qi fluctuations were surging out of the ball of gray light, causing the nearby space to ripple violently.
Two of the three gray birds hurriedly flew back in retreat upon seeing this, while a cold gleam shed through the eyes of the final bird, and it spread its wings before swooping down upon the chief of the humanoid lizard beings.
At the same time, it opened its beak to send a plume of ck light raining down upon the chief, who hurriedly made a hand seal in response, upon which the ball of gray light abruptly exploded at his behest.
Countless thin, gray streaks of swordlight erupted forth in all directions, instantly epassing the entire surrounding area in a radius of several thousand feet.
A shrill cry rang out before immediately trailing off, and the body of the gray bird came tumbling out of the sky.
Its entire body was riddled with countless sword holes, and its aura hadpletely faded.
However, a series of small ck holes had also been punched into the left side of the chief''s body, sending him stumbling back in an unsteady fashion, and wisps of ck qi were spreading toward the rest of his body from those holes.
Before he had a chance to tend to his own injuries, the other two gray birds came swooping down upon him once again.
The chief hurriedly attempted to channel the baleful energy in his body upon seeing this, but the left half of his body waspletely numb, thereby severely hampering his ability to draw upon his baleful energy, and a panicked look appeared in his eyes.
The two gray birds arrived before him in the blink of an eye, thenshed out with their ck ws.
All of the humanoid lizard beings were horrified to see this. If their chief were to perish here, then the entire tribe would surely follow shortly thereafter.
Right at this moment, a streak of gray light descended from the heavens, piercing through the two gray birds with ease.
Immediately thereafter, countless thin threads of gray light erupted forth, tearing the two birds into shreds before they even had a chance to cry out.
Almost at the exact same moment, a ck flying sword appeared out of thin air above the other three humanoid lizard beings, and it released streaks of ck sword qi that enveloped the other four gray birds in the blink of an eye before also tearing them to shreds.
The four humanoid lizard beings werepletely dumbstruck by what they saw.
Right at this moment, Han Li and Shi Chuankong appeared without any warning before slowly descending out of the sky.
The chief''s expression changed drastically at the sight of them, and he hurriedly flew over to Han Li''s duo before extending a respectful bow.
"Thank you for saving our Gray Lizard Tribe, esteemed immortals."
The other three Gray Lizard beings also flew over to extend grateful bows while gazing upon Han Li and Shi Chuankong with awe and veneration in their eyes.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce with one another, following which the former said, "It''s fine, we just so happened to be passing through."
The Gray Lizard beings extended another collective bow, then backed away to await further instructions.
Han Li was rather perplexed to see this, and after taking a moment to consider his words, he said, "The two of us were traveling through the area, and we got lost in a storm. What is this ce?"
They had indeed run into quite arge gray storm not too long ago, and even with theirbined powers, it had taken them some effort to escape from the storm.
"This is the northwestern region of the Six Moon Grasnd, esteemed immortals. The storm that you encountered was most likely a gray tide that''s unique to the local area," the chief of the Gray Lizard Tribe informed in a respectful fashion.
"I see," Han Li murmured.
The chief could see that Han Li''s duo was looking a little disheveled, so he said in a careful manner, "You must be weary from your travels, esteemed immortals. If you don''t mind, how abouting to our tribe to have a short rest? Our tribe isn''t veryrge, but the White Antler Tea that we produce is quite unique."
Han Li was eager to interact more with the Gray Lizard Tribe in order to learn more about the Gray Realm, so he naturally wasn''t going to turn down the invitation.
The chief of the Gray Lizard Tribe was ecstatic that Han Li had taken him upon on his offer, and he hurriedly began to lead the way.
As soon as the trio descended out of the sky, all of the Gray Lizard beings on the ground below immediately knelt down and kowtowed to them.
Han Li was rather perplexed to see this.
While it was true that his cultivation base was far above theirs, these Gray Lizard beings were still acting far too respectfully. It was almost as if they were a group of beggars that were meeting the emperor.
Despite his befuddlement, Han Li didn''t ask any questions.
The herd of gray deer at the back of the procession were still fleeing in panic, and they were yet to be reined in, so the process was still looking quite disorderly.
"Get those things in check! We''re making a fool out of ourselves in front of these esteemed immortals! Also, pass down my orders to everyone, we''re going to set up camp here today," the chief said with a stern expression.
One of the Body Integration Stage Gray Lizard beings hurriedly flew away to carry out the instructions, while the chief led Han Li''s duo to the carriage at the very front of the procession.
"Please take a seat inside, esteemed immortals."
The carriage was over a thousand feet in length and around two hundred to three hundred feet wide, roughly equivalent in size to a small za, and there were around a dozenrge tents set up on it.
A series of gray runes had been engraved onto the edges and the underside of the carriage, forming an array that was constantly releasing plumes of gray clouds to lift the carriage up from the ground.
As Han Li descended onto the carriage, he felt as if he hadnded on a cloud, and it immediately became clear to him why a single rhinoceros-like beast was sufficient to draw such an enormous carriage.
The chief led the two of them to thergest tent on the carriage, and Han Li made his way inside without any hesitation.
Shi Chuankong was trailing along behind Han Li, and he knew that his aura alteration wasn''t perfect, so he wanted to attract as little attention as possible. Hence, he was more than happy to follow Han Li''s lead.
The interior space of the tent was quiterge, and it was split up into two sections, one of which was a guest hall of sorts. At the center of the guest hall was a long table, on either side of which was a soft beasthide cushion.
The other section of the tent seemed to be the resting quarters, and the two sections were divided by a thick curtain.
Han Li didn''t know what material the tent was made from, but as soon as he entered it, all of the outside sounds instantly faded.
"Please take a seat, esteemed immortals."
The chief gestured for Han Li''s duo to sit down at the table, while he stood respectfully off to the side.
Right at this moment, a servant entered the tent, carrying three deer antler cups that were filled with white tea, which were giving off wisps of white mist and a faint fragrance.
"This White Antler Tea is made from the antlers of our Gray Lizard Tribe''s Coral Antler Deer,bined with deer milk and over ten other ingredients. It has a cultivation enhancement effect, but of course, that won''t apply to esteemed immortals of your lofty cultivation bases. Having said that, the tea is still quite delectable, so please give it a taste," the chief said with a fawning smile.
Han Li picked up the cup before taking a sip, then nodded as he said, "This a fine tea."
In reality, he didn''t swallow the mouthful of tea. Instead, he funneled it straight into his Flower Branch domain as a safety precaution.
The chief was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately ordered the servant to bring Han Li''s duo some more delicacies of the Gray Lizard Tribe.
Chapter 700: Acting Skills
Chapter 700: Acting Skills
"Thank you for the kind hospitality, Chief, but we didn''te here to taste the delicacies of your Gray Lizard Tribe," Han Li said after briefly sampling the foodid out before him.
"Of course. If you have any instructions, feel free to state them, esteemed immortal," the chief hurriedly said.
"Do you have any maps of this ce and information regarding the Six Moon Grasnd?" Han Li asked in a direct and straightforward fashion.
"We do. Please wait for a moment, esteemed immortals, I''ll get someone to organize what we have and bring it to you right away," the chief replied as he rose to his feet.
"There''s no need to organize anything, just bring all of the scriptures that you have on the geography and customs and traditions of this ce, and we''ll look through them ourselves," Han Li said with a wave of his hand.
The chief faltered slightly upon hearing this, but then immediately gave an affirmative response before leaving the tent.
In contrast with Han Li''s calm and collected demeanor, even though Shi Chuankong had been sampling fruits and tea this entire time, there was a hint of concern in his eyes, clearly indicating that he was rather worried about his own disguise.
Before long, the chief returned with two other Gray Lizard beings, both of which were carrying thick stacks of books that totaled in excess of a hundred at a rough visual estimate.
Han Li was quite pleased to see this. With all this material, they wouldn''t bepletely in the dark here in the Gray Realm.He had alreadye into contact with thenguage of the Gray Realm from items in Dragon 4''s storage pouch. Thenguage used here was a type of ancientnguage of the True Immortal Realm, so he wasn''t worried about not being able to understand it.
"These are all of the scriptures that we have on the local geography and customs and traditions. Our Gray Lizard Tribe is but a small tribe in the ck Teeth Region, so I''m afraid we don''t have much information to offer," the chief said in an uneasy manner.
"It''s fine, we''ll make do with what you have. We''re only passing through the area and are interested in learning about the Six Moon Grasnd," Han Li replied.
The chief heaved a faint sigh of relief upon hearing this, then gestured for the two Gray Lizard beings to set down the scriptures.
"Take all the time you need, esteemed immortals. I''ve stationed some people outside your tent, so if you have any instructions, feel free to call upon them anytime," the chief said, then promptly departed with the other two Gray Lizard beings.
Following his departure, Han Li immediately swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of gray light, which formed a gray light barrier around the entire tent.
The concern in Shi Chuankong''s eyes eased slightly upon seeing this, and the two of them began to read through the provided scriptures.
They had been presented with a lot of material, but with their cultivation bases and memorization abilities, they were quickly able to read through everything and get a good grasp on where they currently were.
This was indeed the Gray Realm, but just like the True Immortal Realm, the Gray Realm was a vast ce, and it wasn''t made clear in any of the scriptures exactly where in the Gray Realm they were right now.
The Gray Lizard Tribe was only a small tribe that had always been settled in the Six Moon Grasnd. Hence, most of the scriptures only contained information regarding the grasnd, and for the vast majority of normal Gray Lizard beings, the Six Moon Grasnd was their entire world.
The Six Moon Grasnd was a massive ce that was abundant with underground baleful veins. Not only was it rich in all types of vegetation, it also produced many types of ore and materials, and there were many other tribes residing here as well.
The Six Moon Grasnd was situated in the northwestern part of the ck Teeth Region.
There wasn''t much information in the scriptures regarding the ck Teeth Region. All that was stated was that it was an extraordinarily vast ce, and that the Six Moon Grasnd was only a tiny ce in the region.
That was all of the information that Han Li''s duo had managed to gather in terms of geography. As for customs and traditions, the Gray Realm was a little simr to the primordialnd in that all of the living beings here resided in tribes, which ruled over different territories. The Six Moon Grasnd was ruled over by a monarch by the name of San Miao, but there wasn''t any detailed information on this person in any of the scriptures.
Above the monarchs was the regional ruler, and there was even less information in the scriptures about the ck Teeth Regional Monarch.
At this moment, Han Li was looking at a scripture that he was holding with a contemtive expression.
There was no concrete information on the ck Teeth Domain Ruler, but judging from the praise that was being heaped onto them in the scripture, Han Li could deduce that they had to be at least at the Great Epassment Stage.
"The Gray Realm must be quite powerful if it''s able to oppose the True Immortal Realm. With that in mind, it''s a blessing that we''re in a secluded ce like the Six Moon Grasnd. If we were in a more busy ce, our covers could easily be blown," Shi Chuankong said in a slightly concerned manner.
"In that case, let''s stay with this Gray Lizard Tribe for now. We won''t have to worry about being exposed, and we can take this opportunity to learn more about the Gray Realm," Han Li said.
"I suppose that''s our best course of action," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
After a brief discussion, Han Li withdrew the surrounding restrictions, then called out for one of the Gray Lizard beings outside the tent.
A tall Gray Lizard being strode into the tent, then immediately fell to his knees as he asked in a trembling voice that was filled with awe and veneration, "What can I do for you, esteemed immortals?"
There was a very clear hierarchy system in the Gray Realm.
The Gray Lizard Tribe was a low-ranking tribe, and the more prestigious a tribe was, the closer they were to human in form. This was why the Gray Lizard beings had been so respectful to Han Li and Shi Chuankong from the very beginning.
"I have something to discuss with your chief. Get him toe and see me," Han Li ordered as he put on a haughty facade.
"Yes, esteemed immortal," the Gray Lizard being hurriedly replied before departing, and the chief of the tribe arrived shortly thereafter.
"What are your instructions, esteemed immortals?" the chief asked as he maintained a respectful bow.
"There''s no need to be so formal, Chief. Come to think of it, I haven''t even asked for your name yet," Han Li said, and despite the humble content of his words, his demeanor was a lot colder than before.
Earlier, he had been a little too approachable, which was unbefitting of his status, so he had to make subtle changes.
The chief''s heart jolted slightly at the sight of Han Li''s calm demeanor, and he bowed even lower as he replied, "My name is Xi Yan, esteemed immortal."
"I see. I called you here as I wanted to ask if your Gray Lizard Tribe is traveling to the Tamda Festival," Han Li dered.
Once every a hundred years, all of the tribes across the Six Moon Grasnd would gather at Wave Edge Lake on the border of the grasnd for the Tamda Festival.
In thenguage of the Gray Realm, Tamda meant "bountiful harvest".
The festival was held by Monarch San Miao, and some sparring matches took ce during every edition of the festival.
Of course, these sparring matches weren''t held for no purpose. Almost all of the tribes on the Six Moon Grasnd lived off agriculture or mining, and in order to avoid conflicts, the oues of these sparring matches were used to decide the territories of the tribes for theing century.
Hence, this was an extremely important asion, and all of the tribes took these sparring matches very seriously.
During the festival, an exchange convention would also take ce, where all of the tribe traded everything that they had saved up over the past century for things that they needed.
The Six Moon Grasnd was quite vast, and all of the tribes were very spread out. Hence, trade was very difficult to facilitate between tribes under normal circumstances. As a result, it became a tradition to gather at the festival to trade off their wares.
For these two reasons, the Tamda Festival was the most important event in the Six Moon Grasnd, and there were very detailed records of the asion in the scriptures.
"Yes," Chief Xi Yan replied with a nod.
"My senior martial brother and I aren''t from the ck Teeth Region, but we''ve heard of the Tamda Festival. We''re nning to apany your Gray Lizard Tribe to Wave Edge Lake to see the festival for ourselves," Han Li said.
Chief Xi Yan fell silent upon hearing this.
"Is there something wrong?" Han Li asked as a cold look appeared in his eyes.
"Not at all. In fact, this is a great honor for our Gray Lizard Tribe. The only problem is that our tribe will be traveling very slowly by your standards, and I''m worried that you''ll grow bored during the trip," Chief Xi Yan hurriedly exined.
He was very d that Han Li''s duo was willing to apany his Gray Lizard Tribe. They were clearly both very powerful, but Xi Yan could tell that they weren''t cruel or bloodthirsty individuals.
On top of that, with their apaniment, not only would the Gray Lizard Tribe no longer have to fear gray beast attacks for the rest of their journey, perhaps they could even borrow their power during the Tamda Festival.
"At this current rate, how long will it take for you to arrive at Wave Edge Lake?" Han Li asked.
"It''s going to take four to five years, and there are some ces that we''ll have to go around as there are powerful gray beasts lurking there," Xi Yan replied.
"There''s no need for that. Just go straight through those areas, and we''ll take care of any gray beasts that show up," Han Li ordered.
Xi Yan was ecstatic to hear this, and he replied, "In that case, we should be able to get there about a year earlier."
"Alright, that''s all, you can go now," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand, and Chief Xi Yan immediately turned to depart.
"By the way, does your tribe have any other types of books and scriptures? Bring them all to us so we have a way to kill time over the trip," Han Li suddenly said.
Xi Yan faltered slightly upon hearing this, then gave an affirmative response before hurriedly exiting the tent.
As soon as Xi Yan departed, the haughty look on Han Li''s face instantly vanished.
Shi Chuankong was rather amused by the changes in Han Li''s demeanor, and he jibed, "I must say, I''m very impressed with your acting skills, Fellow Daoist Li."
"Once you''ve experienced enough in life and endured enough hardships, these skills will naturallye to you," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice.
"Looks like you have a lot of stories to tell, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong remarked, then put on a serious expression as he continued, "This Tamda Festival will be a good opportunity for us to see more of the Gray Realm."
Chapter 701: Provocation
Chapter 701: Provocation
"Indeed. Hopefully, this will be a fruitful trip," Han Li said as he looked into the distance.
Chief Xi Yan quickly returned with a group of Gray Lizard beings, carrying close to a thousand scriptures and some jade slips, but those were far rarer than the books.
It seemed like there weren''t many avid readers in the Gray Lizard Tribe, and their books weren''t very well-preserved, with many of them covered in dust and in a state of disrepair.
Chief Xi Yan apologized profusely for this, but Han Li and Shi Chuankong didn''t really care, and they promptly dismissed him.
These scriptures varied drastically on their subject matter, which was perfect as the two of them were looking to learn as much about the Gray Realm as possible.
The next day, the Gray Lizard Tribe continued onward, but altered its nned itinerary in ordance with Han Li''s instructions.
Han Li''s duo remained in the tent, maintaining an air of regal mystique while also reading through the scriptures that had been provided.
The two of them were like sponges that were rapidly absorbing information on the Gray Realm.
Over three years flew by in the blink of an eye, and the Gray Lizard Tribe finally arrived at its destination, Wave Edge Lake.Wave Edge Lake was situated in the central region of the Six Moon Grasnd, and it was tens of thousands of kilometers in size. Its name was derived from a type of special crystal produced in theke, known as Wave Edge Rocks.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were standing in their tent, looking out at the massiveke up ahead.
The water in theke was extremely clear, and there were only a few white birds flying over its surface, which was rippling slightly from the light breeze.
Han Li took a deep breath. The color tone of Wave Edge Lake was a little monotonous, but it was still quite a scenic location, much like some of thergekes that one would find in the Immortal Realm, and the moist air blowing in from theke was very cool and refreshing.
At this moment, there was already a massive gathering on a giant plot of tnd to the south of theke. Even though there was still some time until themencement of the Tamda Festival, most of the tribes had already arrived.
All of a sudden, a white cloud suddenly appeared in front of the Gray Lizard Tribe.
Standing atop the cloud were several white-robed figures, all of whom had human bodies, but bird avian heads with gleaming eyes.
Their white robes were made from a high-end material and were embroidered with all types of shimmering designs,pletely outmatching the attire of the Gray Lizard Tribe.
The group was led by a tall young man who was giving off a True Immortal Stage aura.
The man''s face was devoid of feathers, and his facial features were very close to those of a normal human, except his nose was still a little long, and his eyes were slightly sunken, giving him a cold and haughty appearance.
"Are you the Gray Lizard Tribe?" the tall young man asked in a high and mighty fashion.
Xi Yan hurriedly rushed over to the white cloud, then extended a respectful bow toward the tall young man as he said, "Xi Yan of the Gray Lizard Tribe pays his respects to the esteemed Envoy Miao."
"Who is that, Xi Feng?" Han Li asked.
Xi Feng was one of the Gray Lizard Tribe''s Body Integration Stage elders, and he had been ordered by Xi Yan to exin the festival''s affairs to Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
"That man''s name is Miao Kui, and he''s one of the enforcers under Monarch San Miao," Xi Feng replied in a respectful manner.
"I see," Han Li mused in an indifferent voice.
......
"Your Gray Lizard Tribe sure arrived nice and early. There are only two months left until the Tamda Festival, and most of the good spots have already been taken by the other tribes," Miao Kui remarked in an indifferent voice.
"What? Only two months left? Shouldn''t there be at least over a year left until the festival is scheduled to begin?" Xi Yan eximed.
In order to avoid disrupting the order of the festival, all of the tribe''s settlement spots and trade areas had already been assigned in advance.
The settlement locations didn''t really matter, but the location of a tribe''s trade area had a strong impact on their business.
"Our monarch decided to hold the festival early this time. Does our monarch need to consult you before making such decisions?" Miao Kui sneered.
"No, no, of course not," Xi Yan hurriedly replied in an apologetic fashion. "My sincerest apologies for speaking out of turn, esteemed Envoy Miao. Here is a small offering from our Gray Lizard Tribe, please assign us a good spot."
He approached Miao Kui as he spoke, then stuffed a small ck pouch into his hand.
Miao Kui inspected the contents of the pouch briefly with his spiritual sense, and only then did his expression ease slightly.
"All of the good spots have already been taken, but you can have Area twenty-two," Miao Kui said as he tossed a white jade badge to Xi Yan.
Xi Yan immediately caught the badge before cupping his fist in a respectful salute, and Miao Kui departed atop his white cloud.
Xi Yan heaved a faint sigh as he watched Miao Kui depart, then led the Gray Lizard Tribe to their assigned position.
Their spot wasn''t too far back, but it definitely wasn''t a good one, either. There were many tribes already spread out in front of them, and their spot wasn''t very prominent at all.
Inside the tent, Han Li and Shi Chuankong were observing the surrounding tribes, all of which varied drastically in appearance, and it was quite an eye-opening sight to behold.
At this point, around twenty to thirty tribes had already arrived.
Furthermore, all of the nearby tribes were quiterge, severely outnumbering the Gray Lizard Tribe, and most of them had True Immortals among their ranks.
In contrast, the Gray Lizard Tribe was made to look quite feeble.
Han Li naturally didn''t really care about this, and he turned to another massive clearing beside theke.
That area had also been split up into different sections, every single one of which was filled with stalls that wereden with all types of different wares.
Countless people were moving through that area, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this, and Shi Chuankong also turned in that direction.
All of a sudden, the Gray Lizard Tribe''s procession was stopped in its tracks by another group.
A hideous middle-aged man emerged from the opposing group as he jeered, "Well, well, well, if it isn''t Chief Xi Yan. Your Gray Lizard Tribe hasn''t grown at all over the past century! You used to be such a powerful tribe, but you''ve really fallen from grace. What a pity."
The man had a long and sunken face, but his nose was very t and wide, presenting a very unbnced sight to behold.
Despite his hideous appearance, he was at the early-True Immortal Stage, making him far more powerful than anyone from the Gray Lizard Tribe.
"What does it matter to you, Yun Zhao? Get out of our way!" Xi Yan said in a cold voice.
"Of course it matters to me! Back in the day, our tribes were rivals. Now that your Gray Lizard Tribe has fallen so far, it truly saddens me," Yun Zhao said with a mocking sneer, disying no intention to move.
A furious look appeared on Xi Yan''s face upon hearing this.
The attention of all of the nearby tribes was drawn to themotion, but not only did no one intervene, everyone was looking on with schadenfreude on their faces.
"Who''s that, Xi Feng?" Han Li asked inside the tent.
"That man is Chief Yun Zhao of the Shadow Snake Tribe. Our two tribes got into a conflict over a mine some years ago, and we''ve been enemies ever since. He''s an extremely petty man who picks on us every Tamda Festival," Xi Feng replied with a dark expression.
"How did your Gray Lizard Tribe ever stand up to them?" Han Li asked with an intrigued expression.
An embarrassed look appeared on Xi Feng''s face as he exined, "Chief Xi Yan was once also a True Immortal, and our Gray Lizard Tribe had two Grand Ascension Stage elders as well. However, we were attacked by an extremely formidable True Immortal gray beast several hundred years ago.
¡°Both of our Grand Ascension Stage elders perished in that battle, and our chief also sustained severe injuries. We managed to save his life, but he reverted back to the Grand Ascension Stage from his injuries. Otherwise, there''s no way our tribe would be in such a state of ineptitude."
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
Meanwhile, Yun Zhao was still standing firmly in front of the Gray Lizard Tribe procession, disying no intention to move.
"I''m not here to bicker with you today, Yun Zhao. The Tamda Festival is overseen by Monarch San Miao. By standing here and blocking our way, you''re going directly against Monarch San Miao''s arrangements!" Xi Yan dered.
Yun Zhao''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing mention of Monarch San Miao, but he then chuckled, "Don''t be so quick to pile on the usations, Chief Xi Yan. I''m just catching up with an old friend here, so why don''t we have a nice little chat? Could it be that you''re afraid of me?"
Many of the spectating tribes burst intoughter upon hearing this, while a look of fury and indignation appeared on Xi Yan''s face, an expression that was mirrored by all of the other Gray Lizard beings.
Han Li''s expression also darkened slightly upon seeing this.
Inside the tent, Xi Yan was so furious that he was trembling uncontrobly, and he suddenly turned to Han Li before extending a deep bow as he implored, "Esteemed immortal, the Shadow Snake Tribe has gone too far! Please..."
Han Li took a nce at Xi Feng, then made his way back into the tent.
Xi Feng''s faceplexion instantly turned deathly pale upon seeing this. If Han Li didn''t stand up for them, then the Gray Lizard Tribe was going to suffer extreme humiliation here.
"Hurry up, Xi Yan, I don''t have time to waste waiting for you to bicker with these fools," Han Li said as he sat down in the tent.
His voice wasn''t very loud, but it reverberated throughout the surrounding area like rumbling thunder, instantly drawing everyone''s attention to the tent.
Some of the people gathered nearby immediately put away their mocking expressions upon hearing this, while Yun Zhao''s brows also furrowed slightly.
Xi Yan was ecstatic to hear Han Li''s scolding voice, and he turned to the tent and extended a deep bow as he replied, "Yes, esteemed immortal!"
He then turned back to Yun Zhao, and his demeanorpletely changed as he said in a cold voice, "Get out of the way, Yun Zhao. I have no time to waste with you here."
"So you''re suddenly acting all tough now just because you have someone to back you up. Who exactly have you got in that tent? Why don''t you get them toe out so everyone here can take a look?" Yun Zhao sneered as he turned to the tent.
Chapter 702: A Quick Lesson
Chapter 702: A Quick Lesson
Not long after Yun Zhao''s voice trailed off, a cold voice rang out from within the tent.
"If you don''t want to die, then get out of the way."
The voice wasn''t very loud, and it waspletely devoid of emotion. The nearbymotion instantly died down, and everyone began looking back and forth hesitantly between the tent and Yun Zhao.
Yun Zhao was staring intently at the tent in apletely expressionless manner, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
The atmosphere had suddenly be quite tense.
"You can talk all you want, but why hide in that tent? If you truly have the power to back up your words, then why not show yourself?" Yun Zhao sneered after a brief silence.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a streak of gray light flew out of the tent like lightning, appearing in front of Yun Zhao in an instant before piercing directly toward him.
Yun Zhao''s expression changed drastically as he let loose a loud roar, and ayer of ck mes emerged over his body.
Within the ck mes were countless twisted human faces that were howling in agony, but right at this moment, the streak of gray light split up into nine identical streaks of swordlight before converging toward Yun Zhao from all directions.
The ck mes stood no chance in the face of the streaks of swordlight, and before Yun Zhao had a chance to do anything, the nine streaks of swordlight had already pierced through his body.
He let loose a blood-curdling howl as ninerge holes appeared over his body, and he toppled to the ground like a broken doll.
The nine streaks of swordlight vanished in a sh, as if they had never even appeared at all.
Everyone had fallen deathly silent, and all of the spectators were looking on with dumbstruck expressions.
In their eyes, the early-True Immortal Stage Yun Zhao was an extremely powerful figure, yet he had been struck down in the blink of an eye without being able to put up any resistance, and they didn''t even dare to imagine just how powerful the figure inside the tent was.
Before long, everyone returned to their senses before turning their attention back to the Gray Lizard beings, but all of the mockery had faded from their eyes.
The Gray Lizard beings were also momentarily dumbstruck before reacting with tion, and they felt an immense sense of catharsis at the sight of Yun Zhao''s terrible injuries.
"Hurry up, Xi Yan! Stop wasting time!"
The same cold voice rang out from within the tent once again, and Xi Yan hurriedly gave an affirmative response before waving a hand through the air.
The faces of all of the Gray Lizard beings were flushed with excitement, and they continued onward with renewed vigor.
The Shadow Snake beings up head hurriedly parted down the middle, and a pair of Grand Ascension Stage elders picked up Yun Zhao before moving him away.
Some True Immortal Stage beings from other nearby tribes also turned to that tent with awe and veneration on their faces.
The attack just now hade with extraordinary speed and power, and none of them were of the opinion that they could''ve withstood it.
"Who did that?!"
Right at this moment, a furious roar erupted like thunder in the air, and several figures appeared amid a sh of white light. They were the group of enforcers under Monarch San Miao, and Miao Kui was the one who had just spoken, but at this moment, there was a white-robed young woman beside him.
The woman was wearing a five-colored phoenix crown, and her facial features were virtually identical to those of a human. Even among humans, she would''ve been quite the beauty, but her features were very cold and expressionless, making her appear rather unapproachable.
Xi Yan''s expression instantly changed drastically at the sight of Miao Kui''s group.
In order to maintain order in the Tamda Festival, private battles were strictly prohibited.
Having said that, all of the tribes on the Six Moon Grasnd were quitepetitive and hot-blooded, so conflicts still regrly took ce. However, as long as no grievous injuries were inflicted, the people under Monarch San Miao generally turned a blind eye, but it was clear that this situation had escted too far.
Xi Yan hurriedly approached the group as he said, "Esteemed Envoy Miao, I can exin..."
"Xi Yan, your Gray Lizard Tribe has only just arrived, yet you''re already causing trouble! Do you wish to be banished from the Tamda Festival?" Miao Kui interjected coldly.
Xi Yan hurriedly lowered his head as he said, "My sincerest apologies..."
"Hand over the culprit!" Miao Kui harrumphed coldly as he turned his gaze to the tent that Han Li was in.
A hesitant look appeared on Xi Yan''s face. This was the situation that he had feared the most.
A furious look appeared on Miao Kui''s face, and he was just about to exert more pressure upon Xi Yan when Han Li''s voice rang out from within the tent.
"I''m the culprit. If you want me, thene and get me."
The white-robed young woman turned to the tent that Han Li was in with her brows slightly furrowed, while Miao Kui immediately began to make his way toward the tent.
The white-robed young woman raised a hand to stop him as she said, "It''s fine, there''s no need to kick up a big fuss. Take Chief Yun Zhao to have his injuries treated, I''ll take care of things here."
Her voice was as pleasant as the song of an oriole, and it struck the listener with a sense of calm serenity.
The tense atmosphere melted away with her words, and even though Miao Kui was clearly reluctant to stand down, he ultimately conceded, seemingly quite fearful of the white-robed young woman.
He descended onto the ground, then picked up Yun Zhao before flying away.
"My name is Miao Xiu. May I ask yours? It would be an honor for me to make your acquaintance," the white-robed young woman said as she sped her fist in a salute toward the tent.
After a brief silence, a cold voice rang out in response from within the tent.
"There''s no need for us to be acquainted. I''m only passing through and decided to attend this festival on a whim, and I''ll be leaving soon."
Everyone nearby was quite surprised to hear this, and the entire ce was soon buzzing with discussion.
On the Six Moon Grasnd, Monarch San Miao''s authority was absolute, so it was downright unthinkable to them that someone would dare to turn down such an invitation.
Miao Xiu''s expression remained unchanged as she said, "If you don''t wish to show yourself, then I won''t force the matter. However, the Tamda Festival is a very important asion for our Six Moon Grasnd, so please exercise some restraint. The patience of our monarch is limited, so do not test it."
Following Miao Xiu''s departure, all of the bystanders in the area also departed, but it was clear that they were looking at the Gray Lizard Tribe through new eyes.
An immense wave of relief washed over Xi Yan as he led the Gray Lizard Tribe onward.
Inside the tent, Han Li was also feeling quite relieved.
Given his and Shi Chuankong''s power, they didn''t have to fear Monarch San Miao. In fact, if they wanted to escape, then no one would be able to stop them, but it was best to avoid conflict as they had an objective foring here.
The Gray Lizard Tribe soon arrived at their designated spot and began setting up camp.
Shortly thereafter, Xi Yan arrived in Han Li''s tent and extended a deep bow with an excited look on his face.
"Thank you for saving our tribe from humiliation, esteemed immortal. We''ll never forget what you''ve done for us. If you need anything from us in the future, we''ll be forever at your service."
Xi Feng was also barely able to contain his own excitement.
"There''s no need for such formalities," Han Li said with a wave of his hand, and Xi Yan expressed his gratitude once again before standing up straight.
The Gray Lizard Tribe had been forced to endure much humiliation over the past few centuries, and morale had been significantly boosted in the wake of this small victory.
Yun Zhao was a coward who only bullied the weak, so after sustaining such severe injuries, he definitely wouldn''t dare to pick on the Gray Lizard Tribe in the future.
"Is there something that you wanted to do at the Tamda Festival, esteemed immortals? If so, I would be honored to help," Xi Yan said.
"We''re just here to take a look, so there''s no need for your services. You can both go now," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand, and Xi Yan and Xi Feng promptly departed.
As soon as they left, Han Li immediately put on a ck cloak and a conical bamboo hat to conceal his entire body, while Shi Chuankong also put on some more covert clothing.
The main objective for them was to gather information on the Gray Realm through this Tamda Festival, and their human appearances were bound to create quite a stir, so it was best to conceal themselves.
There were going to be many other people in disguises in the trading area, so they weren''t going to stand out there.
After exchanging a nce with each other, the two of them vanished into the ground as a pair of ck shadows, then reappeared near the trading area an instantter.
They weren''t able to see much from afar, but from up close, they could see that the trading area was enormous. It had a radius of several dozen kilometers, and it was split up into different sections that were separated by small paths.
Most of the wares being sold on the stalls consisted of things like ore, gray beast materials, and spirit nts, and there were countless people filing through the trading area, searching for things that they needed.
"This really is quite the grand asion," Han Li remarked with a smile, and Shi Chuankong was also inspecting his surroundings with a hint of excitement in his eyes.
"This ce is really big, so let''s split up and gather information independently. That should be a bit more efficient," Han Li said through voice transmission.
Shi Chuankong gave an affirmative response before departing, while Han Li wandered off in another direction, and he quickly stopped in front of a stall belonging to arge tribe.
All of the wares being sold on the stall were of a very high quality, and standing behind the stall were three brawny men with tiger heads, each of which was over twenty feet tall, and they were giving off Grand Ascension Stage auras.
On the way here, Han Li had read the Gray Lizard Tribe''s scriptures closely, and he was able to identify many of the tribes on the grasnd based on their characteristics.
These three were most likely from the Yin Tiger Tribe, which was one of the most powerful tribes on the Six Moon Grasnd, far higher on the pecking order than the Gray Lizard Tribe.
Chapter 703: Price Difference
Chapter 703: Price Difference
"Have any of our wares caught your eye?" a Yin Tiger being with a scar on his face asked.
"I''m not here to buy anything. Do you do acquisitions here?" Han Li asked.
The three men exchanged a slightly surprised nce upon hearing this, and the scar-faced Yin Tiger being replied, "If you have something good to offer, then we''ll naturally be open to acquiring it."
Han Li flipped a hand over to summon a palm-sized ck jade box before handing it over.
The scar-faced man epted the jade box before opening it a sliver, and his expression instantly changed slightly as he hurriedly closed the box again.
He then made a respectful inviting gesture to Han Li, indicating to a ck room behind the stall as he said, "Pleasee with me."
On the way here, Han Li had noticed that almost every single stall here had such a ck room behind it, and these rooms were used for private deals.
The furnishings in the room were extremely simple, consisting of only a table and two chairs, and there was some type of restriction inscribed onto the walls.
The two of them sat down across from each other, and only then did the scar-faced man take a deep breath before opening the jade box again. Inside the box was a fist-sized dark gray crystal that was riddled with countless tiny holes, looking much like a honeb.
Wisps of gray mist were flowing out of all parts of the crystal, giving it a rather mysterious appearance.
"This is a Nightmare Honeb Crystal of an extremely high quality. How many gray crystals do you want for it? Alternatively, you can trade it for other items as well," the scar-faced man said with an excited expression.
"Looks likeing to your Yin Tiger Tribe was a wise decision. In that case, let''s not waste any time. I want three hundred gray crystals," Han Li said.
"Three hundred is a little expensive. I''ll take it for 160," the scar-faced man bartered.
"270," Han Li countered.
"180 is the most that I''m willing to offer," the scar-faced man said in a firm voice.
After some bartering, the price was ultimately decided at two hundred gray crystals.
The scar-faced man flipped a hand over to produce a bone storage bracelet before handing it to Han Li, who epted the bracelet before inspecting its contents with his spiritual sense.
Inside the bracelet was a small pile of gray crystals with visible wisps of gray qi flowing within them.
These gray crystals were used as a form of universal currency in the Gray Realm, and they were simr to Immortal Origin Stones, but they contained baleful origin power.
The Nightmare Honeb Crystal was something that Han Li had found in Dragon 4''s storage pouch.
He was going to require some funds if he wanted to gather information, so it was definitely wise to have some gray crystals on hand, and he was quite ted by this oue.
The Nightmare Honeb Crystal was one of the least remarkable materials in Dragon 4''s storage pouch, so two hundred gray crystals was already a very good price.
In light of that, it seemed like Dragon 4''s storage pouch was far more valuable than he anticipated.
"Do you have any more Nightmare Honeb Crystals or any other precious materials, Fellow Daoist? Don''t bother going to other tribes, just sell them all to our Yin Tiger Tribe. Don''t worry about the price, our tribe has always had an immacte reputation, and you won''t be disappointed trading with us," the scar-faced man said with a hopeful expression.
"I''m afraid not. This Nightmare Honeb Crystal was something that I only stumbled upon by chance," Han Li replied with a shake of his head, much to the scar-faced man''s disappointment.
"I don''t have anything to sell now, but I want to buy some things from your Yin Tiger Tribe," Han Li continued with a smile.
"Oh? What would you like to buy?" the scar-faced man asked.
"I want to buy some scriptures," Han Li replied.
"What type of scriptures?" the scar-faced man asked as a hint of apprehension appeared in his eyes.
"Rest assured, I don''t want any of your tribe''s cultivation arts or secret techniques. Instead, I want your scriptures on the local culture and geography. Ideally, I want scriptures that contain information about ces outside the Six Moon Grasnd or even outside the ck Teeth Region. The Yin Tiger Tribe is one of the most powerful tribes on the Six Moon Grasnd, so I''m sure you have many such scriptures, right?" Han Li asked.
On the way here, he hadn''t spotted even a single book on the stalls that he had passed by.
Then again, everyone was here to exchange resources, and no one would focus their attention on collecting scriptures.
"I see," the scar-faced man replied as his expression eased slightly. "We can sell those scriptures to you, but they weren''t easy toe by for our tribe, so they won''t be cheap."
"As long as they contain valuable information, I''ll take as much as you have," Han Li replied.
"Alright, please wait here for a moment," the scar-faced man said before departing.
Close to an hourter, Han Li left the Yin Tiger Tribe''s stall with a faint smile on his face.
He had obtained many scriptures from the Yin Tiger Tribe, and after briefly skimming through them, he discovered that many of them contained information about ces outside the Six Moon Grasnd and the ck Teeth Region.
Han Li continued onward without pause, and close to an entire day passed by in the blink of an eye.
At this point, it had already gotten quite dark, and giant cages had been hung up in each of the trading areas, within which were numerous fluorescent white insects that illuminated the entire area with their radiance.
As it grew deeper into the night, the trading area only became more lively and bustling.
Han Li wandered past one stall after another, and he was in a good mood.
After leaving the Yin Tiger Tribe, he had sold some materials to two other tribes and purchased some more books pertaining to the Gray Realm.
All three of the tribes that he had chosen wererge tribes, and they had far more scriptures to offer than the Gray Lizard Tribe.
For now, he had decided that he wasn''t going to purchase any more scriptures.
He had already gathered a lot, and information was quite isted in the Six Moon Grasnd, so there was a lot of ovepping content between the scriptures of all tribes.
On top of that, purchasing scriptures was very strange during the Tamda Festival, and doing so excessively could attract unwanted attention.
With that in mind, Han Li began to inspect the wares on the stalls that he was passing by.
Having read all of the Gray Lizard Tribe''s scriptures on the way here, he had developed some ability to appraise items of the Gray Realm, and with his immense spiritual sense, he was quickly able to discover many precious items.
All of a sudden, he drew to a halt in front of a stall, and a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes.
The stall wasn''t veryrge, and most of the wares on it consisted of things like spirit nts, ore, and materials. The two men standing behind the stall each had a pair of horns on their heads and fish scales on their faces, indicating that they were some type of humanoid fish tribe.
"Has something caught your fancy, my friend?" one of them asked in an enthusiastic fashion.
Han Li turned his gaze to a box on one corner of the stall, within which were dozens of semi-transparent nts with translucent leaves, within which the veins were clearly visible.
These were none other than Bitter Ornament Herbs, the main ingredient for refining Baleful Quelling Pill.
This was an extremely precious ingredient in the Immortal Realm, yet it was being casually disyed here in such arge quantity.
"How much for these spirit nts?" Han Li asked.
"Oh, you want Ice Crystal Herbs? It''ll be three gray crystals per nt," the humanoid fish being replied in a casual manner, suddenly losing his enthusiasm.
Han Li was rendered speechless upon hearing this.
In the Immortal Realm, Bitter Ornament Herbs were premium spirit nts that were extremely expensive, yet they were dirt cheap in the Gray Realm.
All of a sudden, he recalled that he had read about Ice Crystal Herbs in the Gray Lizard Tribe''s scriptures.
After some recollection, his hazy memory of the information quickly became clear.
It was said that his herb grew in dark and cold ces, and deep within the Six Moon Grasnd was a bottomless swamp that was filled with these things.
However, Ice Crystals Herbs were useless to beings of the Gray Realm, and there was only a brief description of the nt in that scripture with no apanying illustration. Otherwise, Han Li would''ve been able to identify it right away.
Bitter Ornament Herbs were able to expel baleful qi, which made them harmful to living beings of the Gray Realm, so it was no wonder that they were so cheap.
"Is this all you have?" Han Li asked.
The two humanoid fish beings were both rather surprised to hear this.
Ice Crystal Herbs were only used when refining certain poisons, and they weren''t rare at all. Anyone could easily gather a bunch at the swamp, so it was very surprising that there was someone who wished to purchase them in bulk.
"There aren''t many uses for this nt, so this is all that we picked. My apologies," the other, slightly older humanoid fish being replied.
"I see. In that case, I''ll take everything that you have here," Han Li said.
Having already obtained a map of the Six Moon Grasnd from the Gray Lizard Tribe, he knew where the swamp that was home to the Bitter Ornament Herbs was situated, so he could go and harvest a batch at any time.
For now, these ones would be more than enough to satisfy his pill refinement needs.
The two humanoid fish beings eagerly packed up all of the Bitter Ornament Herbs before handing them to Han Li, and the transaction was quicklypleted.
"My friend, if you need any other spirit nts, make sure toe to us. Our Yearn Fish Tribe excels at collecting all types of spirit nts. Take a look at this Lake Orchid, it''s over ten thousand years old, and this Wither Tuber Herb was freshly picked, so it hasn''t lost any of its medicinal effects," the elderly humanoid fish being eagerly introduced.
Han Li had seen descriptions of both of these nts in the Gray Lizard Tribe''s scriptures, and they both contained immense baleful qi, making them quite precious in the Gray Realm.
However, they were useless to him, so he naturally wasn''t going to purchase them.
Hence, he shook his head before departing with a contemtive look in his eyes.
Given the differences in resources in the Gray Realm and the True Immortal Realm, things that were worthless in the Gray Realm could be extremely precious in the True Immortal Realm.
Now that he was in the Gray Realm, he might as well take the opportunity to gather some things like these Bitter Ornament Herbs so that he could sell them for a profit upon his return to the True Immortal Realm.
He wasn''tcking in Immortal Origin Stones at the moment, but it certainly couldn''t hurt to have more. There was no telling when he would suddenly require a huge sum of Immortal Origin Stones someday, so it was best to have arge stash in advance.
The problem was that the same item often had different names in the two realms, so illustrations weren''t always reliable, so he would just have to try his luck.
Thinking back to the precious yin-attribute spirit nts and ore in the Immortal Realm, he began to release his spiritual sense to carefully scour through the nearby stalls.
Chapter 704: Unprecedented Honor
Chapter 704: Unprecedented Honor
Here in the Gray Realm, Han Li made sure to be extremely cautious in everything that he did for fear of attracting attention, so he hadn''t spread his spiritual sense very far up to this point.
However, following the Shadow Snake Tribe incident, he had developed a grasp on the power levels of the tribes on the Six Moon Grasnd, and he knew that he could avoid detection as long as no unforeseen circumstances arose.
As he walked along, he inspected all of the waresid out on the stalls that he passed by, and he quickly found a type of ore that also existed in the Immortal Realm.
However, this ore was also quite expensive in the Gray Realm, so there wasn''t much resale value.
Right as he was about to continue his search, he suddenly raised an eyebrow as he cast his gaze forward, where he spotted two tall and imposing cloaked figures walking toward him.
Both of them were wearing some type of mask that could keep out spiritual sense, and even though their auras were being concealed, Han Li was immediately able to see through the concealment thanks to his tremendous spiritual sense, and he could tell that both of them wer Golden Immortals.
A pair of Golden Immortals posed no threat to the current Han Li, but Golden Immortals were quite rare in this setting, so they had to have at least been tribal chiefs.
The two figures seemed to have noticed Han Li''s gaze, and they immediately lowered their heads and quickened their pace, vanishing into the crowd shortly thereafter.
Their sneaky demeanor only aroused more suspicion in Han Li, but he had no intention of investigating any further, and he continued onward.In the end, he wasn''t able to find much aside from the Bitter Ornament Herbs.
There were many things with price disparities between the two realms, but none asrge as the price disparity for Bitter Ornament Herbs, so there wasn''t much profit to be made unless such items were resold in bulk.
Han Li wasn''t very surprised by this. After all, the two realms differed drastically, and it naturally wasn''t going to be easy to find things that could be found in both realms and varied drastically in price.
Instead of continuing his search, he returned to the Gray Lizard Tribe''s designated area, where he discovered that Shi Chuankong still wasn''t back yet.
He returned to the tent, then summoned all of the scriptures that he had purchased earlier before reading through them one by one.
His top priority at the moment was to find a way to return to the True Immortal Realm.
Close to half a day passed by in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, Shi Chuankong emerged from the ground under the tent, and there was a faint smile on his face.
"You look like you''re in a good mood, Fellow Daoist Shi. Have you found a way back to the Immortal Realm?" Han Li asked.
"I saw that there were many cheap materials here that could be sold forrge profits in the True Immortal Realm, so I got caught up purchasing materials and forgot about finding ways to return to the True Immortal Realm. My apologies," Shi Chuankong replied in a slightly awkward manner.
"It''s fine, we still have time. If we can''t find a way back in this Six Moon Grasnd, then we can try our luck elsewhere. By the way, I didn''t think that you would be so interested in the business of buying and selling," Han Li said with a faint smile.
"It''s not every day that I get toe to a new realm, and if I can make use of this opportunity, then I could make an absolute killing! As one''s cultivation base improves, the amount of resources they''ll need to support their cultivation will increase exponentially.
¡°There are many powerful immortals who end up stuck at a certain cultivation base for countless years, not because of any bottlenecks, but simply due tock of resources," Shi Chuankong said with an excited look in his eyes.
"If a pathway can be established between the two realms, then that would indeed be an incredible business opportunity. However, all of that can onlye into fruition if we can find a way to return to the True Immortal Realm," Han Li replied with a nod.
"You''re right, Fellow Daoist Li. Our top priority is still to find a way back. Only then can we think about what''s to follow," Shi Chuankong agreed.
......
Over a monthter.
It was nearing nighttime, and the three suns hadn''tpletely set yet, but the six moons had already risen.
Light was rippling over the surface of the nearby Wave Edge Lake, and dozens of huge bonfires had already been set up along the bank of theke, filled withrge quantities of mmable materials.
All of the tribes that hade to attend the Tamda Festival had temporarily set aside all of their other affairs, and they were gathered around the bonfires.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong had also apanied the Gray Lizard Tribe to theke.
Chief Xi Yan was walking along at the very front, having changed into a clean light gray robe that draped over his broad frame. There was also a round Gray Lizard Tribe pendant hanging in front of his chest, and he was holding a torch that was lit with a white me.
As for Han Li and Shi Chuankong, both were wearing gray cloaks, and they were trailing along behind Xi Yan with their faces concealed within their hoods.
Up to this point, they hadn''t been able to find any useful information on how to get back to the Immortal Realm, so they had taken their time to continue learning more about the culture of this ce while also hoping that useful discoveries could be made once the festivalmenced.
Upon arriving at a bonfire, Xi Yan turned to Han Li''s duo with a look of veneration and gratitude in his eyes as he said, "During past editions of the Tamda Festival, our Gray Lizard Tribe was never granted the right to light one of these bonfires. It''s only thanks to your presence that we''ve been given this privilege. If you were willing to show yourselves, I''m certain you would be granted front-row seats to the Saya Festival."
"It''s fine. We''re not from your ck Teeth Region, so it would be best for us to keep a low profile," Han Li replied.
If he weren''t mistaken, the young woman by the name of Miao Xiu was most likely the one who had arranged this.
Han Li cast his gaze toward a giant ck stone tform that was situated a little further away from theke. The area surrounding the tform was brightly lit, and there were all types of Gray Realm beings dressed in different attire gathered around it.
Just like Tamda, Saya was another word from the dialect of the ck Teeth Region, and it roughly tranted to "fight between courageous warriors". As the name suggested, the Saya Festival was the asion where the sparring matches between tribes took ce.
As a wandering tribe with no set territory, the Gray Lizard Tribe naturally had no right to participate in the event.
Some timeter, the three suns in the skypletely set, and the sound of a horn rang out from the ck stone tform.
Chief Xi Yan immediately threw up his torch into the bonfire, igniting all of the mmable materials to create a huge white me that was crackling and popping incessantly.
All of the dozens of bonfires were lit in rapid session, releasing flurries of white sparks into the sky, resembling a swarm of fireflies. Due to the pervasive dark clouds in the sky, Han Li had never seen any stars in the Gray Realm, but all of a sudden, he felt as if he were witnessing a starry night sky again.
Right as Han Li was looking up at the sky with a slightly dazed expression, the collective voices of the tribes gathered began to ring out around him. They were all speaking slightly different ck Teeth Region dialects, and it seemed that they were singing some type of ancient war song.
After the singing subsided, a chorus of loud cheers rang out from the bonfires, and all of the tribes began to gather around the ck stone tform.
Han Li''s duo arrived at the stone tform with the Gray Lizard Tribe, and they looked up to find that there was arge tent set up to the north of the tform.
The tent was opened to reveal three elders of the San Miao Tribe sitting inside, alongside the chiefs of several of the ck Teeth Region''s most prominent tribes.
Sitting at the very center of the tent was none other than Miao Xiu.
Her gaze roamed over the people gathered around the tform, and it lingered momentarily on the Gray Lizard Tribe before moving on again.
"Are you still looking for the powerful cultivator concealed within the Gray Lizard Tribe, Young Mistress?" Miao Kui asked in a low voice.
Miao Xiu shook her head in response.
"What an arrogant fellow he is! To think that he refused to show himself even after you visited him in person. Once the festivales to an end, I''ll be sure to capture him and bring him to you to apologize," Miao Kui said in a disgruntled voice.
"Don''t talk about him like that, Cousin. He must have his reasons for not wanting to see me. As long as he doesn''t harbor any sinister intentions, we should leave him alone and respect his decision," Miao Xiu said with slightly furrowed brows.
Despite this, internally, she was also a little irked by Han Li''s refusal to meet her. At the same time, she couldn''t help but wonder exactly what this mysterious powerful figure was like.
"You''re right, Young Mistress, please forgive me," Miao Kui hurriedly apologized.
"It''s about time. You can announce themencement of the Saya Festival now," Miao Xiu instructed.
Miao Kui gave an affirmative response, then departed from the tent.
Upon arriving at the tform, he strode over to a ck war drum and beat it thrice. Themotion below the tform gradually subsided, and only then did he dere, "I hereby dere themencement of the Saya Festival. Which tribe would like to set their warriors up first to be challenged?"
As soon as his voice trailed off, two inky-ck figuresnded on the tform one after another.
"I am Wu Heli of the Bone Spike Tribe."
The first figure was a humanoid creature with their entire body covered in ck scales, and there was a white bone spike protruding out of their face, elbows, and knees, presenting a fearsome sight to behold.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a chorus of loud cheers instantly rang out from below the stone tform, particrly from the Bone Spike Tribe, as if getting to step on the tform first was a huge honor for them.
"I am Mu Ze of the Water Tiger Tribe."
The second figure was a man with a human body and the head of a tiger, but there were gills on either side of his face.
The gills on his face were constantly moving, and there was a hint of excitement on his face. Compared with the chorus of cheers for Wu Heli, he seemed to be a far less popr figure.
"Would you like to fight to the death or until an oue arises?" Miao Kui asked.
Chapter 705: Internal Conflict
Chapter 705: Internal Conflict
"Aren''t these supposed to be sparring matches? Why is there an option to fight to the death?" Han Li asked as he turned to Xi Yan.
"Allow me to exin, esteemed immortal. The Saya Festival is not only an asion for the brightest cultivation prodigies of all of the tribes to make a name for themselves, it''s also where many tribes settle their differences. Monarch San Miao prohibits battles between tribes, so this is where everyone settles vendettas and disputes," Xi Yan exined.
"I see. This is not a bad method of conflict resolution," Han Li replied with a nod.
"I have to agree with you on that one, Fellow Daoist Li. This is a very simple and efficient process," Shi Chuankong said to Han Li through voice transmission.
"The fact that this is feasible at all indicates that most of these tribes value their integrity. In the Immortal Realm, all of the tribes would''ve simply targeted each other without engaging in open battle, and vendettas would most likely escte to the point where they''re entirely unresolvable before such a method can be employed," Han Li replied.
Shi Chuankong contemted this notion for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
At this point, the battle on the tform had already begun. Wu Heli''s aura was clearly more powerful than his opponent''s, and there was immense baleful qi swirling around his body as he forced Mu Ze back in retreat.
Despite this, Mu Ze remained calm and collected, and his eyes were still shing with excitement as he ducked and weaved while wielding a trident.
The more ferocious Wu Heli''s attacks became, the faster Mu Ze was forced to take evasive measures, and all of the spectators were cheering loudly at the enthralling battle.Han Li was rather perplexed by what he was seeing. He could see that Mu Ze was suppressing his own aura, employing a ssic tactic of luring the opponent into a false illusion of superiority. At this point, Wu Heli had already tired himself out from the ferocious assault that he was unleashing, and Mu Ze could easily retaliate for the kill, but he refused to do so for some reason, continuing to humor his opponent as he dodged from side to side.
After a while, Han Li felt as if he were a staged match, and he lost interest as he turned his gaze to Wave Edge Lake in the distance.
At this moment, there were still countless specks of mes drifting over theke, and their light was reflected on the rippling waves down below, making it appear as if there were countless fluorescent fish swimming through theke.
All of a sudden, Han Li spotted something rather strange on the surface of theke.
Right as he was about to take a closer look, a thunderous buzzing sound suddenly rang out from behind him, and he was struck by a dull sensation in his mind, as if he had been dealt a heavy blow to the back of his head.
The Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman in his mind consciousness instantly lit up, releasing a burst of white light to quell the sensation of dullness.
Meanwhile, all of the Gray Lizard beings around him crumpled to the ground.
Out of the corner of his eye, Han Li could see that Mu Ze was standing on the stone tform with blood flowing out of all of his orifices, and he was holding a ck seashell-like object aloft with a fervent look in his eyes.
Over at the tent, everyone was slumped in their chairs, and they were still conscious, but they were too feeble to move.
Right at this moment, Han Li felt a tug on his sleeve, and he turned to discover that Shi Chuankong wasying on the ground and was encouraging him to do the same.
Han Li was rather amused to see this, and he pretended to also slump to the ground like everyone else.
Right at this moment, a tall and imposing gray-robed figure among the Water Tiger beings lifted the hood of his cloak to reveal a set of azure ape-like features.
Han Li was surprised to discover that the man was very simr in appearance to the azure apes that he had encountered in the True Mantra Sect ruins. However, his aura indicated that he was at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, and he was clearly more intelligent than the apes from back then.
The man leaped onto the tform, then strode over to Mu Ze''s side and took the ck seashell from him before carefully stowing it away.
Mu Ze immediately crumpled to the ground, clearly dead.
The chief of the Water Tiger Tribe rose to his feet from his chair in the tent, then made his way over to the azure ape-like being before extending a deep bow.
"Everything went exactly as you predicted. I am truly in awe of your foresight."
"Mu Qiu! How dare you collude with someone from the Nirarbuda Region? Are you betraying the ck Teeth Region?" Miao Xiu yelled in a furious voice, but she sounded very feeble.
"My apologies, Young Mistress, but the Bone Spike Tribe has forcibly upied the territory of our Water Tiger Tribe for hundreds of years, and my brother and cousin also died by their hands. Such a vendetta cannot be settled with just a single life!" Mu Qiu said in an expressionless manner, then made his way over to Wu Heli before smashing his head into a pulp.
All of the Water Tiger beings below the tform erupted into thunderous cheers as they rushed toward the Bone Spike beings, and a one-sided massacre ensued, while the chief of the Bone Spike Tribe could only look on from inside the tent with a furious and devastated expression.
"Are you acting on the orders of Monarch Gu, or is your Azure Ape Tribe solely responsible? Are you not afraid that our ck Teeth Region will no longer remain neutral and ally ourselves with the Reincarnation Region?" Miao Xiu spat through gritted teeth.
"Don''t bother with these empty threats. We already know that the Reincarnation Region has sent people to meet your father, and it''s only a matter of time before you turn on our Nirarbuda Region," the Azure Ape being scoffed.
"You''re just saying that to excuse your actions! My father has always been firmly against the Reincarnation Region''s actions, and he''s done everything in his power to persuade our allies against joining the Reincarnation Region!" Miao Xiu countered.
"Your ck Teeth Region has always thought far too highly of itself. This is what you get for allowing an envoy from the Reincarnation Region to set foot in your territory," the Azure Ape being said with a cold sneer.
He turned to Wave Edge Lake as he spoke, then let loose a loud roar, and the surface of theke instantly began to churn incessantly as the Azure Ape beings and other Nirarbuda forces that wereying in ambush emerged from the depths, numbering in the tens of thousands.
Upon reaching the shore, they stormed toward the ck Teeth Region tribes, and a horrific massacre ensued.
Han Li and the Gray Lizard beings weren''t very far away from theke, and it wasn''t going to take long before the Nirarbuda forces reached them. Neither Han Li nor Shi Chuankong would be able to defend themselves as doing so would expose them to be cultivators of the Immortal Realm, and if that were to happen, then they would be targeted by both the Nirarbuda and ck Teeth Region''s forces.
In the Gray Realm, even the most vicious vendettas could temporarily be set aside in order to unite against the threat of the Immortal Realm.
Given Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s powers, even if they were exposed, he was confident that they would be able to get away. However, in that scenario, their covers would be blown, and it would be much more difficult for them to find a way back to the Immortal Realm.
"What do we do? They''re about to get to us," Shi Chuankong asked in an urgent manner through voice transmission.
Han Li''s brows were slightly furrowed, and he didn''t immediately respond. Instead, he was looking over at the Azure Ape being on the stone tform, who had summoned arge club, with which it was smashing the heads of the ck Teeth Region chiefs.
Mu Qiu was standing before the chief of the Bone Spike Tribe with a long ck saber resting on his neck, preparing to decapitate him.
Despite the dire situation that the chief of the Bone Spike Tribe was in, there was no fear in his eyes at all as he met Mu Qiu''s gaze with one of righteous fury.
As the Nirarbuda forces drew closer and closer, Shi Chuankong''s agitation was mounting by the second, and even his aura fluctuations had be rather unstable as he said, "It looks like we''re not going to be able to maintain our covers. If worsees to worst, we''ll just have to kill everyone here, then get away from this ce."
"Don''t be rash, I have a way out of this," Han Li immediately replied.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a plume of ck mist rose up from beneath him, and it circled around in mid-air for a moment, then descended onto the ck stone tform.
As soon as Shi Chuankong detected the aura emanating from the plume of ck mist, his expression instantly changed drastically.
He could sense a High Zenith Stage Gray Immortal inside!
Upon arriving above the stone tform, the plume of mist instantly crashed violently down upon the tform, causing it to shatter into countless pieces as cracks spread over its entire surface.
The stone tform exploded violently from the center, following which all of the ck mist converged to form a tall and handsome young man wearing a tight-fitting ck robe.
He was holding a ck folding fan, and his High Zenith Stage aura waspletely unrestrained.
The man was none other than Mo Guang in his Gray Immortal body, but prior to emerging from the Flower Branch domain, he had adopted this youthful appearance.
Everyone waspletely caught off guard by this abrupt turn of events, and on one knew what to make of Mo Guang''s sudden emergence.
As soon as the club-wielding Azure Ape being''s gaze fell upon Mo Guang, his expression instantly changed drastically as he eximed, "You''re from the Void Integration Tribe! This is impossible! How could there be a Void Integration being here?"
"The Void Integration Tribe? Judging from your reaction, that seems like quite a powerful tribe," Mo Guang chuckled.
Chapter 706: Invitation
Chapter 706: Invitation
Han Li didn''t have full trust in Mo Guang, so he was intently observing the unfolding scene on the stone tform, and his heart also stirred slightly upon hearing mention of the Void Integration Tribe.
The Void Integration Tribe had appeared in the scriptures that Han Li had gathered on more than one asion, but all records about them were rather ambiguous in their wording, not because this was an extremely secretive tribe, or because the Gray Lizard Tribe''s information gathering abilities wereckluster.
Instead, it was because the Void Integration Tribe was an extremely high-ranking noble tribe even in the context of the entire Gray Realm.
In contrast, the Gray Lizard Tribe was a bottom feeder, even in the ck Teeth Region, so the separation between the two tribes couldn''t have been anyrger, and it was no wonder that the Gray Lizard Tribe wasn''t able to gather much information at all.
All Han Li knew was that the Void Integration Tribe ruled over the Young Dawn Region, which was allied to the Reincarnation Region, thereby making it an enemy of the tribes of the Nirarbuda Region.
Aside from that, Han Li knew nothing else about the Void Integration Tribe, and he had no idea that the body that Mo Guang had taken over had once belonged to a Void Integration being.
Despite this unexpected turn of events, the Azure Ape being was too stunned to issue any orders for the Nirarbuda forces to stop what they were doing, so the massacre continued, and many Gray Lizard beings had already been in.
"Stop them, Mo Guang," Han Li instructed through voice transmission.
Mo Guang didn''t immediately spring into action upon hearing this. Instead, he took a nce in Han Li''s direction.Everyone was rather perplexed to see this, and they all turned in the same direction as well. Han Li cursed under his breath as he hurriedly concealed his aura and pretended to be unconscious.
At the same time, the Heavenly Devil Contract that he had signed with Mo Guang was already beginning to appear in his consciousness.
Thankfully, Mo Guang didn''t make any false moves, and he turned to the Azure Ape being as he put away his ck folding fan, then cracked his knuckles as he grinned to reveal two rows of pristine and even teeth.
As Miao Xiu stared at Mo Guang, all of her fear and panic suddenly faded, and his smile resembled a warm and shining beacon in her eyes.
In direct contrast with Miao Xiu, the Azure Ape being was absolutely horrified by the sight of Mo Guang''s smile, and he felt as if his entire body had been plunged into a cial pit.
He gritted his teeth tightly as he tightened his grip around the ck seashell, hoping that this treasure that had been bestowed upon him by his monarch would be able to save him.
However, before he had a chance to do anything else, the voice of a devil suddenly rang out beside his ears.
"What are you thinking?"
Mo Guang had transformed into a plume of gray mist, which had wrapped itself around the Azure Ape being like a snakepletely without his detection. The only part of Mo Guang''s body that remained intact was his head, and it was hovering right next to the Azure Ape being''s head.
The Azure Ape being screamed in horror, and as soon as he opened his mouth, the plume of gray mist that Mo Guang had transformed into instantly surged into his body through all of his orifices.
An agonized look appeared on the Azure Ape being''s face as he dropped his club and ck seashell, then sped his hands tightly around his own neck and stumbled a few steps backward before toppling to the ground.
Only after he fellpletely still did the plume of ck mist re-emerge from his body before reverting back to form Mo Guang''s body.
Mo Xiu and the others were all astonished to see this, and their mouths were gaped open slightly in a stunned silence.
Meanwhile, Mo Guang merely picked up the ck seashell from the ground, upon which his entire body stiffened momentarily, but wisps of baleful qi then surged out of the palm of his hand to envelop the seashell tomence the refinement process.
Momentster, he gently flicked the seashell with his finger, and a burst of ck light instantly erupted out of it before sweeping in all directions, stirring up faint ripples over the surface of Wave Edge Lake.
As the burst of ck light washed over all of the ck Teeth Tribe beings, the sense of feebleness that was guing them instantly vanished, and they sprang to their feet to battle against the Nirarbuda forces.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong also sprang up from the ground, but instead of participating in the battle, they rushed toward the stone tform.
On the stone tform, Mu Qiu''s face had turned deathly pale at the sight of the Azure Ape being''s demise, and he immediately turned to flee toward Wave Edge Lake, but the chief of the Bone Spike Tribe had already appeared in his path before he had a chance to move.
The other chiefs in the tent that were still alive immediately sprang into action as well to surround Mu Qiu from all directions, while Miao Xiu ordered in an expressionless manner, "Kill him."
The tribal chiefs instantly executed the order without any hesitation.
"Chiefs of the Mountain Ghost, Wind Ermine, and Gray Scythe Tribes, gather your tribesmen for a counterattack!"
"Members of the Azure Carp, Mud Ox, and Earth Core Tribes, enter Wave Edge Lake to pursue the enemy! We don''t have a numbers advantage, so there''s no need to surround them, just kill as many of them as possible..."
"Miao Zong, lead the other tribe to go after the enemy tribal chiefs and the fleeing enemy forces."
Miao Xiu issued a string ofmands to the ck Teeth Tribe tribal chiefs, and a counterattack quickly took shape.
With theirmander dead, the Nirarbuda forces were instantly thrown into a state of panic and disarray. To furtherpound their woes, the ck Teeth Region''s tribes were eager for revenge, and it didn''t take long before the Nirarbuda forces were pushed back into Wave Edge Lake.
Mo Guang also refrained from further participation in the battle as he casually strolled over to the edge of the stone tform, where he watched the unfolding battle with an intrigued look on his face.
At this point, Han Li and Shi Chuankong had also descended onto the stone tform after ducking and weaving their way through the chaotic battlefield.
Shi Chuankong''s expression remained unchanged at the sight of Mo Guang, but internally, he was utterly astonished, and he turned to Han Li with a hesitant expression as he asked through voice transmission, "Who is this, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"You can call him Fellow Daoist Mo Guang. I suppose you can say that he''s a contracted ally of mine. He was unable to appear prior to this due to some special reasons, but he''ll be around a lot more from now on," Han Li exined in a concise fashion.
Mo Guang gave Shi Chuankong a smile and a nod, in response to which Shi Chuankong cupped his fist in a salute and gave a self-introduction.
"I read in the records of the Gray Lizard Tribe that the Void Integration Tribe has three main surnames, namely Tusu, Dongling, and Jiang. From now on, your name will be Jiang Gu, and we are your servants," Han Li said through voice transmission.
Mo Guang nodded in response, but then pursed his lips as he objected, "I don''t really like that name. It sounds like I''m about to die soon." [1]
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, and he was just about to say something when he spotted Miao Xiu approaching them.
She stopped quite a few steps away, then extended a respectful curtsey as she said, "I am Miao Xiu, the daughter of Monarch San Miao of our ck Teeth Region. May I know your name, Senior?"
Mo Guang turned to Miao Xiu with a smile, then tantly scoured his gaze over her body, and hew as just about to reply when Han Li''s voice rang out in his mind.
"Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, we are in a different realm right now, so please do be careful with your words and actions."
"Ah, so you''re a young mistress of the San Miao Tribe. My name is Jiang Gu, and these are my servants, Li Han and Shi Chuankong," Mo Guang said with a smile.
"It''s extremely fortunate for us that you''re here today, Senior Jiang. Otherwise, all of our ck Teeth Region tribes would''ve suffered extremely severe losses," Miao Xiu said as she extended another curstey.
"I just so happened to be passing through the ck Teeth Region, and I wasn''t going to get involved, but that green monkey was really annoying me," Mo Guang said in a casual manner.
"This attack from the Nirarbuda tribes is a deration of war against our ck Teeth Region, so I have to get back to our San Miao Tribe to report everything to my father. You are the savior of our ck Teeth Region, so please allow us the opportunity to show you our hospitality," Miao Xiu said with a serious expression.
Mo Guang didn''t immediately respond to the invitation. Instead, he appeared as if he were mulling over the offer while internally asking Han Li about how to proceed.
"We can go with her. We have no set objective at the moment anyway, so it wouldn''t be a bad thing to go somewhere more safe and secure. On top of that, there should be more information at the San Miao Tribe as well," Han Limunicated through voice transmission.
"I suppose it would be rude to turn down such an earnest invitation. Having said that, I''m trying to keep a low profile at the moment, so please keep this a secret. Ideally, don''t even tell your father about me for now," Mo Guang said in a serious manner.
Miao Xiu was ecstatic to hear this, and she immediately replied, "Rest assured, Senior, I won''t tell anyone about you before we arrive at Serene Millet City. I''ll only inform my father of your arrival once we get there, and of course, I''ll ask him to keep your presence in our tribe a secret as well."
"That would be best," Mo Guang said with a nod.
"In that case, please allow me to take care of the matters at hand, and after that, I''ll make arrangements for our journey to Serene Millet City," Miao Xiu said.
Mo Guang offered no response, merely dismissing her with a wave of his hand.
Following Miao Xiu''s departure, Mo Guang turned his gaze back to the battlefield, which was filled with baleful qi from the ughter that had just taken ce, and he inhaled deeply with a content look on his face.
"Fellow Daoist Li, are we not taking too much of a risk here?" Shi Chuankong asked with a concerned expression.
"It''s fine. With Fellow Daoist Mo Guang''s identity as a Void Integration being, the people of the San Miao Tribe wouldn''t dare to examine us too closely. All we have to do is be on our guard, and we should be able to maintain our covers," Han Li replied.
Shi Chuankong didn''t say anything further, but the concern in his eyes didn''t fade away, either.
1. The name that Han Li proposed (½«¹Å) can trante to imminent history, implying that Mo Guang is about to be history. Having said that, ¹Å (Gu) is also a prettymon name, and as far as I can tell, there''s no intentional foreshadowing here or anything like that. ?
Chapter 707: Spoils
Chapter 707: Spoils
Several dayster, Miao Xiu arrived at the Gray Lizard Tribe''s tent with only a few of her most trusted subordinates, waiting for Han Li''s trio to join them on their journey back to Serene Millet City.
Han Li''s trio was already prepared, and they bade farewell to Xi Yan and the others, then made their way toward the San Miao Tribe''s tent.
Chief Xi Yan couldn''t help but feel a little forlorn as he watched the trio depart.
He had already learned from Miao Xiu that the two people who had saved their Gray Lizard Tribe were both extremely distinguished figures, and he was thinking to himself that if he had done just a little better, perhaps this could''ve been a massive opportunity for the Gray Lizard Tribe.
Right at this moment, Miao Kui hurriedly returned to Xi Yan, then extended a respectful bow.
Xi Yan was horrified to see this, and he hurriedly returned the bow as he asked, "Esteemed Envoy Miao, to what do I owe this honor?"
"My apologies for how I treated you earlier, Chief Xi Yan. The Gray Lizard Tribe has made an immense contribution during this festival, and our young mistress has ordered me to reward you with two thousand gray crystals. On top of that, once we get back to Serene Millet City, she''ll ask our monarch to grant you a portion of the Water Tiger Tribe''s territory," Miao Kui said.
Xi Yan waspletely rooted to the spot upon hearing this, following which tears began to well up in his eyes, and he fell to his knees to thank Miao Kui.
Miao Kui hurriedly lifted him back to his feet, then continued, "There''s no need for such formalities, Chief Xi Yan. Our three esteemed guests have spoken quite highly of you, and you''ve made some very valuable allies for our ck Teeth Region, so the Gray Lizard Tribe is deserving of this reward.""Thank you, esteemed Envoy Miao. Thank you, Young Mistress. Thank you, esteemed immortals," Xi Yan said in an earnest and heartfelt voice.
At this point, Han Li''s trio had already arrived at theke with Miao Xiu, and there was an enormous three-story louchuan waiting for them. The louchuan waspletely ck in color, and its design was very sharp and angr. There were all types ofplex patterns engraved onto its surface, and even though it waspletely devoid of color, it was still extremely opulent, nheless.
Laying in front of the louchuan were three horse-like giant beasts that were each over a hundred feet tall. There were white exoskeletons on their faces and a corkscrew horn on each of their heads. On top of that, each of them had two pairs of giant gray fleshy wings that were tucked tightly against their sides.
"This louchuan is able to fly in the sky, and it may not be as fast as some of the flying treasures in your possession, but it''s quite stable. I''ve already cleared out the guest rooms on the third floor, so you can stay there over the course of the journey," Miao Xiu said to Mo Guang uponnding on the deck of the louchuan.
"I''ll be in your care then," Mo Guang replied with a smile and a nod.
After that, Miao Xiu led Han Li''s trio up to the third floor, making some conversation with Mo Guang in the process. Han Li and Shi Chuankong remained standing silently on either side of Mo Guang the entire time, acting as obedient servants.
While speaking with Mo Guang, Miao Xiu''s gaze passed over Han Li briefly, and there seemed to be a hint of befuddlement in her eyes, but Han Li merely pretended as if he didn''t see anything.
Upon arriving on the third floor of the louchuan, Han Li''s trio each chose a guest room to stay in, while Miao Xiue departed to arrange for the louchuan to set off.
The three giant winged horse-like creatures rose to their hooves, then galloped forward for over ten thousand feet before spreading their wings and pping them vigorously, sweeping up powerful white air currents that lifted them and the louchuan up into the sky.
Standing in his room, Han Li looked out the window to find that it was impossible to see anything through the dense mist and baleful qi outside.
His brows were tightly furrowed as he swept a sleeve through the air, conjuring up an azure light barrier over all of the windows to keep the baleful outside at bay.
In order to avoid arousing suspicions, Han Li didn''t set up any restrictions with prominent spiritual power fluctuations in his room. Instead, he only set up some simple aura concealment restrictions.
By the time he was done, the louchuan had also broken through the denseyer of baleful clouds, arriving in the sky above.
The ck mist outside faded away, and Han Li removed the azure light barrier as he cast his gaze toward the sky outside.
Even without the baleful clouds in the way, the sky remained a murky gray color. The three suns were hanging high up in the sky, giving off white light that wasn''t exactly cold, but wasn''t very warm, either, and it was rather disconcerting.
In the sky above theyer of clouds, the baleful qi was clearly far less abundant, and that eased the strain on Han Li significantly.
After meditating for some time, Daoist Xie''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Fellow Daoist Li, I''ve already sorted out all of the storage tools that you gave me earlier. Would you like to see me now?"
"Sure," Han Li replied, then swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light, and Daoist Xie stepped out of the bamboo building to enter Han Li''s room.
The two of them sat down at the round table in the room, and Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a gon of floral wine.
He had constantly been busying himself with various tasks upon arriving in the Gray Realm, and only now did he have an opportunity to rx and have a drink.
"I''ve sorted through all of the items in the storage bracelets, and in total, they contained 15,317 top-grade spirit stones, 58,312 Immortal Origin Stones, and 321 mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones, all of which are in here," Daoist Xie said as it flipped a hand over to produce a white storage bracelet.
These storage tools were all from the True Mantra Sect ruins, and most of them belonged to Heavenly Court cultivators and True Mantra Sect disciples ranging between the early-True Immortal Stage and thete-Golden Immortal Stage, so they didn''t have much use for top-grade spirit stones.
On top of that, mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones were quite difficult toe by for cultivators of this caliber, so Immortal Origin Stones were mostmon in their storage tools by far.
Han Li took a sip of wine as he waited for Daoist Xie to continue.
"In here are some misceneous items for setting up arrays, including array gs, array tes, and somerger array stones and spirit patterns pirs. I''ve picked out some of them to be buried around the bamboo building near the spirit medicine garden to construct another array. Having said that, the construction of the Flower Branch domain is extremely advanced to begin with, so I''m sure how much use this new array will be," Daoist Xie continued.
"Thank you for your efforts, Brother Xie," Han Li replied with a smile.
"In here are some treasures of various different attributes, out of which over two hundred are immortal treasures, but only one of them is a graded one. It''s a lightning-attribute de that I was hoping you would temporarily lend to... No, sell to me. As for the price, you can decide, and I''llpensate you at ater date," Daoist Xie continued.
It set down a ck storage bracelet onto the table as it spoke, then flipped a hand over to produce a long ck saber.
The saber was riddled with spirit patterns, and there were eight longan-sized purple beads wight lightning shing within them embedded into its de.
It was an eighth-grade immortal treasure, and as Daoist Xie injected a burst of immortal spiritual power into it, the seven purple beads on the de instantly began to glow radiantly, sending powerful lightning-attribute energy fluctuations erupting in all directions.
Han Li was given quite a fright, and he hurriedly stifled the energy fluctuations as he said, "I''m not going to sell or lend this de to you."
A hint of disappointment shed through Daoist Xie''s eyes upon hearing this, but it immediately faded away as it began to set the de down onto the table.
However, Han Li reached out to stop it as he said, "I can give this saber to you, but I want to ask you some things, and I hope you can be truthful with me."
A hesitant look shed through Daoist Xie''s eyes, and only after a long silence did itn nod in response.
"Have you recovered most of your memories?" Han Li asked.
"I''ve recovered a lot of my memories, but they''re a little bit jumbled, and I''ve been trying to sort through them this entire time, but to no avail. If you want to ask about that, then I''m afraid I don''t have any answers for you," Daoist Xie replied with a shake of its head.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "What is the wish that your former owner wants me to fulfill."
"I''m afraid that''s a memory that I''m still yet to recover, Fellow Daoist Han. However, what I''m certain of is that it''s definitely no easy feat toplete," Daoist Xie replied with a wry smile.
"Well, that didn''t help at all," Han Li sighed. "It''s fine, you can have the saber."
Daoist Xie hesitated momentarily before stowing the saber away, then said, "Judging from the inscriptions on the de, its name appears to be Heavensh. Looking at the forging methods employed and the patterns on its surface, it seems to havee from the same origins as Thundersh, except it appears to be a bit older and also of a higher quality.
¡°In any case, both are extremely formidable weapons, and I''ll be sure to repay you for this in the future."
Han Li merely waved a hand in response as he stowed away the storage bracelets on the table.
"There''s one final thing I have for you. Inside this storage are the pills and spirit nts that I gathered from the storage tools that you gave me. I''m sure there are many precious items in there, but most of them are unrecognizable to me, so I''ll let you sort through them," Daoist Xie said.
Han Li nodded in response and picked up the storage ring, then briefly refined it before examining its contents, upon which his mood was instantly lifted significantly.
Not only did the storage ring contain all types of recovery and cultivation pills, there were alsorge quantities of rare and precious spirit ingredients and spirit nts, some of which even he couldn''t identify.
What caught his eye the most was the dozen of fist-sized Profound Zoysia Crystals in the storage ring. This was a vital ingredient for refining Baleful Quelling Pills, and with the Bitter Ornament Herbs that he had purchased during the Tamda Festival, he now had both the primary ingredients required to refine Baleful Quelling Pill.
This was something that he was going to have to do as soon as possible. Otherwise, if his baleful decay were to rear its ugly head here in the Gray Realm, then that could easily spell his end.
However, this wasn''t a process that could be hurried, so he would have to wait until he reached a safer and more secure ce before hemenced his pill refinement.
After stowing the storage ring away, Han Li asked Daoist Xie about how the domain was looking, upon which he was informed that all was well in the spirit medicine garden. The Dao Warriors that had been nted were about to reach maturity, but the remnants of the Twin Birth Tree were stillpletely devoid of vitality.
The Essence Fire Raven was still encased within that silver ball, disying no signs of waking up anytime soon.
Han Li wasn''t overly concerned about this. Having witnessed the power of the Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, he wouldn''t be surprised even if the Essence Fire Raven were to hibernate for over a decade.
Chapter 708: Meeting
Chapter 708: Meeting
After some further conversation, Daoist Xie returned to the Flower Branch domain, while Han Li drank by himself for a short while longer before suddenly leaving his room.
In a guest room at the end of the louchuan''s third floor, Mo Guang was meditating with his eyes closed when his eyes suddenly sprang open, and he said, "Come in, Fellow Daoist Li. I''ve been waiting for you for quite some time."
The door of the room swung open, and Han Li made his way inside.
After casually setting up a restriction in the room, Han Li closed the door and asked, "You knew I was going toe?"
He swept his gaze across the room as he spoke to find that it was a lotrger than his, and the furnishings were also more intricate. On top of that, there was a dish of ck fruits with fiery patterns on them ced on the table.
"Given the delicate situation that we''re in, I figured that you woulde and give me some advice on how to speak and act," Mo Guang said with a smile as he picked up one of the ck fruits before biting into it, releasing the dark purple juices and wisps of ck baleful qi inside.
"Not at all, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang. You''ve already lived for countless years, and you possess far more knowledge and experience than I do. On top of that, we''re connected by the Heavenly Devil Contract, so there''s no need for me to tell you how to conduct yourself. Instead, I''vee here as I have something to ask you," Han Li said in a seemingly nonchnt fashion.
"Oh? What is it?" Mo Guang asked with a perplexed expression.
"I secured this bone bracelet from the body of that Gray Immortal on the first floor, and it looks to me like a storage tool used by Gray Immortals. I attempted to refine it using immortal spiritual power, but to no avail, and I''ve also tried to inject baleful qi into it, but that didn''t work, either," Han Li exined as he pulled out the bracelet before tossing it at Mo Guang.Mo Guang epted the bracelet, and following a brief inspection, he smiled and confirmed, "This is indeed a storage tool."
After that, he chanted an incantation, and wisps of baleful qi surged out of the palm of his hand as began to refine the bracelet.
Momentster, the baleful qi emanating out of his hand dissipated to reveal the bracelet again, and it released a burst of gray light onto the ground.
A small pile of gray crystals ttered onto the ground, apanied by several weapons and a bunch of peculiar Gray Realm materials.
Han Li inspected the contents of the bracelet momentarily, then swept a sleeve through the air to stow half of the gray crystals into his own storage bracelet, while the rest of the items remained on the ground.
"What are you doing?" Mo Guang asked.
"You can keep what''s here. We can''t have a high-grade Void Integration Tribe cultivator walking around without a storage tool," Han Li exined, then promptly withdrew the restriction that he had set up in Mo Guang''s room before bidding him farewell.
Following Han Li''s departure, Mo Guang stood in his own room with a contemtive look on his face.
......
Over three years flew by in a sh.
The louchan had been soaring above the baleful clouds this entire time, but it was finally beginning its descent, having arrived at Serene Millet City.
Han Li and the others were standing on the deck of the louchuan, looking down below, and they could see a vast in that was dotted with gray forts of different sizes, interspersed throughout which were around a dozen ck rivers.
These gray forts all had conical rooves, and they were situated quite close to one another. The area wasn''t bordered by any city walls, and it appeared that this was a concentrated settlement formed by countless stone forts.
At the center of the in was a giant za and a dense cluster of these stone forts.
Before long, the louchuan descended onto the za, and Han Li and the others flew down from it.
"It''s still quite early, so why don''t youe with me to meet my father, Senior Jiang?" Miao Xiu proposed to Mo Guang as she led the way from the front.
"I''ll follow your lead, Ms. Miao," Mo Guang replied with a dazzling smile.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were trailing along behind him like a pair of obedient servants, even making it a point not to look around much.
After the group passed over the za, they made their way through a series of intricately crafted corridors before arriving at a giant stone pce, in front of which was a staircase of around a dozen steps.
They were approached by a gray-robed elderly man, who extended a deep bow toward Miao Xiu with an ecstatic expression as he greeted, "Wee back, Young Mistress."
"Where''s my father right now, Uncle Zhong?" Miao Xiu asked with a smile.
The elderly man took a nce at Han Li''s trio, then pointed to the pce behind him as he replied, "Our monarch is currently entertaining some guests, so I''m afraid he won''t be able to see you now."
"Uncle Zhong, these three behind me are Void Integration beings who''ve saved my life. Can you pass on a message to my father to see if he can meet with us first and postpone hsi current meeting to another time?" Miao Xiu asked.
The elderly man''s expression instantly changed slightly upon hearing this, and he hurriedly replied, "Ah, these are esteemed guests from the Void Integration Tribe? Please wait a moment, Young Mistress, I''ll pass on the message right away."
With that, he rushed into the pce, then returned shortly thereafter as he said, "You can go in, Young Mistress."
An ted look shed through Miao Xiu''s eyes upon hearing this, and she led Han Li''s trio to the pce.
Right as they were about to enter the pce, the door suddenly swung open, and a young man from the San Miao Tribe emerged from the pce with a serious-looking middle-aged man behind him.
The man had a set of authoritative facial features, and he was giving off tremendous baleful qi fluctuations.
Han Li''s pupils instantly contracted slightly at the sight of the man.
Even though he was wearing a ck robe, and his hair had also turned ck, Han Li was certain that this man was none other than the first dao lord of the ze Dragon Dao, Baili Yan!
They hadst met briefly back when Han Li was fighting over the High Zenith Pills in teh Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, and he certainly wasn''t expecting to see Baili Yan again in the Gray Realm.
Right as these thoughts were shing through Han Li''s mind, he passed Baili Yan by, thetter didn''t even take a nce at him, clearly having failed to recognize him.
Upon entering the pce, Han Li spotted a middle-aged man seated on the main chair inside. His facial features bore some resemnce to Miao Xiu''s, and it appeared that he was Monarch Miao Gao of the ck Teeth Region.
There were several ck-robed figures standing beside him, and all of them appeared to be quite advanced in age. All of them turned to Miao Xiu with benevolent smiles on their faces, clearly very pleased with her safe return.
"Miao Xiu pays her respects to her father and elders," Miao Xiu said as she extended a slight bow.
"Greetings, Monarch Miao Hao, I am Jiang Gu of the Void Integration Tribe," Mo Guang said as he stepped forward while crossing an arm over his chest and touching his fist to his own shoulder.
"We pay our respects to Monarch Miao Gao," Han Li and Shi Chuankong said in unison while extending bows of their own.
Miao Gao had already stood up from his chair, and he returned Mo Guang''s salute as he said, "I''ve already been informed of what happened at Wave Edge Lake by our carrier Gray Light Pigeon. Thank you for saving our ck Teeth Region and my daughter, Brother Jiang. Our ck Teeth Region may be secluded, but we''re aware of the importance of repaying favors, so I''ve prepared a small gift for you. Please don''t refuse it."
As soon as his voice trailed off, a white-haired elderly man approached Mo Guang before offering him a bone ring with both hands.
"You''re too kind, Monarch Miao Gao," Mo Guang replied with a smile as he epted the ring.
"Why have youe all this way to our ck Teeth Region from the Young Dawn Region, Brother Jiang? If you need anything, feel free to tell me, and our San Miao Tribe will do everything in its power to help you," Miao Gao said.
Aftermunicating briefly with Han Li through voice transmission, Mo Guang replied, "I was out traveling with my servants here when I encountered an extremely powerful great demon and I pursued it all the way to the Six Moon Grasnd. After that, I encountered the Gray Lizard Tribe by chance, and I heard that the Tamda Festival wasing up soon, so I decided to apany them top broaden my horizons."
"I see. In that case, it sounds like it was fate that brought us together today. May I ask what is the great demon that you were hunting? Perhaps we can help you," Miao Gao said.
"That thing''s already long gone. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have decided to stay with the Gray Lizard Tribe. From here, I''m nning toplete my travels and return to the Young Dawn Region," Mo Guang replied with a smile.
"If you''re traveling anyway, then why don''t you stay in our Serene Millet City for a while? It would give us an opportunity to show you our hospitality," Miao Gao offered with a smile.
"In that case, I''ll be in your care," Mo Guang replied.
"Xiuxiu, go and arrange a ce for guests to stay, thene and see me in the inner manor," Miao Gao said.
Miao Xiu gave an affirmative response, then led Han Li''s trio out of the pce toward a cluster of stone forts.
There were some huge, leafless flowers nted around the cluster of buildings, releasing wisps of ck baleful qi, and the closer the deeper they went into the cluster of buildings, the more concentrated these flowers became.
Han Li wasn''t surprised to see this. In the Gray Realm, baleful qi was essentially equivalent to the world''s origin qi, and it stood to reason that the San Miao Tribe would arrange for its guests to stay in a ce where baleful qi was most abundant.
Sure enough, Miao Xiu only stopped in her tracks upon arriving at the stone fort in the very heart of the cluster of buildings.
"This pce is reserved for our San Miao Tribe''s most esteemed guests. Please enjoy your stay here, and if you need anything, feel free to inform me," Miao Xiu said with a smile.
"Thank you," Mo Guang replied with a smile.
Miao Xiu still had to see her father, so she bade Han Li''s trio farewell before departing.
Han Li''s trio entered the pce, then picked out rooms for themselves, and Shi Chuankong entered his room, while Mo Guang followed Han Li into another room.
Chapter 709: Predicament
Chapter 709: Predicament
Right as Han Li and Mo Guang arrived at the entrance of the room, the former suddenly stopped cold in his tracks as his body shuddered violently.
"What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Han?" Mo Guang hurriedly asked.
Han Li offered no response. At this moment, ayer of gray light had emerged over his eyes, and his facial muscles were beginning to spasm, indicating that he was enduring some type of severe pain.
Immediately thereafter, his entire body began to tremble, while hisplexion turned deathly pale.
For some reason, the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints had suddenly begun to churn violently in an uncontroble fashion.
All of a sudden, bursts of inky-ck baleful qi began to erupt out of his body, and they were iling around like devilish tentacles, causing the surrounding air temperature to plummet.
"Let''s go in the room first," Mo Guang said, and Han Li pushed the door open before making his way inside.
Could it be that my baleful decay is rearing its head again? What a terrible time for this to happen...
It had already been several centuries since the previous onset of baleful decay, and the dying effect of the threads of time had already worn off, so this wasn''t too much of a surprise.With that in mind, he swept both sleeves through the air, releasing hundreds of array gs thatnded around the room to set up several sturdy restrictions.
Mo Guang also contributed to the effort, raising a hand to release a burst of ck light, which created another ck restriction in addition to Han Li''s.
This restriction was filled with ck mist, and a series of interlocking ck chains could be seen within it.
A burst of mellow baleful qi fluctuations was emanating from the array, interspersed withw power fluctuations, and it was immediately able to contain the majority of the baleful qi that was flowing out of Han Li''s body.
Thanks to theirbined efforts, all of Han Li''s baleful qi fluctuations had been contained, but everything had happened so abruptly that they weren''t able to contain the initial eruption of baleful qi.
At the same time, all of the baleful qi in the surrounding area was drawn to the pce in a frenzy, creating an enormous phenomenon that was no less formidable than what one would expect to see from a breakthrough for a Gray Immortal.
At this moment, Miao Xiu was on her way to the inner manor, and she suddenly turned in the direction of the pce as a hint of amazement shed through her eyes.
"Such immense baleful qi fluctuations! As expected of a Void Integration being..." Miao Xiu murmured to herself with a contemtive look in her eyes.
Shi Chuankong was currently seated with his eyes closed on the bed in his room. The silver lute was hovering above his head, and he seemed to be refining the treasures, but all of a sudden, his eyes sprang open as he cast his gaze toward the entrance of his room.
......
Inside Han Li''s room, Daoist Xie appeared amid a sh of golden lightning.
"I''m going to need your help, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, Brother Xie," Han Li said as he sat down with his legs crossed and began to channel his cultivation arts.
In the next instant, a burst of radiant golden light erupted out of his body, apanied by bursts of timew power fluctuations.
Mo Guang and Daoist Xie exchanged a nce with each other, then each made their way to a corner of the room before sitting down with their legs crossed.
Right as Han Li was channeling his timew powers to protect his immortal acupoints, he discovered that something wasn''t quite right.
At this moment, only the immortal acupoints in his body that had been infiltrated by baleful qi were in a state of unrest, while his remaining, clean immortal acupoints remained normal, and that was different from the previous onset of baleful decay.
Could this not be an onset of baleful decay?
If this were an onset of baleful decay, then even though he was confident in his ability to suppress it, it was going to take him some time. At the moment, he was in the Gray Realm, so if anyone were to detect that he was enduring a baleful decay, then his cover would be instantly blown.
With that in mind, Han Li channeled his immortal spiritual power and timew powers to suppress the churning baleful qi in his body with all his might.
However, despite his best efforts, the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints only became more and more restless, as if they were being stimted by something.
Han Li could feel his agitation growing by the second, and a burst of irrepressible impulses were arising within his heart.
At this moment, his eyes were glowing red, and his aura was bing more and more violent.
On top of that, the baleful qi in the surrounding space was rapidly converging toward him as if it were being attracted before fusing into his immortal acupoints.
The amount of baleful qi in his immortal acupoints was rapidly increasing, and it was bing more and more restless.
Han Li bit down onto the tip of his own tongue, using the pain to ensure that he remained lucid and in control, and he conjured up a door of silver light before stepping into the Flower Branch domain.
Upon entering the Flower Branch domain, the baleful qi converging toward him was also brought into the domain. As a result, the baleful qi in the room instantly became a lot sparser, while the amount of baleful qi in his immortal acupoints also ceased topound any further.
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon sensing this, and he sat down with his legs crossed before summoning a Baleful Quelling Pill, which he promptly devoured.
The pill quickly melted away, and two enormous auras, one hot and one cold, appeared before flowing through his entire body.
All of his pores opened up involuntarily, and bursts of incredibly dense baleful qi surged out of his entire body.
When did I umte so much baleful qi? Han Li wondered to himself with a bewildered expression.
Thanks to the three Baleful Quelling Pills that he had takenst time, much of the baleful qi in his body outside of his immortal acupoints had been expelled, so it didn''t make sense for so much of it to have returned in such a short time.
Could it be that the baleful-qi-rich environment in the Gray Realm is what''s doing this to me?
After some contemtion, Han Li shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought before focusing on refining the Baleful Quelling Pill.
Right at this moment, Mo Guang appeared behind him, then began to chant an incantation before raising both hands to release two bursts of ck light, which quickly converged to form a thick pir of ck light.
The pir of ck light took on the form of a giant beastly projection that appeared to be somewhere between a tiger and a lion, and it opened its mouth up wide, devouring all of the baleful qi that was surging out of Han Li''s body.
Not only that, but the suction force released by the projection was enveloping his entire body, significantly increasing the rate of baleful qi expulsion.
Thanks to the Baleful Quelling Pill and Mo Guang''s assistance, the baleful qi in his body was rapidly being expunged, and the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints gradually subsided as well.
Around a week flew by in a sh.
The baleful qi surging out of Han Li''s body gradually diminished until it disappeared altogether, and he slowly opened his eyes, which had returned to their normal, lucid state.
At the same time, Mo Guang dispelled the pir of ck light, and Han Li inspected his own internal condition to find that the unrest in the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints had subsided.
However, the amount of baleful qi in his immortal acupoints hadn''t decreased at all. In fact, it had increased slightly from the baleful qi that it had absorbed from the outside world, and he couldn''t help but heave a forlorn sigh upon seeing this.
The baleful qi lingered in his immortal acupoints like persistent spirits, constantly threatening to rear its ugly head again.
"Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang," Han Li said.
"It''s fine, don''t worry about it," Mo Guang replied with a wave of his hand.
"Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, given that you''ve upied this Gray Immortal body for all this time, I''m sure you must''ve be quite familiar with baleful qi. Were you able to make any observations these past few days? Why did the baleful qi in my immortal acupoints suddenly be so violent?" Han Li asked.
"At the moment, you''re in the Gray Realm, so your body is constantly in contact with baleful qi from the outside world. Given your current struggles with baleful decay, there''s arge amount of baleful qi in your body, and the two attract each other.
¡°Hence, ever since you entered the Gray Realm, the amount of baleful qi in your body has been rapidly increasing without your detection, and it was most likely the excessive abundance of baleful qi in your body that triggered the unrest in the baleful qi in your immortal acupoints," Mo Guang exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
Upon entering the Gray Realm, it initially seemed as if he could limate himself to the environment here. However, due to the abundance of baleful qi in his body and the fact that he had used a Gray Realm cultivation art in the past, his body had undergone some changes, essentially making him half a Gray Immortal.
Under these circumstances, the baleful qi in his body would go into this state of unrest over and over again, causing his body to slowly limate to this environment. At this rate, it would most likely only take about a thousand years for him topletely be a Gray Immortal with no possibility of turning back.
"The baleful qi in other parts of your body can be easily expelled using Baleful Quelling Pills, but there''s no way to expel the baleful qi in your immortal acupoints. We''ve managed to suppress your baleful qi this time, but I''m not sure how many more times we''ll be able to do this," Mo Guang said with a serious expression.
"It looks like the only two options open to me are to return to the True Immortal Realm or ovee my baleful decay," Han Li said with a wry smile.
Clearly, it wasn''t going to be easy to leave the Gray Realm in a short time, but oveing his baleful decay in the Gray Realm was going to be next to impossible, and thus, he was faced with a very difficult predicament.
Chapter 710: Baleful Cleansing Pond
Chapter 710: Baleful Cleansing Pond
Following Mo Guang''s departure, Han Li sat back down with a contemtive expression, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
A short whileter, Han Li received a visit from Shi Chuankong, and he opened the door to let him in.
"Fellow Daoist Li, I could sense that you were busy these past few days, so I didn''t dare toe and disturb you. During this time, Miao Xiu came to visit on two asions, and I had to make up excuses both times to send her away. I''m worried that if you don''t show up soon, the San Miao Tribe will begin to grow suspicious," Shi Chuankong said.
"Why did shee to visit?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"She didn''t go into detail, but it seems like she''ll be leaving the ck Teeth Region soon, and she wants to visit Jiang Gu, or Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, before she goes. However, I think she most likely came to investigate the irregr baleful qi fluctuations fromst time," Shi Chuankong replied.
"In any case, if shees again, then we''ll just have to meet her. With Fellow Daoist Mo Guang acting as our cover, they wouldn''t dare to do anything out of line," Han Li said after a brief moment of contemtion.
Shi Chuankong nodded in response, and that seemed to be the end of the matter, but he remained seated in Han Li''s room, and both of them fell silent.
"Is there something else you need, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked.
"Fellow Daoist Li, I have a request, but I''m not sure it''s appropriate," Shi Chuankong said in a hesitant fashion.
"Go ahead," Han Li prompted.
"Would you be able to give me another Baleful Quelling Pill? Here in the Gray Realm, I have to constantly expend a huge amount of immortal spiritual power to keep the surrounding baleful at bay, and some of it has still wormed its way into my body," Shi Chuankong said with furrowed brows.
"That''s going to be problematic," Han Li sighed with a forlorn expression.
"I know these pills are extremely precious, and I''m willing to purchase them from you, so feel free to state your price, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong hurriedly added.
"That''s not the problem, Fellow Daoist Shi. It''s just that I only had two of those pills left, and I used one to save you and the other one to quell my baleful qi bacsh during the past few days, so I don''t have any left now," Han Li sighed.
A hint of disappointment shed through Shi Chuankong''s eyes upon hearing this, and he asked, "In that case, would it be possible to refine more of these pills? Alternatively, do you have any simr pills in your possession?"
"I don''t have any simr pills, but I do still have some Baleful Quelling Pill refinement ingredients left. I was nning to refine a batch a bitter, but it seems like I''ll have to make haste," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"Please sell me some pills after you''ve refined them. I already owe you my life, so it couldn''t hurt to owe you a bit more. Once we return to the Immortal Realm, I''ll make sure topensate you with interest," Shi Chuankong promised.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Shi. We''re both stuck in the same predicament right now, so we naturally have to look out for each other," Han Li replied with a smile.
The two of them chatted for a while longer before Shi Chuankong departed, following which Han Li sat back down again and fell into deep thought.
......
As night fell, ayer of dark baleful qi rose up outside.
Han Li opened his eyes, then concealed his own aura and left his room.
He passed through a series of stone forts as he searched through the nearby area, and after pausing momentarily at another stone structure only several thousand feet away from the stone fort where he was staying, he set off once again, this time flying out of Serene Millet City.
Only after arriving at a dark river outside the city did he descend onto the ground, where he stood facing the river with his hands sped behind his back.
Some timeter, a streak of ck light descended out of the sky, then faded to reveal a tall and broad figure.
"Long time no see, Dao Lord Baili," Han Li said as he turned to the newly arrived figure.
The figure''s brows were tightly furrowed as he asked, "Who are you? Why have you invited me to meet you here in secret?"
"Don''t be rmed, Dao Lord Baili, it''s me. We''ve met several times in the past, but we''ve never had a chance to talk to each other," Han Li replied as he revealed his true appearance, and Baili Yan observed him for a moment, following which his expression changed drastically.
"Fellow Daoist Li? What are you doing here?" he eximed in surprise.
"I was exploring a set of ruins and was inadvertently transported here after being sucked into a spatial vortex. Why are you also here in the Gray Realm, Dao Lord Baili?" Han Li asked.
He wasn''t surprised that Baili Yan was able to identify him, given his ties with Daoist Hu Yan.
"I came here through the Reincarnation Pce," Baili Yan replied with a smile.
"Through the Reincarnation Pce? Dao Lord Baili, may I ask how the Reincarnation Pce and the Reincarnation Region are connected?" Han Li asked.
Baili Yan contemted the question momentarily, then replied, "That''s a rather difficult question to answer. The Reincarnation Pce is in the Immortal Realm, while the Reincarnation Region is in the Gray Realm, but the two share one simrity, which is that the Reincarnation Pce Master is also the Reincarnation Region Monarch. Does that make sense?"
Han Li was astonished to hear this. He had thought that the Reincarnation Region was most likely just a power in the Gray Realm that was working with the Reincarnation Pce, but he didn''t think that they would be one and the same, and he certainly didn''t think that the mysterious Reincarnation Pce Master would have such a strong influence in the Gray Realm as well.
"So that means you came to the Gray Realm by ident, right?" Baili Yan suddenly asked. "It''s truly remarkable that you were able to survive in thispletely foreign realm up to this point. No wonder Fellow Daoist Hu Yan spoke so highly of you."
"I''ve only been able to survive up to this point by hiding my identity, it''s hardly anything to be proud of," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"Staying in the Gray Realm is not a long-term n. Your body will constantly be infiltrated by baleful qi, and once your immortal bodypletely decays, your cultivation foundation will surely be damaged, and you''ll either perish or descend to be a Gray Realm, so you should get back to the Immortal Realm as soon as possible," Baili Yan cautioned with a solemn expression.
"It''s not that I don''t wish to return to the Immortal Realm, I simply don''t know how. Otherwise, who would be willing to stay in this ce?" Han Li sighed with a wry smile.
Baili Yan''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this, and after a long hesitation, he said, "The way to return to the Immortal Realm is a closely guarded secret of our Reincarnation Pce that isn''t to be passed onto outsiders, but it was only thanks to the High Zenith Pill secured by Fellow Daoist Hu Yan in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor that I was able to suppress my karmic mes, and you yed a vital role there, so I must return the favor. Take this badge."
He flipped a hand over as he spoke, producing a round, palm-sized badge that he handed to Han Li.
"What''s this?" Han Li asked, and he didn''t immediately ept the badge.
"This is my Reincarnation Badge. With this badge, you''ll be able to go to any monarch-level city in the Reincarnation Region to find a Reincarnation Pce branch, and they''ll tell you how to return to the Immortal Realm. Of course, they''ll only supply a route, whether you seed will be up to you," Baili Yan exined.
Han Li epted the badge before examining it for a moment to find that its material was quite special. Unlike something from the Immortal Realm, it contained pure baleful qi, and on the front side of the badge were engraved the words "Reincarnation Pce".
"This is too precious for me to ept. I presume that you only have one such badge, right? If you give it to me, how will you be able to return to the Immortal Realm yourself?" Han Li said with a shake of his head as he offered the badge back to Baili Yan.
"As I''m sure you''re aware, my body has already been infiltrated by baleful qi as a result of my karmic fire remission. Thanks to the High Zenith Pill, I was able to reach a faux High Zenith Stage, and only then was I able to suppress the baleful qi to preventplete degradation of my body. I came to the Gray Realm in order to permanently resolve this issue. If I can''t do that, then there''s no need for me to leave the Gray Realm," Baili Yan sighed.
"If I''m not mistaken, karmic mes and baleful qi are essentially the same thing, except they''re manifested in different forms, so why have youe to the Gray Realm, a ce that''s rife with baleful qi, to find a solution to your karmic mes?" Han Li asked in a perplexed manner.
"The world is a very strange ce sometimes. Just as you say, the Gray Realm is rife with baleful qi, but in this realm exists a thing known as a Baleful Cleansing Pond, which contains Bone Rinsing Golden Lightning, a pure yang-attribute lightning capable of eradicating all yin-attribute baleful entities.
¡°By soaking yourself in a Baleful Cleansing Pond, one will be cleansed of their baleful qi and also have their body and soul refined, culminating in many benefits," Baili Yan exined.
Han Li was ecstatic to hear this, and he hurriedly asked, "Do you know where this pond is in the Gray Realm?"
"Baleful Cleansing Ponds are extremely rare, and at the moment, and at the moment, I''ve only been able to track down a single one in the Infernal Region. It''s a sacred area to all of the tribes in the region, and outsiders are barred from entry. Are you interested in Baleful Cleansing Ponds as well, Fellow Daoist Han?" Baleful Cleansing Pond asked.
"Truth be told, I''m currently struggling with my baleful decay, and it''s a constant threat that''s hanging over my head," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
Baili Yan took a closer look at Han Li upon hearing this, particrly staring into his eyes for a long while, upon which a grim look appeared on his face.
"Fellow Daoist Han, your baleful decay bacsh and my karmic fire remission are two different things. Unless you''re in an absolutely dire situation where you have no other alternatives, I suggest you return to the Immortal Realm to find another solution to your problem," Baili Yan said.
"Why is that?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
Chapter 711: Risk
Chapter 711: Risk
"The Infernal Region is the most conservative and the most brutal out of the Gray Realm''s three most major powers. Even beings from other regions in the Gray Realm are strictly barred from entering the region, let alone someone from the Immortal Realm like you. If you enter the Infernal Region and are discovered, your fate will be sealed," Baili Yan exined.
"I''ve heard of the three major powers of the Gray Realm, but I''ve never learned what they were. Would you be able to enlighten me, Dao Lord Baili?" Han Li asked.
"I suppose it couldn''t hurt. In the Gray Realm, the regions under themand of the Reincarnation Pce Master are considered to be the radical faction, and they''re proponents ofbining the Gray Realm''s forces to attack the Immortal Realm. The conservatives are the regions led by the Infernal Region, and they think that the Reincarnation Region is to me for the constant invasion of the Gray Realm from the Immortal Realm''s forces.
¡°Hence, they propose uniting the Gray Realm''s forces, but they don''t wish to attack the Immortal Realm. As for the third faction, that consists of the regions led by the ck Rope Region, and they wish to maintain the status quo, keeping things as they are now," Baili Yan exined.
"I see. Why is it that all of them hold such different views of the Immortal Realm?" Han Li asked.
"That''s mostly decided by the makeup of the different factions. The Reincarnation Region consists primarily of Three Corpse Immortals, who hold very strong fixations on the Immortal Real, so they naturally want to return there. The Infernal Region is mostly inhabited by native Gray Immortals who wish to defend their territory and to avoid conflict against the Immortal Realm.
¡°As for the ck Rope Region, most of its inhabitants are also native Gray Immortals, but they''re against the autocratic rule of the Infernal Region, and they don''t trust the Three Corpse Immortals of the Reincarnation Region, so they''re stuck somewhere in the middle," Baili Yan exined.
"What are these Three Corpse Immortals that you speak of, Dao Lord Baili?" Han Li asked.
"Before a Great Epassment cultivator bes a Dao Ancestor in the Immortal Realm, they must sever three corpse souls in order to renounce all of their worldly ties, and the things that are severed are called the three corpses, most of which consist of the most deep-rooted fixations that Great Epassment cultivators develop during their cultivation journeys.
¡°Upon being severed, these three corpses be enemies of the cultivators that they were severed from, and due to certain reasons, these three corpses have entered the Gray Realm to be Three Corpse Immortals," Baili Yan exined.
Han Li was still had many more questions about this subject, but right as he was about to raise them, Baili Yan waved a hand as he continued, "The severance of the three corpses is a secret and taboo subject that no Great Epassment cultivator would be willing to speak about. I''m still far from reaching that level, so I know very little about the subject, and I won''t be able to answer any other questions for you."
"So you''re saying that the Infernal Region is an option that I definitely shouldn''t consider?" Han Li asked with a wry smile.
"In the past, it would''ve been impossible for you to enter the Infernal Region. Right now, it''s possible for you to go there, but your chances of finding the Baleful Cleansing Pond are next to zero, and that''s not even mentioning the life-threatening danger associated with entering the pond," Baili Yan replied with a shake of his head.
"Truth be told, my baleful decay is quite special, and I''ve tried many methods to remedy the problem but to no avail, so perhaps the Baleful Cleansing Pond is my only hope left of reaching the High Zenith Stage. If there''s a way to enter the Infernal Region, then please disclose it to me, and I''ll be extremely grateful," Han Li said in a solemn fashion as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Baili Yan was silent for a long while upon hearing this, seemingly grappling with an internal conflict.
Han Li didn''t try to rush him, and he merely waited patiently for a response.
"So be it. I''ve already told you many secrets that I shouldn''t have disclosed to you, but I''m indebted to you, and I''m certain that you''re not affiliated with the Heavenly Court, so I''ll tell you what you want to know. I''vee to Serene Millet City on this asion to try and win over the ck Teeth Region on behalf of the Reincarnation Region.
¡°My objective is to secure their vote for the uing Three Region Conference, which will be held in Asura City of the Infernal Region," Baili Yan finally revealed after a long think.
"In that case, would I be able to apany you to enter the Infernal Region and attend this conference?" Han Li asked as his eyes lit up slightly.
"The Three Region Conference has a very strong bearing on the Gray Realm''s overall attitude toward the Immortal Realm, so it''s an extremely important event. At the moment, I''ve been tasked with approaching many more neutral regions under the ck Rope Region, such as this ck Teeth Region, in order to try and secure an advantage for the Reincarnation Region.
¡°On top of that, you''re not a true member of the Reincarnation Pce, so I can''t bring you with me," Baili Yan replied with a shake of his head.
"I see. In that case, I think I have another solution. Seeing as you''re here to win over Monarch Miao Gao, the ck Teeth Region will definitely be attending the conference, so I could just apany them to the Infernal Region," Han Li said.
"Do you really want to go to the Infernal Region? This conference does present an opportunity, but at the same time, the tribes of the Infernal Region will be sure to bolster the defenses around the Baleful Cleansing Pond. You are taking an enormous risk here," Baili Yan cautioned in a concerned manner.
"Rest assured, Dao Lord Baili, I''ve made up my mind," Han Li replied with a smile and a nod.
Baili Yan could tell that there was no dissuading Han Li, so he smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist Hu Yan has always had an eye for talent, and he told me that you were destined for great things. Having said that, I never anticipated that we would be reunited under such strange circumstances."
"He''s currently living the good life, while we have to toil away just to survive. Thankfully, I learned a lot of wine brewing methods from him, so I still have a decent supply of wine. Would you like to have a drink with me, Dao Lord Baili?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"dly!" Baili Yan replied with a wide smile of his own.
The two of them chatted with one another until it was close to daybreak, and only then did they part ways.
Shortly thereafter, Baili Yan left Serene Millet City.
That same afternoon, Miao Xiu visited Mo Guang once again, informing him that she was going to be apanying her father to Asura City to attend the Three Region Conference.
Under Han Li''s instructions, Mo Guang immediately expressed interest in this conference, requesting to apany Miao Gao to the conference and to travel the Infernal Region along the way.
Miao Xiu didn''t immediately agree to the proposal. Instead, she dered that she would inform Miao Gao of the request and leave the decision to him.
Not long after that, she returned to inform Mo Guang that Miao Gao had agreed to his proposal.
Initially, Han Li was a little taken aback, but he then quickly understood the reasoning behind Miao Gao''s decision.
The Nirarbuda Region that had attacked during the Tamda Festival was a small region under the Infernal Region, indicating that the rtionship between the regions leading up to the conference was a little rocky.
With Han Li''s trio apanying them on their trip to the Infernal Region, they would have an addedyer of protection, which was certainly good news.
However, due to therge number of tribes attending the conference, there was still some time left until the scheduled time of assembly, and there was still close to half a year left until they were set to depart for the Infernal Region.
......
Several monthster, the date of departure finally arrived.
A massive three-story louchuan was docked on the za in front of the monarch''s manor, and it was the same one that Han Li and the others had traveled on, but the horse-like beasts drawing the louchuan were farrger thanst time, and each of them had three pairs of wings instead of two.
Han Li''s trio, Miao Gao, Miao Xiu, and a gray-robed hook-nosed man emerged from the entrance of the manor.
"Fellow daoists, we''ll be traveling to ck Teeth City to meet up with the regional monarch, and from there, we''ll be setting off to the Infernal Region together," Miao Gao said to Han Li''s trio.
"We''re justing along for the trip, so we''ll take your lead, Monarch Miao," Mo Guang replied with a smile, while Han Li and Shi Chuankong remained silent, continuing to y the role of obedient servants.
"This conference is an extremely important event that''s taken very seriously by all regions. Please ept these guest elder badges so that your identities don''te under question during the conference," Miao Gao said as he flipped a hand over to produce three ck badges.
Han Li''s trio epted the badges before expressing their gratitude, following which Mo Guang asked, "Monarch Miao, may I ask how long it''ll take for us to get to ck Teeth City?"
"ck Teeth City is located in the heart of the ck Teeth Region. These six-winged Horned Horses will be a lot faster than their four-winged counterparts, but even so, it''ll still take us over ten years to reach our destination," Miao Gao replied.
Mo Guang nodded in response, which Han Li''s brows furrowed ever so slightly upon hearing this.
He had only been in the Gray Realm for several years, yet his body had already umted enough baleful qi to stir up unrest in his immortal acupoints. If he couldn''t find a way to resolve this problem, then a journey of over ten years was going to be a real struggle for him.
"Let''s all board the ship, everyone," Miao Gao said as he made an inviting hand gesture to Mo Guang, and only after Han Li''s trio had boarded the louchuan did he also do the same.
The gray-robed young man made his way over the front of the ship before making a hand seal, and the Horned Horses immediately took flight.
Miao Xiu arranged rooms for Han Li''s trio to stay in, and they were still the same rooms that they had stayed inst time.
As soon as Han Li entered his room, he immediately closed the door and set up severalyers of restrictions, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon Daoist Xie, following which he instructed, "Please keep a lookout for me, Brother Xie."
Daoist Xie nodded in response, and Han Li conjured up a door of silver light, then stepped through it into the Flower Branch domain.
By staying in the Flower Branch domain, his body wouldn''t be in contact with the baleful qi in the outside world, thereby significantly slowing down the umtion of baleful qi in his body.
After sitting down with his legs crossed in a secret chamber, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a pile of Baleful Quelling Pill refinement ingredients.
Heh ad collected many of the supplementary ingredients required to refine Baleful Quelling Pills, and now that he hade into possession of Profound Zoysia Crystal and Bitter Ornament Flowers, he could finally begin refining some more Baleful Quelling Pills.
After arranging all of the ingredients, Han Li didn''t immediatelymence his pill refinement. Instead, he flipped a hand over to produce a map of the ck Teeth Region, and he traced a finger along the route between Serene Millet City and ck Teeth City, following which a faint smile appeared on his face.
After that, he stowed the map away and closed his eyes.
Chapter 712: Twin-headed Fox Saber
Chapter 712: Twin-headed Fox Saber
Half a year flew by in a sh.
One night, Han Li emerged from his Flower Branch domain in his room on the louchuan.
Daoist Xie was seated on the ground with its legs crossed, and it immediately rose to its feet at the sight of Han Li.
"Please continue to keep a lookout, Brother Xie, and inform me right away if someonees to visit," Han Li said to Daoist Xie, then made a hand seal before flying out of his room as a blurry shadow.
The restrictions in the room opened up a sliver on their own to allow him to fly through them, and Han Li emerged into the darkness outside.
There were several fluorescent white stones embedded onto the body of the louchuan outside, but the white light that they were giving off was very faint, and it failed to illuminate the darkness.
There was not a single person on the deck of the louchuan with the exception of the gray-robed man, who was piloting the ship.
There was a ck restriction around the louchuan that was shing with misty ck light, and Han Li took a nce at the gray-robed man, then cast his gaze toward the ck restriction before flying toward it.
In the instant that he came into contact with the restriction, his body transformed into a cloud of faint mist that quickly passed through the ck restriction without causing any disturbance.The mist then converged to reform Han Li''s body, and he descended rapidly, quickly reaching the ground below.
Down below was a vast grasnd that was still part of the Six Moon Grasnd, and the ground was undting slightly in a wavy fashion.
Han Li flipped a hand over to summon his map of the Six Moon Grasnd while releasing his spiritual sense throughout the surrounding area, and an ted look quickly appeared on his face as he flew away in a certain direction.
Close to an hourter, a swamp that was filled with bubbling ck mud appeared up ahead, and gusts of freezing wind were asionally rising up from the swamp''s depths.
There was a cloud of gray mist hanging in the air, and it was giving off an acrid, sulfurous odor.
"This is the ce," Han Li murmured to himself as he flew deeper into the swamp without any hesitation.
This was the boundless swamp in the Six Moon Grasnd, the ce where Bitter Ornament Herbs could be found.
The boundless swamp just so happened to be on the way from Serene Millet City to ck Teeth City, presenting Han Li with the opportunity to pick some Bitter Ornament Herbs.
Once he began refining Baleful Quelling Pills, it would take two to three years toplete the process, so he had held off this entire time.
After taking a deep breath, he sped up a little more, quickly flying deeper into the boundless swamp.
The cial qi here was abnormally abundant, and the air temperature was plummeting rapidly.
Han Li slowly scoured the surrounding area with his spiritual sense, and his eyes soon lit up as he flew in a certain direction, then descended in front of a small mound of soil.
Next to the mound of soil were three Bitter Ornament Herbs, each of which was around a foot tall.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, yet right as the burst of azure light was about to uproot the three Bitter Ornament Herbs, a ck shadow suddenly darted out from the side, pouncing at Han Li''s left foot at an incredible speed.
A dull thump rang out as an azure light barrier emerged over Han Li''s foot, keeping the ck shadow at bay and sending it flying back.
At the same time, a streak of azure swordlight shot out of Han Li''s sleeve to slice the ck shadow into two.
As it turned out, the shadow was a small ck snake with a triangr fleshy growth on its head. Its mouth was filled with hooked teeth, and even though it had been sliced into two, it continued to struggle and writhe on the ground instead of perishing right away.
Han Li paid no further heed to the snake as he uprooted the three Bitter Ornament Herbs before stowing them away, then continued onward.
A few minutester, his eyes lit up as he flew over to a pond, within which were two more Bitter Ornament Herbs.
He stowed those two Bitter Ornament Herbs away as well, then continued his search.
Close to a day flew by in a sh, and the sky was beginning to brighten.
Han Li flew out of a giant crater that was several thousand feet in size deep within the swamp, and he was looking rather weary, but there was an excited look in his eyes.
His search had yielded close to a hundred Bitter Ornament Herbs, which was a massive haul.
With so many Bitter Ornament Herbs, he wouldn''t have to worry about running out again, and once he returned to the True Immortal Realm, these Bitter Ornament Herbs would him an enormous profit.
There were still many more Bitter Ornament Herbs in the swamp, but he had already spent an entire night here, so he couldn''t keep searching.
Han Li took a deep breath, and the weariness on his face faded a little. He took a moment to ascertain the louchuan''s location, then began to set off in that direction.
However, he wasn''t able to get very far before a resounding boom suddenly rang out in his mind, and his entire body began to tremble uncontrobly.
A sense of nausea began to rise up from all of his internal organs, and all of the blood in his body began to gush toward his heart.
He hurriedly channeled his cultivation arts to suppress the unrest in his body, and he was just about to examine his surroundings when all of the difort that he was experiencing suddenly disappeared, as if it had been nothing more than a figment of his imagination.
He was left feeling a little dazed as he stopped in his tracks, then began to examine his surroundings with his spiritual sense, but didn''t discover anything amiss.
A contemtive look appeared on his face as he slowly flew back in the same direction that he hade from, and it didn''t take long before the sense of nausea appeared again.
Han Li''s brows were furrowed tightly as he suppressed the sense of difort and scoured thendscape down below with both his eyes and his spiritual sense, and his gaze quickly fell upon a pond.
That was the source of his difort.
Han Li flew through the area around the pond for a while, and he discovered that the sense of nausea only arose whenever he entered an area within a radius of around two hundred to three hundred feet of the pond.
The surface of the pond was very cid, and after some hesitation, Han Li was unable to suppress his curiosity as he dove into the pond.
The pond wasn''t very deep, and he was quickly able to reach the bottom, which was quite t, with a pile of loose rocks on the ground.
These rocks all differed in shape and size, but they were all ck in color, and there were some strange patterns on their surfaces, indicating that they were no ordinary rocks.
At the bottom of the pond, the nausea that Han Li was experiencing had intensified even further, and that pile of ck rocks was the root cause.
All of a sudden, he swept a leg through the water, releasing a crescent-shaped burst of azure light that struck the pile of ck rocks, scattering them to reveal what was underneath.
As it turned out, there was a ck saber plunged diagonally into the ground beneath the rocks.
The saber was entirely ck in color and resembled a piece of charred wood. It was impossible to tell what type of material it had been forged from, and there was a fearsome-looking twin-headed fox engraved onto the saber''s guard.
The de of the saber was quiterge and slightly curved, and there was a dark red line running all the way down the length of the saber from its hilt to its tip.
A tremendous, nauseating aura was emanating from the saber, and it was several times stronger than when the saber had been buried under the pile of rocks.
Han Li''splexion paled significantly as he took a step backward, and only after conjuring up a golden light barrier around himself did the sense of nausea abate somewhat.
His brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the ck saber.
Ever since he hade to the Gray Realm, everything here had been either ck, white, or gray, and the dark red line on the saber was the first time that he had seen any other color in this realm.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he released his spiritual sense toward the saber, and in the instant that the two came into contact with each other, his spiritual sense was instantly devoured by a burst of cold power.
Han Li''splexion paled even further as a burst of excruciating pain shot through his mind, and it felt as if a chunk of flesh had been torn off his body.
At the same time, a burst of ck light emerged over the saber, and a series of twisted human faces appeared within the ck light before letting loose deranged roars.
A burst of extremely evil power was surging out of the saber, running along that wisp of spiritual sense to directly infiltrate Han Li''s mind.
His clear and pure consciousness instantly turned dark and gray, and threads of ck light emerged before piercing directly toward his soul.
A sense of extreme nausea welled up in his body, making him feel as if all of his organs were revolting against him, and his senses also became very muddled.
Han Li dry wretched as his expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly darted back in retreat while releasing his timew powers with all his might, allowing him to keep this burst of evil power at bay.
Before long, his spiritual sense had returned to normal, and he was panting heavily as he continued to dart back in retreat, only stopping once he was as far away from the saber as possible.
An indignant roar rang out from within the burst of evil power, and it slowly retreated back into the ck saber.
What the hell is this thing? Not only is it able to devour spiritual sense, it can directly attack one''s soul as well!
Even with Han Li''s immense powers, he had almost fallen prey to that burst of evil power.
Right at this moment, a burst of white light emerged from the twin-headed fox on the saber''s guard, and it instantly spread over the entire saber, following which an intrigued voice rang out.
"I didn''t think that anyone in the Gray Realm would be able to master thews of time!"
The ck light emanating from the saber struggled briefly in an indignant fashion, but was ultimately suppressed by the white light andpletely faded.
Immediately thereafter, an indistinct white humanoid figure emerged from the twin-headed fox. The humanoid figure resembled a middle-aged man, and he was observing Han Li with an intrigued expression.
The man was wearing a white robe, and he was looking a little disheveled, but he was clearly quite handsome.
Chapter 713: Setting a Trap
Chapter 713: Setting a Trap
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes at the sight of the white-robed projection.
The man struck him with a sense of familiarity, but he couldn''t recall exactly where he had seen this man before.
"Ah, I see, so you''re a human cultivator from the Immortal Realm. How courageous of you to have ventured into the Gray Realm," the white-robed man remarked with a smile.
Han Li was astonished to hear this, and he immediately asked, "Who are you?"
His disguise was near-perfect, yet this man had managed to see through him in an instant.
Even though he had emerged from the ck saber, the white-robed man didn''t seem to harbor any ill will.
"Who am I? That''s a good question. You can call me Shi Qinghou," the white-robed man replied with a faint smile.
"Could it be that you''re the artifact spirit of this saber?" Han Li asked.
At the same time, he was thinking back over all of the Gray Realm scriptures that he had read, but he couldn''t recall such a name, and he wasn''t sure if he was being told the man''s real name.A hint of resentment shed through Shi Qinghou''s eyes upon hearing this, but it then immediately faded, and he replied, "Artifact spirit? I suppose so."
Han Li had noticed the minute change in Shi Qinghou''s expression, but he made noment about it.
Right as he was about to ask another question, Shi Qinghou raised a hand to stop him and said, "You''ve already asked me two questions, surely it''s my turn to ask you some questions now."
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "I suppose that would only be fair. Go ahead."
"My questions are simr to the ones that you just asked me. Who are you, and why are you here?"
A sharp gleam suddenly appeared in Shi Qinghou''s eyes as he spoke, and a fearsome aura erupted out of his body.
The ck light emanating from the saber also brightened significantly, and a giant twin-headed demon fox projection appeared within it, glowering intently at Han Li as if it were threatening to tear him to shreds.
Han Li remainedpletely unfazed by Shi Qinghou''s disy of intimidation, and he replied, "My name is Li Han, and I came to the Gray Realm purely by ident. I was sucked into a spatial vortex while exploring a secret area in the Immortal Realm, and that''s how I ended up here."
Shi Qinghou''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and it seemed that he was trying to judge whether Han Li''s words were trustworthy or not.
Shi Qinghou observed Han Li for a long while before finally replying, "I don''t know if you''re telling the truth, but it doesn''t look to me like you were sent here by Yin Chengquan. In that case, we are not enemies."
At the same time, he swept a sleeve through the air, and the fearsome aura emanating from his body faded, as did the ck light being released by the ancient saber.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He had no idea who this Yin Chengyuan was, but at the moment, he had more pressing questions to ask.
"I''ve answered two of your questions, it''s my turn again to ask the questions. What is this ck saber?" Han Li asked.
"You don''t know what this is? I suppose that makes sense, considering you dared to ce your spiritual sense in direct contact with it. That''s further confirmation that you weren''t sent by Yin Chengquan," Shi Qinghou replied as he nodded to himself, following which a contemtive look appeared on his face.
"You still haven''t answered my question," Han Li reminded.
"This de is called the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, and the souls of all of the people that it kills are eternally trapped within it, unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation. It''s imed countless lives up to this point, and it''s umted a tremendous amount of baleful qi and resentment as a result.
¡°You''ve already experienced that firsthand yourself, so I''m sure I don''t need to tell you just how fearsome this de is," Shi Qinghou exined.
It sounds like this is an extremely formidable treasure...
Han Li had many more questions that he wanted to ask, but he held off from doing so as it was Shi Qinghou''s turn.
"I can make use of your timew powers. How about we make a deal?" Shi Qinghou suddenly proposed.
"What kind of deal?" Han Li asked as his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Rest assured, I bear no ill will toward you. The deal that I''m proposing will be beneficial for both of us," Shi Qinghou assured with a smile, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of white light that vanished into the ground near the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber in a sh.
The ground immediately began buzzing, and the earth in a radius of over a hundred feet around the saber was slowly elevated by about half a foot to form a round stone tform.
The mud on the tform was quickly shaken off to reveal the gray stone material underneath, and there were countless ck patterns engraved onto the surface of the entire stone tform to form aplex array.
Bursts of inky ck light were rising up from the array before rapidly flowing outward in all directions, apanied by harrowing shrieks and screams.
The Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber was plunged into the center of the array, and it seemed to have been sealed there.
A hint of surprise appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
He had just scoured the area with his spiritual sense, yet he hadpletely failed to detect this array.
Inplete contrast with the arrays of the Immortal Realm, this was a restriction that was unique to the Gray Realm. Han Li had read some books regarding the arrays of the Gray Realm, but his understanding of the subject was still quite rudimentary, so he was unable to fullyprehend this array.
Even so, he could still sense that the ck array was extremely profound, and the restrictive powers within it were constantly intertwining and changing. It was clear to him that this restriction was not inferior to any that he had ever seen before.
"This is a sealing array. You''re from the True Immortal Realm, so you may not be able to make sense of it, but the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber and I are currently being sealed here by this array. My request is very simple: pull the saber out of the array. Of course, I won''t ask you to do this for nopensation.
¡°I am able to control this Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, and if you can get me out of here, I can stay by your side to assist you in battle for the next one hundred thousand years," Shi Qinghou said with a serious expression.
"You want me to pull the saber out of this array? I''m afraid you think far too highly of me. This is an extremely powerful restriction, and I certainly have no chance of breaking it," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"Of course it would be impossible solely through your own efforts, but I''ve been trapped in this saber for countless years, and through the saber, I''ve managed to refine much of the array, so I can disable most of its power for you," Shi Qinghou said with a smile.
"In that case, I can consider it, but I''m assuming there must be other obstacles to pulling the saber out of the array. Otherwise, surely you would''ve already freed yourself long ago," Han Li mused in a contemtive manner.
"Of course. I can disable most of the array''s power, but at the very minimum, High Zenith Stage power will be required to pull out the saber. On top of that, while I''m suppressing the array, I won''t be able to divert any attention to suppressing the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, so you''ll be struck by bacsh from the boundless resentment within the saber as soon as youe into contact with it, and only the three paramountws will be able to protect you.
¡°The only reason why I''m proposing this deal to you is because you''ve mastered thews of time," Shi Qinghou replied with a nod.
Han Li lowered his head in contemtion upon hearing this, and he was silent for a long while.
"What do you think of my proposal?" Shi Qinghou asked, trying to prompt a response from Han Li.
"While it''s true that this is a mutually beneficial deal, I''m afraid you''ll have to find someone else. My apologies," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
Shi Qinghou''s expression instantly darkened slightly upon seeing this, but Han Li paid no heed to this as he turned to depart.
"Hold on a second, do you know what the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber entails? With this saber, your powers will be elevated by at least tenfold! I can see that you''re at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage. With my help, you''ll be unmatched across the Great Epassment Stage! Is that enough to change your mind?" Shi Qinghou asked.
"This is a very tantalizing offer, but the saber is ultimately under your control instead of mine. On top of that, how do I know if you''re telling the truth or not? I''ve only recently arrived in the Gray Realm, and I don''t wish to take any undue risks," Han Li replied in a stoic fashion.
Shi Qinghou''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "So you''re harboring doubts about my integrity. I suppose that''s only normal. What do I have to do to make you believe me?"
Han Li considered the question for a moment, then replied, "If you want me to trust you, then you have to agree to two of my conditions."
"Go ahead," Shi Qinghou prompted.
"Firstly, I want to know your identity. I''m assuming that you''re not the artifact spirit of this Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber. On top of that, I want to know who Yin Chengquan is and what vendetta exists between the two of you," Han Li said.
"Why do you want to know all of this?" Shi Qinghou asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Truth be told, I can free you from this ce, but I don''t want to attract any trouble in the process. If you don''t rify these matters to me, then I won''t agree to your proposal," Han Li replied.
Aplex look appeared on Shi Qinghou''s face upon hearing this, and he was silent for a moment before replying, "Alright, if you insist, I can answer your questions, but let me warn you that knowing too much isn''t a good thing."
"That may be so, but I''d still like to hear your answer," Han Li said with a smile.
Chapter 714: Pulling Out the Saber
"Why do I feel like I''ve fallen for a ruse? So be it, I''ll tell you what you want to know. It''s true that I''m not the artifact spirit of this saber. Instead, I was previously but one of the souls trapped in the saber after I met my demise to it. However, thanks to my lofty cultivation base, my soul wasn''tpletely assimted by the boundless resentful energy within the saber.
¡°Instead, I was able to glean some of the saber''s secrets, and that allowed me to survive in this form up to this point," Shi Qinghou revealed.
"Who were you before you were killed, and what was your cultivation base?" Han Li asked as a hint of astonishment shed through his eyes.
At the moment, his spiritual sense was no weaker than that ofte-High Zenith cultivators like Su Liu and Bi She, but even he wasn''t able to ward off the boundless resentment within the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber.
However, not only was Shi Qinghou able to do this, he was even able to gain control over the saber, and that was something that Han Li had to be wary of.
"Don''t push your luck, you insolent brat! Do you want me to tell you my entire life story and all of the cultivation arts I''ve used up to this point? I require your help, but that doesn''t mean that you can ask for whatever you want from me!" Shi Qinghou said in a cold voice.
Han Li hurriedly cupped his fist in an apologetic salute as he said, "My apologies, Senior. All you have to do is answer the three questions that I raised earlier."
Due to his cautious and inquisitive personality, he reflexively wanted to find out more about Shi Qinghou, but in his haste to do so, he had inadvertently overstepped some boundaries.
Shi Qinghou gave a cold harrumph before replying, "Before I was killed, I was the monarch of a certain region in the Gray Realm, and the person who killed me was Yin Chengquan, the monarch of the Infernal Region."After revealing all of this, he closed his eyes, unwilling to divulge any more information.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing these three answers, and he was silent for a long while before continuing, "Alright, my first condition has been met. My second condition is that I want to set up some restrictions in your body to use as leverage."
"That''s fine," Shi Qinghou agreed without any hesitation, not even bothering to ask what type of restrictions Han Li was going to nt in his body.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes, but he then quicklyposed himself as he cupped his fist toward Shi Qinghou in an apologetic salute.
"Please pardon my intrusion."
Shi Qinghou drifted out of the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber over to Han Li, who began to chant an incantation, then bit through the tip of his own tongue before spitting out a ball of blood essence.
The blood essence began to squirm like a living creature at his behest, quickly transforming into countless peculiar crimson runes.
At this moment, Han Li''s be was shing with translucent light, and several translucent threads shot out from within before fusing as one with the crimson runes, following which all of them vanished into Shi Qinghou''s be.
A series of crimson patterns instantly emerged on Shi Qinghou''s be, and they quickly spread over the rest of his body in the blink of an eye.
However, these crimson runes only shed a few times before fading away, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.
"It''s done," Han Li dered.
The restriction that he had just set up was a special secret technique that specifically targeted the soul. It was quite simr to the restriction that he had nted in Mo Guang''s body, but on this asion, he was using his own blood essence as a medium to tie himself and Shi Qinghou together to a certain extent.
With this restriction in ce, he would immediately know if Shi Qinghou were plotting against him, but at the same time, he couldn''t just harm Shi Qinghou for no reason, either.
This was quite a fair and equal restriction, and it was the ease with which Shi Qinghou had agreed to his conditions that convinced him to nt such a restriction.
"I''ve already satisfied both of your conditions, so our deal is in effect now, right?" Shi Qinghou asked.
"That''s right," Han Li replied without any hesitation.
A faint smile appeared on Shi Qinghou''s face upon hearing this, and he flew back into the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber as a streak of white light.
All of a sudden, incredibly bright white radiance erupted out of the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, following which strands of fur-like white light shot forth through the air in all directions.
The surrounding ck restriction seemed to have sensed the impending threat, and it also lit up before releasing plumes of ck clouds that converged toward the strands of white light.
A fierce sh ensued between the two, and ck and white light shed erratically, with neither one able to get the better of the other.
Right at this moment, a quiet incantation rang out from within the saber, following which it shuddered as bursts of liquid-like white light surged forth before fusing into the stone tform down below along the de of the saber.
The ck patterns on the array quickly turned white, and the clouds of ck light immediately began to dim, following which they were pierced through by the strands of white light before vanishing altogether.
The light emanating from the ck restriction parted down either side to create an opening that was just wide enough to fit a person, but due to the fact that all of the white light was dedicated to counteracting the restriction, the white light emanating from the saber itself had be quite sparse, and plumes of ck mist were beginning to rise up from the saber.
"Pull out the saber! Hurry! I won''t be able to keep this up for long!" Shi Qinghou said in an urgent voice.
At this moment, Han Li''s entire body was enveloped in radiant golden light, forming a suit of golden armor around him.
He immediately sprang into action without hesitation, shooting through the opening in the ck restriction as a streak of golden light before arriving beside the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber and grabbing onto its hilt.
The ck light radiating from the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber reared up while spreading outward in all directions to form a dense ck halo.
Han Li''s right arm and half of his entire body were swallowed up by the ck halo, and a burst of incredibly formidable resentful power instantly flooded into his mind along his arm.
However, at this moment, his entire body was enveloped within timew powers, so as soon as the burst of resentful power entered his body, it was severely repressed, only able to advance at an extremely sluggish rate.
Even though the burst of resentful power hadn''t yet infiltrated Han Li''s mind, it was so immense that Han Li still felt his consciousness churning violently.
He gritted his teeth against the intense difort as he channeled all of his immortal spiritual power while hoisting his arm upward in a forceful motion.
A burst of tremendous force erupted out of his arms, causing the nearby space to ripple incessantly.
The entire stone tform shuddered violently, as did all of the ck light radiating from the array, and the connective point between the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber and the stone tform was buzzing and trembling violently, but the saber remained firmly in ce.
Han Li immediately made a hand seal upon seeing this, and a string of true spirit projections flew out of his body in rapid session, then flew around him momentarily before vanishing back into his body.
A resounding boom rang out as radiant purplish-golden light erupted out of his body, and he instantly transformed into a purplish-golden devilish deity.
His aura instantly swelled drastically, causing the entire pond to tremble violently, and the devilish deity''s eyes widened as it let loose a low roar and tugged on the saber with all its might.
An explosive boom rang out as the connective point between the saber and the stone tform shattered, leaving a huge hole in its wake.
The devilish deity flew back with the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber held firmly in its grasp before crashing into the side of the pond.
With the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber drawn, the ck light emanating from the restriction on the stone tform quickly faded, following which the stone tform itself also disintegrated into a pile of loose rocks.
A ball of white light flew out of the stone tform before vanishing into the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, and the ck light emanating from the saber was instantly suppressed.
Shi Qinghou emerged from the saber amid a sh of white light, and his eyes were glowing with tion as he roared, "Finally, after being trapped in this godforsaken ce for so many years, I''m finally free! Yin Chengquan, you''ll get what''sing to you for what you''ve done to me!"
Meanwhile, the devilish deity rapidly reverted back to Han Li''s human form, and it observed Shi Qinghou in silence without disrupting him.
Shi Qinghou threw his head back and let loose a thunderous roar, venting all of the fury and indignation that had been umting within him for countless years.
Some timeter, the excitement on his face slowly faded, and he turned to Han Li with a smile as he said, "My apologies, I''ve been trapped here for so long that I was unable to suppress my excitement upon being freed."
"It''s fine, I can empathize with how you must be feeling," Han Li replied.
"Now that I''m free, let''s get out of here. We caused quite amotion just now, so someone could being," Shi Qinghou said.
Han Li nodded in response, then turned his gaze to the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber in his hand. Even though Shi Qinghou had suppressed the resentful energy within the saber, it was still giving off a tremendous aura, and he was trying to think of a way to suppress its aura as well.
Shi Qinghou could see what Han Li was concerned about, and he said, "Those ck crystals are Mythical ck Jade, and they''re very effective at concealing baleful qi and resentful energy. Make a scabbard out of the material, and you''ll be able to conceal most of the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber''s aura."
Chapter 715: Scabbard
Han Li turned to the pile of rocks that he had kicked aside earlier upon hearing this.
He had read about Mythical ck Jade in some of the scriptures that he had collected. It was an extremely precious type of Gray Realm ore, and just as Shi Qinghou proimed, it was indeed able to conceal baleful auras.
However, there were no illustrations of physical descriptions of the material in any of the scriptures, so Han Li wasn''t able to identify it.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which forced back the surrounding water in the pond before also sweeping up the ck crystals and carrying them back to him.
He then opened his mouth to release a ball of azure mes to refine the material.
The Essence Fire Raven was still in a state of slumber at the moment, so he could only use his nascent me for this purpose.
"Hold on, that me of yours is filled with immortal spiritual power, and it''ll be very harmful to the Mythical ck Jade," Shi Qinghou hurriedly said as he raised a hand to stop Han Li, then flicked a finger through the air, and all of the nearby baleful qi instantly converged toward the azure nascent me before fusing into it.
As a result, the azure me quickly turned gray, and a hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
The baleful qi and the azure nascent me didn''t conflict with each other at all. Instead, they were perfectly fused together, and this degree of baleful qi maniption was beyond what Han Li was currently capable of.Han Li took a nce at Shi Qinghou, then made a hand seal, and the gray me instantly enveloped the Mythical ck Jade to produce a sizzling and popping sound.
Close to an hourter, the Mythical ck Jade finally melted into a ball of ck liquid, and the liquid slowly elongated to form a ck scabbard of the same size as the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber at Han Li''s behest.
Shi Qinghou pointed a finger at the scabbard, and all of the nearby baleful qi converged once again forming strands of gray light that fused into a scabbard.
A series of patterns instantly appeared on the scabbard''s surface, and Han Li guided it onto the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber.
The resentful energy emanating from the saber was instantly significantly suppressed.
"Thank you for your guidance, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li said as he examined the scabbard.
"There''s no need to thank me over such trivial matters. I''ve exerted myself quite severely from suppressing the array earlier, so I''ll have to rest and recuperate for a while. You can contact me if you need my help in battle," Shi Qinghou said in a rather cold manner, then flew back into the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber as a streak of white light.
Han Li wasn''t fazed by Shi Qinghou''s cold demeanor. In fact, it instilled within him a sense of reassurance.
He swept a sleeve through the air to release a string of ck and white talismans, then cast a series of incantation seals into the talismans.
The talismans instantly transformed into bursts of ck and white light that enveloped the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber to form a ck and white cocoon of light.
With this additional restriction in ce, the baleful qi emanating from the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber was suppressed even further, to the point that it was barely even detectable anymore.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, and he stowed the ck and white cocoon of light away, then flew out of the pond.
At this point, the suns had already well and truly risen, and Han Li took a moment to ascertain the louchuan''s location, then set off as a streak of azure light.
Around half a dayter, he caught up to the louchuan, then snuck into his own room without being detected.
"Wee back, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie said as it rose to its feet.
"Has anything abnormal happened during my absence?" Han Li asked.
"No, but Shi Chuankong dide to visit once. He saw the restrictions around the room, so he left after leaving a voice transmission talisman," Daoist Xie said as it pulled out a ck voice transmission talisman.
Han Li epted the talisman, then injected his spiritual sense into it before quickly crushing it.
Shi Chuankong hade to ask him about the Baleful Quelling Pills.
It was clear that Shi Chuankong was struggling with the baleful-qi-rich environment of the Gray Realm, so he was going to refine a batch of Baleful Quelling Pills as soon as possible.
He flipped a hand over to produce a white voice transmission talisman, then spoke briefly into it before releasing it, sending it flying toward Shi Chuankong''s room as a streak of white light.
After that, he conjured up an entrance to the Flower Branch domain, then turned to Daoist Xie as he said, "I have to go into seclusion for some time, Brother Xie. Please continue to keep a lookout."
"No problem," Daoist Xie replied with a nod, and Han Li entered the Flower Branch space.
He sat down in his secret chamber to meditate, priming himself into the best possible condition beforemencing his pill refinement.
Over two hourster, his eyes sprang open, and he briefly ran over the Baleful Quelling Pill refinement method in his mind, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a silver cauldron.
After that, he released a burst of green nascent mes out of his mouth to envelop the cauldron.
His nascent me was a little weaker than his me of Essence, but it was still more than enough for Baleful Quelling Pill refinement purposes.
The spirit patterns on the silver cauldron quickly lit up, and the entire cauldron gradually turned a red hot color.
Han Li made a hand seal to release a ball of azure light, which picked up a green spirit nt before transferring it into the cauldron.
The spirit nt quickly melted into a ball of light green spirit liquid, following which another ingredient was tossed into the cauldron.
......
Several years flew by in a sh.
Inside the secret chamber, the silver cauldron was still enveloped by azure mes, and its lid was trembling and rattling incessantly.
Han Li was staring intently at the cauldron, and a short whileter, he suddenly thrust a palm forward, sending a burst of azure light flying into the cauldron.
The green mes around the cauldron instantly faded, while its lid sprang up before falling to the side.
A spicy aroma wafted through the air, and there were five Baleful Quelling Pillsying inside the cauldron.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he plucked the five pills out of the cauldron before storing them into a ck jade vial, then stowed the silver cauldron away as well.
Over the past few years, he had refined a total of close to twenty Baleful Quelling Pills. Funnily enough, he still had some Profound Zoysia Crystals and Bitter Ornament Herbs leftover, but he had run out of all of the supplementary ingredients, something that he had never anticipated before.
However, this batch of pills would be enough for quite some time.
In the next instant, Han Li vanished from the spot before reappearing in his room on the ship, and Daoist Xie rose to its feet upon seeing this.
"Brother Xie, you''ve been out here this entire time, has your body been affected by the baleful qi here at all?" Han Li suddenly asked.
"My body is that of a puppet, so it''s not easily infiltrated by external forces. On top of that, my body contains the power of lightning, so the baleful qi here has no effect on me," Daoist Xie replied in a calm manner.
"That''s good to hear. Has anyonee to visit me during my seclusion?" Han Li asked.
Daoist Xie offered no response, merely pulling out a stack of voice transmission talismans.
Han Li epted the talismans before examining their contents one by one, upon which he discovered that almost all of them were from Shi Chuankong, and there was also one from Mo Guang, asking Han Li about how he should proceed.
Han Li emerged from his room, then flipped a hand over to produce a voice transmission talisman, which he spoke into briefly before releasing.
The voice transmission talisman shot forth through the air before vanishing into Mo Guang''s room in a sh, following which he strode over to Shi Chuankong''s room, then made a hand seal to release a burst of white light, which vanished into the ck restriction around the room.
The restriction around the room quickly began to ripple before fading away, following which the door swung open.
"You''ve finallye out of seclusion, Fellow Daoist Li. Pleasee in," Shi Chuankong said in a slightly hoarse voice.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he entered the room, following which the door swung shut, and the ck restriction was restored.
The room was rather dim, and at this moment, Shi Chuankong was seated in a corner of the room with the silver lute that he had secured from the True Mantra Sect ruins hovering above his head.
Hovering beside the lute was a silver badge that was riddled with silver star designs, and it was the other spatial-attribute immortal treasure that he had secured from the entrance of the True Mantra Sect ruins.
The two spatial immortal treasures were releasing bursts of silver light that formed a spherical light barrier around Shi Chuankong, and there were also numerous gray array gs hovering around him, forming aplex array that conjured up yet another silver light barrier outside of the spherical one.
Shi Chuankong was seated at the center of all of the restrictions, looking in horrible condition. His hair was disheveled, his eyes were gleaming red, and baleful qi was swirling around his body, giving him the appearance of someone on the verge of insanity.
"What happened to you, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked with a startled expression.
"My baleful decay was triggered by the baleful qi here. I didn''t anticipate the Gray Realm to be so abundant with baleful qi. I''ve tried everything to keep it at bay, but I''m still unable topletely shut it out," Shi Chuankong replied with a wry smile.
Chapter 716: Arriving at Black Teeth City
Chapter 716: Arriving at ck Teeth City
"You''re enduring your baleful decay as well, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"It actually began several hundred years ago, but I''ve been suppressing it up to this point using secret techniques. In any case, that''s not important. Have you managed to refine any Baleful Quelling Pills, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Chuankong asked with a hopeful expression.
Han Li offered no response, merely flipping a hand over to produce a ck pill.
Shi Chuankong''s eyes instantly lit up as he rose to his feet, and a burst of silver light shot out of the restrictions around him, transforming to a silver hand that grabbed onto the pill.
Han Li made no effort to stop him, allowing the silver hand to close itself around the pill.
Shi Chuankong was just about to withdraw the silver hand when he suddenly stopped what he was doing.
The baleful qi around him was rippling violently due to his excitement, but he still turned to Han Li as he asked, "Fellow Daoist Li, what would you like in exchange for this Baleful Quelling Pill?"
"We can discuss that another time. Right now, the top priority is for you to take the pill and suppress the baleful qi in your body. Otherwise, at this rate, it won''t be long before yound all of us in a world of trouble," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
Shi Chuankong cupped his fist in a grateful salute toward Han Li, following which the silver hand shot back into the silver restrictions.
At the same time, a series of spatial vortexes emerged around Shi Chuankong, while the silver restrictions also lit up significantly, and he waspletely concealed within them.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and instead of departing, he sat down in another corner of the room with his legs crossed.
Close to a year passed by in a sh.
All of a sudden, the radiant silver light in the corner of the room faded, and Shi Chuankong was revealed.
At this point, the unrest in his aura had already subsided, and it seemed that he had made aplete recovery.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Li. If it wasn''t for your Baleful Quelling Pills, the Gray Realm would''ve most likely be my final resting ce," Shi Chuakong said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute.
"It''s only right for me to help an ally when we''re both in such an inhospitable ce," Han Li replied with a smile as he rose to his feet.
Shi Chuankong took a nce at Han Li, then hesitated momentarily before flipping a hand over to produce a rectangr jade box, which he opened to reveal a ck spirit nt.
The spirit nt was giving off a peculiar aroma that instantly struck one with a sense of alertness, and Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up as he identified the spirit nt.
"If I''m not mistaken, it seems like you''ve also cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique, so I''m sure you''re in need of this Myriad Soul Herb, Fellow Daoist Li. This is the same one that I purchased from that auction all those years ago, and you can have it exchange for that Baleful Quelling Pill," Shi Chuankong said as he offered the jade box to Han Li.
Han Li took a long nce at Shi Chuankong, then epted the jade box as he replied, "This is indeed something that I need, so I won''t refuse it."
"Many people directly consume Myriad Soul Herbs for its spirit sense enhancement effect, but if you refine it into Myriad Soul Pills, the effect will actually be superior," Shi Chuankong said.
"Myriad Soul Pills?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
Even though Han Li had failed to secure the Myriad Soul Herb during the Jade Gathering City auction, he had conducted some research into the spirit nt after the event, but there were no records mentioning that the spirit nt could be refined into pills.
"The Myriad Soul Pill is something that a pill refinement master of our Devil Realm developed only several million years ago, and the recipe is yet to make it to the True Immortal Realm, so it''s no surprise that you don''t know about it," Shi Chuankong exined as he summoned a jade slip before also offering it to Han Li.
Han Li hesitated momentarily before epting the jade slip, and after examining the recipe inside, a hint of tion quickly appeared on his face.
The ingredients required for the Myriad Soul Pill weren''t particrly rare, and he should be able to easily collect the ingredients upon returning to the True Immortal Realm.
Furthermore, ording to the pill recipe, the Myriad Soul Herb''s medicinal effects could be significantly enhanced upon being refined into Myriad Soul Pills, and that was naturally great news for Han Li.
"Fellow Daoist Li, are you able to sell me any more Baleful Quelling Pills? I don''t have any more Myriad Soul Herbs, but during the Jade Gathering City auction, the Myriad Soul Herb was sold for three thousand five hundred Immortal Origin Stones, and I''m willing to pay that price for each pill," Shi Chuankong said with a hopeful expression.
"I was only able to refine a small batch of Baleful Quelling Pills due to insufficient ingredients, and I need to save some for myself, so I can only sell you five," Han Li replied after some contemtion.
"Five is certainly better than nothing, I suppose," Shi Chuankong said with a hint of disappointment in his eyes as he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a small pile of Immortal Origin Stones.
Han Li briefly swept his spiritual sense over the Immortal Origin Stones, then summoned a ck jade vial before tossing it at Shi Chuankong.
Shi Chuankong removed the stopper of the vial to discover that there were six Baleful Quelling Pills inside.
"You can have an extra Baleful Quelling Pill in exchange for the Myriad Soul Pill recipe," Han Li said.
"You''re a good man, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong said with a wide smile, and after the two of them chatted for a while longer, Han Li returned to his own room.
Even though he had a decent supply of Baleful Quelling Pills in his position, he didn''t dare to stay in the outside world for long, and he immediately entered the Flower Branch domain to remove himself from direct contact with the pervasive baleful qi in the Gray Realm.
Several more years flew by in a sh, and the louchuan finally arrived at ck Teeth City, which was quite arge city,parable to some medium-sized cities in the True Immortal Realm.
There were many residents and shops in the city, but still far fewer than in some of the cities of the True Immortal Realm.
The louchuan circled around in the sky for a while, then descended in front of a majestic manor, following which Han Li''s group disembarked.
Han Li didn''t want to leave the Flower Branch space, but at the moment, the three of them were supposed to be guest elders of the San Miao Tribe, so he would have to meet the ck Teeth Regional Monarch.
Having said that, all three of them had concealed their auras, so they didn''t attract any attention.
A ck-robed man with scales all over his face rushed out of the manor to greet Miao Gao.
"Wee, Monarch San Miao. The regional monarch is waiting for you inside, and all of the other monarchs have already arrived."
"It sounds like everyone''s here nice and early. Lead the way," Miao Gao instructed.
The ck-robed man led the group into the manor, and they soon arrived in arge hall, at the center of which was a trapezoid stone tform.
The stone tform was around five feet tall, and at this moment, there was a man with a thick ck beard sitting on it.
The man was extremely broad and imposing, and he was wearing a ck and golden robe that was stretched taut in many areas, struggling to contain the man''s huge and muscr physique.
Four stone chairs were ced on either side of the stone tform, and aside from thest chair on the left hand side, all of the other seven chairs had already been upied, with four or five servants standing behind each chair as well.
"Subordinate Miao Gao pays his respects to the regional monarch," Miao Gao said as he extended a salute, and Han Li and the others followed suit.
The ck-robed man gave a slight nod, following which his gaze swept over Han Li''s trio, and in particr, a hint of befuddlement shed through his eyes at the sight of Mo Guang, but he didn''t immediately raise any questions.
Meanwhile, Han Li was also secretly observing everyone in the hall, and he discovered that the ck Teeth Regional Monarch possessed the highest cultivation base out of everyone here at the mid-High Zenith Stage, while all of the other monarchs were Golden Immortals.
In light of this, it appeared that the ck Teeth Region was a slightly weaker region in the Gray Realm.
"Why are you sote, Miao Gao? Everyone''s been waiting for you for a long time!" a portly elderly man seated on the third chair to the leftined in a displeased manner.
"My apologies, everyone. During our Tamda Festival, we were suddenly attacked by the Nirarbuda Region, and I had to take care of some matters in the aftermath, so I was dyed quite a bit," Miao Gao replied in a calm manner.
All of the other seven monarchs were astonished to hear this, but the regional monarch seemed to be already aware of this, and he said, "I''ve already heard about this. You did a great job fighting off the Nirarbuda invasion, and I''ll arrange a reward for youter. For now, take a seat."
Miao Gao expressed his gratitude to the regional monarch, then sat down on the only vacant stone chair, while Han Li and the others stood behind him.
"Regional Monarch, the Three Region Conference is fast approaching. Now that Monarch Miao Gao is here, should we set off right away?" another ck-robed man asked.
"There''s no hurry. I''ll arrange the itinerary, so there''s no need for any of you to worry about that. On top of that, I have some matters that I wish to discuss with all of you regarding this conference," the regional monarch said.
The eight monarchs immediately sat up straighter upon hearing this.
The regional monarch took a nce at all of the monarchs'' entourages, then instructed, "You can all go for now."
All of the entourages immediately vacated the hall, and Han Li had no interest in this meeting anyway, so he was more than happy to leave.
After all of the entourages had departed, the portly elderly man remarked, "Monarch Miao Gao, I can sense that three of the people in your entourage have very unique auras. They don''t seem to be from your San Miao Tribe."
Chapter 717: Traveling to the Infernal Region
Chapter 717: Traveling to the Infernal Region
"Indeed, Monarch Lu Hong. I was just about to report this matter to our regional monarch. Those three are Void Integration beings from the Young Dawn Tribe, and they yed an important role in opposing the Nirarbuda invasion, so our San Miao Tribe is quite indebted to them. They wanted to apany us to Asura City to see the Three Region Conference, and that''s why I brought them here," Miao Gao exined.
"Void Integration beings?"
All of the other monarchs faltered slightly upon hearing this.
"This conference directly concerns the interests of our ck Teeth Region, and it''s an extremely important asion. How could you just bring outsiders with you in such an unprofessional manner?" the portly elderly man by the name of Lu Hongined with furrowed brows.
Miao Gao''s expression darkened slightly, and he was just about to respond when the regional monarch said, "It''s fine. All of them are carrying San Miao Tribe guest elder badges, so there''s no problem in having them attend the conference. On top of that, I can see that they''re all quite powerful, so if we can win them over, that would definitely be beneficial to our ck Teeth Region."
An ted look appeared on Miao Gao''s face, and he hurriedly cupped his fist in a salute.
Lu Hong was still rather displeased, but he didn''t dare to rebuke the regional monarch, so he could only remain silent.
......
After Han Li and the others emerged from the hall, Miao Xiu informed them of some of the rules of ck Teeth City, following which everyone parted ways.
Shi Chuankong bade farewell to Han Li and Mo Guang, then went straight to the markets in the city to hunt for more money-making opportunities.
Mo Guang returned straight to the louchuan, while Han Li gathered some more scriptures pertaining to the Gray Realm before also returning to the louchuan and entering the Flower Branch domain.
He had only just sat down in the Flower Branch space when Shi Qinghou''s voice rang out in his mind. "I hear that the Three Region Conference is about to be held, is that right?"
"That''s right. It seems that the three regions are going to discuss whether the Gray Realm should invade the True Immortal Realm," Han Li replied.
"Oh? That''s quite interesting, but why is a True Immortal Realm cultivator like you interested in attending the conference? Are you going to gather intelligence?" Shi Qinghou asked.
"I''m nowhere near important enough to have to worry about such matters. The only reason why I''m interested in attending the conference is because I''ve heard that there''s a Baleful Cleansing Pond in Asura City that can cleanse one of baleful qi, and I''m hoping to find this pond and use it to ovee my baleful decay," Han Li revealed.
"You want to find the Baleful Cleansing Pond? I''ve heard that there is such a ce in Asura, but don''t expect me to be of any help. Yin Chengquan and I are sworn enemies, but I''ve never been to Asura City, so I don''t know where this Baleful Cleansing Pond is. Also, don''t go taking risks willy nilly just because you''ve mastered thews of time.
¡°Let me make this clear in advance: I''ve agreed to help you, but if you insist on courting death, then don''t me me if I waive our agreement," Shi Qinghou harrumphed coldly before falling silent.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
He had informed Shi Qinghou of his intentions as he wanted to find out more information about the Baleful Cleansing Pond from him, but it seemed that he didn''t know anything on the subject.
Having said that, the Baleful Cleansing Pond was a vastly renowned ce, so he was confident that he would be able to track it down once he reached Asura City.
As for Shi Qinghou''s threat, Han Li didn''t pay it much heed. Right now, their fates were intertwined, and once he entered Asura City, Shi Qinghou would be forced to help him whether he liked it or not.
On top of that, while Shi Qinghou''s help would naturally be very wee, even if he didn''t help, it didn''t matter to Han Li. He had always relied on himself, and he didn''t need anyone else.
With that in mind, Han Li closed his eyes.
The meeting between the monarchssted two days, and on the third morning, everyone gathered on the za in front of the regional monarch''s manor before boarding a five-story louchuan that was entirely constructed out of some type of ck jade material, and they resumed their journey from there.
......
Over thirty years flew by in the blink of an eye.
On the horizon was an enormous ck city wall that was over a thousand feet tall and stretched for thousands of kilometers, casting a gargantuan ck shadow under the dim light of the suns.
A massive louchuan slowly descended right where the light and the shadows met, and several dozen figures disembarked, but didn''t immediately fly toward the city gate.
Only after the ck Teeth Regional Monarch had flown down and stowed the louchuan away did everyone make their way toward the city gates together.
Han Li''s trio was dressed in San Miao Tribe clothing, and as they walked along, Shi Chuankong praised, "So this is Asura City. What a majestic city it is. I''m sure it must be one of thergest cities in the entire Gray Realm."
Han Li cast his gaze into the distance to find that all types of strange patterns had been engraved onto the city walls, and there were faint baleful qi fluctuations emanating from them.
At this moment, there was a huge line of people at the city gates, waiting to enter the city.
The convoy of carriages that Han Li and the others were in slowed down over a thousand feet away from the city gates as it joined the back of the line.
From there, Han Li could see three arch gates, stationed beside which were hundreds of guards.
All of them were dressed in gray robes that trailed all the way down onto the ground, while their feet hovered around a foot in mid-air so that they stood a little taller than everyone else, all of them wore cold expressions.
In terms of physical appearance, they were quite simr to humans, except their faces were covered in gray scales, presenting a rather disconcerting sight to behold.
"It looks like all of them are Infernal beings," Shi Chuankong remarked as he swept his gaze over the gray-robed figures, and Han Li was also rather perplexed to see this.
The Infernal Tribe was the ruling tribe of the Infernal Region, and its chief was the monarch of the Infernal Region, so it was a prestigious tribe that normally didn''t stoop to such menial duties, yet on this day, all of the guards at the city gates were Infernal beings.
"Those aren''t Infernal beings, they can only be categorized as Infernal Servants at the very most. Infernal Servants are a lowly branch eliminated from the Infernal Tribe that act as their servants. There are very few true Infernal beings, and almost every single one of them is a cultivation prodigy, so they''re all extremely proud.
¡°You see that small group of people standing at the foot of the city gate? Those are true Infernal beings," Miao Gao exined as he turned to Han Li''s trio.
Han Li cast his gaze in that direction to find a thin elderly man with sunken cheeks seated on arge ck chair at the foot of the city gate. He was wearing a ck robe, and he appeared to be no different from the Infernal Servants, except his face was devoid of scales.
The elderly man made no attempt to conceal his own aura, and he was ate-High Zenith cultivator.
There were two other ck-robed figures hovering in mid-air beside him, and they were quite tall to begin with, so the fact that they were hovering about a foot above the ground ced them even higher above everyone else.
As the ck Teeth Region''s tribe arrived at the city gate, the ck-robed elderly man merely took a nce at them while remaining seated in his chair.
Out of the two figures hovering beside him, a slightly chubby man drifted over to Han Li''s group, and he didn''t even bother to extend a salute as he led them to the side gate to the left of the main gate and said, "Pleasee with me."
The ck Teeth Regional Monarch''s brows furrowed slightly with displeasure upon seeing this, but he didn''t say anything.
The other monarchs of the ck Teeth Region were also infuriated by this treatment, and many of them were cursing under their breaths, but none of them dared to protest beyond a whisper.
Upon being led to the gate on the left, they were greeted by the sight of another long line, this one seemingly consisting of some tribes from the Reincarnation Region.
Han Li''s trio were slowly walking along with Miao Gao and the others when Shi Chuankong suddenly said through voice transmission, "Something''s not right, Fellow Daoist Li. It looks like they''re conducting identity checks over there."
As soon as his voice trailed off, Miao Gao spat under his breath, "These bastards! Not only are they making us take the side entrance, they''re even checking our identities! What do they take us for?"
Han Li turned to discover that there was a person standing in front of the gate, holding an octagonal ck mirror with a metal frame. The surface of the mirror was glistening like a ck crystal, and whenever someone arrived at the gate, the person would examine their eyes through the mirror.
However, there was no one conducting these examinations at the other two gates.
"That mirror is called an Infernal Inspection Mirror, and it''s an inspection treasure that''s particrly effective at examining changes in baleful qi. The baleful qi in the eyes of those examined by the mirror will be fully revealed, and they can even determine which tribe someone is from based on the minute differences in their pupils," Mo Guang suddenly said through voice transmission.
"How do you know that?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"The two of you have been reading through all types of Gray Realm scriptures recently, and I haven''t been cking off, either. I saw a description of this mirror in a book called the Wondrous Artifact Journal. Would you like to take a look?" Mo Guang asked with a smile.
"Do you think the mirror will be able to see through our disguises?" Han Li asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"My body belonged to a Void Integration being to begin with, so I''ll be fine. As for you, your pupils have already changed due to your struggles with your baleful decay, and there''s also baleful qi in your immortal acupoints, so you should be able to avoid detection as well. However, the same can''t be said for Fellow Daoist Shi," Mo Guang replied.
A concerned look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon hearing this.
The line up ahead appeared to be quite long, but everyone was moving quite quickly, and it wasn''t going to be long before it was the turn of Han Li''s trio to undergo their examination.
The regional monarch naturally didn''t have to be examined. All he had to do was sh his regional monarch badge to be granted entry into the city. However, everyone else from the ck Teeth Region tribes had to be examined with no exceptions.
Following their examinations, the people from the ck Teeth Region didn''t immediately enter the city. Instead, all of them waited beside the gate with the regional monarch until everyone was ready.
Before long, it was time for Han Li''s trio to step forward.
Chapter 718: Ripples
Miao Gao seemed to be in a rather foul mood, and he stepped forward to be examined by the Infernal Inspection Mirror, then strode forward without even taking a nce at the Infernal being.
Right after him came Miao Xiu, whose smile remained unchanged this entire time, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.
"It''ll be our turn soon, Fellow Daoist Li. What should we do?" Shi Chuankong asked through voice transmission.
"Don''t do anything rash, just react as the situation unfolds. If one of us gets exposed, I''ll buy us some time, while you use your spatial powers to get us our of here. If worsees to worst, a battle will most likely be unavoidable, but hopefully it doesn''te to that," Han Li replied through voice transmission.
"I suppose that''s all we can do. I must say, you''re remarkably calm, given the situation," Shi Chuankong said.
"There''s no point in worrying. If you have the time to worry, you may as well think about what you can do if things do go sour," Han Li replied.
Mo Guang remained silent with a faint smile on his face, seeminglypletely unperturbed.
At this point, the people of the San Miao Tribe had alreadypleted their identity examinations, and it was Mo Guang''s turn.
The Infernal Servant operating the mirror turned slightly so that he could see Mo Guang through the mirror, and a perplexed look appeared on his face as he asked, "What is a Void Integration being like you doing with the San Miao Tribe?"The elderly Infernal being seated on the ck chair turned to Mo Guang upon hearing this.
"I''m serving as a guest elder in the San Miao Tribe. Is that a problem?" Mo Guang asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Before the Infernal Servant had a chance to reply, the elderly Infernal being replied in his stead, "It would certainly be normal for a San Miao being to serve as a guest elder in the Void Integration Tribe, but the opposite is far more umon."
Immediately thereafter, he appeared right in front of Mo Guang as if by instantaneous teleportation, and he began to tantly examine Mo Guang without any modicum of respect.
This man has also mastered thews of space!
Shi Chuankong''s hands had already balled up into tight fists within his sleeves, and Han Li was also feeling a little apprehensive upon seeing this, but his expression remained unchanged.
"I can serve as a guest elder for any tribe that I want. Is your Infernal Tribe the master of the Void Integration Tribe?" Mo Guang asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Don''t forget that you''re on the territory of our Infernal Tribe right now," the elderly man said in a cold voice.
"Is this where the Three Region Conference is being held?" Mo Guang asked.
"That''s right," the elderly man replied.
"Are there rules stating that Void Integration Tribe guest elders of the San Miao Tribe can''t apany them to the conference?" Mo Guang asked.
The elderly man was silent for a moment, then returned to his chair as he instructed, "Let him through."
One of the Infernal beings beside him hurriedly said with a fawning smile, "There''s no need to get mad at him, he''s just a wretched Void Integration being who''s willingly stooped down to the San Miao Tribe''s level."
The elderly man harrumphed coldly in response, then closed his eyes.
The monarchs of the ck Teeth Region didn''t feel this interaction to be inappropriate at all, and Miao Gao was even secretly giving Mo Guang a thumbs up, clearly very pleased that he had stood up for them.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce with each other, following which Han Li stepped forward to the Infernal Servant.
The Infernal Servant peered into Han Li''s eyes through his octagonal mirror, and on the outside, Han Li appeared calm and collected, but internally, he was extremely apprehensive, preparing to release his time spirit domain at a moment''s notice.
A peculiar look appeared on the Infernal Servant''s face as he suddenly said, "Your eyes..."
Han Li''s heart immediately sank slightly upon hearing this, yet right as he was about to spring into action, the Infernal Servant continued, "They''re a little light in color. Could it be that you''re a mix-blood?"
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this.
ording to the scriptures that he had read, Gray Realm beings who didn''t possess pure bloodlines often had abnormalities in their baleful qi, and that resulted in their pupils being lighter or impure in color.
Mix-bloods had always been regarded as lowly beings, and Han Li took advantage of this, adopting an enraged facade as he yelled, "What does that matter to you? If you''re done, then hurry up and let me through!"
The Infernal Servant waved him through with a disdainful look on his face.
After being rebuked by Mo Guang, the Infernal Tribe elder was naturally reluctant to examine Han Li in person, particrly after hearing that he was a "mix-blood".
Shi Chuankong stepped up in Han Li''s ce, and the Infernal Servant turned to him through his octagonal mirror.
"Are you another mix-blood? No, that doesn''t seem quite right..." the Infernal Servant murmured to himself.
"What''s wrong?" the slightly chubby Infernal being asked as he approached the Infernal Servant.
"This man''s eyes are a little strange, Elder Yin Shan," the infernal servant hurriedly replied.
"Let me take a look," Elder Yin Shan said.
His cultivation base was far superior to the Infernal Servant''s, so if he were to conduct an examination in person, then Shi Chuankong''s cover would most likely be blown.
"Get ready, Fellow Daoist Shi, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang," Han Li said through voice transmission, and he was already bracing himself for the imminent battle.
A serious look had also appeared on Mo Guang''s face, and Shi Chuankong was also preparing himself to summon that silver lute at a moment''s notice.
Miao Xiu was standing behind Han Li and Mo Guang, and a peculiar feeling suddenly welled up in her heart. It seemed to her like their demeanors hadpletely shifted.
Right at this moment, a disdainful voice rang out.
"I didn''t know maggots from the ck Teeth Region were entitled to attend the Three Region Conference! This is not your little Tamda Festival, don''t you feel embarrasseding here?"
Everyone''s attention was drawn in that direction, and Yin Shan also stopped what he was doing.
Shi Chuankong heaved an internal sigh of relief, and he turned to discover a giant azure ape that was over twenty feet tall, d in a suit of ck armor. He was holding a ck spear as he swaggered along, and there were close to a hundred foreign beings behind him, all of whom were also walking along in an arrogant fashion.
All of the people from the ck Teeth Region immediately gathered before them.
"I thought I heard some barking, turns out it''s the stray dogs from the Nirarbuda Region," Monarch Lu Hong chuckled.
The azure ape was furious to hear this, and he thrust his spear straight at Lu Hong without any warning.
His attack was extremely measured, and a beam of incrediblypact gray light shot out of the tip of his spear, affecting no one else in the area as it hurtled directly toward Lu Hong''s be.
Only then did Han Li discover that the azure ape was a mid-High Zenith cultivator, and judging from the baleful qi erupting out his body, he seemed to be even more formidable than the ck Teeth Regional Monarch. He was striking with the intent to kill, and if his attack were tond, then Lu Hong would at least be severely wounded, if not killed on the spot.
Right at this moment, the ck Teeth Regional Monarch intervened, flying through the air before raising a hand to summon a circr ck shield, which shed against the beam of gray light.
A dull thump rang out as the beam of gray light exploded, and the force of the explosion forced the ck Teeth Regional Monarch back a step.
"What are you doing, Wu Chongshan? Do you want our two regions to battle it out here?" the ck Teeth Regional Monarch asked in a cold voice.
As he was speaking, he took a nce at the Infernal Tribe elder seated on the ck chair out of his peripheral vision, only to discover that the elder was resting with his eyes closed, paying no heed to the unfolding conflict.
Yin Shan was also clearly not going to intervene, and the ck Teeth Regional Monarch''s heart sank slightly upon seeing this.
"Mu Yi, who was the one that killed my nephew during the battle at Wave Edge Lake? Hand him over, and I won''t pursue this matter any further," Wu Chongshan demanded.
Miao Gao reflexively took a nce at Mo Guang upon hearing this, only to find that he was standing off to the side as if he were watching a good show, disying no fear, but also no intention to step forward.
"He deserved to die for attacking our ck Teeth Region," Mu Yi replied with a cold sneer.
At this point, all of the people gathered at the city gates had converged to watch the unfolding conflict, and the situation had be very chaotic.
With the attention diverted away from him, Shi Chuankong took the opportunity to sneak over to Han Li''s side.
Wu Chongshan''s expression darkened even further upon hearing this, and it seemed that a battle was inevitable.
"Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, if things continue to escte, more powerful figures could arrive on the scene, and that could prove to be very troublesome for us," Han Li said through voice transmission.
Thus, Mo Guang stepped forward as he dered, "I killed him. What are you going to do about it?"
At the same time, a mid-High Zenith Stage aura erupted out of his body, and Wu Chongshan''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this.
He had thought that Mu Yi was the only High Zenith cultivators in the entire ck Teeth Region, but another had suddenly popped up out of nowhere, and his aura wasn''t any less formidable than Wu Chongshan''s own.
However, with so many people watching, he couldn''t just back down, so he strode forward as he prepared to attack Mo Guang, and all of the other beings from the Nirarbuda Region were also gearing up for battle.
A faint smile appeared on Mo Guang''s face, and his lower body was already beginning to transform into ck mist.
A battle was on the verge of erupting.
Chapter 719:Parting Ways
Chapter 719:Parting Ways
"Stop."
Right at this moment, the Infernal Tribe elder finally spoke up.
His voice rang out like the sound of a massive gong being struck, reverberating incessantly within the minds of everyone present.
"Asura City is not the ce for your senseless battles. Settle down, or you''ll be evicted from the Infernal Region right away."
Wu Chongshan was looking for an opportunity to de-escte the conflict, so he immediately extended a respectful salute toward the Infernal Tribe elder before backing down, while all of the people from the ck Teeth Regino also did the same.
In the wake of that farce, Elder Yin Shan forgot to examine Shi Chuankong, and he was granted entry into the city.
......
That night, the people from the ck Teeth Region were arranged to stay in a residential pce by the Infernal Tribe.
As night arrived, Han Li''s trio arrived at a branch of the residential pce before announcing their arrival.
Before long, Miao Gao and Miao Xiu emerged to greet them, and the five of them entered Miao Gao''s residential quarters together.
After sitting down around an ornate ck stone table, Mo Guang said, "My apologies foring to disturb you at such ate hour."
Miao Gao faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "There''s no need to apologize, Fellow Daoist Jiang Gu. Can I help you with something?"
"We will be leaving tomorrow morning, and I''vee here to bid you farewell," Mo Guang said with a smile.
"Why are you leaving all of a sudden?" Miao Gao asked with a puzzled expression, and Miao Xiu''s brows also furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"I was initially nning to stay for the Three Region Conference, but it feels like there''s a lot of animosity here, and I don''t wish to be swept up in any conflicts, so I think the best course of action would be for me to leave. I much prefer more amicable and festive settings like the one at the Tamda Festival, although that also ultimately devolved into a battle.
¡°On top of that, I heard that the inverted street in Asura City is quite renowned, so I want to pay it a visit to see if I can find some good treasures there," Mo Guang exined.
A peculiar look shed through Miao Gao''s eyes upon hearing this, and he replied, "That''s a shame, but if you''ve already made up your mind, then I won''t try to dissuade you. However, do keep in mind that outsiders like us are only allowed to move around in certain areas of Asura City, while the rest of the city is off-limits for us."
"Please pardon my interjection, Senior Jiang Gu, but the three of you have entered Asura City as guest elders of our San Miao Tribe. If you won''t be apanying us to the Three Region Conference, then you''ll have to adopt a different identity as you travel through the city," Miao Xiu suddenly said.
Han Li took a nce at her upon hearing this.
What she was implying was that once they left the San Miao Tribe, all ties would be severed between them, and their actions would have nothing to do with the San Miao Tribe, clearly indicating that she didn''t believe Mo Guang''s excuse for leaving.
Mo Guang was also aware of this, but his smile remained unchanged as he said, "Rest assured, Monarch Miao, I''m an avid traveler, and I won''t cause any trouble."
"Forgive me for perhaps rambling a little, but the Infernal Region has harbored a great deal of enmity toward the tribes of the Reincarnation Region, and in the wake of what just happened, there''s a chance that you could already be under some scrutiny. Hence, please make sure to be extra careful in case you''re attacked," Miao Gao cautioned.
"Thank you for the cautionary words, Monarch Miao Gao, I''ll be sure to keep that in mind," Mo Guang replied with a warm smile, and Han Li''s trio departed shortly thereafter.
Following their departure, Miao Xiu turned to her father and said, "Father, they..."
"I know what you want to say, Xiuxiu," Miao Gao interjected. "It''s fine. There''s no way we can go to the Young Dawn Region to verify Jiang Gu''s identity, but his aura is most definitely genuine, and his two servants also seem to be quite powerful. It''s clear that they''vee to Asura City for some type of ulterior motive, but seeing as we''ve already decided to vote for the Reincarnation Region, it''s best for us to remain on good terms with them."
"But Father, are you not worried that their true objective foring to Asura City could cause trouble for our San Miao Tribe? I can''t shake the feeling that there''s something strange about them, and I feel like even their initial contact with our tribe was orchestrated by them in advance," Miao Xiu said.
"What trouble could they possibly cause? It''s fine as long as they don''t harbor any ill will toward us. It''s not like they''ll go around telling everyone that they came here with our San Miao Tribe, and we''re certainly not going to tell anyone, either. Besides, do you not want to see someone stir things up a little in Asura City?
¡°We still haven''t fully exacted revenge on the Nirarbuda Region yet, so it would be quite wee if they could stir up a little trouble in the Infernal Region. Having said that, I will have to think of a good exnation to provide to the regional monarch," Miao Gao said with a nonchnt smile.
Miao Xiu was still a little unconvinced, but there wasn''t too much else that she could say on this matter.
......
The next morning, Han Li''s trio left the residential pce and set off northward.
Earlier, Han Li had already heard from Miao Gao that Infernal City was split up into nine major areas, with each area taking up hundreds of thousands of kilometers. As opposed to a city, it really was more like a nation.
The residential pce that they had been staying on was situated on the border of Asura City, and they had to pass through three entire areas in order to reach their destination.
There were many people on the streets, but in contrast with Han Li''s trio, who were walking along, most of them were hovering roughly a foot above the ground.
Their appearances were quite simr to humans, but all of them wore cold expressions, and whenever they gazed upon Han Li''s trio of outsiders, they did so with a great deal of enmity in their eyes.
At this point, Mo Guang had already changed into a loose-fitting ck cloak, and there was a disdainful look on his face as he remarked, "These Infernal Servants really are a pain to look at."
Han Li adjusted the hood of his cloak slightly as he said, "The Infernal Tribe is just as xenophobic as Fellow Daoist Baili imed they would be. They''re not even making any effort to hide their animosity."
"Fellow Daoist Li, we know far too little about the Infernal Tribe. Are we really just going to venture into a sacred area of theirs like this? It seems far too risky no matter how I look at it," Shi Chuankong said with a concerned expression.
Han Li hadn''t kept his meeting with Baili Yan a secret from Shi Chuankong. He had informed him of the two options, namely to return to the Immortal Realm through the Reincarnation Pce or to travel to the Baleful Cleansing Pond, and he had presented Shi Chuankong with two choices, the first of which was that Shi Chuankong could travel on his own to the Reincarnation Region, then wait for Han Li to return from the Infernal Region before taking him to the Reincarnation Pce, while the second was to apany Han Li to the Infernal Region before traveling to the Reincarnation Region together.
Unsurprisingly, Shi Chuankong chose thetter option, both out of concern for his own safety and on the basis of his Baleful Quelling Pill requirements.
"If it isn''t for this Three Region Conference, we wouldn''t even be able to enter Asura City. If we don''t go this time, the option will be forever lost to us," Han Li replied with slightly furrowed brows.
"It seems like the Infernal Tribe holds the Baleful Cleansing Pond in very high regard. Up to this point, we''ve barely been able to find out any information about it, how are we supposed to find it?" Shi Chuankong sighed.
"It''s fine, let''s just go to the inverted street first. There are supposed to be a lot of shops there, so I''m sure we can find out more about the Baleful Cleansing Pond there, and perhaps we could even secure a copy of Asura City," Han Li replied.
"I suppose that''s all we can do for now," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
Meanwhile, Mo Guang was walking along with his hands sped behind his back while observing the people around him, looking very casual and rxed.
......
Asura City, Passive Mountain Area.
On the summit of a giant mountain was an artificial teau that was a result of the original summit being shaved off, and on the teau was a majestic pce.
In front of the pce was a spacious ck stone za that was constructed on a cliff, and beyond the railing was the sheer cliff face, at the foot of which was a vast expanse of ck mist that was rippling incessantly in the wind.
At this moment, there were two figures, one ck and one white, standing within the railing, looking out in the direction of the Fallen Lake Area.
The ck figure was dressed in an enormous ck cloak that was riddled with ck dragon patterns, and the long tail of the cloak was trailing along on the ground, enshrouded in faint baleful qi.
Beneath the cloak was a tall and imposing man who was hovering roughly a foot above the ground. He had a head of long hair, and he was d in a suit of antiquated azure armor, the breastte of which was riddled with specks of rust and had been fashioned into the form of a beastly head.
The man''splexion was quite pale, and he had a set of clear-cut and angr features. There was a very cold look on his face, and he was looking directly forward in apletely expressionless manner.
The white figure beside him was an elderly man whose hair and beard were as white as snow, and he was dressed in a Dao robe of a very high caliber. There were waves of light constantly flowing down the robe from his shoulders before sshing down onto the ground beneath his feet.
The waves of light were giving off waterw power fluctuations that weren''t all that formidable, but were perpetual and unrelenting.
There was a cloud of water vapor around the elderly man, acting as a wall topletely keep out all of the baleful qi in the surrounding air, and he turned to the tall figure beside him as he asked, "What do you think are our chances ofing out on top in the vote during the conference?"
"Less than 30%," the ck-robed man replied in a cold voice.
"Are there already that many tribes of the ck Rope Region that have thrown their support behind the Reincarnation Region?" the white-robed elderly man asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Chapter 720: Inverted
Chapter 720: Inverted
"Those fence-sitters are constantly swaying from one side to another, and the Reincarnation Region has been very active over the past thousand years, so this is no surprise. Having said that, the foundation of our coboration hinges on the failure of this negotiation, so none of this really matters," the ck-robed man harrumphed coldly.
"That may be true, but wouldn''t it be better if we could secure victory by unveiling our trump cards? After that, we''ll be able to exert pressure and slowly chip away at the Reincarnation Region," the white-robed elderly man said.
"You want to sow internal conflict within our Gray Realm so that we can whittle away at the Reincarnation Region without any effort on your part? Isn''t your Heavenly Court being a little too greedy? Feng Qingshui, I suggest you stop trying to y these tricks because you''re not fooling anyone," the ck-robed man said with a cold sneer.
Veins immediately began to bulge on the white-robed elderly man''s forehead upon hearing this.
Ever since he became a Dao Ancestor, he couldn''t recall thest time someone had dared to refer to him directly by name to his face.
However, his anger was only a sh in the pan, and it quickly subsided as he replied, "Yin Chengquan, our Heavenly Court will be sure to do our part, but this is your Infernal Tribe''s territory, so you better make sure that nothing goes wrong on your end."
"You don''t have to worry about that. Even if the measures that you''ve prepared fail, I still have backup measures that I can employ," Yin Chengquan replied.
"Good. In that case, our coboration should be a smooth and mutually beneficial one," Feng Qingshui replied.
"Let me make this clear in advance: your Heavenly Court better not do anything extra outside the terms of our agreement. Otherwise, there will be consequences to bear," Yin Chengquan said as a cold tone crept into his voice.
Feng Qingshui merely harrumphed coldly in response.
......
The Tarmin Area was the area in Asura City filled with the most shops and merchants, and it was also the most densely popted area in the city. Cultivators from all tribes in the Infernal Region converged there, so Han Li''s trio didn''t look too out of ce.
There were many renowned merchant streets and markets in the Tarmin Area, and the most renowned one of all of them was the inverted street.
After passing through a multitude of streets, Han Li''s trio finally arrived at a massive za.
There were several times more beings from different tribes than they had seen on the way here, and many of them had a ck wooden crate hanging in front of them, within which were ced all types of different wares that they were trying to sell.
Right at this moment, a short Gray Realm being with dark green skin and a shock of green hair on his head approached Han Li''s trio, then began enthusiastically advertising his wares.
"Can I interest you in a premium Baleful Snout Smoke Kettle? No? Then how about a few Baleful Inskstones? They''re an absolute must setting up arrays."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he paid no heed to the salesman, while Mo Guang was staring at a giant ck tree in the distance, and Shi Chuankong was the only one who was actually browsing through the wares in the ck wooden crate with keen interest.
Shi Chuankong casually tossed an intricate little kettle back into the wooden crate, then remarked, "It doesn''t look like you have anything good to sell. You could probably sell these things to some low-tier beings, but do we look like the type who would be interested in things like this?"
"I beg to differ. These little trinkets of mine aren''t exactly high-grade tresures, but they''re very versatile and useful for a wide variety of purposes," the green-haired being replied with a sheepish smile.
"I suppose you''re not wrong there. How much for these Baleful Inkstones?" Shi Chuankong asked.
He continued to walk forward as he spoke, and the green-haired being was backpedaling in order to keep up with him.
"At the very least, seven of them will be required to set up an array, and I''ll only charge three gray crystals. If you take arge set of twenty-one, then that''ll only be eight gray crystals," the green-haired being hurriedly replied.
"Eight for twenty-one is a fair price. How about if I buy forty-nine? How much of a discount can you give me then?" Shi Chuankong asked.
The green-haired being''s eyes instantly lit up upon hearing this, following which he replied in a slightly embarrassed manner, "I''m afraid I don''t have that much stock left. I only have thirty-five left on hand, and I can sell them to you for twelve gray crystals. Is that alright?"
"You don''t have enough stock? Forget about it then," Shi Chuankong replied with a dismissive wave.
"Don''t pass me up so quickly, esteemed customer. Is there anything else I have here that catches your eye? Perhaps I can throw in something else to sweeten the deal," the green-haired being hurriedly said, frantically trying to retain Shi Chuankong''s interest.
Shi Chuankong examined the wares in the crate momentarily with a disdainful expression, then said, "Nothing else here catches my eye. Do you have a map of Asura City? I want as detailed a map as possible."
The green-haired being was horrified by this request, and he hurriedly looked around momentarily, then gently tugged on Shi Chuankong''s sleeve as he said in a quiet voice, "Please be careful with what you say here, esteemed customer. The Infernal Tribe is very stingy and never allows private sales of maps of Asura City, nor do they ever sell their maps to outside tribes.
¡°It''s a good thing that you''re talking to me. If you asked to buy a map from someone else, they could easily report the matter to the Infernal Tribe, and you''ll be in a lot of trouble."
Han Li had been eavesdropping on their conversation this entire time, and his brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"Is that so? Thank you for informing me of that," Shi Chuankong mused.
"You''re very much wee, esteemed customer," the green-haired being hurriedly replied.
"Alright, how about this? I''ll take all thirty-five of your Baleful Inkstones, and there''s no need to give me any discount. Throw in that ck walnut, and I''ll give you fifteen gray crystals as thanks for your cautionary words," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
The green-haired being took a nce at the ck walnut that Shi Chuankong was referring to, and a hint of tion shed through his eyes as he said, "This is a Baleful Gathering Stone that''s yet to reach full maturity, and it''s not all that valuable. If you like it, then you can have it. It''s not every day that I meet someone as generous as yourself, so I''d like to offer you another piece of advice.
¡°If you''re looking for a map, don''t go to the shops run by the major tribes of the Infernal Region, and don''t go to walking salesmen like myself, either. The former wouldn''t sell any maps to you, and thetter wouldn''t have any, so they''d only be able to sell counterfeits."
"Alright, thanks again then," Shi Chuankong said with a smile, then handed over the gray crystals in exchange for the Baleful Inkstones and the Baleful Gathering Stone.
After the walking salesman departed, Han Li asked through voice transmission, "What bargain have you picked up this time, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
"That idiot mistook the core of a Baleful Bone Demon as a Baleful Gathering Stone!" Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"What''s a Baleful Bone Demon?" Han Li asked.
"That''s what those things are called in the Immortal Realm, and their cores are very valuable in our Devil Realm. This one seems to have been scorched by some type of fire, causing the baleful qi inside to be extremely subdued, and that''s probably why it was mistaken for something else," Shi Chuankong exined with a smug expression.
Right at this moment, Mo Guang suddenly eximed, "So this is why it''s called the inverted street..."
Han Li and Shi Chuankong cast their eyes forward upon hearing this, and they were greeted by the sight of hundreds of branches extending out of the giant ck tree at the center of the za, with different types of buildings constructed on those branches like hanging fruits.
Due to the irregr shapes of the branches, the buildings constructed upon them were also built in different forms and on different angles.
Han Li''s trio arrived at the foot of the giant tree, where they saw a massive entrance on its trunk, above which was hanging a huge que that read "Inverted Street".
After stepping in through the entrance, they were greeted by the sight of two spiral staircases that led up the trunk of the tree, one on each side. At set intervals up the staircase, there were openings that led to the shops on the branches.
There were currently many people walking up and down the staircases, as well as many people who were more familiar with theyout of the inverted street and were flying straight to the levels that they wanted to visit. The situation was a little chaotic, but it was quite efficient.
Han Li''s trio made their way up the staircase on the left, then emerged from the first opening to arrive in front of a majestic ck hall.
Even before entering the hall, Han Li could see that all of the shopkeepers and employees were either Infernal beings or Infernal Servants, and he immediately stopped in his tracks before making his way toward another branch.
After exploring around a dozen main branches, they discovered that all of the shops were either run by Infernal beings or by several of the Infernal Region''s other major tribes, with very few exceptions.
In the end, instead of continuing their search level by level, they decided to fly straight to the top.
Up here, the branches were already extremely thin, so most of the shops were very small and hanging from the branches like bells.
Han Li''s trio arrived at one of the shops before flying into it, and inside was a tall and thin shopkeeper with ashy gray skin.
He was sitting in front of a row of shelves in a drowsy fashion, and there was an ornate Baleful Snout Smoke Kettle in his hand.
Upon spotting Han Li''s trio, the shopkeeper immediately inhaled some of the smokeing out of the snout of the kettle to reinvigorate himself, then greeted, "Wee! What can I help you with today? Here at my shop, you''ll find great quality products for cheapt prices, and most importantly, all prices are negotiable."
This was clearly a very well-rehearsed spiel, but he spoke with a sense ofziness in hsi voice.
"You''re from the Dark Mulberry Tribe, right? Why have you opened your shop in Asura City?" Shi Chuankong asked with a smile.
Through the scriptures that he had collected, Han Li knew that the Dark Mulberry Tribe was one of the tribes under the ck Rope Region, as opposed to the Infernal Region, so this was indeed quite a rare sight.
Chapter 721: Secret Journey
Chapter 721: Secret Journey
The shopkeeper was rather taken aback to hear this, and he replied, "You have a keen eye, esteemed customer. I am indeed from the Dark Mulberry Tribe, but I left a long time ago."
"I see. It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"What can I help you with today?" the shopkeeper asked.
Shi Chuankong took a nce at his surroundings, then replied, "We need a map of Asura City. Do you have one?"
The shopkeeper''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he took a nce outside before replying in a hushed voice, "That''s a prohibited item that''s not to be sold to or by any outside tribes."
"Who''s going to know if none of us say anything? I give you the money, you give me the map, and that''ll be that," Shi Chuankong chuckled.
The shopkeeper seemed to be quite hesitant, and he offered no response for a long while. Shi Chuankong made no attempt to rush him, and he began browsing through the wares of the shop in a casual fashion.
Shi Chuankong was more adept when it came to business matters, so Han Li decided to remain silent and uninvolved.
Mo Guang had no interest in the shop''s wares, so he stood at the entrance, looking down below.
The shopkeeper was intentionally putting on a hesitant disy, but with no one taking the bait, he had no choice but to break the silence himself.
"I have what you''re looking for, but I''m sure you''re aware of how risky this is for me. Hence, the price is going to be a little steep."
"That''s fine, just state your price, shopkeeper," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"I want fifty gray crystals," the shopkeeper said.
Instead of immediately giving a response, Shi Chuankong merely smiled and said, "While it''s true that this is quite a high-risk item, but it''s also extremely niche, so I''m assuming it''s very rare that you get customers looking for it."
"That''s true, but like I said, everything that I sell in my shop is open to negotiation," the shopkeeper replied.
"I''ll give you ten gray crystals at most," Shi Chuankong said.
"That''s toorge a discount to ask for. My map is different from all the counterfeits going around. It''s a little old, but it''s definitely genuine and urate," the shopkeeper said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"How can you be sure that the map is genuine?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"The ess restrictions on the nine areas of Asura City only came into effect around two thousand to three thousand years ago. Prior to that, all areas were essible with the exception of the Soul Cleansing Area, so the regtions on maps weren''t very tight, either.
¡°The map that I have is one of the few official maps left after the restrictions were implemented, and it can''t even bepared with all of the replicas on the ck market," the shopkeeper replied.
"What''s so special about this Soul Cleansing Area?" Han Li asked.
"It''s the area where the Infernal Region''s sacredndmark is situated, and it''s always been shrouded in mystery. Even the average Infernal being isn''t granted ess to that area," the shopkeeper replied.
"In that case, I can raise the price to fifteen gray crystals," Shi Chuankong said.
"I won''t sell it for any less than forty," the shopkeeper countered.
Shi Chuankong remained unfazed, and after some negotiation, the price was finally decided at twenty-eight gray crystals.
The shopkeeper brought out a ck stone te in a slightly reluctant manner, but Shi Chuankong''s hands remained sped behind his back, disying no intention to pay.
Right as the shopkeeper was beginning to grow confused, Shi Chuankong turned to Han Li and said, "What are you standing there for? Pay up!"
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he handed over the gray crystals in exchange for the ck stone te.
Mo Guang refined the stone te, and after verifying that the map inside was genuine, the three of them left the shop.
Upon emerging onto the street outside, Han Li turned to Shi Chuankong and asked, "Why did you barter so much just to save a few dozen gray crystals? It''s not like we''ll have any use for them after we get back to the Immortal Realm."
"It''s not about the gray crystals, Fellow Daoist Li, it''s about business," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
As soon as his voice trailed off, Mo Guang suddenly said through voice transmission, "ording to the map, the location of the Soul Cleansing Area is very special. From here, we need to venture through the Hundred Treasure Area and the Rashom Area before we can get there.
¡°Both areas are separated by tall walls and restrictions, but the types of restrictions in ce aren''t specified. On top of that, the Soul Cleansing Area on the map is alsopletely nk."
"Given how secretive the area is, it seems like that should be where the Baleful Cleansing Pond is. Let''s go to the Hundred Treasure Area first," Han Li decided.
Mo Guang nodded in response, then led the way toward the Hundred Treasure Area.
Right at this moment, the sound of a massive gong being struck rang out in the distance, and it was clearly audible across the entire city.
At the same time, four pirs of white light rose up from afar, rising up straight into the heavens.
Each pir of white light was over a thousand feet thick, and they resembled four enormous pirs that connected heaven and earth.
Everyone on the street immediately stopped what they were doing to turn their attention to the spectacle, and some of the people who were familiar with one another had even gathered together to observe the pirs of white light with excited expressions.
Han Li''s trio also stopped in their tracks and turned to the pirs of white light.
After listening to the conversations taking ce for a moment, Shi Chuankong concluded, "Looks like the Three Region Conference has begun."
"That''s good. Now that most of Asura City''s attention is focused on the conference, we''ll be able to depart without being detected," Han Li said.
With that, the three of them quickly set off again.
......
The four pirs of white light were situated around a giant za in the Fallen Lake Area, one that was close to a hundred kilometers in size.
The za was paved with white bricks crafted from an unknown material, and they were giving off wisps of white mist, causing the entire za to be enshrouded in a white cloud. This mist was rather interesting in that it didn''t rise up any further beyond around a foot in height, making it resemble a t sea of clouds.
At this moment, there were countless people standing outside the za, most of which were residents of Asura City, including both Infernal Servants and the entourages of all of the tribes that hade to attend the conference.
There were close to a thousand guards d in suits of gray armor standing around the za, keeping the crowd at bay.
On each corner of the za was a stone pir, and they were the sources of the pirs of white light, which were bing brighter and brighter.
Countless white runes were surging out of the surfaces of the pirs of white light in a frenzy, releasing an incredibly tremendous aura.
Bursts of thunderous rumbling were ringing out incessantly high up in the sky, while the baleful qi was churning violently, forming bursts of swirling gray light in the sky.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out as a white stone tform abruptly appeared in the sky, then slowly descended onto the ground.
The stone tform was several thousand feet tall, and it cast a shadow that epassed all of the bystanders down below.
On top of the tform was an open area, upon which was ced an enormous circr white table.
It was unclear what material this table was crafted from, and it was very antiquated in appearance. Despite the apparentck of restrictions on its surface, it still gave off a sense of prestige and gravitas.
There were over a hundred chairs ced around the table, and it appeared that was where the conference was going to be taking ce.
All of the bystanders immediately erupted into conversation upon seeing this.
They had heard that the regional monarch was going to be holding the conference here, but they didn''t think it would be on such an open tform for everyone to see.
Right at this moment, a streak of ck light descended out of the sky beforending on the tform to reveal a tall and imposing man d in a suit of azure armor.
His features were quite handsome, but also extremely cold, and in particr, his gray eyes werepletely devoid of emotion.
He was none other than Yin Chengquan, and even though his aura waspletely restrained, the surrounding space was warping slightly around him, as if heaven and earth were bending to his will.
In this instant, he was the center of the world.
All of the bystanders present were struck by a sense of awe and veneration that arose from the bottom of their hearts, and all of the residents of Asura City fell to their knees as they chanted in a collective voice, "We pay our respects to our esteemed regional monarch!"
All of the outsiders present also paid their respects.
"Wee to the Three Region Conference. I''m sure all of you are already aware of the objective for this conference. In order to ensure a fair, just, and open process, the conference will be held here for everyone to see, so all of you can bear witness to his momentous asion," Yin Chengquan dered, and even though his voice wasn''t very loud, it was clearly audible to everyone, as if he were speaking directly next to them.
Right at this moment, three ck-robed figures emerged on the elevated tform amid a sh of ck light.
They were led by a middle-aged man with a square face and bushy eyebrows, and his skin was as ck as the bottom of a well-used saucepan.
"Your willingness to disy such an important conference for all to see is very admirable, Regional Monarch Yin."
The middle-aged man wasn''t giving off any aura, but he was somehow in perfect harmony with heaven and earth, and it seemed that he could stand toe to toe against Yin Chengquan.
The other two ck-robed figures consisted of an extremely imposing young man who almost resembled a bipedal bear, while the other was a hunch-backed elderly man leaning on a wooden cane, looking as if even a stiff breeze would be sufficient to blow him over.
Both of them also had pitch-ck skin.
"Those are the envoys of the ck Rope Region! The rumors are true, their skin really ispletely ck due to the climate in the ck Rope Region!"
"That man is the Deputy Regional Monarch of the ck Rope Region, Xiao Buye, Dao Ancestor Xiao!"
"The other two seem to be the Bright King Holy Envoy and the Heavenly Baleful Holy Envoy of the ck Rope Region''s Thirteen Holy Envoys, both of whom are Great Epassment cultivators!"
The spectators were abuzz with excited chatter.
A slightly stiff smile appeared on Yin Chengquan''s cold face as he replied, "You''re far too kind, Deputy Regional Monarch Xiao. Everyone has shown sufficient trust in me to set my Asura City as the conference venue, so I naturally have to live up to that trust."
Right at this moment, three more figures appeared on the elevated tform.
"I hope you won''t forget what you said just now, Regional Monarch Yin."
The one who had spoken was a white-haired young man who was extremely handsome, but there was a hint of mncholy in his eyes, as if he had bepletely jaded with the world after enduring countless heartbreaks.
As for the two people standing behind him, one was a middle-aged man with an extremely imposing physique. He was d in a suit of ck armor, and he was standing like an immovable iron pagoda.
The second person was an extremely beautiful woman in a white dress, and if Han Li were present, he would be stunned to discover that it was none other than Wyrm 3.
Chapter 722: Reunion
Chapter 722: Reunion
"Those people are from the Reincarnation Region! The man with the white hair is Huang Fuyu!"
"So that''s Huang Fuyu. Wasn''t he once the Southern Brocade Regional Monarch?"
"I heard that he was once lovers with the Pce Master Xin Yu of the Reincarnation Region, but she perished during a battle against the Heavenly Court. Somehow, in his heartbreak, Huang Fuyu''s cultivation base advanced drastically to be a Dao Ancestor, and heter joined the Reincarnation Region."
"The other man looks like Pce Master Wu Yang of the Reincarnation Region, but I''ve never seen that woman in the white dress before. On top of that, she seems to have only just reached the High Zenith Stage."
With the emergence of Wyrm 3''s trio, the crowd was abuzz with conversation once again, and most of bystanders'' attention was drawn to Huang Fuyu, particrly the female bystanders.
"Rest assured, Pce Master Huang, you have my word," Yin Chengquan said as he turned to the trio.
Right at this moment, numerous streaks of light shot forth from afar beforending on the elevated tform, revealing a series of peculiar figures.
"Young Dawn Regional Master Mo Zan has arrived!"
"Heavenly Map Regional Master Xi Rensong has arrived!"
"Hundred Battle Regional Master Yue Yang has arrived!"
......
These were the regional masters who were subservient to the Infernal, ck Rope, and Reincarnation Regions, but of course, in the wake of the Three Region Conference, their affiliations were going to change drastically.
All of the people on the tform were giving off formidable auras, with even the weakest ones at the Golden Immortal Stage.
The ck Teeth Regional Monarch had also arrived, and he was apanied by Monarch Miao Gao and Monarch Lu Hong.
"Please take a seat, everyone," Yin Chengquan invited, and all of the regional monarchs sat down, while their subordinates stood behind them.
Yin Chengquan took a seat alongside everyone else, then dered, "Let the Three Region Conference begin!"
The sound of the giant gong rang out one final time, and the four pirs of white light rapidly shrank down before fading away altogether.
......
Far away from the renowned inverted street, the buildings became sparser and sparser, and even the Infernal Servants on the streets were showing up with decreased regrity.
After leaving the inverted street, Han Li''s trio had concealed their own auras as they made their way toward the Hundred Treasure Area.
Even though there were fewer pedestrians on the street, they encountered more groups of patrolling Infernal Servants.
In contrast with normal Infernal Servants, these ones were all d in suits of ck armor that only protected the chest and midsection while leaving the arms and legs exposed, appearing quite light and nimble.
The baleful qi emanating from their bodies was remarkably formidable, and they were led by a Grand Ascension cultivator, while the rest were mostly at the Body Integration and Spatial Tempering Stages.
All of them were conducting patrols along set routes, so it wasn''t that difficult to avoid them.
Before long, Han Li''s trio had snuck past several patrol groups and arrived on the border of the Tarmin and the Hundred Treasure Areas.
Just like on the border of Asura City, a massive ck wall stood between the two areas. There were all types of strange runes engraved onto the wall, and it was enshrouded in ayer of murky gray mist, making it impossible to see clearly.
Constructed above the city gates was a three-story-tall ck pce, several thousand feet to the left and right of which was a pair of turrets, and an armord Infernal Servant was stationed every ten steps between the pce and the turrets.
The city gates were tightly shut, and there were two armored giants that were over a hundred feet tall stationed outside. They were very simr to humans in appearance, except they were all bald with square faces andrge mouths, as well as protruding tusks, presenting hideous sight to behold.
At this moment, Han Li was hiding under a gray rock several thousand feet away from the city gates, and Mo Guang and Shi Chuankong were also concealed under rocks of their own not far away.
Thanks to the spatial secret technique unleashed by Shi Chuankong, they were able to avoid detection even though they were already quite close to the city gates.
Shi Chuankong took a nce at a lifeless body of an armord Infernal Servantying on the ground nearby, thenmunicated to Han Li and Mo Guang through voice transmission, "It looks like the information we obtained from the soul search isrgely correct. There are special restrictions ced on the city walls, and the two giants at the city gates appear to be Copper Spine beings, presumably at or above the True Immortal Stage."
"They''re not a cause for concern, the main problem is that there seems to be a Great Epassment Stage Infernal being stationed in that pce. It won''t be easy for us to get past him," Han Li said with slightly furrowed brows.
"I can get us through the city wall quite easily with my spatial powers, but what''s difficult is doing so while ensuring that we don''t alert that Infernal being," Shi Chuankong said with tightly furrowed brows.
"It''s fine, just focus on getting us through, and I''ll help you conceal the resulting aura fluctuations," Mo Guang assured with a casual smile.
"You have a way to fool that Great Epassment Stage Infernal being?" Han Li asked in a skeptical manner.
"Do you not trust me?" Mo Guang asked with a smile.
"A Great Epassment cultivator is far beyond what we can handle. If he''s alerted to our presence, we won''t even be able to get away, so if we''re going to act, then we have to ensure that there''s no chance of us being caught," Shi Chuankong said in a concerned manner.
"Fellow Daoist Han, there are some secrets concealed in this body of mine that you''re not yet aware of. I wouldn''t raise such a proposal if I wasn''t confident in my abilities, so trust me on this one," Mo Guang said.
Han Li hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then acquiesced, "I trust you."
Shi Chuankong''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he seemed to want to say something, but ultimately suppressed the urge to do so.
"Let''s go somewhere else. We have to avoid the pce and the turrets and find a weaker point in the city wall to breach," Mo Guang said.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong nodded in response, and the three of them moved toward the east in a stealthy fashion.
After traveling eastward for close to a hundred kilometers, Han Li suddenly dered through voice transmission, "Stop for second, someone''s onto us..."
Shi Chuankong instantly stopped cold in his tracks upon hearing this. He hadn''t detected anything amiss, nor had Mo Guang.
Right at this moment, a familiar voice rang out.
"Don''t be rmed, Brother Shi, Fellow Daoist Li, it''s us."
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce with each other, and both of them could see their own surprise mirrored in one another''s eyes.
Immediately thereafter, the nearby space warped slightly, following which two figures emerged, one of whom was none other than Fox 3.
He was apanied by yet another familiar figure to Han Li, namely Baili Yan.
An ted look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon seeing this, and he asked, "Fox 3, what are you doing here? And who''s this?"
"Long time no see, Brother Shi, Fellow Daoist Li. This is Fellow Daoist Baili Yan, and he''s also from our Reincarnation Pce," Fox 3 introduced with a smile, following which he turned to Mo Guang with a slightly bewildered look in his eyes.
Baili Yan had already met Mo Guang back in the San Miao Tribe, and he had heard about Mo Guang from Han Li, so he wasn''t all that surprised.
After briefly introducing Mo Guang to Fox 3, Han Li asked, "What are you two doing together?"
"That''s a long story. Back when the True Mantra Sect ruins copsed, I was sucked into this realm by a spatial vortex, and I almost perished to a Baleful Bone Demon. Thankfully, I had enough pills and Immortal Origin Stones on me to scrape by, andter ran into Fellow Daoist Baili," Fox 3 exined with a slightly awkward expression.
This was quite different from Fox 3''s normalckadaisical demeanor, so Han Li knew that he had to have been hiding something, and he turned to Baili Yan with an inquisitive look.
"After I left the San Miao Tribe, I went to the East Lake Region and the Square Hill Region, and I encountered Fox 3 in the Ring Shark Tribe. At the time, he was locked up in prison awaiting his execution for attempting to steal the Ring Shark Tribe''s secret treasure.
¡°Thankfully, the Ring Shark Tribe had already decided to join the Reincarnation Region, so they handed him over to me as a gift, and we came here together after that," Baili Yan exined with a wry smile.
Han Li turned to Fox 3 with a speechless expression upon hearing this, while Shi Chuankong jibed, "Well, well, well, I thought you had a near-spotless record."
"I was feeling a little under the weather in a new realm, but that''s all in the past, let''s discuss the matter at hand," Fox 3 replied in a slightly bashful manner.
"How did you find us?" Han Li asked.
"I knew you came here with the San Miao Tribe, but I didn''t see you there, so I assumed you must''ve set off for the Baleful Cleansing Pond," Baili Yan exined.
"We are indeed nning to travel to the Baleful Cleansing Pond," Han Li replied with a nod.
"That''s perfect! We can all go together, and with ourbined powers, our chances of sess should be a little higher," Fox 3 said.
"Sounds good to me," Han Li agreed as he took a nce at Baili Yan.
Even though Mo Guang possessed the highest cultivation base of the three, it was clear that Han Li was the leader of the group, and neither Mo Guang nor Shi Chuankong raised any objections.
With that, the five of them set off once again, traveling eastward for close to another hundred kilometers before stopping again.
"This is a good ce to stop. If we keep going, there will be another watchtower, and that one could also have a high-grade Infernal being stationed in it, so let''s make our move here," Mo Guang said.
Atop the city wall was a row of armord Infernal Servants standing in a uniform formation, looking directly up ahead.
"The restrictions on these city walls are primarily for fortification and alert purposes, so we''ll have to get a little closer if we want to pass through without being detected," Shi Chuankong said.
"Leave that to me," Fox 3 said as he flipped a hand over to produce a round crystal ball.
Chapter 723: Fortresses
Chapter 723: Fortresses
As Fox 3 chanted an incantation, ayer of rainbow light appeared over the surface of the crystal ball, then swept up everyone in a sh.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s group hadpletely disappeared, and even their auras had been entirely concealed.
"Is this an illusion, Fellow Daoist Fox 3?" Han Li asked.
"You can say that. Thisyer of light can''te into contact with any sensory restrictions. Otherwise, we''ll be exposed right away. Time is of the essence, so let''s get moving," Fox 3 replied with a nod, and the group made its way to the foot of the balck city wall under the concealment of theyer of rainbow light.
Sure enough, they attracted no attention at all the entire time, and the armord Infernal Servants continued to stand still on the spot, looking out into the distance.
"Are we close enough now?" Fox 3 asked.
"Hold on, I have to prepare some things."
Shi Chuankong began to summon a series of array tools and Baleful Inkstone as he spoke, then arranged them onto the ground.
"You can use those things to set up arrays? I thought you only purcahsed them for that demon core," Han Li said with a slightly surprised expression.
"When ites to setting up spatial arrays, it''s best to use native materials. We have Fellow Daoist Mo Guang with us anyway, and I can teach him how to activate the array," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile, then returned to his work.
Han Li carefully observed the process, and he discovered that the array that Shi Chuankong was setting up was extremelyplex. It was simr to a teleportation array, but also clearly different, and he wasn''t able to glean much from it.
Some timeter, Fox 3 urged, "Is it ready yet, Brother Shi? My Shadow Illusion Crystal won''t be able tost much longer."
Shi Chuankong embedded one final array te into the ground, then wiped the sweat from his forehead as he stood up straight and replied, "It''s ready. Everyone, stand in the array."
Everyone immediately stepped into the array upon hearing this. The array wasn''t veryrge, just enough to fit teh five of them.
After learning the activation method from Shi Chuankong, Mo Guang nodded and replied, "The array isn''t difficult to activate. Just do your best to restrain your auras, and I''ll conceal the aura fluctuations from the array''s activation."
He then raised a finger, and a plume of baleful qi instantly began to surge out of the tip of the finger, enveloping everyone like a cloud of ck mist.
Immediately thereafter, he began to chant an incantation, and bursts of spatial fluctuations emerged from the array down below, but they werepletely contained within the surrounding wall of baleful qi.
"Let''s go!" Mo Guang dered, and in the same instant, Fox 3''s Shadow Illusion Crystal shattered.
Everyone within the array vanished in a sh, and one of the Infernal Servants on the city wall seemed to have detected something as he looked down at the foot of the city wall, where he saw a gust of wind stir up a cloud of dust.
He hurriedly swept his spiritual sense over the area, but discovered nothing amiss, and there was no reaction from the restrictions ced on the city wall, either, so he shook his head and began to look out into the distance again.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s group emerged on a small brick path, then began to rush deeper into the city in a stealthy fashion.
Perhaps it was due to the ongoing Three Region Conference, but the Hundred Treasure Area seemed very quiet and bleak. The buildings in the city were primarily quite short, with the exception of some fortress-like pagodas, stationed atop which were more armord Infernal Servants.
Some Infernal Servant patrol groups could be seen traversing through the streets in the city, and the asional group even had True Immortal Stage leaders.
"Security is clearly tighter here in the Hundred Treasure Area, so we have to be more careful," Shi Chuankong said.
"It seems like the map that we have is rather inurate. On the way here, I noticed many watchtowers that weren''t marked out on the map," Mo Guang said.
"That''s not a surprise. Our map came from before the ess restrictions in Asura City came into effect, and any changes that took ce after that naturally won''t appear on the map. As long as the generalyout is correct, we should be fine," Han Li replied.
"It seems like the generalyout is quite urate. There are three routes that we can take to the border of the Rashom Area, two of which lead to the city gate, while the other leads to a turrret in the northwest," Mo Guang said.
"Let''s go take a look at the turret. If we go to the city gate, there will most likely be a Great Epassment cultivator stationed there," Han Li proposed.
No one raised any objections to this, and thus, they began to traverse carefully through the Hundred Treasure Area, making sure to avoid the watchtowers and patrol groups.
As they progressed deeper into the city, they encountered more and more patrol groups, and even with their lofty cultivation bases, they had to be on high alert at all times and proceed with a great deal of caution.
Close to two hours flew by in a sh, and the five of them finally arrived in the central region of the Hundred Treasure Area, where they hid behind a tall building to rest.
Han Li inspected his surroundings with slightly furrowed brows, and he could sense that a bone-chilling sensation had suddenly arisen in the air, whileyers of frost had emerged on the nearby ground and walls.
At this point in the city, there were no longer any normal buildings. Instead, the streets were lined with massive ck fortresses that stretched as far as the eyes could see.
Several giant chimneys were protruding out of the clusters of fortresses, releasing plumes of thick smoke up into the sky, looking much like some type ofrge factory.
There was a marked increase in the number of patrol groups in this area, and asionally, streaks of light would fly across the sky, inspecting everything down below.
Fox 3''s eyes lit up slightly at the sight of the clusters of fortresses up ahead, and he said through voice transmission, "The fact that there are so many guards indicates that this is no ordinary area. Perhaps some secret of the Infernal Tribe is being concealed here."
"That has nothing to do with us, our top priority is to find the Baleful Cleansing Pond. This is a very seriuos situation, so don''t go causing any trouble, Fox 3," Shi Chuankong warned with a stern exrpession.
"I know, I know, I''ll behave," Fox 3 replied with a faint smile, but Shi Chuankon remained unconvinced and continued to keep a close eye on Fox 3.
Han Li took a nce at the two of them, then also cast his gaze toward the ck fortresses while also releasing a wisp of spiritual sense in that direction.
His spiritual sense had only seeped slightly into the wall of the fortress before it was repelled, and a hint of surprise shed through his eyes as he hurriedly withdrew his spiritual sense.
Right at this moment, Shi Qinghou''s voice rang out in his mind.
"Do you want to konw what they''re doing in there?"
"Can you tell me?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"These walls contain the Infernal Great Concealment Restriction. It''s a secret restriction of hte Infernal Tribe, but it''s not that difficult to bypass. I''ll pass the method onto you, and you can see for yourself," Shi Qinghou replied, following which a profound restriction breaking method was transmitted into Han Li''s mind.
Instead of being ted by this development, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Why do you want me to see what''s happening in there?"
However, Shi Qinghou had fallen silent again, disying no intention of answering Han Li''s question.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly, but after a brief hesitation, he released a wisp of his spiritual sense toward the wall up ahead once again.
A burst of invisible force instantly emerged within the wall to stop his spiritual sense in its tracks, but as soon as Han Li began to implement the restriction breaking method taught to him by Shi Qinghou, the restriction quickly softened before fusing as one with his spiritual sense.
Immediately thereafter, his spiritual sense was able to seep through with ease, allowing him to see what was on the other side.
Inside the fortress was a massive basin that was around two hundred to three hundred feet in size, and it was filled with bubbling gray liquid that looked as if it were boiling.
Submerged in the basin were four ck metal cages, held captive within which were two Gray Realm beasts and a pair of Gray Realm beings with cow horns on their heads.
The two gray beasts were shrieking in agony while struggling with all their might, attempting to break free from the cage, but to no avail.
As for the two Gray Realm beings, they weren''t struggling or screaming. Instead, they wereying in their cages as stiff as a pair of boards with extremely wooden expressions, and only the asional movement of their eyes indicated that they were still alive.
These two Gray Realm beings seemed to have been submerged in the basin for too long, to the point that their skin had turned gray in color, presenting an unsettling sight to behold.
Additionally, there were also two Infernal Servants in the fortress, closely observing the scene that was unfolding within the basin.
Han Li was quite surprised to see this, but he didn''t linger for long in this fortress. Instead, he quickly moved on to the next fortress.
This one had no basin in it, but in its ce was a huge furnace, beneath which was a raging gray me, but strangely enough, it was giving off an intense chill rather than any heat.
Hanging within the furnace were several Gray Realm beings and gray beasts, and bursts of gray light were surging out of the furnace before quickly fusing into their bodies, which rapidly swelled in size like balloons, while a series of peculiar patterns emerged over their skin.
Han Li''s spiritual sense lingered here briefly before venturing onward, and in the blink of an eye, he had examined around a dozen ck fortresses, each of which housed a different body refinement method, including boiling, burning, or exposure to lethal poison.
The Gray Realm beings went through their refinement stations in a set sequence, and their bodies took on all types of different forms.
In the end, these monstrous creations were far more powerful than before, but they had lost all sentience and been reduced to puppets with wooden expressions, all of which were locked up in huge metal cages in the final fortress.
Chapter 724: Splitting Up
Han Li was quite surprised by what he was seeing in these fortresses.
It seemed that these unremarkable-looking fortresses were some type of puppet refinement facility for the Infernal Tribe. This was an extremely inhumane refinement process, so it was no wonder that it had to be kept hidden from the general public.
On top of that, the Infernal Tribe had already be so proficient in this strange puppet refinement process that they were able to produce these puppets inrge batches.
Infernal beings were quite rare, but not only were they very powerful, they were also able to control Infernal Servants and mass-produce these puppets, so it was no wonder that they had be the ruling tribe of the Infernal Region.
After some further observation, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense back to the fortress that housed the basin, then released it in another direction, quickly arriving in another giant fortress.
This fortress contained a series of prisons of different sizes that were tightly packed together like a beehive.
Some of these prisons contained different types of gray beasts, while the rest housed different types of Gray Realm beings. All of them werepletely nude with soulless looks in their eyes, and these prisons were intentionally designed to be very short, so these people were forced onto all fours, just like the gray beasts.
These were the "raw materials" used for the puppet refinement process, and there were thousands of them, some of which were even at the True Immortal and Golden Immortal Stages.
However, the prisons for these powerful beings were also specially designed to ensure that they wouldn''t be able to escape.Han Li had already spent quite some time inspecting these fortresses, and he quickly withdrew his spiritual sense.
Shi Chuankong and the others were naturally oblivious to what he had just seen, and having taken a brief rest, the group continued onward.
The five of them carefully advanced through the Hundred Treasure Area ording to their map, and they quickly arrived at the area''s northwestern border.
There was a massive turret hanging above the city wall not far away, and it was identical to the one drawn on the map.
The turret was enshrouded within a glowing ck restriction, and there were many armord Infernal Servants standing on guard duty nearby.
Han Li''s group was observing the city wall from a hidden location, and at this moment, all of them were feeling a little more rxed.
They had alreadypleted the most difficult segment of the journey, and all they had to do now was employ the same method as before to pass through this city wall.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, we''ll have to count on you to get us through again," Han Li said as he turned to Shi Chuankong.
"Not a problem. However, I''ll need Brother Fox to get us close to the city wall," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
"Leave it to me," Fox 3 dered, then flipped a hand over to produce another one of the round crystal balls from before.
Ayer of rainbow light emerged over the crystal ball at his behest, then epassed everyone in a sh, following which the entire group vanished on the spot.
Under the cover of the rainbow light, the group quickly arrived at the foot of the city wall, where Shi Chuankong began setting up another teleportation array.
With a sweep of his sleeve, a streak of silver light fell upon the teleportation array, while Mo Guang was also releasing plumes of baleful qi out of his sleeve, enshrouding the entire array within a cloud of ck mist to conceal all of its aura fluctuations.
However, after the teleportation array lit up, Han Li and the others merely swayed slightly on the spot, but didn''t disappear likest time.
Han Li and others all turned to Shi Chuankong with surprised expressions upon seeing this.
At this moment, Shi Chuankong was looking a little pale, and he turned to the city wall with a grim expression.
"What''s wrong, Brother Shi?" Fox 3 asked.
"Let''s go back first."
Instead of immediately borating on why the teleportation had failed, Shi Chuankong swept a sleeve through the air to stow away all of his array tools, then returned to their hiding spot.
Everyone hurriedly followed along, and once they were concealed again, Baili Yan asked, "What happened back there, Fellow Daoist Shi? Why did the teleportation fail?"
"Could it be that there''s an additional spatial restriction in the city wall?" Han Li asked.
"Are you familiar with spatial teleportation secret techniques as well, Fellow Daoist Li? That''s exactly what''s happened. With that spatial restriction in ce, my teleportation secret technique has been rendered ineffective," Shi Chuankong replied.
Everyone''s expressions darkened slightly upon hearing this.
The Hundred Treasure Area was enshrouded inyers uponyers of restrictions, and aside from Shi Chuankong''s teleportation secret technique, there was no other way for them to reach the Rashom Area.
"Are we going to have to give up aftering all this way?" Baili Yan asked with an indignant expression.
"Not necessarily, all we have to do is deactivate the spatial restriction in the city wall," Shi Chuankong said.
"Deactivate the spatial restriction? Surely that''s far easier said than done. We don''t even know where the core of the spatial restriction is," Baili Yan said with tightly furrowed brows.
"I presume you only raised this option because you already have a rough idea of how to aplish it, right, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked, and everyone immediately turned to Shi Chuankong.
"I did indeed notice something just now. Given how powerful the restrictions within the city wall are, the core of the array must be nearby. I think it''s either in that turret or the city gates there," Shi Chuankong replied.
"In that case, let''s split up. Brother Shi, Fellow Daoist Li, and I will go one way, while Fellow Daoist Mo and Fellow Daoist Baili go the other way, and we''ll search for the core of the array at the entrance of the city gates and in this turret," Fox 3 proposed.
In terms of concealment abilities, Fox 3 and Mo Guang were the most proficient of the group, so this was a sound n, and no one raised any objections.
"Fellow Daoist Baili and I should be able to sneak into this turret with no problems, but if you''re going to the city gates, you could encounter the Great Epassment cultivator stationed here, so make sure to be careful," Mo Guang cautioned.
"Rest assured, I''ve already made some preparations. Just because you''re going to the turret doesn''t mean you can let your guard down. Also, take this teleportation array te, it can facilitate teleportation over short distances. Once we''ve found the spatial restriction, we''ll meet back up using these array tes," Shi Chuankong replied with a confident smile, then summoned an octagonal silver jade te that he handed to Mo Guang.
"The Vast Origin House is certainly never short on resources," Mo Guang remarked with a smile as he epted the jade te.
"Hold on a second, even if we manage to find the core of the array, we''ll inevitably attract some attention if we try to destroy it. If we draw the attention of the Great Epassment cultivator here, we''ll be in a world of trouble," Han Li suddenly said.
Everyone''s expressions darkened slightly as this problem also dawned on them.
"It''s fine. As long as we can find the core of the array, I''ll have a way to take care of it," Shi Chuankong assured with a faint smile.
Han Li took a surprised nce at Shi Chuankong upon hearing this, but didn''t say anything.
"In that case, we''ll be counting on you, Fellow Daoist Shi."
After some further discussion, everyone split up and went their separate ways.
Han Li''s trio made its way toward the city gates. There weren''t many patrolling Infernal Servants near the city walls, so it didn''t take them long to arrive at the city gates, which were tightly shut.
Constructed above the city gates was a three-story-tall ck pce, on either side of which was a smaller turret, and the three buildings were connected by a stone path that was crawling with armord Infernal Servants.
There were also many armord Infernal Servants standing on either side of the city gates down below, and a grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
They were about to sneak into a pce that was likely to be holding a Great Epassment cultivator, and he couldn''t help but feel a little anxious.
Even Fox 3 had adopted a serious expression as he turned to Shi Chuankong and asked, "Brother Shi, do you really have a way to avoid a Great Epassment cultivator''s detection?"
He had been captured by a Great Epassment Stage being back at the Ring Shark Tribe, so he had firsthand experience of just how formidable such beings were.
"I can''t say for sure, but at the very least, I have a great deal of confidence that it''ll work," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile, then pulled three white talismans out of his sleeve.
The talismans were each three inches in length and around an inch wide, and they were riddled with thin ck patterns to form an extremelyplex design.
The talismans were shing with ck and white light, but they weren''t giving off even the faintest of auras, and Han Li and Fox 3 were stunned to discover that they werepletely unable to detect the talismans with their spiritual sense.
"These are concealment talismans refined by a Great Epassment cultivator of our Vast Origin House. As long as there''s no Great Epassment cultivator directly scrutinizing us, these talismans should be sufficient for us to sneak through," Shi Chuankong said as he handed a talisman each to Han Li and Fox 3.
Both Fox 3 and Han Li were stunned to hear this.
"These talismans are far too precious, Fellow Daoist Shi. What would you like in exchange for them?" Han Li asked.
"There''s no need topensate me, Fellow Daoist Li. If it wasn''t for you, I would already be dead and buried in the Gray Realm by now, so how can I ask for anything in exchange for a mere talisman? Right now, our top priority is to bypass this spatial restriction and enter the Soul Cleansing Area so we can find the Baleful Cleansing Pond," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"Don''t worry about him, Fellow Daoist Li. I''ve known him for a very long time, and he''s ridiculously wealthy, so there''s no need to feel guilty at all for taking things from him," Fox 3 said to Han Li as he grabbed a talisman without any hesitation.
"Fellow Daoist Li is a true gentleman. Not everyone is a shameless thief like you," Shi Chuankong scoffed as he red at Fox 3, who remainedpletely unfazed.
"In that case, you have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li said as he also took one of the talismans.
Chapter 725: Diversion
"By the way, these talismans can onlyst an hour, so we have toplete our search of this ce within that span of time," Shi Chuankong said, then opened his mouth to swallow his talisman.
Immediately thereafter, ck and white light began to ripple over his body, following which he slowly faded into the surrounding space.
Han Li and Fox 3 followed suit, and both of them quickly vanished as well.
Due to the fact that they were using the same talisman, they were able to sense one another, so they weren''tpletely in the dark.
"Let''s go. The core of the spatial restriction could be in this pce or either of the two turrets, so let''s search through them one by one," Shi Chuankong said as he flew toward the turret on the left.
There were many armord Infernal Servants stationed near the turret, but their cultivation bases were all quiteckluster, so there was no way that they would be able to detect Han Li''s trio.
The three of them flew into the turret, and it wasn''t veryrge, so it didn''t take them long toplete their inspection.
Inside were several residential rooms that were all empty at the moment, but judging from the items within them, they seemed to be upied by the leaders of the guards.
Han Li''s trio quickly emerged from the turret, and Shi Chuankong said through voice transmission, "It''s probably a simr story in the other turret, so let''s not waste any time and head straight to the pce."Han Li and Fox 3 were of the same opinion, and thus, the three of them quickly flew over to the entrance of the ck pce.
Looking at the pce up ahead, Han Li''s pupils contracted ever so slightly.
The interior of the pce was dimly lit, and it resembled a terrifying devilish mouth threatening to devour everything that ventured into it.
However, it then urred to him that this was most likely an illusion that had arisen from the pressure of potentially having to face a Great Epassment Stage Infernal being, and he took a deep breath to stifle his apprehension.
Shi Chuankong seemed to have also entered a brief daze, and after returning to his senses, he led the way toward the pce.
"Let''s go."
The three of them flew into the pce, and they entered a huge cylindrical hall that was around forty to fifty feet tall with a diameter of around four hundred to five hundred feet. The walls and ground were all pitch ck, and there were several ck crystals the size of human heads embedded into the walls, giving off a faint ck glow.
There were three paths deep in the hall, with the left and right ones each leading to a side hall, while the one in the middle extended up toward the second floor.
Instead of immediately making their way up to the second floor, the group split up to examine the two side halls.
However, they quickly came together again and arrived on the path leading to the second floor.
Both of the side halls were warehouses that wereden with things like armor and weapons, and they clearly didn''t contain what Han Li''s trio was searching for.
"It looks like it must be up there. Great Epassment Stage beings are far more sensitive than we can imagine, so proceed with the utmost caution," Shi Chuankong cautioned in a solemn voice.
Both Han Li and Fox 3 nodded in response, and the trio quickly arrived on the second floor.
Just like the first floor, the second floor was also a cylindrical hall, but there were several thick stone pirs on this floor, all of which were engraved with demonic dragons that were roaring to the heavens.
There were also three passageways deep within the hall, leading to a pair of side halls and the third floor, respectively.
As soon as they arrived on the second floor, Shi Chuankong immediately turned to the side hall on the left with an ted expression.
"I can sense spatial fluctuation there!"
Han Li and Fox 3 were also ecstatic to hear this.
However, right at this moment a white blur suddenly shot out of the passageway leading to the third floor, and it was a furry little white beast.
The beast was only around a foot in length, and its entire body was covered in soft white fur. It resembled a civet cat in appearance, but its eyes were enormous, taking up virtually half of its face, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
The little white beast was flying around the second floor in a yful manner, seemingly entertaining itself.
Han Li''s trio was given quite a fright by the little beast, but they were relieved to see that it was merely ying on its own.
"It''s alright, just ignore it," Shi Chuankong said through voice transmission, yet right as he was about to make his way toward the side hall on the left, the little beast suddenly stopped in its tracks, then turned to Han Li before releasing a burst of white ripples toward Han Li''s trio out of its eyes.
"Get back!"
Shi Chuankong''s expression changed drastically as he grabbed onto Fox 3 before retreating back toward the second-floor passageway, and Han Li reacted even faster, darting back in retreat as soon as he saw the little beast turning to look at them.
Thankfully, the three of them were standing right next to the passageway, so they were able to instantly flee into it.
However, the white ripples continued to pursue them into the passageway, and the three of them didn''t dare to use any immortal spiritual power, so their speed was limited.
The white ripples were quickly gaining on them, and an urgent look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon seeing this. He gritted his teeth as he grabbed onto Han Li with his other hand, then began to chant a rapid incantation.
A burst ofw powers surged out of his body before entering the pair of concealment talismans that Han Li and Fox 3 had just swallowed.
The three talismans shuddered violently before shattering altogether, transforming into a burst of peculiar power that spread through their bodies.
In an instant, they were able to vanish into the wall of the passageway without a trace.
In the same instant, the white ripples spread through the entire passageway and the walls on either side of it, but at this point, Han Li''s trio was alreadypletely undetectable.
The little white beast cocked its head to the side with a hint of befuddlement in its eyes.
"What''s wrong, Cloudball?"
A figure emerged from the third-floor passageway, and it was a tall and thin middle-aged man.
The man had a pair of long and narrow eyes, and his skin was deathly pale, giving him the harrowing appearance of a drowned body that had just been fished out of the water.
A burst of forbidding baleful qi was emanating from his body, striking one with the urge to get as far away from him as possible.
Right at this moment, a ck figure flew up from the first floor, and it was a ck-robed Infernal Servant.
There were plumes of ck qi surging out of his ck robe to epass his entire body, giving him a rather indistinct, ghostly appearance.
The ck-robed Infernal Servant faltered slightly at the sight of the pale middle-aged man, following which he fell to his knees and offered up a ck voice transmission talisman with both hands as he said in a respectful voice, "Master Gui Mu, I bring a message from the esteemed regional monarch."
The little white beast observed the Infernal Servant for a moment, following which the white ripples surging out of its eyes faded, and it flew into Gui Mu''s arms.
Gui Mu held the little beast in his arms, gently stroking its soft fur with one hand while epting the talisman with the other before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
Shortly thereafter, he crushed the talisman in his hand, then said in a coarse and grating voice, "Tell the regional monarch that the preparations in the puppet fortresses are alreadyplete."
The Infernal Servant gave an affirmative response, then flew away as a ck shadow, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Gui Mu paced back and forth in the hall with the little beast in his arms for a while, seemingly contemting something, then returned to the third floor.
A short whileter, Han Li''s trio re-emerged from the wall of the passageway.
Instead of making their way up to the second floor again, they snuck back down to the first floor and hid themselves in one of the side halls.
Only then did they allow themselves a sigh of relief.
"That was way too close! What was that thing just now? It detected us right away!" Fox 3 said with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
"I''m assuming it must be some type of special gray beast. Looks like we were toocent," Han Li said, then quickly swallowed a pill.
"As expected, Great Epassment cultivators are not to be underestimated. Just a spirit pet of his was almost enough to blow our cover," Shi Chuankong sighed.
The three of them were all looking rather grim. They had thought that the concealment talismans would''ve been enough for them to get to the core of the array without too much trouble, but it seemed that they had been overly optimistic.
"By the way, what happened to the talismans in our bodies, Fellow Daoist Shi? Mine seems to have shattered," Han Li suddenly asked.
"The situation was quite urgent, so Ipletely unleashed the power of the talismans to enhance its concealment effect. However, now that I''ve done that, the amount of time that the talismans will be able tost has been reduced by half, so they''ll probably fail after around fifteen more minutes," Shi Chuankong replied in a grim voice.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, while Fox 3 said in an urgent voice, "In that case, we have to hurry! That little beast was carried away by Gui Mu just now, should we give it another crack?"
If they were to lose the cover of the concealment talismans, there would be no chance for them to make any further progress.
"We can''t do that, it''s too dangerous," Shi Chuankong immediately said.
"Indeed. It seems like our only option is to divert Gui Mu away," Han Li mused.
"Divert him away? Do you have a n to do that, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Chuankong hurriedly asked, and Fox 3 also turned to him.
"The n is very simple. The ck fortresses that we passed by on the way here are actually the Infernal Tribe''s puppet refinement facility, and they contain some secrets that can''t be disyed to the general public. All we have to do is think of a way to cause a disturbance there, and Gui Mu will most likely leave right away," Han Li exined.
"You were able to see into those fortresses?" Fox 3 asked with a surprised expression. "I was really curious about what was inside, but my spiritual sense wasn''t able to breach their walls."
"That sounds like a n, but right now, we''re a little far away from that area, and I don''t think we''ll have enough time to go there and back," Shi Chuankong said with slightly furrowed brows.
"Get Fellow Daoist Mo Guang and Fellow Daoist Baili to go. They''re closer to that area, and once they''re done, just get them back to us using that teleportation array te of yours," Han Li said.
Chapter 726: Every Second Counts
"That''s a good idea, I''ll contact them right away," Shi Chuankong said, and he was just about to make a hand seal when Han Li interrupted him.
"Allow me, Fellow Daoist Shi. There are some things that I have to tell them about what''s happening inside the puppet refinement fortresses. We have to make sure that they can create a sufficient disturbance while ensuring that Gui Mu doesn''t detect any signs of foul y."
Shi Chuankong nodded in response, and Han Li contacted Mo Guang through their spiritual connection, then informed him of their current situation and the n that they had devised.
"A puppet refinement facility? No wonder the area was tightly guarded. It won''t be difficult to stir up some unrest there, and I can definitely do so without leaving any traceable signs behind, but the restrictions there are quite advanced, and it''ll be quite difficult to sneak into the facility," Mo Guang replied.
"That''s not a problem, I have a secret technique to bypass the restrictions," Han Li said, then ryed Shi Qinghou''s secret technique to Mo Guang.
"Alright, in that case, there shouldn''t be any problems," Mo Guang replied.
"As soon as Gui Mu leaves, I''ll get Shi Chuankong to teleport the two of you to us. Make sure to be extra careful and don''t leave behind any aura fluctuations for Gui Mu to detect," Han Li cautioned in a serious voice.
Mo Guang gave an affirmative response before cutting off the voice transmission, and Han Li opened his eyes before giving Shi Chuankong and Fox 3 a brief recount of his conversation with Mo Guang.
"Alright, let''s make some preparations here as well to ensure that the n is sessful," Shi Chuankong said, then made a hand seal, and four ck talismans flew out of his sleeves, carrying the words East, West, South, and North in ancient text.The four talismans adhered themselves to the walls of the side hall at his behest, following which he strode over to the entrance of the side hall to observe what was happening outside.
Han Li and Fox 3 were also waiting anxiously, and several minutes passed by without anything happening.
"What''s going on? Has something gone wrong on Mo Guang''s end?" Fox 3 asked in an urgent voice.
The concealment effect of their talismans was about to wear off.
After some contemtion, Han Li decided not to contact Mo Guang through voice transmission for fear of distracting him, and he said, "It''ll take some time for the two of them to get to the puppet refinement facility, so let''s wait a little longer."
As soon as his voice trailed off, a faint thump rang out in the distance, as if something had exploded, and this was immediately followed by another dull thump.
Han Li''s trio faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which ecstatic looks appeared on their faces.
A thick column of ck smoke was rising up from the puppet refinement fortresses, apanied by the sound of rumbling explosions, and the Infernal Servants near the city gates immediately erupted into a panicked frenzy upon seeing this.
"Something''s happening at the puppet refinement fortresses! We have to report to Master Gui Mu!" one of the Infernal Servants yelled.
Right at this moment, Gui Mu appeared out of thin air outside of the pce, and he was holding the same white beast as before with an rmed look on his face.
Immediately thereafter, he stomped a foot down onto the ground and began flying toward the puppet refinement fortresses as a streak of ck light.
Shi Chuankong was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which the four talismans adhered to the walls of the side hall began to radiate dazzling ck light, forming a ck light barrier in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, he flipped a hand over to produce an octagonal silver jade te identical to the one that he had given to Mo Guang, then opened his mouth to release a burst of silver light into it.
The jade te instantly began to glow brightly while revolving rapidly and releasing countless silver runes to form a silver array that was around ten feet in size.
In the next instant, Mo Guang and Baili Yan appeared within the array with ted looks on their faces, but their tion quickly turned to befuddlement as they were unable to see Han Li''s trio at all.
"We''ve concealed ourselves using a secret technique," Shi Chuankong exined in a concise fashion as he cast a pair of incantation seals into their bodies, thereby allowing them to just barely make out the outlines of Han Li''s trio.
"How did it go?" Han Li asked.
"It went very smoothly. I used my heavenly devil secret technique to drive a Golden Immortal Stage gray beast wild, and it went on a rampage, destroying several of the arrays in the facility. I left no traces behind, and I can guarantee that even a Great Epassment cultivator wouldn''t be able to detect anything," Mo Guang replied.
"Good. We don''t have much time left, let''s go to the core of the spatial restriction!"
Shi Chuankong stowed the pair of jade tes away as he spoke, then peeled the four talismans off the walls before flying up toward the second floor.
In the blink of an eye, the entire group arrived on the second floor before rushing over to the entrance of the side hall on the left.
The doors of the side hall were tightly shut, and not only was Fox 3 unable to push them open, ayer of ck light appeared over their surface as soon as an attempt to open them was made.
"There''s another restriction here!" Fox 3 eximed, and everyone''s expressions darkened slightly upon seeing this.
"I''ll take care of it," Han Li stepped forward as he activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes while also releasing his spiritual sense toward the ck restriction.
The restriction was quite simr to the Infernal Great Concealment Restriction ced upon the puppet refinement facility, so Han Li had a rough idea of how to bypass it.
Mo Guang raised a hand to conjure up a ck light barrier that epassed both Han Li and the entrance of the side hall, ensuring that no aura fluctuations escaped.
At the same time, Han Li made a rapid string of hand seals, casting a stream of incantation seals into the ck restriction, which began to sh erratically as countless ck runes emerged onto its surface.
Han Li carefully scrutinized all of the changes in the restriction with his Infernal Devilish Eyes, and all of a sudden, his eyes lit up as he thrust the palms of both of his hands into the restriction.
The ck restriction shed one final time before its light quickly faded, and the doors swung open.
Shi Chuankong and the others were ecstatic, and they immediately flew into the side hall.
Han Li gently closed the doors, and much to his relief, the ck restriction on them immediately began to make a rapid recovery.
The side hall was quiterge, more so than the two side halls on the first floor, and there were eight stone tforms arranged in a certain formation within it. Each tform wasden with array tools, and they formed the cores of different restrictions.
Thick pirs of light were rising up out of the stone tforms into the ceiling of the side hall, where a series of extremelyplex array patterns had been engraved, all of which were shing incessantly.
At this moment, Shi Chuankong and the others were standing beside the stone tform that was at the very back of the room. All of the array tools on this tform were silver in color, and rising up from it was a thick pir of silver light that was giving off formidable spatial fluctuations.
All of a sudden, Shi Qinghou''s voice rang out in Han Li''s mind.
"So there are now as many as eight restrictions in these city walls. That''s quite an improvement."
"Why have you suddenly popped up now? Where were you when I had those questions for you?" Han Li asked through voice transmission as he flew over to Shi Chuankong''s side.
Shi Qinghou offered no response to this.
"Did you teach me the method to bypass the Infernal Great Concealment Restriction because you already predicted that I was going to cause trouble there to lure Gui Mu away?" Han Li asked.
Once again, there was no response.
"I don''t know what your intentions are, but you better not try any funny business here. If we''re discovered, all of us will have to die here, and that includes you," Han Li warned in a cold voice.
"There''s no need to be so wary of me. Right now, our fates are tightly intertwined, and thest thing I want to do is put you in harm''s way," Shi Qinghou sighed.
"How am I supposed to trust you when you don''t tell me anything?" Han Li harrumphed coldly.
"You''ll understand in the future," Shi Qinghou replied in an ambiguous fashion before falling silent again.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he had no time to dwell on this frustrating interaction as he turned his attention to the stone tform.
There were countless silver patterns on the stone tform, forming an extremelyplex array that was littered with silver array gs and around forty to fifty fist-sized silver crystals.
These silver crystals were rather simr to spirit stones, but they had strange corkscrew patterns on them and were releasing bright silver light and spatial fluctuations.
"These are Silver Embryo Stones," Han Li remarked with a surprised expression.
This was a type of spirit material that contained spatial power, and even in the True Immortal Realm, it was quite rare, so he wasn''t expecting to see it in the Gray Realm.
Shi Chuankong was standing beside the stone tform, and he flipped a hand over to summon a silver jade vial, then chanted an incantation while making a hand seal.
The jade vial shuddered slightly, following which a fist-sized ball of silver liquid flew out of it before splitting up into dozens of drops at Shi Chuankong''s behest, each of fused into one of the Silver Embryo Stones.
Ayer of silver light instantly appeared over the Silver Embryo Stones, following which all of them became dull and devoid of luster, as if the spatial power within them had been frozen, and the pir of silver light also instantly vanished.
"It''s done! Gather around, everyone, we don''t have much time!" Shi Chuankong urged as he made a rapid string of hands seals, releasing bursts of silver light that fell onto the surrounding ground to form a silver array.
Han Li the others immediately stepped into the array, and Mo Guang released plumes of baleful qi out of his sleeves to inundate the entire array.
With a sh of silver light, everyone instantly vanished from within the array, and the residual baleful qi in the side hall quickly faded away.
Immediately thereafter, the Silver Embryo Stones began to function again, and in just a few moments, the entire array was back up and running, looking as if nothing had ever happened.
Chapter 727: Rumor
Mere moments after the spatial restriction was restored, Gui Mu suddenly appeared on the second floor of the pce.
Right as he was about to fly up to the third floor, he suddenly turned to the side hall to the left with slightly furrowed brows, but then shook his head and withdrew his gaze before continuing up to the third floor.
At the same time, Han Li and the others appeared in a secluded alley amid a sh of light, and as soon as they emerged, Han Li''s brows immediately furrowed slightly with difort.
"How can conditions be so different on the other side of the wall? Not only is the air here much more murky, even the baleful qi has be far denser than before," Fox 3ined with a disgruntled expression.
"Not only that, but the air temperature here seems to be quite a bit higher as well," Shi Chuankong remarked.
"Fellow Daoist Baili, does the Reincarnation Region have any information about Asura City?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid not. The regions of the Gray Realm are all quite wary of one another, and information isn''t readily shared. To make matters worse, the Infernal Region is extremely xenophobic, so there''s even less information toe out of here," Baili Yan replied with a shake of his head.
"In any case, let''s head to the border first. As long as we can bypass that hurdle, we''ll be able to enter the Soul Cleansing Region," Han Li said.
"Theyout of this area is a little strange. There are many ring-shaped buildings that haven''t been marked out in the map, and their purpose is unclear. If we''re going to the border, then we''ll have to pass by these buildings," Mo Guang said."We''ll just have to do our best to avoid them and pass by them as quickly as possible," Han Li said.
With that, everyone set off toward the border.
The Infernal Servant patrol groups were popping up with greater and greater regrity, and there were even some mid-True Immortal cultivators in many of the buildings. Security here was even tighter than it was in the Hundred Treasure Area, and it took the group a great deal of effort to finally arrive at the border of the Soul Cleansing Area.
Right as Fox 3 was about to employ his usual concealment method for everyone, Mo Guang suddenly said, "Stop! We can''t go any further than this."
Han Li and the others hurriedly stopped in their tracks upon hearing this.
"Why not?"
"Take a look over there," Mo Guang said as he pointed in a certain direction.
Han Li turned to that direction, and his brows instantly furrowed slightly.
On the ground near the city wall up ahead was embedded a red watermelon-sized eyeball, and identical eyeballs were embedded into the ground at set intervals along the wall.
What was even more disturbing was that the ck city wall up ahead was also riddled with these harrowing eyeballs.
"Those are Asura Ghost Eyes," Baili Yan sighed.
"Asura Ghost Eyes? Are they going to be a problem?" Fox 3 asked.
"These things are the eyes of Great Asura Demons, each of which has three thousand six hundred such eyes that can see through all types of illusions, so your illusions most likely won''t work here," Baili Yan exined with a shake of his head.
"How are we supposed to get close to the city wall then?" Shi Chuankong asked with tightly furrowed brows.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the Asura Ghost Eye that was closest to them suddenly turned in their direction, and Han Li and the others immediately restrained their auras before retreating to a safe distance away.
After finding a new hiding ce, Han Li was just about to say something when a resounding boom abruptly rang out nearby.
Everyone was quite startled by this, thinking that they had been discovered, and they hurriedly began inspecting their surroundings.
"Over there!" Baili Yan said with a peculiar expression as he pointed in a certain direction.
Han Li turned to that direction to find that a ck mushroom cloud was rising up into the sky above one of the mysterious ring-shaped buildings that Mo Guang had mentioned earlier.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li decided, "Fellow Daoist Mo Guang and I will go take a look, all of you remain hidden and wait for us here."
"I''ll go with you. There seems to be something rather out of the ordinary there," Baili Yan said in a low voice.
"Alright," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Be careful," Shi Chuankong cautioned.
With that, Han Li''s trio emerged onto the street outside as three blurry shadows, and they quickly made their way over to that ring-shaped building while taking care to avoid the nearby watchtowers.
Up close, Han Li discovered that these buildings were even taller than he had thought they were from afar, and the walls were riddled withplex runes, but thankfully, all of them were merely for fortification purposes.
The three of them snuck into the building to find that it was quite empty, with the only noteworthy feature being arge ck za, littered across which were some ck rocks that were several dozen feet tall.
At this moment, the za was looking severely ravaged, and Han Li''s trio was hiding behind a rtively intact rock. However, this rock also had a hole that was roughly the size of a human head blown through it, and wisps of white smoke were rising up from the hole.
All of a sudden, a burst of rumbling rang out from the other side of the za, following which the ground split open to reveal an underground passageway.
Immediately thereafter, several figures made their way onto the za from the passageway.
They were quite short, only around half the height of the average grown man, and their upper bodies were bared to reveal their dark green skin. Their facial features were quite hideous, with thin, tapered ears, protruding sharp teeth, and bald heads with only a tuft of ck fur in the middle.
Despite how short and stubby they were, their muscles were extremely well-developed, and their arms were particrly thick and strong with a series of copper rings around them, giving them a very fearsome appearance.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of these beings, and he was struck by a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen records of such beings in the scriptures that he had read, but he was unable to recall exactly what they were.
"There''s a really strong karmic fire aura here," Baili Yan suddenly remarked in a low voice as he examined the rift on the ground.
Han Li''s attention was focused on the green-skinned beings at the moment, so he failed to hear Baili Yan clearly.
The leader of the green-skinned beings had the most copper rings on his arms at five each, and he was scouring his gaze over the za with a furious expression as he roared, "This is pathetic! This amount of power isn''t enough to do anything! How can we possibly catch the interest of the Infernal beings with this? Go and test out thergest one!
As soon as his voice trailed off, another green-skinned being immediately approached him in a shaky manner, holding a ck ball in his hands.
"Please return to the underground shelter, esteemed elder," the green-skinned being said to the leader of the group.
The elder turned around and made his way back down the underground passageway with a dark expression, while the rest of the group hurriedly followed along.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s trio turned to the green-skinned being holding the ck ball with perplexed expressions.
After chanting an incantation, the green-skinned being pressed a palm down onto the ck ball in his hand, then tossed it toward the center of the za.
The patterns on the surface of the ck ball began to light up, and a sense of foreboding instantly welled up in Han Li''s heart as he hurriedly raised a hand to summon a dark green turtle-shell-shaped shield.
Immediately thereafter, an explosive boom rang out, and an enormous ball of ck mes erupted out of the ck ball, forming a sea of ck mes that spread rapidly in all directions.
The green-skinned being that had detonated the ck ball attempted to scurry back into the underground passageway, but he was swallowed up by the waves of ck fire before he could reach the entrance, and his body melted away into a puddle of goo.
Therge rocks on the za also rapidly melted away in the face of the scorching ck mes, quickly reduced tova-like ck liquid.
The rock in front of Han Li''s trio was also rapidly melting away, and while the shield that Han Li had summoned was keeping the ck mes at bay, it was also sizzling and crackling incessantly.
"Let''s get out of here," Han Li said, and the three of them immediately flew out of the ring-shaped building.
At this point, all of the ck rocks on the za had already been wiped out, and the ck mes were ravaging the surrounding walls, while a ck mushroom cloud that was several timesrger than before rose up into the sky.
At the same time, all of the patterns engraved onto the za and the walls began to release ck light alongside peculiar energy fluctuations, counteracting the ck mes and containing them within the building.
Han Li''s trio returned to the spot where Shi Chuankong and Fox 3 were hiding, and thetter asked with a puzzled expression, "What happened? We thought you''d been exposed, and we were just about to go after you."
"That building seems to be a test site of some sort for Gray Realm weapons," Han Li exined.
"What was that just now then?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"If I''m not mistaken, that appeared to be an explosive treasure forged using karmic fire, and it''s powerful enough to pose quite a threat even to the average True Immortal," Mo Guang said.
"It looks like those green-skinned beings that we saw are from the Dwarf Tribe, a tribe that''s very adept in tool refinement," Han Li mused.
"The Dwarf Tribe? Weren''t they supposed to have beenpletely wiped out several thousand years ago?" Shi Chuankong asked with a surprised expression.
"It seems like that was only a ruse. The reality is that they were abducted to craft treasure for the Infernal Tribe," Han Li said.
"In that case, that rumor must be true," Baili Yan suddenly said.
"What rumor?" Fox 3 asked.
Chapter 728: Confounding the Enemy
Chapter 728: Confounding the Enemy
"Prior toing here, I conducted some research into the Infernal Tribe, and I saw an interesting rumor. Apparently, there''s a naturally forming karmic fire crater in Asura City, and all Infernal beings are thrown into the crater at birth to be baptized in a process that they refer to as soul cleansing," Baili Yan said.
"They''re throwing newborns into karmic fire? How is that possible?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Baleful qi is essential for all cultivators of the Gray Realm, so their tolerance of karmic fire far exceeds ours. On top of that, they''re not actually throwing infants into karmic mes. Instead, they''re only making the newborns live near the karmic mes. Only upon reaching twelve years of age are they truly baptized using karmic mes, and only those that survive have the right to be true Infernal beings," Baili Yan exined.
"No wonder there are so few Infernal beings," Fox 3 mused.
"Earlier in the courtyard, I already sensed a very formidable karmic fire aura. I presume the karmic fire crater must be right under that courtyard," Baili Yan remarked.
"If the rumor is true, then the karmic fire crater should be in the Soul Cleansing Area, why is it in the Rashom Area?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"That''s nothing to be surprised about. We don''t know the shape and size of the karmic fire crater, perhaps it runs through both areas," Mo Guang said with a smile.
"It''s also a possibility that the Infernal Tribe carved out an underground passageway to guide the karmic fire into the Rashom Area for tool refinement purposes. In any case, it looks like we''ll have to make a trip underground," Han Li said.
"Are you suggesting that we sneak into the Soul Cleansing Area through the karmic fire crater?" Baili Yan asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"That''s right. There''s a very good chance that we''ll be caught by Great Epassment cultivators if we try and go there through conventional means, so we may as well try our luck underground," Han Li replied with a nod.
"But how are we supposed to traverse through the karmic fire? It''s not like we''re Infernal beings," Shi Chuankong said in a concerned manner.
He was already quite worried about baleful qi infiltrating his body, so he was naturally even more fearful of these karmic mes.
"I''m sure Fellow Daoist Baili knows more about karma mes than all of us. Do you have a solution to that problem?" Han Li asked as he turned to Baili Yan.
"As I''m sure all of you are aware, baleful qi and karmic fire are essentially one and the same, except they''re manifested in different forms. Even among karmic mes, there are differences between naturally urring ones and ones derived from a cultivator''s body.
¡°These underground karmic mes can scorch both the body and the soul. The body can be protected using treasures, but not much can be done to protect the soul," Baili Yan exined.
"So what you''re saying is that there''s nothing we can do but endure the karmic fire," Fox 3 sighed.
"Not necessarily. If any of us has a graded immortal treasure that can protect the soul, we can all use it together, and that could perhaps ensure that our souls remain unaffected," Baili Yan said.
"I have a treasure of that description," Han Li said, then pointed a finger at his own be, and a white rune emerged, apanied by a burst of formidable spiritual sense.
This was none other than the Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman in his consciousness, and everyone''s expression changed slightly upon sensing Han Li''s spiritual sense.
"Your spiritual sense is immense, Fellow Daoist Li! Could it be that you''ve already cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique up to the fifth level?" Baili Yan asked with a stunned expression.
"That''s right," Han Li replied with a nod. "What do you think, Fellow Daoist Baili? Will this Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman suffice?"
Everyone was so stunned by Han Li''s spiritual sense that they forgot to examine the talisman, and only now did they begin to assess the talisman.
"This is a treasure of a very high caliber to begin with, and with your immense spiritual sense and everyone''s help, it should suffice for our needs. The only problem is that we don''t know what it''s like underground," Baili Yan said with a concerned expression.
"How about we disguise ourselves as Infernal beings and sneak underground?" Fox 3 suggested.
"That''s too risky. The aura of Infernal beings is quite unique and difficult to replicate. If we''re exposed on the spot, we''ll be in a world of trouble," Shi Chuankong said with slightly furrowed brows.
"How about if I use this?" Fox 3 asked with a smile, and he summoned several slender fox tails as he spoke.
The fur on the fox tails were all standing up on end and giving off a translucent gleam, but they were also giving off a strong foxy stench that made everyone involuntarily recoil slightly.
"Are these Heavenly Jade Fox Tails?" Shi Chuankong eximed.
"You have a good eye, Brother Shi. Indeed, these are Heavenly Jade Fox Tails, and they were shed by a High Zenith Stage senior of mine. Let me make this clear in advance: I''m only borrowing these tails to everyone, and you have to return them to me after the event, Fox 3 said.
"Heavenly Jade Fox Tails are not just illusory treasures, but also have a confounding effect. With these tails at our disposal, we could definitely attempt to pose as Infernal beings, Baili Yan said with a smile.
"In that case, let''s get moving," Han Li said.
Thus, Fox 3 handed out the Heavenly Jade Fox Tails to everyone, then disclosed the usage method, and everyone employed the method toplete their transformations, following which the foxy stench instantly faded.
Mo Guang and Baili Yan were both at the High Zenith Stage, so they had transformed into true Infernal beings, while Han Li''s trio transformed into three Infernal Servants that trailed along behind them in a subservient fashion.
With their disguises adopted, they rose up into the sky and flew toward the ring-shaped building.
Inside the courtyard, several Dwarf beings were examining the aftermath of the explosion, and their leader was nodding with a pleased expression.
Han Li''s group descended out of the sky before drawing to a halt in front of them while hovering a foot above the ground, and the Dwarf beings were forced to look up at them as they extended a respectful salute, in response to which Baili Yan and Mo Guang merely nodded in silence.
The Dwarf beings immediately began to sweat profusely, and none of them dared to say anything.
Right as Baili Yan was about to break the silence, the leader of the Dwarf beings said, "Please forgive our ipetence. Those two scoundrels from the True Immortal Realm have refused to cooperate with us, and as a result, we were only able to conclude our experiments on the Karmic Fire Baleful Lightning today, so we haven''t had a chance to go into mass production yet.
¡°However, rest assured, we''ll be able to produce a batch in three more days at most, and they''ll definitely hold sufficient power to match your requirements."
"Take me down there," Baili Yan instructed in a cold voice.
The leader of the Dwarf beings hurriedly led the way, while the other Dwarf beings trailed along behind Han Li''s group.
The ground began to rumble as a passageway that led downward slowly emerged, and an intense karmic fire aura instantly erupted upward.
After traveling down the passageway for several thousand feet, everyone arrived in a massive underground hall.
Upon entering the underground hall, everyone was struck by bursts of scorching heat alongside dense baleful qi, and with the exceptions of Mo Guang and Baili Yan, everyone else was feeling quite ufortable.
The fact that there was so much difort even before entering the karmic fire had Han Li wondering if he had really made the right decision.
Even after taking some to limate to these new conditions, the difort still remained, but it had abated somewhat.
The hall was lined with several dozen armord Infernal Servants that were hovering above the ground, and their expressions remained unchanged at the sight of Mo Guang and Baili Yan, but they did extend respectful bows.
"Lead the way," Mo Guang instructed without even sparing a nce at the Infernal Servants.
The Dwarf being immediately led them deeper into the hall, and the deeper they went, the louder the sound of pounding metal became.
After passing through a short passageway, a series of giant underground halls began to appear on either side. These halls were bustling with mes and activity, and there were many Dwarf beings in all of them, vigorously refining all types of treasures and weapons.
Han Li snuck a few nces into the underground halls along the way, and he discovered that each of them had a giant furnace that was filled with scorching karmic mes.
The group made its way to the entrance of a certain hall, following which the Dwarf being stopped in his tracks and said, "This is where the Karmic Fire Baleful Lightning is being refined."
Mo Guang and Baili Yan stepped into the hall first, followed by Han Li''s trio.
This hall was significantlyrger than the ones before it, and it was split up into many sections, with close to a hundred Dwarf beings busy at work inside.
They seemed to bepletely oblivious to the arrival of Han Li''s group, and they continued to toil away, while a True Immortal Stage Infernal Servant approached the group before extending a respectful bow toward Mo Guang and Baili Yan.
Balls of ck mes were dancing incessantly within a giant furnace at the center of the hall, and beside the furnace was a group of Dwarf beings that were d in full suits of protective equipment, including even visors that covered their faces, and they were carefully fishing out balls of ck karmic fire out of the furnace using containers with extremely long handles.
Right at this moment, one of the Dwarf beings identally bumped their container against the edge of the furnace, and the karmic fire inside instantly spilled out before flowing toward Han Li''s group.
The Dwarf being was horrified to see this, and he hurriedly bent down to recover the karmic fire, but he was struck by a whish to the face from the Infernal Servant.
A loud crack rang out as the visor on his face was instantly shattered, and a charred gash appeared on his face.
Smoke was rising up from the gash, but he didn''t even dare to groan in pain as he continued to chase after the spilled karmic fire.
Chapter 729: Springing Into Action
Chapter 729: Springing Into Action
At this point, the karmic fire had already reached Mo Guang, and he casually bent down before making a grabbing motion, drawing the karmic fire into his hand as if it were a ball of putty.
After ying with it for a moment, he tossed it back into the giant furnace.
The Infernal Servant faltered slightly upon seeing this, then extended an apologetic salute toward Mo Guang beforeshing out with his whip again, winding it around the Dwarf being''s neck this time.
The Dwarf being''splexion had already turned extremely pale, and a pained look appeared on his face as he struggled against the whip around his neck.
The Dwarf being that had led Han Li''s group here was also looking on with a pained and sorrowful expression, but he didn''t dare to say anything.
"That''s enough. Bring me the finished product," Baili Yan instructed.
The Infernal Servant''s cold expression remained unchanged, but he retracted his whip from around the Dwarf being''s neck, and the spared Dwarf being immediately fell to his knees and began kowtowing in gratitude.
The Dwarf being that had led Han Li''s group here hurriedly brought over the dozen or so balls of Karmic Fire Baleful Lightning that had already been refined, and Baili Yan picked one up for a brief inspection, following which a perplexed look appeared on his face as he said to Han Li through voice transmission, "There appears to be some firew powers intermingled with the baleful lightning."
"Perhaps that has something to do with the two people from the Immortal Realm that he spoke of earlier. Perhaps this baleful lightning is only as powerful as it is thanks to the infusion of firew powers. In any case, you should take these," Han Li replied.
"Should we go and see those two Immortal Realm cultivators?" Baili Yan asked.
"Let''s go to the karmic fire crater first and see if we can get to the Soul Cleansing Area through it. I don''t think a detour would be wise," Han Li replied.
Baili Yan stowed the dozen or so balls of Karmic Fire Baleful Lightning away, then turned to Mo Guang as he said, "We''re already here anyway, so we may as well take a look at the karmic fire crater, right?"
"I suppose," Mo Guang replied with a nod.
"Pleasee this way," the Infernal Servant said as he drifted over to Han Li''s group.
After that, he led the group out of the hall, and as they were leaving, Han Li turned back to take a nce at the toiling Dwarf beings, just in time to see the Dwarf being that had led them here glowering at him with a resentful look in his eyes.
As soon as their eyes met, the resentment on the Dwarf being''s face instantly turned to horror, but Han Li merely departed without doing anything.
The Dwarf being heaved a long sigh of relief, but was also rather perplexed about why he had been spared.
The passageway stretched on for close to ten kilometers before finally reaching an enormous underground cave.
There was a giant ck fiery pit up ahead the size of an averageke, and inside it were churning ck mes and baleful qi, making it difficult just to draw breath.
The path beneath everyone''s feet gradually narrowed above the fiery crater, tapering to a bridge that was several dozen feet wide beforeing to an abrupt end at the center of the crater.
On the other side of the fiery crater was a ck rock wall with a giant hole that was several hundred feet tall on it, and the karmic fire was pouring out of the hole before flowing into the fiery crater down below.
"It''s just as you spected, Fellow Daoist Li, the Rashom Area''s karmic firees from the Soul Cleansing Area!" Shi Chuankong said through voice transmission.
"Don''t celebrate just yet, we have to hurry up. The more abundant the baleful qi in a ce is, the faster the spiritual qi in a Heavenly Jade Fox Tail will be worn down, so we''ll revert back to our true forms soon," Fox 3 suddenly cautioned.
Han Li was just about to respond when something suddenly caught his attention.
Standing on the bridge up ahead were around a dozen armord Infernal Servants, all of whom were holding weapons with cold looks on their faces, and they were disying no reaction to Han Li''s group.
Dangling down from the end of the bridge was a square ck cage that was swaying incessantly above the karmic fire, constantly being eroded by the mes and baleful qi.
There were two figures in the cage, each leaning against a corner with disheveled hair, looking very frail and defeated.
The one on the left was therger of the two figures, and his face was concealed by his head of messy red hair, but there was a nose resembling a rhinoceros horn protruding out from his tangled locks.
On the other side of the cage was a man with a head of white hair and many gashes on his face, making him barely recognizable, but Han Li was immediately able to identify him as none other than Immortal Lord Hot me.
His heart stirred slightly upon seeing this, but he didn''t do anything.
At this point, Fox 3 had also identified them, and he eximed through voice transmission, "Those two seem to be Chi Rong and Fellow Daoist Hot me!"
"It looks like they were far less fortunate than us," Shi Chuankong remarked.
Baili Yan didn''t know them, and he asked, "Are they acquaintances of yours? Should we save them?"
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed, and after a brief moment of hesitation, he said, "Restrictions have been nted in their bodies, so it''ll most likely be very difficult to free them in a short time. Let''s find the Baleful Cleansing Pond first, then save themter."
"Should we make our move now?" Mo Guang asked.
"Yes," Han Li replied.
A cold smirk instantly appeared on Mo Guang''s face upon hearing this, and he raised a hand to make a grabbing motion, releasing bursts of ck mist out of his sleeve that hurtled toward the Infernal Servant who was acting as their guide like five ferocious ck dragons.
Before the Infernal Servant had a chance to say anything, he was already inundated by dense baleful qi, and at the same time, a vast expanse of ck mist surged forth to epass the entire bridge, as well as the dozen or so Infernal Servants on it.
Baili Yan had already vanished into the baleful qi, and a string of dull thumps rang out, while Mo Guang lifted up the Infernal Servant who was acting as their guide with one hand.
No more than a few secondster, all of the baleful qi had returned to Mo Guang''s body, while the Infernal Servant fell like a sack of skin and bones, having beenpletely sucked dry of all blood and vitality.
The karmic fire down below churned momentarily and swallowed up the Infernal Servant¡¯s body in the blink of an eye, while Baili Yan was kicking the rest of the lifeless Infernal Servants into the fiery crater.
After that, everyone descended back down onto the ground instead of continuing to hover above it, then removed their Heavenly Jade Fox Tails before returning them to Fox 3.
"Let''s go," Han Li said, and the group hurriedly made their way to the end of the bridge.
While passing by the metal cage, Han Li hesitated momentarily, but then quickly made his way past it.
Inside the cage, Immortal Lord Hot me seemed to bepletely oblivious to what had happened up above. He disyed no reaction to themotion, and his eyes were gray and dull.
"Aren''t you supposed to be allies of my senior martial brother? Are you not going to save him?" Chi Rong chuckled in a gravelly voice.
Fox 3''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he stopped in his tracks.
"We don''t have time, we''ll save them when wee back," Shi Chuankong said in a low voice as he passed him by, and Fox 3 quickly continued onward.
At the end of the bridge, the environment had be extremely hostile from the scorching heat of the karmic fire and the vast abundance of baleful qi, to the point that even Han Li was struggling to suppress his difort. Shi Chuankong and Fox 3 were beginning to feel a little lightheaded, and violent impulses were welling up in their hearts.
Han Li immediately channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique while pointing a finger at his own be, upon which the Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman in his consciousness instantly released a burst of formidable spiritual sense.
"Protect your physical bodies and inject your spiritual sense into the talisman, we''re setting off right away," Han Li said.
Everyone did as they were told, with Baili Yan summoning a suit of ck armor that looked as if it had been refined from dragon scales, and it was clear at a nce that it was a graded immortal treasure.
Fox 3 opened his mouth to release a green jewel that embedded itself into the crown on his head, and the two treasures instantly released a burst of dazzling green light that epassed his entire body, turning his skin a bright green color.
Meanwhile, Shi Chuankong had summoned his silver lute and was strumming its strings to release bursts of invisible ripples that formed a spatial barrier around him.
As for Mo Guang, he took a nce down at the karmic fire below, then decided that he didn''t even need to do anything to protect himself.
At the same time, ayer of golden scales appeared over Han Li''s body alongside a suit of dark green turtle shell armor, and everyone began to inject their spiritual sense into the Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman.
With their injections of spiritual sense, the rune on Han Li''s be became clearer and clearer, releasing a snowy mountain projection that was over a hundred feet tall, epassing the entire group within it.
Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong''s expressions instantly eased slightly, and their difort instantly faded away.
Han Li could sense that the two of them had rxed a little, and he immediately cautioned, "Don''t let your guards down. Karmic fire is a lot more invasive than baleful qi, so even the slightestpse in concentration could have catastrophic circumstances."
Shi Chuankong and Fox 3 hurriedly nodded in response as they retightened their focus.
"Let''s go," Han Li dered, and the group leaped down from the bridge toward the giant hole up ahead where the karmic mes were flowing out of.
However, they had only just flown down from the bridge when the karmic fire up ahead suddenly began to flicker and rumble incessantly.
"There''s a restriction in the fire crater!" Han Li eximed.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the karmic fire down below instantly began to churn violently, following which millstone-sized balls of ck mes shot up toward them in a frenzy, filling the air with a noxious miasma.
Chapter 730: Sudden Turn
Chapter 730: Sudden Turn
"Fellow Daoist Mo Guang!" Han Li yelled, and Mo Guang immediately swept a sleeve through the air to release a plume of ck mist, which split up into eight tentacle-like appendages beforeshing out at the oing karmic fireballs.
A string of loud thumps rang out as specks of ck mes were sent flying in all directions, but some of them made their way up the tentacles of ck mist toward Mo Guang.
Mo Guang''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and a burst of aura fluctuations erupted out of his body to scatter the oing karmic mes.
Some specks of karmic fire fell onto Fox 3''s body, but they were instantly repelled by the green light emanating from his body.
He felt a burst of baleful qi infiltrate his body, and his consciousness was dealt a heavy blow, but thankfully, under the protection of the Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman, he only experienced a brief rush of dizziness that quickly wore off.
However, that was far from the end of their troubles.
As the karmic fireballs continued to shoot up from down below, the fiery crater became more and more restless, and the karmic mes inside began to rise up as a ck wall of fire.
Shi Chuankong strummed his fingers over the strings of his lute upon seeing this, releasing a burst of formidable soundwaves and spatial power that shed against the wall of karmic fire, tearing an opening that was several dozen feet wide through it.
Shi Chuankong continued to strum the strings of his lute urgently, releasing a steady stream of soundwaves to keep the opening intact as he yelled through tightly gritted teeth, "Hurry! I can''t keep this up for long!"
Han Li immediately released his time spirit domain without any hesitation, forming a golden light barrier around him as he shot forward at an incredible speed.
However, as soon as the karmic mes made contact with his spirit domain, bursts of baleful qi instantly seeped straight into his body through the spirit domain from all directions.
Han Li gave a muffled groan as his consciousness began to churn violently, and he was almost ovee by a intense wave of aggressive intent, but thankfully, he was already channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might, so he was able to suppress the adverse effects of the baleful qi.
Immediately thereafter, the white snowy mountain rune on his be brightened significantly, releasing bursts of invisible ripples that quelled the unrest in his consciousness.
However, at the same time, his spirit domain was constantly being whittled down by the surrounding karmic mes.
With his brows tightly furrowed, he let loose a low roar as he swept a sleeve through the air to release several chains of azure light, which wound themselves around Baili Yan and hte others. At the same time, he channeled his Reversal True Axis and instantly elerated significantly as he flew through the opening in the wall of fire.
As soon as they passed through the wall of fire, Shi Chuankong retracted his fingers with cold sweat pouring down his face, and the tips of his fingers were torn and bleeding profusely.
Without the resistance of the soundwaves, the ck wall of fire quickly mended itself, but at this point, it was already past them, and Han Li''s group was no more than a hundred feet away from the karmic fire passageway that led to the Soul Cleansing Area.
Everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief, yet right as they were about to venture into the karmic fire passageway, an array suddenly lit up within it, following which the ck karmic fire inside surged forth like floodwaters through a broken dam.
At such close quarters, there was no time for Han Li and the others to react, and they were instantly scattered by the torrent of karmic fire before plunging down toward the fiery crater below, and the karmic fire down below also reared up to devour them in an instant.
As soon as Han Li plunged into the karmic fire, the spiritual connections that he had formed with everyone through the Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman were severed. Before he had a chance to think about anything else, he was inundated by karmic fire from all directions, setting his suit of dark green armor alight.
Bursts of incredibly formidable baleful qi surged into his body alongside the waves of heat, and even his suit of armor wasn''t able to keep them at bay. In the blink of an eye, Han Li felt as if he were being bound byyers of chains, and the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints also began to riot.
Thankfully, he was still keeping a tight leash on his own consciousness, so he wasn''t driven to the point of insanity.
All of a sudden, his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him at his behest, and all of the ck karmic mes epassed within the golden light that it was releasing were instantly frozen, but the heat and baleful qi that they were giving off hadn''t abated in the at all.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he flew out of the fiery crater, yet before he even had a chance to steady himself, a vast expanse of ck light suddenly descended upon him like a crushing ck cloud.
He looked up to discover a millstone-sized ck seal that was somehowpletely unaffected by his timew powers, and it was crashing down with tremendous force while releasing a burst of suction power that held him firmly into ce.
Han Li had no time to think in this dire situation, and he threw a punch up toward the ck seal, unleashing a giant azure sword projection the size of a house, which struck the ck seal with immense power.
The azure fist projection shattered almost instantly upon contact, sending waves of azure energy erupting in all directions, while the ck seal continued to crash down from above.
Han Li let loose a thunderous roar as the muscles on his body bulged, and he took on his Giant Mountain Ape form before pushing against the ck seal with both hands.
The ck seal abruptly swelled to several times its original size before crashing down onto the palms of Han Li''s hands, and he felt as if he were being crushed under a thousand mountains.
Even with his current physical prowess, the seal was impossible to keep at bay, and he found himself being forced back into the fiery crater.
Only then did he realize that the seal wasn''t affected by his timew powers purely because the power that it contained was too immense, to the point that it was able to affect the space around it to a certain extent.
Without his timew powers slowing it down, the ck seal would''ve only crashed down onto him with even greater speed and power.
Right at this moment, a raspy voice rang out nearby.
"Timew powers and a true spirit bloodline? Impressive! No wonder you dared to sneak into the Rashom Area. Who are you? Are you from the Reincarnation Region or the Heavenly Court?"
Han Li was struggling to keep the giant ck seal and the surrounding karmic mes at bay as he looked up to find a figure hovering a foot in the air above the bridge overhead.
The figure was dressed in a ck robe that was giving off a faint sheet, and there was a strange tall hat on his head. His face was deathly pale, but his pupils were an extremely dark gray color, even darker than Mo Yu''s.
His appearance was rather effeminate, and unlike the cold expressionsmonly seen on the faces of other Infernal beings, there was a faint smile on his face, striking Han Li with a sense of disgust.
What was most rming to him was that this Infernal being was a Great Epassment cultivator.
Standing behind him were a pair of strange beings with bull horns on their heads, and both werepletely devoid of expression.
The two beings were from the same tribe as the beings that Han Li had seen in the puppet refinement fortresses, except these two were clearly finished products. There were shaped white bones protruding out of their arms and shoulders, and ck chains were wound around their hands.
On the other end of the chains was another figure that had beenpletely tied up, and it was none other than Fox 3.
At this moment, his eyes were tightly shut, and it was unclear whether he was dead or alive.
There were seven or eight armord Infernal Servants nearby holding the same ck chains, and they had formed an encirclement around Shi Chuankong.
These Infernal Servants were different from the ones that Han Li had seen up to this point in that the scales on their faces were ck instead of gray, and there was a huge hole in each of their chests, within which were balls of scorching karmic mes.
The Infernal Servants released the chains in their hands, and karmic mes emerged over them as they converged from all directions to form a spherical cage around Shi Chuankong, who was strumming the strings of his silver lute to release a spatial barrier that kept the ck chains at bay.
Two of the armord Infernal Servants drifted forward upon seeing this, approaching the spherical cage as a series of strange runes emerged around the karmic mes in their chests, following which the mes exploded violently.
A burst of tremendous shockwaves erupted forth, instantly shattering the spatial barrier around Shi Chuankong.
Not far away from him, Baili Yan''s arms had already turnedpletely ck, while his hands had transformed into a pair of huge dragon ws that also had ck mes burning over them. Clearly, he had been forced to release his karmic fire once again after suppressing it for so long.
In contrast with Shi Chuankong, he only had a single opponent, but Han Li was astonished by the sight of this opponent as it was none other than Su Liu!
At this moment, Su Liu''s aura didn''t resemble that of a True Immortal at all, and his suit of armor had also vanished, leaving his upper body bare. There was a series of harrowing gashes on his body, and a hole had also been dug into his chest, embedded into which was a metal ball that was riddled with runes and burning with karmic mes.
There were also two ck chains thatpletely ran through both of his arms before protruding out of the palms of his hands, and connected to the ends of the chains was a ck double-edged ax and a chain mace.
Han Li noticed that Su Liu''s eyes werepletely dull and devoid of luster, and that his pupils had turned gray, just like the pupils of a gray immortal.
Chapter 731: Dire Straits
Chapter 731: Dire Straits
"It looks like you recognize this puppet of mine," the Great Epassment Stage Infernal being remarked as he observed the changes in Han Li''s expression.
"What did you do to him?" Han Li asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"So you really do know him. He wasn''t as fortunate as those two in the cage. By the time he got here, he had already been torn apart by spatial power, so I took the liberty of modifying his body a little. Right now, he''s feeling quite lonely, and I just so happen to be looking for a buddy for him. There''s no need to feel depressed, you''ll be just like him soon! How about it? Isn''t that an exciting thought?" the Infernal being chortled with glee.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a resounding boom suddenly rang out from underground, and all of the ck karmic fire in the crater down below began to churn violently before rising up as an enormous wave that swallowed up most of Han Li''s body.
THe baleful qi around Han Li instantly became a hundred times more potent, and even though he was forcibly stabilizing his own consciousness with his Spirit Refinement Technique, he was struck by an irrepressible violent urge that instantly set his blood alight.
Even though he was able to just barely cling onto a shred of lucidity by desperately channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique, he was still stunned by this turn of events.
"How interesting! I''ve never seen a Golden Immortal with spiritual sense as powerful as yours. Let''s see how long you canst," the Infernal being mused with an intrigued expression as he sped his hands behind his back.
Han Li was frantically channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique while simultaneously resisting the giant ck seal up above, and his face had turned deathly pale, while cracks nad pops were ringing out incessantly within his body.
Right at this moment, he spotted two more figures rushing at him from another direction in the fiery crater, and one of them was none other than Mo Guang.
However, he was also looking rather worse for wear, and there was a young woman that was less than half his height with a hand locked around his throat.
Despite this, there was a faint smile on his face, and it was unclear whether his calmness was genuine or just a facade.
The young woman was dressed in a bright red cloak that presented a stark contrastpared with the bleak and drab color tones adopted by most other beings of the Gray Realm.
Right at this moment, a burst of ck light suddenly shed over Mo Guang''s body, and he began to transform into a cloud of ck mist. However, at the same time, a burst of dark red light emerged over the palm of the hand of the young woman that was sped around his throat, and it was releasing a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations that prevented his body from disintegrating.
After that, the young woman swiveled around in mid-air before flying toward the end of the bridge, still dragging Mo Guang by the throat.
Despite this, Mo Guang still wasn''t disying any fear, and the nonchnt smile on his face remained unchanged. The young woman seemed to be very displeased by this, and she gave him a vicious p to the face, sending his head swinging to the side, and even his cheekbone seemed to have been broken.
The young woman then tossed him onto the ground before making a hand seal and pressing the palm of her hand against his forehead.
Immediately thereafter, a bright red rune instantly appeared on his be.
The bull horn puppets standing behind the Great Epassment Stage Infernal being immediately stepped forward before releasing their chains, which bound Mo Guang in a sh.
"Thank you for your help, Ms. You Luo," the Infernal being said.
"Aren''t you supposed to be overseeing the Rashom Area, Yin Gua? How did you only detect these people after they had gotten so far?" the young woman asked in a cold voice.
Yin Gua could only give a sheepish smile in response.
"Do I need to take care of the rest of them as well?" You Luo asked with a mocking sneer.
Her appearance was very simr to that of a human, with fair skin and beautiful features, but ther was a ck scale that resembled a vertical eye on her be, as well as several bright red markings on her cheeks.
Han Li noticed that her pupils were ck instead of gray, and he immediately began to wonder if perhaps she wasn''t a Gray Realm being.
Upon catching sight of Han Li in his Giant Mountain Ape form, a hint of surprise appeared on You Luo''s face as she asked, "Why is there a true spirit from the Immortal Realm here?"
"Don''t be fooled, Ms. You Luo, he''s just a human with a true spirit bloodline, and I''m perfectly capable of taking care of him on my own," Yin Gua replied.
You Luo fell silent upon hearing this, and Yin Gua turned back to Han Li with an eager expression as he said, "These humans are very interesting, I''ll have a lot of fun ying with them."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a sleeve through the air, and the ck seal above Han Li instantly came crashing down with even greater force.
Han Li gave a muffled groan as he withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis, following which it began revolving in reverse, and he slipped out from under the ck seal with great difficulty.
Instead of retreating toward the severed bridge, he rushed toward the karmic fire passageway with all his might.
"You''re not getting away!" Yin Gua harrumphed coldly as he swept a sleeve through the air, and a series of ck stone pirs erupted out of the karmic fire crater, forming a cage in front of Han Li.
A grim look appeared in his eyes upon seeing this, and he summoned nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once beforebining them into one, thenshed out with the joint sword as he released the Divine Devilbane Lightning stored inside without any reservation.
Countless arcs of golden lightning came together to form a giant golden lightning that tore through the karmic mes before striking the ck stone pirs, shattering them in rapid session.
Meanwhile, Han Li continued onward without pause, hurtling directly toward the karmic fire passageway, yet right as he was about to rush into it, Yin Gua appeared in his path in a sh.
He reached out with one hand to grab onto Han Li''s shoulder, while his other hand grabbed onto the ck seal from earlier before pressing it toward Han Li''s forehead.
There was no time for Han Li to summon his Mantra Treasured Axis, and he had already severely overexerted himself up to this point, so he was powerless to resist as the seal was pressed firmly into his forehead.
He felt as if a jolt of electricity were running through his body, followed by a numb sensation, and all of his immortal spiritual power was sealed away, while all of the strength was also drained from his body, leaving himpletely immobilized.
At this point, Shi Chuankong had also already been captured, leaving only Baili Yan, who was still battling against Su Liu.
You Luo chose an opportunity to enter the fray, and Baili Yan was quickly overwhelmed and also captured.
Han Li''s heart instantly sank upon seeing this.
He was already mentally prepared for a worst case scenario, but thebination of Mo Guang, Fox 3, Baili Yan, Shi Chuankong, and he weren''t even able tost fifteen minutes against Yin Gua.
At the same time, he was wondering how Yin Gua had managed to get here so quickly. Even if they had triggered the restriction in the fire crater, he shouldn''t have been able to get here so fast, unless he had already detected the intrusion.
Could it be that their disguises had been seen through?
That was quite imusible as well. Setting aside the fact that they had genuine Heavenly Jade Fox Tails at their disposal, Mo Guang possessed a gray immortal body, and due to the ravages of his karmic fire, Baili Yan was essentially half a gray immortal as well, and just their auras alone would''ve been enough to fool anyone. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have been assigned the task of posing as Infernal beings.
With his entire body numbed, Han Li''s tongue wasn''t working that well, so he could only ask in a slurred manner, "How did you... discover us?"
"I''m in a good mood today, so I''ll tell you. One of the Infernal Servants on duty here is actually a puppet of mine," Yin Gua exined.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh upon hearing this.
Right at this moment, Yin Gua raised his left hand before thrusting it toward Han Li''s group, and a bolt of ck lightning shot out of the palm of his hand, then exploded into countless ck runes that instantly burrowed their way into the bodies of Han Li and the others.
Han Li felt a burst of sharp pain in his dantian, and he hurriedly inspected his own internal condition in an rmed manner.
In doing so, he discovered that arcs of ck lightning had appeared in his dantian, enveloping his nascent soul.
These arcs of ck lightning were giving off a type of unknownw power fluctuations, after his nascent soul was ensnared within them, all of the immortal spiritual power in his body instantly becamepletely frozen and stagnant.
On top of that, thesew powers were continuing to rapidly spread through the rest of his body, and he waspletely powerless to resist.
Judging from the expressions on the faces of Mo Guang and the others, they were clearly experiencing the same thing.
Chapter 732: Infernal Prison
Yin Gua seemed to be quite pleased with the changes in the expressions of Han Li''s group, and he casually withdrew his hand, while You Luo praised, "Your baleful lightningw powers are bing more and more profound, Yin Gua."
A subtle hint of envy shed through Yin Gua''s eyes upon hearing this, but he maintained an amicable smile as he replied, "There are no fewer than ten people in the Gray Realm who''ve mastered thews of baleful lightning, so I can''t even begin topare with yourw powers."
You Luo burst intoughter upon hearing this, and Yin Gua''s brows furrowed slightly as a cold gleam shed through his eyes, but his amicable facade remained intact.
"You''re far too kind, Yin Gua. What do you n to do with these people?" You Luo asked after herughter subsided.
"These clowns must have some objective for sneaking into Asura City, so I n to interrogate them to find out their intentions," Yin Gua replied.
"This appears to be a very diverse group. There are humans, a devilish being, and a Void Integration being. With that in mind, it is rather difficult to guess their intentions, so an interrogation is indeed in order. Speaking of that, I''m quite good at interrogations, so how about I interrogate him in your stead?" You Luo proposed as she pointed a finger at Han Li, who was rather surprised to see this.
The smile on Yin Gua''s face slowly faded upon hearing this, and he watched YOu Luo in silence without saying anything.
"I''ll take that as a yes," You Luo said as she swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of dark red light that swept directly toward Han Li, but right at this moment, a bolt of ck lightning appeared above Han Li before striking the burst of red light, instantly scattering it.
Yin Gua slowly withdrew his arm, and there was a glimmer of ck lightning flickering on the tip of his finger."What''s the meaning of this?" You Luo asked with a surprised expression.
"Don''t think that you can do whatever you please just because you''ve caught the fancy of the regional monarch! These people were captured in the Rashom Area, so I''ll interrogate them, and you have no right to step in and tell me how to do my job!" Yin Gua said in a cold voice.
"I wouldn''t dare to tell you how to do your job, Yin Gua. If you don''t need my help, then forget about it. Having said that, a foreign invasion of the Rashom Area is a major issue that must be reported to the regional monarch right away," You Luo replied with a calm expression, seeminglypletely unbothered.
Yin Gua''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "The regional monarch is currently hosting the Three Region Conference, so I''ll take care of this matter, and I''ll report to him in person once my interrogation has yielded an oue."
"That''s fine, but seeing as I was here to see this, I think I should inform the regional monarch, just in case you forget," You Luo said with a faint smile.
Yin Gua was silent for a moment as he glowered intently at You Luo, then asked, "What exactly is it that you want, You Luo?"
"These people are all quite powerful, and theirw powers are also very special. I yed a role in capturing these people just now, so I think I should be entitled to some benefits," You Luo replied with a smile.
"So what do you want?" Yin Gua asked again.
"You can take them, but I want all of their treasures," You Luo replied.
"Fine. Most of these peoplee from the True Immortal Realm, so their treasures won''t be any use to me anyway," Yin Gua replied after a brief moment of contemtion.
With that, You Luo swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of dark red light, which swept over the bodies of Han Li''s group, taking all of their storage tools and immortal treasures.
With his immortal spiritual power sealed, Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had fallen to the ground, and they were also taken by You Luo.
"These are some fine treasures," You Luo remarked as she examined Shi Chuankong''s silver lute and the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords momentarily, then quickly stowed everything away.
"Alright, I''ll be taking my leave now," You Luo said to Yin Gua, then flew away into the distance.
"Greedy whore!" Yin Gua spat through gritted teeth as he watched You Luo leave with a look of unadulterated hatred in his eyes.
After taking a deep breath, the resentment in his eyes faded a little, and he instructed, "Put them all in the infernal prison."
The two bull horn puppets beside him immediately lifted Han Li and the others up from the ground, then unwound the chains from around their bodies, but reced them with sets of shackles that locked onto their upper bodies, leaving their legs free to move.
However, at the moment, Han Li and the others were so feeble that they could barely even walk, so there was no danger of them getting away, and they were quickly escorted out of the ring-shaped building by the two puppets.
A beast-drawn carriage was parked in front of the building, at the back of which was a cage that was several dozen feet in size.
Han Li''s group was thrown into the cage, following which the carriage departed, and Han Li and the others were left to look at one another in silence.
Close to half a dayter, the carriage arrived in front of a ck building in the Rashom Area.
This was quite arge building that was square in shape, and there were countless glowing ck jewels embedded into its walls, presenting a slightly chaotic sight to behold.
One of the bull horn puppets dragged Han Li''s group out of the cage before throwing them heavily onto the ground.
Yin Gua had sealed away their immortal spiritual power and physical strength, so their bodies had be very frail.
Thanks to Han Li''s incredible physical constitution, he was still quite sturdy even in this severelypromised state, but Fox 3 and the others couldn''t help but groan in pain from the rough treatment.
Right at this moment, a burly man emerged from the ck building.
He was very tall and imposing, and there were three huge fleshy growths on his forehead, giving him a rather fearsome and hideous appearance.
He was a High Zenith Stage Infernal being, and he was apanied by a pair of armord Infernal Servants who were holding whips that were lined with hooked spikes.
"These are True Immortal Realm cultivators! Where did you capture them from?" the burly man asked with a surprised expression.
"They were personally captured by Master Yin Gua, and they''re to be locked in the bottom level of the infernal prison," one of the bull horn puppets replied.
"Master Yin Gua personally captured them?" the burly man asked with a surprised expression.
"That''s right, and Master Yin Gua will also be personally interrogating them, so be sure to keep a close eye on them," the bull horn puppet replied.
"Leave it to me," the burly man said with a serious expression.
With that, the two bull horn puppets promptly departed, flying away into the distance.
"Come with me," the burly man instructed with a sinister grin as he made his way toward the ck building, and Han Li''s group could only follow along, while the two armord Infernal Servants brought up the rear.
Everyone made their way into the ck building, and the interior was quite spacious, with a stone tform that was around half a foot tall at the very center.
There were eight white stone pirs around the tform, all of which were riddled with countless squiggly runes, and there was also a ck teleportation array that had been engraved onto the stone tform.
The burly man stepped onto the stone tform, then ordered, "Get on here."
Han Li and the others did as they were told, and Baili Yan, who was at the back of the group, was a little too slow, and he immediately received a whish from one of the Infernal Servants.
"Hurry up!"
The skin and flesh on Baili Yan''s back was instantly torn open, and he was sent flying before falling heavily onto the stone tform.
The burly man paid no heed to this as he made a hand seal, and the teleportation array on the stone tform instantly began to buzz and sh incessantly.
Shortly thereafter, everyone vanished from within the array.
......
Countless scenes shed past Han Li''s eyes, and only after a long while did his vision return to normal, upon which he discovered that he was in a dimly lit hall.
There was a great abundance of baleful qi here, filling the air with a bone-chilling sensation, and even Han Li couldn''t help but shudder slightly.
The burly man was very pleased by the difort being disyed by Han Li''s group, and he began to make his way out of the hall, while Han Li and the others trailed along.
After emerging from the hall, they stepped into a long corridor, on either side of which was a series of prison cells, most of which were currently empty.
There was no end in sight to the corridor, and it was impossible to tell how many cells there were.
Blood-curdling howls could be heard asionally ringing out up ahead, and Han Li nced at the cells on either side of the corridor before suddenly asking, "So this is the infernal prison?"
The burly man stopped in his tracks, then turned around before approaching Han Li with a menacing look in his eyes.
The burly man then flipped a hand over to summon a spiked whip that was several timesrger and more menacing in appearance than the ones used by the two Infernal Servants from earlier, and he said in a cold voice, "Where do you think you are right now? Don''t talk unless you''re being spoken to!"
"I''m just asking a question. Is there a rule against speaking in the infernal prison?" Han Li asked with a calm expression.
Chapter 733: No Escape
"You can speak if you want, as long as you can handle my whip!" the burly man said with a cold grin as heshed out with his whip, sending it hurtling toward Han Li''s face.
Han Li remained still on the spot disying no intention to take evasive action, and the ck whip drew to an abrupt halt right in front of his face, with its sharp spike mere inches away from his eyes.
Han Li continued to look at the whip with a calm expression, not even blinking or flinching at all.
"You''ve got guts, I''ll give you that. No wonder Master Yin Gua went to the trouble of capturing you in person. I''ll spare you this time considering it''s your first offense, but don''t test my patience again," the burly man warned as he withdrew his whip, then continued onward, and this time, Han Li didn''t say anything.
"Fellow Daoist Li, we''re not in a good position right now, so let''s not start any conflicts," Shi Chuankong said in a barely audible voice.
Han Li nodded in response.
He had spoken just now not out of a moment of recklessness, but instead because he wanted to see how the burly man would react.
The attitudes disyed by Yin Gua and You Luo had struck him with a sense of unease that he couldn''t quite put his finger on, but after what had just transpired, he was now feeling a bit more reassured.
After walking for a while longer, the group arrived in a huge space, where the air temperature suddenly spiked.This was an underground za simr to the one in the ring-shaped building from before, and there were lit furnaces here that were releasing scorching heat that threatened to incinerate one''s lungs upon inhtion.
There was a series of stone pirs on the za, tied to each of which was a prisoner, all of whom howling in agony from the burning heat.
Standing off to the side were some gray-robed wardens that were holding kettles, out of which they were asionally pouring some type of white liquid into the mouths of the prisoners who were on the brink of death.
This white liquid would bring the prisoner back from the verge of death, and they would keep being tormented by the scorching mes.
"This is the first level of our nine-level infernal prison. Take a good look," the gray-robed man said to Han Li''s group with a sinister grin.
"Chief Warden!"
Some of the nearby wardens hurriedly extended respectful bows upon catching sight of the gray-robed man.
The gray-robed man waved a dismissive hand in response, then Han Li and the others further onward. Before long, they had descended down a flight of stairs to the next floor.
This floor also had a massive za, but this one consisted of a series of ck ponds that were giving off a bone-chilling aura.
There were prisoners currently submerged within the ponds, all of whom were deathly pale and trembling uncontrobly while letting loose gut-wrenching cries.
The gray-robed man continued onward, leading Han Li''s group down another staircase to the third floor.
There were also some ponds on the za on the third floor, but they were filled with creatures like snakes and scorpions as opposed to any liquid.
All of the prisoners on this floor were forced to endure the agony of being ravaged by these venomous creatures.
After that came the fourth floor, then the fifth floor, then the sixth...
The gray-robed man seemed to want Han Li and the others to witness the horrors on every single floor, and he led the group through the infernal prison at a leisurely pace.
All of the prisoners on all of the floors were being subjected to horrific agony, and Han Li hadn''t even heard of some of the torture methods on disy.
Fox 3 and the others were looking a little pale at this point, and only after walking for a full hour did they finally arrive on the ninth floor of the infernal prison.
To their surprise, there were no torture methods being implemented on the ninth floor. Instead, there was only a series of prison cells, all of which appeared to be quite tidy.
However, the baleful qi was several times more abundant here than it was on the previous floors, to the extent that it was being manifested as visible gray mist.
Furthermore, the baleful qi here was also more ferocious than normal baleful qi, and muffled ghostly howls could be heard ringing out from within it.
As soon as Han Li and the others stepped onto this level, they felt as if their entire bodies were being pierced through by countless steel needles.
A cold grin appeared on the gray-robed man at the sight of their pained expressions, and he continued to lead them deeper into the area.
There were only around twenty to thirty cells on this floor, most of which were empty, and only a small portion of them were upied.
There wasn''t a single warden to be seen on the entire ninth floor, and all of the prisoners were alsopletely silent.
The gray-robed man opened five cells one after another, then Han Li and the others into ht cells.
"This is the ninth floor of our infernal prison. I hope you enjoy your time here," the gray-robed man cackled in a sinister manner, then immediately turned to depart, seemingly not wanting to stay here for any longer than he had to.
Han Li watched as he departed, then began to inspect his surroundings with slightly furrowed brows.
The pain of the baleful qi on this level infiltrating his body was still bearable, and all of a sudden, his expression changed slightly as he noticed something.
The cells here weren''t remarkable in any way, they were just normal prison cells with some normal restrictions ced upon them.
At the moment, Han Li and the others had no strength in their bodies, so these cells were more than enough to contain them.
Through the bars of the cells, Han Li could easily see the other prisoners being held captive on this level, and that was what had caught his attention.
Even though his immortal spiritual power had been sealed away, his eyesight was still particrly sharp thanks to the spirit eye abilities that he had cultivated, and he noticed that all of the prisoners here were at least at the Golden Immortal Stage, while close to half of them were at the High Zenith Stage.
Furthermore, in addition to Gray Realm beings, there were two other people from the True Immortal Realm being held captive here.
Shi Chuankong was locked up in the cell right next to Han Li''s, and upon seeing the surprised look on Han Li''s face, he asked in a quiet voice, "Have you noticed something, Fellow Daoist Li?"
Han Li revealed his observations to Shi Chuankong.
Shi Chuankong took a nce at the two people from the True Immortal Realm before looking away again, clearly uninterested, then asked, "How do we get out of here, Fellow Daoist Li? You always have a bunch of tricks up your sleeve, can you think of a way out?"
"What could we possibly do in this situation? We''re locked up in the bottom level of this infernal prison, and our immortal spiritual power has been sealed away, so we''re no different from mortals at the moment," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
Right at this moment, a cold voice rang out from nearby.
"You''re a fool if you think you can escape from the infernal prison."
Han Li and Shi Chuankong turned to discover that the voice hade from one of the nearby prison cells, which housed a thin man with a head of long and disheveled hair.
ck scales could be seen on the exposed skin of his arms and ankles, and it seemed that he was some type of Gray Realm being.
It was impossible to see the man''s appearance, but his ears were extremely long, almost trailing all the way down to his shoulders, and his hearing seemed to be very sharp.
With their spiritual sense sealed away, Han Li and Shi Chuankong were unable tomunicate through voice transmission, but they had spoken in barely audible voices, so it hade as quite a surprise that they had been overheard.
However, the sight of the Gray Realm being''s long ears provided ample exnation for how they had been overheard.
"Who are you, and why do you say that?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
The long-eared man ignored Han Li''s questions as he chuckled coldly, "What kind of ce do you think this infernal prison is?"
Fox 3, Mo Guang, and Baili Yan''s attention had also been drawn to the long-eared man at this point, and Shi Chuankong asked with a puzzled expression, "Isn''t this just a prison of the Infernal Tribe?"
"Ha! Where did you idiotse from? You don''t even know what kind of ce you''re in!" the long-eared man chortled with mirth.
"What''s that supposed to mean?" Shi Chuankong asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Let me tell you what kind of situation you''re in right now. This infernal prison is where the Infernal Tribe refines high-grade puppets, and we are to be used as the materials!" the long-eared man revealed with a mocking sneer.
Shi Chuankong''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but Han Li wasn''t overly surprised by this revtion.
Having witnessed the puppet refinement fortresses from earlier, he already had a feeling that this was the fate that awaited them.
"You saw all of the other levels on your way down here, right? Those prisoners are undergoing the initial bodily refinement process so that it''ll be easier to refine them into puppets. From the instant that you stepped into this prison, your fate has been sealed! You will be the ves of the Infernal Tribe for all of eternity!" the long-eared man guffawed in a deranged manner.
The expressions of Shi Chuankong and the others darkened significantly upon hearing this.
After hisughter subsided, the long-eared man seemed to have been drained of all strength, and he leaned back against the wall behind him in a defeated manner as he sighed, "All of us will be reduced to mere puppets on strings for the Infernal Tribe..."
"What else do you know? Tell me!" Shi Chuankong demanded in a cold voice.
As the young master of the Vast Origin House, he was extremely proud, and he would rather die than to be reduced to a puppet.
However, the long-eared man seemed to havepletely lost interest in their conversation, and he refused to answer any more questions.
"It seems like you''re quite familiar with the puppet refinement methods of the Infernal Tribe. Back in the Hundred Treasure Area, I came across some puppet refinement fortresses, and the things going on inside are simr to what''s happening on the other levels of this infernal prison," Han Li said.
The long-eared man took a nce at Han Li upon hearing this, but still disyed no intention of saying anything.
"The Infernal Tribe''s puppet refinement skills rank at the very top in the Gray Realm. What you saw in the Hundred Treasure Area are only their most crude and puppets that have no Infernal Soul Bugs nted into their bodies, so their consciousness will fade after they''re refined into puppets.
¡°In contrast, we''ll have Infernal Soul Bugs nted into our bodies, and we''ll be eternally enved by the Infernal Tribe without even being able to put an end to our own lives."
This time, it was an elderly man with a head of white hair in another prison cell that had spoken.
He was also a Gray Realm being whose facial features weren''t all that different from those of a normal human, and there was a resentful look on his face.
However, there was also a long ck serpentine tail dragging along behind him, and it was unclear which tribe he was from.
"What are these Infernal Soul Bugs that you speak of?" Han Li asked as he turned to the elderly man, as did Shi Chuankong and the others.
Chapter 734: Doomed?
Chapter 734: Doomed?
"I suppose it can''t hurt to tell you about Infernal Soul Bugs. It''s a type of ability that''s unique to the Infernal Tribe, allowing Infernal beings to suck out the power of other people''s souls before using their abilities to convert such power into bugs," the elderly man exined.
"And those Infernal Soul Bugs are then nted into the body?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. These bugs can infiltrate one''s soul and take over the host, controlling their actions and even thoughts. Puppets refined using Infernal Soul Bugs are ones of the highest caliber as these puppets retain their consciousness and all of their abilities, including even theirw powers," the elderly man replied with a nod.
The expressions of Han Li and the others darkened significantly upon hearing this, and Shi Chuankong spat through gritted teeth, "If that''s the case, then I''d rather detonate my own nascent soul and die than be reduced to a living puppet!"
"Detonate your own nascent soul? The situation still isn''tpletely hopeless yet, would you really be willing to put an end to your own life?" Mo Guang asked in a cold voice.
"I wouldn''t do that unless there was absolutely no hope left," Fox 3 sighed with a wry smile.
Baili Yan also heaved a heavy sigh and remarked, "No wonder the Infernal Tribe was able to rule over this region for so many years. They do have some tricks up their sleeve."
Meanwhile, Han Li remained silent with a contemtive look in his eyes.
The elderly man seemed to have gleaned Han Li''s thoughts, and he warned, "I can sense that your soul is extremely powerful, but even for you, it would be impossible to resist an Infernal Soul Bug."
"Have Infernal Soul Bugs been nted into all of your bodies?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. Everyone on this ninth level has already had Infernal Soul Bugs nted into their bodies with the exception of the five of you," the elderly man sighed as a resentful look shed through his eyes.
"Does that mean we have no choice but to be reduced to puppets?" Han Li asked.
"There''s no longer any hope for any of us, but if the five of you don''t want to follow in our footsteps, then I advise you to put an end to your own lives now. Otherwise, once the Infernal Soul Bugs are nted, suicide won''t even be an option anymore," the elderly man replied.
"Thank you for your words of advice," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute toward the elderly man, then fell silent again, as did Shi Chuankong and the others.
A short whileter, Han Li shook his head to rid himself of his current train of thought, then sat down with his legs crossed, steeling himself against the pain of the baleful qi infiltrating his body while also inspecting his own internal condition.
He discovered that there were currently a series of ck ripples in his mind, giving off immense restrictive force that sealed away both his soul and spiritual sense.
Furthermore, his dantian waspletely filled by arcs of ck lightning, with no space left unupied.
His nascent soul was trapped within the countless arcs of ck lightning in apletely immobilized state, and its connection to Han Li had also beenpletely severed.
Not only had these arcs of ck lightning sealed away his nascent soul, they were also constantly releasing wisps of ck mist that slowly spread toward his nascent soul and his internal organs.
Thankfully, his internal organs had be extremely resilient due to the body refinement arts that he had cultivated, so they were able to ward off the ck mist without too much trouble.
However, the situation waspletely different for his nascent soul, which was already disying signs of contamination, much to Han Li''s dismay and agitation.
With his connection to his nascent soul severed, he couldn''t examine how much damage this process was causing to it, but one could imagine that the damage would only be more and more untenable over time.
Han Li took a deep breath to suppress his agitation, then took a nce at his own fingers.
The only silver lining here was that You Luo had only taken his storage tools, but hadn''t detected the existence of the Flower Branch domain.
At the moment, close to half of all of his wealth was in the Flower Branch domain, including the Heaven Controlling Vial, and if the vial were to be discovered, he didn''t even dare to imagine what that would entail for him.
Unfortunately, the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber was also in his storage tools, so it was currently in You Luo''s possession. Otherwise, with Shi Qinghou on his side, perhaps there could be a twist in the tale.
Han Li took a subtle nce at his surroundings, and after verifying that there were no surveince restrictions nearby, he leaned back against the wall of his cell, then pressed a hand against his own forehead, seemingly struggling to withstand the pain of the baleful qi infiltrating his body.
At the same time, he was drawing upon all of the spiritual sense in his mind to attack the ck ripples there.
The ck ripples were only able to restrict his spiritual sense within his mind, but weren''t able topletely seal away his spiritual sense.
At the moment, he was unable to advance any further beyond the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage, so during his time in the Gray Realm, he had prioritized the cultivation of the Spirit Refinement Technique, thereby significantly enhancing his own spiritual sense.
Even though the ck ripples were extremely formidable, they were still trembling slightly in the face of Han Li''s immense spiritual sense.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately redoubled his efforts, sending one wave of spiritual sense after another surging against the ck ripples.
Two hours flew by in a sh, and the ck ripples were trembling more and more violently, but they still remained intact.
At this point, Han Li''splexion had grown a little pale. With his immortal spiritual power sealed away, channeling his spiritual sense for extended periods of time was extremely taxing on his body.
However, he couldn''t afford to stop. He didn''t know when Yin Gua would be returning, and once Infernal Soul Bugs were forcibly nted into their bodies, it would be impossible to escape.
Hence, he had to free himself from the restrictions in his body at all costs, then flee the infernal prison before Yin Gua''s return.
With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath and continued to toil away.
Another two hours passed by, and under his tireless efforts, the ck ripples were finally beginning to loosen a little.
Han Li was very encouraged to see this, and he redoubled his efforts once again.
The ck ripples were trembling violently, particrly at their center, and right at this moment, Han Li channeled his Sword Observation Arts, upon which a streak of translucent light shot out of his soul, then transformed into a blurry sword projection before striking the center of the ck ripples.
Finally, a small gash was sliced into the ck ripples, and the spiritual sense sword flew out from within before entering the Flower Branch domain.
Immediately thereafter, the ck ripples mended themselves once again, but at thi point, Han Li had alreadypleted his objective, and the spiritual sense sword flew deeper into the Flower Branch space at his behest.
At this moment, Daoist Xie was standing in his bamboo pavilion in the Flower Branch domain, looking up at the sky.
Right at this moment, a burst of translucent light descended into the pavilion before transforming into a blurry projection of Han Li.
"What happened, Fellow Daoist Han? Our spiritual connection was suddenly severed," Daoist Xie asked as it approached the projection of Han Li.
"It''s a long story. Right now, I''ve been captured, and my immortal spiritual power has been sealed away..."
The projection of Han Li gave a brief recount of what had transpired up to this point, and Han Li was hoping that Daoist Xie would perhaps have a way to unravel the restriction in his body, given its proficiency in thews of lightning.
"There is indeed some information in my memories pertaining to thews of baleful lightning. Essentially, ites from the same origins as myws of lightning, so I should be able to help you break the restrictions in your dantian. Having said that, those restrictions were nted by a Great Epassment Stage being, so I''m not fully confident," Daoist Xie said.
"That''s fine. As long as you can break one of the seals in my dantian, I''ll be able to channel my timew powers and take care of the rest of the restrictions on my own," the projection of Han Li said with an ted expression.
"In that case, I feel a bit more confident," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
"Alright, I''ll go make some preparations, and we can begin soon," the projection of Han Li said, then flew over to a corner of the spirit medicine garden, where the Myriad Soul Herb had been nted.
Han Li was concerned that storing the spirit nt in a jade box for an extended period of time would impact its medicinal properties, so he nted it in the Flower Branch space.
The projection of Han Li raised a hand to release a streak of light, which wrapped itself around the Myriad Soul Herb before uprooting it, and an ted look appeared on the projection''s face.
This was exactly what he needed right now, so it was an immense stroke of fortune that he had decided to nt it in the Flower Branch space.
By his estimates, with the help of this Myriad Soul Herb, he had a roughly 50% chance of unraveling the ck ripples in his mind.
If he could do that, then he would have much better chances of breaking the baleful lightning restrictions in his dantian with Daoist Xie''s assistance.
With that in mind, the projection of Han Li began to fly out of the Flower Branch domain with the Myriad Soul Herb, only to abruptly stop in its tracks as a grim look appeared on its face.
Right at this moment, Yin Gua drifted onto the ninth floor of the infernal prison.
Han Li could only grit his teeth and lower his head in frustration.
In the next instant, Yin Gua appeared in front of the cell that Han Li was in, observing him with a fervent look in his eyes.
Han Li''s heartpletely sank upon seeing this, and he slowly rose to his feet.
Before he had a chance to think about anything else, Yin Gua made a hand seal, and the door of the cell sprang open at his behest.
Upon entering the cell, he swept a sleeve through the air, conjuring up two giant hands of ck lightning that grabbed onto Han Li, locking him firmly into ce.
Han Li felt the air constrict around him, and he waspletely immobilized, while Shi Chuankong and the others could only look on in rm.
Han Li made no effort to resist, merely looking directly at Yin Gua as he asked, "Are you nning to refine me into a puppet?"
Chapter 735: Bug Implantation
Chapter 735: Bug Imntation
"Oh? It sounds like you already know what''s about to happen to you. That saves me the trouble of having to exin things. With your timew powers, you''ll be a fantastic asset to me, so as long as you remain loyal, I''ll be sure to treat you well," Yin Gua said with a faint smile, then raised a hand to release a ball of ck light, which then transformed into an ovr object that very much resembled an insect''s egg.
Yin Gua made a hand seal with a solemn expression, and the ck egg immediately began to squirm and wriggle. Shortly thereafter, a small ck bug burrowed its way out from within.
The creature resembled a slug with dozens of feelers of different lengths all over its body, and it had a human face that strongly resembled Yin Gua''s, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
Han Li''s expression instantly darkened significantly at the sight of the creature.
"Don''t try to resist, just let it enter your soul. It''s actually quite an enjoyable process, so make sure to savor it!" Yin Gua said in a cold voice, and the Infernal Soul Bug shot forward at his behest, quickly burrowing its way into Han Li''s be.
Han Li felt a burst of sharp pain spear through his head, as if someone had forced a red-hot nail into his mind, and he couldn''t help but give a muffled groan as his body began to tremble uncontrobly.
The Infernal Soul Bug quickly entered his mind before burrowing its way toward his soul, and it waspletely unaffected by the ck ripples in his mind.
Before long, it had already reached Han Li''s consciousness, and a tiny soul figure that was identical to Han Li in appearance emerged.
The soul figure channeled the Sword Observation Arts to send a translucent sword projection flying out of its body, and the sword projection hurtled through the air, slicing through the Infernal Soul Bug with ease, causing it to explode into two clouds of ck qi.
However, the two clouds of ck qi then instantly fused back together to form the Infernal Soul Bug again, and it continued onward, seeminglypletely unscathed.
The soul figure was quite surprised to see this, but it remained calm and collected as a spiritual sense chain flew out of its body, then instantly wrapped itself several times around the Infernal Soul Bug, locking it firmly into ce.
A mocking sneer appeared on the Infernal Soul Bug''s face as its body exploded once again,freeing itself from the spiritual sense chain before flying onward as a cloud of ck mist.
The Infernal Soul Bug wasn''t that far away from Han Li''s soul to begin with, and the cloud of ck mist that it had transformed into quickly came into contact with Han Li''s soul.
The cloud of ck mist then reverted back into the Infernal Soul Bug before pouncing onto Han Li''s soul figure and attempting to burrow its way inside.
The soul figure let loose an rmed cry as several spiritual sense chains shot out of its body, forming a spiritual sense cage around the Infernal Soul Bug.
Trapped within the spiritual sense cage, the Infernal Soul Bug was slowed down significantly, but at this point, close to half of its body had already burrowed its way into Han Li''s soul, and it continued onward without pause, burrowing deeper and deeper, albeit at a slower rate than before.
An urgent look appeared in the soul figure''s eyes upon seeing this, and more spiritual sense chains flew out of its body to ensnare the Infernal Soul Bug, wrapping it in a tight cocoon.
Yin Gua''s brows furrowed slightly as he took a cold nce at the trembling Han Li, following which he harrumphed coldly, "If you insist on prolonging the pain, then I''ll grant you your wish!"
Immediately thereafter, five streaks of ck light shot out of his fingertips before piercing into Han Li''s head, and blood instantly began to flow out of all of his orifices.
At the same time, his body began to tremble much more violently, looking as if he were spasming uncontrobly, and an agonized howl escaped his lips.
Shi Chuankong and the others were horrified to see this, but there was nothing that they could do, and the white-haired elderly man and the long-eared man were looking at Han Li while shaking their heads with forlorn expressions,menting the fact that he hadn''t heeded their advice.
"Oh? How interesting! Let''s see how much longer you canst!"
A look of sadistic pleasure appeared on Yin Gua''s face as the five beams of ck light shooting out of his fingertips became even thicker.
Only after a full fifteen minutes had passed did the beams of ck light shooting out of Yin Gua''s fingertips fade away, and at the same time, the two giant lightning hands grabbing onto Han Li also disappeared.
At this point, half of Han Li''s body was already drenched in blood, and he copsed to the ground in an unconscious state, while his aura had also be extremely feeble.
"Insolent fool!" Yin Gua scoffed as he strode out of Han Li''s cell, then turned his gaze to Shi Chuankong.
Having witnessed what had just happened to Han Li, Shi Chuankong''s heart had alreadypletely sunk, and his expression instantly changed slightly at the sight of Yin Gua''s menacing gaze.
Yin Gua passed straight through the restrictions around Shi Chuankong''s cell, then conjured up two more ck lightning hands to grab onto Shi Chuankong''s body.
His patience seemed to have beenpletely exhausted by Han Li, and he grabbed onto Shi Chuankong''s head before releasing a continuous burst of ck light into it.
Shi Chuankong''s expression changed drastically as he let loose a blood-curdling howl, and blood began to gush out of all of his orifices.
Around fifteen minutester, Yin Gua released Shi Chuankong, who also fell to the ground in an unconscious state.
Yin Gua took a cold nce at Shi Chuankong, then left his cell and made his way toward Fox 3''s cell.
......
An hourter, Yin Gua drifted out of Baili Yan''s cell, and at this point, the entirety of Han Li''s group had fallen unconscious.
Yin Gua''splexion was slightly pale, and he took a deep breath to steady himself.
The gray-robed man suddenly emerged, seemingly out of thin air, and there was a sycophantic look on his face as he said, "Congrattions on obtaining five more fine puppets, Master Yin Gua."
A faint smile appeared on Yin Gua''s face, and he instructed, "These five puppets will be very useful to me, so make sure you keep a close eye on them. Do I make myself clear, Yin Chan?"
"Crystal clear, Master Yin Gua. I''ll be sure to monitor them closely," the gray-robed man hurriedly promised.
"Infernal Soul Bugs have already been nted into their bodies, but it''ll take a hundred days before the bugspletely fuse with them. Once they wake up, take them straight to the Profound Yin Pce, and only let anyone from the other arease into contact with them," Yin Gua instructed.
"Yes, Master Yin Gua. Will you be alright after nting five Infernal Soul Bug in session?" Yin Chan asked with a concerned expression.
"I''ll be fine, I just need some time to rest and recuperate. If you do a good job here, I''ll be sure to reward you handsomely," Yin Gua replied, then vanished from the spot in a sh, seemingly in quite a hurry to begin the recuperation process.
Yin Chan hurriedly extended a grateful bow, and only after a long while did he stand up straight again.
He took a nce at Han Li and the others with a cold sneer on his face, then turned to depart, only to suddenly stop in his tracks.
As it turned out, You Luo was making her way down from the staircase leading to the ninth floor.
Yin Chan faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which a bright smile appeared on his face as he hurriedly approached You Luo and asked, "What brings you here, Ms. You Luo? My apologies for noting out to greet you sooner."
"Am I not allowed toe here?" You Luo asked in an indifferent voice.
"Of course not! You''re wee to visit the infernal prison at anytime," Yin Chan hurriedly replied with a slightly fearful expression.
You Luo harrumphed coldly before making her way down the corridor, and Yin Chan hurriedly followed along as he asked in a careful manner, "May I ask the purpose of your visit, Ms. You Luo?"
You Luo paid no heed to him as she continued onward without pause, and before long, she drew to a halt in front of the cells of Han Li and the others.
Yin Chan''s expression changed slightly as he thought back to Yin Gua''s instructions not to let anyone from other arease into contact with Han Li and the others, but before he could say anything, You Luo sighed, "Master Yin Gua can really be quite cruel sometimes. Even if he''s going to refine these five into puppets, surely he didn''t need to be so rough with them, wouldn''t you agree, Chief Warden Yin Chan?"
Yin Chan gave a muffled response, not daring toment on Yin Gua''s actions.
You Luo raised a hand to release a burst of ck light, which split up into five before flying into the cells.
"What are you doing, Ms. You Luo?" Yin Chan asked as he stepped forward with an urgent expression.
The five bursts of ck light transformed into five slender feelers at You Luo''s behest, and they briefly brushed over the bes of Han Li and the others to inspect their conditions before fading away, much to Yin Chan''s relief.
"Looks like Master Yin Gua forcibly nted Infernal Soul Bugs into their souls. Such a direct and callous imntation method will work, but it''ll take a very long time for the Infernal Soul Bug to fuse with their souls.
¡°I have some Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills here, feed each of them one pill a day, and the amount of time required for puppet refinement will be significantly reduced," You Luo said as she tossed ck jade vial to Yin Chan.
There was a ck talisman adhered to the mouth of the vial, and even through the vial, one could sense pure soul power fluctuations from its contents.
Yin Chan''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this.
Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills were extremely precious soul nourishing pills that were effective even for Great Epassment cultivators.
Under normal circumstances, it would take Han Li and the others around half a month to wake up, but with these pills, a few days would suffice.
However, Yin Chan couldn''t understand why You Luo was willing to sacrifice a vial of Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills just to aid Yin Gua in his puppet refinement...
Chapter 736: Perplexed
Despite Yin Chan''s befuddlement, he immediately extended a grateful bow as he said, "Please ept my gratitude on behalf of Master Yin Gua, Ms. You Luo."
"There are quite a few Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills left in this vial. Once the five of them wake up, you can keep the leftover pills. If I recall correctly, you only reached the mid-High Zenith Stage about a hundred years ago, and these pills should be very helpful for consolidating your cultivation base," You Luo said with a smile.
Yin Chan was ecstatic to hear this, and he hurriedly repiled, "Thank you, Ms. You Luo. If you ever need anything from me, I''ll for sure be at your service."
There were forty Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills in the vial, so there should still be close to twenty leftover from what had to be allotted to Han Li and the others, and at the very least, these pills would be enough to save him several thousand years of arduous cultivation.
"Seeing as you made such a kind offer, I''ll dly ept. I''d like to borrow these five once they''re awake, and I hope you can help me out there, Chief Warden Yin Chan," You Luo said with a smile.
Yin Chan''s expression instantly stiffened upon hearing this, and he wanted to p himself for making such a reckless promise.
"Is that going to be a problem?" You Luo asked.
"It''s not that I''m unwilling to help, the problem is that the five of them are going to be refined into puppets by Master Yin Gua, so if you want to borrow them, I''ll have to secure Master Yin Gua''s permission first," Yin Chan replied in a careful manner.
"Master Yin Gua must''ve severely exerted himself by manifesting five Infernal Soul Bugs at once, so he definitely won''t being out of seclusion for at least a month. I''m only going to be borrowing the five of them for two or three days at most, and as long as neither of us say anything, how is Master Yin Gua going to find out?" You Luo asked with a faint smile.Yin Chan took a nce at the ck jade vial in his hand, and an indecisive look appeared on his face.
"Besides, even if Master Yin Gua does somehow find out, surely he wouldn''t mind lending the five of them to me, considering I contributed so many Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills to his cause," You Luo continued.
"That may be true, but Master Yin Gua specifically told me..."
You Luo''s expression darkened slightly as she interjected, "I''m borrowing the five of them for a matter concerning the regional monarch, not for myself. If you don''t want to help me, then I won''t force you to do anything against your will, but if the regional monarch asks about the dy, then I''ll have to tell him the truth."
Yin Chan''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, following which a wry smile appeared on his face as he replied, "In that case, it seems like I don''t have much choice in the matter."
"Alright, then I''ll leave it to you, Chief Warden Yin Chan," You Luo said as the smile returned to her face, following which she turned to depart.
Yin Chan watched You Luo as she departed, and only after standing in silence for a long while did he heave a faint sigh before making his way into Han Li''s cell.
There, he removed the talisman from the ck jade vial, then tipped out a small gray pill from within.
After examining the pill carefully to ensure that there was nothing amiss about it, he fed it to Han Li, immediately following which his aura began to stabilize.
After that, Yin Chan repeated the process with all of Han Li''spanions before departing.
......
In his unconscious state, Han Li felt as if ps of thunder and shes of lightning were raging incessantly in his mind, and the intense agony was threatening to tear his consciousness apart.
Is this how everything''s going to end?
A sense of despair welled up from the bottom of his heart.
He slowly opened his eyes, and everything felt very blurry and indistinct.
All of a sudden, his dimly lit prison cell began to brighten, and his surroundings also began to transform. The cell gradually disappeared, reced by an elegantly furnished hall, and there were several pots filled with rare and exotic flowers beside him.
Seated on a wicker chair beside an ornate wooden table in the hall was an indistinct figure who was looking at something with their head lowered.
The figure gradually became clearer in Han Li''s eyes, and it was revealed to a white-robed young woman.
"Wan''er!" Han Li called out involuntarily at the sight of the young woman, and she raised her head to reveal a set of beautiful features that had appeared countless times in Han Li''s dreams.
It was none other than Nangong Wan!
However, right as he was about to say something to her, his consciousness abruptly shuddered, and everything around him disintegrated into darkness once again, while his body began to descend into a bottomless abyss.
After what felt like an eternity, a surge of warmth suddenly began to flow through his mind, and the excruciating pain in his consciousness rapidly faded away, allowing his fractured mind to piece itself back together.
Before long, the surge of warmth dissipated, and the excruciating pain returned to his mind, but it was already somewhat less potent than before.
Some timeter, the surge of warmth reappeared to nourish his mind.
Han Li''s consciousness gradually became more and more intact, and finally, after the fourth flow of warmth had surged through his mind, his eyelids fluttered slightly before springing open, and he found himself staring up at the ceiling of his cell.
Even though his consciousness had recovered, his body was still in a state of agony andpletely immobile.
Before long, Yin Chan appeared in Han Li''s field of view, looking down at him with a surprised expression as he remarked, "Your spiritual sense must be extremely powerful for you to have awakened in just four days."
Han Li wanted to say something, but he was too feeble to utter even a single sound.
"Now that you''re awake, I suppose I may as well as feed you this fifth Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pill," Yin Chan said as he tipped a gray pill out of a ck jade vial, then fed it to Han Li, who made no effort to resist.
"You''re a lucky bunch. If it isn''t for these pills, you''d still have to suffer for at least ten more days before you can wake up," Yin Chan chuckled coldly, then quickly departed, exiting Han Li''s field of view.
After taking a moment to collect himself, Han Li hurriedly examined his own internal condition, upon which he discovered that all of the restrictions in his dantian and mind were still present.
On top of that, his body and meridians had sustained severe damage, and the shackles on his body rendered himpletely immobile.
Han Li paid no heed to his own physical injuries as he hurriedly examined his own soul, upon which a grim look quickly appeared on his face.
His soul was hovering within his consciousness in a stable fashion, so could it be that the Infernal Soul Bug had alreadypletely fused into it?
Han Li couldn''t help but shudder slightly at the thought of the Infernal Soul Bug, but he then quickly noticed that something wasn''t quite right.
Inside his soul, the Infernal Soul Bug was trapped within several spiritual sense chains, outside of which was ayer of some type of transparent substance.
Whatever the transparent substance was, it seemed to have enveloped the Infernal Soul Bug and rendered itpletely immobile.
On top of that, he didn''t feel as if his consciousness had beenpromised at all, which was naturally a huge relief, but also very perplexing.
Right at this moment, the gray pill that he had just been fed began to melt, and it quickly transformed into a surge of warmth that entered his mind before rapidly spreading outward.
The pain in his mind was instantly significantly alleviated, and he felt as if his soul were basking in a hot spring.
Thinking back to the surges of warmth that had periodically arisen in his mind during his unconscious state, it became apparent to Han Li that this gray pill had been the root cause.
Judging from the effects of the pill, it was clearly extremely precious, and ording to Yin Chan, this was already the fifth one that he had been fed, and he couldn''t help but wonder why he was being administered such valuable pills.
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed that a series of extremely thin streaks of barely detectable translucent light were being released into his mind, then fused into his soul before reinforcing the transparent light membrane around the Infernal Soul Bug.
A series of thoughts instantly shed through Han Li''s mind upon seeing this, but in the end, he shook his head to rid himself of the train of thought before closing his eyes and taking some deep breaths to steady himself.
Close to half a dayter, his eyes abruptly sprang open, and having regained some strength, he was able to slowly struggle up into a seated position.
He took a subtle nce at his surroundings, then raised a hand to his own forehead while feigning a pained expression.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of translucent light shed over his fingers, and Myriad Soul Herb suddenly appeared in his grasp before being instantly stuffed into his mouth.
After chewing the Myriad Soul Herb a few times, he quickly swallowed it.
Even though his immortal spiritual power had beenpletely sealed away, rendering him unable to ess the Flower Branch domain, the shard of spiritual sense that he had projected into it earlier was able to retrieve some things from within the domain for him.
Right at this moment, the white-haired elderly man in the nearby cell turned to Han Li with a perplexed look in his eyes, while Han Li leaned back against the wall of his cell and closed his eyes in silence.
At this moment, his consciousness was churning violently as all of his spiritual sense was stirred up into a frenzy, relentlessly attacking the ck ripples in his mind.
Perhaps it was thanks to the five pills that he had been fed, but his spiritual sense had been further enhanced, and the ck ripples were trembling incessantly.
At the same time, bursts of ck qi were surging into his mind in a steady stream, and it was none other than the medicinal power of the Myriad Soul herb.
The ck qi was giving off immense soul power fluctuations that were only slightly weaker than Han Li''s own, but they were extremely violent and untamed, much like a wild stallion that refused to be ridden.
Furthermore, resentful roars could be heard ringing out within the ck qi.
Myriad Soul Herbs were found in dark ces where deceased spirits converged, and in essence, it was a spirit nt formed by the resentful energy of countless souls. This made it very difficult to absorb its medicinal power to enhance one''s soul, and most of its medicinal power was often wasted during this process.
However, Han Li''s current objective wasn''t to absorb its medicinal power. Instead, he was using it to attack the ck ripples in his mind, so this worked out perfectly for him.
Chapter 737: Who is She?
Han Li took a deep breath, then closed his eyes and focused single-mindedly on directing the ck qi from the Myriad Soul Herb toward the ck ripples in his mind, attempting to break the restriction.
With his past experience in contending against this restriction, he was able to make some rapid progress, and the ck ripples quickly began to disy signs of loosening.
Han Li''s eyes lit up as he unleashed his Sword Observation Arts once again, but this time, he conjured up three spiritual sense swords at once, all of which shot forth in unison to strike three different points in the ck ripples.
Three tiny gashes were instantly sliced into the ck ripples, which immediately attempted to seal the gashes, but right at this moment, three translucent spiritual sense chains shot out of Han Li''s soul, forcing their way into the three gashes.
The ck ripples were doing everything in their power to seal the gashes, but the spiritual sense chains were extremely resilient and remained firmly in ce. On top of that, they were releasing bursts of translucent light while wriggling incessantly, attempting to widen the three gashes.
A fierce sh ensued between the ck ripples and spiritual sense chains, plunging Han Li''s mind into a state ofplete chaos, but Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he closed his eyes while continuing to attack the ck ripples with his spiritual sense and the power of the Myriad Soul Herb.
A day and a night flew by in the blink of an eye.
Han Li remainedpletely still, leaning against the wall of his cell this entire time, while the unrest in his mind continued to rage incessantly.
At this point, dozens of gashes had already been torn into the ck ripples, every single one of which was filled by a spiritual sense chain that was squirming incessantly.Upon closer inspection, one would discover that the restriction had dimmed significantly, and it was also trembling violently, but it remained stubbornly intact.
At this point, Han Li''splexion had turned quite pale, andrge droplets of sweat were dripping down from his face.
After a day and a night of tireless toil, his spiritual sense had been severely overexerted, and the Myriad Soul Herb''s medicinal power was also close to running out, so he wouldn''t be able to keep this up for much longer.
As expected of a seal nted by a Great Epassment cultivator. I have to make my move now!
With that in mind, Han Li gritted his teeth, and the dozens of spiritual sense chains in his mind lit up in unison while also iling violently like tentacles, further widening the dozens of gashes in the ck ripples and causing them to sh erratically.
At the same time, all of the spiritual sense in Han Li''s mind was being directed into the spiritual sense chains, rapidly strengthening and thickening them.
Simultaneously, the ck qi formed by the Myriad Soul Herb transformed into a pair of giant ck hands that grabbed onto the ck ripples before tearing them apart to widen the gashes even further.
Despite this, the restriction was still standing strong, disying no signs of breaking apart.
In one final effort, Han Li conjured up a series of translucent sword projections with his Sword Observation Arts, and all of them instantly converged to form a giant sword projection that struck the ck ripples with tremendous force.
A huge gash was instantly torn into the ck ripples, and they were unable to hold themselves together any longer, exploding with a dull thump before quickly dissipating.
At the same time, what little remained of the Myriad Soul Herb''s medicinal power was alsopletely scattered by the destruction of the ck ripples.
Han Li immediately began gasping for air, and with all of his spiritual sense exhausted, he was on the verge of cking out.
He had truly given everything that he had to give, and for his efforts, he had finally broken one of the restrictions in his body, much to his tion and excitement.
No, I can''t fall asleep!
Han Li gritted his teeth tightly as he forced himself to remain conscious, and only after several hours of rest and recuperation did his spiritual sense recover somewhat.
It was still far from making a full recovery, but at the very least, no longer had much trouble remaining conscious.
A hint of tion shed through his eyes as he inspected his own internal condition with his spiritual sense.
Prior to this, he had also been able to inspect his own internal condition, but to nowhere near the same level of detail that his spiritual sense provided.
As he did this, a grim look quickly appeared on his face.
The only restriction that was worthy of note in his body was the baleful lightning restriction on his dantian, and if that could be unraveled, then all of the other restrictions would also easily be dealt with.
However, the restriction on his dantian was far more powerful than he imagined, far more so than even the ck ripple restriction in his mind, and it was most likely going to be impossible to unravel even with Daoist Xie''s help.
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly as he tried to think of a way to unravel the baleful lightning restriction.
Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps rang out, and he immediately withdrew his spiritual sense while also lowering his head.
Two figures, one tall and one short, appeared at the entrance of the ninth level, and they were none other than Yin Chan and You Luo.
Han Li took a nce at You Luo out of his peripheral vision, and a perplexed look shed through his eyes.
He had always felt like this woman was rather strange. In particr, it was only after he had been fed the pills that had been given to Yin Chan by her that he was able to unravel the restriction in his mind and give himself a glimmer of hope.
Could it be that she had some type of ulterior motive, or perhaps the Infernal Regional Master was plotting something?
Han Li lowered his head even further as these thoughts ran through his mind, and he condensed all of his spiritual sense, not daring to release even the slightest spiritual sense fluctuations.
"One of them is already awake!" You Luo remarked in a surprised manner as her gaze fell upon Han Li.
"His spiritual sense seems to be particrly powerful, and he already woke up yesterday. Of course, it''s all thanks to your Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills. Otherwise, he''d be out for at least half a month," Yin Chan said.
"His spiritual sense must indeed be quite powerful if he woke up in only four days. Wake the other four up as well. There''s not much time left, and the regional master is still waiting. Go and feed them their pills for today, and I''ll give you a hand," You Luo instructed.
Yin Chan gave an affirmative response, then entered Baili Yan''s cell before feeding him a Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pill.
After that, You Luo made a strange-looking hand seal, and a series of ck runes emerged from her hands before converging to form a ck lotus flower, which drifted through the air while rapidly shrinking down into a speck of ck light before vanishing into Baili Yan''s be.
Bursts of ck light instantly emerged over Baili Yan''s head, illuminating the rest of his body ck as well.
A projection of a barefoot woman sitting on a lotus flower chair appeared within the ck light, and the woman had a benevolent smile of unconditional love on her face, as if she were the mother of all things.
The projection raised an arm before gently stroking a hand over Baili Yan''s hand while murmuring something to him, much like a mother waking her child.
A series of ck ripples instantly appeared over Baili Yan''s head before spreading outward, and in the next instant, he abruptly shuddered before slowly opening his eyes, following which the projection of the woman faded away.
A bewildered look shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
"No matter how many times I see it, your soul calling ability still never ceases to amaze me, Ms. You Luo. I''ve heard that even if someone''s dead, as long as they haven''t been dead for more than three days and their soul is still intact, you can resurrect them using this technique. Is that really true?" Yin Chan asked with an admiring look in his eyes.
"Next," You Luo said with a cold expression,pletely ignoring Yin Chan''s question.
"My apologies for speaking out of turn, Ms. You Luo," Yin Chan apologized with a sheepish smile, then hurriedly entered Fox 3''s cell before feeding him a Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills.
You Luo unleashed the same soul calling technique again, and Fox 3 quickly awakened as well.
Before long, Mo Guang and Shi Chuankong had also returned to consciousness, and You Luo turned to Yin Chan with a serious expression as she warned, "What happens next is strictly confidential, so it would be best if you didn''t know anything about it."
Yin Chan faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response before making a hand seal, conjuring up ck light barriers around all of the cells aside from the ones that Han Li''s group were in.
"I''ve already activated the restrictions on all of the other cells, so take your time, and call for me when you''re done," Yin Chan said, then turned to depart.
In the instant that he turned around, You Luo reached out like lightning to tap a finger against the back of his chest, releasing a burst of ck light into his body.
Yin Chan''s expression changed drastically, but before he had a chance to do anything, a ball of ck light emerged over his head, and he waspletely immobilized and rooted to the spot with an rmed look on his face.
Han Li and the others were naturally very surprised to see this, and they all turned to You Luo with wary expressions.
You Luo withdrew her arm, then made her way into Han Li''s cell.
Han Li struggled to his feet as he looked directly at You Luo and said, "It sounds like you need us to do something for you. May I ask what that is?"
All of a sudden, You Luo made a hand seal, releasing a streak of white light that flew around Han Li in a sh, severing all of the shackles on his body.
"Who are you, and what''s the meaning of this?" Han Li asked.
"Do you still not know who I am?" You Luo asked with a faint smile.
Chapter 738: Tumultuous Experiences
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he replied, "I don''t believe we''ve met before."
Indeed, he had no recollection of You Luo, but strangely enough, he had felt a sense of familiarity as soon as he hadid eyes upon her. It was just that given the urgency of the situation that he was in, he had no time to ponder where this sense of familiarity wasing from.
You Luo''s smile widened slightly as bursts of ck light suddenly emerged from her body, then intertwined above her to form a projection of a three-eyed giant ape with a strange horn on its head.
"You''re the Weeping Soul Beast!" Han Li eximed with a stunned expression. /wiki/Weeping_Soul_Beast[/ref]
"Looks like we''ve been apart for so long that you''ve already forgotten about me, Master," Weeping Soul sighed with a dejected expression.
"Of course not, I''m just so surprised! Didn''t you ascend to the True Immortal Realm after being summoned all those years ago? How did you end up in the Gray Realm?" Han Li asked with a mixture of shock and tion in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Shi Chuankong and the others were all looking on with bewildered expressions.
They had no idea how Han Li had suddenly gained such a powerful subordinate in the Gray Realm, and all of a sudden, Han Li was looking even more unfathomable in their eyes.
Only Mo Guang appeared to be quite calm and collected, seemingly already ustomed to Han Li''s ability to work miracles."That''s a story for another time. For now, use this Gold Rinse Lightning Bead to undo the restriction on your dantian first," You Luo replied as she flipped a hand over to produce an egg-sized golden bead that was riddled with lightning patterns.
The bead was giving off a powerful yang-attribute aura that was rather simr to that of Han Li''s Divine Devilbane Lightning, and as soon as it appeared, all of the surrounding baleful qi instantly dissipated.
"Could it be that this bead contains Bone Rinsing Golden Lightning?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
A hint of surprise shed through Weeping Soul''s eyes upon hearing this, and she replied, "You know of Bone Rinsing Golden Lightning? That''s right, this bead was refined from Bone Rinsing Golden Lightning, which directly counteracts Yin Gua''s baleful lightningw powers."
The golden lightning bead shot forward at her behest as she spoke, vanishing into Han Li''s dantian in a sh.
Arcs of golden lightning instantly emerged within his dantian before spreading outward in all directions, filling his entire body in the blink of an eye.
Han Li immediately sat down with his legs crossed, and right at this moment, arcs of ck lightning began to rise up from his lower abdomen to sh against the golden lightning.
He shuddered violently in pain as cold sweat came pouring down his face, which was spasming uncontrobly from the agony that he was being subjected to.
More and more golden lightning was erupting out of the lightning bead in his dantian, instantly eradicating the arcs of ck lightning upon contact, but there were far too many of these arcs of ck lightning, and they seemed to have a mind of their own, converging to form thicker and more powerful arcs of ck lightning to contend against the golden lightning.
The golden lightning was unable to quickly eradicate these thicker arcs of ck lightning, and an impasse ensued.
Right at this moment, rays of radiant golden light surged out of Han Li''s body, giving off bursts of timew power fluctuations that fused together with the golden lightning to contend against the ck lightning.
With the assistance of his timew powers, the golden lightning instantly gained the upper hand, and several dull thumps rang out within his body in quick session, following which a burst of ck qi was forced out of his dantian.
The golden light radiating from his body instantly brightened significantly, causing the nearby space to buzz and tremble violently, and even Weeping Soul was forced back a few steps.
A hint of surprise shed through her eyes as she praised, "Your immortal spiritual power is incredible, Master! It''s not inferior evenpared with the average High Zenith cultivator."
"These baleful lightning restrictions were personally nted by Yin Gua. Now that mine has been removed, will he be able to sense it?" Han Li asked with a serious expression.
"Rest assured, Master. Yin Gua has severely overexerted himself after manifesting five Infernal Soul Bugs at once, and he''s currently recuperating in seclusion, so he won''t detect anything," Weeping Soul assured with a smile.
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he opened his mouth to release the Gold Rinsing Lightning Bead, but it had shrunk down slightlypared with before.
At the same time, he flicked a finger through the air to release four streaks of sword qi, which instantly pierced through the restrictions on the doors of the cells upied by Shi Chuankong and the others before severing their shackles.
Han Li then tossed the Gold Rinsing Lightning Bead at Shi Chuankong as he instructed, "Use this lightning bead to remove the restrictions in your bodies."
Shi Chuankong immediately pressed the lightning bead to his own lower abdomen, and after the lightning bead vanished into his body, arcs of golden lightning began to emerge over his body as well.
Meanwhile, Fox 3 and the others emerged from their cells before gathering around Shi Chuankong.
"By the way, these are your things, Master. These nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords are your bonded treasures, and I took them at the time so that I could give them to you now," Weeping Soul said as she swept a sleeve through the air to summon the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and Han Li''s storage tools.
An ted look shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he quickly stowed all of his recovered belongings away, then turned to Weeping Soul as he sighed, "You really saved us, Weeping Soul. If you hadn''t been around, this would''ve been the end of the road for all of us."
"There''s no need to thank me, Master. It was all thanks to your tireless nurturing that I was able to get to this point, so I''m only repaying the favor," Weeping Soul said with a shake of her head.
"Alright, let''s not talk about that then. By the way, what''s happened to the Infernal Soul Bug in my mind? It seems to have been trapped in something," Han Li said.
"The ability to manifest Infernal Soul Bugs is one that''s unique to the Infernal Tribe, and they''re very difficult to deal with. Thankfully, I was able to find a type of special substance that can temporarily seal Infernal Soul Bugs away, and I mixed the substance into the Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills that were fed to you," Weeping Soul exined.
"I see. Can I ask how you ended up in the Gray Realm and why you seem to hold such a lofty status in the Infernal Tribe?" Han Li asked.
"That''s a long story. When I was summoned all those years ago in the Spirit Realm, I really did ascend to the True Immortal Realm, and the one that had summoned me was a Great Epassment cultivator of the Heavenly Court," Weeping Soul recounted with aplex expression.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, but he didn''t interject.
"However, he only summoned me to the True Immortal Realm as my ability to devour souls was helpful for his cultivation of a certain ability. I cultivated under him for over five thousand years, and my cultivation base improved quite a bit during this time, reaching the Golden Immortal Stage.
¡°He also make constant progress in his cultivation, and he began severing his three corpse souls, but due to a mishap, his severed corpse soul managed to escape, and it abducted me before fleeing to the Gray Realm," Weeping Soul continued.
"I see, but aren''t Three Corpse Immortals supposed to go to the Reincarnation Region after arriving in the Gray Realm? How did you end up in the Infernal Region?" Han Li asked.
"That corpse soul didn''t harbor any good intentions for me, so I found an opportunity to escape, and I fled to the Infernal Region and joined the Infernal Tribe," Weeping Soul exined.
She made the process sound very simple, but Han Li could guess that she had to have gone through countless struggles to get to this point.
However, given the urgency of the situation, he didn''t ask for any further details.
"I am a yin-attribute being to begin with, and not only did I not experience any difort in the Gray Realm, the environment here is very suitable for my cultivation. On top of that, I mastered a very rare type ofw power rted to soul devouring, and I caught the eye of the Infernal Regional Master, bing his disciple," Weeping Soul continued.
"It sounds like you were ultimately quite fortunate then. What is your current cultivation base?" Han Li asked.
"The Infernal Regional Master has looked after me quite well and bestowed upon me a lot of cultivation resources, so I was able to reach the High Zenith Stage just over a century ago. By the way, I haven''t had a chance to ask you yet, how did you end up in the Gray Realm and Asura City, in particr?" Weeping Soul asked.
"We came here for the Baleful Cleansing Pond. You can probably sense that I''m currently at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage and that I''m struggling with my baleful decay, so I need to use the Baleful Cleansing Pond here," Han Li exined.
"I see. That''s not going to be an easy feat to aplish. The Baleful Cleansing Pond is a sacred area of the Infernal Tribe, and it''s situated in the Soul Cleansing Area. With the Three Region Conference currently taking ce, there''s been a drastic spike in the number of outsiders in Asura City, so security will most likely be even tighter in the Soul Cleansing Area than usual," Weeping Soul said with slightly furrowed brows.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, but before he had a chance to say anything else, they were approached by Shi Chuankong and the others.
Judging from their auras, it was clear that the baleful lightning restrictions in their bodies had already been removed.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul. We are eternally indebted to you for saving us in our time of need," Shi Chuankong said as the four of them extended grateful bows toward Weeping Soul.
"You''re all friends of my master''s, so there''s no need to thank me. Here are your things."
Weeping Soul swept a hand through the air as she spoke, and all of the belongings that had been taken from Shi Chuankong and the others appeared amid a sh of light.
Shi Chuankong and the others were ecstatic, and they hurriedly recovered their belongings.
1. For more information on the Weeping Soul Beast, please refer to ?
Chapter 739: Escape
"Master, I know your mind might be set, but I still want to remind you that right now, all of the monarch and most other Great Epassment Stage Infernal beings are currently at the Fallen Lake Area, so the security on the outskirts of Asura City is likely to be as loose as it''ll ever be. If you want to leave Asura City, I can act as your guide, but time is of the essence, so we must set off right away. If we miss this opportunity, it''ll be very difficult to get away," Weeping Soul said.
Han Li took a nce at Shi Chuankong and the others to find that they were all in very bad condition, and his brows became tightly furrowed upon seeing this, but a determined look then quickly appeared on his face.
"We''ve already made it so far, if we turn back now, then we would''ve suffered for nothing. Besides, given the urgency of my baleful decay, I can''t afford to turn back. If any of you don''t want to continue, then you can leave now," Han Li sighed.
"My condition isn''t any better than yours, so I can''t afford to turn back, either," Baili Yan said with a wry smile.
"I don''t have a habit of doing things halfway," Fox 3 chuckled, then immediately grimaced in pain.
"Our Vast Origin House never epts losses, and backing out now would be epting a huge loss. I''ll make these people pay for what they''ve done," Shi Chuankong chimed in with a determined expression.
Mo Guang didn''t say anything, and he still looked as nonchnt and aloof as ever.
"In that case, I won''t try to dissuade you any further, Master," Weeping Soul said with a nod.
"It would be rather inconvenient for us to travel in such arge group, so before we reach the karmic fire crater, I''ll get all of you to stay in my domain treasure," Han Li said, then conjured up a door of silver light, which led straight to the first floor of the bamboo pavilion.Rich world''s origin qi surged out of the door of light, striking Shi Chuankong and the others with a sense offort that they hadn''t felt in a very long time.
"Is this the domain treasure from the Jade Kun Pagoda auction? I recall that it was purchased by an elder of the Hundred Creations Mountain at the time, was it not?" Fox 3 asked with a surprised expression.
"No, this is a different domain treasure that I obtained from elsewhere. Please get in the domain treasure for now. The world''s origin qi in the bamboo building is very abundant, so just stay in there and rest and recuperate for now," Han Li said.
Mo Guang stepped into the bamboo pavilion first, and everyone else quickly followed suit.
All of the restrictions in the entire domain had been activated, while the bamboo pavilion had also been sealed, but these safety precautions were understandable in the eyes of Shi Chuankong and the others.
At the moment, all of them were stunned by the abundance of spiritual qi in the bamboo pavilion, and they quickly sat down with their legs crossed to rest and recuperate.
After closing the Flower Branch domain, Han Li suddenly grimaced in pain.
Even with his physical constitution, the torment that he had endured earlier had taken a heavy toll, and that wasn''t even to mention the damage that he had sustained to his soul from the Infernal Soul Bug.
"Are you alright, Master?" Weeping Soul asked in a concerned voice.
Han Li made a reassuring gesture, then took a golden pill and closed his eyes to rest for a short while.
Momentster, he reopened his eyes, then forced a smile onto his own face as he said, "I''m fine. Let''s go."
"This is going to be a very perilous journey, Master. Will you really be alright to go in your current condition?" Weeping Soul asked.
"The longer I stay in the Gray Realm, the more baleful qi infiltrates my body. I have a feeling that if I don''t get to the Baleful Cleansing Pond soon, then I won''t be able to suppress my baleful decay, and once that happens, I''ll be doomed anyway," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"The Soul Cleansing Area is a very special area that can only be essed by Infernal beings. Even as the regional monarch''s disciple, I can only enter the area with his apaniment, so if you want to enter the Soul Cleansing Area, then you''ll have to take the path that you originally nned out," Weeping Soul said.
"Won''t we trigger the restrictions again if we try to go through that karmic fire passageway?" Han Li asked.
"You can leave that to me, Master. However, once you get to the Soul Cleansing Pond, I don''t know what''ll await you on the other side," Weeping Soul replied.
"At this point, I can only take things one step at a time," Han Li sighed.
Weeping Soul nodded in response, then said, "I''m sorry to have to do this, Master, please brace yourself."
She then raised a hand to release a bright red chain, which pierced through Han Li''s shoulder.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, but he didn''t utter a sound.
With that, Weeping Soul escorted Han Li up the staircase.
Due to her special status in the Infernal Tribe, even the average Great Epassment Stage Infernal being had to be wary of her, let alone normal Infernal Servants, so the journey was very smooth, and not even a single Infernal Servant dared to approach her to ask what she was doing.
Before long, the two of them had made it out of the infernal prison, and they quickly arrived at the karmic fire crater.
After walking over a long passageway, Han Li spotted a tall and imposing figure standing next to the entrance of the karmic fire passageway, and it was none other than Su Liu.
His arms were crossed in front of his chest, and he was staring nkly ahead in apletely expressionless manner. Even though Han Li had already seen them once before, the sewn scars on Su Liu''s body still presented a harrowing sight to behold.
He certainly didn''t feel any affection for this former immortal envoy, but given that they were both from the True Immortal Realm, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of pity for Su Liu.
Right as they were about to pass Su Liu by, he suddenly uncrossed his arms, then stepped to the side to block Weeping Soul''s path.
Weeping Soul''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and she raised a hand to summon a badge that was giving off wisps of ck baleful qi, which hovered in the air momentarily in front of Su Liu before returning to her grasp.
Su Liu immediately returned to his original position upon seeing this.
Han Li and Weeping Soul stepped through the entrance to find that the bridge waspletely deserted, and the cage that Immortal Lord Hot me and Chi Rong were held captive in was still hanging under the bridge.
As they approached the cage, Han Li stopped in his tracks.
"What''s wrong, Master? Do you know them?" Weeping Soul asked as she took a nce down at the cage.
"Are you able to undo the restrictions on their bodies?" Han Li asked after a brief moment of contemtion.
"That''s not a difficult task. With my infernal badge, it''ll only take me a few seconds, but these two have already been scorched by karmic fire for too long, and they''re already close to halfway to bing gray immortals. My concern is that if I remove the restrictions in their bodies, they''ll immediately go insane and embark on a rampage," Weeping Soul replied.
"Alright, in that case, release them from the cage for now, and we''ll undo the restrictions another time," Han Li said.
Weeping Soul did as she was told, flying down to the cage before releasing a string of incantation seals into it.
A series of peculiar patterns instantly appeared on the cage before vanishing after a sh of dark red light, following which the cage was opened.
Immortal Lord Hot me was leaning against a corner of the cage,pletely oblivious to what was happening. In contrast, Chi Rong turned his gaze to Han Li and Weeping Soul, and a hint of befuddlement and panic shed through his eyes, but he didn''t move or say anything.
"It looks like you''re still lucid. I''m afraid I can''t remove the restrictions on your body for now, but if you can stand up, thene out on your own," Han Li said.
Chi Rong remained still for a moment, then slowly rose to his feet and helped Immortal Lord Hot me up from the ground as well.
Han Li conjured up the same door of silver light, then continued, "Get in there."
Chi Rong didn''t understand why Han Li was saving him, but he still did as he was told, stepping into the bamboo pavilion with Immortal Lord Hot me, following which Han Li closed the Flower Branch domain again.
As the two of them reached the end of the bridge, Weeping Soul said, "Please wait for a moment, Master."
After that, she descended into the karmic fire and vanished out of sight.
Around half a minuteter, the ck mes down below suddenly reared up slightly, and Weeping Soul reemerged as she dered, "It''s done. The restrictions in the crater and in the karmic fire passageway have been temporarily sealed by me, so you can go now."
"Thank you," Han Li replied with a smile and a nod.
Right at this moment, a cold voice suddenly rang out.
"You Luo, do you understand what you''re doing right now?"
Han Li hurriedly turned to discover a tall and thin middle-aged man stepping onto the bridge, holding a small furry white beast in his arms.
It was none other than Gui Mu, the Great Epassment cultivator that Han Li had encountered earlier!
Behind him were dozens of puppets and Infernal Servants, with Su Liu standing among them.
"Elder Gui Mu, I''m here under instructions from my master to subject this man to karmic fire refinement, and I''ll take him back to the infernal prison soon," Weeping Soul exined in a calm manner.
Gui Mu took a nce at the bright red chain in Weeping Soul''s hand, the other end of which was pierced through Han Li''s shoulder, and he said in a cold voice, "Prior to going into seclusion, Elder Yin Gua requested me to look after the Rashom Area in his absence, and he specifically told me not to report this matter to the regional monarch for now, so how could you possibly have received such instructions from him?"
Weeping Soul knew that she wouldn''t be able to bluff her way through this, so she withdrew her chain from Han Li''s body, and the hole left behind by the chain quickly healed.
"Do you insist on betraying the regional monarch?" Gui Mu asked with tightly furrowed brows.
A hesitant look shed through Weeping Soul''s eyes, following which she replied, "I''m willing to ept any punishment from my master for my transgressions, but if you can let us go today, I''ll be sure to provide you with satisfactorypensation."
"It seems like I''ll need to beat some sense into you!" Gui Mu harrumphed coldly as he set down the furry white beast down beside his feet.
The little beast rubbed itself against Gui Mu''s leg for a moment, then turned to Han Li and bared its fangs in a menacing fashion before scurrying away.
Chapter 740: Agreement
Chapter 740: Agreement
"Go!" Weeping Soul suddenly yelled, then swept a hand through the air, conjuring up a dark red light barrier that transformed into a spirit domain, which enveloped both herself and Han Li.
Han Li instantly felt as if he had been isted from the Gray Realm, and he no longer felt oppressed by the ever-present baleful qi as he sprang back and descended toward the karmic fire crater with Weeping Soul.
"The karmic fire will have far less of an impact on you in my spirit domain, but you still have to keep your guard up, Master," Weeping Soul cautioned.
As soon as her voice trailed off, a dark shadow suddenly appeared overhead, and it was none other than Su Liu, who was swooping down at them with his ax and mace brandished.
A string of metallic ngs rang out as the metal ball in the cavity in his chest revolved incessantly, and the runes on its surface were also shing erratically, while a ball of ck karmic fire was burning inside it.
A series of ck patterns appeared over his body, and bursts of ck mes erupted out of the chains on his body like blooming ck lotus flowers.
Han Li summoned his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword with a flick of his wrist upon seeing this, and ayer of golden scales appeared over his arms as his muscles bulged.
He gripped onto the hilt of his sword with both hands, then stepped forward through the air before shing his sword diagonally upward.
A resounding boom rang out as the scorching ck mes surging out of Su Liu''s ax shed against the golden lightning from Han Li''s sword, sending countless arcs of golden lightning and specks of karmic fire flying in all directions.
Neither Han Li nor Su Liu was able to get the better of the other, and a brief impasse ensued.
However, another deafening boom then instantly rang out as Su Liu swung his mace down upon Han Li as well, and this blow was even more powerful than the one delivered with the ax.
Even though Han Li was fighting with all his might to withstand the barrage, he was still sent flying like a cannonball, plummeting straight into the karmic fire crater, followed closely by Weeping Soul.
"You''re not getting away!" Gui Mu roared.
However, Han Li and Weeping Soul were rapidly gliding along the bottom of the fiery crater, using their momentum to fly toward the karmic fire passageway on the other side.
Even though Han Li had been plunged back into the karmic fire, the experience didn''t feel as grueling as he was insted within Weeping Soul''s spirit domain.
That was quite reassuring to him, and he began to channel his Spirit Refinement Technique. The Infernal Soul Bug had caused significant damage to his spiritual sense, and even though it had been temporarily suppressed, he still didn''t dare to getcent.
In the blink of an eye, Gui Mu appeared above the karmic fire crater, then reached down with one hand, and tendrils of ck light instantly began to spread rapidly over his hand like a series of vines.
Countless branches split off from these vines to form a dense and uniform ck, which extended into the fiery crater before swooping down upon Han Li''s duo.
At the same time, the Infernal Servants and puppets had also arrived above the fiery crater, and all of themshed out in unison with their weapons.
As soon as the ck entered the karmic fire crater, its speed instantly increased by severalfold, and it began to close itself around Han Li and Weeping Soul at an astonishing speed.
Right at this moment, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a green gourd, then thrust the palm of his other hand into the underside of the gourd.
Ayer of green light instantly surfaced over the gourd, as did countless tiny runes, and it released a burst of formidablew power fluctuations that forced back all of the karmic fire within a radius of several dozen feet.
A sharp ng rang out as a streak of radiant golden swordlight erupted out of the mouth of the gourd, slicing a wide gash through the karmic fire before crashing into the giant ck.
The ck shuddered violently, and it swelled drastically in the face of the vast expanse of golden lightning and violent sword qi, looking as if it were about to be torn apart at any moment.
The attacks unleashed by the Infernal Servants and puppets were also eradicated by the oing st of force.
A cold sneer appeared on Gui Mu''s face upon seeing thi, and he instantly appeared directly in front of Han Li''s duo, following which his hand disintegrated into a cloud of gray mist that enveloped the entirety of the ck.
At this point, the was on the verge of copse, but it seemed to have suddenly received an injection of power, and it began to slowly close in around Han Li and Weeping Soul like a cage.
At the same time, a thin and long ck branch wrapped itself around the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, then forcibly dragged it toward Gui Mu.
"Don''t let him take your sword, Master! Elder Gui Mu has mastered thews of ghost vines, and the venom on his vines can tarnish immortal treasures and turn them into Gray Realm treasures!" Weeping Soul hurriedly warned, following which a pair of bright red chains re-emerged from his hands before hurtling toward the oing Su Liu.
Drops of ck liquid were seeping out of the ck, giving off a decaying odor much like that of the rotten mud dug out of a swamp.
The ck liquid dripped down onto Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, and the sword immediately began to tremble and buzz, while arcs of golden lightning sprang out of its surface.
To Han Li''s shock and dismay, he could see that a series of stark white marks had appeared on the de of the sword, and he hurriedly attempted to summon it back to himself, only to discover that his connection with his flying sword had somehow been impeded.
"This is quite a fine sword, and it seems to be part of a set. How about you show me the full set?" Gui Mu remarked as he took a nce at the other Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in Han Li''s hand.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he raised the green gourd once again before thrusting a palm into its underside, and a streak of green light flew out of its mouth, wrapping itself around the sword that had been ensnared by the ghost vines before attempting to pull it back.
"Is that a Profound Heavenly Gourd? You sure have a lot of fine treasures up your sleeve. Seeing as you''re being so kind as to offer them all up to me, I''ll dly ept," Gui Mu chuckled as several ghost vines shot out of the ck before extending toward the Profound Heavenly Gourd and the other Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
Right at this moment, a strange sound suddenly rang out from the mouth of the gourd, following which a streak of dark green light shot out in a sh, severing the oing ghostly vines upon contact.
The ghost vines wrapped around the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword were also severed, allowing Han Li to recover the sword before storing it back into the gourd.
"Destructionw powers! No wonder Yin Gua specified to me so many times to spare your life, you''re absolutely full of surprises!" Gui Mu eximed with a stunned expression.
Right at this moment, Weeping Soul shed against Su Liu before flying back to Han Li''s side, and her brows were tightly furrowed as she said, "Master, these puppets have no souls, so my powers are very limited in their effectiveness against them. On top of that, Gui Mu is a Great Epassment cultivator, so at the very most, I''ll only be able to hold him off for you for a while, but you won''t be able to go to the Soul Cleansing Area."
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this. In the face of a Great Epassment cultivator, he had no chances of winning, even with his timew powers.
Right at this moment, Mo Guang''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Let mee out, Fellow Daoist Han!"
"What are you nning to do, Fellow Daoist Mo Guang?" Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
"This body doesn''t belong to me, so my soul and body aren''t very cohesive with each other, and as a result, I was somewhat suppressed by Weeping Soul''s abilities, which led to my defeat, but I won''t be so inept against Gui Mu. As long as you''re willing to fulfill a condition of mine, I''m willing to put my life on the line and fight for you," Mo Guang replied.
"You want me to dissolve our Heavenly Devil Contract, right?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"That''s right. I have no chance of victory against Gui Mu, but I should be able to hold him off for fifteen minutes. If I die within that time, then so be it, but if I survive, then all ties between us will be severed. What do you say?" Mo Guang proposed.
Han Li considered the proposal for a moment, then replied, "Alright, you have yourself a deal."
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and Mo Guang flew out amid a sh of silver light.
The usual nonchnt look in his eyes had been reced with a serious and focused expression, one that felt very alien to Han Li.
"Get out of here, I''ll take him on," Mo Guang said to Han Li and Weeping Soul as he stared intently at Gui Mu.
"Such insolence from a mere High Zenith cultivator! Looks like I''ll just have to crush you first," Gui Mu chuckled coldly as he flew directly toward Mo Guang, who took a deep breath before suddenly letting loose a resounding roar.
Radiant silver light appeared within his eyes, and a series of strange patterns began to surface over his be and his face. At the same time, baleful qi billowed out from under his robes, and his aura swelled all the way to thete-High Zenith Stage.
When did he get to thete-High Zenith Stage? Han Li thought to himself with a stunned expression.
Mo Guang swept a sleeve through the air, and the karmic fire down below rose up as if it had been summoned, transforming into a giant fiery tornado that swept directly toward Gui Mu, while Mo Guang made a chopping motion to the side with his other hand.
A burst of ck light erupted out of his fingertips before gliding through the air, slicing an opening into the ck up ahead, and Han Li hesitated momentarily, then cupped his fist in a parting salute toward Mo Guang before rushing toward the karmic fire passageway with Weeping Soul.
Chapter 741: Loss of Contact
Chapter 741: Loss of Contact
Right as Han Li and Weeping Soul were about to fly into the passageway, Su Liu descended upon them once again, and he swung his ax through the air to unleash a dense wall of ax projections.
Han Li was just about to raise his sword in retaliation when Su Liu was abruptly rooted to the spot, frozen in his current posture, and all of the ax projections also drew to a halt.
Upon closer inspection, Han Li noticed that there were wisps of ck mist flowing out of Su Liu''s mouth and nostrils, and a cloud of ck mist had also appeared in his chest cavity, rendering the metal ball inside unable to rotate.
"Let''s go, Master!" Weeping Soul yelled as she led Han Li into the karmic fire passageway.
In the next instant, a vast expanse of ck ghost vines swept past Mo Guang before descending upon the entrance of the passageway.
The entire mountain face trembled violently as countless loose rocks came tumbling down,pletely burying the entrance of the karmic fire passageway.
Han Li and Weeping Soul could sense the violent tremors behind them, but they had no time to look back as they flew toward the other end of the passageway as quickly as they could.
The passageway abruptly tapered as they advanced, concentrating the surrounding karmic fire, and a burst of baleful qi began to seep through Weeping Soul''s spirit domain, making Han Li feel as if there were needles being driven into his mind.
He gritted his teeth tight as he attempted to suppress the unrest in his consciousness, but an irrepressible sense of violent anger was welling up in his heart, making him feel extremely frustrated.
Weeping Soul could sense his difort, and the dark red light emanating from her body became even brighter as she sped through the passageway.
However, the further they went, the more viscous the surrounding karmic fire became, and the baleful qi that they contained also became more abundant, thereby further exacerbating Han Li''s pain.
"The closer we get to the Soul Cleansing Area, the purer and more invasive the karmic fire will be. I have to focus on controlling my spirit domain, so you''ll have to look after yourself, Master," Weeping Soul cautioned.
"I''ll be fine," Han Li replied in a slightly hoarse voice.
At this point, he was already channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might, but his mind was still bing foggier by the second, and his heart was beating like a drum. At the same time, his blood was pumping through his veins, and the baleful qi lurking within his immortal acupoints was beginning to grow more and more restless.
Countless indistinct crimson figures had appeared in his consciousness, and they were rushing around in a frenzied state as if they were on a battlefield. He could even smell the sickly sweet odor of blood, and if someone of lesser mental fortitude were in his ce, they would''ve most likely already given in to insanity.
At this rate, Han Li didn''t feel as if he would be able tost until they reached the Baleful Cleansing Pond.
"We''re almost there, Master, just a bit longer now," Weeping Soul urged with a concerned look in her eyes.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s vision gradually began to blur, and his pupils took on a gray color, while the unrest in the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints also began to escte out of control.
If his soul hadn''t sustained so much damage from the Infernal Soul Bug earlier, then perhaps he would''ve been able to persevere thanks to his immense spiritual sense and Spirit Refinement Technique, but he was truly about to be overwhelmed now, and once his consciousness faded, he would no longer be able to channel his Spirit Refinement Technique.
If his baleful decay were to return while he was in such a vulnerable state, then he would truly be doomed.
Right at this moment, a glimmer of dark red light suddenly shed in front of Han Li''s be, and he discovered that it was Weeping Soul pressing a longan-sized red bead against his forehead.
The bead had a smooth surface that was giving off a warm glow, and there was a tiny beast projection inside, one that resembled the Weeping Soul Beast''s true form.
Bursts of gentle soul power seeped into Han Li''s mind alongside the warm light emanating from the bead, quelling the unrest in his spiritual sense while also clearing away all of the warring crimson figures.
As Han Li''s consciousness returned to a stable state, he was able to ward off the infiltration of the baleful qi using his Spirit Refinement Technique.
As his vision returned to normal, he noticed that Weeping Soul was looking a little pale, and a concerned look immediately appeared on his face as he asked, "Are you alright?"
"I''m fine. This bead contains my soul essence, but I''ll be fine once it returns to my body," Weeping Soul replied with a shake of her head.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then began focusing his attention on fortifying his own spiritual sense.
The karmic fire passageway wasn''t very long, only less than ten thousand feet in length, and the hole on the other side was several hundred feet tall, resembling a cavernous mouth.
There were no restrictions inside, and Han Li and Weeping Soul flew out of the hole, then arrived at an enormous underground karmic fireke.
The two of them rose up into the air to hover above theke as they inspected their surroundings, and they discovered that the roof up above was pitch ck and riddled with glittering ck stctites, while many giant stone pirs were standing around the karmic fireke, stretching all the way up to the roof above.
Even further away on the edge of theke was a series of embankments, branching out from which were close to a hundred paths that led to the surrounding mountain faces.
There was a series of smooth and uniform caves that had been drilled into the mountain faces, making the ce resemble a giant underground pce, and to Han Li''s surprise, there were no Infernal Tribe forces waiting to ambush them here.
"It looks like Gui Mu didn''t alert the Soul Cleansing Area to our arrival," Han Li remarked.
"The karmic fire passageway has already copsed, so even without an alert from Gui Mu, Elder Yin Xu won''t be far away," Weeping Soul said with tightly furrowed brows.
Right at this moment, the sound of faint conversation suddenly rang out from within one of the caves on a nearby mountain face, and Han Li and Weeping Soul immediately drifted down onto a nearby embankment.
From there, they hid themselves in another cave, then concealed their own aura as they monitored what was happening outside.
A pair of children from the Infernal Tribe drifted out of the hole, then arrived at the bank of the karmic fireke.
Both of them were wearing identical ck robes, and they were very simr in appearance as well. It seemed that they were a pair of twins.
"Brother Lian, the elder may have told us that there''s something important happening in the city today, so we can take a day off from cultivation if we please, but we''re already ten years old now, and we''ll being of age in two years. If we don''t work hard in our cultivation, we won''t be able to pass the final trial," one of the children said.
"My eardrums are going to grow calluses if I hear you say that one more time, Brother Yin! Don''t worry so much, I won''t let Yin Chang surpass me," the other child replied in a nonchnt manner.
Compared with adult Infernal beings, these two children had far more expressive faces, so they weren''t so cold and forbidding to look at.
As the two of them were speaking, they sat down with their legs crossed by the karmic fireke, then each made a strange hand seal, upon which bright ck light began emanating out of their bodies, and wisps of pure baleful qi flowed out of theke toward them.
As they breathed, two wisps of ck qi were constantly worming their way in and out of their nostrils, presenting quite a peculiar sight to behold.
"Those two are only ten years old, yet they''re already close to the Core Formation Stage and can cultivate safely in such close proximity to karmic fire... Infernal beings truly are terrifying," Han Li remarked in a low voice.
"Infernal beings have far superior karmic fire tolerance to beings from other tribes, and all of them possess tremendous cultivation aptitude. When ites to aptitude, these two children are actually only below average," Weeping Soul said.
Han Li ducked back into the cave before walking some distance into it with Weeping Soul, then swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light.
At this moment, Shi Chuankong and the others were all meditating on the first floor of the bamboo pavilion, and they all rose to their feet at the sight of Han Li''s arrival, with the exception of Immortal Lord Hot me, who had been bound by a chain of silver light.
His body was trembling slightly, yet he was unable to make any sound as his lips had been sealed by a purple talisman.
Chi Rong was leaning against the wall beside him with a concerned expression, and he turned to look at Han Li with aplex look in his eyes.
"What happened to Fellow Daoist Hot me?" Han Li asked.
"He''s been driven insane by baleful qi contamination, and he suddenly began to go on a rampage, so we had to restrain him by force," Baili Yan exined.
"At this rate, it won''t be long before his dao foundation ispletely destroyed, and he''s reduced to a gray immortal," Fox 3 mused with slightly furrowed brows, and Han Li fell silent upon hearing this.
As soon as everyone emerged from the Flower Branch domain, they immediately adopted measures to ward off the karmic fire and baleful qi while also hurriedly concealing themselves.
"Right now, we should already be in the Soul Cleansing Area, which is the most special one out of all of Asura City''s major areas. Even Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul hasn''t been here many times, and the area is alsopletely nk on our map. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can find the Baleful Cleansing Pond?" Han Li asked.
"Can''t we just grab those two children and perform a soul search on them?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Last time, we alerted Yin Gua to our presence just by killing a puppet, who knows if there are any special restrictions ced on these children? We can''t afford to take the risk," Baili Yan said with a shake of his head.
Han Li was just about to say something when his expression suddenly changed drastically, and he seemed to have been stunned into silence.
"Are you alright, Master?" Weeping Soul hurriedly asked with a concerned expression, thinking that he was suffering a recurrence of his baleful decay, and everyone else was also looking rather concerned.
"By the way, where''s Fellow Daoist Mo Guang?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Just now, my spiritual connection with Mo Guang waspletely severed. I tried tomunicate with him, but I''m unable to even sense him anymore," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
A stunned look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon hearing this.
"Could it be that Fellow Daoist Mo Guang has already met his demise?" Fox 3 asked with an incredulous expression.
"He said that he was going to hold off Gui Mu for fifteen minutes for me. Regardless of whether he lived or died, he fulfilled his promise," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner, and everyone fell silent upon hearing this.
Chapter 742: Uniting Against the Enemy
Chapter 742: Uniting Against the Enemy
"Gui Mu already knows that we''ve escaped, and now that I''ve lost contact with Fellow Daoist Mo Guang, I''m sure Gui Mu will catch up to us soon. We have to get to the Baleful Cleansing Pond as soon as possible," Han Li said.
"In that case, we don''t have to worry about being exposed, so the best way to proceed would be to search the souls of those two Infernal children. I''ll go right now," Shi Chuankong said, then abruptly vanished from the spot.
Han Li and the others hurriedly made their way to the entrance of the cave before turning their attention to the bank of the karmic fireke.
The two children were still cultivating with their eyes closed,pletely oblivious to the looming threat behind them.
In the next instant, Shi Chuankong appeared behind them without any warning, then reached out for the backs of their necks.
Han Li was looking on from afar when Weeping Soul suddenly sprang out of the cave, instantly arriving behind Shi Chuankong before raising a hand, and a burst of bright red light emerged over the palm of her hand as she chopped down toward the back of his neck.
Everyone was very rmed to see this, but before they had a chance to do anything, Shi Chuankong was sent flying forward before tumbling heavily onto the ground, then crashed into a mountain face in the distance.
Only then did Han LI and the others notice that there was a gray shadow clinging to his back, and that had been the target of Weeping Soul''s attack.
Shi Chuankong reacted very quickly, and a burst of tremendous spatial force surged out of his body before erupting in all directions, and the gray shadow that was clinging to his back was sent flying like a kite, but quickly drifted back down onto his back to cling to him again.
A grim look appeared on Weeping Soul''s face as she swept a sleeve through the air to release a bright red chain, which sprang at Shi Chuankong''s back like an agile spirit snake.
The gray shadow seemed to be quite wary of the red chain, and it voluntarily detached itself from Shi Chuankong before drifting away to the side.
The two Infernal children were rather taken aback by this turn of events, but they remained calm and collected as they rushed to hide behind the gray shadow.
The gray shadow gradually transformed into an Infernal being with a hook nose and a deathly paleplexion, and he screeched in a high-pitched voice, "You Luo! What is the meaning of this?"
"I owe no exnation to you, Yin Xiao," Weeping Soul replied in a cold voice.
At the same time, she was alsomunicating to Han Li and the others through voice transmission.
"This man has mastered thews of shadow illusion, and he''s at the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage. Hisw powers grant him exceptional concealment abilities, so make sure to be on your guard."
"We can''t afford to be dyed here. Everyone, attack at once and aim to end this battle as quickly as possible," Han Li said with slightly furrowed brows.
A cold look appeared on Weeping Soul''s face as she released around dozen bright red chains out of her sleeves, all of which intertwined in mid-air as they converged toward Yin Xiao.
A cold sneer appeared on Yin Xiao''s face, and instead of retreating, he advanced directly toward the chains.
In the instant that all of the chains pierced into his body, he began to ripple like the surface of a disturbedke, and the chains passed through him without any impediment before piercing into the ground amid a chorus of loud ngs.
After passing through the chains, Yin Xiao sped forward at an astonishing speed while mming a hand down toward Weeping Soul''s head, and a tiny vortex of gray light that was giving off tremendous suction force emerged on the palm of his hand.
A hint of panic shed through Weeping Soul''s eyes upon seeing this, and she attempted to withdraw her chains, only to discover that they refused to budge, as if they had been nailed firmly to the ground.
Right as the gray palm was about to smash her head open, a sly grin suddenly shed across her face, and she slid a finger over her own be, upon which a dark red gash emerged.
The skin and flesh of the gash then parted down either side to reveal a dark red demonic eye.
Yin Xiao''s expression changed drastically at the sight of this demonic eye, and he immediately began to spring back in retreat, only for a burst of dark red light to surge out of Weeping Soul''s demonic eye before shining down upon his face.
In that instant, it was as if his soul had been struck by a bolt of lightning, and he began to sway unsteadily from side to side, seemingly unable to maintain his bnce.
At the same time, Han Li abruptly appeared behind him, and arcs of golden lightning shed violently over his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword as it was pierced directly at the back of Yin Xiao''s head.
However, right at this moment, Yin Xiao suddenly seemed to have regained control over his own body, and he ducked to the side, just barely evading the de of Han Li''s sword, following which a second identical face appeared on the back of his head.
"I knew there were more than two of you," he chuckled, and his body abruptly split up into two, with one half darting directly at Han Li, holding a ck dagger that was aimed straight at Han Li''s throat.
Han Li seemed to have already anticipated this, and his Mantra Treasured Axis flew out of his body amid a sh of golden light, then began to revolve rapidly while releasing a series of golden ripples.
As soon as Yin Xiao''s arm reached into the golden ripples, it was instantly slowed down significantly, and Han Li didn''t even need to take evasive measures as he grabbed onto Yin Xiao''s throat with one hand, then drove his sword straight into Yin Xiao''s head with the other.
However, in the instant that the tip of his sword pierced into Yin Xiao''s head, Han Li was struck by the sense that something was amiss, and he hurriedly retracted his hand while simultaneously ducking down.
However, immediately thereafter, he felt a sharp pain spear through his lower abdomen, and he discovered that another Yin Xiao had emerged from this Yin Xiao''s lower abdomen, and it was holding a ck dagger that had pierced into Han Li''s body just above his dantian.
A sinister grin appeared on Yin Xiao''s face as he abruptly dragged his dagger upward, and a de formed by a burst of powerful baleful qi erupted forth to slice Han Li into two, sending his internal organs and blood gushing down onto the ground.
Yin Xiao withdrew his dagger before running his tongue over its de with a gleeful look on his face, but in the next instant, Han Li''s voice suddenly rang out nearby.
"Are you ready, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
"I am," Shi Chuankong replied.
Han Li instantly scattered his Mantra Domain upon hearing this, and Yin Xiao felt his vision blur momentarily, following which he discovered that Han Li was nowhere to be seen, while the two Infernal children were also in the clutches of Fox 3, having already fallen unconscious.
An rmed look appeared on Yin Xiao''s face upon seeing this, and he was just about to throw himself at Fox 3 when he suddenly discovered that the space around his body was warping slightly, as if it were beingpressed by some kind of spatial force, rendering him unable to move or disintegrate his own body into an insubstantial form.
Not far away behind him, Shi Chuankong was maintaining a strange hand seal while pressing down tightly onto the strings of a silver lute, and his face had turned very pale, while blood was flowing from his fingertips, but he continued to hold on with all his might.
"Hurry, Fellow Daoist Li! I can''t keep this up for long," Shi Chuankong yelled.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a streak of sword light shot forth, and it pierced through Yin Xiao''s chest in the exact same instant that he was freed from Shi Chuankong''s spatial restriction.
Simultaneously, a ck dragon w swooped down from above before closing itself around Yin Xiao''s head, preparing to crush both his head and soul at once.
"Hold on a second!" Han Li hurriedly called out, and at the same time, he summoned a series of Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, all of which were shing with Divine Devilbane Lightning and plunged into various important acupoints on Yin Xiao''s body.
Ravaged by the Divine Devilbane Lightning, Yin Xiao howled in agony, while Shi Chuankong heaved a long sigh of relief.
Earlier, Weeping Soul had jolted Yin Xiao''s soul with her powers, and Han Li had pounced on the opportunity to unleash his Mantra Domain, buying Shi Chuankong enough time to use his silver lute, and that was how they had managed to subdue Yin Xiao so quickly.
However, Shi Chuankong was still yet to recover from his injuries, so he had suffered a great deal of bacsh from forcibly unleashing the power of his silver lute.
Even after Yin Xiao was subdued, Baili Yan was still on high alert, keeping his ws firmly locked around Yin Xiao''s head.
Han Li was just about to approach Yin Xiao when Weeping Soul said, "Master, you already overexerted yourself back in the karmic fire passageway, so take a rest for now and leave the soul searching to me."
"Alright," Han Li replied with a nod, and Weeping Soul stepped forward before tapping a finger against her own be, upon which the dark red demonic eye re-emerged.
A burst of dark red light erupted out of the demonic eye before sweeping across Yin Xiao and the two Infernal children, and Han Li was quite surprised to see this.
Even with his immense spiritual sense, he definitely wouldn''t be able to search the souls of three people at once.
All of a sudden, the two Infernal children opened their eyes, then got up into seated postures in an unsteady fashion, and their eyes werepletely dim and devoid of life, making them resemble a pair of puppets.
As for Yin Xiao, he reflexively resisted momentarily, following which the light in his eyes also began to fade.
Momentster, the red light emanating from Weeping Soul''s demonic eye faded, and the two children immediately fell unconscious again.
"Did you find out anything?" Han Li asked.
"The Baleful Cleansing Pond is a sacred area of the Infernal Tribe, and these two children are yet to undergo their baptism by karmic fire, so they''re not true Infernal beings yet. Hence, they haven''t actually ever been to the Baleful Cleansing Pond. As for Yin Xiao, his spiritual sense is quite powerful, and even in his current state, he''s still able to resist my soul search technique, but I''ve managed to get a rough idea of the Soul Cleansing Area''syout," Weeping Soul replied.
"That should be enough," Han Li said with a nod.
"In that case, we no longer have any use for him, right?" Baili Yan asked, and before anyone had a chance to reply, he closed his dragon ws in one forceful motion, crushing Yin Xiao''s head.
"No!" Weeping Soul eximed, but it was already toote.
Baili Yan turned to her with a perplexed expression, as did Han Li, and he realized that even though Weeping Soul was willing to help him, that didn''t mean that she was willing to truly betray the Infernal Regional Monarch.
After all, she had benefited immensely from his care, and she didn''t want to repay his kindness with ingratitude.
Chapter 743: Hot Pursuit
Chapter 743: Hot Pursuit
"Fellow Daoist Baili, please hold off from killing Infernal beings unless it''s absolutely necessary," Han Li sighed.
"I understand. My apologies, Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul," Baili Yan said as he cupped his fist in an apologetic salute toward Weeping Soul, in response to which she merely gave a silent nod.
"What should we do with these two?" Fox 3 asked as he hoisted the two unconscious Infernal children up from the ground.
Weeping Soul was just about to respond when Han Li replied, "I''ll keep them in my domain treasure for now. The fact that a peak-High Zenith Stage elder was assigned to protect them indicates that they''re no ordinary children, so perhaps we can use them as leverage at some point."
He swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light as he spoke, and Fox 3 tossed the two children into the bamboo building.
However, before Han Li had a chance to close the Flower Branch domain, his expression abruptly changed slightly as he dered in an urgent voice, "Gui Mu''sing!"
He immediately closed the door of silver light as he spoke, and Weeping Soul led everyone down deeper into the cave that they had previously been hiding in.
As they advanced through the cave, the terrain gradually began to elevate, and at the end of the path was a crossroads.
Weeping Soul took a moment to ascertain the right way to go, then led everyone down the left crossroad.
No more than a few seconds after their departure, a cloud of dense baleful qi surged out of another cave on the bank of the karmic fireke, and it drew to a halt on the embankment before converging to form none other than Gui Mu.
No non-Infernal beings were permitted to enter the Soul Cleansing Area without permission, so he had to leave the puppets and Infernal Servants behind before entering the Soul Cleansing Area, apanied only by the furry white beast.
As soon as he reached the embankment, he spotted the headless Yin Xiao, and a look of stunned fury instantly appeared on his face.
A tremendous aura erupted out of his body in all directions, causing the karmic fireke to rumble violently, and thick pirs of fire rose up all the way to the roof above.
"How dare they! They''ve killed Yin Xiao and abducted our ceremonial children! I''m going to crush them and use their bodies to fertilize my ghost vines! Find them!" Gui Mu spat through gritted teeth as he threw the furry white beast down from his shoulder.
In his fit of rage, he had been quite forceful, and the furry white beast grimaced in pain as it fell to the ground, but its eyes were full of fear, and it didn''t even dare to utter a single sound as it began meekly sniffing along the ground.
All of a sudden, its eyes lit up as a burst of white ripples surged out of them before rapidly spreading in all directions, and shortly thereafter, it began yelling in excitement as it pointed its two front paws directly at the cave that Han Li''s group had fled into.
"Well done!" Gui Mu praised with a pleased smile, following which a sympathetic look appeared on his face as he gently smoothed down the little beast''s fur, seemingly feeling rather guilty about handling it in such a rough manner.
After that, he sprang forward and transformed into a cloud of ck mist that poured into the passageway.
......
Han Li and the others were racing onward under Weeping Soul''s guidance, twisting and turning left and right.
The underground tunnels in the Soul Cleansing Area were extremelyplex, with countless branching paths, and the terrain also undted in apletely chaotic and haphazard fashion.
After rounding a corner and rushing downhill for several thousand feet, a mountain face suddenly appeared in front of the group.
"What''s going on? Why have we hit a dead-end?" Shi Chuankong hurriedly asked with an anxious expression.
"Don''t be fooled, it''s just a false wall," Weeping Soul exined, then crashed straight into the mountain face up ahead without pause.
As soon as she crashed into the mountain face, it immediately slid back several feet to reveal an opening that was around three feet wide, and everyone hurriedly rushed into it.
Behind the mountain face was a spacious underground hall, and they had only just set foot into it when they heard a loud yell.
"There they are, Elder Yin Fu!"
Immediately thereafter, Han Li and the others were confronted by a group of Infernal Tribe cultivators, led by a peak-High Zenith Stage elder.
"We can''t afford to get caught up here with Gui Mu hot on our heels!" Han Li yelled, then darted directly toward an opening on the other side of the hall, followed closely by everyone else.
The Infernal Tribe cultivators immediately set off in pursuit, but right at this moment, a sly grin appeared on Baili Yan''s face as he casually tossed something behind him.
It was a collection of ck balls, and as soon as theynded on the ground, they immediately began to glow with ck light.
Immediately thereafter, a string of deafening explosions rang out as enormous bursts of ck mes erupted out of the ck balls, forming a violent sea of fire that proliferated outward in all directions.
At this point, Han Li and the others were already very far away, but they were still struck by the powerful shockwaves from the explosion, striking them with a dull and nauseating sensation in their chests.
The pursuing Infernal beings naturally fared even worse. They still hadn''t even had a chance to use the Karmic Fire Baleful Lightning, yet it was now being used on them in a rather ironic twist.
Bursts of rumbling reverberated incessantly within the underground hall, and the shockwaves from the explosion lingered for an extended period of time.
Han Li and the others had only just flown out of the hall when another figure flew in from a passageway to the left.
It was a thin ck-robed man who appeared to be quite advanced in age, looking much like an elderly scribe, and it was incredible to think that someone so unremarkable in appearance could be a mid-Great Epassment cultivator, but the reality was that he was none other than Yin Xu, the Great Epassment cultivator stationed in the Soul Cleansing Area.
At this moment, he was also alone as he hovered in mid-air, and his eyes were seething with fury as he looked down at the Infernal beings that had just been ravaged by the Karmic Fire Baleful Lightning explosion
Right at this moment, Gui Mu flew out of the tunnel that Han Li and the others had just emerged from, and he hurriedly asked, "Did you manage to intercept them, Elder Yin Xu?"
"No, I was toote," Yin Xu harrumphed coldly with a dark expression.
Gui Mu knew that he was to me for allowing Han Li and the others to escape from the Hundred Treasure Area, so he felt in no position to reprimand Yin Xu.
"I didn''t get a chance to tell you this earlier, but these people killed Yin XXiao by the karmic fireke and also abducted two ceremonial children," Gui Mu said.
"What? Just how ipetent can you and Yin Gua be? How did you let them get away with the ceremonial children?" Yin Xu eximed as his expression darkened even further.
"Elder Yin Gua had originally already captured them, and it was only because of You Luo''s sudden betrayal that they were able to escape from the infernal prison," Gui Mu exined.
"You Luo betrayed us? How is all of this happening at once? Where is Yin Gua right now?" Yin Xu asked.
"Elder Yin Gua is currently resting in seclusion to recover from the strain of manifesting some Infernal Soul Bugs, but I''ve already sent someone to notify him of the situation, so I''m sure he''ll be here soon as well," Gui Mu replied.
"He''s still in the mood to be resting in seclusion? Right now, we''re at a vital stage in the Three Region Conference. If the regional monarch finds out about the ceremonial children, all of us will be in huge trouble!" Yin Xu grumbled.
"We absolutely cannot report this matter to the regional monarch, Elder Yin Xu! You and Elder Yin Gua will perhaps be able to get away with just some physical punishment, but I''ll have my organs gouged out and be refined into a puppet!" Gui Mu hurriedly pleaded in a fearful voice.
"Let''s catch them before anyone finds out then," Yin Xu said with tightly furrowed brows.
"Thank you, Elder Yin Xu," Gui Mu replied in a grateful voice, and the two of them sped away as two streaks of light, instantly vanishing from the spot.
Meanwhile, Weeping Soul was leading everyone toward a wide tunnel that sloped downward, when Han Li abruptly took a nce behind them with an rmed expression.
Everything behind them had been plunged intoplete darkness, and the parts of the tunnel that they had just passed through hadpletely vanished.
He immediately activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes, upon which he discovered that there was an enormous ck shadow that was rolling toward them, filling up the entire tunnel.
Everything that was epassed within the shadow was plunged intoplete darkness, and an Weeping Soul eximed in an rmed voice, "This is bad! Elder Yin Xu ising after us as well!"
As if in response to her voice, the ck shadow instantly sped up by twofold, and it wouldn''t be long before it caught up to them.
Han Li could sense the terrifying aura emanating out of the ck shadow, and he knew that this definitely wasn''t something that they could deal with.
He gritted his teeth as he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability to propel himself forward at an extraordinary speed.
At the same time, two bursts of azure light erupted out of his sleeves, sweeping up everyone and pulling them along with him.
Momentster, Han Li''s group flew into another tunnel, and even beforending on the ground, Han Li took a nce at his surroundings to discover that he had arrived in an enormous underground cave.
The cave was over a hundred thousand feet wide, and the terrain was very t. There was arge white za nearby, and beyond the za was a cluster of strange-looking pces with dome ceilings.
Outside the cluster of pces was a red light barrier with ck runes shing over it, forming a sealing array.
"What is this ce, and why has it been sealed away?" Han Li asked.
"It''s a ce that I saw in Yin Xiao''s memories. All I managed to find out is that this is an extremely important ce that''s taken very seriously even by the regional monarch. Entry is normally strictly prohibited, and battles are forbidden in the nearby vicinity," Weeping Soul replied.
Chapter 744: Storming Into a Restricted Area
All of a sudden, an rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face as he eximed, "Yin Xu and Gui Mu are catching up to us again!"
"We can''t keep running away like this," Baili Yan spat through gritted teeth. "At some point, we''ll just have to turn around and fight them."
"In my current state, I can only use my spatial powers one more time to teleport us some distance away from those two, but it won''t buy us much time at all," Shi Chuankong sighed.
"Looks like we''ll have to make a final stand here, but I''m not optimistic about our chances," Fox 3 said in a grim manner.
"Don''t be so quick to resort to extremes. Yin Chengquan forbade battles in the nearby vicinity, so this must be an important ce that is not to be damaged. In that case, why don''t we go and hide inside the pce for now?" Han Li suggested.
"That could work!" Weeping Soul replied as her eyes lit up.
No one else raised any objections, so the group quickly made its way to the pce.
Through the light barrier, they could see that the gates of the pce were tightly shut, and there were two massive reliefs engraved onto them.
The relief on the left wasden with white bones of different sizes and skulls of various descriptions, and they piled up all the way from the bottom of the gate to above its midsection, while arge chair of bones was engraved onto the top part of the gate. Seated in the chair was a male Infernal being holding a giant scythe with his arms spread open and an indulgent look on his face.The gate on the right was riddled with all types of fearsome-looking beasts that were tearing at one another in a horrific scene of gore and bloodshed.
The lifeless bodies of all types of fearsome beasts also piled all the way up to the top of the gate, which was upied by a giant beast in a strange crouched posture. There was thick smoke swirling all around it, and the creature had an enormous horn on its head, while its cavernous mouth was opened up wide, as if it were about to devour all of the surrounding beasts.
"This restriction looks quiteplex, so it''ll probably take a lot of time to unravel," Shi Chuankong remarked with tightly furrowed brows as he observed the array engraved onto the ground.
"We don''t have any time," Han Li said with a grim expression, following which a long ck saber appeared in his grasp amid a sh of dark red light.
Fox 3''s gaze fell upon the ck saber, and a stunned look appeared on his face at the sight of the twin fox heads engraved onto the guard of the saber.
However, the situation was too urgent for Han Li to be gauging his reaction, and at this moment, he was focused onmunicating with Shi Qinghou.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, we''re in a dire situation right now, and I need your help to break this restriction open. Please lend me your assistance."
"I have a feeling that whatever''s sealed in here isn''t to be messed with lightly. Have you really made up your mind?" Shi Qinghou asked.
"If we don''t do anything, we''ll just be killed by our two pursuers anyway. Time is of the essence, so please lend me your power, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li replied without any hesitation.
"Alright, in that case, I won''t try to dissuade you. Just attack the restriction with the saber with all your might, and leave the rest to me," Shi Qinghou said.
"You have my thanks," Han Li repplied, then grabbed onto the hilt of the saber with both hands before raising it up high.
From there, he cast his gaze toward the light barrier before him, and his aura began to rapidly elevate.
Shi Chuankong and the others all instinctively took a few steps backward to open up some distance between themselves and Han Li, while the bewilderment in Fox 3''s eyes only became even more pronounced.
All of a sudden, a burst of crimson light shed through the eyes of the twin fox heads on the saber, and rays of dark red light emerged over its de, giving it a particrly abnormal appearance.
As Han Li''s aura continued to elevate, shockwaves that were visible even to the naked eye were beginning to proliferate outward from his body in all directions, causing the entire underground space to rumble incessantly.
Right at this moment, Yin Xu and Gui Mu stormed into the tunnel outside amid a cloud of ck mist, and Yin Xu eximed in an rmed voice, "They''re trying to break the array in the restricted area!"
"Even if theybine their powers, they shouldn''t be able to break the Profound Infernal Vermilion Array anytime soon..."
As soon as Gui Mu''s voice trailed off, a burst of violent tremors spread through the tunnel up ahead.
"Crap!" Yin Xu eximed as the cloud of ck mist elerated significantly, reaching the entrance of the underground cave in the blink of an eye.
From there, Yin Xu and Gui Mu were just in time to see Han Li stepping forward and swinging the ck saber down onto the light barrier.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the dark red light on the saber brightened significantly, forming a giant crimson saber projection that was over a thousand feet in length before crashing down upon the light barrier.
There seemed to be a two-headed white fox resting atop the saber projection, and it turned to Yin Xu and Gui Mu with a sinister grin.
In the next instant, a resounding thunderp rang out as countless arcs of dark red lightning erupted out of the saber projection, forming an extremely irregr screen of lightning.
Arcs of dark red lightning were iling around in all directions like whips, but the shockwaves from the sh between the saber projection and the light barrier formed an umbre-like barrier of lightning that shielded Han Li''s group.
"You did it!" Shi Chuankong eximed in an ecstatic voice as he stared intently at the point on the light barrier that had been struck by the saber projection.
Sure enough, a long gash that was around a hundred feet in length had appeared on the light barrier, and Fox 3 hurriedly urged, "We have to hurry!"
After unleashing that saber strike, Han Li had exhausted almost all of the immortal spiritual power in his body, and he feltpletely drained.
Baili Yan and Weeping Soul immediately stepped forward to support him, one from the right and the other from the left, and they flew into the light barrier together.
Both Yin Xu and Gui Mu''s expressions had darkened significantly upon seeing this.
The two of them flew toward the gash in the light barrier, only to be stopped in their tracks by the barrier of lightning, and they could only look on helplessly as Han Li''s group opened the gates and made their way into the pce.
By the time the lightning barrier faded away, the opening on the light barrier had also closed.
In the next instant, two streaks of light shot forth from afar, then faded to reveal Gui Mu and Yin Xu.
"Impossible! How did they break the restriction? What was that saber that he used?" Gui Mu eximed with an incredulous expression.
"Now''s not the time to be thinking about that! We have to chase after them!" Yin Xu replied with a furious expression as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a ck badge that had a sinister ghostly head engraved onto its surface and emanating rays of ck light.
Yin Xu made a rapid string of hand seals, and the ck badge instantly began to glow brightly, while the ghostly head engraved onto its surface began to move as if it had sprung to life.
Gui Mu also hurriedly focused his efforts on assisting Yin Xu, and the light radiating from the badge grew brighter and brighter, while the ghostly head on its surface swelled to around twice its original size.
At the same time, two specks of radiant white light had appeared in its eyes, giving it a fearsome appearance.
All of a sudden, two beams of gray light shot out of the ghostly head''s eyes into the ck light barrier, and a gash that was around ten feet in length instantly appeared on its surface before slowly widening.
Even though Yin Xu and Gui Mu were giving it everything they had, the gash on the ck light barrier still wasn''t widening very quickly, and only after close to twenty seconds had passed did it widen to a point where the two of them could just barely squeeze through.
Yin Xu stowed the ck badge away before flying into the opening on the light barrier, followed close by Gui Mu.
By the time they entered the pce, they discovered that Han Li and the others were nowhere to be seen, clearly having already fled deeper into the pce.
Gui Mu and Yin Xu exchanged a nce with each other before setting off in pursuit, but as they did so, both of them were suppressing their aura fluctuations with all their might, seemingly fearful of alerting something.
"This is bing too much for us to handle, Yin Xu. Should we report this matter to the regional monarch?" Gui Mu asked with a hesitant expression.
Yin Xu''s expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and he hurriedly replied in a low voice, "We can''t do that! Are you not aware of his temper? If he finds out what we let a group of outsiders into the restricted area, we''ll be as good as dead! Have you forgotten about what happened to Elder Yin Hou all those years ago?"
"But if we don''t report this matter and those people stir up some trouble inside, then our punishment will only be even more severe. If that happens, we''ll be wishing we were dead!" Gui Mu said as he shuddered in an uneasy manner.
"It''ll be fine. The array in the restricted area is extremely powerful, and even you and I aren''t able to break it. At first nce, it looks like they were quite smart to have fled into this ce, but in reality, they''ve backed themselves into a corner. All we have to do is capture them and make sure that no word of this escapes," Yin Xu assured with a mocking sneer.
"Alright," Gui Mu replied after a brief hesitation.
As the two of them were speaking to one another, they had already passed through a za inside the pce.
Beyond the za were seven or eight smaller pces, between which were around a dozen small paths that led deeper into the area.
The interior of the pce was very dimly lit, so visibility was limited to within a thousand feet, and there was also an ever-present restrictive power that prevented one from being able to make use of their spiritual sense.
There were still no signs of Han Li and the others here, not even the slightest abnormal energy fluctuations, and it seemed impossible to tell where they had fled to.
Chapter 745: Final Stand
Yin Xu''s pupils contracted slightly as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a speck of ck light that swelled rapidly in size at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, forming a ck mirror that was revolving incessantly while releasing bursts of strange ck light in all directions.
A series of projections appeared in the surrounding space in the wake of the ck light, and they were either walking or flying around, seemingly belonging to the people who had previously passed through this point.
Some of these projections were quite clear, while others were very indistinct.
Among all of the projections, the ones belonging to Han Li and the others were particrly clear, and they were flying toward one of the paths up ahead.
"After them!"
Yin Xu and Gui Mu immediately set off in that direction.
......
Deep inside the ck pce, Han Li and the others were racing along, passing through a seemingly endless expanse of pces, pavilions, and pergs, which looked as if they belonged to an imperial city.
They didn''t dare to fly too high, so they could only dart along between the buildings close to the ground.As they traveled onward, the light became dimmer and dimmer, and wisps of ck mist began to appear in the air. Everything that was beyond three hundred to four hundred feet away was blurry and unclear, and spiritual sense was also severely restricted.
With the eyesight of Fox 3 and the others, visibility was only just over a thousand feet, and even with Han Li''s Infernal Devilish Eyes, he was only able to see about three thousand feet.
Aside from that, there was some type of immense spatial pressure hanging in the air, which wasn''t enough to harm Han Li and the others, but it was slowing them down significantly.
"What the hell is this ce? Why does it feel so strange here? Have you discovered anything, Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul?" Fox 3 asked.
"No, this is my first time here as well," Weeping Soul replied with a shake of her head.
"The fact that battles are prohibited works very much in our favor. How about we make a final stand here?" Fox 3 proposed.
"We can''t do that. Even if such a rule is in ce, those two may not follow it if ites down to a battle of life and death, so it would be too risky to bank on that. Even if we''re going to make a final stand, we have to make sure that it''s at a ce that''ll give us a definite advantage," Shi Chuankong immediately said, and Fox 3 nodded in response.
All of a sudden, a peculiar look appeared on Han Li''s face, and he remarked, "Theyout of the surrounding pce is quite profound, almost like it''s some type of array. Perhaps that has something to do with the spatial pressure in the air."
Theyout of the surrounding buildings didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way, but in reality, there was some type of pattern to them. On top of that, all of these buildings had many runes engraved upon them, and they seemed to be connected somehow.
"You''re right," Baili Yan agreed with a nod. "This ce appears to be very important, so it''s rather strange that there are no guards stationed here at all."
All of a sudden, an rmed look appeared on Weeping Soul''s face as she eximed, "Gui Mu and Yin Xu are catching up to us!"
Everyone immediately sped up upon hearing this, but their cultivation bases were far inferior to those of Gui Mu and Yin Xu, and the spatial pressure in the air certainly wasn''t doing them any favors, so the gap between them was rapidly closing.
"There''s a passageway up ahead that leads underground, and there''s a peculiar aura inside. Should we go in?" Han Li suddenly asked as he turned to a certain direction.
"We may have no choice," Shi Chuankong replied with a grim expression.
"Surely whatever''s inside can''t spell more trouble than the two chasing after us," Fox 3 chuckled.
"Indeed. At this point, we may as well go in and have a look. At this rate, we''ll be dead anyway, and this may be our only chance at survival," Baili Yan agreed.
As for Weeping Soul, she was naturally happy to follow Han Li''s lead.
"Come with me," Han Li said as he veered slightly to the left.
Everyone immediately followed along, and they arrived at a fake mountain that was several thousand feet tall, at the foot of which was a cave that was around thirty to forty feet tall.
The sides of the cave were white in color, and they were giving off faint rays of light that illuminated the interior of the cave.
Inside the cave was a long passageway that appeared to lead underground, and Han Li and the others were met with a rush of heat that carried a slightly acrid, sulfurous odor.
The group immediately flew into the passageway without any hesitation, and they had only just vanished into it when Gui Mu and Yin Xu appeared at the entrance.
"How did they know to go in there? Could it be that they know the secret of this ce? But that''s impossible, even You Luo hasn''t ever been allowed to visit this ce!" Gui Mu grumbled with tightly furrowed brows.
"Cut the chit-chat, we need to go in and capture them right away," Yin Xu harrumphed coldly as he flew into the tunnel, while a hint of anger shed through Gui Mu''s eyes, but he quicklyposed himself after taking a deep breath before following along behind Yin Xu.
Meanwhile, Han Li and the others were forging ahead as quickly as they could. The tunnel had no branches and very few bends, and it became brighter and brighter the deeper they progressed, so they were able to travel very smoothly.
However, this only meant that it would be easier for their pursuers to catch them, so none of them were particrly encouraged by this.
All of a sudden, everyone''s expressions changed slightly as they drew to an abrupt halt.
The tunnel up ahead had suddenly expanded into a giant square space that seemed to be an enormous hall, which was around three hundred to four hundred feet in size.
This was also the end of the tunnel, and at the deepest point of the hall was a tightly shut stone gate. The spatial pressure in this area had also escted to unprecedented levels, and the stone gate was riddled with all types of patterns that were giving off lights of various different colors, all of which were emanating powerful aura fluctuations.
It was clear that these were all extremely powerful restrictions, and the most eye-catching one among them was the silver light, which had formed a barrier over the stone gate.
The silver light barrier was rippling incessantly, presenting a lustrous sight to behold.
The other walls of the hall were also riddled with simr array patterns that were connected to the restrictions on the stone gate, forming a rather special restriction.
Everyone inspected their surroundings momentarily, and it began to dawn on them that they had been backed into a corner.
Fox 3 gritted his teeth as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a conical white immortal treasure that was around a foot in length.
Judging from its aura, it was at least a seventh-grade immortal treasure, and there were arcs of white lightning shing along the entirety of its length as it shot forth as a blurry white shadow that hurtled directly toward the stone gate.
Right before it was about to make contact with the stone gate, Fox 3 made a hand seal, and a deafening thunderp rang out as a radiant white sun appeared before exploding violently.
Countless incandescent arcs of white lightning erupted forth in all directions,pletely inundating the stone gate in blinding white radiance.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as purple light shed within his eyes, and the blinding white rapidly faded to reveal the conical white immortal treasure, which had struck the stone gate, but was kept out with ease by all of the restrictions.
Everyone''s expressions changed once again upon seeing this.
They had all witnessed the power of the immortal treasure, but it hadn''t even been able to leave the slightest mark on the stone gate.
"Sorry for getting us into this mess, everyone. Looks like we''re in a world of trouble now," Han Li said with a wry smile.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Fellow Daoist Li. We all made the choice to enter this ce, so we have to bear the consequences together. In any case, continuing to run like this isn''t going to get us anywhere, and this confrontation was always inevitable, so let''s make a final stand," Fox 3 said with a faint smile as the conical white immortal treasure flew back to him at his behest.
"I agree. Those people wouldn''t dare to fight all-out here, but we have no such qualms, so our fate is far from sealed," Baili Yan chimed in with a smile of his own.
Weeping Soul remained silent, but she stood firmly by Han Li''s side, making her stance clear.
In contrast, Shi Chuankong wasn''t standing with everyone else. Instead, he flew over to the stone gate before making a hand seal to summon an antiquated golden mirror, which projected a beam of silver light onto the gate.
The restrictions on the stone gate immediately began to ripple, and in particr, the silver light barrier was trembling incessantly.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, do you have a way to unravel these restrictions?" Baili Yan asked with an ted expression upon seeing this.
"The restrictions here are very advanced, so I can''t make any guarantees. I''ll need some time to study them carefully," Shi Chuakong replied in a nonmittal fashion.
"Alright, then take as much time as you need, Brother Shi, and I''ll do my best to hold off our pursuers," Fox 3 promised.
Shi Chuankong nodded in response, then turned his full attention to the restrictions on the stone gate.
Han Li took a nce at Shi Chuankong, then quickly turned his gaze back to the entrance of the tunnel.
"Here theye!" Weeping Soul said in a low voice, and in the next instant, Gui Mu and Yin Xu emerged from the tunnel.
"You sure scurried away quite quickly for a ragtag bunch of rats!" Yin Xu sneered in a cold voice.
A cold sneer also appeared on Gui Mu''s face, and he began, "I suggest youy down..."
Before he had a chance to finish, Fox 3''s conical immortal treasure hurtled directly toward him amid an explosive thunderp.
"If you want to fight, then cut the chit-chat!"
Chapter 746: More Dire Straits
Chapter 746: More Dire Straits
The conical white immortal treasure sped through the air as a bolt of golden lightning, and all of a sudden, over a hundred identical immortal treasures appeared in the blink of an eye.
Every single one of them were surrounded by arcs of white lightning that were giving off tremendous power, and they took up virtually half of the entire hall as they descended upon Gui Mu and Yin Xu in an unstoppable barrage.
"Don''t get cocky, you little rat!" Gui Mu sneered as he spread his fingers open before making a grabbing motion.
A ball of radiant ck light appeared over his hand, releasing countless ck vines that shot forth in a frenzy. Countless branches extended out of the vines to form a dense, and all of the conical immortal treasures were instantly stopped in their tracks.
They were like fish that had been caught in a, whizzing around within the of vines in a chaotic fashion.
Right at this moment, Fox 3 made a hand seal, and all of the lightning cones released arcs of radiant white lightning to strike the of ck vines.
However, the of vines only shuddered slightly, and all of the arcs of white lightning were instantly scattered, while the remainedpletely unscathed.
Immediately thereafter, numerous ck vines shot out of the surface of the, instantly ensnaring all of the white lightning spikes trapped within it.
A cloud of what appeared to be ck vapor then began to seep out of the vine before enveloping the lightning spikes, and it was giving off a nauseating odor of decay, much like the smell of a rotting swamp.
The lightning spike immediately began to tremble incessantly as the white light emanating from them shed erratically, and their auras were also rapidly fading, as if they were being corroded.
An urgent look appeared on Fox 3''s face as he made a rapid string of hand seals, and the lightning spikes began to struggle with all their might.
ck light and white lightning shed violently amid strings of rumbling thunderps, causing the nearby space and the entire hall to tremble and quake.
"Gui Mu! What do you think you''re doing?" Yin Xu yelled in a furious voice.
Gui Mu''s eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this, then hurriedly made a hand seal, and the ck light emanating from the of vines instantly receded.
Fox 3 pounced on this opportunity to redouble his efforts, and a burst of lightningw powers erupted out of the lightning spikes as they freed themselves from the of vines in one fell swoop.
Just as they had predicted, Gui Mu and Yin Xu''s hands were somewhat tied here.
All of a sudden, a burst of azure light shed over Han Li''s body, and in the next instant, nine azure flying swords appeared out of thin air in front of Yin Xu before hurtling directly toward him in unison.
Yin Xu''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and ayer of dark shadows emerged over his body, then swelled drastically to form a spherical ck barrier around him.
The nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords struck the spherical barrier, plunging most of the way into it before being brought to an abrupt halt.
Yin Xu gave a cold harrumph as a series of ck runes emerged over the spherical barrier, and vortex-like ripples appeared over the spots on the barrier that had been struck by the nine swords.
A burst of tremendous suction force surged out of the spherical barrier, attempting to suck in the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he remained calm and collected as he opened his mouth to release a ball of azure light.
The ball of azure light was giving off immense immortal spiritual power fluctuations, and it split up into nine, with each part vanishing into one of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Each burst of azure light contained a timew thread, and with this injection of power, the nine flying swords immediately began to tremble violently, which thick arcs of golden lightning shed over their des.
There were also timew runes present within the arcs of lightning, and the spherical ck barrier immediately began to tremble violently as an explosive aura began to build from the sh between the ck light and golden lightning.
Yin Xu immediately eased up on the pressure upon seeing this, while Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords only glowed brighter and brighter, and it didn''t take long before the spherical barrier was shattered into countless ck shadows.
The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew back to Han Li in a sh, while Yin Xu looked on with a frustrated expression.
Before he had a chance to do anything, two dark red chains shot out of the space behind him without any warning, then began to wrap themselves around him like a pair of spirit snakes.
Yin Xu''s body instantly transformed into a slender shadow that vanished into the surrounding darkness, only to reappear on the other side of the hall an instantter.
"You Luo, how dare you collude with these outsiders and betray our Infernal Region? Have you forgotten everything that our regional monarch has done for you?" Yin Xu used in a cold voice.
"I..."
Weeping Soul shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and a conflicted look appeared on her face.
"Cut the chit-chat!" Han Li yelled as he made a hand seal, and a mountain of sword projections erupted out of his nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords before crashing down upon Yin Xu with tremendous sword qi fluctuations.
Yin Xu took a nce at the walls of the giant hall around him, and on this asion, he thrust his palms forward to oppose the vast mountain of sword projections instead of taking further evasive measures.
A series of ck shadows sprang out of the palms of his hands, then intertwined to form a ck wave that shed against the sword projections.
A string of muffled explosions rang out as the mountain of sword projections was vanquished, but the ck shadows had also faded.
Yin Xu''splexion paled ever so slightly, but he recovered just a momentter.
He didn''t dare to unleash too much power, and he had to ward off Han Li''s attack while also minimizing the impact of the sh, which was far more difficult said than done.
"Now''s not the time to be hesitating, Weeping Soul. We have to seize this opportunity!" Han Limunicated to Weeping Soul through voice transmission, then made another hand seal, and the swordlight emanating from the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords transformed into a series of azure lotus flowers, all of which hurtled directly toward Yin Xu once again with tremendous sword qi fluctuations.
At this point, Weeping Soul had also hardened her resolve again, and she swept both sleeves through the air to release a pair of dark red chains that shot forth toward Yin Xu like lightning.
Baili Yan also sprang into action, opening his mouth to release a ball of ck fire, which transformed into a series of thick streaks of ck swordlight aimed at Gui Mu.
Every single streak of swordlight had ck mes burning over it, and they were giving off incredibly formidable baleful qi fluctuations.
Lights of all types of different colors were shing within the hall as the battle raged on.
Just as they anticipated, Yin Xu and Gui Mu were very afraid of further esction, and they didn''t dare to unleash their full power or damage any part of the hall, so they had to be excessively cautious.
In contrast, Han Li and the others had no such inhibitions, and at times, they would intentionally unleashrge-scale attacks to force the two Great Epassment cultivators to stop them.
As the battle continued, Yin Xu and Gui Mu were feeling extremely frustrated as they weren''t able to unleash even a fraction of their power.
However, they were still Great Epassment cultivators, and their proficiency in the use ofw powers far surpassed that of Han Li and the others, so they were able to quickly consolidate and slowly gain the upper hand.
Despite their best efforts, there wasn''t much that Han Li and the others could do in the face of such an enormous cultivation base disparity, and they were slowly but steadily being forced onto the back foot.
At this point, the battlefield had already been reduced to just a small part of the hall, while the rest of the hall had returned to darkness.
On one side of the hall, Han Li and Weeping Soul were locked in battle against Yin Xu.
Right at this moment, Han Li and Yin Xu passed each other by like lightning, and a dull thump rang out as Han Li stumbled back with a long, bleeding gash torn into his shoulder.
Yin Xu also swayed momentarily, but then immediately steadied himself beforeshing out at Han Li again.
The ck light around his body rippled slightly, following which two thick ck spear projections shot out of it, hurtling toward Han Li and Weeping Soul at an incredible speed.
The spear projections weren''t giving off particrly formidable auras, but there was ayer of rippling ck light over each of them that was giving off peculiar vibrations.
Han Li was still yet to steady himself, a grim look appeared on his face as he immediately made a hand seal, upon which the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords circling around above his head swelled drastically in size before shing against the oing ck spear projection in rapid session.
A string of dull thumps rang out as the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords struck the spear projection, only for all of them to slide down its length, and the spear projection wasn''t slowed down in the slightest as it continued to hurtle toward Han Li.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly sprang back in retreat. At the same time, radiant golden light erupted out of his body, while ayer of fine, purplish-golden scales emerged over his fists as he rammed them against the tip of the spear projection.
However, contrary to his expectations, there was no earth-shattering explosion. Instead, the ck spear projection exploded without posing any resistance in the face of Han Li''s fists.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which his expression changed drastically as he could sense a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations entering his body from the detonated spear projection.
Immediately thereafter, his entire body turned numb, while his immortal spiritual power cirction also became very sluggish, and was instantly rooted to the spot.
Weeping Soul was also in a simr situation, and right at this moment, Yin Xu made a hand seal, upon which tendrils of ck shadows sprang out of Han Li and Weeping Soul''s bodies to ensnare them.
At the same time, these shadows rapidly intertwined to form a giant ck cage around them in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was only immobilized for a moment before regaining his mobility, but at that point, he had already been trapped in the cage.
These tendrils of ck shadows were extremely resilient, and they had wrapped themselves around him inyers. On top of that, there were also bursts of tremendous pressure converging from all directions within the cage.
Meanwhile, Fox 3 and Baili Yan had also been ensnared by Gui Xu''s ghost vines, which had formed tight cocoons around them.
In a matter of mere minutes, everyone had been captured, and the situation was looking dire once again.
Chapter 747: Taking a Risk
Chapter 747: Taking a Risk
Gui Mu''s gaze roamed over the ensnared Fox 3 and Baili Yan as a sinister grin appeared on his face, following which he summoned a pair of objects that resembled withered ck branches.
There were lines of gray text on these branches that were shing incessantly, giving them a rather profound appearance.
A burst of gray ripples surged out of the branches alongside a fearsome cloud of baleful qi, and in the next instant, a fierce look shed through Gui Mu''s eyes as he swept a sleeve through the air, sending the two branches flying toward Fox 3 and Baili Yan.
On the other side of the hall, Yin Xu also raised both hands to release around a dozen ck threads.
These ck threads were hair-thin needles, each of which was around a foot in length. There were ck runes shing over the needles, giving them a rather indistinct appearance, and they were flying toward all parts of Han Li''s body at an rming speed.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, but he didn''t panic, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him before immediately beginning to revolve rapidly.
Even though the ck cage had trapped him, it wasn''t able to restrict the immortal spiritual power in his body.
Dense waves of golden ripples surged out of the Mantra Treasured Axis, instantly epassing the entire surrounding area within a radius of several hundred feet, and everything caught within the golden ripples instantly fellpletely still, regardless of whether it be the ck needles, the withered branches, the ck cage, or the ghost vine cocoons.
Yin Xu, Gui Mu, and Shi Chuankong were also instantly rooted to the spot by the golden ripples, leaving Han Li as the only person in the hall that was still able to move.
However, he knew that he had only managed to immobilize the two Great Epassment cultivators with his timew powers by catching them off guard, so they definitely weren''t going to be stopped for long.
Taking advantage of this brief window of opportunity, Han Li immediately began to chant an incantation, and golden light surged over his body as he extended a finger forward.
The golden light around his body converged toward his fingertip, as did all of the remaining timew threads in his body.
A golden finger projection appeared before piercing into the ck cage, and it wasn''t veryrge, but it was giving off an extremely formidable aura, as if it were capable of tearing a hole into the very heavens.
Arge hole was instantly pierced into the cage like a finger poking through a sheet of paper, and at the same time, he made a grabbing motion to summon his Profound Heavenly Gourd.
A streak of golden light shot out of the mouth of the gourd, then quickly revolved around Fox 3 and Baili Yan.
The streak of golden light was extremely bright and was also giving off peerlessly sharpw power fluctuations, which hade from the destruction of a metal-attribute immortal treasure of an extremely high caliber.
The ghost vines around the two were instantly severed, while Han Li flew out of the hole in the ck cage, taking Weeping Soul along with him.
At the same time, he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light that enveloped both Fox 3 and Baili Yan, following which he shot back in retreat.
At this point, Gui Mu and Yin Xu had already freed themselves from the restraints of Han Li''s timew powers, and ck light was surging out of their bodies to resist the surrounding golden ripples.
The golden ripples were instantly torn apart without being able to pose any resistance, and the flow of time around the two of them was returned to normal.
However, at this point, Han Li and the others had also been freed, and they flew over to Shi Chuankong''s side.
All of the golden ripples in the hall then vanished in a sh at Han Li''s behest, and everything in the hall returned to normal.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Han," Fox 3 said.
Baili Yan was staring at Han Li with a stunned look on his face, and he also expressed his gratitude.
As for Shi Chuankong, he seemed to bepletely oblivious to what had just happened, and he was still intently studying the restrictions on the stone gate.
At this moment, there were hundreds of silver array gs hovering around him to form several silver arrays.
All of these arrays were glowing radiantly, casting bright silver light onto the stone gate, while also releasing countless silver runes into the silver light barrier, which was shing and buzzing incessantly.
"We''ve only been able to survive up to this point thanks to the inhibitions of our opponents, but let''s not forget that they''re still Great Epassment cultivators, so we have to be extra careful from here onward," Han Li said as he stared intently at Yin Xu and Gui Mu.
Fox 3 and the others immediately nodded in response with grim expressions.
Instead of immediatelyshing out at Han Li and the others again, Yin Xumunicated to Gui Mu through voice transmission, "That brat is a real pain in the backside."
"Even for us, it takes some time to counteract his timew powers. It''s not a long time, but it''s enough for them to regroup. At this rate, they''ll be able to drag this battle on indefinitely, and the situation will be beyond salvation if they manage to break the restrictions on the gate," Gui Mu replied as he cast a nce at Shi Chuankong.
"The restrictions on the gate were personally set up by the regional monarch, there''s no way that these brats could break them so easily. On top of that, the baleful qi here is far denser than it is outside. I can sense that they''re already struggling with the effects of baleful qi corrosion, so even if we don''t do anything, they won''t be able tost much longer," Yin Xu said with a sinister grin.
Gui Mu faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he turned his gaze back to Han Li and the others, following which a hint of tion shed through his eyes.
At the same time, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as the baleful qi in his body began to stir once again.
"Master..."
A concerned look appeared on Weeping Soul''s face, and she was just about to say something when Yin Xu and Gui Mu suddenly sprang forward.
Right as the battle was about to resume, a burst of incredibly radiant silver light abruptly surged out of the stone gate, illuminating the entire hall in blinding radiance.
Shi Chuankong was making a rapid string of hand seals, and the array gs in the silver arrays around him were flying down in rapid session before embedding themselves into the silver light barrier on the stone gate in an orderly fashion.
The silver light barrier immediately began to sh erratically, and all of the array patterns on the other walls of the hall also began to light up.
Beyond the stone gate, a faint roar rang out, causing the entire hall to shudder slightly.
Yin Xu and Gui Mu''s expressions changed drastically upon seeing this.
"What the hell are you doing? Stop!"
The two of them immediately abandoned Han Li and the others to pounce at Shi Chuankong instead.
"Stop them! Don''t let them disturb Fellow Daiost Shi!" Han Li yelled as he appeared before the two Great Epassment cultivators in a sh, then swept a sleeve through the air, upon which the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords around him swelled drastically in size before hurtling directly toward Gui Mu.
At the same time, a beam of crimson light erupted out of the Profound Heavenly Gourd toward Yin Xu.
Fox 3 and the others also sprang into action, summoning a vast array of immortal treasures to form a barrier in the path of Yin Xu and Gui Mu.
Even with their Great Epassment Stage cultivation bases, Yin Xu and Gui Mu didn''t dare to take these attacks lightly, and they could only stop in their tracks to protect themselves.
Meanwhile, bright silver light was radiating from Shi Chuankong''s body, releasing a series of translucent silver threads that quickly vanished into the silver light barrier.
At the same time, the silver lute appeared in his grasp, and he began rapidly strumming his fingers over its strings.
With each note that was yed, a streak of silver light would fly out of the lute before also vanishing into the silver light barrier, causing it to glow even brighter.
On top of that, the buzzing ringing out from the light barrier had crescendoed to a violent rumbling at this point, and Shi Chuankong''s hands were flying over the strings of the lute as a pair of untraceable blurs.
Right at this moment, one final streak of radiant silver light flew out of the lute. There was a faint silver humanoid figure inside, and it vanished into the light barrier, which shuddered one final time before falling away.
All of the other restrictions on the stone gate instantly dimmed significantly as if they had also been severely damaged.
At this moment, there was an unnatural flush in Shi Chuankong''s cheeks, and blood was flowing down from the corners of his lips, but he was in extremely high spirits as he yelled, "Finally! I''ve finally managed to refine the Virata Flute!"
After turning around to take a nce at the battle raging behind him, he strummed the strings of the lute once more, and two ribbons of silver light shot out of the lute at an incredible speed, enveloping Gui Mu and Yin Xu in a sh.
In the next instant, both of them vanished without any warning, only to reappear near the entrance of the underground tunnel.
The two of them exchanged an astonished nce, then frantically flew back into the underground tunnel.
Han Li and the others were also momentarily rooted to the spot upon seeing this, while Shi Chuankong continued to strum the strings of his lute as he said, "I''ve already disabled the spatial restriction on the gate, but only on a temporary basis thanks to the power of the Virata Lute. The restriction will recover again very soon, so we have to get in right now."
Streaks of silver light flew out of lute as he spoke, descending onto the nearby ground to form a teleportation array.
Han Li and the others immediately stowed away their immortal treasures upon hearing this, then flew into the array.
Shi Chuankong chanted a brief incantation, and the group vanished from within the array amid a sh of silver light.
Almost as soon as they disappeared, two streaks of ck light flew into the underground cave, then faded to reveal Yin Xu and Gui Mu.
At this point, the hall was alreadypletely empty, and their steely expressions darkened even further upon seeing this.
The silver light barrier on the stone gate was already taking shape again, but it was still rippling violently in an unstable fashion.
"The seal is inside! We have to use the infernal badge to open the restrictions here and chase after them!" Gui Mu said in an urgent voice as he turned to Yin Xu, who summoned his infernal badge, but didn''t use it right away.
"What are you waiting for?" Gui Mu asked.
"You think I want to wait? Right now, the restrictions on the gate still haven''t recovered, so even the infernal badge can''t open them!" Yin Xu snapped with a dark expression.
Gui Mu fell silent upon hearing this, and he stared intently at the stone gate with his hand balled up into tight fists.
Chapter 748: Ancient Mythical Beast
After entering through the stone gate, Han Li and the others passed through a dim passageway before arriving in an extremely spacious hall.
The interior of the hall was also quite dim, and there were some yellow oilmps hanging from the walls on either side. Some type of white oil was being burned in themps, and it produced no smoke, but it did release a slightly sickly sweet aroma.
Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief, and everyone else was also looking quite relieved.
Escaping from two Great Epassment cultivators was no mean feat, and if the restrictions had been opened just a momentter, perhaps all of them would''ve been wiped out.
Even though they were now temporarily safe, Han Li hadn''t let down his guard in the slightest.
He had no idea what this ce was, and if it weren''t for the desperate nature of their circumstances, he definitely wouldn''t have ventured into this type of ce. In most cases, restricted areas of major tribes were ces of special meaning, usually either containing some cultivation arts, secret scriptures, or treasures, or ces where certain things were sealed.
Given how apprehensive Gui Mu and Yin Xu were about damaging the restrictions in this ce, it was very likely that there was something sealed in here.
After taking a brief moment to catch their breath, everyone immediately split up to search the hall.
The entire ground in the hall was riddled withyers uponyers of extremelyplex array patterns, while two very long murals had been carved onto the walls on either side. The scenes depicted in the murals mostly consisted of battles between different beasts, much like what had been seen on the pce gates."Something''s not right... It''s a dead-end up ahead. We''re stuck here," Fox 3 dered upon reaching the end of the hall.
Han Li turned to discover that there were no tunnels that led anywhere deeper at the end of the hall. Instead, there was a giant humanoid beast relief engraved onto the entire wall, and it was the same beast as the one engraved onto the right side of the pce.
However, on this asion, the giant beast was in an upright position, rather than a crouching one, revealing its legs to resemble those of a horse or a deer, rather than those of a human. There was a clear bend at the knee joint, and a series of giant ck scales had been engraved all over them.
It had one hand raised up high with its fingers curled up into ws and a ball of ck mist hovering over the palm of the hand, while in its other hand was a very strange-looking giant fiery sword. It appeared to be roaring to the heavens, and there was a primordial aura of menace emanating from it.
"The fact that we were able to break the spatial restriction outside means that it definitely won''t be able to keep them out for long," Shi Chuankong said as he scoured his surroundings with a concerned expression.
"Let''s not panic. We should figure out what kind of ce this is first," Han Li said.
"This seems to be some type of ceremonial site. Take a look at the murals over there," Weeping Soul suddenly said.
Everyone turned to the innermost part of the wall on the right hand side, and sure enough, the murals there depicted some type of ancient humanoid beings performing a ceremony for an ancient deity.
The scene depicted in the mural disyed bloodshed on an enormous scale, with tens of thousands of Gray Realm beings serving as sacrifices. There were both unintelligent Gray Realm demons, as well as beings from civilized tribes thrown into the mix, and all of them had been herded into a giant crater that resembled an enormous bowl.
Outside the crater crouched he giant beast engraved onto the wall. Half of its body was leaning over the edge of the crater, and its cavernous mouth was opened slightly with a look of greed on its face.
Han Li recognized some of the beings in the crater, and using them as reference, he was able to determine that the giant beast had to have been at least ten thousand feet in size.
After taking a nce at the giant crater, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he took a few steps back, then turned to a strange indentation in the ground.
The lines and patterns on the ground seemed to bepletely chaotic and haphazard, but he had noticed that all of them actually converged to this small indentation, which was only several dozen feet in size.
"Have you discovered something, Fellow Daoist Li?" Baili Yan asked.
"Take a look at that indentation there. Doesn''t it look like a miniature version of the crater depicted in that ceremonial mural?" Han Li asked.
"Now that you mention it, it doesn''t look rather simr. It looks like this ce really is a ceremonial site then," Shi Chuankong replied.
"There''s a very good chance that the creature on the murals is being sealed here, and that''s why this is a restricted area," Han Li spected.
"No wonder no fighting is allowed here, the Infernal Tribe must be afraid of damaging the seal and releasing that creature," Fox 3 said.
Right at this moment, the entire hall suddenly shuddered violently as a burst of rumbling rang out from outside.
"They''ve begun breaking the restrictions..." Weeping Soul said.
"At this point, there''s already no way back for us. Seeing as the Infernal Tribe is clearly apprehensive of this thing, let''s find a way to release it, and perhaps that could give us some chance of surviving this," Han Li said with a grim expression.
A hesitant look shed through Weeping Soul''s eyes upon hearing this, but ultimately, she didn''t say anything.
Han Li was just about to say something upon noticing her hesitant expression when Shi Qinghou''s voice rang out in his mind.
"I suggest you don''t do that. I''ve already recalled what this thing is, and if you release it, there''s a very good chance you''ll all be killed before those two can even get to you."
"You know what this creature is?" Han Li asked.
"Have you heard of the Kun Hou?" Shi Qinghou asked.
"What''s that?"
"The Kun Hou is a being that''s existed since the very inception of the Gray Realm. It''s said that it was formed by the baleful essence of the Gray Realm, and its power is unmatched. Even to this day, many of the Gray Realm''s tribes still worship it as an ancient deity.
¡°As for exactly why it''s been sealed here by the Infernal Tribe, that''s beyond me. I''m telling you this as a precautionary warning, but ultimately, the decision is still up to you," Shi Qinghou exined, then fell silent again.
"Master, what should we do?" Weeping Soul asked.
Everyone else also turned to him, and it was clear that they had all grown ustomed to looking to him for leadership.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Regardless of what''s down there, let''s release it first," Han Li decided.
Outside the hall, the rumbling was bing louder and louder, and it seemed that Gui Mu and Yin Xu were bing more and more agitated.
"The restrictions here are extremelyplex. I don''t think we currently possess the power to destroy it by force in a short time, so we should perhaps try and set up some arrays to unravel it," Shi Chuankong suggested.
Han Li nodded in agreement, then dered, "Time is of the essence, so let''s get to work."
With that, everyone split up and began searching for the important points in the array.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes as he turned his gaze to the ceremonial altar ahead of him, and he quickly discovered that there were many squiggly worm-like patterns engraved onto the altar, which had previously appeared quite smooth. These patterns filled the entire altar, and there appeared to be no rhyme or reason to them. On top of that, all of the patterns were filled with some type of ck dirt-like substance.
The ceremonial pit was also filled with patterns, which formed a strange me-like design.
After conducting an extensive examination, Han Li didn''t notice anything amiss, and he turned his gaze to the surrounding murals, but once again, he wasn''t able to find any points of interest.
"Have any of you found anything?" Fox 3 asked as he made his way back from a corner of the hall.
"There are some patterns on the ground, but they''repletely random and appear to only be there for decorative purposes," Shi Chuankong replied with a shake of his head.
Han Li raised his head to look up at the ceiling, where there were a total of seven circles of runes engraved, with each sessive circlerger than the previous one, and at the very center of the seven circles was an upside-down ck pir.
"Take a look up there," Han Li suddenly said, and everyone immediately obliged.
"That seems to be some sort of spatial array," Shi Chuankong remarked as his eyes lit up.
"Do you recognize it, Brother Shi?" Fox 3 asked.
Instead of immediately responding, Shi Chuankong''s brows became tightly furrowed as he fell into deep thought, and only after a brief silence did he reply, "This restriction is split up into two parts, and its overallyout shares some simrities with the All-epassing Restrictive Array of our Devil Realm. On top of that, the patterns on its surface ovep with many of the spatial array patterns that I''ve seen earlier in Gray Realm scriptures rted to arrays."
"Can any of the information on those scriptures be referenced here?" Han Li asked.
"I can''t say for sure. There are some simrities, but also some clear differences. For example, there are many fire-attribute array patterns in this array, and I don''t know what they''re there for," Shi Chuankong replied with a hesitant expression.
Right as he was speaking, another resounding boom rang out from outside, and the ground trembled beneath everyone''s feet.
"We don''t have any time left. Just take a gamble and do what you think is right. If worsees to worst, we''ll just have to wait for Yin Xu and Gui Mu to get here, then fight them to the death and attempt to use their power to destroy the seal in here," Han Li said in a calm manner.
"Alright, in that case, please follow my instructions and lend me your assistance, everyone," Shi Chuankong replied with a solemn nod.
Everyone gave a collective affirmative response, and Shi Chuankong began handing out Baleful Inkstones and array tes, all of which were to be set up on the ground in the hall.
After that was done, he began instructing everyone to embed the same items into the ceiling above.
Aside from the sounds of Shi Chuankong''s verbal instructions and everyone''s shuffling feet, the only other sound that could be heard was the rumbling from outside, and the atmosphere had be extremely tense.
Chapter 749: Emergence
Close to twenty secondster, a resounding boom rang out in the hearts of Han Li and the others as Yin Xu and Gui Mu broke through the array outside.
"Just a bit more! Hurry!" Shi Chuankong urged through gritted teeth as sweat poured down his forehead.
"We don''t have time. Keep going, I''ll find a way to buy us some time," Baili Yan dered as he rose to his feet.
"Master, I can''t really help out much here, so I''ll go with Fellow Daoist Baili," Weeping Soul volunteered.
"It''s too dangerous for the two of you to go like this. We''re dealing with two Great Epassment cultivators that can probably kill both of you just by lifting a finger!" Han Li said with tightly furrowed brows while continuing to work without pause.
"But if we don''t go, they''ll get in here before we can release that thing, and if that happens, all of us will truly be doomed. Back when the ze Dragon Dao was destroyed by Xiao Jinhan, I almost sumbed to baleful qi bacsh, and it was only thanks to the High Zenith Pill that you secured that I was able to survive.
¡°This time, we were captured, only to be saved by Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul, so I should''ve already died twice anyway, why not keep pushing my luck?" Baili Yan said with a faint smile.
"Rest assured, Master. I''m a prized disciple of the Infernal Regional Monarch, so I''m sure they wouldn''t dare to kill me. If I apany Fellow Daoist Baili, we should be able to buy some time," Weeping Soul said.
"Alright, then be careful, and try to avoid direct confrontation," Han Li sighed with a conflicted look in his eyes.Baili Yan and Weeping Soul exchanged a nce with each other, following which both of them flew out of the hall.
Meanwhile, Gui Mu and Yin Xu had only just rushed onto the small za outside the hall when they ran headfirst into a massive ck fireball.
The giant fireball exploded violently, sending mes erupting in all directions like shooting stars.
Amid the storm of fire, a huge dark green shield split up into countless ghost vines, all of which were quickly retracted back into Gui Mu''s sleeves.
"You fools! Do you know what this ce is? You have no idea what you''re getting yourselves into!" Gui Mu yelled in a cold voice as he cast his gaze toward Weeping Soul and Baili Yan, who were on the other side of the za.
"Don''t waste any more time, we have to end this quick," Yin Xu urged as he took a quick nce at his surroundings.
Baili Yan wasted no time with words as he made a hand seal while chanting an incantation, then suddenly pointed a finger at his own dantian.
A heart-wrenching roar rang out as a burst of bright red light that resembled the radiance of moltenva emerged from his dantian, and a series of bright red cracks branched out of the burst of red light, rapidly spreading over his entire body.
Immediately thereafter, ck mes began to erupt out of the cracks, releasing plumes of thick ck smoke that quickly epassed the entire za.
Weeping Soul also sprang into action upon seeing this, darting away to the side before clenching her fists as she took a step forward while letting loose a feral roar thatpletely belied her feminine appearance.
ck light surged rapidly over her body while her eyes turned bright red, and she swelled rapidly in size, quickly transforming into a giant ck ape that was over a thousand feet tall.
The ape''s fur was as hard as steel needles, and there was a strange horn on its head, while its sharp fangs were fully bared. Furthermore, a third crimson demonic eye had appeared on its be, and three ck bone spikes were protruding out of its back.
"You Luo, you traitor! Is this how you n to repay our regional monarch''s kindness? You''re going as far as to reveal your Xing Beast form for the sake of these outsiders! This is unforgivable!" Gui Mu yelled in a furious voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a string of resounding booms suddenly rang out from above him, and it seemed as if there were countless arcs of lightning shing against one another deep within the dense ck smoke.
A giant ck dragon could just barely be made out within the smoke and lightning. There was karmic fire swirling around its entire body, and it was slowly twisting around in mid-air, blocking the way to the hall behind it.
Due to the enormity of its frame, the dragon''s back was scraping violently against flight restrictions up above, sending sparks flying in all directions.
"They only dare to oppose us like this because they''re convinced that we don''t dare to go all-out against them for fear of damaging the restrictions here. Elder Gui Mu, go and open all of the restrictions here," Yin Xu said with a cold sneer.
"What? No, we can''t do that!" Gui Mu hurriedly refused in an rmed voice.
"They''ve already made it in here, so what''s the point in keeping the restrictions outside active? They''ll only act as a hindrance to us. If we damage the restrictions, that could trigger a chain reaction that directly destroys the seal inside, so we may as well open all of the restrictions and aim to put an end to this battle as quickly as possible," Yin Xu said with a dark expression.
"But..."
Gui Mu was still a little hesitant.
"You''re familiar with theyout of this ce, take the infernal badge and go right now. This is no longer just a matter of whether we''ll be punished or not. If we dy the regional monarch''s ns, both of us will be killed!" Yin Xu urged.
A decisive look appeared on Gui Mu''s face upon hearing this, and he immediately rushed away without any further hesitation.
"You''ve pushed your luck one too many times, you insolent scoundrels!" Yin Xu roared, and his aura instantly swelled by severalfold.
A vast expanse of ck light emerged beneath his feet, then quickly proliferated outward like a rapidly spreading puddle of ck ink. The ck light then rose up into the air toe epass the entire za and the air above it before closing like a giant mouth.
All of a sudden, it was as if Baili Yan and Weeping Soul had been sucked into another dimension, one in which all of their senses were stripped, and they couldn''t even sense the aura of the world around them anymore.
Momentster, the light barriers outside the pce faded away, and an incredibly dense shadow began to rapidly expand amid a burst of violent rumbling.
......
Meanwhile, a faint crack rang out within the hall, immediately followed by the sound of turning mechanical parts ringing out from all directions.
Han Li''s trio were standing around the ceremonial pit while looking up with bated breath.
The circr patterns on the ceiling began to glow with ck light, then began to turn, while the stone pir at the very center began to slowly descend.
A faint ng rang out as the stone pir slotted seamlessly into the ceremonial pit down below.
As the sound of more turning mechanical parts rang out, a burst of incredibly dense ck baleful qi rose up from the ground, inundating the entire hall.
Han Li''s trio reflexively sprang back upon seeing this, and in the next instant, the entire stone chamber began to tremble violently, while all of the Baleful Inkstones embedded into the ground and the ceiling lit up to illuminate the hall, as did all of the patterns on the ground.
Right at this moment, a sound akin to that of a panting wild animal rang out from somewhere within the hall.
"Something doesn''t seem right," Han Li said as a hint of foreboding welled up in his heart, while Shi Chuankong and Fox 3 were also looking on with tense expressions.
All of a sudden, Han Li spotted a sh of light from the relief of the Kun Hou engraved onto the wall behind Fox 3. It was as if a sh of crimson me had swept over its surface, and ayer of murky mist had emerged over it, giving it an indistinct appearance.
Immediately thereafter, all of the fearsome beasts engraved onto the walls began to shudder, as if they were about to spring to life, and the reliefs also seemed to have be more vibrant and lifelike. The mountainous piles of skeletons were also trembling incessantly, as if they were about to roll into the hall at any moment.
Right as he was about to say something, the eyes of the Kun Hou relief on the wall suddenly lit up.
"Get out of the way, Fox 3!" Han Li yelled.
Fox 3 immediately acted without hesitation, darting away to the side as quickly as he could, right as something shed past his ear.
Two fist-sized fireballs, one crimson and one ck, flew out of the relief''s eye sockets while intertwining with one another, then struck the stone pir that was descending out of the ceiling.
Flurries of sparks erupted out of both fireballs in unison, following which they began to rise up along the ck stone pir in a revolving fashion, much like a pair of winding fiery snakes. One of them climbed to the ceiling of the hall, while the other descended toward the altar, lighting up all of the array patterns in their wake, while Han Li and the others looked on in bewilderment.
The bright ck light up above was resonating with the crimson light down below, as if a me had been lit under the night sky.
Bursts of rumbling were ringing out underground, and the crimson light on the ground grew brighter and brighter while releasing waves of scorching heat.
All of a sudden, a loud crack rang out, and the altar connected to the stone pir shuddered violently. Cracks instantly began to appear on the surrounding ground, which then began to fall away entirely.
"Look out!" Han Li warned as he immediately rose up into the air, as did Shi Chuankong and Fox 3.
The three of them looked down with tightly furrowed brows to discover that the entire ground below was beginning to split up into countless fragments before tumbling down into a giant underground crater, one that was unfathomably deep.
Within the crater were crimson and ck mes that were burning ferociously, and beneath the stone pir connected to the altar was another pir that extended deep into the ground.
This stone pir was riddled with ancient runes, and it was bright red from being scorched by the intense mes underground.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes as he cast his gaze downward, and he could sense traces of firew auras within the crimson and ck mes.
On top of that, he could sense tremendous karmic fire and baleful qi, and there seemed to be a series of intertwining red chains wrapped around the stone pir deep within the crater.
Furthermore, he could see an indistinct shadow that was constantly shing beneath the masses of chains.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s pupils suddenly contracted drastically, and he reflexively shot up into the air, crashing straight into the ceiling of the hall up above.
At almost the exact same moment, a tremendous wave of fire came erupting out of the underground crater, apanied by an earth-shattering roar.
A gargantuan hand then reached out of the mes before swatting through the air right where Han Li had been just a moment ago, and after missing Han Li, the hand fell onto the edge of the crater.
The hand was several thousand feet in length and looked as if it had been chiseled out of rock. It was riddled with angr chunks of ck rocks, as well as sharp, thorn-like spikes, swirling over which was ayer of incredibly dense ck mes.
Chapter 750: Second Unsealing
Han Li''s trio was astonished by the sight of the gargantuan creature that they had just released.
Just a single one of its hands resembled a mountain, and they couldn''t even imagine how massive it would be in its full glory.
The ck mes were clearly also karmic mes, but the baleful qi aura and scorching heat that were radiating from them were countless times more formidable than those of the mes in the karmic fireke.
What was even more astonishing to them was the fierce primordial aura that was emanating from deep within the crater. The aura exuded a sense of almighty power, as well as thunderous fury that had been umting over the course of countless centuries.
"Looks like Asura City is going to be experiencing some trouble for at least the near future," Shi Chuankong remarked in a grim voice.
"Fellow Daoist Li, should we really release this thing?" Fox 3 asked as he turned to Han Li with a hesitant expression.
"If we don''t release it, we''ll be dead for sure, but if we do, perhaps there could be a twist in the tale," Han Li replied.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the harsh sound of metal grating against metal rang out from underground, and around a dozen incredibly thick red chains abruptly shot forth.
Every single chain link was riddled with countless runes, and these chains seemed to have a mind of their own, wrapping themselves around the giant hand before instantly stretching themselves taut.The sound of the chains tightening rang out as all of the patterns on the stone pir shed erratically, and immediately thereafter, a thunderous roar of fury rang out from underground.
Han Li''s trio felt as if their internal organs were shuddering in the face of this deafening roar, and all three of them hurriedly retreated a little.
The giant hand gouged three enormous trenches into the ground as it attempted to resist the tugging chains, but ultimately, its resistance proved to be futile, and it was dragged back into the crater.
"The seal doesn''t seem to have beenpletely broken. Why is that?" Han Li asked with furrowed brows.
Shi Chuankong hurriedly flew over to the altar on the ground upon hearing this, then began conducting a close examination.
Momentster, his gaze settled on a me pattern that had been revealed on the edge of the altar after the ground around it had fallen away.
"On the surface, this array looks simr to the All-epassing Restrictive Array of our Devil Race, but its internal makeup is actually very different. We seem to have loosened the seal, but judging from the presence of these array patterns, it appears that fire-attributew powers must be injected into the array in order topletely break the seal," Shi Chuankong said in a rather unsure manner.
"Firew powers will be required? Fellow Daoist Baili is still out there buying time for us, where are we supposed to find firew powers from?" Fox 3 asked with a wry smile.
Shi Chuankong fell silent upon hearing this. Indeed, none of Han Li''s trio had mastered thews of fire.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he mused, "Perhaps he can help..."
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out from outside, immediately followed by a draconic roar that sounded like a cry of agony let loose by the ze dragon formed by Baili Yan.
Han Li immediately sprang into action without any further hesitation upon hearing this, raising a hand to conjure up a door of silver light.
Inside the door of light, Chi Rong was seated against the wall, while Immortal Lord Hot me had also already woken up, but his eyes were stillpletely wooden and soulless. As for the two Infernal children, they were still in an unconscious state.
"Fellow Daoist Chi, right now, we''re all trapped in the Gray Realm together, so we have to work together..." Han Li began.
"Tell me what you need me to do," Chi Rong interjected before Han Li had a chance to finish.
"I need to borrow your firew powers," Han Li immediately replied.
"My cultivation arts primarily specialize in thews of time, so my firew powers are only secondary to my timew powers. On top of that, the restrictions in my body haven''t been lifted, and too much of my firew powers had been extracted by those Infernal Servants to refine some type of treasure, so I don''t have much left to give. If you need me to help in a big way, then I''m afraid you''ll be disappointed," Chi Rong said.
Han Li turned to Shi Chuankong upon hearing this, and thetter said, "It''s fine, we only need a small amount of firew powers to set things into motion."
Chi Rong wasted no more time upon hearing this, quickly stepping out of the door of silver light before flying toward the altar on the ground below.
As he approached the altar, he suddenly swayed slightly as if he were unable to support himself, and Shi Chuankong hurriedly reached out to lend him some stability.
"Just inject your firew powers into the me patterns here," Shi Chuankong said as he pointed at the edge of the altar.
Chi Rong took a nce at the altar, then looked into the crater down below before raising an eyebrow.
"We don''t have much time, so please make haste, Fellow Daoist Chi," Han Li urged.
Chi Rong promptly obliged,ying a hand down onto the me patterns on the edge of the altar before injecting his firew powers into it.
Right as all of their attention was focused on the altar, two figures suddenly flew out of the open door of silver light together, then began darting their way out of the hall.
Han Li took a nce out of the corner of his eye, and he discovered that it was the two Infernal children.
"Should I go capture them again, Fellow Daoist Li?" Fox 3 asked.
"Just let them go. In this situation, it makes no difference whether we have them or not," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
However, right as Chi Rong''s firew powers illuminated the me patterns on the altar, a low roar rang out as ck whirlwind abruptly swept out of the crater, then instantly caught up to the two fleeing children.
Han Li and the others immediately turned their attention to the two children, only to see their robes instantly disintegrate, while their exposed bodies rapidly fell away.
Their skin and flesh dposed, while their bones were cracked and pulverized, and they quickly transformed into two viscous globules of blood that were swept back by the ck whirlwind.
Han Li could sense a very unique aura within the two globules of blood that were rather simr to the true spirit bloodlines in his body, but were also somewhat different.
Before he had a chance to figure out what had just happened, the entire hall began to tremble violently once again, following which a vast expanse of crimson and ck mes erupted out of the crater like a volcanic eruption.
"Get back!" Han Li hurriedly yelled as he darted away while closing the Flower Branch domain, and Shi Chuankong''s trio instantly followed suit.
The sound of grating chains rang out insistently from within the mes surging out of the crater, and the same enormous hand from before emerged once again, only to be ensnared by more bright red chains as soon as it reached the entrance of the crater.
However, on this asion, the giant fiery hand was clearly several times more powerful than before, and the chains wrapped around it were only able to pose brief resistance before they were snapped.
The giant hand rose up into the air with its fingers pointed straight at the ceiling of the hall, and it pierced straight through the ceiling with ease. Immediately thereafter, it hooked its fingers into the stone material, using the entire hall as leverage to forcefully hoist itself upward.
The sound of more nging chains rang out as mes churned violently within the underground crater, and an incredibly powerful aura was emanating from within.
Han Li and the others were swept away in an uncontroble fashion by the tremendous aura, and they were sent crashing into the surrounding walls in a lopsided fashion.
The crimson mes in the crater gradually faded, while the ck mes were only going from strength to strength, erupting out of the crater with tremendous force. At the same time, the cracks on the ground rapidly elongated, and they quickly extended their way out of the hall altogether.
On the za outside the hall, Yin Gua had already withdrawn his Dark Hell, and the all-epassing shadow had faded.
There were eight giant arms formed by dense shadows behind him, all of which were raised high up in the air, and each hand was locked firmly around a vital acupoint on the body of the ck ze dragon formed by Baili Yan.
It was clear that the ze dragon was no longer fit for battle, and its entire body was riddled with massive wounds, while ck blood was flowing out of its slightly agape mouth.
Not far away from it was a ck cage formed by countless wooden branches, trapped inside of which was a petite figure. However, it was impossible to make out the situation inside the cage as the figure was ensnared withinyers uponyers of ck ghost vines.
Bursts of dull rumbling were ringing out incessantly from underfoot, and the ever-widening cracks quickly spilled out of the hall and onto the za beneath their feet.
Before long, the cracks had spread over an area of tens of thousands of feet, filling virtually the entirety of the underground space.
Clouds of dust were rising up everywhere, while tongues of ck karmic fire were flickering out of the cracks on the ground before blooming like fiery ck lotus flowers.
"Finally... It''se out..." the ze dragon said in a feeble but exultant voice.
"Elder Yin Xu..."
Gui Mu turned to Yin Xu with a grim expression.
"Those fools!" Yin Xu roared, and his eyes were burning with fury as the eight giant shadowy hands behind him abruptly exerted force in unison.
ck blood came cascading down like rain as the ze dragon was torn into nine pieces like a silken ribbon, and the pieces of its body came tumbling down onto the ground.
Its head, which was still rtively intact, fell beside Yin Xu''s feet and was pulverized by a single stomp, but in the instant right before the head exploded, a ck shadow flew out of it before darting away.
This didn''t fail to attract Yin Xu''s attention, but at this point, he had no time to chase after the shadow, and he could only make a dash for the entrance of the hall.
Chapter 751: Ongoing Conference
Right at this moment, the ground beneath Yin Xu''s feet rumbled violently, then split open entirely amid a burst of earth-shattering tremors.
ck karmic mes erupted out of the cracks as rocks came tumbling down from above, destroying entire sections of the surrounding pce.
Before long, an even more massive underground crater had emerged, and all that remained was a giant stone pir standing at its center. As the ground fell away, the remnants of Baili Yan''s body also tumbled into the earth.
Han Li and the others flew out of the karmic fire, then didn''t stop even for a second before flying toward the edge of the underground space.
Meanwhile, Yin Xu and Gui Mu exchanged a look of despair, and they also began rushing back the same way they hade from.
All of a sudden, a violent roar of fury rang out from underground, and it was apanied by an incredibly fearsome primordial aura that felt as if it belonged to an ancient deity and was filled with intense fury, resentment, and killing intent.
The giant ck hand that had pierced into the ceiling of the hall reached upward once again before pulling up with tremendous power, and the ck mes within the massive crater instantly began to churn violently as a gargantuan figure slowly rose up.
As the mes subsided, the indistinct figure finally gradually became clear.
It was an enormous head that was close to twenty thousand feet in size and was entirely ck in color, looking as if it had been chiseled out of ck rock. It was riddled with sharp edges and fangs, and its features only just barely resembled those of a human.In its eyes were two balls of strange ck mes that were flickering slightly, and on top of its head were two giant curved ox horns that were thousands of feet in length, resembling a pair of mountains sitting on its head.
Whenever the creature exhaled, two bursts of ck mes would erupt out of its nostrils, giving off an unprecedentedly fearsome baleful aura that struck everyone with a sense of insignificance.
"What on earth have we let out..." Shi Chuankong murmured to himself as he looked back at the gargantuan head from a corner of the underground space.
"We''ve finally managed to release the Kun Hou, but it looks like Fellow Daoist Baili may have fallen," Han Li said with a wistful expression after examining the surrounding area with both his eyes and his spiritual sense.
"Hold on a second, it doesn''t look like that thing has beenpletely freed yet. It seems like only its head and one of its arms have been freed," Fox 3 suddenly said.
Sure enough, there were still countless intertwining chains wrapped around the creature''s body, the majority of which was still deep in the underground crater.
"This should be enough to keep the Infernal Tribe busy for a while. Thank heavens we didn''t fully release it. Otherwise, I don''t think we would''ve been able to get out of there alive," Han Li said as he took a nce at the horrified Yin Xu and Gui Mu.
"Where''s Fellow Daoist Chi Rong?" Fox 3 asked.
"Right before the ground copsed, he seemed to have discovered something within the karmic fire, and he flew straight into it instead of retreating," Shi Chuankong replied with a shake of his head.
"Leave him. You two find a way out, I''ll go save Weeping Soul," Han Li said.
Right at this moment, the Kun Hou suddenly threw its head back and let loose a furious roar. Scorching karmic mes surged out of its mouth, forming a giant pir of mes that struck the ceiling of the hall up above.
The ceiling consisted of rock that was thousands of feet thick, yet it was melted away in an instant, creating a giant hole through which a ray of dim light shone down from above.
......
At the Fallen Lake Area conference venue.
The elevated stone tform was glowing radiantly while releasing bursts of white light in all directions, presenting a majestic sight to behold.
All of the regional monarchs of the Gray Realm were seated behind the round table on the tform, and all of them wore different expressions.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the venue was rather tense. There weren''t many people speaking, but the tension in the air was palpable.
Yin Chengquan, Huang Fuyu, and Xiao Buye were seated at the head of the table in a triangr formation.
The entire conference was set tost twenty days, the first seven of which was the initial discussion stage, during which the representatives of three regions were going to discuss the purpose of the conference, as well as the different stances at y, and independent small-scale discussions could also take ce during this stage.
The three days after that were when the decision was going to be made through a vote.
As for the final ten days, those were reserved for discussing the possible problems that could arise from the oue of the conference, as well as how the decided oue was going to be achieved.
On the surface, this conference was quite a straightforward one. Everyone simply had to express their stance toward the True Immortal Realm, but what made things veryplicated were theplex nuances between all of the regions, including their allegiances to the three major regions, territorial disputes, trade problems, and personal vendettas.
Even though each regional monarch was only required to express their stance on this matter, there were far too many factors involved.
Over the past few days, many of the regions had been constantly at each other''s throats, while the three major regions were doing everything in their power to win over the smaller regions, and many smaller sub-conferences had been set up, plunging the entire situation into a state of chaos.
At this point, the initial discussion stage had already concluded, and this was the first day of the decision stage.
Even though it hadn''t yet begun, the state of affairs was already quite clear.
Prior to the conference, the Reincarnation Region had sent out a great deal of manpower to win over the regional monarchs that had previously adopted neutral stances. In doing so, it had invested a tremendous amount of resources. The Infernal Region had the most subsidiary regions, but it hadn''t done much work when it came to winning over neutral regions.
As for the ck Rope Region, it had always been a fence-sitter anyway, so it naturally hadn''t made any big moves.
On top of that, most of the Gray Realm''s regions harbored a great deal of enmity toward the True Immortal Region, but they were also envious of the True Immortal Region for its vast abundance of cultivation resources.
The Reincarnation Region was able to use this to its advantage to win over most of the previously neutral regional monarchs, including the ck Rope Regional Monarch.
Even though there were still some regional monarchs that still hadn''t made their stances known, the overall state of affairs was already quite clear.
At this point, the conference was no more than an hour away from rmencing, but Yin Chengquan didn''t seem to be agitated at all as he sat calmly in silence.
An elderly man beside Yin Chengquan leaned over slightly as he said in a quiet yet urgent voice, "Regional Monarch Yin, the current situation is not looking good for us at all. More and more regions are being won over by the Reincarnation Region."
The elderly man''s name was Tian Ku, and he was the Valley Pond Regional Monarch. He had always been very close with the Infernal Region and was one of the Infernal Region''s chief supporters.
"There''s no need to be concerned, Regional Monarch Tian Ku. We still have plenty of time," Yin Chengquan replied with a faint smile, and it seemed like he had everything under control.
A skeptical look appeared on Tian Ku''s face upon seeing this, but he didn''t say anything further.
Yin Chengquan leaned back in his chair as he lifted the teacup in front of him, yet right as his lips were about to make contact with the rim of the teacup, hemunicated through voice transmission, "Proceed ording to the original n."
There were two people currently standing behind Yin Chengquan, one of whom was a young man with a pair ofrge eyes and bushy brows. Overall, his features were quite handsome, and there was a curved gray horn on his forehead.
The other person was a gray-robed man with a set of unremarkable facial features with the exception of his eyebrows which resembles a pair of sharp swords.
Both of them were giving off Great Epassment Stage auras, and at this moment, a faint glimmer of gray light shed within the sleeve of the horned young man.
In the crowd below the elevated tform was a tall and thin ck-robed figure, and upon spotting the faint glimmer of gray light, he immediately turned and departed, quickly fading nito the crowd.
Yin Chengquan took a subtle nce at the ck-robed figure out of his peripheral vision, then set down the teacup in his hand.
Right at this moment, Xiao Buye smiled and said, "I must say, it''s very impressive that you''re still so calm and collected even with the current state of affairs, Regional Monarch Yin."
"Likewise, Deputy Regional Monarch Xiao. You seem to be just asposed as I am, if not more so," Yin Chengquan replied.
"I don''t think that''s a fairparison, Regional Monarch Yin. All our ck Rope Region wants is for all of the regions to coexist in harmony, and we''re satisfied as long as no further major internal conflicts take ce. The only reason why I''m here is to ensure that this conference can have a peaceful conclusion," Xiao Buye said, making sure to emphasize the word "peaceful", as if he were issuing a subtle warning.
"I see. The Gray Realm is truly fortunate to have a peace-keeping force like yourself. You have my utmost admiration," Yin Chengquan said with a faint smile.
Huang Fuyu was listening to the conversation between the two, and he took a nce at the two of them before looking away again as a mocking sneer appeared on his face.
Meanwhile.
A burst of low chanting suddenly rang out from within a passageway inside the tall city wall on the border of the Fallen Lake Area.
There were gray stone pirs that were each over a hundred feet tall standing at set intervals along the dark passageway, and the pirs were riddled withplex patterns that extended out of the pirs and into the surrounding city wall.
Atop each pir sat an Infernal being, all of whom were currently chanting incantations while casting incantation seals into the gray pirs.
The patterns on the stone pirs quickly began to sh with gray light that was interspersed with specks of silver light, which were particrly eye-catching in the dark passageway.
The bursts of gray light grew brighter and brighter as they quickly connected together, and it was clear that this city wall was constructed from some type of special material, as evidenced by the fact that none of the shing lights seeped outside.
The restrictions around the Fallen Lake Area slowly began to change as specks of silver light emerged within them.
Chapter 752: Surprising Turn
Chapter 752: Surprising Turn
As themencement of the decision stage drew closer, the conference venue gradually began to quiet down, and everyone turned their attention to the three figures seated at the head of the table.
Right at this moment, Xiao Buye abruptly raised his head to inspect his surroundings, and Huang Fuyu''s expression also changed slightly.
"What''s wrong, Pce Master Huang?" Wyrm 3 immediately asked.
All of the other regional monarchs had also noticed the changes in Xiao Buye and Huang Fuyu''s expressions, and the tension in the air only became heavier.
All of a sudden, Huang Fuyu rose to his feet as ayer of radiant white light emerged over his body, and he glowered intently at Yin Chengquan as he asked, "What''s the meaning of this, Regional Monarch Yin?"
As soon as Huang Fuyu rose to his feet, all of the regional monarchs who were allied to the Reincarnation Region immediately followed suit, and some of the more aggressive ones among them had even summoned immortal treasures in preparation for battle.
Xiao Buye hadn''t risen to his feet, but he was also glowering intently at Yin Chengquan with an usatory look in his eyes.
In the face of the rapidly escting tensions, Yin Changquan remained calm and silent.
However, all of the regional monarchs allied to the Infernal Region had stood up to oppose those allied to the Reincarnation Region.
"This is the Three Region Conference! Is your Reincarnation Region trying to rebel?" Tian Ku used in a scathing manner.
"Rebel? Are you implying that the Infernal Region is the ruler of the Gray Realm? What a joke!" Xiao Buye scoffed in a cold voice.
Tian Ku knew that he had misspoken, and he had no response to this.
Yin Chengquan remained seated as he took a nce at Huang Fuyu and Xiao Buye, then said, "What''s going on all of a sudden, everyone? The decision stage is about tomence, and we''re going to be deciding the future fate of our Gray Realm. Why have we suddenly all taken up arms against each other at a time like this?"
"Do you take us for fools, Regional Monarch Yin? You''ve activated spatial restrictions all around the Fallen Lake Area to iste this ce from the outside world. What is the meaning of this?" Huang Fuyu asked in a cold voice.
Only then did everyone finally understand what had just happened, and the entire conference venue erupted into chatter as everyone turned their attention to Yin Chengquan.
In the face of everyone''s hostile scrutiny, Yin Chengquan remained calm and collected, and a faint smile had even appeared on his face.
At this point, all of the preparations wereplete, so it hardly mattered that he had been caught.
After plotting for so long, he could finally enact his n.
"Everyone..." Yin Chengquan began.
Right at this moment, an explosion rang out in the distance, and a tremendous evil aura erupted into the heavens before proliferating outward in all directions.
At the same time, an enormous ball of ck light had also emerged from the epicenter of the explosion, and all of the baleful qi near Asura City was churning violently as rumbling thunderps rang out above the swirling gray clouds overhead.
Even the three dim suns in the sky were beginning to undergo a change as they were approaching each other, even ovepping in some parts, but they hadn''tpletely ovepped yet.
Furthermore, they were glowing far brighter than usual, and rays of bright gray light were emanating from the three suns before flowing rapidly down into the ball of ck light in the distance like rivers flowing into the sea.
Everyone at the conference venue, including the bystanders below the elevated tform, were all looking at the ball of ck light with rmed expressions, and Huang Fuyu and Xiao Buye''s expressions also changed drastically upon seeing this.
A hint of surprise also shed through Yin Chengquan''s eyes upon seeing this, but he then quickly improvized, "That''s our city''s Soul Cleansing Area, which is home to many of our treasure refinement and puppet refinement facilities. Some type of mishap must''ve taken ce, leading to the activation of the spatial restrictions of the Fallen Lake Area.
¡°These are just prophctic measures that our Infernal Region has taken to ensure the smooth running of the conference, so don''t be rmed, everyone."
Skeptical looks immediately appeared on many people¡¯s faces upon hearing this, but the tension in the air had deescted significantly.
The white light around Huang Fuyu''s body faded, and he also gestures for all of the Reincarnation Region''s allies to stow away their immortal treasures.
All of the Infernal Region''s allies also followed suit upon seeing this.
Xiao Buye took a nce in the direction of the Soul Cleansing Area, then turned back to Yin Chengquan, and there was still some suspicion in his eyes, but it wasn''t as apparent as before.
"Go and see what''s happened, then take care of it as soon as possible," Yin Chengquan said to the two Great Epassment cultivators behind him.
The two of them gave an affirmative response, then flew toward the Soul Cleansing Area as two streaks of ck light.
"My apologies for the dy, everyone. I hereby dere the rmencement of the conference," Yin Chengquan said as he sat down.
Everyone exchanged some nces with one another, then sat down as well, but it was clear that everyone was still a little shaken, and no one said anything.
Wyrm 3 took a step forward, then asked through voice transmission, "Do you think Yin Chengquan was telling the truth just now, Pce Master Huang?"
"Of course Yin Chengquan is not to be trusted. He definitely has some type of ulterior motive for activating the spatial restrictions around the Fallen Lake Area, but that explosion was also rather strange. If I''m not mistaken, something most likely really has gone wrong in the Soul Cleansing Area," Huang Fuyu replied with a cold sneer.
"You''ve always been the head of our Reincarnation Region''s brains trust, Pce Master Huang. Have you managed to guess Yin Chengquan''s n?" Wu Yang asked.
"You''re far too kind, Pce Master Wu Yang. My tactical nous can''t even begin topare with that of our regional monarch. Right now, I don''t have enough leads to fully extrapte what Yin Chengquan''s n could be," Huang Fuyu replied.
"What should we do then? Do we just stay here?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"There''s no need to be concerned. Our regional monarch has already predicted that Yin Chengquan will be up to no good during this Three Region Conference, and he''s already made preparations in advance, so let''s just watch and see for now," Huang Fuyu replied.
Wyrm 3 and Wu Yang''s eyes both lit up slightly upon hearing this, and they didn''t say anything further.
......
In the underground pce in the Soul Cleansing Area.
Both Yin Xu and Gui Mu were staring at the giant arm and gargantuan head of the Kun Hou with deathly paleplexions.
Gui Mu took a deep breath, then took a nce at Han Li and the others, who were fleeing the scene, and he asked, "Elder Yin Xu, should we capture those people? Maybe if we take them to the regional monarch, that''ll spare us from some punishment."
"It''s almost time for our regional monarch to enact his n, yet we''vepletely messed up! Do you really think catching a few rats will be enough to spare us from punishment? The only silver lining here is that the Kun Hou hasn''t beenpletely freed yet. Our top priority right now is to contain it, then wait for reinforcements to arrive!" Yin Xu spat through gritted teeth, then flew directly upward while making a string of hand seals.
A streak of ck light flew out of his body, then transformed into a ck badge.
The badge appeared to be quite simr to the infernal badge, except there were nine ghostly heads engraved onto this one.
Yin Xu opened his mouth to expel several balls of blood essence into the badge, and it immediately began to glow radiantly with ck spiritual light.
At the same time, the nine ghostly heads swelled to several times their original size before opening their mouths in unison, releasing nine bursts of ck light that vanished into the nearby space in a sh.
Numerous red chains shot out of the nearby space, then wrapped themselves around the Kun Hou''s arm and head.
However, these chains summoned by Yin Xu were clearly far thinner than the ones already around the Kun Hou''s body.
Meanwhile, Gui Mu took another nce at Han Li, seemingly still rather reluctant to let them get away.
The mes within the Kun Hou''s eye red up as it swung its arm through the air again, releasing a burst of tremendous force that caused the nearby space to tremble violently.
A string of loud ngs rang out as most of the chains summoned by Yin Xu were instantly snapped.
Yin Xu''splexion instantly paled significantly as he threw up a mouthful of blood, then turned to Gui Mu as he yelled in a furious voice, "What the hell are you doing, Gui Mu?! Hurry up and help me!"
Gui Mu didn''t dare to hesitate any longer, and he immediately flew over to Yin Xu''s side before releasing two thick beams of light out of the palms of his hands and into Yin Xu''s body.
Yin Xu''splexion instantly improved slightly, and he made a rapid string of hand seals, upon which more chains flew out of the ck badge before wrapping themselves around the Kun Hou''s body.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this from another corner of the hall, and he immediately flew toward the ck vine cage that Weeping Soul was trapped in.
At the same time, the Profound Heavenly Gourd appeared in front of him, then immediately began to radiate bright green light.
As Han Li chanted an incantation while making a rapid string of hand seals, the green light radiating from the gourd grew even brighter, while the gourd itself swelled to several times its original, and rows of green runes appeared on its surface.
Gui Mu was curious to see this.
The entirety of Asura City was most likely on high alert at this point, so it didn''t matter if he allowed Han Li and the others to get away for now as they would eventually just be captured again, but he couldn''t allow You Luo to go with him.
With that in mind, Gui Mu let loose a low roar, and eight ck talismans flew out of his body, then transformed into eight giant spiked mace-like weapons.
A tremendous evilw aura was emanating from these weapons, and every single one of them was no less formidable as a graded immortal treasure.
The eight giant weapons shot forth toward Han Li, and at the same time, the ck cage around Weeping Soul rose up from the ground before flying toward Gui Mu and Yin Xu.
Instead of being dismayed by this turn of events, Han Li''s eyes lit up as his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
The axis released countless golden ripples that epassed the eight giant weapons, and they were instantly slowed down, but they were imbued with such tremendous power that the entire area of golden ripples immediately began to tremble violently, looking as if it could fall apart at any moment.
Chapter 753: Four-colored Lightning Restriction
Chapter 753: Four-colored Lightning Restriction
Han Li paid no heed to this as he cast a rapid string of incantation seals into the Profound Heavenly Gourd, which lit up even further before releasing a vast expanse of green light that enveloped the eight giant weapons before rapidly revolving to form a green vortex.
The ck light emanating from the weapons quickly faded, and in the blink of an eye, they had reverted back into eight ck talismans.
Immediately thereafter, the green light shot back into the Profound Heavenly Gourd in a sh, carrying the eight ck talismans along with it.
Gui Mu faltered slightly upon seeing this, while Han Li continued to cast more incantation seals into the Profound Heavenly Gourd, and a string of faint cracks quickly rang out within it.
In the next instant, a tremendous burst of translucent ck light shot out of the mouth of the gourd before striking the ck cage of vines with incredible speed.
A burst of immensew power fluctuations erupted out of the ck light, and the cage of vines was sliced into two with ease, while Weeping Soul fell out of the sky.
At this moment, she appeared to be in terrible condition. Her entire body was riddled with holes, which seemed to have been inflicted by the ghost vines, and she was covered in blood.
Han Li appeared beside her in a sh, then caught her before immediately darting back in retreat.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and by the time Gui Mu finally reacted to what had just happened, Han Li had already fled with Weeping Soul.
He was both rmed and furious to see this, and there was also a hint of greed in his eyes as he gazed upon the Profound Heavenly Gourd.
The giant weapons sealed in the eight talismans were once called Profound Heaven Shattering Maces, and they were a set of fifth-grade immortal treasures refined by a peak-Great Epassment cultivator.
By the time he came into possession of them, they were already on the verge of destruction, and he used a Gray Realm secret technique to draw out their finalw powers before sealing them into talismans.
Those eight talismans had taken care of countless formidable foes for him, and even though there wasn''t much power in them left, it was still extraordinary that the Profound Heavenly Gourd had been able to instantly destroy them before unleashing an attack with thew powers that they contained.
Such an incredible Profound Heavenly Treasure was something that he had never even heard of!
Right at this moment, the Kun Hou let loose another thunderous roar, and countless bursts of ck karmic fire surged out of its arm and head like fiery ck pythons, rapidly melting away the chains around its body.
Yin Xu and Gui Mu hurriedly injected more power into the ck badge upon seeing this, and the nine ghostly heads on the badge swelled drastically in size once again, while the nine red chains around the Kun Hou''s body also became several times thicker.
However, before the two of them even had a chance to heave a sigh of relief, all of the karmic mes suddenly surged out of the Kun Hou''s body, while the nine red chains snapped in unison. Immediately thereafter, the karmic fire formed a giant fiery ck hand that came crashing down upon them.
The space near the fiery ck hand was crackling and popping incessantly from the intense heat, and in response, Yin Xu conjured what appeared to be a giant ck eye.
A streak of swordlight erupted out of the pupil of the eye to strike the center of the fiery ck hand, and the streak of swordlight exploded upon contact, but the ck hand was also stopped momentarily in its tracks, only to immediately continue crashing down with tremendous power.
After unleashing the giant eye ability, Yin Xu immediately grabbed onto Gui Mu before darting away to the side, and the two of them were only just barely able to evade the fiery ck hand.
The giant hand fell upon a certain point in the underground space, but there was no violent explosions, as one would expect. Instead, the spot that was struck melted way instantly, creating a giant crater that was tens of thousands of feet deep.
At this point, Han Li had already taken advantage of the chaos to flee far away, and all of a sudden, he noticed something at the deepest part of the crater with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
"Come with me!"
His voice rang out in the minds of Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong in unison, and the two of them only hesitated slightly before following Han Li deep into the crater.
As soon as they flew into the crater, bursts of thunderous rumbling rang out from outside once again, and it seemed that the battle between the Kun Hou and Yin Xu''s duo had resumed.
"Why did you lead us in here, Fellow Daoist Li? We''ll be safe in here for now, but there''s no way out, and that puts us at risk of being trapped," Fox 3 said as he turned to Han Li with a puzzled expression.
Han Li offered no response as he held Weeping Soul in one arm while injecting his immortal spiritual power into her body to aid in her recovery.
At the same time, he released a streak of azure sword qi with his other hand, which sliced forcefully into the scorching wall of the crater.
Arge section of the rock face was instantly sliced away to reveal a ck tunnel.
An ecstatic look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon seeing this.
Many parts of the earth under Asura City had been dug out to create many underground spaces, and the Kun Hou''s attack had pierced so deep into the earth that it had inadvertently connected this underground space to another.
"Let''s get out of here. At this point, I''m sure the entire city''s attention must''ve already been drawn here, so there will most likely be other Great Epassment cultivators arriving on the scene very soon," Han Li said in an urgent manner, then led the way into the ck tunnel.
Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong immediately followed along, and after entering the tunnel, thetter swept his left hand through the air to release a burst of white mes, which vanished into the nearby rock face, melting it once again so that it blocked the entrance to the tunnel.
After that, the three of them sped onward as quickly as they could.
This was quite a spacious ck tunnel, one that was around seventy to eighty feet tall, and the rock faces on either side were riddled with what appeared to be some type of sealing runes.
However, it waspletely dark up ahead, and spiritual sense was still severely restricted here, so they had no idea where this tunnel led to.
"There''s not going to be something else sealed up ahead, is there?" Shi Chuankong murmured to himself.
"Just a single Kun Hou is enough to keep the Infernal Tribe busy. If we release another, the entire Gray Realm will be plunged into chaos!" Fox 3 chuckled.
"I''m alreadypletely spent after undoing the previous seal, so even if we run into another seal, I won''t be able to do anything about it," Shi Chuankong replied with a wry smile.
Right at this moment, a hint of purple light shed through Han Li''s eyes, following which an ted look appeared on his face, and he abruptly elerated, speeding onward as a streak of azure light.
Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong immediately picked up the pace as well, and before long, the two of them had emerged from the tunnel into another giant hall.
At the deepest point of the hall was a stone gate with lights of different colors shing over it. On the very outside was a radiant silver light barrier that was giving off spatial fluctuations, and it was almost identical to the seal that they had just broken, except on this asion, there was a four-colored lightning restriction beyond the silver light barrier.
The four colors of lightning were azure, purple, silver, and gold, and they were giving off tremendous lightningw power fluctuations.
Among them, the golden lightning was none other than Bone Rinsing Golden Lightning!
"This is Bone Rinsing Golden Lightning! Could it be that the Baleful Cleansing Pond is what''s sealed in here?" Shi Chuankong eximed with an ecstatic expression.
A hint of tion also shed through Fox 3''s eyes, followed by a mixture of other emotions.
"We''ll have to count on you again to break the spatial restriction here, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li said.
"This spatial restriction is the same as the one from before, so I shouldn''t have any trouble with it, given my earlier experience," Shi Chuankong said as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a series of silver array gs.
The array gs circled around in the air momentarily before forming several arrays at his behest, all of which slowly vanished into the silver light barrier.
Fox 3 couldn''t provide any assistance, so he stood off to the side to keep a lookout for any potential pursuers.
As for Han Li, heid Weeping Soul down onto the ground, then made a rapid string of hand seals to release several green talismans, all of which vanished into her body.
Countless thin strands of green light emerged from her wounds before intertwining with one another, and those wounds began to rapidly heal.
At the same time, Han Li flicked a finger through the air to release a ck pill that carried several translucent crimson marks, and it flew straight into Weeping Soul''s slightly agape mouth.
A ball of ck light emerged over her lower abdomen, then quickly spread over her entire body, and her feeble aura began to quickly recover.
Just a few secondster, her brows furrowed slightly, following which she slowly opened her eyes, but herplexion was still very pale.
"Master..."
She struggled up into a seated position as she looked up at Han Li with a grateful expression, and she was just about to say something when Han Li interjected, "Focus on refining the pill in your body that I just fed you first."
Weeping Soul nodded in response, then sat down with her legs crossed, while Han Li joined Fox 3 on lookout duty.
Thankfully, the tunnel that they had just passed through remainedpletely silent, and neither Gui Mu nor Yin Xu hade after them.
Meanwhile, Shi Chuankong was working as quickly as he could, and the array gs around him were piercing into the silver light barrier at a far faster rate thanst time.
He took a deep breath, then summoned the Virata Lute amid a sh of silver light, and his fingers flew rapidly over the lute''s strings to fill the entire space with solemn and urgent music.
The nearby space trembled before shattering altogether, and it was clear that Shi Chuankong now had far better control over the Virata Lute than before.
Bursts of silver light flew out of the lute with each strum of its strings, and all of the bursts of silver light vanished into the silver light barrier, rapidly whittling it down until there was only a thinyer left.
However, this finalyer of the light barrier was extremely resilient, and it disyed no signs of giving way.
A sharp gleam shed through Shi Chuankong''s eyes as he forcefully strummed the strings of his lute five times, and five bursts of silver light shot forth before transforming into five silver sword projections.
Immensew power fluctuations were emanating from the silver sword projections, and they struck the silver light barrier in a sh.
A resounding boom rang out as the light barrier was finally unable to hold itself together any longer, disintegrating into countless specks of silver light.
Shi Chuankong was looking rather pale, clearly indicating that the ability that he had just unleashed had been quite taxing on him, but thankfully, his efforts had paid off.
After heaving a sigh of relief, he turned to call upon Han Li and Fox 3, but right at this moment, things took an unexpected turn...
Chapter 754: Heavenly Fox Patriarch
All of as sudden, the four-colored lightning restriction on the stone gate began to rumble violently while releasing a terrifying aura of destruction.
Four bolts of lightning that were as thick as water vats erupted out of the array, with each one a different color, and all of them hurtled directly toward Shi Chuankong.
Each bolt of lightning was giving off incredibly fearsome lightningw power fluctuations, and this turn of events had clearly caught Shi Chuankong off guard.
He immediately tried to dart back in retreat, but it was already toote, and the four bolts of lightning were on the verge of striking him.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s Profound Heavenly Gourd abruptly appeared in front of him, and a burst of green light erupted out from within before sweeping up the four bolts of lightning, causing them to slow down significantly.
The four bolts of lightning struggled with all their might within the green light, but were unable to free themselves.
In the next instant, Han Li appeared beside the Profound Heavenly Gourd beforeying a palm down onto it, and the four bolts of lightning instantly began to shrink down rapidly before being sucked into the gourd along with the burst of green light.
Inside the second internal space of the gourd, four balls of lightning had emerged, each of which was around the size of a prayer bead, and they were giving off formidable lightningw power fluctuations that weren''t inferior to those of a grade immortal treasure.
Han Li was very pleased to see this. Having recently used the Profound Heavenly Gourd on several asions, he had already used up most of thew powers stored within it, so these four balls of lightning hade at just the right time."Thank you, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong said in a grateful voice as he heaved a sigh of relief.
"There''s no need to thank me, Fellow Daoist Shi. Let''s go in," Han Li said as he stowed the Profound Heavenly Gourd away.
"Brother Fox, Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul, we can go in now," Shi Chuankong called out.
Fox 3 immediately flew over to Han Li and Shi Chuankong upon hearing this, as did Weeping Soul.
Some color had returned to her cheeks, and she was looking in much better condition than before.
Shi Chuankong strummed his fingers over his lute to release more streaks of silver light, whichnded on the ground to form a silver array, and the group vanished from within the array shortly thereafter.
Han Li''s entire field of view was filled with radiant silver light, preventing him from being able to see anything else, but the silver light quickly faded, restoring his vision to normal.
Han Li looked around to discover that they were currently situated in a giant square hall, the ground and walls of which were all paved with some type of glowing white crystal.
The hall was enormous, standing at tens of thousands of feet tall and over a hundred thousand feet wide.
At the center of the hall were four square ponds that were roughly a thousand feet each, and each pond was a different color, namely azure, purple, silver, and gold.
Furthermore, the four ponds were filled with thick arcs of lightning, all of which were churning violently like furious dragons amid rumbling thunderps, presenting an awe-inspiring sight to behold.
There were some extremelyplex array patterns engraved onto the ground, and they spanned the entire hall to form a highlyplex array.
asionally, an arc of lightning would spring out of one of the four ponds, but whenever this happened, bursts of white mist would surge out of the surrounding array patterns to contain the escaping lightning.
However, what was most astonishing to Han Li and the others was that there was an enormous wooden cross on the ground at the center of the four lightning ponds.
Seated atop the wooden cross was an enormous white fox with nine tails resting feebly on the ground behind it.
There were four thick chains wrapped several times around the giant fox''s body, binding it firmly to the cross, and the four chains were also azure, purple, silver, and gold in color.
Furthermore, arcs of lightning were constantly shing over the chains, and it looked as if they had been formed by lightning.
One end of the chains was plunged into the fox''s dantian, while the other end was connected to the bottom of the four lightning ponds, and all four were stretched taut.
Even though the giant fox waspletely bound to the cross, it was still giving off an unfathomably powerful aura, making everyone feel as if they were standing before a primordial deity.
Right at this moment, the fox slowly opened its eyes to reveal a pair of light gray pupils, and a hint of surprise appeared on its face at the sight of Han Li''s group.
"You''re from the True Immortal Realm... How did you get into this ce?"
"Who are you?" Han Li asked.
Right at this moment, Fox 3''s excited voice suddenly rang out from beside him.
"You''re Patriarch Liu Qi! I''ve finally found you! Ninth-generation disciple Liu San of the Heavenly Fox Race pays his respects to Patriarch Liu Qi!"
He flew over to the giant fox, doing so in such a hurry that he left a string of afterimages in his wake, then fell to his knees with an extremely excited look on his face.
Both Han Li and Shi Chuankong were rather bewildered to see this.
"I never thought that I''d see a member of the Heavenly Fox Race in the Gray Realm. How are things back home?" the giant fox asked.
"Everything is fine, but in the wake of your sudden disappearance all those years ago, our race was dealt a heavy blow, and we lost a lot of our territory," Fox 3 replied in a respectful manner.
The giant fox''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "How is Liu Qing right now?"
Fox 3 took a hesitant nce at Han Li and the others, but ultimately still revealed, "Our chief has already severed two corpse souls and reached thete-Great Epassment Stage."
"That''s not too bad," the giant fox mused with a nod.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was stunned upon hearing this conversation.
It seemed that Fox 3 and this giant fox had bothe from the Heavenly Fox Race, which was one of the most prominent powers in the primordialnd between the Northern cial Immortal Region and the ck Mountain Immortal Region.
As for this Chief Liu Qing, that was most likely the white-robed Great Epassment cultivator of the Heavenly Fox Race that he had encountered.
At the moment, Liu Le''er was cultivating in the Heavenly Fox Race, and it seemed like his fate was going to continue to be entangled with the Heavenly Fox Race.
Given the unfathomable aura emanating from Liu Qi''s body, Han Li could sense that he was a Dao Ancestor, and he couldn''t help but wonder how an almighty Dao Ancestor had ended up being imprisoned here in the Gray Realm.
"You have decent aptitude, considering you''ve already reached the High Zenith Stage at your age. Judging from what you just said, it sounds like you were looking for me. Did you know that I was in the Gray Realm?" Liu Qi asked.
"Ever since your disappearance, Chief Liu Qing has constantly been sending out people to search for you, and I was one of them. I joined the Reincarnation Pce by chance, and from there, I learned that you could be in the Gray Realm, so I found a way toe here, and here you are!" Fox 3 exined with an ecstatic expression.
Patriarch Liu Qi raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and a peculiar look shed through his eyes as he remained silent.
The change in his expression hadn''t failed to escape Han Li''s attention, and he could tell that Patriarch Liu Qi seemed to be hiding something.
"What happened to you all those years ago, esteemed patriarch? How did you end up here?" Fox 3 asked.
"I''ll tell you about that some other time. For now, answer me this: how did you manage to get into this restricted area? This is where the Infernal Tribe''s four Baleful Cleansing Ponds are situated," Liu Qi asked.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this. It seemed that by some miraculous stroke of luck, they had made it to their destination, and Shi Chuankong was also ecstatic to hear this.
After taking a nce at Han Li and the others, Fox 3 gave Liu Qi a brief recount of the time that they had spent in the Gray Realm and how they had managed to get here.
"I see, the Three Region Conference does present a slim window of opportunity that can be exploited. However, right now, the entirety of Asura City is definitely already in a state of lockdown, so there''s no way any of you will be able to escape," Liu Qi said.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s expressions darkened slightly upon hearing this, and thetter looked down at his Virata Lute with slightly furrowed brows.
He had already tried to use the lute to conjure up a long-distance teleportation array to teleport himself out of Asura City, but the spatial restrictions around the citypletely foiled those ns.
"There''s no way we''ll be able to escape on our own, but as long as we can free you, I''m sure you''ll be able to take us out of Asura City with your unmatched power!" Fox 3 said.
"You want to free me? I''m afraid that''s much easier said than done. These four Lightning Entrapment Chains were personally created by Yin Chengquan, and they''ve sealed away my immortal spiritual power andw powers. Unless they can be severed, there''s no way for me to escape," Liu Qi replied.
"Please bear with me for a moment, esteemed patriarch. My cultivation base may be nothing worthy of note, but I have some tricks up my sleeve," Fox 3 said as he stepped forward with a confident expression.
Liu Qi''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he didn''t say anything.
Han Li was just about to urge Fox 3 to proceed with caution, but he chose not to, seeing as even Liu Qi hadn''t said anything.
Fox 3 strode forward before flipping a hand over to summon a silver longsword that was riddled with runes.
As soon as the sword emerged, bursts of rippling swordlight immediately began to spread through the air around it, and judging from thew power fluctuations that it was giving off, it had to have been at least a sixth-grade immortal treasure.
Chapter 755: Third-grade Immortal Treasure?
Shi Chuankong''s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the sword, and Han Li''s gaze also lingered on it momentarily, but most of his attention was still focused on Fox 3.
At this moment, Fox 3 was a little different in appearancepared to his usual self. Layers of hemispherical light had appeared around him likeyers of illusions, giving him a rather indistinct appearance.
After observing Fox 3 for only a short while, Han Li felt a throbbing pain in his eyes, and he couldn''t help but massage his own be.
Right at this moment, a shimmering golden talisman appeared between the tips of the index and middle fingers of his left hand.
Han Li took a nce at the talisman, and a hint of befuddlement shed through his eyes. He could sense that the talisman was brimming with spiritual power that was on the verge of overflowing, but he didn''t recognize it.
"Is that... a Golden Spirit Gathering Sword Talisman?" Shi Chuankong eximed in a surprised voice.
However, Fox 3 seemed to have entered some type of profound state of immersion, and he didn''t hear Shi Chuankong at all. He was carrying many injuries, and it was clear that he wasn''t faking his condition, but at this moment, his aura was steadily climbing, and he was almost back to his peak condition.
"What is this Golden Spirit Gathering Sword Talisman, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked.
"It''s a type of talisman that can drastically enhance the power of an immortal sword for a short time, and the effectiveness of the talisman varies depending on the material used. That golden talisman is a premium talisman, and it''s no exaggeration to say that it''s a priceless treasure," Shi Chuankong exined.Right at this moment, Fox 3 suddenly waved the talisman in his left hand through the air, then adhered it firmly to the de of his sword, and the talisman instantly erupted into golden mes.
A golden rune that was around half a foot in length appeared on the silver longsword within the golden mes, and the sword instantly began to tremble violently, while the spiritual power fluctuations that it was giving off became ten times more formidable.
With this sudden change, the immortal sword had almost been elevated to the level of a fifth-grade immortal treasure.
At the same time, around a dozen giant projections of Fox 3 appeared all around him, each of which was several thousand feet tall and was wielding an erged version of the same silver sword, and as he took a step forward, all of the projections also stepped forward with him.
Liu Qi''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this.
With a thunderous roar from Fox 3, all of the projections raised their swords in unison before sending them crashing down upon the azure chain in unison.
A sharp ng rang out as a burst of bright swordlight erupted from the azure chain, flooding the entire area with blinding radiance.
Gusts of ferocious wind swept through the air in all directions from the point where the sword was grating against the chain, causing the robes of Han Li and the others to p audibly.
"Such incredible sword qi!" Shi Chuankong couldn''t help but praise as he raised a hand in front of himself for cover.
Weeping Soul was still yet to recover from her injuries, so she was forced to stay back and watch from afar.
Han Li also took half a step backward, and at the same time, he heaved a forlorn internal sigh.
He had noticed that despite the tremendous power of Fox 3''s sword strike, the chain that it had struck remained virtuallypletely unmoved.
Right at this moment, a burst of dull rumbling rang out from within the azure Baleful Cleansing Pond, immediately following which a bolt of azure lightning erupted out of the pond, then surged along the azure chain to reach Fox 3 in the blink of an eye.
In the instant that the bolt of azure lightning struck the radiant swordlight released by Fox 3''s silver longsword, thetter instantly exploded into countless fragments.
An enormous ball of lightning appeared within the shattered remnants of the swordlight, and Fox 3 was trapped within it, unable to free himself as arcs of lightning ravaged his body from all directions, causing him to tremble violently while letting loose a string of agonized howls.
Massive arcs of azure lightning were constantly erupting out of the ball of lightning, causing the surrounding space to rumble and quiver, and a charred odor was quickly spreading through the air. This lightning was countless times more powerful than even the tribtion lightning that Han Li had endured to ascend to the True Immortal Realm.
An rmed look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon seeing this, and he wanted to lend Fox 3 his assistance, but he had no idea how.
Weeping Soul''s brows furrowed slightly as she turned to Han Li, who was, in turn, observing Patriarch Liu Qi.
Liu Qi was still in a crouched position, and arcs of azure lightning were being transmitted along the azure chain before striking his body, causing his fur to stand up on end, but he didn''t seem to be in any pain at all.
His eyes habitually narrowed slightly, and he wasn''t disying much surprise or disappointment in response to Fox 3''s failed attempt to free him. All of a sudden, he raised one of his giant tails, then swept it through the air before wrapping it around the azure chain.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of azure light rose up around him alongside an incredibly violent aura, and the tail wrapped around the chain was lifted up even higher, hoisting the entire chain up into the air.
The tail then came plummeting down out of the sky, and the azure chain shuddered violently as a ball of dense ck light shot out of Liu Qi''s tail before hurtling toward the giant ball of azure lightning.
Both the ck light and the ball of lightning exploded in unison upon contact, and arcs of azure lightning and specks of ck light erupted forth in all directions alongside ferocious shockwaves, causing the surrounding space to tremble violently.
Han Li and the others immediately flew back in retreat while conjuring upyers of protective spiritual light around themselves, but their efforts proved to be unnecessary as Liu Qi raised another one of his massive tails, positioning it in front of them to shield them from the oing shockwaves.
Only after close to a minute had passed did the sound of the howling wind gradually subside. At this point, the azure lightning and ck light had already faded, and everything had returned to normal.
Liu Qi slowly withdrew his tail, then carried Fox 3 over to Han Li and the others with another one of his tails.
At this moment, Fox 3''s robes were in tatters, and many parts of his body had been charred ck. It appeared his injuries were quite severe, but in reality, they were only minor external injuries. In contrast, the silver longsword in his hand had dimmed significantly, looking as if it had sustained some rather serious damage.
"Thank you for saving me, esteemed patriarch. It appears I overestimated my own abilities," Fox 3 said in an embarrassed manner as he extended a respectful bow.
"It''s already very impressive that you were able to muster up such a powerful attack as a High Zenith cultivator, but you were too hasty and overconfident. I can see that you''ve managed to elevate that sixth-grade immortal sword into a faux fifth-grade immortal sword using that talisman of yours, but I can tell you now that even if you had a true fourth-grade immortal treasure, you still wouldn''t have been able to severe this azure lightning chain," Liu Qi said.
Han Li was internally rather disgruntled to hear this. If Liu Qi knew in advance that Fox 3 wouldn''t be able to sever the chain, then why didn''t he stop him?
"Even a fourth-grade immortal treasure wouldn''t be able to sever this chain?" Fox 3 asked in an astonished manner.
"That''s right. The four chains in these Baleful Cleansing Ponds were crafted by the Infernal Tribe using many types of precious materials gathered from all over the Gray Realm and the Immortal Realm, and there are also many types of fortification runes inscribed upon them, allowing them to fuse perfectly with the Baleful Cleansing Ponds. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have been able to trap me for so many years," Liu Qi exined.
"If a fourth-grade immortal treasure can''t even sever these chains, then there''s nothing that we can do," Shi Chuankong mused with slightly furrowed brows.
"At your current levels of power, you''ll perhaps only be able to sever these chains by using an immortal treasure of the third grade or above," Liu Qi said as he swept his gaze over Han Li in a subtle manner.
A dismayed look instantly appeared on Fox 3''s face upon hearing this.
"Even in the Immortal Realm, third-grade immortal treasures are exceedingly rare, and even the average Great Epassment cultivator wouldn''t be guaranteed to have one. Where are we supposed to find a treasure of that caliber in the Gray Realm?"
A hesitant look shed through Shi Chuankong''s eyes upon hearing this, and he looked as if he were about to say something, but ultimately decided against it in the end.
His Virata Lute was a third-grade immortal treasure, but it was extremely significant to the Devil Race, so he chose not to offer it up.
Right at this moment, Liu Qi''s gaze returned to Han Li, and he said, "If you''re looking for a third-grade immortal treasure, then you don''t have to look any further than this friend of yours here. Would you be willing to lend me your power?"
Han Li was very surprised and befuddled to hear this, and he didn''t know if the third-grade immortal treasure that Liu Qi was referring to was the golden te that he had obtained from the True Mantra Sect, the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, or his Heaven Controlling Vial.
He could narrow it down to these three as they were the only three treasures in his possession that werepletely unfathomable to him.
Before Han Li had a chance to say anything, Fox 3''s eyes lit up with tion as he dered, "It has to be that strange saber of yours, Brother Li! Please lend us your assistance. Our Heavenly Fox Race will be sure topensate you handsomely!"
Han Li heaved an internal sigh as he attempted to contact Shi Qinghou with his spiritual sense, but he received no response, and it was as if Shi Qinghou had gone into hibernation.
Hence, he could only manually summon the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber.
Liu Qi''s eyes clearly lit up slightly at the sight of the saber, and he immediately dered, "That''s precisely the treasure that I''m referring to."
"My apologies, Senior, but judging from the attempt that Fellow Daoist Fox 3 made just now, even with this Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, I don''t think I have any chance of severing this chain," Han Li said with an apologetic expression.
"Of course it would be impossible for you to sever this azure lightning chain with your own power alone," Liu Qi mused.
"Is there some type of external power that I can draw upon?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression.
Chapter 756: Deal
Chapter 756: Deal
"Any Golden Immortal can wield a third-grade immortal treasure, but a Golden Immortal possesses nowhere near enough immortal spiritual power to unleash the true power of such a formidable treasure. Hence, all of you will need tobine your immortal spiritual power into one to aplish this," Liu Qi said.
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
"Why are you still hesitating at a time like this, Brother Li? We''vepletely turned the Infernal Tribe against us just to get here. Even if we manage to eradicate ourselves of baleful qi in the Baleful Cleansing Ponds, we''repletely cornered! Only by saving Patriarch Liu Qi can we possibly survive," Fox 3 hurriedly urged.
"You came all this way for the Baleful Cleansing Ponds? I suppose that makes sense. Otherwise, for what other reason would True Immortal Realm cultivators like yourself have ventured so deep into Asura City? Having said that, do you know the perils of the Baleful Cleansing Ponds?" Liu Qi asked.
"Please enlighten us, esteemed patriarch," Fox 3 implored.
"You saw the power of the azure lightning chain just now, right? That was nothing more than the power drawn out by the runes on the Lightning Entrapment Chains. The true ponds themselves are hundreds of times more inhospitable. Pardon me for being frank, but if you enter the ponds as you currently are, you''ll be killed long before you can cleanse your bodies of baleful qi," Liu Qi exined.
Han Li cast a wary gaze toward the lightning ponds upon hearing this, and at the same time, he became even more wary of Patriarch Liu Qi.
It was clear that he had intentionally refrained from stopping Fox 3 in his attempt to sever the chain, and that was most likely to show Han Li''s group the true power of the lightning ponds so he could use that as leverage in the negotiations.
With that in mind, Han Li intentionally feigned a distraught expression as he eximed, "Doesn''t that mean we risked our lives toe here for nothing?"
"Don''t panic. I''ve been trapped here for quite some time now, and during this time, I''ve managed to gain a good understanding of these Baleful Cleansing Ponds. If I help you withstand a part of their power, then you''ll be able to sessfully cleanse yourselves of baleful qi in this azure lightning pond. However, in exchange, you have to help me sever these chains, what do you think?" Liu Qi proposed.
"That would naturally be best. Once we''re cleansed of baleful qi, we''ll be able to maximize the power of the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, and that would increase our chances of severing the chain too," Han Li replied with a smile.
Shi Chuankong''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
"There''s no need to be so wary of me, my intention was always for you to enter the Baleful Cleansing Pond before helping me sever these chains. These ponds are extremely perilous, but not only can they cleanse you of baleful qi, they can also refine your bodies to elevate your cultivation bases by different degrees," Patriarch Liu Qi chuckled.
At this point, Fox 3 had already changed into a ck robe, and he paid no heed to his own injuries as he dered, "In that case, let''s not dy any longer."
"We can''t rush into this too quickly. Let''s all take some pills, then meditate for an hour or two before we enter the Baleful Cleansing Pond," Han Li said with a shake of his head.
Fox 3 hesitated slightly upon hearing this, but ultimately still obliged.
Thus, the three of them sat down with their legs crossed before taking some pills.
As for Weeping Soul, she didn''t fear baleful qi due to her special constitution, so she naturally didn''t have to enter the Baleful Cleansing Pond. Hence, she was focused on resting and recuperating while thinking to herself how she was going to answer to Yin Chengquan.
Two hours flew by in a sh.
Fox 3 was the first one to open his eyes before rising to his feet, and Shi Chuankong and Han Li quickly followed suit.
Liu Qi wasying on the wooden cross as he said, "Out of these four lightning ponds, the azure one is the least powerful, but it''s sufficient for cleansing the baleful qi in your bodies, so there''s no need for you to venture into any of the other ponds."
Han Li''s trio nodded in response, while Weeping Soul was looking at Han Li with a hint of concern in her eyes.
The three of them strode over to the edge of the azure lightning pond, and in order to avoid disrupting each other, each of them made their way to a different corner of the pond, then peered into the azure liquid inside, but none of them immediately stepped in.
After waiting for a moment, Han Li took a deep breath, then began to step into the pond.
However, he had only just raised his foot when he stopped in his tracks, then withdrew his foot before sweeping a sleeve through the air, conjuring up a door of silver light that led to the first floor of the bamboo building in the Flower Branch domain.
Earlier, Immortal Lord Hot me had been restrained by Shi Chuankong and Fox 3, but he had suddenly woken up, and he called out to Han Li, "Can you let me out, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"d to see you''re lucid again, Fellow Daoist Hot me," Han Li said.
"This domain of yours can keep out baleful qi, and there''s plenty of world''s origin qi in here to nourish me, so I was able to regain my lucidity, but it''s only temporary, so I contacted you right away in order to tell you some things," Immortal Lord Hot me said in an urgent voice.
"What do you need to tell me?" Han Li asked.
A pained look appeared on Immortal Lord Hot me''s face, and a burst of baleful qi shed over his be as he switched to voice transmission and said, "At this point, my body is too tainted by baleful qi for me to even dream of a recovery, but I don''t want to be reduced to a mindless zombie, so I want you to put me out of my misery and into the cycle of reincarnation..."
Han Li was just about to cut him off when he continued, "All of my treasures were taken by the Infernal Tribe, and all that remains is the bonded treasure in my body, which you can have. Prior to that, I also want to pass my cultivation arts onto you. Our True Mantra Sect has already fallen, but its heritage must continue."
"Fellow Daiost Hot me, right now, we''ve already arrived at the Baleful Cleansing Ponds, in which it''s possible for one to eradicate the baleful qi in their body, but the process is extremely risky. Would you be willing to give it a try?" Han Li asked.
"Really? Is there really a way to eradicate baleful qi here?" Immortal Lord Hot me hurriedly asked.
"I wouldn''t lie to you about something like this. The Baleful Cleansing Ponds are real, but the risk involved is also very real," Han Li replied.
"Of course I''m going to give it a try!" Immortal Lord Hot me hurriedly said as an ecstatic look appeared on his face.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, Fellow Daoist Fox 3," Han Li called out as he turned to the duo, and the two of them quickly undid the restrictions in Immortal Lord Hot me''s body.
After Immortal Lord Hot me staggered out of the domain, Han Li turned to Weeping Soul and asked, "Weeping Soul, can you remove the restrictions that the Infernal Tribe nted in his body?"
"I can do that, but if I do, the baleful qi in his body could erupt and drive him insane again," Weeping Soul replied in a hesitant manner.
"Go right ahead. If I lose my sanity, then please throw me straight into the Baleful Cleansing Pond, Fellow Daiost Li. If that happens, just leave me in the hands of fate," Immortal Lord Hot me said with a wry smile.
"Alright, in that case, I won''t try to dissuade you," Han Li said.
"Thank you, fellow daoists," Immortal Lord Hot me said as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li and Weeping Soul.
Han Li gave Weeping Soul a slight nod, and thetter began to work on removing the restrictions in Immortal Lord Hot me''s body.
Initially, Immortal Lord Hot me''s expression remainedrgely unchanged, but it didn''t take long before his face became twisted with agony, and wisps of baleful qi began surging out of his body.
At this point, Immortal Lord Hot me''s pupils had already almost turnedpletely gray, and Han Li realized that he had underestimated just how heavily contaminated by baleful qi Immortal Lord Hot me had be.
With a flick of his wrist, an Origin Separation Law Chain slid down his arm before trailing out of his sleeve.
Right at this moment, Weeping Soul brought her palms together in a strange hand seal before sping her hands against Immortal Lord Hot me''s back, and he immediately gave a muffled groan as blood trickled down from the corner of his lips.
Immediately thereafter, a string of cracks and pops rang out from all of the joints in his body, and it was as if he had suddenly grown by half a foot. Furthermore, dense baleful qi began to swirl around his entire body, and he looked no different from a Gray Immortal.
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this, and he was just about to intervene when a terribly raspy voice rang out from between Immortal Lord Hot me''s lips.
"It''s alright, Fellow Daoist Li, I can still hold on..."
He began to make his way toward a corner of the azure lightning pond as he spoke, then leaped into the pond without any hesitation before Han Li had a chance to stop him.
As soon as he jumped into the pond, the lightning within it instantly began to churn violently, like a pot of bubbling oil that had just had a drop of water spilt into it, and countless formidable arcs of lightning surged violently toward him.
Patriarch Liu Qi feigned a concerned look upon seeing this, but in reality, he held nothing but contempt for Immortal Lord Hot me, who he viewed as a reckless fool.
However, he immediately sprang into action, wrapping a tail around the azure chain once again before tugging it toward himself.
The lightning pond shuddered violently as the azure light within it became even brighter, and countless arcs of lightning began to surge along the chain toward Liu Qi, diverting most of the danger away from Immortal Lord Hot me.
All of a sudden, Liu Qi turned and opened his mouth to release a dark green ball roughly the size of a human head, and it released a green light barrier that kept the oing arcs of azure lightning at bay.
The arcs of azure lightning unleashed a ferocious barrage upon the green light barrier, but were unable to get through, and even though so much of the lightning had been diverted away by Liu Qi, the lightning that remained within the Baleful Cleansing Pond was still extremely formidable.
Chapter 757: Entering the Pond
Chapter 757: Entering the Pond
Inside the lightning pond, Immortal Lord Hot me''s face was twisted with agony as he let loose a blood-curdling howl.
Han Li and the others turned to discover that pirs of azure lightning were converging toward Immortal Lord Hot me from all directions before piercing straight through his body, giving him the appearance of an azure hedgehog.
His entire body waspletely enveloped by azure lightning, and his robes were in tatters, while his exposed skin was also riddled with cracks and char marks.
At the same time, all of his immortal acupoints had involuntarily opened up, and tiny arcs of lightning were burrowing their way inside to stir up the baleful qi within.
The azure lightning had no regard for whether Immortal Lord Hot me''s acupoints could withstand the influx of power as it burrowed its way deeper and deeper, and the baleful qi rose up to contend against it.
However, the lightning in this lightning pond was Bone Rinsing Golden Lightning, which was the natural bane of baleful qi, and thus, the baleful qi stood no chance and was quickly flushed out of Immortal Lord Hot me''s immortal acupoints.
Countless plumes of ck smoke were rising up from Immortal Lord Hot me''s body in unison, giving him the appearance of a humanoid incense burner, presenting a very intriguing contrast with the riling lightning pond.
To Han Li''s relief, he could see that Liu Qi really was helping them deal with the lightning pond, and he turned to Shi Chuankong and Fox 3 as he said, "Time is of the essence, so let''s begin as well."
The two of them nodded in response, and they were just about to enter the lightning pond when they suddenly heard a guttural roar.
The three of them turned to discover Immortal Lord Hot me with his head thrown back with his fist clenched to the heavens, roaring in an animalistic fashion. ck baleful qi was surging incessantly out of all of his orifices, concealing his entire face and giving it an indistinct appearance.
However, there was no longer any more baleful qi surging out of his body, and bright red cracks that were giving off a scorching aura began to spread over his entire body.
All of a sudden, he erupted into mes, and in no more than an instant, his legs had beenpletely incinerated into ashes, sending his upper body tumbling into the lightning pond.
Han Li immediately sprang into action upon seeing this, channeling his Reversal True Axis ability as he sped over to the Baleful Cleansing Pond before making a grab for Immortal Lord Hot me.
"Save your energy. His body is already riddled with holes, and with the baleful qi gone, there''s no way he can withstand the lightning in the pond," Liu Qi said in an indifferent voice.
Han Li paid no heed to this as he thrust his arms into the lightning pond to try and grab Immortal Lord Hot me.
As soon as his arms entered the pond, countless arcs of azure lightning instantly converged to pulverize his sleeves.
A burst of incredibly violent lightning power surged into his body, and the baleful qi in his body almost erupted intoplete chaos on the spot.
Han Li immediately let loose a loud roar as he channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique to suppress the violent urges that had arisen in his heart, and at the same time, ayer of golden scales appeared over both of his arms.
However, just this split-second of dy was too much, and Immortal Lord Hot me''s entire body had already beenpletely reduced to ashes.
Han Li cast his gaze upward before attempting to make a grab for Immortal Lord Hot me''s nascent soul, but in the instant that his body was destroyed, his exposed nascent soul also exploded after being struck by several arcs of lightning.
In the end, Han Li was only able to catch a wisp of his soul.
All of this had taken ce in the span of mere seconds, and by the time Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong had reacted to what had just happened, Han Li had already returned to them, then spread open his hand with a solemn expression.
Enshrouded within ayer of azure light on the palm of his hand was a tiny figure that was flickering like a feeble candle me.
"I''m sorry, Fellow Daoist Hot me. There''s nothing more I can do for you," Han Li sighed.
The remaining wisp of Immortal Lord Hot me''s soul was so feeble that it was only able tomunicate to Han Li through a spiritual connection, and it consoled, "Don''t me yourself, Fellow Daoist Li. This is what fate has in store for me..."
"This soul fragment of yours is too feeble to be preserved, and it won''t be long before it dissipates, so if you have any final wishes, then tell them to me now," Han Li sighed.
"At this point, we''ve already ascertained the cause for the fall of the True Mantra Sect, and I''m too ashamed of my master to go and see him, so I no longer have any attachments in this world. It''s just a pity that I won''t be able to return to Leisure Valley. I wonder if this soul fragment of mine will be able to enter the cycle of reincarnation and return to the Immortal Lord Hot me someday," Immortal Lord Hot me sighed with a wry smile.
"The Heavenly Dao works in fickle and mysterious ways, so there''s always a chance," Han Li replied.
"I was going to leave my bonded treasure to you, but the lightning pond was too powerful and eradicated everything, so this is all that I have to leave to you..."
As the soul fragment''s voice trailed off, its soul fluctuations also gradually faded.
In the end, the soul fragment was reduced to a tiny speck of crimson light that drifted into Han Li''s be.
Han Li felt a burst of heat in his consciousness, and he discovered that a passage of crimson text had appeared in his mind. It was the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome, which was none other than the fire-attribute cultivation art passed down by the Flowing Fire Pce of the True Mantra Sect.
Han Li stood in a dazed manner in the wake of Immortal Lord Hot me''s demise, and neither Fox 3 nor Shi Chuankong said anything.
Momentster, Han Li seemed to have returned to his senses, and he rubbed his hands together, then took a nce at the wounds on his arm that had been inflicted by the azure lightning as he heaved a faint sigh.
"Let''s go in," he said.
A hesitant look appeared in Shi Chuankong''s eyes after witnessing what had be of Immortal Lord Hot me, but Han Li was already flying toward a corner of the azure lightning pond, so he didn''t hesitate any longer and followed along.
Once again, Liu Qi swept up the azure chain with one of his tails to attract the majority of the azure lightning to himself, and by the time Han Li descended into the lightning pond, it was already far less hostile than before.
Upon entering the pond, Han Li was initially struck by a numb and itchy sensation, but that was immediately followed by an intense, scorching pain, as if there were countless red-hot brands pressing against his skin at once, almost setting his skin and flesh alight.
He was able to suppress his cry of agony, but a muffled groan still slipped through his lips.
However, two blood-curdling howls had rung out in unison from two of the other corners of the lightning pond, with Fox 3 screaming particrly loud.
Han Li gritted his teeth tightly as cold sweat poured down his forehead, and he had to withstand the excruciating pain while suppressing the urge to ward off the infiltration of the azure lightning.
He knew that only by allowing more of the lightning to enter his body could he eradicate the baleful qi in his immortal acupoints as soon as possible.
Just a few secondster, his skin had already turned bright red, and countless veins were bulging beneath the surface, but unlike in the case of Immortal Lord Hot me, his skin was able to remain intact.
Han Li knew that this was thanks to his cultivation of the Great Universe Origin Arts, and that he was only able to fare so well against the azure lightning due to his tremendous physical constitution.
Spears of lightning were constantly crashing against his body like spears, and arcs of lightning began to pierce through his skin before burrowing their way into his immortal acupoints.
One immortal acupoint in his body was opened after another, and wisps of ck baleful qi also began to rise up from his body, but at a far slower rate than what had been observed in Immortal Lord Hot me.
At this moment, Weeping Soul was standing near the lightning pond, looking at Han Li with a concerned look in her eyes.
"There''s no need to be worried about him. The slow rate of baleful qi expulsion isn''t a bad thing, it shows that he''s still able to control the degree to which his acupoints are being opened, unlike the person that went before him," Liu Qi said.
Weeping Soul merely nodded silently in response.
Liu Qi then turned his gaze to Fox 3, who was sweating profusely with his teeth gritted tightly and his eyes firmly shut.
The rate of baleful qi outflow from his body was clearly far faster than Han Li''s, but there was far less baleful qi surging out of his acupoints than Han Li or even Shi Chuankong.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were both struggling with their baleful decay, so they already had a great deal of pent-up baleful qi in their bodies in addition to the infiltration of baleful qi from the outside world.
In contrast, Fox 3 was already a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal, so all he had to expel was the external baleful qi that had infiltrated his body.
However, his physical constitution was also inferior to both Han Li''s and Shi Chuankong''s, which was why he was in so much agony.
On the other side of the lightning pond, baleful qi was surging out of Shi Chuankong''s body in a frenzy alongside wisps of ck devilish qi.
Beneath his head of curly white hair, his features had already be twisted with agony. His teeth had turned into uneven fangs, while saliva was dripping down from the corners of his mouths, and ck scales had appeared over his body as he struggled to contain his true devilish form.
Chapter 758: No Making Without First Breaking
In contrast with Fox 3, Shi Chuankong''s eyes remained wide open, and he was staring intently at Han Li on the other side of the Baleful Cleansing Pond.
At this point, Han Li''s skin had already turned a bright red color, as had his eyes, and white steam was rising up from his body alongside ck baleful qi, making him appear as if he were being cooked alive.
ck and white mist intertwined while giant arcs of azure lightning ravaged Han Li''s body from all directions amid rumbling thunderps.
Even though the three of them had stepped into the Baleful Cleansing Pond at the same time, it was clear that Han Li had the most baleful qi in his body, so he was also most heavily affected by the lightning pond, and the lightning around him was raging with far greater ferocity than in the case of the other two.
Simrly, the scenes unfolding in his body were just as astonishing.
At this moment, every single one of his acupoints was like a border pass that was constantly being attacked by the azure lightning in the pond, and he felt as if there were gusts of fierce wind sweeping through his consciousness, striking him with a sense of disorientation and unease.
If it weren''t for exceptional mental fortitude, his soul would''ve most likely already sumbed before his body.
Liu Qi''s eyes narrowed slightly, and a hint of approval shed through his eyes at the sight of Han Li''s ster performance.
However, right at this moment, Han Li suddenly erupted into an uncontroble coughing fit, causing his body to tremble violently, and the rate of outflow of baleful qi from his acupoints instantly sped up significantly, like floodwaters gushing out of a broken dam.Riled up by the increased output of baleful qi, the surrounding azure lightning instantly became even more violent, converging from all directions to quickly eradicate all of the baleful qi around Han Li.
Even though the baleful qi had been eradicated, Han Li''s aura was bing murkier by the second, while blood began to rapidly flow into his gray pupils. Bright red light was converging from all directions on his eyeballs, and it was about to take over the entirety of his pupils soon.
"Master!" Weeping Soul called out in an rmed voice upon seeing this.
"What terrible luck... To think that his baleful decay would recur at a time like this..." Liu Qi murmured to himself with furrowed brows.
A low roar rang out from deep within Han Li''s throat, and his body shuddered violently as all of his joints began to crack and pop loudly.
Golden light was shing incessantly all over his body, andyers of golden scales were constantly appearing over his skin before fading away in a repetitive cycle.
"The baleful qi in his body is gradually gaining the upper hand, controlling him to ward off the lightning in the Baleful Cleansing Pond. If he''s unable to retain his sanity and sumbs to the control of the baleful qi, then he''ll be beyond saving. At this rate, there''s no way he''ll ever recover," Liu Qi said with a grim expression.
Weeping Soul''s expression darkened even further upon hearing this, and after a brief hesitation, she rubbed a hand over her own be, upon which the skin and flesh there parted to reveal a dark red demonic eye.
"I suggest you stay out of this. This process is a little simr to tribtion transcendence in that external intervention can have catastrophic consequences. If you step in now, you could attract the azure lightning to yourself, and not only will you be killed, your master''s baleful cleansing will also fail. Even if he somehow survives, he''ll be reduced to a mindless Gray Immortal," Liu Qi harrumphed coldly.
A conflicted look appeared in Weeping Soul''s eyes upon hearing this, but ultimately, she closed her demonic eye as she turned to Liu Qi and implored, "Please save my master."
"Didn''t I just say that external intervention will only worsen the situation? Do you want his baleful cleansing to fail?" Liu Qi asked in a cold voice.
"But..."
"I can forcibly drag him out of the lightning pond right now, but I presume that''s definitely not what he wants. Risk and reward alwayse hand in hand in the endeavor of cultivation, and only by directly facing adversity and having the courage to risk it all will one have any chance at reaching heights unreachable to others. Even though your master and I have only just met, I can tell that his mental fortitude far exceeds that of the average person," Liu Qi continued in a calm manner.
Weeping Soul bit down onto her own lower lip, then forced herself to sit back down onto the ground, but her eyes remained firmly fixed on Han Li.
He better not disappoint me! I''ve been waiting so many years for a chance to be freed, if this opportunity slips past, then I''ll most likely be trapped here for the rest of eternity...
Right at this moment, a burst of dull rumbling rang out, and loose rocks began to tter down from the surrounding rock faces.
The Baleful Cleansing Pond was rtively isted from the outside world, but even so, bursts of rumbling could be heard ringing out incessantly from outside.
Why is it bing louder and louder outside? Could it be that more reinforcements are arriving from the Infernal Tribe, or has that old neighbor of mine been freed? If that human brat doesn''tplete his baleful cleansing a little faster, things could take a turn for the worse very soon...
With that in mind, Liu Qi opened his mouth to release a burst of ck light that instantly struck the green bead.
The bead shuddered violently as the light surging out of it instantly swelled by severalfold, attracting even more of the azure lightning from the pond, thereby further alleviating the pressure on Han Li''s trio.
Among the three of them, Fox 3 had the least baleful qi in his body, and his pain was instantly significantly eased. His aura also gradually became more stable, and at this rate, it was only a matter of time before all of the baleful qi in his body was expelled.
Shi Chuankong was also faring far better than before, but he didn''t dare to let down his guard even in the slightest. Even though his baleful decay hadn''t recurred, he was still in an extremely perilous situation.
Despite Liu Qi''s best efforts, Han Li''s condition was still far from optimistic.
All of a sudden, he let loose a wild roar, and streaks of light of different colors flew out of his body before forming a series of life-like true spirit projections, including the Giant Mountain Ape, the Kun Peng, the Rainbow Phoenix...
How interesting! It''s incredible that he''s managed to survive to this point with so many true spirit bloodlines in his body, but having such a diverse bloodline may not necessarily be a good thing...
At this moment, Han Li felt as if his consciousness had turned into a warzone, and there were enormous waves constantly battering the white mountain formed by the Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman.
The mountain was trembling violently as it released halos of gentle white light to try and sooth Han Li''s chaotic mind, but these white halos were instantly destroyed by the aggressive waves upon contact.
At the same time, dark clouds were beginning to gather above his consciousness, and that was a clear indication of excessive baleful qi infiltration.
Meanwhile, more and more true spirit projections continued to appear around his body, and his muscles began to involuntarily bulge. His arms transformed into those of the Giant Mountain Ape, a Xuanwu Turtle shell was beginning to appear over his chest, and Rainbow Phoenix tail feathers were emerging behind him.
Liu Qi''s expression finally changed slightly upon seeing this.
Given his vast wealth of experience as a Dao Ancestor, his current appraisal of Han Li was that he was already a spent force, and that both his body and soul were on the verge of destruction.
He was concerned that at this rate, not only did Han Li run the risk of losing his sanity, even his body could detonate on the spot.
As the owner of the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, Han Li had to survive for Liu Qi to be freed.
Right as he was considering forcibly dragging Han Li out of the lightning pond, a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations suddenly rose up from within his body.
Inside his consciousness, a golden nascent soul was currently seated with its legs crossed and its eyes closed while making a strange hand seal.
The nascent soul didn''t open its mouth to speak, but clear chanting could be heard reverberating throughout Han Li''s mind. The sound of the chanting was rather faint, but also very clear, audible even over the rumbling of the ferocious waves.
The nascent soul was chanting the mantra for the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, and initially, the chanting was extremely slow and rather feeble, but as the chanting sped up, the nascent soul''s voice seemed to gain strength.
Somehow, in this dire situation, Han Li had managed to break through the bottleneck of the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, and bursts of tremendous spiritual sense were surging through his mind, quelling the unrest within his consciousness.
The baleful qi in his mind was forced back by his newfound power, and the crimson coloration of his eyes began to fade, while his lucidity also returned.
Some timeter, he gently exhaled, then withdrew all of the true spirit projections around him, and he felt utterly exhausted, but thankfully, he had managed to quell his baleful decay once again.
An astonished look appeared on Liu Qi''s face upon seeing this.
Chapter 759: Severing the Chain
Around fifteen minutes passed by, and at this point, Han Li''s trio was beginning to grow ustomed to the pain inflicted upon them by the azure lightning. However, at the same time, they discovered that the baleful qi flowing out of their acupoints wasn''t as dense as before, and the rate of outflow had also slowed down significantly.
This came as quite a relief to both Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong, but Han Li wasn''t encouraged by this at all.
This wasn''t a sign that the baleful qi in his body was close to being fully expelled. Instead, it only showed him that the azure lightning pond was bing less efficacious.
Right at this moment, Liu Qi suddenly dered, "Alright, that''s enough. Each lightning pond has different baleful cleansing capabilities, and that''s about as much as this azure pond can help you. If you keep going, you''ll only be suffering more physical damage for not much gain."
"Didn''t you say that this azure lightning pond would be enough topletely baleful cleansings?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"How was I supposed to know that a pair of Golden Immortals like yourselves would have so much baleful qi in your bodies? You two must''ve imed countless lives up to this point in your cultivation journeys!" Liu Qi scoffed.
Han Li knew that he did indeed have far more baleful qi in his body than the average Golden Immortal, so he epted this exnation and was just about to fly out of hte lightning pond, but as soon as he rose up into the air, the azure lightningtched onto him from behind and forcibly dragged him back into the pond.
Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong attempted to fly out of the pond as well, but they encountered the same problem.
The baleful qi in their bodies hadn''t beenpletely eradicated, so the lightning in the pond was still instinctively attacking them and refusing to let them go.Han Li immediately channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, and he shot out of the pond like an arc of golden lightning, while Shi Chuankong also emerged from the pond using a spatial secret technique.
Due to his rtively frail physical constitution, Fox 3 had sustained the most severe injuries out of the three, and even with his High Zenith Stage cultivation base, he was thest one to free himself from the pond.
Afternding on the ground, all three of them stumbled slightly before sitting down with their legs crossed.
Fox 3''s entire body was charred ck and riddled with gashes, but there was an ted smile on his face.
He promptly devoured a fragrant High Zenith Stage pill, and the injuries all over his body began to quickly heal at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
There was an ted look on Shi Chuankong''s face as well, and he also took a pill, upon which arge cloud of ck mist emerged to envelop his entire body.
Han Li''s robes were in tatters, and the bright red coloration of his skin refused to fade. Weeping Soul approached him to enquire about his condition, in response to which he merely shook his head, indicating that he was fine.
Instead of immediately taking any pills, he closed his eyes to rest for a moment, then carefully examined his Spirit Refinement Technique to find that he really had broken through his previous bottleneck. At this point, it wouldn''t take long at all for him to achieve full mastery of the fifth level.
After that, he also took a few pills, but Han Li and the others were all roused from their meditation by Liu Qi just a few minutester.
"Pardon my interruption, but we don''t have a lot of time on our hands. Yin Chengquan may be caught up at the Three Region Conference at the moment, but that doesn''t mean that he won''t send anyone else here, and once that happens, it''ll be very difficult for you toplete your baleful cleansings," Liu Qi said.
"Indeed, there''s not much time left for us," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Liu San is already at the High Zenith Stage, so he requires no further cleansing, but the remaining baleful qi in your bodies lurks even deeper in your immortal acupoints and can only be cleansed by the more powerful purple lightning pond. That''s going to be quite a time-consuming process, so let''s not waste any more time," Liu Qi said as he took a meaningful nce at Han Li.
Han Li was naturally aware of what that look entailed, and he said, "There''s no hurry. ording to our agreement, I have to free you from these chains in exchange for your help. Even though my baleful qi hasn''t beenpletely cleansed, I should still severe one of these chains as a show of good faith."
Liu Qi nodded with a pleased expression upon seeing this.
Shi Chuankong raised no objections, and Fox 3 was naturally eager to help.
"So all that''s needed is for the four of us to inject our power into the saber at once?" Han Li asked as he flipped a hand over to summon the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber.
A subtle peculiar look shed through Liu Qi''s eyes as he swept his gaze over the saber, and he replied, "An immense amount of immortal spiritual power will be required to unleash the full power of a third-grade immortal treasure, so don''t hold back. Otherwise, if you fail to sever the chain in one blow, there''s a very good chance that you''ll be struck with bacsh from the chain, which will be extremely painful for all of us."
"I''ll be sure to do my best," Fox 3 promised.
"Rest assured, Senior, I''m aware that now is not the time to be holding back," Shi Chuankong also assured.
As for Han Li, he remained silent as he turned to Weeping Soul with a nod.
After taking a moment to collect themselves, Han Li grabbed onto the hilt of the sword, while everyone else positioned themselves behind him.
"Fellow Daoist Shi..."
After grabbing onto the hilt of the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber with both hands, Han Li began to attempt tomunicate with Shi Qinghou.
However, he received no response, and it was as if Shi Qinghou had gone into hibernation.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, I know that there must be some history between you and Patriarch Liu Qi, but we have no choice but to help him right now, so I want you to lend me your power," Han Li urged through their spiritual connection, but once again, he received no response.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, and he didn''t waste any more time as he tightened his grip around the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber before injecting his immortal spiritual power into it.
All of the patterns on the de began to light up, and a tremendous aura began to emanate from the saber.
Fox 3 and the others all thrust their palms toward Han Li to inject their immortal spiritual power into his body, and he acted as a central hub, transferring all of their power into the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber.
A faint buzzing sound rang out from the saber, Han Li''s hands began to tremble uncontrobly asyers uponyers of crimson saber projections emerged.
The aura emanating from the saber also swelled rapidly, quickly reaching an unprecedented level.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed, and in the face of the saber''s aura, a strange sensation was rising up within his body, as if his blood were boiling.
"The aura of this saber is quite unique, and it looks like it can stimte one''s blood and essence to drastically enhancebat prowess. There''s no need to be concerned, just focus on the task at hand," Liu Qi said.
Han Li inspected his own internal condition to find that there were indeed no adverse effects taking ce, and only then did he focus fully on injecting his immortal spiritual power into the saber.
With the injection of immortal spiritual power, the crimson light radiating from the saber became brighter and brighter, and crimson light appeared in the eyes of the two fox heads on the saber as well.
Han Li let loose a loud roar as he stepped forward before swinging the saber down with all his might, and countless giant saber projections erupted forth, striking the azure chain one after another.
A string of metallic ngs rang out as the azure chain trembled violently, and all of the runes engraved upon it instantly began to glow as radiantly as the sun.
The azure lightning pond instantly erupted into a frenzy, forming an enormous ball of lightning that hurtled directly toward Patriarch Liu Qi along the azure chain.
However, the ball of lightning was stopped in its tracks by the crimson saber projections, and the forces shed with immense power.
"Sever it! Hurry!" Liu Qi roared.
Han Li and the others abruptly shuddered, and the immortal spiritual power in their bodies gushed forth in a frenzy, surging into the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber in an uncontroble manner.
The crimson light radiating from the saber brightened even further, and the crimson saber projections that it had conjured up also seemed to have be countless times heavier as they inched toward the ball of lightning.
A hint of fear began to well up in the hearts of Han Li and the others. At this rate, they would bepletely drained of immortal spiritual power before the chain could be severed.
Right at this moment, the fox heads on the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber lit up, and a giant crimson fox projection suddenly appeared, then pounced forward before fusing into the crimson saber projections, instantly bestowing upon them tremendous power.
A resounding boom rang out as the ball of lightning exploded violently, following which a streak of crimson light shed past to sever the azure chain.
The chain tumbled to the ground, while the azure lightning retreated back into the lightning pond.
"We did it!" Fox 3 eximed with an ecstatic expression.
Han Li withdrew the saber, then began to examine it with tightly furrowed brows, wondering why Shi Qinghou had ultimately decided to help them at thest second.
As for Shi Chuankong, he was also observing the saber in silence with an apprehensive expression, clearly a little shaken by the forced outflow of immortal spiritual power from earlier.
"What''s wrong, Master?" Weeping Soul asked.
"Nothing. How are your injuries?" Han Li asked as he stowed the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber away.
"I''m fine," Weeping Soul replied.
Right at this moment, Liu Qi raised his head to the heavens and chortled with glee at the sight of the snapped azure chain, causing the entire hall to tremble slightly.
"Thank you, everyone. Take some time to replenish your immortal spiritual power, then continue with your baleful cleansing," he said after hisughter subsided.
Chapter 760: Spiritual Sense Avatar
Chapter 760: Spiritual Sense Avatar
Asura City.
The Three Region Conference had rmenced, but due to the unexpected interlude from earlier, all of the regional monarchs were feeling rather apprehensive, so the atmosphere was a little awkward.
As the host of the conference, Yin Chengquan had to keep up appearances, even though he was feeling rather uneasy internally.
He forced a smile onto his own face, and he was just about to say something when a gray ring on his left pinky finger suddenly tightened a little.
There were four marks of different colors engraved onto the ring, namely azure, purple, silver, and gold, and in this instant, the azure mark suddenly faded.
His smile instantly stiffened, while veins began bulging on his forehead, but only for an instant before heposed himself.
Despite this, the brief change in his expression hadn''t escaped anyone''s notice, and Huang Fuyu raised an eyebrow as he remarked, "You don''t look so good, Regional Monarch Yin. Have you been working too hardtely?"
"I''m fine. Once again, I must thank all of you for making the effort toe here," Yin Chengquan replied.
"There''s no need to thank us, Regional Monarch Yin. The oue of this conference will have a direct impact on the future of the Gray Realm, so it''s only right that all of us made the effort to be in attendance," Xiao Buye said with a smile.
"Also, what happened in the Soul Cleansing Area? Why don''t you tell everyone, Regional Monarch Yin?" Huang Fuyu asked.
At this point, Yin Chengquan''s expression had alreadypletely returned to normal, and he replied, "It was only a minor incident that''s not worth sharing, let''s get on with the conference. Today is the first day of the decision stage. After the past few days of discussion, I''m sure all of you have already made your decisions, so let''s all express our ideas for everyone to hear."
Huang Fuyu took a nce at Xiao Buye, who just so happened to be looking at him as well, and the two of them exchanged a suspicious nce.
Right as Yin Chengquan''s voice trailed off, a gray jade pendant concealed within his robe silently shattered.
......
Inside a certain spacious hall in Asura City.
This appeared to be a guest hall that was furnished with some refined and antiquated furniture, and the entire hall was enshrouded within a gray light barrier.
Two figures were seated across from each other at the center of the hall, one of whom was Feng Qingshui, the elderly man from the Heavenly Court, while the other was the spitting image of Yin Chengquan.
However, this Yin Chengquan was looking rather insubstantial, and it seemed like he didn''t possess a substantial body.
All of a sudden, a burst of gray light shed over Yin Chengquan''s entire body, and his expression instantly darkened significantly.
"Is something wrong, Fellow Daoist Yin? I''m doing nothing but wasting time by sitting here and drinking tea anyway. If you''ve encountered any trouble, I''d be happy to help. This spiritual sense avatar of yours is limited in power, so it may not be able to do much," Feng Qingshui said as he set down the teacup in his hand.
"Thank you for your concern, Fellow Daoist Feng, but right now, everything is still under control, so I won''t trouble you," Yin Chengquan replied.
"Fellow Daoist Yin, we are allies fighting for amon cause right now, why do you feel the need to be so wary of me?" Feng Qingshui asked as his brows furrowed slightly with displeasure.
"I''ll tell you if I need your help, but before that, please remain here," Yin Chengquan replied in an indifferent manner, then abruptly vanished from the spot, immediately following which the gray light barrier around the hall instantly became several times thicker.
A cold look shed across Feng Qingshui''s face upon seeing this, and he picked up his teacup with a contemtive expression.
......
In the Baleful Cleansing Ponds, Han Li and the others were meditating on the spot after severing the azure lightning chain.
Meanwhile, Liu Qi was making a hand seal with his eyes closed while chanting an incantation on the giant cross, seemingly preparing something.
Ever since the azure lightning chain was severed, his aura had been drastically elevated.
Right at this moment, his eyes abruptly sprang open as he cast his gaze in a certain direction.
All of a sudden, a faintyer of light emerged from the rock face there, immediately followed by numerous circles of runes that began revolving rapidly.
After that, an indistinct gray figure gradually emerged, looking a little warped and insubstantial.
Han Li and the others immediately sprang to their feet upon seeing this, while Weeping Soul shuddered slightly as she eximed, "Master!"
Han Li''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, and he asked in a low voice, "Weeping Soul, is this Yin Chengquan?"
Before Weeping Soul had a chance to reply, the gray figure suddenly turned his gaze to Han Li and the others.
Han Li immediately felt his vision ck out momentarily as a burst of tremendous force surged into his mind, and the white mountain formed by the Imperial Peak Spirit Restriction Talisman shuddered violently before instantly shattering.
He felt as if his soul were about to fall apart at the seams, and he almost fell unconscious on the spot.
Han Li hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, and his spiritual sense was able to quell the unrest in his soul.
Thankfully, he had just made significant strides in the Spirit Refinement Technique, and his newfound spiritual sense was able to just barely protect his soul.
At the same time, a series of spiritual sense chains appeared in front of him, then intertwined to form arge to ward off the burst of invisible force.
However, the oing force was extremely formidable, and it was able to surge into his mind through the of spiritual sense chains.
Han Li''s mind was ringing as he stumbled back in retreat, unable to steady himself.
Shi Chuankong also shuddered violently as blood came gushing out of his mouth, and hisplexion instantly turned deathly pale.
All of a sudden, a small silver lock appeared above his head amid a sh of silver light, and it protected his head as he flew back in retreat.
However, the small lock then shuddered violently, and a crack appeared on its surface, while the silver light emanating from it quickly dimmed.
An rmed look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face as he opened his mouth to expel a ball of blood essence into the lock while making a rapid string of hand seals.
The light emanating from the lock brightened slightly so that it was able to continue protecting his head, but it was shing erratically, looking as if it could be snuffed out at any moment.
Among the three of them, Fox 3 was the one who reacted the quickest, darting back in retreat as soon as Yin Chengquan cast his gaze toward them.
At the same time, a series of white talismans flew out of his sleeves, formingyers uponyers of semi-transparent white light barriers in front of him.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of these light barriers had been erected, but they had only just taken shape before they werepletely pulverized.
Fox 3''s brows furrowed tightly as he continued to sweep his sleeves through the air, instantly releasing dozens more of the same white talismans.
One white light barrier appeared in front of him after another before being shattered once again, this time even faster than before, and as a result, Fox 3 was forced into retreat even faster as well.
Out of the four, Weeping Soul was the only one who wasn''t being attacked, and she was standing off to the side with a conflicted expression.
Right at this moment, Liu Qi''s gleeful voice suddenly rang out.
"Yin Chengquan, you''ve finally sent over a spiritual sense avatar of yours! However, I''m afraid you''re already toote."
The soundwaves from his voices formed a barrier in front of Han Li''s trio, and the space before them abrupt trembled violently, following which a series of spatial rifts emerged.
The entire hall began to sway as if an earthquake had struck, and a series of cracks appeared over the surrounding rock faces.
The tremendous pressure that Han Li''s trio was being subjected to was instantly alleviated, and they stumbled back a few more steps before finally managing to steady themselves with rmed looks on their faces.
A burst of translucent light shed over Liu Qi''s be, then formed a gray-robed middle-aged man with a fox fur belt around his waist.
The man was standing in front of Han Li''s trio with his hands sped behind his back, giving off an awe-inspiring aura.
"Yin Chengquan, perhaps if you hade here in person, I would be powerless to do anything with only one chain severed, but you''re dreaming if you think that a mere spiritual sense avatar of yours can subdue me!" the middle-aged man chuckled coldly.
Yin Chengquan''s expression darkened slightly as he turned to Weeping Soul and said in a cold voice, "Luo''er! How dare you bring these outsiders into the Soul Cleansing Area? Not only have you released the Kun Hou, you''ve released Liu Qi as well! Do you know how much trouble you''ve caused for our Infernal Tribe?"
Weeping Soul shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and a guilt-ridden look appeared in her eyes as she took a nce at Han Li and said, "I''m sorry, Master. I only wanted to bring him here to be cleansed of his baleful qi, I had no intention of harming the interests of the Infernal Tribe. He''s also only here to cleanse himself of baleful qi and had no intention of opposing the Infernal Tribe."
"So you''re Luo''er''s former master? In that case, I can spare you for this transgression. You can go," Yin Chengquan said as he turned to Han Li before suddenly making a hand seal, and the restrictions on the hall''s stone gate slowly parted, as if he really did intend to let Han Li go.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he really did seem to be tempted by the offer.
Chapter 761: Master and Disciple
Chapter 761: Master and Disciple
"Don''t fall for his tricks, Fellow Daoist Li! He''s trying to divide and conquer us! Right now, the entire city is in lockdown, so even if you can get away now, you''ll be captured again sooner orter. The only way out right now is to rescue our patriarch and escape under his protection," Fox 3 hurriedly said.
Han Li took a nce at Fox 3, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
"You think I''m trying to trick you? I''m sure you''re all aware of what the current state of Asura City is like. I don''t have the time or resources to spare to hunt you down, and in my eyes, letting a couple of Golden Immortals escape is hardly of any significance.
¡°If you''re still apprehensive, I can even grant you an infernal badge," Yin Chengquan said, and he swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, releasing a ck metal badge that descended in front of Weeping Soul.
Liu Qi''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
"Master, the restrictions littered throughout the entirety of Asura City are all connected to a super array, and infernal badges are treasures refined from that super array. There are only five such badges in total in the entire Infernal Tribe, and it''ll allow you to open the majority of restrictions in Asura City," Weeping Soul said to Han Li through voice transmission as she caught the badge.
"I also yed a part in destroying the seal on the Kun Hou, and you were intent on killing me just a moment ago, so why has your attitude suddenly changed so drastically?" Han Li asked as his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Under normal circumstances, I would make absolute certain that none of you leave this ce alive. However, right now, my only goal is to restrain Liu Qi, and you were able to withstand an attack of mine just now, so it''s clear that I won''t be able to kill you while you''re under Liu Qi''s protection. Hence, I''m choosing to let you go to eliminate some vtile factors," Yin Chengquan exined in a cold voice.
"That''s a very candid and sincere exnation, but I''ve already agreed to help Senior Liu Qi, so I''m afraid I must turn down your proposal," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
Fox 3 and Liu Qi were both very relieved to hear this, but theplete opposite was true for Weeping Soul.
"If you insist on opposing me, then I''ll strike you down where you stand! You saw what just happened, Luo''er. I extended an olive branch to him, but he turned it down, so he leaves me no choice," Yin Chengquan said in a cold voice as he made a hand seal, and the giant array on the ground suddenly lit up, following which a burst of white light erupted forth before enveloping Weeping Soul and carrying her away.
Weeping Soul was saying something with an urgent expression, but the white light around her was too powerful, and whatever she was saying was inaudible through it.
However, right at this moment, one of Liu Qi''s tails wrapped itself around Weeping Soul like lightning.
Yin Chengquan''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately flew over to Liu Qi before throwing a punch straight at his head.
A burst of radiant gray light erupted out of his fist, and a sinister ghostly head the size of a house appeared within it, screeching and cackling incessantly.
The sounds were extremely sharp and prated straight into one''s soul while giving off an intense aura of death, as if they wereing straight from the pits of hell.
Han Li, Fox 3, and Shi Chuankong immediately felt their heads ringing violently upon hearing this sound, and they felt as if their souls were about to fall apart.
On the ground below, Liu Qi swept both of his front paws through the air to release numerous streaks of gray light, which instantly formed a gray light barrier that epassed Han Li''s group and the four lightning ponds.
As soon as the light barrier took shape, the harrowing sounds were instantly shut out, and at the same time, the projection of the middle-aged man appeared above the light barrier in a sh, standing in Yin Chengquan''s way.
"You''ll have to get through me first if you want to get to them," the middle-aged man chuckled as he made a hand seal, and a burst of gray light surged out of his body, then transformed into a thick staff projection that was over a hundred feet in length.
Two serpentine projections were wrapped around either end of the staff projection, giving off incredibly formidable soul power fluctuations as it sped toward Yin Chengquan''s fist.
The two shed violently in mid-air, resulting in a blinding explosion of light that sent spiritual sense fluctuations erupting in all directions, causing the nearby space to warp and fracture like the surface of a mirror.
The gray light barrier also began to tremble violently, but it was extremely resilient and quickly managed to stabilize itself.
Following that sh, both the middle-aged man and Yin Chengquan were sent flying back.
The string of shes had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and only now did the bodies of Han Li''s trio manage to react, upon which all of them threw up mouthfuls of blood before exchanging astonished looks with one another.
"Liu Qi! Do you not feel ashamed going after a junior like this?" Yin Chengquan yelled in a furious voice.
"I don''t think I''ve ever heard such righteous wordsing out of your mouth, Regional Monarch Yin. The two of us have been going at each other for countless years, do you really think I still haven''t seen through your intentions?" Liu Qi chuckled coldly as he exerted more force through his tail, and the white light barrier around Weeping Soul was instantly shattered, following which she was carried back to his side.
Weeping Soul was struggling with all her might, but her struggles slowly ceased upon hearing this.
"What do you mean by that?" Yin Chengquan asked as his eyes narrowed slightly.
A hint of mockery shed through Liu Qi''s eyes, following which he turned to Weeping Soul as he asked, "You''re a Xing Beast, right? I''m guessing that after Yin Chengquan took you under his wing, he did everything in his power to nurture you, even going as far as to capture beings from different tribes and killing them so that you can devour their souls, is that correct?"
"That''s right, I am greatly indebted to my master," Weeping Soul replied.
"Do you know why your master was willing to do so much for you? I''m sure you''re aware of what kind of person he is, are you not?" Liu Qi asked.
Weeping Soul''splexion paled slightly upon hearing this, and she opened her mouth to say something, but ultimately remained silent.
This was a question that she had asked herself on many past asions. However, she didn''t want to suspect Yin Chengquan''s kindness, so whenever the question arose in her mind, she would immediately avoid it, but now that it was being directly posed to her, she was forced to finally confront it.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this.
Prior toing here, he had heard that Yin Chengquan was a very bloodthirsty man who was renowned for using all types of sly and underhanded tactics to force smaller regions to bow to the Infernal Region. Hence, even his subordinates were extremely fearful of him, and he certainly didn''t seem like the type of person who would ept an outsider as a disciple, much less nurture them so diligently.
However, given the constant peril that he had been in, he had never had a chance to ponder this topic, but it seemed that all was about to be revealed.
"I''m sure all of you are aware of the ability of Infernal beings to control others using Infernal Soul Bugs. Even I have to admit that this is an extremely powerful ability. Not only is the Infernal Soul Bug able to control a puppet, it can also establish a connection between puppet and master.
¡°If thew powers mastered by master and puppet are simr, then it can allow them to very easily integrate theirw powers, and that''s an important reason behind why the Infernal Tribe has always stood as one of the most powerful tribes of the Gray Realm," Liu Qi continued.
"What does this have to do with Weeping Soul, Senior Liu Qi?" Han Li asked.
"Due to some mishaps, I sustained severe injuries many years ago and fell to the Gray Realm, where I was captured by Yin Chengquan. He didn''t kill me because the heavenly illusionws that I had mastered were appealing to him.
¡°He cultivates thews of ghostly enchantment, and if could sessfully refine me into a puppet, then ourw powers would be able toplement one another to great effect, meaning that he would have no equal in the entire Gray Realm," Liu Qi exined with a cold sneer.
A thought seemed to have urred to Weeping Soul here, and herplexion paled slightly.
"However, in order to control a Dao Ancestor like myself, Yin Chengquan requires an Infernal Soul Bug of an extremely high caliber, one that can''t be refined using normal souls. That''s why he''s gone to such great lengths to nurture you.
¡°Xing Beasts are extremely advanced soul entities capable of devouring ghosts and spirits, making them ideal for refining premium Infernal Soul Bugs. However, your cultivation base is still quiteckluster right now, and I presume he wanted to set his n into motion only after raising you to the Great Epassment Stage," Liu Qi said.
Weeping Soul''splexion paled even further upon hearing this.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this. He had also suffered betrayal from someone that he had respected in the past, and even though it had already been many years, those events had still had a huge impact on his entire cultivation journey.
"Is he telling the truth, Master?" Weeping Soul asked as she turned to Yin Chengquan.
"It''s been fun putting on the guise of a kind and benevolent master, and I originally nned to keep this act up for a while longer, but seeing as everything has already been revealed, I suppose I have no choice but to put a premature end to things," Yin Chengquan replied with a cold sneer, and the final hint of color faded from Weeping Soul''s cheeks with this confirmation.
A cold gleam shed through Han Li''s eyes as he glowered at Yin Chengquan.
"Liu Qi, didn''t you just say that you can see through all of my intentions? In that case, do you know why I allowed you to reveal all of that without doing anything to try and stop you?" Yin Chengquan asked as he turned to Liu Qi.
Liu Qi faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a hint of realization appeared in his eyes as he hurriedly turned his gaze to Weeping Soul.
Chapter 762: Eternal Dream
All of a sudden, the infernal badge in Weeping Soul''s hand exploded into two bursts of ck qi, one of which transformed into an indistinct bug that instantly burrowed its way into her body, while the other transformed into a ck dagger that shot forth toward Liu Qi''s chest at an astonishing speed.
Liu Qi was bound to the cross, so he was unable to evade the dagger, and he could only raise his freed front paw to protect himself.
However, the dagger suddenly began to squirm like an agile spirit snake, slithering through a gap between Liu Qi''s paws before instantly piercing into his chest.
His chest instantly exploded as blood sttered in all directions, and the dagger was able to pierce almost all the way through his body.
Liu Qi immediately threw up arge mouthful of blood that was interspersed with organ fragments, while the middle-aged man in the sky shuddered before bing even more insubstantial in form.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and the gray light barrier epassing Han Li and the others also dimmed significantly.
Liu Qi''s tail unfurled from around Weeping Soul''s body, and she tumbled to the ground, throwing her hands to her own head as she let loose a blood-curdling howl.
ck light was swirling around her body, and through the ck light, one could see an indistinct bug projection in her abdomen, squirming incessantly as it rapidly devoured her energy.
Han Li and the others were stunned by this turn of events, but they immediately reacted and sprang into action, with Fox 3 flying over to Liu Qi''s side, while Han Li hurriedly rushed over to Weeping Soul to support her.He injected his spiritual sense into her body to inspect her internal condition, upon which his expression instantly darkened significantly.
"What do you think of my Immortal Devouring Dagger?" Yin Chengquan chuckled as he made a grabbing motion, and a giant gray palm projection appeared in front of him, then swooped down toward the middle-aged man.
The giant gray hand was giving off incredibly formidable soul power fluctuations, and even though Han Li and the others were currently situated in the gray light barrier, they were still instantly knocked unconscious.
The middle-aged man threw a punch in retaliation, releasing a pir of white light to oppose the gray palm projection.
A resounding boom rang out as the two shed, but the pir of white light was clearly inferior in power and was instantly crushed upon contact.
The gray palm projection continued to swoop down, grasping onto the middle-aged man before crushing him with ease.
However, not only was Yin Chengquan not ted in the slightest to see this, his expression hadpletely darkened instead, and he let loose a low roar as he made a grabbing motion with both hands.
Four identical gray palm projections appeared around him in a sh, then swept through the air in all directions, and the surrounding space was instantly shattered, revealing the middle-aged man standing nearby in apletely unscathed condition, looking as if he were about to approach Yin Chengquan.
Within the gray light barrier down below, Liu Qi, Weeping Soul, and Han Li''s group were alsopletely unharmed, and there was a ball of white light hovering in front of Liu Qi, releasing white halos in all directions.
A ck dagger and a ck bug projection were sealed inside the ball of light, unable to escape.
Yin Chengquan''s expression instantly darkened even further upon seeing this.
"As expected of you to have to freed yourself from my Eternal Dream so quickly," Liu Qi chuckled with more than a hint of mockery in his voice, then opened his mouth to devour the ball of white light in front of him.
Yin Chengquan was furious to see this, and he immediately made a downward grabbing motion, upon which the four giant gray palm projections came swooping down while giving off tremendous soul power fluctuations.
Even before the four palm projections had fully descended, the gray light barrier was already trembling violently, looking as if it could shatter at any moment.
A serious look appeared no Liu Qi''s face upon seeing this, and he raised his freed front paw, sending a flurry of incantation seals flying through the air, half of which surged into the gray light barrier to stabilize it, while the other half vanished into the body of the middle-aged man up above.
As a result, the middle-aged man instantly transformed into a white fox projection that was several hundred feet tall, and with a sweep of its nine tails, a wave of white light was released to sh against the four gray palm projections.
The wave of white light was instantly destroyed upon contact, while the giant fox projection was sent flying back before crashing heavily into the wall, but the four giant palm projections had also been repelled.
"He''s going all out! I won''t be able tost long at this rate, so you''ll need to hurry up and cleanse your bodies of baleful qi, then help me sever the rest of these chains," Liu Qi said in an urgent voice.
Han Li, Shi Chuankong, and Fox 3 exchanged a nce upon hearing this, then flew toward the purple lightning pond together, while Weeping Soul remained still on the spot as she looked up at Yin Chengquan with a cold expression.
Meanwhile, the giant fox projection had already rebounded from the wall, and it didn''t appear to have sustained any injuries as it pounced at Yin Chengquan.
"Let me help, Senior Liu Qi," Weeping Soul suddenly said.
"You''re quite formidable for someone of your cultivation base, but you''re still far from being able to y a part in a battle between Dao Ancestors," Liu Qi said as he took a nce at her.
"I''m naturally not delusional enough to think that, but just as you said earlier, I am indeed a Xing Beast, and I have a secret technique that can use my soul power to enhance the soul power of others. The secret technique is not as effective on those of higher cultivation bases than myself, but it should still work to some extent," Weeping Soul said.
A hint of surprise shed through Liu Qi''s eyes upon hearing this, and he nodded in response.
"Alright, but make sure you don''t leave this light barrier. Otherwise, I won''t be able to protect you."
Weeping Soul nodded in agreement, then began to chant an incantation, and four balls of ck light flew out of the top of her head before descending around Liu Qi, then transformed into four instruments, namely a guqin, a waist drum, a jade flute, and a konghou.
Weeping Soul swept both hands through the air, and strands of translucent light shot out of her be, then fell upon the four musical instruments as incantation seals.
Music immediately began to y from the four instruments, and ck ripples began to proliferate throughout the nearby space. Countless tiny runes were interspersed throughout the ripples, and they surged into Liu Qi''s mind, causing his eyes to light a little.
High up in the sky, Yin Chengquan was unleashing a furious barrage of attacks, and the giant fox projection was quickly forced into a corner of the hall.
"Die!" Yin Chengquan roared as he swept both sleeves through the air, and a vast cloud of gray mist surged out of his body.
The gray mist was formed by countless spiritual sense threads, all of which fused into the four gray palm projections.
As a result, the palm projections swelled even further in size, and a series of profound patterns appeared upon them as they came crashing down with tremendous force while giving off fearsome spiritual sense fluctuations.
All of the space in their wake was filled with these formidable spiritual sense fluctuations, instantly eliminating all paths for evasion and retreat for the fox projection.
"That won''t be enough to kill me!" the fox projection roared as the light emanating from its body lit brightened significantly, and it swept its nine tails through the air, releasing what seemed to be like a boundless barrage of waves of white light.
The four giant palm projections struck the waves of white light, only to be instantly devoured as if they had fallen into the sea.
A stunned look appeared on Yin Chengquan''s face upon seeing this, following which he noticed what was happening inside the gray light barrier, and the astonishment in his eyes was instantly reced with fury.
"You''re a blind fool, Yin Chengquan! Let''s settle our differences here once and for all!" the fox projection chortled as its nine tails abruptly straightened out, and every single strand of fur on those tails began to glow radiantly.
Immediately thereafter, countless strands of fox fur shot forth in unison like crossbow arrows before striking the four gray palm projections, instantly punching them full of tiny holes.
The four palm projections quickly exploded, following which the remaining strands of fox fur hurtled directly toward Yin Chengquan.
Yin Chengquan''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately shot back in retreat, while the fox projection sprang forward in hot pursuit.
The battle continued, with neither side able to get the better of the other.
The two began moving faster and faster until they were nothing more than a pair of untraceable blurs, and resounding booms were ringing out incessantly as they shed over and over again.
At the same time, Han Li''s trio had descended beside the purple lightning pond.
Liu Qi had already significantly lessened the power of the purple lightning pond for them, but it was still apparent from the aura emanating from the pond that it was several times more formidable than the azure lightning.
Han Li flew into the purple lightning pond without any hesitation, and Shi Chuankong immediately followed suit as well.
However, Fox 3 decided not to enter the pond.
He was already at the High Zenith Stage, and at this point, most of the baleful qi in his body had already been eradicated by the azure lightning pond. Even though there was still some left, it was only a minuscule amount, and there was no need for him to take his chances in the purple lightning pond.
In contrast, it was a much better course of action for him to take a rest and prime himself into his best possible condition so that he could assist Han Li in severing the other lightning chains.
With that in mind, Fox 3 sat down with his legs crossed beside the lightning pond, then summoned a pair of Immortal Origin Stones to help himself replenish his immortal spiritual power.
Chapter 763: Severing the Second Lightning Chain
As soon as Han Li entered the purple lightning pond, the purple lightning pond instantly converged toward him like sharks that had smelt blood, forming a corkscrew-shaped pir of lightning around him.
Thick arcs of purple lightning sprang forth to strike his entire body amid a string of thunderous explosions, and his skin instantly turned bright red, while profusely bleeding gashes were inflicted all over his entire body.
Not only that, but as soon as the purple lightning struck his body, his be instantly turned pitch ck, and fierce killing intent welled up in his heart, while his eyes also turned bright red.
Bursts of tremendous baleful qi fluctuations erupted out of his body, and the baleful decay that he had just forcibly suppressed was rearing its ugly head once again.
A hint of lingering fear shed through Fox 3''s eyes at the sight of Han Li''s struggles, and he was very d that he hadn''t entered the purple lightning pond.
Meanwhile, Weeping Soul also cast a nce in Han Li''s direction, and a hint of concern shed through her eyes.
All of a sudden, a series of true spirit projections sprang out of Han Li''s body again, and they were far clearer than before.
These lightning ponds contained both destructive power and the power of rebirth, so all of his true spirit bloodline had been strengthened somewhat from the time that he had spent in the azure lightning pond.
However, that wasn''t necessarily a good thing for Han Li as the enhancements in these foreign bloodlines ced more of a strain on his body.Han Li took a deep breath, and he remained calm andposed.
After what had just taken ce in the azure lightning pond, he already had some experience when it came to dealing with these changes in his body.
After taking a moment topose himself, he immediately channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, using his immense spiritual sense to quell the killing intent in his mind. At the same time, he channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts to protect his internal organs, allowing the purple lightning to travel through the rest of his body.
As bursts of formidable lightning power began to infiltrate his body, more baleful qi was expelled, and plumes of ck qi began to rise up from his body before instantly being eradicated by the purple lightning.
At this moment, all of his immortal acupoints had also been filled with purple lightning, forcing out the stubborn baleful qi lurking within.
As the baleful qi was cleansed, the killing intent in his mind gradually faded, and his eyes regained their former rity as well.
This process was clearly more painful than what he had endured in the azure lightning pond, but he gritted his teeth tightly as he withstood the excruciating punishment.
Fifteen minutes passed by in the blink of an eye.
At this point, Han Li''s entire body was already riddled with wounds, giving him the appearance of a torn rucksack.
However, his eyes were tightly shut, and there was a calm and cid look on his face, as if he couldn''t feel any pain.
Large plumes of ck baleful qi continued to surge out of his body, but all of a sudden, the outflow of baleful qi abruptly slowed down.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he opened his eyes, then immediately flew up into the air.
The surrounding purple lightning instantly followed along, forming a purple lightning that attempted to ensnare him again.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, shooting up into the air as a golden shadow, but the purple lightning was far more resilient than the one released by the azure lightning pond, and he was unable to break free right away.
Seemingly enraged by Han Li''s provocation, the purple lightning pond released several thick arcs of lightning that hurtled directly toward him.
In contrast with the other lightning in the pond, these arcs of lightning were far brighter and had countless tiny lightning runes shing around them, giving off tremendous lightningw powers.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him before rapidly revolving to send countless golden ripples surging through the air in a radius of over a hundred feet around him.
The arcs of purple lightning were instantly brought to a halt upon entering the golden ripples, but they seemed to be imbued with tremendous power, and the entire area of golden ripples was trembling slightly.
Han Li immediately swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, releasing a ball of green light that contained the Profound Heavenly Gourd.
He cast a string of incantation seals toward the Profound Heavenly Gourd, and a vast expanse of green light instantly surged out of its mouth before sweeping up the arcs of purple lightning, which instantly began to rapidly dim and shrink.
Immediately thereafter, the arcs of purple lightning were sucked into the Profound Heavenly Gourd in a sh.
With part of the purple lightning sucked into the Profound Heavenly Gourd, the pressure on Han Li was lessened significantly, and he was able to fly up into the air, struggling free from the lightning beforending near the lightning pond.
After that, the Mantra Treasured Axis vanished at his behest, and the surrounding golden ripples also faded.
The purple lightning shed a few times, but with no target left to restrain, it quickly descended back into the lightning pond.
After taking a moment to steady himself, Han Li took a few pills, and all of the gashes on his body began to rapidly heal, while hisplexion also improved slightly.
"How are you feeling, Fellow Daoist Li? Right now, Patriarch Liu Qi is able to oppose Yin Chengquan with Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul''s help, but they won''t be able to keep this up for long. Our fates will be sealed if any other Infernal Tribe reinforcements arrive on the scene, so we have to make haste and sever the three remaining lightning chains as soon as possible," Fox 3 hurriedly said through voice transmission.
"Alright, I''ll take some time to recover and wait for Fellow Daoist Shi toe out," Han Li replied with a nod as he turned his gaze to the purple lightning pond.
At this moment, Shi Chuankong was still in the pond, and a series of deep gashes had been sliced into his skin, some so deep that bone was visible through them.
Crimson light was shing within his eyes, while his be had turned pitch ck, and it was clear that he was also contending with his baleful decay.
His entire body was trembling uncontrobly from the excruciating agony, but he possessed remarkable mental fortitude, and he was gritting his teeth tightly as he endured the pain.
As plumes of ck qi surged out of his body, the crimson light in his eyes gradually faded, as did the ck coloration of his be, and his skin was beginning to take on a translucent, jade-like appearance.
Han Li knew that there wasn''t anywhere near as much baleful qi in Shi Chuankong''s bodypared to him, and the purple lightning pond had already eradicated much of that baleful qi. At this rate, there was a very good chance that he would ovee his baleful decay to reach the semi-High Zenith Stage.
However, right at this moment, the rate of baleful qi outflow from his body suddenly abated, while the translucent quality of his skin also receded.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this.
It seemed that the second pond had failed to allow Shi Chuankong to ovee his baleful decay as well.
Shi Chuankong opened his eyes, then sprang up out of the lightning pond.
The arcs of purple lightning around him instantly intertwined to form a purple lightning, and in response, a giant silver lotus flower appeared around his body amid a sh of silver light, then began to release streaks of sharp sword qi that struck the lightning.
The purple lightning shuddered violently as an opening was instantly sliced into it, and Shi Chuankong flew out of the opening beforending on the edge of the lightning pond.
He was already in terrible physical condition, and he had exerted himself even further by unleashing that secret technique, causing him to throw up a mouthful of blood.
As soon as hended on the ground, he immediately summoned a vial, then tipped all of the pills inside straight into his own mouth before sitting down with his legs crossed.
Ayer of dark purple light emerged over his body, and his wounds instantly began to rapidly heal.
Only after a long while did Shi Chuankong opened his eyes, following which he turned to Han Li and Fox 3 with a wry smile as he sighed, "I came within a hair''s breadth of dying in there."
"It''s very remarkable that you were able to survive two Baleful Cleansing Ponds in session. I''m very thankful that I don''t have to go through this. Are you alright now?" Fox 3 asked.
"I''m fine," Shi Chuankong replied.
"In that case, let''s begin," Han Li said, then flew over to the silver lightning pond before sweeping a sleeve through the air, and Daoist Xie appeared beside him amid a sh of golden lightning.
"I need your help, Brother Xie," Han Li said, and Daoist Xie nodded in response.
Han Li took a deep breath as he grabbed tightly onto the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber with both hands, then injected his immortal spiritual power into it in a frenzy.
Red light shed over the saber as all of the patterns on its surface lit up, and it began releasing a tremendous aura.
Fox 3, Shi Chuankong, and Daoist Xie thrust their palms toward Han Li in unison, injecting their immortal spiritual power into his body, following which all of their immortal spiritual power surged into the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber.
The red light emanating from the saber brightened even further, and the aura that it was releasing was also climbing steadily.
Layers uponyers of crimson saber projections emerged, and Han Li swung the saber down with all his might as he called out internally, "Lend me your power, Senior Shi!"
A giant crimson fox projection suddenly emerged from the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, then pounced forward and vanished into the saber in a sh.
The immortal spiritual power of Han Li and the others was gushing into the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber like floodwaters through a broken dam, but none of them were all that rmed, given their previous experience in severing the azure lightning chain.
All of the countless crimson saber projections vanished into the saber, causing it to swell to roughly twice its original size before striking the purple lightning chain, which instantly began to tremble violently, while the runes engraved upon it glowed as radiantly as the sun.
The purple lightning pond erupted into a frenzy, and all of the lightning inside rose up to form a ball of lightning that sped toward Liu Qi along the chain.
However, the ball of lightning was only able to make it halfway before the purple chain was snapped under the saber.
The ball of lightning instantly drew to an abrupt halt, then exploded to send arcs of lightning flying in all directions.
Han Li shuddered slightly as ayer of purple lightning appeared over his body, but it only appeared for an instant before fading away, as if nothing had ever happened.
A contemtive look appeared on his face, while the snapped purple chain plunged into the lightning pond.
Chapter 764: Backs Against the Wall
Chapter 764: Backs Against the Wall
"Well done!" Liu Qi chortled with glee as an unmatched aura erupted out of his body, causing the entire hall to tremble violently.
Yin Chengquan''s expression darkened even further as he aimed a vicious re at Ha nLi''s group, following which he thrust both palms through the air in unison, and a dull thump rang out as four giant gray palm projections appeared above the white fox projection''s head at once.
The four giant palm projections fused as one to form an enormous palm projection that was several thousand feet in size, and it came crashing down like a massive mountain.
"Do you still think this spiritual sense avatar of yours is a match for me now that two chains have already been severed?" Liu Qi chortled as he stood up from the wooden cross, but he was still bound by the silver and golden chains.
A burst of bright translucent light emerged over his be, and the white fox projection swelled drastically in size, then rose up onto its hind legs before sweeping both of its front paws through the air.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the giant gray palm projection exploded, and Yin Chengquan shuddered violently as he stumbled back several steps in retreat.
The fox projection was also sent tumbling down from the sky as the white light emanating from its body flickered in a slightly unsteady fashion, but it then instantly righted itself before pouncing at Yin Chengquan.
......
At the conference venue in the Fallen Lake Area.
All of the regional monarchs had begun expressing their opinions, and the former lively and bustling atmosphere of the conference had been restored.
Yin Chengquan was seated with a smile on his face, asionallymunicating with the regional monarchs around him, and Huang Fuyu was a little disappointed to see him looking so calm andposed.
Right at this moment, Wyrm 3''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Pce Master Huang, our people have learned that something has indeed happened in the Soul Cleansing Area, but it''s not some incident concerning their treasure refinement facilities, as Yin Chengquan proimed. Instead, some people have snuck deep into Asura City and caused a great deal of trouble there. Right now, all of the forces within Asura City are converging there."
"Oh? To think that someone would sneak into Asura City at a time like this," Huang Fuyu mused as he raised an eyebrow.
"Should I instruct our people to keep gathering more information, Pce Master Huang?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"Yes, and while they''re at it, get them to cause some trouble as well, but make sure they don''t get caught by any of the Infernal Region''s forces," Huang Fuyu immediately replied.
Wyrm 3''s eyes immediately lit up slightly upon hearing this, and she gave an affirmative response.
Yin Chengquan was discussing something with a regional monarch next to him when he shot a nce in Huang Fuyu''s direction, and a peculiar look shed through his eyes.
Right at this moment, his finger tightened once again as the purple mark on his ring also faded, and his smile instantly stiffened slightly.
......
Inside the restricted area.
Han Li''splexion was looking a little pale, and he stowed the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber before taking a pill.
Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong also took some pills to replenish their immortal spiritual power, while the light emanating from Daoist Xie''s body had dimmed significantly.
Almost all of the immortal spiritual power in the Immortal Origin Stones in Daoist Xie''s body had been sucked dry just now, rendering it barely even able to move.
Han Li took a nce at Daoist Xie, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that drew it into the Flower Branch domain.
He had left arge supply of Immortal Origin Stones in the Flower Branch space, and that would be enough for Daoist Xie to replenish its energy.
Fox 3 was ecstatic to see that the fox projection up above was beginning to gain the upper hand over Yin Chengquan, and he turned to Han Li and Shi Chuankong with an ted expression as he said, "Please take a quick rest, then we''ll sever the remaining two chains. Once Patriarch Liu Qi is freed, he''ll be able to lend you his protection so you can enter the third lightning pond."
"We can''t do that," Han Li refused with a shake of his head.
"Why not? We''re currently in a very perilous situation right now. Enemy reinforcements coulde at any second, and without Patriarch Liu Qi''s protection, there''s no way you''ll be able to enter the third lightning pond!" Fox 3 said with a slightly displeased expression.
"Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Fox 3. These Lightning Entrapment Chains are no ordinary restrictions, and Senior Liu Qi already spoke of the potential of suffering bacsh from these chains earlier. The two of you haven''t ever been in direct contact with these chains, so you wouldn''t have felt it, but with each chain that was severed, both Senior Liu Qi and I were struck by bacsh from the power that they contained.
¡°The lightning power imbued within these chains is extremely fearsome, and if I hadn''t been baptized in the corresponding lightning ponds, thereby injecting a hint of their essential aura into my own body, there''s no way I would''ve been able to withstand the bacsh.
¡°Senior Liu Qi must''ve already been aware of this in advance, and that must be why he wanted us to enter the Baleful Cleansing Ponds before severing the chains," Han Li said as he lifted a hand, and ayer of purple light re-emerged over his body to demonstrate his point.
An enlightened look appeared on Fox 3''s face upon hearing this, and he said, "I see, but right now, Patriarch Liu Qi won''t be able to offer you his protection, so how will you be able to endure the remaining two lightning ponds?"
"Just as you said earlier, we''re still in an extremely perilous situation right now, and life-threatening danger could descend upon us at any time. If I don''t take a risk now, then perhaps I won''t even get a chance toter. I must hold my fate in my own hands."
He flew over to the silver lightning pond as he spoke, then peered into it to discover that the arcs of lightning in this pond were far thinner than the ones in the previous two ponds, and they were giving off a forbidding sound that resembled the high-pitched calls of countless birds.
He took a deep breath, then gritted his teeth tightly as he jumped into the pond, upon which countless arcs of silver lightning instantly converged upon him in all directions.
The arcs of silver lightning were able to slice through his body with ease, and every single one of them was like a silver flying sword.
Han Li couldn''t help but give a muffled groan as a hint of astonishment shed through his eyes.
The silver lightning was several times more fearsome than the purple lightning, and his tremendous physical constitution was almost unable to protect him at all.
In the blink of an eye, his body had been shredded into ribbons.
At the same time, the silver lightning surged through his entire body, tearing his flesh and meridians into shreds, and blood was gushing out of all parts of his body, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
The true spirit projections reappeared around him, having be significantly clearer once again, and they began to revolve around his body.
His muscles involuntarily bulged as he began to take on physical traits from all of the true spirit beings, and his true spirit bloodlines in his body were threatening to tear their way out, thereby further exacerbating his injuries.
An urgent look appeared in his eyes upon seeing this, and he knew that his body wouldn''t be able tost at this rate.
However, if he wanted his baleful qi to be cleansed, then he couldn''t keep out the silver lightning.
He gritted his teeth as he channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts once again, protecting only his internal organs as he allowed the arcs of silver lightning to wreak havoc throughout the rest of his body.
His baleful decay was also activated once again, but at this point, the impact that the baleful decay had on him was rather minimal, and the only real cause for concern was whether his body would be able tost.
The arcs of silver lightning were actively burrowing into the immortal acupoints that were contaminated by baleful qi as if they had a mind of their own, and more plumes of dense ck qi began to rise up out of Han Li''s body.
The rate of outflow of baleful qi was far faster than in the previous two lightning ponds, and with the expulsion of this baleful qi, Han Li felt as if his body were being liberated from a heavy load.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and he flipped a hand over to summon a silver pill.
It was none other than his final High Zenith Pill, and he swallowed it before immediately closing his eyes.
Meanwhile, Shi Chuankong was also staring into the silver lightning pond with tightly furrowed brows.
"Are you considering entering the pond as well, Brother Shi? Fellow Daoist Li has no choice, but you can wait until our patriarch is freed before you enter the pond," Fox 3 said.
"That may be true, but who knows if I can afford to wait that long? I''ve already taken so many risks to get here, how can I back down at thest second?" Shi Chuankong asked as a faint smile appeared on his face.
Fox 3 was just about to say something further when a ck array suddenly appeared at the edge of the hall without any warning, following which a figure emerged within the array.
"Yin Gua!" Shi Chuankong eximed as he swung around with an rmed expression.
Indeed, the person who had just arrived was none other than Yin Gua, the Great Epassment Stage Gray Immortal from the Hundred Treasure Area.
As soon as Yin Gua appeared, he took a nce at Shi Chuankong and Fox 3, then immediately looked up into the air, where Yin Chengquan''s spiritual sense avatar and the giant fox projection were facing each other from several thousand feet away.
Liu Qi took a nce at Yin Gua, then looked back at Yin Chengquan''s spiritual sense avatar, and a cold sneer appeared on his face.
A hint of fear shed through Yin Gua''s eyes at the sight of Yin Chengquan, who turned to him before asking in a cold voice, "What are you doing here, Elder Yin Gua? Do you not know what this ce is?"
"Please forgive me, Regional Monarch. You Luo betrayed our Infernal Tribe and freed those outsiders from the infernal prison, then led them here to free the Kun Hou. I had no choice but to pursue them to this point," Yin Gua hurriedly exined in a trembling voice as he extended an apologetic bow.
Chapter 765: Opposing a Great Encompassment Cultivator
Chapter 765: Opposing a Great Epassment Cultivator
A cold look shed through Yin Chengquan''s eyes, but he then said in a calm voice, "Given the urgency of the situation, your actions are understandable. However, it''s still true that you''ve broken a sacredw of our tribe, but if you can kill these scoundrels, I''m willing to spare you of punishment."
"Thank you, Regional Monarch! Your generosity is truly unmatched!" Yin Gua hurriedly replied in an ted manner.
"Your ability to tell lies without even so much as batting an eyelid is truly impressive, Yin Chengquan. I''ve seen three people who''vee here without your permission. One of them was a man named Yin Duo, right? He was also a Great Epassment Stage Gray Immortal, but you still sucked him dry and threw him into the lightning pond," Liu Qi chuckled.
Yin Gua''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this.
Elder Yin Duo''s disappearance had always been extremely suspicious, and the circumstances behind his disappearance had never been confirmed. Everyone in the Infernal Tribe had thought that he was killed by people from the Reincarnation Region during an outing, but for some reason, Yin Chengquan hadn''t seemed overly bothered by his disappearance.
With that in mind, it was all the more usible that Yin Duo could''ve been killed by Yin Chengquan.
"Stop trying to drive a wedge between us, you sly old fox! I am the master of the Infernal Region, I wouldn''t stoop as low as to say one thing, only to do another!" Yin Chengquan dered in a cold voice.
"Rest assured, Regional Monarch, I''ll wipe out these pesky rats right away," Yin Gua vowed as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Yin Chengquan.
Yin Chengquan nodded in response, then turned his attention back to Liu Qi before charging straight at him.
"You got away once, but this time, I''ll make sure to get the job done!" Yin Gua spat through gritted teeth as he turned Shi Chuankong and Fox 3.
Shi Chuankong took a nce at Han Li, who was still in the silver lightning pond, then turned back to face Yin Gua with a grim expression.
"We''re in trouble now, Fellow Daoist Shi," Fox 3 said with a wry smile.
"Don''t give up yet! If you have any more trump cards up your sleeves, then don''t hide them any longer. He may be a Great Epassment cultivator, but I can sense that his aura is still rather unstable after creating all those Infernal Soul Bugs. If we canst until Fellow Daoist Lies out of the lightning pond, we''ll still have a chance!" Shi Chuankong said.
"To think that a Golden Immortal and a Jade Immortal would dare to oppose me! How ludicrous!" Yin Gua harrumphed coldly as he removed a ck seal from his waist before tossing it forward.
A streak of ck light shot out of his hand, then instantly transformed into a millstone-sized ck seal that hurtled directly toward Shi Chuankong, who immediately made a hand seal while rushing back in retreat.
However, the ck seal abruptly sped up significantly, striking Shi Chuankong in the blink of an eye to send him flying before crashing into the wall behind him.
"Brother Shi!" Fox 3 cried out in rm, but right at this moment, a ball of crimson light emerged over his body, and he exploded on the spot.
"Pathetic!" Yin Gua scoffed with a disdainful expression.
He then cast his gaze toward Han Li, who was still in the silver lightning pond, and a hint of fear shed through his eyes at the sight of the raging silver lightning.
Right at this moment, his brows suddenly furrowed slightly as he turned his gaze to the ck seal.
A burst of cracking was ringing out from behind the ck seal, and a series of spatial rifts branched out around it, making the entire space appear rather warped and fractured.
Behind the seal, Shi Chuankong''s hands were sped in a strange seal, and in front of them was a walnut-sized white jade pendant that was giving off formidable spatial fluctuations, forming a barrier between him and the seal.
"I forgot that you had some spatialw powers up your sleeve," Yin Gua harrumphed coldly, then thrust a palm forward, and a resounding boom rang out as a burst of tremendous force erupted out of the ck seal, instantly destroying the spatial barrier in its path.
The white jade pendant in front of Shi Chuankong''s also exploded, while the ck seal crashed into him with immense power, causing him to throw up a mouthful of blood as the wall behind him fractured into countless pieces.
All of a sudden, his body began to swell drastically in size, whilerge ck scales emerged over his skin, and ayer ofplex silver patterns appeared over his chest and limbs. His hair also grew rapidly, while his handsome features devolved into a monstrous visage, and in the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a giant demonic being that was over a thousand feet tall.
At the same time, four more arms had grown out of his back and his ribs, and they were also riddled with silver patterns.
Shi Chuankong thrust all six palms forward, releasing waves of silver light that struck the ck seal, which had swelled to the size of a small mountain at this point.
A resounding boom rang out, and not only was the seal stopped cold in its tracks, it was even sent flying back to Yin Gua, who raised an eyebrow as he casually swept a sleeve through the air, upon which the seal flew back up his sleeve as a streak of ck light.
"Is that all you''ve got? In that case, you can die now," Yin Gua scoffed with undisguised contempt, and he spread open the fingers of his other hand, upon which a ball of radiant ck light emerged from the palm of his hand.
Right at this moment, Yin Gua felt a blur sh before his eyes, following which his flesh was instantly peeled back as a series of extremely vibrant crimson flowers sprouted out of his body.
The flower had extremely voluptuous petals that resembled luscious lips, and they were dotted with droplets of blood that resembled morning dew, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
Yin Gua looked down to discover that his body seemed to be acting as sustenance for these crimson flowers, and his blood and energy were being rapidly sucked away.
A cold sneer appeared on his face as he remarked, "It''s not every day that I get to see such beautiful flowers in the Gray Realm. If I wasn''t in such a hurry, I''d perhaps stay in your little illusion for a while longer."
He was speaking in a very casual and nonchnt fashion, but internally, he was quite perplexed, wondering when he had fallen into this illusion.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he let loose a loud roar that caused the entire hall to tremble violently.
A burst of incredibly powerful energy fluctuations erupted out of his body, and the surrounding illusion was instantly eradicated.
Right at this moment, Fox 3''s voice suddenly rang out.
"Now, Brother Shi!"
In the same instant that the illusion was destroyed, the sound of lute music rang out, and Yin Gua was greeted by the sight of Shi Chuankong charging directly at him, strumming the strings of a silver lute with his bloodstained fingers.
As the lute was yed with more and more urgency, all of the patterns on it began to light up, following which a streak of radiant silver light appeared over the strings of a lute, resembling an arrow that was about to be fired.
A sense of instinctive foreboding welled up in Yin Gua''s heart, and to his astonishment, he discovered that the streak of silver light really did seem to be able to pose a threat to him.
At this moment, Shi Chuankong was still in mid-air, and almost all of his immortal spiritual power had been sucked dry by the Virata Lute. His entire body was trembling uncontrobly, but his hands remained firm.
Right on the verge ofpletely exhausting his immortal spiritual power reserves, he released the strings of the lute, and the streak of silver light instantly shot forth.
The streak of light was fired at almost point nk range, and it instantly struck Yin Gua in the chest.
A faint crack rang out as the ck seal appeared in front of Yin Gua''s chest at thest second to block the streak of silver light.
However, the ck seal was instantly split in half, and the streak of silver light continued onward without pause.
One half of the ck seal fell to the ground, while the other half vanished into thin air.
Taking advantage of the split-second of time that the seal had bought for him, Yin Gua sped away to the side as an arc of ck lightning, moving as quickly as Han Li when enhanced by his Reversal True Axis ability.
Even so, the arc of ck lightning still wasn''t able topletely evade the streak of silver light, and just like that half of the ck seal, the section of the arc of lightning that was struck instantly disappeared without a trace.
The remaining arc of ck lightning sped over to one side of the hall, following which Yin Gua emerged within it with an rmed and furious look on his face.
He turned to discover that his entire left arm had disappeared along with his left shoulder, and there were still residual spatialw fluctuations lingering on his wound, preventing the flesh there from regenerating.
Chapter 766: Untitled
Yin Gua took a moment topose himself, then cast his gaze forward to find Shi Chuankong crouching on the ground, trembling uncontrobly. His hands were a bloody mess, but he was still clutching onto the silver lute with all his might.
"That''s an exceptional spatial immortal treasure you have there. If you were also a Great Epassment cultivator, then I would be no match for you, it''s just a pity that you''re only a Golden Immortal," Yin Gua chuckled.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he spread open one of his hands, and balls of ck baleful lightning erupted out of the palm of his hand in all directions, then rained down upon Shi Chuankong.
At this moment, Shi Chuankong waspletely drained, and he didn''t even have sufficient immortal spiritual power left to conjure up ayer of protective spiritual light.
In this dire situation, Fox 3 darted onto the scene, positioning himself in front of Shi Chuankong as nine thick and strong white fox tails appeared behind him before sweeping through the air toward the balls of ck baleful lightning.
A string of violent explosions rang out as ck lightning erupted in all directions.
Fox 3 let loose an agonized cry as lightning surged over his fox tails, and a numb sensation shot through his entire body, significantly hampering his immortal spiritual power cirction.
Before he had a chance to shake off the numb sensation, another thunderp rang out as a vast expanse of ck lightning descended upon him.
Yin Gua shot out of the ck lightning, then stomped down onto Fox 3''s shoulders with mountainous force.Two bursts of ck lightning shot out of the soles of his feet before piercing into Fox 3''s shoulders, instantly pulverizing the bones in both shoulders, while half of his body sank into the ground from the force of the stomp.
"You clearly have a death wish, so I''ll send you on your way first!"
A cold look shed through Yin Gua''s eyes as he curled the fingers of his right hand into ws, and ck baleful lightning began to converge over the palm of his hand, following which he reached down toward the top of Fox 3''s head.
In this instant, Fox 3 waspletely immobilized, and he was plunged into the depths of despair.
Right at this moment, a rumbling thunderp rang out as a streak of bright silver lightning shot out of the lightning pond, then flew onto the scene like a silver arrow, causing the nearby space to warp and twist.
Yin Gua immediately turned his attention to the streak of silver lightning, conjuring up five longan-sized ck lightning beads on the tips of the fingers on his right hand before releasing them to sh against the streak of silver lightning.
A string of explosions rang out as the beads of baleful lightning exploded one after another, but the arcs of ck lightning quickly dissipated, while the silver arrow continued to hurtle directly toward Yin Gua''s chest, lookingrgely unharmed.
Yin Gua''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly twisted around to protect his vital regions, but the streak of silver lightning was still able to tear a huge gash into his left side as it nced past him.
A resounding boom rang out as Yin Gua was sent flying by the explosion of lightning, crashing heavily into the nearest wall.
From there, he looked down at therge gash on his left side with an incredulous expression.
Countless arcs of silver lightning continued to linger over the wound, devouring the baleful qi that was slowly seeping out of his body while constantly burrowing into his body like invasive insects.
Yin Gua extricated himself out of the wall before slowly descending to the ground, and the wall behind him instantly shattered into countless pieces that ttered to the ground.
He cast his gaze toward the lightning pond, and the fury in his eyes gradually faded, reced by his usual cold expression.
At this moment, pirs of silver lightning were erupting out of the lightning pond, and Han Li was hovering above the lightning, making his way out of the pond.
At this moment,rge sections of his skin had been charred ck, and his robes were in tatters. Furthermore, his body was riddled with bright red cracks, seeping out of which were wisps of ck baleful qi.
However, his eyes were extremely bright, and the gray coloration within them hadpletely faded, indicating that he barely had any baleful qi in his body left.
At this point, Fox 3 had already pulled himself out of the ground, and he hurriedly retreated to the edge of the lightning pond with Shi Chuankong, gritting his teeth through the pain as he fed a pill each to Shi Chuankong and himself. He then struggled up into a standing position as he cast a wary gaze toward Yin Gua, but at the same time, he couldn''t help but nce at Han Li out of the corner of his eye.
He could sense that Han Li''s aura was a little strange, and he asked through voice transmission, "How are you feeling, Brother Li?"
"Most of my baleful qi has already been cleansed, and my body and spiritual sense have also been refined. Now that I''m no longer burdened by baleful qi, I feel as if I''ve been reborn anew," Han Li replied.
However, he wasn''t telling Fox 3 the entire truth. At this moment, his aura had reached the semi-High Zenith Stage, but it was different from back when Baili Yan had been on the cusp of the High Zenith Stage.
Due to the fact that he had taken that premium High Zenith Pill, both his body and mind had undergone some transformations, and some type of profound connection had been established between himself and the silver lightning pond, allowing him to break through that final bottleneck.
In fact, he had a feeling that as soon as he returned to the Immortal Realm, he would immediately attract an influx of the world''s origin qi, allowing him to reach the High Zenith Stage.
Han Li took a nce at Weeping Soul and Liu Qi, who were still locked in a fierce battle against Yin Chengquan.
Even though this was only a spiritual sense avatar, it was definitely not to be looked down on, and it was able to hold its own just fine against thebined powers of Liu Qi and Weeping Soul.
"If I recall correctly, you''ve mastered thews of time, so how are you able to wield the lightning in the Baleful Cleansing Pond?" Yin Gua asked.
Han Li offered no response as he gripped tightly onto a pair of mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones, rapidly absorbing the immortal spiritual power within them.
Nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were hovering around him, emanating azure light and arcs of golden lightning, while the Profound Heavenly Gourd was hanging from his waist.
Yin Gua swept his gaze over Han Li''s trio, and he was feeling quite frustrated.
The residual spatialw power fluctuations lingering on the wound on his left shoulder weren''t showing any signs of abating. By his estimates, it would most likely be several centuries before he could regrow that arm. Furthermore, the gash on his left side also wasn''t going to be healing anytime soon with the residual silver lightning continuing to wreak havoc.
He had thought that he would be able to crush these three with ease, but things had certainly not gone ording to n.
Of course, this could also be attributed to the fact that he was still yet topletely consolidate his own cultivation base after his recent breakthrough to the Great Epassment Stage, as well as the five Infernal Soul Bugs that he had conjured up earlier.
However, as a Great Epassment cultivator, there were still more tricks up his sleeve, and he immediately sprang into action, sweeping his only remaining arm through the air to release a cloud of ck mist, within which arcs of ck lightning were crackling incessantly.
Several hundred spears formed by ck baleful lightning quickly took shape, then hurtled directly toward Han Li''s trio.
In response, all of Han Li''s profound acupoints lit up, while ayer of golden scales emerged over his skin, and his suit of Xuanwu armor appeared over his body. After that, he stepped forward directly toward Yin Gua, making no attempt to take evasive measures.
In the face of the oing baleful lightning spears, the nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords hovering around Han Li shot forth to oppose them, and deafening explosions rang out as ck baleful lightning and golden Divine Devilbane Lightning exploded incessantly.
With each explosion that rang out, an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword would be slowed down further, while the spiritual light emanating from them grew dimmer and dimmer.
Han Li had a very strong connection with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and each time a sword was struck, his immortal spiritual power and internal organs would tremble violently, causing blood to trickle down from the corners of his lips.
Even so, he still continued onward without pause.
Before long, all nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had been struck down, and Han Li didn''t even get a chance to retrieve them before more baleful lightning spears struck his suit of Xuanwu armor.
Blood came spewing out of Han Li''s mouth as his suit of Xuanwu armor was instantly riddled with cracks, looking as if it could shatter at any moment, but he had gotten a lot closer to Yin Gua.
Right as the distance between them was closed down to less than a thousand feet, Han Li channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, shooting through the gaps between the ck spears to reach Yin Gua in the blink of an eye, following which he began to summon his Mantra Treasured Axis.
If he were to release his Mantra Treasured Axis at such close quarters, even the Great Epassment Stage Yin Gua would be sure to be severely affected, thereby allowing Han Li a chance to deal a grievous blow.
However, before Han Li had a chance to summon his Mantra Treasured Axis, a cold sneer appeared on Yin Gua''s face, and a rumbling thunderp suddenly rang out around Han Li as thick arcs of ck baleful lightning appeared, then wrapped themselves around his limbs and torso to immobilize him in mid-air.
Immediately thereafter, Yin Gua made a grabbing motion, and a ball of ck lightning instantly elongated into a ck spear in the palm of his hand.
He didn''t waste any more time as he plunged the baleful lightning spear directly toward Han Li''s be, while Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong looked on with rmed expressions.
Chapter 767: Baleful Domain
Right as Yin Gua''s baleful lightning spear was about to pierce into Han Li''s head, the nearby space suddenly began to ripple, following which several translucent chains emerged without any warning before piercing into Yin Gua''s mind,pletely unimpeded by the protective light barrier around him.
As a result, Yin Gua was instantly immobilized on the spot, and even his expression hadpletely stiffened.
At the same time, ayer of golden scales appeared over Han Li''s arms, and he clenched his fists tightly while rushing forward with all his might, stretching the arcs of ck baleful lightning around him, but they refused to snap.
Furthermore, they were constantly sending jolts of numbing force into his body, thereby further thwarting his efforts.
Fox 3 hesitated momentarily upon seeing this, then arrived behind Yin Gua in a sh before making a grabbing motion to summon the silver longsword from before.
Bursts of sword qi were surging out of the sword as he pierced it toward Yin Gua''s chest from behind, but right as the tip of the sword was about to pierce into Yin Gua''s body, Han Li''s pupils suddenly contracted slightly as he hurriedly yelled, "Get back!"
Fox 3 immediately shot back in retreat without any hesitation upon hearing this, right as a ck bead emerged on Yin Gua''s be before exploding to release a burst of ck light that snapped the spiritual sense chains in his mind.
Immediately thereafter, a fearsome aura erupted out of his body, and eight baleful lightning spears that resembled spider legs shot out of his back without any warning.
If Fox 3 hadn''t retreated in time, he would''ve been impaled on the spot.Yin Gua''s body shuddered slightly, but he didn''t do anything else. It seemed that his spiritual sense was still a little sluggish and disoriented after being freed from the Spiritual Sense Cage, and those eight baleful lightning spider spears had only been released out of self-preservation instincts.
Right at this moment, a burst of green light shed from the mouth of Han Li''s Profound Heavenly Gourd at his behest, immediately following which a vast expanse of silver lightning erupted out from within, forming a silver lightning that enshrouded his entire body.
He had collected this silver lightning from the silver lightning pond, but the Profound Heavenly Gourd only had a limited tolerance for the lightning in the Baleful Cleansing Pond.
Filling the gourd with silver lightning was already potentially harmful to the gourd''s spiritual nature, so Han Li didn''t dare to try and draw any golden lightning into the gourd.
The silver lightning shed against the ck baleful lightning, and the arcs of ck lightning wrapped around his body instantly dissipated to free him.
At this point, retreat was no longer an option, and he sped directly toward Yin Gua as quickly as he could.
Meanwhile, Yin Gua had also returned to his senses, and upon sensing the approaching Han Li, heshed out with all eight of his spider spears at once, bringing them together to conjure up a ball of ck lightning the size of a human head, which hurtled directly toward Han Li.
The ball of ck lightning didn''t appear to be all that fearsome, but there were dozens of miniature lightning dragons circling around within it, waiting to be freed as soon as the ball of lightning was detonated.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart in the face of the ball of lightning, but he continued onward without pause, summoning the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber before swinging it down upon Yin Gua with both hands.
His immortal spiritual power surged rapidly into the saber, and all of the crimson patterns on its surface instantly lit up, conjuring up a giant saber projection that struck the ball of ck lightning.
On the edge of the Baleful Cleansing Pond, Shi Chuankong had already recovered somewhat, and a peculiar look shed through his eyes as he sat with his legs crossed, absorbing immortal spiritual power from a pair of Immortal Origin Stones.
After emerging from the silver lightning pond, Han Li had clearly be significantly more powerful, and this saber strike was already not inferior to the one that they had collectively unleashed to sever the azure lightning chain.
The saber projection struck the ball of lightning, and a deafening explosion instantly rang out, causing the entire hall to shudder violently.
Even Yin Chengquan and Liu Qi had their attention drawn to themotion, while Weeping Soul was desperately praying for Han Li''s welfare.
The miniature lightning dragons were struggling with all their might, but they were firmly suppressed and contained by the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, while only some residual arcs of lightning managed to slip through the cracks tosh out at Han Li.
Han Li''s hands were trembling incessantly as arcs of baleful lightning ravaged his entire body, sending plumes of smoke rising up into the air, while blood trickled out of his mouth and nostrils.
Even so, he gritted his teeth tightly and persevered with all his might as he forced the saber down bit by bit, slowly overwhelming the eight opposing spider spears.
A sinister look appeared in Yin Gua''s eyes as he chanted a brief incantation, following which an indistinct insect projection suddenly appeared deep within his eyes.
At the exact same moment, a strange rune suddenly appeared on the body of the dormant slug-like Infernal Soul Bug in Han Li''s mind, and it began to move again.
A cold sneer appeared on Yin Gua''s face as he reached out with his only remaining hand, and five streaks of ck light shot out of his fingertips, piercing through the ck baleful lighting up ahead as it surged toward Han Li.
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly as he let loose a loud roar while channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique, and the spiritual sense chains around the Infernal Soul Bug instantly constructed, while several more chains emerged before piercing through its body, pinning it firmly to the spot.
These chains were giving off formidable spiritual sense that was manifested in the form of countless tiny runes, and the Infernal Soul Bug was immobilized once again.
As for the five streaks of ck light that were hurtling toward Han Li''s head, they had been scattered by the tremendous spiritual sense fluctuations erupting out of Han Li''s mind.
"Impossible!"
Yin Gua was astonished to see this.
He was more aware than anyone of just how formidable Infernal Soul Bugs were, yet Han Li''s spiritual sense had been enhanced to such an extent through his baptisms in the three lightning ponds that he was now able to dominate the Infernal Soul Bug.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he injected even more immortal spiritual power into the saber in his hands, and the ball of ck lightning was finally sliced into two, while the eight spider spears also caved.
The Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber plunged straight down, slicing Yin Gua cleanly in half from the top of his head down through his chest and abdomen, but the two halves of his body remained hovering in mid-air as he sneered, "It''s extremely impressive that a semi-High Zenith cultivator like yourself was able to force me to use my baleful spirit as a substitution to take that lethal blow, but this is as far as you go!"
Immediately thereafter, his body exploded violently, sending a vast expanse of ck lightning spreading in all directions.
At the same time, the ball of ck lightning also exploded, and the lightning dragon projections within it instantly crashed straight into Han Li''s chest.
The suit of Xuanwu armor re-emerged over his body, only to instantly shatter upon contact with the lightning dragon projections, and before Han Li even had a chance to cry out, his saber had slipped out of his grasp, while his body was severely ravaged and came drifting down like a raft in a turbulent sea.
A sense of despair welled up in Fox 3''s heart as he looked on from afar, while Weeping Soul hurriedly attempted to rush over to Han Li''s side, only to be instantly stopped in her tracks by Yin Chengquan''s spiritual sense avatar.
In the next instant, the arcs of baleful lightning that had scattered through the air converged to form a spherical ck light barrier that epassed Han Li''s entire body.
The ck light barrier was extremely dense and virtuallypletely opaque, and incredibly thick arcs of ck lightning emerged within it, stretching out Han Li''s limbs so that he was forced to hover in mid-air in a spreadeagled fashion.
Immediately thereafter, a ball of ck baleful lightning appeared in front of him before taking on the form of Yin Gua.
"You''ve got quite a few true spirit bloodlines in your body, and your physical constitution is also exceptional. Once I refine you with my baleful lightning, that should be enough to replenish the energy I''ve exerted in this battle, and I may even be able to further consolidate my cultivation base," Yin Gua mused, and he was looking rather pale from overexertion.
His body swelled to over a hundred feet tall as he spoke, and a giant mouth-like opening abruptly split open from his lower abdomen before sucking Han Li into his belly.
"You have to fight back, Master! He''s using his baleful domain!" Weeping Soul called out frantically, and in her moment of distraction, she was sent flying by a swat from Yin Chengquan before crashing into the wall, where she was embedded into the rock face.
Several secondster, the spherical ck light barrier faded, and Yin Gua emerged from within it.
With Han Li nowhere to be seen, Shi Chuankong heaved an internal sigh as a hint of despair shed through his eyes.
Meanwhile, Yin Gua made a beckoning motion, and all of the arcs of surrounding baleful lightning converged toward the palm of his hand.
Chapter 768: Come From Behind
Chapter 768: Come From Behind
Yin Gua took a nce at the spot where his arm had been severed, then turned to Shi Chuankong with a sinister grin as he chuckled, "I''m terribly sorry to have kept you waiting for so long."
He then began to slowly make his way toward Shi Chuankong, who was looking on with tightly furrowed brows.
At this point, he had already released the Immortal Origin Stones in his hands and was making a strange hand seal. He could feel a burning pain on his back as a sealed rune began to appear on his skin.
Activating the rune would incur an extremely heavy cost, so it was only ever to be used as ast resort, and this was truly his final trump card.
Right as Shi Chuankong was steeling himself to make a final stand, Yin Gua''s expression suddenly changed drastically as a rumbling thunderp rang out from within his lower abdomen, following which a burst of silver light that was as radiant as the sun appeared.
Immediately thereafter, countless arcs of silver lightning erupted forth, tearing a huge gash open on his lower abdomen, following which waves of scorching silver mes surged out into the open.
A sharp cry rang out as a giant silver fire raven flew out of Yin Gua''s abdomen, then circled around in mid-air before pouncing at his chest.
Standing on the fire raven''s back was none other than Han Li, although he was looking very much worse for wear.
Everyone waspletely astonished by this incredible turn of events, while Weeping Soul struggled out of the rock face, paying no heed to her own injuries as she stared intently at Han Li with an anxious expression.
Yin Chengquan''s expression darkened significantly upon seeing this, while Liu Qi was looking on with abination of surprise and tion in his eyes, with the former far outweighing thetter.
A resounding boom rang out as the silver fire raven crashed into Yin Gua''s chest, instantly setting his entire body alight with silver mes.
"What the hell is this thing?!" Yin Gua yelled in a horrified voice, and baleful lightning was surging incessantly over his body, but he was unable to struggle free from the silver mes.
Just like the silver lightning from the Baleful Cleansing Pond, these silver mes were extremely potent against him.
Unbeknownst to him, after devouring the three balls of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, the power of the Essence Fire Raven''s mes had already reached the High Zenith Stage. If Han Li hadn''t forcibly awoken it prematurely, the power of its mes would''ve been able to reach at least thete-High Zenith Stage.
Furthermore, the Essence Fire Raven was a natural bane of baleful qi, and it had erupted from within Yin Gua''s body, so it was naturally particrly potent.
Shi Chuankong and Fox 3 were naturally ecstatic to see this, while Yin Chengquan''s expression darkened even further, and Liu Qi was observing Han Li with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
Despite Yin Gua''s desperate struggles, the silver mes refused to be extinguished.
Right at this moment, a streak of ck light suddenly shot out of the fire, and a miniature ck figure appeared within it, then vanished into thin air amid a sh of lightning before Han Li and the others could intervene.
Meanwhile, Yin Gua''s body crashed to the ground, having already been reduced to a charred corpse.
Han Li jumped down from the Essence Fire Raven''s back, then made a beckoning motion to retrieve the scattered Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords on the ground, but they were rather reluctant to return to him.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and only after cing more focus on his spiritual connection with the swords was he able to just barely draw them back into his body.
After that, he also drew the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber into his grasp before flying over to Yin Gua''s body.
Following a brief examination, he discovered a white bone badge hanging from his waist, and he removed it before stowing it away.
Meanwhile, the Essence Fire Raven reverted back into a miniature silver figure beforending on Han Li''s shoulder, still looking very sleepy.
"Are you alright, Master?" Weeping Soul hurriedly asked as she flew over to his side.
"I''m fine. How about you?" Han Li asked.
"I''m alright. He still seems to want to use me, so he held back against me, and my injuries aren''t very severe," Weeping Soul replied with a sullen expression.
Right at this moment, Fox 3 hurriedly approached them with a concerned expression, then urged, "I''m sorry to call upon you right after such a grueling battle, Brother Li, but Patriarch Liu Qi still needs our help."
Han Li turned to discover that without Weeping Soul''s assistance, the tables had beenpletely turned, and Yin Chengquan had gained a clear upper hand.
"I''ll go help him, Master," Weeping Soul immediately volunteered.
"There''s no hurry. Senior Liu Qi will be able tost some time on his own, so let''s take this time to replenish our immortal spiritual power, then sever the third chain. If we can do that, Senior Liu Qi''s powers will be drastically enhanced, and he''ll be able to defeat Yin Chengquan even without our help," Han Li replied.
"Each sessive chain seems to be more powerful than the previous one, are you sure you''ll be able to sever this third chain, Brother Li?" Fox 3 asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"Rest assured, I''m 70% confident that I''ll be able to sever the silver chain, but prior to that, I''ll need to recover as much immortal spiritual power as possible," Han Li replied.
With that, everyone quickly sat down with their legs crossed and began to focus on rest and recuperation.
......
At the conference venue.
The atmosphere was still as tense as ever, and things were beginning to get a little awkward.
Huang Fuyu''s brows furrowed slightly as he proposed, "Regional Monarch Yin, at this point, there''s no reason to dy things any further, so let''s get to the vote."
However, Yin Chengquan didn''t seem to have heard him at all, and he was sitting in silence with a thoughtful look on his face while ying with the gray ring on his left pinky finger.
"Pce Master Huang is right, Regional Monarch Yin. Everything that needs to be discussed has already been discussed, so let''smence the vote," Xiao Buye echoed in a slightly louder voice.
Only then did Yin Chengquan suddenly snap back to his senses, and a slightly stiff smile appeared on his face as he said, "ording to the conference schedule, it''s still not time to vote yet, so let''s wait a while longer."
As soon as his voice trailed off, his right hand suddenly shot back into his sleeve as if he had been stung, and an incredulous look shed through his eyes as he looked down at the ring on his left hand, where the silver mark had suddenly began shing slightly.
He had done well to conceal this sequence of actions, but it hadn''t escaped Huang Fuyu''s notice.
At this point, Huang Fuyu was beginning to feel a little bewildered. He hade into this conference feeling very apprehensive, thinking that the Infernal Tribe was up to no good, but at this point, Yin Chengquan was currently the one looking the most uneasy out of three leading figures at the conference, and it seemed like the Infernal Tribe was truly dealing with a lot of trouble.
Yin Chengquan was just about to rise to his feet when his expression changed once again, and this time, he was so shocked that he had even forgotten to conceal his own astonishment.
"What''s wrong, Regional Monarch Yin? Has there been a turn in the situation over at the Soul Cleansing Area? If you require assistance, I''m sure all of the regional monarchs present would be willing to lend you a hand," Huang Fuyu said with a smile.
"That won''t be necessary. This is an internal affair of our Infernal Tribe, so I won''t bother all of you. I was only thinking about the proposition that you had just raised," Yin Chengquan replied as his expression returned to normal.
Huang Fuyu raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, then suddenly asked through voice transmission, "Wyrm 3, have our spies in Asura City unearthed any more information?"
"There have been some further updates, but we still don''t know exactly what''s happening. All I''ve been told is that there''s been a major crisis in the Soul Cleansing Area, and the nearby Tarmin Area, Hundred Treasure Area, and Bitter Lake Area have all been ced under lockdown.
¡°The Great Epassment cultivator stationed in the Bitter Lake Area, Yin Lin, has also traveled to the Soul Cleansing Area, but it seems like the situation over there is only continuing to escte," Wyrm 3 replied.
"Judging from Yin Chengquan''s reaction, things must really have taken a drastic turn for the worse," Huang Fuyu mused with a faint smile.
"Are you considering following Pce Master Huang''s proposal tomence the vote now?" Xiao Buye asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"There are still a lot of conflicting opinions, so I don''t think this is the best time to be holding a vote. How about we temporarily adjourn the conference, then continue our discussion some other day? After all, this conference concerns the future direction of our Gray Realm, so a decision should not be made lightly," Yin Chengquan replied with a smile.
Xiao Buye immediately shook his head vigorously upon hearing this.
"Asura City is not a readily essible ce for us all, and many of us have had to make very long journeys to get here. In light of that, it would be far too unreasonable to adjourn the conference and expect everyone to make the same journey again some other time."
"That was never my intention, Regional Monarch Xiao. The next time the conference rmences, I suggest holding it in your ck Rope Region," Yin Chengquan replied.
"That would still be far too inconvenient for everyone, Regional Monarch Yin. It''s not like we''re in a hurry to reach a decision, we could easily just extend the conference. As long as we can arrive at a decision that satisfies the majority, I''m sure everyone would be willing to wait a few more days," Huang Fuyu said, and all of a sudden, it seemed that he was no longer in a hurry.
A subtle hint of displeasure shed through Yin Chengquan''s eyes upon hearing this, then turned to Xiao Buye asked as he asked, "What do you think, Regional Monarch Xiao?"
The drastic turns in the attitudes of Yin Chengquan and Huang Fuyu had tipped Xiao Buye off to the situation at hand, and he pretended to consider the question for a moment, then gave a response that he had already prepared in his mind.
"Both proposals have their merits, but our Gray Realm has already been fractured for a very long time, and theck of consensus on what course of action should be taken against the Immortal Realm has long been a source of unease and contention.
¡°My concern is that if we keep dying things, our Gray Realm will only continue to be more fractured and divided, to the point that things could be untenable. Hence, I think we should make a decision right away and not postpone the decision to another day."
Chapter 769: Postponing the Debate
Chapter 769: Postponing the Debate
"Regional Monarch Xiao, I''m afraid that our Infernal Region cannot support the Reincarnation Region''s stance. Our Infernal Region has no problem with resisting Immortal Realm invasions, but establishing a passageway between our two realms to attack the Immortal Realm is a step too far.
¡°Setting aside how costly it would be to maintain such a passageway over long periods of time, if a spiritual qi influx from the Immortal Realm is triggered, that would spell disaster for our entire realm!" Yin Chengquan said.
"You can rest assured on that front, Regional Monarch Yin. Our Reincarnation Region already has aplete n prepared with regard to an interrealm passageway, and if we can all reach a consensus, then our Reincarnation Region would be happy to reveal this n for all to see," Huang Fuyu replied.
"If you already have a n prepared, then why not reveal it now? Once Regional Monarch Xiao and I have seen it, our qualms will be eased, and we''ll be more open and receptive to your Reincarnation Region''s stance on this matter," Yin Chengquan sneered.
"This is a closely guarded secret of our Reincarnation Region, and there aren''t many people aware of this even in our region. Hence, before our three regions can reach a consensus, I won''t be leaking any information," Huang Fuyu replied in a stoic fashion.
"If you keep arguing like this, the debate could go on for centuries without reaching a decisive oue! I think that our top priority should be to address the division currently in our Gray Realm. As for our stance against the Immortal Realm, that''s a subject that I think can be set aside to be discussed another time," Xiao Buye proposed with a smile.
"I think that''s a good suggestion, Regional Monarch Xiao," Yin Chengquan replied without any hesitation. "What do you think, Pce Master Huang?"
"I think by doing this, we''ll only be avoiding the true topic of contention, and the oue will be that our three regions will be united on the surface, but in reality, we''ve only smoothed over the cracks instead of actually filling them," Huang Fuyu countered with slightly furrowed brows.
"In the past, there have been many conflicts between the regions, and even though none have resulted in severe casualties, it''s still a form of infighting that should be eliminated. If our three regions can agree to unite as one, then no one will attack the others for fear of retaliation from both of the other two regions," Xiao Buye said with a smile.
"That may be true, but even if an alliance is to be formed, someone must lead the alliance. I''m sure Fellow Daoist Huang wouldn''t agree to let me serve as alliance leader, and simrly, I''m not willing to allow the role to fall into the hands of the Incarnation Region.
¡°With that in mind, I think it would be best for Regional Monarch Xiao to serve as alliance leader for now. As for whether that''s subject to change in the future, that''ll depend on the oue of the next conference," Yin Chengquan said.
Huang Fuyu heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this. Ultimately, it was Xiao Buye who was the main beneficiary of this conflict.
Even so, at the very least, a rtively stable environment had been created. Without any foul y from the Infernal Region, the Reincarnation Region would be able to better focus on its ns. Furthermore, judging from the reactions of the monarchs present, it seemed that many regions were in support of the Reincarnation Region''s stance.
With more time for the Reincarnation Region to win over smaller regions, Huang Fuyu was confident that he would be able to secure a crushing victory in the next conference.
With that in mind, Huang Fuyu nodded as he said, "Our Reincarnation Region has no objections to this proposal."
Xiao Buye didn''t try to contest this oue, and he smiled as he said, "I am truly honored to be receiving such a prestigious role, and I''ll be sure to step down once an oue is reached in the next conference."
In light of this oue, no vote was required for now, and Yin Chengquan proposed, "In that case, let''s decide a time for the next conference..."
......
Shortly thereafter, the conference drew to a conclusion, and the tribes from the Reincarnation and ck Rope Regions departed from the Fallen Lake Area, traveling toward the city gates of Asura City.
Among the long convoy of carriages, the carriage of the San Miao Tribe was rather nondescript, and Miao Xiu and Miao Gao were seated within it.
"Father, do you think those three were responsible for what happened in Asura City?" Miao Xiu suddenly asked in a quiet voice.
Miao Gao immediately made a quieting gesture upon hearing this, then replied through voice transmission, "Regardless of whether they had anything to do with it, don''t ever mention those three to anyone. We''ve never met them, and we don''t know of their existence, do you understand?"
Miao Xiu nodded in response, then turned to look out the window of the carriage with a thoughtful expression.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 3 was standing behind the railing of a giant octagonal carriage, and she was looking out at the Soul Cleansing Area with a peculiar look on her face.
Right at this moment, Huang Fuyu emerged from the carriage, then asked, "What''s wrong, Jiuzhen?"
"I can''t help but feel like that entire conference was very strange, Uncle Huang. What could''ve possibly happened to trigger such a drastic change in the Infernal Tribe''s attitude?" Wyrm 3 asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"I don''t know the answer to that, but in any case, the oue was a positive one for us," Huang Fuyu replied with a smile.
"We had all those measures prepared in case Yin Chengquan tried any funny business, but I''m d things ended as peacefully as they did," Wyrm 3 said with a smile of her own.
......
In the Baleful Cleansing Ponds, the white fox projection was hovering proudly in the sky while panting slightly.
Not far in front of it stood Yin Chengquan''s spiritual sense avatar, and a massive hole had been sted into its chest, almost splitting its body into two, while its eyes werepletely dull and devoid of luster.
The fox projection harrumphed coldly before flying back into Liu Qi''s be, while the remains of Yin Chengquan''s spiritual sense avatar dissipated into specks of translucent light.
Standing beside Liu Qi, Weeping Soul''splexion was deathly pale, and she was barely able to remain standing.
The four musical instruments around Liu Qi reverted back into four balls of ck light that flew back into her body, following which she began to fall to the ground, unable to hold herself upright any longer.
A streak of azure light flew over to catch her, following which Han Li appeared beside her with his brows tightly furrowed with concern.
"I''m fine, Master, it''s just that I''ve overexerted my soul power from ying the Crying Soul Melody for so long," Weeping Soul assured with a forced smile.
However, Han Li''s concern wasn''t assuaged at all upon hearing this.
At this moment, Weeping Soul was in terrible condition. Her face waspletely devoid of color, and her aura had be extremely feeble.
Even though the Crying Soul Melody had ceased, her aura was still growing feebler by the second.
Han Li raised a hand to summon several ck pills, all of which flew into Weeping Soul''s mouth, and at the same time, he cast a string of incantation seals into her body to help her digest the pills faster.
Ayer of ck light emerged over Weeping Soul''s body, but it wasn''t having much of an effect at all.
Han Li''s expression darkened even further upon seeing this, and he was at a temporary loss for what to do.
Right at this moment, Liu Qi turned to Weeping Soul, and a burst of translucent light shot out of his be before vanishing into her body.
Ayer of translucent light instantly appeared around her, and a hint of color quickly returned to her cheeks, while her aura was also immediately stabilized.
With Han Li''s help, she was able to get into a seated position, and her aura quickly began to recover, much to Han Li''s relief.
As expected, a Dao Ancestor''s powers were far beyond those of a semi-High Zenith cultivator like himself.
Fox 3 flew over to Liu Qi''s side with an excited expression, but before he had a chance to say anything, Liu Qi turned to Han Li with an urgent expression as he said, "Now''s not the time to be celebrating. Yin Chengquan is most likely already on the way here! Now that you''ve ovee your baleful decay and attained a Jade Immortal Physique, the lightning in these Baleful Cleansing Ponds won''t pose much of a threat to you anymore.
¡°Enter the final golden lightning pond right away so you can absorb its aura, then sever the final Lightning Entrapment Chain."
Han Li turned to the golden lightning pond upon hearing this, and he discovered that it was filled with incredibly thin arcs of golden lightning that were better described as strands.
These strands of golden lightning were extremely bright, and they asionally converged to take on all types of different forms, such as balls, rings, or mountains, presenting a profound sight to behold.
Furthermore, every single strand of lightning was giving off formidable lightningw power fluctuations that caused the nearby space to tremble incessantly.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this. The golden lightning pond was clearly far more powerful than the silver lightning pond, and even though he was on the cusp of the High Zenith Stage, he still wasn''t confident in his ability to withstand such a stern test.
However, just as Liu Qi had said, Yin Chengquan was sure to react to the demise of his spiritual sense avatar, and there was no telling when the enemy would be arriving, so they had to free Liu Qi as soon as possible.
A concerned look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face as he said, "Fellow Daoist Li, the lightning in the golden lightning pond is extremely formidable. Are you sure..."
Before he had a chance to finish, Han Li interjected, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Shi. I''ll be in your care then, Senior Liu Qi."
After that, he sprang into the golden lightning pond without any hesitation.
Chapter 770: Evolution
As soon as Han Li entered the golden lightning pond, all of the lightning inside instantly began to churn violently amid bursts of thunderous rumbling, and countless balls of golden lightning took shape before converging toward him from all directions in a frenzy.
Han Li naturally wasn''t just going to resign himself to his fate. In the instant that he entered the lightning pond, his body instantly swelled drastically in size, while ayer of golden scales appeared over his skin.
Immediately thereafter, his entire body was inundated by golden lightning, filling the entire hall with blinding golden radiance.
Liu Qi''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he chanted a rapid incantation, then grabbed onto the golden chain with one of his tails before giving it a strong tug.
The light emanating from the golden chain instantly brightened significantly as arcs of lightning emerged over its surface, drawing the majority of lightning from the pond to alleviate the pressure on Han Li.
At the same time, he opened his mouth to release a ball of white light, which then instantly exploded into dozens of streaks of white light that shot forth in all directions before vanishing into all parts of the hall.
The patterns in the giant array on the ground quickly turned white, and the stone gate at the entrance mmed shut with a resounding boom.
In the blink of an eye, all of the array patterns in every corner of the entire hall had lit up, and all of a sudden, it was as if the hall had bepletely isted from the outside world, forming a separate space of its own.
"This is a Xumi Domain!" Shi Chuankong eximed.Liu Qi had just unleashed a type of spatial secret technique capable ofpletely severing a ce from the outside world, and if an outsider wished to enter the space, their only option would be topletely destroy it.
Shi Chuankong took a long nce at Liu Qi, then suddenly flew over to the silver lightning pond.
"What are you doing, Brother Shi?" Fox 3 hurriedly asked.
"The baleful qi in my body is still yet to be fully eradicated, so I''m going to continue my baleful cleansing," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"You''ve witnessed the power of the silver lightning array, even Fellow Daoist Li only just barely managed to survive it. As opposed to taking such a huge risk now, you should wait until Patriarch Liu Qi ispletely freed," Fox 3 advised with slightly furrowed brows.
"Right now, the situation outside is constantly changing, and enemies could arrive at any moment, so I can''t afford to dy any longer. Thank you for your concern, Brother Fox, but I must enter this lightning pond, even if I am to die in there!" Shi Chuankong replied with a determined expression, then leaped into the silver lightning pond before Fox 3 had a chance to say anything else.
Fox 3 could only shake his head before turning his gaze to the golden lightning pond.
As time passed, the golden lightning within the pond had begun to conjure up different objects such as lightning beads and lightning rings, all of which were bombarding Han Li relentlessly.
Even though Han Li''s physical body had already reached the High Zenith Stage, he was struggling to withstand the assault, and his skin had turned bright red, while his entire body was riddled with countless tiny bleeding gashes that were healing just as quickly as they appeared.
Han Li''s eyes were tightly shut as he remainedpletely still in the golden lightning pond, but veins were bulging on his forehead, and all of his muscles were squirming incessantly. It was clear that he was enduring indescribable agony, but at the same time, he was also channeling his Great Universe Origin Arts to protect his own internal organs.
Having endured the three previous lightning ponds, he had already gleaned many secrets about them, and that allowed him to absorb the aura of the lightning pond faster than before.
At the moment, time was of the essence, and he had to absorb the aura of the golden lightning pond as quickly as possible, then sever the golden chain.
Before long, the arcs of golden lightning had managed to break through the defenses of his skin, and they immediately burrowed their way into his body, severing all of the flesh and meridians in their wake.
The lightningw powers imbued within the arcs of lightning also rapidly spread through his body, striking him with a numb sensation thatpletely immobilized him while also rendering him unable to control his own immortal spiritual power cirction.
Han Li was naturally greatly rmed by this development. With both his body and his immortal spiritual power in an immobile state, he had lost the ability to leave the lightning pond.
A hint of anger quickly welled up in his heart, and he was furious that Liu Qi hadn''t warned him about this beforehand.
Having already been trapped here for so long, Han Li was certain that Liu Qi would''ve been aware that this would happen.
However, this wasn''t the time to be pointing fingers, and Han Li was forced to focus all of his efforts on resisting the influx of lightningw powers.
However, these lightningw powers were extremely formidable, and they were surging into his body in waves, exacerbating the numb sensation.
A burst of lightningw powers also surged into his mind and wrapped itself around his soul, causing his spiritual sense to be stagnant as well.
Following Yin Gua''s demise, the Infernal Soul Bug in his soul had remainedpletely still, as if it had perished, but in the face of this influx of lightningw powers, it suddenly began to struggle violently while screeching in an agonized fashion.
At the same time, it was desperately trying to burrow deeper into Han Li''s soul in order to escape from the lightningw powers, but it was already toote, and golden lightning runes had already begun surging in its body.
The Infernal Soul Bug abruptly began to swell rapidly in size, following which it exploded into a cloud of ck qi amid a dull thump.
Han Li''s soul shuddered violently, causing his vision to ck out for a moment, but the disturbance wasn''t that severe, and with his tremendous spiritual sense, he was able to quickly recover.
The Infernal Soul Bug in his soul had always been a concern of his. Perhaps it wouldn''t be able to do anything now that Yin Gua was dead, but ultimately, it was certainly not a good thing to have such a potential threat lurking in his soul, and his eradication came as quite a relief.
However, his relief quickly turned to concern once again as the power of his Great Universe Origin Arts was quickly stripped away by the influx of lightningw powers, following which the lightningw powers began to infiltrate his internal organs.
Han Li gave a muffled groan as blood began to trickle down from the corner of his lips, and right as he was considering taking some drastic measures, the seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in his dantian suddenly stirred slightly, then began devouring all of the iing lightningw powers.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which a hint of tion appeared in his eyes.
He didn''t know why this was happening, but the lightningw powers in his dantian had faded, allowing him to regain control over the immortal spiritual power there.
He was just about to channel his immortal spiritual power to try and keep out the surrounding lightning when the seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords suddenly flew out of his dantian altogether, then began to circle through the air around him.
As they did so, they began to rapidly devour the lightningw powers within the lightning pond, doing so with a great deal of eagerness and urgency.
Countless tiny golden lightning runes began to appear around the swords, and they were giving off lightningw power fluctuations that caused the nearby space to buzz and tremble incessantly.
Meanwhile, the lightningw powers in Han Li''s body were quickly fading away, as was the numb sensation that had immobilized him this entire time.
The tion on his face became even more pronounced upon seeing this, and it was intermingled with a hint of excitement.
The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were his bonded treasure, so he had an extremely close spiritual connection with them, and at this moment, he could sense that the swords were undergoing a process of evolution from devouring the lightningw powers in this lightning pond.
Having devoured so much sword essence in the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, the set of swords had been imbued with tremendous spiritual power, and each of them wasparable in power to most immortal treasures.
However, they contained now powers, so they were made to look rather inferior in the face of some graded immortal treasures, but it seemed that they were finally about to make the leap to be graded immortal treasures themselves.
Han Li suppressed the excitement in his heart as he channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts once again to protect his own body, warding off the surrounding golden lightning while carefully observing his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
These were his bonded treasures, and he had to make absolute certain that no harm befell them.
A hint of surprise appeared on Fox 3''s face as he saw what was happening in the golden lightning pond, and Liu Qi also turned his gaze to Han Li with an intrigued expression.
The seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were circling rapidly around Han Li, and the lightningw runes around them were rapidly expanding in size, while the lightningw powers that they were giving off were also bing steadily more formidable.
The flying swords themselves were also rapidly swelling in size, having already be several dozen feet in size, and they resembled seventy-two sharks that were swimming joyfully through the lightning pond while devouring the lightningw powers within like seventy-two bottomless pits.
Han Li wasn''t surprised at all to see this.
He knew that thew powers imbued within an immortal treasure was rted to the materials used to refine it, the spiritual power that it contained, and the degree to which it had been nurtured. If an immortal treasure had been refined from inferior materials or was of an unsuitable attribute, then there was a very good chance that it could break during an injection ofw powers.
Exceptional materials had been used to refine these Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and they also contained immense spiritual power. On top of that, they had either been nurtured in Han Li''s body or within the Profound Heavenly Gourd this entire time, and with such a strong foundation, it naturally stood to reason that they could contain an immense amount ofw powers.
He had refrained from elevating this set of flying swords into true immortal treasures this entire time as he hadn''t been able to find a source ofw powers of sufficient volume to support this process, but the opportunity had suddenly presented itself to him.
Chapter 771: Utmost Urgency
Han Li could see that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were continuing to devour the lightningw powers within the lightning pond without any adverse side-effects, so he began to focus on himself, closing his eyes to inspect his own internal condition.
It was naturally a good thing that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were evolving, but his top priority at the moment was to absorb the aura of the lightning pond as soon as possible.
All of a sudden, various true spirit projections appeared around his body once again, and they were far clearer than before, with every single one of them giving off formidable true spirit bloodline auras.
Han Li''s body was rapidly swelling and morphing, but with his physical body greatly enhanced, the true spirit bloodlines weren''t having anywhere near as potent an effect on him as they were earlier.
Aside from these true spirit projections, arcs of golden lightning had also surfaced over his body, and they began to fuse together, forming a radiant cloak of golden lightning.
In the next instant, Han Li''s eyes abruptly sprang open, following which he shot up into the air as a golden shadow.
Just like in the three previous lightning ponds, the golden lightning in the pond immediately set off in pursuit of Han Li, forming a giant golden lightning that wrapped itself around him.
The of golden lightning was extremely dense, and it was further bolstered by countless lightningw runes, stopping Han Li cold in his tracks.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to do anything, huge streaks of azure sword qi suddenly erupted out of the lightning pond in all directions, slicing through the surrounding space with ease.The golden lightning was instantly shredded into countless pieces, and the sword qi seemed to have a mind of its own, making sure to skirt around Han Li to ensure that he remained unharmed.
Fox 3''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly shot back in retreat.
He had reacted very quickly, but the eruption of sword qi had been far too abrupt, and a deep gash had still been sliced into his arm, one that was bleeding profusely.
Specks of green light emerged over the gash on his arm, and the injury quickly began to heal, while Fox 3 cast his gaze toward the sword qi in the golden lightning pond with a hint of wariness in his eyes.
The sword qi was extremely formidable, and he was extremely fortunate that he had been standing quite far away to begin with and had reacted very quickly. Otherwise, if he had been swept up in the midst of the sword qi, then the consequences would''ve been catastrophic.
Right at this moment, Han Li flew out of the sword qi beforending beside the lightning pond, then promptly took a pill.
Bursts of green light emerged over the wounds on his body as well, and the gashes quickly healed within a matter of seconds.
The boundless sword qi within the lightning pond also quickly faded away, while the rifts that they had sliced into the nearby space were sealed again.
Immediately thereafter, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords came flying out of the lightning pond one after another, and their outward appearance had changed drastically.
All of the swords had be such a bright green color that they were virtually transparent, and they were riddled with golden lightning-shaped patterns, while arcs of thick golden lighting were shing around them.
In the blink of an eye, all seventy-two flying swords had flown out of the lightning pond, and every single one of them was giving off tremendous sword qi fluctuations that were several times more powerful than before, cing them at least on par with the few graded immortal treasures in Han Li''s possession.
The seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords circled around Han Li momentarily as a series of golden shadows, then returned to his dantian.
Han Li could sense the tremendous power within the seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and a faint smile of tion crept onto his face.
Right at this moment, Fox 3 flew over to him, then cupped his fist in a congrattory salute as he said, "Congrattions, Fellow Daoist Li. Have you managed to absorb the aura of the golden lightning pond?"
"Rest assured, Brother Fox, I wouldn''t havee out of the lightning pond if I hadn''t absorbed its aura," Han Li replied with a smile, and ayer of golden lightning shed over his body as he spoke.
A hint of tion and excitement shed through Liu Qi''s eyes upon seeing this, while Weeping Soul was roused from her meditation by the sound of Han Li''s voice.
"Master!" she called out as she rose to her feet before approaching Han Li.
At this point, herplexion had already improved significantly, while her aura was also mostly recovered. It was unclear what type of secret technique she had used, but her recovery had been remarkably fast.
Han Li gave Weeping Soul a nod, and he was just about to say something when Shi Chuankong suddenly flew out of the silver lightning pond amid a deafening thunderp.
At this moment, he was in an extremely sorry state. An entireyer of flesh and skin had been peeled away from his body, revealing a series of ribs on his lower abdomen, while the skin and flesh on his arms had almost beenpletely stripped away to reveal the bones underneath.
Despite the terrible physical condition that he was in, there was ayer of jade-like translucent light over his body, clearly indicating that he had already ovee his baleful decay.
Right at his moment, arcs of silver lightning shot out of the lightning pond before wrapping themselves around his body in a sh.
His expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he made a hand seal to summon his Virata Lute.
Shi Chuankong strummed his fingers over the strings of the lute, instantly releasing a series of silver soundwaves that eradicated the arcs of silver lightning clinging to his body upon contact.
He pounced on the opportunity to fly out of the lightning pond, and he was barely able to remain upright as he gasped for air while hurriedly flipping a hand over to summon a few pills.
Despite the terrible physical condition he was in, his face was glowing with tion.
Finally, he had ovee his baleful decay.
Lights of different colors emerged all over his body, and his wounds quickly began to heal. Before long, his body hadrgely returned to normal.
"Congrattions on oveing your baleful decay, Brother Shi. Looks like we made the right decision toe here, after all," Fox 3 said with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"I just barely survived that by the skin of my teeth," Shi Chuankong chuckled.
All of a sudden, Liu Qi interjected in an urgent voice, "I hate to interrupt, but we don''t have time to be chatting right now! I can sense that someone is quickly approaching this ce, so we have to sever the golden chain right away!"
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, and they immediately sprang into action without dy.
The Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber appeared in Han Li''s grasp amid a sh of red light, and he took a deep breath before gripping tightly onto the saber''s hilt with both hands, then injected his immortal spiritual power into it in a frenzy.
Fox 3 and the others appeared behind Han Li in an instant, then thrust their palms forward in unison to inject their immortal spiritual power into his body.
Daoist Xie also appeared beside Han Li amid a sh of golden lightning.
The Immortal Origin Stones in Daoist Xie''s body had already been reced with new ones, so its aura had returned to its peak, and it was also injecting two beams of golden light into Han Li''s body out of the palms of its hands.
This time, the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber was glowing even more radiantly than on the previous three asions, and it released countless crimson saber projections that filled half of the entire hall.
A giant crimson fox projection suddenly emerged from the twin fox heads on the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, then immediately pounced forward and vanished into the de of the saber, immediately followed by all of the countless surrounding saber projections.
The Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber instantly swelled to several times its original size, and its shape also changed drastically as it transformed into a giant crescent-shaped scimitar.
Furthermore, dozens of crimson eyes had appeared all over the entire saber, giving it a harrowing sight to behold.
The Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber shuddered as an animalistic roar rang out from within it, following which crimson light that was as viscous as blood erupted out of its de.
As the wielder of the saber, Han Li was struck head-on by an immense wave of baleful qi that caused his ears to ring loudly, while his internal organs were also churning violently.
A sense of feebleness spread through his entire body, almost causing him to lose his grip on the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber.
Pained looks appeared on the faces of Fox 3 and the others as well, but they were far less severely impacted than Han Li.
Han Li gritted his teeth as he channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might to stabilize his spiritual sense, and at the same time, he tightened his grip around the hilt of the saber.
However, right as he was about to swing the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber down onto the golden chain, it suddenly flew out of his grasp, then crashed heavily down onto the golden chain on its own.
The golden chain trembled violently as the runes engraved on its surface lit up with blinding golden radiance.
The entire golden lightning pond erupted into a frenzy, and waves of golden light that were thousands of feet tall rose up from its surface before threatening to spread in all directions, but ultimately, they seemed to be restricted by some type of invisible force, confining them to the lightning pond down below.
Countless arcs of golden lightning were intertwining incessantly within the golden light, presenting an awe-inspiring sight to behold.
The Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber sliced into the golden chain with great difficulty, but it only managed to slice halfway into the chain before stopping cold in its tracks, unable to advance even an inch further.
A burst of fearsome shockwaves erupted from the point where the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber and the golden chain were connected, and Han Li and the others were instantly sent flying before crashing heavily into a wall.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out, and the entire hall swayed violently as if it had been dealt some type of heavy blow.
Chapter 772: Peril at Every Turn
Chapter 772: Peril at Every Turn
"I suppose this was always unavoidable," Liu Qi murmured to himself as his expression darkened slightly.
At this moment, all of the surrounding white array patterns were glowing radiantly while releasing tremendous power that epassed the entire hall, attempting to stabilize the violent tremors.
However, whatever was attacking the hall from the outside was doing so with tremendous power, and a series of cracks immediately appeared over its walls.
"There''s no time left! Sever the chain!" Liu Qi urged as he made a hand seal, and bright white radiance erupted out of his body as he pointed a finger forward, releasing streaks of white light that vanished into the surrounding array patterns in a sh to stabilize the array.
However, before Han Li and the others even had a chance to steady themselves, an even more fearsome burst of power descended upon the hall.
This time, the hall swayed even more violently than before, and the surrounding white array patterns were trembling incessantly, looking as if they could copse at any moment.
Liu Qi shuddered as he gave a muffled groan, seemingly having been indirectly affected by the heavy blow.
Immediately thereafter, a third blow arrived, and this time, the restrictions in the hall weren''t able to hold themselves together any longer.
The stone gate exploded violently, leaving a huge hole in its wake, following which Yin Chengquan and Feng Qingshui flew into the hall.
Liu Qi gave another muffled groan as his body trembled incessantly, and blood began to trickle down from the corner of his lips, but his expression remainedpletely unchanged as he observed Yin Chengquan and Feng Qingshui with a cold expression.
"Your Infernal Tribe certainly is harboring many secrets, Regional Monarch Yin. We''ve just dealt with the Kun Hou outside, yet there''s another Dao Ancestor in here! My eyes have truly been opened," Feng Qingshui mused as he observed Liu Qi from afar.
"Cut the chit-chat! Just do what we agreed upon prior toing here. Otherwise, I''m scrapping our prior agreement!" Yin Chengquan harrumphed coldly.
Feng Qingshui remainedpletely unbothered by this as a faint smile appeared on his face.
Even though Han Li and the others had been sent flying from the shockwaves of the exploding stone gate, none of them had sustained any substantial injuries, but Han Li''s heart immediately sank at the sight of Yin Chengquan and Feng Qingshui, both of whom hadparable auras, thereby indicating that thetter had to be a Dao Ancestor as well.
Fox 3 and Shi Chuankong''s expressions also darkened significantly as this reality dawned on them as well.
Meanwhile, Weeping Soul was glowering at Yin Chengquan with a cold expression and her fists tightly clenched.
Yin Chengquan swept his gaze over Han Li and the other, then turned his attention to Liu Qi as he chuckled coldly, "Did you have all of this nned out, Liu Qi? You certainly chose a good time to strike, but there''s no way that these ants could possibly sever these Lightning Entrapment Chains. I already told you that you were going to be trapped here for all of eternity!"
He threw a punch as he spoke, and as soon as he did so, Han Li immediately felt the surrounding space swell rapidly like a balloon, expanding the space within the hall by a hundredfold.
In this instant, Yin Chengquan''s body became enormous, and he truly resembled an omnipotent deity.
In contrast, Han Li and the others were made to feel like a group of tiny ants that had strayed from the colony, and a sense of powerlessness welled up in their hearts.
A gray fist projection that resembled a massive mountain took shape before crashing down upon Liu Qi, and the surrounding space was also warping drastically as itpressed toward Liu Qi from all directions.
Furthermore, the gray fist projection was giving off a tremendous aura that instantly struck Han Li and the others with a numb sensation, and their legs plunged involuntarily into the ground all the way up to their knees.
Han Li''splexion instantly paled significantly as blood began to trickle down from the corner of his lips, while Fox 3 and the others fared even worse, throwing up mouthfuls of blood as their faces turned as pale as a sheet.
The Immortal Origin Stones in Daoist Xie''s body had already been exhausted of their immortal spiritual power once again, and in the face of this crushing aura, it toppled straight to the ground, where itid in apletely still fashion.
"If I hadn''t been wounded by cultivators from the Heavenly Court all those years ago, there''s no way you would''ve been able to restrain me! Now that I''ve already been freed from most of the restrictions, you won''t capture me again!" Liu Qi sneered as he grabbed onto the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber with one of his front paws.
The saber immediately began to radiate dazzling crimson light that filled the entire hall, glowing countless times brighter than when it had been wielded by Han Li and the others.
With a swing of the saber, Liu Qi unleashed an enormous crimson saber projection, and the space in its wake exploded inyers like sheets of fragile paper.
Yin Chengquan''s eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, while the giant saber projection crossed over a distance of several hundred feet in a sh before striking the gray fist projection with an earth-shattering boom.
Gray and crimson light intertwined as the nearby space trembled violently, and the bizarre phenomenon of erged space abruptly faded as everything returned to normal.
Countless white storms emerged, and countless more spatial rifts appeared within the storms before spreading in all directions.
At this moment, Han Li and the others werepletely immobilized, and they could only look on helplessly as the spatial rifts spread toward them while releasing devastating forces that would tear their bodies to shreds upon contact.
"What are you standing there for? Don''t let those people die! Capture them!" Yin Chengquan suddenly yelled.
Feng Qingshui turned his gaze to Han Li and the others upon hearing this, and rays of watery blue light began to radiate from his body.
The blue light wasn''t particrly bright, but it was able to seep into the nearby rock face with ease, quickly giving the wall and the floor of the hall the appearance of translucent blue jade.
Enshrouded within the blue light, the spatial rifts were instantly slowed down significantly, while Feng Qingshui reached out to make a grabbing motion, and a giant blue palm projection instantly appeared around Han Li and the others.
Even before the palm projection had closed around them, Han Li and the others were already being subjected to a burst of tremendous force that instantly pressed them t against the ground.
In their current state, they couldn''t even lift a single finger, nor could they circte their immortal spiritual power at all, and they could only look on helplessly as the giant palm projection descended upon them.
Despite his best efforts, Han Li wasn''t able to move at all, and for the first time in a long time, a hint of panic welled up in his heart.
In the face of a true Dao Ancestor, he was truly nothing more than a powerless ant.
If it weren''t for the fact that Yin Chengquan wanted them captured alive, they would''ve most likely already been killed on the spot.
Right at this moment, a cold harrumph rang out, and the crimson saber projection grew even brighter, while a series of crimson patterns appeared on its surface, and the gray fist projection was instantly sliced into two, following which the saber projection sped directly toward Yin Chengquan with tremendous power.
At the same time, the ground beside Han Li and the others suddenly exploded, following which a pair of thick fox tails emerged from underground.
One of the tails rose up into the air, and countless white runes emerged over its surface as it struck the oing blue palm projection with fearsome power.
A resounding boom rang out as the nearby space shuddered violently, and the blue palm projection was instantly slowed down significantly in its descent.
Meanwhile, the other fox tail wrapped itself around Fox 3 like lightning, following which both tails descended back into the ground.
Han Li''s expression darkened significantly upon seeing this.
It was clear that Liu Qi had never truly viewed them as allies, but then again, that wasn''t particrly surprising.
Their coboration had been one that was forged solely on the promise of mutual benefit, and now that Han Li and the others had outlived their usefulness, they were naturally going to be abandoned.
If it weren''t for the special set of circumstances that they were in, there was no way that a Dao Ancestor like Liu Qi would''ve been willing to help them to begin with.
Despite the fact that Fox 3 had been taken right before his eyes, Feng Qingshui''s expression remainedpletely unchanged as he made a hand seal, and the blue palm projection swelled to roughly twice its original size, then split up into two, forming two identical giant palm projections.
One of the palm projections continued to descend toward Han Li''s trio, while the other one vanished into the ground in a sh.
Right as the palm projection was no more than a hundred feet away from Han Li''s trio, Shi Chuankong''s body abruptly shuddered as a ball of radiant silver light flew out of his body without any warning, and the ball of silver light contained none other than the Virata Lute.
The lute was revolving rapidly while releasing countless rays of silver light, and not only was it able to stop the blue palm projection in its tracks, its strings also began to move on their own, releasing a series of silver runes that vanished into the nearby space.
All of a sudden, the space parted to create a spatial passageway that led to an undetermined destination.
A burst of tremendous suction force surged out of the spatial passageway, epassing Han Li''s trio before sucking them.
The pressure on Han Li''s trio was instantly lifted, restoring their mobility and immortal spiritual power cirction, and they were naturally ecstatic to sense this.
"Stop them! If you have to kill them, then so be it!" Yin Chengquan yelled in an urgent voice.
An enraged look had also appeared on Feng Qingshui''s face, and he immediately made another hand seal, upon which the nearby space trembled violently.
Immediately thereafter, countless rays of blue light surged out of the surrounding space, fusing forth like a celestial waterfall before filling the entire area in the blink of an eye.
The spatial passageway was also inundated by the boundless blue light, while a burst of tremendous force emerged around Han Li''s trio,pressing toward them from all directions to stop them in their tracks right at the entrance of the spatial passageway.
Despite the tremendous suction force surging out of the passageway, they remainedpletely immobilized just a single, tantalizing step away.
Chapter 773: Surviving a Major Ordeal
Chapter 773: Surviving a Major Ordeal
"Come back!" Feng Qingshui roared in an authoritative voice as he reached out to make a grabbing motion, and countless translucent blue threads emerged around Han Li''s trio, ensnaring them before dragging them away from the spatial passageway.
However, right at this moment, the nearby space shuddered once again, and bursts of dark red light emerged, forming a projection of a mountainous red wheel.
There were six dark holes on the wheel that were arranged in a hexagonal formation, and within every single one of these holes was a swirling vortex of ck light.
As soon as the giant wheel projection appeared, it immediately began to revolve, giving off a burst of indescribably immense power.
The translucent blue threads around Han Li''s trio were instantly severed, and they began flying toward the spatial passageway once again along with the Virata Lute.
However, right at this moment, Weeping Soul suddenly fell unconscious, and countless bursts of ck qi surged out of the pores of her entire body.
Countless human and beastly faces could be seen within the bursts of ck qi, and all of them were flying into the giant wheel projection.
At the same time, Weeping Soul''s aura was rapidly diminishing, while her body was also taking on a transparent appearance.
Han Li hurriedly grabbed onto her upon seeing this, then stowed both her and Daoist Xie away into his Flower Branch domain, and he did so just in the nick of time as in the next instant, he was sucked into the spatial passageway.
A furious roar from Yin Chengquan rang out in the distance, and at the same time, twopletely different bursts ofw powers came surging toward them in unison.
Immediately thereafter, all of the sounds behind them abruptly faded, and it seemed that the spatial passageway had closed. The two bursts ofw powers were also severed, but much of it had followed Han Li and the others through the spatial passageway.
Swept up by the two bursts ofw powers, Han Li''s body instantly became extremely slow and sluggish, and even the cirction of his spiritual sense and immortal spiritual power had slowed down significantly.
Through his blurry vision, he could just barely make out the Virata Lute releasing a series of silver halos that sucked away the two bursts ofw powers, one gray and one blue, thereby freeing Han Li from their influence.
After taking a moment topose himself, Han Li cast his gaze forward, and he discovered that there were two bursts of light, one blue and one gray, circling around the Virata Lute.
Several streaks of silver light were released by the strings of the lute, and they wrapped themselves around Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s waists like streamers before pulling them along.
At this moment, Han Li''s entire body was throbbing with pain, but he could still clearly sense bursts of incredibly formidable spatial powerpressing toward him from all directions. He wanted to raise a hand to put up some resistance, but once again, he wasn''t able to lift even a single finger.
Shi Chuankong wasn''t far away from him, and he also appeared to be in the same situation, drifting along behind the Virata Lute with a pained grimace on his face.
Han Li gritted his teeth tightly as he peered deep into the spatial passageway with his Infernal Devilish Eyes, but all he saw was a seemingly endless expanse of empty space. It seemed that there was some type of powerful spatial force drawing the Virata Lute forward, and even though it was unclear whether the situation had taken a turn for the better, at the very least, they had managed to escape from Yin Chengquan and the other Dao Ancestor.
Right at this moment, the streaks of gray and blue light circling around the Virata Lute suddenly began to speed up, and a sense of foreboding immediately welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this, but in his current state, he wasn''t able to do anything but watch.
The two streaks of light continued to pick up speed, and no more than twenty secondster, they abruptly exploded without any warning, sending waves of blue and gray light surging through the air in all directions.
The surrounding spatial passageway instantly began to warp in the face of the immense explosive force, and countless specks of silver light began to dissipate in all directions.
Bursts of warped power glided past Han Li, further exacerbating thepressional force exerted by the surrounding spatial power, all of which ultimately acted upon the silver lute.
Shi Chuankong had clearly also sensed that something wasn''t quite right, but just like Han Li, he was alsopletely immobilized, drifting along like a helpless raft in a turbulent sea, unable to do anything.
All of a sudden, a faint crack rang out, and the Virata Lute flying up ahead suddenly shuddered violently, and it was unable to continue to maintain a stable flight path.
After teetering around momentarily in an unstable fashion, it shuddered once again before tumbling violently through the air.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were being dragged along behind it, and they also began to tumble through space, causing the world to spin around them. At the same time, in the face of the tremendous pressure exerted upon them by the surrounding spatial power, they were struggling to remain conscious.
......
After what seemed like an eternity, a glimmer of light finally appeared on the dim horizon.
A streak of silver light shot out of the glimmer of light, then reverted back into a silver lute that descended out of the sky.
Immediately after it came Han Li and Shi Chuankong, both of whom began to plummet out of the sky.
They had been jostled around quite severely within the spatial passageway, and even though they had managed to remain conscious, both of them were feeling very disoriented, so they were only able to gradually regain their vision after a brief process of limation.
Han Li cast his gaze forward to discover that the sky was a little dim, and gusts of fierce wind were howling past his ears. At this moment, he was situated in the air above a dark azure mountain range, plummeting rapidly toward the ground.
He hurriedly channeled his immortal spiritual power to stabilize himself in mid-air, then inspected his surroundings to discover that Shi Chuankong was also plummeting out of the sky not too far away.
Right at this moment, Shi Chuankong seemed to have also returned to his senses, and after stabilizing himself, he immediately flew over to the Virata Lute.
Holding the lute in his arms, he began to inspect it with a pained expression, upon which he discovered that there was a clear crack on its head, and the silver light radiating from it had also dimmed significantly.
Han Li was just about to call out to him when his entire body abruptly stiffened, following which a string of cracks and pops rang out from within his body as his immortal acupoints lit up one after another.
Wisps of the world''s origin qi began to appear in the surrounding space, and they were rapidly bing denser and denser as they converged toward him from all directions.
At this point, Shi Chuankong had also noticed what was happening, and he turned to Han Li with a bewildered expression.
"I was already about to make a breakthrough back in the Baleful Cleansing Ponds, and I only failed to do so due to theck of the world''s origin qi in the Gray Realm. Now that we''re back, the breakthrough ismencing on its own," Han Li exined with a wry smile.
Shi Chuankong took a nce down at the mountain range below, which was filled with mist and miasma, and his brows began to furrow tightly with concern.
"But this is not the right ce..."
Before he had a chance to finish, Han Li interjected, "My breakthrough is no longer being impeded by my baleful decay, so I won''t be able to suppress it, and I have no time to choose a spot to enter seclusion. Hence, I''ll have to trouble you and Brother Xie to protect me."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he flew down into a valley below as a streak of light.
Shortly thereafter, a door of silver light appeared in mid-air, and Daoist Xie also appeared before descending into the valley with him.
Thick pirs of silver lightning erupted out of Han Li''s body before sting into the valley amid a string of resounding thunderps that caused the entire valley to tremble incessantly, and amid the chaos, countless beasts and birds fled the valley in a blind panic.
All of the vegetation within a radius of dozens of kilometers around the spot that was struck in the valley was reduced to ashes, presenting a very jarring sight to behold.
Han Li sat down in that artificial clearing, and the dense world''s origin qi that had gathered around him had already formed a series of white vortexes that were filled with glittering specks of light.
Outside the clearing, Daoist Xie was hovering three feet above the ground, wielding Thundersh in its left hand and Heavensh in its right, serving as Han Li''s guardian.
Meanwhile, Shi Chuankong inspected his surroundings with a grim expression, and his expression only darkened even further at what he saw.
"You''ve really picked out a terrible ce, Fellow Daoist Li! If you knew we are right now...""
His voice trailed off as he shook his head with a wry smile, then alsonded outside the clearing.
Daoist Xie cast its gaze toward him from afar, and there was a clear hint of wariness in its eyes.
"You take the north, I''ll take the south. We''re going to be very busy soon," Shi Chuankong coordinated.
A hesitant look shed through Daoist Xie''s eyes upon hearing this.
Right at this moment, a chorus of strange roars rang out from both within and outside of the valley, causing the entire valley to tremble incessantly.
"Here theye!" Shi Chuankong yelled.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the sound of snapping trees rang out from deep within the valley, and one enormous tree was felled after another, sending wood chips and clumps of soil flying in all directions.
A giant ck ape, an azure serpent that was over a thousand feet in length, and a massive purple spider rushed out of the destroyed forest in unison, charging directly toward Han Li.
The ck ape had a pair of crimson eyes, and its body waspletely devoid of fur. Its skin resembled ck steel that was giving off a faint sheen, and itunched a huge tree and a giant rock at Shi Chuankong from afar.
Meanwhile, the azure serpent opened its mouth to release a cloud of five-colored venomous smoke that surged through the air, interspersed throughout which were countless smaller azure serpents and purple spiders.
Furthermore, there were even more formidable beasty figures toe, and it was only a matter of time before they emerged from the forest as well.
Chapter 774: Immaculate Jade Physique
Chapter 774: Immacte Jade Physique
At the same time, countless beasts of different shapes, forms, and sizes were rushing in through the entrance of the valley before charging straight at Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie.
All of the weaker beasts that they encountered that were still fleeing out of the valley were instantly trampled to death or devoured on the spot, and a horrific massacre ensued.
Judging from their auras, it seems like we''re not dealing with any of the truly troublesome creatures yet, but that could easily change if this drags on for too long, Shi Chuankong thought to himself with a grim expression.
With that in mind, he rose up into the air before swooping down from above while sweeping his sleeves through the air to release a string of array tools, all of which descended onto the ground in the path of the oing beasts.
As the wave of ferocious beasts drew closer and closer, Shi Chuankong abruptly made a hand seal, and a burst of silver light rose up from the ground, forming a giant spatial barrier that was thousands of feet wide, spanning all the way from one end of the valley to the other.
A resounding boom rang out as the giant ck ape crashed into the silver light barrier, which shuddered violently upon impact, but it remainedpletely unmoved.
The ck ape''s aura indicated that it was at the early-True Immortal Stage, and a furious look appeared in its eyes as it began raining blows down upon the silver light barrier with its incredibly thick and strong fists.
Immediately thereafter, the azure serpent and the purple spider also began ramming into the light barrier, but despite their best efforts, the light barrier remained as resilient as ever.
Shi Chuankong heaved a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this, then sat down with his legs crossed.
Now that they were finally out of the Gray Realm, he wouldn''t have to rely on Immortal Origin Stones for energy replenishment any longer.
On the other side, the wary look on Daoist Xie''s face eased slightly as it observed Shi Chuankong from afar, and it stowed Thundersh away before removing a gourd from its waist.
It tipped the gourd upside-down as it chanted a brief incantation, then patted the underside of the gourd, and a vortex of spiritual light instantly emerged from the mouth of the gourd, following which a series of dark yellow beans emerged before raining down onto the ground.
As soon as theynded on the ground, each bean instantly transformed into a Dao Warrior that was around ten feet tall.
All of the Dao Warriors were d in suits of antiquated armor that were riddled with lightning patterns, and they formed around a dozen uniform units, with each unit consisting of hundreds of Dao Warriors, then began to charge out of the valley in a stable formation.
The sound of their thundering footsteps echoed throughout the valley in a resounding fashion, and they were quickly surrounded by the oing waves of ferocious beasts.
Individually, these Dao Warriors were slightly inferior in power to these beasts, but thanks to their wless teamwork, they were quickly able to gain the upper hand, and they began tearing through the enemy ranks.
Meanwhile, Daoist Xie was hovering high up in the sky, looking out into the distance with tightly furrowed brows.
There were massive clouds of smoke rising up in that direction, and it seemed like there were many more ferocious beasts on their way.
It then looked up at the sky as a reminiscent look shed through its eyes, following which it turned its gaze back to Han Li.
At this moment, Han Li''s eyes were tightly shut, and it seemed that he waspletely oblivious to everything happening around him. The surrounding world''s origin qi had formed an enormous white vortex around him, and it stretched all the way up to the dark clouds in the sky like a giant pir.
Situated at the very center of the vortex, Han Li''s body was lifted up into the air by the world''s origin qi, and his immortal acupoints were glowing brightly, while his skin had taken on a pristine, jade-like appearance.
All of his bones and meridians were visible through his near-transparent skin and flesh, and they were all giving off a faint golden sheen.
Right at this moment, his eyes suddenly sprang open as he exhaled to release a plume of ck mist, and the surrounding white light was instantly set alight.
Countless white mes emerged within the vortex of spiritual qi, constantly roasting Han Li''s body to make it even more immacte and transparent.
The dark clouds above the white mes had also begun to light up, and specks of five-colored light emerged within them, presenting a breathtaking sight to behold.
The ultimate pursuit for a Jade Immortal was to attain an immacte immortal physique that was as unblemished as jade, and their physical constitutions were naturally far superior to those of Golden Immortals, while their spiritual sense would also be elevated to a different level.
On top of that, Jade Immortals also became more in sync with heaven and earth, the Great Dao, and thews of heaven and earth, thereby allowing them to better understand and harnessw powers.
It could be said that the degree of purity of a Jade Immortal''s physique determined how far they would be able to go on the path of cultivation, and the astonishing phenomena that Han Li was triggering now naturally had much to do with the four Baleful Cleansing Ponds that he had endured.
Shi Chuankong was roused from his meditation by these incredible phenomena, and he turned to Han Li with an awestruck expression as he murmured to himself, "As expected, Fellow Daoist Li really is always full of surprises."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he turned his gaze to the silver light barrier, upon which his brows immediately furrowed slightly.
At this moment, all of the purple spiders were shooting five-colored webs onto the silver light barrier, thereby giving themselves the purchase required to climb up the light barrier.
A ferocious roar rang out as the giant ck ape climbed its way up the light barrier using the cobwebs, then vaulted itself over the light barrier entirely before pouncing at Han Li with fierce bloodlust in its eyes.
However, before it could reach Han Li, a streak of silver light shed past to pulverize its head.
Unfortunately, its demise did nothing to intimidate all of the other beasts, and they continued to rush toward the silver light barrier without any regard for their own safety.
Meanwhile, some of the massive figures within the dense mist up ahead were also gradually bing clearer and clearer.
"I should refer to you as Fellow Daoist Xie, right?" Shi Chuankong asked as he approached Daoist Xie, and thetter turned to face him, but remained silent.
"It doesn''t look like Brother Li will being out of seclusion anytime soon, and there will only be more and more beasts drawn to this ce by the vast abundance of the world''s origin qi here. Hence, we have to work together to protect him. There''s no need to be so wary of me, I bear no ill will toward Brother Li," Shi Chuankong assured with a smile.
Daoist Xie merely nodded in response, and Shi Chuankong could only shake his head in a resigned manner upon seeing this.
After that, he flew onto the silver light barrier, then flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized silver mirror, which immediately released numerous strands of silver light at his behest. The strands of silver light shot forth through the air to strike the azure serpents and purple spiders climbing up the silver light barrier, tearing their bodies to shreds.
Meanwhile, Daoist Xie withdrew its gaze as it began wielding both Thundersh and Heavenh again, and all of a sudden, it burrowed into the ground, disappearing out of sight.
Shortly thereafter, hundreds of pirs of lightning erupted out of the ground amid a burst of violent rumbling,pletely destroying the ground at the entrance of the valley, and all of the demon beast that had just rushed to the entrance of the valley were instantly eradicated by the pirs of lightning.
All of a sudden, a giant rift appeared in the ground, and a white centipede that was over a thousand feet in length emerged before flying up into the air, then crashed heavily down onto the ground with all of its joints shattered.
Standing atop its head Daoist Xie, who was slowly pulling Thundersh out of its body in an expressionless manner.
The Dao Warriors had already eradicated all of the demon beasts in the valley, and they hadn''t suffered many casualties in the process. All of the formations were still rtively intact, and under Daoist Xie''s instructions, they began to gather at the entrance of the valley to form a dense defensive line.
......
Over three months flew by in a sh.
Lightning was shing incessantly above the valley as a giant winged serpent snaked its way through the dark clouds while releasing streaks of ck light out of its mouth in all directions.
Behind it was a figure that was enveloped in arcs of golden lightning, and they were constantly moving while wielding a pair of antiquated des, with which they had already been able to inflict a series of huge gashes onto the serpent''s body.
The serpent''s eyes were filled with resentment, but it was hindered by its own enormous frame, and its assant was far too fast for it to catch.
Right at this moment, the figure abruptly appeared on the winged serpent''s back amid a sh of lightning, thenshed out with both des at once, striking viciously down upon the points where the serpent''s wings were connected to its body.
Chapter 775: Reaching the High Zenith Stage
Chapter 775: Reaching the High Zenith Stage
Blood sprayed in all directions as the serpent''s wings were severed, and it let loose an anguished cry as it plummeted straight into the valley.
At this moment, the entire valley was already filled with demon beast carcasses, and blood was flowing everywhere. Many deep puddles of blood had already umted next to some of the more massive demon beasts, while some of the smaller demon beasts were floating in the puddles of blood, presenting a hellish sight to behold.
The winged serpent crashed heavily down into one of these enormous pools of blood, and it began struggling violently, sending putrid ck blood sshing in all directions.
All of a sudden, a bolt of golden lightning descended out of the sky before crashing down onto its head, and only then did its struggles gradually subside as it fell limp to the ground.
The golden figure was none other than Daoist Xie, and it pulled its de out of the serpent''s body, then looked up into the sky with a cold expression.
At this point, two massive mountains of carcasses had already built up in the valley, and they stretched on as far as the eyes could see. Currently, there were very few demon beasts attacking overnd, and only the most powerful terrestrial demon beasts were able to climb over the mountains of carcasses tounch their attacks.
A putridke of blood that was close to fifty kilometers in radius had taken shape in the valley, and there were countless carcasses floating on top of it, but hovering above the center of theke was a white lotus bud formed by pure immortal spiritual power.
The flower bud seemed set to bloom at any moment, and Han Li was currently inside it.
What was very remarkable was that the blood around the lotus bud seemed to have been affected by its immortal spiritual power, and it retained its original bright red color. There wasn''t any putrid odor emanating from it, nor did any of the floating carcasses approach the flower bud.
High up in the sky above the lotus bud, Shi Chuankong''s entire body was drenched in blood as he fought against three enormous demon beasts while wielding a silver spear.
He and Daoist Xie had already lost count of how many times these demon beasts had attacked over the past few months. All they knew was that all of the Dao Warriors nurtured by Han Li had been eradicated half a month ago, while Shi Chuankong had also exhausted his supply of talismans and array tes, and even quite a few of his treasures had beenpletely destroyed in battle.
What was most concerning of all was that there were several formidable demon beasts that were even more powerful than the winged serpentying in wait around the valley, waiting for them to be worn down before they stormed into the valley.
At this moment, Daoist Xie was observing Shi Chuankong with a contemtive look on its face.
Initially, it had no trust at all for Shi Chuankong, and their rtionship only improved slightly over time, but it wasn''t sure if Shi Chuankong would remainmitted to the cause if things were to continue in this fashion.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out, and an enormous white toad suddenly sprang up into the sky from one of the mountains of carcasses, then opened its mouth to release a corkscrew-shaped cial storm that surged directly toward Shi Chuankong.
Shi Chuankong had only just withstood the attacks from the three powerful demon beasts that he was locked in battle against, and he was unable to adopt any defensive measures before he was swept up by the storm.
Ayer of white ice crystals instantly appeared over his body, and he began to plummet out of the sky.
A grim look appeared in Daoist Xie''s eyes as it hurriedly flew toward Shi Chuankong.
These demon beasts hadunched their attack a little earlier than it had anticipated.
A series of enormous demon beasts began to emerge on the two mountains of carcasses in the valley, and all of them were at or above the early-Golden Immortal Stage, with the most powerful one among them, a Hundred-eyed Centipede, giving off ate-Golden Immortal Stage aura.
Under normal circumstances, Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie would have nothing to fear, but at this point, they had already been severely drained by the constant battles they had been forced to endure over the past few months.
It wouldn''t be difficult for them to escape, but if they had to continue directly opposing these demon beasts, then the situation was looking far from optimistic.
Right at this moment, the sound of a yawn rang out from within the white lotus bud.
It was only a very faint sound, but it was transmitted in all directions by the spiritual power fluctuations emanating from the lotus bud, and it rang out as clear as day within Daoist Xie''s mind.
As for Shi Chuankong, even though he was still encased in ayer of ice crystals, he heaved a long sigh of relief as he murmured to himself, "You''re finally awake, Brother Li."
In the next instant, the dark clouds up above abruptly parted, and a ray of radiant light rose up from theke of blood.
Immediately thereafter, a figure shot out of the white lotus bud, only stopping in its tracks after ascending to incredible heights.
The figure was enshrouded within ayer of blinding white light, and Daoist Xie immediately stopped in its tracks upon seeing this.
All of the demon beasts in the valley were also intimidated by the figure''s formidable aura, and all of them stopped in unison before looking up into the sky.
High up in the sky, the white light gradually faded, and Han Li was revealed.
At this moment, he was dressed in a white robe, and he had put on his Reincarnation Pce mask. His skin was as immacte and translucent as jade, giving him the appearance of an elegant immortal.
This change in his physical appearance wasn''t one that he had artificially manufactured. Instead, it was the result of newfound disposition, which was indescribably pure, as if he had been reborn anew.
However, Han Li wasn''t a fan of this appearance himself, and he reverted back to his original appearance amid a sh of azure light, but due to the fact that he had only justpleted his breakthrough, he was unable to suppress his High Zenith Stage immortal spiritual power fluctuations for now.
He took a nce at his surroundings, following which three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords appeared around him at his behest.
The swords were trembling slightly, and tiny arcs of golden lightning were constantly dancing over them. It seemed that the swords were barely able to contain the lightningw powers within them.
Han Li gently swept a sleeve through the air, and the three swords instantly shot forth at his behest, vanishing from the spot in the blink of an eye.
In the next instant, three of the demon beasts in the sky cried out in unison as their heads exploded into countless pieces amid eruptions of golden lightning, following which their charred bodies came plummeting down from above.
The white toad immediately turned to flee as quickly as it could upon seeing this, and the other demon beasts also followed suit.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he threw a punch in both directions, sending two enormous azure fist projections hurtling through the air.
Both of the mountains of carcasses were struck by a burst of tremendous force in unison, and the white toad was pulverized by one of the fist projections without being able to put up any resistance, and the other demon beasts also quickly suffered the same fate.
Even thete-Golden Immortal Stage centipede was only able to just barelyunch a few fireballs at the fist projection, but they had no effect whatsoever.
Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie had already received advance warning from Han Li, so they had flown up into the sky to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
With just two simple punches, the two mountains of carcasses that had been built up over the course of three months in the valley had been instantly razed to the ground. Even the valley itself had caved in significantly and beenpletely transformed into a giantke of blood.
In the wake of the demise of all of the Golden Immortal Stage demon beasts, all of the other demon beasts that had previously been impeded by the mountains of carcasses quickly fled the scene.
Han Li flew down from above to join Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie, and the former cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "Congrattions on reaching the High Zenith Stage, Brother Li."
"It really was quite the ordeal oveing my baleful decay. If I recall correctly, you were also able to cleanse all of the baleful qi from your body, so why is it that our return to the Immortal Realm hasn''t triggered a breakthrough in you?" Han Li asked.
"The circumstances required for beings like myself to make breakthroughs are a little different from yours," Shi Chuankong exined in an ambiguous fashion.
Han Li didn''t know whether he was referring to the entire Devil Race or just his bloodline in particr, but he didn''t pry into the subject, merely nodding in response.
"By the way, how do you know that this is the Immortal Realm, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong suddenly asked with a faint smile.
"Is that not the case?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"It is, but it''s also not," Shi Chuankong replied in a mysterious fashion.
"Could it be that we''re in the Devil Realm?" Han Li asked.
"That''s what people from the Immortal Realm like to call it, but we prefer to refer to it as the Holy Realm," Shi Chuankong confirmed with a nod.
"I had heard that the Devil Realm was inside the Immortal Realm, but existed as a standalone entity, but I certainly wasn''t expecting to visit it so soon," Han Li mused with a faint smile.
"I''m not exactly sure why we''ve suddenly appeared here, but I have a rough idea," Shi Chuankong said.
"Didn''t you channel the power of that lute of yours to get us out of the Gray Realm?" Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
"I''m not capable of such a miraculous feat. There''s only one person I can think of who can channel the power of the Virata Lute to rescue us from the Gray Realm, and that''s my father, the one that you would refer to as the Devilish Monarch," Shi Chuankong replied with a wry smile.
Han Li was astonished to hear this.
The Devilish Monarch was the one who had lent Patriarch Miro that spatial treasure, and there were legends told of him resisting many Dao Ancestors at only the Great Epassment Stage to seize control over the Devil Realm.
It was said that his powers wereparable to those of the Heavenly Court''s Time Dao Ancestor, and Shi Chuankong was referring to this man as his father!
Chapter 776: Search for a Soul Mate
A whole host of questions had arisen in Han Li''s heart, but he chose not to articte any of them, and after taking a moment topose himself, he couldn''t help but wonder why Shi Chuankong had revealed this to him.
"I''m guessing that my father sensed it when I used the secret technique passed down in our n to refine the Virata Lute, and by using the lute as a medium, he was able to bring us back to the Devil Realm using his spatial powers," Shi Chuankong exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod, and he was just about to say something else when a thought suddenly urred to him, and he swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light before stepping into it.
Shi Chuankong was rather perplexed to see this, but he still followed along, as did Daoist Xie.
After stepping through the door of light, the trio arrived in the bamboo building in the Flower Branch domain, where Weeping Soul wasying on the ground, and Han Li hurriedly rushed over to her before picking her up.
He then began to inspect her condition with his spiritual sense, and momentster, he flipped a hand over to summon a golden pill that she fed into her mouth.
However, the pill seemed to have had no effect, and Weeping Soul remained unconscious.
"What''s wrong with her, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"I don''t know," Han Li replied with tightly furrowed brows. "Her injuries aren''t very severe, nor has she sustained much damage to her soul, so she shouldn''t be unconscious.""Have you checked to see if there are any abnormalities in her dantian?" Shi Chuankong asked.
An enlightened look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he hurriedly did as Shi Chuankong suggested, upon which a perplexed look appeared on his face as he mused, "I can''t detect any essential power in her dantian..."
"That''s most likely the cause of the problem then," Shi Chuankong said.
Thinking back to the events that had transpired before they entered the spatial passageway, Han Li couldn''t help but feel as if Weeping Soul''s current condition had something to do with the wheel projection from before, but at the same time, he couldn''t be certain whether this was actually the case.
"Thank you for the reminder, Brother Shi. Otherwise, I would''ve beenpletely stumped," Han Li said.
"It''s fine. What do you n to do about her condition, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"I''ve never seen anything like this before, so I don''t really know what to do. Do you have any ideas, Brother Shi?" Han Li asked with a wry smile.
"I''m afraid not, but if you return to our holy capital with me, perhaps our grand priest would be able to offer a solution," Shi Chuankong replied.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
"Pardon me for prying, but if you''re not going toe with me, then what are your ns going forward from here?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"I thought we had returned to the Immortal Realm, but that''s clearly not the case, so I''ll have to have a good think about what I do from here," Han Li sighed.
"Right now, we''re currently in a ce known as the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, and it derives its name from the presence of ten Great Epassment Stage demon beasts in the mountain range. Hence, this is an extremely dangerous ce, so regardless of what you decide to do, it would be in your best interest to leave this ce first," Shi Chuankong advised.
Han Li was quite startled to hear this, and after some contemtion, he said, "Truth be told, I know next to nothing about the Devil Realm. What do you suggest that I do from here, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
"The demon beasts in this area are extremely xenophobic, so we''ll be in a great deal of danger if any of the Ten Hazards be aware of our existence. Hence, I think we should travel northward and leave this ce as soon as possible.
¡°At the northernmost point of the Ten Hazards Mountain Range is a city that was constructed to ward off demon beast invasions, and there are Great Epassment cultivators stationed in the city, so we''ll be safe once we get there. From there, we can travel to the capital, Night Sun City, either through the city lord''s manor or the Vast Origin House branch in the city," Shi Chuankong replied.
Han Li mulled over his options for a moment, then decided to ept Shi Chuankong''s proposal.
Shi Chuankong was ecstatic to hear that Han Li was willing toe with him, and he immediately said, "In that case, let''s set off right away. Those demon beasts have retreated for now, but there''s no telling when they could be back, so this definitely isn''t a safe ce to stay."
"Hold on a second, Fellow Daoist Shi. Before we set off, there''s something I want to ask you," Han Li suddenly said.
"Please go ahead, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong prompted.
"Firstly, I must thank you for protecting me during my breakthrough, but at the same time, I can''t help but wonder why you went to such great lengths to help me. If you need something from me, then feel free to tell me," Han Li said.
Having spent so much time with Shi Chuankong, he had developed a rough idea of Shi Chuankong''s personality, and he knew that Shi Chuankong wasn''t the type of person to take such a huge risk for nothing.
"You really are a smart man, Fellow Daoist Li. I do indeed have something to ask of you. The Ten Hazards Mountain Range is an extremely perilous ce, and I''m not confident in my ability to get out of here on my own, so I was hoping that you would apany me," Shi Chuankong admitted in a slightly embarrassed fashion.
"Of course. It''s only right that we help each other out in such a perilous ce," Han Li replied with a nod.
Now that he had reached the High Zenith Stage, his powers had been significantly enhanced, and he was fairly confident in his ability to ensure self-preservation, even in the face of the average Great Epassment cultivator. If worse came to worst, he would just have to send Shi Chuankong into the Flower Branch domain so that he wouldn''t be a hindrance.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Li. The headquarters of the Vast Origin House just so happens to be in Night Sun City, and there are spatial gates there leading to various immortal regions. As soon as we return to Night Sun City, I''ll immediately arrange for you to be sent back to the ck Soil Immortal Region," Shi Chuankong promised.
"I''m not in a hurry to get back to the ck Soil Immortal Region, and I have a favor to ask of you once we get to the Vast Origin House headquarters," Han Li said.
The world''s origin qi in the Devil Realm was quite abundant, and it was far away from the Heavenly Court''s sphere of influence, so he would actually rather stay and cultivate here for now than return to the True Immortal Realm right away.
"What is it, Fellow Daoist Li? Is it the matter that you spoke to me about back in the Gray Realm?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"That''s right. I would like you to draw upon the resources of the Vast Origin House to help me find an ascended cultivator. Here''s what she looks like," Han Li said as he offered a blue jade badge to Shi Chuankong, and hovering above the badge was a visage of none other than Violet Spirit.
Shi Chuankong''s eyes lit up as he epted the jade badge, and he asked, "Is this your dao partner, Fellow Daoist Li? Her beauty is truly unmatched!"
"Her name is Violet Spirit, and she''s a devilish cultivator from a lower realm. She may or may not have ascended at this point, and I''m hoping that you can find her for me, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li replied.
"If she''s a devilish cultivator, then that makes things far easier. All devilish cultivators from the lower realm will ascend to our Holy Realm, and the ascension tform of our Holy Realm has always been overseen by one of my brothers, whom I''m very close to. Hence, as long as she''s ascended, I''ll definitely be able to track her down," Shi Chuankong assured with a confident smile.
"In that case, I''ll be counting on you," Han Li replied with a smile of his own.
"I already agreed to this back in the Gray Realm, and now, I need your protection to leave this Ten Hazards Mountain Range, so I''m the one who''ll be counting on you," Shi Chuankong chuckled.
With that, the two of them didn''t dy any longer, and they left the Flower Branch domain before heading northward.
¡¡
Countless kilometers away from where Han Li''s duo was situated was an enormous mountain range, most of which was golden in color, perhaps due to the presence of some type of special ore in the area.
At the center of the mountain range was a huge mountain that was entirely golden in color and was giving off dazzling golden radiance that was clearly visible even from hundreds of kilometers away.
A cluster of giant pces was situated on the mountain summit, all of which were extremely grand and spectacr. Everything in this cluster of pces was also golden in color and enshrouded in golden light.
The Ten Hazards each had their own territory in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, and they had countless powerful demon beasts under theirmand, so even the devil race was unable to do anything about them.
The cave abode of one of the Ten Hazards, the Golden Rhinoceros King, was situated here, and all of the guards and servants in the pce were also dressed in golden attire.
Stationed at the entrance of arge pce on the very outskirts of the cluster of pces were two guards d in suits of golden armor, and only half of their faces were visible through their golden visors.
"This armor is so heavy that I can barely breathe in it, but if I don''t wear it, I''ll immediately be harmed by the golden radiance here. No wonder no one wants to stand on guard duty on this Golden Peak Mountain," the guard on the leftined.
"It''s definitely particrly ufortable when you first get here, but you''ll get used to it over time. It''s a grueling job, but we get far betterpensation than everyone else, so just bear with it, Brother Ba," the other guard replied.
"Of course. There''s no way I''d be willing toe here if not for thepensation! What a strange man the Golden Rhinoceros King must be to enjoy staying in an environment like this," the guard with the Ba surname scoffed.
"Shush!" the other guard hurriedly scolded through voice transmission.
"What''s wrong?" the guard with the Ba surname asked.
"The Golden Rhinoceros King hates it when other peoplement on his likes and dislikes. One of his new concubines recently made a simrment, and she was immediately executed by sun exposure, strapped to the Scorching Sun Pole until she burned to a crisp, so make sure you don''t ever say anything like that again!" the other guard warned in a solemn manner.
"I''ll be sure to keep that in mind," the guard with the Ba surname hurriedly replied as he took a fearful nce at his surroundings, and he only heaved a sigh of relief after some time passed with no incident.
Chapter 777: Eldest Prince
Deep within the cluster of pces was a particrlyvish pce, within which a man that resembled a mountain of flesh wasyingzily on a golden reclining chair.
The man had a pair of long and narrow eyes coupled with a t nose and an enormous mouth, presenting a hideous sight to behold. His skin was dark golden in color and riddled with barely visible golden patterns.
Two golden-robed maidservants were knelt down beside him, massaging his body.
Both of the women had serpentine lower bodies, and they were wearing golden gloves on their slender hands.
These golden gloves were immortal treasures, and they released bursts of golden light to help the two women massage the giant man''s body.
Both of the women were sweating profusely, indicating that they were massaging with all their might.
"That''s good, that''s the spot... Go a bit harder..." the massive man murmured in a blissful manner with his eyes half-closed, and the two women immediately redoubled their efforts upon hearing this.
Right at this moment, the man suddenly raised an eyebrow as he got up into a seated position, and the two women immediately stopped what they were doing upon seeing this.
"You two can go for now," the man instructed with a dismissive wave of his hand.Despite his enormous frame, his voice was very sharp and high-pitched, presenting a ratherical contrast, but the two women didn''t dare to disy any amusement as they backed away with their heads lowered.
The man swept a hand through the air, releasing a purple te that hovered in mid-air in front of him.
The te released a burst of radiant purple light, which formed a purple array, and a purple-robed middle-aged man appeared within the array.
The man appeared to be around thirty-seven to thirty-eight years of age, and he had a set of handsome and refined facial features.
There was a faint purple mark on his be that was imprinted deep into his skin, and it seemed to be an ancient rune that was giving off a faint purple glow.
"Well, well, well, to what do I owe this honor, Your Highness? Isn''t this a very busy time for you? How do you have the time to be contacting a lowly nobody like me?" the giant man asked.
"You''re far too modest, Fellow Daoist Golden Rhinoceros. I''ve always admired you for your power, but I didn''t want to disturb you as I heard that you were recovering from the injuries that you sustained from your recent battle against that ck weasel. I''m very d to see that you appear to have made a full recovery," the purple-robed man replied with a warm smile.
The giant man was none other than the Golden Rhinoceros King, and a cold look instantly appeared on his face upon hearing this.
"Have youe here just to mock me, Your Highness?"
"Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Golden Rhinoceros. The only reason why you lost that battle is because you''re yet to attain your Devilish Vajra Physique. I just so happen to havee into possession of a few Golden Origin Dao Fruits recently, and I''m sure they''ll be able to help you in that department," the purple-robed man replied.
The Golden Rhinoceros King immediately sprang to his feet with a fervent look in his eyes upon hearing this, and he hurriedly asked, "Is that true?"
The purple-robed man merely smiled and offered no response.
The Golden Rhinoceros King took a moment topose himself, then said, "If you have something to ask of me, then please go ahead, Your Highness."
"I do indeed have something to ask of you, Fellow Daoist Golden Rhinoceros, and if you canplete my request, then the Golden Origin Dao Fruits will be yours," the purple-robed man said as a hint of killing intent shed through his eyes.
"Go ahead, Your Highness," the Golden Rhinoceros King prompted.
"I want you to take someone out of the picture for me, permanently," the purple-robed man replied.
The Golden Rhinoceros King didn''t seem surprised at all to hear this, and he asked, "Who is it?"
Instead of giving a reply, the purple-robed swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of purple light, which transformed into a screen of purple light that depicted two figures, namely Shi Chuankong and Han Li.
The Golden Rhinoceros King''s gaze immediately settled on Shi Chuankong as a hint of recognition shed through his eyes, while Han Li was ignored entirely.
"That man is the thirteenth prince, Shi Chuankong. Right now, these two are in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, and by my estimates, they should be in your territory. If you can bring me his head and the silver lute in his possession, then I''ll give you two Golden Origin Dao Fruits," the purple-robed man said.
A hint of greed shed through the Golden Rhinoceros King''s eyes upon hearing this, but that was then reced with a conflicted expression.
"I''ll admit that this is a very tempting offer, but I''ve heard that Shi Chuankong is a very beloved son of the Holy Monarch. The wrath of the Holy Monarch is not something that I can bear, so I''m afraid you''ll have to turn to someone else, Your Highness," the Golden Rhinoceros King said with a shake of his head.
"Right now, Father is currently in seclusion, and prior to going into seclusion, he instructed my brothers and I to settle the matter of deciding an heir on our own. Do you understand what I''m saying, Fellow Daoist Golden Rhinoceros?" the purple-robed man asked.
"In that case, I can consider it, but Shi Chuankong is affiliated with some very formidable powers, so killing him will make me a lot of enemies," the Golden Rhinoceros King mused.
"The mighty Golden Rhinoceros King is afraid of making enemies?" the purple-robed man chuckled.
"There''s no need to try and goad me, Your Highness. If you want my help in this matter, then I want two Golden Origin Dao Fruits as a deposit, and once I get the job done, you need to give me two more Golden Origin Dao Fruits," the Golden Rhinoceros King said.
The purple-robed man''s expression remained unchanged, but a hint of displeasure crept into his voice as he asked, "Do you not think you''re asking for too much, Fellow Daoist Golden Rhinoceros?"
"Asking for too much? I think not! Golden Origin Dao Fruits are indeed very precious, but they''re nothingpared with what you''re trying to aplish! ording to my knowledge, even though you''re the eldest prince, Shi Chuankong has always been a major threat to your im to the throne, so getting rid of him for the price of just four Golden Origin Dao Fruits is an absolute bargain for you!" the Golden Rhinoceros King countered with a sly grin.
"At the very most, I''ll only give you three fruits, and they''ll only be given to you after the job is done," the purple-robed man negotiated.
"That won''t do. I want one fruit as a deposit. I won''t do anything unless I receive a deposit," the Golden Rhinoceros King replied in a firm manner.
"Alright, but if you''re unable to do what I ask, not only will you have to return the Golden Origin Dao Fruit, you''ll have to do so with interest. By the way, that man who''s apanying Shi Chuankong should already be at the early-High Zenith Stage," the purple-robed man said.
The Golden Rhinoceros King immediately burst intoughter as if he had just been told a hrious joke, and he chortled, "Isn''t Shi Chuankong only a Golden Immortal? Even with an early-High Zenith cultivator by his side, there''s no way they''ll be a match for me!"
"In that case, I look forward to hearing from you, Fellow Daoist Golden Rhinoceros," the purple-robed man said before vanishing from the spot.
However, the purple array remained in his ce, and not only did it not fade away, it grew even brighter as countless silver runes surged out of it to form a separate silver array.
Immediately thereafter, a fist-sized golden fruit appeared at the center of the array amid a sh of silver light.
The fruit was riddled with small golden spots that were giving off a golden gleam, and it was giving off formidable metal-attributew power fluctuations.
The Golden Rhinoceros King''s eyes immediately lit up as he picked up the golden fruit before conducting a close examination, following which he carefully stowed the fruit away into a jade box.
After applying several talismans to the box, he stowed it away, then called out, "Get Tie Yu toe and see me."
A golden-robed servant immediately appeared outside the pce, then gave an affirmative response before flying away into the distance.
Shortly thereafter, a streak of green light shot forth from afar, thennded outside the hall before fading to reveal a short green-robed man.
The man''s skin was entirely green in color, and he stood at only five feet tall with a childlike face. However, his body was extremely muscr and well-developed, presenting a jarring contrast.
A hint of fear shed through the eyes of the guards outside the pce at the sight of the short man, and they immediately extended respectful salutes.
"Master Tie Yu!"
Tie Yu paid no heed to the guards as he strode into the pce, then knelt down onto the ground before kowtowing as he said, "Tie Yu pays his respects to the Golden Rhinoceros King."
"No need for formalities, Tie Yu. I''ve already told you that Tong Yu, Yin Yu, and you do not need to observe such formalities in my presence," the Golden Rhinoceros King said in a warm voice as he stood up and personally helped Tie Yu to his feet.
"You are the king, while we are your subordinates, so it''s only right that such formalities be observed," Tie Yu countered in a respectful manner.
"Fine, do as you please then," the Golden Rhinoceros King sighed.
"May I ask why I have been summoned here?" Tie Yu asked.
"Take some people to scour our territory for this man, and bring back his head and all of his possessions," the Golden Rhinoceros King instructed as he flicked a finger through the air to conjure up a screen of light that depicted both Shi Chuankong and Han Li, and he pointed a finger straight at the former.
"There are outsiders in our territory?" Tie Yu asked in a cold voice.
"That''s right. I know how much you detest outsiders, but make sure that you bring this man''s head back to mepletely unharmed," the Golden Rhinoceros King instructed.
"I''ll be sure to do so," Tie Yu replied as a hint of killing intent shed through his eyes.
"Your target is at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage, while the man apanying him is at the early-High Zenith Stage. Make sure to hunt them down as soon as possible, and I give you permission to take anyone you want with you," the Golden Rhinoceros King continued, but refrained from revealing Shi Chuankong''s identity to Tie Yu.
"Rest assured, my king, I''ll bring his head back to you within a month," Tie Yu replied in a proud manner.
"Alright, you can go now," the Golden Rhinoceros King said, and Tie Yu promptly departed, flying out of the pce as a streak of green light.
Chapter 778: Intercepted
Chapter 778: Intercepted
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were flying along at a low altitude through a dim forest somewhere within the Ten Hazards Mountain Range.
The forest was already quite dim to begin with, and visibility certainly wasn''t helped by the fact that all of the trees were ck in color.
Furthermore, the forest was also giving off a very peculiar aura that wasn''t the world''s origin qi or devilish qi. Instead, it was some type of special dark power, and there were many strange beasts residing in the forest that were also giving off the same aura.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were able to blend almost perfectly into this environment thanks to their concealment techniques, and even though they were flying very quickly, they weren''t giving off any aura fluctuations.
"This is quite a remarkable environment," Han Limented as he inspected his surroundings.
At this point, they had already been traveling for around half a month, and they had been attacked by some demon beasts along the way, but all of the attacks had been easily dealt with, so they were feeling a little more rxed.
"Compared with the True Immortal Realm, the underground energy veins in our Holy Realm are a bit more chaotic, and that''s even more true for the Ten Hazards Mountain Range. There are all types of energies present in these mountains, forming many special environments, but you''ll get used to this over time," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
Han Li nodded in response, and he was just about to say something when he abruptly stopped cold in his tracks, then peered deep into the forest up ahead.
Shi Chuankong also stopped in his tracks upon seeing this, but he couldn''t see anything up ahead, and he asked, "What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"Nothing. Perhaps it was just a figment of my imagination," Han Li replied as a hint of befuddlement shed through his eyes.
He peered carefully into the forest for a moment longer, but was still unable to see anything, so he ushered Shi Chuankong to continue onward, and the two of them quickly vanished into the distance.
Shortly after their departure, a ck fruit on a certain tree suddenly began to glow with faint ck light. The tree''s fruits were vaguely humanoid in shape, presenting a rather disturbing sight to behold, and the fruit that was glowing began to slowly warp as a set of facial features appeared on it, following which it slowly opened it eyes and turned its gaze to the direction that Han Li and Shi Chuankong had just departed in.
A series of ck ripples were shing incessantly within its ck eyes, and at the same time, there was an enormous ck cloud that was dozens of acres in size traveling rapidly through the air countless kilometers away.
Standing atop the ck cloud were close to a hundred half-human, half-beast beings, and they were led by none other than Tie Yu, who had a furious look on his face.
All of his subordinates were making sure to stand far away from him for fear of falling prey to his wrath.
Many of them were seated with their legs crossed all over the ck cloud, seemingly unleashing some type of secret technique.
"Have there still not been any leads?" Tie Yu suddenly asked.
He had promised to bring Shi Chuankong''s head back to the Golden Rhinoceros King within a month, yet half that time had already psed, and he hadn''t even tracked down his targets yet.
A golden-robed man strode forward with tightly gritted teeth, then reported, "We''re trying our best, Master Tie Yu, but there''s too much ground to cover, and those two haven''t left any traces behind, so we haven''t been able to track them down yet."
"Useless piece of trash!" Tie Yu roared as ayer or green light emerged over his body, then formed a series of green snake projections that glowered intently at the golden-robed man.
The man seemed to be extremely fearful of these snake projections, and he began trembling uncontrobly as he fell to his knees before kowtowing over and over again.
"Please forgive me, Master Tie Yu, I''ll be sure to redouble my efforts..."
"Get down there and keep searching! I''ll give you three more days. If you still can''t find them by then, I''ll take your head to the Golden Rhinoceros King too!" Tie Yu roared.
The golden-robed man immediately scurried away, and right at this moment, a dark-skinned man who was seated on the ck cloud suddenly rose to his feet as he dered with an ted expression, "Master Tie Yu, we''ve found them!"
The man was holding a ck wooden figure, and at this moment, its eyes were open, and there were ck ripples shing within them.
Tie Yu''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and he hurriedly asked, "Where are they?"
"They''re in the ck Scale Forest, and they''re currently traveling northward," the dark-skinned man hurriedly repiled.
"Northward? It looks like they''re nning to leave the Ten Hazards Mountain Range. We''ll just have to intercept them!" Tie Ye mused with a cold sneer, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which the ck cloud underfoot changed directions and diverged away from its original trajectory.
......
Han Li and Shi Chuankong continued onward, and close to a day passed by in the blink of an eye.
The ck forest up ahead gradually became sparser and sparser, and a lush, green mountain range appeared up ahead.
The warm sunlight was able to filter through the sparser vegetation, making the air much warmer, and a warm breeze was gently caressing their cheeks.
The field of view widened up ahead, revealing a mountain range that stretched as far as the eyes could see, presenting a breathtaking sight to behold.
Shi Chuankong spread open his arms as he took a deep breath in a blissful manner.
The ck forest that they had just emerged from was very cold and forbidding, making for a very unappealing environment even for a devilish cultivator like himself.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but it was clear that he was also d to be out of the forest.
Shi Chuankong turned to Han Li, and he was just about to say something when thetter suddenly grabbed him by the cor before darting back in retreat.
Shi Chuankong had just been dragged away from the spot where he was standing when a thick green arrow pierced through the ground there.
The arrow was thirty to forty feet in length and as thick as an arm. There were countless green patterns engraved onto the arrow''s shaft, giving off rays of warped green light that formed a series of ck snake projections that were hissing incessantly.
The arrow had arrived at an astonishing speed, and even though Shi Chuankong was able to just barely evade it thanks to Han Li, a sickly sweet aroma still managed to worm its way up his nostrils, upon which he was instantly struck by a feeble and numb sensation.
There''s poison at work!
As soon as this thought sprang into his mind, Shi Chuankong immediately flipped a hand over to produce a pair of longan-sized white pills that he promptly swallowed, and ayer of white light emerged over his body, while the green light on his face and the feeble sensation in his body faded away.
"Are you alright?" Han Li asked.
He had also inhaled some of the poison, but having cultivated the Chaotic Myriad Poison Body, he had be extremely resistant to all poisons, and that, coupled with his tremendous physical constitution, ensured that he remainedpletely unaffected. [1]
"I''m fine," Shi Chuankong replied.
"Who''s there?" Han Li called out as he turned to a certain direction.
A ck cloud slowly emerged up ahead amid a sh of ck light, and standing atop the cloud were none other than Tie Yu and his subordinates.
At this moment, Tie Yu was observing Han Li with a hint of surprise on his face as he remarked, "It''s quite impressive that you were able to evade my Divine Poison Arrow."
He raised a hand to make a beckoning motion as he spoke, and the arrow immediately swung around, then shrank down significantly before vanishing up his sleeve.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s expressions changed slightly at the sight of the formidable lineup before them, and thetter stepped forward as he cupped his fist in a salute and said, "May I ask which one of the ten kings you serve?
¡°The two of us inadvertently stumbled into the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, and we were just nning to leave. We harbor no ill will toward any of the ten kings, and we''re willing to offer up two hundred thousand Devilish Origin Stones if you let us go."
"You don''t even know who''s territory this is?"
"Is that supposed to be a joke? He wants to bribe us with just two hundred thousand Devilish Origin Stones!"
"Ptui!"
"We can let you go, but you have to leave your heads behind!"
All of Tie Yu''s subordinates immediately burst intoughter upon hearing Shi Chuankong''s offer, and Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s expressions both darkened slightly upon seeing this.
Tie Yu raised a hand, and all of his subordinates instantly fell silent.
"Are you from outside the mountain range?" Tie Yu asked in a cold voice.
"That''s right. May I ask..."
Before Shi Chuankong had a chance to finish his sentence, a look of fierce resentment shed through Tie Yu''s eyes as he dered in a cold voice, "All outsiders deserve to die! Kill them, but don''t be too rough. Make sure to keep their heads intact, in particr."
All of his subordinates instantly gave a collective affirmative response, then charged toward Han Li and Shi Chuankong in unison with their weapons brandished.
His subordinates were all quite formidable, and there were over ten Golden Immortals among them.
They were led by a trio that consisted of a man silver hair, green eyes, and a horn on his head, a red-haired elderly man with skin as coarse as tree bark, and a golden-haired young woman with a pair of wings on her back, all three of whom were at the early-High Zenith Stage.
Theoretically speaking, such a formidable lineup was more than sufficient to deal with an early-High Zenith Stage human and a peak-Golden Immortal Stage devilish being.
The horned man made a hand seal, and radiant green light erupted out of his body before forming a ball, following which the ball of green light flew through the air and transformed into a green cloud.
The green cloud was instantly set alight, and a burst ofw power fluctuations erupted out of it to epass both Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
At the same time, the red-haired elderly man began to chant an incantation, and three huge tiger head projections appeared above his head in a sh, all three of which then abruptly vanished into thin air.
In the next instant, the three tiger head projections appeared directly in front of Han Li and Shi Chuankong, then opened their mouths to bite down viciously upon them.
Even before the three tiger heads had fully descended, they were giving off a harrowing aura that struck a sense of involuntary fear into the heart of the beholder.
At the same time, the golden-haired young woman spread her wings, and they began to glow as brightly as the sun.
With a p of her wings, countless beams of golden light were released, raining down upon Han Li and Shi Chuankong in a torrential barrage.
Every single beam of golden light was a golden feather that was giving off extremely formidablew powers, and with three High Zenith cultivators attacking at once, all of the devilish qi within a radius of dozens of kilometers instantly began to churn violently, while the surrounding space also began to tremble and buzz.
A grim look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face at the sight of the barrage of oing attacks, and he was just about to spring into action when Han Li stepped forward and dered, "Leave it to me!"
Eighteen streaks of azure light shot out of his sleeves in rapid session as he spoke, and each streak of light contained an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
After reaching the High Zenith Stage, Han Li''s immortal spiritual power reserves had been significantly enhanced, thereby allowing him to control eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once.
1. For more information on the Chaotic Myriad Poison Body, please refer to RMJI Chapter 1846: Chaotic Myriad Poison Body. ?
Chapter 779: Slaying the Enemies
Chapter 779: ying the Enemies
Han Li wore a solemn expression as he made a rapid string of hand seals, and the eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords split up into two batches, with six of them circling around him, while the remaining twelve shot forth through the air.
In the blink of an eye, over a thousand azure sword projections appeared, forming a vast sea of sword qi that was several acres in size before sweeping toward the oing enemies.
Tie Yu raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, but he didn''t appear concerned at all. The sword array appeared to be quite formidable, but it didn''t contain muchw powers, so it didn''t pose any threat in his eyes.
His subordinates clearly also thought the same thing, and the fiery green cloud, the crimson tiger head projections, and the barrage of golden feathers lit up even further before striking the azure sword array with tremendous power, immediately followed by the attacks from all of the other Golden Immortals and True Immortals.
A string of resounding booms rang out, and the azure sword array shuddered violently as close to half of the azure sword qi within it was eradicated in the blink of an eye.
However, instead of disying any concern, a faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and he abruptly switched to a different hand seal.
The streaks of azure sword qi instantly transformed into even thicker streaks of golden sword qi, all of which had arcs of golden lightning dancing over them, giving off formidable lightningw power fluctuations.
The entire sea of sword qi was instantly restored to its former state, while a peculiar dragon design appeared deep within it.
Incredibly formidable sword qi fluctuations erupted out of the sea of golden sword qi, and they were several times more powerful than the energy fluctuations released by the azure sword qi.
All of the attacks that had plunged into the sea of golden sword qi were instantly destroyed. Not only was the sword array itself extremely formidable, the arcs of golden lightning within it were particrly potent when it came to eradicating baleful qi, so it was able to destroy all of the oing attacks with ease.
The sword array continued to descend right before the astonished eyes of the High Zenith Stage trio, and they immediately began to retreat, but it was already toote.
The sea of golden sword qi crashed down upon the trio,pletely epassing them before they were able to get away, and Tie Yu immediately began rushing into the fray upon seeing this.
The three High Zenith cultivators were all precious subordinates of the Golden Rhinoceros King, and if they were to be in here, even if he could capture the heads of Han Li and Shi Chuankong, it would be far too heavy a loss to incur.
As Tie Yu flew through the air, a giant green bow appeared above his head amid a sh of green light. There were nine Divine Poison Arrows nocked on the bowstring, and all of them were let loose at once.
The nine arrows hurtled directly toward the sea of golden sword qi, leaving nine long, ck trails in their wake.
The nine arrows were extremely fast, and they reached the sea of golden sword qi in an instant, but right at this moment, six golden flying swords appeared in their path, radiating dazzling golden light as they quickly crossed over one another to form a giant sword lotus flower.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as a series of spatial rifts appeared in the nearby area, and the golden sword lotus flower exploded as the six flying swords were sent flying in all directions, but the nine Divine Poison Arrows were also stopped in their tracks.
Right at this moment, the space in front of Tie Yu suddenly began to tremble violently, and countless silver runes surged forth before converging toward him from all directions.
All of a sudden, Tie Yu felt as if there were an invisible hand closing around him from all directions, forcing him to stop.
Shi Chuankong was standing in mid-air not far away from him, holding a silver lute as he observed Tie Yu with a cold smile.
Right at this moment, the sea of golden sword qi began to descend upon the devilish beings trapped within it, and the horned man''s expression changed drastically as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a pair ofrge azure gs, both of which were burning with azure mes that were giving off formidable cial firew power fluctuations.
The two gs unfurled at his behest, forming a thick azure fire barrier around his entire body.
At the same time, the red-haired elderly man opened his mouth to release a crimson pagoda, and as it revolved on the spot in mid-air, rays of crimson light cascaded down from the pagoda to envelop his entire body.
As for the golden-haired young woman, a suit of heavy golden armor quickly appeared over her body amid an eruption of radiant golden light, and countless golden runes were dancing over the suit of armor, giving off bursts ofw power fluctuations and an indestructible appearance.
The three of them were very quick to react, immediately summoning their devilish treasures, but the other devilish beings were not so fortunate, and a chorus of blood-curdling howls instantly rang out as most of them were torn to shreds in the blink of an eye.
Some of them were able to adopt some protective measures, but they were still sliced into ribbons, nheless, and in the blink of an eye, all that remained in the sword array were the three early-High Zenith cultivators and four or five Golden Immortals.
All of them were gathered in a circle with their backs facing each other, and devilish treasures were flying all around them, forming a colorful protective barrier to keep the surrounding sword qi at bay.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as he switched to a different hand seal, and the dragon design at the center of the sword array instantly began to glow radiantly.
An earth-shattering draconic roar rang out as twelve giant golden dragons flew out of the center of the sword array at once, and every single one of them was several thousand feet in length, while their bodies were formed entirely by golden lightning and streaks of sword qi.
In the next instant, the twelve golden dragons pounced onto the colorful protective barrier, wrapping themselves around the barrier before constricting with all their might.
The protective barrier was instantly destroyed, and at the same time, countless streaks of sword qi erupted out of the bodies of the twelve golden dragons to inundate the horned man and the others.
A few of them had their bodies torn to shreds before they even had a chance to cry out, and before Tie Yu had a chance to intervene, everyone in the sword array had already perished.
Tie Yu was furious to see this, while all of the other devilish beings on the dark cloud in the distance were looking on with astonished expressions.
Even Shi Chuankong was staring at Han Li with a stunned look in his eyes.
Han Li exhaled as he made a hand seal, and the golden sword array instantly began to shrink down before vanishing altogether, reverting back into twelve Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
However, the lightning runes on the swords had be far dimmer than before, while the lightningw powers emanating from them had also be quite feeble, as if the lightningw powers inside them had been exhausted.
The twelve flying swords flew back into Han Li''s dantian at his behest, and having just had so much of their lightningw powers exhausted, it was going to take a nurturing period for them to recover.
The sword array that he had just unleashed was the Horned Dragon Sword Array that he had learned from Jin Hai, and it was a secret sword array of the Boundless Sword Sect, one that was rather simr to his Azure Coil Sword Array.
However, in contrast with the Azure Coil Sword Array, which required seventy-two flying swords to unleash, the Horned Dragon Sword Array only required twelve flying swords, but it was extremely taxing on the swords used and could only be unleashed using flying swords of an extremely high caliber.
Even the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords most likely wouldn''t have been able to withstand the strain if it wasn''t for their recent evolution in the golden lightning pond.
mes of fury were burning in Tie Yu''s eyes at the sight of the shredded remains of his subordinates, but in the next instant, he took a deep breath, and his enraged expression quickly faded.
His subordinates were already dead, so there was nothing that he could do. On the bright side, without those people getting in the way, he would be able to fight without any qualms.
"Impressive! It appears I underestimated you. You''ve earned the right for me to personally put an end to your life!" Tie Yu dered as fierce killing intent rose up from his entire body alongside a tremendous and violent aura that instantly filled the entire area.
Everyone standing atop the dark cloud was instantly swept away like falling leaves in a gust of wind in the face of his aura, and Shi Chuankong was also forced to stagger back over a thousand feet before just barely managing to steady himself with a stunned look on his face.
He turned to take a nce at Han Li, then flew back even further, exiting the battlefield altogether.
Out of everyone present, Han Li was the only one who was able to remainpletely unmoved, but his brows also furrowed slightly as he raised a hand to make a beckoning motion, summoning the six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords from before back to himself.
However, at this moment, there were many streaks of mist-like green light wrapped around the six flying swords, and they were burrowing into the swords like living creatures while giving off viciousw power fluctuations.
The golden light emanating from the six flying swords was quickly fading, as if they had been corroded somehow, and green spots appeared on their surfaces before quickly spreading.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and arcs of golden lightning instantly erupted out of the six flying swords at his behest, attempting to eradicate the streaks of green light around them.
However, the green light continued to cling firmly to the flying swords, refusing to be dispelled.
"Nothing can escape from my Green Cloud Miasma!" Tie Yu chortled as he reached out to make a grabbing motion, and nine arrows appeared above his head amid a sh of green light.
All nine arrows were nocked on the bowstring of the green bow, which had been drawn back in full.
The nine arrows were then fired and reached Han Li in the blink of an eye, traveling over twice as fast as before!
Chapter 780: Eradicating the Enemy
Chapter 780: Eradicating the Enemy
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as arcs of golden lightning sprang out of his body, and he dodged to the side while flipping a hand over to stow the six flying swords into his Profound Heavenly Gourd.
The poisonous green light clinging to the six flying swords was instantly sucked away by the green light within the Profound Heavenly Gourd, and the green spots on their surfaces also faded, much to Han Li''s relief.
"You''re not getting away!" Tie Yu yelled as he switched to a different hand seal, and the nine arrows immediately swerved mid-flight to continue pursuing Han Li.
All of a sudden, the nine arrows connected as one, causing them to speed up even further, yet right as Han Li was on the verge of being caught, he took a nce behind him while sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of green light that swept up the nine arrows.
The poisonous green light emanating from the arrows quickly faded until there was only a thinyer left, and Tie Yu could sense that his spiritual connection with them was also diminishing.
His expression instantly darkened slightly as he opened his mouth to release a ball of green light, then plunged a hand into it before pulling out a green whip that was lined with extremely sharp hooked spikes.
With a flick of his wrist, the whip elongated rapidly, instantly crossing over a distance of several thousand feet before wrapping itself around the nine arrows and giving them a firm tug.
A dull thump rang out as the whip was able to wrench the nine arrows out of the surrounding green light, and Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, then withdrew the burst of green light before suddenly flying directly toward Tie Yu.
At the same time, he began to chant a rapid incantation, and his body split up into around a dozen identical arcs of golden lightning, all of which split up before converging toward Tie Yu from different directions.
All of the arcs of lightning were also giving of identical auras, making it impossible to determine which one was Han Li.
Tie Yu''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he raised a hand to grab onto the bow above his head, following which nine more arrows appeared on its bowstring before being fired through the air.
As soon as the nine arrows were fired, they immediately split up into countless green arrow projections that rained down from the heavens.
Every single one of the arrow projections was giving off fierce poisonw power fluctuations, causing all of the nearby devilish qi to churn violently.
The volley of arrows instantly pierced through all of the arcs of golden lightning, causing them to explode, and one of them reverted back into Han Li.
At this moment, his entire body was d in a suit of armor formed entirely by arcs of golden lightning, and he remainedpletely unscathed.
As soon as the true Han Li was revealed, Tie Yu immediately made a hand seal, redirecting all of the arrow projections in the sky toward Han Li.
In response, Han Li raised both hands to release a series of thick arcs of golden lightning, all of which were giving off formidable lightningw powers.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the arcs of golden lightning erupted forth in a relentless torrent, forming a dense of golden lightning in front of him.
The volley of arrows descended upon the of golden lightning amid a string of resounding booms, but the of lightning was able to withstand the assault without disying any signs of caving.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he made a grabbing motion, and eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly appeared at his behest before releasing countless streaks of golden sword qi that formed a golden mountain, which crashed straight into the volley of arrow projections.
The golden mountain was able to barge its way straight through the arrow projections without encountering any resistance, and it appeared right in front of Tie Yu at an astonishing speed.
Tie Yu''s expression changed slightly as he opened his mouth to release a ck shield, which instantly transformed into a protective ck light barrier while he dodged to the side as quickly as he could.
The mountain of golden sword projections came crashing down, and despite the ck light barrier''s unremarkable appearance, it was able to keep most of the streaks of golden sword qi at bay.
However, some of the sword qi was still able to pierce through the light barrier, and even though Tie Yu was taking evasive measures to the best of his abilities, several streaks of sword qi were still able to catch up to him, slicing several deep gashes into his body.
A furious look appeared in his eyes as he let loose a thunderous roar, and plumes of mist-like green light began to surge out of his body in a frenzy, forming a green spirit domain that was close to fifty kilometers in size around him.
The spirit domain contained incredibly dense poisonous green mist, and all of the trees in the mountain range below that came into contact with the green mist were instantly reduced to puddles of green goo.
At this point, Tie Yu''s subordinates had already fled into the distance, so they weren''t caught within the spirit domain.
However, the same couldn''t be said about Shi Chuankong, and the protective spiritual light around his body was being rapidly whittled down by the surrounding poisonous mist.
He hurriedly summoned several protective spiritual treasures, which formed severalyers of light barriers around him, but those light barriers were also being rapidly eaten away.
However, those light barriers had bought him some time, and he began rapidly strumming the strings of his Virata Lute, releasing a stream of silver runes that formed a silver array around him.
In the next instant, Shi Chuankong vanished from within the green spirit domain, then reappeared dozens of kilometers away immediately thereafter.
Tie Yu paid no heed to Shi Chuankong, continuing to glower intently at Han Li.
All of the poisonous green mist within the spirit domain surged toward Han Li from all directions at his behest, forming a series of giant green dragons that swooped down upon him.
All of the green dragons were giving off incredibly formidable poisonw power fluctuations, causing the space in their wake to tremble violently.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon seeing this, and he made a string of rapid hand seals, releasing a spirit domain of his own.
Now that he was at the High Zenith Stage, the golden ripples in his time spirit domain had be far denser than before, and as soon as the spirit domain was unleashed, the surrounding poisonous mist and green dragons were instantly slowed down significantly.
An astonished look appeared in Tie Yu''s eyes upon seeing this, and he immediately tried to do something, but his movements had also be extremely slow and sluggish.
Han Li made a hand seal, and arcs of golden lightning sprang out of his body before forming a lightning array around him.
The arcs of golden lightning were far dimmer than usual within Tie Yu''s poison spirit domain, but they were still able to form a functional lightning array, and in the next instant, Han Li vanished from the spot before reappearing behind Tie Yu, then opened his mouth to release a bolt of radiant golden lightning toward Tie Yu''s head.
Tie Yu was extremely rmed by this turn of events, and he wasn''t in time to turn around, so he could only channel his poisonw powers with all his might.
The surrounding poisonous mist gathered behind him, forming a green giant that was over a hundred feet tall, and it was none other than his domain spirit.
The spirit domain''s entire body was giving off fierce poisonw power fluctuations, and its speed wasn''t hampered by much as it opened its mouth to devour the bolt of golden lightning.
However, before Tie Yu even had a chance to catch his breath, a golden flying sword suddenly shot out of the poisonous mist in front of him, and it was none other than one of Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Some green spots had already appeared on the sword, but it was still incredibly fast as it flew ap around Tie Yu''s head like lightning.
Tie Yu''s expression instantly stiffened, following which his head fell to the side.
Han Li flicked a finger through the air in an expressionless manner, releasing a streak of golden sword qi, which pierced into Tie Yu''s head, causing it to explode like a watermelon andpletely destroying the soul inside.
Tie Yu''s headless body began to plummet out of the sky as a geyser of blood erupted out of its neck, but it was caught by a burst of azure light released by Han Li.
In the wake of Tie Yu''s demise, the green domain spirit''s body quickly began to dissipate, and it let loose one final indignant roar before it disintegrated into nothingness.
Han Li made a hand seal, and a ball of golden light flew back to him, containing the eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, as well as a green bow and nine arrows.
The flying swords had all been corroded to a certain extent by the green spirit domain, but not to a very severe extent, and Han Li stowed the flying sword, the bow, and the arrows away into his Profound Heavenly Gourd, then withdrew his time spirit domain as well.
A few momentster, all of the golden light and poisonous mist in the sky faded away, and Shi Chuankong appeared beside Han Li with a wide smile as he praised, "I am truly in awe of your incredible power, Fellow Daoist Li."
In the distance, all of Tie Yu''s subordinates were looking on with incredulous expressions.
Thete-High Zenith Stage Tie Yu had just been in by an early-High Zenith Stage human cultivator!
In the next instant, someone let loose a panicked roar, and everyone fled into the distance.
A cold look shed through Han Li''s eyes as he prepared to set off after them.
By killing Tie Yu, they had made an enemy out of one of the Ten Hazards, so all of these people had to be killed as well.
"Take a rest, Fellow Daoist Li. Leave these people to me," Shi Chuankong said with a faint smile, then set off after the fleeing devilish beings as a streak of dark purple light.
Meanwhile, Han Li turned his attention back to Tie Yu''s headless body, and after recovering a green storage bracelet, he released several balls of crimson mes that set the body alight, instantly incinerating it into ashes.
Chapter 781: Intercepted
Chapter 781: Intercepted
After taking a pill, Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the green storage bracelet, and several minutester, an ted look suddenly appeared on his face as he raised a hand to make a grabbing motion, upon which a piece of gray bone appeared in his grasp.
It was an object simr to a jade slip, and it contained a map of the Ten Hazards Mountain Range.
Right at this moment, a streak of dark purple light flew back from afar, then reverted back into Shi Chuankong.
"I''ve taken care of all of them, and I was able to perform a soul search technique on one of them. They were all subordinates of the Golden Rhinoceros King, one of the Ten Hazards, and the man you just killed is called Tie Yu, one of the Golden Rhinoceros King''s most prized subordinates," Shi Chuankong informed.
"I see. Take a look at this, it''s a map of the Ten Hazards Mountain Range that I found in Tie Yu''s storage bracelet," Han Li replied as he handed the gray bone to Shi Chankong.
An ted look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon hearing this.
"That''s great! We''ll finally be able to know where we''re going now."
However, his tion was then reced with a grim expression as he continued, "I''ve heard that the Golden Rhinoceros King is an extremely violent and vindictive man. Now that we''ve killed his subordinates, he''ll most likely be sending more people after us soon, so let''s get out of here."
Han Li raised no objections to this, and the two of them flew away into the distance, vanishing out of sight in the blink of an eye.
......
At the Golden Rhinoceros King''s cave abode.
Inside a resplendent golden hall, the Golden Rhinoceros King suddenly kicked aside the seductive maidservant who was massaging his leg, then stood up with such force that his bby rolls trembled as he hurled the golden chalice in his hand viciously onto the ground.
The chalice was instantly smashed on the ground, spilling out all the red wine inside.
The maidservants around him immediately kowtowed to the ground while trembling in fear, not even daring to raise their heads for fear of meeting the same fate as the chalice.
"That useless fool! Someone go check if Tie Yu''s head is still intact. If it is, then bring it back to me, and I''ll ce it at the foot of the stairs so I can step on it every day!" the Golden Rhinoceros King roared in hisical, high-pitched voice, but no one dared to disy any amusement.
Around a dozen of his subordinates outside the pce immediately gave an affirmative response before hurriedly departing, but the Golden Rhinoceros King was still feeling furious as he whirled around to grab onto a golden chalice before hurling that one onto the ground as well.
A brawny man d in a suit of golden chainmail armor stepped forward from the side of the hall, then extended a respectful bow as he said, "Don''t be angry, my king. I''m willing to seed where Tie Yu has failed and im Shi Chuankong''s head for you."
The man had a simr build to the Golden Rhinoceros King, but as opposed to bby rolls, his body was one that consisted solely of bands of thick muscle. His facial features were also quite simr to those of a human, with the exception of his sharp fangs and his nose, thetter of which resembled a ball of ck coal.
The Golden Rhinoceros King''s expression eased slightly at the sight of the man, and a contemtive look appeared in his eyes as he turned his gaze to another man, this one dressed in a white robe.
It was a tall man with a sword strapped to his back, he had a snake-like head with only a pair of small holes in the ce of a nose. There was a cold look in his eyes, and he resembled an icy statue.
"If he''s managed to kill even Tie Yu, then this Shi Chuankong must have some tricks up his sleeve. I suppose that makes sense, given thepensation that Shi Zhanfeng was willing to offer me in exchange for his head. Tong Yu, Yin Yu, go after them together, and try to capture him alive," the Golden Rhinoceros King said.
The brawny Tong Yu took a nce at the white-robed man, then said, "There''s no need for that, my king, I can get the job done on my own."
"Do I need you to tell me what to do?" the Golden Rhinoceros King asked in a cold voice as his eyes narrowed slightly.
A hint of fear shed through Tong Yu''s eyes as he hurriedly replied, "I wouldn''t dare, my king."
"Why are we capturing him alive, my king?" Yin Yu asked.
"Only by keeping him alive can I use him as leverage in negotiations with Shi Zhanfeng. I''m going to require additionalpensation now that even Tie Yu has fallen," the Golden Rhinoceros King exined as he grabbed onto one of his maidservants and began fondling her.
"Alright, I''ll make sure to capture him alive," Yin Yu replied with a nod.
"You can go now," the Golden Rhinoceros King instructed, and the two promptly departed.
......
Several dayster.
An inconspicuous ball of silver light was glowing within a dense forest in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range that was enshrouded in purple mist, and there were faint spatial fluctuations emanating from the silver light.
Inside the ball of silver light, Han Li and Shi Chuankong were standing across from each other, whileying in between them was a charred octopus-like carcass that was several hundred feet long. The creature had hundreds of tentacles, but most of them had already been severed at this point.
"I can''t believe it took us this long to take down a mere True Immortal Stage Hundred Tentacle Beast!" Shi Chuankong mused as he aimed a kick at the charred carcass.
"It possessed some abilities that made it very difficult to track down. If it wasn''t for your spatial spirit domain, it''d most likely still be eluding us right now," Han Li said.
"Alright, now that we''ve harvested its demon core, we should continue on our way. The Golden Rhinoceros King isn''t just going to let us go free," Shi Chuankong said.
"Let''s travel on my flying carriage from here onward. We can fly at a higher altitude to avoid being harrassed by these demon beasts," Han Li replied with a nod, and he summoned a green jade flying carriage as he spoke.
Shi Chuankong nodded in response as he withdrew his spirit domain, then hopped onto the flying carriage, which sped away as a streak of green light.
However, the carriage had only traveled several dozen kilometers before drawing to an abrupt halt.
Two figures were standing in mid-air up ahead, namely a brawny man in a suit of golden armor and a tall white-robed man.
"I don''t think they''re here for a friendly chat," Shi Chuankong mused with furrowed brows. "They didn''t even bring any small fry with them this time."
Han Li examined the two men momentarily to find that the golden-armored man was at thete-High Zenith Stage, while the white-robed man was at the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage, and both of their auras were far more powerful than Tie Yu''s.
"Which one of you killed Tie Yu?" Tong Yu asked.
"Are you here to avenge him?" Han Li scoffed.
"I just want to know who killed that idiot," Tong Yu replied with an amused expression.
"That won''t be difficult at all for you to find out. Once you''re dead, you can go and ask him yourself in the afterlife," Shi Chuankong said with a faint smile.
Tong Yu took a nce at Shi Chuankong, then turned his gaze to Han Li as he said to Yin Yu, "We have to keep that one alive. I''m not very good when ites to finesse, so I''ll leave him to you, but I''ll dly take care of this one."
Yin Yu slowly drew his sword, neither nodding in agreement nor shaking his head to refuse this arrangement.
Tong Yu seemed to have already grown ustomed to this, and he stomped a foot down onto the space below, upon which he abruptly vanished from the spot amid a resounding boom.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly at the sight of Tong Yu''s astonishing speed, and he instantly stowed his green jade flying carriage away beforeunching himself forward.
A streak of azure light crashed into a streak of ck light three hundred feet away amid an earth-shattering boom, and Han Li felt as if he had crashed into a mountain, one that was only continuing to gather momentum over time in waves.
Initially, he was able to remain firm in opposition, but as the waves of forcepounded upon one another, he began to struggle more and more, and finally, with the seventh wave ofpounding force, he was finally sent flying back through the air.
Shi Chuankong was just about to enter the fray when a streak of white swordlight suddenly appeared before descending toward his head.
He immediately dodged to the side, but as the streak of swordlight descended, it began to suck in the surrounding world''s origin qi, expanding further and further in size like a snowball rolling down a snowy mountain, causing the nearby space to warp around it.
Shi Chuankong could feel a burst of tremendous suction force surging out of the streak of swordlight, and he hurriedly made a hand seal to conjure up a spatial barrier to keep the suction force at bay, following which he sprang back in retreat.
The spatial barrier was instantly torn to shreds by the streak of swordlight, but at this point, Shi Chuankong had already retreated to a safe distance away, and after steadying himself, he flipped a hand over to summon a silver spear.
Meanwhile, Yin Yu was glowering at him like a hunter observing his prey.
At the same time, Tong Yu and Han Li were shing against each other over and over again, and just like their first sh, the longer they remained in opposition against one another, the more momentum Tong Yu was able to build up.
Han Li could sensew power fluctuations emanating from Tong Yu''s body, but he couldn''t fathom what type ofw powers these were.
However, he had found a solution to the problem, which was to only engage in brief shes against Tong Yu before disengaging himself to search for another opportunity to strike.
However, despite Tong Yu''s rough appearance, he was a very shrewdbatant, and that, coupled with his incredible speed, meant that Han Li was unable to find any holes in his defense.
Chapter 782: Fierce Battle
"You think that you can handle me just by keeping our shes brief?" Tong Yu scoffed as wisps of ck qi spilled out from the gaps in his suit of armor, forming a cloud of ck mist that epassed his entire body.
All of the devilish qi in the surrounding area also surged into the cloud of ck mist, and all of a sudden, Han Li found himself enshrouded within it as well.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to do anything, a fist wasing straight at him with tremendous power.
He raised an arm to defend himself, but another fist suddenly came swinging at him from the left.
Before he had a chance to shield himself, he was struck by a heavy blow to the chest, and he gave a muffled groan as he was sent flying through the air.
The cloud of ck mist continued to cling to him, and several more punches arrived at once, striking him in the temple, the back of the head, the chest, and other vital regions.
Every single one of these punches packed tremendous force, and they struck him with resounding booms.
Han Li could feel his own immortal spiritual power cirction bing hampered by the blows,and he hurriedly channeled his true spirit bloodline to conjure up a suit of Xuanwu armor.
The punches fell upon the suit of armor in a torrential barrage, and while the suit of Xuanwu armor did cushion the blows somewhat, they were still far from pleasant to deal with.Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes as he swept his gaze across the surrounding ck mist, but he was surprised to discover that he couldn''t see Tong Yu within it.
All he could see were thousands of fists formed by ck mist hurtling toward him from all directions, and it was no wonder that he couldn''t defend himself.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he summoned his Mantra Axis Scripture, and as soon as all of the oing fists entered the golden ripples released by the axis, they were instantly slowed down to a crawl.
Han Li swept his gaze over them to discover that they numbered in the tens of thousands, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he flipped a hand over to summon an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
Immediately thereafter, he shot forward through the air with sword in hand, and the lightning patterns on the sword were shing incessantly. Following the injection of Bone Rinsing Golden Lightning, the Divine Devilbane Lightning in the sword had attained lightningw powers, making it far more formidable than before.
Thick arcs of golden lightning erupted through the air in all directions, tearing through the surrounding ck mist.
All of the ck fists that were struck by the golden lightning instantly disintegrated into ck mist, and their auraspletely vanished.
Han Li continued to scour his surroundings with his Infernal Devilish Eyes, but all he could see was a boundless expanse of ck devilish qi in all directions.
A hint of frustration began to well up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this. While he had managed to restrict the devilish qi with his Mantra Treasured Axis, they werepletely impervious to his sword qi and lightning-based attacks.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and a fiery silver figure abruptly appeared on his shoulder.
If I can''t cut you, then I''ll just burn you!
The fiery silver figure instantly transformed into a silver fire raven at Han Li''s behest, and Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis as the fire raven flew straight into the cloud of ck mist.
Huge waves of silver mes swept through the air, and the vast expanse of ck mist began to rapidly shrink in the face of the scorching mes.
An agonized howl rang out as Tong Yu appeared within the ck mist with multiple burns all over his entire body.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
Wisps of ck mist slowly surged into his body as he spoke, healing the burns that had been inflicted by the Essence Fire Raven.
Han Li naturally wasn''t going to answer the question, and he darted forward through the air while making a beckoning motion with his free hand.
The other seventeen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords shot forth in unison, and as they approached Tong Yu, they released hundreds of sword projections that surrounded him from all directions.
At the same time, the Essence Fire Raven was hovering behind him, waiting to strike at the first sign of weakness.
Han Li was charging at Tong Yu in a full-frontal assault, while all of the surrounding sword projections converged toward him.
A hint of fury shed through Tong Yu''s eyes as he let loose a loud roar, and ayer of ck light instantly erupted out of his body, forming a spirit domain that instantly epassed Han Li and all of the flying swords.
In the instant that the flying swords and sword projections pierced into the spirit domain, all of them began to tremble violently, and they were enveloped byyers uponyers of devilish qi.
After being ensnared within the ck mist, the sword projections quickly turned a lifeless gray color, and the spiritual power within them waspletely exhausted, following which they disintegrated into nothingness.
The seventeen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had also been caught within bands of ck mist, and even though they were also being rapidly sapped of their spiritual qi, they continued to struggle against their bindings.
At the same time, plumes of ck mist began to wrap themselves around Han Li like ck serpents before slowly contracting.
The ck mist was gradually turning gray while taking on the form of Han Li''s outline, and it appeared as if he were being turned into an immobile statue.
The Essence Fire Raven immediately flew toward Han Li with silver mes surging out of its body upon seeing this, but it was intercepted by Tong Yu, who made a hand seal with a cold sneer on its face, conjuring up a pair of giant hands formed by ck sand, which joined their palms together to trap the Essence Fire Raven between them.
Immediately thereafter, Tong Yu swept a sleeve through the air to release a golden talisman that fell upon the giant hands, and the talisman instantly vanished, following which several long strings of strange runes appeared over the ck hands to tie them together.
A burst of formidable restrictive power then surged out of the giant hands, and despite the Essence Fire Raven''s best efforts, it was unable to struggle free as the fiery power radiating from its body was firmly contained by the peculiar energy fluctuations being released by the runes.
On the other side, Shi Chuankong was being forced back into retreat by the formidable sword qi unleashed by Yin Yu, and at this point, he was already very far from Han Li.
He could see what was happening in Han Li''s battle out of the corner of his eye, and a sense of despair began to set in.
"Don''t make this more difficult for yourself than it has to be. Yourpanion may have mastered thews of time, but there''s no way he can oppose Tong Yu. Our king instructed us to capture you alive, so juste back with us to meet your brother. If you surrender now, you can be spared of torment, but if you continue to resist, then I''ll amputate your limbs, then torture you to my heart''s content before taking you back," Yin Yu said with a cold expression.
"My brother? So it really was Shi Zhanfeng. Whatpensation did he offer your king in exchange for my life? I''m willing to give three times thepensation if you let me go," Shi Chuankong proposed as he forced a smile onto his own face.
"If you want to negotiate, then you can negotiate with our king. I''m just here to kill," Yin Yu replied in a cold voice.
"In that case, can you get Fellow Daoist Tong Yu to stop so I can go and see your king with mypanion?" Shi Chuankong negotiated, while a silver lute appeared in his grasp, concealed within his baggy sleeve.
However, his sneaky tactics failed to trick Yin Yu, and a cold look shed through thetter''s eyes as he shed his longsword through the air, unleashing hundreds of streaks of white swordlight that formed a giant mountain before crashing down upon Shi Chuankong.
Shi Chuankong was just about to dart back in retreat when he felt a sharp pain in his knees, and he looked down to discover that two sharp streaks of transparent sword qi had emerged, seemingly out of thin air, before instantly piercing through his knees.
That split-second dy made it impossible for him to evade the oing attack, so he had no choice but to raise the Virata Lute in front of him before strumming its strings with one hand.
The silver light emanating from the lute trembled as the space above it warped and twisted, thenpressed together to oppose the vast mountain of swordlight.
A string of resounding booms rang out as the spatial power summoned by the Virata Lute shed incessantly against the streaks of swordlight, and thepressed space was being rapidly whittled away, while only the outermostyer of swordlight had been eradicated.
Right as Shi Chuankong was about to be overwhelmed, an earth-shattering boom suddenly rang out in the distance.
Yin Yu''s brows furrowed slightly as he turned in that direction, just in time to see Han Li abruptly rush out of the gray statue within Tong Yu''s spirit domain, holding an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in one hand and a green gourd in the other.
Tong Yu was very much taken aback to see this, but he reacted very quickly,shing out with his fists.
A relentlessly stream of devilish qi was released from his fists, and it waspounding upon itself inyers with each punch that was thrown, forming ayered wall of devilish qi that hurtled directly toward Han Li.
Chapter 783: Experience
In the face of Tong Yu''s formidable attack, Han Li didn''t retaliate with his sword or his fists. Instead, he merely tossed the green gourd forward, and a green vortex emerged from the mouth of the gourd, then released a beam of dark green light that struck the wall of devilish qi.
The destructivew powers within the beam of green light were released, and the wall of devilish qi was instantly destroyed.
At the same time, Han Li channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, allowing him to reach Tong Yu in the blink of an eye before swinging his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword down upon Tong Yu''s head.
Tong Yu was very startled by this turn of events, and his body immediately began to disintegrate into devilish qi again.
Unbeknownst to him, this was exactly what Han Li had been aiming for.
Han Li thrust a palm into the underside of the Profound Heavenly Gourd, and a green vortex instantly re-emerged from its mouth, releasing a burst of tremendous suction force.
Plumes of devilish qi were instantly drawn into the gourd, and by the time Tong Yu realized that he had fallen for a trap, it was already toote.
In the blink of an eye, he was sucked into the space within the gourd, and the dozens of Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords inside immediately swarmed the cloud of devilish qi, forcing it into the gourd''s second internal space.
Immediately thereafter, a blood-curdling howl rang out from within the gourd.Han Li raised the gourd, then tipped it upside-down before gently shaking it, and a pile of mangled remains fell out of the green vortex onto the ground.
Even though Tong Yu possessed a High Zenith Stage nascent soul, there was nowhere for it to escape in the Profound Heavenly Gourd, and it was destroyed by the destructivew powers inside. At this point, all that remained of Tong Yu was a golden storage ring, which was still hovering in the first space within the gourd.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and in response to Tong Yu''s sudden demise, Yin Yu was much more surprised than angry.
All of a sudden, he forced his longsword with tremendous power, and the spatial barrier conjured up by the Virata Lute was instantly destroyed by the mountain of sword qi.
Shi Chuankong felt a burst of fearsome power descend upon him, and he plummeted out of the sky before crashing into a mountain down below.
A resounding boom rang out as arge section of the mountain was shattered, causing a massive avnche.
Shi Chuankong flew out of the dust and debris, stroking a white mark that had been sliced into the Virata Lute with a pained expression, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, he was caught by a giant white serpentine tail.
In the wake of Tong Yu''s demise, Yin Yu disyed no intention to avenge him, choosing to prioritize Shi Chuankong''s capture instead.
However, as soon as he turned to depart, he immediately felt the entire world slow down around him, and he looked around to discover that he had been caught within Han Li''s time spirit domain.
"Isn''t it a little rude of you to be leaving without a word like this?" Han Li asked in an indifferent voice as he appeared in Yin Yu''s path, and the Essence Fire Raven was hovering behind him.
"Tong Yu should''ve never been defeated by you. You only won because he underestimated you," Yin Yu said in an expressionless manner.
"You''re right, but aren''t you making the same mistake?" Han Li chuckled.
Yin Yu''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and right at this moment, a series of pirs of golden and silver light rose up from the mountains down below, then converged high up in the sky to form an enormous array.
Immediately thereafter, Yin Yu was struck by a sense of drowsiness, and the flow of air in the space ahead of him slowed down even further. At the same time, he felt as if he had been caught within countless shackles, making him feel extremely heavy and sluggish.
His tail reflexively loosened slightly in response to these rming changes, and Shi Chuankong was able to struggle free from his bindings.
"Are you alright?" Han Li asked as he approached Shi Chuankong while holding a glowing jade pendant.
Shi Chuankong was also holding a glowing jade pendant, and he threw up a mouthful of blood, then hurriedly replied, "I''m fine. Let''s put an end to this as soon as possible while he''s still trapped in the array."
Han Li wasted no time upon hearing this, bringing his palms together with the jade pendant in between them before injecting his timew powers into it. Shi Chuankong also did the same, except he was injecting spatialw powers into his pendant.
Under theirbined efforts, the surrounding array began to glow brighter and brighter, and the time and spatialw power fluctuations emanating from it also became more and more formidable.
Yin Yu could feel the flow of time around him slowing down further and further, while the tremendouspression force acting upon him became more and more unbearable. However, his sluggish spiritual sense made it impossible for him to react, reducing him to a helpless sitting duck.
A string of dull thumps rang out as the space around him began to copse, and the space within the array was caving in toward the center, further exacerbating his woes.
It was only going to take a few more minutes for the space within the array topletely copse, at which point Yin Yu''s body and nascent soul would be crushed. Furthermore, thanks to the time-slowing effect of Han Li''s timew powers, this was going to be an extremely long and drawn-out process, subjecting Yin Yu to a slow and torturous death.
However, such a powerful array couldn''t be unleashed without a price. Han Li and Shi Chuankong had each summoned a treasure that contained their respectivew powers, and both of those treasures were going to be destroyed in this process.
On top of that, the more formidable the target trapped within the array was, the longer the array would take to operate, thereby expending more of Han Li and Shi Chuankong''sw powers.
This was why they hadn''t unleashed the array from the very beginning, instead choosing only to activate it after one of the two assants had been in. Only then could they ensure that they would have sufficientw powers to support the array until the target was eradicated.
At the moment, Han Li was still looking fairlyfortable, but Shi Chuankong was already sweating profusely.
He had exerted himself quite severely in his earlier battle against Yin Yu, thereby expending far more spatialw powers than anticipated, and he was struggling to keep up.
Inside the array, the space continued topress, and at this point, Yin Yu''s tail had already been ttened, while some of his ribs had also been snapped and caved in.
At this rate, it wouldn''t be long before all of his bones were snapped, and at that point, he would be truly powerless to resist.
However, right at his moment, Shi Chuankong''s spatialw power reserves werepletely exhausted, and the silver light emanating from the jade pendant in his hand instantly faded.
The entire array also ceased operating, and at the exact same moment, the two treasures acting as the cores of the array on the two mountains below exploded.
The entire array began to fall apart, and an rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face as he immediately stowed his jade pendant away without any hesitation before sweeping a sleeve through the air, sending eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords hurtling directly toward Yin Yu.
However, Yin Yu had already been freed from the array at this point, and a giant waterfall of sword qi cascaded down from the heavens at his behest, scattering all of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords before also razing a tall mountain down below to the ground.
By the time Han Li summoned his flying sword back to his side, the waterfall of sword qi had already faded, while Yin Yu was nowhere to be seen.
Han Li summoned his Essence Fire Raven back to his side, then turned to Shi Chuankong to discover that the front of his robe was drenched in blood, while his aura was very unstable, clearly indicating that he had suffered very severe injuries.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he released a burst of azure light to support Shi Chuankong, who was looking rather unsteady on his feet, and a wry smile appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face as he said, "It''s going to take some time before I recover from these injuries. What a pity that we let one get away..."
"We''re already very fortunate to have survived this ordeal at all," Han Li said.
"You are truly a man of many talents, Brother Li. If we had followed my n and focused solely on fleeing, perhaps we wouldn''t have been caught so early, but at the very most, we would''ve still been intercepted after just a few more days, and we would''ve been in a far less advantageous situation," Shi Chuankong said.
"I''ve been hunted many times in the past, and with experiencees insight. Sometimes, it''s better to set up a surprise ambush rather than fleeing with no concrete n. Time is of the essence, so let''s get out of here. Next time, it''ll most likely be the Golden Rhinoceros Kinging after us in person," Han Li said.
Shi Chuankong nodded in response, while Han Li summoned his green jade flying carriage, and both of them flew onboard.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a few puppets, then adhered several talismans onto each of them.
"Brother Shi, pick a few of these puppets and leave your aura on them," Han Li instructed.
Shi Chuankong immediately realized what Han Li was doing, and he chuckled, "It seems like experience really does pay off in situations like these. Having said that, I don''t think this is going to be a very effective ruse."
"Like you said, it''s just a ruse. If it works, then that''s great, but if not, it''s not like we lose anything," Han Li replied with a smile.
With that, the two of them left their auras on the puppets, following which the puppets darted away in different directions at their behest.
After that, the green jade flyng carriage flew away into the distance as a streak of green light.
Chapter 784: On the Run
Chapter 784: On the Run
Several dayster, in the Golden Rhinoceros King''s cave abode.
The floor of the pce was littered with smashed chalices and ornaments, while all of the guards and maidservants were kneeling on the ground, trembling with fear.
Yin Yu''s head was lowered, making it impossible to see his expression, and it seemed that he was carrying some severe injuries.
After venting his fury, the Golden Rhinoceros King sat down onto his golden chair, and his eyes were slightly narrowed as he asked, "So you''re saying that Tong Yu was killed by the early-High Zenith Stage human cultivator apanying Shi Chuankong?"
"My king, that man has mastered thews of time, and in conjunction with Shi Chuankong''s spatialw powers..."
"Are you trying to make excuses for yourself?" the Golden Rhinoceros King interjected in a cold voice.
"Not at all, my king," Yin Yu hurriedly replied in a fearful voice.
"Forget it, it was Tong Yu''s fault for underestimating the targets. If the two of you had worked together to begin with, the oue could''ve been different," the Golden Rhinoceros King sighed.
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, releasing a purple te, which released a burst of radiant purple light to form a purple array.
A purple-robed man appeared within the array, and it was none other than Shi Zhanfeng.
"Judging from your expression, it doesn''t seem like things have gone well, Fellow Daoist Golden Rhinoceros," Shi Zhanfeng said as he raised an eyebrow.
"Is this how you do business, Your Highness? Why did you not warn me about that High Zenith Stage human cultivator apanying Shi Chuankong? Two of my most prized subordinates have fallen to that man!" the Golden Rhinoceros King used in a cold voice.
Shi Zhanfeng faltered slightly upon hearing this, and a surprised look appeared in his eyes as he replied, "It was never my intention to withhold such information from you, Fellow Daoist Golden Rhinoceros. I did inform you that my brother was being apanied by an early-High Zenith Stage human cultivator, but I had no idea what he was capable of. Surely a mere High Zenith cultivator isn''t too much for you to handle."
"If he was just an ordinary early-High Zenith cultivator, then he would already be dead by now, but he''s mastered thews of time, and that,bined with your brother''s spatialw powers, make them far more difficult to deal with," the Golden Rhinoceros King harrumphed coldly.
"Is that so? Are they still within your territory right now?" Shi Zhanfeng asked.
"Why do you ask that? If they''re out of my territory, are you going to turn and strike a deal with that ck weasel? In that case, is our deal still in effect? Two of my most prized disciples have already perished for this cause. If you''re not going to honor our deal, then I''m afraid that I''ll have to visit you in Night Sun City for a chat," the Golden Rhinoceros King said in a cold voice.
"Don''t be in such a hurry to threaten me, Fellow Daoist Golden Rhinoceros. If they''re still on your territory, then feel free to kill them, and I''ll double thepensation that I promised you," Shi Zhanfeng said.
"In addition to that, I want you to help me suppress the ck weasel''s forces for the foreseeable future. If you can promise me that, I''ll go after them in person and ensure that they''re wiped out of existence," the Golden Rhinoceros King countered.
"Deal," Shi Zhanfeng immediately agreed.
The Golden Rhinoceros King swept a sleeve through the air to dispel the array, then instructed, "Yin Yu, go and prepare the carriage. I''ll be hunting for our targets myself."
......
Half a monthter, a green jade flying carriage was flying through the air over a mountain in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were standing on the carriage, looking around with slightly tense expressions.
"Brother Li, you''ve already been piloting this carriage for over half a month, how about I take your ce for a bit so you can have a rest?" Shi Chuankong proposed.
"There''s no need for that, this is not very taxing for me at all. You''re still yet to fully recover from your injuries, so it would be best for us to leave this ce as soon as possible," Han Li replied.
"There''s no need to be too wary, Brother Li. We''ve already changed directions several times in the past half a month, and we''ve also suppressed our auras this entire time. Additionally, we haven''t even dared to release our spiritual sense, so there''s no way they''ll be able to find us. Besides, it won''t be long until we get out of the Golden Rhinoceros King''s territory, and once that happens..."
All of a sudden, Shi Chuankong''s voice trailed off here, and a wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he sighed, "You just had to speak it into existence, didn''t you?"
A giant golden carriage had appeared tens of thousands of kilometers behind them. It was an extremely ornate three-story carriage that was riddled with shimmering golden gemstones that were glowing radiantly.
The carriage was drawn by ten golden winged horses d in suits of golden armor, and it was rapidly gaining on Han Li''s flying carriage.
Around the carriage were hundreds of half-human, half beast beings that were also d in suits of golden armor, and a grim look appeared on Shi Chankong''s face as he mused, "The Golden Rhinoceros King really hase after us in person."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which his immortal spiritual power surged into the green jade flying carriage in a frenzy, causing it to elerate dramatically.
The Golden Rhinoceros King was standing behind the railing on the third floor of the carriage, and he gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this.
He then abruptly swept a sleeve through the air, and the nine golden dragons embroidered onto his robe began to glow radiantly.
Immediately thereafter, the nine golden dragons flew out of his robe before making their way into his sleeve, and the sleeve instantly swelled to hundreds of times its original size, aiming to devour the space up ahead like a gargantuan mouth.
The nine golden dragons within the sleeve were forging ahead as quickly as they could, and it took them less than twenty seconds to cover the distance of tens of thousand of kilometers.
All of a sudden, Han Li and Shi Chuankong felt a shadow descend upon them, followed by a burst of tremendous pressure, and the green jade flying carriage immediately began to sway in an unsteady fashion.
Immediately thereafter, a gold vortex appeared within the Golden Rhinoceros King''s sleeve, releasing bursts of tremendous suction force that caused the flying carriage to slow down significantly.
Shi Chuankong''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, while Han Li yelled in an urgent voice, "Grab onto my shoulder, Brother Shi!"
In the next instant, ayer of golden light erupted out of his body, forming a golden spirit domain that epassed the entire surrounding area in a radius of several hundred kilometers.
Enshrouded within the time spirit domain, the giant sleeve instantly slowed down, but in the next instant, the Golden Rhinoceros King let loose a loud roar, upon which a burst of formidable erupted out of the golden vortex within the sleeve.
The time spirit domain rippled violently in the face of this burst of power, while the golden sleeve continued to descend upon Han Li and Shi Chuankong at its original speed.
In this dire situation, Han Li grabbed tightly onto the flying carriage while channeling his Reversal True Axis ability, and in the blink of an eye, the carriage had traveled to thousands of kilometers away.
All the Golden Rhinoceros King saw was a blur sh before his eyes, following which he discovered that his sleeve had fallen upon nothing but empty air.
A bewildered look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face seeing this, and he immediatelybined his immortal spiritual power with Han Li''s, helping Han Li to elerate the flying carriage even further.
"After them!" the Golden Rhinoceros King roared, and he conjured up a giant whip of golden light beforeshing out at the rear ends of the ten winged horses up ahead.
The rear ends of the ten horses were struck in unison, and the golden armor tes were instantly shattered, while deep gashes were inflicted onto their bodies.
However, the ten horses didn''t even dare to utter a single sound as they pped their wings with all their might, pursuing the green jade flying carriage as quickly as they could.
Up ahead, Han Li didn''t dare to let his guard down in the slightest, and he continued to channel his Reversal True Axis ability.
So incredible was his speed that the gap between the two flying carriages was gradually beginning to widen.
Shi Chuankong was ecstatic to see this, but he then caught a glimpse of Han Li''s paleplexion, and he realized that maintaining such an incredible speed while carrying a flying carriage along had to have been extremely taxing on him.
Sure enough, Han Li was only able to keep this up for a short while longer before the surrounding time spirit domain dissipated, but thankfully, at this point, the terrain up ahead was already beginning to change.
The vegetation in the forest was gradually bing sparser, while the terrain was also bing tter, transitioning from tall mountains to short hills.
"We''re about to reach the ck Weasel King''s territory, Brother Li. He and the Golden Rhinoceros King are sworn enemies, so there''s no way he''ll let the Golden Rhinoceros King into his territory, which means we''ll be safe as soon as we get there," Shi Chuankong yelled in an ted voice.
"Don''t let your guard down. We''re dealing with a Great Epassment cultivator here," Han Li said as he continued to fly onward as quickly as he could.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations suddenly emerged behind them, following which a spirit domain abruptly stretched over a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers to epass them within it.
Immediately thereafter, the giant golden carriage in the distance suddenly plummeted out of the sky along with the ten winged horses as the Golden Rhinoceros Kingunched himself forward at an incredible speed.
Inside his own spirit domain, the Golden Rhinoceros King was able to cover a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers with just a single step, and before Han Li and Shi Chuankong had a chance to do anything, a giant golden foot was already stomping down upon them.
A sense of powerlessness welled up in Han Li''s heart in the face of the mountainous spiritual pressure crashing down from above, and he discovered that he wasn''t even able to channel his Reversal True Axis ability anymore.
The Golden Rhinoceros King''s fearsome spiritual pressure instantly filled the entire surrounding space, and it was toote to do anything.
Chapter 785: Black Weasel City
Chapter 785: ck Weasel City
Right at this moment, a burst of peculiar silver light suddenly appeared beside Han Li, and a silver talisman flew out of Shi Chuankong''s be before exploding violently.
The silver light instantly swept over both of them, and they vanished from the spot.
A resounding boom rang out as the green jade flying carriage was pulverized by the Golden Rhinoceros King''s almighty stomp, but at this point, Han Li and Shi Chuankong were already nowhere to be seen.
The Golden Rhinoceros King let loose a furious roar upon seeing this, and he cast his gaze far into the distance as he prepared to continue in his pursuit.
However, his expression then suddenly changed slightly as he abruptly stopped cold in his tracks.
An incredibly dense dark cloud had suddenly appeared on the horizon in that direction.
After staring at the dark cloud with a hesitant expression for some time, the Golden Rhinoceros King ultimately decided to turn back, returning to his golden carriage before returning the same way he hade from.
......
Close to a hundred thousand kilometers away.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong suddenly emerged from the soil on a lush hill.
At this moment, both of them were looking a little disheveled. In particr, there was still some blood trailing down from the corner of Shi Chuankong''s lips, and he didn''t have time to wipe it away yet.
"The Golden Rhinoceros King didn''te after us?" Han Li asked.
"We''ve already entered the ck Weasel King''s territory. That final stomp was most likely ast-ditch attempt to kill us, but he doesn''t dare to venture any deeper into the ck Weasel King''s territory. Otherwise, if the ck Weasel Kinges out to confront him, it won''t be so easy for him to get away," Shi Chuankong replied while panting heavily.
"What was that talisman that just flew out of your be? It really saved us back there," Han Li asked.
"That was one of the few life-saving talismans that my father gave to me, and it can only be used once," Shi Chuankong replied with a wry smile.
"In the instant before we were teleported away, I sensed an aura that was just as powerful as the Golden Rhinoceros King''s, but I didn''t get a chance to examine it further before the talisman took effect. We haven''t just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire, have we?" Han Li asked with furrowed brows.
"That was most likely the aura of the ck Weasel King that you detected. The reason why I decided that we should flee into the ck Weasel King''s territory isn''t just because he''s a sworn enemy of the Golden Rhinoceros King. In addition to that, he''s also somewhat different from the other Ten Hazards," Shi Chuankong said.
"How so?" Han Li asked.
"The ck Weasel King''s true form is also that of a demon beast, but I''ve heard that his cultivation catalyst was quite unique. Instead of using a cultivation art of our Holy Realm, he''s using a daoist cultivation art from your Immortal Realm, so he''s not as bloodthirsty as the other Ten Hazards.
¡°Instead, he''s a very refined and tasteful man who likes to read literary ssics, and I''ve heard that he''s even traveled to some mortal empires in the past while posing as a schr," Shi Chuankong exined with a hint of mockery in his eyes.
"A well-learned demon beast? That''s certainly a first," Han Li mused as he raised an eyebrow.
"Ultimately, he''s still nothing more than an untamed beast under a refined guise. I heard that he previously took part in a mortal nation''s imperial examination, but he failed on all three attempts, and in a fit of fury, he ate that nation''s emperor and six other important officials," Shi Chuankong scoffed with a derisive sneer.
"It sounds like we can''t rely on his good graces then. In that case, we should try and get out of here as soon as possible," Han Li said.
"There''s no need for that. Over the years, the ck Weasel King has always been on friendly terms with Night Sun City, and it''s clear that he''s intentionally trying to distance himself from the title of the Ten Hazards. Hence, as long as we don''t start any trouble, we shouldn''t be under any risk in his territory. On top of that, I also want to pay a visit to ck Weasel City," Shi Chuankong said.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this.
"ck Weasel City?"
"Even though the Ten Hazards Mountain Range is a primordialnd, it produces a special type of spirit material known as Purple Sun Warm Jade. It''s an extremely rare spirit material that can improve the harmony between a body and a nascent soul, thereby significantly shortening the amount of time required for a nascent soul to possess a new body.
¡°This is an item sought after by one of my subordinates, the one by the name of Feng Lin that you met back in the True Mantra Sect ruins. On top of that, this material can also nourish the soul, so perhaps it can cure Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul''s current condition," Shi Chuankong exined.
Han Li hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then asked, "But I''m not a devilish being, won''t that be a problem?"
"If I''m not mistaken, you also possess a devilish cultivation art, right? All you need to do is release the aura of your cultivation art, and even if you don''t take on a devilish form, that should suffice," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
Han Li channeled his Provenance True Devil Arts upon hearing this, and ayer of golden scales appeared over parts of his exposed skin.
"That''s more than enough," Shi Chuankong assured with a nod. "Let''s go. We''re still quite far from ck Weasel City, and your flying carriage was just destroyed, so let''s use my one from here, and you can take this time to have a rest."
Shi Chuankong swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, summoning a ck flying carriage that was riddled with ck devilish patterns, and it didn''t appear to be inferior to the green jade flying carriage at all.
"In that case, I''ll be in your care," Han Li said with a smile, then hopped onto the flying carriage.
Shi Chuankong flew onto the carriage as well before making a hand seal, and the carriage set off toward the northwest as a ck shadow.
Over a month passed by in a sh, and there were no further pursuers during this time, but Han Li and Shi Chuankong still kept their guards up.
Finally, they arrived at their destination.
The territory of the ck Weasel King was already very close to the edge of the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, and there were far fewer demon beasts here than in the Golden Rhinoceros King''s territory. Hence, their journey was far smoother, and they didn''te under many attacks.
"We''re finally here," Han Li remarked as he hovered in mid-air, looking out at a vastke several kilometers up ahead.
The water of theke was dark purple in color, giving it a very peculiar appearance.
Despite its strange coloration, the water didn''t appear to be harmful at all, and theke was teeming with life.
"Thiske is called Purple Fen Lake, and it derives its name from a type of fen jade that''s produced here. There''s a huge fen jade ore vein on thekebed, and the energy seeping out from it is what''s given theke its purple color. Fen jade is a coitant spirit material of Purple Sun Warm Jade, so when collecting fen jade, one would asionally be able to dig up a chunk of Purple Sun Warm Jade or two.
¡°Fen jade ore veins are extremely rare, even in the context of the entire Holy Realm, and to my knowledge, this is the only one that can give rise to Purple Sun Warm Jade," Shi Chuankong exined.
"In that case, let''s go," Han Li said in an eager manner upon hearing this.
Weeping Soul was still unconscious, and her aura was still gradually diminishing. He had no way to cure her condition for now, so he could only hope that the Purple Sun Warm Jade would have some effect.
"Hold on a second, Brother Li. Right now, our appearances are a little eye-catching, so we should adopt some disguises," Shi Chuankong said, then began to chant an incantation, and ayer of rippling ck light washed over his body.
After the ck light faded, Shi Chuankong was revealed to have transformed into a muscr man with strands of ck fur all over his arms and legs, giving him the appearance of a being from the wolf tribe of the Ten Hazards Mountain Range.
Han Li also adopted a disguise upon seeing this, transforming into a horned young man with purple hair and green eyes.
This disguise of his was extremely intricate, and it incorporated both his Mantra Domain and his Provenance True Devil Arts, so even a Great Epassment being wasn''t necessarily going to be able to see through it.
After adopting this disguise, Han Li immediately flew toward theke, while Shi Chuankong followed along.
Before long, the two of them had flown hundreds of thousands of kilometers, and right at this moment, a ck ind that was several hundred kilometers in radius appeared up ahead.
There was a giant city on the ind that took up the entirendmass, and its walls were over a thousand feet tall and entirely paved with a type of ck crystalline material, presenting a majestic sight to behold.
The city walls were also etched with some purple patterns that seemed to be for fortification purposes, and they were emanating a faint purple glow that enshrouded the city in an air of mystery.
This was ck Weasel City, the home of the ck Weasel King.
From here, Han Li and Shi Chuankong began to slow down as they were no longer the only ones in the area, and more streaks of light had begun to appear nearby.
A series of giant ships had also appeared on the surface of theke down below, traveling toward the city.
The closer they drew to ck Weasel City, the more ships and streaks of light they encountered, all of which were converging toward the city.
The two of them didn''t want to attract any attention, so they suppressed their auras to the True Immortal Stage.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the giant ships, upon which a surprised look appeared on his face.
"What''s wrong, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"On the way here, all of the demon beasts that we encountered were still in their beastly forms, and only upon reaching a certain cultivation base could they adopt human forms. However, none of the beastly cultivators on those ships possess particrly lofty cultivation bases, yet they''ve already attained human forms," Han Li mused.
"Almost all beastly cultivators can attain human forms upon reaching a certain cultivation base, but the timing differs depending on their bloodlines. Generally speaking, the easier it is for a beastly cultivator to attain a human form, the lowlier their bloodline will be. All of the beastly cultivators on those ships are considered to be low-grade beings, and the same principle applies to all of the beings in our Holy Realm," Shi Chuankong exined.
Chapter 786: A Longing for Mortal Virtues
Chapter 786: A Longing for Mortal Virtues
"I see. It sounds like bloodlines are taken very seriously in the Devil Realm," Han Li mused.
"Power championed above all else in our Holy Realm, and weaker tribes are generally all enved and oppressed by more powerful ones, so the bloodline hierarchy is indeed taken very seriously, and that''s even more so in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range.
¡°Out of the Ten Hazards, only the ck Weasel King is more lenient in this regard, and that''s why many of the low-grade tribes have moved here," Shi Chuankong sighed, seemingly not very pleased with the state of affairs.
Han Li offered no response to this.
At this point, the two of them had already arrived on the edge of ck Weasel City.
Up close, the city was even more majestic, and its tall city walls bordered the coastline.
There were city gates at set intervals along the city walls, and every single city gate was lined with ports where giant ships were docked, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.
"This is quite a nice city. Even though it was built by a demon beast, it looks no different from a city in the Immortal Realm," Han Li remarked.
"Among the Ten Hazards, the ck Weasel King is closest with the mortal world, and he encourages business and trade, so even though there aren''t many high-grade tribes residing in his territory, their overall power is still nothing to be scoffed at," Shi Chuankong said.
"It sounds like the ck Weasel King can be referred to as a wise ruler among the Ten Hazards then," Han Li said.
"I suppose you can say that to a certain extent," Shi Chuankong replied with a peculiar look on his face.
Han Li was rather intrigued by Shi Chuankong''s reaction, but he didn''t ask any questions.
"Let''s go," Shi Chuankong said, and the two of them flew toward the nearest city gate, where there were some soldiers d in ck armor, examining those who were entering the city.
However, the checks weren''t very stringent, and Shi Chuankong approached the guards at the city gates for a brief conversation, then handed over a few ck crystals, and the two of them were granted entry into the city.
Han Li made his way through the city gate, then inspected his surroundings momentarily before nodding in approval at what he saw.
The streets and buildings in the city were quite clean and well-maintained, and in particr, the streets were over a hundred feet wide and paved with very uniform and even ck bricks.
There were many carriages parked on either side of the street, drawn by a type of dark green beast that had horse-like bodies, but wyrm-like heads.
The owner of one of the carriages immediately approached Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
He was a short young man with dark red scales all over his hands and feet, and he was only at the Nascent Soul Stage.
The young man had a pair of bright and intelligent eyes, and he said in an enthusiastic voice, "Is this your first time visiting ck Weasel City? Please consider hiring my carriage, it''ll only cost one top-grade devil stone a day. My name is Lu Xie, and I grew up my entire life in this city, so I''m very familiar with itsyout."
"Why does everyone have to travel by carriage? Is flight prohibited in the city?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Indeed, flight is prohibited in the city by the ck Weasel King, and there are flight restrictions in the sky, so people in the city can only travel on foot or by carriage," Lu Xie replied.
Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce with Han Li, then nodded as he said, "This is indeed our first time in ck Weasel City, and we''re here to buy some things. If you do a good job, I can give you two top-grade devil stones a day."
Lu Xie was ecstatic to hear this, and he hurriedly replied, "You can count on me, Senior!"
With that, Han Li and Shi Chuankong got into the carriage, and they set off from there.
The green horse-like creatures were quite fast, and the surrounding scenery was flying past in a blur.
"Are there any prohibitions in ck Weasel City, Lu Xie?" Han Li asked while inspecting his surroundings.
"There are. The most strictly enforced one is that fighting is prohibited, regardless for what reason. Anyone who breaks this rule will be captured and stripped of their cultivation base. There''s also a nightly curfew in the city, and whenever night arrives, one has to either leave the city or find an inn to stay in. Anyone who''s discovered wandering the city at night will be captured and also punished very severely," Lu Xie replied.
"Why is there a nightly curfew?" Han Li asked.
Flight and battle restrictions made sense to him, but a nightly curfew was rather unexpected. For cultivators, night or day made no difference, and given how developed the business sector in ck Weasel City appeared, all of the shops had to be quite busy. The nightly curfew essentially cut operating hours by half, and that had to have quite a heavy impact.
"The ck Weasel King mandated the nightly curfew. He says that people should go home at night, and that it''s unbing and indecent to be wandering around at night," Lu Xie exined with a slightly awkward expression.
Han Li was a little speechless upon hearing this.
He had thought that the ck Weasel King had to have some special reason for enforcing a nightly curfew, but this waspletely unexpected, and his impression of the ck Weasel King changed a little upon hearing this.
It was no wonder that Shi Chuankong had disyed such a peculiar expression when talking about the ck Weasel King earlier.
"Tell us about the city, Lu Xie," Shi Chuankong interjected.
Lu Xie was clearly very relieved that the conversation had diverged away from the ck Weasel King, and he said, "ck Weasel City is split up into nine areas, of which the three central areas are inhabited by the ck Weasel King and the ck Weasel Army directly under hismand. Out of the six remaining areas, three are normal residential areas, and they''re quiterge, but they''re inhabited solely by low-grade tribes, so there''s not much to see there.
¡°Two of the remaining three areas are also residential areas, but reserved for high-grade tribes and powerful beings like yourselves, while the final area is the business area, where almost all of the city''s best shops can be found. Almost all of the city''s premium materials and devilish treasures are sold there, and a small fee is required to enter the area, but I''m sure that won''t be an issue for cultivators of your caliber."
"We came to ck Weasel City on this asion to buy some Purple Sun Warm Jade. Do you know where this material is sold?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Purple Sun Warm Jade is a very rare resource produced in our city, and demand has always outweighed supply. On top of that, someone like me is not privy to information concerning the current market circumstances for Purple Sun Warm Jade. All I can do is take you to the best shops in the city and hope that you can find what you''re looking for there," Lu Xie replied in a an apologetic fashion.
"That''s fine, take us there," Shi Chuankong replied.
It wasn''t like he had expected to find out anything from Lu Xie anyway, and Lu Xie hurriedly gave an affirmative response.
An hourter, the carriage drew to a halt in front of a giant city gate deep in the city.
The areas in the city were separated by some shorter city walls, and looking in through the city gate up ahead, one could catch a glimpse of a series of tall and opulent shops and throngs of peopleing and going, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.
This was the city''s trading area, and the carriage was stopped by some guards d in ck armor stationed at the city gate.
"Each person needs to issue one high-grade devil stone to enter the trading area, so that''ll be three high-grade devil stones for the three of you," one of the guards dered.
Lu Xie turned to Han Li and Shi Chuankong with a slightly awkward expression upon hearing this.
Generally speaking, this fee was always issued by the passenger, but Han Li and Shi Chuankong had only just arrived in ck Weasel City, so they were perhaps unaware of this unspoken rule, and Lu Xie hadn''t informed them of this in advance.
Thankfully for Lu Xie, neither of them made a fuss, and Shi Chuankong tossed three high-grade devil stones at the armored guard, earning them entry into the trading area.
"Thank you, Senior," Lu Xie said with a grateful expression, and the carriage began to trundle its way down the street into the trading area.
Shortly thereafter, the carriage drew to a halt in front of a five-story pavilion, one that appeared rather unremarkable, but there were many customers entering and exiting the building.
Hanging above the entrance of the pavilion was a que that read "Floating Gold Pavilion".
"This is one of thergest shops in the city," Lu Xie introduced. "It doesn''t look like it''s anything special, but it''s already been in operation for over ten thousand years and possesses tremendous resources. Please feel free to take a look inside, I''ll wait out here for you."
Han Li and Shi Chuankong stepped off the carriage before entering the shop, and as they did so, Han Li made a point to take a subtle nce at his surroundings to ensure that there wasn''t anything amiss.
As soon as they stepped through the entrance of the shop, a burst of faint devilish qi fluctuations swept over their bodies, and their vision blurred momentarily, following which they suddenly found themselves in a giant hall that was thousands of feet in size.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. Sure enough, there was more to the building than met the eye, and its interior was farrger than the exterior suggested.
On top of that, he had detected a sensory aura within that burst of devilish qi fluctuations just now, and that was most likely to examine their cultivation bases.
However, both he and Shi Chuankong had concealed their true cultivation bases, and an examination of this degree wasn''t going to be enough to see through their guises.
The hall was lined with a series of giant disy cabs that were filled with merchandise. THe cabs on the left contained all types of raw materials, while the ones on the right contained finished products such as pills and devilish treasures.
These cabs were arranged in a very orderly and uniform fashion, making it very easy for customers to quickly track down the items that they were looking for.
Behind each cab was a green-robed employee, all of whom were serving customers with warm smiles on their faces.
All of these employees were in humanoid forms, and barely any inhuman features could be seen in them.
A beautiful green-robed female employee approached Han Li and Shi Chuankong, then said in a respectful manner, "Wee to our Floating Gold Pavilion, seniors. We aren''t qualified to serve esteemed guests at the True Immortal Stage, so please allow me to take you to an administrator."
Chapter 787: Shopping Spree
Chapter 787: Shopping Spree
"Lead the way," Shi Chuankong said in a casual manner.
The green-robed woman did as she was told, leading Han Li and Shi Chuankong to an individual booth, where various types of fruits, snacks, and tea were offered to them.
"These Dark Fruits and Spring Mist Tea are specialty local products of the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, feel free to give them a try, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong suggested.
Han Li raised a cup of steaming tea, then took a small sip before giving a slight nod.
Right at this moment, the door of the booth was opened, and a young woman in a pink dress stepped inside. She had also taken on a humanoid form, and there were no visible inhuman features on her at all.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I am Mei Lan, an administrator of the Floating Gold Pavilion," the young woman introduced.
Bouquets of pink flowers were emerging in the air around her as she walked, giving off a fragrant aroma.
Han Li raised an eyebrow at the sight of the young woman, who was at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage. It appeared that she was most likely a tree demon, and whatever cultivation arts she was using seemed to be quite remarkable as well.
It was quite strange to Han Li that someone of her cultivation base was serving as a mere administrator in this Floating Gold Pavilion, but he quickly realized that this was most likely a business tactic of the pavilion.
By sending out an administrator of a far superior cultivation base to the customer, the Floating Gold Pavilion would be able to exert subtle pressure on the customer, thereby gaining the initiative.
However, such a tactic naturally wasn''t effective on Han Li and Shi Chuankong, and the two of them continued to sit and drink tea with their expressionspletely unchanged.
Mei Lan was slightly taken aback by theposure disyed by Han Li''s duo, but her expression also remained unchanged as she sat down across from the two of them and asked, "What can I help you with today, esteemed guests?"
Shi Chuankong casually set down the teacup in his hand, then flipped a hand over to produce a storage bracelet, which he tossed at Mei Lan as he said, "We heard that the Floating Gold Pavilion is one of thergest shops in ck Weasel City, and we wanted to discuss some business with your shop. Here''s the deposit."
A hint of surprise shed through Mei Lan''s eyes upon hearing this, but she still caught the bracelet, and after inspecting its contents with her spiritual sense, an astonished look instantly appeared on her face.
Inside the storage bracelet were five hundred thousand Devilish Origin Stones stacked in neat piles, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
Upon realizing her own loss ofposure, Mei Lan hurriedlyposed herself, then set down the storage bracelet in her hand as she said, "It is a great honor for our Floating Gold Pavilion that you''ve chosen us. May I ask how I can help you today?"
A hint of amusement shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
Mei Lan had intended to intimidate the two of them with her vastly superior cultivation base, but Shi Chuankong had employed the same tactic against her, iming the upper hand by presenting such an enormous sum of wealth.
An unspoken contest was taking ce here, and Shi Chuankong had gained the upper hand, as expected of such an integral figure in the Vast Origin House.
"We''re looking to buy a batch of high-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade," Shi Chuankong dered in a straightforward manner.
Mei Lan''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and she offered no response.
"Are you not interested in making such a deal?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Please don''t misunderstand. We''re naturally very much willing to do business with you, but Purple Sun Warm Jade has always been in very short supply, and we don''t even have any mid-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade, let alone high-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade," Mei Lan exined with an awkward expression.
"I know Purple Sun Warm Jade is always in short supply. How about this? We''re willing to pay you an additional 30% over the market price, but the product that you supply has to be good," Shi Chuankong offered.
"You misunderstand my intentions, esteemed customer, I''m not trying to increase the price. Instead, I''m merely telling the truth. I''m guessing that the two of you aren''t from ck Weasel City, right? This maye across as a little rude, but you don''t seem to have much of a grasp on the market for Purple Sun Warm Jade.
¡°While it''s true that this city produces Purple Sun Warm Jade, the quantity produced is extremely low to begin with, and most of it falls under the control of the ck Weasel King. Even though we''re one of the biggest shops in ck Weasel City, we only have a very small supply of Purple Sun Warm Jade, and it''s all of the low-grade variety," Mei Lan exined with a wry smile.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s expressions darkened slightly upon hearing this.
"So you''re saying that you can''t help us?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"If you''re looking for anything else, then I''d be happy to help, but I''m truly powerless to help when ites to Purple Sun Warm Jade. Please ept my sincerest apologies," Mei Lan sighed.
"In that case, I won''t try to force the matter," Shi Chuankong said as he retrieved his storage bracelet, while Mei Lan looked on with a wistful expression.
"You just mentioned that you have a supply of low-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade, right? I''d like to take a look at that if possible," Han Li suddenly said.
A hint of tion shed through Mei Lan''s eyes upon hearing this, and she immediately replied, "Alright, please wait for a moment."
Following Mei Lan''s departure, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to cast a restriction in the room, then asked, "Do you think she was telling the truth just now, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
"While she was speaking, I used a secret technique that can verify the truth of one''s words to a certain extent, and the secret technique tells me that she didn''t appear to be lying," Shi Chuankong replied.
"In that case, it really does look like it''ll be quite difficult for us to get our hands on some high-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade," Han Li said with furrowed brows.
"We''ll just have to do our best, and if it doesn''t work out, then so be it. There''s quite arge disparity in the efficacy of Purple Sun Warm Jade of different grades, and low-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade has a rather mediocre soul nurturing effect, so it won''t do us much good," Shi Chuankong replied.
"In any case, if it can help Weeping Soul''s condition, then we can''t afford to pass up on it," Han Li said.
Shi Chuankong merely smiled and offered no response, following which both of them became absorbed in their own thoughts.
A short whileter, the sound of footsteps rang out from outside, and Han Li dispelled the restriction in the room, following which the door was opened.
Mei Lan stepped into the room with a purple jade box in her hands, and she set the box down in front of Han Li as she said, "Sorry to keep you waiting. This is all of the Purple Sun Warm Jade that our shop currently has."
Han Li opened the jade box to reveal around two to three dozen fist-sized purple crystals that were giving off a faint purple glow.
However, there were some ws and blemishes on these crystals that were rather eye-catching, and they also somewhat dulled the purple light emanating from the crystals.
He picked up one of the purple crystals, and it was warm to the touch. Furthermore, it was releasing a burst of warmth into his mind to envelop his soul, making it feel as if it were basking in a warm spring breeze.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon sensing this. It seemed that this Purple Sun Warm Jade was indeed going to be beneficial to Weeping Soul''s condition.
"These are all low-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade, but they''re still nothing to be looked down on. What do you think, esteemed customer?" Mei Lan asked.
"How much are you selling this Purple Sun Warm Jade for?" Han Li asked as he ced the purple crystal in his hand back into the jade box.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Mei Lan stated a price that was 10% over the market price.
The price was within the realm of Han Li''s expectations, and he couldn''t be bothered to barter, so he nodded in agreement.
Having imed the storage tools of Tie Yu and Tong Yu, he currently had quite arge supply of Devilish Origin Stones, so this was not a significant sum to him.
He stowed the purple jade box away, then summoned a storage ring that he handed over to Mei Lan.
"Thank you for your patronage," Mei Lan said with a smile after briefly inspecting the contents of the storage ring.
After the deal wasplete, Han Li and Shi Chuankong promptly departed, and Mei Lan apanied them all the way to the entrance of the Floating Gold Pavilion.
Lu Xie had been waiting for them this entire time, and he immediately approached them as they exited the shop.
"How did it go, seniors?"
"Don''t ask unnecessary questions. Just do your job and take us to the next shop," Shi Chuankong replied in a cold voice.
Lu Xie shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and he hurriedly gave an affirmative response.
A short whileter, the carriage drew to a halt in front of a tall pagoda, and Han Li and Shi Chuankong entered the shop before re-emerging close to an hourter.
"Take us to the next one," Han Li instructed.
All in all, the two of them visited six or sevenrge shops before night fell, clearing out all of their supplies of Purple Sun Warm Jade.
That night, they chose an inn to stay in.
Inside his room, Han Li made a hand seal before releasing a flurry of array gs out of his sleeves, and the gs descended all around the room, setting up several light barriers.
After that, he conjured up a door of silver light before stepping into the Flower Branch domain.
Inside the bamboo pavilion, Weeping Soul remained unconscious as sheid on the bed.
Herplexion was so pale that her cheeks almost appeared translucent, and small plumes of ck qi were rising up out of her body before dissipating into nothingness.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
Weeping Soul''s condition had worsened significantly since hest checked on her several days ago, and the rate at which her essential energy was dissipating had also sped up drastically.
After taking a deep breath topose himself, he swept a sleeve toward the nearby table, and five or six jade boxes appeared on the table amid a sh of azure light, containing a total of over two hundred pieces of Purple Sun Warm Jade, all of which were of the low-grade variety.
Even though he hadn''t managed to purchase even a single piece of mid-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade, he was hoping that such arge quantity of low-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade would be able to help Weeping Soul''s condition.
The only concern was that buying up so much Purple Sun Warm Jade had most likely already attracted him a great deal of attention from those who were in the know in ck Weasel City.
Thankfully, ck Weasel City was a thriving business hub with many merchantsing through from outside, so their activities weren''t particrly suspicious.
However, after some discussion with Shi Chuankong, the two of them had already decided that they were going to stay for one more day to purchase more Purple Sun Warm Jade before leaving the city to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Chapter 788: Unexpected Deal
Chapter 788: Unexpected Deal
After drawing three pieces of Purple Sun Warm Jade into his hand, Han Li carefully ced them over Weeping Soul''s forehead, heart, and lower abdomen in ordance with the method taught to him by Shi Chuankong.
The purple light emanating from the three crystals instantly brightened slightly, only to then return to normal again.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he sat down onto the ground with his legs crossed to observe Weeping Soul.
Several minutes passed by with neither the pieces of Purple Sun Warm Jade nor Weeping Soul disying any changes, and Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this.
Even though this Purple Sun Warm Jade was only of the low-grade variety, he had thought that it would have some positive effect on Weeping Soul, even if it couldn''tpletely cure her condition.
Having said that, he was already prepared for such an oue, and he immediately rose to his feet before setting up a hexagonal array that was around ten feet in size on the ground.
At the center of the array was a circr area, while there were sixteen slots littered throughout the array.
Han Li swept his gaze over his surroundings to ensure that the array had been set up correctly, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light that picked up Weeping Soul''s body before gently setting her down at the center of the array.
After that, he ced sixteen pieces of Purple Sun Warm Jade into the slots in the array before casting an incantation seal into the center of the array.
The hexagonal array immediately lit up, as did the sixteen pieces of Purple Sun Warm Jade, which released bursts of purple light that flowed along the lines of the array before converging around Weeping Soul''s body.
Ayer of purple light instantly appeared around her, and her aura was immediately stabilized, while her rate of essential energy dissipation was slowed down significantly, but wasn''t stopped altogether.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
The energy contained in Purple Sun Warm Jade was very special and difficult to harness. This array appeared to be quite simple, but it was actually extremely profound, and it was one that he had created after painstakingly altering a spiritual energy gathering array. Through the use of the array, he was able to elevate the low-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade ced within them to around the mid-grade level, but it appeared that this still wasn''t enough.
This meant that if he wanted to enhance the effect that the array had on Weeping Soul, he would have to rece all of the low-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade in the array with mid-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade, something that waspletely beyond his means at the moment.
With that in mind, Han Li could only heave a long sigh.
It seemed that his only hope right now was to apany Shi Chuankong to Night Sun City and seek out that grand priest.
Thankfully, Weeping Soul''s rate of essential energy dissipation had already slowed down significantly, and that should be enough for her tost until they reached Night Sun City.
However, he only had just over two hundred pieces of low-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade, and he didn''t know how long that was going tost, so he would have to purchase some more.
"I promise that I''ll save you, Weeping Soul," Han Li vowed in a solemn manner, then left the Flower Branch space to return to his room.
An uneventful night passed by, the next morning, Han Li and Shi Chuankong paid for their rooms before leaving the inn.
"Seeing as we''re only going to stay here for one more day, we don''t have much time, so I think we should split up. What do you think, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea. That way, we''ll be able to visit more shops, but make sure to be on your guard and maintain constant contact," Shi Chuankong replied.
"Of course. Also, low-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade may not be worth much to you, but they''re very useful to me, so if you happen to find any, please purchase it for me, and I''llpensate you after the event," Han Li said.
"There''s no need for you topensate me. If it wasn''t for Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul, I would''ve perished back in the infernal prison in Asura City. Seeing as this Purple Sun Warm Jade is for her, it''s the least I can do to repay her for saving my life," Shi Chuankong said.
"You have my thanks," Han Li said.
The two of them emerged from the inn, and Lu Xie was already waiting for them by the entrance with a wide smile on his face.
"You can take Lu Xie''s carriage, Fellow Daoist Li. I''ll go hail another one," Shi Chuankong said before turning to depart.
Lu Xie turned to Han Li with an inquisitive look upon seeing this, and Han Li waved a dismissive hand as he exined, "Don''t mind him, he has some other matters to attend to. Keep taking me to the shops in the city."
Lu Xie asked no further questions and did as he was told.
......
Half a day flew by in a sh.
With Lu Xie acting as his guide, Han Li visited five or six more shops, but progress was much slower than it had been the day before, and he had only managed to purchase fewer than a hundred pieces of low-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade.
He emerged from a shop with tightly furrowed brows, then beckoned to Lu Xie, instructing him to move onto the next shop.
Lu Xie approached him with an uneasy expression, holding a ck voice transmission talisman in his hand, then said, "Senior Li, someone approached me not long after you entered that shop and asked me to pass this onto you."
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he epted the talisman before injecting his spiritual sense into it, following which his pupils instantly contracted slightly.
"Where''s the person that gave you this talisman?" he immediately asked as he scoured his surroundings, but didn''t spot anyone worthy of note.
Lu Xie became even more uneasy at the sight of Han Li''s reaction, and he hurriedly replied, "He immediately left after giving me this voice transmission talisman, and he told me that if you want to meet him, then you can go to the Plum Forest Teahouse up ahead."
"It''s alright, there''s no need for you to feel anxious. Take me to the Plum Forest Teahouse," Han Li instructed.
Lu Xie did as he was told, while Han Li sat in the carriage, looking at the voice transmission talisman in his hand with a contemtive expression.
The talisman contained a very concise message: "I have information pertaining to Purple Sun Warm Jade."
A short whileter, a resolute look appeared in his eyes as he stowed the talisman away, then summoned a purple jade te and spoke into it briefly before stowing it away as well.
Before long, the carriage arrived in front of a teahouse.
"Wait for me outside," Han Li instructed before making his way into the teahouse.
Business appeared to be quite slow, and there were only four or five customers inside the teahouse.
Han Li was approached by a waiter, but he paid no heed to the waiter as he cast his gaze toward the customers in the teahouse.
Right at this moment, a ck-robed young man rose to his feet before giving Han Li a nod.
"Thank you foring, Fellow Daoist. Pleasee with me to the second floor where we''ll have a bit more privacy," the ck-robed young man said through voice transmission, then turned and began to make his way up the stairs.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li followed along, and the two of them entered a booth before sitting down.
"Were you the one who left this voice transmission talisman for me?" Han Li asked as he fished out the ck talisman.
"That''s right. My name is Hei Lang. This is quite an important matter, and that''s why I employed such a roundabout method to invite you toe and see me," the ck-robed young man replied as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing several small ck gs that released a ck light barrier to epass the entire booth.
Through this gesture, Han Li was immediately able to determine that Hei Lang was a True Immortal cultivator. On top of that, he was from the devil race, just like Shi Chuankong.
Han Li wasn''t all that surprised by this. During his time in the city, he had seen quite a few devilish beings, and there were even some mortal devilish beings among them.
ording to Shi Chuankong, the devil race and the demon beasts in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range were sworn enemies, but ck Weasel City was a safe haven where all beings could coexist in harmony.
As a result, ck Weasel City was a massive melting pot of beings of all descriptions, and it was clear that this was exactly what the ck Weasel King wanted.
"It''s fine. Do you truly have information on Purple Sun Warm Jade?" Han Li asked in a direct and straightforward manner.
"Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have invited you here," Hei Lang replied with a smile.
A hint of tion welled up in Han Li''s heart upon hearing this, but his expression remainedpletely unchanged as he asked, "How much Purple Sun Warm Jade do you have? If it''s only a small quantity, then I''m not interested."
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist, my Purple Sun Warm Jade will definitely be of satisfactory quantity and quality to you. Here''s a list of my stock. If you''re interested, then we can discuss this matter further," Hei Lang replied as he pulled out a jade slip before handing it to Han Li.
Han Li took a meaningful nce at Hei Lang, then epted the jade slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it, following which a surprised look immediately appeared on his face.
Sure enough, the jade slip contained an extensive catalog of Purple Sun Warm Jade, consisting of over five hundred of the low-grade variety, forty to fifty of the mid-grade variety, and even two pieces of high-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade.
"ording to my knowledge, Purple Sun Warm Jade is extremely rare, and even the best shops in the city can only supply the low-grade variety. Do you really have so much Purple Sun Warm Jade to offer?" Han Li asked.
"I''m not someone with so little to do with my time that I would go around pranking people over such matters. Rest assured, you have my word," Hei Lang replied in a confident manner.
"Alright, in that case, how much are you nning to charge for your Purple Sun Warm Jade?" Han Li asked.
Hei Lang considered the question momentarily before stating a price.
Much to Han Li''s surprise, the price that he had stated was not steep at all. In fact, it was even a little cheaper than the market price.
It seemed that there were some hidden circumstances involved. For example, perhaps Hei Lang had obtained his Purple Sun Warm Jade through illegitimate means, thereby making it difficult for him to sell them, and that could perhaps be why he was willing to offer such low prices.
Having said that, none of that mattered to Han Li. If he could go through with this deal, then he would immediately leave ck Weasel City after obtaining the Purple Sun Warm Jade, so the aftermath hardly mattered.
"Alright, I''ll take everything you have. Do you have the Purple Sun Warm Jade with you right now? If so, then I''m willing toplete the transaction now," Han Li said.
"Before we discuss that, there''s something else that I have to tell you," Hei Lang said.
Sure enough, there was a twist in the tale, and Han Li prompted, "Go ahead."
Chapter 789: True Appearance
"I can supply the Purple Sun Warm Jade that you want. However..."
A hesitant look appeared on Hei Lang''s face as he spoke.
"What''s the problem?" Han Li asked.
"The problem is that the batch of Purple Sun Warm Jade is currently in someone else''s possession, and..."
"So you''re negotiating a deal with me with someone else''s stock?" Han Li interjected with a displeased expression. "On top of that, it sounds like they''re not even aware of what we''re discussing here, so it''s yet to be seen whether they''d be willing to go through with this deal."
A hint of fury surfaced in Hei Lang''s eyes upon hearing this, and he mmed his fist down onto the table as he snapped, "That''s not true! I have a share in the Purple Sun Warm Jade as well!"
All of the teacups on the table were knocked over, spilling tea everywhere.
"My apologies for losing myposure," Hei Lang said as he suppressed the fury in his eyes.
"It''s fine, just tell me what''s going on," Han Li replied."I can assure you that I can convince that person to agree to the price I stated andplete this deal with you. However, I''m going to require your help. If you agree to help me, then we can continue this discussion, but if not, then let''s end things here," Hei Lang said.
"Of course I''m interested in such a favorable deal, but how exactly do you need me to help you? Surely you can''t expect me to take a risk without knowing any of the circumstances involved," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"There''s no risk involved, all we need to do is use some negotiation tactics to force that person to agree to this deal. Just follow my lead, and I can assure you that there won''t be any danger in the process," Hei Lang promised.
Han Li contemted the offer for a moment, then replied, "I can help you, but under one condition."
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist," Hei Lang prompted.
"I''m sure that you''re already aware that I''m not acting alone. I have apanion who isn''t with me right now, and if you want me to help you, you have to bring him along as well," Han Li said.
"If that''s your condition, then that won''t be a problem. As long as it''s someone you deem to be trustworthy, the more people we have on our side, the better," Hei Lang replied without any hesitation.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
As long as he and Shi Chuankong were together, he was confident that they would be able to get themselves out of any sticky situation, as long as there weren''t any Great Epassment cultivators involved, and it was worth taking some risk for the Purple Sun Warm Jade.
"In that case, let''s go," Hei Lang said as he rose to his feet with an eager expression.
Han Li didn''t want to dy this matter, either, and the two of them promptly exited the teahouse to find Shi Chuankong already waiting for them outside.
"Why did you call me here in such a hurry, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Chuankong asked as he took a nce at Hei Lang.
Han Li gave Shi Chuankong a brief recount of his discussion with Hei Lang through voice transmission, and an ted look immediately shed through Shi Chuankong''s eyes as he said, "That sounds like a great deal for us! Please lead the way, Fellow Daoist Hei Lang."
"Pleasee with me, fellow daoists," Hei Lang replied with a nod, then began to make his way down the street without hailing a carriage.
Shi Chuankong followed along behind him while scouring his surroundings, seemingly worried that Hei Lang could be up to no good.
Han Li was just about to follow along as well when a thought sprang into his mind, and he beckoned to the nearby Lu Xie, then handed him eight top-grade devil stones as he said, "Thank you for your hard work these past two days."
Lu Xie was ecstatic to see so many top-grade devil stones, and he immediately replied in a grateful voice, "Thank you, Senior!"
Han Li waved a dismissive hand, then quickly caught up to Shi Chuankong and Hei Lang.
The three of them rounded a series of corners and made their way through several streets before arriving at a rather shabby-looking shop.
The shop was situated in a rather secluded location, but it was quiterge and appeared a little out of ce.
At the moment, business appeared to be rather slow in the shop, and there wasn''t a single customer inside. There was only a thin middle-aged man seated behind the counter, looking down at something, and a young employee that was organizing the stock on the shelves.
The thin shopkeeper looked up at the sound of Han Li''s trio entering the shop, then put on a smile as he greeted, "Wee, esteemed customers. How can I help you today?"
Hei Lang paid no heed to the shopkeeper as he made his way toward the shelves in the shop.
Han Li also began looking around the shop to find that despite its unremarkable appearance, there were some decent items being sold.
Even though he had just been tly ignored, the shopkeeper remained unbothered, and he emerged from behind the counter as he introduced, "Our shop specializes in selling materials. We''re not exactly a top-tier shop in ck Weasel City, but we have an extensive catalog that I''m sure will be satisfactory to you."
The shopkeeper was discreetly observing Han Li as he spoke, and Han Li was also watching him.
After walking through the shop for some time, Hei Lang stopped in a corner, then asked in a quiet voice, "Does your shop also purchase materials?"
"Of course, but we don''t purchase everything thates our way. It depends on what you have to sell," the shopkeeper replied.
Hei Lang slowly pulled out a ck jade box, then opened it up just a sliver to reveal a length of ck tree branch that was giving off astonishing devilish qi fluctuations.
The thin shopkeeper''s eyes immediately lit up, but before he could get a closer look, Hei Lang had already closed the box, then took a nce outside, indicating that this wasn''t the ce to be talking.
"Come with me to the back, Fellow Daoist. As for these two fellow daoists, I''ll have to get them to wait outside for a moment," the thin shopkeeper said.
"These two friends of mine have things that they wish to sell as well," Hei Lang said.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a wooden box upon hearing this, and Shi Chuankong did the same.
Even though the wooden boxes, one could sense formidable aura fluctuationsing from inside.
"In that case, all three of you cane with me," the shopkeeper said with a smile before leading the trio deeper into the shop.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce with each other before following along, and the three of them soon arrived in an isted room that was around seventy to eighty feet in size.
The thin shopkeeper made a hand seal, and an azure light barrier instantly appeared over the walls of the room,pletely cutting it off from the outside world.
"Even a High Zenith cultivator wouldn''t be able to eavesdrop on us through this restriction, so we can talk here without any qualms," the shopkeeper assured as he gestured for Han Li''s trio to sit down.
Instead of sitting down, Han Li looked directly at the shopkeeper and said with a faint smile, "The restriction here is indeed quite remarkable, but before we begin, how about you present your true self to us? I don''t have a habit ofmunicating with puppets."
Shi Chuankong and Hei Lang''s expressions both changed slightly upon hearing this, and after a brief silence, the door of the room was opened once again, following which a thin middle-aged man emerged.
"You have a sharp eye, Fellow Daoist. I''m even more looking forward to seeing what you have to offer now."
At the same time, a dazed look appeared on the face of the shopkeeper in the room, and it made its way out of the room in a mechanical fashion.
"Your soul control technique is quite profound. If it isn''t for the fact that I''ve cultivated a simr secret technique in the past, I wouldn''t have been able to see through it," Han Li exined with a faint smile.
He could sense that the shopkeeper was at the Golden Immortal Stage, but he was carrying some type of aura concealment treasure that allowed him to disy only a True Immortal Stage cultivation base.
This came as quite a relief to Han Li. If he was only dealing with a Golden Immortal, then there was no real danger here.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist. Please take a seat," the shopkeeper said as he also sat down himself.
Both Han Li and Shi Chuankong also sat down, but Hei Lang remained standing.
"Is there something wrong, Fellow Daoist?" the shopkeeper asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"It sure was quite an ordeal just to secure an audience with you," Hei Lang said as a smile appeared on his face.
"What do you mean by that?" the shopkeeper asked in a bewildered manner.
"Long time no see, Brother Guan," Hei Lang said as he made a hand seal, and a series of writhing ck feelers suddenly emerged over his body.
At the same time, his expression began to change rapidly, and he transformed into a dark-skinned young man who was looking exceptionally emaciated.
Simultaneously, his voice had also changed to be very sharp and raspy.
Both Han Li and Shi Chuankong had already noticed that Hei Lang was in disguise, so they weren''t surprised to see this.
"Hei Lang? You''re still alive?" the shopkeeper eximed with an incredulous expression.
"Of course I''m still alive. I must say, you possessmendable courage for continuing to stay in ck Weasel City, Brother Guan. The ck Weasel Army is searching for us outside, yet you''re hiding in the city. The most dangerous ce really can be the safest ce sometimes," Hei Lang said with a smile.
A hint of killing intent shed through the shopkeeper''s eyes upon hearing this.
"I suggest you don''t get any funny ideas, Brother Guan. Prior toing here, I''ve already made preparations for a series of different oues, and if I don''t walk out of this shop in two hours, someone will report all of your crimes to the ck Weasel Army. On top of that, with these fellow daoists here, you may want to think extra hard before you do anything," Hei Lang said as he casually sat down onto a chair.
The shopkeeper took a nce at Han Li and Shi Chuankong upon hearing this, and the killing intent in his eyes faded as he asked, "Why have youe to see me?"
Chapter 790: The Oriole Lurking Behind
"Why are you being so cold, Brother Guan? We''re close acquaintances, are we not? As for why I came to see you, it''s actually these two fellow daoists who wanted to see you. They want to buy some Purple Sun Warm Jade in ck Weasel City, so I introduced them toe here," Hei Lang replied as he gestured to Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
"How could a small shop like mine possibly have stock of something as precious as Purple Sun Warm Jade? If you''re looking for Purple Sun Warm Jade, I suggest you go to therger shops in the city," the shopkeeper said with a cold expression.
Han Li offered no response, merely turning to Hei Lang to see what he had to say.
"Let''s not waste any time here, Brother Guan. All of us risked our lives to secure that batch of Purple Sun Warm Jade. In fact, Ri Xi and Ri Xie even lost their lives in the process. Perhaps you can proim that you went into hiding in order to keep yourself safe, but don''t even think about iming all of the Purple Sun Warm Jade for yourself!" Hei Lang said in a cold voice.
"How could you say that, Hei Lang? Am I that kind of person in your eyes? I thought that the three of you had perished, but now you''vee to me alive and well, I''m naturally not going to im all of the Purple Sun Warm Jade for myself. Having said that, how could you divulge this matter to outsiders? Have you forgotten the vow that we swore together?" the shopkeeper used as a furious look appeared on his face.
"We did indeed swear a vow together, but you know better than anyone how Ri Xi and Ri Xie died. You betrayed us first, so don''t go bringing up the vow when it suits you!" Hei Lang sneered.
"Fine. Let''s not dwell on the past, Hei Lang. Just tell me what you want," the shopkeeper said as the enraged look on his face faded away.
"I''m assuming that you''ve chosen to remain in ck Weasel City for two reasons, the first of which is to hide from the ck Weasel Army, while the second is to try and find a suitable buyer for the Purple Sun Warm Jade. These two fellow daoists aren''t from the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, and they possess a great deal of wealth.
¡°Both of them havee to ck Weasel City on this asion to purchaserge amounts of Purple Sun Warm Jade, so they''re the perfect buyers. I''ve already negotiated a deal with them for this price, and I''m willing to let bygones be bygones as long as you split half of the Devilish Origin Stones with me," Hei Lang said as he pulled out a jade slip before tossing it at the shopkeeper.The shopkeeper caught the jade slip, then injected his spiritual sense into it, following which a contemtive look appeared on his face.
After a brief silence, he said, "I have no objections to this deal, but I have a condition."
"Go ahead," Han Li prompted.
"The two of you need to swear a vow on your inner demons to leave ck Weasel City right away after our deal isplete, and to never tell anyone about what you saw and heard here," the shopkeeper said.
"That''s fine. We''re only here for the Purple Sun Warm Jade and have no interest in anything else," Han Li replied with a nod after exchanging a nce with Shi Chuankong.
With that, the two of them promptly swore their inner demon vows in ordance with the shopkeeper''s request.
The shopkeeper''s expression instantly eased significantly upon seeing this, and he flipped a hand over to produce a purple storage bracelet before cing it on the table as he said, "You''ve shown me a great deal of sincerity, so I won''t waste any more of your time. This is what you''re looking for."
Han Li flipped a hand over to summon two storage rings before cing them onto the table, then picked up the storage bracelet before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
The shopkeeper and Hei Lang also each picked up one of the storage rings before examining their contents, and it was quickly confirmed that no one had attempted any trickery.
"Now that the deal isplete, I won''t keep you any longer," the shopkeeper said.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong had no intention of staying, and they immediately stood up to depart.
Hei Lang seemed to be even more eager to leave than Han Li and Shi Chuankong, and he quickly made his way out of the room without a word.
However, right at this moment, a streak of golden sword qi suddenly appeared above his head without any warning before swooping down upon him.
The streak of sword qi had appeared without any warning, and it was incredibly fast, slicing Hei Lang''s body cleanly into two before he even had a chance to raise his head.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, and they immediately drifted back into the room.
A horrified look appeared on the shopkeeper''s face as he made a hand seal to try and activate the restriction in the room again, but the entire room was sliced into two with another sh of golden swordlight.
Immediately thereafter, around a dozen armord figures appeared to surround Han Li''s trio.
These were none other than troops from the ck Weasel Army, and they were all at the Golden Immortal Stage.
Immediately thereafter, two figures appeared in mid-air before drifting down from above.
One of them was a handsome white-robed young man who appeared to be in his twenties, and he was holding a white folding fan.
He was apanied by a beautiful azure-robed woman whose eyes were closed, seemingly indicating that she was blind, and she was holding a golden longsword that was giving off rays of dreamy golden light, making it impossible to make out the appearance of the sword.
Both of them were giving off tremendous High Zenith Stage auras, and the shopkeeper immediately let loose a cry of panic at the sight of the two of them while sweeping a sleeve through the air.
A ball of ck mes swept over his body, then transformed into a giant fiery ck devil that had three heads and six arms and was over a hundred feet tall.
Despite the ck mes burning all over its body, the giant devil wasn''t giving off any heat. Instead, a cial aura was emanating from its body.
All of a sudden, it began swinging its six fists through the air, releasing a flurry of millstone-sized fiery ck fist projections that rained down upon the dozen or so armord figures.
At the same time, it opened its three mouths to release three balls of ck mes toward the two figures hovering in mid-air.
After doing all of that, a burst of yellow light shed over the shopkeeper''s body as he began sinking into the ground.
A cold sneer appeared on the white-robed young man''s face, but he didn''t do anything.
Meanwhile, the azure-robed woman''s arm moved ever so slightly, and another streak of golden sword qi was released at an astonishing speed.
The three balls of ck mes drew to an abrupt halt several dozen feet in front of them, and they were all sliced in half before ncing past them.
At this point, only the lower half of the shopkeeper''s body had sunk into the ground, and his upper body suddenly fell to the side, having been severed in an instant.
The shopkeeper turned to the two figures with a frantic expression as he yelled, "Please forgive me, Your Highness! I let my greed get to my head in a momentarypse in judgment! I''m willing to return all of the Purple Sun Warm Jade that I stole, and I''m also willing to sign a servant contract with you..."
The white-robed young man flicked a finger through the air, releasing a streak of crimson light that pierced into the shopkeeper''s be in a sh like a dagger.
The shopkeeper''s voice instantly cut off, while the light in his eyes faded away.
The white-robed young man made a beckoning motion, and the crimson light flew out of the shopkeeper''s be with his nascent soul trapped inside.
The nascent soul was struggling with all its might, but to no avail.
"You certainly weren''t easy to track down! Even my father was made aware of this incident, and he severely reprimanded me, yet here you are, hoping that I would spare you? I''m going to torment your soul for ten thousand years to make sure you learn your lesson!" the white-robed young man sneered before swallowing the ck nascent soul.
After that, he turned to Han Li and Shi Chuankong with a slightly wary look in his eyes.
The two of them had been standing right in between him and the shopkeeper, yet they had beenpletely unaffected by the battle that had just taken ce.
"Who are you, and how are you rted to Guan Sheng and Hei Lang?" the white-robed young man asked as he descended to the ground.
"We''re just customers visiting this shop, and we have no rtion to those two at all. We''ll be taking our leave now," Han Li replied as he cupped his fist in a parting salute, then turned to depart with Shi Chuankong.
A furious look shed through the white-robed young man''s eyes upon hearing this.
One of the armord figures immediately stepped into Han Li''s path and yelled, "How dare you! Do you know who our young master is? How dare you speak to him with such tant insolence?!"
"Get out of the way," Han Li said in an expressionless manner.
"You''re a fool!" the armord man scoffed. "If you surrender now, perhaps you''ll be spared."
He found it downrightughable that a pair of True Immortal Stage ants dared to be so insolent, but he didn''t dare to attack without receiving any orders from the white-robed young man.
"Young Master, these two must be somehow associated with Guan Sheng and Hei Lang, so we should capture them right away!" another armord figure yelled.
"That''s right! We don''t know how many people snuck into the mine, and these two are most likely their aplices! The ck Weasel King doesn''t permit us to capture people in the city for no good reason, but we certainly can''t just spare these people aftermitting such a severe crime!" a third armord figure chimed in.
Chapter 791: Subduing the Enemy with Ease
After a brief moment of contemtion, the white-robed young man gave a slight nod to the armord man, and a hint of bloodlust and excitement instantly appeared in thetter''s eyes as he reached out with both hands to make a grabbing motion.
A pair of giant ck ws appeared on either side of Han Li and Shi Chuankong, then converged toward them with tremendous force.
The w projections swept through the air, and Han Li and Shi Chuankong were instantly torn to pieces, but their bodies then abruptly vanished from the spot, revealing them to be nothing more than afterimages.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li and Shi Chuankong appeared outside the encirclement of armord men amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, then continued to make their way out of the shop,pletely unaffected by the attack.
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, and the azure-robed woman''s brows furrowed slightly as she murmured to herself, "He''s using spatialw powers..."
A hint of bewilderment shed through the armord man''s eyes upon seeing this, and after taking a nce at the white-robed young man, his body instantly swelled to several times its original height, while ayer of coarse fur emerged over his skin. He had taken on a hafl-demonic form, and his aura was also drastically elevated as a result.
Immediately thereafter, he let loose a thunderous roar, then sprang up into the air beforeshing out at Han Li and Shi Chuankong from behind.
Han Li didn''t even bother to turn around as he casually thrust a palm behind him to meet the armord man''s fist, and a resounding boom rang out alongside the sound of cracking bones.
The armord man was instantly sent flying back as if he had been dealt a heavy blow, and he plowed straight through a nearby building, raising a huge cloud of dust.Before he even had a chance to cry out, he had already fallen unconscious.
All of the ck Weasel Army cultivators were astonished to see this.
The armord man''s forte was his physical prowess, yet he had beenpletely outmatched in that department, and that was a feat that was surely beyond the powers of even a High Zenith Stage demon beast.
At this point, it had be abundantly clear to them that Han Li and Shi Chuankong were clearly concealing their auras, and they all turned to the white-robed young man for further instructions.
After knocking his assant unconscious, Han Li continued to walk along at a leisurely pace beside Shi Chuankong, but this time, no one attempted to stop them.
The white-robed young man seemed to be pondering what was the best course of action to take when he was approached by a short armord man, who whispered something into his ear.
The white-robed young man''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing what the armord man had to say, but he abruptly vanished from the spot without any warning.
The white-robed young man then reappeared in front of Han Li and Shi Chuankong and said, "Please wait a moment."
At the same time, plumes of crimson mist began to surge out of his body, instantly forming a dense crimson cloud that was giving off some type of formidablew power fluctuations.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce with each other, following which thetter asked with furrowed brows, "Do you still need something from us? We haven''t broken anyws, and we''re in a hurry right now, so we don''t have any time to waste here."
"The two of you aren''t from our Ten Hazards Mountain Range. I won''t ask for what purpose you''re visiting our city on this asion, but please hand over the Purple Sun Warm Jade that you obtained from Guan Sheng and Hei Lang," the white-robed young man said.
"What Purple Sun Warm Jade? We were only doing some shopping here, but we didn''t even get a chance to buy anything before you rushed in and killed those two!" Shi Chuankong replied with an oblivious expression.
The white-robed young man''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "In that case, please hand over your storage tools for me to examine. If there''s no Purple Sun Warm Jade inside, then you two are free to leave."
"I already told you that we''re in a hurry, so stop wasting our time!" Shi Chuankong objected in a cold voice.
"I can tell that both of you are quite powerful, but don''t forget that this is ck Weasel City. Don''t make this any harder on yourself than it has to be," the white-robed young man threatened, and all of the armord men immediately converged to surround Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
"What a joke! I''ve always heard that free trade is encouraged by the ck Weasel King, but it appears that was nothing more than a lie. How disappointing," Han Li chuckled coldly.
"What did you say? How dare you nder my father!" the white-robed young man used in a furious voice.
"How is this nder? We haven''t broken any rules, yet we''re being robbed here in broad daylight by the ck Weasel Army!" Han Li countered.
"I have no intentions of robbing anyone, my objective is merely to recover the stolen Purple Sun Warm Jade. If I can verify that it''s not in your possession, then I''m willing to apologize," the white-robed young man harrumphed coldly, and the crimson cloud around him began to spread in all directions, epassing both Han Li and Shi Chuankong within it.
In response, Han Li opened his mouth to release a streak of golden light, which shot forth through the air to reach the white-robed young man in a sh.
The white-robed young man was slightly taken aback by the speed of the streak of golden light, and he immediately swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a streak of crimson light that caught the golden light in the blink of an eye.
The crimson light contained a crimson veil that was as thin as a cicada''s wing, and it appeared to be quite a powerful treasure.
However, right at this moment, the streak of golden light suddenly transformed into twelve miniature golden swords that were several inches in length, and tiny arcs of golden lightning were shing incessantly over them.
Before the white-robed young man had a chance to do anything, the twelve miniature swords released a burst of devastating lightningw powers that instantly tore the crimson veil into shreds before piercing directly toward the white-robed young man.
"Spare his life, Brother Li!" Shi Chuankong hurriedly yelled.
A panicked look finally appeared on the white-robed young man''s face as the cloud of crimson mist quickly converged around him, attempting to keep the golden flying swords at bay while he tried to summon more treasures.
However, before he had a chance to do that, the twelve Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had already pierced through the cloud of crimson mist with ease before running straight through his body.
Twelve holes were instantly punched into his limbs, and he fell to the ground with an agonized cry and a horrified look in his eyes, while the crimson cloud around him quickly disintegrated.
Han Li paid no further heed to the white-robed young man as he swiveled around like lightning while flicking a finger through the air, releasing a miniature azure sword.
All of a sudden, a streak of golden swordlight appeared without any warning before hurtling directly toward him, only to be stopped cold in its tracks by the miniature azure sword.
A resounding metallic ng rang out, and the space near the two swords trembled warped as the pair of swords grated against each other, with neither able to get the better of the other.
A stunned look appeared on the azure-robed woman''s face, while Han Li harrumphed coldly, "Your sword is not bad, but the wielder is too weak!"
Before the azure-robed woman had a chance to do anything, a burst of sharp pain suddenly speared through her mind, as if a red hot poker had been plunged into her head, and she gave a muffled groan, while her entire body involuntarily stiffened.
Han Li pounced on this opportunity to rush over to the azure-robed woman before cing a finger against her be before releasing an arc of golden lightning.
The azure-robed woman let loose an agonized howl as her entire body was instantly charred ck, and she fell to the ground in an unconscious state.
Her golden sword also fell to the ground with a loud ng, and the radiant golden light emanating from it faded away.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li had subdued two High Zenith cultivators, and all of the ck Weasel Army cultivators could only look on in astonishment.
Right at this moment, Han Li turned his gaze to the ck Weasel Army cultivators before giving another cold harrumph, and all of them immediately threw their hands over their heads as they let loose agonized howls.
Han Li flicked his fingers through the air in rapid session, releasing around a dozen arcs of golden lightning that struck the ck Weasel Army cultivators with unerring uracy, and their bodies were also charred ck as they crumpled to the ground in an unconscious state.
Unleashing the Spirit Stun Thorn secret technique in session had also been quite taxing on Han Li''s spiritual sense, and hisplexion had turned slightly pale, but he quickly recovered after taking a deep breath, then turned his gaze to the stunned white-robed young man.
The man opened his mouth to say something, but Han Li merely flicked a finger in his direction to release an arc of golden lightning that struck him on the forehead, instantly knocking him out as well.
"That was beyond impressive, Fellow Daoist Li, but it looks like we have no choice but to leave the city now," Shi Chuankong said with a wry smile.
"We''ve already achieved our objective, so there''s no reason for us to stay anyway," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
Chapter 792: Shifting Allegiance
Around fifteen minutester.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were quickly making their way toward the northern city gate.
If it weren''t for the fact that they didn''t want to attract any attention to themselves, they would''ve already defied the flight prohibitions in the city and taken to the skies.
"It looks like we''re going to have a rough journey from here onward," Han Li said with slightly furrowed brows.
"Who could''ve anticipated that we would run into the ck Weasel Army? Then again, we never intended to stay here for long anyway, so I suppose it makes no difference," Shi Chuankong sighed.
All of a sudden, both of them stopped cold in their tracks before looking directly forward with apprehensive looks on their faces.
A refined young schr was currently making his way toward them through the bustling crowd up ahead, and Han Li and Shi Chuankong could only exchange a wry smile at the sight of the young man.
Even though this was their first meeting, they were able to instantly identify the man as none other than the ck Weasel King.
The ck Weasel King was walking along at a leisurely pace with a cid look on his face, and he wasn''t giving off even the slightest aura fluctuations, as if he were nothing more than a harmless mortal.He was holding a book in one hand, and he extended a slight bow toward Han Li and Shi Chuankong as he said, "What an honor it is to have you in our city, Your Highness."
A warm smile appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face, and he returned the bow as he said, "The honor is all mine, Senior."
Han Li''s brows were slightly furrowed, and he remained silent as he also extended a slight bow.
"It''s hardly fitting for us to be talking in the middle of the street. How about we go and take a seat in my pce?" the ck Weasel King invited with an earnest smile.
Refusal clearly wasn''t an option here, so Shi Chuankong replied, "Please pardon our intrusion."
The ck Weasel King made an inviting hand gesture, then swept a sleeve through the air, and a burst of ck light appeared beneath the feet of all three of them.
In the next instant, they found themselves in an enormous garden that was filled with strange and exotic nts and rocks.
There was also a bamboo forest that was filled with birds and interspersed with many pavilions and pergs, presenting a breathtaking sight to behold.
As they made their way deeper into the garden, the scenery began to change, and it felt as if they were making their way through the seasons, starting from the colorful vibrancy of spring before ending in the white snowscape of winter.
"I had always heard that there was an exceptionally beautiful garden in your pce that was home to scenery from all four seasons, and it''s certainly lived up to its reputation, Senior ck Weasel," Shi Chuankong said.
"This is nothingpared with the scenery of Night Sun City," the ck Weasel King said in a modest manner, but the look in his eyes indicated that he was very pleased with Shi Chuankong''spliment.
Neither of them mentioned the conflict that had just taken ce back at Guan Sheng''s shop, and they continued to chat amicably with each other as they arrived in front of a red building.
"Your Highness, I would like to chat with you in private in the Bell Spirit Pce. Can we get Fellow Daoist Li to have some tea and wait for us in the Spring Water Pce in the meantime?" the ck Weasel King asked.
Han Li turned to Shi Chuankong upon hearing this, and thetter gave him a silent nod.
"We''ll do as you say, Senior ck Weasel," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
With that, Han Li was led by a beautiful pce maiden to the Spring Water Pce, while Shi Chuankong apanied the ck Weasel King to the Bell Spirit Pce.
Upon Han Li''s arrival in the Spring Water Pce, some tea had already been prepared for him, and he sat down for a sip.
Meanwhile, in the Bell Spirit Pce.
Shi Chuankong and the ck Weasel King made their way into the pce together, and Shi Chuankong''s expression remained calm andposed, but his palms were sweating profusely.
He looked around to discover that the interior of the pce resembled a study, and that around two thirds of the pce was taken up byrge wooden bookshelves that wereden with hundreds of thousands of books.
A brief nce at the bookshelves told Shi Chuankong that most of the books were poem anthologies and other such works of mortal literature, and there were barely any cultivation arts among them.
On top of that, there were also some elegantly framed pieces of calligraphy hanging on the walls, most of which also consisted of ancient poem phrases and some Buddhist and Daoist mantras. As for the handwriting, it could only be referred to as stable and consistent, but there wasn''t a lot of ir.
Shi Chuankong suppressed his apprehension as he praised, "Your calligraphy is just as refined as your taste for literature, Senior ck Weasel."
"There are far too few people who can appreciate good calligraphy in this primordial mountain range. What a breath of fresh air it is to have someone like you here," the ck Weasel King replied with a pleased expression.
"Regarding the conflict that we had with your son, I am truly..."
The ck Weasel King waved a hand to cut Shi Chuankong off before he had a chance to finish.
"It''s fine, it was just a minor run-in. I certainly didn''t invite you to my pce over such a petty matter," the ck Weasel King said with a meaningful expression.
"In that case, may I ask why you invited me here?" Shi Chuankong asked.
The ck Weasel King strode over to a bookshelf and set down the book that he was holding, then replied, "Right now, Night Sun City and even the entirety of the Holy Realm has been stirred up into a state of chaos over the matter of inheritance, and many powers are being forced to make choices. Our Ten Hazards Mountain Range has never been regarded with much importance, but when the timees, we''ll inevitably be affected as well, so I have no choice but to make ns early."
"I never had any intention of throwing my hat in the ring when ites to the matter of inheritance, and I certainly didn''t think that it would cause such a massive stir," Shi Chuankong sighed.
"A bright jewel will inevitably shine no matter where it is. Even if you hadn''t returned to the Holy Realm, you still wouldn''t have been able to escape scrutiny, Your Highness," the ck Weasel King said with a meaningful smile.
"What do you mean by that, Senior ck Weasel?" Shi Chuankong asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Everyone knows that among the Holy Monarch''s thirteen sons, the eldest prince, Shi Zhanfeng,mands the most power, and that the only one who can contend with him is the third prince, Shi Pokong, the prince that possesses the greatest aptitude. You and the third prince share the same mother, so the two of you are extremely close, and everyone knows that you''ll be sure to pledge your allegiance to him," the ck Weasel King said.
"I see, so you''re nning to pledge your support to my brother through me, is that right, Senior ck Weasel?" Shi Chuankong asked with an enlightened expression.
"When I first received the eldest prince''s orders to hunt you down, I was nning to bet on him. After all, thepensation that he promised me was too handsome to ignore. However, I began to change my mind after I learned that you and your servant slew both Tie Yu and Tong Yu," the ck Weasel King continued.
Shi Chuankong''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he knew that the ck Weasel King had misinterpreted Han Li''s status. At the same time, he suddenly recalled that Han Li had mentioned sensing another powerful aura as they were fleeing from the Golden Rhinoceros King, and he asked, "Senior ck Weasel, was it you who helped us escape from the Golden Rhinoceros King on the border?"
"That''s right. I had already been keeping tabs on you prior to that, and my initial n was to wait for the Golden Rhinoceros King to crush you before swooping in to im the spoils. However, after seeing you escape from him on two separate asions, I changed my mind and decided to save you so that I can throw my support behind the third prince. However, now..."
The ck Weasel King''s voice suddenly trailed off here, and Shi Chuankong immediately tensed up, only to then rx again.
At this point, the situation really couldn''t get much worse.
"Now that I''ve met you, I''ve decided to ce my bets on you," the ck Weasel King chuckled.
Shi Chuankong was astonished to hear this, and he was stunned into silence for a moment before asking, "Why?"
"Would you believe me if I told you that I was doing it on a hunch?" the ck Weasel King asked.
Shi Chuankong immediately shook his head in response, and he was just about to say something when the ck Weasel King continued, "You possess immense potential, but it''s still yet to show. On top of that, the fact that you have such a powerful servant by your side and the lengths that the eldest prince has gone to in order to hunt you down are also very telling signs."
"Your courage is very admirable, Senior ck Weasel," Shi Chuankong praised with a smile.
"Now that I''ve made my intentions clear, let''s discuss some more concrete matters," the ck Weasel King said.
¡¡
Close to half a day passed by in a sh.
Han Li remained seated in the Spring Water Pce the entire time, and he was approached by no one with the exception of a few beautiful pce maidens, who refilled his cup whenever he finished the tea inside.
He appeared calm and collected on the surface, but internally, he was feeling very concerned.
Right as he was about to run out of patience and break out of the pce, Shi Chuankong and the ck Weasel King made their way into the pce, looking like a pair of old friends.
"It''s not every day that our ck Weasel City gets to entertain such esteemed guests, so why don''t you stay for a while so I can show some hospitality? I''ll make the arrangements for you to leave the Ten Hazards Mountain Range safely," the ck Weasel King said with a smile.
"We''ll be in your care then, Senior ck Weasel," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile of his own, and he and Han Li were arranged a ce to stay in the pce.
Chapter 793: Passing By the Vast Origin House
Han Li naturally had his reservations about the ck Weasel King, but he didn''t ask any questions.
Initially, he had thought that it was his breakthrough that had attracted the attention of the Ten Hazards, but he had since realized that things weren''t so simple, and that it seemed like Shi Chuankong was the one actually being targeted.
Shi Chuankong''s status was most likely the reason why the ck Weasel King was being so polite and amicable to him, but Shi Chuankong seemed to have no intention of exining himself, and Han Li didn''t feel it appropriate to ask.
In any case, his best option was to follow Shi Chuankong''s lead in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, and everything else could wait until they were out of the mountain range.
Three dayster, Han Li set off for the city north of the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, Preeminent City, along a secret trade route established between ck Weasel City and Preeminent City.
Several monthster.
In the southern region of the Devil Realm was an extremely steep and long mountain range that stood between the Ten Hazards Mountain Range and the Vast Seal ins, and at the center of the mountain range was a col where a massive city wall had been constructed.
The wall was constructed from giant ck stone blocks that were etched withplex patterns, and it was enshrouded within ayer of faint thin gray mist. Hanging on top of the wall was a huge que that read "Preeminent City", and below the que was a massive archway, as well as two smaller gates on either side.
The main gate and the one on the left were both shut, leaving only the right one open, and there were some armord guards standing on lookout duty there.There were very few pedestrians near the gate, and at this moment, there were two people slowly approaching the city together.
One of them had an imposing physique, with dark skin and a set of rough facial features. There was a single ck horn on his forehead, and he was d in a suit of leather armor. Hispanion was much more simr to a human in appearance, except there were some golden scales on his cheeks.
"Brother Shi, why did we part ways with the merchant convoy the ck Weasel King arranged for us instead of entering the city with them?" the man with the golden scales on his face asked.
"There have always been business dealings between Preeminent City and the ck Weasel King, but it''s all done in secret under the table, and given our sensitive identities, it would be best for us to not get involved in all of that," the imposing man replied.
These two were none other than Han Li and Shi Chuankong, and before long, they arrived at the city gate, where they were stopped by the armord guards.
"Show us your passage tokens," one of the armord guards demanded as he reached out a hand.
Shi Chuankong flipped a hand over to produce a pair of palm-sized ck jade badges before handing them over.
The armord guard epted the badges, and after giving them a close examination, he said, "These are passage tokens issued by the Serene Mountain Marquis Manor. Why have youe all this way to Preeminent City?"
"We''re here to run some errands for our masters, so we don''t really have a choice in the matter, do we?" Shi Chuankong sighed.
"Alright, you can go in," the armord guard said as he returned the jade badges to Shi Chuankong.
Upon entering through the city gate, Shi Chuankong handed one of the jade badges to Han Li as he said, "We''ll be using these things a lot in Preeminent City, so you should carry one too."
"What''s this Serene Mountain Marquis Manor?" Han Li asked as he epted the jade badge.
"Our Holy Realm is different from the Immortal Realm in that it''s primarily ruled over by my father, and there are many nobles under him who rule over different areas, one of whom is the Serene Mountain Marquis," Shi Chuankong exined.
"Seeing as you''re the son of the Devilish Monarch, you must have a very high noble title, right?" Han Li asked.
"Bloodline is very important in our Holy Realm, but power is championed above all else, so in order to attain the highest noble titles, one has to at least be at the Great Epassment Stage and have a certain amount of des or backing. At the moment, I have no territory of my own, nor any official title, but I''m able to draw upon a great deal of the Vast Origin House''s resources," Shi Chuankong exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
The city wall was far thicker than Han Li imagined, and even the passageway leading into the city from the gate was over a thousand feet in length.
Upon emerging from the passageway, the natural light immediately returned, making them feel as if they had stepped out in a whole new world.
However, as soon as Han Li set foot in the city, his brows immediately furrowed slightly.
The devilish qi in Preeminent City was several times more abundant than it was outside the city.
Han Li had noticed that the further north they traveled, the more abundant the devilish qi in the environment had be, but he still wasn''t prepared for such a drastic change just from crossing a single city wall.
"Back when Preeminent City was first constructed, array masters were hired to bolster its walls in order to keep in as much devilish qi as possible. Hence, once we leave the city and go further northward, the devilish qi will actually be less abundant," Shi Chuankong assured, looking rather amused at Han Li''s difort.
"In contrast with Preeminent City, the Ten Hazards Mountain Range really is a primordial area with sparse devilish qi," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Are you feeling alright? If the difort bes too severe, I have a Qi Locking Pill that can lock away the devilish qi that you absorb into your body," Shi Chuankong said.
"It''s still fine for now," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"I suppose this amount of devilish qi won''t be much of a bother for a High Zenith cultivator like yourself," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
Beyond the city gate was a spacious za, branching off from which was a paved stone road that led to the center of the city. The road was lined with buildings constructed in an orderly fashion, and the closer one drew to the center of the city, the taller the buildings became.
The construction style of Preeminent City was quite unique, with most of the buildings constructed out of giant ck stone blocks, and the roofs were primarily domed or conical in shape. On top of that, there were many intricate decorative statues on the walls and roofs of the buildings, the most prevalent of which were statues of different strange and exotic beasts, presenting some spectacr sights to behold.
There were very few shops lining the streets near the city gate, and most of them were small trading houses where business appeared to be very slow. However, as one made their way deeper into the city, they''d discover that the streets would gradually be more lively and bustling.
"Are we going straight to the city lord''s manor to use the teleportation arrays from here?" Han Li asked.
"There''s no hurry. There''s a Vast Origin House branch in Preeminent City, let''s go there first," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
Han Li nodded in response, and the two of them hailed a beast-drawn carriage, which promptly set off northward.
Along the way, Han Li spotted arge cluster of tall buildings within a lush garden, and he asked, "Is that the city lord''s manor?"
"That''s right, and the current city lord is the Heavenly Ax Marquis," Shi Chuankong replied.
"A marquis is serving as the city lord?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Normally, the role of city lord would be undertaken by a baron at most. However, Preeminent City is different in that it''s responsible for keeping the threat of the Ten Hazards Mountain Range at bay, which is quite a heavy responsibility, and that''s why a marquis is serving as the city lord. On top of Preeminent City, arge area to the north of the city is also under his jurisdiction," Shi Chuankong exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
After passing by the city lord''s manor, the carriage continued northward, making its way onto a very wide and opulent street.
The street was lined with shops that were selling all types of different wares, and it was far more crowded here than elsewhere in the city, so the carriage was forced to slow down.
The coach driver began introducing to his two passengers some of the shops on the streets with the intention of rmending them to the shops that paid him amission, but he quickly discovered that one of his passengers was already extremely familiar with the city, so he wisely chose not to put in any rmendations.
Along the way, Shi Chuankong gave Han Li an introduction to many of the shops that he passed by, further demonstrating his knowledge of the city.
"How are you so familiar with Preeminent City, Brother Shi?" Han Li asked.
"Back when I first got involved with the Vast Origin House, Preeminent City was where I started, and that''s why I know so much about the Ten Hazards Mountain Range," Shi Chuankong exined through voice transmission.
"I see, so this is a starting point for you," Han Li replied with a nod.
"You could say that," Shi Chuankong agreed with a smile.
As the two of them were conversing with each other, a seven-story building with a conical roof appeared up ahead. The building was adorned with elegant carvings and all types ofplex patterns, and there was a que outside that read "Vast Origin House".
However, to Han Li''s surprise, Shi Chuankong only took a nce at the entrance of the Vast Origin House, then cast his gaze forward once again and instructed the coach driver to continue onward.
"Why aren''t we going in?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
A hesitant look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon hearing this.
"Brother Shi, I may have agreed to apany you to Night Sun City, but that''s not the only option avable to me. If you''re intentionally keeping secrets from me, then I''m afraid that we''ll have to part ways here," Han Li warned.
"Please don''t jump to conclusions, Brother Li. I''ll exin everything to you once we''ve found a ce to settle down in," Shi Chuankong sighed.
Han Li offered no reply, merely nodding silently in response.
Chapter 794: Allaying Suspicions
Chapter 794: Aying Suspicions
The two of them remained silent as the carriage made its way to the end of the street before turning into an alley.
At the entrance of the alley, Shi Chuankong instructed the coach driver to stop, then asked Han Li to wait for him for a moment before stepping off the carriage himself and making his way toward an extremely small shop at the end of the alley.
The shop had no visible signage with the exception of a cloth banner that read "Traveler House", and after a few minutes, Shi Chuankong emerged from the shop before returning to the carriage.
From there, the carriage traveled eastward before arriving at an inn called the Cloud Mountain Inn.
The inn was situated in a rather secluded location in the eastern region of the city, and it was surrounded by lush forest. There were more trees than buildings in the area, and the inn itself had a rather antiquated appearance.
After paying the carriage fare, Shi Chuankong pushed open a wooden door with peeling paint and led Han Li into the courtyard.
Upon entering the courtyard, Han Li felt the surrounding space ripple slightly, following which he suddenly found himself standing in a spacious garden.
There was a flowing creek nearby, as well as an elegant covered bridge arching over a smallke, presenting a beautiful sight to behold.
A seductive woman who looked no different from a normal human emerged from the inn before asking, "How can I help you?"
"Are the Serene Lotus Courtyard and the Wicker Comb Courtyard still vacant?" Shi Chuankong.
The woman faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "The Serene Lotus Courtyard is still vacant, but the Wicker Comb Courtyard is currently upied by a permanent resident. As an alternative, may I suggest the Green Sorrow Courtyard?"
Only after hearing the woman''s response did Shi Chuankong recall that the Wicker Comb Courtyard was permanently reserved for him, and he pped a hand to his own forehead as he chuckled, "Oh, I forgot about that. In that case, we''ll take the two vacant courtyards."
With that, Shi Chuankong dismissed the woman, then led Han Li over the covered bridge before making their way deeper into the inn. Along the way, they could see a series of well-constructed courtyards that were epassed within arrays.
Shi Chuankong apanied Han Li through a bamboo forest, and the two of them arrived at Green Sorrow Courtyard, which contained a two-story building.
Using the token given to him by the woman, Han Li opened the restriction around the courtyard before stepping inside.
The first floor of the building was a guest hall, attached to which was an inner room and an outer room, and Han Li and Shi Chuankong sat down at a round table in the inner room.
Han Li made a hand seal to conjure up a light barrier around the room, then said, "Alright, now we can talk."
"Brother Li, I... I''m honestly not sure where to start," Shi Chuankong said after a brief silence.
"Then start from when the Golden Rhinoceros King beganing after us. Initially, I thought that my breakthrough had attracted his attention, but judging from the events that transpired after that, I presume things aren''t that simple, is that right?" Han Li asked.
"You''re correct, Brother Li. The Golden Rhinoceros King''s target was me, and he was hunting me under orders from my brother, the eldest prince," Shi Chuankong sighed.
"Why is your brother trying to kill you?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I''m afraid I can''t reveal all of the details to you. All I can tell you is that it concerns an inheritance that is of the utmost importance to our Holy Race. My brother is most likely under the impression that I pose a threat to his im over the inheritance, and that''s why he colluded with the Golden Rhinoceros King to hunt me down," Shi Chuankong replied.
"You''re rted by blood, are you not? Why is he going so far?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"Countless brothers have been pitted against each other throughout history in the face of significant inheritances. On top of that, we only share the same father, but have different mothers. This isn''t the first time that something like this has happened, but in the past, I''ve never been targeted. After all, a mere Golden Immortal like myself poses no real threat to him," Shi Chuankong replied with a self-deprecating smile.
"Clearly, something must''ve happened to convince him that you do pose a threat to him now, is that right?" Han Li said in a meaningful voice.
Shi Chuankong already knew the answer to this question, and he replied, "It''s most likely because I recovered the Virata Lute, and it certainly didn''t help that my father was willing to save me from the Gray Realm at the expense of a vast amount of resources."
"I presume thetter had more of an impact than the former," Han Li mused.
"Perhaps. Even when my brothers and sisters have encountered severe peril in the past, my father has rarely ever intervened. Perhaps this incident convinced my brother that our father is considering me as the recipient of the inheritance," Shi Chuankong said.
"I don''t think he''s the only one who thinks that. I''ve been wondering why the ck Weasel King was willing to help us even after the trouble that we caused in his city. He must be cing his bets on you, right?" Han Li asked.
"You truly possess a keen eye like no other, Brother Li. That is indeed what the ck Weasel King told me," Shi Chuankong replied.
"Now that your brother has decided toe after you, I''m sure there will only be more trouble toe. Why didn''t we return to Night Sun City right away using the teleportation array in the city? Surely we''d be safer once we return to Night Sun City. Could it be that you don''t trust the Heavenly Ax Marquis?" Han Li asked.
"Back when I wasst at Preeminent City, the Heavenly Ax Marquis still wasn''t the city lord. Instead, he only took over the role during my absence. I paid a visit to the Vast Origin House branch earlier to see if the circumstances in Preeminent City have changed, and sure enough, there was a secret warning symbol outside the building.
¡°All of my trusted subordinates have already been cleansed from the branch, and that tells me that the city lord''s manor is no longer a safe haven for me," Shi Chuankong exined.
"In that case, why are we staying here instead of leaving right away?" Han Li asked.
"My brother previously contacted the ck Weasel King, instructing him to intercept us. However, now that the ck Weasel King has chosen to help me, he''ll be issuing a false report to my brother, iming that we''re still on the run in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, so Preeminent City is still safe for now," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"I presume that''s not the only reason you decided to stay in Preeminent City, right? Did you visit that shop in the alley earlier to request reinforcements?" Han Li asked.
"I went there to send a message to another brother of mine, the third prince. He''ll be sending reinforcements to us, and in the meantime, we''ll stay here in this inn," Shi Chuankong confirmed with a nod.
"Is this brother of yours trustworthy?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"You can rest assured of that, Brother Li. My third brother and I share the same mother, and I once saved his life. If I can''t trust him, then there''s no one I can trust in the entire Holy Realm," Shi Chuankong replied in a confident manner.
Han Li nodded in response.
"I''ll admit that I was at fault for keeping this from you, but there were some very sensitive circumstances at y, so I had to be careful, I hope you can understand. Even though we haven''t known each other for long, we''ve been through a lot together, and I have a great deal of trust in you," Shi Chuankong said as he rose to his feet before extending a solemn salute toward Han Li.
"Truth be told, I really don''t want to get involved in your family matters. However, our lives are intertwined on this journey back to Night Sun City, so I''ll do everything in my power to protect you. Having said that, please don''t keep any more secrets from me," Han Li said in a serious voice.
"Rest assured, Brother Li, I''ve already told you everything, and I''ll be sure to do everything in my power to fulfill the request that you made to me once we arrive at Night Sun City," Shi Chuankong promised.
After that, the two of them chatted for a while longer before Shi Chuankong departed, and after sitting in silence for a moment, Han Li made his way up to the second floor of the building.
There, he set up a restriction in a silent cultivation chamber before conjuring up a door of silver light and stepping into the bamboo building in the Flower Branch domain.
The second floor of the bamboo building was where Mo Guang had previously stayed, but at this moment, the room was upied by Weeping Soul.
She wasying on the bed with pieces of Purple Sun Warm Jade hovering above her, giving off gentle energy fluctuations.
At this moment, her expression was very peaceful, and her breathing was slow and even. Her entire body was enshrouded in ayer of faint purple light, and it looked as if she were merely sleeping, but she showed no signs of waking up.
After recing the low-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade in the array with ones of the mid-grade variety, Weeping Soul''s condition had somewhat improved, but it wasn''t enough to replenish her lost essential energy, so she still remained unconscious.
Han Li had given Shi Chuankong most of the mid-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade that they had obtained, and he had kept both of the pieces of high-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade for himself.
However, he knew that this didn''t address the problem at its roots, so even high-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade wouldn''t be enough to cure Weeping Soul''s condition.
Right at this moment, Daoist Xie''s voice suddenly rang out from outside the bamboo building.
"Can Ie in, Fellow Daoist Li?"
Han Li immediately made his way down to the first floor upon hearing this, then invited Daoist Xie into the room, and the two of them sat down at a bamboo eight immortal table.
As soon as Daoist Xie sat down at the table, Han Li immediately noticed that there was a hesitant look on his face, in contrast with his normal perpetually neutral expression.
"Is something wrong, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked.
"Recently, a certain name has been frequently popping up in my mind, and I feel like it may have something to do with my former owner," Daoist Xie replied.
"What''s the name?" Han Li asked.
"Scalptia Spatial Domain," Daoist Xie replied.
The name didn''t ring any bells for Han Li, and he asked, "What''s that?"
"I''m not sure myself, but the phrase has been frequently appearing in my mind ofte," Daoist Xie replied with a shake of his head.
"It sounds like some type of secret area... How is this ce rted to your former owner?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Chapter 795: Time is Ever-present
"Ever since we arrived in the Devil Realm, memories pertaining to my former owner have begun appearing in my mind. It seems like my former owner came from the Devil Realm, and this Scalptia Spatial Domain seems to be somehow rted to him, but I''m not sure exactly what the nature of the corrtion is," Daoist Xie replied.
"Are you saying that your former owner was a devilish being?" Han Li asked.
This made sense, considering he first met Daoist Xie in the Devilish Origin Sea, which was the equivalent of the Devil Realm, but as a lower realm. [1]
"That''s right. However, at some point in his life, he traveled to the Immortal Realm for some reason, and he once served as a puppet refinement master in the Hundred Creation Mountain," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
"I''ll try to do some digging into this Scaptia Spatial Domain. Seeing as the term only began appearing in your mind after our arrival in the Devil Realm, it most likely has something to do with the Devil Realm. If you recover any other memories, make sure to tell me. I agreed to fulfill the dying wishes of your former owner, and I fully intend to keep that promise," Han Li said.
Daoist Xie nodded in response before departing, leaving Han Li to sit in the bamboo building on his own with a contemtive look on his face.
Ever since he set foot into the True Mantra Sect ruins, things had be very hectic for him, and it seemed like he was being swept from ce to ce without any control over his own fate.
Back in the Baleful Cleansing Ponds, he had broken through a bottleneck in the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, but he never had a chance to consolidate on the breakthrough, so he still hadn''t achieved full mastery of the fifth level.
As for the five time-attribute cultivation arts from the True Mantra Sect, his progress in them was still ratherckluster with the exception of the Mantra Axis Scripture.Even back in the Northern cial Immortal Region, he had sensed that there was some type of connection between the Mantra Axis Scripture, the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture, and the Water Divination Time Arts.
After that, he had obtained the Eastern Vicissitudes Scripture and the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome, and he was confident that these two cultivation arts also had to be connected to the aforementioned three.
If I''m going to be staying here for some time anyway, I may as well take this time to work on these cultivation arts and consolidate my cultivation base.
With that in mind, Han Li closed his eyes and sat down to meditate.
The Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome left to him by Immortal Lord Hot me surfaced in his mind, and this was the first time that he was going to truly closely examine the cultivation art.
Just like the other time-attribute cultivation arts, the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome also had nine levels, and it was most simr to the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture.
Simr to the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture''s Illusory Dawn Sand Domain, the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome had a Time Severing Fire Domain, within which all time woulde to a standstill.
As opposed to a time-slowing effect, the flow of time within the domain was brought to aplete halt. However, its effective area of influence was rather limited, but the area could be gradually expanded as one progressed through the levels of the cultivation art.
After some contemtion, Han Li decided against pursuing the cultivation art right away.
Instead, the Eastern Vicissitudes Scripture surfaced in his mind.
Back when he first obtained the cultivation art, he had only roughly examined it, and he didn''t get a chance to go through it in detail.
After some close examination, Han Li discovered that this cultivation art was quite different from the other ones. Even though it was also a time-attribute cultivation art, it wasn''t on with much offensive application in battle. Instead, the objective was to manifest an Eastern Divine Tree.
The seasonal changes within a certain area around the location where the tree was nted would be entirely under the control of the cultivator, and it was also very potent in suppressing the powers of nt spirits.
However, Han Li wasn''t very interested in its suppressive effects. After all, his Essence Fire Raven was already the natural bane of all nt spirits. Hence, he was much more interested in the cultivation art''s primary effect.
If he could control the passage of the four seasons within a certain area, then didn''t that mean that he would be able to elerate the passage of the four seasons, thereby speeding up the growth of spirit nts?
If that were the case, then if he could nt an Eastern Divine Tree in his spirit medicine garden, then he would be able to mature all of the spirit nts in arge area. The effect definitely wouldn''t be as pronounced as that of the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial, but the effective area would be muchrger.
All of a sudden, Han Li recalled that there was one part of the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture that had perpetually stumped him, despite his best efforts. After carefully reading through the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome, he discovered that there was a section of the cultivation art that seemed to offer a solution to the bottleneck that he was facing in the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture.
With that in mind, he hurriedly put his theory to the test, and several hourster, his eyes sprang open as an ecstatic look appeared on his face.
Sure enough, he was right!
At the same time, a hint of befuddlement welled up in his heart. These five cultivation arts were all time-attribute cultivation arts, yet they specialized in different areas, and each of them also corresponded with the five elements. Could it be that the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra was abination of all five cultivation arts?
As soon as this thought sprang into his mind, he immediately closed his eyes again and began examining the five cultivation arts one by one, starting from the Mantra Axis Scripture, which was the one that he was most familiar with.
Time slowly passed by, and day transitioned into night before turning into day once again.
Han Li had remained seated in meditation the entire night, and right at this moment, he slowly opened his eyes as a wry smile appeared on his face.
None of the five cultivation arts were easy to understand, and trying to connect them was like trying to connect loose ends in a tangled ball of yarn. Seeing as he wasn''t able to make any progress in this endeavor, he decided to set it aside for now and turn his attention to cultivating the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome and the Eastern Vicissitudes Scripture in the hope that this would yield some positive oues.
After making up his mind, Han Li didn''t hesitate any longer, and he promptly took a pill before channeling the mantra of the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome, upon whichyers of red ripples instantly began to spread from his body.
¡¡
Over three months flew by in a sh.
Inside the bamboo building in the Flower Branch domain, Han Li had already awakened from his state of cultivation, and he was pacing back and forth with his hands sped behind his back.
Momentster, he emerged from the bamboo building with tightly furrowed brows and stepped out into the courtyard outside.
The courtyard was teeming with spiritual qi, striking him with a sense of blissfulfort, and he made his way onto the bridge before resting a hand on the railing and looking out at the lotus leaves on the surface of the pond in an absentminded manner.
Over the past three months, he had made some initial forays into both the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome and the Eastern Vicissitudes Scripture, only to find that he was having a much harder time making progress in the two cultivation artspared with the Water Divination Time Arts.
This wasn''t because his mastery over thews of time was insufficient. Instead, what he had noticed was that while the five cultivation arts were connected in many ways, there were also many conflicting elements to them as well.
In particr, the immortal spiritual power cirction method thatplied with the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome and the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture conflicted with that of the Water Divination Time Arts, and simrly, what worked for the Mantra Axis Scripture and the Water Divination Time Arts came in direct conflict with the Eastern Vicissitudes Scripture.
In summary, if he couldn''t find some type of bnce, then there would be no way to pursue all five cultivation arts at once.
Han Li was feeling rather frustrated, like he had walked into a dead-end, and he was wondering if he should abandon his current pursuit. If worse came to worst, he would just have to pursue the five cultivation arts independently, and at the very least, he wanted to achieve full mastery of the Mantra Axis Scripture first.
With that in mind, he suddenly recalled that the bamboo slip that contained the nine levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture also included a very strange text titled "Sumeru Insights".
"How could I have forgotten about that?" Han Li eximed as he pped a hand to his own forehead.
He then immediately flipped a hand over to summon a bamboo slip, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he hurriedly made his way back into the bamboo building before closing the door.
¡¡
Several more months passed by in seclusion, and during this time, Shi Chuankong hade to visit him once, but departed after learning that Han Li was in seclusion.
However, prior to his departure, he had requested Daoist Xie to inform Han Li toe and see him as soon as he came out of seclusion.
Han Li had been staying in the bamboo building over the entire duration of his time his seclusion, and on this day, he finally emerged.
This time, he was looking in far higher spirits thanst time, and he performed some stretches as a faint smile appeared on his face.
He had spent most of the past few months examining Sumeru Insights, and even though it was only a text that consisted of several thousand characters, it had stumped him for quite some time.
Thankfully, his persistence had paid off, and he was finally able to glean some of the text''s secrets two months ago.
Sumeru Insights was initially so difficult to understand because he had gone into it with the wrong mindset, thinking that it had to have something to do with thews of time or time-attribute cultivation arts.
As it turned out, it was actually more like a general outline, and it was not something to be cultivated. Instead, itid out the sequence in which one should pursue the five time-attribute cultivation arts.
Of course, it didn''t justy out a simple order for the cultivation arts. Instead, it subtly disyed the rtionship between the five cultivation arts, and that was the basis upon which the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra was to be cultivated.
The five cultivation arts required one to glean thews of time from the perspective of the five elements. After all, time affected everything in this world, and as one of the three paramountws, the influence of thews of time was ever-present in all things.
However, this also made thews of time very abstract and difficult to grasp, thereby making it one of the most difficultw powers to understand and cultivate.
However, it was possible to glean the secrets of thews of time by observing the cycle of birth and destruction of the five elements.
1. For more information on the Devilish Origin Sea, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2086: Devilish Origin Sea. ?
Chapter 796: Waiting for the Enemy
Initially, Han Li couldn''t understand why Patriarch Miro had gone to such great lengths to split the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra into five parts, but itter became apparent to him that he was most likely trying to leave behind an alternative inheritance of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra in addition to the full cultivation art recorded on the dhvaja.
If it weren''t for this precautionary measure, the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra would''ve already beenpletely lost, and Han Li couldn''t help but heave a forlorn sigh at this sobering thought.
Over the past two months, he had arranged the five cultivation arts in ordance with Sumeru Insights topile a brand new Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, which consisted of nine levels.
There were still many finger details that had to be smoothed over, but overall, his work was mostlyplete.
Having already made some progress in some of the time-attribute cultivation arts, he was currently roughly at the third level of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, and once he gained the ability to manifest theplete setprising the Mantra Treasured Axis, the Clear Time Vial, Illusory Dawn Sand, Time Severing Flowing Fire, and the Eastern Divine Tree, he would be able to jump straight to the sixth level.
By then, his cultivation base would also have reached the mid-High Zenith Stage.
Due to the fact that he had rpiled this cultivation art using Sumeru Insights, he didn''t know how this new cultivation art was going to diverge from the original one.
However, he was definitely going to be encountering many more problems along the way than if he had ess to the original Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra. He was giong to have to constantly switch back and forth between the five cultivation arts, and that was undoubtedly going to drastically raise the level of difficulty.
Even so, this was still an extremely alluring prospect, and he wanted nothing more than to find a quiet and peaceful location where he could cultivate in seclusion, but that was clearly not going to be possible under the current circumstances.With that in mind, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light, and he stepped through the doorway into the pavilion in the Green Sorrow Courtyard, where Daoist Xie just so happened to be meditating.
He slowly opened his eyes and rose to his feet, then dered, "Fellow Daoist Shi came to visit a while ago, asking you to pay him a visit once youe out of seclusion."
Han Li nodded in response, then asked, "Have you recovered any more memories pertaining to your former owner''s unfulfilled wish?"
"No, it''s still just the phrase of Scalptia Spatial Domain that''s asionally appearing in my mind," Daoist Xie replied with a shake of his head.
"Thank you for your hard work," Han Li said as he extended a salute, and Daoist Xie returned the salute before stepping into the door of silver light.
After closing the Flower Branch domain, Han Li emerged from the pavilion before making his way toward the Serene Lotus Courtyard.
The Serene Lotus Courtyard was situated on a small ind at the center of a smallke, and the surface of theke was filled with lotus leaves.
Han Li made his way over the covered bridge toward the small ind, and even before he arrived, Shi Chuankong had alreadye out to meet him.
"You''re finally here, Brother Li," Shi Chuankong said.
"Have you rented the entire ind, Brother Shi? I''m assuming you must''ve set up a sensory array in theke, considering you were able to detect my arrival as soon as I stepped onto the bridge," Han Li said with slightly furrowed brows.
"I''ve only set up some arrays on the ind, but I''ve released dozens of Wave Observing Fish into theke that detected your aura as soon as you arrived on the bridge," Shi Chuankong exined.
"Why are you suddenly being so cautious? Has something happened?" Han Li asked as he scoured the surroundings.
The entire ind was concealed within a lush forest, and the greenery should''ve been teeming with the sound of birdsong, but the ind waspletely silent, clearly indicating that all of the birds had been scared away by all of the arrays that had been set up.
"I recently paid a visit to the Traveler House and received a message from my third brother," Shi Chuankong replied with tightly furrowed brows.
"What did the message say?" Han Li asked.
"It contained some good news and some bad news. The good news is that he''s already sent someone to fetch us, but the bad news is that my eldest brother has most likely also been made aware of the situation," Shi Chuankong replied with a wry smile.
"If the ck Weasel King had been covering for us this entire time, then he should''ve been able to keep your eldest brother in the dark for about five or six months, and that much time has already psed. Seeing as your eldest brother has already been tipped off, then there''s a very good chance that our location has been exposed, so it''s just a matter of waiting to see whether the reinforcements or the enemy arrive first," Han Li said.
"Precisely, and that''s why I was in such a hurry to meet you to discuss how we should proceed from here," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
"Judging from the scale of this Cloud Mountain Inn, there should be people stationed here to quell potential trouble, right? As guests staying in this inn, we should be entitled to their protection," Han Li said.
"That''s true, but the only concern is that the enemy could be too formidable for even the Cloud Mountain Inn to deal with. However, leaving this ce would put us in even more danger, so I think it''s better to stay here and wait for the enemy," Shi Chuankong sighed.
"I agree, but we should also take some additional safety precautions," Han Li said.
"What do you suggest, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked.
The two of them talked until dusk before Han Li finally returned to the Green Sorrow Courtyard.
Over the next few days, Shi Chuankong traveled back and forth between the inn and the shops in the city, while Han Li spent most of his time on the small ind where the Serene Lotus Courtyard was situated with the exception of his nightly cultivation.
¡¡
Half a month passed by in a sh.
One night, Han Li was meditating in the pavilion in the Green Sorrow Courtyard when he suddenly flew up into the air, hovering above the bamboo forest as he cast his gaze toward the small ind.
At the same time, two streaks of light, one azure and one purple, shot forth from afar. As they approached the ind, they suddenly parted ways, with the streak of azure light descending toward the ind, while the streak of purple light flew directly at Han Li.
The streak of purple light arrived before Han Li in the blink of an eye, then faded to reveal a breathtakingly beautiful woman in a purple dress that perfectly hugged her delicate curves.
As the woman''s gaze fell upon Han Li, a hint of disgust shed through her eyes, but she hid it extremely well, and Han Li wouldn''t have been able to catch that sh of emotion if it weren''t for his exceptional abilities of observation.
"May I ask your name, Fellow Daoist?" the woman asked with a warm smile as she extended a curtsey toward Han Li.
"I was expecting a battle, so I don''t really know how to react now," Han Li mused with a faint smile.
"My master''s only target is the one on the ind, and he has no conflict with you. As long as you''re willing to stand by and watch while Sister Qing Ling takes care of business over there, my master will be sure to reward you handsomely," the woman replied.
"Well, it sounds like I''m truly blessed to be in this situation then," Han Li said as his smile widened a little.
"Once everything is said and done here, why don''t you return with us to Night Sun City? My master..."
All of a sudden, the woman''s voice trailed off here as a resounding boom rang out nearby.
At the same time, a silver array that was over ten thousand feet tall rose up from the ind at the center of theke, and it epassed the entire ind and theke while giving off formidable spatial fluctuations.
Immediately thereafter, a string of loud explosions rang out, and theke rumbled and churned violently asrge plumes of white mist were hurled up into the air. The ground beneath Han Li''s feet also began to tremble along with the entire bamboo forest.
At the same time, the entire ind sank to the bottom of theke along with the silver array.
The woman immediately turned her gaze back to Han Li with a furious look on her face, yet before she had a chance to do anything, Han Li was already rushing directly at her with his Mantra Treasured Axis revolving behind him.
The golden ripples released by the axis slowed down everything that they came into contact with, and the woman instantly felt the flow of time around her slow down significantly, while her own spiritual sense also became very dull and sluggish.
Han Li immediately pounced on the opportunity as several translucent chains shot out of his be, then pierced straight into the woman''s head.
In the next instant, the chains wove themselves into a cage in her consciousness, and trapped inside was a tiny purple figure that was struggling with all its might to break free, but inplete futility.
With the Spiritual Sense Cage in ce, the woman had be immobilized, and Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis upon seeing this, then conjured up a door of silver light.
Shi Chuankong stepped out of the Flower Branch domain, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face at the sight of the woman as he remarked, "I didn''t think that my brother would send his most prized concubines after me. If it wasn''t for your help, I would''ve definitely fallen to my demise here."
"It sounds like you''re quite wary of these two," Han Li remarked.
"If they hadn''t decided to split up, there''s no way we would''ve been able to divide and conquer them so easily. In any case, let''s take care of her first," Shi Chuankong replied with tightly furrowed brows.
"Her soul has been trapped by me, so she''s unable to resist. You can do anything that you please," Han Li replied with a nod.
Shi Chuankong was just about to make a move upon hearing this when things took an unexpected turn...
Chapter 797: Two Souls in One Body
All of a sudden, an unsettling smile appeared on the woman''s face, and an azure nascent soul emerged from her shoulder before giving Han Li a resentful re, then vanished into the woman''s body.
A burst of azure light shed over the woman''s body, and one half of her head of ck hair instantly turned azure in color, while the other turned purple, and the same had happened to her pupils as well.
Han Li felt a burst of tremendous spiritual sense sweep through the woman''s consciousness, and his Spiritual Sense Cage was instantly eradicated without being able to pose any resistance.
"She has two souls upying the same body!" Han Li eximed as he flew back in retreat.
"In the past, I only knew that these two were twin sisters who were extremely powerful with their bodiesbined, even killing a Great Epassment cultivator together in the past, but I never knew that they had a shared body! In that case, what was it that was destroyed just now with the ind?" Shi Chuankong asked with a bewildered expression.
"That was most likely some type of avatar. Given that they share the same body, their collective soul is most likelyparable in power to that of a Great Epassment cultivator in theirbined state, so make sure you don''t..."
Before Han Li had a chance to finish, he was cut off by a shrill shriek.
The shriek was extremely high-pitched, and it pierced straight into his and Shi Chuankong''s consciousnesses like a sharp spear, throwing their spiritual sense into disarray. At the same time,their immortal spiritual power cirction had gonepletely awry, and they began to involuntarily fall out of the sky.
Han Li fought through the excruciating pain in his consciousness as he hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, and a burst of invisible force instantly appeared in his consciousness to ward off the sound-based attack.As for Shi Chuankong, he had been caughtpletely off guard, and he plummeted straight into the bamboo forest below, seemingly having fallen unconscious.
The woman''s shriek died down, and she said, "Our master wanted to spare you out of the kindness of his own heart, and that''s why Sister Zi He was trying to extend you an olive branch, but you''ve sealed your own fate now!"
Her voice had suddenly be a little more coarse, and it was clear that it was Qing Ling who was speaking.
Han Li took a moment topose himself, and he offered no response as he summoned eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once, with all of their tips turned toward the woman.
A cold sneer appeared on the woman''s face upon seeing this, and she chanted an incantation, upon which Han Li felt as if the entire world around him had been instantly plunged into darkness.
He slowly raised his head to look up, and he was greeted by the sight of two giant eyeballs, one azure and one purple, hovering up above, both of which were giving off bursts of rippling light.
As the rippling light swept over his body, he wasn''t struck by any difort. Instead, it was a very soothing sensation, like basking in a warm spring breeze.
Enshrouded in theyers of ripples, Han Li''s entire body was filled with warmth, and before he knew it, he had fallen into a very rxed andzy state of lethargy.
However, at this moment, restrictive bands of azure and purple light were currently appearing in rapid session around his soul deep in his consciousness, and despite its best efforts to break free, its struggles proved to be in futility.
However, Han Li was no ordinary High Zenith cultivator, and he possessed far more willpower and spiritual sense than the woman anticipated.
Even within the ripples of light, he was still constantly shaking his head from side to side, trying to snap himself out of his stupor, and the woman was very surprised to see this.
In the past, no one below the mid-High Zenith Stage had managed to retain even a shred of mental rity in the face of such a powerful spiritual attack, and the woman said to herself, "If we can devour his soul, our cultivation base will definitely be enhanced."
This time, it was Zi He''s voice that had spoken, and Qing Ling replied in a cautious manner, "Don''t getcent. His soul is far more powerful than that of the average Jade Immortal, so we have to be on our guard here and ensure that we im his and Shi Chuankong''s head for our master. Otherwise, we''ll surely be punished for losing such an important avatar."
"I''ll follow your lead then, Sister," Zi He said as the woman turned her gaze to Han Li.
At this point, Han Li had already recovered from the spiritual attack, and he had restabilized himself in mid-air as he cast a wary gaze toward the woman.
"I didn''t think he would be able to snap out of it on his own," Zi He remarked in a surprised manner.
After shaking off the effects of the spiritual attack, Han Li immediately channeled his Reversal True Axis ability,unching himself at the woman at an astonishing speed, while his eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were flying ahead of him.
The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords reached the woman in the blink of an eye, but they were kept at bay by some type of invisible force around a hundred feet away, unable to make any further progress.
Han Li immediately activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes upon seeing this, and it was revealed to him that his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had been stopped cold in their tracks by eighteen translucent spiritual sense threads that were as thin as strands of hair.
The spiritual sense threads were extending out of the woman''s body, and they were wrapped tightly around the flying swords, locking them firmly into ce.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and arcs of golden lightning sprang out of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at his behest, instantly snapping all of the spiritual sense threads wrapped around them.
Immediately thereafter, the eighteen flying swords continued to hurtle directly toward the woman, who remainedpletely unfazed as she brought her hands together in front of herself to make a strange hand seal.
A semi-transparent spirit domain instantly erupted out of her body, epassing all of the oing Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
In the instant that the flying swords flew into the spirit domain, a sense of foreboding immediately welled up in Han Li''s heart, and sure enough, in the next instant, his spiritual connection with the swords was severed.
The lightning and sword qi emanating from the eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly faded, and they were left hovering in mid-air in apletely still manner.
Despite Han Li''s best efforts to reestablish a spiritual connection, the eighteen swords disyed no reaction whatsoever.
The spirit domain only epassed an area no more than several dozen kilometers in radius, yet all other spiritual sense seemed to be inhibited in this space. Not only had Han Li''s spiritual connection with his flying swords been severed, his spiritual sense had also been somewhat affected.
Despite this, his expression remained unchanged as he summoned another Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, then swung it through the air to release an arc of golden lightning.
Looks like I can still control my flying swords as long as it''s not with my spiritual sense.
This observation came as quite a relief to Han Li, but at the same time, he was feeling a little frustrated with himself. If he had focused on cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique, perhaps he would''ve already reached full mastery of the fifth level by now, and that would undoubtedly make him much better equipped to face this opponent.
However, there was no point in thinking about that now.
"Don''t get distracted now," Zi He suddenly sneered in a mocking voice, and Han Li looked up to see a strange colored ssntern flying directly toward him.
Thentern was rather antiquated in appearance, with an engraving of a peculiar-looking beast perched on each of its four corners, facing away from each other while raising their hands to the sky to support a lotus flower oilmp up above.
There didn''t appear to be any oil in themp, but it held a green me that was flickering slightly.
As soon as Han Li''s gaze fell upon the me, his entire body instantly stiffened, and his attention waspletely drawn to the tiny me, as if it had some type of transfixing property.
At the same time, a giant oilmp projection appeared in his mind, and green light shed through the eyes of the four strange beasts below themp as all of them opened their mouths in unison.
Han Li shuddered internally, and he could feel his own spiritual sense rapidly seeping out before flowing into the mouths of the four peculiar beasts like wisps of smoke.
As his spiritual sense quickly faded away, the me on the oilmp only burned brighter and brighter, as if it were feeding on his spiritual sense as a fuel source.
"Now that the Soul Devouring Lamp has been lit in his consciousness, his spiritual sense will bepletely exhausted soon, and by then, his soul will be ours to devour. In the meantime, let''s go and kill Shi Chuankong," Qing Ling said.
"We''ll do as you say," Zi He replied.
Even though their voices were clearly different, it still looked like a single person talking to herself while role-ying as two different people, presenting a very strange sight to behold.
With that, the woman began to descend toward Shi Chuankong in the bamboo forest below.
At this moment, Shi Chuankong remainedpletely still on the ground in a prone position. It seemed like he was still unconscious, and his spiritual sense fluctuations had be very feeble.
The woman raised a hand from several hundred feet away, releasing a purple and azure metal chain that shot forth through the air before piercing straight into the back of Shi Chuankong''s head, pulverizing it like a ripe watermelon.
An ted smile appeared on one half of the woman''s face upon seeing this, but a perplexed look appeared on the other half of her face, and Qing Ling said in a wary voice, "Something''s not right... Why hasn''t his nascent soul tried to escape?"
Chapter 798: My Territory
The tion on Zi He''s half of the woman''s face also faded upon hearing this, and before the woman had a chance to do anything, two pirs of silver light suddenly erupted out of the ground below to epass her, instantly immobilizing her.
Countless silver runes surged out of the pirs of silver light, forming a simple array in the blink of an eye, embedded at the center of which were two antiquated silver mirrors.
Bursts of formidable spatial fluctuations were rippling over the surface of the mirror, and the silver light that was emanating from it was also imbued with tremendousw power fluctuations thatpletely immobilized the woman in mid-air.
Right at this moment, Shi Chuankong''s body was suddenly flipped over, following which another Shi Chuankong emerged from the ground beneath the body.
At this moment, hisplexion was very pale, his eyes were out of focus, and he appeared to be rather unsteady on his feet.
He had truly sustained tremendous spiritual damage earlier, knocking him unconscious, but he woke up not long after he fell to the ground thanks to a protective treasure in his possession.
However, instead of immediately reentering the battle, he had hatched a n, leaving a false body on the ground with a fragment of his soul deposited within it, while his true body sank into the ground using a spatial secret technique before setting up this array.
Only after shaking his head vigorously was the fog in his mind somewhat lifted, and he made a strange hand seal, then pointed a finger up at the sky, releasing a streak of silver light to strike the ssntern in the sky.
With the woman trapped within the silver array, thentern waspletely defenseless, and it shuddered violently upon being struck by the streak of silver light before careening toward the ground in an unsteady fashion.At the same time, thentern projection in Han Li''s mind also faded, and after being released from the clutches of thentern, Han Li involuntarily plummeted out of the sky before crashing heavily to the ground, creating a huge crater.
However, he then immediately crawled out of the crater with a deathly paleplexion and his robes drenched in sweat, looking as if he had just gone through severe overexertion.
Shi Chuankong cast his gaze toward him, and the two of them exchanged a wry smile from afar.
"Why didn''t you bring out this treasure earlier, Brother Shi? That was way too close forfort," Han Li sighed.
"I''m afraid it''s not so simple, Brother Li. These Twin Heavenly Silver Mirrors are a prized treasure of my third brothers, and they only arrived at the Traveler House a few days ago via teleportation array. I''m unable to refine the mirrors, so I can only channel their power with the help of this array," Shi Chuankong exined.
"Alright, let''s focus on taking care of these two first. If they manage to break free again, then we''ll truly be doomed," Han Li said.
Trapped in the silver array, the woman wasn''t able to move her lips, so she could only threaten through voice transmission, "Shi Chuankong, if you dare to kill us, our master will be sure to torment you for all of eternity!"
"Don''t tter yourself, you''re nothing more than a ything for my brother! Besides, will Shi Zhanfeng be willing to spare me if I let you go?" Shi Chuankong sneered.
Before the woman had a chance to say anything else, Shi Chuankong made a hand seal before pointing a finger at the array on the ground, and the two mirrors in the array swapped positions amid a sh of silver light.
The two pirs of silver light shining out of them also twisted in mid-air, and Zi He and Qing Ling let loose a collective agonized cry as their body was reduced to a pile of mincemeat by the twisting space.
The nascent souls inside the body were instantly eradicated as well, and after the pirs of silver light faded, the pulverized remains of the woman''s body spilled down onto the ground.
At the same time, specks of azure and purple light began to seep out from within before dissipating in all directions.
"I don''t think I''ve ever seen a soul as formidable as this one. Even in such terrible condition, it''s still able to somewhat hold itself together," Han Li remarked in amazement as he drew the specks of azure and purple light to himself with a sweep of his sleeve.
He then made a beckoning motion to recover all of his flying swords before making his way into the bamboo forest in the distance to pick up the ssntern as well.
Thentern had already been snuffed out at this point, and he examined it momentarily before tipping the remains of the woman''s soul into it.
The runes on the ssntern instantly lit up, releasing a burst of faint radiance that enveloped all of the specks of light.
However, shortly thereafter, the light within thentern faded again, and all that remained were the soul remnants sealed within thentern.
He didn''t know what had just happened, so he casually stowed thentern away.
By the time he returned to Shi Chuankong, thetter had just fished a purple storage bracelet out of the woman''s remains.
After wiping away the blood and filth on the storage bracelet, he refined it before opening it to find many treasures inside, all of which required devilish qi to wield, and there were also many pills and spirit medicines that were beneficial for the soul.
"These treasures won''t be of much use to you, but these pills and spirit medicines are perfect for you, Brother Li," Shi Chuankong remarked.
"Both of us have sustained severe spiritual damage during this battle, so let''s split the pils and spirit medicines evenly among us. I won''t take any of the treasures in the storage bracelet, but I would like that little book. Is that alright?" Han Li asked as he pointed at a thin book with a green cover.
Shi Chuankong took a nce at the cover of the book to find the words "Soul Devouring Refinement Technique" inscribed upon it, and after a brief hesitation, he nodded in response.
"I don''t know what type of cultivation method this is, but seeing as it''s caught your eye, you can have it."
"Thank you, Brother Shi," Han Li said with a smile as he grabbed the book for himself.
After that, the two of them split the pills, then each took some before resting for a moment.
"Not even a single guest elder from the Cloud Mountain Inn came to check on us during the course of that entire battle. In fact, the area seems eerily quiet. It looks like they''ve already been notified in advance," Han Li mused.
"My eldest brother has always possessed the most power and influence out of all of us, so it''s no surprise that the inn would bend to his will. However, there''s one more problem. Perhaps the Heavenly Ax Marquis could''ve pretended to be oblivious to our presence in the city prior to this, but in the wake of this massivemotion, he''ll be forced to take a side," Shi Chuankong replied with tightly furrowed brows.
"Does that mean we have to leave Preeminent City?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right, we have to get out of here as soon as possible," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
"But isn''t your third brother sending reinforcements?" Han Li asked.
"We have no choice in the matter. I''ll just have to leave behind a message for him," Shi Chuankong sighed.
¡¡
Several minutester, two figures arrived in a secluded alley in the northern region of Preeminent City.
Both of them were dressed in schr''s robes, and they walked briskly into the alley. One of them appeared to be quite advanced in age, while the other was a young man, and they were none other than Han Li and Shi Chuankong in disguise.
At the end of the alley was a tiny shop with its door slightly ajar, revealing a dimly lit interior.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce with each other, then rushed into the shop in unison.
All of the shelves in the shop, sending their contents spilling onto the ground.
Shi Chuankong paid no heed to this as he made his way straight to the back of the shop, then pressed a hand against a certain unremarkable-looking brick on the wall.
A faint crack rang out as the brick wall slowly rolled back to reveal a hidden doorway, and Shi Chuankong stepped into it first, followed immediately by Han Li.
The secret chamber behind the brick wall turned out to be just as cluttered and chaotic as the state of the shop. There was a small array inside that had already beenpletely destroyed, andying beside it was a young man who appeared to have been an employee of the shop.
There were no injuries on his body, and his eyes were wide open, but they werepletely devoid of light.
"His soul ispletely gone. Those sisters must''ve gotten to him," Han Li concluded after a brief examination.
"In that case, it looks like there''s no point in leaving a message here," Shi Chuankong replied in a grim voice.
"Where should we go after we leave Preeminent City?" Han Li asked.
"We''ll go to Grain Mountain City. I''ve been there even longer than I have Preeminent City, and it''s technically my territory, so it should be a little safer. On top of that, there''s also a teleportation array there," Shi Chuankong replied.
"If it''s your territory, then why didn''t we go there right away instead ofing here?" Han Li asked.
"Everyone knows about my history in Grain Mountain City, so I thought that going straight there would''ve been too predictable, and I was worried that we would run into an ambush on the way. However, at this point, it hardly matters," Shi Chuankong exined with a wry smile.
"Seeing as your eldest brother has already been tipped off and sent people to Preeminent City, it should indeed be a little safer for us in Grain Mountain City," Han Li replied with a nod.
"I certainly hope so. Time is of the essence, so let''s go right now," Shi Chuankong said before making his way out of the shop, and before long, the two of them had left Preeminent City through the northern city gate.
Shi Chuankong swept a sleeve through the air to summon his flying carriage, and after the two of them had flown onto the carriage, it sped away into the distance as a ball of ck light at Shi Chuankong''s behest.
Chapter 799: Fleeing from the Enemy
In a certain mountain range in the True Immortal Region.
The rocks in the mountain range were golden in color, and they gleamed brightly under the light of the sun, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
A streak of white light was flying over the golden mountain range at an incredible speed that was far faster than the average High Zenith cultivator, and within the streak of white light was a giant white beast that was over a hundred feet in length.
The beast''s entire body looked as if it had been carved out of wless white jade, and there were some silver markings on the top of its head.
Straddled atop the white beast''s back was a golden-robed young woman who appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years of age. Her breathtaking features were framed between a head of shoulder-length golden hair, but her expression was extremely cold and forbidding.
Despite her delicate-looking frame, she was holding a giant golden scythe that was even taller than herself.
The scythe was riddled with countless squiggly golden lines that were shing incessantly while giving off an incredibly formidable aura, as if nothing could stand in the way of this almighty weapon.
The scythe should''ve appeared very much out of ce in the young woman''s arms, but instead, they seemed toplement each other perfectly.
These two were none other than Jin Tong and the Pixiu, and both of them were far more formidable than back when they left Han Li.Jin Tong had already reached the mid-High Zenith Stage, while the Pixiu had also reached the High Zenith Stage.
However, at the moment, both of them were looking very apprehensive. In particr, there was a clear look of fear in the Pixiu''s eyes as it flew onward as quickly as it could.
Hundreds of thousands of kilometers behind them was an enormous red cloud that was flying along in hot pursuit.
The red cloud was constantly changing forms, and there projections of countless soldiers and horses could be made out within it, giving one the impression that the cloud contained a formidable army.
Deep within the cloud was a huge crimson stone tform with countless fiery spirit patterns engraved upon it, and a red-robed middle-aged man was seated atop the tform.
The man was very tall and imposing, and there was a golden crown on his head and a golden dragon embroidered onto his red robes, giving him the appearance of an emperor from a mortal empire.
At this moment, he was glowering straight ahead with a furious look on his face, and all of a sudden, he swept a sleeve through the air, upon which ayer of crimson light emerged over the surface of the stone tform.
Countless runes surged out of theyer of crimson light in a frenzy, and the surrounding red cloud instantly sped up significantly. As a result, the distance between the red cloud and the Pixiu began to rapidly dwindle, quickly shrinking down to less than a hundred thousand kilometers.
"Go faster!" Jin Tong urged with tightly furrowed brows as she swung her golden scythe viciously down onto the Pixiu''s back with a resounding metallic ng.
The Pixiu yelped in pain as ayer of golden light surfaced over its body, and a pair of giant white wings that were riddled with countless spirit patterns emerged on either side of its body.
As the Pixiu pped its wings, bursts of white air currents emerged, swirling around its body, and it also sped up significantly, but it was still far slower than the red cloud behind it.
Before, the distance between them had shrunk down to only around thirty thousand kilometers, and a cold look shed through the red-robed man''s eyes as he made a rapid string of hand seals, then pointed a finger up at the heavens.
In an astonishing turn of events, the sun in the sky instantly swelled to dozens of times its original size, and it was as if he were a deity capable of controlling the celestial bodies.
The nearby air temperature climbed drastically, and it seemed that even the very space was about to be set alight, while trees down below were all set alight, and the golden mountain range was also beginning to melt.
"Xiao Bai!" Jin Tong called out in an urgent voice, and the Pixiu immediately reacted.
The silver lines on its head began to glow radiantly, and at the same time, its opened its mouth up wide.
A burst of silver light surged out of its mouth, and the space within a radius of hundreds of kilometers up ahead immediately began to cave in violently before being sucked into its mouth, upon which its abdomen began to rapidly expand.
The copse of the space up ahead instantly caused a massive disturbance in the space even further away, and a giant ck vortex began to emerge.
A burst of tremendous suction force surged out of the vortex, and the Pixiu immediately shot forward at over ten times its original speed.
Right as it was about to fly out of the area within the scope of the scorching sun, the red-robed man let loose a loud roar before pointing a finger up at the sun in the sky, and countless rays of scorching white light instantly rained down upon Jin Tong and the Pixiu.
The nearby space was instantly set alight by a burst of sweltering heat, and as a result, the Pixiu was immediately slowed down significantly.
Jin Tong''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and she stomped a foot down into the air, upon which countless streaks of invisible sword qi shot out of her body.
Immediately thereafter, she opened her mouth to release a burst of blinding golden light, which fused into the streaks of sword qi in a sh, forming a vast expanse of golden light that swept through the air to sh against the scorching white light.
Golden and white light intertwined as a string of resounding explosions rang out incessantly, causing the entire nearby area to tremble and quake violently.
The golden light was clearly struggling to hold its own against the opposing white light, but it was able to put up some resistance for now.
The red-robed man gave a cold harrumph as he switched to a different hand seal before making a grabbing motion with one hand, and the sun in the sky swelled even further in size before crashing down upon Jin Tong and Xiao Bai like a gargantuan asteroid.
Even before the sun had fully descended, a burst of tremendous force had already crashed down from above, causing the nearby space to tremble and fracture.
Most of the white light around Xiao Bai''s body instantly faded, while it''s wings were also snapped, and it began to plummet toward the mountain range down below like a kite with its string snapped.
A cold look shed through Jin Tong''s eyes as a burst of bright golden light erupted out of her body, then formed a giant golden humanoid projection that was several hundred feet tall behind her.
The projection''s facial features were rather unclear, but it was also wielding a giant scythe.
At the same time, the golden scythe in Jin Tong''s had begun to glow with blinding golden radiance, while countless golden runes also surged out of it.
A dull thump rang out as all of the world''s origin qi in the nearby area began to ripple violently, following which it began to funnel into the golden scythe in a frenzy.
The scythe instantly swelled even further in size, while lines of golden runes emerged on its surface.
Right at this moment, the golden projection behind Jin Tong suddenly flew forward as a streak of golden light before fusing into her golden scythe, and the golden light radiating from the scythe instantly became so bright that it was impossible to look at.
The scythe''s aura has also be countless times more fearsome than before, and Jin Tong raised it before shing it gently at the sun that was still descending out of the sky.
A streak of crescent-shaped golden light erupted out of the scythe, then struck the rapidly descending sun head-on, and the sun was instantly sliced into two, with the two halves just barely ncing past Jin Tong and Xiao Bai.
The red-robed man''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, while the two halves of the sun crashed down onto the mountain range below before exploding violently.
The entire mountain range trembled as waves of white mes erupted in all directions, eradicating everything in their path.
Xiao Bai was sent flying by the shockwaves, but now that the white sun had been sliced apart, the pressure in the nearby area also faded, so it was able to stabilize itself in mid-air again.
All of a sudden, it began flying in a different direction before exhaling violently, and an enormous spatial storm erupted out of its mouth, while its bloated body quickly returned to normal.
At the same time, it was flying back at an incredible speed, even faster than when it was sucking in space earlier, and it vanished into the distance in the blink of an eye.
The spatial storm swept over the pursuing red-robed man, causing the red cloud around him to churn violently.
The red-robed man''s expression darkened even further upon seeing this, and it clenched its hand into a tight fist before throwing a punch forward, unleashing a giant crimson fist projection that was several acres in size to strike the spatial storm up ahead, instantly scattering it with ease.
After that, the red-robed man swept a sleeve through the air, and the fiery cloud around him continued onward.
At this point, Jin Tong and Xiao Bai were already countless kilometers away, and the propulsion force generated by the spatial storm that had erupted out of Xiao Bai''s mouth was finallypletely exhausted.
Sitting on Xiao Bai''s back, Jin Tong''s aura had diminished significantly after unleashing that almighty attack, and the golden light around her had also be far dimmer than before.
At this moment, she was seated with her legs crossed, and the golden scythe wasying across herp as she summoned a steady stream of treasures before stuffing them into her mouth.
As a result, her aura began to rapidly recover, while the golden light emanating from her body also gradually grew brighter and brighter.
"We can''t keep going like this, Boss. Sooner orter, that bastard from the Nine Origins Temple is going to catch up to us. We don''t know where our master has gone recently, but at this point, he should be back to the True Immortal Realm. Our spiritual connection with him has already recovered, so we should try and contact him for help," Xiao Bai said.
"There''s no need for that. I can handle this on my own without his help," Jin Tong replied in a cold voice.
Xiao Bai couldn''t help but grumble something under its breath, and even though it had made sure to be very quiet, Jin Tong still grabbed onto the scruff of its neck as she asked, "What are you muttering to yourself there?"
"Nothing, I was just thinking about how we can escape from our pursuer," Xiao Bai hurriedly replied with a sheepish smile.
"At this point, he already knows all of our tricks, so it''s only going to be more dangerous for us from here onward. You should go and seek out Uncle on your own," Jin Tong said.
"I''m not leaving you, Boss. If it wasn''t for your help, there''s no way I would''ve been able to reach the High Zenith Stage so quickly. I''ll admit that I''m a coward, but I definitely won''t abandon you in your time of need," Xiao Bai said in a solemn voice.
Jin Tong took a surprised nce at Xiao Bai, then nodded in response and spoke no further on the subject.
"He''s catching up to us again!" Xiao Bai said in an urgent voice as a pair of white wings reappeared on its back.
Chapter 800: Thriving Business Hub
Several monthster.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong had arrived at a hignd with ck soil stretching as far as the eyes could see.
It was a very dry and arid ce, and the asional gust of wind would sweep through, raising up huge clouds of ck dust.
Upon reaching this ce, Shi Chuankong was clearly looking a lot more rxed, and Han Li was also feeling quite relieved upon seeing this.
After departing from Preeminent City, the two of them had been constantly on the move. Thankfully, Shi Chuankong was quite familiar with this area, and the two of them had changed directions several times on the way here while also avoiding the usage of teleportation arrays for fear of being intercepted.
Their cautious approach appeared to be paying off, and the journey thus far proved to be quite smooth. They hadn''t encountered any more of Shi Zhanfeng''s forces, but nor had they received any further news from Shi Pokong.
Around two more months passed by, and on this day, two enormous mountains appeared on the horizon up ahead. Nestled between the two mountains was a ck city, and Han Li could tell that it was quite arge one.
They were already deep in the hignds at this point, and the environment here had be even more unforgiving, with gusts of ferocious ck wind sweeping through the air in all directions, sweeping up pieces of debris asrge as small mountains. Anyone below the Nascent Soul Stage would undoubtedly be killed in this hostile environment, but of course, a storm of this degree could simply be ignored by Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
In contrast, the area in a radius of hundreds of kilometers around the city nestled between the pair of mountains was very serene and peaceful, and it seemed that the storm raging outside was being kept out by some type of restriction."We''re finally here," Shi Chuankong dered with an ted expression.
"This is Grain Mountain City? The climate here is terrible, and the devilish qi isn''t very abundant, nor are there any favorable geographic features in the area like ore mines. Why did you decide to construct a city here?" Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
"I didn''t construct Grain Mountain City, it was once inhabited by the Sand Clump Tribe. Tens of thousands of years ago, they moved away from the city, and I purchased it. It took a great deal of effort to mold it into its current form. The environment here is indeed quite hostile, but it also serves as a natural barrier of sorts, does it not?" Shi Chuankong countered with a smile.
"I don''t think that''s the key factor that influenced your decision. ording to the map of the Devil Realm that you gave me, Grain Mountain City is situated at a point where the routes leading to several major cities meet, and it''s also not far away from the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, so it''s an ideal business location," Han Li analyzed.
"You truly know me better than anyone else, Brother Li!" Shi Chuankong chuckled.
"Are we just going in like this? This city may be your territory, but you''ve been away for a long time, so there''s no guarantee that things are still the samepared with when you left it," Han Li said.
"It''ll be fine. I''ve already contacted my trusted subordinates in the city, and they''ve assured me that the city is still untouched for now," Shi Chuankong replied with a confident smile.
"Alright, I''ll follow your lead then," Han Li said with a nod.
As they approached the city, it began to rapidly expand in their field of view, and even though the city was made to look rather diminutivepared with the two mountains on either side of it, it was still quite an enormous and majestic city.
The walls of the city were thousands of feet tall, and streaks of light were frequently entering and exiting the city, containing different types of flying boats.
Some giant carriages had also begun appearing on the ground, and to Han Li''s surprise, it appeared far more lively and bustling here than even ck Weasel City.
As Shi Chuankong gazed upon the giant city up ahead, a hint of excitement and pride began to surface in his eyes.
In order to avoid attracting attention, Shi Chuankong intentionally slowed down his flying carriage, so it took them a while to reach the edge of the city.
Looking in from the outside, the city was filled with tall buildings and orderly streets that were teeming with activity, far more so than in ck Weasel City and Preeminent City.
There were also around a dozen giant jade pirs hovering in the air above the city, and all of the pirs were etched with countless ck runes, giving them the appearance of some type of array tool.
Around the pirs was an enormous ck light barrier that epassed the entire city, as well as arge area outside of it, keeping the ferocious storms at bay.
The city had eight gates situated in the east, west, south, north, southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest. At this moment, all eight gates were open, and there were long lines of flying boats and flying carriages waiting at the gates to enter the city.
"It looks like even eight gates is still not enough. I''ll have to construct a few more city gates so that people can enter and exit the city faster," Shi Chuankong murmured to himself upon seeing this.
Instead of descending onto the ground to join the line, the flying carriage flew straight toward the interior of the city at Shi Chuankong''s behest.
There were many guards d in suits of gray armor patrolling the city, and as soon as they spotted the approaching flying carriage, a group of guards immediately sprang into action, with their leader yelling, "Who goes there?"
Shi Chuankong stowed the flying carriage away, then flipped a hand over to summon a purple badge that was giving off a hazy purple glow.
The expression on the patrolmander''s face instantly changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly extended a respectful bow as he said, "Please forgive me, esteemed guest."
He then pulled out a ck g and chanted a quick incantation before waving it through the air, releasing a streak of ck light that vanished into the ck light barrier up ahead.
An opening that was several dozen feet in size then appeared on the light barrier, and Shi Chuankong gave the patrolling guards a slight nod before flying into the city with Han Li.
There were no flight restrictions in the city, so there were many streaks of light whizzing through the air, and Shi Chuankong and Han Li mingled themselves into the crowd before flying toward the center of the city.
Shortly thereafter, the two of them arrived in front of arge manor.
This area was far away from the bustling streets, so it was very quiet, and there were no guards stationed at the entrance, only an elderly man in a long azure robe.
"It''s so good to finally see you again," the azure-robed elderly man said in an emotional voice as he approached Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
"Long time no see, Elder Qi," Shi Chuankong replied with a faint smile, then made a hand seal to revert back to his original appearance.
"Fellow Daoist Li, this is Elder Qi. He used to serve my mother, and he''s been looking after me since I was a child, so he''s most definitely trustworthy. Elder Qi, this is Fellow Daoist Li, the friend I was telling you about," Shi Chuankong introduced.
Han Li refrained from removing his disguise, and he cupped his fist in a salute toward the elderly man as he said, "It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Fellow Daoist Qi."
Even though Elder Qi was doing his best to conceal his own aura, Han Li could sense that he was at the High Zenith Stage.
However, what was even more surprising to Han Li was that even though there was devilish qi emanating from the elderly man''s body, the devilish qi originated from immortal spiritual power, so the two of them were in a rather simr situation.
"Thank you for protecting our young master over the course of your journey together," Elder Qi replied in a solemn manner as he returned the salute.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Qi," Han Li said with a smile.
"There''s no need for such formalities, Elder Qi, you''re making Fellow Daoist Li ufortable. Let''s go in, Brother Li," Shi Chuankong said, and the two of them were led into the manor by Elder Qi.
"Your Highness!"
"You''re finally back, Your Highness!"
"Did you journey go smoothly, Your Highness?"
All of the servants in the manor immediately converged around Shi Chuankong to ask him questions, and Shi Chuankong replied to all of them with a warm smile, disying none of the detached haughtiness one would expect to see in a prince.
"That''s enough! His Highness has only just returned, and there are still many things that he needs to do, so give him some space," Elder Qi said in a stern voice.
He seemed to be a very authoritative figure here, and everyone immediately dispersed.
"Sorry about that, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong said with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"What is there to apologize for? It''s clear that you''re very wee and admired here," Han Li replied with a smile.
The three of them continued onward, and they arrived in a hall before taking a seat.
"Elder Qi, thank you for looking after Grain Mountain City during all the years that I''ve been away. I can see that the city is in far better condition than when I left it, and it''s all thanks to you," Shi Chuankong said.
"You''re far too kind, Young Master, I merely executed the n that you had already devised prior to your departure. The number of shops in the city and the poption have increased, but they''re not all wee, and there¡¯s nock of spies among them. I''ve been doing my best to weed them out, but the effects have been ratherckluster.
¡°On the surface, the city appears to be thriving, but there is already some unrest beginning to brew beneath the facade. Overall, it''s nowhere near as orderly as back when you were inmand, Young Master," Elder Qi replied with a sullen expression.
"If we''re unable to suppress them, then let''s take the opposite approach and invite them in. The entirety of the city is under my control, and if they insist on sending offerings right to my doorstep, it would be rude of me to refuse, would it not? There''s no need to be concerned, Elder Qi, I''ll make sure to have this taken care of," Shi Chuankong chuckled, and the sullen look on Elder Qi''s face instantly faded away at the sight of Shi Chuankong''s confident expression.
Han Li was rather intrigued to see this. It seemed that Shi Chuankong excelled far more in business than he did in battle.
"By the way, has there been any news from my third brother?" Shi Chuankong asked.
Chapter 801: Absent
"His Highness has already informed me that reinforcements are on their way, and that they''ll arrive in half a month," Elder Qi replied.
"Do you know who it was that my brother sent?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"His Highness never specified, so I''m afraid not," Elder Qi replied with a shake of his head.
Shi Chuankong was a little disappointed to hear this, but a confident look then appeared in his eyes as he said, "Regardless of who it is that my brother sent, I''m sure things will be easier for us from here onward."
Han Li was also feeling slightly more reassured upon hearing this.
"Seeing as it''ll take some time for the reinforcements to arrive, let''s stay here in the meantime and take care of some of the issues in the city. Fellow Daoist Li, you can take this opportunity to have a rest," Shi Chuankong said.
Han Li nodded in response as he rose to his feet, and Elder Qi called over a young maidservant to take Han Li to his resting quarters.
Han Li knew that Shi Chuankong had some things to discuss with Elder Qi, so he was going to give them some privacy.
"Young Master, is this Fellow Daoist Li truly trustworthy?" Elder Qi asked as soon as Han Li departed."Rest assured, Elder Qi, Fellow Daoist Li is a good friend that I first encountered in the Immortal Realm, and during the time that we''ve been together, he''s saved my life on multiple asions, so he''s definitely someone we can trust," Shi Chuankong replied.
Elder Qi''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, but he then said, "That''s good to hear, but he''s a little too weak at only the early-High Zenith Stage. I''ll arrange a few more guards for you to ensure your safety."
"That''s even less of a concern, Elder Qi. We have many powerful cultivators under ourmand, but I can assure you that no one would be a match for him in battle. Fellow Daoist Li and the reinforcements sent by my brother will be enough to keep me safe. Having too many people around me could work to my detriment," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
Elder Qi''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but before he had a chance to protest, Shi Chuankong dered, "Alright, that''s enough on that, tell me about the spies you mentioned earlier."
Elder Qi could only heave a resigned sigh before delivering his report.
Meanwhile, Han Li was led to a courtyard at the back of the manor. The ce wasn''t veryrge, nor was it very opulent, but it was very quaint and peaceful.
"This is where you''ll be staying, Senior. Please call upo nme if you need anything, I''ll be just outside the courtyard," the maidservant said.
Han Li was very happy with the courtyard, and he suddenly turned to the maidservant with a mesmerizing gleam in his eyes as he asked, "What''s your name?"
The maidservant seemed to be transfixed as she looked into Han Li''s eyes, and she replied in a slightly dazed voice, "My name is Lian''er."
"What kind of person is Shi Chuankong?" Han Li asked.
"His Highness is someone who has no interest in fighting for power, but he''s an avid businessman. He left Night Sun City at a very young age, and he''s very good to his servants. He''s not arrogant like the other princes, and everyone in Grain Mountain City admires him," the maidservant replied in a slightly jumbled fashion.
Han Li asked her a few more questions before the light in his eyes faded, and the maidservant''s expression instantly returned to normal.
"Alright, you can go now," Han Li instructed, and the maidservant promptly departed, none the wiser to the interrogation that she had just been put through.
Han Li watched as the maidservant departed with a contemtive look on his face.
The maidservant''s description of Shi Chuankong fit perfectly with how Shi Chuankong normally behaved, so it seemed that he had been overly cautious.
After carefully inspecting the entire courtyard with his spiritual sense, he released a string of array gs throughout the courtyard, quickly conjuring up an azure light barrier.
Only after doing all of that did he enter his bedroom, where he sat down with his legs crossed to cultivate his rpiled version of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
At the same time, he also channeled his spiritual sense to continue cultivating the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
There had been multiple close calls during the past few attacks, and he was determined to make full use of what time he had to enhance his own powers.
Around half a month passed by in the blink of an eye, and on this day, Han Li''s eyes suddenly sprang open as a hint of tion appeared on his face.
Perhaps he was more able to tap into his owntent potential under such a dangerous and stressful environment, but this past half-month of cultivation had yielded exceptional results.
In particr, following that breakthrough that he had made back in the Baleful Cleansing Ponds, his progress in the Spirit Refinement Technique had be incredibly smooth.
After withdrawing the restrictions in the courtyard, Han Li made his way outside, and the maidservant who was waiting there hurriedly extended a curtsey as she dered, "His Highness would like to see you, Senior."
"Take me to him," Han Li replied with a nod, and before long, the two of them arrived in the same hall from before.
Shi Chuankong and Elder Qi were both there, and there were also three more people in the room, two male and one female, all three of whom were at the High Zenith Stage.
The one at the center of the trio was a dark-skinned elderly man d in a suit of azure devilish armor, while to his left was an extremely tall and rotund middle-aged man who resembled a mountain of meat.
As for the woman, she appeared to be around thirty years of age, and she would''ve been quite good-looking had it not been for her huge red dress and the excessively ostentatious red flower on her head, both of which gave her a ratherical appearance.
"Please take a seat, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong said with a smile as he rose to his feet.
Han Li gave a slight nod as he sat down onto a chair, and Shi Chuankong introduced, "These three are Fellow Daoist Mo, Fellow Daoist Lu, and Fellow Daoist Hua. All three of them are guest elders of this city and also trusted subordinates of mine."
"It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Li Feiyu," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute, and the trio returned the salute in a polite fashion.
Han Li then cast his gaze toward Shi Chuankong, wanting to ask him about the reinforcements sent by Shi Pokong, but he didn''t know if it was appropriate with these three guest elders present.
Shi Chuankong could tell what Han Li was thinking, and he assured, "There''s no need to be apprehensive of anyone in this room, Fellow Daoist Li. My brother has always been very punctual, and if he says that the reinforcements will arrive in half a month, then they''ll definitely be here on time, so they should be here today."
Han Li nodded in response upon hearing this.
"I''ve invited all of you here today as I want everyone to get to know each other. I''ll be relying on all of you from here onward, so let''s have a chat over some wine while we wait for reinforcements to arrive," Shi Chuankong said with a smile as he pulled out a red wine jar.
Even with the seal still intact, a delectable aroma was already seeping out of the jar.
"It''s our honor to be able to serve you, Your Highness," the dark-skinned elderly man said with a faint smile.
"Indeed. You''ve always been very kind to us, so it''s only right that we return the favor. If you need us to do anything for you, I, for one, am more than happy to make myself useful!" the rotund middle-aged man dered as he patted his own chest.
"It''s almost a little hurtful that you''re being so formal to us," the woman in the red dress chuckled.
"Thank you, fellow daoists."
Shi Chuankong''s mood was lifted significantly by everyone''s assurances, and he flipped a hand over to produce a few cups, then personally filled them for everyone.
"Fellow Daiost Li, I know you''re quite an expert when ites to wine, but I''m sure this wine of mine won''t disappoint you," Shi Chuankong said to Han Li.
Han Li lifted his cup before taking a sip, and his eyes immediately lit up.
The vor of this wine was very unique, and it was very different from all of the other immortal wines that he had tasted in the past.
What was even more remarkable was that the wine contained a burst of extremely pure devilish qi that was beneficial for nourishing his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
"This is indeed an exceptional wine. What''s it called?" Han Li asked.
"I knew you''d be interested in it. This wine is called Rainbow Mulberry Wine. Here''s the recipe," Shi Chuankong said as he pulled out a jade slip before handing it to Han Li.
Han Li epted the jade slip with gratitude, then injected his spiritual sense into it, upon which he discovered that there were around twenty to thirty ingredients required to brew the wine.
At the moment, he still wasn''t very familiar with the ingredients of the Devil Realm, but his intuition told him that the devilish qi in the wine originated from an ingredient by the name of Red Mulberry Fruit.
"Where can I find this Red Mulberry Fruit?" Han Li asked.
"Red Mulberry Fruit is produced in the northernmost region of our Holy Realm. Do you intend to brew this Rainbow Mulberry Wine, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"I''m thinking about it. Would it be possible for you to use the power of the Vast Origin House to gather the ingredients required to brew this wine for me? I''ll be sure topensate you for the ingredients," Han Li replied.
"That''s not a problem, but Red Mulberry Fruit is a very rare ingredient, so it may take some time to acquire," Shi Chuankong said.
This was no urgent matter for Han Li anyway, and he replied, "In that case, I''ll be counting on you, Fellow Daoist Shi."
"You''re a wine enthusiast as well, are you, Fellow Daoist Li? In that case, you and I will get along just fine. I don''t have any hobbies, but I''ve always loved fine wine and food. Here''s to you, Fellow Daoist Li!" the rotund middle-aged man said in a boisterous voice as he pressed a hand down onto Han Li''s shoulder.
Han Li raised his cup with a faint smile, making no attempt to evade the man''s hand.
Even though they had only just met, he could tell that the man was very straightforward and wasn''t very scheming. If the dark-skinned elderly man had reached out to him, then he definitely wouldn''t have let him touch any part of his body.
Only now did Shi Chuankong begin to truly rx, and he began to initiate conversations so everyone could be more familiar with one another.
As the wine began to flow, the atmosphere quickly began to liven up, and before long, everyone began discussing their cultivation insights and experiences.
Everyone present was at the High Zenith Stage, with the exception of Shi Chuankong, but he had also ovee his baleful tribtion, so he had one foot in the door.
The time quickly passed by, and close to an entire day flew by in the blink of an eye, but the reinforcements sent by Shi Pokong still hadn''t showed up.
Chapter 802: Traitor?
Chapter 802: Traitor?
Han Li took a quick nce at Shi Chuankong to discover that he was also looking slightly concerned, but he maintained a calm expression as he drank and chatted with the dark-skinned elderly man.
Han Li subtly withdrew his gaze, then resumed his discussion with the rotund middle-aged man.
The cultivation arts used by the rotund man were more geared toward body refinement, so they were rather simr to the Provenance True Devil Arts, and as a result, the two of them had muchmon ground to discuss.
Time continued to pass, and before long, it had already turned dark outside, but the reinforcements sent by Shi Pokong still hadn''t shown up, and at this point, no one was in the mood to be chatting anymore.
"My brother''s subordinates are extremely well-disciplined, so there''s no way they would be intentionally tardy. Looks like something must''ve happened," Shi Chuankong said with furrowed brows.
Han Li turned his gaze to Shi Chuankong in silence.
"Could it be that something went wrong on their way here, Young Master?" Elder Qi asked with furrowed brows.
"Elder Qi, report this matter to my brother and ask him if he knows what''s going on," Shi Chuankong instructed.
"Thest time I attempted to contact His Highness, he seemed to have been busy with something, so he won''t be able to get back to me untilter," Elder Qi replied in a hesitant voice.
A hint of surprise appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon hearing this, and he said, "Is that right? In any case, you should still go and ask him."
"Yes, Young Master," Elder Qi replied before quickly departing.
Following Elder Qi''s departure, Shi Chuankong leaned back against his chair and fell into deep thought with his brows tightly furrowed, and everyone fell silent.
Time began to slowly pass once again, and around fifteen minutester, Elder Qi returned.
"How did it go?" Shi Chuankong immediately asked.
"There''s still been no response," Elder Qi replied with a shake of his head.
Shi Chuankong''s expression darkened a little further upon hearing this, and everyone in the room was looking at him, clearly waiting for him to make a decision.
"We''ll wait for another half-day. If the reinforcements still haven''t arrived, then we won''t wait any longer," Shi Chuankong dered as he took a nce at Elder Qi, and thetter immediately departed once again.
Han Li took a nce at Elder Qi''s parting figure, then lowered his gaze, and the room fell back into a tense silence.
As a result, time began to pass agonizingly slowly.
The three High Zenith cultivators were also beginning to grow a little uneasy, and they would exchange nces with each other from time to time, while Shi Chuankong and Han Li''s expressions remained unchanged.
Half a day quickly passed by, yet there was still no further news.
Right at this moment, Shi Chuankong sprang to his feet, and Han Li and the others stood up as well.
"Pleasee with me, everyone," Shi Chuankong instructed before making his way out of the room, and everyone immediately followed along.
The group quickly arrived in a hall deep within the manor. The hall was cylindrical in shape, looking much like a round altar, and it was entirely ck without any connective seams visible, as if it had been entirely carved out of a giant piece of ck crystal.
The hall was around an acre in area and over a hundred feet tall, towering over all of the surrounding buildings.
At this moment, Elder Qi was standing at the closed entrance of the hall, and he immediately approached Shi Chuankong upon catching sight of him.
"Are the preparationsplete?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Rest assured, Young Master, everything is ready to go," Elder Qi immediately replied with a nod, following which a streak of ck light flew out of his hand before vanishing into the door of the hall.
Ayer of ck light emerged over the door, following which it parted down the center to reveal the hall inside.
It was a circr hall that waspletely empty, making it appear particrly spacious.
Embedded onto the walls at set intervals were head-sized chunks of white jade that were giving off a bright white radiance, making the interior of the hall as bright as day.
On the ground at the very center of the hall was a silver teleportation array that was around seventy to eighty feet in diameter. It was entirely filled with silver array patterns, and there were also close to a hundred ck crystals embedded into it, every single one of which was giving off formidable devilish qi.
At this moment, there were eight gray-robed devilish beings seated around the array, all of whom were at the Golden Immortal Stage, and they immediately stood up at the sight of Shi Chuankong before extending respectful bows.
"Where does this teleportation lead to, Fellow Daiost Shi?" Han Li asked.
"The array leads to Chuyu City hundreds of thousands of kilometers away. At the moment, it''s safe to assume that the reinforcements sent by my brother have been held up somewhere, so continuing to wait here will only put us in an even more passive position," Shi Chuankong replied, and Han Li nodded in agreement.
"Activate the array, Elder Qi," Shi Chuankong instructed.
Elder Qi nodded in response, then took a step forward as he summoned a silver badge. However, right as he was about to use the badge, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"What''s wrong, Elder Qi?" Shi Chuankong asked.
Han Li also turned his gaze to Elder Qi, who crouched down to pluck a ck crystal out of the array on the ground, then examined it momentarily before stowing it away.
At the same time, another ck crystal appeared in his other hand, and he deposited it into the vacant slot.
"I just noticed that one of the Devilish Origin Stones in the array was a little impure, so it''s best to get it reced," Elder Qi exined with a smile, then took a step back before making a hand seal, and the silver badge instantly rose up into the air while glowing radiantly.
The eight Golden Immortals nearby also each summoned a silver badge, and the silver light radiating from their badges connected together with that of Elder Qi''s badge.
The array on the ground instantly also began to glow and buzz, and Shi Chuankong was just about to step into the teleportation array when a burst of ck light suddenly flew out of Elder Qi''s hand before striking Shi Chuankong on the back at an astonishing speed.
A bewildered look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face as the ck light pierced through theyer of protective light around him with ease, following which a purple jade pendant hanging from his waist abruptly exploded to form a light barrier that kept the streak of ck light at bay.
Shi Chuankong immediately snapped back to his senses and let loose a furious roar as he dodged to the side.
A loud crack rang out as the purple light barrier was breached by the streak of ck light before ncing past Shi Chuankong''s body, slicing a deep gash into his waist that instantly began spewing blood.
Right as the streak of ck light flew out of Elder Qi''s hand, a giant golden w, a thin pink sword, and a ck wheel appeared around Han Li without any warning, then hurtled directly toward him, piercing into his body in unison.
Immediately thereafter, the dark-skinned elderly man, the rotund middle-aged man, and the woman in the red dress surrounded him in an instant with cold killing intent etched on their faces.
However, much to their surprise, Han Li''s body suddenly dissipated, revealing it to have been nothing more than an afterimage.
On the other side, the gash on Shi Chuankong''s waist was bleeding profusely, and the skin around the wound was quickly turning ck while spreading over the rest of his body. His entire body quickly became numb, and as a result, his movements were inhibited.
"Die!" Elder Qi roared with a fierce look on his face as he made a grabbing motion with one hand.
Three azure vortexes instantly appeared above Shi Chuankong out of thin air, and countless streaks of incredibly sharp azure light came raining down upon him.
At the same time, the eight Golden Immortals around the array also pounced at him in unison, unleashing attacks of their own.
"Elder Qi, how could you?"
Shi Chuankong''s face was distorted with fury and grief as a vast expanse of purple light surged out of his body, then transformed into a purple shield that was several dozen feet in size.
Layers of intricate patterns were etched onto the surface of the shield, and countless dazzling purple runes could also be seen interspersed among them.
The shield had only just taken shape when the barrage of oing attacks arrived, and an earth-shattering boom rang out alongside an eruption of blinding light as the shield shuddered violently.
Countless cracks instantly appeared on the shield''s surface, following which it exploded violently, and Shi Chuankong was dashed to the ground as if he had just been dealt a heavy blow.
Before he had a chance to get up, he was overwhelmed by the barrage of fierce attacks, and he waspletely powerless to resist.
Right at this moment, he abruptly vanished from the spot amid a sh of golden light.
All of the attacks directed at him struck the ground instead, and a string of resounding explosions rang out as a series of giant craters were smashed into the ground.
The shockwaves from the explosions erupted outward in all directions, causing the entire hall to tremble violently as cracks appeared over its walls, but ayer of bright ck light had emerged from the walls, resiliently keeping the hall intact.
Right at this moment, a streak of golden light shed through the air before piercing into one of the walls, running through the ck restriction on the wall with ease, following which arge hole was sted into the wall itself.
A blurry golden shadow then flew out from within, and at the same time, the ck restriction in the entire hall lit up in an erratic fashion before copsing violently.
Without the fortification provided by the restriction, the entire hall instantly copsed as well, burying everyone within it.
Several thousand feet away from the hall, Han Li appeared in mid-air amid a sh of golden light with Shi Chuankong clutched in one hand, and a rapidly revolving golden wheel could just barely be seen in his body.
Chapter 803: Abnormalities
Chapter 803: Abnormalities
Han Li took a nce at the wreckage of the hall, then gently ced a hand onto Shi Chuankong''s shoulder, and a burst of pure immortal spiritual power instantly swept through his body, suppressing the poison so that it didn''t spread any further from his wound.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Li."
Shi Chuankong could feel the numb sensation in his body quickly fading, and he hurriedly rose to his feet, then took a blue pill.
A series of blue patterns instantly appeared over his entire body, and countless strands of muscle fibers emerged from the wound on his waist, then connected together to heal the wound, while the ck coloration on the nearby skin also began to fade.
"Looks like all of your subordinates have already betrayed you. What do you want to do with them?" Han Li asked.
A conflicted look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon hearing this.
Right at this moment, a string of loud explosions rang out, and the ruins of the hall erupted as Elder Qi and the others flew out into the open before pouncing at Han Li and Shi Chuankong again.
Han Li took a nce at Shi Chuankong, then made a grabbing motion with one hand, and three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly appeared before him.
With a flick of his wrist, the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords transformed into countless golden lightning threads that shot forth through the air, reaching the oing assants in a sh.
Every single lightning thread was glowing radiantly, and they were giving off formidable lightningw power fluctuations.
Elder Qi''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he let loose a thunderous roar, upon which three azure vortexes reappeared in front of him, releasing waves of azure ripples that formed a dense azure light barrier in front of everyone.
The torrential barrage of golden lightning threads fell upon the azure light barrier, and a series of tiny vortexes appeared on its surface, attempting to devour the golden lightning threads.
However, the sword threads formed by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were extremely formidable, and they were only stopped in their tracks for a split second before piercing through the azure light barrier with ease.
The azure light barrier instantly exploded violently, but it had bought everyone enough time to react.
The rotund middle-aged man clenched his hands into tight fists before ramming them against each other, and a metallic ng rang out as a series of golden ripples surged out of his body.
The golden lightning threads that were caught in the ripples instantly began trembling erratically, and a small portion of them exploded on the spot, while the rest were stopped cold in their tracks.
The rotund man then let loose a loud roar before making a grabbing motion with both hands, and all of the golden ripples instantly converged to form an extremely life-like golden lion projection that let loose a deafening roar.
In the face of the destructive soundwaves, all of the remaining lightning threads were also shattered before disintegrating into specks of golden light.
At the same time, two beams of ck light shot out of the dark-skinned elderly man''s eyes, while a vast ck shadow erupted out of his body.
The shadow contained a burst of cialw powers that caused the nearby space to warp and blur, as if it had been frozen solid.
The golden lightning threads were instantly stopped cold in their tracks by the ck shadow, while the woman in the red dress opened her mouth to release a translucent white ring.
The ring swelled dramatically to over a hundred feet in size at her behest, epassing her entire body within it, and it revolved around her briefly before exploding on its own to form a white cloud that was hundreds of feet in size.
The oing golden lightning threads were able to pierce into the white cloud with ease, but they were instantly slowed down as a result, as if they had pierced into a viscous swamp.
The woman took advantage of this window of respite to dodge to the side, allowing her to evade all of the golden lightning threads.
Meanwhile, Elder Qi flew back in retreat before appearing among the eight Golden Immortals in a sh.
The eight of them immediately formed an orderly circle around Elder Qi, and lights of different colors rose up from all nine of their bodies, then intertwined with one another before dancing through the air like a storm of flowers.
Elder Qi rubbed his hands together, and a torrential barrage of incantation seals instantly shrugged forth.
All of the flowers of light of different colors instantly fused into one, then formed a gray array that epassed the nine of them.
The golden lightning threads struck the gray array before exploding into arcs of lighting, and the array instantly began trembling incessantly, but it showed no signs of breaking.
Even though everyone had managed to ward off the golden lightning threads, Han Li remainedpletely unfazed, and he turned to Shi Chuankong again as he urged, "You can''t afford to be indecisive here, Fellow Daoist Shi!"
Shi Chuankong shuddered, and the indecision in his eyes faded as he replied, "My apologies, Fellow Daoist Li. If they''re determined to kill us, then there''s no need for you to hold back."
Han Li nodded in response, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and all of the golden lightning threads up ahead also flew back before reverting back into three golden flying swords.
The twelve Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were all glowing radiantly as Han Li made a rapid string of hand seals, and streaks of golden sword qi descended out of the sky to form a massive sword array that was several acres in area.
It was none other than his Horned Dragon Sword Array, and as it descended from the heavens, it seemed to be bringing the nearby space along with it.
The dark-skinned elderly man and the woman in the red dress immediately darted away in opposite directions, just barely getting out of the way before the golden sword array fully descended.
The two of them had managed to escape, but the rotund man and Elder Qi and the eight Golden Immortals weren''t so fortunate, and all of them were caught within the array.
A grim look appeared on the rotund man''s face as he opened his mouth to release a burst of golden light that vanished into the golden lion projection in a sh, and the projection instantly swelled to several times its original size to epass him within it.
Immediately thereafter, countless golden runes emerged over the golden lion projection''s body, and it instantly took on a much more substantial form. At the same time, a series of golden spots had also appeared over its skin, resembling a suit of scale armor, giving it a very fearsome appearance.
The golden lion let loose a ferocious roar as it began to bound forward, trying to escape from the sword array.
At the same time, the gray array that Elder Qi was situated in began to glow brightly while releasing a series of threads of gray light that swept toward the surrounding sword array, attempting to break it open from the inside.
A cold sneer appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and countless streaks of formidable golden sword qi erupted out of the sword array at his behest, alongside twelve golden sword projections that resembled giant dragons, all of which struck the golden lion and the gray array.
The golden lion instantly crumpled, falling away into several pieces as if it were made from tofu.
As a result, the rotund man was revealed with an rmed look on his face, and before he had a chance to do anything, two sword projections swept right through his body, slicing him into pieces.
At the same time, all of the threads of gray light released by the gray array also instantly shattered upon making contact with the opposing sword qi.
Several sword projections then struck the gray array, and it was barely able to put up any resistance before it was also destroyed.
A torrential barrage of sword qi instantly inundated Elder Qi and the eight Golden Immortals, and a chorus of agonized howls rang out.
"Gao Feng, you bastard! Stop!" the woman in the red dress screeched in a furious voice as she pounced at Han Li like lightning while flipping a hand over to summon a pink jade fan.
The fan was entirely pink in color with countless vibrant butterfly designs emzoned upon it, and it was giving off ayer of pink mes.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong both faltered slightly upon hearing her enraged cry, but before they had a chance to do anything, the woman swept the fan vigorously through the air, releasing a burst of dense pink light that surged toward Han Li in a frenzy.
At the same time, the dark-skinned elderly man also transformed into a ck shadow that pounced at Han Li, and as he did this, ck shadows began to surge out of his body, forming a ck cloud that was several hundred feet in size.
A low roar rang out from within the cloud, following which a giant ck turtle the size of a house emerged.
The creature had six eyes and a series of giant ice spikes on its back, and its entire body was giving off a fearsome cial aura.
As soon as the giant ck turtle appeared, all six of its eyes instantly sprang open at once to release six pirs of ck light, which covered a distance of several thousand feet in the blink of an eye to strike at Han Li.
In response, Han Li immediately made a hand seal, and arcs of thick golden lightning erupted out of his hands, forming two dense walls of golden lightning that stood in the path of the pink light and the pirs of ck light.
Two dull thumps rang out as the walls of lightning shuddered violently, then instantly settled down once again, keeping the oing attacks at bay.
Even though the pink light and the pirs of ck light had been stopped in their tracks, thew powers imbued within them were able to pass through the walls of lightning and into Han Li''s body.
There was a burst of cialw powers that had some effect on his body, but was kept out before it was able to infiltrate very deep. However, the other burst ofw powers was as soft as cloud and mist, and it quickly began to burrow into his body upon contact.
Han Li caught a whiff of a peculiar aroma, and his bones shuddered while all of his pores opened up at once, and he was suddenly ovee by such an intense wave of feebleness that he almost fell to the ground.
He immediately realized that this burst of softw powers was interspersed with some type of fragrant substance, and both had infiltrated his entire body.
The two of them had beenbined together to perfection, and he was unable to tell them apart.
Chapter 804: Strange Powers
Han Li was slightly rmed by this turn of events, but he didn''t panic.
His Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light, and it released waves of golden ripples that washed over his body, eradicating the two bursts of externalw powers that had infiltrated his body.
However, to his dismay, the fragrant substance remained in his body,pletely unaffected by his timew powers, and he was still feeling extremely feeble.
"Well done, Fellow Daoist Hua! This is where you die, Gao Feng!" the dark-skinned elderly man yelled as he pointed a finger at Han Li, and five more giant ck turtles emerged from the shadows around him before opening their eyes in unison.
Pirs of ck light erupted out of the six turtles'' collective thirty-six eyes, and they condensed into a series of thin ck threads that hurtled directly toward Han Li.
These thin ck threads were giving off a cial aura that was almost on par with that of Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and at the same time, all of the ice spikes on the backs of the giant ck turtles detached themselves before hurtling directly toward Han Li.
In the face of the oing attacks, Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as he made a hand seal before opening his mouth to release a silver fireball that was around ten feet in diameter.
The silver fireball instantly expanded into a sea of silver mes that was around an acre in size, with Han Li at the very center.
Waves of fire that were dozens of feet tall rose up into the air, giving off a sweltering aura.The Essence Fire Raven was dancing within the sea of mes, and as soon as the ck threads and ice spikes pierced into the silver mes, they were instantly melted away into nothingness.
All of the pink sword projections in the air also vanished before reverting back into a pink flying sword, and the spiritual light emanating from it was rapidly fading in the face of the scorching mes.
The woman''s expression changed drastically as she raised a hand to try and summon her flying sword back to herself, but right at this moment, the Essence Fire Raven swooped down onto the sword, catching it in its beak before tipping its head back to swallow the sword as if it were a little bug.
The woman''s spiritual connection with the flying sword instantly vanished, and she gave a muffled groan as herplexion paled significantly.
A look of rm and concern appeared on the dark-skinned elderly man''s face upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to do anything, the Essence Fire Raven suddenlyunched itself at him with astonishing speed.
Even before the fire raven had fully descended upon him, the heat radiating from its body was already enough to make the nearby space tremble incessantly, as if it were about to be set alight.
All of the ck shadows around the elderly man were rapidly evaporating, and he hurriedly flew back in retreat, while a burst of ck light erupted out of his body, quickly forming a ck spirit domain that was around a hundred feet in size.
A burst of cialw powers was churning incessantly within the ck spirit domain, freezing everything within it.
At the same time, seven or eight treasures flew out of his body in rapid session, forming a series of protective barriers around him.
A very humanized look of derision shed through the Essence Fire Raven''s eyes upon seeing this, and it abruptly swelled to around twice its original size, while roughly a dozenrge specks of silver light appeared on its wings.
Bursts of silver mes erupted backward out of those specks of light, and the Essence Fire Raven instantly sped up dramatically, flying headfirst into the ck spirit domain as a long streak of silver light.
The ck spirit domain had no effect on the Essence Fire Raven at all, and it instantly tore through the spirit domain before crashing into the protective barriers in front of the elderly man.
The protective barriers weren''t able to pose any resistance, either, and the Essence Fire Raven was barely slowed down at all as it tore through all of them in rapid session before piercing straight through the dark-skinned elderly man''s body.
The elderly man was instantly split into two at the waist, following which the two halves of his body erupted into scorching silver mes.
A fearful look finally appeared on the woman''s face upon seeing this, and she gritted her teeth before fleeing into the distance as a streak of pink light.
However, she had only managed to fly for about a thousand feet before several translucent chains shot out of the nearby space without any warning, then wound themselves around her body like lightning.
At the same time, Han Li appeared directly before her, clearly having already recovered from the poison that he had inhaled.
The pink light emanating from the woman''s body instantly brightened significantly before erupting outward to form a pink spirit domain, and around a dozen different fragrances appeared within the spirit domain, mixing with thew powers inside before converging toward Han Li.
In response, the golden light radiating from Han Li''s body brightened significantly at his behest, releasing bursts of timew powers that kept all of the externalw powers within the spirit domain at bay.
At the same time, he flicked a finger through the air, and several arcs of golden lightning shot out of his fingertip before striking the woman in several of her vital regions, including her be and her dantian.
A loud thunderp rang out, and the woman''s entire body was charred ck, following which she convulsed violently for a moment before falling unconscious.
Immediately thereafter, the pink spirit domain vanished, and the fragrances in the air began to dissipate.
Han Li then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of green light that emitted tremendous suction force, sucking all of the fragrances up his sleeve.
Right at this moment, a dull thump suddenly rang out from the sword array in the distance, and a miniature azure figure flew out from within. It was Elder Qi''s nascent soul, and it had somehow managed to escape from the Horned Dragon Sword Array.
As soon as the azure nascent soul emerged, it immediately fled into the distance as a streak of azure light, but right at this moment, Shi Chuankong appeared directly in front of it, then reached out with one hand, conjuring a huge purple hand projection that caught the nascent soul in a sh.
The nascent soul immediately began struggling with all its might, but strands of purple light were surging out of the hand projection, forming a dense that prevented the nascent soul from getting away.
"Elder Qi, I''ve always seen you as family, and I''ve never wronged you in any way. Why have you betrayed me?" Shi Chuankong asked in a furious voice with his fists tightly clenched.
However, the nascent soul didn''t appear to have heard him at all, and it yelled in a defiant voice, "I won''t tell you anything about Young Master Shi!"
Immediately a look of resolve appeared on its face as blinding azure light began to radiate from its body.
"Stop him, Fellow Daoist Shi! He''s about to self detonate!" Han Li yelled in rm.
Shi Chuankong hurriedly sprang into action upon hearing this, and threads of purple light began to burrow their way into the azure nascent soul, but it was already toote.
In the next instant, the nascent soul exploded violently into a radiant azure sun.
Shi Chuankong hurriedly flew back in retreat, but he was too close to the azure sun, yet right as he was about to get swept up in the explosion, an arc of golden lightning fell out of the sky, forming a protective barrier in front of him, and two crossed golden flying swords could just barely be made out within the barrier.
The explosion of azure light raged ferociously against the lightning barrier, causing it to tremble incessantly, but it disyed no signs of breaking.
A few momentster, the azure sun rapidly dimmed before vanishing altogether.
Han Li appeared beside him in a sh, then made a hand seal, and the golden lightning barrier reverted back into a pair of Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords before flying back up his sleeve.
"What happened just now, Fellow Daoist Li? Who is this Gao Feng that they were speaking of?" Shi Chuankong asked as he turned to Han Li.
Han Li offered no response. Instead, he closed his eyes, and he seemed to be sensing something.
Right at this moment, a loud explosion rang out several thousand feet away, and a yellow figure stumbled out of thin air with another Han Li hot on their tail.
The other Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, releasing six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that hurtled directly toward the yellow figure, but thetter remainedpletely unfazed, releasing a streak of translucent light that contained a yellow copper mirror.
An earth-shattering boom rang out, and the six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were sent flying back, but the streak of translucent light also exploded.
Meanwhile, the yellow figure vanished from the spot, then reappeared thousands of feet away to reveal male figure in a yellow robe, but his facial features were concealed behind ayer of yellow light.
"If I''m not mistaken, this man orchestrated everything that happened just now. I don''t know how he did it, but he appeared to have somehow manipted Elder Qi and the others into mistaking us for two other people, thereby turning them against us," Han Li said.
Shi Chuankong''s expression instantly darkened significantly upon hearing this.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and the Han Li beside Shi Chuankong dissipated into specks of azure light, revealing it to have been nothing more than avatar.
The Horned Dragon Sword Array also reverted back to twelve Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that flew up his sleeve, and the bodies of the rotund man and the eight Golden Immortals fell to the ground.
Chapter 805: Tricked
"My apologies. The situation just now was very urgent, so even though I already noticed that something was amiss, I had no choice but to retaliate," Han Li said in an apologetic manner, then raised his hand to make a beckoning motion, and a ball of silver fire flew over to him, following which the body of the dark-skinned elderly man fell out of it.
The two halves of his body had already been reassembled, but his aura was extremely feeble.
It seemed that some type of restriction had been nted in his body, and this moment, he wasying on the ground in apletely immobilized manner, glowering up at Han Li and Shi Chuankong with burning resentment in his eyes.
As for the ball of silver mes, it reverted back into the Essence Fire Raven before vanishing into Han Li''s body in a sh.
Shi Chuankong didn''t seem to have heard Han Li at all, and he took a nce down at the dark-skinned elderly man with mixed emotions in his eyes, then cast a cold gaze toward the yellow-robed man.
"It''s very impressive that you were able to find me on such scant leads," the yellow-robed man remarked as he sized up Han Li.
The yellow light concealing his face quickly faded away as he spoke, revealing him to be a young man who appeared to be around twenty-five to twenty-six years of age.
He was wearing half a silver mask that concealed the left half of his face, and the exposed skin on the right side of his face was very fair and smooth.
Upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that the man was wearing makeup, and his lips were bright red, giving him a very strange, gender-ambiguous appearance."Hua Jing!" Shi Chuankong yelled in a furious voice, and he seemed to be familiar with the man.
All of a sudden, his entire body began to tremble, and an agonized look appeared on his face as his aura began to fluctuate violently.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately flew over to Shi Chuankong''s side, then released a burst of azure light into his body.
His aura instantly began to settle, while the pain on his face also began to ease.
"I understand you must feel terrible right now, but you can''t afford to let your emotions get the better of you. This man is quite powerful, and hisw powers are also very peculiar. You seem to be familiar with him, do you know what we should expect from him in battle?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
The masked man was ate-High Zenith cultivator, and he was clearly far more formidable than Elder Qi and the others.
During their brief sh, he had used six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once, yet even that wasn''t enough to gain him an upper hand.
Shi Chuankong took a deep breath to regain someposure, then replied through voice transmission, "His name is Hua Jing, and he''s one of the subordinates of my fifth sister, Shi Jingyan. He''s mastered some type ofw powers rted to hypnotism, and he''s able to control one''s senses. Elder Qi and the others must''ve fallen prey to him."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
Back in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range and Preeminent City, it was Shi Zhanfeng, and now, it was Shi Jingyan. It seemed like barely any of Shi Chuankong''s siblings wanted him to live!
"Jingyan sent you, didn''t she? What does she want?" Shi Chuankong asked as he stepped forward with a cold expression.
"Why ask the question when you already know the answer, Your Highness? Her Highness instructed me to fetch your head along with the Virata Lute. Having said that, I don''t have absolute confidence in my ability to defeat this subordinate of yours, so how about we make apromise, and I''ll let you live, but you have to hand over the Virata Lute," Hua Jing proposed with a faint smile.
Han Li remained silent upon hearing this, while Shi Chuankong spat through gritted teeth, "Is that supposed to be a joke? You turned so many of my subordinates against me, and you killed Elder Qi! You''re not leaving this ce alive!"
"Why are you getting so worked up over the deaths of an old servant and a few dogs? It''s unbing of a prince like yourself to have such littleposure," Hua Jing chuckled.
Shi Chuankong wasted no more time with words as he pounced forward, and his Virata Lute appeared in his grasp amid a sh of silver light.
As he strummed his fingers over the lute''s strings, countless silver runes surged forth, then transformed into hundreds of silver des of wind that hurtled directly toward Hua Jing.
Now only were these des of wind extremely fast, there was an insubstantial, wraith-like quality to them, making them very difficult to evade.
Hua Jing''s eyes lit up slightly at the sight of the Virata Lute, but instead of rushing in recklessly, he darted back in retreat.
Right at this moment, three golden flying swords appeared behind him without any warning, then transformed into countless golden sword projections to cut off his retreat.
Hua Jing waspletely unfazed as he swept a sleeve through the air, and an intricate little yellow bell appeared above his head amid a sh of yellow light.
The bell chimed as it released a burst of yellow light, which formed a giant yellow bell projection that epassed Hua Jing''s entire body.
In the next instant, all of the golden sword projections and des of silver wind struck the giant bell projection, causing it to tremble incessantly, but it was able to remain intact and keep all of the attacks at bay.
Shi Chuankong''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and in the next instant, all of the silver des of wind began to circle around the giant bell projection like a flock of birds.
Immediately thereafter, Shi Chuankong strummed his fingers over the strings of the lute once again, and all of the hundreds of des of wind instantly converged to form a pair of silver crescent moons, each of which was several dozen feet in size.
A burst of rumbling rang out from the pair of crescent moons, and they began to sweep toward the giant yellow bell.
Hua Jing''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately swept both sleeves through the air, upon which the yellow bell projection around him became around twice as thick as before.
At the same time, countless yellow runes appeared over its surface, giving off a burst of tremendous earthw powers.
In the next instant, the two crescent moons struck the giant bell projection, and they were able to phase straight through the projection,pletely ignoring it and the earthw powers that it was releasing.
Hua Jing''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly flew back in retreat as a yellow shadow.
However, right at this moment, Han Li appeared behind him without any warning, then threw an almighty punch into the giant bell projection.
A resounding ng rang out, and even though the bell projection wasn''t shattered, it was stopped cold in its tracks, thereby allowing the two silver crescent moon projections to catch up to it.
The two crescent moons struck Hua Jing in the blink of an eye, releasing bursts of sharp spatialw powers that instantly reduced his body to a pile of mincemeat.
Shi Chuankong''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and he sighed, "Rest in peace, Elder Qi. I''ve avenged you..."
"Hold on, something''s not right!" Han Li suddenly yelled in a grim voice, and Shi Chuankong looked up just in time to see Hua Jing''s mangled remains vanish into thin air, revealing it to have been nothing more than an illusion.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes while also releasing his tremendous spiritual sense to scour the surrounding area, and at the same time, Hua Jing reappeared several thousand feet away with a mocking sneer on his face.
"You thought that was enough to kill me, Your Highness? How hurtful that you think so little of me! If that was enough to kill me, then I would''ve already been dead and buried long ago."
A yellow copper mirror emerged above his head amid a sh of yellow light, and the mirror was around a foot in size, giving off rays of translucent light.
There were some squiggly lines engraved onto its frame, and at the center of the mirror was an extremely vibrant red flower.
Han Li''s gaze was immediately drawn to the flower, which began to turn toward him, as if it had sprung to life.
Han Li instantly snapped back to his senses upon seeing this, and his tremendous spiritual sense began to sweep through his mind, where a series of red projections had appeared, wrapping themselves around his soul before attempting to burrow their way in.
However, Han Li was instantly able to eradicate these projections with his spiritual sense, thereby restoring his mental rity, and he heaved a faint sigh of relief before turning his gaze back to Hua Jing with a wary expression.
A hint of surprise shed through Hua Jing''s eyes upon seeing this.
"Impressive! I didn''t think your spiritual sense would be so powerful. Having said that..."
Right at this moment, two white shadows suddenly shot forth toward him like lightning from either side, and he immediately took evasive measures, darting away as a streak of golden light to just barely evade the oing attacks.
He then reappeared several thousand feet away, while Shi Chuankong appeared in the same spot where he had just been standing a moment ago.
At this moment, there was a look of murderous rage in Shi Chuankong''s eyes, and he pounced at Han Li once again while strumming his Virata Lute, sending countless silver des of wind sweeping toward Han Li.
At the same time, the two streaks of white light circled around in mid-air before also hurtling toward Han Li once again, and they were a pair of white jade rulers.
Shi Chuankong opened his mouth to release two balls of blood essence, which vanished into the pair of rulers in a sh, and countless white runes instantly surged out of the jade rulers, following which they transformed into a pair of massive balls of white light that rumbled toward Han Li with tremendous power.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he vanished from the spot amid a sh of golden lightning, then reappeared not far behind Shi Chuankong before urging in a thunderous voice, "Wake up, Fellow Daoist Shi!"
He was unleashing a lion''s roar technique that was capable of shaking the soul and dispelling illusions, but it had no effect on Shi Chuankong, who swung around before taking a swipe at Han Li.
Five bursts of purple devilish qi shot out of his fingertips, each forming a fiery purple devilish w that grabbed directly at Han Li''s chest.
Chapter 806: Sealing Souls
Han Li made a hand seal upon seeing this, and several thick arcs of lightning sprang out of his flying swords before striking Shi Chuankong in his vital regions, including his be and his dantian.
Shi Chuankong shuddered violently, and his entire body was instantly charred ck, but he didn''t seem to be able to feel the pain at all as he shrugged off the golden lightning and continued charging forward.
At the same time, several streaks of ck light descended out of the sky like bolts of ck lightning before striking Han Li, while a sweet aroma wafted through the air from another direction, and a dragon formed by pink mist appeared without any warning before pouncing Han Li.
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face as he shot back in retreat with golden lightning shing over his body, while the dark-skinned elderly man and the woman in the red dress emerged from behind the ck light and the mist dragon, respectively.
Both of them had ashyplexions and violently fluctuating auras, and they were in no condition to battle, but they were still charging at him without any recourse.
"Anyone who''s fallen prey to my Flower Mirror ability will continue to fight to the death regardless of how severe their injuries are, unless I free them from the ability," Hua Jing chuckled.
Han Li''s expression darkened even further upon hearing this, and he swept a sleeve through the air to summon eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in a row.
The eighteen flying swords then flew toward Shi Chuankong''s trio at his behest, releasing thick arcs of golden lightning that formed a wave of lightning that stretched for close to ten kilometers while giving off formidable lightningw power fluctuations.
Han Li flew into the wave of lightning, and it instantly began to glow even brighter while sweeping through the air, reaching Shi Chuankong''s trio in the blink of an eye.The three of them immediatelyshed out without any hesitation, with Shi Chuankong strumming his fingers over the Virata Lute to release bursts of violent soundwaves interspersed with countless silver runes.
The silver runes split up into two before fusing into the des of silver wind and the two balls of white light, and the des of silver wind instantly converged to form a silver crescent moon that was twice the size of the ones directed at Hua Jing earlier.
As for the two balls of white light, they fused together to form a radiant white sun, and the silver moon and white sun sped toward the wave of golden lightning, leaving a flurry of spatial rifts in their wake.
Meanwhile, the dark-skinned elderly man opened his mouth to release a ck inkstone, which instantly began to revolve rapidly at his behest, releasing a vast expanse of ck mist that formed a huge ck cloud in the blink of an eye.
The cloud was filled with immense cial qi, and countless ck ice crystals began to take shape, while the cloud of ck mist itself transformed into a torrent of ck water.
The previously insubstantial ck cloud instantly transformed into a turbulent cial river that rumbled through the air.
At the same time, the woman flipped a hand over to summon a white scroll, which was unfurled to release a flurry of white runes that converged to form eight extremely life-like crystalline white dragons.
The pink light emanating from the woman''s body brightened significantly before surging into the white scroll, which instantly turned pink as well, as did the eight white dragon projections.
The crystalline dragons looked as if they had been carved out of pink ice, and they were giving off tremendous auras near the High Zenith Stage.
The woman''splexion had be deathly pale at this point, but she was still expending her devilish power without any reservation.
The attacks from all fourbatants shed amid a string of earth-shattering booms, and golden, silver, ck, and pink light intertwined violently, resulting in a temporary impasse.
However, it was very apparent that the golden lightning had the upper hand, but Han Li didn''t dare to go all-out for fear of killing his three already injured opponents.
Hua Jing burst into derangedughter upon seeing this, and he began licking his fingers with an intoxicated expression.
He loved turning previously close friends against each other, and it was even better in scenarios where one person managed to remain conscious, and he was forced to fight against his friends, but didn''t dare to go all-out for fear of hurting them.
Han Li could hear Hua Jing''s derangedughter, and he harrumphed coldly as he made a string of hand seals.
Eighteen thick streaks of swordlight instantly shot out of the wave of lightning at his behest, and at this point, it was already taking everyst ounce of power just for Shi Chuankong''s trio to keep the wave of golden lightning at bay, so they didn''t have the spare capacity to defend themselves from any other attacks.
As a result, the golden flying swords were able to tear through the protective light barriers around them with ease, following which they were struck by the surrounding arcs of golden lightning.
All three of them were instantly sent flying with blood gushing out of their mouths, and thanks to the properties that it had inherited from the Bone Rinsing Golden Lightning, the lightning in the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had a numbing effect that could deprive one of their control over their body and immortal spiritual power.
However, a burst of bright red light shed in their minds in unison, and they were forced to overexert themselves without considering the costs incurred, forcibly fighting their way through the numbing effect.
Right at this moment, Han Li appeared in front of the three of them without any warning, then tapped a finger against their foreheads in rapid session.
With each tap, several translucent chains flew out of his fingertip before vanishing into their bes in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, all three of them crumpled to the ground with dazed looks on their faces.
It had clearly taken a great deal of effort for Han Li to subdue the trio, as evidenced by his slightly paleplexion, and he took a deep breath to steady himself before sweeping a sleeve through the air, upon which the vast wave of golden lightning in the sky reverted back into eighteen golden flying swords that flew back up his sleeve.
Hua Jing''s smile immediately stiffened upon seeing this, and he began making a string of hand seals, but Shi Chuankong''s trio disyed no reaction.
"What did you do to them? How did you manage to seal their souls away?" he asked with a furious expression.
"You think I would tell you?" Han Li scoffed in a cold voice.
"You''re not going to tell me? Fine! In that case, I''ll just have to pluck your soul out of your body and see for myself! After such an intense battle, I''m sure you''re already close to a spent force!" Hua Jing sneered.
"Are you trying to tell me that you can use that Flower Mirror ability of yours with minimal exertion? Surely you haven''t been passively observing this entire time just to show off," Han Li countered.
Hua Jing''s eyes instantly narrowed slightly upon seeing this.
"You''ve made me your ything this entire time, it''s about time that you get what''s beening to you now!" Han Li dered in a cold voice as he strode toward Hua Jing with cold killing intent in his eyes.
For some reason, a chill ran down Hua Jing''s spine, and in order to disguise his fear, he yelled, "You sure talk big for a mere early-High Zenth cultivator!"
Immediately thereafter, a burst of bright yellow light surged out of his body, then took on the form of a strange beastly head that was over a thousand feet in size and seemed to be somewhere between a dragon and a tiger.
The beastly head opened its cavernous mouth to release a burst of yellow light, which crossed over a distance of tens of thousands of feet in the blink of an eye before descending upon Han Li.
In response, Han Li raised a hand before making a grabbing motion, and thick arcs of golden lightning appeared before him once again to form a thick lightning barrier that stood in the path of the yellow light.
The two shed, and while one would''ve expected an earth-shattering boom, there was only a faint thud in reality.
The thick lightning barrier shed erratically before it was torn apart by the burst of yellow light without being able to pose any resistance, and the burst of yellow light was barely slowed down at all as it pierced straight through Han Li''s chest.
However, in the next instant, Han Li vanished into thin air, revealing himself to be nothing more than an afterimage.
Hua Jing''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, but in the next instant, an rmed look suddenly appeared on his face as his body split up into four or five yellow shadows that sprang away in all directions.
Before the yellow shadows were able to get very far, countless streaks of golden sword qi erupted out of the very spot where Hua Jing had been standing just a moment ago, and all of the yellow shadows were caught in the barrage.
A roar of pain and fury rang out from within the flurry of sword qi, and a streak of yellow light flew out before retreating to tens of thousands of feet away, where it was revealed to be Hua Jing.
At this moment, his robes were in tatters, and his arms and legs were bleeding profusely, but a suit of ck inner armor had appeared beneath his robes, protecting his vital regions.
However, the mask that he was wearing had been torn away, revealing the other half of his face, which was gray and wizened, resembling the bark of an old tree.
Hua Jing''s face instantly became twisted with fury as he roared, "My mask! How dare you! I''m going to kill you!"
The golden light emanating from his body brightened significantly as around a dozen of ht same yellow beastly head projections appeared around him, and each of them opened their mouths to release a burst of yellow light that struck the oing golden sword qi.
The bursts of yellow light were extremely formidable, and just like how the first one was able to tear through the golden lightning barrier with ease, these bursts of yellow light were able to vanquish the streaks of golden sword qi just as easily.
Chapter 807: Vanquishing the Enemy
Han Li flew out of the mass of crumbling golden sword qi, and as soon as he emerged, a burst of golden light instantly erupted out of his body to form a golden spirit domain that was several dozen kilometers in size.
At the same time, eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords shot out of his body before vanishing into thin air.
Hua Jing could sense the flow of time slowing down around him, and he immediately unleashed his own spirit domain, which was filled with shing lights and countless flower petals, presenting a dizzying sight to behold.
He then hurriedly made a hand seal, and a pir of yellow light shot down from the copper mirror above his head to epass his entire body.
At the same time, a giant yellow bell that was over a hundred feet tall appeared around his own body, and he had only just adopted these defensive measures when the eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords shot out of thin air to strike the yellow bell around him.
The giant bell shuddered violently, and the yellow light radiating from it shed erratically for a moment, but then quickly settled down again.
Hua Jing was rather taken aback to see this.
By his estimates, the eighteen flying swords may not have been able to break through the bell projection around him, but they definitely should''ve been more powerful than this.
Right at this moment, a giant fist that was covered in purplish-golden scales emerged above the giant bell amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, then gently struck the bell.A resounding ng rang out as the giant bell was instantly smashed into pieces like porcin, following which Han Li emerged out of thin air, having already unleashed his Holy Nirvana Physique.
Bursts of strange power were constantly infiltrating his mind from the nearby spirit domain, attempting to disrupt his senses, but he was able to retain his mental rity thanks to his tremendous spiritual sense, and his other five fists mmed into the pir of yellow light around Hua Jing in unison.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the space within a radius of several thousand feet warped significantly, and all of the yellow beastly heads around Hua Jing instantly exploded, while the pir of yellow light was also shattered.
Even though Hua Jing hadn''t been directly struck by the oing fists, just the shockwaves alone were enough to send him flying like a leaf in a storm, and blood gushed out of his mouth as he fled into the distance with an rmed and fearful look on his face.
However, despite his best efforts, he was still only able to move very slowly in Han Li''s time spirit domain.
A look of resolve shed through his eyes as he opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence into the copper mirror above his head, and ayer of crimson light instantly emerged over its surface before descending into his body.
Immediately thereafter, his body swelled drastically in size, while his skin took on a bright red coloration. Veins began to bulge all over his body, and his speed was enhanced by roughly twofold.
At the same time, dozens of identical streaks of yellow light appeared in the nearby space before fleeing in all directions.
All of the streaks of light were giving off identical auras, making it impossible to tell which one was the real Hua Jing.
Han Li harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him before releasing waves of golden ripples that spread through the air to epass all of the streaks of yellow light, instantly immobilizing them.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this, but right at this moment, a tremendous aura erupted out of one of the streaks of light up ahead.
The aura excelled far beyond Hua Jing''s, almost reaching the Great Epassment Stage, and it was still steadily elevating.
All of the golden ripples near that streak of yellow light began to buzz and tremble, looking as if they were on the verge of giving out.
Han Li hurriedly made a hand seal upon seeing this, and the eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly shot forth through the air before converging toward that streak of yellow light.
In the blink of an eye, Hua Jing''s body was reduced to a pile of mincemeat, and the tremendous aura that he was giving off instantly faded, restoring the nearby golden ripples to normal.
Han Li heaved another faint sigh of relief upon seeing this, and he reverted back to his human form.
After that, he swallowed a couple of pills, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of azure light, which swept up Hua Jing''s remains and the yellow copper mirror.
At this point, the crimson light on the mirror had already faded, restoring it to its original color.
Han Li picked up the mirror with an intrigued look in his eyes.
This mirror was most likely Hua Jing''s bonded treasure, and it was what he used to hypnotize others. Not only was the mirror capable of hypnotizing us, he had even used it to hypnotize himself at the end, allowing him to fully tap into his owntent potential to attain power that was close to the Great Epassment Stage.
If it weren''t for the recent strides that Han Li had made in his Spirit Refinement Technique, he may not have been able to withstand Hua Jing''s hypnotism.
With a sweep of his sleeve, a burst of green light shot out to sweep up the mirror before sucking it into the Profound Heavenly Gourd.
After that, Han Li flicked a finger through the air to release a streak of azure light into Hua Jing''s remains, and it quickly re-emerged with a yellow nascent soul.
A hint of killing intent shed through his eyes as he grabbed onto the nascent soul, and he was just about to crush it when he suddenly stopped what he was doing and turned to take a nce at Shi Chuankong.
After a brief hesitation, he opened his mouth to release a ball of silver mes, which quickly flew in a circle around the yellow nascent soul, forming a series of fiery silver runes that imprinted themselves to its body.
Han Li then swept a sleeve through the air to release another ball of mes, which quickly incinerated Hua Jing''s remains into ashes, leaving behind only a suit of ck inner armor, a yellow bracelet, and carving of a yellow beastly head.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he drew the carving into his grasp.
It was only around the size of a human hand, and it was extremely intricate and life-like.
This was most likely what had just unleashed those formidable bursts of yellow light.
Even though the carving had a jade-like appearance, it felt more like something that had been carved out of bone.
He yed with it for a moment before stowing it away to be examined some other time.
Han Li then also stowed the suit of ck inner armor and the storage bracelet away, and only after that did he withdraw his spirit domain and Mantra Treasured Axis.
As soon as the golden ripples vanished, a horrified look immediately appeared on the face of Hua Jing''s nascent soul, and a burst of yellow light emerged over its body.
However, right at this moment, silver mes shot out of the silver runes emzoned onto its body, incinerating the yellow light and leaving a scorch mark on its body.
The nascent soul let loose an agonized howl while trembling violently.
"I''ve set up a true me restriction on your body. That was just a warning. If you try any more funny business, I''ll kill you right now," Han Li warned in a cold voice.
Hua Jing''s nascent soul shuddered as it instantly fell still.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to recover his eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, then flew over to Shi Chuankong and the others.
"Let''s be civilized about this, Fellow Daoist. There''s no bad blood between us, we only just so happen to be serving different masters in conflict with each other. I''m sure you''re protecting Shi Chuankong in exchange for some form ofpensation. Out of all of the Holy Monarch''s children, Shi Chuankong is the least remarkable one.
¡°I''m serving Her Highness, Shi Jingyan, and she possesses a tremendous amount of connections and resources, far more so than Shi Chuankong. On top of that, she''s always looking out for more capable subordinates, so why don''t you defect to her camp instead? I''m willing to put in a rmendation for you, and with your powers, you''ll surely flourish under Her Highness.
¡°Whateverpensation Shi Chuankong has given you, Her Highness can double it, no, triple it!" Hua Jing implored in an urgent voice, trying to convince Han Li into defecting.
Han Lipletely ignored Hua Jing''s offer as he ordered, "Undo your Flower Mirror ability."
"You don''t seem to be from our devil race. Instead, it looks more like you''re a cultivator from the True Immortal Realm using devilish cultivation arts, so I''m assuming you don''t know much about the current state of our Holy Realm.
¡°Right now, there''s a very important event taking ce in Night Sun City, and all of the princes and princesses are locked in a battle that concerns the fate of the entire Holy Realm. For High Zenith cultivators like ourselves, joining the wrong camp will spell instant death, so you have to think carefully..."
The nascent soul''s voice was bing more and more urgent as it spoke.
"Undo your Flower Mirror ability," Han Li repeated in a cold voice. "Don''t make me say it a third time. I''m sure killing you would automatically undo the ability anyway, right?"
Hua Jing''s nascent soul looked up at Han Li with its mouth gaped open in panic and agitation, and it was at a loss for words.
A cold sneer appeared on Han Li''s face, and the silver fire runes on the nascent soul''s body instantly began to light up.
ck scorch marks were beginning to appear on the nascent soul''s body, and it hurriedly yelled, "Alright, alright, I''ll undo the ability right away! Please spare me!"
Immediately thereafter, it made a hand seal, and a strange red symbol appeared on the foreheads of Shi Chuankong''s trio before fading away.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, and the silver me restriction on Hua Jing''s nascent soul subsided at his behest, following which several translucent chains flew out of the bes of Shi Chuankong''s trio before vanishing into his body.
Their eyelids fluttered slightly before they opened their eyes, and all of them were looking deathly pale.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release three balls of azure light that fused into their bodies, and theirplexions instantly improved slightly as they sat up from the ground.
"What happened just now, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Chuankong asked with a dazed expression, seemingly having no recollection of what had just transpired.
The dark-skinned elderly man and the woman in the red dress were also looking very confused.
All of a sudden, a thought sprang into Shi Chuankong''s mind, and he hurriedly asked, "Where''s Hua Jing? Did he get away?"
Chapter 808: Leaving the City
Chapter 808: Leaving the City
"He''s here. I thought you''d have some things to ask him, so I spared his nascent soul," Han Li said as he tossed Hua Jing''s nascent soul at Shi Chuankong.
Shi Chuankong faltered slightly upon hearing this, but still caught Hua Jing''s nascent soul, and a look of burning fury and resentment appeared in his eyes.
Hua Jing''s nascent soul immediately began bowing in apology as it hurriedly said, "Please forgive me, Your Highness, I''m only acting under the instructions of someone else. If you spare me, I''m willing to defect to your camp. On top of that, I know a huge secret pertaining to you..."
However, Shi Chuankong had no intention of listening to it, and bright silver light began to glow from his hand as he closed his fingers.
Hua Jing''s nascent soul instantly began to warp, and it struggled in a panic as it screeched, "Wait, you can''t kill me! My master is Daoist Master Bone Shine! If you dare to kill me, then he''ll definitely avenge me!"
Shi Chuankongpletely ignored the nascent soul''s pleas he closed his hand into a tight fist, and the nascent soul only had a chance to let loose a despairing cry before it disintegrated into specks of yellow light.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he didn''t say anything.
Given how close Shi Chuankong had been with Elder Qi, he had to have been furious that Elder Qi had been killed under such tragic circumstances.
After taking a moment topose himself, Shi Chuankong cupped his fist in a grateful salute toward Han Li as he said, "I must thank you again for saving me, Fellow Daoist Li."
"You''re wee, Fellow Daoist Shi. However, I think it would be wise for us not to ignore what Hua Jing said at the end there. I''m assuming this Daoist Master Bone Shine is a Great Epassment cultivator, right?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. It seems like the current situation is even worse than I anticipated. Grain Mountain City is no longer safe, so we should leave this ce as soon as possible," Shi Chuankong replied before taking several pills in session.
The recently concluded battle had caused quite amotion, and even though no one had arrived on the scene yet to see what had happened, news of what had happened here was most likely going to spread in no more than half a day.
"What do we do with them?" Han Li asked as he turned his gaze to the dark--skinned elderly man and the woman in the red dress.
The injuries sustained by the two were far more severe than Shi Chuankong''s, and even though they had already woken up, they werepletely unable to move.
They had overexerted themselves to the point that they werepletely spent, and even their cultivation foundations had been severely damaged, so it was difficult to say whether they would be able to make a full recovery.
"I''m the one being targeted here, so as long as I leave Grain Mountain City, there should be no further attacks here, and we can leave them here to recover from their injuries," Shi Chuankong replied.
Han Li nodded in response.
"Please wait here for me for a moment, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong said, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of purple light, which picked up the dark-skinned elderly man and the woman in the red dress, then also collected the bodies and belongings of Elder Qi and the others before carrying them away into the distance.
Meanwhile, Han Li sat down on the spot with his legs crossed for some quick recovery.
Shortly thereafter, Shi Chuankong returned, and Han Li rose to his feet.
"Let''s go," Shi Chuankong said as he summoned his flying carriage, and before long, the two of them had vanished into the distance.
......
Shi Chuankong''s flying carriage had only just made it out of Grain Mountain City when he and Han Li spotted a streak of red light flying toward them.
"Another one so soon?" Han Li mused in a grim voice.
Shi Chuankong''s brows also became tightly furrowed as he immediately stopped the flying carriage.
Inside the streak of red light was a crimson flying carriage, atop which stood a red-robed man, and the carriage stopped in its tracks over ten thousand feet away, following which the man dered, "Your Highness, I was instructed by the third prince toe and escort you."
Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce with Han Li upon hearing this, then asked, "Do you have any proof of that?"
The red-robed man swept a sleeve through the air in response, releasing a streak of red light that flew toward Shi Chuankong, who hesitated momentarily before raising a hand to catch the object inside the streak of red light.
Han Li could see that it was a palm-sized crescent-shaped jade pendant, and there didn''t seem to be any designs engraved upon it, but the lines on its surface were rather chaotic, giving it a rather indistinct appearance.
Shi Chuankong flipped his other hand over to summon an identical jade pendant, which was also riddled with many lines.
With one jade pendant in each hand, he brought the two together, and a burst of gentle white light arose from both pendants, following which they fused together to form a whole circr jade pendant.
The lines on the jade pendants connected to form a portrait of a woman with a pair of pointy ears. It was a very simple portrait, yet it was somehow able to perfectly convey the gentle emotions on her face.
Han Li could tell that the jade pendant had been crafted from a premium material, but it wasn''t a powerful treasure by any means.
However, it seemed to be very important to Shi Chuankong, and a warm and reminiscent look appeared in his eyes as he examined the portrait of the woman on the jade pendant.
"It looks like he''s telling the truth," Shi Chuankong said as he turned to Han Li, and only upon seeing this did the red-robed man continue to approach them.
The man was quite youthful in appearance, and his facial features were quite gentle and soft, with the exception of his eyes, which were thin and long, resembling a pair of long sabers that were giving off a sharp gleam.
"I am Cheng Xue, and I was sent by the third prince to escort you back to Night Sun City, Your Highness," the red-robed man dered as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"You''re the Blood Drop Marquis? I''ve heard my brother mention you before, and he''s always spoken very highly of you. He says that you''ve in countless devilish beasts outside the Elegant Ripple Mountain Range, and that you''re one of his most prized subordinates," Shi Chuankong said.
Xue Cheng faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a look of realization shed through his eyes, and he smiled as he replied, "You must''ve misremembered, Your Highness. I''ve always been active in the southern primordialnds, and I''ve never even been to the Elegant Ripple Mountain Range. On top of that, with my lowly cultivation base, how could I possibly be considered one of His Highness''s most prized subordinates."
Only after hearing this response was Shi Chuankong convinced that Xue Cheng was who he imed himself to be, and he cupped his fist in another salute as he said, "My apologies for testing you, Fellow Daoist Xue."
"It''s fine, it''s a good thing that you''re being so careful," Xue Cheng replied, and he turned his gaze to Han Li as he spoke, clearly very interested in him.
"This is Fellow Daoist Li Han. He''s been apanying me on my journey and has saved my life on many asions," Shi Chuankong introduced.
Han Li also cupped his fist in a salute toward Xue Cheng upon hearing this, and thetter returned his salute.
"What are your ns from here onward, Your Highness?" Xue Cheng asked.
"We were originally nning to travel to Chuyu City from Grain Mountain City, but enemy forces had already infiltrated the city, and the teleportation array in Grain Mountain City was destroyed, so I''ll have to find another way to reach Chuyu City," Shi Chuankong replied with a wry smile.
"Are you traveling to Chuyu City for the teleportation array there?" Xue Cheng asked.
"That''s right. The teleportation array in Chuyu City won''t get us directly to Night Sun City, but it can take us to Sedge Prison City, and it''s the fastest route back to the capital. Once we reach Sedge Prison City, it won''t be difficult for us to fly back to Night Sun City even without using any further teleportation arrays," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
"The teleportation array in Chuyu City is indeed able to facilitate super long distance teleportation, but it''s not very essible. Generally speaking, only those who possess the title of duke or above can apply to use the teleportation array, and unless it''s used for official purposes, a huge sum of money will have to be issued to cover the teleportation costs," Xue Cheng said in a slightly hesitant manner.
"I don''t possess any lofty official title, but I hold an important status in the Vast Origin House, and that will be enough for me to ess the teleportation array once. As for the fee that needs to be issued, I can take care of that as well. The hard part is getting to Chuyu City," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
"Seeing as the teleportation array in Grain Mountain City has already been destroyed, we''ll have to go to another city to teleport to Chuyu City, but even the nearest city to Grain Mountain City has to be around ten years away," Xue Cheng mused.
"Ten years? That''s too long," Han Li said with furrowed brows.
"There''s no helping it. As long as we keep our guard up along the way, there shouldn''t be any major problems," Xue Cheng disagreed.
"Do you know who it was that was wreaking havoc earlier in Grain Mountain City, Fellow Daoist Xue?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Who was it?" Xue Cheng asked.
"Hua Jing," Shi Chuankong replied.
"Isn''t she the fifth princess''s subordinate? Even she''sing after you?" Xue Cheng asked with a surprised expression.
"The problem here is that we killed Hua Jing, and prior to his death, he imed that his master, Daoist Master Bone Shine, would being after us for revenge," Shi Chuankong exined with a wry smile.
A grim look instantly appeared on Xue Cheng''s face upon hearing this.
"Daoist Master Bone Shine is a Great Epassment cultivator, and he''s extremely protective of his disciples. On top of that, Hua Jing is his most prized disciple. If hees after us, I''m afraid I won''t be able to protect you even if I sacrifice my own life," Xue Cheng sighed.
"That''s why Fellow Daoist Li was saying that ten years is too long," Shi Chuankong sighed.
After a long silence, Xue Cheng''s eyes suddenly lit up slightly as he said, "Your Highness, I have a potential solution to our current predicament, but it''s just a matter of whether you''re willing to try out my solution."
"Go ahead," Shi Chuankong prompted.
Chapter 809: Formidable Enemy
Chapter 809: Formidable Enemy
Xue Cheng began to disclose his n to Han Li and Shi Chuankong through voice transmission, and as the two listened, their expressions became more and more hesitant.
In the end, Shi Chuankong remained silent as he fell into deep thought.
"I think that''s a feasible n, but some of the finer details need to be adjusted," Han Li said, following which he also began tomunicate something to Shi Chuankong and Xue Cheng through voice transmission.
After hearing what he had to say, Shi Chuankong finally nodded as he said, "There are no other feasible options open to us, so we''ll have to follow this n."
Shortly thereafter, the two of them flew onto Xue Cheng''s flying carriage, which promptly departed.
......
Close to two years flew by in a sh.
A fiery crimson shadow was flying through the air at an astonishing speed over a certain forest in the Devil Realm.
Inside the streak of crimson light was a flying carriage that had a rather remarkable appearance, and there were three people standing on the carriage, led by a red-robed man who had a hand pressed down onto an array te on the carriage, injecting a drop of his blood essence into it.
The three were none other than Han Li, Shi Chuankong, and Xue Cheng.
"Your Highness, we should be able to reach Sulfur Forest City in two months once we emerge from this forest. We''re traveling quite a bit ahead of schedule, and we should be able to get to the Sulfur Forest City over a year earlier than anticipated," Xue Cheng said.
"Thank you for your hard work, Fellow Daoist Xue. If it weren''t for your willingness to sacrifice your blood essence, we wouldn''t have been able to get here so quickly," Shi Chuankong said.
"Don''t thank me yet, Your Highness. Let''s save that for when we reach Chuyu City," Xue Cheng said.
However, as soon as his voice trailed off, a thunderous roar abruptly rang out in the sky.
"You''re not getting to Chuyu City on my watch!"
Immediately thereafter, a burst of transparent ripples appeared up ahead, and an invisible barrier that was hundreds of thousands of feet tall emerged, hovering at the very center of which was an elderly figure.
"It''s Daoist Master Bone Shine!" Xue Cheng said in a grim voice.
"He still managed to find us, even though we''ve been so careful," Shi Chuankong sighed.
Han Li was quite rmed by this turn of events, but his expression remained calm. He had already faced Great Epassment cultivators in battle on several asions up to this point, and as long as the enemy wasn''t also cultivating one of the three paramountws, he was confident that he would be able to escape, but he would have to leave Shi Chuankong behind.
Thankfully, they had made some ns for this exact scenario, and Shi Chuankong had many tricks up his sleeve as well, so he wasn''tpletely doomed.
Daoist Master Bone Shine was a tall and thin elderly man who was missing a chunk of skin and flesh on his forehead, revealing the bone underneath, and he was wearing a dark green daoist robe.
"You think you can just get away without consequence after killing my disciple?" Daoist Master Bone Shine asked in a furious voice.
"Senior Bone Shine, it was your disciple who came after His Highness first, and he was struck down in an act of self defense," Xue Cheng said in an urgent voice as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"I don''t care about all of that! The ones who killed my disciple must pay with their lives!" Daoist Master Bone Shine roared as bursts of spatial ripples began to surge through the air around him.
"Split up and run!" Xue Cheng yelled, and as soon as his voice trailed off, Shi Chuankong and Han Li immediately darted away in two different directions.
As for Xue Cheng himself, he threw himself directly at Daoist Master Bone Shine as a series of crimson runes appeared over his exposed skin, and he seized the initiative by throwing the first attack in the form of an almighty punch.
At the same time, countless crimson shadows erupted out of his back, then converged to form a giant crimson devilish projection that also clenched its barbed fist before throwing a punch at Daoist Master Bone Shine.
"Insolent fool!" Daoist Master Bone Shine sneered as he raised a fist of his own andshed out in retaliation, while white light surged over his entire body, and all of his joints were also popping and cracking audibly.
All of the flesh and skin on his outstretched fist peeled away to reveal the shimmering white bones underneath, all of which were etched with peculiar golden patterns.
The two fists shed amid a resounding boom, and a burst of ferocious shockwaves swept through the air in all directions.
All of the space within a radius of several hundred feet copsed inward before rapidly expanding outward, and an enormous round crater appeared on the ground, with all of the mountains and forestry inside reduced to dust.
The giant crimson devilish projection was the first to give out, and it exploded violently in the face of Daiost Master Bone Shine''s fist.
All of the bones in Xue Cheng''s arm were also shattered, and most of his arm had been reduced to a mangled mass of flesh and blood as he flew back through the air like a broken kite.
In contrast, Daoist Master Bone Shine appeared to bepletely unscathed, and he charged forward in pursuit before plunging a hand straight through the left side of Xue Cheng''s chest, with his hand ultimately protruding out of Xue Cheng''s back.
However, not a single drop of blood was flowing out of the gaping hole in Xue Cheng''s chest. Instead, the torn flesh there was squirming as if it were a living creature, attempting to corrode Daoist Master Bone Shine''s arm.
A cold sneer appeared on Daoist Master Bone Shine''s face as countless white bone spikes erupted out of his arm, giving it the appearance of a mace, and Xue Cheng''s chest was instantly torn apart.
The pieces of Xue Cheng''s body drifted out of the sky like shredded rags, only to disintegrate into globules of blood that fused back together, then rapidly darted back in retreat before reverting back into Xue Cheng.
Out of the corner of his eye, Daoist Master Bone Shine could see that Han Li and Shi Chuankong had already gotten very far away, and his expression instantly darkened slightly.
He raised a hand before spreading his fingers open, and a ball of white light surged out of the palm of his hand, forming a massive spirit domain that epassed the surrounding space.
The spirit domain was filled with faint white mist, and seven or eight white pagodas could be seen within it.
Every single one of those pagodas was constructed from tens of thousands of bones, and at the top of each pagoda was an eerie green me.
This is a Creation Tier spirit domain!
A grim look instantly appeared on Xue Cheng''s face upon seeing this.
Trapped in Daoist Master Bone Shine''s spirit domain, Xue Cheng could feel all of the bones in his body trembling violently, and it was as if they were threatening to tear their way out of his body to be part of the bone pagodas.
He channeled his devilish power with all his might, conjuring up ayer of protective light around his own body, but before he had a chance to do anything else, Daoist Master Bone Shine swept a sleeve through the air, all of the bone pagodas began to move rapidly, quickly forming a circle around Xue Cheng.
Immediately thereafter, the green mes on top of the pagodas brightened significantly, and ghostly green mes appeared in the eye sockets of all of the skulls on the pagodas, giving off a strange and powerful aura.
All of a sudden, Xue Cheng felt his entire body tighten as his skin was stretched taut, following which a series of extremely irregrrge bulges appeared over his body, presenting a very strange sight to behold.
A string of faint thuds rang out as countless tiny gashes appeared over his skin, and bone splinters began to jut out of those gashes, threatening to fly out of his body.
Xue Cheng hurriedly swept a sleeve through the air with an rmed expression upon seeing this, summoning a dark red spirit domain that epassed his entire body.
The spirit domain was only around a thousand feet in size, but it was extremely dense, and bursts of crimson qi were swirling around him, quickly healing all of the gashes on his body while also suppressing the unrest in his bones.
Daoist Master Bone Shine harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and at this point, Han Li and Shi Chuankong were alreadypletely out of sight.
All of a sudden, he reached out with hands, then swiped them over his own rib cage, and two of his ribs pierced their way out of his skin, following which he casually tossed them away in two different directions.
The two ribs shot forth through the air at an incredible speed, covering a distance of close to a hundred thousand kilometers in the blink of an eye, and it didn''t take long at all before they caught up to Shi Chuankong and Han Li.
A burst of white light shed several dozen kilometers away from Han Li, and the rib that was pursuing him took on a human form, transforming into an avatar of Daoist Master Bone Shine.
The avatar let loose a loud roar as it sped up even further amid an eruption of white light, and it was almost able to instantly catch up to Han Li.
Han Li hurriedly sped up as well, but for some reason, his speed was only elevated for a moment before he slowed down again, as if he didn''t have the power required to maintain his elevated speed.
A cold sneer appeared on the avatar''s face as it pounced at Han Li while reaching out with one hand, and five barely visible spatial indentations appeared up ahead, catching Han Li to prevent him from getting away.
Chapter 810: Sneaking Into Chuyu City
Chapter 810: Sneaking Into Chuyu City
Han Li was instantly forced to an abrupt halt, and a pained look appeared on his face as the surrounding space constricted toward him from all directions.
Daoist Master Bone Shine''s avatar chortled with glee as it spread open the fingers of one hand before swiping them downward, and a shimmering white bone w appeared above Han Li before descending upon him with tremendous force.
A panicked look appeared on Han Li''s face as he clenched both hands into tight fists andshed out at the bone w in retaliation.
A dull thump rang out as his fists shed against the bone w, but his resistance was instantly overwhelmed, and the bone w continued to crash down with unrivaled power directly upon Han Li''s head.
At this point, Han Li was stillpletely unable to move, and the protective spiritual light around him quickly disintegrated, following which his body was also pulverized.
The avatar was initially ecstatic to see this, but its expression then suddenly stiffened as it realized that something wasn''t right.
As it turned out, Han Li''s body had shrunk down into a red bean that was riddled with cracks, and a drop of golden blood essence was evaporating on its surface, rising up as a plume of white smoke.
At the same time, a rabbit mask from the Transient Guild slowly fell out of the sky.
Almost at the exact same time, Shi Chuankong''s body had also been pulverized by another bone w elsewhere several hundred thousand kilometers away, but that had been nothing more than a ruse as well.
After recovering his avatars, a furious look appeared on Daoist Master Bone Shine''s face, and he turned his gaze to Xue Cheng, who was surrounded by the bone pagodas.
Despite the perilous situation that he was in, Xue Cheng didn''t attempt to get away, nor did he appear particrly panicked.
Daoist Master Bone Shine took a deep breath to suppress his own fury, then said, "I''ll admit that it''s very impressive that you were able to create avatars convincing enough to fool even me. However, I''m in a very bad mood right now, so if you want to live, then you''d better tell me where those two are right now!"
There were several other cities near Sulfur Forest City that had teleportation arrays leading to Chuyu City, so it was most likely the case that Han Li and Shi Chuankong had traveled to one of those cities.
"You think I would just tell you where they are after going to such great lengths to create those blood essence avatars and even using myself as bait to lure you away?" Xue Cheng sneered with a derisive expression.
"Fine! I''ll just have to pluck out your soul and find out for myself then!" Daoist Master Bone Shine roared as he swept both sleeves through the air, and his spirit domain instantly began to rapidly contract, converging around Xue Cheng''s spirit domain. At the same time, all of the skulls on the bone pagodas rose up into the air, and the green mes in their eye sockets began to burn significantly brighter as they swarmed at Xue Cheng from all directions.
However, right at this moment, Xue Cheng flipped a hand over to produce a jade talisman, which he crushed in the palm of his hand, instantly releasing an incredibly formidable burst of spatial power that formed a door of ck light behind him.
Before Daoist Master Bone Shine had a chance to do anything, Xue Cheng had already taken a step back and vanished into the door of light.
All Daoist Master Bone Shine could do was throw a punch in futility, and his fist struck the space before him with a thunderous boom.
Some timeter, themotion gradually subsided, and Daoist Master Bone Shine was also looking much moreposed.
He took a nce at Sulfur Forest City, then murmured to himself, "I don''t know which city you''ve gone to, but I can wait for you in Chuyu City! You''re dreaming if you think you can get to Night Sun City alive!"
At the same time, there were two figures slowly descending out of the outside Preeminent City.
These two were none other than Han Li and Shi Chuankong, who had circled all the way back to Preeminent City. At this moment, they were disguised to look like a pair of twin brothers, and their cultivation bases had also been restrained to thete-True Immortal Stage.
The n that Xue Cheng had proposed was for him to travel to Sulfur Forest City with a pair of his blood refined Dao Warriors posing as Han Li and Shi Chuankong. Essentially, he was using himself as bait, while Han Li and Shi Chuankong traveled to another city to get to Chuyu City.
However, Han Li felt like this was quite a risky n as none of the neighboring cities were very far away from Sulfur Forest City, so if Xue Cheng''s ruse were to fail, then Daoist Master Bone Shine would easily be able to travel to the other cities in pursuit of Han Li and Shi Chuankong. Hence, they had decided to circle back to Preeminent City.
It shouldn''t have taken them this long to return to Preeminent City from Grain Mountain City, but they had taken a very cautious approach over the entire journey, not even daring to fly at full speed for fear of exposing themselves, and that was why they had only just gotten back to Preeminent City.
"Looks like your third brother really is an ally we can count on, and Xue Cheng has also proven himself to be extremely loyal, willing to lure away a Great Epassment cultivator for your sake," Han Li remarked.
"Out of all of my brother''s subordinates, Xue Cheng isn''t the most powerful one, but he''s always been the most loyal. I hadn''t actually ever met Xue Cheng prior to this, but I had heard my brother speak about him on multiple asions. If we''re ever reunited in Night Sun City, I''ll be sure topensate him handsomely," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
Shortly thereafter, the two of them made their way into Preeminent City, and after hailing a carriage, they traveled straight to the city lord''s manor.
"I don''t know much about the Heavenly Ax Marquis, but judging from what you and Xue Cheng have told me, he seems to be a very ambitious man. Ambitious people like him are always very unpredictable, so we really are taking a gamble here," Han Li said.
"He chose to stand by and do nothingst time when we were being attacked in the Cloud Mountain Inn, we can only hope that he continues to turn a blind eye to us. As long as he let''s us leave without interference, I''ll owe him a great favor," Shi Chuankong replied.
With that, the two of them fell silent, lost in their own thoughts.
The city lord''s manor was an enormous ce, with the front half consisting of the city lord''s office, while the back half was the Heavenly Ax Marquis''s private residence.
There was a round pagoda that was around six to seven stories tall in the area between the office and the private residence, and that was the teleportation pagoda of Preeminent City.
In order to ess the teleportation arrays in Preeminent City, one had to undergo a stringent screening process.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were stopped in their tracks by some guards upon reaching the entrance of the city lord''s manor, and Shi Chuankong stepped forward before presenting a pair of brand new identity tokens.
Under their new identities, they were a pair of twin brothers from a prominent n in the Devil Realm''s central region, and their names were Yu Zhongyan and Yu Zhongmiao.
The guards were led by an elderly cultivator, and his expression eased slightly after examining their identity tokens, following which he asked, "Are you carrying the Yu n''s emblem with you?"
Shi Chuankong was already prepared, and he flipped a hand over to produce a pair of round metal badges, upon each of which was engraved a ferocious horned beast, beneath which was a "Yu" character.
The elderly cultivator examined the pair of metal badges for a moment, then granted Han Li and Shi Chuankong entry into the city lord''s manor.
"Thank you, Senior," Shi Chuankong hurriedly said in a grateful voice before stepping into the manor.
Right as they passed through the gate, the sensory array overhead shed every so slightly, and it was just about to light up to indicate that it had detected something amiss when Shi Chuankong pulled out a small copper mirror before shing it at the array in a covert fashion.
The faint light shing from the array instantly faded before the guards stationed at the gate noticed anything, and they were able to pass through without incident.
Both of them heaved an internal sigh of relief as they began to make their way into the manor.
Security in the city lord''s manor was very tight, and not only were there cultivators stationed at set intervals, there were also groups of patrolling cultivators that were constantly roaming the area. Han Li and Shi Chuankong kept their heads down as they walked along, and it didn''t take them long to reach the teleportation pagoda.
There was a long line of people waiting to enter the pagoda, and Han Li and Shi Chuankong joined the back of the line.
As time passed, the people ahead of them made their way into the pagoda one after another, and their turn quickly arrived.
Upon entering the pagoda, they spotted a teleportation array with eighteen ornate pirs around it, standing within which were three men who were waiting for the array to be activated.
Standing outside the array was a middle-aged cultivator holding an array te, as well as three groups of guards.
To the right of the pagoda''s entrance was a wooden table, behind which sat a ck-robed elderly man, and he asked, "Where are you going?"
"We''re traveling to Chuyu City, Senior," Shi Chuankong hurriedly replied.
"You''re in luck. There are still three open spots for teleportation to Chuyu City today, so you''ll only have to wait for one more person to join you," the ck-robed elderly man said.
"How long will that take?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"How am I supposed to know? It''s all up to luck. Perhaps someone will show up right away, perhaps no one will show up for the rest of the day," the ck-robed elderly man replied.
Chapter 811: Merciless
Chapter 811: Merciless
Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s expressions instantly stiffened slightly upon hearing this.
"We have some urgent business to take care of, would it be possible to teleport just the two of us, Senior?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Yes, but the two of you will have to issue the teleportation fee that''s meant to be split among three people. On top of that, it''ll cost more to teleport to Chuyu City than elsewhere. Do you still want to go?" the ck-robed elderly man asked.
Shi Chuankong feigned a hesitant expression as he turned to Han Li and said, "It''s going to cost extra, but we really are in a hurry. If we don''t get to Chuyu City in time, our n leader is going to be furious with us. Should we do it?"
Han Li immediately yed along as he replied, "If we don''t get to Chuyu City by tonight, our n leader is definitely going to punish us. I think we''ll just have to foot the bill and hope that our n leader gives us an additional reward to cover the costs."
"We''ll cover the teleportation cost between the two of us, Senior," Shi Chuankong decided as he turned to the ck-robed elderly man and cupped his fist in a salute.
"In that case, you can issue the fee and go wait by the array. Once the people ahead of you have been teleported away, it''ll be your turn. Also, show me your identity tokens, I need to take some records," the ck-robed elderly man said.
Once again, Shi Chuankong produced another new pair of identity tokens before handing them over.
Upon taking a nce at the identity tokens, the ck-robed elderly man''s expression instantly changed slightly, and he hurriedly rose to his feet as he cupped his fist in a salute and said, "Please forgive me, I didn''t realize you were servants of the Bnce Fall Duke!"
"There''s no need to salute us, Senior, we''re nothing more than a pair of lowly servants," Shi Chuankong hurriedly said as he returned the salute.
"The Bnce Fall Duke is vastly renowned across our entire Holy Realm. Even if you''re only servants of his, that''s still nothing to be scoffed at. Rest assured, I''ll arrange for your teleportation as soon as this group leaves," the ck-robed elderly man said with a reverent look on his face.
"In that case, we''ll be in your care, Senior. However, the rules are still the rules, and we''ll issue the teleportation fee as per usual," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
The ck-robed elderly man was very pleased with Shi Chuankong''s consideration and easygoing demeanor, and the atmosphere between the two immediately warmed up a little.
"Who is this Bnce Fall Duke? It seems like he''s a very respected man," Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"The Bnce Fall Duke and my third brother are one and the same," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"Your brother is a duke?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. My father has always been very strict when ites to assigning official titles to his children, and such titles must be earned through des in battle. Out of all of my siblings, only fewer than half possess official titles. Among them, my eldest brother, Shi Zhanfeng, possesses the highest official title of grand duke, while my third brother and fifth sister are duke and duchess. As for the rest, most of them hold the marquis title," Shi Chuankong replied.
"It seems like this man''s admiration for your brother goes beyond that for a normal duke. Is there something special about your brother''s title?" Han Li asked.
"Even among dukes, there is a certain hierarchy and also differences in assigned territories. My third brother is one of the three most highly rated dukes, while my fifth sister is a little lower on the pecking order. On top of that, my third brother has always been known to be a very fair and just man, so he had many admirers across the entire Holy Realm," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"I see."
As the two of them were conversing with each other through voice transmission, the ck-robed elderly manpleted his records, then led them to the teleportation array, and he issued some instructions to the cultivator holding the array te before returning to his table.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong waited patiently as the teleportation array began to light up, but right at this moment, the two of them exchanged an rmed nce with each other.
"He really did catch him... What a close call..." Shi Chuankong mused.
"The fact that he went after Xue Cheng means that our n seeded," Han Li said.
"We really led that old bastard on a wild goose chase! Once we get to Chuyu City, we''ll leave right away, and he shouldn''t have enough time to intercept us," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
"I wonder how Xue Cheng is doing now," Han Li mused with a concerned expression, and both of them fell silent.
Before long, the light in the teleportation array faded, and the three people in the array had been teleported away. The cultivator holding the array te reced the Devilish Origin Stonse in the array, following which Han Li and Shi Chuankong were ushered inside.
The two of them made their way to the center of the array, and the cultivator holding the array te began to initiate the array''s activation.
The array began to rumble as specks of silver light rose up from the ground before enveloping the two of them like a swarm of fireflies.
Right as the array was about to be activated, the array te in the cultivator''s hand suddenly exploded without any warning, and the light in the array instantly died down.
Immediately thereafter, a streak of purplish-golden light flew into the pagoda at an astonishing speed.
The guards in the pagoda were just about to spring into action, but upon catching a clear glimpse of the "intruder", they immediately fell to their knees as they greeted, "We pay our respects to the esteemed city lord!"
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he cast his gaze toward the middle-aged man who had just stormed into the pagoda. He had a pair ofrge and piercing eyes, a tall nose, and lips that were as thin as the edge of a de.
"Could you not have turned a blind eye?" Shi Chuankong sighed with a wry smile.
"I already let you go once. You really shouldn''t havee back," the Heavenly Ax Marquis sighed.
"Is there really no room for negotiation?" Shi Chuankong asked.
The Heavenly Ax Marquis offered no response. Instead, he merely dered in a cold voice, "There are wanted fugitives here that need to be detained! Everyone else, get out of here and make sure one approaches this pagoda. Anyone who tries to get in my way will be killed on the spot!"
At the same time, a burst of vast devilish qi surged out of his body alongside a mid-Great Epassment Stage aura, and all of the people that were waiting to be teleported immediately rushed out of the pagoda in a blind panic.
They were quickly followed by the cultivators from the city lord''s manor, and as the ck-robed elderly man departed, he couldn''t help but take a resentful nce at Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
Everyone fled to the front yard of the city lord''s manor before looking back at the pagoda, and a few momentster, a resounding boom rang out as a burst of devilish qi erupted into the heavens, scattering all of the clouds in the sky.
At the same time, the teleportation pagoda exploded violently, sending powerful shockwaves sweeping through the air in all directions, and around a dozen nearby buildings were also razed to the ground.
The cultivators standing on guard duty hurriedly sprang into action, forming arrays to withstand the shockwaves, and only then did they prevent the destruction of the entire city lord''s manor.
Immediately thereafter, the Heavenly Ax Marquis suddenly flew out of the wreckage of the teleportation pagoda, and he took a cold nce at all of the bystanders, then departed without a word.
The ck-robed elderly man had thought that he would be held responsible for this incident, and he was already prepared to die, so he couldn''t help but weep from tion at the Heavenly Ax Marquis''s inaction.
......
Over three months passed by in a sh.
Inside the city lord''s manor of Chuyu City was a majestic building with a dome roof, within which was a giant teleportation array. Several figures appeared within the array amid a sh of silver light, then stepped out of the array before making their way out of the pagoda.
There were two elderly men seated behind a table at the entrance of the pagoda, one of whom was dressed in a dark green daoist robe, and he was staring intently at the people emerging from the array.
This man was none other than Daoist Master Bone Shine, and he had already been waiting for Han Li and Shi Chuankong here for over three months.
The people that had just stepped out of the array were very much disgruntled by his intrusive gaze, but they didn''t dare to do anything, and they could only hurriedly depart.
The elderly man seated beside Daoist Master Bone Shine was the cultivator responsible for making records and collecting teleportation fees, and his nerves had also been worn very thin over the past three months.
"It''s already been so long, Senior Bone Shine. If the people you were waiting for were going to arrive, then they would''ve done so long ago. I''m thinking they most likely went to some other city," the Golden Immortal said in a hesitant voice.
"It looks like I''ve been yed for a fool again," Daoist Master Bone Shine sighed.
The Golden Immortal didn''t know who Daoist Master Bone Shine was waiting for, but he had no intention of asking.
Three months ago, the city lord had instructed him to let Daoist Master Bone Shine do whatever he pleased, telling him that he didn''t have to provide Daoist Master Bone Shine with any assistance, nor was he to ask any questions.
"Please thank City Lord Ouyang in my stead. I''ll be sure to visit him in his manor sometime," Daoist Master Bone Shine said as he rose to his feet.
"I''ll be sure to do so, Senior," the Golden Immortal hurriedly replied as he also stood up.
Daoist Master Bone Shine took one final nce at the teleportation array, then departed from the pagoda.
Chapter 812: Nurtured
Chapter 812: Nurtured
The Mountain Lake Region was situated in the south of the Devil Realm, and as its name suggested, it was a region that was abundant with mountains andkes.
East Mountain City was an unremarkable little border city inside the region, and it stood at the foot of East View Mountain. To the west of the city was an enormouske that had a radius of hundreds of kilometers, and its close proximity to both the mountain and theke made for some splendid scenery.
Every morning, when the sun began to rise over theke, devilish qi would also rise up into the air from the surface of theke, presenting a peculiar and stunning sight to behold.
East View Mountain was only around ten thousand feet tall, but the view on the mountain summit was exceptional, making it the perfect location to observe the devilish qi phenomenon.
Many devilish cultivators felt the devilish qi in their own bodies resonate whenever they gazed upon this phenomenon, and that elerated their cultivation to a certain extent. Hence, there were always many low-grade devilish cultivators gathered on the mountain summit every morning.
On this day, the devilish qi phenomenon had just faded, and all of the cultivators on the mountain summit began to depart.
Meanwhile, a gray-robed hunch-backed elderly man and a tall young man with a wooden expression were making their way down the mountain along a set of stone steps.
The young man had a rather dull and unintelligent appearance, but his eyes were very bright and pure.
"Why did youe all this way just to see this devilish qi phenomenon, Brother Shi? Surely at your cultivation base, seeing such a phenomenon makes no difference to your cultivation," the young man asked.
"I''ve been growing a little frustrated after spending so much time on the run, so I decided toe here purely for some sightseeing to help me rx," the hunch-backed elderly man exined.
These two were none other than Han Li and Shi Chuankong in disguise, and Han Li said, "Even now, I still don''t understand why the Heavenly Ax Marquis decided to let us go on that day. On top of that, he even warned us not to travel to Chuyu City."
"Honestly, I''m at aplete loss too. At the time, I thought we were doomed. Perhaps it has something to do with my brother. Clearly, I''m nowhere near important enough on my own to sway his decision-making," Shi Chuankong replied.
"He really had to go all-out back there. In order to convince everyone that we were dead, he had to destroy an entire teleportation pagoda. That''s surely going to cost a lot to rebuild," Han Li chuckled.
"After hearing his warning, it made me realize that not only can we not go to Chuyu City, we''ll also have to avoid all of the other cities that have teleportation arrays leading to Night Sun City," Shi Chuankong suddenly said.
"Indeed. Right now, everyone thinks that we''re in a hurry to get back to Night Sun City, so they''ll be sure to have set up measures to intercept us in those cities. If we proceed recklessly and run into another Great Epassment cultivator, I can''t guarantee that our luck won''t run out," Han Li replied with a nod.
"That''s why it''s more important than ever for us to be patient, and we''ll have to keep teleporting between regions to slowly inch closer and closer to Night Sun City," Shi Chuankong said with a wry smile.
"If we do that, it''ll definitely take us longer to get to Night Sun City, but there are many benefits to such a n as well. After all, there are many cities with teleportation arrays leading to different regions, so no one will be able to predict the route that we take," Han Li mused in a contemtive manner.
"The only problem is that what I promised you will have to be dyed, as will your return to the Immortal Realm," Shi Chuankong said with a hint of guilt in his eyes.
"It''s fine. If it''s possible, let''s stay on East View Mountain for a little longer. I have some things that I need to take care of, and we can continue our journey once I''m done. Is that alright?" Han Li asked.
"Sure, let''s do as you say, Brother Li," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
The two of them continued to walk along as they chatted, and they made their way down a winding mountain path to arrive at a secluded cliff.
From there, Shi Chuankong swept a sleeve through the air, and a spatial barrier faded away, revealing a pair of newly dug out cave abodes next to each other.
The two of them bade farewell to each other, then returned to their cave abodes.
Upon entering his cave abode, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light, then stepped into it to arrive at the entrance of his spirit medicine garden.
Daoist Xie was already waiting there, and he said, "Fellow Daoist Han, the Dao Warriors in the garden have already matured. I''ve been suppressing them with the power of the array for now, and they''re ready to be harvested."
"Thank you for your hard work," Han Li replied before quickly making his way into the garden.
The two of them made their way to the area of the garden where the Dao Warriors had been nted, and even from afar, they could hear the sound of zapping electricity.
Upon approaching the area, Han Li discovered that the Lightning Aura Soil there had almostpletely dried up, and the earth had be parched and cracked, indicating that the lightning power the soil contained had already beenpletely exhausted.
In stark contrast, the Dao Warrior Tree was glowing, and its branches wereden with supple bean pods that had tiny arcs of purple lightning shing over them.
Compared with the previous harvest, the tree clearly had more bean pods hanging from it on this asion, and the aura that they were giving off was also noticeably more formidable, both of which were naturally very encouraging sights for Han Li.
He had expended all of his Dao Warriors during his breakthrough in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range, so this batch hade at a perfect time.
"Remove the Array, Brother Xie. It''s time to harvest," Han Li said with a smile.
Daoist Xie nodded in response before making a hand seal, and seven or eight golden array tes flew out of the soil around the Dao Warrior Tree before flying back into his hand.
A transparent light barrier vanished from the tree, and the faint crackling electricity instantly swelled to a thunderous rumbling as radiant purple light began to swell in all directions.
Han Li was slightly taken aback to see this, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of azure light, which formed a light barrier around the Dao Warrior Tree to contain the purple lightning so that it didn''t damage the other spirit nts in the garden.
A string of thunderps rang out as the Dao Warrior Tree rapidly wilted, and the tree distributed all of its remaining energy to the bean pods.
Immediately thereafter, the expanding purple lightning erupted, and golden beans with purple lightning patterns on their surface flew out in all directions.
Han Li flipped a hand over upon seeing this, and the Profound Heavenly Gourd instantly appeared in his grasp.
He tipped the gourd forward before patting its underside, and a green vortex immediately appeared at the mouth of the gourd, sucking in all of the golden beans.
The rumbling in the spirit medicine garden dragged on for several minutes before finally subsiding, and by then, thousands of beans had already been sucked into the Profound Heavenly Gourd.
He shook the gourd in one hand while holding a golden primary bean in the other hand, and a hint of disappointment shed through his eyes. On this asion, the Dao Warrior Tree had only yielded a single primary bean.
He injected a burst of immortal spiritual power into the primary, and a burst of purple lightning instantly erupted out of the lightning patterns on its surface, striking Han Li''s entire arm with a numb sensation.
"This purple lightning seems to be quite formidable, and it''s also retained some of the sticky properties of the Lightning Aura Soil," Daoist Xie remarked.
"Indeed. I wonder if these properties will enhance the Dao Warriors in any way," Han LI mused.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I just so happen to know of an Extremely Purple Lightning Array that would perhaps be better suited to these Dao Warriors than the Lightning Origin Locking Array. If you trust me, then you can leave these Dao Warriors for me to refine," Daoist Xie proposed after a brief hesitation.
"Of course I trust you, Brother Xie. I''ll nurture these Dao Warriors in my Profound Heavenly Gourd for some time, then hand them over to you. If you require any materials for the array, justpile a list and give it to me," Han Li replied with a smile.
Daoist Xie cupped his fist in a salute upon hearing this.
"By the way, if you recall any other information pertaining to your former owner, make sure to tell me. Seeing as your former owner from the Devil Realm, and we''re in the Devil Realm right now, I may be able to fulfill his final wish here," Han Li said.
"I''ve been trying to recover some more memories, but to no avail," Daoist Xie replied in a resigned manner.
"It''s fine. Barring any mishaps, we should be staying in the Devil Realm for a while longer," Han Li replied with a nod.
The two of them chatted for a while longer before Han Li left the spirit medicine garden before making his way to the bamboo building near the pond.
Upon arriving on the second floor, he discovered that Weeping Soul was stillying unconscious on the bed.
The Purple Sun Warm Jade hovering on head had been significantly whittled down, to the point that there was only a small piece left.
Even though he knew this wasn''t very effective, Han Li still pulled out another piece of mid-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade before recing it with the one on Weeping Soul''s head.
Thankfully, even though she remained unconscious, her aura fluctuations were bing more and more stable, much to Han Li''s relief. However, he still had no idea how to treat her condition, and he could only hope that a solution would arise once he arrived in Night Sun City.
At this point, Shi Chuankong had already been attacked by Shi Zhanfeng and Shi Jingyan, and there was no telling who else woulde after him in the future, so it was certainly not going to be a smooth journey to Night Sun City, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as this thought arose in his mind.
Chapter 813: Sprout
Chapter 813: Sprout
Two Monthster.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were seated across from each other on a pair of long benches in a pavilion outside East Mountain City.
"Brother Shi, I''ve been thinking the past few days, and I feel like it would be best for us to avoid using the teleportation array in East Mountain City," Han Li mused.
"Why is that?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"We should avoid appearing in the city on multiple asions as much as possible. There''s no guarantee that there are no high-grade cultivators or spies of your eldest brother''s lurking in these cities, so it''ll be safer for us if we show ourselves as little as possible," Han Li exined.
"That does make sense. My eldest brother''s intelligencework isn''t as extensive as my third brother''s, but he''s certainly no slouch in that regard. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have be aware of our arrival in the Ten Hazards Mountain Range so quickly," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
"ording to the map that you gave me earlier, the nearest city to East Mountain City is Connected Phoenix City. Let''s go there, then immediately continue onward to Seven Lake City, and we''ll rest for a while once we get there," Han Li proposed.
"Are you suggesting that we disrupt our own itinerary so no one can predict where we''re going?" Shi Chuankong asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"The more confused they are, the safer we''ll be," Han Li confirmed with a nod.
"Impressive as always, Brother Li. If it wasn''t for you, we wouldn''t even have been able to survive that ordeal with Daoist Master Bone Shine. We''ll do as you say," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
With the decision made, the two of them flew away into the distance atop Shi Chuankong''s flying carriage.
Over ten years flew by in a sh.
On this day, a ck flying carriage was racing over a primitive forest, carrying Han Li and Shi Chuankong, who had disguised themselves as an azure-robed schr and a man d in a suit of azure armor, respectively.
"I didn''t think that it would take a whole decade to travel from the Mountain Lake Region to the neighboring Sunken Mountain Region," Shi Chuankong mused.
"It was always going to take far longer to travel without the use of teleportation arrays, and on top of that, we''re regrly being attacked by devilish beasts, so that''ll naturally slow us down as well," Han Li replied.
"The devilish beasts of our Holy Realm are extremely aggressive and territorial, and if anyone enters their territory, they''ll often rush straight into battle, even if the opponent is far more formidable than themselves. Take that Devilish Bone Dove as an example: it was only at the early-Golden Immortal Stage, yet it pursued us for over three months," Shi Chuankong said with a wry smile.
"We would''ve killed that thing long ago had we not been worried that doing so would cause too much of amotion and attract the attention of others. Let''s be more careful from now on and do our best to avoid the areas where those powerful devilish beasts reside," Han Li said.
"Mountain Seal City is not far up ahead. Once we get there, we''ll be able to use the teleportation array in the city to reach the midwestern region of the Holy Realm. Most of that region is my eldest brother''s territory, so we have to be even more careful there," Shi Chuankong said.
"In that case, let''s rest in Mountain Seal City for a while," Han Li replied with a nod.
"That''s not a bad idea. Mountain Seal City is the secondrgest city in the Sunken Mountain Region, and it''s quite a thriving business hub, so we can replenish our supplies here too," Shi Chuankong said.
With the decision made, the two of them sped up as they made their way toward the city.
Upon entering the city, they first went to an inn and rented a pair of unremarkable and rtively cheap courtyards to stay in. After that, they split up to visit the renowned shopping streets in the city.
There weren''t many things that were useful to Han Li in the Devil Realm, but thankfully, he didn''t need to purchase much. All he was looking for were some lightning-attribute array materials like Lightning Restraining Wood.
Hence, he was able to get almost everything on his shopping list after passing through just one shopping street.
All that''s left is the Lightning Dust Bead, but that''s not going to be easy to find, Han Li thought to himself as he stood at the end of the shopping street.
He then left the street and traveled eastward onto another street, and onlyte that night did he return to the inn.
Upon returning to his courtyard, he activated all of the restrictions before entering the Flower Branch domain, arriving in the new bamboo building near the spirit medicine garden.
Daoist Xie was already waiting outside, and he approached Han Li as he asked, "How did it go?"
"I''ve managed to gather everything with the exception of the Lightning Dust Bead," Han Li sighed.
"It''s no surprise that it''s proving to be difficult to find these materials in the Devil Realm, but the Lightning Dust Bead is crucial for stimting and the replenishing the lightning power in the Dao Warriors, and without it, the powers of the Dao Warriors won''t be enhanced by much at all," Daoist Xie said.
"Is that the only purpose of the Lightning Dust Bead?" Han Li asked.
"That''s its primary purpose. It also has some other effects, but those are negligible," Daoist Xie replied.
"In that case, I don''t think it''s necessary at all," Han Li said with a smile.
"Why is that?" Daoist Xie asked.
Han Li offered no response as he flipped a hand over to summon his Profound Heavenly Gourd, then gently patted its underside, and a streak of purplish-golden light flew out from within, containing a shimmering, golden bean.
Daoist Xie''s brows furrowed slightly as he caught the bean, and he immediately felt a powerful burst of electricity surge through his body.
He raised an eyebrow as he tightened his grip around the bean, and a loud thunderp rang out as purplish-golden lightning erupted out of the tiny bean like a pair of giant lightning wings.
"How is this possible?" Daoist Xie eximed. "There''s no way that the Lightning Aura Soil alone would''ve been able to nurture such a powerful Dao Warrior Bean!"
"If you''ll recall, I stored all of the beans into my Profound Heavenly Gourd, hoping to use the gourd''s special properties to enhance the beans. However, to my surprise, the lightningw powers within the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords inside the gourd began to resonate with the beans, and part of their lightningw powers was transferred into the beans.
¡°The beans have been in the gourd for over ten years, and their powers have been significantly enhanced over this period of time," Han Li exined.
"In that case, it does indeed look like a Lightning Dust Bead won''t be necessary," Daoist Xie said with a smile.
"I''m afraid it''s not all good news. Due to the outflow of lightningw powers from my Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, I can sense that they''re being nurtured at a far slower rate than before inside the Profound Heavenly Gourd," Han Li sighed.
"Don''t be greedy, Fellow Daoist Han. Your Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords have absorbed both Divine Devilbane Lightning and Bone Rinsing Golden Lightning, both of which are some of the most potent yang-attribute lightnings in the world. Your Dao Warriors will be significantly enhanced even if they only absorb a tiny amount of those lightnings, and they''ll be particrly effective against ghostly enemies," Daoist Xie said.
Han Li contemted this notion momentarily, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Seeing as everything is ready, I can begin refining the Dao Warriors," Daoist Xie said.
"Do you need me to do anything?" Han Li asked.
"Not at the moment. The initial refinement process will take at least three years, and I canplete it on my own. However, someone with tremendous spiritual sense will be required to engrave the runes onto the Dao Warriors, so that task will have to be undertaken by you," Daoist Xie replied.
"In that case, I''ll be counting on you, Brother Xie," Han Li said.
After that, he transferred all of his Dao Warriors Beans from the Profound Heavenly Gourd into the gourd that had been used to store his previous batch of Dao Warrior Beans.
Daoist Xie epted the gourd from Han Li, and he gave a pleased nod as he shook the gourd gently to feel the beans inside.
Right as he was about to turn and make his way up to the second floor of the bamboo building, he suddenly recalled something, and he turned to Han Li as he said, "By the way, that tree root in the spirit medicine garden seems to have sprouted."
"Tree root?"
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a look of realization appeared on his face, and he hurriedly rushed into the spirit medicine garden.
Upon reaching a certain area deep in the garden, Han Li spotted a thin sapling that was no thicker than a finger. It was extending out of a withered tree root on the ground, and there were two leaves growing on its tip.
The leaves were filled with countless extremely thin veins that resembled human blood vessels, and they appeared very delicate, but also quite resilient and determined to make the most of the new life that they had been given.
Han Li crouched down next to the frail sapling, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he mused, "It''s taken a lot of spirit liquid from my Heaven Controlling Vial, but you''ve finally sprouted, little guy."
The sapling was growing from the roots of the Twin Birth Tree that he had taken from the True Mantra Sect ruins, and Han Li reached out to stroke the leaves of the sapling, but he had only just extended a hand when the leaves suddenly began to sway toward his finger.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately released his spiritual sense to discover that the leaves had detected the timew powers within his body, and that was why they were approaching him.
Han Li gently stroked the leaves a few times without any incident, and he pulled out his Heaven Controlling Vial, then opened it before tipping thetest drop of spirit liquid inside directly onto the two leaves.
Chapter 814: Rural Small Town
Chapter 814: Rural Small Town
The spirit liquid formed a bead that was as translucent as jade before slowly flowing down the stem of the sapling, then ultimately seeped into the roots.
Han Li stood up straight again as he stowed the Heaven Controlling Vial away, and the leaves that were curling toward him returned to their normal positions.
The sapling didn''t disy any changes at all, and it was as if nothing had happened.
Han Li wasn''t fazed by this, and he stared absentmindedly at the sapling with a contemtive look in his eyes, seemingly pondering something.
Time slowly passed by, and Han Li remained standing on the spot, lost in his thoughts.
Some timeter, his expression suddenly changed slightly as a series of strange patterns lit up on the leaves of the sapling, and those patterns spread over the entire surface of the leaves in the blink of an eye.
In contrast with the veins of the leaves, these patterns appeared rather familiar to Han Li.
After staring at them for a while, Han Li suddenly pped his hands together and eximed, "Why are they so simr to time dao patterns?"
The patterns only lingered for a few seconds before fading away, but Han Li''s brows had be tightly furrowed in deep thought.
This Twin Birth Tree had been nted by Mu Yan, the eldest disciple of Patriarch Miro, so could it be that he had somehow managed to instill timew powers within it during the nurturing process, or was it the case that the Twin Birth Tree harbored timew powers to begin with?
Also, was it really true that the tree could assist one in oveing their baleful decay, or was that merely an old wives'' tale?
In the end, Han Li wasn''t able to arrive at any concrete conclusions, so he could only shake his head to rid himself of the train of thought.
In any case, it was definitely a good thing that the roots of the Twin Birth Tree had sprouted again.
After that, he stayed in the garden for close to another half-day, only leaving after examining the state of many of the other spirit medicines nted in the garden.
He then returned straight to the bamboo building beside the pond, where Weeping Soul was stillying in an unconscious state, and he sat down with his legs crossed on the first floor.
After taking some time to meditate, he flipped a hand over to produce a piece of high-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade, which he held in his hand.
He slowly injected his immortal spiritual power into the piece of jade, and a burst of purple light immediately appeared within it, basking the entire room in a warm, purple glow.
A surge of warmth also spread through Han Li''s entire body, and a sense of extremefort arose from deep within his consciousness. It was such a blissful sensation that he found himself somewhat lost within it.
Only after a long while did he open his eyes before withdrawing his immortal spiritual power, and the light in the Purple Sun Warm Jade faded.
It''s no wonder those people in ck Weasel City were willing to take such a huge risk to acquire this material. If I use it to assist me in my cultivation of the Spirit Refinement Technique, I''ll be sure to make rapid progress!
With that in mind, he gently tossed the piece of Purple Sun Warm Jade up into the air, where it hovered above his head.
He then made a hand seal and channeled the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
A burst of translucent light slowly extended out of his be, then twisted around a few times like a spirit snake before abruptly pouncing headfirst into the piece of Purple Sun Warm Jade.
The piece of jade trembled slightly as it lit up with purple light once again, but not as brightly as before. Instead, the light that it released only epassed an area with a radius of around a dozen inches, only just barely enough to epass the space above Han Li''s head.
There seemed to be some murky purple smoke within the purple light, giving it the appearance of a glowing purple cloud.
As soon as the purple cloud appeared above Han Li''s head, a blissful expression instantly surfaced on his face, and bursts of spiritual sense fluctuations began to spread in all directions from his head.
Five years flew by in the blink of an eye.
Inside a winding mountain range in the Yellow Grain Region was a rural small town that waspletely isted from the rest of the world.
It was nearing dusk, and plumes of smoke were beginning to rise up from the chimneys of the houses in the town. A farmer was returning to the town with a horned ox in two, and he was passing through the wooden archway that marked the entrance of the town.
On a street at the center of the town, there were many devilish children with two heads and four arms chasing each other in a game of tag, while some well-built devilish women were standing nearby, chatting with one another while taking asional nces at their children.
If any child fell over, their mother would immediately rush over and chastise them while helping them to their feet.
Among the group of children was a clever-looking little boy, and he was just about to sneakily jump onto one of his ymates when he suddenly spotted a pair of figures entering the town with the light of the dying sun behind them.
The town wasn''t veryrge, so the boy was immediately able to see that this was a pair of strangers. However, instead of feeling fearful, he began to examine the duo with a hint of intrigue in his eyes.
Both of them only had one head and two arms each, so they didn''t resemble the people of the town at all. On top of that, they were dressed in beautiful clothes with embroidered patterns that the boy had never seen before.
One of the two figures was an ordinary-looking young man, and upon noticing the boy''s inquisitive gaze, he shed the boy a smile, while the white-haired man walking along beside him remained silent and expressionless.
These two were none other than Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
In response to Han Li''s smile, the boy immediately looked away in an embarrassed fashion, but he couldn''t help but look back again shortly thereafter.
Han Li''s smile became even more pronounced upon seeing this, and it urred to him that these devilish children weren''t so different from human children.
"I had thought that all devilish beings possessed innate aptitude for cultivation, so I wasn''t expecting to see a mortal settlement in the Devil Realm. This ce is almost like apletely isted mortal paradise," Han Li remarked.
"All of the beings of our Holy Realm possess strong physical constitutions, so even for mortal beings, the average lifespan is around three hundred to four hundred years. However, only a small portion of them actually possess cultivation aptitude. Of course, bodily refinement is a path avable to everyone, but not everyone wants to pursue such an arduous endeavor," Shi Chuankong exined.
"Indeed. By the way, what are these beings residing in this town? Their bloodline auras are quite strong, so it doesn''t feel like they''re ordinary devilish beings," Han Li said.
"Among the lower grade beings of our Holy Realm, the matter of bloodline isn''t actually one that''s held in very high regard. Hence, with all of the beings of different tribes reproducing with one another, it can be quite difficult to identify the ethnicities for certain devilish beings.
¡°These people seem to possess a rtively pure bloodline, but I''ve never seen such beings anywhere else in the Holy Realm, so I''m afraid I can''t identify them," Shi Chuankong replied.
As they were speaking, they had already passed through the group of ying children, and they made their way to a small tea stall at the center of the town before taking a seat, while the women and the farmer looked on with curious expressions.
The owner of the stall was a hunch-backed elderly man with a head of disheveled hair, and he brought out some tea for Han Li and Shi Chuankong before returning to his room, not uttering even a single word in the process.
"I''ve reached the final stage of the refinement of my Dao Warriors, so we''ll have to stay here for some time," Han Li said after taking a sip of tea.
"It''s fine. We still have a long journey ahead of us anyway, so some minor dys here and there won''t really matter much. This mountain range isn''t particrly abundant in the world''s origin qi, but the devilish qi here is also far sparser than elsewhere, so it''s a suitable location for you to refine your Dao Warriors," Shi Chuankong said.
Han Li was just about to respond when he suddenly felt the earth tremble beneath his feet, and he hurriedly rose to his feet while picking up the teapot and teacup on the table, while Shi Chuankongs teacup fell onto the ground, spilling tea everywhere.
Before the two of them had a chance to figure out what was happening, the children on the street began to yell excitedly, "The mountain god is snoring again!"
Meanwhile, the women were all standing still on the spot withposed expressions, seemingly already ustomed to this phenomenon, and the tremorssted close to twenty seconds before finally subsiding.
Han Li returned to his seat, then set the teapot and teacup back down onto the table.
Tea had spilled onto Shi Chuankong''s bench, so he stood up and sat down to Han Li''s left.
"Was that an earthquake just now?" Han Li asked.
"I didn''t detect any abnormal energy fluctuations, so it most likely was an earthquake," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
All of a sudden, the ground began to tremble once again, and this time, Han Li pressed his hands down onto the corners of the table to stabilize it.
The tremors came and went around a dozen times before finally subsiding for good, and at this point, it was already nighttime.
The hunch-backed elderly man made his way out of his room while carrying a dim yellowntern, then hung it up outside before bending down to pick up the smashed teacup.
By the time he stood up straight again, Han Li and Shi Chuankong had already disappeared, and all that remained was a small devil stone sitting on the table.
The elderly man looked around for a moment, but failed to spot Han Li''s duo, and he casually picked up the devil''s stone from the table before tucking it into his pocket.
On the mountain path outside the small town, Han Li and Shi Chuankong were walking briskly with tense expressions.
"Are you sure, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked through voice transmission.
Chapter 815: Mountain-bearing Ape
Chapter 815: Mountain-bearing Ape
"I''m certain. That man is not a devilish being. Instead, his true form is that of a fearsome beast in the Immortal Realm known as the Mountain-bearing Ape. These creatures like to carry mountains on their backs, and the more powerful they be, therger the mountain that they carry. For them, that''s their cultivation, and some can even carry entire mountain ranges," Han Li replied.
"No wonder he didn''te out even once during the earthquakes, but then immediately came out after the tremors subsided," Shi Chuankong mused.
"There''s a story in the Azure Leaf Immortal Region about how an elder of an immortal sect once slew a juvenile Mountain-bearing Ape in order to refine an immortal treasure, and during the few attempts that the mature Mountain-bearing Ape came for revenge, it was wounded and forced into retreat by the sect.
¡°After its final retreat, everyone thought that the saga was over, but ten thousand years after that, the foundation of the entire mountain range that the sect was situated in was destroyed by the Mountain-bearing Ape, and it then carried the sect straight into the sea," Han Li said.
"That sounds almost too fantastical to be true, even in the cultivation world," Shi Chuankong mused as he took a nce back in the direction of the small town.
"It looked like the people of the town had already been living there for generations and grown ustomed to the frequent earthquakes. That Mountain-bearing Ape has already reached the Great Epassment Stage, and it seems that its wild and vicious nature has already been smoothed over by the passage of time," Han Li said.
"I''m assuming he doesn''t wish to be recognized, considering he''s living in such a secluded ce. In any case, I hope he doesn''te after us," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
However, as soon as his voice trailed off, a figure suddenly appeared on the mountain path up ahead, and it was none other than the hunch-backed elderly man from before.
"You really have a knack for speaking misfortune into existence, don''t you, Brother Shi?" Han Li sighed with a wry smile.
Shi Chuankong was bbergasted to see this, and he was struck by the urge to p himself.
After a brief hesitation, Han Li took a step forward, then cupped his fist toward the hunch-backed elderly man in a salute as he asked, "Can we help you, Senior?"
Shi Chuankong remained silent, but he also cupped his fist in a salute.
"Rest assured, I mean you no harm," the hunch-backed elderly man replied with his hands sped behind his back, and his voice was very coarse and raspy.
"Do you have any instructions for us, Senior?" Han Li asked in a careful manner.
"No, it''s just that I haven''t seen anyone from the Immortal Realm for a very long time, and I wanted to ask you some questions," the elderly man replied.
"Please go ahead, Senior. I''ll tell you everything I know, but I can''t guarantee that I''ll be able to answer all of your questions," Han Li said.
"Where are you from?" the elderly man asked.
"I am from the ck Mountain Immortal Region," Han Li replied.
A reminiscent look shed through the elderly man''s eyes upon hearing this, and he said, "I stayed in the ck Mountain Immortal Region for some time in the past. It was a very rough time in my life, but I do miss the ce, nheless. By the way, have you ever been to a ce called the Floating Cloud Mountain Range?"
"Indeed, I have. In fact, I stayed there for a while. Have you been there too, Senior?" Han Li asked.
"I stayed there for some time too, but I can''t recall how long ago that was. All I remember is that in the beginning, the mountain range had very few residents, but more and more people began to move in, and it was no longer as peaceful as it once was, so I left," the elderly man replied.
"I''m afraid the Floating Cloud Mountain Range is no longer the same ce that it once was. It has a veryrge number of residents, and it''s almost an independent, autonomous region. However, back when I left, the Heavenly Court seemed to have strengthened its control over the area, and many people were driven out. As for how the mountain range is faring now, I''m afraid I don''t know the answer to that," Han Li sighed.
"It''s fine, it''s all in the distant past anyway. I presume you''ve managed to see through my true form, right?" the elderly man asked.
Han Li immediately tensed up a little upon hearing this, and after carefully selecting his words, he replied, "I wouldn''t dare to specte on what your true form is, but I can tell that your cultivation base is extremely advanced."
The hunch-backed elderly man nodded as he said, "I overheard you talking about needing to find a ce to refine Dao Warriors, is that right? There are many uninhabited valleys in this mountain range that you can use for that purpose if you''d like."
"Thank you for the kind offer, Senior, but we won''t trouble you with these trivial matters. I''ll find some other ce to refine my Dao Warriors, and I assure you that we won''t disturb you," Han Li hurriedly replied.
"In that case, I''ll treat this encounter as if it never happened," the elderly man said in a meaningful voice.
"Rest assured, Senior, as far as we''re concerned, we never met you here," Han Li immediately replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"That''s right. In fact, we''ve never even been here," Shi Chuankong hurriedly chimed in.
The hunch-backed elderly man took a long nce at Shi Chuankong, then remarked, "You certainly chose some good parents. Alright, you can go now."
Han Li and Shi Chuankong immediately extended a parting salute toward the elderly man upon hearing this, then flew away as two streaks of light.
Only after they had flown out of the mountain range did they allow themselves a faint sigh of relief, and they looked back in the direction of the small town to find that the entire mountain range had begun trembling violently.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes as he cast his gaze toward the foundation of the mountain range, and he was just barely able to make out a giant hunch-backed figure, carrying the entire mountain range on its back.
The hunch-backed figure was crawling on all fours, and if blended in with the mountain range so well that Han Li wouldn''t have been able to tell them apart at all had it not been for his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
Right at this moment, a giant mountain at the forefront of the mountain range suddenly began to slowly turn toward him, and the vegetation and rocks on the mountain were torn apart as a pair of gargantuan eyes appeared.
There was a cold in the eyes'' golden pupils, and Han Li immediately withdrew his Infernal Devilish Eyes upon seeing this before flying away with Shi Chuankong.
The two of them flew for three days without rest before finally stopping on a nearby mountain.
They hadn''t stopped here because they felt like they were already a safe distance away. Instead, it was because the refinement of the Dao Warriors had reached its most crucial juncture, and Han Li had to inscribe runes on them without dy.
After descending onto the mountain, Han Li didn''t even have the time to make a temporary cave abode, and he could only request Shi Chuankong to stand on lookout duty for him while he hurriedly entered the Flower Branch domain.
Thunderps were ringing out incessantly from the second floor of the bamboo building beside the pond, and the entire room was filled with purplish-golden lightning. As soon as Han Li entered the room, he felt as if he had stepped into the Bone Rinsing Lightning Pond again.
However, the feeling onlysted for a fleeting moment as the purplish-golden lightning in the room only possessed a simr aura to the Bone Rinsing Lightning Pond, but didn''t possess anywhere near the same level of power.
Even so, such a fearsome lightning aura would be sufficient to quell countless ghosts and spirits.
"Thank heavens you''re here, Fellow Daoist Han. I wasn''t going to be able to contain this lightning pond for much longer," Daoist Xie said in a relieved voice.
"Apologies for the dy, you can leave the rest to me now," Han Li said, then quickly made hsi way into the array.
Daoist Xie immediately stepped out of the array so that Han Li could take his ce, then stood by the entrance of the room in silent observation.
Han Li was already well aware of what runes had to be inscribed, so he required no instructions from Daoist Xie.
He began to chant an incantation, and the patterns of the array on the ground began to grow clearer and clearer before gradually peeling off from the ground to hover in mid-air.
At the same time, all of the golden beans also rose up into the air, and they were connected together by Han Li''s spiritual sense threads, forming a giant tree of golden radiance.
Meanwhile, the lightning array rose all the way up to the ceiling of the room, where it epassed the entire tree of golden light.
Han Li immediately switched to a different hand seal upon seeing this, and blue light surged out of his eyes, while the spiritual sense threads flowing out of his be glowed brighter and brighter.
He was rapidly cycling through a string of hand seals in an extremely well-rehearsed fashion, and indeed, he had practiced this sequence hundreds of times to ensure that he could execute it smoothly in this exact scenario.
However, this was an extremely slow process, but Han Li had more than enough patience to spare.
Three months flew by in the blink of an eye, and the process wasplete, giving rise to thousands of new Dao Warriors.
Han Li handed over the Dao Warriors to Daoist Xie, then immediately left the Flower Branch domain to resume his journey with Shi Chuankong.
Chapter 816: Fifth-grade Immortal Lantern
Chapter 816: Fifth-grade Immortal Lantern
After the Yellow Grain Region came the Ten Dreams Region.
Not only did the two regions directly neighbor each other, the eighteen major rivers in the Ten Dreams Region all had their origins in the Yellow Grain Region, so the two regions had alway shared a close rtionship.
The Devil Realm naturally wasn''t asrge as the Immortal Realm, but even so, there could be a great deal of variance between two neighboring regions.
Aside from the eighteen main rivers in the Ten Dreams Region, there were also hundreds of branch waterways that formed a vast andplex system.
On this day, Han Li and Shi Chuankong were traveling on an ordinary boat along the Flowing Sand River to a city in the north.
In a rare turn of events, Han Li had disguised himself as a handsome schr, and both he and Shi Chuankong were wearing identical azure robes. On top of that, he was holding a folding fan in one hand to further lend him a schrly air.
The soil on either side of the river was very fertile, and the banks were lined with peach blossom trees. It was right at the height of the flowering season, and there was a faint, intoxicating, floral aroma wafting through the air.
However, Han Li only looked at the masses of blooming peach blossoms for a short while before returning to the cabin of the boat in a disappointed fashion.
"I thought this Dream Peach Forest was going to be a special sight to behold, but it really hasn''t lived up to its reputation. Perhaps it would be quite a breathtaking sight for a mortal, but it really isn''t anything special for cultivators like us," Han Li sighed as he flipped a hand over to summon a gon of fine wine, then filled a cup for himself.
Shi Chuankong wasn''t going to say anything, but upon spotting the gon of wine, he immediately approached Han Li and sat down across from him, then brought out a cup of his own before filling it himself.
He took a sip of wine, then exined, "There are ten illusory dream areas in the Ten Dreams Region, and this Dream Peach Forest is one of them. The only reason why you see nothing special about it is because your spiritual sense is too powerful. In the eyes of the average person, there are celestial maidens dancing between the trees and rainbow deer frolicking through the forest."
"It seems like my spiritual sense isn''t doing me a favor here then," Han Li remarked.
"If you withdraw your spiritual sense and don''t try to resist the illusion, you''ll be able to witness those sights as well. As we continue down the river, we''ll also be passing through the Heavenly Dream Staircase and the Illusory ming Sea. Let''s see if you''ll be impervious to those illusions as well," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
Han Li offered no response to this. Thanks to the Purple Sun Warm Jade, he had been able to make rapid progress in his Spirit Refinement Technique. As a result, his spiritual sense had been significantly enhanced over a short period of time, but he was still some way away from reaching full mastery of the fifth level.
He downed the contents of his cup in one go, then swept a sleeve over the table in front of him, and a strange-looking ssmp appeared amid a sh of azure light.
"Have you refined thismp yet, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"This Soul Devouring Lamp was left behind by those sisters fromst time, and I was worried that there would be some type of hidden restriction within it, so I haven''t attempted to refine it yet," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"This the same Soul Devouring Lamp fromst time?" Shi Chuankong eximed.
"Didn''t you see them use itst time? Why are you so surprised?" Han Li asked.
Shi Chuankong hesitated momentarily, then rubbed his hands together as he said, "Brother Li, if you don''t want to refine thismp, then I''m willing to purchase it from you. Just state a price."
"Aren''t you supposed to be a shrewd businessman, Brother Shi? I''m certainly not going to sell themp now that you''ve disyed so much interest in it! Why don''t you tell me what''s so special about this thing?" Han Li chuckled.
"Truth be told, thismp is a fifth-grade immortal treasure that''s powered solely by spiritual sense, so it can be used by cultivators from both the Immortal Realm and the Devil Realm. As for how much one can tap into its power, that depends on the potency of their spiritual sense. I was only joking when I offered to buy it. Only someone like you can truly make full use of thismp," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"I''ve examined it earlier and didn''t find any restrictions, but I was worried that there were perhaps some special hidden restrictions in the Devil Realm that I didn''t know about, so I didn''t refine it. Would you be able to examine it for me as well? If it''s safe to do so, then I''ll refine it, and it''ll surely serve as another powerful weapon for us to use in future battles," Han Li proposed.
"That''s precisely what I intended," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod, then took the Soul Devouring Lamp from Han Li before conducting a close examination.
Some timeter, he returned themp to Han Li as he said, "There are indeed some secret hidden restrictions in our Holy Realm, but I didn''t see any of them in thismp."
"In that case, I can begin refining it right away," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Before that, do you know what these four beasts on themp are, Brother Shi?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Please enlighten me, Brother Shi," Han Li prompted in an intrigued manner.
"These four beasts appear to be quite simr, but in reality, there are minute differences between them. This one here with the single horn on its head is called Covet, and it likes to captivate souls. The one with the sunken eyes is called Clinch, and it likes to collect iplete souls. This one with the closed ears is called Unaware, and it likes to imprison souls.
¡°The final one with the sharp fangs is called Glutton, and it likes to devour souls. The four of them represent themp''s four abilities," Shi Chuankong exined.
"If you''re so familiar with thismp, then why weren''t you able to identify it before?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression.
"Back when thismp first appeared in our Holy Realm, it was supposed toe to our Vast Origin House. At the time, the report had already been filed, and all I had to do was sign off on it. However, I was busy with other matters at the time, so I wasn''t able to address the matter in a timely fashion, resulting in themp being lost, and it must''ve somehow ended up in the hands of my eldest brother," Shi Chuankong replied with a wry smile.
"I see," Han Li mused with a smile.
"I wanted to tell you about these four beasts so that you know that they''re very dangerous creatures. ording to the report that I received, thismp can''t be refined through conventional means. Otherwise, there''s a very good chance that you''ll suffer bacsh from the spirits of the four beasts, resulting in spiritual damage," Shi Chuankong cautioned.
A confident smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he flipped a hand over to produce the book titled Soul Devouring Refinement Technique.
"This bookys out how themp is to be used, and its refinement method also just so happens to be included as well," Han Li said.
"No wonder you wanted to im the book. I should''ve known that you were thinking ahead," Shi Chuankong chuckled.
"We have nothing better to do anyway, so why don''t I refine this Soul Devouring Lamp now? Perhaps it''ll be useful to uster on," Han Li said.
"That''s a good idea. We''re still not out of the woods right now, so it certainly couldn''t hurt to have some more tricks up our sleeves. You can focus on refining themp, I''ll make sure to keep a lookout for you," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
With that, Han Li began setting up an array on the boat in ordance with the methodid out in the book.
After setting up an array that was around ten feet in size, Han Li made a hand seal to activate it, and the array immediately began to glow with golden radiance, epassing the entire Soul Devouring Lamp.
Basked within the golden radiance, the ssmp instantly became translucent, and some thin azure and purple lines had appeared within it.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this. These lines were none other than the spiritual sense threads left behind by the twin sisters.
All of a sudden, a burst of scorching heat erupted out of the golden light beneath the array to roast the ssmp, and all of the purple and azure threads inside instantly began to squirm violently like live eels thrown into boiling water.
Han Li then pointed a finger at themp, and the golden light in the array immediately surged into themp to ignite all of the purple and azure threads, rapidly melting them away.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this. Now that the twins'' residual spiritual sense threads had been eradicated, it was time for him to inject his own spiritual sense threads into themp.
With that in mind, he switched a different hand seal before slowly closing his eyes, and dozens of translucent threads shot out of his be before piercing into the ssmp, where they slowly fused into themp.
Several months flew by in a sh.
At this point, the boat had already left the Dream Peach Forest and arrived at the Heavenly Dream Staircase.
Shi Chuankong was standing at the front of the boat, scouring the banks of the river with his gaze. At this moment, the river was lined with sheer cliff faces on either side, presenting a majestic sight to behold.
After rounding a corner, the boat suddenly arrived in a very open and spacious body of water.
It was still early in the morning, and there was still some faint mist lingering in the air. The sun was rising over the surface of the river, basking it in a warm glow.
As the sun rose up higher and higher, its radiance also grew brighter and brighter, and before long, the mist over the surface of the river hadpletely evaporated.
Shi Chuankong''s brows furrowed slightly as he turned to the mountain face to his left. The light of the sun was shining down upon that mountain face, and a shimmering, golden stone staircase had appeared on the mountain face without any warning, leading all the way to the mountain summit.
From there, the staircase ascended even further, stretching up into the clouds in the sky before finally vanishing out of sight.
Shi Chuankong was just thinking about how it was going to be a pity that Han Li was going to miss this piece of spectacr scenery when he hurriedly swung around, and right at this moment, Han Li suddenly gave a muffled groan as his entire body began to tremble uncontrobly.
Chapter 817: Long Journey
Chapter 817: Long Journey
Shi Chuankong immediately noticed that there was something different about the ssmp at the center of the array.
As it turned out, the eyes of the four beasts on themp had all lit up and were glowing red.
As soon as Shi Chuankong''s gaze fell upon the red light, he was immediately rooted to the spot, as if he had been struck by lightning.
At the same time, his blood began to boil in his veins, and an intense wave of heat swept through his entire body, striking him with a sense of asphyxiation.
He hurriedly channeled his cultivation arts to protect himself, and as he settled his gaze on the four beasts once again, it felt as if they had all sprung to life and were leering maliciously at him.
An indescribable sense of fury and resentment began to well up in his heart.
All of a sudden, he felt as if this entire world had been extremely unfair to him. He never had any interest inpeting against his siblings. Instead, all he wanted was to be able to travel the world as a wealthy merchant and collect all of the fine treasures that the realms had to offer. In his eyes, that was the most fulfilling life possible.
However, his siblings all seemed to harbor enmity toward him, and he couldn''t understand why.
The more these vindictive thoughts took root in his mind, the more violent and twisted his expression became.
Right at this moment, a loud roar suddenly rang out.
It was Han Li''s voice, and in the wake of the roar, Shi Chuankong''s mental rity was instantly restored.
His expression instantly darkened slightly, while a sense of lingering fear welled up in his heart.
As he turned his gaze back to the ssmp, he discovered that it was still glowing red, but the red light was being suppressed by a burst of formidable spiritual sense.
The spiritual sense had naturallye from none other than Han Li, and despite hisposed appearance, his consciousness was reeling internally.
It was unclear whether the refinement method left behind by the sisters was fake, or whether he had injected too many spiritual sense threads into themp earlier. In any case, Han Li had been struck by bacsh from themp, and the four beasts had manifested themselves in his mind to devour his spiritual sense, attempting to suck his soul into themp.
At this moment, four giant beast projections were closing toward the center of his consciousness from four different directions, and in response, Han Li immediately channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique.
Bursts of formidable spiritual sense fluctuations were surging out of the center of his consciousness, forming a series of giant waves that swept toward the four beasts, resisting them in their advance.
However, this wasn''t a permanent solution, and it could only dy the crisis.
Right at this moment, Han Li let loose a loud roar, and a burst of white light swept through his entire consciousness like a snowstorm, instantly freezing everything inside, including the four beasts.
However, before he had a chance to do anything else, a string of loud cracks rang out, and the four beasts freed themselves from the frozen snowscape before continuing in their advance.
Having already devoured a huge amount of spiritual sense from Han Li''s consciousness, the four beasts had be too powerful to contain.
A sense of immense pressure was weighing down upon Han Li''s entire consciousness, and to his dismay, the pressure was only continuing to mount further and further.
He knew that once the four beasts linked up with each other, his consciousness would bepletelypressed, leading to the destruction of his soul, ultimately reducing him to nothing more than an empty husk.
Right as he was scrambling for a solution, a burst of purple light suddenly appeared above hsi consciousness, releasing bursts of warm andforting energy that quickly replenished his spiritual sense.
Han Li was instantly reinvigorated, and he redoubled his efforts, resisting against the advance of the four beasts with all his might.
The four beasts were slowed down drastically, but they were still advancing forward little by little.
Han Li could feel more and more pressure building in his consciousness, and his spiritual sense was being stripped away bit by bit, while the purple light above his consciousness had also beenpressed into a ball by the tremendous pressure.
A suffocating sense of fear began to well up in his heart, but right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out within his consciousness, following which thepressed ball of purple light suddenly erupted outward in all directions.
Finally, the final bottleneck standing in Han Li''s path had been shattered, and he was able to push beyond his limits, achieving full mastery of the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique!
Han Li was ecstatic, and bursts of formidable spiritual sense swept through his consciousness before converging to form an enormous spiritual sense sword.
The spiritual sense sword was semi-transparent, with intricate patterns etched upon its surface, and tremendous spiritual sense fluctuations were surging out of it in all directions.
As the spiritual sense sword slowly descended, the spiritual sense fluctuations only became more and more fearsome, and the four beasts were slowly forced back bit by bit, all the way until they were forced out of Han Li''s consciousness altogether.
Meanwhile, Shi Chuankong was standing on the small boat, looking at Han Li with a tense expression. He was holding a piece of Purple Sun Warm Jade in his hand, and he was internally debating whether he should ce this piece of jade on top of Han Li''s head as well.
Right at this moment, a streak of semi-transparent light shot out of Han Li''s be, giving Shi Chuankong a huge fright. He was just about to get out of the way when he discovered that the streak of light was a translucent little sword, and it was hovering in front of his be in a stable fashion.
Shi Chuankong remainedpletely still, not making any false moves, and he took a nce at the Soul Devouring Lamp out of the corner of his eye. To his relief, he discovered that the red light in the eyes of the four beasts had already faded.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, and it was clear that the storm had been weathered.
The spiritual sense sword flew back into his be, vanishing out of sight, and eh took a nce up at the piece of Purple Sun Warm Jade hovering above his head, then looked back at Shi Chuankong as he cupped his fist in a salute and said, "Thank you for your help, Brother Shi. I shudder to imagine what would''ve happened if you hadn''t intervened."
"There''s no need to thank me, Brother Li. The more powerful you be, the safer I''ll be. By the way, what happened just now? Everything appeared to be going smoothly, but themp suddenly began wreaking havoc seemingly out of nowhere," Shi Chuankong said.
"I''m not sure what went wrong myself. It seems like I injected too much spiritual sense into themp, thereby triggering bacsh from the four beasts. I was truly in dire straits, and it was only thanks to your help that I was able to break through my bottleneck and turn the tables," Han Li exined.
Shi Chuankong had no idea what Han Li was talking about, but he had a rough idea of just how perilous the situation had been.
"What was that little sword just now?" he asked.
"That was a Spiritual Sense Sword, a spiritual sense ability that I attained after reaching full mastery of the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique. I don''t know exactly how powerful it is right now, but it''s definitely quite a formidable ability," Han Li exined.
This was a subject that concerned Han Li''s cultivation, so it was inappropriate for Shi Chuankong to pry any further.
At this point, the Heavenly Dream Staircase had already been left behind, and the boat had emerged from the open body of water, leaving only a trail of ripples in its wake.
Eighty years flew by in the blink of an eye.
In a region of the sea that was as ck as ink, a gargantuan ck whale with a huge ind on its back was swimming through the waves.
The entire ind was no more than a thousand feet tall with a very level terrain, and it was thriving with lush greenery, interspersed throughout which were a series of pagodas and pavilions.
Two people were seated across from each other in a small mountain pavilion at the center of the ind, having some wine in the warm breeze.
Seated on the left was Han Li, and he was holding a cup with a smile on his face as he remarked, "Surely it was overkill to rent an entire whale ind just for the two of us."
"I rented this ind for you, Brother Li! The arrays on the ind can keep out devilish qi while drawing in the world''s origin qi, and I thought that would allow you to travel in greaterfort," Shi Chuankong countered.
"I appreciate that, it''s just that I''m worried that we''re being too ostentatious here and could end up attracting attention to ourselves. Also, now that you mention it, the closer we get to the center of this region, the denser the devilish qi in the environment has be. I can keep it out thanks to my devilish cultivation arts, but it''s still rather annoying," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"It''s fine. They don''t know our exact itinerary, so there''s no way they can intercept us," Shi Chuankong assured with a smile.
"Your eldest brother and fifth sister are no slouches. It seems like they haven''t done anything over the past few decades, but there''s no telling what sinister plots they could be hatching behind the scenes," Han Li said.
"In any case, we''re almost at Ink Sea City, and from there, it''ll only be one more stop before we reach Night Sun City. While it''s important to be on our guard, there''s no need to be excessively cautious," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
Right at this moment, a melodious call rang out from the gargantuan whale down below.
Shi Chuankong''s brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze into the distance, but wasn''t able to see anything, and a slightly apprehensive look appeared on his face.
Han Li also took a nce into the distance, then remarked, "We seem to have encountered a sea beast, but it''s only at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage, and it doesn''t seem to be particrly vicious in nature."
As soon as his voice trailed off, a vast expanse of light suddenly appeared beneath the waves, following which a giant ball of water emerged from the depths, breaking through the surface of the sea.
The ball of water was a white jellyfish that was far more massive than the ck whale, and it was glowing internally, giving it the appearance of a giant beacon that was sitting above the waves.
Chapter 818: Persistent Threat
"It''s a Bright Heart Jellyfish! These things have always been found deep in the sea, what''s this one doing on the surface?" Shi Chuankong mused with a surprised expression.
Han Li''s expression instantly changed drastically upon hearing this, and he yelled, "Run!"
Immediately thereafter, he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability and sprang forward, then grabbed onto Shi Chuankong before flying up into the air.
The two of them had only just risen up into the sky when the jellyfish crashed into the whale, and a resounding boom rang out as the jellyfish exploded.
At the same time, the gargantuan whale''s body also exploded with a resounding boom, and all of the bones in its body shot out before hurtling directly toward Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
In response, the two of them swiveled around before each throwing a punch downard, and two giant fist projections, one azure and one silver, came crashing down upon the wave of oing bones.
The two fist projections exploded in unison, and all of the whale''s bones were also reduced to white powder.
Immediately thereafter, a white figure shot out of the cloud of bone powder, and they swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a white light barrier that epassed both Han Li and Shi Chuankong within it.
The area contained within the white light barrier was filled with ghostly qi, and a series of tall pagodas rose up in the distance.Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s expressions changed drastically upon seeing this.
At the same time, a cold voice rang out, and it resonated throughout the entire area epassed within the white light barrier.
"You two sure made it difficult for me to track you down, but this is where your luck runs out!"
"It''s Daoist Master Bone Shine! What a pain in the backside," Shi Chuankong groaned with tight furrowed brows.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes before looking around, and his skin immediately began to crawl at the sight that he was greeted by.
There was a pagoda that was thousands of feet tall and constructed entirely from bones standing in each of the eight directions, and there were ghostly green mes flickering in the eye sockets of all of the skulls on the pagodas.
On the very top of each pagoda was a skull that was different from all of the other ones, and they appeared to have belonged to powerful cultivators in by Daoist Master Bone Shine.
There was clearly some type of hidden connection between them, and together, they formed a strange array that was giving off such formidable cial qi that Han Li and Shi Chuankong could feel the immortal spiritual power cirction in their bodies bing slower and more sluggish.
Han Li naturally didn''t dare to hold back against a Great Epassment cultivator, and he immediately swept a sleeve through the air to summon his time spirit domain, which epassed the entire surrounding area in a radius of several thousand feet.
Even though the ghostly white mist in the air was clearly moving far slower within his time spirit domain, the air temperature only continued to plummet, while the surrounding area was also bing darker and darker.
"Let''s see how you weasel your way out of this one!" Daoist Master Bone Shine roared, following which the sound of crashing waves suddenly rang out.
Han Li looked down to see that bursts of red light had appeared in the dense mist down below, and an infernal pit of fire that was over a thousand feet in radius had emerged on the surface of the sea.
Plumes of ck smoke were rising up from the fiery pit, and there seemed to beva churning inside, but it wasn''t releasing any heat.
Inside the pit of fire, countless headless skeletons were struggling in futility, trying to climb their way out, only to sink deeper and deeper.
Right at this moment, a rune lit up on each of the eight different skulls on top of the surrounding bone pagodas, and all of the bones instantly began to tremble as if they had sprung to life.
The jawbones on the skulls were quite loose to begin with, and they immediately began to chatter audibly from the tremors.
At the same time, the fiery pit down below also began to tremble violently, and the bubblingva was rapidly rising upward, threatening to gush out of the pit altogether.
All of the headless skeletons inside also rose up with theva, and they began to ascend into the air.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he looked on with a grim expression. At this point, there was no time for him to think about how Daoist Master Bone Shine had managed to track them down. Instead, his top priority was to think of a way to escape.
"We''re truly in trouble now, Brother Li. Daoist Master Bone Shine possesses a Creation Tier spirit domain, and that''s far too much for us to deal with. Let''s find an opportunity to split up and try to get away from there," Shi Chuankong said.
"He''s clearlye into this with a n, so I''m afraid that won''t be so simple," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
He had seen Creation Tier spirit domains in the past, but none had struck him with a sense of pressure as intense as Daoist Master Bone Shine''s.
All of a sudden, Han Li dered, "Here theye!"
Right as his voice trailed off, the fiery pit down below finallypletely erupted, and the crimsonva inside exploded upward, carrying with it countless headless skeletons.
All of the skeletons seemed to have sprung to life, and their joints were cracking and popping audibly as they rushed at Han Li and Shi Chuankong with weapons forged from bones held in their hands.
"Are those domain spirits?" Shi Chuankong eximed as he hurriedly flipped a hand over to summon a ck saber, while Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light, and Daoist Xie emerged from the Flower Branch domain.
"Oh? Is that a domain treasure? Looks like I''ll be able to im some decent spoils from you two," Daoist Master Bone Shine remarked, but it was unclear where his voice wasing from.
"Judging from their aura, these things seem to be Dao Warriors, as opposed to domain spirits," Han Li said to Shi Chuankong, then turned to Daoist Xie before giving him a nod.
Daoist Xie immediately flipped a hand over to summon an azure gourd, which he tipped upside down before mming hand onto its underside.
A burst of azure light shed over the mouth of the gourd, and thousands of golden beans flew out from within before raining down from above.
Arcs of purplish-golden lightning shed incessantly as all of the golden beans transformed into armored Dao Warriors, each of which was around ten feet tall.
Their facial features werepletely identical, and all of them were rather wooden and stiff in appearance, but their eyes contained a faint, intelligent gleam.
All of them were d in suits of antiquated golden armor that were riddled with purple patterns, and these suits of armor covered all of their vital regions.
Without requiring any instructions, the Dao Warriors raised their hands up to the sky in unison, and bursts of purplish-golden lightning erupted out of their hands, then took on the form of all types of lightning weapons, all of which were giving off formidable auras.
As soon as all of the Dao Warriors emerged, they were met by the horde of headless skeletons, and the two armies shed violently.
Thousands of arcs of purplish-golden lightning erupted out of the hands of the Dao Warriors before exploding in unison, illuminating the night sky with spectacr purplish-golden radiance.
All of the headless skeletons that were struck by the arcs of lightning instantly fell apart before tumbling back down into the fiery pit below.
Deep within the dense mist, a white shadow stiffened momentarily in surprise, then drifted away again and vanished out of sight.
Han Li immediately turned his gaze in that direction, but by then, the white shadow was already gone.
"Even though he''s at the Great Epassment Stage, he''s clearly making an effort not to approach us. It seems like he''s already aware of all of our powers," Han Li said through voice transmission.
"We''ve been on the run for a very long time, and I''m sure the entire Holy Realm is aware of us at this point, so I suppose that''s no surprise. I''ve been working hard in my cultivation, but I''m unable to make any significant strides without first reaching the High Zenith Stage. Having said that, if we can break our way out of this spirit domain, I can instantly get us out of here using a spatial secret technique," Shi Chuankong replied.
"ording to my knowledge, Creation Tier spirit domains are different from normal spirit domains in that thew attributes of the former are significantly enhanced. It''s most likely going to be quite difficult to break our way out, and the fact that Daoist Master Bone Shine is lurking in the shadows certainly won''t help our cause," Han Li sighed.
Shi Chuankong hesitated momentarily, then said, "Brother Li, if you can somehow destroy one of those bone pagodas, I can try to forcibly unleash the secret technique at the cost of some blood essence to get us out of here."
"I think that may be our only way out," Han Li replied with a nod.
Right at this moment, a loudmotion rang out from down below, and Han Li looked down to discover that all of the shattered skeletons that had fallen back into the fiery pit hadpletely regenerated and were shing against the Dao Warriors once again.
At the same time, a giant skeletal white hand suddenly extended out of the fiery pit, then grabbed onto its edge before pulling upward forcefully, and the body attached to the hand was vaulted out of the fiery pit.
It was a giant headless skeleton that was over a thousand feet tall, and it had four arms instead of two. On top of that, there were balls of crimson mes circling around its body, and it was wielding four bone longswords that were riddled with countless yin runes.
The giant skeleton sprang up into the air,unching itself up into the ranks of the Dao Warriors, and it was instantly surrounded by hundreds of Dao Warriors thatshed out at it with their weapons, striking it with bolts of purplish-golden lightning.
The crimson mes around the giant skeleton brightened significantly before transforming into a suit of glowing crimson armor, and it was able to keep all of the lightning at bay.
Chapter 819: Power of the Spiritual Sense Sword
"Leave that thing to me," Daoist Xie volunteered, then spread his arms open, and a pair of antiquated sabers appeared in his grasp.
Immediately thereafter, he vanished from the spot amid a rumbling thunderp.
In the next instant, he abruptly reappeared directly in front of the giant four-armed skeleton, and two bursts of radiant lightning appeared on either side of him, resembling a pair of lightning wings as he swooped down upon the giant skeleton.
At the same time, all of the purplish-golden lightning in the air converged to form a series of giant balls of lightning, which then exploded violently to form a huge of lightning that descended upon the giant skeleton.
Right at this moment, a formidable aura erupted out of the fiery pit down below, and another enormous skeleton slowly crawled its way out of the pit, this one even more massive than its predecessor.
Han Li knew that the longer this battle wore on, the more dire their situation was going to be, so he immediately sprang into action, sweeping a sleeve through the air to send eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords hurtling toward one of the bone pagodas.
The Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords circled around in the air, releasing thousands of miniature azure sword projections that formed a vast azure wave.
Han Li was scouring the surrounding area for Daoist Master Bone Shine with his spiritual sense while simultaneously controlling the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, but his spiritual sense was being severely suppressed in this spirit domain, rendering him unable to track down his target.
The torrent of azure sword projections quickly reached the bone pagoda, but right at this moment, the ghostly green mes in the eye sockets of the skulls on the pagoda swelled up drastically, while plumes of green mist surged out of their mouths to oppose the oing sword projections.As soon as the sword projections pierced into the mist, they immediately began to rust and decay, and in the blink of an eye, close to a thousand sword projections had been corroded into nothingness.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he suddenly switched to a different hand seal, setting off a violent explosion of golden lightning that tore the entire cloud of green mist to shreds.
The green mist was no match for the lightning in the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which had integrated both Divine Devilbane Lightning and Bone Rinsing Golden Lightning, and it was instantly eradicated to reveal the bone pagoda beyond it.
However, right at this moment, a burst of light shed over the bone pagoda, and all of the skulls rose up into the air before scattering in all directions.
As a result, Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords struck nothing but empty air.
What was even more rming was that all of the scattered bones were converging toward Han Li and Shi Chuankong from all directions, and they were still traveling extremely fast, even through Han Li''s time spirit domain.
Shi Chuankong was just about to unleash a spatial ability to ward off the oing bones when Han Li urged through voice transmission, "Leave them to me, you focus on getting us out of here!"
Shi Chuankong immediately did as he was told, preparing his spatial secret technique, while Han Li summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis.
However, before the Mantra Treasured Axis had even fully emerged, Han Li''s entire body abruptly stiffened, and his immortal spiritual power cirction also drew to a shuddering halt.
Immediately thereafter, he discovered that he seemed to have been deprived of control over his own skeleton, and his arms involuntarily raised up before extending outward, making it appear as if he had been nailed to an invisible cross.
Shi Chuankong''s secret technique was also forcibly interrupted, and he was also rooted to the spot.
The only ones that remained unaffected were Daoist Xie and the Dao Warriors.
Upon noticing the predicament that Han Li was in, Daoist Xie raised Thundersh and Heavensh before bringing them together, and as soon as the two sabers came into contact with each other, a burst of lightning instantly erupted outward with tremendous force, intertwining to form a corkscrew-shaped pir that hurtled directly toward Han Li.
However, the pir of lightning was only able to travel about a thousand feet before a figure emerged from the mist in front of it, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of tremendous force that struck the pir of lightning.
The pir of lightning instantly exploded, sending countless tiny arcs of electricity erupting in all directions, and Daoist Xie came plummeting out of the sky.
The two giant headless skeletons immediately rushed at him, and a fierce battle ensued between the three.
The figure that had appeared up above was none other than Daoist Master Bone Shine, and he took a disdainful nce at Daoist Xie, then turned his gaze to Han Li.
Out of everyone here, only Han Li was deserving of any respect in his eyes.
"How does it feel to have your skeletonpletely sealed away? Don''t worry, I''ll end your suffering soon and make you a part of my bone pagodas," Daoist Master Bone Shine chuckled coldly.
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and all of the skulls that were hovering in the air converged toward Han Li and Shi Chuankong, ready to sink their teeth into their flesh.
With each skull that flew past Han Li and Shi Chuankong, it would take a chunk of their flesh, and before long, both of their bodies were riddled with harrowing wounds.
The two of them were forced to endure the agony of having their flesh ripped from their bodies in chunks, yet all they could do was look on helplessly,pletely powerless to resist.
Shi Chuankong possessed a devilish body, while Han Li was a Profound Immortal, so neither of them werecking when it came to their physical constitutions, but with each shred of flesh that was torn away, the skulls absorb some of their power, and the ghostly mes in their eye sockets burned brighter and brighter.
A sadistic grin appeared on Daoist Master Bone Shine''s face upon seeing this. He had originally intended to end the battle quickly and grant Han Li and Shi Chuankong a swift death, but now, he intended to slowly torment the two of them to death so that he could fully harness the power of their physical bodies.
Shi Chuankong was gritting his teeth with all his might, but he still couldn''t help but snarl in pain.
The pain of having his flesh torn away was still bearable, but the problem was that each chunk of flesh that was taken out of his body, the skulls would release a plume of green mist that seeped straight into his bones, striking him with immense agony.
Han Li was also suffering from the same horrific torture, but his bones seemed to be more resistant to the green mist, and they were still glowing radiantly like jade.
As a Jade Immortal, his physical body was far more resistant to the corrosive effects of the green mist than Shi Chuankong''s.
"I almost forgot that you were a Jade Immortal," Daoist Master Bone Shine chuckled coldly, then abruptly vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, he reappeared in front of Han Li, then raised a hand before thrusting his joined middle and index fingers toward Han Li''s be.
Han Li remainedpletely immobilized, but his expression remained calm and steely as he glowered at Daoist Master Bone Shine.
Right as Daoist Master Bone Shine''s fingers were about toe into contact with his be, he abruptly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique to focus all of his spiritual sense toward a single spot.
Immediately thereafter, a semi-transparent sword that was only around an inch in length shot out of his be, then instantly pierced into the tip of Daoist Master Bone Shine''s finger.
In the instant that Daoist Master Bone Shine caught sight of the sword, a sense of foreboding had already welled up in his heart, but it was toote to retract his hand, and he could only channel his immortal spiritual power to ward off the Spiritual Sense Sword.
However, in the next instant, the Spiritual Sense Sword abruptly appeared in his consciousness.
Outside, the Spiritual Sense Sword was only around an inch in length, but inside Daoist Master Bone Shine''s consciousness, it had swelled drastically in size, and it came crashing down with tremendous power.
The sword was etched with peculiar runes that were shing incessantly, and they were releasing formidable spiritual sense fluctuations that manifested themselves in the form of powerful shockwaves.
Daoist Master Bone Shine''s consciousness instantly began to churn violently, and cracks began appearing everywhere, as if his consciousness were about to be torn apart.
Inside his consciousness, his soul was looking on with an agonized and horrified look on its face. Never had he imagined that an early-High Zenith cultivator would possess such tremendous spiritual sense, and he was left ruing his decision to approach Han Li, but it was already toote.
Chapter 820: You Again?
Chapter 820: You Again?
Right at this moment, Daoist Master Bone Shine''s soul raised both of its hands, and specks of white light immediately rose up from his consciousness before converging around it like countless fireflies.
At the same time, an enormous array that had been engraved deep into his consciousness emerged.
He had engraved the array into his own consciousness at an unimaginable cost, and he was saving it for a battle of life and death.
Never did he think that he would be forced to use the array at a time like this, but given the dire nature of the situation, he had no choice in the matter.
The white light radiating from the array was bing brighter and brighter, and an enormous tiger-like beastly projection rose up from it, then pounced at the Spiritual Sense Sword with its mouth open wide.
A resounding boom rang out within Daoist Master Bone Shine''s consciousness as the Spiritual Sense Sword struck the head of the beast, and both were stopped cold in their tracks fro an instant before the head of the beast was split open, while the Spiritual Sense Sword continued to crash down from above.
However, even though the beastly projection had been torn apart, threads of translucent light were surging out of its body to try and reconnect the two halves.
The translucent threads resembled chains that were constantly impeding the Spiritual Sense Sword in its descent, whittling it down bit by bit.
Even so, the Spiritual Sense Sword was still able to crash down with immense power, and it slicedpletely through the beastly projection before falling upon Daoist Master Bone Shine''s soul.
An agonized roar rang out, and Daoist Master Bone Shine felt as if his head were about to split apart as he shuddered violently before plummeting out of the sky, while his spirit domain also faded away.
Both Han Li and Shi Chuankong regained control over their own skeletons, but at the same time, Han Li''s vision turnedpletely dark as he fell out of the sky, havingpletely overexerted his own spiritual sense.
Shi Chuankong gritted his teeth through the pain of his own injuries as he hurriedly flew over to catch Han Li by the arm, and after taking a nce at the surface of the sea down below, he promptly flew away as a streak of light.
Meanwhile, Daoist Xie used the azure gourd to recover all of the Dao Warriors, then also retrieved Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords before also flying away after them.
......
Half a month passed by in a sh.
A ck flying carriage was racing over the sea, and Shi Chuankong had already reverted back to his original appearance, with his head of silver hair dancing in the wind.
Han Li wasying on the carriage behind him with his eyes tightly shut, and he remained unconscious. There was a small piece of Purple Sun Warm Jade hovering above his head, giving off a faint purple glow.
On top of that, there was also a spatial barrier around him that kept out all of the devilish qi in the surrounding environment.
Seated on the carriage not far away from Han Li was Daoist Xie, and his eyes were also closed.
Right at this moment, his eyes suddenly sprang open as if he had sensed something, and at the same time, Han Li also slowly opened his eyes.
There was still a dazed look in his eyes, and it took a moment for them to focus.
He massaged his temples as he slowly set up, then plucked down the piece of Purple Sun Warm Jade that was hovering above his head.
"You''re finally awake, Brother Li. How do you feel?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"How long was I unconscious for?" Han Li asked.
"About half a month," Shi Chuankong replied.
"What happened to Daoist Master Bone Shine?" Han Li asked.
"I don''t know. At the time, he seemed to have been severely injured as well, and he fell into the sea. However, you had also fallen unconscious, so I could only prioritize taking you to safety," Shi Chuankong replied.
"He must''ve suffered some severe spiritual damage from my Spiritual Sense Sword, so he won''t being after us again anytime soon. Having said that, now that we''re getting really close to Night Sun City, there''s no guarantee that no one else wille after us," Han LI mused.
"That''s what I was concerned about as well, and that''s why I didn''t dare to go straight to Night Sun City. Instead, I''ve been flying around aimlessly this entire time, and I was thinking that we would make a decision on what to do from here once you woke up," Shi Chuankong sighed.
"I severely overexerted my spiritual sense earlier, and I would''ve most likely remained unconscious for a lot longer if you hadn''t used that piece of Purple Sun Warm Jade to help me nurture my soul," Han Li said.
"In that case, let''s wait until you''re fully recovered before we set off," Shi Chuankong said.
Han Li shook his head as he replied, "Spiritual sense takes a long time to replenish, and the longer we dy, the greater the chance that something could go wrong, so let''s focus on getting back to Night Sun City as soon as possible."
Shi Chuankong raised no objections to this, and the flying carriage flew away into the distance.
......
Another half a month quickly passed by.
The ck flying carriage continued to race over the inky-ck sea, and a giant ck structure that was hovering in mid-air had appeared on the distant horizon.
"We''re about to reach Night Sun City soon, Brother Li," Shi Chuankong dered with an ted expression.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes as he observed the ck structure, and he was rather surprised by what he saw.
It was an extremely irregr structure with what appeared to be many branches protruding from it. However, these branches were crystalline in appearance, and they were all of different lengths, jutting out in different directions.
The structure was thousands of feet tall, and it appeared to be a natural structure with bursts of timew power fluctuations emanating from it.
For some reason, Han Li wasn''t able to clearly gauge the structure. It was clearly right in front of him, but for some reason, he felt like it was also impossibly far away, as if it were in a different realm altogether.
Right as he was about to activate his Infernal Devilish Eyes to take a closer look, he was stopped by Shi Chuankong, who warned, "This is a paramount divine artifact of our Holy Realm, so it must be treated with the utmost respect."
"Divine artifact? Why does it look like it was abandoned here?" Han Li asked.
"Let me tell you this, Brother Li: even if a Dao Ancestor were toe here, they may not be able to move this thing even a single inch," Shi Chuankong chuckled.
"What exactly is this..."
All of a sudden, Han Li''s voice trailed off mid-sentence, and he suddenly turned to a certain direction with a grim look on his face.
Shi Chuankong also turned in the same direction, and momentster, a streak of light appeared in the distance, stopping several thousand feet away from them.
It was none other than Daoist Master Bone Shine!
However, he was looking very pale, and his eyes were sunken and a little dazed. His hair had also be extremely disheveled, and he seemed to be in a very sorry state.
In contrast with the grim looks on the faces of Han Li and Shi Chuankong, Daoist Master Bone Shine was looking a little panicked.
His eyes widened in shock as he raised a trembling finger to point at Han Li, and he eximed in a fearful voice, "How... How is it you again? This is impossible! How did you recover so quickly?"
"What is he talking about?" Shi Chuankong asked as he turned to look at Han Li, but Han Li was looking just as perplexed.
"Could it be that he sustained such severe spiritual trauma from your Spiritual Sense Sword fromst time that he''s been driven insane?" Shi Chuankong spected.
"I don''t think so. He had a powerful array protecting his consciousness, so there''s no way that my Spiritual Sense Sword would''ve been able to inflict such severe damage. Something must''ve happened to him after we left," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"No, it must be an illusion! That''s it... I''m going to kill you!" Daoist Master Bone Shine roared as a fierce look suddenly appeared on his face, and he reached out with one hand, upon which his entire arm instantly elongated drastically, transforming into a white bone scythe that swept rapidly toward Han Li.
Han Li could sense that Daoist Master Bone Shine wasn''t quite in the right frame of mind, but he didn''t dare to let down his guard, immediately releasing his time spirit domain, and Shi Chuankong hurriedly released his spatial spirit domain as well.
Upon flying into the two spirit domains, Daoist Master Bone Shine was instantly slowed down drastically, but he let loose a thunderous roar as he swept his scythe arm through the air, and the world''s origin qi within the two spirit domains werepletely shredded by a burst of violent power, allowing him to speed up significantly once again.
Han Li made no attempt to take any evasive measures upon seeing this. Instead, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a sword formed by eighteenbined Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and at the same time, he unleashed his Reversal True Axis ability beforeunching himself forward.
As he drew close to Daoist Master Bone Shine, he abruptly stopped cold in his tracks, then summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which released countless rays of golden light that epassed the oing Daoist Master Bone Shine.
In response, Daoist Master Bone Shine spread a hand open, and it transformed into a giant bone shield.
The surface of the shield was etched with countless runes, and it was giving off a burst of corrosivew powers that kept the rays of golden light at bay.
At the same time, he swung his other scythe arm toward Han Li with tremendous power, aiming to slice his body into two in one fell swoop.
Chapter 821: Election
Chapter 821: Election
Han Li remained calm and collected as a Spiritual Sense Sword shot out of his be once again, and in the instant that Daoist Master Bone Shine caught sight of the Spiritual Sense Sword, a look of despair and indignation immediately surfaced in his eyes.
In the next instant, the Spiritual Sense Sword pierced through the bone shield with ease before shooting straight into Daoist Master Bone Shine''s be.
Only after the Spiritual Sense Sword pierced into Daoist Master Bone Shine''s be did Han Li discover that his spiritual sense was virtually non-existent, and his soul was also looking extremely frail, much like a candle me in the wind.
It was clear that he had suffered some kind of severe trauma that had left his soul in a terrible condition.
While it was true that he had managed to inflict a great deal of spiritual damage upon Daoist Master Bone Shine during their previous battle, he was certain that his Spiritual Sense Sword wouldn''t have been enough to leave Daoist Master Bone Shine''s soul in such a precarious condition.
Despite the befuddlement in his mind, Han Li didn''t hesitate in the slightest tond the killing blow, and his Spiritual Sense Sword swung down upon Daoist Master Bone Shine''s soul, tearing it apart with ease.
Immediately thereafter, Daoist Master Bone Shine fellpletely still.
Shi Chuankong had only just finished setting up his Twin Heavenly Silver Mirrors, and he had no idea what had happened to Daoist Master Bone Shine, but he certainly wasn''t going to pass up this opportunity.
The two mirrors began to swap positions at his behest, releasing a burst of tremendous spatial force as they did so.
However, as a Great Epassment cultivator, Daoist Master Bone Shine''s body was extremely resilient. In particr, his bones were near indestructible, and his body was only slightly warped by the immense spatial power, amounting to no substantial injuries.
Despite Shi Chuankong''s best efforts, there simply wasn''t much that he could do.
Meanwhile, Han Li raised a hand to make a beckoning motion, and a ck ring slipped off Daoist Master Bone Shine''s finger before flying into his grasp, following which a silver fire raven shot out of his shoulder before engulfing Daoist Master Bone Shine''s entire body.
Shi Chuankong had witnessed the power of the Essence Fire Raven in the past, and he knew that Daoist Master Bone Shine''s fate was sealed. Sure enough, as soon as the silver mes engulfed his lifeless body, he was immediately set alight, and a string of cracks and pops rang out as Han Li stared into the fire in an absentminded fashion.
"What''s wrong, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Nothing, I was just thinking about what Daoist Master Bone Shine said when he first ran into us. It seemed like he wasn''t in a very sound frame of mind," Han Li replied.
"Who cares? The important thing is that he''s no longer going to pose a threat to us anymore," Shi Chuankong said with a wide smile.
Around fifteen minutester, the Essence Fire Raven returned to Han Li, and at this point, Daoist Master Bone Shine had already beenpletely reduced to ashes.
The fire raven shrank down rapidly in size beforending on the palm of Han Li''s hand, then opened its beak to release a vibrant and colorful finger bone.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, then covertly stowed the finger bone away.
"Let''s keep going," he said as he turned to Shi Chuankong, and with that, the two of them resumed their journey.
Shortly thereafter, Shi Chuankong arrived at the irregr object that was hovering mid-air before drawing to a halt.
"Why did you stop?" Han Li asked.
"We''ve arrived," Shi Chuankong replied.
"You''re telling me this is Night Sun City?" Han Li asked.
"It''s a long story, but to keep it concise, this divine artifact is known as a spatial domain key, and it serves as an entrance to Night Sun City," Shi Chuankong exined.
"I see. No wonder it feels like it''s both right in front of me, but also somewhere far away. I presume it must be something that exists in multiple nes of space at once. It makes sense now why you were saying that even a Dao Ancestor may not be able to move it," Han Li said with an enlightened expression.
"Come, let''s enter the city," Shi Chuankong said with a smile, then flipped a hand over to produce a ck badge, which he pressed into the lowest branch that was extending out of the spatial domain key.
The ck badge immediately adhered itself to the branch like a ma before slowly fusing into the branch, immediately following which a burst of ck light emerged, giving off formidable spatial fluctuations.
Shi Chuankong gestured for Han Li to follow him, then stepped into the ck light, and Han Li quickly followed suit.
The two of them vanished from the spot, and the ck light also faded, while the spatial domain key returned to normal.
Han Li was ovee by a rush of dizziness, and bursts of spatial power were tearing at him from all directions, but this dizzy sensation only persisted for a brief moment before he found himself in a bright space.
There was a bright sun hanging in the sky, while down below was a stretch of short hills and lush greenery, presenting a refreshing sight to behold.
The devilish qi here was roughly twice as abundant as it was outside, and there were dark purple clouds up above that were formed by devilish qi.
Inparison, the world''s origin qi in the area was far sparser.
"So this is where Night Sun City is," Han Li mused as he inspected his surroundings.
"That''s right. This ce is known as the Night Sun Domain. It''s a domain that my father created. It''s good to finally be back," Shi Chuankong sighed.
"The Devilish Monarch created this entire domain?" Han Li eximed.
Creating a small secret area wasn''t overly difficult, and it was something that even he was currently capable of. It was only a matter of creating a small and rtively stable space, and he could easilyplete the task given sufficient materials and time investment.
However, this space waspletely different. It was no different from the Devil Realm outside, and it even had its own set of celestial bodies. Han Li couldn''t even begin to imagine how one would go about creating such an extraordinary domain.
At the same time, he was struck by a sense of inspiration and motivation. As long as he continued to work hard in his cultivation, there was no reason why he couldn''t also reach that level someday.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Shi Chuankong summoned his ck flying carriage, and it set off with him and Han Li onboard.
However, after flying for a while, Shi Chuankong''s brows furrowed slightly, and he said, "It''ll take us about half a month to reach Night Sun City from here, and we''ve already taken too long to get here, so we need to speed up a little."
Immediately thereafter, a purple talisman flew out of his sleeve, then released a flurry of purple runes that epassed the entire flying carriage.
The front of the carriage immediately became curved to form the head of a bird, while a pair of huge purple wings that were each over a hundred feet in length emerged.
Afterpleting this transformation, the flying carriage''s speed was significantly enhanced, and it sped through the air as a streak of dark purple light.
"Seeing as your brothers and sisters are already aware that our target destination is Night Sun City, the journey ahead may not necessarily be smooth sailing, so we should be on our guard," Han Li cautioned.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li. If we were in the outside world, we''d naturally have to proceed with caution, but this entire Night Sun Domain is under my father''s supervision, so no one would dare to attack us here. Now that we''ve made it into the Night Sun Domain, we''repletely safe," Shi Chuankong assured.
Han Li was slightly awestruck by the Devilish Monarch''s unfathomable power upon hearing this, but at the same time, a sense of dismay also welled up in his heart.
He was certainly not a fan of being under constant supervision.
Shi Chuankong seemed to have sensed his apprehension, and he continued, "Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, my father will keep an eye on the Night Sun Domain for security purposes, but he won''t go out of his way to spy on anyone in particr."
Han Li nodded in response, then said, "Fellow Daoist Shi, there are some things that I''ve been meaning to ask you. Now that we''re close to reaching Night Sun City, I would like you to enlighten me."
Shi Chuankong didn''t seem surprised at all to hear this, and he prompted, "Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Li."
"You''ve returned to Night Sun City on this asion to take part in some type of important event, right? I don''t know exactly what''s happening, but there have been multiple instances over the course of our journey where I''ve heard people mention that a significant event is currently unfolding in the city," Han Li said.
"I was going to exin this matter to you once we reached Night Sun City, but seeing as you''ve raised the question, I may as well exin it now. You are correct to assume that I''ve returned to Night Sun City over an important matter. This matter concerns the entire Holy Realm, and it requires me to safely deliver the Virata Lute no matter what," Shi Chuankong replied.
"What is this important event?" Han Li asked.
"The next Holy Monarch Election," Shi Chuankong replied with a faint smile.
"Why is there an election being held? Is your father abdicating his throne?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
After oveing the five decays, one would attain true immortality, so there would be no reason for the Devilish Monarch to hand over the throne to a sessor unless some type of unforeseen mishap had taken ce.
"I''m afraid I don''t know exactly why an election is being held. Many years ago, my father suddenly dered that he wanted to select the next Holy Monarch, and no exnation was given," Shi Chuankong replied with tightly furrowed brows.
"Could it be that you''ve returned to Night Sun City in order to try and im the berth of sessor?" Han Li asked.
Chapter 822: Governing Talent
Chapter 822: Governing Talent
"I have zero interest in bing the Holy Monarch. Truth be told, I''m only returning the Virata Lute to Night Sun City in order to help my third brother," Shi Chuankong replied.
"You''re doing this for the third prince?"
"That''s right. Power is championed above all else in our Holy Realm, and there''s nock of cultivation prodigies among my siblings, the most prominent of which are my eldest brother, my third brother, my fifth sister, and my seventh brother. However, when ites to their ability to govern a realm, I don''t think even all of my other siblingsbined can hold a candle to my third brother," Shi Chuankong said as a look of admiration appeared in his eyes.
"If you ask me, I think you''re also very capable in that regard. At the very least, Grain Mountain City appeared to have been thriving under your hands," Han Li said.
"That''s only because I''ve been emting my brother''s methods. In reality, I can''t even hope to hold a candle to him," Shi Chuankong hurriedly replied.
"Is he really that impressive?" Han Li asked.
"Even from a young age, my third brother disyed exceptional talents and ambitions, and he began helping our father govern Night Sun City very early on. Back then, our Holy Realm had just endured a war against the Heavenly Court, and the entire realm was rife with unrest. Many powerful forces were not content to submit to the rule of Night Sun City, and the realm was gued by extensive infighting.
¡°People everywhere were suffering, but my father had sustained severe injuries and was too busy resting in seclusion to worry about anything else. His n was to send out his children to quell the unrest across thend, but everyone with the exception of my third brother was too afraid of the arduous task ahead.
¡°He was the only one who set off with his subordinates to personally attend to the problems guing the realm, and he managed to subdue all of the dissenting forces over the course of close to three centuries. After that, he strongly promoted business and trade, establishing many trading houses and eventually restoring our Holy Realm to its former prosperity.
¡°That''s why he''s so revered and respected everywhere," Shi Chuankong said with a look of admiration in his eyes.
"It certainly doesn''t sound like he''s an extraordinary man. After all, cultivation isrgely dependent on aptitude, and in a way, it''s much harder to be a shrewd ruler. The Devil Realm isn''t asrge as the Holy Realm, but the rtionship between cultivators and mortals are closer and moreplex, and it''s definitely not easy to manage those rtions. Even the slightest misstep could result in dire consequences," Han Li said.
"Indeed. Truth be told, there were many things that my brother did that I previously didn''t understand, and it was only through my travels, particrly the time I spent in the Immortal Realm, that I gradually came to realize just how much foresight he possessed. He was the one who advised Father to propose a truce with the Heavenly Court, and that was the beginning of our Holy Realm''s path to recovery," Shi Chuankong said.
"The third prince sounds like a very admirable and capable man. Why has he not been selected as sessor to the throne?" Han Li asked.
"My brother has earned himself many admirers for quelling the unrest in our Holy Realm, but in the process, he also made many enemies. Those people have allied themselves with my eldest brother and the others, and they''ve been constantly opposing my third brother. On top of that, my father acknowledges how capable my third brother is, but their personalities differ quite drastically.
¡°My father is more domineering and decisive, and his style is to rule with power and an iron fist, while my third brother is quite averse to killing and ruling by force, so they often get into arguments over their conflicting political views. In contrast, my eldest brother and the others are constantly sucking up to our father, so it''s been rather difficult for my third brother to win our father''s favor," Shi Chuankong sighed.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
"I wonder how things are going in Night Sun City right now. For the sake of our Holy Realm''s future, I have to help my third brother clinch the role of sessor," Shi Chuankong dered in a determined voice.
Han Li remained silent, and the two of them continued onward.
Around half a month flew by in the blink of an eye.
The Night Sun Domain was enormous, and due to the abundance of devilish qi, it was also very rich with all types of resources. Hence, there was a far higher concentration of mortal nations and settlements in here than outside.
Even though the two of them were traveling at full speed without making any attempt to conceal themselves, they weren''t confronted by any enemies, and as time wore on, Han Li gradually began to rx.
As they drew closer and closer to Night Sun City, the terrain began to tten out, and a vast in appeared up ahead.
Plots of farnd had been established on the boundless in, and a type of golden grain that was several dozen feet tall was nted in those plots ofnd. The grains themselves were half a foot in length each, and they were shaped like des.
Countless yellow-robed farmers were tending to the plots of farnd, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.
The thriving grains resembled a sea of gold that rippled whenever a light breeze blew past, and it was truly a marvelous spectacle.
"This ce is called the Scorching Golden ins, and it''s the most fertile ce in the entire Holy Realm, so the entire area has been converted into farnd. Most of the Golden Saber Rice produced here is sent to Night Sun City, while the rest is transported to other regions in the Holy Realm," Shi Chuankong exined.
"This Golden Saber Rice is giving off quite a bit of devilish qi. What is it used for?" Han Li asked.
"Golden Saber Rice is found only in our Holy Realm, and consumption of it will enhance one''s cultivation base and physical constitution. Some of the people in our Holy Realm who pursue the path of bodily refinement will begin eating Golden Saber Rice from birth, and they attain incredibly powerful bodies from doing so.
¡°In fact, some of the top-tier bodily refinement cultivators in Night Sun City could perhaps even stand toe to toe against you in terms of physical prowess," Shi Chuankong exined with a smile.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Shi, my physical constitution is nothing special. When ites to bodily refinement, devilish beings have a natural advantage over beings of the True Immortal Realm," Han Li replied with a wave of his hand.
Shi Chuankong was quite pleased to hear this, and he nodded in response.
After walking for a while longer, Han Li observed, "It feels like not all of the Golden Saber Rice here is equal in caliber. Are they split up into different grades?"
"No. Just like other spirit nts, Golden Saber Rice isn''t ranked by grade, but by age instead. You seem to be quite interested in this Golden Saber Rice, Fellow Daiost Li, " Shi Chuankong remarked.
"I have an interest in all of the exotic treasures of your Holy Realm," Han Li chuckled in response.
"This stuff is hardly an exotic treasure. Once we reach Night Sun City, I''ll get my brother to collect a batch of the finest Golden Saber Rice for you," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li replied with a smile of his own.
In reality, the reason that he was so interested in this Golden Saber Rice was because he had seen the name once before, specifically on a dao pill recipe for the Vajra Bone Pill that he had found in Gongshu Jiu''s storage tool.
Golden Saber Rice was the primary ingredient for this pill, but the recipe specifically demanded Dragon-veined Golden Saber Rice, which was perhaps some type of special Golden Saber Rice.
Ever since he achieved full mastery of the Great Universe Origin Arts, he had never been able to find a suitable bodily refinement cultivation art, so his physical cultivation hadpletely stagnated.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn''t have been a concern, but upon mastering the fifth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, he could sense that his body was beginning to struggle to contain his tremendous spiritual sense, so this was an area that he urgently needed to address.
The Vajra Bone Pill was a metal-attribute dao pill, but it could also enhance the consumer''s physical body.
With that in mind, Han Li was determined to secure some Dragon-veined Golden Saber Rice during the rest of his time in the Devil Realm.
The two of them flew onward for several more days before finally reaching Night Sun City. Over the course of their journey, Han Li had already learned much about the city from Shi Chuankong, but seeing the city in person was still quite a shock for him.
A white mountain range had appeared on the horizon up ahead, and its main peak extended all the way up into the clouds, presenting a spectacr sight that was majestic and daunting in equal measure.
An enormous river was flowing through the southern region of the mountain range, and there was no end to it in sight.
Looking at the river from afar, it resembled a giant white dragon that was resting on the ground, and it wasn''t any less breathtaking a sight to behold than the vast mountain range.
There were countless boats of different sizes on the surface of the river, and the entire area was clearly thriving.
Night Sun City was nestled in this gargantuan mountain range, and it epassed the entire mountain range, as well as part of the river. It was referred to as a city, but in reality, it easily rivaled the size of some nations.
The city walls were over ten thousand feet tall and constructed from giant blocks of ck stone that were extremely smooth and even, and countless tall buildings could be seen beyond the city walls.
Han Li could see that the buildings in Night Sun City were primarily very tall and narrow, and that was quite different from the styles of buildings that he had seen in other cities on the way here.
The white mountain range in the city stretched from the east to the west, while the river flowed almost perfectly parallel to the mountain range.
The entirety of Night Sun City was split up into three areas, and at this moment, Han LI and Shi Chuankong were standing to the south of the city.
The buildings in the area that was closest to them were all quite short, and they were extremely densely packed with virtually no gaps between them.
The buildings in the central area were clearly far taller, and they were far more spaced apart as well. The buildings were also interspersed with countless wide streets that were packed with people and carriages, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.
As for the northernmost area, that was concealed behind the white mountain range, so it was out of sight from where Han Li and Shi Chuankong were standing.
These three areas were all enormous, and any single one of them was farrger than even thergest cities that they had witnessed on the way here.
Chapter 823: Eighth Prince
Chapter 823: Eighth Prince
"This city truly lives up to its status as the capital of the Devil Realm," Han Li praised.
"Night Sun City has already been around for countless years, and it''s only reached its current scale after countless renovations and expansions. The mountain range that you see right now is called the White Wave Mountain Range, while the river is called White Wave River.
¡°Both of them contain holy veins of extremely high calibers, and they''re referred to as the holy mountain and holy river of our realm. That''s why the capital city was established here," Shi Chuankong said with a hint of pride in his voice.
"This does sound like the ideal location to establish the capital city. Is this also a city where cultivators and mortals coexist?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. The vast majority of the city''s poption actually consists of mortals and low-grade cultivators, and they reside in the outermost Laka Area. As for mid-grade cultivators at or above the Spatial Tempering Stage, they''ll generally have their own cave abodes or ns, and most of them reside in the middle Maha Area. That''s the most prosperous of the three areas, and it''s home to countless shops, as well as the headquarters of our Vast Origin House.
¡°The innermost Naraka Area is reserved for nobility and cultivators at or above the True Immortal Stage. For all other residents of the city, entry to the area is strictly prohibited unless they hold a permit," Shi Chuankong exined.
"If we enter the city from here, we''ll need to pass through both the Laka Area and the Maha Area before we reach the imperial city, and there are flight restrictions in the city, so we''ll only be able to travel by carriage, and that would take too long. Hence, we should fly around to the northern side of the city, then enter from there," Shi Chuankong said.
This was Shi Chuankong''s territory, so Han Li naturally raised no objections to his arrangements.
Thus, the two of them flew tight against the city wall, and it didn''t take long before they reached a northern entrance of Night Sun City.
There were many entrances all around the city, and there had been a long line gathered in front of the southern entrance from before, but there were far fewer people at this northern entrance.
"There''s a very stringent screening process for people entering and exiting the city, and each of the city gates has a Great Thousand Mirror Holy Array that can see through all disguises. Hence, you''ll have to remove all disguises before you enter the city. Otherwise, you''ll be seen as a spy," Shi Chuankong said as he made a hand seal, and ayer of ck light shed over his body as he reverted to his true appearance.
Han Li took a nce at the giant gray stone mirror hanging above the city gate, and sure enough, it was releasing bursts of gray light that shone down upon every single person entering the city.
He activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes and carefully observed the stone mirror for a moment, following which his brows furrowed slightly as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
Momentster, he made a hand seal, and a burst of bright azure light emerged over his body, while a string of cracks and pops rang out from all of his joints.
In the blink of an eye, he had also reverted back to his original appearance.
"So this is what you look like, Fellow Daoist Li. Rest assured, people from the True Immortal Realm aren''t very wee here, but you''ll be fine when you''re with me," Shi Chuankong assured as he made his way toward the city gate, followed closely by Han Li.
Two of the armored guards in front of the city gate immediately stepped forward, and one of them asked, "Who are you? This is the entrance to the imperial city!"
Meanwhile, the other guard''s gaze fell upon Han Li, and a look of clear enmity instantly appeared in his eyes as he eximed, "You''re an Immortal Realm cultivator!"
All of the other guards immediately turned to Han Li with clear animosity in their eyes upon hearing this, and some of them had even pointed their weapons straight at him.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, but he remained silent.
"He must be a spy from the Immortal Realm! Detain him!"
The one who had spoken was a brawny man with a coarse beard, and he was d in a suit of dark purple armor as he approached Han Li in an intimidating fashion.
The nearby guards immediately flipped their hands over to produce lengths of thick purple chains that were etched with purple runes before surrounding Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
"What''s going on over there?"
"There''s an Immortal Realm cultivator, and Captain Luo Tie says that he''s a spy."
"Really?"
All of the people near the city gate immediately gathered around to see what the source of themotion was.
"Stand down! He''s my subordinate!" Shi Chuankong yelled in an authoritative voice.
"Your subordinate? Who the hell are you supposed to be? Get out of the way or we''ll detain you as well!" the brawny man by the name of Luo Tie scoffed in a cold voice.
"I am Shi Chuankong! How dare you speak to me with such tant insolence?" Shi Chuankong yelled in a furious voice.
"Shi Chuankong? Isn''t that the thirteenth prince''s name? He''s been away from Night Sun City for many years, could it be that he''s suddenlye back?"
"Have you seen the thirteenth prince before? Are we sure this man isn''t an imposter?"
"The thirteenth prince has barely made any public appearances in Night Sun City before, so I''ve never seen him."
"You''re the thirteenth prince? What a joke! The thirteenth prince left Night Sun City and the Holy Realm many years to carry out a secret mission for the Holy Monarch, and there''s been no news of him ever since. If you im to be the thirteenth prince, then how about you show me your Heaven Sealing Token as proof?" Luo Tie sneered.
"Who do you think you are to be asking for proof of identity from me?" Shi Chuankong snapped in a cold voice.
A Heaven Sealing Token was an identification token that was assigned to each prince by the Holy Monarch, and it was also a powerful devilish treasure that contained some of the Holy Monarch''s power, able to protect its owner in times of peril.
Back in the Gray Realm, Shi Chuankong had been caught in the crossfire in a battle between two Dao Ancestors, and he was only able to survive thanks to the protection of his Heaven Sealing Token. After that, the Holy Monarch had used the power in the token to activate the Virata Lute and teleport him and Han Li back to the Devil Realm.
However, the Heaven Sealing Token had been overexerted to the point of destruction while activating the Virata Lute.
"So you don''t have a Heaven Sealing Token? If you ask me, you''re just an imposter! How dare you impersonate the thirteenth prince! Guards, detain both of these scoundrels!" Luo Tie yelled as he waved a hand through the air, and the purple chains in the hands of the armored guards immediately shot forth toward Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this. He wasn''t expecting these people to actually dare to attack Shi Chuankong.
"How dare you!" Shi Chuankong roared in a furious voice as he swept a sleeve through the air, and a giant purple hand appeared out of thin air, then grabbed onto the oing chains before tugging on them violently.
All of the chains were instantly snapped, and the armored guards were sent flying with blood gushing out of their mouths.
"You dare to attack the city guards? Are you trying to rebel?" Luo Tie roared as he thrust a palm forward, and a gust of fierce devilish wind swept out of his body, then transformed into a ck wind dragon that pounced at Shi Chuankong.
Countless ck runes were swirling around within the wind dragon, and it was giving off a cial aura that caused the nearby space to twist and warp.
A look of intense righteous fury appeared in Shi Chuankong''s eyes as he pointed a finger forward, and a beam of silver light shot out of his fingertip, instantly piercing straight through the ck wind dragon''s body.
The ck wind dragon dissipated with a despairing wail, while the beam of silver light continued onward without pause, reaching Luo Tie in the blink of an eye.
Luo Tie''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he shot back in retreat while opening his mouth to release a burst of ck light that shed against the silver light.
A faint crack rang out, and the burst of ck light was snapped into two. Inside was a ck flying dagger, and it had also been snapped in half.
As for the beam of silver light, it wasn''t even slowed down in the slightest, and it was on the verge of piercing through Luo Tie''s head.
As a prince, he had never endured such humiliation in Night Sun City, let alone at the hands of a mere captain, and there were many people in the city observing the unfolding events both openly and in secret, so if he didn''t stand up for himself, not only would he be denounced a coward, the third prince would also be made aughing stock by extension.
Right at this moment, a streak of golden light shot forth, and it wrapped itself around the beam of silver light in a sh, causing it to explode on the spot.
"Long time no see, Chuankong! You''ve been gone for a very long time, and I''ve been very worried about you. Now that you''re back safe and sound, I can finally heave a sigh of relief."
A tall and imposing purple-robed figure emerged from the city gate.
This man was even taller and more muscr than Luo Tie, and his skin was golden in color, giving him the appearance of a golden statue.
Shi Chuankong''s expression darkened slightly at the sight of the purple-robed man, and he offered no response.
"It''s the eighth prince!"
"So that really is the thirteenth prince!"
"I knew he looked familiar!"
All of the nearby bystanders were looking at Shi Chuankong with stunned expressions.
At the same time, many of them had also turned to look at Luo Tie with a hint of sympathy intermingled with schadenfreude in their eyes.
"What''s gotten you so worked up, Chuankong? You were going to kill Luo Tie if I hadn''t intervened," the purple-robed man said.
"He openly disrespected a prince and ordered to have me detained. Should he not be killed for these transgressions?" Shi Chuankong asked in a cold voice.
Han Li had overheard from the bystanders that the purple-robed man was the eighth prince, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
On the way to Night Sun City, Shi Chuankong had already briefed Han Li on his rtionship with his siblings, so Han Li knew that the eighth prince was allied with the eldest prince.
Chapter 824: Immovable
Chapter 824: Immovable
Han Li took a quick nce at the eighth prince to find that he was the mid-High Zenith Stage, so his cultivation base wasn''t particrly advanced, but his physical body was extremely formidable, and he was giving off a mountainous aura.
Devilish beings had a natural advantage when it came to bodily refinement, and as the son of the Holy Monarch, his cultivation aptitude was definitely not going to beckluster. On top of that, he would also have ess to the best cultivation arts and resources, so in terms of physical constitution alone, he could perhaps even stand toe to toe against Han Li.
Luo Tie took a nce at the eighth prince, then said, "Recently, the Holy Monarch ordered us to tighten security measures and require all people entering and exiting the Naraka Area to disy proof of identity. I had never seen the thirteenth prince before, and he was unable to provide any proof of identity. Hence, I concluded that he had to be a spy, so I attempted to detain him for the safety of the city. I meant no offense."
"You see, Chuankong? It''s all just a misunderstanding. Luo Tie was only transferred to Night Sun City during the time that you were away, so he never met you, and he was only doing his job. He''s my subordinate, so do me a favor and let him off the hook. What do you say?" the eighth prince asked with a smile.
"He''s your subordinate? Father has assignedmand over the city guards to you?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"That''s right. It really is quite a pain, but I couldn''t turn down our father''s orders," the eighth prince grinned.
Shi Chuankong''s expression darkened even further upon hearing this.
"Luo Tie,e and apologize!" the eighth prince ordered.
"My sincerest apologies, Your Highness. Please forgive me."
Luo Tie delivered an apology as instructed, but he didn''t appear apologetic at all. In fact, there was even a hint of mockery in his eyes.
Shi Chuankong was furious to see this, but he merely harrumphed coldly before making his way into the city, paying no further heed to the eighth prince and Luo Tie.
The eighth prince was far more powerful than he was, and the third prince''s people still hadn''t arrived yet, so he would only be making even more of a fool out of himself if he were to press this matter any further.
Han Li was just about to follow along when the eighth prince suddenly stepped into his path.
"Hold on a second."
"What is it now?" Shi Chuankong asked in a disgruntled voice.
"Chuankong, you can enter the city, but this Immortal Realm cultivator needs toe with us," the eighth prince said, and as soon as his voice trailed off, Luo Tie immediately raised a hand, upon which all of the armored guards surrounded Han Li with their weapons pointed directly at him.
A cold look shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
Shi Chuankong immediately red up with rage once again.
"What are you doing? I already said that this man is my subordinate!"
"Our father ordered me to tighten the security measures and closely examine everyone entering and exiting the city. As a prince, you''re naturally exempt from this process, but this man is from the True Immortal Realm, so we must examine him thoroughly in case he''s trying toe into the city with some unsavory motives.
¡°I''m doing this for the safety of the city, so I''m sure I''ll have your understanding and support on this matter, right?" the eighth prince said with a faint smile.
"You''re going too far!" Shi Chuankong snapped in a furious voice.
"This is my duty, so I suggest you stay out of this," the eighth prince said in a cold voice. "Guards, lock this man up and take him to the barracks. I''m going to personally interrogate him."
Several purple chains immediately shot forth toward Han Li from all directions.
A cold look shed through Han Li''s eyes, and he was just about to retaliate when he decided against it, merely allowing the chains to wrap themselves around his body.
A hint of disappointment shed through the eighth prince''s eyes upon seeing this.
He had thought that Han Li would retaliate, at which point he would have an excuse to detain him. After that, he would beat Han Li to the verge of death and humiliate Shi Chuankong even further in front of everyone.
However, now that Han Li was giving up without a fight, he naturally had no reason to administer any physical punishment.
Having said that, this was not a cause for concern. Once Han Li was detained, he would be able to easily frame him for any crime that he pleased.
"Take him away!" the eighth prince ordered, then turned and began making his way into the city.
However, he had only taken a few steps when he realized that something was amiss, and he turned around to discover that all of the armored guards were tugging on their chains with all their might, but Han Li remained firmly rooted to the spot, not moving even a single inch.
Shi Chuankong was just about to throw all caution to the wind and intervene by force, but he immediately stopped in his tracks upon seeing this.
After a few moments of watching the armored guards struggle with all their might to no avail, someone suddenly burst intoughter from the crowd of bystanders.
"What the hell are you idiots doing?! Luo Tie, take him away!" the eighth prince snapped in a cold voice.
"Yes, Your Highness!" Luo Tie immediately replied, then took a step forward, and a purple chain that was several times thicker shot out of his sleeve before hurtling directly toward Han Li.
Once again, Han Li made no attempt to evade and simply allowed the chain to wrap itself around his body.
A cold sneer appeared on Luo Tie''s face upon seeing this, and a series of ck spots appeared over the purple chain at his behest.
Countless thin ck threads then shot out of the ck spots, and they immediately wrapped themselves around Han Li''s body as well.
"What now, you arrogant little bastard? Your immortal spiritual power has beenpletely sealed away by my ck Bamboo Threads!" Luo Tie chortled with glee.
The frosty look on the eighth prince''s face eased slightly upon seeing this.
Meanwhile, Han Li looked down at the ck threads around his body, and a hint of disdain shed through his eyes.
"Get over here!" Luo Tie roared as he tugged on his chain.
The chain instantly stretched taut with a loud ng, but once again, it was as if he were tugging on an immovable mountain.
An incredulous look appeared on Luo Tie''s face, following which he let loose a low roar, and a burst of dark golden light shed over his entire body.
In the blink of an eye, he had swelled to close to twice his original size, and his feet plunged into the ground all the way up to his ankles before he tugged on the chain once again.
However, Han Li remained standing calmly on the spot, not moving a single inch.
The eighth prince''s expression instantly darkened significantly upon seeing this.
The crowd of bystanders had erupted into chatter, and many of them were pointing at the eighth prince and the city guards with disdainful looks in their eyes, but they didn''t dare to say anything for fear of the eighth prince''s noble status.
Devilish beings championed power above all else, and even a majority of the mortal poption were formidable bodily refinement cultivators. Hence, in their eyes, it was extremely embarrassing that the city guards couldn''t even move a single human.
Shi Chuankong had been suffering humiliation this entire time, and it was extremely cathartic for him that his eighth brother and the city guards had been knocked down a peg.
"If you want to take this subordinate of mine, then go right ahead!"
The eighth prince appeared in front of Luo Tie in a sh, then grabbed onto all of the chains as he ordered, "Useless fools! Get back!"
Luo Tie and the armored guards backed away with shameful looks on their faces.
"You possess a very impressive physical body for a human. Let me see how you fare against me!" the eighth prince said in a cold voice.
Han Li offered no response, continuing to stand on the spot with his hands sped behind his back.
A hint of fury shed through the eighth prince''s eyes upon seeing this, and all of a sudden, thirty-four specks of golden light appeared over his arms.
Immediately thereafter, a pair of giant golden arm projections, each of which was several hundred feet in length, erupted out of his arms, then grabbed onto the purple chains before giving them a forceful tug.
A burst of tremendous power erupted out of the pair of giant golden arms, causing all of the space within a radius of several hundred feet to warp and tremble.
All of the bystanders hurriedly flew back in retreat upon seeing this, and Shi Chuankong also took a few steps backward with a concerned look on his face.
Han Li raised an eyebrow, and thirty-six specks of starlight appeared over his chest and abdomen. At the same time, a thick membrane of light emerged over his body, and all of the ck Bamboo Threads were instantly snapped.
Despite the eighth prince''s best efforts, he continued to remainpletely unmoved.
A stunned look appeared in the eighth prince''s eyes upon seeing this, and he let loose a low roar, following which forty-five specks of golden light emerged over his chest and abdomen.
The two giant golden arms beside him instantly took on a more substantial form while extending outward, transforming into a giant devilish deity that was over a thousand feet tall in the blink of an eye.
The devilish deity had the head of an elephant, and its long trunk almost trailed all the way down to the ground. There was a pair of curved golden tusks protruding out of its mouth, and its enormous body was covered in thick bands of muscle.
The devilish deity let loose a thunderous roar as it began tugging on the purple chains with renewed vigor, and Han Li''s expression changed ever so slightly as he made a hand seal, upon which a series of true spirit projections flew out of his body, then began circling rapidly around him while giving off tremendous auras.
It was truly a sh of titans, and the nearby ground and city wall were both trembling violently.
All of a sudden, a loud crack rang out, and all of the purple chains were snapped in half.
The eighth prince shuddered, then stumbled back three steps before just barely managing to steady himself, while Han Li also shuddered slightly, but was able to remain standing on the spot.
All of the bystanders were astonished to see this.
None of them had anticipated that the almighty eighth prince would be unable to move a mere human.
Chapter 825: Defusing the Situation
Chapter 825: Defusing the Situation
"These chains don''t seem very sturdy at all. Maybe the city guard barracks should consider buying some chains from our Vast Origin House to ensure a quality product," Shi Chuankong said as he turned to the eighth prince with a hint of mockery in his eyes.
Han Li could only heave an internal sigh upon seeing this. With Shi Chuankong fanning the mes, this situation was most likely only going to escte further.
With Shi Chuankong present, Han Li didn''t have to worry about his own safety, but he had no idea how this situation was going to be brought to a close.
The eighth prince could barely contain his own fury, yet before he had a chance to do anything else, a cid voice suddenly rang out.
"It sure is crowded here. What''s going on?"
An ordinary-looking beast-drawn carriage had emerged from the city, and the voice hade from the cabin of the carriage.
An ecstatic look instantly appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon hearing this voice, and he immediately began approaching the carriage.
The eighth prince''s expression also changed slightly, and the golden light emanating from his body quickly faded, as did the golden devilish projection.
Han Li made a hand seal upon seeing this, and all of the true spirit projections instantly flew back into his body as well.
Right at this moment, a figure slowly emerged from the cabin of the carriage.
It was a man who appeared to be around thirty years of age with a head of shoulder-length silver hair, and his facial features were quite simr to Shi Chuankong''s. There was a warm and empathetic look in his eyes, and he was wearing white robe thatplemented his tall figure very well.
"Pokong!"
Shi Chuankong hurriedly strode over to the white-robed man before grabbing onto his hand with an excited expression.
A hint of tion shed through the white-robed man''s eyes as well, but his expression remained unchanged.
"Wee back, Chuankong."
All of the nearby bystanders immediately fell to their knees with reverent looks on their faces, and it was a far different reception from the one that the eighth prince had received.
The eighth prince gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, then turned his head to look elsewhere.
So that''s Shi Pokong, Han Li thought to himself as he observed the white-robed man.
"No need for formalities," Shi Pokong said as he swept a sleeve through the air, and all of the people on their knees were lifted to their feet by a burst of gentle force.
Shi Pokong''s aura was very peculiar, and even with Han Li''s spiritual sense, he was unable to detect Shi Pokong''s exact cultivation base.
Shi Pokong turned to the eighth prince, then said, "I understand that ensuring the safety of the city is of the utmost importance, but at the same time, we must take care not to blow matters out of proportion and cause unnecessarymotions. Otherwise, panic could erupt within the residents of the city, and that would only have a detrimental effect on security."
A hint of apprehension shed through the eighth prince''s eyes, and he replied, "That''s true, but this man is an Immortal Realm cultivator, and ording to the rules, we must first verify his identity and arrange an identity token for him before he can be allowed to enter the city. I only intervened as Chuankong insisted on entering the city with him before the correct procedure had been followed."
"His name is Li Feiyu, and he''s a personal guard of Chuankong''s. I''ve already informed Father of this, and here''s his identity token," Shi Pokong said as he swept a sleeve through the air to send a purple badge flying toward the eighth prince.
The eighth prince caught the badge and examined it briefly, then gave a reluctant nod.
In the next instant, the purple badge vanished from his grasp at his behest, then reappeared in front of Han Li, and the eighth prince''s expression darkened even further.
"Make sure to keep that token safe, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Pokong said to Han Li with a smile.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Han Li grabbed onto the badge to find that there was a golden dragon engraved onto one side, while the other side bore a portrait of him, and it was his true appearance.
Han Li''s pupils instantly contracted slightly upon seeing this.
He had only just revealed his true appearance not long ago.
"Let''s go," Shi Pokong said with a faint smile, and he made his way back into the city with Shi Chuankong on foot instead of taking the carriage.
Han Li followed along, and the stone mirror above the city gate released a burst of light that shone down upon the trio, but didn''t register any abnormalities.
A cold look shed through the eighth prince''s eyes as he watched the three of them depart.
There was a gray-robed man in the nearby crowd, and he also took a nce at Han Li''s trio from afar, then turned to depart. Before long, he had arrived in a peaceful corner, where he flipped a hand over to produce a purple disk beforemunicating something verbally into it.
A burst of purple light shed over the disk before immediately fading away, following which the gray-robed man vanished into the ground.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s trio entered Night Sun City, and beyond the city gate was a massive street that could fit over ten people side by side.
The street was lined with opulent buildings with not a single shop in sight, and there weren''t many people on the street, with most of them consisting of purple-robed imperial servants or patrolling guards.
Han Li took a brief nce at his surroundings, then looked up into the air, where there were head-sized ck balls hovering roughly a thousand feet up above at set intervals.
The balls were riddled with ck patterns and runes, and they were constantly releasing ck ripples that vanished into thin air.
The space near them was also filled with a type of pervasive invisible force, and upon noticing the object of Han Li''s intrigue, Shi Chuankong exined, "What you''re seeing is a flight restriction created by the array masters of the cities. Taking flight in the city is a serious crime thates with an extremely severe punishment."
Han Li nodded in response.
"I must apologize to you, Fellow Daoist Li. It was myck of foresight that almost led to your capture," Shi Chuankong continued with an apologetic expression.
"It''s fine. Those people were determined to start a conflict, so no matter how prepared we were, there''s no way we would''ve been granted smooth entry into the city," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"I suppose you''re right. Thank heavens Pokong arrived in time," Shi Chuankong said as he turned to Shi Pokong with a smile.
"You never think things through properly before you act. I''m sure you''re aware of what things are like in the city right now. Prior to entering the city, you should''ve notified me, and I would''ve arranged for someone to escort you into the city," Shi Pokong sighed.
"You''re right, I''ll be sure to remember that for next time," Shi Chuankong replied in a casual manner, clearly not taking the matter seriously.
Shi Pokong could only shake his head with a wry smile upon seeing this.
All of a sudden, an excited look appeared in Shi Chuankong''s eyes as he began, "Pokong, while I was in the Immortal Realm..."
"This is not the ce to talk, let''s get back to my manor first," Shi Chuankong interjected, then dragged him onto a nearby carriage.
Han Li was supposed to be Shi Chuankong''s personal guard, so it was inappropriate for him to ride in the carriage with the two princes. Hence, he could only sit with the coach driver outside the cabin.
The carriage sped away into the distance, and before long, it reached a grand manor, above the entrance of which was a que that read "Bnce Fall Duke''s Manor".
The manor was enormous, and the main gate was so wide that six or seven people could walk through it together side by side.
There were two fearsome-looking lion beast statues standing in front of the entrance, and the purplish-golden gates and guards in suits of vibrant armor stationed at the entrance all reflected the regal status of the manor.
Shi Pokong exited the carriage, then led Shi Chuankong and Han Li straight into a hall in the manor.
The interior of the manor was just as grand and opulent as it appeared on the outside.
Upon entering the hall, Shi Pokong turned to Han Li as he said, "Fellow Daoist Li, I can''t thank you enough for protecting Chuankong over the course of your journey together. Is there anything you want or anything I can do for you aspensation?"
"There''s no need forpensation, I''ve already made an agreement with Fellow Daoist Shi earlier," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
Shi Pokong faltered slightly upon hearing this, then turned to take a nce at Shi Chuankong before making no further mention of the subject. Instead, he said, "You must be tired after such a long journey, Fellow Daoist Li. I''ll get someone to apany you to your resting quarters."
A purple-robed servant quickly strode in from outside right on cue. It was a young man who was rather thin and short, and there was also a rather effeminate appearance about him.
The young man was an early-High Zenith cultivator, and his aura was very cold and calcting, much like that of a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce at unsuspecting passersby.
"Pleasee with me, Fellow Daoist Li," the young man said, and Han Li knew that Shi Chuankong had some private matters to discuss with his brother, so he promptly departed, following the purple-robed servant out of the hall.
"I can tell that Fellow Daoist Li possesses both remarkable powers and mental qualities. Where did you manage to find such an ally? Is he reliable, and what is this agreement that he mentioned earlier?" Shi Pokong asked.
"I met Fellow Daoist Li in the True Immortal Realm, and he''s saved my life many times, so he''s definitely trustworthy. As for our agreement..."
Shi Chuankong gave Shi Pokong a brief rundown of his agreement with Han Li.
"You owe him your life, so you should do everything in your power to repay him. Tracking down that woman by the name of Violet Spirit shouldn''t be too difficult, but it may not be so easy to recruit the services of the grand priest," Shi Pokong said with slightly furrowed brows.
"Aren''t you on very good terms with the grand priest? Surely it wouldn''t be too difficult to request his assistance," Shi Chuankong said.
"That was in the past. A few centuries ago, Father assigned Zhanfeng with the task of overseeing all of the priests, so right now, the grand priest has defected to Zhanfeng''s camp. Having said that,I''ll still do my best to try and recruit his services, and perhaps there''s still a chance," Shi Pokong exined.
"Why is Father doing this? Could it be that he really does intend to make Zhanfeng his sessor?" Shi Chuankong asked in a furious voice as he abruptly sprang to his feet.
Chapter 826: Deep Brotherly Bond
Chapter 826: Deep Brotherly Bond
"You can say whatever you want to me, but he''s still our eldest brother, so make sure you don''t speak about him like that in public. Several centuries ago, Zhanfeng was sent to the ck Water Mountain Range of the ck River Region, and he eradicated all of the bandits that hadid im to the area for many years.
¡°As a reward, Father granted him control over the priests. That on its own wouldn''t be a significant development, but it''s bing more and more difficult to glean Father''s thoughts ofte," Shi Pokong said.
"There''s no need to worry, Pokong. All this time that I spent in the True Immortal Realm hasn''t gone to waste," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and a silver lute appeared amid a sh of silver light.
"Is that the Virata Lute?" Shi Pokong asked as his eyes lit up slightly.
"That''s right!" Shi Chuankong confirmed with a smile before offering the lute to Shi Pokong.
"What are you doing, Chuankong?" Shi Pokong asked.
"Zhanfeng isn''t the only one who can appease our father! The Virata Lute is one of the most powerful treasures of our realm, and now that it''s been recovered, Father will for sure be ecstatic. If you offer up the lute to him tomorrow, you''ll definitely be rewarded!" Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
Shi Pokong stared at the Virata Lute for a moment, then pushed it away in a decisive fashion as he shook his head and said, "You were the one who recovered the Virata Lute, so you should be the one to present it to our father. I''m not so inept that I have to take your des and im them as my own."
"Pokong, what''s mine is yours, don''t be so stubborn! What point is there for me to present the Virata Lute to our father? It would be nothing but aplete waste!" Shi Chuankong protested.
"In all these years that you''ve been away, Father has mentioned you quite frequently, so I can tell that he thinks quite highly of you. On top of that, you''re also a prince, so I don''t think you should give up your im to the position of sessor so early," Shi Pokong said with a smile.
"What are you talking about? I traveled to the True Immortal to search for the Virata Lute for your sake, and I''ve never even thought about iming the position of sessor for myself!" Shi Chuankong eximed.
"Don''t think too lightly of yourself, Chuankong. You''ve managed the Vast Origin House extremely effectively over the years, and Father has been very pleased with you. You may becking in some areas, but you''re a very fast learner, so if Father disys intentions of nurturing you, don''t refuse. After all, you and I are in the same camp, so I''ll also be very happy if you can earn more of our father''s approval," Shi Pokong said.
Shi Chuankong was silent for a moment before asking, "Did something happen?
"No, don''t overthink it. It''s just that I was struck by some enlightenment recently, and I realized that while striving for the throne is important, there''s no need to obsess over it. Instead, it''s better to just go with the flow sometimes," Shi Pokong replied with a cid smile.
A surprised look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon hearing this.
Shi Pokong appeared to have quite a mellow personality, but he had previously expressed a very high degree of yearning for the throne, and it was no exaggeration to say that this was a lifelong pursuit of his.
"Don''t worry, I''m fine. It''s just that I made some progress in my cultivation base recently, and my mental state has also changed a little as a result," Shi Pokong reassured with a faint smile.
"Have you already reached the Great Epassment Stage?" Shi Chuankong eximed in an ecstatic voice.
"Not yet. The Great Epassment Stage is not so easy to reach, but I''ve definitely taken a step in the right direction," Shi Pokong replied.
Shi Chuankong wasn''t disappointed at all to hear this.
He knew how prodigious a cultivator Shi Pokong was better than anyone else, and he was confident that Shi Pokong wasn''t far away from the Great Epassment Stage.
"I''ll still do everything in my power to be the sessor, but don''t focus your efforts on helping me anymore, and certainly don''t go taking such massive risks in the future. Think about how distraught our mother would be on the other side if something were to happen to you," Shi Pokong sighed.
A look of mncholy appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon hearing this.
"In any case, it''s fantastic that you''ve returned safe and sound," Shi Pokong said with a wide smile, quickly changing the subject, and a smile reappeared on Shi Chuankong''s face as well.
"What have you been up to all these years?" Shi Pokong asked.
Shi Chuankong took a moment to collect his thoughts, then gave Shi Pokong a recount of his adventures in the True Immortal Realm.
He spoke about the search for the True Mantra Sect ruins, the descent into the Gray Realm, the eventual escape, and the journey from the Ten Hazards Mountain Range to Night Sun City.
In order to try and put Shi Pokong at ease, he glossed over all of the close calls that he had, but even so, the disapproval in Shi Pokong''s eyes only grew more and more pronounced as he listened to the story.
"In the end, we were able to kill Daoist Master Bone Shine before entering the Night Sun Domain, and here we are in Night Sun City," Shi Chuankong concluded.
The journey had been fraught with peril and close encounters with death, yet as Shi Chuankong spoke about it now, it was as if he were giving a recount of something that had taken ce a very long time ago.
"I didn''t think your journey to the True Immortal Realm would be so eventful. While it''s good that you were able to experience so much, you ced yourself in far too much danger. You are a prince of our race, so make sure you don''t ever put yourself in harm''s way like that again," Shi Pokong scolded with a stern expression.
Shi Chuankong nodded in response.
Even though this journey had been extremely perilous, it was also one that was filled with spectacr and exciting memories.
As a prince, he had grown up his entire life under the protection of those around him, and he didn''t know if he would ever get to go on such a riveting adventure again.
"That Li Feiyu is certainly an exceptional talent. Not only has he mastered thews of time, he possesses power far beyond his cultivation base. On top of that, it sounds like he greatly cherishes friendships, so make sure to remain on good terms with him. Perhaps he''ll be of great use to you in the future," Shi Pokong said.
"Brother Li and I have been through a lot together, and I have full trust in him. By the way, what are you nning to do about the ck Weasel King? In order to leave ck Weasel City, I had no choice but to ept some of his requests. I hope that hasn''t caused any trouble for you," Shi Chuankong said.
The Ten Hazards were enemies of the devilish empire, so if the other princes were to acquire evidence of their collusion with the ck Weasel King, then that would be a major problem.
"Of course not. It''s a good thing that you were able to forge an alliance with a Great Epassment cultivator. The ck Weasel King has actually already sent someone to contact me, but he''s a very cunning man, and I''m unable to see through his objectives for now," Shi Pokong replied with a thoughtful expression, and Shi Chuankong heaved a faint sigh of relief upon hearing this.
"Seeing as you''ve already ovee your baleful decay, you should focus on your cultivation and consolidate your cultivation base. I''ve already arranged for you to enter the Moon God Altar, and you can go in in seven days. Try and reach the High Zenith Stage before Fatheres out of seclusion," Shi Chuankong said.
"Father''s in seclusion again?" Shi Chuankong asked with a surprised expression.
"That''s right. Recently, Father has been going into seclusion more and more frequently, and no one knows what he''s up to," Shi Pokong replied.
"That''s rather strange," Shi Chuankong mused as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I''m sure Father can take care of himself. You must be quite weary after such a long journey. Go and have a good rest," Shi Pokong said with a smile.
Shi Chuankong rose to his feet upon hearing this, then turned to the Virata Lute beside him, but before he had a chance to say anything, Shi Pokong dered in a decisive voice, "I already told you that you recovered the lute, so you should be the one to present it to our father. ording to what you''ve told me, our father already knows that you were the one who recovered the lute, so if I were to present it to him, that would only raise his ire."
Shi Chuankong was silent for a moment, then heaved a faint sigh before stowing the Virata Lute away and leaving the hall.
Meanwhile, Shi Pokong remained seated in the room, and he looked on with a warm smile as Shi Chuankong departed.
Momentster, a serpentine ck shadow suddenly emerged from his shadow on the ground, and quickly transformed into that purple-robed young man from before.
However, this appeared to only be an avatar, and it wasn''t giving off any aura fluctuations.
"Your Highness, I''ve already arranged for Fellow Daoist Li to stay in the Long Pavilion Garden," the purple-robed young man reported as he fell to one knee.
"That man may be a friend of Chuankong''s, but he''s still from the Immortal Realm, and we don''t know what his objectives are, so make sure to keep a close eye on him. He''s far more powerful than his cultivation base suggests, so take care not to blow your cover around him," Shi Pokong instructed.
"Yes, Your Highness," the purple-robed young man replied, then vanished back into Shi Pokong''s shadow.
Shi Pokong remained in the hall for a while longer, then quickly departed.
......
There was a courtyard deep within Shi Pokong''s manor that wasplete with pavilions, pagodas, gardens, and flowing water, and it was even better constructed than many of the immortal gardens in the True Immortal Realm.
This was the ce that Shi Pokong had arranged for Han Li to stay. There were special restrictions around the entire courtyard that were constantly pumpingrge quantities of spiritual power into the courtyard.
Inside one of the rooms deep within the courtyard, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed, and streaks of light of different colors were shooting out of his sleeves before descending around the room, creating four or fiveyers of restrictions.
Only after all of those restrictions were in ce did Han Li conjure up a door of silver light, and he stepped into it to arrive in the Flower Branch domain.
He paid a visit to Weeping Soul to inspect her condition, but there were no improvements.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this. There was no way for him to treat Weeping Soul''s condition, and he could only hope that Shi Chuankong would be able to recruit the services of the grand priest.
With that in mind, a concerned look appeared on his face.
At the moment, things were extremelyplex and sensitive in Night Sun City. All of the princes and princesses were constantly plotting against one another, and he could easily be swept up in this mess if he weren''t careful.
Even though he was currently good friends with Shi Chuankong, he didn''t want to be entangled in all of this. However, he had already in several trusted subordinates of the other princes and princesses to protect Shi Chuankong, so it most likely wasn''t going to be easy for him to remain a passive bystander.
Chapter 827: Borrowing Books
Chapter 827: Borrowing Books
After some contemtion, Han Li shook his head to rid himself of his current train of thought before heaving a long sigh.
Under these circumstances, he was no longer able to control his own fate, so he would just have to adapt as the situation developed.
He sat down with his legs crossed, then pulled out the ck bone ring that was Daoist Master Bone Shine''s storage tool.
He and Shi Chuankong had been busy traveling all this time, so he never had the chance to inspect the contents of the ring.
With that in mind, he closed his eyes and injected a wisp of spiritual sense into the bone ring, and only after inspecting the contents of the ring for close to an hour did he reopen his eyes.
Immediately thereafter, eight white stone pirs that were around half a foot tall each appeared on the ground in front of him amid a sh of azure light, along with a white bone badge and a ck statue.
The eight stone pirs were giving off a faint white glow, and they were none other than the eight bone pagodas..
Every single one of the bone pagodas were giving off formidable bone witheringw power fluctuations, and even though there was currently no one controlling the pagodas, Han Li could still feel his own skeleton trembling incessantly within his body.
These eight bone pagodas were most likely Daoist Master Bone Shine''s bonded devilish treasures, and even though Han Li was unable to control them, he could definitely make use of the tremendousw powers that they contained.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he summoned his Profound Heavenly Gourd, and a burst of green light shot out from within before sweeping up the eight bone pagodas.
The pagodas were sucked into the Profound Heavenly Gourd, where they were shredded into pieces.
Eight balls of white light then emerged within the Profound Heavenly Gourd, every single one of which was giving off astonishingw power fluctuations.
An ted look shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this. These eight balls of bone witheringw powers were extremely formidable, and they could serve as trump cards for him in battle.
Right as he was about to withdraw his spiritual sense from the Profound Heavenly Gourd, the eight balls of bone witheringw powers suddenly converged before slowly fusing together.
A surprised look shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
It didn''t take long before the eight balls of white light fused as one into a collective ball of white light that was around twice to three times the size of each individual ball of light. Furthermore, a gray bone projection had appeared within the ball of light.
Thew power fluctuations released by this ball of light weren''t as formidable as before, but a sense of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart as he observed the gray bone projection.
However, his apprehension quickly turned into tion once again.
He could sense that this bone projection possessed tremendous power, and he was confident that it could pose a threat even to a Great Epassment cultivator.
After observing the bone projection for a while longer, he set down the Profound Heavenly Gourd, then picked up the white bone badge.
It was riddled with countless tiny characters, and it contained Daoist Master Bone Shine''s primary cultivation art, the "Bone Withering Scripture", as well as some of his cultivation insights.
The Bone Withering Scripture was fit to serve as the primary cultivation art for a Great Epassment Stage devilish cultivator, so it was definitely extremely valuable, but Han Li didn''t have much use for it.
His focus was still on cultivating thews of time, and he had already collected many time-attribute cultivation arts that he was still yet to fully master, so there was no way that he would distract himself by throwing even more cultivation arts into the mix.
With that in mind, he quickly skimmed through the contents of the cultivation art, but paid particr attention to some of the cultivation insights at the end.
A few minutester, he stowed the bone badge away, then picked up the ck statue.
The statue was only around the size of his hand, and it depicted a devilish deity with three heads and six arms, seated on the ground in a strange posture.
Han Li carefully inspected the statue for a while, following which a burst of translucent light shot out of his be before vanishing into the statue.
The statue immediately began performing a series of motions, as if it had sprung to life, and with each action that it performed, a passage of text would appear on its back.
However, Han Li couldn''t understand even a single character, and it seemed to be some type of ancientnguage.
Han Li didn''t know what this ck statue was, but for some reason, it had caught his attention, and that was why he had decided to summon it out of Daoist Master Bone Shine''s storage ring.
There were a total of twelve postures that the statue could adopt, and each posture corresponded with a different passage of text.
After some contemtion, Han Li flipped a hand over to summon a nk jade slip, using which he recorded the twelve passages of text in the hope that he would be able to unearth their meaning someday.
On top of these items, the storage ring also contained many other things like materials, Devilish Origin Stones, and pills.
However, none of these items were particrly valuable, so he couldn''t be bothered to sort through them.
What was worthy of note was that Daoist Master Bone Shine''s storage ring contained over two million Devilish Origin Stones, which was almost certainly going to be enough to cover his costs during his time in the Devil Realm.
Han Li summoned Daoist Xie to his side, then handed him the ck bone ring as he requested, "Brother Xie, please sort through the items in this storage ring for me. If you find anything useful inside, feel free to take it."
Daoist Xie nodded in response, then epted the ring before sitting down with his legs crossed.
Meanwhile, Han Li exited the Flower Branch domain before returning to his room, and at this point, it was already dark outside.
All of a sudden, he raised an eyebrow as he cast his gaze out of the room.
It was only for an instant, but he had detected an extremely faint aura outside, as if someone were spying on him.
After a brief hesitation, he decided not to investigate.
He was an outsider as far as those in the Devil Realm were concerned, so it was only to be expected that Shi Pokong would conduct surveince on him. As long as Shi Pokong didn''t take things too far, he was happy to turn a blind eye.
With that in mind, Han Li made his way into the inner chamber of his room, then sat down onto the bed with his legs crossed.
The night quickly passed by, and the sound of door-knocking rang out from outside the courtyard early the next morning.
Han Li opened his eyes and rose to his feet, then made his way out into the courtyard to discover that Shi Chuankong hade to visit.
"Did you have a good restst night, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Chuankong asked with a smile.
"It was the safest I''d felt in a very long time," Han Li replied with a smile, then stepped aside to allow Shi Chuankong into the courtyard.
"It''s alright, I won''t go in. I''ve only just returned to Night Sun City, and there are many matters for me to take care of. I came here on this asion as I have to speak to you about something," Shi Chuankong said as his face fell ever so slightly.
A hint of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart upon hearing this, and he prompted, "Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Shi."
"It''s about the grand priest. I raised the matter to my brotherst night, and he told me that the grand priest has pledged his allegiance to my eldest brother, so it won''t be so easy to recruit his services. However, we''re already searching for a solution, and I''m going to follow through on my promise to you no matter what, so please be patient," Shi Chuankong said.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he said, "I don''t want to exert any pressure on you, but I don''t have much mid-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade left. My current supply will onlyst another decade or two at most, so please hurry."
"You can rest assured of that, Fellow Daoist Li. My brother has already sent someone to purchase Purple Sun Warm Jade, and I''m sure they''ll return soon," Shi Chuankong reassured.
Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this.
"In that case, I can wait a while longer."
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, I made a promise to you, and I''ll do everything in my power to fulfill my promise as soon as possible," Shi Chuankong said with a determined expression.
"I''ll be counting on you then, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li replied with a nod.
"The second thing that I wanted to notify you of is that I''ll be going into seclusion to try and make a breakthrough to the High Zenith Stage, so I won''t be around for a while. If you need anything, feel free to speak to the servants in the manor," Shi Chuankong said.
"I have to congratte you in advance then, Fellow Daoist Shi. With your aptitude, a breakthrough to the High Zenith Stage is all but assured," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Thank you for your kind words, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong said with a smile of his own.
The two of them chatted for a while longer before Shi Chuankong departed.
Following Shi Chuankong''s departure, Han Li''s expression darkened slightly, and he remained standing on the spot for a moment before returning to his room.
Close to half a month flew by in a sh, and Shi Chuankongmenced his seclusion.
Han Li had stayed in his room this entire time with the exception of a visit that he had paid to Shi Chuankong prior to themencement of his seclusion.
He was nning to borrow some books from Shi Chuankong to see if he could find any information pertaining to Weeping Soul''s condition, as well as to try and find material rted to the cultivation of one''s spirit domain.
To this day, he still didn''t know how he had defeated Daoist Master Bone Shine, and Daoist Master Bone Shine''s spirit domain was different from any that he had ever seen before, so he was determined to learn more about the subject.
He had thought that Shi Chuankong would''ve been hesitant to lend him such resources, but to his surprise, Shi Chuankong had brought him a stack of beautiful books that very same afternoon.
Prior to his departure, he had informed Han Li that these books were from Shi Pokong''s private collection, so they were not to be damaged. Otherwise, he would be reprimanded by Shi Pokong. On top of that, there were restrictions ced on the books, so they could only be read and not replicated.
For the first few days, Han Li didn''t begin his reading, and only after taking a few days to familiarize himself with the environment of the Long Pavilion Garden did he begin browsing through the books.
There were around a dozen books in total, all of which had solid metal covers that were embossed with extremely elegant flowers and exotic beasts, while the pages were fashioned from some type of soft and pliable, yet durable beast hide.
The majority of the contents of the books consisted of material pertaining to spiritual damage or sealing nascent souls, and there were several devilish secret techniques in them that should''ve definitely been kept secret to outsiders.
However, Han Li wasn''t a devilish being, nor was he primarily using a devilish cultivation art, so he had no intention of cultivating these secret techniques.
Chapter 828: Visiting the Market
What was rather disappointing to Han Li was that he wasn''t able to find any cases in the books that perfectly matched Weeping Soul''s current condition.
Her soul was unharmed, and even if it had been, all of the damage would''ve already been remedied by the Purple Sun Warm Jade, and her nascent soul wasn''t sealed away, either.
In the end, Han Li could only heave a forlorn sigh and prepare to devise other ns to have Weeping Soul''s condition treated.
He wasn''t very optimistic about Shi Pokong''s ability to secure the grand priest''s help, now that the grand priest was in Shi Zhanfeng''s camp. After all, they were each other''s biggest rivals in the fight for the throne, and there was no way that Shi Zhanfeng would be willing to help Shi Pokong.
As Han Li continued to read through the books, he saw a great deal of material pertaining to spirit domains, and his eyes werepletely opened. Only after all of this reading did he discover that his previous understanding of spirit domains had been far too shallow.
He hade into contact with many spirit domains in the past, including even Creation Tier spirit domains like the ones unleashed by Xiao Jinhan and Feng Tiandu.
After that, he was able to manifest his own spirit domain under Mo Yu''s assistance, but thetter had withheld a lot of information from him, so he was only now able to systematically learn about spirit domains.
Even though there were two tiers of spirit domains, namely the Creation Tier and the Spiritform Tier, there was no set sequence for which one had to be attained before the other, and one didn''t necessarily have to reach the Creation Tier in order to manifest a domain spirit.
However, the majority of cultivators in the Immortal Realm would choose to cultivate their spirit domains to the Creation Tier before making a push to the Spiritform Tier.This was not difficult to understand. Essentially, it was like building a house. Only after the house had been built and furnishings had been arranged would one generally move in.
It wasn''t unfeasible to pursue the Spiritform Tier right away, but that would essentially be like forcing your domain spirit to reside in a barren wilderness, and that would have detrimental effects on the domain spirit''s future growth.
In any case, both the Creation Tier and the Spiritform Tier took an extremely long time to reach, and doing so required a huge investment of resources and dedication.
Even manifesting an ordinary spirit domain had proven to be quite a difficult endeavor for Han Li.
Manifesting a Creation Tier spirit domain was an endeavor that was going to take tens of thousands of years at the very least, and it required fusing items of different attributes thatplied with one''s Great Dao into the spirit domain to manifest objects like buildings, mountains, rivers, etc.
On top of that, this wasn''t a process that was guaranteed to seed as long as one was willing to invest the time. Just like in pill and tool refinement, there was a chance of failure, and in the case of failure, whatever was being fused into the spirit domain would be destroyed in vain.
Even if this endeavor proved to be sessful, it would still take extensive periods of time for the objects that were fused into the spirit domain to reach a significant scale. For example, it had taken Daoist Master Bone Shine millions of years to construct those eight bone pagodas in his spirit domain.
As for giving rise to sentient domain spirits in a spirit domain, that was even more difficult.
Very few cultivators were willing to spend so much time on this endeavor as it massively dyed their cultivation progress.
Hence, out of all of the high-grade cultivators that Han Li had encountered, even those at the Great Epassment and High Zenith Stages, most of them only had ordinary spirit domains, while Creation and Spiritform Tier spirit domains were exceedingly rare.
Through his readings, Han Li had developed a newfound appreciation for spirit domains of these two tiers, but he didn''t have that much time on his hands at the moment, so he wasn''t nning to pursue the two tiers in the near future.
Han Li sat down with his legs crossed, then closed his eyes and began to cultivate.
The past century or so had been spent entirely on the run, so he hadn''t actually even had a chance to carefully study the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra that he had rpiled from the five time-attribute cultivation arts.
Having already cultivated the Mantra Axis Scripture, the Water Divination Time Arts, and the Illusory Dawn Treasured Scripture, he had developed a good level of mastery over thews of time, so he wasn''t expecting to have much trouble cultivating the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
¡¡
Over three years flew by in a sh.
Han Li had alreadye out of seclusion, but Shi Chuankong was still in seclusion.
Over these past three years of cultivation, he hadn''t made much progress in the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, but he had discovered many misconceptions that he had previously held toward in his cultivation.
For example, he had assessed that he was currently at a level equivalent to mastery over the third level of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, so he had thought that he would be able to make very smooth progress in the cultivation art, but that proved not to be the case.
The Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra wasn''t just a simplebination of the five cultivation arts. Instead, it had be much more profound andplex, requiring one to perfectly integrate the five elements with one another.
Hence, in terms of overall progress, Han Li was actually still only on the first level. He hade out of seclusion not because anything had gone wrong during his seclusion. Instead, he hade out to check on Weeping Soul.
After paying her a visit, he discovered that her condition was still the same as before, and there wasn''t any news from Shi Pokong, either.
Ever since Shi Chuankong had gone into seclusion, Shi Pokong hadn''t visited Han Li even once, but Han Li could sense that the surveince on him had never ceased.
Waiting around like this wasn''t going to yield any positive oues, so Han Li decided to go out into Night Sun City to see if he could find any other way to save Weeping Soul.
On this day, Han Li emerged from the Long Pavilion Garden, and he was nning to travel out into the imperial city.
Along the way, he encountered many devilish cultivators in the manor, and all of them extended respectful bows to him as they had been informed of his rtionship with Shi Chuankong.
Right as he was about to leave the garden, he suddenly heard someone call out from behind him.
"Please wait a moment, Senior Li!"
He turned to discover a petite ck-robed woman jogging toward him.
The woman was very youthful in appearance and had a set of spritely facial features, and her aura indicated that she was an early-Body Integration cultivator.
"Do you have some instructions for me?" Han Li asked.
"Of course not, Senior Li, you think far too highly of me. I was instructed by His Highness, the third prince, to serve as your guide whenever you go out so you can find your way around the city," the woman hurriedly replied with a respectful curtsey.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this.
It seemed like Shi Pokong was still quite apprehensive of him.
The person that had been conducting surveince on him had suddenly left a few days ago, and Han Li had been wondering why that was the case. It seemed that whoever had been conducting surveince on him had been reced by this young woman.
Instead of continuing to conduct surveince on him in secret, Shi Pokong had openly sent this woman to apany him during his outings.
"Alright, I''ll be in your care then," Han Li said with a smile.
The young woman was ecstatic to hear this, and she said, "Please wait a moment, Senior Li, I''ll summon a carriage for us."
She removed what appeared to be a spirit beast pouch from her waist as she spoke, and a streak of azure light flew out from within before transforming into a pair of horse-like horned beasts with azure scales all over their bodies.
Connected to the pair of horse-like beasts was a luxurious ck carriage that had no cabin, but there was a soft chair that could fit three people side by side.
Han Li and the young woman got onto the carriage, following which thetter asked, "Where do you intend to go, Senior Li?"
"I want to visit the areas in the city where there''s an abundance of shops," Han Li replied.
"Alright, in that case, I''ll take you to the Imperial River Market. That''s one of the eightrgest markets in the Maha Area, and it''s also the one that''s closest to us," the young woman replied.
"What''s your name?" Han Li asked with a smile.
The young woman was clearly taken aback by this question, and she faltered slightly before replying, "My name is Hu Jingjing. You can call me Jingjing or Jing''er."
"Alright, let''s go," Han Li said with a nod.
Hu Jingjing nodded in response, and with a flick of the reins, the two horse-like beasts set off.
¡¡
The Naraka Area was enormous, and aside from the imperial city, it also contained a huge imperial garden.
The Imperial River Market was situated on the border of the Naraka Area and the Maha Area, and the two were separated by a branch of the holy river called the Imperial Garden River.
To the left of the river was the Maha Area, while the Naraka Area was on its right, and the two areas were connected by an enormous white bridge.
The Imperial River Market''s name was derived from the Imperial Garden River, and it stretched for dozens of kilometers along the bank of the river across from the Naraka Area.
"Once we enter the Imperial River Market, we can no longer travel by carriage, so we''ll have to continue on foot. This is a ruleid down by His Highness, Shi Zhanfeng, and it''s applicable to all of the markets in the city," Hu Jingjing informed in an apologetic manner.
"That''s fine," Han Li replied with a nod.
"What would you like to buy, Senior Li? The Imperial River Market is a massive ce, and if you wander through it aimlessly, you could go days without finding what you''re looking for," Hu Jingjing said.
"I''m not looking for anything in particr. I intend to have a wander through the market, so why don''t you tell me about the market''s roughyout?" Han Li replied with a smile.
Hu Jingjing duly obliged, giving Han Li a brief rundown of theyout of the Imperial River Market before also telling him about some of the otherrge markets in the city.
Chapter 829: Dismissal
While listening to Hu Jingjing, Han Li swept his gaze over the surrounding area to find that the bridge was packed with carriages and pedestrians.
Not far beside him was the railing of the bridge, and through it, he could see a series of giant water-dwelling beasts, carrying beautiful louchuans on their bags or dragging them along through the water.
"Thergest and most prestigious shop in the Imperial River Market is one by the name of the Flowing Wind Pavilion, and His Highness, Shi Zhanfeng, is the backer of the shop. Most of the items sold in the shop are of an extremely high caliber and also very expensive. The secondrgest shop is run by the Vast Origin House, and it''s only slightly inferior, but has the best reputation," Hu Jingjing introduced.
"Is the Vast Origin House headquarters here?" Han Li asked.
"No, the Vast Origin House shop in the Imperial River Market is only a branch, not the headquarters. The headquarters is also in the Maha Area, but it''s over in another market on the other side of the Maha Area," Hu Jingjing replied.
As they were speaking to each other, the carriage passed over the bridge and was stopped on the other side.
From there, the two of them got down from the carriage and started traveling on foot.
"Continue," Han Li instructed.
Hu Jingjing was very pleased that Han Li seemed to be listening very attentively to what she had to say, and she continued, "The Imperial River Market has shops that sell treasures and materials from both our Holy Realm and the Immortal Realm. In particr, there''s a shop called the Immortal Spirit Pavilion that specializes in selling wares from the Immortal Realm. ¡°As for the strangest shop in the market, that would have to be the Exotic Wares Shop. Some of the items sold in the shop are enough to create a massive stir in the entire city, while other items are downright inexplicable."
"That''s quite an interesting shop. Does it have any backers?" Han Li asked.
"The backer of the Exotic Wares shop is His Highness, the twelfth prince, Shi Jingkai," Hu Jingjing replied.
"Hu Jingkai... Does he share the same mother with the fifth princess, Shi Jingyan?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. His Highness is a very interesting man. He''s very handsome, but he has a very casual and easygoing personality, and he''s never invested much time and effort into cultivation, so he''s still at the True Immortal Stage. On top of that, he loves to travel and visit all types of secret areas and ancient immortal cave abodes.
¡°Many of the items sold in the Exotic Wares Shop were personally gathered by him over the course of his journeys," Hu Jingjing replied.
"He dares to visit all those ces even though he''s only at the True Immortal Stage? Her sister must be constantly worried about him," Han Li chuckled.
"Indeed. I''ve heard that Her Highness has arranged for three High Zenith cultivators and a Great Epassment cultivator to look after him. Otherwise, she wouldn''t be allowing him to embark on his journeys," Hu Jingjing replied with an amused smile.
The two of them reached the entrance of the market, and looking up at the tall stone archway, Han Li suddenly stopped in his tracks as he said, "Alright, you can go back now."
Hu Jingjing''s expression instantly stiffened upon hearing this, and a perplexed look appeared on her face.
Han Li''s smile faded as he said, "You know a little too much for a Body Integration cultivator. You''ve already led me to the Imperial River Market, and I know the way back, so there''s no need for you to apany me any longer."
The smile on Hu Jingjing''s face also gradually faded, and she extended an expressionless curtsey toward Han Li as she said, "As you wish."
Han Li gave her a dismissive wave, then made his way into the market.
Hu Jingjing looked on as Han Li slowly vanished into the crowd, and she stomped a foot onto the ground in frustration before making her way back toward the bridge.
After walking for a while, Han Li took a backward nce to find that Hu Jingjing hadn''t chosen to follow him in secret, and he gave a pleased nod before turning his attention to the shops that lined the street.
The buildings in the Imperial River Market weren''t as uniform in style as those in Shi Pokong''s manor. Instead, there was a wide range of styles on disy, and the streets were also extremely packed.
Most of the people on the streets appeared to be no different from humans, retaining only minor devilish traits such as the odd scale, horn, or pupils of various colors.
Of course, there were also some who lookedpletely identical to humans, so Han Li didn''t stick out much in the crowd.
After walking for a while, Han Li spotted a three-story pavilion that had been constructed more so in the style of the Immortal Realm, and hanging above its entrance was a que that read "Immortal Spirit Pavilion".
Compared with the neighboring shops, business was clearly a little slow for the Immortal Spirit Pavilion.
Han Li stepped into the shop, and as soon as he did so, he immediately felt a burst of abundant immortal spiritual power.
As it turned out, there was a massive array in the shop that could confine the surrounding spiritual qi and keep it enclosed within the shop.
A young man in a schrly robe emerged to approach Han Li, and he smiled as he asked, "What can I help you with today, esteemed customer?"
"I was wondering why this shop has been opened in the capital city of the Devil Realm," Han Li inquired in a casual manner.
"Just as there are devilish beings in the Immortal Realm, there are also human cultivators in the Devil Realm. You are precisely one of them, are you not? Our shop caters to foreign human cultivators like yourself," the young man exined, and Han Li nodded in response.
"Can I help you with anything today?" the young man asked.
"I would like to purchase some materials," Han Li replied, then pulled a list out of his sleeve before offering it to the young man.
The man epted the list, but as he inspected the items on it, his brows gradually began to furrow.
The young man hesitated momentarily, then said, "All of these premium materials. I''m afraid our shop doesn''t stock any of the materials on the list aside from the first two. However, if you''d like, I can consult my superiors to see if we can transfer stock over from elsewhere."
"That would be great. Ideally, I''d like to have all of the items on the list ticked off," Han Li replied with a nod.
"I''m afraid that''s going to be very difficult. These materials are all extremely precious, and by estimates, we won''t even be able to gather half of them, so you''ll have to find the rest elsewhere," the young man said in an apologetic manner.
"That''s fine, just gather what you can," Han Li replied in a nonchnt manner.
"Arge amount of resources must be expended to transfer stock over from the Immortal Realm, so if you''re not in a hurry, you can wait for the next scheduled stock transference between the two realms. If you require these items urgently, then we can transfer the stock earlier than scheduled, but that''s going to make the materials more expensive," the young man said.
"It''s fine, I can wait as long as it''s not too long a wait," Han Li replied.
"The next scheduled stock transference will be roughly in ten years," the young man said.
"How much extra will I have to pay to cover the transference cost?" Han Li asked.
"ording to the rules of our trading house, transferred stock will set you back an extra 10%," the young man replied.
"Can I pay using Immortal Origin Stones?" Han Li asked.
"Of course," the young man replied with a smile.
"Alright, then I''ll wait the ten years," Han Li confirmed.
"In that case, pleasee with me, and I''ll bring out the two materials that we have in stock for your inspection," the young man said.
¡¡
Inside an elegant courtyard in the imperial city.
Hu Jingjing rushed through the front yard, then drew to a halt in front of a beautiful white building at the very rear of the courtyard.
Back when she was with Han Li, she had only disyed an early-Body Integration Stage cultivation base, yet now, her cultivation base had swelled to the early-Golden Immortal Stage.
She was just about to speak when the door in front of her opened up inward on its own, and she hesitated momentarily before stepping inside.
The room that she stepped into was quite spacious, and there was a silver-haired man in a tight-fitting robe, gently stroking a brush over a huge canvas.
The painting on the canvas depicted a tall and steep ck mountain, standing on the summit of which was an indistinct figure, while a ferocious storm raged around them. At the very center of the painting was a bolt of white lightning that divided the entire image into two halves.
"What happened, Jingjing? Why are you back so soon?"
The silver-haired man was none other than Shi Pokong, and he turned to face Hu Jingjing with a warm smile on his face.
Hu Jingjing extended a respectful curtsey, then began to deliver a recount of what had happened.
She did so in an extremely detailed fashion, even going as far as to ry everything that Han Li had said to her word for word, as well as the expressions that he had disyed during their interactions.
Shi Chuankong crossed his arms as he listened in silence, and only after Hu Jingjing hadpleted her recount did he ask, "You didn''t try to follow him in secret after he chased you away, did you?"
"You told me not to overstep any boundaries, so I didn''t dare to try and follow him," Hu Jingjing hurriedly replied.
"You did very well," Shi Pokong replied with a smile.
A hint of hesitation shed through Hu Jingjing''s eyes, and it was clear that she wanted to say something.
"What is it?" Shi Pokong asked with a smile.
"On the way to the market, he was very pleasant and easygoing, but his demeanor suddenly shifted at the entrance of the Imperial River Market, and part of the reason that I refrained from following him was because I was scared," Hu Jingjing revealed.
Chapter 830: Those Who Possess Discerning Eyes
Chapter 830: Those Who Possess Discerning Eyes
"He did that intentionally to send a message. In the beginning, he allowed you to serve as his guide as a gesture of respect to me. He then dismissed you upon reaching the Imperial River Market to warn me not to overstep my boundaries and. It''s clear that he''s not very pleased with my surveince measures, but he''s expressing his discontent in a very tactful manner," Shi Pokong analyzed with a smile.
"Such insolence from a mere human! Does he not know that he''s currently in the capital city of our Holy Realm? I think you''ve been too kind and tolerant of him up to this point, Your Highness! Hu Jingjing said in a disgruntled voice."
"That''s enough. He''s a guest of Chuankong''s, so we should be respecting his boundaries. Instruct everyone not to conduct any further surveince on him," Shi Pokong said.
"Yes, Your Highness," Hu Qingqing hurriedly replied.
"Alright, you can go now," Shi Pokong said with a dismissive wave.
Hu Qingqing immediately departed as instructed, while Shi Pokong turned to stare at the giant artwork with a thoughtful expression.
After a long silence, he murmured to himself, "As expected, he''s quite an interesting character..."
......
Inside the Imperial River Market, Han Li had already left the Immortal Spirit Pavilion and arrived in front of a strange building that was situated by the river with its entrance facing the river rather than the main street.
The entire building was constructed from some type of ck stone material, and it had a dome ceiling with circles of peculiar patterns etched onto its surface.
At this moment, he was standing in front of the building, looking up at the que above the entrance, which read "Exotic Wares Shop".
After a brief hesitation, he made his way into the shop, and as soon as he did so, he discovered that there wasn''t even a single customer inside.
The items sold in the shop were split up into two clear sections, and hanging on the counter to the left was a ck wooden sign that read "reserved for those who possess discerning eyes". The writing was very old, and a thickyer of dust had umted over the sign''s surface.
There was a wooden sign hanging from the counter on the right as well, and this one appeared a little newer, bearing the words "reserved for those who possess plentiful wealth".
There was an employee standing behind each counter, and one of them was yawning in a sleepy fashion, while the other was engrossed in an antiquated azure book that he was reading.
Upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered the book to be a raunchy romance novel, rather than any cultivation art.
The employee''s brows furrowed slightly with disdain at the sight of Han Li, and he turned away slightly before putting the book away.
"How can we help you today? You won''t find much legitimate wares in our shop, but we stock a lot of weird and wacky items," the employee dered, and Han Li was momentarily rendered speechless by this bizarre spiel.
He took a nce at the shelves behind the employee to find that they wereden with all types of devilish treasures and pills, all of which were ced haphazardly with no rhyme or reason to be found.
All of the items were of a high caliber, but the price tags attached were downright astonishing, and they were very expensive in Han Li''s eyes, even after securing Daoist Master Bone Shine''s entire wealth.
However, after some inspection, Han Li didn''t find anything that caught his eye, so he shook his head before turning to the counter on the left.
The employee seemed to be ustomed to customers disying no interest in the shop''s wares, and he casually picked up his book again before continuing his reading.
The items on the shelves behind this counter were strewn around even more haphazardly, and they had no price tags attached, either.
Han Li could see various beastly appendages on the shelves, some of which were still giving off a faint sheen, while others were lookingpletely withered and lifeless.
Beside all of these appendages were many transparent vials that held spirit liquids of different colors, submerged within which were eyeballs that belonged to different types of beasts and even human cultivators.
All of a sudden, an eyeball that resembled a gray rock caught Han Li''s attention, and he pointed at it as he asked, "How much for that one?"
Only then did the employee at the counter stop dozing off, and he turned to look at the eyeball in question in a bleary-eyed manner, then replied in azy voice, "3,500 Devilish Origin Stones."
"Why is it so expensive? Aren''t these items supposed to be reserved for those who possess discerning eyes?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"They are indeed reserved for those who possess discerning eyes, but we never said that we were giving out these items for free," the employee yawned in azy manner.
Han Li had no response to this.
If he wasn''t mistaken, the eyeball belonged to a mature Primordial Fei Beast, so it was an item that contained timew powers.
However, a restriction seemed to have been cast onto the vial that housed the eyeball, sealing in all of its energy fluctuations.
Han Li turned his attention away from the eyeball, then asked, "Do you have any maps of Night Sun City here?"
"We do, but there are some sensitive ces in the Naraka Area and elsewhere in the city that aren''t disyed on the map," the employee replied.
"That''s fine. If you could throw in a brochure that introduces all of the noteworthy locations in the city, then that would be even better," Han Li said.
"The map of Night Sun City costs fifty Devilish Origin Stones, and we also sell journals thaty out all of the noteworthy locations in the city for three hundred Devilish Origin Stones each. If you want to purchase some pieces of information that aren''t publicly avable, we can help you as well, but those services will be rather pricey," the employee replied.
Han Li hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then said, "I''ll pass for now. Just get me a map and a copy of the journal."
After handing over the Devilish Origin Stones in exchange for a ck jade slip and a thick ck book, Han Li turned to depart, but right as he was about to step out of the shop, the employee suddenly called out after him, "Would you like to reconsider the Primordial Fei Beast eyeball? The price is negotiable."
"Oh? How so?" Han Li asked.
"The deputy shopkeeper of our shop has established a rule for us, which states that if a customer can offer something of sufficient value, then the prices of items on the shelves reserved for those who possess discerning eyes can be negotiated," the employee replied.
"Something of sufficient value?" Han Li mused.
"Something that''s sufficiently strange or exotic will do as well. We''ll decide if it''s valuable or not," the employee added.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li suddenly asked, "I can see that you have many beastly appendages here, do you purchaseplete bodies?"
"That would depend on what body you have to offer. Generally speaking, we only purchase bodies of beings at or above the High Zenith Stage. Otherwise, the body of a normal cultivator has no use to anyone," the employee replied.
"I want to sell the body of a Gray Immortal," Han Li dered.
A look of intrigue instantly appeared in the employee''s eyes upon hearing this, and he asked, "What cultivation base?"
"He was a Golden Immortal during his lifetime," Han Li replied.
A hint of disappointment shed through the employee''s eyes upon hearing this.
"If it were a High Zenith Stage Gray Immortal''s body, then you could even directly exchange it for this Primordial Fei Beast eyeball. However, if it''s only a Golden Immortal Stage body, then it''ll only cover part of the eyeball''s cost."
"How much do I have to pay to make up the difference?" Han Li asked.
"Five hundred Devilish Origin Stones," the employee replied.
"Deal," Han Li dered with a nod, then swept a sleeve through the air, and a white-robed body of a Gray Immortal appeared on the counter.
This was the body of the first Gray Immortal that he had encountered back in the True Mantra Sect ruins.
The employee approached the body, then pried open its eyelids, and after conducting a close examination, he pulled out a palm-sized silver mirror before hovering it over every single inch of the body from head to toe.
After putting the mirror away, he nodded as he confirmed, "This is a satisfactory body."
With that, Han Li paid five hundred Devilish Origin Stones in exchange for the Primordial Fei Beast eyeball, then left the shop.
Not long after his departure, a tall and slender woman slowly emerged from behind the screen at the back of the shop.
She was wearing a suit of tight-fitting silver armor that only covered her chest and abdomen, and it perfectly highlighted her exceptional curves. Her silver hair was arranged into a tall bun that was fastened with a silver hairpin, and her features were strikingly beautiful.
The two shopkeepers hurriedly rushed out from behind their counters before extending respectful bows as they greeted, "Wee, Shopkeeper."
The woman waved a dismissive hand, and her gaze was fixed on the body of the Gray Immortal on the counter.
She then cast her gaze outside as she murmured to herself, "I tried to give you an opportunity to gather more information, but it seems like you''re a very patient man."
Upon returning to the main street, Han Li took a nce up at the sky to find that it was still quite early, so he continued to stroll through the Imperial River Market, but he made a point not to visit the Flowing Wind Pavilion, which had the backing of the eldest prince.
......
Only at night did Han Li return to Shi Pokong''s manor on a beast-drawn carriage that he had purchased, and he quickly retired to his room.
After activating all of the restrictions, he sat down onto a chair, then flipped a hand over to summon the Primordial Fei Beast eyeball that he had purchased earlier.
He slowly injected a wisp of timew powers into the eyeball, and a series of cracks instantly appeared on its surface, with golden light shining through all of the cracks.
Only after the outermostyer of rock-like skin hadpletely peeled off was the golden eyeball insidepletely revealed, and it was giving off tremendous timew power fluctuations.
Chapter 831: Searching for a Cure
Chapter 831: Searching for a Cure
Han Li hurriedly stowed the eyeball away upon seeing this, and only then did the timew power fluctuations in the room fade away.
The eyeball definitely hadn''te from an ordinary Primordial Fei Beast. The timew powers that it contained were many times more potent than the first Primordial Fei Beast eyeball that he had obtained, and he couldn''t help but wonder if the eyeball hade from a mutated Primordial Fei Beast.
In any case, he had clearly stumbled upon a massive bargain, and he truly did live up to the requirement of possessing discerning eyes.
Most of the items on the catalog that he had obtained from the Immortal Spirit Pavilion earlier were items that contained timew powers, and he was gathering them in preparation to further his cultivation of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
He could still make progress in the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra without these items, but progress would be very slow. With these items at his disposal, he would be able to make much faster progress, and this Primordial Fei Beast eyeball was perfect for his current needs.
A contemtive look appeared on his face after he stowed the eyeball away.
His original n for the day was to try and find some way through which he could contact the grand priest of the devil race in private, but even though the employee at the Exotic Wares Shop had presented him with the opportunity to purchase information that wasn''t readily avable, he ultimately turned down the opportunity after some consideration.
He didn''t trust the shop, and on top of that, he wanted to familiarize himself with the rules of Night Sun City first before he made any moves.
At the moment, he was in apletely alien realm, so it was best to proceed with caution.
Some timeter, Han Li''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and he swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light.
Daoist Xie stepped out of the door of silver light, then said to Han Li, "Fellow Daoist Han, I''m getting this strange feeling again..."
"What is it?" Han Li asked as he invited Daoist Xie to take a seat.
"While you were exploring Night Sun City, some memories surfaced in my mind, but they were all very fragmented and impossible to make sense of," Daoist Xie replied.
"What are the memories? Can you describe them to me?" Han Li asked.
After taking some time to collect his thoughts, Daoist Xie said, "There''s a small ck city, an azure river, and a massive arched bridge."
"That''s it?" Han Li asked.
"For some reason, when those images first surfaced in my mind, they were extremely clear, but now that I''m trying to recall them, they''ve be very blurry and indistinct," Daoist Xie sighed as he massaged his own temples.
"Don''t push yourself too hard. We won''t be leaving Night Sun City anytime soon, so we''ll have plenty of time to get to the bottom of things. Once Shi Chuankonges out of seclusion, I''ll ask him about the Scalptia Spatial Domain," Han Li said.
Daoist Xie nodded in response with a hesitant expression.
"Why did you want to see me so urgently? I''m assuming there are other things you wanted to speak to me about, right?" Han Li asked.
"Regarding the Scalptia Spatial Domain... That seems to be... a very dangerous ce," Daoist Xie replied in a hesitant manner.
"Have you recalled some things?" Han Li asked.
"Only very fragmented and indistinct bits of information," Daoist Xie replied with a shake of his head.
"It looks like this ce is somewhat beneficial to the recovery of your memories. Perhaps your former owner was here in the past," Han Li spected.
Daoist Xie nodded in response, then said, "I found some materials in Daoist Master Bone Shine''s storage ring that would benefit my cultivation, and I also have to upgrade Thundersh and Heavensh, so I want to go into seclusion for some time."
"Go ahead. Right now, we''re rtively safe in Night Sun City, so you can rest assured and go into seclusion," Han Li replied with a nod.
Daoist Xie expressed his gratitude to Han Li, then returned to the domain.
As for Han Li himself, he sat in silence for a moment, then brought out the map and journal that he had purchased from the Exotic Wares Shop.
......
Around half a monthter, Han Li set off for the Imperial River Market again. On this asion, Hu Jingjing didn''t appear, and he didn''t notice anyone else following him in secret, either.
From that point onward, it was as if Shi Pokong hadpletely forgotten about him, and there was no further interaction between the two.
Several monthster, Han Li had already visited all of the shops in the Imperial River Market, and he had also sold some of the devilish treasures in Daoist Master Bone Shine''s storage ring and purchased several time-attribute treasures.
At the same time, he had also been searching for information pertaining to the grand priest, as well as ways to treat Weeping Soul''s condition, but next to zero progress had been made on both fronts.
As a precautionary measure, Han Li had intentionally avoided all of the shops with powerful backers, such as the Flowing Wind Pavilion.
During a conversation with a shopkeeper that he had be rather familiar with, the shopkeeper suggested that he pay a visit to Sky View Street.
ording to the shopkeeper, there were many high-grade pill refinement masters on Sky View Street, and in particr, one of the Heavenly Pill Masters of the Prosperous Origin Hall was very renowned for treating all types of strange conditions.
On this day, Han Li traveled across most of Night Sun City to visit Sky View Street.
Sky View Street was over twice the size of the Imperial River Market, and it was actually a market that consisted of a total of fourteen streets, all the shops in this market primarily sold pills and pill refinement ingredients.
Situated at the main entrance of the market was a massive white stone archway, and beyond the archway was a white stone za that waspletely empty with the exception of a copper cauldron that was over a hundred feet tall at its very center.
There was a me burning within the cauldron, and smoke was swirling around in the air above.
Han Li made his way over to the cauldron, then took a whiff of the nearby air, and he discovered that there were no pills being refined in the cauldron. Instead, some type of incense had been lit inside, and the aroma that it was releasing was masking the smells of all of the pills and ingredients wafting throughout the entire market.
After passing by the cauldron, Han Li made his way down the street directly in front of him.
The construction styles of the buildings that lined the street were more uniform than that of the ones in the Imperial River Market. Most of them had white outer walls and either conical or dome roofs.
The street was packed with people, but it wasn''t rowdy or chaotic at all. None of the shopkeepers or employees of any of the shops were verbally advertising their wares, and everything was very calm and orderly.
Han Li followed the instructions given to him by the shopkeeper, making his way to the midsection of the street before turning left onto another street en route to the Prosperous Origin Hall.
Once there, he discovered that the Prosperous Origin Hall was around twice the size of all of the other shops in the area, and business also seemed to be booming inside.
There were devilish cultivators standing in front of all of the counters in the shop, and they were being served by seven or eight employees. The shop was so busy that Han Li was being left unattended.
Right at this moment, a middle-aged man in a brocade robe emerged from the inner hall, and he immediately approached Han Li with a warm smile.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," the man hurriedly apologized.
"It''s fine, I only just came in," Han Li replied with a smile.
"How can I help you today? Would you like to purchase pills or ingredients?" the brocade-robed man asked.
"Neither. I''m here to see someone," Han Li replied.
A hint of surprise shed through the brocade-robed man''s eyes upon hearing this, following which a wary look appeared on his face.
"Please don''t misunderstand, I just want to meet the chief Heavenly Pill Master of your Prosperous Origin Hall. I have something to ask of him, and I bear no ill will," Han Li exined as he cupped his fist in a salute.
The brocade-robed man''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "So you''re here to see Master Kang. Unfortunately, he''s currently refining some pills in seclusion, so I''m afraid he won''t be able to see you."
"He''s in seclusion right now? That''s a pity," Han Li said.
"If you wish to purchase some pills refined by Master Kang, we still have some stock left. Would you like to take a look?" the brocade-robed man asked.
"May I ask when Master Kang will being out of seclusion?" Han Li asked after a brief hesitation.
"I''m afraid I don''t have an answer to that question," the brocade-robed man replied in an apologetic manner.
"In that case, I''lle again another day," Han Li said before turning to depart.
After arriving on the street outside, Han Li took another nce back at the Prosperous Origin Hall, then began to make his way toward the other side of the street.
Right at this moment, a tall purple-robed young man also emerged from the Prosperous Origin Hall, and he began to follow Han Li from a moderate distance away.
For some reason, he made no attempt to hide himself, so Han Li quickly noticed that he was being followed.
Upon arriving at a crossroads, Han Li stopped in his tracks and turned to face the purple-robed man.
The man had an unremarkable appearance with the exception of his pupils, which were dark purple in color, and even though it was still daytime, it was as if his eyes were gleaming with specks of starlight.
A smile appeared on the man''s face as he openly approached Han Li, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
He had discovered that he was unable to detect the purple-robed man''s cultivation base.
"Are you waiting for me, Fellow Daoist?" the purple-robed man asked.
"No. Instead, are you not the one who has been following me this entire time?" Han Li countered.
"My name is Gao Feng. I heard in the Prosperous Origin Hall that you were searching for a Heavenly Pill Master, is that right?" the purple-robed man asked.
Chapter 832: Emerging from Seclusion
Chapter 832: Emerging from Seclusion
"I''m looking for Master Kang in particr, not just any Heavenly Pill Master," Han Li replied.
"Master Kang is not just an exceptional pill refinement master, he also excels in treating all types of conditions rted to spiritual damage. However, I can tell you that he won''t be able to help you, so pursuing a meeting with him won''t get you anywhere, Fellow Daoist Li," Gao Feng said with a smile.
"You know who I am?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I can perhaps help you out, so why don''t youe with me, and we''ll continue this conversation somewhere more private?" Gao Feng invited with an earnest smile.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but internally, he was feeling very conflicted.
It was clear that Gao Feng had approached him with some type of agenda, and it was also very apparent that he had to have been somehow tied to one of Shi Chuankong''s siblings.
However, Weeping Soul''s condition was in desperate need of treatment, so after some contemtion, Han Li ultimately decided to go with Gao Feng.
He was confident that none of Shi Chuankong''s siblings would dare to do anything out of line in Night Sun City, and even if he had to face a Great Epassment cultivator, he had decent chances of being able to escape.
With that in mind, Han Li was just about to ept Gao Feng''s offer when another voice suddenly rang out nearby.
A beautiful silver-haired woman squeezed her way past Han Li as she eximed, "Is that you, Brother Gao? What are you doing here? Did you y another Primordial Fei Beast somewhere?"
The woman was the same woman that had appeared in the Exotic Wares Shop following Han Li''s departure on that day, but as opposed to a suit of armor, she was currently wearing a white dress that gave her a more feminine charm.
Gao Feng clearly wasn''t very pleased to see the woman, and his brows furrowed slightly as he said, "I have no time to deal with you right now. Let''s go, Fellow Daoist Li."
Han Li''s heart stirred ever so slightly upon hearing mention of a Primordial Fei Beast, and he knew that the silver-haired woman was dropping him a subtle hint.
A sense of wariness welled up in his heart, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he dered, "My apologies, but I suddenly recalled that I have some other matters to attend to, so I''ll be taking my leave now."
With that, he immediately departed, returning straight to the Naraka Area.
......
That night, Han Li returned to Shi Pokong''s manor.
While passing through a garden, he just so happened to run into Shi Pokong, who was sitting in a stone pavilion, drinking by himself while looking up at the moon.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Li. Care to join me for a drink?" Shi Pokong offered with a weing smile.
Han Li hesitated momentarily, then made his way into the pavilion and sat down onto a chair.
Shi Pokong had already brought out a second cup, and Han Li smiled as he asked, "What''s put you in the mood to be drinking here by yourself, Your Highness?"
Shi Pokong filled Han Li''s cup, then replied, "I''ve been quite busy recently, so I haven''t had the chance to visit you, and I apologize for that. I finally have some spare time on my hands, and I heard that you were quite an avid wine enthusiast, so I came here today in the hope that we could share a drink together. However, you weren''t here, so I could only drink by myself."
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Your Highness. I''ll drink as punishment for my tardiness," Han Li said, then downed his cup of wine in one go.
"You''re quite the breath of fresh air, Fellow Daoist Li! No wonder you became such good friends with Chuankong," Shi Pokong chuckled.
"Speaking of Brother Shi, when will he being out of seclusion?" Han Li asked.
"Chuankong endured a great deal of hardships during his journey, and he umted many internal injuries. However, at the same time, he''s also gained a lot of insight into cultivation as a result of those hardships, so I''m sure his breakthrough will elevate him to exceptional heights," Shi Pokong said.
"In that case, let''s drink to celebrate his breakthrough in advance," Han Li said as he touched his own cup to Shi Pokong''s, then downed his drink once again.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, I feel like I owe you an exnation regarding Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul''s treatment. It''s not that I''m unwilling to help you, it''s just that there are some ratherplex circumstances involved, so I need to bide my time. I hope you can understand," Shi Pokong said.
"It''s fine. I trust you, Your Highness," Han Li replied with a nod.
Only then did Shi Pokong finish his drink, following which he promptly departed.
Han Li remained seated in the pavilion for some time before also returning to the Long Pavilion Garden.
Upon entering his room, he activated all of the restrictions, then summoned that Primordial Fei Beast eyeball before channeling his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
Ever since then, he remained in seclusion in Shi Pokong''s manor.
......
Ten years flew by in a sh.
On this day, Han Li was cultivating in his room, and there was golden light rippling like water around him.
The ground beneath him was covered in ayer of golden sand, while golden mes were swirling around to his left, and there was a projection of a tree situated to his right. At the same time, there was a golden vial hovering above his head, and a golden wheel slowly revolving behind him.
The entire room was filled with timew power fluctuations, and the light in the room seemed to be warping slightly, with some parts appearing very dim, while other parts were particrly bright.
Right at this moment, all of the phenomena around Han Li suddenly vanished into his body, and the rippling golden light in the room also faded away.
Only then did the light in the room return to normal, and it was already close to dusk, so the light was rather dim.
Han Li opened his eyes as he exhaled and rose to his feet.
After taking a moment to smooth down his robes, he deactivated all of the restrictions in the room before making his way outside.
Waiting for him outside was none other than Shi Chuankong, and he immediately approached Han Li with an ted expression.
"Congrattions on reaching the High Zenith Stage, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li said with a smile.
"Thank you, Brother Li. I can see that your cultivation base has advanced quite a bit as well. It''s already been close to a month since I came out of seclusion, and I wouldn''t have disturbed you if it wasn''t for the fact that I have something to speak to you about," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"It''s fine. I''ve been in seclusion for quite a while, so it''s about time that I came out for some exercise. What did you want to speak to me about?" Han Li asked.
"A few days ago, my brother told me that our father is about toe out of seclusion soon, and that means that there could potentially be a change in the circumstances surrounding Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul''s treatment," Shi Chuankong replied.
"Is that right?" Han Li asked.
"My brother and I have already nned to tell Father about your contributions after hees out of seclusion, and I''ll make sure that everyone knows that it was only thanks to your protection that I was able to make it back to Night Sun City with the Virata Lute," Shi Chuankong dered in a confident manner.
"What do you intend to do by showering me with all of the des whilepletely downying your contributions? Are you trying to tell your siblings that you''re still the same mediocre and unambitious brother that you''ve always been?" Han Li asked.
"They won''t believe me no matter what I say, I''m only doing this to try and request a reward for you from my father," Shi Chuankong exined with a smile.
A look of realization appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he asked, "You want your father to order the grand priest to save Weeping Soul?"
"That''s right. If Father issues the order, even Zhanfeng won''t be able to refuse," Shi Chuankong confirmed with a smile.
"No wonder His Highness told me that he had a n, this must be the opportunity that he was waiting for," Han Li said as a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Pokong has always been very meticulous and thoughtful in everything that he does, so you can count on him, Brother Li," Shi Chuankong said.
The two of them hadn''t met in a very long time, so they had an extensive chat before parting ways.
After returning to his room, Han Li felt himself unable to enter the appropriate headspace to continue cultivating, so he entered the Flower Branch domain to see Weeping Soul again.
Over these past years, he had never stopped searching for a cure for Weeping Soul, but no progress had been made on that front, and if Shi Chuankong had remained in seclusion any longer, he was about to leave on his own.
Now that he had received a promise from Shi Chuankong, he was feeling much more reassured.
......
Close to a year flew by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Han Li was cultivating in his room when the thunderous strikes of a giant gong suddenly rang out from outside, easily piercing through the restrictions that he had set up in the room.
The sound carried some type of inexplicable power that caused the immortal spiritual power within his body to ripple incessantly, but it wasn''t harmful in any way. Instead, it struck him with a sense offort.
He got up from his cultivation, then left his room and stepped out into the Long Pavilion Garden.
The sound wasing from the summit of the holy mountain, and rings of silver light were also spreading outward incessantly from the mountain summit.
All of the servants in Shi Pokong''s manor were ecstatic to hear this sound, and they immediately stopped what they were doing before sitting down on the spot with their legs crossed.
The gong was struck over and over again, and only after around fifteen minutes did the sound subside, following which all of the servants in the manor opened their eyes with ted expressions.
All of their auras had clearly be slightly elevated, and a hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon sensing this.
Right at this moment, a voice rang out from beside him.
"That''s the Holy Essence Guarding Gong of our race. It''s able to cleanse one''s essential energy, but striking it requires an immense amount of energy expenditure, so it''ll only be struck on important asions."
At the same time, specks of silver light appeared out of thin air, then converged toward a single spot to form a semi-transparent Shi Chuankong in the blink of an eye.
"Is this a spatial avatar? Your control over thews of space has be even more exceptional following your breakthrough, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li praised with a smile.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Li. This is only a mirrored avatar that possesses around 10% to 20% of my power, but it can be projected over long distances and ismonly used formunication purposes," Shi Chuankong exined.
Han Li was rather intrigued to hear this, and he suddenly thought back to the scene that he had witnessed back when he was first transmigrated to the Devil Realm through the Heaven Controlling Vial. Back then, the Devilish Monarch had descended upon the battlefield using an ability simr to a mirrored avatar, but his was clearly far more profound than Shi Chuankong''s.
Chapter 833: Audience With the Devilish Monarch
Chapter 833: Audience With the Devilish Monarch
"Does the striking of the gong signify that the Devilish Monarch hase out of seclusion?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. He''ll most likely summon us for an audience tomorrow, and we''ll be able to carry out our n then," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
Han Li nodded in response, but he was looking a little concerned.
"There''s no need to be worried, Fellow Daoist Li. Pokong''s ns are always very sound, so I''m sure our father will agree," Shi Chuankong reassured.
Han Li merely smiled and offered no response.
After that, Shi Chuankong advised Han Li on some things to keep in mind during the audience with the Devilish Monarch, following which the spatial avatar dissipated.
Han Li took a nce at the summit of the holy mountain, then returned to his room.
The next morning, Han Li emerged from the Long Garden Pavilion in a set of formal clothes, and Shi Pokong and Shi Chuankong had already arrived.
Both of them were dressed in opulent purple robes with a jade belt around each of their waists and golden crowns on their heads, giving them a very regal and noble appearance.
Three bright jewels were encrusted onto Shi Pokong''s crown, while Shi Chuankong''s crown waspletely devoid of jewels and also a lot dimmer in terms of luster.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Han Li said.
"It''s fine, we only just arrived," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
Shi Pokong was looking calm and collected as usual, and he gave Han Li a slight nod as he said, "Let''s go."
There were two beast-drawn carriages waiting nearby, and the first one was extremely luxurious.
It was entirely golden in color, and it was also drawn by a golden lion beast that was covered in thick golden fur. Above the carriage was an ostentatious golden canopy that was rippling slightly in the wind.
The second carriage was far more mundane in appearance, but it was significantlyrger than the first carriage, and standing beside it was none other than the Blood Drop Marquis, Xue Cheng.
Xue Cheng smiled and extended a greeting upon catching sight of Han Li, and Shi Chuankong said, "Father is very strict about upholding thews and rules of our Holy Realm, so I''m afraid we won''t be able to travel in the same carriage together, Fellow Daoist Li. You''ll have to travel in the second carriage with Fellow Daoist Xue."
Han Li nodded in response and stepped onto the second carriage with Xue Cheng.
"Let''s go," Shi Pokong instructed, and the two carriages immediately set off.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Xue. Fellow Daoist Shi and I owe you utmost gratitude. If you hadn''t lured Daoist Master Bone Shine away, we wouldn''t have been able to return to Night Sun City safely," Han Li said.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Li. Honestly, I feel quite embarrassed whenever I think back to what happened back then. I was sent to escort you and His Highness safely back to Night Sun City, but Ipletely failed in my duty, and to add more insult to injury, I was severely wounded by Daoist Master Bone Shine. I had to go into seclusion for a long time to recover from my injuries, and I only recently came out.
¡°I heard that Daoist Master Bone Shine waster killed by you. That''s truly an unfathomably remarkable feat for someone of your cultivation base, Fellow Daoist Li," Xue Cheng said with a smile.
"It was only through a series of massive strokes of fortune that I was able to kill Daoist Master Bone Shine, and even then, I was only just barely able toe out on top by the skin of my teeth," Han Li replied in a modest fashion.
"You''re far too humble, Fellow Daoist Li," Xue Cheng chuckled.
The carriage continued onward as the two of them chatted with each other.
Over the past few years, Han Li had only made very few outings, mostly to purchase things in the Maha Area or to try and find a cure for Weeping Soul. Hence, he wasn''t actually very familiar with the Naraka Area, and only now did he get a chance to take a good look at the area.
Due to its close proximity to the holy mountain, the terrain of the entire Naraka Area followed an upward trend from north to south.
This terrain also formed the basis for the area''syout, withyers of buildings stretching all the way from the foot of the holy mountain all the way to the edge of the city walls, and they wereid out in an extremely uniform fashion, like steps on a staircase.
The closer the proximity to the holy mountain, the taller and more opulent the buildings in the area would be.
The two carriages passed through a few streets, then arrived before an extremely wide white jade road.
The road was over a thousand feet wide, and it extended directly toward the holy mountain.
To Han Li''s astonishment, the road was currently lined with people stretching all the way to the holy mountain, and all of them were kneeling and kowtowing reverently toward the holy mountain, paying no heed to Shi Pokong and the others.
"Whenever Fatheres out of seclusion, a grand ceremony will be held, and all of the people in the city will gather at the holy road to pay their respects for an entire day," Xue Cheng exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
The two carriages continued to make their way down the jade road toward the holy mountain, and close to an hourter, the carriages finally arrived at the foot of the holy mountain, where they drew to a halt in front of an enormous cluster of pces.
These pces took up hundreds of acres, and there were thousands of them in total, all of which were entirely constructed from some type of ck crystalline material.
This material was smooth and translucent, giving off a pure ck glow, and it was clear that this was an exceptional material.
All of the pces were etched with extremely elegant reliefs of devilish deities or ferocious beasts, and Xue Cheng introduced, "This is the Holy Imperial Pce, the residence of the Holy Emperor."
Beside the pce was an enormous white jade za that was no smaller in area than the cluster of pces, and at the center of the za was a huge antiquated altar that was entirely constructed from some type of dark green material.
The people paying their respects stretched all the way from the za to the beginning of the white jade road, and at this moment, the za was packed with worshippers that were chanting prayers.
"ording to the rules, we also have to go and pay our respects, and only then can we enter the Holy Imperial Pce to meet my father," Shi Pokong said after emerging from his carriage, then made his way toward the altar.
Han Li and the others quickly followed along, and Han Li couldn''t see anything remarkable about the altar aside from the two tall statues standing on it.
The statues were very antiquated in appearance, and the lines on them weren''t very clear and pronounced, but they still appeared extremely lifelike, as if they could suddenly begin moving at any moment.
One of them waspletely white in color and depicted a benevolent-looking woman standing with a smile on her face, giving off an aura of universal motherly love.
The other statue waspletely different. It waspletely ck in color, and it had twelve heads and twenty-four arms.
Each of its faces was disying a different emotion, such as rage, tion, detachment, or sorrow, and all of its hands were also arranged into different signs and gestures.
Having studied extensively about the Devilish Realm through Shi Pokong''s books, Han Li knew that the two deities being worshiped here were the Infernal Holy Mother and the Baleful Holy Emperor.
It was said that the Devilish Realm had been created by the Baleful Holy Emperor after slicing through boundless space, while the Infernal Holy Mother had created all of the life forms within the Devilish Realm.
Han Li naturally wasn''t a believer of this story, but he was still quite intrigued by the sight of these statues.
His gaze only lingered momentarily on the Infernal Holy Mother before he turned his attention to the Baleful Holy Emperor, upon which his brows suddenly furrowed slightly.
This was definitely the first time that he had seen a statue of the Baleful Holy Emperor, but for some reason, it struck him with a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen it before.
A faint purple gleam surfaced in his eyes as he took a closer look.
At this moment, there was still some distance left until he reached the pinnacle of the altar, but with his exceptional eyesight, he was able to clearly see both statues in meticulous detail.
All of a sudden, he noticed a line of strange text engraved onto the jade belt around the Baleful Holy Emperor''s waist.
This line of text appeared to be of the samenguage as the text that he had seen on the statue in Daoist Master Bone Shine''s storage ring.
He had asionally tried to study the text on that statue over the past few years, but to no avail, and he certainly wasn''t expecting to see more of the same text here.
Right as he was about to take a closer look, a hint of ck light suddenly shed through the eyes on one of the Baleful Holy Emperor''s heads, and it abruptly turned its gaze toward him, giving off a boundless aura of darkness that instantly devoured all of the surrounding light.
Han Li shuddered involuntarily, and in that instant, he felt as if his soul were about to be sucked out of his body and into the boundless darkness.
He felt as if he were trapped under an ice shelf that was billions of feet thick, and everything inside his body waspletely frozen solid, rendering him powerless to do anything.
However, in the next instant, everything returned to normal. The ck gleam in the eyes of the statue had faded, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.
Even though it was only for an instant, all of the fine hairs on Han Li''s body were standing up on end, and his heart was thumping in his chest as he took an involuntary step backward.
"What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Li?" Xue Cheng asked.
Shi Chuankong also turned to him with a perplexed expression, and it was clear that they hadn''t seen what Han Li had just witnessed.
Han Li took a moment topose himself, then replied, "It''s nothing, I''m just feeling a little apprehensive now that I''m about to meet the Holy Monarch."
"There''s no need to be concerned, Fellow Daoist Li. Father is a very strict man, but he''s not unreasonable," Shi Chuankong assured with a smile.
Han Li forced a smile in response, then snuck another nce at the Baleful Holy Emperor statue, but it hadpletely returned to normal.
"Let''s go," Shi Pokong said, then stepped onto the staircase leading up to the altar.
Han Li and the others immediately followed along, and they quickly arrived on the summit of the altar.
On the summit was a plot of tnd that was several hundred feet in size, and in addition to the two statues, there was also a giant ovr array engraved onto the ground.
At this moment, there were dozens of priests seated within the array, holding various types of artifacts while chanting to the two statues
Chapter 834: Sowing Dissension
While standing on the summit of the altar, Han Li took a nce at his surroundings to find that the entire group was enshrouded within the giant shadows cast by the pair of statues, and they resembled a pair of deities looking down at the mortals below.
At this moment, he could clearly sense tremendous pressure from the two statues, and even with his cultivation base, he was struck by a sense of asphyxiation.
He took a nce at Shi Pokong and the others out of the corner of his eye to find that theirplexions were slightly pale, clearly indicating that they were also feeling the pressure.
The three of them immediately extended respectful bows to the pair of statues, and their expressions instantly eased significantly thereafter.
Han Li decided to follow suit upon seeing this, extending a bow of his own, and to his surprise, the tremendous pressure from the statues slowly faded after this gesture of respect.
A hint of intrigue immediately welled up in Han Li''s heart. Could it be that the Baleful Holy Emperor and the Infernal Holy Mother truly were deities that existed in the Devil Realm?
One of the priests rose to his feet, then bowed toward Shi Pokong''s group as he said, "The holy mother and the holy father have seen your earnest gestures of respect, and they''ll be sure to bless you with good fortune."
The priest was a middle-aged man with a head of messy yellow hair and dark and coarse skin that looked more fitting on an old farmer, but his eyes were particrly bright.
Han Li''s brows furrowed ever so slightly at the sight of the man.His aura suggested that he was only at the early-Golden Immortal Stage, but for some reason, Han Li felt an inexplicable sense of apprehension at the sight of the man.
"Thank you for your kind words, Priest Lian Zhen," Shi Pokong replied with a smile.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this.
For the sake of Weeping Soul, he had made an effort to learn about Night Sun City''s Priestly Temple. The Priestly Temple was a very special ce in the city, and all of the priests were directly overseen by the Devilish Monarch, but they didn''t have to carry out any missions and were solely dedicated to serving the holy emperor and the holy mother.
The leader of the Priestly Temple was the grand priests, and there were also several head priests beneath him, one of whom was none other than Priest Lian Zhen.
Han Li turned his gaze away from Priest Lian Zhen to look at the other priests, and he was a little disappointed to discover that none of the priests possessed a cultivation base superior to Lian Zhen''s.
Right at this moment, a boisterous voice rang out from down below.
"You''re here quite early, Pokong."
A group of people stepped onto the altar, and they were led by a purple-robed man who appeared to be close to forty years of age. He was dressed in the same attire as Shi Pokong and Shi Chuankong, and there was a faint purple insignia on his be that was shing with mysterious purple glow.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this. This was the same person who had extended that invitation to him back in the Maha Area ten years ago, except his hair had been ck back then, but it was silver now.
The two people standing beside him were also dressed in luxurious purple robes, and one of them was none other than the eighth prince, who was currently glowering at Han Li with clear animosity in his eyes.
The other purple-robed figure was a thin young man who appeared to be rather unwell, with a waxyplexion and a rather uneven aura, and the three of them were apanied by several servants.
"Long time no see, Zhanfeng," Shi Pokong said with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute toward the group.
It immediately became clear to Han Li upon hearing this that the purple-robed man was none other than the eldest prince, Shi Zhanfeng.
At the same time, he couldn''t help but wonder what objective Shi Zhanfeng had for extending that invitation to him ten years ago, and he was also quite puzzled about the identity of the silver-haired woman who had intervened.
With so many questions emerging in his mind at once, he began to scan his surroundings to see if he could find some answers.
"You''ve already met my eighth brother, Shi Chuanjia. The other one is my tenth brother, Shi Bofu. He suffered from a very strange ailment from a young age, and it took him a long time to recover, but the silver lining is that he was able to master an extremely formidable type of cursew powers, so he''s not to be underestimated. Both of them are in Zhanfeng''s camp," Shji Chuankong exined to Han Li through voice transmission.
Han Li took a subtle nce at Shi Bofu upon hearing this.
He was also at the early-High Zenith Stage, and he was giving off a peculiar aura that was very unsettling.
"Indeed. We''re all in Night Sun City, but it''s been a very long time since west met. I recently acquired two gons of Purple Silk Immortal Wine from the True Immortal Realm, so why don''t we all meet up in my manor for a drink after our audience with Father?" Shi Zhanfeng proposed.
Shi Chuankong''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he was just about to covertly urge Shi Pokong to turn down the offer when Shi Pokong nodded and replied, "Of course! It''s not every day that we all get to gather in one ce, so we have to take full advantage."
Shi Chuankong was very agitated to hear this, but there was nothing that he could do at this point.
"Alright, then it''s settled. By the way, you cane as well if you''re interested, Fellow Daoist Li. The offer that I made to you during ourst meeting still stands," Shi Zhanfeng said with a smile, then turned his attention to paying his respects to the pair of deity statues on the altar.
Shi Chuanjia and Shi Bofu both shed Han Li a devious smile upon hearing this, then also turned to pay their respects to the two statues.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was very disgruntled by this tant attempt to sow dissension from Shi Zhanfeng.
"Would you care to borate on what His Highness just said, Fellow Daoist Li?" Xue Cheng interrogated through voice transmission with a cold look on his face.
"Xue Cheng! Show some respect!" Shi Pokong scolded as he gave Xue Cheng a stern re.
Xue Cheng immediately fell silent upon hearing this, but a clear hint of suspicion and animosity had surfaced in his eyes.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he heaved an internal sigh.
Han Li had been quite grateful to Xue Cheng for luring Daoist Master Bone Shine all those years ago, and now that they had been reunited, he had thought that they could perhaps be friends. However, the fact that he was so easily swayed by Shi Zhanfeng''s words clearly showed that he was not a good judge of character, nor was he to be relied on or confided in.
"Let''s go," Shi Pokong said as he shed Han Li a reassuring smile.
The four of them began to make their way toward the Holy Imperial Pce in the distance, and the atmosphere was a little heavy.
"Fellow Daoist Li, what was Zhanfeng referring to just now?"
In the end, Shi Chuankong was unable to suppress his own curiosity, but there wasn''t any usation in his voice as he raised the question.
"Zhanfeng was clearly trying to sow dissension among our ranks, Chuankong. Fellow Daoist Li is a close friend of yours, do you not trust him?" Shi Pokong asked with a nonchnt smile.
"Of course I trust Fellow Daoist Li, I''m just a little curious about what moves Zhanfeng has been trying to pull behind the scenes," Shi Chuankong chuckled.
"While I was exploring the Maha Area, I ran into His Highness, and we spoke a little about Weeping Soul''s condition. However, he adopted a disguise at the time, so I wasn''t aware of his identity," Han Li exined, then provided a recount of what had happened on that day.
"I knew it! Zhanfeng always resorts to underhanded tactics like this!" Shi Chuankong harrumphed in a disdainful manner.
"This is how Zhanfeng has always been, we just have to be careful not to fall for his tricks," Shi Pokong said in an indifferent manner, then took a subtle nce at Xue Cheng.
An awkward look appeared on Xue Cheng''s face, and he extended an apologetic salute toward Han Li as he said, "Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist Li. I let my emotions get the better of me just now."
"It''s fine," Han Li replied in an aloof fashion.
Xue Cheng knew that his apology was too little, toote, and a remorseful look appeared on hsi face.
The group continued onward before quickly arriving in front of a ck pce.
This pce was over a thousand feet tall, significantly taller than the other nearby pces, and there was a thick ck stone pir standing at each of its four corners, all of which were etched with extremely lifelike reliefs of devilish deities.
Hanging outside the pce was a giant que that read "Holy Imperial Pce" inrge purple characters, and the two purple-robed servants standing at the entrance of the pce hurriedly extended respectful bows toward Shi Pokong and Shi Chuankong at the sight of their approach.
"Is Father inside?" Shi Pokong asked.
"The Holy Monarch is indeed inside. Please wait here a moment while we inform him of your arrival," one of the servants said, then rushed into the pce.
Momentster, the servant re-emerged and dered, "The Holy Monarch would like to wee the four of you into the pce."
Shi Pokong and Shi Chuankong took a collective deep breath, then smoothed down their robes before entering the pce, while Han Li and Xue Cheng followed along from some distance away.
The interior of the pce was enormous, but it waspletely empty, making it appear even more spacious. There were all types of reliefs engraved onto the walls, depicting extremely lifelike humanoid and beastly creatures that looked as if they could spring to life at any moment.
The lighting in the pce was rather dim, giving all of the reliefs a rather sinister, shadowy appearance.
Shi Pokong and the others continued onward in silence, and only in the deepest part of the hall did the lighting be brighter. There was a raised tform there, atop which was a seat that was upied by a purple-robed man.
The man appeared to be around forty to fifty years of age with a head of silver hair, and his facial features gave him the appearance of a refined schr, but his aura was that of a domineering king.
Even though he was only seated in his chair, all those in his presence were still involuntarily struck by a sense of awe and veneration.
Han Li had seen the Devilish Monarch once while transmigrating through the Heaven Controlling Vial, but that was only an avatar, and he couldn''t help but take a nce at the Devilish Monarch in his full glory.
The Devilish Monarch seemed to have detected his gaze, and their eyes met.
Han Li was instantly struck by a bone-chilling sensation, and he felt as if the Devilish Monarch could see through all of his secrets. He immediately channeled his immortal spiritual power and his spiritual sense to try and ward off the Devilish Monarch''s gaze, but his efforts proved to bepletely futile, and the cold sensation was only bing more and more intense, making him feel as if he were about to pass out.
A peculiar look shed through the Devilish Monarch''s eyes at the sight of Han Li, but his expression then returned to normal as he looked away again.
Only then did the bone-chilling sensation in Han Li''s body fade away, and he heaved an internal sigh of relief.
The Devilish Monarch''s gaze only rested on him for a moment, but it felt like an eternity to Han Li, and in this moment, he felt even more exhausted than after an intense battle.
Shi Pokong and Shi Chuankong fell to their knees in front of the Devilish Monarch as they greeted in unison, "Wee back Father!"
Chapter 835: Exemption From Formalities
Xue Cheng also hurriedly knelt down upon seeing this, but much to Shi Chuankong''s shock and horror, Han Li only extended a slight bow toward the Devilish Monarch instead.
The Devilish Monarch was extremely strict when it came to rules, and not kneeling in his presence was a severe offense.
In this moment, Shi Chuankong sorely regretted not further emphasizing the importance of this notion to Han Li.
Before he had a chance to do anything, an usatory voice suddenly rang out from the side.
"Insolent scoundrel! How dare you not kneel in the presence of the Holy Emperor!"
As it turned out, there was a row of seats arranged on the left side of the pce, and two of them were already upied.
Han Li was rather surprised to see this. Upon entering the pce, his attention had been entirely drawn to the Devilish Monarch, so he hadn''t noticed the two seated figures at all.
There were a total of thirteen seats, all of which were golden in color, presenting a stark contrast with the red seats behind them.
At this moment, the fifth and sixth seats were upied. The figure on the fifth seat was an incredibly beautiful young woman wearing a purple ptial dress, while the one next to her was a short and rotund purple-robed young man. He was also the one who had called out in usation to Han Li just now.Seated behind each of them was a devilish being in a suit of blue armor, and they appeared to be personal guards, just like Xue Cheng.
Han Li paid no heed to the rotund young man, but a hint of surprise shed through his eyes at the sight of the woman.
She was the same woman who had intervened during his conversation with Shi Zhanfeng ten years ago.
Unlike the indignant young man, she didn''t look bothered in the slightest, and as their eyes met, she gave Han Li a faint smile.
Her smile only further elevated her already stunning beauty, and even Han Li was dazed for an instant as he gazed upon her, but he immediately snapped back to his senses before looking away.
"I am not from the Holy Realm, and I only came to Night Sun City as a personal guard of His Highness, the thirteenth prince. While it''s true that I greatly admire Your Majesty, you are still only a senior in my eyes, so there''s no need for me to kneel," Han Li said.
He didn''t want to kneel, but he didn''t want to offend the Devilish Monarch, either, as he had to count on the Devilish Monarch to save Weeping Soul.
The rotund young man was just about to re up with rage again when the Devilish Monarch interjected, "Forget it, Mingzhen. There''s no need to bicker over such an insignificant matter."
The rotund young man was very surprised to hear this, but he immediately replied, "Yes, Father."
He then gave Han Li a cold re before sitting back down.
Shi Chuankong was also very surprised that the crisis had been averted so easily, while Shi Pokong''s expression remained unchanged with the exception of a minute raising of his eyebrows.
"So you''re Li Feiyu, is that right? Seeing as you''re from our Holy Realm, I''ll spare you from the formalities. Pokong, Chuankong, you two can get up as well," the Devilish Monarch said.
Shi Pokong, Shi Chuankong, and Xue Cheng rose to their feet upon hearing this, while Han LI extended another slight bow as a gesture of gratitude.
"Chuankong, you were away for quite some time. How did your trip to the True Immortal Realm go?" the Devilish Monarch asked as a faint smile appeared on his face.
"I witnessed many incredible things in the True Immortal Realm, and I''ve reaped many rewards too," Shi Chuankong hurriedly replied.
"I can see that your cultivation base has advanced quite a bit, so it does indeed appear that you''ve made a fruitful trip. Young cultivators like yourselves should all go out and experience some hardships. Only then will you be able to grow," the Devilish Monarch said.
Shi Chuankong was very much in agreement with this statement, and he gave an affirmative response.
"Father, while it''s important to advance in one''s cultivation base, our imperial n is responsible for the lives of all of the people of our Holy Realm, so we can''t just focus solely on our own cultivation. Recently, the Heavenly Court has been mobilizing more and more troops to areas near our Holy Realm, and it seems like they''re about to make a big move.
¡°I implore you to look into this matter so that we can be prepared if the Heavenly Court decides to attack again," Shi Pokong said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Alright, I''ll look into it," the Devilish Monarch replied in an indifferent manner.
Right at this moment, a servant rushed into the pce, then fell to his knees as he reported, "Your Majesty, the eldest prince, the eighth prince, and the tenth prince are waiting outside."
"Tell them toe in," the Devilish Monarch, then waved a hand toward Shi Pokong and the others.
Shi Pokong sat down onto the third of the thirteen seats, and Xue Cheng sat down behind him, while Shi Chuankong sat down on the final seat, with Han Li also sitting down behind him.
"Fellow Daoist Li, Father has a very strict and unyielding personality. I don''t know why he decided to spare you from the formalities just now, but I can tell you that you''re extremely fortunate. Make sure you do not do anything else that could be considered to be offensive from here onward. Otherwise, if Father decides to administer a punishment, no one will be able to save you," Shi Chuankong warned through voice transmission.
Han Li nodded silently in response.
He was aware that his refusal to kneel could''ve been construed as offensive, but he simply couldn''t bring himself to kneel to someone else for no just reason.
Shi Chuankong''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, while Han Li took a nce at the woman and the rotund young man before asking through voice transmission, "Who''re those two, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
"They are my fifth sister, Shi Jingyan, and my sixth brother, Shi Mingzhen," Shi Chuankong replied.
"Are they tied to the eldest prince?" Han Li asked.
"Jingyan has extremely lofty ambitions that''s matched by her cultivation base, so she can stand toe to toe against Zhanfeng and Pokong. On top of that, she''s amassed a great deal of power, and Mingzhen is a supporter of hers," Shi Chuankong informed.
Han Li was quite stunned to hear this, and he couldn''t help but wonder what motive Shi Jingyan had for interfering with his conversation with Shi Zhanfeng ten years ago.
Right at this moment, Shi Zhanfeng''s group entered the pce, then collectively knelt down and extended a respectful greeting.
"Go and take a seat," the Devilish Monarch said, and a faint smile had appeared on his face, indicating that he was quite pleased to see Shi Zhanfeng.
Shi Zhanfeng and the eighth and tenth princes duly obliged, taking their seats as well.
After they had sat down, Shi Zhanfeng took a nce at his surroundings, then gave nods of acknowledgement to Shi Pokong and Shi Jingyan before his gaze settled on Han Li.
Han Li paid no heed to him, and he merely looked away,pletely unbothered.
More and more people continued to arrive, and all of them held lofty noble titles, overseeing certain matters in Night Sun City and in the rest of the Devil Realm.
Shi Chuankong introduced all of the new arrivals to Han Li as they arrived, giving Han Li a rough idea of all of the Devil Realm''s important figures.
It didn''t take long before almost all of the seats in the pce had been upied.
However, only seven of the first row of thirteen seats had been upied, with no more princes or princesses making an appearance.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, isn''t this supposed to be an extremely important asion? Where are the other princes and princesses?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"My seventh brother is currently stationed at ck Duck City to keep an eye on the Heavenly Court''s movements, so he couldn''te. My twelfth brother is always out traveling, and even Father can''t do anything about him. As for my second sister, fourth sister, ninth sister, and eleventh sister, they''re cultivating under a Dao Ancestor of our Holy Realm, and I haven''t seen them in many years, so they most likely won''t being, either," Shi Chuankong exined.
"I see," Han Li replied.
A short whileter, the Devilish Monarch tapped on the table in front of him as he said, "Seeing as everyone''s here, let''s begin. What important events have taken ce in our Holy Realm during my seclusion?"
Shi Zhanfeng rose to his feet as he reported, "Father, during your seclusion, I visited the Ink River, Cold Trite, Frost Cloud, and Lone Star Regions, and here are my findings."
Shi Zhanfeng pulled out a jade book as he spoke, and a gray shadow flew out from behind the Devilish Monarch, appearing in front of Shi Zhanfeng in a sh to take the jade book before returning to the Devilish Monarch.
Only now did Han Li notice that an indistinct gray figure had been standing behind the Devilish Monarch this entire time.
His facial features were concealed behind ayer of ck qi, and he had an insubstantial body that appeared more like that of a soul than a body of flesh and blood.
"That man''s name is Shadow. He is Father''s personal guard, and no one knows who he is or what he looks like, but he''s extremely powerful," Shi Chuankong exined through voice transmission.
The Devilish Monarch quickly read through the jade book, then nodded as he praised, "Well done. You''ve done very well in eradicating the bandits in those four regions."
"It was the least that I could do to share some of your burden, Father. Now that you''vee out of seclusion, I''d like to offer up a Spatial Origin Herb that I obtained by chance some years ago. I hope it''ll be of help to you, Father."
Shi Zhanfeng flipped a hand over as he spoke to summon a white wooden box, then removed the lid to reveal a small n that was only several inches tall.
The nt was silver in color, and it had nine leaves, all of which were different in color and riddled with silver patterns that were giving off formidable spatial power fluctuations.
Shadow epted the wooden box in the Devilish Monarch''s stead before setting it down in front of him.
The Devilish Monarch''s eyes lit up slightly at the Spatial Origin Herb in the box, and he gave a pleased nod before stowing it away.
"A fine offering you''ve made, Zhanfeng. In return, I''ll reward you with three Exquisite Azure Sky Pills, ten suits of Primordial Holy Armor, and ten Dragon Elephant Infernal Swords," the Devilish Monarch dered.
Shadow vanished from the spot in a sh, only to return just a momentter with a white jade tter, which carried three palm-sized crystalline boxes, each of which contained an azure pill, ten suits of white armor, and ten golden longswords.
A faint medicinal fragrance was emanating from the three pills, and the thirty-six profound acupoints that Han Li had opened up thus far all began to stir as he caught a whiff of this aroma.
Chapter 836: Reward
Chapter 836: Reward
Aside from the three Exquisite Azure Sky Pills, the ten suits of white armor also appeared to be quite remarkable.
At a nce, there didn''t seem to be anything special about them, but upon closer inspection, one would discover that these suits of armor were woven out of countless tiny scales, all of which were etched with even tinier runes that were giving off radiant white light.
The golden longswords were also radiating dazzling golden light, within which a projection fo a wyrm and a giant elephant could be seen, prowling around while roaring incessantly.
"Thank you, Father," Shi Zhanfeng said as he epted the reward with tion.
Everyone was very envious to see this, including Shi Chuankong, and it seemed that Shi Zhanfeng had been given a very handsome reward.
In contrast, Shi Pokong and Shi Jingyan remained quiteposed, and it was unclear what they were thinking.
"What is this Exquisite Azure Sky Pill, Fellow Daoist Shi? It is some type of dao pill?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"The Exquisite Azure Sky Pill is not a dao pill. Instead, it''s one of the most sought after pills for bodily refinement. Tens of thousands of years ago, my father ventured deep into the Ten Hazards Mountain Range and personally slew a Great Epassment Stage Azure Devilish Cow, then used its blood essence in conjunction with hundreds of different precious ingredients to refine eighty-one Exquisite Azure Sky Pills over the course of centuries.
¡°All of my siblings and I were given one pill each, and many more have been given out as rewards since then, so there can''t be many left now. As long as one is using a suitable cultivation art, taking a single one of these pills could allow one to open several or even up to twenty profound acupoints," Shi Chuankong exined.
"I see. I presume those suits of armor and those swords must also be quite powerful, right?" Han Li mused.
"Indeed. If a normal Golden Immortal Stage Profound Immortal were to be equipped with a suit of Primordial Holy Armor and a Dragon Elephant Infernal Sword, then they would be able to take on a High Zenith cultivator on their own," Shi Chuankong replied, and it was clear that he wasn''t very pleased that Shi Zhanfeng had been given such a huge reward.
With this set of armor and swords, Shi Zhanfeng could instantly develop a formidable unit of profound cultivators with overall power that wouldn''t be inferior to that of an early-Great Epassment cultivator.
Shi Zhanfeng quickly returned to his seat after epting his reward, following which Shi Pokong stood up and stepped forward, then extended a deep bow toward the Devilish Monarch before flipping hand over to produce a jade book.
"I''ve been overseeing all of the activity across the borders of our realm, and here is a report of all of my findings."
As soon as his voice trailed off, the jade book had already appeared in the Devilish Monarch''s hand, delivered to him by Shadow.
The Devilish Monarch quickly read through the book, then nodded as he said, "You did well."
Shi Pokong extended another deep bow, seeminglypletely unbothered by the Devilish Monarch''s lukewarm reception, then calmly returned to his seat.
"What is Pokong doing?" Shi Chuankong sighed in a frustrated manner. "Father is clearly in a good mood today, so he should be copying Zhanfeng and taking this opportunity to present something to our father!"
Han Li took a nce at Shi Pokong, and thetter looked back at him with a faint smile, seemingly having detected his gaze.
Shi Jingyan rose to her feet to take Shi Pokong''s ce, then said, "I''m not as capable as Zhanfeng and Pokong. All I''ve done over the years is manage the Hundred Flower House. This is a piece that took the women of the Hundred Flower House and I a hundred years to embroider, I hope it''s to your liking."
She swept a sleeve through the air as she spoke, unfurling a giant picture scroll that was hundreds of feet long and over a hundred feet wide.
The picture scroll depicted an undting mountain range that stretched as far as the eyes could see, while a giant red sun was riding up in the east.
The craftsmanship was exceptional, and it struck the beholder with the illusion that they were truly standing before a majestic mountain range.
"That''s a very thoughtful gift, Jingyan. Shadow, go and fetch that Green Smoke Regal Cauldron for Jingyan," the Devilish Monarch instructed.
Shadow instantly vanished from the spot, then quickly returned with a green cauldron in his hands.
It was an antiquated cauldron that was around half the height of a grown man, and it had nine openings on top, out of which plumes of green smoke were being released before circling around and ultimately seeping back into the cauldron, presenting a profound sight to behold.
"Thank you, Father," Shi Jingyan said with an ted expression, then stowed the cauldron away before returning to her seat.
After that, it was Shi Mingzhen''s turn to step forward, and before long, all of the princes and princesses had taken their turn, reporting some official matters before presenting some gifts to the Devilish Monarchs.
All those who presented gifts were given handsome rewards in return, and it didn''t take long before it was Shi Chuankong''s turn.
"I''ve been absent from the Holy Realm for many years, and during my absence, the performance of the Vast Origin House has been very inconsistent. For that, I''m willing to ept my punishment," Shi Chuankong said as he presented a small ounts book.
"No punishment is warranted. While it''s true that the Vast Origin House''s performance has been inconsistent during your absence, the general trend is still a positive one. Now that you''ve returned, I''m sure things will be back to normal in no time," the Devilish Monarch encouraged.
"Your kindness and generosity are truly unmatched, Father. During my time in the True Immortal Realm, I was able to enter the True Mantra Sect ruins, and I recovered this treasure that I would like to offer to you."
The Virata Lute appeared amid a sh of silver light as he spoke, and he offered it up with both hands.
Everyone in the pce was immediately able to identify the Virata Lute, and all of Shi Chuankong''s siblings were also looking at the lute with different expressions.
"The Virata Lute is finally back," the Devilish Monarch murmured as he swept a sleeve through the air, and the lute immediately rose up into the air before returning to his side.
The Devilish Monarch gently stroked the lute as a reminiscent look appeared on his face, and no one in the pce dared to disturb him.
"You''ve done exceptionally well, Chuankong. I''m very pleased. What would you like as your reward?" the Devilish Monarch asked.
"It was my duty to bring back the Virata Lute, so I don''t deserve a reward," Shi Chuankong said.
"I''ve always rewarded those who make contributions to our Holy Realm. If such a massive contribution from you goes unrewarded, the entire realm is going to point fingers at me," the Devilish Monarch chuckled.
It was clear that the Devilish Monarch was very pleased, and everyone in the hall immediately put on smiles to y along.
Shi Zhanfeng and Shi Jingyan were also smiling, but at the same time, they were looking at Shi Chuankong with wary expressions.
"For recovering such an important treasure, I bestow upon the thirteenth prince the title of Heavenly Merchant Marquis. As for his fiefdom, the Heavenly Rainbow Region currently has no master, so you can have it," the Devilish Monarch dered.
Everyone present fell into a stunned silence upon hearing this, and Han Li was also rather taken aback by this announcement.
Through his readings, he had learned that the Heavenly Rainbow Region was an extremely rich and bountiful region. On top of that, several of the major roads of the Devil Realm also passed through the region, thereby giving it significant geographic importance.
With that in mind, it was no wonder that everyone was so surprised by this decision.
Shi Chuankong hurriedly fell to his knees with a stunned expression as he said, "Thank you for boundless generosity, Father, but I can''t ept such a significant reward, so please rescind it."
"I''ve never rescinded any reward that I''ve given out. With your business-oriented mind, you''re the ideal candidate for making full use of the Heavenly Rainbow Region, so make sure you live up to the high hopes that I have for you," the Devilish Monarch said.
Shi Chuankong could see that the Devilish Monarch wasn''t going to change his mind, so he could only ept this arrangement in the end.
"You can return to your seat now," the Devilish Monarch said with a dismissive wave.
"Before that, there''s one more thing that I must report," Shi Chuankong hurriedly said.
"Oh? What is it?" the Devilish Monarch asked.
"It was all thanks to Fellow Daoist Li that I was able to recover the Virata Lute from the True Mantra Sect ruins, and on the way back to Night Sun City, we were attacked several times. If it wasn''t for Fellow Daoist Li''s protection, there''s no way I would''ve been able to make it back alive, so Fellow Daoist Li is much more deserving of a reward than I am," Shi Chuankong said.
The Devilish Monarch turned to Han Li upon hearing this, and Han Li rose to his feet.
Even though he had be the center of attention for everyone in the pce, he remained calm and collected.
"Li Feiyu, you may not be from our Holy Realm, but seeing as you''ve made such a significant contribution to our realm, your efforts cannot go unrewarded. What would you like?" the Devilish Monarch asked.
"Fellow Daoist Shi and I are close friends, so I shouldn''t be asking for a reward here, but at the moment, I''m facing a problem that I can''t resolve myself, so I can only turn to you, Senior," Han Li said.
"What is this problem of yours?" the Devilish Monarch asked.
"A good friend of mine suffered severe spiritual damage some time ago under some rather inexplicable circumstances, and her true form is that of a Xing Beast. At the moment, her essential energy is constantly seeping away, and I haven''t been able to treat her condition through conventional means, so I would like your permission to have the grand priest inspect her condition," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"I see. That''s not a problem. Zhanfeng, summon the grand priest and have him fulfill Li Feiyu''s request," the Devilish Monarch instructed.
"The grand priest went into seclusion ten years ago. Would it be possible to wait until hees out of seclusion before he fulfills Fellow Daoist Li''s request?" Shi Zhanfeng asked as he gave Han Li an apologetic look.
Han Li wasn''t surprised at all to hear this, and he said, "I can wait for the grand priest toe out of seclusion. How long will that take?"
"That''s difficult to say. After all, seclusions can be long or short, and it could take anywhere from a few years to over a century. However, you can rest assured that I''ll have the grand prieste to you as soon as hees out of seclusion," Shi Zhanfeng promised.
Chapter 837: Blatant
Chapter 837: tant
"Zhanfeng, the Priestly Temple is currently under your supervision, how could you not know when the grand priest is going toe out of seclusion?" Shi Chuankong harrumphed coldly.
"Your usations are misguided, Chuankong. The Priestly Temple is indeed currently under my supervision, but the grand priest holds a very lofty position, so he''s not under my control. As such, I truly cannot tell you when he''ll being out of seclusion. If you dno''t believe me, then you can ask Priest Qing Yang," Shi Zhanfeng said in a resigned manner.
As soon as his voice trailed off, an elderly priest immediately stood up. The priest was very thin, and his hair and beard were all giving off a faint azure gleam, perhaps a result of some cultivation art that he was using.
Priest Qing Yang extended a deep bow toward the Devilish Monarch, then turned to Shi Chuankong as he said, "Your Highness, the grand priest really is in seclusion right now. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be absent today. The grand priest never tells us when he ns to go into seclusion ande out of seclusion, so there''s no way for us to know."
Shi Chuankong''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
He still had his suspicions, but it would be inappropriate for him to force the issue any further.
"In that case, we''ll just have to wait until the grand priestes out of seclusion before fulfilling Fellow Daoist Li''s request," the Devilish Monarch said.
"I don''t wish to be a pain, but the problem is that my friend''s condition is currently only being stabilized using Purple Sun Warm Jade, and I only have enough Purple Sun Warm Jade tost about two r three more decades, so I can''t afford to wait much longer," Han Li sighed.
Shi Pokong had promised to acquire some mid-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade for him, yet he had only managed to secure a small piece thus far.
"I just so happen to have some Purple Sun Warm Jade, and it''s all of the mid-grade variety. I''m happy to gift them to Fellow Daoist Li as thanks for what he''s done for Chuankong and our Holy Realm," Shi Zhanfeng said with a smile, then summoned a storage ring before offering to Han Li.
Han Li exchanged a nce with Shi Chuankong, then epted the storage ring, and his eyes lit up ever so slightly after inspecting the ring''s contents.
There were seven or eight pieces of mid-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade, all of which were of an extremely high quality.
A subtle hint of displeasure shed through Shi Pokong''s eyes upon seeing this.
"Thank you, Your Highness. This batch of Purple Sun Warm Jade should be enough tost about a century, but after that, I''ll still have to trouble the grand priest," Han Li said.
"You can rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Zhanfeng assured with a smile.
Han Li nodded in response, and a faint smile appeared on the Devilish Monarch''s face upon seeing this.
Right as he was about to dismiss everyone, Shi Pokong stepped forward as he said, "Please wait a moment, Father."
"What is it?" the Devilish Monarch asked.
"Chuankong just mentioned that he was attacked on the way back to Night Sun City, and he spoke to me about this as well. Regarding the people who attacked him..."
"I''ve already heard of this matter, and I''ve sent people to investigate," the Devilish Monarch suddenly interjected to cut Shi Pokong off.
Shi Pokong faltered slightly upon hearing this, while an indignant look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face, yet before he had a chance to protest, Shi Pokong grabbed onto his sleeve and said, "In that case, I''ll leave this matter in your capable hands, Father."
The Devilish Monarch''s expression eased slightly as he said, "There''s no need for you to pursue this matter any further, just focus on what you need to do."
"Yes, Father," Shi Pokong replied.
Shi Chuankong was still feeling quite disgruntled, but he also gave an affirmative response.
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this, but he continued to observe in silence.
"Alright, you can all go now," the Devilish Monarch said with a dismissive wave, and everyone promptly departed.
The ceremony continued, and more and more people entered the pce to offer up reports and presents.
The ceremony wore on until the afternoon before drawing to a conclusion, and in the wake of everyone''s departure, only the Devilish Monarch and Shadow were left in the pce.
"Shadow, do you also feel like that Li Feiyu bears a striking resemnce to that man?" the Devilish Monarch asked with a contemtive expression.
Shadow offered no response.
The Devilish Monarch didn''t seem to actually want to hear Shadow''s opinion on the matter, and he abruptly vanished from the spot, followed immediately by Shadow.
Outside the pce, Shi Zhanfeng caught up to Shi Chuankong''s group, then said with a smile, "Congrattions on your official title and your new fiefdom, Chuankong. I''m truly happy for you."
Everyone else hurriedly departed upon seeing this, seemingly terrified of hearing something that they shouldn''t, but Shi Jingyan and Shi Mingzhen also approached Shi Chuankong''s group to join the conversation.
"You''re far too kind, Zhanfeng. The reward that Father has given to me can''tpare with the pills, armor, and swords that were given to you," Shi Chuankong replied with a simle.
"Honestly, if Father isn''t against the idea, I would be more than happy to exchange rewards with you," Shi Zhanfeng chuckled.
Shi Chuankong offered no response to this.
"Fellow Daoist Li, you may not be from our Holy Realm, but you''ve made significant contributions to our realm, and I think that''s very admirable. How about you pay me a visit in my manor if you have some spare time?" Shi Zhanfeng invited as he turned to Han Li with a smile.
Han Li cupped his fist in a salute, but offered no definitive response.
Shi Zhanfeng also cupped his fist in a parting salute to everyone, and in the next instant, he abruptly vanished from the spot along with Shi Chuanjia and Shi Bofu, only to reappear in the distance a momentter.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this.
Shi Zhanfeng''s teleportation ability had been unleashed without any warning, and only now did Han Li detect some faint spatial fluctuations in the air.
It was clear that Shi Zhanfeng''s mastery over thews of space far exceeded Shi Chuankong''s.
"It looks like Zhanfeng''s Bright Mirror has be even more refined," Shi Pokong remarked with a smile, while Shi Chuankong''s brows furrowed slightly as a grim look appeared on his face.
"It looks like you had a very eventful and fruitful trip to the True Immortal Realm, Chuankong. I''ve always wanted to visit the True Immortal Realm as well, but I can never find the time with all of my official duties," Shi Jingyang said with a wide smile.
Shi Chuankong merely nodded in response with a slightly cold look in his eyes.
Shi Jingyan remainedpletely unbothered, and she suddenly began to approach Han Li, who immediately became apprehensive.
A peculiar, alluring fragrance wafted toward him, striking him with a sense of intoxication.
Even when the distance between them had been reduced to no more than three feet, Shi Jingyan still continued to approach Han Li, and there seemed to be some type of attractive force in her eyes that was attempting to suck in Han Li''s soul.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he took a step backward and asked, "Can I help you with something, Your Highness?"
"I just wanted to take a closer look at the man who was able to kill Hua Jing and Daoist Master Bone Shine," Shi Jingyan replied with a smile as she finally stopped in her tracks.
Han Li offered no response to this.
All of a sudden, the fragrance emanating from Shi Jingyan''s body became significantly more pronounced, and it was converging from all directions.
Han Li had already noticed that there was something strange about this aroma, so he was holding his breath and had shut off all of his immortal acupoints, and in this instant, he was even channeling his timew powers to ward off the fragrance.
However, the fragrance was able to instantly seep through theyer of timew powers around his body, and he instantly felt as if he wereying in a floral garden.
Not only was this fragrance infiltrating his body, it was also seeping into his soul, and all of a sudden, all of the apprehension in his heart hadpletely melted away, only to be reced by a sense of yearning.
It was as if Shi Jingyan had be the woman of his dreams, and he was willing toy down his own life for her at a moment''s notice.
However, immediately thereafter, his tremendous spiritual sense began to circte on its own, and an enormous Spiritual Sense Sword appeared, releasing an incredibly sharp aura that easily tore the fragrance in his mind to shreds.
At the same time, a hint of green light appeared within his sleeve, and all of the fragrance that had infiltrated his body instantly surged into the green light.
A hint of surprise shed through Shi Jingyan''s eyes upon seeing this, while Shi Pokong warned, "Jingyan, we''re in the Holy Imperial Pce right now, so do try to keep yourself in check."
"I was just extending a greeting to Fellow Daoist Li, isn''t that right?" Shi Jingyan asked with a mischievious grin as all of the fragrance around her faded away.
"That was definitely quite the greeting," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"You''re a remarkable man, Fellow Daoist Li. If you ever feel like, you cane and visit me as well. I would love to hear more about the True Immortal Realm from you," Shi Jingyan said before departing, quickly followed by Shi Mingzhen.
"Are you alright, Fellow Daoist Li? Jingyan''s Heavenly Dream Fragrance can be a real pain to deal with," Shi Pokong said.
"I''m fine, thank you for asking, Your Highness," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Good. Let''s go back as well," Shi Pokong said, and the four of them set off back to his manor.
Chapter 838: Physical Transmigration
Chapter 838: Physical Transmigration
It didn''t take long for Han Li and the others to return to Shi Pokong''s manor, and after emerging from their carriages, Xue Cheng promptly departed, while Shi Chuankong gestured for Han Li to follow him and Shi Pokong into a conference hall.
"I don''t understand what Father is thinking! Why didn''t he allow us to reveal the truth about the attacks that I had to endure on the way back? Zhanfeng and Jingyan need to be exposed for the backstabbing scoundrels that they are!" Shi Chuankong grumbled in frustration.
"Father most likely didn''t want others to know about the extent of the infighting among us siblings, and at the same time, he gave you a huge reward aspensation. Having said that, I certainly didn''t expect him to grant you the Heavenly Rainbow Region," Shi Pokong said.
"That''s true. With the Heavenly Rainbow Region in our grasp, we''re in a far more advantageous position than before. Given enough time, I''m confident that we can surpass Zhanfeng and the others," Shi Chuankong said with a smile as he sat down onto a chair, then invited Han Li to sit down beside him.
Some servants of the manor had just brought in some cups of spirit tea, and Shi Pokong took a sip of his tea, then cautioned, "Don''t celebrate just yet. You''re going to attract a lot of envy from our brothers and sisters now that you''ve been granted the Heavenly Rainbow Region, so you have to be extra careful from now on."
"Don''t worry, Pokong. I''m a High Zenith cultivator now, so they won''t just be able to step all over me as they please. If they dare toe after me, then I''ll make sure they pay the price. Besides, I still have you, don''t I?" Shi Chuankong replied in a nonchnt manner.
"That may be true, but you can never be too careful. By the way, please be patient in the matter regarding the grand priest, Fellow Daoist Li. Feel free to use the Purple Sun Warm Jade given to you by Zhanfeng, and I''ll send out more people to gather some more Purple Sun Warm Jade for you," Shi Pokong said.
"Thank you, Your Highness," Han Li replied.
This was the first time that he had spoken after entering the conference hall, and the cup of spirit tea beside him had remained untouched this entire time.
"Zhanfeng''s response today doesn''t reallye as a surprise at all. However, even if he wants to dy things, he wouldn''t dare to tantly ignore Father''s orders. Even so, it looks like you''ll have to stay in Night Sun City for a while longer, but rest assured, Pokong and I will continue to try and find ways to treat Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul''s condition," Shi Chuankong said in an apologetic manner.
"In that case, I''ll be in your care for a while longer. I''m sure the two of you still have some things to discuss, and I have some matters to take care of too, so I''ll be taking my leave now," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
"Don''t be in such a hurry to leave, Fellow Daoist Li, I still have to speak to you about the Heavenly Rainbow Region!" Shi Chuankong called out.
"I don''t know much about the Holy Realm at all, so I''ll leave it to His Highness to offer you counsel on this matter. Of course, if you require my assistance with anything, I''ll be happy to help," Han Li said.
"Don''t keep Fellow Daoist Li any longer. Now that he''s gotten some Purple Sun Warm Jade from Zhanfeng, he must be in a hurry to get back to Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul," Shi Pokong said with a smile.
"Alright, in that case, you can attend to Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul first, and I''ll go find you after you''re done," Shi Chuankong said.
Han Li gave the two a nod, then departed from the hall.
Upon returning to the Long Garden Pavilion, he activated all of the restrictions, then paid Weeping Soul a visit in the Flower Branch Space before returning to his secret chamber.
The dy naturally wasn''t ideal, but thankfully, he had secured some Purple Sun Warm Jade, so at the very least, Weeping Soul would be fine for the next century or so.
With that in mind, Han Limenced his cultivation.
One night, over ten yearster.
The entire secret chamber was filled with radiant golden light, and Han Li was seated with his eyes tightly shut, making a rapid string of hand seals while trembling uncontrobly.
The Mantra Treasured Axis was hovering behind him, revolving incessantly while releasing rays of golden light. To his left was the Clear Time Vial, which was also giving off golden ripple, while to his right was an hourss formed by flowing sand, within which particles of golden sand were swirling like a miniature sandstorm.
In front of the left side of his chest was a torch that had been lit with Time Severing Flowing Fire, while to its right was a lush and vibrant golden tree that was slowly taking shape under the rays of golden light.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s eyes sprang open, and he brought his palms together in one swift motion.
Immediately thereafter, all of the Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis, the Clear Time Vial, the Time Severing Torch, and the Illusory Dawn Hourss lit up, releasing bursts of formidable timew power fluctuations.
Several secondster, the small golden treepletely took shape, and all of the timew power in the room converged toward it, manifesting a series of Time Dao Runes on its surface.
The pained look on Han Li''s face was immediately eased, and he exhaled as a faint smile appeared on his face.
After cultivating diligently for over ten years, he had finally manifested an Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree.
Up to this point, he had finally reached the third level of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
Han Li carefully sensed the timew powers flowing through the air around him, and it was as if he had entered a fully immersive state. Even without counting, he knew that there were currently 720 Time Dao Runes shing on his Mantra Treasured Axis, while his Clear Time Vial had 360 Time Dao Runes on its surface.
The Time Severing Torch and the Illusory Dawn Hourss each had 180 Time Dao Runes, while more and more Time Dao Runes were continuing to appear on the Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree that had just been manifested.
Right at this moment, forty-five timew threads flew out of the Mantra Treasured Axis and all of the other time-attribute artifacts, then began to swirl around Han Li.
The timew threads then linked up with one another to form a golden circle that revolved incessantly around Han Li, absorbing the surrounding timew powers while slowly shrinking toward the center.
At the same time, the five time-attribute artifacts released five bursts of timew powers that converged in unison before surging into the golden circle, transforming it into a giant golden ring.
A flurry of Time Dao Runes flew out of the time-attribute artifacts before falling upon the golden ring, and it immediately began trembling incessantly while emitting a sharp ringing sound.
At the same time, bursts of formidable timew power fluctuations swept through the surrounding area, threatening to overwhelm all of the restrictions in the room.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he murmured to himself, "Is iting again?"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a ball of azure light instantly shot out of the front of his robes, and it contained none other than the Heaven Controlling Vial.
The vial was glowing as radiantly as a green sun, and it was giving off a burst of tremendous suction force.
The golden ring immediately flew high up into the air, then rapidly shrank down to the same size as the mouth of the Heaven Controlling Vial before the two came together to release a burst of immense timew powers.
The Heaven Controlling Vial instantly swelled rapidly in size, while countless green runes emerged within it, forming a green cloud that was swirling incessantly.
Tremendous timew power fluctuations surged out of the green cloud, causing the nearby space to tremble and ripple incessantly.
Immediately thereafter, the green cloud within the vial abruptly brightened, then shot out of the vial as a thick pir of green light before vanishing into the space up ahead.
The space was torn apart, and countless rays of translucent light surged forth to form that familiar translucent wall of light.
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out in Han Li''s mind.
"You''ve been progressing faster than I expected..."
Han Li immediately turned to the Heaven Controlling Vial with a bewildered expression, and sure enough, a pair of tiny ck eyes had appeared on its surface and were looking directly at him.
Han Li wanted tomunicate with the vial through their spiritual connection, but it was as if there were an invisible wall between them, thwarting his attempts atmunicating with what appeared to be the vial spirit.
Before he had a chance to do anything, the translucent wall of light began to glow radiantly, and an enormous vortex appeared, releasing a burst of tremendous suction force that quickly inundated his entire body.
By the time he returned to his senses, he was greeted by the sight of a barren in.
There was an enormous river flowing from the ends of the heavens on the distant horizon. The river stretched as far as the eyes could see in both directions, and it contained countless balls of light.
The river appeared to be flowing rapidly, flowing slowly, and not flowing at all, all at the same time, presenting a very strange sight to behold.
Han Li had witnessed this river in the past, but he still couldn''t help but be amazed by what he saw. Right as he was about to fly toward the river, he suddenly seemed to have sensed something, and his expression changed drastically as he hurriedly looked down at his own body, only to find that he was present in his physical form, rather than a spiritual one.
He shook his head from side to side, then pressed a hand against his own cheek, and he was able to confirm that this wasn''t an illusion, which meant that his physical body had been sucked into the vortex along with his soul!
Chapter 839: Mystery Unraveled
Chapter 839: Mystery Unraveled
Only after looking around in bewilderment for some time did Han Li graduallypose himself before slowly flying toward the river.
Even though he had already been here on several asions, this was the first time that he had been here in his physical form, so it was still a unique experience.
Hovering high up in the air, Han Li peered into the river, and thanks to his prior experience, he knew not to focus his gaze on any single one of the balls of light. Instead, he only took brief nces at the images shing through them.
Right at this moment, arge ball of light passed by beneath Han Li, moving significantly slower than the other balls of light.
As soon as Han Li caught sight of the image disyed on it, his attention was immediately drawn to it.
However, as soon as he gave the ball of light his undivided attention, it immediately released a burst of immense suction force that sucked him in without giving him any chance to resist.
......
After an indeterminate period of time, Han Li''s eyes sprang open, and he found himselfying on top of a ck rock above a turbulent sea. Waves were constantly crashing into the rock around him, sshing water in all directions.
Han Li sat up on the rock, then inspected his surroundings to discover that the seawater around him was of a very dark and foreboding color.
His ears were ringing slightly, while his breathing was also a little heavy, and he was struck by an inexplicable sense of difort.
Nothing appeared to be amiss in the area around him, but he couldn''t help but feel as if something was different, and this sense of difort was only slowlypounding with each breath that he took, but only by a minute degree.
Under normal circumstances, perhaps he would''ve also detected this slight change, but he wouldn''t have paid it much heed. However, given the special nature of the circumstances at hand, he had to be extra careful.
He strode over to the edge of the rock, then peered into the water, and the reflection looking back at him was one of his own face.
Sure enough, he had experienced physical transmigration on this asion!
Han Li exhaled as he sat back down onto the ground, and he didn''t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
He habitually took a nce upward to discover that the usual Mantra Treasured Axis projection was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was an indistinct golden ring above his head that was riddled with Time Dao Runes.
After a brief count, Han Li discovered that there were 1,620 Time Dao Runes, which appeared to be the total number of Time Dao Runes on all five time-attribute artifactsbined.
It seemed that the duration of this transmigration was still going to depend on the rate of expenditure of his timew powers.
Right at this moment, he spotted half of a giant ck carcass floating on the surface not far behind the rock. The carcass was already a little dposed, and it was giving off a foul odor.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he rose up into the air for a closer look, upon which he discovered that it was a chunk of a ck whale''s body, and it looked a little familiar.
At the same time, he suddenly recalled the scene that he had witnessed in the ball of light. To put it more urately, he recalled the person that he had seen within it.
All of a sudden, a theory began to take shape in his mind. Could it be that the strange state that Daoist Master Bone Shine was in during their second encounter was the result of this transmigration?
The more he pondered this theory, the more usible it seemed in his mind, and thus, he rose to his feet again.
After inspecting his own internal condition to ensure that nothing was amiss, Han Li closed his eyes, then released his spiritual sense in all directions.
Momentster, he reopened his eyes, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "I guess there''s only one way to find out."
Immediately thereafter, he put on a Reincarnation Pce mask, then sped away in a certain direction.
......
Tens of thousands of kilometers away, a dark green figure was seated on the surface of the water, bobbing up and down like a floating lilypad.
It was a very thin elderly man wearing a loose-fitting dark green Daoist robe, and it was none other than Daoist Master Bone Shine!
At this moment, there was a fist-sized purple bead hovering above his head, and it was giving off bursts of purple smoke and hazy purple light that epassed his entire head.
The purple bead was an immortal treasure that was beneficial to the soul, but it was only a ninth-grade immortal treasure.
Under normal circumstances, Daoist Master Bone Shine would never use this immortal treasure, but he had no choice in the matter here.
While hunting down the two perpetrators who had killed his disciple, he had been caught off guard and suffered severe spiritual damage from an attack unleashed by that High Zenith cultivator, and he had taken several restorative pills without much effect.
Left with no options, he was forced to use this immortal treasure that wasn''t actually meant for restorative purposes.
"Once I get my hands on those scoundrels, I''ll make them wish they were never born!" Daoist Master Bone Shine spat through gritted teeth.
Right as his voice trailed off, a streak of light flew over from afar, then drew to an abrupt halt around a thousand feet away, revealing a familiar figure.
Daoist Master Bone Shine hurriedly sprang to his feet in a panic as he eximed, "You again?"
I knew it!
Up to this point, Han Li''s theory had been confirmed. He had indeed returned here through transmigration to battle Daoist Master Bone Shine again.
During what Han Li had thought to be their second encounter, he was wondering how Daoist Master Bone Shine had suffered such severe additional spiritual damage, and the answer was now clear.
A grim look appeared on Daoist Master Bone Shine''s face at the sight of Han Li''s triumphant expression, and a sense of unease welled up in his heart, but he couldn''t pinpoint where this sense of unease wasing from.
After taking a moment topose himself, Daoist Master Bone Shine harrumphed coldly, "You dare toe after me on your own? You must have a death wish!"
"You still haven''t recovered from the spiritual damage fromst time, have you?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"So what? There''s no way that you could unleash that same secret technique a second time in such a short span!" Daoist Master Bone Shine countered, but internally, he was not without doubts.
"That secret technique was extremely taxing on my spiritual sense, so it''s indeed not something that I can recover from in a short time, but how are you so sure that I don''t have any other tricks up my sleeve?" Han Li asked with a mocking sneer.
For some reason, the unease in Daoist Master Bone Shine''s heart grew even more pronounced.
However, he then quickly dismissed his own concerns. How could a single early-High Zenith cultivator possibly pose a threat to himself?
"What a load of bullshit!" Daoist Master Bone Shine harrumphed coldly as he swept a a sleeve through the air, instantly conjuring up his bone withering spirit domain.
A thin cloud of mist spread through the surrounding area, and the eight bone pagodas appeared once again.
As Daoist Master Bone Shine channeled his spiritual sense, he could feel a sharp pain in his consciousness, and the cirction of his spiritual sense and devilish qi were also rather sluggish.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he remained unfazed as he flipped a hand over to summon a strange-looking ssmp.
"That''s the Soul Devouring Lamp! Why do you have it?" Daoist Master Bone Shine eximed.
"So you recognize thismp as well, but do you have a way to ward off its powers?" Han Li asked.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, sending themp flying toward Daoist Master Bone Shine, who immediately summoned a purplish-golden talisman without any hesitation before pressing it to his own forehead.
The talisman instantly lit up in mes before being incinerated into nothingness, leaving aplex purplish-golden rune at the center of Daoist Master Bone Shine''s be.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he began making a rapid string of incantation seals.
As the Soul Devouring Lamp approached Daoist Master Bone Shine, its wick suddenly lit up with two mes, one purple and one azure, both of which were intertwined with each other like a pair of miniature fiery snakes.
The purple and azure mes weren''t particrly bright. Instead, they were quite dim, but Daoist Master Bone Shine''s gaze was involuntarily drawn to them, following which a slightly dazed look appeared in his eyes.
He felt as if he could see two exceptionally beautiful young women dancing within themp, seductively unting their gorgeous bodies, and it didn''t take long before they captured the entirety of his attention.
Chapter 840: Second Battle Against Daoist Master Bone Shine
At this moment, a projection of a giantmp was taking shape in Daoist Master Bone Shine''s consciousness, and the four beasts below themp opened their mouths in unison while green light shed through their eyes.
Daoist Master Bone Shine''s soul had already been quite severely damaged to begin, and he immediately felt his own consciousness begin to churn violently once again.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, summoning an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword before sending it flying toward Daoist Master Bone Shine right as he stood transfixed by themp.
A burst of bright golden lightning erupted out of the sword, then whipped through the air before crashing down upon Daoist Master Bone Shine, scorching the air in its wake, yet right as it was about to strike Daoist Master Bone Shine, the rune on his be began to glow radiantly with golden light.
At the same time, a formidable shockwave swept through his consciousness, sweeping toward the giant oilmp projection.
The projection remainedpletely unmoved by the shockwave, not disying signs of strain of struggle, but immediately thereafter, the shockwave abruptly froze solid, and the oilmp projection was also encased in ayer of ice.
All of this had transpired in the same instant that the rune on Daoist Master Bone Shine''s be had lit up, and Han Li immediately detected that something was amiss.
He channeled his Reversal True Axis ability without any hesitation, then flew back in retreat right in front of Daoist Master Bone Shine.
Right at this moment, a sharp, white bone spike abruptly pierced its way out of Daoist Master Bone Shine''s chest, and on the tip of the spike was what appeared to be a white water droplet.Han Li was hovering high up in the air, and a hint of lingering fear shed through his eyes at the sight of the water droplet.
This was a water droplet formed entirely by Daoist Master Bone Shine''sw powers, and if Han Li hadn''t reacted in time and been struck by the water droplet, then he would''ve at least suffered extremely severe injuries, if not been killed on the spot.
Even though he was currently in a state of transmigration, this was still his body, and he had no idea what would happen if he were to sustain injuries or even die in this state.
Han Li took a nce at the golden ring above his head to find that over a hundred Time Dao Runes had already faded, which was a rate that was a little slower than his past transmigrations.
However, this wasn''t the time to be pondering such matters, and he immediately turned his gaze back to Daoist Master Bone Shine.
At this point, Daoist Master Bone Shine had already awakened from the effects of the Soul Devouring Lamp, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which one of the bone pagodas in his spirit domain split up on its own to surround themp, instantly severing Han Li''s spiritual connection with it.
"This Soul Devouring Lamp is even more formidable in your hands than it was in the hands of those sisters, but now that it''s been sealed, let''s see what other tricks you have to offer!" Daoist Master Bone Shine spat through gritted teeth.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a vicious look suddenly shed through his eyes, and Han Li immediately channeled his Reversal True Axis to dart away again upon seeing this.
In the next instant, another bone pagoda came crashing down upon him without any warning, and Han Li had only just gotten out of the way when a third bone pagoda appeared in his path, and both of them were burning with green mes.
The seven bone pagodas were shing through the spirit domain in pursuit of Han Li, slowly driving him into a corner.
At the same time, the initial sense of difort that Han Li had experienced had finallypounded to a point where he felt as if it were close to reaching a breaking point.
He had transmigrated to a time and space that he didn''t belong in, and the entire world seemed to be rejecting him.
With that in mind, Han Li knew that he couldn''t afford to dy any longer, and he made a hand seal to summon eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at once, all of which began circling around him with golden lightning shing over them.
All of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had been refined in the golden Baleful Lightning Pond back in the Gray Realm, and that seemed to have triggered some type of change within them.
Not only had his spiritual connection with them be more intimate, their spiritual nature had also been significantly enhanced.
The eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords lit up in unison at Han Li''s behest, releasing a burst of tremendous sword qi and a wave of golden lightning that erupted through the air in all directions.
A giant ball of golden light was swelling rapidly with Han Li at its center, and all of the green mes in Han Li''s path were immediately forced back into their respective bone pagodas.
Right at this moment, a faint sound rang out nearby, and Han Li immediately swiveled around to discover that the strange bone spike protruding out of Daoist Master Bone Shine''s chest was darting toward him from behind at an extraordinary speed and an angle that made it very difficult to ward off.
The white water droplet remained adhered firmly to the tip of the bone spike, and it was also rapidly approaching Han Li.
At this point, it was already toote to channel his Reversal True Axis ability, so Han Li could only summon his Profound Heavenly Gourd.
A beam of dark green light shot out of the mouth of the gourd before instantly shing against the white water droplet, and a burst of destructivew powers instantly erupted out of the beam of green light.
However, the white water droplet was only stopped in its tracks for a split second before continuing to hurtle directly toward Han Li''s chest, but this split second was enough for Han Li to summon his Mantra Treasured Axis.
Ripples of golden light surged out of the Mantra Treasured Axis, slowing down the flow of time in the surrounding area, and the white water droplet was instantly slowed down significantly.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Han Li shed his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword through the air, unleashing a violent torrent of lightning that struck the white water droplet with tremendous power.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as arcs of golden lightning erupted in all directions, and the white water droplet exploded before dissipating into a cloud of a mist, while the white bone spike was trembling violently as it flew back through the air.
Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis upon seeing this, then flew after the white bone spike as he aimed the tip of his Profound Heavenly Gourd directly at it.
A green vortex instantly emerged from the mouth of the vial, releasing a burst of immense suction force that drew the white bone spike into the gourd in a sh.
A cold look shed through Daoist Master Bone Shine''s eyes upon seeing this, and he quickly made a hand seal, upon which the entire bone withering spirit domain shuddered violently.
At the same time, the green mes burning over the eight bone pagodas were snuffed out one after another until only the mes in the eight giant skulls on top of the pagodas were still lit.
As a result, the light in the spirit domain had be quite dim, and Han Li could sense that the surrounding environment was undergoing some subtle changes.
"It''s truly very impressive for a mere early-High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal to press me to this extent, but unfortunately for you, such a massive disparity in cultivation base cannot be bridged by your spiritual secret techniques alone," Daoist Master Bone Shine said as he began to approach Han Li.
"I beg to differ. I still haven''t used all of my spiritual secret techniques yet, so how do you know they''re not enough to bridge the gap between us?" Han Li countered with aposed smile on his face.
Daoist Master Bone Shine hesitated involuntarily upon hearing this, clearly still a little apprehensive of Han Li''s spiritual attacks.
"Your Soul Devouring Lamp has already been sealed, and there''s no way you can use that spiritual sense sword ability again in such a short time, so you''re clearly bluffing," Daoist Master Bone Shine harrumphed coldly.
"Is that so? Why don''t youe and find out?" Han Li goaded.
"Fine, I will," Daoist Master Bone Shine chuckled coldly, and as soon as his voice trailed off, his body instantly began to swell drastically in size.
His robes were torn to shreds as a series of jagged bone spikes protruded out of his body, and in the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a giant skeletal devil.
At the same time, his aura had been drastically elevated to an incredibly fearsome level.
The entire bone withering spirit domain seemed to have also been affected by his transformation, and the light within it became extremely dim, while the pressure on Han Li waspounded by severalfold.
In the wake of his transformation, Daoist Master Bone Shine''s eyes had already turned a crimson color, but the golden rune on his be still remained, and he let loose a thunderous roar before bounding straight at Han Li.
All of the space in his wake shuddered violently, as if it were beingpressed by his immense power, and the golden ripples released by Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis were also forced back alongside thepacted space, rendering them unable to impede Daoist Master Bone Shine''s movements.
The giant skeletal devil raised an enormous hand, then swung it down upon Han Li''s head, and its finger resembled five bone scythes that tore through the space up ahead, threatening to tear Han Li to pieces.
Chapter 841: Just in the Nick of Time
All of a sudden, Han Li swept both sleeves through the air, sending five Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flying toward the oing giant hand, while he rushed back in retreat.
Five sharp ngs rang out in rapid session, and the five Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were sent flying back before tumbling into the sea down below after shing against the giant skeletal devil''s hand.
At this point, Han Li had only just retreated to several thousand feet away, and before he had a chance to recover his flying swords, a gust of howling wind abruptly swept through the air behind him.
The giant skulls on top of the eight bone pagodas had all opened their mouths up wide to release thick bone chains that were hurtling directly toward him like eight white bone spears.
Han Li was just about to channel his Reversal True Axis to take evasive measures when he suddenly discovered that his arms had beenpletely immobilized by his sides, rendering him unable to make any hand seals.
Only then did he notice that an exoskeleton of white bone had appeared over his arms, enveloping his elbow joints, and it was spread like creeping frost toward his hands and his shoulders.
Was it that drop of white liquid? Han Li thought to himself with a bewildered expression.
His brows furrowed tightly as he stomped both feet heavily down onto the space beneath him,unching himself upward, and at the same time, countless arcs of golden lightning erupted out of his body to strike the spreading exoskeleton.
However, after the golden lightning faded, not only had the exoskeleton not been broken, it had spread to cover an evenrger area on his body.Before he had a chance to do anything else, the eight bone chains had already wrapped themselves around his arms and legs, immobilizing him in mid-air.
Han Li could feel the chains pulling him apart with tremendous power, causing all of his joints to creak and groan. If the average Jade Immortal had been in his ce, they would''ve most likely already been pulled apart at the seams.
At the same time, jets of green mes erupted out of the eye sockets of the eight skulls on the bone pagodas, and they surged along the bone chains before inundating Han Li''s entire body.
The green mes weren''t giving off any heat. Instead, it was merely slightly cool to the touch, but in the instant that it came into contact with Han Li''s body, an rmed look instantly appeared on his face.
The green mes weren''t harming his body or his soul, but they were directly incinerating his bones.
After just a few seconds, Han Li began to feel a numb sensation in his bones, as if they were being gnawed on by countless tiny bugs, making them frail and brittle.
After reaching the High Zenith Stage, Han Li''s skeleton had be extremely resilient, but it stood no chance against Daoist Master Bone Shine''s bone witheringw powers.
Right at this moment, a burst of silver light shed over his body, following which ayer of scorching silver mes erupted forth like a fiery silver cloak, forcing back the invasive green mes.
Afterpletely refining the three balls of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, the Essence Fire Raven''s silver mes had be far more formidable than before, and the green mes were quickly overwhelmed and forced back into retreat.
However, the Essence Fire Raven refused to let the green mes off the hook, and it sped along the bone chains in pursuit, determined to devour everyst ounce of the green mes.
Daoist Master Bone Shine only took a single nce at the Essence Fire Raven before his gaze returned to Han Li.
This High Zenith Stage human seemed to have an endless bag of tricks, and if this battle were to drag on any longer, there was no telling what other tricks he could pull out.
With that in mind, Daoist Master Bone Shine raised a hand before plunging it directly toward Han Li.
At this point, Han Li''s arms and his entire abdomen had been encased in thatyer of white exoskeleton, and on top of that, he was also bound by the eight bone chains, so it was impossible for him to take any evasive measures.
However, as Daoist Master Bone Shine''s gaze fell upon Han Li''s face, he discovered that Han Li was lookingpletely calm and collected, disying no panic or fear at all.
Something''s not right...
A sense of foreboding welled up in Daoist Master Bone Shine''s heart, yet before he had a chance to retreat, a familiar cold gleam suddenly shed through Han Li''s eyes.
"Impossible!" Daoist Master Bone Shine eximed with an rmed expression.
A semi-transparent sword that was only around an inch in length had shot out of Han Li''s be, and it instantly pierced through Daoist Master Bone Shine''s hand before hurtling directly toward his be.
A faint crack rang out, and in the next instant, the golden rune on his be disintegrated into specks of golden light, which an enormous translucent sword appeared in his consciousness before swinging down with tremendous power.
The runes on the surface of the sword were shing incessantly, giving off immense spiritual sense fluctuations that caused Daoist Master Bone Shine''s consciousness to churn and tremble violently, as if it could split apart at any moment.
At the same time, his spiritual sense was rapidly dissipating like snow under the scorching sun.
His soul was already severely wounded, and it was trembling violently in the face of the powerful shockwaves, barely able to hold itself together.
Daoist Master Bone Shine let loose an indignant roar of fury, but his spiritual sense was still rapidly fading, and his vision was gradually bing blurry.
His giant skeletal body began to shrink, and he quickly reverted back to his human form.
At the same time, the green mes on the eight bone pagodas gradually began to wane, and the bone chains protruding out of the mouths of the skulls on top of the eight bone pagodas were also quickly retracted.
With no more green mes to devour, the Essence Fire Raven circled around in the air, then flew back to Han Li.
Upon noticing the hard exoskeleton immobilizing Han Li''s arms and abdomen, it transformed into a silver fireball that crashed straight into Han Li''s chest, then spread itself over the exoskeleton to incinerate it with all its might.
Right at this moment, a near-animalistic roar rang out.
At this point, Daoist Master Bone Shine''s eyes werepletely bloodshot, and there was a deranged look on his face as he mmed a palm heavily onto his own be.
Inside his consciousness, a giant palm projection descended out of the heavens before mming into the Spiritual Sense Sword with tremendous power.
The sword shuddered violently, and the translucent light radiating from it rapidly faded away, following which it vanished from within Daoist Master Bone Shine''s consciousness.
In the next instant, a tiny translucent sword shot out of the back of his head, then circled around in the air before flying back to Han Li and vanishing into his be.
After striking himself on the forehead, Daoist Master Bone Shine was able to dispel the crisis of the Spiritual Sense Sword, but his injuries were further exacerbated as a result, and he involuntarily flew back through the air.
His hair had be extremely disheveled, and his eyes had almost turnedpletely dull, giving him the appearance of a lost and panicked old man who stumbled away before fleeing as a streak of light.
Following Daoist Master Bone Shine''s departure, his bone withering spirit domain faded away along with the eight bone pagodas.
Meanwhile, as soon as the miniature sword flew back into Han Li''s consciousness, his head immediately shot back as if he had been dealt a heavy blow, and his spiritual sense had also been severely overexerted. He was only just barely able to recover all of his treasures before his body gave out, and he plummeted straight out of the sky.
The Essence Fire Raven could see that he had fallen unconscious, and it caught him on its back, then gently flew down onto the same rock from before.
Once there, the silver mes continued to swirl over his body, burning away the white exoskeleton.
Only the next morning did the exoskeletonpletely fall away, and during this entire time, the Time Dao Runes on the golden ring above his head continued to fade one after another.
¡¡
Several days passed by in a sh.
One morning, as the sun rose up over the horizon, the first ray of sunlight shone down onto Han Li''s face, and his eyshes fluttered slightly before his eyes slowly opened.
After burning away the restrictive exoskeleton, the Essence Fire Raven reverted back into a miniature silver figure, then sat down onto Han Li''s chest with its arms and legs crossed to keep a lookout for him.
As soon as Han Li opened his eyes, it immediately jumped up to look at him with an ted expression.
Han Li''s head was feeling very dull and heavy from spiritual sense overexertion, and his vision was unable to focus. He wanted to get up into a sitting position, but his entire body was racked with agony, and he felt as if there were an enormous mountain weighing down upon him.
It seemed that due to the fact that he hade here through physical transmigration, he was constantly being suppressed by the Great Dao of this time and space, thereby resulting in these negative symptoms.
Han Li channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts, and ayer of hazy white light appeared over his body. Only then were his eyes able to focus on the Essence Fire Raven, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
The fiery silver figure immediately jumped onto his shoulder, then began to make wild and exaggerated gestures in an attempt tomunicate something to him.
"Alright, I know, I know, you were the one who freed me from that exoskeleton, and you also brought me here and protected me this entire time," Han Li said with an amused smile.
Chapter 842: Two Pieces of News
Chapter 842: Two Pieces of News
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he looked up at the golden ring above his head to find that almost all of the Time Dao Runes on it had been snuffed out.
"Come back, we have to go soon," Han Li said as he turned to the Essence Fire Raven.
The fiery silver figure nodded in response, then flew back into Han Li''s body.
After that, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed to meditate, and it didn''t take long before the final Time Dao Rune faded.
Immediately thereafter, the golden ring above his head abruptly swelled t oseveral times its original size, and a dark vortex appeared within it, releasing bursts of formidable suction force that drew Han Li into the vortex.
Momentster, Han Li reappeared in his room in the Long Pavilion Garden amid a sh of golden light.
After taking a moment topose himself, he swept his gaze across his room, and only after ensuring that nothing was amiss did he allow himself a sigh of relief.
His consciousness was still reeling from the overexertion of his spiritual sense, but now that he was no longer being suppressed by the very environment that he was in, he felt a lot morefortable.
Not far away from him, the translucent wall of light was gradually fading away, and the Heaven Controlling Vial was also slowly returning to its normal state.
Han Li raised a hand to draw the vial into his grasp, following which his brows furrowed slightly as he stroked the vial and attempted to establish a spiritual connection with the vial spirit.
Prior to his transmigration, he had clearly heard someone speaking to him in his mind, and he was confident that that had been the voice of the vial spirit, but unfortunately, his attempts to establish a spiritual connection proved to be futile.
A few momentster, he ced the Heaven Controlling Vial back around his own neck, then tucked it into the front of his robes.
As he did this, he suddenly noticed that a golden ring had appeared on the ring finger of his right hand. It appeared to have been crafted from pure gold, and even though though there weren''t any features or designs on its surface, it was very full and supple in appearance.
He fought through the pain in consciousness to inspect the ring with his spiritual sense, but he wasn''t able to detect any energy fluctuations from it, and it was as if this really was just an ordinary ring.
He then attempted to remove the ring, only to discover that it seemed to have fused as one with his body.
Even after tugging on the ring with such force that he felt as if he were about to rip off his own finger, it still refused to budge even a single inch.
Hence, Han Li could only give up on this endeavor. In any case, the ring didn''t seem to be having any detrimental effects on him at the moment.
After sitting in silence for a short while, Han Li channeled the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, and bursts of faint golden light appeared around him as the five time-attribute artifacts emerged one after another, but all of the Time Dao Runes on the artifacts had been snuffed out, and the timew power fluctuations that they were giving off had also be much weaker.
However, right at this moment, the golden ring on his finger suddenly lit up, then flew off his finger on its own before hovering in mid-air in front of him.
Immediately thereafter, it began to swell rapidly in size, and the light that it was radiating also became brighter and brighter, to the point that it had taken on a slightly transparent appearance.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, then peered through the golden ring to discover that there were dozens of translucent golden threads swirling around incessantly within it, giving off bursts of formidable timew power fluctuations.
This golden ring was the very same ring formed by his timew threads, and as soon as the ring appeared, all of the other time-attribute artifacts immediately flew into it before glowing far brighter than before.
At the same time, Han Li could sense the Heaven Controlling Vial begin to stir a little in front of his chest, as if it were about to fly out once again.
Han Li was very rmed by this, and he immediately braced himself for another potential transmigration, but the vial only trembled a few times before falling still again.
As for the ring of time, it hovered in mid-air for a short while before returning to his finger as a golden ring.
Is this due to ack of active Time Dao Runes? Han Li thought to himself as he stroked the ring with a perplexed expression, but his pondering clearly wasn''t going to yield any answers for now, so he cast the train of thought aside and withdrew all of the time-attribute artifacts back into his own body.
After that, he flipped a hand over to take a restorative pill before closing his eyes to meditate.
Using Purple Sun Warm Jade would definitely speed up his recovery, and he had just obtained arge supply from Shi Zhanfeng, but given Weeping Soul''s current condition, he decided that it was best to save all of the Purple Sun Warm Jade for her.
......
Inside the Naraka Area, there was arge garden that was filled with a series of extremely beautiful and opulent buildings.
One of them was a resplendent pce with a conical roof, and at this moment, there was a handsome young man with a head of silver hair seated on arge golden chair inside the pce.
Standing before him was a tall man with a set of angr features, d in a suit of ck devilish armor. At this moment, the man was bowed down while delivering a report.
"Is this information reliable, Du Yuan?" the silver-haired young man asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"Most definitely, Your Highness. I''m willing to vouch for this information with my life," Du Yuan replied.
"I''ve been searching for so long, and I never thought it would be in that ursed ce. Having said that, I suppose that makes sense. If it was in any other ce, it wouldn''t have taken me so long to find it," the young man mused.
"Your Highness, I came back to deliver this report in the hope that you can mobilize some more people toe with me to recover the item," Du Yuan said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"You''ve already done a very good job uncovering this information, I''ll take care of the rest myself," the young man replied.
"Your Highness, may I ask if you''re nning to venture into that ce yourself? There''s no telling what perils could be lurking in that ce, so I strongly advise you not to take the risk," Du Yuan said in a solemn manner.
The young man waved a hand to dismiss Du Yuan''s concerns as he said, "This matter concerns my Great Dao, and it''ll decide whether I can reach the Great Epassment Stage before all of my siblings, so it must be regarded with the utmost priority. Set aside everything else for now and focus on this matter as the top priority."
"Yes, Your Highness," Du Yuan replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.
......
Several more years flew by in a sh.
Han Li was cultivating in his secret chamber, and the five time-attribute artifacts were hovering in the air around him, with all of them having already recovered a decent number of Time Dao Runes.
The rate of recovery seemed to have be even faster.
The golden ring remained firmly attached to his finger, appearing no different from a mundane essory.
During this period of seclusion, he had alreadypletely recovered from his injuries and spiritual overexertion, and he had also made some strides in his cultivation of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
At the same time, he had developed better control over his ring of time and could now avoid triggering the ring while cultivating the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
He was making sure to keep the ring in check as the alternative would be involuntary transmigration.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s eyes suddenly sprang open, and he emerged from his secret chamber into the hall outside.
There was a buzzing ball of white light that was flying around the hall like a lost bird, and Han Li drew the ball of white light into his grasp to discover that it was a voice transmission talisman.
He crushed the talisman in his hand, and a message was transmitted into his mind.
After hearing the message, Han Li made his way out of the Long Garden Pavilion, where Shi Chuankong was already waiting for him.
"Your dedication to cultivation is truly unmatched, Fellow Daoist Li."
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Shi. Pleasee in," Han Li replied with a smile as he made an inviting hand gesture.
The two of them entered the guest hall together, then sat down in front of a round stone table.
"Why have youe to visit me instead of traveling to the Heavenly Rainbow Region?"
"I''ve never managed an entire region before, and I waspletely blindsided by all of the work involved. On top of that, Zhanfeng and the others are constantly getting in my way, so I''ll have my work set out for me for the foreseeable future. Let''s not talk about that for now. I''vee here today to deliver two pieces of news to you," Shi Chuankong said with a serious expression.
"What is it?" Han Li asked as he set down his teacup.
"The first piece of news pertains to the Scalptia Spatial Domain that you asked me to track down," Shi Chuankong replied as he took a sip of tea.
"Have you found some leads?" Han Li asked.
"Kind of. I''d never heard of the ce before this, and only consulting many records and asking Pokong was I able to find out some information about it. Just like the Night Sun Domain, the Scalptia Spatial Domain is an independent domain in our Holy Realm, and it''s also what''s called a deste domain," Shi Chuankong replied.
"What''s a deste domain?" Han Li asked.
"It means that the domain has no spiritual qi or devilish qi. There are no records detailing exactly what the environment is like in there, but in any case, it''s a very special ce. Many years ago, it used to be where criminals were sent into exile, but it''s already been abandoned for hundreds of thousands of years," Shi Chuankong exined.
"Have you found out its location?" Han Li asked.
"I knew you would ask that," Shi Chuankong chuckled as he flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip that contained a map.
Han Li took a moment to inspect the map, following which Shi Chuankong said in a solemn manner, "Fellow Daoist Li, I don''t know why you''re searching for this Scalptia Spatial Domain, but it''s a very dangerous ce, so I strongly advise you not to go there."
"I''ll be sure to keep that in mind, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li replied with a smile. "By the way, what''s the second piece of news that you have for me?"
Chapter 843: News on Violet Spirit
Chapter 843: News on Violet Spirit
"The second thing I want to tell you is that I''ve managed to dig up some information on that ascended cultivators by the name of Violet Spirit," Shi Chuankong said as a suggestive look appeared in his eyes.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which an ecstatic look appeared on his face.
Even though he had asked Shi Chuankong to find Violet Spirit for him, he actually wasn''t optimistic at all. After all, it hadn''t been that long since he ascended to the True Immortal Realm, and at Violet Spirit''s rate of cultivation progression, there was no guarantee that she would''ve already ascended.
He had really only told Shi Chuankong about Violet Spirit so that he would look out for her if she were to ascend to the Devil Realm in the future, so it was a very pleasant surprise that he had actually managed to find her.
"Pokong has been diligent in this matter, and he sent out people to investigate all of the cultivators who had recently ascended to our Holy Realm. In the process, he found a female cultivator who ascended to the ck Water Region over a hundred years ago, and she matched your description of this Violet Spirit. I have to say that she really is quite a beauty," Shi Chuankong said as he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized azure bead.
A burst of gentle azure light appeared within the bead at his behest, and the image of a woman in a ck dress emerged. She had waist-length ck hair, and just as Shi Chuankong had said, she was a stunning beauty. There was a cold demeanor about her, but that only further added to her appeal, and it was none other than Violet Spirit.
Han Li shuddered slightly at the sight of this familiar figure, and he was lost in thought for a long while before finally returning to his senses.
"Looks like we''ve got the right person. In all the time that we''ve been together, I''ve never seen you like that. How about you tell me some stories about you and her? I''m sure they must be very exciting," Shi Chuankong jibed.
Han Li remained unflustered despite Shi Chuankong''s jibes, and he immediately asked, "Where is she right now?"
"Calm down, Brother Li. The thing with ascended cultivators is that all of them possess tremendous potential, so they''ll be invited to join the nearby powers following their ascension. Not only is Violet Spirit a stunning beauty, I''ve heard that she also possesses remarkable aptitude. As a result, she caught the eye of a Great Epassment cultivator of the ck Water Region," Shi Chuankong said as a peculiar look appeared on his face.
"There must be some type of problem with this Great Epassment cultivator, right?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"The Great Epassment cultivator in question is Daoist Master ck River, and he''s very renowned in our Holy Realm. He''s a rtively normal man, but..."
Shi Chuankong''s voice trailed off into an awkward silence here.
"But what?" Han Li asked as a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.
"You know how us men are... Even though he''s already reached the Great Epassment Stage, he still has basic desires, and on top of that, Celestial Maiden Violet Spirit is truly a very beautiful woman, so..."
Once again, Shi Chuankong''s voice trailed off into an awkward silence.
Han Li''s expression instantly darkened significantly upon hearing this, and he immediately began making his way out of the room.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, Daoist Master ck River is on very good terms with Pokong. As soon as we found out this information, Pokong immediately sent a warning to Daoist Master ck River, but we''re still yet to receive a response," Shi Chuankong informed.
Han Li remained silent as he made his way out of the manor, and there was already a beast-drawn carriage waiting for him, clearly arranged in advance by Shi Chuankong.
"I recall that there are teleportation arrays in Night Sun City, right? Is there one that leads to the ck Water Region?" Han Li asked.
"There is. Come with me," Shi Chuankong sighed, then made his way onto the carriage.
It only took the carriage about an hour to reach a giant pce in the Naraka Area, one that was over a thousand feet tall and took up an area of over ten acres.
The entire building was ck in color, and hanging above its entrance was a golden que that read "High Profound Pce".
It was a very lively and bustling ce, and there were many other carriages parked near the entrance, as well as many people entering and exiting the pce.
"There are two teleportation halls in Night Sun City, one of which is this High Profound Pce, which is reserved for nobility, while the other one is the High Moon Pce in the Maha Area, which is essible to normal cultivators, merchants, or travelers. The High Profound Pce is the slightlyrger one of the two," Shi Chuankong introduced.
On the way here, Han Li had been silent this entire time, and Shi Chuankong was intentionally trying to find some topics of conversation to lighten the mood.
"Don''t worry about me, Fellow Daoist Shi, I''m fine," Han Li said as he took a deep breath, and at this point, he was looking a lot moreposed than before.
Shi Chuankong nodded in response, and the two of them made their way into the High Profound Pce with the crowd.
The floor inside the pce was paved with opulent white jade bricks, while a series of white crystals had been embedded into the pce''s ceiling and walls, releasing gentle white light that illuminated the entire ce.
The ceiling was supported by stone pirs, and there were over a hundred white stone tformsid out across the pce, each of which was carrying a teleportation array, apanied by a stone que that marked out the teleportation array''s destination.
This teleportation hall was quite simr to ones that Han Li had seen in the past, except all of the teleportation arrays in here were veryplex.
Shi Chuankong seemed to be very familiar with this ce, and he led Han Li straight to a teleportation array deep in the pce, one that led to ck River City.
At this moment, the teleportation array waspletely empty, and Han Li immediately began to make his way into it.
However, he was stopped in his tracks by a purple-robed man, who said, "Is this your first time using a teleportation array in the High Profound Hall, Fellow Daoist? You have to purchase a teleportation talisman first."
Shi Chuankong flipped a hand over upon seeing this, summoning a golden badge that was emzoned with the words "Heavenly Merchant Marquis".
The purple-robed man''s expression instantly changed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly stepped out of Han Li''s way as he apologized, "Ah, please forgive me, Your Highness, I didn''t know it was you."
Han Li paid no heed to the purple-robed man as he stepped onto the teleportation array, followed closely by Shi Chuankong.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, you have a lot on your te right now, so there''s no need for you to apany me on this trip. I''lle and find you once I''m back," Han Li said.
"Don''t worry about it, Fellow Daoist Li. I won''t be making any inroads into the Heavenly Rainbow Region anytime soon, and I''ve be quite weary of all of the politics in Night Sun City, so it''d do me a world of good to go out do some sightseeing," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Shi," Han Li said with a grateful expression.
Daoist Master ck River was a Great Epassment cultivator, so he had no confidence in his own ability to take Violet Spirit and escape safely. However, with Shi Chuankong in apaniment, things were most likely going to be a lot easier.
"Your Highness, that marquis badge of yours grants you three free teleportation opportunities per century. You''re teleporting two people on this asion, so you''ll be using up two of the three opportunities here," the purple-robed man informed in a respectful manner as he pulled out a purple copper mirror.
"I''m aware of that, hurry up and activate the array," Shi Chuankong urged in an impatient manner, and the purple-robed man immediately nodded in response before doing as he was told.
Before long, the teleportation array was up and running, and Han Li and Shi Chuankong vanished from within it amid a sh of white light.
After their vision was restored, the two of them discovered that they had arrived in another teleportation hall.
This one was only less than two hundred feet in size, and it only contained three teleportation arrays.
There were very few other people in the hall, and Han Li and Shi Chuankong quickly made their way outside to discover a small city constructed by a ck river.
The water in the river was so turbulent that it was rumbling with sufficient ferocity to be clearly audible even in the city.
The city didn''t appear to be very vibrant at all, and it was severelycking evenpared with Preeminent City.
"The ck Water Region derives its name from the many rivers andkes in the region. However, it''s a very secluded ce, and it doesn''t have any valuable resources or demon beasts to be hunted, so it''s one of the barren regions in our Holy Realm," Shi Chuankong introduced.
Han Li nodded in response. The spiritual qi and devilish qi here were indeed far less abundant than they were in Night Sun City.
The one good thing about this ce was that the city had no flight restrictions, so the two of them were quickly able to fly into the city.
Shi Chuankong summoned his flying carriage, and it sped off in a certain direction.
"Daoist Master ck River resides in one of thekes of the ck Water Region, and it''ll take close to three months to get there. I have to warn you now that Daoist Master ck River is... a bit of a petty man, so this trip may not go very smoothly," Shi Chuankong said with slightly furrowed brows, and Han Li''s brows also furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
Due to his recent physical transmigration, only a small portion of his Time Dao Runes were currently active, so his time-attribute abilities weren''t going to be as potent as usual.
However, in any case, there was no way that he could back down.
With that in mind, he took a deep breath, then sat down with his legs crossed.
Meanwhile, a purple talisman flew out of Shi Chuankong''s sleeve, then imploded into countless purple runes that fused into his flying carriage.
The front of the flying carriage instantly took on the form of a bird''s head, while tworge purple wings that were each over a hundred feet in length emerged from its midsection, transforming the entire carriage into a giant purple bird.
In the wake of this transformation, the flying carriage sped up drastically, hurtling through the air as a long streak of purple light.
Chapter 844: Offense
Chapter 844: Offense
Two monthster, Han Li and Shi Chuankong appeared in the air above a giantke.
Theke stretched as far as the eyes could see in all directions, and it looked no different from the vast sea.
"Thiske is called Thousand Wave Lake, and Daoist Master ck River resides in the water pce on thekebed. Fellow Daoist Li, I think we should aim for a peaceful resolution first, then only resort to violence if necessary," Shi Chuankong said.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Shi, we''re dealing with a Great Epassment cultivator and also an ally to His Highness, so I won''t rush in recklessly," Han Li replied in a calm manner, and Shi Chuankong was very relieved to see this.
"Come to think of it, we''re already very close to the border of the ck Water Region. Beyond thiske is the ck Savage Region, right?" Han Li suddenly asked.
"That''s right," Shi Chuankong replied.
The ck Savage Region was home to the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
Han Li nodded in response and didn''t speak any further on the subject.
The two of them flew into theke, then began a descent.
Theke was extremely deep, and even after descending for hundreds of thousands of feet, thekebed was still nowhere in sight.
At this point, there was tremendous water pressure from all directions, and even Han Li was feeling a little ufortable.
Shi Chuankong opened his mouth to release a blue bead, which, in turn, released a hug ball of blue light that enveloped the two of them, upon which the surrounding water pressurepletely abated.
After descending several more tens of thousands of feet, the two of them finally reached thekebed, which had an undting terrain, much like an underwater mountain range.
There were also many giant, immeasurably deep chasms on thekebed that looked as if they led straight into the depths of hell.
Under Shi Chuankong''s guidance, the two of them made their way into one of these chasms before continuing their descent.
"You seem to be very familiar with this ce, Fellow Daoist Shi. Have you been here before?" Han Li asked.
"No, but I did make some contributions to the alliance that was formed between Pokong and Daoist Master ck River, so I conducted some research into his ce of dwelling in the past," Shi Chuankong exined with a smile.
"I see," Han Li replied.
The water in the chasms on thekebed was a little different from the water elsewhere in theke. The deeper they descended, the more viscous and darker in color the water became, and it almost resembled heavy water.
At this point, it was so dark that visibility was extremely limited, but after descending for a short while longer, the chasm suddenly opened up into an enormous underground cave, at the center of which was an enormous ind that was tens of thousands of acres in size.
The ind consisted of an entire chunk of ck crystalline material, and there were countless pavilions, pagodas, and pces that had been constructed upon it.
Thergest of the pces had a que that was several hundred feet in size hanging above the entrance, and the words "ck River Water Pce" could be seen on the que.
The entire ind was giving off rippling light that was ck in color, but somehow still had a glittering and translucent quality to it, giving this ce the appearance of an underwater crystal pce. It was an extremely spectacr sight to behold, and the ind was also epassed within a giant ck light barrier that kept the surroundingke water at bay.
Countless runes could be seen on the ck light barrier, giving off formidable energy fluctuations.
Han Li was certain that if anyone were to try and attack the light barrier by force, the restrictions on it would be capable of instantly killing even a High Zenith cultivator.
"We''re finally here. This entire ind is actually an enormous piece of Yin Zenith Water Jade, and it''s been refined by Daoist Master ck River for countless years, so the ind is essentially an enormous devilish treasure. Hence, unless we''ve exhausted all other options, it would be best for us to avoid a conflict," Shi Chuankong said.
Han Li remained silent as a look of resolve shed through his eyes.
Shi Chuankong heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this, and he knew that his advice had fallen onto deaf ears. Hence, he didn''t bother to say anything further, and he flipped a hand over to produce a blue jade badge before tossing it forward.
The jade badge flew through the ck light barrier as a streak of blue light, then vanished into thin air.
Momentster, a slightly wary female voice rang out from the ind.
"Who hase to visit our ck River Water Pce?"
"I am Shi Chuankong, and I''vee to meet Daoist Master ck River," Shi Chuankong replied as he stepped forward to present his purple badge.
The female voice was silent for a moment before ringing out again.
"Wee, Your Highness. Forgive me for noting out to greet you sooner."
At the same time, the section of the ck light barrier directly in front of Han Li''s duo parted to create a passageway that was several dozen feet in size.
Once again, a sense of gratitude toward Shi Chuankong welled up in Han Li''s heart. It was only thanks to his status as a prince that they had been granted entry so easily. Otherwise, given how cautious the woman appeared, just entering the ck River Water Pce alone would''ve been a difficult task for Han Li.
The two of them exchanged a nce before flying into the opening together, and as soon as they did so, they were immediately enveloped by bursts of ck light.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he didn''t put up any resistance, and in the next instant, they appeared in a spacious hall.
The walls and the ground of the hall were all a translucent ck color, and even the furniture in the room was directly connected to the floor. As it turned out, everything in the entire hall had been carved out, so it was all tightly interconnected.
The sound of footsteps rang out from within the hall, and a beautiful woman in a light blue robe with three golden hairpins in her hair emerged, followed by four maidservants.
The woman appeared to be in her thirties with fair skin and gorgeous features, but there was a slightly cold and domineering aura about her.
Han Li could see that she was at the early-High Zenith Stage, and given her disposition, it seemed that she was an important figure in this ck River Water Pce.
"Please forgive me for not arranging a more borate wee, Your Highness," the woman said as she extended a curtsey.
"Don''t worry about it, we''re the ones to me for arriving unannounced," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
The woman took a nce at Han Li, and her brows furrowed ever so slightly, but she didn''t say anything.
Shi Chuankong could see the apprehension in the woman''s eyes, so he delivered an introduction for both sides. "Fellow Daoist Li, this is Lady Ju, Senior ck River''s dao partner. This is Fellow Daoist Li, and even though hees from the Immortal Realm, he''s a very close friend of mine."
"It''s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Ju," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Lady Ju''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and she extended a slight curtsey in return.
Lady Ju invited Han Li''s duo to sit down, then ordered the maidservants behind her to bring out some tea and fruits before asking, "To what does our ck River Water Pce owe this honor, Your Highness?"
"I''vee here today to speak to Senior ck River about something. Is he in the pce right now?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"That''s unfortunate. My husband went into seclusion to cultivate a powerful secret technique many years ago, so I''m afraid he won''t be able toe out to see you," Lady Ju replied, and Han Li was internally quite relieved to see this.
"I see, that is indeed rather unfortunate timing," Shi Chuankong said as he took a subtle nce at Han Li out of the corner of his eye.
"Prior to going into seclusion, my husband assigned me with the task of taking care of all of the ck River Water Pce''s affairs. May I ask the purpose of your visit today? As long as it doesn''t require any major decision-making, I should be able to help you," Lady Ju said with a smile.
Even though she was doing her best to disguise it, there was still a hint of pride and haughtiness in her eyes.
"It''s nothing overly important. I heard that your ck River Water Pce recruited an ascended cultivator by the name of Violet Spirit about a century ago, is that correct?" Shi Chuankong asked.
The smile on Lady Ju''s face instantly vanished upon hearing this, and a cold look of envy shed through her eyes.
However, the change in her expression only lingered for a moment before she regained herposure, and she replied, "That''s correct. Why do you ask about her, Your Highness?"
Even though the change in Lady Ju''s expression was only for an instant, it failed to escape the notice of Han Li and Shi Chuankong, and Han Li''s heart sank slightly upon seeing this.
"Violet Spirit just so happens to be a friend of Fellow Daoist Li''s from the time when they were both in the lower realm, and Fellow Daoist Li has decided to pay her a visit after learning that she''s ascended. Would you be able to invite her out to meet him?" Shi Chuankong requested.
"You two were friends, you say? More like lovers, am I right? I knew she was a slutty vixen, seducing men everywhere she goes!" Lady Ju sneered as she took a cold nce at Han Li.
"Violet Spirit has only recently ascended to the Holy Realm, so she''s still quite unfamiliar with everything here. If she''s caused you any offense, please allow me to apologize on her behalf," Han Li said as he rose to his feet before cupping his fist in a salute.
Lady Ju merely harrumphed coldly and offered no response.
"As a show of my sincerity, I would like to offer a few gifts," Han Li said as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light over the table beside him.
The azure light then faded to reveal four objects, namely a blue g, a purple seal, a piece of blue crystal, and a length of ck wood.
The blue g and the purple seal were both graded devilish treasures, while the blue crystal and the ck wood were both materials that harbored tremendousw powers, giving offw power fluctuations that were even more formidable than the pair of devilish treasures.
These four items were all from Daoist Master Bone Shine''s storage tool, and even Shi Chuankong couldn''t help but be drawn in by them.
Lady Ju''s eyes also lit up at the sight of the items, but she then harrumphed coldly as she turned away, clearly refusing the offering.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this.
"Lady Ju, would it be possible for you to do me a favor and allow them to meet just this once?" Shi Chuankong asked.
Chapter 845: Exiled
Chapter 845: Exiled
"Of course I can''t deny a request from you, Your Highness, but the problem is that Violet Spirit currently isn''t in the ck River Water Pce, so I can''t call on her even if I wanted to," Lady Ju replied as her brows furrowed slightly.
"Where is she?" Han Li immediately asked.
"Our ck River Water Pce is home to many cultivators, and that slut was granted special privileges by my husband, allowing her to enter and exit the water pce as she pleases, so how am I supposed to know where she''s gone?" Lady Ju snapped in a cold voice.
Lady Ju''s scathing words and haughty attitude were really beginning to get on Han Li''s nerves, and he said, "You just said that you were assigned with the task of overseeing the ck River Water Pce''s affairs during Senior ck River''s seclusion, so surely you at least have some idea of where Violet Spirit has gone."
"Who the hell do you think you are? I only allowed an Immortal Realm scoundrel like you into our ck River Water Pce because you''re apanying His Highness, yet you dare to interrogate me now? Our ck River Water Pce doesn''t wee uncivilized guests like you!"
Lady Ju abruptly red up with rage and swept both sleeves through the air she spoke.
Two bursts of ck light immediately erupted out of the walls on either side of the hall, then swept up Han Li in a sh before forming a ck vortex, attempting to teleport him out of the pce.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and his Mantra Treasured Axis instantly appeared behind him before revolving rapidly on the spot, releasing countless golden ripples that epassed the ck vortex, which fellpletely still.
Lady Ju''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and she made a rapid string of hand seals to try and spur the ck vortex back into action, but to no avail.
"Lady Ju, I have no intention of opposing you. All I want to know is Violet Spirit''s whereabouts, and I''m willing topensate you handsomely for this information," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Insolent scoundrel! Do you really think I''m powerless to do anything to you? Come to me, ck River Water Pce!" Lady Ju yelled as she continued to make more hand seals, and the entire ck River Water Pce began to tremble.
Countless rays of ck light converged from all directions, forming a miniature ck River Water Pce projection that was several feet in size over the palm of her hand.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and before he had a chance to do anything, Lady Ju thrust both palms forward, sending the ck River Water Pce projection flying into the golden ripples around Han Li.
The golden ripples were instantly torn apart without being able to pose any resistance, and as a result, the ck vortex was restored to its normal state, instantly devouring Han Li like a giant ck mouth.
In the next instant, Han Li found himself outside the ck River Water Pce.
Only a small portion of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had recovered, so its powers were greatly diminished.
However, for Violet Spirit''s sake, there was no way that he could back down.
He took a deep breath, then activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes to inspect the restrictions on the ck light barrier before him, and at the same time, his Mantra Treasured Axis released a wave of golden ripples that descended upon the light barrier.
Right at this moment, a familiar voice suddenly rang out from beside him.
"I knew I''d find you here, Fellow Daoist Li."
Han Li hurriedly swung around to discover Shi Pokong standing not far away.
"What are you doing here, Your Highness?" Han Li asked in a surprised voice as he stopped what he was doing.
A faint smile appeared on Shi Pokong''s face, and he was just about to respond when a ck vortex suddenly took shape nearby amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
The ck vortex only lingered for a moment before fading away to reveal Shi Chuankong, and it seemed that he had also been thrown out by Lady Ju.
"Pokong? What are you doing here?" Shi Chuankong asked with a surprised expression.
"I heard that the two of you left Night Sun City for the ck Water Region, so I knew that you had to havee for Celestial Maiden Violet Spirit. Even now, the matter concerning Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul hasn''t been resolved, and that''s constantly been weighing on my mind, so to make up for that, I wanted to do whatever I could to help Fellow Daoist Li save Violet Spirit," Shi Pokong replied with an apologetic expression.
"You can count on Pokong, Fellow Daoist Li! He''ll definitely be able to save Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit!" Shi Chuankong said with an ecstatic expression.
"Thank you, Your Highness," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute.
"What''s the situation like now? It looks like things haven''t gone very smoothly for the two of you," Shi Pokong remarked.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he gave Shi Pokong a recount of what had happened in the ck River Water Pce.
"Lady Ju is Daoist Master ck River''s dao partner, but while she possesses quite a lofty cultivation base, she''s also a very petty woman, so she must''ve been very jealous of Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit. You''re a friend of Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit''s so her resentment must''ve extended to you as well," Shi Pokong mused after hearing Han Li''s recount.
"I figured that was the case. I''m going to make her tell me Violet Spirit''s whereabouts whether she likes it or not, even if I have to do it by force," Han Li said as a cold look shed through his eyes.
Violet Spirit wasn''t his dao partner, but in his heart, he was just as important as Nangong Wan, and there was no way that he could simply back down, knowing full well that she was potentially in a state of peril.
Shi Pokong hurriedly stopped him as he said, "I can understand that you urgently wish to save your friend, but resolving this matter by force is not a wise option. Daoist Master ck River is a Great Epassment cultivator, and even though he''s in seclusion right now, you''ll be in a lot of trouble if hees after you after emerging from seclusion."
"I know this isn''t a wise option, but I have no other choice," Han Li replied with furrowed brows.
"If you trust me, then leave this matter to me. Daoist Master ck River and I are allies at the moment, so Lady Ju can''t just kick me out as she pleases, and perhaps I''ll be able to get some information out of her," Shi Pokong said.
"Pokong''s right, Fellow Daoist Li. Let him go first, and if that doesn''t work, then we''ll think of somehting else," Shi Chuankong chimed in.
"Alright, in that case, I''ll be counting on you, Your Highness," Han Li replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Get back a little," Shi Pokong said to Han Li and Shi Chuankong, and the two of them exchanged a nce before flying back into the distance, following which Shi Pokong began to approach the ck River Water Pce.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes to observe the ck River Water Pce from afar, while Shi Pokong summoned a blue talisman before sending it flying into the ck light barrier.
Momentster, an opening appeared on the ck light barrier, and Shi Pokong immediately flew inside.
"You can rest assured now, Fellow Daoist Li. Pokong will definitely be able to find out Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit''s whereabouts for you," Shi Chuankong assured with a confident smile.
"I certainly hope so," Han Li sighed.
Close to two hours flew by in a sh.
Han Li was still rtively calm and collected, but Shi Chuankong was beginning to grow a little uneasy, and he opened his mouth on multiple asions to say something, but didn''t know what to say.
Right at this moment, an opening reappeared on the ck light barrier, and Shi Pokong flew out from within.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong immediately approached him before the former asked, "How did it go, Your Highness?"
"I was able to find out Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit''s current whereabouts, as well as some information about the time that she spent in the ck River Water Pce," Shi Pokong replied with a faint smile, and Han Li was ecstatic to hear this.
"I knew we could count on you, Pokong!" Shi Chuankong said with a wide smile.
"Thank you, Your Highness. How has Violet Spirit been faring aftering to the ck River Water Pce?" Han Li asked.
"After she ascended to the Holy Realm, Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit caught Daoist Master ck River''s eye for her looks and her aptitude, and he wanted to make her his concubine, but she desperately refused, threatening to take her own life.
¡°Daoist Master ck River didn''t want to subdue her by force, and he was also in a hurry to go into seclusion at the time, so he could only leave Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit under the supervision of Lady Ju," Shi Pokong replied.
Han Li was quite relieved to hear this, and Shi Chuankong pped him firmly on the shoulder as he exulted, "That''s great! Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit''s purity still remains, so you can rest assured now, Fellow Daoist Li."
"What are you saying, Chuankong?" Shi Pokong scolded with a stern re.
Only then did Shi Chuankong realize that he had misspoken, and he scratched his own head with an awkward look on his face.
Han Li remainedpletely unflustered as he said, "Violet Spirit is all on her own, so even if something had happened, it wouldn''t be her fault. What happened after that? Is Violet Spirit still in the ck River Water Pce?"
"After Daoist Master ck River went into seclusion, Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit attempted to escape from the ck River Water Pce, and not only did Lady Ju not stop her, she intentionally let her go, so she''s not in the ck River Water Pce right now," Shi Pokong sighed.
"That''s good news, is it not? The Holy Realm is a big ce, but it won''t be difficult for us to track someone down. Once we get back, I''ll make some arrangements, and..."
Shi Chuankong''s voice gradually trailed off as he spoke, and he seemed to have realized that something wasn''t quite right.
Han Li''s brows were also tightly furrowed in concern.
It made sense for Lady Ju to intentionally allow Violet Spirit to escape from the ck River Water Pce, and even if Daoist Master ck River were to ask her about the matter aftering out of seclusion, he wouldn''t be able to me her.
However, given how petty she was, there was no way that she would simply allow Violet Spirit to leave.
Shi Pokong took a nce at Han Li, then confirmed his suspicions as he said, "Not long after Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit left the ck River Water Pce, Lady Ju sent people to capture her before exiling her into the Scalptia Spatial Domain."
Chapter 846: Taking a Risk
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this, while Shi Chuankong hesitated momentarily before remarking, "The Scalptia Spatial Domain is not a safe ce, and Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit only recently ascendes, so she''s most likely still only at the True Immortal Stage..."
"Aside from his dao partner in Lady Ju, Daoist Master ck River also has around a dozen concubines, and there''s been constantly infighting among them over the years, so the fact that Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit has been able to remain safe here for so many years indicates that she''s a very smart woman.
¡°On top of that, I''m assuming Daoist Master ck River must''ve given her a few powerful devilish treasures for her protection, so even if she''s been cast into exile in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, she should be able to keep herself safe," Shi Pokong said.
"I certainly hope that''s the case. I must thank you again, Your Highness. It''s very impressive that you were able to uncover so much information in such a short time. You''ve put me to shame in this regard," Han Li sighed.
"I agree. How did you manage to get all of this information out of that petty wench?" Shi Chuankong asked with a curious expression.
"I''ve been dealing with Lady Ju for many years, so I know her very well. Before I went in, I already had a rough idea of how she would''ve treated Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit, and it wasn''t difficult to find out all of this by asking some leading questions," Shi Pokong replied calmly, as if he had just done something very simple.
"It may not have been difficult for you, but it was an impossible task for the two of us," Han Li said with a hint of admiration in his eyes.
"It''s really not that impressive," Shi Pokong chuckled in a modest fashion. "What do you n to do from here, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"This isn''t the ce to be talking, so let''s leave this ce first," Han Li replied.Half a monthter, in a courtyard in the city lord''s manor of ck River City.
There was a round ebony table in an elegant and refined hall, atop which sat a red y stove with a fire burning inside. Large amounts of steam were surging out of the purple y teapot on top of the stove, causing the teapot''s lid to tter incessantly.
At this moment, Shi Pokong was standing beside the table, and he lifted the teapot before pouring some of its contents into another teapot to wash the tea leaves inside, then poured the water away before recing it with some new water.
Only after that did he pour the tea out into three intricate teacups on the table before pushing two of them toward Shi Chuankong and Han Li, who were also seated at the table.
"Fellow Daoist Li, perhaps you''re still unaware of just how perilous the Scalptia Spatial Domain is. Are you sure you want to go in?" Shi Pokong asked.
"There''s no point in trying to dissuade him, Pokong. Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit is extremely important to Brother Li, and if it were possible to dissuade him, I would''ve already done so," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"In that case, I won''t speak any further on this matter. What are your ns then? When are you going to travel to the Heavenly Rainbow Region?" Shi Pokong asked as he turned to Shi Chuankong.
An awkward smile appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face as he replied, "As you''re aware, Brother Li has done a lot for me, so I n to apany him on this trip to the Scalptia Spatial Domain. Hence, I''ll have to trouble you to look after the Heavenly Rainbow Realm in my stead during my absence."
"That''s ridiculous! Father granted you the Heavenly Rainbow Region, not me. On top of that, I can''t let you venture into such a dangerous ce!" Shi Pokong scolded with a stern expression.
"His Highness is right, Brother Shi, I can make the trip to the Scalptia Spatial Domain on my own," Han Li chimed in.
A serious look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face as he protested, "Pokong, you''ve always taught me to repay the kindness of others. Brother Li has saved my life on multiple asions, so how can I abandon him in his time of need?"
The disapproval on Shi Pokong''s face didn''t wane in the slightest upon hearing this, but in the end, he could only heave a faint sigh.
"Fine, I knew I wouldn''t be able to stop you. If I weren''t so busy, I woulde with you."
"The city will be fine even if I''m absent for a million years, but it can''t go even a single day without you, Pokong!" Shi Chuankong said in an ted manner.
"Alright, that''s enough from you. I know some things about the Scalptia Spatial Domain, but I''ve never been there before myself, so I only have limited information to impart onto the two of you," Shi Pokong sighed.
"Please enlighten us, Your Highness," Han Li requested in an earnest manner.
A few minutester, Shi Pokong had divulged everything that he knew about the Scalptia Spatial Domain, following which he summoned a pair of items before handing one each to Shi Chuankong and Han Li.
Han Li epted the item handed to him to discover that it was a piece of beat hide with a rough map drawn on it, with some annotations littered throughout the map.
"This is a map of the Scalptia Spatial Domain that I was able to find from a set of unofficial historic records. It''s unclear how old this map is, so it may or may not be able to help you, but take it with you anyway," Shi Pokong said.
Han Li nodded in response, then examined the map briefly before stowing it away.
As for Shi Chuankong, he was holding what appeared to be a pendant, and he asked, "What''s this, Pokong?"
Han Li turned to discover that the pendant had been crafted into the form of an intricate cage, and there were numerous ferocious-looking beasts scratching at the cage from inside.
"Wear this on your body at all times, and throw it out if you encounter some insurmountable peril. There''s no need to inject any spiritual qi or devilish qi to activate it, and perhaps it could save your lives," Shi Pokong said in a serious manner.
Shi Chuankong did as he was told and put on the pendant.
"Remember that in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, not only is there aplete absence of spiritual qi and devilish, you won''t be able to ess your storage tools, either, so if you need something, you''ll have to carry it on your body, and once you get in there, your physical bodies will be just about all that you can rely on," Shi Pokong cautioned.
"If the Scalptia Spatial Domain has already been sealed, then how can we return from it?" Han Li asked.
"There''s a special teleportation array in the ck Water Region that can teleport one straight out of the Scalptia Spatial Domain, but it hasn''t been used for over a hundred thousand years, so it''ll most likely take a lot of time and effort to restore. Having said that, I''ll take care of it, so there''s no need for you to be concerned.
¡°These two tokens will be vital for the teleportation array to ascertain your locations, so make sure to keep them safe," Shi Pokong replied as he handed a pair of leaf-shaped jade tokens to Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
"How do we use these things?" Shi Chuankong asked as he carefully examined his jade token.
"When you want toe back, just shed a drop of blood essence onto the token, and the array on this side will be able to teleport you directly out of the Scalptia Spatial Domain. As for Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit, as long as she''s with Fellow Daoist Li, they''ll be able to teleport back together," Shi Pokong replied.
"Alright, got it," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
"On top of that, I also have two Blood Tide Pills here that can temporarily stimte thetent potential of your bodies. Of course, the aftereffects from consuming the pill are quite severe, and you''ll experience a period of feebleness, perhaps evenplete immobility after the pill''s effects wear off, so only use it as ast resort," Shi Pokong continued.
"There''s no need to be so worried about us, Pokong. We can look after ourselves," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"How could I not be worried? That godforsaken ce has been sealed for hundreds of thousands of years! In any case, that''s all I have to say, the rest is up to you. Make sure youe back alive and well," Shi Pokong said as he patted Shi Chuankong on the shoulder.
"I will," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile, and a faint smile also appeared on Han Li''s face at this show of brotherly affection.
Shortly thereafter, Shi Pokong departed, and after taking a brief rest, Han Li and Sh Chuankong also left the ck Water Region.
Inside the ck Water Region, there was a dark green mountain range that was dotted with brown sand hills that appeared very much out of ce, and at this moment, Han Li and Shi Chuankong were hovering in the air above this mountain range.
Even from close to a hundred kilometers away, they were able to detect the strange spatial fluctuationsing from the area.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes, and he spotted a near-transparent hemispherical restriction that epassed the entire area up ahead like a giant bowl, with all of the brown hills contained within.
"This must be the entrance to the Scalptia Spatial Domain," Han Li said.
"That''s right. I recall that this ce was sealed and dered a restricted area by Father a very long time ago," Shi Chuankong replied.
"That must be to prevent the people in exile from escaping," Han Li spected.
"That''s part of the reason, but I think he was more concerned about people from our Holy Realm inadvertently stumbling onto those sand hills before being sucked into the Scalptia Spatial Domain," Shi Chuankong replied.
"I see," Han Li mused with a nod.
"Let''s go," Shi Chuankong said, and the two of them descended in front of a hall situated outside the sand hills.
The guards stationed outside the building immediately stopped them in their tracks, and one of them dered, "This is a restricted area, turn back now."
After Shi Chuankong revealed his identity, a Golden Immortal stationed in the hall immediately emerged to greet them.
It was a short and stocky elderly man with some stripes all over his face, and he immediately extended a respectful bow toward Shi Chuankong as he greeted, "Xu Fu pays his respects to His Highness."
Chapter 847: No Return
"No need for formalities, Elder Xu," Shi Chuankong said.
"What brings you here today, Your Highness?" Xu Fu asked with a puzzled expression as he took a nce at Han Li.
"We have some matters to attend to here today," Shi Chuankong replied.
"In that case, pleasee in, and we''ll talk inside," Xu Fu said as he stepped to the side before making an inviting hand gesture.
Shi Chuankong and Han Li exchanged a nce with each other, then entered the hall together.
Upon learning that Han Li and Shi Chuankong intended to enter the Scalptia Spatial Domain, Xu Fu immediately attempted to dissuade them in an rmed manner.
In response, Shi Chuankong pulled out an handwritten edict prepared by Shi Pokong, iming that the two of them were carrying out an urgent mission that required them to enter the Scalptia Spatial Domain right away.
"Your Highness, the Scalptia Spatial Domain has already been sealed for many years, and no one knows what things are like in there right now. As for the teleportation array that you mentioned, that hasn''t been used for a very long time," Xu Fu said with tightly furrowed brows.
"The Bnce Fall Duke has already made arrangements for us, so you can rest assured, Elder Xu," Shi Chuankong replied with a dismissive wave."In that case, I won''t try to dissuade you any further. Pleasee with me," Xu Fu said, then led Han Li and Shi Chuankong to the rear hall.
There was a backdoor in the rear hall that led to the sand hills outside, and it clearly served at the entrance to the spatial restriction.
"Once you go in there, just step onto the sand hills, and you''ll automatically sink into the Scalptia Spatial Domain. Do keep in mind that this is a one-way entrance, so you can''t exit from it," Xu Fu cautioned in a solemn manner.
"We''ll be sure to remember that," Han Li replied.
Xu Fu flipped a hand over to summon a ck seal, which he pressed into a slot above the door frame, following which the restriction on the back door was opened at his behest.
"I wish you a safe and smooth journey, Your Highness," Xu Fu said.
"Thank you for the well wishes," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
After emerging from the hall, the two of them quickly made their way to the edge of the first hill before stopping in their tracks.
Han Li examined the hill briefly, but wasn''t able to detect anything abnormal from it. It wasn''t giving off any spatial fluctuations, and it looked no different from a normal hill.
Shi Chuankong flipped a hand over to produce a long ck saber, which he strapped to his waist, and in response to Han Li''s inquisitive gaze, he exined, "Seeing as we can''t use any treasures, surely carrying a weapon will be better than going in empty-handed."
Han Li offered no response as he swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light, from within which Daoist Xie emerged.
Shi Pokong had told them that storage tools couldn''t be essed, and even though he hadn''t made any mention of domain treasures, Han Li still decided that it would be best to release Daoist Xie in advance as a safety precaution.
Shi Chuankong took a nce at the two sabers strapped to Daoist Xie''s waist, and he was very pleased to see that someone had the same idea as him.
After some contemtion, Han Li didn''t summon any of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. Instead, he ced all of his storage tools into his domain treasure, and all that remained was the ring of time on his ring finger.
With their preparationsplete, the trio exchanged a nce with each other before jumping onto the hill in unison.
As soon as the three of themnded on the hill, a burst of hazy silver light instantly emerged to sweep up the trio, following which they slowly sank downward before vanishing out of sight.
"How strange. No one has evene near this ce for so many years, yet recently..."
Xu Fu''s voice trailed off there as he watched the trio vanish with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Forget it, who am I to be worrying myself with the affairs of the nobility?"
With that, he closed the restriction, then turned and made his way back to the front of the hall.
¡¡
Inside the Scalptia Spatial Domain was a deserted ind with plumes of smoke rising up everywhere.
A giant lizard and a massive centipede were rushing at each other from two opposing ends of the ind before crashing into each other with tremendous force.
The force of the sh immediately sent both of them flying backward, and the resulting shockwaves scattered all of the surrounding smoke.
Both the lizard and the centipede were sent tumbling over the ground, but as soon as they steadied themselves, their eyes immediately met once again, and they were clearly preparing for a second sh.
Right at this moment, the sound of blowing wind suddenly rang out from the ground right in between the two giant beasts, and a geyser of sand rose up from the ground, following which Han Li''s trio emerged.
The sand around the trio quickly dissipated, and the three of them were immediately struck by a sense of tremendous spatial pressure that wasing from all directions.
Han Li could feel his own internal organs beingpressed by some type of external force, and his limbs were also feeling quite heavy, but not enough to impact his movement.
The most jarring change of all was that his immortal spiritual power cirction had instantly drawn to a grinding halt.
However, before they even had a chance to examine their surroundings, the ground beneath them suddenly began to tremble violently as the two giant beasts came charging straight at them.
"Look out!" Han Li yelled, and he swept a sleeve through the air, but nothing happened.
Only then did he recall that it was impossible to use any treasures,w powers, or spirit domains in the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
Despite this slight hup, he adapted very quickly, and all of his profound acupoints lit up as he threw a fist at the oing giant lizard.
At the same time, Shi Chuankong gripped onto his ck saber with both hands, thenunched himself up into the air before swinging the saber down upon the ck centipede.
A resounding boom rang out as Han Li''s fist struck the lizard''s forehead, causing its head to cave in slightly, and it was sent flying back through the air before tumbling end over end along the ground.
As for Han Li himself, he was also knocked by several steps from the force of the sh before steadying himself.
He was quite surprised by this as the giant lizard didn''t appear to be all that different from the ones that he had seen in the Immortal Realm, but it possessed far superior power and physical prowess to any simr creature that he had encountered before.
In the face of a punch thrown by Han Li after activating his Great Universe Origin Arts, a normal giant lizard would''ve had its headpletely smashed open, yet this one remainedrgely unharmed, and that was nothing short of incredible.
At the same time, a sharp ng rang out as Shi Chuankong''s saber struck the giant centipede on the head, then slid all the way down its body, leaving a bright trail of sparks in its wake, but the saber only left a mark on its body and couldn''t even slice through its scales.
"Pokong was telling us that the creatures in here are all vastly different from those in the outside world, I can see now that he wasn''t kidding," Shi Chuankong grumbled.
"The spatial pressure in here is at least twice as potent as it is in the outside world, so the creatures in here would''ve had to adapt, thereby making them physically stronger than their counterparts in the outside world," Han Li said in a grim voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the giant lizard was already charging at him once again.
Han Li clenched his right fist tightly, thenunched himself toward the oing giant lizard, creating a deep crater each time his footnded on the ground.
The distance between the two was rapidly shrinking, and right as they were about to sh, Han Li suddenly sprang up into the air before hurtling directly toward the giant lizard like a flying spear.
At the same time, he unclenched his fist and extended his fingers so that his hand resembled a t de, and he plunged it down toward the lizard''s head.
The two fingers formed by the Flower Branch domain were shing with a jade-like glow, and they struck the exact spot on the lizard''s head where Han Li''s fist had struck just a moment ago.
A huge geyser of yellowish-brown blood erupted forth as Han Li''s hand pierced into the giant lizard''s head, and his momentum propelled him forward until his entire arm was embedded inside.
The lizard let loose an agonized roar before copsing to the ground.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly at the pungent odor of blood in the air, and he was just about to withdraw his arm when he felt something inside the giant lizard''s head.
After some digging, he withdrew his hand with a palm-sized fleshy object held in his grasp, inside of which was a longan-sized yellowish-brown crystal that appeared to be the lizard''s beast core.
On the other side, Shi Chuankong was keeping the giant centipede upied, while Daoist Xie seized an opportunity to rush into its mouth, then shed Thundersh and Heavensh through the air in unison to slice it apart from within its oral cavity.
Han Li then strode over and took one of Daoist Xie''s sabers before forcing it into a gap between two of the scales on the centipede''s head, then forcibly pried off one of the scales.
After exposing the flesh of the giant centipede, Han Li plunged the saber into its head, then dug around momentarily before pulling out another beast core.
Chapter 848: Long Road Ahead
Chapter 848: Long Road Ahead
"What are you doing with these beast cores, Brother Li? Surely they don''t have much tool refinement value," Shi Chuankong asked with a puzzled expression.
"Why don''t you take a look at it first?" Han Li replied with a smile, then tossed the beast core in his hand at Shi Chuankong.
Shi Chuankong caught the beast core, then examined it momentarily before a hint of a surprise shed through his eyes.
"This beast core contains a tremendous physical aura! Consuming it will definitely enhance one''s physical constitution," Shi Chuankong said.
"That''s right. Even though spiritual qi and devilish qi arepletely absent in this ce, it seems to have its own unique energy system," Han Li replied with a nod.
"This environment is most likely how these beasts were able to develop such formidable physical bodies," Shi Chuankong mused.
"The residents of this domain must be aware of the properties of these beast cores, and perhaps they''ll collect these beast cores to use as a type of bodily refinement resource. In any case, it certainly couldn''t hurt to collect them, and they could prove to be useful in the future," Han Li said.
"Exceptional foresight as usual, Brother Li. I wonder what the residents of this domain are like now that this ce has been abandoned for so long," Shi Chuankong mused.
"Compared with the Immortal Realm, the people of the Holy Realm generally possess superior aptitude in bodily refinement. Given that one''s cultivation base is useless here, I''m assuming all of the residents of this domain must ce their focus solely on bodily refinement," Han Li spected.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and he released his spiritual sense throughout the surrounding area.
In doing so, he discovered that while he could still use his spiritual sense here, it was also suppressed by the innate pressure in this domain, so his spiritual sensory range was reduced to only several dozen kilometers.
Momentster, he pulled out the sheet of beast hide that contained the map of the domain given to him by Shi Pokong, and Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie also gathered around to inspect the map together.
"I''ve just examined the surrounding area with my spiritual sense, and it seems like we''re in this area on the map," Han Li said as he pointed at a loose scattering of inds on the edge of the map.
"The Gray Scale Inds... Looks like it''s quite a secluded area," Daoist Xie remarked.
At the same time, Han Li''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind, "Have you recalled anything now that we''re in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, Brother Xie?"
"I''m sensing something, but it''s all very indistinct, perhaps because we''re still too far away, and I can''t tell whether what I''m sensing is positive or negative," Daoist Xie replied through voice transmission.
"It looks like this ce most likely has something to do with your amnesia. Are you getting a sense of which direction we should go in?" Han Li asked.
"ording to what I can see on the map, I seem to be getting drawn to the central region of the domain, but I can''t be sure," Daoist Xie replied.
"Right now, we still don''t know where Violet Spirit is, so let''s just go in that direction for now. If there are still residents in this domain, then they''ll most likely also be gathered in the central region," Han Li said.
"Fellow Daoist Li, there''s no spiritual qi in this ce, and even though I have active Immortal Origin Stones in my body, I can only unleash some normal attacks and none of my lightning-attribute abilities. Once the immortal spiritual power in the Immortal Origin Stones run out, I''ll fall into hibernation," Daoist Xie suddenly said.
"I figured that you would also be affected by thews of this ce. Whatever happens from here onward, try to stay out of battle as much as possible to avoid immortal spiritual power expenditure. Storage tools can''t be used here, and I''m only carrying several mid-grade Immortal Origin Stones on me," Han Li said.
"I suppose that''s all we can do for now. Thankfully, these Immortal Origin Stones will be enough to support me for some time," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s expression suddenly changed slightly as he yelled, "Something''sing!"
Daoist Xie and Shi Chuankong immediately tensed up upon hearing this, and before long, the sound of rustling began to ring out from afar.
Three of them turned to that direction to find that a white line had appeared on the distant horizon, and it was slowly approaching them.
As it drew closer, the white line grew wider and wider, and it didn''t take long before it had spread over the entire horizon.
"What the hell are those things?" Shi Chuankong murmured in an apprehensive voice.
Han Li focused his gaze on the white line to discover that it was a wave of countless fist-sized white crabs, all of which were eagerly scrambling over each other as they rushed toward the carcass of the giant lizard.
Just a single one of these crabs would''ve actually been rather adorable in appearance, but so many of them gathered in one ce presented a harrowing sight to behold, and before long, it appeared as if the giant lizard''s carcass had been covered in a moving white mat.
Some of the crabs had even burrowed their way into the carcass through the hole on its head, and no more than twenty secondster, all of the flesh had been stripped from the giant lizard''s carcass, leaving behind an impably clean skeleton.
If it weren''t for therge volumes of yellowish-brown blood that had seeped into the ground, Han Li would''ve easily mistaken the carcass as one that had already been here for many years and been stripped down to its bones due to erosion.
A grim look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face as he reflexively tried to leap high up into the air, but he was instantly forced back down onto the ground by the spatial pressure in this ce.
Clearly, it was going to take some time for them to grow ustomed to their inability to use immortal spiritual power and devilish power.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Shi, these White Armor Crabs are only scavengers, so they pose no threat to us," Daoist Xie suddenly said.
Sure enough, the white crabs were giving the three of them a wide berth, scurrying around them en route to the giant centipede carcass.
Once again, in the span of no more than twenty seconds, the entire carcass was also devoured.
"How do you know what these things are, Fellow Daoist Xie?" Shi Chuankong asked with a puzzled expression.
Daoist Xie faltered slightly upon hearing this, then replied, "I''m not sure, I feel like I''ve seen them before."
Shi Chuankong was rendered speechless upon hearing this.
"Let''s get out of here. Let''s try and find some residents of this domain to see if we can gather any leads on Violet Spirit," Han Li said.
Shi Chuankong could see the concern on Han Li''s face, and he consoled, "Don''t be so worried, Brother Li. Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit was able to ascend from a lower realm just like you, and that''s a reflection of her power and resourcefulness, so I''m sure she''ll be fine even in this Scalptia Spatial Domain."
Shi Chuankong''s words didn''t offer much reassurance to Han Li, but he still nodded as he said, "Thank you Fellow Daoist Shi. If it wasn''t for you, even getting into this ce would''ve been a very difficult task for me."
"There''s no need to thank me, think about how many times you''ve saved my life in the past! Even back in the Gray Realm, I''ve never seen you look so concerned, it looks like Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit really is extremely important to you. Let''s just set off right away, I don''t need any rest," Shi Chuankong sighed.
"We do indeed need to make haste. Right now, Weeping Soul is stillying unconscious in my domain treasure, and even though I''ve ced many pieces of Purple Sun Warm Jade in there and arranged for puppets to look after her, I won''t be able to enter the domain as long as I''m in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so I won''t know if something goes wrong or if the supply of Purple Sun Warm Jade runs out," Han Li said with tightly furrowed brows.
"That''s even more reason to remain calm and focused, Brother Li. This ce is not like other ces, and you won''t be able to use the majority of your abilities here, so we have to proceed with caution," Shi Chuankong said.
"Let''s keep going," Han Li replied with a nod, and with that, the three of them continued onward.
After crossing over a nearby ridge, a in that was nted slightly downward appeared. THe terrain was rtively t, and it stretched onward for hundreds of kilometers.
However, the earth was riddled with enormous cracks, and there wasn''t any vegetation in sight. asionally, some dust would be thrown up into the air by a passing gust of wind, only to be instantly forced back down to the ground by the ever-present spatial pressure.
Han Li''s trio made their way down from the ridge, then strode over the cracked earth, leaving three long trails of footsteps behind them.
Even though they couldn''t fly, they were still traveling quite quickly on foot.
Along the way, they asionally encountered some strange scaled beasts, but none of them took the initiative to attack them, so Han Li''s trio left them alone.
At around dusk, the three of them arrived on the edge of an ind.
At this point, the sun had already most likely set, and its dying rays basked the entire earth in an orange glow, while the sound of beastly roars began to ring out over the in.
Han Li turned back to take a nce at the in that they had just crossed over, then turned his gaze back forward with his brows tightly furrowed.
Beyond the edge of the ind was ayer of indistinct ck mist that resembled a cloud of smoke, separating the ind that they were on from the neighboring one.
Chapter 849: Bird-hunting Trio
Chapter 849: Bird-hunting Trio
"It looks like it''s not going to be easy to pass through here," Han Li remarked.
"The other ind is only several thousand feet away, can we really not just jump across?" Shi Chuankong asked.
In response, Daoist Xie merely picked up a rock from the ground, then hurled it at the opposing ind.
The rock sped through the air, but as soon as it flew into the air above the ck mist, it abruptly stopped cold in its tracks.
Immediately thereafter, it was as if it had suddenly been pped down by an invisible hand, and it was sent plummeting down into the mist.
Han Li''s trio listened intently for a while, but they couldn''t hear the sound of the rocknding, and Shi Chuankong looked down as he remarked, "It seems like whatever''s down there, it''s extremely deep."
"My guess is that there''s nothing but boundless space beneath this ck mist. If we fall into it, we''ll plummet perpetually through space, and there''s no telling when we''ll reach the bottom. In fact, there''s a very good chance that there is no bottom," Han Li spected as he peered into the ck mist.
"Doesn''t that mean that we''re trapped on this ind? It seems like the beasts on the ind are even more active at night, so things will only get more dangerous from here onward," Shi Chuankong said with tightly furrowed brows.
Han Li was just about to respond when the sound of pping wings suddenly rang out form the opposing ind, and he hurriedly cast his gaze in that direction to find a strange bird that was around twenty feet tall flying toward them over the ck mist.
The bird had a bulky body that was covered in stiff azure feathers, with a long neck and a disproportionatelyrge head, and its wingspan was around ten feet wide.
It was flying in a very strange fashion in that not only was it pping its wings with all its might, it was also frantically stepping down onto the space beneath it with its talons, looking extremely awkward and uncoordinated.
However, its methods were clearly effective, and with each step that it took, the air beneath its talons would explode to create a burst of upward propulsion force that counteracted the spatial pressure above the ck mist, thereby allowing it to fly over the area.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes as he yelled, "Those azure feathers on this bird''s body seem to be able to drastically reduce the spatial pressure exerted upon it, thereby allowing it to fly over the ck mist. If we can capture it, perhaps we can ride it to the other side."
As soon as his voice trailed off, hundreds of the same birds flew out of the ck mist, and all of them were flying in the same frantic and uncoordinated manner toward the ind that Han Li''s trio was on.
The birds paid no heed to the trio, disying no fear at all, and they were galloping toward the mountain ridge at the center of the ind.
Han Li''s trio hurriedly ducked and weaved from side to side to evade the flock of birds, and before long, all of the birds had flown past them.
"With that many of them, there will definitely be enough for us to use!" Shi Chuankong said with an exultant smile.
"Let''s go after them," Han Li said, and the three of them immediately set off after the flock of birds.
Even as the birds were galloping along the ground, the same explosions of air were erupting beneath their talons with every single step, propelling them forward at an extraordinary speed.
In contrast, Han Li''s trio were only able to rely on their own physical prowess, and they were being outsped.
Han Li was still able to somewhat keep up, but at this point, Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie had already been left close to ten kilometers behind.
Over the course of the chase, the sunpletely set, and stars began to appear in the sky.
Even as Han Li continued to gallop along, he was constantly scouring his surroundings in a wary fashion.
On a barren in, one dark shadow after another popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, and they came in all shapes, forms, and sizes, but all of them wereying quietly on the ground, seemingly waiting for something.
Han Li was rather bewildered to see this, but he continued his pursuit of the flock of birds without pause.
By the time the pursuit reached the mountain range, night had alreadypletely fallen. There wasn''t a single cloud in the sky, and a lone moon was hanging high up above, surrounded by countless bright stars.
Under the moonlight night sky, Han Li''s trio was treated to an astonishing sight.
Countless White Armor Crabs had appeared all over the entire mountain ridge from top to bottom, and they even spilled out onto the tter areas outside of the ridge.
At this moment, all of their shells were gleaming with specks of hazy white light that resembled tinymp mes, and it was as if a starry night sky had appeared on the in to mirror the one up above, presenting a spectacr sight to behold.
Han Li was standing on the ridge as he observed the surrounding area, and he discovered that all of the creatures on the ind were also glowing with the same specks of white light, except most of them were concentrated on their heads.
At the same time, he could sense a faint yet familiar power from the light.
It was none other than the starpower that he had drawn upon while cultivating the Great Universe Origin Arts.
The more Han Li saw, the more bewildered he became. Could it be that this starpower was what allowed all of these creatures to survive and cultivate in the bleak environment of the Scalptia Spatial Domain?
Right at this moment, a string of loud cracks rang out, and Han Li hurriedly turned to discover the flock of strange birds that had flown to this area preying on the White Armor Crabs on the ground with their long beaks.
A small disturbance ran through the cluster of White Armor Crabs, but they didn''t flee en masse, nor did they retaliate against the flock of birds.
Moremotion was also ringing out further away, and Han Li could see that some of therger beasts had begun preying on the smaller beasts present.
"So they''re here to feed on the White Armor Crabs. Should we go after them now?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Let''s wait for a bit longer. If we strike now, we could attract a lot of unnecessary trouble. Let''s approach them slowly, then find a suitable location to strike from," Han Li said.
With that, the three of them each snuck over to a vantage point before hiding behind some cover so that they were out of sight.
Around an hourter, the flock of birds seemed to have had their fill, and they began galloping back in the same direction that they hade from.
Han Li immediately made a hand signal to Shi Chuankong upon seeing this, and thetter instantly sprang into action, springing up into the air to pursue the flock of birds.
Right as one of the birds ran past him, he attempted to pounce onto its back, but the bird suddenly dodged to the side, then raised one of its thick and strong legs before aiming a kick at Shi Chuankong''s chest.
Despite the bird''s rather dumb and bulky appearance, it was extraordinarily fast and agile, and Shi Chuankong was caughtpletely off guard, taking a kick straight to the chest.
A series of profound acupoints instantly lit up over his chest, and his entire body seemed to have been enshrouded in ayer of hazy light.
Right as the ninth acupoint on his chest lit up, a loud explosion rang out, and a burst of invisible force erupted out of a small hole on the underside of the bird''s food before exploding right in front of Shi Chuankong''s chest.
Shi Chuankong felt a burst of tremendous force crash into his chest, striking him with a sense of asphyxiation, and he wasunched back through the air before crashing heavily down onto the ground, only drawing to a halt after rolling end over end around a dozen times in a row.
On the other side, Han Li was also just about to jump onto a bird''s back, but upon seeing what had happened to Shi Chuankong, he immediately ducked down preemptively. Sure enough, the bird aimed a kick at him as well, but he was able to evade the attack, then slid right along the bird''s body before straddling onto its back.
The bird shuddered slightly under his weight, but then immediately stabilized itself and continued to gallop onward.
Meanwhile, Daoist Xie rushed over to examine Shi Chuankong''s condition, and thetter had already risen to his feet and was dusting himself off.
It appeared that he hadn''t sustained any injuries, but there was a slightly awkward look on his face as he said to Daoist Xie, "There''s an opening on the underside of these birds'' feet that can release bursts of powerful force. No wonder they were able to run over that area with the ck mist."
He then turned his attention to Han Li, upon which he discovered that Han Li was straddled atop his bird''s back with his arms wound tightly around its long neck.
His body was bobbing up and down in a ratherical fashion as the bird galloped along, but overall, he appeared to be quite stable, and the bird didn''t seem to have been down much by his added weight.
However, right at this moment, the bird''s head suddenly swiveled around close to 180 degrees, and it pecked down at Han Li''s left eye at an extraordinary speed.
Chapter 850: Resourceful Innovation
Chapter 850: Resourceful Innovation
Han Li was clearly prepared for a sneak attack, and heid back to evade the bird''s beak strike.
However, before he had a chance to stabilize himself, the bird suddenly stomped its talons into the ground and sprang up into the air. As it began its descent, it abruptly spread its wings, thrusting Han Li''s legs up into the air, and he almost fell off its back as a result.
In response, Han Li pushed off with both hands against the bird''s back,unching himself up into the air before quickly falling back down thanks to the spatial pressure in the environment.
As he did so, Han Li intentionally increased the force of his descent, plummeting heavily down onto the bird''s back.
The bird was also in the process of a descent, and with Han Li falling onto its back with such immense force, it let loose an involuntary squawk before crashing to the ground with a loud thump.
A crater that was hundreds of feet in size appeared on the ground, and even with its tremendous leg strength, the bird was unable to remain on its talons, kneeling to the bottom of the crater.
All of the creatures that were basking in starlight in the surrounding area hurriedly dispersed in rm, while all of the other birds fled in all directions.
Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie rushed over to the edge of the crater to find Han Li straddled atop the bird with one hand pressed against its head and his other hand gently stroking the feathers on its back.
Initially, the bird struggled vehemently, but a few momentster, its struggles ceased, and it began gently rubbing its head against Han Li''s hand in an affectionate manner.
Han Li gently patted the bird on the back, and it stood up again, then bent its legs slightly, following which a loud explosion of air rang out as it leaped out of the crater with Han Li on its back.
After jumping out of the crater, the bird galloped over the in with Han Li on its back for a while, and it was even faster than before. While it galloped along, it pped its wings while sting air out of the holes on the underside of its feet, and it was able to fly about a foot above the ground.
After briefly testing out the bird''s abilities, Han Li instructed it tond in between Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie, following which he jumped down from its back and said, "This bird doesn''t seem to have a name, so I''ll call it a Hover Flight Bird. It''s extremely difficult to tame, and once captured, it must immediately be subdued using spiritual sense."
"No wonder you were stroking its head earlier, you were brainwashing it!" Shi Chuankong jibed.
"As you just saw, this bird is capable of flying with one person on its back, and it should be able to reach the other ind just fine, even with the added load. On top of that, it''s also quite fast, so it makes for a very good steed," Han Li said.
"That''s great! In that case, we''re killing two birds with one stone," Shi Chuankong said with an ted smile.
"Brother Shi, I saw some profound acupoints light upon your chest earlier when you were being kicked by one of the other birds. Are you also using some type of bodily refinement cultivation art?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. Beings of our holy race are born with powerful bodies, so we don''t have to focus as much on bodily refinement as humans. However, thews of space that I''m cultivating are quite special, and it requiredme to further strengthen my body. On top of that, my physical constitution was enhanced even further thanks to my breakthrough to the High Zenith Stage," Shi Chuankong exined.
"That''s good to hear. I presume you must be very confident in your own physical body, given you were willing toe on this trip with me," Han Li said with a smile.
As for exactly how many profound acupoints Shi Chuankong had opened up, Han Li didn''t pry as the subject potentially concerned secrets of Shi Chuankong''s cultivation.
"I wouldn''t dare to say I''m very confident, but I should be able to lend you some assistance here and there," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"Right now, we only have one Hover Flight Bird. Are we going to take turns riding it to the other ind?" Daoist Xie asked.
"Let''s not do anything else for tonight. Even though the creatures on the ind are very active at night, it appears that they''ve onlye out to absorb starpower, so they shouldn''t pose much of a threat. We don''t know what things are like on the other ind, so let''s rest here for tonight," Han Li decided after some contemtion.
"That does sound like a safer course of action," Shi Chuankong agreed with a nod.
Thus, the three of them sat down with their legs crossed on the slightly nted ground at the foot of the mountain ridge before closing their eyes to cultivate.
Han Li attempted to channel his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, only to discover that he was unable to draw upon his own immortal spiritual power, as if it had congealed within his body.
A wry smile appeared on his face as he opened his eyes, then turned to take a nce at Daoist Xie and Shi Chuankong, only to discover that they weren''t giving off any spiritual power fluctuations, either.
Han Li closed his eyes again and continued to meditate, and the night steadily wore on.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s eyes sprang open as he took a nce up at the sky above.
All of the stars in the sky were glowing extremely brightly, to the point that the ind was illuminated to be as bright as day, presenting a spectacr sight to behold.
After looking up at the stars for some time, a thought suddenly urred to Han Li, and he began to channel his Great Universe Origin Arts.
As soon as he did this, a series of profound acupoints lit up over his body one after another, and they were also glowing just as radiantly as the stars up above.
Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie both opened their eyes to look at Han Li upon sensing this, and the former was looking on with keen interest, while thetter closed his eyes in a disinterested manner.
Some timeter, Han Li heaved a forlorn sigh before opening his eyes.
He had already achieved full mastery of the Great Universe Origin Arts, so he was unable to channel the cultivation art to absorb any more starpower.
The profound acupoints all over his body faded at his behest, with the exception of a single one on his chest.
After some contemtion, Han Li pulled out a longan-sized yellowish-brown crystal, and it was none other than the giant lizard''s beast core.
Compared with back when it had first been pulled out of the lizard''s body, the beast core''s aura had already abated significantly, but the starpower shing within it was only growing brighter and brighter.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he held the beast core in his hand and attempted to refine it, only to recall that without any immortal spiritual power, this was an impossible task.
He pped a hand to his own forehead with a self-deprecating smile, and right as he was about to stow the beast core away again, he caught a glimpse of the Hover Flight Bird out of the corner of his eye, and he suddenly recalled the scene of the birds feeding on the White Armor Crabs.
After a brief hesitation, he tossed the beast core into his own mouth before swallowing it.
As soon as the beast core entered his stomach, he immediately felt a burst of heat begin to travel through his lower abdomen before transforming into a faint burst of power that began to travel toward his leg.
He hurriedly looked down to discover that a slight change was taking ce within a brand new acupoint on the inside of his leg.
It was only a minute change, but Han Li was ecstatic to see this as he could sense that a brand new profound acupoint was showing signs of opening up in his body, and most importantly, this change didn''t appear to be apanied by any negative side effects.
A hint of surprise shed through Shi Chuankong''s face as he watched Han Li swallow the beast core, and he approached Han Li before asking, "What are you doing, Brother Li?"
"Do you still have the beast core that I gave you earlier?" Han Li asked with an eager expression.
"I do," Shi Chuankong replied as he hurriedly pulled out the centipede''s beast core before handing it to Han Li.
Han Li epted the beast core before examining it momentarily, then swallowed this one as well.
Immediately thereafter, the same burst of heat reappeared in his lower abdomen, then also transformed into a faint burst of power that surged toward the new acupoint in his leg.
"It''s not enough, I need more!" Han Li said in an excited manner.
"What''s going on, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked with slightly furrowed brows
"Those two beast cores contain starpower and can open up profound acupoints! We won''t be able to refine them, but we can absorb the starpower within them by directly devouring them," Han Li exined.
"Is that true?" Shi Chuankong eximed as a hint of excitement appeared on his face as well.
"All of these creatures have clearlye out at night to absorb starpower. Just capture one of them and harvest their beast core, and you''ll be able to see for yourself," Han Li replied with a smile.
Shi Chuankong immediately rushed away into the distance upon hearing this, and before long, he returned with the carcass of a scaled feline creature that was around ten feet in length.
Shi Chuankong tossed the carcass onto the ground, then split its head open with his ck saber before pulling out a tiny core around the size of a pea.
"These small guys only have tiny beast cores in their heads, while therger ones are quite rare and extremely fast, so I wasn''t able to catch any of them," Shi Chuankongined.
"It''s fine, give this one a try first," Han Li said with a smile.
Chapter 851: Without a Trace
Chapter 851: Without a Trace
Shi Chuankong nodded in response, then sat down with his legs crossed, and he swallowed the beast core after rubbing it clean before closing his eyes.
Momentster, he reopened his eyes as he asked with slightly furrowed brows, "Did I do something wrong just now, Brother Li? Why can''t I sense anything happening in my body?"
"The beast core that you just swallowed was far smaller than the other two. It appears that the fearsome a beast is, therger its beast core would be," Han Li analyzed.
"That''s probably a reasonable guess. However, looking at the creatures on this ind, it appears that the lizard and the centipede that we killed may be the two most powerful beasts here," Shi Chuankong remarked.
"It''s fine. Right now, our priority is to cover more ground, and we can just try again when another opportunity arises in the future," Han Li replied with a nod.
"If any powerful beasts try to get in our way from here onward, then I''m not going to spare it!" Shi Chuankong chuckled as he eagerly rubbed his hands together.
The two of them chatted for a while longer before returning to seated meditation.
The next morning.
Han Li was riding the Hover Flight Bird on the edge of the ind, and it was rushing toward the area filled with ck mist with a run-up of roughly a hundred meters.
With each step the bid took, a loud explosion would ring out beneath its talons, sending dust erupting in all directions.
The more it elerated, therger its strides became, and upon reaching the edge of the ind, it abruptly sprang up into the air,unching itself into the air above the ck mist, where it spread its massive wings.
The surrounding space was filled with a burst of spatial pressure that was far more pronounced than before, and it seemed to only be growing stronger.
sts of air were constantly erupting out of the holes on the underside of the bird''s feet, and it was also pping its wings incessantly as it galloped forward with much difficulty.
Flying over this area was quite difficult to begin with, and with the added burden of Han Li on its back, the bird was clearly flying at a lower altitude than before, only just barely staying above the ck mist.
Han Li pressed his own body tightly against the bird''s back, doing his best to hide himself beneath its wings, and at the same time, his entire body was tensed up as he looked forward in a wary fashion.
Thankfully, the distance between the two inds was very short, and the Hover Flight Bird was very familiar with this trip, clearly having already made it countless times before, so it quickly arrived on the opposing ind with Han Li.
Han Li jumped down from the bird''s back upon reaching the ind, and as soon as hended on the ground, he could immediately sense that the spatial pressure here was stronger than before.
After taking a moment to limate himself to these new conditions, he patted the Hover Flight Bird, sending it back to the other side to transport Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie across as well.
After reaching the ind, the two of them also detected this increase in spatial pressure, much to their dismay.
"This ind is a lotrger than the previous one, and the spatial pressure on the ind also seems to be a lot stronger," Shi Chuankong remarked.
"Indeed. I presume the creatures on the ind will only be more formidable, so we''re going to have to proceed with caution from here onward," Han Li said in a grim voice as he gently stroked the Hover Flight Bird''s head.
"It''s all thanks to this little guy that we were able to make it here at all. We should find out where these birdse from and capture two more. We''ll be able to travel faster with these birds as our steeds, and that''ll allow us to find any potential settlements of residents faster," Shi Chuankong suggested.
"I''ve already scoured the area with my spiritual sense, and there''s a canyon a few dozen kilometers away from here. The Hover Flight Birds fromst night are residing there," Han Li said.
Around half a dayter, the three of them flew out of the canyon, with each of them rising atop a Hover Flight Bird, pursued by hundreds of other furious Hover Flight Birds.
......
Over two months flew by in a sh.
Three Hover Flight Birds were gathered together in a hilly area, pecking incessantly at the ground.
Under a giant rock not far awayid the carcasses of two scaled sawtooth mammoths that were each over a thousand feet tall, and there was blood still trickling out of their mouths.
Each of them had arge hole on the top of its head, and the beast cores inside their bodies had already been dug out.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were seated on the giant rock several meters apart with their backs facing each other, and all of their profound acupoints were glowing faintly.
Meanwhile, Daoist Xie was standing off to the side, looking into the distance in an expressionless manner.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li and Shi Chuankong opened their eyes, and the former exhaled as he said, "It seems like these beast cores really can increase the amount of starpower in our bodies and enhance our physical constitutions, but they''re not enough on their own to open up new profound acupoints."
"Indeed. Even so, after devouring so many beast cores up to this point, both of us have benefitted immensely. At the very least, we''re far more resistant to the spatial pressure in this domain than before. I must say, devouring beast cores here is a far faster form of physical cultivation than any physical cultivation methods that I can think of in the outside world," Shi Chuankong said with a smile.
"If we can devour some more beast cores, we''ll be better equipped to deal with the spatial pressure once we reach evenrgerndmasses," Han Li said.
"Fellow Daoist Li, those giant scorpions are catching up to us again. It looks like they''ll reach us in more than thirty seconds," Daoist Xie suddenly called out.
"What a pain in the backside! If it isn''t for the fact that their beast cores have no value, we should''ve eradicated all of them long ago," Shi Chuankong spat through gritted teeth.
"Just ignore them. We''re about to reach thendmass soon, and they won''t be able to get to us there," Han Li said with a smile.
With that, the three of them got on their Hover Flight Birds and continued onward.
......
One morning, several monthster.
A scaled panther-like beast was prowling along the edge of a barren desert, tearing at the flesh of a giant lizard that was already long dead.
All of a sudden, its ears perked up as it raised its head in a wary fashion and began peering into the mist on the edge of the wilderness.
A huge shadow was currently making its way through the mist.
The panther-like beast hurriedly ran back close to a thousand feet upon seeing this, then turned back to see what was happening.
Right at this moment, a giant dark green turtle that was over a hundred feet tall flew out of the ck mist, then slowly descended onto the edge of the desert.
The turtle''s shell had some very peculiar patterns, and it was also giving off a faint sheen, reflecting specks of green light under the morning sun.
There were three men standing on the giant turtle''s back, and they were none other than Han Li''s trio.
Daoist Xie was scouring the surrounding area with an indifferent gaze, and as soon as he caught sight of the panther-like beast, thetter immediately fled into the distance, abandoning the giant lizard carcass.
After several months of travel, Han Li''s trio had finally left the Gray Scale Inds and arrived on the Brown Valley Continent.
During their travels, they had done their best to avoid powerful creatures, but they were still attacked no fewer than a hundred times. On the majority of asions, they were able to get away and avoid a battle thanks to the Hover Flight Birds'' speed, but there had been some unavoidable confrontations that they had no choice but to engage in.
Among them, there had been two particrly grueling battles, one of which was a battle against a pair of giant armadillo-like creatures, which they were able to y to procure a pair of beast cores the size of an infant''s fist.
During the other battle, they were attacked by an earthworm that was over a thousand feet in length, which had suddenly sprung up out of the ground to devour all three Hover Flight Birds.
Not only did the earthworm possess a tremendously powerful body, it was also extremely cunning, immediately burrowing into the ground at the first sign of danger.
In the end, Han Li''s trio was finally able to leave its territory after close to half a month of cautious travel.
After that, the three of them had traveled for over a month before encountering this creature, which Han Li had named the "Space Walking Turtle".
Just like Hover Flight Birds, this turtle was somehow able to resist the spatial pressure in this domain thanks to certain special properties of its shell, and it was able to traverse through even the areas enshrouded in ck mist.
It was thanks to this Space Walking Turtle that they were able to traverse through the misty area between the final ind and this continent, an area that spanned close to ten thousand feet.
At this moment, the three of them were all seated on the turtle''s back in silence, not because there was nothing to say, but instead because they were all silently withstanding the spatial pressure on this continent, which was over ten times more potent than before.
Under such immense pressure, Han Li felt as if all of his internal organs had been squished together, and his ears were also ringing every time he took a strained breath.
Scales had already appeared over Shi Chuankong''s body as he revealed part of his true devilish form to help him withstand the pressure.
In contrast, Daoist Xie was faring much better than the two of them thanks to his puppet body.
On this continent, Han Li''s spiritual sense was being suppressed even further, to the point that his spiritual sensory range was only around thirty to forty kilometers in radius.
Up to this point, they hadn''t encountered any residents of this domain, nor any signs left behind by Violet Spirit, and he was beginning to grow a little concerned.
This domain was far more massive than he anticipated, and it also had a terrible environment tha rendered one''s cultivation basepletely useless, so one could only deal with the hazards present in this ce with their physical prowess.
It had already been over a century since Violet Spirit was cast into this ce, and he couldn''t help but fear for her safety.
Right at this moment, he suddenly detected something, and the Space Walking Turtle beneath him also drew to a halt at his behest.
Chapter 852: Leads
"What is it, Brother Li? Are we being attacked?" Shi Chuankong asked, while Daoist Xie also turned to him with an inquisitive look.
Han Li remained silent as he cast his gaze toward a small mountain several kilometers away.
Shi Chuankong also turned his attention to the same mountain, but wasn''t able to see anything special about it.
Before Shi Chuankong had a chance to ask any further questions, Han Li suddenly patted the shell of the Space Walking Turtle, and it resumed its flight at his behest, with its feet gliding through the air like oars.
Its speed was inferior to that of the Hover Flight Bird, but not by much.
Around a thousand feet away from the small mountain, Han Li leaped up into the air, then crashed heavily to the ground under the immense spatial pressure.
However, he didn''t even take a moment to steady himself before rushing up the small mountain as quickly as he could, and Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie exchanged a perplexed nce with each other before also jumping down from the turtle''s back in pursuit of Han Li.
The mountain was no more than a thousand feet tall, and Han Li had rushed all the way to the entrance of an obscure cave that was around half the height of a grown man halfway up the mountain.
Shi Chuankong caught up to him before Daoist Xie, but before he had a chance to say anything, Han Li had already squeezed his way into the hole.Shi Chuankong''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly also followed along.
After squeezing into the hole and passing through a tight passageway, he emerged into a spacious area around twice the size of the average room.
The ceiling was also extremely tall, and there were severalrge holes in it, allowing the natural light from outside to filter through and illuminate the entire cave.
Shi Chuankong looked around to discover four strange-looking bodies on the ground in the cave, and Han Li was crouched down beside one of the bodies, seemingly examining something.
Shi Chuankong also began to inspect the bodies himself, and upon closer inspection, he discovered that two of the "bodies" weren''t actually bodies. Instead, they were a pair of humanoid puppets, except their heads had been smashed, andrge holes had also been punched into their chests.
As for the other two true bodies, their upper bodies were bared to reveal ayer of gray scales, and they appeared rather withered and dried out, perhaps because they had been dead for quite some time, or perhaps it had something to do with their cause of death.
Before long, Daoist Xie had also entered the cave, and he asked in a puzzled manner, "What are these things?"
"They''re most likely fugitives that were exiled into this ce," Shi Chuankong replied.
"Brother Shi, can you see anything from these bodies?" Han Li asked as he rose to his feet with tightly clenched fists.
"Two of these are bodies, while the other two are puppets, and judging from their injuries, they seemed to have killed each other, indicating that they''re most likely from two opposing forces," Shi Chuankong deduced.
"I''m thinking the exact same thing. I think they were fighting over someone here," Han Li said with a grim expression.
A look of realization appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon hearing this.
"You don''t mean..."
"That''s right, I''ve found something of Violet Spirit''s here," Han Li confirmed as he spread a hand open to reveal a ck veil usually worn over a woman''s face.
"Are you sure this belongs to Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Her blood is on this veil, and there''s no way I''ll misidentify her aura. The battle that took ce here was most likely over her, so she''s probably been abducted by whichever side that came out on top," Han Li said.
"The state of these bodies indicates that they''re already long dead. I wonder when Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit was here," Shi Chuankong mused.
"That''s impossible to tell for now. On the way here, I didn''t discover any trace of her, nor did I detect her aura, so there''s a very good chance that she didn''t enter the Scalptia Spatial Domain from the entrance in the ck Water Region. Perhaps there are other entrances to this domain in the Devil Realm," Han Li sighed.
"That''s definitely a real possibility. I''m sure Lady Ju wasn''t willing to tell Pokong exactly where Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit entered the Scalptia Spatial Domain from. If we had known that this was a possibility, we should''ve asked Xu Fu before we came in here," Shi Chuankong mused with a concerned expression.
"I did consider it, but there wouldn''t have been any point. If Violet Spirit really was sent into the Scalptia Spatial Domain through an entrance overseen by him, would he have dared to admit it if he became aware of our objective? He would''ve either only lied to cover for himself, or even fed us false information," Han Li said.
"Well, the good thing is that we have some leads now. As long as we can track down one of the two forces that were here, we''ll be able to find out more information about Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit''s whereabouts," Shi Chuankong said.
Han Li offered no response. It was clear that Violet Spirit had suffered some form of injury here, and that left him feeling very concerned.
"Let''s go. Seeing as we''ve confirmed that she''s on this continent, it''s only a matter of time before we find her," Han Li said, then made his way out of the cave.
¡¡
Half a monthter.
Han Li''s trio arrived in a mountainous area, and it was near impossible for the Space Walking Turtle to make any progress here as it could only hover a few dozen feet above the ground, so Han Li had no choice but to release it and continue on foot.
One day, at around noon, the trio arrived at a long and thin valley, where an ted look suddenly appeared on Han Li''s face.
"Have you found something?" Shi Chuankong immediately asked upon noticing Han Li''s expression.
Han Li made a quieting gesture, then began to quickly move to his left while also waving for Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie to follow along.
Before long, the three of them had traveled close to ten kilometers and arrived on the summit of a small mountain, where they hid behind arge rock, peering out at a col that was several dozen kilometers away.
There was a fierce battle taking ce within the col, and they didn''t get any closer for fear of being detected by thebatants.
One one side was a giant tiger-like beast that was over three hundred feet in length and around seventy to eighty feet tall. Its entire body was covered in huge dark brown scales that were giving off a metallic sheen, and its legs were incredibly thick and strong, while its paws were tipped with scythe-like ws that presented a fearsome sight to behold.
What was particrly eye-catching were the nine ck bone spikes that resembled giant spears growing on the creature''s back.
At this moment, the tiger-like beast was locked in battle against seven or eight men with very dark and coarse skin, and they were incredibly muscr and tall, significantly taller than even Han Li.
They were d in suits of crude, gray bone armor, and the weapons that they were wielding also appeared to have been fashioned from some type of beast bone.
Despite its enormous frame, the tiger-like beast was remarkably agile, attacking with its fangs, ws, and its tail.
A series of craters had been smashed into the ground, and the shockwaves erupting from the battle had sliced numerous deep gashes into the nearby mountain faces.
The armored men had specks of light glowing all over their bodies, and they were able to move so quickly that they transformed into gray blurs, allowing them to evade all of the tiger-like beast''s attacks.
Compared with their movements, the giant beast''s attacks were made to look very clumsy and mdroit.
The specks of light on the bodies of those men were none other than profound acupoints, and even the one with the least profound acupoints among them had opened up over ten, while their leader had a total of fifty to sixty profound acupoints distributed over his body.
On top of that, the cement of his profound acupoints were highly specialized, with some on his chest and abdomen, while the rest, consisting of close to half, were gathered in his right arm.
"Are these fugitives that were exiled into the Scalptia Spatial Domain? We''ve finally run into some! Should we go and meet them?" Shi Chuankong asked in an ted manner.
"The fact that they were exiled here indicates that they''re not good people, so I think it''s best to stay put and observe for now," Han Li replied, and Shi Chuankong nodded in agreement.
The armord men were constantly moving around the tiger-like beast, striking its body with their bone weapons whenever the opportunity arose.
The bone weapons appeared to be quite crude, but were extremely sharp, and they were able to slice through even the scales on the giant beast''s body to inflict long gashes.
As more and more gashes were inflicted onto the giant beast''s body, its scales were quickly stained red, and it was moving far slower than before.
It attempted to escape on several asions, but was unable to break out of the encirclement, and it had begun panting heavily.
All of a sudden, the giant beast let loose a thunderous roar, and its eyes began to glow crimson like a pair of rednterns, while the nine bone spikes on its back began trembling and buzzing incessantly.
"Look out, it''s about to use its trump card!" one of the armord men warned.
The leader of the ground immediately pounced on this opportunity, rushing over to the tiger-like beast before swinging the giant bone sword that he was wielding down upon the giant beast''s shoulder.
A gruesome gash that was dozens of feet in length was instantly sliced into the giant beast''s shoulder, and blood came gushing out in a frenzy.
The tiger-like beast howled in agony, then turned to the leader of the group before letting loose a thunderous roar, and the nine bone spikes on its back began vibrating rapidly before collectively hurtling toward him as nine ck blurs.
Chapter 853: Daoist Xies Capture
The nine bone spikes produced a shrieking sound as they hurtled through the air, but the man seemed to have already anticipated this, and he swung his bone sword through the air to deflect the oing bone spikes.
A string of loud metallic ngs rang out, and all nine bone spikes were sent flying in different directions, but the giant bone sword in the man''s hand was also knocked out of his grasp.
However, the man didn''t back down at all, and he stomped a foot down onto the ground, causing the earth to shatter beneath his feet.
The force of the stomp propelled him up into the air, and in the next instant, he had already arrived above the giant tiger''s head.
At the same time, the profound acupoints on his right arm began glowing radiantly, and he plunged his arm straight at the giant tiger''s forehead.
A loud and gruesome crunch rang out, and his arm was able to pierce straight through the skull of the giant tiger until the entire arm was embedded into the giant beast''s head.
The giant tiger let loose an earth-shattering roar, then swayed a few times before finally copsing to the ground.
Both Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, and they exchanged an astonished nce with each other.
While the two of them were confident that they could''ve also defeated that giant tiger, there was no way that they would''ve been able to do so with such ease.Inside the col, a chorus of cheers rang out as the giant tiger copsed to the ground.
The man who had dealt the killing blow pulled out his arm, and it was covered in blood and intracranial fluids.
With a swing of his arm, all of that was shaken off, and he spread his hand open to reveal a fist-sized beast core that was giving off radiant white light.
A pleased look appeared on the man''s face at the sight of the white beast core, and he ced it into a beast hide pouch hanging from his waist.
A young man with an ox horn tattoo on his face retrieved the man''s bone sword, then offered it up with both hands as he said with a fawning smile, "Your War Dagger Profound Arts are bing more and more fearsome, Brother Chen Yang. Even a Sword Scale Tiger can''t withstand a single him from you now. At this rate, it won''t be long before you umte enough de points for a four-star badge. I hope you won''t forget us when that timees."
The other men in the group collected the nine bone spikes, then also began ttering their leader.
"As long as you serve me well, all of you will be rewarded for your efforts," Chen Yang promised as he took his sword back, and everyone else hurriedly expressed their gratitude.
"Alright, hurry up and dissect this Sword Scale Tiger and pull out all of the usable star bones, then return to the stronghold. Our hunting trip ends here for today," Chen Yang instructed.
"What about you, Brother Chen?" one of the man asked.
"I still have some matters to take care of, so just go ahead without me," Chen Yang replied as he turned his gaze to the spot where Han Li''s trio was hiding.
"He''s spotted us! Run!" Han Li immediately said before rushing away into the distnace as quickly as he could, followed closely by Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie.
The three of them were rushing toward a mountain range up ahead, hoping that theplex terrain inside the mountain range would deter Chen Yang from giving chase.
Chen Yang gave a cold harrumph as he set off in pursuit of Han Li''s trio, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye, while the other men in the col looked on with perplexed expressions.
However, they did as they were told, dissecting the Sword Scale Tiger carcass before quickly pulling out four bones that were glowing faintly with white light.
One of the men pulled out arge pouch that he used to store the four bones and the nine bone spikes, following which the group of men departed.
¡¡
Han Li''s trio was traversing through the mountain range in an extremely agile fashion, but Chen Yang was significantly faster than them, and the gap between them was rapidly shrinking.
Before long, the two parties were separated by only several kilometers.
Han Li could sense Chen Yang rapidly getting closer, but he remained calm andposed as he said, "It looks like we won''t be able to get away."
After exchanging a nce with Shi Chuankong, the two of them suddenly drew to a halt in a clearing.
Shortly thereafter, a gray shadow rushed onto the scene, then stopped not far away from them to reveal Chen Yang.
"Keep going! Why did you stop?" Chen Yang jeered with a mocking sneer on his face.
"We have no intention of causing any offense. We heard the sounds of your battle from earlier, so we were curious and decided to take a look," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Puppet City scoundrels! At least put that puppet away before you try and lie to me!" Chen Yang sneered as he took a nce at Daoist Xie, then pounced forward as he made a grabbing motion with his right hand.
All of the air within a radius of several hundred feet rumbled violently, forming white air currents that were visible even to the naked eye.
The white air currents converged to form a giant white hand that was over a hundred feet in size, and it came swooping down upon Han Li''s trio.
Han Li was rather perplexed about what Chen Yang had just said, but in this situation, he had no choice but to retaliate, and all thirty-six of his profound acupoints lit up as he threw a punch up at the giant white hand.
At the same time, Shi Chuankong drew his ck saber before shing it upward, instantly releasing a ck saber projection amid an ear-piercing screech.
Two resounding booms rang out as a huge hole and a long gash were inflicted upon the giant white hand, causing most of it to explode, but a small part of it still survived and grabbed onto Daoist Xie before returning to Chen Yang''s side like lightning.
Chen Yang was rather surprised to see Daoist Xie being captured by him without putting up any resistance, while Han Li pounced at Chen Yang beforeunching both fists at his chest.
Shi Chuankong also sprang forward through the air, arriving on the other side of Chen Yang before shing his saber down toward Chen Yang''s shoulder like lightning.
In the face of their attacks, Chen Yang remainedpletely unfazed as heshed out with both arms like lightning, with his left hand meeting Han Li''s fists, while his right swept toward Shi Chuankong''s ck saber.
Two bursts of tremendous force erupted out of his arms, and a thunderous boom rang out as Chen Yang''s left arm shed against Han Li''s fists.
Han Li immediately felt a burst of searing pain shoot through his fists, as if the bones in his hands were about to break, and at the same time, he was sent flying back like a cannonball.
Simultaneously, all of the profound acupoints on Chen Yang''s right fist began glowing radiantly, making his arm resemble a divine weapon, and as soon as his right arm shed against Shi Chuankong''s ck saber, thetter was instantly snapped into two with a faint crack.
Shi Chuankong was astonished to see this. The ck saber was a graded devilish treasure that had been refined using exceptional materials, yet it had been snapped as if it were nothing more than a twig!
Chen Yang''s right arm continued to sweep from left to right, swinging toward Shi Chuankong''s chest as fast as lightning.
Shi Chuankong let loose a loud roar as he stomped a foot down onto the ground to send himself shooting back in retreat, and at the same time, over forty silver profound acupoints emerged over his chest and abdomen, while a thick silver film of light appeared over his entire body.
This was none other than this True Extreme Film, and in contrast with Han Li''s smooth True Extreme Film, this one was riddled with spikes like a hedgehog.
Chen Yang paid no heed to Shi Chuankong''s spiky True Extreme Film as he mmed his right arm into Shi Chuankong''s chest, and the True Extreme Film was torn apart with ease, while Chen Yang''s arm remainedpletely unscathed.
Immediately thereafter, a resounding boom rang out as Shi Chuankong was sent flying back through the air, then mmed heavily into a nearby mountain face to create a huge crater.
A long gash had been sliced into the True Extreme Film in front of his chest, and a wound so deep that bone was visible through it had also been inflicted onto his chest.
This wasn''t a particrly severe injury for Shi Chuankong, so he was able to instantly spring back to his feet, but there was an rmed look in his eyes, and he didn''t dare to unleash any further attacks.
Han Li''s expression also darkened slightly upon seeing this.
Even though he had only made contact with Chen Yang''s left arm, the force of the sh had left his entire body feeling numb, and even now, he was still feeling a little dizzy.
After forcing back Han Li and Shi Chuankong, Chen Yang took a nce at the snapped ck saber in Shi Chuankong''s hand, then turned his gaze to Daoist Xie before finally turning his attention to the blood on his right hand.
He briefly sniffed at the blood on his hand, upon which a hint of surprise shed through his eyes.
Han Li took a nce at Daoist Xie to discover that thetter wasying on the ground in apletely still manner, seemingly having had some type of restriction ced upon his body by Chen Yang.
A determined look appeared in his eyes as he took a deep breath.
No matter how formidable Chen Yang was, he couldn''t leave Daoist Xie behind.
He clenched his fists tightly as the thirty-six profound acupoints on his body began to glow radiantly, and at the same time, a giant golden ape projection appeared around him before fusing into his body.
Ayer of thick golden fur instantly appeared over his skin, and at the same time, he transformed into a giant golden ape that was several dozen feet tall in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 854: From Foes to Friends
Chen Yang raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and he grinned as he beckoned to Han Li.
A sharp gleam shed through the giant golden ape''s eyes, and it let loose a low roar beforeunching its fists through the air in a rapidfire barrage.
Golden fist projections erupted toward Chen Yang like shooting stars, causing the space in their wake to rumble violently.
However, Chen Yang remainedpletely unfazed as he thrust his left hand forward, and all of the golden fist projections instantly drew to a halt in front of him, as if they had encountered an unbreakable wall.
Immediately thereafter, all of the golden fist projections exploded, sending shockwaves sweeping through the air in all directions, while the giant golden ape had already vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, the golden ape reappeared in a wraith-like manner behind Chen Yang, thenshed out with its giant fists at Chen Yang''s back.
Chen Yang reacted very quickly, swiveling around as he swung his glowing right arm toward the oing giant fists.
All of a sudden, the profound acupoints on the golden ape''s body shed momentarily, and its enormous body shrank down to the size of the average grown man as it crouched down to lower its center of gravity.
Chen Yang was caughtpletely off guard, and his right arm struck nothing but empty air, while his body also swayed involuntarily from the momentum generated by his arm swing.Han Li pounced on this opportunity to spring forward like an agile monkey, darting past him before picking up Daoist Xie from the ground.
"Get back here!" Chen Yang roared with a furious expression as he reached out with both hands, and his arms abruptly elongated to around twice their original length, allowing him to grab onto Han Li''s waist.
Bursts of white finger projections erupted out of his fingertips, and in particr, the ones that had erupted out of the fingers on Chen Yang''s right hand were extremely bright, causing the nearby space to ripple and warp.
Due to the extreme spatial pressure in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, the space here was extremely stable, so it was very remarkable that Chen Yang was able to make the space ripple with his right hand.
In response, Han Li conjured up his True Extreme Film, but it stood no chance against Chen Yang''s fingers and was torn apart with ease.
However, right at this moment, seven or eight true spirit projections suddenly sprang out of Han Li''s body, and seven or eightyers of light of different colors also surfaced around him.
In the instant that Chen Yang''s fingers grabbed onto Han Li''s waist, he suddenly felt Han Li''s skin be extremely slick, causing his fingers to slide off his body.
As a result, Han Li was able to escape, and he instantly flew to several hundred feet away, then turned to look at Chen Yang with a wary expression.
At this point, he had already reverted back to his human form, and he was looking a little pale.
The Twelve Awakening Transformations was an ability that was supposed to be unleashed using abination of one''s bloodline power and spiritual power.
Given that he currently had no ess to immortal spiritual power, Han Li could only forcibly draw upon his bloodline power to unleash the Twelve Awakening Transformations, and that was extremely taxing on him.
Instead of giving chase, Chen Yang remained standing on the spot as he observed Han Li with a surprised expression.
"Are you alright, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Chuankong asked as he rushed over to Han Li''s side with a hint of embarrassment in his eyes.
Thanks to the boundless resources of the devilish imperial family, he had managed to open over forty profound acupoints, but when it came to mental fortitude and tenacity, he was far inferior to Han Li.
"I''m fine," Han Li replied as he rubbed a hand over his waist, and the palm of his hand was instantly stained with blood.
At this moment, there were five long gashes on his waist that were bleeding profusely, but things could''ve been much worse.
"I didn''t think the fugitives in this domain would be so strong. What do we do now? Should we use the trump card given to us by Pokong to kill this man?" Shi Chuankong asked through voice transmission.
Han Li offered no response. He had his Spirit Refinement Technique as a trump card, so he wasn''t afraid of Chen Yang.
"You two are new guys from the outside, right?" Chen Yang suddenly asked, and the profound acupoints all over his body quickly faded away.
"That''s right. We were only just cast into the Scalptia Spatial Domain by the Night Sun Empire. Who are you, and why did you attack us?" Han Li asked.
"I knew it. This is all a misunderstanding. I didn''t recognize you two, and I saw a puppet by your side, so I attacked you on the assumption that you were from Puppet City," Chen Yang exined.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce upon hearing this, and they remained cautious and apprehensive.
"Don''t worry. If you two are new here, then we''re not enemies," Chen Yang said with a smile, suddenly disying a friendly demeanor.
Aftermunicating briefly with Shi Chuankong through voice transmission, Han Li cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "Seeing as this was all a misunderstanding, then let''s end things here and let bygones be bygones."
"My name is Chen Yang. May I ask your names, fellow daoists?" Chen Yang asked.
"Li Feiyu."
"Shi Kong."
Due to his sensitive status, Shi Chuankong had given a false alias.
"It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Fellow Daoist Li, Fellow Daoist Shi," Chen Yang said with a wide smile, and the tense atmosphere was significantly alleviated.
"What is this Puppet City that you spoke of earlier, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Han Li suddenly asked.
"That''s a long story. To give you a summary, the survivors in the Scalptia Spatial Domain are currently split up into two major powers. Mypanions and Ie from Profound City, while Puppet City represents the opposing major power, which is why I attacked you just now," Chen Yang exined with a smile.
"I see," Han Li replied as he nodded with a contemtive expression.
"Profound City and Puppet City... Those are two rather interesting names," Shi Chuankong remarked.
"As I''m sure you''ve figured out by now, it''s impossible to use devilish qi and spiritual qi in the Scalptia Spatial Domain. Hence, in order to contend against all of the native beasts of the domain, the only options are to pursue bodily refinement or rely on puppets. Our Profound City is filled with bodily refinement cultivators, while those Puppet City specialize in puppeteering," Chen Yang exined with a smile.
"I see," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
"The environment in the Scalptia Spatial Domain is extremely unforgiving, and it''s very difficult to survive here in small groups. Would you be interested in joining our Profound City? I can see that both of you have already opened up many profound acupoints, so you would be perfect additions to our city," Chen Yang invited.
Han Li was internally quite excited to hear this.
He was just considering joining Profound City or Puppet City to find more leads on Violet Spirit, so this offer from Chen Yang hade at the perfect time.
Despite this, his expression remained unchanged, and he pretended to be contemting the offer while also giving Shi Chuankong a subtle look.
Shi Chuankong immediately caught on to his intentions, and he asked, "Would you be able to tell us more about Profound City, Fellow Daoist Chen?"
"As I just said, our Profound City is primarily inhabited by bodily refinement cultivators, and our city lord is Master E Kuai. He''s an unfathomably powerful bodily refinement cultivator who''s opened over a thousand profound acupoints, and it''s all thanks to his protection that we''re able to live safely in this Scalptia Spatial Domain," Chen Yang introduced as a hint of admiration surfaced in his eyes.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were both astonished to hear this.
Bodily refinement was extremely difficult, yet even devilish beings were blessed with many physical advantages and also had ess to an abundance of resources in the Devil Realm, Shi Chuankong had only ever heard of a few cultivators who had opened eight hundred profound acupoints.
"Master E Kuai is far above what the likes of us can hope to reach, but I can see that both of you also possess remarkable aptitude when ites to bodily refinement, so why note to our Profound City to further yourselves?" Chen Yang invited once again.
"Would you be able to give us some time to consider this matter, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Han Li asked, but he received no response, and as he turned his gaze to Chen Yang, he discovered that thetter had suddenly begun looking up at the sky with a grim expression.
Han Li also looked up at the sky upon seeing this, and he discovered that some dark clouds had suddenly appeared up above.
"Is there a problem, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Shi Chuankong asked.
However, Chen Yang didn''t appear to have heard him at all, and he murmured to himself, "Why has ite so early this year?"
"Fellow Daoist Chen, are you alright?" Han Li asked in a louder voice, and only then did Chen Yang snap back to his senses.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he repeated his request from earlier.
"Of course you can take some time to consider my offer, but we have to leave this ce right away," Chen Yang replied in an urgent manner.
"Is there something wrong with the clouds in the sky, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Shi Chuankong asked with slightly furrowed brows.
Chapter 855: Joining Profound City?
"Those aren''t just normal clouds. Instead, they''re a precursor to the furious wind natural disaster of the Scalptia Spatial Domain. It happens every year, but I didn''t think it woulde so early this year. This wind is too powerful to resist through one''s individual power. Mypanions and I have an underground stronghold nearby, and we have to go there right now," Chen Yang urged.
Shi Chuankong''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this.
"Have you heard of this furious wind, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked through voice transmission upon noticing his reaction.
"I''ve seen some records of this natural disaster in an ancient book in Pokong''s study, but the records weren''t very detailed, only referring to it as a devastating wind-based natural disaster. Judging from Chen Yang''s reaction, it must be very devastating indeed," Shi Chuankong replied.
"In that case, we''ll have to trouble you to lead the way," Han Li said to Chen Yang.
"All of us were exiled into this ce by the Night Sun Empire, so we should be looking out for each other. Pleasee with me, fellow daoists," Chen Yang replied as he turned to leave.
"Before that, please undo the restrictions that you''ve ced on this puppet of mine, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li suddenly said.
"Of course! Ipletely forgot," Chen Yang said as he pped a hand to his own forehead, then pulled out a golden needle from Daoist Xie''s elbow.
The needle was several inches in length and as thin as a hair, and there were tiny patterns visible on its surface.A hint of intrigue appeared in Han Li''s eyes at the sight of the golden needle.
Chen Yang continued to pull more golden needles out of Daoist Xie''s joints as he exined, "These are dragon whisker needles, and they were developed by a powerful figure in our Profound City to be used specifically on puppets."
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
After the ninth golden needle was pulled out, Daoist Xie immediately returned to his feet, much to Chen Yang''s surprise.
"Is there something wrong, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Han Li asked.
"Generally speaking, puppets restricted by dragon whisker needles require a period of recuperation to recover after the needles are pulled out, so this puppet of yours must be quite remarkable to have been able to stand up right away," Chen Yang exined.
"Perhaps it''s because it wasn''t sealed for all that long," Han Li replied, giving an ambiguous excuse.
Chen Yang was in a hurry to leave, so he didn''t dwell on this topic, and he stowed the golden needles away as he said, "Let''s go."
Around two hourster, the four of them arrived in a valley that was surrounded by mountains in three directions, making it a very obscure location.
At this point, the dark clouds in the sky had already be quite heavy, and arcs of ck lightning could be seen shing deep within them.
At the same time, gusts of fierce wind had already begun to blow through the area, and even though the wind wasn''t powerful enough to pose a threat to Han Li and the others, it carried bursts of bone-chilling cial qi that infiltrated their bodies, constantly robbing them of their body heat.
Thankfully, they had already arrived at their destination, and Chen Yang led Han Li''s trio to a mountain face in the deepest point of the valley, where there was a giant gray rock pressed tightly against the mountain face.
Chen Yang pushed the giant rock aside to reveal a cave that led underground, and an armord man with a head of red hair immediately rushed out from within.
"You''re finally back, Brother Chen! Who''re these three?"
"These two are Fellow Daoist Li and Fellow Daoist Shi. They''ve only recently been exiled here, and I''ve taken them here to shelter them from the furious wind," Chen Yang exined.
"I see. It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, fellow daoists. Come in. Right now, the furious wind is only in the approaching phase, the true furious wind is more than ten times as fearsome as what we''re currently experiencing," the red-haired man said as he made an inviting hand gesture.
Han Li was quite astonished to hear this.
The current furious winds were already quite a struggle for him to deal with. If they were to be ten times more powerful, then even if he could survive them, the oue would not be pretty.
With that in mind, he entered the cave behind Chen Yang.
As soon as he entered the cave, the howling wind instantly subsided, and there was still some cial qi in the air, but it was far less pronounced inside.
"Fang Bei, seal the entrance shut ande down with us. If you let the cial qi of the furious wind infiltrate your body, it''ll be very difficult to expel," Chen Yang said.
The red-haired man seemed to be very touched to hear this, and he immediately gave an affirmative response before springing into action.
Chen Yang led Han Li''s trio deeper into the cave, which extended in a downward direction.
It appeared to be a naturally formed cave that waster renovated, and even after walking for several thousand feet, there was still no end in sight.
However, at this point, the cial qi in the air had already significantly abated, allowing everyone to heave a collective sigh of relief.
"Thank you for inviting us here, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute.
If it weren''t for Chen Yang''s invitation, he and Shi Chuankong would truly be in some peril.
"It''s fine, don''t worry about it, Fellow Daoist Li. Us exiles have to look out for each other," Chen Yang said in a nonchnt manner.
The four of them walked onward for another fifteen minutes before finally reaching the bottom of the tunnel, where they arrived in a cave that was over a hundred feet in size.
The ground was quite level, and at the very center of the cave was arge ovr stone table, around which were seven or eight stone chairs.
A series of crude stone rooms had been carved into the walls of the cave, and at this moment, the cave waspletely empty, while the doors of all of the stone rooms were tightly shut, indicating that everyone was in their rooms, taking shelter from the furious winds.
"The furious winds will blow for about a month or so before subsiding. In the meantime, you can stay here and consider the matter of joining our Profound City," Chen Yang said.
Both Han Li and Shi Chuankong nodded in response.
Virtually all of the stone rooms were currently upied, so the two of them sat down in the cave.
Chen Yang took a nce at the two of them, then also sat down in the cave instead of entering any of the stone rooms.
Even through the mountain, the three of them could still hear the wind howling outside, and the ground was also gently trembling, while loose rocks were falling incessantly from the ceiling of the cave.
At the same time, loud crashing noises were ringing out incessantly, as if even the entire continent itself were trembling in the face of the furious winds.
Over the past few months, Han Li and Shi Chuankong had been attacked by some of the scaled beasts in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, but none of them had posed a true threat to them, so they were beginning to think that the supposed dangers of the Scalptia Spatial Domain were rather exaggerated. However, they now knew just how wrong they had been.
"Should we join Profound City, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Chuankong asked through voice transmission.
"What do you think?" Han Li asked.
"It looks like the Scalptia Spatial Domain is far more dangerous than we anticipated. As opposed to searching aimlessly for Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit, I think it''s a good idea to join Profound City. Having said that, it sounds like Profound City and Puppet City are sworn enemies, so if we can''t find Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit in Profound City, then it''ll be difficult for us to go to Puppet City to continue our search," Shi Chuankong said.
"That''s true, but right now, we can only choose one out of Profound City or Puppet City, and judging from the current circumstances, choosing Profound City appears to be more beneficial to us," Han Li said.
"It sounds like you''ve already made a decision. Honestly, I also really want to go and see what this Profound City is all about," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"Why is that?" Han Li asked.
"If Chen Yang is to be believed, then City Lord E Kuai of Profound City has opened over a thousand profound acupoints, so there must be many bodily refinement cultivation arts in the city. Such cultivation arts are priceless treasures, and there aren''t that many of them even in our imperial family''s military vault.
¡°If we can get our hands on those cultivation arts, not only will we be able to enhance our own powers, Pokong will also be able to make use of them once we get out of here," Shi Chuankong said.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
This was actually also one of the factors that had influenced his decision to join Profound City.
He was very much in awe of Chen Yang''s incredibly powerful right arm, and it showed him just how powerful bodily refinement cultivators could be.
He had always possessed decent aptitude in this field, but his progress had been hampered by ack of suitable bodily refinement cultivation arts.
After some further discussion, the two of them quickly arrived at a consensus, following which Han Li rose to his feet and began making his way toward Chen Yang.
Chen Yang had already noticed the secret conversation taking ce between the two of them, and he immediately rose to his feet as well.
"Fellow Daoist Shi and I have decided to join Profound City, but before that, we have a few questions that we would like to have answered," Han Li said.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Li," Chen Yang immediately prompted.
"Is there any type of cost to joining Profound City, or do we have to follow any rules?" Han Li asked.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li. Master E Kuai founded Profound City for the sake of everyone''s safety, so no cost is required to join our city. As for rules, there''s only one, which is that once you''ve joined Profound City, you cannot betray the city," Chen Yang replied.
"I see," Han Li replied. "Also, I have one more question."
"Go ahead," Chen Yang prompted once again.
"I have apanion by the name of Violet Spirit. She''s a female cultivator who was cast into the Scalptia Spatial Domain several decades ago. Have you heard of her before?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid not," Chen Yang replied after a brief moment of contemtion, and Han Li''s heart sank slightly upon hearing this.
Chen Yang could see the disappointment on Han Li''s face, and he consoled, "Don''t be disheartened, Fellow Daoist Li. Our Profound City has more than one city. Aside from the main city, there are also several subsidiary cities, and I''m from one of them, a city by the name of Green Goat City.
¡°Communication arrays can''t be used in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so information isn''t easily shared between the cities. Perhaps your friend has gone to one of them."
Chapter 856: If I Cant Beat Them, I Can At Least Run
Chapter 856: If I Can''t Beat Them, I Can At Least Run
"I see. Thank you for answering my questions, Fellow Daoist Chen. Fellow Daoist Shi and I would like to join Profound City," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute, and Shi Chuankong also stood up to join him.
"Great! From this day forth, you two will be fellow brothers of our Profound City, and I''ll take you to Green Goat City as soon as the furious winds subside," Chen Yang replied in an ted manner.
Right at this moment, the red-haired man also arrived in the cave, and he immediately chimed in, "Wee, fellow daoists."
With Han Li and Shi Chuankong agreeing to join Profound City, the atmosphere instantly became much more rxed and harmonious, but there were still bursts of cial qi seeping into the cave, so everyone quickly sat down again to ward off the cial qi.
Thankfully, most of the cial qi had been kept out by the mountain, and what little managed to sneak through posed no threat for powerful Profound Immortals like Han Li and the others.
As soon as Han Li sat down onto the ground, Daoist Xie''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Are you alright, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked through voice transmission as he turned to Daoist Xie, who was seated not far away.
Ever since his body was sealed by the dragon whisker needles, Daoist Xie had remained silent, even when Han Li had tried tomunicate with him, and that had left him feeling rather concerned.
"I''m fine. In fact, those needles have stimted my memories and allowed him to recollect some things," Daoist Xie replied.
"Are these memories pertaining to the Scalptia Spatial Domain?" Han Li asked.
"Some are, while some aren''t. A lot of information flooded into my mind at once this time, and it''s taken me quite some time to make sense of everything," Daoist Xie replied.
"What exactly have you recalled?" Han Li asked.
"The most important things that I''ve recalled are that there''s a ce called the Carefree Pce, and also two names, E Kuai and Sha Xin," Daoist Xie replied.
"E Kuai? That''s the city lord of Profound City! Are you somehow rted to him?" Han Li asked in a surprised manner.
"I don''t know. The memories are too hazy. I''ve only recalled their names, while the rest is aplete blur," Daoist Xie replied in a frustrated voice.
"Don''t worry too much about it. I''ll find a way to look into things once we reach Profound City," Han Li said.
"Aside from that, I also recalled something else that may be of help to you," Daoist Xie said as a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Oh? What is it?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Daoist Xie offered no response as he rose to his feet and made his way over to Han Li''s side, then pointed a finger at his be.
A beam of golden light flew out of his fingertip before fusing into Han Li''s mind, where it exploded into countless tiny golden characters.
Han Li''s eyes instantly widened as an ecstatic look appeared on his face, following which he immediately closed his eyes again.
The passage of tiny golden text was a bodily refinement cultivation art called the Wingform Ascension Arts. The cultivation art contained eighteen profound acupoints, all of which were on the legs, and mastering the cultivation art not only enhanced one''s physical prowess, but also allowed one to take flight by treading air using the power of their legs alone.
The entirety of Han Li''s attention was captured by the cultivation art, and only after a long while did he reopen his eyes, then said through voice transmission, "Thank you, Brother Xie. This is exactly what I need."
He didn''t know much about bodily refinement cultivation arts, but he could still sense that even though the Wingform Ascension Arts couldn''t allow one to open that many profound acupoints, it would still significantly enhance the power of one''s legs, and it was particrly valuable given that he was currently unable to fly in this domain.
If I can''t beat them, I can at least run.
Daoist Xie nodded in response, then sat down with his legs crossed and paid no further heed to Han Li.
As for Han Li, he immediately began cultivating the Wingform Ascension Arts.
Just like the Great Universe Origin Arts, the Wingform Ascension Arts used starpower to refine the physical body and open profound acupoints, making it perfect for the starpower-rich environment of the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
Even though he was currently underground and sheltered from the stars, he had devoured many beast cores on the way here, and the starpower from those beast cores had been stored in his body up to this point.
After carefully examining the entirety of the Wingform Ascension Arts again, hemenced his cultivation, and the starpower umted in his body immediately surged into a profound acupoint on his leg.
The profound acupoint greedily devoured the starpower, and a feeling of extreme rxation spread through his leg, almost making him moan with pleasure.
The profound acupoint slowly began to open as it absorbed more and more starpower, and close to an entire month flew by in a sh.
Han Li had remained seated with his legs crossed this entire time, but a speck of starlight had appeared on his calf, and it was shing incessantly.
All of a sudden, his eyes sprang open, and a faint crack rang out from the profound acupoint on his calf as the starlight radiating from it abruptly brightened significantly.
After close to a month of arduous cultivation, he had finally opened up the profound acupoint.
An excited look appeared in his eyes, and as he looked around, he discovered that Chen Yang and the red-haired man had entered their stone rooms to cultivate, while Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie were also cultivating far away and didn''t seem to have noticed what had happened to him.
The starlight emanating from the profound acupoint on his calf slowly dissipated, and a perplexed look appeared in his eyes.
ording to the Wingform Ascension Arts, opening these profound acupoints was supposed to be a very difficult and time-consuming process.
Even though he had umted a great deal of starpower in his body from consuming beast cores, opening an acupoint in less then twenty days was still progress that was far faster than expected.
Han Li spected internally about the potential contributing factors for a while, then shook his head and rid himself of that train of thought.
In any case, faster cultivation progress was definitely a good thing.
There was still a thunderousmotion ringing out outside, clearly indicating that the furious winds were still raging.
The cial qi within the cave had be more pronounced than before, but not by much.
Han Li had been immersed in his cultivation this entire time, so he hadn''t detected this change in the environment.
He took a nce at Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie to verify that both of them also remained unaffected by the cial qi, then closed his eyes and began working on opening his next profound acupoint.
Another week passed by in a sh.
On this day, Han Li slowly exhaled as he opened his eyes, having exhausted thest of the starpower in his body.
Without starpower, no further progression could be made.
At this point, the furious winds were already on the wane, and the cial qi within them had faded away.
Chen Yang and the others had also emerged from their stone rooms and were ready to set off.
Many of them were quite curious about the three new recruits, but they quickly epted Han Li''s trio after hearing Chen Yang''s exnation.
Everyone quickly emerged from the underground cave into the valley above, and even though the cial qi had faded away, the winds outside were still strong enough to cause everyone to sway unsteadily.
At this point, the valley outside had already taken on apletely different appearance. A thickyer of the ground had been stripped away, while the nearby mountains were also clearly shorter than before, reflecting just how fearsome the furious winds had been.
"Let''s go," Chen Yang said.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, why don''t we wait a few more days until the winds havepletely subsided?" Han Li asked.
"The furious winds may be a natural disaster, but they also present an opportunity. Whenever the furious winds pass through, many scaled beasts will fall to their deaths or freeze to death, and we have to go out early to find them. Otherwise, their carcasses could be eaten by other scaled beasts," Chen Yang exined.
"I see. Risk and reward really doe hand in hand," Han Li replied with an enlightened expression.
With that, the group set off into the distance, quickly vanishing out of sight.
......
The bright sun was hanging high up in the sky, while howling winds were blowing over a desert.
A hunting party was trudging arduously through the wind, and there were several giant scaled beasts blocking the way ahead, with roughly ten men walking among them.
All of the men had thick clothes over their faces that covered even their necks, yet that still wasn''t able to keep out the coarse sand being blown into their faces by the fierce winds.
Due to the spatial pressure in this domain, even these sand particles packed immense power, making their advance quite difficult.
There was an azure-robed man in the group, and he peered through a gap between the giant beast to see what appeared to be a giant shadow in the distance.
"How much longer until we reach Green Goat City, Fellow Daoist Chen?" the azure-robed man asked.
"It''s just up ahead," Chen Yang replied with a hint of tion in his voice.
"Finally! Rest assured, Brother Li, we''ll definitely be able to find out some information about Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit once we reach the city. There''s no way anyone can forget someone so beautiful as long as they''veid eyes on her," Shi Chuankong jibed.
"I certainly hope so," Han Li replied.
Chapter 857: Green Goat City
Chapter 857: Green Goat City
After that brief conversation, the group continued onward in silence, and only after walking for several thousand more feet did the wind gradually begin to subside.
At the same time, the giant shadow that Han Li had spotted in the distance earlier was revealed to be a pair of ck mountains that were situated right next to each other.
The mountains were riddled with pits and craters, all of which were the result of wind erosion.
There was a massive canyon nestled in between the two mountains, and at the center of the canyon was a ck fortress that was thousands of feet tall.
The fortress was quite rugged in appearance, with three huge forts up above, while down below were the tall and sturdy ck city walls.
Inside the canyon, all of the wind was kept out by the mountains and the fortress, so the conditions were far more forgiving.
Upon arriving at the gates of the fortress, Chen Yang removed the cloth from his face and shook off the sand in his clothes before making his way over to a stone tform outside the gates, then mmed a hand down onto arge gong hanging above the tform.
After the gong was struck, an opening suddenly appeared above the fortress gates, and several figures peeked out of the opening before someone yelled, "Open the gates, Captain Chen Yang''s back."
This was followed by a burst of rumbling and some mechanical clicking, and the ck fortress gates slowly opened inward.
The group entered the fortress, following which the stone gates swung shut behind them.
Upon entering the fortress, Han Li immediately discovered that the interior was quite different from what he had imagined.
The area inside the fortress was quiterge, several thousand feet in size, and there was a giant brazier hanging on the walls every few dozen feet. Some type of beast fat was being burned in the braziers, and it wasn''t giving off any smoke, but it did release a faint rank odor.
Significant parts of the fortress''s interior was taken up by all types of gears and mechanical structures, and at the center of the fortress were three giant stone pirs around each of which was a winding stone staircase that led to the three forts up above.
There were quite a few people in the fortress, all of whom were busy carrying out various tasks, and Chen Yang''s subordinates were leading various types of beasts toward the right side of the fortress, while Chen Yang and Han Li''s trio remained standing in the hall.
Before long, they were approached by two crimson-robed scribes, each of whom was holding a thick book in one hand and a brush dipped in red ink in the other.
Chen Yang seemed to be very familiar with these two, and one of them, a round-faced man with a small horn on his be, smiled and remarked, "It looks like you made quite a bountiful trip, Captain Chen Yang."
"Indeed, we were very fortunate not to havee back empty-handed"
The other scribe was a man with long ears and a square face, and there was a cold look on his face as he took a nce at Han Li''s trio before asking, "What category do these three fall into?"
A slightly awkward look appeared on Chen Yang''s face as he replied, "They''re guests of mine, and they wish to join our Green Goat City. As for which category they fall into, that''ll have to be decided when I meet with the city lord."
"I''m afraid that''s inappropriate, Captain Chen Yang. ording to the rules, neers must be categorized as soon as they enter the city," the square-faced scribe said as his brows furrowed slightly.
The other scribe hurriedly began ying the role of mediator, tugging on his colleague''s sleeve as he said, "Surely we can trust Captain Chen Yang. He''s one of the city lord''s most trusted hunting captains, and it''s not like he''s outright refusing to categorize these three neers, so let''s just wait until he meets the city lord."
The square-faced scribe hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then nodded in response.
"I suppose it can''t hurt."
A grateful smile appeared on Chen Yang''s face as he said, "You have my thanks. I''ll have to trouble the two of you to tally the spoils of our hunting trip, please ept these as a small gift."
He reached out and subtly handed the two scribes a pair of beast cores as he spoke, an offering that the two scribed naturally dly epted.
Following their departure, Chen Yang turned to Han Li''s trio as he said, "I have to go and meet with the city lordter, so I''ll arrange a ce for the three of you to stay first."
"Who were those two?" Han Li asked.
"They''re the two scribes of our Green Goat City, and they''re responsible for tallying the spoils from hunting trips and registering neers," Chen Yang replied.
"What are the categories that he was talking about?" Han Li asked.
"There are two categories that all neers fall into upon arriving in our city, namely acquired citizens and defected citizens. Acquired citizens are higher in status, able to join the city guards or hunting parties, and they''ll also receive more resources, whereas defected citizens are lower in status and can only serve as manualborers and receive lesser resources," Chen Yang exined.
"These categories are used to determine the social hierarchy, right?" Han Li asked.
"Come with me, I''ll tell you more about it as we walk," Chen Yang said with a smile, then began to lead the way toward the left side of the fortress.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce with each other before following along.
"ording to the rules of our city, all neers must undergo an appraisal before being registered, following which roles will be arranged. However, I''ve seen your power with my own eyes, so I wanted to request the city lord to skip that process and have the two of you be my subordinates. I''m assuming the two of you would prefer to stay together, right?" Chen Yang asked.
"Isn''t that against the rules?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Rules are made by people, are they not? If I follow the regr procedure, only for the two of you to be assigned elsewhere, then I''ll be kicking myself. Having said that, as for whether you''ll be undergoing an appraisal, that''ll be up to the city lord," Chen Yang said.
Han Li nodded in response.
"With your powers, I don''t think it''ll take very long at all before both of you be captains of new hunting parties. When that timees, I hope you won''t forget about me," Chen Yang chuckled.
As the conversation continued, the four of them passed through three stone archways to arrive before a cave that had been carved into a mountain.
Only then did Han Li discover that Green Goat City had actually been constructed within artificial cavities inside the two mountains.
Directly across from the cave was a humanoid stone statue, the subject of which resembled a human with no devilish features, but their facial features were very blurry and indistinct.
"Is this a statue of the city lord?" Han Li asked.
"No. This is an extremely old statue, even older than Green Goat City, and even our city lord doesn''t know who created this statue. Perhaps only City Lord E Kuai of Profound City knows how this statue came into existence," Chen Yang replied.
"I see," Han Li said.
"The left peak of Green Goat City is split up into four levels. The level we''re on right now is the refinement level, and it''s where all of the city''s armor and weapons are produced, as well as all of our pills are refined. Most of the armor and pills that are produced go straight to the city lord for him to distribute as he sees fit, while only a small portion are released to be sold in the few shops in the city," Chen Yang introduced.
"What about the other levels?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"The level above this one is where the defected citizens reside, while the level above that one is where the acquired citizens live, and the top level is where the city lord''s manor is situated. You can take a rest in my manor while I go to see the city lord," Chen Yang replied.
After that, Chen Yang led Han Li''s trio on a brief tour of the bottom level, then led them up a spiral staircase to the third level.
This level was far smaller than the bottom level, and it was also clearly less popted. There was a wide road that stretched into the heart of the level, and the road was lined with entrances to cave abodes.
Chen Yang''s cave abode was situated near the middle of the path, and it was one of the better and more spacious cave abodes in the area.
Han Li''s trio followed Chen Yang into the cave abode, upon which they were immediately greeted by a woman and three men.
Among them, the three men were dressed in servant attire, while the woman''s clothes were also a drab gray color, but they had been tailored to fit her extremely well and perfectly entuate her curves.
However, her looks could only be described as ordinary, and she was not particrly beautiful.
"These are also technically defected citizens, but they''re also my personal property. If you''re interested, you can have some fun with this maidservant of mine. Women are a precious resource here, and not everyone gets to have one," Chen Yang said in a direct and straightforward manner.
"I''m a little weary from our journey, so I think I''ll take a rest first," Han Li replied, turning down the offer in a tactful manner.
"In that case, you can go and make yourselves at home in the guest rooms while I go and meet with the city lord," Chen Yang said.
He then turned to the four servants and instructed, "Make sure to look after my guests well."
After that, he departed from the cave abode.
The woman stepped forward and extended a slight curtsey, then led Han Li''s trio down a passageway to the guest rooms in the cave abode.
Following her departure, both Shi Chuankong and Daoist Xie left their guest rooms to gather in Han Li''s room.
After the door was closed, the three of them sat down around a stone table.
Chapter 858: Appraisal
Chapter 858: Appraisal
"Do you think they''ll restrict our freedom now that we''ve joined Profound City, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"I don''t think so. We''ll most likely be assigned missions that''ll take up some of our time. After all, given the inhospitable conditions in this domain, we''ll inevitably have to make certain contributions and follow the rules," Han Li said.
"I hope things won''t get too hectic. Honestly, I have no interest in bing an acquired citizen or whatever," Shi Chuankong said as he pursed his lips in disdain.
"We don''t really have much of a choice in the matter, we just have to be on our guard," Han Li said.
"Do you think they''re going to try to plot against us, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"These are all fugitives who''ve been cast into exile, so they''re certainly not good people. If they were kind and benevolent people, then I don''t think they would''ve been able to survive until now," Han Li replied.
"That''s true, it''s definitely better to be safe than sorry," Shi Chuankong mused.
"What do you think of Chen Yang?" Daoist Xie suddenly asked.
"We haven''t known him for very long, but he seems like a decent person, judging from his words and actions and the way that he treats his subordinates," Shi Chuankong replied.
"Have you noticed something amiss about him, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked.
"Like Fellow Daoist Shi just said, we haven''t known him for very long at all, so it feels a little strange that he''s willing to break the rules of Profound City for our sake," Daoist Xie mused.
"I don''t think that''s anything out of the ordinary, he''s clearly just trying to win us over," Shi Chuankong said in a nonchnt manner.
"Perhaps so, but we definitely can''t let our guards down, nevertheless," Han Li said.
......
Meanwhile, in a giant hall on the top level of the left wing of Green Goat City.
There were a series of huge braziers that appeared to have been fashioned from beast skulls hanging from the walls of the hall, and the mes burning inside illuminated the entire hall.
At the back of the hall was a massive stone table engraved with manyplex designs depicting the stars that appeared at night.
Behind the table was arge ck stone chair with a sheet of beast hide draped over it, upon which sat a physically imposing ck-robed man.
One half of his face was covered in ck scales, while the other half was severely mutted as if it had been burned before. On top of that, he was twice the height of the average grown man, and his physique was almostically muscr, presenting an extremely fearsome sight to behold.
Furthermore, his eyes were very unique, with tiny pupils that had a glowing silver ring around the outer edge.
Chen Yang was standing not far from the other side of the table in a bowed position, delivering a report.
The man on the chair was none other than City Lord Du Qingyang of Green Goat City, and after hearing Chen Yang''s report, an intrigued look appeared on his face as he mused, "A human, a devil, and a sentient puppet... That''s quite an interesting trio. No one has heard about them yet, right?"
"Rest assured, City Lord Du, I''ve already instructed my subordinates to keep their mouths shut," Chen Yang hurriedly assured.
"I heard that Profound City and Puppet City had recently fought over someone from the outside, and Puppet City won out on that asion, much to Master E Kuai''s dismay. Now, we''ve picked up two people from the outside at once. If Profound City hears about this, there''s no way we''ll be allowed to keep them," Du Qingyang said.
"That man from the devil race isn''t all that important, but we absolutely cannot hand over that human. He has a true spirit bloodline in his body, and it would be a massive loss if he fell into someone else''s hands," Chen Yang said.
"I''ll leave the rest to you. Make sure you don''t screw this up," Du Qingyang instructed as he leaned back in azy fashion.
"You can count on me, City Lord Du!" Chen Yang assured as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute.
......
That night.
Han Li was cultivating the Wingform Ascension Arts in his room when the sound of door-knocking suddenly rang out.
He opened the door to discover Chen Yang standing outside with an apologetic expression.
Han Li invited him into the room, upon which he said, "I must apologize, Brother Li. I was thinking that the city lord would be willing to agree to my request to exempt the three of you from undergoing the appraisal process, but to my surprise, he turned me down and scolded me for not upholding the rules of the city."
"It''s fine, we should be following the rules in the first ce, and we''re happy to participate in the appraisal," Han Li replied.
"Even though the city lord turned down my request, he did agree to let both of you join my hunting party as long as you can fulfill the prerequisites to be acquired citizens," Chen Yang said.
"What are these prerequisites?" Han Li asked.
"The appraisal assesses the power of one''s physical body. To be more specific, it assesses the number of profound acupoints one has opened up, and those who''ve opened sixteen or more profound acupoints will be categorized as acquired citizens, while those below that standard will be defected citizens.
¡°Those who''ve opened more than fifty-four profound acupoints can serve as the captain of a city guard team, while those with more than seventy-two profound acupoints can lead their own hunting party," Chen Yang exined.
Han Li recalled that during their battle, Chen Yang had only revealed around fifty to sixty profound acupoints, yet he was the captain of a hunting party, so it was clear that he hadn''t disyed his full power back then.
"I see. When will the appraisal be carried out? If I recall correctly, the two scribes seemed to have said that it was the first thing that we were supposed to have done after entering the city," Han Li said.
"There''s no hurry. You and Brother Shi must be quite wary from the long journey, so have a good rest today, and we''ll carry out the appraisal tomorrow," Chen Yang replied with a smile.
"Alright. You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Please don''t thank me, Brother Li. I''m still feeling quite guilty that I wasn''t able to exempt the two of you from the appraisal process altogether," Chen Yang replied with a faint sigh.
"You have nothing to feel guilty about, Brother Chen," Han Li assured with a smile, and the two of them chatted for a while longer before Chen Yang departed.
Following Chen Yang''s departure, Han Li sat back down in his room with his legs crossed, then devoured a beast core before continuing his cultivation.
The next morning.
Han Li''s trio followed Chen Yang all the way to the bottom level of Green Goat City, then made their way through the ck fortress to the city''s right peak.
Just like the left peak, the right peak was also divided into four levels.
Upon entering the right peak, Han Li spotted a series of giant pens that were separated by stone walls, within which all types of massive beasts were being kept, among which were the giant beasts that Chen Yang''s hunting party had captured.
There were also many gray-robed defected citizens in the pens, carrying out tasks like feeding and cleaning the beasts.
Han Li''s trio continued onward without pause, going straight up to the second level, which was slightly smaller than the first level, but was also filled with a series of massive pens.
Compared with the beasts on the first level, the ones on the second level were clearly not as obedient, and they were either baring their fangs and growling, or mming their bodies against their enclosures.
The majority of the people overseeing these pens were still defected citizens, but there were also some acquired citizen city guards among them that asionally stepped in to discipline the unruly beasts.
Chen Yang led Han Li''s trio to the third floor, and as soon as they arrived, they immediately encountered two familiar faces, namely the two crimson-robed scribes that they had encountered the day before.
Chen Yang exchanged some small talk with the two scribes, following which the two of them led Han Li''s group into an individual stone chamber.
The stone chamber was quiterge, significantlyrger than Chen Yang''s cave abode, but it waspletely empty, giving it the appearance of an indoor za.
"The puppet doesn''t need to be appraised. Which one of the two of you wants to go first?" the square-faced scribe asked.
"I''ll go first," Shi Chuankong volunteered.
"Alright, pleasee this way, Fellow Daoist Shi," the round-faced scribe instructed.
In the center of the room was a ck stone tform that was several hundred feet in radius and only no more than two feet tall. There seemed to be ayer of glittering white powder on its surface, which was reflecting the light of themps in the room.
Shi Chuankong stepped onto the stone tform as instructed, and the round-faced scribe said, "There''s no need to do anythingplex, Fellow Daoist Shi. Just activate all of your profound acupoints for us to see."
Shi Chuankong nodded in response, then clenched his fists as he let loose a loud roar, immediately following which a series of profound acupoints lit up all over his body.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense over the ck stone tform and the glittering white power to ensure that nothing was amiss, then turned his gaze to Shi Chuankong.
As more and more profound acupoints lit up over Shi Chuankong''s body, it urred to Han Li that Shi Chuankong had opened up far more profound acupoints than he had.
Sure enough, Shi Chuankong''s profound acupoints quickly surpassed Han Li''s tally of thirty-seven, only stopping after the forty-fifth one had lit up.
At the same time, a burst of energy erupted out of his body, causing the glittering white powder around him to rise up into the air.
A faint smile appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face, and he was just about to step down from the stone tform when the white powder that had been thrown up into the air suddenly began to converge toward him.
Due to the close proximity, Shi Chuankong didn''t have any time to react before the white powder made contact with his body, and in the next instant, three more profound acupoints lit up over his body, bringing the total tally to forty-eight.
Chapter 859: Alternative Arrangements
Chapter 859: Alternative Arrangements
"What''s the meaning of this?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Don''t be rmed, Brother Li. The white powder on the tform is a type of ground beast bone that is used as a pill refinement ingredient, and it''s able to stimte one''s profound acupoints, so it''s being used here to ensure that the subject is revealing their true number of profound acupoints," Chen Yang reassured.
Shi Chuankong was initially rather apprehensive, but it seemed that the powder was entirely harmless. After hearing Chen Yang''s words of reassurance, he was still feeling a little displeased, but he allowed the powder to cling to his body, and before long, fifty-two profound acupoints had been revealed.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
Daoist Xie had been staring at this white powder intently this entire time, and it seemed that he had some recollection of what this powder was, but wasn''t quite able to remember exactly what it did.
Shi Chuankong had originally intended to hide some of his profound acupoints, but he had been forced to reveal everything, and he stepped down from the stone tform in a rather displeased manner.
"Don''t be angry, Brother Shi. While the main function of the powder on the tform is to force one to reveal all of their profound acupoints, it also has a beneficial effect on one''s cultivation base, and this is the only chance you''ll get to use it," Chen Yang hurriedly consoled.
Shi Chuankong took a moment to examine his own internal condition upon hearing this, and only then did his expression ease slightly.
"Shi Kong, fifty-two profound acupoints," the round-faced scribe dered, while the square-faced scribe made records in his book.
"It''s your turn now, Fellow Daoist Li," the round-faced scribe said as he turned to Han Li.
Han Li nodded in response before stepping onto the stone tform, then took a deep breath as he channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts.
Once all of his thirty-seven profound acupoints had been revealed, the white powder on the stone tform rose up once again before clinging to his body, but no further profound acupoints appeared.
A hint of surprise shed through Chen Yang''s face upon seeing this, clearly taken aback by the fact that Han Li had far fewer profound acupoints than Shi Chuankong.
"Li Feiyu, thirty-seven profound acupoints," the round-faced scribe dered.
The square-faced scribe recorded this result, then gave Chen Yang a nod, while Han Li stepped down from the stone tform.
"Both fellow daoist have fulfilled the prerequisites to be acquired citizens and can join Fellow Daoist Chen Yang''s hunting party. Congrattions," the round-faced scribe said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Our city is very pleased to have you, fellow daoists."
Right as Chen Yang''s voice trailed off, a resounding boom suddenly rang out overhead, and the entire stone chamber shuddered violently.
Han Li''s trio were rather rmed by this, but Chen Yang and the two scribes disyed no reaction.
"No need to be rmed," Chen Yang reassured with a smile. "The top floor of the right peak above us is our city''s arena, and there must be a battle taking ce right now."
"There''s an arena here?" Shi Chuankong asked as a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes.
He had always been very interested in arena battles. In fact, he and Han Li had first met back in an arena in Primordial Origin City.
He was just about to ask some questions about the arena when he was struck by a sense of lightheadedness, and he began to involuntarily tip forward.
Right as he was about to fall onto Chen Yang, thetter smiled and took a step back, allowing him to crash to the ground.
Han Li immediately realized that something wasn''t right, but before he had a chance to say anything, he also began to feel lightheaded.
He hurriedly bit down onto the tip of his own tongue while attempting to channel his Spirit Refinement Technique, only to discover that his consciousness had be extremely dull and lifeless, and all of the strength seemed to have been sapped from his body.
Before he had a chance to do anything else, he also fell unconscious, and thest thing that he saw before his vision faded to ck was the sight of a hideous and imposing figure making his way into the room.
Chen Yang''s trio immediately extended a respectful salute toward the figure, who was none other than Du Qingyang.
"You did well, Chen Yang," Du Qingyang remarked as he took a nce at Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
"It was all thanks to the White Profound Beast bone powder that you gave me, City Lord Du," Chen Yang replied with a smile.
A look of realization immediately appeared on Daoist Xie''s face upon hearing the term "White Profound Beast", and he knew that this bone powder was what had knocked Han Li and Shi Chuankong unconscious, but the realization hade far toote.
"Should I take them to your secret chamber, City Lord Du?" Chen Yang asked.
"There''s no hurry, I have some other ns for him," Du Qingyang replied, and the two of them weren''t making any effort to keep their conversation secret from Daoist Xie, who remained standing off to the side instead of making any rash moves.
All of a sudden, Chen Yang seemed to have recalled Daoist Xie''s existence, and he asked, "What should we do with this puppet?"
"Lock up those two for now. As for this puppet, it has some sentience, but it''s of no use to me, so you can do with it as you see fit," Du Qingyang replied, then turned to depart.
"Be my servant or be disassembled into a pile of scrap metal right now. It''s your choice," Chen Yang dered in a cold voice.
Daoist Xie took a nce at Han Li, then cupped his fist in a submissive salute toward Chen Yang.
"You''re not very useful in battle, but it seems like you''re pretty smart. This ce is boring as hell, so having a puppet around will certainly liven things up a little," Chen Yang chuckled.
He then crouched down and fished a pair of ck stone vials out of his sleeve, then ced one each onto Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s arm before removing the stoppers.
Two ck centipedes that were each around three inches in length scurried out of the vials, and after crawling along Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s arms momentarily, they dug through their skin with ease before burrowing inside.
Daoist Xie could see a bulge moving along the sleeves of both of their arms before stopping at their hearts, where the bulges took on the form of rings.
"Congrattions, Captain Chen Yang. With such a significant contribution, your im over the spot of deputy city lord is all but assured," the round-faced scribe congratted with a warm smile, and Chen Yang was very pleased to hear this.
Meanwhile, Daoist Xie''s gaze fell upon Han Li and Shi Chuankong as a grim look appeared in his eyes.
......
After an indeterminate period of time, Han Li woke up in a dark stone chamber that was only around forty to fifty feet in size, and the room waspletely empty aside from a stone bed at the center.
At this moment, he wasying on the ground with sets of bone shackles attached to his arms and legs.
Han Li tugged on the shackles with all his might, but they refused to budge.
"Save your energy. All of these shackles were specially made so that even someone who''s opened more than a hundred profound acupoints wouldn''t be able to snap them."
Right at this moment, Chen Yang made his way into the room, and he was followed by a gray-robed young man who was trailing along behind him in a respectful manner.
Han Li wasn''t surprised to see Chen Yang here, and he said, "Chen Yang, I haven''t done anything to harm your interests, and I''ve already agreed to join Profound City, so why have you still done this to me?"
"It''s very impressive that you''re able to remain so calm in this situation, but what you just said isughably naive. Do I need a reason to do this to you? The entire Scalptia Spatial Domain is a prison, and we''re all fugitives. Were you expecting to see fairness and justice here?" Chen Yang scoffed in a disdainful manner.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he remainedposed as he asked, "What do you n to do with me?"
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, we may be fugitives, but we''re not senseless killers. Truth be told, life is very boring in this ce, and the only form of entertainment avable to us is watching and betting on arena battles.
¡°The arena is a money-making machine for the city lord, and a human like you is an extremely rare sight in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so if you were to feature in the arena battles, I''m sure you''ll generate a lot of interest," Chen Yang replied with a chilling grin.
"That''s why you''ve captured me?" Han Li asked as his eyes narrowed slightly.
"We don''t keep useless people around in Profound City. If you want to live, then fight and prove your worth. Perhaps you''ll even be able to earn back your freedom," Chen Yang replied.
Before Han Li had a chance to reply, Chen Yang turned to the gray-robed young man behind him and said, "I''ll leave him to you."
"Rest assured, Master Chen, I''ll make sure to discipline him well," the gray-robed young man hurriedly assured.
Chen Yang nodded in response, then turned to leave.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, where are Fellow Daoist Shi and Fellow Daoist Xie right now?" Han Li hurriedly asked, but Chen Yang offered no response and quickly vanished out of sight.
Chapter 860: Arena
Chapter 860: Arena
Following Chen Yang''s departure, the gray-robed young man turned back to face Han Li with a cold sneer on his face.
All of a sudden, he grabbed onto Han Li''s shackles to hoist him to his feet, then mmed his other fist into Han Li''s lower abdomen with a dull thump.
His fist was extremely powerful, and Han Li felt as if a steel knife had been driven into his stomach.
His internal organs instantly began to twist and churn, and his face turned bright red, then deathly pale, as sweat began to pour down his forehead.
"Did that feel good?" the gray-robed young man chuckled.
Han Li''s head remained lowered, and he offered no response.
The gray-robed young man was very pleased with Han Li''s submissive demeanor, and he pulled out a key to unlock Han Li''s shackles as he said, "Good boy. No matter who you are, if you end up in here, you have to follow my orders. Otherwise, that punch will only be an appetizer for what''s toe."
Han Li was very much taken aback by this, and he slowly rose to his feet with a perplexed expression.
"Are you thinking about running away? Why don''t you take a look at your own chest first?" the gray-robed young man chuckled coldly.
Han Li looked down upon hearing this, and only then did he notice the slight bulge on his chest. He hurriedly inspected the bulge with his spiritual sense to discover a ck centipede pressed tightly against his heart.
"That is a ck Tribtion Centipede that''s unique to our Green Goat City. If you dare to run away or try to expel the centipede from your body, it''ll immediately tear your heart to shreds," the gray-robed young man said.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but to the gray-robed young man''s disappointment, he didn''t appear particrly fazed.
The young man harrumphed coldly as he tossed a ck badge at Han Li and continued, "This is your number badge. Come with me, I''ll give you a tour of this ce."
Han Li caught the badge to find that his name, "Li Feiyu", was inscribed on one side, while on the other side was arge "9" followed by the number "332" in slightly smaller text.
After that, the gray-robed young man led him out of the stone chamber, and even though the young man had his back facing him, Han Li didn''t consider a sneak attack.
Judging from the force of that punch from earlier, the young man was quite strong, and at the very least, he had most likely opened roughly the same number of profound acupoints as Han Li.
The two of them quickly emerged from the stone chamber, then made their way down a long corridor before arriving in a spacious hall that was over ten thousand feet in size, and the walls were constructed from some type of ck stone material with ck patterns engraved upon them.
The walls were also giving off a faint ck sheen that gave them an indestructible appearance.
The front of the hall was connected to the outside, and waves of cheers could be heard ringing out from beyond the wall.
At the very back of the hall was a white stone table that was several dozen feet in length, seated behind which were seven or eight crimson-robed figures who appeared to be employees of the arena.
At this moment, there were many people gathered in a line in front of the stone table, all of whom wore the same attire, consisting of a wide cape and shoulder-length shorts.
The walls on the right and the left of the hall were lined with doors, beyond which were passageways that led to certain ces.
"Remember this ce. This is the main hall of the arena, and it''s the most important ce for you. The battles take ce on the tforms outside, and all of these people are diators, just like you," the gray-robed man said.
"There seem to be quite a few diators here," Han Li remarked.
"Of course. There are many diators in our arena, some of whom are ves like you, while others are residents of Profound City looking to hone their abilities. All of the diators are split up into ten areas, and you''re in the ninth one," the gray-robed young man replied.
"I see. Why are all of these people lined up here?" Han Li asked.
"Take a look at your badge, what do you see under your name?" the gray-robed young man replied with a question of his own.
Han Li pulled out his badge, and under his own name, he saw a small number: "10".
"What''s this?"
"That''s your profound points total. You receivepensation for participating in arena battles regardless of the oue. Of course, if you win, then you''ll earn far more profound points. All newbies like yourself receive ten free profound points, and you can use these points to exchange for things like weapons, beast cores, and pills here.
¡°As for what the prices of certain items are, you can find them on the list over there," the gray-robed young man introduced as he pointed at a list on the wall next to the white stone table.
Han Li turned his gaze to the list on the wall, and his eyes instantly lit up slightly.
Weapons and pills weren''t of particr interest to him, but beast cores were certainly very appealing to him.
The gray-robed young man was very pleased with Han Li''s reaction, and he continued, "On top of that, you can also exchange your profound points for chances to enter the star pond to cultivate."
"What''s the star pond?" Han Li asked.
"It''s a pond that was constructed by City Lord Du through special means, and it can harness the power of the stars in the sky. The star pond is extremely rich with starpower, and cultivating inside it is far more effective for opening profound acupoints than devouring beast cores," the gray-robed young man replied.
However, a mocking sneer then appeared on his face as he continued, "Having said that, it costs a hundred profound acupoints to enter the star pond, so you''re not even close."
Han Li was unbothered by the young man''s mockery, and he began to contemte his current circumstances.
It seemed that he wasn''t in a particrly terrible situation at the moment, as long as he could obtain more beast cores, he would be able to continue to grow stronger.
As for the problems concerning the ck Tribtion Centipede, Violet Spirit, Shi Chuankong, and Daoist Xie, he would just have to think of solutionster.
If Chen Yang were telling the truth, then he was confident in his ability to resolve all of those problems as long as he could prove himself to be of sufficient value.
For now, his top priority was to survive in this arena.
The gray-robed young man seemed to have gleaned his thoughts, and he encouraged, "All of the weapons, beast cores, and other items here are of a higher quality than what you''ll find outside, and that''s not even to mention the star pond, so as long as you have what it takes, you can live a far better life in the arena than outside."
Han Li nodded in response.
"That''s about all I have to show you, you can familiarize yourself with this ce in your own time. This passageway leads to the lobby for the ninth area, and you''ll have your own room there. If you have to fight in an arena battle, your badge will inform you," the young man said as he pointed at a passageway on the left side of the hall.
Han Li turned to discover arge "9" inscribed above the entrance of the passageway.
The other passageways were also marked with numbers, as well as some other special symbols, one of which was none other than the star pond.
However, that passageway was tightly shut.
All of a sudden, the gray-robed young man leaned in closer to Han Li, then threatened in a cold voice, "I brought you here, so just fight your battles and don''t try and funny business. Otherwise, you''re going to regret it!"
Han Li lowered his head and nodded in response, and the gray-robed young man''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this.
Following the young man''s departure, Han Li remained standing on the spot for a moment, then made his way out of the hall.
As it turned out, the hall was suspended in mid-air, while down below as a massive za, at the center of which were three ovr tforms arranged in a triangr formation.
Around the three tforms was a wide and deep trench with smooth walls that were hundreds of feet tall and directly perpendicr to the ground. A row of ck railing was present on top of the wall, and it was constructed from the same indestructible-looking material as the walls of the hall.
Behind the railing were rows upon rows of spectator stands that were filled with countless seats.
At the very center of the stands was a wide tform where bets were submitted, and above the tform was a huge board that disyed the names of the diators and their odds.
"I''ll put fifty profound coins on Cai Zheng!"
"I''ll put seventy profound coins on the Scaled Wolf Beast!"
There were many people gathered around the betting tform, cing their bets.
At this moment, three arena battles were taking ce, two of which were battles between diators and scaled beasts, while the third one was between two diators.
Before long, one of the battles had concluded with a diator being torn to shreds by his scaled beast opponent, and his blood and scraps of his body were strewn all over the tform.
The spectators in the stands were extremely excited to see this, and some were even looking a little deranged as a chaotic crescendo of thunderous voices rang out in response to the oue.
The gray-robed young man had told Han Li that one would earn profound points for participating in arena battles regardless of whether they won or lost, but he had failed to mention that a loss very likely entailed death.
Han Li observed the arena battles for a short while, then made his way back into the hall to look at the list on the wall.
Just as the gray-robed young man had said, profound points could be exchanged for many things here.
"Five-hundred-year-old Fierce Head Beast Core, five profound points."
"Eight-hundred-year-old Titan Bear Scaled Beast Core, ten profound points."
"Pig-faced Beast Core..."
"Wyrm Scale Pill refined using a thousand-year-old Wyrm Scale Beast Core as the primary ingredient, eighteen profound points."
"Golden Edge Tiger Bone de refined from the bones of a two-thousand-year-old Golden Edge Scaled Tiger, thirty-eight profound acupoints."
Chapter 861: Conversion and Absorption
Chapter 861: Conversion and Absorption
As Han Li''s gaze roamed down the list, the prices of the items continued to increase.
While traveling to Green Goat City with Chen Yang and the others, Han Li had learned some things about the Scalptia Spatial Domain, and while he now knew in retrospect that Chen Yang was not to be trusted, there was no reason for Chen Yang to lie to him about the scaled beasts in this domain.
Hence, he had a rough idea of the value of the items on the points exchange list.
The scaled beasts of the Scalptia Spatial Domain were formidable creatures that were born with Spatial Tempering Stage power at a minimum, and they could absorb starpower to further enhance their own powers. Hence, the older a scaled beast was, the more powerful it was considered to be, and the more starpower its beast core would contain.
For all of the diators here, regardless of whether they hade here of their own volition or been enved like Han Li, all of them had a shared objective, which was to earn profound points so that they could exchange for items on the list to enhance their own powers.
As long as one had sufficient profound points, even beast cores of scaled beasts that were tens of thousands of years old could be purchased, but of course, the price was extremely steep.
At the moment, he only had ten profound points, so he would have to bide his time for now.
Han Li shook his head as he heaved a faint sigh, then continued to
All of a sudden, his attention was drawn to a certain item on the list.
"Two-thousand-year-old Tarot Beast Core, three profound points."
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up as he made his way over to the stone table, then handed over his badge to one of the crimson-robed employees as he dered, "I would like three two-thousand-year-old Tarot Beast Cores."
Many of the nearby diators faltered slightly upon hearing this, then turned to Han Li with undisguised mockery in their eyes.
"Are you new here? Tarot Beast Cores contain a lot of starpower, but due to the special physical constitution of these beasts, the starpower in their beast cores is very chaotic, making it very difficult to absorb, and there''s a very good chance that most of it will be wasted," the crimson-robed employee said.
"I see," Han Li mused with an enlightened expression.
No wonder these beast cores were so cheap.
"Thank you for informing me of this, but I would still like to exchange for these beast cores," Han Li said with a smile.
With only ten profound acupoints at his disposal, he really couldn''t afford anything else.
The crimson-robed employee didn''t speak any further on the matter, and he pulled out a short silver rod before waving it over Han Li''s badge, upon which his ten profound points were instantly reduced to one.
After that, he pulled out three egg-sized beast cores before handing them to Han Li.
Han Li stowed the beast cores away, then began to make his way toward the ninth area.
After passing through a dark passageway, he arrived in a spacious area that resembled a cave.
The cave was hemispherical in shape, and around twenty to thirty stone chambers had been carved into its walls, with a number assigned to each chamber.
Several glowing white stones were embedded into the ceiling of the cave, but they were only able to illuminate a small area, while the rest of the cave remained quite dim.
At this moment, there were around a dozen diators seated in the cave, conversing boisterously with one another, and all of them turned to Han Li with surprised expressions.
Han Li paid no heed to them, and he quickly scanned the cave to track down the room that wasbeled "332", then began to make his way toward it.
Right at this moment, a tall and imposing man with a scar on his face got in his way and sneered, "You''re just going to walk in here without greeting the boss first? You newbies are bing ruder by the day!"
Han Li turned to the man with an expressionless manner, and the man continued, "You have ten points on you right? Hand them over to me, and I''ll pass them onto Boss Toxic Dragon for you. Those are the rules."
Everyone began to gather around, eager to watch the situation unfold.
Han Li took a nce at the bystanders, and he didn''t say anything.
"Are you deaf or stupid?" the man roared as he mmed his fist into the door of Han Li''s room.
"Get out of my way! A good dog knows not to block its owner''s path!" Han Li said in a cold voice.
"Yo Scarface, he''s calling you a dog!" a round-faced fatty chortled.
"You can''t even get on top of a newbie, Scarface?" another man sneered, and before long, everyone was joining in on the mockery.
The man''s face instantly turned bright red, while a furious look appeared in his eyes.
Despite his imposing frame, he was one of the weaker diators in the ninth area, and he was often mocked for that.
Hence, he often took out his pent-up rage and frustration on those weaker than him, and bullying weak-looking newbies like Han Li was his favorite pastime, yet he was the one being humiliated here.
"You must have a death wish!" Scarface roared as he chopped a hand down toward Han Li''s head, aiming to split Han Li''s head into two.
A cold look shed through Han Li''s eyes as he retaliated with his fist, and a loud crack rang out as Scarface''s arm was instantly snapped before being mmed against his chest.
He stumbled back in an unsteady fashion, onlying to a halt after crashing into the wall behind him, following which he threw up arge mouthful of blood.
He stood with his back against the wall, staring nkly at Han Li with an astonished expression, and all of the other diators had also fallen into a stunned silence.
Han Li paid no heed to them as he made his way into his room, then mmed the door shut.
The stone chamber was only around thirty to forty feet in size, and it waspletely unfurnished with the exception of a stone bed, a table, and a chair.
A length of white tree root could be seen protruding down from the center of the ceiling, giving off a white glow that illuminated the entire room.
To Han Li''s surprise, the white light was fueled by starpower!
He immediately released his spiritual sense toward the tree root, trying to find out where the starpower wasing from, but the material that was used to construct the walls of the room were able to keep out spiritual sense, thereby foiling his ns.
Even so, he could clearly see that the tree root didn''t innately harbor starpower. Instead, the starpower was being transmitted into it from elsewhere, and the root was only acting as a medium.
However, the root wasn''t giving off a lot of starlight, only just enough to support normal cultivation.
Han Li quickly turned his attention away from the tree root and began scouring his room with his spiritual sense. After ensuring that nothing was amiss, he sat down onto the bed, where two sets of diator uniforms, consisting of a cape and a pair of shorts, had been prepared for him.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the uniforms, but he still took off his clothes and put on one of the sets of uniforms.
After setting down his original clothes onto the bed, he opened his mouth to release his Heaven Controlling Vial, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
Prior to reaching Green Goat City, he had swallowed the Heaven Controlling Vial in case of unforeseen mishaps, and it was extremely fortunate that he had done so. Otherwise, there was a very good chance that the Heaven Controlling Vial would''ve already fallen into the hands of Chen Yang.
After inspecting the Heaven Controlling Vial momentarily, Heaven Controlling Vial swallowed it again before taking a seat under the white tree root.
Given the current circumstances, cultivation was his top priority.
Han Li pulled out a Tarot Beast Core, and sure enough, it did contain a great deal of starpower, but all of it was very chaotic and churning like boiling water.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he still swallowed the beast core before closing his eyes to cultivate.
The beast core quickly melted into a ball of starpower in his stomach, but this burst of starpower was like an untamed wild horse. It immediately began darting in all directions in his body before seeping out into the surrounding air.
Han Li hurriedly channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts to absorb the starpower, but just as the arena employee had proimed, he was only able to absorb a small portion of the starpower, while the rest continued to seep out of his body.
Right at this moment, the Heaven Controlling Vial in his stomach suddenly shuddered, following which a burst of faint light appeared at its opening, and all of the dissipating starpower was instantly sucked back in.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he hurriedly began channeling his Wingform Ascension Arts again, but he wasn''t able to absorb much of the starpower before the rest was sucked into the Heaven Controlling Vial.
To that, he could only heave a resigned sigh.
When it came to the ability to absorb starpower, there was no way that he couldpete against the Heaven Controlling Vial.
The starpower within the Tarot Beast Core surged into the Heaven Controlling Vial, and a drop of green liquid gradually took shape.
In the instant that the drop of spirit liquid fully took shape, the Heaven Controlling Vial immediately ceased its absorption of starpower, leaving the remaining starpower to swirl around the vial.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, then continued to channel his Wingform Ascension Arts to absorb the residual starpower around the vial.
After being drawn back into his body by the Heaven Controlling Vial, the starpower had be far more mellow, allowing him to absorb it with ease, and the starpower emanating from the tree root up above was also fusing into his body.
The starpower surged into the second profound acupoint of the Wingform Ascension Arts, which gradually began to open.
While Han Li was cultivating in his room, Scarface was seated in another stone chamber, seemingly waiting for something.
His mangled arm had already returned to normal, but the skin on the arm was still very purple and bruised.
asionally, he would turn to take a resentful nce in the direction of Han Li''s stone chamber.
All of the diators who had witnessed the incident between Han Li and Scarface quickly departed, with many of them mocking Scarface as they left.
Chapter 862: Boos
Close to a day passed by in a sh.
The door of the stone chamber across from Scarface''s slowly swung open, and Scarface immediately sprang to his feet as he rushed out of his own room.
The sound of footsteps rang out as a tall and imposing figure emerged from the stone chamber.
It was a one-eyed giant of a man who was significantly taller than even Scarface, and he was also extremely muscr, resembling a bipedal bear.
There was arge azure bear head tattooed onto the man''s chest, giving him an even more fearsome appearance, and his entire body was giving off a mountainous aura.
"Boss, you have to stand up for me!" Scarface immediately yelled as he fell to his knees in front of the giant man.
The man was none other than Toxic Dragon, and his expression instantly darkened slightly at the sight of Scarface''s arm.
"What happened to your arm, Scarface?"
"My arm was snapped by a newbie!"Scarface immediately gave Toxic Dragon a heavily embellished recount of his run-in with Han Li, cing extra emphasis on how Han Li refused to hand over his profound points, even after hearing about how Scarface was going to pass them onto Toxic Dragon.
"Is Scarface telling the truth?" Toxic Dragon asked as he turned to another diator of the ninth area who just so happened to be passing by.
"That''s pretty much what happened. That newbie really was quite arrogant," the diator corroborated.
"Looks like someone needs to be taught a lesson!" Toxic Dragon harrumphed coldly as he began making his way toward Han Li''s stone chamber.
However, right at this moment, a burst of ck light suddenly shed over a badge that was hanging from his waist.
Toxic Dragon stopped in his tracks, then took a nce down at the badge with slightly furrowed brows.
"Lucky bastard," he harrumphed coldly as he began making his way back to his own stone chamber.
Before Scarface had a chance to raise a question, Toxic Dragon said, "I have a battle to fight. Rest assured, I''ll make sure to teach that newbie a good lesson once I''m back."
Scarface hurriedly nodded in response, and Toxic Dragon took one final nce at Han Li''s stone chamber before departing.
"Looks like you''ll get to live a little longer," Scarface spat in a resentful manner before also departing.
¡¡
Han Li was naturallypletely oblivious to what had just happened outside.
At this moment, he was seated with his legs crossed in his room, holding the final Tarot Beast Core in his hand, and after a brief hesitation, he swallowed the beast core before channeling his Wingform Ascension Arts.
Momentster, the second profound acupoint on his leg lit up, and as time passed, it became brighter and brighter.
Some timeter, the light emanating from the profound acupoint abruptly brightened significantly, then immediately dimmed again.
An ecstatic look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
Thanks to the three Tarot Beast Cores, he was finally able to open a second profound acupoint.
He pushed off against the ground with one hand tounch himself up into the air, then began to walk around in his room at a far faster speed than before, and the heavy sensation that he felt in his body was also significantly alleviated.
The more progress he made in the Wingform Ascension Arts, the higher the regard that he held it in, particrly in this environment, where flight was impossible.
However, he only had one profound point left, so he had to earn some more.
Right at this moment, the badge that was sitting on his badge suddenly began to glow and buzz.
Han Li picked up the badge to find that a line of small text had appeared upon it.
A pleased smile appeared on his face upon seeing this, and he made his way out of his room.
At this moment, there were around a dozen diators gathered in the ninth area, and all of them turned to look at Han Li with peculiar expressions.
Han Li paid no heed to them as he made his way out of the lobby to arrive in the exchange hall, then continued down another passageway without pause.
Inside the passageway was a staircase that led downward, and upon arriving at the foot of the staircase, Han Li found himself in another hall that was simr in size to the exchange hall above, but this ce was rather dimly lit.
At the front of the hall was a giant stone gate that was tightly shut, and at this moment, there was no one else in the hall with the exception of a man with a single horn on his head.
"You''re Li Feiyu?" the horned man asked with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
"That''s right," Han Li replied.
"You''re here right on time. You have a battleing up soon," the horned man said, then strode over to the stone gate before pping it with the palm of his hand.
A small opening that was onlyrge enough to fit a single person appeared on the stone gate, and the horned man gestured for Han Li to wait, then stepped into the opening.
"We have a truly exciting match lined up for everyone today! On one side, we have a Tiger Scaled Beast that''s over 3,500 years old. This will be its fourth battle, and prior to this, it''s already defeated three diators and devoured two of them on the spot!" the horned man dered in an enthusiastic voice, and a chorus of excited cheers rang out from the spectator stands in response.
At this moment, there were no battles taking ce on the other two tforms, perhaps to highlight Han Li''s first battle.
"On the other side, we have an extremely rare human diator from the Immortal Realm, Li Feiyu!" the horned man continued.
The spectators in the stands instantly erupted into thunderous cheers upon hearing this.
"A human diator? I can''t even remember thest time I saw one!"
"This really is a rare treat!"
"If I recall correctly, thest human diator that showed up was over a thousand years ago, and he was torn to shreds. Humans are just too weak."
The horned man was very pleased to see the reaction garnered by Han Li, and he dered, "The battle between the Tiger Scaled Beast and Li Feiyu is about tomence soon, so ce your bets now, and no further bets will be taken once the battle begins."
The initial odds for the battle between Han Li and the Tiger Scaled Beast were listed as 5:1.
"I''ll put a hundred profound coins on the Tiger Scaled Beast!"
"I''ll put a hundred and fifty profound coins on the Tiger Scaled Beast!"
"I''ll put three hundred profound coins on the Tiger Scaled Beast!"
"You only have three hundred profound coins left, are you going to bet it all on one battle?"
"Before I was cast into exile here, one of my good friends was killed by a human cultivator from the Immortal Realm, so I have to bet everything I have against this human bastard in honor of my friend!"
Han Li''s identity as a human cultivator hadpletely riled up the crowd, and not only were there far more bets being ced than on average, most of them were against Han Li.
As more and more bets were ced, the odds gradually shifted from 5:1 to 12:1, which meant that if someone bet on Han Li and he came out on top, then their winnings would be twelve times their initial bet, whereas the winnings for a sessful bet on the Tiger Scaled Beast would only be one twelfth of the initial bet.
Even so, the vast majority of bets were still ced on the Tiger Scaled Beast. After all, this was essentially free money.
"Time''s up! Let the battle begin!" the horned man roared, and the stone gate that separated the arena from the hall that Han Li was in was slowly lifted.
Themotion ringing out within the arena instantly crescendoed to a peak, and the excitement in the air was almost palpable as Han Li was revealed.
Han Li slowly rose to his feet, then made his way into the massive arena.
As he did so, his head was slightly lowered, and he was carefully examining the ground, which was riddled with dark red stains from all of the blood that had seeped into it over the years.
"That''s the human? He looks way too frail!"
"What a snoozefest! He won''t even be able to withstand a single attack from the scaled beast."
"And he''s not even equipped with any armor or weapons! Is he asking to be killed?"
"What''s the point in a battle like this? It''s nothing more than a gimmick. No wonder the odds are so skewed."
¡¡
On the spectator stands, a muscr green-skinned man was pointing at a horned man sitting beside him as he chortled with derision, "You''re betting on that human to win? You must be crazy! If he actually wins, I''ll kneel down and call you my father!"
"Anything''s possible! There could always be a miracle..." the horned man protested, but it was clear that he wasn''t very confident at all.
He had bet on the human after being drawn in by the alluring odds, but as soon as he caught sight of Han Li, his heart was filled with despair.
"A miracle? How can you still be so naive after staying in this godforsaken ce for so long?" the green-skinned man chortled with mirth.
The horned man offered no response as a grim look appeared on his face.
In his mind, it was already beyond a shadow of a doubt that the human was going to lose.
A wave of boos instantly rang out across the spectator stands, and no one believed that this frail-looking human would be able to oppose a fearsome 3,500-year-old scaled beast.
At this point, the only thing that they had to look forward to was seeing the human being torn to shreds.
Chapter 863: Stop the Battle
At the center of the spectator stands.
There was an independent VIP booth, within which was a pair of long stone chairs that were covered in sheets of beast hide. In front of the stone chairs was a stone table, upon which were ced two huge stone cups that were filled with some type of fresh beast blood.
Seated on one of the chairs was a muscr man with a darkplexion, and there was a woman with a curvaceous body beside him, massaging his arm with her delicate hands.
On the other chair sat another man with dark green skin, d in a suit of white bone armor. There was ayer of gray scales on his face, as well as three long scars left behind by a w swipe from a scaled beast, giving him a fearsome appearance.
The armord man was staring intently at the woman''s seductive body, with his gaze roaming over her voluptuous chest, down to her supple backside, then to her exquisite legs, and he was making no effort to conceal the lust in his eyes.
"How about we raise the stakes even further, Hu Bi?" the muscr man proposed with a smile.
"You want to raise the stakes? Did you hit your head recently or something, Chen Yang? Can you not see how frail that human is?" the armord man asked in a surprised manner.
"Risk and rewarde hand in hand. It doesn''t matter if I lose the bet, it''s all about the thrill," Chen Yang replied in a nonchnt manner.
"If you want to give me free money, then I''m certainly not going to turn you down. What do you want from me?" Hu Bi asked with a wide grin."I want that Thorn Scaled Beast Core that the city lord gave youst time," Chen Yang replied with a smile.
A hesitant look appeared on Hu Bi''s face upon hearing this, and for some reason, as he turned to look at Han Li in the arena, a sense of unease welled up in his heart.
However, he then immediately brushed off this inexplicable sense of unease. The Tiger Scaled Beast in the arena was over 3,500 years old, so there was no way it would be defeated by that human.
The environment in the Scalptia Spatial Domain was extremely inhospitable, so for most scaled beasts, it was already an achievement just to live to a thousand years of age.
For a scaled beast that was able to live 3,500 years, that was both a reflection of their power and their luck.
"Alright, I''ll take you up on that bet, but if I win, then I''m taking your woman!" Hu Bi said as he took a lustful nce at the woman beside Chen Yang.
"Deal," Chen Yang agreed as he patted the woman on the backside.
The woman turned to take a seductive nce at Hu Bi, and thetter immediately felt a rush of heat surge through his lower abdomen.
Right at this moment, a thunderous roar suddenly rang out in the arena, instantly drawing everyone''s attention.
A giant tiger-like beast that was over a hundred feet tall and covered in ck and white scales had just been released from its cage.
The beast had a mouthful of gleaming sharp fangs, two of which were particrly long and sharp, resembling a pair of jagged spears. As it raised its head to roar up at the heavens, its eyes were filled with rage and resentment.
Themotion in the spectator stands instantly died down in the wake of its furious roar, but a thunderous chorus of cheers then immediately rang out once again.
¡¡
Excited and fric voices were ringing out from all parts of the spectator stands, and the atmosphere in the arena had be more heated than ever.
However, as one of the centers of attention, Han Li remainedpletely unaffected by the frenzied atmosphere around him.
He was observing the scaled beast with a cold look in his eyes, and there weren''t any aura fluctuations emanating from his body at all, giving him the appearance of a harmless mortal.
After letting loose its furious roar, the Tiger Scaled Beast finally lowered its head and turned its attention to the tiny human before it.
Immediately thereafter, it lowered its center of gravity slightly as a low snarl began to build in its throat, and in the next instant, it sprang forward at an incredible speed, reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye.
Han Li immediately took a step backward upon seeing this, and at the same time, he arched back and aimed a kick up at the Tiger Scaled Beast''s jaw while all thirty-eight of the profound acupoints on his body lit up in unison.
A loud thump rang out as the scaled beast was stopped cold in its tracks, and its head was also knocked back violently by the force of Han Li''s kick.
All of the spectators in the stands were stunned into silence upon seeing this. They were expecting to see the human die to a single blow from the scaled beast, yet things had taken apletely unexpected turn.
Hu Bi was also stunned to see this, and he leaned forward slightly as he stared intently at Han Li from afar.
Right at this moment, the scaled beast''s head abruptly snapped back down again before mming onto the ground like a fallen mountain.
The tform was shattered, sending loose rocks and dust flying in all directions, and it was impossible to see Han Li through the debris.
A loud roar rang out as the Tiger Scaled Beast charged out of the cloud of dust, and pressed tightly against one of its giant fangs was none other than Han Li.
At this moment, Han Li was resisting the scaled beast''s fang with both hands, while his feet were digging into the ground, but he was still pushed back by the fearsome beast. His feet dug a pair of deep trenches into the ground, and before long, he had crashed into the wall behind him.
The material that the wall was constructed from was extremely resilient, and it felt slightly cool against Han Li''s back.
Han Li''s chest was heaving violently as he abruptly pressed down with both hands, forcing the Tiger Scaled Beast''s head downard.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as the fang of the Tiger Scaled Beast was diverted downward before plunging into the ground, and all of a sudden, it was as if its head had been nailed firmly into ce.
Han Li seized this opportunity to spring up into the air, stepping onto the Tiger Scaled Beast''s beforeunching himself onto its head.
The Tiger Scaled Beast shook its head violently, trying to shake him off, but Han Li merely lowered his center of gravity slightly before throwing an almighty punch into the scaled beast''s head.
A burst of powerful shockwaves erupted forth in all directions as the Tiger Scaled Beast''s head was mmed down from above, and its two protruding fangs pierced even deeper into the ground.
Han Li didn''t growcent just because he had managed to control the Tiger Scaled Beast, and he continued to rain down one punch after another.
The Tiger Scaled Beast''s head shuddered over and over again as the cracks on the tform beneath it widened further and further, and several streams of blood were flowing down from its head.
All of the spectators were looking on in a stunned silence.
It had only been several minutes since themencement of the battle, yet this frail-looking human had already establishedplete dominance over the Tiger Scaled Beast.
After withstanding over ten punches in a row, the Tiger Scaled Beast wasying on the ground in a limp fashion, and its body was only twitching slightly in response to each sessive punch, indicating that it was on the brink of death.
At this point, Han Li''s fists were alreadypletely drenched in blood, and it was unclear whether the blood belonged to the Tiger Scaled Beast or himself.
The stunned silence wore on for a little longer before everyone erupted into cheers, and on this asion, all of the cheers were directed at Han Li.
"Li Feiyu, Li Feiyu, Li Feiyu..."
"I won... I won!" the horned man that had bet on Han Li screamed in excitement, and tears were beginning to well up in his eyes.
Up in the VIP booth, Hu Bi spat onto the ground in disgust, while Chen Yang continued to observe the battle with a calm smile on his face, seeminglypletely unsurprised by Han Li''s performance.
Hu Bi finally realized that he had been tricked upon seeing Chen Yang''s expression, and his brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "You have some insider information on this match, don''t you?"
"What insider information could I possibly have? I was simply lucky to have picked out a dark horse. Besides, the battle still isn''t decided yet," Chen Yang replied in azy manner.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a thunderous roar suddenly rang out within the arena, and all of the scales on the Tiger Scaled Beast''s body abruptly stood up on end like countless sharp des, forcing Han Li to jump down from its head.
Just a moment ago, the Tiger Scaled Beast had been clinging onto life by a thread, but in this instant, its eyes suddenly rolled back, and its original ck pupils were reced by a second set of pupils that were purple and green in color.
Chen Yang''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he instantly sprang to his feet, throwing off the woman who was clinging to his body in the process.
"Haha! It''s a dual pupil scaled beast! With this mutation, it can no longer be considered a D tier scaled beast. Looks like I''ll be having thestugh, Chen Yang," Hu Bi chortled with glee.
Chen Yang paid no heed to Hu Bi as he murmured to himself with a grim expression, "A mutated dual pupil Tiger Scaled Beast is a C tier scaled beast. I have to put an end to this battle."
He then turned to depart from the VIP booth, but he was stopped in his tracks by Hu Bi.
"Where are you going, Brother Chen?"
Chapter 864: Unexpected
Chapter 864: Unexpected
"You don''t know what''s going on here, we can''t allow this battle to continue!" Chen Yang said in an urgent voice as he pressed Hu Bi''s arm down and attempted to leave by force.
"Don''t forget the rules! Once an arena battlemences, it can''t be ended prematurely under any circumstances! Are you trying to go against the city lord¡¯s rules just because you don''t want to lose your woman to me?" Hu Bi countered in an enraged voice.
Chen Yang calmed down slightly upon hearing this, and he brushed Hu Bi''s arm aside as he said in a cold voice, "I''m going to see the city lord right now."
"You can do whatever please, but the city lord isn''t going to break his own rules for anyone," Hu Ni said with a cold sneer as he withdrew his arm.
Chen Yang paid no heed to him as he rushed out of the VIP booth.
At this point, some of the spectators in the stands had finally identified the fact that they were seeing a dual pupil Tiger Scaled Beast.
Everyone was left feeling rather bbergasted by this unexpected turn of events, and they weren''t sure if they should continue cheering for the human or jump ship to support the Tiger Scaled Beast.
At the same time, some people were beginning to feel a little sympathetic toward Han Li.
The horned man that had bet on Han Li had already fallen onto his backside with a despairing look on his face, while the green-skinned man who had been mocking him this entire time had a wide smile on his face, feeling very much vindicated.
As for Han Li himself, he was observing his opponent with an apprehensive look on his face.
As soon as this second set of pupils appeared, the Tiger Scaled Beast''s aura was instantly elevated to a whole new level.
Han Li leaned forward slightly while stepping back to adopt a simple fist stance as he stared intently at the dual pupil Tiger Scaled Beast.
Having already been beaten to within an inch of its life earlier, the Tiger Scaled Beast had learned not to charge recklessly at Han Li. Instead, it was baring its fangs as it snarled menacingly at him.
Right at this moment, the Tiger Scaled Beast suddenly shrugged its shoulders forward, and a string of cracks and pops rang out as countless scales flew off its body before hurtling toward Han Li like a volley of arrows.
In response, Han Li dug his rear foot into the ground, and he instantly vanished from the spot, only to reappear to the left of the storm of scales an instantter.
However, the Tiger Scaled Beast seemed to have already anticipated this, and it appeared before Han Li in the blink of an eye before biting down toward his head.
Han Li immediately crouched down to just barely duck under the scaled beast''s cavernous mouth.
Immediately thereafter, he sprang up into the air before throwing a vicious punch upward.
A dull thump rang out as the Tiger Scaled Beast was thrown to the side by the force of Han Li''s punch, but after delivering the blow, Han Li''s fist was trembling incessantly, and all of his fingers aside from his middle and index fingers were riddled with bleeding gashes.
However, he didn''t seem to have noticed this at all, and he continued to stare intently at the Tiger Scaled Beast while rushing after it in pursuit, aiming tond a lethal blow, but before he could reach the Tiger Scaled Beast, it had already recovered from the punch.
After taking a moment to steady itself, it unleashed another barrage of scales at Han Li, forcing him to roll to the side to evade the attack.
Immediately thereafter, all of the profound acupoints on his legs lit up in unison, and heunched himself at the Tiger Scaled Beast''s head from the side.
The scaled beast didn''t back down in the slightest as it opened its mouth to bite down at Han Li, but this time, Han Li took no evasive measures.
Instead, he raised a fist before mming it forcefully into the ground.
Thanks to the impact that his fist made against the ground, Han Li was able tounch himself several dozen feet into the air, thereby allowing him to evade the Tiger Scaled Beast''s spear-like fangs.
He then stepped onto the Tiger Scaled Beast''s nose and attempted to charge at its be once again, but as soon as his foot left the scaled beast''s nose, it suddenly ducked its head to the side, forcing a misstep from Han Li.
Unable to fly, Han Li couldn''t change directions in mid-air, so he could only step down toward the Tiger Scaled Beast''s cheek.
However, before his foot was able tond on the scaled beast''s face, three of its whiskers suddenly began sweeping toward him like a set of sharp longswords.
The whiskers seemed to be enveloped in ayer of starlight, making them incredibly sharp, and they were threatening to tear Han Li''s body to shreds.
In this dire situation, Han Li joined the index and middle fingers of his right hand, then reached out to press them against the Tiger Scaled Beast''s uppermost whisker, causing the whisker to bend downward.
Before the other two whiskers could reach him, he pushed down onto the uppermost whisker to propel himself further up into the air.
The spectators in the stands instantly erupted into raucous cheers upon seeing this, but Han Li paid no heed to their thunderous voices as he swiveled around in mid-air, ultimatelynding beside the Tiger Scaled Beast''s left ear as opposed to on top of its be.
He immediately grabbed onto the Tiger Scaled Beast''s ear, then aimed a kick right into its earhole.
At the same time, he channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts and Wingform Ascension Arts in unison and focused all of his power into that single kick.
A loud thump rang out as the Tiger Scaled Beast''s head snapped to the right, causing its entire body to sway in the same direction.
Han Li fell out of the scaled beast''s ear with half of his body drenched in blood, and afternding on the ground, he stumbled momentarily before falling backward.
As for the Tiger Scaled Beast, it swayed from side to side momentarily in an unsteady fashion before also falling to the ground.
Blood was gushing out of his left ear and his eye sockets, and his aura had be even more feeble than before.
"What the hell? Both of them are down, who wins here?"
The spectator stands had erupted into a thunderousmotion, but only a small number of people were cheering for Li Feiyu, while the rest were urging the Tiger Scaled Beast to devour its opponent.
Even though Han Li had put on a spectacr show for them, most of the spectators had bet on the Tiger Scaled Beast, so they were still rooting for it to emerge victorious.
Amid the chorus of raucous cheers, the Tiger Scaled Beast was the first to get up from the ground, and even though its vision was already blurry with blood, it still began trudging unsteadily toward Han Li.
However, it was only able to stagger three steps forward before copsing to the ground once again, and its headnded directly in front of Han Li.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed, and he fought back the excruciating pain in his leg as he struggled to his feet, then trudged arduously onto the Tiger Scaled Beast''s head.
He sat down on top of the scaled beast''s be, then injected what little power he had left into the two fingers that his Flower Branch domain had been refined into before plunging them down into the Tiger Scaled Beast''s head.
After a series of repeated blows, a fist-sized hole was smashed into the Tiger Scaled Beast''s be, and Han Li reached inside before pulling out a fist-sized purple beast core.
A pleased smile appeared on his face as he felt the abundant starpower within the beast core, and he didn''t even bother to wipe the blood from it before swallowing it whole.
The spectator stands were silent for a moment, immediately following which a wave of thunderous cheers rang out.
The horned man was chortling with glee as he turned to the green-skinned man beside him and yelled, "I did it, son! I''m rich!"
......
Inside the city lord''s manor.
Du Qingyang was standing in front of his desk with one hand sped behind his back while massaging a pair of beast bones in his other hand.
After a brief silence, he turned around to face Chen Yang and said, "It''s fine, I''m already aware of all of this. In fact, I personally issued the order for his opponent to be reced with that Tiger Scaled Beast."
"But City Lord Du, there''s no way that Li Feiyu will be able to defeat that dual pupil Tiger Scaled Beast. If he dies in this battle, then his true spirit bloodline will go to waste," Chen Yang said in an urgent manner.
"If he dies, then so be it. I know what I''m doing. This is not something for you to be concerned about, you can go now," Du Qingyang said as he waved a dismissive hand.
Chen Yang duly obliged and departed.
By the time he returned to the arena, all of the spectators were already beginning to leave, and everyone was still looking very excited as they discussed the riveting battle that they had just witnessed.
Upon re-entering the VIP booth, he was greeted by the sight of Hu Bi with an arm wrapped around the woman, and he already had one hand slipped down the front of her robes.
The woman was unable to break free from Hu Bi''s iron grip, so she could only turn to Chen Yang with a pitiable look on her face.
Chen Yang''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, then turned his gaze to the arena.
Chapter 865: Blood Pond
Chapter 865: Blood Pond
"He won," Hu Bi grumbled as he stood up and pushed the woman in his arms toward Chen Yang. "I don''t know how that bastard managed to kill a C tier scaled beast with so few profound acupoints opened, but he did it."
Chen Yang casually brushed the woman away, pushing her down onto the other chair as he asked with furrowed brows, "What happened?"
"That''s what I want to know!" Hu Bi spat in a frustrated manner. "I''ll get someone to deliver the beast core to your manor tomorrow."
After that, Hu Bi stormed out of the VIP booth, and Chen Yang took a nce at the woman before also departing.
......
At this moment, Han Li''s entire body was riddled with wounds, and in particr, his legs were in excruciating pain as he trudged arduously back into the dim hall.
The horned man was already waiting for him in the hall, and he said, "You did very well for your first battle. Honestly, I thought you were screwed. Give me your badge."
Han Li removed the badge that was hanging from his waist before handing it over, and the horned man epted the badge before waving a golden baton over it.
The number of profound points on the badge was instantly increased by twenty, much to Han Li''s tion.
The horned man returned the badge to Han Li, then pped his hands together, and two tall and imposing armord figures stepped into the hall, then grabbed onto Han Li''s arms and hoisted him up into the air before dragging him toward a side door.
Han Li was naturally very rmed by this, and he immediately tried to struggle free from the armord figures, only to discover that their hands were as hard and unyielding as iron shackles.
On top of that, their arms were as cold as ice, and it was as if they didn''t possess bodies of flesh at all
Upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that the two armord figures had dark green skin that was bulging with veins, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
On top of that, their eyes werepletely empty and lifeless, as if they were a pair of corpses, but they were still breathing, and their bodies were giving off a freezing aura.
"Don''t be rmed. Your injuries are quite severe, and they''re taking you away to receive treatment. Otherwise, you''ll be in no shape to take part in any further battles," the horned man said.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then ceased his struggles, allowing the pair of armord figures to carry him into the side door.
Beyond the side door was a long passageway, and as Han Li continued to be dragged along, he deduced that the two armord figures were most likely some type of refined corpse, but he couldn''t tell exactly what type of refinement process had been used.
The two armord figures led Han Li to the end of a passageway and into arge stone chamber, at the center of was a pond that was over a hundred feet in size and filled with some type of viscous, bright red liquid that very much resembled blood.
The center of the pond was bubbling incessantly, and wisps of red mist were rising up from its surface, filling the entire room with a strong bloody aroma.
However, the smell wasn''t rank or pungent at all. Instead, Han Li was struck by a sense of reinvigoration as he inhaled the aroma.
The two armord figures strode over to the edge of the pond, then threw Han Li forward without any hesitation.
At this moment, Han Li''s entire body was feeling sore and feeble, and he was powerless to resist as he plunged into the blood pond with a loud ssh.
As soon as he entered the blood pond, Han Li''s skin instantly turned bright red, and his facial features also became slightly contorted.
The liquid in the pond was incredibly hot, to the point that it was scorching every single inch of his skin, making him feel as if he had been set alight.
At the same time, bursts of heat were surging into his body before flowing toward his injuries, which immediately began to heal.
"You only have one hour," one of the armord figures dered in a raspy voice.
Han Li hurriedly began to focus on his recovery upon hearing this, inviting more and more of the heat in the pond into his own body.
Fifteen minutes passed by in the blink of an eye.
Han Li''s regenerative abilities were significantly enhanced by the blood pond, and at this point, he was already close to halfway to making a full recovery.
Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps rang out, and two more armord figures emerged, carrying another diator.
It was a youngman with some corkscrew patterns on the left side of his face, extending from his forehead all the way down to his chin, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
The man''s entire body was also riddled with wounds, the most severe of which were two giant gashes on his lower abdomen that almost split his body into three. Blood was gushing freely out of the two gashes, and even his internal organs were visible through them.
The two armord figures casually tossed the man into the blood pond, and the man had clearly been here before as he immediately began taking advantage of the pond''s healing properties to enhance his own recovery.
The two gashes on his waist quickly began to mend, and once again, Han Li was astonished by just how potent the pond''s healing properties were.
The man seemed to have detected Han Li''s gaze, and as he turned to look back at Han Li, a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
"You''re Li Feiyu, right? It''s a pleasure to meet you."
"Have we met before?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"My name is Chen Lin, and I''m also from the ninth area. I was there during your run-in with Scarface, and I just witnessed your battle against the Tiger Scaled Beast. I must say, it''s very impressive that you were able to kill that C tier Tiger Scaled Beast. Not many people in our ninth area would''ve been capable of such a feat," Chen Lin praised in an earnest manner.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Chen, I was merely very fortunate to have emerged victorious," Han Li replied in a modest manner.
Recently, Han Li had spent the vast majority of his time cultivating in his room, and during the few asions where he had emerged from his room, all of the other diators of the ninth area seemed to have been actively avoiding him, so this was the first time that someone from the ninth area that someone had struck up a conversation with him.
Han Li had been meaning to ask someone about what had happened following his altercation with Scarface, and Chen Lin was happy to answer his questions, telling him about how Scarface hadined to Toxic Dragon, and it was only then that Han Li finally realized why everyone from the ninth area had been actively avoiding him.
"You''re a very strong man, Fellow Daoist Li, but you should be on your guard when ites to Scarface. He''s an extremely petty man, and he''s also on good terms with Toxic Dragon. In order to protect his authority in the ninth area, Toxic Dragon isn''t just going to let this matter slide, so make sure to be careful," Chen Lin cautioned.
"Thank you for telling me all of this, Fellow Daoist Chen. How do you think I would fare against Toxic Dragon?" Han Li asked.
"To my knowledge, Toxic Dragon has already opened seventy profound acupoints, which would ce him above average among the ten area leaders. To be frank, I don''t think you stand any chance against Toxic Dragon as you are now, so my advice would be to submit to his authority and try to appease him," Chen Lin replied after a brief hesitation.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he nodded in response.
"Having said that, you don''t have to worry about anything in the near future. Toxic Dragon suffered some pretty severe injuries in a battle against a top-level C tier scaled beast recently, and it''ll take him two to three months to make a full recovery, so he won''te after you anytime soon," Chen Lin added.
"Looks like my luck isn''t too terrible," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"ording to the rules of the arena, each diator must participate in at least one battle per month. You''ve juste out of a battle, so you can rest for a month and take that time to grow stronger," Chen Lin advised.
"Oh? I wasn''t aware of such a rule," Han Li said as he raised an eyebrow.
"Only in cases where the arena has conducted an evaluation and determined that a diator is too severely injured to take part in another battle within a month will they be given some leeway, and that''s exactly what''s happened in the case of Toxic Dragon," Chen Lin said.
Han Li nodded in response, then asked some more questions about the arena, and Chen Lin was happy to provide him with answers.
An hourter, the two armord figures that had brought Han Li to the blood pond dered, "Time''s up."
Han Li made his way out of the blood pond upon hearing this, then cupped his fist in a grateful salute as he said, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist Chen."
"You''re wee, Fellow Daoist Li. Everything I''ve told you is information that''s readily avable, so there''s really no need for you to thank me," Chen Lin replied as he returned the salute.
With that, Han Li departed from the stone chamber.
After spending a full hour in the blood pond, he had already mostly recovered from his injuries, and he quickly returned to the exchange hall.
From there, he strode over to the stone table, then exchanged all twenty-one of his profound points for seven Tarot Beast Cores before making his way back to the ninth area.
ording to what he had just been told by Chen Lin, he was only going to have two to three months to prepare before Toxic Dragon came out of seclusion, so he had no time to waste.
"Fellow Daoist Li, I heard you managed to y a C tier Tiger Scaled Beast! How impressive!"
"You''ve only just joined our ninth area, yet you''re already putting all of us to shame, Fellow Daoist Li."
As soon as Han Li returned to the ninth area, several people immediately approached him with warm greetings as if they were old friends.
"You''re all far too kind," Han Li replied in a cating fashion.
While he despised these fence-sitting diators, he didn''t want to make enemies out of them.
Right at this moment, Han Li sensed a cold and resentful gaze, and he turned to discover none other than Scarface.
As soon as their eyes met, a hint of fear and hatred immediately shed through Scarface''s eyes, and he made his way into his own room, seemingly afraid of further confrontation.
Han Li thought back to what Chen Lin had told him, and his brows furrowed slightly as he also entered his own room.
Chapter 866: Sinister Plot
Chapter 866: Sinister Plot
Only after returning to his room in the ninth area did Han Li heave a faint sigh of relief.
After taking a moment topose himself, he closed his eyes and began channeling the Wingform Ascension Arts to refine the Tiger Scaled Beast Core in his body.
There were many ways through which one could store the starpower in a beast core in their body for rtively long periods of time, but some of the starpower would inevitably fade away over time, and it was not an easy task to obtain fresh beast cores.
Even though he had ultimately managed to win this battle, the process had been far too close forfort.
If he wanted to survive, then he would have to elevate his own powers as quickly as possible, and only by constantly growing stronger would he have a chance of leaving this ce alive.
The Tiger Scaled Beast Core gradually melted into a ball of starpower in his body.
As a C tier scaled beast, the Tiger Scaled Beast''s core contained a sizable amount of starpower, several times that of the Tarot Beast Cores that he had purchased. However, just like the Tarot Beast Cores, the starpower in the Tiger Scaled Beast Cores was also very chaotic, and it immediately began rampaging within his body.
However, even as the starpower began to seep out of his body, he remainedpletely unconcerned, and sure enough, it didn''t take long before a burst of suction force emerged from the opening of the Heaven Controlling Vial to suck in the dissipating starpower again.
Having already consumed several Tarot Beast Cores, Han Li had discovered that the Heaven Controlling Vial''s absorption and purification of starpower was rather simr to its absorption of moonlight, but the difference was that this process was taking ce within his body, while its absorption of starlight took ce outside his body.
It appeared that starpower and the energy in moonlight had to be simr in certain areas.
If it weren''t for the Heaven Controlling Vial, Han Li estimated that he wouldn''t even have been able to absorb 0.1% of the starpower in the Tarot Beast Cores, and he would perhaps have fared a little better with the Tiger Scaled Beast Core, but even then, he would''ve only been able to absorb 1% to 2% of its starpower at the very most.
In contrast, with the Heaven Controlling Vial, he was able to absorb close to all of the starpower in the beast cores, and the difference was night and day.
Perhaps this was why consuming scaled beast cores had a far more pronounced effect on him than for Shi Chuankong.
Han Li continued to channel his Wingform Ascension Arts, directing the starpower toward the third profound acupoint.
Several dayster, another speck of bright starlight appeared on his calf, and this third acupoint also began to open with the tremendous influx of starpower.
Han Li''s eyes remained shut as he continued to cultivate, and the rays of white starlight emanating from the white tree root up above were also shining down upon him.
Right at this moment, three tiny white insects descended from the white tree root.
The insects were as thin as strands of hair, and they had translucent white bodies, making them almost indiscernible from the white starlight around them.
The three insects remainedpletely still as they drifted toward Han Li, who was focused entirely on his cultivation at this moment, so he remainedpletely oblivious to the insects.
The three insects quickly descended onto his shoulder, and as soon as they came into contact with his skin, they immediately fused into his body.
Upon entering Han Li''s body, the insects suddenly seemed to havee to life, and they began rapidly burrowing their way toward his heart.
Han Li detected the insects as soon as they came into contact with his body, and his eyes instantly sprang open as an rmed look appeared on his face.
Right at this moment, the ck Tribtion Centipede clinging to his heart suddenly stirred ever so slightly, and a faint ck gleam appeared in its eyes, as if it had woken up.
At the moment, the ck Tribtion Centipede posed a direct threat to his life, so he had to keep it in check at all cost.
With that in mind, all of the muscles, tendons, and bones in his body began to vibrate at his behest, sending bursts of vibrational force coursing through his entire body.
As a result, the three white insects were slowed down significantly, but they were still squirming toward his heart.
A grim look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon sensing this, and he immediately tapped his right middle and index fingers against his own chest three times in rapid session, sending three bursts of force prating into his own body to strike the three white insects.
The three insects instantly stiffened momentarily, but they were able to remainrgely unharmed, and they continued in their advance after a brief moment of immobilization.
At this point, they were already quite close to Han Li''s heart, and the ck Tribtion Centipede was bing more and more active by the second.
An urgent look appeared on Han Li''s face as a burst of bright translucent light shed over his be, and three tiny translucent swords shot forth before piercing into his chest.
The translucent swords were substantial objects that pierced three holes into Han Li''s skin, but he paid no heed to the injuries as he guided the three swords with his spiritual sense, sending them burrowing into his own body to strike the three white insects.
The three insects possessed remarkably resilient bodies, but they stood no chance against the tiny swords manifested by Han Li''s Sword Observation Arts, and they were sliced into pieces before fallingpletely still.
As soon as the three white insects were killed, the ck Tribtion Centipede instantly settled down again, much to Han Li''s relief.
Right at this moment, his brows suddenly furrowed slightly as he threw up a small mouthful of blood.
In the process of killing the three white insects, the Spiritual Sense Swords had inflicted quite a bit of damage onto his body.
However, instead of tending to his internal injuries, three translucent chains shot out of Han Li''s be, then burrowed their way into his wounds to drag out the dismembered bodies of the three white insects.
In the process, the wounds on his chest were opened up even further, and they were bleeding profusely.
Han Li channeled his Great Universe Origin Arts momentarily, and specks of white starlight immediately converged toward the wounds on his chest, sealing them in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, Han Li was staring intently at the bodies of the white insects with a cold look in his eyes.
If he hadn''t reacted in time and used his Sword Observation Arts to y the three insects, they would''ve most likely already burrowed their way to his heart by now, and judging from how restless the ck Tribtion Centipede had be, the oue certainly wouldn''t have been pretty.
It was clear that these white insects were naturally found in the arena, so Han Li immediately began to suspect that someone was plotting against him, and the prime suspect was none other than Scarface.
After taking a deep breath topose himself, Han Li cleaned the blood from his body, then emerged from his room.
At this moment, there were quite a few diators gathered in the cave, and Scarface was among them.
Everyone extended warm greetings to Han Li upon catching sight of him, while a slightly unnatural look shed through Scarface''s eyes as he turned his head to the side in silence.
Han Li returned everyone''s greetings, then took a subtle nce at Scarface before making his way toward Chen Lin''s room.
He knocked on the stone door of Chen Lin''s room a few times, and shortly thereafter, the door swung open to reveal Chen Lin.
"Fellow Daoist Li? What brings you here today?" Chen Lin asked as a slightly surprised smile appeared on his face.
"Can Ie in, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Han Li asked with a solemn expression.
"Of course," Chen Lin replied as he stepped to the side and made an inviting hand gesture.
After Han Li entered the room, the stone door swung shut again.
Chen Lin invited Han Li to take a seat at the stone table, then asked, "Did something happen, Fellow Daoist Li? You don''t appear to be in a very good mood."
Han Li immediately gave Chen Lin a recount of what had just happened to him in his room.
After hearing Han Li''s recount, Chen Lin sprang to his feet as he eximed in a stunned voice, "You managed to survive that? That''s incredible!"
"Why do you say that, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Han Li asked.
"If I''m mistaken, the white insects that you just described are Heart Pitting Insects, creatures that can only be found in the Heart Devouring Valley. These things are sworn enemies of ck Tribtion Centipedes, and if they run into each other, a fight to the death is sure to ensue. If you had allowed them to reach your heart, then your fate would''ve been sealed," Chen Lin replied with tightly furrowed brows.
"It sounds like I was very fortunate to have survived then," Han Li mused with a wry smile.
"Was it Scarface?" Chen Lin asked.
"Who else could it have been?" Han Li sighed.
"Under normal circumstances, diators aren''t permitted from leaving their respective areas, so he''s the only one in our ninth area capable of getting his hands on Heart Pitting Insects," Chen Lin mused.
"Oh? Does he have some type of special privilege?" Han Li asked.
"I wouldn''t quite go that far, it''s just that he has a rtive who''s working as an administrator in the city lord''s manor, and through that connection, he''s able to bring in some things from outside the arena to trade with other diators. On top of that, as I mentionedst time, he''s on very good terms with Toxic Dragon, so everyone generally stays out of his way, and that''s why he''s be more and more arrogant over time," Chen Lin exined.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive expression.
Prior to this, he hadn''t seen Scarface as a threat, but it seemed that he would have to be on his guard.
Chapter 867: Second Arena Battle
Chapter 867: Second Arena Battle
"Thank you for telling me all of this, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li said as he stood up to depart.
"Don''t do anything rash, Fellow Daoist Li. Scarface on his own is nothing to be afraid of, but as the saying goes, before you beat a dog, you have to look at who its owner is. For Toxic Dragon, Scarface is a very obedient and useful dog, so if you kill him, you''ll riskpletely turning Toxic Dragon against yourself," Chen Lin hurriedly said.
"I''ve already turned Toxic Dragon against myself, haven''t I? If he''s going toe after me anyway, then what difference does it make if I take Scarface out of the picture or not?" Han Li countered.
"Even if you''re not afraid of Toxic Dragon, you still have to follow the rules of the arena. Personal conflicts are permitted in our arena in private, and they''re even encouraged to a certain extent, but battls of life and death can only take ce in the arena. If you kill someone in private, you''ll be in a lot of trouble, and that''s why I''m telling you not to be rash," Chen Lin continued.
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and he sat back down again.
Chen Lin also sat down beside him as he said with a relieved smile, "I''m d I managed to talk some sense into you."
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li said with a smile.
"It''s fine. Before you leave, I have something for you," Chen Lin said after a brief moment of hesitation.
Before Han Li had a chance to ask any questions, Chen Lin made his way into his inner chamber before bringing out a ck stone box.
"Scarface isn''t the type who knows when to give up, so take this for now. It may save you some trouble in the future," Chen Lin said as he offered the ck stone box to Han Li in a slightly reluctant manner.
"What''s this?" Han Li asked.
"It''s a Heavenly Star Shell. You''ve seen this thing at the exchange center, right? There''s no devilish qi in this godforsaken ce, nor can devilish treasures be used, so it''s very difficult to set up any restrictions. Hence, a Heavenly Star Shell is considered to be quite an advanced tool around these parts," Chen Lin exined with a smile.
Upon hearing mention of the term "Heavenly Star Shell", Han Li immediately recalled that he had indeed seen the name in the exchange hall. He didn''t know what it was used for, but it was quite expensive, and that was why it had left an impression on him.
"I can''t ept something so precious, Fellow Daoist Chen. I''m already extremely grateful for all of the information that you''ve imparted upon me," Han Li refused.
"You misunderstand my intentions, Fellow Daoist Li. I would like to give this to you for free, but I''m afraid my finances won''t allow for that," Chen Lin said with a wry smile.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and Chen Lin exined, "This is an old Heavenly Star Shell of mine, and much of its starpower has already been exhausted. I got into some conflicts with some other diators some time ago, so I purchased a better one in order to ensure my own safety, and this one''s just been sitting around ever since.
¡°I know you won''t have many profound points at the moment, so I can sell this Heavenly Star Shell to you for half price."
Han Li was tempted by the offer, but he replied in a resigned manner, "Truth be told, I''ve already exchanged all of my profound points for beast cores, so I don''t have anything that I can give you in exchange aside from Tarot Beast Cores."
"It''s fine. It''s not every day that I meet another diator who I can get along with, so you can take this Heavenly Star Shell for now. As for thepensation, I can wait until you''ve won a couple more arena battles," Chen Lin said with a smile.
Han Li hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then nodded in response.
"In that case, I''ll have to thank you again, Fellow Daoist Chen."
He epted the ck stone box as he spoke, then opened it to reveal a palm-sized white shell with manyplex patterns on its surface sitting inside.
"I''ve used this thing before, so it has my mark, but all you need to do is drip some of your blood essence onto it, and it''ll recognize you as its new owner. All you need to do from there is ce it in your room, and it''ll release ayer of starpower that epasses the entirety of your door. That way, no one will be able to enter your room unless they break in by force, and little things like Heart Pitting Insects will also be kept out," Chen Lin exined.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Chen, I''ll remember what you''ve done for me," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute, then promptly departed.
After returning to his room, Han Li pulled out the Heavenly Star Shell, then dripped a drop of blood essence onto it.
The drop of blood essence created a red stain on the shell, which then vanished amid a sh of white light.
At the same time, all of the patterns on its surface lit up, releasing ayer of hazy white light.
Han Li set the shell down beside his door, and the white light immediately epassed the entire door, including even all of the gaps around it.
After inspecting the Heavenly Star Shell momentarily with his spiritual sense, he discovered that the starpower within it was still quite abundant, so it was clear that Chen Lin had overstated how much he had used it in the past.
After some contemtion, Han Li sat back down onto his stone bed, then swallowed a Tarot Beast Core and began cultivating his Wingform Ascension Arts.
......
A month flew by in a sh.
Inside Han Li''s room, the white tree root on the ceiling was still glowing faintly, and he was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed on his bed. At this point, he had already opened a total of forty-one profound acupoints.
In addition to the profound acupoint that he had opened after consuming the Tiger Scaled Beast Core, he had consumed seven Tarot Beast Cores in session to open up two more profound acupoints, both of which were also on his legs.
Right at this moment, a faint buzzing sound suddenly rang out in his room, and a burst of ck light began shing incessantly by his bed.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes, and his brows furrowed slightly as he picked up the shing badge by his bedside.
He slowly rose to his feet before making his way out of his room, and he discovered that there were more people than usual gathered in the ninth area, indicating that there were perhaps also some other arena battles taking ce.
Han Li passed straight through the exchange hall to arrive in the waiting hall, and the horned man waiting there immediately called out to him.
As the only human diator, he had left quite a deep impression on the horned man.
"All of the tforms for the ninth area are currently upied, so you''ll have to wait until one of the ongoing battles ends before you can go in," the horned man said with a smile, speaking much more amicably thanst time.
"It''s fine, I''ll just wait," Han Li replied with a nod, then sat down with his legs crossed near in the waiting hall.
Around fifteen minutester, one of the battles finally concluded. Both of the diators participating in the battle had perished, and as a result, the city lord''s manor had made a killing.
Han Li rose to his feet upon hearing themotion from the spectators outside, and he was greeted by the sight of two sets of diator remains being carried in from outside. One of them had a huge hole in their head, while the other had had their chestpletely torn open.
After waiting for a while longer for the tform to be repaired, the horned man entered the venue to announce the next battle.
"Everyone, I''m sure all of you still remember the human who miraculously defeated that Tiger Scaled Beastst month. Today, he returns to our arena, and he''ll be going up against another C tier scaled beast, a Mountain Plowing Ape. He only possesses fewer than forty profound acupoints, will he be able to pull off another stunning upset?"
The horned man''s announcement immediately sent the entire arena into a frenzy, and some of the spectators had already begun yelling Han Li''s alias.
"Li Feiyu! Li Feiyu! Li Feiyu..."
Of course, there was also no shortage of spectators rooting against him, some of whom felt that he had only been luckyst time, while others simply despised him for the fact that he was a human.
Han Li could hear some of the cheers and jeers being directed at him from inside the waiting, but he remainedpletely unfazed and disinterested.
"The battle between Li Feiyu and the Mountain Plowing Ape is about to begin soon, so ce your best now. Once the battlemences, no further bets will be taken. Once again, the odds for this battle are 5:1!" the horned man dered.
The atmosphere instantly became even more heated after the odds were dered, and most of the spectators still chose to bet on the Mountain Plowing Ape, but many were considering betting on Han Li this time.
Inside one of the VIP booths, Chen Yang was resting against arge ck chair, but this time, he wasn''t apanied by the woman fromst time, and Hu Bi wasn''t with him, either.
"I don''t know how you managed to win thest battle, but you really shouldn''t have challenged another C tier scaled beast, particrly not a Mountain Plowing Ape. You may have pulled off a miraclest time, but lightning isn''t going to strike twice," he murmured to himself with slightly narrowed eyes.
Momentster, the sound of a gong being struck rang out, indicating the imminentmencement of the battle.
The stone door was slowly opened, and Han Li emerged from the waiting hall, looking as calm as ever.
Chapter 868: Life or Death
In contrast with the near-unanimous chorus of boos Han Li had received during his first battle, the reception was clearly a little warmer this time.
Ofcourse, Han Li didn''t really care about this, and he continued to stare at the stone door across from him on the other side of the arena.
As the stone door slowly swung open, he immediately heard a violent roar ringing out from within the dark tunnel.
Immediately thereafter, a huge ape that was over thirty feet tall emerged. Its body waspletely covered in green scales, and its arms were almost thicker than its own torso.
Its entire body was riddled with scars left behind by fists, des, and ws, clearly indicating that it had endured many past battles, so it was most likely going to be even more formidable than Han Li had anticipated.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as a solemn look appeared on his face.
While he was observing the Mountain Plowing Ape, it was slowly moving along the edge of the tform, seemingly observing him as well.
With neither of the twobatants making a move, the spectators immediately began hurling torrents of abuse to express their dissatisfaction.
Right at this moment, the Mountain Plowing Ape suddenly stopped in its tracks, then raised its massive arms up high before mming them down onto the ground.The entire tform shuddered violently as a burst of tremendous force surged through the ground, shattering one ck stone b after another.
Even though Han Li was already doing his best to remain steady, he still couldn''t help but sway with the trembling ground.
After the dust settled, the Mountain Plowing Ape was already nowhere to be seen, and Han Li immediately looked up just as a huge shadow loomed overhead.
As it turned out, the Mountain Plowing Ape had appeared directly above him and was plummeting down from overhead.
Han Li immediately felt the air constrict around him, and the pressure exerted by the Mountain Plowing Ape struck him with a sense of asphyxiation.
Right at this moment, the two Wingform Ascension Arts profound acupoints on his leg lit up, and he glided over the ground, reappearing over a hundred feet away in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, the Mountain Plowing Ape crashed down onto the ground where he had been standing just a moment ago, smashing a huge crater into the tform.
Before Han Li had a chance to gather himself, the Mountain Plowing Ape sprang out of the crater at an incredible speed, swinging one of its enormous fists at Han Li''s head with tremendous power.
Han Li took a step back, and all of the profound acupoints on his body lit up in unison as he retaliated with a punch of his own.
A loud thump rang out as the two fists shed, and Han Li felt his entire skeleton shudder within his own body from the force of the collision, and a string of cracks and pops rang out incessantly from all of his joints.
The Mountain Plowing Ape seemed to be rather taken aback by the fact that Han Li had chosen to take such a direct approach, and it let loose a thunderous roar as it forced its fist down with even greater force.
As a result, Han Li waspletely overwhelmed, and he was sent tumbling back through the air, rolling end over end over ten times before crashing into the wall on the edge of the tform.
His entire body was in excruciating pain from the devastating blow, and he was sorely regretting his decision to test out his own physical prowess against the Mountain Plowing Ape.
After sending Han Li flying, the Mountain Plowing Ape immediately charged forward in pursuit before swinging another punch at him, and Han Li hurriedly crouched down to just barely evade the attack.
He then stomped down onto the ground with both feet tounch himself up into the air, and ayer of white light emerged over his fist as he threw a punch into the Mountain Plowing Ape''s left kneecap with all his might.
A dull thump rang out as the Mountain Plowing Ape''s knee was knocked to the side, causing it to teeter unsteadily.
Han Li immediately pounced on this opportunity, throwing another punch straight into the Mountain Plowing Ape''s forehead.
The Mountain Plowing Ape was thrown off bnce by the consecutive blows, and it fell onto its back with a loud thud.
Han Li charged forward upon seeing this, then sprang up into the air before channeling both his Wingform Ascension Arts and his Great Universe Origin Arts as he stomped down upon the Mountain Plowing Ape''s head.
The Mountain Plowing Ape didn''t have time to raise its arms to defend itself, so it could only open its cavernous mouth to let loose a high-pitched shriek.
A burst of hazy white light appeared within its oral cavity, and within the white light was a sharp beast tooth that was aimed at Han Li''s chest.
An rmed look shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and the profound acupoints on his legs abruptly brightened as he stomped down onto the air below, changing directions while in mid-air.
Even though Han Li was able to evade the beast tooth, he was still grazed by the white light around the tooth, which instantly tore through his True Extreme Film before inflicting a long gash in front of chest that was deep enough to expose bone.
Han Li gave an involuntary groan of pain, but he gritted his teeth and fought through the pain as he swung a fist down onto the Mountain Plowing Ape''s be, mming its head deep into the ground.
Even though he appeared to be in a dominant position, Han Li didn''t let down his guard, and he continued to rain down one punch after another onto the Mountain Plowing Ape''s head.
At this point, all of the spectators had erupted into thunderous cheers, and almost everyone was cheering Han Li on with fric vigor.
Inside the VIP booth, Chen Yang was watching the unfolding battle with a contemtive look on his face, and a hint of wariness shed through his eyes.
Some timeter, Han Li had already lost count of how many punches he had thrown. At this point, the Mountain Plowing Ape''s head waspletely embedded into the ground, while the skin and flesh on the back of his fists had peeled away to reveal the bones underneath.
After ceasing his relentless barrage, he looked down at the motionless Mountain Plowing Ape, then reached down with the middle and index fingers of his right hand before plunging them into the Mountain Plowing Ape''s temple in a sharp and swift motion.
A dull thump rang out, but his fingers were unable to pierce through the ape''s skull.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s expression changed drastically as he sprang back in retreat.
Almost at the exact same moment, the Mountain Plowing Ape''s giant arms swung at him from both sides without any warning. Thankfully, he had taken timely evasive measures. Otherwise, the consequences would''ve been dire.
The Mountain Plowing Ape pressed its elbows against the ground, then let loose a low roar as it forcibly pulled its own head out of the deep crater on the tform.
The spectators erupted into another chorus of raucous cheers upon seeing this, but as soon as they caught sight of the Mountain Plowing Ape''s face, the cheers instantly turned into mockingughter.
The Mountain Plowing Ape''s nose had beenpletely bashed in by Han Li, creating arge hole. At the same time, one of its eye sockets had also been broken, and the fluids from its destroyed eyeball were mixing with its blood to create a gruesome sight.
In contrast with the spectators, Han Li didn''t find the Mountain Plowing Ape''s appearanceical at all.
Instead, he couldn''t help but feel a little sorry for the Mountain Plowing Ape as he looked at the multitude of injuries on its body.
In this arena, he was no different from this Mountain Plowing Ape. Both of them were just instruments for the entertainment of others.
Even if he were to emerge victorious in this battle, who was to say that his luck wouldn''t run out someday?
However, no matter how sorry he felt for the Mountain Plowing Ape, this was a matter of life and death, so he certainly wasn''t going to hold back.
The Mountain Plowing Ape seemed to have beenpletely enraged by the injuries that it had sustained, and its only remaining eye had turned bright red.
It let loose a thunderous roar as it charged straight at Han Li, then sprang up into the air before swinging its fists down at him with all its might.
Through the gaps between the scales on the Mountain Plowing Ape''s arms, Han Li could see specks of white light, indicating that it was injecting all of its power into its arms to try and kill Han Li in a single blow.
In response, Han Li channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts, and in the blink of an eye, he had moved to over a hundred feet away.
However, before he even had a chance to steady himself, the Mountain Plowing Ape''s fists had already mmed into the ground, and the entire tform trembled violently as a string of loud explosions rang out in rapid session.
Countless loose rocks were flung up into the air alongside an enormous cloud of dust, and Han Li had only justnded on the ground when he was sent flying back through the air along with arge stone b.
By the time hended on the ground again, the force from the Mountain Plowing Ape''s fists were still surging through the tform, and as a result, he was thrown up into the air again, with the cycle repeating itself over and over again.
At this point, the entire tform had already been reduced to a jagged mess.
Chapter 869: Burgeoning Reputation
Han Li only just barely steadied himself when the Mountain Plowing Ape let loose another thunderous roar, and it rushed directly at Han Li, sending countless loose rocks flying in all directions.
Its punch was too fast for Han Li to evade, so he could only cross his arms in front of his own chest to form a protective barrier.
A loud thump rang out, and Han Li felt a numb sensation shoot through both of his arms, following which he was sent flying like a ragdoll before crashing into the wall.
The Mountain Plowing Ape''s punch packed such immense power that he bounced straight off the wall, and his internal organs were churning within his body.
Blood began to gush to the base of his throat, yet before he even had a chance to throw it up, he was struck by another devastating blow that sent him crashing into the wall again.
He gritted his teeth against the excruciating pain in his body, and in the instant that he struck the wall, he twisted around before pushing off against the wall with his legs, trying to leap to safety.
However, he had only just risen up into the air when a giant hand from the Mountain Plowing Ape came swinging down upon him, and he could raise his arms to the heavens to defend himself.
Another loud thump rang out, and this time, Han Li was smashed into the ground,pletely inundated by loose rocks.
The Mountain Plowing Ape immediately pressed its advantage, descending upon Han Li before throwing several more punches into the ground.All of a sudden, the roles from earlier had been reversed, and it was Han Li''s turn to defend himself against the Mountain Plowing Ape''s enraged assault.
At this point, a cloud of dust had risen up over the entire venue, making it impossible for the spectators to see what was happening.
"Looks like I overestimated him," Chen Yang murmured to himself as he rose to his feet in the VIP booth. "What is the city lord thinking? Does he really want him to die?"
Amid the dust and wreckage, Han Li''s entire body was drenched in blood, yet his arms were still raised in front of himself, protecting his heart and other internal organs.
His vision was already blurry with blood, and his teeth were chattering in his jaw. He attempted to draw upon the bloodline power in his body over and over again, but for some reason, it refused to respond.
It was as if the bloodline power in his body had somehow been suppressed and fallen into a dormant state.
If things were to continue like this, then he wasn''t going to be able tost much longer.
Right at this moment, his eyes abruptly widened, and a streak of translucent light abruptly shot out of his be before vanishing into thin air.
In the next instant, a tiny translucent sword appeared several dozen feet in front of him, and it passed straight through the Mountain Plowing Ape''s fist before piercing into its broken eyeball.
All of a sudden, the Mountain Plowing Ape''s fist drew to an abrupt halt no more than three feet away from Han Li''s head.
The spectators in the stands could only hear the repeated booming impacts of the Mountain Plowing Ape''s fists, but they were unable to see anything through the dense smoke. All of a sudden, they felt a burst of formidable spiritual sense sh through the air, following which a strong gust of wind swept forth in all directions, blowing all of the dust away.
With vision finally restored, everyone discovered that the Mountain Plowing Ape had already fallen to the ground, while Han Li''s body was mangled beyond recognition, but he was still trudging arduously onto the Mountain Plowing Ape''s head.
The Mountain Plowing Ape''s chest was still rising and falling, indicating that it wasn''t dead yet, and that was indeed the case.
Just now, Han Li had only used his Spiritual Sense Sword to destroy its soul, reducing it to an empty husk, but technically, its body was still alive.
After climbing onto the Mountain Plowing Ape''s head, Han Li plunged his arm into its broken eye socket, then dug around momentarily before withdrawing his arm with tightly gritted teeth.
As he spread his hand open, a fist-sized beast core was revealed in his grasp, and the heaving of the Mountain Plowing Ape''s finally subsided.
None of the spectators knew what to make of what they had just witnessed, and they had no idea how Han Li had managed to emerge victorious.
"What? He won?" Chen Yang eximed with a stunned expression, and he was alsopletely in the dark.
All of a sudden, a spectator who had made a risky bet on Han Li let loose an ted cheer, and this was followed by a raucous wave of cheers.
Han Li''s hand was trembling uncontrobly as he stuffed the beast core into his own mouth.
At this moment, blood was flowing out of all of his orifices, and before he knew it, he had fallen unconscious.
¡¡
By the time he woke up again, he was greeted by a strong bloody aroma, and he discovered that he was leaning against the edge of the blood pond with ayer of bright red mist permeating through the air around him.
He attempted to lift an arm, and sharp pangs of excruciating pain instantly speared through his entire body.
He gritted his teeth through the pain as he wiped a hand over his own face, then plunged his entire face into the blood pond for a more thorough clean.
Right at his moment, a familiar voice rang out from behind him.
"I''ve already allowed you to stay in there for an extra fifteen minutes. If you want to stay even longer, then you''ll have to spend some of your profound points."
Han Li turned to discover the horned man standing behind him, and he remarked in a cold voice, "If it wasn''t for your advice, I wouldn''t even be in here right now."
"Don''t try to me me, take a look at that guy over there," the horned man chuckled coldly.
Han Li stood up from the pond with great difficulty upon hearing this, and he turned to the direction that the horned man was pointing in to discover a dark red object resting against the wall. Han Li was just barely able to identify the object as a set of mangled remains.
"Because you chose the Mountain Plowing Ape, he had to choose the even more formidable ck Scaled Elephant, and even though he had seven more profound acupoints than you, he still ended up like that," the horned man said in an expressionless manner.
"In that case, why didn''t you set up a battle between the two of us?" Han Li asked.
"He''s not your average diator. Instead, he''s a free diator, and he voluntarily came here to participate in arena battles of his own ord. In order to earn more profound points, he chose to battle a scaled beast, so we naturally had to respect his wishes. Having said that, as soon as you enter the arena, your life is in your own hands, and he paid the ultimate price for his decision," the horned man said.
Han Li didn''t entirely believe what he had been told, and he strode silently out of the blood pond before making his way directly to the exchange hall.
Due to the fact that he had just defeated a bona fide C tier scaled beast, he had received ten additional profound pointspared with his previous battle. This time, he also purchased seven Tarot Beast Cores, leaving nine profound points in reserve.
After returning to his room, Han Li took some time to treat his own injuries, then sat down with his legs crossed on his stone bed as he began to meditate.
The beast core of the Mountain Plowing Ape contained even more starpower than the Tiger Scaled Beast Core, and it had an even greater enhancement effect on his physical cultivation.
¡¡
Close to a month flew by in a sh.
After absorbing the tremendous starpower in the Mountain Plowing Ape''s beast core, Han Li had devoured all of the Tarot Beast Cores as well, and not only had he opened a forty-second profound acupoint, a forty-third one was also beginning to budge.
This rate of progress was utterly astonishing, but thankfully, the number of profound acupoints that he had opened wasn''t particrly exceptional among the diators, and he hadn''t participated in many battles, either, so he hadn''t attracted much attention.
Even though some people were already aware that he had opened over forty profound acupoints, the increase wasn''t significant, so he could still make up some excuses. After all, there were certain methods that allowed one to drastically enhance their powers in a short time at some long-term costs.
However, he knew that this wasn''t a permanent solution, so he would have to find a way to conceal his profound acupoints.
After he fully recovered from his injuries, he applied to take part in another arena battle after a month had psed since his previous one.
This time, he was up against another diator who had opened thirty-eight profound acupoints, as opposed to a scaled beast.
His opponent had fewer profound acupoints than him, but they were more concentrated, mostly distributed over his right arm and hand, so his offensive prowess wasn''t inferior to that of the Mountain Plowing Ape.
However, at the same time, he also had very clear weaknesses in the form of hisckluster speed and the rtively frailty of the rest of his body. Hence, Han Li was able to quickly break all three of his other limbs with the exception of his right arm, forcing him to surrender.
From that point onward, Han Li began to build a reputation in the ninth area. As a result, his odds suffered a significant dip, but his battles were always sure to attract enormous crowds.
Han Li had won this battle rtively easily, remaining rtively unscathed in the process, so he took part in another battle in just half a month, much to the horned man''s surprise.
Over the following three months, Han Li participated in a total of five arena battles, two of which were very close victories, and he quickly made a name for himself as an incredibly tenacious and resourceful human diator.
As a result, many of the other ninth area diators had begun trying to befriend him.
One night, Han Li was cultivating the Wingform Ascension Arts when he suddenly heard someone knocking on his door, and he opened the door to discover Chen Lin standing outside.
Chapter 870: Gu Qianxuns Invitation
Chapter 870: Gu Qianxun''s Invitation
"Come in, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li said as he made an inviting hand gesture, and Chen Lin duly obliged.
After the two of them had taken a seat, a slightly awkward look appeared on Han Li''s face as he said, "I''llpensate you for the Heavenly Star Shell as soon as possible. It''s just that I''ve spent all of my profound points on my cultivation recently, so..."
Chen Lin raised a hand to interrupt him as he interjected with a faint smile, "It''s fine, Fellow Daoist Li, I understand the situation that you''re in, and I''m not here to demand payment from you. Instead, I wanted to discuss something else with you."
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li prompted.
"As I''m sure you''re aware, Toxic Dragon will being out of seclusion soon, and he''ll be sure toe after you once he does. Have you made any preparations?" Chen Lin asked with a serious expression.
"How else can I prepare? I''ll just have to face him head-on," Han Li replied, and Chen Lin was rather taken aback by his calm demeanor.
"I understand that you''re confident in your own abilities, but Toxic Dragon is not to be underestimated. I have a way to help you avert this crisis, would you be interested in hearing it?" Chen Lin asked in a mysterious manner.
"Of course," Han Li replied.
"Toxic Dragon is unmatched in our ninth area, but that doesn''t make him invincible in the arena. There are several other area leaders who are more powerful than him, and I just so happen to be familiar with Mistress Gu Qianxun. If you want, I can ask her to mediate the conflict between you and Toxic Dragon," Chen Lin said.Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this.
He had heard of Gu Qianxun during his time in the arena, and he knew that she was the leader of the first area and the undisputed most powerful area leader. On top of that, the fact that she was a woman only further contributed to her legend.
"I''ve never even met Fellow Daoist Gu before, how can I expect her to help me?" Han Li asked.
"Mistress Gu Qianxun has seen a couple of your battles, and she''s very interested in you. Truth be told, she was actually the one who asked me toe and see you after hearing about your conflict with Toxic Dragon," Chen Lin said.
"Even with Fellow Daoist Gu''s powers, surely this is not something that she''d get involved in lightly. What would I need to do in exchange for her help?" Han Li asked.
"To tell you the truth, Mistress Gu Qianxun is very interested in you, and she would like to invite you to join her Myriad Bone Alliance," Chen Lin revealed.
Even though the arena was split up into ten areas, there were also some individual powers formed by diators from different areas, the most prominent of which was Gu Qianxuan''s Myriad Bone Alliance, which had members from all areas.
This was not something that Green Goat City was opposed to. In fact, it was subtly encouraged.
The more circles and factions there were among diators, the more conflicts would arise, and that gave rise to rivalries that werepped up by the spectators.
Han Li considered the offer momentarily, then shook his head as he replied, "I appreciate the kind offer, but I''ve grown quite ustomed to a free and autonomous lifestyle, so I''m afraid that I''ll have to refuse."
He didn''t know much about Gu Qianxun and the Myriad Bone Alliance, but he did know that Gu Qianxun was an extremely tough and unyielding woman, so in exchange for her protection, his freedom was most likely going to be severely restricted.
He was already very displeased at being forced to be an arena diator, so he certainly didn''t want to have to deal with further restrictions. On top of that, he still wasn''t very familiar with the arena yet, so it would be unwise to join the Myriad Bone Alliance blindly.
As for his conflict with Toxic Dragon, if worse came to worst, he would just have to resort to his Spirit Refinement Technique.
"Please consider this matter carefully, Fellow Daoist Li, Toxic Dragon is not to be underestimated," Chen Lin urged in a solemn manner.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Chen, but I''ve already made up my mind. Please pass on my gratitude and apologies to Fellow Daoist Gu," Han Li replied.
"In that case, I won''t try to dissuade you any further," Chen Lin sighed, then stood up to depart.
Following Chen Lin''s departure, Han Li sat back down onto his bed, then closed his eyes to continue his cultivation, and soon, all forty-three of his profound acupoints lit up in unison.
As he opened more and more profound acupoints, the amount of starpower required to open more acupoints also increased.
Hence, he was only able to open a single profound acupoint ofte, which was much slower progress than before.
With that in mind, he devoured another Tarot Beast Core before closing his eyes once again.
¡¡
After leaving Han Li''s room, Chen Lin made his way out of the ninth area and soon arrived in the exchange hall.
There were two gorgeous women standing outside the exchange hall, observing the za down below.
Both of them had very tall and proportionate figures, and one of them was wearing a purple dress, while the other was dressed in yellow.
The woman in purple turned around as if she had detected Chen Lin''s approach, and it was revealed that she was a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties with a cold and proud look on her face.
Chen Lin gave the woman in purple a nod, then strode over to the woman in yellow as he said, "I''m sorry, Alliance Leader, I wasn''t able toplete the mission you assigned to me."
"What? He turned you down? Is he not aware of how powerful Toxic Dragon is? What an arrogant and ungrateful bastard!" the woman in purple snapped in a cold voice before the woman in yellow even had a chance to reply.
Gu Qianxuan slowly turned around, and it was revealed that she was rather ordinary in appearance, slightlycking in beauty evenpared with the woman in purple beside her.
However, there was a sense of unppableposure about her, and she had a pair of bright and vibrant eyes, as well as exceptional glowing skin that made up for the inadequacies in her appearance.
If anyone were to gaze upon the two women, their eyes would inevitably be drawn to Gu Qianxun first.
"It''s fine, I already anticipated that this would be his answer. I suppose we''re going to have a good show to watch soon," Gu Qianxun said with her faint smile, and her voice was very alluring, warm and gentle, but tinged with a hint of authority.
Chen Lin was very relieved by Gu Qianxun''s amicable reaction to the bad news.
"A good show? You think far too too highly of him! There are countless diators in our Myriad Bone Alliance who have just as many profound acupoints as him, what makes him so special?" the woman in purple scoffed in a disdainful manner.
"While it''s true that he hasn''t opened that many profound acupoints, he''s an extremely seasoned fighter, and even against enemies more powerful than himself, he''s always able to remain calm and find ways to makeebacks, and that''s a very rare trait," Gu Qianxun replied.
"So what? There''s such a massive gap between him and Toxic Dragon that none of hisposure and resourcefulness will even matter in the end," the woman in purple countered.
"I suppose you''re right," Gu Qianxun said with a faint smile, and a vindicated smile appeared on the face of the woman in purple upon hearing this.
"It sounds like Li Feiyu''s truly in a pickle then," Chen Lin remarked in a grim voice.
"That''ll depend on how sharp his eyes are," Gu Qianxun replied before departing, followed by the woman in purple.
"What''s that supposed to mean?" Chen Lin murmured to himself with a perplexed expression.
......
A day and a night passed by in a sh.
On this day, the door of Toxic Dragon''s room swung open, and an enormous figure emerged from within.
Scarface was already waiting outside, and he immediately approached Toxic Dragon.
Almost all of the diators in the ninth area were gathered here to wee Toxic Dragon out of seclusion, and Chen Lin was also among them.
Even though he was only standing still on the spot, there was a mountainous aura emanating from Toxic Dragon''s enormous body, an aura that was even more formidable than before.
Scarface''s eyes immediately lit up upon sensing this, and Toxic Dragon dered with a pleased smile, "Even though the injuries I suffered were quite severe, it proved to be a good thing in the end as I managed to open a profound acupoint."
"Didn''t you open yourst profound acupoint only less than a century ago? This is incredible progress!" Scarface praised in a sycophantic fashion, then took a nce at Han Li''s room as a hint of killing intent shed through his eyes.
Chen Lin''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and a hint of concern shed through his eyes.
"Is he in there?" Toxic Dragon asked as a cold look shed through his eyes.
"He is, and it''s already been quite a few days since he''se out. I bet he must be shitting himself in there!" Scarface goaded, and many people burst intoughter upon hearing this, including even some of the people who had been friendly to Han Li ofte.
A faint smile appeared on Toxic Dragon''s face as well, and he strode over to the door of Han Li''s room, yet right as he was about to push it open, the door opened from the other side to reveal Han Li.
Even after catching sight of Toxic Dragon and all of the other diators outside, Han Li remainedpletelyposed and unfazed.
Chapter 871: Battle
Chapter 871: Battle
"You''ve finallye out, Li Feiyu. Are you ready to face your death?" Scarface chortled as he pointed a finger directly at Han Li''s nose.
Han Li paid no heed to Scarface, slowly making his way out of his room to arrive before Toxic Dragon.
Scarface was furious at being ignored, and he continued, "You''re lucky to have survived to this point because Boss Toxic Dragon suffered some injuries in a prior battle. Now that he''s fully healed, you better kneel down and kowtow to him right now! Perhaps if he''s in a good mood, he''ll let you off the hook after you hand over all of your profound points!"
A cold gleam shed through Han Li''s eyes as he took a nce at Scarface, then turned his gaze back to Toxic Dragon, and all of theughter from the surrounding bystanders abruptly subsided at the sight of his calm disy.
Scarface was even more infuriated upon seeing this, and he was just about to say something further when Toxic Dragon gave him a stern re, and he immediately stepped down in a sheepish manner.
"It''s been a very long time since someone''s dared to stand up to me. You know what I like to do with tough guys like you? I like to snap all of the bones in your body one after another!" Toxic Dragon harrumphed coldly as he cracked his knuckles in a menacing fashion.
"If you''re trying to intimidate me, then don''t bother. Do you want to do this here, or go somewhere else?" Han Li asked in a calm manner.
"You''re a brave little bastard, huh? Let''s go to the arena," Toxic Dragon dered before turning to depart, and Han Li also set off to walk silently beside him.
All of the bystanders were quite surprised to see this, clearly not anticipating Han Li''s reaction, and everyone eagerly followed along.It didn''t take long before Han Li and Toxic Dragon arrived in the exchange hall. Many diators from other areas seemed to have been somehow tipped off to their imminent battle, and at this moment, the exchange hall was almostpletely filled with eager spectators.
The crowd was led by three figures who were giving off auras that weren''t inferior to Toxic Dragon''s, and they were observing Toxic Dragon and Han Li with intrigued expressions.
"What brings you three here today?" Toxic Dragon asked as he stopped in his tracks, and Han Li took this opportunity to take a nce at the trio.
At the center of the trio was a woman in yellow with skin that was as fair as jade, and she was giving off an innate aura of unppableposure that immediately made her stand out from the crowd.
The woman was none other than Gu Qianxun, and just likest time, she was apanied by the woman in purple.
To Gu Qianxun''s left was a ck-robed man with dark, glowing skin, and he was a lot shorter than Toxic Dragon, even a little shorter than Han Li, but his limbs were incredibly thick, and his arms were as thick as Han Li''s legs, while his legs were as thick as his waist.
His short stature and enormous limbs gave him a very disproportionate appearance, but it was clear that he possessed immense explosive power.
To Gu Qianxun''s right was a blue-skinned young man who was quite handsome, but his entire body was riddled with squiggly worm-like patterns that were giving off a cial aura.
"That''s Gu Qianxun from the first area!"
"And those two are the leaders of the fourth and sixth areas, Baleful God Tu Gang and Ice Emperor Fist Sun Binghe!"
The diators of the ninth area immediately erupted into spirited discussion at the sight of the trio.
Han Li took a nce at the two men, then turned his gaze back to Gu Qianxun.
Gu Qianxun looked back at him as well, and as soon as their eyes met, Han Li sensed a burst of peculiar power being transmitted through her gaze.
His Spirit Refinement Technique immediately began working on its own, and the peculiar sensation was instantly erased by his tremendous spiritual sense.
Gu Qianxun turned her gaze to Toxic Dragon as sheined, "You''re an area leader, Toxic Dragon, is there really a need for you to go after a newbie?"
"Would you be saying the same thing if the newbie disyed extreme insolence and challenged your authority?" Toxic Dragon countered in a cold voice.
Gu Qianxun merely smiled and offered no response.
"Please pardon me, fellow daoists. I''lle back for a chat after I''ve snapped this bastard''s head off his shoulders," Toxic Dragon said, clearly not regarding Han Li as a serious threat at all.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he began making his way toward the arena below.
Han Li remained asposed as ever, seeminglypletely unfazed by Toxic Dragon''s threat, and as he passed by Gu Qianxun, he gave her a slight nod of gratitude for her offer to help mediate his conflict with Toxic Dragon.
"Hold on a second," Gu Qianxun suddenly called out, and Han Li stopped in his tracks before turning to her with an inquisitive gaze.
Gu Qianxun took a nce at the woman in purple beside her, and a reluctant look appeared on thetter''s face, but she still strode over to Han Li, before flipping a hand over to produce a white jade vial.
"Inside that vial is a Hyper Dragon Pill. It can drastically enhance your physical prowess to somewhat close the gap between you and Toxic Dragon. Of course, it also had some side effects, but you''ll be fine after a month or two of rest," Gu Qianxun exined.
"How generous of you, Fellow Daoist Gu," Tu Gang remarked, while Sun Binghe remained silent, but a surprised look shed through his eyes.
It was clear from their reactions that this Hyper Dragon Pill was quite a precious pill, and he couldn''t help but wonder how this pill matched up against the Blood Tide Pill given to him by Shi Pokong.
"I don''t know what you see in him, Big Sister!" the woman in purple harrumphed coldly, then turned back to Han Li as she snapped, "Hurry up and take the pill!"
A cold look shed through Han Li''s eyes, and he turned to Gu Qianxun as he said, "Thank you for looking out for me, but I n to face Toxic Dragon in a fair and square battle, and it would be unfair if I were to ept assistance from others."
After that, he turned to depart, paying no heed to the rude woman in purple.
An infuriated look appeared on the face of the woman in purple as she yelled after him, "You ungrateful cur! Without this Hyper Dragon Pill, you won''t even be able to withstand a single attack from Toxic Dragon!"
Han Li continued to ignore the woman in purple, and before long, he had vanished into the passageway leading into the arena.
The woman in purple was even more infuriated upon seeing this, and she stomped her foot in frustration before turning back to Gu Qianxun.
"He seems like an interesting man, I wonder if he''ll be able to live past today," Tu Gang mused with a smile as he took a nce at Gu Qianxun.
¡¡
Han Li made his way down the passageway into the resting hall, and Toxic Dragon was already there, discussing something with the horned man.
The horned man raised his head at the sight of Han Li''s arrival, then said, "Toxic Dragon has just told me about what''s happening between the two of you. At the moment, all three tforms are in use, so you''ll have to wait a little."
Han Li nodded in response, then strode over to a corner of the hall before sitting down with her eyes closed, stoically ignoring Toxic Dragon this entire time.
Toxic Dragon''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of Han Li''s calm demeanor, but he merely brushed it off as falseposure and bravado.
Close to an hour passed by before one of the three battles finally concluded, and before long, it was Han Li and Toxic Dragon''s turn to take the stage.
While announcing the battle, the horned man made no secret of the personal vendetta between Han Li and Toxic Dragon.
Both Toxic Dragon and Han Li were very renowned figures of the arena. Toxic Dragon was the leader of the ninth area, while Han Li was one of the brightest new talents, and he was at the height of his poprity.
A personal grudge match between the two naturally drew a great deal of excitement from the crowd, and many of the spectators were chanting the names of the twobatants as the atmosphere erupted into a frenzy.
The odds were announced at 2:1, and Toxic Dragon turned to Han Li as he sneered, "It looks like you''re quite popr. Bask in the cheers while you still can, you won''t be able to see them soon."
Han Li remained silent as he stood with his head lowered, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.
He wasn''t doing this to put on a facade ofposure. Instead, it was because Toxic Dragon had been releasing tremendous waves of killing intent this entire time, and it felt as if there were mountains of bones and rivers of blood behind him.
Han Li had killed countless people in the past, but his killing intent couldn''t even begin topare with Toxic Dragon''s, and it was clear that Toxic Dragon''s rise to the top of the ninth area was one that was built upon countless bodies.
Han Li was having to focus with all his might in order to avoid being affected by Toxic Dragon''s killing intent, and Toxic Dragon was rather taken aback by Han Li''sposure.
At the entrance of the exchange hall, Gu Qianxun, Tu Gang, and Sun Binghe were watching the battle from above, while most of the other diators had gone away to ce their bets.
"The fact that this Li Feiyu doesn''t appear to be affected by Toxic Dragons Asura Killing Domain indicates that he possesses tremendous mental fortitude," Tu Gang remarked.
Gu Qianxun and Sun Binghe offered no response to this, while the woman in purple gave a disdainful harrumph.
Chapter 872: Bet
Chapter 872: Bet
"What do you think of this matchup, Fellow Daoist Gu?" Tu Gang asked with a smile as he turned to Gu Qianxun.
"On paper, Toxic Dragon naturally holds a significant advantage, but there are many potentially disruptive factors at y, so Li Feiyu is not without chances," Gu Qinaxun replied.
"It sounds like you think Li Feiyu will cause an upset," Tu Gang said as the smile on his face grew even more pronounced.
Gu Qianxun offered no response.
"You''ve always had a sharp eye, particrly when ites to predicting the oues of battles, but on this asion, I must disagree with your judgment. How about we make a bet?" Tu Gang proposed.
"What would you like to bet, Fellow Daoist Tu?" Gu Qianxun asked.
An incredulous look appeared on the face of the woman in purple upon hearing this, and everyone else was also quite intrigued.
"Some years ago, I obtained the shell of a B tier ck Scaled Turtle by chance. Is that something that''s of interest to you, Fellow Daoist Gu?" Tu Gang asked.
"It looks like you''vee prepared, Fellow Daoist Lu. A B tier ck Scaled Turtle shell is quite a rare treasure, and it also happens to be something that I''m currently looking for. What do you want me to wager in exchange?" Gu Qianxun asked.
"I heard that you have a piece of Phoenix Blood Jade. Have you used it yet?" Tu Gang asked.
"I was wondering why you suddenly decided toe and watch this battle, you''re only here because you''re interested in my Phoenix Blood Jade," Gu Qianxun chuckled. "You''re in luck, I do still have it."
Tu Gang''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and he asked, "Do we have ourselves a bet then?"
"Sure, why not?" Gu Qianxun replied with a calm nod.
"It''s decided then!" Tu Gang dered with an ted expression.
"Is that really a good idea, Big Sister?" the woman in purple asked.
Gu Qianxun merely smiled in response.
For some reason, Tu Gang was struck by a sense of uneasiness at the sight of Gu Qianxun''s smile, but the bet was already made, so it was toote for second thoughts. In any case, Toxic Dragon was a far more powerful and established diator than Li Feiyu, so the odds were heavily in his favor.
"Would you be interested in taking part in this bet as well, Fellow Daoist Sun?" Tu Gang asked.
"Not at all," Sun Binghe replied in a voice that was just as cold as the aura that he exuded.
Tu Gang was unbothered by Sun Binghe''s cold response and turned his attention back to the arena, where Han Li was intently observin Toxic Dragon,pletely oblivious to the bet that had just been made.
Toxic Dragon''s arms were crossed in front of his chest, and he was looking at Han Li as if he were looking at a dead man.
As soon as the horned man announced themencement of the battle, Han Li immediately sprang forward like lightning, darting over to Toxic Dragon''s side in the blink of an eye before throwing a punch at his ribs.
Given that he was far weaker than Toxic Dragon, he had to seize the initiative if he wanted to have any chance at victory.
In response to Han Li''s attack, Toxic Dragon merely spread his arms open, and all of the air around him instantly twisted and warped as a tremendous aura erupted out of his body.
The aura was interspersed with his immense killing intent to form a wave of pressure that converged toward Han Li from all directions.
Han Li''s fist wasn''t even able to make contact with Toxic Dragon before he was stopped cold in his tracks, and he felt as if he had been dealt a heavy blow to the head, causing him to involuntarily stumble back a few steps.
A cold sneer appeared on Toxic Dragon''s face, and all of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out as a giant crater appeared on the tform, while countless loose rocks were sent flying in all directions.
Toxic Dragon had vanished from the spot in the blink of an eye, and in the next instant, a long, ck leg appeared in front of Han Li before sweeping horizontally toward him.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as the space in the wake of the leg rippled and warped, and the kick was aimed directly at Han Li''s head.
Even before the kick had arrived, Han Li''s skin was already torn open by the ferocious wind that it was generating.
In this battle of life and death, Han Li didn''t dare to hold back, revealing all forty-three of his profound acupoints from the get-go, and the seven profound acupoints on his legs were glowing particrly brightly as he stomped his feet down onto the ground.
A resounding boom rang out as a huge crater appeared beneath his feet as well, and he shot back rapidly in retreat to evade Toxic Dragon''s sweeping kick.
A hint of surprise shed through Toxic Dragon''s eyes upon seeing this, but in the next instant, the ground rumbled violently once again as he shot forth after Han Li as a ck shadow.
The two of them were roughlyparable in speed, and in a more open environment, Han Li would''ve been able to escape, but there was nowhere for him to run, given the confines of the battle tform.
Toxic Dragon let loose a low roar as he swelled drastically in height, and seventy-one profound acupoints appeared over his body, with most of them gathered in his torso and his right leg.
There were around thirty to forty profound acupoints on his right leg alone, and it unleashed seven or eight leg projections that stomped down upon Han Li at once.
An explosive boom rang out in the air, and the entire tform was trembling slightly in the face of Toxic Dragon''s almighty stomp.
Han Li remained unfazed as he began weaving back and forth through the air like a willow leaf in a whirlwind, and somehow, he was able to evade all of the oing leg projections, much to Toxic Dragon''s astonishment.
A surprised look also appeared on Gu Qianxun''s face as she murmured to herself, "What kind of movement technique is this?"
"He''s already opened forty-three profound acupoints? That''s more than I heard. Could it be that he took something to overstimte his owntent potential in exchange for short-term gains?" Tu Gang mused.
Even though Han Li was able to evade Toxic Dragon''s attack using his Wingform Ascension Arts, he was still struck by the shockwaves from Toxic Dragon''s fearsome attack, causing hisplexion to pale slightly.
His eyes narrowed slightly, and instead of taking evasive measures, he thrust his right middle and index fingers directly toward Toxic Dragon''s heart.
His fingers were glowing white like fair jade, and they were piercing through the air with tremendous prative force.
In response, Toxic Dragon raised a hand before swatting it down upon Han Li''s arm.
Even though he hadn''t opened any profound acupoints in his hand, this was still an extremely formidable attack, and if it were tond, Han Li''s arm would most likely bepletely pulverized.
However, right at this moment, Han Li suddenly changed the direction of his attack, piercing his fingers down toward Toxic Dragon''s dantian.
Toxic Dragon had no time to react to this abrupt change, and all he could do was conjure up his True Extreme Film.
A loud tearing sound rang out, and Han Li''s fingers were able to pierce straight through the True Extreme Film en route toward Toxic Dragon''s dantian.
Toxic Dragon''s expression finally changed slightly upon seeing this, and he stomped his right foot into the ground, causing the entire tform to shudder violently.
The force transmitted into the tform by his stompunched Han Li upward involuntarily, and as a result, his fingers were unable to strike their target.
A hint of frustration shed through Han Li''s eyes. He had gone all-out in this opening series of exchanges, but all of his attacks had been counteracted by Toxic Dragon with ease.
He was already aware that there was a significant power disparity between them, but the situation was even worse than he anticipated.
After sending Han Li flying up into the air, Toxic Dragonshed out at him with a sweeping kick that packed tremendous power, causing the air to rumble and explode.
Han Li was still in mid-air, rendering him unable to change directions or take evasive measures, so he could inject all of his power into his fists as heshed out in retaliation.
A resounding boom rang out as a burst of sharp pain speared through Han Li''s arms, and he was sent flying like a ragdoll before mming heavily down onto the ground, creating yet another huge crater.
Tu Gang was ecstatic to see this, and he chortled with glee, "Looks like I''ve got this one in the bag."
"It''s still too early to say that," Gu Qianxun said in an indifferent manner.
"Fine, let''s keep watching then. I want to see how he could possibly turn this around," Tu Gang said.
Inside the crater in the ground, Han Li was feeling very lightheaded. His mouth and nose were filled with blood, while his arms felt as if they had been torn to shreds.
He shook his head vigorously to shake off the lightheadedness, then sprang out of the crater, but as soon as he raised his head, he was greeted by the sight of another sweeping kick from Toxic Dragon, this one aimed at his chest.
However, with his feet nted firmly against the ground this time, he was able to dart back in retreat using his Wingform Ascension Arts, allowing him to just barely evade the kick.
A cold sneer appeared on Toxic Dragon''s face as he swiveled around once again, and he thrust his right leg toward Han Li''s chest like a spear.
All of the profound acupoints on his right leg were glowing brightly, and every single one of them was releasing immense power.
At this point, Han Li was backed into a corner, and a cold look shed through his eyes as he prepared to resort to his Spiritual Sense Sword as ast roll of the dice.
However, right at this moment, a peculiar look suddenly shed through his eyes, and he began darting away to the side while sweeping an arm through the air.
Chapter 873: Lurking Concern
Chapter 873: Lurking Concern
A semi-transparent spiritual sense chain shot out of the palm of his arm, then wrapped itself around Toxic Dragon''s leg before tugging it to the side.
The tip of the chain then pierced straight through his True Extreme Film before plunging into a certain spot on his leg.
Toxic Dragon''s right leg instantly stiffened before it was diverted to the side by the spiritual sense chain, causing it to nce past Han Li''s body.
A resounding boom rang out as he crashed into the ground with a loud boom, while Han Li darted back to over a hundred feet away with a bright gleam in his eyes.
Everyone was taken aback by this sudden and unexpected turn, and the entire venue instantly fell silent.
"What just happened?" Tu Gang eximed in an incredulous voice, while a stunned look had also appeared on Sun Binghe''s face.
At this moment, Chen Lin was watching the battle while standing behind Gu Qianxun, and a hint of realization shed through his eyes as he recalled what Gu Qianxun had said to him earlier.
As for Gu Qianxun herself, there was a faint smile on her face, and she seemed to have already anticipated this oue.
On the tform, Toxic Dragon had taken quite a hard fall, but he remained unscathed as he mmed a palm against the ground to bounce back to his feet.
He then turned to Han Li with a furious expression, but there was also a rather peculiar look in his eyes.
In the next instant, a huge crater appeared beneath his feet amid a loud boom, and he vanished once again before reappearing beside Han Li and sweeping his right leg toward Han Li''s waist like a giant cleaver.
Han Li dodged to the side while releasing another spiritual sense chain from the palm of his hand, and it wrapped itself around Toxic Dragon''s leg like lightning, then pierced into the same spot on his leg, namely a certain profound acupoint.
As soon as the spiritual sense chain pierced into that profound acupoint, the starlight emanating from it instantly began to sh erratically, and the True Extreme Film near it also became a lot thinner than before.
Toxic Dragon''s right leg stiffened once again, and for a second time, he tumbled to the ground.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as the spiritual sense chain vanished from the palm of his hand.
All the while, all of the spectators were looking on in astonishment.
Just a moment ago, Toxic Dragon had been dominating the battle, but things had taken a very sharp turn for the worse from his perspective.
Han Li''s spiritual sense chain was almostpletely transparent, and it was extremely fast, so no one was able to see anything aside from a blurry white shadow erupt out of Han Li''s hand, and before they knew it, Toxic Dragon had taken another fall.
Outside the exchange hall.
"You knew all along, didn''t you?" Tu Gang asked as he turned to Gu Qianxun with a grim expression.
"What do you think?" Gu Qianxun asked with a faint smile.
"You possess far sharper eyes than I do, Fellow Daoist Gu. I''ll send someone to deliver the ck Scaled Turtle shell to you," Tu Gang harrumphed coldly, then turned to depart, followed shortly thereafter by Sun Binghe.
"Why did they leave? It looks like Li Feiyu has gained the upper hand, but Toxic Dragon hasn''t suffered any significant injuries, so the oue is still undecided," the woman in purple eximed.
"It''s already over," Gu Qianxun dered in an indifferent voice.
A perplexed look appeared on the face of the woman in purple.
"This is why I always tell you to be more humble, Yao Li. You''ve grown a lot stronger ofte, but you''re still a little rough around the edges. You should learn from Li Feiyu and not be so immature from now on," Gu Qianxun said as she also departed.
A hint of fury and indignation shed through Yao Li''s eyes upon hearing this, but she still lowered her head submissively as she gave an affirmative response.
Chen Lin departed from the exchange hall with Gu Qianxun, leaving Yao Li to continue watching the battle with a cold look in her eyes.
Scarface was also watching the battle from within the crowd, and at this point, his face had turned deathly pale as he stared after Gu Qianxun''s departing figure with a horrified look in his eyes.
On the battle tform, Toxic Dragon stood up once again with a furious look in his eyes, but this time, he didn''t immediately attack.
"Should we end things here, Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
The enraged look on Toxic Dragon''s face eased slightly in response to Han Li''s decision not to speak out loud, and he asked through voice transmission, "How did you find out?"
"I have my ways. That profound acupoint on your leg is very vulnerable. All I need to do is disrupt it slightly, and that''s enough topletely immobilize you on a temporary basis. That alone won''t be enough to win me the battle, but if we go at it for a bit longer, I''m sure many of the diators watching this battle will also be able to identify this weakness of yours," Han Li said with a faint smile, and a steely look appeared on Toxic Dragon''s face upon hearing this.
The bodily refinement cultivation art that he was using was primarily focused on refining the right leg. It was an extremely formidable cultivation art, but he didn''t have theplete version, and he had been in too much of a hurry to make progress in it, so he had umted some internal injuries in one of the profound acupoints on his legs.
He had tried many methods to rectify the issue, and he had made some progress, ensuring that the profound acupoint didn''t appear abnormal in any way, but ultimately, he was unable to remedy the problem at its roots.
This was a weakness that he had always carefully protected, and thanks to his tremendous power, very few people were able to even make contact with his body during past arena battles, so he had managed to keep this a secret thus far, but Han Li was somehow able to see right through him.
On top of that, perhaps the average person wouldn''t have been able to see anything, but Toxic Dragon was certain that Gu Qianxun, Tu Gang, and Sun Binghe had already identified this weakness of his from his prior exchanges with Han Li.
Just as Han Li said, if the battle were to continue, more and more people would be clued in to this weakness of his, and that could prove to be extremely problematic. Hence, he was left unsure of what to do.
Han Li had actually only been able to identify this weakness in Toxic Dragon''s profound acupoint through an immense stroke of fortune. It just so happened to be the case that this vulnerable profound acupoint was one that could also be opened using the Wingform Ascension Arts.
Han Li had only recently opened this particr profound acupoint, so he was very sensitive to it, and it was this factor, coupled with his tremendous spiritual sense, that allowed him to pinpoint this weakness in Toxic Dragon.
However, this was not a sufficiently damning weakness to allow him to win the battle. If Toxic Dragon were to cast aside all inhibitions and continue to go after Han Li at all costs, he would still most likely emerge victorious.
With that in mind, Han Li said, "I know of a way to help you heal this profound acupoint."
Toxic Dragon''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and he hurriedly asked, "Is that true?"
He was so excited that he had forgotten to raise his question through voice transmission, and even his voice was trembling slightly as he spoke.
"I''m currently using a bodily refinement cultivation art that also focuses on the legs. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have been able to identify this weakness of yours," Han Li said.
The Wingform Ascension Artsid out the correct way to open this particr profound acupoint, and with the assistance of his immense spiritual sense, he was at least 70% confident in his ability to remedy Toxic Dragon''s injured profound acupoint.
"If you can resolve this problem for me, then I''m willing to set all of our prior differences aside, and I can also provide you with assistance in anything that you want," Toxic Dragon said as he hurriedly extended a salute toward Han Li.
Everyone was astonished to see this, and no one had any idea of what was happening.
"There''s no need for such formalities, Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon. Let''s go somewhere more private to discuss this matter," Han Li said with a faint smile.
Toxic Dragon nodded in response, then turned to the horned man to dere that he was forfeiting the match.
The horned man was very taken aback to hear this, but he had no choice but to announce the oue of the battle.
Toxic Dragon paid no heed to the disgruntled spectators as he and Han Li departed from the battle tform, and they quickly returned to the ninth area together.
They made their way to Toxic Dragon''s room, and Toxic Dragon pressed a hand against the stone door, upon which a burst of white light shed from the gaps around the door before it slowly swung open.
Upon entering the room, Han Li discovered that Toxic Dragon''s room was farrger than his and Chen Lin''s, and it was also much more furnished.
"Please take a seat, Fellow Daoist Li," Toxic Dragon said as he made an inviting hand gesture.
After both of them had sat down at a stone table, Toxic Dragon immediately cut straight to the chase.
"This is a problem that has gued me for many years. Do you really have a way to resolve it, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"The internal injuries that you suffered in this profound acupoint aren''t just a result of your overzealousness to make progress. If I''m not mistaken, it also has something to do with the cultivation art that you''re using," Han Li said.
"I don''t want to rebuke you, but I don''t believe that to be the case," Toxic Dragon replied in a hesitant manner. "The cultivation art that I''m using isn''t particrly advanced or profound, but it''s a legitimate cultivation art, so there''s definitely nothing wrong with it."
"It''s fine. I don''t need you to give me the cultivation art, I just need you to tell me about the methodid out in the cultivation art for opening this particr profound acupoint," Han Li said.
Toxic Dragon duly obliged, even telling Han Li about some of the cultivation art''s hidden intricacies.
"It''s just as I expected. Your Profound Origin Divine Movement Arts can allow one to make rapid progress and open profound acupoints very quickly, but it''s ratherckluster when ites to building a stable foundation. I''m sure you''ve already noticed this problem and intentionally slowed down your own rate of progress to limit the detrimental effects to a single profound acupoint. Otherwise, you would be in even more trouble right now," Han Li said.
Toxic Dragon''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he extended another respectful salute toward Han Li as he said, "You''ve struck the nail right on the head, Fellow Daoist Li. IF you can help me remedy this problem, I''ll be sure to repay you."
"Helping you is going to be quite costly for me as well..." Han Li said as he put on a hesitant disy.
"Go ahead and state any condition that you have, Fellow Daoist Li. As long as it''s within my means, I''ll be sure to help you," Toxic Dragon promised.
Chapter 874: Scarfaces Demise
Chapter 874: Scarface''s Demise
"Truth be told, there aren''t many people in the entirety of Green Goat City that can treat your injuries, and I''m the only one capable of doing so in our ninth area," Han Li said.
"I believe you. The fact that you were able to see through my condition and identify its cause is sufficient reason for me to believe that you''re the only one who can save me. May I ask how you n to treat my condition?" Toxic Dragon asked.
"Your problem is that you''ve used an incorrect acupoint opening method, so that''s where I''ll begin addressing the matter. I''m using a cultivation art by the name of the Wingform Ascension Arts, and it also opens profound acupoints on the legs, so I can teach you the correct acupoint opening method," Han Li replied.
"How is that going to help me? I''ve already opened the profound acupoint, so it''s already toote, is it not?" Toxic Dragon asked with a perplexed expression.
"The acupoint opening method on its own naturally won''t be enough, assistance is also required from someone with powerful spiritual sense, and I just so happen to fit the bill," Han Li exined with a smile.
Aplex look appeared on Toxic Dragon''s face upon hearing this, and he sighed, "It sounds like you really are the only one who can help me. I''m sure your conditions must be very difficult to fulfill, right?"
"Not at all," Han Li chuckled. "Aside from some beast cores for my cultivation, I''ll only need your help in some minor favors."
"What would you like me to do for you, Fellow Daoist Li?" Toxic Dragon asked.
"I know that you have many connections in the arena, so I would like you to help me track down a few people," Han Li replied with a serious expression.
"Who would you like me to find?" Toxic Dragon asked.
"I actually came to Green Goat City with two other people, one of whom is called Shi Kong, while the other is called Daoist Xie. Seeing as I''ve been forced to be a diator, I presume they''ve suffered a simr fate. Have you heard of them?" Han Li asked.
Toxic Dragon was quite relieved to hear that Han Li''s demands were very reasonable, and he replied, "I''m afraid I haven''t heard of these two names before, but I can help you look for them. The diator turnover rate is quite high, so there are always many newbies, but if we narrow it down to diators who entered the arena at the same time as you, then that''ll narrow things down a lot."
"Also, have you ever heard of an extremely beautiful woman who appeared in the city over the past century or so? She..."
Han Li wanted to give Toxic Dragon a physical description of Violet Spirit, but didn''t know where to begin.
A peculiar look appeared on Toxic Dragon''s face as he shook his head and replied, "In Green Goat City, women are the rarest and most prizedmodity. Even women with slightly above average looks are extremely rare, let alone extremely beautiful women. If such a woman really has appeared in Green Goat City, then the entire city would be aware of her."
Han Li nodded in response. Chen Yang was a trusted subordinate of the city lord, yet even he only had a female servant who was quite ordinary in appearance, so it seemed that Toxic Dragon was telling the truth.
"Is that all you need me to do for you, Fellow Daoist Li?" Toxic Dragon asked with a hint of disbelief in his eyes.
"Your condition isn''t something that can be remedied in a short time, so I''m going to be taking a lot of beast cores from you over time," Han Li replied.
"That''s fine. If you can cure my condition, then I''ll perhaps be able to participate in some higher level battles, and if I can do that, then the rewards that I''ll be able to earn will go far beyond what I can now," Toxic Dragon said with a nonchnt wave of his hand.
"What are these higher level battles that you speak of, Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon?" Han Li asked.
"I don''t mean to belittle you, Fellow Daoist Li, but with the number of profound acupoints that you''ve opened thus far, you won''te into contact with such battles for a very long time, so there''s no need for you to get ahead of yourself. You''ll find out about them when the timees," Toxic Dragon said.
Han Li didn''t pry into the matter any further, and he changed the subject as he dered, "On top of that, I want you to hand Scarface over to me."
"What are you going to do with him, Fellow Daoist Li?" Toxic Dragon asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
Han Li remained silent as he dragged a hand across his own throat, simting a killing gesture.
"Scarface can be very petty and snide, and I understand that there''s some bad blood between the two of you, but surely that''s not enough to warrant his death," Toxic Dragon said in a hesitant manner.
"I had no intention of going after him, but he went too far by trying to kill me with Heart Pitting Insects," Han Li said in a cold voice.
"Heart Pitting Insects?" Toxic Dragon asked with a surprised expression.
Han Li gave Toxic Dragon a recount of his close encounter with the Heart Pitting Insects, and after hearing his story, Toxic Dragon''s brows furrowed tightly as he said, "Fellow Daoist Li, I''m not trying to protect Scarface, but this sounds very suspicious, and I think there may be some type of misunderstanding involved."
"Why do you say that?" Han Li asked.
"Scarface is indeed able to acquire certain things that others in the arena aren''t able to, but that definitely doesn''t include Heart Pitting Insects. Those insects are no less valuable than ck Tribtion Centipedes, and I''m certain there''s no way that Scarface could''ve acquired them. On top of that, I told him not to do anything rash before I went into seclusion, and he''s always been very obedient to me, so this would be a very uncharacteristic move from him," Toxic Dragon exined.
"In that case, this does seem to be rather suspicious," Han Li mused with slightly furrowed brows.
"This isn''t a difficult matter to make sense of, we''ll just have to go and confront Scarface together. If he really did do it, then I''ll put an end to his life for you. However, if he''s not the culprit, then I implore you to spare him. After all, he''s been with me for many years, and it would be sad to see him go," Toxic Dragon said.
Han Li nodded in response.
"If he''s not the culprit, or he was acting under someone else''s instructions, then I can spare him."
"Alright, in that case, let''s go right now," Toxic Dragon said as he rose to his feet.
As soon as the two of them made their way out of Toxic Dragon''s room, they were immediately greeted by the sound of a loudmotion.
At this moment, there were many people gathered in front of a certain room, and Toxic Dragon raised an eyebrow as he said, "That''s Scarface''s room... Did something happen?"
The two of them exchanged a nce before hurriedly making their way over to the crowd, and everyone that was gathered in front of Scarface''s room immediately parted at the sight of Toxic Dragon to allow him through.
Toxic Dragon rushed into the room with Han Li in tow, and as soon as they entered the room, they spotted Scarfaceying on the stone bed in the corner of his room.
There was arge hole on his chest, and his eyeballs were bulging outward, while his expression was twisted in horror and agony. It was clear that he had already been dead for quite some time.
"What the hell happened here?" Toxic Dragon yelled in a furious voice.
A short green-skinned man stepped forward with a slightly fearful expression as he said, "A few days ago, Scarface agreed to procure some things for me, and he told me toe and look for him today, but when I arrived not long ago, his door was shut, and he didn''t answer when I knocked. Hence, I decided to go in, and this is what I saw."
Han Li strode over to inspect the hole on Scarface''s chest, and after carefully probing his fingers into the hole, he pulled out a piece of a ck centipede''s tail and a thin, white line.
"That''s a ck Tribtion Centipede and a Heart Pitting Insect!" someone eximed, and everyone hurriedly backed away with horrified looks on their faces.
Han Li then turned to discover an opened bone box sitting beside Scarface''s hand. He picked up the box before conducting a close inspection, and Toxic Dragon also took a closer look, then dered, "It looks like this box was crafted using the nasal bone of an Insect Devouring Beast.
¡°This beast is capable of sucking Heart Pitting Insects into its trunk, then melting the insect using its nasal mucus, so its nasal bone can restrict Heart Pitting Insects and is often used to craft containers for such insects."
"Is he insane? He must have a death wish to be keeping Heart Pitting Insects in his room!" someone eximed.
"What an idiot," another diator scoffed.
"Who''s going to give me my Sword Thorn Beast bones now that he''s dead? I gave him three Polo Beast Cores in exchange for that!" a muscr gray-skinned man suddenly whined.
Right at this moment, a group of armord guards from the arena arrived on the scene, and they forcibly evicted all of the diators from Scarface''s room.
The leader of the guards inspected Scarface''s body momentarily, then announced that this stone room was going to be shut down for now before ordering his subordinates to carry Scarface''s body away.
Everyone turned to Toxic Dragon with peculiar looks on their faces upon seeing this, and Toxic Dragon exchanged a nce with Han Li before both returned to the former''s room.
Only then did the diators of the ninth area realize that the two of them had be inexplicably close, considering they had been at each other''s throats not long ago.
After re-entering his room, Toxic Dragon asked, "What do you think of all of this, Fellow Daoist Li?"
Chapter 875: Acupoint Closing Technique
Chapter 875: Acupoint Closing Technique
"The timing of Scarface''s death is far too suspicious, but this does confirm to me that he was the one who put those Heart Pitting Insects into my room. Having said that, it appears that he was only doing someone else''s bidding," Han Li mused.
"Regardless of whose instructions he was carrying out, someone capable of acquiring Heart Pitting Insects is definitely not to be looked down on. It looks like you may have some major trouble on your hands, Fellow Daoist Li," Toxic Dragon mused with tightly furrowed brows.
"Are you afraid of getting swept up in my mess, Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon? In that case, we can revoke our earlier agreement," Han Li said with a smile.
At the moment, Han Li could only think of two people who he had bad blood with in Green Goat City, namely Chen Yang and Scarface. However, if the former wanted him dead, then he would''ve already been dead and buried long ago, while thetter was now dead himself, so the case had run cold.
"Not at all, Fellow Daoist Li," Toxic Dragon chuckled. "Of course I''m afraid of trouble, but this agreement is too important to me to invoke. In fact, as a show of my sincerity, I''ll issue you some of the beast cores that I promised you now."
"In that case, I''ll teach you the acupoint opening method that I mentioned before, and after that, I''ll use my spiritual sense to remedy your faulty profound acupoint. I don''t know how many treatments it''s going to take, but as long as you follow through on your promises, I''ll be sure to see things through to the end," Han Li said.
"Deal!" Toxic Dragon replied with a pleased nod.
Around an hourter, Han Li returned to his room, then pulled out the ten Tarot Beast Cores that he had received from Toxic Dragon out of his sleeve. After that, he devoured one of the beast cores beforemencing his cultivation of the Wingform Ascension Arts.
......
Over six years flew by in a sh.
During this time, Han Li had taken part in many arena battles, and his powers had been steadily growing in the process.
Most of the profound points that he had earned had been redeemed for beast cores, and that was also supplemented by the beast cores given to him by Toxic Dragon, amounting to quite a significant number, all of which had been used up in his cultivation.
However, the more progress he made, the slower progress became.
The more profound acupoints that he opened, the more starpower required to open each additional profound acupoint, and there was a limit to the amount of starpower in a single Tarot Beast Core, so he had to consume many such beast cores to open just a single profound acupoint.
Even so, he had already opened forty-nine profound acupoints up to this point, and this was an absolutely unheard of rate of progress.
While his rapid progress was a good thing, it was also a cause for concern.
After all, if someone were to discover just how rapidly he had been progressing in his bodily refinement, then that would undoubtedly lead to a disaster for him.
In a very timely stroke of fortune, one day roughly two years ago, Han Li had just finished a battle and trudged back to his room in an exhausted manner to find that his Heavenly Star Shell had been destroyed.
However, nothing had been moved in his room, and nothing had gone missing. The only thing that had changed was that the leg bone of an unknown scaled beast had appeared in a corner of the room.
A passage of text had been engraved onto the beast bone, and it was truly like a blessing from the heavens.
The passage of text contained a secret technique that taught one how to use starpower to close profound acupoints.
The inscriptions appeared to be quite fresh, and the handwriting was also a little rough, indicating that whoever had made the inscriptions had done so in a hurry.
At the end of the passage of text were two words: "destroy immediately".
Han Li followed the instruction without any hesitation, crushing the bone into powder after memorizing the secret technique.
It was unclear who had left this beast bone in his room, but in Han Li''s mind, he was certain that it had to have been Daoist Xie.
As for how Daoist Xie had found out that this was something that he needed and how Daoist Xie had managed to sneak the bone into his room, those were just questions that he would have to ask Daoist Xie the next time they met.
The secret technique was quite simple, and it didn''t take long for Han Li to master it, following which he closed his sixtest profound acupoints, and to this day, everyone was still under the false impression that he had only opened forty-three profound acupoints.
......
At this moment, a battle between a diator and a C tier scaled beast was taking ce in the ninth area, and thunderous cheers were ringing out across the spectator stands.
"Shadow, Shadow, Shadow..."
All of the spectators were chanting a certain name, and on the battle tform was a massive ck Scaled Elephant that was riddled with wounds, currently in the process of charging at a spear-wielding young man.
The man was none other than Han Li, and the bone spear that he was wielding was rather peculiar in that the tip of the spear was almost equal in length with its shaft, and it was shimmering with faint starlight.
It appeared to be a spike from some type of scaled beast.
The ck Scaled Elephant appeared to be charging forward with tremendous power, but in reality, its footsteps were a little clumsy, and its long tusks were aimed directly at Han Li like a pair of spears.
Han Li also had some blood on his body, but he was looking quite casual and rxed.
In the face of the oing ck Scaled Elephant, Han Li crouched down slightly, and the profound acupoints on his legs lit up as he sprang up into the air.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared directly in front of the ck Scaled Elephant, which seemed to have been caughtpletely off guard, and it whipped its trunk viciously at Han Li at such an incredible speed that the majority of the spectators in the stands were only able to see a blur sh through the air.
Not only was the ck Scaled Elephant''s trunk incredibly fast, it also possessed tremendous strength, and its scales were even more resilient than its body. If Han Li were to receive a direct blow from the attack, then the consequences would be catastrophic.
However, right as the trunk was about to make contact with Han Li, the profound acupoints on his legs lit up once again, and he curled up into a ball, then stomped down onto the sweeping trunk to send himself flying horizontally through the air.
At the same time, he plunged his bone spear into the side of the ck Scaled Elephant''s face, and the spear resembled a sharp scythe, slicing all the way along the elephant''s face before tearing a huge gash into its abdomen.
A massive torrent of blood came gushing out of the wound, staining half of the entire tform red.
The ck Scaled Elephant stumbled forward a few more steps, then copsed to the ground with a massive thump.
Han Li immediately pounced on this opportunity, leaping high up into the air while raising his spear above his head. The muscles on his arms bulged as all of his forty-three profound acupoints lit up in unison, and he hurled the spear through the air like a javelin.
A loud shrieking sound rang out, followed by a loud crunch, and the spear pierced straight through the ck Scaled Elephant''s head before plunging deep into the battle tform, following which Han Li alsonded on the elephant''s back.
"Shadow, Shadow, Shadow..."
......
The oue of the battle was already decided, and the atmosphere in the entire arena waspletely ignited as everyone erupted into thunderous cheers.
There was a covert VIP booth on the mountain face above the spectator stands, and an imposing ck-robed man was standing with his hands sped behind his back, silently observing the unfolding scene.
The man was none other than Du Qingyang, and he was looking at Han Li from afar as he murmured to himself, "Looks like the cultivation art that you''re using greatly enhances your speed. How interesting.
After that, he made his way out of the VIP booth and returned straight to his cave abode.
Around an hourter, Hu Bi hurriedly arrived outside a conference hall of the city lord''s cave abode, and before he even had a chance to dere his own arrival, the heavy doors of the conference hall swung open inward on their own, following which an authoritative voice ordered from inside, "Come in."
Hu Bi didn''t dare to hesitate, and he hurriedly entered the hall to discover that there were already four people seated at the long table inside.
On the left were a bald man and a thin elderly man, both of whom were also hunting party captains, just like himself, while on right were a square-faced young man and a man with his hair tied up with a hair tie, both of whom were captains of city guard squads.
As for the main seat directly facing the entrance of the hall, that was upied by Du Qingyang.
"Hu Bi pays his respects to City Lord Du," Hu Bi said with a respectful bow.
At this moment, Du Qingyang was ying with a strange ck stone statue with three heads and six arms, and he gave a nonchnt nod, indicating for Hu Bi to sit down.
"I''ve summoned all of you here today to tell you that you can begin setting up the Sinha Blood Array," Du Qingyang dered as he sat up a little straighter.
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, and they all appeared ted as they hurriedly replied in a respectful manner, "Yes, City Lord Du."
"Now that we''re getting close, I have some finer details toy out, so make sure you listen up and don''t make any mistakes," Du Qingyang said, and everyone nodded in response.
Chapter 876: Cultivation Art Exchange
Chapter 876: Cultivation Art Exchange
The meeting went on for about fifteen minutes before the stone door was slowly opened, and as everyone departed, nomunication took ce between them, but all of them had excited smiles on their faces.
Following their departure, Chen Yang slowly emerged from the shadows near the entrance of the conference hall with a cold look in his eyes, and he turned and spat onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Han Li had just returned to the ninth area following his battle when he was greeted by the sight of Toxic Dragon standing by his door.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he said, "I can''t treat you in my current condition. You''ll have to wait for me to rest and recuperate a little first."
"Don''t try to fool me," Toxic Dragon scoffed. "With your current powers, killing a ck Scaled Elephant isn''t a difficult task at all. I''m not sure even I''d be able to defeat you in a battle now. How many profound acupoints have you actually opened? Forty-five? Forty-seven?"
"Even if that''s the case, you can''t just stand in front of my door and force me to treat you. Besides, that profound acupoint of yours has already been remedied to the point that it doesn''t really require any further treatment. I''m sure you can sense that yourself," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"That''s not the reason why I''m waiting here for you," Toxic Dragon said.
"Oh? Then why are you here?" Han Li asked.
"Some of the elite diators from all of the arena''s different areas will be gathering today to hold a small exchange event. Everything can be put up for exchange, including profound points, bodily refinement cultivation arts, or other items, and you can exchange cultivation insights with others as well if you''d like. Are you interested?" Toxic Dragon asked."Is an event like this not prohibited by the city lord''s manor?" Han Li asked.
"Not at all. If anything, it''s encouraged by the city lord''s manor. After all, these types of events can help diators further enhance their own powers, thereby making arena battles more riveting for spectators to watch, so this actually benefits the city lord''s manor," Toxic Dragon exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
"On top of that, not all diators are here against their will like us. A considerable portion of them havee here voluntarily to hone their own powers, and they have more freedom than we do, so they''re able to procure items from the outside that arepletely out of our reach," Toxic Dragon continued.
"In that case, this does sound like a splendid opportunity. I''ll go and take a look with you," Han Li said with a smile.
With that, Toxic Dragon led the way out of the ninth area before making his way to the first area with Han Li in tow.
As they passed through each area, they were stopped by armored guards from the city lord''s manor, but they would quickly be granted free passage once they were identified.
"Looks like being the leader of an areaes with many privileges," Han Li remarked with a smile.
"You don''t necessarily have to be an area leader, anyone will be able to enjoy the same privileges as long as they''ve disyed enough power. Honestly, if you show your true power and fight a few more spectacr battles, then you''ll be able to participate in events like this even without my apaniment," Toxic Dragon said.
Han Li nodded in response, then asked, "Has there been any news on Shi Kong and the others?"
"I don''t think the beautiful woman that you mentioned has ever appeared in Green Goat City, and I haven''t been able to dig up any information on Shi Kong, either. However, I have heard that Daoist Xie is currently with Chen Yang," Toxic Dragon replied.
Han Li fell silent upon hearing this. He had ventured into this Scalptia Spatial Domain in search of Violet Spirit, but so many years had passed by, and he was still trapped here with no progress made.
The two of them continued onward in silence, and before long, they reached a spacious hall in the first area.
As soon as he entered the hall, Han Li immediately heard a loudmotion, and he was greeted by a lively and bustling sight resembling a busy market.
The hall was packed with people, and the ground had been divided up into a series of stalls where all types of items were being disyed, including weapons, armor, and boxes crafted out of bone or stone, containing different types of precious pills.
"Sun Binghe has a scaled beast bone saber that I''d like to get my hands on, but I''m not sure if he''ll be willing to sell it, so I''m going to ask him. Do you want toe with me?" Toxic Dragon asked.
"You can go on your own," Han Li replied with a shake of his head. "I don''t know what I want to buy for now, so I''ll do some exploring by myself."
Toxic Dragon nodded in response before departing, while Han Li made his way down the narrow aisles between the stalls, seeing if there was anything that caught his interest.
Over the years, he had earned quite arge sum of profound points, most of which had been spent on beast cores. Up to this point, he had only purchased a single weapon, which was that bone spear that he had used against the ck Scaled Elephant.
Right at this moment, Han Li caught sight of a pair of familiar figures not far up ahead, namely Gu Qianxun and Tu Gang.
Gu Qianxun spotted Han Li out of the corner of her eye, and she excused herself before making her way toward him.
"By the looks of it, you must''vee here straight after a battle, right, Fellow Daoist Li?" Gu Qianxun asked with a faint smile.
"That''s right. If it wasn''t for Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon, I wouldn''t even have been aware of this exchange event," Han Li replied with a nod.
"I''ve watched a few of your battles, and I''ve won quite a bit of stuff from Fellow Daoist Tu Gang and the others from betting on you," Gu Qianxun chuckled.
"In that case, shouldn''t you share some of your spoils with me?" Han Li jibed.
"Winning bets is a matter of luck and sound judgment. If you''d like, you cane and watch a few of my battles and make some winnings for yourself by betting on me," Gu Qianxun replied.
Han Li was just about to say something when Gu Qianxun''s voice rang out in his mind: "Before we stray too far off topic, there''s something that I would like to exchange from you."
"Oh? What could I possibly have that would be of interest to you, Fellow Daoist Gu?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"In the past, I had always been under the impression that the cultivation arts that you''ve been using are quite crude, and that''s why your profound acupoints are distributed all over your body with no particr areas of focus.
¡°However, I''ve recentlye to notice that you''ve been specifically refining your legs, and you''ve also earned the moniker of ''Shadow'' for your exceptional movement techniques. At this point, your reputation is almost on par with that of Toxic Dragon''s in the ninth area, so this leg refinement cultivation art of yours must be quite exceptional," Gu Qianxun said.
"Is that what you want from me?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right," Gu Qianxun replied with a nod.
"In that case, I''m afraid that I''ll have to turn you down. The cultivation art you''re referring to is called the Wingform Ascension Arts, and I obtained it through some special means, so it''s not up for exchange," Han Li said.
Gu Qianxun remainedpletely unfazed as she said, "Don''t be in a hurry to turn me down, Fellow Daoist Li. Why don''t you have a listen to what I have to offer in exchange first?"
"Go ahead," Han Li prompted.
"Are you interested in a cultivation art that focuses on refining the arms?" Gu Qianxun asked.
"I''m still yet to fully master the Wingform Ascension Arts, what good would another cultivation art do me? If I take on too many cultivation arts at once, I''ll risk biting off more than I can chew," Han Li said.
"It''s clear that your Wingform Ascension Arts focuses on opening profound acupoints on the legs, thereby greatly enhancing your speed, but it doesn''t benefit you much in other areas. On top of that, I''m not just offering any ordinary cultivation art in exchange. Instead, the Titan Vajra Arts that I''m offering specializes in enhancing one''s strength," Gu Qianxun said.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He had heard of the Titan Vajra Arts from Toxic Dragon, and he knew that this was a cultivation art used by Tu Gang, so Gu Qianxun had most likely obtained it from him.
"Pardon me for being frank, Fellow Daoist Li, but your Wingform Ascension Arts may allow you to deal with C tier scaled beasts with ease, but it won''t be enough for you to take on a B tier scaled beast or above. After all, the higher the tier of a scaled beast, the more physical prowess they possess, so speed alone won''t be enough to break through their defenses," Gu Qianxun continued.
Han Li was well aware of this himself. He hadn''t challenged a single B tier scaled beast up to this point, and one reason for this was that he didn''t want to expose his true number of profound acupoints, but the main concern was that he simplycked the power to go toe to toe against such fearsome scaled basts.
"I do indeed require a cultivation art like the Titan Vajra Arts, but given the fact that I obtained my Wingform Ascension Arts through rather special means, a one-for-one exchange is not very appealing to me," Han Li said.
"Truth be told, I obtained the Titan Vajra Arts from someone else as well, and it cost me dearly. I''d say it''s no less precious than your Wingform Ascension Arts, but as a gesture of sincerity, I''m willing to throw in three additional C tier scaled beast cores. How does that sound?" Gu Qianxun asked after a brief pause.
"Three C tier scaled beast cores? What a stingy offer! This cultivation art of mine is the basis for my sess as a diator, how could it possibly only beparable in value to the Titan Vajra Arts?" Han Li countered as he raised an eyebrow.
Gu Qianxun fell silent again for a moment, then said, "In that case, I''ll throw in a B tier scaled beast core as well. How about that?"
Chapter 877: Breakthrough
Chapter 877: Breakthrough
"Deal!" Han Li replied without any hesitation.
"Hold on just a second, Fellow Daoist Li, I also have a minor additional request. In addition to the cultivation art, would you also be able to include your cultivation insights as well?" Gu Qianxun asked.
"Sure. However, you can only keep the Wingform Ascension Arts and my cultivation insights to yourself and not pass it onto anyone else. If you agree to this condition, then swear a vow on it. If not, then I''m afraid that the deal will have to fall through," Han Li said.
"As far as I''m aware, you are the only one in Green Goat City who possesses this cultivation art. Even if this wasn''t a condition of yours, there''s no way I would''ve passed on such a rare cultivation art to anyone else," Gu Qianxun replied, following which she immediatley swore a vow to keep the cultivation art to herself.
With all of his conditions met, Han Li exchanged cultivation arts with her through spiritual sensemunication, and he also received a B tier beast core for his efforts.
Both parties were very pleased with this oue, and after parting ways with Gu Qianxun, Han Li explored the event for half a day, but didn''t find anything else that caught his eye.
After bidding farewell to Toxic Dragon, he departed from the exchange event, but instead of returning to the ninth area, he went to the exchange hall instead.
"How can I help you today, Fellow Daoist Li?" a crimson-robed arena employee asked.
At this point, Han Li had forged quite a reputation for himself, and he took part in arena battles far more frequently than the average diator. On top of that, he also made more exchanges than the average diator, so he had be quite familiar with the arena employees."I want to enter the star pond," Han Li replied as he handed over his badge, which contained 118 profound points.
He had been working tirelessly these past few years and earned quite arge sum of profound points, but he had used all of it on cultivation, so he didn''t have much to spare at all.
The crimson-robed employee nodded in response, and he took Han Li''s badge before waving a silver baton over it, deducting a hundred profound points.
Han Li then followed the crimson-robed employee to the entrance of the passageway that led to the star pond, and like usual, the stone gate was tightly shut.
The crimson-robed young man pulled out a blue badge before pressing it against the stone gate, upon which was an indentation that the blue badge fit perfectly into.
Specks of starlight were released by the badge before rapidly spreading over the stone gate, which slowly swung open with a faint click.
"Come with me," the young man said as he removed the badge before leading Han Li into the passageway, and the stone gate swung shut behind them.
After walking through the dimly lit passageway for a short while, the two of them arrived at a staircase that led upward.
The staircase was quite long, and it took them a while to reach the top, where they arrived in a stone chamber that was around two hundred to three hundred feet in size.
To call it a stone chamber wasn''t entirely urate as there was no ceiling, so it was more like a man-made basin on a mountain summit.
At the center of the open-air area was a circr pond that was over a hundred feet in size, and it was surrounded by roughly a dozen trees that were a pristine white color throughout, including in their trunks, their branches, and their leaves, making it appear as if they had been carved out of white jade.
Furthermore, these trees were extremely lush and vibrant, and their dense canopies covered virtually the entire open-air area above the pond, while their trunks were riddled with countless white patterns that extended all the way into the pond.
It was nighttime at the moment, and rays of starlight were cascading down from above.
The leaves of the white trees were radiating rays of white light, and they collected all of the nearby starlight before funneling it into the trees, following which the starlight was then released into the pond.
As a result, the water in the pond was filled with radiant starlight, giving it the appearance of a starry pond.
A white-robed young man was seated with his legs crossed beside the pond, meditating with his eyes closed.
The man appeared to be in his early thirties, and his skin was extremely pale,pletely devoid of color. On top of that, his hair and eyebrows were also white.
"diator Li Feiyu has submitted a hundred profound points to enter the star pond," the crimson-robed young man dered in a respectful manner.
The white-robed man opened his eyes and took a nce at Han Li, then gave a slight nod.
The crimson-robed young man extended a respectful bow before departing.
The white-robed man remained silent as he pulled out a palm-sized hourss, then set it down beside him tomence the countdown.
Han Li immediately leaped into the pond upon seeing this, sending glowing white water sshing in all directions.
He had been here on more than one past asion, so he already knew the rules.
For a hundred profound points, he would only have an hour to spend in the star pond.
After sitting down in the pond with his legs crossed, he channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts, and pure starpower instantly began to surge into his body from all directions.
Han Li channeled all of the starpower toward a profound acupoint on his lower abdomen.
This was the only profound acupoint in the Wingform Ascension Arts that wasn''t on the legs, but it was also the most important profound acupoint and the most difficult hurdle to ovee in the Wingform Ascension Arts.
As long as he could open this profound acupoint, he would essentially have achieved full mastery of the Wingform Ascension Arts, and it would only be a matter of time before the rest of the profound acupoints opened up.
During the past few years, Han Li had been focusing solely on his Wingform Ascension Arts, and he had made rapid progress, reaching this bottleneck three months ago.
Over the course of these three months, he had tried a whole host of ways to break through the bottleneck, but progress had proven elusive.
This was why he had saved up some profound points to enter the star pond in the hope that this would be the catalyst he needed.
The vast torrent of starpower entering his body surged toward the profound acupoint at his behest, but it refused to budge.
Han Li wasn''t surprised to see this, and he channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts as he made a second attempt.
One burst of starpower crashed into the profound acupoint after another, and close to two hours flew by in the blink of an eye.
At this point, Han Li''splexion had be quite flushed, and sweat was beginning to bead up on his forehead, indicating that this was a very strenuous process.
However, his efforts were paying off, and the profound acupoint was not far away frompletely opening.
Han Li took a deep breath to brace himself, then directed another burst of starpower at the profound acupoint, only to discover that it had be very resilient again, refusing to open any further.
"I had a feeling it wouldn''t be so easy," Han Li murmured to himself as he flipped a hand over to produce a fist-sized beast core.
It was the B tier beast core that he had just obtained from Gu Qianxun, and inside it was a swirling vortex of white starlight.
At the same time, the beast core was giving off a burst of starpower fluctuations that was even more formidable than that of the star pond.
Compared with the Titan Vajra Arts, this B tier beast core was actually the more appealing of the two to Han Li.
The beast core contained tremendous starpower, thereby making it very effective when it came to opening profound acupoints, and that was why he had agreed to Gu Qianxun''s proposal. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been willing to impart his cultivation art onto anyone else.
The higher the caliber of a beast core, the more difficult it was to refine, but thanks to the Heaven Controlling Vial, this was not a concern for Han Li.
The beast core quickly melted in his stomach to form a burst of extremely formidable and violent starpower that began to rampage through his body.
However, the starpower was then immediately tamed by the suction force released by the Heaven Controlling Vial, allowing Han Li to control it and direct it at his desired profound acupoint.
A resounding boom rang out in his mind as his spiritual sense churned violently. Even his dantian was trembling as the profound acupoint began to open further once again, much to Han Li''s tion.
He took a deep breath as he redoubled his efforts, drawing upon the starpower from the beast core and the star pond with all his might, and a vortex took shape within the starpower around him.
The white-robed man''s eyes sprang open in surprise upon seeing this, and he murmured to himself, "What cultivation art is he using? It''s been a long time since I''ve seen anyone stir up the star pond to this extent."
Observing others through one''s spiritual sense was strictly prohibited in the star pond, so he refrained from doing so, but he was looking at Han Li with a very intrigued expression.
Time slowly passed by, and it didn''t take long before the sand in the hourss ran out.
Han Li was still seated in the star pond with a radiant ball of starlight glowing on his lower abdomen, and it was giving off more and more violent starpower fluctuations.
It was clear that he was at a very crucial juncture in his cultivation, and the white-robed man took a hesitant nce at the spent hourss, then decided not to rouse Han Li from his cultivation.
Several more minutes passed by, and right at this moment, a faint crack rang out from Han Li''s lower abdomen as the all-important profound acupoint was finally opened.
All of the profound acupoints on his legs instantly began to release bursts of starlight, and his entire body was feeling as light as a feather.
An ecstatic look appeared on Han Li''s face as his eyes sprang open, and he flew straight out of the star pond.
The starlight radiating from the profound acupoints on his legs formed a nebulous cloud that carried his body, allowing him to remain suspended in mid-air.
Chapter 878: Letter and Vial
Chapter 878: Letter and Vial
A peculiar look shed through the white-robed man''s eyes as he watched Han Li hover in mid-air, and only then did it ur to Han Li that he wasn''t alone.
He immediately took a moment to regain hisposure, then appeared in front of the white-robed man just a momentter, covering a distance over over a hundred feet in the blink of an eye.
The white-robed man observed Han Li in silence, while Han Li took a nce at the hourss beside him, then cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "Thank you for allowing me to cultivate in the star pond longer than the allotted time. How many more profound points should I issue?"
Even though he had been cultivating in the star pond, he had also been keeping constant tabs on what was happening around him, and he was quite grateful for the white-robed man''s gesture of goodwill.
"There''s no need for that, you only went a few minutes overtime anyway. However, I do have a question for you," the white-robed man replied.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist, Han Li prompted with a smile."
A slightly fervent look appeared in the white-robed man''s eyes as he asked, "What is the cultivation art that you''re using? It seems to be most extraordinary."
"The cultivation is called the Wingform Ascension Arts," Han Li replied.
He had already mentioned the name of this cultivation art to both Gu Qianxun and Toxic Dragon in the past, so there was no need to hide it.
"That''s a great name for a brilliant cultivation art. With the breakthrough that you''ve just made, I''m sure you''ll perform even better in future arena battles and truly establish a resounding reputation for yourself," the white-robed man said with a faint smile.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist. diators like myself are constantly putting their lives on the line, and I''m only working so hard in my cultivation so that I''ll have some better chances at survival," Han Li said with a wry smile.
"The arena is a dangerous ce, but at the very least, the battles are conducted in a fair and open fashion. While those in the outside world appear to enjoy more freedom and safety than us, that may not necessarily be the case," the white-robed man said with a shake of his head.
"That''s true. Cultivation is an endeavor that goes against the natural order to begin with, so it really makes no difference whether one is in the arena or the outside world," Han Li replied with a nod.
The two of them chatted for a while longer before Han Li departed.
......
After leaving the star pond, Han Li traveled down the same passageway that he had arrived from, and he felt as light as a feather, as if he could take flight at any moment that he pleased.
Indeed, as soon as he decided to rise up into the air, his body immediately obliged, and it was as if he was no longer bound by the forces of gravity.
Han Li stepped down onto the air beneath his feet, and a faint pop immediately rang out as heunched himself forward through the air.
However, within the confines of the passageway, he wasn''t able to fly very far before reaching the stone wall up ahead, and he stepped onto the air once again to send himself flying back again.
All of a sudden, he was like a child who had found a new toy, and he began darting back and forth within the passageway like an agile little bird.
Only after ying around for quite some time was he finally satisfied, but the grin on his face remained as wide as ever.
In the outside world, the flight ability granted by the Wingform Ascension Arts was naturally nothing of note, but it was extraordinarily useful in the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
With this ability up his sleeve, things were going to be a lot more convenient for him both in battle and in daily life.
After taking a moment topose himself, he returned to his room to rest.
Opening that all-important profound acupoint had been a highly intense process that had severely taxed his spiritual sense, so he was feeling quite exhausted, and he was just about to fall asleep on his bed when he suddenly spotted something on the stone table in the room.
The table had beenpletely empty when he left, but at this moment, there was an envelope sitting on it, next to which was a small red vial that was several inches in size. THrough its semi-transparent wall, he could see some dark red liquid inside.
Han Li immediately turned his gaze to the door of his room, only to find that there was nothing amiss.
The newly purchased Heavenly Star Shell waspletely unharmed, and the door didn''t appear to have been tampered with, either.
His expression immediately darkened significantly upon seeing this.
Someone had been able to bypass his Heavenly Star Shell and sneak into his room without leaving any trace behind.
In the wake of this discovery, Han Li was wide awake, and he strode over to the table and thoroughly examined the envelope and the vial. Only after verifying that there didn''t seem to be any problems with them did he open the envelope to reveal a sheet of purple paper, written onto which was a small passage of text.
Han Li read the message on the letter, and his expression instantly changed drastically as he rushed over to the stone door, pressing an ear against it to hear what was happening outside.
Momentster, his expression eased slightly as he returned to the stone table, then looked down at the letter once again.
The message on the letter read: "The Green Goat City Lord yearns for your true spirit bloodline and wishes to make it his own, and he''ll be making a move against you soon. If you want to live, then drink what''s in the vial, and it may save your life."
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face at the sight of this message.
Who was it that had delivered these two things to him? Could it have been Daoist Xie?
However, he then quickly shook his head to dismiss that possibility. The method used to infiltrate his room was far more advanced than the method employedst time, so it was most likely someone else on this asion.
Furthermore, if it were Daoist Xie, then he would''ve left some type of sign behind to prove the validity of the message.
If it wasn''t Daoist Xie, then who could it be? Was the message to be trusted, or was someone doing this as part of a plot against him?
Countless questions arose in Han Li''s mind at once, rendering him unable to focus.
This was a very concerning sign, and he hurriedly took a deep breath topose himself.
In contrast with finding out who it was that had delivered these two things to him, it was much more urgent for him to verify the validity of the message.
With that in mind, the thought of Chen Yang shed through his mind.
He recalled that Chen Yang had indeed disyed a slightly strange reaction back when he had revealed his true spirit bloodline to him in battle.
However, what did the Green Goat City Lord need a true spirit bloodline for? Was it to enhance his ownbat prowess?
After some contemtion, Han Li picked up the red vial to conduct a close examination.
The dark red liquid in the vial resembled some type of blood, but it had no bloody odor.
Even after racking his own brains extensively, Han Li was unable to identify this liquid, so he could only stow the envelope and the vial away before leaving his room to pay Chen Lin a visit.
However, Chen Li didn''t seem to be inside, and he received no response even after knocking repeatedly on Chen Lin''s door.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he made his way to Toxic Dragon''s room instead.
This time, the door was quickly opened for him.
"Can I help you with something, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"I have some things that I want to ask you, Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon," Han Li replied in a calm manner.
Toxic Dragon invited Han Li into his room, then brewed two cups of tea.
Han Li left the tea untouched as he cut straight to the point and asked, "Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon, are you aware of true spirit bloodlines?"
"True spirit bloodlines? Of course. True spirits are special beasts born from heaven and earth, and they''re far more powerful than normal beasts. Those who possess true spirit bloodlines can use some of the abilities of true spirits, and all of them possess immense potential.
¡°Unfortunately, there are very few true spirits in our Holy Realm, so true spirit bloodlines are extremely rare. Having said that, I''ve heard that true spirits are moremon over in the Immortal Region. Why do you ask about this, Fellow Daoist Li?" Toxic Dragon asked with a perplexed expression.
"I heard someone mention true spirit bloodlines recently, and I was rather intrigued, so I came to ask you about it, seeing as you''re just about the most knowledgeable person I can think of," Han Li replied with a smile.
Over the course of their time together, Han Li had developed a decent grasp on Toxic Dragon''s personality. Toxic Dragon was a very capable man who possessed a sharp eye, but he also possessed ws in that he was boastful and susceptible to praise and sycophantry.
Sure enough, a pleased smile appeared on Toxic Dragon''s face in response to Han Li''spliment, and he continued, "True spirit bloodlines are extremely precious, particrly to us bodily refinement cultivators."
"Why is that?" Han Li asked.
"Those who possess true spirit bloodlines generally possess far more formidable physical bodies than the average person, and adopting true spirit transformations can enhance their physical prowess even further. On top of that, there''s always a way to use true spirit bloodlines that very few people are aware of," Toxic Dragon replied with a mysterious expression.
This was exactly what Han Li was hoping to hear, but he continued to act only mildly interested as he asked, "Oh? How else can true spirit bloodlines be used?"
"I only heard about this in passing, but apparently, the power of true spirit bloodlines can assist one in opening profound acupoints," Toxic Dragon replied.
"Is that true?" Han Li asked.
"Like I said, I only heard this in passing, but I''ve never seen it for myself. There are far too few people in our Holy Realm who possess true spirit bloodlines, and even for those who fit that bill, they require corresponding cultivation arts to truly maximize their true spirit bloodlines," Toxic Dragon said.
"I see. Thank you for telling me all of this, Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon. I still have some matters to attend to, so I''ll be taking my leave now," Han Li said as he rose to his feet.
Before Toxic Dragon had a chance to respond, he had already departed, and Toxic Dragon was rather taken aback by this, but didn''t think anything of it.
After leaving Toxic Dragon''s room, Han Li immediately returned to his own room with aplex look on his face.
Up to this point, he had finally received an exnation on why he was able to open profound acupoints far faster than others.
If true spirit bloodlines really could allow one to open profound acupoints faster than others, then it did make sense for the Green Goat City to pursue his bloodline powers.
However, if that were the case, then why did the Green Goat City send him to the arena instead of making a move on him right away?
Chapter 879: Unconventional Means
Chapter 879: Unconventional Means
At this point, Han Li was already mostly convinced about the validity of the message on the letter, not just because of what he had just heard from Toxic Dragon and the peculiar reaction that Chen Yang had disyed in response to seeing his true spirit bloodline, but more so because of an instinctive feeling.
His intuition was telling him that the message on the letter was genuine.
This sense of intuition when it came to danger had saved on countless asions during his cultivation journey up to this point, and with that in mind, a grim look appeared on his face.
If the Green Goat City really were plotting against him, then he was in a terrible situation. The ck Tribtion Centipede was still in his body, so not only could he not run away, he was alsopletely powerless to resist against the Green Goat City Lord.
However, he certainly wasn''t just going to roll over and surrender.
After pacing back and forth in his room for a while, Han Li stopped in his tracks, then inspected the small red vial momentarily before opening his mouth to expel the Heaven Controlling Vial.
Instead of drinking the liquid in the red vial, he tipped all of it into the Heaven Controlling Vial, then reced the stopper before swallowing the vial again.
Even though Han Li now mostly believed what was written on the letter, he definitely wasn''t just going to blindly drink this strange liquid.
However, throwing it away would also be inappropriate, so this was the best middle ground.
After doing all of that, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed and closed his eyes to consider what he was going to do from here.
During these past few years, he had considered trying to get away, and he had gathered a lot of information in secret.
The entire arena was constructed in apletely sealed-off area in Green Goat City, and the only point of connection that it had with the outside world was its entrance.
The star pond and several other special areas in the arena were also connected to the outside world, but all of those areas had restrictions ced upon them, and they were also overseen by powerful cultivators to prevent people from attempting escape.
At this point, Han Li had already established a n for what he was going to do if he were to attempt an escape someday.
However, figuring out the escape route was the easy part, dealing with the ck Tribtion Centipede was still the main concern.
Information on these creatures was extremely limited in Green Goat City, so unless he was to resort to some unconventional means, it didn''t seem like he was going to make any progress on this matter.
Given the urgency of the situation, there was no longer any time for him to waste.
With that in mind, his eyes sprang open, and a decisive look appeared on his face as he made his way out of his room.
As usual, the diators of the ninth area greeted him as he passed them by.
Thanks to the concealment methods that Han Li had employed, his cultivation base didn''t appear to have improved by much, but everyone had witnessed his powers in battle, and he was also quite close with Toxic Dragon, so there were many people trying to suck up to him.
Han Li nodded in response to all of the greetings, then quickly made his way to the exchange hall.
After wandering around in the hall for some time, he made his way down the passageway leading to the fourth area.
After staying in there for a short while, he traveled to the eighth area, then the first.
Some timeter, he returned to the exchange hall with a peculiar look in his eyes.
He had been covertly observing his surroundings this entire time, thinking that if the Green Goat City Lord were nning to make a move soon, then perhaps he would send people to monitor him.
However, he didn''t discover any signs that he was being followed, and that was both reassuring and confusing to him.
Having said that, he had already made up his mind, and he had no intention of turning back now.
Thus, he took a deep breath, then made his way to a ce simr to the ninth area before knocking on a certain door.
The door slowly swung open, revealing a gray-robed young man, namely the man who had first brought Han Li into the arena, Zhu Jieshan.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Zhu," Han Li greeted with a smile.
"Li Feiyu? What are you doing here?" Zhu Jieshan asked with a surprised expression.
"There''s no need to be so apprehensive of me, Fellow Daoist Zhu. You were the one who first indoctrinated me into the arena, and for that, I''m very grateful, so I thought I''d pay you a visit to show my appreciation. On top of that, there''s also a small favor that I''d like to ask of you," Han Li said with a smile as he stuffed a small cloth pouch into Zhu Jieshan''s hand.
The pouch contained several C tier beast cores, and Zhu Jieshan''s expression eased slightly as he stepped to the side to allow Han Li into his room.
Theyout of Zhu Jieshan''s room was quite simr to that of Han Li''s, but it was muchrger and better furnished.
Zhu Jieshan brought out a tea set, then began brewing a pot of tea as he smiled and said, "Given how limited the resources in the arena are, I''m afraid I don''t have any good tea to treat you with."
"This tea is very fragrant, Fellow Daoist Zhu. If this doesn''t count as good tea, then I don''t know what does," Han Li replied with a smile.
"You can take some tea leaves back with you if you like. By the way, why have youe to see me, Fellow Daoist Li?" Zhu Jieshan asked with a smile.
"Just now, as I returned to my room from an outing, I discovered that someone had snuck into my room and left this letter behind. Its contents were quite shocking to me, so I came to see you about it," Han Li replied with a serious expression as he pulled out the envelope and handed it over.
Zhu Jieshan epted the letter before taking a look, upon which his expression instantly changed drastically.
Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Han Li immediately reached out with his right hand, thrusting his index and middle fingers toward Zhu Jieshan''s dantian like lightning.
At the same time, a translucent chain flew out of his be before piercing through the air en route to Zhu Jieshan''s head.
Two crisp ngs rang out as a white bone sword appeared in front of Zhu Jieshan''s lower abdomen to intercept Han Li''s fingers, while a translucent rune had taken shape on his forehead, forming a glowing shield to keep out Han Li''s spiritual sense chain.
Han Li''s expression instantly darkened significantly upon seeing this.
"I knew you came here with bad intentions! Did you really think you could fool me?" Zhu Jieshan sneered.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he shed the bone sword in his hand through the air, sending a streak of white sword qi that was around ten feet in length sweeping viciously toward Han Li.
Han Li''s pupils contracted drastically upon seeing this. Devilish qi and immortal spiritual power were both inessible in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so how had he unleashed this streak of sword qi?
Despite his surprise, Han Li''s reactions weren''t slow at all, and he abruptly vanished from the spot, causing the streak of white sword qi to miss its target entirely.
Zhu Jieshan faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which he abruptly swung around and shed his bone sword through the air.
However, before his sword was able to strike its target, a hand had already appeared before him, plunging toward his chest like a sharp dagger.
A loud thump rang out as Zhu Jieshan was sent flying by a burst of tremendous force before crashing heavily into a nearby wall.
A huge gash had been torn into his chest, and he threw up a mouthful of blood.
His bone sword had flown out of his grasp, and an astonished look had appeared on his face. Before he had a chance to say anything, Han Li appeared before him once again in a wraith-like manner, then threw a punch directly at him.
Having been disarmed, he could only attempt to raise his arms to defend himself.
However, given the injuries that he had just suffered, his movements were very slow, so he was already struck on the forehead before he could fully raise his arms.
A dull thump rang out as Zhu Jieshan mmed into the ground before throwing up another mouthful of blood. A dazed look had appeared in his eyes, clearly indicating that his consciousness had been rocked by Han Li''s punch, but the glowing translucent shield in front of his forehead remained as bright as ever.
Han Li looked down at Zhu Jieshan from above, following which a Spiritual Sense Sword shot out of his be before instantly swelling to several feet in length.
The Spiritual Sense Sword was giving off tremendous spiritual sense fluctuations as it struck the light shield in front of Zhu Jieshan''s forehead, and the light shield was instantly torn apart, while the rune on his forehead faded away.
After destroying the light shield, the Spiritual Sense Sword instantly stopped in its tracks.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li released several spiritual sense chains out of his hand, all of which burrowed their way into Zhu Jieshan''s head before wrapping themselves inyers around Zhu Jieshan''s soul.
As a result, Zhu Jieshan spasmed momentarily before fallingpletely still.
After doing all of that, Han Li made his way over to the door, then opened it a tiny bit to take a peek outside.
The walls of Zhu Jieshan''s room were constructed from the same material as Han Li''s room, and it had exceptional soundproofing properties and could also ward off spiritual sense, which was why Han Li dared to make such a violent move here.
After verifying that no one had noticed the scuffle that had just taken ce, Han Li''s expression eased slightly, and he closed the door again, then strode over to Zhu Jieshan''s side before tapping a finger onto his be.
Zhu Jieshan slowly opened his eyes, and as soon as they regained focus, he immediately roared in a furious voice, "How dare you attack me, Li Feiyu? Are you not afraid of having your heart devoured by your ck Tribtion Centipede?!"
Chapter 880: Black Tribulation Stone
Chapter 880: ck Tribtion Stone
Han Li clenched his right hand into a fist and delivered a vicious blow to Zhu Jieshan''s lower abdomen, instantly causing him to curl up into a ball, and hisplexion turned deathly pale as a sheen of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
"That was for the punch from back then," Han Li said in an expressionless manner, while Zhu Jieshan was too busy coughing and dry heaving to say anything.
"I don''t have much time to waste. Is it true that the city lord is after my true spirit bloodline? Answer my question or I''m going to chop off all of your limbs with this sword of yours!" Han Li demanded in a cold voice as he picked up the bone sword.
"You wouldn''t dare! You''re just a lowly ve, if you dare to rebel, then your ck Tribtion Centipede will eat you alive!" Zhu Jieshan roared in a furious voice.
A cold sneer appeared on Han Li''s face as he shed the sword through the air, slicing off Zhu Jieshan''s left hand cleanly at the wrist.
Blood immediately began to spurt out of the wound, and Zhu Jieshan stared at his own left wrist in shock and horror for a moment, then opened his mouth to scream, only for Han Li to chop off his tongue as well, rendering him only able to make some unintelligible, gargled sounds.
"My patience is limited. The next time, it''ll be your right hand! Answer my question!" Han Li demanded in a cold and forceful voice.
Zhu Jieshan shuddered as he turned to stare nkly at Han Li, who raised his sword once again as he turned a menacing gaze to Zhu Jieshan''s right hand.
Upon realizing that verbal threats weren''t going to work, Zhu Jieshan immediately changed tact, hurriedly imploring through voice transmission, "No, don''t do it! I''ll tell you! It''s true, the city lord really is after your true spirit bloodline. I''ve heard that he can use the power of true spirit bloodlines to open profound acupoints or something like that, but I don''t know the exact details. I''m telling the truth!"
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this.
Up to this point, the contents of the letter had been confirmed to be true. It was a good thing that he had been so decisive and acted in advance. Otherwise, if he had waited until the city lord made his move, then it would''ve most likely already been toote.
"I never meant to cause any offense to you, Fellow Daoist Li. I was only following orders from my higher-ups, so please spare my life out of the kindness of your heart," Zhu Jieshan implored.
Han Li''s expression eased slightly as he said, "Rest assured, I won''t kill you as long as you tell me everything that you know."
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Li," Zhu Jieshan hurriedly replied.
"If the city lord wants my true spirit bloodline, then why did he wait until now instead of making a move on me right away?" Han Li asked.
"I don''t know, I only followed orders to guide you into the arena. Everything else ispletely out of my hands," Zhu Jieshan replied.
"When exactly is the city lord nning to make his move?" Han Li asked.
"I haven''t been told that, I''ve only received some orders recently to keep a close eye on you . Aside from that, I haven''t received any other instructions," Zhu Jieshan replied.
"You were probably also instructed to detain me right away if I disyed any suspicious activity, right? I know that there''s something wrong with the tea that you gave me just now. Don''t try to stall for time, I haven''t actually drunk the tea at all, so it''s not going to take effect," Han Li said with a cold sneer, then spat out a small mouthful of tea.
An astonished look appeared on Zhu Jieshan''s face upon seeing this, following which he lowered his head in a panicked manner, not daring to look at Han Li.
"Alright, I have one final question for you, and I''ll spare your life if you give me a satisfactory answer," Han Li said.
Zhu Jieshan''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "What do you want to know?"
"How can I extract the ck Tribtion Centipede from my body without being caught?" Han Li asked.
"ck Tribtion Centipede are insects that are personally refined by the city lord, and he''s the only one who knows how to remove them. I''ve heard stories of others trying to get rid of them, but all of those attempts have ended very badly," Zhu Jieshan replied with a grim expression.
Han Li had already anticipated that this would most likely be the response, but his expression still darkened slightly upon hearing this.
Zhu Jieshan''s face instantly turned deathly pale at the sight of Han Li''s displeased expression, and he hurriedly continued, "I''m telling the truth, Fellow Daoist Li! I can swear a vow on it! There''s no way that the city lord would tell someone as insignificant as me the method to remove ck Tribtion Centipedes!"
At this moment, Zhu Jieshan''s soul was still bound by Han Li''s spiritual sense chains, so Han Li was able to detect Zhu Jieshan''s spiritual fluctuations, and through them, he could tell that Zhu Jieshan didn''t seem to be lying.
Unfortunately, he was unable to draw upon any immortal spiritual power. Otherwise, he could simply use a soul search technique and spare himself a lot of trouble.
"As an arena administrator, there''s no way that you don''t know anything about ck Tribtion Centipedes. I recall you telling me that ck Tribtion Centipedes will turn on someone if they try to run away. Why is that?" Han Li asked.
Zhu Jieshan shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and a hesitant look appeared on his face.
A cold look shed through Han Li''s eyes as he swept the bone sword through the air, and a deep gash instantly appeared on Zhu Jie''s right wrist, almost slicing his hand off cleanly.
He immediately let loose a strangled cry of agony, and his entire body began trembling uncontrobly.
"I already told you that I don''t have much patience. If you try to test me again, then I''ll chop off all of your limbs, and I have many ways to ensure that you won''t be able to regrow them," Han Li threatened as he raised the bone sword again.
"I''ll talk!" Zhu Jieshan hurriedly yelled.
"Hurr up!" Han Li coerced as he pressed the edge of the bone sword against Zhu Jieshan''s skin.
"There''s a ck Tribtion Stone in the city lord''s manor that releases a special type of soul power fluctuations across the entirety of Green Goat City. All ck Tribtion Centipedes will fall into a deep sleep under the effects of these soul power fluctuations, but if someone strays too far away from the ck Tribtion Stone, then the ck Tribtion Centipede in their body will immediately awaken," Zhu Jieshan replied.
"Does that mean that if I obtain this stone and carry it with me, then the ck Tribtion Centipede in my body will never awaken?" Han Li asked as his eyes lit up slightly.
"That seems feasible theoretically, but I don''t know if it''ll work in practice. After all, there''s no guarantee that the city lord won''t have any other tricks up his sleeve," Zhu Jieshan replied.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he fell into deep thought, but he then raised his head again as he asked in a cold voice, "What else do you know about ck Tribtion Centipedes? Tell me everything!"
"That''s all I know, I swear!" Zhu Jieshan insisted as tears began to well up in his eyes.
"Alright, I''m going to capture another administrator and interrogate them. If he corroborates your answers, then I''ll spare you. If not, then I''ll slice you up and feed you to the scaled beasts in the arena!" Han Li said in a cold voice.
In the face of Han Li''s threats, not only did Zhu Jieshan not appear terrified, he seemed to be quite relieved instead.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this. Judging from his reaction, it seemed that Zhu Jieshan wasn''t lying.
He mmed the t side of the bone sword into the back of Zhu Jieshan''s hand, instantly causing him to fall to the ground in an unconscious state.
After that, he cast a seal onto Zhu Jieshan''s soul, and only then was he satisfied.
This seal would ensure that Zhu Jieshan would remain unconscious for three days and three nights, so he wouldn''t be able to interfere with Han Li''s escape ns.
He hadn''t spared Zhu Jieshan out of kindness or anything like that. Instead, he was worried that perhaps there were certain restrictions ced on him, so killing him could alert some other parties to what he had done.
After stuffing Zhu Jieshan under his bed and cleaning the blood from the room, Han Li emerged from the room in a calm manner.
After leaving the area, Han Li returned to the exchange hall and looked down at the arena below.
On the other side of the arena, almost facing directly across from the exchange hall, was a wide passageway that led outward. That was the entrance of the arena, through which he could enter Green Goat City, which was where the city lord''s manor was situated.
In order to obtain the ck Tribtion Stone, he would have to enter Green Goat City.
ording to the rules, diators were not permitted to leave the arena, and there were also many guards at the entrance to prevent diators from getting away, so it wasn''t going to be easy to escape.
With these thoughts running through his mind, Han Li began to make his way back to his room.
Now that he had be aware of the fact that he had to obtain the ck Tribtion Stone, he had to change his escape n a little.
After returning to the ninth area, Han Li opened the door to his room, then immediately stopped cold in his tracks.
Daoist Xie was standing inside, waiting for him, and an ted look appeared on his face as he opened his mouth to speak, but his expression then abruptly changed as he shot back in retreat.
At the same time, a figure appeared up above in a wraith-like manner, then mmed a palm into his chest with tremendous force.
Chapter 881: Is It Time
Chapter 881: Is It Time
The arm attached to the hand was giving off rays of white light, and it was hurtling through the air with such immense power that it was threatening to tear the very space apart.
Upon being struck in the chest, the speed of Han Li''s retreat was increased by severalfold, and he crashed heavily into the stone door behind him.
A loud thump rang out as the stone door was smashed to bits, sending shattered rocks flying in all directions, while Han Li crashed into the ground to form a huge crater.
Given how powerful his physical body had be, he didn''t sustain any severe injuries from the blow, and he was just about to spring back to his feet, but right at this moment, two ck chains shot forth through the air, then wrapped themselves tightly around his arms and legs.
The chains were extremely resilient, and Han Li was instantlypletely immobilized.
Before he had a chance to struggle any further, a figure appeared before him in a sh, then closed a hand around his throat.
The hand belonged to none other than Chen Yang, and he chuckled in a cold voice, "Don''t bother struggling, you''re not getting away."
At this point, two ck-robed figures had appeared beside the crater, with each one holding one end of the ck chains.
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this, but he didn''t struggle.
The diators of the ninth area were very rmed by this turn of events, but once then identified that it was Chen Yang, none of them dared to say anything.
"How did you know what I was nning?" Han Li asked.
"Given your personality, there''s no way that you would''ve resigned yourself to your own fate. It''s hrious that Hu Bi and the others werepletelycent to this, so I''m the one who gets the credit for catching you red-handed," Chen Yang chuckled.
Han Li offered no response to this.
One of the ck-robed figures ced a set of shackles onto Han Li''s body, while Chen Yang dered to the crowd that was gathering nearby, "This man has broken the rules of the arena, so we''re taking him to the city lord''s manor for his punishment. There''s no need for rm, this has nothing to do with any of you."
Judging from everyone''s reactions, no was feeling particrly reassured.
"Take him away!" Chen Yang ordered before departing.
Daoist Xie trailed along behind Chen Yang in silence, not even sparing so much as a single nce at Han Li, much to Han Li''s dismay.
Before long, the group had left the ninth area, and in the wake of their departure, the entirety of the ninth area erupted into a frenzy, with everyone discussing the potential reasons for Han Li''s capture.
Standing silently among the crowd was Chen Lin, and he lingered in the lobby momentarily before returning to his room.
......
It didn''t take long for Chen Yang and the others to leave the arena and enter Green Goat City.
The city lord''s manor was situated at the highest point of Green Goat City, so Chen Yang''s group attracted a great deal of attention as Han Li was paraded through the city.
Han Li walked along with his head lowered while rapidly considering his options.
Chen Yang seemed to have gleaned Han Li''s thoughts, and he warned, "I know you''re capable of unleashing spiritual attacks, but now that we''re already in Green Goat City, you''re not getting away, so don''t even try it. Otherwise, you''ll only be heaping more punishment upon yourself."
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this, and his heart sank a little further.
The group quickly arrived at the city lord''s manor, which was quite an enormous ce, but wasn''t very opulent in appearance.
Chen Yang walked straight in with Han Li without dering his own arrival, and he was walking along at the forefront of the group with a contemtive look on his face.
Daoist Xie was trailing along behind him, while Han Li and the two ck-robed guards brought up the rear as they arrived outside the city lord''s cave abode.
"City Lord Du, it''s me, Chen Yang," Chen Yang dered as he strode over to the tightly shut stone door.
There was no response from inside the cave abode.
Chen Yang''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he was just about to announce his own arrival again when the stone door slowly opened amid a heavy grinding sound.
"Come in."
A voice rang out from inside, and it seemed to be tinged with a hint of irrepressible fury.
Han Li beckoned to the two ck-robed figures, who brought Han Li over to him before departing.
A slightly sympathetic look shed through his eyes as he took a nce at Han Li, then pressed a hand down onto his shoulder before pushing him into the cave abode.
Upon entering the cave abode, it was revealed that there were three other people in the main hall aside from Du Qingyang.
These three were three of the four captains that had been summoned by Du Qingyang for that earlier meeting, and out of the four captains, only Hu Bi was missing.
"Why did you bring him here now?" Du Qingyang asked with a displeased look in his eyes.
"I had just returned from a hunting trip when I caught this man attempting to escape from the arena, so I detained him and brought him to you, City Lord Du," Chen Yang replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Du Qingyang''s expression darkened even further upon hearing this, and a hint of fear had appeared in the eyes of the three captains.
"Security seems to have been a littlex in the arena ofte. I suggest that we dedicate more manpower to tightening security so something like this doesn''t happen again. After all, there''s no guarantee that we''ll be so fortunate next time," Chen Yang continued.
There was a square-faced young man standing next to Du Qingyang, and he took a resentful nce at Chen Yang. He was the one responsible for overseeing security in the arena, so he was going to be held culpable for this close call.
"You did very well," Du Qingyang praised, but his expression remained as stony as ever.
It seemed that he had no intention of assigning me, and the square-faced young man was very relieved.
"I was only doing my job, City Lord Du. If you have no further instructions for me, then I''ll be taking my leave now," Chen Yang said as he extended a respectful bow.
Du Qingyang took a hesitant nce at Chen Yang, then sighed, "Don''t go just yet. I just so happen to have something that I need to discuss with you."
"Please go ahead, City Lord Du," Chen Yang immediately replied.
Du Qingyang beckoned for him toe closer, so Chen Yang left Han Li under Daoist Xie''s supervision before approaching Du Qingyang.
"This morning, Hu Bi was found dead in his room," Du Qingyang said in a low voice.
An astonished look appeared on Chen Yang''s face upon hearing this, and he asked, "How did he die?"
"No one knows. He didn''t have external injuries, nor were there any signs of battle in his room. The only thing worthy of note is that there''s some residual blood in both of his ear holes," Du Qingyang replied.
"Could it be that he was poisoned then? Surely not! Given his physical constitution, what type of poison could possibly have killed him?" Chen Yang spected with tightly furrowed brows.
"There aren''t any leads to pursue at the moment. The problem is that now that he''s dead, the task that I assigned to him has been cast into limbo, so I want you to manage the Sinha Blood Array in his stead. What do you say?" Du Qingyang asked.
Chen Yang was ecstatic to hear this, and he hurriedly cupped his fist in a salute as he replied, "Thank you, City Lord Du! You can count on me!"
"Prior to initiating the ritual, I have to go into seclusion for a while, so I''ll leave it to you toplete the array''s setup. I''ll look into Hu Bi''s death, but don''t let that distract you from the task at hand. Make sure to prioritize the ritual and the Sinha Blood Array above all else," Du Qingyang said, and Chen Yang and the three captains immediately gave a collective affirmative response.
After that, Chen Yang departed with Daoist Xie and Han Li, but instead of returning to the arena, Han Li was taken to an underground prison.
......
Over a month flew by in a sh.
Right at this moment, the door of Han Li''s cell was suddenly opened, and two figures strode in from outside.
The visitors were none other than Chen Yang and Daoist Xie, and the former said, "Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Li. Have you been well?"
Han Li was sitting in a corner of the cell, and he looked up as he asked, "Is it time?"
Chen Yang faltered slightly upon hearing this, then smiled as he replied, "I suppose it is."
Han Li rose to his feet in silence, then dusted himself off before making his way out of his cell.
The armored guards outside immediately converged to surround him, but Chen Yang waved them off, and Han Li began making his way down a corridor.
Chen Yang walked along beside him, while Daoist Xie and the others trailed along behind them.
"Do you have any final wishes, Fellow Daoist Li? Perhaps I can help you fulfill them," Chen Yang jibed with a faint smile.
"My wish is for you to spare me and escort me out of Green Goat City. Will that be doable?" Han Li asked in an indifferent manner.
"That''s obviously not a wish that I can grant, but if you teach me your cultivation arts, then I''ll ensure that you at least get a proper burial instead of being fed to the scaled beasts," Chen Yang replied with a smile.
Han Li offered no response.
The group followed the corridor downward, and it didn''t take long before they arrived in arge underground space.
It was a dome-shaped space that seemed to be a naturally forming underground cave, and even before walking inside, Han Li was struck by a hot and sickly sweet aroma that caused him to involuntarily scrunch up his nose.
After walking inside, Han Li spotted a strange stone tform that had been constructed in the shape of a pentagram.
The stone tform was several hundred feet in size and around three feet tall. At its center were two slots that were both around a foot deep, while connected to each of the five tips of the pentagram was a round tform that was around six feet tall with a fist-sized beast core fitted into a slot on each tform.
All five beast cores were B tier beast cores of an exceptional quality, and at this moment, Du Qingyang and the three captains were all standing beside the stone tform, seemingly awaiting their arrival.
Chapter 882: What Did You Do?
Chapter 882: What Did You Do?
"He''s here, City Lord Du," Chen Yang dered as he extended a respectful bow.
For this asion, Du Qingyang had put on a brand new red robe, and he gave Chen Yang an authoritative nod.
Among the three captains, the bald man strode forward before shoving Han Li onto the stone tform, forcing him into an indentation at the center of the tform.
As soon as Han Li set foot into the indentation, he immediately felt a sticky sensation beneath his feet, and he looked down to discover some type of sticky ck substance inside the indentation, looking much like ck blood sma that had umted over a long period of time.
Despite how sticky the substance was, it was only giving off a faint odor.
"Enter the array," Du Qingyang ordered with a serious expression.
Chen Yang and the captains instantly flew into the array, while Du Qingyang himself made his way onto the stone tform, then sat down with his legs crossed in another indentation across from Han Li.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but he knew that he was in a very grim situation indeed.
"Begin," Du Qingyang ordered, and Chen Yang and the others also sat down with their legs crossed, then channeled the starpower in their bodies as they each pressed a hand against the B tier beast core in front of them.
A burst of faint buzzing rang out as the entire stone tform began to vibrate slightly, and all of the beast cores lit up in unison, releasing bursts of formidable energy fluctuations.
At the same time, wisps of starpower were surging out of the beast cores before flowing into the indentation that Han Li was situated in along the patterns on the stone tform.
With this injection of starpower, the viscous substance beneath Han Li suddenly began to bubble and churn before slowly climbing up his body until it had enveloped the entirety of his lower body beneath his waist.
Han Li gave a muffled groan as he felt a burst of heat surge through his body, as if his blood had been set alight in his veins, and he could feel his true spirit bloodline beginning to stir.
His heart beat began to elerate, while his mouth became as parched as a desert, and he wanted to struggle and resist, but his body was impossibly heavy, as if it had been injected with lead.
A series of hazy true spirit projections began to surface over his body in an uncontroble fashion, and a look of tion and greed appeared in Du Qingyang''s eyes upon seeing this.
"I didn''t think you would have so many true spirit bloodlines in your body! Looks like I made the right decision to wait for so long," Du Qingyang chuckled in an excited manner.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed, and he offered no response.
Right at this moment, his expression changed slightly, and he felt an empty sensation in his own body. He hurriedly looked down to find that there was a crimson trough on the stone tform that connected him to Du Qingyang.
At this moment, his blood was flowing toward the other side along the trough as if it were being sucked out of his body drop by drop.
As the blood flowed to Du Qingyang, it began to rise up around him, forming a spherical crimson light barrier that epassed his entire body.
A low roar escaped his lips as he clenched his fists tightly by his sides, and his eyes gradually took on a crimson color.
All the while, the sense of emptiness and depletion in Han Li''s body was only bing more and more pronounced, and he could sense his own true spirit bloodlines being stripped out of his body bit by bit.
If things were to continue in this fashion, not only would he lose his true spirit bloodlines, even his life would be forfeit!
With that in mind, a decisive look appeared in his eyes, and his Heaven Controlling Vial tipped over on its own within his stomach, pouring the crimson liquid inside into his body.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li''s skin turned bright red like the shell of a steamed crab, and wisps of pink mist began to rise up out of his body.
Du Qingyang was still immersed in the blissful sensation of absorbing Han Li''s true spirit bloodlines, and he paid the discoloration of Han Li''s skin no heed, merely chalking it down to a normal reaction that one would have as the victim of this array.
Before long, Han Li''s skin began to crack open like a plot of parchednd, but no blood was flowing out of the cracks on his skin.
At this moment, all of the other true spirit bloodlines in his body were in a rtively stable state, but his Xuanwu bloodline was surging through his veins.
This was something that had happened to him in the past, so he was able to tolerate this sensation, but even so, the outflow of blood didn''t cease. Instead, due to the unrest in his Xuanwu bloodline, his blood was only flowing faster out of his body and into the trough.
However, as this blood began to flow into Du Qingyang''s body, his eyes abruptly widened, and a a stunned look appeared on his face.
At the same time, the spherical crimson light barrier around him began to bubble and churn like a pot of boiling water.
Du Qingyang gave a muffled groan, and his blood began to churn in his own body far more violently than Han Li''s blood in his. Even with his incredibly formidable physical constitution, he felt as if his body were about to be torn apart.
He let loose a loud roar as he joined his palms in front of his own chest, and all of his joints cracked and popped and over two hundred profound acupoints lit up over his body, while ayer of hazy white light also emerged over his skin.
Shrouded within thisyer of white light, his frenzied blood seemed to have been temporarily suppressed.
Unaware of what Han Li had just done, Du Qingyang was merely under the impression that true spirit bloodlines were supposed to be this violent.
As time slowly passed by, the outflow of blood from Han Li''s body only sped up further and further, and hisplexion gradually began to pale, while a dazed look had appeared in his eyes.
Du Qingyang''s teeth were tightly gritted, and a savage grin appeared on his face at the sight of Han Li''s condition.
"To think that a mere human can harness so many true spirit bloodlines and make them all coexist in harmony. What a truly remarkable feat. I thought that forcing you to fight in the arena would tame some of the wild nature of your true spirit bloodlines, but they''re still incredibly violent," Du Qingyang harrumphed through gritted teeth.
At this moment, Han Li felt as if his entire body had been sucked dry, and he was too feeble to respond.
He could only reflexively channel his Great Universe Origin Arts and Wingform Ascension Arts to try and arrest some of the starpower that was flowing out of his body alongside his blood, but the endeavor was one that wasrgely futile.
Right at this moment, a Giant Mountain Ape projection emerged over Du Qingyang''s body, and it was thumping its own chest in a disy of domination. At the same time, an Azure Luan Bird projection appeared before attempting to fly away with all its might. On the other side, a Lightning Bird projection appeared, and it also began to struggle vehemently.
All of the true spirit projections that had previously appeared around Han Li had now appeared outside Du Qingyang''s body, but they were all in an extremely unstable and violent state.
Du Qingyang''s eyes widened drastically as bursts of incredibly formidable tearing forces began to ravage his entire body, causing him to let loose an involuntary roar.
At the same time, cracks also began to appear over his skin, but these cracks were all bright red, and they were countless tiny gashes that had been torn into his skin.
Blood began to flow out of those gashes, instantly staining his robes.
Chen Yang and the captains were all at a temporary loss for what to do upon seeing this, but then Chen Yang suddenly yelled, "Don''t just sit there, channel the array to help City Lord Du absorb the true spirit bloodlines!"
Everyone immediately sprang into action upon hearing this, injecting their starpower into the beast cores before them with all their might.
However, right at this moment, a sinister grin suddenly appeared on Chen Yang''s face, and he raised a fist before mming it into the beast core in front of him.
The beast core instantly exploded, sending white starpower erupting in all directions, while Chen Yang darted back in retreat.
This turn of events had unfolded so abruptly that no one was able to react in time, and in the next instant, the entire Sinha Blood Array was thrown into a state of imbnce, causing a burst of incredibly powerful tearing force to surge throughout it.
Everyone inside the array was rooted to the spot by this tearing force, rendering them unable to escape.
"What did you do, Chen Yang?" Du Qingyang roared in a furious voice.
"All I did was slightly alter your Sinha Blood Array, City Lord Du. As for what the effects of the alterations are, you''ll just have to see for yourself," Chen Yang replied with a smile.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the crimson light barrier around Du Qingyang abruptly expanded to form a crimson vortex, which instantly epassed the entire Sinha Blood Array and everyone within it.
The captains could see that things had gone awry, and they wanted to escape the array, but it was already toote.
Their hands were tightly glued to the beast cores in front of them, and their arms had turned bright red.
At the same time, their profound acupoints were lighting up one after another in an uncontroble fashion, and their blood and starpower were being involuntarily sucked out of their bodies and into the crimson vortex.
Thanks to his superior cultivation base, Du Qingyang was still able to hold his own within the array, but the captains were all in a truly dire state.
At this moment, Du Qingyang''s eyes were bright red, and there was blood flowing down from the corners of his eyes as he glowered at Chen Yang with a look of murderous rage.
Chapter 883: Rapid Absorption
Chapter 883: Rapid Absorption
"It should be about time," Chen Yang murmured to himself as he observed the array.
Sure enough, as soon as his voice trailed off, the crimson vortex that epassed the entire array abruptly ceased in its rotation, then began to revolve in the opposite direction.
The blood that had flowed into Du Qingyang''s body instantly began to flow back toward Han Li through the trough between them, and the viscous ck substance beneath him immediately began to bubble and churn.
Han Li felt as if his own body were about to be set alight, and his skin instantly turned bright red, and the cracks all over his skin also began to glow red.
The blood that had originally only covered his lower body spread further upward, climbing up to his chest, then his neck, before ultimately epassing his entire body to form a huge crimson cocoon.
The blood that was surging into his body also contained the starpower of Du Qingyang and the captains, and it was an enormous influx of starpower that waspletely beyond what Han Li''s body was able to handle without the assistance of immortal spiritual power.
A string of muffled roars rang out incessantly from within the crimson cocoon, and Han Li could feel bursts of power crashing through his body like untamed bulls, making his limbs, his meridians, and even his head feel extremely swollen, to the point that they were about to explode.
This sensation was no less tortuous than what he had experienced back in the Bone Rinsing Lightning Pond.
At this point, all he could do was protect his own consciousness with all his might so that he remained lucid and awake.
Time slowly passed by, and everyone inside the array was persevering with gritted teeth.
Even now, Du Qingyang still wasn''t willing to give up.
He was waiting for the influx of starpower to be too much for Han Li, thereby causing his body to explode, at which point he would finally be able to im Han Li''s true spirit bloodlines.
Once that happened, he was going to personally ensure that Chen Yang suffered an even more terrible death than Li Feiyu.
At this point, Chen Yang and Daoist Xie had already retreated to the edge of the cave, and he was sweating profusely as he looked on with a tense expression.
He was also waiting for Han Li to self-detonate as the power from the explosion would undoubtedly kill the captains in the array on the spot.
As for Du Qingyang, perhaps he wouldn''t die from the explosion, but he would definitely suffer severe injuries that would ce him at Chen Yang''s mercy.
However, both Han Li and Du Qingyang were disying far more perseverance than he had hoped to see, and that was making him feel very uneasy.
He had gone all in on this n, and he didn''t even dare to consider the consequences of failure.
In contrast, Daoist Xie was looking on with apletely calm and cid expression, as if none of this had anything to do with him.
As the crimson cocoon continued to expand, so did Han Li''s body, and at this point, he was looking like a bloated humanoid balloon that could explode at any moment.
However, right at this moment, a series of true spirit projections reappeared around him, but instead of attempting to flee the array, they fused into his body one after another.
At the same time, the blood in the bodies of the captains in the array also began to rapidly surge toward Han Li, and in no more than just a few moments, their bodies had be significantly shrunken and withered.
Du Qingyang finally gave up all hope upon seeing this. If he were to wait any longer, then the roles of aggressor and victim would be switched.
With that in mind, he let loose a thunderous roar, and several dozen more profound acupoints emerged over his body, with all of them appearing on his abdomen and arms.
He raised a fist, and starpower converged rapidly toward the end of his fist as he threw an almighty punch into the ground.
The Sinha Blood Array shuddered violently alongside the entire underground cave, but it was able to withstand the force of his punch.
Du Qingyang clearly wasn''t surprised to see this. While constructing the array, he had considered the possibility of an attack during the ritual, so he had ensured that the array was extremely resilient, to the point that even he couldn''t destroy it in a single blow.
Never did he think that his meticulous n would work against himself.
The impact of Du Qingyang''s punchunched him up into the air, and while in mid-air, he threw another punch to forcibly sever his own connection to the array.
Blood came spewing out of his mouth as his chest sank in significantly, but he was finally able to escape the array''s control.
In the wake of his escape, the captains were forced to bear the array''s full fury on their own, and they instantly exploded one after another amid a string of bloodcurdling howls.
Du Qingyang took a moment to steady himself, then turned to Chen Yang with a furious expression and charged straight at him, paying no heed to his own injuries.
"Chen Yang, it''s time for you to pay with your life!"
A cold sneer appeared on Chen Yang''s face as he scoffed, "You''re nothing more than a spent force at this point."
Despite the mockery on his face, he didn''t dare to take Du Qingyang lightly at all, even in his terrible condition, and his profound acupoints lit up as heshed out with both fists.
All of a sudden, a long screech rang out from within the crimson cocoon, and all of the power contained within the entire Sinha Blood Array began to gush rapidly into Han Li''s body.
At the same time, his body began to swell rapidly, giving him the appearance of a bulging ball of blood, and even more cracks had appeared over his skin.
However, aside from Daoist Xie, no one noticed the speck of faint green light that had appeared in Han Li''s abdomen.
As the bursts of starpower surged into his body, the Heaven Controlling Vial instantly sprang into action, sucking in the starpower. As a result, only the bloodline power from Du Qingyang and the captains were still rampaging in his body.
Han Li was already on the verge of losing consciousness, but the strain on his body was significantly alleviated by the Heaven Controlling Vial, allowing him to cling onto consciousness.
He immediately channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts with his might, rapidly absorbing the rampant bloodline power and starpower within his body.
After being passed through the Heaven Controlling Vial, the starpower had be quite tame and easy to absorb. As for the bloodline power, most of it was actually Han Li''s own true spirit bloodlines, so even though it was much more difficult to absorb than the starpower, it was still manageable.
As these two bursts of power began to integrate themselves into his body, his swollen body slowly began to contract.
At the same time, bursts of starpower began to surge toward his lower body, and all of a sudden, a profound acupoint was opened on his left leg with a dull thump.
This was immediately followed by another profound acupoint on his right leg, followed by two more profound acupoints on his legs.
All of a sudden, he had reached full mastery over the Wingform Ascension Arts, having opened all eighteen of the cultivation art''s profound acupoints.
A hint of incredulity shed through Daoist Xie''s eyes upon seeing this.
Opening consecutive profound acupoints should''ve been fantastic news for Han Li, but in this particr situation, it was a very troublesome turn of events.
Now that he had reached full mastery of both the Wingform Ascension Arts and the Great Universe Origin Arts, there were no more profound acupoints left for him to open.
The remaining starpower and bloodline power was still running rampant in his body, and to furtherpound his woes, the two types of power in the Sinha Blood Array still hadn''tpletely run out, so there was still more and more surging into his body, and he didn''t know if he could withstand such an enormous influx of energy.
On the other side of the hall, over a hundred and thirty profound acupoints had lit up over Chen Yang''s body, but he was still well and truly on the back foot against Du Qingyang, and a series ofrge cracks had appeared on his suit of bone armor.
However, Du Qingyang certainly wasn''t enjoying himself, either. His injuries were very severe, and he was having to forcibly suppress them. If he couldn''t keep those injuries in check, then his condition could take a sharp and rapid turn for the worse, resulting in catastrophic consequences.
All of the profound acupoints on Du Qingyang''s arm lit up, and he mmed a fist into Chen Yang''s crossed arms, upon which a loud crack rang out.
Both of Chen Yang''s arms were instantly snapped, and he was sent flying back through the air, tumbling over the ground like a ragdoll before mming violently into the wall of the cave.
Upon falling to the ground, he couldn''t help but throw up arge mouthful of blood.
Instead of charging in to press his advantage, Du Qingyang remained standing on the spot, internally suppressing his own injuries as he said in a cold voice, "I always felt like you had a rebellious bone in you, but I didn''t think you would actually dare to betray me. You may have hid your true power this entire time, but that''s not going to save you from your inevitable death."
"Whether I live or die isn''t up to you anymore," Chen Yang sneered as he wiped the blood from his lips.
Chapter 884: Revenge
Chapter 884: Revenge
"Quit bluffing!" Du Qingyang roared as he stomped his feet into the ground, and all of the profound acupoints on his legs lit up in unison, following which he abruptly vanished from the spot, as if by instantaneous teleportation.
In the next instant, Chen Yang felt a gust of fierce wind blow past his ear, and Du Qingyang''s joined middle and index fingers came plunging directly toward his temple like a sharp dagger.
There was no time for Chen Yang to do anything aside from instinctively dodge to the side, but Du Qingyang certainly wasn''t going to let him off the hook so easily, and he changed directions to continue pursuing Chen Yang, while a profound acupoint appeared on each segment of his two fingers, further enhancing their power.
Right as it seemed like Chen Yang''s fate was sealed, a resounding boom suddenly rang out, and the stone door of the underground cave exploded violently, following which a yellow figure flew into the room before crashing into Du Qingyang from the side.
A dull thump rang out as Du Qingyang was sent flying back over a thousand feet, crashing into the mountain face on the other side of the hall before tumbling to the ground.
He struggled to his feet with some difficulty, and he was finally unable to suppress his own injuries any longer as blood came spewing out of his mouth and onto the ground.
He sped a hand over his own wounded chest as he stumbled back a few steps, and he was only able to steady himself after leaning back against the stone wall behind him. However, his legs were still trembling uncontrobly, and it looked as if he were going to fall at any moment.
A perplexed look shed through his eyes at the sight of the yellow figure that had just flown into the room, and he eximed, "Gu Qianxun? Why are you doing this?"
Indeed, the yellow figure was none other than Gu Qianxun, and there was a frosty look in her eyes as she glowered at Du Qingyang and said in a cold voice, "Why am I doing this? I''ve been waiting for this day for thirty thousand years!"
"Thirty thousand years? Who are you?" Du Qingyang asked in a cold voice.
"It looks like your memory isn''t that great, so let me give you a reminder. Do you still remember that woman that you secretly abducted from Profound End City all those years ago?" Gu Qianxun asked.
A hint of realization appeared on Du Qingyang''s face as he murmured, "Profound End City? Could it be..."
"All those years ago, you used this same Sinha Blood Array in this exact same ce to suck out her true spirit bloodline. In the end, her body detonated, and she wasn''t even able to die with an intact body!" Gu Qianxun said as her lips quivered with rage.
"Yan Hongyu... How are you rted to her?" Du Qingyang asked.
"Shut your mouth! A deplorable scoundrel like you has no right to speak my mother''s name!" Gu Qianxun yelled in a furious voice.
"I see, so she was your mother. No wonder you came to my Green Goat City over six thousand years ago and requested to join the arena, this is what you''ve been plotting all along, isn''t it? Your patience is truly exemry," Du Qingyang sneered.
"Even if I had to wait another thirty thousand years, it would still be worth it! Your subordinate has already turned on you, and it''s finally time for you to receive the retribution that you deserve!" Gu Qianxun dered in a righteous manner.
Du Qingyang took a nce at Chen Yang, then turned his gaze back to Gu Qianxun as he asked, "You must''ve yed a role in Hu Bi''s death as well, right?"
Gu Qianxun offered no response, merely continuing to glower at Du Qingyang with a cold sneer on her face.
Du Qingyang spat out a mouthful of viscous blood, then harrumphed coldly, "Seeing as you''re so attached to your mother, I''ll send you to the afterlife to reunite with her using the power of her bloodline!"
Du Qingyang closed his eyes as he spoke, and his hands balled up into tight fists as he let loose a thunderous roar.
Immediately thereafter, ayer of tiny iridescent scales that were extremely tightly packed together surfaced over his body, giving off a dreamy glow under the light of the mes in the surrounding braziers.
Daoist Xie raised an eyebrow at the sight of Du Qingyang''s transformation, and he murmured to himself, "That''s the bloodline of the Illusory Scale Rainbow Serpent... What a rare sight..."
Gu Qianxun''s expression darkened even further upon seeing this, and her fury was only further exacerbated.
"You bastard!" she roared in a furious voice as a series of profound acupoints lit up over her legs, and she leaned forward slightly before pouncing directly at Du Qingyang like a hunting panther.
As the two passed each other by, Gu Qianxun extended a hand with her fingers joined together, then plunged it at Du Qingyang''s throat like a sharp dagger.
It was unclear whether Du Qingyang was too severely injured to dodge the attack, or he never intended to dodge it in the first ce, but he took the attack head-on with his vulnerable throat.
A loud thump rang out, but right as the collision took ce, ayer of faint rainbow light surfaced over Du Qingyang''s throat.
Immediately thereafter, his throat contracted slightly before bulging outward like a spring, transmitting the power of Gu Qianxun''s blow toward his own chest.
In that instant, it was as if his body had be that of a boneless serpent, and every single muscle of his began vibrating at the same frequency, transmitting the force of the attack into the ground, while his own body remainedpletely unscathed.
In the blink of an eye, he had shrugged off what had appeared to be a killing blow.
At the same time, Du Qingyang swung an arm through the air, throwing a palm strike at Gu Qianxun''s face.
Gu Qianxun took a step to the side upon seeing this, thenshed out with her fist in retaliation.
A string of profound acupoints lit up over her arm, releasing a burst of tremendous force that instantly tore her sleeve apart, revealing a section of her fair and slender arm.
Despite how delicate the arm appeared, the muscles on it were very clearly defined, giving the arm the appearance of an appendage that harbored immense explosive power.
Her fist struck Du Qingyang''s palm with a resounding boom, sending powerful shockwaves erupting in all directions.
Du Qingyang''s serpentine body was able to transmit the force of the sh into the ground once again, but he was still forced back in retreat, only drawing to a halt after stomping a foot down onto the stone wall behind him.
As for Gu Qianxun, she was sent flying back through the air before crashing heavily into the mountain face on the other side.
Arge section of the mountain face instantly copsed, burying her under a pile of shattered rocks.
Chen Yang''s expression darkened significantly upon seeing this. He had thought that Du Qingyang would be in terrible condition after suffering bacsh from the Sinha Blood Array, but it appeared that he was still far from a spent force.
"Chen Yang, I''ve always treated you well, yet you''ve thrown my kindness back in my face. Now, it''s your turn," Du Qingyang said as he turned to Chen Yang with a cold sneer.
A series of dark red lines began to appear around his eyes as he spoke, giving his already hideous face an even more sinister appearance.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he sprang forward with explosive force while reaching out a hand to grab at Chen Yang''s chest.
Chen Yang dodged to the side to just barely evade the blow, but several deep marks were still left behind on the bone armor in front of his chest from Du Qingyang''s fingers.
Before Chen Yang even had a chance to catch his breath, Du Qingyang''s body suddenly began to elongate, following which a serpentine tail wrapped itself around his midsection before exerting tremendouspressive force.
Chen Yang clenched his fists tightly as he let loose a thunderous roar, and all of his profound acupoints lit up as a burst of formidable energy fluctuations erupted out of his body in an attempt to shake off Du Qingyang.
However, Du Qingyang''s body only loosened slightly before constricting tightly around him once again.
At the same time, he opened his mouth to a seemingly impossible degree, unhinging his jaw liek a true serpent as he chomped down upon Chen Yang''s head.
Chen Yang was struggling with all his might, but to no avail, and he could only raise an arm andsh out with all his might at Du Qingyang''s head.
Right as Du Qingyang''s mouth was about to close itself around Chen Yang, a burst of bright white light suddenly emerged beneath the pile of shattered rocks at the foot of the opposing mountain face, and Gu Qianxun flew out from within, sending loose rocks flying in all directions.
At the same time, she removed a white bone belt from her own waist, thenshed out at Du Qingyang with it.
Attached to the end of the bone belt was a piece of triangr bone that struck Du Qingyang on the face, raising a trail of dark red sparks.
However, the blow failed to inflict any injuries upon Du Qingyang. All it did was force his head slightly to the side, so he chomped down onto Chen Yang''s shoulder instead of his head.
Gu Qianxun''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, but she continued to persist, charging at Du Qingyang while the bones that formed her belt rapidlypressed, transforming it into a bone longsword that was around four feet in length.
All of the profound acupoints on her body lit up, and the muscles on her arms bulged as she spun around several times in mid-air to build up tremendous momentum, then shed her sword into Du Qingyang''s head with all her might.
The sword struck the side of Du Qingyang''s face, and blood immediately sttered through the air.
The sword had managed to slice through his skin and part of his skull, but it was unable to chop his head off. Instead, it was lodged into his cheekbone.
A sense of powerlessness welled up in Gu Qianxun''s heart upon seeing this.
She had given that attack everything that she had, yet Du Qingyang was still standing.
Chapter 885: Different Objectives
Chapter 885: Different Objectives
"Do you see how powerful your mother''s bloodline is now, little girl? It''s a pity that you weren''t able to inherit it. Otherwise, I wouldn''t mind keeping you alive a little longer so I can suck the bloodline out of your body as well," Du Qingyang chortled as he raised his head from Chen Yang''s shoulder.
Right at this moment, a fierce look shed through Chen Yang''s eyes, and he suddenly raised his right arm before plunging his hand toward Du Qingyang''s body like a sharp dagger.
All of the two dozen or so profound acupoints on his arms were glowing as radiantly as the sun, and they were also giving off bursts of scorching heat.
A meaty thud rang out as the skin on Du Qingyang''s abdomen was breached, but just like Gu Qianxun''s bone sword, Chen Yang''s right hand was only able to embed itself slightly into Du Qingyang''s body before being stopped cold in its tracks.
Du Qingyang took a nce down at the wound on his midsection, then harrumphed coldly, "You really don''t know when to give up, do you?"
However, right at this moment, a resounding explosion rang out as Chen Yang detonated his own right arm, blowing arge hole into Du Qingyang''s body.
Du Qingyang let loose an agonized roar as a torrent of blood came gushing out of his mouth, yet he still chomped down at Chen Yang once again with a furious look on his face.
It seemed that he was no longer able to suppress his own internal injuries, and the rainbow scales on his body were flickering in an unsteady fashion, as if they could fade away at any moment.
A panicked look appeared on Chen Yang''s face, and all he could do was raise his remaining left arm in a futile effort to defend himself.
All of a sudden, a blurry figure shot forth from afar, and close to twenty profound acupoints lit up over their arms as they mmed their fists down onto Gu Qianxun''s bone sword, which was still lodged into the side of Du Qingyang''s face.
Gu Qianxun''s arms immediately went numb from the force of the blow, and the bone sword slipped out of her grasp, while she was sent flying back through the air.
This additional injection of force was sufficient for the bone sword to slice the rest of the way through Du Qingyang''s skull, and his head came tumbling down from his shoulders before falling onto the ground with a dull thump.
Immediately thereafter, the bone sword was plunged into his dantian to destroy the nascent soul inside.
Chen Yang waspletely rooted to the spot with a shocked look on his face, and his entire upper body was drenched in blood as he continued to stand in a daze with his left arm raised above him.
All of this had unfolded far too abruptly, and Gu Qianxun was also stunned by what she had just witnessed.
After a brief moment of stunned inactivity, she turned to the figure to discover that it was none other than Li Feiyu, the man that all of them had already forgotten about and had left for dead!
What was even more astonishing to her was that there were currently seventy-two profound acupoints on his body.
Aside from the fifty-four profound acupoints that he had cultivated using his Great Universe Origin Arts and his Wingform Ascension Arts, eighteen new profound acupoints had appeared on his arms.
After taking a closer look at the positions of the profound acupoints on Han Li''s arms, an incredulous look appeared on Gu Qianxun''s face as he eximed, "Those are the profound acupoints of the Titan Vajra Arts! How is that possible?"
They had only exchanged cultivation arts recently, so how was it possible that he had already mastered the Titan Vajra Arts? Could it have been thanks to the Sinha Blood Array?
A hesitant look appeared on Gu Qianxun''s face, and she wasn''t sure of how to proceed.
Meanwhile, Chen Yang had finally snapped back to his senses as well.
Du Qingyang was already dead, so he was naturally no longer able to bind Chen Yang any longer. As soon as Chen Yang rose to his feet, Du Qingyang''s headless body immediately fell to the ground.
The three of them took a nce at one another, and a tense silence ensued, with none of them making a move.
Somehow, under some very unlikely circumstances, they had worked together to kill Du Qingyang.
Momentster, Han Li made the first move, taking a step back to distance himself from the other two slightly as he said, "If it''s possible, I''d like to avoid having to battle the two of you."
Chen Yang and Gu Qianxun also each took a step back with apprehensive looks on their faces, and thetter said, "My thoughts exactly, Fellow Daoist Li."
"Whether we intended it or not, we only survived because we worked together, so let''s end the bloodshed here," Chen Yang said as he forced a smile onto his own face.
After that, he pulled out a ck stone box, then tipped out a crimson pill that he devoured.
A burst of white light immediately emerged from his right shoulder, and countless muscle fibers began to regenerate rapidly within the white light. In the blink of an eye, a brand new arm had taken shape, except it was still looking quite weak and tender.
Chen Yang then pulled out a piece of beast hide to wrap up his new arm, while Han Li wiped the blood from his face before asking, "Would anyone care to exin to me what happened here?"
"Is it not obvious enough, Fellow Daoist Li? Captain Chen Yang... No, City Lord Chen Yang and I worked together to hatch this plot against Du Qingyang, but in the end, we couldn''t have done it without you, Fellow Daoist Li," Gu Qianxun replied with a smile.
"Does that mean that vial of red liquid was left for me by the two of you as well?" Han Li asked.
Up to this point, the situation had be quite clear to Han Li. Gu Qianxun was seeking vengeance, while Chen Yang desired the position of city lord, so the two of them had worked together to eliminate Du Qingyang.
In a massive stroke of fortune, Han Li had been swept up into their plot and absorbed the starpower and bloodline power of Du Qingyang and the captains, thereby significantly enhancing his physical prowess.
"That was indeed me, but rest assured, that was just a vial of blood from a Wild Blood Scaled Rat, and its only effect is to make one''s bloodline more violent. Aside from that, it has no negative effects," Gu Qianxun said in an apologetic manner.
"No negative effects? Is that right?" Han Li asked, clearly unconvinced.
"If you insist on ming me for this, then I have no defense for my actions. Indeed, my objective for getting you to drink this blood was so that it would inflict bacsh upon Du Qingyang, and I never considered what would be of you," Gu Qianxun admitted in a candid fashion.
"I owe you an apology, Fellow Daoist Li," Chen Yang said as he extended a respectful salute. "If I hadn''t invited you toe to Green Goat City, then you would''ve never been targeted by Du Qingyang for your true spirit bloodlines, and you wouldn''t have been swept up in this mess."
"It''s fine. At this point, there''s no point in discussing such matters," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
Of course, he didn''t believe Chen Yang and Gu Qianxun at all. However, at the time, the two of them would''ve only considered him to be a pawn, so there was no reason for them to be concerned for his wellbeing.
As for why their attitude toward him had suddenly changed, that was only because they were unable to glean his true power, so they were feeling wary of him.
"Your magnanimity is truly admirable, Brother Li," Gu Qianxun said with a smile.
"Now that your plot has been sessfully carried out, there''s no need for me to stay here any longer, so I''ll be taking my leave now," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
At the moment, the threat of the ck Tribtion Centipede was still hanging over his head, so he had to find the ck Tribtion Stone as soon as possible.
"Hold on a second, Brother Li. Even though Du Qingyang and his most trusted captains are dead, he still has many remaining subordinates, and if we can''tpletely control them, then we could still find ourselves in some peril. My right arm is essentially disabled for the immediate future, so I have a request for you," Chen Yang hurriedly said.
"You want me to help you solidify your position as city lord?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. Only now have Ie to realize just how powerful you are, Fellow Daoist Li. Hence, I would like to invite you to join my alliance with Fellow Daoist Gu. Once we im Green Goat City together, not only will we no longer have to fear for our safety, we''ll also have a stable source of beast cores to support our future cultivation," Chen Yang replied with a nod.
Han Li contemted the proposal momentarily, then said, "I can help you, but I have two conditions that you must ept. Otherwise, our discussion can end here."
Chen Yang''s brows furrowed ever so slightly upon hearing this, but he still prompted, "Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Li."
"The ck Tribtion Centipede in my body has to be removed, and on top of that, you also have to release Shi Kong and Daoist Xie," Han Li said.
"I want to help you, Fellow Daoist Li, but the problem is that these ck Tribtion Centipedes were personally refined by Du Qingyang, so I don''t know how to get rid of them. Having said that, Du Qingyang has always had a very tightly guarded secret vault. Perhaps there''s something in there that can help you get rid of the ck Tribtion Centipede in your body," Chen Yang said.
"Alright, then let''s go and take a look in the vault now," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Regarding Fellow Daoist Shi Kong, for some reason, he was sent to Profound City by Du Qingyang not long after the three of you arrived here, and I haven''t heard anything about him since.
¡°As for Daoist Xie, I''ve only been using him as a servant this entire time, and I''d say we''ve coexisted alongside each other quite harmoniously. If he''s willing to return to your side, then I naturally won''t refuse," Chen Yang said as he turned his gaze to Daoist Xie.
Han Li also turned to Daoist Xie, but thetter remained standing on the spot in apletely still fashion, as if he hadn''t even heard the conversation unfolding right beside him.
Han Li''s heart sank slightly upon seeing this, but he didn''t say anything further, and the rather tense and awkward silence descended upon everyone.
In the end, it was Gu Qianxun who broke the silence.
"Let''s discuss these matters some other time. How about we go to this secret vault first to find a way to remove the threat of the ck Tribtion Centipede?"
"I can take us there, but prior to that, let''s clean up this ce and ourselves first," Chen Yang said as he took a nce at the surrounding area.
Chapter 886: Joining Forces
Chapter 886: Joining Forces
Han Li, Chen Yang, and Gu Qianxun quickly cleaned up the cave, erasing all signs of the battle that had just taken ce before piling the bodies of Du Qingyang and the others together.
After rummaging through Du Qingyang''s body briefly, Chen Yang pulled out a ck badge that was triangr in shape with two curved bulges on its surface, resembling a strange goat''s head.
On one side of the badge was inscribed the words "Green Goat", while the other side read "Profound City". It was unclear what material the badge was crafted from, but there was ck light constantly shing over its surface.
Chen Yang was ecstatic to see the badge, and Han Li knew that it most likely represented the status of the city lord of Green Goat City.
"Take it back and look at it some other time, we don''t have any time to waste here," Gu Qianxun said in a cold voice.
"My apologies, fellow daoists," Chen Yang chuckled as he stowed the ck badge away, then pulled out a round white rock, which he rubbed briefly with his fingers before throwing it onto the pile of bodies.
The white rock was instantly set alight, erupting into a ball of white mes that enveloped the pile of bodies, causing them to quickly melt away.
Even before the bodies had fully melted away, Chen Yang changed into a set of new clothes, then pulled out two more suits of ck armor for Han Li and Gu Qianxun.
Han Li epted the suit of armor offered to him, but a perplexed look appeared on his face, and he didn''t put it on right away."The vault is being guarded by a powerful subordinate of Du Qingyang''s, and we have to get rid of him. If you''re wearing these suits of armor, you''ll appear less conspicuous."
Han Li nodded in response, and he was just about to take off his clothes when he stopped what he was doing and took a nce at Gu Qianxun.
His diator attire only consisted of a cape and a pair of shorts, so if he were to take that off, then he would bepletely nude.
Right at this moment, the sound of rustling clothes rang out nearby as Gu Qianxun stripped off her yellow dress to reveal a set of tight-fitting white underwear.
The underwear was a little small, only just barely containing her breasts, which were slightlypressed out of shape and on the verge of popping out. Her voluptuous breasts were furtherplemented by her delicate and slender waist, as well as her long, supple, and perfectly proportioned legs.
However, there was almost physical appeal to her body at all as her chest, lower abdomen, and legs were all riddled with scars. In particr, there was a huge scar on her chest that resembled a giant centipede, extending diagonally down from her corbone, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this. At their cultivation bases, normal injuries wouldn''t be able to leave any scars on their bodies. Only certain special weapons or extremely grievous injuries would be able to leave behind scars like these.
Regardless of which of the two was true for Gu Qianxun, it was clear that she had some stories to tell.
Gu Qianxun''s expression remained calm and cid, as if she werepletely alone, and she quickly put on the suit of ck armor.
"Time is of the essence, so hurry up and get changed. Don''t get hung up on useless things like gender sensitivities, I''d like to hope that my allies aren''t so naive," Gu Qianxun said, then began to make her way out of the cave.
"She really is something, isn''t she?" Chen Yang chuckled, and Han Li responded with a wry smile before quickly changing into his suit of armor.
The suit of armor included a visor that concealed most of his face, granting him an extrayer of protection.
After that, the trio left the cave, making their way up along the passageway that led to the cave, while Daoist Xie trailed along behind them.
Right at this moment, a faint voice rang out in Han Li''s mind.
"How about we join forces, Fellow Daoist Li?"
The voice belonged to Gu Qianxun, and it was a different method ofmunication than voice transmission through spiritual sense.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he took a subtle nce at Gu Qianxun.
"I know you always like to act alone, that much was apparent to me after you refused to join my Myriad Bone Alliance. However, things are different now. Du Qingyang is dead, and my coboration with Chen Yang hase to an end. Once he establishes himself as the city lord, we won''t be of any further use to him, and on top of that, both of us have ck Tribtion Centipedes in our bodies," Gu Qianxun continued.
Han Li remained silent as he took a nce at Chen Yang''s wrapped right arm.
Gu Qianxun could see what Han Li was implying, and he said, "Chen Yang possesses far more power than what he disyed just now. He may have detonated the profound acupoints on his right arm, but he''s still not to be taken lightly. On top of that, he''s a very deceitful and cunning man, so he can''t be trusted. The only way we can ensure our safety is to join forces."
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes, following which he gave an almost imperceptible nod.
A hint of tion shed through Gu Qianxun''s eyes upon seeing this, but it then immediately vanished.
The party of four quickly made its way out of the passageway into a side hall of the city lord''s manor, where many people were currently gathered, most of which were guards, administrators, and servants of the city lord''s manor.
The members of Chen Yang''s hunting party were also present, and they immediately approached him as one of them asked in a low voice, "How did it go, Captain?"
"It''s done," Chen Yang replied with a wide grin, instantly eliciting a chorus of cheers.
Chen Yang raised a hand to make a quieting gesture, then said, "It''s time to carry out the next phase of the n. Everyone, split up from here."
"Yes!" everyone collectively replied before departing to y their roles.
"Let''s go as well," Chen Yang said to Han Li and Gu Qianxun, then also made his way out of the side hall toward a secluded little path.
Shortly thereafter, the four of them arrived in front of a spacious stone hall, at the end of which was a stone gate that was several dozen feet tall. The gate was riddled with silver patterns that were glowing with radiant silver light, and on the stone wall above it was engraved the words "Green Goat Vault" inrge golden characters.
At the center of the stone hall stood a ck stone tform that was several dozen feet tall, atop which sat a gray-robed elderly man with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.
The elderly man was quite ordinary in appearance with the exception of the silver coloration of his cheeks, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
Close to a hundred rays of silver light were radiating from his body in all directions, giving him the appearance of a silver hedgehog.
Upon hearing the footsteps of Chen Yang and the others, the elderly man opened his eyes, and the silver light radiating from his body faded away.
"What brings you here, Captain Chen Yang?" the elderly man asked as a hint of wariness shed through his eyes.
Chen Yang feigned an urgent expression as he hurriedly replied, "City Lord Du is currently using the Sinha Blood Array, but something''s gone wrong, and we''re in urgent need of Blood Soul Crystals, so he asked me to fetch some."
"The vault can only be opened by the city lord himself or someone holding a token from the city lord. Do you have a token, Captain Chen Yang?" the elderly man asked.
"I do, here''s the city lord''s badge," Chen Yang hurriedly replied as he pulled out the ck badge that he had taken from Du Qingyang''s body.
The wariness on the elderly man''s face eased slightly at the sight of the badge, and he pulled out a silver key that was around a foot in length before turning to the stone gate.
Right at this moment, Chen Yang''s eyes suddenly widened as if he had seen something incredible, and he pointed at the gate as he eximed, "What''s that?"
The elderly man hurriedly swung around to inspect the gate upon hearing this, only to find that there was nothing amiss about it.
Right at this moment, three fierce gusts of wind swept toward him from behind.
Eighteen specks of starlight emerged over Han Li''s arms, which thickened to around twice their original size while also taking on a golden coloration, resembling a pair of golden pirs that were thrust at the elderly man.
Around twenty to thirty profound acupoints had appeared on Chen Yang''s left arm and left hand as well, and he plunged it viciously toward the elderly man''s back like a peerlessly sharp white sword.
As for Gu Qianxun, she had pulled out her white bone sword and was shing it through the air at the elderly man''s neck.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
The elderly man could sense the formidable attacksing at him from behind, and he knew that he didn''t have time to turn around, so he began racing forward as a streak of silver light.
Even though he was a split-second slow to react, he was extraordinarily fast, and the attacks from Chen Yang''s trio weren''t able to catch up to him.
At the same time, bursts of silver light appeared over his body before rapidly connecting together, forming a suit of silver armor that was riddled with sharp spikes.
An urgent look appeared in Chen Yang''s eyes, and he was just about to do something when Han Li''s speed abruptly doubled, allowing him to catch up to the elderly in the blink of an eye before ramming his fists forcefully into his shoulder.
Radiant golden light erupted out of Han Li''s fists as all of the surrounding space within a radius of several dozen feet copsed violently.
The sound of shattering bone rang out as the elderly man was sent flying forward like a ragdoll before crashing heavily to the ground, and the suit of silver armor that was taking shape on his body faded away as well.
Before he had a chance to get up, a grotesque thud rang out, followed by a loud squelch as Chen Yang plunged his left hand through the elderly man''s chest, emerging on the side with a beating heart before crushing it into pulp.
At the same time, Gu Qianxun''s bone sword had also pierced through the elderly man''s dantian to destroy the nascent soul inside.
The elderly man''s body spasmed a few times before the light in his eyes quickly faded away, and the life was drained out of his body.
"Thank heavens Fellow Daoist Li was able to get to him before he fully donned his Star Spike Profound Armor. Otherwise, things could''ve gone very badly for us," Chen Yang said as he pulled out his arm and turned to Han Li with a smile.
A hint of wariness shed through Han Li''s eyes as he nced at Chen Yang''s left arm, which previously hadn''t disyed any profound acupoints, and he offered no response.
Meanwhile, Gu Qianxun withdrew her bone sword, then shook it out into a bone belt before wrapping it around her own waist.
Chen Yang pried the silver key out of the elderly man''s hand, then strode over to the gate of the vault.
Near the bottom of the gate was a white keyhole, and Chen Yang put the key inside before turning it a few times.
A string of mechanical clicks rang out, and the silver light on the stone gate faded away before it slowly swung open.
Chapter 887: Fruitless Trip
Chapter 887: Fruitless Trip
Chen Yang took a nce at Han Li and Gu Qianxun, then made his way into the vault.
Han Li and Gu Qianxun exchanged a nce with each other before following along.
The interior of the vault was just asrge as a pce, and inside it were seven or eightrge cabs that were crafted from some type of ck wooden material.
The material appeared to be quite extraordinary, and it was giving off a fragrant aroma that permeated throughout the entire space.
Each cab was split up into three levels, with each level bearing various containers that held things like precious materials, cultivation arts, and beast cores.
Han Li paid no heed to the cabs as he cast his gaze directly toward the center of the vault.
A tall ck stone pir was standing there, and it was riddled with squiggly worm-like patterns.
At the top of the stone pir was a ck crystal roughly the size of a human head.
The crystal was as smooth as a mirror and giving off rays of bright ck light that rippled through the air in all directions, carrying with a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations.As soon as Han Li stepped into the vault, he could immediately sense that the ck Tribtion Centipede in his body had fallen into an even deeper state of slumber.
"That''s the ck Tribtion Stone!"
Han Li took a nce at Chen Yang and didn''t immediately make a move for the ck Tribtion Stone, while Gu Qianxun was also looking at the stone with a hint of tion in her eyes.
"You also know of the ck Tribtion Stone, Fellow Daoist Li? The problem is that this thing can suppress ck Tribtion Centipedes, but not entirely remove them, so let''s see if there''s something here that can do the job. My apologies, but given the current situation, we can only stay here for an hour at most," Chen Yang said.
Gu Qianxun nodded in response, then began rummaging through one of the nearby cabs, while Han Li quickly followed suit.
With devilish qi and immortal spiritual powerpletely inessible in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, there were no restrictions in the vault, so the three of them were quickly able toplete an exhaustive search.
Around fifteen minutester, Han Li set down a book with a grim look on his face, then turned his gaze to Gu Qianxun.
She also turned to look at him, and both of them could see their own disappointment and concern mirrored on each other''s faces.
Neither of them trusted Chen Yang, so they had volunteered to look through all of the books in the vault, while Chen Yang was assigned with the task of searching through everything else.
However, there wasn''t even any mention of ck Tribtion Centipedes in any of the books.
Right at this moment, Chen Yang''s voice rang out.
"I''ve found some useful information here,e and take a look, fellow daoists."
Han Li and Gu Qianxun hurriedly made their way over to him upon hearing this.
At this moment, Chen Yang was standing in front of a cab in a corner of the vault, looking at a ck crystalline box that was around a foot in size. Through the semi-transparent walls of the box, one could see a series of ck Tribtion Centipedes sitting inside.
He was holding a ck jade b that was crafted from the same material as the crystalline box, upon which was inscribed a passage of small text.
Chen Yang handed the jade b to Han Li and Gu Qianxun, who quickly read through its contents, and as they did so, their expressions darkened even further.
Written on the jade b was the breeding method for ck Tribtion Centipedes. It covered the processes of raising ck Tribtion Centipede and imnting them into host bodies in great detail, but there was no mention of how to remove the creature from a host''s body once imnted.
However, the jade b did mention that ck Tribtion Centipedes were social creatures, and that each colony of ck Tribtion Centipedes had a king that ruled over them all.
This ck Tribtion Stone was a special material refined from the body of a ck Tribtion Centipede King, and that was why it was able to suppress ck Tribtion Centipedes.
In order to suppress a ck Tribtion Centipede, it was sufficient for one to carry a piece of ck Tribtion Stone the size of a fingernail.
While Han Li and Gu Qianxun were reading through the contents of the jade b, Chen Yang strode over to the ck Tribtion Stone, then lopped off two egg-sized pieces before handing them to Han Li''s duo as he said, "Carry these with you to suppress your ck Tribtion Centipedes."
"ording to what''s written here, I don''t think we''ll need pieces thisrge," Han Li said.
"That may be so, but it''s better to be safe than sorry," Chen Yang replied.
"That''s true. You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Chen Yang," Han Li said as he stowed the ck Tribtion Stone away, and Gu Qianxun also did the same, but her gaze was still fixed on the ck jade box.
"Are you considering taking some ck Tribtion Centipedes with you? Go ahead, but make sure to use a special container to hold them," Chen Yang said.
Gu Qianxun shook her head as she pointed at one face of the box and said, "Take a look here."
That side of the box just so happened to be in Han Li''s blind spot, so he was only able to see what she was referring to once he strode over to her side.
An intricate six-petaled flower design had been engraved onto the box there, and it seemed to be some type of symbol.
The engravings were very shallow, making them difficult to see unless one were to pay close attention.
"Do you recognize this symbol, Fellow Daoist Gu?" Han Li asked.
The design didn''t appear to have been engraved onto the box simply for decorative purposes.
"I''ve seen this design in Profound City prior toing to Green Goat City, it''s the emblem of the master swordsmith, Mistress Liu Hua," Gu Qianxun replied.
"Mistress Liu Hua? Female swordsmiths are quite umon," Han Li mused.
"I''ve heard of Mistress Liu Hua as well, and he''s actually a man. There''s a tribe by the name of the Hundred City Tribe in the Holy Realm, and the tribe excels in forging swords. The most skilled swordsmith of each generation in the tribe receives the title of "mistress", and Senior Liu Hua is the current mistress of the Hundred City Tribe.
¡°However, for some reason, he was cast into the Scalptia Spatial Domain by the Night Sun Empire around a million years ago, and he''s been residing in the main city of Profound City all this time. All of the weapons refined by him are exceptional, priceless pieces. Even Du Qingyang had once requested a weapon from him, but was turned down," Chen Yang said.
"I see. Any idea why his emblem has appeared on this box?" Han Li asked.
"Perhaps this box was made by Mistress Liu Hua, or perhaps he has something to do with the ck Tribtion Centipedes," Gu Qianxun spected.
"There''s still a bit left of the vault that we have to search, so let''s go through that first," Chen Yang interjected.
Han Li raised his head to discover that there was still one more cab that hadn''t yet been searched, and this one wasden with misceneous items.
Even though the chances of finding what they wanted on this cab were quite slim, they still conducted a thorough search.
Han Li picked up a glowing dark purple crystal, then carefully inspected it with his spiritual sense, but didn''t discover anything special about it, so he set it down before picking up another item beside it.
This item was a palm-sized ck statue depicting a devilish deity with three heads and six arms in a strange seated posture, and a hint of intrigue shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
He had seen a ck statue in Daoist Master Bone Shine''s storage tool that was almost identical to this one in size and material, except the two differed in posture.
Could it be that the two statues are somehow connected? Han Li thought to himself, then took a nce at Chen Yang and Gu Qianxun to discover that they were busy looking through other things, so they hadn''t noticed what he was doing.
A beam of translucent light shot out of his be before vanishing into the statue, which shuddered slightly before immediately going through a series of poses, of which there were a total of twelve, and with each pose that it adopted, a passage of strange text would appear on its back.
However, these twelve poses werepletely different from the ones disyed by Daoist Master Bone Shine''s stone, and even though Han Li couldn''t read this text, it was quite apparent to him that the text disyed by the two statues was also different.
A hint of tion shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this. It seemed that this statue and the one that had once belonged to Daoist Master Bone Shine belonged to the same set.
After inspecting the ck statue for a moment longer, he ced it down onto its original spot in a seemingly nonchnt manner.
It didn''t take long before the three of thempleted the search of the cab, and sure enough, they discovered nothing of value.
The only useful thing that they had found was that ck jade b, so the three of them gathered around the ck jade box again.
"In any case, this is technically a lead," Han Li mused with a contemtive expression.
Gu Qianxun offered no response as she turned her gaze to Chen Yang.
"My apologies for my inability to find a way to remove the ck Tribtion Centipedes from your bodies. However, once I''ve eliminated all of Du Qingyang''s loyal followers, I''ll be sure to send out people to investigate the matter and give the two of you a satisfactory answer," Chen Yang said with an apologetic expression.
"A satisfactory answer? When is that going toe?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Du Qingyang was the only one who knew how to remove ck Tribtion Centipedes from their host bodies, but he''s dead now. I''ll continue searching for leads in the city lord''s manor, and at the same time, I''ll try and find out more information from Profound City as well. That should be enough to unearth a solution," Chen Yang hurriedly replied.
"Should be enough? I suggest you don''t try to cate us with such insubstantial promises, Fellow Daoist Chen. Please give us a conclusive answer on the matter regarding our ck Tribtion Centipedes," Gu Qianxun said in a cold voice.
Chen Yang bristled slightly upon hearing this, and he also said in a cold voice, "Looks like the two of you have already joined forces. Are you nning to conclude your coboration with me?"
At the same time, ayer of white light emerged over his left arm, and a tremendous aura erupted out of his body.
The aura that he was disying here wasn''t inferior to that of Du Qingyang''s by much, and it was extremely sharp, making Han Li and Gu Qianxun feel as if there were countless tiny des slicing through the space around them.
The two of them immediately released their auras as well, and theirbined auras were able to hold their own against Chen Yang''s.
The surrounding space was beginning to twist and warp violently, while the entire vault was also trembling slightly.
Chapter 888: Mysterious Statue
Chapter 888: Mysterious Statue
"Are you two really going to turn on me at a time like this?" Chen Yang asked with a stunned expression.
"That''ll be up to you. If you want to fight it out here, we''ll be happy to oblige!" Han Li harrumphed coldly as ayer of golden light surfaced over his arms, while Gu Qianxun also grabbed onto the bone bet around her waist.
"Right now, we have amon enemy in the form of Du Qingyang''s residual forces, and infighting among ourselves will only benefit our enemies. If we escte things too far and Profound City gets involved, then none of us will be spared," Chen Yang said as he slowly began to rein in his own aura.
Han Li and Gu Qianxun also withdrew their auras upon seeing this.
"I''ll admit that I wasn''t able to follow through on my promise of finding a solution to the ck Tribtion Centipedes in your bodies, so how about this? Once I''ve gotten rid of all of Du Qingyang''s residual forces, I''ll be sure to address this matter within a month, and if I still haven''t found a solution by then, then each of you can state a different request for me. Is that alright?" Chen Yang asked.
Han Li and Gu Qianxunmunicated briefly with one another through voice transmission upon hearing this, following which the former''s expression eased slightly as he said, "Alright, we''ll do as you say."
Having just killed Du Qingyang and the gray-robed elderly man, they now had an irresolvable vendetta against all of Du Qingyang''s forces, so their only two options were to leave Green Goat City right away or continue working with Chen Yang.
Even though they hadn''t found a way to remove the ck Tribtion Centipedes in their bodies, obtaining the ck Tribtion Stone ensured their safety for at least the near future, so this was already quite a good oue.
"Thank you for your understanding, fellow daoists. Aspensation for my failure to fulfill my promise to you, I can allow each of you to select two treasures from this vault to take with you," Chen Yang said with a warm smile, and it was as if the earlier confrontation hadn''t happened at all.
Han Li was rather apprehensive of Chen Yang''s drastic shift in demeanor, but at the same time, he was also quite tempted by the offer.
While searching through the vault, he had spotted many precious items, and in particr, there were many bodily refinement cultivation arts here that were very appealing to him.
"Alright, in that case, don''t mind if we do," Gu Qianxun said with a smile.
"Go ahead and take whatever catches your fancy, but we don''t have much time left, so do hurry," Chen Yang said with a smile of his own.
With that, Han Li and Gu Qianxun departed to search for the items that they wanted to im.
Han Li strode over to one of the cabs that wasden with cultivation arts, and after briefly hesitating between several of them, he quickly made his decision, picking out one.
He had briefly read through these cultivation arts earlier, but not in any fine detail due to the time constraints.
Right at this moment, Daoist Xie''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Don''t choose any of those cultivation arts, take that ck statue instead. It contains a bodily refinement cultivation art."
Han Li swung around with a startled expression upon hearing this, only to discover Daoist Xie standing by the entrance of the vault with his eyes cast downward like a loyal servant, paying no heed to the trio inside.
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he waited in silence for further boration from Daoist Xie.
However, Daoist Xie didn''t provide any further information.
On the other side, Gu Qianxun had alreadypleted her selection, iming a book and a length of golden beast bone that seemed to be the spine of a certain scaled beast.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he gave Daoist Xie a subtle re before putting down the book in his hand to pick up the ck statue instead.
A pleased look shed through Daoist Xie''s downcast eyes upon seeing this.
After iming the statue, Han Li turned his gaze elsewhere.
At the moment, he didn''t require anything urgently aside from cultivation arts. No ores or materials were appealing to him, and things like weapons and armor weren''t very useful to him, either.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he strode over to another cab tha twasden with beast cores, all which were glowing radiantly with starlight.
Seeing as he didn''t need anything else anyway, he may as well select a high-grade beast core. Even though Chen Yang had promised him a steady supply of beast cores to support his cultivation, he certainly knew much better than to ce his trust in Chen Yang.
Furthermore, the more advanced the caliber of a beast core, the more precious it was, not just because high-grade beast cores harbored more starpower, but also because they were particrly helpful when it came to opening profound acupoints. Even now, Han Li still clearly recalled the pivotal role that the B tier beast core had yed in opening his profound acupoint in the star pond.
Du Qingyang had arranged the beast cores in order of descending quality from left to right, seemingly for ease of ess.
Hence, Han Li made his way straight to the left side of the cab, where there was a white jade box with a series of patterns engraved upon it.
Han Li gently opened the jade box to reveal a fist-sized white beast core that was glowing as radiantly as the sun.
It was so bright that it was almost impossible to look at, and it was giving off astonishing starpower fluctuations.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the white beast core.
At this point, he had already be very familiar with beast cores, and he could tell that this beast core couldn''t even bepared with the one that Gu Qianxun had given him, meaning that it went beyond the realm of B tier beast cores.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he closed the jade box again, then made his way back to Chen Yang''s side.
"I would like these two things, Fellow Daoist Chen. Is that alright?" he asked as he raised the jade box and the ck statue.
Chen Yang took a nce at the two items that he had selected, and he didn''t pay much heed to the ck statue, but a slightly pained look shed through his eyes at the sight of the white jade box, and he replied, "Of course. However, you seem to have selected an A tier beast core.
¡°The higher the grade of a beast core, the more difficult it is to refine, and due to the immense amount of starpower contained within an A tier beast core, you could easily suffer bacsh from it if you''re not careful, so do proceed with caution."
"I''ll be sure to keep that in mind, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li said with a faint smile.
Chen Yang took another reluctant nce at the white jade box, then said, "Let''s go."
Chen Yang picked up the ck jade box full of ck Tribtion Centipedes as he spoke, then made his way out of the vault, followed closely by Daoist Xie.
Han Li and Gu Qianxun exchanged a surprised nce at the sight of Chen Yang picking up the ck jade box, following which the two of them left the vault as well.
With Chen Yang leading the way, the group quickly arrived in a side hall in the city lord''s manor, and upon entering the hall, a slightly solemn look appeared on Chen Yang''s face as he said, "Please wait here for me for a moment, fellow daoists. Right next to this room is the main hall where Du Qingyang used to hold all of his meetings.
¡°I''ll find a way to assemble all of his residual forces there, and if things go smoothly, then I won''t require your assistance. However, if things go not so smoothly, then I must ask you to lend me your help."
"Right now, we''re all in the same boat, and if the boat sinks, all of us go down with it, so of course we''re willing to lend you our full support," Gu Qianxun said with a smile.
"Fellow Daoist Gu is right, so just rest assured and do what you need to do, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li agreed.
Chen Yang gave a slight nod upon hearing this, then departed with Daoist Xie, leaving only Han Li and Gu Qianxun behind.
"Come and have a seat, Fellow Daoist Li. Given Fellow Daoist Chen''s powers and cunning, I don''t think our services will be required at all," Gu Qianxun said as she beckoned to Han Li after taking a seat next to a stone table in the hall.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he also sat down at the table, then asked, "How much do you know about Chen Yang?"
"There''s far more to him than meets the eye, and if anyone dares to take him lightly, they''ll only suffer an even worse fate than Du Qingyang," Gu Qianxun replied.
Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
A hesitant look appeared on Gu Qianxun''s face, following which she said, "Fellow Daoist Li, there''s something that I feel like I need to tell you."
"You want to talk about what happened with the Heart Pitting Insects, right? I''m assuming you were the one who instructed Scarface to do it?" Han Li asked.
"You already knew?" Gu Qianxun eximed with a surprised expression.
"I only guessed that to be the case after some recent events. After all, there''s no incentive for Du Qingyang and Chen Yang to kill me, and it appears that you have no incentive, either, but in reality, there''s a hidden incentive for you beneath the surface," Han Li said.
"Looks like you''re even smarter than I thought. What is this hidden incentive of mine?" Gu Qianxun asked with a faint smile.
"Du Qingyang is a sworn enemy of yours, and he''s already far more powerful than you to begin with. You must''ve been worried that he would be even more powerful after absorbing my true spirit bloodlines, thereby making revenge an even more unattainable goal, and that''s why you wanted to kill me in advance, right?" Han Li said.
"That''s right. At the time, Chen Yang and I had already hatched a n, but it wasn''t to use your true spirit bloodlines to inflict bacsh upon Du Qingyang. Instead, we were plotting an assassination.
¡°However, after you survived the Heart Pitting Insects, I was forced to see you through new eyes, and Chen Yang and Iter adjusted our n to tamper with the Sinha Blood Array instead after hearing about Du Qingyang''s ns for you," Gu Qianxun replied with a nod.
"Why have you suddenly decided toe clean to me about this?" Han Li asked.
"Seeing as we''re working together, I thought it was best that we be as open and candid with each other as possible. After all, Chen Yang is no easier than Du Qingyang to deal with, and if we don''t have full trust in each other, then we''ll eventually die by his hands as well," Gu Qianxun sighed.
Chapter 889: Plotting a Rebellion
Chapter 889: Plotting a Rebellion
Around two hourster, the conference hall had be quite rowdy and chaotic.
Around a dozen men that were dressed in all types of attire were seated around a huge stone table, and each of them was holding a ck stone goblet full of scaled beast blood while conversing spiritedly with one another.
Chen Yang was seated near the main chair at the head of the table, gently stroking his goblet with one hand, while his other hand was concealed up his sleeve. Even though everyone else was drinking, he refrained from doing so, and even when an acquaintance proposed a toast to him, he would only bring the goblet to his lips before setting it down again.
ced on the stone table beside him was a covered ck box, making it impossible for anyone to glean its contents.
Right at this moment, a tall and imposing man with tusks jutting out of his mouth approached Chen Yang with a smile as he asked, "Why has City Lord Du suddenly ordered you to gather all of us here? Is there something important to be announced? How about you tip me off in advance?"
"I would love to tell you, Captain Mou Lin, but honestly, I have no clue myself. Rest assured, once everyone''s, all will be revealed by City Lord Du himself," Chen Yang replied with a smile.
Right at this moment, the doors of the hall were opened, and three people made their way inside.
One of them was none other than the horned man who was responsible for overseeing the ninth area''s arena battles, and he was apanied by the two crimson-robed scribes.
As these people entered the room, a young man standing beside Chen Yang informed him through voice transmission, "Brother Chen, everyone''s here now aside from the few who are out on hunting trips."
Chen Yang nodded in response, and the young man departed from the conference hall, closing the stone doors behind him.
Even after the newly arrived trio took their seats, Chen Yang was still in no hurry to speak, merely observing everyone in the hall in silence.
After a long silence, a red-faced devilish man with a pair of horns on his head finally ran out of patience, and he asked, "What''s the meaning of this, Chen Yang? You summoned all of us here, saying that City Lord Du has something important to announce, so why is he still not here?"
Themotion in the hall quickly died down, and everyone turned to Chen Yang to hear his response.
"Why so impatient, Captain Xiong Pei? Just let City Lord Du take his time, and have some more beast blood while you wait. It''s not every day that City Lord Du is in such a generous mood to allow us to drink this stuff," Chen Yang said with a smile.
The man by the name of Xiong Pei duly obliged, raising his stone goblet for another sip of beast blood.
Only after everyone had finished their drinks or were close to doing so did Chen Yang rise to his feet, then strode over to the main chair that was designated solely for Du Qingyang before sitting down on it.
Initially, no one noticed, but it didn''t take long before everyone caught sight of what he was doing, and a tense silence instantly descended upon the entire hall.
The man by the name of Mou Lin instantly sprang to his feet as he yelled in a furious voice, "How dare you sit there, Chen Yang? Do you have a death wish?!"
Immediately thereafter, two more captains rose to their feet with enraged expressions as well.
"Stand up right now, you bastard!"
Chen Yang remainedpletely unfazed, stretchingzily before getting into a morefortable position on the chair.
"Hold on a second, everyone. Like I said, City Lord Du has something important to announce today," Chen Yang said as he slowly swept his gaze over everyone present.
Everyone else in the hall was perplexed by Chen Yang''s strange actions, and they all waited in silence for him to continue.
"Du Qingyang feels like he''s unworthy of the status of city lord, so he''s passed it onto me."
The entire hall instantly erupted into a raucous frenzy upon hearing this.
"What the hell did you just say?" Xiong Pei yelled as he sprang to his feet once again.
"What right do you have to covet the position of city lord?" someone else yelled.
"Are you trying to rebel, Chen Yang?" Mou Lin interrogated in a furious voice as he kicked his stone chair aside.
"He must be insane!"
A loud thump rang out as Chen Yang mmed a hand down onto the stone table and rose to his feet.
A series of cracks instantly appeared on the table, and everyone immediately sprang to their feet in rm.
"You can ask City Lord Du himself to see if I''ve gone insane or not," Chen Yang said in a cold voice.
"Where is City Lord Du right now? I want to see him!" Mou Lin yelled.
"As you wish," Chen Yang said as he pushed the ck box beside him onto the ground, and its lid immediately fell off upon impact to reveal its contents, namely Du Qingyang''s severed head.
Everyone was astonished to see this, and Mou Lin rushed over to the head with his eyes wide with incredulity, then brushed aside the head''s disheveled hair to reveal the face of none other than Du Qingyang.
"City Lord Du!" Xiong Pei yelled in an rmed voice, while everyone else was still reeling, unsure of what to do.
Mou Lin, Xiong Pei, and several others were glowing intently at Chen Yang with furious expressions, while the rest of the people in the room were looking on with shocked and dazed expressions.
The two scribes exchanged a nce with each other, and their hands were trembling as they pondered what to write as part of their conference records.
In contrast, the horned man appeared to be quite calm and collected.
"How dare you kill City Lord Du! You deserve to die for this crime!" Mou Lin spat through gritted teeth.
"Everyone, let''s exact vengeance for City Lord Du by striking down Chen Yang where he stands!" Xiong Pei yelled.
Everyone exchanged a few nces with one another upon hearing this, but no one dared to make the first move.
As the lord of the city, Du Qingyang was a ruler who presided over others by force, so while there were some who were loyal to him, that was certainly not the case for everyone.
"I''m willing to support whoever can kill Chen Yang as the new city lord!" Mou Lin yelled.
In the wake of this deration, the atmosphere in the hall changed slightly, and many people began to step forward to surround Chen Yang.
"You want to kill me? Is that something that you''re capable of right now?" Chen Yang asked in a cold voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the doors of the hall were flung wide open, and the members of his hunting party charged into surround everyone.
"What do you n to do with your pathetic little band of minions?" Xiong Pei sneered, and a series of profound acupoints began to light up over his body one after another.
However, all of a sudden, the light emanating from his profound acupoints began to flicker slightly, and all of a sudden, he copsed to the ground.
Immediately thereafter, more and more people in the hall began to fall to the ground, and all that were left standing were Chen Yang and the members of his hunting party.
"There was White Profound Beast bone powder in that beast blood, wasn''t there?" Xiong Pei said in a furious yet feeble voice.
Chen Yang picked up his goblet of beast blood, then strode over to Xiong Pei''s side before pouring it over his face as he sneered, "Isn''t it a littlete for you to be making that realization?"
Xiong Pei heaved a long sigh before closing his eyes and sumbing to his own fate.
Chen Yang paid no heed to him, slowly passing him by as he asked, "So what''ll it be, everyone? Will you remain loyal to a dead man and follow him to the afterlife, or live and enjoy this prosperous city with me?"
The entire hall had fallen deathly silent.
In the neighboring side hall, Han Li smiled as he said, "Looks like you were right, Fellow Daoist Gu. Chen Yang clearly already had a n for today. It appears that he''s asked us to stay in this side hall not because he truly needs our help, but instead because he wants to show off to us."
"I chose to coborate with him precisely because I could tell that he had very lofty ambitions, to rise to the top. Working with someone like him can be very effective, but at the same time, it can also be a double-edged sword," Gu Qianxun said in an indifferent manner.
Following a brief silence in the main hall, Chen Yang''s voice rang out once again.
"Rest assured, everyone. For those who are willing to follow me, I''ll only give you more than Du Qingyang ever has. However, anyone who dares to oppose me will be struck down right here and now!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly appeared beside a short and thin elderly man in a wraith-like manner, then stomped down heavily with his foot, reducing the elderly man''s wrist to a mangled mass of blood, flesh and bone.
The man gave a muffled groan as his hand slowly unfurled to reveal a palm-sized white bone inside.
"The star bone of an Explosive Scaled Beast, eh? I never noticed that you were so loyal to Du Qingyang in the past, Fellow Daoist Wu Heng, certainly not to the point that you would detonate this beast bone just to wound me at the cost of your own life," Chen Yang mused as he picked up the white bone.
The elderly man gritted his teeth tightly as he replied in a feeble voice, "City Lord Du once saved my life. If I can''t live to serve him, then I''ll follow him to the afterlife."
"Chen Yang, do you really think that you can rece City Lord Du just by killing him? The envoys from the main city aren''t going to acknowledge a traitorous piece of scum like you!" Xiong Pei sneered.
"When has the main city ever cared about any changes that have taken ce in the subsidiary cities? As long as the offerings made to the main city are never dyed, they couldn''t care less whether the lord of Green Goat City is Du Qingyang or me," Chen Yang chuckled.
Wu Heng knew that he was right, and a despairing smile appeared on his face as he sighed, "Just kill me."
Chen Yang duly obliged, mming a fist down onto his lower abdomen, instantly causing his body to explode into countless pieces.
Chapter 890: Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts
Chapter 890: Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts
"As you wish," Chen Yang said as he slowly withdrew his fist, then wiped it clean on Xiong Pei''s clothes.
Xiong Pei''s eyes widened, his body trembled uncontrobly as fear began to well up in his heart.
Not far away from him, the two scribes were also trembling uncontrobly. Chen Yang had always been so easygoing and amicable to them, and never did they think that there would be such a cruel and vicious side to him.
"I... I''m willing to follow Captain Chen Yang... No, City Lord Chen Yang!" the round-faced scribe yelled, breaking the tense silence.
"I''m also willing to follow City Lord Chen Yang," the square-faced scribe echoed, and everyone else immediately began pledging their loyalty to him as well.
A pleased smile appeared on Chen Yang''s face, and he strode over to Mou Lin, then crouched down slightly as he smiled and asked, "What do you say, Fellow Daoist Mou?"
"I''m willing to submit to you," Mou Lin sighed.
"You may be willing, but I''m not willing to ept you!" Chen Yang said as a hint of killing intent shed through his eyes, and he mmed his fist down onto Mou Lin''s head without any warning.
A dull thump rang out as Mou Lin''s head exploded like a ripe watermelon, and the entire hall descended into silence once again as everyone''s fear was elevated to new heights.
It seemed that even surrendering to Chen Yang wasn''t a sure ticket to survival.
"If you''re going to kill us, then just do it. Why fool around with us like this?" the horned man suddenly scoffed.
"Oh? Looks like we have someone else with a death wish here," Chen Yang remarked with a faint smile.
"I certainly don''t have a death wish, but if I''m going to die anyway, then I want to at least die with some semnce of dignity," the horned man replied in a calm manner.
"If I recall correctly, your name was Xuanyuan Xing, right?" Chen Yang asked.
"I didn''t think you would know my name, Fellow Daoist Chen," the horned man replied in an indifferent manner.
"You have some guts. I like that. I''ll get you to take over Mou Lin''s position as leader of the city''s patrol squads," Chen Yang dered.
The horned man faltered slightly upon hearing this, while everyone else also looked on in befuddlement.
"Mou Lin is a very sinister man, and he just tried to rally everyone to kill me, so I naturally couldn''t keep someone like him around. As for everyone else, as long as you''re willing to pledge your loyalty to me, all of you can survive," Chen Yang dered.
"I''m willing to pledge my loyalty to City Lord Chen Yang!" the round-faced scribe dered once again, and everyone else quickly followed suit.
......
In the neighboring side hall, Han Li smiled as he said, "Looks like you were right, Fellow Daoist Gu. Chen Yang clearly already had a n for today. It appears that he''s asked us to stay in this side hall not because he truly needs our help, but instead because he wants to show off to us."
"Chen Yang really has executed his n quite well. Even if there are still people who don''t wish to ept him as the city lord, they have no choice at this point," Han Li mused.
"There''s still more toe," Gu Qianxun said with a smile.
......
Inside the hall, the derations of loyalty gradually began to die down as Chen Yang raised his hands for silence.
He strode over to Xiong Pei, then looked down at him with a smile as he asked, "What would you like to say after your near-death ordeal?"
At this point, Xiong Pei was already terrified, and his lips were quivering as he replied, "You know me, Fellow Daoist Chen... No, City Lord Chen. I''m not like Mou Lin, I don''t have any ambitions. I''m genuinely willing to submit to you."
"Those sound like genuine words," Chen Yang remarked with a nod.
Xiong Pei was feeling a little more reassured upon hearing this, and he was just about to say something further when Chen Yang continued, "However, as a safety precaution, it''s best to put in ce some measures that are more reliable than empty words."
He pulled out a ck stone vial from his sleeve as he spoke, then ced it onto Xiong Pei''s chest before removing the stopper.
A ck centipede that was around three inches in length slowly crawled out from within, then easily burrowed its way into Xiong Pei''s body.
A despairing look appeared on Xiong Pei''s face upon seeing this, but he didn''t dare to raise anyints and closed his eyes to ept his fate.
Everyone else was alsopletely at Chen Yang''s mercy, so they naturally didn''t dare to put up any resistance, either.
Chen Yang made a hand signal, and the members of his hunting party instantly sprang into action, pulling out ck stone vials of their own to nt ck Tribtion Centipedes into the bodies of everyoneying on the floor.
"I''m sure all of you are familiar with ck Tribtion Centipedes, so I won''t waste any time telling you about them. Now that Du Qingyang is dead, I''m the only one who can remove them, and if anyone makes a sufficiently significant contribution in the future, they can have their ck Tribtion Centipede removed," Chen Yang dered.
Everyone was stillpletely powerless to resist, so they could only allow the ck Tribtion Centipedes to burrow into their bodies.
With that, the final resistance had fallen, and Chen Yang had sessfully taken over as the city lord.
However, due to the fact that there were still several hunting parties outside the city, Chen Yang didn''t hold a celebratory ceremony right away. Instead, he continued to keep a low profile, nning to hold his inauguration ceremony only after everyone had been taken care of.
After that, all he had to do was send avish gift to Profound City from Du Qingyang''s vault, and he would officially be the lord of Green Goat City.
Han Li wasn''t interested in any of this, and he returned to his room in the arena that same night.
Even though he had been at the very center of the storm this entire time, he and Gu Qianxun had always been hiding behind Chen Yang, so no one aside from Chen Yang and Daoist Xie were aware of the roles that he had yed in this power struggle.
Chen Yang had offered to take them out of the arena so that they could stay in Green Goat City as secret guest elders, but both of them had refused.
Just like Han Li, Gu Qianxun had chosen to remain in the arena for now.
After receiving confirmation from Chen Yang that Violet Spirit truly hadn''t ever appeared in Green Goat City, Han Li''s n was to stay for a while longer before departing the city altogether.
However, prior to his departure, he had to find out what was happening with Daoist Xie.
That night, Han Li''s room was brightly lit, and he was seated on a corner of his stone bed, inspecting a statue of a devilish deity in his hand.
A beam of translucent light shot out of his be and into the statue, and as usual, it cycled through those twelve different poses, with corresponding passages of text appearing on its back with each pose.
He was still no closer to understanding the texts, and his brows furrowed slightly at this thought.
Right at this moment, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and Han Li raised an eyebrow as he strode over to the door of his room, then opened it to reveal a familiar figure.
"What on earth are you plotting, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked as he allowed the figure into the room before closing the door.
"I don''t have much time, so let''s discuss the important stuff first," Daoist Xie said as he turned to Han Li with a serious expression.
For some reason, Han Li suddenly felt like Daoist Xie was looking a little unfamiliar, as if this wasn''t the same Daoist Xie as the one that he had always known.
"You''ve inspected the statue with your spiritual sense already, right?" Daoist Xie asked as his gaze fell upon the statue in Han Li''s hand.
Han Li nodded in response.
"Your spiritual sense is far more powerful than Du Qingyang''s. He was only just barely able to make out the statue''s different poses, yet you should be able to see the text that it disys, right?" Daoist Xie asked.
"The statue has a total of twelve poses, corresponding to twelve passages of text, but I don''t understand any of it," Han Li replied.
"This statue is called a Heavenly Baleful Deity Statue. It''s an ancient deity that was worshiped in the Devil Realm in ancient times, but the religion has since died off. The text recorded in the statue is also a type of ancient lost text called profound text.
¡°The statue contains an advanced bodily refinement cultivation art by the name of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, which consists of a total of twelve levels, the first three of which are in this statue," Daoist Xie exined.
"You must''ve asked me to choose this statue over the other cultivation arts in the vault for a reason, right?" Han Li asked.
"Those other cultivation arts may look shy, but at they very most, they''ll only allow you to open fewer than four hundred profound acupoints, whereas the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts contains four hundred and fifty profound acupoints," Daoist Xie replied.
A hint of tion appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
"And that''s only the first three levels of the cultivation," Daoist Xie continued. "If you can find the other three statues and master all twelve levels of the cultivation art, you''ll be able to open a thousand eight hundred profound acupoints."
Han Li was stunned into silence upon hearing this.
"Another benefit thates with selecting this cultivation art is that during the cultivation process, one type of true spirit bloodline must be refined for each level in order to help the user open profound acupoints.
¡°If someone else were to use this cultivation art, they would have to take on an enormous amount of risk by incorporating so many different true spirit bloodlines into their body, but you have the advantage of the Twelve Awakening Transformations, which has allowed you toplete initial refinement of many true spirit bloodlines.
¡°Hence, it''ll be far less dangerous for you to use this cultivation art," Daoist Xie continued.
"What do you mean by initial refinement?" Han Li asked.
"The refinement method that you used for your true spirit bloodlines is only a rudimentary one from your time in the Spirit Realm. This Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts contains a more advanced refinement method that''ll allow you topletely refine your existing true spirit bloodlines, which will enhance your bloodline power while also assisting you in opening profound acupoints," Daoist Xie exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
"I''m going to begin teaching you how to read profound text now. I don''t have much time, so let''s begin right away," Daoist Xie said.
Chapter 891: Rapid Progress
Chapter 891: Rapid Progress
A few minutester, Daoist Xie withdrew his spiritual sense, then said, "I still have some time left, so you can ask me any questions that you want."
"What is going on? Han Li asked, raising a question that epassed all of his questions."
"After arriving in Green Goat City, I began to remember many things, some of which are very important. All you need to know right now is that I''ll be staying with Chen Yang for now to prepare for something important. After that, I''ll travel to Profound City, and you''ll being with me," Daoist Xie replied.
"I was also nning to leave Green Goat City to travel to Profound City while continuing my search for Violet Spirit. ording to Chen Yang, Shi Chuankong is in Profound City, so I have to go and find him as well. However, prior to that, you have to tell me exactly what you''re nning," Han Li demanded with tightly furrowed brows.
"Now''s not the time to be revealing my ns to you. Just focus on cultivating the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and bing stronger. Only then will you be able to assist me in my ns," Daoist Xie replied with a shake of his head.
"When will you be traveling to Profound City?" Han Li asked.
"You''ll know when the timees, but I should be staying in Green Goat City for at least the next three to four years, so make sure to make full use of this time," Daoist Xie replied.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed, and he was just about to raise another question when Daoist Xie dered, "Time''s up."
After that, he departed without another word, leaving Han Li with even more questions that he had begun with.
He sat down with his legs crossed on his bed, then began studying the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with his newly learned profound text.
At first nce, the cultivation art was extremely difficult to grasp, far more so than the Great Universe Origin Arts, the Wingform Ascension Arts, and the Titan Vajra Arts, and the method of using the power of true spirit bloodlines to open profound acupoints included in the cultivation art was also extremely profound.
Even though he was now able to read the cultivation art, that was only the first step, and he still had much more studying to do.
Only after three days and three nights was Han Li just barely able to understand the first level of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, and he immediatelymenced his cultivation.
He pulled out a beast core and devoured it, then channeled the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, and the thirty-six baleful acupoints on his chest and abdomen slowly lit up.
The first level of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts contained a hundred and fifty profound acupoints, all of which were also concentrated in the chest and abdomen.
The first level of the cultivation art ced heavy emphasis on building a solid foundation. Hence, all of its profound acupoints were gathered in the chest and abdomen to enhance the one''s fundamental physical constitution. As a result, the practical improvement to be gained from it wasn''t as immediately apparent as that of the Wingform Ascension Arts or the Titan Vajra Arts.
Such improvements would have to wait until he reached the second level.
However, Han Li didn''t find this to be surprising at all.
Given all of his extensive experience in bodily refinement, he knew that the foundation establishment stage was the most important stage of a bodily refinement cultivation art, and the more profound acupoints opened during this stage, the more solid the foundation would be, therefore allowing for greater potential.
The reason why he was able to contend against other people who had opened more profound acupoints than him even back when he had only opened thirty-six profound acupoints was precisely because the thirty-six profound acupoints of the Great Universe Origin Arts were all foundational profound acupoints, thereby granting him a far more solid physical foundation than others.
Thankfully, the statue that he had obtained from Du Qingyang''s vault just so happened to contain the first three levels of the cultivation art. With that in mind, he couldn''t help but wonder which three levels the statue from Daoist Master Bone Shine''s storage tool contained.
Right as Han Li was refining the beast core that he had just devoured, the Heaven Controlling Vial in his stomach suddenly shuddered slightly, following which a burst of starpower surged forth from within.
The burst of starpower was immense and extremely pure, far more potent than the starpower he was deriving from refining the beast core.
He initially faltered slightly upon sensing this, following which an ecstatic look appeared on his face.
Back when the influx of energy from the Sinha Blood Array was bing too much for him to handle, the Heaven Controlling Vial had sprung into action, absorbing the starpower from Du Qingyang and the captains.
He had thought that the starpower had already been devoured by the Heaven Controlling Vial, but it was now being released to assist him in his cultivation.
He immediately took advantage of this, channeling the immense starpower toward the profound acupoints of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts while also drawing upon his true spirit bloodlines.
A series of true spirit projections instantly appeared around him, and his eyelids fluttered slightly as a surprised look appeared on his face.
Back in the arena, he had tried to draw upon his true spirit bloodlines on multiple asions, but to no avail. It had felt as if his true spirit bloodlines had been somehow suppressed, but now, he was able to draw upon them without any effort, and he couldn''t help but wonder if this was due to the effects of the Sinha Blood Array, or perhaps some other reason.
However, he then shook his head to rid himself of that train of thought. In any case, this was definitely good news, and he would be able to further refine his true spirit bloodlines from here.
In the past, Han Li had only been able to summon nine true spirit projections, but on this asion, that number had increased to ten, with the new addition being a giant white snake with a body that was as pristine white as jade.
It had a pair of bright red eyes that resembled two vibrant rubies, but not only did they not give it a look of bloodlust, they only made the creature more majestic to behold.
This true spirit was called the Tengshe, and it was a true spirit bloodline that had flowed into Han Li''s body from Du Qingyang through the Sinha Blood Array.
Coincidentally, the Tengshe was also one of the true spirits of the Twelve Awakening Transformations.
All of the true spirit projections aside from the Tengshe projection vanished at Han Li''s behest, and it coiled itself around his body.
Wisps of the Tengshe''s bloodline power were flowing through his body, converging toward a closed profound acupoint on his chest.
This profound acupoint would''ve been extremely difficult to open using starpower alone, but the true spirit power of the Tengshe was able to infiltrate it with ease.
The profound acupoint immediately began to open, and starpower gushed in through the opening to make further inroads.
A hint of tion appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
Sure enough, the assistance from his true spirit bloodline was making it far easier for him to open profound acupoints.
However, his tion quickly turned to concern as he discovered that the outflow of starpower from the Heaven Controlling Vial was bing faster and faster, to the point that it was almost overwhelming him.
At the same time, the Heaven Controlling Vial ensured that the starpower began umting in his meridians instead of seeping out of his body.
Han Li''s entire body was gradually filled by starpower, and he began to glow more and more radiantly while his body began to take on a crystalline quality.
Excruciating pain began to surge through his body from the excessive buildup of starpower, and it was even more agonizing than the influx of starpower and bloodline power that he had experienced in the Sinha Blood Array.
A hint of panic began to rise up in his heart.
He was unable to use any immortal spiritual power in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so if his entire body were to crystallize, then that would be the end of him.
He had thought that this outpouring of starpower from the Heaven Controlling Vial was a massive blessing, but it was quickly turning into a catastrophic nightmare.
Han Li gritted his teeth tightly, and he knew that he had to do something drastic in order to save himself. Hence, hepletely went against the cultivation methodid out in the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, directing the starpower in his body toward five profound acupoints at once.
Opening profound acupoints required extreme concentration, and even the slightestpse in concentration could result in catastrophic consequences, but given the dire nature of his situation, Han Li had no choice but to resort to such desperate measures.
Opening several profound acupoints at once instantly significantly increased starpower expenditure, and as a result, the rate of crystallization of Han Li''s body began to slow, but it didn''t fade.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might, both to cultivate and to save his own life.
Over a month flew by in a sh.
Perhaps this was arranged by Chen Yang, but during this time, no one came to instruct Han Li to take part in any battles in the arena.
His body was still in a half-crystallized state, while five specks of starlight were flickering on his chest.
A faint thud rang out as one of the profound acupoints was abruptly opened, while the other four weren''t far away.
However, this didn''t bring Han Li any tion as the starpower surging out of the Heaven Controlling Vial was only growing more and more abundant.
Just how much starpower is in this damn thing?! he cursed internally, then immediately refocused his efforts on funneling the starpower from the Heaven Controlling Vial toward a new profound acupoint.
On top of that, he began opening six profound acupoints at once instead of five.
Opening five at a time was already quite a strain on him, and he didn''t know if increasing that number to six would cause any problems, but at this point, he had no choice.
If the rate of outflow of starpower from the Heaven Controlling Vial continued to increase, then perhaps this number would also have to rise further.
He took a deep breath as all of the profound acupoints on his body began to glow brightly, basking his entire body in a bright cloud of starlight.
Five years flew by in the blink of an eye.
Han Li''s entire body was epassed within a cloud of incandescent starlight, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.
Right at this moment, all of the starlight around him suddenly began shing erratically before abruptly dissipating, and a string of loud booms rang out within the stone chamber, while the entire room trembled and quivered.
Han Li slowly stood up amid the dissipating starlight, and at this point, his body had already returned to normal.
However, at this moment, there were as many as two hundred and thirty-seven profound acupoints shimmering all over his body.
It had taken him five years to finally use up all of the starpower in the Heaven Controlling Vial, and he had opened a hundred and sixty-five new profound acupoints, mastering the fist level of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
An ted look appeared on his face as he examined all of the profound acupoints on his own body. Even though the process had been extremely perilous, the reward was tremendous, and it was worth the years of arduous cultivation up to this point.
He heaved a long sigh as the starlight radiating from his body faded away, and a wave of exhaustion instantly washed over him.
Over the past five years, he had cultivated the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts without rest in a state of high focus and concentration, and he had umted far too much fatigue, both mentally and physically.
With that in mind, he fell onto his bed and instantly fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter 892: Five City Martial Gathering
Chapter 892: Five City Martial Gathering
Han Li slept for what felt like an eternity, and by the time he woke up, all of his exhaustion had faded away.
He felt as if his own body were brimming with limitless power, and his mind was also filled with ferocious battle intent that made him want to plow through a mountain with his bare hands.
He was naturally able to suppress these irrational urges, but the battle intent in his heart was so fierce that it proved rather difficult for him to suppress.
"Looks like having too much energy is not a good thing," Han Li mused in a self-deprecating fashion, then began carefully examining his own internal condition.
All of his two hundred and thirty-seven profound acupoints were glowing radiantly, while bursts of immense power were surging through his entire body, and his battle intent was beginning to rise up once again.
I never used to be this aggressive. Could this be a result of cultivating the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts?
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he raised a hand before shing it through the air like a de, and a loud screeching sound instantly rang out as the space began to shimmer and warp.
His eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this. Prior to cultivating the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, he wouldn''t have been able to achieve the same effect even with an all out attack, yet he was now able to do it with just an errant swipe of his hand.
A gust of ferocious wind swept through the air from his hand before striking the wall, instantly slicing a long and deep gash into it as if it were made of tofu.
A stunned smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he realized that the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts were even more formidable than he anticipated.
Right as he was about to conduct some more tests of his own newfound power, the sound of door-knocking suddenly rang out.
He rose to his feet before opening the door to discover Chen Yang standing outside.
"I was informed that there had been somemotion in your room a few days ago, so I thought that you may havee out of seclusion. Looks like I was right. You were certainly in seclusion for a very long time, Fellow Daoist Li," Chen Yang said with a hint ofint in his voice.
"Pleasee in, City Lord Chen," Han Li said as he invited Chen Yang into his room.
"Just call me Chen Yang, Fellow Daoist Li. Looks like you''ve made significant strides in your cultivation over the past five years," Chen Yang remarked.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Chen. My paltry powers can''t even begin topare with yours," Han Li replied in a modest fashion.
Chen Yang smiled in response, but his smile was a little stiff.
At this moment, he felt as if Han Li were enshrouded in ayer of figurative mist, making it impossible to glean the full depths of his power.
But how was that possible? No more than five years ago, he was nothing more than a piece of small fry who had only opened seventy-two profound acupoints. Could it be that he had been hiding his true power this entire time?
"What brings you here today, Fellow Daoist Chen? Could it be that you''ve found a way to remove the ck Tribtion Centipede in my body?" Han Li asked.
"My sincerest apologies, but even after searching through all of the potential ces where Du Qingyang could''ve kept things hidden over the past few years, I still wasn''t able to find anything. I''m afraid I''ll have to ask you to raise a different request to me," Chen Yang replied with a wry smile.
Even though Han Li had already anticipated this answer, his expression still darkened slightly as he said, "Alright, we can discuss this matter another time then. If you''re not here to discuss the matter of the ck Tribtion Centipedes, then why have youe to see me?"
"The Five City Martial Gathering ising up, and that''s what I wanted to discuss with you," Chen Yang replied with a smile.
"What''s that?" Han Li asked.
Aside from its main city, Profound City also had four subsidiary cities, namely Green Goat City, Excess Passage City, Profound End City, and White Rock City.
However, he had never heard of this Five City Martial Gathering before.
"The five cities of our Profound City are situated quite far away from one another, thereby making exchange of information extremely difficult. In order to strengthen the connection between the five cities, City Lord E Kuai holds a martial gathering once every one thousand years in the main city, where the five cities will send out their most powerful warriors to engage in a series of sparring matches," Chen Yang exined with a smile.
"I see. Why have you brought this up to me, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Han Li asked as he thought back to hisst conversation with Daoist Xie.
Could the important event that Daoist Xie had been referring to be this Five City Martial Gathering?
"The Five City Martial Gathering is a grand event for Profound City. Would you be interested in going to take a look?" Chen Yang asked.
"Are you really just inviting me to go and spectate the event? Please get to the point, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li harrumphed.
Chen Yang remained unbothered by Han Li''s rather frosty demeanor, and a serious look appeared on his face as he said, "In that case, I won''t waste any more time. I came here today to invite you to participate in this martial gathering as a representative of our Green Goat City."
Han Li wasn''t surprised to hear this, and he asked, "What are the rules of this Five City Martial Gathering?"
The fact that Han Li didn''t turn down this proposal right away was a very encouraging sign for Chen Yang, and he hurriedly exined, "The rules have always been slightly different from one edition to another, but in general, it''s always a one on one battle, where the winner advances, and those who manage to clinch the top spots in the event will receive handsome rewards from City Lord E Kuai himself."
"Will participating in the event pose any risk to my life?" Han Li asked.
"There will be some risk, but there have been very few casualties in past editions. They''re meant to be sparring matches, so you can surrender if you''re defeated. There aren''t any vendettas between the cities, so very few people will intentionally try to kill their opponents. After all, the true enemy of Profound City is Puppet City," Chen Yang replied.
Having spent so much time in the arena, Han Li had almost forgotten about the existence of Puppet City.
"I''m sure such a grand event isn''t held purely to strengthen the rtions between the cities, right?" Han Li asked.
Chen Yang''s smile stiffened slightly upon hearing this, following which he replied, "That''s only the secondary objective. The most important objective of the event is to decide the cultivation resource allocation among the cities based on the oue of the martial gathering."
Han Li merely smiled as he looked at Chen Yang in silence.
A sense of unease welled up in Chen Yang''s heart at the sight of Han Li''s expression, and he said, "I''ll be open and honest with you, Fellow Daoist Li. I''ve only just taken over as the lord of Green Goat City, so our city must do well in this martial gathering in order for me to establish myself. If you''re willing to help me in this cause, I won''t take any of the reward that you receive from the event, and I''ll even give you additionalpensation on top of that."
"Oh? What do you n to give me aspensation?" Han Li asked.
Chen Yang was rather taken aback by Han Li''s direct and straightforward line of questioning, and he pulled out a white jade box before offering it to him.
Han Li epted the box, then opened it up a sliver to inspect its contents, upon which a hint of surprise shed through his eyes.
He then immediately closed the box again as he smiled and said, "Seeing as you''re disying so much sincerity, it would be downright rude of me to refuse."
Internally, Chen Yang was feeling quite disgruntled, but on the surface, he disyed a grateful smile as he said, "The Five City Martial Gathering isn''t far away, and Green Goat City is quite far from Profound City, so I''m nning for us to set off in half a year. If you need to make any preparations, please do so as soon as possible, and I''m happy to provide you with any assistance that you may require."
Han Li nodded in response, and Chen Yang promptly departed.
Following Chen Yang''s departure, Han Li sat back down with his legs crossed on his bed, then opened the jade box in his hands to reveal an A tier beast core.
This one was quitecklusterpared with the one that he had chosen from Du Qingyang''s vault, but it was undoubtedly also an A tier beast core.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he closed the jade box, then closed his eyes as well.
With only a half a year left to prepare, there was no point in cultivating, so he was nning to make some other preparations.
Opening so many profound acupoints in such a short time was simply unheard of, so he had to take some measures to conceal his newly opened profound acupoints.
......
Six months flew by in a sh.
On this day, Han Li changed into his normal attire before leaving the arena.
He was able to leave the arena without any trouble, presumably because Chen Yang had already informed everyone in the arena to grant him free passage, and he quickly arrived in the main hall of the city lord''s manor.
There were already quite a few people gathered in the hall, almost all of which he was familiar with.
All of the arena''s area leaders were present, and in addition to them, there were also the likes of Xiong Pei and Xuanyuan Xing, amounting to a total of close to twenty people.
Everyone was looking quite excited, particrly the area leaders, who were spiritedly discussing the uing Five City Martial Gathering.
Everyone in the hall took a casual nce at Han Li upon his arrival, then returned to their conversations.
Han Li had earned quite a reputation for himself in the arena, but in the eyes of the area leaders, he was still not worthy of their attention.
His and Gu Qianxun''s involvement in the death of Du Qingyang had been kept a secret this entire time, so no one was aware of the role that he had yed.
Han Li didn''t mind this at all, and he sat down in a peaceful corner of the hall.
At this moment, Gu Qianxun was seated together with Toxic Dragon, Tu Gang, and a golden-haired young man, as well as the purple-robed woman by the name of Yao Li.
Gu Qianxun''s eyes lit up slightly at the sight of Han Li, and she excused herself before making her way toward him.
Yao Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but she still followed along.
"Who''s that?" the golden-haired young man asked as a cold gleam shed through his eyes.
He was quite a handsome man, and his aura was even more formidable than that of Toxic Dragon and Tu Gang.
Chapter 893: Traveling to Profound City
Chapter 893: Traveling to Profound City
"You''ve been in seclusion all this time, so you won''t have heard of him, Brother Yi. His name is Li Feiyu, and he only recently joined the arena a few years ago. Even though he''s only" opened fewer than fifty profound acupoints, he''s quite a strong fighter and has even defeated Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon in the past.
¡°On top of that, he''s a human, so he''s earned quite a reputation for himself. However, it seems like he was granted some special privileges starting from five years ago, allowing him to remain in seclusion the entire time, and it appears that he''s only juste out," Tu Gang said.
"Do you have to bring that up again? I only lost to him that one time because I was toocent!" Toxic Dragon harrumphed coldly.
"A human? That''s certainly not something that you see every day. Is he nning to take part in the martial gathering as well?" the golden-haired young man asked with a derisive sneer.
"Perhaps. Otherwise, why would he have gone into seclusion for all these years? Tu Gang mused."
As soon as Han Li sat down, he was immediately offered a cup of tea by a maidservant, and epted the teacup before taking a sip.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Li," Gu Qianxun greeted as she approached Han Li with a smile on her face.
Yao Li was walking along beside him, disying her usual disdainful expression to Han Li.
"Indeed, long time no see, Fellow Daoist Gu," Han Li replied, paying no heed to Yao Li.
"I knew that with your powers, Fellow Daoist Chen would definitely invite you. I''ve heard that you''ve been cultivating in seclusion these past five years, and I can see that you''ve made some significant strides in your cultivation," Gu Qianxun remarked.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Gu. I can see that you''ve also made an important breakthrough. Congrattions," Han Li said with a smile, and Gu Qianxun''s smile stiffened slightly upon hearing this.
She had indeed broken through a bottleneck using the two treasures that she had taken from Du Qingyang''s vault, but she had never mentioned this to anyone and had tried to keep this a secret this entire time, yet Han Li was able to see through her right away!
Unbeknownst to her, Han Li''s senses had be far sharper thanks to the rapid progress that he had made in his own bodily cultivation, and that, coupled with his tremendous spiritual sense, was what had allowed him to see right through Gu Qianxun at a single nce.
Gu Qianxun regained herposure as she sat down beside Han Li and remarked, "What a pair of sharp eyes you possess, Fellow Daoist Li."
The golden-haired young man''s expression darkened significantly upon seeing this.
"Let''s stop exchanging pointless praise, Fellow Daoist Gu. You''ve been in Green Goat City far longer than I have, so I''m sure you know more about the Five City Martial Gathering than I do. Would you be able to tell me about it?" Han Li asked with a smile.
Gu Qianxun was just about to reply when Chen Yang entered the hall in his city lord attire, then sat down onto the main chair as he said, "Sorry to keep you all waiting, everyone."
As usual, Daoist Xie was trailing along silently behind him.
Han Li cast his gaze toward Daoist Xie, but thetter paid no heed to him, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
"We pay our respects to City Lord Du!" everyone collectively greeted as they rose to their feet before extending respectful salutes.
"No need for such formalities. All of you are pirs of our Green Goat City, so I''ll be counting on you for the uing martial gathering. Take a seat, everyone," Chen Yang said with a smile.
Everyone sat back down, and the entire hall descended intoplete silence.
"I''m sure all of you are aware of why I have gathered you here today. The Five City Martial Gathering ising up soon, and it''ll take us quite some time to get to Profound City, so we''ll be setting off shortly. However, before that, there are some things that I must discuss with all of you," Chen Yang dered.
"Has there been some change to the martial gathering, City Lord Du?" the golden-haired young man asked.
"Who''s that?" Han Li asked as he took a nce at the golden-haired young man.
"He''s Yi Liya. He''s been in seclusion for quite a few years, so you won''t have seen him before," Gu Qianxun replied.
Yi Liya was a name that Han Li was quite familiar with. He was the leader of the arena''s second area, and he was widely recognized as the second-most powerful arena diator behind only Gu Qianxun.
"There''s been no change, but I''ve been informed that City Lord E Kuai is taking this martial gathering very seriously and is offering unprecedentedly handsome rewards, so this will perhaps be the most hotly contested martial gathering we''ve ever had," Chen Yang dered with a smile.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. Was there a reason why City Lord E Kuai was taking this particr martial gathering so seriously?
"Our Green Goat City must present itself in a good light to the other four cities, so please give it your all and make our city proud!" Chen Yang implored in a serious voice.
"Rest assured, City Lord Du, we''ll be sure to do our Green Goat City proud!"
"We''re going to show the other cities exactly what we''re made of!"
A wide smile appeared on Chen Yang''s face upon hearing this, and he dered, "Thank you, everyone. Now, let''s prepare for departure."
With that, everyone made their way out of the hall and quickly arrived outside Green Goat City.
It was a bright and sunny day, but very windy, as usual. Yellow sand was sweeping through the air as far as the eyes could see, and at this moment, there were close to twenty enormous scaled beasts waiting outside with saddles on their backs.
Chen Yang made his way onto the back of the ck Scaled Elephant at the forefront of the group, and Daoist Xie got on with him.
There were quite a few scaled beasts to choose from, and some people were choosing to travel together on the same beast, so there was a surplus.
Han Li was just about to make his way onto the back of a vacant horse-like scaled beast when Chen Yang suddenly turned to him and offered, "If you don''t mind, you can ride with me, Fellow Daoist Li."
Han Li took a nce at Daoist Xie, then smiled as he replied, "That would be my honor."
After that, he sprang up into the air and drifted down onto the ck Scaled Elephant''s back.
"Why don''t you join us as well, Fellow Daoist Gu? It''s going to be a long trip, wouldn''t it be nice to have somepany?" Chen Yang invited.
"I suppose it couldn''t hurt," Gu Qianxun replied with a smile, then leaped onto the elephant''s back as well.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the ck Scaled Elephant set off, while Yi Liya was looking on with a displeased expression from the ground below.
He gave a cold harrumphed before leaping onto the back of a deer-like scaled beast, and it didn''t take long before the entire line of scaled beasts had vanished into the distance.
......
Over two years flew by in a sh.
An enormous mountain range that resembled a resting giant had appeared on the horizon at the end of a dusty in.
Close to a hundred kilometers away from the mountain range was a procession of around a dozen scaled beasts, and on the back of the ck Scaled Elephant at the forefront of the procession sat none other than Han Li, Chen Yang, and Gu Qianxun.
At this moment, Han Li was peering at his surroundings through narrowed eyes, and as he cast his gaze toward the mountain range up ahead, he spotted arge city concealed within the mountain range''s shadow.
"That city up ahead is Profound City, right, City Lord Chen?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. This mountain range is called the Myriad Profound Mountain Range, and Profound City was built into one side of the mountain range, shielding it from the elements while also making it easier to defend. Our Green Goat City was constructed on the same principles, but the scales of the two cities are downright iparable," Chen Yang confirmed with a smile.
"I''m sure Green Goat City will soar to greater heights under your leadership, City Lord Chen. I wouldn''t dare to proim that it could outstrip Profound City someday, but I certainly look forward to the day that it rises to the top among the four subsidiary cities," Gu Qianxun said with a smile of her own.
"I certainly hope such a day wille," Chen Yang replied with a pleased expression.
Before long, the procession of scaled beasts arrived at the foot of the city.
Up close, the city was even more grand and majestic in appearance.
The city walls were constructed from a ck stone material withrge white scaled beast star bones embedded into them, giving off a faint white glow.
Han Li knew that these star bones weren''t just there for decorative purposes. Instead, the starpower that they contained could enhance the city''s defenses, and this feat of construction alone was already something that was out of reach for Green Goat City.
The city had a total of three gates, the central one of which was several hundred feet tall, while the other two gates on either side of it were slightly shorter.
Even though all three gates were open, no one was passing through the central one, and only some people were asionally making their way in and out of the two side gates.
Chen Yang led Han Li and the others to the main gate, then disyed his token to verify his identity as the lord of Green Goat City, upon which he was immediately approached by a ck-robed young man.
"Wee, City Lord Chen. Please forgive me for noting out to greet you sooner. My name is Tong Song, and I''ll be guiding you and your entourage to the city lord''s manor," the young man said.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Tong. May I ask if the people from the other three cities have already arrived?" Chen Yang asked.
"The guests from the other three cities have already arrived, so once I''ve taken you to the city lord''s manor, City Lord E Kuai will meet with all of you," Tong Song replied.
"Sorry to keep everyone waiting," Chen Yang said.
"You''ve arrived in a timely fashion, so there''s no need to apologize, City Lord Chen," Tong Song hurriedly replied with a wave of his hands.
"Alright, please take us to the city lord''s manor, Fellow Daoist Tong," Chen Yang said with a nod.
Tong Song gave an affirmative response, then sent one of his subordinates to go ahead and report Chen Yang''s arrival to the city lord''s manor before leading everyone from Green Goat City into Profound City through the main gate.
Chapter 894: Pretty Boy
Chapter 894: Pretty Boy
Yi Liya''s brows were tightly furrowed as he watched Han Li, Gu Qianxun, and Chen Yang walking along at the forefront, seemingly on very good terms with one another.
He had nothing to say about Chen Yang taking Du Qingyang''s ce as the city lord. Even though he was in seclusion during Chen Yang''s rise to the top, it was clear to him what had to have happened, and the fact that Chen Yang was able to eliminate Du Qingyang clearly indicated that he was not to be messed with.
When it came to Gu Qianxun, he also had a great deal of respect for her. After all, it was undeniable that her powers were superior to his, and he had been defeated in all of the battles that had taken ce between them up to this point.
However, Li Feiyu was someone that he had never heard of before, and he appeared to be quite weak, yet it was clear that he was on very good terms with the other two.
He had asked Tu Gang and Sun Binghe about this, but they weren''t able to answer his questions about Han Li, either.
Han Li waspletely oblivious to Yi Liya''s scrutiny, and he began inspecting his surroundings as soon as he entered the city.
Theyout of the city was very orderly and well-organized. All of the buildings were constructed from the same ck stone material as the city walls, and even though they were all quite simplistic and monotonous in style, it was still quite a rare sight in a barren secret area like the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
The streets in the city were very wide, allowing evenrge scaled beasts to pass through with no problems, and they were also lined with shops.
Perhaps it was because it was close to nighttime, but there weren''t many pedestrians on the streets in the city, so it was quite serene, with the peace only asionally punctuated by a beastly roar or two.As they were about to reach the center of the city, Han Li''s eyes suddenly narrowed slightly as he spotted a rather interesting building.
It was an enormous round building with many ck stone pirs standing around it, and its walls were packed with scaled beast star bones to an even higher degree of density than the city walls.
Outside the building was a spacious za, atop which stood a humanoid stone statue with blurry facial features that was hundreds of feet tall.
Han Li had seen a statue that was virtually identical to this one in Green Goat City, albeit quite a bit smaller, and he had asked Chen Yang about its origins, to which Chen Yang had replied that he didn''t know.
After passing by this giant round building, it didn''t take long before the group arrived at the city lord''s manor.
The city lord''s manors of Profound City and Green Goat City could hardly even bepared with one another.
Even though there was no vegetation around the city lord''s manor of Profound City, it had been constructed like a beautiful garden.
All of the paths in the manor were paved with giant bluestone bs, and these paths were lined with ck statues depicting different humanoid and beastly figures, as well as some half-human, half-beast deities.
Littered around the paths were some stone pces with all types of ornate designs engraved upon them, and they were already very simr in style to the pces that Han Li had seen in the Devil Realm.
Han Li''s group was led by Tong Song to a massive stone hall, where Tong Song smiled and said, "Please take a rest in here, City Lord Chen. City Lord E Kuai has already been informed of your arrival, and he''ll be seeing you shortly."
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Tong," Chen Yang said.
Tong Song responded with a polite smile, then made an inviting hand gesture, and Chen Yang entered the hall with his entourage.
Inside the hall was a massive rectangr stone table that extended all the way from the wall at the very back of the hall.
The main seat in the hall, a wide and sturdy chair, remained unupied, while around a dozen other seats at the table were already upied, and all of their upants were currently chatting boisterously with one another.
Han Li swept his gaze over the people already present to discover that their leader seemed to be a short and stocky middle-aged man with a muscr physique. He was dressed in a thick beast hide cape, and he was currently resting with his eyes closed.
Right next to him was another brawny man with most of his body covered in ayer of pristine white bandages, leaving only half of his dark-skinned face exposed, and there was a hint of cold bloodlust in his only visible eye.
What was rather strange was that his bandaged arm was extraordinarily long and muscr, almost trailing all the way down onto the ground, while his unbandaged arm appeared much more normal inparison.
As Han Li was observing these people, they also noticed the arrival of Chen Yang and his entourage, and the chatter instantly died down as they turned their attention to Han Li and the others.
"Long time no see, City Lord Fu, Fellow Daoist Duan," Chen Yang greeted with a smile.
The bandaged man merely took a nce at Chen Yang before giving a cold harrumph, while the muscr middle-aged man didn''t even open his eyes, choosing to ignore Chen Yang altogether.
Chen Yang waspletely unbothered by this, and he was just about to sit down across from the muscr middle-aged man and the others when the sound of a violent coughing fit suddenly rang out from outside the hall, following which a tall and thin middle-aged man with a sickle paleplexion made his way into the room.
Han Li noticed that he had ayer of gray scales growing near his throat, which would rustle slightly every time he coughed.
While Han Li was observing the man''s throat, a figure suddenly shot out from behind him, abruptly appearing in front of Han Li as if by instantaneous teleportation before piercing a sword that was as thin as a willow leaf straight at Han Li''s right eye.
Han Li reacted extremely quickly, raising his two fingers in which his Flower Branch domain had been refined to catch the tip of the sword.
The sword shuddered slightly before being withdrawn, and it was revealed that its wielder was an extremely handsome white-robed young man with a set of gentle and effeminate features, giving him a rather gender-neutral appearance.
"Keep staring at my father like that and I''ll gouge your eyes out!" the young man threatened, and his voice was quite tender, further adding to his gender ambiguity.
"Come back, Wuchen. Why get so worked up over a lowly ve?" the pale-faced man said in an indifferent manner.
The white-robed young man immediately retreated respectfully to the pale-faced man''s side, but he was still glowering at Han Li with a hostile look in his eyes.
"You''ve made yourself quite a troublesome enemy right off the bat, Fellow Daoist Li. You''re going to have to be careful if you encounter him in the arena," Gu Qianxun remarked through voice transmission.
"Why do you say that?" Han Li asked.
"This man''s name is Feng Wuchen, and he''s the most powerful subordinate under Qin Yuan, the lord of Profound End City. His cultivation arts are focused primarily on the profound acupoints of his legs, granting him incredible speed and agility, and his willow leaf sword is also a perfect weapon for an assassin," Gu Qianxun introduced.
Han Li remained unfazed as he asked, "Who''s the guy in the bandages?"
"His name is Duan Tong, and his cultivation arts ce a heavy emphasis on the cultivation of his right arm. That''s why his right arm is so disproportionately huge. Thest time I saw him, his skin wasn''t this dark, and he wasn''t wearing these bandages, either," Gu Qianxun replied.
"In that case, he must''ve cultivated some other powerful abilities since youst met him," Han Li replied.
"He was once the number one subordinate under Fu Jian, the lord of Excess Passage City, but he seemed to have been stripped of that title after being defeated by me during thest martial gathering. It appears that he''s back for revenge this time," Gu Qianxun mused.
While the two were conversing with each other, Qin Yuan had already led his entourage to sit down across from Fu Jian and the others, so Chen Yang could take a seat further down the table next to them.
Right at this moment, Fu Jian slowly opened his eyes as he scoffed, "To think that a traitorous scoundrel like yourself would dare toe here and take part in the Five City Martial Gathering. Are you aware of how the word ''shame'' is spelt?"
All of his subordinates immediately burst into raucousughter upon hearing this.
Chen Yang remainedpletely unbothered as he countered, "Oh? It sounds like you''re very knowledgeable on this subject. Why don''t you write down the word for me on a piece of rock or beast bone, and I''ll make it a prized piece of my calligraphy collection."
Qin Yuan leaned back in his chair, resting his feet on the table in front of him as he mused, "During thest martial gathering, I warned Du Qingyang to be careful of you. I could see that you had a rebellious bone in you, but it seems like he didn''t heed my advice."
"Maybe you should worry more about your own Profound End City rather than concerning yourself with the affairs of our Green Goat City. Your advice was taken onboard by Du Qingyang, but his tyrannical ways had already sparked much dissatisfaction among his subordinates, so my ascension to the top was as wee as it was necessary," Chen Yang replied with a smile.
This was a tant lie, yet Chen Yang was telling it without even skipping a beat, much to Han Li''s amusement and dismay.
"What''s the point in all of this bickering? The group that Du Qingyang brought with himst time at least looked half decent, what''s this assortment of trash that you''ve brought with youst time? Ah, forgive me, I didn''t mean to lump in Fellow Daoist Gu with the rest, of course," Fu Jian sneered.
The expressions of Toxic Dragon and the others darkened significantly upon hearing this, but in the face of an almighty city lord, they could only suffer in silence.
"If I''m not mistaken, that little pretty boy among you seems to be a human, right?" Qin Yuan asked as his gaze settled onto Han Li.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to Qin Yuan as he replied, "I am indeed a human, but as for the term ''pretty boy'', I think that would be much more appropriately used on your son... No, daughter? That doesn''t seem right, either..."
Everyone present faltered slightly upon hearing this, and it seemed that many people were very surprised by his decision to provoke Qin Yuan and Feng Wuchen.
Due to some special reasons, Qin Yuan always had a very sickly appearance, but no one ever dared to mock him for it as his powers and status bothmanded a great deal of respect.
Gu Qianxun''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, while a cold sneer appeared on Yi Liya''s face.
Before Qin Yuan had a chance to say anything, a furious look appeared on Feng Wuchen''s face as he yelled, "How dare you! A worthless piece of scum like yourself should know to keep his mouth shut when the city lords are talking!"
Chapter 895: Unrest
Chapter 895: Unrest
"City Lord Qin just directed a question at this subordinate of mine, did he not? Is he wrong for answering? You''re the one who should learn to keep your mouth shut unless you''re spoken to!" Chen Yang countered as he gave Feng Wuchen a cold re.
Feng Wuchen was even more infuriated upon hearing this, yet before he had a chance to say anything else, Qin Yuan raised a hand to silence him as he chuckled, "Stand down, Wuchen. Don''t be rude. This subordinate of yours appears to have just as sharp a tongue as yours, City Lord Chen."
"Likewise," Chen Yang replied with a faint smile.
This entire time, Han Li''s expression remainedpletely unchanged, but Feng Wuchen was glowering at him with intense killing intent in his eyes.
"It''s disgusting that an honorless scoundrel like you dares to sit at the same table with us! Do you really think we wouldn''t dare to kill you right here, right now?" Fu Jian suddenly roared in a furious voice.
"It seems like you don''t like me very much, City Lord Fu. If you want to kill me, thene and give it a try," Chen Yang replied,pletely unfazed by Fu Jian''s threats.
All of the people from Green Goat City immediately rose to their feet to support him, while Fu Jian''s subordinates stood up as well.
Qin Yuan didn''t say anything, but he erupted into another violent coughing fit, while Feng Wuchen and the others all turned to the Green Goat City representatives with hostile looks of their own.
The atmosphere in the hall had suddenly be extremely tense, and a spark was all that was required for a full-blown scuffle to ensue.Right at this moment, a rather peculiar voice rang out from outside the hall.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting, everyone. Let''s all settle down now."
A rotund gray-robed elderly man with a coarse beard made his way into the hall, then smiled as he continued, "All of us belong to Profound City, so we should be assisting one another rather than fighting among ourselves. Leave the fighting for when the martial gatheringmences."
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Sun," Chen Yang greeted with a smile.
"Congrattions, City Lord Chen Yang," the gray-robed elderly man said as he extended a congrattory salute, following which he and his entourage sat down across from Han Li and the others.
Up to this point, he was the only one of the three other city lords that was disying any semnce of friendliness toward Chen Yang.
"This must be City Lord Sun Tu of White Rock City, right?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"That''s right," Gu Qianxun replied. "He may look like a very benevolent and easygoing man, but his city is actually the most powerful one out of the four subsidiary cities. You see that man with the pig face behind him?"
Han Li looked past Sun Tu to discover a short and ugly young man standing behind him. Instead of sitting down, the young man was standing directly behind Sun Tu.
It was a bit of an exaggeration to say that he had the face of a pig, but he did have a pair of slightly upturned nostrils, and he had quite a round face, both of which made him slightly resemble a pig.
There was quite arge gap between his eyes, giving him a rather dazed appearance, and he was holding a greasy roasted scaled beast leg that he was gnawing on while also scrutinizing with his undivided attention.
"I see him. Is there something special about him?" Han Li asked.
"His name is Fang Chan. He may look harmless and perhaps even a little dumb, but as soon as he goes into battle, he immediately bes apletely different person. Somehow, he''s able to unleash an extremely special soundwave attack with his mouth and nose, and anyone that falls prey to that attack will gopletely numb and powerless. I have first hand experience with that myself," Gu Qianxun introduced.
Han Li took another nce at Fang Chan as hemitted what he had just been told to memory.
With Sun Tu stepping in as mediator, Chen Yang was naturally more than happy to de-escte the conflict, and he sat down along with everyone else from Green Goat City.
Fu Jian and Qin Yuan exchanged a nce with each other before sitting down as well.
"When did you two arrive at Profound City?" Sun Tu asked as he turned to Fu Jian and Qin Yuan.
"Just two days ago," Qin Yuan replied with a smile.
"I arrived a few days earlier than him," Fu Jian replied as he closed his eyes again.
"I was dyed by some matters, so I only just arrived yesterday. Come to think of it, it''s been a very long time since west saw each other," Sun Tu said with a smile.
"Indeed, thest time we met was during the previous Five City Martial Gathering. Never did I think that that would be thest time I would ever see Fellow Daoist Du," Qin Yuan sighed.
"It was simply meant to be. Fellow Daoist Chen was able to climb to his current position thanks to his merits, so there''s no need to feel sad for Fellow Daoist Du," Sun Tu said.
While the two of them were chatting with each other, the sound of heavy footsteps rang out from outside the hall, following which an ordinary-looking middle-aged man strode over the doorstep, apanied by a man and a woman, both of whom were d in suits of bone armor.
The man looked no different from the average farmer, and one could easily miss him in a crowd.
In contrast, the two armord figures behind him were both quite stunning in appearance, and their suits of bone armor also had extremely intricate and beautiful patterns engraved upon them.
Their apaniment made the middle-aged man appear rather remarkable, and one couldn''t help but guess at his identity.
As soon as the three of them entered the hall, all four of the city lords in the hall instantly rose to their feet, followed immediately by their entourages.
This reaction from everyone immediately tipped Han Li off to the middle-aged man''s identity, and he hurriedly stood up as well.
"We pay our respects to City Lord E Kuai," everyone greeted in unison.
Han Li took a nce at Gu Qianxun, and he noticed that thetter''s gaze was fixed on the handsome armord man standing behind E Kuai.
"You seem very interested in that man, Fellow Daoist Gu. Do you have feelings for him, or is there some bad blood between the two of you?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
Gu Qianxun paid no heed to his jibe as she replied, "His name is Zhu Ziyuan, and he''s using a strange ancient bodily refinement cultivation art that grants him unfathomable power. He''s alreadye out on top in several past consecutive editions of the Five City Martial Gathering leading up to this one, yet I can tell that he''s still yet to unleash his full power in any of his battles. You and I should pray that we don''t get matched up against him."
E Kuai strode over to the main seat in the hall, and a warm smile appeared on his face as he gestured for everyone to sit down, but no one dared to oblige.
A resigned smile appeared on E Kaui''s face, and only after he had taken a seat did everyone finally dare to sit down again.
"Wee, fellow daoists. My apologies for not staging a more borate wee for you all," E Kuai said, disying no intentions of discussing the altercation that had just taken ce in the hall.
"Not at all, City Lord E Kuai. Being in your presence alone is already more than enough of an borate wee for us all," Sun Tu hurriedly said.
"The Five City Martial Gathering has always been a grand event for our five cities, and it''s also an opportunity for the cities to disy their powers and strengthen their bonds with one another, so I always look forward to this asion," E Kuai said with a smile.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"I can see that there are many new faces among you. That''s a very encouraging sight. If there are too many old faces around, then that indicates that there''s a dearth of talent beneath them, so I enjoy seeing new faces whenever the Five City Martial Gatheringes around," E Kuai said with a pleased smile, and his gaze lingered momentarily on Chen Yang and the others as he spoke.
Qin Yuan and Fu Jian''s expressions remained unchanged, but internally, they were feeling quite disgruntled.
Wasn''t E Kuai essentially encouraging Chen Yang''s actions by saying something like this? Didn''t this mean that if others wanted to take their ce, then they would also be endorsed and supported by E Kuai himself?
Of course, they didn''t dare to disy any displeasure despite what they were thinking. E Kuai was by far the most powerful figure in Profound City, and no one dared to get on his bad side.
"Puppet City has been growing from strength to strength ofte. Even though they haven''t made any major moves against us, they''re already beginning to gain the upper hand in some of the recent minor conflicts that have taken ce between our two cities, so we have to be careful," E Kuai suddenly sighed.
"Indeed, City Lord E Kuai. The subsidiary city of Puppet City, ck Frost City, has been frequently making moves against our Excess Passage City ofte. They''ve been sending hunting parties into our territory to hunt scaled beasts, and even though they''ve always reached upon confrontation, it still makes me feel quite uneasy that they''re testing the waters like this," Fu Jian said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"We''re in a simr situation as well. In fact, there have even been a few minor conflicts on our end, but we''ve managed toe out on top every single time," Sun Tu said with a pleased expression.
"Our Profound End City is quite far away from Puppet City, so things have been rtively more peaceful for us. However, we have caught some spies trying to infiltrate our cities, and prior toing here, I had to take care of quite a powerful diator myself. He had been lurking in our arena for thousands of years, and he only revealed his trump card puppetry abilities after I had backed him into a corner," Qin Yuan said.
"It looks like there''s some unrest brewing on the horizon," Sun Tu sighed. "Speaking of which, there''s been a major change in Green Goat City ofte, so it could be vulnerable to infiltration. Make sure to be on your guard, City Lord Chen Yang."
Chapter 896: Visiting Mistress Liu Hua
Chapter 896: Visiting Mistress Liu Hua
"Rest assured, City Lord E Kuai, our Green Goat City has never let our guard down against Puppet City, whether it be now or in the past," Chen Yang assured as he turned to E Kuai with a cupped fist salute.
"It''s fine, I only mentioned this matter as it had suddenly sprung into my mind. Let''s get back on track and talk about the Five City Martial Gathering," E Kuai replied with a wave of his hand, and everyone fell silent upon hearing this, waiting for him to continue.
"The rules will be much the samepared with past editions. Each of your four cities will nominate twelve people to take part in the martial gathering, while our main city will send out sixteen people for a total of sixty-four. It''ll be a single elimination format consisting solely of one-on-one matches, and anyone who makes it into the top three will receive a reward.
¡°On top of that, the one who ims the top spot will receive an unprecedentedly massive reward," E Kuai continued with a smile.
"What exactly is this reward, City Lord E Kuai? You''ve been dangling this in front of us for quite some time," Qin Yuan chuckled.
"There are still three months left until the officialmencement of the martial gathering, and all will be revealed then. I promise you that you won''t be disappointed," E Kuai replied as his smile grew even more pronounced.
No one raised any objections to this.
"In the meantime, all of you will be arranged ces to stay, and if you want to get in some match practice during these three months, then you can travel to the arenas in the city to participate in some arena battles," E Kuai said.
After that, everyone chatted for a while longer before they were dismissed.Following that brief meeting, everyone had certain things on their mind, so they were no longer interested in jousting with one another, and Qin Yuan and Fu Jian promptly departed with their entourages.
Chen Yang and the others were thest to leave the hall, and Tong Song was still waiting for him outside.
"Esteemed guests of Green Goat City, would you like to explore the city or be taken to the courtyard where you''ll be staying?" Tong Song asked.
"We''re all rather weary from the trip to get here, so please take us to the courtyard first, Fellow Daoist Tong," Chen Yang replied.
"Alright, then pleasee with me."
Under Tong Song''s guidance, everyone left the city lord''s manor before traveling west until they arrived at a cluster of buildings that was even more massive than the city lord''s manor.
"My sincerest apologies, but the people from the other three cities have already chosen the courtyards with superior locations and environments as they arrived before you. The two remaining courtyards are still quite nice to stay in, but the residences are spread rather far apart, so it may be a little inconvenient for all of you," Tong Song said in an apologetic manner.
Chen Yang''s mind was clearly elsewhere, and he replied in a slightly distracted manner, "That''s fine. It''ll be more peaceful for everyone with the residences more spaced out."
Tong Song thanked Chen Yang for his understanding, then led the group into one of the two remaining courtyards.
The rooms here were constructed in a row next to one another, much like the rooms one would find in inns, and they were entirely constructed from the ck stone material that was able to keep out spiritual sense.
There were quite a few rooms, so each person was able to take a room for themselves, and after taking a moment to examine his room to ensure that it hadn''t been tampered with, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed.
It didn''t take long before night arrived, and Han Li suddenly opened his eyes before emerging from his room.
It was a peaceful night with a bright moon hanging high up in the sky, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he took a nce up at the moon, following which he quickly made his way to a room before knocking on the door.
A few momentster, the door was opened to reveal Daoist Xie.
Han Li took a nce at Daoist Xie, then said, "Sorry to bother you sote at night, Fellow Daoist Chen."
This was Chen Yang''s room, and at this moment, he was seated inside.
"Not at all, Fellow Daoist Li. Please take a seat. What brings you here sote at night?" Chen Yang asked with a smile.
"We agreed that if you couldn''t find a way to remove the ck Tribtion Centipede in my body, then I could raise another request to you, right? That is the purpose of my visit," Han Li replied in a direct and straightforward manner.
"What is your request, Fellow Daoist Li? As long as it''s within the realm of my capabilities, I''ll be sure to do everything in my power to fulfill your request," Chen Yang replied with a nod.
"I would like you to find two people for me, one of whom is Shi Kong, while the other is a female cultivator by the name of Violet Spirit. She was cast into the Scalptia Spatial Domain within thest century. Please tell me your findings prior to themencement of the martial gathering," Han Li said.
A slightly hesitant look appeared on Chen Yang''s face as he replied, "I can definitely help you look for this Violet Spirit. As a female cultivator who was cast into the Scalptia Spatial Domain within thest century, she shouldn''t be too difficult to track down as long as she actually hase to Profound City. However, Shi Kong is currently in E Kuai''s hands, so it''ll be rather difficult to gather information on him."
"If it were a simple task, then I wouldn''t have toe to you," Han Li said with a faint smile.
"I suppose that''s true. I''ve already failed to fulfill a promise once, so I definitely can''t fail again. Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, I''ll be sure to give you a response prior to themencement of the martial gathering," Chen Yang promised in a solemn fashion.
"In that case, I''ll be counting on you, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li said with a faint smile, then promptly departed and returned to his own room.
An uneventful night passed by.
The next morning, Han Li was just about to go out when his door was knocked on by a young servant from Green Goat City.
Aside from Han Li and the others, Chen Yang had also brought some servants to Profound City to cater to everyone''s needs.
"Senior Li, City Lord Chen would like to invite you to see him," the young servant informed in a respectful manner.
"Do you know why he wants to see me?" Han Li asked.
"I wasn''t informed of that," the young servant replied with a shake of his head.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he instructed, "Lead the way."
The servant quickly led Han Li to Chen Yang''s residence, and to Han Li''s surprise, there were many people already gathered in the room, including the likes of Gu Qianxun, Yi Liya, and Xiong Pei.
Gu Qianxun gave Han Li a smile and a nod upon his arrival, and Han Li responded in kind, but right at this moment, he sensed a hostile gaze, and he turned to discover Yi Liya glowering at him.
Even as their eyes met, Yi Liya didn''t back down at all, giving Han Li one final re before looking away, leaving Han Li feeling rather perplexed.
He had sensed that Yi Liya was harboring some enmity toward him on the entire journey here, but they hadn''t even spoken to each other once, so he couldn''t understand why Yi Liya resented him so intensely.
Some more time passed, and once everyone from Green Goat City was present, Chen Yang dered, "I have some things to discuss with all of you."
Everyone remained silent, waiting for what he had to say next.
"There''s still some time left until the martial gathering is set tomence, and with so many powers gathered in the city, the circumstances are veryplicated. Hence, if you don''t have anything important to do, then stay in your residences and prepare for the martial gathering.
¡°Even if you do have to go out, make sure you don''t get into conflicts with anyone from other cities. Otherwise, you''ll be putting me in a very awkward position," Chen Yang said.
It was clear from the earlier interactions that the people from the other cities were mostly quite hostile toward Green Goat City, so no one raised any objections to this.
"City Lord Chen, may I ask who you''re going to send to represent our city in the martial gathering?" Yi Liya suddenly asked, "It was announced yesterday that each of the four subsidiary cities could only send twelve people, and there are clearly more than twelve of us here."
Everyone immediately turned to Chen Yang upon hearing this.
This was a question that was on everyone''s mind. Being able to take part in the Five City Martial Gathering was a huge honor, and that wasn''t even to mention the huge rewards on the line.
Everyone was very confident in their own powers, so they all desired the opportunity to prove themselves.
"There''s no hurry, I''ll announce the roster when the martial gathering begins. You can all go now," Chen Yang said.
Everyone was rather disappointed to hear this, but they could only depart.
After leaving Chen Yang''s residence, Han Li paused momentarily before turning to leave hte courtyard altogether.
Even though Chen Yang had just told them to try and avoid going out, he really did have some important matters to attend to.
Right at this moment, Gu Qianxun''s voice rang out from behind him.
"Are you going out, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"That''s right. I n to go out and explore the city a little," Han Li replied as he stopped in his tracks.
"Do you intend to seek out Mistress Liu Hua to try and address the ck Tribtion Centipede in your body?" Gu Qianxun asked through voice transmission.
"That''s right," Han Li replied, making no attempt to hide his intentions.
The ck Tribtion Centipede was a constant thorn in his side that had to be removed as soon as possible.
"I intend to do the same thing, so why don''t we go together? Mistress Liu Hua is the number one tool refinement master of Profound City, and it''s not so easy to secure an audience with him," Gu Qianxun said.
"Sure, why not?" Han Li replied with a nod, and the two of them departed together, shortly following which a group of several figures emerged from under the shade of a nearby tree.
It was Yi Liya, Toxic Dragon, Tu Gang, and a few others, and Yi Liya was observing Han Li''s departing figure with a resentful look in his eyes.
With Gu Qianxun leading the way, the two left the courtyard before entering the city.
Due to the uing Five City Martial Gathering, the city was extremely busy, and the wares sold in the shops that lined the streets were clearly of a superior quality to what was sold in Green Goat City.
Compared with the enormous scale and opulence of Profound City, Green Goat City was made to resemble a rundown slum.
Chapter 897: Shut Out
Chapter 897: Shut Out
"I didn''t think it would be so lively and bustling here. This feels like being in a city in the Devil Realm," Han Li remarked.
"This is the main city of Profound City, so it should be like this," Gu Qianxun replied, looking less impressed than Han Li.
After walking for a while, the two of them gradually left the more prosperous area of the city, and they stopped in their tracks in front of a crimson pagoda that was constructed beside a mountain.
The pagoda was quiterge, standing at seven hundred to eight hundred feet tall. It was split up into nine levels, and there were countless crimson runes engraved upon it, giving off such intese heat that it felt like standing at the crater of an active volcano.
"Is this Mistress Liu Hua''s residence?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. Mistress Liu Hua resides on the top floor of this Molten me Pagoda, but it''s not so easy to secure an audience with him," Gu Qianxun replied.
"You seem to know quite a bit about Mistress Liu Hua, Fellow Daoist Gu. What type of person is he?" Han Li asked.
"I can''t say I know a whole lot about him, he''s simply an extremely renowned figure owing to his status as the number one tool refinement master of Profound City," Gu Qianxun replied.
"Just how skilled a tool refinement master is he?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow."Let me put it this way for you: it''s said that prior to being cast into the Scalptia Spatial Domain, Mistress Liu Hua once refined a third tier holy treasure," Gu Qianxun replied.
Han Li was astonished to hear this.
The devil race referred to devilish treasures as holy treasures, and these treasures were also split up into tiers, just like immortal treasures. Up to this point, aside from the Heaven Controlling Vial, which was a treasure of an indeterminate tier, the most powerful treasures that Han Li had seen were the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber and the Virata Lute, both of which were treasures of the third tier.
With his current powers, these two treasures werepletely unfathomable to him.
The fact that Mistress Liu Hua was capable of refining a treasure of the same caliber as the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber and the Virata Lute was certainly a testament to his expertise in this field.
"It does sound like he''s an exceptional tool refinement master, but here in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, both devilish qi and immortal spiritual power arepletely inessible, so surely his abilities will be severely handicapped," Han Li mused.
"That''s true. However, Mistress Liu Hua was able to develop a method to rece devilish qi or immortal spiritual power with starpower, and it''s be his primary calling card," Gu Qianxun said.
"Could it be that all of the starpower restrictions in the city were created by him?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Not only that, but I''ve heard that Mistress Liu Hua has also found a way to inject starpower into weapons, thereby granting them powers simr to that of holy treasures. However, refining such a weapon is an extremely costly process, so it''ll be next to impossible for us to get our hands on such weapons," Gu Qianxun replied.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemtive look on his face.
"Let''s go," Gu Qianxun said, and the two of them arrived before the Molten me Pagoda.
Even though the doors were tightly shut, there was still a burst of scorching heat radiating out from inside.
"It''s said that this Molten me Pagoda is constructed upon an active volcanic crater. It''s impossible to use devilish qi in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so natural fire must be used for tool refinement purpose," Gu Qianxun exined.
Han Li nodded in response, then looked around to discover that there was no one else in the entire surrounding area.
"If Mistress Liu Hua really is such an exceptional tool refinement master, then why is it so peaceful here? How is there no one here to request weapons from him?" Han Li asked.
"Mistress Liu Hua is City Lord E Kuai''s personal tool refinement master, so he possesses an extremely lofty status. On top of that, he doesn''t like to be disturbed, so no one dares toe and bother him," Gu Qianxun replied as she strode over to the doors before knocking on them.
Only after knocking on the door for quite a while was it finally answered by a short and portly young man with a rash on his head.
"How can I help you?" the young man asked in azy and slightly arrogant voice.
"We have been long-time admirers of Mistress Liu Hua, and we would like to be granted an audience with him," Gu Qianxun replied as she cupped her fist in a salute, and Han Li did the same.
"That''s unfortunate. Mistress Liu Hua went into seclusion a few days ago, so he won''t be seeing any guests," the young man said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"When will Mistress Liu Hua being out of seclusion?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Who knows? If you''re lucky, maybe seven or eight years, but you could be waiting for up to a century if you''re not in luck," the young man replied as he began to close the door.
Gu Qianxun hurriedly stepped forward and called out, "Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist. We''re..."
"Don''t make me chase you away! Do you think Mistress Liu Hua is someone that anyone can meet on a whim? Get out of here!" the young man snapped as he shooed Han Li and Gu Qianxun away.
"Indeed, to think that a pair of ves from Green Goat City would even dream of meeting Mistress Liu Hua. What a joke!"
A mocking voice rang out from behind Han Li and Gu Qianxun, and the two of them turned around to discover that it was none other than Feng Wuchen.
He was apanied by a dark-skinned middle-aged man with a coarse beard and a pair of sharp and piercing eyes that harbored a ruthless, animalistic gleam.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly, but he didn''t say anything, while Gu Qianxun''s expression remainedpletely unchanged.
Feng Wuchen took a disdainful nce at the two of them, then turned to the portly young man as he pulled out a golden greeting card and said, "My name is Feng Wuchen, and I''vee to see Mistress Liu Hua on behalf of my foster father, City Lord Qin Yuan of Profound End City."
The portly young man''s expression changed upon hearing this, and he put on a weing smile as he replied, "Please wait for a moment, Fellow Daoist Feng, I''ll report your visit to Mistress Liu Hua right away. However, it''ll be up to Mistress Liu Hua whether he decides to see you or not."
He was just a gatekeeper, so he didn''t dare to make any promises.
"Of course," Feng Wuchen replied with a confident smile.
The young man gave Feng Wuchen a nod, yet right as he was about to enter the pagoda, Gu Qianxun pulled out an antiquated white bone badge with a crack on its surface as she called out to him, "Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist, I also have a token here that I would like you to present to Mistress Liu Hua."
Several free-flowing runes that were giving off a faint white glow were engraved onto both sides of the badge, and the short young man stopped in his tracks upon hearing this.
He was just about to ept the bone badge from her when Feng Wuchen scoffed, "You call that thing a token? What a joke!"
He knew that Gu Qianxun was quite a powerful cultivator, but ultimately, she was only a lowly diator of Green Goat City, so he didn''t think very highly of her at all.
A hesitant look appeared on the portly young man''s face upon hearing this.
"You''re the gatekeeper of this Molten me Pagoda, right? In that case, I suggest you do your job and don''t try to overstep your authority. Otherwise, you could incur consequences that are too severe for you to handle," Gu Qianxun said in an indifferent manner.
"I understand. Please wait here for a moment, I''ll report your visit to Mistress Liu Hua as well," the portly young man replied as he made his decision, epting Gu Qianxun''s bone badge before re-entering the Molten me Pagoda.
Feng Wuchen''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, but he didn''t dare to step out of line in front of Mistress Liu Hua''s residence.
Close to two hours flew by in the blink of an eye, yet the portly young man still hadn''t returned, and it was as if he had disappeared.
Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps rang out from inside the Molten me Pagoda, following which the portly young man finally reappeared.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting for so long. Mistress Liu Hua doesn''t like to be disturbed, and he was doing his morning meditation, so I could only wait until after he was done. Pleasee in, fellow daoists," the portly young man said in an apologetic manner.
"It''s fine. Mistress Liu Hua must be an extremely busy man, so it''s only right that we wait for him," Feng Wuchen said with a smile as he began to make his way into the pagoda.
The portly young man hurriedly reached out a hand to stop him, and he didn''t dare to look at Feng Wuchen''s face as he said, "Mistress Liu Hua has asked you toe back tomorrow, but he would like to see Fellow Daoist Gu and herpanion now."
At the same time, he was internally kicking himself. He was in such a hurry to invite Gu Qianxun and Han Li into the pagoda that he failed to properly borate, and it was clear that Feng Wuchen wasn''t going to be very happy about this.
Sure enough, his face turned bright red, and a furious and humiliated look appeared in his eyes as he asked in an incredulous voice, "What did you just say?"
As for Gu Qianxun, her expression remainedpletely unchanged, as if she had already anticipated this oue, and she thanked the portly young man before stepping into the pagoda, while Han Li followed along with an intrigued look in his eyes.
The portly young man took a hesitant nce at Feng Wuchen, then rushed after Han Li and Gu Qianxun as he said, "Pleasee with me, fellow daoists."
The doors of the pagoda slowly swung shut, leaving Feng Wuchen''s duo outside.
"Let''s go!" Feng Wuchen snapped with a furious expression as he turned to depart, and before long, he and the dark-skinned middle-aged man had vanished into the distance.
¡¡
Han Li and Gu Qianxun were led by the portly young man down a long corridor before arriving at a spiral staircase that led upward.
"Mistress Liu Hua resides on the top floor of the pagoda, so pleasee with me," the portly young man said in a respectful manner.
As Han Li and Gu Qianxuan trailed along behind him, the former asked through voice transmission, "Fellow Daoist Gu, if you had this token all along, why did you tell me that it was going to be difficult to secure an audience with Mistress Liu Hua?"
"Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist Li. That token was left to me by my mother, and she told me that I''d be able to use it to meet Mistress Liu Hua. However, I didn''t know if it would actually work, and I certainly wasn''t expecting things to go this smoothly," Gu Qianxun replied with a smile.
"Is that so?" Han Li mused with slightly furrowed brows.
Chapter 898: Offer
Chapter 898: Offer
Han Li and Gu Qianxun were led to the top floor of the Molten me Pagoda by the portly young man before drawing to a halt in front of a certain room.
"They''re here, Mistress Liu Hua," the portly young man dered in a respectful manner.
"Well, what are you waiting for then? Hurry up and bring them inside!"
The portly young man didn''t dare to dy, hurriedly pressing hand over several parts of the door in session, and the stone door slowly slid apart to reveal arge opening, out of which came wafting a fragrant, meaty aroma.
A perplexed look appeared on Han Li''s face upon catching a whiff of this smell, and the stone door slowly closed again after he and Gu Qianxun entered the room.
Upon entering the room, the meaty aroma became even more pronounced, and Han Li swept his gaze around the room to discover arge stone table ced next to the window.
There was arge hole at the center of the table, atop which sat a huge pot over a coal me. The milky white broth in the pot was bubbling incessantly, and some type of beast bone was being cooked inside along with some meat and tendons.
Behind the stone table sat a short yet muscr ck-robed elderly man with one sleeve rolled up all the way to his shoulder. Held in that hand was a beast bone that was around the same thickness as his arm, and he was munching on the greasy flesh clinging to the bone while holding the bone badge presented by Gu Qianxun in his other hand.
The elderly man appeared to be no different from a normal human, but his face was bright red, and it was unclear if this was his naturalplexion, or if it was simply because he was sitting too close to the coal me. His head was already disying signs of balding, but his beard was extremely dense, and it was arranged into three thick braids.Even though Han Li was already aware that the title of mistress was only a special title granted to a tool refinement master, it still felt quite jarring to see such a title applied to a man of this appearance.
Mistress Liu Hua began turning to Han Li and Gu Qianxun as he raised the bone badge and asked, "Which one of you..."
However, his voice abruptly cut off as soon as he caught sight of Gu Qianxun.
"The resemnce is uncanny! How are you rted to the owner of this bone badge?"
The beast bone in Mistress Liu Hua''s hand slipped out of his grasp before ttering onto the stone table, following which he rose to his feet before making his way over to Gu Qianxun to scrutinize her face intently.
Gu Qianxun was feeling a little ufortable in the face of his intense gaze, and she turned her head slightly to the side as she replied, "The owner of the bone badge was my mother."
"You''re Hongyu''s daughter? What''s your name?" Mistress Liu Hua asked.
"My name is Gu Qianxun," Gu Qianxun replied.
"Your surname is Gu?" A hint of sorrow shed through Mistress Liu Hua''s eyes upon hearing this. "Who is your father?"
"I don''t know. I''ve never seen my father before, and my mother never told me who he was. All she told me was that my father is the former owner of this bone badge, and that my surnamees from this badge," Gu Qianxun replied. [1]
She directed an intrigued gaze toward Mistress Liu Hua as she spoke, and it was bing clear to her how her mother and Mistress Liu Hua were rted.
The same thought had also urred to Han Li, and he was feeling much more reassured. At the same time, he couldn''t help but me Gu Qianxun for not telling him about this connection earlier. If he had known about this in advance, then he wouldn''t have been so worried for so long.
"How is your mother?" Mistress Liu Hua asked as a hint of excitement surfaced in his eyes.
"My mother has... already passed away," Gu Qianxun replied with a grief-stricken expression.
"What? How?" Mistress Liu Hua hurriedly asked as his eyes widened in shock.
"My mother was targeted for her true spirit bloodline and..."
Before Gu Qianxun had a chance to finish her sentence, Mistress Liu Hua began pacing around his room with a furious expression, clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles were cracking audibly.
In the end, a hint of remorse shed through his eyes as he stopped in his tracks, then sat back down behind the stone table as he said, "Come and take a seat."
Han Li and Gu Qianxun sat down across from him, and only then did Mistress Liu Hua notice Han Li, upon which his brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Who''s this? Your dao partner?"
Mistress Liu Hua was scrutinizing Han Li with the disapproval and disdain of a father observing his potential son-inw, and Han Li hurriedly replied, "You''re mistaken, Senior Liu Hua. My name is Li Feiyu, and I''m Fellow Daoist Gu''s friend."
"Are you here to purchase or request weapons from me? Let me make this clear in advance: if you want to request weapons from me, then you can only state broad requirements and leave the finer details to me. Don''t bother bringing me any designs, I only use my own designs," Mistress Liu Hua said in a cold voice, and it was clear that his animosity was directed solely at Han Li.
"We''re not here to purchase or request weapons from you, Senior Liu Hua," Gu Qianxun replied.
"What brings you here then?" Mistress Liu Hua asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"We''vee here to see if we can have the ck Tribtion Centipedes in our bodies removed," Han Li replied.
Aplex look appeared in Mistress Liu Hua''s eyes upon hearing this, and he asked, "You two must''vee from Green Goat City, right?"
"How did you know?" Han Li asked.
"I''ve only ever passed down the method to raise ck Tribtion Centipede to Du Qingyang, and as long as he''s not aplete moron, I''m sure he wouldn''t have passed it onto anyone else. Hence, I can only assume that the two of you came from Green Goat City," Mistress Liu Hua sighed.
"That''s right, we did indeede from Green Goat City. The ck Tribtion Centipedes in our bodies were nted by Du Qingyang, and we''vee to you today in the hope that they can be removed," Han Li said.
"In that case, the two of you must''ve yed a hand in Du Qingyang''s demise as well, right?" Mistress Liu Hua asked.
"You were the one who taught Du Qingyang how to raise ck Tribtion Centipedes?" Gu Qianxun suddenly interjected in a furious voice.
Gu Qianxun''s abrupt tonal shift had Mistress Liu Hua feeling a little uneasy all of a sudden, and a slightly sheepish look appeared on his face as he exined, "I owed him a pretty big favor back then, and that''s why I taught him the method to raise ck Tribtion Centipedes. As for how he''s been using those ck Tribtion Centipedes, that''spletely unknown to me."
"He used them on Fellow Daoist Li, he used them on me, and... he also used them on my mother," Gu Qianxun spat through gritted teeth.
"You''re saying Du Qingyang was the one who killed your mother?" Mistress Liu Hua asked as a grim look appeared on his face.
"I can''t be certain of that, but back then, my mother was abducted by Du Qingyang from Profound End City, so I''m certain that City Lord Qin Yuan must''ve yed a role in her death as well," Gu Qianxun replied.
"Let''s discuss this matter another time," Mistress Liu Hua sighed. "The two of you must be carrying ck Tribtion Stones, right? Otherwise, you wouldn''t have been able to survive to this point. Having said that, ck Tribtion Stones are not a permanent solution."
"What do you mean by that, Senior?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"ck Tribtion Stones can ce ck Tribtion Centipedes into a deep sleep, but their effects will wane over time, so eventually, the ck Tribtion Centipedes in your bodies will awaken, and once that happens, your fates will be sealed," Mistress Liu Hua exined.
"Please help us remove these ck Tribtion Centipedes from our bodies, Senior Liu Hua," Han Li implored once again.
"If you want me to save you, then you''ll have to agree to a condition of mine," Mistress Liu Hua said after a brief moment of contemtion.
"Go ahead, Senior," Han Li prompted.
"You have to ept me as your master and be my disciple," Mistress Liu Hua dered.
An incredulous look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, and Gu Qianxun was clearly also very much taken aback to hear this.
"Are you unwilling to be my disciple?" Mistress Liu Hua asked in a cold voice.
"No, it''s just that I don''t understand. Why me?" Han Li asked.
To this day, Doctor Mo''s betrayal was still fresh in Han Li''s mind, so he was very reluctant to enter another master and disciple rtionship. However, he certainly wouldn''t mind the opportunity to learn the art of tool refinement from Mistress Liu Hua. [2]
"Because you''re also a human, and I like the look of you. Is that reason enough?" Mistress Liu Hua harrumphed coldly.
"I''m naturally honored to have been able to catch your eye, Senior, but may I ask if there will be any restrictions ced upon me if I were to be your disciple?" Han Li asked.
"Of course. If you be my disciple, you''ll have to serve me by my side for at least ten thousand years," Mistress Liu Hua replied.
"I can''t leave at all within the ten thousand years?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Ten thousand years is nothing more than the blink of an eye for cultivators like us, surely you have at least that much patience. Countless people have begged me to ept them as their disciple, so I suggest you don''t squander this opportunity," Mistress Liu Hua said with a proud expression.
"I don''t doubt that at all, but it''s just that I''ve entered the Scalptia Spatial Domain on this asion to find someone very important to me. Before I find her, I can''t stay in Profound City, so I''ll have to turn down your kind offer," Han Li said with a shake of his head.
1. Gu Qianxun''s surname of Gu (¹Ç) trantes to bone in Chinese. ?
2. For more information on Doctor Mo, check out /wiki/Mo_Juren ?
Chapter 899: Counteroffer
Chapter 899: Counteroffer
"You''re looking for a woman?" Mistress Liu Hua asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Han Li nodded in response.
"You better think long and hard about this! Not only are you turning down an opportunity to be my disciple, you''re also turning down a chance to have the ck Tribtion Centipede in your body removed," Mistress Liu Hua harrumphed coldly.
"I''m aware of that, but seeing as the Molten me Pagoda is a ce where business is conducted, I would like to propose a deal to you, Senior Liu Hua," Han Li said.
"Piss off! I''m not doing business with an idiot like you!" Mistress Liu Hua snapped as he picked up a beast bone with his right hand, while setting his left hand down onto the table beside him in a way that made it appear as if he were holding an invisible cup.
This subtle detail didn''t escape Han Li''s notice, and he asked in a seemingly casual manner, "How long has it been since youst had some wine, Senior Liu Hua?"
It seemed to be apletely random question, but Mistress Liu Hua immediately raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, then asked, "How were you able to tell that I''m fond of wine?"
"I can see that your right hand is very greasy all over from the beast bones that you''re eating, but your left hand ispletely clean and devoid of grease. On top of that, the way that you rest your left hand on the table clearly indicates that you have a habit of holding a cup of wine as you eat," Han Li exined with a smile.
Gu Qianxun''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and she couldn''t help but wonder why Han Li would bring up something like this."You''ve got some sharp eyes, it''s just a pity that you''re not the brightest upstairs. So what if I enjoy having a drink? Do you have wine for me?" Mistress Liu Hua asked.
"I don''t have any ready-made wine right now, but perhaps I''ll have some if you''re willing to wait for some time," Han Li replied.
"What''s that supposed to mean? Are you saying that you''re going to brew your own wine?" Mistress Liu Hua asked in an incredulous manner.
Han Li nodded in response.
Mistress Liu Hua immediately burst intoughter upon hearing this.
"The Scalptia Spatial Domain is apletely dead and barren ce devoid of both devilish qi and world''s origin qi. Not only will you not be able to find any spirit ingredients required for brewing immortal wine, you won''t even be able to find things like barley or grains in here, so how are you going to brew any wine? Do you have a miraculous ability to squeeze wine out of stone?"
Gu Qianxun''s brows became even more tightly furrowed upon hearing this.
However, Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as he asked, "Have you heard of a type of wine called Blood sma Wine, Senior?"
"Blood sma Wine?" Mistress Liu Hua repeated with a perplexed expression.
"You may not have heard of it, but I can assure you that I have a way to brew wine from blood sma. The vor may be a little... interesting, but you can''t ask for too much in the Scalptia Spatial Domain," Han Li said with a smile.
He had learned the brewing method of Blood sma Wine from Daoist Hu Yan, but it was a wine with a very strong vor, and he wasn''t a fan of it, so he had never tried to brew it before.
As for whether it would be possible to brew this wine using scaled beast blood in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, Han Li wasn''t very confident, but at the very least, it was worth a try.
"Can you really brew wine using blood sma?" Mistress Liu Hua asked.
"If I can brew this wine, would you be willing to give us the method to remove the ck Tribtion Centipedes from our bodies?" Han Li asked.
"You want me to hand over the ck Tribtion Centipede removal method for a mere gon of wine?" Mistress Liu Hua scoffed.
Han Li seemed to have already anticipated this response, and he said in a calm fashion, "In that case, what other requests do you have for me? Feel free to state them."
"In addition to this Blood sma Wine, I want a fist-sized piece of Heavenly Qilin Crystal as well," Mistress Liu Hua dered.
A spark of hope had just arisen in Gu Qianxun''s heart, but it was instantly dashed upon hearing this.
"Senior Liu Hua, Heavenly Qilin Crystal is one of the most premium materials in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, and even a fingernail-sized piece goes for astronomical prices, let alone a fist-sized piece. Even if such arge piece exists, no one would be willing to disy it to others, so it''ll be impossible for us to obtain," Gu Qianxun said in an urgent voice, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"I''m not just going to ask something from you and not point out a way for you to obtain it. I have reliable information that one of the prizes for this edition of the Five City Martial Gathering is a piece of Heavenly Qilin Crystal. As for what cing you''ll need to secure in order to obtain the crystal, that''s not something that I''m privy to, but then again, I can''t make things too easy for you," Mistress Liu Hua said.
A resigned smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this. He had intended to hold back and conceal his true power during this martial gathering, but it seemed that wasn''t going to be possible.
"Are you really able to brew wine using blood sma?" Mistress Liu Hua asked again.
"My life is on the line here, so I certainly wouldn''t dare to just fabricate a story," Han Li replied.
"Alright, if you can really brew this wine and bring me the Heavenly Qilin Crystal, then I''ll remove the ck Tribtion Centipede from your body," Mistress Liu Hua dered.
"Thank you, Senior Liu Hua. There''s some preparatory work that I have to do, so I''ll be taking my leave now," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
Following his departure, Mistress Liu Hua and Gu Qianxun were left to sit across from each other in silence.
"At this point, I''m sure you''ve already guessed the nature of my rtionship with your mother," Mistress Liu Hua sighed.
"Why did you leave her?" Gu Qianxun asked as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Your mother had far too unyielding a personality. I wanted to stay by her side, but the feeling wasn''t mutual. It''s too long a story to tell here, and there''s no point in telling it anyway. Now that Du Qingyang is already dead, I''ll go to Qin Yuan myself to ensure that he also pays for the role that he yed in your mother''s death," Mistress Liu Hua replied with a bitter expression.
"There''s no need for that, I''ll avenge my mother myself," Gu Qianxun said in a cold voice.
Mistress Liu Hua''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "In any case, the top priority right now is to have the ck Tribtion Centipede in your body removed."
"Why were you only willing to save Fellow Daoist Li if he agreed to be your disciple? Is it really just because he''s also a human? I don''t believe that," Gu Qianxun said.
"I wanted to keep him as my disciple because I could see that he has a great deal of potential. My intuition and experience tells me that there''s more to him than meets the eye," Mistress Liu Hua replied.
"Then why are you making him secure a piece of Heavenly Qilin Crystal now?" Gu Qianxun asked.
"On one hand, I want to use this as a test to see if he really is as impressive as I think he is, and on the other hand, I want the Heavenly Qilin Crystal for your sake," Mistress Liu Hua exined.
Gu Qianxun fell silent upon hearing this.
After leaving the Molten me Pagoda, Han Li was feeling much more rxed, having finally found a solution to a problem that had been constantly weighing on his mind ofte, and his footsteps were a little lighter and more springy as a result.
Upon returning to the courtyard where the Green Goat City cultivators were staying, Han Li didn''t immediately return to his own residence. Instead, he traveled to Chen Yang''s residence before knocking on the door, which was quickly opened.
Chen Yang faltered slightly at the sight of Han Li, then hurriedly invited him inside.
At this moment, there was one more person in the room, namely the horned man by the name of Xuanyuan Xing.
Daoist Xie wasn''t present, and it was unclear where he had gone.
"Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan," Han Li greeted as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Xuanyuan Xing rose to his feet before giving Han Li a nod.
Han Li could see that there were two cups of tea on the table, both of which had already cooled down to room temperature, and he asked, "Are the two of you discussing something? In that case, I''lle backter."
"It''s fine, we''ve already finished our discussion. I''m sure you must have some important matters to discuss with Fellow Daoist Chen, so I''ll leave you to it," Xuanyuan Xing said with a smile before departing.
Following Xuanyuan Xing''s departure, Chen Yang invited Han Li to take a seat, then brewed two new cups of tea as he asked, "What brings you here today, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"I would like some information on the cultivators from the other cities participating in the martial gathering," Han Li replied in a direct and straightforward manner.
"Alright, please wait a moment," Chen Yang replied before standing up and making his way into the inner chamber of his residence.
Shortly thereafter, he re-emerged with a stack of papers in his hands, and he handed them to Han Li as he said, "This is all of the information that we''ve gathered so far. I have a copy of everything, so you can take this back with you."
Even though Han Li had agreed to fight on behalf of Green Goat City, he had never disyed much interest in the Five City Martial Gathering, so Chen Yang was naturally very happy to see him developing an interest in the event, and he had very high hopes for Han Li.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li said as he epted the papers.
"Why are you suddenly interested in this information, Fellow Daoist Li? Did something happen?" Chen Yang asked.
"If I''m going to be participating in the martial gathering, then I naturally want to do well. Is that strange?" Han Li asked.
"At the moment, Chen Yang was using ck Tribtion Centipede to control the diators under him, just like Du Qingyang had done in the past, so Han Li didn''t want him to know about the agreement that he had made with Mistress Liu Hua.
"Not at all! I''m ecstatic to see that you''re applying yourself," Chen Yang hurriedly replied.
"In that case, I''ll be taking my leave now," Han Li said with a faint smile before standing up to depart, and Chen Yang apanied him to the door.
As he watched Han Li''s departing figure, a contemtive look appeared on his face, and he suddenly pped his hands together, upon which a young male servant emerged from the inner chamber before getting down on one knee.
It was the same young man that had been sent to fetch Han Li back in Green Goat City, but at this moment, he was wearing a long ck robe, and his aura had changed drastically, as if he had be one with the shadows.
"Go and find out where Li Feiyu went and what he did today," Chen Yang instructed.
The young man gave an affirmative response, then abruptly vanished from the spot.
Chapter 900: Mobilization
Chapter 900: Mobilization
After parting ways with Chen Yang, Han Li quickly returned to his own room to read through the papers that had just been given to him.
It was clear that Chen Yang had made some very extensive preparations, so the information was very detailed, not onlyying out the cultivation arts and fortes of powerful cultivators from other cities, there were even records of their notable past battles, so there was a lot for Han Li to pore over.
Only after a full six hours had passed by did Han Li finally put down thest sheet of paper, upon which he raised his head with a contemtive expression, having gained a rough idea of what he could face in the uing martial gathering.
After sitting in silence for a while, he pulled out the deity statue with three heads and six arms before setting it down in front of himself.
After that, he pulled out a jade box, contained within which was the A tier beast core that Chen Yang had gifted to him earlier.
There were still three months until the martial gathering was set to begin, and that wasn''t a particrly long time, but he still didn''t want to waste it.
After taking a deep breath, a beam of translucent light shot out of his be and into the ck statue, and it immediately began adopting a series of different poses, while the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts appeared on its back.
Han Li was just about to pull out the beast core tomence his cultivation when his gaze suddenly returned to the ck statue before him.
Instead of focusing on the text on the statue, his attention had been caught by the poses that it was cycling through.
Ever since he obtained this ck statue, his attention had always been focused on the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, leading him to ignore the twelve poses adopted by the statue, but it had just urred to him that these poses most likely weren''t just for show.
Han Li watched as the ck statue cycled through the twelve poses over and over again, and after some contemtion, he suddenlyid down onto the ground, then adopted the first pose disyed by the statue.
As soon as he did this, his eyes immediately widened with shock.
......
Three months flew by in a sh.
On this day, there were many Green Goat City cultivators gathered in the guest hall of Chen Yang''s residence.
All of them were chatting spiritedly with one another with excited looks on their faces, clearly very much looking forward to the imminent Five City Martial Gathering.
However, at the same time, there was also some tension in the air.
The martial gathering was set to begin the next day, and ording to Chen Yang, he was going to be announcing the roster of Green Goat City representatives soon.
Chen Yang had brought a total of around seventeen to eighteen people with him, most of which were arena area leaders, but that had to be cut down to a lineup of just twelve people.
Anyone who was cut from the list would be unable to participate in the martial gathering, thereby losing the opportunity to win glory for themselves and the tantalizing rewards that were on offer.
Even more importantly, if a ve could make it through the first round of elimination in the martial gathering, then they would be granted freedom, and it would be up to them whether they chose to remain an arena diator or not in the future.
Hence, over the past one thousand years, many people had been doing everything in their power to make strides in their cultivation so that they could stand a better chance in the Five City Martial Gathering.
At this point, around a dozen people had already gathered in the room, with Yi Liya sitting at the center, while Tu Gang, Sun Binghe, and the others were seated around him.
Everyone in the room was either seated on their own, or in small groups of two or three.
Toxic Dragon was also in the room, but he was sitting by himself instead of next to Yi Liya.
He would asionally take a nce at Yi Liya with a series of mixed emotions on his face, including vexation and longing, and he stood up on several asions to approach him, only for Yi Liya to give him a stern re that forced him to sit back down.
Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps rang out from outside the hall, and everyone looked up to discover that it was Han Li.
Compared with three months ago, he seemed to have lost some weight, making the contours of the bones in his hands and feet appear particrly pronounced, and his entire body was giving off a formidable aura.
Yi Liya''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and several other people''s expressions also changed slightly upon catching sight of Han Li.
Han Li swept his gaze over everyone in the room, then sat down in a corner by himself.
No one in the room stood up to greet him, and this suited him just fine as he closed his eyes to rest.
Even though he was on his own, it didn''t feel as if he was being overshadowed by everyone else in the room at all. Instead, it felt like he was standing out like a crane among chickens.
Toxic Dragon cast a hesitant gaze toward Han Li, following which a decisive look appeared in his eyes, and he stood up to approach him.
Yi Liya''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Li," Toxic Dragon greeted in a friendly manner as he sat down next to Toxic Dragon.
Han Li opened his eyes and took a nce at Toxic Dragon, then at Yi Liya, and a smile appeared on his face as he replied, "Indeed, long time no see, Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon."
"The Five City Martial Gathering ising up tomorrow, it looks like you''re already very assured of your spot on the roster," Toxic Dragon remarked.
"Not at all, it''s my first time taking part in such a grand event, and I''m only doing my best to remainposed," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"You''re far too modest, Fellow Daoist Li," Toxic Dragon chuckled, and the two of them struck up a conversation.
A cold look shed through Yi Liya''s eyes upon seeing this, and he was just about to say something when Gu Qianxun and Yao Li entered the room.
There was a faintyer of translucent light over Gu Qianxun''s face, and it seemed she had undergone a slight change as well.
Yi Liya immediately rose to his feet as he greeted with a warm smile, "It looks like you''ve made very good use of your time cultivating in seclusion, Fellow Daoist Gu. I''m sure all of us can expect an exceptional performance from you."
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Yi," Gu Qianxun replied in an indifferent manner as her gaze roamed over the room, and all of a sudden, her eyes lit up slightly, following which she excused herself with Yi Liya before approaching Han Li.
Yi Liya''s expression instantly stiffened slightly upon seeing this, following which he returned to his seat with a furious look in his eyes.
"Is this seat taken, Fellow Daoist Li?" Gu Qianxun asked as she pointed at a seat next to Han Li.
"Not at all. Please take a seat, Fellow Daoist Gu," Han Li replied with a smile.
Gu Qianxun sat down beside Han Li, while Yao Li reluctantly sat down beside her, and a hint of surprise shed through Toxic Dragon''s eyes upon seeing this.
"The Five City Martial Gathering ismencing tomorrow. Have you prepared well, Fellow Daoist Li?" Gu Qianxun asked with a smile.
"The martial gathering is rife with formidable foes. With my paltry powers, I can only do my best," Han Li replied with a modest smile.
"If you need any help, feel free to call upon me," Gu Qianxun said.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Gu," Han Li replied with a nod.
Toxic Dragon and Yao Li were both rather perplexed by how close Han Li and Gu Qianxun seemed to have be, but neither of them raised any questions.
Time slowly passed by, and the rest of the cultivators from Green Goat City arrived one after another, with Xuanyuan Xing thest one to arrive.
Instead of sitting down with anyone, he merely gave Gu Qianxun and Han Li a slight nod, then stood on his own with his hands sped behind his back.
Shortly thereafter, Chen Yang emerged from his inner chamber, and he seemed to be in high spirits as he said, "Sorry to keep you all waiting."
Everyone stood up to extend respectful bows toward him, and he sat down onto the main seat as he waved a dismissive hand and said, "No need for formalities."
A serious look then appeared on his face as he asked, "Is everyone prepared for the Five City Martial Gatheringmencing tomorrow?"
Yi Liya took a nce at Gu Qianxun, then replied in a confident voice, "Rest assured, City Lord Chen, all of us are fully prepared."
Everyone else immediately echoed the sentiment, and their collective voices caused the entire guest hall to rumble and buzz.
With all of Du Qingyang''s most loyal subordinates taken out of the picture, most of the Green Goat City cultivators present were newbies who were very confident in their own abilities, but the more experienced ones among them, such as Xiong Pei, appeared to be far less optimistic.
"Good. Without further ado, I''ll be announcing the roster for this martial gathering," Chen Yang dered with a smile, and everyone involuntarily tensed up a little upon hearing this.
"Gu Qianxun, Li Feiyu, Yi Liya, Tu Gang, Sun Binghe, Xiong Pei... Toxic Dragon, and Xuanyuan Xing!"
After the twelve names were announced, everyone disyed different reactions, ranging from tion to disappointment.
Gu Qianxun and Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, and it seemed that they weren''t surprised by this oue.
Yao Li was clearly not very happy to have missed out on the list, while Toxic Dragon heaved a faint sigh of relief.
Yi Liya''s brows furrowed slightly as he turned a cold gaze to Han Li, and it was clear that he wasn''t very pleased that Han Li''s name had been announced ahead of his.
"This edition of the martial gathering is extremely important for our Green Goat City, so all of you must do your best. If any of you manages to make it into the top four, you''ll be receiving a reward from me in addition to the one from City Lord E Kuai!" Chen Yang dered, much to the excitement of the twelve people selected.
"Alright, you can all go back to rest now. Li Feiyu, stay behind please," Chen Yang said.
Everyone turned to Han Li with a surprised expression upon hearing this, then stood up to depart.
Yi Liya''s expression darkened even further, and he departed with everyone else.
Before long, Han Li and Chen Yang were the only two people left in the room.
"Have you asked me to stay behind because you''ve uncovered some information on Violet Spirit and Shi Kong, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. The people that I sent out were able to find out some things over the past three months," Chen Yang replied, but there was a slightly awkward look on his face.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li prompted.
Chapter 901: Eve of the Martial Gathering
Chapter 901: Eve of the Martial Gathering
"Regarding Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit, I''ve already looked into Profound City and the other three subsidiary cities, but haven''t found any leads on her," Chen Yang sighed.
"You didn''t find her?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"If Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit were in Profound City, then at the very least, I should''ve been able to find some information on her. However, there''s no trace of her at all, so my guess is that she''s either in Puppet City, or she perished to a scaled beast after entering the Scalptia Spatial Domain," Chen Yang replied in a grim voice.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and he didn''t say anything.
"I wasn''t able to find Violet Spirit, but I was able to find out Shi Kong''s current whereabouts. He''s in the city lord''s manor of Profound City right now, but he''s been locked up in prison," Chen Yang continued.
"Why?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid the reason is unclear as the people at the city lord''s manor have been very tight lipped about this subject, but rest assured, Shi Kong''s life isn''t under any threat at the moment," Chen Yang replied.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Chen. Even though you weren''t able to find Violet Spirit, you were able to track down Shi Kong, so you''ve fulfilled my request," Han Li said, and Chen Yang heaved an internal sigh of relief upon hearing this.
"If that''s all, then I''ll be taking my leave now," Han Li said as he turned to depart, and Chen Yang watched his parting figure for a while before returning to his inner chamber.
Daoist Xie was standing in a corner of the room, and upon spotting Chen Yang, he remarked, "You don''t seem to be in a very good mood."
"If you were the city lord, and your subordinates went into the martial gathering with unjustified, blind confidence, I would think you would also be in a bad mood," Chen Yang sighed with a wry smile.
Daoist Xie offered no response to this.
"Yi Liya has the ability to make it far, but he''s too conceited, and there''s still a decent gap between him and the topbatants from the other cities. Gu Qianxun is probably the only one with any hope of reaching the top four. As for Fellow Daoist Li, I can''t quite see through him, but I would presume that he''s a little inferior to Gu Qianxun," Chen Yang mused.
......
Ater leaving Chen Yang''s residence, Han Li returned to his own room and fell into deep thought.
It wasn''t going to be easy to rescue Shi Chuankong from the Profound City prison. Having spent some time in Profound City, it had be apparent to him that Profound City was far more powerful than Green Goat City, so he had to proceed with caution.
On top of that, it was unclear whether Violet Spirit was dead or alive.
After sitting in silent contemtion for a long while, Han Li suddenly shook his head to clear his mind, then quicklyposed himself.
This wasn''t the time to be thinking about Violet Spirit and Shi Chuankong. At the moment, his top priority was to do well in the Five City Martial Gathering so that he could secure the Heavenly Qilin Crystal and remove the ck Tribtion Centipede from his body.
......
Inside a stone hall somewhere in Profound City.
A middle-aged man dressed in a beast hide cloak was sitting on a wide stone chair, and it was none other than City Lord Fu Jian of Excess Passage City.
Seated on each side of him were six Excess Passage City cultivators.
"It''s clear that City Lord E Kuai is taking this edition of the Five City Martial Gathering very seriously, so the rewards will surely be quite extravagant. Hence, I want all of you to strive for high cings, particrly you, Duan Tong," Fu Jian said.
The bandaged man by the name of Duan Tong was seated right beside Fu Jian, and he gave a muffled grunt in response before falling silent.
Fu Jian seemed to have already grown ustomed to this, and he continued, "Setting aside Zhu Ziyuan of Profound City, are you confident in your ability to defeat Fang Chan of White Rock City and Feng Wuchen of Profound End City?"
"Feng Wuchen is faster than me, but as long as he can''t break through my defenses, I''ll be fine, and if he tries to engage me in close quartersbat, then that''ll y right into my hands," Duan Tong replied.
"What about Fang Chan?" Fu Jian asked.
"I haven''t faced him in battle before, so I''m not sure, but he was able to defeat Gu Qianxunst time, so he''s clearly not to be taken lightly. After so many years, I''m sure he would''ve only be even more powerful," Duan Tong replied.
"I suppose it''s a good thing that you''re taking such a cautious approach," Fu Jian remarked with a nod.
......
Meanwhile, a steady stream of people was walking out of another stone hall elsewhere in the city, and before long, Qin Yuan and Feng Wuchen were the only ones left inside.
"You''ve been in seclusion this entire time, Wuchen. Have you made another breakthrough?" Qin Yuan asked with a smile.
"Indeed. Thanks to a culmination of many years of diligent cultivation, I was able to open another profound acupoint just yesterday," Feng Wuchen replied.
"Fantastic! That''s a very good sign. A spot in the top three should be all but assured for you," Qin Yuan said as his smile widened even further.
However, Feng Wuchen''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he didn''t appear to be all that pleased.
"What''s wrong? Is there something on your mind?" Qin Yuan asked.
"For some reason, I can''t shake the feeling that something''s not quite right with this martial gathering, and it''s making me a little uneasy," Feng Wuchen replied.
"Is it because you failed to secure a new weapon from Mistress Liu Hua? No matter how good a weapon is, it''s still just an external aide. In the Scalptia Spatial Domain, the only thing that we can truly rely on is our physical bodies," Qin Yuan preached.
"You''re right, Father. I must just be overthinking things," Feng Wuchen hurriedly replied.
"Having said that, it is rather surprising that Mistress Liu Hua refused to see you. Even when I personally went to pay him a visit, I was still shut out and refused an audience," Qin Yuan mused.
"Could it be because of those two from Green Goat City? Back when I first went to visit Mistress Liu Hua, Gu Qianxun suddenly pulled out some token, and they were granted an audience, while I was chased away. After that, I went to visit several more times, but I was shut out every single time," Feng Wuchen said.
"There''s no way that a pair of rascals from Green Goat City could have so much sway and influence. I can only presume that Mistress Liu Hua is displeased with us for some other reason. I''ll go visit him again after the martial gathering," Qin Yuan said.
"Regardless of whether it was because of those two, I''m definitely going to teach them a good lesson if I encounter them during this martial gathering. Gu Qianxun may require some effort for me to defeat, but that human..."
His voice trailed off here as a hint of cold killing intent shed through his eyes.
......
At the same time, all of the cultivators of White Rock City were also gathered in a stone hall, while Sun Tu was delivering an address.
"The Five City Martial Gathering is about tomence, and all that I ask of you is that you do your best. At the very least, I want all of you to strive to make it out of the first round. Once we return to White Rock City, I''ll present all of you with additional rewards based on your performances," Sun Tu dered.
"We''ll be sure to give it our all," a gray-robed man immediately dered, and this sentiment was echoed by everyone else.
However, amid all of the raucous cheers, there was one sound that was rather out of ce, and that was the sound of someone snoring.
The snores wereing from Fang Chan, who was seated to Sun Tu''s left.
At this moment, he wasying sprawled out on arge chair, sleeping like a baby.
It seemed that he was having a great dream, and there was a blissful smile on his hideous face. Drool was dripping down from the corner of his mouth, and he asionally smacked his lips together and muttered something unintelligible.
The more Sun Tu tried to rally his warriors, the louder Fang Chan''s snores became, but everyone seemed to have already grown ustomed to this.
Right at this moment, Fang Chan suddenly opened his mouth slightly, and his snores became quieter, but also higher in pitch.
Before long, a burst of peculiar soundwaves wereing out of his mouth and nostrils, and the furniture in the stone hall began to tremble, following which everyone in the hall began to experience a numb and faint sensation.
"Here ites again," everyone groaned.
A faint smile appeared on Sun Tu''s face upon seeing this, and he flicked Fang Chan gently on the forehead.
Fang Chan shuddered as his eyes immediately sprang open, and he looked around at everyone with a dazed expression.
Sun Tu wiped the drool from the corner of his lips with his sleeve, then smiled as he reassured,, "Everything''s fine, go back to sleep."
Fang Chan grinned in response, then got into a morefortable position before quickly falling asleep again.
......
That night, the bright moon was hanging high up in the sky, and two figures wereying on the rooftop of a pce side by side in the city lord''s manor, looking up at the starry night sky.
One of the two figures was none other than Zhu Ziyuan, the man who had imed the top spot on several consecutive past editions of the Five City Martial Gathering leading up to this one.
He was apanied by a stunningly beautiful woman wearing a suit of tight-fitting bone armor that hugged her alluring curves, and the womanined in a quiet voice, "How could the city lord be sozy and leave everything to instead of addressing thebatants of our Profound City himself?"
"Ziqing, we''re in the city lord''s manor right now. No matter how quiet you are, City Lord Du will still be able to hear you," Zhu Ziyuan said with an amused smile.
The woman was none other than Zhu Ziqing''s younger sister, and she stuck out her tongue in a sheepish manner as she said, "The city lord is so kind and generous, he won''t be bothered by something like this."
"This is your first time participating in the Five City Martial Gathering, so make sure to do your homework on all of the other city''sbatants. Duan Tong from Excess Passage City..."
Before Zhi Ziyuan had a chance to finish, his sister interrupted him in a disgruntled fashion, "Alright, alright! This is already the seventh time you''ve said this! My ears are about to develop calluses if you keep this up!"
Chapter 902: Asura Arena
"Alright, in that case, tell me which of thebatants from the other cities you have to pay particr attention to," Zhu Ziyuan said.
"ording to what you''ve told me, basically everyone outside of Green Goat City poses a threat, and I have to be on my guard against all of them," Zhu Ziqing sighed in an exasperated manner.
"That''s incorrect. Gu Qianxun of Green Goat City is someone that you also have to be wary of. She may be a woman, but she still poses a very potent threat," Zhu Ziyuan said in a serious manner.
"Ah, yes, yes, yes, Green Goat City has Gu Qianxun. You worry way too much! How could I possibly have such terrible luck that I get matched up against all of the most powerful cultivators from the other cities?" Zhu Ziqing grumbled.
Zhu Ziyuan paid no heed to Zhu Ziqing''s grips as he asked, "How do you think I was able to win the martial gathering on so many past consecutive asions?"
"Of course it was because you''re more powerful than everyone else," Zhu Ziqing replied without any thought.
"That was certainly a factor, but it''s not the most important one. The most important thing is to take every opponent seriously. Aside from the opponents that we already know about, we have to make sure to be careful when battling the new faces as well," Zhu Ziyuan said with a serious expression.
A serious look finally appeared on Zhu Ziqing''s face as well, and she nodded as she replied, "I''ll be sure to keep that in mind."
Zhu Ziyuan didn''t nag her any further upon seeing this, and the two of them returned to looking up at the starry night sky in silence.However, only less than a minute had passed by when Zhu Ziyuan continued, "By the way, Feng Wuchen of Profound End City..."
"That''s enough from you!"
¡¡
In a vast desert countless kilometers away from Profound City, the wind was howling incessantly throwing up enormous clouds of sand up into the sky.
Under the moonlight, it was as if the entire area had been transformed into a realm of flowing sand.
At this moment, a series of massive ck shadows were slowly traversing through the desert, and thanks to the moonlight, it was possible to make out that these ck shadows were a series of enormous scaled beasts, at the forefront of which was a ck Scaled Elephant that was over a thousand feet tall and a little different in appearance from the average ck Scaled Elephant.
This ck Scaled Elephant''s entire body was covered in a suit of armor, and there were seven or eight fist-sized beast cores embedded into the flesh in front of its chest in a circr arrangement.
The ck Scaled Elephant''s tusks had been removed and reced with a pair of shape spears that gave off a cold gleam under the moonlight.
What was most peculiar of all was that there was nothing but pitch ck in the ck Scaled Elephant''s eye sockets, and if one were to look closely, they would discover that there were clear signs of atrophy and shriveling in the flesh around its eye sockets.
This ck Scaled Elephant was nothing more than a withered carcass, and the same applied to the dozen or so enormous scaled beast trailing along behind it.
Each of these scaled beasts was carrying a ck stone pce on their backs, and there were seven or eight lit braziers in the stone pce on the ck Scaled Elephant''s back, illuminating the space inside.
At the center of the pce was a ck stone tform that was around three feet in size, atop which sat a woman in a ck dress with her legs crossed. She had an exceptional figure, and even though there was a thin veil over her face, just her side profile alone was already extremely captivating.
Seated on a ck stone chair not far away from the woman was another woman that also had a ck veil over her face. She was reclined against the chair like a seductive, boneless snake, and she asked in a gentle andzy voice, "How long left until we reach Profound City?"
"Right now, we''re still in the territory of our Puppet City. Barring any mishaps, we should reach Profound City within a month," the woman on the stone tform replied.
"Good. After all these years of preparation, the time has finallye," the woman reclining on the chair murmured to herself as she sat up with a bright gleam in her eyes.
¡¡
The next morning.
As the first ray of sunlight passed over the Myriad Profound Mountain Range and shone down upon the city, there was already quite a lively and festive sight to behold.
All of the streets in the city were packed with people, all of whom were converging toward a massive round building at the center of the city. That was thergest arena in Profound City, and it was called the Asura Arena.
The za in front of the Asura Arena was alreadypletely packed, and the statue at the center of the za was a massive attraction, with people constantly converging from all directions to touch its robes and feet.
It was said that touching this statue could bring good fortune, allowing them to make sessful bets on the uing battles of the Five City Martial Gathering, so there were many parts of the statue''s body that had already been polished smooth by countless hands over the years, and those parts gleamed particrly bright under the morning sun.
On top of that, there were even more people gathered in front of the gates of the Asura Arena, waiting for them to open.
Right at this moment, the sound of a gong being struck rang out in the distance, and the gates slowly opened, allowing the crowd to pour into the Asura Arena before spreading out to make their way toward the eight giant tforms inside.
At the same time, there were dozens of people gathered in a round hall deep underground beneath the Asura Arena, and they were roughly split up into five groups.
These were none other than the sixty-fourbatants participating in the Five City Martial Gathering, and Han Li and Gu Qianxun were naturally among them.
"How is your Blood sma Wineing along, Fellow Daoist Li?" Gu Qianxun asked as she approached Han Li, who was seated on his own in a corner.
Yi Liya had already grown ustomed to this, and he only took a nce in their direction before returning to his conversation with several other Green Goat City diators.
Xuanyuan Xing and Toxic Dragon were keeping their distance from Yi Liya''s group, and the former appeared to be quiteposed, while thetter was clearly a little anxious.
"It''sing along nicely. Congrattions on having your ck Tribtion Centipede removed, Fellow Daoist Gu," Han Li said with a smile.
"Mistress Liu Hua is a rather strange man, and for some reason, he insists on having you bring a piece of Heavenly Qilin Crystal to him. My apologies, but I can''t really help you here," Gu Qianxun said in an apologetic manner.
"There''s no reason why Senior Liu Hua should lend me his assistance free of charge, so it''s only right that he asks for something in return. I can only hope that the Heavenly Qilin Crystal isn''t reserved for too high a cing," Han Li said with a smile.
"I can tell you now that the Heavenly Qilin Crystal is a reward reserved for the top three, so I think you have very good chances," Gu Qianxun said through voice transmission.
"You certainly think very highly of me, Fellow Daoist Gu," Han Li chuckled. "For the sake of my own survival, I have no choice but to give it my best."
As the two of them were chatting with each other, the entire surrounding space abruptly shuddered as a burst of rumbling rang out from directly up ahead.
Five openings then appeared on the thick and sturdy wall up ahead, revealing five stone staircases that led up to the surface.
"Please wee the diators from the five cities!" a loud voice announced from up above, and the diators of Profound City were led up one of the five staircases by Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing.
The other groups in the underground hall also followed suit, making their way up to the surface, where they were immediately overwhelmed by waves of thunderous cheers.
In particr, a few names were being chanted very loudly.
"Zhu Ziyuan, Zhu Ziyuan..."
"Feng Wuchen, Feng Wuchen..."
¡¡
Even though Han Li had fought in many arena battles back in Green Goat City, this was the first time that he felt stunned by the cheering of the spectators, and he could feel his own blood beginning to boil in his veins.
There were a total of eight tforms in the arena, all of which were separated by a distance of over a thousand feet, and at the moment, five of them were upied by the diators from the five cities.
There was an extra person on the tform where the Profound City diators were gathered, namely a tall and imposing man with a pair of ox horns on his head, and he was the host of the event.
At the center of the area between the eight tforms was an elevated tform that was over a thousand feet tall, upon which were ced six ck stone chairs.
These chairs were clearly reserved for the lords of the five cities, but for some reason, there was an extra chair.
"Please be quiet while the city lords enter the arena," the horned man dered, and the entire arena instantly fellpletely silent.
Immediately thereafter, six figures plummeted out of the sky before crashing down onto the elevated tform with a resounding boom.
The entire arena shuddered violently as the six figures were revealed.
Everyone looked up to discover City Lord E Kuai standing at the forefront of the group, while the other figures were arranged in a row slightly behind him.
Despite his unremarkable physical appearance, there was an air of regal majesty surrounding City Lord E Kuai that made him resemble an almighty lion, and many of the spectators in the stands involuntarily lowered their heads.
A hint of befuddlement shed through Han Li''s eyes at the sight of the six figures on the elevated tform.
In addition to the five city lords, there was one more person present, someone that was quite familiar to Han Li.
It was Mistress Liu Hua!
Chapter 903: Extravagant Rewards
Han Li had always known that Mistress Liu Hua possessed a very lofty status, but he still wasn''t expecting to see Mistress Liu Hua in such a prominent position during such an important asion.
"Wee to Profound City, everyone. In this arena, we will witness the rise of the next champion of the Five City Martial Gathering!" E Kuai dered in a thunderous voice, and a wave of raucous cheers instantly rang out in response.
It was as if the entire arena had exploded, and E Kuai allowed the cheers to go on for a while before raising his hands to make a quieting gesture.
After that, he delivered a brief address, then sat down onto the chair behind him, and the other five men with him sat down as well.
Right at this moment, the horned host stepped forward and dered, "For this edition of the Five City Martial Gathering, one-on-one battles will take ce between the sixty-four elite diators selected from the five cities. There will be six rounds ofpetition, at the end of which the king of the arena will be crowned.
¡°All those who make it into the top eight will receive a B tier scaled beast core, while those who reach the final four will each receive an A tier beast core."
This announcement only further added to the excitement among the spectators, and all of thebatants on the tforms were also very excited to hear this. After all, A and B tier scaled beast cores were all extremely precious cultivation resources.
"Additionally, those who make it into the top three will each receive a piece of Heavenly Qilin Crystal, and extremely rare, premium material for pill and tool refinement purposes," the horned man continued, eliciting a surprised reaction from the spectators.
It had been many years since a Heavenly Qilin Crystal hadst appeared in Profound City.Han Li''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he was thinking to himself that securing a spot in the top three shouldn''t be too difficult.
"You''re really going all out, aren''t you, City Lord E Kuai? Such a reward would''ve been something that only the champion would be worthy of in past editions. Does it not pain you to offer such extravagant rewards?" Sun Tu asked with an amused smile.
"All of us are citizens of Profound City, so regardless of who ims the rewards, it won''t make any difference," E Kuai replied with a smile of his own.
Right at this moment, the horned man continued, "The second ce finisher will receive a suit of Scaled Bone Profound Star Armor personally crafted by Mistress Liu Hua. This suit of armor was refined by Mistress Liu Hua in recent years, and 1,236 star bones of different sizes were used to create it, apanied by various precious materials that are no less precious than Heavenly Qilin Crystal, so it''s no exaggeration to call it a priceless treasure."
The spectators immediately erupted into a frenzy upon hearing this, and even the likes of Feng Wuchen had reflexively stood up a little straighter.
Han Li cast his gaze toward Mistress Liu Hua, finally realizing how thetter had been aware that Heavenly Qilin Crystal was one of the prizes for the martial gathering.
In the wake of this announcement, everyone present was specting about what the first ce prize could be.
However, no one coulde up with an answer as there was barely anything that could be found in the Scalptia Spatial Domain that could be considered more precious.
Right as everyone was specting among themselves, the horned man dered, "The first ce finisher will receive a Sulfurous me Blood Cloud."
In contrast with the previous two items, the horned man had only announced the name of this item without any apanying exnation, and the spectator stands remainedpletely silent as no one had any idea what this was.
However, on the elevated tform, the expressions of all four subsidiary city lords had changed drastically.
"Is that true, City Lord E Kuai?" Chen Yang couldn''t help but ask, and the other city lords turned to E Kuai as well.
"That''s right," City Lord E Kuai confirmed with a nod. "The reward for the first ce finisher will be a Sulfurous me Blood Cloud."
"I''ve heard that this cloud harbors unfathomable bloodline power that can instantly open profound acupoints in one''s body upon ingestion, even without the need of a bodily refinement cultivation art, and it leaves no trace behind in its wake," Chen Yang mused with a stunned expression.
"It''s not that brilliant. It can open profound acupoints, but not endlessly with no limits. The human body can only tolerate so much Sulfurous me Blood Cloud, and excessive absorption will result in self-detonation," E Kuai exined with a smile.
"Even so, this is still an extraordinary thing..."
E Kuai made no effort to keep this voice down, and all of the representatives of the five cities possessed exceptional hearing, so they were able to hear what he had said, and looks of astonishment and yearning had appeared on their faces.
In contrast, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he wasn''t all that interested in this Sulfurous me Blood Cloud.
After all, he was able to open profound acupoints far faster than others, so in contrast with the Sulfurous me Blood Cloud, the Heavenly Qilin Crystal was actually more alluring to him.
At the same time, some of the more knowledgeable individuals in the spectator stands had revealed the effects of Sulfurous me Blood Cloud, and all of the spectators gradually erupted into a frenzy once again as this information began to spread.
After waiting for some time for themotion to die down, the horned man continued, "The first round of the Five City Martial Gathering will consist of thirty-two battles, with four batches of eight concurrent battles taking ce at a time. All thirty-two battles will take ce today, and those who advance will fight in the next round seven dayster. No, without further ado, I present the pairings for the first round."
As soon as his voice trailed off, a gray stone wall that was several hundred feet tall slowly rose up from the ground to the left of the elevated tform, and there were four columnsid out on it, with eight matchups disyed in each column.
Han Li took a nce at the stone wall to discover that his and Gu Qianxun''s names were absent from the first column, but Tu Gang and Sun Binghe''s names were disyed.
Sun Binghe was facing a diator from Profound End City who neither Gu Qianxun nor Chen Yang had mentioned before, so he most likely wasn''t a particrly formidable opponent. Unfortunately for Tu Gang, his first round opponent was Duan Tong of Excess Passage City.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li found his own name in the second column, and he was set to fight a diator by the name of Xu Shun from White Rock City.
Right at this moment, Gu Qianxun''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Looks like both of our battles are part of the second batch, Brother Li. Having said that, the tforms that we''re on are quite far away from each other, so we most likely won''t be able to spectate each other''s battles."
Sure enough, Gu Qianxun''s name was also in the second column, and she was battling a diator by the name of Wang Zhi from Profound End City.
"Have you heard of this Xu Shun before?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"I recall seeing him once in a past edition of the Five City Martial Gathering, but I don''t think he did very well. Having said that, all of the people here have been selected to represent their cities, so none of them should be taken lightly," Gu Qianxun replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then inspected all of the thirty-two matchups for the first round, following which he remarked, "What a coincidence! No cultivators from the same city have been pitted against each other, and none of the hot favorites have been matched up against one another, either."
"That''s intentional, and it''s always been like this in past editions of the martial gathering. The rule of no cultivators from the same city fighting against each other only applies in the first round. After that, different numbers of cultivators will progress from each city, so it may not be possible to continue enforcing that rule.
¡°For example, if all twelve of one city''s representatives manage to progress to the second round, then there''s a good chance that some of them will have to fight one of their own. In order to ensure that none of the hot favorites are prematurely eliminated, matchups between them will generally only start taking ce in the quarterfinals," Gu Qianxun exined.
Right at this moment, the horned man''s voice rang out once again.
"All diators in the first column, please go to your assigned tforms. Everyone else, return to the lobby to wait, and spectators can begin cing their bets now. The battles willmence in fifteen minutes."
Han Li and the others began to depart, while the spectators hurriedly rose to their feet to go and ce their bets at the nearest betting stations.
The Asura Arena was so enormous that even if one had a seat that was very high up, it waspletely impossible to spectate all eight matches at the same time. Hence, after cing their bets, the spectators generally sat down in the nearest seat to await themencement of the first round.
The lobby was a ring-shaped passageway beneath the spectator stands that ran along virtually the entire circumference of the Asura Arena, and there were windows in the lobby, so as long as one was willing to make the trek, they would be able to see every tform outside.
Aside from the sixteenbatants in the first column, all of the other diators had returned to the lobby.
All of the Green Goat City cultivators who had ties with Tu Gang and Sun Binghe had gathered around the windows that would allow them to see the tforms where those two were fighting.
"What terrible luck for Fellow Daoist Tu Gang to encounter Duan Tong in the first round. Looks like he won''t be making it out of the first round..." one of the Green Goat City cultivators sighed.
"This was always bound to happen to one of us. Besides, even if we encounter opponents a little weaker than Duan Tong, it''s not like any of us stand much of a chance anyway, so we''re not in any better position ourselves," someone else sighed.
"Quit being so pessimistic! We still have Fellow Daoist Yi, don''t we? Speaking of which, where is he?"
Only then did everyone discover that Yi Liya seemed to have suddenly disappeared.
In an empty area of the lobby, Yi Liya was walking alongside a tall and imposing middle-aged man, and the two were having a quiet conversation.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Yi. You''ve made some significant strides in your cultivation base since ourst meeting. I must say, I''m feeling very envious," the middle-aged man said with a smile.
"You''re far too kind, Brother Xu. Let''s not waste any time, I''vee to you because I have something to ask of you," Yi Liya said.
"Go ahead," the middle-aged man prompted.
"Your opponent today is Li Feiyu, and he''s from our Green Goat City. I want you to..."
Yi Liya''s voice trailed off here as he made a throat-slitting motion with his hand.
As it turned out, this middle-aged man was none other than Xu Shun of White Rock City, Han Li''s first round opponent.
Chapter 904: Intent to Kill
Chapter 904: Intent to Kill
"Oh? Is there some bad blood between the two of you?" Xu Shun asked with an intrigued expression.
"That''s not something you need to know about, Brother Xu. Just be assured that I''llpensate you handsomely once the deed is done," Yi Liya promised with a smile.
"I''m not opposed to the idea, but what am I dealing with here?" Xu Shun asked.
"I just so happen to be in seclusion during the time that Li Feiyu joined the arena, so I''ve never personally seen him in action. However, I''ve heard that he''s only opened fewer than fifty profound acupoints, but apparently, he''s a very capable fighter," Yi Liya said.
"Fewer than fifty? How is it possible that he''s been selected for the Five City Martial Gathering then?" Xu Shun asked with a skeptical expression.
"Perhaps he''s opened more profound acupoints that he''s disyed, but it won''t be too many more. If you ask me, I think he''s only been allowed to take part in the Five City Martial Gathering thanks to personal rtionship with our new city lord. I''ve heard that it was our new city lord that brought him into our city in the first ce," Yi Liya exined.
"Are you referring to Chen Yang? I see. In that case, I can definitely help you out," Xu Shun said.
"Oh, by the way, the cultivation art that he''s using seems to be primarily focused on his legs, so he may have a speed advantage over you. Make sure to keep that in mind," Yi Liya cautioned.
"Rest assured, even if he''s opened ten more profound acupoints than he''s disyed, there''s no way he''ll be a match for me. Now then, let''s talk about how you''re going topensate me," Xu Shun said with a snide grin.¡¡
Fifteen minutes quickly passed by, and the first batch of battlesmenced.
Han Li, Gu Qianxun, Toxic Dragon, and Xuanyuan Xing were all gathered at the window directly facing the tform that Tu Gang was on, and at this moment, Tu Gang and Duan Tong were already on the tform, facing each other from afar.
Tu Gang was observing Duan Tong with a hint of fear in his eyes, intermingled with hesitation and indignation.
In contrast, Duan Tong remainedpletely expressionless, and he wasn''t disying any derision toward his opponent. However, for some reason, Tu Gang felt as if Duan Tong werepletely looking past him, as if he didn''t exist, and that was certainly not a good feeling.
A ck-robed elderly man was serving as the referee for their tform, and he stood between the two of them as he said, "There are no rules in this battle. You can surrender at any time, and if you don''t, then you''re responsible for your own life."
Tu Gang and Duan Tong nodded in response, and the elderly man jumped down from the tform.
The twobatants each cupped a fist in a salute toward the other, and the battlemenced.
On top of the elevated tform in between the eight battle tforms, the five city lords and Mistress Liu Hua were conversing casually with one another, seemingly not disying much interest in the ongoing battles.
All of the profound acupoints on Tu Gang''s body lit up one after another as he seized the initiative, charging directly toward Duan Tong, and each footstep of his was extremely forceful, causing the entire tform to rumble violently.
Thankfully, the ground was fortified using star bones, so it managed to remain intact beneath his thundering footsteps.
After charging forward close to twenty steps in session, he had built up tremendous momentum, and his aura had been elevated to its peak. His right arm was glowing golden under the light of the sun, and he threw a punch at Duan Tong with all his might.
Duan Tong remainedpletely still on the spot as he observed the oing Tu Gang, and only as Tu Gang began tosh out with his fist did Duan Tong slowly take a step back.
A cold gleam shed through his eyes as he retaliated with his own fist, and a series of profound acupoints lit up over his arm as the two fists shed with an earth-shattering boom.
A burst of tremendous shockwaves erupted in all directions, and Duan Tong remained as still as an immovable mountain, while Tu Gang let loose an agonized cry as several of the profound acupoints on his arm exploded in unison.
At the same time, the sound of shattering bones rang out from his arm, and he was sent flying all the way back until he fell out of the tform altogether, and by the time hended on the ground, he had already fallen unconscious.
A wave of thunderous cheers instantly rang out from the nearby spectators, and the attention of the five city lords and Mistress Liu Hua was also drawn to the scene.
"It seems like Duan Tong has be even more powerful since Ist saw him, Fellow Daoist Fu," E Kuai remarked with a smile.
"He''s made some minor improvements over the years, but he''s still far from being able to match Fellow Daoist Ziyuan," Fu Jian replied.
"Even though his opponent wasn''t particrly strong, winning the battle with just a single blow is still very impressive," Qin Yuan praised.
Everyone was praising Duan Tong, but Chen Yang remained silent, and even though his expression remainedposed and unchanged, he was clenching his fists so tightly within his sleeves that his knuckles had turned white.
Inside the lobby, all of the Green Goat City cultivators were looking on with grim expressions. Even though they weren''t the ones who had been defeated, seeing one of their own being crushed in such brutal fashion was still terrible for overall morale. Everyone began walking away while sighing to themselves and shaking their heads, while only Han Li and Gu Qianxun remained standing in front of the window.
Han Li watched as Tu Gang was carried away, and he asked, "What did you think of that battle, Fellow Daoist Gu?"
"Duan Tong has already be far more powerful since Ist faced him. In the face of Tu Gang''s Titan Vajra Arts, he didn''t even use his right arm, only using his left arm instead to defeat Tu Gang with a single blow. It''s clear that in his eyes, Tu Gang isn''t even a worthy opponent," Gu Qianxun replied with slightly furrowed brows.
"That''s not entirely true. As he unleashed that punch, he borrowed some power from his right arm. Otherwise, Tu Gang wouldn''t have suffered such a crushing defeat. In any case, there''s a huge power gap between the two," Han Li said.
"Indeed. If only he could''ve forced Duan Tong to reveal more of his tricks," Gu Qianxun sighed.
"What''s happened has already happened, let''s begin preparing as well. The second batch of battles is about tomence soon," Han Li said with a smile.
"Let''s go," Gu Qianxun replied with a nod.
¡¡
Around fifteen minutester, the first batch of eight battles drew to a conclusion, and unsurprisingly, Sun Binghe was also defeated.
After a half-hour break, during which all of the bets were paid out, the second batch of battlesmenced.
Close to half of the Green Goat City cultivators were chalked down to have their first battles, and that included Han Li, Gu Qianxun, and Yi Liya.
All of the remaining Green Goat City cultivators had gone to spectate Gu Qianxun and Yi Liya''s battle, including even Toxic Dragon, so there were only a few White Rock City cultivators watching Han Li''s battle.
Neither Li Feiyu nor Xu Shun were particrly renowned figures, so there weren''t many spectators in the stands near their tform. There were still some people watching, but far fewer than at some of the other tforms.
However, there was a familiar figure seated in the spectator stands, and that was Daoist Xie.
At this moment, Han Li and Xu Shun were standing across from each other on their tform, and a ck-robed referee announced the rules of the battle before dering the battle''smencement.
However, neither Han Li nor Xu Shun made an immediate move, and the two of them continued to stand still on the spot, observing each other from afar.
Before long, a chorus of boos began to ring out from the spectator stands.
Xu Shun was sizing up Han Li with a peculiar look in his eyes. He couldn''t see anything remarkable about Han Li, but he couldn''t help but lick his lips as he thought of thepensation that Yi Liya had promised.
A cold sneer appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this. It was clear that Xu Shun wasing into this battle with intent to kill, so Han Li was not going to be holding back.
Right at this moment, a series of profound acupoints suddenly lit up on the soles of Xu Shun''s feet, and he sprang up into the air before charging directly at Han Li.
Using the momentum of his descent, he sharply elevated his own speed, reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye.
By the time he descended upon Han Li, he had already built up significant momentum, but just like Duan Tong in his battle against Tu Gang, Han Li remainedpletely still on the spot.
However, right as Xu Shun''s fist was about to strike him, he abruptly vanished from the spot, leaving Xu Shun to look on in bewilderment.
He knew that he was in trouble, and he immediately began plummeting toward the ground even faster, trying to reach the ground below as soon as possible so that he would have some purchase to change directions.
However, before he was about to reach the ground, Han Li appeared before him in a wraith-like manner, and close to twenty profound acupoints lit up over his legs in unison as he aimed a vicious knee strike at Xu Shun''s chest.
Xu Shun was astonished by Han Li''s speed, and he hurriedly crossed his arms in front of himself for protection, but his arms were driven back into his chest by the force of Han Li''s knee strike, sending him flying back through the air.
Immediately thereafter, the profound acupoints on Han Li''s legs began to glow even brighter as he caught up to Xu Shun in mid-air in the blink of an eye, then mmed a fist down onto his spine.
Xu Shun plummeted down onto the ground, then bounced up and down thrice before tumbling away to the side.
All of this had taken in the span of just several seconds, much to the amazement of the nearby spectators.
There was some asional interest disyed by the people on the elevated tform, but that was only limited to an asional nce here or there.
After all, the twobatants hadn''t disyed anywhere near enough profound acupoints to truly attract their interest, so it was like watching a fight between children.
Only Chen Yang''s gaze would asionally linger on that tform for a while, but there wasn''t any concern in his eyes.
Instead of pressing his advantage, Han Li drew to a halt, then asked through voice transmission, "We''ve never even met before, why is it that you disyed clear intent to kill me as soon as the battlemenced?"
Chapter 905: Killing Blow
Chapter 905: Killing Blow
"Looks like I may have underestimated you a little," Xu Shun scoffed instead of answering Han Li''s question, then spat out a globule of bloodstained saliva onto the ground.
He stood up straight, then shook out his arms, and a string of loud cracks and pops rang out from his joints.
Han Li remained still on the spot upon seeing this, and a cold look shed through his eyes.
Xu Shun let loose a thunderous roar as he crouched down slightly beforeunching himself at Han Li again.
At this point, a total of seventy-eight profound acupoints had lit up over his body, and they seemed to be resonating with one another, creating a membrane of light simr to a True Extreme Film over his entire body.
Instead of taking evasive measures, Han Li took a step forward to face Xu Shun head-on, and several profound acupoints lit up over his arms, causing the tform beneath his feet to shudder violently.
As he continued to step forward, more and more profound acupoints lit up on his arms, while the tform beneath him continued to shudder and quake.
A hint of fear finally appeared in Xu Shun''s eyes at the sight of the ever-increasing number of profound acupoints on Han Li''s body, and he didn''t know if Yi Liya had intentionally deceived, or if his sources had been incorrect as well.
The distance between the two of them was rapidly shrinking, and Han Li let loose an explosive roar as he unleashed Tu Gang''s Titan Vajra Arts, revealing all eighteen of the profound acupoints on his arms.At this point, it was already toote for Xu Shun to turn back, so he could only inject all of his power into his fist.
A pair of profound acupoints lit up on the end of his fist in unison, giving off a resplendent gleam as it crashed toward Han Li''s right fist.
Right as the two fists were about to sh, a white bone spike suddenly shot out from the gap between Xu Shun''s middle and index fingers.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and he disyed no intention of taking any evasive measures.
Instead, he slightly extended the two fingers on his hand that had been refined from the Flower Branch domain, sending them crashing into the star bone that Xu Shun had concealed between his fingers.
A violent explosion rang out, apanied by a sound akin to that of shattering ice crystals.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and all that the spectators could see was a vast expanse of radiant starlight, making it impossible for them to make out the twobatants on the tform.
However, in this instant, Xu Shun was clearly able to see the near-hundred profound acupoints that had lit up over Han Li''s body, and his heart was filled with remorse and resentment.
He wanted to surrender, but it was already toote.
Han Li charged forward and plunged his fist through Xu Shun''s dantian, destroying the nascent soul inside.
At this point, the six people on the elevated tform had also had their attention drawn to the massive explosion that had just taken ce, but all they saw was Han Li stumbling back out of the eruption of starlight, while Xu Shun''s lifeless body fell to the ground.
All of the spectators were astonished by what they had just witnessed, which was the first casualty of this edition of the Five City Martial Gathering.
I didn''t know you were such a good actor, Fellow Daoist Li... Chen Yang chuckled internally as he watched Han Li make a show of stumbling to the ground.
Both he and Daoist Xie were fully aware that Han Li was only putting on an act.
¡¡
Momentster, Han Li was carried away by two armored guards for treatment.
However, on the way there, Han Li sat up on his own and revealed that he was actuallypletely unscathed.
After that, he sat down in a quiet corner as a cold gleam shed through his eyes.
As time passed, the other seven battles also concluded one after another, and aside from Gu Qianxun and Yi Liya, the other two Green Goat City diators both suffered heavy defeats. Thankfully, they were able to surrender in a timely fashion, so they had survived their battles.
Gu Qianxun''s opponent from Profound End City was a far inferior cultivator to her, and he was beaten halfway to death by just two or three blows from Gu Qianxun. Fortunately for him, she had no intention of killing him, and she allowed him to surrender the battle.
As for Yi Liya, he also disyed very impressive power, disying only seventy profound acupoints to defeat a cultivator from Excess Passage City that had opened eighty profound acupoints. In the end, he was able to knock his opponent unconscious to secure the victory.
As the two of them returned to the lobby, all of the Green Goat City cultivators immediately gathered around to congratte them.
Yi Liya returned to the lobby with an ted expression, and his tion was only further heightened by the absence of Han Li in the crowd.
A snide grin appeared on his face as he asked, "Where''s Fellow Daoist Li? Wasn''t he fighting earlier as well?"
"All eight battles are already over, but I haven''t seen hime back..."
Toxic Dragon had been watching Gu Qianxun''s battle this entire time, and only now did he notice Han Li''s absence.
"He must''ve been carried away for treatment," a Green Goat City cultivator said.
"I''m not sure about that. I heard that one of the twobatants on his tform died..." another Green Goat City cultivator said, and his voice trailed off into a grim silence.
Yi Liya''s smile widened even further upon hearing this, while Gu Qianxun''s brows had be tightly furrowed.
Right at this moment, Xuanyuan Xing suddenly called out, "Fellow Daoist Li!"
Everyone turned to discover Han Li limping his way into the lobby with his robes in tatters, and the pleased smile on Yi Liya''s face instantly turned to shock upon seeing this.
"Did you win, Fellow Daoist Li?" everyone asked as they gathered around him.
"I was very fortunate to havee out on top," Han Li replied with a smile, and a faint smile appeared on Gu Qianxun''s face as well.
Han Li intentionally made his way past Yi Liya as he continued, "However, Xu Shun was not so fortunate."
For some reason, a chill ran down Yi Liya''s spine, even though Han Li hadn''t even taken a single nce at him this entire time.
¡¡
Before long, all thirty-two battles of the first round had drawn to a conclusion.
There were no unexpected upsets, so there were no dark horses stealing the spotlight, nor had any of the hot favorites been prematurely eliminated. Having said that, there were still some interesting stories to havee out of the first round, the most amusing one of which was that Zhu Ziyuan''s opponent for the first round had surrendered as soon as their battle began, making it the fastest battle in this edition of the martial gathering thus far.
Han Li and Gu Qianxun had been hoping to witness Zhu Ziyuan in action in his battle, but that n obviously fell through.
After that, Han Li went to watch Toxic Dragon''s battle against Zhu Ziqing.
Even though Zhu Ziqing was a woman who was only participating in the Five City Martial Gathering for the first time, her overall power was superior to Toxic Dragon, and even though she made some slight errors here and there, she was still ultimately able to emerge victorious.
What was rather surprising to Han Li was that Xuanyuan Xing, who had always kept a low profile, had managed to defeat a cultivator from Profound End City, joining Han Li, Gu Qianxun, and Yi Liya as the only four Green Goat City cultivators to reach the second round.
Green Goat City had only imed four of the top thirty-two spots, which was the worst total out of all of the five cities, but thankfully, there had been no casualties.
¡¡
Seven days flew by in a sh, and the second round of the Five City Martial Gatheringmenced.
Countless citizens of Profound City flooded into the Asura Arena once again, followed by the representatives of the five cities.
The Green Goat City cultivators had also arrived at the venue, and due to theirckluster performance in the first round, Green Goat City had been made into aughingstock, so there were many people pointing and jeering at them along the way.
All of the defeated Green Goat City cultivators could only trudge along with embarrassed expressions, while Chen Yang was also looking far from pleased, not just because of what had happened in the first round, but also because Han Li and the others were all facing formidable foes in their second round battles.
After entering the lobby, Chen Yang led everyone to a secluded area, then said, "Don''t get too hung up over the results of the first round. There''s a significant element of luck involved there, and it''s not necessarily a bad thing to be made aware of your own shorings. From here onward, focus on spectating the rest of the battles. This is a very rare opportunity that I want all of you to make the most of."
He then turned his gaze to Gu Qianxun as he continued, "Fellow Daoist Gu, your opponent for today is Zhu Ziqing of Profound City. She is Zhu Ziyuan''s sister, and even though she''s nowhere near as powerful as him, I still want you to take her seriously."
"I''ll be sure to do so, City Lord Chen," Gu Qianxun replied with a nod.
"Fellow Daoist Li, Hao Feng is Profound End City''s second-most powerful representative, second only to Feng Wuchen, and my sources tell me that he''s already opened more than a hundred profound acupoints. He was also able to reach the final eight during thest edition of the martial gathering, so be on your guard," Chen Yang continued.
Han Li merely nodded in response.
"As for Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan, your opponent for this round is Wu Cong of Excess Passage City. His powers rank in the top five among the Excess Passage City representatives, so just do your best," Chen Yang said, clearly not cing any high hopes in Xuanyuan Xing.
Xuanyuan Xing wasn''t disgruntled by this at all, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he dered, "Rest assured, I''ll be sure to give it everything that I have!"
Chapter 906: Agreement for the Next Round
Chapter 906: Agreement for the Next Round
Chen Yang gave Xuanyuan Xing a slight nod, then turned his gaze to Yi Liya, who was also looking back at him with a calm expression.
"Yi Liya, you have the toughest opponent of all today. Your opponent is Feng Wuchen of Profound End City. Not only is he the most powerful representative of Profound End City, he also ced in the top four during the previous martial gathering, so..."
A proud smile appeared on Yi Liya''s face as he cut Chen Yang off and interjected, "Rest assured, City Lord Chen, Feng Wuchen is a tough opponent, but I''ve already thought of a strategy against him, so I''m not without chances."
Chen Yang was a little displeased at being cut off, but he didn''t show it as he nodded in response.
"Feng Wuchen is an extremely formidable cultivator that even I may not be able to defeat, so don''t be careless, Fellow Daoist Yi," Gu Qianxun warned.
Yi Liya''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he replied in an indifferent manner, "Thank you for the cautionary words, Fellow Daoist Gu."
This entire time, Han Li didn''t even bother to take a single nce at Yi Liya, and it was as if he hadn''t heard the conversation taking ce between Yi Liya and Chen Yang at all.
After lecturing the fourbatants for a while longer, Chen Yang departed to make his way toward the elevated tform reserved for the city lords.
As soon as Chen Yang departed, Yi Liya strode over to Han Li and said, "You better not lose this round, Fellow Daoist Li. That way, we''ll be able to face each other in the next round.""Likewise, I hope you can defeat Feng Wuchen, Fellow Daoist Yi," Han Li replied in an indifferent voice.
Indeed, the arrangement of the bracket meant that Han Li would be facing one of Yi Liya or Feng Wuchen if he could sessfully progress to the next round.
Yi Liya gave a cold harrumph upon hearing this, then made his way back to Tu Gang and the others, while Han Li sat down on the spot with his legs crossed and closed his eyes to rest.
By the time Chen Yang arrived on the elevated tform, the other four city lords were already there, but for some reason, Mistress Liu Hua was absent.
"My sincerest apologies, City Lord Chen. Your Green Goat City only has four people left, and after this round, at least two more will be eliminated. I wanted to give one of you representatives a free win as a gesture of goodwill, but neither Feng Wuchen nor Hao Feng were willing to surrender their battles, and I couldn''t just force them into doing so," Qin Yuan said.
"I appreciate the thought, City Lord Qin, but the Five City Martial Gathering has always produced its fair share of surprises, so who''s to say what the oue of the battles will be?" Chen Yang replied with a smile.
"I admire yourposure, City Lord Chen. Let''s wait and see then," Qin Yuan said with a faint smile.
Fu Jian and Sun Tu sat in silence, disying no interest in the conversation taking ce between Chen Yang and Qin Yuan.
"It''s time, let''s begin," City Lord E Kuai dered, and the horned man standing beside him immediately nodded in response before jumping down from the elevated tform to the center of the Asura Arena.
"I''m sure all of you are still buzzing from the spectacr first round that took ce seven days ago. Today, the excitement continues with the much-anticipated second round! The rules of this round will be the same as the previous ones, with sixteen total battles held in two batches," the horned man announced, and the gray stone wall slowly began to rise up once again.
This time, there were only thirty-two names and two columns on the stone wall,ying out the matchups for the second round.
Han Li and Yi Liya had their battles in the first batch, while Gu Qianxun and Xuanyuan Xing were scheduled to fight in the second batch.
Yi Liya strode over to his tform in silence, followed by Tu Gang and the others, while Han Li took a deep breath to brace himself for the uing battle.
"Good luck, Fellow Daoist Li," Gu Qianxun said.
"Indeed, best of luck to you, Fellow Daoist Li," Xuanyuan Xing chimed in with a friendly smile.
Han Li gave the two of them a faint smile, then made his way onto his tform, where a ck-robed referee was already standing.
Han Li gave the referee a slight nod, then took a casual nce at his surroundings to discover that there were far more spectators gathered nearby than for his first round battle, but most of them were from Profound End City, so they were clearly supporters of Hao Feng.
Right at his moment, a gray shadow abruptly appeared on the tform across from Han Li at an astonishing speed.
It was a gray-robed figure that was as thin as a bamboo pole, and he was holding a strange serpentine sword with ayer of viscous green light shing over its de.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly as he thought back to the information that Chen Yang had gathered on Hao Feng.
Just like Feng Wuchen, Hao Feng''s cultivation arts were also mostly focused leg cultivation, thereby granting him tremendous speed, and his Green Snake Sword also contained the venom of some type of powerful scaled snake that could directly erode one''s profound acupoints.
Hao Feng was also observing Han Li, and he said in a raspy voice, "Li Feiyu, I watched your battle against Xu Shun. Your acting may have been able to fool others, but you didn''t fool me."
"I''m honored that you watched my battle," Han Li replied in an expressionless manner.
"I can tell you''re a powerful cultivator, and you''ve hidden your powers well, but it''s very unfortunate for you that you had to encounter me. I suggest you surrender this match, it''ll be the wisest decision you''ll ever make," Hao Feng continued.
"My apologies, but I have no intention of surrendering this match," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
A cold look shed through Hao Feng''s eyes upon hearing this.
"Fine! I gave you a chance!"
"Begin!" the ck-robed referee announced, and over a hundred profound acupoints instantly lit up over Hao Feng''s body, enshrouding his entire body in brilliant white radiance.
In particr, around forty to fifty of those profound acupoints were gathered in his legs.
The white light radiating from those profound acupoints converged to form a pair of serpentine projections, making it appear as if he had a pair of white snakes underfoot.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and seventy-two of his profound acupoints lit up in unison.
Before he had a chance to do anything else, a cold sneer appeared on Hao Feng''s face, and he abruptly vanished from the spot, leaving only a trail of glowing white afterimages in his wake.
In the next instant, a green sword projection appeared directly in front of Han Li, piercing toward his chest, while Han Li remained rooted to the spot, seemingly havingpletely failed to react.
All of the nearby spectators were immediately put on the edge of their seats upon seeing this.
Was this already going to be the end of the battle?
However, after the Green Snake Sword pierced through Han Li''s body, not even a single drop of blood was shed, and he quickly dissipated from the spot, revealing himself to be nothing more than an afterimage.
Right at this moment, the powerful gust of wind swept toward Hao Feng from behind as Han Li appeared behind him without any warning. All of his Wingform Ascension Arts profound acupoints were glowing radiantly, and he was making a grab for Hao Feng with one hand.
Hao Feng was quite startled by this turn of events, and he didn''t have time to turn around, so he could onlysh out behind himself with his Green Snake Sword, sending a wave of green sword projections sweeping toward Han Li.
All of the sword projections were as fast as lightning, and they sped toward Han Li with tremendous power.
Han Li immediately clenched his outstretched hand into a fist, and ayer of golden light emerged over his arm as he threw a punch at the oing green sword projections.
A resounding boom rang out as a burst of radiant golden light erupted from Han Li''s right arm, instantly tearing through the wave of green sword projections.
Hao Feng shuddered violently as he was forced back a step, and he looked down to discover that ayer of golden fur had appeared over Han Li''s fist, leaving several white marks on the edge of his Green Snake Sword.
Hao Feng harrumphed coldly as his body abruptly dissipated into a series of white afterimages, and in the blink of an eye, he was behind Han Li, thrusting his Green Snake Sword toward Han Li''s back.
However, Han Li was able to turn around in time to throw another punch into the Green Snake Sword, forcing back Hao Feng once again.
In the wake of his two consecutive failed attacks, Hao Feng was beginning to grow a little agitated, and he quickly elerated to his top speed, conjuring upyers uponyers of afterimages that connected together to form what appeared to be a giant white serpent rapidly coiling around Han Li.
At the same time, gusts of fierce wind swept through the air, forming a tornado that was over a hundred feet in size around Han Li.
"Fellow Daoist Hao Feng is using his Snake Shadow Movement Technique! There''s no way Li Feiyu will be able to survive this time!" a spectator from Profound End City eximed in an excited manner.
A series of green sword projections shot out of the surrounding tornado, targeting several of Han Li''s vital regions at once.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, then casually threw a punch forward, and a burst of tremendous power erupted out of his fist in all directions.
All of the surrounding sword projections were instantly stopped in their tracks as if they had struck an invisible wall, following which they abruptly shattered with a resounding boom, while the surrounding tornado also exploded.
Chapter 907: Fierce Battle
Chapter 907: Fierce Battle
Hao Feng stumbled out into the open with a stunned look on his face, and before he had a chance to steady himself, Han Li appeared right in front of him in a wraith-like manner, then thrust his right index finger toward Hao Feng''s heart.
A burst of tremendous power erupted out of his fingertip, causing the nearby space to tremble and screech.
Hao Feng knew that if he were to allow Han Li''s finger to strike him, a hole would instantly be pierced into his heart, even with his True Extreme Film protecting himself.
With that in mind, he hurriedlyshed out with his Green Snake Sword, unleashing around a dozen sword projections that swept toward Han Li''s arm.
However, all of a sudden, Han Li''s finger veered off its original trajectory, and at the same time, he extended his middle finger as well, reaching into the mass of sword projections to pluck the Green Snake Sword between his fingers with unerring uracy.
Immediately thereafter, he made a twisting motion with his wrist, and the Green Snake Sword was instantly wrenched out of Hao Feng''s grasp.
Hao Feng immediately shot back in retreat with an rmed look on his face while simultaneously raising his left hand, releasing a flurry of green needles out of his sleeve, all of which descended upon Han Li from above.
All of the needles were shing with viscous green light, and it was clear that they were also highly poisonous.
In response, Han Li thrust his left palm forward, releasing a burst of fearsome power that scattered the oing volley of green needles with ease.On top of that, he disyed incredible speed, catching up to Hao Feng in the blink of an eye.
A stunned look appeared on Hao Feng''s face, and he knew that he wouldn''t be able to get away. Hence, he let loose a loud roar as he clenched his fists tightly andshed out with all his might.
The space in front of him shuddered violently with a resounding boom, and an unnatural flush appeared on his face as he stumbled back several steps before steadying himself.
At that point, the de of the Green Snake Sword was already resting on his neck, and his expression instantly stiffened as he raised his arms and dered, "I surrender."
Due to the astonishing speed of the twobatants, the battle had concluded before any of the spectators truly had a chance to see what was happening, and a surprised look shed through the ck-robed referee''s eyes as he dered, "The winner is Li Feiyu!"
Han Li gave Hao Feng a slight nod, then returned his Green Snake Sword to him.
"You''ve definitely opened more than seventy-two profound acupoints. What is your true power?" Hao Feng asked with tightly furrowed brows.
Han Li merely gave a faint in response, then made his way down from the tform, while Hao Feng heaved a faint sigh before stepping down from the tform as well.
On the elevated tform, Chen Yang and Qin Yuan were disying vastly different reactions in response to the oue of the battle between Han Li and Hao Feng.
Chen Yang''s eyes were bright with tion, while Qin Yuan''s face had be a facade of steely rage.
"Looks like Hao Feng decided to let Li Feiyu win, after all," Chen Yang said with a hint of mockery in his voice.
Qin Yuan harrumphed coldly in response, while Chen Yang''s smile grew even wider.
He had constantly been made fun of by the other city lords ever since themencement of the Five City Martial Gathering, and it was finally his turn to retaliate for once.
"I didn''t know you had such an impressive wild card up your sleeve, City Lord Chen," Sun Tu said with a faint smile, while Fu Jian also turned to him with a solemn expression.
"You''re far too kind, City Lord Sun. Li Feiyu still can''t even begin topare with many of the cultivators under yourmand," Chen Yang chuckled in a modest fashion, and a hint of fury shed through Qin Yuan''s eyes upon hearing this.
Profound End City''s second-most powerful representative had just been defeated by Han Li, so by downying Han Li''s powers, Chen Yang was indirectly insulting Profound End City.
"You''re far too modest, Fellow Daoist Chen. I''d say that even Fang Chan may not be able to best Li Feiyu in battle," Sun Tu mused.
Right at this moment, E Kuai suddenly said, "I don''t recall seeing this Li Feiyu during the previous martial gathering. Did he only recently join your Green Goat City?"
"That''s right, Li Feiyu only joined our Green Goat City several decades ago," Chen Yang replied in a truthful manner.
E Kuai nodded in response, and the other city lords fell silent as they continued watching the rest of the battles.
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As Han Li stepped down from his tform, all of the nearby spectators hurriedly parted to let him through with looks of awe and veneration in their eyes.
Gu Qianxun, Xuanyuan Xing, Toxic Dragon, Yao Li, and several other Green Goat City cultivators were gathered nearby, and they hurriedly gathered around him as Gu Qianxun said with a wide smile, "Congrattions, Fellow Daoist Li! Hao Feng''s scalp is a massive one to im."
"I was merely fortunate," Han Li replied with a modest smile, and Xuanyuan Xing and the others also offered him their congrattions, while Yao Li looked on with mixed emotions.
She had always looked down on him, and thinking back to the attitude that she had disyed toward him in the past, she was ovee by embarrassment as she also quietly congratted him on his victory.
Han Li smiled and nodded at Yao Li, seemingly not harboring any animosity toward her, much to Yao Li''s relief.
"Let''s go and take a look at Fellow Daoist Yi''s battle," Gu Qianxun suggested, and everyone quickly followed along.
At this moment, the battle between Feng Wuchen and Yi Liya had already reached a state of white-hot intensity.
This was Han Li''s first time seeing Yi Liya in action, and thetter had opened significantly more profound acupoints than even Hao Feng.
Yi Liya''s cultivation arts were also more focused on speed enhancement, and he had fifty to sixty profound acupoints on his legs, allowing him to move with incredible speed.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this.
The quality of Yi Liya''s character may not have been all that ster, but his powers certainly did make him worthy of a spot in the top three most powerful Green Goat City representatives.
However, Feng Wuchen had a clear edge over him.
Even when it came to Yi Liya''s forte of speed, Feng Wuchen had the clear advantage, moving around like the wind, at times as gentle as a breeze, while at other times as violent as a storm.
All of Yi Liya''s attacks were evaded with ease, while Feng Wuchen''s attacks were constantly keeping Yi Liya on his toes.
At this point, Several gashes had already been sliced onto Yi Liya''s body, and if it weren''t for his outstanding speed, he would''ve already been defeated.
Even though he was clearly outmatched, Yi Liya was still attacking with single-minded ferocity, disying no intention of backing down.
At this rate, it looks like Yi Liya''s loss is sealed. However, he did mention that he had some measures prepared against Feng Wuchen, I wonder if they''ll work, Han Li thought to himself.
He could immediately tell that Yi Liya was going all out instead of concealing his true power, yet he was still no match for Feng Wuchen, who clearly still had more to give. Hence, there was no way that Yi Liya could win this battle through conventional means.
Gu Qianxun and the others were also looking on with grim expressions.
Even though Yi Liya had been quite hostile toward Han Li and Gu Qianxun, both of them were still rooting for him, seeing as they were all from Green Goat City.
Tu Gang and the others were already gathered at the tform that Yi Liya was on, and they only took a hurried nce at Han Li and the others as they arrived before directing their attention back to the battle with anxious looks on their faces.
Right at this moment, a decisive look appeared in Yi Liya''s eyes, and the ck whip that he was wielding abruptly straightened itself out like an extremely long sword before sweeping toward Feng Wuchen.
In response, Feng Wuchen sprang up into the air like a willow leaf, evading the whip strike with ease while retaliating with his thin sword, shing it toward Yi Liya''s wrist.
Yi Liya immediately shot back in retreat, and with a flick of his wrist, his whip instantly returned to its former soft and pliable state, aiming to wrap itself around Feng Wuchen''s arm and body like a spirit snake.
A cold sneer appeared on Feng Wuchen''s face, and he abruptly vanished from the spot.
As a result, the whip struck nothing but empty air, and Yi Liya''s body was tipped slightly off bnce by the momentum of the whip strike.
In the next instant, Feng Wuchen appeared behind Yi Liya without any warning, following which heshed out while Yi Liya was still off bnce, dealing nine consecutive blows with his willow leaf sword in rapid session.
The nine sword strikes were able to pierce through the True Extreme Film around Yi Liya with ease before striking his body, but to everyone''s astonishment, the sword strikes weren''t able to do anything aside from knock him forward a couple of steps.
Feng Wuchen was also very much taken aback to see this, and right at this moment, a fierce gleam appeared in Yi Liya''s eyes as he swept his whip through the air, unleashing dozens of whip projections that formed a series of ck circles, all of which converged rapidly toward Feng Wuchen.
The ck circles were giving off tremendous power that instantly epassed the entire tform, and all of the nearby space began to copse inward in the face of the formidable whip projections.
All of a sudden, the entire tform and the nearby area around it had been transformed into an inhospitable death zone, and all of the surrounding spectators hurriedly backed away with rmed expressions.
Chapter 908: Public Provocation
A hint of surprise had also appeared on Han Li''s face at the sight of the ferocious storm raging over the tform.
"That''s Yi Liya''s Heaven Locking Seal! It''s be far more powerful than since Ist saw it," Gu Qianxun murmured to herself.
Feng Wuchen''s expression darkened slightly as he assessed the grim situation that he was in, and a string of cracks and pops rang out from within his body as over 150 profound acupoints lit up over his skin.
At the same time, he stomped a foot down onto the ground, almost causing the entire tform to copse with just a single stomp.
Using the power of the stomp, Feng Wuchenunched himself up diagonally up into the air, flying out of the vast expanse of whip projections around him.
Meanwhile, Yi Liya continued to swing his ck whip through the air, and his entire body was alreadypletely inundated by whip projections, which transformed into ck circles that sped toward Feng Wuchen as if they had eyes.
However, Feng Wuchen''s speed was clearly superior, and he was able to just barely evade all of the whip projections that came his way.
"This is an extremely formidable attack from Yi Liya. If the target is caught by one of the whip projections, then they''ll immediately be overwhelmed by the rest of the whip projections. However, unfortunately for him, Feng Wuchen possesses top-notch speed, and Yi Liya isn''t going to be able to keep this up for long,"
"I think Yi Liya still has more tricks up his sleeve, but even so, I think Feng Wuchen is too powerful for him to defeat," Gu Qianxun said.All of a sudden, Han Li''s expression changed slightly as he said, "Here ites!"
All of a sudden, countless starry runes emerged over Feng Wuchen''s willow leaf sword, releasing a halo of bright white light that instantly swept over the entire tform.
Rays of white starlight shone down from the radiant white halo, all of which converged toward the willow leaf sword, causing it to buzz and tremble.
Immediately thereafter, the willow leaf sword flew out of Feng Wuchen''s grasp, transforming into a dazzling de of white light that struck the point between a pair of nearby ck whip circles.
A gash was instantly sliced into the space there, and Feng Wuchen was able to dart through the opening in a sh.
An intrigued look appeared on Han Li''s face at the sight of the willow leaf sword.
The sword was giving off incredibly formidable energy fluctuations, and he couldn''t help but wonder what type of treasure it was.
Right at this moment, all of the whip projections around Yi Liya abruptly faded away, revealing him with a peculiar smile on his face.
All of a sudden, he thrust a palm forward, and a plume of white light erupted out of his sleeve, consisting of countless radiant white threads.
Each thread was as translucent as jade, and a series of tiny specks of white light could be seen dancing around them.
The thin threads converged to form a huge white that descended upon Feng Wuchen at an incredible speed, and he was caughtpletely off guard.
Before he had a chance to take evasive measures, the wrapped itself around him inyers to form a white cocoon, which then tumbled down onto the tform, while all of the nearby spectators gasped in astonishment.
An ecstatic look appeared on Yi Liya''s face upon seeing this, but his smile quickly faded as his face turned an unnatural shade of bright red, as did the skin all over the rest of his body.
All of a sudden, his entire body had be as red as blood, and there were also countless veins bulging beneath his skin.
However, in the next instant, the red coloration of his skin faded away, leaving him as pale as a sheet. At the same time, blood came gushing out of his mouth, and his footsteps had also be very feeble and unstable.
"He''s mastered the Hazy Helmet Technique! No wonder he was able to withstand Feng Wuchen''s attacks so easily just now. I wonder what those white threads that he used to trap Feng Wuchen were," Xuanyuan Xing murmured to himself.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. He had heard of the Hazy Helmet Technique during his time in the arena of Green Goat City. It was a type of secret technique that allowed one to spread their bloodline power into all of the profound acupoints in their body to drastically enhance their defenses in a short time.
It was an extremely powerful secret technique, and the more profound acupoints one opened, the more powerful it would be. However, cultivating it required one to refine their profound acupoints in an extremely excruciating process.
On top of that, unleashing the secret technique required one to expend a third of their bloodline power each time, and it was extremely risky to use as it could easily damage the foundation of one''s physical body, so it was a very rarely pursued secret technique.
"That''s the All-epassing Net! Mistress Liu Hua used the bonded silk of an A tier Scaled Spider Beast to refine a special weapon over a hundred years ago. It''s not a star artifact, but it''s not far away from one. However, the weapon was somehow lost over time, but it seems to have found itself in the possession of Yi Liya. No wonder he''s so confident," Gu Qianxun mused.
All of the other Green Goat City cultivators erupted into cheers upon seeing this, while a look of pleasant surprise had appeared on Chen Yang''s face as well.
However, out of his peripheral vision, he could see that Qin Yuan remained calm andpletely unconcerned, and his heart immediately sank slightly.
On the tform, Yi Liya took a deep breath to steady himself, then took a nce at the willow leaf sword, which was still flying up toward the heavens.
With a flick of his wrist, his ck whip shot forth in a sh, wrapping itself around the white cocoon before hurling it off the tform.
However, right at this moment, a loud tearing sound rang out as the cocoon was split into two, and Feng Wuchen sprang out from within before pouncing at Yi Liya with incredible speed.
Yi Liya''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately attempted to use his ck whip to defend himself.
However, he was still reeling from the bacsh of using the Hazy Helmet Technique, and he was only able to raise his arm halfway before a burst of white light crashed into his chest with tremendous power.
His chest immediately caved in as blood came gushing out of his mouth once again, and he was sent flying back before tumbling down from the tform.
Right at this moment, Chen Yang appeared in mid-air in a wraith-like manner to catch Yi Liya before slowly lowering him down onto the ground, and all of the Green Goat City cultivators immediately gathered around to inspect his condition.
Meanwhile, Han Li was observing Chen Yang with his brows slightly furrowed.
Chen Yang had been on the elevated tform just a moment ago, yet he was able to instantly appear near the tformpletely without Han Li''s detection.
Even though this could be partially attributed to the fact that Han Li was distracted by the battle taking ce on the tform, this was still a clear indication that Chen Yang''s true power was beyond what he had revealed thus far.
At this moment, blood was still gushing out of Yi Liya''s mouth, but he had already fallen unconscious.
Chen Yang pulled out a crimson jade vial and forced open Yi Liya''s mouth, then fed him a crimson pill from inside the vial.
As soon as the pill entered Yi Liya''s mouth, a hint of color instantly returned to his deathly pale cheeks, and his caved-in chest also began to return to its original state.
A relieved look appeared on Chen Yang''s face upon seeing this, and he cast his gaze up toward Feng Wuchen on the tform to discover that he was holding a willow leaf sword identical to the one that was still flying through the air.
A look of realization appeared on Chen Yang''s face upon seeing this, and he made a beckoning motion, upon which the two halves of the white cocoon flew into his grasp.
The two halves of the cocoon then fused together as if they were living creatures, forming a fist-sized white ball.
Feng Wuchen also made a beckoning motion with one hand, and the willow leaf sword that was still flying toward the heavens immediately stopped in its tracks, then flew back to him beforending in his grasp.
The two willow leaf swords were resonating with each other to produce a ringing sound akin to the chirping of a flock of birds.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of the pair of swords, and Feng Wuchen seemed to have detected his gaze.
Their eyes met, and sparks immediately began to fly.
"You''re next, Li Feiyu! I suggest you write your will because you won''t live past the next round!" Feng Wuchen dered as he pointed one of his swords at Han Li from afar.
Everyone immediately turned to Han Li upon hearing this.
Indeed, Han Li was scheduled to battle Feng Wuchen in the uing round of sixteen.
Everyone''s attention had been focused on Feng Wuchen''s battle against Yi Liya, so not only were most people not even aware of the fact that Han Li had emerged victorious in his battle, they had also failed to consider the possibility that these two could encounter each other in the round of sixteen.
Feng Wuchen was the undisputed most powerful representative of Profound End City, while Han Li was someone that no one had even heard of, and very few people had even witnessed his battles in the first two rounds.
However, at this moment, it was the vastly renowned Feng Wuchen who was going out of his way to provoke a no-name like Han Li, and all of the bystanders couldn''t help but wonder if this meant that Han Li should be considered a hot favorite or at least a dark horse from here onward.
"See you in the next round," Han Li said in an indifferent manner.
A furious look shed through Feng Wuchen''s eyes, seemingly very displeased with Han Li''sckadaisical demeanor.
"Feng Wuchen is the winner!"
With the oue of the battle officially announced, a chorus of thunderous cheers erupted from the nearby spectator stands, and Feng Wuchen finally turned his gaze away from Han Li before cupping his fist in a salute toward Qin Yuan on the elevated tform.
Chen Yang paid no heed to what was happening around him as he gently ced the white ball in his hand down the front of Yi Liya''s robe, then carried him away as he said, "Come with me, Li Feiyu. Everyone else, stay here to support Gu Qianxun and Xuanyuan Xing."
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he excused himself with Gu Qianxun and Xuanyuan Xing before setting off after Chen Yang.
Chapter 909: Star Artifact
Chen Yang carried Yi Liya out of the Asura Arena altogether, and he and Han Li returned to the courtyard assigned to the Green Goat City cultivators.
After setting Yi Liya down to rest in another room, Chen Yang joined Han Li in the side hall outside.
"Will Fellow Daoist Yi be alright?" Han Li asked.
"His injuries are very severe. He''s in no life-threatening danger, but his bloodline power has been severely deplected after unleashing the Hazy Helmet Technique, so he won''t be waking up anytime soon," Chen Yang replied.
Han Li nodded in response.
"Do you know why I asked you toe and see me?" Chen Yang asked with a solemn look on his face.
"I presume you want to speak to me about the next round," Han Li replied.
"That''s right. Do you have any strategies against Feng Wuchen?" Chen Yang asked.
"No, but I''ll be sure to give it my all, so rest assured, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li replied."I don''t know exactly how many profound acupoints you''ve opened up to this point, but judging from your battle against Hao Feng, it shouldn''t be any fewer than him," Chen Yang said.
Han Li offered no reply, merely giving a faint smile in response.
"I had thought that with your powers and your true spirit bloodlines, you should be able to match up against Feng Wuchen just fine, but the fact that he has a pair of star artifacts at his disposal is very bad news for you," Chen Yang continued.
"What exactly is a star artifact, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Han Li asked.
"You don''t know? I suppose that''s understandable, considering you''ve nevere to Profound City before. A star artifact is a type of advanced weapon refined by Mistress Liu Hua using the stapower of this realm. They are extremely powerful, but also exceedingly rare, yet somehow, Qin Yuan has managed to get his hands on that pair of swords," Chen Yang exined in a grim voice.
The image of Feng Wuchen''s twin swords resurfaced in Han Li''s mind upon hearing this.
"However, he''s not the only one with star artifacts at his disposal," Chen Yang said as a smile appeared on his face, and he pulled out a small white shield that was riddled with starry runes before handing it to Han Li.
Engraved onto the center of the shield were eighteen star designs that formed the shape of a dragon, and every single one of the star designs was radiating white light that was fluctuating rhythmically in brightness, almost as if they were beating hearts.
"What''s this?" Han Li asked as he epted the white shield, and he could feel it resonating with the profound acupoints in his body.
"This is a star artifact called the Star Shield. Normally, a star artifact has to be nurtured using one''s blood essence for a long time before they can be used, but we don''t have much time here, so refine it with your blood essence as much as possible over the next few days. That way, but the time the third round begins, you should be able to unleash some of the shield''s power to help you ward off Feng Wuchen''s twin swords," Chen Yang said.
Han Li took a nce at the shield, then said, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist Chen. I won''t disappoint you in the uing round."
Chen Yang smiled in response, then briefly taught Han Li how to use the Star Shield before dismissing him.
Han Li returned to his room with the Star Shield, and after conducting a brief inspection, he bit through the tip of his own finger to release a drop of blood essence onto the shield.
The drop of blood essence immediately fused into the shield, upon which ayer of white light emerged over its surface.
A pleased look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
He could clearly sense that a connection had been formed between himself and the shield, but at the moment, the connection was still very weak.
A wisp of spiritual sense emerged from his be before entering the Star Shield, helping it to better absorb the drop of blood essence.
The process felt very simr to that of refining immortal treasures, except it was far slower without the help of immortal spiritual power.
Close to two hours passed by in a sh, and right at this moment, amotion suddenly began to ring out outside.
Han Li stowed the Star Shield away, then made his way out into the courtyard to discover that all of the Green Goat City cultivators had returned.
Everyone had excited looks on their faces with Gu Qianxun at the center of the group, looking much like a bright moon surrounded by stars, but Xuanyuan Xing was nowhere to be seen.
"Looks like you won your battle as well, Fellow Daoist Gu. Congrattions," Han Li said as he approached her with a smile.
"I was merely lucky," Gu Qianxun replied with a modest smile.
Despite her humble response, she wasn''t carrying any injuries at all, so she had clearly enjoyed a very easy victory, something that came as no surprise to Han Li.
Everyone quickly departed to allow the two of them to speak in private, and Han Li asked, "What happened to Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan?"
"Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan won his battle as well. His opponent was more powerful than him, but he was able to sessfully execute his strategy to secure a very difficult victory. He sustained some rather severe injuries in the process, and he''s been sent to the city lord''s manor for treatment," Gu Qianxun replied with a smile.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
After a brief hesitation, Gu Qianxun continued, "Fellow Daoist Li, your third round opponent is Feng Wuchen. Those star artifacts of his are extremely formidable, do you have any strategies against him?"
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Gu, I''ve already discussed some strategies with City Lord Chen," Han Li replied.
"That''s good to hear," Gu Qianxun replied with a nod, making no attempt to pry any further.
The two of them chatted with each other for a while longer before parting ways.
Han Li returned to his room to continue refining the Star Shield, and as time passed, the white starlight radiating from the Star Shield became brighter and brighter.
Han Li could also sense his own profound acupoints resonating with the Star Shield, and it was as if the two were bing one.
It was as if the Star Shield had be an extension of his own body, and Han Li''s eyes sprang open as he cast his gaze toward the shield with a surprised look on his face.
It seemed that these star artifacts really were quite extraordinary.
¡¡
Seven more days flew by in a sh.
Early in the morning, the Asura Arena was already packed with people.
Following the first two rounds, the number ofbatants in the Five City Martial Gathering had dropped down to eighteen, and this was going to be the round that decided who would progress to the quarterfinal.
The city lords and Mistress Liu Hua arrived on the elevated tform to a wave of thunderous cheers.
Despite his best efforts, the horned man who was serving as host of the event was unable to suppress the cheers, so he could only wait until themotion died down before dering, "This round is going to decide who makes it into the final eight. All those who emerge victorious today will receive a B tier scaled beast core, so let''s all wish the remaining diators the best of luck."
The spectators instantly erupted into a frenzy in the wake of this announcement.
"We are about to cross the halfway mark of the martial gathering, and for this round, only two tforms will be in use, with four batches of two battles for the round. The first two matches will see Zhu Ziyuan of Profound City go up against Jin Gong of Profound End City, and Feng Wuchen of Profound End City up against Li Feiyu of Green Goat City," the horned ma n announced.
On the elevated tform, Chen Yang was looking on with a concerned expression.
Green Goat City had been utterly humiliated after the first round, with only four of their twelve representatives advancing, but three of those four had advanced from the second round, which was a splendid oue.
However, his joy was very short-lived as both Han Li and Gu Qianxun had extremely tough battles on their hands for this round, and he had no confidence in their ability toe out on top.
Even though he had managed to secure a star artifact for Han Li, this was his first time using something like this, so he definitely wasn''t going to be as proficient in its usage as Feng Wuchen was.
On top of that, in his mind, Feng Wuchen was more powerful than Han Li to begin with, so he was very pessimistic about this matchup.
As for Gu Qianxun, he assumed her to be stronger than Li Feiyu, but Fang Chan had defeated her in the past, so things weren''t looking good for her, either.
Xuanyuan Xing was up against Luo Chongwei of Profound City for this round, a matchup that was certainly the easiest of the three, but his chances of securing victory were looking rather slim as well.
He had thought that at least one of the three should be able to reach the final four, but it seemed that having one of them progress to the top eight may be too much to ask.
If all of the Green Goat City cultivators were eliminated before the quarterfinals, that would be an even worse oue than during the Du Qingyang era. Not only would that mean that none of them would get a reward from Profound City, his authority as city lord would undoubtedly be shaken by such a terrible oue.
"Shouldn''t the top representatives of each city only be encountering each other starting from the quarterfinals? Why is Gu Qianxun of Green Goat City already going up against Fang Chan of White Rock City?" Mistress Liu Hua suddenly asked.
"That''s how things normally y out, but there aren''t actually any official rules stating that this has to be the case. These two just so happen to be in the same bracket, so barring any mishaps, they were always going to sh in the round of sixteen. I don''t think this is necessarily a bad thing. At the very least, it adds some excitement to this first half of the martial gathering," Qin Yuan said.
"Gu Qianxun has put on quite a formidable disy in the first two rounds, and I''m sure she''ll be eager for vengeance against Fang Chan. Perhaps the oue of their previous battle could be reversed this time," Fu Jian mused as he took a meaningful nce at Sun Tu.
Chen Yang''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but he was aware of what Fu Jian was implying.
Even though it appeared that he was paying Gu Qianxun apliment, he was clearly simply using that as an excuse to mention the fact that Gu Qianxun had been defeated by Fang Chan in theirst encounter.
"Indeed, Fellow Daoist Fu. All Fang Chan does is eat and sleep all day, and he hasn''t improved much at all since thest martial gathering. I''m afraid he may be reduced to a mere stepping stone for Gu Qianxun on this asion," Sun Tu sighed, but there was a faint smile ying on his lips, and it was clear that he wasn''t actually concerned at all.
"I think the battle between Li Feiyu and Wuchen will be very much worth watching as well. There already seems to be some bad blood between them, so this is a highly anticipated matchup for all of the spectators," Qin Yuan said.
Chapter 910: Stop Running
Chapter 910: Stop Running
"Now that I think about it, this Li Feiyu has shown himself to be quite courageous. It''s only his first time taking part in the Five City Martial Gathering, yet he already dares to provoke the top diator of Profound End City in public. I think he has some good qualities that make him very much worth nurturing, City Lord Chen," E Kuai remarked.
"Indeed, City Lord E. Our Green Goat City doesn''t have as strong a foundation as the other three cities, so I do need to work on nurturing some talent," Chen Yang replied.
Han Li and the others weren''t paying any attention to what was happening on the elevated tform. After all of the spectators had ced their bets, the two battlesmenced.
Zhu Ziyuan''s battle against Jin Dong was hardly even worth watching, and the odds for betting on Zhu Ziyuan were extremely low. Hence, very few people chose to bet on that battle, while the majority of spectators ced their bets on the battle between Han Li and Feng Wuchen.
Han Li was a previously unknown dark horse that had stormed into the top sixteen in stunning fashion, while Feng Wuchen was the top representative of Profound End City. On paper, there was a clear power gap between the two, so Han Li''s odds were far higher than Feng Wuchen''s.
The higher the odds, the smaller one''s theoretical chance of securing victory, so among the people betting on this battle, over 90% of them had ced their bets on Feng Wuchen.
As for the rest, they were simply hoping to essentially win the lottery by betting on Han Li.
Gu Qianxun and and all of the other spectators stepped down from the tforms, and prior to her departure, Gu Qianxun suddenly made a request to Han Li through voice transmission.
"Fellow Daoist Li, please inflict some severe injuries upon Feng Wuchen if possible, and it would be ideal if you could kill him altogether. If you can do that, I''ll be sure topensate you for your efforts.""You think far too highly of me, Fellow Daoist Gu. Having said that, it doesn''t look like Feng Wuchen is keen on a peaceful resolution, so I certainly won''t be holding back against him," Han Li replied with a smile.
He had a rough idea of Gu Qianxun''s bad blood with Profound End City, so he wasn''t surprised by this request.
"I''ll be counting on you then, Fellow Daoist Li," Gu Qianxun said before departing.
Toxic Dragon and the others were still yet to fully recover from their injuries, but all of them were able to move at this point, so they were all gathered in the spectator stands to watch Han Li''s battle against Feng Wuchen.
Out of all of the Green Goat City cultivators, the two most severely injured ones were Tu Gang and Yi Liya, both of whom were only able to reach the spectator stands with assistance from others.
After everyone had sat down, Yao Li cast her gaze toward Han Li with mixed emotions in her eyes.
Back when they had first met in the Green Goat City arena, he had been apletely unremarkable looking human, yet for some reason, Gu Qianxun had taken an interest in him.
Looking back now, Yao Li realized that she had indeed been mistaken about Han Li, and that he was far more powerful than she imagined. No wonder Gu Qianxun had warned her not to make an enemy out of him.
"What do you think of Fellow Daoist Li''s chances, Fellow Daoist Toxic Dragon?" Yao Li asked.
Toxic Dragon took an awkward nce at Yi Liya upon hearing this, then replied, "That''s... really hard to say. Honestly, I feel like Fellow Daoist Li has never shown his true power, so I don''t know what he''s capable of."
Yi Liya was already in a terrible mood, and he harrumphed coldly, "So what if he''s concealed some of his power? Even Gu Qianxun may not be a match for Feng Wuchen, you think he can win? What a joke!"
"Just because you''re too weak doesn''t mean everyone else is the same. I don''t know if Fellow Daoist Li can defeat Feng Wuchen, but Fellow Daoist Gu definitely can," Yao Li sneered.
"She''ll have to worry about Fang Chan first," Yi Liya harrumphed in a disdainful manner.
Yao Li had no response to this, and she could only clench her fists in a disgruntled fashion.
It was true that Gu Qianxun had been defeated by Fang Chan during theirst encounter, so her chances of winning certainly weren''t great.
"Let''s all settle down now, the battles are about to begin," Toxic Dragon mediated.
Yao Li gave a cold harrumph before falling silent, while Yi Liya glowered at Han Li from afar.
Daoist Xie was also sitting nearby, and he took a nce at Yi Liya before shaking his head with a faint smile.
¡¡
The four diators participating in the two battles were already in ce, and as the referees stepped onto the tforms, the cheering from the spectators gradually subsided.
On one tform, Zhu Ziyuan was standing in a suit of bone armor with a bone spear held in his hand. Judging from the radiant starlight emanating from the spear, it was clearly an extremely formidable star artifact.
Standing across from him was Jin Gong, who was also from Profound City. He was a giant of a man standing at over twenty feet tall, with bulging muscles all over his entire body and ayer of green fur growing on his skin, giving him the appearance of a hulking ape.
On his right arm was a bone glove that seemed to have been stitched from some type of beast hide with star bones of different sizes embedded onto it, and even though it wasn''t quite on the level of a star artifact, it still appeared to be quite formidable.
After announcing the rules of the battle, the referee dered for the battle tomence before flying down from the tform.
Jin Gong let loose a near animalistic roar as he clenched his fists tightly while stomping a foot down onto the ground, and the tform quivered beneath his feet as over eighty profound acupoints lit up over his body one after another, sending powerful shockwaves erupting in all directions.
At the same time, ayer of starlight appeared over the glove on his right hand as well.
"How many times have I told you? Releasing your aura like this will only discount your power. It puts on a good show, but it provides no other benefits," Zhu Ziyuan scolded in a cold voice.
Jin Gong''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he took a deep breath as his aura became far more restrained, looking as if he had suddenly run out of power.
However, all of the experts present could clearly see that the starlight emanating from the glove on his right fist had be far more condensed.
"That''s better, but it''s still not enough," Zhu Ziyuan said with a shake of his head, and a wry smile appeared on Jin Gong''s face upon hearing this.
As opposed to an arena battle, it appeared more like the two of them were having a casual sparring match, and it was clear that Zhu Ziyuan had instructed Jin Gong quite extensively in the past.
A short whileter, Zhu Ziyuan finally gave a nod of approval as he said, "Alright, I want you to remember this feeling and replicate it in your future battles. Come at me now."
Jin Gong nodded in response, then charged at Zhu Ziyuan while all of the spectators looked on with speechless expressions, booing at the terrible show on disy.
¡¡
Meanwhile, Han Li and Feng Wuchen were also facing each other from afar on their tform.
Feng Wuchen was dressed in his usual white robe with his willow leaf sword in his hand, and many of the spectators in the stands were cheering for him.
As for Han Li, he was dressed in a simple ck robe with his hands joined together in his sleeves, looking very calm and rxed.
"Before we begin, I''ll give you a chance to kneel down and beg for forgiveness. If you pass up this opportunity now, you won''t get another chance," Feng Wuchen said in a cold voice.
"Hurry up and fight, don''t waste time with all this chit-chat," Han Li said in an indifferent manner.
Feng Wuchen''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and he harrumphed coldly, "Alright, I gave you a chance!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, dozens of profound acupoints lit up over his legs, and in the blink of an eye, hepletely vanished from the spot.
The spectators hadpletely lost sight of Feng Wuchen, but Han Li was able to see him very clearly, and he sprang into action as well.
The profound acupoints of his Wingform Ascension Arts lit up over his legs, and he vanished from the spot as well.
Immediately thereafter, an explosive boom rang out from the spot where he had just been standing a moment ago, and the ground there waspletely shattered by hundreds of streaks of white swordlight.
Feng Wuchen shed past that spot without pause as he continued to pursue Han LI like lightning whileshing out with his sword once again.
A string of explosions rang out in rapid session alongside shes of light as Feng Wuchen pursued Han Li all over the tform, while thetter continued to take evasive measures.
Initially, the spectators were watching with keen interest, but this repetitive show of shing lights and explosions quickly became boring to watch, and boos began to ring out from the stands.
All of a sudden, Feng Wuchen stopped in his tracks, and Han Li did the same a safe distance away. The former was glowering intently at thetter with a furious look in his eyes. Feng Wuchen had thought that he would be able topletely dominate Han Li with his speed, but Han Li was able to keep up with him just fine.
"Stop running like a coward!" Feng Wuchen sneered.
"Maybe you''d be able to catch me if you weren''t so slow," Han Li countered with a faint smile.
Chapter 911: Display of Power
Chapter 911: Disy of Power
"Shut your mouth!"
Feng Wuchen red up with rage as he grabbed onto the hilt of his willow leaf sword with both hands, and the sword split up into two, one in each hand. Immediately thereafter, his arms began to sway gently along with the two swords like willow branches in a light breeze.
At the same time, countless radiant white sub-branches were emerging from the pair of longswords, and it was as if the two swords really had be a pair of willow branches.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he didn''t make any rash moves.
Right at this moment, Feng Wuchen suddenly swung his swords through the air, and hundreds of willow branches formed by starpower swept toward Han Li in an almighty wave.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and he immediately darted back in retreat, but as soon as he sprang into motion, the air currents that he stirred up with his body caused all of the sword projections to veer off their original trajectories to continue pursuing him, and they had also be several times faster.
To Feng Wuchen''s surprise, Han Li didn''t appear to be all that concerned in the face of the formidable storm of sword projections.
He slowly extended his right hand out of his sleeve, and a small, white shield flew out from within, hovering around three feet in front of him.
The shield was trembling incessantly as the eighteen star designs on its surface glowed radiantly,as if it were struggling to contain some type of pent-up power.In the instant that the storm of sword projections descended upon Han Li, a faint draconic roar rang out, and a burst of radiant white light erupted out of the white shield, forming an ethereal starry light barrier around Han Li.
A string of loud booms rang out in rapid session as the storm of sword projections ravaged the starry light barrier from all directions, causing the nearby space to ripple and warp violently.
The starry light barrier immediately began to tremble, and it was being rapidly stripped away. As a result, the light barrier was also shrinking around Han Li, and before long, it had shrunk down to no more than three feet away from Han Li.
A cold sneer appeared on Feng Wuchen''s face upon seeing this, but Han Li remained as calm and collected as ever.
In fact, he was soposed that he had his left hand sped behind his back, and he extended his right hand forward as he let loose a loud roar.
Immediately thereafter, profound acupoints that he had never revealed before began to light up over his body one after another in rapid session.
The number of profound acupoints on Han Li''s body increased all the way to 138, and at that point, a projection of a dragon suddenly flew out of the eighteen star designs on the surface of the Star Shield.
Another draconic roar rang out as the dragon projection abruptly swelled to over a hundred times its original size, and it circled around Han Li momentarily before rising up into the heavens.
The dragon projection stirred up extremely formidable spatial fluctuations that erupted forth in all directions, causing all of the oing willow leaf sword projections to shatter into specks of starlight before dissipating into nothingness, and Feng Wuchen''s triumphant smile immediately stiffened upon seeing this.
"138!" Yao Li eximed as she pped a hand over her own mouth.
Toxic Dragon''s eyes were also wide with astonishment, while Yi Liya''s hands had balled up into tight fists, and a conflicted look had appeared on his face.
In contrast, Gu Qianxun was watching the battle from the lobby with a faint smile on her face.
On the elevated tform, Chen Yang was finally able to heave an internal sigh of relief.
He had always known that Han Li had never revealed his true power, but he had no idea exactly how powerful Han Li was.
At this point, he was beginning to think that as long as Han Li wished for it to be so, he could keep disying more and more profound acupoints indefinitely.
"This Li Feiyu is quite proficient at concealing his powers, isn''t he?" E Kuai remarked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed, he and Fellow Daoist Gu Qianxun are the pirs of our Green Goat City," Chen Yang replied with a smile.
"Are we sure he''s not a spy sent by Puppet City? It seems a little suspicious that he''s hiding so much," Qin Yuan remarked in a skeptical manner.
"Don''t go spouting such nonsensical usations if you don''t have any proof, City Lord Chen! Otherwise, you''ll have to bear the consequences!" Chen Yang snapped in a cold voice.
"What consequences will I have to bear? Do you want to fight me right here? If so, I''d be more than happy to oblige," Qin Yuan countered in a cold voice, while Fu Jian and Sun Tu remained silent, eager to watch a conflict erupt between the two.
Right at this moment, E Kuai scolded in a cold voice, "Settle down!"
Even though no profound acupoints had lit up over his body, he was suddenly giving off a tremendous aura, one that was filled with unmatched power and regal authority.
Chen Yang and Qin Yuan immediately reined in their own auras upon seeing this, following which both of them cupped their fists in an apologetic salute.
E Kuai''s aura also slowly faded away as his expression eased slightly, and he said, "Fellow Daoist was only making a joke just now, so don''t get so worked up, Fellow Daoist Chen. It''s a blessing for our Profound City that you''ve managed to unearth such a bright talent."
"Indeed, City Lord E," Sun Tu and the others hurriedly chimed in in a ttering fashion.
Meanwhile, Mistress Liu Hua remainedpletely uninterested in what was happening around him, and his gaze was fixed firmly on Han Li and Feng Wuchen''s tform.
The majority of the spectators present also had their attention focused on this battle. After all, the battle between Zhu Ziyuan and Jin Gong was hardly worth watching at all.
"So what if you have 138 profound acupoints?" Feng Wuchen sneered before abruptly vanishing from the spot, circling rapidly around Han Li while waiting for an opportunity to strike.
At the same time, he continued swinging his swords through the air, unleashing flurries of willow leaf sword projections that were even more powerful than before, but Han Li''s defenses remained as watertight as ever.
As the stalemate wore on, Feng Wuchen''s expression darkened further and further.
Right at this moment, he drew to an abrupt halt, and over 150 profound acupoints lit up over his body, while countless starry runes emerged on the willow leaf swords in his hands.
Immediately thereafter, a radiant wave of white light erupted out of the two swords, and rays of white starlight began to shine down from the heavens before converging toward the two swords, producing a faint buzzing sound.
Han Li was immediately able to identify this attack as the one that had severely wounded Yi Liya, and a serious look finally appeared on his face.
"Go!" Feng Wuchen yelled as he swept his left hand through the air, and his willow leaf sword instantly flew out of his grasp before hurtling directly toward Han Li as a radiant de of white light.
The space in the wake of the de of light rumbled and copsed violently, and in response, Han Li thrust both of his palms forward as the eighteen profound acupoints of the Titan Vajra Arts lit up over his arms.
The starlight radiating from the Star Shield instantly swelled outward to oppose the oing de of light, and a resounding boom rang out as the two shed.
The surrounding space began to fracture as brilliant white light that was as radiant as the sun erupted from the point where the de of the light and the Star Shield were in contact with one another,
All of a sudden, a faint crack rang out, and Han immediately noticed that a hair-thin crack had appeared on the surface of the Star Shield.
As a result, the starry light barrier released by the Star Shield instantly began to tremble in an unsteady fashion, and holes of different sizes were beginning to appear on its surface.
An ted look shed through Feng Wuchen''s eyes upon seeing this, and he began swinging the willow leaf sword in his right hand like a willow branch once again.
Countless willow leaf sword projections erupted out of the sword, culminating in a violent storm that cascaded down upon Han Li.
The starry light barrier wasn''t able to protect him any longer, and over a hundred sword projections instantly fell upon him, tearing countless gashes into his robes.
Through the gashes in his clothes, it could be seen that a True Extreme Film had emerged over his body, and it was easily able to keep out the sword projections descending upon him.
A cold sneer appeared on Feng Wuchen''s face as he grabbed onto the hilt of his sword with both hands, and over 160 profound acupoints lit up over his body, while a series of bright specks of light also began to emerge along the de of his sword.
Those are star acupoints!
Only after learning about star artifacts from Chen Yang did Han Li be aware of the concept of star acupoints.
Just like the number of profound acupoints on a cultivator''s body, the number of star acupoints on a star artifact was a direct indication of its caliber. The more star acupoints a star artifact possessed, the more powerful it was, but at the same time, it would also be more difficult to refine.
Once a star artifact was refined to a certain extent, it would begin to feel like an extension of one''s body, and at that point, the star acupoints on the star artifact would also be pirs of strength for the wielder, just like the profound acupoints on their body.
The Star Shield had a total of eighteen star acupoints, but with only seven days to refine it, Han Li was currently only able to draw upon the power of eight of its eighteen star acupoints, while Feng Wuchen had alreadypletely refined his willow leaf swords long ago.
At this moment, there were twenty-one star acupoints glowing radiantly on his willow leaf sword, and his aura had swelled to unprecedented heights.
All of a sudden, he appeared directly in front of Han Li in the blink of an eye, then thrust his longsword diagonally upward, aiming at Han Li''s lower abdomen, which was currently exposed by one of the holes in the starry light barrier released by the Star Shield.
Chapter 912: Stunning Performance
This was an extremely fast and vicious attack, and it was clear that Feng Wuchen was striking to kill.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly as he thrust his palm downward, lowering the shield to oppose the willow leaf sword piercing at him from down below.
Right as the two were about to sh, a string of star designs abruptly lit up over the willow leaf sword, and it was as if the de of the sword had suddenly be twice as wide as before, granting it immense power as he struck the underside of the shield.
A loud crack rang out, and the crack on the shield instantly began to widen.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he decided to abandon the Star Shield as he sprang up into the air.
Immediately thereafter, the Star Shield abruptly exploded as a streak of swordlight erupted into the air, only just barely ncing past the tip of Han Li''s nose.
"You''re not getting away this time!" Feng Wuchen dered with a triumphant smile as heunched himself up into the air like a speeding arrow, catching up to Han Li in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, all of his profound acupoints and his sword''s star acupoints lit up in unison, basking his entire body in ayer of starlight. All of the starpower around his body converged toward his sword as he shed it through the air, unleashing a blindingly bright streak of swordlight.
The two of them were very close to each other, and the streak of swordlight was extremely fast. Suspended in mid-air with nowhere to hide, it seemed like Han Li had been reduced to a sitting duck.An anxious look immediately appeared on Chen Yang''s face upon seeing this, while Qin Yuan and the others were looking on with calm and rxed expressions.
Gu Qianxun also shook her head in dismay as she heaved a forlorn sigh.
As for Yi Liya, he was feeling quite conflicted. After realizing that Han Li was clearly more powerful than him, he had begun rooting for him, hoping that he would be able to defeat Feng Wuchen, but it seemed like his hopes were about to be dashed.
Even Daoist Xie''s brows had be tightly furrowed with concern.
Right at this moment, all of the profound acupoints on Han Li''s legs lit up as he channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts with all his might, and tremendous starlight erupted out of the eighteen profound acupoints.
Two dull thumps rang out in unison as Han Li was somehow able to use the empty air beneath himself as purchase, forcibly darting away to the side to change directions, thereby allowing him to evade what had appeared to be an unavoidable strike.
"Impossible!" Feng Wuchen eximed, while a wave of thunderous cheers rang out from the spectator stands.
On the elevated tform, Chen Yang heaved a sigh of relief, and it was Qin Yuan''s turn to feel a little anxious.
Meanwhile, Mistress Liu Hua was nodding to himself with a pleased expression, clearly impressed with Han Li''s stunning disy.
At this point, there was barely anyone watching the battle taking ce between Zhu Ziyuan and Jin Gong anymore.
After evading Feng Wuchen''s sword strike, Han Li didn''t retreat or attempt to get away. Instead, he twisted around, stomping down onto the air below once again tounch himself directly at Feng Wuchen.
"It''s your turn now!" he yelled as more and more profound acupoints lit up over his body, and the total number was quickly approaching 180.
Not only were the spectators in the stands astonished to see this, even those on the elevated tform couldn''t help but be stunned by what they were seeing.
Never had any of them imagined that Han Li could be so powerful.
A hint of surprise had even broken through E Kuai''s perpetually expressionless facade, and he took a nce at Chen Yang, seemingly trying to gauge his reaction.
Upon detecting E Kuai''s gaze, Chen Yang turned to give him a faint smile.
In reality, he was just as shocked as everyone else, but he was putting on aposed facade to make it appear as if he were already aware of the extent of Han Li''s power.
On the battle tform, a hint of fear and rm shed through Feng Wuchen''s eyes at the sight of the dense clusters of profound acupoints on Han Li''s body, but at this point, he had no choice but to face Han Li head-on.
He was going to make one final roll of the dice, and he was willing to even make some sacrifices to secure this victory.
With that in mind, Feng Wuchen let loose a thunderous roar as he summoned his other willow leaf sword back to himself, then brought the pair of swords together, upon which a total of over forty star acupoints lit up over the surface of thebined sword.
At the same time, all of his 168 profound acupoints also began to glow radiantly, injecting all of their power into his sword in a frenzy to produce a giant sword of starlight that was aimed directly at Han Li.
In contrast, Han Li was taking a much more calm andposed approach.
He channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts as he adopted a very strange pose in mid-air, tipping himself upside down as he extended his right palm downward.
His movements were quitenguid and unhurried, but with every single inch that his right palm descended, the surrounding space would bend and warp further and further. There wererge areas of space that were already beginning to fold in on themselves, and his right arm was fully extended right before Feng Wuchen''s willow leaf sword was about to reach him.
All of a sudden, Qin Yuan sprang to his feet with an rmed expression as he yelled, "Wuchen, get back!"
However, it was already toote, and Han Li''s right palm struck the tip of Feng Wuchen''s sword.
A string of loud cracks rang out as the giant sword of starlight waspletely shattered, exploding into countless specks of radiant white starlight.
The two willow leaf swords in Feng Wuchen''s hands also shattered into pieces, following which Han Li''s palm struck him on the shoulder.
Feng Wuchen''s robes instantly exploded to reveal a suit of antiquated white bone armor, which was releasing a barrier of gentle starlight to try and oppose Han Li''s attack.
However, the light barrier was also shattered in an instant along with the suit of bone armor, and Feng Wuchen''s right shoulder and right arm werepletely pulverized, sending blood, bone shards, and muscle fragments erupting in all directions.
Immediately thereafter, Feng Wuchen crashed heavily down onto the ground, and even in his unconscious state, blood was gushing out of his mouth.
The entire tform also shuddered violently, and even though it was just barely able to hold itself together thanks to the star bone fortifications, the entire tform had sunk down by about three feet, and countless cracks had appeared on its surface.
Han Li still recalled the request that Gu Qianxun had made to him, and he clenched his right hand into a fist as he continued to descend toward Feng Wuchen.
"Don''t you dare!"
A furious roar rang out as a figure plummeted out of the sky, and with the impact of hisnding, the tform was finally shattered into countless pieces.
Han Li cast his gaze forward to discover Qin Yuan glowering at him with intense fury and killing intent in his eyes, and immediately thereafter, all of the other city lords descended onto the destroyed battle tform as well.
Chen Yang had descended right next to Han Li, who cupped his fist in a salute toward E Kuai as he said, "City Lord E, my opponent hasn''t surrendered yet, so the battle is still not over. Why has City Lord Qin suddenly stepped onto the tform?"
"You''ve already won this battle, Fellow Daoist Li, so why not spare his life? What do you say?" E Kuai asked with a warm smile.
"Of course, City Lord E," Han Li replied as he took a step back so that he was half a step behind Chen Yang.
Qin Yuan cradled Feng Wuchen''s unconscious body in his arms, then pulled out a small ck vial and tipped out several red pills that he fed to Feng Wuchen.
Immediately thereafter, he dered, "Please pardon me, City Lord E, I must take my leave now."
"Go ahead," E Kuai replied with a nod, and Qin Yuan promptly departed with Feng Wuchen still in his arms.
All of the spectators were caught off guard by this sudden turn of events, but it didn''t take long before a chorus of boos began to ring out as everyone expressed their displeasure at Qin Yuan''s intervention.
E Kuai paid no heed to the reaction of the spectators as he turned to Chen Yang and Han Li and said, "Fellow Daoist Qin is at fault here, but I can understand his actions. I''ll get him topensate your Green Goat City for this."
"Thank you, City Lord E," Chen Yang hurriedly replied as he cupped his fist in a salute, and Han Li also followed suit.
"Alright, the martial gathering still has to continue, so let''s not dy things any longer," E Kuai said as he flew back onto the elevated tform.
Sun Tu and Fu Jian exchanged a peculiar nce with each other, then returned to the elevated tform as well.
"That was a splendid performance, Fellow Daoist Li. My status as city lord will surely be significantly bolstered in the wake of your battle. Rest assured, I''ll reward you handsomely for your efforts," Chen Yang said through voice transmission.
"It''s fine. He provoked me first, and that''s why I decided to teach him a lesson. I hope I haven''t caused any trouble for you," Han Li replied with a smile.
¡¡
Before long, all of the spectators began loudly chanting Li Feiyu''s name.
Zhu Ziyuan and Jin Gong weren''t able to see what was happening on the other tform due to there being multiple tforms in the way, but they had been listening carefully this entire time while fighting their sparring match of a battle.
Now that the other battle had concluded, Zhu Ziyuan didn''t waste any more time, knocking Jin Gong down from the tform with a single punch, and this entire time, his spear had just been for show.
With that, the two wildly contrasting battles had both drawn to a conclusion, and the next batch of two battles was set to begin shortly thereafter.
The tform used by Zhu Ziyuan and Jin Gong was stillrgely unscathed, but the other tform had beenpletely destroyed, so the battle between Gu Qianxun and Fang Chan had to be moved to another tform.
Chapter 913: Conjoined Star Artifact
Gu Qianxun and Fang Chan were standing across from each other on their tform.
A battle between the top representatives of two cities in the third round was a rather rare urrence, and the nearby stands were packed with spectators who were eagerly awaiting themencement of the battle.
Instead of returning to the lobby, Han Li had also found a seat in the spectator stands to watch the battle from.
"I learned a lot from ourst battle, Fellow Daoist Fang. I had thought that it would have to be at least the semifinals before I encountered you again, but it looks like our rematch hase early," Gu Qianxun said.
At this moment, Fang Chan had be apletely different personpared with his usual dull and foolish self, and his eyes were glowing with fierce battle intent as he said, "I''m very pleased to be able to do battle with you again, Fellow Daoist Gu."
"Begin!" the referee dered, and Gu Qianxun immediatelyunched herself forward, stomping arge hole into the ground beneath her in the process.
Her body was like a speeding arrow, covering a distance of over a hundred feet in the blink of an eye, and she was seizing the initiative as sheshed out with a delicate-looking fist.
Around twenty to thirty profound acupoints lit up over her arm, and all of the air within a radius of several dozen feet exploded violently in the face of her tremendous power.
However, Chen Yang''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.Fang Chan possessed an incredibly powerful physical body, second only to Zhu Ziyuan of Profound City out of all of thebatants in the Five City Martial Gathering, so it was clearly unwise for Gu Qianxun to be engaging him in close quartersbat.
A hint of surprise shed through Sun Tu''s eyes upon seeing this, and Fang Chan was also slightly taken aback, but that didn''t affect his reaction speed at all as heshed out with his own right fist in response.
The two fists shed with an explosive boom, sending powerful shockwaves erupting in all directions.
Fang Chan''s expression changed slightly as he was forced back three steps in retreat, with each step leaving a deep footprint andrge cracks on the ground beneath him.
Chen Yang and Sun Tu were astonished to see this, but before they even had a chance to process what they had just witnessed, Gu Qianxun''s sleeve erupted into shreds, revealing a rainbow armband on her arm.
There were twenty-one specks of white light on the armband, and it looked as if it were fuse to the skin on Gu Qianxun''s arm, making it appear as if the specks of white light were profound acupoints on her body.
"That''s a conjoined star artifact! I thought thait was still a project in development, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua," E Kuai eximed as he turned to Mistress Liu Hua with a raised eyebrow.
"I was finally able to perfect it after close to a hundred thousand years of experimentation," Mistress Liu Hua replied with a smile, while the other city lords turned to him with stunned expressions.
Han Li looked up at the people on the elevated tform with an intrigued look in his eyes.
They hadn''t beenmunicating through voice transmission, so he was able to overhear their conversation, but he had never heard of a conjoined star artifact before.
"A conjoined star artifact is a star artifact that can fuse with one''s body, directly enhancing the user''s physical body with the power of the star artifact. Unlike a mormal star artifact, not only is there no energy cost to using a conjoined star artifact, there''s no need for a refinement process, either, so essentially, Fellow Daoist Gu has been gifted twenty-one profound acupoints.
¡°Having said that, conjoined star artifacts have only been considered to be theoretically feasible up to this point," Chen Yang exined.
Han Li turned to Mistress Liu Hua with a look of admiration in his eyes upon hearing this. As expected of the Scalptia Spatial Domain''s number one tool refinement master to be able to produce something so extraordinary.
"Your tool refinement expertise is truly unmatched, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua. However, may I ask why you''ve granted Gu Qianxun the honor of possessing such an incredible star artifact?" Sun Tu asked.
"Do I have to receive your approval before I decide who I want to refine weapons for?" Mistress Liu Hua scoffed as he rolled his eyes in disdain.
Sun Tu took a nce at E Kuai, then hurriedly replied, "Of course not, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua. Please forgive me, I was just curious."
Mistress Liu Hua gave a cold harrumph before turning his attention back to the ongoing battle.
After that initial sh, Gu Qianxun continued to charge at Fang Chan without pause, and this time, she unfurled her bone belt from around her waist, upon which it abruptly straightened to form a golden spear.
The tip of the spear was producing a sharp screeching sound as it was thrust directly at Fang Chan''s face.
Even though Fang Chan had just been outmatched in strength by Gu Qianxun, he remainedpletely unfazed, and the battle intent in his eyes only grew even brighter.
He stomped a foot down onto the ground to rush back in retreat while reaching behind himself with his hands, and all of a sudden, a pair ofrge ck axes appeared in his hands.
The axes shed against the tip of the golden spear, and thetter was instantly knocked away.
Tremendous energy fluctuations erupted in all directions from the sh, causing everyone gathered near the tform to stumble back a few steps.
Gu Qianxun twisted around in a pirouette as she swept her golden spear through the air, targeting Fang Chan''s abdomen this time.
In response, Fang Chen swung one of his axes at the oing golden spear while simultaneously swinging the other at Gu Qianxun,bining attack and defense into one.
Gu Qianxun darted away to the side while swinging her golden spear around, unleashing a flurry of golden spear projections that descended upon Fang Chan.
Fang Chan remainedpletely unfazed as he charged directly into the storm of spear projections, and his two axes were dancing around him like a pair of ck whirlwinds, keeping the golden spear at bay while also unleashing fierce retaliative blows.
A string of metallic ngs rang out in rapid session, and several hundred exchanges took ce in the blink of an eye.
With neither side willing to back down, both of them soon began sustaining injuries.
A gash that was around half a foot in length had been sliced into Gu Qianxun''s lower abdomen, whilerge holes had also been pierced into Fang Chan''s body, but neither of them paid any heed to their injuries as they continued to sh over and over again.
The entire tform was trembling violently beneath them as if it were struggling to contain their power, and all of the spectators were a little dumbstruck by the intensity of the battle.
Fang Chan''s was desperately trying to turn the tables, but Gu Qianxun''s physical prowess was superior to his thanks to her conjoined star artifact, and her spear techniques were also extremely dangerous and versatile. As a result, Fang Chan was constantly being forced back, and before long, he had arleady reached the edge of the tform.
An agitated look shed through his eyes as he swept both of his axes through the air to knock the golden spear aside, then opened his mouth up wide as ayer of white light emerged over his face, while a series of profound acupoints appeared near his nose and mouth.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of white soundwaves erupted out of his nose and mouth before sweeping toward Gu Qianxun.
However, Gu Qianxun had clearly already anticipated this attack, and she instantly darted away to the side to evade the soundwaves.
In the blink of an eye, the white soundwaves spread over an area of several thousand feet.
By the time they reached the spectator stands, the soundwaves had already be far less potent, but many of the spectators still experienced whole-body numbness, immobilization, and even asphyxiation.
Han Li just so happened to have been caught within the soundwaves as well, and to his surprise, his entire body had be so numb that even lifting a finger had be a very difficult task.
Even though Gu Qianxun had reacted very quickly, she was still able topletely evade the white soundwaves, and her body instantly stiffened, while her face turned deathly pale.
However, in the next instant, an unnatural flush suddenly appeared on her face, followed by her entire body. Her skin began quivering as if there were something moving beneath it, and she instantly regained her mobility befored thrusting her golden spear at Fang Chan''s waist.
Is that the Hazy Helmet Technique? No, she''s managed to shrug off the effects of the soundwaves by forcibly elevating her bloodline powers to their peak, Han Li thought to himself with a contemtive expression.
However, this was clearly extremely taxing on the body, and he didn''t know how many more times Gu Qianxun would be able to employ this strategy.
Fang Chan clearly hadn''t anticipated that Gu Qianxun would be able to immediately retaliate even after being struck by his soundwave attack, so he was a little slow to dodge, and Gu Qianxun''s golden spear sliced a gash into his waist that was deep enough to expose bone.
Fang Chan''s eyes instantly turned bright red as a string of cracks and pops rang out from his joints, and his body abruptly swelled to twice its original size, while his skin turned a dark red color.
In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a ferocious humanoid beast, and his aura was instantly significantly elevated, while the wounds on his body began to rapidly heal.
What was even more astonishing was that the white light emanating from his profound acupoints had also turned a bright red color, releasing bursts of crimson energy that swirled around him.
The nearby space trembled and buzzed, while the entire tform was also quaking violently, and a series of cracks began to appear on its surface, as if it weren''t unable to withstand Fang Chan''s power.
On the elevated tform, both Chen Yang and Sun Tu were looking on with serious expressions, while a hint of intrigue had also appeared in E Kuai''s eyes.
Chapter 914: Sudden Suspension
Chapter 914: Sudden Suspension
"I was nning to save this for Zhu Ziyuan, but it looks like you''ll be getting a taste before him!" Fang Chan chortled with a wild, animalistic look in his eyes.
Gu Qianxun''s expression remained unchanged, as if she couldn''t even see Fang Chan''s transformation, and she sprang forward while his transformation was taking ce to plunge her golden spear into his back.
However, as soon as the spear struck the crimson energy circling around his body, it was instantly stopped cold in its tracks before sliding away to the side.
Fang Chan swung one of axes around in retaliation to strike the golden spear, and a resounding ng rang out as Gu Qianxun stumbled back in retreat, with her spear almost wrenched out of her grasp.
Fang Chan then immediately pounced at her, moving far faster than before, reaching her in the blink of an eye before swinging his axes viciously down upon her.
The crimson energy around him surged onto the pair of axes as they sliced through the air, causing the space in their wake to tremble violently.
Gu Qianxun hurriedly dodged to the side, only just barely managing to evade the pair of axes, which crashed down onto the tform, slicing it apart like a giant piece of tofu.
"Everyone, get back!" E Kuai ordered in an authoritative voice as he rose to his feet, and the people gathered around the tform hurriedly dispersed, while Han Li also retreated into the distance with the other spectators.
Even though the tform had copsed, the battle was still far from over, and at this moment, Fang Chan was like a deranged demon, swinging his axes through the air with devastating power.
Gu Qianxun didn''t dare to fight fire with fire, so all she could do was take evasive measures.
Thankfully, with the tform destroyed, the battlefield had increased significantly in area, granting her more space to maneuver around in.
One giant rift after another was sliced into the ground, sending loose rocks flying in all directions, while the spectators in the stands hurriedly fled for their lives.
On the elevated tform, Chen Yang was looking on with an anxious expression, while Sun Tu was also intently observing Fang Chan with a grim look of concern on his face.
Fang Chan''s expression was bing more and more deranged by the second, and the entire area around him was filled with countless ax projections.
Gu Qianxun was made to resemble a small raft in a vast and turbulent sea, looking as if it could capsize at any moment, but she was always able to evade Fang Chan''s attacks right in the nick of time.
After unleashing such a ferocious barrage of attacks, much of the crimson energy around Fang Chan''s body had already faded away. A look of agitation shed through his eyes as he let loose a furious roar and swung his axes toward Gu Qianxun from both the left and the right, trying to end the battle in one fell swoop.
Gu Qianxun''s eyes instantly lit up upon seeing this, and she twisted around in mid-air, adopting a very strange pose to just barely evade the pair of axes, following which she pounced forward with her golden spear extended in front of her.
The spear passed through the gap between the pair of axes, then pierced through theyer of crimson energy around Fang Chan en route to his throat.
"I''ve got you now!" Fang Chan chortled as he brought his axes back in the blink of an eye, positioning in front of himself to form a barrier that kept the golden spear at bay.
At the same time, a burst of even more formidable white soundwaves erupted out of his nose and mouth toward Gu Qianxun, while the crimson energy around him transformed into a volley of crimson arrows that rained down upon her, epassing the entire area within a radius of several dozen feet.
The arrows produced a terrifying screeching sound as they raced through the air, leaving trails of ck marks in the space in their wake.
A grim look appeared on Chen Yang''s face upon seeing this, while Sun Tu''s eyes lit up with tion.
However, right at this moment, Gu Qianxun suddenly twisted around once again, and she darted away to the side at an incredible speed, almost as if there were some type of external force dragging her away. To everyone''s astonishment, she was able to evade all of the soundwaves and crimson arrows to outnk Fang Chan.
Fang Chan waspletely caught off guard, and he hurriedly attempted to turn around, but all of a sudden, a pained look appeared on his face. At the same time, the crimson light radiating from his profound acupoints began to tremble as his entire body stiffened in agony.
Gu Qianxun immediately pounced on this opportunity as several dull thumps rang out within her body, and her arms abruptly swelled to around twice their original thickness as she thrust her golden spear toward Fang Chan''s temple at an astonishing speed.
After unleashing that all-out attack, most of the crimson energy around Fang Chan had faded away, and what little remained was no match for Gu Qianxun''s spear.
The golden spear pierced through the thinyer of crimson energy with ease, yet right as it was about to plunge its way into Fang Chan''s head, a thin beam of white light hurtled through the air to strike the spear from the side, instantly knocking it away.
Gu Qianxun hurriedly grabbed onto the spear with both hands to prevent it from flying out of her grasp, following which she turned her gaze to the elevated tform.
On the elevated tform, E Kuai lowered his arm, and the speck of white light on his fingertip faded away as he said, "Let''s end the battle there. The winner is Gu Qianxun of Green Goat City."
Gu Qianxun cupped her fist in a salute toward the elevated tform upon hearing this, following which the golden spear in her hand reverted back into a golden bone chain that she wrapped around her own waist.
At this point, Fang Chan had also recovered from his immobilized state, and he began tapping various parts of his own body with his fingers, upon which his erged body quickly shrank back down to its original size.
After such a grueling battle, Fang Chan was left looking extremely pale, and he turned to Gu Qianxun as he dered, "I underestimated you this time, but you won''t win next time."
All of the nearby spectators were running for their lives just a moment ago, and it took them some time to register what had just happened before all of them erupted into thunderous cheers.
The Green Goat City cultivators were all ecstatic, and they immediately swarmed Gu Qianxun to congratte her.
Meanwhile, Han Li was still observing Gu Qianxun from the spectator stands, thinking back to thest evasive maneuver that she had disyed with a contemtive look on his face.
On the elevated tform, Chen Yang was barely able to contain his own excitement.
He had gone into this round mentally prepared for both Han Li and Gu Qianxun to be eliminated, so this oue was an incredibly pleasant surprise.
Mistress Liu Hua also heaved a sigh of relief as a hint of tion appeared in his eyes.
Sun To naturally wasn''t very pleased by Fang Chan''s unexpected loss, but he remainedposed as he rose to his feet and cupped his fist toward E Kuai in a grateful salute.
"Thank you for saving my disciple, City Lord E."
"Your disciple is a very bright talent, so I naturally had to save him," E Kuai replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Sun Tu thanked E Kuai once again, then offered his congrattions to Chen Yang before sitting back down.
Right at this moment, a ck-robed man hurriedly rushed over from afar with an urgent look on his face, and he swooped onto the elevated tform before whispering something into E Kuai''s ear.
E Kuai''s expression instantly changed slightly as he sprang to his feet, and he cast his gaze out of the city with a grim look on his face.
"Did something happen, City Lord E?" Chen Yang and the other city lords hurriedly asked.
The ck-robed man had spoken to E Kuai using voice transmission just now, so they hadn''t heard what was said, but it was clear from E Kuai''s reaction that a crisis was afoot.
......
"From this moment onward, the Five City Martial Gathering will be temporarily suspended. Everyone, return to your homes, and do note out unless it''s absolutely necessary!" E Kuai ordered, and his voice rumbled across the entire Asura Arena.
Everyone was rooted to the spot upon hearing this, and the twobatants fighting on the other tform also stopped what they were doing with confused looks on their faces.
All of a sudden, the entire arena had fallen deathly silent.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze up toward the elevated tform, where E Kuai had turned to the other city lords, and he ordered, "Take your people and return to your respective courtyards. From now on, all of you are forbidden from wandering in the city!"
Meanwhile, the ck-robed man flew away like a giant eagle, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
The other city lords'' expressions changed slightly upon seeing this.
The speed disyed by the ck-robed man exceeded even their own.
After everyone had a chance to register what E Kuai just announced, amotion slowly began to ring out within the Asura Arena, and the spectators began to file out of the venue.
The other city lords also gathered their subordinates before departing from the Asura Arena to return to the courtyards that they were staying in, and not long after their departure, the sound of a drum began to ring out from deep within Profound City.
As soon as the sound of the drumming was heard, the entire city instantly erupted into a frenzy, with shops hurriedly closing their doors and pedestrians rushing back to their homes.
"That''s the sound of the Heavenly Might War Drum... What''s happening?" Chen Yang asked with a grim expression.
"The Heavenly Might War Drum is only struck during times of crisis. Could it be that Profound City is under attack?" Sun Tu mused.
"Perhaps we''re being attacked by Puppet City," Qin Yuan spected.
"That''s definitely a possibility. If so, then they sure came at an interesting time," Sun Tu said as he sped his hands behind his back.
Han Li paid no heed to the discussion taking ce between the four city lords as he cast his gaze out of the city, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
"In any case, let''s follow City Lord E''s orders and return to our courtyard," Gu Qianxun said.
"You''re right, Fellow Daoist Gu. Let''s go," Chen Yang said, then bade farewell to the other three city lords before promptly departing.
Chapter 915: Ulterior Motive
Chapter 915: Ulterior Motive
"Stay in your residences and don''t go anywhere. I don''t want to hear any baseless spections, either. Don''t do anything until Ie back," Chen Yang ordered as soon as he and the other Green Goat City cultivators returned to their courtyard.
After that, he immediately turned and made his way out of the courtyard.
Everyone else exchanged a few nces with one another, then returned to their residences.
As Han Li returned to his room, he couldn''t help but wonder what was happening. Could it be that Profound City really was under attack from Puppet City?
He was nning to ask Gu Qianxun if she had any information to share, but it was clear from her earlier reaction that she was just as perplexed as everyone else.
He had no interest in the conflict between Profound City and Puppet City at all, but with the Five City Martial Gathering put on hold, there was no telling if he would be able to secure a Heavenly Qilin Crystal, and with the threat of the ck Tribtion Centipede constantly looming over his head, it was very difficult for him to do anything or go anywhere.
After some contemtion, Han Li shook his head to rid himself of this pointless train of thought.
At this point, all he could do was watch the situation unfold.
Meanwhile, the entire city was ced under lockdown, with groups of armord guards stationed at all of the city''s important roads.
At the same time, a burst of rumbling rang out from the ground near the city gates, and a series of entrances of underground passageways appeared, out of which more armord guards came pouring out before stationing themselves atop the city walls.
The stone bs on the city walls also began to part and split, while a ck stone pagoda emerged roughly every one thousand feet.
The pagodas were fitted with astonishingly massive crossbows with enormous arrows nocked on them, and the arrows were giving off a sharp and forbidding gleam.
Most of the arrows were silver in color, but some were of a fiery red color with a series of white patterns engraved upon them, and they were clearly a special type of arrow.
Aside from these pagodas, many catapults, mechanical weapons, and even puppets of different descriptions had appeared on the city wall, while some giant mechanical weapons had also emerged on the Myriad Profound Mountain Range near Profound City.
......
After meditating in his room for close to a day, Han Li was suddenly visited by a Green Goat City servant, who invited him to Chen Yang''s residence.
Upon arriving in the guest hall of Chen Yang''s residence, Han Li discovered that there were already seven or eight people gathered inside, with the likes of Gu Qianxun, Yi Liya, and Xuanyuan Xing among them.
Gu Qianxun gave Han Li a slight nod as he entered the room, and he sat down beside her.
"Right now, the entire city has already been ced under lockdown, and things are not looking good," Gu Qianxun said.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he offered no response.
"I know what you''re worried about, Fellow Daoist Li," Gu Qianxun said through voice transmission. "Rest assured, even if the Five City Martial Gathering is canceled altogether, I''ll help you secure a Heavenly Qilin Crystal."
"Why would you help me?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I have my reasons. To put it in simple terms, you''re still useful to me at the moment," Gu Qianxun replied.
"I feel much more reassured after hearing you say that," Han Li said with a smile.
Before long, all of the Green Goat City cultivators had arrived, and Chen Yang emerged from the inner chamber.
"I''ve gathered all of you here to discuss what''s happening outside. I have been informed by City Lord E that arge number of Puppet City troops have been sighted thousands of kilometers to the north of Profound City," Chen Yang dered with a grim expression.
Even though everyone had already guessed at the possibility of an attack from Puppet City, everyone''s expressions still changed slightly upon hearing this.
In contrast with the fear and hatred that had appeared in everyone else''s eyes, Han Li''s eyes had lit up slightly, and he saw this as an opportunity.
After failing to find Violet Spirit within Profound City, he had nned to travel to Puppet City once the opportunity arose, and this exact opportunity was presenting itself.
"How many people havee from Puppet City? Is it possible that this is merely a group of Puppet City troops that have stumbled into our territory?" someone asked.
"We don''t know exactly how many of them there are at the moment, but City Lord E has already confirmed that City Lord Sha Xin of Puppet City is also among them. Profound City has already issued a warning, but it''s fallen upon deaf ears, and they''re continuing to march toward Profound City," Chen Yang said in a grim manner.
"Is there going to be another war between our two cities?" Gu Qianxun mused with tightly furrowed brows.
"The fact that City Lord Sha Xin is personally leading the Puppet City troops on a march toward Profound City without any forewarning is definitely not a good sign," Chen Yang said.
The entire room fell silent, and everyone turned their attention to Chen Yang, waiting for him to continue.
"Rest assured, everyone. Right now, all of the most powerful cultivators of our five cities are gathered in Profound City right now, and we also have the home advantage, so we''re extremely well prepared to handle an attack from Puppet City," Chen Yang said, and the tense atmosphere was instantly eased a little.
"During this time, prepare as much as you can. If a war really does begin, we''ll definitely all be called upon," Chen Yang continued, and everyone gave a collective affirmative response.
Chen Yang gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, then announced some new rules that had been introduced in the city during this special time.
"Fellow Daoist Gu, do you think the objective of the lord of Puppet City really is just to attack Profound City? Is it possible that there''s an ulterior motive at y here?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"I don''t know. Profound City and Puppet City have joined forces at certain points in history, but they''ve always been at each other''s throats the majority of the time, and a lot of bad blood has been umted over the years, so whenever the two cities sh, there''s always a great deal of bloodshed," Gu Qianxun replied.
"I''m assuming the times when the two cities have joined forces were when certain external factors were at y, right?" Han Li asked.
"It''s almost always when there''s a natural disaster or arge-scale scaled beast attack is afoot. If I recall correctly, thest war between the two cities took ce thirty thousand years ago, and White Rock City was the main battlefield on that asion.
¡°Almost the entire city was destroyed, and countless casualties were suffered on both sides. It was during that war that the previous lord of White Rock City perished, and it was only then that Sun Tu was able to take over as city lord," Gu Qianxun replied.
"I didn''t think that there would be such an intense conflict between the survivors in this realm that''s almost beenpletely forgotten by the outside world," Han Li mused.
"Resources in this realm are extremely scarce to begin with, and all of the past conflicts have arisen over these scarce resources. Regardless of whether it''s Profound City or Puppet City, both of them share the same ultimate objective, which is to leave this godforsaken ce," Gu Qianxun replied.
"I should''ve guessed that this was the case. However, I presume that it''s most likely those in positions of power in the two cities that are trying to leave this realm, right?" Han Li asked.
"Who knows? In any case, if the two cities really do sh, then make sure to proceed with the utmost caution. In such arge-scale conflict, any single of us is as insignificant as a speck of dust," Gu Qianxun cautioned.
"City Lord Chen, even though the troops of Puppet City have appeared outside Profound City, there''s no guarantee that our Green Goat City isn''t also one of their targets. Right now, with all of us in Profound City, if they decide to attack Green Goat City, then our city stands no chance," Yi Liya said.
"I''m well aware of that. However, we''re currently forbidden from leaving Profound City, and even if we set off back to Green Goat City right away, we definitely won''t be able to get there in time, so all we can do now is pray," Chen Yang sighed.
The meeting concluded shortly thereafter, and everyone was dismissed.
The cultivators of the other three cities had also been informed of the approaching Puppet City army, and everyone was making preparations for a potential war.
Some timeter, the beating of the Heavenly Might War Drum rang out once again.
At this point, the previously lively and bustling streets had bepletely deserted, and the few pedestrians walking on the streets were hurriedly rushing back to their homes, while all of the shops were closed.
Patrol groups of armord guards were constantly roaming the main streets and roads in the city, further adding to the tension that was permeating throughout the entire city.
Countless armord soldiers were busy at work on the city wall above the main gate of Profound City, and right at this moment, a group of people arrived on the city wall.
The soldiers in front of them hurriedly parted to let them through, and it was a group of seven or eight people that was led by E Kuai.
Upon arriving atop the city wall, E Kuai cast his gaze into the distance in silence, and none of the people with him dared to disrupt him.
Momentster, E Kuai''s expression darkened slightly, and he could see a gray line approaching on the distant horizon amid a burst of thunderous rumbling.
The armord soldiers on the city wall quickly spotted the approaching gray line as well, and all of them tightened their grips around their weapons in anticipation of a potential sh.
E Kuai swept an arm through the air in an expressionless manner, and the city gate down below instantly swung open.
Countess armord soldiers flooded out of the city, with most of them traveling on foot, while roughly a third of them were riding atop various types of scaled beasts, and they arranged themselves into several formations in front of Profound City.
At the same time, a sharp screech rang out from the nearby Myriad Profound Mountain Range, and a flock of flying scaled beasts swooped down from the mountains. Most of them were a type of vulture scaled beast, and they were also carrying armord soldiers on their backs, forming a series of aerial formations.
At this point, the gray line on the horizon had be farrger than before, and one could begin to make out a formidable army consisting of countless puppets.
The puppet army seemed to have detected the hostility from Profound City, and it drew to a halt hundreds of kilometers away from Profound City, not advancing any further beyond that point.
The hearts of the soldiers on the city wall were brimming with battle intent, and all of them were looking at E Kuai, waiting for him to issue the order for them to charge into battle.
However, to everyone''s surprise, the puppet army in the distance continued to remain in the distance without advancing any further, and E Kuai''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this as he refrained from issuing any orders.
As a result, an impasse ensued.
Chapter 916: False Alarm
Chapter 916: False rm
Close to half a day passed by in a sh, and it was starting to get dark.
The puppet army continued to refrain from advancing, but nor did it retreat, and it remained in the distance like a permanent fixture on the horizon.
On the city wall, the ck-robed man asked in a disgruntled voice, "What the hell are these bastards up to? Are they plotting something?"
The other people gathered around E Kuai were just as perplexed, and all of them were specting about Puppet City''s intentions.
As for E Kuai himself, he remained standing in silence with a contemtive look in his eyes.
Even after much spection, no consensus was reached, and the ck-robed man turned to E Kuai with a hesitant expression as he began, "City Lord E, should we..."
"So long as the enemy doesn''t move, we won''t do anything, either. There''s no need to make any rash moves. Keep a lookout for any sneak attacks and send out some scouts to find out exactly how many people Puppet City have sent on this asion," E Kuai instructed.
The people around E Kuai promptly departed to carry out his orders, and soon, only the ck-robed man was left.
"City Lord E, why haven''t we called upon the people from the four cities to face the enemy together? There may not be many of them, but all of them are the cream of the crop from their respective cities, so they''re still a force to be reckoned with," the ck-robed man said."At this point, the situation is still unclear, so I won''t call upon them for now," E Kuai replied with a shake of his head.
A perplexed look shed through the ck-robed man''s eyes upon hearing this, but he didn''t say anything further.
"I have to go take care of something, so I''ll leave things here to you, Shao Ying. If the Puppet City army makes any hostile moves, then do as you see fit, and there''s no need to consult me," E Kuai said.
Shao Ying faltered slightly upon hearing this, but before he had a chance to ask any questions, E Kuai had already vanished from the spot.
As night fell, the standoff between the two cities continued, with neither side initiating an attack.
The gentle moonlight basked the entirendscape in a cold, white glow, and at this moment, there was a woman in a white dress standing on a short hill hundreds of kilometers away from Profound City, looking up at the sky while humming a tune to herself.
The woman''s features were concealed behind a ck veil, but she had an extremely seductive figure that also somehow gave off an air of childlike purity and innocence.
It was a very strangebination of qualities to possess, presenting a unique sense of allure to the beholder.
Right at this moment, E Kuai suddenly appeared around a hundred feet away from the woman, and he said in a cold voice, "I can see that you''ve made some great progress in your Profound Maiden Seduction, Fellow Daoist Sha Xin. Having said that, it''s quite courageous of you to have ventured away from your army toe here on your own so close to my Profound City."
"If you wish to attack me, then go right ahead, Fellow Daoist E," Sha Xin said in azy voice as she slowly turned to face E Kuai.
At the same time, the air of purity and innocence about her abruptly faded, and a wave of boundless seduction surged out of her body, causing even the surroundingndscape to appear more gentle and alluring.
E Kuai gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, but didn''t attack.
"I knew you wouldn''t attack a frail woman like myself unprovoked, Fellow Daoist E," Sha Xin giggled.
"Cut the chit-chat. Why did you invite me to meet you here through voice transmission? If you wish to spark another war between our two cities, then I''ll dly oblige," E Kuai dered in a cold voice, seeminglypletely unaffected by Sha Xin''s seduction.
"I have no intention of instigating a war between our two cities, Fellow Daoist E. Instead, I''vee here because I have some important matters to discuss with you," Sha Xin said with a faint smile.
Her aura changed drastically once again as she spoke, and all of her seductive qualities faded, while her exquisite body also instantly lost all of its allure. It was as if she had suddenly be apletely ordinary and unremarkable woman.
"What do you want to discuss with me?" E Kuai asked.
"I would like to propose a joint venture between the two of us," Sha Xin replied with a smile.
"If you have something to say, then spit it out," E Kuai harrumphed coldly.
"There''s no need to y dumb, Fellow Daoist E. Even after all these years, that ce has still constantly been on our minds, and my Puppet City has already found the entrance to. I hope you didn''t intend to keep that ce entirely to yourself," Sha Xin said in a cold manner.
E Kuai''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and he began to glower intently at Sha Xin with a hostile look in his eyes.
"There''s no need to look at me like that, Fellow Daoist E. I didn''t find the location of that entrance through any snide or underhanded tactics. Instead, our Puppet City found the entrance fair and square through extensive exploration," Sha Xin dered in a righteous manner.
"I''m sure that''s true," E Kuai harrumphed in an unconvinced fashion. "How could I possibly be nning to keep that ce to myself? If you''ve discovered the entrance, then I''m sure you''re already aware of the situation inside. Given how perilous it is in there, I have no intention of venturing inside anytime soon."
"Do you take me for a fool, Fellow Daoist E? I may have only recently discovered the entrance, but even I could sense that the many natural hazards inside were gradually bing less and less potent over time. I presume the potency of those natural hazards fluctuate on a cyclical basis, and this is when they''re at their weakest.
¡°On top of that, I heard that you''re offering some very extravagant rewards for this edition of the Five City Martial Gathering. Aren''t you doing this so that you can select people to venture into that ce?" Sha Xin asked with a seductive smile.
E Kuai offered no response, but his expression had darkened even further.
"Even though the natural hazards inside are waning in power, they''re still far too powerful for our two cities to contend with individually. The only chance we have of entering that ce is for our two cities to join forces, and that''s why I''vee all this way to discuss this matter with you. I hope you can make the right decision, Fellow Daoist E," Sha Xin continued.
"And what if I disagree?" E Kuai asked.
"In that case, I''ll have no choice but to begin attacking Profound City, and I''ll continue attacking until the natural hazards regain their potency, so none of us will be able to go in," Sha Xin replied with a faint smile.
A cold look shed through E Kuai''s eyes upon hearing this, and a terrifying aura erupted out of his body, causing the entire space within a radius of dozens of kilometers to tremble violently.
However, Sha Xin remained standing on the spot in a calm andposed fashion, while E Kuai''s aura automatically parted around her, leaving herpletely unaffected.
E Kuai took a deep breath, and his aura receded like the tide.
After a brief silence, he asked, "What type of coboration do you propose, Fellow Daoist Sha?"
A pleased smile appeared on Sha Xin''s face upon hearing this.
¡¡
The night quickly passed by, and to everyone''s surprise, the Puppet City army began to retreat the next morning.
Before long, the Puppet City army had vanished without a trace, and Profound City was lifted from its state of lockdown.
With that, a major crisis was averted, leaving all of the citizens of Profound City feeling abination of befuddlement and relief.
After all, everyone wanted to avoid a war between the two cities if possible.
Several dayster.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in his room, channeling the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts to refine the A tier beast core.
The A tier beast core contained an enormous amount of starpower, and even though he had already been refining it for many days with the assistance of the Heaven Controlling Vial, he was still yet to fully absorb it.
A new profound acupoint had appeared on his body, and it was disying signs of opening, but was ultimately still yet to be fully opened.
Han Li opened his eyes, then strode over to the window to cast his gaze toward the city lord''s manor outside.
At this point, several days had already passed since the Puppet City crisis, and the Puppet City army hadn''t been sighted since its retreat.
Even so, E Kuai disyed no intention of continuing the Five City Martial Gathering, and the cultivators from the four subsidiary cities continued to remain in their respective courtyards.
However, early this morning, E Kuai had summoned the four city lords for a meeting.
Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps suddenly rang out from outside, and Han Li opened his door to discover a servant from Green Goat City.
The servant was quite startled to see the door suddenly open in front of him, and he extended a respectful bow as he said, "Senior Li, City Lord Chen would like to see you."
Han Li nodded in response, then took another nce in the direction of the city lord''s manor before making his way to Chen Yang''s residence.
Shortly thereafter, he arrived at Chen Yang''s residence, only to find the doors tightly shut.
Han Li was just about to knock on the door when they swung open on their own, and Chen Yang''s voice rang out from inside.
"Come in, Fellow Daoist Li."
Han Li stepped into the room, and the door swung shut behind him, following which ayer of white light appeared over its surface,pletely isting the room from the outside world.
At this moment, Gu Qianxun and Xuanyuan Xing were also in the room with Chen Yang, while Daoist Xie was standing silently behind him in his usual expressionless manner.
Han Li was rather surprised to see this. He had thought that Chen Yang would''ve summoned everyone for a debriefing about the current situation in Profound City, but that was clearly not the case.
Chapter 917: Great Ruins
Chapter 917: Great Ruins
"Take a seat, Fellow Daoist Li," Chen Yang said to Han Li with a hint of excitement in his eyes.
Han Li took a nce at Chen Yang''s excited expression, then sat down beside Gu Qianxun.
"I''ve summoned the three of you here today because I would have a huge opportunity to present to you," Chen Yang dered, and Han Li''s trio was rather taken aback to hear this.
"To make a long story short, a secret area has appeared deep within the Scalptia Spatial Domain, one that''s filled with countless precious treasures. This is an extremely rare opportunity, and City Lord E Kuai has decided to end the Five City Martial Gathering and lead the top sixteen cultivators into this secret area," Chen Yang continued with a smile.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
How had this supposed secret area suddenly popped up out of nowhere?
However, Gu Qianxun and Xuanyuan Xing were both quite excited to hear this, and thetter asked, "Is that true, City Lord Chen?"
"As true as true can be," Chen Yang replied with a smile.
"Would you be able to borate any further, City Lord Chen?" Han Li asked."You only recently arrived in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so you may not be very familiar with this ce, Fellow Daoist Li. The Scalptia Spatial Domain is an extremely mysterious ce, and even though our Profound City has already been standing for countless years, we''ve still yet to uncover all of the domain''s secrets.
¡°There are many secrets lurking deep within the Scalptia Spatial Domain, as well as countless precious natural treasures, and all of the most premium resources in our Profound City, including the prizes for this Five City Martial Gathering, like the Heavenly Qilin Crystal and the Sulfurous me Blood Cloud, are all obtained from the domain''s depths.
¡°This secret area is the most significant opportunity to have arisen within the Scalptia Spatial Domain in the past one million years, so this is truly not an opportunity to be passed up on," Chen Yang exined.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but internally, he was also beginning to grow a little excited.
"This does sound like a splendid opportunity, but I''m assuming that a ce that''s harboring so many precious natural treasures is also going to be very dangerous, right?" Han Li asked.
"Of course. These secret areas are filled with all types of unknown dangers. However, risk and reward have alwayse hand in hand, so consider this matter carefully, and if you don''t want to go, then I won''t force you," Chen Yang replied.
Han Li''s trio fell silent upon hearing this, and Chen Yang made no effort to rush them, merely waiting in silence as they weighed up their options.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he took a nce at Daoist Xie out of his peripheral vision.
Daoist Xie remained standingpletely still on the spot in an expressionless manner, but one of his fingers moved ever so slightly.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon seeing this, and he suddenly said, "City Lord Chen, there''s something that I want to ask you: does the incident concerning the Puppet City army a few days ago have something to do with this secret area?"
"The people from Puppet City did indeede for the secret area, and they''ll also be sending their own cultivators into it," Chen Yang replied.
Slightly concerned looks appeared on the faces of both Gu Qianxun and Xuanyuan Xing upon hearing this.
Profound City and Puppet City were sworn enemies, so conflicts would be sure to break out if cultivators from the two cities were to encounter each other in the secret area, thereby making the secret area an even more dangerous ce.
After some brief contemtion, Han Li dered, "I would like to go and take a look at this secret area."
Chen Yang was ecstatic to hear this, and he replied, "Great! What do you say, Fellow Daoist Gu, Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan?"
The hesitant look on Xuanyuan Xing''s face faded away as he nodded and replied, "This is too alluring an opportunity for me to pass up."
With both Han Li and Xuanyuan Xing agreeing to go, Gu Qianxun''s doubts seemed to have also been erased, and she smiled as she dered, "In that case, I would like toe along as well."
"Alright, with all three of you agreeing toe, our Green Goat City won''t lose to any of the other subsidiary cities in terms of overall power. You can go back to rest now. The date of departure still hasn''t been decided, so I''ll keep you posted," Chen Yang said with a smile.
Han Li''s trio nodded in response before standing up to depart, when Chen Yang suddenly continued, "By the way, this is still a confidential matter at this point, so don''t tell anyone else."
Han Li''s trio immediately gave a collective affirmative response before the three of them departed.
Following their departure, Chen Yang also left his residence to travel to the city lord''s manor.
One morning, around half a monthter.
At this moment, there were close to twenty people gathering on a white stone za in the city lord''s manor, and they were split up into the five groups.
The group that was furthest to the left had the most people at five, and they were led by none other than Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing.
"Ziqing, you didn''t make it into the final sixteen to begin with, so listen to me and stay in Profound City for your own safety," Zhu Ziyuan said with tightly furrowed brows.
"I don''t care! Wherever you go, I go! Besides, City Lord E already agreed to let mee, so it doesn''t matter what you say," Zhu Ziqing replied with a smile.
Zhu Ziyuan had always been absolutely obedient to E Kuai, so he could only heave a resigned sigh upon hearing this.
The group to their right consisted of a trio of White Rock City cultivators, led by Fang Chan.
The loss that he had suffered to Gu Qianxun didn''t seem to have affected him at all, and at this moment, he was still tearing chunks of flesh off from a thick and greasy beast bone with a joyous smile on his face.
In contrast, the group of Profound End City cultivators next to them were in far lower spirits. Their leader, Feng Wuchen, was standing in silence with a dark look on his face, and he refused to converse with anyone, only taking the asional nce at the Green Goat City cultivators to their right.
After half a month of recuperation, he had mostly recovered from his injuries, and he had also grown a new arm, which was wrapped in bandages like Duan Tong''s.
Right next to them were the Green Goat City trio, while the Excess Passage City trio were situated the furthest to the right.
"The fact that the city lord''s manor gathered all of us here indicates that we''re most likely going to be setting off today, but I still don''t know exactly where we''re going. Have you received any information, Fellow Daoist Gu?" Han Li asked.
"Prematurely ending the Five City Martial Gathering is already a very strange urrence, and a temporary alliance between Profound City and Puppet City is an even stranger one. Both cities have been very tight-lipped about all of this, so I haven''t received any information, either," Gu Qianxun replied as her brows furrowed slightly.
Profound City and Puppet City had been sworn enemies for countless years, so it was near unimaginable for the two to work together for amon cause.
"The fact that the two cities are willing to set their differences aside and join forces most likely means that we''re going somewhere extremely dangerous indeed," Xuanyuan Xing mused in a concerned manner.
"Didn''t City Lord Chen say that you''re free to back out if you don''t want to go?" Gu Qianxun jibed with an amused smile.
"He did, but he''s also made it clear that this is perhaps one of the biggest opportunities to have ever arisen in the history of the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so how could I let it slip through my fingers? I wouldn''t be feeling so conflicted if the potential reward wasn''t so tantalizing," Xuanyuan Xing sighed with a wry smile.
Han Li didn''t really care much about all of that. Instead, he was much more interested in finding a way to remove the ck Tribtion Centipede in his body, as well as to find out more information about Shi Chuankong and Violet Spirit.
With the Five City Martial Gatheringing to a premature end, he was unable to fulfill his agreement with Mistress Liu Hua, and once he left Profound City, it was going to be very difficult to find out more information about Shi Chuankong.
Right as these thoughts were running through his mind, the sound of footsteps rang out near the za, heralding the arrival of a group of around a dozen figures, led by none other than E Kuai.
Behind him were Mistress Liu Hua and the other four city lords, and there were five or six more people further behind them, the two of which that stood out the most to Han Li were Daoist Xie and the ck-robed man, who were standing behind Chen Yang and Mistress Liu Hua, respectively.
As he swept his gaze over the other four figures, one more person caught his attention.
It was a figure standing beside the ck-robed man. The lower half of his face was concealed behind a ck cloth, and his entire body was d in a suit of bone armor, leaving only his purple eyes exposed.
On top of that, he had a head of extremely distinctive curly, silver hair, and with those two features alone, Han Li was able to identify him as none other than Shi Chuankong!
Han Li was ecstatic to see him, and he was just about tomunicate with Shi Chuankong through voice transmission when he spotted Chen Yang shaking his head at him, warning him not to make any rash moves.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he turned his gaze back to Shi Chuankong to discover that his face waspletely devoid of emotion, and he was staring nkly forward without any deviation, clearly indicating that he wasn''t in a normal state of mind.
Gu Qianxun quickly noticed the look on his face, and she asked, "What''s wrong?"
"It''s nothing, I just suddenly thought of an old acquaintance of mine," Han Li replied with a smile, following which his expression returned to normal.
Gu Qianxun cast a skeptical gaze toward Shi Chuankong upon hearing this, but she didn''t notice anything amiss.
After arriving on the elevated tform in front of the za, E Kuai swept his gaze over everyone present as he dered, "I''m sure all of you have already been informed of the emergence of the Great Ruins. That is the reason why the Five City Martial Gathering has been canceled, and we have decided to work with Puppet City to venture into these ruins together. The fact that all of you are standing here today means that you have all agreed toe as well."
A variety of different expressions appeared on everyone''s faces upon hearing this, ranging from tion to concern, and Han Li asked through voice transmission, "What are these Great Ruins, Fellow Daoist Gu?"
Chapter 918: Doubts
Chapter 918: Doubts
Gu Qianxun was clearly very surprised by this question, and she replied through voice transmission, "You don''t know of the Great Ruins, Fellow Daoist Li? The Great Ruins are the most special area in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, and it''s said to be home to a vast amount of hidden treasures. I''ve heard that Profound City and Puppet City have both already been searching for it for countless years, it looks like they must''ve finally found it."
Right at this moment, E Kuai swept his gaze over everyone present and dered, "This is going to be a long and perilous journey, so if anyone''s still hesitating about whether to go or not, this will be yourst chance to pull out. Once you leave the city, abandoning your post will be seen as desertion."
Not a single one of the sixteen cultivators from the four cities expressed a desire to back out.
"Good. It looks like all of you possess the mental fortitude required to reap significant rewards on this trip. Even though we are temporarily working with Puppet City on this asion, make sure you do not lower your guard against them. I hope all of you can work together so that we can all collectively reap as much benefits from this trip as possible," E Kuai continued.
Everyone gave a collective affirmative response, and around two hourster, the main city gate slowly swung open, following which a procession of around a dozen giant scaled beasts emerged from the city.
The scaled beast at the forefront of the line resembled a giant crocodile that was over a thousand feet tall with a ck stone pce on its back. The pce was riddled with ornate engravings and star bones, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
Behind the crocodile-like beast were around a dozen massive ck Scaled Elephants, all of which also had ck stone pces on their backs. However, these pces were much more simplistic in design, and they couldn''t evenpare with the opulence of E Kuai''s pce.
One of the stone pces was upied by Chen Yang and Daoist Xie, while Han Li, Gu Qianxun, and Xuanyuan Xing shared another one.
The stone pce was quiterge, and even with each of them taking a room, there were still rooms to spare.After the procession of scaled beasts emerged from the city, Han Li didn''t immediately enter the stone pce to rest. Instead, he stood on the ck Scaled Elephant''s back and cast his gaze into the distance. However, he wasn''t able to look very far with the enormous Myriad Profound Mountain Range in the way.
Around fifteen minutester, the line of scaled beasts passed over a col in a valley, and everyone''s horizons were instantly broadened from there.
As Han Li looked down from above, he noticed around a dozen ck Scaled Elephants resting on a hill elsewhere in the mountain range.
All of them were d in armor with star bones embedded into their chests, and not only had their tusks been reced with sharp spears, they appeared to bepletely dead and devoid of vitality.
These are all puppets!
Right at this moment, a figure suddenly flew through the air above, then drew to a halt in mid-air in front of everyone.
Han Li looked up to discover a handsome young man in a suit of ck armor with a pair of short bone halberds strapped to his back, and he was currently hovering over a thousand feet up in the air.
With spiritual and devilish qipletely inessible in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, taking flight was physically impossible for most, so the fact that this man was able to hover in mid-air immediately drew a great deal of attention.
Many of the Profound City cultivators emerged from their stone pces, but none of them city lords had emerged.
Zhu Ziqing was standing beside her brother, looking up at the young man with an infatuated expression as she murmured, "He''s so handsome..."
"Nonsense! He''s an enemy of our Profound City!" Zhu Ziyuan scolded as he gave her a firm tap on the head.
"Alright, I get it," Zhu Ziqing replied as a serious look appeared on her face.
Han Li was looking up at the handsome young man with everyone else, and for some reason, the young man struck him as a little odd.
He directed his gaze upward, all the way to the clouds in the sky, and only then did he notice that the clouds hanging directly above the young man were slightly darker than the ones around them.
"Fellow daoists of Profound City, Mistress Sha Xin has sent me here with a proposal. In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts, Mistress Sha Xin suggests that our two groups travel with some distance between us," the young man dered.
He had a gender-neutral voice that was very pleasant and alluring.
The Profound City cultivators were silent for a moment, following which Zhu Ziyuan seemed to have suddenly received an instruction, and he replied, "Master E Kuai has agreed to this proposal."
The young man''s gaze fell upon Zhu Ziyuan, and he cupped his fist in a parting salute before turning to depart.
As he did so, Han Li noticed a ck shadow moving with him deep within the clouds up above. As he descended toward the Puppet City camp, it was finally revealed that there was a giant scaled bird hanging above its head.
Just like the ck Scaled Elephants, this bird was clearly also long dead. It seemed to be a puppet that was under the young man''s control, and he was only able to take flight by attaching himself to the bird puppet with barely visible threads.
Shortly thereafter, the sound of a blowing horn rang out from the Puppet City camp, and the scaled beast puppets on the hill stood up one after another before setting off.
Once the Puppet City camp was several thousand feet away, the Profound City camp began to move as well.
Thendscape waspletely barren and derelict, and Han Li quickly grew bored of the monotonous scenery, so he returned to his room to cultivate.
¡¡
That night.
Han Li awakened from his meditation, then emerged from the stone pce.
He sprang up into the air from the ck Scaled Elephant''s back tond on another ck Scaled Elephant, then made his way over to the stone pce on thetter''s back.
Before he had a chance to announce his arrival, Chen Yang''s voice rang out from within the pce.
"I''ve been waiting for you, Fellow Daoist Li."
Han Li made his way directly into the stone pce upon hearing this.
Upon entering the pce, Han Li was greeted by the sight of Daoist Xie standing by the entrance, and thetter led him to a room in the pce, making no attempt tomunicate with him in the process.
Han Li was already ustomed to this, and upon entering the room, he was invited to take a seat by Chen Yang.
"Fellow Daoist Chen..." Han Li began, only for Chen Yang to raise a hand to cut him off.
"I''m afraid Fellow Daoist Shi Kong is no longer the same person that you once knew," Chen Yang sighed.
"What happened to him?" Han Li asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"Du Qingyang was very secretive about sending Fellow Daoist Shi Kong to Profound City, so I have no clue exactly what happened to him. This is the first time I''ve seen Fellow Daoist Shi Kong in Profound City, and to me, he feels like... a puppet," Chen Yang replied in a hesitant manner.
Han Li''s brows became even more tightly furrowed upon hearing this.
"However, he also feels somewhat different from a puppet, but I can''t put my finger on what the difference is. In any case, approaching him at a time like this is not a wise move," Chen Yang added.
On the surface, Han Li appeared to be quiteposed, but internally, he was feeling very perplexed.
Before they entered the Scalptia Spatial Domain, Shi Pokong had given each of them a jade pendant that could allow them to leave the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
Despite all of the perils that he had encountered, Han Li had refrained from using his jade pendant thus far as he wasn''t willing to leave without finding Violet Spirit first, but what was happening in Shi Chuankong''s case?
If he were in such a dire situation that he was about to be made into a puppet, then why hadn''t he used the jade pendant? Han Li was unconvinced that someone of Shi Chuankong''s powers would''ve been rendered unable to use the jade pendant all this time.`
After some contemtion, Han Li said, "I''ll have to count on you to continue keeping an eye out for more information on Fellow Daoist Shi."
"Rest assured, I''ll be sure to keep an eye out and update you on any information thates my way," Chen Yang promised.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute.
"No need to thank me. There''s going to be a long journey ahead, and no one knows what''ll await us in the Great Ruins, so make sure to rest up on the way there, Brother Li," Chen Yang said.
The two of them chatted for a while longer before Han Li departed, and upon returning to his room, he spent some time to contemte the information that he had just received before closing his eyes to cultivate the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
¡¡
Over a month flew by in a sh.
On this day, the two processions of scaled beasts were passing through a narrow valley with roughly ten thousand feet of distance between them.
The group at the front was still yet to exit the valley, while the rear group had only just entered the valley, when an enormous two-headed scaled falcon swooped down from the heavens with a thunderous roar.
With its wings spread open, it cast an enormous ck shadow that epassed virtually the entire valley, and as it pped its wings, two bursts of ferocious air currents came crashing down violently upon the mountain faces on either side of the valley.
The mountain faces copsed violently, sending a huge cloud of dust rising up into the air.
All of the Profound City scaled beasts immediately began backing out of the valley in rm, while the scaled beast puppets up ahead continued onward without pause.
Han Li was cultivating in his room when he felt the disturbance outside, and he flew out just in time to see an avnche of giant rocks tumbling down up ahead, quickly blocking up the entire valley.
At the same time, the view up ahead waspletely obscured by the dense cloud of dust that had risen up into the air.
All of the Profound City cultivators hurriedly rushed out to see what was happening when all of a sudden, a burst of formidable starpower erupted forth within the valley up ahead, forming a wave of radiant white light that swept up into the air.
A resounding boom rang out as rocks, sand, and soil were flung up into the air like a volcanic eruption before raining down in all directions, and a burst of powerful shockwaves also surged out of the valley, clearing the blockage.
Chapter 919: Venturing Into Peril
Chapter 919: Venturing Into Peril
As the dust settled, Han Li spotted a ck Scaled Elephant puppet with its head raised up at the heavens.
It had been buried under the rocks that had tumbled down from the copsed mountain faces, but it had managed to st its way out by brute force.
Han Li couldn''t help but be impressed by how powerful the puppefied ck Scaled Elephant was.
It seemed that while the cultivators of Puppet City couldn''t couldn''tpare with their Profound City counterparts when it came to bodily refinement, they were extremely adept in the art of puppetry, and that was what had allowed them to establish themselves in the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
All of the Profound City cultivators disyed reactions upon seeing this.
The city lords remained calm andposed, while everyone else was either stunned by what they had seen, or were proiming that the Puppet City cultivators had done this on purpose.
All of a sudden, the roof of a stone pce on the back of another ck Scaled Elephant puppet up ahead suddenly opened up, and a spear around the same thickness as an adult human''s arm shot out with an explosive boom.
At this point, the two-headed scaled falcon had already flown far into the distance, but the spear was able to catch up to it in a sh before piercing into its abdomen.
The two-headed falcon screeched in pain, but it was able to remain aloft as it continued flying away into the distance.However, it had only flown for just over ten thousand feet when it abruptly exploded amid an eruption of white light.
Clearly, the spear that had pierced into its body had been fitted with Explosive Scaled Beast star bones.
After this brief interlude, the Puppet City camp continued onward, as did the Profound City camp.
¡¡
Half a yearter.
Gusts of fierce wind were howling over a rocky ck desert, and even though it was noon, the swirling sand in the sky made it feel as if it were just as dark as nighttime.
The ground was rumbling incessantly as countlessrge rocks were rolling around everywhere in the face of the fierce winds, and at this moment, the two groups of scaled beasts were huddled together in a pair of circles around a thousand feet apart with their heads facing inward to withstand the elements.
All of a sudden, the roof of a stone pce on the back of one of the scaled beasts was abruptly torn off by the wind, then swept away like a kite.
Immediately thereafter, a tall and imposing figureunched himself up into the sky out of the stone pce and into the ferocious sandstorm outside.
Profound acupoints were glowing on his legs, allowing him to tread on air and rush after the stone roof.
No more than twenty secondster, the figure returned with the ck stone roof held above his head with both hands, and he returned the roof back to its original ce on the stone pce.
The figure was none other than Han Li, and after restoring the roof, he swept his gaze around the room with a wry smile on his face. Even though the roof had only been missing for less than twenty seconds, a thickyer of sand had already umted underfoot, and the stone table at the center of the room had also been smashed into pieces by a flying rock.
This ck sandstorm has already been raging for over two months, when is it going to end?
Han Li heaved a resigned sigh as he swept away the sand on his stone bed with his sleeve before sitting down on it.
Initially, in the face of scaled beast attacks, the two parties from the two cities had been trying topete against each other, with neither side willing to be outdone by the other, but as the journey wore on, the conditions had be more and more inhospitable, to the point that the two parties had no choice but to set their differences aside and work together.
¡¡
Several more years passed.
The sound of a blowing horn rang out on a vast in, and the Puppet City party that was leading the way suddenly stopped in its tracks.
The Profound City camp was trailing over a thousand feet behind them, and they also drew to a halt.
Inside a stone pce on the back of one of the ck Scaled Elephants, Han Li, Gu Qianxun, and Xuanyuan Xing were seated around a stone table.
"We''ve stopped again," Gu Qianxun remarked as her brows furrowed slightly.
"It must be another attack. The deeper we venture into the Scalptia Spatial Domain, the greater the spatial pressure, and the more powerful the scaled beasts that we encounter, so progress has been getting slower and slower," Xuanyuan Xing sighed.
"I thought that I would be able to cultivate in seclusion over this entire journey, but we keep being interrupted by scaled beast attacks. The only silver lining is that we get to keep the beast cores of the scaled beasts that we y," Han Li said with a wry smile.
"Let''s see what we''re dealing with this time," Gu Qianxun sighed as she rose to her feet.
The three of them made their way out of the stone pce together, only to discover that the situation outside was not quite like what they had anticipated.
It was very calm and peaceful outside, with no danger in sight.
Han Li jumped onto the roof of the stone pce before peering into the distance, and he could see clear distortion in the space dozens of kilometers away.
Countless chaotic spatial rifts were wreaking havoc there like a storm, slicing the space there apart.
Directly below the densely packed array of spatial rifts was a bottomless abyss that stretched as far as the eyes could see in both directions, and wisps of ck mist were rising up out of the abyss.
Giant ck vortexes were visible at set intervals, stirring up the ck mist to make it resemble demonic eyes that were looking into the abyss.
"What''s that?" Gu Qianxun murmured as she arrived beside Han Li.
"I don''t know, but I can sense that the spatial power in that area is extremely violent. Even from so far away, I can feel a faint tearing force in the air. I hope that''s not where the Great Ruins are," Han Li replied.
Right at this moment, Chen Yang flew over to them with Daoist Xie, and the three of them cupped their fists in a respectful salute at his arrival.
"No need for formalities," Chen Yang said with a smile as he waved a dismissive hand. "I''vee here to let you know that the Great Ruins are on the other side of that abyss up ahead."
Xuanyuan Xing and Gu Qianxun both turned to look at Han Li upon seeing this. It seemed that he had spoken their worst fear into existence.
"Do we have a way to cross the abyss?" Han Li asked.
"I''m not sure, but City Lord E Kuai has already gone to meet with Sha Xin, and I''m assuming they''lle up with a n together," Chen Yang replied.
"I wonder if it''s even possible to cross such a perilous abyss," Xuanyuan Xing said in a concerned manner.
"I heard from City Lord E that this ck abyssal storm is already at its weakest point in the past one million years. Even as recently as a century ago, the area epassed by the spatial rifts was several hundred kilometers wide, so we wouldn''t have even been able to stand this close," Chen Yang sighed.
"In that case, why don''t we wait a bit longer? Perhaps after another century, the storm won''t pose any obstacle at all," Gu Qianxun said.
"Profound City and Puppet City have both already been monitoring this ce for countless years, and both are afraid that the other will enter the Great Ruins before them. The main objective of this edition of the Five City Martial Gathering was to select people to enter the Great Ruins, but with Puppet Citying to us to propose a coboration, City Lord E had no choice but tomence his n a little earlier than expected," Chen Yang exined.
"It seems like Puppet City must''ve only proposed a coboration out of necessity. I doubt that any one of the two cities would possess the power required to traverse this abyss on its own," Gu Qianxun mused.
"I don''t think that''s the entire reason. I think Puppet City was most likely also concerned that if they were to try and venture into the Great Ruins on their own, Profound City would take the opportunity to attack while all of their most powerful cultivators were away," Han Li said.
"That sounds like a very shrewd assessment, Fellow Daoist Li," Chen Yang said with a smile.
Right at this moment, a figure suddenly rose up from the Puppet City camp, ascending to an altitude of over a thousand feet before descending toward Profound City camp, where he was revealed to be none other than E Kuai.
As he descended, he pressed a palm down onto the air below, and the speed of his descent was instantly slowed, allowing him tond on the head of the giant crocodile-like scaled beast as lightly as a feather.
"Everyone, travel in the northeastern direction along the abyss. Make sure to look out for spatial rifts along the way," E Kuai ordered in a voice that wasn''t very loud, but rang out clearly within everyone''s hearts.
"Looks like we''re setting off," Chen Yang remarked before departing with Daoist Xie, and the two camps continued onward.
As everyone traveled along the abyss, they discovered that its width wasn''t uniform. Instead, some areas were clearly wider than others, and the spatial rifts above those areas also coveredrger areas.
asionally, some scaled beasts would be spotted, stumbling into the range of the spatial rifts, upon which they would immediately be swept up and torn into pieces, dying extremely horrific deaths.
There were also some flying scaled beasts that were under the impression that they would be safe as long as they flew over the abyss, only to be sucked down into the masses of spatial rifts below by the tremendous suction force released by the giant vortexes within the abyss.
Han Li had personally witnessed a four-winged scaled eagle soaring out of the clouds at an altitude in excess of ten thousand feet in an attempt to fly over the abyss, only to plummet out of the sky like a dead weight before crashing down into one of the ck vortexes.
Chapter 920: Collaboration
Chapter 920: Coboration
Over half a year flew by in a sh.
On this day, the rays of the setting sun were spilling down onto the ground, basking the entire in in a dim, yellow glow.
The two groups of scaled beasts were still trundling along with some distance between them, traveling toward a giant mountain range in the distance over the gradually rising terrain.
Han Li was seated on the rooftop of a ck pce on one of the scaled beasts, looking into the distance.
Half of the mountain range on the horizon was basked in the light of the setting sun, giving it a rosy, golden glow, while the other half waspletely dim and had a strange, blue coloration.
After observing the mountain range for a while, Han Li''s brows began to furrow slightly. He could sense some strange energy fluctuations from the mountain range, and as they drew closer and closer, the energy fluctuations became more and more pronounced, while a cial aura also began to sweep over the area.
More and more people were beginning to detect these abnormalities, and they emerged from their stone pces to investigate.
It didn''t seem like they were very far away from the mountain range, but only on the eighth morning of travel did they finally arrive at the foot of the mountain range.
This time, the Puppet City camp stopped at the foot of the mountain range to wait for the Profound City camp to catch up.Han Li and Gu Qianxun were standing beside each other on the back of their ck Scaled Elephant, looking at the mountain range from afar. They could see that the ck abyss had extended all the way here, and it seemed to have passed through the entire mountain range.
One half of the mountain range was a crystalline blue, while the other half was bright red, and each half was giving off a different peculiar aura.
"This is a very strange ce. I don''t know about you two, but even with my physical constitution, it feels really cold here," Gu Qianxun said as she rubbed her own arms for warmth.
"This half of the mountain range is as cold as ice, releasing a cial aura, while the other half is as scorching as fire. It''s indeed quite a miraculous sight to behold," Xuanyuan Xing remarked.
Han Li remained silent with his brows tightly furrowed.
Right at this moment, the sound of a blowing horn and a gong being struck rang out in unison, and the three of them exchanged a nce with each other before descending from their ck Scaled Elephant.
Before long, everyone else had also arrived, while the cultivators of Puppet City also gathered around twenty meters away.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the Puppet City camp to discover that they were led by the handsome young man controlling the scaled bird puppet.
To his left was a giant of a man who was over twenty feet tall. Half of his head was bald, and there was a braid on the top of his head that pointed directly up at the heavens, giving him a ratherical appearance. However, what was far lessical were the thick bands of muscle all over his body and the thick veins that were bulging beneath his skin.
On the handsome young man''s right stood a diminutive man who was less than four feet tall. He was just as handsome as the young man, and he was d in a suit of white bone armor. Despite his tiny stature, there was an air of confidence and authority about him.
The dozen or so people behind those three were mostly women with alluring bodies, and all of them were dressed in the same attire, consisting of thin ck robes with light veils over their faces.
Han Li''s gaze swept over them before settling on the three people at the very back of the Puppet City camp.
Those three were also wearing the same ck robes, but they somehow felt very different from theirpanions.
Right as Han Li was about to take a closer look, two figures descended out of the sky beforending in front of the two camps.
One of them was none other than E Kuai, and he was apanied by a breathtakingly elegant woman who radiated seduction from every single pore of her body.
Even Gu Qianxun couldn''t help but be momentarily entranced by her.
She''s not using any seductive or illusory abilities, but there''s a natural air of innate allure about her... Han Li thought to himself, and the image of Violet Spirit sprang into his mind.
However, this woman wasn''t Violet Spirit. Instead, it was the lord of Puppet City, Sha Xin.
"Everyone, the Great Ruins that we''ve been searching so arduously for are on the other side of the ck abyss, and the path to cross the abyss is in this mountain range of fire and ice. I''m aware that there have been many past conflicts between our two cities, and many of you have had loved ones perish at the hands of cultivators from the other city," Sha Xin dered.
The cultivators from the two cities exchanged a nce with one another upon hearing this, and there was clear resentment and animosity in their eyes.
"The resentment between our two cities is not something that can be stifled, and there''s no need to stifle it," Sha Xin continued, and both camps erupted into a frenzy upon hearing this, with many of them reaching for their weapons with fierce killing intent in their eyes.
"Hold on a second, everyone," E Kuai said with a warm smile, and everyone stopped what they were doing, but the wariness in their eyes hadn''t waned in the slightest.
"Regardless of how much all of you resent one another, I hope that you can set your differences aside while we pass through this mountain range," Sha Xin continued.
"The Bipr Extreme Mountain Range is far more perilous than all of you can imagine, so we must all band together and proceed with caution. As City Lord Sha Xin just said, we must set aside our personal differences for now and work together," E Kuai said.
Following a brief silence, everyone reluctantly epted this arrangement.
"We''re going to enter the Bipr Extreme Mountain Range from here. In order to avoid any mishaps, all of us will enter the mountain range in an alternating fashion," Sha Xin said.
Everyone gave a collective affirmative response before returning to their scaled beasts in preparation to continue onward.
By the time Han Li turned back to look at the three figures at the back of the Puppet City camp, they were already nowhere to be seen.
E Kuai and Sha Xin''s scaled beasts entered the mountain range at the forefront, immediately followed by a scaled beast puppet from Puppet City, then a scaled beast from Profound City.
All of the scaled beasts and puppets entered the mountain range one after another in this alternating pattern, and upon venturing into the valley up ahead, everyone was immediately greeted by the sound of wailing winds that resembled a woman''s sobs.
Even though there was no ice or snow to be seen, the entire valley was filled with a very ufortable cial aura.
Han Li''s brows were slightly furrowed as he inspected thendscape up ahead momentarily, then returned to his room to continue cultivating.
As the scaled beasts ventured deeper and deeper into the mountain range, the surrounding crystalline blue rocks became darker and darker in color, and the cial aura in the air also became more and more pronounced.
Initially, Han Li was able to focus on his cultivation without being disrupted, but over the past few days, even he was asionally being roused from his meditative state by the pervasive chill in the air, thereby rendering him unable to continue cultivating.
One night, as he was once again awoken from his meditation, he stood up and made his way out of the stone pce.
It was veryte at night, and the rocks in the valley were reflecting the cold light of the moon and the stars up above. As a result, the path ahead was brightly illuminated, but it was only bing colder and colder.
As Han Li was looking up at the moon, Gu Qianxun also made her way out of the stone pce.
He turned to her to discover that she had changed into a set of new clothes, and there was also a thick beast hide coat draped over her shoulders. The coat was slightly toorge for her, giving her an adorable, childlike appearance.
Gu Qianxun was rather perplexed by Han Li''s gaze, and she asked, "What are you looking at, Fellow Daoist Li?"
"Where did you get that coat from?" Han Li asked in a slightly awkward manner.
"We were recently attacked by a pack of demon beasts with coats of fur as opposed to scales. I slew a few of them, and I skinned one to make this coat. This only happened two days ago, how do you not know about this?" Gu Qianxun asked.
"I heard themotion, but I was at an important point in my cultivation at the time, so I didn''te out to investigate," Han Li exined.
At the time, he was on the verge of opening a profound acupoint, so he chose to remain in his room even though he could hear the attack taking ce.
"I see. Your mental fortitude is truly remarkable, Fellow Daoist Li. Under these freezing temperatures, several of our fellow daoists are already experiencing cracking in their skin, so they don''t dare to sit still for any length of time, yet you''re still able to cultivate. That''s truly impressive," Gu Qianxun praised.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Gu. By the way, how powerful were the demon beasts that attacked us two days ago?" Han Li asked.
"Very powerful, far more so than the ones that we''ve encountered along the journey up to this point. Even the weakest ones among them were still C tier demon beasts, and they have massive numbers as well. One of the cultivators of our Profound City was dragged down the back of his ck Scaled Elephant in a moment ofcency, and he was quickly dismembered and devoured," Gu Qianxun replied.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"That''s why all of us have been particrly vignt in case those demon beasts attack again," Gu Qianxun continued.
Han Li cast his gaze into the distance to find that a steep slope had appeared up ahead, leading up to a tall mountain ridge.
"It looks like the terrain up ahead is also bing more unforgiving," Han Li sighed.
"No matter how difficult the terrain is to traverse, we have to keep going. We''vee way too far to turn back now, no one would be willing to turn around so close to the Great Ruins," Gu Qianxun said.
"Hopefully, it''s not actually just a set of ruins with nothing in it," Han Li chuckled.
"Don''t say that!" Gu Qianxun eximed with a displeased pout before returning to the stone pce.
Following her departure, Han Li''s smile faded as he cast his gaze into the distance with a contemtive look on his face.
Chapter 921: Traitor
Chapter 921: Traitor
As the line of scaled beasts continued onward, they gradually ascended higher and higher in altitude, and only on the next morning did they finally reach the halfway point up the mountain.
From there, the path ahead became narrower and even more arduous to traverse, to the point the scaled beast and the puppet at the forefront of the line had to eventually begin clearing out a path as they went, so progress was naturally very slow.
Almost all of the Profound City cultivators hade out to stand on the backs of their scaled beasts with grim looks on their faces.
All of a sudden, a burst of thunderous rumbling began ringing out from the valley beneath the mountain face, and everyone hurriedly looked down to discover a plume of white mist rising up rapidly from within the valley.
Concealed beneath the white mist were clusters of formidable des of wind that gave off a bone-chilling cial aura.
"Look out, here ites again!" someone yelled, and profound acupoints lit up over everyone''s bodies as they sprang into action.
Duan Tong was standing on the back of a ck Scaled Elephant, and he raised his enormous, bandaged right arm, then clenched his fist tightly and took a half-step backward before mming his fist down onto an oing plume of mist.
It seemed that the tip of his fist was enshrouded within a vortex of starlight, and the space in front of him shuddered as a burst of tremendous force came crashing down.
The burst of force shed against the plume of white mist, and both dissipated in unison upon contact.On the back of another ck Scaled Elephant, Fang Chan was holding a roasted demon beast leg in his left hand, and he was gleefully tearing off chunks of flesh from the leg with his teeth.
The leg was alreadypletely cold, with a revoltingyer of frozen fat on its surface, yet Fang Chan didn''t seem to mind at all.
He caught sight of a plume of white mist hurtling toward him out of his peripheral vision, and his brows furrowed slightly with displeasure, seemingly discontent at the fact that his meal had been interrupted.
All of a sudden, a cold gleam shed through his eyes, and he set down the beast leg in his hand before turning to the white mist and letting loose a piercing screech.
A burst of incredibly powerful soundwaves erupted through the air before crashing into the plume of white mist, scattering thetter in all directions.
Han Li was observing this from afar when an rmed look suddenly appeared in his eyes, and he yelled, "Look out!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a ck shadow shot out of the scattered plume of mist, immediately following which the head of a giant scaled python emerged, opening its cavernous mouth to bite down upon Fang Chan.
The scaled python had been concealed within the mist in the valley, but just its head alone wasparable in size to a ck Scaled Elephant, and it seemed to be capable of swallowing an entire ck Scaled Elephant whole in a single bite.
Despite his dull appearance, Fang Chan wasn''t slow to react at all, having already sprung high up into the air as soon as he heard Han Li''s warning. At the same time, he opened his mouth up wide and let loose another high-pitched screech toward the scaled python.
Halos of white starlight erupted out of his mouth, forming shockwaves that were visible even to the naked eye, and as soon as these shockwaves made contact with the scaled python''s head, it immediately exploded, sending vast volumes of blood and countless scales erupting in all directions.
The remnants of its head crashed down onto the ck Scaled Elephant below,pletely pulverizing the stone pce on its back, and the two other White Rock City cultivators hurriedly jumped up onto the nearby mountain face.
The mountain face beneath the ck Scaled Elephant crumbled under thebined weight of the elephant and the scaled python''s head, and as a result, its two front feet were left suspended in mid-air.
The ck Scaled Elephant hurriedly stumbled back in a panic, crashing into the scaled beast puppet behind it.
As a result, the scaled beast puppet was knocked off bnce, and it slid off the mountain face and began tumbling down into the valley below, while the blue rocks beneath it also began to crumble.
There were two women in light ck dresses on the puppet''s back, and they began swinging their arms through the air, while the white bone rings on their arms shed with starlight.
The circle of star bones embedded into the giant scaled beast puppet''s chest also began shing brightly as it attempted to climb back up onto the mountain face with all its might, but the rocks beneath its feet were crumbling too quickly, and despite its best efforts, its fall appeared to be inevitable.
With the scaled beast puppet on the verge of being buried under the falling rocks, the two women finally decided to abandon it, springing up into the air toward the mountain face above.
However, right at this moment, the scaled python that had just been struck down by Fang Chan was somehow able to suddenly raise its head again, and it opened its cavernous mouth to release a burst of bone-chilling blue light.
The air in the wake of the blue light waspletely frozen solid, and it was sweeping rapidly toward the two women.
The two of them had only justnded on the mountain face when the wave of cial light descended upon them, and they hurriedly thrust their palms upward in retaliation.
Han Li could see that many profound acupoints had lit up over their arms, and it was clear that they were also aplished bodily refinement cultivators.
However, their strength couldn''tpare with that of the likes of Duan Tong and Fang Chan, so they were only able to scatter some of the cial blue light before the rest descended upon them,pletely freezing them solid.
As a result, the two of them were instantly immobilized, and they began falling involuntarily back down toward the valley below.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and all of a sudden, he abruptly vanished from the spot.
A string of loud thumps rang out as Han Li trod down onto the space beneath his feet to pursue the two women.
The profound acupoints on his legs were glowing radiantly, elevating his speed to the maximum, and he was able to grab the two women by their arms before darting back onto the mountain face.
At this point, the handsome young man from Puppet City had also arrived on the scene, and he was clearly taken aback to see Han Li swooping in to save the two women.
With the women already saved, he grabbed onto one of the short halberds strapped to his back, then twisted around before hurling the halberd through the air with all his might.
The bone halberd shot forth through the air as a streak of radiant silver light, giving off a burst of formidable starpower fluctuations.
The streak of silver light pierced straight into the scaled python''s head before emerging on the other side, following which the handsome young man raised a hand, and a translucent white thread that was connected to the halberd swept through the air to slice the python''s head open.
With a casual tugging motion, the halberd flew back into the young man''s grasp, and hanging from the crescent-shaped de attached to the main de was a fist-sized beast core that waspletely unharmed.
The body of the giant python tumbled down into the valley below, while the young man took the two women from Han Li as he said with a smile, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist. My name is Zhuo Ge, may I know yours?"
"Li Feiyu," Han Li replied.
"Please ept this B tier beast core as a gesture of my gratitude," Zhuo Ge said as he casually tossed the scaled python beast core at Han Li, who caught the beast core and cupped his fist to extend a salute before flying back toward Gu Qianxun.
"What an interesting guy," Zhuo Ge mused to himself before departing with the two women.
Upon Han Li''s return, Gu Qianxun turned to him with tightly furrowed brows as sheined, "That was way too reckless of you, Fellow Daoist Li!"
"How so?" Han Li asked.
"Puppet City is our sworn enemy, so even if we''re working together for now, you shouldn''t have gone out of your way to save their cultivators. Everyone is going to see you as a traitor now!" Gu Qianxun exined through voice transmission.
Han Li took a nce at the nearby Profound City cultivators upon hearing this, and sure enough, they were all looking at him with hostile expressions, with the exception of Fang Chan, who was smiling at him, seemingly in gratitude for the verbal warning he had issued earlier.
Han Li turned his gaze back to Gu Qianxun as he replied through voice transmission, "Given how dangerous and unpredictable this ce is, if we do not work together wholeheartedly, then we may not even make it out of this mountain range alive."
In reality, the true reason why he had decided to save those two women was for Violet Spirit''s sake. He hadn''t been able to find any information about her in Profound City, and thinking back to the puppet remnants in that cave, he felt like there was a very good chance that she had fallen into the hands of Puppet City.
He had been intending to dig up some information from the Puppet City cultivators, but the cultivators from the two cities were still quite apprehensive of one another, so he never had the chance to speak to any of them.
Hence, he had immediately pounced on that opportunity to appease Puppet City, and he didn''t care if that was at the expense of offending those from Profound City.
After that close call, the cultivators from the two cities became even more cautious, constantly surveying the surrounding area for potential hazards, but even so, they were still attacked by several packs of powerful demon beasts, and the going had be very tough.
Thankfully, their efforts ultimately paid off, and after reaching the top of the mountain ridge, they had a much easier downhill journey to a giant canyon deep within the mountain range.
The entrance of the canyon was established as a boundary, with the cultivators of the two cities setting up camp on either side of it.
Inside the valley, one half of the rock face was blue, while the other was red, and they were giving offpletely contrasting freezing and scorching auras. Through the valley, it could be seen that the ck abyss cut through the entire valley, slicing it into two like a ck river.
The area around the ck abyss waspletely filled with spatial rifts that were clumped together like a ferocious storm.
Chapter 922: Constructing a Star Boat
Chapter 922: Constructing a Star Boat
That night, Han Li and Gu Qianxun emerged from their campsite before making their way to the entrance of the canyon together.
"Have City Lord E and Mistress Liu Hua gone to meet with City Lord Sha Xin?" Han Li suddenly asked.
"That''s right, they left together not long after we set up camp," Gu Qianxun replied.
"It looks like this is where they''re nning to make a move," Han Li mused.
"The environment here is quite special, and the spatial storm is far weaker here than elsewhere," Gu Qianxun replied with a nod.
As soon as her voice trailed off, a burst of thunderous rumbling suddenly rang out from within the valley.
The two of them cast their eyes into the canyon in unison upon seeing this, and they were greeted by the sight of bursts of crimson mes rising up from the ground alongside gusts of howling blue winds.
The two shed to create a reaction simr to that of pouring water into bubbling oil, generating gusts of fierce white winds that swept through the air in all directions.
The gusts of white wind were forced upward by the rock faces on either side of the narrow canyon, scattering much of the spatial storm above the canyon."With the spatial storm weakened by these winds, there''s a chance that we could pass over the canyon, but it''s still only a very slim one. In any case, with our physical constitutions, forcing our way through will most likely only lead to death," Han Li said with tightly furrowed brows.
"There''s no need to be too concerned. I''m sure City Lord E must''ve made some preparations prior to bringing us here, so he won''t just send us to our deaths. After his meeting with City Lord Sha Xin, we should have a rtively safe way to cross the abyss," Gu Qianxun said with a smile.
"In that case, I''ll mind my own business," Han Li replied with a smile of his own.
He cast his gaze through the scattered spatial storm, and he spotted a glowing whitendmass on the other side of the ck abyss.
Are those the Great Ruins?
The night quickly passed by, and the next morning, Han Li and the others had only just emerged from their tents when they were summoned to a clearing.
"I''m sure all of you have already witnessed the perils presented by the ck abyss. It would be far too difficult to try and cross it with our powers alone, and that''s why our two cities have decided to work together. Coboration between our two cities is vital to crossing the abyss, so restrain yourselves and do not get into any conflicts with the Puppet City cultivators until we enter the Great Ruins," E Kuai dered in an authoritative voice.
Everyone was still rather unwilling to work with the Puppet City cultivators, but no one raised any objections.
"May I ask how we''re going to be crossing the ck abyss, City Lord E?" Sun Tu asked.
Everyone else also turned to E Kuai to hear his answer. Even though much of the spatial storm above the abyss had been scattered, it was still extremely dangerous.
"Rest assured, I''ve already decided on a course of action with Fellow Daoist Daoist Liu Hua and City Lord Sha Xin," E Kuai replied with a faint smile.
Mistress Liu Hua took that as his cue to step forward, and he said, "As I''m sure all of you have already witnessed, the main sources of danger in the ck abyss is the tremendous suction force that it''s releasing, and the spatial storm above it.
¡°Thankfully, the special environment here has significantly weakened the spatial storm, and after some discussion with City Lord E and City Lord Sha Xin, we''ve designed a Star Falcon Flying Boat that incorporates my expertise in starpower restrictions and Puppet City''s puppetry acumen, and that should be enough to get us across the ck abyss."
"The body of the Star Falcon Flying Boat will be crafted by the Puppet City cultivators, while we''ll be responsible for engraving the restrictions on it. From here onward, all of you are to follow Fellow Daoist Liu Hua''s instructions," E Kuai ordered, and all of the Profound City cultivators gave a collective affirmative response.
After that, E Kuai discussed something briefly with Mistress Liu Hua, then gathered the other four city lords together for a separate meeting.
Meanwhile, the Puppet City cultivators had begun their work, clearing out arge area that was going to serve as their workspace for the construction of the flying boat.
At the same time, Mistress Liu Hua began delegating tasks to everyone.
He picked out three or four of the Profound City cultivators as he dered, "A special type of star fluid is required for the inscription of the restrictions. You will be responsible for mixing this star fluid, here are the ingredients and instructions."
Mistress Liu Hua then picked out a few more cultivators before issuing another instruction.
Before long, all but four of the Profound City cultivators had been assigned different tasks, and out of the four that remained, two of them were Han Li and Xuanyuan Xing. They were joined by a tall and thin yellow-haired young man from White Rock City, and a short and stocky man from Profound City.
Han Li wasn''t familiar with those two, all he knew were their names from the Five City Martial Gathering. The one from White Rock City was called L¨¹ Gang, while the name of the Profound City cultivator was Liang Fa.
"What should we do, Senior Liu Hua?" Han Li asked.
"I can tell that all of you possess tremendous spiritual sense. Your task will be the most important one of all, and that''s to help me engrave the restrictions onto the flying boat," Mistress Liu Hua dered, and Han Li was quite ted to hear this.
He was very curious about this Star Falcon Flying Boat, and with such an important task assigned to him, he would be able to glean much of the intricacies involved in the crafting process.
"With all due respect, Senior Liu Hua, I don''t even know the first thing about tool refinement. Restriction inscription is an extremely important task, one that I have no confidence of carrying out sessfully. If something goes wrong in this process, the consequences could be catastrophic.
¡°I know of several of our fellow daoists who are adept in the art of tool refinement, so why don''t I get them to help you instead?" Xuanyuan Xing suggested with a hesitant look on his face.
"Only those who possess immense spiritual sense can engrave my restrictions! Do you think this is a task that anybody could carry out? Aside from the four of you, only the four city lords meet the spiritual sense requirements, so if you don''t want to do this, then get Chen Yang from your Green Goat City to rece you," Mistress Liu Hua harrumphed in a displeased manner.
"I have no intention of shirking my duties, Senior Liu Hua, I''m just worried that my ipetence will lead to detrimental oues," Xuanyuan Xing hurriedly said with a fearful expression.
Mistress Liu Hua was quite pleased by Xuanyuan Xing''s panicked reaction, and the discontent on his face eased a little as he said, "Rest assured, I won''t make you inscribe any of the mostplex patterns, you''ll only be responsible for some of the simpler work in the corners. With your spiritual sense and my guidance, all of you will be up to the task."
Xuanyuan Xing raised no further objections upon hearing this.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Mistress Liu Hua continued, "Having said that, your concerns are notpletely unfounded. The process of creating restrictions in the Scalptia Spatial Domain is very different from the same process in the outside world, so you do need to master some technique in order toplete this task. Come over here and do some practice."
With that, he handed out a bone pen that was around the same thickness as a human finger and roughly half a foot in length to each of the four cultivators present.
The bone pen was very simr to the pens used for rune inscriptions, with a sharp tip that seemed to have been fashioned out of some type of scaled beast tooth, and a hair thin hole could be seen at the center of the tip.
On the other end of the pen was a transparent sac-like object, which was filled with some type of silver liquid that was giving off faint starpower fluctuations.
"These pens are called Star Wave Pens, and the liquid inside the star fluid that I just mentioned. Immortal spiritual power is inessible in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so while engraving the restrictions, you''ll need to inject your spiritual sense into the star fluid. These jade slips contain some simple star runes, you can try engraving them on these jade bs first," Mistress Liu Hua said as he pulled out four jade slips and some white jade bs for everyone.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly as he injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip, and sure enough, there were some star runes inside, but all of them appeared to be quiteplex and were very different from any of the runes that he had ever seen before.
"My star runes are going to be more difficult to engrave than the runes you''ll find in the outside world, so listen carefully to my instructions," Mistress Liu Hua said, then began instructing Han Li and the others through voice transmission.
Only after more than two hours had passed did the lesson conclude, and despite the strange and unfamiliar nature of these star runes, Han Li was able to master the concepts quite quickly thanks to his ster tool refinement foundation.
In contrast, the other three didn''t have any tool refinement experience, so they were far slower learners than Han Li, but they were eventually able to get the hang of things as well.
Under Mistress Liu Hua''s instructions, the four of them each picked up a jade b and began practicing their inscriptions.
Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the Star Wave Pen to activate the star fluid inside, thenmenced his inscription, and a stream of silver light flowed out of the tip of the pen onto the jade b.
This was a process that was very taxing on one''s spiritual sense, and the Star Wave Pen resembled a tiny vortex that was constantly absorbing his spiritual sense, but this amount of expenditure was still well within his means.
His expression was calm and focused, while the tip of his bone pen was gliding smoothly over the jade b, and it didn''t take long before aplete star rune had taken shape.
As soon as the final stroke waspleted, the entire star rune instantly lit up, then dimmed once again. However, one could clearly sense a burst of invisible power coursing through it.
"Oh? That was quick. Looks like you must have some past tool refinement experience," Mistress Liu Hua said with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
"I have dabbled a little in the past," Han Li replied.
"This is quite well done. The distribution of starpower is very even, and there aren''t any problems with it. You can begin attempting moreplex runes now," Mistress Liu Hua said after assessing the star rune that Han Li had just inscribed.
Han Li nodded in response, then injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip once again to study the moreplex runes.
The other three were far slower to pick up the craft then Han Li, and on average, each of them only sessfully inscribed their first star rune after four or five attempts.
Mistress Liu Hua was forced to suppress his impatience to provide instructions to the three of them, and they improved very quickly.
As for Han Li, he was already racing along, and aside from some difficult bottlenecks, he required no instructions from Mistress Liu Hua in any other areas.
Chapter 923: Purple Figure
Chapter 923: Purple Figure
Close to a month flew by in a sh.
The cultivators of Puppet City worked extremely quickly, and the main frame of the Star Falcon Flying Boat was alreadyplete. It was still going to take some time before the boat''s construction was fullypleted, but at this stage, the restriction inscription process had tomence.
"Here are the blueprints for the Star Falcon Flying Boat. Take a look first, and I''ll exin everything to you in detail after. All of you should be extremely honored. Under normal circumstances, you''d never get to see my blueprints," Mistress Liu Hua harrumphed coldly as he flipped a hand over to produce four jade slips.
After taking a jade slip from Mistress Liu Hua, Han Li injected his spiritual sense into it to find the blueprints of a bird-shaped flying boat inside. The design of the boat was apanied by many annotations and star runes, forming a diagram of an extremely intricate starpower restriction.
Over the past month of learning from Mistress Liu Hua, Han Li had made some brilliant progress, and thanks to his prior experience in arrays and tool refinement, he was able to somewhat understand this starpower restriction.
This starpower restriction seems to be more geared toward summoning than defense, Han Li thought to himself after some observation.
As for the Xuanyuan Xing and the others, they were still not at a stage where they could interpret the function of the restriction.
After giving Han Li and the others roughly fifteen minutes to examine the blueprints, Mistress Liu Hua dered, "Alright, now, I''m going to tell you about all of the important points in this Star Falcon Restriction."
Han Li had already developed a rudimentary understanding of the restriction on his own, and after hearing what Mistress Liu Hua had to say, many of the questions that had stumped him were answered.In contrast, Xuanyuan Xing and the others were still clearly none the wiser.
For some reason, Mistress Liu Hua disyed far more patience than he normally did on this asion, answering all of the questions raised by the trio until they finally had a rough understanding of the restriction.
After all of the questions were answered, Mistress Liu Hua''s patience was clearly running thin, and he shook his head in a disgruntled fashion before leading Han Li and the others to the flying boat.
The Puppet City cultivators were still busy at work, and a hint of enmity appeared in their eyes at the sight of Han Li''s group, but they made no attempt to stop them.
Upon their arrival, they were approached by Zhuo Ge, who smiled as he greeted, "Wee, fellow daoists. The main frame of the Star Falcon Flying Boat is alreadyplete, so it''s all up to you now."
Mistress Liu Hua nodded in response with a cold expression, then began delegating tasks to Han Li and the others.
After all of the tasks had been assigned, Han Li and the others sprang into action.
Despite Mistress Liu Hua''s frosty reception, Zhuo Ge remained unbothered, and he turned to Han Li with a smile as he greeted, "We meet again, Fellow Daoist Li."
"Indeed. Looks like we''ll be working together quite extensively from now on," Han Li replied with a nod.
"It''s a pleasure working with you," Zhuo Ge said as his smile widened a little.
Even though they had only exchanged a few words, their brief conversation had attracted a lot of attention.
Aside from the two women that Han Li had saved earlier, all of the Puppet City cultivators were observing Han Li with cold animosity in their eyes, while Xuanyuan Xing and the others were also looking at him with tightly furrowed brows, and the atmosphere was starting to be a little tense.
"Li Feiyu, hurry up and get to work!" Mistress Liu Hua scolded with a displeased expression.
Han Li excused himself with Zhuo Ge, then began carrying out the tasks assigned to him, and only then was the tension in the air alleviated.
Meanwhile, Zhuo Ge promptly departed, while Han Li watched his departing figure from out of the corner of his eye.
He was nning to strike up a conversation with Zhuo Ge to see if he knew anything about Violet Spirit, but this was clearly not a good time for that.
With that in mind, he snuck a nce at the Puppet City campsite to discover a cluster of tents, all of which were crafted from some type of special material that could keep out spiritual sense, thereby preventing him from seeing what was inside.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he considered his next move.
Han Li and the others worked day and night without rest, and after close to half a month, most of the restrictions on the main frame of the flying boat had finally beenpleted.
However, this didn''t mean that Star Falcon Restriction was nearingpletion. The restriction on the main frame was only a part of the overall restriction, and the majority of the work could only be carried out after construction on the body of the flying boat waspleted.
On this day, Han Li had just used up the star fluid in his pen, and he was about to get some more when he heard the sound of footsteps ringing out from the Puppet City camp, apanied by the sound ofughter.
Theughter wasing from E Kuai, and Han Li wasn''t surprised to hear this.
Half a day ago, E Kuai had taken the other city lords to visit the Puppet City camp, and it was unclear what had been discussed between them, but judging from the sound of E Kuai''sughter, things had to have gone quite smoothly.
It didn''t take long before E Kuai and the city lords appeared in Han Li''s field of view, and they were apanied by Sha Xin, Zhuo Ge, and several other Puppet City cultivators.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s expression abruptly stiffened as he began intently scrutinizing a purple figure beside Sha Xin.
The figure was wearing a veiled bamboo hat that concealed their features, but judging from their figure, it appeared to be a woman.
Even though he could see the woman''s face, he couldn''t help but feel like her figure was rather simr to Violet Spirit''s.
He was just about to find an excuse to go and take a closer look when the purple figure said something to Sha Xin, then made her way back into the Puppet City camp.
Han Li reflexively tried to chase after her, only for a golden-robed young man to suddenly appear before him, blocking his path.
"Outsiders are forbidden from entering our Puppet City''s campsite!"
Han Li stopped in his tracks as his eyes narrowed slightly, but he then quicklyposed himself as he said, "I have something that I need to speak to City Lord Chen Yang about, so I approached him without thinking once I saw that he hade out of the campsite. Please forgive me for..."
All of a sudden, his voice trailed off as he caught a clear glimpse of the golden-robed young man standing before him.
The man was identical in appearance to a normal human, but he was a lifeless puppet.
"Please step back," the golden-robed puppet said.
Han Li nodded in response, then returned to the Profound City campsite to retrieve a vial of star fluid, then made his way back toward the flying boat.
All of a sudden, Mistress Liu Hua appeared in his path with a displeased expression as he scolded, "Li Feiyu, stop getting distracted and focus on your duties! Don''t make me have to speak to you again!"
"Rest assured, Senior Liu Hua, my part is almost done," Han Li replied in a respectful manner.
Mistress Liu Hua gave Han Li a parting re before turning to depart.
Han Li had only just gotten back to work when Mistress Liu Hua''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind through voice transmission.
"I can tell that you''re trying to get closer to the people from Puppet City, but don''t make it look so obvious! If you keep this, you''re going to bebeled a traitor!"
Han Li raised his head slightly to take a nce at Mistress Liu Hua''s departing figure, then returned to work.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of Han Li and the others, all of the inscriptions on the main frame were finallypleted before nightfall on the third day.
However, the past half-month of work had been extremely taxing on everyone''s spiritual sense, so they were all looking rather pale.
After all of the work was done, Mistress Liu Hua''s attitude toward Xuanyuan Xing''s trio warmed up significantly, and he said, "You''ve done well. Construction on the Star Falcon Flying Boat must bepleted first before we can continue, so take a good rest in the interim."
Han Li and the others bade farewell to Mistress Liu Hua before departing, but Mistress Liu Hua instructed Han Li to stay behind.
"Why are you trying to get close to the people from Puppet City?" Mistress Liu Hua asked with a serious look in his eyes.
"I require a type of material that I''ve heard can only be found in Puppet City, so I''m hoping to get closer to them to see if I can exchange for that material. Rest assured, I won''t let it get in the way of my work," Han Li replied, making up a reason on the spot.
"You think I''m stupid enough to believe something like that? Regardless of what your intentions are, the two cities are still sworn enemies, and the conflict between them cannot be resolved.
¡°Once ess is gained to the Great Ruins, the two cities will instantly turn on each other again, so if you know what''s good for you, then you''ll stay far away from the Puppet City cultivators! Otherwise, you run the risk of having both cities turn on you!" Mistress Liu Hua harrumphed coldly.
Despite Mistress Liu Hua''s cold tone, it was clear that his words came from a ce of concern, and a surge of warmth flowed through Han Li''s heart upon hearing this.
"Thank you for looking out for me, Mistress Liu Hua. I''ll be sure to keep that in mind," Han Li replied in a grateful manner, and Mistress Liu Hua gave another cold harrumph before departing.
Han Li took a nce at the Puppet City campsite, then also returned to his own residence.
As the night deepened, a blurry humanoid figure snuck out of a tent before concealing themselves in the shadow cast by a nearby mountain. From there, they slowly left the Profound City campsite before approaching the Puppet City campsite.
Not only was the figure almostpletely invisible, they also weren''t giving off any aura at all.
It didn''t take long before the figure arrived before the Puppet City campsite, following which they emerged from behind arge rock, revealing themselves to be none other than Han Li.
He had carefully weighed up his options after seeing that purple figure three days ago, and in the end, he was unable to suppress the urge toe here, despite the risks involved.
Chapter 924: Visit from Daoist Xie
Chapter 924: Visit from Daoist Xie
Han Li began inspecting his surroundings while thinking of a way to sneak into the Puppet City campsite.
The campsite was patrolled by a series of puppets, and there were also two Puppet City cultivators standing on a pair of watchtowers, surveying the entire campsite from their vantage point.
Right at this moment, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder, giving him a massive fright.
He immediately swung around with an rmed expression while rushing back in retreat, but upon catching sight of the figure that had tapped him on the shoulder, he stopped in his tracks, and the apprehension on his face also eased slightly.
The figure that had appeared behind Han Li without any warning was none other than Daoist Xie.
"Come with me, and don''t make a sound," Daoist Xie said, then turned and began making his way into the mountain range in the distance.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he took a nce at the Puppet City campsite, but ultimately still followed along after Daoist Xie.
The two of them only stopped once they were far away from the Profound City campsite, and Daoist Xie turned to Han Li and asked, "Are you nning to search for Violet Spirit in the Puppet City campsite?"
"That''s right. A few days ago, I saw someone in the Puppet City campsite that looked rather simr to Violet Spirit. I don''t know if it actually is her, but I need to get to the bottom of this," Han Li replied."You''re a fool! Immortal spiritual power is inessible in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so aura concealment is extremely difficult. You''re going to get yourself killed if you venture into the Puppet City campsite under these circumstances!" Daoist Xie harrumphed coldly.
A look of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
In this moment, Daoist Xie''s demeanor was no different from that of a normal person.
"I''m aware of the risks involved, but I can''t just do nothing," Han Li said with tightly furrowed brows.
"Even so, you have to take into ount the current circumstances. Sneaking into the Puppet City campsite now is far too reckless. You''ll just have to leave this forter. If that person really is Violet Spirit, she''s not going to suddenly run away, so there''s no need for you to be in such a hurry,"Daoist Xie said.
"That''s true, I was indeed too reckless," Han Li sighed as he nodded in response.
Daoist Xie took a nce at Han Li, then asked, "What aura concealment method are you using? It must be a very advanced one, considering even I almost wasn''t able to see through it. No wonder you dared to try and venture into the Puppet City campsite like this."
"If it really was that advanced, then you wouldn''t have caught me," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
At the moment, he was using the Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique, a concealment secret technique included in the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
The secret technique allowed one to seal all of their profound acupoints, but the downside was that no profound acupoints could be used while this secret technique was in effect.
After that, a long silence ensued, and Daoist Xie stared expressionlessly at Han Li without saying a word.
"I''m assuming you didn''te to me sote at night just to tell me this, right, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked.
"I do indeed have some other matters to discuss with you. Barring any mishaps, the Star Falcon Flying Boat should be ready in another half a month. The entrance found by E Kuai and Sha Xin is a decent one, so all of you should be able to enter the Great Ruins with no problems. When that timees, I''m going to need your help," Daoist Xie said.
"It seems like you know a lot about the Great Ruins, Brother Xie. Could it be that you''ve regained more memories? It feels like you''re very different from before," Han Li said.
Daoist Xie offered no reply to Han Li''s question as he turned to look in the direction of the Great Ruins with some mixed emotions in his eyes.
Shortly thereafter, he turned his gaze back to Han Li as he sighed, "I have indeed recovered a lot of my memories, but I''m afraid I still can''t tell you about them right now."
"In that case, just tell me when the time is right," Han Li replied with a nod.
"I don''t have much time left. I can''t be absent for too long. Otherwise, Chen Yang could notice. This jade slip contains what I need you to do for me," Daoist Xie said, then opened his mouth to release a white jade slip.
Han Li caught the jade slip and was just about to say something when Daoist Xie raised a hand to interrupt him.
"Make sure to do as the jade slip says. I promise you that it''ll only be beneficial to you, and there could perhaps even be a massive opportunity waiting for you."
After that, Daoist Xie promptly slipped away into the night, rushing back toward the Profound City campsite as a ck shadow.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
At this moment, the speed disyed by Daoist Xie wasn''t inferior by muchpared to his own.
He took a nce at Daoist Xie''s departing figure, then turned his gaze back to the white jade slip before injecting a wisp of his spiritual sense into it.
In the next instant, a stunned look appeared in his eyes, followed by a look of indecision.
After a long period of contemtion, he seemed to have finally made u his mind, and he crushed the jade slip into powder before making his way back to the Profound City campsite.
With the Puppet City cultivators working on the construction of the Star Falcon Flying Boat, Han Li and the others had nothing to do, so they stayed in their tents to rest, and they were asionally summoned by Mistress Liu Hua for lessons on Star Falcon Restriction.
Around half a month flew by in a sh, and the construction of the Star Falcon Flying Boat was finallyplete.
A silver flying boat was resting on the ground, giving off a metallic gleam that gave it an indestructible appearance.
The entire boat was extremely streamlined in form, with two silver wings that were angled upward, giving it the appearance of a silver bird that was about to take flight.
The interior of the flying boat was hollow, allowing people to stay inside, and there was a row of windows on each side that was sealed by a type of transparent material that allowed one to see outside.
At this moment, all of the Profound City cultivators were gathered in front of the flying boat, and E Kuai patted it with his hand a few times, but there was no reverberation, as if the flying boat were solid all the way through.
"The fellow daoists of your Puppet City must be truly exceptional craftsmen to have created such a sturdy and intricate flying boat in just a month," E Kuai praised.
Sha Xin was also present with seven or eight Puppet City cultivators by her side, and she smiled as she replied, "You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist E. In a normal setting, this boat would be able to fly on its own, but suction force from the ck abyss will be too much for it to bear, so we''ll have to count on Fellow Daoist Liu Hua."
Han Li swept his gaze over the Puppet City cultivators, following which a hint of disappointment shed through his eyes at the absence of the purple-robed woman.
"We''ll be counting on you to apply the finishing touches, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua," E Kuai said as he turned to Mistress Liu Hua, who was observing the flying boat with his brows slightly furrowed.
He strode over to the boat, thenid a hand onto its surface in silence.
"Is there something wrong, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua?" E Kuai asked.
"Has Silver Gilded Fluid been injected into the walls of the boat, Fellow Daoist Sha Xin?" Mistress Liu Hua asked.
"That''s right. Silver Gilded Fluid is a secret concoction of our Puppet City, so I didn''t think you''d be aware of its existence. The injection of Silver Gilded Fluid allows the different materials in the ship''s walls toe together more cohesively, thereby strengthening its defenses," Sha Xin exined, and Mistress Liu Hua fell silent upon hearing this.
"Is there something wrong, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua?" E Kuai repeated.
"No, it''s just that the primary material used to make Silver Gilded Fluid is Silver Gilded Stone, which conflicts a little with the star fluid that I''ve prepared, so that''s going to make the restriction inscription process a more difficult, but it shouldn''t be a problem," Mistress Liu Hua replied.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he opened his mouth to say something, only for Mistress Liu Hua to stop him with a stern look.
"In that case, please begin right away, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua. We don''t know how long the spatial storm will remain weak for, so the longer we dy, the greater the chance that something could go wrong," E Kuai said.
Mistress Liu Hua nodded in response, then led Han Li and the others into the boat, while the other cultivators from the two cities departed.
It was unclear whether this was due to the materials used to craft the Star Falcon Flying Boat, or if the boat itself possessed this innate property, but as soon as they entered it, all of the sounds from outside were cut out.
"Is this really not going to have a negative impact, Senior Liu Hua?" Han Li asked with a grim expression.
Unlike the earlier preparatory work that they hadpleted on the main frame of the flying boat, they were going to trulymence the process of setting up the Star Falcon Restriction now, and this required both the inscription of runes and the addition of many tools and materials, thereby making for a far more difficult process.
With the Silver Gilded Fluid posing an additional obstacle, the process was only going to be made even more difficult.
Han Li was rtively confident that he would be able to deal with these difficulties, but the same couldn''t be said for the other three.
Xuanyuan Xing''s trio had clearly also realized this, and uneasy looks appeared on their faces.
"How could it possibly not have a negative impact? This is where we''ll begin truly constructing the array. If any mistakes are made in the process, not only will the array fail, the materials and tools used will also be ruined. What a massive pain in the backside!" Mistress Liu Hua grumbled with a furious expression.
"Could it be that you haven''t brought much materials with you, Senior Liu Hua?" Han Li asked.
"I brought two batches of materials, and I thought that would definitely be enough, but that may not be the case now," Mistress Liu Hua harrumphed coldly as he red at Xuanyuan Xing''s trio, and the three of them lowered their heads with embarrassed expressions.
"In that case, why didn''t you inform City Lord E Kuai of this, Senior Liu Hua? If we allbine our efforts, I''m sure we can think of a solution," Han Li said.
A peculiar look shed through Mistress Liu Hua''s eyes upon hearing this, and his attitude suddenly took a turn as he said, "It''s just a minor hup, there''s no need to inform City Lord E. Don''t worry, just do your best, and I''ll make sure everything goes smoothly in the end."
Chapter 925: Remedial Action
Chapter 925: Remedial Action
"How about you and I work on the Star Falcon Restriction by ourselves, Senior Liu Hua? That way, we''ll be a little behind schedule, but it''ll be a much safer route to take, and I''m sure City Lord E and the others won''t mind," Han Li suggested.
"That won''t work. The Star Falcon Restriction was designed with five people in mind, so all five of us need to work on it at once. Otherwise, the restriction will be thrown into a state of imbnce andpletely copse. Alright, that''s enough talking, let''s get started," Mistress Liu Hua said.
After that, Mistress Liu Hua gave Han Li and the others another detailed rundown of the Star Falcon Restriction before workmenced.
Just like in their prior arrangement, Mistress Liu Hua was responsible for the central area of the boat, while Han Li and the others worked around him.
Han Li began inscribing runes onto the flying boat with his Star Wave Pen, but the Silver Gilded Fluid in the walls of the ship was constantly conflicting against the star fluid in his pen, making the process several times more difficult.
Han Li took a deep breath, then increased his spiritual sense to stabilize the star fluid in response.
Given his current level of spiritual sense and his understanding of the Star Falcon Restriction,k he was able to limate himself very quickly, and it didn''t take long before things began to fall into ce for him.
In contrast, Xuanyuan Xing''s trio was having a much rougher time. In particr, Xuanyuan Xing had failed four or five times in a row within the span of less than half a day, wasting a lot of materials in the process.
Mistress Liu Hua was getting very disgruntled by these repeated failures, and he had no choice but to stop what he was doing and provide more instruction to Xuanyuan Xing''s trio.Some timeter, the majority of the Star Falcon Flying Boat''s interior was riddled with glowing silver patterns, while Mistress Liu Hua and the others were standing at the center of the boat.
Xuanyuan Xing''s trio were hanging their heads in shame, while Han Li stood beside them in silence.
Mistress Liu Hua was standing in front of them with a grim expression, seemingly contemting something.
At this point, most of the array had already beenpleted, but due to the fact that Xuanyuan Xing''s trio had wasted too much materials in the process, they had finally run out.
"What do we do now, Senior Liu Hua?" Han Li asked after a long silence.
"I still have some array tools left, and the used up materials aren''t allpletely ruined, so they can be reused after some repair. The main problem right now is that we''re missing Sea Condensed Jade, Blush Crystals, and Earth Tide Stones," Mistress Liu Hua replied in a calm manner.
"Could it be that you already have a way to source more of those three materials, Senior Liu Hua?" Han Li asked after seeing Mistress Liu Hua''s calm expression.
"There''s a type of scaled beast called the Ice Scaled Armadillo in the Bipr Extreme Mountain Range, and the horn on its head is very simr to Sea Condensing Crystal, so that can be used as a substitute. I recall spotting some Ice Scaled Armadillo tracks on the way here, and I presume it''ll only take us about two days to go and hunt a few.
¡°As for Blush Crystals, ording to my knowledge, City Lord Fu Jian has some, so I can just go ask for a few from him. The only problem right now is that I don''t know where we''re going to procure more Earth Tide Stones from," Mistress Liu Hua said.
Right at this moment, a voice rang out from outside the flying boat.
"There''s a type of Puppet City puppet that has parts made from Earth Tide Stones, so I assume Fellow Daoist Sha Xin should have some. I''ll go borrow some from her."
Immediately thereafter, E Kuai and Chen Yang made their way into the boat.
"City Lord E!" Mistress Liu Hua hurriedly rose to his feet as an awkward look shed through his eyes.
"You''re still just as prideful as ever, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua. Even though you promised me that you would take care of the Star Falcon Flying Boat''s construction, you should''ve spoken to me upon encountering difficulties, rather than try to tackle everything on your own," E Kuai said with a faint smile.
Upon hearing this, Han Li finally understood why Mistress Liu Hua was unwilling to bring up this matter to E Kuai.
An embarrassed look appeared on Mistress Liu Hua''s face as he sighed, "I was too ashamed to turn to you for help after screwing everything up, but seeing as you''ve already been made aware of this, then we''ll do as you say, City Lord E."
E Kuai nodded in response, then turned to Chen Yang as he said, "I''ll get you to hunt the Ice Scaled Armadillos. I also recall seeing some tracks on the way here, and if I recall correctly, it was roughly in this location."
He pulled out a jade slip as he spoke, then drew out a rough map of the Bipr Extreme Mountain Range onto it before marking out a spot on the map and handing it to Chen Yang.
"Leave it to me," Chen Yang said as he took the jade slip before turning to depart, only to be stopped by E Kuai.
"Hold on a second. The Bipr Extreme Mountain Range is fraught with peril, so it wouldn''t be wise for you to go on your own. I''ll get Li Feiyu toe with you. He just so happens to be familiar with Sea Condensing Crystals, so he''ll be able to help you out."
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response.
"City Lord E, I was the one who wasted the most materials, so please let me go and help them as well. That way, I can at least somewhat atone for my mistakes," Xuanyuan Xing suddenly implored as he stepped forward.
"Alright, then you can go as well," E Kuai replied with a nod.
The three of them made some brief preparations, then left the campsite to hunt for Ice Scaled Armadillos.
Due to the fact that they were going back the same way that they hade from, they were able to make very fast progress, closing in the marked spot on the map after only a day.
At night, the cial aura in the air suddenly became more pronounced, and gusts of freezing winds were blowing through the area without pause.
The winds were truly freezing, to the point that even with their tremendous physical constitutions, the three of them were beginning to feel numb in their extremities.
"These weather conditions are a little abnormal, so let''s find a ce to seek shelter in for now," Chen Yang said.
Xuanyuan Xing seemed to be struggling quite a bit, and he eagerly nodded in agreement with this proposal.
Han Li was still able to go on, but he didn''t raise any objections, either.
After searching around nearby for a while, they quickly found a rtively obscure cave to enter.
The temperatures in the cave were slightly less unforgiving, and the three of them were all quite relieved as they sat down inside.
Xuanyuan Xing seemed to be the one struggling the most with the frigid temperatures, and he found a ce to sit in the deepest part of the cave.
After that, he pulled out a small brazier and a bamboo container from the cloth pouch on his back, and he poured out some oily ck substance into the brazier.
A small sparknded in the brazier, and the oily ck substance instantly erupted into mes.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
Even though the cave was quite obscure, a bright me could still attract the attention of scaled beasts outside.
He took a nce at Chen Yang, who didn''t raise any objections, so he didn''t say anything, either.
"City Lord Chen, Fellow Daoist Li,e and join me by the fire. I can see that the two of you are far more resistant to the cold than I am, but it''s still a good idea to keep yourselves warm," Xuanyuan Xing said.
"Sure," Chen Yang said as he strode over to the brazier, followed closely by Han Li.
The fire generated by thebusting ck oil in the brazier was extremely hot, and even in these freezing conditions, Han Li felt as if he were basking in the light of the noon sun.
"This is quite a remarkable substance!" Han Li eximed as he looked into the brazier.
"It''s just a type of scaled beast fat," Xuanyuan Xing replied with a smile.
Han Li nodded in response and didn''t ask any further questions.
"Why are the winds so strong tonight?" Xuanyuan Xing murmured in a perplexed voice.
"Due to its close proximity to the ck abyss, the Bipr Extreme Mountain has always been prone to drastic changes in weather, so this is not a strange urrence," Chen Yang said.
The howling of the wind outside was growing louder and louder, but despite this, the interior of the cave remained as warm as ever, resembling a safe haven in a cold and bleak world.
Thanks to the fire, their stiff and frozen bodies gradually loosened up, the task that they had been assigned wasn''t particrly difficult, so the three of them were feeling quite rxed and began chatting with one another.
However, as the night deepened, the conversation quickly petered out.
Xuanyuan Xing leaned against the wall of the cave and fell asleep first, while Chen Yang also sat down with his legs crossed before closing his eyes to rest.
Han Li didn''t feel like sleeping, nor was he in the mood to cultivate, and he stared into the me in the brazier with a contemtive look on his face.
At some point, Chen Yang opened his eyes, and he asked through voice transmission, "It''s already quitete, Fellow Daoist Li, why are you not resting? The task assigned to us isn''t overly difficult, but it''s still a good idea to rest up."
Han Li took a nce at Xuanyuan Xing, then replied through voice transmission, "This cave is quite obscure, but we''re still in the Bipr Extreme Mountain Range, so there''s no guarantee that we won''t be attacked at night. Hence, it''s best to have someone stay up through the night."
"With your exceptional powers and cautious nature, I''m sure you''ll be able to aplish great things in the Great Ruins," Chen Yang chuckled.
"I don''t know about that, I''m only apanying everyone into the Great Ruins on this asion in order to broaden my own horizons," Han Li replied with a smile.
"There are countless precious treasures in the Great Ruins, is there nothing that appeals to you?" Chen Yang asked with a meaningful expression.
"Oh? What do you mean by that, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Han Li asked.
"I heard that you paid a visit to Fellow Daoist Liu Hua prior to the Five City Martial Gathering, and there seemed to have been some mention of Heavenly Qilin Crystals during that visit," Chen Yang mused.
Chapter 926: Hunting Armadillos
Chapter 926: Hunting Armadillos
"That''s right, I visited Senior Liu Hua to find a way to remove the ck Tribtion Centipede in my body. You have some very good sources, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li replied.
"Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Li. I wasn''t tracking you or anything like that, I only happened to learn of this by chance. Heavenly Qilin Crystals can be found in the Great Ruins, so if you need my help, then I''ll be sure to do everything in my power to assist you," Chen Yang promised with a wide smile.
"Thank you for looking out for me, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li replied.
"You haven''t been in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so you haven''t had a chance to explore the Great Ruins yet, but I''ve already been in there on several asions. In the face of truly alluring treasures, so-called friendships and even the differences between the two cities can bepletely disregarded. You''re a smart man, so I''m sure you don''t need me to tell you that, Fellow Daoist Li," Chen Yang said as a peculiar tone crept into his voice.
Han Li took a nce at Chen Yang, but didn''t say anything.
"In my eyes, the power of the individual is far too insignificant in the Great Ruins. I''ve always admired you greatly, and if you agree to work with me, I can guarantee you that I''ll find you a Heavenly Qilin Crystal, so please consider my offer carefully," Chen Yang continued, then closed his eyes and spoke no further.
Han Li remained silent as his eyes narrowed slightly.
As the date of entry into the Great Ruins drew closer, not only was the coboration between Puppet City and Profound City about toe to an end, all of the city lords were also hatching their own ns. Even though Han Li was technically Chen Yang''s subordinate, he didn''t necessarily have to obey him under these special circumstances.
What Chen Yang was proposing was quite clear, but Han Li didn''t know what his objectives were, and under these circumstances, he didn''t want to rush into any agreements.The night quickly passed by, and by the time night transitioned into day, the howling wind outside the cave had already subsided. It was still extremely cold outside, but far better than it had been the night before.
"Let''s go, we still have some way to go until we reach our destination," Chen Yang said before departing.
Han Li inhaled a lungful of cold air as his brows furrowed slightly.
Perhaps it was because he had stayed up the entire night to keep watch, but at this moment, he was feeling rather weary, and he felt like he couldn''t muster up much strength.
"What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Li?" Xuanyuan Xing asked. "You don''t look very energetic."
"It''s nothing, I guess I''m still just not ustomed to the environment here," Han Li replied, then took another deep breath as channeled his own bloodline powers, and to his relief, the weariness in his body quickly faded away.
"In that case, let''s set off," Xuanyuan Xing said.
Han Li nodded in response, and he was just about to leave the cave when his expression suddenly changed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the left, where there were currently two figures racing along in a distant mountain range.
One of them was Zhuo Ge of Puppet City, while the other was the dwarf-like man who was no more than four feet in height.
"Hide!" Chen Yang hurriedly urged at the sight of the two men, then immediately concealed himself behind a giant rock, and Han Li and Xuanyuan Xing also ducked behind some cover.
Zhuo Ge and hispanion didn''t notice Han Li''s trio, and they continued onward, quickly vanishing into the distance.
Only then did Han Li''s trio slowly emerge from their hiding spots.
"What are those two doing here?" Xuanyuan Xing asked.
"There are many treasures and unique scaled beasts to be found in the Bipr Extreme Mountain Range, so it''s no surprise to see Puppet City cultivators scouring the mountain range. We still have a mission toplete, so let''s not get entangled in any other matters," Chen Yang said.
"Do you know those two, Fellow Daoist Chen? Do they pose a threat to us?" Han Li asked.
"The taller one of the two is called Zhuo Ge, while the shorter one is called Wu Yun, and both of them are top-tier cultivators of Puppet City. It''s very difficult to gauge the power level of Puppet City cultivators asbat prowess is a culmination of their own powers and the puppets that they use.
¡°With a powerful puppet at their disposal, even an ordinary Puppet City cultivator could have their powers enhanced by tenfold, so do not take any Puppet City cultivator lightly," Chen Yang warned.
Han Li and Xuanyuan Xing nodded in response.
After waiting for a while longer, Chen Yang said, "They should be far away now, so let''s go."
Thus, the three of them promptly departed, and after close to half a day, they had reached a basin that was nestled in between some mountains.
The basin was filled with scattered rocks, and freezing winds were blowing through the basin to produce a rustling sound akin to that produced by countless crawling insects.
At the bottom of the basin was ayer of faint blue mist that, for some reason, refused to dissipate in the wind, and after consulting the jade slip momentarily, Chen Yang dered, "This should be the spot."
Han Li cast his gaze toward the basin up ahead to find that it was circr in shape and so massive that he couldn''t see the other side.
Chen Yang led the way forward, followed closely by Han Li and Xuanyuan Xing.
Due to the enormous size of the basin, the three of them decided to split up.
Han Li was going to search through the left side of the basin, Chen Yang was going to venture into the middle, while Xuanyuan Xing was sent to the right side, and they had agreed to reunite at the entrance of the basin a dayter.
Half a dayter.
A fist came crashing down with tremendous power, mming down onto the head of a snow wolf scaled beast.
The snow wolf''s head exploded like a watermelon, and its massive body crashed to the ground and spasmed a few times before quickly falling still.
Han Li dug a beast core out of the snow wolf''s head and stowed it away before looking around with tightly furrowed brows.
The spatial pressure in the Bipr Extreme Mountain Range was even heavier than that of Profound City, so his spiritual sensory range had been limited to only around twenty kilometers. After half a day of searching, he hadn''t found a single Ice Scaled Armadillo, but he had encountered many other scaled beasts.
He cast his gaze forward to discover that the rocks up ahead were only bing more massive. Some of them were hundreds of feet tall, resembling small mountains, and the blue mist on the ground was also denser than before.
This isn''t going to work...
After some contemtion, Han Li leaped onto arge rock, then sprang onto another one, and he began jumping from rock to rock while releasing his spiritual sense to examine the surrounding area.
There were many scaled beasts in the basin, some of which even Han Li found to be rather dangerous, so he was taking some risk by jumping around like this and making himself a target, but that was a risk that he was just going to have to ept if he wanted to find an Ice Scaled Armadillo as soon as possible.
After warding off two scaled beast attacks, Han Li''s eyes finally lit up as he cast his gaze toward the right before rushing away in that direction.
A few momentster, he arrived in a dense quarry of rocks, all of which were a translucent white color. Unlike the rocks that Han Li had encountered thus far, these seemed to be some type of special ore that was giving a bone-chilling cial aura.
At this moment, there was a scaled beast that was taller than the average adult human munching on these pieces of white ore.
The creature had a translucent blue and white horn on its forehead, and its entire body was covered in blue scales, while a long tail was dragging along behind it.
It was an Ice Scaled Armadillo!
Alerted by the sound of Han Li''s approach, the Ice Scaled Armadillo looked up to find Han Li swooping down upon it like a hunting hawk, and it immediately let loose a sharp cry akin to the crying of an infant before darting away as a blue shadow, traveling at an extraordinary speed.
"You''re not getting away!" Han Li yelled as the profound acupoints on his legs lit up, releasing rays of white light that formed a starry white cloud, which lifted him up into the air.
At the same time, he stomped heavily down onto the space beneath him, causing it to ripple violently as he propelled himself through the air, instantly reaching the Ice Scaled Armadillo before reaching down to make a grab for it.
The Ice Scaled Armadillo screeched once again as it pped the ground with its long tail, allowing it to change directions in an instant and just barely evade Han Li''s grab.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he twisted around in mid-air before stomping down onto the space underfoot again.
A dull thump rang out as he also changed directions to continue pursuing the Ice Scaled Armadillo, and at the same time, he raised his right hand before flicking his middle and index fingers through the air, sending two finger projections flying into the Ice Scaled Armadillo.
The armadillo was instantly sent flying, somersaulting through the air a few times before crashing into arge rock.
It seemed to have been enraged, and it mbered to its feet before pouncing at Han Li in retaliation.
It let loose a low roar as the horn on its head began glowing brightly, and a series of white stripes instantly appeared over its blue body. At the same time, it swelled up like a balloon, expanding to several times its original size in the blink of an eye, and its front ws also elongated about twofold as itshed out at Han Li.
Simultaneously, its blue tail whipped through the air as a blue shadow, hurtling toward Han Li''s face like a speeding harrow.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he thrust a palm forward, and the flurry of w projections unleashed by the Ice Scaled Armadillo instantly stopped cold in their tracks before shattering as if they had crashed into an invisible wall.
As for its tail, that also drew to a screeching halt around half a foot away from Han Li''s hand before shattering into pieces.
In the next instant, a dull thump rang out as the Ice Scaled Armadillo was sent flying back even faster than it hade, and it crashed heavily into the ground with a gruesome crunch as countless bones in its body were shattered upon impact.
Its body also reverted back to its original size, and blue blood came gushing out of its mouth as the light began to fade from its eyes.
Han Linded beside the Ice Scaled Armadillo and carefully examined its horn momentarily before nodding to himself and severing the horn.
ording to Mistress Liu Hua, they were going to require at least five or six of these horns, and he didn''t know if Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing had managed to gather any.
After stowing the horn away, Han Li cast his gaze toward the quarry of white rocks with a contemtive look in his eyes.
So this is what Ice Scaled Armadillos like to feed on...
After a brief pause, he continued deeper into the basin.
Chapter 927: Private Meeting
Chapter 927: Private Meeting
Half a dayter, a loud explosion rang out near another quarry of crystalline white rocks, followed by a despairing wail.
Arge hole had been pierced into an Ice Scaled Armadillo''s abdomen by a sharp rock, and it tried in futility to crawl away, only to ultimately fall to the ground.
Han Li arrived beside the Ice Scaled Armadillo before quickly harvesting its horn.
After discovering their food source, Han Li''s encounter rate with these Ice Scaled Armadillos had increased significantly, and after only half a day, he had already found four.
At this point, it was already very close to the rendezvous with Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing, so it was time to head back.
However, over the past half a day, he had been focused solely on searching for clusters of this white ore, so he had strayed away from his designated area, and he didn''t really know where he currently was.
After jumping onto a rock and inspecting his surroundings momentarily, he quickly cast his gaze in a certain direction.
The rendezvous point should be in that direction...
The environment in the basin was very monotonous, so he couldn''t be sure.Even so, he still decided to depart in that direction while releasing his spiritual sense to search for the tracks that he had made on the way here.
The sky was quickly beginning to turn dark, and the freezing winds were picking up once again.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he sped up a little, but shortly thereafter, his expression suddenly changed slightly as he stopped in his tracks.
Two figures had appeared in his spiritual sensory range, but instead of Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing, they were Zhuo Ge and Wu Yun.
Why are they here? Could it be that they actually already noticed us earlier, but pretended to be oblivious, only to follow us here with sinister intentions?
Han Li immediately withdrew his spiritual sense upon detecting the two Puppet City cultivators.
At the same time, he also unleashed his Myriad Acupoint Technique, and all of a sudden, his aurapletely vanished.
After that, he began to travel in the direction of the two Puppet City cultivators, and upon getting close, he hid behind arge rock.
Zhuo Ge and Wu Yun were standing near a giant rock several thousand feet away, and both of them were looking around with tightly furrowed brows.
Han Li immediately ducked behind his rock once again to remain unseen.
It doesn''t look like they were nning to attack us.
A perplexed look appeared on Han Li''s face as he began to wait. He wanted to see just what these two were up to.
Over two hours flew by in a sh.
All of a sudden, a pair of ck figures appeared in the distance, and they sped onto the scene, reaching Zhuo Ge and Wu Yun in the blink of an eye.
Both figures were dressed in cloaks with their hoods up, making it impossible to see their faces.
A hint of relief appeared on Zhuo Ge''s face at the sight of the two figures, following which he harrumphed coldly, "Could you two havee anyter?"
The two figures offered no response, and one of them began to inspect their surroundings.
Han Li hurriedly ducked back down again upon seeing this.
"Rest assured, we''ve already carefully examined the nearby area several times to ensure that there''s no one eavesdropping in hiding," Zhuo Ge said.
One of the cloaked figures lowered their hood and smiled as they said, "My apologies. E Kuai has been keeping us on a very tight leash, so it wasn''t easy for me to manufacture this opportunity to bring Fellow Daoist Chen out here."
The figure was none other than Xuanyuan Xing.
At this moment, he was disying none of his usual timidity. Instead, he was looking extremely confident and self-assured, and it was as if he had turned into a different person.
The other figure also lowered their hood, revealing them to be Chen Yang.
Han Li''s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this.
Judging from what Xuanyuan Xing had said, it seemed that they had already agreed to meet here well in advance.
On top of that, Xuanyuan Xing had just said that he had manufactured this opportunity, so could it be that he had intentionally failed in his array inscriptions, thereby wasting all those materials just so he coulde here with Chen Yang?
If that were the case, then Xuanyuan Xing really had done a very good job of fooling everyone.
"I''ve heard many great things about you, City Lord Chen," Zhuo Ge said with a smile.
"Cut the chit-chat. Show me the proof," Chen Yang replied with a cold expression.
Zhuo Ge remained unbothered by Chen Yang''s frosty attitude, pulling out a crimson jade b before handing it to Chen Yang.
Han Li was just about to take a closer look when the jade b was transferred into Chen Yang''s hand, thereby obscuring it from view.
Even though it was only a fleeting nce, Han Li was still able to see some of the things on the jade b. It seemed to have been riddled with tiny text, and there was also what appeared to have been an array diagram engraved upon it.
Chen Yang examined the jade b closely, and a series of emotions shed over his face, including shock, anger, and indignation.
Momentster, Chen Yang took a deep breath topose himself, then stowed the jade b away without Zhuo Ge''s permission, but Zhuo Ge didn''t seem to mind.
Chen Yang was silent for a moment, then said, "I agree to your proposal. However..."
Whatever he said next was delivered through voice transmission, and from there, the four men began conversing in secret through voice transmission.
After a brief discussion, all of them nodded in unison, seemingly having arrived at some type of agreement.
"Alright, everything that needs to be said has already been said, so let''s end things here," Chen Yang said before turning to depart.
Xuanyuan Xing nodded at Zhuo Ge and Wu Yun, then also departed after Chen Yang.
Following their departure, Wu Yun asked in a tender, childlike voice, "Zhuo Ge, do you think Chen Yang will actually do what we agreed upon?"
"He has no other choice," Zhuo Ge replied in an indifferent manner.
"I suppose so," Wu Yun replied with a nod.
After that, the two of them promptly departed as well.
Only after waiting for a long while did Han Li emerge from hiding with a contemtive look on his face, following which he also departed from the scene.
The night quickly passed by.
At the entrance of the basin, Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing stood side by side, seemingly waiting for something.
Before long, they were approached by a figure from afar, and it was none other than Han Li.
At this moment, he was looking a little worse for wear. His clothes were torn and stained with blood in many ces, and he was also looking quite weary.
"My apologies. I ventured too deep into the basin in search for Ice Scaled Armadillos yesterday, and I was also attacked by several powerful scaled beasts. I lost my way while escaping from them, so I wasn''t able to return here in a timely fashion," Han Li said with a wry smile.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Fellow Daoist Li. Thank you for your tireless efforts," Chen Yang replied with a smile, and there was nothing unnatural about his expression.
"How did things go on your end, Fellow Daoist Li?" Chen Yang asked.
"I was able to kill four Ice Scaled Armadillos," Han Li replied as he pulled out four translucent horns.
"I killed three, while Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan killed one, so we have more than enough," Chen Yang said as he pulled out his own three horns.
"I came here to make amends, but it seems like all I did was drag everyone down again," Xuanyuan Xing said with an embarrassed expression as he pulled out a single horn.
Han Li sneered internally at the act that Xuanyuan Xing was putting on, but on the surface, he maintained an amicable smile as he said, "Don''t say that, Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan. It was a team effort, and ultimately, we managed to reach our target, did we not?"
"Alright, now that we''ve gathered enough horns, let''s go back right away so we don''t keep Fellow Daoist Liu Hua waiting any longer. You don''t look so good at the moment, Fellow Daoist Li, will you be alright to make the return journey?" Chen Yang asked.
"I''m fine, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li replied with a smile.
With that, the three of them set off in the opposite direction that they hade from.
Having already made this trip twice, they had be very familiar with the route, and it only took them a day to return to the campsite.
The Blush Crystals and Earth Tide Stones had already been prepared, and with the Ice Scaled Armadillo horns ready as well, work was able to resume.
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Around a month passed by in a sh.
On this night, the sky was filled with stars, brightly illuminating the area in front of the canyon.
A giant, ck flying boat was hovering around three feet above the ground with its wings extended outward on either side, looking like a giant bird that was about to take flight.
The entire boat was riddled with densely packed white runes, and even though they weren''t glowing at the moment, they still appeared to be quite remarkable.
The two campsites were still standing, but the cultivators of the two cities were already prepared to set off, and they were arranged in a pair of orderly lines on either side of the flying boat.
Han Li was standing within the crowd on the left, and his gaze was constantly roaming over the collection of Puppet City cultivators.
There were far more Puppet City cultivators thanst time, even more so than the number of Profound City cultivators.
Zhuo Ge met Han Li''s gaze and gave him a slight nod, to which Han Li responded with a smile and a nod of his own.
The two women that he had saved were also looking at him with smiles on their faces under the veils of their conical bamboo hats, but they didn''t dare to nod at Han Li as Zhuo Ge had.
In contrast, the other Puppet City cultivators were regarding Han Li in a far less friendly manner, but Han Li didn''t care about that at all.
Instead, his attention was focused solely on searching for that purple-robed woman that he had caught a brief nce ofst time, but unfortunately, she wasn''t present.
Chapter 928: Setting Off
Chapter 928: Setting Off
The other Profound City cultivators clearly weren''t very happy to see Han Li initiating eye contact with the Puppet City cultivators, and someone murmured in a disdainful voice, "Shameless scoundrel! He must be a Puppet City spy!"
"You''re already dying to return to your true allies, aren''t you? A ve will always be a ve!" Feng Wuchen scoffed in a cold voice.
He wasn''t being excessively loud, but he made sure to be just loud enough for everyone present to hear him.
Han Li had ignored all of the unttering words directed at him up to this point, but upon hearing what Feng Wuchen had to say, he chuckled, "You must be itching for another beating."
"What did you say?" Feng Wuchen snapped as he clenched his fists tightly and took a step toward Han Li, followed by the other two Profound End City cultivators.
Han Li spread his hands open with an unfazed grin, challenging all three of them toe at him at once.
The three of them were furious to see this, and the profound acupoints on their bodies lit up as they prepared to attack.
Gu Qianxun''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and after a brief hesitation, she arrived by Han Li''s side.
The three Excess Passage City cultivators also stepped up with hostile expressions, but Duan Tong''s gaze was focused on Gu Qianxun.
Xuanyuan Xing was looking on with tightly furrowed brows, and after some hesitation, he remained still on the spot as he cast an inquisitive gaze toward Chen Yang.
Chen Yang could see that Qin Yuan had no intention of stepping in, and he was just about to get involved when another figure suddenly appeared beside Han Li.
To Han Li''s surprise, it was none other than Fang Chan, who was still holding a greasy roasted beast leg.
Even in this tense setting, he was still munching on his beast leg with apletely unfazed look on his face.
With Gu Qianxun and Fang Chan backing up Han Li, even if all of the Excess Passage City and Profound End City were to join forces, they would have to think twice about making any aggressive moves.
With Fang Chan entering the picture, Sun Tu immediately stood up to mediate, putting on a stern expression as he yelled, "What do you all think you''re doing? You''re making fools out of yourselves!"
Han Li took a nce at the Puppet City camp, and sure enough, all of them were watching the proceedings with mocking sneers on their faces.
Gu Qianxun was eager to defuse the conflict, and she immediately said, "My apologies, City Lord Sun. Let''s all calm down and take a step back."
Only then did Qin Yuan and the others arrive onto the scene, and they pretended to scold the cultivators under theirmand briefly, thereby bringing this farce to a conclusion.
After the conflict was defused, Gu Qianxun asked through voice transmission, "Fellow Daoist Li, were you actually nning to fight them here?"
"How about you? Were you nning to stand with me to oppose them?" Han Li asked.
"I... You and I are from the same city, so I had to stand up for you," Gu Qianxun replied after a brief hesitation.
"There''s no need to worry, City Lord E Kuai wouldn''t allow a conflict to break out here," Han Li assured with a smile.
"In that case, were you intentionally provoking them?" Gu Qianxun asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"That''s not true, he was the one who started the conflict. Come to think of it, I wonder why Fang Chan chose to stand with me just now," Han Li said as he turned a perplexed gaze toward Fang Chan.
"Maybe it''s because you called out to himst time during the scaled python attack? He may not be very bright, but he''s very loyal and knows better than others the importance of repaying kindness," Gu Qianxun replied with a smile.
"That seems to be the only usible reason," Han Li said with a nod.
"Honestly, I don''t me them for what they did. Why do you keep looking at the Puppet City cultivators? What are you looking at?" Gu Qianxun asked.
"Nothing, I was just... looking around," Han Li replied with an awkward smile.
"Has one of the women caught your eye? The women of Puppet City are indeed quite beautiful, but all of them are adept in both the arts of puppetry and seduction, so if you''re not careful, you could end up being lured in and refined into a puppet by one of them," Gu Qianxun jibed.
"Did Senior Liu Hua tell you some things? Is that why you''re making fun of me?" Han Li asked with a resigned smile.
An amused smile appeared on Gu Qianxun''s face, following which she said through voice transmission, "My father... Mistress Liu Hua really does think very highly of you, and he''s very sincere about epting you as his disciple. All you have to do is remain by his side for ten thousand years. This is an opportunity that countless people would kill for! Perhaps you should reconsider."
Even though she had already acknowledged Mistress Liu Hua as her birth father, she still wasn''t used to calling him that.
"I also think this is a brilliant opportunity, but I have more important matters to attend to, so I can''t afford to stay here for so long," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
Gu Qianxun heaved a faint sigh upon hearing this.
"In any case, given Mistress Liu Hua''s personality, even if you''re unwilling to be his disciple, I''m sure he''ll still remove the ck Tribtion Centipede from your body once we return from the Great Ruins."
"I wouldn''t count on it. Having said that, I think the Blood sma Wine that I''m brewing in Profound City should almost be ready," Han Li replied with a smile.
"I bet you''re not going to bring out your Blood sma Wine until Mistress Liu Hua agrees to remove the ck Tribtion Centipede from your body, isn''t that right?" Gu Qianxun asked with an amused smile.
"I wouldn''t dare to do that," Han Li chuckled.
As the two of them were conversing with each other, five figures suddenly emerged from the Star Falcon Flying Boat, and they were led by the trio of Mistress Liu Hua, E Kuai, and Sha Xin.
Standing behind E Kuai and Sha Xin were Shi Chuankong and the mysterious woman in purple, respectively.
Han Li''s expression instantly stiffened slightly at the sight of those two.
His gaze lingered momentarily on Shi Chuankong before he turned his attention to the woman in purple.
Her bamboo hat already had a ck veil, and she also seemed to be wearing a veil over her face, making it impossible to make out her facial features, but her gorgeous figure was clearly highlighted by her dress.
The more Han Li looked at her, the more she reminded him of Violet Spirit.
"Fellow daoists, the Star Falcon Flying Boat is ready, so today is the day that we enter the Great Ruins. The spatial storm is much weaker in this canyon than elsewhere, but it''s still not to be underestimated, so we''ll still all have to work together andbine our efforts to power the Star Falcon Restriction on the boat," E Kuai dered.
His voice was as loud as the striking of a gong, and it reverberated deep within everyone''s hearts.
After E Kuai''s voice trailed off, Sha Xin continued, "We''ve had to endure many hardships on this journey thus far, and this is where all of our effortse into fruition. I hope all of you can set aside your personal differences just a little longer to work together for one final collective effort."
In stark contrast with E Kuai''s voice, Sha Xin''s voice was extremely delicate and alluring, filling everyone with a sense of motivation.
All of the cultivators from the two cities were raring to go.
Mistress Liu Hua stepped forward as he dered, "I''m going to bestow upon all of you the method to power the Star Falcon Restriction. Once you board the boat, I expect all of you to pull your own weight."
Everyone began to listen carefully as Mistress Liu Hua delivered a detailed rundown of all of the information that had to be learned.
Even after everyone had dered that they remembered everything, Mistress Liu Hua still repeated everything a second time, just to make sure.
After all of the preparatory work wasplete, E Kuai ordered, "Board the boat!"
The cultivators from the two cities immediately began boarding the Star Falcon Flying Boat.
At the very center of the flying boat was a tall ridge that divided the boat into two halves, and the sides of the interior of the boat were lined with seats that, upon each of which was engraved a circle of runes.
Han Li and the Profound City cultivators were instructed to sit down on the left side of the cabin by Mistress Liu Hua, while the Puppet City cultivators sat down on the right side, and E Kuai and the others remained at the front of the boat.
After everyone had taken their seats, E Kuai gave the order to set off, and Mistress Liu Hua made his way into a circr array at the front of the Star Falcon Flying Boat before sitting down in it with his legs crossed.
E Kuai and the others also followed suit, sitting down onto the circr arrays beside him, upon which the arrays beneath them immediately began to glow brightly, while a string of specks of starry light appeared along the ridge at the center of the boat.
The entire Star Falcon Flying Boat shuddered violently before slowly rising up into the air, and by the time it had risen to an altitude of over a thousand feet, Mistress Liu Hua ordered, "Activate the restriction!"
The cultivators from the two cities immediately sprang into action upon hearing this, and dozens of profound acupoints lit up over each of their bodies, while the circles of runes beneath them also began to glow brightly.
The runes on the boat also lit up one after another, extending from the belly of the boat all the way onto its two wings, making the entire flying boat resemble a white falcon that was spreading its wings to take flight.
Han Li could feel his own profound acupoints resonating with the restriction on the flying boat, and not only did he not feel like his power was being sucked out of his body, it was as if he were basking in a nourishing pool of starlight, and it was a veryfortable sensation.
Right at this moment, Mistress Liu Hua pressed his palms onto the deck of the flying boat several times in session, and the tworgest runes on the boat''s wings glowed even brighter while emitting a buzzing sound.
Han Li looked up to discover that all of the stars in the sky were suddenly glowing brighter, and two incredibly thick pirs of white starlight descended out of the heavens before crashing down onto the wings of the Star Falcon Flying Boat, causing the entire boat to shudder violently.
All of the people on the boat hurriedly channeled more of their power into the flying boat upon seeing this.
Chapter 929: Tumultuous
Chapter 929: Tumultuous
"There''s no need to be rmed. The power of the flying boat alone is not enough to withstand the spatial storm, so only by drawing upon the power of the stars in the sky can we ensure safe passage," Mistress Liu Hua said in a calm manner, and everyone felt much more reassured upon hearing this.
Sure enough, after the initial jolt and a fall in altitude of several dozen feet, the Star Falcon Flying Boat returned to its original altitude in a stable fashion.
Immediately thereafter, bursts of starpower began to surge out of the countless runes engraved all over the entire flying boat, and they connected together with one another to form a white starlight barrier.
A few momentster, the wings on either side of the boat began to p up and down, and the boat slowly advanced into the canyon.
Han Li could feel a cial auraing from his left, and a scorching sensation from his right, and began to focus his attention on observing his surroundings.
There was no sound to be heard aside from the sounds produced by the restriction on the ship, and everyone was silently focused on the task at hand.
No one, including Mistress Liu Hua, dared to proim that they would definitely be able to make it across the abyss safely.
As the flying boat entered the canyon, gusts of freezing blue winds swept forth from the left, slicing against the Star Falcon Flying Boat like a series of sharp, cial knives.
However, the starlight barrier around the boat was very flexible, and even though indentations were appearing on its surface from the cial winds, it remained resilient, disying no signs of breaking.
On the other side of the canyon, scorching hot waves of heat were surging through the air, giving that half of the sky a fiery redplexion, but it was also unable to burn through the starlight barrier.
However, the starlight barrier was unable to keep out the freezing cold and the intense heat, so all of the people on the flying boat were feeling extremely ufortable.
After traveling onward for several thousand more kilometers, they were approaching the point in the canyon where the cial blue winds and the scorching mes met, and the two temperature extremes were generating gusts of ferocious wind.
Even before the gusts of wind had reached the flying boat, the violent howling that they produced was already grating on everyone''s eardrums.
Right at this moment, a particrly powerful gust of wind struck the flying boat head-on, and the boat shuddered violently before veering away to one side, crashing toward the wall of blue ice on the left.
The front and left side of the boat were crashing toward the mountain face in unison, and if a collision were to ur, then that side of the boat would be sure to suffer severe damage, perhaps even causing it to fall apart entirely.
Without the flying boat''s protection, everyone would be exposed to the cial winds and scorching mes, and the gusts of wind that they produced together would also sweep them straight into the spatial storm up above, leading to certain death.
Right as everyone was about to erupt into a panic, a figure suddenly rushed over to the left side of the flying boat, and it was none other than E Kuai.
He spread his fingers open on both hands, then thrust both palms toward the blue mountain face. Dense clusters of profound acupoints appeared over his hands and arms like stars in the night sky, releasing a burst of incredibly formidable power.
Han Li was also stunned by the sight of E Kuai''s arms. There were over two hundred profound acupoints on his arms alone, and that was already more than what most of the cultivators on the boat possessed on their entire body.
It seemed that Chen Yang hadn''t been exaggerating when he proimed that E Kuai had opened a total of more than a thousand profound acupoints.
All of the profound acupoints on E Kuai''s arms and hands were glowing radiantly, and beams of bright light shot out of the palms of his hands and the tips of his fingers before fusing into the starlight barrier upon contact.
Waves of massive circr ripples immediately began to spread over the surface of the starlight barrier, following which pirs of white light that were as thick as wooden rafters emerged from the light barrier, extending toward the blue mountain face on the left.
A burst of loud rumbling rang out as the blue mountain face was shattered, causing a huge avnche, and the twelve thick pirs of light acted as oars, forcibly restoring the enormous Star Falcon Flying Boat back to its original orientation.
The boat slowly began to return to its original trajectory, and everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief upon seeing this.
E Kuai withdrew his hands, and the pirs of white light surging out of the starlight barrier were also slowly withdrawn, while Han Li looked on with astonishment in his eyes.
It wasn''t very difficult to release a tremendous amount of starpower to cause widespread damage, but it was extremely difficult to control one''s own power as meticulously as E Kuai had just done.
Even though that crisis had been sessfully averted, everyone was still very tense and on-edge, powering the Star Falcon Flying Boat with all their might to spur it onward.
Meanwhile, Mistress Liu Hua was constantly adjusting the direction of the flying boat, and he was bing more and more skilled at the task, avoiding one whirlwind after another before finally arriving at the point where the hot and cold mountain faces met.
At this point, the wind outside had be almost unbearably loud, and the light barrier around the Star Falcon Flying Boat was also constantly warping and twisting from the tremendous wind pressure.
Han Li was sitting in the cabin with close to a hundred profound acupoints shining on his body, and he had also conjured up his True Extreme Film.
Most of the other Profound City cultivators had also revealed close to a hundred profound acupoints each, but this was not under instructions from E Kuai. Instead, it was because the temperatures were bing more and more extreme as they advanced onward, and the starlight barrier could only shelter them to a certain extent.
Many of the Profound City cultivators on the boat were already developing signs of frostbite, and their lips had also be dry and cracked from the cial winds.
In stark contrast, the Puppet City cultivators felt as if they had been sent down into the fiery pits of hell. Their skin had turned bright red, and the sweat pouring out of their pores didn''t even have a chance to linger on their bodies before being evaporated into nothingness.
Their lips were also dried and cracked, except it was from the intense heat, rather than the cold.
Right at this moment, Mistress Liu Hua''s voice suddenly rang out from the front of the boat.
"Attention, everyone! We are reaching the most critical point of our flight, so make sure to stabilize the flying boat with all your might."
Everyone immediately redoubled their focus upon hearing this.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the left side of the boat to discover that the depths of the canyon had already descended intoplete chaos, with countless spatial rifts littered throughout the surrounding area. A gust of freezing wind was shing against a wave of fire down below, sending gusts of fierce wind rising up into the spatial storm above.
Bursts of rumbling were ringing out incessantly, and the Star Falcon Flying Boat began trembling as it ventured into the ferocious winds up ahead.
Right at this moment, the front of the Star Falcon Flying Boat suddenly twisted to the side, and the entire boat abruptly elerated as it was instantly wrenched into the storm.
The entire world instantly began spinning, and everyone was also thrown up into the air and out of the cabin.
Han Li hurriedly channeled his cultivation arts to nt himself firmly in his seat, while Mistress Liu Hua yelled, "Fortify the array! Things won''t be as tumultuous once we reach the center of the storm!"
A string of loud thumps rang out incessantly on the flying boat and more and more profound acupoints lit up over the bodies of the Profound City cultivators, and the entire boat began glowing so brightly that the canyon was illuminated to be as bright as day.
Prior to this, it had felt as if the flying boat had been nourishing their bodies this entire time, and only now did everyone begin to feel their starpower being sucked out of their bodies to support the Star Falcon Restriction.
At the same time, the radiant stars in the sky also began to resonate with the flying boat from afar, and the two pirs of starlight descending from the heavens became brighter than ever. As a result, the starlight barrier around the entire boat became even denser, and specks of bright bright light also appeared over its surface, as if it were mirroring the starry night sky.
Simultaneously, the runes engraved onto the wings of the boat were also increasing in brightness, releasing two bursts of white light that formed a pair of massive starry wings.
With the emergence of those wings, the violently swaying Star Falcon Flying Boat was finally somewhat stabilized, and it plunged headfirst into the fierce winds ahead to reach the eye of the storm in one fell swoop.
The eye of the storm was massive, and it appeared to be quite tranquil inside, but in reality, it was also fraught with peril.
All of a sudden, a burst of tremendous suction force began acting upon the Star Falcon Flying Boat, causing it plummet rapidly downward.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he looked down to discover a chaotic scene several thousand feet below, where a burst of blue light had fused together with a vast expanse of crimson mes.
Beneath this swirling mass of fire and ice was a ck vortex that resembled the eye of a giant demon, and that was the source of the immense suction force.
In the blink of an eye, the Star Falcon Flying Boat had already descended over a thousand feet.
A bone-chilling cial aura rose from below alongside a burst of scorching heat, and everyone instantly felt as if they had been cast into a hellish storm of fire and ice.
Right at this moment, a delicate cry rang out from the front of the Star Falcon Flying Boat, immediately following which four golden puppets sprang out of the right side of the cabin before leaping straight down into the abyss below.
Four loud thumps rang out in unison, and the flying boat shuddered violently, following which the speed of its descent began to decrease, as if it were being supported by something from down below.
Han Li peered over the side of the boat to see one of the golden puppets at the tail end of the boat, supporting it on his shoulder. Around a dozen specks of white light had emerged over the puppet''s body, embedded within each of which was a beast core.
On top of that, its legs had transformed into something that resembled a lotus flower tform, and bursts of starpower were surging out of it like mes, generating tremendous propulsion force that slowed the flying boat''s descent.
Chapter 930: Crisis Averted
Chapter 930: Crisis Averted
Right at this moment, a faint crack rang out, and Han Li could see that the shoulder of the golden puppet had already caved in significantly, indicating that it wasn''t going to be able tost much longer.
Right at this moment, five pirs of white light erupted the night sky above the canyon from the front of the boat.
Countless rays of starlight instantly began to cascade down from the stars in the sky, connecting together with the starlight barrier around the flying boat to generate bursts of powerful upward tugging force.
The Star Falcon Flying Boat shuddered violently, following which itpletely ceased in its descent, then began to slowly elevate again.
After the boat had been elevated by about two hundred to three hundred feet, the tugging force from the stars seemed to have finally been exhausted, and it was only just barely able to keep up with the suction forceing from the abyss below. With its altitude stabilized, the boat pped its wings and began to slowly advance onward.
The four golden puppets beneath the boat seemed to have also been sapped of all of their strength, and the beast cores all over their bodies dimmed as they plunged straight down into the depths.
The two puppets on the left were instantly frozen solid after falling into the cial winds, while the two on the red were melted into molten fluid by the crimson mes, following which all of them vanished into the ck vortex below.
Thanks to thebined efforts of the golden puppets and the stars above, the Star Falcon Flying Boat was able to safely cross the eye of the storm to the other side.
Thanks to the prior experience, everyone did a much better job stabilizing the boat upon re-entry into the storm.Even after the entire boat had entered the storm, there were no significant tremors or deviations, and all they had to do was make it through the storm to reach the glowing white continent on the other side.
However, the boat had only flown onward for a short distance when a burst of violent spatial fluctuations erupted up ahead.
Han Li looked up to discover that a fragmented spatial rift had been caught up in the storm, yet instead of dissipating, it was moving toward the left side of the flying boat.
Before he had a chance to raise the rm, Mistress Liu Hua had also noticed this, and he hurriedly diverted the boat away to the right, but topound their woes even further, a thunderous roar suddenly rang out, following which a burst of tremendous force crashed into the flying boat from behind.
The starlight barrier around the boat was almost shattered upon impact, while the boat itself also involuntarily elerated forward, crashing toward the dense mass of spatial rifts up ahead.
Han Li sprang to his feet and grabbed tightly onto the side of the boat while reaching out with his other hand to support Gu Qianxun, who had been sent stumbling toward him.
He then turned around to discover a gargantuan dragon-like head that was covered in spikes, glowering at the flying boat from afar with a pair of pitch-ck eyes.
Attached to the head was an incredibly powerful serpentine body that was covered in rhomboid scales. The body was thousands of feet in length, and it was extending out of the ck vortex in the abyss.
Somehow, the creature seemed to bepletely unaffected by the tremendous suction force released by the vortex, and it was swaying its body from side to side as it prepared to ram its head into the flying boat again.
In the next instant, the boat was dealt another heavy blow, and the starlight barrier around it almostpletely fizzled out, while everyone was staring at the gargantuan creature behind the boat with horrified expressions.
Right at this moment, a loud voice rang out from the front of the boat.
"All of you, focus on guiding the boat, Fellow Daoist Sha Xin and I will take care of this imbecile!"
As soon as the voice trailed off, both E Kuai and Sha Xin vanished from the spot, then reappeared in unison behind the flying boat.
E Kuai clenched his fists tightly and adopted a peculiar fist stance as he swayed his body from side to side while swinging his arms through the air in a series of rather strange-looking gestures.
At the same time, the profound acupoints on his body lit up one after another, giving off a tremendous aura, and all of a sudden, his fist stance wasn''t looking soical anymore.
Even though E Kuai''s movements were quite slow, his robes were billowing around him as if there were strong winds blowing through them.
Meanwhile, Sha Xin reached a hand into her own sleeve, then casually swept her sleeve through the air to release a streak of ck light, which contained a fist-sized ball.
The ball was clicking incessantly as it flew through the air, as if there were countless gears rapidly revolving within it.
Before long, a series of cracks had appeared on the ball, and it transformed into a four-armed ape-like puppet that was close to a thousand feet tall.
As soon as the giant ape puppet appeared, it almost began to plummet out of the sky under the suction force from the vortex below.
However, the puppet then reached out with one hand, and it detached itself from its body at the wrist before flying through the air. The hand was still connected to its arm by a thick, ck chain, which wrapped itself around one of the spikes on the gargantuan creature''s head.
The ape puppet then tugged violently on the chain, sending its own enormous body flying up into the air, following which it came crashing down onto the creature''s head with mountainous force.
At the same time, each of its other three hands was holding a pir-like giant iron pestle, and it swung the three pestles down onto the dragon-like creature''s head as well.
The creature let loose a thunderous roar as its body was forced down by the puppet''s formidable blows.
At this point, countless profound acupoints had already lit up over E Kuai''s body, and starlight was pouring out of the profound acupoints on his arm, forming a thin mist of starlight around him.
With all of the preparationsplete, he focused all of his power into his fist beforeunching it forward, with the timing of his punch perfectly corresponding with the lowering of the dragon-like creature''s head.
All of the starlight radiating from his fist converged toward a single spot before exploding with devastating power, shatteringyers uponyers of space up ahead to forcibly create a ck hole that epassed the entirety of the creature''s head.
After the starlight faded, the ck hole also disappeared, having already imed the creature''s head. Its headless body was still writhing from side to side, while vast volumes of blood gushed out of the wound on its neck.
All of this had taken ce within a span of less than twenty seconds, and in the meantime, the Star Falcon Flying Boat was already about to crash into the mass of spatial rifts up ahead.
Veins were bulging on Mistress Liu Hua''s forehead as he pressed his hands tightly against the array on the deck of the boat, and he was tilting his body to the right with all his might, but despite his best efforts, the turn radius of the boat simply wasn''t small enough for it to avoid the hazard up ahead.
The front of the boat was able to just barely avoid the mass of spatial rifts, but the side of the boat was not so fortunate.
The wing on the left side of the boat was the first to crash into the spatial rifts, and it was instantly torn to shreds. As a result, the giant boat was immediately tipped off bnce and began tilting to the right.
"Qianxun!" Mistress Liu Hua called out in rm as he sprang to his feet, abandoning the flying boat to rush to Gu Qianxun''s aid, but it was already toote.
With the flying boatpletely careening out of control, Han Li and Gu Qianxun were sent flying toward the cluster of spatial rifts without any time to react.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly let loose a loud roar, and a series of profound acupoints lit up over his right arm, releasing ayer of hazy starlight that was a little reminiscent of the cloud of misty starlight that E Kuai had created earlier.
Having said that, there was naturally still a vast disparity in their auras.
Even so, Han Li didn''t hesitate in the slightest as heshed out with his fist, and the starlight radiating from the profound acupoints on his arm and fist formed a huge white fist projection that crashed into the mass of spatial rifts with tremendous power.
The white fist projection instantly exploded upon contact with the spatial rifts, sending formidable shockwaves sweeping through the air in all directions, and as a result, the Star Falcon Flying Boat was pushed slightly further to the right.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Han Li activated all of the profound acupoints on his legs and instantly rushed over to Gu Qianxun''s side, then wound an arm around her slender waist before vanishing from the spot, only to reappear a momentter near the front of the boat.
Ultimately, the flying boat wasn''t able topletely avoid the spatial rifts, and a string of loud cracks rang out as the midsection of the left side of the boat crumbled away like a piece of rotten wood.
However, it was only thanks to that punch from Han Li that the boat didn''t crash straight into the mass of spatial rifts. Instead, it only grazed its way past the spatial rifts, and even though a part of the boat had been destroyed, the damage wasn''t all that severe.
Mistress Liu Hua heaved a long sigh of relief upon seeing this, and at this point, E Kuai and Sha Xin had also returned.
"What was that thing just now?" Mistress Liu Hua asked.
"I''ve never seen a creature like that before, but it seems to be a scaled beast that''s unique to this ck abyss. It wasn''t all that powerful, but it almost sent all of us to our deaths," E Kuai replied with a shake of his head.
"Thankfully, the crisis has been averted, and we''re not that far away from the other side of the abyss," Sha Xin said, but right as her voice trailed off, a chorus of beastly roars suddenly rang out across the surrounding area as one gargantuan head after another emerged, surrounding the Star Falcon Flying Boat from all directions.
All of the heads werepletely identical to that of the creature that E Kuai and Sha Xin had just in!
Chapter 931: Sudden Calamity
Chapter 931: Sudden Cmity
"We''ve just killed one, and now there''s eight! Is there no end to them?"
"All of them must have a death wish!"
"With City Lord E and City Lord Sha on our side, it doesn''t matter how many of theme after us!"
"Hold on, this thing looks a little familiar..."
All of the people on the flying boat erupted into chatter at the sight of the eight giant heads.
However, given how easily E Kuai and Sha Xin had dealt with that earlier scaled beast, there wasn''t much panic, and some of the cultivators on the boat were looking to E Kuai for instructions.
However, neither E Kuai nor Sha Xin were saying anything, and it didn''t seem like they intended to take any action, either.
At the same time, the four subsidiary city lords of Profound City and Zhuo Ge and the others were also looking on with grim expressions, and a sense of foreboding immediately welled up in Han Li''s heart upon seeing this.
Right at this moment a thunderous roar rang out as another head emerged from behind the flying boat.However, this head was far smaller than the other eight, and there was ayer of white coloration over its surface, as if it had only recently sprouted. On top of that, there was also a clear dark red mark on its neck.
This was the very same head that E Kuai had just decapitated!
"Those aren''t individual creatures, it''s a Nine-headed Wyrm!" E Kuai eximed, and Han Li''s expression instantly changed slightly upon seeing this.
He had heard of this name before, but most mentions were from unsubstantiated legends, and he had never actually seen the creature before.
It was said that his creature had a gargantuan, elephant-like body, with necks that were long as pythons, as well as nine heads and one mouth. It was capable of devouring all things, and it was extremely aggressive. The only way to kill it was to decapitate all nine of its heads at once. Otherwise, any lost heads would simply be regrown indefinitely.
As for this "one mouth", that didn''t mean that all nine of its heads shared a single mouth. Instead, that was referring to an enormous, all-devouring mouth on its back, which was rather simr to Xiao Bai''s abilities.
Right at this moment, the Nine-headed Wyrm raised all nine of its heads at once before ramming them against the Star Falcon Flying Boat from all directions.
Its nine gargantuan heads filled the entire sky, and even the starlight shining down from above was kept out.
The Star Falcon Flying Boat shuddered as the starlight barrier around it began to thin out even further, and everyone was looking up at the sky with despair in their eyes.
E Kuai and Sha Xin naturally weren''t just going to resign themselves to their fates, and they exchanged a nce with each other, thenunched themselves up from the flying boat in unison.
The surrounding space was trembling violently as if it were on the verge of shattering.
The ck veil on Sha Xin''s face was pping audibly in the ferocious wind, revealing her stunningly beautiful features, but at this moment, there was a grim look on her face as she swept both hands through the air to release a pair of balls.
One of them released radiant white light and transformed into a giant figure that was over a thousand feet tall amid a burst of formidable starpower fluctuations.
The giant figure was wearing a regal purplish-golden crown and a suit of rainbow scaled armor. Its entire body was giving off a metallic gleam, as if it were forged out of metal, and as soon as the transformation wasplete, it reached out with one hand, upon which the other ball transformed into a giant, silver umbre before falling into its grasp.
Even from the flying boat, Han Li could sense the tremendous aura of the armord giant, and he was stunned to discover that its aura wasn''t inferior in the slightestpared with E Kuai''s.
Sha Xin twisted around in mid-air before flicking her fingers through the air in rapid session, and the armord giant held the shaft of the umbre in one hand before raising it upward.
The umbre released a burst of radiant white light that formed an enormous light barrier up above.
The surface of the light barrier was riddled with countless specks of starlight, as if it were reflecting the starry night sky.
All of the stars on the umbre seemed to be connected to the stars in the sky, and they were able to draw upon boundless starpower from the heavens.
A string of devastating blows were dealt upon the light barrier by the Nine-headed Wyrm''s heads, causing the light barrier to tremble violently, while the star designs on its surface dissipated one after another.
The armord giant began to tremble under the tremendous pressure, but it was still supporting the umbre with all its might.
"Allow me, Fellow Daoist Sha Xin!" E Kuai yelled as all of his profound acupoints lit up, and ayer of hazy starlight appeared over his body as he threw a punch at the bottom of the umbre''s shaft.
Right at this moment, the body of the Nine-headed Wyrm began to rise up from the ck vortex down below.
Its back was so incredibly massive that it filled up virtually the entire eye of the storm, and it was covered in scales, with a thin mark running down its center.
Mistress Liu Hua looked down with a grim expression, while Gu Qianxun asked with tightly furrowed brows, "What do we do, Father?"
"No matter what happens, do not leave my side!" Mistress Liu Hua instructed in a serious manner.
Before Gu Qianxun had a chance to reply, an earth-shattering roar rang out from down below.
It was like the sound of a volcanic eruption, instantly striking everyone with a rush of dizziness.
Han Li was able to regain his mental faculties after channeling the Spirit Refinement Technique, but as he looked around, he discovered that everyone aside from Mistress Liu Hua and himself were swaying in an unsteady fashion.
Mistress Liu Hua pressed a hand down onto Gu Qianxun''s shoulder to help her stabilize her soul, and a surprised look appeared in his eyes at the sight of Han Li as he praised, "The stability of your soul is quite remarkable!"
"I don''t think this is the time to be discussing something like this, Senior Liu Hua," Han Li replied as he cast his gaze toward the front of the boat, where Shi Chuankong and the woman in purple had both fallen to one knee, and they were only faring slightly better than everyone else.
Right as he was about to approach them, he suddenly felt the ground give way beneath his feet, causing him to plummet involuntarily out of the sky.
Without anyone to man the Star Falcon Flying Boat, it was rapidly falling out of the air.
A gargantuan mouth had already opened up on the back of the Nine-headed Wyrm down below, and ck light was churning incessantly within it.
An urgent look appeared on Han Li''s face as all of the profound acupoints on his legs lit up, and he was able to stomp down onto the space below to send himself flying up several feet, but it was all in futility as he was immediately sucked back down again.
Cries of panic were ringing out from all directions as everyone made futile attempts to escape.
E Kuai and Sha Xin had already noticed what was happening down below, but it was toote for them to do anything.
A resounding boom rang out as the tail end of the Star Falcon Flying Boat fell into the giant mouth on the back of the Nine-headed Wyrm, and it was instantly destroyed by the strange power inside.
Cries of despair rang out as Han Li looked on with tightly furrowed brows, but in this moment, he was extremely calm.
He rummaged around in the chest of his robe for a moment before pulling out the leaf-shaped jade pendant given to him by Shi Pokong, then began scouring the surrounding area for Shi Chuankong and the woman in purple.
As long as he had the jade pendant, he would be able to take the two of them back with him to the Devil Realm.
After a quick search, he failed to spot Shi Chuankong, but he did see Daoist Xie about a thousand feet away.
"Come over here, Brother Xie," he hurriedly called out through voice transmission. transmission
Right at this moment, he spotted the purple-robed woman from Puppet City, who wasn''t all that far away, so he hurriedly channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts to rush toward her.
As Han Li approached the woman, he couldn''t help but wonder if she actually was Violet Spirit.
Right as he was about to grab onto her arm, Mistress Liu Hua''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"I''m going to set off an explosion that''ll create some spatial rifts, go into thergest one. Make sure you don''t die!"
Han Li immediately turned around to discover Mistress Liu Hua standing outside the giant mouth of the Nine-headed Wyrm roughly thousand feet away, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a palm-sized white disc, which fell into the center of the mouth before exploding violently.
A string of incredibly violent explosions rang out as the space within the Nine-headed Wyrm''s mouth shattered like a mirror, creating massive spatial rifts that extended outward in all directions.
Bursts of formidable suction force erupted out of these newly opened spatial rifts, and many of the cultivators of the two cities were sucked in before they even had a chance to react.
Some were fortunate enough to have entered a spatial rift with their bodies intact, while others were not so fortunate and were instantly torn to shreds.
Han Li immediately sprang forward to make a grab for the purple-robed woman, but a spatial rift just so happened to have appeared between them, and Han Li was sucked in before he had a chance to dodge.
Upon entering the spatial rift, Han Li arrived in a pitch-ck space, and he could feel immense tearing force sweeping at him from all directions, while the entire world spun around him.
All of the lights and sounds instantly faded away, and he was struck by a splitting headache, while his consciousness also began to blur.
In his final moments of consciousness, his thoughts continued to linger on the purple-robed woman, and even though there was a veil over her face, he was convinced that she was Violet Spirit.
Chapter 932: Initial Foray Into the Great Ruins
Chapter 932: Initial Foray Into the Great Ruins
Han Li''s ears were buzzing erratically, and he felt as if there were countless strange voices ringing out in his head. The entire world was spinning around him as if he were drunk, and not only had he been stripped of all five of his senses, he wasn''t even able to formte any thoughts.
After what seemed like an eternity, his body finally drew to a halt, then came crashing down heavily down onto the cold, hard ground in a very painfulnding.
Thankfully, given his immense physical constitution, he didn''t suffer any injuries, and the impact allowed him to recover his senses and his consciousness.
He looked around in a daze to discover a dim, yellowndscape, and the ground was riddled with countless yellowish-ck rocks of different sizes. There was nothing but barren ins stretching as far as the eyes could see in all directions, and it appeared that he hadnded on a boundless desert.
The sky up above was also a strange, yellowish-brown color, as if there was a denseyer of yellow clouds overhead, and asionally, what appeared to be shes of white lightning could be seen peeking through the clouds.
There was a churning vortex within the yellow clouds, and it was rapidly fading away. That seemed to have been what he had just fallen out of.
Han Li slowly mbered to his feet before inspecting his surroundings to discover that there was no else in the entire area aside from himself.
Are these the Great Ruins? It doesn''t seem much different from outside. I wonder where everyone else is.
Right as he was about to depart, a hint of surprise suddenly appeared on his face, and he began inspecting the surrounding space again.
There were some rather pronounced energy fluctuations in the air, these energy fluctuations were different from both spiritual qi and devilish qi, but it was very simr to starpower.
Perhaps it was due to the nourishment of this starpower, but some white moss-like nt life could be seen growing between the rocks on the ground, so the area wasn''t as barren as it had appeared at first nce.
A hint of curiosity shed through Han Li''s eyes, and a thought suddenly urred to him as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
All of the nearby starpower instantly converged toward him before surging into his body, and it was quite arge volume of starpower, creating the same effect as cultivating while refining beast cores.
A hint of tion appeared on Han Li''s face upon sensing this, and he was even more convinced that he was in the Great Ruins. Only in a secret area like the Great Ruins could there be such abundant starpower, and only in an environment like this could treasures like Heavenly Qilin Crystals and Sulfurous me Blood Clouds arise naturally.
Even though he wasn''t injured, he was feeling a little feeble, and there didn''t appear to be any hazards present in the area, so instead of setting off right away, he sat down with his legs crossed to absorb starpower and rest.
Close to half a day flew by in a sh, and by the time he reopened his eyes, he had made a full recovery.
On top of that, a profound acupoint that he had already been chipping away at for a long time was beginning to disy signs of opening.
The starpower in this ce seemed to be particrly effective for opening new profound acupoints, and he could sense that it was only a matter of time before this one waspletely opened.
However, he didn''t intend to continue cultivating here, and after looking around briefly, his gaze quickly settled on a certain direction to his right.
The entire surrounding area appeared to bepletely the same, but he could see a shadow or two shing past in that direction. However, they were too far away for him to see them clearly.
The spatial pressure in the Great Ruins was even more overbearing than that of the Extreme Bipr Mountain Range, and his spiritual sensory range was restricted to only several kilometers, which was even worse than his eyesight.
He didn''t know what was in that direction, but at the very least, it appeared to be something different.
With that in mind, he promptly set off, and it didn''t take long before the shadows up ahead began to graduallye into focus.
As it turned out, it was a cluster of mountains that were each hundreds of feet tall, and they were connected together to form a winding mountain range that stretched as far as the eyes could see.
These mountains were ck and giving off a faint sheen, indicating that they were no ordinary mountains, and the ground had also gradually transitioned from desert to hard rock.
There was much more of the white moss-like nts growing here, making the environment appear less monotonous.
Han Li arrived in front of the ck mountain range, then drew to a halt, and instead of immediately entering the mountain range, he released his spiritual sense to scour the nearby area.
Everything in the Great Ruins waspletely unknown to him, so he didn''t dare to make any reckless moves.
Only after verifying that there were no detectable hazards in the mountain range up ahead did he continue onward, and he walked for half a day without encountering any danger.
However, the nearby mountains were bing taller and taller, reaching thousands of feet in height, and the gaps between the mountains were also bing wider and wider.
After walking onward for a while longer, an intrigued look suddenly appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he sped up a little, making his way over to a particrly tall mountain.
This mountain stretched all the way up into the clouds like a heavenly ck pir, and its peak was concealed within the clouds, making it impossible to see the summit.
At the foot of the mountain was a cluster of gray pces that stretched as far as the eyes could see, but most of them had already copsed.
Even so, one could get an idea of just how majestic and stunning these pces would''ve been from the intricate craftsmanship present in the ruins.
After briefly examining the cluster of pces, Han Li channeled his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique to conceal his own aura, then carefully stepped inside while releasing his spiritual sense to monitor his surroundings.
After advancing onward for a while, he suddenly raised an eyebrow, then ducked behind a long pce wall before carefully making his way to the end of the wall and peeking forward.
The sound of heavy footsteps rang out up ahead as a yellow puppet that was several dozen feet tall slowly trudged along while asionally turning its head from side to side, seemingly patrolling the area.
The puppet resembled a giant gibbon, and it was d in a suit of heavy armor, most of which was missing. The body of the puppet beneath the suit of armor was also riddled with signs of decay, and it was holding a saber that was in a state of disrepair, seemingly having already been patrolling this area for countless years.
Despite the signs of erosion disyed by its armor and saber, they were still giving off a faint, white gleam and traces of starpower fluctuations.
Are those star artifacts?
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li sprang out of his hiding spot and withdrew his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique as he pounced at the giant ape puppet from behind.
The puppet immediately swung around and let loose a low roar while swinging its saber at Han Li''s head, but before its attack had a chance tond, its head was decapitated by a sh of white light, and its headless body fellpletely still before crashing to the ground.
Han Li drifted down from mid-air beforending beside the puppet.
The fact that the puppet was still able to detect Han Li''s attack and react indicated that its powers would''ve been very formidable during its heyday.
Han Li picked up the puppet''s saber to discover that it had been crafted out of a glowing white material, and even though there was severe erosion on disy, some faintly shing runes could still be made out on the de, and these runes were very simr to the star runes that Mistress Liu Hua had taught him to inscribe.
Aren''t Mistress Liu Hua''s starpower restrictions supposed to be original creations? Could this be a coincidence?
Han LI then turned his gaze to the suit of armor worn by the puppet, and he quickly caught sight of another star rune, one that waspletely identical to one of the star runes taught to him by Mistress Liu Hua, even down to the finest of details.
Han Li couldn''t help but be amused upon seeing this. This puppet had clearly existed for far longer than Mistress Liu Hua''s star runes had been around, so it seemed that Mistress Liu Hua''s star runes weren''t an original creation of his own, after all.
Even though the saber was still giving off faint starpower fluctuations, it was alreadypletely unusable, so Han Li tossed it aside before continuing onward, and it didn''t take long before he had ventured deep into the cluster of pces.
The pces here were rtively more well preserved, but unfortunately, there were no precious treasures to be found, and it seemed that this ce had already beenpletely looted.
After an extensive search, Han Li was only able to find a few pieces of ordinary ore, and he was attacked by many puppets along the way.
He tried to engage with the puppets as little as possible, running away where he could and dismantling the ones that he couldn''t avoid. All of the puppets were severely eroded, so they were quite easy to deal with.
After advancing onward for a while longer, Han Li suddenly drew to a halt.
The field of view up ahead had suddenly broadened significantly, and a massive gray structure had appeared up ahead. It appeared to be an altar, and it was surrounded by many other structures like a moon among stars.
The altar had been constructed using a type of crude and massive gray stone blocks that appeared extremely resilient, and in contrast with many of the nearby copsed structures, the altar was almost perfectly intact.
The doors of the altar were wide open, and its interior was shrouded in darkness, restricting visibility to only several dozen feet. Its entrance resembled a massive mouth capable of devouring all those that entered.
Star runes could be seen etched onto the walls inside the altar, forming a restriction that kept out all spiritual sense.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this.
Given how well-preserved this altar and the restrictions inside were, there surely had to be some valuable things inside.
After carefully scouring the surrounding area with his spiritual sense, he failed to detect anything amiss, and he made his way to the entrance of the altar.
Gusts of cold wind blew out of the entrance, and even though they weren''t very strong, they struck him with a bone-chilling sensation as they swept over his body.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon sensing this, but he didn''t back down as he stepped into the altar.
Chapter 933: Destined for Conflict
Chapter 933: Destined for Conflict
In the instant that Han Li set foot into the altar, a resounding explosion rang out as a massive hole was blown into the ground beneath his feet.
Countless shattered rocks screeched through the air as they converged toward him, and at the same time, a sharp de shot out of the hole, sweeping rapidly toward his feet.
Despite the abrupt nature of this turn of events, Han Li reacted extremely quickly, drifting back as soon as the ground exploded beneath him to evade the shattered rocks, and the de that was sweeping toward him didn''t even manage to graze his robes.
In the next instant, a ck shadow shot out of the hole, revealing itself to be a ck ape that was around ten feet tall.
The ape was d in a suit of bright, silver armor that also appeared to be a star artifact, but unfortunately, most of it was already ruined, and it was wielding a white scimitar that was around seven feet in length.
Is this a scaled beast? No, it''s another puppet.
The ape''s entire body was covered in ck fur, and not only was there a cold gleam in its eyes, there was also viscous saliva dripping down from its fangs, making it no different in appearance from an actual living creature, but Han Li was still able to instantly identify it as a puppet.
The ape gave him a simr feeling to back when he first encountered Daoist Xie.
Han Li''s gaze fell upon the white scimitar, and he discovered that it was disying no signs of decay at all, and the star designs on its were still shing incessantly while giving off bursts of formidable saber qi that caused the surrounding air to tremble incessantly.
Before Han Li had a chance to take a closer look, the ck apeunched itself at him, and at the same time, the star designs on its white scimitar lit up, releasing a saber projection that was several dozen feet in length that came sweeping directly at Han Li''s neck.
Han Li paid no heed to the oing attack as he began swaying from side to side, conjuring up four or five identical that sprang at the ck ape from different directions.
The ape puppet let loose a low roar as it swept its scimitar through the air in a circle, aiming to cut down all of the oing Han Lis, only for all of them to instantly vanish upon making contact with its scimitar projection.
The ck ape was momentarily rooted to the spot upon seeing this, and right at this moment, Han Li appeared before it in a wraith-like manner, then chopped down onto its wrist like lightning with his left hand, severing its hand at the wrist like a hot knife through butter.
The ck ape let loose an agonized howl beforeshing out with its other arm, throwing a punch at Han Li''s head.
However, Han Li was far faster, and he grabbed onto the white scimitar with one hand, then shed it through the air to slice the ck ape''s body into two from head to toe before its fist even had a chance to reach him.
The two halves of its body tumbled to the ground and spasmed momentarily before falling still.
Silver liquid that resembled blood poured out of the ck ape''s body, and on top of that, it had a full set of organs, making it appear no different from an actual living creature. However, these organs were crafted out of some type of crimson jade material, presenting an intriguing sight to behold.
Han Li took a nce at the two halves of the ck ape''s body, then turned his gaze to the white scimitar in his hand with an ted look in his eyes.
He channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts as he tightened his grip slightly around the hilt of the scimitar, and a bright saber projection instantly emerged over its de, causing the nearby space to tremble and buzz incessantly.
As he swept the scimitar through the air, a series of saber projections instantly began to revolve around him like a nest of white spirit snakes.
The saber projections swept over the nearby walls, easily leaving deep marks onto theirs surfaces as if they were made from tofu.
However, a disappointed look quickly shed through Han Li''s eyes.
Even though this scimitar appeared to be quite powerful, it wasn''t actually a star artifact, and it couldn''t enhance one''s physical prowess like a true star artifact could, so it could only be considered a pseudo-star artifact.
Even so, this was still a very valuable weapon under the current circumstances.
Han Li strapped the scimitar to his back, then concealed his aura once again and continued onward.
Beyond the entrance of the altar was a long passageway, and the walls on either side were constructed from gray stone bricks that were giving off a cold aura.
The passageway was quite wide at thirty to forty feet, but it was only around twenty to thirty feet tall, and for some reason, it was extremely dim here, restricting visibility to only less than two hundred feet, thereby striking one with a sense of tension and unease.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he continued onward, but he was walking along extremely carefully, constantly preparing for another puppet or something else to jump out of the walls or the ground below to attack him.
Thankfully, there were no further attacks, and after a long and meticulous walk, an exit that was giving off a faint white glow appeared up ahead.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly as he immediately sped up and made his way into the exit, upon which he arrived in a square hall.
The hall was several thousand feet in area, with a series of glowing white stones embedded onto the ceiling to brightly illuminate the entire area, which was riddled with a series of stone statues of different sizes.
These statues depicted figures in all types of different postures with a wide range of expressions on their faces, and all of them were extremely lifelike, presenting a rather unsettling sight to behold.
Right at this moment, a speck of white light appeared in Han Li''s field of view, and it was rapidly expanding at an extraordinary speed. It was as if a star were plummeting from the heavens toward his face with unstoppable might.
An rmed look instantly appeared on Han Li''s face as he rushed back in retreat while drawing the scimitar from his back, raising it in front of his head to just barely parry the oing burst of white light.
A resounding boom rang out as the burst of white light shed against the de of the scimitar.
Han Li''s scimitar-wielding arm trembled violently as he was sent flying back even faster, and he stumbled back close to twenty steps before finally managing to steady himself.
The burst of white light had also been repelled, and it was flying back end over end through the air.
Only then was Han Li able to catch a clear glimpse of it, and he discovered that it was a thin white sword that resembled a spirit snake. The specks of starlight on its surface indicated that it was a star artifact of a high caliber.
Immediately thereafter, a figure emerged from behind one of the stone statues to catch the sword, and it was none other than Feng Wuchen.
"I wanted to grant you a swift and painless death by punching a hole straight through your head, but it looks like you''re going to have to suffer now," Feng Wuchen harrumphed coldly with undisguised killing intent in his eyes.
"It seems like we were destined to sh, Feng Wuchen," Han Li said as his eyes narrowed slightly.
That attack was far more formidable than the attacks that Feng Wuchen had disyed during their previous battle, so it appeared that he had stumbled upon some type of opportunity in the Great Ruins.
"Indeed! There were too many people in the Asura Arena, so I didn''t go all out, and you managed to defeat me thanks to mycency. Now that there''s no one else around, I''m going to make you wish you had never been born!" Feng Wuchen dered with a vicious and confident gleam in his eyes.
"We''ve had our differences in the past, but it''s nothing personal. Right now, we should be uniting against the cultivators of Puppet City instead of fighting among ourselves," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Are you begging for mercy now? It''s toote! You humiliated me in front of everyone in the Asura Arena, so no matter how much you beg, you''re not going to leave this ce alive!" Feng Wuchen roared as a look of intense resentment appeared in his eyes, and second identical sword appeared in his other hand.
"So you insist on fighting me here then," Han Li sighed.
A cold sneer appeared on Feng Wuchen''s face, and he offered no response as he sprang forward, instantly covering a distance of several hundred to appear in front of Han Li in the blink of an eye.
The two swords in his hands had been raised, and both of them were aimed at Han Li''s chest.
The speed that Feng Wuchen was disying here was almost twice as fast as what he had shown during the arena battle, and Han Li remained rooted to the spot, seemingly havingpletely failed to react.
Feng Wuchen had been feeling a little uneasy, but he instantly felt much more assured upon seeing this, and he cast his gaze toward Han Li''s face, hoping to see the panic and horror in his eyes during his dying moments.
However, he was only greeted by the sight of a pair of eyes that were calm to the extreme.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Feng Wuchen''s heart upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to do anything, the swords in his hands had already been knocked aside by a burst of tremendous force that almost wrenched them out of his grasp altogether.
A stunned look appeared on Feng Wuchen''s face as he darted back as a blurry shadow, instantly retreating to over a thousand feet away.
"I failed to kill youst time, but it looks like I''ve been given a second chance to finish the job here," Han Li said in a cold voice, immediately following which all 237 of the profound acupoints on his body lit up one after another in rapid session.
A loud explosion rang out in the air around Han Li as an unimaginably formidable aura erupted out of his body before sweeping forth in all directions.
The entire hall trembled violently, as did all of the stone statues, and an incredulous look appeared on Feng Wuchen''s face as he eximed, "Impossible! How could you have opened so many profound acupoints?!"
Chapter 934: Brother Against Brother
Chapter 934: Brother Against Brother
In the face of the power that Han Li had suddenly disyed, Feng Wuchen was momentarily rooted to the spot, immediately following which he turned and fled deeper into the hall, where there was an entrance clearly leading to somewhere else.
Han Li immediately set off in pursuit, vanishing from the spot in the blink of an eye as the ground exploded beneath his feet, sending countless loose rocks flying in all directions.
Feng Wuchen had only fled to less than two hundred feet away when a blurry white shadow caught up to him like lightning, reaching him in a sh.
An arm that was riddled with radiant profound acupoints then came swinging at him from behind with its fist clenched, andrge sections of the nearby space became twisted and warped in the face of the fist''s tremendous power.
Feng Wuchen felt bursts of immense spatial pressure converging toward him from all directions, causing him to slow down drastically.
He knew that he wouldn''t be able to get away, and a desperate look appeared in his eyes as he let loose a wild roar and swung around to face Han Li, then crossed his two swords above his head before injecting all of his power into them.
Radiant starlight erupted out of the pair of swords as close to twenty star acupoints emerged on their des, forming a pair of massive starry swords that were each several dozen feet in size to oppose Han Li''s almighty punch.
Han Li''s fist struck the pair of swords, and a loud crack rang out as the giant strry swords instantly shattered into countless specks of starlight, while the two swords themselves were also destroyed.
Feng Wuchen''s body was like a wooden pir that was smashed into the ground by Han Li''s fist, instantly burying him up to his knees.Han Li''s fist then continued onward without pause en route to Feng Wuchen''s head, and with the lower half of his legs embedded into the ground, it was impossible for him to take any evasive measures.
Hence, he could only look on helplessly as a wave of dazzling white light washed over his body from Han Li''s fist, tearing him to pieces just like his two shattered swords.
Only after Feng Wuchen''s body had beenpletely obliterated did Han Li withdraw his fist with a calm expression.
Even if Feng Wuchen had stumbled upon some type of opportunity in the Great Ruins, there was no way that he could''ve enhanced his powers to a sufficient degree to pose a threat in such a short time. He had no intention of killing Feng Wuchen, but thetter insisted on being killed, so he had no one else to me.
Han Li was just about to depart when an intrigued look suddenly appeared in his eyes, and he turned to the spot where Feng Wuchen had been standing just a moment ago, then extended his hand into the hole in the ground before pulling out a pair of white boots.
The boots seemed to have been made from some type of special beast hide that was soft, yet extremely resilient, and there were a series of star runes and a crescent moon design etched onto each of the boots.
It was clear that these were no ordinary boots, and Han Li immediately took off his own shoes before putting them on, then took a step forward.
As soon as he did so, he immediately vanished from the spot, only to reappear over a thousand feet away.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, and he looked down to discover that a total of sixty-four star acupoints had appeared on the boots, glowing just as radiantly as his profound acupoints.
An ecstatic look appeared on his face, and he began whizzing around the hall in a wraith-like fashion, filling the entire hall with his afterimages.
In the next instant, all of the afterimages abruptly disappeared, leaving Han Li to stand alone at the center of the hall with an ted look on his face.
These boots were a star artifact that could both enhance his physical prowess and his speed. Speed was his forte to begin with, and with the assistance of these boots, his speed was elevated by over 50%.
On top of that, this was before he had even begun refining the boots. Once hepleted the refinement process, their enhancement effect would only improve even further.
These boots were definitely a star artifact of a superior caliber to his Star Shield, and it was no wonder that Feng Wuchen had been so confident after obtaining them. Unfortunately for him, even these boots weren''t enough to bridge the power gap between him and Han Li.
The more Han Li looked at the boots, the fonder of them he became.
He took a nce at the crescent moon insignias on the boots, then murmured to himself, "I''ll call you Star Moon Boots."
After putting on the Star Moon Boots, Han Li''s speed was greatly enhanced even without channeling his Wingform Ascension Arts, and even though they didn''t allow him to fly, they were certainly taking him from one ce to another far faster than before.
Han Li continued deeper into the altar through a passageway at the back of the hall, and the path ahead suddenly began to slope downward.
He continued down the passageway, and after traveling for around fifteen minutes, he was greeted by the sight of an evenrger white exit. After passing through the exit, he arrived in front of a massive underground za that was riddled with buildings, stretching as far as the eyes could see.
It was quite a surprise to Han Li that there was such a massive area beneath the altar, and he took a moment topose himself, then began to make his way through the clusters of buildings.
After traveling for some time, the buildings on the za gradually became denser and denser, and there was nock of intricately constructed pces among them.
Han Li checked through these buildings one by one, but didn''t find any star artifacts or treasures inside. However, he did encounter some puppets that were still intact, and he was attacked by such puppets on several asions, but he was able to deal with them easily.
After searching for a while, he lost interest and began to elerate onward.
Upon arriving above a circr, ck stone pce, he suddenly raised an eyebrow, then gently descended onto the pce.
Immediately thereafter, he descended onto the ground and began rushing along the stone b path toward a seven-story stone pagoda.
The doors of the pagoda had already been destroyed, and Han Li entered the building without any hesitation. From there, he quickly made his way onto the top floor before casting his gaze into the distance through a window to his left.
At this moment, there were four figures shing back and forth on a white stone za over ten thousand feet away, and they seemed to be locked in a battle.
They were all moving quite quickly, so Han Li initially wasn''t able to catch a clear glimpse of them from afar. All he could tell was that three of them were dressed in Puppet City attire, while the final figure was d in a suit of white bone armor and looked slightly familiar.
A resounding boom rang out as the armord man was sent flying by a collective blow from the three Puppet City cultivators, and he crashed violently into a ck wall that was over a hundred feet tall.
The wall immediately exploded into pieces, sending loose rocks flying in all directions, while the armord man fell to the ground. Now that he hade to a rest, Han Li was finally able to catch a clear glimpse of his features, and he was stunned to discover that it was none other than Shi Chuankong!
Right as he was nning to set off for the white stone za himself, one of the three Puppet City cultivators opened their mouth to speak.
"I never thought I''d run into you in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, Chuankong. You delivered yourself right to my doorstep, so you can''t me me..."
The figure removed the ck veil over their face as they spoke, revealing themselves to be Shi Zhanfeng.
This was certainly very much an unexpected sight of Han Li, and only then did he recall that he had previously spotted three figures among the Puppet City cultivators that he had felt to be a little strange.
However, he didn''t know why Shi Zhanfeng had appeared in the Scalptia Spatial Domain. Judging from what he had just said, he didn''t seem to havee here specifically to hunt down Shi Chuankong, so what exactly was his objective?
"Cut the chit-chat! If you want to kill me, thene and get me!" Shi Chuankong said in a cold voice as he rose to his feet.
At this point, his suit of armor was already broken in many ces, indicating that the battle had clearly already been unfolding for a while prior to Han Li''s arrival, and it was clear that he was being outmatched by his three opponents.
"Still as cocky as ever, eh?" Shi Zhanfeng chuckled coldly, then swept a sleeve through the air, and other two figures with him also removed their Puppet City attire to reveal their true appearance.
One of them was a tall and broad man d in a suit of ck devilish armor, and it was none other than Du Yuan.
Du Yuan was the one that Shi Zhanfeng had entrusted to investigate the Scalptia Spatial Domain, and the fact that he was still by Shi Zhanfeng''s side clearly indicated that he was a very trusted subordinate.
The other figure was a petite and extremely beautiful woman whose looks weren''t inferior in the slightestpared with the twin sisters that had been sent to kill Shi Chuankong in the past, and she was clearly also one of Shi Zhanfeng''s close subordinates.
The two of them rushed forward in unison with starpower surging out of their bodies, and each of them had exactly 156 profound acupoints.
The woman was small, but extremely fast, and even though she and Du Yuan had sprung into action at the same time, she was able to reach Shi Chuankong several seconds ahead of him, following which a bone whip shot out of her sleeve before pouncing at Shi Chuankong''s be like a spirit snake.
Shi Chuankong let loose a loud roar as he retaliated with his bone saber, and dozens of star acupoints lit up over its de, forming a radiant, white saber projection that swept through the air with tremendous power.
The bone whip was longer and slightly faster than his bone saber, so it should''ve been able to reach him before his de could strike the woman, but thanks to the additional length contributed by the saber projection, the de of the saber was able to reach the woman''s chest before her whip could strike him.
The woman''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and with a flick of her wrist, the bone whip in her hand swung back to wrap itself around the de of Shi Chuankong''s saber, locking it into ce.
At the same time, Du Yuan also arrived on the scene, and he threw a punch at Shi Chuankong''s ribs from the right.
Shi Chuankong tugged back violently on his saber upon seeing this, using the bottom of its hilt to meet Du Yuan''s fist.
A resounding boom rang out as Du Yuan''s fist struck the hilt of the saber, sending violent shockwaves erupting in all directions, and the saber was almost wrenched out of Shi Chuankong''s grasp.
He immediately let loose a loud roar, and over 160 profound acupoints lit up over his body, and he was releasing an aura superior to that of his two assants.
Chapter 935: The Truth?
Chapter 935: The Truth?
"You think you can take on all three of us with your pitiful powers? What a joke?" Shi Zhanfeng scoffed.
As soon as his voice trailed off, heunched himself forward, raising a hand as he did so before swinging it down in a chopping motion upon Shi Chuankong''s head.
A string of profound acupoints lit up over his arm, and it was as if his hand had truly been transformed into a radiant white de that was giving off formidable energy fluctuations.
Shi Chuankong seemed to have detected the threat posed by the attack, and he was desperately trying to free his saber to defend himself, but he was unable to do so with both Du Yuan and the woman restricting his movements.
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he was just about to rush out of the pagoda when a burst of ck light suddenly appeared in front of Shi Chuankong''s chest, following which a pendant-like object slipped down before shattering into pieces.
Immediately thereafter, a vortex of ck erupted out of the pendant''s shattered fragments, and an ape-like scaled beast with countless spikes over its body rushed out from within before crashing into Shi Zhanfeng.
A sharp screech akin to the sound of metal grating on metal rang out as Shi Zhanfeng''s arm struck the scaled beast on the head, only for him to be sent flying back by the force of the sh.
The devilish ape was identical in appearance to the creature confined within the ck cage pendant that Shi Pokong had given to Shi Chuankong.
After knocking back Shi Zhanfeng, the devilish ape turned around and swung an arm at the woman.Thetter withdrew her bone whip, then jumped up in an agile fashion to evade the attack, while Du Yuan rushed over to the devilish ape''s side before throwing an almighty punch.
Despite its massive frame, the devilish ape wasn''t slow at all, and it twisted around before retaliating with a punch of its own.
The two fists shed violently, sending gusts of fierce wind sweeping through the air in all directions.
Shi Chuankong took advantage of this opportunity to fly back in retreat, attempting to escape, yet he had only just leaped up into the air when a burst of white light appeared above his head, and Shi Zhanfeng descended upon him once again.
Shi Zhanfeng''s attack was too fast for Shi Chuankong to parry with his saber, so he could only reflexively lean back, and a streak of white shed past his cheek before sliding down his chest.
A lock of his silver hair drifted up into the air as a long gash was sliced into his cheek. The breastte of his suit of bone armor was also shattered, while a gash that was deep enough to expose bone was inflicted onto his chest.
Shi Chuankong was sent plummeting to the ground by the force of the blow, but Shi Zhanfeng refused to give him any respite, racing after him in hot pursuit before stomping a foot down onto his chest.
A resounding boom rang out as violent tremors ran through the ground.
Shi Chuankong''s body was embedded into the earth below, and a series of massive cracks appeared over the ground as blood came gushing out of his mouth.
His saber star artifact was kicked out of his grasp by Shi Zhanfeng, who then picked it and imed it for himself.
As Shi Zhanfeng looked down at Shi Chuankong, a look of mncholy appeared in his eyes as he mused, "Compared with Shi Pokong, I don''t harbor much resentment toward you. It''s just that... Forget it, you can only me yourself for putting your eggs in the wrong basket."
As soon as his voice trailed off, he raised his saber before swinging it down at Shi Chuankong''s head.
Shi Chuankong seemed to have already given up on resisting, and there was a resigned smile on his face. All of a sudden, he loosened his own left fist, spreading his hand open to reveal a bloodstained, leaf-shaped jade pendant, the very same one that had been given to him by Shi Pokong!
The pendant was stained with his blood essence, seemingly having already been activated, and the thin veins on its surface began to glow radiantly.
An rmed look appeared on Shi Zhanfeng''s face upon seeing this, and he hurriedly shot back in retreat.
Immediately thereafter, the air around Shi Chuankong seemed to suddenly contract and converge around him, following which a radiant white sun rose up.
A resounding explosion rang out as the white sun imploded, sending waves of blinding white light washing over the entire white stone za.
Powerful shockwaves also swept through the air in all directions, peelingyers of earth up from the ground.
Even from his vantage point up in the pagoda over ten thousand feet away, Han Li felt a wave of heat sweeping toward him, almost forcing him to close his eyes, and the stone pagoda was also trembling violently, as if it could copse at any moment.
The tremorssted close to twenty seconds before finally slowly subsiding.
The outermostyer of the pagoda was already very fragile from wind erosion, and with much of it stripped away by the explosion, there was barely anything left of the pagoda standing.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he looked out at the white stone za.
The entire za had already been wiped out of existence, leaving only a crater that was over a hundred feet deep and over a thousand feet in diameter in its wake, and all of the nearby buildings had also been destroyed.
At the center of the craterid Shi Chuankong''s charred and bloodied body, and it was unclear whether he was dead or alive.
Right at this moment, his chest suddenly began to heave violently as he erupted into a violent coughing fit.
For some reason, not only had the jade pendant not teleported him back to the Devil Realm, it had set off an explosion that had almost killed him instead.
Shi Chuankong wanted to struggle up into a seated position, but as soon as he tried to move, a burst of excruciating pain instantly coursed through his entire body, causing him to let loose an involuntary cry of pain.
"It''s extremely impressive that you were able to survive an explosion from an Explosive Space Realm Talisman from point nk," Shi Zhanfeng praised as he strode over to the edge of the crater with his two subordinates.
Half of his robe had been torn away, and even the suit of armor beneath it had also been severely ravaged. On top of that, his right arm and shoulder had been reduced to a grotesque mass of flesh and blood, with bone exposed in many parts.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing the words "Explosive Space Realm Talisman", and he pulled out his own leaf-shaped jade pendant with a grim look on his face.
If he had gone through with using the talisman while traversing through the spatial storm en route to entering the Great Ruins, then all of the cultivators from Puppet City and Profound City would''ve most likely already been dead by now.
At the bottom of the crater, Shi Chuankong was still trying to struggle into a seated position, but he was in such terrible condition that he was only able to make small, spasming motions.
Some of the charred ashes on his body began to slip off, revealing an extremely thin white garment that was giving off a white glow.
"Is that a Star Fox Robe? No wonder you were able to survive such a violent explosion. I thought that your mother would''ve left this treasure to Shi Pokong, considering how he was always her favorite son, but it seems like you inherited it instead," Shi Zhanfeng sneered.
Shi Chuankong paid no heed to Shi Zhanfeng''s mockery as he closed eyes, and a tear slowly slid down his cheek.
Even during their mother''s dying moments, she hadn''t expressed any resentment toward those around her. Her final wish was that her two sons would continue to protect and look out for each other in this perilous world, yet it seemed that this final wish of hers was ultimately not able toe into fruition.
Pokong, why would you do this?
Right at this moment, a beastly roar suddenly rang out, and the devilish ape scaled beast erupted out of the crater, somehowpletely unscathed, before charging at Shi Zhanfeng''s trio.
"Get rid of that thing!" Shi Zhanfeng ordered with a hint of disdain in his eyes.
Du Yuan and the petite woman immediatelyunched themselves at the devilish ape in unison, and their battle resumed.
Meanwhile, Shi Zhanfeng slowly made his way to the bottom of the crater, then crouched down beside Shi Chuankong.
With a casual tug, the Star Fox Robe was removed from Shi Chuankong''s body, only for it to immediately dissipate into nothingness.
"It''s been ruined... What a pity..." Shi Zhanfeng sighed.
He then turned to Shi Chuankong with a look of sorrow in his eyes as he rested the tip of the saber in his hand onto Shi Chuankong''s chest.
All of a sudden, Shi Chuankong''s eyes sprang open, and he seemed to haveposed himself as he asked, "Zhanfeng, what type of person do you think Pokong is?"
Shi Zhanfeng''s brows furrowed slightly as he considered the question momentarily, then replied, "I''ve never been able to quite see through him."
"It''s always said that the one who knows you best will always be your enemy. If even you can''t see through Pokong, then I was a fool for thinking that I knew him well," Shi Chuankong sighed.
Shi Zhanfeng didn''t understand what Shi Chuankong was alluding to, and he dered, "Alright, it''s time for me to send you on your way."
Shi Chuankong merely smiled and closed his eyes once again, ready to ept his fate.
The mncholy in Shi Zhanfeng''s eyes faded as he plunged the saber down toward Shi Chuankong''s heart.
Chapter 936: Allies to Enemies
Chapter 936: Allies to Enemies
Right as Shi Zhanfeng''s saber was about to fall, Han Li rushed out of the stone pagoda through the window, hurtling rapidly toward Shi Chuankong with his Star Moon Boots glowing radiantly.
However, after flying for several thousand feet, he suddenly spotted a white figure out of his peripheral vision, and they were also racing onto the scene from a different direction.
Han Li immediately stopped in his tracks upon seeing, then descended onto the roof of a rtively well-preserved pce.
Right as Shi Zhanfeng was about to plunge his saber through Shi Chuankong''s heart, a blood-curdling howl suddenly rang out, and he immediately swung around with an rmed expression to discover that a white flower had bloomed in front of Du Yuan''s chest, and the flower was drenched in his blood.
Before he had a chance to figure out what had happened, the petals of the flower suddenly closed, forming a flower bud that was as sharp as a spear tip before being pulled out of Du Yuan''s body.
A hole was left where his heart had once been, and a torrent of blood was gushing out from within.
Immediately thereafter, a slender figure d in a suit of white bone armor emerged from behind Du Yuan, holding what appeared to be a bone spear in her hand as she smiled and waved at Shi Zhanfeng.
A stunned look appeared on Shi Zhanfeng''s face, and his expression was mirrored by Han Li as he looked on from afar.
The armord figure was none other than Gu Qianxun!She plunged her spear forward once again, this time driving it through Du Yuan''s dantian to destroy the nascent soul inside.
The petite woman immediately began to dart back to Shi Zhanfeng''s side upon seeing this, but the devilish ape refused to let her go, and she found herself entangled in a battle against it once again.
"I don''t recall there being any bad blood between us, so why have you killed mypanion?" Shi Zhanfeng asked with tightly furrowed brows.
Shi Chuankong had also opened his eyes and was looking at Gu Qianxun with a perplexed expression.
Gu Qianxun took a cold nce at Shi Chuankong, and she disyed no intention of answering the question posed to her as she darted straight toward Shi Zhanfeng.
"Are you trying to save him? I''m afraid I can''t let you do that," Shi Zhanfeng chuckled as he swung his saber down toward Shi Chuankong''s head.
It appeared that he was entirely focused on the task of decapitating Shi Chuankong, but in reality, he was simultaneously keeping a constant eye on the approaching Gu Qianxun out of his peripheral vision.
The skin and flesh on his arm was slowly regenerating, and he was secretly holding a white bone dagger that was as thin as a willow leaf. There were around a dozen star acupoints glowing on the dagger, and he was waiting tond a lethal blow upon Gu Qianxun as she swooped in to save Shi Chuankong.
However, as Gu Qianxun drew closer, Shi Zhanfeng noticed that her spear was aimed directly at his head, rather than at the saber in his hand.
She was here to kill, not to save anyone!
Shi Zhanfeng immediately swung around upon seeing this, the dagger in his hand flew out of his grasp, piercing directly toward Gu Qianxun''s be.
All of the dozen or so star acupoints on the dagger were glowing radiantly, conjuring up hundreds of dagger projections that sped toward Gu Qianxun all at once.
Gu Qianxun''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but she continued charging onward, seemingly without any regard for self-preservation.
However, at the same time, the tip of her spear had veered away from its original trajectory to point at the willow leaf dagger instead, and a burst of white light erupted out of it like a blooming flower to epass all of the oing dagger projections.
The petals of the flower then closed once again, reverting the spear tip to its original form. The dagger had been caught within the tip of the spear, and it was now also aimed at Shi Zhanfeng.
In response, Shi Zhanfeng darted back in retreat to the edge of the crater.
He took a nce at the petite woman, who was still struggling to shake off the devilish ape, then at his own arm, which was still yet to fully regenerate, and he heaved a forlorn sigh before ordering, "Run!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he turned and fled the scene, and the petite woman followed along after him without any hesitation.
The devilish ape chased after her for a while in futility, and after losing its target, it suddenly turned around before rushing at Gu Qianxun.
Gu Qianxun harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a small badge that hovered in mid-air in front of the devilish ape.
In the face of the badge, the devilish ape rapidly shrank back down into a miniature figure before being stowed away by Gu Qianxun along with the badge.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he observed the unfolding scene from afar.
"Are you here to save me or kill me?" Shi Chuankong asked with a calm expression.
Gu Qianxun offered no response, but a hint of mncholy had appeared in her eyes as she raised her spear before plunging it down at his be without any hesitation.
Right at this moment, a streak of white light raced through the air before striking the tip of her spear with a loud ng.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li arrived onto the scene, descending beside Shi Chuankong like the wind before catching the white scimitar that he had just hurled through the air.
"What is the meaning of this, Fellow Daoist Gu?" Han Li asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"I should be the one asking you that, Fellow Daoist Li. Why are you getting in my way?" Gu Qianxun asked in an indifferent manner.
"Fellow Daoist Shi is a friend of mine, so I''m not going to let you hurt him," Han Li dered.
"And what if I insist on killing him?" Gu Qianxun asked as a cold tone crept into her voice.
"In that case, you''ll have to get past me," Han Li replied without any hesitation.
A cold gleam shed through Gu Qianxun''s eyes upon hearing this, and she abandoned Shi Chuankong to charge at Han Li without any hesitation.
Over thirty star acupoints lit up over her white bone spear, releasing radiant white light and over a hundred identical white spear projections that hurtled toward Han Li in unison.
Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as he swept his white scimitar through the air, and its de sliced into the mass of oing spear projections.
All of the spear projections instantly dissipated as the de of the scimitar struck the tip of the bone spear with unerring uracy, stopping it cold in its tracks.
However, this seemed to have yed right into Gu Qianxun''s hands, and her eyes immediately lit up as the tip of her spear opened up once again, then immediately closed around the scimitar, catching its de like a four-pronged mouth.
At the same time, an arrow of white light shot out of the tip of the spear directly toward Han Li''s chest.
Simultaneously, Gu Qianxun swept a hand through the air to release a streak of ck light, which contained the pendant that Shi Chuankong had been wearing earlier.
A dull thump rang out as the pendant exploded to form a vortex of ck light, and the devilish ape re-emerged, albeit a little smaller than before, then rushed directly at Han Li.
As the devilish ape charged at Han Li, all of the countless spikes on its body shot forth as countless streaks of ck light, which converged toward Han Li from all directions.
Meanwhile, Gu Qianxun had tossed her bone spear aside, and she swept her hands through the air to send eight white daggers flying out of her sleeves, all of which were aimed at Shi Chuankong, who had been her target this entire time.
Shi Chuankong was currently stillpletely unable to move, so he could only look on helplessly at the approaching daggers.
However, in the next instant, an earth-shattering boom rang out from Han Li''s body, and his profound acupoints were glowing radiantly, releasing bursts of tremendous force in all directions.
The arrow of light released by the bone spear and the ck spikes that had shot out of the devilish ape''s body were all stopped cold in their tracks before shattering into countless pieces, while the devilish ape itself was also sent flying before crashing into a nearby building.
The building immediately copsed, burying the devilish ape under a pile of rubble.
At the same time, Han Li vanished from the spot, then reappeared in front of Shi Chuankong an instantter as if by instantaneous teleportation before reaching out with his right hand to catch the eight oing daggers.
A stunned look appeared in Gu Qianxun''s eyes upon seeing this, while Han Li took a nce at the eight daggers that he had caught before hurling them back at Gu Qianxun.
The daggers were sent flying back several times faster than when they were hurled by Gu Qianxun, and an rmed look appeared on her face as he hurriedly grabbed onto her bone spear before sending the white scimitar that was still caught in its tip flying through the air.
The scimitar and the spearbined to keep the oing daggers at bay, but there was such tremendous force behind the daggers that Gu Qianxun was sent stumbling back seven or eight steps.
A fearful look shed through her eyes as she turned and fled without any hesitation, but she wasn''t able to get very far at all before Han Li appeared in her path in a wraith-like manner.
"Who exactly are you, Fellow Daoist Gu?" Han Li asked as Gu Qianxun drew to a shuddering halt.
"Why do you want to know so much, Fellow Daoist Li? If you want to save Shi Chuankong, then you can have him," Gu Qianxun replied as sheposed herself before putting on a faint smile.
"Tell me who you are! Don''t make me kill you!" Han Li threatened as a cold gleam shed through his eyes.
Chapter 937: Holy Remains
Chapter 937: Holy Remains
"Sometimes, knowledge can be a burden, Fellow Daoist Li. It won''t benefit you at all to ask too many questions here," Gu Qianxun replied.
Han Li raised an arm in silence, and a tremendous aura erupted out of his body, one that was filled with violence and brutality, much like the aura of a fearsome beast that had just awakened from a long slumber.
"Fine, I''ll tell you everything," Gu Qianxun sighed.
Han Li stopped what he was doing upon hearing this, but his arm remained held aloft as he waited for Gu Qianxun to continue.
Gu Qianxun opened her mouth as if to speak, but all of a sudden, the bone spear in her hand shot forth without any warning, springing at Han Li like a vicious viper.
Han Li seemed to have already anticipated this, and he casually caught the bone spear, but right as he was about to retaliate, the bone spear suddenly began to tremble violently as all of its star acupoints began to release dazzling white light.
The bone spear exploded with a resounding boom into close to twenty fragments, all of which hurtled toward Han Li like pieces of lethal shrapnel.
At the same time, the tip of the spear split open once again to form a four-petaled white flower, and the petals flew directly at Han Li''s chest at a far faster speed than the other fragments of the bone spear.
In the blink of an eye, they were no more than half a foot away from Han Li''s chest, and this time, Han Li was caught off guard as he immediately shot back in retreat while throwing a punch forward.The space ahead of him instantly solidified into an invisible wall that stopped the four white petals cold in their tracks, but they immediately began to struggle and writhe like living creatures, attempting to pierce through the invisible wall.
Ultimately, the four petals ran out of power and ttered to the ground along with the fragments of the bone spear.
"Farewell, Fellow Daoist Li."
Gu Qianxun had already fled into the distance in the same instant that the bone spear was detonated, and Han Li was just about to set off in pursuit when the devilish ape erupted out of the pile of rubble that it had been buried under before pouncing at Shi Chuankong.
The devilish ape let loose a thunderous roar as it swung its massive fist at Shi Chuankong''s head, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he was forced to turn his attention away from Gu Qianxun.
A resounding boom rang out as the devilish ape''s fist drew to a shuddering halt around half a foot above Shi Chuankong''s head. It had been stopped by a hand, which stood in front of it like an immovable mountain.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li swung his other arm through the air, and the devilish ape was sent flying like a rag doll before exploding in mid-air into a cloud of ck mist.
At this point, Gu Qianxun had already vanished into the distance.
Han Li took a nce in the direction that she had fled in, and by his estimates, he would have a roughly 50% chance of chasing her down if he were to go after her now, but he refrained from doing so.
Even though Gu Qianxun had refused to talk, he already had a decent idea of why she was aiming to kill Shi Chuankong.
Han Li turned his gaze to Shi Chuankong, and he was just about to say something when Shi Chuankong raised a hand with great difficulty, then reached into the front of his ruined robes to pull out a white jade vial.
He then tipped out a crimson pill from the vial before devouring it, immediately following which a hint of color instantly returned to his cheeks, while all of the wounds on his body also began to glow red.
The wounds were rapidly healing within the red light, and in just a few seconds, all of his external injuries had been healed.
All of a sudden, a serious look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face as he began to chant an incantation while tapping his fingers all over his own body, and a burst of translucent crimson light appeared over his chest.
A hint of tion appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face at the sight of the speck of crimson light, and he began to speed up in his chanting and his finger movements.
A faint sshing sound could be heard ringing out within his body, as if there were a river flowing inside, and the speck of crimson light began to flicker before slowly moving from his chest to his left arm.
He immediately raised his right hand and chopped it down viciously upon his own left shoulder without any hesitation, amputating the entire arm.
As soon as his left arm was detached from his body, the speck of crimson light on it immediately erupted into a crimson me that set the entire arm alight.
Han Li hurriedly grabbed onto Shi Chuankong and dragged him to the side upon seeing this.
The effects of the pill that Shi Chuankong had just taken hadn''t run its course yet, and the wound on his left shoulder was instantly sealed, thereby stopping the bleeding.
At this point, Shi Chuankong''s left arm had already been incinerated into ashes, and the crimson mes had also faded away, leaving only a crimson jade-like bead behind.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
"Don''t move!" Shi Chuankong warned, and Han Li did as he was told, remaining perfectly still on the spot.
The crimson bead was trembling slightly as if it were scouring the surrounding environment, only to ultimately give up on its search and vanish into the ground.
Only then did a look of relief appear on Shi Chuankong''s face as he reached into the front of his own robe to pull out another crimson pill that he promptly devoured.
The wound on his left shoulder instantly began to glow with radiant crimson light, and a new arm was rapidly emerging.
In less than twenty seconds, a brand new arm had appeared to rece Shi Chuankong''s amputated one.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this. In the outside world, regrowing a limb wasn''t a difficult task thanks to the world''s origin qi present in the environment, but it was not so simple in the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
Even though Shi Chuankong had regrown a new arm, he was still looking extremely pale, and he sat down with his legs crossed to digest the two pills that he had just taken.
Han Li strode over to his side and also sat down before closing his eyes to rest.
Three days and three nights flew by in a sh.
By the time Shi Chuankong opened his eyes again, hisplexion was looking much better, and he took a deep breath as he rose to his feet.
"Are you feeling alright, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked as he also stood up.
"You really are my lucky star, Fellow Daoist Li. Without you, I would be long dead by now," Shi Chuankong said with a wry smile.
"It''s fine. What are friends for? By the way, what was that crimson bead that came out of your body?" Han Li asked.
"That was a drop of blood essence that E Kuai nted into my body using a blood tracking secret technique, and it can allow him to monitor someone within a certain range. Even though I was severely wounded by the Explosive Space Realm Talisman, its power also destroyed part of the blood tracking secret technique by a stroke of luck, thereby allowing me to expel it from my body," Shi Chuankong exined.
"I see. The Scalptia Spatial Domain may be devoid of spiritual and devilish qi, but there''s still nock of these unorthodox techniques," Han Li remarked.
"It was also because of this blood tracking secret technique that I acted so cold and detached to you in the past. Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Chuankong said in an apologetic manner.
"There''s no need to apologize, I would''ve done the same thing under those circumstances. Having said that, what I want to know is why E Kuai nted this blood tracking secret technique in your body," Han Li said.
Shi Chuankong''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, following which a sullen look appeared in his eyes.
Han Li made no attempt to rush him, merely patiently waiting for him to respond.
"If you hadn''t saved me just now, I would already be dead, so I won''t keep any secrets from you. Truth be told, I entered the Scalptia Spatial Domain with you not just to help you search for Violet Spirit. Instead, I have another objective, and that''s actually my main objective for entering the Scalptia Spatial Domain," Shi Chuankong said after a long silence.
From the conversation that had taken ce between Shi Chuankong and Shi Zhanfeng, Han Li had already guessed that Shi Chuankong had an alternate motive for entering the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so he wasn''t surprised to hear this, and he asked, "What is it?"
"I came here to search for the Scalptia Holy Remains," Shi Chuankong replied.
"What''s that?" Han Li asked.
"I''m not sure of the exact details myself. All I''ve heard is that it''s an exceptional treasure that''s extremely helpful for breaking through the Great Epassment Stage bottleneck, and that there''s a very good chance that it''s in the Great Ruins. I initially came into the Scalptia Spatial Domain for Pokong''s sake, but from now on, I''m going to live for myself.
¡°I have some information on the Great Ruins given to me by Pokong, and one of the main reasons E Kuai decided to imprison me is because he wanted to get his hands on this information. Would you be interested ining with me to search for the Scalptia Holy Remains? I''m sure it''ll be extremely helpful to you as well," Shi Chuankong replied.
"In that case, E Kuai has also entered the Great Ruins to obtain these holy remains, right?" Han Li asked.
"That''s most likely the case. However, he''s a man who''s harboring many secrets, and I think he has some other objectives as well," Shi Chuankong replied as his brows furrowed slightly.
"If E Kuai is also searching for these holy remains, then we''ll be pitting ourselves against him by also searching for it. This is a very significant decision to make, so please allow me some time to think," Han Li said.
"Of course, take all the time you need," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
In any case, they weren''t going to be able to set off anytime soon. Even though Shi Chuankong appeared to have already made a full recovery, his internal injuries were still quite severe, so he was going to require an extended period of rest and recuperation.
After resting for three more days, Shi Chuankong had only made a halfway recovery, and the two of them began making their way deeper into the za.
Chapter 938: Abnormal Occurrence
Chapter 938: Abnormal urrence
Within a certain pce in the Great Ruins.
The pce was several thousand feet in area, and the ground was paved with green tiles, while the walls were also the same color, giving the entire ce a rather cold and eerie appearance.
At the center of the pce was a square elevated altar, upon which stood three figures.
At the center of the trio was E Kuai, and he was apanied by Mistress Liu Hua and the ck-robed man.
The area near the altar was severely ravaged, with many deep craters in the ground, as well as countless puppet fragments everywhere, clearly indicating that an intense battle had just taken ce.
E Kuai paid no heed to his surroundings as he observed the top of the altar, which was circr in shape and very t and smooth.
Its surface was also riddled with countless star runes to form aplex star array, at the center of which was a crimson object, most of which was embedded into the altar, so it was impossible to tell exactly what it was.
Dazzling white light was radiating from the star array, forming a pir of white light that protected the crimson object from all directions.
E Kuai turned his gaze to Mistress Liu Hua, and thetter immediately sprang into action, cing a series of array tools onto the altar while also pulling out a Star Wave Pen to begin making inscriptions.Only after close to two hours of work did he finally step back, and at that point, a new array had taken shape around the existing star array on the altar.
From there, Mistress Liu Hua chanted an incantation before flicking a finger through the air, releasing a burst of white light out of his fingertip.
The array that he had just created instantly began operating, releasing rays of white light that fused into the pir of white light on the altar.
The rays of white light weren''t particrly bright, but as soon as they entered the pir of white light, thetter immediately began to rapidly fade away, revealing the crimson object inside.
"Impressive as always, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua. I don''t think anyone else in the Scalptia Spatial Domain could''ve broken this Heavenly Starlight Array so easily," E Kuai praised with a pleased smile.
"You''re far too kind, City Lord E. Please make haste, the array that I just set down isn''t going tost long," Mistress Liu Hua replied.
E Kuai nodded in response, then stepped onto the altar and began making his way toward the crimson object.
The array on the altar hadn''t been deactivated, and as soon as E Kuai set foot onto the array patterns, they immediately lit up and sent countless arrows of light hurtling directly toward him.
However, these arrows of light immediately faded away as soon as they reached within a certain distance of him, so he was able to continue onward unobstructed.
It didn''t take long for E Kuai to reach the crimson object, and he grabbed onto it before forcefully tugging it upward.
The object began to radiate crimson light as it slowly rose upward, and the entire altar began trembling violently along with the surrounding pce.
E Kuai paid no heed to this as he continued to pull on the crimson object, and a series of profound acupoints had lit up over his arm, indicating that this was not an easy task for him.
The crimson object was gradually being pulled out of an altar, and it appeared to be around half a foot in length, but it wasn''t clear exactly what it was as if it was concealed within the radiant crimson light around it.
After the object waspletely pulled out of the altar, a faint crack rang out, and the white light radiating from the altarpletely faded, while all of the array patterns also turned gray.
The crimson light emanating from the crimson object also faded, revealing it to be an antiquated key that seemed to have been crafted from some type of jade material.
The key was riddled with countless tiny runes, and E Kuai was inspecting it with a pleased expression as he murmured to himself, "That''s the second one."
"Congrattions, City Lord E," the ck-robed man said, while Mistress Liu Hua remained silent.
¡¡
Meanwhile, in a certain underground cave somewhere within the Great Ruins.
The roof of the cave was riddled with crimson patterns that formed an enormous array, which was giving off faint crimson light that illuminated the darkness slightly, and a series of figures could be seen standing on the ground beneath the array.
There were countless figures present, stretching as far as the eyes could see, and right at this moment, the crimson array above them shed erratically a few times before turningpletely dark, plunging the entire underground cave into absolute darkness.
However, right at this moment, the eyes of one of the figures standing on the ground suddenly began to glow white as they raised their heads.
This seemed like some type of catalyst, and the eyes of all of the figures in the underground cave lit up one after another. In the blink of an eye, countless specks of white light had appeared in the cave, resembling a starry night sky.
¡¡
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were naturally oblivious to what was happening underground.
At this moment, they were still exploring the za beneath the altar.
The za was enormous, and the two of them searched for almost an entire day before finally discovering a secluded pce.
The pce was less than a thousand feet tall, and it was entirely constructed from giant ck stone blocks. There weren''t any decorative engravings on its surface, but there was an image of a starry night sky engraved onto its tightly shut stone gates.
"Brother Li, I''m willing to bet that there must be puppets inside far more powerful than the ones we''ve faced thus far. What do you think?" Shi Chuankong asked with a smile.
"I''m not going to bet against you. I don''t get anything for winning, and losing is a sign of bad luck, so it''s a lose-lose situation for me," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
The two of them had encountered many ruined buildings on the way here, most of which had beenpletely devoid of spoils. They had also encountered some puppets along the way, but none of them were very powerful and had been easily dismantled.
For some reason, Han Li couldn''t help but feel as if there were something different about Shi Chuankong. The change wasn''t in his appearance, cultivation base, or aura. Instead, the change was in some type of unquantifiable quality.
Han Li was well aware of the reason for this change. Even though neither of them had mentioned Shi Pokong''s betrayal on the way here, it was clear that the betrayal had had a profound effect on Shi Chuankong.
"Let''s go," Han Li said, then strode forward and pressed a palm against the heavy stone gate before pushing on it.
A resounding grating noise rang out as the gate swung back, creating an opening that was wide enough for the two of them to fit through. It was pitch-ck inside, and the entire ce smelled like decay.
Han Li took a brief nce at his surroundings, then made his way inside with the white scimitar in his hand, followed closely by Shi Chuankong.
As soon as they entered the pce, a me instantly lit up on the nearby wall. The me then quickly spread over the entire perimeter of the pce along the slots on the walls, illuminating the entire area.
A slightly, sickly sweet odor began to waft through the air, seemingly from some type of burning fat.
Thanks to the light of the fire, Han Li was able to see a moderate-sized rectangr pond on the ground not far up ahead. The pond was alreadypletely dry, and there was a white stone arch bridge.
The surrounding stone walls were riddled with floral engravings that had soft, yet extremely clear and vivid linework. Interspersed throughout these floral designs were some engravings of different beasts, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
At the end of the pce stood seven or eight ck stone statues, and the two directly facing across from Han Li and Shi Chuankong were both in a standing posture.
The one on the left depicted a tall and imposing devilish man with a head of short hair that was spiked up at the heavens. He had a set of ape-like facial features with fangs that were protruding out of his mouth, and he was d in a suit of ck devilish armor, while a long staff was held in his grasp.
The staff was only around the same thickness as an infant''s arm, but it was riddled with storm cloud designs, and it appeared to be a different material from the rest of the statue.
The statue on the right depicted a slender human woman who was extremely beautiful, with a pair of bright and exuberant eyes. There were silken streamers draped over her body, and they were dancing in the wind, giving her the appearance of a celestial maiden who was soaring through the heavens.
Her hands were cupped together in front of her chest, and cradled over her palms was a crimson key that appeared to have been made from some type of jade-like material.
Beside each of them were three halberd-wielding guards that were half-knelt onto the ground, and they were identical in appearance. Their upper bodies were bared to reveal bulging muscles that seemed to be brimming with explosive power.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce with each other, then strode over the edge of the pond. After inspecting the pond momentarily, they made their way onto the stone arch bridge leading to the other side.
Upon making it to the center point of the bridges, the ground beneath them suddenly began to tremble, and they hurriedly stopped in their tracks before looking around, but didn''t discover anything amiss.
Right at this moment, the faint sound of trickling water suddenly began to ring out from under the bridge.
Han Li looked down to discover that there seemed to be a hole at the bottom of the pond, and water was pouring out from within.
"What''s going on?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"I''m not sure, but let''s get to the other side first," Han Li replied with slightly furrowed brows.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the sound of flowing water suddenly grew louder, and the rate of water outflow drastically increased, with most of the pond quickly filled up.
At the same time, plumes of white mist began to rise up from the surface of the water, and Han Li looked up to discover that an image of a glowing starry sky had appeared on the ceiling of the pce above.
His brows furrowed slightly as he and Shi Chuankong took a step forward in unison, and all of a sudden, they found themselves in a resplendent pce, as if they had been teleported into apletely different setting.
The sound of musical instruments rang out as a group of beautiful women in colorful dresses swayed their hips from side to side while ying different musical instruments, performing a well-rehearsed dance.
Chapter 939: One Obstacle After Another
Chapter 939: One Obstacle After Another
"I didn''t think that I would encounter an illusion here," Han Li remarked with a calm smile.
"Don''t underestimate this illusion, Brother Li. I just tried to use a spiritual sense secret technique to break it, but to no avail. If you have a way to break this illusory array, then I suggest you do it before the illusion takes a more dangerous turn," Shi Chuankong said with a wry smile.
Han Li nodded in response as he channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique.
As he turned to inspect his surroundings once again, he discovered that all of the beautiful dancing women had taken on an extremely harrowing appearance, with rotting flesh clinging to withered bones.
Han Li couldn''t help but grimace slightly at this jarring sight.
"Are you also unable to break the illusion, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"This is quite an interesting illusory array, but it shouldn''t be too difficult to break it," Han Li replied with a confident smile.
Right as his voice trailed off, the hideous, dposing women seemed to have discovered that Han Li was attempting to break the array, and they threw down their musical instruments before pouncing at him with their fingers extended into sinister ws.
Han Li channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might as he let loose a loud roar, and it was as if a thunderp had rung out within the pce.Even Shi Chuankong shuddered involuntarily, and the bodies of all of the dposing women instantly exploded before dissipating into specks of dark red mes.
However, even after all of the dposing women had been eradicated, the two of them remained in the illusion of the opulent pce.
"It looks like we''ll only be able to make it out of this array by breaking its core. Hold on tight, Brother Shi," Han Li said as he grabbed onto Shi Chuankong''s shoulder before stomping a foot heavily down onto the ground.
The ground in the entire pce copsed to form a bottomless pit, which Han Li and Shi Chuankong plummeted into.
Only after close to twenty seconds did the sensation of falling fade away, and as they inspected their surroundings once again, they discovered that they had returned to the same pce from before.
At this moment, the two of them were standing at the center of the dried pond, and the stone arch bridge had already been shattered by the force of Han Li''s stomp.
"Looks like this bridge was the core of that illusory array," Shi Chuankong remarked.
Han Li nodded in response, and he was just about to say something when he suddenly turned and cast his gaze toward the rear of the pce.
A string of faint cracks rang out from the statues of the halberd-wielding guards that were half-knelt on the stone tform, and a series of cracks began to spread over their bodies.
Immediately thereafter, a glimmer of red light appeared in their eyes, and all of them seemed to have sprung to life as they turned to Han Li and Shi Chuankong in unison.
"Here we go again," Han Li sighed with a shake of his head.
The cracking sounds ringing out from the bodies of the six statues grew louder, and chunks of stone began to peel off their bodies as they rose to their feet.
After rising to their feet, the six puppets flexed their necks from side to side in a very humanized manner, then gripped onto their halberd and pounced at Han Li''s duo.
They split up into two groups while in mid-air, with three of them pouncing at Han Li, while the other threeunched themselves at Shi Chuankong.
Han Li darted back to evade a piercing attack from one of the puppets, then pushed off with both feet against the ground, and thanks to the speed boost provided by his Star Moon Boots, he was able to almost instantly reach the puppet.
From there, he shed his scimitar toward the puppet''s head, yet before his attack had a chance tond, the other two guards were already upon him, with their halberd aimed at his throat and his dantian.
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this, and he stopped in his tracks before spinning around on the spot, parrying the halberd aimed at his throat with his scimitar while also kicking aside the halberd that was aimed at his dantian.
Right at this moment, he felt a gust of wind sweep over the back of his head as the first puppet thrust its halberd at the back of his head.
Han Li was able to dodge the attack by swaying his head to the side, but internally, he was astonished by just how seamless the teamwork between the three puppets was.
Thankfully, they weren''t all that fast. Otherwise, there was a good chance that Han Li would''ve already been struck by one of their attacks.
After swaying to the side to evade the oing halberd, Han Li reached out to grab onto its shaft, then forced it downward in a powerful motion to catapult its wielder up into the air.
Before the puppet had a chance tond, Han Li sprang up into the air to pursue it, then sliced it into two with a sweep of his scimitar.
Meanwhile, Shi Chuankong had already been forced into a corner of the pond by his three puppet assants.
Two of the puppets had thrust their halberds at his chest, and even though he was able to keep their attacks at bay, the puppets were able to push him all the way back with their halberds until he was trapped in the corner.
The third puppet sprang up from the ruined stone arch bridge, holding onto the shaft of its halberd with both hands as it thrust it down upon Shi Chuankong''s chest.
Shi Chuankong was still yet to fully recover from his injuries, so he was in no condition to be fighting, and all he could do was look on helplessly as the halberd sped toward his chest.
Right at this moment, Han Li swiveled around in mid-air, and his scimitar flew out of his grasp, revolving end over end as it was hurled at the puppet from afar.
The puppet was able to detect the scimitar that was flying toward it from behind, and it withdrew its halberd to deflect the scimitar away.
That split second of dy was all that Han Li needed to arrive on the scene, and he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts as a string of profound acupoints lit up over his arm in rapid session.
The puppet only had the chance to turn around halfway before it was struck on the head by Han Li''s fist, and its head instantly exploded like a ripe watermelon.
Right at this moment, Shi Chuankong suddenly yelled in an rmed voice, "Look out!"
Han Li immediately ducked down upon hearing this, but before he had a chance to move away, he was dealt a tremendous blow to the shoulder, and he crashed heavily down onto hte ground with a resounding boom.
The entire pond was instantly shattered, while he plunged into the ground like a steel nail.
Instead of taking any time to see what it was that he had just been attacked by, Han Li burrowed deeper into the ground, quickly vanishing out of sight.
Immediately thereafter, the ground elsewhere in the pce suddenly began to bulge before splitting open, and Han Li re-emerged.
His brows were tightly furrowed as he cast his gaze toward the stone tform in the pce, only to find that the statue of the staff-wielding devilish man was nowhere to be seen.
All of a sudden, Han Li sprang forward with all his might, and in the next instant, a purple staff came crashing down into the ground, only just barely ncing past his back.
The ground exploded violently as sparks and shattered stone shards erupted in all directions, and Han Li swung around to discover the statue of the devilish man hovering in mid-air with its staff in its hand.
There was a pair of ck wings on its back that were pping steadily, and it seemed to possess some degree of intelligence as a frustrated look had appeared on its face after its attack failed tond.
With a violent p of its wings, a fierce whirlwind was swept up around it, and it flew directly at Han Li at an extraordinary speed.
On this asion, Han Li raised his scimitar and swung it at the puppet''s face instead of taking any evasive measures.
A humanized gleeful gleam shed through the puppet''s eyes upon seeing this, and it grabbed onto its staff with both hands, upon which ayer of faint white light emerged over its surface, indicating that it was a star artifact.
It swung its staff through the air to sh against Han Li''s white scimitar, and Han Li felt a burst of tremendous force shoot through his arm upon impact, forcing him to raise his other arm so that he could support the scimitar with both hands.
At the same time, his legs had already sunk around half a foot into the ground, and he couldn''t help but be astonished by the puppet''s incrediblebination of speed and power.
Before he had a chance to retaliate, a series of star acupoints lit up over the purple staff, immediately following which a thick arc of white lightning shot out from within before striking Han Li on the be.
Han Li felt a burning sensation on his forehead, and his consciousness also shuddered violently. As a result, the strength in his arms seeped away, and the purple staff was able to overwhelm his scimitar before striking him on the shoulder.
Han Li''s legs buckled beneath him as his body began to fall back, and a cold look appeared on the puppet''s face upon seeing this as it prepared to swing its staff down onto Han Li''s head.
In the instant that Han Li was struck by the arc of white lightning, he had already channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, so he was able to quickly regain lucidity.
In this dire situation, he hurriedly pulled out a small white shield from the front of his robe before injecting his starpower into it with all his might.
Radiant white starlight surged into the shield, and it conjured up a white light barrier that was just barelyrge enough to epass his entire body.
Chapter 940: Crimson Key
Chapter 940: Crimson Key
Right as the white light barrier was conjured up, the puppet''s purple staff had alreadye crashing down with tremendous power.
A resounding boom rang out as the white light barrier trembled violently, and a vast expanse of white lightning erupted out of the staff.
Countless arcs of lightning sprang through the air in all directions, striking the nearby ground to raiserge flurries of sparks.
The lightning raged for several seconds before beginning to fade, and at that point, the light barrier released by the shield had been whittled down to the extent that it was only just barely able to epass Han Li''s body.
Right at this moment, the winged puppet knocked Han Li''s Star Shield aside its staff, then stepped forward and threw a kick right into Han Li''s midsection.
Han Li felt as if an entire mountain had crashed into him, and all of his internal organs churned violently as he was sent flying back through the air, smashing through the broken stone arch bridge before being embedded deeply into the wall of the pond.
However, immediately thereafter, he thrust his palms against the wall behind him and shot forward through the air, right as the wing puppet was flying rapidly in his direction.
In the instant before the two of them were about to sh, a series of profound acupoints lit up over Han Li''s legs, and he stomped down onto the air below to elevate himself by several feet, passing over the puppet''s head before stomping down with all his might.
At the same time, all of the profound acupoints on his body also lit up, releasing a formidable wave of white light that came crashing down upon the winged puppet.Two of the halberd-wielding puppets were pouncing at Han Li from different directions, only to be instantly dismantled by this wave of white light.
The winged puppet was far more powerful than its halberd-wielding counterparts, and it didn''t even lower its head in the face of the tremendous pressure being exerted upon it by Han Li. However, its wings seemed to be a weak point, and they were torn to shreds by the wave of white light.
Han Li''s almighty stompnded heavily upon the winged puppet''s shoulders, instantly causing it to sink into the ground, while a series of massive cracks appeared beneath its feet.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might, and numerous profound acupoints lit up over his arms in unison as he swung his fists down upon the puppet''s head.
A vast expanse of starpower erupted out of his arms, and the puppet''s head waspletely ttened like a pancake upon impact, following which the light faded from its eyes, and its body wentpletely limp.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this, then jumped down from the puppet''s shoulders before casting his gaze toward Shi Chuankong.
At this point, only one of the halberd-wielding puppets was still left standing, and it had already been pursued by Shi Chuankong to the entrance of the pce, so it was no longer a threat.
Han Li then turned his gaze to the statue of the woman that remained on the stone tform, and he murmured to himself, "At least one of them decided to stay put..."
His gaze then fell upon the crimson key in the statue''s hands, and after a brief hesitation, he began to make his way toward the stone tform.
However, before he had a chance to step onto it, a white light restriction abruptly appeared before him, separating him from the statue of the woman.
Han Li immediately stopped in his tracks before descending out of mid-air, and after some close examination, he discovered that a pir of white light had risen up around the statue from the stone tform.
"Interesting," Han Li mused to himself.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out from behind him as the final halberd-wielding puppet was destroyed by Shi Chuankong.
Shortly thereafter, Shi Chuankong joined Han Li by the stone tform, picking up Han Li''s white scimitar and the purple staff along the way.
"What''s going on here, Brother Li?" he asked.
"Take a look at the array patterns down below. Do they look familiar to you?" Han Li asked.
Shi Chuankong did as he was told, and he looked down to discover a set of extremelyplex array patterns below the pir of light, some areas of which did indeed appear somewhat familiar.
"These appear to be runes that were on the Star Falcon Flying Boat," Shi Chuankong said.
"That''s right. These array patterns appear to be veryplex, but there are some sections that are not entirely alien to me," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Does that mean you can breach this array?" Shi Chuankong asked as a hint of tion shed through his eyes.
"I''m not fully confident, but I can give it a try," Han Li replied with a smile, following which he pulled out the Star Wave Pen that Mistress Liu Hua had given to him beforemencing the process of inscribing a separate array outside of the existing one.
He did so quite slowly, stopping every once in a while to examine his own work, and only after over an hour did he finallyplete the array.
"Is it done?" Shi Chuankong asked.
Han Li offered no response. Instead, he stowed the Star Wave Pen away, then began to chant an incantation.
Momentster, he channeled the starpower within his own body before flicking a finger through the air, and a burst of white light shot out of his fingertip and into the array on the ground.
Immediately thereafter, the array that he had engraved onto the ground began to buzz and function, releasing rays of white light that fused into the pir of white light on the stone tform.
The pir of white light immediately began to melt away rapidly, and a faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he strode over to the statue of the woman before plucking the crimson key out of her hands.
To his surprise, the key was slightly warm to the touch, as if he had just taken it out of a pair of actual, human hands, but aside from that, there was nothing remarkable about it.
"So we did all that just for a single key, and we don''t even know what it''s used for," Shi Chuankong said with a wry smile.
"Given how tightly guarded this key is, I''m sure it''s very important. I wonder if it has anything to do with the holy remains that you mentioned," Han Li said as he handed the key to Shi Chuankong.
"It doesn''t seem to be special in any way. I think it''ll be safer if you keep it in your possession," Shi Chuankong said as he handed the key back to Han Li after a brief examination.
Han Li epted the key from him before cing it down the front of his own robe, but as soon as he did this, he felt a change in the crimson key.
Rays of faint crimson light had emerged over its surface, and it was beginning to pulse gently like the beating of a heart.
At the same time, a burst of heat surged out of the key before entering his body, striking him with aforting sensation, like bathing in hot springs.
All of the pores on his body had opened, and his cirction had sped up significantly.
On top of that, he could sense that thetest profound acupoint that he had been working on had opened up just a little further.
"Are you alright, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked upon spotting the change in Han Li''s expression.
"I''m fine," Han Li replied, and he was just about to say something else when the entire pce suddenly began to tremble violently.
The tremors were quickly bing more and more violent, and it was as if an earthquake had suddenly struck.
"What''s going on?"
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were both very rmed by this abrupt turn of events.
Widening cracks were beginning to appear on the surrounding walls, and loose rocks were already tumbling down from above.
"This ce is about to copse! We have to get out of here!" Han Li eximed as he grabbed onto Shi Chuankong''s arm.
Immediately thereafter, all of the profound acupoints on his body lit up, with the ones on his legs glowing particrly radiantly, resonating with the many star acupoints on his Star Moon Boots.
Han Li pushed off against the ground with both feet,unching himself up into the air with Shi Chuankong.
In the instant that he rose up from the ground, he suddenly noticed that there were rays of blue light emanating from therge cracks on the ground, indicating that there seemed to be something underground.
However, this wasn''t the time to be focusing on what was underground, and Han Li quickly turned his attention back to the task at hand, darting back and forth through the air in an agile fashion to evade the falling rubble.
Shi Chuankong was also doing his part, swinging the purple staff to deflect or shatter some of the falling rocks.
On the ground below, an area with a radius of close to ten kilometers around the ck altar had begun trembling, and a series of massive rifts appeared over the ground, following which that entire area copsed violently to form a massive crater.
In the instant that the ground copsed, two figures flew out beforending on a building that hadn''t been affected.
Both of them were covered in dust and looking rather disheveled, but neither of them paid any heed to their own physical appearance as they looked into the giant crater with surprised expressions.
"Why did the ground suddenly copse?" Shi Chuankong asked with tightly furrowed brows.
Han Li offered no response.
He was still thinking about the rays of blue light that he had spotted underground.
"Could it be that you already have a rough idea of what happened, Brother Li?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"That disturbance was most likely caused by us taking that crimson key. Otherwise, it would be far too much of a coincidence," Han Li said.
"If that''s the case, then there must be far more to this key than meets the eye," Shi Chuankong mused.
"I think we should get out of this ce as soon as possible. For some reason, I have a bad feeling," Han Li said in a grim voice.
"You''re right, we should..."
All of a sudden, Shi Chuankong''s voice cut off mid-sentence as Han Li grabbed onto him once again before darting away into the distance.
Chapter 941: Endless Trouble
Chapter 941: Endless Trouble
Not long after Han Li and Shi Chuankong rose up into the air, the sound of insistent rustling began to ring out from beneath the wreckage of the pce.
Theyer of earth on top of the wreckage site began to move, and one arm after another emerged, followed by a series of strange-looking heads.
There were countless puppets crawling out from underground one after another.
These puppets weren''t particrlyrge, each standing at only around twenty feet tall, and they possessed humanoid lower bodies, but their upper bodies and heads weren''t humanoid in appearance and could be roughly split up into three types.
One type of puppet had wolf heads and slim bodies, wielding a pair of blue longswords in their hands.
The second type of puppet had tiger heads and a more muscr build, each wielding a giant mountain-splitting saber.
The final type of puppet had snake heads and thinyers of fine scales on their bodies, as well as glowing blue bows strapped to their backs.
All of the swords, sabers, and bows wielded by these puppets were giving off starpower fluctuations, and there was an enormous number of these puppets burrowing their way out of the earth in all directions.
These puppets weren''t all that remarkable in appearance, but it was clear that they were nothing to be scoffed at, and with such ridiculouslyrge numbers on their side, getting caught among them would surely spell certain death, even for a cultivator of Han Li''s caliber.With that in mind, Han Li hurriedly sped away into the distance as quickly as he could, treading on air to ensure that he remained high above the ground.
However, even though he was able to fly thanks to his Wingform Ascension Arts and Star Moon Boots, his speed was ultimately limited, and he was dragging Shi Chuankong along as well, thereby further slowing him down.
As soon as these puppets emerged from the ground, they immediately looked up at Han Li''s duo with humanized looks of resentment in their eyes.
A particrlyrge snake-headed puppet let loose a wild roar, and all of the other snake-headed puppets on the ground raised their bows before nocking arrows upon them.
Immediately thereafter, a volley of blue arrows was sent flying toward Han Li and Shi Chuankong from all directions, cutting off all avenues of evasion.
A grim look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he conjured up his True Extreme Film over his own body, and at the same time, he swung his white scimitar through the air to defect as many of the oing arrows as he could.
Shi Chuankong also conjured up his own True Extreme Film while swinging his newly acquired purple staff through the air as well.
A string of loud ng rang out in rapid session as Han Li knocked away all of the blue arrows flying at him with his scimitar.
However, these arrows had been fired with tremendous power, and it didn''t take long before his arm began to feel numb from the repeated impacts.
Shi Chuankong was also able to keep the oing arrows at bay with his purple staff, but his arms were trembling from the strain.
In the face of such a formidable wave of attacks, the two of them had drawn to a screeching halt.
Right at this moment, dozens of the nearby wolf and tiger-headed puppets sprang up into the air, jumping up several hundred feet with ease beforeshing out at Han Li and Shi Chuankong from all directions with their swords and sabers.
The three types of puppets were working together seamlessly, as if they had already rehearsed this sequence countless times, and they were giving Han Li and Shi Chuankong no opportunity for respite.
A string of metallic ngs rang out, and all of the dozens of wolf and tiger-headed puppets were dismantled before falling out of the sky.
Before Han Li and Shi Chuankong had a chance to do anything else, countless more arrows came flying at them.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he deflected the arrows away with his white scimitar while simultaneously rising up even further into the sky.
At this point, they were already close to reaching theyer of dense, yellow clouds up above, yet they still hadn''t made it out of the firing range of the snake-headed puppets.
Han Li took a nce at the yellow clouds overhead with a hesitant expression, and he was just about to rise up even further when Shi Chuankong''s urgent voice suddenly rang out beside his ears.
"Don''t go up any higher, those yellow clouds are extremely dangerous! I''ll ward off all the attacks, you focus on getting us out of here."
As soon as his voice trailed off, a string of star acupoints lit up over the purple staff in his hand, and he swung it rapidly through the air, creating a purple whirlwind that swept up all of the oing blue arrows before destroying them with ease.
Han Li wanted to ask Shi Chuankong what exactly was so dangerous about these yellow clouds, but thetter was entirely focused on warding off the enemy attacks, so Han Li could only continue to tread over the air in an attempt to escape.
Right at this moment, another batch of wolf and tiger-headed puppets sprang up into the air at Han Li''s duo, and the puppets from elsewhere were quickly converging as well.
Shi Chuankong let loose a loud roar as he dismantled this next wave of puppets with his staff, but these wolf and tiger-headed puppets weren''t as easy to deal with as the volleys of arrows, and it was clear that warding off their attacks had ced quite a physical strain upon him.
Before he even had a chance to catch his breath, another volley of arrows arrived.
While racing through the air, Han Li took a nce at Shi Chuankong''s paleplexion, and a grim look surfaced in his eyes.
Shi Chuankong was still yet to fully recover from his injuries, so he most likely wasn''t going to be able tost long at this rate. However, at the moment, Han Li saw no better strategy than to continue running away.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them were forced to withstand dozens of waves of attacks from the puppets down below. Shi Chuankong was doing most of the work, while Han Li helped out asionally, but most of his attention was focused on getting away.
However, there were still more puppets burrowing their way out of the ground in all directions, forming what appeared to be a boundless sea of puppets that stretched as far as the eyes could see in all directions.
A low roar rang out as close to a hundred wolf and tiger-headed puppets sprang up into the air once again.
At this point, Shi Chuankong was already looking as pale as a sheet, and the staff in his hand transformed into another purple whirlwind that swept toward the oing puppets.
A string of loud thumps rang out as all of the puppets were sent flying, but Shi Chuankong also threw up arge mouthful of blood.
The True Extreme Film around his body was flickering incessantly and had be far dimmer than before, and the purple staff almost slipped out of his limp grasp.
"You''re going to die if you keep this up, Fellow Daoist Shi!" Han Li said in an urgent voice.
"I''ll be fined," Shi Chuankong replied in a strained voice.
Right at this moment, another volley of arrows arrived, this one containing far more arrows than previous ones.
"Take some time to recover, I''ll take care of everything from now on," Han Li said as he tucked Shi Chuankong under his left arm.
At the same time, he swung his scimitar through the air with his right arm, deflecting all of the blue arrows that were flying at him from the front, the left, and the right, but ignored the ones that wereing at him from behind.
Around a dozen blue arrows struck Han Li on the back with immense power, but were kept out by his True Extreme Film, which shuddered violently before quickly stabilizing again.
Thanks to the force of the arrows, Han Li sped up drastically, allowing him to cover arge distance in the blink of an eye.
Shi Chuankong couldn''t help but be impressed with Han Li''s courage and powers upon seeing this, and he hurriedly took a pill before closing his eyes to rest.
Following the volley of arrows, several hundred puppets sprang up into the air before pouncing at Han Li''s duo, and there were so many of them that they obscured virtually the entire sky.
A burst of white starlight shed over Han Li''s legs as he sprang forward, diving headfirst into the throngs of puppets as he shed his scimitar horizontally through the air.
The dozens of puppets directly in front of him were instantly sliced into two at the waist, and at the same time, he kicked out with his legs, unleashing a wave of leg projections that forced back the puppets pouncing at him from the left and the right.
Once again, his back was leftpletely unguarded with the exception of his True Extreme Film, and a string of loud thumps rang out as Han Li was sent flying forward by the attacks aimed at his back.
His True Extreme Film shuddered violently, and hisplexion paled ever so slightly.
He gave a muffled groan as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and continued onward without pause, crashing his way through several more dozen puppets to finally burst his way out of the encirclement.
However, he had only managed to travel several thousand feet before the next volley of arrows arrived.
Once again, he employed the same tactic, swatting away the arrows in three directions while leaving his back unguarded.
Close to half a day flew by in a sh.
At this point, Han Li had already withstood countless attacks with his True Extreme Film, and even with his immense powers, he was beginning to feel the strain. Hisplexion had turned rather pale, and his True Extreme Film had also be far dimmer than before.
Shi Chuankong had recovered somewhat after taking some pills, but he was still in no condition to fight, so he could look on with an urgent expression.
The area of the wreckage down below was far more massive than they imagined, and even now, there was still no end in sight as tens of thousands of puppets converged toward them from all directions.
In addition to three original types of puppets, a mace-wielding giant ape puppet had also been thrown into the mix. There weren''t that many of them, but they were extraordinarily strong and fast and also seemed to possess higher intelligence than their counterparts, thereby making them far more difficult to deal with.
Right at this moment, another volley of arrows was fired from down below, and this time, it was interspersed with ck rocks that had been hurled by the giant ape puppets.
Han Li swung his scimitar through the air to deflect the arrows and rocks while also darting from side to side to take evasive measures.
At this point, his True Extreme Film was far weaker than before, so he didn''t dare to withstand any more attacks, and as a result, his speed was significantly hampered.
Right at this moment, a massive blue shadow came rising up rapidly from down below, and it was none other than one of the giant ape puppets, which was at least twice the size of the other puppets.
The giant ape puppet paid no heed to the countless arrows flying through the air around it as it swung its mace viciously at Han Li''s back right as he was evading the oing arrows.
Chapter 942: Escape
Chapter 942: Escape
Han Li seemed to have already anticipated this, and the profound acupoints on his legs shed momentarily as he darted several feet to the side, evading the oing attack.
At the same time, he shed his scimitar through the air, and a streak of white light shed past as the giant ape puppet''s head flew up into the air, while its body came tumbling down from above.
It appeared that Han Li had in the giant ape puppet with ease, but it hade at a cost, and he was struck by several arrows and arge rock in the process.
The True Extreme Film around Han Li''s body flickered erratically as all of the oing projectiles shattered upon impact, and the arrows weren''t all that difficult to deal with, but the rock was imbued with tremendous power that surged into Han Li''s body through his True Extreme Film, striking him with a great deal of difort.
However, he couldn''t afford to be dyed here, so he took a deep breath beforeunching himself forward again.
Looking at the endless sea of puppets down below, Han Li couldn''t help but be ovee by a sense of despair.
Even with his exceptional physical prowess, he was at a point where he was having to scrape the bottom of the barrel. If he couldn''t escape from this ce soon, then this would be his final resting ce.
"Leave me behind and go on your own. You should be able to make it out of here without me weighing you down," Shi Chuankong suddenly said.
Han Li offered no response as he continued to fly forward while parrying away all of the oing arrows.Thetest volley of arrows had only just passed when more puppets sprang up from the ground to pounce at the two of them, and Han Li disyed on fear at all as he charged straight into the wall of puppets up ahead.
The starlight radiating from his body wasn''t as bright as before, but he was still extremely fast and agile, weaving his way through the puppets like a fish in water while asionally cutting down some of the puppets that he was unable to avoid.
At this point, he had already be very well-versed in dealing with these puppets'' attacks.
He darted to the side to evade an attack from a tiger-headed puppet, then decapitated it with a swift sh of his scimitar.
However, right at this moment, two giant ape puppets suddenly burst onto the scene roughly ten feet in front of him, and they swung their maces at him with all their might, one from the left, and one from the right.
At the same time, two more giant ape puppets appeared behind him before also swinging their maces at him from behind.
The four puppets were working together in perfect tandem, and their four maces were alling at Han Li from different directions, cutting off all avenues for retreat or evasion.
A cold look appeared on Han Li''s face as heshed out with his white scimitar, unleashing countless de projections to oppose the four oing maces.
A string of loud booms rang out as the four maces were knocked back along with their puppet wielders.
However, Han Li''s body also shuddered violently from the impact, and his face waspletely drained of color. The starlight around his body was flickering erratically, and it was taking quite an effort just to remain aloft in the air.
However, right at this moment, the crimson key in the front of his robe suddenly released a burst of crimson light that surged into his body, transforming into a burst of warmth that quickly passed through all of his meridians.
This surge of warmth seemed to be a cross between bloodline power and starpower, and it was extremely immense.
The exhaustion that Han Li had umted up to this point instantly faded away, and in the blink of an eye, he was restored to peak condition.
This was naturally a massively pleasant surprise, and Han Li was ecstatic as he unleashed a flurry of de projections that were far brighter andrger than before to cut down all of the puppets within a radius of over a hundred feet.
All of the oing puppets were instantly eradicated, including the four giant ape puppets.
Shi Chuankong was astonished to see this, and he asked, "How..."
"Now''s not the time to talk," Han Li interjected. "Let''s get out of here first."
Having been restored to peak condition, Han Li''s speed was drastically enhanced, and before long, the two of them had been flying for several more hours.
A fiery red desert appeared up ahead, marking the conclusion of this set of gargantuan ruins.
"We''ve finally reached the end!" Han Li eximed in an ecstatic manner.
Right at this moment, all of the puppets down below let loose furious roars as they began attacking with all their might.
The snake-headed puppets were firing off arrows without pause, while the other puppets sprang up into the air to attack Han Li and Shi Chuankong,pletely unconcerned about being harmed by the arrows.
In response, the starlight radiating from Han Li''s body brightened significantly, and he sped through the puppet army as a white shadow, slicing through their ranks with ease.
It didn''t take long before Han Li flew out of the army of puppets before entering the red desert, and for some reason, the puppets didn''t seem to dare to step into the desert.
They stopped in their tracks on the edge of the desert, roaring in fury and indignation at Han Li and Shi Chuankong until they vanished into the distance.
After entering the red desert, Han Li flew onward for a while longer, and only after verifying that the puppet army had indeed refrained froming after them did he heave a sigh of relief before descending onto the ground.
The ground below was radiating scorching heat, causing the nearby air to ripple slightly, but this amount of heat had no effect on Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
"This ce is quite hot, but it shouldn''t be enough to pose much of a hazard to those puppets. I wonder why they suddenly stopped," Shi Chuankong mused with a puzzled expression.
"I think they''re not incapable ofing after us, but they don''t dare to for some reason," Han Li said.
"That sounds about right," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
"By the way, why did you warn me not to fly into the yellow clouds earlier?" Han Li asked.
Even above the red desert, there was still a denseyer of yellow clouds up above, and shes of white light could be seen within it.
"There''s a very powerful restriction in those clouds, and it''ll attack anyone that ventures into them," Shi Chuankong exined as he pulled a dagger.
The dagger had countless shing star runes engraved upon it, and it was a pseudo-star artifact that was not inferior to Han Li''s scimitar.
With a flick of his wrist, the dagger was sent flying up into the air as a streak of white light, and it quickly vanished into the yellow clouds.
The clouds above immediately began to churn violently, following all of the white light within them converged before transforming into thick bolts of white lightning that struck the dagger from all directions, instantly reducing it to nothingness.
The white lightning then quickly dissipated and reverted back into the same white light as before, while Han Li looked on with an astonished expression.
Earlier, he had been rather curious about the yellow clouds and had considered venturing into them, but ultimately decided against it.
Thankfully, he had made the right decision. Otherwise, those bolts of white lightning would''ve been enough to at least severely wound him, if not kill him on the spot.
"How do you know about this, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked.
"It was mentioned in the information that Pokong gave me," Shi Chuankong replied as a sullen look appeared in his eyes.
"It seems like His Highness is very familiar with what things are like in the Great Ruins. Has he been here before as well?" Han Li asked.
Shi Chuankong faltered slightly upon hearing this, then shook his head as he replied, "I''m not sure."
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face, and he didn''t ask any further questions.
"This ce seems to be rtively safe, so let''s take a rest here before continuing onward," Shi Chuankong suggested, and he was still looking very pale and weary.
Han Li nodded in response.
After such an extended period on the run, he was also feeling quite tired.
The two of them scoured the surrounding environment to ensure that there weren''t any hazards lurking nearby, then took some pills before sitting down to rest.
Three days flew by in a sh.
"How are your injuries, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked.
"I''m mostly recovered now. At the very least, I can move around just fine, and I''ll be fully recovered soon," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"Good. If we encounter any enemies from here onward, just leave them to me and focus on your own recovery," Han Li said.
The two of them then took a moment to discuss how they were going to proceed. They didn''t know what was waiting for them deeper in this red desert, but they clearly couldn''t return to those ruins, so ultimately, they decided to venture further into the red desert.
The desert was astonishingly massive, and even after traveling for over two months, they still hadn''t reached the end.
They encountered no dangers or treasures along the way, and there was nothing to be seen aside from boundless seas of red sand.
"I didn''t think there would be such an enormous ce in the Great Ruins," Han Li remarked as he sped onward.
"Could it be that we''re currently heading toward the edge of the Great Ruins?" Shi Chuankong asked with tightly furrowed brows as he rushed along behind Han Li.
The abundance of starpower in the Great Ruins had a very positive effect on injury recovery, and over the past two months, he had already made a full recovery.
"I don''t think so. I can sense that the starpower here is more abundant than before, so we should be going deeper into the Great Ruins. Besides, even if we change directions now, there''s no guarantee we''ll be on the right track, so let''s just keep going. Surely we''ll get out of here eventually," Han Li said, and Shi Chuankong nodded in agreement.
All of a sudden, Han Li stopped in his tracks and cast his gaze forward with an ted look in his eyes.
Chapter 943: A Second Altar
Chapter 943: A Second Altar
"Have you discovered something, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Chuankong hurriedly asked.
"I did indeed discover something. Come with me," Han Li replied as he quickened his pace, and around fifteen minutester, the two of them drew to a halt as they cast their eyes forward to discover a massive river at the end of the desert up ahead.
The river was close to ten kilometers wide, and its water was crimson in color. Countless waves were sweeping over its surface as it churned along, and upon arriving on the riverbank, Han Li was surprised to discover that the water was intensely hot, much like flowingva.
"What a strange river... I think we should follow it downstream. Given how strange this river is, there must be something interesting downstream," Shi Chuankong suggested.
"My thoughts exactly," Han Li replied with a nod.
With that, the two of them changed course, making their way along the crimson river in a downstream direction, and after traveling for or five days, a massive oasis appeared up ahead.
Most of the nts on this oasis were also crimson in color, while the rest were white.
The vegetation in the oasis was very tall and dense, and thebination of crimson and white presented a stunning sight to behold.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were quite ted to see this oasis, but they didn''t make any rash moves, and only after restraining their own auras did they step onto the oasis for a closer look.After walking for a while, Shi Chuankong suddenly pointed into the dense forestry up ahead as he yelled, "Look over there, Fellow Daoist Li!"
Han Li turned in that direction to discover a footprint, one that appeared to be quite fresh.
"Looks like someone''s gotten here before us. We don''t know if they''re friend or foe, so be careful," Han Li warned through voice transmission, and Shi Chuankong nodded in response.
The two of them continued onward while keeping an eye on the ground below, and they discovered more and more simr footprints.
Judging from the number of footprints, it appeared that a group of four people had ventured into this ce before them.
The two of them quickly passed through the lush forest, and a giant city appeared up ahead.
The city was filled with buildings with sharp, spiky rooves that extended up toward the heavens like giant swords, and all of them were entirely crimson in color.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a nce with each other, then made their way in through the half-open city gates.
The buildings inside the city were disying some signs of decay, but they were in far better condition than the ones in the earlier set of ruins, and they were all mostly intact.
The two of them conducted a brief search of the buildings near the city gates, only to discover that most of them werepletely empty. Furthermore, there were signs that those buildings had already been searched, presumably by the group that had arrived earlier.
"Aren''t these Great Ruins supposed to be filled with countless treasures? We''ve already been in here for quite some time, yet we haven''t managed to find anything aside from a pair of star artifacts," Shi Chuankong grumbled.
"Two star artifacts is already quite a bountiful haul. It''s clear that this ce has already been searched, so let''s go straight to the center of the city. Hopefully, we''ll be able to find some things there, but make sure to be careful," Han Li replied with a smile, and Shi Chuankong nodded in response.
The two of them continued deeper into the city, and it wasn''t a veryrge ce, so it didn''t take them long to reach the center of the city, at which point they encountered arge za with a giant altar standing upon it.
The altar was also entirely crimson in color, and it was quite simr in appearance to the gray altar in the earlier set of ruins.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong were hiding behind a building near the entrance of the altar, which was wide open, and Shi Chuankong said in an eager, "This altar looks very simr to the one from before, so it should have some good things inside. Should we go in and have a look?"
"Sure, let''s go in. We didn''t encounter the group of people that arrived before us on the way here, so they''ve most likely entered the altar as well. Hence, we have to constantly be on our guard," Han Li said.
"Rest assured, I''ll be careful," Shi Chuankong promised.
"Let''s go," Han Li said, and the two of them rushed out from behind the building before making their way into the altar.
Not long after they entered the altar, a glowing, white ovr design appeared on the ground at the entrance.
The design was formed by eight star runes, every single one of which was extremelyplex, far more so than the ones that Han Li had learned from Mistress Liu Hua.
The ovr design slowly lit up, releasing rays of white light that converged toward the center to form what appeared to be an eye.
The eye took a nce deep into the altar through the entrance, then quickly faded away.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong werepletely oblivious to this, and after making their way through the entrance, they immediately began traveling deeper into the altar.
Beyond the entrance was a passageway that was thousands of feet in length, and just like the passageway in the gray altar, the walls on either side were also riddled with array patterns, forming a restriction that severely hampered spiritual sense.
The restriction here was slightly weaker than the one in the gray altar, so Han Li was still able to release his spiritual sense around twenty to thirty feet out of his body.
After passing through the passageway, a giant hall that was over ten thousand feet in size appeared up ahead.
The hall was quite brightly lit, and it waspletely empty, but the walls were dotted with around two hundred to three hundred rectangr openings, each of which was several dozen feet tall, and all of them were also empty.
Their contents were currently spilled out onto the ground in the hall. It was a series of humanoid crimson puppets, all of which had already been dismantled.
On top of that, the ground was riddled with pits and craters, clearly indicating that a battle had recently taken ce here.
These crimson puppets had full sets of organs, andrge puddles of silver fluid had flowed out of their bodies and onto the ground, just like the ck ape puppet that Han Li had encountered in the past.
In contrast, the snake, wolf, tiger-headed puppets from the set of vast ruins had no internal organs and weren''t constructed with anywhere near the same degree of intricacy.
Han Li picked up a puppet fragment from the ground before giving it a close examination.
The fragment seemed to have been crafted from some type of red jade material, and even though it was only a fragment, it was still shing with faint red light, indicating that it was quite a prized material. The material was far superior to what had been used to craft the ck ape puppet, so these puppets had most likely been more powerful than the ck ape puppet as well.
Thankfully, these puppets had already been destroyed. Otherwise, having to face so many of these puppets at once would''ve been quite a pain.
Having said that, the fact that the people ahead were able to dismantle these puppets indicated that they were definitely not to be taken lightly.
With that in mind, Han Li exchanged a nce with Shi Chuankong, and judging from the grim look on thetter''s face, he had clearly also thought of the same thing.
The two of them didn''t linger for long here as they continued deeper into the hall.
At the back of the giant hall was a doorway, beyond which was a dimly lit passageway that led even deeper into the altar.
As Han Li walked along, he discovered more puppet fragments, and a perplexed look shed through his eyes upon seeing this.
These puppets had beenpletely smashed to bits. It didn''t look like they had fallen in battle. Instead, it appeared more like someone was trying to search for something in these puppets, so they had hacked the puppets to bits after dismantling them.
What in the bodies of these puppets could''ve been worth searching so meticulously for?
The two of them quickly passed through the hall and into the passageway at the back.
Han Li carefully made his way down the passageway while constantly scouring his surroundings.
Not only was the passageway constantly twisting and turning, it was also sloping downward.
After rounding a corner, they arrived at a crossroads with three identical-looking paths before them.
All three paths were quite dimly lit, so it was impossible to see very far into them.
Shi Chuankong turned to Han Li and asked, "Which one should we take?"
Han Li swept his gaze over the three paths, then quickly settled his gaze onto the middle one.
He had spotted several faint footprints leading into the middle path, while the two had clearly not been frequented.
"Let''s take the right one or the left one. The people ahead of us have already gone down the middle path, so even if there are treasures to be found, they would''ve already been taken. Hence, we have better chances of reaping spoils by taking one of the other paths," Han Li said, and Shi Chuankong raised no objections.
After a brief discussion, the two of them stepped into the passageway on the right.
The passageway was wide enough for four or five people to fit through side by side, and it only continued to widen further down.
Rays of white light were seeping out through the gaps in the walls of the passageway, so it was a little brighter than before.
All of a sudden, a sharp shriek rang out from up ahead, and both Han Li and Shi Chuankong instantly stopped in their tracks upon hearing this.
Before the two of them had a chance to do anything, a white-robed man suddenly sped onto the scene like lightning, wielding a sword of white light that it thrust directly at Han Li''s chest.
The speed of the attack was quite rming, even for Han Li, and he hurriedly took a step to the side to evade the attack.
At the same time, his white scimitar appeared in his grasp, and he shed it through the air, striking the white-robed man on the chest in the instant that the two of them passed each other by.
However, to Han Li''s surprise, his scimitar merely passed straight through the white-robed man''s body, and it was as if he had struck nothing but empty air.
The white-robed man remainedpletely unaffected as it sped directly toward Shi Chuankong, who was standing behind Han Li, and he pierced his sword directly at Shi Chuankong''s chest.
Shi Chuankong was rather taken aback, but his reactions weren''t slow, and he hurriedly dodged to the side to evade the attack.
The white-robed man was extraordinarily fast, but his reactions seemed to be a little dull, and after failing to strike his targets, he sped directly past Han Li and Shi Chuankong for some distance before stopping in his tracks and turning around to pounce at them once again.
Chapter 944: Subduing the Talisman Spirits
Chapter 944: Subduing the Talisman Spirits
Only then did Han Li and Shi Chuankong manage to catch a clear glimpse of the white-robed man. It was an authoritative figure dressed in a tight-fitting robe, much like the divine generals one would see in mortal temples, and there was a hazy, indistinct appearance about it.
"This is a Heavenly Chief Profound General!" Shi Chuankong eximed.
Before Han Li had a chance to ask what that was, the white-robed man was already upon them again, unleashing a flurry of white sword projections in their direction.
Han Li was just about to raise his scimitar to ward off the attacks when Shi Chuankong''s urgent voice rang out from beside him.
"Heavenly Chief Profound Generals are capable of switching between tangible and intangible at will, so we won''t be able to block its attacks. We have to dodge!"
Han Li hurriedly dodged to the side upon hearing this.
At the same time, heshed out with his scimitar, unleashing a series of white de projections, only for them to pass straight through the white-robed man''s body once again.
The white-robed man seemed to have been infuriated by Han Li''s attacks, and it abandoned Shi Chuankong toe after him, raining down more sword projections upon him as it did so.
The Star Moon Boots on Han Li''s feet immediately began to glow as he darted through the air as an indistinct shadow, evading all of the sword projections with rtive ease.The white-robed man let loose a low roar upon seeing this, and it redoubled its efforts, unleashing an even more formidable storm of sword projections that virtuallypletely inundated Han Li from all directions.
An urgent look appeared in Shi Chuankong''s eyes upon seeing this, and he was just about to enter the fray as well when Han Li''s calm voice rang out from within the storm of sword projections.
"I can handle this thing on my own. Do you know if these Heavenly Chief Profound Generals have any weaknesses?"
"Heavenly Chief Profound Generals are talisman spirits manifested by Heavenly General Talismans. In the Devil Realm, we would be able to contain it using a sealing ability, but they''re very difficult to suppress in the Scalptia Spatial Domain," Shi Chuankong replied with tightly furrowed brows, unable to think of a way to subdue the Heavenly Chief Profound General.
"I see," Han Li replied as a confident smile appeared on his face, and all of a sudden, a streak of translucent light shot forth through the air, following which the storm of sword projections around him abruptly faded away.
As a result, Han Li was revealed with a hand plunged into the white-robed man''s chest, while the white-robed man seemed to bepletely immobilized and rooted to the spot.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li pulled his hand out of the white-robed man''s chest, revealing a palm-sized white talisman that was glowing faintly in his grasp.
The talisman was twisting and writhing incessantly, but it was unable to struggle free from the spiritual sense chains around it.
After the talisman was pulled out of its body, the white-robed man imploded into countless specks of white light, while Shi Chuankong took an ted nce at the spiritual sense chains around the talisman as he asked, "How did you do that, Brother Li? Are those chains formed by your spiritual sense?"
"It''s a spiritual sense ability of mine," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.
"I see. Thank heavens you had this ability up your sleeve. Otherwise, we would''ve truly been in trouble. This talisman has to be sealed or destroyed. Otherwise, it''ll automatically draw upon the energy in its environment to manifest another Heavenly Chief Profound General," Shi Chuankong cautioned.
"It would be a waste to destroy just a precious talisman, so I''ll seal it away for now," Han Li said.
Even though the talisman was trapped in the spiritual sense chains, he could sense that it was constantly absorbing the starpower in the surrounding environment in an attempt to break free.
All of a sudden, the spiritual sense chains around the talisman began to glow radiantly at his behest, transforming into a seal design that vanished into the talisman in a sh.
This was a sealing secret technique that he had developed using his spiritual sense chains by referencing Feng Tiandu''s Origin Separation Yin Devil Arts.
The Heavenly General Talisman''s struggles instantly ceased.
Han Li was very pleased to see this, and he stowed the talisman away.
The Heavenly Chief Profound General was quite formidable, and even in the outside world, it would be equivalent to a Golden Immortal cultivator. On top of that, it was also able to automatically absorb energy from the environment to sustain itself, so if he could refine the talisman, then he would essentially have an infinitely self-regenerating Golden Immortal Stage subordinate.
"Come to think of it, I''ve never heard of Heavenly General Talismans back in the True Immortal Realm. Could it be that this is a talisman unique to the Devil Realm?" Han Li asked.
"I''m not sure, perhaps so. I''ve seen records of Heavenly General Talismans in some books before, but I''d never seen it for myself prior to this," Shi Chuankong replied.
After that brief interlude, the two of them continued deeper into the altar.
As the two of them continued onward, the passageway up ahead became wider and brighter, and they could sense a faint burst of peculiar energy fluctuations in the air.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong exchanged a cautious nce with each other before continuing onward.
After walking for around fifteen minutes, they rounded a corner, arriving in a square stone hall.
There were five translucent white stone pirs in the hall, all of which were giving off radiant starlight, making one feel as if they were surrounded by stars.
Aside from the pir on the very left, the other four pirs each had a Heavenly General Talisman adhered to them, and in particr, the one in the middle was clearly farrger than the other three.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up slightly upon seeing this, but right at his moment, the four talismans seemed to have detected their arrival, and they began to glow radiantly while flying off from the stone pirs.
Immediately thereafter, the four talismans vanished in a sh, transforming into four white-robed men.
Three of them were identical to the one that Han Li had just sealed away, but thergest of the of the four Heavenly General Talismans had transformed into a Heavenly Chief Profound General that was farrger in stature than the other three, and it was also d in a suit of white armor with a jade belt around its waist, as well as a long halberd in its grasp.
Furthermore, there was clearly a more intelligent gleam in its eyes.
The four Heavenly Chief Profound Generals pounced at Han Li and Shi Chuankong right as the former was about to unleash his spiritual sense chains again, and the armored general was particrly fast, reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye before swinging its halberd down upon his head.
Boundless killing intent erupted out of the halberd, crashing down upon Han Li and Shi Chuankong, making both of them feel as if they had fallen into a pit of quicksand.
Even though the halberd was crashing down upon Han Li, it had conjured up another projection that was simultaneously sweeping toward Shi Chuankong.
The attack was too fast for Han Li to dodge, so in response, two thick, translucent chains shot out of his be, with one of them wrapping itself around the oing halberd, while the other one appeared above Shi Chuankong''s head in a sh.
Two loud ngs rang out as the spiritual sense chains were shattered upon contact, and the halberd and its projection continued to swing down, but the chains had bought Han Li some time.
He let loose a loud roar as all of the profound acupoints on his body lit up, releasing a tremendous aura that tore the surrounding space apart.
"You don''t have a way to deal with these Heavenly Chief Profound Generals, so get out of here for now!" Han Li said as he pushed Shi Chuankong out of the hall, then abruptly vanished from the spot himself.
Immediately thereafter, the white halberd came crashing down onto the spot where he had just been standing, smashing a deep crater into the ground.
The armored man instantly swung around, then shot forth toward one of the other Heavenly Chief Profound Generals as a white shadow.
Right at this moment, Han Li appeared behind that Heavenly Chief Profound General without any warning, then plunged a hand into its body like lightning.
The Heavenly Chief Profound General''s body imploded, and Han Li pulled out a white talisman that was surrounded by spiritual sense chains before vanishing from the spot once again.
Han Li had only just disappeared when the armored general''s halberd came crashing down to smash another huge crater into the ground.
"You''re very fast, but still a littleckingpared with me, so why don''t you surrender and be my subordinate?" Han Li suggested as he appeared beside one of the five stone pirs, following which his spiritual sense chains formed a seal that vanished into the Heavenly General Talisman in his grasp.
The talisman instantly settled down, allowing him to stow it away.
The armored man let loose a furious roar, and all of the starpower in the nearby space converged toward it in a frenzy before surging into its body.
The five stone pirs also lit up even further, releasing rays of dazzling white light, all of which were giving off formidable starpower fluctuations.
In the blink of an eye, the armored man''s body had swelled by around 30% of its original size.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediatelyshed out at the five stone pirs, shattering them in rapid session.
As a result, the white light radiating from them faded away, and the armored man ceased to expand any further.
The armored man was even more infuriated upon seeing this, and it let loose a thunderous roar that caused the entire hall to tremble violently.
Immediately thereafter, it vanished from the spot before reappearing in front of Han Li, moving even faster than before as it swung its halberd down upon Han Li''s head.
Han Li flew back in retreat while several spiritual sense chains shot out of his be alongside a white sword projection.
A burst of tremendous power erupted out of the Spiritual Sense Sword, snapping the halberd into two before crashing into the armored man''s body.
A long crack was instantly inflicted onto its body, and it was almost split into two down the middle as it shot back in rm.
A surprised look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
He had only unleashed his Spiritual Sense Sword on a whim, and he certainly wasn''t expecting it to be so effective against the armored man.
Chapter 945: Joining Forces Again
Chapter 945: Joining Forces Again
"You''re not getting away!" Han Li yelled as he abruptly vanished from the spot, only to then immediately reappear before the armored man.
A series of spiritual sense chains were wrapped around his arm, and he plunged his hand straight into the armored man''s chest.
Having sustained such severe wounds, the armored man''s speed was severely hampered, so it failed to evade Han Li''s grasping hand, and it was instantly rooted to the spot.
Han Li pulled his hand out of its body, holding thergest of the five white talismans in his grasp, and he immediately sealed it away.
The armored man was far more powerful than the other Heavenly Chief Profound Generals, possessing powers that weren''t inferior to those of a High Zenith cultivator, so Han Li was naturally very pleased to have been able to subdue it.
Right at this moment, the two remaining Heavenly Chief Profound Generals pounced at Han Li like lightning, shing their swords into his body right as he was sealing thergest of the five Heavenly General Talismans.
Han Li''s body was instantly sliced into two, only to then fade away, revealing it to have been nothing more than an afterimage.
Immediately thereafter, a pair of hands reached into the chests of the two Heavenly Chief Profound Generals, pulling out the Heavenly General Talismans inside before prompting sealing them.
The two remaining Heavenly Chief Profound Generals instantly imploded into specks of white light, while Han Li stowed the two talismans away.Only then did Shi Chuankong re-enter the hall as he praised in an earnest manner, "Impressive as usual, Fellow Daoist Li. It seems like there''s no end to your powers."
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Shi. It just so happens that my spiritual sense secret technique is a perfect counter to these things," Han Li replied with a smile before crouching down to inspect the five shattered stone pirs.
It seemed that these stone pirs were capable of gathering starpower, and that was why the five Heavenly General Talismans had been adhered to them to be nurtured.
He searched through the wreckage of the stone pirs for a while, then quickly pulled out five short rods that were each around an inch in length and around the same thickness as a human arm.
Each rod was riddled with engraved star runes, forming what appeared to be a set of star arrays.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this.
He had already developed a decent understanding of the starpower restrictions in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so even though the arrays on the five rods were quiteplex, he was still able to roughly make sense of them.
This was a star gathering array that was countless times more profound than the star gathering array that he had learned from the Origin Realm Temple.
Han Li eagerly scoured his gaze over the starpower restrictions on the five rods, then pulled out a jade slip and engraved the arrays on the rods onto it.
He had prepared this jade slip prior to entering the Great Ruins, and it was precisely for this type of scenario.
Unfortunately, he had been a little too rough in his destruction of the stone pirs earlier, so the rods had been damaged in many parts, resulting in many of the runes on them being erased.
Even so, this set of starpower restrictions was still going to be immensely helpful to him.
After recording the damaged arrays onto his jade slip, Han Li continued onward with Shi Chuankong by his side.
From there, they didn''t encounter any further attacks, and it didn''t take long before they reached the end of the passageway, where a ck staircase that was hundreds of steps tall stood before them.
At the foot of the staircase was a glowing, white exit, and a giant hall could be seen through this opening.
A string of resounding booms were ringing out incessantly up ahead, indicating that a battle seemed to be taking ce inside the hall.
"Stay here for now, Fellow Daoist Shi, I''ll go take a look at what''s happening in there," Han Li said through voice transmission.
Shi Chuankong knew that Han Li''s concealment techniques were superior to his own, so he raised no objections and nodded in response.
Han Li immediately channeled his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique and snuck over to the exit before peering out into the hall beyond.
The previous hall was already quiterge, but this one was downright enormous, over a hundred times the area of the previous hall.
The ground and walls of this hall were all dark green in color, and there were two rows of massive stone pirs in the hall, one on the left, and one on the right.
The two rows of stone pirs ran straight down the length of the hall, and even with Han Li''s eyesight, he was only just barely able to make out a tightly shut stone gate at the end of the hall.
Aside from that, there was nothing else in the hall, giving it a very empty and spacious appearance.
At this moment, there were two parties engaged in a fierce battle inside.
One one side were around a dozen crimson humanoid puppets and three Heavenly Chief Profound Generals, while the other party consisted of four people, all of whom were familiar to Han Li, namely Chen Yang, Xuanyuan Xing, Sun Tu, and Fang Chan.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this.
The crimson puppets were each around seventy to eighty feet tall, cutting extremely imposing figures, and even though they weren''t armed with any weapons, their bodies contained tremendous power, and the very space around them trembled in the face of their attacks.
Furthermore, they seemed to be very adept at working together, and at this moment, they were standing side by side in a row, unleashing attacks that formed waves of formidable power to prevent Chen Yang and the others from advancing any further.
As for the Heavenly Chief Profound Generals, all of them wereparable in power to the armored general that Han Li had just subdued, and thanks to their insubstantial bodies, they were unaffected by the waves of power unleashed by the crimson puppets as they attacked Chen Yang and the others at will.
It was clear that Chen Yang''s group was trying to reach the stone gate at the end of the hall, but they weren''t able to make any progress against these puppets and talisman spirits.
The puppets didn''t pose much of a threat, but the Heavenly Chief Profound General were a huge pain to deal with, and out of the four, only Sun Tu possessed a bone sword that was etched with ck patterns that seemed to be pose some threat to the Heavenly Chief Profound Generals.
The ck patterns on the bone sword were releasing rings of ck ripples that proliferated throughout the hall, and they had no effect on Chen Yang and the others or the crimson puppets, but as soon as the three Heavenly Chief Profound Generals came into contact with the ck ripples, they would instantly be slowed down significantly.
If it wasn''t for that, Chen Yang and the others would''ve already sustained injuries from the Heavenly Chief Profound Generals.
The three Heavenly Chief Profound General were swinging their halberds rapidly through the air, unleashing flurries of white halberd projections that converged to form arge, which descended upon Chen Yang and the others.
Sun Tu let loose a low roar as he shed his bone sword through the air, and a metallic ng rang out as a giant ck sword projection struck the of halberd projections.
The was instantly sliced apart, but the ck sword projection was also destroyed, and the three Heavenly Chief Profound Generals and Sun Tu were both forced back into retreat.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the ck bone sword in Sun Tu''s hand with an intrigued look in his eyes.
The ck patterns on the bone sword were giving off a burst of peculiar sealing power fluctuations, so it was no wonder that it was able to ward off the Heavenly Chief Profound Generals attacks.
"Fellow Daoist Li, Fellow Daoist Shi,e out and show yourselves. It''s rather rude to watch from the sidelines like this," Sun Tu suddenly said as he turned his gaze to the entrance of the hall.
Chen Yang and the others disyed no surprise upon hearing this, and it seemed that they were already aware of Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s presence.
Han Li was quite taken aback to hear this. He had thought that his aura waspletely concealed by his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique, and Shi Chuankong was currently thousands of feet away. Spiritual sense was severely restricted here, so how had Sun Tu and the others discovered them?
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li beckoned to Shi Chuankong, and thetter rushed over to join him, following which both of them stepped into the hall together. Seeing as they had already been discovered, there was no point in hiding any longer.
"I''m very impressed that you were able to discover us, Fellow Daoist Sun Tu. May I ask how you were able to detect our presence?" Han Li asked with a smile.
In contrast with Sun Tu and the others, the puppets and talisman spirits were clearly quite surprised by the emergence of Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
"It''s just a little trick that''s really not worth unting. Seeing as your Green Goat City and our White Rock City have already forged an alliance, why don''t we all join forces here?" Sun Tu invited with a smile.
"Our earlier agreement still stands, Fellow Daoist Li. The Great Ruins are fraught with peril, so it would be far too dangerous for the two of you to continue on your own. I''m sure there must be some precious treasures to be found in here, so let''s take care of these puppets and talisman spirits, then split the treasures inside evenly among ourselves," Chen Yang said.
Meanwhile, Fang Chan was looking out behind Han Li and Shi Chuankong, seemingly searching for something, and a hint of disappointment shed through his eyes when he discovered that there was no one behind them.
Shi Chuankong could tell that these crimson puppets and Heavenly Chief Profound Generals were far too formidable for the two of them to deal with, so he was also quite tempted to join forces with Sun Tu and the others.
However, he didn''t say anything as he turned his gaze to Han Li, clearly content to follow his lead.
"I''m very ttered that you think so highly of me. In that case, I''d be happy to join you," Han Li replied with a smile after a brief moment of contemtion.
Meanwhile, the crimson puppets and Heavenly Chief Profound Generals were already pouncing at them again.
"Alright, in that case, let''s get rid of these pesky things together. The longer we''re dyed here, the greater the chance that something could go wrong, so let''s not hold back. If you have any tricks up your sleeve, now would be the time to reveal them," Chen Yang dered.
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and three short yellow spears appeared in his grasp, all of which were etched with peculiar lightning-shaped patterns.
The three spears were then hurled through the air as a trio of yellow shadows, and they disyed incredible prative power, piercing through the waves of power unleashed by the crimson puppets before embedding themselves into the bodies of three of the puppets.
In the next instant, three loud explosions rang out as bursts of white lightning erupted out of the spears, forming three balls of white lightning that were each around ten feet in size.
The three puppets were instantly torn apart, with their fragments flying in all directions.
With these three puppets eliminated, the wall of force unleashed by the rest of the puppets was instantly significantly weakened.
Chapter 946: Different Objectives
Chapter 946: Different Objectives
"I''ll handle these three talisman spirits, all of you can focus on eradicating those puppets," Sun Tu said, then immediatelyshed out with his bone sword, unleashing a flurry of ck sword projections that fanned out like a peacock spreading its canopy.
With Sun Tu engaging the three Heavenly Chief Profound Generals in battle, Han Li and the others immediately pounced at the remaining crimson puppets.
At this moment, Xuanyuan Xing was wielding a pair of ck staves, each of which was around five feet in length. There were strips of yellow fabric tied all over the staves, much like the mourning sticks used in mortal funerals.
All of a sudden, a expeled a mouthful of blood, which split up into two before fusing into the mourning sticks, which instantly began to glow ck.
As Xuanyuan Xing swung his arms through the air, countless staff projections were unleashed, sweeping toward the crimson puppets amid a chorus of ghastly howls.
The movements of the crimson puppets were slowed down slightly, seemingly affected by these ghastly sounds.
At the same time, Fang Chan inhaled deeply before releasing a burst of white soundwaves that erupted out of his mouth and nose before also sweeping toward the crimson puppets.
As a result, the puppets'' movements were hampered even further, and the waves of force that they were generating were weakened once again.
Han Li pounced on this opportunity to fly through the air whileshing out with his white scimitar, unleashing a mountainous de projection that was over a hundred feet in length to strike the opposing waves of force.
Shi Chuankong immediately followed suit, swinging his purple staff through the air to unleash a thick staff projection that also struck the waves of force.
The waves of power generated by the crimson puppets were already far weaker than before, and an opening was instantly smashed into them by Han Li and Shi Chuankong''s attacks.
The two of them were ecstatic to see this, and they rushed in through the opening, arriving behind the crimson puppets in the blink of an eye.
"Well done, fellow daoists!" Chen Yang yelled in an ecstatic voice. "Once we dismantle these puppets, our work will be almost done!"
Radiant white light erupted out of his fists as he unleashed a flurry of countless white fist projections that rained down upon the puppets, while Han Li and Shi Chuankong attacked the puppets from behind.
At this point, there were only ten of these puppets left, and one of them, which was clearlyrger than the others, suddenly let loose a low roar.
Two of the puppets immediately swung around to face Han Li and Shi Chuankong, and while the remaining eight puppets continued tosh out with their fists and feet, creating a massive of force that stood in the path of Chen Yang''s trio.
Ferocious winds swept through the entire hall, preventing the trio from getting any closer.
Meanwhile, crimson light shed over the fists of the two puppets that were pouncing at Han Li and Shi Chuankong, and two bursts of crimson light erupted out of their fists before plunging into the oing storm of de and staff projections.
Two resounding booms rang out as the de and staff projections were all destroyed upon impact, while the two puppets reached out like lightning to grab onto the white scimitar and the purple staff.
A cold sneer appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he tugged forcefully on the hilt of his scimitar while pushing off against the ground with his feet, instantlyunching himself up into the air before jumping onto the crimson puppet''s shoulder.
Before the puppet had a chance to react, he threw a vicious elbow strike into its head, and a dull thump rang out as the puppet''s head instantly exploded like a watermelon, sendingrge volumes of silver fluid erupting in all directions.
Han Li then used the shoulder of the headless puppet as aunching pad to send himself flying at the other eight puppets.
However, right at this moment, a white halberd came hurtling at his head from above.
The halberd was giving off an extremely sharp aura, leaving a visible gash in the space in its wake.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and the profound acupoints on his legs lit up as he sped away roughly ten feet to the side to evade the attack.
Immediately thereafter, a Heavenly Chief Profound General descended from above to stand in his path.
Han Li took a nce in Sun Tu''s direction to discover that thetter was already struggling immensely to deal with the other two Heavenly Chief Profound Generals.
A pleased smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he darted forward like lightning, reaching the Heavenly Chief Profound General in the blink of an eye.
The Heavenly Chief Profound General seemed to have caught off guard by this, but it didn''t take any evasive measures as it swung its halberd directly at Han Li''s head.
An rmed look appeared on Chen Yang''s face as he yelled from afar, "Get out of the way, Fellow Daoist Li! The attacks from those talisman spirits can phase through all physical objects, so you can''t block them!"
However, Han Li made no attempt to evade the attack. Instead, radiant white light erupted out of the profound acupoints on his legs, epassing the entire area in a radius of over a hundred feet around himself and the Heavenly Chief Profound General, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.
A dull thump rang out from within the white light, followed by the sound of a small explosion, and by the time the white light faded, Han Li was revealed to be on his own, with the Heavenly Chief Profound General nowhere to be seen.
Everyone in the hall aside from Shi Chuankong was very surprised to see this.
Han Li paid no heed to everyone''s reactions as he abruptly vanished from the spot, then reappeared behind the eight puppets in a wraith-like manner beforeshing out with his fists.
Five dull thumps rang out in rapid session, and five puppets, including thergest of the bunch, had their heads smashed to bits, following which their mountainous bodies copsed to the ground.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and it took Chen Yang''s trio a moment to react before they erupted into cheers and pounced at the three remaining puppets.
Meanwhile, Han Li turned his gaze to Sun Tu''s direction before vanishing from the spot once again.
In the next instant, he reappeared behind a Heavenly Chief Profound General before reaching out one hand, and once again, a burst of radiant white light erupted out of his profound acupoints to epass the Heavenly Chief Profound General''s entire body.
He wanted to keep his spiritual sense chains a secret from everyone, so he was going out of his way to conceal what he was doing.
Sun Tu was knocked back by the tremendous force that had erupted out of Han Li''s hand, and by the time he steadied himself, the white light had disappeared along with the Heavenly Chief Profound General.
Han Li then turned his gaze to the final Heavenly Chief Profound General, and an urgent look appeared on Sun Tu''s face upon seeing this as the bone sword in his hand began to release radiant ck light.
Countless rays of ck light instantly erupted out of the bone sword before wrapping themselves around the final Heavenly Chief Profound General like lengths of rope.
Immediately thereafter, a beastly roar rang out from Sun Tu''s body, and a cloud of misty ck light rose up from his bone sword, then transformed into a hazy, ck beasty projection that opened its mouth up wide to devour the Heavenly Chief Profound General whole.
The ck beastly projection then instantly vanished alongside the misty ck light released by the bone sword, and Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, but didn''t say anything.
Meanwhile, the crimson puppets had also been dismantled by Chen Yang and the others, and with that, the battle drew to a conclusion.
A slightly tense silence ensued.
Everyone had just disyed some of their trump cards, and in particr, Han Li had put on a spectacr performance that had astonished everyone. In the wake of these disys of power, a rather peculiar atmosphere had descended upon everyone.
"You two really made all the difference, Fellow Daoist Li, Fellow Daoist Shi. Otherwise, we would''ve been struggling against those foes for who knows how long," Sun Tu said with a smile, breaking the silence.
The tense atmosphere instantly eased slightly, and everyone else turned their attention to Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
"We just so happened to be passing by, and it seems like the threads of fate have brought all of us together," Han Li replied with a smile of his own.
"If I recall correctly, Fellow Daoist Shi was with City Lord E, right? The two of you seem to be quite familiar with each other, Fellow Daoist Li," Sun Tu remarked.
Before Han Li had a chance to say anything, Chen Yang replied in his stead, "That''s a long story. Fellow Daoist Li and Fellow Daoist Shi are indeed acquaintances, but right now, all of us are working together to reap the spoils in these Great Ruins, so our individual personal ties hardly matter."
"By the way, Fellow Daoist Chen just mentioned that there are some precious treasures to be found in here. Could it be that all of you have already discovered something?" Han Li asked.
"Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan and I encountered City Lord Sun and Fellow Daoist Fang at the entrance of this altar, and we were all of the opinion that this seemed like quite an interesting ce, one that was harboring precious treasures. Hence, we decided toe in and have a look together. However, as for exactly what can be found in here, that''s still yet to be seen," Chen Yang replied.
"Now that Fellow Daoist Li and Fellow Daoist Shi have also joined us, I''m sure nothing will be able to stand in our way," Sun Tu said.
"That was quite a grueling battle, so let''s take a short rest here before we continue," Chen Yang suggested as he took a nce at the stone gate at the end of the hall.
Xuanyuan Xing and Fang Chan were both looking rather pale, and they eagerly agreed to this proposal, taking some pills before sitting down with their legs crossed.
Han Li and Shi Chuankong weren''t feeling all that tired, but they also sat down to rest, nheless.
Meanwhile, Sun Tu made his way over to the crimson puppets, then pulled out a ck dagger before hacking one of the puppets to bits, seemingly trying to find something.
Han Li immediately recalled all of the puppet fragments that he had spotted on the way here, and he sat down to rest while secretly keeping an eye on Sun Tu.
Before long, Sun Tu hadpletely dismembered the puppet, and a hint of tion shed through his eyes as he pulled out something before immediately stowing it away.
Even though he had acted quite quickly, Han Li was still able to identify that he had pulled out a pea-sized white crystal from the puppet''s body.
After that, Sun Tu repeated the process with all of the other puppets, plucking out one white crystal after another.
Everyone rested here for roughly an hour before setting off again, arriving in front of the stone gate.
Chapter 947: A Second Key?
Chapter 947: A Second Key?
"If everyone''s ready, then let''s go in," Chen Yang said.
"I can deal with those puppets just fine, but if we encounter more of those talisman spirits, then I''ll have to count on you, Fellow Daoist Li," Sun Tu said with a smile.
"Rest assured, City Lord Sun, I''ll be sure to do my part," Han Li replied.
Sun Tu nodded in response, then turned to give Fang Chan a look, and thetter immediately pushed the stone gate open before stepping inside, followed by everyone else.
By the time everyone had gone through, Sun Tu swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of tremendous force to close the gate again.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he took a nce at the gate, then swept his gaze across the hall that he had just stepped into.
All of a sudden, all of the giant braziers hanging from the walls and the ceiling of the hall were set alight in unison, illuminating the entire hall with their bright mes.
There was a small basin at the center of the hall, and a strange-looking copper tree was situated there. There were close to twenty branches extending from the trunk of the tree, all of which were riddled with star runes.
What was even more peculiar was that there was a statue d in a full suit of copper armor hanging from the end of each branch, looking much like a series of bodies that had died by hanging.
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as his gaze roamed up the copper tree, and he discovered a bright pir of white light at the top of the tree, within which was another crimson key.
Shi Chuankong immediately turned to Han Li with a surprised expression upon seeing this, and Han Li shook his head ever so slightly in response, indicating for him not to say anything.
However, right at this moment, the crimson key on the copper tree suddenly began to glow brightly, and Han Li felt a scorching sensation in front of his chest.
The burning heat caught himpletely off guard, and he couldn''t help but give a muffled groan.
"What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Li?" Chen Yang asked with a puzzled expression, and everyone else immediately turned to him as well.
"I suffered some internal injuries on the way here, and my chest suddenly began throbbing a little, but I''m fine," Han Li exined.
Thankfully, the scorching sensation onlysted for an instant before fading away, and the key that was hidden in his robe didn''t release any light, so it didn''t attract any extra attention.
"We seem to be rtively safe for now, so why don''t you sit down and take a rest, Fellow Daoist Li?" Chen Yang suggested. "If you don''t attend to your injuries, they coulde back to bite youter."
"That''s a good idea," Han Li replied with a nod, then strode over to a corner of the hall before sitting down with his legs crossed.
Shi Chuankong hesitated momentarily upon seeing this, then strode over to his side before sitting down as well.
Meanwhile, Chen Yang turned his gaze to the crimson key on top of the copper tree with a solemn look in his eyes.
"This must be the key that you were referring to earlier, Fellow Daoist Chen. It seems that by some stroke of fortune, we were forced here by the puppets that we encountered," Sun Tu said with a smile.
"Indeed, our efforts have finally paid off," Chen Yang replied with a smile of his own.
"There''s only one key here, so..."
Sun Tu''s voice trailed off here, but it was quite clear what he was implying.
"ording to my knowledge, there''s more than one of these crimson keys in the Great Ruins, so there''s no point in trying to im any single one of these keys. It would be best if we can find others with the same key and work with them to reap more spoils," Chen Yang said with a smile.
Han Li was pretending to meditate with his eyes closed, and he sneered internally as he listened to the conversation between two the city lords.
Not only had Chen Yang and Sun Tu refrained from mentioning this crimson key to him prior to this, it was clear that Sun Tu was trying to im the key for himself by leveraging what he perceived to be his and Fang Chan''s superior powers over everyone else. However, he was forced to reconsider after hearing what Chen Yang had to say.
Right at this moment, Xuanyuan Xing suddenly interjected, "It looks like the things hanging from this tree are also puppets, so it most likely won''t be so easy to acquire the key."
"Indeed, so let''s all work together to obtain the key first," Sun Tu said, suddenly agreeable to the idea of working with everyone again.
"Alright, let''s get started then," Chen Yang said with a nod, then sprang up toward the copper tree.
Sun Tu''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he gave Fang Chan a subtle look, upon which thetter immediately set off for the tree as well.
The two of them eachnded on a different branch of the tree, and as soon as Chen Yang set foot on the branch, he immediately felt a burst of tremendous suction force act upon him from below, locking him firmly into ce.
Fang Chan was also in the same situation, and the two of them were suddenly bound to the tree.
Right at this moment, a series of star runes lit up over the tree, following which bursts of white light began to spread over all of its branches.
Han Li opened his eyes upon sensing this change, just in time to see all of the puppets hanging from the tree beginning to sway from side to side.
Shortly thereafter, they began to fall from the branches of the tree like ripe fruits, and in the instant that theynded on the ground, specks of red light appeared in their eye sockets as each of them drew a saber that was strapped to their backs.
The sabers had no star acupoints, but they were etched with star runes that were giving offyers of white starlight.
The puppets spread themselves out into a line, and aside for the two that had jumped back onto the tree to confront Chen Yang and Fang Chan, the rest were all rushing directly at Han Li and the others.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh upon seeing this, then rose to his feet, and another battle ensued.
Two of the puppets were rushing directly at Han Li at an astonishing speed, attacking him from both the left and the right as they shed their sabers through the air.
Han Li drew his white scimitar, and his Star Moon Boots lit up, instantly elevating his speed to its peak. In the blink of an eye, he dodged the pair of oing sabers before hacking his scimitar against the legs of one of the puppets.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as arge flurry of bright sparks erupted from the puppet''s body, and even though Han Li''s scimitar strike was able to leave a pronounced white mark on the puppet''s armor, it hadn''t actually been damaged in the slightest.
Han Li was quite surprised by how resilient the suit of armor was, and he stomped a foot down onto the ground while channeling his Titan Vajra Arts.
All of the profound acupoints on his arms lit up, and he grabbed tightly onto the hilt of his scimitar before unleashing another almighty blow.
A thinyer of starlight appeared over the scimitar, and in response, the puppet raised its saber above its head to block Han Li''s attack.
A loud crack rang out as the puppet''s saber was snapped into two, following which the white scimitar crashed down onto its shoulder.
Unfortunately, much of the scimitar''s power had already been expended in the process of shattering the puppet''s saber, so it was ultimately only able to slice around an inch into its armor, inflicting no substantial damage.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he attempted to withdraw his scimitar, only to discover that a burst of immense suction force had surged out of the puppet''s armor, locking the scimitar firmly into ce.
At the same time, the other puppet was already rushing at Han Li while swinging its saber at Han Li''s lower abdomen, so he was forced to abandon his scimitar and dart back in retreat.
Meanwhile, Chen Yang and Fang Chan were still stuck firmly to the copper tree, so they could only battle their puppet assants with their feetpletely rooted to the spot. Initially, they were doing just fine, but as two more puppets entered the fray, they began to struggle.
In particr, Fang Chan had already been struck close to twenty times by his two puppet assants, and his entire body was drenched in blood.
However, there was no pain in his expression at all, and his battle intent only seemed to be growing more and more fierce with each passing wound that he sustained.
Right as one of the puppet''s plunged its saber directly at his heart, he abruptly opened his mouth to let loose an animalistic shriek, releasing bursts of semi-transparent soundwaves that were visible even to the naked eye.
As soon as the puppet''s saber pierced into the oing soundwaves, it was instantly slowed down to a crawl, as if it had been plunged into a wall of wet sand.
At the same time, the entire tree began trembling violently from the soundwaves, and he and Chen Yang were finally able to free themselves.
Fang Chan stepped forward and plunged his hand straight through the soundwaves unleashed by his own roar, then grabbed onto the puppet''s neck before tightening his grip with all his might.
A dull thump rang out as the puppet''s neck exploded in his crushing grip, and its head fell onto the ground.
At the same time, a thin and intricate white bone spike shot out of Chen Yang''s sleeve, then pierced into one of the puppet''s through a gap in its armor.
Immediately thereafter, the puppet exploded from the inside with a resounding boom.
Things progressed rtively smoothly from there onward, and it didn''t take long before all of the puppets were vanquished.
Fang Chan had sustained around a dozen light external injuries, while Xuanyuan Xing had been stabbed through the stomach by one of the puppets, but aside from that, everyone else remained virtuallypletely unscathed.
Sun Tu took some time to treat Fang Chan''s injuries, then turned to Chen Yang as he asked, "Who''s going to take the key?"
Chapter 948: Conflict
Chapter 948: Conflict
"You are the one with the most advanced cultivation base out of all of us, so the key should go to you for safekeeping," Chen Yang said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"You clearly know more about these crimson keys than I do, so I think it should go to you," Sun Tu countered. "Before we discuss that, I can see that there''s a restriction around the key. Do you recognize this restriction?"
"I''ve never been all that proficient when ites to dealing with restrictions and arrays, so I''ll have to trouble you, Fellow Daoist Sun," Chen Yang said in a modest manner.
"In that case, I''ll do the honors," Sun Tu replied with a faint smile, yet right as he was about to make his way to the top of the copper tree, the gate of the hall suddenly exploded with a resounding boom before flying toward everyone.
Han Li and the others quickly sprang away to the side, and the gate crashed into the copper tree before exploding into pieces.
"If neither of you are willing to capture the key, then how about I do so in your stead?"
Han Li turned to the entrance of the hall with tightly furrowed brows to discover Qin Yuan, Fu Jian, and the ck-robed man by the name of Shao Ying.
The three of them were standing side by side at the forefront, and trailing along behind them were two more figures, namely Duan Tong and a short and portly middle-aged man who Han Li didn''t know the name of, but what Han Li did know was that he was an elder of Profound End City.
"When did you get here? How did you manage to bypass my Heavenly Star Eye?" Sun Tu asked with tightly furrowed brows."You thought that setting up a mere Heavenly Star Eye at the entrance of the altar would be enough as far as surveince goes? You must think very little of us, City Lord Sun," Fu Jian chuckled.
Sun Tu fell silent as his expression darkened slightly.
"I would dly hand over the key to the two of you if you had gotten here first, but isn''t it a little unscrupulous of you toe in and try to im the key after we''ve already done all of the dirty work and taken care of the puppets?" Chen Yang asked in a cold voice.
"I didn''t think a smart man like you would be capable of saying something so naive, Fellow Daoist Chen. Would you not have done the exact same thing had you been in our ce? Don''t try to make yourself seem like a saint!" Qin Yuan chuckled with a cold sneer on his face.
"If you want to challenge all of us for the key, then go right ahead!" Chen Yang said as he took a step forward, and Sun Tu also took a step forward to stand beside him.
"I''ll admit that you do have the numbers advantage, but quantity is hardly going to make up for inferior quality," Qin Yuan sneered.
"Get over here, Shi Kong! Do you intend to betray City Lord E?" Shao Ying asked in a cold voice as his hawk-like gaze fell upon Shi Chuankong.
Shi Chuankong remainedpletely unfazed as he gave Shao Ying a derisive sneer.
Right at this moment, Fu Jian suddenly said, "Fellow Daoist Sun, our two cities have always been quite close, so let me offer you a word of advice. Chen Yang is an extremely ambitious man who''s willing to stoop to any lows to aplish his objectives, and he''s already colluding with Puppet City in secret, so choosing to work with him is nothing but a path to destruction!"
A slightly unnatural look appeared on Chen Yang''s face upon hearing this, while Sun Tu''s expression remainedpletely unchanged, and it was unclear if he already knew, or if he didn''t believe Fu Jian.
Right at this moment, Chen Yang''s voice suddenly rang out in Han Li''s mind.
"Fellow Daoist Li, City Lord Sun and I should be able to take on Qin Yuan and Fu Jian, while Xuanyuan Xing and Fang Chan can handle Duan Tong and that Profound End City elder. Will you be able to keep Shao Ying upied while Fellow Daoist Shi goes to im the key?"
"My apologies, Fellow Daoist Chen, but I n to stay out of this conflict," Han Li replied without bothering to resort to voice transmission.
He then took a few steps back with Shi Chuankong to distance themselves from everyone else.
Everyone was caughtpletely off guard by this turn of events, and they all turned to Han Li and Shi Chuankong with wariness and befuddlement in their eyes.
Han Li had always been quite wary of Chen Yang, and he had never regarded Chen Yang as a true ally, so he didn''t want to get overly involved with him.
Hence, he was naturally unwilling to continue working with Chen Yang, and the best choice for him was to observe from the sidelines.
"You''re a smart man, Fellow Daoist Li. As long as you stay out of this, I''m willing to let our past differences slide, and I''ll also give you somepensation after all is said and done," Qin Yuan said with an ted smile.
"Cut the chit-chat!" Shao Ying suddenly yelled, and Fu Jian, Qin Yuan, and the others immediatelyunched themselves at the copper tree as profound acupoints lit up all over their bodies.
Chen Yang was about to try and convince Han Li to change his mind, but he was forced to focus his attention on the oing Fu Jian instead, while Sun Tu was challenged by Qin Yuan.
The elder from Profound End City grinned as he rushed at Xuanyuan Xing, who he perceived to be the weakest of the bunch.
Duan Tong took a nce in Han Li''s direction, then leaped up into the air before swinging his enormous right arm down upon Fang Chan from above.
Fang Chan disyed no fear at all as he took a step back, then threw a punch up at the heavens in retaliation.
All of a sudden, Duan Tong raised his left arm to tug on the bandages around his right arm, and the bandages instantly slipped off to reveal a giant, ck arm that was covered in fine scales.
There were close to a hundred profound acupoints glowing radiantly on the arm, and as it came swinging down, the space beneath it began to crackle and pop, as if it were beingpressed to a breaking point.
Fang Chan opened his mouth to let loose a thunderous roar upon seeing this, releasing a wave of white soundwaves that swept through the air as his fist shed against Duan Tong''s.
¡¡
A fierce battle ensued, and aside from Han Li and Shi Chuankong, Shao Ying was the only one without an opponent.
However, instead of rushing in to im the key, he remained standing off to the side not far away, seemingly apprehensive of the possibility that Han Li and Shi Chuankong could be putting on an act.
After observing Han Li and Shi Chuankong for some time, he discovered that they really were disying no intention of entering the fray, and only then did he turn a hesitant gaze toward the crimson key above the copper tree.
Immediately thereafter, he sprang up into the air toward the top of the tree, but he had only risen up from the ground when a streak of white light shot forth toward him at an astonishing speed.
It was a white flying dagger, and it almost struck his temple as it flew past him before embedding itself into the ceiling above.
Even though Shao Ying was able to evade the dagger, he was forced to descend onto one of the copper tree''s lowest branches as a result, following which he turned to Chen Yang with a resentful expression.
It was Chen Yang who had hurled that flying dagger in his direction just now.
However, his top priority at the moment was to im the key, so Shao Ying made no effort to retaliate against Chen Yang as he prepared to make his way up the copper tree, only to discover that his feet had suddenly be firmly rooted to the branch that he was standing on.
"Fellow Daoist Li, have I wronged you in any way? Why is it that you''ve chosen to end our coboration at such a crucial juncture?" Chen Yang asked through voice transmission while warding off Fu Jian''s attacks.
"I would like to help you, but you''re harboring far too many secrets for me to trust you, so I have no choice but to proceed with caution for my own safety," Han Li replied.
"I understand that I''ve been keeping too much from you. How about this? You help us secure the key, and I''ll tell you everything once the key has been obtained," Chen Yang proposed in an urgent manner.
"I''m afraid I have no intention of getting involved in this mess while I''m stillpletely oblivious to all of the circumstances involved," Han Li replied.
"''Fellow Daoist Li, I can tell that you''ve already obtained another key, and that''s why you''re not as eager as the rest of us to secure this one, but have you considered what''s going to happen to you and Fellow Daoist Shi once all of us are dead and the others find out that you have another key?"'' Chen Yang asked.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he was quite taken aback by the fact that Chen Yang was aware that he was in possession of another key.
However, he then quickly realized that Chen Yang had to have spotted some telltale signs back when the two keys had resonated with each other earlier.
"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Han Li asked as a cold look appeared on hsi face.
"Not at all, Brother Li, I''m just pointing out the fact that we are currently interdependent on each other for survival," Chen Yang replied in an urgent voice.
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face as he cast his gaze toward Shao Ying. At this moment, a series of profound acupoints had lit up over his legs, sending tremors running through the copper tree, thereby allowing him to free himself bit by bit.
All of a sudden, Han Li heaved a faint sigh before springing up into the air without any warning.
Thanks to his Wingform Ascension Arts, he was able to tread upon air to reach the top of the copper tree in the blink of an eye, much to the chagrin of Qin Yuan and the others.
Chen Yang and Sun Tu both heaved a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this, and they exchanged a nce with each other beforeunching a fierce barrage of attacks at Qin Yuan and Fu Jian to buy Han Li more time.
As soon as Han Linded on the copper tree, he was also instantly rooted to the spot.
Shi Chuankong also flew onto the tree after him, temporarily serving as his guardian.
Chapter 949: Unexpected Arrivals
Chapter 949: Unexpected Arrivals
Han Li paid no heed to the suction force acting upon him from the copper tree as he began carefully examining the pir of white light before him.
This array was somewhat different from the one that he had bypassed to im the previous crimson key, but they were both quite simr in nature, so it shouldn''t be a difficult task to ovee this one.
With that in mind, he pulled out his Star Wave Pen and began to work.
With some experience already under his belt, Han Li was able to work much faster than before, and it didn''t take long before his array waspleted.
The pir of white light slowly dissipated, and the crimson key fell into Han Li''s grasp.
At the same time, the suction force emanating from the copper treepletely subsided.
Shao Ying was furious, thinking that he had fallen for a ploy collectively hatched by Han Li and Chen Yang, and he stomped down violently, snapping the branch beneath his feet as heunched himself at Han Li.
Meanwhile, Han Li and Shi Chuankong flew down from the tree, and before Shao Ying had a chance toe after him again, he raised the key high above his head as he yelled, "Everyone, get back! If you try to take the key from me by force, then I''ll destroy it right now so no one gets it!"
Sure enough, Shao Ying immediately drew to a halt upon hearing this, glowering down at Han Li from the top of the copper tree with a dark expression, while everyone else in the hall also stopped what they were doing and disengaged themselves from their opponents."Haven''t you already chosen not to get involved, Fellow Daoist Li? Why have you suddenly changed your mind?" Fu Jian asked with a displeased expression.
Han Li continued to hold the key aloft, and he offered no response.
"Do the cultivators of our Green Goat City have to follow your orders now, City Lord Fu?" Chen Yang sneered.
"It appears that we''ve fallen for their little ploy, Fellow Daoist Fu. We thought that they had turned on each other, but that was nothing more than an act to lure us into a false sense ofcency," Qin Yuan said.
"How dare you! Are you not afraid that I''ll strike you down even at the cost of having the key destroyed?" Shao Ying threatened in a malicious voice.
Right at this moment, an authoritative voice rang out from outside the hall.
"That''s enough nonsense from you, Shao Ying!"
Immediately thereafter, four more figures made their way in from outside.
The group was led by an unremarkable-looking middle-aged man and a short and well-built elderly man.
Neither of them should''vemanded much attention, but they did, simply due to the fact that they were E Kuai and Mistress Liu Hua.
Standing behind them were Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing, and to Han Li''s befuddlement, he noticed that as soon as E Kuai came into view, Chen Yang immediately took a step backward, as if he had something to hide.
"Wee, City Lord E," everyone hurriedly greeted.
Shao Ying rushed over to E Kuai before extending a deep bow, but before he had a chance to say anything, a cold look suddenly appeared on E Kuai''s face as he smacked Shao Ying to the ground.
Shao Ying hurriedly mbered to his feet before bowing down again, not daring to say anything, while Qin Yuan and the others looked on with fearful expressions.
Han Li tightened his grip a little further around the crimson key upon seeing this, and he was carefully observing E Kuai''s expression as considered whether to hand over the key or threaten to destroy it again.
E Kuai''s gaze roamed over everyone in the hall, and a hint of approval surfaced in his eyes at the sight of Han Li. He was slightly taken aback to see Shi Chuankong standing behind Han Li, but he didn''t disy too much of a reaction.
However, as his gaze fell upon Qin Yuan and the others, a displeased look instantly appeared on his face as he sneered, "You two sure enjoy instigating internal conflicts, City Lord Qin, City Lord Fu. It seems like you''re always jumping at the first opportunity to turn on your own allies."
"Please don''t misunderstand, City Lord E. We were only trying to im the key for ourselves so that we could offer it to you, and in our haste to do so, we got into a slight disagreement with Fellow Daoist Sun and Fellow Daoist Chen," Qin Yuan hurriedly exined.
"Is that really what happened, Fellow Daoist Qin?" Sun Tu sneered.
"If you had been shing against Puppet City cultivators for the key, not only would I not be displeased, I would''ve rewarded you instead, but instigating internal conflicts at such a crucial juncture is entirely unforgivable," E Kuai said in a cold voice.
"My sincerest apologies, City Lord E. We were blinded by our excessive eagerness to get our hands on the key. Once we return to Profound City, we''ll be sure topensate White Rock City and Green Goat City for our transgressions," Fu Jian hurriedly said.
"I''ll let things slide for now, but you two better make sure topensate Fellow Daoist Sun and Fellow Daoist Chen once we leave the Great Ruins. Seeing as the key was imed by Green Goat City, it can remain in the possession of Fellow Daoist Li for now, and no one is to try and take it from him. All of us must work together to im the most precious treasures in the Great Ruins, do I make myself clear?" E Kuai dered.
No one raised any objections to this arrangement, but right at this moment, Han Li stepped forward as he said, "City Lord E, now that you''re here, it would be unreasonable for me to hold onto the key any longer. It should be kept under your supervision instead."
"Perhaps all of you are unaware of this, but there are actually five of these keys in total, and only whenbined in one ce can they open a restricted area deep within the Great Ruins. Hence, having a single key isn''t going to be of much use. Seeing as you were the one who obtained the key, you can keep it until we reach the entrance to that restricted area," E Kuai replied with a smile.
Han Li didn''t say anything further upon hearing this, and he tucked the key down the front of his robes.
The sound of an urgent heartbeat rang out once again as the two crimson keys resonated with each other in front of his chest and began beating like a pair of hearts.
Immediately thereafter, another burst of heat surged out of the crimson key before entering his body, instantly stirring up both the bloodline power and the starpower within his body.
In this instant, the profound acupoint on his body that was yet to be fully opened finally burst open.
Han Li was ecstatic, and he hurriedly suppressed the energy fluctuations threatening to erupt out of his body to conceal thistest breakthrough, but despite his best efforts, everyone still noticed something and collectively turned to look at him.
Han Li''s expression remained calm, and in order to divert attention away from himself, he asked, "City Lord E, would you be able to tell us exactly what treasure is resting deep within these Great Ruins?"
"ording to ancient legends, a set of remains that harbor boundless power can be found deep within the Great Ruins. It''s a set of remains with truly miraculous powers, and even just witnessing them can grant immense benefits," E Kuai replied.
The fact that this set of remains was receiving such glowing praise from E Kuai clearly indicated that it was indeed no ordinary treasure, and looks of longing and greed surfaced in everyone''s eyes upon hearing this.
At the mention of this set of remains, Han Li couldn''t help but think of the Scalptia Holy Remains that Shi Chuankong had mentioned, and he snuck a nce at Shi Chuankong, only to find a cold and distant look on thetter''s face.
He then turned his gaze to Chen Yang to discover that thetter was currently looking rather concerned.
"You know some things, don''t you, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
After waiting for a short while, there was still no response from Chen Yang.
"Is City Lord E telling the truth or not?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"Fellow Daoist Li, I am indeed keeping some things from you, but I''m doing so for a reason, and I can''t reveal these things to you right now..."
"Fellow Daoist Chen, you''ve already threatened me once, and if you''re going to continue to keep secrets from me, then I think our coboration should end here," Han Li interjected in a cold voice.
After a brief hesitation, Chen Yang sighed, "Fine, if you must know, then I''ll tell you everything. In the beginning, I was actually from Profound City, not Green Goat City. My brother, Chen Lie, and I were both spies under the city lord''s manor, and we were meant to be sent out to infiltrate other cities once our training wasplete.
¡°For our final examination, we were both sent out to assassinate someone, and upon sessfully carrying out the mission, we would receive vast quantities of cultivation resources and advanced bodily refinement cultivation arts. However, in a cruel twist of fate, our assassination targets for the mission were each other..."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
Chen Yang paused here momentarily, then continued, "E Kuai sent Shao Ying to monitor us at the time, so we had no choice but to turn on each other, and in the end, I was the one who survived."
"Your past differences with E Kuai have nothing to do with me. I can work with you in order to better my chances of surviving in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, but challenging E Kuai would be no different frommitting suicide, and I won''t join you in such a futile endeavor," Han Li said.
"Of course, I have no intention of turning on E Kuai anytime soon. Right now, I''m just like you, Fellow Daoist Li, I''m just trying to survive," Chen Yang sighed in a resigned manner.
"So was he telling the truth just now?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid I don''t know the answer to that question. After all, no one has ever found these remains before, but there are indeed legends that proim that a set of remains that harbor boundless power can be found deep in the Great Ruins.
¡°It''s said that if one can obtain even a single finger bone from the set of remains and refine it into their own body, then their physical cultivation base and the number of profound acupoints they possess will be significantly elevated," Chen Yang replied.
Han Li was just about to say something else when E Kuai suddenly said, "Fellow Daoist Li, seeing as the key is in your possession, let''s set off for that restricted area together right away. We can''t afford to let the Puppet City cultivators get there before us."
"If all five keys must be assembled to ess the restricted area, surely the Puppet City cultivators won''t be able to go in even if they get there ahead of us," Sun Tu said.
"The Puppet City cultivators are all adept in the art of puppetry, so they may have some other tricks up their sleeves," Mistress Liu Hua said.
Chapter 950: Eliminating Potential Threats
Chapter 950: Eliminating Potential Threats
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face in response to E Kuai''s proposal, and he was hesitating about whether to go or not when Shi Chuankong''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
"Given that our teleportation tokens are fake, there''s currently no way for us to return to the Holy Realm. If there''s any ce in the Scalptia Spatial Domain that can take us back, then it can most likely only be somewhere deep in these Great Ruins."
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this.
"Do you have some qualms, Fellow Daoist Li?" E Kuai asked in an amicable fashion.
"Truth be told, I currently have a ck Tribtion Centipede in my body, and that''s always been a major threat looming over my head. If something goes wrong, I could lose my life at any moment, and my life may not matter much, but my demise could hamper our Profound City''s ns, and that would be catastrophic," Han Li exined.
"A ck Tribtion Centipede? Isn''t that something that you can get rid of, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua?" E Kuai asked as he turned to Mistress Liu Hua.
"It''s... a long story. So be it, I''ll get rid of his ck Tribtion Centipede," Mistress Liu Hua said with slightly furrowed brows, then led Han Li out of the pce.
All of a sudden, Mistress Liu Hua turned around with a dark expression as he said, "Did you n to force my hand here and extort me into removing your ck Tribtion Centipede?"
"Please don''t misunderstand, Senior Liu Hua. I only dared to bring up this matter because I heard from Fellow Daoist Gu that you were nning to remove my ck Tribtion Centipede after we leave the Great Ruins anyway," Han Li hurriedly exined.
"She told you everything already, did she? I should''ve known," Mistress Liu Hua grumbled.
"Speaking of Fellow Daoist Gu, have you seen her after entering the Great Ruins?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid not. At the time, the situation was very chaotic, and I wanted her to stick close to me, but we were separated anyway. It sounds like you haven''t encountered her either, right?" Mistress Liu Hua replied with a concerned expression.
"Rest assured, Senior, I''m sure Fellow Daoist Gu is fine," Han Li replied, not directly answering the question.
"The fact that you''re concerned for her safety tells me that you''re not some heartless bastard. Otherwise, even if I''m acting under City Lord E''s orders, I wouldn''t have fully removed the ck Tribtion Centipede from your body. Alright, let''s begin now," Mistress Liu Hua sighed.
Han Li could only nod in response with a wry smile.
Shortly thereafter, the two of them returned to the hall together, and the threat of the ck Tribtion Centipede was finally lifted.
"Can we set off now, Fellow Daoist Li?" E Kuai asked with a smile.
"Of course. Thank you for your patience, City Lord E," Han Li replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Alright, let''s go!" E Kuai ordered, and everyone began to make their way out of the hall.
However, they hadn''t gone very far when the entire hall suddenly began to tremble, and countless rapidly widening cracks appeared on its walls, while loose rocks came tumbling down from above.
"This ce is about to copse! We have to get out of here!" Sun Tu eximed, and a slight panic began to set in.
However, Han Li already knew what to expect, so he remained calm andposed.
He took a nce at Chen Yang out of the corner of peripheral vision, and he was surprised to find that Chen Yang was alsopletely unsurprised and unfazed by this sudden turn of events.
"Don''t panic," E Kuai said in a voice that wasn''t very loud, but instantly instilled within everyone a sense of calmness.
"There''s nothing to be afraid of here," E Kuai continued with a faint smile, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of white light that instantly swelled and brightened upon flying out of his sleeve, transforming into a thick pir of white light that erupted into the heavens with arcs of white lightning shing around it.
The ceiling of the hall was instantly destroyed by the pir of white light, and the ground above it was also melted away, causing the entire hall to tremble even more violently.
Immediately thereafter, the pir of white light faded away, and a massive, scorched hole appeared overhead, leading up to the surface.
Everyone turned to E Kuai and awestruck expressions upon seeing this, and a hint of astonishment also shed through Han Li''s eyes as he turned his gaze to Chen Yang.
The arcs of lightning within the pir of white light were identical in aura to the white lightning within the short yellow spear that Chen Yang had used earlier.
At this moment, Chen Yang was looking up at the massive hole above with a dazed expression and a slightly paleplexion.
However, everything was still copsing rapidly, and countless cracks instantly appeared around the hole, making it appear as if it were also about to copse.
E Kuai immediately flew out through the hole, and everyone else hurriedly followed along.
Even though most of them weren''t able to fly like Han Li, climbing up to the hole in the ceiling was still a very simple task, and in the blink of an eye, everyone had arrived on the surface.
The entire altar was still trembling violently, and it didn''t take long before itpletely copsed into the earth, leaving an enormous, bottomless crater in its wake.
Everyone was standing beside the crater, looking on with dazed expressions, while Han Li began to inspect his surroundings with a hint of concern in his eyes.
Countless puppets had emerged in the wake of the previous altar''s copse, and he didn''t know if the same thing was going to happen here.
While there were many powerful Profound City cultivators gathered here, such a boundless sea of puppets would still be far too much for them to deal with.
The same thought had clearly urred to Shi Chuankong as well, and the two of them exchanged a concerned nce with each other.
Sure enough, the ground began to tremble once again, and a wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
"What''s going on? Is it an earthquake?"
As the tremors ran through the earth, countless puppets began to burrow their way out of the ground.
These were all crimson humanoid puppets that were very simr to the ones that Han Li and the others had fought earlier, and they were wieldingrge crimson swords that were giving off a fiery glow.
The crimson puppets immediately pounced at the Profound City cultivators as soon as they emerged from the ground, and everyone hurriedly formed a circle with their backs facing one another in response.
"How are there suddenly so many puppets?"
This was naturally quite an rming turn of events, but everyone remained calm and collected as they drew their weapons to sh against the puppets.
It didn''t take long for Han Li to cut down two of the puppets with his white scimitar, and to his dismay, these crimson puppets also had full sets of internal organs and silver fluid flowing in their bodies.
The superior craftsmanship granted them far more power and speed than the snake, wolf, and tiger-headed puppets from the previous altar, and with so many of them pouring out of the ground, it was going to be extremely difficult to escape from this ce.
With that in mind, he took a nce at E Kuai and Mistress Liu Hua, and he was surprised to see that the two of them were looking quite calm and confident.
"Not to worry, everyone, these puppets can be easily dealt with. Fellow Daoist Liu Hua, I''ll get you to do the honors," E Kuai said, and Mistress Liu Hua nodded in response before swiping a hand over his own waist, upon which a gray incense burner appeared in his grasp.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this.
This incense burner seemed to also be a star artifact, and as Mistress Liu Hua chanted an incantation, arge plume of gray smoke surged out of the burner before rapidly spreading to epass a huge area in the span of just a few seconds.
As soon as the nearby puppets were caught within the gray smoke, their movements were instantly slowed down significantly, while their attacks also became feeble and powerless, but the smoke had no effect on Han Li and the others.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense over the puppets within the gray smoke, and he discovered that the silver fluid in their bodies had be far more viscous than before, thereby significantly slowing down its cirction.
An enlightened look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
Everyone was ecstatic to see this, and they hurriedly pounced on this opportunity to eradicate all of the nearby puppets, quickly clearing out arge area.
The remaining puppets seemed to be very apprehensive of this gray smoke, and all of them lingered outside the area epassed within the gray smoke while roaring like wild beasts.
Sun Tu exchanged a nce with Chen Yang, then smiled as he said, "Impressive as always, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua. May I ask what this gray smoke is? It seems like these puppets are very fearful of it."
"It''s just a little trick used to subdue these puppets, it can hardly be termed as impressive," Mistress Liu Hua replied in an indifferent manner.
Under E Kuai''s instructions, everyone set off once again, and the gray smoke followed them wherever they went, maintaining a safe zone that was close to ten thousand feet in radius around them.
With the cloud of gray smoke hanging over them, the surrounding puppets posed no threat at all, and it didn''t take long before everyone left the city, then emerged from the entire oasis.
Much to everyone''s relief, the puppets in this ce seemed to be bound to the oasis, so they didn''t pursue everyone any further.
Even with the protection of the cloud of gray smoke, being surrounded by tens of thousands of hostile puppets was still not a good feeling.
E Kuai seemed to be aware of the location of the restricted area, and after leaving the oasis, he led everyone straight to that crimson river before continuing in the downstream direction.
Two months flew by in a sh, and everyone finally emerged from the crimson desert.
The ground up ahead gradually turned from red to ck, and the air suddenly became very humid. The starpower in the air was even more abundant in this ce, and the earth was dotted with vegetation, forming a lush rainforest.
Given the diverse environments that the Great Ruins had disyed thus far, no one was surprised to see a rainforest here, but there was a cloud of faint ck mist permeating throughout the forest, shrouding the entire area in an air of mystery.
Chapter 951: Different Intentions
Chapter 951: Different Intentions
E Kuai paid no heed to the change in the surrounding environment as he continued to lead the way forward as if he were taking a casual stroll. It didn''t appear as if he were using any special techniques, but he was able to cover a distance of close to a thousand feet with every single step.
Mistress Liu Hua, Fu Jian, Qin Yuan, and Shao Ying were following along closely behind him, while Chen Yang, Sun Tu, and Han Li were trailing along a little further behind.
Everyone remained silent as they trudged through the forest, and the only sound that could be heard was that of their rustling footsteps.
Han Li took a nce at E Kuai, thenmunicated to Chen Yang and Sun Tu through voice transmission, "Is this restricted area really up ahead, Fellow Daoist Chen? Why does this rainforest look so strange?"
Not only was E Kuai tremendously powerful himself, he also had the likes of Qin Yuan, Fu Jian, and Shao Ying on his side, so Han Li and the others were at a massive disadvantage. Under these circumstances, they were forced to set aside their personal differences to work wholeheartedly together.
"I''ve only heard very little about the Great Ruins, so I don''t know exactly where these so-called remains are supposed to be. However, judging from the increasing abundance of starpower in the air, we do indeed seem to be advancing deeper into the Great Ruins. In any case, you have a key right now, so we always have some leverage if E Kuai decides to turn on us," Chen Yang said.
Han Li nodded in response, but internally, he was still feeling rather apprehensive.
"Speaking of the key, there''s something that I can''t make sense of. ording to City Lord E, five keys are required to ess that restricted area, yet Fellow Daoist Li only has one, but City Lord E hasn''t mentioned anything about searching for the other keys. Could it be that he''s already gathered all of the remaining four keys?" Sun Tu spected.
"Perhaps so," Han Li replied as he took a nce at Chen Yang, who didn''t say anything.
"I wonder exactly how these keys are used. If City Lord E really does have all four of the remaining keys, and these keys are still useful after we enter the restricted area, then we would truly be at a severe disadvantage on all fronts, so we have to proceed with caution," Sun Tu continued.
This was something that Han Li had failed to consider, and if this were the case, then that really would be a cause for concern.
All the while, E Kuai continued to casually stroll forward, seeminglypletely unbothered by the fact that Han Li and the others were intentionallygging behind.
"City Lord E, it''s clear that Chen Yang and Sun Tu are up to no good. On the surface, they seem to be obedient to you, but if you ask me, they''re most likely already colluding with Puppet City to hatch some sinister plot. I think we should kill them right now so they don''t get the chance to turn on us.
¡°With your powers, I''m sure you''ll be able to kill Li Feiyu in an instant before he has a chance to destroy his key!" Fu Jian suggested through voice transmission as cold killing intent shed through his eyes.
"There''s no need for that, I trust Chen Yang and Sun Tu not to work with Puppet City. They''re only behaving this way because they''re apprehensive of me, which is inevitable, considering the situation that we''re in," E Kuai replied with a faint smile.
"You''re too tolerant and benevolent, City Lord E! It''s clear that Chen Yang still harbors resentment toward you for what happened all those years ago, so you have to be wary of him!" Fu Jian insisted in an urgent manner.
"There''s no need to worry, City Lord Fu, I know what I''m doing. Right now, it''s best for us to maintain the peace. If we turn on one another now, that''ll only be ying into Puppet City''s hands," E Kuai replied.
Fu Jian could only fall silent upon hearing this.
With that, everyone continued onward, each absorbed in their own thoughts, and several more days passed by.
At this point, the group had already ventured quite deep into the rainforest.
The trees in this area had be extremely massive, and the smaller nts had gradually disappeared.
E Kuai had announced to everyone that the restricted area was not far up ahead, and that was a very encouraging deration.
Han Li was trudging through the forest while inspecting his surroundings with furrowed brows when Shi Chuankong asked through voice transmission, "Is there something wrong, Fellow Daoist Li? You''ve been looking rather troubled for a while now."
"Something feels strange to me," Han Li replied.
"How so?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Why is that despite the vast abundance of starpower in the Great Ruins, we haven''t encountered any scaled beasts on the way here? Shouldn''t this type of environment be perfectly suited to nurturing scaled beasts?" Han Li asked.
"Now that you mention it, that is indeed rather strange," Shi Chuankong replied with a nod.
"Forget it, there''s no point in thinking about that now. ording to E Kuai, the restricted area should be just up ahead. Will there really be a way to leave the Scalptia Spatial Domain further up ahead?" Han Li asked.
"Pokong wasn''t the one who informed me of this. Instead, I gathered this information after browsing through all of the information on the Scalptia Spatial Domain that I could find in our imperial scripture library, so it should be reliable," Shi Chuankong replied.
"Rest assured, I do trust you, Fellow Daoist Shi, but this is a very important matter, so would you be able to borate further?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid I can''t reveal any more information to you on this subject as it concerns a secret of our Night Sun Empire. However, I can swear a vow to the Baleful Holy Emperor that I''m telling you the truth," Shi Chuankong replied in a serious manner.
"In that case, I won''t ask any more questions," Han Li replied with a nod, much to Shi Chuankong''s relief.
The group continued onward for almost another day when arge cloud of crimson mist appeared up ahead.
The cloud of mist was extremely dense, and it spread as far as the eyes could see in all directions, standing in everyone''s path like a crimson wall.
Furthermore, the cloud of mist was churning and rumbling incessantly, presenting a very peculiar sight to behold.
Everyone stopped in their tracks and peered into the crimson mist momentarily before collectively turning to E Kuai.
"There''s no need to be concerned, everyone. This area is known as the Sulfurous Mist Sea, and we''ll be able to see the restricted area once we pass through this ce. Not only does the Sulfurous Mist Sea not pose any danger, this is here Sulfurous me Blood Clouds take shape, so if you''re lucky, you may be able to encounter a cloud or two," E Kuai said as he continued onward without pause, and everyone''s eyes instantly lit up slightly upon hearing this.
"Do you know about this ce, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"I don''t, but if this is the ce where Sulfurous me Blood Cloud can be found, then this is a massive opportunity," Shi Chuankong replied as he peered into the crimson mist up ahead with an excited look in his eyes.
"Visibility is very limited in the mist sea, so take care not to get lost," E Kuai warned as he strode into the crimson mist, followed by everyone else.
As soon as Han Li stepped into the crimson mist, he instantly felt an enormous weight crash down upon him, as if he were walking on the seabed.
The crimson mist was extraordinarily heavy!
Han Li raised an eyebrow at this sudden change, but this amount of pressure wasn''t enough to have much of an impact on him, so he continued onward without a hitch.
Inside the crimson mist, visibility was limited to less than two hundred feet, and the mist was also very restrictive on one''s spiritual sense, limiting his spiritual sensory range to only around two hundred to three hundred feet.
The sea of mist seemed to be enormous, and even after walking for around fifteen minutes, there was still no end in sight.
Initially, everyone was feeling rather apprehensive, but after walking for a while, they encountered no danger, so they began to rx, and everyone spread out in a line to search for Sulfurous me Blood Clouds.
The only one who appeared to be disinterested in searching for Sulfurous me Blood Clouds was E Kuai, and this was a detail that didn''t escape Han Li''s attention.
The fact that E Kuai was so knowledgeable about the Great Ruins struck Han Li with a sense of unease.
"What are you doing, Fellow Daoist Li? I know your spiritual sense is particrly powerful, so you should put it to good use and search for Sulfurous me Blood Clouds as well," Shi Chuankong urged.
Han Li snapped back to his senses upon hearing this, then released his spiritual sense throughout the surrounding area.
The Sulfurous me Blood Cloud was a reward reserved for the top finisher in the Five City Martial Gathering, so it was naturally something that he also desired.
Right at this moment, Chen Yang suddenly shot forth in a certain direction, and Han Li hurriedly released his spiritual sense in that direction upon seeing this.
A burst of crimson light shot out of the mist up ahead before being caught in Chen Yang''s grasp, revealing it to be a palm-sized gtinous crimson cloud that was giving off a faint crimson glow.
Han Li was quite far away from Chen Yang, so he wasn''t able to see him, but his spiritual sense instantly locked onto the blood cloud.
The cloud was giving off a burst of extremely potent energy fluctuations that epassed both starpower and bloodline power, so this was undoubtedly a Sulfurous me Blood Cloud.
Everyone else had also sensed this, but seeing as the blood cloud had already fallen into Chen Yang''s hands, they could only reluctantly ept this oue.
There was an ecstatic look on Chen Yang''s face as he immediately devoured the blood cloud whole, seemingly worried that someone would try to take it from him.
After swallowing the blood cloud, Chen Yang''s entire body instantly began to glow with radiant crimson light, and in the blink of an eye, over a hundred profound acupoints had lit up over his body, seemingly in an involuntary fashion.
An rmed look appeared on his face upon seeing this, and he hurriedly darted back to conceal himself within crimson mist.
Even though Chen Yang had acted quite quickly, Han Li''s spiritual sensory range far exceeded that of everyone else, and before Chen Yang was able to back out of his spiritual sensory range, he was able to see that over 260 profound acupoints had already lit up over his body.
Chapter 952: Sulfurous Flame Blood Clouds
Chapter 952: Sulfurous me Blood Clouds
Not long after Chen Yang vanished into the crimson mist, a string of strange sounds akin to draconic roars and thunderps began to ring out incessantly.
Before long, a tremendous aura began to sweep through the air in all directions, causing the nearby crimson mist to churn violently.
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, and it was clear from themotion that these Sulfurous me Blood Clouds truly were extraordinary things.
Right at this moment, both Shi Chuankong and Xuanyuan Xing detached themselves from the group before darting into the crimson mist, while Sun Tu sped away in another direction immediately thereafter, followed closely by Fang Chan.
Han Li hesitated momentarily, then also abruptly vanished from the spot.
In the blink of an eye, everyone in Han Li''s group had disappeared.
An eager look appeared on Zhu Ziqing''s face upon seeing this, and she was just about to leave as well when Zhu Ziyuan grabbed onto her arm to stop her.
She was just about toin when E Kuai said, "You can search for Sulfurous me Blood Clouds, but make sure you don''t spread out too much in case you get lost. Our main objective is to enter the restricted area, andpared with the holy remains, Sulfurous me Blood Clouds are all too insignificant."
Sun Tu and the others gave affirmative responses from afar, but none of them turned back.
E Kuai''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
"City Lord E, these people must be reined in! They''re no longer even respecting your authority!" Fu Jian harrumphed coldly.
"It''s inevitable that they''ll be tempted to go after something as precious as Sulfurous me Blood Clouds, so just let them be. Fortunately, there aren''t any hazards present in this area, so there won''t be any major mishaps," E Kuai replied.
An indignant look appeared on Fu Jian''s face upon hearing this, but he didn''t say anything further.
"If you want to go and search for blood clouds, then you can all go as well, but make sure not to go too far," E Kuai said to Fu Jian and the others.
Fu Jian, Shao Ying, Zhu Ziyuan, and the others were all ecstatic to hear this, and they hurriedly thanked E Kuai before departing as well, leaving only E Kuai and Mistress Liu Hua behind.
"You''re not going with them, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua?" E Kuai asked.
"An old man like me can''tpete with those young people anymore. Besides, even though there are no natural hazards present in this area, there''s no guarantee that there won''t be any backstabbing, so it''s safer to stay with you, City Lord E," Mistress Liu Hua replied with a smile.
"I suppose that''s true," E Kuai replied with an amused smile before continuing onward, but at a far slower pace than before.
"Come to think of it, didn''t you say that there Sulfurous me Blood Clouds are supposed to be quite rare? How is it possible that two have suddenly appeared at once?" Mistress Liu Hua asked.
E Kuai merely gave a faint smile and offered no response.
......
After traveling some distance into the crimson mist, Han Li stopped in his tracks, then channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique to release his spiritual sense to scour the surrounding area.
Close to an hourter, another chorus of draconic roars rang out, clearly indicating that someone had just obtained a Sulfurous me Blood Cloud, but it was unclear who it was.
In terms of spiritual sensory range, Han Li was confident that he wouldn''t lose to E Kuai or anyone else, yet he hadn''t found even a single Sulfurous me Blood Cloud up to this point.
A hint of urgency welled up in his heart as he began to pick up the pace while continuing to scour his surroundings with his spiritual sense.
All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly as he cas this gaze to the right, where he had detected some faint energy fluctuations with his spiritual sense.
A burst of white light shed over his body as he instantly shot forth in that direction.
Before long, he arrived at a rift in the ground that was several hundred feet wide and immeasurably long and deep.
Those faint energy fluctuations wereing from deep within the rift.
Han Li didn''t hesitate in the slightest as he dove into the rift, and it didn''t take long for him to reach the bottom.
There, he spotted two Sulfurous me Blood Clouds hovering over the ground, bouncing back and forth in the confined area like a pair of headless flies.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately pounced onto one of the blood clouds before grabbing onto it, yet right as he was about to make a grab for the second one, two figures suddenly crashed down from above, namely Fu Jian and Duan Tong.
Both of them pounced at the remaining Sulfurous me Blood Cloud in unison, but Han Li was able to get there ahead of them.
"Hand over the blood clouds and we won''t hurt you," Fu Jian demanded with a cold look in his eyes.
Han Li paid no heed to him as he stowed the two Sulfurous me Blood Clouds away before rising up into the air.
"How dare you!"
Fu Jian was furious as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a streak of ck light that caught up to Han Li in the blink of an eye.
A loud ng rang out as Han Li blocked the streak of ck light with his white scimitar, but right at this moment, a cold sneer appeared on Fu Jian''s face, and the single streak of ck light abruptly split up into eight identical streaks of ck light before hurtling toward various vital regions of his in unison.
Han Lished out with his scimitar in response, unleashing eight white de projections that swept toward the streaks of ck light.
At the same time, ayer of bright starlight appeared over his other arm as he swung around before throwing a punch in a certain direction.
A string of loud ngs rang out as the de projections shed against the streaks of ck light to repel them, while Han Li''s fist shed against the tip of a ck sword that had emerged out of thin air without any warning.
The ck sword was sent flying back through the air, while Han Li drifted back in retreat while looking down at a small gash on his own fist with furrowed brows.
A look of dismay appeared on Fu Jian''s face in the wake of his failed sneak attack.
"As opposed to wasting time with me here, I suggest you go try your luck elsewhere, City Lord Fu. Farewell."
Han Li cupped his fist in a parting salute, then sped away as a streak of white light, doing so just in time to evade a punch from Duan Tong.
Fu Jian stomped a foot down onto the ground tounch himself after Han Li, while Duan Tong followed along in silence.
The three of them flew out of the rift in the ground almost at the exact same moment, and Han Li didn''t want to engage them in a direct conflict, so he immediately began flying back in E Kuai''s direction.
A sh of killing intent passed over Fu Jian''s face, and he was just about to do something when a voice suddenly rang out.
"Is it not a little unbing of a city lord like yourself to pick on a cultivator from my Green Goat City, Fellow Daoist Fu?"
Immediately thereafter, Chen Yang emerged from the crimson mist up ahead.
It was unclear exactly how many profound acupoints had opened using that Sulfurous me Blood Cloud, but his aur was clearly more powerful than before.
Fu Jian stopped in his tracks as he said, "There must be a misunderstanding, City Lord Chen. We only just so happened to be searching for Sulfurous me Blood Clouds in this area. Congrattions on the breakthroughs that you''ve made."
Duan Tong also stopped in his tracks as the profound acupoints on his body faded away.
"I see. In that case, it appears I was mistaken," Chen Yang said with a faint smile.
"If there''s nothing else that you wish to speak to me about, then I''ll be taking my leave now," Fu Jian said as he took a nce at Han Li, then turned to depart with Duan Tong.
"Are you alright, Fellow Daoist Li?" Chen Yang asked as he turned to Han Li.
"It''s a good thing that you arrived just in the nick of time, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"With your powers, I''m sure you would''ve been fine even without my intervention, but Fu Jian is a very close subordinate to E Kuai, so try to avoid any direct conflicts with him unless there''s no other alternative," Chen Yang cautioned.
After that, Chen Yang took a nce at the front of Han Li''s robes, then quickly departed as well, making no mention of the two Sulfurous me Blood Cloud that Han Li was carrying.
Following Chen Yang''s departure, Han Li sped away in another direction, and after about fifteen minutes, he had arrived in a rtively safe area.
Once there, he pulled out the two Sulfurous me Blood Clouds with an excited look in his eyes.
Such an exceptional bodily refinement treasure was undoubtedly going to be highly sought after even in the outside world, let alone in a ce as barren andcking in cultivation resources as the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
However, it felt a little strange to him that something so extraordinary seemed to be so easy to obtain in this area.
Perhaps this is why the Great Ruins are such an alluring ce to the cultivators of both cities.
With that in mind, Han Li was just about to devour a Sulfurous me Blood Cloud when another chorus of draconic roars rang out from afar, indicating that someone else had found another Sulfurous me Blood Cloud nearby.
Han Li returned his gaze to his two Sulfurous me Blood Clouds, then devoured them both at once.
With someone else refining a Sulfurous me Blood Cloud nearby, this was the perfect cover for him to do the same thing.
In the next instant, his entire body shuddered, following which his skin turned bright red, and the two Sulfurous me Blood Clouds transformed into a burst of intense heat that spread through his body.
It was as if a me had appeared in his stomach, scorching all of his internal organs to inflict such excruciating pain upon him that even he couldn''t help but give a muffled groan, despite his tremendous mental fortitude.
He clenched his fists tightly as he fought through the agony.
No one had told him that devouring Sulfurous me Blood Clouds would be such a painful process, and it didn''t seem like Chen Yang had suffered anywhere near as much earlier.
However, what he failed to consider was that Chen Yang had only devoured a single Sulfurous me Blood Cloud, while he had devoured two at once.
Chapter 953: Crimson Gate
Chapter 953: Crimson Gate
Han Li only just barely had a chance to brace himself before the burst of heat formed by the Sulfurous me Blood Clouds began to spread through his entire body, making it feel as if all of his meridians were about to be forcibly torn apart.
Hisplexion instantly became deathly pale, but his skin was still bright red, and a series of egg-sized bulges were roaming over his body like living creatures, presenting a bizarre sight to behold.
His expression was twisted in agony asrge droplets of sweat flowed down his forehead, and his body was trembling uncontrobly.
His bloodline power was ignited by this burst of heat, and all of his profound acupoints lit up over his body in an involuntary manner.
Despite his immense mental fortitude, Han Li was beginning to fade in and out of consciousness.
He was doing everything in his power to protect his own consciousness so that he didn''tpletely faint, but right at this moment, his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts were activated on their own, guiding the bursts of heat to different parts of his body.
If he were fully conscious at this moment, he would notice that the bursts of heat were being guided toward the profound acupoints recorded in the cultivation art.
A string of loud pops rang out from all parts of his body as the bursts of heat began to invade new profound acupoints that were still yet to be opened.
Everytime Han Li was about to fade out of consciousness, bursts of excruciating pain would spear through his entire body, forcibly bringing him back to lucidity.
Before long, he began to sense the changes taking ce in his body, and a hint of tion welled up in his heart.
He gritted his teeth against the excruciating agony as he sat down with his legs crossed to channel his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, guiding the bursts of heat toward these new profound acupoints.
To his surprise, these profound acupoints put up next to no resistance, and in mere moments, one had already been opened.
One profound acupoint was opened after another, and before long, over twenty profound acupoints had been opened in session.
At this moment, there were 263 profound acupoints glowing over his entire body!
Right at this moment, the burst of heat wreaking havoc in his body faded away, only to be reced by a cool and refreshing sensation.
The contrast was such a blissful one that he was almost unable to suppress a moan of pleasure, and it took him quite some time topose himself.
The Sulfurous me Blood Cloud had truly lived up to its incredible reputation.
Han Li could scarcely believe that he had managed to open so many profound acupoints in such a short time, but this was the reality.
I wonder if opening profound acupoints using Sulfurous me Blood Cloud will have any detrimental effects.
As he was considering this notion, the cool sensation in his body also faded away, and in the blink of an eye, everything returned to normal.
Han Li didn''t dare to make any rash moves, and he waited until the bloodline power in his bodypletely settled down before making his way back to the others.
Even though he had left for quite some time, he had made sure to remember the direction that the main group was in, so he never lost his way.
At this point, the sea of crimson mist had be far thinner than before.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li found his way back to the main group. Perhaps E Kuai and Mistress Liu Hua had intentionally been waiting for everyone, but they had been making rather slow progress.
Aside from Shi Chuankong, Xuanyuan Xing, Fu Jian, and Duan Tong, everyone else had already returned.
E Kuai disyed no reaction to Han Li''s return, while Mistress Liu Hua took a nce at him, only to quickly turn away again.
"You''re finally back, Fellow Daoist Li. I can tell that you''ve made some significant strides!" Chen Yang said as he approached Han Li.
"I made some decent progress," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.
"That''s good to hear, but don''t getcent. I''ve heard that Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing have also obtained Sulfurous me Blood Clouds. In particr, Zhu Ziyuan was very formidable to begin with, and now that he''s obtained a Sulfurous me Blood Cloud, the situation is not looking good for us," Chen Yang said through voice transmission.
Han Li cast his gaze toward Zhu Ziyuan upon hearing this, but thetter''s gaze remained fixed up ahead with a look of focus in his eyes.
"Fellow Daoist Shi and Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan still aren''t back yet. Fu Jian and Duan Tong haven''t returned, either. Is it possible that they''ve run into one another?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"I don''t think that''s very likely. Fellow Daoist Shi and Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan were among the first people to leave, so perhaps they''ve gone exploring somewhere far away," Chen Yang replied in an unconcerned manner.
Han Li was still a little worried about Shi Chuankong, but he didn''t say anything further.
Thankfully, it didn''t take long before Shi Chuankong and Xuanyuan Xing returned to the group, and both of them were looking rather depressed, clearly having failed to secure any Sulfurous me Blood Clouds.
Shortly thereafter, Fu Jian and Duan Tong also returned. Judging from their reactions, their luck hadn''t been much better, and an angry look shed through their eyes as they nced at Han Li, who paid no heed to their hostilities.
At this point, everyone had already returned to the group, and thus, E Kuai picked up the pace.
After walking for close to another three hours, the surrounding crimson mist finallypletely faded away, revealing an undting mountain range up ahead.
The mountain range was enormous, stretching as far as the eyes could see, and the mountains within it werepletely barren and devoid of vegetation, presenting apletely different environment from the rainforest that the group had just emerged from.
What was most strange of all was that the entire mountain range was crimson in color, and there were several crimson rivers flowing between the mountains, as well as a sweet aroma of blood in the air.
E Kuai continued onward without pause, leading the way into the mountain range, and after crossing over several mountains, everyone arrived before a giant basin.
Severalrge rivers came together here, and an enormous crimson pce was standing at the point where the rivers were connected. The pce wasn''t much shorter than the nearby mountains, and it was dozens of kilometers in area, resembling a gargantuan crimson beast prowling in the basin.
The construction of the pce disyed exceptional craftsmanship, and the entire structure was giving off radiant crimson light, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
"What a majestic pce!" Shi Chuankong praised in an earnest manner.
At this moment, the crimson stone gates at the entrance of the pce were tightly shut, and there were countless crimson runes and designs inscribed upon it, forming what appeared to be an extremelyplex array.
Han Li examined the array closely, and he quickly discovered that it was simr to a star array in some ways, but alsopletely different. It seemed to be the product of a star arraybined with some other type of array.
There were five small ck holes on the array, arranged evenly to form a unteral pentagon.
These ck holes clearly resembled keyholes, and Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly as heid a hand over the two crimson keys that he was carrying.
Looking at the crimson pce, a fervent gleam had appeared in E Kuai''s eyes, and even his breathing had be slightly heavier.
"Is this the restricted area where the holy remains can be found, City Lord E?" Sun Tu asked.
"That''s right," E Kuai replied before taking a deep breath to regain hisposure.
Everyone else immediately erupted into chatter upon hearing this.
A contemtive look appeared on Sun Tu''s face as he observed the pce, and he suddenly strode over to its gates before pressing a hand against them.
Bursts of white starlight began to emanate from the palm of his hand before rippling incessantly, seemingly searching for something.
Momentster, Sun Tu withdrew his hand as he dered, "I can indeed sense the aura of a set of remains inside."
"What do you mean by that, City Lord Sun? Were you suspecting City Lord E of lying to us?" Fu Jian asked in a furious voice.
Sun Tu merely took an expressionless nce at Fu Jian and offered no response.
E Kuai raised a hand, gesturing for Fu Jian to stand down as he said, "City Lord Sun has never been here before, so it''s understandable for him to proceed with caution. If anyone else also suspects me, then you can all feel free toe forward and take a look."
"It''s all thanks to your protection that our Profound City has been able to remain standing to this day, and our Excess Passage City and Profound End City have always had absolute trust in you, City Lord E. However, that doesn''t appear to be the case for everyone," Fu Jian sneered as he took a nce at Sun Tu and Chen Yang, while Qin Yuan hurriedly chimed in in agreement.
Chen Yang''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he offered no response.
"Seeing as no one else wants toe forward, then let''s not waste any more time," E Kuai dered as he took a step forward, and Fu Jian and others eagerly nodded in response.
Right at this moment, Sun Tu''s voice rang out once again.
"Hold on a second!"
"Sun Tu! You need to learn your ce! Don''t forget that you''re just a subsidiary city lord of Profound City!" Fu Jian yelled in a furious voice.
"Why are you getting so worked up, City Lord Fu? I just wanted to ask City Lord E a question," Sun Tu said with a faint smile.
E Kuai wasn''t bothered at all, and he prompted with a faint smile, "Go ahead, City Lord Sun."
"I recall that you mentioned that five keys are required to ess this restricted area. Right now, the only key that I know of is in Fellow Daoist Li''s possession, so could it be that you''re carrying all four of the other keys?" Sun Tu asked.
Chapter 954: Pentagonal Crater
Chapter 954: Pentagonal Crater
"You think far too highly of me, City Lord Sun. I''ve only been in these Great Ruins for a short time, just like everyone else, so how could I have possibly gathered all four of the other keys. At the moment, I only have two," E Kuai replied with a smile as he flipped a hand over to produce a pair of crimson keys.
"So that means we only have three keys in total. In that case, how can we open these gates?" Sun Tu asked as his brows furrowed slightly, and Fu Jian and Qin Yuan also turned to E Kuai to hear his answer.
"Rest assured, everyone, all five keys have already been assembled. Fellow Daoist Chen, Fellow Daoist Li, I believe it''s time for you to show everyone your keys," E Kuai said with a faint smile.
Everyone immediately turned to Han Li and Chen Yang with surprised expressions upon hearing this.
"I was just about to bring out my keys," Han Li replied with aposed expression, but internally, his mind was racing.
E Kuai had led everyone here without any hesitation, seeminglypletely unconcerned about the prospect of having insufficient keys, and that had already tipped Han Li off the possibility that he was somehow able to find out who was carrying the other keys and how many they had in their possession.
With that in mind, Han Li pulled out two keys from the front of his robe, while Chen Yang also revealed the single key in his possession.
"So the two of you had three keys all along! As expected, City Lord E always has everything under control," Sun Tu praised with a faint smile.
Chen Yang took an apologetic nce at Sun Tu, then cupped his fist in a salute toward E Kuai as he said, "These keys are extremely important, so Fellow Daoist Li and I have been holding onto them this entire time for safekeeping purposes.""It''s fine. The Puppet City cultivators are still yet to make an appearance, so it''s better to be safe than sorry," E Kuai replied with a dismissive wave.
"Thank you for your understanding, City Lord E," Chen Yang said with a relieved expression.
"Seeing as all five keys have already been assembled, then hurry up and stop wasting everyone''s time!" Fu Jian harrumphed coldly while glowering at Chen Yang and Han Li with a disdainful expression.
"Hold on, I have something to say before we open the gates," Han Li suddenly said.
"Li Feiyu, you''re nothing more than a mere diator of Green Goat City, so just keep your mouth shut and hand over your keys! There''s no ce for you to speak here!" Fu Jian sneered.
"It''s fine, let''s hear what Fellow Daoist Li has to say," E Kuai said.
"Thank you, City Lord E. I just wanted to ask how we''re going to split the treasures in the restricted area among ourselves," Han Li said with a smile, and everyone immediately fell silent upon hearing this.
"City Lord E has already said that everyone gets a share of the treasures in the restricted area, and that they''ll be split evenly among everyone," Fu Jian said.
Han Li turned to Fu Jian with a derisive sneer upon hearing this.
Shao Ying also turned to him with a disdainful expression as he scoffed, "Fellow Daoist Fu Jian, you haven''t made any contributions on the way here, yet you want to get the same split of treasures as City Lord E? How incredibly optimistic of you!"
"I was only rying what City Lord E had said earlier! If you think this method of distribution is inappropriate, then you can make your own suggestion, Fellow Daoist Shao," Fu Jian countered with a furious and embarrassed expression.
"City Lord E was the one who led all of us here, and he also acquired two keys, so I think he should get half of the treasures in the restricted area, while we split the rest among ourselves," Shao Ying dered.
"So you suggest that we distribute the treasures based on the merit of our contributions? I suppose that''s reasonable. City Lord E has indeed made the greatest contribution out of all of us, but Fellow Daoist Li has also secured two keys, so how much should he get? And what should I be getting for my one key?" Chen Yang asked.
Shao Ying had no response to this.
"I don''t think there''s any method of distribution that can ensure absolute fairness. In my opinion, we should split the treasures inside into ten parts and distribute them among our five cities. Profund City gets three parts, Green Goat City gets two, and the remaining five parts will be split evenly among our three cities.
¡°As for how the treasures are distributed among the cultivators of each city, that''ll be up to them to decide," Qin Yuan proposed, and everyone fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
"I think this is a reasonable proposal," Chen Yang dered after some contemtion.
Meanwhile, Shi Chuankong was looking a little concerned.
After entering the Scalptia Spatial Domain, he had stayed in Green Goat City, but was then quickly sent to Profound City, so he didn''t know which city he belonged to.
Right at this moment, Chen Yang''s voice rang out in his mind through voice transmission.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Shi, even though you didn''t stay in our Green Goat City for long, I still count you as a citizen of our city."
A relieved look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face as he gave a grateful response.
Fu Jian and Sun Tu considered this arrangement momentarily before also expressing their approval.
Shao Ying still seemed to be displeased, and he was just about to say something when E Kuai dered, "Fellow Daoist Qin''s proposal is quite reasonable, so let''s adopt it for now."
With E Kuai making his decision known, Shao Ying naturally couldn''t raise any further objections, and everyone began to discuss the method of opening the gates.
ording to E Kuai it was quite simple, and all that had to be done was to push all five keys into their corresponding keyholes at once.
E Kuai handed one of his keys to Shao Ying, while Han Li gave one of his keys to Sun Tu, and before long, E Kuai, Shao Ying, Chen Yang, Han Li, and Sun Tu had positioned themselves in front of the gates, with each of them holding one key.
"Go!" E Kuai yelled as he pushed his key into the hole, and everyone else immediately did the same.
As soon as the five keys were pushed into the keyholes, the stone gates instantly began to tremble, and all of the crimson patterns on their surfaces began to glow radiantly, forcing everyone to shield their eyes.
Right at this moment, a string of mechanical clicks rang out from within the pce, and the five keys disappeared into the holes.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of viscous crimson light erupted out of each of the five holes, then twisted themselves together like rope to form a massive crimson rune.
In the next instant, the crimson rune vanished into the stone gates, and all of the crimson patterns on the gates faded away.
The gates then swung open inward, revealing a wide and dark passageway.
"Let''s go," E Kuai said as he led the way inside, and everyone else immediately followed along.
After everyone had stepped into the pce, a burst of rumbling rang out from behind them as the stone gates swung shut again.
With E Kuai leading the way, everyone made their way through the passageway before arriving on a za.
The entire area was shrouded in darkness, but right at this moment, a series of giant orbs began to light up on the ceiling overhead, much like stars on a dark night sky.
Han Li looked up and was greeted by the sight of radiant starlight cascading down from above alongside bursts of starpower fluctuations that spread in all directions.
Immediately thereafter, a me lit up on each of the two walls on either side in the distance, then spread over the entire length of the walls as lines of fire, illuminating everything within the area.
The white stone za that everyone was standing on wasn''t veryrge, and there was a line of railing no more than a thousand feet up ahead.
Everyone strode over to the railing to discover that there was a bottomless ck abyss on the other side, out of which gusts of cold wind were blowing incessantly.
At the center of the railing were three stone arch bridges that were each over a hundred feet wide and roughly a thousand feet in length, leading all the way to a giant circr white altar.
The altar was over ten thousand feet in radius, and it was also surrounded by white railing, giving it the appearance of a lone, circr mountain standing at the center of the abyss.
E Kuai led everyone down the middle stone arch bridge onto the altar, and as soon as everyone set foot onto the altar, they were stunned by the unimaginably formidable bloodline aura that suddenly swept over them.
Only then did Han Li notice that there was a pentagonal crater at the center of the altar, and that was where the incredibly powerful bloodline aura wasing.
Standing on each of the five corners of the pentagonal crater was a strange-looking ck scaled beast stone statue. They resembled incredibly rotund toads, each with a pair of wings on their backs. Their necks were disproportionately thin and longpared with their bodies, and connected to each neck was a giant lizard-like head that extended out into the air above the crater.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of these stone statues, wary of the possibility that they could be puppets that could spring to life at any moment.
Right as everyone was hanging back, unsure of how to proceed, E Kuai strode over to the edge of the pentagonal crater on his own, and only then did everyone else hurriedly follow along.
Han Li peered down into the crater to discover that was an enormous pond of blood, and there was an unfathomable volume of blood inside that was undting like the tide, while ayer of dense crimson mist was present over its surface.
However, regardless of how violently the blood in the pond and the crimson mist above it churned and surged, both remained strictly within the confines of the crater.
What was even more surprising to Han Li was that among the churning waves of blood, he could make out pieces of white bones that were as translucent as jade, all of which were giving off tremendous bloodline auras.
Chapter 955: Burial Site
Chapter 955: Burial Site
"Everyone, this altar is the ce that we''ve been searching so arduously for," E Kuai dered, and everyone turned to him upon hearing this.
"Is this where the ultimate treasures of the Great Ruins reside, City Lord E?" Qin Yuan asked with a perplexed expression.
"I''m sure all of you have already sensed the tremendous bloodline aura in this ce. Is this not already an exceptional treasure for us bodily refinement cultivators? On top of that, the set of remains that I mentioned is also in this pond," E KuaI replied, and everyone immediately looked down into the pond again upon hearing this.
Han Li peered into the pond like everyone else, but even with his eyesight, he was only able to see thickyers of bones beneath the blood, and he was unable to determine whether the holy remains were actually present inside.
"City Lord E, if the remains are in this pond, then does that mean that we have to go into the pond to retrieve them?" Fu Jian asked.
"That would no different frommitting suicide. The bloodline power in this pond is beyond anything you can imagine, and if you try to enter it, you''ll only be contributing your own bones to the piles of bones that are already at the bottom of the pond," E Kuai said.
"What should we do then?" Sun Tu asked.
"This pond is built upon a blood sacrificial array, and those five statues are the cornerstones of the array. I''m going to need all of the city lords to help me activate the array together and draw the set of remains out of the pond," E Kuai replied.
"City Lord E, I was hoping you would be able to enlighten me on something," Qin Yuan said with slightly furrowed brows."Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Qin," E Kuai prompted.
"None of us have entered the Great Ruins prior to this, so why is it that you seem so familiar with everything in here, City Lord E?" Qin Yuan asked.
Everyone turned to E Kuai upon hearing this, and it was clear that Qin Yuan wasn''t the only one troubled by this question.
"While exploring the Scalptia Spatial Domain on my own some years ago, I came across an ancient que that provided details about a certain secret area. It wasn''t explicitly stated that this secret area was the Great Ruins, but I always had my suspicions. After entering the Great Ruins, I was able to verify many of the things detailed on the que on the way here, and that confirmed my suspicions. As for whether you believe me or not, we''ve alreadye so far, so why not ce your trust in me one final time?" E Kuai said as he swept his gaze over everyone.
Han Li didn''t buy this story at all. It was very likely that he had made up this story on the spot, but it was impossible to rebuke him because no one aside from him knew anything about this ce.
Having said that, it was indeed true that they had alreadye this far, and no one was going to be willing to turn back empty handed.
"We have full trust in you, City Lord E. At the very least, you have my trust. It''s just that no one has ever been here before, so I think we should all carefully examine this area to ensure that there are no hidden traps around before we activate the array. What do we all say?" Sun Tu proposed, and everyone began nodding in agreement.
"Of course, I was about to suggest the same thing, Fellow Daoist Sun," E Kuai said with a smile, and thus, everyone split up to examine the entire altar around the pentagonal pond.
Instead of approaching Chen Yang, Han Li teamed up with Shi Chuankong to examine the outskirts of the altar along the stone railing.
Chen Yang took a nce at the two of them, then turned and made his way toward one of the ck stone statues, followed closely by Xuanyuan Xing.
Meanwhile, the other city lords and their subordinates had each gone to examine one of the remaining four stone statues.
Sun Tu arrived at the foot of one of the statues, then looked up at its protruding neck for a while beforeying a hand onto it and injecting a wisp of starpower inside.
The statue remainedpletely still, disying no reaction to the injection of starpower.
Sun Tu''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he swept a hand over the blood pond, upon which a tendril of crimson mist rose up from below before swirling its way up his sleeve.
A faint rustling sound rang out, following which his sleeve reverted back to its original state.
Momentster, a reassured look appeared on Sun Tu''s face, and he cast his gaze toward Fang Chan.
At this moment, Fang Chan was leaning against the stone railing, looking down at the blood pond below with an enraptured look on his face and drooling out of his mouth, much like a starving man greeted by the sight of a magnificent feast.
"Get back, Chan''er! You cannot enter that pond, do you hear me?" Sun Tu warned with a serious expression.
Fang Chan turned to him with a disappointed expression.
"Once the array is activated, you have to make sure to keep a lookout and protect me. Once we retrieve that set of remains, I''ll do my best to secure a part of it for you," Sun Tu assured with a faint smile.
An ted look immediately appeared on Fang Chan''s face upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, Fu Jian was examining another statue, while Duan Tong trailed along behind him with a hesitant expression.
"If you have something to say, then say it," Fu Jian said.
"For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this ce. How about I operate the array in your stead, City Lord Fu? If something goes wrong, it''ll be easier for you to save me than for me to save you," Duan Tong proposed through voice transmission.
"E Kuai specifically asked for all of the city lords to enter the array, so he must have his own considerations, and I''m sure he wouldn''t agree for you to let you take my ce. On top of that, your cultivation base is most likely insufficient to activate the array," Fu Jian replied through voice transmission.
Duan Tong fell silent upon hearing this.
"There''s no need to be overly concerned," Fu Jian said as he patted Duan Tong on the shoulder. "I have some tricks up my sleeve, so even if any mishaps ur, I can look after myself just fine."
Duan Tong nodded in response, looking slightly more reassured.
Qin Yuan had been keeping an eye on Fu Jian the entire time, and the two of them exchanged a nce and a nod from afar.
Each of them had already examined a stone statue and the blood pond without discovering anything amiss, and after carefully examining the ground around the five statues, they didn''t find anything worthy of concern, either.
Han Li was gradually making his way toward the center of the altar from its outskirts, pausing momentarily in front of each stone pir to examine the patterns etched onto its surface.
All of a sudden, his brows furrowed slightly, and he turned around to discover Zhu Ziqing standing beside him.
"You''re Li Feiyu, right? My brother tells me that there''s more to you than meets the eye, but I can''t tell what he''s referring to," she remarked.
"I''m afraid your brother is mistaken, I am but a mere diator of Green Goat City," Han Li replied in an expressionless manner.
"In any case, I''m very interested in you. It''s very remarkable that a human like you was able to refine your body to this extent. That alone makes you very special in my eyes," Zhu Ziqing said as she stroked her own chin.
Zhu Ziyuan''s attention had been focused on the blood pond this entire time, and only now did he notice that his sister was no longer by his side.
"What are you doing over there? Hurry up and get back here!"
Zhu Ziqing gave him a sheepish smile before sticking out her tongue in a cheeky manner, then returned to his side before tugging on his sleeve.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
He still recalled that his youngest sister was the sibling that he had been most fond of back in that small vige, but having already spent countless years on the path of cultivation, his memory of her had be rather murky.
Zhu Ziyuan gave Han Li an apologetic nod, then departed with his sister.
Meanwhile, Chen Yang was circling around one of the stone statues, but as he did so, his eyes were constantly darting around from side to side, clearly indicating that there was something on his mind.
"City Lord Chen," Xuanyuan Xing called out with a concerned expression, and only then did Chen Yang snap back to his senses, following which he took a nce at Xuanyuan Xing, but didn''t say anything.
He strode over to the stone railing, and after looking down into the blood pond for a moment, he suddenly reached a hand into his own sleeve before pulling out a yellow spear with lightning patterns etched upon it.
With a sweep his hand, the spear shot through a gap in the railing before plunging into the blood pond.
A resounding boom rang out as the spear exploded into a ball of white lightning that was around ten feet in size within the pond.
White lightning erupted in all directions, scattering much of the crimson mist, but it was still unable to rise up out of the blood pond.
Everyone was given quite a fright by the explosion, and they turned to discover that the blood in the pond was clearly flowing much quicker than before, forming waves that crashed against the five walls of the pond.
"What the hell are you doing, Chen Yang?!" Qin Yuan yelled.
"I was just trying to see if there was anything strange inside the pond," Chen Yang exined in a calm manner.
E Kuai only took a brief nce at the blood pond before returning his gaze to the stone statue in front of him, while Shao Ying, Zhu Ziyuan, and Zhu Ziqing stood behind him in silence.
Some timeter, the waves in the blood pond gradually subsided, and nothing out of the ordinary took ce.
Chapter 956: Entering the Blood Pond
Chapter 956: Entering the Blood Pond
"Alright, now that everyone''s had a chance to examine everything, should we discuss how we''re going to activate the array and retrieve the remains? It hasn''t been easying this far, and I hope you''re not all just here for sightseeing purposes," E Kuai said, and even though his expression remained cid, there was clearly a hint of impatience in his voice.
The other city lords hadn''t detected anything amiss, so they had no excuses to dy any longer. Hence, after exchanging a few nces with one another, all of them gathered around E Kuai.
At this point, Han Li and Shi Chuankong had already made their way around to the other side of the altar, where they spotted three more white stone arch bridges in the distance, leading deeper into this space from the altar.
There were no mes to illuminate the darkness beyond those bridges, so it was impossible to see what was there.
After hearing E Kuai''s call, the two of them immediately stopped in their tracks, then hesitated momentarily before returning to the main group.
"Up to this point, I''ve been able to verify much of the content inscribed on the stone que that I mentioned, so its contents appear to be reliable. Hence, why don''t we use the method on the que to try and activate the altar?" E Kuai suggested once everyone had gathered around.
"In that case, please tell us how to proceed, City Lord E," Qin Yuan said.
"This blood sacrificial array has a total of five cores that need to be activated by five people in unison. I would like the other city lords to enter the array with me as your cultivation bases and physical constitutions will hold you in good stead against the tremendous pressure that''ll be exerted on us from the operation of the array.
¡°Everyone else will be responsible for lookout duty. That way, all cities will have contributed to the cause, thereby making everyone worthy of their share of the spoils," E Kuai said.
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this, and there was an atmosphere of skepticism in the air.
E Kuai didn''t try to hurry anyone into making a decision, merely observing the four city lords in silence.
"City Lord E, can you tell us what dangers we could face while the array is in operation? That way, we''ll be able to at least somewhat prepare ourselves for any unforeseen mishaps," Sun Tu said.
"On the path of cultivation, risk and reward alwayse hand in hand. The more risk you incur, the greater the reward you could potentially receive, so how much you make out of this opportunity is up to each of you," E Kuai replied with a faint smile.
"What does that mean, City Lord E?" Fu Jian asked with slightly furrowed brows, and everyone else was also rather perplexed by this answer.
"My guess is that while the array is in operation, a vast amount of bloodline power will escape from the blood pond in the form of blood mist to enter the bodies of the five people situated at the cores of the array. The influx of bloodline power could either significantly enhance our bodies, or overwhelm us and result in self-detonation, hence the risk and the reward," E Kuai exined.
"So that means that all five of us will be able to absorb the bloodline power in this pond to bolster our own physical constitutions?" Fu Jian hurriedly asked with an excited look on his face.
Everyone else was also ecstatic to hear this, with the exceptions of Chen Yang, Han Li, and Sun Tu, who were still looking very concerned and skeptical of E Kuai''s ims.
Han Li''s intuition told him that there was more to this array than met the eye, and that E Kuai was downying the risk involved in operating the array, so he had no choice in getting involved in this at all. In any case, the thing that he was truly interested in wasn''t here. Instead, there was a very good chance that it was somewhere in the darkness on the other side of those three stone arch bridges.
"That''s right, Fellow Daoist Fu. However, the process is going to be excruciatingly painful, and we must all persevere until the holy remains are drawn out of the pond by the power of the array," E Kuai said.
"While this is indeed an alluring prospect, the fact of the matter is that our bodies can only hold so much bloodline power. There''s clearly far too much bloodline power in this pond for us to withstand. What if all of us are overwhelmed before the holy remains are revealed? Won''t we all suffer the terrible fate of self-detonation then?" Sun Tu asked.
Qin Yuan and the others immediately turned their attention back to E Kuai upon hearing this question.
"Rest assured, everyone, the five cores of the array are all interconnected. As soon as one of us is on the verge of being overwhelmed by the influx of bloodline power, the excessive bloodline power will be evenly distributed to everyone else, thereby ensuring that the array remains in bnce, so if one of us self-detonates, then all of us will self-detonate, and no one is incurring more risk than anyone else," E Kuai exined.
"Even so, all of us are still taking on a significant amount of risk," Sun Tu mused with a hesitant expression.
"Of course you can''t just expect good things to fall onto yourp without taking any risks, City Lord Sun. If you really don''t want to go through with this, then I''ll dly take your ce," Shao Ying said with a smile.
Aside from the city lords, he was the only one present worthy of entering the array.
"There''s no need for that, Elder Shao," Sun Tu replied with a smile. "I do have some qualms, but I''m still willing to do my part and enter the array with the other city lords."
"Rest assured, everyone, if the bloodline power bes too much for us to bear, then I''ll lead everyone out of the array in unison. Just follow my instructions, and everyone will be safe. Does anyone else have any other questions?" E Kuai asked with a smile.
No one else raised any further questions, so E Kuai dered, "In that case, please familiarize yourselves with the activation method for the array, and we''ll enter the array once you''re all ready."
He then openly articted the array activation method to everyone without making any effort to hide it.
Shortly thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air as he ordered, "Enter the array!"
All of the city lords instantly sprang up into the air in unison beforending atop the head of the five statues.
As for Han Li and the others, they were instructed by E Kuai to open some distance between themselves and the blood pond to observe from afar.
The five city lords sat down with their knees crossed, then began to chant an incantation while making a series of hand seals.
Initially, the blood sacrificial array disyed no reaction, but over time, crimson mist swirling inside began to gather in the five corners of the array, revealingrge sections of the blood pond underneath, which had begun bubbling incessantly.
At the same time, the five statues also began to disy some changes.
Han Li had always been rather apprehensive of the statues, so he was the first one out of everyone to notice these changes.
His brows furrowed slightly as he noticed that ayer of fine patterns had appeared over the surface of the statue beneath Chen Yang, and one could easily mistake those patterns as ayer of scales if they didn''t look closely.
However, as those patterns began to glow red, everyone discovered that it was actually ayer of tiny runes that were simr to star runes.
Once all of the runes on the five statues had lit up, the eyes of the statues abruptly sprang open, revealing a bright red gleam.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of rumbling erupted from underground, causing the entire altar to shudder violently.
The blood within the pond was instantly stirred up into a frenzy, bubbling and churning incessantly, while the crimson mist that had gathered at the five corners of the pond began to swirl upward in the form of corkscrew-shaped pirs.
The five statues opened their mouths up wide to ept the swirling pirs of crimson mist, and at the same time, a pentagram array appeared on the top of each of their heads in unison.
A pir of crimson light then erupted out of each of the arrays, epassing the five city lords within them.
Crimson mist began to surge out of the pir of crimson light before entering their bodies through all of their orifices, instantly causing their skin to turn bright red.
Meanwhile, the runes on the five statues were only glowing brighter and brighter, and bursts of crimson light erupted out of their wings before spreading outward and connecting together to form a light barrier that epassed the entire blood pond.
An rmed look appeared on Duan Tong''s face upon seeing this, but Shao Ying reassured, "Not to worry, this is just a barrier conjured up by the array. Once the array ceases operation, the barrier will vanish on its own."
Meanwhile, Fang Chan was standing behind the statue that Sun Tu was situated on, peering into the light barrier with a rare look of focus on his face.
As more and more crimson mist surged out of the statues, the eyes of the five city lords had already turned bright red. On top of that, clumps of crimson crystals had appeared around their eyes, making it appear as if they had grown clusters of scales.
As the bloodline power surged relentlessly into their bodies, mixed emotions of anxiety, excitement, tension, and anticipation had appeared on all of their faces.
After some careful examination, Chen Yang was able to determine that there was no restrictive power in the light barrier that epassed the entire blood pond, and that made him feel slightly more reassured.
He exchanged a nce and a nod with Sun Tu from afar, and thetter had clearly detected this as well. If anything were to go wrong, the two of them should be able to leave the array at any moment.
Fu Jian and Qin Yuan quickly made the same discovery as well, and in the wake of this reassuring discovery, they were able to focus wholeheartedly on operating the array.
Chapter 957: Scaled Hou Guardian
Chapter 957: Scaled Hou Guardian
All of a sudden, Qin Yuan suddenly let loose a long roar, and his cheeks had taken on a bright redplexion, while an excited gleam had appeared in his eyes, in stark contrast with his usual sickly appearance.
His robes were pping audibly despite the absence of wind, and a vast number of specks of white light had appeared over his body, over two hundred of which were quite substantial in appearance, while the majority were more illusory and insubstantial.
Immediately thereafter, a simr sight presented itself on the bodies of Chen Yang, Fu Jian, and Sun Tu as well.
As for E Kuai, specks of substantial and insubstantial light had appeared over his body as well, but there were over eight hundred of the former variety.
"Brother Li, those specks of light appear to correspond with the profound acupoints on their bodies. Could it be that these are all the profound acupoints that they''ve opened?" Shi Chuankong spected through voice transmission.
"There are far too many of them for all of them to be profound acupoints. If I had to guess, those more substantial specks of light should be the profound acupoints that they''ve already opened, while the rest are the ones that they''re still yet to open. Having said that..."
Han Li''s voice trailed off here as a thoughtful look appeared on his face.
"What is it?" Shi Chuankong asked.
"Do you still recall how back when we first met Chen Yang, he mentioned that E Kuai had already opened over a thousand profound acupoints? Why is it that we can only see fewer than nine hundred right now?" Han Li asked.
"Could it be that he intentionally lied to us or was just trying to scare us?" Shi Chuankong spected.
"I''m not sure, I guess we''ll just have to ask Chen Yang about itter," Han Li replied.
Right as the two of them were conversing with each other, the crimson light radiating from the five pentagram arrays on the stone statues suddenly brightened significantly, and the faces of the five city lords instantly became contorted with agony, as if they were in excruciating pain.
Everyone hurriedly turned their attention to the city lords upon seeing this, and they discovered that crimson light had begun to gather in some of the profound acupoints on their bodies that were still yet to be opened, and they were gradually taking on a more and more substantial form.
At the same time, their auras were also rapidly elevating, and it seemed that they really were benefitting immensely from the influx of bloodline power.
Envious looks appeared in everyone''s eyes upon seeing this.
Meanwhile, the blood inside the pentagonal pond was churning even more violently, as if it had been brought to a boil, raising uprge plumes of crimson mist that were absorbed by the five statues. As the blood in the pond was depleted, the bones submerged within it were gradually revealed, and it really did seem like it was only a matter of time before the set of remains at the bottom of the pond rose to the surface.
Han Li had been carefully observing the array this entire time, but he hadn''t noticed anything amiss, and he couldn''t help but wonder if his concerns were perhaps unwarranted.
"I''m going to take a look down the back, Brother Shi. You stay here and keep an eye on everything else. If anything happens here, do your best to remain uninvolved until I get back," Han Li said through voice transmission.
Shi Chuankong faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "If you feel like something''s going to happen here, then why don''t you let mee with you?"
"We don''t know what''s waiting for us further down this hall, so there''s no need for you toe and take the risk with me, and I really do need you to stay here and keep an eye on things. On top of that, we don''t want to make it seem like we''re very close with each other as that could arouse suspicions from the others," Han Li exined.
Shi Chuankong wasn''t entirely convinced by this, but he still nodded in agreement in the end.
With that, Han Li made his way around the light barrier that epassed the blood pond before making his way toward the three stone arch bridges on the other side of the altar.
However, he had only taken a few steps when Shao Ying suddenly appeared in his path.
"Where are you going, Fellow Daoist Li?"
Shi Chuankong was just about to step forward to back Han Li up, but Han Li urged him to stand down through voice transmission.
"All of the city lords are busy operating the array, and I can''t help them in any way, so I thought I''d do some exploring on my own. Is there a problem?" Han Li asked.
"Right now, we''re at a crucial juncture of the array''s operation, and it''s of the utmost importance that nothing goes wrong. Hence, I think it would be best for you to stay here and keep a lookout for your city lord," Shao Ying said in a cold voice.
"Our city lord already has Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan and Fellow Daoist Shi looking out for him, so I''m sure he''ll be fine," Han Li countered.
"Even so, I can''t allow you to walk around as you please. What if you inadvertently set off some type of trap that impacts the operation of the array?" Shao Ying objected in an unrelenting manner.
"Get out of my way, Shao Ying! Some of the other people here may be afraid of you, but that doesn''t apply to me. If it''s a fight that you want, then I''ll dly oblige!" Han Li sneered.
Shao Ying was naturally not afraid to face Han Li in battle, but if a battle were to ensue between the two, Xuanyuan Xing and Shi Chuankong would undoubtedly also get involved, as would Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing. There was no telling what the cultivators of the other three cities would do, and if they were to be swept up in the battle too, then the situation would truly descend intoplete chaos.
While he was confident in his own ability to kill all of the cultivators from the other cities with the help of Zhu Ziyuan, there was no guarantee that such a battle wouldn''t affect the operation of the blood array, and the consequences of that would be far too much for him to bear.
"You better not cause any trouble. Otherwise..."
Han Li sped past Shao Ying in a sh before thetter had a chance to articte his threat, and in that instant, Han Li disyed such incredible speed that even Shao Ying had failed to react.
He hurriedly darted back in retreat to open up some distance between himself and Han Li, and an apprehensive look had appeared in his eyes.
Han Li paid no heed to Shao Ying as he made his way toward the three stone arch bridges.
Everyone''s attention was focused on the five city lords within the blood array, so the minor altercation that had just taken ce between Han Li and Shao Ying hadn''t attracted much attention.
Zhu Ziqing was standing beside her brother, watching Han Li''s departing figure with a curious look in her eyes, while Mistress Liu Hua was also looking at Han Li with a perplexed look in his eyes.
However, he still had to stay here to observe the changes in the blood array, so he naturally couldn''t follow Han Li.
......
The three stone arch bridges in the back werepletely identical in style, material, and construction to the ones in the front.
Once again, Han Li made his way over the middle bridge, and he quickly reached the other side.
On the other side of the stone bridge was another t za that wasn''t particrlyrge, and there were two giant stone gates up ahead.
There were no mes on the walls here, so the entire area was very dark, but Han Li was able to make out a carving of a beastly head engraved onto the stone gates thanks to his exceptional eyesight.
It was a lion-like head that was covered in scales, and it also had a single sharp horn.
There was a line that ran down the center of the head, splitting it down the middle lengthwise, with one half of the head on each gate.
Han Li''s brows were slightly furrowed in contemtion as he recalled back to the contents of the jade slip that Daoist Xie had given to him.
Some timeter, he murmured to himself, "There''s a Scaled Hou Beast guardian engraved onto these gates, so this should be the ce..."
With that, Han Li strode over to the gates, but attempting instead of pushing them open, heid his palms t against two of the beastly carving''s protruding fangs before pressing on each of them a few times.
A faint click rang out as rest of the fangs in the carving''s mouth slid away in unison to reveal a pitch-ck opening.
Han Li inspected his surroundings briefly, then made his way inside.
Immediately thereafter, another faint crack rang out as the fangs of the beastly carving slid back into ce to block the opening again.
Upon entering through the opening, Han Li found himself in an area that waspletely shrouded in darkness, and even with his eyesight, he was unable to see anything.
All of a sudden, the faint yet audible sound of a water droplet sshing onto the ground rang out from directly up ahead.
Han Li channeled his Titan Vajra Arts, and the profound acupoints on his arms began to radiate white light that illuminated the surrounding area.
Only then did it be clear to him that he was currently standing at the top of a stone staircase.
The light radiating from his profound acupoints was rather limited, so he was only able to see about five to six steps ahead.
After a brief hesitation, he began to make his way down the staircase step by step.
After descending close to twenty steps, the ground up ahead suddenly ttened out. It seemed that he had arrived on a level tform, and the sound of the falling water droplets had be even more pronounced here.
Han Li walked a few steps toward his perceived source of the sound, arriving before a stone pir that was around three feet tall, with a stone basin that was around a foot in diameter at the top. The basin was filled with some type of ck liquid that was giving off a faint, rank odor, and it seemed to be some type of beast fat.
Another faint ssh rang out as a drop of liquid fell into the basin, sending faint ripples proliferating over the surface of the liquid that was already inside.
Han Li rubbed his fingers together, and a burst of starpower erupted out of his fingertips as a speck of white light, which fell into the stone basin.
A me was instantly ignited within the basin, immediately following which two lines of fire surged out of the basin, spreading along the indentations that branched out from either side of the stone pir.
Chapter 958: Weeping Blood Array
Chapter 958: Weeping Blood Array
Han Li''s gaze followed the movement of the line of fire, all the way until it had spread along the ground for over a thousand feet, at which it seemed to have reached its conclusion.
All of a sudden, the ground on either side erupted into mes, illuminating the entire space that Han Li was in.
Han Li inspected his surroundings momentarily, and a stunned look appeared on his face.
The space that he was in was around two thousand to three thousand feet in size, and there was a series of massive reliefs engraved onto the walls, depicting tall mountains, turbulent rivers, majestic cities, and various other pieces of stunning scenery.
The forests engraved onto the walls were teeming with exotic beasts, while cultivators were flying through the air, and it seemed to be depicting a scene that would only be found outside of the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
Why are there reliefs like these in a ce like this? Could they have been made by someone in reminiscence of the outside world?
Han Li strode over to the walls to carefully examine all of the reliefs engraved upon them, and he discovered that the reliefs weren''t connected, and there didn''t seem to be any clear corrtion between them, either.
Before long, Han Li had made his way deep into this space, where he spotted a ck stone coffin that was around thirty feet in size on the ground. Engraved onto the coffin was what appeared to be a male puppet with a string attached to each of its joints, suspending it in mid-air. Its expression and limbs were all very stiff, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
All of the strings ran over the surface of the stone coffin before converging above the puppet''s head, and upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that there all of the strings hade together to form a yin-yang symbol above the puppet''s head, but there was no customary eight trigrams design around the yin-yang symbol.After a brief hesitation, Han Li gentlyid a hand upon the yin-yang symbol, and he discovered that there was some give to it, so it could be pressed down by external force.
An ted look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he began to chant an incantation as he pressed down upon the yin-yang symbol.
The yin-yang symbol slowly sank down under the gentle pressure exerted by Han Li''s hand, and the sound of stone grating on stone rang out as the stone coffin slid downward to reveal a transparent, cubic, crystal container, with each side roughly measuring five inches in length.
Inside the crystal container was a hollow silver ball that was riddled with extremelyplex patterns, and it was also giving off peculiar energy fluctuations that were simr to soul power fluctuations.
Looks like this is it...
He observed the silver ball momentarily, then carefully examined the area around the crystal container, yet right as he was about to reach out to grab it, it urred to him that something wasn''t quite right.
He raised his head to continue inspecting the scenic reliefs on the surrounding walls, following which he made his way back to the stone coffin before recing its lid.
He then began to pace back and forth while thinking back to the contents of the jade slip, and a particr detail suddenly sprang into his mind.
A look of realization then appeared on his face as his gaze roamed over the surrounding reliefs once again.
He made his way around the stone coffin until he was directly behind it, then began to stroke his hand along the relief on the wall before pressing down onto the sun engraved upon it.
A faint click rang out as the sun sank into the wall under the pressure exerted by his hand.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and he made his way over to the next relief on his right.
This relief depicted an image of an impending storm, and Han Li pressed down onto a particr cloud on the wall.
After that, he pressed down onto a river and a mountain on the next two reliefs.
The detail that he had recalled from the jade slip was that the eight trigrams were supposed to be concealed within these reliefs, and that was why they were absent from around the yin-yang symbol.
As all of the hidden mechanisms that represented the eight trigrams were pressed down by Han Li, the entire space began to tremble violently, and the stone coffin on the ground sank down in a shaky manner to reveal an entrance to a passageway.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
The entrance of the passageway wasn''t veryrge, only able to fit one person at a time, and it revealed a stone staircase that led underground.
Han Li made his way down the staircase, and after descending around a dozen steps, the staircase turned left, leading to an opening that had white light glowing inside.
Han Li carefully made his way through the opening, arriving in another space that was only less than two hundred feet in size and was almostpletely empty.
However, even though the area wasn''t veryrge, there were dense clusters of star bones embedded into the walls, and the light that they were giving off was what was illuminating this space.
Han Li cast his gaze forward to discover a rectangr, ck stone table positioned against the wall directly across from him, upon which were ced two extremely intricate white jade boxes.
After briefly examining the surrounding area to ensure that nothing was amiss, he strode over to the table and removed the lid of one of the jade boxes.
A fist-sized ball was revealed, sitting peacefully inside the box.
The ball was ck in color, and just like the silver ball that Han Li had seen in the stone coffin, it was also hollow and riddled with strange patterns.
However, this ball wasn''t giving off any energy fluctuations, and it didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way aside from its intricate appearance. Hence, in contrast, the silver ball from before seemed more like a genuine artifact.
Han Li lifted the ball out of the box, then began to carefully inspect it while cradling it over the palms of his hands, and he spotted arcs of golden lightning that were as thin as strands of hair silently shing deep within the heart of the ball.
Han Li had a feeling that this was no ordinary item, so he carefully tucked it down the front of his own robe.
After that, he turned his gaze to the other jade box.
This box had a round disc that was riddled withplex patterns embedded onto its surface, and there were two circles of holes on its outer edge, with a tiny golden rune visible beneath each hole.
Han Li reached out to lift the jade box, only to discover that it seemed to be fused as one with the table, refusing to budge even a single inch.
A series of profound acupoints lit up over his arms as he redoubled his efforts, and the jade box shuddered violently along with the table beneath it, but both the box and the table remained firmly locked into ce.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and he suddenly raised a fist before throwing a punch at the jade box.
A burst of radiant starlight immediately shed over the surface of the jade box, releasing a burst of tremendous power that forced Han Li to stumble back a step.
A perplexed look appeared on his face as he turned his gaze back to the jade box. The jade slip that Daoist Xie had given him had explicitly mentioned that the ck ball was something that had to be secure, but there was no mention of what was in the other jade box.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as a series of profound acupoints lit up over his body, and he mustered up even more power before throwing another punch at the jade box.
The retaliative force released by the jade box was even stronger this time, forcing Han Li back several steps, all the way until his back was against the wall.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as he prepared tounch an even more powerful attack at the jade box, butright at this moment, he noticed that a crack was slowly appearing on the ground beneath his feet, leading straight to the underside of the jade box on the stone table.
He immediately realized that he couldn''t continue to try and break open the jade box through brute force. Otherwise, this entire space was going to be destroyed along with it. On top of that, he didn''t have any more time to waste here.
Right as Han Li was able to return to the main group, he suddenly spotted an image of a starry sky on the ground, illuminated by the light radiating from the star bones on the surrounding walls.
However, the image was quite small, and there were also parts that were missing.
Han Li observed the image for a long while before a look of surprise and realization suddenly appeared on his face, and he pped his hands together as he eximed, "I see now!"
Immediately thereafter, he pulled his Star Wave Pen out of his sleeve and began repairing the image.
Afterpleting his final stroke, Han Li stood up straight again to examine his own handiwork.
The starry sky image on the ground had begun radiating dazzling light, and a string of faint mechanical clicks rang out as the disc on the jade box began to slowly turn, following which the box sprang open on its own.
An ted look appeared on Han Li''s face, and he peered into the jade box to discover a sheet of light gray beast hide that had been folded into a small square.
Han Li picked up the sheet of beast hide before spreading it open to reveal an image of an underground pentagonal altar, with a strange winged beast statue perched on each corner of the altar.
It was identical in appearance to the blood sacrificial altar that the five city lords were currently in.
Above the image of the altar was a heading that read "Weeping Blood Array", and Han Li immediately began carefully examining the entire image.
Afterparing the Weeping Blood Array to the one outside, Han Li was quickly able to determine that the two were indeed one and the same. On top of that, ording to the image, the blood pond in the array was enormous, and the array patterns engraved onto its walls wereplex beyond belief.
There were also small passages of annotations around the image of the array, pointing out certain important features of the array and their functions.
The more Han Li saw, the more he came to understand what E Kuai''s true intentions were.
In the end, his gaze settled on an annotation on the bottom right corner of the image, and a faint smile suddenly appeared on his face.
Chapter 959: Sudden Change
Chapter 959: Sudden Change
At this moment, the five city lords were still operating the array outside, and at this point, all five of them had opened arge number of profound acupoints.
Chen Yang already had over 290 profound acupoints glowing over his body, which meant that he had opened close to thirty profound acupoints in this short span of time.
Sun Tu and the others were in a simr situation, and all of them were naturally ecstatic to see this.
All of the bystanders were looking on with envious expressions, but they knew that they were far below the five city lords in terms of both power and status, so they didn''t dare to raise anyints.
At this point, the array was operating far faster than before, and the pentagram arrays beneath the five city lords had expanded to several times their original size, releasing far thicker pirs of crimson light.
The surrounding crimson light barrier had also be far thicker than before, and the countless runes on its surface were giving off a faint buzzing sound.
The stone statues beneath the five city lords were also disying significant changes. They had turned from their original ck color into a shade of dark red, and rays of crimson light were shooting out of their bodies, presenting a peculiar sight to behold.
The four subsidiary city lords were all observing these changes with uncertain looks in their eyes, and Sun Tu and Chen Yang exchanged a nce with each other, only to see their own unease mirrored in one another''s eyes.
Thankfully, there was still no restrictive power emanating from the crimson light barrier, and that instilled them with a great deal of reassurance.At this point, the blood level in the pond had dropped significantly, revealing sets of even more massive remains, and it seemed that the bottom was about to be revealed.
All of a sudden, the blood in the pond began to churn violently, forming a vortex that was several dozen feet in size.
Immediately thereafter, arge ball of crimson light appeared deep within the vortex, giving off formidable energy fluctuations.
These energy fluctuations were abination of starpower and bloodline power, much like the power harbored within Sulfurous me Blood Clouds.
Furthermore, these energy fluctuations were so tremendous that even the four subsidiary city lords couldn''t help but be astonished.
"Is that the holy remains?" Sun Tu asked with an ted expression.
The other Profound City cultivators were unable to see the ball of crimson light within the crater, but they could all sense the formidable energy fluctuations surging through the air as well.
"Fellow daoists, the holy remains have already been revealed! Let''s make one final effort!" E Kuai rallied with an ecstatic look on his face, and the five city lords immediately redoubled their efforts, chanting their incantation and making hand seals with far more urgency than before.
As a result, the blood in the pond began to churn even more violently, and it began rising up into the air before gushing into the five statues as five pirs of blood.
The blood level in the pond was rapidly lowering, and in just mere moments, all of the blood in the pond had vanished into the five statues.
The scale-like patterns on the surfaces of the five statues began shing erratically, following which the statues turned from dark red to a shade of bright red.
At the same time, the true form of the ball of crimson light was also revealed, and it was a door of crimson light, within which was what appeared to be another world.
The powerful energy fluctuations wereing from inside the door of light, and there were holy remains to be seen at all.
Furthermore, with no more blood in the way, the energy fluctuation emanating from the door of light had be even more formidable.
"What''s the meaning of this, City Lord E? Where are the holy remains?" Sun Tu asked with a dark expression, and the other three city lords turned to E Kuai as well.
However, E Kuai paid no heed to the four of them as he remained seated atop his stone statue with his eyes closed, continuing to make hand seals while chanting an incantation on his own.
All of a sudden, a burst of radiant crimson light erupted out of the statue beneath him, illuminating his entire body crimson.
Immediately thereafter, seven or eight thick tendrils of crimson light shot out of the statue, then fused into E Kuai''s body after iling around momentarily.
E Kuai''s body trembled violently for a moment before falling still again, and he opened his eyes to reveal that they had turned bright red.
Not only that, but his body had swelled up significantly like a balloon, and a series of red patterns had appeared over his skin, giving him the appearance of a hellish demon.
The four city lords'' expressions changed drastically upon seeing this, and in particr, Qin Yuan had immediately sprung to his feet, but before he had a chance to get away, a burst of crimson light suddenly erupted out of his lower abdomen.
The burst of crimson light then swelled to form a crimson cloud that epassed half of Qin Yuan''s body.
Countless runes could be seen within the crimson cloud, resonating with the statue beneath him, and he seemed to have beenpletely immobilized.
Almost at the exact same moment, bursts of crimson light also erupted out of the bodies of the other three city lords, forming crimson clouds that immobilized them as well.
All of the other Profound City cultivators immediately stepped forward with rmed looks on their faces upon seeing this, but all of a sudden, Shao Ying, Zhu Ziyuan, and Zhu Ziqing appeared in their path.
"The five city lords are currently operating the array, so it would be best for all of you to stay back," Shao Ying said as a tremendous aura erupted out of his body, striking everyone with a sense of asphyxiation.
Stunned looks appeared on their faces as they reflexively stopped in their tracks.
Out of everyone present, Mistress Liu Hua was the only one who remained calm andposed, seeminglypletely unsurprised by this turn of events.
Inside the array, E Kuai cast his gaze toward the other four city lords, and at this moment, all of the warmth that had previously been in his eyes waspletely absent.
The hearts of the other city lords immediately sank upon seeing this.
Clinging onto one final shred of hope, Fu Jian forced a smile onto his own face as he asked, "What are you doing, City Lord E?"
"The holy remains still haven''t emerged, so I can''t allow the four of you to leave. It was apparent to me that the four of you were getting cold feet, so I had no choice but to employ some measures to make you stay," E Kuai replied with a faint smile.
"Drop the act, E Kuai! You clearly nned all of this from the very beginning!" Sun Tu harrumphed coldly. "How did you manage to do this? We''ve all been so careful up to this point..."
"It was the Sulfurous me Blood Clouds!" Chen Yang eximed as a look of realization appeared in his eyes, and the eyes of the other three city lords instantly changed slightly upon hearing this.
"Well done, Fellow Daoist Chen! You''re as sharp as ever. I knew that none of you would be able to resist the Sulfurous me Blood Clouds that I nted," E Kuai confirmed with a smile.
"City Lord Sun, City Lord Fu, didn''t you two say that you didn''t find any Sulfurous me Blood Clouds?" Qin Yuan asked as he turned to Sun Tu and Fu Jian, and their expressions instantly stiffened slightly upon hearing this.
It was clear that they had been lying, and that they had also obtained Sulfurous me Blood Clouds, but had chosen to keep that a secret for some reason.
"So that''s why there were so many Sulfurous me Blood Clouds in that area! You''ve been plotting against us from the very beginning! What are your intentions?" Chen Yang asked.
"You''ll all find out soon enough," E Kuai chuckled as he made a string of hand seals, and countless crimson patterns abruptly appeared in the surrounding array, instantly making the array several times moreplex than before.
Countless patterns appeared on the crimson light barrier as well, giving it a far more substantial form.
At the same time, radiant crimson light also erupted out of the statues beneath the four city lords before surging into their bodies.
The four city lords struggled with all their might, but they werepletely immobilized by the crimson clouds around them, and they could only look on helplessly as the crimson light invaded their bodies.
A series of squiggly crimson patterns appeared over their skin, and these patterns were writhing and moving as if they were living creatures. All four of them began to tremble as agonized looks appeared on their faces, much to the rm of all of their subordinates.
"City Lord Sun!" Fang Chan yelled in an urgent voice as he sprang forward through the air, followed closely by Duan Tong, Xuanyuan Xing, and L¨¹ Gang.
In contrast, Shi Chuankong backed away from the scene, following Han Li''s instructions to remain a detached observer.
A cold sneer appeared on Shao Ying''s face as he swept a hand through the air, unleashing five bursts of sharp power that resembled five divine swords slicing through space, leaving five deep trenches in the ground in their wake.
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Meanwhile, Han Li was on his way back to joining the main group when his entire body abruptly stiffened, and he fell to the ground without any warning.
A burst of crimson light had erupted out of his lower abdomen, forming a crimson cloud that epassed his entire body.
After sweeping his spiritual sense through his own body, Han Li immediately identified the source of this crimson cloud.
Those Sulfurous me Blood Clouds have been tampered with!
At this moment, a pair of glowing, crimson clouds had appeared within his abdomen, releasing countless tiny crimson runes that were giving off formidable restrictive forces, rendering himpletely immobile.
Chapter 960: Internal Conflict
Chapter 960: Internal Conflict
Even though Han Li had suddenly been immobilized, he remained calm and collected as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might to fight against the restrictions in his body.
However, the restrictions were situated deep within his dantian, and they werepletely resistant to his efforts to counteract them.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as several translucent chains flew out of his be before vanishing into his own dantian.
The restrictions in his dantian had immobilized his body, but they had no effect on his spiritual sense.
After burrowing into his dantian, the spiritual sense chains wrapped themselves around the two crimson cloud restrictions before tearing at them with all their might, and the restrictions immediately began to tremble slightly.
Han Li was quite relieved to see that his spiritual sense chains were effective on these restrictions, and he took a deep breath as he redoubled his efforts, and a series of translucent threads shot out of his be before intertwining together to form a small, translucent sword.
The sword was only around an inch in length, but the spiritual sense fluctuations that it was giving off were far more formidable than those of the spiritual sense chains, and it was none other than Han Li''s Spiritual Sense Sword.
The Spiritual Sense Sword vanished into his dantian in a sh, then swelled to around twice its original size, giving off such formidable sword intent that that the surfaces of the two crimson cloud restrictions immediately began rippling incessantly.
The Spiritual Sense Sword then flew straight into one of the crimson clouds, and thetter was instantly sliced into two before exploding into countless specks of crimson light without being able to put up any resistance.The residual specks of crimson light were then quickly cleared away by the bloodline power in Han Li''s body.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and the Spiritual Sense Sword swung around at his behest to strike the other crimson cloud, quickly eradicating it as well.
With the two crimson clouds gone, Han Li instantly regained his mobility, and a contemtive look appeared on his face as he returned to his feet.
It was clear that these restrictions hade from the two Sulfurous me Blood Clouds that he had devoured, and with that in mind, a thought suddenly urred to Han Li, following which he immediately continued to hurry back to the main group.
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Meanwhile, the subordinates of the four subsidiary city lords were still locked in a fierce battle against Shao Ying and the Zhu siblings.
Even though Fang Chan and the others had a numbers advantage, they were clearly on hte back foot, and it didn''t take long before they began suffering injuries.
Shi Chuankong was looking on with an urgent expression, but he continued to refrain from entering the fray.
Inside the array, more and more crimson lines were appearing over the bodies of the four subsidiary city lords, and Fu Jian was howling in agony as he pleaded, "Please spare me, City Lord E! I''ve always been your most loyal servant!"
"I know you''re loyal, and that''s why I gave you this opportunity. You should be honored to sacrifice yourself for the greater good of Profound City," E Kuai replied with a faint smile, and there wasn''t even a hint of sympathy in his eyes.
The crimson light pouring out of the four statues continued to surge into the bodies of the four subsidiary city lords, and it wasn''t going to take long before the crimson lines spread over the entirety of their bodies.
"Fine! If this is how you''re going to treat us, then there''s no need for me to hold back any longer!" Fu Jian roared in a furious voice before opening his mouth to release a streak of white light, which contained a talisman that bore an image of a small dagger with a serrated edge.
A translucent dagger projection shot out of the talisman, then pierced into his lower abdomen in a sh.
A faint thump rang out, and much of the crimson cloud around Fu Jian''s upper body instantly dissipated, allowing him to free his arms.
However, the crimson cloud around his lower body remained as dense as ever, rooting him to the stone statue down below.
"So you had a Soul Dagger Talisman up your sleeve this entire time," E Kuai mused, but he didn''t seem to be particrly concerned.
After freeing his own arms, Fu Jian immediately swept both hands through the air, and four thin streaks of ck light shot out of his sleeves, with two of them hurtling directly toward E Kuai, while the other two were aimed at the statue down below.
At the same time, he opened his mouth once again to release three more streaks of white light, which pierced into the bodies of Sun Tu and the others in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, much of the crimson clouds around them dissipated, and their upper bodies were freed as well.
"Thank you, City Lord Fu. Don''t hold back anymore, fellow daoists! We''re all going to have to work together if we want to survive!" Chen Yang yelled as he swept both sleeves through the air, and out of his left sleeve flew three short yellow spears, all of which immediately sped toward E Kuai like lightning.
At the same time, a bone saber appeared in his right hand, and he shed it down upon the statue beneath him with all his might.
Sun Tu and Qin Yuan also retaliated as soon as they were freed, sending a ck sword projection and a streak of resplendent crimson light hurtling toward E Kuai.
Simultaneously, they were also attacking the statues beneath themselves.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, but E Kuai remainedpletely unconcerned.
A mocking sneer appeared on his face as he switched to a different hand seal, and a crimson light barrier instantly emerged over each of the statues beneath the four subsidiary city lords.
The statue beneath E Kuai also began to release radiant crimson light that formed a protective light barrier.
A string of resounding explosions rang out, as lights of different colors shed within the array, while the nearby ground also trembled violently.
Fang Chan, Shao Ying, and the others hurriedly stopped what the were doing upon hearing themotion, then backed away from one another before looking into the array.
All of the lights in the array quickly faded away, and it was revealed that E Kuai and the five stone statues remainedpletely unscathed.
The crimson light barriers around the statues appeared to be rather thin, but they were extremely resilient.
Stunned looks appeared on the faces of the four subsidiary city lords upon seeing this, while E Kuai sneered, "The Weeping Blood Array is not something the likes of you can even hope to destroy. You should save your energy. Maybe you''ll be able to survive a little longer then."
Immediately thereafter, the stone statues beneath the four subsidiary city lords up lit upon again, and countless threads of crimson light shot forth before ensnaring them.
Numerous tadpole-like crimson runes were dancing around the threads of light, all of which were giving off a cial aura.
In the blink of an eye, the four subsidiary city lords had been tied up from head to toe by these threads of crimson light, and the cial power within the threads of light instantly seeped into their bodies, immobilizing them once again.
A pleased look appeared in E Kuai''s eyes upon seeing this, and he returned to what he was doing before.
The light radiating from the five statues grew brighter and brighter, and more and more threads of crimson light emerged, forming four giant crimson cocoons around the subsidiary city lords in the blink of an eye.
A look of despair instantly appeared in the eyes of Fang Chan and the others upon seeing this.
"The fates of your city lords are sealed, so you should all just surrender to spare yourselves of unnecessary suffering," Shao Ying sneered.
A cold look shed through Fang Chan''s eyes as he pounced forward once again, and before long, the battle between the two sides resumed.
Meanwhile, E Kuai sliced his own finger open, then began inscribing runes onto the air before him.
A series of crimson runes that were roughly a foot in size took shape under his fingertip, then drifted away before fusing into different parts of the surrounding array.
More lines began to appear on the Weeping Blood Array, and in the blink of an eye, it had be far moreplex than before, once again.
At this point, E Kuai''splexion was looking a little pale, and it seemed that setting up this massive array had been quite a taxing endeavor for him, but his eyes were glowing with tion as he made one final hand seal.
The entire array instantly began to glow brightly at his behest, releasing a thick pir of crimson light that epassed the door of light at the bottom of the pond.
A burst of thunderous rumbling began to ring out from within the door of light, following which a burst of viscous crimson light shot out of it.
The burst of crimson light was as viscous as blood, and there were many ck impurities within it, but it was giving off tremendous bloodline power, even more so than the blood in the pond from before.
The burst of crimson light seemed to be rather reluctant to conform, but in the end, it was unable to resist the Weeping Blood Array and fused into thetter.
The entire array instantly began to glow even brighter, and instead of dissipating after entering the array, the burst of viscous light flowed through it like a crimson python, making its way over to the crimson cocoon that Fu Jian was in before vanishing into it in a sh.
Radiant light instantly erupted out of the crimson cocoon, while countless crimson runes danced over its surface, and the aura that the cocoon was giving off began to fluctuate violently.
In the next instant, the burst of viscous crimson light emerged from the back of the cocoon before continuing onward.
Much of the ck impurities within it had been eradicated, as if it had undergone some type of purification process.
E Kuai was very pleased to see this, and the burst of viscous light roamed over to the crimson cocoon that Sun Tu was in at his behest before vanishing into it.
Before long, the burst of crimson light re-emerged from the back of the cocoon once again, this time with even fewer impurities within it.
After that, it passed through Chen Yang and Qin Yuan''s cocoons as well, and after four bouts of purification, all of the ck impurities within it had faded away.
E Kuai made a beckoning motion with an ted look on his face, and the purified burst of crimson light quickly made its way over to him before vanishing into his body.
Chapter 961: Battle of Life and Death
Chapter 961: Battle of Life and Death
After the crimson light entered his body, E Kuai shuddered as a pained look appeared on his face, but it was quickly overshadowed by an expression of tion as he closed his eyes and channeled his cultivation arts to harness the power within the crimson light.
His limbs began to swell up slightly while also glowing with radiant crimson light, and the indistinct profound acupoints on his body were rapidly attaining substantial forms one after another.
This rate of profound acupoint attainment was several times faster than what was achieved by absorbing the blood within the pond.
More and more crimson light continued to surge incessantly out of the door of light before being purified by the four subsidiary city lords, following which it was absorbed by E Kuai.
In what seemed like no more than the blink of an eye, he had already opened over twenty profound acupoints, and his aura was also bing more and more immense, hanging over everyone like an all-epassing cloud.
In contrast, the auras of the four subsidiary city lords began to gradually wane.
Meanwhile, a battle was still raging around the array.
Fang Chan was standing behind the statue that Sun Tu was situated on, and there was a ferocious look on his face, giving him the appearance of a fearsome beast.
He let loose one thunderous roar after another, sending powerful soundwaves sweeping toward the statue, only for them to be kept out by the crimson light barrier around the array.The surface of the light barrier was rippling incessantly in the face of the soundwaves, and before long, the entire light barrier was beginning to look a little unstable.
A hint of surprise shed through Shao Ying''s eyes upon seeing this.
ording to E Kuai, none of the cultivators outside of the five city lords aside from Mistress Liu Hua and Shao Ying should''ve been able to pose any threat to this crimson light barrier, yet it seemed like Fang Chan was doing just that.
Several secondster, the rippling of the crimson light barrier gradually subsided.
On the other side, the bandages around Duan Tong''s right arm had already been unraveled, revealing a series of strange ck patterns on his enormous arm.
He let loose a thunderous roar as he sprang up into the air, then threw a punch down at the crimson light barrier.
All of the ck patterns on his arm lit up, and his already massive arm bulged even further as close to a hundred profound acupoints appeared over its surface.
The ck patterns on his arm grew brighter and brighter, releasing waves of scorching heat as it umted more and more power.
Duan Tong came swooping down with a look of single-minded determination and ferocity on his face, sending his fist crashing down upon the statue before him with all his might.
Right at this moment, Zhu Ziyuan sprang up into the air, appearing directly in front of Duan Tong in a sh before thrusting his bone spear through the air.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as the tip of Zhu Yuanzi''s spear struck Duan Tong''s fist, and formidable shockwaves erupted in all directions in the form of gusts of fierce wind.
Zhu Ziyuan''s bone spear was forced back to the point that its tip had almostpletely folded over itself, and he gave a cold harrumph as he grabbed tightly onto his spear with both hands.
At the same time, dozens of profound acupoints lit up over his arms in unison, while the star acupoints on the bone spear also began glowing radiantly.
A burst of tremendous starpower erupted out of his body before gushing into the spear along his arms, and the tip of the spear was instantly bolstered, returning to its original form.
Duan Tong was sent flying back by the force of the tip of Zhu Ziyuan''s bone spear springing back to its original orientation, and afternding on the ground, he immediatelyunched himself forward once again without any dy while swinging his fist as Zhi Ziyuan.
A battle immediatelymenced between the two, and Zhu Ziqing was just about to go and back up her brother when she spotted Xuanyuan Xing attacking the crimson light barrier from another direction.
Her brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and after a brief hesitation, she chose to engage Xuanyuan Xing in battle instead.
All the while, Shi Chuankong was looking on with tightly furrowed brows, seemingly very hesitant about how to proceed.
Prior to his departure, Han Li had told him to do his best to remain a passive bystander, but it was clear that the Shao Ying''s trio had gained the upper hand here. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before Fang Chan and the others were defeated, at which point he would be all on his own and more vulnerable than ever.
Mistress Liu Hua had also remained a passive bystander this entire time, making no effort to damage the array or oppose the subordinates of the four subsidiary city lords. Instead, all he did was remain standing on the spot with a grim expression, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
Meanwhile, the elder from Profound End City by the name of L¨¹ Gang was also attempting to damage the array, but to no effect.
Right at this moment, another thunderous roar rang out as Fang Chan stomped his feet down onto the ground to adopt a horse stance, shattering the stone bs beneath his feet in the process.
He clenched his fists tightly, and veins bulged on his forehead as he let loose a pained roar.
Immediately thereafter, the muscles on his body began to rapidly bulge, and tufts of coarse ck fur appeared over his skin as his body swelled up like a balloon. In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a half-human, half-boar creature, and his eyes had turned bright red.
At the same time, his aura had also swelled drastically, and no one dared to get close to him.
"I didn''t know that you possessed a true spirit bloodline," Shao Ying mused as his eyes narrowed slightly, and even Mistress Liu Hua had turned to look at Fang Chan with a surprised look in his eyes.
Shi Chuankong was also quite surprised to hear this, but it only took him a single nce to determine that this was definitely not some true spirit bloodline. Instead, he was using some type of secret technique to stimte his own devilish bloodline in order to achieve this transformation.
Afterpleting his transformation, Fang Chan sprang up into the air, then inhaled deeply before letting loose another resounding roar.
The soundwavesing out of Fang Chan''s mouth were more powerful than ever before, and they crashed against the crimson light barrier like gusts of ferocious wind.
The light barrier trembled violently, and a deep indentation appeared on its surface under the force of the tremendous soundwaves, looking as if it really were about to be overwhelmed.
A look of urgency finally appeared on Shao Ying''s face upon seeing this, and he abruptly vanished from the spot, then instantly reappeared behind Fang Chan before reaching out to grab at him from behind.
Fang Chan made no effort to defend himself as he continued to roar with all his might, trying to break the crimson light barrier in one fell swoop.
Inside the Weeping Blood Array, E Kuai took a nce in his direction, following which a cold sneer appeared on his face as he casually made a hand seal.
A burst of crimson light instantly surged out of the wings of the stone statue beneath him before fusing into the crimson light barrier, instantly restoring it to its former condition.
A look of despair appeared in Fang Chan''s eyes upon seeing this, and before he could do anything else, he was dealt a heavy blow on the back.
White light was radiating from Shao Ying''s arm as his fingers pierced into Fang Chan''s back like five sharp swords, sending blood sttering in all directions.
Fang Chan plummeted to the ground in a puddle of his own blood before fallingpletely still, and it was unclear whether he was dead or alive.
A grim look appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face upon seeing this, and right at this moment, E Kuai ordered, "Kill all of these annoying pests! I don''t want any more distractions from them."
"Yes, City Lord E," Shao Ying replied in a respectful manner, and he took a nce at Fang Chan, then turned his gaze toward Shi Chuankong and L¨¹ Gang.
After witnessing Fang Chan''s failed attempt to breach the crimson light barrier, L¨¹ Gang''s heart had already sunk into the pits of despair, and he shuddered at the sight of Shao Ying''s hawk-like gaze before rushing back toward the three stone arch bridges that they hade from.
"You''re not going anywhere!" Shao Ying sneered as he set off in pursuit.
Over 160 profound acupoints had already lit up over the elder''s body, but his speed couldn''t even hold a candle to Shao Ying''s, and the gap between the two of them was closed before he could even reach the stone bridges.
Right as Shao Ying''s fingers were about to pierce into his back, L¨¹ Gang suddenly stopped cold in his tracks, then swiveled around before thrusting a white dagger at Shao Ying.
All of a sudden, he was disying far superior speed than when he was fleeing toward the stone bridges, so even Shao Ying was caught slightly off guard.
However, instead of taking any evasive measures, Shao Ying merely gave a cold harrumph as ayer of white starlight appeared over his fingers, and grabbed directly at the oing dagger with his bare hand.
A sharp ng rang out as the space within the palm of Shao Ying''s hand warped slightly, and the dagger was instantly snapped upon entering the warped space.
Taking advantage of this brief window of respite, L¨¹ Gang darted back in retreat, but instead of continuing to flee, he leaped straight over Shao Ying beforending beside Shi Chuankong.
At this moment, the severely wounded Fang Chan wasying at Shi Chuankong''s feet, and thetter was in the process of feeding the former a bright red pill.
"Well done, Elder L¨¹," Shi Chuankong praised as he rose to his feet.
"So you instructed him to lure me away in order to buy you time to save Fang Chan, is that right?" Shao Ying asked in a cold voice.
"City Lord E is clearly intent on killing all of us, so we have no choice but to band together," Shi Chuankong replied.
Chapter 962: Biding Time
Chapter 962: Biding Time
"You may have managed to fool me this time, but you''re only dying the inevitable. Even if youbine your powers, it won''t amount to anything," Yin Shao sneered with a sinister grin on his face.
He then reached behind himself with both hands, putting on a pair of white bone ws that were riddled with dozens of glowing star acupoints, clearly indicating that it was a star artifact of a very high caliber.
At the same time, one profound acupoint after another lit up over his body, only stopping once the total count had reached 283.
Grim looks appeared on the faces of both Shi Chuankong and L¨¹ Gang upon seeing this. 283 profound acupoints was a number that ced Shao Ying on the same level as the four subsidiary city lords. In fact, he already outstripped the likes of Qin Yuan.
Right at this moment, Fang Chan''s immobile body began to stir slightly, and before long, he had struggled to his feet.
Wisps of crimson mist were rising up from the gruesome wound on his back, and the flesh around the wound was rapidly healing at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
At the same time, he rose up several dozen more feet in height, and ck scales began to appear over his chest, shoulders, and neck, making him appear no different from a fearsome scaled beast.
"What did you feed him just now?" Shao Ying asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"It''s called a Blood Tide Pill, I''m not sure if you would''ve heard of it before," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.The Blood Tide Pill had been given to him by Shi Pokong, so there was a chance that it was meant to harm him rather than help him, just like that jade pendant, but with Fang Chan on the verge of death, he had no choice but to feed it to him.
For the moment, it seemed like the pill was working as intended. In fact, it was proving to be far more effective than Shi Chuankong anticipated.
"So it''s just a pill that temporarily stimtes his bloodline power. I should''ve known that you wouldn''t have anything good up your sleeve," Shao Ying sneered, then abruptly vanished from the spot.
Shi Chuankong was already prepared, and he raised the purple staff in his hands before sweeping it through the air to his side.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as two sets of sharp bone ws raked over its surface, raising several trails of sparks in the process.
Shao Ying flew back in retreat, and upon steadying himself, he cast his gaze toward the staff in Shi Chuankong''s hands with a surprised look in his eyes.
Right at this moment, a giant shadow loomed over his head, and Fang Chan came swooping down upon him while swatting a massive hand down at his head.
Shao Ying was just barely able to evade the attack, and the ground that had been beneath his feet just a moment ago waspletely pulverized amid a resounding boom, creating a huge crack that extended all the way to the crimson light barrier..
Before he had a chance to steady himself, L¨¹ Gang pounced at him from behind, holding a glowing white dagger that he pierced directly at the back of Shao Ying''s head.
Shao Ying harrumphed coldly as he ced one hand behind his own hand to protect himself while making a tugging motion with his other hand. The bone w on histter hand immediately began to glow with radiant starlight, releasing a burst of formidable tearing force that caused the space behind him to warp and twist.
L¨¹ Gang was drawn involuntarily toward Shao Ying by this burst of tearing force, and he hurriedly began to backpedal in an rmed manner, only managing to stop himself in his tracks after his feet had sunk deep into the ground.
However, before he even had a chance to catch his breath, Shao Ying had already swung around to attack him.
Thankfully, Shi Chuankong and Fang Chan had also already arrived on the scene, and the three of them joined forces to oppose Shao Ying.
On the other side, Xuanyuan Xing possessed a slight cultivation base advantage over Zhu Ziqing, but thetter''s bone armor and bone spear were all extremely formidable star artifact, thereby bridging the gap between them, so it was unclear who was going toe out on top between the two.
At the same time, Zhu Ziyuan and Duan Tong were also locked in a fierce battle against each other, one that was fraught with peril.
Countless dark purple runes had appeared over Duan Tong''s exposed skin, and they were all giving off bursts of scorching heat.
Plumes of ck mist began to rise up from his body as the heat became more and more intense, forming a ck cloud around him that made it impossible to gauge the number of profound acupoints on his body.
After forcing back Duan Tong with his spear, Zhu Ziyuan darted back to open up some distance between the two of them as a wary look appeared in his eyes.
"Looks like you''ve made significant strides since the previous Five City Martial Gathering," Zhu Ziyuan mused.
"I was nning to even the score with Gu Qianxun, but you''re the one who has to face the result of myst one thousand years of training now!" Duan Tong replied in a cold voice.
Zhu Ziyuan took a nce at his sister out of his peripheral vision to see how she was faring in her battle, and Duan Tong was furious to see this.
"How dare you get distracted when you''re facing me!" he roared as heunched himself at Zhu Ziyuan while swinging his right fist through the air.
His right fist was extraordinarily massive to begin with, and now that it was enshrouded in ck mist, it resembled a devilish ck lion biting down upon Zhu Ziyuan''s head.
Zhu Ziyuan turned his attention back to Duan Tong, then swung his spear upward, and a ball of white starlight emerged over the tip of the spear to sh against Duan Tong''s right fist.
As the ball of white light shed against the ck mist, it resembled a resplendent sun piercing into a dark cloud, and the ck mist churned violently while rapidly evaporating to reveal Duan Tong''s fist once again.
However, it was no longer clenched into a fist. Instead, he had grabbed tightly onto the tip of Zhu Ziyuan''s spear.
Zhu Ziyuan was holding the shaft of his spear with both hands as he hoisted it upward, and a series of star acupoints lit up over the spear in rapid session, releasing dazzling white light that spilled through the gaps between Duan Tong''s fingers.
Even so, Duan Tong still refused to release the spear, and he allowed himself to be hoisted up into the air by Zhu Ziyuan.
Right at this moment, a vast expanse of crimson light suddenly erupted out the runes on Duan Tong''s arm, while plumes of dense mist surged out of the palm of his hand, drifting toward Zhu Ziyuan like a nest of snakes.
Zhu Ziyuan''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he tightened his grip around the shaft of his spear, upon which a burst of tremendous starpower erupted out of its star acupoints in unison to dispel the oing plumes of mist.
However, before he had a chance to do anything else, a loud crack suddenly rang out from the tip of his spear.
He hurriedly cast his gaze toward the tip of the spear to discover that it seemed to have alreadypletely dposed. Not only had it turned a corrupted, ck color, it had shattered all the way from its tip to its shaft.
Zhu Ziyuan was just about to dart back in retreat when he suddenly felt his entire body go stiff, and an rmed look appeared in his eyes.
Crap! This is Paralysis Death Poison!
All of a sudden, he felt as if his legs had been filled with lead, and even the slightest movement had be an extremely arduous feat.
"I''ve already refined Paralysis Death Poison into my arm, so your fate was sealed from the very beginning!" Duan Tong roared as he threw a punch at Zhu Ziyuan, and his giant right fist came crashing down with tremendous power.
An rmed look appeared on Zhu Ziqing''s face as she saw this unfold from afar, and in her moment of distraction, she was struck by a blow to the shoulder from Xuanyuan Xing. The bone armor on her shoulder was instantly shattered, and she was sent flying like a rucksack.
A furious look appeared in Zhu Ziyuan''s eyes upon seeing this, and all of the profound acupoints on his body lit up as he somehow mustered up the strength required to swivel around and evade Duan Tong''s fist.
¡¡
In the heat of battle, no one had noticed that all of the yellow clouds in the sky were currently converging toward the hall from all directions, as if they had been herded here by some type of mystical force.
Under the all-epassing nket of yellow clouds, the entire area in a radius of dozens of kilometers around the hall had been plunged intoplete darkness.
Theyer of clouds in the sky was only continuing to grow thicker and denser, and they gradually formed a giant vortex, at the center of which was a ck hole that was looking down at the hall below like a giant eye.
Thick arcs of lightning were shing incessantly within the vortex amid bursts of dull rumbling, and before long, the vortex had swelled to an enormous size.
Furthermore, there was a burst of devastating power umting within it, seemingly waiting for an opportunity to erupt.
¡¡
Inside the hall, the four subsidiary city lords in the Weeping Blood Array were slumped over their stone statues, and all of them were trembling uncontrobly, while theirplexions had turned deathly pale.
It seemed like all of them had already given up hope, and they weren''t even bothering to try and resist anymore.
All of a sudden, Han Li silently appeared on one of the stone arch bridges leading deeper into the darkness, but instead of immediately revealing himself, he carefully concealed his own aura to observe the unfolding scene from afar.
The first thing that he noticed was that something had clearly gone awry in the Weeping Blood Array, and that the four subsidiary city lords were all in terrible condition.
Before he had a chance to analyze the situation, his attention was drawn to L¨¹ Gang, who had just failed tond a sneak attack on Shao Ying, only for thetter to pounce on the opportunity to retaliate and pierce both sets of bone ws into his chest.
Shao Ying then brought his hands apart, and L¨¹ Gang''s entire body was torn into two amid a blood-curdling howl.
Before his nascent soul had a chance to escape, it was also torn to shreds by a swipe from Shao Ying''s ws.
Fang Chan let loose a thunderous roar upon seeing this, sending powerful soundwaves sweeping toward Shao Ying, but thetter merely darted away to the side to evade the attack before rushing directly at Shi Chuankong.
Chapter 963: More Than Meets the Eye
Chapter 963: More Than Meets the Eye
At this point, Shi Chuankong''s entire body was already riddled with wounds, and he appeared to be quite calm and collected on the surface, but internally, he was feeling very concerned.
There was such a huge power gap between the two sides that even in a three-on-one battle, they were still no match for Shao Ying, and now that L¨¹ Gang was dead, the situation had be even more dire.
In the face of the oing Shao Ying, Shi Chuankong was forced to take a step back before swinging his purple staff rapidly through the air, unleashing a flurry of staff projections that descended upon Shao Ying like a waternight.
In response, Shao Ying merely reached out with one hand, and a burst of tremendous starpower erupted out of his bone ws to eradicate most of the staff projections, following which heshed out with his other set of bone ws at Shi Chuankong''s waist, aiming to tear him in half just like he had done with L¨¹ Gang!
Han Li was just about to intervene when Fang Chan came barreling in from the side, but this yed right into Shao Ying''s hands, and a sinister grin appeared on his face as he stopped cold in his tracks, then darted back in retreat to avoid Fang Chan.
Right as Fang Chan passed him by, a series of profound acupoints lit up over his arm, and he mmed his bone ws viciously into Fang Chan''s back.
A dull thump rang out as a burst of devastating power erupted out of his bone ws, pulvering Fang Chan''s back and sending him flying through the air.
With Fang Chan''s enormous frame, it was very difficult for him to arrest his own momentum, and he crashed straight through the railing on the edge of the altar before plunging into the dark abyss below.
Shi Chuankong wanted to swoop in to save him, but it was already toote."Don''t worry, you''re next," Shao Ying said as he turned to Shi Chuankong with a cold sneer.
Shi Chuankong''s brows were tightly furrowed, but his eyes suddenly lit up ever so slightly as he took a nce in the direction of the three stone arch bridges on the other side of the altar, and he grasped tightly onto his purple staff as he prepared to face Shao Ying in battle.
A series of profound acupoints lit up over Shao Ying''s legs, and heunched himself forward at an incredible speed.
In the blink of an eye, he had already reached Shi Chuankong, and his two sets of bone ws were glowing radiantly as he pierced them straight at Shi Chuankong''s chest.
Shi Chuankong was very quick to react, raising his staff in front of himself to keep the bone ws at bay, following which he abruptly swung the staff around, tipping Shao Ying upside-down in the process.
Immediately thereafter, profound acupoints lit up over his legs as well, and he threw a vicious kick at Shao Ying''s chest.
A burst of tremendous starpower erupted out of the profound acupoints on Shao Ying''s body, and he flew directly over Shi Chuankong''s head while pushing the purple staff forward with his bone ws.
Shi Chuankong''s hands were still wrapped tightly around the staff, and he was tipped forward along with it.
Before he was able to regain his bnce, Shao Ying was already upon him.
The disparity in speed between the two was enormous, and Shi Chuankong wasn''t able to put up any defenses before Shao Ying caught up to him and plunged a hand straight through his chest, pinning him to the ground.
Shi Chuankong immediately threw up a mouthful of blood as he struggled to get up, only for Shao Ying to stomp down onto his head, driving it into the ground.
He then looked down at Shi Chuankong as he sneered, "If it isn''t for the fact that you''re still useful to City Lord E, you''d already be long dead by now."
A look of despair appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face as he slumped to the ground in a defeated manner, but right as Shao Ying began to lift his foot from his head, he abruptly lifted his legs up from the ground before mping them tightly around Shao Ying''s neck.
Shao Ying was caughtpletely off guard by this abrupt turn of events, and all of a sudden, he spotted a figure flying out of the darkness in the distance at an incredible speed.
The figure reached him in what felt like the blink of an eye, then swung a white scimitar down at his neck.
The figure was naturally none other than Han Li, and Shao Ying struggled with all his might to free himself, but Shi Chuankong was determined not to let him go, even if it meant having to sacrifice his own life.
Right as he was about to be decapitated by Han Li''s scimitar, a cold gleam suddenly shed through his eyes, and the robes on his back abruptly tore open as a pair of razor sharp bone wings sprang out of his back.
There were around a dozen profound acupoints glowing on the pair of bone wings, and their sharp edges were aimed straight at Han Li.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he stopped in his tracks before darting back in retreat.
The bone wings swept through the air before him, leaving a twisted rift in the space in their wake.
At the same time, a burst of starpower erupted out of Shao Ying''s shoulders, freeing him from Shi Chuankong''s legs.
He then pulled his bone ws out of Shi Chuankong''s chest before kicking him away, following which he spread his bone wings and flew up into the air to glower down at Han Li from above.
"I''ve been waiting for you," he said with a cold sneer.
Han Li took a nce at Shi Chuankong to find that while his injuries were quite severe, they posed no threat to his life for now.
He then turned his gaze back to Shao Ying as he asked, "Are those wings a part of your body or a star artifact?"
Shao Ying harrumphed coldly and gave no reply as he swooped down at Han Li from above whileshing out with his bone ws like the talons of a bird of prey.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he took a step back, then swung his white scimitar diagonally up at Shao Ying.
In the instant that the scimitar was about to pass the bone ws by, thetter suddenly grabbed onto the former, following which Shao Yingshed out at Han Li with the pair of bone wings on his back.
Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as he released the hilt of his scimitar, allowing it to be taken by Shao Ying.
Immediately thereafter, he clenched his fist and channeled his Titan Vajra Arts as he threw a punch at Shao Ying''s chest.
His fist was extremely fast, even faster than Shao Ying''s bone wings, and it struck him on the chest with a resounding boom.
Shao Ying felt as if his heart had stopped beating for a few seconds from the impact of the punch, and he was struck by a sense of asphyxiation before he was sent flying by a burst of tremendous force.
However, at the same time, he was still able to nce his bone wings over Han Li''s back, instantly inflicting a wound so deep that even a section of Han Li''s vertebrae had been revealed.
However, Han Li didn''t even so much as grimace from his injuries as he channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts to pursue Shao Ying without any hesitation.
He was able to catch up to Shao Ying in mid-air before throwing another punch at his chest, but Shao Ying was able to cross his arms in front of his own chest to defend himself.
A resounding thump rang out as Shao Ying crashed heavily into the edge of the altar, causing the entire altar to shudder violently.
A hint of surprise appeared in E Kuai''s eyes upon seeing this, clearly not expecting such a formidable disy of power from Han Li.
Shao Ying threw up a mouthful of blood as he hurriedly shed his bone wings through the air, preemptively retaliating against any further attacks from Han Li.
However, to his surprise, Han Li didn''t pounce on this opportunity to continue his assault.
Instead, he had already retreated to quite a distance away, and there was a smile on his face as he chanted an incantation with his hands arranged in a strange seal. Only then did Shao Ying notice that a leaf-shaped jade pendant had appeared on his bloodstained chest.
A horrified flook appeared on his face as he identified the Explosive Space Realm Talisman, but it was already toote for him to do anything.
The veins on the surface of the leaf-shaped jade pendant lit up one after another, and the air around Shao Yingpressed violently, immediately following which a radiant white sun appeared out of thin air to illuminate the darkness.
A violent explosion rang out as a ball of zing white light exploded before rising up as a white cloud.
Devastating shockwaves swept through the air in all directions, destroying half of the entire altar in the process.
The light barrier around the Weeping Blood Array trembled violently, and it looked as if it were about to be overwhelmed by the shockwaves from the explosion.
E Kuai hurriedly made a hand seal upon seeing this, injecting his own power into the array to bolster the light barrier against the explosion.
Only after close to twenty seconds had passed did the shockwaves gradually subside, and one half of the altar had vanished into thin air, while the other half remainedrgely unscathed thanks to the protection of the Weeping Blood Array.
Several massive holes had been blown into the ceiling of the hall, and the suffocating nket of yellow clouds up above were visible through them.
Everyone was caughtpletely off guard by this sudden turn of events, and Zhu Ziyuan had only just forced back Duan Tong when an instinctive sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.
He immediately rushed over to Xuanyuan Xing, then knocked him back with an attack as well before grabbing onto Zhu Ziqing''s arm and dragging her over to Mistress Liu Hua''s side.
Meanwhile, Xuanyuan Xing rushed back in retreat to join Han Li and Shi Chuankong.
Ultimately, everyone was able to avoid the explosion from the Explosive Space Realm Talisman, but they were all looking at the massive chunk of the altar that had gone missing with lingering fear in their eyes.
At this point, Shao Ying had already been erased out of existence.
Elsewhere on the altar, much of the ck mist around Duan Tong''s body had already faded away, and the runes on his skin were also glowing nowhere near as bright as before. On top of that, his entire body was looking very emaciated, with the exception of his right arm, which was still as massive as ever.
By refining Paralysis Death Poison into his own arm, he could enhance his own offensive prowess for a period of time at the expense of his own bloodline power, but evidently, this was extremely taxing on him, and he was already close to a spent force.
Once Zhu Ziyuan realized this, he intentionally began employing stalling tactics to make their battle one of attrition, and over time, Duan Tong''s powers began to wane. If it weren''t for the fact that Zhu Ziyuan had been startled into retreat by Shao Ying''s abrupt demise, perhaps Duan Tong would''ve already been struck down by now.
Zhu Ziqing was carrying many injuries, but none of them were very severe, and at this moment, she was standing beside her brother while observing Han Li with an amazed expression as she said, "You were right, Big Brother, there really is more to him than meets the eye..."
In her eyes, Shao Ying had always been a very snide and sinister man, so she didn''t resent Han Li for killing him.
Meanwhile, Zhu Ziyuan was observing Han Li with an apprehensive look in his eyes.
Chapter 964: Entering the Array
Chapter 964: Entering the Array
"Well done! I must admit that I''m impressed. To think that even Shao Ying was no match for you!" E Kuai chuckled from within the array.
"You''re far too kind, City Lord E. I was only able toe out on top thanks to some little tricks," Han Li replied with a smile as he began to make his way toward the statue beneath Chen Yang.
At this point, the four subsidiary city lords were all seated with their heads drooping down in despair, and it seemed like they didn''t even have the energy to look up anymore. It was clear that they were about to perish soon.
In contrast, E Kuai''s aura had swelled to unprecedented heights, and over a thousand profound acupoints had already opened up on his body. At this rate, it most likely wasn''t going to be difficult for him to open all of the profound acupoints on his body.
"Truth be told, I could really use a man of your talents. Right now, I''m willing to give you another chance. If you do as I say, I''ll let you off the hook for killing Shao Ying," E Kuai said with a smile.
"How generous of you, City Lord E. What would you like me to do for you?" Han Li asked as he gently poked the crimson light barrier with his finger.
"Get rid of those two eyesores for me, and you and Fellow Daoist Shi Kong can join my Profound City together to serve as my top-ranking elders. Of course, if you don''t want to stay in Profound City, then you can go and serve as the city lord of any of the four other subsidiary cities, but only under the condition that you must follow my orders at all times," E Kuai dered.
"Don''t believe him, Fellow Daoist Li! He''s been deceiving us from the very beginning!" Xuanyuan Xing yelled in an rmed manner, and Duan Tong also reflexively clenched his fists tightly upon hearing this.
Han Li took a nce at the two of them, then sighed, "It''s very thoughtful of you to extend this olive branch to both myself and Fellow Daoist Shi, City Lord E. It''s just a pity that I''m not from the Scalptia Spatial Domain. Otherwise, I really wouldn''t be able to think of a good reason to turn down such an offer.""Is that a no then? What a pity. In that case, I''ll have to ask you to wait until I''m done here to continue our conversation," E Kuai replied in an indifferent manner.
"There''s no need to wait, I''lle into the array to meet you right now, City Lord E," Han Li said with a smile.
E Kuai immediately burst intoughter upon hearing this, as if he had just been told a hrious joke.
"I''ll dly wee you into the array, Fellow Daoist Li. Let''s see if you have what it takes to make it in here."
Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as he said, "I''ll do my best."
He then made a hand seal while chanting aplex incantation, following which he raised a hand, and all of the profound acupoints on his arm lit up as he swung his hand down at the statue before him in a powerful chopping motion.
A burst of white starlight appeared over his hand, and it was able to exert immense pressure upon the crimson light barrier, creating a deep indentation on its surface.
E Kuai''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he seemed to be rather taken aback.
However, right as Han Li''s hand was about to make contact with the statue beneath Chen Yang, the crimson light barrier suddenly brightened significantly, then sprang back to its original form to force back Han Li.
A faint smile appeared on E Kuai''s face upon seeing this.
Shi Chuankong and the others had also previously made futile attempts to breach the light barrier, so they weren''t surprised to see Han Li fail in the same endeavor.
Han Li wasn''t disheartened by this at all, and he took a deep breath, then made his way over to the statue beneath Sun Tu before repeating the same process.
The oue was identical, and he was only just barely able to touch the statue before he was repelled by a burst of invisible force.
He then moved onto the statue beneath Qin Yuan and did the same thing.
"You''re just a human with fewer than three hundred profound acupoints opened, so there''s simply no chance for you to break into the Weeping Blood Array through brute force. No matter how many times you try, it''ll always end in failure," E Kuai scoffed with a disdainful shake of his head.
He then paid no further heed to Han Li as he closed his eyes and began absorbing the bloodline power within the Weeping Blood Array at an even faster rate than before.
Chen Yang and the others could sense their own bloodline power surging even more rapidly out of their bodies, and they let loose a collective cry of pain, but their voices weren''t very loud due to how feeble they were.
Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as he carried out the same procedure on the statue beneath Fu Jian, then did the same thing with the statue beneath E Kuai.
All of the 263 profound acupoints on his body lit up in unison, and it was as if a bright sun had appeared over the palm of his hand as he chopped down onto the crimson light barrier.
Right as his hand came into contact with the statue before him, a secret rune that had been hidden up to this point appeared below each of the five statues in unison.
Immediately thereafter, a faint buzzing sound rang out, and the entire crimson light barrier shuddered violently as ripples surged over its surface.
E Kuai''s eyes immediately sprang open upon sensing this disturbance, and he looked on with an astonished expression as Han Li stepped straight into the Weeping Blood Array, looking as if he had just made his way through a film of water.
Everyone was astonished to see this.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he sprang up to the very top of the light barrier, hovering in mid-air around ten feet above the five stone statues.
"This Weeping Blood Array truly is a miraculous creation! It feels like there''s a vast sea of power swirling around me," Han Li praised.
"Impossible! Anyone inside the array without a Weeping Blood Star Diagram will be reduced to a sacrificial object! How are you able to remain unaffected?" E Kuai eximed in an incredulous manner.
"Is this what you''re referring to, City Lord E?" Han Li asked with a smile as he extended a finger forward before drawing a circle in the air, and a crimson pentagram identical to ones on the five stone statues took shape beneath his feet.
Right at this moment, a dull thump suddenly rang out from down below.
Han Li looked down to discover that Duan Tong had also attempted to step into the array to save Fu Jian, only to be sent flying back by a burst of tremendous force, much to the amusement of Zhu Ziqing.
A spark of hope was reignited in the hearts of the four subsidiary city lords, and all of them raised their heads with great difficulty to look at Han Li with hopeful expressions.
"I''vee to meet you in the array, City Lord E. Are you ready?" Han Li asked with a smile.
A serious look then appeared on his face as he began making a string of hand seals while chanting an urgent incantation, and a few momentster, a burst of dull rumbling suddenly rang out from deep within the array.
All five the statues shuddered in unison, following which a string of brand new runes appeared over each of them, and the operation of the entire array slowed down significantly, as if it were going to stop operating altogether.
However, immediately thereafter, the viscous crimson light at the bottom of the pond rose up once again, then passed through the crimson cocoons around the four subsidiary city lords one after another before surging into E Kuai''s body.
E Kuai was rather puzzled to see this, but his befuddlement quickly turned to rm as he discovered that the purified crimson light flowing into his body was flowing out again before surging into Han Li''s body.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li''s entire body was enveloped in a giant crimson cocoon consisting of countless thin crimson threads, and he had be the final destination for the crimson light within the array.
As this burst of tremendous power surged into his body, his expression instantly became twisted with agony. He felt as if his meridians were being torn apart from the inside, and he was clenching his teeth so tightly against the pain that they were on the verge of shattering.
He had thought that after being filtered and purified by the city lords, this burst of bloodline power wouldn''t be so violent anymore, but the reality was that with only fewer then three hundred profound acupoints opened, his body was still too frail to withstand such tremendous power.
Thankfully, Han Li had developed an extraordinary pain tolerance over the course of his cultivation journey, so he was able to retain his lucidity.
Inside the crimson cocoon, over a thousand specks of white light appeared over his body, but of course, most of them were blurry and insubstantial.
"Impossible! How have you seized control of the Weeping Blood Array? Who are you?" E Kuai eximed in an incredulous manner.
Han Li paid no heed to him as he let loose a long roar and channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might, funneling the bloodline power surging into his body toward profound acupoints that he was still yet to open.
In the span of no more than twenty seconds, three profound acupoints had opened in rapid session on his chest, while everyone else looked on in astonishment.
"How could this be, Big Brother? Could it be that this human has some ties with the Great Ruins?" Zhu Ziqing asked.
Shi Chuankong was also looking on with mixed emotions,pletely stunned by the fact that Han Li seemed to have gained the upper hand over E Kuai in the Blood Weeping Array.
A cold look appeared in E Kuai''s eyes upon seeing this, and he suddenly made a hand seal before tapping a finger against his own be.
A strange crimson rune instantly appeared on his be, and the crimson light emanating from him instantly brightened to intercept the bloodline power that was flowing out of his body.
As a result, the influx of bloodline power into Han Li''s body slowed down, and he turned to E Kuai with a smile as he said, "You are only drawing upon the power of the Weeping Blood Array through illegitimate means, so there''s no way you can hope to contend with me."
Chapter 965: Taking Over the Array
Chapter 965: Taking Over the Array
"My eyes have truly been opened today! If we were outside the array, I would be able to crush you with a single finger, yet here you are, disying more insolence than you would ever dare to if we were elsewhere! Let me see what you have up your sleeve to back up that big mouth of yours!" E Kuai sneered.
Immediately thereafter, he made another hand seal before tapping his own be several more times in session, and several more identical runes appeared on his forehead, following which the bloodline power that was seeping out of his body began to return again.
Han Li paid no heed to E Kuai as he began making a string of hand seals of his own, and a burst of white light rose up from his crimson cocoon. Several cracks then appeared over the cocoon''s surface, and it bloomed into a nine-tiered crimson lotus flower.
Han Li sat down with his legs crossed, and the crimson lotus flower beneath him began to radiate dazzling crimson light while releasing a burst of tremendous suction force.
The bloodline power that was returning to E Kuai''s body instantly began to surge out of him rapidly once again, forming a mighty dragon that hurtled rapidly toward Han Li before plunging headfirst into the nine-tiered crimson lotus flower.
Han Li''s eyes immediately widened as veins began to bulge on his forehead. The elerated influx of power was exacerbating his pain by severalfold, and he felt as if there were countless sharp daggers piercing into his body.
A string of loud booms rang out as several more profound acupoints lit up over his body, and at this point, E Kuai finally came to realize the dire situation that he was in.
Not only was the bloodline power in the array beginning to funnel through his body toward Han Li, even the bloodline power that had umted in his body was beginning to seep out.
A furious look appeared on E Kuai''s face as he switched to a different hand seal, and a pair of gashes split open on the palms of his hands, bleeding profusely to stain his hands bright red.He pressed his bloodstained hands firmly into the pentagram beneath himself while chanting an urgent incantation, and the pentagram instantly began to glow brightly while releasing powerful suction force, intercepting the bloodline power that was surging into Han Li''s body.
"City Lord E, I must admit that you are the most powerful bodily refinement cultivator I''ve ever met, but do you still not understand the situation that you''re in? I''m more familiar with this array than you are, so you can''t beat me while we''re in here!" Han Li sneered as he switched to a different hand seal yet again, and the suction force released by the nine-tiered lotus flower instantly increased in potency by severalfold.
A dull thump rang out as the crimson light emanating from the pentagram beneath E Kuai abruptly fizzled out.
He was powerless to contend against Han Li any longer, and he could only look on helplessly as the power in the Weeping Blood Array flowed toward Han Li.
The insubstantial specks of white light on E Kuai''s body faded one after another, and before long, all that remained were the one thousand or so profound acupoints that he had already opened.
At the same time, the bloodline power that he thought he had already absorbed began to spill out of his body as well.
At this rate, it wouldn''t be long before he was reduced to the same state as the four subsidiary city lords.
A decisive look finally appeared on E Kuai''s face as he made a hand seal before mming a palm down upon the head of the statue beneath him, but Han Li suddenly pointed a finger in his direction as he said, "Don''t be in such a hurry to leave, City Lord E. I still need you to stay in the array for a little longer."
A vast expanse of crimson light erupted out of the pentagram beneath E Kuai, following which a seven-petaled crimson lotus flower emerged, then closed itself around him like the mouth of a giant beast.
E Kuai immediately clenched a hand into a tight fist before throwing an almighty punch at the pentagram down below.
Dense clusters of profound acupoints lit up over his arm, releasing ayer of white starlight that was giving off tremendous energy fluctuations.
A resounding boom rang out as E Kuai''s fist struck the crimson lotus flower, and the entire statue shuddered violently, but was somehow able to hold itself intact.
A burst of formidable shockwaves erupted in all directions, crashing into the inner wall of the crimson light barrier, causing the entire array to tremble violently, while everyone outside the array looked on with astonished expressions.
Suspended in mid-air, Han Li was also struggling to maintain his bnce in the face of these powerful shockwave, and he hurriedly made a string of hand seals to try and stabilize the array, but right at this moment, E Kuai mmed his bloodstained palms down onto the stone statue beneath himself once again.
Two bursts of white light erupted out of the wings on the stone statue''s back before erupting outward to forcibly create an opening on the crimson light barrier that was justrge enough for a person to fit through.
The opening appeared very unstable, and it began closing as soon as it was opened, but E Kuai had already flown out through it in a sh.
On top of that, as he flew out of the array, he reached out with both hands, and two bone chains shot out of his sleeves, instantly piercing into the crimson cocoons around Sun Tu and Chen Yang.
The two of them werepletely powerless to resist as the bone chains pierced through their shoulder des before wrenching them out of their cocoons toward the opening on the crimson light barrier.
With the three city lords exiting the array, the crimson light was only able to flow through Fu Jian and Qin Yuan before surging into Han Li''s body.
Having only undergone two rounds of purification, the bloodline power in the crimson light was far more violent than before, and in the instant that it surged into Han Li''s body, he felt as if he were about to be torn apart at the seams.
Han Li hurriedly made a hand seal in an attempt to suppress the raging bloodline power in his body, while E Kuai dragged Chen Yang Sun Tu out of the Weeping Blood Array before tossing them aside like a pair of dirty rags.
Shi Chuankong and the others were all looking on with wary expressions, and none of them dared to approach the three city lords.
"Let''s see how much longer you canst with only two people filtering the bloodline power of the array for you! Once you self-detonate, you''ll be part of the array, and I''ll absorb all of your power as well, so I actually have to thank you for your sacrifice!" E Kuai sneered as he glowered at Han Li from outside the array.
At this moment, Han Li''s ears were ringing so violently that he couldn''t hear E Kuai at all.
He was channeling the starpower in his own body with all his might, and he was able to stabilize the array again with much difficulty, but with only two city lords acting as filters, the bloodline power within the array was far too violent for him to safely withstand.
A string of dull thumps rang out over Han Li''s chest and abdomen as around a dozen more profound acupoints opened up, and what was rather strange about thistest batch of opened profound acupoints was that they were all tinged with hints of crimson light.
At the same time, his body began to swell up like a balloon, and he was in such excruciating pain that anyone with inferior mental fortitude and spiritual sense would''ve already fallen unconscious in his ce.
However, he knew that it was only going to be several more seconds before his body exploded, and in what he perceived to be his own final moments, he wondered if it would be possible for his nascent soul to survive and seek refuge in the Heaven Controlling Vial.
Everyone around the array was watching Han Li intently with mixed emotions, and Zhu Ziqing turned away slightly, seemingly not wanting to watch him self-detonate.
"This is the price that you pay for your insolence!" E Kuai chortled with glee, but to everyone''s surprise, Han Li''s inted body suddenly began to slowly contract, and it quickly returned to normal.
Han Li threw his hand over his own head as he let loose an agonized roar, but a hint of rity had returned to his eyes.
Unbeknownst to everyone else, there was currently a small, green vial in his stomach that was absorbing the violent power surging into his body like an insatiable abyss, and it seemed that there was no limit to its capacity.
As for the agonized look on Han Li''s face, that was nothing more than an act that he was putting on to fool everyone.
The vast majority of the power surging into his body was absorbed by the Heaven Controlling Vial, while only a tiny amount was being absorbed by him.
"How is this possible? He definitely shouldn''t be able tost this long!" E Kuai roared with a bewildered expression.
Shi Chuankong was already plotting his own escape, and he was also stunned by this sudden turn of events.
"What''s going, Big Brother?" Zhu Ziqing asked.
However, Zhu Ziyuan was just as perplexed as she was, and his brows were slightly furrowed as he turned his gaze to E Kuai.
All of a sudden, E Kuai vanished from the spot, only to reappear behind the stone statue beneath Qin Yuan an instantter.
"Let me see if you can keep this up after I get rid of these two as well!" E Kuai sneered.
Chapter 966: Attracting Lightning
Chapter 966: Attracting Lightning
A string of cracks and pops rang out from E Kuai''s joints as he spoke, and his height was increased by several feet as he reached out with one hand, emting what Han Li had done earlier as he forced the palm of his hand into the crimson light barrier until he made contact wti the statue inside.
In the instant that he made contact with the statue, he curled his fingers inward forcefully, piercing straight through the crimson light barrier to press his hand against the statue.
Immediately thereafter, he began chanting an urgent incantation, and the statue shuddered as the crimson light emanating from it dimmed significantly.
A dull thump rang out as the crimson cocoon around Qin Yuan imploded, and E Kuai made a hand seal with one hand while making a grabbing motion with the hand that had reached into the array, and a giant crimson hand projection appeared before making a grab for Qin Yuan.
Han Li was just about to intervene when a sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in his heart, and he immediately looked up at the sky.
At the same time, E Kuai also looked up, clearly having sensed the same thing.
At this moment, there were no longer any yellow clouds to be seen through the holes in the ceiling. Instead, all that could be seen was a vast expanse of dazzling silver light that was cascading down like a waterfall.
It was as if liquefied silver lightning were raining down from the heavens, gushing into the hall from above.
An earth-shattering thunderp rang out, and all of the lightning converged to form an incredibly thick pir of lightning that came crashing down upon E Kuai''s head with unerring uracy.Thick arcs of lightning were constantly springing out of the pir of lightning, and what sounded like draconic roars were ringing out incessantly from within.
Han Li hurriedly drifted over a hundred feet away upon seeing this, while a look of bewilderment shed through E Kuai''s eyes, following which he grabbed onto Qin Yuan and hurled him up at the oing pir of lightning without any hesitation.
A resounding boom rang out, and Qin Yuan''s body and nascent soul werepletely decimated within the silver lightning before he even had a chance to cry out.
Silver lightning erupted in all directions, illuminating the entire hall, and everyone reflexively took a step back while shielding their own eyes from the dazzling radiance.
Chen Yang had beenying on the ground this entire time, and what everyone had failed to notice was that he had pulled a palm-sized ck mirror out of the front of his robe, then traced a bloodstained finger over its surface briefly before verballymunicating something into it.
Immediately thereafter, a ring of white light appeared around E Kuai, and all of the dissipated lightning abruptly converged once again, reforming a pir of lightning that came crashing down upon him once again.
A grim look appeared on E Kuai''s face as he hurriedly darted back over a hundred feet in retreat.
However, right as the pir of lightning was about to strike the ground where E Kuai had just been standing, it abruptly swerved around and began pursuing him once again.
E Kuai''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he evaded the pir of lightning once again, only for it to continue pursuing him as if he had a target on his back.
Right at this moment, E Kuai spotted the ck mirror that Chen Yang was trying to conceal under his body, and a furious look appeared on his face as he sprang up into the air to evade the pir of lightning while reaching out into the front of his own robe to pull out a mirror that waspletely identical to Chen Yang''s, except it was a different color.
"So you''ve been plotting against me since over a century ago! You can have this back," E Kuai harrumphed coldly as he hurled the mirror at Chen Yang, and it fell to the ground with a loud crack before rolling over to his side.
A streak of white light erupted out of the surface of the mirror, and the streak of light clung to E Kuai''s body like glue, following him wherever he went.
"The Yin Yang Lightning Attraction Mirror has already absorbed too much of your aura, so you won''t be able to get away," Chen Yang sneered.
E Kuai became even more furious upon hearing this, but he had no time tosh out at Chen Yang as the pir of lightning was racing after him at an incredible speed.
No one knew where these pirs of lightning hade from, but it had to have been extremely formidable, considering how wary E Kuai was of it.
After evading the pir of lightning several more times, its speed and power still hadn''t waned in the slightest, and a decisive look appeared in E Kuai''s eyes upon seeing this.
He drifted onto the altar, taking no further evasive measures as all of the over a thouasnd profound acupoints on his body began to glow radiantly.
Ayer of scorching, white starlight enshrouded his entire body, and he lowered his own center of gravity before throwing a punch at the oing pir of lightning.
A resounding boom rang out as the pir of lightning transformed into a ball of lightning that devoured E Kuai whole.
Arcs of silver lightning sprang incessantly through the air, causing the nearby space to ripple violently, creating countless tiny spatial rifts in the process.
The crimson light barrier was on the verge of being torn apart, but it was able to remain intact thanks to the bloodline power that it was able to draw upon from the array.
Han Li was astonished as he looked up at the sky once again. The sea of yellow clouds had reappeared up above, and at the center was a massive ck hole.
Han Li immediately began to bolster the crimson light barrier around the Weeping Blood Array with all his might while also preparing himself to flee at any moment.
Close to twenty secondster, the ball of lightning finally dissipated to reveal E Kuai, who was still standing, and all of his profound acupoints continued to glow radiantly.
However, his right arm, which had made direct contact with the ball of lightning, had beenpletely charred ck.
A plume of white smoke billowed out of E Kuai''s mouth as he exhaled, and all of a sudden, his entire right arm crumbled away into ashes.
However, a burst of white light then appeared over his right shoulder, and a new arm began to rapidly take shape,pletely regenerating in the span of no more than several seconds.
At this moment, E Kuai''s face was bright red, as was his entire body, and countless veins were bulging beneath his skin, presenting an unsettling sight to behold.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this.
That''s the Hazy Helmet Technique!
In the next instant, the unnatural red coloration of E Kuai''s skin faded away, and hisplexion instantly turned as pale as a sheet.
Not only that, but small spurts of blood began to spray out of all of his profound acupoints, while blood also came gushing involuntarily out of his mouth.
Even though he had managed to withstand the pir of lightning using the Hazy Helmet Technique, it was so formidable that it had still managed to injure all of his profound acupoints.
"City Lord E!"
Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing flew over to his side with concerned looks on their faces.
E Kuai paid no heed to them as he looked up into the sky, right as seven figures decended from one of the holes in the ceiling, and they were led by none other than Sha Xin.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist E," Sha Xin giggled in a seductive manner, and the woman in purple was standing beside her.
The other five figures to round out the seven were Zhuo Fa, Wu Yun, the brawny man with the braid on his head, and two bald men d in suits of ck armor.
E Kuai didn''t seem surprised to see them at all, but all of the other Profound City cultivators were astonished by the sudden arrival of the Puppet City cultivators.
Han Li was also rather taken aback to see the Puppet City cultivators, and his gaze lingered momentarily on the woman in purple before he looked away again. At the same time, he was still putting on an agonized expression when in reality, the vast majority of the bloodline power surging into his body was still being absorbed by the Heaven Controlling Vial.
Upon catching sight of Han Li, the woman in purple suddenly shuddered slightly, and it seemed that she was about to say something, but right at this moment, several golden runes suddenly appeared on her be beneath the ck veil over her face, and her interest in Han Li abruptly faded away.
No one else had noticed this, but Han Li had been secretly observing her this entire time, so this fleeting reaction from her didn''t manage to escape his notice.
Right at this moment, two figures rushed over to join the Puppet City cultivators, namely Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing.
Ayer of bright crimson light had appeared over Chen Yang''s face, and he seemed to have taken some type of pill that had restored some of his strength.
"Well done, Fellow Daoist Chen. You''ve made a truly ster contribution in this borate plot of ours," Zhuo Fa praised with an excited look on his face.
"It was only thanks to City Lord Sha''s unmatched wisdom that this n was able to work. After taking over as the city lord of Green Goat City, I offered up this Yin Lightning Mirror to E Kuai, and the yin lightning power contained within it has a strong bodily refinement effect. Just as City Lord Sha predicted, E Kuai would be sure to carry the mirror with him at all times, and that almost led to his downfall!" Chen Yang replied with a smile.
"Fellow Daoist Xuanyuan, you also did a fantastic job of serving as a spy in Profound City for so many years," Zhuo Fa said.
"It''s my honor to be able to make a contribution to City Lord Sha," Xuanyuan Xing replied in a respectful manner.
"So all of you have been working together from the very beginning. What brilliant foresight!" E Kuai sneered in a cold voice.
Chapter 967: Vendettas
Chapter 967: Vendettas
"Likewise, City Lord E. You''ve also been plotting against all of us from the very beginning, and I''ve only done what I did out of self-preservation," Chen Yang repiled.
"Let me remind you of this, Sha Xin: only by working together will we have any chance of securing the holy remains. Without me, even if you find the holy tomb, you definitely won''t be able to obtain the holy remains," E Kuai said as he turned to Sha Xin.
"Do you really think I don''t know what happened all those years ago? My main objective for approaching you for this coboration was to have you killed in these Great Ruins!" Sha Xin sneered.
E Kuai harrumphed coldly and didn''t say anything further.
"Why has E Kuaie out of the array? Isn''t he supposed to be inside the Weeping Blood Array right now?" Sha Xin asked as she turned to Chen Yang with slightly furrowed brows.
"Some unexpected mishaps have taken ce, and I was unable to report them to you due to the restrictions around the hall," Chen Yang replied with a wry smile.
A look of realization appeared in E Kuai''s eyes upon hearing this.
If he had been inside the array as the pir of lightning had descended, then he would''ve undoubtedly been dyed, and there was a chance that he would''ve been killed on the spot.
It was all thanks to Han Li that he had emerged from the array, and with that in mind, his resentment toward Han Li abated significantly."You may have been fortunate enough to have survived, but you''re already severely injured, so just ept your fate," Sha Xin sneered with cold killing intent in her eyes as she swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a fist-sized golden ball.
A series of cracks appeared on the ball''s surface, and radiant golden light erupted out from within.
The ball then rapidly transformed into a giant golden bird puppet that was over a hundred feet tall, resembling a two-headed golden eagle. Its wingspan was also in excess of a hundred feet, and its entire body was covered in golden feathers that were etched with intricate designs.
The golden bird puppet had a very regal and majestic appearance, but at the same time, it was clearly also extremely dangerous.
E Kuai''s expression changed drastically at the sight of the golden bird puppet, and he immediatelyunched himself at Sha Xin.
Despite the severe injuries that he had sustained, he was still astonishingly fast, rhing Sha Xin in the blink of an eye.
A white longsword had appeared in his grasp, and it was radiating dazzling white light as its sharp tip pierced directly at Sha Xin''s chest.
However, right at this moment, a golden wing abruptly appeared between Sha Xin and the sword.
The white sword struck the golden wing with a resounding ng, and the wing was able to stop the sword in its tracks with ease.
At the same time, another golden wing came swinging down at E Kuai''s head like a giant golden saber, moving at an astonishing speed.
Even before the wing had fully descended, the gale-force winds that it was sweeping up had already sliced a series of deep trenches into the nearby ground.
E Kuai hurriedly dodged to the side, and at the same time, another white longsword appeared in his other hand as he shed both swords through the air, unleashing a pair of formidable sword projections that struck the oing golden wing.
A violent eruption of golden and white light ensued, and powerful shockwaves swept through the air in all directions, scraping off a thickyer of the ground.
The entire building trembled and rumbled violently, while all of the Profound City and Puppet City cultivators hurriedly darted back in retreat.
The Weeping Blood Array was also struck by the shockwaves sweeping over the altar, and Han Li hurriedly channeled the power of the array in secret to bolster the crimson light barrier.
The white sword projections were shattered, but the golden wing was also stopped in its tracks.
E Kuai threw up another mouthful of blood as he flew back in retreat, and at the same time, he stomped a foot violently down onto the ground,unching himself up at one of the holes on the ceiling.
He was moving as fast as lightning, and it reached the ceiling in the blink of an eye, yet right as he was about to fly out of the hole, a golden shadow abruptly flew through the air.
Its speed far exceeded even E Kuai''s, and it appeared directly in his path, blocking him from the hole in the ceiling.
E Kuai immediately drew to a halt upon seeing this.
At this moment, Sha Xin was standing on the bird puppet''s back, and barely visible translucent threads could be seen extending out of his fingertips, connecting them to various parts of the puppet''s body.
"Speed is the Gold-Winged Falcon''s forte, so you''re not going to be able to get away today, City Lord E. Just ept your fate," Sha Xin sneered.
All of a sudden, the Gold-Winged Falcon pped its wings forcefully, releasing countless golden feathers that screeched through the air as they rained down upon E Kuai.
Each feather transformed into a streak of radiant golden light that hurtled through the air like miniature, golden shooting stars, and E Kuai seemed to be very apprehensive of these feathers as he swung his swords rapidly through the air.
Countless white sword projections were unleashed to oppose the golden feathers, but the sword projections were instantly decimated, while the golden feathers were only slowed down slightly as they continued to rain down from above.
A grim look appeared on E Kuai''s face as all of his profound acupoints glowed radiantly, and he began spinning like a top, forming a white vortex of starlight around himself.
All of the nearby starpower converged toward him in a frenzy, and rays of white starlight were also shining down from the holes in the ceiling before fusing into the vortex.
As a result, the vortex instantly swelled to several times its original size, releasing fearsome tearing force that caused the nearby space to ripple and warp.
As soon as the golden feathers flew into the white vortex, they immediately veered off their original trajectories, being involuntarily swept up by the vortex.
Meanwhile, E Kuaished out with his swords to send the oing golden feathers flying one after another.
However, these golden feathers were imbued with tremendous power, and with each one that E Kuai repelled, he would involuntarily shudder and be knocked back slightly.
A string of resounding ngs rang out as all of the golden feathers came raining down in a ferocious barrage, mming E Kuai into the ground to create a huge crater.
Most of the golden feathers that were repelled pierced into the ground, while the rest were redirected at the nearby walls, and in the face of these golden feathers, all of the surrounding structures may as well have been carved out of tofu.
The entire hall was trembling violently from the shockwaves sweeping through the air, and it seemed like it could copse at any moment.
All of the Profound City and Puppet City cultivators had already fled even further away, and all of them were looking on in astonishment.
In the face of the two city lords, everyone else was made to resemble ants, and they couldn''t y any role in the battle at all.
The Weeping Blood Array was also struck by a pair of golden feathers, but thankfully, it was still able to continue operating.
Meanwhile, Han Li was looking on with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
Even after sustaining such severe injuries, E Kuai was still disying incredible power, so by opposing E Kuai, Han Li had put himself in a situation of extreme peril. If the Puppet City cultivators hadn''t suddenly showed up, he would''ve been in a truly dire situation.
Right at this moment, E Kuai sprang out of the crater in the ground, and the starlight emanating from his body had alreadypletely faded.
He threw up another mouthful of blood, and it seemed like he was truly a spent force.
The Gold-Winged Falcon appeared directly above E Kuai in a sh, and Sha Xin looked down at him with a cold expression as she said, "You''re not getting away. Today is the day that I avenge our master!"
The Gold-Winged Falcon pped its wings once again, unleashing another flurry of golden feathers.
Despite the terrible condition that he was in, E Kuai disyed no intention of giving up, and he was just about to defend himself when eight bursts of silver light suddenly shot forth from the side.
Each streak of light contained a silver ball, and they appeared above E Kuai in the blink of an eye.
The eight silver balls then exploded to release countless silver runes, which formed an array of silver light in the blink of an eye.
The array epassed an area with a radius of several hundred feet, and it was impossible to see E Kuai within the array.
Countless golden feathers shot into the silver array, causing it to tremble violently, but it was able to remain intact.
Sha Xin''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and she cast her gaze toward the direction that the streaks of silver light hade from, but there was no one there.
She gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, and the Gold-Winged Falcon swooped down at her behest before releasing another torrential barrage of golden feathers upon the silver array.
At the same time, a burst of radiant golden light appeared over its talons as it descended with unstoppable might.
A pair of giant golden talon projections appeared in mid-air, then wed down upon the silver array before forcefully tearing it to shreds.
At the same time, two figures sprang out of the ruined silver array, and they were none other than E Kuai and Mistress Liu Hua.
At this moment, E Kuai''splexion was looking slightly better, seemingly having administered some self-treatment while in the silver array.
Instead of fleeing toward the holes in the ceiling of the hall, the two of them rushed toward one of the walls in the hall, which was riddled with cracks after being struck by around a dozen golden feathers.
Chapter 968: Dont Disturb Me
Chapter 968: Don''t Disturb Me
"You''re not getting away!" Sha Xin yelled, and the Gold-Winged Falcon immediately set off in pursuit of E Kuai and Mistress Liu Hua at an astonishing speed, reaching them in the blink of an eye before grabbing down with its massive talons.
Right at this moment, Mistress Liu Hua suddenly swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a streak of ck light that hurtled directly toward the oing Gold-Winged Falcon like lightning.
The ck light was formed by countless tiny ck particles, and it was giving off very peculiar energy fluctuations.
Sha Xin seemed to have identified what the streak of ck light was right away, and an rmed look appeared on her face as she eximed, "Where did you obtain this Extreme Origin Maic Light from?!"
At the same time, the Gold-Winged Falcon swerved to the left at her behest to try and evade the streak of ck light, but it was already toote, and the streak of ck light struck the Gold-Winged Falcon in the abdomen.
A loud thump rang out as the burst of ck light exploded into a series of glowing ck ripples that rapidly spread outward in all directions.
The Gold-Winged Falcon''s movements instantly became extremely stiff, and high-pitched grating sounds could be heard ringing out from within it, as if its internal mechanisms were being severely impeded.
E Kuai and Mistress Liu Hua pounced on this opportunity to dart away to the side to evade the Gold-Winged Falcon, which continued to fly forward in an uncontrolled fashion before crashing heavily down onto the ground, smashing open a massive crater.
Sha Xin was able to dismount the Gold-Winged Falcon in time, and she was also smashed into the crater along with it.E Kuai and Mistress Liu Hua continued onward without pause, and right as E Kuai was passing by a certain sheltered spot, he abruptly rushed into it for a moment, and a pained cry rang out before immediately cutting off again.
As E Kuai re-emerged from that sheltered spot, he was carrying a person with him, and Han Li was surprised to identify that it was none other than Shi Chuankong.
His eyes were tightly shut, but his aura still remained, so it seemed that he had only been knocked unconscious.
This came as quite a relief to Han Li, but at the same time, he was rather perplexed. E Kuai had sustained very severe injuries, and he was still in a very perilous situation, so why was it that he had taken the time to capture Shi Chuankong instead of focusing wholeheartedly on fleeing the scene?
E Kuai continued to rush away like lightning, appearing in front of the wall that was riddled with cracks in the blink of an eye.
Radiant white starlight erupted out of his fist as he threw an almighty punch into the wall, and the entire building shuddered violently as a huge hole was smashed into the wall, allowing the light outside to shine into the hall.
Right at this moment, Sha Xin flew out of the crater in the distance, and an urgent look appeared on her face as she rushed after E Kuai and Mistress Liu Hua, disying some very impressive speed of her own.
At the same time, she swept both sleeves through the air to release a pair of silver balls, each of which split open to transform into a giant silver bird in the blink of an eye, and the two silver bird puppets pped their wings urgently as they flew after E Kuai and the Mistress Liu Hua.
Silver light was shing over the bodies of the bird puppets, and countless sharp silver spikes shot forth through the air, raining down upon the targets that they were pursuing.
Even though Sha Xin had reacted very quickly, too much distance had already been opened up between her and E Kuai''s duo, and the two of them rushed out of the hole in the wall before the bird puppets and the torrential barrage of silver spikes could reach them.
The silver spikes rained down onto the wall, instantly punching it full of countless holes.
The two silver bird puppets were quite simr in appearance to the Gold-Winged Falcon, but they seemed to be far inferior in power.
However, they weren''t much slower than the Gold-Winged Falcon, and they were unable to arrest their own momentum as they crashed heavily into the hole in the wall.
Two resounding booms rang out as the entire building shuddered violently once again, and the hole in the wall was expanded significantly, but still not to the degree that it could allow the two puppets to pass through.
The two silver puppets were stuck in the hole, and they were struggling with all their might, presenting a ratherical sight to behold.
Sha Xin rushed over to the wall with a furious expression, and she made a rapid string of hand seals, upon which the two puppets rapidly shrank back down into a pair of silver balls that flew into her grasp.
"Xiao Zi, Kun Yu,e with me. Zhuo Fa, I''m going after E Kuai, so I''ll leave everything here to you. You can have control of the Gold-Winged Falcon for now as well. Kill all of the Profound City scoundrels here!" Sha Xin ordered as she turned to Zhuo Fa.
At this moment, Fu Jian was still trapped in his crimson cocoon, and his aura was bing more and more feeble, clearly indicating that he wasn''t far away from death.
Out of the other three subsidiary city lords, Qin Yuan was dead, and Chen Yang had defected to Puppet City, so the remaining Profound City forces consisted only of Han Li, Sun Tu, Duan Tong, Zhu Ziyuan, and Zhu Ziqing.
Duan Tong, Zhu Ziyuan, and Zhu Ziqing''s expressions changed drastically upon hearing this, and they wanted to flee, but they didn''t dare to for fear of incurring Sha Xin''s wrath.
At this moment, ck light was shing over Sun Tu''s body, seemingly having unleashed some type of secret technique, and he rose to his feet with a grim expression.
"You can count on me, City Lord Sha!" Zhuo Fa assured as he cupped his fist in a salute, while the woman in purple and the brawny man by the name of Kun Yu prepared to set off with Sha Xin.
Han Li''s gaze was focused intently on the woman that had been referred to as Xiao Zi by Sha Xin. Right as the trio was about to depart, Sha Xin seemed to have suddenly detected Han Li''s gaze, and she turned to look at him.
Han Li hurriedly looked away upon seeing this, continuing to act as if he were in excruciating pain.
A hint of befuddlement shed through Sha Xin''s eyes, but she didn''t dy any longer here and flew out of the hole in the wall, followed closely by Xiao Zi and Kun Yu.
Meanwhile, Zhuo Fa made a hand gesture, and Wu Yun, the two bald men, Chen Yang, and Xuanyuan Xing immediately converged to surround Sun Tu and the others.
Grim looks appeared on the faces of the four Profound City cultivators, and they immediately formed a circle with their backs facing each other.
Inside the Weeping Blood Array, Han Li was watching the purple-robed woman''s departing figure with a conflicted look on his face.
However, he was able to quicklypose himself before continuing to absorb the tremendous bloodline power in the array.
At this point, both Sha Xin and E Kuai had already left, so he no longer had to keep up his act, and he began channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might.
Bright crimson light erupted out of his body as one profound acupoint was opened after another amid a string of dull thumps.
The entire Weeping Blood Array was also suddenly glowing far brighter than before, and the crimson light inside was swirling rapidly to form a vortex.
The attention of the Puppet City cultivators was instantly drawn to Han Li, and Sun Tu and Duan Tong pounced on this opportunity to rush out of the encirclement.
At the same time, Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing also rushed away in another direction.
Zhuo Fa cursed himself for his owncency as he immediately set off in pursuit of Sun Tu and Duan Tong with one of the bald men, and at the same time, he yelled, "Wu Yun, you and Hei Er go chase after the other two. Chen Yang, Xuanyuan Xing, I''ll leave the two people in the array to you."
Wu Yun and the other bald man gave an affirmative response before rushing after Zhu Ziyuan and his sister, while Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing made their way over to the Weeping Blood Array.
Right at this moment, a cold harrumph suddenly rang out beside their ears, and they felt as if a pair of red-hot daggers had been driven into their skulls.
They were just about to cry out in pain when a series of translucent chains shot out of the array, then vanished into their heads in a sh.
The two of them were instantlypletely immobilized and rooted to the spot.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, so Zhuo Fa and the others weren''t aware that anything was amiss. From their perspective, it simply looked like Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing were observing the Weeping Blood Array.
"Given our past history, I won''t kill you, but don''t disturb me," Han Li said in a cold voice, then continued to channel his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might.
After fleeing out of the encirclement, Sun Tu and Duan Tong immediately rushed toward the hole in the wall that had been smashed open by E Kuai.
However, both of them were carrying injuries that hampered their speed, so they were intercepted halfway by Zhuo Fa and the bald man.
Two resounding booms rang out as a giant white wolf and a giant silver panther came crashing down from above, standing directly in their path.
Each puppet was over a hundred feet tall, and they were casting enormous shadows over Sun Tu and Duan Tong.
Zhuo Fan and the bald man were each standing atop the head of one of the giant beast puppets, and Sun Tu and Duan Tong stopped in their tracks as looks of despair began to surface in their eyes.
"I have no personal qualms against you, but City Lord Sha has ordered me to take your lives, so I have no choice but to oblige," Zhuo Fa said, and the wolf puppet opened its cavernous mouth a this behest before biting down viciously upon Sun Tu and Duan Tong.
Chapter 969: One-Sided Battle
Chapter 969: One-Sided Battle
Sun Tu and Duan Tong hurriedly sprang back in retreat upon seeing this, but to their surprise, despite the wolf puppet''s enormous stature, it was extremely fast and agile.
Before Duan Tong had a chance to react, a millstone-sized front paw had already appeared before him in the blink of an eye, sweeping toward him with tremendous power.
Duan Tong''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he could only retaliate against the wolf puppet''s formidable paw with his thick right arm.
A gruesome crack rang out as Duan Tong''s arm was instantly snapped in several ces upon impact, and he was sent flying like a cannonball before crashing heavily onto the ground with blood gushing out of his mouth.
The wolf puppet shuddered as it took a step back, but it was immediately able to steady itself before opening its mouth to release a burst of white light.
The white light contained countless white flying needles that were screeching through the air, and they rained down upon Duan Tong in the blink of an eye.
The needles were imbued with tremendous power, punching countless holes into Duan Tong''s body and the ground around him, granting him a swift and painless death.
A fearful look appeared on Sun Tu''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately turned to flee.
However, right at this moment, the bald man descended upon him atop his silver panther puppet, which was swinging its two massive front paws through the air in unison.Having just witnessed how easily the giant wolf puppet had overwhelmed Duan Tong, Sun Tu didn''t dare to directly withstand the puppet''s attack, and he frantically dodged to the side, only just barely evading the puppet''s sweeping paws.
Right at this moment, a sharp screeching sound rang out, and the giant wolf puppet released another torrential barrage of white needles that rained down upon Sun Tu.
Sun Tu let loose a low roar as a thin, ck bone sword appeared in his hand amid a sh of ck light, and he shed his sword at the oing barrage of flying needles.
A burst of ck light erupted out of the sword, then transformed into a projection of a ck feline creature that opened its mouth to release a ck whirlwind, which swept up all of the flying needles.
In the blink of an eye, all of the flying needles vanished without a trace, while the feline projection also faded away, but the ck light emanating from the sword had dimmed significantly, indicating that it had just expended a great deal of its power.
However, Sun Tu then flipped a hand over to produce a white crystal, while he pressed into a slot on the hilt of the sword, and the crystal instantly vanished, while the ck light radiating from the sword was restored to its former brightness.
A hint of surprise shed through Zhuo Fa''s eyes upon seeing this, but he continued to keep up the pressure, and the giant wolf puppet pounced on Sun Tu in the blink of an eye, disying far superior speed to the silver panther puppet.
Sun Tu remained calm andposed as he once again evaded the puppet''s sweeping front paws, but after failing to strike Sun Tu with its initial attack, the wolf puppet immediately pushed off against the ground with its hindlegs to send itself crashing toward Sun Tu like a small mountain.
Yet again, Sun Tu was just barely able to evade the attack.
Thus, a game of cat and mouse ensued, with the giant wolf puppet throwing itself at Sun Tu over and over again, while Sun Tu evaded all of its formidable attacks.
Even though he was severely injured, Sun Tu was still a city lord, so he was far more powerful than Duan Tong and the others, and the giant wolf puppet was struggling to pin him down.
The puppet was disying exceptional speed and agility, far superior to what one would expect to see in a living creature of its stature, but it hadn''t unleashed any more barrages of flying needles, and it was unclear if this was because it had already used up all of its flying needles.
Even so, the giant wolf was picking up more and more speed as the battle wore on, and it was gradually beginning to catch up to Sun Tu.
Meanwhile, the bald man observed the battle from afar atop his silver panther puppet, making no attempt to help Zhuo Fa.
Zhuo Fa''s Lone Wind Wolf was a puppet of an extremely high caliber, and it would have no problems dealing with an injured city lord. On top of that, the bald man knew that he would only serve as a hindrance to Zhuo Fa, and that was why he was remaining on the sidelines.
The giant wolf puppet continued to grow faster and faster, and right at this moment, it swept its front paw through the air once again.
This time, the attack was too fast for Sun Tu to evade, yet right as he was about to be struck, he let loose a loud roar as he shed his ck sword through the air once again, releasing the same ck feline projection, which bit down onto the front paw of the giant wolf puppet, and the paw abruptly vanished into thin air, while the ck feline projection returned to the sword.
However, the giant wolf puppet then performed a barrel roll beforeshing out with its other front paw with perfect timing, as if Zhuo Fa had already anticipated that the feline projection would appear. In the same instant that the feline projection vanished into the ck sword, the giant wolf puppet''s front paw struck Sun Tu on the chest, inflicting several long and deep gashes.
Sun Tu was sent flying back through the air with blood spraying out of his mouth, and he mmed heavily into the ground with a loud thump.
Before he had a chance to get up, a short halberd shot forth through the air like lightning, piercing straight through his dantian to pin him to the ground.
Sun Tu struggled and writhed for a moment longer before fallingpletely still.
"Your puppet maniption abilities have improved even further, Pce Master Zhuo. At this point, no one in our city aside from City Lord Sha is a match for you," the bald man praised as he approached Zhuo Fa atop his silver panther puppet.
"You''re far too kind, Brother Hei Da. In terms of puppet maniption, Pce Master Wu Yun and Pce Master Kun Yu aren''t inferior to me, and Celestial Maiden Xiao Zi possesses such exceptional aptitude that even City Lord Sha has nothing but praise for her. Compared with them, I still have a lot of room for improvement," Zhuo Fa replied, then jumped down from his puppet beforending beside Sun To to recover his halberd.
His gaze then fell upon Sun Tu''s ck bone sword, and his eyes lit up slightly as he stowed the sword away.
After that, he rummaged through Sun Tu''s robes to fish out a few more items before jumping back onto his white wolf puppet.
Hei Da raised no objections to this. Zhuo Fa was the one who had killed Sun Tu, so he was naturally entitled to all the spoils.
The two of them then turned their attention to Wu Yun and Hei Er, who were currently locked in a fierce battle against Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing.
Both Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing were carrying some injuries that hampered theirbat prowess, and as result, Wu Yun and Hei Er had already gained the upper hand. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before they emerged victorious.
Meanwhile, Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing were still standing in front of the Weeping Blood Array, making no attempt to enter it.
Zhuo Fa''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he rushed over to the two of them atop his giant wolf puppet before asking in a cold voice, "What are you still waiting for, Fellow Daoist Chen Yang?"
Hei Da also arrived on the scene behind Zhuo Fa, and he suddenly interjected, "Hold on, something''s not quite right here."
Only then did Zhuo Fa notice the dazed looks on Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing''s face, and he drifted down from his puppet before giving Chen Yang a nudge as he asked, "What''s going on here?"
However, Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing remainedpletely still and unresponsive.
"It looks to me like restrictions have been ced on their souls," Hei Da remarked.
"That does appear to be the case, but who could''ve done this? Does it have something to do with this array?" Zhuo Fa mused as he cast his gaze toward Han Li and Fu Jian inside the array.
At this point, the crimson cocoons around them had already be so thick that it was impossible to see the two of them from outside the array.
"In any case, we can''t allow this array to keep operating any longer," Zhuo Fa said as a cold gleam shed through his eyes, and he leaped back onto his giant wolf puppet.
A burst of radiant white light emerged over the puppet''s body at his behest, all of which converged toward its only remaining front paw.
Immediately thereafter, the puppet sprang up into the air before swiping its front paw at the Weeping Blood Array, unleashing five crescent-shaped w projections that were each several hundred feet in length.
The w projections were giving off an extremely formidable aura, and Zhu Ziyuan and the others all turned to see what was happening from afar.
The five w projections descended upon the crimson light barrier in the blink of an eye, and right at this moment, countless crimson runes suddenly appeared over the light barrier.
As a result, the light barrier was significantly bolstered, and an earth-shattering boom rang out as blinding red and white light erupted in all directions, causing the entire hall to tremble violently.
The tremors quickly subsided, while the white and red light also faded away to reveal the crimson light barrier, which remainedpletely unscathed.
Zhuo Fa''s expression immediately darkened slightly upon seeing this.
"It looks like the two people in the array must be responsible for what happened to Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing. Pce Master Zhuo, let''sbine our powers to break this light barrier together!" Hei Da urged.
Chapter 970: Holding the Fort
Chapter 970: Holding the Fort
Hei Da raised both hands up into the air as he spoke, and a series of shing silver patterns appeared over the body of the silver panther puppet.
"This light barrier is too resilient for our puppets to break through on their own," Zhuo Fa said as he raised a hand to stop Hei Da.
"What do we do then?" Hei Da asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"Don''t worry, our puppets may not be able to break this restriction, but we have another trump card up our sleeves. This must be why City Lord Sha left the Gold-Winged Falcon puppet behind for us," Zhuo Fa said as he turned to the Gold-Winged Falcon.
Right at this moment, a cold harrumph suddenly rang out beside his ears, and he let loose an involuntary cry of pain as he reflexively threw his hands over his own head.
At the same time, several translucent chains shot out of the array, reaching Zhuo Fa in the blink of an eye, yet right as they were about to vanish into his head, dozens of near-transparent thin threads abruptly shot out of his be before wrapping themselves around the oing translucent chains.
The translucent chains were instantly stopped cold in their tracks, but the chains were far thicker and more powerful than the translucent threads, so they were able to continue inching forward through the resistance.
However, this brief window of respite was all that was required for Zhuo Fa to recover from the effects of Han Li''s Spirit Stun Thorn, and he leaped up from his giant wolf puppet before rushing away into the distance as he sneered, "Looks like you must not have much experience in facing us Puppet City cultivators in battle. Otherwise, you''d know that a spiritual attack of this caliber wouldn''t pose any threat to us."
Hei Da also immediately retreated into the distance with Zhuo Fa, while Han Li made a hand seal from within the Weeping Blood Array, and his spiritual sense chains struggled free from the translucent threads before flying back to him.After that, Han Li took a deep breath and continued to focus on channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
During this brief period of time, he had opened close to thirty more profound acupoints.
Zhuo Fa flew onto the Gold-Winged Falcon in the blink of an eye, and a series of translucent threads shot out of his fingertips before vanishing into the puppet''s body.
Meanwhile, Hei Da was standing in front of the Gold-Winged Falcon, observing the Weeping Blood Array from afar with a wary look on his face.
Some of the ck light was still lingering on the surface of the Gold-Winged Falcon''s body, but it had stopped proliferating.
A burst of radiant golden light appeared over the Gold-Winged Falcon''s body at Zhuo Fa''s behest, and the golden light began to retaliate against the ck light.
As a result, the ck light began to dissipate, but at a very slow rate.
A hint of impatience shed through Zhou Fa''s eyes as he pulled out the ck bone sword that he had just taken from Sun Tu before shing it through the air.
The feline projection reappeared, but it was looking far fainter than before, and it also seemed to be quitezy and reluctant to move.
Zhuo Fa harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and several translucent threads shot out of the palm of his hand before vanishing into the hilt of the sword, and only then did the feline projection spring into action, opening its mouth to devour the ck light on the Gold-Winged Falcon''s body.
With the feline projection working in conjunction with the golden light radiating from the Gold-Winged Falcon''s body, the ck light was quickly eradicated, and the Gold-Winged Falcon immediately spread its wings and flew up into the air, then darted around in the hall at an astonishing speed, easily leaving dozens of afterimages in its wake.
With each p of its wings, gusts of ferocious wind were released, slicing deep gashes into the ground and the walls of the hall, forcing Wu Yun, Zhu Yuanzi, and the others to take evasive measures.
A fearful look appeared in Zhu Ziyuan''s eyes as he looked up at the blurry golden shadow that was darting through the air.
This was Zhuo Fa''s first time controlling this puppet, so he was rather unfamiliar with it, and as a result, the Gold-Winged Falcon''s flight was slightly unstable.
However, it didn''t take long at all for Zhuo Fa to adjust, and an excited look appeared in his eyes as he praised, "As expected of the fastest puppet in all of Puppet City!"
He then cast his gaze toward the Weeping Blood Array as a cold gleam shed through his eyes.
All of a sudden, the Gold-Winged Falcon let loose a sharp screech at his behest, and it flew at the array like a bolt of golden lightning.
As it drew close to the array, the Gold-Winged Falcon suddenly folded its wings against its own body, making it resemble a giant golden spike that was hurtling through the air with unstoppable might.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which a Spiritual Sense Sword flew out of his be.
It was very taxing on his spiritual sense to keep Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing''s souls imprisoned, so this Spiritual Sense Sword was far less formidable than what he was normally capable of unleashing.
The sword was aimed at Zhuo Fa instead of the Gold-Winged Falcon, and it appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye before racing toward his be.
Zhuo Fa''s expression changed drastically upon sensing the aura of the Spiritual Sense Sword, and he hurriedly leaped to the side to take evasive measures.
However, the Spiritual Sense Sword abruptly changed directions as well, sweeping toward the translucent threads extending out of Zhuo Fa''s fingertips.
"Did you think I would fail to anticipate such an obvious ploy?" Zhuo Fa sneered with a mocking look in his eyes, and the translucent threads attached to his fingertips suddenly took on a form resembling intangible mist.
The Spiritual Sense Sword continued onward without pause, sweeping through the translucent mist, causing it to implode and dissipate into specks of translucent light.
Much of the Spiritual Sense Sword''s power seemed to have been expended in the process, and it dimmed significantly as if flew back into the Weeping Blood Array.
An astonished look appeared on Zhuo Fa''s face as he lost control of the Gold-Winged Falcon, and its wings spread open on their own, causing it to fly directly upward.
As a result, it was the puppet''s abdomen that crashed into the crimson light barrier instead of its beak.
The crimson light barrier caved in drastically, then rebounded forcefully to send the Gold-Winged Falcon flying up toward the ceiling.
Zhuo Fa frantically made a string of hand seals upon seeing this, and more translucent threads shot out of his fingertips before vanishing into the Gold-Winged Falcon''s body in a sh.
After the Gold-Winged Falcon fell back under Zhuo Fa''s control, it pped its wings rapidly, stopping itself right before it struck the ceiling of the hall.
Zhuo Fa heaved a long sigh of relief, then cast his gaze toward the Weeping Blood Array, and the Gold-Winged Falcon immediately pounced down upon the array once again at his behest.
However, this time, instead of attacking with its beak, the Gold-Winged Falcon kept its distance and pped its wings vigorously, sending countless golden feathers raining down upon the crimson light barrier.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this.
At this moment, there weren''t many resources that he could draw upon while inside the array. If Zhuo Fa were near the array, then he would be able to retaliate, but if Zhuo Fa kept his distance and attacked from afar, then there was nothing that Han Li could do.
In the end, Han Li had no choice but to bolster the crimson light barrier even further in an attempt to keep out the golden feathers.
A string of resounding booms rang out, and the crimson light barrier trembled violently while being rapidly whittled down.
At the same time, Hei Da also began unleashing long-range attacks with his silver panther puppet to assist Zhuo Fa.
The crimson light barrier was whittled down further and further, and it didn''t take long before it was finally shattered, upon which the torrential barrage of golden feathers rained down onto the array.
These golden feathers were astonishingly powerful, decimating most of the array with ease.
What remained of the array shuddered violently as a series of giant bulges appeared on its surface before exploding violently, and the entire array waspletely destroyed, sending formidable crimson shockwaves erupting in all directions.
Even though Zhuo Fa and Hei Da were situated quite far away, they were still swept up by the crimson shockwaves, forcing them into retreat along with their puppets.
Zhuo Fa frantically made a string of hand seals to try and stabilize the Gold-Winged Falcon, but before he was able to do so, a radiant, white figure suddenly shot out of the crimson shockwaves up ahead before throwing an almighty punch at Zhuo Fa.
The fist was imbued with tremendous power, leaving a clear white mark in the space in its wake.
Zhuo Fa''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly darted back in retreat, abandoning the Gold-Winged Falcon in the process.
At the same time, a thick pir of white light erupted out of the sole of each of his feet, enhancing his speed even further, and only then was he just barely able to dodge the oing punch.
The figure harrumphed coldly as he stomped down onto the Gold-Winged Falcon''s back, and a dull thud rang out as the Gold-Winged Falcon was sent plummeting to the ground like an asteroid.
By using the Gold-Winged Falcon as aunching pad, the white figure was able to achieve extraordinary eleration, reaching Zhuo Fa in the blink of an eye.
A panicked look appeared on Zhuo Fa''s face as eight streaks of ck light shot out of his spinal column, resembling a full set of spider legs.
Each leg was around twenty to thirty feet in length, with sharp ck tips that were giving off a menacing gleam, and the eight legs pierced rapidly at the white figure in unison.
Chapter 971: Extraordinary Aptitude
Chapter 971: Extraordinary Aptitude
Even though the eight spider legs were extremely fast, the white figure was even faster, and in the blink of an eye, he was able to grab onto all eight spider legs with his hands before snapping them with ease.
The white figure then hurled the eight snapped spider legs back at Zhuo Fa, sending them piercing into his chest.
As a result, Zhuo Fa was sent flying back through the air, and he twisted around in mid-air before a long, white chain shot out of his sleeve, then pierced into the ceiling with a loud crack.
He tugged forcefully onto the chain with one hand,unching himself into one of the holes on the ceiling, and this entire sequence of movements was performed in a very agile fashion, as if he hadn''t sustained any injuries at all.
The white figure seemed to be rather taken aback by this, but instead of chasing after Zhuo Fa, then began to descend rapidly out of the sky.
The crimson shockwaves down below had only just subsided, and Hei Da immediately began fleeing toward the hole in the wall atop his silver panther puppet with a horrified look on his face.
However, right at this moment, the white figure abruptly appeared on the silver panther puppet''s head in a wraith-like manner.
"Why are you in such a hurry, Fellow Daoist Hei Da?" the figure asked, and a burst of tremendous power erupted out of their body, instantly shattering the silver panther puppet''s head.
Hei Da''s first instinct was to flee, but it then urred to him that there was no way he would be fast enough to escape from the white figure, so he stopped in his tracks again."You''re a smart man, Fellow Daoist Hei Da. If you had dared to attempt an escape just now, you would''ve ended up just like this puppet," the white figure said as they stomped onto what little remained of the silver panther puppet''s head, and its enormous body was instantly sent crashing into the ground.
Hei Da shuddered as a fearful look shed through his eyes, and he remainedpletely still on the spot, not daring to make any false moves.
All of a sudden, a hole was sted into the wall in the distance, and Wu Yun and Hei Er rushed out of the hole as quickly as they could.
The white figure hade from within the Weeping Blood Array, so he was clearly one of the two Profound City cultivators inside. With that in mind, the two of them immediately abandoned Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing to flee for their lives.
Zhu Ziqing was just about to turn and flee as well, only to be stopped by Zhu Ziyuan, and the two of them spoke briefly through voice transmission before making their way toward the white figure together.
Zhu Ziyuan''s body was riddled with wounds, but he was still standing as straight as ever, and he cupped his fist in a grateful salute toward the white figure as he said, "Thank you for saving us, Fellow Daoist Li."
Zhu Ziqing also quickly followed suit.
The white light around the figure quickly faded to reveal none other than Han Li.
"Those two left on their own, so you have nothing to thank me for," Han Li replied in an indifferent manner.
He harbored no animosity toward the Zhu siblings. However, now that he had be sworn enemies with E Kuai, he naturally didn''t consider the two of them to be his allies, either.
"In any case, you saved our lives, and for that, I owe you a favor, Fellow Daoist Li. I''ll be sure to repay you in the future, but for now, we''ll be taking our leave," Zhu Ziyuan said, then began making his way toward the nearest hole in the wall.
Zhu Ziqing took a nce at Han Li, and it seemed like she wanted to say something, but ultimately remained silent as she followed along after Zhu Ziyuan.
The two of them quickly leaped out of the hole in the wall and vanished out of sight.
"Fellow Daoist Li, may I ask why you''ve instructed me to stay behind?" Hei Da asked with an uneasy expression.
"Don''t be afraid, I only asked you to stay as I have a few questions for you. If your answers prove to be satisfactory, then I''ll spare your life. Come with me," Han Li replied, then turned and made his way into the distance.
Hei Da was very relieved to hear this, and he immediately followed along.
The two of them quickly arrived beside the Gold-Winged Falcon, and after examining the puppet for a moment, Han Li turned to Hei Da as he asked, "If I''m not mistaken, the cultivators of your Puppet City are using spiritual sense threads to manipte these puppets, right?"
"That''s correct," Hei Da replied.
"It must require very powerful spiritual sense to aplish this, so all of you Puppet City cultivators must be using some spiritual sense enhancement secret technique, right? What is the name of this secret technique?" Han Li asked.
"It''s a secret technique bestowed upon us by City Lord Sha, and it''s called the Puppet Heart Technique," Hei Da replied.
"Give me the secret technique," Han Li ordered in a cold voice.
A hesitant look appeared on Hei Da''s face upon hearing this.
"Is there a problem?" Han Li asked as a hint of killing intent shed through his eyes.
"Not at all! Here''s the secret technique," Hei Da hurriedly replied in a fearful manner as he pulled out a jade slip before offering it up to Han Li.
Han Li''s expression eased slightly as he epted the jade slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
The jade slip contained a spiritual sense enhancement secret technique that was no less profound than the Spirit Refinement Technique, and it consisted of five levels.
Aside from the secret technique itself, the jade slip also contained instructions on how to manifest one''s spiritual sense into threads suitable for puppet maniption.
Han Li was very interested in the art of puppetry to begin with, so he immediately began to study the contents of the jade slip closely.
A short whileter, he stowed the jade slip away before raising his hands, and thick translucent threads shot out of his fingertips before vanishing into the Gold-Winged Falcon''s body.
A burst of golden light instantly appeared over the Gold-Winged Falcon as it rose up into the air, much to Hei Da''s astonishment.
The art of puppet maniption was extremely difficult to master, and even with sufficient spiritual sense, it would normally take at least a century of diligent practice to master the art, yet Han Li had aplished this in what seemed like the blink of an eye!
Han Li sprang onto the Gold-Winged Falcon''s back, and it immediately began flying around inside the hall at his behest.
However, as aplete novice in puppet maniption, his control over the Gold-Winged Falcon was far inferior to that of Zhuo Fa, and it was flying in a very unstable manner.
Han Li only flew around atop the Gold-Winged Falcon briefly before jumping back down onto the ground.
The art of puppet maniption was extremely difficult to master, and he was only able to just barely get the hang of it thanks to his tremendous spiritual sense. Furthermore, he had no intention of using puppets in battle, and he was only familiarizing himself with the art of puppet maniption in order to better prepare himself for potential future battles against Puppet City cultivators.
"I saw earlier that these puppets can be shrunk down into balls. How is that done?" Han Li asked.
Having already given Han Li the Puppet Heart Technique, Hei Da didn''t have any qualms about revealing further information, and he replied, "That''s aplished using a secret technique invented by City Lord Sha thatbines puppetry techniques with a spatial secret technique."
With that, Hei Da gave Han Li a detailed exnation of how the secret technique worked.
It was a ratherplex secret technique, but now that Han Li had already achieved elementary mastery over puppet maniption, he was able to quickly master this secret technique as well, and before long, the Gold-Winged Falcon had shrunk down into a ball that was sitting on the palm of his hand.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, and Hei Da was very relieved to see that Han Li was in a good mood.
"Do you have any other questions for me, Fellow Daoist Li? I''ll be sure to tell you everything I know," Hei Da said in a sycophantic manner.
"What are Puppet City''s objectives for entering the Great Ruins?" Han Li asked.
"ording to City Lord Sha, we have two objectives, one of which is to kill E Kuai, while the other is to obtain the holy remains. As for whether there are any other hidden objectives, that''s beyond me," Hei Da replied.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then said in a serious manner, "I have one final question for you. If you can answer it well, then I''ll let you leave."
"Please go ahead, Fellow Daoist Li," Hei Da hurriedly prompted.
"That woman in the purple robe that''s been apanying City Lord Sha this entire time, her name is Xiao Zi, right? What do you know about her? When did she firste to Puppet City?" Han Li asked.
"Xiao Zi has always been by City Lord Sha''s side, and she never seems tomunicate with anyone outside of City Lord Sha, so I''m afraid I don''t know much about her at all. All I know is that she possesses exceptional talent in the art of puppet maniption, so City Lord Sha holds her in very high regard.
¡°As for when did she firste to Puppet City, I only recently came out of a period of seclusion thatsted several centuries, and by the time I came out, she was already in our Puppet City. Apparently, she first arrived in our city over a century ago," Hei Da replied.
Han Li was silent for a long while upon hearing this, following which he raised his head and said, "Alright, you can go now."
Hei Da was ecstatic to hear this, and he cupped his fist in a parting salute before rushing out of the hall.
Han Li remained standing on the spot for a moment, then heaved a faint sigh before stowing away Zhuo Fa''s white wolf puppet as well.
After that, he strode over to the pentagonal pond.
Even though the Weeping Blood Array had beenpletely destroyed, the pond remainedrgely unscathed.
At this point, the door of crimson light at the bottom of the pond had already vanished, but Fu Jian wasying on the bottom of the pond in apletely still manner.
Han Li jumped down into the pond before examining Fu Jian''s condition with his spiritual sense.
At this point, it would be an understatement to describe Fu Jian''s condition as dire. His bones, muscles, and organs were all on the verge of failure, and even his nascent soul was close to dissipating.
What little remained of his aura was rapidly fading, and it wasn''t going to take long before it vanished altogether.
Han Li naturally harbored no positive feelings toward Fu Jian, but even so, he couldn''t help but feel a hint of sorrow at the terrible fate that had befallen Fu Jian.
After taking a moment topose himself, Han Li cast his gaze toward the spot where the door of crimson light had been just a moment ago, only to find that there wasn''t even the slightest trace of it left behind.
Chapter 972: Private Conflict
Chapter 972: Private Conflict
Han Li swept his gaze over the surrounding area with a contemtive look on his face.
Even though he had found a diagram of the Weeping Blood Array in the back of the hall, he still had no idea why the array was here and where the bloodline power surging out of the crimson gate of light hade from.
It seemed that E Kuai still knew a bit more than he did.
The fact that both E Kuai and Sha Xin had left this ce without any hesitation indicated that the holy remains definitely weren''t here.
In that case, he had no choice but to follow them deeper into the Scalptia Spatial Domain, both to pursue Violet Spirit and to find a way to leave this ce.
With that in mind, a decisive look appeared on his face, and dense clusters of profound acupoints lit up over his body, amounting to a total of 475.
Even with Zhuo Fa''s interference, Han Li was still able to master the first three levels of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts before the Weeping Blood Array copsed.
On top of that, the Heaven Controlling Vial had absorbed the majority of the array''s power, so he could draw upon it to continue breaking more profound acupoints in the future.
Even though he was still currently no match for E Kuai and Sha Xin, he was confident that he could crush any of the other cultivators from the two cities.Furthermore, with his speed and movement techniques, he was somewhat confident in his ability to escape from E Kuai and Sha Xin should a conflict arise.
Han Li quickly concealed his profound acupoints again before turning his gaze to the other side of the blood pond, where Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing were still rooted to the spot.
Several translucent chains flew out of their heads at Han Li''s behest, instantly restoring their mobility.
The two of them looked around to discover that the hall was even more severely ravaged than before, and on top of that, there was no one else here aside from Han Li.
An awkward look appeared on Chen Yang''s face as he stuttered, "Fellow Daoist Li, you... I..."
"The Puppet City cultivators have already left. If you want to go after them, then go ahead," Han Li said in an indifferent manner, then flew out of one of the holes in the walls.
Upon arriving outside the hall, Han Li swept his gaze over his surroundings with slightly furrowed brows.
His spiritual sense was next to useless in the Great Ruins, so he could only carefully examine the residual energy fluctuations in the air to try and determine where Sha Xin and the others had gone.
However, too much time had passed, and the residual energy fluctuations in the air had be far too scattered. Hence, he could only decide on a rough direction to set off in.
At this moment, he felt as if his own body were filled with inexhaustible power that he was still rather unustomed to, and he would often find himself overbncing slightly from exerting too much force while racing along the ground.
As he sped over the horizon, he encountered many sets of ruins, but he was too fixated on his goal of pursuing that woman by the name of Xiao Zi to examine any of those ces.
Three dayster.
Han Li arrived in arge, abandoned garden with a series of fake mountains of different shapes and sizes littered throughout.
As he was passing through the garden, he suddenly heard the sound of a battle ringing out up ahead to his left, alongside a rather familiar voice.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he suppressed his own starpower fluctuations before continuing onward in a cautious manner.
After emerging from the garden and traveling for close to another ten kilometers, he arrived at an enormous basin that was hundreds of thousands of feet in diameter.
From there, he hid behind a semi-copsed stone wall before looking into the basin.
A woman d in a suit of bone armor was wielding a bone whip in one hand and a bone spear in the other, shing against a saber-wielding man in a suit of ck armor.
It really is her...
The woman was none other than Gu Qianxun, and she was currently locked in battle against Shi Zhanfeng, who had put on a suit of purple devilish armor that was able to withstand all of Gu Qianxun''s attacks.
At the same time, he was wielding a white bone saber, with which he was exerting tremendous pressure upon Gu Qianxun.
Gu Qianxun already had three profusely bleeding holes pierced into her lower abdomen, and at this rate, it was only going to be a matter of time before she was defeated.
Han Li also noticed that there was a female body lying lifelessly on the ground not far away from them. It was the petite woman who had been apanying Shi Zhanfeng earlier, and there was arge hole in her chest.
A loud ng rang out as Gu Qianxun''s whip wrapped itself around Shi Zhanfeng''s saber, following which its sharp tip pierced directly at his face like a springing viper.
Shi Zhanfeng sprang back in retreat while tugging on his saber, and the bone whip wrapped around it was instantly stretched taut.
At the same time, all of the star acupoints on the saber began to glow radiantly, releasing a burst of tremendous starpower that instantly snapped the bone whip into pieces.
Gu Qianxun was also struck by this formidable wave of starpower, exacerbating the injuries in her lower abdomen even further, and she involuntarily stumbled back a step.
Before she had a chance to steady herself, Shi Zhanfeng''s saber was already swinging down upon her with tremendous power, and she had no choice but to raise her bone spear to defend herself.
The ground beneath her feet was instantly shattered from the force of the sh, and her legs sank down into the ground up to her knees as she threw up a mouthful of blood while trembling uncontrobly.
Shi Zhanfeng flicked her spear away with his saber, then rested the de of the saber against her neck as he interrogated with a threatening expression, "Who instructed you to attack me?"
Gu Qianxun took a nce at the body of the petite woman on the ground with a wistful look in her eyes.
If that woman hadn''t shielded Shi Zhanfeng from a lethal blow at the cost of her own life, there was a chance that Shi Zhanfeng could already be dead by now.
"If you''re going to kill me, then go ahead," Gu Qianxun said in aposed manner.
"The Myriad Opportunity Pce is still waiting for me, so I have no time to waste with you here. If you insist on falling by my de, then I''ll grant you that wish!" Shi Zhanfeng sneered as he raised his saber to decapitate her.
Right at this moment, a ball of fire shot forth through the air, striking Shi Zhanfeng''s saber with such incredible power that he was sent stumbling away to the side.
Shi Zhanfeng took a nce at his own saber to discover that a red-hot, molten rock was currently slowly sliding down the de of the saber.
He hurriedly turned around to find a tall figure in the distance, casually approaching the scene while tossing a few walnut-sized rocks up and down in his hands.
A stunned look appeared on Shi Zhanfeng''s face as he identified Han Li, and mixed emotions surfaced in Gu Qianxun''s eyes as well.
"Long time no see, Your Highness," Han Li said with a faint smile.
Shi Zhanfeng''s eyes narrowed slightly as he sized up Han Li from afar. For some reason, he couldn''t help but feel as if there were something different about him.
"Are you going to get involved in our private conflict, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Zhanfeng asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I don''t know what bad blood exists between you two, but I have some things to discuss with her, so I''ll have to ask you to leave, Your Highness," Han Li said as he stopped in his tracks.
"You can have a chat with her after we''ve settled our differences!" Shi Zhanfeng sneered as he swung his saber at the back of Gu Qianxun''s head with incredible speed.
A burst of radiant starlight erupted out of the palm of Han Li''s hand, instantly burning the rocks that he was holding into a red-hot state, and with a flick of his wrist, four semi-molten rocks were sent flying out of his grasp, reaching Shi Zhanfeng in the blink of an eye, with two of them aimed at his saber and the other two aimed at his heart and his dantian.
Shi Zhanfeng hurriedly withdrew his saber to defend himself, and the two rocks aimed at his saber missed their target, while the rocks aimed at his body were kept out by the saber.
The saber shuddered violently as the t of its de crashed into his chest, sending him flying back close to a thousand feet, and his legs were like a pair of plows, leaving a pair of deep trenches in the ground.
After steadying himself, Shi Zhanfeng looked down at the pair of cracks that had appeared on the de of his saber with tightly furrowed brows, then quicklyposed himself again as he smiled and said, "Looks like you''ve found more fated opportunities in these Great Ruins, Fellow Daoist Li. If you insist on saving her, then you can have her."
As soon as his voice trailed off, the white saber in his hand snapped into three pieces.
Despite this, he remainedposed as he tossed the hilt of the saber aside, then bade farewell to Han Li before departing, quickly vanishing into the distance.
Han Li made no attempt to stop him as he strode over to Gu Qianxun.
Chapter 973: Pursuit
Chapter 973: Pursuit
Gu Qianxun watched as Han Li drew closer and closer, and it was unclear what she was thinking.
"You can let go of the thing that''s in your hand. Surely there''s no need to use that on me," Han Li said.
Gu Qianxun rxed a little upon hearing this, and he stowed away the white jade pendant that she was holding, then sat down before pulling her own legs out of the ground.
"Why did you help me when I already turned on you earlier?" Gu Qianxun asked after devouring a beast core.
"I met Mistress Liu Hua earlier, and he removed the ck Tribtion Centipede in my body, so I''m helping you as a form of repayment to him," Han Li exined.
"You met him? How is he?" Gu Qianxun hurriedly asked.
"He''s doing well. He should currently be with E Kuai right now, traveling to where the holy remains are," Han Li replied, and a look of relief appeared on Gu Qianxun''s face upon hearing this.
"Who exactly are you?" Han Li suddenly asked.
"I''m sure you''ve already figured it out at this point, haven''t you? I''m a pawn left in the Scalptia Spatial Domain by His Highness, Shi Pokong. If it wasn''t for his protection, I would''ve already perished by Du Qingyang''s hands alongside my mother, and it''s all thanks to him that I was able to survive and exact my revenge. Hence, I was obligated to follow his orders to eliminate Shi Zhanfeng and Shi Chuankong," Gu Qianxun replied.Gu Qianxun''s reply confirmed the suspicions that Han Li had harbored ever since their previous encounter, and he nodded calmly in response.
A wry smile appeared on Gu Qianxun''s face as she sighed, "If possible, I really don''t want to be your enemy."
"You can go after Shi Zhanfeng as you please. In fact, I can even help you kill him if you need, but if you go after Shi Chuankong again, then I''ll have no choice but to strike you down," Han Li warned.
Mixed emotions shed through Gu Qianxun''s eyes upon hearing this, and she offered no response.
"Shi Zhanfeng should be far away by now, so you shouldn''t be in any more danger. This is where we part ways," Han Li said, then turned and departed without any hesitation.
Gu Qianxun remained seated in silence for a long while before rising to her feet.
She was still looking a little unsteady on her feet as she strode over to her bone spear before picking it up, then took a deep breath before setting off in the same direction that Han Li had just departed in.
At this moment, Han Li was racing along with slightly furrowed brows, and there were many thoughts running through his mind.
He had thought that this trip into the Scalptia Spatial Domain would only be a brief one, and that he would be able to quickly return after finding Violet Spirit, but he had inadvertently be caught up in the conflict between Profound City and Puppet City.
That was already quite a pain in the backside, and now that it had be clear that Shi Zhanfeng and Shi Pokong also had some involvement in this ce, the circumstances had only be moreplicated.
Compared with Shi Zhanfeng, Han Li was more wary of Shi Pokong. The fact that Gu Qianxun was a pawn of his clearly indicated that he had already been exerting his influence upon the Scalptia Spatial Domain for a very long time.
The only reason that they could be interested in a ce as barren and deste as the Scalptia Spatial Domain had to be the holy remains in the Great Ruins.
With that in mind, Han Li couldn''t help but wonder if that was also why Shi Chuankong had willingly apanied him into the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
At the same time, he was thinking about Daoist Xie.
Upon entering the Scalptia Spatial Domain, he discovered that his connection with Daoist Xie had be far weaker than before. It wasn''t that their spiritual connection had been severed. Instead, Daoist Xie suddenly felt a lot more unfamiliar to him.
Thinking back to the contents of the jade slip that Daoist Xie had given him, Han Li couldn''t help but be curious about Daoist Xie''s objectives.
In fact, he was even beginning to suspect that this former owner of Daoist Xie''s was none other than that set of holy remains, or perhaps the former owner of the Great Ruins. Otherwise, how was it possible that the jade slip contained information known to no one else?
Even the route that he was currently taking was one that had been mentioned in the jade slip.
After traveling for several hundred kilometers, Han Li began to spot more and more signs of recent battles, presumably left behind by E Kuai and Sha Xin.
asionally, he would stop to take a look, only to quickly set off again.
......
Close to a month flew by in a sh.
On this day, Han Li arrived on arge white stone za.
There were four nine-story pagodas situated on the four corners of the za, and at the center of the za was a majestic pce that was far more massive than any other building he had previously seen in the Great Ruins.
Furthermore, in contrast with all of the ruins that he had encountered, this building was extremely well-preserved, and there were no signs of the ravages of time at all, as if the pce had been newly constructed not long ago.
Looking at the pce from afar, Han Li could see that its giant gates were wide open, and hanging above the entrance was a golden que that read: "Myriad Opportunity Hall".
Han Li immediately recalled hearing this name mentioned by Shi Zhanfeng earlier.
He suppressed his own aura fluctuations as he sped over to the pce, and while approaching the building, he noticed that there were many star runes engraved onto the ground, forming an extremelyplex array several thousand feet away from the pce.
Upon reaching the staircase at the foot of the pce, Han Li discovered another separate array.
As he reached the entrance of the pce, Han Li discovered many char marks all over the gates, and all of the restrictions on them had beenpletely destroyed.
Instead of immediately entering the pce, peered into the building from outside to discover that the interior was in a state ofplete disarray.
All of the furniture inside had been tipped over or smashed into bits, clearly indicating that a fierce battle had taken ce here not long ago.
Han Li listened carefully for a while, but the pce remainedpletely silent, and that was slightly reassuring to him as he stepped inside.
The pce waspletely empty with the exception of some furniture and puppet fragments, and E Kuai and the others were nowhere to be seen.
After conducting a thorough examination, Han Li discovered that these puppets were very simr to the ones that he had encountered elsewhere in the Great Ruins, indicating that they were puppets stationed here to defend this pce rather than puppets under the control of Puppet City.
Right at this moment, he suddenly spotted a ck stone chair, which was standing upright andpletely unscathed amid all of the wreckage.
He strode over to the chair, and after conducting a brief examination, a faint smile appeared on his face.
He grabbed onto the back of the chair with both hands, then twisted it to the side, and a grating noise rang out as a pitch-ck passageway that led underground appeared beside the chair.
After a brief hesitation, Han Li jumped down into the passageway, then followed the stone staircase inside downward.
After walking several thousand feet through the darkness, he reached the bottom of the staircase, arriving at an opening.
Han Li slowed down to ensure that he was walking as quietly as possible, but as he drew close to the opening, he abruptly channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts and flew inside in a sh.
From there, he immediately swung around to inspect his surroundings, and he was relieved to see that there was no ambush waiting for him.
He quickly ducked behind arge rock, then carefully cast his gaze forward.
Up ahead was a giantke of blood that was tens of thousands of feet in size, and the blood inside was constantly rippling slightly.
The surface of theke was enshrouded under ayer of crimson light, and Han Li could see a crystal coffin floating on the surface of theke at its very center.
The coffin was tapered from top to bottom, and it was over a hundred feet in size. It was transparent and wless, and there was an extremelyplex array engraved upon it.
Upon close examination, Han Li discovered that the core of the array was a pentagram design, but there were at least five other arrays branching out from it, all of which were interconnected in an extremely profound fashion.
Inside the coffin was a skeleton that was over a hundred feet tall, and all of its bones were as translucent as jade.
There were some sharp horns on the skeleton''s skull, and there were also long tusks protruding out of its mouth. Furthermore, the entire skeleton was covered in ayer of scale-like patterns.
Right at this moment, Han Li detected Daoist Xie''s aura, but it was extremely faint, and he was unable to ascertain Daoist Xie''s exact location.
He closed his eyes to carefully examine the aura with his spiritual sense, but just a few secondster, his eyes sprang open again as a bewildered look appeared on his face.
To his surprise, he discovered that his spiritual connection with Daoist Xie was gradually bing weaker and weaker.
Right at this moment, an angry voice rang out from the other side of theke of blood.
"Are you still not ready to repent, you traitor?"
Han Li hurriedly turned his gaze in that direction to discover Sha Xin and the Puppet City cultivators locked in a confrontation against E Kuai.
Mistress Liu Hua was standing behind E Kuai, while Shi Chuankong wasying at E Kuai''s feet, and it was unclear whether he was unconscious or bound by some type of restriction.
Chapter 974: Identity of the Devilish Lord
Chapter 974: Identity of the Devilish Lord
"You''re a fool, Sha Xin! Let me ask you this: what have you and I been waiting all these countless years for?" E Kuai asked.
Sha Xin gave no reply as she glowered intently at E Kuai with a look of righteous fury on her face.
"The two of us have been trapped in the Scalptia Spatial Domain for so many years, and our two cities have been in conflict with each other for just as long. Why did youe to me to propose a coboration? Is it not for the same objective as mine? Why lie to yourself by bringing up those events from the distant past that no one even cares about?" E Kuai sneered.
"Don''tpare me with you!" Sha Xin spat in a disdainful manner.
"Right now, the Devilish Lord''s remains are right in front of us. If you and I split it evenly, then both of us will be sure to make massive strides in our cultivation, and leaving the Scalptia Spatial Domain will be a simple task! Once we reach the Devil Realm or the Immortal Realm, we''ll be free to go wherever we please!" E Kuai yelled in a rousing voice.
Han Li took another nce at the crystal coffin floating above the center of theke of blood upon hearing this.
At this point, he was all but certain that the set of remains in the coffin were the holy remains that they were referring to, but he couldn''t help but wonder who this "Devilish Lord" was.
With that in mind, he couldn''t help but think of Daoist Xie again. It seemed that Daoist Xie had many inexplicable connections to the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so was it possible that this Devilish Lord was none other than Daoist Xie''s former owner?
"Are you here, Daoist Xie?" Han Li called out to Daoist Xie through their spiritual connection, but received no response.
Right at this moment, Sha Xin''s voice rang out again.
"You think I approached you for a coboration because I share the same objective as you? If that''s the case, then you couldn''t be more wrong! I can tell you now that I''ve already found a way to revive our master!" Sha Xin scoffed.
"You must be dreaming! All that remains of the Devilish Lord is this body of his, and there''s no way it can be resurrected! Otherwise, why do you think these Great Ruins have remained stagnant for all these years? It would be great if the Devilish Lord was still alive. That way, I wouldn''t have been trapped here for so long! I advise you not to strive in futility toward something that''spletely out of reach," E Kuai sneered.
"Ungrateful scum! It was all because of your betrayal that the Devilish Monarch was able to intervene in that crucial juncture of our master''s ascension to be a Dao Ancestor! Otherwise, our master would''ve definitely been sessful!" Sha Xin yelled in a furious voice.
"You don''t know anything," E Kuai harrumphed coldly. "Even if the Devilish Monarch hadn''t intervened, he wouldn''t have seeded anyway."
"Who are you to say something like that? If it wasn''t for our master, you''d already be long dead by now, yet here you are, referring to him as Devilish Lord instead of master," Sha Xin scoffed in a furious voice.
"He only took me under his wing because he saw my aptitude and wanted to nurture me into a henchman. Both of us were merely pawns at his disposal, yet for some reason, you seem to enjoy that role. All those years ago, I chose the path of bodily refinement, while you chose the path of puppetry, and it all seems like fate now. You are destined to serve as the Devilish Lord''s puppet for your entire life, even after he''s been dead for so many years," E Kuai harrumphed coldly.
"Regardless of what you say, I''m not letting you get your hands on our master''s remains just for your own selfish objectives. Once I resurrect him, I''ll leave it to him to punish you as he sees fit," Sha Xin said as she suppressed her own fury.
E Kuai took a nce at Shi Chuankong, then sneered, "How are you going to open the coffin when you don''t even have ess to the bloodline of the devilish imperial family? I have a prince on my hands here. If you''re willing to work with me, then both of us will be able to benefit. Otherwise, neither of us is getting anything!"
Before Sha Xin had a chance to reply, a tall figure in a veiled bamboo hat emerged from behind her, then dered, "The bloodline of our imperial family may be rare, but Chuankong isn''t the only one who possesses it. In fact, my bloodline is a little purer than his."
The figure removed the veiled hat as they spoke, revealing a set of striking features that was headlined by a head of silver hair and a pair of purple pupils.
It was none other than Shi Zhanfeng!
E Kuai''s expression darkened significantly upon seeing this, and he spat through gritted teeth, "I''ve done everything in my power to make you see the light, but you''re still stubbornly clinging onto your little fantasy, so I suppose I have no choice but to beat some sense into you!"
He stomped a foot down onto the ground as he spoke, and the entire underground space shuddered violently, while the surface of theke of blood rippled and quivered.
E Kuai immediately vanished from the spot, then reappeared behind Shi Zhanfeng an instantter before reaching out to make a grab for his head.
Shi Zhanfeng was able to react to the act, but it was still too fast for him to evade.
Right as the tips of E Kuai''s fingers were about to pierce into his skull, a white bone spear suddenly shot forth from the side, striking E Kuai''s wrist with a loud ng.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shi Zhanfeng could see that Kun Yu was holding onto the spear with both hands, attempting to shield him from E Kuai''s attack.
The spear was bent over so far that it was almost doubled over, but it was only able to force E Kuai''s hand slightly off its original trajectory. As a result, his swiping fingers failed to strike Shi Zhanfeng''s head, but they still left several gashes in his face.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Shi Zhanfeng ducked down slightly before pouncing forward while drawing a white bone sword, and the star acupoints on the sword were glowing radiantly as he thrust it directly at E Kuai''s lower abdomen.
Right at this moment, the bone spear was snapped into two under E Kuai''s hand, and at the same time, he raised a leg to block Shi Zhanfeng''s sword with his kneecap.
Dense clusters of profound acupoints lit up over his leg, releasing ayer of starlight that protected his leg from the tip of the bone sword, following which he gave a cold harrumph before abruptly kicking out with his leg.
A ball of white light instantly erupted from the tip of his foot, hurtling directly toward Shi Zhanfeng''s face.
Shi Zhanfeng immediately sprang back in retreat, opening up close to a thousand feet of distance between himself and E Kuai in the blink of an eye.
However, E Kuai''s speed was far superior to his, and before he even had a chance to steady himself, E Kuai had caught up to him once again.
It was clear that E Kuai was desperate to eliminate Shi Zhanfeng, the muscles on his right arm bulged asyers of white starlight surged forth, culminating in a burst of explosive power that erupted out of his fist.
In the face of E Kuai''s almighty punch, Shi Zhanfeng was struck by a sense of asphyxiation, and he felt as if even the space around him had be slightly warped, making it very difficult for him to move.
Han Li was rather astonished as he witnessed this from afar. E Kuai had sustained extremely severe injuries not long ago, yet it seemed like he had made a full recovery.
Even in his current form, with 475 profound acupoints opened, Han Li had no confidence in withstanding this attack in Shi Zhanfeng''s ce.
All of a sudden, a string of resounding booms rang out, and twelve radiant metal balls abruptly appeared around E Kuai.
Immediately thereafter, the twelve metal balls transformed into twelve armored puppets, each of which was holding a white bone chain with a curved de on the end.
The twelve bone chains were sent hurtling toward E Kuai from all directions, criss-crossing over one another like a cobweb.
E Kuai immediately redirected his own fist upward upon seeing this, and a vast expanse of white starlight erupted out of his fist before splitting up into countless bursts of light that crashed toward the formed by the white bone chains.
Right at this moment, all of the star acupoints on the of bone chains abruptly transformed into a series of miniature vortexes that released tremendous suction force.
All of the starlight that had erupted out of E Kuai''s fist was sucked into the star acupoints, therebypletely nullifying his attack.
Before he had a chance to do anything else, the of bone chains had already fully descended upon him.
Immediately thereafter, the twelve armored puppets moved in a synchronized fashion to instantly adopt a certain formation, and a burst of silver lightning instantly shed over the of bone chains, forming a ball of silver lightning that trapped E Kuai inside.
It was only then that Han Li noticed that the woman referred to as Xiao Zi by Sha Xin was currently seated on the ground with her legs crossed, and there was a ck stone array te in front of her, upon which were ced twelve white stones.
Controlling twelve puppets at once and arranging them into a set formation in such a uniform and synchronized fashion was a very difficult task, so it came as quite a surprise to Han Li that it was Xiao Zi who had aplished this feat, as opposed to Sha Xin.
Kun Yu was standing not far away as her guardian, having pulled out another bone spear to rece his snapped one.
Right at this moment, E Kuai''s disdainful voice rang out from within the ball of silver lightning.
"You think such a crude array will be enough to trap me?"
Immediately thereafter, the profound acupoints on his body began to glow radiantly as he threw a punch at the ball of lightning and of bone chains around him.
However, the starlight that erupted out of his fist was once again devoured by the star acupoints on all of the bone chains, and at the same time, bursts of silver lightning converged to strike E Kuai from all directions, raisingrge flurries of sparks upon contact.
The array of bone chains remained unscathed, but some tiny, barely visible cracks had appeared on the bodies of the twelve puppets, and Xiao Zi also shuddered violently, and it was clear that keeping E Kuai contained was a very demanding task.
"The array naturally won''t be able to trap you forever, but all I need is for it to buy me some time," Sha Xin said in an expressionless manner, then beckoned toward Shi Zhanfeng, and the two of them sprang up into the air, quickly reaching the center of theke.
Chapter 975: An Act
Chapter 975: An Act
The two of themnded on the surface of theke beside the crystal coffin, and faint ripples were spreading over the surface of theke beneath their feet.
A series of mixed emotions shed through Sha Xin''s eyes as she gazed upon the set of remains inside the crystal coffin, and she took a deep breath, then said, "Please lend me your blood essence, Fellow Daoist Shi. Rest assured, I''ll be sure to follow through on the promise that I made to you."
Shi Zhanfeng nodded in response, then swiped his sword over the palm of his own hand to create a gash, out of which blood that was tinged with faint hints of golden light began to flow.
Sha Xin immediately pulled a Star Wave Pen out of a pocket in her sleeve, and after dipping the tip of the pen into Shi Zhanfeng''s blood essence, she began to make a series of inscriptions onto the surface of the crystal coffin.
The lines of blood essence flowing out of the pen quickly came together to form a crimson array that epassed the entire coffin, fusing as one with the existingplex pentagram diagram on the coffin.
The coffin began to glow with radiant red light while also trembling violently, causing the entireke to ripple and churn.
Ayer of blood rose up from theke like a living creature, epassing the entire coffin to form a giant crimson cocoon.
A resounding boom rang out as E Kuai unleashed another almighty attack against his restraints, and the array around him was able to withstand his attack once again, but the cracks on the bodies of the armored puppets also increased further in size and number as a result.
A faint crack rang out, and a crack appeared on each of the twelve stones on the array te in front of Xiao Zi as well.At the same time, her body shuddered violently, and herplexion had turned deathly pale beneath the veil of her bamboo hat.
A concerned look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he didn''t know how to proceed.
If he were to intervene now, there was a very good chance that he could be targeted by both E Kuai and Sha Xin. On top of that, if he were to rush in recklessly, there was also a chance that he would only hinder Xiao Zi rather than help her.
At this point, he was mostly convinced that this Xiao Zi was indeed Violet Spirit, but this was clearly not the right time and ce for a reunion.
Right at his moment, a dull thump suddenly rang out from the crystal coffin, and the cocoon of blood around it flowed back into theke to reveal the holy remains.
Strangely enough, the crystal coffin hadpletely disappeared, leaving behind only a crimson crystalline b that was floating on theke of blood with the holy remainsying on top.
The unveiling of the holy remains wasn''t apanied by any astonishing phenomena, as one would perhaps expect. In fact, it wasn''t even giving off any formidable energy fluctuations ,and it appeared no different from an ordinary body.
However, Han Li could see that the crystalline b beneath the body was riddled with extremely profound runes, most of which he had never seen before. Thankfully, the small portion of runes that he was able to identify were enough to tell him that the purpose of the crystalline b was to suppress the body''s bloodline power.
An urgent look appeared in E Kuai''s eyes as he stared intently at the holy remains through the ball of lightning around him, and he beganshing out at the surrounding array once again.
Meanwhile, Sha Xin made a hand seal while chanting an incantation, then gentlyid a hand over her own lower abdomen.
A burst of radiant white light instantly appeared over her lower abdomen, and a string of mechanical clicks rang out from what appeared to be her flesh, following which her fair skin spread outward like a blooming lotus flower.
She''s modified herself into a puppet!
Han Li was very surprised to see this.
After her lower abdomen split open, a burst of dazzling crimson light erupted out of the opening, and everyone around theke of blood with the exceptions of Sha Xin and E Kuai were stunned to see that there was a beating heart contained within a crystal ball inside the crimson light.
Not only was the disembodied heart beating vigorously, Han Li could hear the sound of its beating all the way from the other side of theke.
At the same time, the heart was releasing tremendous life energy, and after the heart was revealed, the opening in Sha Xin''s lower abdomen slowly closed again.
However, her aura had be noticeably more feeble, while herplexion had also turned very pale, and it was as if she had suddenly been sapped of half her strength.
"So you''ve been keeping that heart inside your body this entire time, yet you haven''t dared to take anything from it! No wonder your cultivation base has only been regressing over the years. What aplete and utter fool you are!" E Kuai chortled with mirth.
Sha Xin paid no heed to him as she quickly devoured a beast core, then cradled the crystal ball with both hands as white light began to radiate from her palms,mencing the process required to free the heart from its seal.
Right at this moment, a muffled groan suddenly escaped her lips as the tip of a sword came protruding out of her chest, piercing straight through her heart in the process.
Half of her body instantly became drenched in her own blood, which Shi Zhanfeng twisted the hilt of his sword viciously, upon which a tearing sound rang out from within Sha Xin''s chest.
Sha Xin threw up a mouthful of blood, then swung around to swing a hand at Shi Zhanfeng''s head.
However, Shi Zhanfeng had already released his bone sword, and all of the profound acupoints lit up over his body, elevating his speed to an extraordinary level as he slid past Sha Xin before driving a bone dagger into her lower abdomen.
At the same time, he abruptly sprang up and grabbed the crystal ball out of Sha Xin''s hand, then retreated to the other side of theke of blood in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, a resounding boom rang out, and a vast expanse of silver lightning erupted in all directions, causing the entire underground space to tremble violently.
Interspersed throughout the silver lightning were countless shattered bone fragments that pierced a myriad of holes into the surrounding mountain faces and the ceiling above.
Han Li hurriedly ducked down right before one of the bone fragments sliced off the top of therge rock that he was hiding behind.
The array of bone chains had finally been broken by E Kuai, and the twelve armored puppets exploded amid an eruption of white light.
The twelve white stones also exploded, while the ck array te was shattered into pieces. As a result, Xiao Zi was struck by immense bacsh that sent her flying back through the air while blood came gushing out of her mouth.
After freeing himself from the array, E Kuai took a nce at Sha Xin, then turned to Shi Zhanfeng with a smile as he said, "Congrattions on obtaining the heart that you so desire, Your Highness."
"It was all thanks to you, City Lord E," Shi Zhanfeng replied with a smile.
"So the two of you have been working together all along," Sha Xin spat through gritted teeth as she pulled out the bone sword that had pierced through her heart.
"What do you think, City Lord Sha? His Highness and I put on quite a convincing act, did we not?" E Kuai asked with a smile, and Sha Xin offered no response.
Earlier, Sha Xin had chosen not to intervene when E Kuai was trying to kill Shi Zhanfeng precisely because she was trying to see if Shi Zhanfeng was truly on her side or not, but in the end, she had still been fooled.
She reached into the front of her own robe to pull out a ck stone vial that was around an inch in height, following which she pulled out the stopper before tipping out what appeared to be some golden sand onto the palm of her own hand.
She spread the golden sand over the hole in her chest, and the sand instantly entered her body like a colony of living creatures to mend her wounds.
"Now that you''ve lost the heart, there''s no way for you to resurrect the Devilish Lord. I''m willing to give you one more chance to share the holy remains with me. What do you say?" E Kuai asked.
Instead of answering his question, Sha Xin pulled out a longan-sized metal ball as she instructed in a determined voice, "Xiao Zi, retrieve the heart at all costs."
"Looks like you''re determined to go down fighting. In that case, I''ll grant you the heroic death that you desire," E Kuai harrumphed coldly as he sprang toward the holy remains at the center of theke.
In response, Sha Xin tossed the metal ball up into the air, and it transformed into a giant Arhat puppet that was over a hundred feet tall. The puppet was wearing a kasaya that was forged from metal, and it had eight arms, all of which were bulging with muscles that looked as if they contained immense explosive power.
A burst of red light appeared in the puppet''s eyes, and it thrust all eight of its palms forward at once to release a burst of tremendous force.
A disdainful sneer appeared on E Kuai''s face as he threw a punch in retaliation, and over a thousand profound acupoints lit up over his body as he unleashed a wave of fist projections.
The fist projections shed against the eight arms of the Arhat puppet to produce a string of resounding ngs, and formidable shockwaves were sent sweeping through the air in all directions, causing the entire underground space to quake and rumble violently.
On the other side, Xiao Zi had sat down with her legs crossed once again, and a pair of strange-looking puppets had appeared before her. One of them was a humanoid puppet that had four metallic wings on its back, while the other resembled a prowling feline, but had the head of a young woman.
The two puppets immediately sprang at Shi Zhanfeng from different directions at her behest.
Chapter 976: Seizing the Heart
Chapter 976: Seizing the Heart
Shi Zhanfeng seemed to have already anticipated this, and he remained still on the spot as he flipped a hand over to produce a golden ball before tossing it upward.
Bursts of mechanical clicking rang out from within the golden ball, immediately following which it released a burst of radiant golden light.
The burst of golden light vanished in a sh, and the golden ball had transformed into a golden cage that was several dozen feet in size around Shi Zhanfeng.
The winged puppet swooped down onto the cage, then pped its four wings vigorously, releasing a flurry of feather-like des of white light that rained down upon Shi Zhanfeng, slicing tiny rifts into the space in their path.
At the same time, the feline puppet sped over from the other side, and its womanly head opened its mouth to release a bolt of silver lightning.
The entire golden cage was instantly inundated by silver lightning, while the des of light came crashing down upon it incessantly, but after the dust settled, the golden cage remained firmly intact.
Shi Zhanfeng waspletely unharmed inside the cage, and he was holding the crystal ball ine one hand while dripping his own blood onto it from the gash on the palm of his other hand, seemingly trying to undo the seal.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he was wondering if he should take the crystal ball from Shi Zhanfeng.
He could sense that the aura of the heart sealed inside the crystal ball was extremely formidable, indicating to him that i twas a treasure on par with the Weeping Blood Array, and on top of that, it definitely had some type of important connection to the body of the Devilish Lord.
Han Li didn''t really care if Sha Xin sessfully resurrected the Devilish Lord, but he suspected that this Devilish Lord perhaps had something to do with Daoist Xie, and it would be quite a pity for a treasure of this caliber to be taken by Shi Zhanfeng.
However, if he were to swoop in now, he would definitely be regarded as an opportunist, and it was very likely that he would incur the wrath of both E Kuai and Sha Xin, thereby putting him in grave peril.
Right at this moment, he noticed that Shi Chuankong''s shoulder had suddenly twitched in an almost imperceptible manner.
He raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, then asked through voice transmission, "Are you alright, Brother Shi?"
Shi Chuankong''s shoulder twitched once again, this time more clearly than before, and even Mistress Liu Hua''s attention was drawn to him, but he didn''t do or say anything and simply looked away again.
After waiting for a moment, Shi Chuankong''s voice rang out in Han Li''s mind.
"I''m fine, Brother Shi. Would you be able to do me a favor?"
"Hold on just a little longer. I''m going to wait for their battle to be a little more intense before Ie in to save you," Han Li replied through voice transmission.
"No, there''s no need to save me for now. Your top priority must be to take that heart from Shi Zhanfeng. You cannot allow him to devour it no matter what. Otherwise, the consequences will be catastrophic," Shi Zhanfengmunicated in an urgent manner.
"What exactly does that heart do, Brother Shi? Why is it that Shi Zhanfeng has gone so far to secure it?" Han Li asked.
"I don''t know exactly what it does, all I know is that it''s extremely important to Shi Zhanfeng. In fact, it could even be vital to helping him break through his Great Epassment Stage bottleneck. If we allow him to devour it, then you and I may as well never return to the Holy Realm again," Shi Chuankong replied.
Han Li was just about to say something else when a burst of incredibly formidable bloodline power and life energy erupted out of the golden cage.
Shi Zhanfeng had already undone the crystal ball seal, and he was holding the beating heart in his hands with a fervent look in his eyes.
Sha Xin was furious to see this, and she wanted to seize the heart back from Shi Zhanfeng, but she was also worried about E Kuai taking the holy remains, so she was caught in two minds.
Taking advantage of her momentary distraction, E Kuai abruptly sped his way around the Arhat puppet, thenunched both fists at the puppet''s back with tremendous power.
The puppet''s head immediately swiveled around at Sha Xin''s behest, and it attempted to defend itself with its eight arms, but it was just a fraction of a second too slow to react.
The puppet was already riddled with wounds, and as soon as E Kuai''s fist struck it on the waist, its body instantly exploded into two pieces.
Meanwhile, the two puppets under Xiao Zi''smand were still attacking the golden cage with all their might, and the cage was about to give out soon, but ultimately, they weren''t going to make it in time.
"I''ll crush all of you after I''vepleted my rebirth," Shi Zhanfeng chortled with glee as he raised the heart to his own lips.
Right at this moment, a blurry figure shot forth like lightning from the other side of theke of blood, raising up massive waves of blood behind them.
Before Shi Zhanfeng had a chance to react, the golden cage around him exploded into pieces, and even the two puppets under Xiao Zi''s control were sent flying from the force of the cage''s explosion.
Han Li shot out of a vast expanse of silver lightning before throwing a vicious punch that connected cleanly with Shi Zhanfeng''s chest.
A burst of starpower instantly erupted out his fist to blow a massive hole straight through Shi Zhanfeng''s chest, and he was sent flying directly upward before smashing against the ceiling above.
The ceiling of the underground space instantly exploded upon impact, following which Shi Zhanfeng''s body came plummeting down alongside small avnche of loose rocks.
A loud ssh rang out on theke of blood, and as Shi Zhanfeng slowly rose to his feet, he paid no heed to the hole in his own chest.
Instead, he stared at his own empty hands for a moment before letting loose a heart-wrenching roar of fury and indignation.
Meanwhile, Han Li was standing on the opposite shore of the bloodke, holding the beating heart in his hands with a contemtive look on his face.
Everyone waspletely taken aback by this sudden turn of events, including Sha Xin.
However, E Kuai paid no heed to Han Li and Shi Zhanfeng at all, and he took advantage of Sha Xin''spse in concentration to rush past her with extraordinary speed.
An rmed look appeared on Sha Xin''s face as she tried to stop him, but it was already toote, and E Kuai appeared beside the holy remains in a sh before grabbing down at it with a fric look in his eyes.
Right at this moment, a bone spear shot forth through the air, producing a sharp screeching sound as it struck E Kuai on the wrist. Once again, Kun Yu had temporarily foiled E Kuai''s ns.
E Kuai was furious at Kun Yu''s repeated interventions, and he gave the spear a vicious backhand swat.
The tip of the spear was instantly snapped, and it flew back at Kun Yu at an incredible speed, piercing through his chest and sending him flying before he had a chance to react.
After knocking Kun Yu away, E Kuai reached out for the holy remains once again.
Right at this moment, a radiant pir of golden light descended out of the heavens, hurtling directly toward his head.
E Kuai harrumphed coldly as he threw a punch at the oing pir of golden light while continuing to reach down with his other hand.
The pir of golden light struck E Kuai''s fist with a resounding boom, and ripples of golden light erupted in all directions.
E Kuai''s entire body stiffened as his feet sank half a foot into the ground, and a surprised look appeared on his face.
Before he had a chance to steady himself, a golden tail that was around forty to fifty feet in length and as thick as a millstone swept out of the golden light before striking him on the body to send him flying.
The golden light in the air then faded away to reveal a golden dragon puppet that was roughly two hundred to three hundred feet in length.
The dragon''s entire body looked as if it were crafted from gold, and it had a pair of coral-like horns on its head. Theyer of golden scales over its body, its long and powerful tail, and its thick and menacing ws were all clear indications of its immense power.
At the same time, three more puppets appeared beside the holy remains, namely a golden tiger, a golden turtle, and a golden bird.
These auras of these three puppets weren''t inferior to that of the golden dragon puppet in the slightest, and Sha Xin descended onto the back of the golden bird puppet, following which a series of translucent threads shot out of his fingertips before vanishing into the bodies of all four puppets.
Even though the hole in her chest had been sealed, she was still looking extremely pale, and blood was trickling down from the corner of her lips.
As for E Kuai, he had been caught off guard and sent flying over a thousand feet, but he was quickly able to stabilize himself, and he appeared to bepletely unharmed.
The four puppets immediately positioned themselves between E Kuai and the holy remains at Sha Xin''s behest.
"The Astral Four Symbol Puppets really are quite formidable. If you weren''t injured, perhaps they would truly pose a threat to me, but given your current state, how much of their power will you actually be able to wield?" E Kuai sneered, then swooped down at the holy remains once again.
Chapter 977: Shi Zhanfeng’s Revenge
Chapter 977: Shi Zhanfeng¡¯s Revenge
As E Kuai came swooping down from above, a giant ck sword that was over ten feet in length appeared in his grasp amid a sh of ck light. The sword was slightly curved, resembling a ck dragon, and it was giving off an incredibly formidable aura.
A series of white patterns were engraved onto the de of the sword, forming a starry cloud design with over two hundred star acupoints shing within it.
A grim look appeared on Sha Xin''s face at the sight of the sword, and the four puppets instantly converged toward E Kuai at her behest.
Despite how massive the sword was, it appeared to be no heavier than a feather in E Kuai''s hands, and he swung it through the air at the four oing puppets.
A fierce battle ensued, and a string of resounding booms rang out, causing the entire entire underground space to tremble violently.
E Kuai was revealing the full extent of his power here, and it was truly an incredible sight to behold.
Just as he predicted, the injuries sustained by Sha Xin hampered her puppet maniption prowess significantly, and she was quickly forced onto the back foot, but she was still able to prevent E Kuai from reaching the holy remains for now.
Han Li was standing beside the holy remains at the center of theke of blood, observing the battle between Sha Xin and E Kuai with a stunned look in his eyes.
Even though he had opened over two hundred profound acupoints in the Weeping Blood Array, there was still a massive gap between himself and the two city lords.
"Give the heart back to me, you human scum!"
Right at this moment, a furious roar rang out as Shi Zhanfeng came rushing at Han Li with a near deranged look in his eyes.
The hole in his chest had already healed, and a series of ck patterns had appeared over his arms, giving off an extremely cold and violent aura.
On top of that, his speed had also been greatly enhanced, and he reached Han Li in the blink of an eye before throwing an almighty punch.
A vast expanse of ck light erupted out of the palm of his hand, forming a ck fist projection that was several dozen feet in size.
Han Li threw a punch of his own to oppose the ck fist projection, and a resounding boom rang out as the fist projection exploded upon contact.
An unnatural flush appeared over Shi Zhanfeng''s face, and he was sent flying back through the air, but Han Li was also sent stumbling back three steps in session as a hint of surprise shed through his eyes.
That ck fist projection had been imbued with far greater power than what Shi Zhanfeng had demonstrated up to this point, and it had also released bursts of strange, invasive power that were surging into his body,pletely bypassing his True Extreme Film.
Right at this moment, the two puppets under Xiao Zi''s control appeared above Shi Zhanfeng, and the winged puppet pped its wings to send a flurry of des of white light raining down upon Shi Zhanfeng, while the feline puppet opened its mouth to release what appeared to be around a dozen silver branches, each of which released a bolt of silver lightning that also crashed down upon Shi Zhanfeng.
A disdainful sneer appeared on Shi Zhanfeng''s face as a translucent ck film appeared over his entire body, withstanding the des of white light and bolts of silver lightning with ease.
At the same time, he abruptlyshed out with both hands, and two giant des of ck light erupted out of his arms, sweeping through the air toward the two puppets.
An rmed look appeared on Xiao Zi''s face upon seeing this, but before she had a chance to do anything, the des of ck light had already struck her puppets.
In the face of the des of ck light, the two puppets were each sliced into two as easily as a hot knife gliding through butter.
Xiao Zi was astonished to see this, and Han Li was also rather taken aback.
Even though Sha Xin was still locked in battle against E Kuai, she had also been keeping an eye on the heart this entire time, and she called out in an urgent voice, "Xiao Zi, don''t worry about Shi Zhanfeng, prioritize seizing the heart! Don''t let it fall into the hands of that human!"
Xiao Zi turned to Han Li in a hesitant manner upon hearing this, but didn''t immediately act.
A displeased look appeared in Sha Xin''s eyes upon seeing this, and she quickly made a hand seal, upon which a series of golden patterns appeared over Xiao Zi''s be.
A cold and emotionless look instantly appeared on her face as she swept her sleeves through the air, releasing a pair of golden balls that transformed into a pair of giant, golden humanoid puppets in the blink of an eye.
The puppets were d in full suits of golden armor, and each of them was wielding a golden shield in one hand and arge golden sword in the other.
At the same time, they were giving off tremendous auras that weren''t inferior by much evenpared with Sha Xin''s four symbol puppets.
"Please stop, Fellow Daoist Xiao Zi! I have no intention of iming this heart for myself, nor do I wish to fight you!" Han Li hurriedly said.
However, his words fell upon deaf ears, and the two giant golden puppetsunched themselves at him at Xiao Zi''s behest, then swung their swords down upon his head with incredible power and speed.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he darted over a hundred feet away to the side, and the two puppets immediately turned and sped after him without any hesitation beforeshing out with their swords once again.
At the same time, they were also using their shields as weapons, blocking all paths of escape and retreat.
Topound Han Li''s woes even further, Shi Zhanfeng was also pouncing at him from another direction.
A burst of dense ck light erupted out of the palm of his hand, forming a beastly ck w that was over a hundred feet in size, restricting Han Li''s options even further.
A cold look appeared on Han Li''s face as he tucked the heart down the front of his robe, thenshed out with his fists in all directions to unleash a wave of white fist projections.
The fist projections fanned out like the canopy of a peacock, and a string of resounding booms rang out as each puppet was struck by dozens of fist projections in an instant, sending them flying back through the air.
The ck w projection crashing down from above was also shattered by Han Li''s fist projections, but Han Li''s body also shuddered violently, and hisplexion paled slightly as he took an involuntary step back.
Right at this moment, Shi Zhanfeng appeared behind him without any warning, disying far superior speed to before.
At this moment, his entire body was enshrouded in ayer of ck light, and he was wielding a ck saber that he swung down at the back of Han Li''s neck.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he suddenly fell forward, but his feet were still firmly rooted to the ground.
As a result, Shi Zhanfeng''s saber shed through the air above his head.
Shi Zhanfeng was clearly caught off guard by this, and he hurriedly tried to dart back in retreat, but right at this moment, Han Li''s body sprang bolt upright again as he swung his right elbow at Shi Zhanfeng in a vicious strike.
The attack was too fast for Shi Zhanfeng to evade, so he could only raise an arm to defend himself. The ck patterns on his arm lit up as it made contact with Han Li''s elbow, and the clear sound of bones shattering rang out in his arm as he was sent flying back through the air with a stunned look in his eyes.
However, he then twisted around in mid-air before flying toward the pair of giant humanoid puppets.
At this point, the two puppets had already steadied themselves, and they paid no heed to the oing Shi Zhanfeng as they pounced at Han Li again while swinging their swords at him with formidable power.
Han Li was about to set off in pursuit of Shi Zhanfeng, but he was stopped in his tracks by the two puppets, and heshed out with his fists in retaliation, unleashing a pair of huge, white fist projections that struck the oing golden swords with an explosive boom.
The two fist projections exploded upon contact, but the golden swords were also stopped cold in their tracks, while their puppet wielders were each forced back a step.
Right at this moment, a streak of golden light shot forth from between the two puppets, and it contained a golden spear that was aimed directly at Han Li''s chest.
The wielder of the spear was none other than Xiao Zi, and at this moment, she was wearing a suit of tight-fitting golden armor that entuated her gorgeous curves, and there was a design o fa majestic golden bird engraved onto the suit of armor.
The design was extremely lifelike, and every single line was radiating dazzling golden light, clearly indicating that this was no ordinary suit of armor.
Han Li joined his palms together to mp the tip of the golden spear between them, instantly stopping the spear cold in its tracks.
A burst of radiant golden light instantly emerged over Xiao Zi''s armor, and around fifty to sixty star acupoints appeared on its surface.
With her strength bolstered by the power transmitted into her body by the suit of golden armor, she tugged on her spear with all her might, but it remained firmly locked into ce.
"Do you not recognize me, Fellow Daoist Xiao Zi?" Han Li asked through voice transmission as he looked directly into her eyes.
However, Xiao Zi waspletely cold and responsive to his words, and ayer of crimson light appeared over her face beneath her veil, indicating that she was about to unleash some type of secret technique that granted her short-term power at the expense of severe long-term detrimental effects.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this, then thrust his palms forward, sending Xiao Zi and her spear flying.
Right at this moment, Shi Zhanfeng suddenly appeared behind Xiao Zi with a sinister grin on his face, and he swung his ck saber down upon her head without any hesitation.
A ck, beastly projection appeared over the de of the saber, and its weight instantly increased by over tenfold as it swept through the air, leaving a long spatial rift in its wake.
Xiao Zi was still in the process of flying back through the air, so there was no way that she could evade the attack.
Chapter 978: Mission Completed
Chapter 978: Mission Completed
Han Li immediately sprang into action upon seeing this, and all 475 of his profound acupoints lit up as heunched himself forward with all his might, reaching Xiao Zi''s side right before she was struck down before throwing a punch at Shi Zhanfeng''s ck saber.
However, right at this moment, the saber suddenly veered away to the side, avoiding Han Li''s fist before sweeping toward his neck.
At the same time, the beastly projection around the saber let loose a low roar before pouncing at Han Li and biting down upon his head.
Han Li instantly felt a burst of tremendous pressure crashing down upon him, and even the light radiating from his profound acupoints had dimmed slightly.
He took a deep breath beforeshing out at the ck saber with his other fist, and simultaneously, a Giant Mountain Ape projection appeared behind him before pouncing at the beastly projection.
A resounding boom rang out as the entire underground cave shuddered violently, attracting the attention of even Sha Xin and E Kuai.
Golden, white, and ck light intertwined, forming a three-colored ball of light, immediately following which Shi Zhanfeng shot back out of the ball of light before crashing into the nearby cave wall.
The ck saber in his hand had been snapped into two, and the ck patterns all over his body had be far dimmer than before. Blood was trickling down from the corner of his mouth, and there was a stunned look on his face as he hurriedly sped toward the entrance of the underground cave.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li also shot out of the three-colored ball of light with a furious look on his face, and he caught up to Shi Zhanfeng in the blink of an eye before throwing an almighty punch.
Radiant white light erupted out of his fist, resembling a zing white sun, and all of the space within a radius of several hundred feet trembled violently as Han Li''s fist rumbled through the air.
An rmed look appeared on Shi Zhanfeng''s face as bright starlight erupted over his entire body, and the ck patterns on his skin also lit up to produce a ck film of light.
At the same time, a gray shield flew out of his sleeve, and there were close to forty star acupoints glowing on its surface.
The shield instantly swelled to around ten times its original size, yet it had only just emerged before Han Li''s fist came crashing down upon it, shattering it into pieces.
A fearful look appeared in Shi Zhanfeng''s eyes, but before he could do anything else, a cold harrumph suddenly rang out, immediately following which he felt as if a red-hot poker had been plunged straight into his head, causing his entire body to stiffen involuntarily.
In that same instant, Han Li''s fist struck him on the chest, and the ck film of light around his body was only able to put up token resistance before it was also immediately overwhelmed.
Once again, Han Li''s fist punched a huge hole into Shi Zhanfeng''s chest, sending blood sttering in all directions.
Shi Zhanfeng''s body was sent flying through the air, plummeting out of the sky like an asteroid before crashing down onto the ground near the entrance of the underground cave.
A resounding boom rang out as a massive crater was smashed into the ground, and a huge cloud of dust rose up into the air alongside countless pieces of debris.
Blood was gushing profusely out of Shi Zhanfeng''s mouth and body, and it appeared as if Han Li''s punch had almost torn his entire body apart at the seams.
The ck patterns on his skin shed momentarily before quickly fading away.
At this point, Shi Zhanfeng was on the verge of death, and he was staring up at Han Li with an incredulous look on his face.
Han Li was just about to descend upon him to deal the killing blow when a streak of white light suddenly shot forth from the entrance of the underground cave.
The streak of white light pierced through Shi Zhanfeng''s head, revealing itself to be a white bone spear.
The light in Shi Zhanfeng''s eyes quickly faded away, and everyone was stunned by this abrupt turn of events.
Sha Xin was looking on with a cold sneer on her lips, while a grim look had appeared on E Kuai''s face.
With Shi Zhanfeng dead, Mistress Liu Hua was the only ally that he had left, and that was certainly far from ideal.
With that in mind, a hint of urgency welled up in his heart, and the light radiating from his profound acupoints instantly brightened significantly. At the same time, the ck sword in his hand also began to glow radiantly as he swung it down upon the tiger puppet before him.
Sha Xin immediately pointed a finger in the tiger puppet''s direction upon seeing this, and it instantly swelled drastically in size before opening its mouth to unleash a torrential barrage of des of golden light.
The storm of golden des swept toward E Kuai with astonishing might, but E Kuai merely harrumphed coldly as he swung his sword into the golden storm.
The barrage of golden des was instantly sliced into two, and E Kuai''s sword was slowed down slightly, but it was still able to strike the tiger puppet with immense power.
A resounding thump rang out as the tiger puppet was sent flying, creating an opening in the encirclement formed by the four puppets.
Sha Xin hurriedly spurred the other three puppets into action, attempting to close the opening that had just been created, but right at this moment, E Kuai swung his sword through the air once again, unleashing three giant, ck sword projections that struck the other three puppets.
The three sword projections weren''t as formidable as the attack that he had just unleashed upon the tiger puppet, but they were still enough to force each of the three puppets back a step.
E Kuai immediately pounced on this opportunity, darting forward as a white shadow to fly out of the broken encirclement, but right at this moment, a giant silver ape puppet that was around seventy to eighty feet tall barreled straight into him from the side.
E Kuai was clearly caught off guard by this, but he immediately reacted by swinging his sword through the air, instantly slicing the puppet into two.
However, this had bought Sha Xin enough time to rally her puppets, and the four symbol puppets sprang back into position to surround E Kuai once again.
A dragon''s tail, a tiger''s w, and a golden beak shot swept forth from three different directions at an astonishing speed before striking E Kuai in unison.
E Kuai let loose a furious roar as he swung his sword through the air to defend himself, but he was still knocked back by the attacks.
Right at this moment, a figure sprang forth from the side beforending on the tiger puppet, and it was none other than Kun Yu.
There was still a gaping hole on his chest, but a metallic gleam could be seen shing from the wound, and it wasn''t bleeding at all.
"City Lord Sha, it''s far too taxing for you to control the four symbol puppets on your own in your current state, so leave this tiger puppet to me," Kun Yu said.
Sha Xin nodded in response and conceded control over the tiger puppet to Kun Yu.
As for E Kuai, even though he had been knocked back, he remained unscathed, and he immediately sprang forward again after steadying himself.
However, with Kun Yu''s help, thebat prowess of the four symbol puppets was significantly bolstered, and E Kuai found himself trapped among them once again.
......
On the other side, Shi Chuankong was still lying on the ground in apletely still manner, but he was looking at Shi Zhanfeng from afar with mixed emotions in his eyes.
Mistress Liu Hua''s eyes lit up with tion at the sight of the white spear that had pierced through Shi Zhanfeng''s head, while a burst of intense killing intent erupted out of Han Li''s body as he yelled, "Who''s there?"
Gu Qianxun emerged from the shadowy entrance of the underground cave as she chuckled, "Please don''t exert such fierce killing intent upon a frail woman like myself, Fellow Daoist Li."
"How did you get here?" Han Li asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"I happened to stumble upon this ce by chance," Gu Qianxun replied with a smile. "I have to thank you, Fellow Daoist Li. It''s all thanks to you that I was able toplete my mission."
Han Li gave a cold harrumph, but didn''t say anything further.
It was a good thing that Shi Zhanfeng had been killed by Gu Qianxun. After all, Shi Zhanfeng was the eldest prince of the Night Sun Empire, so killing him was sure to incur extremely severe consequences.
"Xun''er!" Mistress Liu Hua called out in an ecstatic manner as he hurried over to Gu Qianxun.
Han Li immediately jumped on this opportunity, appearing beside Shi Chuankong in the blink of an eye before thrusting a palm down onto his body.
"Stop!" Mistress Liu Hua yelled in an rmed voice as he attempted to rush back to Shi Chuankong''s side, but it was already toote.
The sound of something shattering rang out within Shi Chuankong''s body, following which his mobility was restored, and he rose to his feet as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute toward Hna Li.
"You''ve saved me yet again, Fellow Daoist Li."
Mistress Liu Hua drew to a halt over a hundred feet away with a furious look on his face, but there was a snide gleam in his eyes, as if this was precisely the oue that he wanted.
Han Li took a contemtive nce at Mistress Liu Hua, then turned back to look into the underground cave.
At this point, the three-colored ball of light had already faded away to reveal Xiao Zi, and she was currently standing on the spot with a dazed look on her face.
Right at this moment, the heart that Han Li had tucked down the front of his own robe suddenly flew out on its own, then sped directly toward Gu Qianxun.
Han Li hurriedly set off in pursuit, while Shi Chuankong followed along closely behind him.
An rmed look appeared on Gu Qianxun''s face at the sight of the oing heart, and she instinctively dodged to the side.
However, to everyone''s surprise, the heart simply flew past Gu Qianxun before vanishing into Shi Zhanfeng''s lifeless body in a sh.
Chapter 979: Daoist Xies Former Owner
Chapter 979: Daoist Xie''s Former Owner
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
Could it be that Shi Zhanfeng wasn''t actually dead? Could it be that he had been biding his time all along, waiting for an opportunity to seize the heart again?
With that in mind, an urgent look appeared on his face as he sped up even further, reaching Shi Zhanfeng''s body in the blink of an eye before reaching out for his head with the intention of shattering it.
However, right at this moment, a burst of radiant crimson light erupted out of Shi Zhanfeng''s body alongside a burst of tremendous force that sent Han Li and Shi Zhanfeng flying back through the air.
Han Li descended onto the ground over a hundred feet away with a wary look on his face.
However, contrary to his expectations, Shi Zhanfeng wasn''t resurrected by the heart. Instead, his body began to rapidly shrivel up, and it was reduced to a dried up husk in the blink of an eye.
After that, the heart slowly flew out of Shi Zhanfeng''s body, hovering around a foot above it while giving off radiant crimson light.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up as he pounced at the heart once again, followed closely by Shi Chuankong, while Xiao Zi remainedpletely motionless.
"What are you doing, Xiao Zi?" Sha Xin yelled in a furious voice from afar.
Xiao Zi shuddered as she snapped back to her senses, and she was just about to control her two puppets to go after the heart when a pained look suddenly appeared in her eyes, and she threw her hands over her own head as she fell to the ground.
Han Li was able to secure the heart ahead of Shi Chuankong, following which he rushed over to Xiao Zi''s side.
An agitated look appeared on Sha Xin''s face as she hurriedly made a hand seal, and golden runes emerged from her fingertips.
A burst of golden light shed over Xiao Zi''s be, and an emotionless look returned to her face as she grabbed onto the golden spear beside her, then swept it through the air to send a wave of spear projections hurtling toward Han Li.
At the same time, the two giant humanoid puppets also came rushing at him.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and right as he was about to retaliate, Daoist Xie''s voice suddenly rang out in his mind, "That''s enough! You two are on the same side, so you shouldn''t be fighting among yourselves."
Han Li immediately drifted away to evade the wave of oing spear projections while also distancing himself from the two puppets, and the pair of puppets also stopped in their tracks.
Han Li turned his gaze to Xiao Zi and Sha Xin as he mulled over what Daoist Xie had just said.
Xiao Zi''s expression remained cold and aloof, while Sha Xin was looking back at Han Li with a surprised look on her face.
After drifting back several hundred feet, Han Li said through voice transmission, "You''ve finally shown yourself, Brother Xie. Where are you right now?"
"I am inside the holy remains. Just now, my heart absorbed some very formidable bloodline power, and that''s how I''ve been able to temporarily awaken, but I don''t have much time, so listen carefully to what I have to say," Daoist Xie replied in an urgent manner.
Han Li had many questions that he wanted to ask, but he refrained from raising any of them.
"I can tell you now that my former owner is actually none other than myself. I was once the owner of the Scalptia Spatial Domain, but I fell prey to a plot hatched against me, and I sustained extremely severe injuries that left me on the brink of death. Hence, I had no choice but to refine this immortal puppet and seal part of my memories inside it.
¡°After that, some things happened, and this puppet descended into a lower realm, and that was where I first met you. It''s all thanks to you that this puppet of mine was able to reach this ce, and now, there is hope for me to resurrect myself.
¡°What you need to do now is fuse that puppet heart with my bonded core and my remains, and I''ll be able to create a new physical body for myself using the tremendous bloodline power umted in this ce over the course of countless years. During this process, I am not to be interrupted by anyone, so please protect me as I..."
Daoist Xie''s voice became more and more faint as he spoke, and in the end, it trailed off into silence.
Han Li took a moment to process what he had just heard, following which began flying toward the holy remains at the center of theke.
Shi Chuankong was looking at the heart in Han Li''s hands, and he opened his mouth to say something, but could only muster up a forlorn sigh in the end.
Meanwhile, E Kuai had already noticed the bout of eye contact that had just taken ce between Han Li and Sha Xin, and he hurriedly yelled in an urgent voice, "Stop him, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua!"
However, Mistress Liu Hua mere took an indifferent nce at E Kuai and didn''t do anything.
E Kuai was furious to see this, and rays of crimson light began to emanate from his body, while his aura swelled drastically, indicating that he had just unleashed some type of secret technique.
Right as he was about tosh out with his giant sword, the two golden puppets under Xiao Zi''s control suddenly pounced at him from behind while swinging their huge swords through the air.
E Kuai''s brows furrowed slightly as he darted away to the side while swinging his sword at the pair of oing puppets.
The two puppets reacted very quickly, continuing to swing their swords at E Kuai while raising their shields to protect themselves.
Two resounding cracks rang out as their swords were instantly shattered by E Kuai''s sword, following which the sword sliced deep into their bodies, but it wasn''t able to slice all the way through.
Even though the two puppets had been severely damaged, they were still able to move, and they discarded their swords and shields in unison before grabbing onto E Kuai''s sword with all their might, following which dazzling golden light began to radiate from their bodies.
An rmed look appeared on E Kuai''s face, and he hurriedly released the hilt of his sword before flying back in retreat.
Immediately thereafter, two earth-shattering explosions rang out as a pair of golden suns emerged, surrounded by countless spatial rifts.
The entire underground space trembled violently as countless loose rocks came tumbling down from above, plunging into theke of blood to send huge waves sweeping over its surface.
At this point, E Kuai was already thousands of feet away from the epicenter of the explosion, and he was staring at the holy remains at the center of theke with a look of fury and frustration on his face.
Right at this moment, the four symbol puppets converged to surround him, and Xiao Zi was seated atop the Xuanwu turtle puppet.
"Karma spares no one, E Kuai. For all of the crimes that you''vemitted, you''re now all alone, and this is the day that you die," Sha Xin dered in a cold voice before raising a hand, upon which the four symbol puppets sprang into action in unison, sending all types of attacks raining down upon E Kuai.
Meanwhile, Han Li strode over to the holy remains, then carefully set the heart down into the skeleton''s chest cavity.
The heart immediately began to glow with crimson light, as did the holy remains, and it was as if they were resonating with each other.
Han Li then pulled out that golden bead with a hesitant look on his face.
The heart naturally belonged in the body''s chest cavity, but Daoist Xie hadn''t specified where this bead was supposed to go. Was he supposed to put it in the body''s dantian or its head?
Right at this moment, Mistress Liu Hua''s voice rang out in his mind.
"I''m assuming that''s the bonded core of the holy remains. If that''s the case, then it should be fused as one with the heart."
Han Li took a nce at Mistress Liu Hua, and after a brief hesitation, he ced the bead onto the heart.
The bead immediately began to glow brightly before fusing with the heart in a sh, and the heart was instantly enveloped by dazzling golden light.
Within the span of just a few seconds, it had turned a bright golden color, and it had also swelled to several dozen times its original size so that it was proportionate to the massive body it was in.
The golden heart began beating far more vigorously than before, and a massive pir of golden light erupted directly upward from the body.
The pir of light was giving off tremendous aura fluctuations that caused the nearby space to tremble violently, and Han Li was forced back several steps by this enormous aura before steadying himself with a stunned look in his eyes.
The entireke of blood began churning violently as it converged toward the body before flowing into the golden heart, and bursts of crimson light instantly erupted out of the heart before spreading to all parts of the body.
Countless bits of flesh began to appear over the surface of the remains before rapidly intertwining with each other, and the process was only being further sped along as more and more blood converged from the surroundingke.
At this point, much of the ceiling of the underground cave had already copsed from the battle taking ce between E Kuai and the Puppet City cultivators, revealing the night sky above.
Right at this moment, a thunderous roar tore through the night.
"Li Feiyu, I''m going to kill you!"
In the next instant, the entireke of blood shuddered violently, and Han Li turned to discover E Kuai glowering at him with a look of murderous rage in his eyes.
In contrast, Sha Xin''s eyes were bright with tion as she yelled, "Keep him contained at all costs! Don''t allow him to interfere with Master''s resurrection!"
Kun Yu and Xiao Zi gave a collective affirmative response, then began making a string of hand seals while changing an urgent incantation.
Among the four symbol puppets, the dragon puppet was prowling in the east while opening its mouth to release a zing hot and highly corrosive breath.
The tiger puppet was situated in the west, and its mouth was wide open, releasing gusts of fierce wind that were as sharp as des.
The Xuanwu turtle puppet was standing in the north, and a burst of azure light was surging out of its mouth, exerting mountainous pressure upon everything epassed within it.
The Vermilion Bird puppet was hovering in the south with crimson mes flowing all over its entire body, and a jet of scorching fire was sting out of its beak.
With Kun Yu and Xiao Zi''s assistance, the four symbol puppets had be far more formidable than before, and E Kuai found himself trapped in the encirclement formed by the four puppets, unable to break free.
Chapter 980: Violet Spirit
Chapter 980: Violet Spirit
There was a look of burning fury and urgency in E Kuai''s eyes, and in the face of the relentless attacks from the four puppets, his skin had begun to take on a crimson hue.
All of a sudden, he let loose a thunderous roar before leaping up with all his might, trying to escape the encirclement by taking an aerial route.
However, as soon as he sprang up into the air, the pressure within the azure light surging out of the Xuanwu puppet''s mouth increased significantly, and the fire sting out of the Vermilion Bird puppet''s beak also became far hotter and more fierce.
E Kuai''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he continued to rise up without pause, striving to break free from the encirclement so that he could prevent the resurrection of the holy remains.
However, right at this moment, Sha Xin swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a streak of golden light that transformed into an armored puppet with radiant golden lightning shing all over its body.
The puppet was very strong and sturdy in appearance, and it was around ten feet tall. Its entire body was covered in golden armor, to the point that even its face was concealed behind a heavy visor. As opposed to any form of weapon, all it was holding was a giant golden shield that was over five feet tall.
As soon as the golden puppet appeared, it immediately sprang up into the air, then came plummeting down like a small mountain upon the ascending E Kuai.
"Get out of my way!" E Kuai roared as he threw a punch at the puppet, which responded by putting the entire weight of its body behind its shield.
A sound akin to a giant gong being struck rang out, and bursts of peculiar soundwaves erupted out of the shield.
Each sessive burst of soundwaves was louder than the previous one, and they were like waves of the sea crashing against the shore with unfathomable power.
E Kuai felt a burst of overwhelming force radiate through his arm, and his entire body began trembling uncontrobly as he was involuntarily forced back down out of the air.
The shield-bearing puppet was also sent flying by the tremendous force of E Kuai''s punch, tumbling end over end through the air.
However, right at this moment, a golden figure suddenly appeared within the encirclement formed by the four symbol puppets, and it quickly arrived by E Kuai''s side,pletely unaffected by the restrictive powers unleashed by the four puppets.
As soon as E Kuainded on the ground, he immediately threw a punch at the golden figure, smashing a huge hole through the oing corrosive dragon''s breath and des of wind, but the golden figure evaded the attack with ease before abruptly appearing above E Kuai''s head, revealing itself to be another golden puppet.
However, this one was far smaller than the shield-bearing puppet, standing at no more than three feet tall, and it was scantily d in bits of golden armor that only concealed some of the sensitive regions of its body.
It was wielding a giant golden sword that was even longer than it was tall, and it pierced the sword directly down upon E Kuai''s head.
E Kuai instantly swiveled around before throwing a punch upward, and a burst of radiant starlight erupted out of his fist.
In response, the golden puppet withdrew its sword before concealing its entire body behind it, using it as a shield. The force of E Kuai''s punch was enough to send it flying into the distance, but at this point, the shield-bearing puppet had already made its return, taking over the responsibility of keeping E Kuai upied.
The sword-wielding puppet sprang up into the air beforending on the shield-bearing puppet''s shoulder, and the two of them formed a seamless partnership
"You''re all going to pay for this!" E Kuai roared as he joined his index and middle fingers before pressing them against his own forehead, and a red me-like symbol instantly appeared on his be.
"He''s going to use a blood-incinerating secret technique! Brace yourselves, everyone!" Sha Xin hurriedly yelled in an rmed manner.
Han Li reflexively wanted to enter the fray upon hearing this, but a hesitant look then appeared on his face as he turned back to the holy remains, which was still in the process of absorbing blood from theke.
Right at this moment, a loud thump rang out around E Kuai, and all of his profound acupoints lit up, but they were glowing crimson rather than white. At the same time, his skin also took on a dark red coloration, and countless worm-like veins began to bulge over his body.
His aura was also rapidly elevating, and it was as if a cloak of blood mist had appeared around him, keeping out the restrictive powers exerted upon him by the four symbol puppets.
Immediately thereafter, he sprang up into the air, but before the four symbol puppets or the two golden puppets had a chance to stop him, he plummeted back down onto the ground on his own, adopting a horse stance as he did so.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the entire underground space shuddered violently, and the ground around E Kuai began to disintegrate as countless giant rocks were flung through the air in all directions
In the blink of an eye, all of the giant rocks that had been flung up into the air within a radius of several thousand feet were reduced to tiny fragments, which continued to fly through the air as shrapnel.
The four symbol puppets had no time to take any evasive measures, and they were forced back by the tremendous force generated by E Kuai''s stomp, while parts of their bodies began to implode one after another.
The sword-wielding golden puppet immediately hid itself behind the shield-bearing puppet, which was sent flying back through the air as it held its shield in front of itself.
Waves in excess of a hundred feet tall began to sweep over the surface of theke of blood, sweeping toward the holy remains with immense power.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and all 475 of his profound acupoints lit up as he thrust both fists forward with all his might, unleashing a dense wall of fist projections that crashed through the oing waves of blood.
Momentster, themotion subsided.
The entirety of the underground cave''s ceiling had been destroyed, fully revealing hte night sky above.
Han Li''s fists remained clenched as he swept his gaze over the surrounding area. The four symbol puppets had already beenpletely decimated, while the two golden puppets were also nowhere to be seen.
Right at this moment, he suddenly spotted a delicate figureying half-buried beneath the rubble. The ck veil over her face had already fallen away, revealing her breathtakingly beautiful features, and sure enough, it was none other than Violet Spirit.
Han Li immediately rushed over to her side, then cleared away the rubble around her before lifting her up in his arms.
At this moment, Violet Spirit was in a state of unconsciousness, and her lower abdomen had been struck by a piece of rubble. Her brows were tightly furrowed in agony and blood was trickling down from the corner of her lips.
A pang of remorse speared through Han Li''s heart at the sight of her terrible condition. If he had trusted his own instincts and identified her earlier, perhaps she wouldn''t have had to experience this pain.
WIth that in mind, he sprang up into the air before descending onto the other side of theke of blood.
From there, he made his way over to Mistress Liu Hua, then gently set down Violet Spirit, feeding her a pill as he requested, "Please look after her for me."
Mistress Liu Hua nodded in response with a grim look on his face, while Gu Qianxun was observing Violet Spirit with mixed emotions in her eyes.
Even though the restrictions in Shi Chuankong''s body had already been undone, he was carrying some rather severe injuries, so he was unfit for battle.
After setting down Violet Spirit, Han Li sprang back to the other side of theke.
Up ahead was a deep crater, at the bottom of which stood E Kuai. His skin had taken on a reddish-purple hue, and he was carrying Kun Yu by the throat as he made his way toward theke of blood.
Kun Yu''s dantian had already beenpletely destroyed, and he was as dead as dead could be.
"Everything has gone ording to my n, yet you''ve proven to be the only vtile factor. Ever since the Weeping Blood Array, you''ve been constantly foiling my ns. Honestly, I have a lot of appreciation for someone like you.
¡°If you hadn''t resurrected the holy remains, I would''ve been tempted to take you as my disciple, but unfortunately, you also have to die today," E Kuai said as he casually tossed Kun Yu''s body away, and it crashed into a distant cave wall before shattering into pieces.
"I''m truly honored that you think so highly of me, City Lord E," Han Li replied in a cold voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he channeled his Wingform Ascension Arts with all his might and abruptly vanished from the spot.
A cold sneer appeared on E Kuai''s face upon seeing this, and he threw a punch in a certain direction.
Thanks to his blood-incinerating secret technique, his punches were imbued with astonishing power.
A resounding boom rang out, but as opposed to Han Li, E Kuai''s fist had struck the shield-bearing golden puppet.
More specifically, his fist had struck the puppet''s golden shield, and the surface of the shield immediately began to ripple like water, releasing bursts ofpounding soundwaves that swept toward E Kuai.
The shield-bearing puppet was capable of using its foe''s power against them, and as a result, it was able to counteract E Kuai''s unfathomable power, resulting in a temporary impasse.
Chapter 981: Its Your Turn
Chapter 981: It''s Your Turn
At the same time, the sword-wielding golden puppet emerged from behind its shield-bearing counterpart like an agile golden monkey, springing up into the air before swinging its sword viciously down upon E Kuai''s neck.
Its golden sword was riddled with star acupoints, and all of the starpower within it erupted forth at once, releasing a fiery aura that created a serrated edge around its de.
However, as the golden sword came crashing down, the starpower erupting out of it shed against the cloud of crimson mist around E Kuai''s body, and sparks erupted in all directions as a screeching ng rang out.
The sword was unable to slice into theyer of crimson mist at all!
E Kuai gave a cold harrumph as he abruptly withdrew his fist from the golden shield, and as he thrust his fist forward again, the muscles on his right arm bulged, giving it an appearance of explosive power.
As E Kuai''s fist struck the golden shield once again, the star acupoints on thetter shed incessantly as it counteracted the force of his punch, but E Kuai simply ducked down to avoid the burst of reactive force, taking advantage of it to send the sword-wielding puppet flying.
At the same time, he struck the golden shield with his right fist a third time, and before it had a chance to reflect the force of his punch, he threw another almighty punch into the shield with his left fist.
A torrential barrage of punches came raining down upon the shield, and it was only able to withstand the ferocious assault for a few seconds before it exploded with an earth-shattering boom, while the puppet behind it was sent flying back through the air.
E Kuai was forced to take a few backward steps, and only after plunging his feet into the ground was he able to steady himself.
Right at this moment, Han Li descended upon him from above, and he was somehowpletely unaffected by the shockwaves generated from the golden shield''s explosion, as if he were a leaf drifting through a storm.
He channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might, and all of his 475 profound acupoints lit up as he threw a punch directly at the top of E Kuai''s head.
His fist was enveloped in starpower, forming a radiant white first projection that was imbued with astonishing power.
E Kuai had been keeping an eye on Han Li this entire time, but he still didn''t anticipate that Han Li would be able to strike at this moment. With no time to defend himself, he could sway his head to the side to withstand the punch with his own body.
As a result, Han Li''s fist nced past his head before crashing heavily down onto his shoulder.
The ground beneath E Kuai instantly exploded, sending countless shattered rocks flying in all directions, while E Kuai himself was tipped to one side and buried beneath the rubble.
Han Li continued to rain down more punches without pause, battering the ground over and over again to raise an enormous cloud of dust.
As the ground caved in over and over again, both Han Li and E Kuai quickly became hidden within the ever-deepening crater that Han Li was creating with his fists.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out, and Han Li flew up from the crater before falling onto the ground outside.
Immediately thereafter, E Kuai came flying out in hot pursuit.
His entire body was riddled with wounds, and he appeared very bloody and battered, but in reality, all of these were only minor, skin-deep injuries. However, he was furious to have suffered the humiliation of being pummeled by Han Li like this.
Afternding on the ground, E Kuai turned to Han Li as he sneered, "So you''ve also cultivated the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts. No wonder you were able to aplish so much. Which statue do you have?"
At this point, Han Li had also identified that E Kuai was cultivating the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts as well, and he was far more advanced in the cultivation art.
"Which statue do you have, City Lord E?" Han Li asked as he spat out a globule of blood.
"The Devilish Lord intentionally split up the four statues, and I''ve only managed to obtain two of them. Hence, you must have either the first one of the fourth one, either one of which will make a fine addition to my collection," E Kuai replied with a cold smile.
"How about we make an exchange?" Han Li suddenly proposed.
"Is this really the time to be making jokes, Fellow Daoist Li?" E Kuai chuckled.
Right at this moment, the ground beneath him abruptly shattered, and a golden figure shot out of the ground before grabbing onto him from behind.
The golden figure was none other than the shield-bearing puppet, which had just lost its shield, and a series of mechanical clicks rang out as its body split up into pieces before closing themselves over E Kuai like a golden sarcophagus.
The surface of the golden sarcophagus was riddled with profound runes, and at the same time, the sword-wielding puppet also sprang out of the ground.
It tossed its sword away before jumping onto the golden sarcophagus, following which its body also split up into pieces before fusing as one with the body of the shield-bearing puppet.
"Die, traitorous scum!"
A desperate roar rang out from afar, and it hade from Sha Xin.
Immediately thereafter, the runes on the bodies of the two golden puppets began to release blinding white light, following which both of them exploded violently.
A deafening boom rang out, and it was as if a radiant white sun had risen up in the night,pletely illuminating the entirendscape.
Han Li had sprung back in retreat as soon as he saw the shield-bearing puppet emerge from the ground, and he was forced to shield his eyes from the blinding light and powerful shockwaves.
Some timeter, the dust slowly settled, and Han Li saw a giant ck crater up ahead.
E Kuai was standing at the bottom of the crater, and his clothes had disappeared, while hsi skin had turned pitch-ck. However, it was a glossy ck that was giving off a faint gleam, rather than a charred ck that one would expect to see after such a powerful explosion.
Furthermore, the red symbol on his be had turned white.
A peal of harrowingughter escaped E Kuai''s lips, and all of a sudden, he vanished from the spot without a trace.
In the next instant, a loud boom rang out in the distance as Sha Xin''s body was mmed high up into the sky.
E Kuai then immediately caught up to her before pounding her with a torrential barrage of punches, sending her tumbling down like a broken ragdoll, and it was unclear whether she was dead or alive.
He''s be even faster and stronger!
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
"It''s your turn now!" E Kuai said as he turned to Han Li, and even his voice had changed, striking the listener with a bone-chilling sense of foreboding.
In the next instant, Han Li''s pupils abruptly contracted as he sprang back as quickly as he could, but E Kuai was still able to catch up to him in the blink of an eye.
His eyes werepletely bloodshot, and it seemed that even his sanity had been a littlepromised as he threw a punch at Han Li''s chest.
In response, Han Li channeled both his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and his bloodline power, and his arms swelled up like a pair of balloons, forming a sturdy barricade in front of him.
At the same time, Han Li was struck by a very peculiar sensation, as if a type of special power had suddenly appeared in his arms, and it felt different from any previous asion where he had separately channeled his true spirit bloodlines or the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
Before he had a chance to ponder this any further, a burst of devastating force crashed into his arms, and the bones in his arms were only just barely able to hold themselves together.
Immediately thereafter, he was sent flying back, leaving a massive trench that was tens of thousands of feet in length and close to a thousand feet wide in the ground, and he only drew to a halt after crashing into a rock face.
The entire rock face instantly copsed, burying him under a huge pile of rubble.
Han Li''s arms were feeling very numb, but thankfully, none of his bones were broken.
At this moment, E Kuai was burning through both his blood essence and his starpower, and the longer he used this secret technique, the more severe the bacsh would be. Hence, his intention was naturally to end this battle as soon as possible, and he immediatelyunched himself at Han Li, refusing to give him any respite.
In the face of his almighty punches, the pile of rubble that Han Li was buried beneath was instantly reduced to dust, and a Giant Mountain Ape abruptly emerged beforeunching a massive golden fist directly at E Kuai.
E Kuai''s entire body was dwarfed by the Giant Mountain Ape''s fist, but he remainedpletely unfazed.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as his fist shed against the giant oing fist, and a burst of tremendous power that surprised even Han Li himself swept directly toward E Kuai.
A stunned look appeared on E Kuai''s face as he was forced back by Han Li''s punch, but Han Li''s entire arm was also in excruciating pain as he tumbled out of the air.
Afternding on the ground, the Giant Mountain Ape abruptly transformed into a Lightning Bird, then pped its wings vigorously as it flew away as quickly as it could.
"You''re not getting away!" E Kuai roared.
Chapter 982: Borrowed Power
Chapter 982: Borrowed Power
As soon as his voice trailed off, E Kuai sprang forward like a bolt of ck lightning, appearing in front of Han as if by instantaneous teleportation before reaching out to grab his neck.
However, Han Li seemed to have already anticipated this, and he drew to an abrupt halt, stopping short of E Kuai''s hand before darting back toward theke of blood at a far faster speed than before.
As he drew close to theke, Han Li reverted back to his human form with E Kuai in hot pursuit, and thetter sneered, "You sure have a lot of tricks up your sleeve!"
In response, Han Li advanced instead of retreating, channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts in conjunction with both his Giant Mountain Ape and Xuanwu bloodlines, and one of his arms abruptly swelled drastically in size.
Ayer of coarse golden fur appeared over the arm, but pieces of azure bone armor had appeared over the back of its hand.
Han Li''s fist was glowing with radiant starlight as it shed against E Kuai''s fist with an earth-shattering boom, and a burst of excruciating pain instantly speared through Han Li''s arm, but he was only forced back a single step, while E Kuai was also forced back a step.
It was quite surprising even to Han Li himself that his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts couldbine with his true spirit bloodlines to generate such incredible power, and for the first time, E Kuai was finally beginning to take his opponent seriously.
He took a step forward to arrive before Han Li in a wraith-like fashion, following which ayer of translucent light surfaced over his arm as he threw another punch at Han Li.
The punch appeared to be very light andcking in power, but it was fast to the extreme.
Han Li was caught slightly off guard by this, and he could only channel his Xuanwu bloodline powers as he raised an arm to shield himself.
However, before the pieces of azure bone armor could even fully materialize on his arm, he was already sent flying by E Kuai''s fist.
He flew over theke of blood to the other side, raising massive waves in his wake before crashing heavily down onto the ground beside Violet Spirit.
Instead of continuing to go after Han Li, E Kuai made his way to the center of theke of blood.
He looked at the body resting on the crystal b at the center of theke, and a series of emotions, including reminiscence, resentment, and indignation appeared in his eyes as he plunged his hand down upon the body''s chest.
Right at this moment, all of theplex patterns on the crystal b lit up in unison, releasing a burst of almost substantial crimson light that kept E Kuai''s hand at bay.
At the same time, a resounding boom rang out from the other side of theke of blood as Han Liunched himself at E Kuai once again.
He was channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and all of the true spirit bloodlines in his body with all his might, and all 475 of his profound acupoints were glowing radiantly.
A series of true spirit projections appeared behind him one after another, then vanished into his body again, and even though he didn''t undergo any physical transformation, his aura had been significantly elevated.
Mistress Liu Hua was looking on with a hint of praise in his eyes, while Gu Qianxun and the others were also stunned by the power that Han Li was putting on disy.
E Kuai had also noticed the change in Han Li''s aura, and he immediately abandoned the holy remains beforeunching himself over ten thousand feet back in retreat, only to then immediatelyunch himself at Han Li again.
At the same time, it seemed like he had also activated some type of devilish bloodline, and a pair of horns emerged on his forehead, while his vertebrae began to protrude outward, piercing through his skin.
Simultaneously, his aura began to take on a more vicious quality, and the crimson mist that was emanating from his body had be very murky and was giving off a pungent, bloody odor.
He was slightly hunched-over as he charged at Han Li, and his speed had been enhanced even further.
All of the bystanders only caught a glimpse of a blurry afterimage before E Kuai and Han Li shed, and the starpower and true spirit bloodline power that had converged toward Han Li''s fist erupted in unison, crashing directly into the murky crimson mist around E Kuai.
The white starlight and crimson mist were whittling away at each other incessantly as two bursts of violent power erupted up into the air in unison.
Bursts of deafening rumbling rang out as countless spatial rifts were torn open in the air above.
Immediately thereafter, a thunderous roar rang out from the edge of theke of blood, and all of a sudden, a burst of additional power erupted out of E Kuai''s fist.
Han Li was already struggling to oppose E Kuai to begin with, and he was already tapping into as much of his power as possible with no more left to give. Hence, in the wake of this burst of power, he was instantly sent flying as blood came gushing out of his mouth.
A burst of crimson mist surged forward from E Kuai''s fist, forming a giant fist projection that struck Han Li with tremendous power,unching him through the air like a cannonball that plunged directly to the bottom of theke.
E Kuai descended out of the sky, crashing into theke after Han Li before raining down punches in a torrential barrage.
The entireke was trembling violently, and the blood level inside was rapidly falling, but Han Li was still nowhere to be seen.
A look of despair had appeared on Shi Chuankong''s face, while Gu Qianxun had averted her eyes, unable to bear watching any longer.
Mistress Liu Hua also heaved a long sigh, and even Violet Spirit stirred slightly in her unconscious state.
......
At the bottom of theke, Han Li felt as if there were enormous mountains crashing down upon over and over again in rapid session. He felt as if all of the bones in his body had been shattered, making it impossible to defend take any evasive measures.
Topound his woes even further, he could feel his own consciousness beginning to fade in the face of the devastating barrage of attacks.
His True Extreme Film had already been shattered long ago, exposing his body directly to the wrath of E Kuai''s fists, and only now did hee to realize that there was still a massive gap between them.
It seems like this is the end...
Right at this moment, a voice rang out in his mind.
"Fellow Daoist Li..."
The voice sounded as if it belonged to Daoist Xie, but it was also a little unfamiliar at the same time, and Han Li wanted to respond, but was unable to even muster up the spiritual sense required to do so.
"Do not resist, I''m going to lend you some of my essential spiritual power."
Immediately thereafter, the eyes of the holy remains on the crystal b abruptly sprang open, and it made a strange hand seal before pointing a finger at its own heart.
After that, it raised its finger, and a burst of golden light flowed out of its chest before converging to form a golden ball at its fingertip.
With a flick of its finger, the golden ball flew into theke of blood as a streak of golden light.
E Kuai hurriedly raised a hand to try and stop it, but the golden ball passed straight through his hand as if it had no substantial form before flying directly into Han Li''s be.
"This is... immortal spiritual power!" Shi Chuankong eximed in a stunned manner upon detecting the aura emanating from the golden ball, while Gu Qianxun was looking very perplexed, clearly not familiar with immortal spiritual power at all.
Right at this moment, a burst of radiant golden light erupted from the bottom of theke of blood, as if a radiant sun were rising up from its depths.
Basked within the golden light, E Kuai suddenly realized that his own fists had be incredibly slow. It was as if countless invisible threads had appeared in the surrounding space,tching onto his body to slow him down.
What was even more rming to him was that even his thoughts had slowed down to a crawl.
A giant, golden wheel had appeared behind him without any warning, and it was giving off waves of timew powers that brought him almost to aplete standstill.
In a testament to E Kuai''s incredible power, even though he was in such close proximity to the Mantra Treasured Axis, he was still notpletely immobilized, and he swung around to try and shatter the axis, but Han Li naturally wasn''t going to give him that opportunity.
A burst of golden lightning sprang forth as an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword burst out of Han Li''s body. It seemed to be ecstatic that it had finally been called upon after so long, and it flew directly at E Kuai.
There was very little distance between Han Li and E Kuai at the moment, so the tip of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword pierced into thetter''s lower abdomen in the blink of an eye, but E Kuai''s body as so incredibly resilient that even the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword was only able to just barely pierce into the outer wall of his dantian.
Right at this moment, a thunderous roar rang out from down below, and Han Li drew upon all of his remaining immortal spiritual power and physical prowess to m a hand into the end of his sword''s hilt with all his might.
A dull thump rang out as the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword was mmed into E Kuai''s dantian, following which it released an arc of golden lightning.
E Kuai let loose a drawn-out cry of agony as a hole was sted into his dantian, out of which a plume of ck smoke rose up into the air.
Immediately thereafter, the ck coloration of his skin began to slowly fade, and he stumbled back a few steps before falling onto his back.
Chapter 983: Awakening
Chapter 983: Awakening
Han Li struggled to his feet, then limped over to E Kuai before pulling out the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword lodged in his dantian, following which he decapitated E Kuai with a swing of the sword.
Right at this moment, his Mantra Treasured Axis and Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword returned to his body on their own,cking the immortal spiritual power required to support them.
His entire body was riddled with wounds, but a smile appeared on his face as he took a nce at Violet Spirit, following which his legs gave out from under him, and he sat heavily down onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Mistress Liu Hua, Gu Qianxun, and Shi Chuankong were all looking on with astonished expressions.
"E Kuai is dead... just like that?" Gu Qianxun murmured to herself, while Mistress Liu Hua and Shi Chuankong remained in a stunned silence.
Han Li forced himself to sit up, then took a deep breath before closing his eyes.
The golden ball in his body was rapidly shrinking, and the flow of immortal spiritual power in his body was quickly stagnating again.
While the immortal spiritual power was still able to circte, he hurriedly retrieved some recovery pills from his Flower Branch domain.
He had used up almost all of the recovery pills in his possession, and the pills in the Scalptia Spatial Domain couldn''t even begin topare with the pills from the outside.
After retrieving a sufficient supply of pills, a thought suddenly urred to Han Li, and he reached into the front of his own robe before pulling out a ck statue amid a sh of ck light.
It was the statue that he had obtained from Daoist Master Bone Shine.
After doing all of this, the golden ball in Han Li''s bodypletely faded away, and his immortal spiritual power cirction became stagnant again.
Han Li took one of the recovery pills, and his injuries quickly began to heal.
"Are you alright, Fellow Daoist Li? I must say, you never fail to astonish and impress," Shi Chuankong said as he strode over to Han Li.
"I''m fine," Han Li replied, then made his way over to Violet Spirit to carefully inspect her condition, upon which he was relieved to discover that her injuries weren''t particrly severe.
He then strode over to E Kuai before sweeping his spiritual sense over his body, only to discover that he wasn''t carrying anything.
How could this be?
Storage treasures couldn''t be used in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so everyone was carrying many things on their bodies, such as pills and weapons, yet none of those things appeared to be in E Kuai''s possession.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s gaze fell upon a bone ring that E Kuai was wearing on his left hand.
The ring was giving off a faint white glow, indicating that it was no ordinary ring.
As Han Li removed the ring from E Kuai''s finger, Mistress Liu Hua suddenly said, "You''ve got a keen eye. That ring is a storage treasure that I crafted by incorporating starpower and spatial restrictions, and it can be used with starpower."
Han Li took a nce at Mistress Liu Hua upon hearing this, then injected his starpower and spiritual sense into his ring.
Ayer of white light surfaced over the bone ring to keep out his spiritual sense, but he was easily able to break through theyer of white light with his starpower, allowing his spiritual sense to enter the ring.
The space within the ring wasn''t veryrge, only around twenty to thirty feet in size, far smaller than even the most rudimentary storage treasures in the outside world, but this was an extremely precious treasure in the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
The internal space of the ring wasden with all types of items, including pills, weapons, beast cores, and scriptures.
Han Li quickly examined these items with his spiritual sense, and his eyes lit up as he discovered a pair of statues sitting in a corner of the storage space.
These were none other than the two remaining statutes of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, and Han Li was ecstatic to see them, but he refrained from pulling them out of the ring in order to avoid attracting attention.
He withdrew his spiritual sense before cing the bone ring onto his own finger, then transferred his two statues and the pills that he had just retrieved into the ring.
Right at this moment, a burst of crimson light shot out of the nearbyke of blood, and it quickly wrapped itself around E Kuai''s body before dragging it into the depths.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the holy remains with a contemtive look on his face, and right at this moment, Sha Xin slowly regained consciousness.
Her body was in shambles, but she was still able to just barely struggle to her feet.
Almost at the exact same moment, Violet Spirit also opened her eyes, and an ecstatic look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
"Where''s E Kuai?" Sha Xin asked in an rmed voice as she frantically took in her surroundings.
"Rest assured, City Lord Sha, E Kuai has already been in by Fellow Daoist Li," Mistress Liu Hua said with a smile.
A mix of relief and bewilderment appeared in Sha Xin''s eyes as she turned to Han Li, and right as she opened her mouth to say something, Daoist Xie''s authoritative voice rang out from the center of theke.
"Alright, E Kuai is already dead, so none of you need to be here anymore. I''m going to ask all of you to leave with the exception of Fellow Daoist Li."
The blood in theke was currently still converging toward the holy remains, and at this point, it had alreadypletely regrown a body of flesh and blood.
The body was that of a silver-haired middle-aged man with a square face, and even though his eyes were tightly shut, he was still giving off an aura of regal authority.
The middle-aged man was rather simr in appearance to Daoist Xie, but notpletely identical.
"Master! You''re alive!" Sha Xin eximed as her voice trembled with tion and excitement, and she paid no heed to her own injuries as she fell to her knees and kowtowed to the ground.
"I''m still notpletely recovered yet, so I''m going to need to spend some time to rest and recuperate, and Fellow Daoist Li on his own will suffice to protect me," Daoist Xie continued.
"Fellow Daoist Li may have yed a vital role in killing E Kuai, but he''s still an outsider, so I think it would be best for me to stay and protect you, Master," Sha Xin said in a hesitant manner.
"Fellow Daoist Li and I have been together for many years, so there''s no need for you to worry about his character. On top of that, I have another important mission for you..."
Daoist Xie''s voice trailed off here, and he continued tomunicate to Sha Xin through voice transmission.
After hearing what Daoist Xie had to say, Sha Xin gave a firm nod, then turned to Han Li as she said, "I''ll be leaving Master to you then, Fellow Daoist Li."
Immediately thereafter, she turned to depart with Violet Spirit.
"Please wait a moment, City Lord Sha," Han Li hurriedly called out after her. "Violet Spirit is my friend, so please undo the restrictions in her soul so that she can be restored to her normal mental state?"
A series of mixed emotions surfaced in Violet Spirit''s eyes upon hearing this.
"Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist Li, Ipletely forgot all about this," Sha Xin eximed as she pped a hand to her own forehead. "Back when Violet Spirit first arrived in Puppet City, I was worried that she could be a spy sent by Profound City, and that''s why I sealed away her memories. I''ll undo the seal right away."
With that, she quickly made a string of hand seals, then extended a finger, resting it on Violet Spirit''s be.
Rays of golden light flowed out of her fingertip and into Violet Spirit''s be, and a series of golden lines appeared on her forehead to form a rune.
At the same time, a dazed look appeared on her eyes, and she began to slump down in a feeble manner.
As she did so, the golden rune on her forehead disintegrated into countless specks of golden light, and she gave a muffled groan as she fell unconscious.
Han Li immediately sped over to her side, catching her before she could fall, following which he turned to Sha Xin and asked, "What happened to her?"
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, she''s only temporarily lost consciousness, and she''ll regain consciousness soon," Sha Xin replied with a faint smile, then extended a parting curtsey toward the middle-aged man at the center of theke of blood before departing, apanied by Mistress Liu Hua and Gua Qianxun.
Shi Chuankong turned his gaze to Han Li, and he opened his mouth to say something, but held his tongue in the end before also making his way outside.
Before long, Sha Xin and the others had arrived outside the underground cave.
Sha Xin closed the entrance to the passageway, then sat down with her legs crossed, and a faintyer of white light emerged over her body, while Mistress Liu Hua and the others stood nearby.
After a long hesitation, Mistress Liu Hua gritted his teeth and strode over to Sha Xin with Gu Qianxun by his side, then extended a respectful bow as he dered, "City Lord Sha, I''vee with my daughter, Gu Qianxun, to pay our respects."
"There''s no need for such formalities, Fellow Daoist Liu Hua. Is there something you would like to speak to me about?" Sha Xin asked as she opened her eyes.
"Now that E Kuai is dead, it''s only a matter of time before you establish your rule over the entire Scalptia Spatial Domain. I was a fool to have allied myself with E Kuai, and I''m hoping that you can forgive me for my misguided ways out of the kindness of your heart. I am willing to pledge my subordination to Puppet City from now on, and I implore you to ept me," Mistress Liu Hua said in an earnest manner.
"I am also willing to join Puppet City. Please ept us, City Lord Sha," Gu Qianxun said as she also extended a deep bow.
"You want to join our Puppet City? Setting aside your daughter for now, you''ve helped E Kuai create countless star artifacts in the past, causing immeasurable damage to our Puppet City. Even if I''m willing to ept you, how can you expect everyone else in our Puppet City to be so gracious?" Sha Xin asked in a cold voice.
"To make amends for my past transgressions, I''m willing to give you a detailed rundown of all of the distributions of forces around Profound City, as well as the weak points in the city''s protective array. Will that suffice as atonement?" Mistress Liu Hua asked with a wry smile.
Sha Xin''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, and she said, "It would be remiss of me to turn you down after you''ve disyed such sincerity. From this day forth, both of you are now citizens of our Puppet City."
"Thank you, City Lord Sha," Mistress Liu Hua said in an ted manner as he extended another deep bow with Gu Qianxun.
Chapter 984: Long-Awaited Reunion
After hearing the conversation between Mistress Liu Hua and Sha Xin, Shi Chuankong approached thetter, then cupped his fist in a salute as he asked, "Can I speak to you about something, City Lord Sha?"
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Shi," Sha Xin prompted.
"Can we speak in private?" Shi Chuankong asked.
A sharp gleam shed through Sha Xin''s eyes as she scrutinized Shi Chuankong, while thetter looked back at her with aposed smile.
The sharp gleam in Sha Xin''s eyes faded as she nodded in response, and the two of them distanced themselves slightly from Mistress Liu Hua and Gu Qianxun before engaging in a conversation through voice transmission.
......
In the underground space.
Han Li carried Violet Spirit over to a patch of t ground before setting her down.
After that, he fed her a recovery pill before sitting down to watch over her.Close to an hour flew by in a sh.
Right at this moment, Violet Spirit''s brows furrowed slightly, and a faint moan escaped her lips as she opened her eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Han Li asked with an excited look in his eyes.
As Violet Spirit turned to him, her eyes were no longer looking dazed at all, and it was clear that she had recovered all of her mental faculties.
Her entire body stiffened as she stared nkly at Han Li, and she reached out to gently stroke his face as she asked in a disbelieving voice, "Is it really you?"
"It''s me. I''m sorry I wasn''t by your side all these years," Han Li replied in a gentle tone as hetched onto her delicate hand.
The two of them stared at each other in silence, and it seemed that both of them were basking in the joy of reunion.
Looking at Violet Spirit''s breathtaking features, memories of their past shed through Han Li''s mind one after another, from their first encounter in the Scattered Star Sea, to the time they spent in the Heavenvoid Hall, the Umbra Realm, and Devilfall Valley. After that came their journey through the Great Jin, leading up to their separation following Han Li''s ascension...
All of these memories were still fresh in Han Li''s mind, as if they had only taken ce yesterday, but as he looked back over them, it was as if they were memories from a past life.
Violet Spirit seemed to have also begun reminiscing about the past as she gazed upon Han Li, and after a long silence, she said, "I didn''t know how long it was going to take for me to find you after I ascended. I certainly wasn''t expecting to see you so soon and under circumstances like these."
"I just so happened to arrive in the Devil Realm under a series of coincidental circumstances. Otherwise, who knows how long it would''ve taken for us to reunite?" Han Li replied with a smile.
"By the way, I recall that I was taken to Puppet City by City Lord Sha after arriving in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so why am I here now? And what is this ce?" Violet Spirit asked.
"We''re in the Great Ruins deep within the Scalptia Spatial Domain right now. After you went ot Puppet City, Sha Xin ced a seal on your soul, and that''s why you can''t remember anything up to this point..."
With that, Han Li gave Violet Spirit a rundown of everything that had happened since their initial meeting in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, and after hearing what Han Li had to say, Violet Spirit smiled as she said, "I see. It''s a good thing that City Lord Sha didn''t harbor any bad intentions toward me. Otherwise, perhaps our reunion would''ve never happened."
"Neither of us know Sha Xin very well, so it''s still important to be careful around her," Han Li warned.
"I know, I''ll make sure to be on my guard," Violet Spirit replied in an obedient manner.
"By the way, what happened after I ascended? How were you able to ascend so soon? Given your aptitude, I would''ve expected you to take longer to ascend," Han Li said in a perplexed manner.
"You just want to ask about Big Sister Nangong, right? If so, then just ask. Why ask in such a roundabout fashion?" Violet Spirit scoffed with a roll of her eyes, and a sheepish look appeared on Han Li''s face upon having his intentions seen through.
"Rest assured, I paid a visit to the Spirit Realm prior to transcending my ascension tribtion. Everything was going well in the Azure Origin Pce, and Big Sister Nangong''s cultivation was also progressing quite smoothly. At the time, she was already at the Grand Ascension Stage and preparing for her own ascension tribtion.
¡°As for how I was able to ascend so soon, it''s a long story, but long story short, I stumbled upon some fortunate circumstances that allowed me to ascend ahead of Big Sister Nangong and the others," Violet Spirit said.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but internally, he was feeling quite relieved.
"You were using an orthodox human cultivation art, so you should''ve ascended to the Immortal Realm, right? How did you end up in the Devil Realm?" Violet Spirit asked.
"I did indeed ascend to the Northern cial Immortal Region in the True Immortal Realm, and it was a long sequence of events that led me to the Devil Realm," Han Li replied.
"I haven''t been in the Devil Realm for very long, but even I''m aware that the Devil Realm and the Immortal Realm are sworn enemies of one another, so why is it that you seem to be on very good terms with a prince of the Night Sun Empire?" Violet Spirit asked.
"That''s a long story..."
In response to Violet Spirit''s question, Han Li gave her a brief rundown of the events that transpired since his ascension, keeping only the matters regarding the Heaven Controlling Vial secret from her.
Violet Spirit''s expression changed over and over again as she listened to Han Li''s story, and she couldn''t help but be stunned by his tumultuous experiences.
In particr, she was very touched to hear how Han Li was willing to venture into the Scalptia Spatial Domain to search for her, and even long after Han Li was finished with his story, she was still staring off nkly into space, processing what she had just heard.
"I knew you were always destined for great things, but it''s still nothing short of astonishing for me to hear that you''ve already reached the High Zenith Stage. You must''ve endured countless hardships to reach your current heights," Violet Spirit sighed.
"I did encounter some perils along the way, but it''s all in the past now. Besides, if it wasn''t for these perils and hardships, I wouldn''t have been able to progress so quickly, so I suppose they were ultimately all blessings for me," Han Li replied with a nonchnt smile.
"That''s a good way of looking at things," Violet Spirit said with a smile of her own. "What are your ns from here onward?"
"I promised Fellow Daoist Xie to keep a lookout for him while he recuperates. Once he''s made a full recovery, I''ll leave the Scalptia Spatial Domain, then find a way to return to the True Immortal Realm," Han Li replied.
"He has a way to allow us to leave the Scalptia Spatial Domain?" Violet Spirit asked with a surprised expression.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit. Once I''ve made a full recovery, I''ll be able to draw upon the essential power of the Scalptia Spatial Domain to teleport you two lovebirds out of here," Daoist Xie interjected in an amused voice, and a deep blush instantly appeared on Violet Spirit''s face upon hearing this.
"Come with me to the True Immortal Realm, Violet Spirit. As long as you have enough Devilish Origin Stones, you''ll be able to cultivate in the True Immortal Realm just the same," Han Li proposed in an earnest manner, and Violet Spirit fell silent upon hearing this.
Han Li was very familiar with her personality, and he made no effort to rush her.
After a brief silence, Violet Spirit suddenly said, "Brother Han, there''s a question that I''ve been wanting to ask you for a very long time."
"Go ahead," Han Li prompted.
"Which one is more important to you, me or Big Sister Nangong?" Violet Spirit asked as she looked straight into his eyes.
Han Li was rendered speechless upon hearing this, and only after a long silence did he reply with a forced smile, "Why would you ask that? Both you and Wan''er are extremely important to me."
Violet Spirit continued to look at Han Li in silence, while Han Li felt more and more sheepish by the second.
A hint of disappointment shed through her eyes upon hearing his answer, but it quickly faded away, and she sighed, "It''s always the more the better for you men, isn''t it?"
Han Li heaved an internal sigh and offered no response.
"I don''t have a habit of relying on anyone, and I don''t n to change that anytime soon, so I''m going to continue cultivating on my own for now. From what you''ve told me, you have some very formidable enemies, so you would only be weighed down by me. Hence, it''s better for me to remain in the Devil Realm," Violet Spirit decided after a long silence.
"You haven''t changed at all," Han Li sighed with a wry smile. "What are your future ns?"
"My cultivation aptitude is far inferior to yours, but it seems like I have some talent in the art of puppet maniption, so I n to continue following City Lord Sha as her disciple. Once Fellow Daoist Xie makes a full recovery, I''ll probably leave this ce to cultivate in the Devil Realm," Violet Spirit replied.
"In that case, I won''t try to dissuade you, but do ept these things. They''ll be very helpful for your future cultivation," Han Li said as he pulled out a few jade slips, making copies of the cultivation art on the first statue of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, as well as two devilish cultivation arts that were suitable for Violet Spirit.
Chapter 985: Separation Following Reunion
Violet Spirit didn''t refuse Han Li''s offerings, but her expression instantly changed slightly after she inspected the contents of the jade slips with her spiritual sense.
Her cultivation base wasn''t particrly advanced, but she had umted some knowledge and experience during her time in the ck River Water Pce and Puppet City, so she could tell that these were all extremely precious cultivation arts.
"I can tell that you''ve already made good progress in the Puppet Heart Technique, but when ites to honing spiritual sense, no cultivation art can match the Spirit Refinement Technique. If you can master the Spirit Refinement Technique, your puppet maniption abilities will be sure to benefit immensely.
¡°However, there are very severe risks involved in pursuing this cultivation art, and I''veid out those risks in detail in the jade slip, and it''s up to you whether you would like to cultivate it or not. Make sure to cultivate the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts diligently as well. Once you''ve opened a profound acupoint, the corresponding immortal acupoint will be far easier to open," Han Li said.
"I understand," Violet Spirit replied with a nod, then stowed the jade slips away.
"As for the other two cultivation arts, I obtained both of them from a Great Epassment Stage devilish cultivator. You won''t be able to cultivate them for now, but they fit quite well with your physical constitution, so you can save them for the future.
¡°However, you can begin cultivating the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and the Spirit Refinement Technique right away. You can stay here to cultivate while I keep a lookout for Brother Xie. That way, I''ll be able to give you some instruction in your cultivation," Han Li continued.
"There''s no need for that. I n to return to City Lord Sha''s side. My puppet maniption techniques still have much room for improvement, and I''ll make sure to put these cultivation arts to good use as well. I''ll be sure to look after myself, so there''s no need to worry about me," Violet Spirit replied as she averted her gaze.
"In that case, take this with you as well. I obtained this puppet from one of the Puppet City cultivators, and it''s quite powerful, so keep it for your own protection. Even if Sha Xin finds out about it, she won''t say anything if you tell her that it''s from me," Han Li said he offered her the golden ball that was the Gold-Winged Falcon puppet."That''s a Gold-Winged Falcon!" Violet Spirit eximed at the sight of golden ball, and she hesitated momentarily, but still epted it in the end.
"You''ve given me so many things, but all I can give you in return is this," she said as she handed a translucent green jade pendant to Han Li.
However, the jade pendant wasn''tplete, and it seemed to be only half a pendant. Furthermore, its edge was rather jagged and uneven, seemingly indicating that someone had forcibly snapped the jade pendant into two.
There was a glowing image in the center of the jade pendant, depicting a humanoid figure.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly as he looked up at Violet Spirit, and thetter said in a determined voice, "There''s no need for you to do anything about this, I''ll take care of it myself. I just wanted to tell you about it."
After that, she turned to depart.
Han Li took a step forward and reflexively reached out to stop her, but ultimately refrained from doing so as he heaved a faint sigh.
Before long, Violet Spirit emerged from the underground space, where she was greeted by the sight of a small gathering of people, consisting of Sha Xin, Mistress Liu Hua''s trio, Zhuo Fa, Hei Da, and Hei Er.
"City Lord Sha," Violet Spirit greeted as she extended a respectful curtsey.
"Why did youe out, Violet Spirit? How is my master?" Sha Xin hurriedly asked with a surprised expression.
"That senior is still recovering at the moment, and I''vee out after speaking briefly with Fellow Daoist Li," Violet Spirit replied.
Sha Xin nodded in response, thentched onto Violet Spirit''s hand as she said in an apologetic manner, "Forgive me for cing that seal on your soul. I did it for the sake of Puppet City, but it must''ve been very hard on you."
"It''s fine, City Lord Sha, I understand why you did it," Violet Spirit assured.
Sha Xin was quite relieved to hear this, and she asked, "What are your ns from here onward?"
"I want to continue serving you, City Lord Sha," Violet Spirit replied in a determined manner.
......
Following Violet Spirit''s departure, a vortex suddenly appeared on the surface of theke of blood in the underground cave, and the crimson crystal b was sucked into the depths along with Han Li.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li and Daoist Xie appeared in arge crystal pce together.
The walls of the pce werepletely transparent and crimson in color, and there were all types of runes engraved upon it, giving it the appearance of arger version of the crystal coffin from before.
The crystal b that was carrying Daoist Xie''s holy remains slotted perfectly into a stone tform on the ground, and it was as if they had been one to begin with.
There were three ring-shaped troughs on the ground in the crystal pce, and they were also etched withplex runes.
It seemed that the entire hall was a giant star array.
As Han Li swept his gaze over the area, he discovered that E Kuai''s body wasying in one of the nearby troughs.
"I''ve fused as one with this set of remains, but I''m still far frompleting a full resurrection. Hence, I''m going to need to rest and recuperate here for some time, and I''ll need you to protect me during this time, Fellow Daoist Han," E Kuai suddenly said.
"Why do you want me here as opposed to Sha Xin? Isn''t she your subordinate? And she seems to be very loyal to you," Han Li asked with a puzzled expression.
"E Kuai was also one of my closest subordinates, and I even tasked him with protecting this ce, but how did that work out? In the end, he colluded with the Devilish Monarch and almost destroyed this entire Scalptia Spatial Domain. Right now, you''re the only one I can trust," Daoist Xie replied with a shake of his head.
"How exactly are you rted to the Devilish Monarch? Why did he plot against you?" Han Li asked.
"That''s... a long story. I''ll tell you about it after I''m fully recovered. There are two sides pces in this Starfall Crystal Pce, one one the left, and one on the right. One of them was where I used to research bodily refinement puppetry, and all of the scriptures I left behind should still be in there. You can browse those materials as you please.
¡°As for the other side pce, that was where I cultivated in the past, and you can use that ce for your own cultivation for now," Daoist Xie said.
Han Li nodded in response, choosing not to ask any further questions.
Momentster, a circr array appeared above the crystal pce, and a burst of bright starlight quickly illuminated the entire array.
At the same time, the walls and ground of the crystal pce also began to glow radiantly, and immense starpower was converging from all directions.
The patterns on the crimson crystal b and the stone tform beneath it lit up in unison, forming a crimson light barrier that epassed Daoist Xie''s body within it.
At the same time, the sound of flowing water rang out from within the troughs on the ground, and the blood from theke began to pour in, filling all three ring-shaped troughs before flowing collectively toward the crimson stone tform at the very center of the pce.
Han Li could clearly sense the tremendous bloodline power within the blood slowly fusing into Daoist Xie''s body.
Right at this moment, a dull thump rang out, and Han Li turned to discover that E Kuai''s body had abruptly exploded without any warning, and his flesh and bones were all pressed tightly against the wall of the trough by some type of invisible force.
As his remains were submerged by the blood from theke, his flesh and bones began to slowly melt away, disintegrating into pure bloodline power that injected itself into the array.
Right at this moment, Han Li felt his own heart shudder violently, following which a deep, unnatural flush appeared on his face.
He was slightly rmed by this as he began channeling the starpower within his own body while making his way toward the side pce on the right.
Upon entering the side pce, he immediately sat down with his legs crossed.
At this moment, all of the blood in his body was pumping forcefully through his veins, and it was as if it had been brought to a boil. Plumes of pink mist were also pouring incessantly out of his pores, as if his skin had been set alight.
All of his true spirit bloodlines also began to churn violently, threatening to erupt out of his body, and he was struggling to keep them under control.
He immediately channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and all of the starpower in his body to try and suppress the true spirit bloodlines, but that only lent them more power, making them even more violent, to the point that even his bones had begun creaking and groaning.
What''s happening?
All of a sudden, he recalled how his true spirit bloodlines had be far more powerful when used in conjunction with his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
Given that his true spirit bloodlines were currently working against him, it was naturally not a good idea to enhance them.
With that in mind, Han Li hurriedly stopped channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, only using the starpower in his body instead to soothe the raging true spirit bloodlines.
Only after a full four hours had passed did the unrest in his true spirit bloodlines gradually begin to subside, but his cheeks were still looking slightly flushed.
He opened his eyes as he exhaled, then heaved a faint sigh as he murmured to himself, "This could prove to be troublesome..."
After that, he rose to his feet and took a nce at his surroundings.
There were eight white jade bookshelves that were around ten feet in height in the side pce that he was in, and they were allden with scriptures of different descriptions.
At the very center of the pce was an octagonal crystal pagoda that was also around ten feet tall, and it had nine levels in total, with spiritual light swirling around it, presenting a beautiful sight to behold.
Chapter 986: Calm and Focused
Han Li passed by the nearby bookshelves, and only upon reaching the crystal pagoda did he discover that there weren''t any runes engraved upon it, nor was it any type of immortal treasure. Instead, it was just a special storage structure.
Each level of the pagoda was split up into eight grids, ced in each of which were many jade slips and scriptures.
The bottom level was the one with thergest area, and it was also the one that had the most scriptures, most of which were in the form of books and scrolls. The scriptures were densely packed together, and each grid contained around a hundred of them.
Each sessive ascending level was smaller than the previous one, so there were fewer scriptures inside, and the top level only contained eight scriptures, all of which were jade slips.
Having been given permission by Daoist Xie to ess the scriptures as he pleased, Han Li didn''t hesitate to pick out one of the jade slips before pressing it against his own be to inspect its contents.
Momentster, he set the jade slip down with an intrigued expression.
The jade slip contained a puppet refinement cultivation art called the Hundred Refinement Puppet arts.
The cultivation art was veryplex, and just in terms of material selection alone, there were three sub-categories,ying out the environmental, timing, and human factors that had to be taken into consideration. Furthermore, there were very detailed descriptions of how the use of different materials would affect the puppet that was refined, as well as how different environment and timing factors impacted the puppet refinement oue.
However, Han Li was currently more interested in looking at some scriptures rted to bodily refinement, hoping to find something that could suppress or resolve the issue of his true spirit bloodline bacsh.Hence, he promptly returned the Hundred Puppet Refinement Arts to its original spot before continuing to examine some other jade slips.
......
Seven days flew by in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in a corner of the hall, carefully reading through a scroll that was titled "Origin Star Blood Refinement Arts".
Compared with other bodily refinement cultivation arts, which generally instructed one in how to refine their physical bodies, this one was very bold and innovative, proposing the possibility of using starpower to directly refine one''s blood.
Using this cultivation art, one would be able to umterge amounts of starpower in their blood, so if they were to sustain any blood injuries during battle, they would be able to use the blood that flowed out of their wounds against their enemies, often catching the enemy off guard.
On top of that, the more starpower one umted in their blood through the use of this cultivation art, the more drastically their powers would be enhanced by the use of certain blood-incinerating secret techniques.
However, the cultivation process was extremely difficult and perilous, requiring one to directly guide starpower into their own bloodstream, which was an excruciating and high-risk procedure.
If one were to lose control of the starpower in their blood as it passed through certain vital regions like their heart or dantian, then that could spell instant death.
Han Li was very intrigued by this cultivation art, but he had no intention of pursuing it as it was explicitly stated that this cultivation art wasn''t suitable for those with special bloodlines.
This was because cultivators with special bloodlines would find it more difficult than the average cultivator to integrate starpower into their blood. Given howplex Han Li''s bloodline already was, pursuing this cultivation art would be no different frommitting suicide.
However, there were certain parts of this cultivation art that were useful to Han Li for reference purposes. In particr, the methodsid out to quell potential unrest in the starpower in one''s blood were very insightful for Han Li.
Hence, his intention was to extract the useful parts of the cultivation art and incorporate them into his own cultivation.
Some timeter, he closed the scroll, then massaged his own temples as he rose to his feet and ced it back onto the crystal pagoda.
Over the past few days, he had read through all of the scriptures on the pagoda, but he hadn''t found much useful information.
Even the Origin Star Blood Refinement Technique couldn''tpletely resolve the problems that he was currently facing.
However, there were some bandaid solutionsid out in the cultivation art that he was eager to try out.
With that in mind, he left this side pce and made his way toward the other one.
As he passed by the star array at the center of the pce, he noticed that Daoist Xie had already beenpletely enveloped within ayer of dense crimson light, making it impossible to see him from the outside.
As soon as Han Li entered the other side pce, he felt as if his entire body had been enveloped in a burst of gentle, warm pressure that provided an extremelyfortable sensation.
He inspected his surroundings momentarily to discover that the entire area was riddled with all types of runes, and shing star designs had been engraved onto the ceiling and the ground beneath his feet.
Bursts of rippling white light were sweeping over these shing stars, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
The starpower here is extremely abundant. As expected of Brother Xie''s former ce of cultivation...
Han Li strode over to a lotus flower cushion at the center of the pce before sitting down onto it with his legs crossed.
A burst of white light instantly appeared beneath his backside, and it was as if he had just sat down onto a soft and warm padded chair.
After taking a seat, he took a moment to collect himself, then began running through the Origin Star Blood Refinement Arts in his mind, but didn''t begin cultivating it right away.
He ignored the part of the cultivation art that detailed how to incorporate starpower into one''s blood, choosing to only examine the parts thatid out how to quell and suppress the starpower in one''s blood.
ording to the cultivation art, starpower was very simr in nature to true spirit bloodlines in that if it were to spiral out of control, then it would simultaneously incinerate one''s blood essence while also bursting through one''s blood vessels, resulting in self-detonation.
Given Han Li''s tremendous physical constitution, he was fairly confident that he would be able to avoid the fate of self-detonation, but he would still inevitably perish if all of the blood essence in his body were incinerated into nothingness.
Only after some extensive contemtion did Han Limence his cultivation.
......
Over eight years flew by in a sh.
Inside the side pce, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed atop the lotus flower cushion. At this moment, his skin was as red as blood, and plumes of pink mist were rising up from his body, transforming the surrounding area into a pink sauna.
His eyes had also turned bright red, but he was looking very calm and collected as he made a strange hand seal while chanting an incantation, following which he gentlyid down to his right with one hand supporting his own head, looking as if he were about to take a nap.
As soon as he adopted this pose, the starpower in his body instantly surged through his entire body from head to toe, then back to his head, going back and forth in a stable fashion to slowly suppress his violent true spirit bloodlines.
The bright red coloration of his skin also slowly faded away, returning to his normalplexion.
I''ve finally done it! Looks like all this time and effort hasn''t gone to waste!
Han Li rolled over and sat back up as a pleased smile appeared on his face.
Over the past eight years, Han Li had spent some time browsing through the scriptures in the other side pce, but the majority of his time had been spent cultivating the Origin Star Blood Refinement Arts in seclusion.
After countless attempts, he had finally begun to master the way to quell his own true spirit bloodlines.
Han Li rose to his feet and stretchedzily as he looked up at the shing stars engraved onto the ceiling above. The stars formed a series of constetions that hung up in the sky like jade belts, presenting a beautiful and ethereal sight to behold.
He was in quite a good mood, and he murmured to himself, "Looks like it''s another bright and starry night."
He had discovered very early on that even though this crystal pce was situated beneath theke of blood, it was connected with the sky outside, and whenever night fell, the stars on the ceiling would light up just like the stars in the sky.
The clearer and brighter the night sky was, the brighter the stars in the pce would glow, and the more abundant the starpower that they would release.
After observing the stars on the ceiling for some time, a thought suddenly urred to Han Li, and he rummaged around in the front of his own robe momentarily before pulling out the Heaven Controlling Vial and setting it down onto the ground.
The light cascading down from the ceiling shone down onto the vial, basking it in a gentle glow, clearly illuminating all of the patterns on its surface.
However, even after waiting for a long while, the vial didn''t disy any change at all.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he murmured to himself, "Looks like the starlight produced by these stars still can''t match..."
All of a sudden, his voice abruptly trailed off as ayer of hazy white light appeared around the vial, and the entire vial took on a translucent appearance as a series of specks of white light took shape around it, forming a giant white halo that was giving off a soft glow.
However, the rate of umtion of specks of white light was quite slow, far slower than what could be achieved through the absorption of organic starlight.
Han Li observed the Heaven Controlling Vial for a moment long before stowing it away again. He had only brought it out as an act of curiosity, and he wasn''t actually nning to manifest any spirit liquid with it. After all, he had no use for the vial''s spirit liquid in the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
After stowing the vial away, he stood up and made his way to the other side pce.
......
One day, roughly a monthter.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed, and he pulled four items out of his sleeve before setting them down in front of himself one by one.
The four items were four ancient statues that seemed to depict some type of devilish being with three heads and six arms, but each of them were disying different expressions and poses.
Chapter 987: Rapid Progress
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he examined the four statues.
The one on the very left was one that he had obtained from Green Goat City, and he had already fully mastered the three levels of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts enclosed within it during his time in the Weeping Blood Array.
The second and third statues had both been in E Kuai''s possession, while the final statue was the one that he had pulled out of the Flower Branch domain.
ording to E Kuai, there were four of these statues, so he hadpleted the set.
A hint of concern appeared in Han Li''s eyes at the thought of the Flower Branch domain.
At the time, he was on the verge of running out of the immortal spiritual power imparted upon him by Daoist Xie, so he was only able to pull out this statue and some recovery pills, and he wasn''t even able to go into the domain.
Weeping Soul was still lying unconscious on the second floor of the bamboo pavilion, and Han Li had no idea if her condition had worsened at all.
However, there was simply nothing that he could do at the moment.
In the wake of Shi Pokong''s betrayal, his ticket back to the Devil Realm had been proven to be counterfeit, so the only way for him to return to the Scalptia Spatial Domain now was to wait for Daoist Xie to make a full recovery.Furthermore, now that Shi Zhanfeng was dead, there was naturally no way for him to fulfill his promise of getting the grand priest to treat Weeping Soul''s condition.
On top of that, the battle for the throne in the Devil Realm was only going to be more and more intense, and Han Li didn''t want to deepen his involvement in this matter.
After taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Han Li picked up the second statue, then took a deep breath, following which a burst of translucent light shot out of his be and into the statue.
Immediately thereafter, the statue began to cycle through a series of strange poses, and with each pose that it adopted, a passage of profound text would appear on its back,ying out the next three levels of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
Han Li stared intently at the statue and began to imitate its movements.
......
On a continent that was countless kilometers away, a seductive woman was seated on a white jade chair in a majestic pce at the center of a massive city, listening to a report being delivered by a handsome young man.
The woman was none other than Sha Xin, while the report was being delivered by Zhuo Fa.
"We''ve established firm control over Profound City. There''s been some minor resistance from the four subsidiary cities, but they''ve all been quelled. Also, Gu Qianxun has made some significant contributions during this process," Zhuo Fa reported in a respectful manner.
"I heard that the elders and subordinates that formerly served under Qin Yuan of Profound End City all surrendered and pledged their subordination to our Puppet City, but they were still all killed nheless. Why is that?" Sha Xin asked.
"Gu Qianxun was responsible for that, but she was acting under Mistress Liu Hua''s instructions. He told me that he would exin the matter to you in person," Zhuo Fa replied after a brief hesitation.
"They must''ve just been settling some personal vendettas. Let them do as they please," Sha Xin said in an indifferent manner.
"In Gu Qianxun''s defense, she did make a clear effort to keep the damage to a minimum. All of the battles were held in the arena in Profound End City, and there were a total of eighty-one battles spanning over a period of seven days and seven night before all of Qin Yuan''s former subordinates were killed. As a result, there were no innocent civilian casualties or any coteral damage," Zhuo Fa said in a careful manner.
"It sounds like she was quite measured in her approach. Her actions are hardly of consequence. Have new city lords been instated yet?" Sha Xin asked.
"Mistress Liu Hua is currently serving as the temporary city lord of Profound City, and Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing have pledged their subordination to him as well, so that was actually the smoothest transition. As for the other cities, city lords have also been assigned, but a lot of people have died in the process," Zhuo Fa reported.
"Profound City is no smaller a city than our Puppet City, so make sure to keep it under thorough supervision at all times," Sha Xin instructed.
"Yes, City Lord Sha," Zhuo Fa replied.
"How many of the ruins that I instructed you to excavate have you found?" Sha Xin asked.
"At this point, we''ve only found twenty-one, and we''re still searching for the remaining eighty-seven," Zhuo Fa replied.
"These ruins are spread out over the entire Scalptia Spatial Domain, and some of them in very perilous andpletely uninhabited ces, so you''ve already made some good progress finding twenty-one of them in such a short time. Just make sure you find all of them within the next one thousand years," Sha Xin said.
Zhuo Fa gave an affirmative response.
"This is a vital matter for Master''s resumption of control over the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so it must be treated with the utmost care and diligence," Sha Xin said in a serious manner, then waved a hand to dismissive Zhuo Fa, who extended a respectful bow before promptly departing.
......
Inside an underground secret chamber in arge manor in the western region of Puppet City, Shi Chuankong was submerged within an octagonal pool of blood with his body bound by eight translucent, crimson chains, each of which was attached to one of the eight crimson stone pirs around the pool.
The chains were nging incessantly, and the eight crimson stone pirs were also trembling violently as the entire pool of blood churned and bubbled while giving off bursts of scorching heat.
However, Shi Chuankong''s body remainedpletely still, as if he werepletely unaffected, and only his tightly furrowed brows and the audible grinding of his teeth betrayed the fact that he was in excruciating pain.
However, he had willingly put himself in this position. In fact, he had to make a deal with Sha Xin for this privilege.
Right at this moment, a speck of light appeared on his chest as a profound acupoint was abruptly opened.
......
Over eight hundred years passed by in the blink of an eye.
The star array in the crystal pce beneath theke of blood was still operating, while bursts of rumbling were ringing out incessantly within one of the side pces.
Inside the side pce was a strange-looking humanoid creature with golden fur all over its body, a pair of lightning wings on its back, and pieces of azure turtle shell all over its arms.
The humanoid creature was currently pounding the walls of the side pce with all its might, but thankfully, the tremendous starpower released by the runes on the walls ensured that the building wasn''tpletely razed to the ground.
The monstrous creature pounded the walls for a full six hours before its strength finally began to wane.
As its movements slowed down, the silver wings on its back faded away, quickly followed by the chunks of turtle shell on its arms, then the golden fur all over its skin.
After all of these features faded away, the humanoid figure was revealed to be none other than Han Li.
His eyes were sunken deep into his face, and he lookedpletely emaciated. He was having to support himself with his palms against the ground, and he was panting heavily while sweating profusely, but his sweat was being evaporated into steam as soon as it oozed out of his pores, making it appear as if his entire body were enshrouded in a cloud of mist.
Some timeter, he slumped down against the wall, and the rampant true spirit bloodlines in his body finally settled down again.
Ultimately, true spirit bloodlines were still different from starpower, and the Origin Star Blood Refinement Technique alone was struggling more and more to quell the unrest in his true spirit bloodlines.
At this rate, this will only have to happen a few more times, and all of my blood essence is going to be incinerated into nothingness...
Han Li heaved a faint sigh at this sobering thought.
He had already read through all of the scriptures in the other side pce no fewer than ten times, and none of the scriptures rted to bodily refinement had presented any solutions. Surprisingly enough, he was able to find a potential solution in a scripture rted to puppetry, but it was one that he was very reluctant to pursue.
The method involved refining a powerful puppet and transferring one''s true spirit bloodlines into it, then drawing in someone else''s blood into one''s own body in order to ensure survival.
However, if he were to do this, then his powers would be significantly diminished, and the resulting puppet would temporarily possess extremely formidablebat prowess, but once it used up all of the blood essence in its body, then it would be reduced to a useless piece of trash.
Even though Han Li was very resistant to the idea, he knew that he would have to resort to it for his own survival if no better solution was found.
During this time, Daoist Xie had awakened several times, and Han Li had taken advantage of those opportunities to open the Flower Branch domain to check on Weeping Soul.
All of the Purple Sun Warm Jade had already been used up, but for some reason, her condition hadn''t continued to worsen. Hence, Han Li temporarily sealed Weeping Soul away using a puppetry secret technique taught him by Daoist Xie so that he could address her condition another time.
On top of that, Han Li also asked Daoist Xie if thetter had any solutions pertaining to his problem of true spirit bloodline bacsh.
After all, Daoist Xie was the one who had instructed him to cultivate the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts to begin with, and this bacsh had only begun to arise after he used the advanced refinement method enclosed in the cultivation art to refine his own true spirit bloodlines.
Daoist Xie''s exnation for this was that his true spirit bloodlines had to have been enhanced following the refinement process, thereby resulting in this bacsh.
Unfortunately, he wasn''t able to provide any solutions, and he told Han Li that he would address the matter once he came out of seclusion.
Hence, Han Li had no choice but to continue cultivating the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts to enhance his own physical constitution while suppressing his true spirit bloodlines with the starpower in his own body. As long as he didn''t use his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts in conjunction with his true spirit bloodlines, thetter wouldn''t be enhanced any further.
Hence, he became even more diligent in his cultivation of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
At this point, he had already mastered the first six levels of the cultivation,pleting the second statue, and he had opened over nine hundred profound acupoints, making himparable in power to E Kuai prior to his death.
The main factors that contributed to his astonishingly rapid progress in the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts were the tremendous amount of bloodline power stored in the Heaven Controlling Vial, as well as the special environment in this crystal pce.
Chapter 988: Fusion
Chapter 988: Fusion
Even with such ideal factors at his disposal, Han Li was still struggling to make progress in the third statue.
This was because the cultivation methodid out in the third statue had changed, and it was no exaggeration to say that it waspletely different from before.
It required the cultivator to use starpower to open profound acupoints while simultaneously using their bloodline power to facilitate a physical transformation, essentially turning one into a devilish being with three heads and six arms.
Tremendous bloodline power was required to aplish this. Otherwise, it would be impossible to manifest all three heads and six arms at once.
Han Li''s bloodline power was already quite immense, but it was still not quite up to scratch.
Han Li was sitting on the ground with a contemtive look in his eyes when a faint smile suddenly appeared on his face, and he pulled the jade pendant given to him by Violet Spirit out of the front of his robe before carefully examining it.
The pendant was slowly revolving over the palm of his hand, depicting a faintly glowing figure inside. The more Han Li examined the jade pendant, the more perplexed he became.
Why did she give this to me? It doesn''t appear to be special in any way. The only thing noteworthy about it is that the figure inside looks a little like me. Is this what she''s been using to remember me by?
He lifted the jade pendant up by its string, then gave it a twirl with his fingers, and the pendant immediately began to revolve rapidly in mid-air, doing so with such incredible speed that the afterimages it left behind resembled a green ball.
At the same time, a three-dimensional image of the figure inside the pendant appeared within the green ball.
Han Li''s expression suddenly changed slightly upon seeing this, and an intrigued look appeared in his eyes as he murmured to himself, "Perhaps that''s feasible..."
Immediately thereafter, he pulled out the four statues again before setting them down in front of himself for a close examination.
The third statueid out a method of using one''s bloodline power to alter their physical body. Han Li couldn''t aplish this with his bloodline power alone, but what if he were to use his true spirit bloodlines instead?
Han Li had taken inspiration from the jade pendant. The pendant and the figure inside it didn''t necessarily have to be separate entities. Instead, perhaps they were better viewed as a singlebined entity.
However, this raised a new concern.
The previous few instances of true spirit bloodline bacsh had all stemmed from his usage of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts. If he were to channel both at once, was there a chance that could trigger even more violent true spirit bloodline bacsh.
After some extensive contemtion, he ultimately decided to give it a try. At this point, his true spirit bloodline bacsh had be such a dire problem that he had to take some drastic measures to address it right away.
With his mind made up, Han Li didn''t hesitate any longer, and a burst of translucent light shot out of his be and into the third statue.
Han Li had already memorized all of the statue''s poses, so on this asion, most of his attention was focused on the contents of the passages of profound text that appeared on its back, particrly the method required for one to alter their physical form with their bloodline power.
Only after thoroughly reading through all of the relevant material did he begin imitating the movements of the statue, and as he did so, all of his profound acupoints lit up one after another.
At the same time, he also began channeling his true spirit bloodlines, and it didn''t take long before a burst of heat shed through his body.
Han Li was very familiar with this sensation. It was the precursor to true spirit bloodline bacsh, and it wasn''t going to take long before his blood began boiling in his veins.
He did his best topose himself, and instead of using his starpower to soothe the unrest in his true spirit bloodlines, he began guiding his true spirit bloodlines toward his shoulders and back in ordance with the routesid out in the third statue.
However, as soon as he did this, his true spirit bloodlines immediately began to surge toward his head like floodwaters through a broken dam.
Han Instantly felt a tearing pain in his shoulders, and the muscles there began to bulge as new flesh began to grow.
At the same time, a burst of sharp, unbearable pain speared through Han Li''s consciousness, making it feel as if his spiritual sense were in the process of being torn apart.
Even with Han Li''s incredible pain tolerance, thebination of physical and spiritual agony was still almost too much for him to bear, and he couldn''t help but let loose a guttural roar.
However, what was rather surprising to him was he was feeling very lucid and conscious, and that was why he was able to feel the agony so clearly and intensely, but at the same time, this also did seem to prove that this was a feasible approach.
With that in mind, Han Li gritted his teeth tightly and began to focus wholeheartedly on cultivating the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
......
Over five hundred more years flew by in a sh.
Inside one of the side pces of the crystal pce,yers of crimson light were shing incessantly, and within the crimson light was a man that was around a hundred feet tall, with three heads and six arms.
The man was currently seated with his legs crossed on a lotus flower tform, repeatedly cycling through a series of strange movements with his six arms.
Of his three heads, the middle one was that of a golden ape, the one on the left resembled that of a true dragon, while the one on the right belonged to a giant eagle-like bird.
All of a sudden, the man joined all three sets of his palms in front of himself, and the crimson light around him slowly faded away.
Simultaneously, his body gradually shrank down, and by the time all of the light had faded away, Han Li was revealed, fully in the nude.
He exhaled as he opened his eyes, then twisted his neck from side to side as a faint smile appeared on his face.
Ever since he discovered that his true spirit bloodlines could be used to cultivate the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, he had been cultivating diligently without rest, and even though he hadn''t opened any additional profound acupoints, his body had undergone a massive transformation.
What was most pleasing to him was that the true spirit bloodline bacsh problem had already been half-resolved, and the reward for his efforts was that devilish form that he had just disyed.
By using the cultivation artid out in the third statue, he was able to draw upon his Giant Mountain Ape, True Dragon, and Kun Peng bloodlines at once. Hence, when he adopted that devilish form with three heads and six arms, he possessed the power of all three types of true spirits, thereby granting him incredible power.
At this point, the threat of bacsh from these three true spirit bloodlines had already been resolved, and the same method could be used to resolve the threat posed by his other true spirit bloodlines as well.
Han Li''s guess was that after he mastered all twelve levels of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, he would attain four different forms with three heads and six arms, just like the four statues, and each form would have a set of three different true spirit heads.
However, there was an element of randomness to this process, and he wasn''t entirely sure what the final oue was going to be.
After taking a brief rest, Han Li was just about to stand up to take a walk when the entire crystal pce suddenly began to tremble violently, and all of the patterns on the walls and the ground began to light up on their own.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly rushed out of the side pce.
Upon reaching the entrance of the main pce, Han Li was greeted by the sight of Daoist Xie, enshrouded in ayer of radiant white light.
Dense clusters of profound acupoints were shing all over his body, and after a quick count, Han Li determined the number of profound acupoints to be one thousand eight hundred!
After hovering in mid-air for a while, a tremendous aura abruptly erupted out of Daoist Xie''s body, and even with Han Li''s powers, he was kept out by this incredibly formidable aura, unable to take even a single step into the pce.
Could it be that Brother Xie has already reached the Dao Ancestor level?
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed another figureying beside Daoist Xie. This figure''s entire body was golden in color, and their eyes were tightly shut, seemingly in a state of slumber.
Han Li was quickly able to determine that the golden figure was a puppet, but at the same time, there was something strange about its aura, as if there were something sealed inside it.
Daoist Xie slowly opened his eyes, and two beams of dazzling golden light shot out from within.
The golden light rapidly spread to epass Daoist Xie''s entire body, then quickly filled the entire pce, and even Han Li was epassed within it.
Han Li was ecstatic to discover that while basked in the golden light, his immortal spiritual power was able to resume normal cirction, and he immediately took advantage of this opportunity to open the Flower Branch domain so that he could inspect Weeping Soul''s condition with his spiritual sense.
In doing so, he discovered that Weeping Soul''s condition hadn''t changed, and that was quite a relief for him.
Enshrouded within the golden light, Daoist Xie''s body took on a rather indistinct appearance, and all of a sudden, he looked up at the sky before abruptly vanishing from the spot.
In the next instant, he appeared in the sky above the Myriad Opportunity Pce, and the golden light radiating from his body became even brighter, making him resemble a resplendent golden sun.
Hei Da and Hei Er were stationed outside the pce, and both of them were stunned to see this.
As the golden light shone down upon them, the surrounding spatial pressure faded away, and the devilish qi in their bodies began to circte again.
However, the two of them had been in the Scalptia Spatial Domain for too long, so most of their devilish qi had already dissipated, and as a result, this change was barely detectable to them.
Chapter 989: Heavenly Dao Tribulation
Chapter 989: Heavenly Dao Tribtion
With Daoist Xie''s departure, the radiant golden light in the crystal pce also faded away.
Han Li felt the cirction of immortal spiritual power in his dantian slowing down again, but it didn''tpletely stagnate as the previously ever-present spatial pressure had disappeared.
After taking a moment topose himself, he used his spiritual sense to track down Daoist Xie, then drew upon his own sluggish immortal spiritual power to unleash a movement technique to arrive outside the pce in the blink of an eye.
As he became basked in the golden light again, the cirction of his immortal spiritual power returned to normal.
At this moment, Daoist Xie was standing with his hands by his sides, looking up at the heavens with excitement and anticipation in his eyes.
Han Li followed his gaze and also looked up at the sky, upon which he discovered that the previously clear skies had be very dark, and the yellow clouds above were also rapidly turning ck.
At the same time, a burst of tremendous pressure was quickly building in the air, and Han Li was forced to plummet back down onto the ground, as if a massive mountain had fallen upon him.
This is the aura of a major tribtion!
The aura of this imminent tribtion was countless times more powerful than any tribtion that Han Li had faced in the past, the pressure was only continuing to mount further and further.
Hei Da and Hei Er were standing on the ground, so they were subjected to far less pressure than Han Li, but even so, their legs were still trembling incessantly, while theirplexions had turned very pale.
"Get away from here! This is not something that you can withstand," Daoist Xiemanded in an authoritative voice, and Hei Da and Hei Er immediately fled into the distance.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already vanished from the spot amid a sh of golden lightning even before receiving this verbal warning from Daoist Xie, and he reappeared several hundred kilometers away turning his gaze back to Daoist Xie.
At this point, he was already too far away for the golden light radiating from Daoist Xie''s body to reach him, and he only took a quick nce back at Daoist Xie before continuing to flee into the distance, covering another several hundred kilometers in the blink of an eye.
Even after getting this far away, the sky up above was still inky ck, and more dark clouds were continuing to rapidly converge from all directions, clearly indicating that he still hadn''t flown out of the area epassed under the tribtion yet.
The sky was looking even darker than before, and even the ground below had been plunged intoplete darkness.
Han Li was stunned to see this, and he hurriedly continued flying away into the distance.
Right at this moment, all of the dark clouds in the sky suddenly began to revolve rapidly in a certain direction while simultaneously converging toward the center, forming an enormous vortex that stretched as far as the eyes could see.
Bolts of ck lightning were shing incessantly throughout the vortex, illuminating the ground below like fireworks.
A ck hole quickly appeared at the center of the vortex, and it was releasing a faint glow, seemingly leading to an unknown ce.
A burst of pressure that was countless times more formidable than before erupted out of the vortex, causing the nearby space to tremble and warp violently, and the pressure came crashing down directly upon Han Li.
Even though he had already opened over nine hundred profound acupoints, he was stillpletely powerless to resist the unfathomable pressure, and he quickly lost consciousness.
However, prior to falling unconscious, he caught sight of a vast gray cloud flying out of the center of the massive vortex before making its way toward Daoist Xie.
The cloud was very normal in appearance, but it was giving off a devastating aura, and it was precisely this aura that had knocked Han Li unconscious.
......
Inside a ck pce in Night Sun City.
The Devilish Monarch was enshrouded in ayer of soft silver light, forming arge ball of silver light that was slowly revolving around him, and the space around the ball of light was rippling visibly as it revolved.
All of a sudden, his eyes sprang open, and the silver light around him instantly faded as he cast his gaze out of the pce, and a cold look shed through his eyes as he slowly rose to his feet.
......
Inside the Bnce Fall Duke''s manor, Shi Pokong was standing in a courtyard, looking into the distant sky with a contemtive look on his face.
......
Han Li had fallen into a terrifying nightmare. He felt as if his body had been submerged at the bottom of a boundless cial sea, and tiny bursts of cial power were seeping into his body, putting him in excruciating pain.
After what seemed like an eternity, the surrounding cial power gradually faded away, following which a burst of warmth injected itself into his body, filling him with a blissful sensation.
Han Li slowly awakened, and he discovered that he wasying on the ground.
The sky above had turned purple, and there was a warm and gentle aura in the air.
All of a sudden, he recalled what had happened prior to him falling unconscious, and he hurriedly turned his gaze toward the Myriad Opportunity Pce.
Daoist Xie was still standing in mid-air, and his entire body was charred ck and riddled with massive wounds, giving him the appearance of a tree that had been struck by lightning.
A vibrant, purple cloud was gradually taking shape at the center of the vortex above him, and it slowly descended to epass him before rapidly seeping into his body.
As a result, his injuries began to heal at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, and he was fully healed in the blink of an eye.
All of the purple light in the sky quickly converged to form a single band of purple radiance, and a burst of translucent light abruptly shot out of Daoist Xie''s body to fuse as one with the purple light.
A burst of rumbling rang out as the band of purple light instantly swelled to several times its original size, then began circling around Daoist Xie like a roaming dragon.
Countless translucent threads could be seen within the purple light, giving off tremendousw power fluctuations.
Han Li was enveloped by thesew power fluctuations, and his body began to move involuntarily like a puppet on strings.
The nearby ground was also beginning to tremble violently, but thankfully, the band of purple light only revolved around Daoist Xie for a short while before vanishing into his body, and the tremendousw power fluctuations that it was giving off faded along with it.
At this moment, Daoist Xie''s entire body was shrouded in purple light, and his eyes were tightly shut, seemingly inspecting his own internal condition.
Momentster, all of the purple light faded away to reveal Daoist Xie.
A purple robe had appeared over his body, and he didn''t appear to be any different from before, but every single movement of his now seemed to be imbued with power that could move the very world around him.
However, in the next instant, the unfathomable power emanating from his body faded away, as did the purple clouds in the sky.
All of a sudden, everything had returned to normal.
Han Li slowly rose to his feet, still feeling a little lightheaded.
Hei Da and Hei Er were currently lying on the ground close to a hundred kilometers, and they seemed to be in worse condition than Han Li. Both of them were still unconscious at the moment, but thankfully, they had fled in a timely manner, so they most likely weren''t in any life-threatening danger.
Daoist Xie turned his gaze to Han Li, and with just a single step, he appeared directly beside Han Li as if by instantaneous teleportation.
"I didn''t anticipate that my Heavenly Dao Tribtion would arrive so soon and epass such arge area. If I had known this would happen, I would''ve told all of you to get away earlier," Daoist Xie said, then swept a sleeve through the air, and the lightheaded sensation that Han Li was feeling was instantly erased.
Hei Da and Hei Er also shuddered slightly, and even though they were still unconscious, they were gradually beginning to recover from their injuries.
"That was a Heavenly Dao Tribtion? Could it be that you''ve already be a Dao Ancestor?" Han Li eximed with a stunned expression.
"Indeed. After countless years of arduous cultivation, I''ve finally managed to ascend to the peak," Daoist Xie confirmed with a smile.
"Congrattions."
Even though Han Li had already guessed that this was the case, he still couldn''t help but be a little stunned to hear this, and he cupped his fist in a congrattory salute.
"Please allow me to thank you, Fellow Daoist Han. It was only with your help that I was able to get to this point," Daoist Xie replied as he returned Han Li''s salute.
"You''re far too kind, Senior, and Han Li is fine. I wouldn''t dare to be referred to as a fellow daoist by a Dao Ancestor," Han Li hurriedly said.
"We''ve been together for many years, and I trust you more than anyone, so there''s no need to observe such dogmatic formalities, Fellow Daoist Han. My surname is Shi, but you can continue calling me Daoist Xie," Daoist Xie said with a dismissive wave.
"In that case, I''ll oblige. By the way, did you just say that your surname is Shi?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. My name is Shi Kongjie. I didn''t intentionally hide this from you, I simply failed to recall my name this entire time, and many things happened after we entered the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so I didn''t get a chance to tell you," Daoist Xie confirmed with a nod.
"Shi Kongjie... Could it be that you have some ties with the Night Sun Empire?" Han Li asked.
Daoist Xie looked up into the sky and offered no response.
"If you don''t want to answer the question, then just pretend like I never asked," Han Li said.
Now that Daoist Xie was a Dao Ancestor, Han Li couldn''t help but feel a little cautious and apprehensive around him.
"No, it''s fine, Fellow Daoist Han, I was simply reminiscing about the past. It''s only thanks to you that I was able to reach this ce, so you deserve to know the truth. On top of that, I have another request for you, and in order to fulfill this request of mine, you''ll need to know these things anyway," Shi Kongjie replied with a faint smile.
"What do you need me to do?" Han Li asked.
Chapter 990: It All Goes Back to the Golden Crab
"This is not a good ce to talk. Let''s go back underground first," Daoist Xie said, then swept a sleeve through the air, and Han Li instantly felt his own body enveloped within a burst of gentle force, immediately following which he found himself in the underground pce.
The other golden Daoist Xie in the crystal pce had already awakened, and there were two other humanoid puppets standing beside it.
The other two puppets were also identical to Daoist Xie in appearance, but one was pitch ck, while the other was a pristine white.
The ck puppet was glowering at Daoist Xie with intense murderous intent in tis eyes, while the white puppet had a warm and pleasant smile on its face, looking much more benevolent and approachable.
Han Li turned to Daoist Xie with a perplexed expression, while the three puppets were also all looking at him.
The golden puppet didn''t say anything, and it only took a brief nce at Daoist Xie before looking away.
Meanwhile, a cold look appeared on the ck puppet''s face as it sneered, "You may have been fortunate enough to transcend your Heavenly Dao Tribtion, but I''m still going to kill you and take your ce eventually!"
As for the white puppet, it maintained its warm and friendly smile as it said, "Congrattions, Fellow Daoist. May I ask why you''ve summoned us to meet you here?"
"I have some tasks for the three of you. Fellow Daoist ck Spirit, please travel to Puppet City to inform Sha Xin that I''vee out of seclusion," Daoist Xie instructed as he turned to the ck puppet.The ck puppet seemed very reluctant to do his bidding, but it still obliged and departed, nheless.
"Fellow Daoist White Spirit, please undo the spatial restrictions around the Great Ruins and guide all of the citizens of Puppet City here," Daoist Xie continued as he turned to the white puppet, which also promptly departed.
"Fellow Daoist Golden Spirit, I need you to go and make some preparations. I''m going to draw upon the essential power of the Scalptia Spatial Domain to open a spatial passageway that''ll allow Fellow Daoist Han here to return to the Holy Realm," Daoist Xie said to the golden puppet, and it nodded response before departing as well.
An intrigued look appeared on Han Li''s face as he watched the three puppets depart one after the other.
"You seem to be very curious about those three puppets, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie remarked as he sat down onto a chair, then invited Han Li to take a seat as well.
"I am. These three puppets all seem to possess sentience. What types of puppets are they?" Han Li asked.
"Given your knowledge and experience, I''m sure you already have a guess, right?" Daoist Xie asked with a faint smile.
"You''ve seen right through me, Fellow Daoist Xie," Han Li chuckled. "Could it be that these three puppets are rted to the three corpses that you''ve severed?"
"You''re correct, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie confirmed with a nod. "I severed my three corpse souls and sealed them into these three puppets."
"I''ve heard that the three corpse souls are always a major problem for Great Epassment cultivators. They can''t be killed as doing so would pose some risk to the cultivator, but keeping the three corpse souls around is also very dangerous as they could turn on you at any moment.
¡°That''s why the cultivators of the Heavenly Court have gone out of their way to seal their corpse souls into the Gray Realm. In light of that, it''s brilliant that you were able to seal your three corpses into these puppets and make them do your bidding," Han Li praised with an impressed expression.
"Indeed, the three corpse souls are very difficult to manage, and the majority of Great Epassment cultivators and Dao Ancestors will choose to seal them away. I''m only able to keep them by my side without any qualms thanks to my mastery in thews of puppetry," Daoist Xie exined.
Han Li nodded in response, then said, "Let''s get back on track, Fellow Daoist Xie. What do you need me to do for you?"
"There''s no hurry, Fellow Daoist Han. Listen to my story first. Just as you guessed, I have some ties with the Night Sun Empire. I am the younger brother of the current Devilish Monarch, Shi Kongyu, which makes me Shi Chuankong''s uncle," Daoist Xie dered, and Han Li was quite astonished to hear this.
"In that case, why are you in the Scalptia Spatial Domain? And judging from the conversation that I overheard between E Kuai and City Lord Sha, it sounds like you''re currently enemies with the Devilish Monarch," Han Li said.
"That''s a long story that goes all the way back to when we werepeting against each other for the throne. Long story short, I was defeated, and he stripped me of the spatialws that I had arduously cultivated. Thankfully, I was able to escape with the help of some others, and I fled into the Scalptia Spatial Domain," Daoist Xie exined.
Han Li didn''t disy any outward reaction to this, but internally, he was stunned to hear this.
He had many questions that he wanted to ask, but this matter clearly concerned certain secrets of the Night Sun Empire, so he didn''t raise any questions.
"I''m assuming Shi Kongyu wouldn''t have let you off the hook so easily, right?" he asked.
"Of course. Shi Kongyu appears to be quite noble and generous, but in reality, he''s a very petty and spiteful man. However, the Scalptia Spatial Domain has been a special space within the Holy Realm ever since ancient times, and anyone who sets foot in here will have their cultivation basespletely suppressed.
¡°On top of that, cultivators at or above the Great Epassment Stage can''t even enter this ce at all, and that''s how I was able to survive in here," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
"Why is it that Great Epassment cultivators aren''t able to enter this ce? Is Shi Kongyu not a Dao Lord himself? How is this restriction able to take effect on him?" Han Li asked with an incredulous expression.
"The Scalptia Spatial Domain was created by an ancient Dao Ancestor, and it''s precisely because of the excessively forceful nature of this restriction that the bnce of the Great Dao in this ce was damaged, thereby resulting in this ce being reduced to the barren wastnd that you see today," Daoist Xie exined.
"I see," Han Li mused as he looked around with an awestruck expression.
At his current cultivation base, he was only able to use his ownw powers to affect a certain area around him, and once he withdrew hisw powers, everything would return to normal.
However, this ancient Dao Ancestor''sw powers were able to have a permanent effect on the entirety of the Scalptia Spatial Domain, and that was a level ofw power mastery that Han Li couldn''t even begin to fathom.
"You haven''t reached this level yet, so all of this must sound very far-fetched for you, but given your aptitude, I''m sure you''ll reach this level soon," Daoist Xie said with a smile.
"That''s very kind of you, Fellow Daoist Xie. By the way, if suchws exist in this ce, then how were you able toe in here and ascend to be a Dao Ancestor?" Han Li asked.
"After myw powers were stripped away by Shi Kongyu, my cultivation base plummeted all the way down to the High Zenith Stage, and that''s why I was able to flee into this ce. Furthermore, I was fortunate enough to have received that ancient Dao Ancestor''s inheritance, making me half an owner of the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so the rules here do not apply to me," Daoist Xie exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod. "So how did you end up bing a puppet and traveling to the Spirit Realm?"
"In this ce, I wasn''t able to make any further progress in myws of space, so I switched to cultivating thews of puppetry instead, which was thew power mastered by that ancient Dao Ancestor. I had exceptional aptitude in thews of puppetry, and with the assistance of the inheritance left behind by that Dao Ancestor senior, I was able to reach the Great Epassment Stage and severe two of my corpse souls.
¡°However, as I was severing my final corpse soul, I was betrayed by E Kuai, who allowed Shi Kongyu to intervene. As a result, my physical body met its demise, so I could only seal my soul and memories into that golden crab puppet and cast it into a lower realm in the hope of resurrecting myself someday, and you know everything that happened after that," Daoist Xie exined.
"So what is it that you need my help with, Fellow Daoist Xie?" Han Li asked.
"Even though I''ve be a Dao Ancestor, my chances ofing out on top in a battle against Shi Kongyu are still quite slim. Hence, I require allies if I want to avenge myself," Daoist Xie said.
"Could it be that you want me to join forces with you against Shi Kongyu?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"Precisely," Daoist Xie replied with a smile.
"You think far too highly of me, Fellow Daoist Xie. I''m only a mere High Zenith cultivator, how could I possibly provide you with any meaningful assistance?" Han Li asked with a bewildered expression.
"You''re too modest, Fellow Daoist Han. While it''s true that you won''t be able to pose any threat to Shi Kongyu in the near future, I''m certain that you''ll reach our level someday, given your tremendous aptitude.
¡°Now that you''ve opened so many profound acupoints, you''ll be sure to make rapid progress in your cultivation base once you leave this ce, so I''m confident that I won''t have to wait too long before you be a worthy ally of mine," Daoist Xie replied with a smile.
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
Even though he and Daoist Xie were close friends, he had already fulfilled his promise to thetter, and if he were to recklessly be involved in a conflict between a pair of Dao Ancestors, then that could easily lead to his demise.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Han, I''m not asking you to stay here right now. Instead, all I ask is that youe back to help me once you''ve attained sufficient power. On top of that, I''m not asking you to get involved in this matter for nopensation. You can have this as a gesture of my sincerity," Daoist Xie said as he offered a jade vial to Han Li.
Chapter 991: Powerless
Han Li epted the jade vial, then removed the stopper to discover a ball of white light slowly circling around within the jade vial while pulsing rhythmically as if it were a living creature.
At the center of the ball of light was a white pill that was riddled with countless specks of light, and it was giving off bursts of tremendous life energy.
The aura emanating from the pill was rather simr to that of Daoist Xie''s heart, and Daoist Xie exined, "This is a True Profound Pill, which I refined using my own essential energy in conjunction with many other types of precious ingredients. The pill contains a great deal of True Profound Essence, a sufficient amount to support your future progression to the Great Epassment Stage."
Han Li was both stunned and ecstatic to hear this. He had seen the term "True Profound Essence" brought up many times in scriptures, and it was vital for a breakthrough to the Great Epassment Stage.
In order to progress to the Great Epassment Stage, not only did one have to open three hundred and sixty immortal acupoints, most importantly, one had to undergo a process to evolve their soul into a Great Epassment True Soul, and True Profound Essence was required for this evolutionary process.
True Profound Essence was extremely precious, and it was said that only after passing through heavenly astral winds to reach the extrarealm space would one be able to find small amounts of this essence in the purest and loftiest ce in all of heaven and earth.
It was only now that Han Li finally realized that Shi Zhanfeng had most likely entered the Scalptia Spatial Domain in order to obtain sufficient True Profound Essence to facilitate his future Great Epassment Stage breakthrough.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Xie," Han Li said as he epted the jade vial, and Daoist Xie was quite pleased to see this.
"Rest assured, I won''t ept something so precious from you free of charge. Once I attain sufficient power, I''ll be sure to return and assist you," Han Li promised with a serious expression."I''ll have to thank you in advance then, Fellow Daoist Han. This True Profound Pill alone is nowhere near enough to make up for everything that you''ve already done for me, so feel free to call upon me if you need my help with anything in the future," Daoist Xie replied with a smile.
A thought urred to Han Li upon hearing this, and he said, "Now that you mention it, I really do have something that I require your assistance with."
"Oh? What is it?" Daoist Xie asked.
"I was hoping that you would be able to treat Weeping Soul''s condition now that you''ve be a Dao Ancestor," Han Li replied.
"That''s not a problem," Daoist Xie replied with a nod, following which he flicked a finger through the air, releasing a burst of golden light that vanished into Han Li''s body before forming a ball of golden light in his dantian.
The surrounding spatial pressure instantly faded, and Han Li''s immortal spiritual power cirction was restored once again, allowing him to open the Flower Branch domain.
The two of them immediately made their way to the bamboo pavilion, where Weeping Soul wasying on the bed on the second floor with her entire body riddled with ck patterns that formed a seal.
The seal had been ced upon her by Han Li in ordance with a sealing secret technique taught to him by Daoist Xie over a thousand years ago.
Daoist Xie strode over to Weeping Soul''s side, and after closely examining her condition for some time, a grim look suddenly appeared on his face.
Han Li''s heart immediately sank slightly upon seeing this.
Daoist Xie pressed a finger against Weeping Soul''s be, and a burst of ck light emerged from his fingertip before spreading outward in a series of ck ripples.
Weeping Soul instantly shuddered slightly, and it looked as if she were about to awaken.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, but in the next instant, her body becamepletely motionless once again.
Daoist Xie''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he pressed the palm of his hand t against Weeping Soul''s forehead before releasing another burst of ck light, and her body shuddered slightly once again before falling still.
Daoist Xie withdrew his hand with tightly furrowed brows.
"How is she, Fellow Daoist Xie?" Han Li asked in an uneasy manner.
"Her condition is very unique. She seems to have been affected by some type of extremely formidablew powers, causing her soul to constantly dissipate. All I can do is stabilize her condition, but I''m afraid I can''t cure her," Daoist Xie replied with a shake of his head.
"If even a Dao Ancestor like yourself can''t cure her, doesn''t that mean she''s a lost cause?" Han Li asked as a hint of despair began to set in.
If even Daoist Xie was powerless to treat Weeping Soul''s condition, then even if he could recruit the grand priest''s assistance, it most likely wasn''t going to amount to anything.
"There''s no need to be so disheartened, Fellow Daoist Han. You have to understand that even Dao Ancestors aren''t omnipotent. Myws of puppetry do not fare well when ites to healing. There are countless types ofws in this world, and they''re far more profound than you can imagine. Even though I can''t save Weeping Soul, I know someone who can," Daoist Xie said with a faint smile.
"Who is it?" Han Li hurriedly asked.
"The grand priest that Shi Chuankong told you about. Hisw powers specifically target the soul, and he''s already reached a very advanced stage of mastery over thisw power, so he should be able to cure Weeping Soul," Daoist Xie replied.
"I see," Han Li mused as a spark of renewed hope was ignited in his eyes.
Now that Shi Zhanfeng was dead, it was going to be a lot more difficult to recruit the services of the grand priest. In fact, he would perhaps even have to pit himself directly against the Night Sun Empire, but he had no choice but to do this for Weeping Soul''s sake.
With that in mind, Han Li asked, "When can I return to the Devil Realm, Fellow Daoist Xie?"
"Even though I''m not a Dao Ancestor, some preparations still need to be made before I can open a spatial passageway connected to the outside world. On top of that, you''re not the only one that I''m opening this spatial passageway for, so let''s wait until Sha Xin and the others arrive, which will take roughly half a year," Daoist Xie replied.
Han Li raised no objections to this, and the two of them departed from the Flower Branch domain.
From there, the two of them promptly parted ways, with Daoist Xie departing to make preparations for the opening of the spatial passageway, while Han Li returned to the seclusion side pce.
Before long, Daoist Xie arrived in a hidden secret chamber.
There was only a single oilmp lit in the secret chamber, basking a small area in dim, yellow light, while the rest of the room remained shrouded inplete darkness.
At this moment, there was a hazy ck figure standing beside the oilmp with their hands sped behind their back.
Daoist Xie wasn''t surprised to see this ck figure, and thetter turned around to reveal a set of blurry facial features.
Their body was also rather indistinct in appearance, as if they were nothing more than a projection.
"Congrattions, Fellow Daoist Shi."
"Thank you, Senior. I was too hasty in the past and thought that I could sever all three corpse souls in session, thereby resulting in an imperfection in my mental state. Even if it weren''t for E Kuai''s betrayal, I would''ve surely failed back then. It''s all thanks to your guidance that I was able to seal my soul and memories in that puppet to experience the dao of puppetry in a lower realm.
¡°Now that I''vepleted the journey from puppet to human, I''ve finallypletely grasped the true meaning behind thews of puppetry, thereby allowing me to seed where I previously failed," Daoist Xie said as he extended a grateful bow.
"There''s no need to thank me. It''s your own aptitude and hard work that have carried you to this point," the hazy figure replied.
"In any case, I''ll never forget what you''ve done for me, Senior," Daoist Xie said in a respectful manner.
"I''m not interested in hearing such empty words of gratitude from you. I''vee here this time because I want to ask you if our agreement from all those years ago is still in effect," the hazy figure said.
"Of course. I have no ns of letting Shi Kongyu off the hook after what he did to me," Daoist Xie replied in a cold voice.
A pleased look appeared in the hazy figure''s eyes upon hearing this, and he said, "Shi Kongyu has already been ruling over the Devil Realm for a very long time, and he''s far too powerful for you to contend with right now. Don''t be in a hurry to make any moves, let''s take things slowly, one step at a time."
"I understand. Rest assured, Senior, I won''t make the same mistake twice," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
"Good. Also, there''s something that I require your assistance with," the hazy figure said.
"What is it, Senior?" Daoist Xie asked.
The hazy figure strode over to Daoist Xie beforemunicating something to him through voice transmission, and Daoist Xie reflexively cast his gaze toward a certain direction as his expression changed ever so slightly.
......
The ball of golden light inside Han Li''s dantian contained far more abundant immortal spiritual power than before, and it hadn''t run out yet.
Han Li was seated in the side pce with his legs crossed, channeling his immortal spiritual power.
It had been over a thousand years since he had been able to channel his immortal spiritual power so freely, and it was certainly a feeling that he missed greatly.
After remaining dormant in his body for so many years, his timew powers had finally been set free, and his Mantra Treasured Axis instantly appeared behind him.
Immediately thereafter, the Clear Time Vial, the Illusory Dawn Hourss, the Time Severing Flowing Fire, and the Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree all appeared one after another before revolving around him.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this. All of these time-attribute treasures had appeared on their own outside of his control.
Am I about to transmigrate again?
Right at this moment, flurries of timew threads shot out of the time-attribute treasures, forming a golden ring that began revolving incessantly.
The timew powers within Han Li''s body instantly surged into the golden ring, causing it to rapidly expand while simultaneously radiating dazzling golden light and vibrating at a high frequency.
All of a sudden, the Heaven Controlling Vial flew out of the front of his robe as a ball of green light, and it began glowing like a radiant, green sun while releasing a burst of tremendous suction force.
The golden ring began flying toward the vial while rapidly shrinking, and in the end, it shrank down to the same size as the opening of the vial before adhering itself to it.
As soon as contact was established between the two, a burst of formidable timew powers instantly erupted out of the Heaven Controlling Vial.
At the same time, the vial swelled rapidly in size, and countless green runes appeared within it, forming a churning green cloud.
Immediately thereafter, a thick beam of green light shot out of the mouth of the vial before vanishing into the space up ahead.
Chapter 992: Past Events
Chapter 992: Past Events
The space up ahead disintegrated as countless rays of translucent light surged out from within, forming a translucent wall with countless scenes shing rapidly over its surface.
All of a sudden, a giant vortex appeared on the translucent wall, releasing a burst of tremendous suction force that epassed Han Li''s entire body.
At this point, Han Li was already ustomed to this process, and he merely allowed the suction force to lift him up from the ground.
However, right at this moment, the ball of golden light in his dantian was suddenly snuffed out, and his immortal spiritual power cirction instantly stagnated.
The suction force released by the vortex was also significantly diminished as a result, and Han Li''s body drew to a halt before falling back down onto the ground.
However, his soul was sucked into the vortex, and he immediately lost consciousness.
By the time he returned to his senses, he found himself beside the vast river of time.
As usual, the river was formed by countless balls of light, and it didn''t appear any different from before.
At this moment, Han Li was hovering beside the river in a spiritual form.I wonder exactly what this ce is...
Instead of approaching the river to enter any of the balls of light, Han Li began to fly in the upstream direction, determined to find out what this ce was all about.
In his spiritual form, he was like a cloud floating in the sky, so he wasn''t able to pick up much speed.
The scenery in this ce was very barren and monotonous, and there was no day-night cycle, either, so the passage of time was rather difficult to track.
By Han Li''s estimates, he had already been flying for around seven to eight days, but there was still no observable change in the river beside him.
A hint of impatience was beginning to set in, and he persevered for two more days, but the river still wasn''t disying any change at all.
Forget it. There''s no way to tell just how massive this area is, and perhaps this ce is nothing more than an illusion, so continuing onward from here would most likely won''t be a waste of time.
With that in mind, Han Li stopped in his tracks before turning to the river of time, yet right as he was about to approach it, a small, yellow cloud that was several feet in size suddenly appeared above him.
Within the cloud was a pair of pea-sized ck eyes that were fixed on him, and Han Li immediately identified the cloud to be the vial spirit.
The eyes within the yellow cloud blinked a few times, as if they were observing him.
"Do you need something from me?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the yellow cloud abruptly lit up, following which a streak of translucent yellow light shot out from within.
The streak of light was far too fast for Han Li to evade, and it fused into his soul as a burst of warmth in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was naturally very rmed by this, yet before he could raise any questions, the yellow cloud vanished into thin air.
After staring for a while up at the spot where the vial spirit had been just a moment ago, Han Li carefully examined his soul''s internal condition, but didn''t discover anything amiss, nor was he feeling any difort.
Hence, he could only put this matter out of his mind for now and make his way over to the river to peer into the countless balls of light inside.
Having already experienced so many transmigrations, it had be clear to him that each ball of light represented a different point in time in the past, and that he could return to a certain point in time by entering the corresponding ball of light.
The Heaven Controlling Vial''s transmigratory ability was something that waspletely unheard of, and if he couldpletely control it, then the benefits would be immeasurable.
At the very least, with this ability at his disposal, it would be far easier to examine past events.
However, there were far too many balls of light in the river, and there didn''t seem to be any rhyme or reason about them, so there was a significant factor of luck involved in which point in time he would transmigrate back to.
If only I can control which point in time I can travel back to. That way, I''ll be able to verify the validity behind Daoist Xie''s story.
Now that Daoist Xie had be a Dao Ancestor, some barriers had appeared between them, and they weren''t as close as before.
Daoist Xie''s story was logically sound and didn''t have any holes, but Han Li couldn''t help but feel as if some things were being hidden from him.
Right at this moment, the river of time began to ripple violently, immediately following which around a dozen balls of light flew out from all parts of the river before drawing to a halt near Han Li.
An intrigued look appeared on Han Li''s face as he carefully examined these balls of light, upon which he discovered that all of them seemed to be depicting the same setting, namely a grandiose pce.
This pce looks a little familiar...
All of a sudden, a sh of realization appeared in Han Li''s eyes, and it urred to him that this pce was a building near the Myriad Opportunity Pce, and judging from the scenes disyed in the ball of light, a fierce battle was taking ce in that setting at that point in time.
After some contemtion, Han Li''s gaze settled on thergest of the balls of light, and he took a few steps toward it.
A burst of tremendous suction force instantly erupted out of the ball of light, and he lost consciousness once again.
......
After an indeterminate period of time, Han Li slowly awakened to discover that he had possessed a young man in a suit of ck armor. He wasying in a semi-copsed pce, and there was a hole in his dantian that was bleeding profusely.
A semi-transparent wheel of golden light was hovering above his head, with over a thousand Time Dao Runes shing upon it.
A loudmotion was ringing out incessantly from nearby, indicating that there was a fierce battle taking ce.
Instead of immediately rising to his feet, Han Li used his spiritual sense to draw upon the residual memories of his host.
A huge volume of memories instantly flooded into his mind, taking him quite some time topletely absorb.
The man''s name was Wu Xuan, and he was a fugitive that had been cast into the Scalptia Spatial Domain. From there, he became Shi Kongjie''s subordinate, and thanks to his impressive powers, he was made a personal guard of Daoist Xie.
Daoist Xie had begun cultivating in seclusion over a century ago in order to sever his final corpse soul, and ever since themencement of his seclusion, the Scalptia Spatial Domain had been ced under a state of lockdown.
However, arge horde of enemies had suddenly infiltrated the Scalptia Spatial Domain on this day, and they stormed all the way to the Myriad Opportunity Pce.
A curious look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he examined Wu Xuan''s memories.
He had been wanting to see the sequence of events that had led to Daoist Xie''s previous failed breakthrough to be a Dao Ancestor, and it seemed that the river of time had duly obliged. Did this mean that he could already control the destination of his own transmigration?
The more Han Li thought about this, the more he felt like this wasn''t just a coincidence. He didn''t know how it had happened, but he really had attained an element of control over the river of time.
Perhaps this was the vial spirit''s doing, or perhaps it was due to some other reason. In any case, this was certainly great news for him.
Han Li quickly rose to his feet before making his way over to the entrance of the pce, and he could see a series of puppets and cultivators locked in a ferocious battle high up in the sky.
One side consisted of cultivators d in suits of ck armor just like Wu Xuan''s, while the cultivators of the opposing camp were all d in suits of dark purple armor.
These suits of dark purple armor were quite familiar to Han Li as they were assigned to the troops of the Night Sun Empire.
The Night Sun Empire''s cultivators were very tall and imposing, and their skin was a dark green color. On top of that, there were tusks protruding out of their mouths, giving them a very fearsome appearance.
There weren''t many of them, but they were extremely powerful, possessing extraordinary strength and speed.
The Scalptia Spatial Domain cultivators had the numbers advantage, but they were firmly on the back foot.
Those are Nightmare Dragon Guards. It looks like it really was Shi Kongyu that attacked all those years ago.
During a past conversation, Shi Chuankong had mentioned various secret legions of the Night Sun Empire to Han Li, and one of them was the Night Sun Guards, which consisted solely of bodily refinement cultivators and were directly under the Devilish Monarch''smand.
Looking at them now, Han Li could see that these Nightmare Dragon Guards were indeed quite formidable, with each of themparable in power to a bodily refinement cultivator with a hundred and fifty profound acupoints opened.
Han Li watched the ongoing battle for a moment, then cast his gaze into the distance.
He could see four nine-story pagodas from here, each of which was situated on a corner of a white jade za.
At the center of the za was none other than the Myriad Opportunity Pce, and the battles were bing more and more intense closer to the pce.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li adjusted his own armor to conceal the hole in his lower abdomen, then channeled his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique before rushing toward the Myriad Opportunity Pce.
Initially, he was able to remain undetected thanks to his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique, but the closer he drew to the Myriad Opportunity Pce, the more people that he encountered, and ultimately, his cover was blown.
A saber-wielding Nightmare Dragon Guard rushed at him at an astonishing speed while swinging their saber viciously at his head.
Wu Xuan had only opened fewer than two hundred profound acupoints, so he was roughly on par with the Nightmare Dragon Guard in terms of power, but Han Li naturally possessed far superior battle experience and judgment than he did.
Han Li swayed from side to side, conjuring up nine identical afterimages of himself to evade the attack, following which the nine afterimagesbined as one again behind the Nightmare Dragon Guard before continuing onward.
The Nightmare Dragon Guard was just about to give chase when they were stopped in their tracks by another cultivator from the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
Now that Han Li''s cover had already been blown, he made no further effort to conceal his own presence, tapping into everyst ounce of power in this body to rush onward as quickly as he could.
The battle raging at the Myriad Opportunity Pce was even more intense than the battles elsewhere, and Han Li ducked behind a semi-copsed wall nearby before casting his gaze toward the entrance of the pce.
The Scalptia Spatial Domain cultivators were led by none other than Sha Xin, and there were five puppets under hermand as she fought against E Kuai, who was d in a suit of azure armor.
At this point in time, E Kuai only had around six hundred to seven hundred profound acupoints, and the two of them hadn''t changed much in terms of appearance over the years.
"How dare you collude with Shi Kongyu to plot against our master! I won''t let you leave this ce alive!" Sha Xin yelled in a furious voice.
"It''s time to face reality, Sha Xin. Shi Kongjie''s death is already sealed, so I suggest you pledge your subordination to His Majesty. Given your powers, I''m sure His Majesty would wee you with open arms," E Kuai said with a smile.
"Preposterous!" Sha Xin harrumphed coldly as her five puppets unleashed a ferocious barrage of attacks at her behest.
Chapter 993: A Battle from the Distant Past
Chapter 993: A Battle from the Distant Past
A cold sneer appeared on E Kuai''s face as he swung his sword through the air, keeping all of the puppets'' attacks at bay.
At the same time, the sword qi that he was unleashing prevented Sha Xin and the five puppets from getting away.
Meanwhile, the Nightmare Dragon Guards had arranged themselves into a defensive formation, doing everything in their power to keep the Scalptia Spatial Domain cultivators out of the Myriad Opportunity Pce.
After taking a moment to assess the situation, Han Li sprang out of his hiding spot,unching himself at the entrance of the pce.
He was immediately spotted by three Nightmare Dragon Guards, whichshed out in unison with their des to intercept him.
Instead of retreating or taking any evasive measures, Han Li sped up even further while sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing a long, azure whip, which sprang forth like a spirit snake before wrapping itself around the weapons of the three Nightmare Dragon Guards.
He had picked up the whip from a deceased Nightmare Dragon Guard on the way here, and the three weapons were instantly slowed down slightly by the restrictive whip.
Han Li sped up even further as his skin took on an unnatural, red coloration, and he sped past the three Nightmare Dragon Guards in a sh before continuing on toward the Myriad Opportunity Pce.
He had already made up his mind not to waste any time engaging in any battles, and he was tapping into all of thetent potential in this body to enter the Myriad Opportunity Pce.Right at this moment, a dark purple figure abruptly appeared before him.
It was an extremely tall and imposing figure, far more massive in stature than the average Nightmare Dragon Guard, and there was a golden dragon head design on the front of his breastte, indicating that he was amander.
He swung an arm through the air in a circle, and a burst of ck light erupted out of his hand to epass Han Li from all directions.
As a result, Han Li was instantly slowed down significantly, as if he had been rooted to the spot.
"Pesky little rats should know their ce!" themander sneered as he threw an almighty punch at Han Li, and a gust of fierce ck wind erupted out of his fist, but as the wind swept over Han Li''s body, he abruptly vanished, as if he had been blown away.
Themander was momentarily rooted to the spot upon seeing this.
Right at this moment, E Kuai called out in an urgent voice, "He''s above you!"
Themander hurriedly looked up upon hearing this, and sure enough, Han Li was darting through the air several dozen feet above him.
The red coloration of his skin had be even deeper, but at the same time, his speed had been even further enhanced, and it was already toote for themander to intercept him.
Since when was Wu Xuan this powerful?
Sha Xin had also noticed what was happening, and a hint of surprise shed through her eyes.
"Useless!" E Kuai roared in a furious voice as he swung an arm through the air, and close to a hundred profound acupoints lit up over his arm at once.
In the next instant, his sword flew out of his grasp as a ck shadow, and it instantly appeared just a few feet behind Han Li before piercing at him from behind.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly as he sprang away to the side, but the sword was too fast for him to fully evade, and his left arm was about to be struck.
However, he took no further measures to defend himself as he continued onward, paying no further heed to the oing sword.
Right at this moment, a golden shadow flew over from the side before instantly appearing behind Han Li, and it was revealed to be a golden eagle puppet that made a grab for E Kuai''s with its talons.
The sword tore through the eagle puppets talons with ease before plunging straight through its chest, but that was the extent of the sword''s power, and it was stopped in its tracks.
Han Li was rather surprised to see this, but he continued onward without pause, and there were no further obstacles up ahead, allowing him to rush into the Myriad Opportunity Pce.
E Kuai turned to Sha Xin with a furious expression, while Sha Xin looked back at him with a triumphant smile.
"Send some people after him! We can''t allow him to interfere with His Majesty!" E Kuai yelled in an urgent voice.
It seemed that E Kuai was a very authoritative figure among the Night Sun Empire cultivators, and four Nightmare Dragon Guards immediately set off in pursuit of Han Li, while themander that had let Han Li through also rushed toward the entrance of the pce with a furious expression.
Right at this moment, Sha Xin made a rapid string of hand seals, and two beams of golden light erupted out of the golden eagle puppet''s eyes before vanishing into the stone wall beside the pce gates.
Immediately thereafter, the pce gates swung shut with a loud thump.
The four Nightmare Dragon Guards and themander crashed into the gates of the pce, but it remainedpletely unmoved.
E Kuai turned to Sha Xin with a look of murderous rage in his eyes upon seeing this.
"The pce gates have already been closed, and there''s a restriction ced upon them by Master himself, so there''s no way any of you will be able to force your way through!" Sha Xin sneered.
......
Han Li was slightly taken aback to see the pce gates close behind him, but he then quickly turned his attention to the interior of the pce.
As was the case many yearster, the interior of the Myriad Opportunity Pce was strewn with shattered furniture and puppet fragments, clearly indicating that a fierce battle had just taken ce here.
At this moment, there was no one else in the pce, but the entire area was filled with a sweet-smelling crimson mist.
The mist appeared to be harmless. In fact, it had quite a soothing effect on Han Li instead, who was suffering physically from tapping excessively into thetent potential of Wu Xuan''s body.
Once again, he was rather taken aback to see this, but he wasted no time examining this crimson mist as he rushed to the back of the pce.
Sure enough, the ck stone chair was still there, and his eyes immediately lit up as he grabbed onto the chair before giving it a twist.
A ck passageway that led underground instantly appeared on the ground behind the chair, and Han Li channeled his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique before rushing down the stone staircase inside, quickly reaching the opening at the foot of the staircase.
Beyond the opening was the giant underground cave, and a thunderousmotion was ringing out from within it, causing the entire underground cave to tremble violently.
Han Li arrived beside the opening in a stealthy manner, then took a nce inside to discover that it was looking much the same as it did many yearster.
There was a giantke of blood inside, and at this moment, theke was rippling violently.
However, there was no crystal coffin at the center of theke, and in its ce was a square, crimson stone tform instead.
There were nine tall, crimson jade pirs standing around the stone tform with countless patterns engraved upon them, and they were giving off radiant crimson light, forming a dense crimson light barrier that epassed the entire stone tform.
At this moment, Daoist Xie was seated with his legs crossed on the stone tform with his entire body enshrouded in radiant golden light, and his eyes were shut, while his brows were tightly furrowed in a pained expression.
At the same time, his body was trembling slightly, and wisps of gray mist were rising up from all parts of his body before drifting upward, forming a cloud that was around ten feet in size.
The cloud was churning incessantly, and it was beginning to take on a humanoid form.
Meanwhile, there were three figures locked in a fierce battle beside theke, and their battle was the source of themotion.
Two of the three figures were the two puppets that contained Daoist Xie''s corpse souls, and they were locked in battle against a middle-aged man d in a suit of purple armor.
Han Li was able to identify the purple figure as Shi Kongyu, but he then immediately arrived at the realization that it was actually a puppet, rather than the actual Shi Kongyu.
Considering how cultivators at or above the Great Epassment Stage were barred from entering the Scalptia Spatial Domain, it made sense that Shi Kongyu could only be present as a puppet.
The threebatants were all moving at astonishing speeds, and Han Li''s eyes were barely able to keep up with their movements.
With each sh that took ce between them, a thunderous boom would ring out, sending violent tremors running through the entire underground cave.
However, there seemed to be restrictions ced upon the underground cave, allowing it to remainrgely unscathed despite the ferocity of the ongoing battle.
The blood in theke was also churning violently, throwing up dense clouds of crimson mist that filled the entire underground space.
Shi Kongyu''s purple puppet was extremely formidable, with arcs of purple lightning shing all over its body, and it was racing through the air like a purple lightning dragon, easily leaving multitudes of spatial rifts in its wake.
Daoist Xie''s two corpse soul puppets were also extremely powerful, and they were unaffected by the restrictions in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, allowing them to freely use their devilish qi andw powers.
Neither side was able to get the better of the other, and it seemed like there wasn''t going to be a decisive oue anytime soon.
After yet another violent sh, both sides retreated, and the white Daoist Xie said, "Let''s put an end to this senseless battle, Fellow Daoist Shi Kongyu. This puppet of yours is quite formidable, but it won''t be able to defeat us, so you should just give up and go back. Fellow Daoist Shi is no longer cultivating thews of space anymore, so he no longer poses any threat to you.
¡°Hence, you should set aside your past differences and establish a truce. Ultimately, we are all cultivators of the Holy Realm, and the Heavenly Court is ourmon enemy."
Shi Kongyu gave a cold harrumph upon hearing this, paying no heed to the white Daoist Xie''s words as he abruptly vanished from the spot.
The white Daoist Xie''s expression changed slightly as it hurriedly sped away to the side, and it had only just managed to move several dozen feet when a fist that was shing with lightning emerged out of thin air before crashing down upon the spot where it had been standing just a moment ago.
A huge hole was sted into the space in the path of the fist, and right at this moment, the ck Daoist Xie abruptly appeared above Shi Kongyu.
It was wielding a ck saber, and as the saber was shed through the air, a series of ck saber projections were unleashed, forming a ck lotus flower that descended upon Shi Kongyu.
Chapter 994: Its Me?
Chapter 994: It''s Me?
Shi Kongyu waspletely unfazed by the ck Daoist Xie''s attack, and he threw a punch in retaliation, sending a burst of purple lightning erupting out of his fist.
The fist and the saber shed, causing the nearby space to tremble violently, and several spatial rifts were torn into the surrounding area, while Shi Kongyu and the ck Daoist Xie were both knocked back by the force of the sh.
However, immediately thereafter, the three of them shed once again, and all the while, Han Li had been observing the unfolding scene from a hiding spot in the distance.
The events unfolding here were identical to what Daoist Xie had described to him not long ago, so it seemed like Daoist Xie had been trying to deceive him.
Han Li took a nce up at the axis projection above to discover that quite a few of the Time Dao Runes on it had already been snuffed out, and he was beginning to contemte whether he should leave.
After all, there was no longer much point for him to stay here. In his current body, he couldn''t do anything for Daoist Xie, and he already knew that Daoist Xie was going to be a Dao Ancestor in the future, so this crisis wasn''t necessarily a bad thing for him.
Right at this moment, a resounding sh rang out, and the battle drew to an abrupt halt.
Shi Kongyu shot back in retreat, stopping near the entrance of the underground cave.
Han Li was quite rmed to see this, and hurriedly channeled his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique with all his might while concealing himself within a dark shadow.
Shi Kongyu didn''t unleash any further attacks, and a faint smile had appeared on his face.
The two corpse soul puppets were rather perplexed to see this, and the white Daoist Xie reiterated, "We are evenly matched, so there won''t be a decisive oue no matter how long this battle wears on for. Hence, you should leave."
"Indeed, I was already aware that my chances of defeating you two were slim to none," Shi Kongyu said with a faint smile, and Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this.
Judging from what Shi Kongyu had just said, it was clear that he had some ulterior motive for engaging in this futile battle against the two corpse soul puppets for such a long time.
The two two puppets had arrived at the same realization as well, and they immediatelyunched themselves at Shi Kongyu.
Shi Kongyu burst intoughter, and he paid no heed to the pair of oing puppets as he suddenly mmed a fist into his own chest.
A fist-sized, gray bone shot out of his body, and there was a ck rune that resembled a dried octopus inscribed upon it.
As soon as the gray bone left his body, it immediately erupted into gray mes, and countless ck runes could be seen within the mes, forming a human face with a set of features that were twisted in grief, fury, and resentment.
A burst of coldw power fluctuations erupted out of the gray mes in all directions, and all of the restrictive forces in the Scalptia Spatial Domain immediately began to diminish in the face of thesew power fluctuations, but didn''t disappear right away.
At this moment, Han Li was situated closer to Shi Kongyu than anyone else, so he was the first to be affected by this burst ofw powers, and he was instantly struck by a disoriented sensation, as if a burst of invisible, disruptive power had infiltrated his soul.
His soul immediately began to dim, as if ayer of dust had appeared over it, and at the same time, an uncontroble sense of frustration began to well up in his heart.
At the same time, all types of strange illusions began appearing before him, and this was a precursor of inner demon bacsh.
Simultaneously, Han Li was struck by a sense of intense nausea that made him want to puke out all of his internal organs.
What kind ofw power is this?!
Han Li hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might to stabilize his own soul while severing his connection with this body that he had possessed.
Pained looks immediately appeared on the faces of the two corpse soul puppets as this wave of foreignw power fluctuations swept over them, and their expressions changed drastically as one of them eximed, "You''re using thews of hexes!"
Immediately thereafter, both of them rushed frantically toward Daoist Xie in unison, and two bursts of formidablew power fluctuations erupted out of their bodies to epass Daoist Xie and the crimson light barrier around him.
Even though they had reacted extremely quickly, they were still just a little toote, and the hexw power fluctuations were able to infiltrate Daoist Xie''s body before theirw powers could reach him.
At this moment, Daoist Xie was focused wholeheartedly on severing his third corpse soul, and he immediately threw up a mouthful of blood as soon as the hexw power fluctuations entered his body.
The humanoid cloud above his head began to ripple violently, looking as if it were on the verge of dissipating, and Shi Kongyu burst intoughter as he confirmed, "I am indeed using hexw powers. It took me a while to activate this Baleful Hex Bone due to the absence of devilish qi in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, but now that I''ve done it, victory is mine!
¡°You can never best me, Shi Kongjie. Regardless of whatw powers you decide to cultivate, you''re destined to be crushed beneath my feet!"
Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release a burst of blood essence onto the gray bone, and the mes around it instantly swelled drastically, while the twisted face within it also became a lot clearer.
Han Li''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he forcibly suppressed the extreme difort that he was feeling as he fled upward with all his might.
However, he wasn''t able to get very far at all before he was struck by an even more formidable burst of hexw power fluctuations, and he felt as if his soul were about to explode as he plummeted to the ground before rolling into the underground cave.
His entire body was trembling uncontrobly, and his hands were sped over his own head in indescribable agony.
Shi Kongyu immediately swung around with a surprised expression upon hearing themotion from Han Li''s fall, and right at this moment, a ck figure appeared before him out of thin air.
It was a ck-robed figure with ayer of ck mist over their face, and they grabbed onto the gray bone before forcefully tightening their grip, crushing the bone into powder.
The gray mes around the bone exploded, sending a burst of formidable gray shockwaves and fearsomew power fluctuations erupting in all directions.
The ck-robed figure clearly failed to anticipate this, and the ck mist over their face was scattered slightly, revealing a section of their features. However, theyer of ck mist then recovered to conceal their entire face again.
Han Li just so happened to catch a fleeting glimpse of that section of the ck-robed figure''s face that was revealed, and he shuddered as an incredulous expression appeared on his face, looking as if he had just seen a ghost.
In the next instant, the gray shockwaves swept over his body, sending a burst of even more formidable hexw power fluctuations sweeping into his soul, and his consciousness was instantly fragmented into countless pieces, while his vision faded into darkness.
After what seemed like an eternity, Han Li slowly awakened, having already returned to his own body.
His soul was still aching slightly, but the pain was already countless times less excruciating than before.
As he recalled what he had just witnessed, he abruptly shuddered as he sprang up into a seated position with an astonished look on his face.
It took him a long while topose himself, but even then, there was still a look of lingering shock in his eyes.
Even though only a section of the ck-robed figure''s face had been revealed, and only for a brief instant, Han Li was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that it had been none other than himself!
That face wasn''t just simr to his own, it was undeniably his own face!
How is that possible? Could it be that someone disguised themselves as me? But thest time Daoist Xie was severing his corpse souls had to have been countless years before I was even born, so how could anyone have been aware of what I look like? Could it be a coincidence? Maybe there was someone who looked just like me all those years ago?
Han Li''s instincts told him that this was no mere coincidence, and he remained seated in a state of stunned contemtion.
Some timeter, a burst of door-knocking rang out, snapping him out of his reverie, and he rose to his feet before opening the door to find the white Daoist Xie puppet outside.
"Fellow Daoist Han, Sha Xin and the others have already arrived, and Fellow Daoist Xie has alreadypleted the preparations required to open the spatial passageway, so pleasee to the main pce," the white Daoist Xie said with its usual benevolent smile.
"It''s already been half a year?" Han Li eximed.
Could it be that he had been unconscious for half a year after his soul returned to his body?
"That''s right," the white Daoist Xie confirmed.
"Alright, I''lle over right away," Han Li replied with a nod, still feeling rather disoriented.
The white Daoist Xie turned to depart, but Han Li suddenly called out to it and asked, "Your name is White Spirit, right?"
"That is the name given to me by Fellow Daoist Shi," the white Daoist Xie replied.
"Fellow Daoist White Spirit, I heard from Fellow Daoist Xie that he was attacked by Shi Kongyu many years ago during his first attempt to sever his three corpse souls, is that right?" Han Li asked.
"Indeed. Shi Kongyu''s intervention led to a catastrophic failure for Fellow Daoist Shi on that asion, but thankfully, he was finally able to ovee this hurdle after all these years of arduous cultivation," the white Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
"You must''ve been present during that time, right, Fellow Daoist White Spirit? How was Fellow Daoist Xie able to ovee that crisis? Did he receive some form of external assistance?" Han Li asked in a seemingly casual manner while closely observing the white Daoist Xie''s expression.
Chapter 995: Farewell, Take Care
Chapter 995: Farewell, Take Care
"There wasn''t much to that crisis back then. Shi Kongyu''s powers were almostpletely suppressed in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, and his main objective was just to foil Fellow Daoist Shi''s breakthrough, so he immediately left after that goal was aplished.
¡°As for external assistance, this ce ispletely isted from the Holy Realm, and anyone who tried to help us would be pitting themselves against Shi Kongyu, so no one was willing or able to provide us with any external assistance," the white Daoist Xie exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a contemtive nod.
"I still have some matters to attend to, so I''ll be taking my leave now, Fellow Daoist Han," the white Daoist Xie said, then turned to depart, while Han Li watched its departing figure with slightly furrowed brows.
It was unclear whether Daoist Xie and the two corpse soul puppets were aware of exactly what had happened back, and judging from White Spirit''s response, even if it did know, it wasn''t going to reveal this information lightly, so he most likely wasn''t going to get anything out of Daoist Xie, either.
If he wanted to uncover the truth, then he would just have to look into the matter from elsewhere.
After setting that train of thought aside, Han Li made his way to the main pce, where there were already close to thirty people present.
In addition to Daoist Xie, there were also the likes of Violet Spirit, Sha Xin, Mistress Liu Hua, Shi Chuankong, Zhuo Fa, and Xuanyuan Xing, and even Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing were also present.
A white stone tform had been set up on one side of the pce, and on top of the tform was a circr array that was several dozen feet in size, giving off a white and golden glow.
Bursts of formidable spatial power fluctuations were emanating from the array, forming a spatial vortex that was several dozen feet in size and causing the space above it to ripple like water.
"Wee, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie greeted as he rose to his feet, and everyone else stood up to greet him as well.
Violet Spirit was standing behind Sha Xin, and her eyes lit up slightly as she detected the vast aura exuding from Han Li.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting, everyone," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in an apologetic salute.
"Not at all, Sha Xin and the others have only just arrived as well. This teleportation array leads to the outside world, and I''ll be opening it soon. If you have any matters that you want to take care of before you leave, now would be the time," Daoist Xie said as he took a subtle nce at Violet Spirit.
At the same time, he flicked a finger to send a burst of golden light flying into Han Li''s body, restoring his immortal spiritual power cirction once again.
After that, he made his way over to the array, where he was immediately joined by Sha Xin, and the two of them began discussing matters rted to the imminent teleportation.
Han Li was rather perplexed by this gesture from Daoist Xie, but it was naturally a good thing to have his immortal spiritual power cirction restored, and he strode over to Violet Spirit before sweeping a sleeve through the air to conjure up a soundproofing light barrier.
Before he had a chance to say anything, Violet Spirit smiled and said, "Don''t get your hopes up, I''m just here to bid you farewell."
"You''re going to continue to stay here?" Han Li asked as a hint of surprise shed through his eyes, followed by a look of realization.
Daoist Xie had to have already known that Violet Spirit wanted to stay, and that was why he had restored his immortal spiritual power cirction.
"The starpower-rich environment of the Scalptia Spatial Domain is perfect for cultivating that the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts that you gave me, so I want to make some more progress before I go to the Devil Realm," Violet Spirit replied with a nod.
"That''s not a bad idea. Right now, the Devil Realm isn''t a very safe ce, so you''ll actually be safer in the Scalptia Spatial Domain," Han Li said.
"Also, I''ve begun cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique as well," Violet Spirit said with a determined look in her eyes.
"I knew you would take this route," Han Li sighed in a resigned manner.
"I don''t think my spiritual sense cultivation aptitude is inferior to yours. If you can cultivate the Spirit Refinement Technique, then I can as well," Violet Spirit said with a mischievous smile.
"Alright, but if any problems arise during the cultivation process, then make sure to contact me right away," Han Li said in a serious manner, and Violet Spirit nodded in response.
After that, Han Li pulled out some special items from the starpower storage ring, then ced some things inside.
"This ring isn''t very good to look at, but it''s a storage ring that can be used in the Scalptia Spatial Domain. Seeing as you''ve chosen to stay here, I''ll give it to you," Han Li said as he slipped the ring off his finger before putting it on for Violet Spirit.
"I can''t ept something so precious! You should keep it for yourself," Violet Spirit hurriedly replied as she began to take off the ring.
"There''s no need. I''m about to leave this ce, and this ring will be next to useless in the outside world," Han Li said with a smile.
"Oh, you''re right, I forgot about that," Violet Spirit chuckled.
"The ring contains the full version of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and a Reincarnation Pce mask. If you need to contact me for any reason, you''ll be able to do so through the mask, and on top of that, there are also some other items inside, all of which should be useful to you," Han Li continued.
A film of moisture welled up in Violet Spirit''s eyes as she gave a gentle nod.
"Make sure to be extra careful while I''m not by your side, and if you encounter any trouble, remember to turn to Fellow Daoist Xie for help," Han Li said.
The two of them chatted for a while longer before Han Li dispelled the soundproofing barrier, following which he turned his gaze to Shi Chuankong.
"I am eternally grateful for everything that you''ve done for me, Fellow Daoist Han. Just like Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit, I n to stay in the Scalptia Spatial Domain for now, so I''ve alsoe here to bid you farewell," Shi Chuankong dered.
"You''re staying here as well?" Han Li asked in a surprised manner.
"Pokong is no longer trustworthy, and I''m still very weak at the moment. As opposed to returning to the Night Sun Empire now, it''s a better choice for me to stay here and cultivate. Thanks to my connection to you, I''m sure everyone will treat me well here," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.
"Alright, then I''ll be counting on you to look after Violet Spirit," Han Li said with a nod.
At the moment, Daoist Xie and the Devilish Monarch were direct enemies, so it was unclear whether Shi Chuankong was choosing to stay here of his own free will or if he had been coerced into staying.
Even though he was good friends with Shi Chuankong, he shared a closer bond with Daoist Xie, so this wasn''t a matter that he wanted to pry into.
"Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit doesn''t need me to look after her. Right now, she''s the brightest talent in all of Puppet City, and she''s the one who''s been looking out for me," Shi Chuankong chuckled.
"You''re Brother Han''s friend, which means you''re my friend, so it''s only right that I look out for you. On top of that, you''re a prince of the Night Sun Empire, so there''s most likely going to be many things that I''ll need your help with once I leave the Scalptia Spatial Domain," Violet Spirit said with a smile.
"You can count on me!" Shi Chuankong dered in a confident manner, and Han Li was quite pleased to see this.
It seemed that Violet Spirit was going to be well looked-after both in the Scalptia Spatial Domain and in the Devil Realm.
"I''m going now. Take care," Han Li said to Violet Spirit through voice transmission, and she responded in kind.
"I heard from Fellow Daoist Violet Spirit that you''ll be returning to the Immortal Realm after you leave the Scalptia Spatial Domain. Come to think of it, I wasn''t able to fulfill any of the promises that I made to you," Shi Chuankong sighed with an embarrassed expression.
"That''s not true, you''ve already done more than enough by helping me find Violet Spirit. I''ll just have to figure out everything else on my own," Han Li said, and Shi Chuankong''s expression eased slightly upon hearing this.
"By the way, is everyone else here aside from you two also traveling to the Devil Realm?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"That''s right. It seems like Fellow Daoist Xie has some type of n," Violet Spirit replied, and Han Li nodded in response.
The three of them chatted for a while longer until the preparations werepleted, and Daoist Xie beckoned to Han Li, who stepped onto the teleportation array along with Sha Xin and the others.
Daoist Xie was standing beside the array, and he chanted an incantation while making a hand seal, and the spatial vortex above the teleportation array instantly sped up in its revolution, quickly forming a ck spatial passageway.
A burst of immense suction force surged out of the spatial passageway to epass everyone, and Han Li took one final nce at Violet Spirit before he was sucked into the spatial passageway, vanishing out of sight.
Violet Spirit shuddered slightly as she remained staring nkly at the spot where Han Li had been standing just a moment ago.
......
All of a sudden, a ball of radiant white light appeared in the sky above a primordial forest in the Devil Realm, and it rapidly expanded to several hundred feet in size.
The space within the ball of light was churning violently, and a ck spatial doorway was abruptly opened within it.
In the next instant, close to thirty figures flew out of the spatial doorway one after another.
A look of tion and relief appeared on Han Li''s face as he sensed the nearby world''s origin qi, and everyone else was also very pleased to have been freed from the ever-present spatial pressure of the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
Han Li took a deep breath, then released his spiritual sense in all directions to survey the surrounding area.
A few momentster, he suddenly raised an eyebrow, seemingly having discovered something.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I have some tasks assigned to me by my master, so I''ll be taking my leave now. Farewell," Sha Xin said as she cupped her fist to extend a parting salute, then departed with everyone else, seemingly in quite a hurry.
Han Li watched as everyone departed for a moment, then sped away in another direction as a streak of azure light, quickly vanishing out of sight.
Chapter 996: Night Infiltration
Chapter 996: Night Infiltration
There was a dark alley that branched off from a main street in Night Sun City.
The alley was very secluded andpletely empty, and at its end was a stone wall that was riddled with pits and bumps left behind by the ravages of time.
It was nearing nighttime, and the walls of the alley were basked in an orange glow from the light of the dying sun.
Right at this moment, Han Li abruptly emerged from the wall amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
Upon arriving in the alley, he flipped a hand over to produce a Reincarnation Pce mask before putting it on, and he instantly transformed into a young devilish man with a short horn on his be before making his way toward the entrance of the alley.
Not far away from the entrance of the alley was a massive tree with a lush canopy that resembled an enormous umbre, and there were currently several people gathered under the tree, chatting with one another.
One of them, a man in ck, was particrly loud, and he yelled, "That''s a load of nonsense! I think the third prince would make a fine ruler. In the past, we had to go through multiple identity checks just to go to the Maha Area, but now, many of the dogmatic rules established by the first prince have been abolished, making things far more convenient."
A thin elderly man clearly didn''t agree, and he countered, "That may be the case, but you have to admit that it was a lot safer to go out back when the first prince was in charge. It may be much more convenient to travel between areas now, but there have also been far more scuffles as a result. It wouldn''t really matter if the trouble-makers were the only ones affected, but sometimes, their fights spill out onto the streets and ruin other people''s houses."
The elderly man was holding a young boy in his arms, and the boy said in a pure and naive manner, "If only the two princes could work together..."
Everyone else burst intoughter upon hearing this.
"Pardon my intrusion, seniors, but I''ve only just arrived from outside the city, so I don''t know where I am at the moment. May I ask where we are right now?" Han Li asked as he approached the group and cupped his fist in a salute.
"Right now, you''re in the southernmost part of the Laka Area. Where are you nning to go?" the middle-aged man in ck replied.
Han Li feigned a surprised expression, as if this was his first time in the city, and he eximed, "I''m nning to travel to the Maha Area to visit a senior of my n, and I thought I was already almost there, but it sounds like I''m still very far away. This sure is a massive city..."
"It must be your first time here. I advise you to rent a beast-drawn carriage from the market up ahead. Otherwise, it''ll take you an eternity to walk to the Maha Area," the thin elderly man said with a smile.
However, Han Li was in no hurry to leave, and he said, "I just so happened to overhear your conversation just now. Is the Holy Monarch not running the city at the moment?"
"Where on earth did youe from? I can''t believe you don''t know about this! The Holy Monarch went into seclusion five hundred years ago, and the third prince is in charge right now," the ck-robed man chuckled in an amused manner.
"I see," Han Li replied. "Wasn''t it always the first prince that oversaw the city in the Holy Monarch''s stead?"
"The first prince has already been missing for over a thousand years. Some say he went into seclusion, some say he''s out traveling, some say he was imprisoned by the Holy Monarch, but no one truly knows where he is," the thin elderly man replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then cupped his fist in a grateful salute before departing.
......
One night, several dayster.
There was a long stretch of pces in the northern part of the imperial city. The area was brightly lit, and teams of armord guards were marching back and forth on patrol duty.
Han Li had changed into a ck robe, and he was racing along between the pces, sticking to the shadows cast by the nearby walls.
At this moment, his aura waspletely suppressed, and he was moving with his physical power alone, so he didn''t attract any attention from the patrolling guards.
The hidden arrays in the pce walls were as clear as day to him, and he was able to easily avoid triggering them as he sped along.
It didn''t take long before he reached a beautiful, standalone pce, and even before he arrived at the pce gates, he could already smell a strong medicinal aroma in the air.
All of the windows of the pce were tightly shut, and steam was rising up from the rooftop.
After briefly inspecting his surroundings, Han Li pressed a hand against the pce gates, following which a burst of silver lightning erupted out of the palm of his hand before instantly spreading over the gates, destroying all of the restrictions inside.
He slowly pushed the gates open before entering the pce, yet before he even had a chance to catch a clear glimpse of his surroundings, a gust of wind suddenly came sweeping at him from both sides.
He had already anticipated that he would be attacked upon entry, and he ducked down slightly before throwing a punch to the left and the right in unison to strike his two assants.
The two figures were instantly sent flying back through the air before crashing into a pair of pirs with a dull thump, following which both of them slumped to the ground.
Han Li had no intention of killing them, so he had struck an important acupoint on each of their bodies, causing their devilish qi cirction to stagnate, thereby knocking them unconscious.
"If you''re not here to kill anyone, then you must be here to ask for help..."
A slightly raspy voice rang out from up ahead, and Han Li cast his gaze forward to discover a pool at the center of the pce. The pool was filled with some type of viscous-looking ck liquid that was slowly churning and releasing clouds of steam.
A portly figure slowly stood up from within the pool, and they were dressed in an enormous ck cloak thatpletely concealed their head and body.
"You must be Fellow Daoist Li, right?" the figure asked.
As the portly figure emerged from the pool, waves of fiery heat surged out of their body, quickly drying their ck cloak.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked, "Are you the grand priest?"
"You''vee all this way to find me, yet you''re not even sure if I''m the person you''re looking for?" the portly figure asked.
"I''m just a little surprised by howx the security here is, so I couldn''t be sure if you were truly the grand priest," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"The security here isx, you say? I reside in the heart of the imperial pce, and I have a pair of early-High Zenith Stage personal guards. I think you''re merely underestimating your own abilities, Fellow Daoist Li," the portly man chuckled.
"I don''t have much time to waste here. If you''re the grand priest, then I''m sure you know why I''m here, right?" Han Li asked.
"I already knew what you wanted from me since over a thousand years ago, but I''m afraid that I can''t help you," the grand priest sighed.
"In that case, I''ll just have to take your head and go to see the real grand priest," Han Li said with a cold smile.
"So you still don''t believe that I''m the grand priest?" the portly man sighed in a resigned manner.
"If you''re truly the grand priest, then how do you know that you can''t help me without even inspecting her condition first?" Han Li asked.
"I conducted some divination over this matter over a thousand years ago, and the conclusion that I drew was that this is not something I should do," the grand priest sighed.
"Not something that you should do? So it''s not something that you can''t do then, is that right?" Han Li asked.
"Doing something that shouldn''t be done would be a grave transgression," the grand priest replied with a shake of his head.
"It''s already been over a thousand years, so why don''t you conduct divination over this matter again? Perhaps the oue will be different this time," Han Li said.
The grand priest faltered slightly upon hearing this, then chuckled, "Sure, why not? But if the oue remains the same, would you be willing to let me off the hook?"
Han Li offered no response to this.
The grand priest heaved a faint sigh, then rubbed his hands together to produce five ornate coins, following which he casually tossed them up into the air before catching them again.
The five coins fell onto the palm of his hand in a pentagonal formation, and as soon as he caught sight of them, his expression changed drastically as he eximed, "Who are you? How is your fate this chaotic?"
"You seem to have overstepped some boundaries and looked into something inappropriate," Han Li said in a cold voice, and nine Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords shot out of his body, slicing the surrounding space apart as they surrounded the grand priest from all directions.
A peculiar look shed through the grand priest''s eyes upon seeing this, as if he had suddenly recalled something, and he eximed, "Could it be that your surname is Han?"
"You leave me no choice but to kill you," Han Li said in a cold voice as his expression darkened even further.
"Surely you wouldn''t strike down a fellowrade of our Reincarnation Pce, Fellow Daoist Han," the grand priest chuckled as he extended a deathly pale hand out of his sleeve, disying a Reincarnation Badge.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were still poised to strike as he asked, "Did you find out my identity through the Reincarnation Pce?"
"That''s not important. What''s important is that I can now fulfill your request," the grand priest said.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air upon hearing this, conjuring up a door of silver light that led into the Flower Branch domain.
"Is this... a legendary domain treasure?" the grand priest asked with a stunned expression.
"That''s right. Please wait a moment," Han Li replied with a nod, then stepped into the bamboo pavilion through the door of silver light before carrying Weeping Soul out into the pce.
Chapter 997: Putrid Flesh
Chapter 997: Putrid Flesh
The grand priest swept a sleeve through the air, and a white jade bed slowly rose up from within the pool in the pce.
Weeping Soul wasid down onto the bed, and there was no movement in her chest, nor was there any aura emanating from her body. It was as if she was a perfectly preserved corpse.
The grand priest strode over to the bed, then lifted the hood of his cloak to reveal a set of wless, youthful features. However, his skin was deathly pale, giving him a rather unhealthy appearance.
He examined Weeping Soul''s body momentarily, following which he requested, "Please remove the puppet restrictions you''ve ced upon her, Fellow Daoist Han."
Han Li nodded in response before making a hand seal, and a ball of white starlight appeared over the palm of his hand before roaming over Weeping Soul''s body from head to toe.
With each acupoint that the ball of light passed through, a white bone needle would break out of her skin before being plucked away by Han Li.
After all of the bone needles were collected, Weeping Soul''s brows suddenly became tightly furrowed, and her entire body began to tremble violently.
At the same time, her aura was revealed, and the grand priest''s expression changed drastically as he eximed, "What is she?"
"Don''t be rmed," Han Li reassured. "She''s not a human. Instead, she''s what you would call a Xing Beast."
"I see... That makes sense then..." the grand priest mused as an enlightened look appeared on his face.
"What do you mean by that?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Xing Beasts are not a type of true spirit, but they''re actually even rarer than true spirits, and they''re innately born with reincarnationw powers in their bodies. I wasn''t able to sense anything while that restriction was still in effect, but now that those needles have been removed, I can sense that there''s aplete absence of essential power in her body. That must be why she''s in her current state, right?" the grand priest asked.
"That''s right. Herw powers seemed to have been stripped away during an incident many years ago, and she''s been like this ever since," Han Li hurriedly confirmed.
"If I''m not mistaken, she must''ve been struck by reincarnationw powers during that incident, causing her own essential power to fall into a dormant state. All that needs to be done is to have reincarnationw powers injected into her dantian to awaken her essential power," the grand priest said.
"It''s that simple?" Han Li asked with an incredulous expression.
"What you have to realize that reincarnationw powers are even more difficult to cultivate than thews of space, and perhaps even more so than thews of time. Attaining control over reincarnationw powers is even more difficult, and even the slightest mishap could result in dire consequences," the grand priest said.
"All I know is that the three paramountws are considered to be above all otherws in the world as they reign supreme in their respective fields. As a result, they''re extremely difficult to cultivate. Could it be that you''re cultivating thews of reincarnation?" Han Li asked.
"The reason why I was able to be grand priest is because I am capable of using a divination technique, and through the use of this technique, I can draw upon some reincarnationw powers to predict some future events. However, I''m still far from being able to proim that I''ve mastered thews of reincarnation," the grand priest replied with a faint smile.
"In that case, you must be intending to use the reincarnationw powers that you can draw upon to awaken Weeping Soul''s essential power, right?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. All I need to..."
All of a sudden, the grand priest''s voice trailed off, and the two of them turned to Weeping Soul in unison.
She had been curled up into a ball on the jade bed, but all of a sudden, shepletely rxed andid t on the bed, while strands of white light began to flow out of her be before dissipating in all directions.
"What''s going on? Why is her soul seeping out of her body?" Han Li asked in an rmed manner.
"This is only to be expected. Without essential power to serve as an anchor, one''s soul can only linger in their body for a short time before beginning to dissipate. Those needles were all that was keeping her soul locked in her body, but those needles were intended for the purpose of refining living beings into puppets, so they have a harmful effect on the soul.
Now that they''ve been removed, it''s no surprise that her soul is dissipating at a far faster rate than before," the grand priest exined.
Han Li immediately channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique upon hearing this, and a spiritual sense threat shot out of his be before entering Weeping Soul''s be, and only then did the strands of white light fade away.
"Please begin right away," Han Li implored with a solemn expression as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"I can''t be interrupted during this process, so make sure to keep a lookout for me," the grand priest replied with a nod.
"Rest assured, you can count on me," Han Li vowed with a serious expression.
The grand priest didn''t waste any more time as he made his way over to the end of the jade bed where Weeping Soul''s head was resting, then joined his palms in front of himself as if in prayer before spreading his hands apart.
Five crimson plum blossoms flew out before dropping down onto Weeping Soul''s forehead, and a series of twisted lines also appeared on the palms of his hands.
At the same time, a burst of hazy red light rose up from behind him, and his cloak began to p around him as a burst of familiarw power fluctuations surged out of his body.
As soon as Han Li caught a glimpse of the sections of the grand priest''s skin that had been revealed under the cloak, he was immediately struck by a visceral sense of disgust.
As it turned out, his entire body was riddled with massive scars and festering sores, most of which were leaking brownish-yellow pus, presenting a nauseating sight to behold.
It was clear from a nce that most of these scars were very old, and some of them had alreadypletely sealed over to form tumor-like growths, while others were still yet to fully heal and were oozing pus incessantly.
The grand priest''s body appeared to be quite rotund, but in reality, that was only due to all of the tumor-like growths that riddled his entire body.
Earlier, the grand priest had been submerged in that medicinal path, so Han Li wasn''t able to smell anything aside from a strong, medicinal aroma, but he was now beginning to catch a whiff of a putrid odor from the grand priest''s body.
Right at this moment, the grand priest''s voice suddenly rang out in Han Li''s mind.
"If the smell is too much for you to bear, then you can go and keep a lookout outside. The treatment is going to take at least two hours."
"It''s fine," Han Li replied in a concise manner.
However, a short whileter, Han Li''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly as he said, "Looks like I will have to go outside, after all..."
"Leave everything here to me, Fellow Daoist Han. Just make sure no one gets in here," the grand priest said.
Han Li cupped his fist in a grateful salute, then appeared outside the pce in a sh.
Several streaks of light were piercing through the distant night sky, and they soon arrived no more than two hundred feet away from Han Li.
The group was led by none other than Shi Pokong, and he was apanied by a pair of devilish men, one of which was around ten feet tall and built like a steel tower.
There was a metal visor that concealed the lower half of his face, leaving his fearsome, bloodthirsty eyes exposed.
The other figure was a benevolent-looking azure-robed elderly man, and there was a faint smile on his face as he stood with his hands sped behind his back, looking no different from a mortal schoolteacher.
Han Li released his spiritual sense throughout the surrounding area, upon which he discovered that these three were the only ones who hade to confront him, and that there were no other powerful cultivators in hiding nearby.
The brawny man with the metal visor on his face was giving off the most pronounced aura, but his cultivation base was the lowest of the three at only the mid-High Zenith Stage. Shi Pokong was also only at the mid-High Zenith Stage, but his aura was slightly superior to that of the brawny man.
As for the elderly man, he had the most harmless appearance of the three, but his cultivation base was at thete-High Zenith Stage.
"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Pokong greeted with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Indeed, Your Highness," Han Li replied with a smile of his own.
"Now that you''ve returned to the Holy Realm, Chuankong must be back as well, right? Where is he right now?" Shi Pokong asked.
"Are you still not willing to let him go? Fellow Daoist Shi has always cherished you as his brother, and he never had any intention ofpeting with you. Don''t you think you''ve gone too far?" Han Li asked.
A hint of dejection appeared on Shi Pokong''s face upon hearing this, but it quickly faded as he replied, "You''re a smart man, Fellow Daoist Li, so I''m sure you''re aware that there are certain things that are simply out of our control. Essentially, it doesn''t really matter whether he wishes topete with me or not."
"In any case, I do not wish to get involved in your conflict with Fellow Daoist Shi. As long as you don''t interfere with my ns, I won''t interfere with yours," Han Li said in an indifferent manner.
"That''s fine by me, as long as you''re willing to tell me what happened in the Scalptia Spatial Domain during your time there. Why is it that all of the pawns that I''ve nted in there have suddenly gone silent?" Shi Pokong asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
Chapter 998: Agreement
Chapter 998: Agreement
"If you''re so curious, then why don''t you go in there and take a look for yourself? I do have to warn you, however, that the Scalptia Spatial Domain is not as safe as the Devil Realm, and you could easily meet your demise in there, just like the first prince did," Han Li sneered.
"So Zhanfeng really did die. What a pity," Shi Pokong sighed, while the two men apanying him were both clearly very much taken aback by this revtion.
Han Li remained standing on the spot as he observed Shi Pokong in silence.
"There''s no real personal vendetta between us, Fellow Daoist Li, and truth be told, I''ve always had a great deal of admiration for you. The situation in our Holy Realm is still quite unclear at the moment, but surely you can tell who has the better chances ofing out on top between me and Chuankong, right?" Shi Pokong said in a meaningful voice.
"I don''t care about all of that. As long as you don''t interrupt the grand priest here, I can let slide the fact that you tried to have both Fellow Daoist Shi and me killed in the Scalptia Spatial Domain. Once Weeping Soul is cured, I''ll leave the Devil Realm right away. What do you say?" Han Li asked.
"You don''t have to tell me everything that happened during your time in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, but do give me a definitive response on Chuankong''s current status. Is he still alive? Has he returned to the Holy Realm?" Shi Pokong asked.
"I''ve already made myself very clear just now, so I suggest you don''t try to push me any further," Han Li said in a cold voice, and as soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, he reappeared in front of the pce gates before stomping a foot down onto the ground.
A resounding boom rang out as a burst of shockwaves erupted forth in all directions from beneath his feet, shattering arge section of the za in front of the pce.
A figure came flying out of the ground with blood and dirt all over their body before frantically scurrying away into the distance.
Han Li had held back significantly in that stomp for fear of damaging the pce behind him. Otherwise, there was no way that this figure would''ve been able to survive.
It was a thin and wiry devilish man with ck scales all over his body, and his fingers were tipped with sharp ws. It was clear he excelled in burrowing through the earth, and after scurrying several thousand feet away, he attempted to dig his way into the ground again.
However, Han Li appeared before him in the blink of an eye, then grabbed him by the throat before lifting him off his feet.
"Very impressive, you almost managed to sneak in right under my nose," Han Li sneered as he returned to Shi Pokong''s trio.
All the while, the man was trembling uncontrobly as he continued to be carried by Han Li by the throat.
A dark look appeared on Shi Pokong''s face upon seeing this, and the brawny man beside him roared in a furious voice, "Let him go!"
The thin elderly man''s smile had also faded, and a hint of fury had surfaced in his eyes.
"Here, you can have him," Han Li replied with a smile, then casually snapped the man''s neck before tossing him at the brawny man''s feet.
"How dare you!" the brawny man roared as a dense cloud of devilish qi began swirling around him, and his body swelled rapidly to several hundred feet tall in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, a giant, ck, octagonal warhammer appeared in his grasp, and a series of glowing crimson patterns appeared over his body, giving off bursts of peculiar energy fluctuations.
As soon as these energy fluctuations swept over Han Li, his legs instantly became incredibly heavy, as if they had been filled with lead.
The devilish giant took a step forward, shattering the ground within a radius of over a hundred feet with an almighty stomp, sending countless rocks and flying up into the air.
At the same time, he swung his warhammer down at Han Li''s head, and Han Li felt as if the space above him were copsing inyers, restricting even the surrounding space to prevent him from getting away.
Fierce killing intent was smoldering in the devilish giant''s eyes, and it was clear that he had no intention of letting Han Li leave this ce alive.
However, to his astonishment, Han Li suddenly took a step in his direction with ridiculous ease, as if he were taking a stroll in the park.
At the same time, clusters of specks of white light were appearing over his body beneath his clothes, and the thin elderly man''s expression changed drastically as he hurriedly yelled, "Get back!"
However, it was already toote.
Han Li channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts as a string of dull thumps rang out from his arm, and radiant starlight erupted out of his profound acupoints to form a massive white fist projection that wasunched upward with tremendous power.
As soon as the descending warhammer was struck by the fist projection, it was instantly snapped into two, and its massive head was sent flying through the air like a shooting star, quickly vanishing into the distant night sky.
However, at the same time, there was a burst of immense power that traveled up the shaft of the warhammer before twisting itself around the devilish giant''s arm, climbing up his body en route to his head.
A string of grotesque crunching sounds rang out as the flesh on the devilish giant''s arm was shredded into pieces, and even the exposed bone was being warped and shattered.
Right at this moment, the azure-robed elderly man sprang onto the devilish giant''s body in a sh before throwing a punch into his shoulder.
His fist appeared quite frail and unremarkable, but it was imbued with astonishing power, and a thunderous boom rang out from the devilish giant''s shoulder as the force of the elderly man''s punch shed against the force unleashed by Han Li''s fist projection, instantly decimating the devilish giant''s entire arm.
However, at the same time, the force unleashed by Han Li''s fist projection waspletely dispelled. Otherwise, it would''ve been far more than just the devilish giant''s arm that was destroyed.
"Thank you, Elder Qu," the devilish giant said in a respectful manner as he reverted back to his original stature.
"There''s still some residual force from that man''s punch that''s lingering in the wound on your shoulder. Do not attempt to regrow that arm before all of the residual force has faded. Otherwise, there will be no end to your troubles," the elderly man warned.
Meanwhile, Han Li was merely standing with his hands sped behind his back, disying no intention to escte the conflict any further.
"Don''t you think it''s a little insolent of you to have wounded two of my subordinates here in the heart of the imperial city, Fellow Daoist Li?" Shi Pokong asked in a cold voice.
"You should be grateful to me for sparing their lives," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Looks like you''ve reaped some significant rewards in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, to the point that you now have the confidence to oppose our entire holy race!" Shi Pokong remarked with a cold expression.
"Don''t try to intimidate me, Your Highness. I have no intention of opposing the devil race, but if you insist on forcing my hand, then I''ll have no choice but to retaliate. I''m aware that there are many powerful seniors stationed in Night Sun City. For example, Elder Qu over here is certainly not to be taken lightly," Han Li said as he took a nce at the thin elderly man.
Elder Qu met his gaze, and his aura began to elevate, he was suddenly looking not so benevolent and harmless.
"But so what? I''m confident that I can at least demolish half of Night Sun City before I go down. If that were to happen, I''m sure you wouldn''t be able to escape culpability. Back when the first prince was in charge, everything was so peaceful and orderly. If half of the city were to be destroyed as soon as you took his ce, then I''m sure that wouldn''t reflect so well on you, isn''t that right?" Han Li said with a meaningful smile.
Shi Pokong''s expression remained unchanged, but Han Li''s words had given him pause.
If things were to y out as Han Li proimed, then he would undoubtedly be stripped of his duties of overseeing the city, and Shi Jingyan would undoubtedly seize the opportunity to take his ce.
If that were to happen, then he would''ve gone to such great lengths to eliminate Shi Zhanfeng for someone else''s benefit.
However, at the same time, he was rather skeptical about whether Han Li really did have the power to destroy half of the city as he proimed.
Right at this moment, Elder Qu''s voice rang out in his mind.
"This man is a far more aplished bodily refinement cultivator than I am. Perhap I''ll be able to defeat him, but it''ll be extremely difficult to kill him, and he''s certainly capable of causing extensive damage to the city."
Shi Pokong was silent for a moment upon hearing this, then suddenly smiled as he said, "I was hoping to recruit you as a subordinate, but it seems like that''s only a one-sided wish of mine. In that case, I won''t try to force your hand any further, but please do follow through on your promise and leave the Holy Realm once Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul''s condition has been treated."
"Of course. As long as I can have ess to an interrealm array, I''ll leave as soon as I can," Han Li replied with a smile.
Shi Pokong was naturally eager to send Han Li away, and he immediately said, "I''ll return tomorrow morning to see you off in person."
"You have my thanks, Your Highness. You can go now," Han Li said with a smile, asking Shi Pokong to leave as if he were the owner of this ce.
Shi Pokong''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and he gritted his teeth as he departed with his subordinates.
Chapter 999: May We Never Meet Again
Chapter 999: May We Never Meet Again
Han Li watched as Shi Pokong departed with his entourage, then carefully examined the nearby area with his spiritual sense, and only after confirming that there was nothing amiss did he return to the pce.
Inside the pce, Weeping Soul was curled up into a ball on her side on the jade bed, and her brows were tightly knitted with pain.
Han Li hurriedly inspected her condition with his spiritual sense, upon which a look of relief appeared on his face.
Even though she was still unconscious, her aura had already undergone a drastic change.
What was particrly worthy of note was that a wisp of essential power had appeared in her dantian, and it resembled a me in a dark room, one that was rather frail, but instilled within the beholder a sense of warmth andfort.
The sound of sshing water rang out from behind the jade bed, and Han Li turned to discover the grand priest slowly rising up from the pool with plumes of smoke rising up from his body alongside the acrid smell of charred flesh.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly at the sight of the grand priest''s face.
"Your face..."
The grand priest stroked his own face with a wry smile upon hearing this, and he sighed, "A price must be paid for using the power of reincarnationws."
A series of charred gashes had appeared on his cheek, within which pus was flowing incessantly like moltenva, giving off a putrid odor and bursts of scorching heat.
"What about all the other wounds on your body?" Han Li asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"Every time I draw upon the power of reincarnationws, a new wound will appear on my body, as if by an act of divine punishment. The wounds can''t be healed by any means, and over time, I''ve been reduced to this hideous state," the grand priest exined with a wry smile.
He bent down to scoop up some water from the pool as he spoke, then sshed it onto his own face, sending a plume of white steam rising up into the air.
This was most likely one of the reasons why the grand priest had been reluctant to treat Weeping Soul.
Once this divine punishment reached a certain level of severity, the grand priest would inevitably meet his demise regardless of how lofty his cultivation base was, and judging from his current state, he had to have already been very close to reaching that point.
"I owe you a favor for this. If you have any request for me, I''ll be sure to fulfill it as long as it''s within my capabilities," Han Li said.
"I don''t have any request for you now, but I will require your help at some point in the future," the grand priest said as he emerged from the pool.
"What will you require my help with?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"That''s a secret," the grand priest replied with a shake of his head.
Han Li was just about to raise more questions when Weeping Soul suddenly gave a quiet groan, sounding as if she were about to awaken.
"Weeping Soul..." Han Li hurriedly called out in a gentle voice, yet she remained unconscious.
"Her essential power has been dormant for too long, and as a result, her spiritual sense has been severely taxed. If you hadn''t sealed her soul within her body, she would be nothing more than an empty husk right now. Having said that, now that her essential power has returned, all she''ll need is some time to rest and recuperate, and she''ll eventually awaken on her own," the grand priest exined.
Han Li was feeling a little more reassured upon hearing this, and a thought suddenly urred to him as he asked, "How are you going to answer to the third prince for helping me?"
"I was forced to help you against my will, of course. Those two can serve as proof," the grand priest replied with a smile as he gestured toward the two unconscious guards at the entrance of the pce. "If you don''t think this is convincing enough, you can rough them up a little more to seal the deal."
"I don''t think the third prince would be that easy to fool," Han Li replied with an amused smile.
"So what? I''m still the grand priest, so he wouldn''t dare to do anything out of line. On top of that, he came here in person just now, but could only scurry away with his tail between his legs in the end, so what right does he have to criticize me?" the grand priest countered.
"That''s true," Han Li replied with a nod, following which he carried Weeping Soul back into the Flower Branch domain.
The next morning, Weeping Soul still hadn''t awakened, but her aura had be noticeably stronger, serving as further reassurance to Han Li. After bidding farewell to the grand priest, Han Li stepped out of the pce, and Shi Pokong was already waiting for him outside with an entourage of close to twenty people.
In addition to Elder Qu, there were three morete-High Zenith cultivators and also seven or eight early and mid-High Zenith cultivators among them.
Han Li remainedposed as he chuckled, "Are you trying to scare me into submission, Your Highness?"
"Not at all, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Pokong replied with a smile. "You arrived at our Night Sun City as an esteemed guest, and now that you''re leaving, I naturally had to arrange a ceremonious departure."
"That''s very kind of you, Your Highness," Han Li said with a smile, then abruptly vanished from the spot, only to reappear ahead of everyone.
Shi Pokong''s expression darkened slightly seeing this, and he strode over to Han Li on his own, while everyone else trailed along a short distance behind.
"Fellow Daoist Li, is it toote to say that I regret not choosing to recruit you as an ally in the past?" Shi Pokong asked.
"When you say in the past, are you referring to back when I first arrived in Night Sun City, or right before I was about to enter the Scalptia Spatial Domain?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"Is there a difference?" Shi Pokong asked.
"Not really. You could''ve still won me over at any point in time before giving me that Explosive Space Realm Talisman, but from the moment you made that decision, it was toote to change your mind," Han Li replied.
"That''s a real pity," Shi Pokong sighed.
A look of mncholy appeared on Han Li''s face as he sighed, "Did things really need to be like this between the two of you?"
Shi Pokong was naturally aware that Han Li was referring to him and Shi Chuankong, and he heaved a long sigh as a hint of dejection appeared on his face, but he offered no response.
Han Li didn''t speak any further on the matter, either, and he continued onward.
The group flew to a za in the southern wing of the imperial pce before descending, and Han Li could see a conical pagoda up ahead.
The pagoda was riddled with a series of ring-shaped patterns that were interconnected with one another to form an extremelyplexwork array patterns that stretched all the way down to the ground.
The pagoda itself was no more than two thousand feet tall, and its foundation took up roughly a third of that height. A ring of transparent, rhomboid crystals were embedded into the side of the foundation, reflecting the light of the sun to give off a radiant gleam.
"Could this be the legendary Space Passage Pagoda?" Han Li asked.
"It would be impossible for you to return to the Immortal Realm using a normal teleportation array, so the only feasible option is to use the Space Passage Pagoda," Shi Pokong replied with a nod.
"Will the pagoda be able to return me directly to the Northern cial Immortal Region?" Han Li asked.
"Interrealm teleportation is extremely difficult to facilitate and also requires the expenditure of a vast amount of resources. Hence, we can only teleport you to the nearest point in the Immortal Realm," Shi Pokong replied.
"And where would that be?" Han Li asked.
"The Golden Origin Immortal Region," Shi Pokong replied.
"Where in the Golden Origin Immortal Region?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
Han Li hadn''t visited that immortal region yet, but he wasn''t unfamiliar with it. After all, it was home to the Nine Origins Temple and the headquarters of the Hundred Creations Mountain, and there was also a good chance that Jin Tong was currently there as well.
"That''ll depend on your luck," Shi Pokong replied with a smile. "The Space Passage Pagoda can only teleport you to a random teleportation array in the Golden Origin Immortal Region."
"Alright, then let''s begin," Han Li said in a direct and concise manner as he made his way into the Space Passage Pagoda, followed by Shi Pokong.
The ground inside the pagoda was riddled with array patterns, and at the very center of the pagoda were several white stone pirs with various types of strange patterns engraved upon them.
There were also transparent, rhomboid crystals embedded into the walls of the pagoda, and at the center of the white stone pirs was a tform that was around a hundred feet in diameter.
Even though the array wasn''t currently operating, there wereyers of rippling light surging over its surface, giving off bursts of formidablew power fluctuations.
"I hope that we never meet again in the Holy Realm, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Pokong suddenly said.
"Rest assured, Your Highness, I''m a man of my word," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Good. Please enter the array," Shi Pokong said with a nod.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense over the array, and only after verifying that every detail of the array matched what he had been told by the grand priest the night before did he step into it.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, this Space Passage Pagoda is extremely precious, so I wouldn''t dare to tamper with it. If I somehow damage the pagoda, it''ll be no less catastrophic than having half the city destroyed," Shi Pokong assured with a smile.
Han Li didn''t respond, merely turning his gaze to Shi Pokong, waiting for him to activate the array.
Shi Pokong raised a hand upon seeing this, and several of the elders behind him immediately spread out around the array before sitting down with their legs crossed, making a string of hand seals to activate the pagoda.
A loud buzzing noise rang out as the entire pagoda began to tremble slightly, immediately following which a burst of silver light appeared over the tform at the center of the pagoda, while the array patterns on the ground lit up as well.
All of the rhomboid crystals embedded into the pagoda also began glowing brightly, releasing countless rays of blinding light that were too bright to directly behold.
Han Li was inundated by all of the dazzling light, and burst of formidable spatial power began to converge toward him from all directions.
Right as the array was about to be activated, Shi Pokong''s voice suddenly rang out beside his ears.
"May we never meet again, Fellow Daoist Han."
Chapter 1000: A Trap
All of a sudden, a streak of white light flew into the array, protected by a burst of spatial, before striking Han Li on the body.
Han Li was very startled by this, and he only had time to look down to discover that it was a marking jade pendant before a burst of tremendous tearing force converged toward him from all directions.
The air around him constricted, and he felt as if his body were about to be torn apart at the seams. Even his enormous spiritual sense had be rather scattered, making it impossible for him to focus his attention.
A resounding boom rang out, and the entire Space Passage Pagoda shuddered violently as a streak of silver light erupted into the heavens from the tip of the pagoda.
At the same time, a burst of silver light erupted out of the rhomboid crystals embedded into the outer walls of the pagoda before sweeping through the air in all directions.
All of the silver light lingered for a few seconds before abruptly fading away, and most of the rhomboid crystals on the outer wall of the pagoda had been ruined, while the rest had bepletely dull and devoid of luster, indicating that they had been almost entirely drained of energy.
Momentster, Shi Pokong emerged from the pagoda with his entourage, and his brows were still tightly furrowed in contemtion, but he was looking a bit more rxed than before.
......
There was an antiquated daoist temple that was surrounded by lush mountains somewhere in the Immortal Realm.The temple had been constructed along the mountain, and it stretched for dozens of kilometers.
In a small col near the temple was a white stone array that was no more than a thousand feet in radius, and it was surrounded by stone pirs that were riddled with dense clusters of runes.
At this moment, there were close to a hundred cultivators dressed in two types of different attire gathered around the array, and all of them were looking on with solemn expressions.
The group seemed to have two leaders, one of whom was a white-robed middle-aged man who wasn''t particrly tall or imposing, but was giving off a vast and authoritative aura.
He was apanied by a tall and thin elderly man with sunken cheeks and withered skin, giving him a very wizened appearance.
"Where did you get this information from, Brother Tao Ji? Is that man really going to be appearing here today?" the elderly man suddenly asked.
"I''ll admit that I can''t be certain, Fellow Daoist Jin Chuan. I received an interrealm messagest night, iming that the culprit who killed Yu''er will be appearing on this Returning Dragon Temple teleportation tform today. There wasn''t enough time for me to verify the message, and I came here with all of the people that I could gather. I knew that you were nearby, so I decided to ask for your help as well," the man by the name of Tao Ji replied.
"It''s fine. If I recall correctly, Yu''er''s killer was only a mere True Immortal. Was there really a need to gather so many people just to have him killed?" Jin Chuan asked.
"The message imed that Yu''er''s killer has be far more powerful than he was back then, and that I should regard him as a High Zenith cultivator," Tao Ji replied in a hesitant manner.
"How is that possible? There''s no way anyone could possibly go from the True Immortal Stage to the High Zenith Stage in such a short time! If you ask me, this is most likely a trap. You''ve made a lot of enemies over the years, so you have to be on your guard," Jin Chuan said in a disbelieving manner.
"That may be the case, but I don''t want to pass up any opportunity of hunting down Yu''er''s killer, no matter how slim. Besides, even if this is a trap, I have you to help me, so what do I have to fear?" Tao Ji replied.
"I suppose that''s true. I''d say this lineup that you''ve assembled would be enough to give even a Great Epassment cultivator a huge headache," Jin Chuan chuckled.
"I was only able to assemble five peak-Golden Immortal cultivators and fewer than fifty cultivators of the mid andte-Golden Immortal Stages, so if it wasn''t for the people that you had brought with you, there''s no way I would be able to unleash the full power of this Bipr Yin Yang Array," Tao Ji said.
"You mentioned that this man is cultivating thews of time, right? It sounds like he has a real death wish," Jin Chuan harrumphed coldly.
"He''s most likely just some hillbilly that stumbled onto this path without knowing secrets involved. Having said that, the fact that he was able to kill Yu''er as a mere True Immortal and also kill Gongshu Jiu after that indicates that he must''ve made some decent strides in his cultivation of timew powers," Tao Ji mused.
"So what? As soon as he enters this Bipr Yin Yang Array, he''ll bepletely at our mercy. Rest assured, as long as he shows up today, there''s no way he''ll be leaving this ce alive," Jin Chuan said with a cold smile.
Tao Ji''s tense expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he was just about to say something when his expression suddenly changed slightly.
"Here hees!" Jin Chuan said as his eyes lit up with excitement.
As soon as his voice trailed off, all of the nearby clouds abruptly began to churn violently before converging over the col to conceal the entire sky.
"Set up the array!" Tao Jimanded in a serious manner, and the nine peak-Golden Immortal cultivators present gave a collective affirmative response, then positioned themselves evenly around the teleportation tform with nine cultivators of the mid andte-Golden Immortal Stages behind each of them.
Together, the ny cultivators made a string of hand seals while chanting an incantation, and countless array patterns on the ground and the surrounding stone pirs lit up, releasing ayer of ck and white light that folded inward from all directions like a giant pocket.
All of a sudden, there was a sh of lightning in the dark clouds above, following which a burst of incredibly powerful spatial fluctuations erupted forth, and a pir of silver light came crashing down from above.
The teleportation tform shuddered violently, and Han Li appeared at the base of the pir of silver light.
In the instant that he appeared, the vast pocket of ck and white light instantly closed itself over the teleportation tform.
Immense spatial tearing force was generated during interrealm teleportations, so if anyone below the High Zenith Stage were to attempt teleportation over such a vast distance, there was a very good chance that they would be torn apart and killed on the spot.
Han Li''s tremendous physical constitution ensured that he remained unscathed, but even so, he was feeling very light-headed, and his entire body was throbbing with pain, making it difficult just to remain standing.
The light-headed sensation was quickly quelled by his Spirit Refinement Technique, while a small jade pendant fell down by his feet with a faint crack.
He bent down to pick up the jade pendant, then looked around to discover that half of the people around the teleportation tform were dressed in Immortal Pce robes, and he couldn''t help but heave a faint sigh.
You sure are persistent, Shi Pokong...
From Jin Chuan''s perspective, Han Li was very unremarkable in appearance, and a hesitant look appeared on his face as he asked, "Is that him?"
"It certainly is," Tao Ji replied as he glowered intently at Han Li.
Even though he had never seen Han Li before, for some reason, from the instant that heid eyes upon him, his intuition told him that this was undoubtedly the man who had killed his son.
"Should I call you Li Feiyu or Han Li?" Tao Ji asked in a cold voice.
"Have we met before?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"No, but you''ve met my son, Tao Yu. Not only that, you also killed him!" Tao Ji replied in a cold voice.
Only upon hearing this did it ur to Han Li that this middle-aged man bore some resemnce to Tao Yu, and a look of realization appeared in his eyes.
"It''s time for you to finally pay for what you''ve done! Activate the array!" Tao Jimanded, and as soon as the order was issued, the teleportation tform shuddered, following which all of the surrounding air constricted around Han Li.
His brows furrowed slightly as he discovered that all of the world''s origin qi in the surrounding area had suddenly vanished without a trace, and it was as if he had returned to the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
A smile of amusement and exasperation appeared on Han Li''s face at this thought.
Tao Ji''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of Han Li''s unfazed reaction, and hemanded, "Activate the Bipr Yin Yang Stones!"
All of the Golden Immortal cultivators immediately switched to a different hand seal upon hearing this, and a series of circles of strange runes appeared around the array, causing the ck and white light in the array to separate down the middle.
The white light went to the left, while the ck light went to the right, and they gradually took on a substantial form, transforming into a pair of enormous millstones, one ck and one white, both of which were revolving rapidly as theypressed toward the center.
Han Li was standing between the pair of millstones, and he could feel tremendous pressure sweeping toward him from both sides, locking him firmly into ce andpletely immobilizing him.
Chapter 1001: Is That All Youve Got?
Bursts of powerful tearing force swept through the air on either side of Han Li, sweeping up gusts of ferocious wind thatshed against his cheeks.
Being subjected to such immense pressure was far fromfortable, and Han Li reflexively extended his elbows outward to either side, but he was only able to slightly dispel the pressure, while the two millstones continued to close in on him.
It seemed that Han Li waspletely powerless to resist, and a pleased smile appeared on Tao Ji''s face upon seeing this.
In contrast, Jin Chuan was looking on with an unconvinced expression, clearly under the opinion that this was massive overkill.
"Keep it up, everyone! Destroy this scoundrel''s physical body, but make sure to leave his soul behind. I''m going to use it to light a skyntern tofort my son''s soul in the heavens!" Tao Ji yelled.
The ny Golden Immortals behind him immediately gave a collective affirmative response.
They were extremely fortunate to have been chosen to be part of this array, and this experience was going to have unfathomable benefits on their future cultivation, not to mention the reward of ten Immortal Origin Stones that each of them was going to receive. On top of that, their target appeared to be aplete pushover, and they could hardly think of a better job to be assigned.
With that in mind, all of them were pouring forth their immortal spiritual power without reservation to power the array.
The runes on the two millstones were glowing radiantly, and the pressure emanating from them was bing stronger and stronger, causing Han Li''s joints to creak and groan audibly, but he still appeared quite calm andposed.This was a perfect opportunity for him to gauge just how powerful his own physical body had be after his time in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so he was slowly limating himself to the pressure exerted upon him by the millstones without putting up any meaningful resistance.
Of course, he was still putting on an act to humor Tao Ji, feigning an agonized expression, as if he really were struggling to withstand the pressure.
Before long, the two millstones had drawn so close to each other that it seemed like they were in direct contact, and it was no longer possible to see Han Li between them.
"Looks like you were misled, Brother Tao. At this rate, he''s going to be crushed in just a moment or two. You should prepare to capture his soul. Otherwise, if they go too far, his soul could be destroyed too," Jin Chuan said with a smile.
"I can''t believe Yu''er was killed by such an ipetent scoundrel! He must''ve been toocent and underestimated his opponent. It''s my fault for being too lenient with him," Tao Ji sighed as he shook his head with a remorseful expression.
"I wouldn''t put the me on Yu''er. The only reason why this scoundrel ispletely powerless to retaliate is because we set up this Bipr Yin Yang Array in advance, so this is not a true reflection of his power," Jin Chuan consoled.
"No matter. Yu''er has finally been avenged no," Tao Ji sighed, and it was as if a heavy load had been lifted from his shoulders.
Right at this moment, a strange sound suddenly rang out from between the two millstones, and the two of them hurriedly peered into the array, upon which they were stunned to discover that a small gap had reappeared between the pair of millstones.
At the same time, Han Li''s mocking voice rang out from within the array.
"Is that all you''ve got? I must say, I''m very disappointed."
Tao Ji and Jin Chuan''s expressions changed drastically upon hearing this, and the former hurriedly yelled, "Crush him!"
All of the Golden Immortals immediately redoubled their efforts, pouring forth more immortal spiritual power into the Bipr Yin Yang Array.
However, even though the two millstones were glowing brighter than ever and releasing even more formidable pressure, they were still slowly being forced apart bit by bit.
The feigned look of agony on Han Li''s face had faded away, and it was reced by a calm andposed expression.
A stunned look appeared on Tao Ji''s face upon seeing this, and he hurriedly swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a golden flying sword that suspended itself in mid-air before him.
Etched onto the de of the sword were nine me symbols next to each other, and it was giving off bursts of scorching heat.
He slid a finger over the sword, and the first fire symbol lit up to release ayer of crimson fire, forming a serrated, fiery edge around the sword.
Tao Ji took a nce at Han Li, then slid his finger over the second me symbol, which also lit up to release ayer of orange mes over its crimson counterpart.
With the emergence of thisyer of mes, the surrounding temperature soared, and the nearby air began to shimmer and warp.
Tao Ji continued to glide his finger over the length of the sword, and the fire symbols on it lit up one after another, with each one producing a newyer of mes.
Eachyer of fire was a different color from the rest, and before long, sevenyers of me had appeared over the flying sword, making it resemble a fiery, rainbow fan.
Waves of scorching heat were sweeping through the entire col, setting all of the surrounding vegetation alight, and even the Golden Immortals inside the array were struggling to withstand the heat, feeling as if their blood were boiling in their veins.
"He does seem to possess remarkable physical prowess, but surely you didn''t need to use seven Radiant me Symbols at once!" Jin Chuan eximed with a surprised expression.
Tao Ji offered no response as he thrust both palms forward, and the fiery flying sword hurtled directly into the Bipr Yin Yang Array as a streak of rainbow light.
Han Li waspletely unfazed by the formidable firew power fluctuations emanating from the sword. In fact, he was eager to use it to test out his own newfound physical prowess.
With that in mind, Han Li channeled the starpower within his own body, meeting the oing flying sword directly with his own chest.
A resounding boom rang out as the tip of the rainbow flying sword struck his chest, releasing bursts of scorching heat that instantly incinerated his robes, but the sword wasn''t able to pierce even a millimeter into his body.
Blinding rainbow light erupted throughout the entire array to inundate Han Li, and bursts of rainbow mes erupted in all directions, causing the array to tremble violently.
All of the Golden Immortals outside the array began swaying unsteadily, and momentster, the mes faded away to reveal Han Li again.
The clothes in front of his chest had been burned away, but he waspletely unscathed, and there wasn''t even a single scorch mark on his body.
"Impossible!" Jin Chuan eximed with an astonished expression.
"His physical body is far more powerful than we imagined! Be on your guard, Brother Jin Chuan," Tao Ji warned with tightly furrowed brows as he summoned his flying sword back to yourself.
"If that''s all you''ve got, then it''s my turn!" Han Li dered with a cold smile, then immediately channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, and profound acupoints lit up all over his body as he plunged his fingers straight into the ck and white millstones with ease.
Immediately thereafter, he channeled his Giant Mountain Ape bloodline, and his muscles bulged as tufts of golden fur appeared over his body, transforming into a giant golden ape that was around a hundred feet tall in the blink of an eye.
He then tugged violently on the pair of giant millstones, and they were instantly wrenched into his grasp, causing the entire array to tremble violently.
All of the Golden Immortals that were manning the array were immediately struck by bacsh, shuddering violently while throwing uprge mouthfuls of blood.
"Get back!" Tao Ji hurriedly yelled in a frantic voice, but it was already toote.
As Han Li seized control of the two millstones, a burst of tremendous,pressive force swept through the entire array, trapping all of the Golden Immortals inside.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li hurled both of the millstones at the Golden Immortals, who were unable to take any evasive measures, so they could only frantically summon their protective treasures with horrified looks on their faces as they struggled in futility to save themselves.
Two earth-shattering booms rang out as the pair of giant millstones came crashing down, easily overwhelming the resistance put up by the Golden Immortals, and not a single one of them was able to escape.
All of them had been crushed into mincemeat, and even their nascent souls had been eradicated.
"How dare you!" Jin Chuan roared in a furious voice as he sprang up into the sky before making a hand seal, and a blue spirit domain instantly appeared over the entire col.
"So one of you is cultivating thews of fire, while the other is cultivating thews of water. You two certainlyplement each other well," Han Li remarked with a smile as dense clouds of steam suddenly began to rise up around him.
He quickly reverted back to his normal human form as he spoke, while Jin Chuan continued to make a string of hand seals, releasing a tremendous aura that caused his robes to p audibly around him.
Chapter 1002: Crushed with Ease
Chapter 1002: Crushed with Ease
With a sweep of Jin Chuan''s sleeve, a torrential downpour suddenly began to cascade down from the heavens, instantly filling the entire area within a radius of ten thousand feet around Han Li.
There was faint azure and purple light shimmering within the otherwise innocuous-looking rain droplets, indicating to Han Li that they were tinged with poison.
With that in mind, he threw a punch upward, and a burst of white starlight erupted out of his fist, forming a starlight barrier that eradicated all of the rain falling from above.
Immediately thereafter, he prepared to spring up into the air, only to discover that his feet had be firmly rooted to the ground.
A puddle of azure water had appeared beneath his feet, and it had wrapped itself tightly around his legs, locking him firmly into ce.
The puddle of water was giving off a jade-like gleam, and circles of strange patterns could be seen within it, giving off tremendous waterw power fluctuations.
Han Li attempted to lift his own legs, only to discover that they had be incredibly heavy, as if they had be one with thend.
"Save your energy," Jin Chuan sneered with a triumphant expression. "I''ve connected my Water Binding Technique to the underground water veins in this entire area, so you''re currently being bogged down by the weight of countless underwater rivers..."
All of a sudden, Jin Chuan''s voice abruptly trailed off as the triumph on his face turned to shock and horror.As it turned out, all of Han Li''s close to a thousand profound acupoints had lit up as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might, allowing him to free himself from Jin Chuan''s Water Binding Technique with ease.
Immediately thereafter, he vanished from the spot before abruptly reappearing before Jin Chuan an instantter while throwing an almighty punch.
Despite his astonishment, Jin Chuan reacted very quickly, and a rippling light erupted out of his chest, forming an azure light barrier that rippled like water.
Han Li''s fist struck the azure light barrier, and he was instantly struck by the false sensation that his fist had missed its target. The tremendous force behind his punch waspletely deted, and he was unable to make contact with Jin Chuan''s chest.
"Hurry, Brother Tao!" Jin Chuan yelled in a frantic manner, and as soon as his voice trailed off, Tao Ji abruptly appeared no more than a thousand feet behind Han Li.
His entire body was shrouded in crimson mes, and he was making a hand seal as he let loose a thunderous roar.
All nine of the me symbols on his golden flying sword li up, adding two moreyers of fire to the previous seven, one ck and one white.
Even though it was only two additionalyers of mes, their emergence caused the aura of the flying sword to swell by severalfold, making itparable in power to a fifth-grade immortal treasure.
The flying sword shot forth through the air, reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye, but almost at the exact same moment, Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him, revolving incessantly as it released rays of golden light in all directions.
As soon as the zing sword pierced into the rays of golden light, it was slowed down drastically, to the point that it had almost stopped entirely.
The sword was trembling incessantly as the nine-colored mes around it incinerated the surrounding rays of golden light, but it was still only able to continue onward at a snail''s pace.
Tao Ji was certain that this would prove to be the decisive blow, and he waspletely rooted to the spot upon seeing this.
As for Jin Chuan, he had also been caught within the golden light, causing his spiritual sense to almost entirely congeal, so he was still yet to react to what was unfolding before him.
"How pathetic. You two have truly disappointed me," Han Li sighed as he channeled his true spirit bloodlines, and a burst of crimson light rose up from his body as he instantly transformed into a devilish deity with three heads and six arms.
Out of his three heads, one was that of the golden ape, another belonged to a mighty dragon, and the final one was a giant bird head with a pair of golden pupils. This was one of the forms that he could attain by using his true spirit bloodlines alongside his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
After adopting this form, Han Li''s fist was still sealed within the rippling azure light barrier, but he simply reached out with one of his other five hands, which pierced through the light barrier with ease before plunging into Jin Chuan''s chest to gouge out his heart.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li crushed the heart in his grasp.
Jin Chuan was still trapped by Han Li''s timew powers, and the nascent soul in his dantian didn''t even get a chance to escape before it was eradicated by another punch from Han Li.
At the same time, Han Li swiveled around before reaching out with two of his hands to grab onto the golden flying sword that had been arduously trudging its way toward him this entire time.
A burst of incredibly intense heat surged into his body through his hands, and his blood was almost set alight in a simr sensation to what he had previously experienced from his true spirit bloodline bacsh.
A cold sneer appeared on Han Li''s face as he grabbed onto the de of the sword, disregarding the scorching heat that it was releasing as he began twisting the sword with his hands.
The sword struggled with all its might, trying to break free, but it was all in futility.
The power generated by thebination of Han Li''s true spirit bloodlines and Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts was far too much for the flying sword to contend with, and a metallic screeching sound rang out as it gradually began to twist and warp, following which it exploded into pieces with a resounding boom.
Waves of scorching heat erupted in all directions as Han Li''s hands were charred ck, and the acrid smell of burnt flesh was wafting through the air.
However, Han Li paid no heed to this as he reverted back to his human form before turning to Tao Ji with a derisive sneer.
In the instant that the flying sword was shattered, Tao Ji had thrown up arge mouthful of blood before fleeing for his life as a long streak of crimson fire.
However, Han Li''s time spirit domain had already epassed the entire surrounding area in a radius of several dozen kilometers, and even though the time-slowing effect of the spirit domain wasn''t as potent as that of the Mantra Treasured Axis, it still greatly hampered Tao Ji''s speed.
"It''s toote to run away now!" Han Li sneered as he withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis into his body, following which it began to revolve in reverse at his behest.
At the same time, he stomped a foot heavily down onto the ground,unching himself through the air as an arc of silver lightning.
As soon as Han Li vanished from the spot, Tao Ji discovered that he was no longer able to determine Han Li''s exact location, even with his spiritual sense, and a look of shock and horror appeared on his face.
He hurriedly made a hand seal, unleashing a blood-incinerating secret technique that enhanced his speed by twofold as he continued to flee into the distance.
Right at this moment, an arc of silver lightning appeared beside him, following which Han Li''s voice rang out.
"Where are you going, Elder Tao? Weren''t you going to crush me before making my soul into a skyntern?"
Tao Ji continued fleeing in a blind panic, but Han Li seemed to be intentionally toying with him, merely keeping up with his speed while refraining from attacking.
"If Tao Yu hadn''t tried to kill me in the Immortal Realm, none of this would''ve happened to you or him. You only have yourself to me for not raising your son properly."
Tao Ji had already enhanced his own speed to the very limit, but he was still unable to get away.
"You should be thankful that I''m not like you, and I don''t have a habit of refining the souls of others intonterns. Instead, I only refined his soul into a Golden Soul Pill," Han Li continued.
"You bastard!"
Tao Ji was finally unable to stand Han Li''s taunting any longer, and he stopped cold in his tracks, following which a fiery spirit domain erupted out of his body, but only epassed an area with an approximate radius of a thousand feet, within which the air temperature was rapidly rising.
At the same time, a burst of red light emerged from his dantian, and cracks that looked as if they were filled with moltenva appeared over his skin as an incredibly formidable aura erupted out of his body.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as waves of scorching firew powers swept through the air in all directions, causing the surrounding space to warp and twist with their incredible heat.
Han Li had already retreated far into the distance at this point, but at the same time, he was peering intently into the epicenter of the explosion with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
After a moment of observation, a cold sneer appeared on his face as he scoffed, "Do you really think that''s going to work?"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he immediately flew directly into the explosion, and as he did so, he discovered that the firew power fluctuations around him were very weak, far weaker than what should''ve been unleashed from a true self-detonation.
Immediately thereafter, he spotted several hundred fist-sized balls of fire up ahead, but instead of scattering like normal mes, they collectively sped away in a certain direction while converging to fuse together again.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he swept a sleeve through the air, letting loose eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that released a vast of golden lightning.
The of lightning epassed all of the fist-sized fireballs, causing them to explode into countless tiny specks of fire.
All of the flying swords then flew back to Han Li at his behest, and hanging from one of them was a storage ring.
"If you''re going to fake a self-detonation to serve as a decoy for your escape, then at least destroy your storage treasure as well. If you''re not willing to even make that sacrifice, how are you going to convince anyone?" Han Li scoffed as he plucked the storage ring from the flying sword.
He then stowed the storage ring away before flying back to the col from before.
A long time after his departure, a speck of light emerged from an ancient tree in the forest down below, then rose up into the air before vanishing into the distance.
Chapter 1003: Creation Crystals
Chapter 1003: Creation Crystals
There was a dimly lit pce in the Golden Origin Immortal Pce with crimson patterns etched all over its walls and floor, forming a giant array.
These array patterns were shing incessantly while giving off a cold aura drifted throughout the entire pce.
At the center of the array stood a ck stone pir with seven branches, at the top of each of which was an antiquated oilmp with a green me burning inside.
Not only did the green mes not provide a sense of illumination andfort, they only made the pce appear more eerie and sinister.
All of a sudden, the green mes within themps swelled to several times their original size, then flew out of their respectivemps to hover in mid-air.
A series of green array patterns appeared in the surrounding space, connecting the seven mes to form a heptagram.
A soul fragment then appeared at the center of the array amid a sh of ck light, forming an indistinct face that belonged to none other than Tao Ji.
"Thank heavens I set up these Seven Star Lamps in advance. Otherwise, I would truly be dead right now," Tao Ji murmured to himself, following which a look of burning resentment surfaced in his eyes.
"Han Li, you killed my son and ruined my cultivation base! I''m going to make you pay for everything! I may not be able to kill you, but I''ll ensure that you die by someone else''s hand at all costs!"Tao Ji''s soul fragment then opened its mouth, and the nine green mes within the array quickly flew into its mouth, giving it a more substantial form.
At the same time, a faint crack rang out as a hole that was around a foot in size appeared at the base of the ck stone pir, following which a humanoid talisman flew out from within before fusing as one with the soul fragment.
Thebination of the two formed a ck, humanoid body that looked as if it were entirelyposed of ink.
Tao Ji moved around a little, testing out his own new body, then gave a pleased nod before flying outside.
Close to an hourter, Tao Yu arrived at a golden pce.
"Elder Tao!"
There was a servant standing on each side of the pce gate, and both of them were quite surprised to see Tao Ji in his current state.
"I have an urgent matter to report to the pce master," Tao Ji dered.
"Please wait a moment while we report your arrival, Elder Tao," one of the servants replied before turning to enter the pce.
Right at this moment, an authoritative voice rang out from within the pce.
"There''s no need for that. Come in, Elder Tao."
Tao Ji immediately entered the pce, then passed through a giant hall and a corridor that was several thousand feet long, upon which a huge garden appeared before him.
There were all types of flowers and nts of different vibrant colors nted in the garden, culminating in an indescribable aroma.
At the center of the garden was a white perg, inside of which stood a white-robed figure, who was observing a red floral tree outside the perg.
The white-robed figure turned around, revealing himself to be a middle-aged man, and he asked, "What could be so urgent that you''ve used a Heavenly Shadow Talisman to manifest this body toe and see me?"
The man''s appearance was rather unremarkable, with the exception of his eyes, which were extremely deep and all-epassing, as if he had seen everything there was to be seen in this world.
"I did indeed use a Heavenly Shadow Talisman to manifest this body, but only because my physical body was destroyed, so I had no choice," Tao Ji replied with a grief-stricken expression.
"What? Your physical body was destroyed? Who did that to you?" the white-robed man asked in an rmed voice.
"It was a fugitive on our Heavenly Court''s Immortal ying List by the name of Han Li. He goes by the alias of Li Feiyu," Tao Ji replied through tightly gritted teeth.
"I remember him, he''s wanted for cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique and killing an immortal official. If I recall correctly, your son seemed to have also died by his hands, and there''s a reward of five thousand Immortal Origin Stones on offer for his head. Is he in the Golden Origin Immortal Region right now?
¡°I can understand that you would go after him for vengeance for your son, but ording to the information that we have on hand, he was only a True Immortal at the time of your son''s death. Even if he''s made some advancements in his cultivation base, there''s no way he should''ve been able to defeat you."
The white-robed man was rattling off details about Han Li as if he knew them like the back of his hand, giving one an impression of omniscience.
"Our information on him may have been incorrect. Right now, he''s already reached the High Zenith Stage, and his physical prowess is extremely formidable. He was able to easily break free from the Bipr Yin Yang Array set up by Fellow Daoist Jin Chuan, myself, and close to a hundred Golden Immortals, all of whom perished by his hands, while I''m the lone survivor," Tao Ji said in a grim voice.
"What? He''s at the High Zenith Stage? And you''re saying he''s a dual cultivator who also excels in bodily refinement? That''s impossible!" the white-robed man eximed with a stunned expression.
"I''m telling the truth! Please take a look at this, Pce Master, I recorded our battle using a Heavenly Soul Bead," Tao Ji said as he opened his mouth to release a small, translucent bead.
The white-robed man cast an incantation seal onto the translucent bead, and it immediately began to glow radiantly, disying a recording of the battle between Han Li and Tao Ji.
After watching the recording, the white-robed man murmured to himself with an incredulous expression, "He really has reached the High Zenith Stage, and it''s only been about three thousand years since he appeared on the Immortal ying List."
"The only usible exnation is that he had to have concealed his own cultivation base back then. No wonder my son died by his hands," Tao Ji said in a resentful manner.
"I don''t think that''s the case. Prior to putting someone on the Immortal ying List, the Heavenly Court always makes sure to conduct a thorough investigation into that person, and particr care is taken in determining their cultivation base, so there''s no way there would''ve been a mistake there," the white-robed man replied with a shake of his head.
"In that case, could he really have progressed from the True Immortal Stage to the High Zenith Stage in no more than three thousand years while simultaneously making such extraordinary progress in bodily cultivation as well? That''s impossible! There''s no way his cultivation base could''ve improved so rapidly unless he has ess to some type of unfathomable treasure that can drastically elerate his cultivation progress..."
All of a sudden, his voice trailed off here as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
"Have you thought of something, Elder Tao?" the white-robed man asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I have indeed, Pce Master," Tao Ji replied.
"What is it?" the white-robed man asked.
"A long time ago, my son sent some messages to me regarding Han Li, and I recall that some mention was made of some type of treasure that contained timew powers. I didn''t look into it as I was grieving over the loss of my son, but could it be that this has something to do with the rapid progress he''s made in his cultivation?" Tao Ji mused.
"What did the message say?" the white-robed man hurriedly asked.
"It''s been a very long time, so I can''t quite recall, but I''ve preserved all of the messages, and I''ll get someone to bring them to us right away," Tao Ji replied, then pulled out amunication array te before issuing a verbal instruction into it.
Shortly thereafter, a golden-robed young man flew in from outside, then knelt down before the two men.
"No need for formalities. Did you bring the things that I asked for?" Tao Ji asked.
"Here are all of the messages from Cousin Tao Yu," the golden-robed young man replied with a nod as he pulled out a stack of jade slips before setting them down onto the stone table inside the perg.
The white-robed man paid no heed to the golden-robed young man as he picked up one of the jade slips, while Tao Ji dismissed the young man before picking up another one of the jade slips.
With their powers, they were able to quickly read through most of the jade slips, and right at this moment, an excited look appeared on the white-robed man''s face, having just read through the contents of the jade slip in his hand.
"Have you found it, Pce Master?" Tao Ji asked.
The white-robed man took a nce at Tao Ji, then handed the jade slip over to him.
Tao Ji epted the jade slip, then injected his spiritual sense into it, and inside was a message from Tao Yu, vaguely mentioning that he was investigating someone in possession of crystals that contained timew powers.
"Yes, this is the one! Do you think these timew crystals have something to do with his rapid cultivation base progression, Pce Master?" Tao Ji hurriedly asked.
"That doesn''t matter anymore. Contact the temple right away and inform them that we''ve discovered a lead on Creation Crystals!" the white-robed man said in an excited manner as he began to make his way deeper into the garden in an urgent manner.
"You''re saying these crystals are Creation Crystals?" Tao Ji eximed as he hurriedly followed along.
"I can''t be fully certain, but I''m fairly confident that that''s the case. ording to the information that we have on hand, Creation Crystals can elerate one''s cultivation, and they can even elerate the maturation of spirit nts. It can''t just be a coincidence that this man has disyed such extraordinary cultivation progression and is also in possession of timew crystals. There''s a very good chance that those crystals are none other than Creation Crystals!" the white-robed man replied.
"In that case, that does sound like a strong possibility! Forgive me for not considering such a possibility, Pce Master," Tao Ji said.
All of a sudden, the white-robed man stopped in his tracks before turning to Tao Ji with a suspicious expression.
"What''s wrong, Pce Master?" Tao Ji asked with a perplexed expression.
"Elder Tao, did you really not make that connection, or did you intentionally hide this information because you wanted to im the Creation Crystals for yourself, and you only revealed this information to me because Han Li was too powerful for you to defeat?" the white-robed man interrogated as he glowered intently at Tao Ji.
At the same time, an enormous aura erupted out of his body, exerting tremendous pressure upon Tao Ji.
"I wouldn''t dare to intentionally withhold information on something so vital to the fortunes of our Nine Origins Temple, Pce Master! I genuinely never made the connection!" Tao Ji implored in a frantic voice as he fell to his knees.
The white-robed man paid no heed to Tao Ji''s frantic cries as the pressure emanating from his body became more and more intense.
Meanwhile, Tao Ji was trembling in fear as he kowtowed over and over again.
"Regardless of whether you''re telling the truth or not, I suppose you should bemended for finding this lead on Creation Crystals. You can go now. The immortal Pce will choose a suitable body for you to possess," the white-robed man said as his aura slowly subsided.
"Thank you, Pce Master," Tao Ji said in a grateful manner while panting heavily in the wake of immense pressure exerted upon him.
The white-robed man gave a cold harrumph before abruptly vanishing from the spot, while Tao Ji rose to his feet before departing as a sinister grin shed over his face.
Chapter 1004: Chaotic Place
Momentster, the white-roebd man appeared in a pce deep within the Golden Origin Immortal Pce.
Hovering inside the pce was a golden te that was around a foot in size, and it was radiating bright golden light, forming aplexmunication array.
He pulled out a purple badge, on one side of which was engraved the words "Nine Origins Temple" in small, golden text, while the other side of the badge bore an image depicting a piece of majestic scenery.
The white-robed man was just about to ce the badge into themunication array when he suddenly stopped what he was doing, then withdrew the badge before making his way into another pce.
From there, he sat down onto the main chair, and as soon as he did so, two figures appeared before him amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
One of them was a gray-haired elderly man with a nose that was close to twice the length of the average person''s, and he had a pair of small eyes that were constantly darting around from side to side, as well as a thin, whisker-like mustache, giving him the appearance of a giant rat.
The other figure was a brawny, ck-robed man with his arms crossed in front of his chest and a mighty saber carried on his back.
"How can we help you, Pce Master?" the two figures asked as they cupped their fists in a collective salute.
The elderly man''s voice was quite sharp, matching his rat-like appearance, while the ck-robed man''s voice was very coarse and abrasive, much like the sound of steel needles scraping over stone."L¨¹ Yun, make a trip to the Northern cial Immortal Region to investigate Han Li. I want an exhaustive investigation starting from his time in the lower realms, and make sure not to omit even the smallest of details," the white-robed man instructed.
"Yes, Pce Master," the gray-robed elderly man replied with a nod.
"Hei Dao, go to the Heavenly Pine Temple to search for Han Li. Make sure to find him, but do not alert him to your presence," the white-robed man ordered, and the ck-robed man also gave an affirmative response.
"Go," the white-robed man said with a dismissive wave of his hand, and the two figures standing before him vanished in unison.
The white-robed man sat back in his chair as a faint smile appeared on his face.
At this moment, Han Li was flying through the air as a streak of blue light atop a blue flying carriage.
He had found the blue flying carriage in Daoist Master Bone Shine''s bone ring, and it was not inferior in caliber to his previous green jade flying carriage.
He was seated on the flying carriage with his legs crossed, examining the over one hundred tools that he had imed from Tao Ji and the others.
Han Li picked up Tao Ji''s storage ring, then injected his spiritual sense into it, and momentster, a golden badge appeared in his grasp amid a sh of golden light. Engraved onto one side of the badge was a golden dragon, while the name "Tao Ji" was engraved on the other side, beneath which were the words "Golden Origin Immortal Pce" in small text.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
Having been at odds with the Heavenly Court for so many years, he had developed a decent understanding of the immortal pces, and in particr, he had be very familiar with what some of the identity badges of the immortal pces entailed, so he knew that this badge was an elder badge Golden Origin Immortal Pce.
He stowed the badge away, then examined the contents of Jin Chuan''s storage tool, and he was quickly able to determine that he was an elder of the Heavenly Water Sect, arge sect in the Golden Origin Immortal Region.
As for those Golden Immortals, half of them served the Golden Origin Immortal Pce, while the other half were from the Heavenly Water Sect.
Some of these Golden Immortals had been very important figures in the immortal pce and the Heavenly Water Sect, but for the current Han Li, the only things of value in their storage tools were their Immortal Origin Stones.
Hence, he casually split everything else up into several categories, nning to sell them all at ater date for Immortal Origin Stones. Once he did that, he would have enough Immortal Origin Stones to support the average High Zenith cultivator''s cultivation for at least a million years.
A contemtive look appeared on Han Li''s face as he processed this new information.
The Golden Origin Immortal Region was one of thergest immortal regions under the Heavenly Court''s control, so the leader of the Golden Origin Immortal Pce had to be at least a Great Epassment cultivator.
Even though he had ensured that there were no survivors to tell the tale from the Golden Origin Immortal Pce or the Heavenly Water Sect, there was still no guarantee that his enemies wouldn''t be able to find him.
Having said that, at this point, it hardly mattered if he killed more Heavenly Court cultivators or not. His identity had already been exposed, and there was no way that the Heavenly Court would ever let him off the hook, so what did it matter if he killed another elder and a few dozen Golden Immortals?
He was no longer the mere True Immortal that he had been when he first ascended to the Immortal Realm, and he was confident that he would at least be able to ensure self-preservation even in the face of a Great Epassment cultivator.
However, the Golden Origin Immortal Pce was tied to the Heavenly Court, which had Dao Ancestors among its ranks. Prior to this, it was unlikely that he would''ve attracted the attention of those Dao Ancestors, but that could be subject to change from here onward. Han Li was very confident in his own powers, but certainly not so confident that he would dare to take on the entire Heavenly Court.
Hence, it seemed that he would have to go into hiding for now.
With that in mind, Han Li quickly summoned a few scriptures pertaining to the Golden Origin Immortal Region that he had sourced from the storage tools of Tao Ji and the others.
The fact that these scriptures were in the possession of the likes of Tao Ji naturally indicated that their contents were extremely useful, and with Han Li''s current spiritual sense and memory functions, he was able to rapidly read through multiple scriptures at once.
All of a sudden, he made a hand seal, and the flying carriage began traveling in a different direction from before.
Over ten years flew by in a sh.
Somewhere in the Golden Origin Immortal Region, a streak of blue light was racing through the heavens, and it drew to a gradual halt, revealing a blue flying carriage.
Ahead of the flying carriage was a massive, golden mountain range with enormous mountains that pierced all the way up into the clouds. On top of that, the mountain range stretched as far as the eyes could see in either direction, resembling an enormous, golden barricade.
The golden mountain range was enshrouded in dense golden mist, giving it an air of mystery.
"We''ve finally arrived," Han Li said with a relieved expression as he observed the mountain range up ahead.
Standing beside him was a ck-robed young woman, and it was none other than Weeping Soul, who had awakened not long ago.
At this moment, she was still looking slightly pale, and she was observing the massive mountain range up ahead with an intrigued look in her eyes.
This Golden Origin Mountain Range was thergest mountain range in the entire Golden Origin Immortal Region. In contrast with theplex terrain and environment of the Northern cial Immortal Region, the Golden Origin Immortal Region only had a single, vast continent, and the Golden Origin Mountain Range stretched over close to half of the entire continent.
In terms of area, the Golden Origin Mountain Range was definitely thergest mountain range that Han Li had ever witnessed.
On top of that, it was also a ce that was fraught with perils and riches.
The Golden Origin Immortal Region was extremely abundant with metal-attribute spiritual qi, and the Golden Origin Mountain Range was where all of the metal-attribute spirit veins in the entire immortal region were gathered.
The mountain range was rife with metal-attribute spiritual qi, giving rise to countless metal-attribute spirit materials, attracting treasure-hunting cultivators from all over the entire immortal region.
However, due to the excessive abundance of metal-attribute spiritual qi in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, many natural metal force fields were present deep within the mountain range, and the deeper one ventured into the mountain range, the more powerful these force fields became.
Furthermore, the tremendous metal-attribute spiritual qi in the Golden Origin Mountain Range had given rise to many types of interesting metal beasts. The bodies of these beasts were formed by metal-attribute spiritual qi, and not only were they very formidable to begin with, they were also unaffected by the metal force fields in the mountain range, giving them an additional advantage over cultivators in battle.
The metal force fields, metal beats, and other hazards in the mountain range imed the lives of countless treasure-hunting cultivators every year, but even so, countless cultivators were still venturing into the mountain range every single day.
The immortal pce naturally wasn''t just going to ignore such an enormous natural treasure vault. In fact, the Golden Origin Immortal Pce was situated in the western region of the Golden Origin Mountain Range, and it had always been trying to seize control of the mountain range.
Unfortunately for them, the mountain range was simply too massive, and the Golden Origin Immortal Pce was only able to im a small area in the western region of the mountain region, while the rest was split among countless immortal powers.
As a result, there were conflicts constantly taking ce between the powers present in the mountain range, and Han Li hade here precisely because he wanted to take advantage of the chaotic environment here.
At this point, he had already opened over nine hundred profound acupoints, and his past experience told him that this would make it far easier for him to continue opening immortal acupoints in the future.
On top of that, he had a vast number of Immortal Origin Stones in his possession, so he was in a perfect position to go into seclusion and make some rapid advances in his cultivation base.
The attack from Tao Ji and the others had instilled within him a sense of urgency, and with that in mind, he adopted a disguise using his Reincarnation Mask, transforming into a brawny man with a thick beard.
On top of that, he had also suppressed his own cultivation base to the early-Golden Immortal Stage.
"Should I adopt a disguise as well, Master?" Weeping Soul asked.
"There''s no need for that, no one knows you here in the Golden Origin Immortal Region," Han Li replied with a shake of his head, following which the flying carriage made its way into the Golden Origin Mountain Range at his behest.
Up close, the Golden Origin Mountain Range was even more majestic, and Han Li and Weeping Soul were made to resemble two tiny specks of dust as they stood before it.
The world''s origin qi here was very abundant, but the vast majority of it was of the metal attribute, making it a perfect environment for those using metal-attribute cultivation arts, but it was rather inhospitable for other cultivators.
However, the environment didn''t have any impact on Han Li as he depended on pills for his cultivation, as opposed to the world''s origin qi in the outside world.
"Where do we go from here, Master? Are you going to find a ce to go into seclusion in this mountain range?" Weeping Soul asked.
"There are many cities established by different immortal powers in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, so let''s do some exploring first. If it''s safer on the outskirts of the mountain range, then we can just go into seclusion somewhere nearby," Han Li replied, and Weeping Soul nodded in response.
Chapter 1005: Rescue
The flying carriage continued onward, and before long, it had traveled tens of thousands of kilometers into the mountain range.
As it was flying over a golden mountain, a burst of golden light suddenly shed on the mountain face, and a golden, wolf-like beast abruptly pounced at the carriage like a golden arrow.
Han Li flicked a finger through the air, releasing a streak of golden sword qi that struck the creature, slicing it in half from head to toe.
Large volumes of golden blood erupted through the air, following which the two halves of the creature''s body were caught by a burst of azure light.
The creature''s body had been warm and pliable just a second ago, but in the wake of its demise, its body quickly began to harden, and it was already beginning to resemble two halves of a golden statue.
"So this is a metal beast?" Weeping Soul asked with a curious expression.
Han Li examined the two halves of the creature''s body momentarily, then broke off a piece to discover that it was no different from a piece of metal ore.
Han Li tossed the two halves of the body aside with slightly furrowed brows.
These metal beasts weren''t powerful enough to pose any threat to him, but the problem was that they could fuse as one with the mountains, granting them exceptional self-concealment.This metal beast was only a very low-level one, but he wasn''t confident in his ability to detect more powerful ones in this environment.
With that in mind, it seemed like this was not a good ce to go into seclusion.
Thus, the two of them continued onward.
Right at this moment, bursts of soundwaves converted from spiritual sense were transmitted through the area from the left.
The voice belonged to a woman, and it was desperately crying for help, striking the listener with a sense of sympathy.
Furthermore, these spiritual sense fluctuations were quite peculiar, and they were able to transmit themselves directly into the hearts of Han Li and Weeping Soul.
This form of spiritual sense conversion was far more advanced than normal spiritual sense voice transmission, and Han Li was rather intrigued.
Weeping Soul turned to Han Li with a hint of pity in her eyes as she asked, "Master, should we..."
Han Li wasn''t one to stick his nose into other people''s business, but he didn''t want to turn down Weeping Soul, so he said, "Let''s go take a look."
Thus, the flying carriage swiveled around at his behest, and he used a secret technique to conceal it as it flew toward the source of the sound.
A short whileter, the flying carriage drew to a halt beside a canyon, within which a battle was taking ce between an azure-robed young woman and five balls of golden light.
The young woman was the one who was calling for help, and it seemed that she was in quite a dire situation.
The protective spiritual light around her had been whittled down to a thinyer, and she was frantically warding off the surrounding attacks while releasing more of those soundwaves to cry for help.
A hint of surprise appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he noticed a long azure fox tail trailing along behind the young woman, indicating that she was a being of the fox race, and her cultivation base was at the mid-True Immortal Stage.
She was surrounded by five daoist priests that were dressed in golden robes, and there was a golden horse design emzoned onto each robe, seemingly the emblem of a certain sect.
The five of them were only at the early-True Immortal Stage, but they held a decisive numbers advantage.
Each of them was holding arge golden g, forming a ring of golden light that suppressed the young woman.
The leader of the five daoist priests was a square-faced man with a lecherous grin on his face, and he chuckled, "Hand over the Golden Wyrm Beast inner core and surrender yourself over to us. It would be a waste to kill you, considering your pure Azure Fox bloodline, so instead, we''ll offer you up to our master for his birthday present."
"Your Azure Fox Tribe is only a tiny tribe that could be eradicated by other powers in this mountain range at any moment. Our Golden Horse Sect is hundreds of times more powerful than your tribe, and our master is a Golden Immortal, so you should be honored to be a maidservant of his!" another daoist priest guffawed.
"If I hadn''t been worn down during my battle against the Golden Wyrm Beast, there''s no way the five of you could trap me!" the young woman spat through gritted teeth.
"Let''s not waste any more time here, Senior Martial Brother. Use the Five Gold Radiant Light Array to break through her protective demonic light, then seal her cultivation base so we can offer her up to Master. He''s always wanted an Azure Fox maidservant, so he''ll definitely be very pleased and reward us handsomely," another one of the daoist priests yelled.
"We can''t do that. The Five Gold Radiant Light Array is too powerful, and it could harm her cultivation foundation. If that happens, we won''t be able to offer her up to Master. Right now, she''s already close to a spent force, so we just need to wear her down a little more," the square-faced daoist priest said with a shake of his head.
"Senior Martial Brother is right!"
"It would be a terrible waste to ruin such a precious gift out of impatience!"
"That''s right, all we need to do is wear her down a little more."
All of the other daoist priests immediately chimed in in agreement.
The azure-robed young woman was furious to hear this, and the azure light around her abruptly brightened as a strands of azure fox fur shot out of her tail, screeching through the air before striking the ring of golden light around her.
The golden ring immediately began to tremble violently while being rapidly worn down, and the five daoist priests hurriedly released mouthfuls of blood essence into the gs in their hands upon seeing this.
The golden gs instantly flew out of their grasp before fusing into the ring of golden light, and at the same time, the five of them began to make a rapid string of hand seals, fortifying the golden ring against the strands of fox fur.
This final act of resistance seemed to have exhausted what little remained of the young woman''s power, and the azure light around her body quickly faded away, while she began to sway unsteadily on her feet.
The five daoist priests were ecstatic to see this, and their leader flew toward the azure-robed young woman while making a grab for her with a perverted look on his face.
Han Li remainedpletely unmoved by this, but Weeping Soul was furious, and she turned to him with an urgent expression as she called out, "Master!"
"Don''t worry, she''ll be fine," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
Sure enough, as soon as his voice trailed off, the situation took an abrupt turn.
The young woman had been swaying unsteadily on her feet, but as soon as the square-faced daoist priest drew close to her, she abruptly steadied herself as a cold look shed through her eyes.
The daoist priest was very rmed to see this, knowing that he had fallen into a trap, and he immediately tried to stop in his tracks, but it was already toote.
The azure-robed young woman raised both of her arms, and several streaks of azure light shot out of her hands before striking the square-faced daoist priest.
The streaks of azure light were extremely sharp and pierced through protective spiritual light around the square-faced daoist priest with ease, upon which they were revealed to be a set of fingernails.
The square-faced daoist priest was struck in several vital regions, and blood gushing out of his mouth as he fell to the ground with an indignant expression, following which his aura rapidly faded away.
With that, the azure-robed young woman really had used up thest of her demonic power, and she also copsed to the ground,pletely powerless to resist any longer.
"Senior Martial Brother! How dare you!"
The other four daoist priests were furious to see this, and they unleashed a torrential downpour of attacks upon her.
The young woman disyed no fear at all as she calmly watched all of the attacks raining down upon her, and she was making a hand seal behind her back as a look of finality shed through her eyes.
Right at this moment, a ball of azure light abruptly appeared above her, and all of the oing attacks sank into the azure light as if it were a ball of quicksand.
In the next instant, all of the attacks were sent flying back several times faster than they hade, instantly piercing through the bodies of the four daoist priests to eradicate them on the spot.
The azure-robed young woman was astonished to see this, but she continued to hold the hand seal behind her back.
Right at this moment, Han Li and Weeping Soul descended out of the sky, and the young woman''s expression changed slightly as she detected their tremendous auras.
She struggled to her feet with some difficulty, then extended a curtsey toward them.
"Thank you for saving my life, seniors."
"There''s no need for formalities, you''ve exerted yourself far too much already," Weeping Soul hurriedly said as she swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of ck light to help steady the young woman.
The azure-robed young woman disyed no aversion to Weeping Soul''s kind gesture, and a bright smile appeared on her face as she released her hand seal.
"What''s your name? Which power in the Golden Origin Mountain Range do you belong to? And who were those people?" Han Li asked.
He had saved the young woman at Weeping Soul''s request, but that didn''t mean that she could be spared from interrogation.
"My name is Ye Susu, and I''m from the Azure Fox Tribe. Those people were disciples of the Golden Horse Sect, and they''ve always been at odds with our Azure Fox Tribe. I was out hunting a Golden Wyrm Beast, and they took advantage of the fact that I was exhausted from my battle to try and capture me. If the two of you hadn''t saved me, I would''ve self-detonated to avoid capture," the young woman exined in a respectful manner.
A thoughtful look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
He had chosen to save Ye Susu mostly for Weeping Soul''s sake, but another factor that influenced his decision was that she was a being of the fox race, so he had thought that perhaps she had something to do with the Heavenly Fox Tribe, where Liu Le''er currently was, but it seemed like that was not the case.
"How many people are there in the Golden Horse Sect, and how powerful is the sect?" Han Li asked.
"The Golden Horse Sect is the most powerful sect in this area. It has over ten thousand disciples, with several Golden Immortals among them, and their grand elder is already at thete-Golden Immortal Stage," Ye Susu replied.
Han Li gave a slight nod upon hearing this.
At the moment, Ye Susu was in terrible condition, and herplexion was deathly pale, while her body was trembling slightly, but she still gritted her teeth and remained standing as she answered Han Li''s questions.
"You should take a moment to rest and recover from your injuries," Han Li said as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light that vanished into Ye Susu''s body.
Ye Susu felt a massive surge of warmth enter her body, and the injuries that she had sustained began to rapidly heal. In the blink of an eye, herplexion had returned to normal, and she was no longer trembling.
After healing all of her injuries, the burst of warmth surged into the demon core in her dantian, causing it to expand slightly.
Ye Susu hurriedly sat down with her legs crossed and began channeling her cultivation arts to take full advantage of this opportunity.
Chapter 1006: Long Separation
"Is she alright, Master?" Weeping Soul asked.
"She''s fine, it''s just that her cultivation foundation waspromised from excessive demonic power expenditure, but I''ve already smoothed out those problems for her. It seems like you''re very fond of this girl. I''ve never seen you be so friendly to anyone else," Han Li remarked with an inquisitive expression.
"Her soul aura is very clean and pure, like a spring in the mountains. It''s veryforting to me, and perhaps that''s why I''m drawn to her," Weeping Soul exined in a slightly embarrassed manner.
"You can detect soul auras now?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"After I awakened from my unconscious state, I discovered that I had made some strides in myw power cultivation base, allowing me to detect the soul auras of others, using which I can determine their personalities. With this ability up my sleeve, no one can hide their true nature from me," Weeping Soul replied with a smug expression, and Han Li was quite intrigued to hear this.
If this ability really were as Weeping Soul described, then it was quite extraordinary. No matter how powerful one''s spiritual sense was, it was still impossible for one to look directly into the heart of someone else, so this was certainly a very remarkable ability to possess.
"What''s my soul aura like?" Han Li asked in a curious manner.
"Your soul aura is too vast for me to assess clearly, but overall, you have a very just and righteous aura," Weeping Soul replied.
"I certainly wouldn''t dare to say that I''m a just and righteous man. All I can say is that I have a rtively clear conscience," Han Li said with a shake of his head."Given how perilous the path of cultivation is, those who are too kind of heart or too weak of will cannot hope to progress far down this path. Sometimes, one has to be a little cold-hearted. Otherwise, they risk hurting themselves and even those precious to them.
¡°While it can appear to others that you''re a little cold and detached, you have a moral code that you abide by in everything that you do, and that''s certainly far frommon for cultivators of your caliber," Weeping Soul said in an earnest manner.
"It seems like not only are you now able to see into the hearts of others, you''re also seeing the world much more clearly," Han Li remarked with a faint smile.
He then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light that carried the storage tools of the five Golden Horse Sect cultivators to him.
He was naturally not interested in the treasures in their possession, but they did have some scriptures that contained information about the Golden Origin Mountain Range, which were quite useful to Han Li in his current situation.
Han Li pulled out those scriptures before carefully reading through them, while Weeping Soul remained by his side in silence.
Over two hours flew by in a sh, and as Ye Susu rose to her feet, she was looking in much better spirits. Not only had she made a full recovery, her aura had been significantly elevated as well.
"Words cannot express my gratitude, Senior. Not only have you saved my life, you''ve also expended your own power to help advance my cultivation base. Is there anything I can do for you in return?" Ye Susu asked.
"It''s nothing, don''t worry about it," Han Li replied with a dismissive wave.
"If you don''t mind, I''d like to invite the two of you to stay in our tribe''s Azure Fox City for a while. Please give me the opportunity to show my gratitude and disy some hospitality," Ye Susu said with a hopeful look in her eyes.
Weeping Soul turned to Han Li upon hearing this, and Ye Susu also turned her gaze to Han Li.
"Sure. We''re currently traveling the Golden Origin Mountain Range and don''t have a specific destination in mind anyway," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Pleasee with me, seniors," Ye Susu said with an ted expression, then opened her mouth to release a ball of azure mes that incinerated the bodies of the five Golden Horse Sect cultivators, following which she swept a sleeve through the air to summon a flying boat.
The three of them drifted onto the flying boat, which began to fly deeper into the mountain range.
"By the way, may I ask your names, seniors?" Ye Susu asked.
"My name is Han Li, and her name is Weeping Soul. There''s no need to refer to us as seniors, just call us by our names," Han Li replied, choosing not to give an alias this time.
In order to protect himself, he had been forced to use different aliases wherever he went, and he had grown quite weary of it.
At this point, his identity was no longer a secret, so there was no need for him to hide it any longer.
"I can''t do that, seniors! The two of you saved my life, so it would be terribly rude of me to refer to you directly by name. I may be a demon, but I know the importance of etiquette," Ye Susu hurriedly replied in a serious manner.
Han Li merely gave a faint smile and didn''t dwell on this subject any longer.
"My master was the one who saved you, while I did nothing, so don''t refer to me as your senior. Just call me Weeping Soul," Weeping Soul said with a wide smile as shetched onto Ye Susu''s hand.
Ye Susu took a timid nce at Han Li upon hearing this, and only after gauging his reaction to ensure that he wasn''t displeased did she strike up a conversation with Weeping Soul.
Their personalities seemed to mesh quite well as Ye Susu was very outgoing and talkative, while Weeping Soul was very curious about this new immortal region, and they quickly became good friends.
A short whileter, the flying boat arrived in a massive col.
The col was several thousand kilometers in size, and there was a giant city inside it.
The city was almost entirely constructed from golden materials, and its walls were extremely tall, not much shorter than the surrounding mountains.
There were also dozens of enormous golden stone pirs standing around the city, at the top of each of which was a giant golden ball that was several thousand feet in size.
Right at this moment, several streaks of light approached the flying boat from up ahead, following which several Azure Fox beings emerged.
The leader of the group was a tall and thin man, and he immediately greeted with an ted expression, "Wee back, Young Mistress!"
However, he then caught sight of Han Li and Weeping Soul, and his brows furrowed slightly in wariness as he asked, "Who are you two?"
"Don''t be so rude!" Ye Susu snapped with a displeased expression. "They are esteemed guests who have saved my life!"
The man''s mouth gaped open slightly in shock upon hearing this, and it seemed that he wanted to ask Ye Susu about what had happened to her, but ultimately refrained from doing so.
"Please forgive me," he apologized as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li and Weeping Soul.
Han Li paid no heed to the Azure Fox beings as he took a casual nce at the city down below.
There was quite arge wood-attribute spirit vein underground beneath the col, filling the entire area with abundant wood-attribute spiritual qi that gave rise to masses of lush vegetation.
The Azure Fox Tribe had found quite a good ce to settle in, one that was abundant with both metal and wood-attribute spiritual qi.
Even though the city down below was constructed from a golden material, it was very different from the golden rocks all over the Golden Origin Mountain Range. Whatever this material was, it was etched with ck patterns that resembled the rings of a tree, and it was giving off a cial aura.
Upon noticing Han Li''s intrigued expression, Ye Susu exined, "This is Dark Gold Rock. It''s found deep within the Golden Origin Mountain Range and can keep out metal beasts. Almost all of the cities in the Golden Origin Mountain Range are constructed from this material. Otherwise, it would be impossible to live in this mountain range with metal beasts capable of lurking within the walls."
Han Li had seen descriptions of Dark Gold Rock in the scriptures carried by the Golden Horse Sect cultivators, and he gave a slight nod in response.
Meanwhile, the tall and thin man briefly examined Han Li and Weeping Soul''s cultivation bases, upon which his expression instantly changed slightly, and he hurriedly extended another apology before leading the trio down toward the city below.
"How is my mother right now, Ye Ping?" Ye Susu asked through voice transmission.
"Our chief''s condition hasn''t worsened thanks to the effects of the Green Wave Pond and the treatment administered by Elder Qiu," Ye Ping replied.
"Good. I''ve gathered enough materials for the Bloodform Origin Restoration Array during this outing, and I''m definitely going to cure mother once and for all!" Ye Susu dered with a determined expression.
However, it seemed that Ye Ping was far from ted to hear this.
Even though the two of them were conversing through voice transmission, they were naturally unable to keep their conversation secret from Han Li, and he turned to Ye Susu with a contemtive expression.
The four of them quicklynded in front of the city gate, above which was a que that read "Azure Fox City".
There were guards stationed at the city gate, but Han Li''s group was granted free passage thanks to Ye Susu''s presence.
Beyond the city gates was a wide stone road that was lined with buildings, most of which appeared to be shops.
These buildings were constructed from wood, and the construction style adopted was also very different from what wasmonly seen in normal cities. Some of the buildings were even constructed from primitive logs that hadn''t been treated at all, presenting a rather refreshing sight to behold.
Furthermore, there were also many tall trees nted in the city, and Ye Susu smiled as she said, "Our Azure Fox City isn''t veryrge, but it has some decent sights to offer."
"This is indeed a very nice ce," Han Li replied with a nod as he took a nce at Weeping Soul, who was clearly also quite fond of this ce, looking around in an intrigued manner.
Han Li was naturally very pleased to see her so happy, but at the same time, a hint of mncholy welled up in his heart.
Ever since Weeping Soul''s awakening, she had be a lot more optimistic and outgoing, much like an average human girl, and that made him think of Jin Tong.
It had already been many years since they parted ways, and he had no idea where she and Xiao Bai were. Were they safe? Had she already found what she was searching for?
Chapter 1007: Hidden Area
"My mother is the chief of our Azure Fox Tribe, but she''s been rather unwell ofte, so she''s been recovering in seclusion, and she won''t be able to wee the two of you. Please allow me to apologize on her behalf," Ye Susu said in an apologetic manner.
"That''s fine. We are the visitors here, so we should be the ones to go to the owner of this ce. Seeing as she''s in seclusion, we don''t go to interrupt her. Would I be able to trouble you to take us on a tour of the city, Fellow Daoist Ye?" Han Li asked.
"Of course!" Ye Susu replied in an eager manner, then dismissed Ye Ping and the others as she led Han Li and Weeping Soul deeper into the city.
Azure Fox City was several thousand kilometers in size, and even though its terrain was generally quite t, there were several rivers and some short mountains in the city. On top of that, the entire city was rife with lush greenery, making for some fine scenery.
Before long, dusk had arrived, and Ye Susu led Han Li and Weeping Soul to the center of the city, where a cluster of tall pces was situated.
The cluster of pces took up an area of roughly two hundred to three hundred acres, and they were all constructed from wood as well.
In front of the main pce was a giant azure fox statue that was roaring up to the heavens. The statue was several thousand feet tall and nine tails, and it appeared to have been carved out of some type of green jade.
"This ce is called the Heavenly Fox Pce, and it''s where the chief of our Azure Fox Tribe resides," Ye Susu introduced.
"The Heavenly Fox Pce? Why is it not called the Azure Fox Pce?" Han Li asked."The name was decided by my ancestors, and I''m not sure about the reasons behind the decision," Ye Susu replied with a shake of her head.
Han Li simply nodded in response and didn''t dwell on the subject.
"There are several peaceful courtyards beside the Heavenly Fox Pce reserved for the esteemed guests of our tribe. It''s already quitete, so you can rest there for the night, and I''ll return tomorrow," Ye Susu said as she led the two of them to a neaby courtyard.
After that, Ye Susu called over two Azure Fox Tribe servants before instructing them to station themselves outside the courtyard, and only then did she depart.
Han Li watched her departing figure for a moment, then entered the courtyard with Weeping Soul.
There was a small, brick path in the courtyard, to the left of which was a floral garden, while on the right was a miniature bamboo forest. The flowers and bamboo trees were swaying gently in the night breeze, giving off a faint, pleasant fragrance.
Han Li gave a pleased nod before sitting down in the main hall, and he was joined by Weeping Soul, who asked, "Are you nning to go into seclusion here in Azure Fox City, Master?"
"Why would you think that?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
A mischievous grin appeared on Weeping Soul''s face as she replied, "Given how you normally like to do things, if you had no intention of staying in Azure Fox City for a long period of time, then you would''ve stopped at saving Ye Susu.
¡°Instead, you expended some of your energy to aid her in her cultivation, and you agreed toe here with her. On top of that, you instructed her to lead us on a tour of the city just now so that we can gain a better understanding of the city of the city, isn''t that right?"
Han Li gave a nod of approval as he replied, "The Azure Fox Tribe is an unremarkable tribe in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, and their settlement is quite secluded, making this a very good hiding ce. On top of that, I detected no potential hazards during the tour of the city."
"That''s all well and good, but the problem is that the Azure Fox Tribe seems to be quite wary of humans. Of course, if you disy some of your power, they''ll have no choice but to let us stay, but that would be far from an ideal solution," Weeping Soul said with slightly furrowed brows.
During their tour of the city, they had noticed that the Azure Fox beings that they had passed by had all been observing them with enmity in their eyes, and they would''ve most likely already been attacked had they not been apanied by Ye Susu.
"Not to worry, I have a n," Han Li said with a smile as he cast his gaze toward the eastern side of the city.
......
Late at night, the gentle moonlight was spilling down from the heavens into the serene Azure Fox City.
An azure figure was flying through the city beforending in a lush forest in the eastern region of the city, and it was none other than Ye Susu.
She had changed into a luxurious azure pce dress, and there was an azure jade crown on her head, giving her air of regal authority.
There was an azure fox statue standing in front of the forest, but it was only around half the height of the average person, and it was very dpidated, seemingly nothing more than an ordinary, rundown statue.
However, Ye Susu was regarding it with the utmost care as she joined her palms together before extending a respectful bow toward it, following which she sliced open the tip of her own finger before dripping a drop of blood onto it.
Two beams of azure light instantly shot out of the statue''s eyes before vanishing into the space up ahead, and the space instantly began to ripple and tremble.
Ayer of bright, azure light also surfaced over the palm of Ye Susu''s hand as she extended her hand into the space up ahead before making a gentle, pulling motion, and a spatial opening that was around ten feet tall appeared before her.
After looking around briefly to ensure that there was nothing amiss, Ye Susu stepped into the spatial opening, upon which it immediately closed.
Right at this moment, a barely visible shadow appeared nearby, then flew into the spatial opening right before itpletely closed.
Ye Susu''s vision blurred momentarily, following which she found herself standing in front of a basin that was several dozen kilometers in size.
There weren''t many buildings in the basin, but there wererge plots of spirit farnd, seemingly with many types of spirit medicines nted inside.
However, there were light barriers around these plots of spirit farnd to conceal what was inside, with only the medicinal fragrance wafting out of the light barriers providing some indication of what was nted inside.
Ye Susu flew directly onward, and that indistinct shadow appeared behind her before revealing itself to be none other than Han Li, and he turned to the plots of spirit farnd with a surprised look in his eyes.
Given his expertise in spirit medicines, he could tell just from the medicinal aroma alone that the spirit medicines nted here were quite remarkable. In fact, this ce was not inferior to his own medicinal garden in the Flower Branch domain.
One had to realize that the medicinal garden in the Flower Branch domain was a culmination of countless time and effort, in conjunction with the Heaven Controlling Vial, so it was very remarkable that the Azure Fox Tribe had managed to create something on a simr level, given that it wasn''t a particrly powerful tribe.
With that in mind, he descended toward the plots of spirit farnd for a closer look.
......
Meanwhile, Ye Susu had already flown deep into the basin, arriving at a gently rippling green pond.
Situated beside the pond were severalrge, azure rocks, and she gently patted one of them, upon which it immediately sank down to reveal a dark opening, revealing a long staircase that led deep underground.
It didn''t take long for Ye Susu to reach the bottom of the staircase, where she arrived in arge stone chamber, embedded into the ceiling of which were several fist-sized white jewels that basked the entire ce in a gentle, white glow.
There were specks of starlight shing on the surrounding walls, clearly indicating the presence of some type of restriction.
Inside the stone chamber was a white jade bed with an azure-robed young womanying on it, and her lower body was encased within a miniature blue mountain of ice that was several dozen feet tall.
The mountain of ice was giving off bone-chilling cial qi, and the temperatures in the stone chamber were extremely low, with frost clinging to all of the walls, the floor, and the ceiling.
The woman''splexion was deathly pale, and her teeth were tightly gritted, while veins were bulging on her forehead, indicating that she was enduring immense agony.
Large droplets of sweat were flowing down from her forehead, only to be instantly frozen solid as soon as they dripped down into the air.
A woman in a white dress was standing at the head of the bed with her hands pressed into the azure-robed woman''s shoulders, injecting bright azure into her body.
The aura of the woman in white indicated that she was at the early-Golden Immortal Stage, and upon hearing the sound of Ye Susu''s approaching footsteps, she looked up with a surprised expression ,then stopped what she was doing as she greeted, "Wee back, Young Mistress."
The azure-robed woman on the bed also opened her eyes to look at Ye Susu, and she forced a smile onto her own face as she said in a gentle voice, "Come here, Susu."
"Mother!" Ye Susu hurried over to the bed before sping onto the azure-robed woman''s hand, and tears immediately began welling up in her eyes.
"Don''t cry, Susu, I''m fine. Too much cial qi has entered my body recently, but I can ward it off with Elder Qiu''s help. Where did you go? You were away for so long. Did you encounter any danger?" the azure-robed woman asked in a gentle voice.
"I paid a visit to Golden Rhinoceros City to exchange for some things. On the way back, I encountered a few Golden Horse Sect cultivator''s, and I was in a little bit of danger, but thankfully, I was saved by a pair of seniors who just so happened to be passing by..."
With that, she delivered a brief recount of her outing.
"What?! You invited a human cultivator into our Azure Fox City? How could you, Young Mistress? You should be well aware that those detestable human cultivators are ones that did this to our chief!" Elder Qiu scolded in a cold voice after hearing Ye Susu''s story.
A hint of resentment appeared in Ye Susu''s eyes upon hearing this, but she immediately suppressed it as she replied, "It''s true that humans did this to my mother, but we can''t condemn all human cultivators because of that.
¡°Right now, the Golden Origin Immortal Region is ruled over by humans, and if our Azure Fox Tribe wants to develop, then we''ll have to interact with humans. As the leaders of our Azure Fox Tribe, we should set aside our personal emotions to do what''s best for our tribe."
At this moment, Han Li was standing in a dark shadow outside the hall, and a hint of approval shed through his eyes upon hearing this.
Elder Qiu''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and she was just about to say something else, but the azure-robed woman raised a hand to stop her.
"I agree with Susu on this matter. Seeing as those two fellow daoists are both at the Golden Immortal Stage, if we can establish good rtions with them, then that would be immensely beneficial to the future development of our Azure Fox Tribe."
Elder Qiu was silent for a moment, then acquiesced, "In that case, we''ll do as you say, Chief."
"Thank you, Mother!" Ye Susu said with an ted expression.
Chapter 1008: Mother-and-Daughter Bond
Chapter 1008: Mother-and-Daughter Bond
"While it''s a good idea to recruit more allies to strengthen our tribe, your safety is a higher priority, Susu. Our Azure Fox Tribe currently rests on your shoulders. I''m already like this, so you must remain safe," the azure-robed woman sighed.
"What are you saying, Mother? You''re definitely going to recover!" Ye Susu protested in a vehement manner.
"Yes, yes, I''ll be sure to get better," the azure-robed woman hurriedly agreed, but the look in her eyes betrayed the pessimism deep in her heart.
Ye Susu lowered her head, and a decisive look shed through her eyes as she suddenly reached out with a finger like lightning.
Bright, white light was glowing on her fingertip as he tapped it against the azure-robed woman''s forehead, and thetter''s eyes widened in shock, following which she quickly fell unconscious.
"What are you doing, Young Mistress!" Elder Qiu eximed.
Ye Susu offered no response as she pulled out a crimson rune pen, then began inscribing array patterns onto the ground around the jade bed while pulling out various array tools.
Elder Qiu wanted to raise further questions, but she refrained from doing so at the sight of Ye Susu''s focused expression.
Half a day passed by in the blink of an eye, and as the sun was beginning to rise outside, Ye Susu finally stopped what she was doing, having created aplex crimson array around the jade bed.
"What''s this, Young Mistress?" Elder Qiu asked.
"It''s the Bloodform Origin Restoration Array," Ye Susu replied.
"What?! Isn''t that the array that strips one of their bloodline power before injecting it into someone else''s body? Do you intend to inject your own Azure Fox bloodline power into your mother''s body to help her ward off the cial qi? I can''t allow you to do that!
¡°The Bloodform Origin Restoration Array is far too harmful to the user, and once your bloodline power is stripped away, it''ll be impossible to recover it! Your cultivation foundation will be destroyed, and you could even revert back into a fox with no intelligence!" Elder Qiu eximed in an rmed voice.
"As long as I can save my mother, none of that matters," Ye Susu replied with a cid expression, and there was a peaceful smile on her face.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, clearly touched by Ye Susu''s moving disy.
"In that case, allow me to take your ce. My cultivation base is superior to yours, so there will be a higher chance of sess for me," Elder Qiu said.
"No. Your cultivation base may be superior to mine, but I have the purer Azure Fox bloodline. On top of that, when using the Bloodform Origin Restoration Array tobine bloodlines, the more closely rted the two subjects are, the higher the chance of sess," Ye Susu said in a determined manner.
Elder Qiu had no response for this.
"The frost poison that my mother has been afflicted by is extremely formidable, so even with this array, there''s only roughly a 50% chance that Mother will be saved. If things go wrong, then both of us could die in the array. If that happens, you''ll be the only Golden Immortal left in our Azure Fox Tribe, so your safety is actually more important than mine.
¡°Even if Mother and I perish here, there will still be hope for our Azure Fox Tribe''s future, but if something happens to you, then our Azure Fox Tribe will truly be doomed," Ye Susu continued.
Elder Qiu remained silent, and it was unclear what she was thinking.
"Leave everything here to me, Elder Qiu. If my mother and I don''t make it, then the Azure Fox Tribe will have to fall upon your shoulders," Ye Susu said in a serious manner, following which she prepared to step into the array, only for Elder Qiu to suddenly catch her by her wrist.
"Young Mistress, you just said that as leaders of our Azure Fox Tribe, we should set aside our own personal emotions and think for the greater good. You possess excellent aptitude, and your Azure Fox bloodline is even purer than mine and your mother''s, so your potential is limitless. Given Chief''s current condition, even the Bloodform Origin Restoration Array may not be enough to save us.
¡°This may be a little cruel for me to say, but for the sake of our Azure Fox Tribe, I think it''s best not to take the risk, and I think Chief would agree with me," Elder Qiu said with a torn expression.
"No, I''m not doing this for myself. I may possess some aptitude, but right now, I''m only at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, and no one knows if I''ll be able to be a Golden Immortal in the future. Objectively speaking, sacrificing a True Immortal for a 50% chance to save a Golden Immortal is a very good deal," Ye Susu said as she gently pulled her own wrist out of Elder Qiu''s grasp.
An urgent look appeared on Elder Qiu''s face upon hearing this, but she couldn''t think of a good counterargument to this.
"My mother was wounded by those scoundrels from the Heavenly Water Sect in order to save me, and you almost met your demise in the process as well. If I don''t do this for her, I''m going to carry guilt for the rest of my life. With this w in my mental state, even a breakthrough to thete-True Immortal Stage would be a distant pipe dream, let alone bing a Golden Immortal," Ye Susu said in a decisive manner.
Elder Qiu knew that there was no dissuading her, so she could only heave a forlorn sigh before stepping away.
"Our Azure Fox Tribe will be counting on you, Elder Qiu," Ye Susu said with a faint smile, then stepped into the array before sitting down with her legs crossed at the head of the bed.
She then made a strange hand seal while chanting a mysterious incantation, and the crimson array on the ground instantly began to glow brightly, releasing radiant crimson light that swirled around rapidly within the array.
Formidable energy fluctuations erupted out of the array before sweeping through the air in all directions, and Elder Qiu hurriedly cast a few incantation seals into the walls of the stone chamber upon seeing this.
The restrictions on the walls instantly brightened, releasing dazzling starlight to contain the energy fluctuations, but they were too violent to be fully contained, and some of the energy fluctuations were still able to escape.
Elder Qiu paid no heed to this as she stared intently at the two people in the array, and right at this moment, countless strands of crimson light rose up from all over the array before entering Ye Susu''s body.
A hint of surprise appeared on Han Li''s face as he observed from the shadows.
A pained look appeared on Ye Susu''s face, but she immediately suppressed it as she continued chanting her incantation.
More and more strands of crimson light surged out of the surrounding array before vanishing into her body, and a series of azure patterns began to appear over her skin, giving off radiant azure light and a formidable bloodline aura.
At the same time, an azure fox projection appeared behind her. The projection had a very regal and majestic appearance, but it only had two tails.
Right at this moment, Ye Susu reached out with one hand before pressing it down onto her mother''s be.
Countless strands of crimson light shot out of the palm of her hand before surging into her mother''s be, and faint, azure patterns could be seen entering her body along with the strands of crimson light.
A series of glowing azure patterns appeared over the woman''s skin as well, but they were a little dimmer than the azure patterns on Ye Susu''s body.
However, as more and more strands of crimson light surged into her be, the azure patterns on her body gradually grew brighter, while the azure patterns on Ye Susu''s body slowly dimmed over time.
At the same time, herplexion had turned very pale, and the azure fox projection behind her was also disying signs of fading.
However, there was an ted look in her eyes as she pointed a finger forward, and a beam of azure light shot out of her fingertip before vanishing into her mother''s dantian.
The woman''s body instantly began to glow like a radiant azure sun, following which all of the azure light condensed to form ayer of azure mes that spread toward the blue ice that her lower body was sealed in.
As soon as the two came into contact with each other, the blue ice immediately began to slowly melt, and a hopeful look appeared in Elder Qiu''s eyes upon seeing this.
However, Han Li was shaking his head as he peered deep into the blue ice with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
Before long, the blue ice had melted from the woman''s waist down to her calves, but at this point, the rate at which the ice was melting slowed drastically, and it began to resist the advancement of the azure mes.
At this point, the azure patterns on Ye Susu''s body had already dimmed significantly, and the azure fox projection behind her was also barely visible.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she cast her gaze toward the remaining chunk of blue ice, and she let loose a low roar, upon which the crimson array beneath her lit up even further, sending countless strands of crimson light surging into her body.
The remaining azure bloodline in her body instantlypletely faded away, forming a ball of azure light that made its way into the woman''s body.
The azure mes were fueled by this ball of azure light, forcing back the blue ice a little further, but ultimately, it was unable topletely eradicate the ice.
Not only that, but a burst of blue light suddenly appeared on the azure-robed woman''s calf, and it began to retaliate against the azure mes, forcing them back with ease.
An extremely formidable cial aura erupted forth, and the blue ice quickly began to spread over the azure-robed woman''s lower body again.
At the same time, theyers of frost in the stone chamber rapidly thickened, and even the crimson array on the ground waspletely encased in blue ice.
At this moment, Ye Susu waspletely spent, and she could barely even remain conscious as she looked around with a fearful expression.
Elder Qiu''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and she reflexively took a step forward, only for Ye Susu to turn to her with a shake of her head.
Elder Qiu gritted her teeth with a torn expression as she stopped in her tracks.
All of a sudden, the azure-robed woman shuddered as he snapped wide awake, and upon taking a brief nce at her surroundings, she immediately figured out what had happened.
She let loose a low roar, and the azure mes on her body swelled slightly to temporarily keep the expanding blue ice at bay as she hurriedly yelled, "Elder Qiu, take Susu and leave..."
Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, a burst of blue mes erupted forth, easily overwhelming the azure mes, and the blue ice continued to spread rapidly, reaching all the way up to the woman''s chest in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, Ye Susu''s body was also rapidly bing encased in ice.
A conflicted look appeared on Elder Qiu''s face upon seeing this, and she was just about to throw caution to the wind and rush into the array when a ck figure abruptly appeared in front of her.
It was none other than Han Li.
Chapter 1009: Rescue
Chapter 1009: Rescue
Elder Qiu was quite startled by this turn of events, but she was immediately able to identify Han Li as a human, and a look of burning hatred appeared in her eyes as she sprang forward to attack Han Li.
"Stay put if you want these two to live!" Han Li warned as he casually swept a sleeve through the air, and a burst of azure light flew out of his hand to ward off the ferocious blue mes.
The blue mes immediately began to rear up like an infuriated wild beast, crashing against the azure light with all its might, but to no avail.
Elder Qiu stopped in her tracks upon seeing this, but she was still glowering intently at Han Li, and her hand remained raised aloft, ready to strike at any moment.
Han Li paid no heed to her as he swept his sleeve through the air once again, releasing another burst of azure light that fused with the first one to rapidly force back the blue mes.
The blue mes had been far too powerful for Ye Susu and her mother to resist, yet Han Li was able to easily suppress it back down to the woman''s calf.
He swept his sleeve through the air a third time, releasing a ball of silver mes that transformed into a silver fire raven, which plunged headfirst into the blue mes.
A cry of tion rang out as a burst of scorching heat erupted out of the silver mes, instantly melting away all of the blue ice in the stone chamber.
A surprised look appeared in Elder Qiu''s eyes upon seeing this, but she still didn''t let down her guard.
Shortly thereafter, the silver fire raven re-emerged, clutching a fist-sized ball of blue fire in its beak, which it promptly devoured before letting loose an ted cry, as if it had just enjoyed a delicious meal.
After that, the silver fire raven flew back up Han Li''s sleeve.
At this point, the blue ice that encapsted the bodies of Ye Susu and her mother had alreadypletely vanished, and both of them were rooted to the spot with stunned looks on their faces.
All of a sudden, an agonized look appeared on Ye Susu''s face, and her body began to slowly shrink as tufts of azure fur appeared over her skin.
"Susu!" the azure-robed woman yelled in an rmed manner as she sat up on the bed.
"Don''t move!" Han Li warned in a cold voice, following which two bursts of azure light shot out of his hands before vanishing into the bodies of Ye Susu and her mother, upon which the two of them were instantly immobilized.
"What are you doing, you human scum?!" Elder Qiu roared in a furious voice as she pounced at him from behind, but Han Li didn''t even spare her a nce as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing five translucent threads of light that vanished into her body in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, she was alsopletely immobilized, and despite her best efforts, she wasn''t able to lift even a single finger.
Meanwhile, Han Li released a burst of crimson light into the array on the ground with his other hand, and the array immediately lit up once again.
Countless strands of crimson light surged out of it before wrapping themselves around Ye Susu and her mother, forming a crimson bridge between them.
In the next instant, Han Li appeared beside the azure-robed woman in the blink of an eye, then rested a palm down upon her forehead.
A burst of crimson light shot out of the palm of his hand before surging into the azure-robed woman''s body, and the azure bloodline patterns reappeared over her skin, only to immediately dim significantly.
The burst of crimson light then flowed out of the azure-robed woman''s body, carrying some of her bloodline power as it surged into Ye Susu''s body.
The bloodline patterns on Ye Susu''s body also reappeared, and her body returned to normal, while the tufts of fox fur quickly faded away.
Not only that, but the burst of crimson light was also rapidly replenishing the energy that she had expended from operating the array, and some color quickly returned to her cheeks.
After that, the mobility of the trio was restored at Han Li''s behest, and the azure-robed woman stood up from the bed.
Perhaps it was because she had been bedridden for too long, but she was a little unsteady on her feet, and Ye Susu hurriedly grabbed onto her.
"Mother, this is the Senior Han that I was telling you about. Senior Han, this is my mother, the chief of our Azure Fox Tribe," Ye Susu introduced.
"It''s a pleasure to meet you, Fellow Daoist Han. My name is Ye Luo. Thank you for eradicating the frost poison in my body and restoring Susu''s Azure Fox bloodline. Words cannot express my gratitude to you. If you need anything from our Azure Fox Tribe, feel free to let me know," the azure-robed woman said in a serious manner.
Elder Qiu''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but she didn''t say anything.
"There''s no need to thank me. I''m currently a guest staying in Azure Fox City, so it''s only right that I help my host in her time of need," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
"Your powers are truly unfathomable, Senior Han. Not only did you eradicate the frost poison in my mother''s body with ease, you also returned my bloodline power to me. How did you do that?" Ye Susu asked with a look of admiration in her eyes.
"I know a thing or two when ites to bloodline powers. On top of that, you were very fortunate in that the bloodline power in your body hadn''tpletely faded away. Otherwise, even I wouldn''t have been able to save you," Han Li exined in an ambiguous manner.
"Thank you for saving our chief and young mistress, Fellow Daoist Han, but how were you able to enter this ce? This has always been a secret area of our Azure Fox Tribe," Elder Qiu said, and even though she was offering words of gratitude, her tone was very confrontational and abrasive.
"This is Elder Ye Qiu of our tribe, Fellow Daoist Han. Elder Qiu, don''t be so rude! Fellow Daoist Han does not deserve to be interrogated after everything that he''s done for us!" Ye Luo scolded.
"It''s fine, it''s only natural for Elder Qiu to have such a reaction. I''m quite well versed in detection secret techniques, and I was taking a stroll when I detected some particrly violent energy fluctuationsing from this ce. Hence, I decided to do some investigating, and I barged in uninvited after witnessing the urgency of the situation," Han Li exined with a smile.
"I see. Thank heavens Senior Han was able to get here in a timely manner," Ye Susu said with a hint of lingering fear in her eyes.
"All of this was caused by you! How could you be so rash? If Fellow Daoist Han hadn''t saved us, the consequences would''ve been unimaginable!" Ye Luo scolded.
Ye Susu lowered her head upon hearing this, but there was a pout on her face, and she clearly didn''t feel like she had done anything wrong.
Ye Luo was naturally not very pleased to see this, but she didn''t scold Ye Susu any further, presumably not wanting to do so in Han Li''s presence.
"Susu, take Fellow Daoist Han back to his residence. I''ll pay you a visit in person tomorrow, Fellow Daoist Han," Ye Luo said.
"In that case, I''ll be taking my leave now," Han Li replied as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
Ye Luo returned the salute, while Elder Qiu continued to observe him with a cold look of distrust in her eyes.
Han Li naturally didn''t care about how Elder Qiu regarded him, and he turned and made his way outside, immediately followed by Ye Susu.
Before long, the two of them had reached the surface, and Han Li stopped in his tracks as he looked down at the plots of spirit farnd in the basin.
"I noticed this ce as I was passing through. I can see that there are some spirit medicines of a very high caliber growing here. Has your Azure Fox Tribe always been adept in nurturing spirit nts?" Han Li asked.
It seemed that a huge weight had been lifted from Ye Susu''s shoulders in the wake of her mother''s recovery, and she was a lot more rxed as she smiled and said, "I''m surprised that you''re able to see into the plots of farnd with all of these restrictions in ce, Senior Han. Then again, with your powers, I suppose I shouldn''t be surprised that you can see through these restrictions."
Han Li merely smiled and offered no response.
"I don''t mean to brag, but when ites to growing spirit medicines, our Azure Fox Tribe is the undisputed number one authority in the entire Golden Origin Mountain Range! Do you require any spirit nts for your cultivation, Senior Han? Here''s a list of all of the spirit nts grown in our tribe. If you need any of them, feel free to tell me," Ye Susu said as she offered a jade slip to Han Li.
"I am indeed looking for some spirit nts," Han Li replied as he epted the jade slip, then inspected its contents with his spiritual sense before giving a slight nod.
He had already assessed all of the plots of spirit farnd, and the jade slip did indeed contain an exhaustive list of everything growing here, so Ye Susu hadn''t tried to hide anything from him.
"Please forgive Elder Qiu for her cold attitude, Senior Han. Her parents and her two brothers were all killed by human cultivators, so she''s always harbored deep enmity toward human cultivators, and she''s not targeting you," Ye Susu exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
This did indeed exin things, but it wasn''t like Elder Qiu''s frosty attitude had weighed on his mind at all anyway.
With that, the two of them promptly departed.
......
Inside the underground stone chamber, Ye Qiu cast severalyers of restrictions one after another.
Ye Luo heaved a faint sigh upon seeing this, then said, "Elder Qiu, I know that you sorely resent human cultivators, but Fellow Daoist Han has helped us on more than one asion, so please try to rein in your animosity. At the very least, try not to be so rude in his presence."
"Do you think he''s helping us out of the kindness of his heart?" Ye Qiu sneered.
"What''s that supposed to mean?" Ye Luo asked as her brows furrowed slightly.
Chapter 1010: History
"He proimed that he came here after sensing the energy fluctuations released by the array, but I don''t think that''s true. Even if his detection secret techniques really are so powerful that he can detect what was happening in here through multipleyers of restrictions, there''s no way that the restrictions around the Wood God Basin would''ve failed to detect him upon his infiltration, yet those restrictions didn''t register his intrusion at all.
¡°I suspect that he snuck into this ce with Young Mistress, and he''s been lurking in the shadows this entire time with unclear intentions," Ye Qiu spected in a cold voice.
"That may be true, but that''s all just spection on your end. Even if Fellow Daoist Han did sneak into this ce, he clearly doesn''t harbor any animosity toward our tribe. Otherwise, he could''ve easily killed the three of us just now, and our tribe would be powerless to oppose him," Ye Luo said.
"If that''s what you think, then I won''t say anything further on this matter," Ye Qiu replied after a brief silence.
"Regardless of what his intentions are, the fact that he was able to eradicate the frost poison in my body so easily indicates that he''s definitely far more powerful than us, so we cannot afford to make an enemy out of him, do you understand?" Ye Luo said in a serious manner.
"I do, but if I find out that he harbors any ill intentions toward our tribe, I''m not going to let him do as he pleases, even if it means having to give up my own life!" Ye Qiu replied with a cold expression.
Ye Luo gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder and didn''t say anything further.
"You''ve only just had the frost poison in your body eradicated, so you should take some time to rest, Chief. I''ll be taking my leave now," Ye Qiu dered before departing, and following her departure, Ye Luo sat back down onto the jade bed with her legs crossed.
The night passed by in an uneventful fashion.The next morning, Ye Luo and Ye Susu visited Han Li''s courtyard together, but Ye Qiu wasn''t with them,while Weeping Soul was cultivating in the Flower Branch domain, so she wasn''t present, either.
"Our Azure Fox City is quite secluded, and it can''tpare with the other more developed cities of the Golden Origin Mountain Range. On top of that, there aren''t any opulent residential areas in the city, so we can only offer this shabby courtyard for you to stay in," Ye Luo said in an apologetic manner.
After a day of rest, she was looking much better.
"This is perfect, I prefer this type of peaceful environment anyway," Han Li said with a smile as he invited the two of them into the room.
"I''m d to hear that, Fellow Daoist Han. If you need anything from me, feel free to let me know," Ye Luo replied with a nod.
"Thank you, Chief. Now that you mention it, I would like to acquire some of the spirit nts grown by your tribe. Here''s the list of things that I want," Han Li said as he pulled out a jade slip before offering it to Ye Luo.
On the way to the Golden Origin Mountain Range, he had been collecting ingredients required to refine a High Zenith Stage pill called the Cerulean Pill.
At the moment, he possessed a tremendous amount of wealth in the form of Immortal Origin Stones, as well as precious materials from the Gray Realm, the Devil Realm, and the Scalptia Spatial Domain.
He had already gathered most of the ingredients required to refine Cerulean Pills through purchases of exchanges using his Reincarnation Pce mask, and in a stroke of luck, all of the remaining ingredients could be found in Azure Fox City.
Ye Luo was already aware of the promise that Ye Susu had made to Han Li, but her expression still changed slightly upon witnessing the list enclosed in the jade slip.
"I understand that the spirit nts that I require are all of quite a high caliber and age, but rest assured, I''m not nning to acquire these spirit nts from your tribe free ofpensation," Han Li said as he set a storage tool down onto the table.
Ye Luo briefly injected her spiritual sense into the storage tool to inspect its contents, and a hint of tion immediately appeared on her face, following which an embarrassed look surfaced in her eyes as she sighed, "I should be offering these spirit nts to you free of charge for you''ve done for my daughter and me, but recently, our tribe has been struggling financially, so I''m going to shamelessly ept this."
"Don''t say that, it''s only right that Ipensate you for the fruits of your tribe''sbors," Han Li replied with a wave of his hand.
"Susu, go and gather everything on Fellow Daoist Han''s list," Ye Luo instructed as she handed the jade slip to Ye Susu, who gave an affirmative response before departing.
"Fellow Daoist Han, please pardon my intrusion, but may I ask for what purpose you''vee to our Azure Fox City?" Ye Luo asked.
"Rest assured, Chief, I bear no ill will toward Azure Fox City. It''s just that I like the safe and peaceful environment here, and I would like to cultivate in seclusion here for some time. Is that alright?" Han Li asked.
"That''s it?" Ye Luo asked with a surprised expression.
"That''s all. To be frank, your Azure Fox Tribe doesn''t have anything else that can catch my interest, so you don''t have to worry," Han Li replied with a casual wave.
Ye Luo had been carefully observing Han Li''s expression this entire time, and she could tell that he wasn''t lying. Hence, she was very relieved as she smiled and said, "I see, it appears that my concerns were unnecessary. If you only wish to cultivate in our city, then you''re very much wee to do so, and you can stay for as long as you like."
"Thank you, Chief. However, I want to ask you to keep my presence in your city a secret as that would be beneficial for both of us," Han Li said in a meaningful manner.
Ye Luo faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in agreement.
Having made their intentions clear with each other, both of them were feeling more rxed, and they began to chat about various aspects of the Golden Origin Mountain Range.
"Chief Ye, I read in some scriptures that there aren''t many native demonic tribes in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, and that most of them moved in from outside of the mountain range. Your Azure Fox Tribe is adept in wood-attribute abilities and illusory techniques, which seems rather out of ce here. Could it be that your tribe also moved into the mountain range from elsewhere?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right, our tribe did indeed move into the mountain range from outside a very long time ago," Ye Luo replied with a nod.
"May I ask where your tribe came from?" Han Li asked.
"I''m not sure. There are no exact records of this in the scriptures in our tribe. I recall seeing a journal left behind by an ancestor of our tribe, stating that we came from the southern region of the Golden Origin Continent. However, there are no other records backing up that im, so I''m unsure of its validity. Why do you ask this, Fellow Daoist Han?" Ye Luo asked with a puzzled expression.
"Many years ago, I encountered another tribe of fox beings with the Liu surname, and I felt like your two tribes were rather simr, so I was curious," Han Li exined with a smile.
Ye Luo''s eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this.
"A fox tribe with the Liu surname? ording to our tribe''s scriptures, not long after we settled here, a female ancestor by the name of Liu Mei arrived in our tribe, and she was the one who bestowed upon us our spirit nt nurturing techniques. Come to think of it, both Susu and I are descendants of this female ancestor.
¡°However, Ancestor Liu Mei never mentioned anything about her life, so she was an extremely mysterious figure in our tribe''s history. Could it be that she had some ties with this fox tribe that you speak of?"
"I''m afraid I don''t know the answer to that question. I''ve had no in-depth interactions with this other fox tribe, so I don''t know if they''re also adept in nurturing spirit nts," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
A hint of disappointment appeared on Ye Luo''s face upon hearing this, but she was still unwilling to give up, and she asked, "Would you be able to tell me about that fox tribe in more detail, Fellow Daoist Han?"
Han Li saw no reason to refuse, so he gave her a brief recount of his encounter with that other fox tribe during his journey through the primordialnd, but of course, he intentionally omitted some of the more sensitive details.
After hearing Han Li''s story, Ye Luo fell silent with a contemtive look on her face.
Right at this moment, Ye Susu flew in from outside, then handed a storage tool to Han Li as she said, "All of the spirit nts on your list are in there, Senior Han."
Han Li inspected the contents of the storage tool briefly with his spiritual sense, following which he gave a pleased nod.
"Thank you for telling me all of this, Fellow Daoist Han. We''ve already taken up far too much of your time, so we''ll be taking our leave now," Ye Luo said as she stood up before promptly departing with Ye Susu.
Han Li escorted them out of the room before closing the door.
Han Li stood in silence for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What do you think of Chief Ye Luo? Was she being truthful with me just now?"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a door of light appeared beside him, and Weeping Soul stepped out of it.
"Chief Ye Luo has a very pure soul, and she''s not one to tell lies often. I''ve been carefully observing her soul fluctuations this entire time, and there were no abnormalities, so she was telling the truth," Weeping Soul replied.
"Good," Han Li replied with a pleased nod.
Following her awakening, Weeping Soul''sw abilities had taken significant strides, allowing her to peer into the hearts of others and determine whether someone was telling the truth by assessing their soul fluctuations, and that saved him a lot of trouble.
"Master, was that other fox tribe you were referring to the Heavenly Fox Tribe where Sister Liu Le''er currently is?" Weeping Soul asked.
"That''s right. I wanted to see if there was some connection between the two, Han Li confirmed with a nod."
"Does that mean that the Azure Fox Tribe is a branch of the Heavenly Fox Tribe?" Weeping Soul asked.
"Fox 3 possesses the bloodline of the Heavenly Fox Tribe, and I can sense that the Azure Fox bloodline of Ye Susu and Ye Luo are rather simr to Fox 3''s bloodline. That, in conjunction with this revtion about Liu Mei, tells me that the two tribes are most likely connected," Han Li mused.
"You were helped by the Heavenly Fox Tribe in the past, so I''m assuming that part of the reason you''ve decided to stay here is so that you can protect the Azure Fox Tribe, right, Master?" Weeping Soul asked.
"That was part of my consideration, but I can only protect them for the time being, so I''ll leave some things behind to help them protect themselves when I leave. For now, I have to go into seclusion to begin cultivating right away. I''ve had a lingering sense of foreboding this entire time recently, as if there''s some danger approaching, so I have to be prepared," Han Li replied.
Chapter 1011: An Incredible Man
Weeping Soul''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and she replied, "Your instincts have always been quite urate, so it looks like I''ll need to go into seclusion as well. I may not be able to advance my cultivation base any further, but at the very least, I have to recover to my former peak."
Han Li didn''t waste any more time with words as he began to set up some restrictions around the courtyard.
After that, he set up some more restrictions inside the courtyard and in his and Weeping Soul''s rooms. Only after ensuring that all of the appropriate preparations had beenpleted did the two of them go into seclusion in their respective rooms.
Han Li entered the secret chamber in his room before sitting down with his legs crossed, and after meditating for half a day to prime himself into the best possible condition, he flipped a hand over to summon his silver cauldron.
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which swept over the ground to produce all of the ingredients required to refine Cerulean Pills.
He then opened his mouth to release a Essence Fire Raven, which transformed into a silver me beneath the cauldron, and from there, he began tossing ingredients into the cauldron one after another.
......
At this moment, Ye Luo, Ye Qiu, and Ye Susu were gathered in a conference hall in Azure Fox City.
"Are you really going to allow that human cultivator to take up residence in our city, Chief? I don''t think that''s a good idea. We don''t know where he came from, and he''s a human cultivator. Most of our brethren harbor deep animosity toward humans, so the decision to allow him to stay in the city will inevitably be met with resistance," Ye Qiu said with tightly furrowed brows."Rest assured, Elder Qiu, Fellow Daoist Han is only staying in our city to cultivate in seclusion, so he won''t be out and about much. On top of that, he asked me to keep his presence in our city a secret, so we can just dere to everyone that he''s already left our city," Ye Luo replied.
"But he''s still a human, and an extremely powerful one at that! Keeping him in our city is like allowing a sword to constantly hang over our heads!" Ye Qiu protested.
"Fellow Daoist Han has helped us so much, and all he''s asking is to stay in our city to cultivate in peace. It would be far too petty of us to refuse such a small request," Ye Luo said.
"I don''t think Senior Han and Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul are bad people, Elder Qiu. On top of that, our Azure Fox Tribe has been in constant danger in recent years, so we could really use a powerful ally like him," Ye Susu chimed in.
"In that case, I suppose I have no choice but to agree. However, his origins are still unclear, so I think we should arrange for some people to conduct surveince on him in secret," Ye Qiu acquiesced.
"Alright, I''ll leave that to you then, Elder Qiu. Don''t forget that Fellow Daoist Han is adept in detection secret techniques, so make sure to be extra careful that you don''t let him find out what you''re doing," Ye Luo replied with a nod.
"You can count on me," Ye Qiu replied before quickly departing.
......
Three yearster.
Han Li remained seated in his secret chamber, and right at this moment, the lid of his silver cauldron flew up to hover in mid-air at his behest.
Immediately thereafter, five blue pills flew out from within beforending in a jade vial.
Each pill was around the size of a longan, and they were as blue as the sky, giving off a rich medicinal aroma.
At this point, there were already dozens of jade vials ced beside him, and a strong medicinal aroma could be smelled even through the vials.
A pleased look appeared on Han Li''s face at the sight of these jade vials.
These Cerulean Pills were the first High Zenith Stage pills that he had refined, and in the beginning, he had experienced much difficulty, but thanks to his Mantra Treasured Axis and his past pill refinement experience, the sess rate quickly began to climb.
He swept a sleeve through the air to stow his cauldron and Essence Fire Raven away, following which he tipped a Cerulean Pill out of one of the jade vials before devouring it.
Radiant golden light rose up from his body, illuminating the entire secret chamber a bright, golden color.
......
Over a hundred flew in the blink of an eye.
A white-robed middle-aged man was seated on a golden dragon throne in a majestic pce in the Golden Origin Immortal Pce.
It was none other than Pce Master Dongfang Bai, and at this moment, his gaze was focused on a figure standing before him in the pce. Even though there was no trace of anger on his face, the person being observed was still feeling extremely tense and uneasy.
The figure standing in the pce wasn''t particrly tall, but he was quite handsome. It was a young boy dressed in a colorful robe, and he appeared to be no more than fourteen to fifteen years of age, but he possessed a pair of eyes that looked as if they had seen far more than just a decade and a half in this world would allow.
"Elder Tao, I didn''t acquire this body for you so you can sit around and do nothing. Why is it that you still haven''t tracked down that Han Li even though it''s already been over a century?" Dongfang Bai asked.
"Ever since Han Li left the Heavenly Pine Temple, he immediately went into hiding, seemingly aware that we would go after him. He hasn''t appeared in any of the major cities in the immortal region, so he must be hiding in some secluded ce, making it very difficult to track him down," the young boy hurriedly exined.
It hadn''t been long since Tao Ji possessed this new body, and he was still rather unustomed to his own tender and child-like voice.
Dongfang Bai''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing, making Tao Ji feel even more uneasy, and he hurriedly continued, "The fact that he hasn''t appeared in any major cities means that he won''t have been able to ess any long-distance teleportation arrays. Hence, he must still be in our Golden Origin Immortal Region. Just give me some more time, and I''ll be sure to track him down."
Dongfang Bai''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he was just about to say something when his expression changed ever so slightly.
Right at this moment, a servant rushed into the pce, informing Dongfang Bai that some visitors hade to see him.
Dongfang Bai instructed them toe in, and the pce gates were opened, following which a thin, gray-haired elderly man and a ck-robed man with a fearsome-looking de on his back stepped inside.
The two of them made their way over to Tao Ji''s side, then bowed in unison as they greeted, "We pay our respects to Pce Master Dongfang."
"No need for formalities. How did the investigation go?" Dongfang Bai asked.
The ck-robed man and the elderly man exchanged a nce with each other, and thetter gestured for the former to deliver his report first.
Hence, the ck-robed man reported, "Upon arriving at the Heavenly Pine Temple, I discovered that all signs of battle had already been intentionally destroyed, and the residualw power fluctuations in the area had also been erased."
"Does that mean you weren''t able to find out anything, Hei Dao?" Dongfang Bai asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Even though all signs of battle had been erased, the same didn''t apply to the residual souls of the Immortal Pce cultivators who had perished on that day. Hence I was able to use some ghostly secret techniques to harvest some soul fragments, and from their memory snippets, I was able to piece together the battle.
¡°What''s particrly worthy of note is that he''s an extremely aplished bodily refinement cultivator, having already opened over nine hundred profound acupoints," Hei Dao replied.
"Over nine hundred profound acupoints... No wonder the Bipr Yin Yang Arraypletely failed to contain him..." Tao Ji murmured to himself.
"You were the one who gathered everyone to hunt him down, were you not, Elder Tao? How did you not know about this in advance? Ipetent fool!" Dongfang Bai spat through gritted teeth.
"That was... indeed an oversight on my part," Tao Ji stammered.
He had underestimated Han LI from the very beginning, and by the time that he realized just how powerful Han Li was, he was too busy running for his life to make an assessment of Han Li''s powers.
"Were you able to find out anything else?" Dongfang Bai asked.
"I also found out that he possesses at least three types of true spirit bloodlines, namely that of the Giant Mountain Ape, the True Immortal, and the Kun Peng. That''s what granted him the power to ovee the Bipr Yin Yang Array so easily. By my estimates, his physical prowess is on par with that of a Great Epassment Profound Immortal," Hei Dao replied.
"Now that I think about it, I recall detecting the power of the Lightning Bird in his body while he was pursuing me. That must''ve been another true spirit bloodline," Tao Ji hurriedly said.
"Interesting. So he''s a human with four true spirit bloodlines in his body, all of which belong to top-tier true spirits... How has he been able to avoid bloodline bacsh?" Dongfang Bai mused with slightly furrowed brows.
While listening to Hei Dao''s report, the gray-haired elderly man was constantly looking back and forth through a collection of around a dozen jade slips in his hands, seemingly trying to pick out something.
"He''s also using a time-attribute cultivation art that can conjure up a golden wheel capable of slowing his targets down to a crawl. It was an extremely terrible feeling, like even my thoughts had slowed down," Tao Ji added.
"So he''s essentially a Great Epassment Stage Profound Immortal with a High Zenith Stage cultivation base, and he possesses multiple true spirit bloodlines and timew powers... How is it possible that a single person can possess all four of these traits? It''s downright incredible!
¡°Such a man should''ve been vastly renowned across the entire immortal region, how is it possible that he''s managed to keep such a low profile? Are you sure the information that you have on him is urate?" Dongfang Bai asked.
If he really was in possession of that vial, then there was a chance that he could make such rapid progress in his cultivation base in such a short time, but there should''ve been no way for him to have be such a multi-faceted powerhouse!
Right at this moment, the gray-haired elderly man suddenly looked up from the jade slips in his hands.
"Do you have something to offer, Elder L¨¹ Yun?" Dongfang Bai asked.
"I''ve found some interesting things during my travels over all these years. Perhaps they can help you gain a better understanding of this Han Li, Pce Master Dongfang," the elderly man replied, then respectfully offered up seven or eight jade slips that he had selected.
Chapter 1012: Culmination of Coincidences
Dongfang Bai''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of golden light, which captured all of the jade slips before carrying them to him.
As he examined the contents of the jade slip, a look of bewilderment appeared on his face, slowly bing more and more pronounced.
Momentster, he set down the final jade slip as he asked with a grim expression, "Are you certain that all of these jade slips are describing the same person?"
"I''ve sent out all of my spies this past century, Pce Master Dongfang. They may not be the most capable fighters, but they can definitely be relied upon when ites to gathering information.
¡°We began our investigation in the Northern cial Immortal Region, and we discovered that Han Li had already appeared in their line of sight back when they were hunting down Baili Yan of the ze Dragon Dao. However, at the time, he was still going by the alias of Li Feiyu," L¨¹ Yun reported.
"That was also when my son was killed by him," Tao Ji said with a pained expression.
"The ze Dragon Dao has the Mantra Axis Scripture, which is a time-attribute cultivation art, so that must be when he first began cultivating timew powers," Dongfang Bai mused.
"That''s right. From that point onward, the name of Li Feiyu has sprung up several more times, but the information has been quite vague each time, indicating that he''s been intentionally covering his own tracks. On top of that, a man by the name of Li Han has also made some appearances, and he possesses some traits that are identical to Han Li''s, so it''s very likely that Li Han was also an alias of his," L¨¹ Yun replied with a nod.
"How is that possible? ording to the information in these jade slips, Han Li has traveled across the Northern cial Immortal Region, the ck Mountain Immortal Region, the ck Soil Immortal Region, and now the Golden Origin Immortal Region within the short span of just a few thousand years, and on top of that, all of the major events that took ce in those immortal regions during this time seem to have had something to do with him," Dongfang Bai mused with a perplexed expression."ording to my investigation, there''s some evidence to indicate that he yed a role in a series of significant events, including the fall of the ze Dragon Dao, the emergence of the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, and the reappearance of the True Mantra Sect ruins. On top of that, he seems to have also yed significant roles in the deaths of Gongshu Tian and Gongshu Jiu," L¨¹ Yun reported.
A grim look appeared on Dongfang Bai''s face upon hearing this, and he asked, "So where did he go after the True Mantra Sect ruins? Why has he suddenly appeared in our Golden Origin Immortal Region?"
"Please take a look at this first, Pce Master," L¨¹ Yun replied as he offered up another jade slip.
"Isn''t this a report from Dao Ancestor Feng Qingshui''s trip to the Gray Realm?" Dongfang Bai asked with a perplexed expression.
"Many of the people that previously appeared in the True Mantra Sect ruins also appeared in the Gray Realm during the time that Dao Ancestor Feng Qingshui was there. Hence, my assumption is that Han Li most likely went there as well, then somehow ended up in the Devil Realm before returning to the Immortal Realm," L¨¹ Yun spected, and everyone in the pce fell into deep thought after hearing this.
"This man seems to have some ties with the Reincarnation Pce, and not only has been able to safely travel across multiple immortal regions, his cultivation base has been progressing rapidly during this time. What do you all think?" Dongfang Bai asked.
"The fact that he''s been able to make such rapid strides in his cultivation base indicates that he''s not just some average itinerant cultivator with no backing. His ties with both the Reincarnation Pce and the devil race serve as further confirmation of this," Hei Dao analyzed.
If Han Li were to hear this assessment of him, he would be leftpletely speechless. Somehow, these people had led themselvespletely astray.
Does that mean that I''ve made an enemy out of someone that I can''t afford to mess with?
With that in mind, a remorseful look appeared on Tao Ji''s face.
After a long silence, Dongfang Bai stood up from his chair, then began slowly pacing from side to side with tightly furrowed brows as he contemted how to proceed from here.
Some timeter, he stopped in his tracks, then turned to Tao Ji''s trio as he said, "Regardless of his cultivation base or status, we have to continue our investigation, given that that thing is concerned. Once you track him down, make sure not to make any rash moves. Just report back to me, and I''ll n out the next steps."
"What happens if a conflict arises?" L¨¹ Yun asked.
"If that happens, then feel free to strike him down. Of course, do your best to capture him alive. Once we find out the whereabouts of that thing, we can take him back to the Nine Origins Temple before making a decision on what to do with him," Dongfang Bai replied.
L¨¹ Yun''s trio was rather hesitant upon hearing this, but they still gave a collective affirmative response.
"Remember to keep this matter a secret. If anyone leaks this information, and it reaches the ears of those immortal envoys from the Heavenly Court, there will be dire consequences to suffer," Dongfang Bai warned with a cold expression, and the trio hurriedly nodded in response.
Following their departure, Dongfang Bai continued to pace in the pce, feeling rather uneasy.
This was the first time that he had met someone as strange as Han Li, someone with such incredible powers and presumably an extremely powerful background, having yed roles in so many significant events, but had somehow simultaneously managed to keep such a low profile.
On top of that, this was only the information that they currently had on Han Li, and there was a very good chance that it was only the tip of the iceberg.
What was truly terrifying to him was that such a person still wasn''t under much scrutiny from the Heavenly Court.
......
In the Middle Earth Immortal Region.
There were a series of dark, crimson clouds hovering in the air within an unknown space.
There was a faint odor of blood emanating from the dark clouds, and a series of ominous-looking ck buildings could be seen littered throughout the area.
The crimson clouds were hanging up in the sky inyers, and the higher one went, the denser the clouds they would encounter.
Standing below the crimson clouds was a white archway that was several thousand feet tall, upon which the words "Immortal Prison" were engraved in huge crimson characters.
Enshrouded within the crimson clouds not far away from the archway was a ck pce with an octagonal bell roughly the size of a cow''s head hanging from each corner of its roof, and the bells were swaying and chiming asionally on their own, even though there was aplete absence of wind.
Whenever the bells chimed, ayer of faint golden light would ripple through the air, scattering some of the heavy bloody odor in the air.
Stationed at the entrance of the pce were two warriors d in suits of ck armor, both of which were extremely imposing and stood at over ten feet tall. One of them was wielding a giant ax, while the other was wielding a huge halberd, and their bloodshot eyes gave them a very fearsome appearance.
The gates of the pce were tightly shut, and hanging above its entrance was a giant ck que that had the words "Judgment Hall" inscribed upon it in red characters.
There were two rows of red pirs standing alongside each other inside the pce, hanging upon which were a series of ck metal tablets thatid out various different punishments for different crimes.
The interior of the pce was rather dimly lit, with a series of braziers with dark red mes burning inside them suspended up high.
Deep within the pce was arge, ck, metal table, and standing in front of it with their back facing the pce gates was a tall figure that was rather strange in appearance. They possessed hands and feet that were farrger than that of the average person, and the figure currently had one hand resting on the table, while a jade slip was held in their other hand.
Their upper body was bared to reveal their fiery-red skin, and there were circles of strange patterns visible on their body.
On top of that, their hair was also bright red, with small mes asionally springing out of it.
If Han Li were present, he would immediately be able to identify this man as one of the five disciples of Patriarch Miro, namely the traitor, Qi Mozi.
Qi Mozi slowly set down the jade slip in his hand, then sighed to himself, "How unfortunate that you had to suffer such a terrible fate, Hot me..."
Right at this moment, a fiery human face appeared within a nearby brazier, and it remarked, "It looks like he was always the disciple that you cared for the most."
"All I wanted was for him to stay far away from this mess, but he was ultimately still swept up in it in the end. I was never very fond of Chi Rong as a disciple, but he did enter the True Mantra Sect ruins for my sake. Who could''ve imagined that the two of them would both end up losing their lives in the Gray Realm?" Qi Mozi sighed.
"So what if they died? They still couldn''t find the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, so their deaths werepletely pointless," the face in the brazier sneered in an abrasive voice.
"That''s not true, their deaths were not in vain. Prior to entering the Gray Realm, Chi Rong sent a message back to me, mentioning a very... strange individual. There''s a very good chance that he was the biggest beneficiary to this venture into the True Mantra Sect ruins, and it''s very likely that he''s in possession of theplete Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra," Qi Mozi countered.
"Who is this person? Where is he right now?" the face in the brazier hurriedly asked.
"His name is Han Li, and he''s recently been sighted in the Golden Origin Immortal Region," Qi Mozi replied.
"Looks like it''s about time that I go out for some exercise. I must say, I''m really missing the air outside after staying in this Immortal Prison for so long. Let''s make a deal: I capture this man for you, and you let me do whatever I want to an area of my choosing. I''ve already picked out an area, it''s just an inconspicuous ce in a lower realm, so it won''t cause you any trouble," the face in the brazier proposed as it rose up into the air.
Chapter 1013: Qi Mozi’s Plan
Qi Mozi paid no heed to the fiery face as he continued to ponder the situation in silence, following which he made a casual grabbing motion toward the brazier, pulling out the fiery face along with a fiery figure.
After the figure was pulled out of the brazier, it gradually took on a substantial form, one that was identical in appearance to Qi Mozi.
A burst of fire emerged over Qi Mozi''s hand, and the aura of the fiery figure beside him swelled drastically until it was almost on par with his own.
"I''m going in person this time, you stay behind to oversee the Immortal Prison for me," Qi Mozi instructed.
"What if someone..."
The fiery figure didn''t get a chance to fully articte his question before he was cut off by Qi Mozi.
"This is the Immortal Prison, no one''s going to say anything here. I''ll only be taking one person with me, and I''ll return as quickly as possible."
"Who are you taking if you''re not even taking me?" the fiery figure asked in a perplexed manner.
"An old acquaintance of mine," Qi Mozi replied with a faint smile, then made his way out of the pce.All of a sudden, a burst of mes rose up over his entire body, and he sped toward a golden space neighboring the crimson clouds as a zing fireball.
......
Sixty years flew by in the blink of an eye.
There was a peaceful courtyard in Azure Fox City.
The light of the morning sun was filtered through the branches of a tree, casting a series of fragmented shadows onto the ground.
A group of children were joyfully running back and forth along a little path, holding colorful paper windmills in their hands.
The sound of their yfulughter could be heard in the neighboring courtyard, and at his moment, Weeping Soul was seated on a stone chair inside the courtyard, resting her chin on one hand while listening to the sounds of the ying children outside.
Ever since she attained the ability to look directly into the hearts of others, she had be very fond of hearing theughter of children. Their pure and simple joy never failed to put her in a good mood.
Right at this moment, she suddenly turned around as Han Li emerged from the room behind her, clearly in very high spirits.
"You''vee out of seclusion so soon, Master. Have you already made a breakthrough?" Weeping Soul asked with a surprised expression.
"I did. Having already opened so many profound acupoints, I was able to progress very quickly in my cultivation of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra," Han Li replied with a smile.
At this point, it was only a matter of time before he reached thete-High Zenith Stage.
"Congrattions, Master!" Weeping Soul said with an ted expression.
"Have there been any abnormal urrences in the Azure Fox Tribe during my seclusion?" Han Li asked.
"Nothing that I could see. After their chief made a full recovery, the morale of the entire tribe received a significant boost, and even the Golden Horse Sect hasn''t dared to make any moves. I was worried that you would cause too much of amotion during your breakthrough and attract a lot of attention, but even I didn''t detect your breakthrough," Weeping Soul replied.
"There wasn''t much of a bottleneck for me to ovee for this breakthrough. On top of that, I was cultivating in seclusion in the Flower Branch domain, and I set up an aura concealment array at the entrance of the domain, so that''s why there wasn''t anymotion. However, I won''t be able to make myte-High Zenith Stage breakthrough in the Flower Branch domain, so I''ll have to find some other ce next time," Han Li said with a smile.
While Han Li and Weeping Soul were chatting with each other, there was a heated argument raging in the conference hall elsewhere in the city.
"I''ve always felt like that human cultivator was suspicious, Chief. Surely the Immortal Pce wouldn''t be spreading false information. He''s an evil cultivator who kills mortals in order to further his own cultivation! We cannot allow someone like him to continue to remain in our city!" Ye Qiu said in an urgent manner.
"Elder Qiu is right. Humans have always been very sly and cunning creatures, so we can''t afford to take any chances here," another elder chimed in.
There were several people behind him who remained silent, but they were also nodding in agreement.
"There must be some misunderstanding here. Senior Han''s aura is one of righteousness and tranquility,pletely unlike the aura of an evil cultivator who would do something so heinous. He''s definitely not the wanted fugitive that the Immortal Pce is looking for! If he really were such a terrible person, then he wouldn''t have saved me and my mother!" Ye Susu protested vehemently.
It was true that Han Li had helped the Azure Fox Tribe, and conflicted looks appeared on the faces of all of the Azure Fox beings upon hearing this.
"You don''t know just now cunning humans can be, Young Mistress. No one knows what his objectives are. Who knows if this isn''t all just part of a long-term, sinister n of his? Even if he bears no ill intent, we still can''t afford to keep him. If we''re caught harboring a wanted fugitive of the Immortal Pce, the consequences will be catastrophic!" Ye Qiu sighed.
"Indeed. If the Immortal Pce finds out that that human cultivator is staying here, our entire city would be razed to the ground," another elder sighed.
"We can''t endanger the safety of our entire tribe for an outsider!"
"Please reconsider, Chief!"
"Everyone, Senior Han has done our tribe a great kindness, are we going to repay his kindness with ingratitude?" Ye Susu frantically yelled.
The entire hall immediately fell silent as guilty looks appeared on everyone''s faces.
Right at this moment, a gentle voice suddenly rang out.
"I am aware of everyone''s concerns."
Everyone immediately turned to the woman on the main chair in the conference hall upon hearing this, and it was none other than Ye Luo.
"Regardless of whether Senior Han hasmitted the crimes imed by the Immortal Pce or not, it still doesn''t change the fact that he has helped our Azure Fox Tribe in the past, so we cannot turn on him," Ye Luo said in a calm manner.
Ye Susu hurriedly nodded in agreement, but before she had a chance to say anything, Ye Luo continued, "However, now that Senior Han is a wanted fugitive of the Immortal Pce, we cannot allow him to continue staying in our city. Otherwise, it would be detrimental to both him and our tribe."
Ye Susu''s face fell slightly upon hearing this.
Even though she was very grateful to Han Li, she knew that her mother was right, and she had simply been stubbornly denying the reality. Now that her mother had spoken, she had no choice but to ept this oue.
Everyone nodded in relief and agreement upon hearing this.
"Susu, you were the one who brought Senior Han to our city, so you''ll have to be the one to discuss this matter with him," Ye Luo said.
Ye Susu opened her mouth to say something, but ultimately remained silent and merely nodded in response.
"Let me go instead, I don''t think it''s safe to allow Young Mistress to go and see him," Ye Qiu hurriedly interjected.
"Senior Han is a benefactor of our Azure Fox Tribe, and the entwinement of his fate with our tribe started with Susu, so she should be the one to see things through to the end," Ye Luo said with a shake of her head.
"Leave it to me, Elder Qiu," Susu chimed in in agreement.
"Fine, you can go, but I''lle with you," Ye Qiu sighed.
Shortly thereafter, two streaks of light descended outside the peaceful courtyard that Han Li was staying in, and the children that were ying outside immediately gathered around Ye Susu, moring for her attention.
However, Ye Susu was in no mood to y with them, so she sent them away to y on their own before making her way over to the courtyard and knocking on its doors.
"Come in," Han Li called out from inside, and Ye Susu and Ye Qiu entered the courtyard to discover Han Li and Weeping Soul seated at the stone table, chatting with each other over some tea.
"Senior Han..." Ye Susu began, only for her voice to trail off into silence as she thought of her objective for this visit.
Ye Qiu stepped around Ye Susu to shield thetter behind her, following which she cast a wary gaze toward Han Li.
"Seeing as the two of you havee together, I''m assuming you haven''te to see me for private matters. Why don''t you go ahead and state the purpose of your visit?" Han Li prompted as he took a nce at Ye Susu, paying no heed to Ye Qiu in the process.
Ye Qiu''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and she was just about to say something when Ye Susu raised a hand to stop her.
"Please pardon my abrupt visit, Senior Han. I''vee here today..."
With that, Ye Susu informed Han Li of his current status as a wanted fugitive of the Immortal Pce, but made no mention of asking him to leave Azure Fox City.
After hearing what she had to say, an amused look appeared on Han Li''s face as he mused, "I''m not sure if I should feel ttered that the Immortal Pce thinks so highly of me that they''ve fabricated these crimes just to justify my capture."
Weeping Soul also shook her head with a wry smile.
Ye Susu was very relieved to hear this, and a bright smile appeared on her face as she said, "I knew you weren''t that type of person, Senior Han!"
Chapter 1014: Active Report
Ye Qiu''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and she decided that she had to speak up.
In her eyes, Ye Susu was still too naive, and she was far too trusting of Han Li. Seeing as Ye Susu hadn''t asked them to leave, she would just have to do so in her stead.
"Seeing as the warrant for my capture has already reached Golden Rhinoceros City, it''ll only be a matter of time before your Azure Fox Tribe is investigated. If I were to continue to stay here, that would only bring disaster upon your tribe, so I''m going to pack my things and leave right away," Han Li said in a serious manner.
Ye Qiu''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and she was at a loss for words. She was clearly not expecting such a response from Han Li, and a guilty look appeared on Ye Susu''s face as she said, "I know in my heart that you''re a good person, Senior Han, but..."
"There''s no need to feel any guilt toward me. I''ve already stayed for quite some time in Azure Fox City, and it''s about time that I left. Weeping Soul, go and pack our things, and we''ll leave after you''re done," Han Li said with a smile.
Weeping Soul gave an affirmative response before entering the room.
There weren''t many things that had to be packed, but the restrictions that Han Li had set up had to be disassembled and recovered.
"Please forgive us, Senior Han. Our Azure Fox Tribe is but a small tribe that''spletely powerless to resist the Immortal Pce, so we have no choice but to ask you to leave. Rest assured, we will be sure to keep your visit a secret," Ye Susu said as she extended a respectful curtsey.
"No. Go to Golden Rhinoceros City tomorrow morning and inform the Immortal Pce cultivators there of our stay in Azure Fox City. Make sure to report the precise time frame of our stay, and do not omit any information from them," Han Li said."What? What do you mean, Senior Han?" Ye Susu asked in an incredulous manner, hardly able to believe her own ears.
Ye Qiu''s expression also changed slightly upon hearing this, and the enmity in her eyes slowly faded away.
"I''m saying that you need to report me to the Immortal Pce," Han Li exined.
"Are you saying that we should point them in the wrong direction?" Ye Susu asked.
"Once I leave Azure Fox City, I''ll be continuing northward deeper into the Golden Origin Mountain Range. Make sure to tell them exactly that. Otherwise, a cmity will befall the Azure Fox Tribe," Han Li replied.
"I... I don''t understand, Senior Han," Ye Susu said in a perplexed manner.
"Young Mistress, regardless of whether we report Senior Han or not, the Immortal Pce will definitely find out that he''s been to our city. As opposed to waiting for them toe to us, Senior Han is instructing us to go and actively report to them. He''s doing this in order to protect our Azure Fox Tribe," Ye Qiu exined.
"Once you report me to the Immortal Pce, they''ll be sure to send people to investigate, and they''ll only let your Azure Fox Tribe off the hook if you can offer them some urate and useful information," Han Li said.
Only then did Ye Susue to understand Han Li''s intentions, and she was at a temporary loss for words.
"You are a noble man, Senior Han. Not only did you save our chief, you''re also thinking in the best interests of our tribe. I feel ashamed to have thought so badly of you," Ye Qiu said as she extended a respectful bow.
"There''s no need to be ashamed for anything, Elder Qiu. I''ve been able to enjoy a rare window of peace in Azure Fox City, so I should be the one thanking you," Han Li said.
Right at this moment, Weeping Soul returned to the courtyard before giving Han Li a slight nod.
On the cusp of parting ways, tears began to well up in Ye Susu''s eyes as she asked, "Will we meet again, Senior Han?"
"Trouble follows me wherever I go, so it''s best for us not to meet again," Han Li replied.
With that, he and Weeping Soul bade farewell to Ye Susu and Ye Qiu before flying away as two streaks of light, instantly vanishing out of sight, while Ye Susu stared off into the distance with a look of mncholy in her eyes.
"It''s alright, Young Mistress, you''ll meet again if fate deems it to be so," Ye Qiu consoled, and Ye Susu nodded in response as a faint smile appeared on her face.
......
The two streaks of light only flew northward for several thousand kilometers before descending onto a mountain to reveal Han Li and Weeping Soul.
"Aren''t we stopping a little too close to Azure Fox City, Master?" Weeping Soul asked.
"Once the Azure Fox Tribe makes its report, the Immortal Pce will definitely send people to investigate. If they don''t detect any traces of us nearby, then that''ll still bring trouble to the Azure Fox Tribe," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"How thoughtful of you, Master," Weeping Soul praised with a smile.
"The Azure Fox Tribe may only be a small tribe, but its members are very kind and pure of heart,pletely different from the fox beings that I''ve met in the past," Han Li said as a reminiscent look appeared in his eyes.
He couldn''t help but wonder how Liu Le''er was currently doing in the primordialnd.
"If you''re so fond of the Azure Fox Tribe, then why didn''t you help them out a little? At the very least, we can ensure that they won''t be bothered by the likes of the Golden Horse Sect," Weeping Soul said.
"Right now, we are wanted fugitives of the Immortal Pce, so we can''t establish any close ties with the Azure Fox Tribe. No matter what we leave behind, it could spell destruction for the tribe. I''ll just have toe back at ater date when I''m no longer weighed down by such inhibitions," Han Li sighed.
The two of them lingered on the mountain until noon before Han Li summoned a green jade flying carriage, and the two of them continued flying toward the north atop the carriage.
......
Two dayster.
Several dozen giant, golden battleships were hovering in the air above Azure Fox City, thousands of armored soldiers could be seen standing on the decks of the battleships.
Close to half of the city was shrouded under the shadows cast by the battleships, striking fear into the hearts of all of the Azure Fox beings.
At this moment, there were eight or nine figures in a peaceful courtyard in the city.
One of them was a white-robed, middle-aged man who was seated beside a stone table in the courtyard, staring absentmindedly at a vibrant flower with a contemtive look on his face.
Standing behind him were none other than Tao Ji and Hei Dao, and the former''s brows were tightly furrowed as he asked, "Is this the courtyard that he was staying in?"
The Azure Fox beings standing behind them all nodded in response.
Ye Luo stepped forward before extending a slight curtsey, then said, "He was cultivating in seclusion for the entire duration of his stay, but for some reason, he suddenly departed unannounced two days ago. We only received word of the warrant for his capture from Golden Rhinoceros City yesterday, and we immediately reported the matter."
Meanwhile, Ye Susu was standing beside Ye Qiu with her lips tightly pursed.
"You were the one who brought that scoundrel back to your Azure Fox City, is that right?" Tao Ji asked as he turned a cold gaze toward Ye Susu.
Ye Susu shuddered slightly internally, but her expression remained unchanged as she calmly replied, "That''s right. He saved my life, so I invited him to stay in our city. Never could I have imagined that he would be a wanted fugitive of the Immortal Pce..."
"If he left two days ago, then why did you only report him yesterday? Were you intentionally buying time for him to escape?" Tao Ji interrogated.
"Of course not, esteemed immortal envoy! We really did only receive word of this from Golden Rhinoceros City yesterday, and we immediately reported him without dy as soon as we found out about his status as a wanted fugitive," Ye Luo hurriedly replied in a fearful manner as she extended a deep bow, as did Ye Qiu and the others.
Ye Susu was also bowing down to Tao Ji, but internally, her heart was full of disdain. In her eyes, these Immortal Pce cultivators were extremely pretentious, as opposed to Han Li, who appeared a little cold and unapproachable, but was actually a very kind and thoughtful man.
"We''ll see about that! Elder L¨¹ should be back soon. If he doesn''t discover any signs of Han Li traveling northward, then you''ll be punished as his aplices!" Tao Ji sneered.
Ye Qiu and the others were very anxious to hear this.
After all, the other Azure Fox beings didn''t have as much trust in Han Li as Ye Susu did, and they were worried that Han Li hadn''t actually traveled northward as he proimed, or that perhaps he hadn''t left any tracks behind. If either of those proved to be true, then the Azure Fox Tribe would be in grave danger.
Right at this moment, Dongfang Bai suddenly turned to look directly at Ye Susu as he asked, "If he saved your life, then why did you report him? Are you not repaying his kindness with ingratitude?"
"Esteemed immortal envoy... I... We..."
An inexplicable sense of horror suddenly welled up in Ye Susu''s heart in the face of his scrutiny, and she wasn''t even able to muster up aplete sentence.
Right at this moment, a delicate hand reached out to grab onto hers
Ye Susu knew that the hand belonged to her mother, and it instilled within her a sense of reassurance.
She had already thought of a response to this question, so after taking a moment topose herself, she said, "While it''s true that he was a benefactor of our Azure Fox Tribe, he''s already been staying in our city for over a century, and we''ve unknowingly broken thews of the immortal region by harboring him, so I think we''ve already more than repaid him for his kindness.
¡°If we refused to report him even after finding out that he''s a wanted fugitive, then that would be an act of active defiance against the Immortal Pce, and we certainly wouldn''t dare to do such a thing."
Dongfang Bai''s expression remained unchanged after hearing this response, and he continued to scrutinize Ye Susu intently, trying to see any unnatural changes in her expression.
Chapter 1015: Genocide
At this point, Ye Susu had alreadyposed herself, and she was meeting Dongfang Bai''s gaze with a calm one of her own.
At the same time, she was recollecting everything that Han Li had told her prior to his departure, and her heart was filled with admiration. It seemed like he had predicted everything that would happen on this day, and all they had to do was follow his instructions.
Right at this moment, a streak of light descended into the courtyard, then faded to reveal L¨¹ Yun.
"How did it go, Elder L¨¹?" Dongfang Bai asked.
"I detected some of Han Li''s residual aura on a mountain several thousand kilometers north of here. It seems that he stopped there for a while, then got onto a flying carriage before continuing northward. From there, I also managed to detect more of his residual aura in other ces, but it was all very faint, indicating that he employed some measures to conceal his own aura. I was in a hurry to get back here, so I only left some markings behind and didn''t continue my search," L¨¹ Yun replied as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute.
"Well done," Dongfang Bai said with a nod.
"In that case, it looks like they weren''t lying," Tao Ji murmured with tightly furrowed brows.
Dongfang Bai took one final nce at Ye Susu, then said, "Let''s go."
Immediately thereafter, he vanished from the spot, and Tao Ji and the others hurriedly departed as well.In the blink of an eye, all that remained in the courtyard was the group of Azure Fox beings, and all of them were looking at each other in silence.
Ye Susu''s palms were drenched in sweat, and she took a nce at her own mother before looking up at the enormous battleships in the sky, wondering exactly who Han Li was to have warranted the deployment of such a formidable army.
Tao Ji and the others appeared one after another on the deck of a battleship high up in the sky, and they discovered Dongfang Bai standing at the railing, looking down at Azure Fox City below.
As they approached him, he suddenly ordered, "Kill them all."
"What?" Tao Ji asked in a stunned voice, clearly not expecting such a cruel order.
From Dongfang Bai''s perspective, it didn''t matter whether the Azure Fox Tribe had allowed Han Li to escape or not. What was important to him was that information on Han Li''s whereabouts had to be kept secret. Otherwise, if widespread attention was drawn to this matter, he wouldn''t be able to im the sole merit of recovering the Heaven Controlling Vial for himself.
"Yes, Pce Master!" Hei Dao replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Make sure to destroy everything. Otherwise, it could spell trouble for us if the Immortal Prisonunches an investigation," Dongfang Bai added.
Hei Dao gave another affirmative response before departing.
"Elder Tao, Elder L¨¹, it would be too slow to go after him with the entire army, so the three of us will pursue him on our own," Dongfang Bai instructed.
L¨¹ Yun epted this arrangement without any hesitation, while Tao Ji was silent for a moment before ultimately also giving an affirmative response.
He had personally witnessed Han Li''s terrifying powers, so he was hoping to bring along more people for the hunt. Of course, with Dongfang Bai getting personally involved, Tao Ji most likely wouldn''t have to y any role in the hunt anyway, and even if he couldn''t kill Han Li himself, witnessing Han Li''s death in person would be the next best thing.
With a casual sweep of his sleeve, Dongfang Bai summoned a white flying boat that was around a hundred feet in length, one that was clearly a graded immortal treasure.
He rose up into the air before descending onto the flying boat, and Tao Ji and L¨¹ Yun hurriedly followed suit.
After L¨¹ Yun pointed out the direction for them to travel in, the flying boat sped away as a streak of white light, vanishing into the distance in a sh.
Meanwhile, the golden battleships above Azure Fox City began to glow radiantly, and all of the runes on their surfaces lit up as they descended upon the city.
At the same time, all of the offensive arrays on the ships were activated, releasing an all-epassing destructive aura.
ording toter reports, Azure Fox City was burned to the ground on this day during the course of a cmitous natural disaster.
......
Over half a year flew by in a sh.
There were threerge rivers in the northern part of the Golden Origin Immortal Region named the Dragon River, the Yuan River, and the Water Ripple River. These three rivers converged at the foot of Comb Grate Mountain to form the Three River Lake, which was several thousand kilometers in size.
It was said that there were once several hundred mountains where the Three River Lake currently stood. Those mountains were connected to Comb Grate Mountain, and they were all part of the same mountain range, with quite arge immortal sect constructed upon it.
However, countless years ago, that immortal sect waspletely destroyed during arge-scale battle, and most of the mountains here were also razed to the ground.
Over time, the three aforementioned rivers converged to this ce, submerging all of the remnants of the mountains that once stood here.
Even though the sect was already long gone, there were still many buildings left behind by the sect, most of which were taken over by the Comb Flow Sect, which had only been established here for several hundred thousand years. After some renovations, the buildings were made to look new again.
It was said that there were some destroyed immortal abodes beneath the Three River Lake, and they were all still protected by arrays, so there was a chance that there were undiscovered treasures on thekebed.
Following its establishment, the Comb Flow Sect took over the Three River Lake, incorporating it as part of the sect''s territory. However, the sect wasn''t a particrly powerful one, so it didn''t dare to seal the river and im sole ownership of it. Instead, they renovated some of the ruined immortal abodes on thekebed into underwater abodes for cultivators to rent.
Cultivators of advanced cultivation bases naturally didn''t find the residual world''s origin qi in these water abodes appealing, but many True Immortals, particrly those using water-attribute cultivation arts, or cultivators cultivating waterw powers were very fond of staying here.
The rent on these water abodes wasn''t a huge source of revenue, but it was very steady and had supported the Comb Flow Sect over the course of many years.
On this day, a tall male cultivator with a rather unremarkable appearance arrived on Comb Grate Mountain, expressing a desire to rent a water abode to cultivate in.
The man was naturally none other than Han Li, and he was greeted by a benevolent-looking elderly administrator.
The elderly man didn''t openly disy any disdain toward Han Li, but he certainly wasn''t impressed by Han Li''s unremarkable appearance and aura.
"Are you looking to rent a water abode, esteemed guest? You certainly came right in the nick of time! Right now, there are only three vacant water abodes left in the entire Three River Lake. I''ll fetch a map for you and point them out right away," the elderly man said with a smile.
"There''s no need for that. I heard that there are around a dozen water abodes that are still yet to be opened in theke, and I would like to choose one of them," Han Li said.
There were many water abodes in the Three River Lake, but most of them had already been developed, and only around a dozen of them remained sealed by powerful immortal restrictions, making them inessible to the Comb Flow Sect.
However, the Comb Flow Sect didn''t hire any powerful cultivators to break these restrictions. Instead, anyone could rent those unopened water abodes for the same price required to stay in the other water abodes, but as for whether one could actually enter the water abode, that would be up to them.
On top of that, the one who opened the water abode would be able to im everything within it, so long as what they were taking didn''tpromise the structural integrity of the abode.
In the beginning, there were often cultivators who woulde to rent these unopened water abodes, but the vast majority of them failed to ess said water abodes. Among those who were able to enter the abodes, many of them perished inside, so only very few people were able to sessfully open a water abode before sessfully re-emerging with the treasures inside.
Even then, many of them were hunted down by itinerant cultivators who received word of their exploits, and they were killed for the treasures that they had obtained.
Generally speaking, those who left the territory of the Comb Flow Sect were left to fend for themselves, with the sect iming no responsibility for their safety.
Of course, even if one were to fail to enter an unopened water abode, the rent that they had paid wouldn''t be refunded to them. Hence, for a very long time, the Comb Flow Sect actually earned far more revenue from these unopened water abodes than from renting out opened water abodes.
After all, there was never a shortage of people in the cultivation world willing to take significant risks for potentially exorbitant rewards.
However, as time passed, most cultivators began to realize that this was not a wise endeavor, and it had already been a very long time since this administrator had encountered a risk-taker like Han Li.
"Certainly! Please wait here for a moment while I fetch you a map of all of our unopened water abodes," the elderly man said before turning to depart.
However, he then stopped in his tracks and asked, "By the way, may I ask your name, esteemed guest?"
"Han Li," Han Li casually replied.
"It''s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Fellow Daoist Han," the elderly man replied with a nod before departing.
Shortly thereafter, he returned with an underwater map of the Three River Lake and spread it out onto the table before giving Han Li a brief rundown of theyout of all of the water abodes.
Chapter 1016: Ill be Back Soon
All of a sudden, Han Li pointed at a certain spot on the map as he asked, "This should be an unopened water abode, right?"
"That''s right, but I should advise you not to attempt to ess this water abode," the elderly man replied with a smile.
"Why is that?" Han Li asked.
"Pardon me for being frank, but you''re most likely not going to have much luck with that water abode. There have been many cultivators of cultivation bases as lofty as thete-Golden Immortal Stage that have tried to ess this water abode, but just the restriction on its gates alone was enough to keep out all of them.
¡°There were two of them who attempted to breach the restriction by force, only to incur bacsh from the restriction, and one of them was severely wounded, while the other was killed on the spot," the elderly man sighed.
"I see. Thank you for looking out for me, but I have a decent understanding of restrictions and arrays, so even if I can''t open the water abode, I think I''ll be able to at least ensure self-preservation," Han Li replied.
The elderly man could see that Han Li had made up his mind, so he said, "In that case, I wish you the best of luck. Once you issue the payment, I''ll send someone to take you there."
From his perspective, he hadpleted his obligation by issuing that warning to Han Li, and if he were to say anything further, then that would only rouse suspicions.
After the payment was issued, the elderly man called over a red-robed young woman, then issued her some instructions before sending her to take Han Li to theke.The young woman wasn''t particrly beautiful, but there were a couple of dimples on her round face, making it appear as if she were constantly smiling, so she was certainly very pleasant to look at.
The woman led Han Li and Weeping Soul down Comb Grate Mountain, then made her way down a small path toward theke.
The young woman seemed to have a very bubbly personality, and she couldn''t help but ask, "Why did you pick out Ill Omen Manor, esteemed guest? You don''t seem like a foolish person."
"Ill Omen Manor? Why do you call it that?" Han Li asked.
"Ever since this water abode was made public, no one has been able to ess it, and many people have died trying, so it''s essentially one big ill omen! That''s why we named it Ill Omen Manor in private. That''s not its official name, so if you can open it, you can give it a more festive and lucky name," the young woman exined.
"Ill Omen Manor isn''t bad, I''ll call it exactly that," Han Li said with a faint smile.
"I don''t mean to rain on your parade, esteemed guest, but you only get to name the water abode if you can open it. If the restriction proves to be too much for you, thene back up to the surface right away. It''s not worth losing your life over something like this," the young woman sighed.
"What''s your name?" Han Li suddenly asked with a smile.
The young woman faltered slightly upon hearing this. All of the guests that she had attended to over the years had only treated her as a servant, and she had never been asked her name by any of them.
"My name is Hu Xiaocheng," the young woman replied in a slightly embarrassed manner.
"That''s a fine name," Han Li replied with a contemtive nod, and at the same time, he couldn''t help but think of Ye Susu, who this young woman very much reminded him of.
Last month, he had learned through certain avenues that a natural disaster had befallen Azure Fox City half a year ago, burning the entire city to the ground, and there wasn''t even a single survivor.
That was right after he left, so he immediately realized that this had to have been a hoax to cover the Immortal Pce''s tracks, and that was why he hade to this Three River Lake.
Hu Xiaocheng could see that Han Li was absorbed in his own thoughts, so she continued to lead the way in silence.
The three of them soon arrived on a za beside the Three River Lake, and there was a cool breeze blowing over theke. It was a very pleasant day, and Hu Xiaocheng couldn''t help but stretchzily as she took a deep breath.
Looking at the rippling surface of theke, Han Li was also feeling a bit more rxed, and the dark emotions that had been recently weighing on him abated slightly.
"We''ve arrived, esteemed guest. Enter theke from here, and you''ll reach Ill Omen Manor after descending for about ten thousand feet," Hu Xiaocheng dered.
"Alright, I''ll be back soon," Han Li replied with a nod, then plunged straight into the water before Hu Xiaocheng had a chance to reply.
"Be care..."
Hu Xiaocheng wasn''t even able to fully articte two words before Han Li vanished out of sight.
A resigned pout appeared on her face as she grumbled under her breath, "I didn''t even get a chance to tell him about theyout of thekebed in this area..."
In her eyes, there was no way that Han Li would be sessful in this endeavor. After all, this was the notorious Ill Omen Manor that had kept out even many a Golden Immortal, so how could this unremarkable-looking guest seed where countless others had failed?
"I hope he returns safely, at least," Hu Xiaocheng murmured to herself, and as soon as her voice trailed off, a figure flew out of theke beforending beside her.
Hu Xiaocheng was stunned to discover that it was none other than Han Li, and she eximed, "You''re back already? I thought you''d at least be down there for a few hours before you give up. I suppose it''s a good thing that you know your limits."
Han Li was rather amused to hear this, and he tapped her on the forehead as he said, "Go and fetch that administrator. Tell him that I''ve opened this water abode."
Hu Xiaocheng''s eyes immediately widened in incredulity upon hearing this.
"What? You''re saying you''ve already..."
"Go on," Han Li prompted with a smile, and Hu Xiaocheng was still in a state of disbelief, but she did as she was told, flying straight back to Comb Grate Mountain.
Shortly thereafter, she returned with the bewildered elderly administrator from before.
The administrator descended down to thekebed to take a look for himself, and only then did he finally believe Han Li''s im. He was stunned beyond belief, and he emerged from theke with an ecstatic expression as he said, "You can stay in this water abode for the next three years, Fellow Daoist Han. As per what I said earlier, you can im all of the treasures in the abode as long as it doesn''t impact the abode''s structural integrity."
"You have my thanks," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute.
"Also, please give the water abode a name," the elderly man said.
Han Li took a nce at Hu Xiaocheng, then said, "I''ll call it Ill Omen Manor."
The elderly man faltered slightly upon hearing this, but then merely nodded in response before departing.
Prior to his departure, he instructed, "Stay with Fellow Daoist Han for now. If he needs anything,e to the sect to inform me right away."
Hu Xiaocheng hurriedly gave an affirmative response.
Following the elderly man''s departure, Han Li turned to Hu Xiaocheng and asked, "Do you want toe down and take a look around in the manor?"
Hu Xiaocheng nodded eagerly in response.
Han Liid a hand onto her shoulder, and ayer of azure light appeared over both of their bodies as they descended into the depths together.
The deeper they went, the darker the environment became.
Hu Xiaocheng had guided guests to other water pces before, but she had never been this deep in the Three River Lake, and she was eagerly looking around with a curious expression.
Thekebed was riddled with broken mountains, some of which were still somewhat intact, while others disyed varying degrees of destruction.
There were light barriers of different colors spread over these mountains, epassed within which were individual water abodes that had already been opened.
Most of these water abodes were extremely far away, giving them the appearance of stars in the night sky.
Han Li led Han Li all the way to thekebed, arriving before a small hill that was only several hundred feet tall.
Hu Xiaocheng could see a light barrier on the summit of the hill, within which was a long courtyard.
Han Li led her by the arm as he rose up through the water before entering the light barrier, and upon arriving on a za in front of the courtyard, Han Li immediately withdrew the azure light barrier around them.
"Ancestral hall... This is the sect''s ancestral hall?" Hu Xiaocheng eximed at the sight of a que hanging above the entrance of the courtyard up ahead.
"Why else do you think no one has been able to break through the restriction here even after so many years?" Han Li chuckled.
"If that''s the case, then how were you able to break the restriction?" Hu Xiaocheng asked.
"I''ve read a lot of books," Han Li replied with a smile.
It was actually true that he had seen the protective array here in an ancient scripture, and with his powers and extensive knowledge in arrays and restrictions, it was an easy task for him to open the water abode.
"You''re so lucky! I''ve heard that the ancestral hall is usually where a sect''s best scriptures and treasures are kept, so you''re going to make a massive haul!" Hu Xiaocheng said with an envious expression.
Chapter 1017: Waiting for Someone
"Perhaps there will be some scriptures, but I doubt that there will be any powerful treasures left. If the sect has already met its demise, then surely its most powerful treasures will have been taken out of the ancestral hall to ward off the enemy," Han Li said in a casual manner as he strode over to the water abode before pushing open its doors.
"Oh, that''s a real pity then," Hu Xiaocheng said in a disappointed manner.
However, her expression then quickly lit up again as she continued, "Even so, scriptures can be just as valuable as treasures. If you can find a few top-tier cultivation arts here, then that''ll still be a great haul."
The doors swung open with a loud creak, having been opened for the first time in countless years, revealing a long open-air area, and there was nothing in the courtyard aside from a rusty copper vat.
Han Li approached the vat to discover that there were some antiquated runes engraved onto its surface. The vat was half-filled with water, floating on top of which was a dark green lotus flower that was giving off strong waterw power fluctuations.
"Wow, there''s so much water-attribute spiritual qi here!" Hu Xiaocheng eximed.
She was only at the Nascent Soul Stage, so she wasn''t very sensitive tow powers.
"Looks like there are still good things left here," Han Li remarked with a smile, and he casually swept a sleeve through the air, upon which the copper vat vanished into his Flower Branch domain.
On either side of the open-air area were two wide corridors that led to arge hall that appeared to be a conference hall, and the only things inside were some cushions that had already dposed countless years ago. Beyond this hall was a small courtyard that was muchrger than the open-air area from before. The entire courtyard was paved with white stone blocks, giving it the appearance of a drill ground.
Beyond the drill ground was the final and most important building in the entire ancestral hall.
Han Li looked up to discover a que hanging above the entrance of the building, upon which were inscribed the words "a long history and a bright future".
Upon entering the hall, Han Li was greeted by the sight of a nine-tiered offering table.
ced upon the offering table were numerous rectangr wooden cards that were extremely ornately crafted. As opposed to memorial tablets used tomemorate the dead, these were long-life tablets meant for the living.
There were a total of over eighty of these cards, all of which presumably carried the names of the leader and the elders of the sect.
On the bottom tier of the offering table were two thick books with ayer of flowing golden light over their surfaces.
Han Li approached the pair of books to discover that they were still sealed under restrictions, but due to the passage of time, the restrictions had already be very feeble.
He casually broke the restriction, then briefly read through the books to find that neither of them were cultivation arts.
One of them was a record of all of the significant events in the sect''s history prior to its demise, while the other book contained the genealogical records of the sect, epassing the names of all of the sect''s members, from its founding father to all of its disciples.
"So this sect is called the Tranquility Sect. How unfortunate that it met such a terrible fate after standing for so long," Hu Xiaocheng sighed.
Han Li was reminded of the True Mantra Sect and the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor upon hearing this. Both had also suffered abrupt demises after extensive histories.
He cast his gaze toward the top tier of the offering table, and he suddenly noticed that there was a long-life tablet with the name "Chang Qingliu" inscribed upon it that looked a little strange.
He drew the tablet into his grasp, and after examining it briefly with his Infernal Devilish Eyes, a faint smile appeared on his face as he began tapping a finger over the tablet.
Momentster, a burst of azure light emerged over the tablet, following which a hidden jade slip flew out from within.
Han Li grabbed the jade slip, then returned the long-life tablet to its original spot.
"What''s this?" Hu Xiaocheng asked with her eyes with intrigue.
"This is a cultivation art of the Tranquility Sect called the Formless Journal," Han Li replied after briefly inspecting the contents of the jade slip with his spiritual sense.
"I was worried that you had gone to the effort of opening this water abode for nothing, but now that you''ve found this cultivation art, it looks like your efforts weren''t in vain," Hu Xiaocheng said with an ted expression, and it seemed that she was genuinely happy for Han Li.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
He searched through the entire ancestral hall with Hu Xiaocheng, but didn''t find anything else, and Hu Xiaocheng was a little disappointed for him.
However, Han Li was very pleased with what he had found. The Formless Journal was a cultivation art that allowed one to cultivate waterw powers, and it wasn''t very useful to him, but it was perfect for his Earthly Deity Avatar in the ck Wind Sea.
On top of that, the copper vat and the dark green lotus flower that he had stowed away into his Flower Branch domain earlier were also both very remarkable items.
Due to the fact that the entire ancestral hall was situated on thekebed, the environment was very cool despite the absence of wind.
Han Li and Hu Xiaocheng sat down together on the doorstep at the entrance of the ancestral hall, and both of them were looking up at the light barrier above in silence.
"That administrator instructed you to keep an eye on me and report everything I do to him, right?" Han Li suddenly asked.
"How did you know?" Hu Xiaocheng eximed, then immediately scratched her own head in a sheepish manner.
"You''re not the only one, all of the guests who stay here get assigned a servant. Of course, it''s not forced upon them, but generally, no one would refuse those beautiful big sisters. I don''t know what Elder Lu was thinking this time, sending me to apany you."
"He sent you toe with me because he didn''t think very highly of me and didn''t think that I could open this water abode," Han Li revealed.
"So that''s why..." Hu Xiaocheng said as a look of realization appeared on her face.
"Other people can look down on you, but never look down on yourself. I can see that you possess decent cultivation aptitude, so ack of resources must be why you''re still stuck at thete-Nascent Soul Stage, right?" Han Li asked.
Hu Xiaocheng nodded in response in an uncertain matter, wondering why Han Li was bringing up this subject.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a small, red vial before handing it to her.
"I don''t have any pills fit for consumption for low-tier cultivators. The pills in this vial will have to wait until you reach at least the Body Integration Stage."
Hu Xiaocheng was rooted to the spot upon hearing this, and she didn''t dare to ept the vial.
Han Li thrust the vial into her grasp, and at the same time, he tapped a finger against her be.
Hu Xiaocheng immediately felt her own consciousness shudder slightly, and by the time she returned to her senses, she discovered that Han Li had already withdrawn his hand.
At the same time, she realized that a passage of text had appeared in her mind, and it was the full Formless Journal cultivation art.
Hu Xiaocheng immediately sprang to her feet, and she was so stunned that she didn''t know what to say.
"The entire Three River Lake is about to be upturned soon," Han Li said in a serious manner as he also stood up from the doorstep.
"Have you rented this water abode to do something important, Senior?" Hu Xiaocheng.
"Not really, I''m just here to wait for someone," Han Li replied in an indifferent manner.
"A friend?" Hu Xiaocheng asked.
"A sworn enemy."
"Is there anything I can do for you?" Hu Xiaocheng asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"I''ve already removed the mark that the Comb Flow Sect nted in your body. Leave this ce right away and get as far away as you can. Focus on your cultivation, and don''t ever return to this ce," Han Li said.
"Why are you doing all of this for me, Senior?" Hu Xiaocheng asked with a puzzled expression.
Han Li took a nce at her, then sighed, "I suppose it''s to make up for the guilt that I harbor toward someone that you remind me of..."
Looking at the mncholy in Han Li''s eyes, a hint of sorrow welled up in Hu Xiaocheng''s heart as well.
"In that case, I''lle back to repay you once I''ve made some strides in my cultivation, Senior," Hu Xiaocheng said as she extended a deep bow toward Han Li.
"Go now," Han Li said with a smile.
Hu Xiaocheng extended another respectful bow before departing, and following her departure, Weeping Soul appeared beside Han Li amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
"Are you not worried that she''s going to report you to Comb Grate Mountain?" she asked.
"Since when have I been such a terrible judge of character?" Han Li chuckled.
Weeping Soul also smiled as she fell silent.
"Even if she really does disappoint me, it doesn''t matter. I''m staying here precisely so that the Immortal Pce can find me," Han Li said as a cold look shed through his eyes.
"We''ll make them pay for all of their past crimes," Weeping Soul said with a nod.
"Alright, we have guests to wee soon, so let''s arrange an appropriate wee. We wouldn''t want to be rude now, would we?" Han Li mused as he pped his hands together, then made his way into the ancestral hall.
......
Half a monthter.
A white flying boat that was around a hundred feet in length arrived in the sky above Comb Grate Mountain.
Standing on the flying boat were none other than Dongfang Bai and the three Immortal Pce elders.
Standing on the mountain below them was a handsome, azure-robed young man and a round-faced elderly man. The former was the current leader of the Comb Flow Sect, while thetter was the administrator that had attended to Han Li.
At this moment, both of them had fawning smiles on their faces as they looked up at Dongfang Bai''s group.
"Have you told anyone that Han Li is staying here? Dongfang Bai asked.
Chapter 1018: Unwelcome Visitor
"I felt like this was a very important matter, so I''ve kept it a secret from everyone else. Right now, Elder Lu and I are the only ones in our entire sect who know about this, and we haven''t informed the cultivators staying in the other water abodes of this matter," the Comb Flow Sect Leader hurriedly replied.
"Good. In that case, I won''t have to destroy the entire sect," Dongfang Bai mused with a contemtive nod.
The young man and the round-faced elderly man exchanged a bewildered nce with each other upon hearing this, wondering if they had misheard.
However, before they had a chance to ponder this remark any further, they suddenly discovered that they weren''t able to move.
All they could still move were their eyeballs, and they looked down to discover that ayer of slick, green moss had appeared over their bodies, on top of which a vibrant flower was blooming.
The azure-robed young man let loose an agonized roar as the flower took on a bright red color, and droplets of dew had even appeared on its surface, giving it a particrly alluring appearance.
In contrast, the two men werepletely parched, and it was as if all of the life force had been sucked out of their bodies, reducing them to a pair of dried and withered corpses in just a few seconds.
Dongfang Bai took an expressionless nce at the two sets of withered remains, then asked, "Is his aura still here, Elder L¨¹?"
"It is," L¨¹ Yun replied."Good," Dongfang Bai replied with a nod.
Meanwhile, Tao Ji was looking at the Three River Lake with a hesitant look on his face, and for some reason, he was feeling a little uneasy.
Dongfang Bai could see the uncertainty in his eyes, and he said, "Tao Ji, if you have something to say, then spit it out."
"Judging from his past track record, Han Li is definitely not a careless person, so I think that it''s very suspicious that he left behind such clear tracks for us to trace to this point," Tao Ji said.
"Why are you being so cautious, Elder Tao? Could it be that you''ve lost your wits after your physical body was destroyed by himst time? How could he possibly put up any resistance against Pce Master Dongfang?" Hei Dao sneered.
However, Dongfang Bai agreed with Tao Ji on this asion.
"Elder Tao''s concerns are not unwarranted. Let''s proceed with caution from here."
Tao Ji hurriedly extended a respectful bow upon hearing this, while the flying boat flew into the air above the Three River Lake at Dongfang Bai''s behest.
"He''s down there," L¨¹ Yun said as he pointed at a section of theke.
"Pce Master, please wait a moment while I split open the surface of theke and force that scoundrel toe out," Hei Dao said as he removed the fearsome de from his back.
"There''s no need for that. It would be rude of us to barge in so barbarically," Dongfang Bai said with a faint smile, following which he extended a finger forward, and a burst of azure light shot out of his fingertip before plunging into theke in a sh.
As soon as the burst of azure light entered the water, it immediately began to descend toward Han Li''s water abode like a formidable flood dragon.
The still and calmke was instantly stirred up into a frenzy, with a massive whirlpool appearing on its surface, leading all the way down to Ill Omen Manor.
At the same time, an azure spirit domain spread through the surrounding area, encapsting all of the churning water to contain all of the energy fluctuations within the spirit domain.
Everything remained cid and tranquil outside the spirit domain, and even if curious bystanders were to try to look in, they wouldn''t be able to see into the spirit domain.
The burst of azure light crashed headfirst into a white light barrier with an earth-shattering boom, and the light barrier was instantly shattered, revealing the hill that was home to the Tranquility Sect''s ancestral hall.
At this moment, Han Li was seated at a stone table with Weeping Soul in the courtyard, and the cup in his hand shuddered slightly, but none of the wine spilled out from within.
"Looks like you were right, Pce Master Dongfang hase after us in person," Han Li said with a smile, following which he downed the contents of his cup in three sips, then stowed the cup away before standing up on hsi stone chair.
The surrounding water in theke seemed to have been restricted by some type of strange power, and a swirling vortex had appeared around the hill.
Dongfang Bai''s group was hovering in mid-air above the courtyard, looking down upon Han Li and Weeping Soul.
"I''ve heard much about you, Fellow Daoist Han. It''s an honor to make your acquaintance," Dongfang Bai said with a faint smile.
"The honor is all mine, Pce Master Dongfang. To think that I had a mighty pce master chasing after me like a pathetic dog for so long. To what do I owe this great honor?" Han Li chuckled.
"Insolence!" Hei Dao roared in a furious voice upon hearing this.
"Oh? Was that too rude for your liking? In that case, how do you think I should speak to a piece of scum who kills innocents without any remorse?" Han Li asked in a cold voice.
A cold look shed through Hei Dao''s eyes, and he was just about to charge at Han Li, but a stern nce from Dongfang Bai kept him in check.
Han Li''s gaze then fell upon the handsome young boy beside Dongfang Bai, and a surprised look appeared on his face as he said, "I didn''t think we''d meet again, Elder Tao. You''ve been given a second chance at life, shouldn''t you cherish it a little more?"
Tao Ji''s mouth immediately ran dry at the sight of Han Li''s scrutiny, and he glowered intently at Han Li to disguise the fear in his heart.
"What do the lives of those ants matter to cultivators of our status, Fellow Daoist Han? I''m willing to extend an offering of peace to you. As long as you''re willing to hand over that thing, I can consider letting you off the hook and even putting in a rmendation for you to join the Nine Origins Temple. What do you say?" Dongfang Bai proposed with a smile.
As soon as Han Li heard mention of the words "Nine Origins Temple", he immediately understood what "that thing" that Dongfang Bai was referring to was.
His pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this, but he made no effort to deny that the Heaven Controlling Vial was in his possession. In any case, he had no intention of letting any of these four get away. Otherwise, if word were to spread of this, then there would be no end to the trouble that he would have to deal with.
In the past, he didn''t want to engage in direct conflicts with the immortal pces, but that didn''t mean that he feared them. Now that they had provoked him on multiple asions, it was time for him to give them someeuppance.
"I advise you not to oppose the Heavenly Court, Fellow Daoist Han. If you so wish, you could easily cultivate in peace from here onward. Given your aptitude, as long as you have ess to sufficient resources, it''ll only be a matter of time before you reach the Great Epassment Stage, and..."
"Looks like not only do you like to follow me around like a dog, you like to bark like one as well. I don''t know what you want from me, and I don''t care to find out. The Heavenly Court may be too powerful for me to oppose, but I can certainly stomp you into the ground," Han Li interjected in azy voice, cutting Dongfang Bai off mid-sentence.
"It seems like you''re intent on opposing the Heavenly Court. What a pity. The Heavenly Court could''ve certainly used a man of your talents," Dongfang Bai sighed in a forlorn manner.
As soon as his voice trailed off, Hei Dao immediately swooped down from above, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake as he swung his mighty de down upon the ancestral hall, conjuring up a vast expanse of dark clouds.
A de projection that was over ten thousand feet in length erupted out of his de, slicing through the heavens as it crashed down from above.
The dark clouds descended alongside the de projection, and a series of giant, fearsome-looking ghostly creatures emerged from within, all of which converged toward Han Li and Weeping Soul with intense bloodlust in their eyes.
Han Li paid no heed to Hei Dao''s almighty attack, instead turning to Weeping Soul with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"My tummy has been feeling rather empty ever since I awakened, I wasn''t expecting the Immortal Pce to deliver a ghostly cultivator of this caliber right to my doorstep. This is going to be a massive feast," Weeping Soul said as she eagerly licked her lips.
"Make sure to take your time and don''t eat too fast," Han Li replied with a smile.
Weeping Soul nodded in response, then sprang up into the like lightning, plunging directly into the dark clouds, upon which she instantly vanished out of sight.
Dongfang Bai turned to Hei Dao with a perplexed look upon seeing this, and Hei Dao was also rooted to the spot. He had never seen someone so eagerly rush to their death before.
However, right at this moment, a horrified look suddenly appeared on his face, and Dongfang Bai also cast his gaze toward the dark clouds, sensing that something was amiss.
As it turned out, all of the fearsome ghostly creatures within the dark clouds had suddenly begun fleeing for their lives, but they weren''t able to get anywhere as they were bound to Hei Dao''s de.
Immediately thereafter, a pair of strange horns emerged from the dark clouds, followed by an enormous, ape-like head with a third, bright red, demonic eye on its be. The creature also had three ck bone spikes protruding out of its back, and its body was covered in ayer of steel-needle-like ck fur, giving it an even more fearsome appearance than the ghostly creatures around it.
"That''s a Xing Beast!" Dongfang Bai eximed, and Hei Dao had also arrived at the same realization.
Never had he anticipated that he would encounter such a natural bane to his ghostly powers, and he hurriedly attempted to return his de to its scabbard, but Weeping Soul naturally wasn''t going to give him that opportunity.
A beam of crimson light erupted out of the vertical eye on her be, forming a giant crimson chain that swept toward the surrounding ghostly creatures.
Chapter 1019: Lured Into an Array
Xing Beasts had always been the bane of all ghostly creatures of the world, and after suffering her near-death ordeal, Weeping Soul had be far more powerful than before.
The crimson chain protruding out of her be resembled a giant steel whip, easily piercing through the chests of all of the ghostly creatures that it struck before stringing them together like essories on a ne.
Arcs of crimson lightning erupted out of the chains, instantly eradicating all of the thousands of ghostly creatures in the dark clouds to reduce them to plumes of ck mist.
In the next instant, a burst of ck light erupted out of the Xing Beast''s mouth, and all of the ghostly creatures were sucked into its belly.
Meanwhile, Hei Dao had only managed to withdraw his de halfway into its scabbard before the crimson chain wrapped itself around it like a spirit snake.
Countless arcs of crimson lightning erupted out of the chain, and Hei Dao''s entire body instantly began to spasm uncontrobly as he howled in pain.
Right at this moment, a burst of dark green light suddenly appeared on his arm, and a series of green vines emerged from within, extending along his de-wielding arm all the way to the de itself.
The vines possessed some type ofw powers that allowed them to rapidly regenerate after being struck by the arcs of crimson lightning, and they pried their way into the gaps between the chains and the de to slowly extricate thetter bit by bit.
Hei Dao hurriedly took advantage of this opportunity to fully return his de to its scabbard, but at this point, the majority of the dark clouds that he had unleashed had already disappeared.Even though this was an extremely severe loss, he knew that he was very fortunate to have survived, and he hurriedly turned to extend his gratitude toward Dongfang Bai.
"Thank you, Pce Master..."
However, before he had a chance to finish his sentence, he suddenly felt a gust of fierce wind blowing at him from behind.
As it turned out, Han Li had abruptly vanished from the spot, only to reappear behind Hei Dao in a wraith-like manner, grabbing him by the back of his neck before he even had a chance to react.
Hei Dao''s eyes widened in shock and horror, and before he even had a chance to beg for his life, Han Li tightened his grip and snapped his neck like a twig.
Dongfang Bai was furious to see this, and he thrust a palm toward Han Li.
Countless wisps of the world''s origin qi converged toward him, instantly forming countless azure wooden rods that shot forth toward Han Li in a fearsome barrage.
At this point, Han Li had already released Hei Dao''s lifeless body, and he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability to dart right past Tao Ji.
However, he chose not to harm Tao Ji as he descended toward the za in front of the ancestral hall.
Hei Dao''s body fell out of the sky, and his nascent soul had only just flown out of his head before it was caught by the Xing Beast before being tossed into its cavernous mouth.
Tao Ji''s initial shock and horror were even further magnified upon seeing this, and he began to descend out of the sky in a blind panic.
Meanwhile, L¨¹ Yun rushed over to Dongfang Bai''s side, staring intently at Han Li as he released a gray spirit domain to defend himself from potential sneak attacks from Han Li.
Dongfang Bai was naturally furious to have lost an important subordinate so early in the battle, and at the same time, he was stunned by Han Li''s power.
He made a grabbing motion with one hand, and all of the wooden rods in the air before him converged to form a wooden dragon that was several thousand feet in length before pouncing at Han Li.
"You''re attacking me with a toy made out of wood?" Han Li sneered as he clenched a hand into a tight fist, injecting all of his fist intent and starpower into the fist.
A resounding boom rang out as Han Lished out, and a burst of radiant starpower erupted out of his fist.
The wooden dragon crashed headfirst into the white starlight, and a string of resounding thumps rang out as the wooden rods that its body wasprised of were shattered one after another.
Scraps of wood filled the entire sky, and Dongfang Bai suddenly emerged from within, approaching Han Li before casually extending a finger in his direction.
A burst of azure light emerged from his fingertip, transforming into a dark green wooden spear that pierced directly at Han Li''s chest.
There was a draconic projection coiled around the wooden spear, and the surrounding space warped and twisted violently as it shot forth through the air.
Han Li made no attempt to take any evasive measures as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword to oppose the wooden spear.
The two shed violently against each other, and a burst of golden lightning instantly shot out of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
Lightning had always been the bane of wood, and the wooden spear instantly exploded upon being struck by the golden lightning.
"Is that all you''ve got? How disappointing. I would''ve expected more from a pce master," Han Li sneered.
A furious look shed through Dongfang Bai''s eyes upon hearing this, but he quicklyposed himself again as he descended onto the za in front of the ancestral.
"I know what you''ve been up to. You''ve been verbally provoking me this entire time to lure me onto this za and into the array that you set up in advance, right? In that case, here I am. Let''s see what you''re going to do to me," Dongfang Bai said with a faint smile.
"You don''t possess power befitting a pce master, but you''re certainly as arrogant as one. Now that you''re here, you''re not getting away!" Han Li roared as he made a hand seal, and the entire hill shuddered violently as four mountainous devilish projections slowly rose up from the ground, each wielding an umbre, an immortal sword, a mirror, and a python.
The four projections each surrounded Dongfang Bai from one direction, and the umbre-wielding raised its umbre high up into the sky, where it released countless rays of light to form a dome-shaped light barrier to epass the entire hill, and the flow of the world''s origin qi within the light barrier instantly stagnated.
Standing within the light barrier, Dongfang Bai could sense that the surrounding world''s origin qi was no longer essible to him, but this didn''t faze him at all.
Those who cultivated woodw powers had innate worlds within their bodies, supplying them with limitless immortal spiritual power, so there was nothing for him to fear.
However, right at this moment, he spotted a beam of light sweeping toward him from the side, and he immediately darted away in evasion.
As he turned around, he discovered that the beam of light was shining down upon the spot where he had been standing just a moment ago, and a huge hole that was over thirty feet in size had appeared in the ground there.
The beam of light wasing from the mirror held by one of the four devilish projections, and all of the space in the wake of the beam of light was warping and twisting violently.
If he had been struck by that beam of light earlier, his body would''ve definitely been torn apart.
Before he had a chance to think about anything else, the sword-wielding and python-wielding projectionsshed out in unison.
Balls of five-colored mes erupted out of the sword before raining down like a meteor shower, while the python swooped down from above with lightning shing within its cavernous mouth.
The beam of light released by the mirror could still be avoided, but there was no way to evade the storm of lightning and fire.
Dongfang Bai gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, then began chanting an incantation while thrusting his palms up toward the heavens.
Azure light burst out of his body like a volcanic eruption, forming a gargantuan ancient tree projection that kept all of the lightning and fire at bay.
Even though the tree was only a projection, it still erupted into mes upon being struck by the lightning and fire.
However, its canopy was constantly regenerating at a rate faster than it was being incinerated, and even the beam of white light released by the mirror was unable to break through the projection''s defenses.
"Is this your trump card, Fellow Daoist Han? If so, then this is truly disappointing," Dongfang Bai scoffed.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a beam of translucent light suddenly appeared in front of him, and before he even had a chance to catch a clear glimpse of it, it had already transformed into a miniature sword and pierced into his be.
He immediately felt a sharp pain in his head, and his consciousness began churning violently. He couldn''t help but shudder from the intense agony, and the azure light erupting out of his body quickly faded away.
The giant tree projection also dissipated, and the ferocious barrage of lightning and fire rained down upon him to inundate him in the blink of an eye.
A string of resounding booms rang out as the entire za was illuminated by the explosions of fire and lightning.
L¨¹ Yun and Tao Ji were locked in battle against Weeping Soul, and Tao Ji turned to Dongfang Bai with an rmed expression upon seeing this.
"Don''t worry about the pce master, Elder Tao, just focus on the task at hand," L¨¹ Yun said as he swept his sleeves through the air, controlling eighteen crimson metal gs that were revolving around Weeping Soul.
Chapter 1020: Turning the Tables
Chapter 1020: Turning the Tables
As soon as L¨¹ Yun''s voice trailed off, the lightning and fire on the za faded away to reveal Dongfang Bai again.
However, he was no longer looking anywhere near asposed as before, and his entire body was charred ck, giving him the appearance of a smoldering, charred stump.
There were also tiny crimson mes all over his body, but there was also a ball of flickering green light on his chest, releasing thin lines that spread out across his entire body like blood vessels.
The green lines were delivering life force to all parts of what appeared to be a lifeless body, and as a result, he was gradually beginning to recover.
Right at this moment, Han Li swooped onto the scene before sweeping a hand horizontally through the air.
Dongfang Bai''s charred head immediately fell to the ground before being stomped into powdered coal beneath Han Li''s foot.
At the same time, an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword pierced through Dongfang Bai''s chest before releasing a burst of golden lightning that eradicated the ball of green light with ease.
However, instead of disying any relief or triumph, Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed as he swept a perplexed gaze over his surroundings.
At this moment, there was a frail de of grass growing nearby, and it was swaying gently in the wind.
All of a sudden, it began to rapidly grow amid an eruption of green light, transforming into a second Dongfang Bai in the blink of an eye.
"How remarkable," Han Li mused with a smile.
"ytime''s over, Fellow Daoist Han," Dongfang Bai said in a cold voice, and as soon as his voice trailed off, he rubbed his hands together, upon which countless specks of azure light appeared within his azure spirit domain, giving off a burst of tremendous woodw power fluctuations.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he reflexively began to fly back in retreat.
Right at this moment, countless thick vines began to sprout within the azure spirit domain before rapidly spreading through the air, uprooting all of the giant trees in the area and instantly demolishing the entire ancestral hall.
In the blink of an eye, thekebed was transformed into a lush forest.
The vines crawled rapidly over the four devilish projections stationed around the za, quickly inundating them and severing their connection with Han Li.
Meanwhile, Weeping Soul was ensnared by a series of special vines that were riddled with golden patterns, instantly rooting her to the spot.
Even though Han Li had reacted in a very timely fashion and already sprung back several thousand feet, the vines were still able totch onto his feet, rooting him firmly to the ground.
Han Li took a nce at Weeping Soul to find that even though she had been trapped, she was in no danger for now, and that came as quite a relief.
"I''ve seen quite a few Creation Tier spirit domains before, but none quite as spectacr as this one."
"If Pce Master Dongfang hadn''t spent so much time and effort cultivating his spirit domain, there''s no way he would still only be at the peak-High Zenith Stage. No one in the entire Golden Origin Immortal Region dares to actually regard him as anything below a Great Epassment cultivator," L¨¹ Yun said with a confident smile, while Tao Ji turned to Dongfang Bai with a look of awe and veneration in his eyes.
"It doesn''t actually make any difference whether you hand over that thing or not, Fellow Daoist Han," Dongfang Bai said as he slowly approached Han Li.
"I''m well aware of that," Han Li replied, and he channeled his own immortal spiritual power as he spoke, only for the immortal spiritual power that he had mustered up to instantly be sucked away by the vines clinging to his body.
He then channeled his starpower, and he discovered that it would also be absorbed by the vines, but at a far slower rate.
"Don''t bother. Everything trapped in my spirit domain belongs to me. Once all of your immortal spiritual power has been sucked away, this powerful body of yours will be reduced to sustenance for my spirit domain, and your nascent soul will be forced to serve as my ve for all of eternity," Dongfang Bai said with a cold smile.
He could see that there was a string around Han Li''s neck, and he extended a hand to reach down the front of Han Li''s robe, but right at this moment, Han Li suddenly harrumphed coldly, "Don''t touch what belongs to me!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, instantly transforming into a devilish deity with three heads and six arms.
Dongfang Bai''s heart jolted slightly upon sensing the strange aura emanating from Han Li''s body, and he hurriedly rushed back in retreat while directing all of the countless vines in his spirit domain to swarm toward Han Li at once.
However, Han Li was able to wade directly through the vines, tearing right through them with ease.
Dongfang Bai swept both sleeves through the air upon seeing this, and his spirit domain shuddered violently as a series of massive trees emerged before transforming into eighteen wooden giants that were over a thousand feet tall.
Each wooden giant was wielding a massive wooden spear as they charged at Han Li, and as they thrust their spears through the air, vortexes of azure light emerged from their tips, warping and tearing the space around them.
Han Li disyed no fear at all as he retaliated with his six arms, destroying the eighteen wooden giants in the span of no more than twenty seconds before leaping up into the air and plummeting down upon Dongfang Bai.
However, at this point, Dongfang Bai had already steadied himself, and countless vines had wrapped themselves around his body, transforming him into a wooden giant that was over a hundred feet tall.
These vines were riddled with golden patterns, harboring tremendous woodw powers and life energy.
As Han Li came crashing down from above, Dongfang Bai raised his left hand, sending a vine whip sweeping through the air before wrapping itself around Han Li''s waist. He then tugged violently on the whip to elerate Han Li''s descent while thrusting the wooden spear in his other hand directly at Han Li''s chest.
At the same time, the vine whip around Han Li''s waist was rapidly absorbing his bloodline power, and if it weren''t for his astonishingly formidable physical constitution, this would''ve already been too much for him to bear.
He reached out with one hand to grab the wooden spear, only for a powerful eruption of azure light from the tip of the spear to knock his hand away, following which the tip of the spear struck him on the chest.
A burst of tremendous immortal spiritual power surged through the entire spear, culminating in a ball of radiant azure and golden light at the tip of the spear that exploded violently, sending such formidable shockwaves sweeping in all directions that the entire spirit domain began to tremble and sway violently.
L¨¹ Yun and Tao Ji were astonished as they witnessed this from afar.
Meanwhile, most of the immortal spiritual power in Weeping Soul''s body had already been sucked away by the vines around her, forcing her to revert back to her human form, and she was watching Han Li''s battle from afar with a concerned look in her eyes.
However, once the dust settled, it was revealed that Han Li was standingpletely still on the spot, and the wooden spear hadn''t managed to pierce even a single inch into his chest.
"Impossible!" Dongfang Bai eximed upon seeing this.
"I''ve heard that you possess power far beyond your cultivation base, but so what if you possess power on par with a Great Epassment cultivator?" one of Han Li''s heads sneered.
Thebination of his true spirit bloodlines and Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts enhanced his physical constitution to the point that it was far beyond that of the average Great Epassment cultivator, so Dongfang Bai''s attacks never posed any true threat to him.
Han Li leaned down as he spoke, causing the wooden spear to bend like a bow, and he grabbed onto the vine whip around his waist before tugging on it to drag Dongfang Bai toward himself.
Immediately thereafter, he began unleashing a torrential barrage of punches upon Dongfang Bai with his six giant fists.
A string of deafening booms rang out as the entire azure spirit domain trembled violently.
The wooden vines around Dongfang Bai''s body were only able to resist Han Li''s punches for a short while before they werepletely smashed to bits.
L¨¹ Yun and Tao Ji exchanged a nce upon seeing this, and each of them could see their own horror mirrored in one another''s eyes.
They possessed nowhere near enough power to y any role in this battle. In fact, just a single one of those punches that Han Li was unleashing would be enough to kill them on the spot.
Before long, Dongfang Bai was revealed amid a mass of shattered vines before being grabbed by Han Li.
"You shouldn''t have done what you did to Azure Fox City. The Azure Fox Tribe was just a small tribe that would''ve never been able to pose any threat to you, why weren''t you willing to spare them?" Han Li interrogated with all three of his heads, and his voice rumbled like thunder.
"Why do you care so much for those ants? They..."
Before Dongfang Bai had a chance to finish his sentence, Han Li clenched his fist tightly, crushing his body into a pulp.
However, no nascent soul flew out of the mangled body.
Han Li tossed the body aside, and he reverted back to his human form before turning to Tao Ji and L¨¹ Yun with tightly furrowed brows.
A small vine beside them gradually swelled in size before transforming into yet another Dongfang Bai.
As for the body that Han Li had just discarded, it had already been devoured by the masses of surrounding azure vines.
"Looks like you''ve gotten the best of me here, Fellow Daoist Han. We''ll meet again," Dongfang Bai said with a dark expression.
"You''re not getting away!" Han Li harrumphed coldly, and as soon as his voice trailed off, a radiant golden spirit domain appeared within the surrounding azure spirit domain.
Chapter 1021: Report
Chapter 1021: Report
An rmed look appeared on Dongfang Bai''s face upon seeing this, and in the next instant, he withdrew his azure spirit domain without any hesitation, then grabbed onto Tao Ji and L¨¹ Yun beforeunching himself up into the sky.
In the absence of his spirit domain, the water in theke instantly gushed back in to fill the vortex.
Ayer of radiant, azure light appeared around Dongfang Bai''s trio, warding off the majority of the timew powers in Han Li''s golden spirit domain as Dongfang Bai sped away into the distance.
"None of you are getting away today!" Han Li roared as he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, appearing above the trio in the blink of an eye.
A look of resolve appeared in Dongfang Bai''s eyes upon seeing this, and he thrust his palms into Tao Ji and L¨¹ Yun''s backs, sending one of them flying toward Han Li, while the other wasunched at Weeping Soul down below.
Only then did Tao Ji and L¨¹ Yun discover, much to their shock and horror, that they werepletely immobilized, and they couldn''t even open their mouths to speak.
Han Li thrust a palm at the oing Tao Ji, but right at this moment, thetter''s lower abdomen suddenly began to swell rapidly. Immediately thereafter, a tiny seedling emerged from his belly button.
Before Han Li was able to reach him, his stomach swelled up like a balloon, following which his entire body exploded violently.
His nascent soul had been detonated within his dantian, generating such tremendous power that even Han Li was sent flying back by the explosion, while his outstretched hand had also been severely mutted.
However, he had no time to attend to his own injuries as L¨¹ Yun was currently hurtling toward Weeping Soul.
He simultaneously channeled his Reversal True Axis ability and his Lightning Bird bloodline before plunging into theke to swoop up Weeping Soul, and a resounding explosion rang out behind him before he had a chance to get away.
The explosion was so powerful that all of the water abodes on thekebed were destroyed, and enormous waves that were over ten thousand feet tall erupted out of theke before crashing toward the neighboring Comb Grate Mountain.
A few momentster, Han Li and Weeping Soul shot out of theke before hovering in the sky above.
"That Dongfang Bai is truly a terrible man, Master! He sacrificed his ownpanions just so he could get away!" Weeping Soul spat through gritted teeth.
"The fact that a man like him is serving as the pce master of such an important immortal region is a clear indication that the Heavenly Court is already rotten to the core. No matter, he can run for now, but he can''t run forever. His past crimes will eventually catch up to him," Han Li said.
"What should we do now, Master?" Weeping Soul asked.
"You take some time to rest, I''ll devise a n for what we do from here onward," Han Li replied, then conjured up an entrance to the Flower Branch domain for Weeping Soul.
Once she had entered the Flower Branch domain, Han Li flew away as a streak of light, instantly vanishing into the distance.
......
There was a cluster of pces situated somewhere in the western region of the Golden Origin Mountain Range. The pces stretched as far as the eyes could see, and some were situated in cols, some were built on mountains, and some were even hovering in mid-air.
The pces were connected by bridges of rainbow light, giving the entire ce the appearance of an immortal paradise, and this was none other than the Golden Origin Immortal Pce.
Right at this moment, a streak of green light appeared in the distant sky, flying through the air at an astonishing speed before fading to reveal Dongfang Bai.
The look on his face was as dark as the clouds on a stormy day, and the Immortal Pce personnel that he passed by all bowed in silence, not daring to say anything for fear of incurring his very apparent wrath.
Before long, Dongfang Bai arrived deep in the Immortal Pce. He entered a pce with a goldenmunication array inside, and he flipped a hand over to produce a purple badge before cing it onto themunication array.
The badge began to glow with radiant purple light, illuminating the surrounding golden array a purple color as well.
Momentster, a projection of a green-haired woman appeared in the array.
The woman was very youthful in appearance, seemingly only around sixteen to seventeen years of age, and herplexion was a little pale, but there was a look of unmatched regal authority in her eyes.
"Dongfang Bai, why have you used your Nine Origin Badge to contact me? If those people from the Immortal Prison find out about this, it''ll spell trouble for both of us," the green-haired woman said.
"Please forgive me, Immortal Lord Miao Fa. I just received a piece of information pertaining to Creation Crystals, and I wanted to report it to you right away," Dongfang Bai replied in a respectful manner.
"What? You''ve found leads on Creation Crystals? borate!" Immortal Lord Miao Fa urged as a burst of tremendous pressure was exerted upon Dongfang Bai through the array, causing his robes to p audibly around him.
Dongfang Bai didn''t dare to waste any time, and he hurriedly informed Immortal Lord Miao Fa of the situation regarding Han Li and the Heaven Controlling Vial, making sure to embellish the story as he told it.
For his version of the story, he proimed that Tao Ji and Tao Yu had discovered Han Li first, only to withhold the information from him. From there, he became suspicious of Tao Ji and decided to look into the matter, thereby leading to his discovery of Han Li and the Heaven Controlling Vial. In any case, both Tao Ji and Tao Yu were already dead, so there was no one to disprove his story.
"That does sound like there''s a very good chance that those crystals are indeed Creation Crystals! Finally, the Heaven Controlling Vial has reappeared in the True Immortal Realm!" Immortal Lord Miao Fa eximed with an ecstatic expression.
However, a cold look then appeared in her eyes as she asked, "If you''ve already found out about this matter, then why didn''t you report it to me earlier?"
"Please forgive me! I was too greedy and wanted to capture Han Li and the Heaven Controlling Vial myself before offering them up to you in the hope that I would be granted a handsome reward.
¡°However, he was too powerful for me to defeat, so I had no choice but to turn to you," Dongfang Bai said as he fell to his knees, and there was a panicked look on his face, but if one were to look closely into his eyes, they would discover that he was actually very calm and collected.
There was no hiding what had happened with Han Li, so as opposed to lying and inevitably being caughtter, it was better for him to admit to his own faults from the get-go.
From there, he spoke about the tant disregard that Han Li had disyed toward the Heavenly Court, much to the fury of Immortal Lord Miao Fa.
Han Li was still in the Golden Origin Immortal Region at the moment, so Dongfang Bai knew that Immortal Lord Miao Fa would have to rely on him for Han Li''s capture. Hence, he was confident that he wouldn''t be punished too severely for his transgressions.
Sure enough, Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s expression eased slightly as she asked, "Where is he right now?"
Dongfang Bai was very relieved to see this, and he hurriedly replied, "I''ve sent out some people to search for him, but the search hasn''t yielded any results yet. However, I''ve already issued orders for all of the teleportation arrays in the Golden Origin Immortal Region to be shut down, so I''m certain he must still be near the Golden Origin Mountain Range."
"You did well. You may have made a significant contribution in uncovering these leads on the Creation Crystals, but you also made a grave transgression in your inappropriate handling of the matter. For now, your contributions and transgressions cancel each other out, so whether you''re going to be punished or rewarded will depend on what you do from here onward.
¡°If you can capture Han Li and secure the Heaven Controlling Vial, I''ll let your past transgressions slide and even personally request a reward for you from our temple master. However, if you let him escape from the Golden Origin Immortal Region, I''m sure I don''t need to tell you what''s going to be of you, right?" Immortal Lord Miao Fa asked in a threatening tone.
"I''ll do everything in my power to capture Han Li. However, I''m afraid that my Golden Origin Immortal Pce simply doesn''t possess the power required to aplish such a feat," Dongfang Bai replied in a hesitant manner.
"Rest assured, I''ll send the Lan siblings of the Vast Golden Immortal Pce to help you. Keep searching for Han Li''s whereabouts, but make sure to be careful and don''t scare him into hiding," Immortal Lord Miao Fa warned.
"Yes, I understand!" Dongfang Bai replied in an ecstatic manner.
The Lan siblings of the Vast Golden Immortal Pce were a vastly renowned brother-and-sister duo. Even though both of them were only at thete-High Zenith Stage, they had a secret technique that allowed them to temporarilybine their cultivation bases to reach the Great Epassment Stage.
The two of them had made a name for themselves after fighting a Great Epassment cultivator of the Reincarnation Pce for three days and three nights without suffering a defeat.
With the Lan siblings on his side, Han Li would essentially have to face two Great Epassment cultivators at once, and there was no way he could ovee such fearsome opposition.
With that in mind, Dongfang Bai was feeling much more reassured.
Immortal Lord Miao Fa issued a few more instructions to him, then cut off theirmunication, and Dongfang Bai heaved a long sigh of relief as he retrieved the purple badge from within themunication array.
......
In a certain pink pce somewhere in the Heavenly Court.
The entire pce was filled with a soft, pink glow, as well as a delicate, feminine aroma.
Deep within the pce was an ornate bed surrounded by a pink veil canopy. There was a young woman seated on the bed, and it was none other than Immortal Lord Miao Fa.
At this moment, there was a yellow toad that was farrger than the bed resting beside it. Its earthy yellow skin was riddled with hard lumps, and what was most peculiar about the creature was that there were sixrge eyes on its face, giving it a rather unsettling sight to behold.
Even though the yellow toad was merely resting beside the bed, it was giving off an enormous aura that wasn''t inferior to Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s by much, and its cavernous mouth perked up slightly at the corners as if it were smiling as it said, "Congrattions, Mistress. If you can secure the Heaven Controlling Vial, the temple master will be sure to reward you handsomely. The post of deputy temple master has always been vacant, and it''ll be yours for the taking."
"I don''t really care for that. All I''m hoping is that in exchange for my efforts, the temple master will provide me with some guidance in how to sever my second corpse soul," Immortal Lord Miao Fa replied.
"Indeed, power is always paramount," the yellow toad chimed in in agreement.
"She Chan, ry my orders to the Vast Golden Immortal Pce. Also, make a trip to the Golden Origin Immortal Region," Immortal Lord Miao Fa instructed after a brief silence.
Chapter 1022: Storming the Immortal Palace
"Surely the Lan siblings will already suffice. No matter how powerful that Han Li is, he''s still just a High Zenith cultivator, so there should be no need for me to go," She Chan scoffed.
"I''ve heard that Han Li has made some significant inroads in the cultivation of timew powers, so he''s not to be looked down on. I don''t trust the Lan siblings to get the job done on their own. Make sure to keep yourself hidden from everyone and remain in the shadows at all times. Only strike when you''re absolutely certain that you cannd the decisive blow," Immortal Lord Miao Fa said.
She Chan''s expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but a hint of discontentment shed through its six eyes.
Not only was its master making it go after a mere High Zenith cultivator, she was also instructing it to lurk in the shadows and sneak attack like a coward, and it was feeling rather slighted.
"This is a matter of the utmost importance. If anything goes wrong, you''ll be held ountable!" Immortal Lord Miao Fa said in a cold voice.
"I understand, I''ll go ry your orders right away, Mistress," She Chan replied as it transformed into a hideous yellow-skinned woman in the blink of an eye before vanishing into the ground.
......
Inside the Golden Immortal Stage, Dongfang Bai emerged from themunication pce, feeling much more rxed than before.
Once the people from the Vast Golden Immortal Pce arrived, Han Li''s capture would be all but assured, and he would be able to do as he pleased to Han Li.He had already thought of dozens of vicious torture methods that he wanted to use on Han Li, and just the thought of that was filling him with sadistic joy.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he pped his hands together twice, and a streak of light flew onto the scene from afar, then faded to reveal a young man with a pair of sharp and piercing eyes.
"What can I do for you, Pce Master?"
"Hei Dao and L¨¹ Yun have perished during this outing with me, so from this day forth, you will be the leader of Dark Sword. Send out all of the Dark Sword spies and contact all of the spies of our Immortal Pce across the entire immortal region. Make sure to find out Han Li''s whereabouts at all costs," Dongfang Bai instructed.
A hint of tion shed through the young man''s eyes upon hearing this, and he gave an affirmative response as he extended a respectful bow.
Right at this moment, a burst of dull rumbling rang out in the distance, and the entire surrounding area trembled violently.
"What''s going on?" Dongfang Bai asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I''ll go take a look," the young man volunteered, yet before he had a chance to leave, a streak of light shot forth from afar, then descended to reveal a golden-robed guard that was covered in blood.
"Pce Master Dongfang, someone has stormed into the Immortal Pce!" the man reported in a horrified manner.
"Who dares to challenge the authority of our Golden Origin Immortal Pce?"
A furious look shed through Dongfang Bai''s eyes, and he was just about to fly away into the distance when a thought suddenly urred to him.
He released his spiritual sense toward the entrance of the Immortal Pce, upon which his expression instantly changed slightly.
......
The formerly opulent and majestic entrance of the Immortal Pce had already beenpletely razed to the ground, and there were currently over a hundred Immortal Pce cultivators hovering in mid-air, arranged in a crescent-shaped formation behind five ck-robed elderly men.
The five men were almost indistinguishable from one another, indicating that they were identical quintuplets.
All of the Immortal Pce cultivators present ranged from thete-True Immortal Stage to thete-Golden Immortal Stage, while the five ck-robed elderly men were all at the High Zenith Stage.
All types of immortal treasures and formidable attacks were beingunched through the air, and the target was only a single person.
It was an azure-robed young man with dozens of golden flying swords circling around him, forming a wall of golden sword projections that easily destroyed all of the oing attacks.
At the same time, the young man swept a sleeve through the air, releasing around a dozen more golden flying swords that flew through the air with astonishing power.
Bursts of thunderous rumbling rang out from the flying sword as they sliced through the air, leaving long, white spatial rifts in their wake.
The five High Zenith Stage elderly men''s expressions changed drastically as they immediately arranged themselves into a cross formation, following which each of them released a ck g with a sinister-looking ck dragon emzoned onto its surface.
The ck gs quickly swelled to several times their original size before releasing a vast expanse of viscous ck mist, forming an enormous ck cloud that swept toward the oing flying sword, corroding the very space in its wake.
All of the other Immortal Pce cultivators immediately rushed away to avoid the ck cloud, but Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as thick arcs of golden lightning erupted out of his golden flying swords at his behest.
As soon as the flying swords plunged into the ck cloud, thetter immediately began churning violently before rapidly dissipating into countless plumes of ck mist.
The golden flying swords were barely impeded at all as they tore through the ck cloud before hurtling toward the five ck-robed High Zenith cultivators, all of whom were very rmed to see this.
All of a sudden, all five of them shrank down significantly to only around three feet in height before darting away to the side at an incredible speed, allowing them to just barely evade the golden flying swords.
Instead of pursuing them, the flying swords flew right past them before tearing into the Immortal Pce cultivators behind them.
A string of bloodcurdling howls rang out as the flying swords raked through the crowd, ying all of the True Immortals in the blink of an eye while also cutting down as many as a third of the Golden Immortals present. All of the remaining Golden Immortals immediately fled for their lives, and their crescent-shaped formation instantly disintegrated.
Meanwhile, the five High Zenith Stage elderly men reverted back to their original heights, and furious looks appeared on their faces upon seeing this.
These Golden Immortals were the foundation of the Golden Origin Immortal Pce, and a third of them had just been in in the blink of an eye!
"Who are you? The Heavenly Court is not going to let you get away with this!" one of the five elderly men yelled in a furious voice.
Han Li paid no heed to the elderly as he swept his sleeve through the air once again, and the dozen or so golden flying swords immediately set off after the remaining Golden Immortals, ying several more of them in a sh.
The five High Zenith Stage elderly men were even more infuriated, and they collectively turned to the center of the Immortal Pce, seemingly waiting for something, but nothing happened.
In the blink of an eye, two more Golden Immortals were cut down, and the five elderly men were just about to storm at Han Li again when around a dozen streaks of radiant green light descended from the heavens before transforming into a series of huge, green snakes.
These snakes were extraordinarily fast and agile, and each of them wrapped itself around one of the golden flying swords.
Tendrils of green mist surged out of their bodies to ensnare the golden swords, only to be instantly destroyed, but more and more of those tendrils of green mist continued to emerged from the bodies of the green snakes, and it didn''t take long before the golden flying swords were exhausted of much of their power.
Countless tendrils of green mist wrapped themselves tightly around the swords, forming a giant cocoon around each of them.
Han Li made a hand seal upon seeing this, and the dozen or so golden flying swords pierced their way out of the green cocoons around them before returning to his side.
Immediately thereafter, Dongfang Bai descended out of the sky, and all of the green snakes flew back to him before quickly shrinking down into a series of green rings that hovered around him.
All of the Immortal Pce cultivators were ecstatic to see Dongfang Bai.
"The pce master is here!"
"You''re dead now, you scoundrel!"
"Pce Master, don''t let him leave this ce alive!"
All of the Immortal Pce cultivators gathered behind Dongfang Bai as they glowered at Han Li with resentful expressions.
Dongfang Bai paid no heed to them as he cast his gaze toward Han Li.
"I''ll admit that you''re a very powerful man, Han Li, but you''ve bitten off more than you can chew here!"
"You''ve saved me the trouble of having to pluck you out, Dongfang Bai. You killed all 57,300 members of the Azure Fox Tribe for no just cause, and today is the day that you get youreuppance!" Han Li dered in a cold voice.
Many of the Immortal Pce cultivators turned to Dongfang Bai with stunned expressions upon seeing this.
It was strictly forbidden for cultivators of the Heavenly Court to kill for no just cause, particrly on such arge-scale basis, and the punishments for such a transgression were very severe.
"They deserved to die for harboring a wanted fugitive on the Immortal ying List and attacking the cultivators of our Immortal Pce!" Dongfang Bai countered.
Han Li had no intention of bickering with him on this matter, and he harrumphed coldly, "Regardless of what you say, today is the day that you die!"
Immediately thereafter, all of the dozens of Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that were revolving around him shot forth toward Dongfang Bai in unison.
In response, Dongfang Bai made a hand seal, and the green rings around him reverted back into around a dozen giant, green pythons, releasing countless tendrils of green mist toward the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Chapter 1023: Rats Fleeing a Sinking Ship
"All of you, get back!" Dongfang Bai yelled, and the five ck-robed elderly men immediately led all of the other Immortal Pce cultivators on a retreat.
Han Li paid no heed to the others as countless streaks of golden sword qi erupted out of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords at his behest, causing the entire sky to tremble violently.
The green pythons stood no chance against this formidable barrage of sword qi, and they were quickly torn to shreds.
Dongfang Bai''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he abruptly made a hand seal while letting loose a loud roar.
The shredded remains of the green pythons swelled rapidly before exploding violently, sending powerful shockwaves sweeping through the air in all directions, and all of the streaks of golden sword qi were also scattered as a result.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Dongfang Bai turned and fled deeper into the Immortal Pce with a gust of fierce green wind swirling around his body.
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this, and he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability.
All of a sudden, he vanished from the spot, only to reappear in front of Dongfang Bai an instantter, disying astonishing speed akin to instantaneous teleportation.
Before Dongfang Bai had a chance to do anything, countless golden ripples erupted out of the Mantra Treasured Axis in Han Li''s body, sweeping over Dongfang Bai in the blink of an eye.All of a sudden, Dongfang Bai waspletely immobilized, much like a fly caught in a block of amber.
Fierce killing intent shed through Han Li''s eyes as he pointed a finger forward, and a streak of golden light shot out of his fingertip before punching arge hole straight through Dongfang Bai''s lower abdomen.
However, ayer of white light that instantly emerged over Dongfang Bai''s body, and it rapidly transformed into a white puppet.
The puppet appeared to have been crafted from some type of white beast bone, and it was riddled with talismans and white patterns.
This is a substitution puppet!
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this.
He had read about this white puppet in a scripture from Daoist Xie''s collection. It was said that this puppet had been created by a powerful master in the Heavenly Court, and one could inject their own immortal spiritual power andw powers into it to manifest an avatar that waspletely identical to themselves, both in terms of appearance and aura.
Daoist Xie had always been interested in securing such a puppet for research purposes, but he was never able to seed, and Han Li certainly wasn''t expecting to see one here.
Right at this moment, countless specks of green light appeared in the surrounding area, forming a green spirit domain around Han Li.
Countless disembodied vines appeared within the spirit domain before wrapping themselves around him to rapidly devour his immortal spiritual power.
At the same time, an enormous golden mountain appeared above Han Li without any warning. The mountain was riddled with massive runes, and it seemed to be an immortal treasure, one that was crashing down upon him with unstoppable might.
At this moment, Dongfang Bai, the five ck-robed elderly men, and all of the Immortal Pce Golden Immortals were seated atop the mountain with their legs crossed, collectively injecting their power into the mountain.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the golden mountain crashed down onto the ground, sending violent tremors running through the ground in a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers, while the entire Golden Origin Immortal Pce and the nearby mountains sank down by three feet in unison.
A pleased smile appeared on Dongfang Bai''s face upon seeing this.
It had taken him countless years and an investment of an unfathomable amount of resources to refine this Xumi Golden Mountain using the Golden Origin Stones in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, and he was more aware of its power than anyone.
Unfortunately, the mountain was too heavy for him to use with his own immortal spiritual power alone, and he could only use it with the help of the arrays in the Golden Origin Immortal Pce. Otherwise, if he had been able to use it during his previous battle against Han Li, then he was certain that he would''ve emerged victorious.
All of the Immortal Pce cultivators heaved a collective sigh of relief, and they were also looking very excited.
After all, it was a very rare honor to be able to work together with their pce master to y such a powerful enemy.
However, in the next instant, Dongfang Bai''s smile abruptly stiffened.
At the same time, looks of shock and horror appeared on everyone''s faces as they looked down in unison.
The golden mountain beneath them was beginning to tremble unsteadily as it gradually rose up from the ground, as if it were being lifted from below.
As it turned out, Han Li had once again adopted his devilish deity form with three heads and six arms, and he was only using two of his arms to lift the golden mountain, as if he were lifting nothing more than an ordinary rock.
"Impossible!" Dongfang Bai eximed.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree appeared before him, and it began to radiate dazzling golden light.
As soon as the nts in the surrounding spirit domain came into contact with this golden light, they were immediately reduced to bursts of energy that surged into the Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree before being transmitted into Han Li''s body, instantly replenishing the immortal spiritual power that had been sucked out of his body.
At the same time, the green spirit domain was rapidly shrinking.
"This is impossible! Nothing can devour my Wood God Spirit Domain!" Dongfang Bai eximed in shock and horror, and before he had a chance to do anything else, Han Li swung his remaining four fists upward with devastating power, sending them crashing into the underside of the golden mountain.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the golden mountain was sent flying through the air, toppling close to twenty mountains before drawing to a halt.
Most of the cultivators on the mountain had already been knocked off in the process, and the few that managed to remain on the mountain were all stunned beyond words.
Cold sweat was running down Dongfang Bai''s forehead as he hurriedly withdrew his spirit domain before fleeing deeper into the Immortal Pce as a streak of green light.
"Get back here!" Han Li roared as he set off in pursuit.
Right at this moment, a vast ck cloud suddenly swept toward him from the side before blocking his path, and the five High Zenith Stage elderly men could be seen within it.
The five of them were wielding the same ck gs from before, waving them frantically through the air to expand the ck cloud further. Immediately thereafter, eight giant ck dragon ws shot out of the ck cloud before grabbing at Han Li in unison.
The eight dragon ws were giving off an almighty aura, and it seemed that they were capable of tearing holes into the very heavens.
Even though the five elderly men had banded together to oppose Han Li, they were far from d to do so.
At this point, it had already be abundantly clear that Han Li was far too powerful for them to oppose, but as elders of the Golden Origin Immortal Pce, if they were to abandon their post, then that would be seen as a crime of treason against the Heavenly Court.
Hence, they could only hope to keep Han Li upied for now and devise other strategies as the situation unfolded.
"Get out of my way!" Han Li harrumphed coldly as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing all seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which shed against the ck dragon ws while giving off incredibly fearsome lightningw power fluctuations.
The flying swords easily sliced through the ck dragon ws like hot knives through butter, and some small gashes immediately appeared on the ck gs in the hands of the five elderly men.
The five of them hurriedly attempted to rush back in retreat upon seeing this, but the seventy-two flying swords were astonishingly fast, catching up to the retreating ck cloud in the blink of an eye.
The five elderly men roared in unison as they summoned their protective immortal treasures, but the ck cloud instantly dissipated upon contact with the golden lightning released by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, while the protective treasures that they had summoned were also destroyed in an instant.
It was finally confirmed to them beyond a doubt that they stood no chance against Han Li, and they were just about to flee for their lives when a burst of sharp sword intent descended upon each of them, causing their immortal spiritual power cirction to stagnate and plunging them into the depths of despair.
Many of the surrounding Golden Immortals had already fled following Dongfang Bai''s escape, and all that remained were the direct subordinates of the five elderly men.
They were just about to pounce at Han Li, but all of them stopped in their tracks with horrified expressions upon seeing this.
Immediately thereafter, someone fled for their life, and everyone immediately followed suit, much like a nest of rats fleeing a sinking ship.
Chapter 1024: Slaying the Five Scourges
"You''re the Five Heavenly Yin Disciples, right? Tell me your names," Han Li demanded in a cold voice.
The five elderly men exchanged a few nces with one another, following which the leftmost one put on a fawning smile as he said, "My name is Yin Tianhu. Please spare us, Fellow Daoist Han, we know nothing about your differences with Pce Master Dongfang."
The five of them were each wearing a ck jade storage ring with the characters for tiger, deer, bear, ape, and eagle inscribed upon them, and the one who had just spoken was wearing the tiger ring. [1]
"My name is Yin Tianlu," the elderly man next to the first one said, and he was clearly also submitting to Han Li through his bodynguage.
"I am Yin Tianxiong," the third elderly man said in a neutral manner.
"My name is Yin Tianyuan. If you''re going to kill me, then hurry up and stop wasting my time!" the fourth elderly man harrumphed coldly with an arrogant expression.
"Don''t spout such nonsense, Tianyuan!" Yin Tianhu scolded in a frantic manner.
Right at his moment, the final elderly man abruptly shrank down to only around half of his original height, allowing him to avoid the flying sword that had been resting against his throat before flying away at an incredible speed.
However, the golden flying sword immediately set off in pursuit at a far superior speed, catching up to him in the blink of an eye before slicing through his body with ease."Tianying!"
"Please spare him, Fellow Daoist Han!"
The other four elderly men all called out in rm, but it was already toote.
Right at this moment, Weeping Soul appeared behind him amid a sh of silver light, and she made a grabbing motion with both hands, releasing a burst of crimson light that sucked the nascent soul out of Yin Tianying''s remains.
Drawn to her alongside his nascent soul was his storage ring, one that was inscribed with the character for eagle.
The other four siblings reflexively wanted to flee, but with the example set by Yin Tianying, they knew not to pursue such a foolish course of action.
"All of us cultivators have killed many people in the past, but I sorely detest those who senselessly ughter those weaker than them. I''ve heard about what the five of you have done, and I asked you to tell me your names so I can tell you your crimes before I kill you!" Han Li dered in a cold voice.
The four elderly men were very rmed to hear this, and they contemted fleeing once again, but didn''t dare to do so.
"That one just now was Yin Tianying, right? He sacrificed over a hundred mortal cities to refine an immortal treasure, killing countless people in the process. For that, he deserves to die a thousand times over!" Han Li dered.
The four elderly men were stunned to hear this. Yin Tianying had been very secretive about this matter, so they were stunned that Han Li was aware of his secret.
"Yin Tianhu, you once cultivated for many years in the Vast Cloud Mountain Range, and in order to im a ce that was abundant with yin qi for your cultivation, you ughtered all of the over two thousand cultivators of the Golden Peak Sect in the Vast Cloud Mountain Range, isn''t that right?" Han Li asked.
"There must be some misunderstanding! I..." Yin Tianhu stuttered as his face turned deathly pale.
"Yin Tianlu, in order to refine an evil treasure of yours, you sent out your subordinates to capture countless women over six months into their pregnancies before sacrificing them, is that correct?" Han Li interrogated.
A look of despair appeared on Yin Tianlu''s face, and he began to tremble uncontrobly.
"Yin Tianxiong, don''t act like you''re better than your brothers. You''re using a dual cultivation art that enhances your cultivation base at the expense of female partners. During your time in the Immortal Pce, you''ve secretly abducted hundreds of female disciples at or above the Grand Ascension Stage from different sects across the Golden Origin Immortal Region for your own nefarious cultivation," Han Li said in a cold voice, and Yin Tianxiong''splexion also instantly turned deathly pale.
"And you, Yin Tianyuan. You''re not like your brothers in that you don''t kill for your own selfish desires, but you''re a loyalpdog to Dongfang Bai. Over the years, you''ve decimated countless tribes and sects under Dongfang Bai''s orders," Han Li said.
"You''ve really done your homework, haven''t you? That''s right, I''ve eradicated more than my fair share of tribes and sects! If you''re going to kill me for that, then go ahead!" Yin Tianyuan provoked with no fear in his eyes whatsoever.
Right as Han Li was about to y the four men, Yin Tianyuan''s skin suddenly took on a crimsonplexion, and he began to cackle in a high-pitched voice, much like the cries of an ape.
His cackling was imbued with some type of peculiarw powers that struck Han Li with a burst of sharp pain in his eardrums, despite his incredible physical constitution.
Yin Tianhu, Yin Tianlu, and Yin Tianxiong immediately pounced on this opportunity to dart back in retreat away from the flying swords resting against their throats.
In contrast, Yin Tianyuan pounced directly at Han Li instead of retreating with his brothers.
"Run! I''ll keep him here while you three get away!" Yin Tianyuan yelled as he crashed toward Han Li, while his body began to swell up like a balloon.
"Tianyuan!" Yin Tianxiong yelled as he turned around to rush back to Yin Tianyuan, only to be stopped by Yin Tianhu.
"Tianyuan has already used the Red Lotus Destruction Arts, so he''s beyond saving. Don''t let his sacrifice be in vain!" Yin Tianhu yelled as he dragged Yin Tianxiong away.
Right at this moment, a dull thump rang out as a ball of radiant crimson light erupted forth in all directions.
Han Li remainedpletely unfazed as he conjured up his True Extreme Film to easily keep out the oing crimson light.
Yin Tianhu''s trio was shocked and horrified to see this, and they hurriedly fled for their lives in different directions.
Ayer of ck mes emerged over Yin Tianhu''s body as he sped away into the distance as a massive, ck fireball.
Meanwhile, Yin Tianlu devoured an azure pill, and a giant, azure deer projection instantly appeared around him before galloping away as a streak of azure light.
As for Yin Tianxiong, ayer of rippling ck light had appeared over his body, and he abruptly vanished into the ground.
In response, Han Lished out with his left fist while making a hand seal with his right hand, and at the same time, a blurry sword projection shot out of his be before vanishing into thin air.
Immediately thereafter, a golden fist projection the size of a house appeared behind Yin Tianhu amid a burst of spatial fluctuations before crashing into him, instantly snuffing out the ck me around him before smashing his body into smithereens.
At the same time, a golden flying sword appeared in front of Yin Tianlu, catching himpletely off guard, and his body was sliced into two before he had a chance to take any evasive measures.
Deep underground, Yin Tianxiong was fleeing as quickly as he could when a translucent sword projection suddenly appeared beside him before plunging into his head.
A bloodcurdling howl rang out from underground before immediately fading into silence, while Weeping Soul reached out to make a grabbing motion with her hands, and three nascent souls flew into her grasp from different directions.
At this moment, there were four nascent souls hovering above her hands, and they were struggling with all their might to break free, but it was apletely futile endeavor.
"Make sure to examine their memories before you devour their souls," Han Li said.
He had stormed into the Golden Origin Immortal Pce on this asion not just to kill Dongfang Bai and the others, but also because there was an interregion teleportation array in the Golden Origin Immortal Pce that could take him straight to other immortal regions.
Now that he had alreadypletely exposed himself, continuing to stay in the Golden Origin Immortal Region was no longer an option, so he wanted to leave this ce as soon as possible.
"I''m not going to devour their filthy souls," Weeping Soul harrumphed coldly. "After I''ve searched their souls, I''m going to refine them into soul tools to torture them for ten thousand years!"
As soon as her voice trailed off, she began to chant an incantation, unleashing a soul search technique.
Meanwhile, a burst of golden lightning erupted out of Han Li''s body to epass Weeping Soul, following which he set off in pursuit of Dongfang Bai.
It hadn''t taken him very long at all to y the Five Heavenly Yin Disciples, and Dongfang Bai was still within his spiritual sensory range.
After tracking down Dongfang Bai with his spiritual sense, he set off at an astonishing speed, and it didn''t take long before the distance between them was whittled down to no more than several hundred kilometers.
Han Li harrumphed coldly as he swept a sleeve through the air, and his seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantlybined as one, forming a thick bolt of lightning that caught up to Dongfang Bai in the blink of an eye before crashing down upon him with almighty power.
1. In Chinese, tiger is pronounced as "hu", so Yin Tianhu''s name ends in tiger, and the names of his siblings all follow the same form, with the prefix of Yin Tian, followed by their respective animal, ie. deer (lu), bear (xiong), ape (yuan), and eagle (ying). ?
Chapter 1025: Job Done
In response, Dongfang Bai turned around and opened his mouth to release arge azure g, and countless peculiar green flowers emerged from the g, forming a floral bouquet to oppose the oing bolt of lightning.
A rich aroma that was imbued with a type of specialw powers wafted through the air, and the power of the bolt of lightning was greatly diminished by this strange fragrance.
As a result, it was only able to pierce through arge chunk of the floral bouquet before being stopped in its tracks.
Right at this moment, Dongfang Bai swooped down toward a particrly massive golden pce down below before vanishing into it in a sh.
A resounding thunderp rang out as Han Li appeared in the sky above before also descending toward the pce, and at the same time, the bolt of golden lightning exploded topletely eradicate what little remained of the floral bouquet.
The azure g re-emerged, having already been torn to shreds, while the bolt of golden lightning flew up Han Li''s sleeve in a sh.
Han Li appeared in front of the pce in an instant, and he was just about to fly in when the gates of the pce swung shut amid a burst of loud rumbling.
The gates were over a hundred feet tall, and they were giving off an indestructible ck gleam.
The gates were also riddled with antiquated golden patterns that formed numerous swords of different sizes, and it was clearly an extremely formidable restriction.Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he stopped cold in his tracks, and after taking a moment to inspect his surroundings, he asked, "Have you finished searching their souls, Weeping Soul? What is this ce?"
"Hold on a second, Master," Weeping Soul replied as she continued carrying out her soul search.
All of a sudden, an rmed look appeared on her face as she eximed, "This is the teleportation pce of the Golden Origin Immortal Pce! The interregion teleportation array is in there!"
"So he''s trying to get away, is he?" Han Li harrumphed coldly as he instantly transformed into a devilish deity with three heads and six arms, and over nine hundred profound acupoints lit up over his body, glowing as radiantly as stars in the night sky.
Three bursts of true spirit bloodline powers rose up within his body, releasing a devastating aura of destruction.
Han Li let loose a thunderous roar as heshed out at the pce gates with all six fists, but Weeping Soul hurriedly called out, "That won''t work, Master! These gates were crafted using Idol Stones, one of the hardest materials under the heavens. On top of that, the restrictions on these gates are also extremely powerful and not to be dealt with through brute force. I''ve already found the way to deactivate the restriction, so allow me to..."
However, Han Li''s fists had already struck the pce gates before she had a chance to finish.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the entire pce trembled violently, and countless cracks instantly appeared over the pce gates.
Close to ten thousand streaks of golden swordlight erupted out of the gates, forming a giant sword array that converged toward Han Li.
This sword array was even more formidable than what Han Li was able to unleash with his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, but all he did was open his mouth to release a burst of green light, which spread out in all directions to sweep up all of the streaks of golden sword light.
Immediately thereafter, the burst of green light vanished alongside all of the streaks of golden swordlight, and it was as if they had never existed at all.
After the green light faded away, Han Li mmed his six giant fists into the pce gates once again,pletely shattering them and reducing them to rubble.
Only then did he recall that Weeping Soul seemed to have been trying tomunicate something urgently to him, and he turned to her as he asked, "What did you just say?"
"N-nothing..." Weeping Soul stammered as she stared nkly at the wreckage of the pce gates, while Han Li rushed straight into the pce.
The pce was circr in shape, and it had a diameter of several thousand feet. There were dozens of white stone pirs in the pce, supporting the roof above, and at the center of the pce was a golden array that was riddled with countless profound runes and around five hundred to six hundred feet in diameter.
There were twelve silver stone pirs around the array, engraved upon each of which was a relief of a majestic silver dragon.
At this moment, Dongfang Bai was busy at work inside the array, quickly cing silver crystals into the slots on the twelve silver stone pirs.
The slots on half of the stone pirs had already been filled, and they were glowing with radiant silver light that converged toward the center of the array.
Han Li crashed down into the pce, stomping a pair of enormous craters into the ground and causing the entire pce to tremble violently.
"This is impossible! How could you have made it in here so quickly?!" Dongfang Bai roared in an incredulous manner.
"This is the end of the road for you, Dongfang Bai."
Han Li slowly emerged from the cloud of dust that had been raised by hisnding, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
Dongfang Bai''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he hurriedly abandoned the array to flee for his life.
A cold sneer appeared on Han Li''s face as countless golden ripples erupted out of his Mantra Treasured Axis, instantly filling the entire hall.
Dongfang Bai abruptly reappeared near the entrance of the pce amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, having beenpletely immobilized by Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis.
Han Li reverted back to his human form, then flicked a finger through the air, releasing a golden sword projection that pierced straight through Dongfang Bai''s dantian.
The nascent soul inside was destroyed in the process, confirming that this was undoubtedly Dongfang Bai''s true body.
A look of relief appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and his Mantra Treasured Axis faded away at his behest, but immediately thereafter, a ball of green light flew out of Dongfang Bai''s body before shooting out of the pce.
"Weeping Soul!" Han Li called out, and she immediately appeared in front of the fleeing soul in a wraith-like manner before trapping it in her grasp.
The ball of green light was struggling with all its might, and it was clearly significantly more powerful than the souls of the Five Heavenly Yin Disciples, but it was still unable to break free.
Dongfang Bai''s face appeared within the ball of green light, and he hurriedly said in a frantic manner, "My sincerest apologies for my past transgressions against you, fellow daoists. Please spare my life, and I''m willing to hand over all of the wealth that the Golden Origin Immortal Pce and I have umted over the years.
¡°The Golden Origin Immortal Region is a very fertile immortal region with countless riches to be harvested, so I''m sure you won''t be disappointed with what I have to offer."
Han Li merely smiled and offered no response.
As for Weeping Soul, she had been very close with Ye Susu, so she had zero intention of letting Dongfang Bai off the hook, and she was glowering resentfully at his soul.
Dongfang Bai''s heart sank slightly at the sight of Weeping Soul''s hateful expression, and he turned to Han Li as he continued, "Fellow Daoist Han, I can serve you for the rest of my existence as a ghostly ve. With my current cultivation base, even after I''m converted into a ghostly ve, my powers won''t diminish much, so I''ll definitely be of help to you.
¡°The Nine Origins Temple has already sent powerful cultivators toe and capture you, and you''ll only be able to escape from them with my help. Otherwise, even if you kill me, you''ll fall into the hands of the Nine Origins Temple!"
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
"Master, we can''t let him go after what he did to the Azure Fox Tribe! If you want to know anything from him, then I can just search his soul and tell you!" Weeping Soul hurriedly said.
It had be very clear that Han Li was the decision-maker here, so Dongfang Bai felt no need to respect Weeping Soul, and he harrumphed coldly, "I''ve cultivated a soul locking secret technique that makes my soul impossible to search. If you try to use a soul search technique on me, you''ll only be able to destroy my soul at most!"
"Please trust me, Master! Myw powers specifically target souls, so I''m sure that I can search his soul even if others can''t!" Weeping Soul urged in a frantic manner.
"Rest assured, Weeping Soul, I never had any intention of sparing him. Go ahead and search his soul. Even if you end up destroying his soul in the process, it hardly matters to me," Han Li said.
"Thank you, Master!" Weeping Soul said in an ecstatic manner, then immediately sprang into action before Dongfang Bai had a chance to say anything.
Countless crimson runes surged out of her hands before infiltrating Dongfang Bai''s soul, and a bloodcurdling howl rang out, but the soul didn''t explode.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this. It seemed that Weeping Soul''sw powers really did trump Dongfang Bai''s soul locking secret technique.
With that in mind, he strode over to Dongfang Bai''s body, then removed a storage ring from one of its fingers before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
Momentster, a pleased look appeared on his face as he swept a sleeve through the air to produce a small pile of the silver crystals that Dongfang Bai had been using just now.
He wasted no time, picking up the crystals before cing them into the vacant slots on the silver pirs.
Even though he wasn''t able to find any information on this teleportation array in Dongfang Bai''s storage ring, it was only going to be a matter of time before Weeping Soul dug this information out of Dongfang Bai''s memories.
All he had to do was ready the array, and once Weeping Soul found out how to operate it, they would be able to leave this ce right away.
Chapter 1026: More Trouble
Chapter 1026: More Trouble
Before long, all of the remaining slots on the silver pirs in the pce had been filled, and after looking around to ensure that nothing was amiss, Han Li made a hand seal, upon which the entire array began to glow with bright silver light.
At the same time, an ted look appeared on Weeping Soul''s face as the ck light over her hands quickly faded away, revealing Dongfang Bai''s soul again.
At this point, the soul was already extremely frail, and there was also a dull and dazed look in its eyes, indicating that all of its intelligence had been erased during the course of Weeping Soul''s soul search.
"Master, this teleportation array is connected to four ces, the Vast Golden Immortal Pce, the Middle Earth Immortal Pce, the..."
Right at this moment, a thick pir of silver light erupted out of the array, illuminating the entire pce a bright silver color.
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately rushed toward one of the silver pirs before reaching out to pluck out the silver crystals on it, but right at this moment, a translucent, spherical light barrier appeared around the array, epassing the entire array and the twelve surrounding stone pirs within it.
Han Li crashed headfirst into the array before immediately being sent flying back, as if he had run into a soft and bouncy wall.
At the same time, two figures appeared within the pir of silver light, one of whom had fiery red skin and disproportionatelyrge hands and feet, presenting a bizarre sight to behold.
He was apanied by a young man who was dressed in immortal envoy attire, and Han Li''s expression changed drastically at the sight of the two figures as he grabbed onto Weeping Soul before flying outside.
He was able to identify the red-skinned man as none other than Patriarch Miro''s traitorous disciple, Qi Mozi, and his tremendous aura indicated that he was a Great Epassment cultivator.
As for the golden-robed young man with him, he was only at thete-Golden Immortal Stage.
If this were a normal Great Epassment cultivator, then Han Li would be confident in his own ability to at least put up a fight, but Qi Mozi was also cultivating thews of time, so directly engaging him in battle would clearly not be a wise option.
A hint of surprise appeared on Qi Mozi''s face at the sight of the situation in the pce, following which his brows furrowed slightly as he caught sight of the fleeing Han Li.
He then turned to the golden-robed young man beside him, and thetter immediately confirmed, "That''s him!"
An ted look appeared in Qi Mozi''s eyes upon hearing this, and he immediately attempted to fly out of the array, but the spherical light barrier around the array was extremely resilient, and he was unable to break through, even with his Great Epassment Stage powers.
At this point, Han Li had already flown out of the pce with Weeping Soul, and he turned around to take a nce at the two people in the teleportation array before sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing a flurry of golden lightning that epassed both himself and Weeping Soul, following which the two of them vanished from the spot.
Qi Mozi harrumphed coldly as a golden torch appeared in front of him, and it was none other than the Time Severing Torch.
Compared with Han Li Time Severing Torch, Qi Mozi''s was around twice the size, and aside from the golden me on top of it, the rest of the torch also had a substantial form, unlike Han Li''s, which had a more illusory and intangible appearance.
There were over two thousand Time Dao Runes shing on Qi Mozi''s Time Severing Torch, and it was giving off timew power fluctuations far more formidable than those of Han Li''s Time Severing Torch.
The me on the torch swelled up at Qi Mozi''s behest, releasing waves of fiery spiritual light that instantly spread over the entire surrounding area in a radius of around a thousand feet.
The surrounding spherical light barrier was instantly enveloped within the fiery spiritual light, and the spiritual power cirction in the light barrier was instantly brought to aplete standstill. It was a simr effect to that of Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis, but even more potent.
The golden-robed young man had also beenpletely immobilized by the fiery spiritual light, but Qi Mozi remained unaffected as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of golden light that struck the spherical light barrier.
The burst of golden light wasn''t giving off any formidable aura, but it was able to shatter the spherical light barrier with ease, immediately following which the Time Severing Torch and the surrounding, fiery spiritual light faded in unison, and everything returned to normal.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and the golden-robed young man had a chance to react, Qi Mozi had already flown out of the pce.
Countless golden shadows flew out of his body before racing away in all directions, following which his eyes lit up slightly as he made a hand seal, and countless me-shaped runes surged out of his body as well, forming a radiant, golden array around him in the blink of an eye.
Bursts of golden mes erupted out of the array to envelop his entire body, and in the next instant, he abruptly vanished from the spot.
The golden-robed young man hurriedly flew out of the pce as well, but at this point, Han Li and Qi Mozi were already nowhere to be seen.
The young man heaved a forlorn sigh upon seeing this, then flew away in another direction as a ball of golden light.
Meanwhile, Han Li and Weeping Soul reappeared amid a sh of golden lightning above a mountain that was close to a hundred thousand kilometers away from the Golden Origin Immortal Pce.
"Who was that man just now?" Weeping Soul asked.
"He''s from the Heavenly Court''s Immortal Prison, perhaps even the chief warden of the Immortal Prison," Han Li replied.
"The chief warden of the Immortal Prison!" Weeping Soul eximed.
"Now''s not the time to talk. We''re still not safe yet, so we have to leave this ce right away," Han Li said as he made a hand seal, and countless arcs of golden lightning sprang out of his body, quickly forming a golden lightning array that was several dozen feet in size.
Right at this moment, a ball of dazzling golden light appeared in the distance, giving off bursts of spatial fluctuations.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which he and Weeping Soul vanished from within the golden lightning array.
Meanwhile, the ball of golden light unfurled to form a fiery golden array with Qi Mozi within it, and a cold sneer appeared on his face at the sight of the lightning array, which was still yet to fully dissipate.
After taking a moment to detect which direction Han Li had gone in, he conjured up another fiery golden array around himself before vanishing from the spot.
Han Li and Weeping Soul reappeared somewhere within the Golden Origin Mountain Range amid a sh of golden lightning, and a concerned look appeared on Weeping Soul''s face as she asked, "What do we do, Master? That Qi Mozi is also adept in spatial teleportation!"
A grim look had appeared on Han Li''s face as well, and as soon as he steadied himself, he immediately conjured up another lightning array.
However, before he had a chance to activate the array, another ball of golden mes appeared in the distance, and this one was traveling even faster than before.
Han Li immediately activated his lightning teleportation array to teleport himself and Weeping Soul away, only for Qi Mozi to instantly appear before conjuring up another spatial teleportation array as well.
With that, a game of cat and mouse ensued, and before long, the three of them were already countless kilometers away from the Golden Origin Immortal Pce.
Even though Han Li was the one leading Qi Mozi on a chase, thetter was gradually bing more and more familiar with Han Li''s lightning array, and the gap between them was constantly dwindling.
Han Li and Weeping Soul reappeared once again amid a sh of golden lightning, this time above a cliff in the Golden Origin Mountain Range.
It wasn''t that Han Li didn''t want to send Weeping Soul into the Flower Branch domain. Instead, the problem was that Weeping Soul was a living being, so in order to enter the Flower Branch domain, a spatial door had to be opened first, and there was simply no time for Han Li to do this with Qi Mozi so hot on his heels.
As soon as the two of them reappeared, Han Li immediately made a hand seal to conjure up another lightning array.
"He''s getting closer and closer, Master. At this rate, he''ll catch up to us soon. Do you have any way to lose him?" Weeping Soul asked.
"The teleportation technique that he''s usingbines the powers of fire and space, and it''s fundamentally very simr to my lightning teleportation array. If I can teleport a massive distance away in one go, that should be enough to shake him off," Han Li replied.
Before the lightning array had a chance to fully take shape, Qi Mozi suddenly appeared nearby amid a sh of golden fire, and he sneered, "You''ll have to almost teleport yourself entirely out of the Golden Origin Mountain Range in one go if you want to get away from me!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a long, ck ribbon of light that was over a thousand feet in length erupted out of the golden fire, and it was traveling at an astonishing speed, striking the lightning array in the blink of an eye.
The lightning array didn''t have much defensive properties to begin with, and it was instantly destroyed upon contact.
Han Li hurriedly darted back in retreat with Weeping Soul, only just barely managing to evade the ck ribbon, which continued to pursue them.
While flying back in retreat, Han Li channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts andshed out with his fist, releasing a golden fist projection to sh against the ck ribbon.
The golden fist projection was instantly sliced into two, while the ck ribbon drew to a momentary halt before continuing to fly through the air.
Han Li''s expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, and he yelled for Weeping Soul to hold tightly onto him before unleashing a rapid flurry of punches, sending a torrential barrage of golden fist projections crashing into the ck ribbon.
A string of earth-shattering booms rang out as the ck ribbon gradually faded over time, and after slicing through countless fist projections, it finally vanished entirely.
At this point, Han Li was already slightly out of breath.
His physical body had already been severely taxed during his battle against Dongfang Bai, and he had just thrown thousands of punches in the blink of an eye, which was certainly not helping his condition.
Chapter 1027: Stubborn Pursuit
Chapter 1027: Stubborn Pursuit
Weeping Soul''s eyes had been shut while she clung to Han Li, and upon opening her eyes, she immediately asked in a concerned voice, "Are you alright, Master?"
"I''m fine. He''sing again," Han Li said in a grim manner as he cast his gaze toward a certain direction.
"It looks like you do have some tricks up your sleeve. No wonder you were able to kill Dongfang Bai," Qi Mozi remarked with a smile as he flew out of a ball of golden fire in the distance.
At this moment, he was holding a glowing, ck hatchet, and it seemed that the ribbon of ck light had been unleashed by this hatchet.
For some reason, Han Li felt as if his entire body were beingid bare under Qi Mozi''s scrutiny, and only after channeling his timew powers was he able to just barely ward off this sensation.
"Who are you? I don''t recall ever meeting you before this."
Even though Han Li was well aware of who Qi Mozi was, he still decided to try and employ some stalling tactics.
"Did neither of my two disciples show you an image of me? I am Qi Mozi. I''m sure you''ve already heard of that name. I don''t want to waste any more time here, hand over the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, and I''ll spare you your life," Qi Mozi said as he began to approach Han Li.
Han Li''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, but his expression remainedpletely unchanged as he asked, "The Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra? What''s that? A cultivation art?"
"You really are just as sly and uncooperative as Chi Rong told me you were! It doesn''t matter whether you admit it or not, I''ll just have to use a soul search technique on you," Qi Mozi sneered as heunched himself at Han Li, who hurriedly flew back in retreat.
"Leave me behind, Master. Focus on dealing with him, I can look after myself," Weeping Soul said, but Han Li paid no heed to her.
"What a chivalrous gentleman you are! Rest assured, I never kill women. All I want is your soul!" Qi Mozi chortled as he swung his hatchet through the air, releasing a ribbon of ck light that was several times brighter and wider than before, and it was also almost twice as fast as the previous one, reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye.
The space around the ribbon of ck light was shattered like a mirror, forming countless spatial rifts that converged toward the center from all sides.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face as he hurriedly released his Mantra Treasured Axis, sending countless golden ripples surging through the air to epass the ribbon of ck light.
The ck ribbon was instantly stopped in its tracks, but the golden ripples also shuddered violently, seemingly struggling to hold themselves together.
"Oh? How remarkable that you''ve managed to cultivate the Mantra Axis Scripture to this extent," Qi Mozi mused with a surprised expression, but he remained unfazed as he raised his hatchet once again.
Right at this moment, a golden spirit domain erupted out of Han Li''s body, epassing the entire surrounding area within a radius of several kilometers.
Enshrouded within the spirit domain, Qi Mozi''s movements were instantly slowed down to a crawl.
Simultaneously using both his Mantra Treasured Axis and his time spirit domain was extremely taxing on Han Li''s immortal spiritual power, but he paid no heed to this as he swept both sleeves through the air, releasing around a dozen lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood, which immediately formed a circle around him.
Radiant golden lightning erupted out of the lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood before converging around Han Li.
Qi Mozi could see what Han Li was attempting to do, and he immediately released his own fiery spirit domain, epassing an area that was several dozen kilometers in radius.
Han Li''s movements were immediately slowed down significantly under the effects of Qi Mozi''s spirit domain, but he was still doing his best to activate the Lightning Restraining Wood Array.
Right as the array was about to bepleted, Qi Mozi let loose a loud roar as he conjured up his Time Severing Torch.
Waves of fiery spiritual light erupted out of the torch, bringing everything around it to aplete standstill, and the spiritual light was spreading extremely quickly, almost instantly reaching Han Li and Weeping Soul.
Han Li and the surrounding lightning array were instantly immobilized, as was the Mantra Treasured Axis, having beenpletely dominated by Qi Mozi''s Time Severing Torch.
Qi Mozi''s expression eased slightly as he swung his hatchet through the air, unleashing another ribbon of ck light that struck the golden ripples around Han Li, instantly shattering them with ease.
The ck ribbon then continued sweeping toward Han Li, but right at this moment, a golden jade vial suddenly appeared on Han Li''s left, while a golden hourss appeared on his right.
A golden torch then emerged in front of him, while a small, golden tree sprouted behind him.
The five time-attributew treasures seemed to be able to resonate with one another, and all of the Time Dao Runes on their surfaces lit up, releasing a burst of incredibly formidable timew power fluctuations.
Fifty timew threads shot out of the five time-attributew treasures, then connected together to form a golden ring that released a burst of powerful suction force.
Qi Mozi''s spirit domain began to shudder violently, and bursts of fiery spiritual light were sucked into the golden ring, much to his astonishment.
At the same time, the time-slowing effect on Han Li and the lightning array around him was undone, and he immediately made a hand seal, instantlypleting the array.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of radiant golden lightning erupted out of the array to epass both Han Li and Weeping Soul, and extremely formidable spatial fluctuations were surging out of the golden lightning in all directions.
A furious look appeared on Qi Mozi''s face upon seeing this, and the ck hatchet in his hand instantly swelled to around ten times its original size, transforming into an enormous ck ax.
A burst of incredibly violentw power fluctuations erupted out of the ax, and the nearby space was already beginning to copse.
Qi Mozi grabbed onto the ax with both hands before swinging it viciously down upon the lightning array, unleashing a giant ribbon of ck light that was around half a kilometer wide and several kilometers in length.
All of the space in its wake waspletely shattered, creating countless spatial vortexes in the surrounding area.
The sky instantly turned pitch-ck as dark clouds converged up above, but it was already toote.
A rumbling thunderp rang out as Han Li and Weeping Soul vanished from the spot, immediately following which the ck ribbon descended, tearing the lightning array apart while also destroying the lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood.
A dark look appeared on Qi Mozi''s face as he stowed his ck hatchet away, following which he closed his eyes to try and track Han Li.
Around fifteen minutester, he reopened his eyes, and his expression had darkened even further.
However, a fervent look then appeared in his eyes as he chuckled to himself, "So you really are in possession of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra. This cultivation art allows the user to absorb all other timew powers. As expected of the most powerful time-attribute cultivation art of them all!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he flew back in the direction of the Golden Origin Immortal Pce as a streak of golden light.
......
Deep within the Golden Origin Mountain Range, countless kilometers away from the Golden Origin Immortal Pce.
There was a stone chamber that was several dozen feet in size dug out inside an enormous golden mountain.
The walls of the stone chamber were riddled with spirit patterns that were giving off lights of different colors, and there was a golden lightning array arranged on the ground.
Around a dozen lengths of Lightning Restraining Wood were standing around the array, and all of them were shing with golden lightning.
All of a sudden, the golden lightning array lit up as an enormous pir of golden light erupted into the heavens.
All of the spirit patterns in the stone chamber instantly lit up, conjuring up severalyers of light barriers that contained all of thew power fluctuations and pirs of golden light released by the array.
The pir of golden light only lingered for a few seconds before fading away to reveal Han Li and Weeping Soul, thetter of which was looking around with an intrigued expression.
"As a safety precaution, I set up this Lightning Restraining Wood Array here prior to going to the Golden Origin Immortal Pce, and I''m d I made that decision. This ce is extremely far away from the Golden Origin Immortal Pce, so Qi Mozi won''t be able to track us here," Han Li said as he withdrew the five time-attributew treasures around him.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swayed unsteadily before falling to one knee, and blood began to trickle down from the corner of his lips.
"Master, are you injured?" Weeping Soul eximed as she hurriedly grabbed onto Han Li to support him.
"While I was activating the lightning array, I sustained some internal injuries from thew power fluctuations released by Qi Mozi''s ax projection," Han Li exined as he summoned a green pill before devouring it.
"Thank heavens you prepared this lightning array in advance. Otherwise, we would''ve been in major trouble. Should we stay here for a while so that you can rest and recover?" Weeping Soul asked.
"The Lightning Restraining Wood Array caused a massivemotion just now, and even with the restrictions I set up, there''s no guarantee that it wouldn''t have attracted any attention, so let''s leave this ce first," Han Li said as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of azure light that disassembled the lightning array on the ground, while a series of array gs also flew out of the surrounding stone chamber before falling into his grasp.
After stowing these items away, Han Li conjured up another golden lightning array, and the two of them vanished amid a sh of golden lightning.
Chapter 1028: Strange Spring
Chapter 1028: Strange Spring
Somewhere in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, there was a secluded mountain.
A rumbling thunderp rang out as a golden lightning array appeared above the mountain before vanishing in a sh, following which two figures plummeted out of the sky, crashing down into a dense forest on the mountain summit.
A string of loud thumps rang out as several giant trees were felled before the two figures finally copsed beside a giant rock.
The two figures were none other than Han Li and Weeping Soul, and thetter called out in an urgent voice, "Master!"
She then hurriedly helped Han Li up into a seated position.
At this moment, Han Li''s robes were in tatters, and there was a wry smile on his face as he said, "I''m fine, it''s just that I''vepletely exhausted my immortal spiritual power reserves."
"That Qi Mozi really is a despicable man! He swooped in right as you were in a vulnerable condition after your battle against Dongfang Bai," Weeping Soulined.
Han Li took a deep breath, then said, "He really did appear at the worst possible time for us. We''re still not safe yet, so we have to keep going after I take a short rest."
Weeping Soul nodded in response, and Han Li devoured a pill before sitting down with his legs crossed to meditate.
Some timeter, he opened his eyes, looking in slightly better condition than before, and as he rose to his feet, Weeping Soul hurriedly did the same before arriving by his side.
"Master, I''m afraid Qi Mozi most likely isn''t going to be the only oneing after us. Before we arrived at the Golden Origin Immortal Pce, Dongfang Bai contacted a Great Epassment cultivator of the Nine Origins Temple, who told him that she would send the Lan siblings after us," Weeping Soul said in an urgent manner.
"The Lan siblings..." Han Li murmured to himself.
"They seem to be quite powerful. Dongfang Bai doesn''t have many memories of them, but I can tell that he has a lot of trust in them," Weeping Soul added.
"We''ve already killed Dongfang Bai, so there''s no need to entangle ourselves with these people any further. The Golden Origin Immortal Pce''s territory is mainly focused in the western region of the Golden Origin Mountain Range, while the central and eastern regions are under the control of countless immortal sects and ns.
¡°Given howplex the situation in those regions is, they should make for good hiding spots for us, so let''s leave this ce right away," Han Li said, and Weeping Soul nodded in response.
"In order to prevent being tracked, I''m going to be temporarily sealing away my own immortal spiritual power and traveling solely using my physical powers. During this time, I''ll get you to stay in the Flower Branch domain to rest and recover," Han LI said as he conjured up a door of silver light, and Weeping Soul readily obliged, stepping through the door of light and into the bamboo pavilion.l
After closing the door of light, Han Li took a nce up at the sky, then sprang up into the clouds.
......
Two years flew by in a sh.
There was a long mountain range in the central region of the Golden Origin Mountain Range, within which was a small and unremarkable col by the name of the Azure Silk Col.
Inside the col was a vige called the Spare Food Vige that waspletely isted from the rest of the world, and the vige had several hundred residents.
One night, the Spare Food Vige was brightly lit, and not a single viger had retired to their beds. Instead, all of them had changed into clothes woven using bamboo fibers, and they were holding torches and banging on gongs and drums as they carried several bamboo sedan chairs toward the foot of the mountain behind the vige.
The sedan chairs were all upied by elderly men with heads of white hair, and they looked as if they were not long for this world.
Amid all of the vigers was a tall, azure-robed man who stuck out like a sore thumb in the crowd.
He was walking alongside a young man who was leading the way, and he asked, "Where are we going, Chief?"
The man that was being referred to as chief was quite youthful in appearance, but he possessed a pair of eyes that seemed to have seen far more than his age would suggest.
"We''re going to White Head Valley, Doctor Han," the vige chief replied.
This Doctor Han was none other than Han Li.
Half a month ago, he just so happened to arrive in the vige, which was suffering from a gue, and he decided to help them to do a good deed. As a result, he became revered as a miracle-working doctor, and the vigers insisted that he stay and enjoy some hospitality.
Han Li initially had no intention of staying in the vige for long, but after spending two days in the vige, he discovered some very abnormal things. For example, this vige chief appeared to be no more than forty years of age, but in reality, he had already lived for over five hundred years.
Mortals in the Immortal Realm enjoyed longer lifespans than those in other realms, but even so, their lifespans were usually capped at around two hundred fifty years. None of these vigers were cultivators, so it didn''t make sense for them to be able to live this long.
"Why are we going there?" Han Li asked.
A hesitant look appeared on the vige chief''s face, following which he replied, "You saved our vige, so I''m not going to keep this a secret from you any longer, Doctor Han. How old do you think those people on the sedan chairs are?"
"They look to be around a hundred and fifty years old to me," Han Li replied.
"That''s right, all of them are indeed roughly that age. However, they are actually juniors of mine as I''m currently five hundred and thirteen years old," the vige chief revealed.
"What?" Han Li eximed as he feigned a stunned expression.
The vige chief smiled at the sight of Han Li''s stunned expression, then patted him on the shoulder as he said, "There''s no need to be so surprised, Doctor Han. Truth be told, there are people in this vige who are even older than me."
"How is that possible? Could it be that you''ve all obtained some type of miraculous medicine?" Han Li asked.
"It''s all thanks to a spring in the White Head Valley," the vige chief exined.
"A spring? What kind of springwater could possibly extend one''s lifespan to such an extent?" Han Li asked.
"I don''t know what to tell you. It''s a very strange spring that only appears once every over a hundred years, and whenever it appears, we''ll carry those in our vige who are about to die of old age into the valley. There, they''ll soak in the spring for a day and a night before we return to collect them," the viger replied.
"Could it be that bathing in the spring can restore one''s youth?" Han Li asked.
"It''s kind of like that, but it''s not that simple. The spring only works some of the time. Sometimes, the people bathing in it end up dead, while other times, their youth is restored. It''s all down to luck," the vige chief exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a contemtive nod.
"You''re still in your prime at the moment, so don''t try to bathe in the spring, Doctor Han. The spring can restore one''s youth, but it can''t cure ailments, so we can still die from illness. I''m telling you this because I would like you to stay and live in our vige. That way, far fewer of us will die from illness, and in return, you''ll hopefully be able to live a long life thanks to this spring," the vige chief said.
"I''m but a traveling doctor, so I''m truly honored that you think so highly of me, Chief. Having said that, this is quite a significant decision for me to make, so would I be able to think about it before getting back to you?" Han Li asked.
"Of course," the vige chief replied with a smile.
The two of them continued onward, and their conversation gradually shifted to more mundane small talk. The vige chief was still very keen to convince Han Li to stay, and he asked Han Li if he had a wife.
He then offered to introduce to Han Li a woman in the vige, one that was already around a hundred years of age, but still had the appearance of a young woman, leaving Han Li both amused and exasperated.
Due to the fact that they were traveling on foot at a mortal pace, it was already past midnight by the time arrived in the White Head Valley.
The valley waspletely silent, but the jagged rocks on the mountain faces on either side of the valley appeared to be rather sinister under the dim light of the moon.
Upon entering the valley, the atmosphere became very solemn, and looks of awe and veneration had appeared in the eyes of all of the vigers.
Deep within the valley were two enormous rocks that were leaning against each other to form a triangr archway, beneath which was a spring that was no more than a hundred feet in size.
The water in the spring was extremely clear, and even under the dim light of the moon, it was possible to see the mud and leaves at the bottom of the spring.
Upon arriving by the spring, everyone joined their palms and closed their eyes in prayer, while the vige chief began reciting a verbal prayer.
While no one was paying attention, Han Li drew a ball of water out of the spring and into his grasp, and after examining it for a moment, his brows furrowed slightly with intrigue.
Standing beside the spring, he could sense some barely detectable timew power fluctuations, but this ball of water from the spring was no different from any normal springwater.
Meanwhile, the vige chief had already ordered for the elderly men to be carried down from their sedan chairs before being lowered into the spring.
The men sat down with their legs crossed, and the springwater reached all the way up to their chests.
After that, all of the vigers extended respectful bows toward the spring before leaving the valley, preparing to return a day and a nightter.
On the way back, everyone was looking much more rxed, and they quickly returned to the vige.
Han Li bade farewell to the vige chief before returning to his own thatch hut, but no more than a few minutester, he snuck out of the hut agin before quickly vanishing into the distance.
Chapter 1029: Investigation
Shortly thereafter, Han Li returned to the White Head Valley.
After hearing what the vige chief had to say earlier, Han Li had determined that faint timew powers within the spring were able to alter the bodies of the vigers bathing inside, either restoring their youth or elerating their deaths.
If he were to cultivate his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra here, then there was a very good chance that he would be able to make a breakthrough in a shorter time, thereby making him better equipped to deal with the likes of Qi Mozi.
However, the timew powers in the spring seemed to be rather inconsistent, and ording to the vige chief, it only appeared for short windows once every over a hundred years, so if he wanted to make use of it, he would have to find the root of the timew powers first.
Upon entering the valley, Han Li began to examine the jagged rocks on either side of it instead of immediately venturing deeper into the valley.
It didn''t take long for him to notice that there were many golden seal text runes engraved onto the surrounding rocks.
Some of the runes were still rtively intact, while others were far less so, but all of them had already lost their original spiritual nature.
No wonder I detected some timew power fluctuations earlier, but I can''t detect them now that I''m in here. It''s quite remarkable that these runes have such a strong concealment effect even in their current state, Han Li thought to himself as he stroked one of the runes on a nearby giant rock.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him. If the concealment effect in this ce was so potent, then why didn''t he make this his new hiding ce?Over the past two years, even though he hadn''t been caught by his Immortal Pce pursuers, they were constantly hot on his tail, keeping him constantly on edge. Every once in a while, he would release a puppet that bore a hint of his aura to try and confound his pursuers, but even so, he was still unable to truly shake them off.
With that in mind, Han Li began to carefully examine the White Head Valley while asionally extending a finger to trace the runes engraved onto the rocks around him.
Only as the sun began to rise did he finally sit down onto arge rock, feeling thoroughly exhausted at this point.
After an entire night of work, Han Li manually restored most of the iplete runes and also moved around many of therge rocks in the valley to restore the array inside as much as possible.
In the instant that his work was done, a cloud of mist instantly began to rise up, concealing the entire valley within it.
Han Li flew up into the air, then examined the valley with his spiritual sense for a moment to discover that he was no longer able to detect even the slightest bit of timew power fluctuations.
If even he couldn''t detect anything with his spiritual sense, then it was extremely unlikely that anyone else would be able to.
After descending back into the valley, Han Li began to make his way toward the spring.
Upon arriving at the triangr archway, Han Li discovered that there was currently ayer of white mist over the spring as well. However, all of the mist was condensed under the two giant rocks, and none of it seeped out into the surrounding area.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense across the valley, upon which his expression changed ever so slightly, and he hurriedly flew over to the spring, where he spotted the elderly men that had been ced in the spring the night before.
All of them were looking extremely wizened and atrophied, clearly having already perished long ago.
Furthermore, the clothes on their bodies began to rapidly decay right before Han Li''s eyes, following which their flesh also disintegrated, revealing the skeletons underneath.
"Looks like they weren''t so lucky this time," Han Li sighed, then reached a hand into the spring before giving the water a gentle stir.
The water was cool to the touch, and it didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way.
A perplexed look appeared on Han Li''s face, but right at this moment, he suddenly felt a faint burst of warmthing from somewhere deep within the spring. This warmer water was wrapping itself around his hand, and it was clearly smoother than the other water around it.
As soon as this burst of water came into contact with Han Li''s hand, he immediately detected a burst of timew power fluctuations, following which the fine hairs on the back of his hand began to rapidly grow before falling away, and the cycle was repeated over and over again.
So the water here is capable of elerating the flow of time. It looks like there really is some type of treasure hidden here.
With that in mind, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to pick up the skeletons before setting them down beside the spring, then waded into the spring himself.
Upon arriving at the source of the burst of warmer water in the spring, Han Li bent down to discover a small hole at the bottom of the spring.
He cleared away all of the small rocks around the hole to fully reveal it, but it didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way.
How strange. Even my spiritual sense isn''t able to detect anything out of the ordinary here...
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he looked up at the two giant rocks above, and in doing so, he discovered a ring-shaped rune inscribed onto each rock, but the two runes weren''t giving off any spiritual power fluctuations.
Han Li activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes, and the runes immediately disyed a change in his eyes.
Deep within the giant rocks where the two runes had been engraved were two rings of golden light that were revolving incessantly in opposite directions.
An intrigued look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he rose up into the air before pressing his hands against the two ring-shaped runes.
At the same time, he channeled his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, and two bursts of golden light flowed out of his hands before injecting themselves into the ring-shaped runes.
The two runes instantly lit up as they began to revolve several times faster than before, and they each released a burst of golden light that came together to form a golden light barrier, whichpletely epassed the space underneath the stone archway.
At this point, Han Li had already preemptively backed out of the stone archway, and he was observing the door of golden light before him with a wary expression.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he conjured up his True Extreme Film before flying into the light barrier.
The golden light barrier instantly vanished, and shortly thereafter, the water in the spring slowly seeped into the ground.
The entire spring gradually dried up, leaving only the skeletal remains of the elderly menying on the loose rocks nearby.
......
There was a lone mountain standing on the border between the western and central regions of the Golden Origin Mountain Range.
At this moment, Qi Mozi was standing on the mountain summit with a broken puppet beneath his feet, looking into the distance.
"This is already the 136th puppet. Even though he left his blood essence on this puppet, he also nted a blood incinerating mark on it, so his blood essence would immediately be incinerated into nothingness as soon as we caught this puppet, leaving no trace behind for us. You were right, Xiong Shan, he really is a very cunning man," Qi Mozi mused.
At this moment, there was a young man standing behind Qi Mozi, and it was none other than Xiong Shan in his new body.
"I''ve had first-hand experience with Han Li''s cunning and resourcefulness, and I paid a heavy price for myck of preparedness. Even so, never did I think that he would develop so quickly, to the point that he''s now posing a threat to the Heavenly Court," Xiong Shan said in a grim voice.
"I was originally nning to take him down in secret, but he stormed into the Golden Origin Immortal Pce and even killed Dongfang Bai, so there''s no way the Heavenly Court will remain oblivious to him. Having said that, I suppose this also benefits me as I can now openly pursue him on behalf of the Immortal Prison," Qi Mozi mused.
"Judging from the route that he''s taken, he appears to have traveled into the central area of the Golden Origin Immortal Region. The situation is veryplex there, so we may not have the easiest of times pursuing him," Xiong Shan said in a hesitant manner.
"The Heavenly Court has already been discontent with the central area of the immortal region for a very long time, so if any sect dares to oppose us at this juncture, then it''ll be a perfect opportunity to set an example. Rest assured, the leaders of all of the powerful sects and ns in this area are sly old foxes who would know that it''s wise to stay out of our way.
¡°In fact, they''ll most likely do everything to prevent Han Li from sneaking into their territory just to avoid getting caught up in this mess," Qi Mozi harrumphed coldly.
"That''s true. Han Li always likes to act alone, so he most likely won''t go into hiding in any sect or n. Hence, I think we should focus the majority of our efforts on searching the areas that aren''t overseen by any prominent powers," Xiong Shan said, and Qi Mozi nodded in agreement with this sentiment.
"Let''s go. I detected his aura earlier, and he should be heading southeastward. Let''s see how long he can keep running for!" Qi Mozi said as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a red flying boat with crimson mes burning around it.
The two of them leaped onto the boat, which then immediately flew away into the distance, quickly vanishing out of sight.
Chapter 1030: Metal Beast
In the instant that Han Li passed through the golden light barrier, he was immediately bound by countless golden threads that contained formidablew powers, suspending him in mid-air in an immobilized manner.
He looked down to discover a lush forest that was around several hundred kilometers in size below, and the forest was bordered by dense, gray mist. It was clear from thisyout that this was a small secret area.
A series of small bluestone paths could be seen through the lush greenery, leading to a golden courtyard deep in the forest.
There''s so much timew powers here! Han Li thought to himself as he took a nce at the golden threads around his own body.
This was a feeling akin to being restricted by the Mantra Treasured Axis, but his thoughts weren''t affected. Even with his tremendous physical constitution, the incredibly sharp golden threads were slicing into his body, causing him great pain.
All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly as he spotted a cloud of dust rising up from the forest in the distance, and there were two giant, golden figures rushing toward him, destroying all of the greenery in their paths.
It was a pair of massive, golden tigers with wings growing out of their ribs, but the wings were disproportionately smallpared to their bodies, so they couldn''t use those wings to take flight.
As they continued rushing forward while pping their wings, they began to rise up from the ground bit by bit en route to Han Li.
Are these metal beasts? Even though these two creatures were beastly in form, their bodies were entirelyprised of extremely pure metal-attribute spiritual qi, allowing them to thrive in the environment of the Golden Origin Mountain Range.
As these thoughts ran through Han Li''s mind, he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, and timew power fluctuations erupted out of his body, attempting to reach some type of bnce with the golden threads around him.
As these timew power fluctuations surged out of his body, the golden threads began to unravel on their own, but at a rather slow rate.
After around twenty seconds, his body was still bound by several hundred golden threads, but at this point, the two giant metal beasts were already upon him, and both of them opened their cavernous mouths, with one of them biting down upon his head, while the other was chomping at his waist.
Burst of golden light that were imbued with extremely sharp metal-attribute spiritual qi could be seen gleaming over their sharp fangs, and even Han Li was struck by a sense of foreboding at the sight of them.
Right as their mouths were about to close around Han Li, a silver fire raven abruptly flew out of his body, then swelled drastically in size as it pped its fiery wings and crashed directly into the pair of metal beasts.
Two resounding explosions rang out as specks of silver fire erupted in all directions, and the two metal beasts were forced back down to the ground by the Essence Fire Raven.
The two beasts let loose thunderous roars as they chomped down onto the Essence Fire Raven''s wings, and even though the Essence Fire Raven had already flown back up into the sky, tworge chunks were still torn off its fiery wings.
The metal beasts werepletely unfazed by the scorching, silver mes, chewing a few times before directly devouring them, and a surprised look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
He knew better than anyone else just how formidable the Essence Fire Raven''s mes were, so it was truly surprising to him that these two metal beasts were able to devour such mes.
All the while, more and more of the golden threads around his body continued to unravel in the face of his timew powers.
The Essence Fire Raven seemed to have been infuriated to have had parts of its wings torn away, and it swooped down from above like a fiery asteroid, transforming into a swirling tornado of silver mes that epassed both of the metal beasts.
The silver tornado rose up into the heavens, and the fierce wind swept up by its revolution drastically elevated the temperatures of the mes. Situated within the fiery tornado, wisps of faint golden mist began to rise up from the bodies of the two metal beasts.
The bodies of these metal beasts were primarilyprised of metal-attribute spiritual qi, so that was most likely what this golden mist was.
Right at this moment, two thunderous roars rang out as the two metal beasts suddenly crashed headfirst into each other with a resounding boom.
A burst of blinding golden light instantly erupted out of their foreheads before sweeping through the air in all directions, slicing through the surrounding silver mes to allow the pair of metal beasts to escape from the fiery tornado.
The Essence Fire Raven''s body had been split into two, and the two bursts of silver mes rose up into the air before attempting to fuse back together, but they were prevented from doing so by ayer of golden light between them.
As for the metal beast, they paid no further heed to the Essence Fire Raven as they charged directly at Han Li once again.
However, at this point, Han Li had already struggled free from the binding golden threads, and he took a step forward in mid-air, then channeled his Titan Vajra Arts as heshed out with both fists.
A burst of radiant starlight emerged over his arms, and his fists struck the two metal beasts squarely on their foreheads amid a pair of resounding ngs.
Two bursts of powerful shockwaves erupted forth in all directions, and the two metal beasts were sent plummeting out of the sky before crashing down onto the ground, causing the earth to tremble violently.
Han Li took a nce at the Essence Fire Raven, which was still struggling to fuse itself back together, then continued pursuing the pair of metal beasts, raining down more punches upon them before they had a chance to crawl out of the crater in the ground.
Han Li''s fists fell like rain, and after unleashing over a hundred punches, the entire surrounding area within a radius of several dozen kilometers had already been severely ravaged.
He was worried that if he were to keep this up, then the foundation of this entire secret area would be destroyed, so he stopped what he was doing, but as soon as he did so, his brows instantly became tightly furrowed.
As it turned out, the two metal beasts were already nowhere to be seen.
Han Li flew down to the bottom of the crater, and only then did he discover that the two metal beasts had already fled through an underground tunnel that they had dug.
"Let''s go after those two first, then find a way to eradicate that golden light so you can return to your normal form," Han Limunicated to the Essence Fire Raven.
The two bursts of silver mes immediately stopped trying to fuse back together, and they transformed into a pair of identical silver fire ravens instead beforending on Han Li''s shoulders.
Han Li took a nce at the entrance of the underground tunnel, then flew directly into it.
Due to the fact that the tunnel had only just been dug out, it was very hot and humid inside, and the entire tunnel was filled with the odor of mold and soil.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he advanced onward for close to ten kilometers, upon which he arrived at a crossroads.
The crossroads consisted of the tunnel that Han Li was currently traveling through, intersected by another wider tunnel with smooth and dry walls, indicating that it had been dug out long ago.
Furthermore, there were some air currents flowing through the other tunnel, and the air currents were very hot to the touch.
After sweeping his spiritual sense through the area, a faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he chuckled to the pair of fire ravens on his shoulders, "You''re in luck..."
He then flew into the crossroads before taking the tunnel to his left, and after traveling for close to another ten kilometers, he arrived in a spacious underground area.
As soon as he arrived in this underground area, he spotted a five-colored fire pit that was over a thousand feet in size. The pit was filled with crimson, yellow, green, azure, and blue mes, and it was giving off waves of sweltering heat.
At this moment, the two metal beasts wereying beside the fiery pit, gnawing on a giant piece of golden ore, and with each bite that they took a small amount of metal-attribute spiritual qi would enter their bodies.
The two metal beasts immediately stood up at the sight of Han Li, and they bared their fangs at him in a menacing manner, but didn''t dare to attack him again.
They''ve been constantly residing near this fire pit and feeding on ore that''s tinged with the power of the five-colored mes, so it''s No wonder they were able to devour my mes of Essence.
At this point, the pair of fire ravens on Han Li''s shoulders had also realized just how remarkable this five-colored fire pit was, and they were both jumping up and down in excitement.
"Go on," Han Li said with a smile, and the two fire ravens immediately flew toward the five-colored fire pit in unison.
The two metal beasts instantly sprang up into the air to try and stop the fire ravens, but in the blink of an eye, Han Li appeared beneath them in a wraith-like manner, then grabbed onto their tails before tugging them downard.
The two metal beasts were sent crashing heavily down onto the ground, then immediately scrambled to their paws before pouncing at Han Li.
Han Li channeled his Giant Mountain Ape bloodline, and tufts of golden fur appeared over his skin as he instantly transformed into a giant golden ape that was over a hundred feet tall, then pressed his hand down onto the two metal beasts'' heads, forcing them firmly into the ground.
The two metal beasts struggled with all their might, and their tails were swinging around frantically like a pair of whips, but they were no match for Han Li''s tremendous strength.
Chapter 1031: Diverse Interests
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he looked down at the pair of metal beasts beneath his hands.
If he wanted to kill these two metal beasts, then he was naturally perfectly capable of doing so, but he was feeling a little hesitant as he was thinking that it would not be a bad idea to send them into the Flower Branch domain to serve as a pair of guardian beasts.
Right at this moment, the tail of the two metal beasts suddenly wound themselves together, and a burst of radiant golden light appeared as the bodies of the two metal beasts suddenly liquefied, following which they fused as one to form a single giant golden tiger.
Thebined golden tiger''s wings were several timesrger than before, but they were still rather disproportionatepared with the rest of its body.
So they can even fuse together! As expected of metal beasts formed by such pure metal-attribute spiritual qi.
Thebined metal beast possessed a far superior aura to before, and it let loose a thunderous roar as it pounced at Han Li.
Right at this moment, the five-colored fire pit suddenly churned violently, and an enormous fiery bird flew out from within, then pecked down with its enormous silver beak.
Before Han Li had a chance to stop it, the fiery bird''s beak had already pecked down onto the giant golden tiger, following which the creature was devoured whole.
What a pity. Han Li heaved a forlorn internal sigh upon seeing this, while the fiery bird cocked its head to the side slightly, wondering why Han Li was looking so disappointed.
"It''s fine. You''ve already eaten them, so it can''t be helped. I''ll just have to get Xiao Bai to look after the Flower Branch domain once we''re reunited," Han Li said, and he promptly reverted back to his human form.
The enormous fiery bird also shrank down drastically in size before arriving at the edge of the fire pit.
Han Li strode over to it to discover that it was carrying four longan-sized beads on one of its wings. The beads were yellow, green, azure, and blue in color, corresponding with the colors of the mes in the pit.
The four beads were glowing radiantly while giving off bursts of stifling heat, and a look of surprise appeared on Han Li''s face as he eximed, "You found this many beads of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand?"
The fiery bird''s beak opened and closed a few times, and even though it uttered no sounds, Han Li was able to understand what it was trying tomunicate.
"You''re saying that there was also a crimson one, but you already ate it?"
The fiery bird nodded joyfully in response, causing the mes in the fire pit to ripple violently.
"I''m d to hear it. If you can absorb all of these beads of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, then your powers will be even further enhanced," Han Li said with a pleased smile.
The fiery bird was extremely excited, and it fell back into the fire pit before gliding gracefully through it on its back, as if it were performing a backstroke.
"Stay here and refine these pieces of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, I''ll go and see if there''s anything else worthy of note here. If anything happens, notify me through our spiritual connection right away, and I''lle and find you," Han Li said.
The fire raven rose up out of the fire pit before swooping back down again, indicating that Han Li that it had understood his instructions.
Han Li briefly examined the area around the fire pit, and only after he was certain that nothing was amiss did he depart.
After passing through a gradually rising underground tunnel that was several thousand feet in length, Han Li emerged into a golden hall.
The hall waspletely empty with the exception of three round, white jade cushions, upon which were engraved circles ofplex patterns that resembled mazes.
After observing these patterns for a short while, Han Li was struck by a sense of dizziness, and he hurriedly steadied himself as an intrigued look appeared on his face.
He strode over to the cushions for a closer examination, and only then did he discover that the cushions were connected to the ground, making them impossible to move.
However, there didn''t appear to be anything else special about them, and they disyed no changes in the face of injections of spiritual sense and immortal spiritual power.
After examining the cushions for a while longer, he lost interest and made his way out of the hall.
Only upon arriving outside the hall did he discover that he had already reached the cluster of golden buildings that he had previously seen from afar.
Outside the hall was a white stone za, which was alsopletely empty with the exception of a stone sundial at its center.
On the other side of the za was the entrance to this cluster of buildings.
After looking around momentarily, Han Li decided to make his way down a path beside the hall, and he passed through a small, circr archway to arrive in a floral garden.
There were all types of spirit flower and spirit trees nted in the garden, all of which were giving off immense world''s oriqin qi.
Upon setting foot in the garden, Han Li''s expression instantly changed slightly. Just like back at the spring before, he had once again detected a faint hint of timew powers.
However, the timew powers were quite scattered, and he was unable to determine its source. Instead, it seemed that the timew powers were spread throughout every single spirit flower in the entire garden.
Han Li casually plucked down a purple, nine-petaled night-blooming cereus before conducting a close examination, only to discover that it didn''t contain any timew powers.
"How strange," Han Li murmured to himself as he made his way deeper into the garden.
Beyond the garden was a separate courtyard that had a total of three rooms.
Han Li entered the room on the left first to discover that it was also very sparsely furnished, with only a few bookshelves that wereden with books ced flush against the walls.
He picked out one of the books at random, and after flipping through it briefly, he discovered that it was only a poem anthology, as opposed to any profound scripture.
Han Li was rather perplexed as he picked out another book, and after briefly flipping through it, his expression became even more peculiar. This book wasn''t a cultivation art or a poem anthology. Instead, it was an erotic novel.
Looks like the owner of this ce has some very diverse interests!
After lingering in this room for a while, Han Li departed and made his way into the room on the right side of the courtyard.
This room contained a lot of antiques, including things like cultural artifacts, precious jewels, and chinaware, but there wasn''t even a single spirit or immortal treasure inside.
Han Li couldn''t help but feel a little exasperated by the tastes of this manor''s former owner. Everything in his collection was tacky and ostentatious, giving them the impression of a man who possessed vast wealth, but no refined taste to speak of.
As Han Li entered the final room in the courtyard, he had already abandoned all hope of finding anything useful, but he discovered that it was a pill refinement chamber.
At the center of the chamber was a cauldron that was around half the height of an average human adult, and ced on either side of it was a wooden shelf, both of which wereden with containers of different sizes and colors.
The me in the cauldron had already burned out, but there were many vials of pills on the wooden shelves. The pills of the highest caliber here were Spirit Sea Pills fit for consumption for High Zenith cultivators, while even the worst pills present were Dragon Forest Pills for Golden Immortals.
Finally, something useful!
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly as he stowed all of the pills away, and right as he was about to depart, his gaze suddenly fell upon the cauldron in the room.
He had just detected some faint spiritual power fluctuations from it.
He strode over the cauldron before lifting its lid, and as soon as he did so, a burst of golden light that contained extremely potent timew power fluctuations erupted out of the cauldron.
A surprised look appeared on his face as he peered into the cauldron to discover ten longan-sized pills sitting inside.
He drew one of the pills into his grasp, and after examining it closely for a moment, his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
These pills are on the verge ofpletion, so why didn''t whoever was here see the refinement process through to the end?
After a brief hesitation, he ced the pill back into the cauldron, then reced its lid as well.
He then reflexively attempted to summon his Essence Fire Raven to help him refine the pills, only to recall that it was currently refining the beads of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, so he could only ignite the cauldron with his own nascent me.
Forty-nine days flew by in a sh.
On this day, golden light was shing incessantly within the pill refinement chamber, and there was a cloud of lingzhi-shaped golden mist above the cauldron that refused to dissipate.
So these pills were refined using the Flowing Fire Lingzhi as the primary ingredient. No wonder they contain such abundant timew powers even though they''ve already been left here in this iplete state for countless years.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the nascent soul beneath the cauldron surged back into his body.
With another sweep of his sleeve, the cloud of golden mist dissipated, and the lid of the cauldron was lifted.
Han Li looked into the cauldron to discover that three of the ten pills inside were riddled with cracks, having been ruined during the final refinement process, but the remaining seven were all glowing brightly, and each of them had four dao patterns on their surface!
With these pills at his disposal, he would be able to make far faster progress in his cultivation of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
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Chapter 1032: Seclusion
Han Li was ecstatic as he made a beckoning motion, and the seven pills flew out of the cauldron in a line before being drawn into a palm-sized jade vial.
After stowing the vial away, Han Li exhaled as he made his way out of the room.
From there, he took a nce at his surroundings, then conjured up a door of silver light, and Weeping Soul emerged from within.
"Where are we right now, Master?" Weeping Soul asked.
"We are currently in an unknown secret area that appears to be quite safe for now. I n to go into seclusion here for some time. If I can make some strides in my cultivation base here, then we''ll be better equipped to deal with the Immortal Pce cultivators on our tails," Han Li replied.
"After what we did at the Golden Origin Immortal Pce, I''m sure the Heavenly Court will be sending some very powerful cultivators after us, so it would indeed be a good idea to stay here for now. I''ll keep a look out for you, go ahead and go into seclusion, Master," Weeping Soul said with a nod.
"The entrance of this secret area is over there," Han Li said as he pointed up at a barely visible rift in the sky. "The rest of the secret area is sealed in all directions, so that''s the only ce that you need to keep an eye on."
"Alright, in that case, I''ll cultivate while keeping a lookout on the za over there," Weeping Soul replied.
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed a change in Weeping Soul''s aura, and his expression changed slightly as he remarked, "It seems like your aura has be quite a bit more powerful as well.""Indeed, Master. Ever since my awakening, I''ve felt a burst ofw powers that''s been constantly recovering and growing stronger within my body. At the same time, I''ve been feeling an insatiable hunger," Weeping Soul replied with a smile.
"What is this hunger that you speak of?" Han Li asked.
"I don''t know how to describe it, it just always feels like my stomach is empty. I felt a little better after devouring all those ghostly creaturesst time, so perhaps that''s the key. I''ll test out that theory the next time we encounter a powerful ghostly cultivator," Weeping Soul replied.
"Alright, I''ll be leaving everything here to you then. I''m going to go into seclusion in that hall up ahead," Han Li said with a smile, and with that, the two of them parted ways, with Weeping Soul making her way onto the za, while Han Li entered the hall from before.
He sat down with his legs crossed onto the jade futon in the center, then flipped a hand over to produce that jade vial, tipping out a golden pill that he promptly devoured.
As soon as the pill entered his belly, a burst of formidable timew powers instantly spread through his dantian before flowing into the rest of his body.
Han Li hurriedly closed his eyes as he channeled hsi Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, guiding the burst of timew powers toward the designated acupoints in his body.
Momentster, his brows furrowed slightly as his eyes sprang open, and a hint of surprise had appeared on his face.
As it turned out, waves of rippling golden light had appeared over the jade cushion beneath him, immediately following which the same golden light emerged over the other two unupied cushions as well.
All of a sudden, it was as if ayer of golden liquid had been spilled over the entire interior of the hall.
Han Li could feel a burst of peculiar timew power fluctuations all around him, cing him in a profound and indescribable state.
An ecstatic look appeared on his face as he hurriedly began channeling the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra again.
As he did so, five balls of golden light appeared around him, revolving incessantly around his body, and they contained his five time-attributew treasures.
Collectively, there were over one thousand six hundred Time Dao Runes on the fivew treasures, and they were all glowing radiantly while giving off extremely formidable timew power fluctuations.
With the emergence of these time-attributew treasures, all of the golden light within the entire hall began to unfurl like flower petals, forming a giant golden flower bud around Han Li.
Han Li was ecstatic to sense the timew powers surging into his body, and he knew that there had to be other secrets waiting to be discovered in this secret area, but at the moment, cultivation was his top priority, and everything would just have to wait until after he came out of seclusion.
......
Over two hundred years passed by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Weeping Soul was seated beside the sundial on the white stone za, looking up at the spatial rift in the sky with a contemtive look in her eyes.
Seated with its legs crossed on her shoulder was a miniature silver figure that was close to five inches in height. The figure''s entire body was enshrouded in silver me, but there were seven vertical lines of fire of different colors above its head, making it appear as if it had a head of rainbow hair.
Afterpletely refining the five beads of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, the Essence Fire Raven''s human form had be a lot taller than before, and it had also gained those extremely distinctive lines of rainbow fire above its head.
As opposed to Weeping Soul, the silver figure was looking at the golden hall while swinging its little legs back and forth with an unhappy look on its face.
"You''re also hoping that Master wille out of seclusion soon, right?" Weeping Soul asked with a smile.
The silver figure nodded in response, and the lines of rainbow fire on its head suddenly pulsed a few times.
Weeping Soul knew that it was very keen for Han Li to see its newfound powers following its absorption of the beads of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand.
It had onlye of seclusion not long ago, and as it did so, it was unable to suppress the rainbow mes that erupted out of its body, which would''ve easily incinerated the entire secret area had it been left unchecked.
Thankfully, Weeping Soul was able to intervene in a timely fashion and prevent the mes from reaching the golden hall that Han Li was in. However, the forest up ahead had already been burned to the ground, and half of the white stone za had also been charred ck.
Right at this moment, the entire za suddenly shuddered violently, following which the entire secret area began to tremble.
Weeping Soul immediately flew up into the air upon seeing this, and the Essence Fire Raven was caught off guard by her sudden movement, almost falling off her shoulder in surprise.
After rising up into the sky, Weeping Soul looked down to discover that the gray mist around the secret area was churning violently while disying signs of retreating, thereby causing the secret area to expand.
This has already been the third time this month...
This was not the first time that she had witnessed this phenomenon, but with each passing instance, the gray mist receded by a more significant degree, revealingrger andrger areas in the process.
Close to twenty secondster, the tremorspletely subsided, and the surrounding gray mist also gradually settled down.
Weeping Soul cast her gaze toward the golden hall with a concerned look in her eyes.
Han Li had already reached thete-High Zenith Stage eighty years ago, triggering a series of breathtaking phenomena in the secret area, but for some reason, he had chosen to remain in seclusion all the way up to this point.
......
That night.
There was a semi-transparent golden flower bud situated at the center of the golden hall.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed inside the flower bud, and his skin and flesh had be as translucent as jade, making his bones and meridians clearly visible.
At this moment, there were as many as 359 immortal acupoints glowing over his body, indicating that he had already reached the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage.
The rippling golden light glowing over the three jade cushions beneath had already be quite dim, clearly indicating that the timew powers within were close to running out.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s eyes suddenly sprang open, and two beams of incredibly bright golden light erupted out of her pupils.
At the same time, he opened his mouth, and a wisp of white mist seeped out from within.
Momentster, the golden light and white mist slowly dissipated, and Han Li blinked a few times as he took a moment topose himself.
At a nce, nothing seemed to have really changed about him, but upon closer inspection, one would discover that his body was shrouded in ayer of barely visible divine light, which was a sign of a High Zenith cultivator that had attained a wless Jade Immortal Physique.
Looks like this is as far as I can go for now. As expected, jumping straight to the Great Epassment Stage was an unrealistic goal...
In the span of less than three hundred years, he had progressed from the mid-High Zenith Stage to the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage, taking him to only a single step short of the Great Epassment Stage.
While it was true that his cultivation had been enhanced by the special environment here, the seven time-attribute dao pills, and all of the profound acupoints that he had opened, this was still an astounding rate of progression that would have the jaws of the vast majority of cultivators dropping straight to the floor.
Hence, even though he had failed to reach the Great Epassment Stage, he was still ecstatic nheless, and after sitting for a while longer, he rose to his feet before performing some stretches.
Right as he was about to make his way out of the hall, a faint crack suddenly rang out beside his ears.
Chapter 1033: Astonishing Phenomenon
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he turned to the source of the sound, only to discover that a crack had appeared on the white jade cushion that he had been sitting on, which then disintegrated right before his eyes.
The cushion had disintegrated into powder that spread through the entire hall, and at the same time, the golden hall began to tremble violently as a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations spread through the air.
A thought suddenly urred to Han Li upon seeing this, and he immediately flew out of the hall before arriving on the za outside.
The tremors outside were even more violent than inside the hall, and Weeping Soul hurriedly approached him with the Essence Fire Raven as she asked, "What''s happening, Master?"
"I''m not sure, but I seem to have triggered some type of mechanism in this secret area, which could lead to some unpredictable changes," Han Li replied.
"In that case, we should get out of here," Weeping Soul hurriedly said.
Han Li nodded in response as he heaved a forlorn sigh.
There were clearly still far more secrets to be discovered in this secret area, but there was no time to explore them.
With their minds made up, the two of them immediately turned to fly toward the spatial rift in the sky, only to discover that it had disappeared!"Where did the spatial rift go? It was there just a moment ago!" Weeping Soul eximed.
The silver figure on her shoulder immediately stood up and nodded vigorously to back her up, causing the seven lines of rainbow fire on its head to bob up and down incessantly.
"I believe you. Something must''ve changed in this secret area," Han Li replied with a nod.
He had already noticed the changes that had taken ce in the Essence Fire Raven, but this wasn''t the time to be focusing on such matters.
"By the way, during your seclusion, there were some tremors that ran through the secret area on over ten separate asions, the most intense of which came right after you reached thete-High Zenith Stage. This is already the fourth time that it''s happened this month, and everytime it happens, the mist around the secret area will recede, revealing new areas," Weeping Soul said.
"Have you explored any of those new areas? Is there anything special about them?" Han Li asked.
"I only went exploring once nearby, and I didn''t discover anything abnormal. Over time, the tremors became more and more frequent, and I didn''t dare to stray, so I''ve been staying here the entire time," Weeping Soul replied with a shake of her head.
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this, and right as he was contemting what he had just been told, a pir of golden light that was over a thousand feet thick suddenly erupted out of the golden hall and into the heavens, immediately following which the tremors around the hall suddenly subsided.
Han Li was rather perplexed to see this, and he attempted to approach the hall for a closer examination, only to be kept out by a burst of invisible force.
"Master, are you getting the feeling that the ground is slowly elevating?" Weeping Soul suddenly asked.
Han Li''s attention had been focused on the golden light this entire him, and after hearing this question form Weeping Soul, he immediately sprang up into the air before scouring his surroundings, upon which he discovered that the gray mist around the secret area was churning violently, while newnd was beginning to appear bit by bit.
......
Inside the Azure Silk Col outside the secret area, the ground was trembling violently, as if an earthquake were taking ce.
"The earth dragon is rolling over!"
All of the vigers of the Spare Food Vige hurriedly rushed out of their homes before arriving on a spacious plot of vacantnd outside.
Right at this moment, a burst of thunderous rumbling rang out from underground, and a massive pir of golden light erupted out of the White Head Valley. The pir of golden light rose all the way up into the heavens, turning all of the clouds within a radius of several hundred kilometers a bright golden color.
The pir of light was incredibly thick, dwarfing even the nearby mountains, and the world''s origin qi around it trembled violently as the golden clouds in the sky churned and rumbled incessantly.
All of the vigers were looking on with bbergasted expressions.
All of a sudden, someone yelled, "This is a divine miracle from the gods!"
All of the vigers hurriedly fell to their knees and began worshiping the pir of golden light upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, seven or eight streaks of light were approaching the Azure Silk Col from the southeast, and they drew to a halt close to ten kilometers away from the col to reveal a group of cultivators.
They were led by a Golden Immortal Stage elderly woman holding a yellow serpent staff, while the rest of the group wasprised of young men and women who were all at the True Immortal Stage.
They were all dressed in uniform yellow robes, indicating that they were members of the same sect, and all of the True Immortals in the group were very excited at the sight of the phenomenon taking ce before them.
"It looks like some type of treasure or secret area must''ve emerged here, Martial Aunt Lin. Let''s go down and take a look. Otherwise, once other people arrive, we could be faced with a lot ofpetition," a male disciple said in an excited manner, and all of the other disciples nodded eagerly in agreement.
The elderly woman was looking quite excited, but she remained calm as she said, "Don''t make any rash moves. This phenomenon is indeed a precursor for the emergence of a treasure, but it still hasn''tpletely revealed itself yet, so even if we go down there now, it won''t amount to anything.
¡°On top of that, judging from the scale of this phenomenon, whatever''s going to appear here isn''t something that we can handle. Send a message back to the sect to inform everyone of what''s happening here."
The young disciples behind her immediately sprang into action upon hearing this, pulling out theirmunication array tes to contact their sect.
Right at this moment, two more streaks of light shot forth from afar, then drew to a halt near the col to reveal a pair of ck-robed Golden Immortals.
"They''re from the Dark Scorn Sect," a young man informed.
"Ignore them. Come over here with me," the elderly woman said as she descended onto a nearby mountain summit.
The two ck-robed cultivators took a nce at their group, then also descended onto a nearby mountain before pulling outmunication treasures to contact others.
Word of the phenomenon taking ce in the central region of the Golden Origin Mountain Range spread like wildfire, and more and more powers within the mountain range were sending people to the scene.
Close to a month flew by in the blink of an eye, and not only had the pir of golden light not faded in the slightest, it was only growing more and more massive.
Inside the secret area, Han Li was watching intently as the surrounding gray mist rapidly faded.
At this point, the space within the secret area had already expanded to around twice its normal size, gradually revealing its true appearance.
Two enormous golden mountains were revealed on either side of the dense forest, standing like a pair of unfathomably tall city walls to form an enormous canyon that the forest was nestled into.
The majority of the two mountains were concealed above the gray mist, making it impossible to see them in their full glory.
What was most intriguing of all was that a series of gray chains that were as thick as water vats were hanging down from the gray mist, trailing all the way down to the foot of the two mountains.
The chains were shing with arcs of gray lightning, presenting a rather fearsome sight to behold.
Han Li descended to the foot of one of the mountains, and after a brief hesitation, he reached out to touch one of the gray chains, upon which an arc of gray lightning instantly sprang forth to strike him.
Han Li gave a muffled groan as he took a step back, and his hand had been charred ck by the lightning strike.
As he channeled his immortal spiritual power, the coloration of his hand quickly returned to normal, but he was still stunned by how formidable this gray lightning was.
Furthermore, that was only a single arc of lightning. If he were to be struck by more of these arcs of lightning at once, then that could spell some trouble.
Han Li withdrew his gaze from the mountain summit, then peered deep into the canyon formed by the two mountains. The gray mist there was constantly receding, revealing a path that led deeper into the secret area.
After a brief hesitation, Han Li decided to fly in that direction.
......
At the same time, tens of thousands of figures had already gathered around the Azure Silk Col.
They were from a wide array of different sects and powers, each of which had established their own temporary territories, and there were also some itinerant cultivators among them who required no territories other than some ground to stand on.
The areas nearest to the pir of light had been imed by seven or eight sects, while the mountain previously upied by the elderly woman and the golden-robed disciples had since been taken, forcing them further to the back.
They had been joined by three more people, consisting of a yellow-skinned middle-aged man, a seductive young woman, and an elderly man with a head of white hair.
These three were all Golden Immortals, and in particr, the yellow-faced man was already at thete-Golden Immortal Stage, seemingly the leader of the group.
"The Spirit Heaven Sect, the Worry Not Pavilion, zing Light City, the Ink Fragrance Pavilion, the Azure Lock Valley, the Rising Moon Pavilion, and the White Cloud Mountain Cottage have all sent people here. Those scoundrels from the Rising Moon Pavilion have taken our territory!" the elderly woman said in a resentful voice.
"There''s nothing we can do. Those sects all have High Zenith cultivators among their ranks, so there''s no way that our tiny Yellow Wind Sect canpete with them," the yellow-faced man sighed.
"ording to our observations, the phenomenon taking ce here seems to be a precursor for the emergence of a secret area or immortal manor. When ites to exploring these areas, luck is sometimes more important than power," a middle-aged woman said.
Everyone knew that she was grasping at straws a little, but they still nodded in agreement to make themselves feel a little better.
"How strange... I would''ve expected to see cultivators of the Immortal Pce here, but there doesn''t appear to be any present," the white-haired elderly man said.
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Chapter 1034: Mass Gathering
"You must''ve not heard about what happened to the Golden Origin Immortal Pce because you''ve juste out of seclusion, Brother Lian Shi. Someone stormed into the Golden Origin Immortal Pce on their own over a century ago, ying Pce Master Dongfang Bai, the Five Heavenly Yin Disciples, and many other powerful Immortal Pce cultivators in the process.
¡°For some reason, the Heavenly Court hasn''t sent anyone to take the reins from the deceased Dongfang Bai, so the Immortal Pce is far less powerful than before, and I''m assuming they''re not going to be sending anyone," the elderly woman said.
"That''s incredible! I heard that Dongfang Bai was at the pinnacle of the High Zenith Pce and possessed powers not inferior to those of a Great Epassment cultivator! Who could''ve possibly killed him? Was it someone from the Reincarnation Pce?" the elderly man eximed.
"Apparently, it was a man on the Immortal ying List by the name of Han Li, and it''s unclear whether he''s a member of the Reincarnation Pce. In any case, the Heavenly Court is currently offering an enormous reward for his head. However, there''s been no news of him since the Immortal Pce incident, and no one knows if he''s still in the Golden Origin Immortal Region," the elderly woman said.
The white-haired elderly man nodded in response with a contemtive look in his eyes.
All the while, a man and a woman had been standing near the group of Yellow Wind Sect cultivators.
Both of them were dressed in ck robes, and the woman was quite beautiful and youthful in appearance, while the man was rather thin and had a slightly paleplexion.
After hearing the conversation between the Yellow Wind Sect cultivators, the two of them exchanged a peculiar nce with each other, and a faint smile appeared on the woman''s face as she mused to herself in a barely voice, "You certainly are always full of surprises, Brother Han."
"Are you thinking about going to find him? Don''t forget about our mission," the ck-robed young man asked with slightly furrowed brows."Rest assured, I know what our top priority is at the moment," the young woman replied.
Right at this moment, several streaks of blue light shot forth from afar, giving off immense water-attribute spiritual qi.
The streaks of blue light then faded to reveal four blue-robed cultivators that descended out of the sky.
All four of them were giving off extremely formidable High Zenith Stage auras, and the people ahead of them hurriedly parted to make way.
"Those are cultivators from the Heavenly Water Sect!" the yellow-faced man from the Yellow Wind Sect eximed, and everyone else in the nearby area was also disying a simr reaction.
The four Heavenly Water Sect cultivators paid no heed to the people around them as they quickly arrived near the pir of golden light.
Two of the four figures were leading from the forefront, and one of them was a young woman who appeared to be in her early-twenties. She was extremely beautiful, but there was a cold demeanor about her that made her feel very unapproachable.
She was apanied by a middle-aged man with a pair of long and thin eyes and a hooked nose, giving him a rather sinister appearance.
The two people behind them consisted of an exceptionally tall and imposing man with a pair of bushy eyebrows and a refined and elegant young man holding a folding fan.
Even the sects that upied the areas nearest to the pir of golden light hurriedly scrambled to make way for the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators.
A square-faced man from the Spirit Heaven Sect approached the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators with a smile as he greeted, "It''s been a long time since west met, Celestial Maiden Su Anqian, Fellow Daoist Jin Liu. I see that the two of you have also been drawn to the phenomenon here."
"Are we not wee here? Is this the territory of your Spirit Heaven Sect?" Jin Liu asked in a cold voice.
"Of course you''re wee here. It''s just that the Heavenly Water Sect is quite far away from here, and both of you are very important figures in the sect, so I wasn''t expecting the two of you to make the trip. Could it be that you know what''s about to appear here?" the square-faced man asked, and his questions instantly drew the attention of all of the cultivators from the nearby sects.
Jin Liu''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of this widespread scrutiny, while Su Anqian replied, "The two of us just so happened to be doing something else nearby, and we decided toe and take a look after hearing about the phenomenon here, so we don''t know anything about this ce. Now that I think about it, the Azure Lock Valley is very close to this ce, so surely they have some leads."
A handsome azure-robed man emerged from the Azure Lock Valley cultivators, and he hurriedly exined, "Our Azure Lock Valley is indeed very close to this ce, but this is a very barren area that we''ve never paid much heed to. Having said that, I''ve sent some people to do some investigating, and I''ve been informed that this ce is called the Azure Silk Col.
¡°Inside the col is a ce called the White Head Valley, which apparently contains a spring that can restore the youth of those who bathe in it. However, the spring is currently epassed within the pir of light, making it impossible to verify these ims."
"A spring that can restore one''s youth? How fascinating. Perhaps it has something to do with thews of time? Maybe the water in the spring is the legendary water of time?" Su Anqian spected.
"How could something as precious as the water of time appear in such a secluded ce? Mortals are very foolish creatures, so perhaps the spring doesn''t even have anything to do with this pir of light," Jin Liu scoffed.
Su Anqian took a nce at him, but didn''t say anything.
Right at this moment, a booming voice suddenly rang out, reverberating loudly within the col.
"Well, well, well, it appears I''mte to the party."
Everyone immediately looked up upon hearing this, including Jin Liu and Su Anqian, who were looking into the sky with intense animosity in their eyes.
A streak of golden light appeared on the distant horizon, and it expanded rapidly, transforming into a radiant golden sun that forced everyone in the col to avert their eyes.
"What a grand entrance, Lei Yuce," Jin Liu sneered as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of rippling blue light that quickly spread through the air.
Much of the blinding golden light was absorbed by the blue light, and the rest of the golden light faded to reveal a pair of figures, one of whom praised, "I can see that you''ve made some impressive strides in your Divine Vast Sea Arts, Fellow Daoist Jin."
The man who had spoken appeared to be in his thirties, and he had a very muscr build that was quite apparent even through his loose-fitting golden robe.
He was apanied by a handsome young man who possessed a tranquil and seeminglypletely harmless aura.
The leaders of many of the nearby cultivating powers immediately gathered to greet the two men, disying even more respect than they had toward the four Heavenly Water Sect cultivators.
"Rest assured, everyone, our Almighty Sword Sect has no intention of iming this ce solely for ourselves," the handsome young man assured. "We''ll leave it down to luck to see what rewards we can reap from this secret area."
Everyone else was very relieved to hear this, and they all offered up words of gratitude and praise.
The Heavenly Water Sect cultivators were far from happy to see the two men, but they didn''t say anything.
Lei Yuce paid no heed to everyone else as he cast a longing gaze toward Su Anqian and said, "Long time no see, Celestial Maiden Sun. You were cultivating your Zenith Yin Ice Soul Arts in seclusion some years ago, and I visited you on several asions during that time, but was refused an audience. I certainly wasn''t expecting to run into you here today. Looks like you''ve broken through yourte-High Zenith Stage bottleneck, I''m truly happy for you."
Su Anqian harrumphed coldly as she looked away in a disdainful manner.
Lei Yuce wasn''t bothered at all as he stared at Su Anqian in an entranced fashion, and everyone else seemed to have already grown ustomed to this.
It wasmon knowledge on the Golden Origin Continent that Lei Yuce of the Almighty Sword Sect had been pursuing Su Anqian of the Heavenly Water Sect for hundreds of thousands of years.
"What is this Almighty Sword Sect?" the ck-robed young woman standing near the Yellow Wind Sect cultivators asked through voice transmission.
"The Almighty Sword Sect is the number one sect in the Golden Origin Immortal Region, and it''s at least on par with the Golden Origin Immortal Pce. Lei Yuce is a mid-High Zenith cultivator and the deputy sect master, while the young man with him is Elder Wen Zhong of the Almighty Sword Sect, a very powerful cultivator in his own right.
¡°Those two are going to be formidable foes of ours, along with Su Anqian and Jin Liu of the Heavenly Water Sect. Did you read the information given to us prior toing here? I''m beginning to wonder if our higher-ups made the right decision in sending you here," the ck-robed young man replied with tightly furrowed brows.
The young woman wasn''t bothered by herpanion''s remarks, and she gestured into the distance as she replied, "Formidable foes? You''re taking them far too seriously. Those people are our mainpetition."
The ck-robed young man cast his gaze in that direction to find two streaks of blue light approaching from the distance.
The two streaks of light weren''t particrly bright, and they didn''t really stand out among all of the other streaks of light currently shing through the col.
The two streaks of light quickly arrived in the col before fading to reveal a square-faced male cultivator with a pair of bushy eyebrows and a round-faced woman with a very petite mouth, both of whom were very unremarkable in appearance.
"Who''re those two?" the ck-robed young man asked.
The young woman flipped a hand over to produce an egg-sized white jewel, within which was a shing ring of spiritual light.
Two figures appeared within the ring of spiritual light, but they were different from the two that had just arrived in the col.
The man looked to be in his thirties with a rather schrly appearance, while the woman appeared to be only seventeen to eighteen years of age, and she had a pair of exuberant and adorable eyes that were constantly darting around in an energetic fashion.
"Those are the Lan Siblings from the Vast Golden Immortal Pce, Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yna! What are they doing here? Could it be that we''ve already been exposed?" the ck-robed young man eximed.
Chapter 1035: Tai Sui Immortal Manor
"I don''t know. On the surface, the Lan siblings are under the control of the Vast Golden Immortal Pce, but in reality, they take orders from the Nine Origins Temple, so it''s definitely not good news that they''re here," the young woman said in a grim voice as she stowed her white jewel away.
"I''ve also heard that they specialize in carrying out secret missions for the Nine Origins Temple. What do we do then?" the ck-robed young man asked.
"The situation is still unclear at the moment, so let''s just wait and see for now," the young woman replied.
The two of them discussed their options for a while longer before fading into the crowd behind them.
"I didn''t think that there would be so many people gathered here. It looks like we''re going to be able to have some fun!" Lan Yan remarked as she examined the crowds around them.
"Of course these people would all swarm to a new secret area like flies to a piece of rotten meat," Lan Yuanzi scoffed disdainfully.
"But Brother, even though our objectives are different from these people, we also came here for the new secret area, so aren''t you denouncing us as flies as well?" Lan Yan grumbled in a displeased manner.
Lan Yuanzi was momentarily rendered speechless upon hearing this, following which he snapped in a frustrated manner, "I''m not taking you on the next mission if you don''t learn to keep your mouth shut!"
"Don''t me me when you''re the one who misspoke!" Lan Yan countered in apletely unfazed manner."Alright, quit fooling around, we need to get down to business," Lan Yuanzi said with a serious expression.
"Do you think Han Li is going to be here, Brother? If I were him, I would go into hiding in apletely uninhabited ce and nevere out for the rest of my life," Lan Yan said.
"That would definitely be the strategy adopted by the average person, but it seems like this Han Li is someone who doesn''t y by the rules, so there''s a chance that he could be here. On top of that, ording to the information we''ve received from the Immortal Pce, he really was traveling in this direction before suddenly disappearing, so this is definitely a ce that''s worth exploring," Lan Yuanzi replied.
"How boring. You''re always so calcted in everything that you do," Lan Yan sighed in a displeased manner.
Lan Yuanzi paid no heed to her as he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized blue mirror, then chanted an incantation before pointing a finger at it.
Rays of illusory instantly appeared over the surface of the mirror before spreading outward, only to ultimately fade into the surrounding space.
Immediately thereafter, he stowed the mirror away before rushing forward.
"Hey, where are you going all of a sudden? Wait for me!" Lan Yan hurriedly called out, and the two of them quickly vanished into the crowd.
Not long after they left, a hideous, yellow-robed woman appeared amid a sh of yellow light elsewhere in the col.
"What a useless idiot that Lan Yuanzi is! Even with the Heavenly Detection Mirror at his disposal, he still hasn''t been able to track down Han Li even after all these years. What a pain it is to have to follow him on this wild goose chase!" the woman grumbled to herself.
"Having said that, judging from the scale of this phenomenon, it appears that a very remarkable secret area is about to appear here. At the very least, its former owner should''ve been a Great Epassment cultivator. It doesn''t look like Lan Yuanzi will be tracking down Han Li anytime soon, so I may as well stay here to check out the secret area," the woman murmured to herself, then abruptly vanished from the spot.
Somewhere in the crowd, a golden-robed man was observing the yellow-robed woman, and it was none other than Qi Mozi, with Xiong Shan still by his side.
"Things are certainly getting interesting," Qi Mozi remarked with a faint smile.
By following Qi Mozi''s gaze, Xiong Shan had also spotted the yellow-robed woman, but he had no idea who it was, so he asked in a curious manner, "Who was that just now?"
"Her name is She Chan. She''s an old toad from the Nine Origins Temple who only knows how to lurk in the shadows and sneak attack people like a coward," Qi Mozi harrumphed in a disdainful manner.
Xiong Shan drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, clearly having heard of this name before.
Even though Qi Mozi was very disdainful of She Chan, she was still a revered Great Epassment cultivator in Xiong Shan''s eyes.
"I heard that She Chan is always cultivating in seclusion in the Nine Origins Temple, so why is she suddenly here? Could she be here for the secret area that''s about to emerge?" Xiong Shan spected, and Qi Mozi''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
ording to the intelligence that he had gathered, She Chan and the Lan siblings had arrived in the Golden Origin Immortal Region with the objective of capturing Han Li. The Golden Origin Immortal Pce and the Nine Origins Temple shared very close ties, and Dongfang Bai belonged to the Nine Origins Temple, so it only made sense that they would send people after Han Li following Dongfang Bai''s demise.
However, a question had sprung into Qi Mozi''s mind after hearing what Xiong Shan had to say. It was very normal for the Nine Origins Temple to be hunting Han Li, but surely there was no need to send the likes of She Chan after him unless they were hunting him for some other reason.
"Is Han Li really in this secret area?" Xiong Shan asked in a hesitant manner.
"It''s all but confirmed. Over two hundred years ago, a man with the Han surname stayed briefly in the vige down below. I''ve searched the souls of all those who''ve seen him, and even though he changed his appearance, I''m certain that man was none other than Han Li.
¡°Ever since he wasst sighted in this vige, it''s as if he had disappeared off the face of the earth, so there''s a very good chance that he''s still here and somehow snuck into the secret area. In fact, I''d say there''s a good chance that the emergence of this secret area has a lot to do with him," Qi Mozi replied in a confident manner.
"That does sound like a strong possibility," Xiong Shan agreed.
Right at this moment, a burst of rumbling suddenly rang out from within the col, and the ground epassed within the pir of golden light suddenly began to bulge, as if there were something rising up from down below.
Everyone''s attention was instantly drawn to the ground there, and the earth bulged further and further before finally splitting apart amid a dull thump, revealing a giant opening, at the bottom of which was a stone gate that was around seventy to eighty feet tall.
It was clear from a nce that the stone gate had already been standing for countless years, and the words "Tai Sui Immortal Manor" were engraved above the gate in ancient text.
......
Inside the canyon within the secret area.
The gray mist up ahead was churning incessantly while rapidly receding, and there was an ecstatic look on Han Li''s face as he flew through the air, closely following the receding mist.
The gray mist had shown bouts of recession in the past, but at a rather slow rate, and this was the fastest that the mist had ever receded.
After flying for a while longer, he finally reached the end of the canyon, where he drew to a halt.
The gray mist up ahead continued to rapidly recede, disying arge area.
The sky was blue, and there were some white clouds drifting along. The ground below was a lush, boundless in, and a gentle breeze was blowing from afar, while a refreshing and rxing fragrance was wafting through the air.
Dotted along the horizon up ahead were some mountains, and the scene was as beautiful as a piece of scenic artwork.
Han Li took a deep breath, feeling a little more rxed, but then immediately focused on the situation at hand again.
This was not the time to be appreciating scenery. He could sense that the entrance of this space deep within the canyon was in a very unstable state, seemingly disying signs of reopening.
Even though Han Li didn''t know that there were already tens of thousands of people gathered outside, he could guess that the reopening of the spatial entrance would be sure to attract a great deal of attention.
With that in mind, he released his spiritual sense as far and wide as it would go, and in the next instant, his eyes lit up slightly as a burst of golden lightning appeared over his body.
A resounding thunderp rang out as he vanished from the spot, only to reappear in the sky above a mountain.
There was a cluster of white pavilions on the mountain, looking as if they had been constructed from some type of jade material, and they were giving off a faint, white glow.
Furthermore, all of the pavilions were enshrouded within a white light barrier.
Han Li raised an arm before sweeping a finger through the air, and a streak of golden swordlight that was around a thousand feet in length shot out of his sleeve before slicing down upon the white light barrier.
The nearby space trembled and buzzed incessantly, as if it were about to be split apart.
Having reached the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage, his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had be even more formidable.
However, the white light barrier was able to withstand the streak of golden swordlight, albeit with some difficulty.
A surprised look appeared on Han Li''s face, and he flew over to the light barrier before throwing a punch into it.
The white light barrier was instantly torn apart upon contact with Han Li''s fist, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he descended into the cluster of pavilions down below.
Shortly thereafter, he flew back up into the air with an excited look on his face, then vanished from the spot amid a sh of golden lightning.
......
Meanwhile, outside the secret area.
Most of the people gathered were looking at the stone gate that had risen up from the ground with puzzled expressions, having never heard of this Tai Sui Immortal Manor before.
However, excited looks had appeared on the faces of the likes of Su Anqian, Jin Liu, and Lei Yuce, and a stunned look had appeared on Qi Mozi''s face as well.
Xiong Shan was rather intrigued by Qi Mozi''s expression, but ultimately chose not to ask any questions.
So this is where your cave abode is, Tai Sui! Looks like I was right to havee on this trip to the Golden Origin Immortal Region! Qi Mozi thought to himself with an excited expression.
Chapter 1036: Unsealed
Shortly thereafter, the enormous pir of golden light suddenly began to sh erratically, giving the antiquated stone gate beneath it a rather indistinct appearance.
Everyone immediately fell silent upon seeing this, waiting with bated breath for what was about to unfold next.
After flickering for some time, the pir of golden light suddenly became brighter than ever, only to then immediately shrink down rapidly. Within the span of just a few seconds, the pir of golden light had vanished entirely, fully revealing the stone gate below.
In the same instant, Su Anqian, Lei Yuce, and the others immediately pounced on the stone gate.
A dull thump rang out as a series of transparent ripples appeared over the stone gate, sending all of them flying back.
Jin Liu was the one that was flying at the stone gate with the most urgency, and the skin on his forehead was split open by the sudden impact, causing him to curse loudly.
Everyone else immediately stopped in their tracks upon seeing this, and only then did they notice that there was a barely visible transparent light barrier over the stone gate.
Lei Yuce''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he swept his left hand through the air in the direction of the stone gate, unleashing five streaks of golden swordlight that were each around a hundred feet in length.
Each streak of golden swordlight was as radiant as the sun, and they struck the stone gate like lightning, but the transparent light barrier was able to withstand them with ease."This light barrier may be resilient, but it''s not indestructible. There are so many of us here, I''m sure we''ll be able to break through it if we all work together," Lei Yuce dered.
"Then what are we waiting for? I''ve heard that the Azure Lock Valley has an azure lock array that''s quite powerful, so hurry up and bring it out. The Spirit Heaven Sect also has a Spirit Heaven zing Sun Technique that''s quite powerful, and the Rising Moon Pavilion..."
Jin Liu began barking instructions at the people of the nearby sects as if he were ordering around his personal servants, and the cultivators of those sects were naturally not very pleased, but they still obliged.
After all, the top priority was to break open this light barrier so that they could ess the secret area.
Su Anqian, Lei Yuce, and the others also sprang into action, and a formidable barrage of attacks and immortal treasures were sent raining down upon the transparent light barrier.
The light barrier appeared quite thin, but it was incredibly resilient, holding itself together with ease in the face of the ferocious barrage, much to everyone''s astonishment.
"Don''t stop! Keep going!" Lei Yuce yelled.
Qi Mozi was standing further back in the crowd, choosing not to participate in the collective effort.
At the moment, he was only disying a Golden Immortal Stage aura, so he didn''t stand out in the crowd, and the only people attacking the light barrier were the cultivators from a handful of the most powerful sects present.
After all, there was only so much space in front of the stone gate, so only a certain number of people could be amodated.
"Do you think they''ll be able to break the restriction like this? Should we lend them our assistance?" Xiong Shan asked.
"The method that they''re employing is a bit barbaric, but it should work. At this rate, it''s only a matter of time, so let''s not expose ourselves for now," Qi Mozi replied, and Xiong Shan nodded in response.
A day and a night flew by in a sh.
The stone gate had been withstanding relentlessly waves of attacks this entire time, and it was finally beginning to thin out.
"Keep it up, everyone!" Lei Yuce encouraged, and everyone immediately redoubled their efforts.
Close to another day passed by in the blink of an eye, and the light barrier was finally shattered with a dull thump.
A vast expanse of golden light surged out of the stone gate, forming a golden vortex with countless specks of golden light shing within it.
......
Deep within the secret area, Han Li was in the process of unraveling a restriction outside a pce when his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he cast his gaze toward the entrance of the secret area, where he could detect a burst of powerful spatial fluctuations.
Looks like the entrance of this ce has been discovered. I wonder how many people are going toe in.
With that in mind, a decisive look appeared on Han Li''s face, and he adopted his Giant Mountain Ape form before throwing an almighty punch into the restrictions around the pce.
The restriction rippled violently before falling apart, but at the same time, the residual force of Han Li''s punch caused some damage to the pce inside.
Han Li paid no heed to this as he flew in without any hesitation.
Time was of the essence, and he couldn''t afford to waste any of it.
......
Inside the Azure Silk Col.
"Go!" Lei Yuce yelled in an ecstatic manner as he rushed into the golden vortex, instantly vanishing out of sight.
There were around twenty High Zenith cultivators present, and Lei Yuce was undoubtedly the leading figure among them both in terms of power and reputation, so no one saw it as unfit that he had flown into the golden vortex first.
The cultivators of the other major sects present quickly followed along, and everyone else came after them.
The Lan siblings, She Chan, and Qi Mozi were all concealed within the crowd as they entered the golden vortex to arrive inside the secret area, specifically the same canyon that Han Li had been situated in earlier.
There was a slowly revolving golden vortex behind everyone, and Qi Mozi examined his surroundings briefly before dering, "Xiong Shan, I''m going on ahead, you can go search for opportunities on your own."
Before Xiong Shan had a chance to reply, Qi Mozi vanished from the spot, and Xiong Shan didn''t disy any reaction, but internally, he was quite pleased.
After all, he would no longer have to take orders from Qi Mozi, but at the same time, he was feeling a little uneasy as without Qi Mozi by his side, he was nothing more than a Golden Immortal on his own.
While the situation was still quite chaotic, She Chan and the Lan siblings snuck away deeper into the canyon, unleashing some self-concealment techniques as they did so.
Elsewhere in the crowd were the ck-robed man and woman, and thetter said, "Lan Yuanzi and the others are traveling deeper into the secret area. Let''s go as well, we can''t let them get too far ahead of us."
The ck-robed young man nodded in response, and the two of them vanished from the spot.
Meanwhile, everyone else was marveling at the environment within the secret area.
Right at this moment, the sky above suddenly began to tremble violently, and bolts of lightning-like white light appeared up above, giving off bursts of dull yet deafening rumbling, as if there were several bursts of almighty force crashing against each other.
Everyone looked up with rmed expressions as a series of enormous ck rifts appeared in the sky above, and the ground beneath their feet also shuddered violently.
Immediately thereafter, the golden vortex up above abruptly disintegrated with a dull thump, following which the tremors in the sky and the earth gradually subsided.
Deep within the secret area, Han Li flew out of the pce, and a puzzled look appeared on his face at the sight of what had just taken ce.
What just happened?
The pce behind him had beenpletely torn apart, and even the ceiling had been entirely demolished.
Han Li''s brows furrowed tightly as he withdrew his gaze before flying deeper into the secret area.
Meanwhile, everyone was still astonished by the abrupt disappearance of the spatial passageway that led to the outside world.
"Fellow Daoist Lei, Fellow Daoist Su, do either of you know what this ce is?" the square-faced man from the Spirit Heaven Sect asked, and everyone else immediately turned to Lei Yuce and Su Anqian to await their response.
Lei Yuce exchanged a nce with Su Anqian, then said, "I''ve heard some things about the Tai Sui Immortal Manor. There was once a Great Epassment cultivator by the name of Immortal Lord Tai Sui tens of millions of years ago, and he was a cultivator of thews of time, so I''m sure all of you can imagine how powerful he was.
¡°However, he was a very reclusive person who kept a low profile, so he wasn''t particrly renowned. At some point, he disappeared without a trace, and I wouldn''t have heard of him had I not just so happened to have seen some scriptures describing his feats in our Almighty Sword Sect. My guess is that he was the one who left behind this Tai Sui Immortal Manor."
Looks of tion appeared on everyone''s faces upon hearing this, washing away much of the unease that they felt from the disappearance of the spatial entrance.
If this really was a cave abode left behind by a Great Epassment Stage immortal lord who had cultivated thews of time, then it had to be filled with countless precious treasures. Furthermore, if it really had already been lost for tens of millions of years, then any precious spirit nts in this ce had to have been ridiculously advanced in age.
Lei Yuce turned to Su Anqian, thenmunicated something to her through voice transmission, in response to which she gave a barely noticeable nod.
"In that case, do either of you have any idea of what just happened?" the square-faced man asked.
"That''s the extent of my knowledge on this ce. My assumption is that this ce has been sealed for too long, and we just forcibly destroyed the restriction at the entrance, so this space is already beginning to copse and won''t be around for much longer," Lei Yuce spected, much to everyone''s concern.
Chapter 1037: Mounting Tensions
There was nock of individuals with vast wealths of knowledge and experience present, and many of them had already guessed this to be the case, but they were still rather dismayed to have received confirmation from Lei Yuce.
Now that the spatial entrance was gone, and the entire secret area was disying signs of copsing, didn''t that mean that they were all going to die in here?
"Rest assured, everyone. This ce is a former cave abode of a Great Epassment cultivator, so there must be other ways out. The space here is rather frail, but it shouldst at least a month, which will be enough time for us to find an exit," Lei Yuce said, and everyone was slightly reassured to hear this, but it was clear that many people were still feeling very uneasy.
Right at this moment, Wen Zhong took a step forward beside Lei Yuce as he dered, "Please listen to me, everyone."
His voice wasn''t very loud, but it rang out very clearly within everyone''s ears, and everyone immediately turned to him for guidance.
"Time is of the essence right now, and we don''t know what dangers could be present in this secret area. If all of us were to split up and explore this ce on our own, then there''s a very good chance that widespread casualties could be suffered. Hence, I propose that we all form an alliance to travel together. Even if we encounter any dangers ahead, I''m sure we''ll be able to ovee them with our collective powers. What do you all say?" Wen Zhong proposed with a smile.
"I think that''s a good idea. There''s no need for us to throw our lives away for potential rewards that may not even exist," Jin Liu chimed in, but no one else said anything, and everyone was looking rather hesitant.
For most of the people present, their initial reaction was to turn down this proposal. After all, everyone hade to this secret area in search of opportunities, and traveling as part of a massive alliance would undoubtedly be cumbersome and counterproductive to that goal.
However, it was also true that this was apletely unknown ce to everyone, so there were benefits to joining forces as well.On top of that, the alliance had been proposed by the Almighty Sword Sect, and it had been agreed upon by the Heavenly Water Sect.
The Almighty Sword Sect, the Heavenly Water Sect, and the Golden Origin Immortal Pce were the three leading powers of the Golden Origin Immortal Region. Now that the Golden Origin Immortal Pce had faded into obscurity, the statuses of the Almighty Sword Sect and the Heavenly Water Sect had been even further elevated, and no one dared to directly oppose them.
"Rest assured, everyone, this is only going to be a temporary alliance, and there aren''t going to be many rules. All of the treasures that you obtain will go to you, but while you''re a part of this alliance, you must travel with everyone, and you''re forbidden from wandering off on your own," Wen Zhong added, and everyone instantly became much more receptive to the idea.
Hence, all of the other cultivators present began to express their approval of the proposal one after another.
"In that case, the alliance is hereby officially formed," Lei Yuce dered.
"An alliance cannot be without a leader, so let''s make a decision on that as well. Fellow Daoist Lei is the most powerful cultivator out of all of us, so I think he should serve as the alliance leader. Celestial Maiden Su''s powers are second only to his, so I propose that she serves as the deputy alliance leader. What do we all think?" Wen Zhong proposed.
The Heavenly Water Sect cultivators raised no objections to this proposal.
The formation of the alliance had been proposed by the Almighty Sword Sect, and it had received support from the Heavenly Water Sect, so everyone had already guessed that this would be the proposed arrangement.
"In that case, I am honored to ept the role of alliance leader. As the alliance leader, the first rule that I''m going to establish is that everyone is forbidden from attacking fellow alliance members. Can you all do that?" Lei Yuce asked.
This rule was basically already a given, so no one raised any objections to it.
"Alright, let''s set off then," Lei Yuce dered as he led the way forward, and everyone immediately followed along.
Before long, they arrived at the pce where Han Li had been cultivating in seclusion earlier.
At this point, the pir of golden light rising up from the pce had already vanished.
ted looks appeared on everyone''s faces at the sight of the pce, and some of them immediately swooped down to search the pce, only for Wen Zhong to step forward as he dered in an authoritative voice, "Stay back! Follow the alliance leader''s instructions!"
Only then did those people recall that they had to follow the orders of the alliance, and they sheepishly stopped in their tracks.
"Wen Zhong, Jin Liu, Azure Lock Valley Master, Ink Fragrance Pavilion Master, each of you take some people with you to explore the pce," Lei Yuce instructed, and the four people that were named immediately gave affirmative responses before doing as instructed, while everyone else could only look on with forlorn expressions.
A short whileter, the four of them returned with glum looks on their faces.
"Alliance Leader, everything in the pce below has already been taken, and there are also some very recent signs of battle, so someone must''vee here before us," Wen Zhong reported with a dark expression.
"Are you sure?" Lei Yuce asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I''m certain," Wen Zhong confirmed.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Lei Yuce dered, "In that case, let''s continue onward for now."
The alliance advanced onward at his behest, and they quickly emerged from the canyon, arriving in a much more open area that instilled renewed hope within them.
Lei Yuce was also feeling slightly more reassured upon seeing this. Given how vast this area was, even if someone had arrived here before them, there was no way that they would be able to explore the entire ce in a short time.
Furthermore, it was clear that they hadn''t left yet, so if he could catch the culprits, then he certainly wouldn''t mind making them hand over what they had found by force.
"Wen Zhong, Fellow Daosit Jin Liu, split everyone here up into twenty groups so that we can all cover more ground and explore more ces at once. Don''t go too far, gather back here in half a day," Lei Yuce instructed.
Wen Zhong did as he was told, and everyone quickly split up to explore different parts of the secret area.
The cultivators of the Azure Lock Valley, the Ink Fragrance Sect, and other powers were all assigned to more secluded areas, while the cultivators of the Almighty Sword Sect and the Heavenly Water Sect were sent deeper into the secret area.
The cultivators of the other sects were naturally not happy with this arrangement, but they didn''t dare to raise any objections.
Deep inside the secret area was a hill that was enshrouded under a thinyer of mist, and there was a faint medicinal aroma in the air.
The hill was split up into three tiers, each of which was several thousand feet in size. Together, the three tiers formed a diverse spirit medicine garden, and every single spirit medicine nted in the garden was at least tens of thousands of years old.
At this moment, there were over a hundred giant ape puppets were busy at work, harvesting all types of spirit medicines before rushing out of the garden.
There was a giant door of silver light outside the spirit medicine garden, and it led to another spirit medicine garden.
At this moment, Han Li was standing beside the door of silver light, instructing the giant mountain apes to transfer the harvested spirit medicines into the spirit medicine garden in the Flower Branch domain in an orderly fashion.
Right at this moment, Weeping Soul emerged from the Flower Branch domain, then said, "All of the spirit medicines at or above a million years of age have already been nted, and those that aren''t fit to be rented have been stored into the spirit medicine pavilion."
"The plots of spirit farnd that in our spirit medicine garden are rather limited area, so I''m assuming there''s not much space left at this point, right?" Han Li asked.
"There''s already no space left," Weeping Soul replied.
"The rented spirit medicines have already been nted with the smallest possible gaps between them. If we nt them any closer, it''s going to affect their growth," Han Li mused.
All of a sudden, he took a nce up at the sky.
"What''s wrong?" Weeping Soul asked.
"Some people have already entered the secret area. It looks like I''m going to have to take some drastic measures..." Han Li sighed.
"What do you have in mind, Master?" Weeping Soul asked.
"Leave these spirit medicines, just instruct the puppets to harvest all of the Nine-Leaved Ice Herbs, Heavenly Sun Parasol Flowers, and Bell Spirit Herbs. Even if they''re less than a hundred thousand years old, make sure to take every single one and leave none behind. As for the other spirit medicines that aren''t yet of age, just leave them behind," Han Li instructed.
"I can understand harvesting all of the Nine-Leaved Ice Herbs and Heavenly Sun Parasol Flowers as they''re ingredients required in the refinement of many types of dao pills, but why do you want these Bell Spirit Herbs as well?" Weeping Soul asked.
"Bell Spirit Herbs aren''t particrly precious in themselves, but they can act as a catalyst. If I nt them near the other two types of spirit medicines, then there''s a chance that the Nine-Leaved Ice Herbs could mutate into Nine-Leaved Ice me Herbs, while the Heavenly Sun Parasol Flowers could be Heavenly Sun Fire Parasol Flowers," Han Li exined with a smile.
"I see," Weeping Soul replied with an enlightened expression.
"By the way, where''s the Essence Fire Raven?" Han Li asked.
"It devoured a Nine Sun Fire Stone not long ago in the Purple Sun Pavilion, and it seems to have been feeling rather unwell since then, so it''s been hiding in the bamboo pavilion beside the lotus flower pond this entire time," Weeping Soul replied, much to Han Li''s amusement and exasperation.
The Essence Fire Raven had only recently devoured several beads of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, and the Nine Sun Fire Stone was even more formidable than Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, so Han Li couldn''t help but feel a little concerned.
However, given how powerful the Essence Fire Raven had be, his concerns were entirely unnecessary. At the moment, if the Essence Fire Raven were to go all-out, even Han Li would struggle mightily to deal with it.
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Chapter 1038: Outrage
Following Weeping Soul''s departure, Han Li flew directly into the air above the plots of spirit farnd before surveying the area from the sky.
Half of the spirit medicines had already been harvested. Out of the remaining spirit medicines, most were below a million years of age, but there was nock of specimens above a hundred thousand years old.
After scouring the area briefly, Han Li''s gaze settled on a plot of spirit farnd that had a high concentration of spirit medicines, and he flew down to its edge.
He then quickly made ap around the plot of spirit farnd, periodically stomping a foot down onto the ground as he did so. With each stomp, a long crack would appear in the ground underfoot, and by the time hepleted thep, the entire plot of spirit farnd, which was over ten acres in area, had already sunk down by a foot, lookingpletely disjointed from the surroundingnd.
Han Li crouched down slightly, rolling up his sleeves before reaching his hands into the crack on the edge of the plot of spirit farnd, and a burst of azure light surged out of his hands to epass the entire plot ofnd.
Immediately thereafter, the plot of spirit farnd was lifted up by him like a giant piece of fabric, following which he began to make his way toward the door of silver light.
At this moment, Weeping Soul was still instructing the giant ape puppets nearby, and she couldn''t help but be amused by the sight of Han Li under the giant plot of spirit farnd.
We should''ve just done the same thing to all of the spirit farnd here!
As Han Li arrived before the door of silver light, it abruptly swelled up in size at his behest, bingrge enough to fit both him and the plot of spirit farnd.The door of light led directly to the spirit medicine farm in the domain, and Han Li made his way to a vacant area outside the farm before setting down the plot of spirit farnd.
Of course, he had also considered carrying in all of the spirit farnd, but ultimately, the Flower Branch domain was limited in area, and it couldn''t be used entirely to house plots of spirit farnd.
At this point, he had already scoured all of the buildings in the secret area that had been revealed by the receding mist, and he had taken every single treasure at or above the spirit treasure caliber before stowing them away in the domain.
In order to store these treasures, Han Li had disassembled a three-story pavilion inside the secret area before reconstructing it near the spirit medicine garden in his Flower Branch domain, right next to the spirit medicine pavilion.
After setting down the plot of spirit farnd, Han Li immediately emerged from the Flower Branch domain to find that Weeping Soul and the giant ape puppets were beginning to enter the door of silver light.
"Weeping Soul, I''ve set down the plot of spirit farnd, but it still needs to be connected to the earth veins in the domain and watered with spirit liquid," Han Li said.
"Leave it to me, Master," Weeping Soul replied as she entered the Flower Branch domain, following which Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to close the door of silver light.
After that, he turned and cast his gaze deeper into the secret area.
That area was riddled with restrictions, making it very difficult to ess.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he suppressed his own immortal spiritual power fluctuations, then rushed around the hill to hide behind it.
Not long after his departure, several figures arrived on the scene, including cultivators from the Spirit Heaven Sect, zing Light City, and the Azure Lock Valley.
The square-faced man from the Spirit Heaven Sect was also among them, and he rallied in a loud voice, "Everyone, all of us must unite against the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect if we want to reap any substantial rewards in this immortal manor. At a time like this, we cannot afford to be selfish and divided."
"Cut the preamble, Yu Kuohai. What exactly is it that you want to say?" a zing Light City elder asked.
"Be patient now, Elder Yang. What I want to propose is that we all join forces to harvest the spirit medicines here together, and if any other sects try to encroach upon this ce, then we unite to oppose them. What do you say?" Yu Kuohai proposed.
"That''s not a bad proposal. What I''m wondering is how we''re going to split the spirit medicines here. This immortal manor has been sealed for countless years, so this ce must beden with precious spirit medicines of very advanced ages," the handsome man from the Azure Lock Valley said.
"There are three tiers on this hill, are there not? Let''s just pick one each, Valley Master Fu," Yu Kuohai replied.
"Alright, then it''s settled," Elder Yang agreed, and the group of cultivators immediately entered the spirit medicine fields.
However, it didn''t take long before all of them erupted into furious fits.
"What the hell happened here?!" Elder Yang roared.
"Someone got here before us!" Valley Master Fu yelled.
"Which bastard did this?! They even dug out an entire chunk of spirit farnd!"
The cultivators of the other two sects faltered slightly upon hearing this, then turned to examine their designated plots of spirit farnd. At the very least, none of the spirit farnd had been dug out, and there were still some spirit medicines left behind ranging from tens of thousands to over a hundred thousand years of age.
Meanwhile, Yu Kuohai could barely contain his own fury as he glowered at the massive chunk of missingnd before him. The soil on the edges of the crater was still very moist, indicating that the spirit farnd had clearly only been dug out not long ago.
He sprang up into the air before scouring his surroundings, trying to find the perpetrator, but to no avail.
The cultivators of the three sects quickly gathered what little remained of the spirit medicines in the fields, then reunited with one another before loudly cussing out whoever had gotten here before them.
"There''s no point in venting right now. The cultivators of the Yellow Wind Sect and the Ink Fragrance Pavilion seem to have gone to a building not far away from us. If we go there now, we should be in time to intercept them," Yu Kuohai said.
"But if we do that, won''t we pit ourselves in direct conflict with those two sects?" Valley Master Fu asked in a hesitant manner.
"It''s just the Yellow Wind Sect and the Ink Fragrance Pavilion, what do we have to fear?" Elder Yang scoffed.
"In that case, it''s decided. If they''re willing to hand over some of their treasures, then we''ll let them off the hook, but if they refuse to hand over anything to us, then we''ll have no choice but to make them suffer a little," Yu Kuohai said with a cold smile.
After reaching a consensus, the cultivators of the three sects began to fly in the direction of the building in question.
However, on the way there, they discovered the Yellow Wind Sect and Ink Fragrance Pavilion cultivators flying toward them, and they had been joined by the cultivators of the White Cloud Mountain Cottage and the Worry Not Pavilion.
The two groups drew to a halt several thousand feet apart, and looking at the disgruntled expressions on one another''s faces, all of them were struck by a sense of foreboding.
"Could it be that everything has already been looted on your end as well?" Yu Kuohai asked.
"It sounds like the same thing happened to you," the elderly woman from the Yellow Wind Sect mused.
"There was even an entire chunk of spirit farnd taken away," Yu Kuohai replied through gritted teeth.
"The entire building on our end was almost taken apart," the elderly woman from the Yellow Wind Pavilion sighed.
"What kind of shameless bastard could''ve done something like this?!"
In a forest hundreds of kilometers away, Han Li suddenly sneezed without any warning.
At this moment, there was a rather hesitant look on his face.
At this point, it was already abundantly clear that people from the outside had entered the secret area. However, in order to avoid being discovered, he had refrained from using his spiritual sense to do any scouting. As a result, he had no idea how many people had entered the secret area.
At the moment, he was still some distance away from the deepest parts of the secret area, so there simply wouldn''t be enough time for him to break the restrictions up ahead and loot all of the treasures ahead of everyone else.
If he were to get into a conflict with these people, then his identity would inevitably be exposed, and if he were to attract the attention of the likes of Qi Mozi, then he wasn''t confident in his ability to escape safely.
However, it was clear that this was no ordinary secret area, so there had to be some extremely precious treasures hidden in its deepest parts.
Most importantly, Han Li could sense a faint hint of timew power fluctuationsing from up ahead, and he couldn''t bear to turn his back on it.
After much contemtion, he was finally able to think of a middle ground idea.
With his mind made up, he released some of his spiritual sense, sweeping it through the nearby area.
Momentster, he flipped a hand over to produce a crimson Reincarnation Pce mask that he promptly put on, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed into a middle-aged man with eyes that were set quite far apart, giving him a slightly dull and slow-witted appearance.
Immediately thereafter, his body shrank down in height while bing morepact and muscr, giving him the appearance of a hard-working farmer.
At the same time, he released part of his immortal spiritual power fluctuations, restricting his own aura to the early-Golden Immortal Stage.
He then flipped a hand over to conjure up a mirror or azure light, and after examining his own reflection momentarily, he gave a pleased nod.
After that, he leaped into the greenery to the side and vanished out of sight.
Chapter 1039: Playing Hard to Get
Several minutester, a rowdy group began passing through on a nearby path.
The group was led by Yu Kuohai of the Spirit Heaven Sect, and trailing along behind him were Elder Yang of zing Light City and Valley Master Fu of the Azure Lock Valley, followed by all of the other cultivators of the three sects.
"That bastard better pray that I don''t get my hands on him! Otherwise, I''m going to skin him and grind his bones down into powder! I''ve never met anyone so shameless in my entire life!" Elder Yang grumbled, clearly still feeling extremely bitter and enraged.
"Calm down, Elder Yang. Back when the secret area opened up, all of us entered it together, and we were sent out to our designated areas under the arrangements of the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect, so there shouldn''t be anyone capable of getting here ahead of us," Yu Kuohai mused.
Elder Yang faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Are you saying that there''s been some foul y from those two sects?"
"I wouldn''t put it out of the question. Perhaps they had already sent out people in secret to loot all of the ces ahead of time before assigning us our areas of exploration," Valley Master Gu spected.
The three of them fell silent at this notion. Even if the two sects really had yed a trick on them, did they have the power required to oppose them?
"If that''s the case, then we''re most likely going to continue to be at their mercy unless we do nothing. Do any of you have any counter strategies?" Yu Kuohai asked.
Elder Yang and Valley Master Fu exchanged a nce with each other, but neither of them said anything.After a long silence, Elder Yang sighed, "All we can do is take things one step at a time and proceed with caution. If we can fight for some opportunities, then don''t hesitate to do so, but if we can''t, then at the very least, we should do our best to ensure that we won''t be used by others."
"Indeed, that appears to be all that we can do for now," Valley Master Fu sighed.
As the three of them were conversing with one another, they suddenly heard a loudmotioning from the forest up ahead, immediately following which arge cloud of dust rose up into the air from afar.
Everyone turned in that direction to discover a well-built middle-aged man with his clothes in tatters, fleeing for his life from a boar-like metal beast.
The beast was over a hundred feet tall, and its golden fur resembled masses of steel needles, while a pair of curved golden tusks were protruding out of its mouth, resembling a pair of halberds.
Upon catching sight of Yu Kuohai''s group, the man immediately began frantically yelling for help.
"Save me, fellow daoists!"
Before anyone had a chance to figure out what was happening, the man was already upon them, and he sprang over everyone''s heads in a blind panic, only stopping his tracks after crashing into a huge tree.
The metal beast immediately abandoned the man to attack Yu Kuohai''s group, who hurriedly summoned their treasures to defend themselves.
They weren''t taking on the metal beast because they wanted to help the man out of the kindness of their hearts. Instead, it was because metal beasts were formed by the purest metal-attribute spiritual qi, so their beast cores contained metalw powers, thereby making them quite desirable.
"Let''s kill this thing and take its beast core!" Yu Kuohai yelled, and everyone immediately sprang into action, raining down attacks upon the metal beast.
The metal beast only possessed powers roughly on part with a mid-Golden Immortal cultivator, so it stood no chance against the cultivators from the three sects, and it didn''t take long before Elder Yang was able to pierced a fiery de through its head, obtaining its beast core in the process.
The body of the metal beast didn''t contain anyw powers, but it made for a very good tool refinement material, so it was smashed into bits and split among everyone.
After all of that was done, Yu Kuohai and the others turned to the middle-aged man who had just fled out of the forest, only to discover that he was about to sneak away.
"Where do you think you''re going?" Yu Kuohai yelled, and with a flick of his wrist, a ck whip shot out of his sleeve like a spirit snake, wrapping itself around the man''s waist before dragging him to Yu Kuohai, sending him tumbling to the ground.
"I don''t think I''ve seen this man before. Do any of you have any recollection of him?" Valley Master Fu asked.
"I don''t recall seeing him before, either. At the very least, I''m fairly certain he''s not from any of the major sects," Elder Yang said.
"Everything will be clear once I''ve searched his soul," Yu Kuohai said with a sinister grin.
"Don''t do that! Let''s be civilized now, Fellow Daoist," the middle-aged man hurriedly yelled.
"Shut your mouth! How do we know you''re not the one who looted all the treasures that were meant to be ours?" someone from the Spirit Heaven Sect yelled.
"Seeing as none of us have seen him before, that is a possibility," Elder Yang mused, and everyone immediately began calling for his soul to be searched.
Yu Kuohai took a nce at the man to find that he had a rather slow-witted appearance, indicating that he wasn''t some sly individual, but as a safety precaution, he was still nning to search the man''s soul.
The man was naturally none other than Han Li in disguise.
Earlier, he had sensed this group of people approaching the forest, and he decided to try and incorporate himself into their group to try and dig up some useful information. Hence, he had gone to seek out that metal beast and goaded it into chasing him.
However, right as Yu Kuohai was about to reach out for Han Li, a burst of golden light suddenly shed over his body, and he was able to slip out of the ck whip before rising to his feet.
"Rest assured, fellow daoists, my name is Shi Mu, and I bear no ill will," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute.
Everyone was quite rmed to see him slipping out of Yu Kuohai''s whip so easily, and they immediately surrounded him with wary looks on their faces.
Han Li hurriedly raised his hands in surrender upon seeing this, and he exined, "I''m proficient in some techniques that allow me to escape from bindings, but rest assured, I pose no threat to any of you. May I ask where we are right now?"
Everyone was rather taken aback by this question.
"You don''t know what this ce is?" Yu Kuohai asked.
Han Li put on a fearful expression as he exined, "I was hunting a beast in the forest earlier, and I somehow stumbled into a strange col. It seemed to be apletely open area, but somehow, I kept walking around in circles, like I was in a maze.
¡°Thankfully, I''m somewhat proficient in a few illusion and restriction dispelling techniques, and I was able to make it out of the col, only to end up here. Almost as soon as I entered this ce, I was attacked by that metal beast, and it chased me all the way here."
"Are we just supposed to take your word for it? Someone looted this entire area before us, and we suspect that you''re that person. If you want to prove your own innocence, then hand over your storage tool for us to examine," Yu Kuohai ordered.
"That''s too unreasonable a request! The contents of one''s storage tool is a matter of privacy..." Han Li protested in a reluctant manner.
"I''m afraid you don''t have much of a choice in the matter," Elder Yang said in a cold voice, and everyone began to close in around Han Li, further exacerbating the fear in his eyes.
Finally, he sumbed to the pressure, heaving a resigned sigh as he said, "Fine, you can examine my storage tool, but please let me go after that."
He slipped a storage finger that he had prepared earlier off his finger as he spoke, then handed it over.
Yu Kuohai took the storage ring from him, then inspected its contents briefly with his spiritual sense, upon which his brows furrowed slightly as he handed the ring to Elder Yang.
After examining its contents, Elder Yang''s brows also furrowed slightly as he handed the ring to Valley Master Gu.
"How are you this impoverished as an early-Golden Immortal cultivator?" Valley Master Fu couldn''t help but ask.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he sighed, "I''m just an itinerant cultivator, so I''m naturally not as blessed as yourselves. It''s a struggle for me just to acquire enough cultivation resources to get by."
"Looks like you really are just some poor idiot who stumbled into this ce by chance," Valley Master Fu mused as he tossed the storage ring back at Han Li, who eagerly grabbed it before putting it on with a bashful smile.
"I''ve already taken up far too much of your precious time, so I''ll be taking my leave now"
"Hold on a second, Fellow Daoist Shi," Yu Kuohai suddenly called out.
"Can I help you with something else, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li asked.
"Earlier, you mentioned that you''re well-versed in some restriction dispeling techniques, is that correct?" Yu Kuohai asked with a smile.
Han Li immediately feigned a smug expression as he replied, "I don''t mean to brag, but despite my mediocre cultivation base, when ites to restriction dispelling techniques, I..."
He then pretended to have realized that he had misspoken, and he hurriedly amended, "Of course, I still can''t even begin topare with all of you in this regard."
"Why are you asking him this, Fellow Daoist Yu?" Elder Yang asked through voice transmission.
"Seeing as the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect want to use us as cannon fodder, why don''t we find some cannon fodder as well? This man has delivered himself right to our doorstep, and he ims to be proficient in restriction dispelling techniques, so he''s the perfect candidate, is he not?" Yu Kuohai replied through voice transmission.
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Chapter 1040: Cannon Fodder
Even though Han Li was unable to hear the contents of the voice transmission conversation between Elder Yang and Yu Kuohai, it wasn''t difficult to guess what they were talking about.
However, he disyed no reaction to this, instead looking around with a contemtive look on his face.
After a brief conversation, Elder Yang and Yu Kuohai turned their attention back to Han Li again.
"Would you be able to point out a way for me to leave this ce, fellow daoists? I still have some urgent matters that I have to attend to," Han Li said.
"Why are you in such a hurry to leave, Fellow Daoist Shi? Truth be told, you''ve stumbled upon a massive stroke of luck! This ce is a lost immortal abode with countless treasures and opportunities inside. As long as youe with us, you''ll be sure to reap some significant rewards," Yu Kuohai said with a benevolent smile.
"What? A lost immortal abode? I knew something looked a little different about this ce!" Han Li immediately eximed as he feigned an ecstatic expression.
"That''s right, this is the former immortal manor of a Great Epassment cultivator by the name of Immortal Lord Tai Sui. You must''ve been fated to stumble into this ce, so don''t squander this opportunity that fate has bestowed upon you!" Yu Kuohai urged.
"Indeed. We are all cultivators from righteous sects, and the fact that we''ve met here means that our fates were destined to intertwine, so why note explore this immortal manor with us together?" Valley Master Fu offered with a smile.
Han Li''s heart was full of disdain upon hearing this. If some clueless itinerant cultivator were in his ce, perhaps they really would be led astray by this tantalizing offer.All of the other cultivators from the three sects were looking much more friendly and rxed at this point, but they still formed a loose circle around Han Li, so it was clear that they weren''t going to let him slip away.
Han Li put on a conflicted expression, acting as if he were feeling swayed by the offer.
From Yu Kuohai''s perspective, all Han Li needed was a little bit more of a push, and he gave Elder Yang a subtle look, upon which thetter immediately said, "Fellow Daoist Shi, you don''t know where to go anyway, so as opposed to stumbling around aimlessly in this secret area, it would be much safer for you to travel with us."
Before Han Li had a chance to reply, a hostile look suddenly appeared on Valley Master Gu''s face as he asked, "Why are you so hesitant, Fellow Daoist Shi? Could it be that you don''t think very highly of the Spirit Heaven Sect, zing Light City, and our Azure Lock Valley."
"Of course not! I have nothing but respect for you all, and I''m ttered that you think highly enough of me to invite me along. I am willing toe with you, and I don''t wish for anypensation, all that I wish for is to be useful to you all," Han Li hurriedly replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"You know what? He''s not so bad. If he really does prove himself to be useful, then we should spare him," Valley Master Gu said to Yu Kuohai and Elder Yang through voice transmission.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Shi. As long as you do your best to help us, you''ll certainly be rewarded for your efforts," Yu Kuohai said with a benevolent smile.
Han Li hurriedly nodded in response with a grateful and awestruck look on his face.
After a brief conversation, everyone continued to make their way deeper into the secret area.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, you came from a different direction from the one that we came from, did you encounter anything useful along the way?" Elder Yang suddenly asked.
"I didn''t even know that I was in a lost immortal manor, so I didn''t have the presence of mind to search for any treasures. Not long after entering this ce, I encountered that metal beast, and I was in such a panic to get away from it that I don''t even recall what route I took to flee here," Han Li replied with an embarrassed expression.
"Don''t worry about it. Now that you''re with us, something like that won''t happen again," Yu Kuohai assured.
"Thank you, everyone," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute.
Yu Kuohai''s trio exchange a nce with one another, and the three of them were all feeling a hint of derision toward Han Li, thinking to themselves that they were going to use him as cannon fodder should the need arise.
The group continued onward down the forest path, and Han Li remained silent as he listened to their conversations, only to discover that the majority of the conversations consisted of verbally denouncing whoever had imed the treasures in this area before them.
Simrly, they were also expressing disdain and dissatisfaction toward the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect.
"Are there cultivators from the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect in this secret area as well, Fellow Daoist Yu?" Han Li asked.
Yu Kuohai was about to ignore him, but upon seeing the fearful look on his face, he was worried that Han Li would be too scared to continue onward, so he could only offer some reassurance.
"Do not fear, Fellow Daoist Shi. This secret area is massive. Those two sects may be quite powerful in the outside world, but they haven''t sent many people into this ce this time, and there''s no way they''ll be able to im all of the opportunities in here."
"That''s right! If they dare to try any more funny business, then we''ll just have to join forces with the Yellow Wind Sect, the Ink Fragrance Pavilion, and the others. Even they will have to be wary of our collective power!" Valley Master Fu chimed in.
Han Li hurriedly nodded in response, looking much more reassured.
A mocking sneer appeared on Valley Master Gu''s face upon seeing this, but he made sure to hide it from Han Li.
Unbeknownst to him, Han Li didn''t regard the cultivators of the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect as a threat at all. Instead, what he wanted to know was whether Qi Mozi and cultivators from the Immortal Pce were in this secret area.
With that in mind, he asked, "May I ask if there are any other powers that we should be particrly wary of aside from the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect?"
"Why are you asking so many questions, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
Valley Master Fu was beginning to lose his patience.
"Please forgive me, Fellow Daoist Fu. It''s just that I don''t want to inadvertently make any powerful enemies and bring trouble to everyone," Han Li replied in a sheepish manner.
"That''s actually a good thing to consider. Having said that, aside from the cultivators of the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect, there isn''t really anyone else in here that we have to be particrly wary of," Elder Yang replied.
This response yielded no useful information, and Han Li heaved an internal sigh upon hearing this.
However, it was clear that if Qi Mozi and cultivators from the Immortal Pce were present in the secret area, at the very least, then they had to have disguised themselves. Otherwise, the presence of a Great Epassment cultivator in this secret area would''ve been sure to create quite a stir.
At the moment, all he could do was follow this group and see where it took him.
With that in mind, he didn''t ask any further questions, and after walking through the forest for several hours, the group arrived at a majestic red pce.
However, Yu Kuokai and the others weren''t particrly ted to see this. Instead, they were all trying to temper their expectations in case this ce had also been looted in advance.
Upon arriving in front of the hall, a relieved look appeared on Yu Kuohai''s face as he dered, "It looks like the restrictions are still intact."
"You''re quite skilled at breaking restrictions, are you not, Fellow Daoist Shi? Why don''t youe and take a look at this one here?" Elder Yang proposed with a smile.
"Alright, I''ll give it a try."
Han Li knew that Elder Yang was trying to test him, and he rolled up his sleeves, looking as if he were eager to meet the challenge.
Upon arriving at the pce gates, he discovered that there was a round metal b embedded into its surface. The metal b carried a design of a pair of beasts with their heads and tails interconnected to one another, as well eight lightning runes.
Han Li was immediately able to identify the eight runes as ones that represented the legendary Eight Thunder Gods, while the two beasts at the center were the Bipr Lightning Beasts.
However, he didn''t immediately say anything. Instead, he began scratching his own head while feigning a puzzled expression.
"Can you break this restriction or not, Fellow Daoist Shi? If you can''t, then speak up, and I''ll break it by force," Yu Kuohai called out in a slightly disgruntled manner.
"I can recognize the Bipr Lightning Beasts on this metal b, but I don''t recognize all of the surrounding runes. All I can tell is that this is a lightning restriction, and that if it''s broken by force, then the restriction will be activated, and the entire pce will be destroyed by lightning," Han Li replied with a hesitant expression.
"Really?" Yu Kuohai asked with a skeptical expression.
"If you don''t believe me, then you can give it a try, Fellow Daoist Yu," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
A contemtive look appeared on Yu Kuohai''s face upon hearing this, following which he smiled as he said, "Of course I believe you, Fellow Daoist Shi. Do you have any way to break this restriction?"
"I can only give it a try. Would any of you like to do the honors?" Han Li asked.
Everyone looked back and forth at one another, following which all of them turned collectively to Han Li.
"You''re the one breaking the restriction, so it would naturally be best for you to test out your own methods yourself," Elder Yang said with a smile, and everyone else nodded in agreement.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he said, "In that case, please step back a little, everyone. I don''t know how powerful this restriction is going to be."
Everyone did as they were told, retreating to over a thousand feet away.
Han Li turned to face the pce with his back to everyone, and a faint smile appeared on his face as he began working on the restriction.
Breaking this restriction wasn''t a difficult task for Han Li at all, and it only took him less than a minute to open it by using the Divine Devilbane Lightning in his body.
However, he didn''t say anything. Instead, he released his Essence Fire Raven discreetly into the pce.
Some timeter, a burst of silver lightning suddenly exploded in front of Han Li, sending him flying back through the air.
Everyone was quite rmed to see this, and no one noticed a burst of silver mes flying out of the lightning before vanishing up Han Li''s sleeve.
In order to sell the act, Han Li flew back over a thousand feet before tumbling heavily to the ground with his clothes in tatters.
Yu Kuohai and the others only took a nce at him before noticing that the pce gates had been opened, and all of them immediately rushed inside, but it didn''t take long before a chorus of angry voices rang out from inside.
Chapter 1041: Close Call
Han Li was quite taken aback to hear everyone''s furious reactions, and he hurriedlymunicated to the Essence Fire Raven through their spiritual connection, "Didn''t I tell you not to take everything and leave some behind for them?"
However, he received no response from the Essence Fire Raven. It had been quite groggy ever since it devoured the Nine Sun Fire Stone, and it seemed like it still hadn''t returned to normal yet.
Han Li could only shake his head in a resigned manner, then slumped to the ground, pretending to be hurt.
Momentster, Yu Kuohai and the others emerged from the pce with disgruntled expressions before arriving by Han Li''s side.
"Are you alright, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Elder Yang asked.
"I''m fine, it''s just some external injuries," Han Li replied as he syed open his charred hands.
"How is this possible? The restrictions were clearly intact, yet there was nothing inside!" Valley Master Fu grumbled.
"Well done, Fellow Daoist Shi. We may not have found anything here, but I''m sure there are plenty of precious treasures waiting for us further up ahead," Yu Kuohai said as he helped Han Li up from the ground.
"Thank you," Han Li replied in a grateful manner.After taking a short rest here, everyone continued onward, encountering several more buildings, all of which had their restrictions unraveled by Han Li. All of the most precious treasures in those buildings were naturally taken by Han Li, but he made sure to leave some behind for everyone else.
Several days flew by in a sh.
At this moment, Han Li''s group was standing at the entrance of a gray canyon.
The canyon was filled with mist, and an enormous gray pagoda could be seen in the distance, standing like a pir that supported the heavens.
Yu Kuohai was ecstatic at the sight of the pagoda, and he immediately urged everyone to speed up.
Before long, they arrived in front of the pagoda, which was rather antiquated in design and dozens of kilometers in size. In terms of the area that it upied, it wasparable to the mountains around it, but it was far taller than all of the nearby mountains, reaching all the way up into the clouds.
A series of gray lightning designs had been engraved onto the pagoda, and arcs of gray lightning asionally sprang out from within, causing the nearby space to tremble violently.
At the very top of the pagoda was a huge golden me that was burning as radiantly as the sun.
However, it was also rather illusory in appearance, as if it existed in an alternate space that waspletely out of reach.
Upon arriving at the pagoda, the excitement felt by Yu Kuohai and the others instantly evaporated.
As it turned out, there were already many people gathered in front of the pagoda.
"Looks like we''rete to the party," Yu Kuohai harrumphed in a disgruntled manner.
Han Li paid no heed to the crowd up ahead as he cast his gaze toward the golden me at the top of the pagoda.
He could sense hints of timew power fluctuations within the fire, but they seemed to have been restricted by something, and if it wasn''t for Han Li''s heightened sensitivity to timew powers, he wouldn''t have been able to detect them at all.
"Let''s go. Fellow Daoist Shi, if you''re scared of causing trouble, then make sure to be careful with your words and actions here," Yu Kuohai cautioned, and Han Li hurriedly nodded in response.
At this point, almost the entire alliance had already gathered in front of the gray pagoda.
Lei Yuce, Su Anqian, and the leaders of several other major powers were currently gathered in front of a tightly shut stone gate at the foot of the pagoda, above which was a que that read "Eon Pagoda".
The stone gate was dark gray in color, and it was also riddled with lightning patterns that released a formidable, gray lightning barrier.
At this moment, Lei Yuce, Su Anqian, and the others seemed to be discussing something among themselves.
On the way here, Han Li had gathered a lot of information by ying dumb and asking questions, so he hadpiled decent profiles on Lei Yuce and the others.
The arrival of the Spirit Heaven Sect, zing Light City, and Azure Lock Valley cultivators didn''t attract much attention. Most of the people gathered in front of the pagoda merely took a nce at them before turning their attention back to the pagoda.
At this moment, the Lan siblings were standing together in a discreet corner of the crowd.
"This must be where the most precious treasures left behind Immortal Lord Tai Sui are being held," Lan Yuanzi said as he looked up at the pagoda with a fervent look in his eyes.
Even though the siblings'' mission was to capture Han Li, they naturally didn''t want to pass up such a massive opportunity.
"The lightning on this pagoda seems to be very formidable. Do you recognize this lightning?" Lan Yan asked with a curious expression.
"It seems to be some type of yin lightning. I don''t know much about lightning, so..."
All of a sudden, Lan Yuanzi''s voice trailed off here, and his expression suddenly changed slightly as he flipped a hand over to produce a blue mirror, the surface of which was currently shing incessantly.
Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and the former eximed, "It''s Han Li!"
Meanwhile, the timew powers in Han Li''s body suddenly rippled slightly, as if it had just been stirred up slightly by something.
Someone''s using a sensory immortal treasure to track me!
As soon as he arrived at this realization, he immediately channeled his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique to seal off all of his immortal acupoints. At the same time, he channeled his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, and the five distinct timew powers in his body intertwined with each other to form a seal deep within his body, keeping his immortal spiritual powerpletely contained.
As a time-attribute cultivation art of the highest caliber, not only was the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra extremely powerful, it also granted the user exceptional aura concealment abilities.
Now that Han Li had reached the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage, he was gradually beginning to capitalize on the alternative uses of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
All of a sudden, the blue mirror in Lan Yuanzi''s hand stopped shing, and it reverted back into a normal mirror.
A surprised look appeared on Lan Yuanzi''s face upon seeing this, following which heposed himself before stowing the mirror away.
"What happened? Was it a false rm?" Lan Yan asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"No, Han Li must''ve detected that someone''s trying to track him, so he concealed his own aura. It seems like he''s very alert," Lan Yuanzi replied with a grim expression.
"How is that possible? The Heavenly Detection Mirror was given to us by our master, and even Great Epassment cultivators aren''t guaranteed to be able to avoid its detection," Lan Yan eximed.
"This just tells us that this Han Li is no ordinary High Zenith cultivator. Having said that, at least we now know that Han Li is currently nearby," Lan Yuanzi said as he began scouring his gaze through the crowd.
"You''re right! That group of people that just arrived are very suspicious. The Heavenly Detection Mirror immediately registered a reaction as soon as they arrived, so there''s a very good chance that Han Li is among them," Lan Yan said as she cast her gaze toward Han Li''s group.
"That is indeed very likely, but we can''t justpletely ignore everyone else, either," Lan Yuanzi replied with a contemtive expression.
Lan Yan nodded in response, and she was just about to approach Han Li''s group for a closer look, only to be stopped by Lan Yuanzi.
"Don''t make any rash moves. Right now, we''re unable to confirm Han Li''s identity, and he most likely hasn''t discovered us, either. What we have to do now is engage him in a battle of attrition and observation. I''m sure he won''t be able to conceal his own aura forever!"
A look of admiration appeared on Lan Yan''s face as he said, "There''s no way he''ll be able to get away from you, Brother. If he hands himself over to us now, that''ll spare us the trouble of having to find him!"
......
Who''s trying to track me? Qi Mozi? That feels unlikely. If he had this tracking method up his sleeve, then he would''ve used it long ago. Who else could it be? Could it be that the Lan siblings of the Nine Origins Temple?
Han Li''s mind was racing as he discreetly scanned his gaze over the surrounding crowd.
All of a sudden, his gaze settled on a certain young man, following which he quickly looked away again to avoid attracting the attention of the subject of his observation.
That young man was none other than Xiong Shan, and at this moment, he was standing with a group of itinerant cultivators at the edge of the crowd.
Even though Han Li had only caught a brief glimpse of the young man back at the Golden Origin Immortal Pce, he was certain that it was the same person.
Why is it that he seems so familiar to me? Who is he? On top of that, if he''s here, then Qi Mozi must be here as well. Could it be that it really was Qi Mozi that was trying to track me just now?
Upon arriving at the realization that Qi Mozi was present, Han Li immediately became more apprehensive.
Even though he had reached the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage, he still wasn''t confident in his own ability to match up against Qi Mozi, considering he was a Great Epassment cultivator who had also mastered thews of time.
On top of that, there was a chance that Lan siblings from the Nine Origins Temple were also here, and if that were the case, then that would only furtherpound his woes.
Right as Han Li was weighing up his options, Yu Kuohai''s trio made their way to the entrance of the giant pagoda.
"Fellow Daoist Yu, how did things go on your end?" Lei Yuce asked.
"Almost all of the ces that we passed through had already beenpletely looted!" Yu Kuohai replied in a hateful voice.
"Don''t be disheartened, Fellow Daoist Yu. The restrictions here are still intact, so the treasures inside this Eon Pagoda are most likely still inside. However, the Thousand Integration Yin Lightning Array on the gate is not going to be easy to bypass. Do any of you have good ideas?" Lei Yuce asked.
Yu Kuohai''s trio exchanged a nce with each other, following which Valley Master Gu said, "None of us can even hold a candle to your expertise when ites to breaking restrictions, Fellow Daoist Shi. If you''ve already identified the restriction on the gate, then I''m sure you have a n on how to break it, right?"
"I do have an idea in mind, but I''m going to require everyone''s assistance," Lei Yuce replied with a smile.
"Not a problem, go ahead and tell us what we need to do, Fellow Daoist Shi," Yu Kuohai dered.
A pleased look shed through Lei Yuce''s eyes, and he began, "In that case, please..."
A discussion thatsted close to an hour took ce before the group dispersed to gather helpers, and in the end, close to a hundred people were assembled for the purposes of setting up an borate array on the ground in front of the pagoda.
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Chapter 1042: Breaking the Array
Chapter 1042: Breaking the Array
Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong were standing together, observing the ongoing work from nearby.
"How confident are you that this will work, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Wen Zhong asked through voice transmission.
"60% to 70% at a conservative estimate. For the sake of the Eon Divine Lamp, even if there''s only a 10% chance of sess, we still have to give it a try, do we not?" Lei Yuce asked.
"ording to legends, the Eon Divine Lamp is an immortal treasure that Immortal Lord Tai Sui spent his entire life to refine. I wonder exactly what type of treasure it is," Wen Zhong said as a look of longing appeared in his eyes.
A serious look then appeared on his face as he turned to Lei Yuce and continued, "Fellow Daoist Lei, I know that you''ve always held a great deal of admiration toward Su Anqian, but securing the Eon Divine Lamp is vital for the future prosperity of our Almighty Sword Sect, so make sure you don''t let your private feelings get in the way of pursuing the greater good."
Lei Yuce''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he replied in a serious manner, "Rest assured, I understand my responsibilities as the deputy sect master."
"Good," Wen Zhong said with a pleased expression.
Under everyone''s collective efforts, the construction of the array was progressing rapidly, and in less than half a day, an enormous ck and white array had already taken shape in front of the giant pagoda.
Han Li was observing the array from within the crowd, and all of a sudden, an intrigued look appeared in his eyes as he called upon Weeping Soul and the Essence Fire Raven through their spiritual connection.
A few momentster, two drastically contrasting auras, one scorching hot and one freezing cold, seeped out of his body.
"Everyone, this is a twin array designed by our alliance leader for the purpose of breaking this restriction. Each half of the array needs to be powered by fifty fellow daoists. Now, I''m going to call out the people who have been chosen to power the array, please step forward once I''ve instructed you to do so," Wen Zhong dered.
At this moment, there were over a thousand cultivators gathered in front of the pagoda, and none of them dared to raise any objections, but they were all praying that they weren''t chosen.
It was clear that the restriction outside the pagoda was very formidable, so breaking it had to have been a very risky endeavor.
Wen Zhong could tell what everyone was thinking from their reactions, but he hardly cared, and he immediately began picking out the people that he wanted.
With each person that he called out, he would point at that person, and a beam of white light would shoot out of his fingertip before adhering to that person''s body.
It didn''t take long before a hundred people were picked out, and they were reluctant to step forward, but ultimately did so nheless.
The one hundred chosen individuals disyed a wide range of cultivation bases ranging from the True Immortal Stage all the way up to the High Zenith Stage, but the onemon trait among them was that they were all cultivating either yin or yang-attribute cultivation arts, and there was a perfectly even split.
So it''s a yin yang twin array, Han Li thought to himself with a contemtive expression.
Under normal circumstances, he would''ve taken some risk to help power the array in order to ess the pagoda, but at the moment, there were people observing him in secret, and that was why he had released the auras of Weeping Soul and the Essence Fire Raven, giving himself a very chaotic aura.
Even though Han Li had already been traveling with Yu Kuohai''s group for several days, he never revealed to them what cultivation arts he was using, so they weren''t suspicious of his slight change in aura.
The Lan siblings were both using yin-attribute cultivation arts, and even though they had used secret techniques to conceal their true cultivation bases, they hadn''t done anything to alter their own auras, so they had also been chosen to power the array.
The two of them obediently obliged, perhaps in order to avoid unnecessary conflict.
''''What a pain!" Lan Yan grumbled through voice transmission as she sat down onto a certain point in the ck half of the array.
"Just bear with it for now. Make sure you don''t reveal your true cultivation base," Lan Yuanzi cautioned.
"I know. You can count on me, Brother," Lan Yan promised with a nod.
Right at this moment, a ck-robed middle-aged man beside Lan Yan asked in an uneasy manner, "Senior Wen, may I ask if there will be any risk in the process of using this array to break the restrictions ahead?"
"There is always an element of risk when exploring any secret area. If you''re so afraid of taking risks, why did youe in here in the first ce?" Wen Zhong countered, and the man lowered his head in an embarrassed manner.
"There''s no need to be overly concerned. Right now, we are using one array to counteract another, so there will be some risk, but barring any mishaps, it won''t be too significant. On top of that, everyone who ys a role here will receive a reward from the alliance, so you won''t be contributing your services for nothing," Wen Zhong dered, somewhat easing the tense atmosphere.
"Let''s begin!" Lei Yuce dered, and the array immediately began operating, giving off radiant ck and white light.
A burst of powerful restrictive force instantly acted upon everyone in the array, rooting them firmly to the spot, and at the same time, a burst of suction force erupted out of the array, rapidly devouring their immortal spiritual power.
Everyone was initially slightly rmed by this, but the array did nothing else aside from devouring their immortal spiritual power, and that discovery instilled within them a sense of reassurance.
Lei Yuce was hovering in the sky above as he examined the array, and upon ensuring that everything was functioning as it should, he gave a pleased nod before joining his palms together, then spread them apart again.
The array down below instantly lit up, and hundreds of bursts of ck and white light flew out from within before surging toward the stone gate of the giant pagoda.
The lightning restriction on the stone gate seemed to have sensed the threat that was being posed, and thick bolts of gray lightning that gave off formidablew power fluctuations erupted out of its surface to strike the bursts of ck and white light, instantly tearing them apart with ease.
"What formidable yin lightning!" Han Li murmured to himself with a stunned expression.
Thew powers imbued within this type of yin lightning werepletely different from those of the lightning in his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The lightning in his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had taken on the properties of Divine Devilbane Lightning, which contained extremely righteousw powers,pletely opposite from the immense baleful energy in this gray lightning.
If given the opportunity, Han Li was quite interested in further studying this type of yin lightning.
Lei Yuce seemed to have already anticipated this oue, and he began chanting an incantation while making a rapid string of hand seals.
The ck and white array on the ground instantly glowed over ten times brighter than before, giving rise to enormous pirs of ck and white light that gave off a tremendous yin and yang aura.
At the same time, tworge gs, one ck and one white, flew out of Lei Yuce''s body before hovering above his head.
Embroidered onto the white g was a design of a sun, while a moon had been embroidered onto the ck g. Both gs were giving off astonishing spiritual power andw power fluctuations, indicating that they were immortal treasures of a very high caliber.
As he raised his hands up into the air, the two gs began to revolve in mid-air.
Influenced by the gs, the pirs of ck and white light also began to intertwine with one another before rapidly revolving to form an enormous ck and white whirlwind.
The whirlwind was radiating dazzling ck and white light, as well as bursts of incredibly formidablew power fluctuations, and it swept forward at Lei Yuce''s behest, advancing toward the base of the gray pagoda.
The restriction around the pagoda retaliated even more intensely, releasing countless arcs of gray lightning that struck the ck and white whirlwind to produce a sound akin to that of metal grating on metal.
In particr, incredibly thick bolts of gray lightning were erupting out of the stone gate, decimating all of the space in their path.
However, the whirlwind was far more resilient than the bursts of ck and white light from earlier, and not only was it not torn apart, it had even swept up some of the gray lightning into itself.
The arcs of gray lightning that were swept up into the whirlwind resembled fish that had fallen into a, unable to break free despite their frantic struggles, and all of the cultivators outside the array erupted into thunderous cheers upon seeing this.
Meanwhile, those inside the array could feel their own immortal spiritual power gushing out of their bodies, and bursts of yin lightning power were also being transmitted to them from afar, resulting in a very painful experience.
Lan Yan''s brows were tightly furrowed, and as the bursts of yin lightning power were funneled into her body, she felt as if there were countless tiny insects tearing at her meridians from the inside, inflicting intense agony upon her.
She was able to persevere thanks to her advanced cultivation base, but she was far from happy about the role that she had been assigned.
Outside the array, Han Li was observing the one hundred cultivators inside the array while discreetly releasing his own spiritual sense.
If the people who were tracking him were currently inside the array, then this would be the perfect opportunity for him to try and identify them.
High up in the air above, Lei Yuce was quickly cycling through a string of hand seals, and the ck and white whirlwind was revolving rapidly while slowly rising upward.
The lightning that had been swept up into it also rose up with it, and the lightning patterns on the parts of the pagoda''s surface that it swept over instantly dimmed, as if the yin lightning inside had been stripped away by the passing whirlwind.
Shortly thereafter, the whirlwind had risen to an altitude of over a hundred feet, and that was where it drew to a halt.
At this point, some of the cultivators in the array below with the lowest cultivation bases had already had their immortal spiritual powerpletely exhausted, and they had copsed to the ground with blood flowing out of all of their orifices.
As for the rest, they were also struggling immensely, so they didn''t have the spare capacity to worry about the welfare of those around them, and all of the bystanders outside the array were feeling very fortunate that they hadn''t been selected to power the array.
As the whirlwind continued to rise up, more and more gray lightning erupted out of the pagoda to strike it, as if the restriction on the pagoda had been infuriated by the challenge that it had been posed.
The ck and white whirlwind was still revolving as it captured all of the oing arcs of gray lightning, but it was clearly revolving much slower than before.
The stone gate of the giant pagoda was revealed beneath the whirlwind, and all of the gray lightning on it had faded away, leaving the gate enshrouded beneath only a translucent light barrier.
This translucent light barrier was very simr in appearance to the one at the entrance of the secret area, and it appeared even thicker and sturdier.
Chapter 1043: Identifying the Enemy
Chapter 1043: Identifying the Enemy
Lei Yuce''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, following which he gritted his teeth and shot forward through the air, instantly arriving in front of the stone gate before pressing his hands against the light barrier.
One hundred and eight golden flying needles shot out of his body, and there was an extremely life-like golden dragon engraved onto the tailend of each one, presenting a disy of exceptional craftsmanship.
In the blink of an eye, all one hundred and eight flying needles pierced almost halfway into the light barrier.
"Those are Golden Immortal ying Needles!" someone eximed from within the crowd.
Immediately thereafter, Lei Yuce began to chant an incantation, and all of the golden needles began to glow radiantly while vibrating at a rapid frequency.
The translucent light barrier began to tremble while giving off bright translucent light, and it was also giving off a piercing shriek, akin to the sound of countless swords and sabers scraping against each other.
A pained look shed through Lei Yuce''s eyes, but it was then instantly reced by a look of resolve as he let loose a thunderous roar, upon which all of the Golden Immortal ying Needles glowed even brighter as they pierced fully into the translucent light barrier before exploding inside.
A string of resounding explosions rang out, and countless cracks instantly appeared over the translucent light barrier, following which it shattered and disintegrated into countless specks of light, exposing the stone gate within.
A relieved look appeared on Lei Yuce''s face upon seeing this, while all of the cultivators observing from afar let loose a collective celebratory cheer.
However, right at this moment, the lightning patterns on the pagoda suddenly began to glow brighter than ever while shing erratically. Immediately thereafter, countless thick arcs of gray lightning that were far more powerful erupted forth,shing out in all directions.
The ck and white whirlwind was already close to a spent force, and it was instantly torn apart by the iling arcs of gray lightning.
The ck and white gs fell out of the air, having already been torn into shreds that werepletely devoid of spiritual nature.
After eradicating the ck and white whirlwind, the arcs of gray lightning continued to rain down from above.
Lei Yuce''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and he immediately shot back in retreat to several dozen kilometers away.
All of the other cultivators in front of the pagoda also sprang back in an rmed manner, and Han Li was among them.
He had actually anticipated the retaliation from the lightning restriction ahead of everyone else, but he hadn''t retreated right away, instead dying his retreat in order to avoid attracting attention.
Even though the crowds of cultivators were situated some distance away from the pagoda, and all of them had reacted quite quickly, there were still some who were unable to get away in time, and they were struck by the formidable arcs of gray lightning, instantly eradicating both their bodies and their nascent souls.
As for the cultivators inside the Bipr Yin Yang Array, they were still bound to the spot, and the wave of gray lightning instantly washed over them.
The radiant arcs of lightning had formed a gray sea with astonishingly destructive lightningw power fluctuations churning within, and everything that came into contact with the gray lightning was instantly blown to smithereens.
A string of bloodcurdling howls rang out from within the sea of lightning, only to instantly fade into silence.
Han Li heaved a forlorn internal sigh upon seeing this, and at the same time, he became even more apprehensive of this Eon Pagoda.
If the restriction outside the pagoda was already this dangerous, then the interior of the pagoda surely had to be fraught with peril as well.
Right at this moment, he suddenly spotted a streak of blue light flying out of the sea of lightning.
Immediately thereafter, an earth-shattering explosion rang out within the sea of lightning, and an enormous ball of blinding white light erupted out from within, tearing a huge opening into the sea of lightning.
Around a dozen streaks of light flew out of the opening in the blink of an eye, then faded to reveal a group of around a dozen cultivators.
These people were the most powerful cultivators in the array, and three of them were High Zenith cultivators, while the rest were all at thete and peak-Golden Immortal Stages.
Despite their lofty cultivation bases, all of them were looking very much worse for wear. Their clothes were in tatters, their bodies were riddled with wounds, and some of them were even missing appendages.
The sea of gray lightning shed momentarily before quickly dissipating, revealing the charred earth underneath. All of the cultivators in the Bipr Yin Yang Array were already nowhere to be seen, and all that was left behind were some scattered immortal treasure fragments.
Even though all of the bystanders had already anticipated this oue, it was still a very sobering sight to behold.
Among the dozen or so survivors, a white-robed middle-aged man stepped forward with a furious expression as he yelled, "Lei Yuce, Wen Zhong, didn''t you two say that breaking the restriction wasn''t going to be a very risky endeavor? How do you exin this?"
There was a white immortal treasure that resembled a round moon hovering before the middle-aged man, but the light that was emanating from it had dimmed significantly, indicating that it had lost much of its spiritual nature.
The man was Daoist Master Sky Moon, the pavilion master of the Rising Moon Pavilion. He was at the mid-High Zenith Stage, possessing the loftiest cultivation base among the dozen or so survivors.
The cultivators of the Rising Moon Pavilion excelled in yin-attribute cultivation arts, so most of the Rising Moon Pavilion cultivators had also been chosen alongside him to enter the array, and they had all met their demise, so he was understandably furious.
All of the other survivors were also glowering intently at Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong, and it was clear from the expressions on the faces of the other cultivators in the alliance that they were also feeling very disgruntled.
A cultivator from the Heavenly Water Sect had also been selected to enter the Bipr Yin Yang Array, but he had managed to survive, so neither Su Anqian nor Jin Liu said anything as they stood silently off to the side.
"I understand that all of you must be very angry right now. This was apletely unexpected development for me. I had thought that after the restriction on the stone gate was broken, the lightning array on the pagoda would also be disabled, but it''s clear that I was toocent," Lei Yuce exined.
Daoist Master Sky Moon gave a cold harrumph upon hearing this, and the fury on his face didn''t abate in the slightest.
"Everyone, Alliance Leader Lei and I are also very saddened in the wake of this tragic incident. Having said that, I made it clear from the beginning that the exploration of a secret area will alwayse with a major element of risk. No one knows who''s going to die where, so we can only leave things in the hands of fate.
¡°On top of that, Alliance Leader Lei had to sacrifice two of his most powerful treasures to dispel the restriction outside the pagoda, so he''s sustained some significant losses as well," Wen Zhong dered.
"Indeed, this was apletely unforeseen ident, so the me can''t be ced on any single person. Without Alliance Leader Lei''s Bipr Yin Yang Array, we would''ve most likely suffered even more casualties in the process of breaking this restriction, so I suggest that we calm down a little," Jin Liu said.
"Rest assured, once we''vepleted our exploration of this immortal manor, the alliance will issuepensation for all those who perished here," Wen Zhong reassured.
Daoist Master Sky Moon was clearly not satisfied with this oue, but seeing as both the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect had already spoken, he had no choice but to cut his losses and storm away with a cold harrumph.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s attention was focused on the two people who had flown out of the Bipr Yin Yang Array within that streak of blue light. Those two were none other than the Lan siblings.
No one else had noticed this amid all of the chaos, but thanks to Han Li''s tremendous spiritual sense, he was able to detect a burst of tremendous spiritual pressure within the sea of lightning that was not inferior to his own.
As opposed to Daoist Master Sky Moon''s immortal treasure, it was this burst of spiritual pressure that had actually torn the sea of lightning apart.
It was abundantly clear to Han Li that those two were concealing their true cultivation bases, and the fact that it was a duo consisting of a man and a woman made him strongly suspect that they could be the Lan siblings of the Vast Golden Immortal Pce.
"I''m sorry, Brother. I panicked a little just now and used my powers to tear open the sea of lightning. Do you think we''ve already been exposed?" Lan Yan asked through voice transmission as a hint of guilt shed through her eyes.
"The situation was very urgent just now, so I would''ve done something even if you hadn''t. On top of that, the power of the yin lightning just now would''ve been enough to conceal your aura from everyone present. At the very least, there shouldn''t be anyone present with sufficiently powerful spiritual sense to have detected anything," Lan Yuanzi consoled.
A relieved look appeared on Lan Yan''s face upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, a discussion was being held between the cultivators of the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect.
Following the conclusion of the discussion, Jin Liu stepped forward as he dered, "Now that the restriction has been undone, we should enter the pagoda right away, but given how formidable the restriction outside the pagoda is, the interior of the pagoda is almost certainly going to be even more perilous.
¡°Hence, after some discussion, we''ve decided that those of us with lower cultivation bases should stay outside in order to avoid excessive casualties."
"Senior Jin, what is the cultivation base cutoff that you propose?" an itinerant Golden Immortal immediately asked.
"My proposal is that all fellow daoists below the Golden Immortal Stage stay outside the pagoda, both to keep a lookout and for your own safety," Jin Liu replied.
"That''s not fair!"
"Just now, there were so many True Immortals called upon to break the restriction, yet now that the restriction has been undone, you''re asking us to stay outside? How does that make any sense?"
"This is apletely uneptable arrangement!"
The True Immortals that belonged to sects didn''t raise much objections to this proposal, but all of the itinerant True Immortals were very much opposed to this arrangement.
"Quiet!" Lei Yuce yelled in an authoritative voice.
His voice wasn''t very loud, but it caused the entire surrounding area to tremble and buzz, instantly silencing all of the dissenting True Immortals.
"This decision was made for the sake of everyone''s safety. How about this? 30% of the spoils that the alliance reaps will be offered up to be split among all of the fellow daoists that remain outside the pagoda. On top of that, there''s no need for all of you to stay here.
¡°Only a small number of you need to stay here on lookout duty, while the rest can go elsewhere to explore. This secret area is an enormous ce, and we only have a limited amount of time, so it would be more efficient for all of you to split up anyway," Lei Yuce said.
All of the dissenting True Immortals immediately began weighing up their options upon hearing this.
In the end, the vast majority of people decided that this was the best arrangement for them when it came to bncing risk and reward, so this course of action was the one that was ultimately agreed upon.
Many of the sects present were reluctant to send their True Immortal Stage disciples into the Eon Tower to begin with, so they were ecstatic to hear that they were going to bepensated for something that they were going to do anyway, and they eagerly instructed their True Immortal Stage disciples to stay outside the pagoda on lookout duty.
Chapter 1044: No Turning Back
Chapter 1044: No Turning Back
"Time is of the essence, so let''s enter the pagoda now!" Lei Yuce dered as he descended to the pagoda''s stone gate, while everyone else gathered behind him.
With all of the True Immortals barred from entry, the crowd had been whittled down to no more than five hundred people, and Han Li was standing in a rtively discrete area of the crowd.
At this moment, he was scanning his gaze across the nearby crowd in a nonchnt manner, paying particr attention to the duo that he suspected to be the Lan siblings.
Even though he was still unable to confirm their true identities, in his eyes, even if they weren''t the Lan siblings, they were still two people that he had to keep an eye on.
Even though the Golden Origin Immortal Pce had been left without a leader in the wake of Dongfang Bai''s demise, it would be far too naive to believe that the Heavenly Court wouldn''t have sent someone into this secret area, so the fact that he hadn''t spotted any Heavenly Court cultivators up to this point was rather suspicious.
Lei Yuce stood at the foot of the pagoda, inspecting his surroundings, and only after ensuring that nothing was amiss did he press a hand against the stone gate.
However, before he even had a chance to exert any force into the gate, it slid away on its own amid a burst of dull rumbling, revealing a dark entrance with what appeared to be the light of a dim me deep inside.
Lei Yuce was rather taken aback by this, and instead of immediately entering the pagoda, he began to examine its interior from the entrance.
Everyone else also peered into the pagoda while attempting to release their spiritual sense inside, only to discover that there was some type of restriction inside the pagoda designed to keep out spiritual sense.
"Make sure to be on your guard, everyone. If you want to back out now, it''s still not toote," Wen Zhong said.
However, everyone had alreadye this far, and no one was willing to turn back now. All of them had their attention focused on Lei Yuce, waiting for his instructions.
"Let''s go," Lei Yuce dered as he stepped into the pagoda, followed immediately by the other cultivators from the Almighty Sword Sect and the Heavenly Water Sect, after whom came everyone else.
Upon entering the pagoda, everyone discovered that there were braziers hanging from the walls with some type of fat burning inside. Whatever the fuel source was, it wasn''t releasing any smoke, but it was giving off a faint rank odor.
Directly up ahead was a two-headed statue that was over a hundred feet tall.
The statue was very strange in appearance, with a benevolent, smiling head of a heavenly official, apanied by a fearsome, monstrous-looking head. Its body was d in a suit of golden chainmail armor, and there was a pair of golden wings on its back. In one hand, it held a golden scepter, while in its other hand was a mountain-splitting ax.
There was a dark passageway that led deeper into the pagoda beneath both the golden scepter and the mountain-splitting ax, and light could be seen at the ends of both passageways, but it was impossible to make out exactly what lied beyond them.
Right at this moment, someone suddenly yelled, "There''s something written on the scepter and the ax!"
Han Li focused his gaze on the scepter and the ax to discover that there was a short line of text on each of them, collectively reading "No turning back once a path is chosen, both paths lead to the same destination."
After reading the disyed text, a contemtive look appeared on Jin Liu''s face as he mused, "It looks like there will be different perils awaiting us on each path, but both will ultimately take us to the same ce."
"Splitting up would be perfect. Our Heavenly Water Sect and your Almighty Sword Sect can each lead half of the fellow daoists present down one of the two paths," Su Anqian said.
"The interior of this immortal manor is sure to be fraught with peril, so I think it would be unwise for us to split up," Lei Yuce said.
A hesitant look also appeared on Jin Liu''s face as he said through voice transmission, "I know that you don''t want to take the same route as him, but he''s right. If both paths lead to the same destination, then it makes no difference which one we take, and we should all stick together."
"Since when did you be so naive, Senior Martial Brother Jin? How do we know that this statue is telling the truth? How do we know that Immortal Lord Tai Sui hasn''t set up a trap, and one of these two paths actually leads to certain death?" Su Anqian countered.
"You''re right, that was an oversight on my part. In that case, do you have any idea of which path we should take?" Jin Liu asked with a wry smile¡£
"There are restrictions in both paths that keep out spiritual sense, so I''m afraid we''ll only be able to find out once we''re inside," Su Anqian replied.
"Celestial Maiden Su, what do you think of my proposal just now?" Lei Yuce asked.
"I disagree. Your Almighty Sword Sect and our Heavenly Water Sect are the leaders of this alliance. If we go down the same path together, what will all the other fellow daoists do? We can''t get them to explore a path on their own," Su Anqian countered in a cold manner.
A hesitant look appeared on Lei Yuce''s face upon hearing this.
"I appreciate that you''re looking out for us, Fellow Daoist Lei, but Junior Martial Sister Su is right. We have been elected as the leaders of the alliance, so we have to fulfill our rightful duties," Jin Liu said with a smile.
"In that case, go ahead and choose a path, Celestial Maiden Su," Lei Yuce said.
"The heavenly official on the left, while the monster is on the right... I''ll choose the right path," Su Anqian decided.
"Alright, in that case, our Almighty Sword Sect will choose the left path. Fellow daoists of the Spirit Heaven Sect, the Azure Lock Valley, zing Light City, the Ink Fragrance Pavilion, and the Worry Not Pavilion, please go with Celestial Maiden Su. Everyone else,e with me," Lei Yuce instructed.
Everyone else was rather hesitant about which path to take, but seeing as the alliance leader had spoken, the choice had been made for them.
Before long, everyone had been split up into two groups, and they made their way down the two paths.
Prior to parting ways, Lei Yuce cautioned Su Anqian to be careful, but thetter offered no response.
The Lan siblings were among the Worry Not Pavilion cultivators, and they were conversing with each other through voice transmission.
"Lei Yuce is quite a handsome man, and his cultivation base isn''t inferior to Su Anqian''s, so why is she so cold to him?" Lan Yuanzi mused in a perplexed manner.
"How is that strange? Men are all the same, regardless of whether they''re mortal or immortal. The more something is out of reach, the more alluring it is to them. The more distant and unapproachable Celestial Maiden Su makes herself, the more alluring she''ll be to Lei Yuce," Lan Yan replied with a smile.
"Is that right? I suppose this must be what it means to y hard to get," Lan Yuanzi mused.
"Why are you suddenly asking about something like this? Could it be that there''s a woman who''s recently caught your eye?" Lan Yan asked in a teasing tone.
A slightly embarrassed look appeared on Lan Yuanzi''s face, following which he put on a stern expression as he said, "We need to focus on the task at hand. We don''t know what perils lie up ahead, so make sure to stay close to me at all times."
Han Li was walking along near the rear of the group, and as he passed by the mountain-splitting ax, he looked up to discover a small line of text where the hand of the statue met the hilt of the ax, which read "an ax to severe the bridge of immortality".
At the same time, a ck-robed young woman on the other path looked up at the golden scepter above her as she was passing by, and she also spotted a short line of text that read "fortune or misfortune".
By the time both groups had ventured several thousand feet down their respective paths, a resounding boom suddenly rang out from behind them as the ax and the scepter in the statue''s hands came crashing down in unison, sealing the paths shut from behind.
Both groups immediately stopped in their tracks, and Wen Zhong and Jin Liu doubled back to examine the blockages momentarily then returned to their respective groups before dering that there was no longer a path for retreat, so the only way to go was forward.
The text on the statue had already warned everyone that there would be no turning back once a path was chosen, so everyone quickly epted this oue and continued onward.
As the group led by the Heavenly Water Sect made its way down the passageway, Han Li noticed that the stone walls on either side were riddled with all types of patterns, but they were so chaotic and haphazard that even Han Li couldn''t tell what purpose they were meant to serve.
The further they went, the narrower the passageway became, and after venturing close to ten kilometers down the passageway, it had narrowed from its initial width of several thousand feet to only several hundred feet.
Initially, everyone had been been feeling quite cautious and apprehensive, looking out for traps and restrictions, but aside from the narrowing of the passageway, nothing else of note was observed.
However, this only made everyone feel more uneasy, as if they were anticipating this being the calm before the inevitable storm.
Upon reaching the end of the passageway, a giant golden gate that was several hundred feet tall appeared up ahead. Engraved onto each half of the gate was a halberd-wielding deity, both of which were very powerful and imposing in appearance.
Everyone''s attention was drawn to a pair of deities engraved onto the gate, but there were a small number of people who were looking at the doornails on the gate.
"This appears to be a Yin Yang Latch Array," Yin Liu mused as he observed the doornails, and Han Li couldn''t help but be amused by his ignorance.
There was indeed a yin and yang distinction between the doornails in that some were protruding outward, while others were sunken inward, but they actually represented star pces, with the ones protruding outward zenith yang pces, and the ones sunken inward zenith yin pces.
Hence, the true name for this restriction was actually the Star Pce Standoff Array. As for the so-called Yin Yang Latch Array, that was only a smokescreen to conceal the true nature of the array.
"Do you know how to dispel this array, Senior Martial Brother Jin?" Su Anqian asked.
"I can give it a try," Jin Liu replied with a nod.
He then turned around to face everyone as he said, "Everyone, please listen to me. I have something to dere."
Everyone in the passageway immediately fell silent to listen to what he had to say.
Chapter 1045: Hesitance
Chapter 1045: Hesitance
"What do you have to dere, Fellow Daoist Jin?" Yu Kuohai asked.
"If we want to enter the pagoda to ess the treasures inside, then we have to bypass this stone gate, which would require us to unravel this restriction. If I were to do that on my own, it would take at least two days, but if I can have all of your help, then perhaps the restriction can be ovee in an instant," Jin Liu said.
Wary looks immediately appeared on everyone''s faces upon hearing this. The memory of what had happened to the cultivators in the Bipr Yin Yang Array was still clear in their minds, and they were terrified of repeating their mistakes.
With no one answering his call, Jin Liu''s expression instantly darkened slightly, and he said, "So all of you want to only reap the benefits without putting in any work. Surely that''s too much to ask for, is it not?"
"Fellow Daoist Jin, please borate on how you n to break this restriction. That way, we can all be mentally prepared and react ordingly if any unforeseen mishaps ur," Elder Yang said.
"The array on this gate is called a Yin Yang Latch Array, and all that''s required is for all of us to inject our immortal spiritual power into the gate at once to create an imbnce in the yin and yang doornails. That will be enough to unravel the restriction and allow us to open this gate," Jin Liu exined.
"That certainly sounds very simple, but is there any potential for bacsh from the restriction? Do we run the risk of meeting the same fate as all those fellow daoists in the Bipr Yin Yang Array?" Yu Kuohai asked.
"This array is different from the previous one, and I can assure you that there''s no risk involved here. In order to ay everyone''s concerns, I''m willing to join all of you in this effort. If something happens, then I''ll have to suffer the consequences as well," Jin Liu replied.
Even after this attempt at reassurance from Jin Liu, there was still no one willing to heed his call, and Su Anqian''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
"Is there anyone willing to volunteer themselves?" she asked.
Everyone remained silent, pretending not to have heard her.
A cold look appeared on Jin Liu''s face upon seeing this, and he said, "In that case, I''ll have to trouble Sect Master Yu, Elder Yang, Valley Master Fu, Pavilion Master Zhao, and Pavilion Master Qin to pick out some cultivators from your respective sects to help me break this array."
"Fellow Daoist Jin..."
As soon as Yu Kuohai''s voice rang out, he was sternly cut off by Jin Liu, who snapped, "You''ve all chosen to join the alliance, so I suggest you follow the orders assigned to you. Otherwise, once we leave this secret area, you won''t be the only ones that will have to bear the consequences of your insubordination."
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon hearing this. What Jin Liu was implying here was that if they were to oppose his orders, then the Heavenly Water Sect woulde after their sects once they left the immortal manor.
In the face of this thinly veiled threat, everyone had no choice but toply, and Valley Master Fu was the first to make his stance known, cupping his fist in a salute as he dered, "The Azure Lock Valley is willing to follow the alliance''s arrangements."
After that, he began picking out some cultivators from his own sect.
The other important figures present exchanged a few nces with each other upon seeing this, then also followed suit.
Jin Liu''s expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and he reminded, "Make sure to pick out one person from each sect who''s skilled in unraveling restrictions."
Yu Kuohai immediately turned his gaze to Han Li upon hearing this.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, I''m afraid our Spirit Heaven Sect is sorelycking in individuals well versed in the art of arrays, so I''ll have to trouble you to step forward as our representative," Yu Kuohai said with a warm smile.
Elder Yang and Valley Master Gu couldn''t help but roll their eyes upon hearing this, and they were kicking themselves for reacting toote and allowing Yu Kuohai to use this piece of cannon fodder ahead of them.
Han Li was cursing Yu Kuohai internally, and he put on a reluctant expression as he said, "Surely I''m not worthy of representing the Spirit Heaven Sect..."
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Shi. For your contribution here, you can join our Spirit Heaven Sect, and I''ll instate you as an inner sect elder, so you''ll no longer have to be an itinerant cultivator," Yu Kuohao promised as heid a hand on Han Li''s shoulder.
"Are you being serious, Fellow Daoist Yu?" Han Li eximed as he feigned an ecstatic expression.
"Of course! Everyone here has just bore witness to my promise to you," Yu Kuohai replied with a smile.
"In that case, I''ll do it," Han Li decided with a nod.
At this moment, Lan Yan was watching Han Li from nearby, and a hint of mockery and sympathy shed through her eyes as she said to Lan Yuanzi through voice transmission, "What a poor idiot he is, willing to put his life on the line for the promise of such a tiny reward."
"You don''t know how difficult life is for itinerant cultivators. For someone like him, an opportunity to be an elder of the Spirit Heaven Sect is far from a tiny reward," Lan Yuanzi replied.
Lan Yan was just about to say something else when Pavilion Master Zhao of the Worry Not Pavilion called upon the two of them to participate in the array-breaking effort.
Shortly thereafter, all of the sects had chosen their representatives, and Jin Liu gave all of the chosen individuals a rundown of the process that had to be undertaken to unravel the restriction on the gate.
Han Li heaved a forlorn internal sigh after hearing what Jin Liu had to say. If they were to follow his proposed method to unravel the restriction, then there was a very good chance that they would incur bacsh from the array.
However, given his current identity, he naturally couldn''t say anything.
After returning to the Spirit Heaven Sect representatives, he ryed the instructions from Jin Liu, but made some slight alterations that were subtle enough to escape everyone''s notice.
Several minutester, the dozens of cultivators that had been chosen to break the restriction were arranged on either side of the stone gate.
"Everyone, make sure to channel your immortal spiritual power with all your might while breaking the restriction, and do not hold back. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, then you''ll have to answer to me," Jin Liu said in a stern manner, and everyone hurriedly gave a collective affirmative response.
"Alright, let''s begin," Jin Liu instructed, then cast a burst of blue light into the stone gate, and everyone else immediately followed suit, injecting their immortal spiritual power into the gate as well.
Streaks of light of different colors surged into the doornails on the gate, and the sunken doornails began to protrude outward, while the protruding doornails began to sink inward.
The light that had converged over the stone gate began to swirl like a yin yang symbol, and the gate rumbled violently as it began to loosen.
"Keep it up, everyone! We''re almost there!" Jin Liu encouraged in an ecstatic manner.
Everyone immediately redoubled their efforts upon seeing this.
Han Li had been observing the restriction on the gate this entire time, and he knew that this was nothing more than a precursor of the restriction on the gate being activated. At this rate, it was only going to take a few seconds before everyone was struck by bacsh from the restriction.
Of course, he didn''t really care about whether everyone here lived or died.
Everyone had to take responsibility for their own decisions, and there was always a risk of meeting a premature demise in the pursuit of opportunities.
However, the problem was that there was another group of cultivators currently making their way down the other path, so if he were to be dyed here, only for the other group to get to the treasures in the pagoda first, then that would be a far from desirable oue.
Right as the yin yang symbol was elerating in its revolution, the Spirit Heaven Sect representatives suddenly broke off from the rest of the group, injecting their immortal spiritual power into several doornails that Jin Liu hadn''t mentioned.
The yin yang symbol instantly ceased in its revolution before disintegrating altogether.
Jin Liu was furious to see this, but before he had a chance to say anything, he suddenly noticed that the disintegrated yin yang symbol had been reced by an image of a starry sky.
His expression changed slightly as he instantly arrived at the realization that he had misidentified the array, and he yelled, "Listen to me, everyone! There''s been a change of ns..."
With that, he began issuing a series of instructions, ordering everyone to inject their immortal spiritual power into different doornails from before.
Thank heavens he''s not aplete idiot. Otherwise, I would''ve had to take matters into my own hands, Han Li thought to himself.
With this new approach adopted, a burst of radiant starlight appeared over the stone gate, and the two deities engraved onto the gate suddenly raised their halberds, following which the gate began to open inward.
A dull grinding sound rang out as the two heavy stone gates gradually parted, revealing a vast expanse of golden light that gave off a burst of very peculiar energy fluctuations.
Everyone immediately peered into the golden light, but they were unable to see anything beyond the golden radiance, even through the use of various spirit eye abilities.
"Could this golden light being from some type of treasure?" Yu Kuohai spected, and fervent looks instantly appeared in everyone''s eyes upon hearing this.
"All of you are from major sects in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, are you not? How is it that you''re unable to detect that these are clearly energy fluctuations from a metal forcefield?" Su Anqian scoffed with a derisive sneer.
"There are many metal force fields in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, so we are very familiar with such things. These energy fluctuations are clearly different, so surely they''reing from some type of metal-attribute treasure," Elder Yang countered as he raised an eyebrow.
Su Anqian offered no exnation, merely shaking her head with a faint smile, and upon seeing her reaction, Elder Yang was beginning to doubt his own judgment.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already grasped the nature of the situation after just a single nce.
Most of the metal force fields in the Golden Origin Mountain Range were formed naturally, so they received no enhancements from arrays, and as a result, the metal-attribute spiritual power that they released wasn''t all that pure.
In contrast, the golden light beyond the stone gate was giving off extremely formidable and pure metal-attribute spiritual power fluctuations, and that was why everyone had been fooled into thinking that it wasing from some type of treasure.
Everyone was standing at the entrance, and they were very keen on getting their hands on whatever treasure lied up ahead, but none of them dared to rush in.
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Chapter 1046: Leading the Way
Chapter 1046: Leading the Way
"Regardless of whether there''s a metal forcefield inside, we have to proceed with caution. I suggest that we split up into two groups and enter this ce one after another. What do we all think?" Jin Liu proposed.
"What sequence are we going to follow?" Yu Kuohai asked.
"Those among us who are using metal-attribute cultivation arts and are adept at breaking restrictions will go in first. If there really is a metal forcefield inside, then the first group will be responsible for disabling it, following which the rest of us wille through," Jin Liu replied.
"This is not a bad proposal, but I don''t think it''s particrly fair. All of us from the Worry Not Pavilion specialize in metal-attribute cultivation arts. Doesn''t that mean that all of us will have to go in first to test the waters for everyone else?" Pavilion Master Zhao countered.
"How about this? Regardless of whether there''s a metal forcefield or any restrictions inside, everyone in the first group gets to keep all of the treasures that they obtain. On top of that, the people in the second group won''t just be standing around doing nothing. Instead, they''ll be constantly ready to reinforce the first group should the need arise," Jin Liu proposed.
Pavilion Master Zhao contemted this arrangement briefly, then nodded in response.
"That does seem like a reasonable course of action."
"In that case, it''s decided. The first group will consist of cultivators using metal-attribute cultivation arts from zing Light City, the Worry Not Pavilion, and our Heavenly Water Sect, and they''ll be apanied by cultivators from the Spirit Heaven Sect, the Ink Fragrance Pavilion, and the Azure Lock Valley who are adept at breaking restrictions. What do we all think?" Jin Liu proposed.
Everyone found this to be a reasonable n, and no one raised any objections.
Once again, Yu Kuohai turned to Han Li, clearly intent on taking as much advantage of him as possible, and Han Li was left feeling a little speechless.
Having said that, his original intention was to enter the hall with the first group anyway, so he readily heeded Yu Kuohai''s call. However, what was rather surprising to him was that Yu Kuohai had also volunteered to be part of the first group.
Before long, the lineup for the first group was decided, consisting of fewer than a hundred cultivators.
"I was thinking that I would have to choose a leader for the first group, but my job has been made easy. Fellow Daoist Yu, Fellow Daoist Yang, Fellow Daoist Zhao, I didn''t think all three of you would volunteer to be part of the first group," Jin Liu said with a smile.
"The majority of our Worry Not Pavilion''s cultivators will be going in, so I certainly can''t back down as the pavilion master," Pavilion Master Zhao dered in a righteous manner, drawing much admiration from the disciples of the Worry Not Pavilion.
"Quite a few of our zing Light City cultivators will also be going in, so I naturally have to apany them," Elder Yang said.
"Our Spirit Heaven Sect doesn''t specialize in metal-attribute cultivation arts, but I''m an exception, so I wanted to make a contribution on behalf of our sect," Yu Kuohai proimed.
Han Li couldn''t help but sneer internally at their pretentious disys.
Ultimately, their goal was to seize the initiative and enter the hall first to im the treasures inside. As for the possibility that there was a metal forcefield inside, perhaps they were merely hoping that this wasn''t the case, or perhaps they were of the opinion that they could ovee such an obstacle.
At this moment, Han Li''s attention was focused on the Lan siblings, who were also part of the first group.
Lan Yuanzi was conversing with Lan Yan when he suddenly felt an intrusive gaze, and his brows furrowed slightly as he turned around to determine the source of the scrutiny, only to discover that there was no one looking at him.
"What''s wrong, Brother?" Lan Yan asked.
"Nothing, it was probably just my imagination," Lan Yuanzi replied with a smile.
"What should we do if there really are treasures inside?" Lan Yan asked through voice transmission.
"If there are treasures inside, then of course I''ll be taking all of it for you," Lan Yuanzi replied with a smile.
"In that case, you focus on collecting the treasures, I''ll kill everyone else thates in with us," Lan Yan said with a wide smile.
"Don''t be in a hurry to kill these people, they can still be used as cannon fodder," Lan Yuanzi said.
Lan Yan''s face immediately puckered up with displeasure upon hearing this.
"But if I don''t kill them, I''ll have to continue wearing this hideous disguise!"
"If you kill them all, even if you revert back to your original appearance, there will be no one to see it," Lan Yuanzi chuckled.
"You''ll get to see it, and that''s enough! None of these scoundrels are worthy ofying eyes upon me anyway," Lan Yan giggled.
"It doesn''t matter to me what you look like. In my eyes, you will always be the most beautiful woman in the world," Lan Yuanzi said in a gentle manner, and a deep blush immediately appeared on Lan Yan''s face upon hearing this. [1]
After making some brief preparations, the first group arrived before the doorway.
"Rest assured, fellow daoists, all of us will be here to back you up if any unforeseen mishaps arise," Jin Liu assured.
Yu Kuohai exchanged a nce and a nod with Elder Yang, following which the two of them stepped in through the doorway, followed by everyone else in the first group.
As soon as they passed through the doorway, everyone immediately vanished into the radiant golden light up ahead, and their auras became undetectable.
Han Li was trailing along behind Yu Kuohai and Elder Yang, and as soon as he entered the space beyond the doorway, he immediately felt a burst of powerful restrictive force act upon him from all directions.
This type of restrictive force was different from the crushing weight of the earth attribute or the viscosity of the water attribute. Instead, it felt like being bound by countless extremely resilient metal threads while simultaneously being subjected to gusts of scathing, metallic wind that felt like tiny daggers scraping over one''s skin.
Due to the pervasive golden light in the surrounding area, visibility was significantly impaired, and no one was able to see more than several hundred feet in any direction.
An rmed look appeared on Pavilion Master Zhao''s face as he eximed, "What''s going on? Could it be..."
"It looks like Celestial Maiden Su was right, there really is a metal forcefield in here," Elder Yang said with a wry smile, then flipped a hand over to produce a golden bead, which he tucked down the front of his own robe, and it immediately released a burst of golden light to epass his entire body.
Even with his cultivation base, he still had to call upon a protective treasure to withstand the effects of the metal forcefield in this ce, and everyone else was naturally faring even worse, frantically summoning protective treasures of their own to shelter themselves.
Yu Kuohai made a hand seal as he channeled some type of cultivation art, and a series of golden patterns appeared over his body, allowing him to ward off the effects of the metal forcefield, but at the expense of rapidly elerated immortal spiritual power expenditure.
"Have any of you ever seen such a formidable metal forcefield? It must be enhanced by some type of array. Go and track down the cores of the array and destroy them," Yu Kuohai ordered as he pointed at Han Li and a few others.
Han Li was also being affected by the metal forcefield, but given his physical constitution, he was barely feeling the strain at all. However, in order to fit in with everyone else, he was also hunched over while feigning an agonized expression.
"But Fellow Daoist Yu, I can barely even walk in this metal forcefield! It''s not that I don''t want to contribute, it''s just that..."
Before Han Li had a chance to finish, he was cut off by Yu Kuohai, who snapped. "Shut up and go! If this array isn''t deactivated, all of us are going to die here!"
Han Li feigned a resigned expression upon hearing this, then departed to explore the array.
Spiritual sense wasn''tpletely disabled within this metal forcefield, but it was severely hampered, and even with Han Li''s spiritual sense, his sensory range had been cut down to no more than a thousand feet.
On top of that, his Infernal Devilish Eyes were also far less effective than usual, so he was still yet to catch a clear glimpse of the space that he was in.
After advancing for roughly a hundred meters, he spotted a thick, golden stone pir up ahead with countless patterns engraved upon it, and it was constantly shing with golden light while giving off bursts of peculiar energy fluctuations.
Could this be one of the cores of the array?
Han Li strode over to the pir, then gently pressed his hand against it, and a burst of sharp power instantly shot up his arm.
His gaze traveled up along the stone pir, and he discovered that the top section of the pir was concealed within the golden light, but he could just barely make out a statue of a winged beast perched on top of the pir.
Right as he was about to take a closer look, the winged beast revealed itself to be a living creature rather than a statue, and it came swooping down from above.
Han Li immediately shot back in retreat upon seeing this, and the winged beast just barely nced past his body. The edges of its wings were extremely sharp, tearingrge gashes into the surrounding space.
Han Li took advantage of this opportunity to take a closer look at the winged creature, upon which he discovered that it was a metal beast. It wasn''t particrlyrge, but the metal-attributew powers in its body were extremely formidable.
This metal beast''s aura was even more powerful than that of the two tiger-like metal beasts that Han Li had previously encountered, and when still, it blended in perfectly with the surrounding environment, so even Han Li wasn''t able to detect anything amiss about it.
After missing Han Li with its first attack, it swept its wings horizontally through the air, releasing a streak of radiant golden light that sliced through the air while sweeping toward Han Li.
In response, Han Li summoned an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword to ward off the streak of golden light, and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword began trembling and buzzing upon impact, while half of the golden lightning around it was eradicated.
1. Sweet Home bama starts ying ?
Chapter 1047: Clueless
Chapter 1047: Clueless
Han Li made a hand seal upon seeing this, and bursts of golden lightning instantly erupted out of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, forming a de of golden lightning that swept through the air.
The de of lightning tore through the golden light in the air with ease, revealing an area of rity in which Han Li''s vision wasn''t impeded.
The winged metal beast seemed to be rather wary of the oing lightning de, and it pped its wings and sprang up into the air.
Meanwhile, Han Li was peering through the opening in the golden light that had just been created by the de of lightning, and he spotted no fewer than a hundred golden stone pirs in the distance, with a different metal beast perched on top of each one.
Right before Han Li''s eyes, these metal beasts opened their eyes one after another before leaping down from their stone pirs and silently approaching Han Li like a pack of predators stalking their prey.
As the swordlight unleashed by Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword faded away, the surrounding golden light filled his field of view again, concealing the approaching metal beasts from him.
"What''s going on?" Yu Kuohai yelled upon hearing themotion up ahead, but he received no answer.
At this moment, a sense of foreboding had begun to well up in everyone''s hearts, and they instinctively gathered a little closer to one another to form a more tightly knit group.
"There seems to be something in the golden light," Elder Yang said in a hesitant manner, and everyone felt even more uneasy upon hearing this.
Right at this moment, the sound of urgent footsteps suddenly rang out from up ahead, and everyone hurriedly raised their weapons, preparing for an attack.
All of a sudden, a figure burst out of the golden light, and Yu Kuohai was already prepared to strike, yet right as he was about tosh out, the figure yelled, "Stop! It''s me, Shi Mu!"
Yu Kuohai hurriedly raised a hand to stop everyone, then asked, "How did it go, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
"There are metal beasts in here, Fellow Daoist Yu. Lots and lots of metal beasts," Han Li replied in a panicked manner.
"Metal beasts? That''s it?"
Yu Kuohai was rather relieved to hear this.
Right as his voice trailed off, several severely maimed bodies flew through the air from different directions before tumbling down onto the ground nearby.
Han Li focused his gaze upon them to discover that they were the cultivators who had been sent out to scout the array.
"They''reing!" Han Li warned, and at the same time, he took a subtle nce at the Lan siblings.
The two of them had clearly already detected that something was amiss, and they had distanced themselves slightly from the rest of the group while standing with their backs facing each other.
Maybe this will force you two to show your hands, Han Li thought to himself.
Right at this moment, countless des of golden light converged from all directions, forming a massive golden tornado around everyone.
Much of the golden light in the surrounding area was scattered, improving visibility for everyone.
As a result, everyone was horrified to discover that over a hundred giant, golden metal beasts had appeared around them, and all of them were giving off extremely formidable auras.
Yu Kuohai was left kicking himself upon seeing this.
During all of the years that he had spent in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, he had encountered all types of metal beasts and even ventured into a few metal force fields, but never had he seen such a formidable lineup of metal beasts before.
"Disciples of the Worry Not Pavilion, get into formation!" Pavilion Master Zhao yelled, and the Worry Not Pavilion disciples immediately heeded his call, gathering around him before each of them summoned a golden wheel, which they tossed up into the air.
Immediately thereafter, they began chanting an incantation, and the dozens of golden wheels began slowly revolving, forming a golden array that was constantly releasing proliferations rings of golden light.
"Let''s work together!" Yu Kuohai hurriedly yelled upon seeing this.
There were far fewer Spirit Heaven Sect and zing Light City cultivators presentpared with the Worry Not Pavilion, so if they were to form an array on their own, then it definitely wasn''t going to be a particrly powerful one.
"We''re using different cultivation arts, so I''m afraid we won''t be able to work together cohesively. I suggest you and the cultivators of your Spirit Heaven Sect establish an array of your own, Fellow Daoist Yu," Pavilion Master Zhao said as a hint of derision shed through his eyes.
Yu Kuohai gave him a resentful re upon hearing this, then hurriedly turned to Elder Yang, and the cultivators of the Spirit Heaven Sect and zing Light City immediately sprang into action, creating an array of their own.
Even though they were working together, all they actually did was set up two separate arrays before arranging them together. After all, it simply wasn''t possible for them to create a joint array without any advanced rehearsal.
"What are you standing there for, Fellow Daoist Shi? Hurry up and join us!" Yu Kuohai yelled.
Han Li turned to discover two light barriers above the cultivators from the two sects, one crimson and one azure, and a hint of sympathy appeared in his eyes as he dropped the act altogether.
"I even went out of my way toe back and inform you of the dangers ahead so that you could get away, but you really are a clueless bunch. What could you possibly hope to keep out with such a pathetic array?"
"What the hell are you saying, you bastard?" Yu Kuohai snapped in a furious voice.
"So be it. I can only wish you all the best of luck," Han Li said with a nonchnt smile, and right as his voice trailed off, a giant golden wolf sprang out of the surrounding pack of metal beasts before swiping its front paw through the air, sending it crashing down upon the array established by the Worry Not Pavilion cultivators.
"Bolster the array!" Pavilion Master Zhao yelled, and all of the Worry Not Pavilion cultivators immediately began injecting their immortal spiritual power into the array with all their might.
The array above them began to glow as radiantly as the sun, glowing even brighter than the surrounding metal forcefield.
The ws of the giant wolf struck the array with a sharp screeching sound, instantly tearing three huge gashes into the array.
The array was far from weak, but in the face of this metal beast, it may as well have been constructed from paper.
The golden wheels were all shattered into countless pieces, and a string of bloodcurdling howls rang out as most of the Worry Not Pavilion cultivators were torn to bits by the giant wolf''s powerful ws in the blink of an eye.
A horrified look finally appeared on Yu Kuohai''s face upon seeing this.
Even the Worry Not Pavilion''s array stood no chance against these metal beasts, so their makeshift array most certainly wasn''t going to be able to protect them.
"We have to split up and run!" Yu Kuohai yelled.
The cultivators of the Spirit Heaven Sect and zing Light City were already extremely on edge, and they immediately scattered and fled for their lives upon hearing this.
However, their attempts to escape only stirred all of the metal beasts up into a hunting frenzy, and they sprang into action all at once, pouncing on the fleeing cultivators.
The entire area instantly descended intoplete chaos, with cries of agony and despair ringing out from all directions.
Ayer of golden scales had appeared over Yu Kuohai''s robe, and with the emergence of these scales, he was able to weave his way freely through the chaotic crowd like a fish in water, seemingly no longer affected by the metal forcefield at all.
If it weren''t for the fact that the entire area was surrounded by metal beasts, he would''ve already been able to flee back to the main group outside at this point.
Elder Yang of zing Light City had changed into a fiery crimson robe, and he was darting through the crowd as a fiery dragon that was around ten feet in length.
Many of his allies were scorched by the mes burning over his body, but he held no regard for them as he evaded the attacks from the surrounding metal beasts while searching for an opportunity to get away.
Right at this moment, a golden eagle came swooping down from above, grabbing down at him with its sharp talons.
Elder Yang hurriedly sprang forward to just barely evade the eagle''s talons, but as a result, began barreling headfirst at Han Li.
"Get out of my way!" Elder Yang yelled in a furious voice.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he turned to Elder Yang, then began swinging a hand in his direction in a pping motion.
Elder Yang was even more furious upon seeing this, and he opened his mouth to release a plume of scorching mes that instantly inundated Han Li.
"What a pathetic fool," Elder Yang sneered, but right at this moment, a hand came swinging out of the mes up ahead before crashing heavily down onto his head with a loud p.
Elder Yang immediately felt a burst of tremendous force crashing down upon him, scattering his consciousness for a moment, and by the time he returned to his senses, he had already fallen into the clutches of the golden eagle.
"No!" he roared in despair, right before his body was torn into three pieces by the golden falcon, and the pieces of his body fell out of the sky before being devoured by three separate metal beasts.
Yu Kuohai just so happened to witness this as he was frantically fleeing for his life, and he was momentarily rooted to the spot, following which a sinking sensation welled up in his heart.
On one hand, he was cursing Han Li for hiding his true power, while on the other hand, he was praying that Han Li wasn''t going toe after him for vengeance.
Of course, Han Li could hardly care less about them, and he wouldn''t have killed Elder Yang if thetter hadn''t been so intent on rushing to his own demise.
At this moment, his gaze was focused on the Lan siblings.
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Chapter 1048: True Appearance
Chapter 1048: True Appearance
At this moment, Lan Yan was holding a weapon that resembled a curved sickle with an extended shaft, and there were three glowing blue crystals embedded into the sickle''s de.
As for Lan Yuanzi, he was wielding a thin longsword that also had three blue crystals on its de, and the sword was releasing bursts of rippling blue light as he swung it through the air.
The two of them were calmly opposing a pair of lion-like metal beasts, and Lan Yan smiled as she said, "These metal beasts are quite powerful, so I''m sure their beast cores must contain metal-attributew powers. Let''s kill some of them so we can harvest their beast cores."
"These metal beasts are nothingpared with the treasures in the Eon Pagoda, so there''s no point in wasting time here. Instead, we should focus on finding a way out as soon as possible," Lan Yuanzi said with a shake of his head.
"You''re right. It would be quite a pain having to kill all of these metal beasts anyway," Lan Yan agreed with a nod.
"Don''t getcent. These things possess a great deal of offensive prowess, so you could sustain injuries from them if you''re not careful," Lan Yuanzi cautioned.
Lan Yan nodded in response, then sprang up into the air before pointing a finger forward, and a burst of blue light instantly erupted out of her fingertip, forming a blue light barrier.
A series of ring-shaped patterns appeared on the light barrier, giving off a formidable water-attributew aura.
The metal beast that was pouncing at her crashed headfirst into the light barrier with a resounding boom, and the light barrier immediately began to ripple violently, but it managed to hold itself intact and keep the metal beast at bay.
At the same time, she swung her sickle through the air, releasing an arc of blue light that resembled a blue crescent moon.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as the blue light barrier was torn apart, following which the golden lion was sliced into two down the center by the arc of blue light.
Meanwhile, Lan Yuanzi was more direct and barbaric with his approach, making no effort to defend himself at all as he sprang forward and pierced the thin longsword in his hand directly at the other golden lion''s be.
The heads of these metal beasts were incredibly resilient, yet Lan Yuanzi''s sword was able to piece a huge hole into the golden lion''s head with ease, much to the astonishment of the onlooking Yu Kuohai.
Only then did hee to realize that Shi Mu wasn''t the only one that had been putting on an act of weakness. With that in mind, he promised himself there and then that he would never judge a book by its cover again.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly took a nce in his direction, and his heart instantly leaped up into his throat upon seeing this. Thankfully, Han Li''s gaze only lingered on him for a moment before he looked away again.
Even so, Yu Kuohai was still feeling very uneasy, and he actively distanced himself from Han Li and the Lan siblings to flee in another direction, making it absolutely certain that he would stay out of their way.
In reality, Han Li didn''t care about him at all, and the only reason why he had taken a nce in Yu Kuohai''s direction was because he could sense an even more powerful metal beast currently approaching from that direction.
As he turned his gaze back to the Lan siblings, he was surprised to discover that they were nowhere to be seen.
Before he had a chance to search for them, the golden eagle that had just in Elder Yang swooped down upon him from above.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he turned slightly to the side before throwing a punch upward.
As soon as the golden eagle''s talons came into contact with Han Li''s fist, its entire body instantly exploded amid a powerful eruption of starlight, and its remains were quickly devoured by a qilin-like metal beast.
Immediately thereafter, the golden qilin let loose a thunderous roar as a pair of golden wings sprouted on its back.
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this, and this golden qilin seemed to have been the metal beast that he had detected earlier.
The golden qilin rushed directly at Han Li while opening its mouth to release a ball of golden, molten fluid that came raining down upon him from above.
Han Li immediately summoned an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword before swinging it upward, and releasing a of golden lightning that shed against the molten fluid cascading down from above.
There seemed to be bursts of sharp energy within the molten fluid, and it was able to quickly tear the of golden lightning apart.
However, the golden fluid had also been whittled down significantly by the golden lightning, and what little remained of it was torn to shreds by the sword qi from Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li sprang up into the air directly at the golden qilin, which pped its wings with all its might in retaliation, conjuring up gusts of golden wind that swept through the air like a storm of sharp golden des.
The path up ahead was sealed off by the gusts of golden wind, so Han Li sprang up further into the air, vaulting himself over the gusts of golden wind before throwing an almighty punch down upon the golden qilin''s head.
A burst of tremendous power erupted out of Han Li''s fist, causing the space below topress upon itself inyers, following which his fist struck the golden qilin on the top of its head.
The qilin''s legs instantly folded under the weight of Han Li''s punch, sending it crashing to the ground.
Its head was split open by Han Li''s fist, but it was clearly very much disoriented.
Han Linded on the top of its head, and a contemtive look appeared on his face, following which he pressed a finger against his own be before drawing it outward.
A translucent thread that was as thin as a strand of hair was pulled out of his be, and it swirled around his fingertip like a spirit snake.
Immediately thereafter, the translucent thread burrowed its way into the golden qilin''s head at his behest, and its head instantly drooped down as if it had fallen asleep.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, then conjured up a huge door of silver light in front of the golden qilin.
"You''ll make a decent guard dog," Han Li murmured to himself, then sprang back through the air,nding behind the golden qilin before giving it a kick on the backside to send it flying into the door of light.
After that, he closed his Flower Branch domain before turning to a certain direction.
A blue light barrier emerged from the golden light in that direction, and the Lan siblings made their way out from within.
"That''s a domain treasure, is it not? No wonder you were able topletely loot such a massive part of the secret area. Having said that, don''t you feel a little ashamed, stooping as low as to scrape up an entire plot of spirit farnd for yourself, Fellow Daoist Han?" Lan Yan said with an amused smile.
"When did you discover my true identity?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"You''ve been spying on us this entire time, Fellow Daoist Han. Did you think we wouldn''t have noticed?" Lan Yuanzi chuckled.
Looking at the physical affection on disy between the two, Han Li couldn''t help but feel a little sick to the stomach as he asked, "Aren''t you two supposed to be siblings?"
A furious look appeared on Lan Yan''s face at the sight of Han Li''s disgusted expression, and she snapped, "My brother and I are not rted by blood! We were both orphans who were picked up by our master, so we both adopted our master''s surname. Only a filthy scoundrel like you would think of something so putrid."
In contrast, Lan Yuanzi seemed to bepletely unbothered.
"I couldn''t care less about your rtionship. I was hoping to avoid a battle against you two, but it looks like that''s out of the question now," Han Li mused.
"A battle is still very much avoidable," Lan Yuanzi countered with a faint smile. "All you have to do is surrender yourselves to us, and we''ll take you back to the Nine Origins Temple with us after we leave this secret area."
"Does everyone from your Nine Origins Temple like to make this same joke? Thest person who said this to me was Dongfang Bai. Are you two familiar with him?" Han Li asked.
"How dare you!"
A furious look immediately appeared on Lan Yan''s face as she prepared to pounce at Han Li, only to be stopped by Lan Yuanzi.
"Don''t fall for his provocation. He was able to storm into the Immortal Pce and kill Dongfang Bai, so he''s most definitely not to be taken lightly, even for us," Lan Yuanzi cautioned.
Lan Yanposed herself slightly upon hearing this, and she switched to a two-handed grip on her long-shaft sickle as she glowered intently at Han Li.
"Seeing as you insist doing things the hard way, the two of us will dly oblige," Lan Yuanzi said in a serious manner as he gently swept his longsword through the air, conjuring up a spherical, blue light barrier that epassed the entire surrounding area in a radius of several thousand feet.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this. He could sense that much of the metal-attribute spiritual qi in the air had suddenly faded away, and all of the surrounding metal beasts were also driven out by the spirit domain.
As for the cultivators of the Spirit Heaven Sect, zing Light City, and the Worry Not Pavilion, close to all of them were already dead at this point.
"This spirit domain of yours is quite interesting. It doesn''t appear to harbor any offensive power, but it''s able to drive back those metal beasts," Han Li mused in an intrigued manner.
Chapter 1049: Breaking the Ice
Chapter 1049: Breaking the Ice
"Certainws of interaction have always existed between the five elements. Metal enhanced water, so it''s no surprise that my water-attribute spirit domain is bolstered in this metal forcefield. If those metal beasts had remained in my spirit domain, then I would''ve been able to absorb the metal-attribute spiritual qi in their bodies, so they''ll naturally avoid my spirit domain like the gue," Lan Yuanzi exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
"I hold the environmental advantage here in this metal forcefield, so there''s no way you can defeat me. Are you truly not going to consider surrendering yourself to us, Fellow Daoist Han?" Lan Yuanzi asked.
"If you were a Great Epassment cultivator, perhaps you would be entitled to say something like this, but as you are now..."
Han Li''s voice trailed off here as he took a step forward, using only the power of his own physical body to forge ahead without drawing upon any immortal spiritual power.
However, as soon as he attempted to step forward, he immediately felt as if he had crashed headfirst into a vast sea that was holding him back with all its might.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, and all of his profound acupoints lit up, releasing a burst of tremendous starpower that allowed him to force his way through the impeding waterw powers up ahead.
"There''s no way a High Zenith cultivator should possess such a formidable physical constitution!" Lan Yuanzi eximed.
"Let''s see if he can take an Origin Water sh from me!" Lan Yan harrumphed coldly.
She had already been suppressing her own fury for quite some time, and sheunched herself at Han Li as a streak of blue light.
Unlike Han Li, she waspletely unaffected by Lan Yuanzi''s spirit domain, and she reached him in the blink of an eye.
A burst of formidable waterw power fluctuations erupted out of her sickle, and it swelled to around twice its original size as it swept through the air.
"No! Get back!" Lan Yuanzi hurriedly yelled, but it was already toote as Han Li channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, significantly enhancing his own speed, allowing him to calmly evade her sweeping sickle before reaching out to make a grab for her throat.
Lan Yan waspletely unable to resist as his hand closed around her throat, but instead of disying any panic, she burst intoughter instead.
Han Li immediately tried to retract his hand, but it was already toote.
A bone-chilling sensation speared through his hand as a burst of blue light erupted out of Lan Yan''s body, instantly washing over him to transform him into a blue ice statue, while Lan Yan herself also turned into a statue of ice.
Meanwhile, a burst of blue light appeared beside Lan Yuanzi before reforming her body.
"I know he''s mastered thews of time, Brother. I''m not that reckless," Lan Yan said with a wide smile.
"You really had me worried for a second there," Lan Yuanzi sighed.
"We''ve got him now, but you still need topletely seal him, Brother. My ice will only be able to keep him contained for a few minutes," Lan Yan said in an urgent voice as the smile on her face faded away.
As soon as her voice trailed off, a cold sneer rang out from nearby.
"A few minutes? You think far too highly of yourself, Fellow Daoist Lan."
Immediately thereafter, a dull thump rang out, and countless arcs of golden lightning erupted out of Han Li''s body to shatter the ice around him.
"Impossible!" Lan Yan eximed with a stunned expression.
For the average High Zenith cultivator, their immortal spiritual power cirction would''vepletely ceased while encased in her ice, thereby rendering them unable to break free, and this applied even to peak-High Zenith cultivators.
However, with all of the profound acupoints that Han Li had opened, his physical strength and starpower were more than enough for him to break the ice, even without ess to his immortal spiritual power.
As soon as he broke out of the ice, Han Li immediately released a golden spirit domain of his own, making it justrge enough to fully epass Lan Yuanzi''s spirit domain.
Both of the Lan siblings'' expressions changed slightly upon sensing the pervasive sluggishness within the time spirit domain.
"This man is far more difficult to deal with than we imagined. Only by using that technique will we have any chance at victory," Lan Yuanzi said with a grim expression, and Lan Yan nodded in response, then stowed her sickle away before snapping her fingers.
A spirit domain that was a slightly lighter shade of blue erupted out of her body, and a peculiar attractive force arose between her spirit domain and Lan Yuanzi''s, fusing them together.
As soon as the two spirit domains came together, they immediately released a strange bone-chilling sensation, striking Han Li with a sense of asphyxiation, as if he were being crushed at the bottom of the sea.
At the same time, both Lan Yan and Lan Yuanzi had already vanished from the spot, reced by a blue ice sculpture that was around a hundred feet tall. The statue had a gender-neutral appearance and bore some resemnce to both of the Lan siblings.
Right at this moment, four bursts of light rose up from the ground around Han Li, forming four blue ice sculptures that were identical to the original one.
Immediately thereafter, the five ice sculptures opened their mouths in unison, and waves of white cial qi that were visible even to the naked eye converged toward Han Li from all directions.
Rays of light began to refract in the air, and ayer of white frost quickly began to take shape over Han Li''s body.
His expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he swept a sleeve through the air to summon eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which released arcs of golden lightning that converged to form golden balls of lightning.
However, right as the balls of lightning were about to explode, a gust of cial wind swept over the area, freezing Han Li and the eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords solid.
Even the balls of golden lightning had been encased within the ice, with every single arc of lightning still clearly visible.
To Han Li''s surprise, he discovered that some cial qi had even seeped into his consciousness, causing his spiritual sense to go a little numb.
"Brother, ourbined spirit domain can trap him, but not for long. How are we going to take him back to the Nine Origins Temple?" one of the ice sculptures asked.
"It was never a requirement to take him back alive, our top priority is to recover the Heaven Controlling Vial. It''s going to be extremely difficult to capture him, so let''s kill him and take his soul back with us," another sculpture replied.
"Should we use the Profound Origin Icesh Sword?" a third ice sculpture asked.
"Let''s do it!" the remaining two ice sculptures answered in unison, immediately following which all five ice sculptures began making a string of hand seals.
A radiant blue array took shape above Han Li''s head, and the tip of a blue ice sword emerged from within.
The surrounding air temperature instantly plummeted even further as a burst of terrifying pressure came crashing down upon Han Li from above.
This must be an immortal treasure of an extremely high caliber!
Judging from the fearsome aura emanating from the sword, Han Li could tell that even the average Great Epassment cultivator wouldn''t be able to withstand its power, so it was no wonder that the Lan siblings had to join forces to unleash it.
At the moment, the immortal spiritual power in his body had beenpletely frozen, and his starpower cirction had also be very sluggish. On top of that, his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had also been sealed in ice, so there was no way for him to free himself.
Meanwhile, a chaotic battle was still taking ce in the surrounding area, and those outside the stone gate could only hear themotion ringing out from within, but their vision remained impeded by the golden light inside.
"When should we go in?" Su Anqian asked through voice transmission.
"Let''s keep waiting for now. There''s clearly a battle of a veryrge scale going on inside, so if we were to go in now, it''s very likely that we''ll be swept up in it. Hence, I think we should wait until the battle concludes before we go in," Jin Liu replied.
Right at this moment, a burst of formidable cial qi erupted out of the metal force field upon ahead.
Several Worry Not Pavilion cultivators were standing too close to the entrance, and they were instantly frozen solid. Before anyone had a chance to save them, they had already perished.
Everyone hurriedly retreated further from the stone gate in a fearful manner upon seeing this, while Su Anqian and Jin Liu exchanged an rmed nce with each other.
"There''s been no news from Fellow Daoist Yu and the others, even though they''ve already been in there for a very long time. Could it be that something''s gone wrong, Fellow Daoist Jin?" Valley Master Fu of the Azure Lock Valley asked.
Before Jin Liu had a chance to reply, a resounding boom rang out from up ahead, following which a wave of scorching heat erupted through the air, forcing everyone back even further.
At this moment, Han Li was still encased in ice within the space beyond the stone gate, but there were silver mes swirling around his entire body, giving off an incredibly fearsome scorching aura.
A sharp cry then rang out as a silver fire raven with rainbow mes on its head sprang out of the silver mes, crashing directly into the Profound Origin Icesh Sword that was descending from above.
Countless rays of cial blue light rained down from the Profound Origin Icesh Sword before shing against the scorching mes with a resounding boom, raising a huge cloud of steam that filled the entire space.
"Is that... an Essence Fire Raven?" one of the ice sculptures asked.
"How could there be such a powerful Essence Fire Raven?" another ice sculpture eximed.
"That bastard, Dongfang Bai, didn''t mention this at all!" a third ice sculpture cursed.
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Chapter 1050: Search
Chapter 1050: Search
The Essence Fire Raven let loose another loud cry as it spread its wings and ascended with all its might, forcing back all of the rays of blue light released by the Profound Origin Icesh Sword, following which the sword itself was also forced back into the array of blue light above.
Even after forcing back the Profound Origin Icesh Sword, the Essence Fire Raven still refused to relent, and countless silver fireballs erupted out of its body before striking the Lan siblings''bined spirit domain, causing it to tremble violently.
Before long, a series of cracks had appeared all over the spirit domain, and shortly thereafter, the five ice sculptures within the spirit domain exploded in unison.
Immediately thereafter, the entire spirit domain faded away, but the Lan siblings were also nowhere to be seen.
Even after freeing himself from the spirit domain, Han Li''s limbs were still feeling a little numb from the cold, and he made a beckoning motion, upon which the Essence Fire Raven flew back to him before perching itself on his shoulder.
A burst of warmth instantly flowed through his entire body from his shoulder, and wisps of cial qi that were visible even to the naked eye were forced out of his skin before fading away.
He swept his gaze over the surrounding area to discover that all of the metal beasts had disappeared, and all of the cultivators that had been sent into the area with him had met their demise.
Pavilion Master Zhao had been torn to shreds by a metal beast, while Yu Kuohai had been frozen to death by the eruption of cial qi from earlier.
Han Li patted the Essence Fire Raven on his shoulder with a grim expression, and it vanished into his body, following which he began to make his way deeper into the golden space.
It had been confirmed that those two were indeed the Lan siblings, and his cover had already been blown, so he had to hunt them down and kill them. Otherwise, if they were allowed to return to the Heavenly Court, then he would truly be in a world of trouble.
......
Meanwhile, everyone outside the stone gate was waiting for further instructions.
The sounds of battle inside had already subsided, and after waiting for a while longer, Jin Liu finally dered, "Let''s go in."
All of the other cultivators exchanged some wary nces with one another upon hearing this, but none of them made a move, clearly still feeling very apprehensive.
Jin Liu''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he urged, "It''s been quiet in there for quite some time now, so the first group must''ve already taken care of the hazards up ahead. If we don''t go in now, they''ll im all of the treasures inside!"
Hesitant looks appeared on everyone''s faces upon hearing this, but once again, no one was willing to make a move.
Jin Liu exchanged a nce with Su Anqian, and the two of them entered through the stone gate together.
Only then did everyone follow along.
Everyone''s brows instantly furrowed slightly upon making their way into the metal forcefield, but their concern and annoyance quickly turned to shock and horror as they caught sight of all of the maimed and frozen bodies that littered the ground.
"What the hell happened here?" Valley Master Fu murmured to himself with a horrified expression.
As soon as his voice trailed off, he abruptly raised his head to cast his gaze toward the top of a nearby golden pir.
A thunderous roar rang out as a panther-like metal beast pounced down upon him with incredible speed, and it was quickly joined by more metal beasts as another horrific ughtermenced...
Meanwhile, Han Li had already arrived in front of another stone gate deep within the golden space.
The stone gate was slightly ajar, clearly indicating that the Lan siblings had already fled inside.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense over the surrounding area, then made his way through the stone gate as well.
Beyond the gate was a spacious hall that waspletely empty with the exception of a winding stone staircase that led upward.
Han Li made his way to the top of the staircase, arriving before a dark red door of light. It seemed to be a spatial teleportation door, but it was unclear what destination it led to.
He attempted to examine it with his spiritual sense, only to discover that his spiritual sense waspletely unable to pass through the door of light.
After a brief hesitation, he made his way through the door of light, arriving in a crimson world.
It was a boundless crimson desert with a dark red sky and red clouds above, and the entire surrounding area was filled with scorching heat.
Behind him was a disembodied stone gate that was standing in the middle of nowhere, and at its center was a rippling ck light barrier.
Standing beside the gate was a stone que that had the character for "two" engraved upon it in majestic, free-flowing text.
Han Li reflexively swept his spiritual sense across his surroundings, upon which he discovered that even though his spiritual sense was still restricted, he was able to release it further than he could on the first level.
Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan were still nowhere to be seen, but he could sense their residual auras in the air, indicating that they had most definitely been here before.
After ensuring that nothing was amiss, Han Li set off in pursuit of the Lan siblings as a streak of golden light.
As soon as he rose up into the air, he immediately felt the effects of a special restriction in the surrounding space. It was giving off timew power fluctuations, and it cut his speed down by roughly half.
This restriction is rather simr to my time spirit domain, except my time spirit domain doesn''t have any impact on spiritual sense, Han Li thought to himself, then quickly put the thought out of his mind as he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability.
Seeing as the restriction in this ce was rted to timew powers, his Reversal True Axis ability should be effective.
Sure enough, as soon as he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, his speed was instantly significantly enhanced, almost returning to its normal level, and it didn''t take long before Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan appeared in his field of view.
Their clothes were in tatters and charred in many ces, as if they had been scorched by mes, and their auras were also far weaker than before.
On top of that, it seemed that their speed had also been greatly hampered by the restriction in this ce.
The gap between Han Li and the Lan siblings was rapidly shrinking, and a stunned look appeared on Lan Yuanzi''s face upon sensing Han Li''s presence.
"He''sing!"
"We have to do it now!" Lan Yan said in an urgent manner, and Lan Yuanzi disyed no hesitation,tching onto Lan Yan''s hand as the two of them began to chant an incantation in unison.
A burst ofw powers surged out of each of their bodies before fusing together, forming a projection of a giant blue bird that was several thousand feet in size around them.
The bird projection pped its wings vigorously, thereby greatly enhancing their speed, but they were still quite a bit slower than Han Li, and before long, the gap between them had dwindled to less than ten kilometers.
"How is he this fast?" Lan Yan eximed as she turned to Lan Yuanzi with a slightly panicked expression.
Lan Yuanzi gritted his teeth as a decisive look appeared in his eyes, following which he gave Lan Yan a firm push, sending her flying into the distance as he yelled, "I''ll hold him back, you get out of here!"
"Brother!" Lan Yan eximed as she immediately stabilized herself before turning around to fly back to his side.
"Get away, you idiot! Don''t worry about me, I can look after myself!" Lan Yuanzi roared in a furious voice, following which he raised his hands to summon a small white g with a blue wyrm embroidered upon it, as well as a blue bowl with fiery blue light shing inside.
The two items flew out of his grasp, and the white g instantly transformed into a blue and white wyrm that was over a thousand feet in length before swooping down upon Han Li while releasing an almighty breath.
Its breath was interspersed with chunks of white ice crystals that crashed against one another to produce a thunderous rumbling noise, and it was clear that anything caught within the breath would be instantly torn to shreds.
Meanwhile, the bowl was revolving in mid-air as it released a burst of cial blue mes, which descended upon Han Li as a massive screen of blue fire, freezing all of the space in its wake.
Both the wyrm''s breath and the cial mes spanned an enormous area, instantly turning the scorching hot temperatures freezing cold.
Lan Yan stared after Lan Yuanzi with tears swimming in her eyes, but ultimately, she still did as she was told, fleeing into the distance.
In the face of the oing attacks, Han Li stopped in his tracks, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of green light that swelled drastically in size before forming a pair of massive green hands that plunged into the wyrm''s breath and cial blue mes in a sh.
However, the wyrm''s breath and the cial mes abruptly vanished into thin air around a hundred feet in front of Han Li.
Further up ahead, the white g and the blue bowl had been caught in the clutches of the giant green hands, and both were struggling with all their might to free themselves, but to no avail.
Furthermore, Lan Yuanzi was nowhere to be seen.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he made a beckoning motion, and the burst of green light vanished up his sleeve alongside the pair of immortal treasures, following which he set off in pursuit of Lan Yan, who was still yet to fully disappear into the distance.
Right at this moment, the space up ahead suddenly began to quiver and rumble violently.
Immediately thereafter, numerous blue spatial rifts appeared up ahead, releasing countless rays of blue light that inundated Han Li''s entire body like a flurry of turbulent waves, stopping him cold in his tracks.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and before he had a chance to do anything, all of the surrounding blue light converged rapidly around him to form a ball of blue light that was several thousand feet in size.
Bursts ofw power fluctuations were churning incessantly within the ball of blue light,pressing toward Han Li from all directions, and even with his immense physical constitution, he was momentarily rendered immobile.
However, after just a few seconds, he was able to limate himself to the surrounding pressure, and after scouring his surroundings momentarily with his Infernal Devilish Eyes, a translucent chain abruptly shot out of his be before vanishing into the nearby space in a certain direction.
A figure was dragged out of thin air, bound by the translucent chain, and it was none other than Lan Yuanzi.
At this moment, there was blinding blue light shing over his body, giving off incredibly formidablew power fluctuations.
Chapter 1051: Exposed?
Chapter 1051: Exposed?
A look of realization shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
As it turned out, Lan Yuanzi was using some type of secret technique to set alight thew power within his body, and that was how he was able to release such a formidable burst ofw powers all of a sudden.
As these thoughts were running through Han Li''s mind, he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which began revolving rapidly, releasing countless golden ripples that instantly filled the surrounding area in a radius of over ten thousand feet.
The surrounding ball of blue light immediately fellpletely still. Lan Yuanzi was trying to free himself from Han Li''s spiritual sense chain, but the golden ripples were too fast, and they washed over him before he could free himself, rendering himpletely immobilized.
Meanwhile, Han Li flew out of the ball of blue light with ease, arriving in front of Lan Yuanzi before pressing his fingers into Lan Yuanzi''s head, yet right as he was about to crush his skull, he suddenly stopped what he was doing.
He turned to look in the direction that Lan Yan had just fled in, then looked back at Lan Yuanzi, and an image of his little sister surfaced in his mind.
He heaved a forlorn sigh as the killing intent drained out of his body, and he pressed a hand against Lan Yuanzi''s lower abdomen, releasing five burst of timew powers that formed five-elemental seal in Lan Yuanzi''s dantian, sealing away all of his immortal spiritual power.
The sealing secret technique enclosed in the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra could be used on both himself and others.
After that, Han Li removed Lan Yuanzi''s storage ring from his finger, then scoured his spiritual sense over Lan Yuanzi''s entire body to ensure that he wasn''t hiding anything, following which he withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis, and all of the nearby golden ripples immediately faded away.
The ball of blue light conjured up by Lan Yuanzi also quickly vanished, and his body began to plummet out of the sky, but Han Li caught him before slowly descending to the ground.
At this point, Lan Yan had already fled out of his spiritual sensory range, and some of her residual aura was still left behind, but the chances of catching up to her were rather slim.
Even though this ce didn''t seem to be all that dangerous, it struck him with a sense of foreboding for some reason, so he didn''t forge ahead recklessly.
"What a powerful sealing technique. No wonder you''ve been able to evade the Heavenly Court for so long. I''ve been defeated fair and square," Lan Yuanzi grinned.
"You''re quite a brave man to still be able to smile at a time like this," Han Li remarked.
"I ampletely at your mercy right now, and I doubt that you''ll be more inclined to spare me if I act all miserable, so I may as well keep up a good mood in what could quite possibly be my final moments," Lan Yuanzi replied in a nonchnt manner.
A hint of approval toward Lan Yuanzi welled up in Han Li''s heart upon hearing this, but his expression remained unchanged as he said in a cold voice, "I have a few questions for you. If you don''t want me to search your soul, then answer them truthfully."
"Go ahead," Lan Yuanzi replied in a very cooperative manner.
"Why were you and your sister sent to the Golden Origin Immortal Region? To capture me?" Han Li asked.
"We did indeede here to capture you under orders from Immortal Lord Miao Fa, and at the same time, we were tasked with recovering a treasure from you that originally belonged to our Nine Origins Temple. I''ve heard that it''s a time-attribute immortal treasure in the form of a small, green vial," Lan Yuanzi replied without any hesitation, and Han Li''s heart immediately jolted slightly upon hearing this.
The Heaven Controlling Vial had always been his deepest secret, yet it seemed like he wasn''t going to be able to keep this secret hidden any longer.
"How does the Nine Origins Temple know that I''m in possession of this vial?" Han Li asked.
"I''m not sure about the exact details, but I heard that they extrapted that from a Creation Crystal that came from you," Lan Yuanzi replied.
A look of realization instantly appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this, following which he continued, "Did the Vast Golden Immortal Pce send anyone else after me aside from you and your sister?"
"No, we were the only two sent by Immortal Lord Miao Fa. Ourbined powers areparable to those of a Great Epassment cultivator, so we had thought that we would be able to easily defeat you, but we''ve truly been humbled," Lan Yuanzi replied with a wry smile.
Han Li was slightly reassured upon hearing this, and he asked a few more questions, all of which Lan Yuanzi answered without any hesitation.
After asking all of the questions that he wanted to ask, Han Li stood in silence as he cast his gaze into the distance, seemingly contemting something.
Lan Yuanzi stood silently off the side, making no attempt to interrupt him.
All of a sudden, Han Li raised a hand before tapping a finger against Lan Yuanzi''s be, and a burst of translucent light shot out of his fingertip, knocking Lan Yuanzi unconscious before he had a chance to react.
After that, Han Li turned to the space beside him and asked, "Did he tell any lies just now, Weeping Soul?"
"No. I detected no abnormalities in his soul fluctuations while he was answering your questions, so he was telling the truth," Weeping Soul replied, and Han Li nodded in response.
Even though he had developed a fondness for Lan Yuanzi for his character, if he had been caught lying just now, then Han Li would''ve killed him and searched his soul without any hesitation.
"Wouldn''t it have been much easier to just let me search his soul? Why did you go to the trouble of interrogating him?" Weeping Soul asked as she emerged from the door of silver light.
"It''s clear that he and Lan Yan are extremely close, so I''m sure she''lle back for him, and once that happens, I''ll be able to use him to my advantage," Han Li replied as he tossed the unconscious Lan Yuanzi into the Flower Branch domain.
"Even the two of thembined were no match for you. Now that Lan Yan''s on her own, she doesn''t pose any threat at all! If she dares toe back, then we''ll capture her as well," Weeping Soul said as she raised her delicate fist.
"Don''t getcent. It''s true that Lan Yan poses no threat to me, but right now, Qi Mozi is also in this immortal manor, and both of them are from the Heavenly Court, so we could be in some trouble if they join forces with each other," Han Li said.
"That''s true," Weeping Soul replied with a contemtive nod, while Han Li began to inspect the surrounding area.
He had pursued the Lan siblings deep into the crimson desert, and he was currently in an area that was riddled with massive sand dunes that resembled short mountains.
Furthermore, there were countless thorny red nts growing on the sand dunes, and there were also some living creatures here, like lizards and scorpions, but none of them were demon beasts.
Weeping Soul also began to scour the surrounding area, and all of a sudden, a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes.
"Have you detected something?" Han Li asked.
Given Weeping Soul''s special physical constitution, she was prone to making some interesting discoveries at times.
"There''s a very strong aura of death and resentment here, so make sure to proceed with caution from here onward, Master," Weeping Soul replied with a solemn expression.
"I''ve also been getting a sense of foreboding from this ce. The stone que next to the gate that we passed through earlier had the number ''two'' written on it. Could it be that this is the second level of the Eon Pagoda?" Han Li spected.
"That''s very likely. From the outside, it doesn''t appear as if the Eon Pagoda is segment into levels, but my observation tells me that the pagoda is, in fact, split up into seven levels. I wonder why Immortal Lord Tai Sui constructed this pagoda," Weeping Soul mused.
"In any case, let''s do some scouting for now," Han Li said as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, smoothing out the signs of battle in the nearby area before flying away in a certain direction.
As for Weeping Soul, he decided to have her remain by his side instead of sending her back into the Flower Branch domain.
Close to half a day flew by in a sh.
The crimson desert was astonishingly massive, and Han Li was still flying through it with no end in sight.
All of a sudden, Weeping Soul called out to him before descending in a certain direction, and Han Li immediately followed along.
The two of them quicklynded in front of a sand dune, and Weeping Soul swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of ck light that sliced the sand dune into two, revealing the skeletal remains of what appeared to have been a giant lizard..
The skeleton was several dozen feet in size, and it was riddled with cracks from wind erosion, looking as if it could shatter at any moment.
Han Li had already discovered this skeleton with his spiritual sense, but he hadn''t noticed anything amiss about it, so he asked, "Is there something special about this skeleton?"
"How many years do you think this skeleton has been here for, Master?" Weeping Soul asked.
"The lizards here aren''t demon beasts, but they still possess bodies far more resilient than those of normal lizards. The fact that the skeleton has been eroded to such an extent tells me that it has to have already been here for at least several hundred years," Han Li analyzed.
"This lizard has only been dead for no more than a decade," Weeping Soul said with a shake of her head.
"What? How do you know that?" Han Li asked with an incredulous expression.
"All living beings possess souls, and these souls will dissipate once something is dead, but some residual soul power will cling to their remains and onlypletely fade once enough time has passed. The soul power clinging to this skeleton is still quite abundant, so from that, I can determine that it died quite recently," Weeping Soul exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with an intrigued expression.
Even with his tremendous spiritual sense, he was unable to detect the soul power clinging to this skeleton, so it was clear that Weeping Soul had far superior sensitivity to souls than he did.
"In that case, how has its body already been eroded to this extent?" Han Li asked.
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Chapter 1052: Running Away First
Chapter 1052: Running Away First
"I don''t know the answer to that, I just felt like this skeleton was rather strange, so I thought I''d have you take a look at it," Weeping Soul replied.
Han Li nodded in response as he observed the skeleton in silence.
Right at this moment, he suddenly turned to a certain direction, then swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light as he said, "Su Anqian and the others areing, so stay in the Flower Branch domain for now."
Weeping Soul gave an affirmative response before flying into the door of silver light, following which Han Li sped away in a certain direction.
Momentster, several dozen streaks of light of different colors appeared on the distant horizon, traveling in a slightly different direction from Han Li.
Han Li immediately began approaching the streaks of light, and they also changed directions to meet him.
Before long, the two parties met, and Han Li found himself face to face with Su Anqian, Jin Liu, and around thirty to forty other people.
Valley Master Fu and all of the High Zenith cultivators were still among them, but all of them were carrying injuries and looking rather worse for wear.
"You''re Fellow Daoist Shi, right? You were with Fellow Daoist Yu, weren''t you? How are you still alive? Where''s everyone else?" Su Anqian asked.
"We encountered many powerful metal beasts beyond the stone gate, and everyone was killed by those metal beasts. I was fortunate enough to escape with several other fellow daoists, but we''ve all been split up since then. Thank heavens I managed to run into all of you," Han Li replied as he feigned an expression of lingering fear.
Everyone had already guessed that this would be the case, but grim looks still appeared on their faces upon hearing this.
A hint of derision shed through Jin Liu''s eyes at the sight of Han Li''s fearful disy, and he sneered, "You really are lucky, aren''t you?"
Han Li pretended to not have heard the mockery in Jin Liu''s voice as he gave an earnest nod and replied, "Indeed, Fellow Daoist, I''ve always had very good luck. Otherwise, I would''ve surely perished to those metal beasts as well."
Jin Liu was momentarily rendered speechless by Han Li''s clueless response, following which he asked, "There must''ve been treasures inside that golden area, right, Fellow Daoist Shi? What were they, and who''s in possession of them right now?"
A look of greed shed through his eyes as he raised this question.
"There were no treasures at all in that area. On top of that, as soon as we went in, we were attacked by the metal beasts, and I was only just barely able to escape by the skin of my teeth," Han Li replied.
"Is that right?" Jin Liu asked as he raised an eyebrow, making his suspicion abundantly clear.
"Did we not agree that everyone gets to keep the treasures that they secure from that area? Why are you interrogating Fellow Daoist Shi all of a sudden?" Valley Master Fu suddenly interjected.
"Please don''t misunderstand, Valley Master Fu, I have no intention of taking his treasures from him. Instead, I just wanted to make a deal with him. If there was nothing inside, then I suppose there''s no deal to be made," Jin Liu replied.
"Any deals can wait until after we''ve all left the Eon Pagoda. Fellow Daoist Shi, you arrived on this second level ahead of all of us, have you discovered anything?" Su Anqian asked.
"I''m afraid not. I''ve been stumbling around in here for quite some time already, but there seems to be nothing but sand here," Han Li replied.
Su Anqian''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"In that case, let''s keep forging ahead."
No one raised any objections to this, and the group continued to fly onward.
Close to another day flew by in the blink of an eye.
The monotonous desert scenery down below was finally beginning to disy some changes, and somerge rocks had begun toe into view, along with some rocky hills.
Han Li was trailing along at the very back of the group, and along the way, he spotted more and more of those strange, eroded skeletons, instilling within him a sense of growing unease.
Su Anqian and the others had also noticed the skeletons on the ground below, but they paid them no heed, merely regarding them as ordinary sets of remains.
All of a sudden, a burst of rumbling rang out in the sky up ahead, and initially, it was very quiet, but it then rapidly swelled to a deafening crescendo.
"What''s going on?"
Everyone stopped in their tracks before examining the area up ahead with their spiritual sense, upon which all of them instantly turned deathly pale.
As it turned out, there was an enormous dark red cloud up ahead in the distance, and it was currently rapidly approaching them.
The crimson cloud was formed by an unfathomable number of tiny, dark red insects, all of which had red mes burning over their bodies.
Those are Fire Age Fireflies!
Upon catching sight of the crimson cloud, Han Li was immediately able to identify its constituents as Fire Age Fireflies, which he had previously encountered in the ruins of the True Mantra Sect.
At the same time, it urred to him that all of the skeletal remains that they had encountered up to this point had to have belonged to creatures that had been killed by Fire Age Fireflies, thereby exining the unreasonably advanced degree of erosion.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately flew away into the distance as a streak of golden light.
Back in the True Mantra Sect, Chi Rong had only released fewer than ten thousand Fire Age Fireflies, and that had already been a huge pain to deal with, so there was no way that they would be able to oppose such an enormous swarm of them.
The other people in the group didn''t recognize the Fire Age Fireflies, but it was clear that this vast swarm of insects was not something that they could hope to oppose, so all of them immediately fled in a panic as well.
Han Li had been trailing along at the very back of the group this entire time, and he was also the first to run at the first sign of danger, putting on a cowardly disy that earned him much derision from everyone else.
The swarm of Fire Age Fireflies seemed to have also detected the presence of Han Li''s group, and they began screeching in excitement as they sped through the air like sharks that had caught a whiff of blood.
The swarm of insects was traveling at an rming speed, seeminglypletely unaffected by the time-attribute restriction in this ce, and even though everyone was fleeing as quickly as they could, the gap between them was still slowly closing.
It didn''t take long for the swarm of insects to catch up to the group of itinerant Golden Immortals flying at the very back of the group, and one of them, a crimson-faced man abruptly stopped in his tracks as he roared, "What''s there to be scared of? It''s just a few little bugs!"
At the same time, a burst of crimson mes emerged over his body, then rapidly spread outward, forming a sea of crimson fire that was several thousand feet in size.
Bursts of intense heat surged out of the sea of mes, causing the nearby space to tremble and warp, as if it were about to be set alight.
The sea of fire then rose up to form a giant fiery wave that was over a thousand feet tall at the man''s behest, and it swept toward the swarm of insects, swallowing up thousands of Fire Age Fireflies in the blink of an eye.
The Fire Age Fireflies that had been swept up by the crimson mes were immediately thrown into a state of disarray, tumbling end over end as if they had lost control of their own bodies.
An ted look appeared on the man''s face upon seeing this, but it only lingered for a moment before vanishing without a trace.
After briefly stumbling around within the crimson mes, the Fire Age Fireflies spread their wings to stabilize themselves, then continued flying toward the red-faced man, seeminglypletely unharmed by his fire.
A look of rm and fury appeared on the man''s face upon seeing this, and he let loose a thunderous roar as he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a fiery red scroll that gave off tremendous firew power fluctuations, clearly indicating that it was an immortal treasure of a very high caliber.
He cast a rapid string of incantation seals into the scroll, which immediately unfurled to form a radiant fiery barrier around him.
In the next instant, countless Fire Age Fireflies swarmed over the red-faced man and the fiery crimson barrier around him, forming an enormous cocoon.
One Fire Age Firefly flew into the fiery barrier after another, rapidly whittling it down at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, and in the blink of an eye, the fiery barrier had beenpletely snuffed out, reverting it back to a crimson scroll.
However, the scroll currently resembled an uncared for artifact from countless years past, and it was riddled with creases and tears andpletely devoid of spiritual nature.
Countless Fire Age Fireflies converged around the red-faced man like an enormous swarm of mosquitoes, burrowing their way through the protective spiritual light around his body with ease.
The man screamed in horror and agony as he struggled with all his might, frantically trying to swat away the Fire Age Fireflies, but to no avail.
He began to age rapidly right before everyone''s eyes, and in no more than the blink of an eye, he had been reduced to a severely eroded skeleton, while his clothes had also been eroded into nothingness.
Following his demise, the swarm of insects lost all interest in him, allowing his remains to fall to the ground while they set off in pursuit of other targets.
It didn''t take long before the other Golden Immortals at the very back of the group were also caught by the swarm of insects, and a string of bloodcurdling howls rang out, only to then instantly trail off into silence.
All of a sudden, a look of recognition appeared in Jin Liu''s eyes, and he yelled in a horrified manner, "I remember what those things are now, they''re Fire Age Fireflies! They''re born with timew powers in their bodies, and they can release mes of time that can incinerate the lifespans of other living beings! How are there so many of them here?!"
Everyone else''s expressions changed drastically upon hearing this, and they hurriedly unleashed some secret techniques to enhance their own speed, ensuring that they were able to at least maintain the same speed as the swarm of insects behind them.
"Fire Age Fireflies are extremely sensitive to living, physical bodies, so conceal your physical auras and fly to the side to avoid directly facing the swarm!" Su Anqian yelled.
Everyone hurriedly did as they were told, concealing their physical auras before flying collectively flying away to the left.
Han Li also heeded this advice, channeling his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique to conceal his own physical aura.
As a result, the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies was instantly thrown into a state of directionless disarray, as if they had suddenly lost track of everyone.
This naturally came as a huge relief, but with the horrific fates suffered by the red-faced man and the others still fresh in everyone''s minds, no one dared to let their guards down as they continued to flee with all their might.
Chapter 1053: Indecision
Chapter 1053: Indecision
Only after flying for close to half a day did everyone finally escape from the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies, and they descended onto a nearby hill to regroup.
Even though everyone had concealed their own physical auras under Su Anqian''s instructions, some people were still caught by the Fire Age Fireflies during this time, and everyone else could only look on helplessly as those unfortunate individuals were incinerated by the mes of time.
Up to this point, the crisis had been avoided, but everyone still had looks of lingering fear on their faces from the close call.
At this moment, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on his own, while Su Anqian was standing on an elevated vantage point, looking back at the distant horizon.
The vast swarm of Fire Age Fireflies was slowly flying away in that direction, and only upon seeing this did she allow herself a sigh of relief.
"Thank heavens Celestial Maiden Su is familiar with the properties of these Fire Age Fireflies. Otherwise, this ce may have be everyone''s final resting ce," Valley Master Fu said as he turned to Su Anqian with a grateful expression.
"You''re far too kind, Valley Master Fu," Su Anqian replied in an indifferent manner.
"There really is peril at every turn in this pagoda. I shudder to imagine what else could possibly be waiting for us up ahead," Valley Master Fu said with a wry smile.
"Come to think of it, Fellow Daoist Shi, you were the first one to run away after spotting the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies. Could it be that you''ve already encountered those things before?" Su Anqian suddenly asked as she turned to Han Li.
Everyone else also turned to Han Li with usatory looks of derision upon hearing this.
"If you knew, then why didn''t you warn us, Fellow Daoist Shi? Were you trying to get all of us killed?" Jin Liu asked in a cold voice as he glowered intently at Han Li, and looks of animosity appeared on everyone else''s faces as well upon hearing this.
"No, no, I only recognize those Fire Age Fireflies because I encountered them in another secret area, and I almost lost my life on that asion," Han Li hurriedly exined as he feigned a panicked expression.
"Is that right?" Jin Liu harrumphed coldly.
"Fellow Daoist Shi just so happened to be at the very back of the group when we ran into those Fire Age Fireflies, so I suppose it makes sense that he was the first to run," Valley Master Fu said, and everyone immediately lost interest in Han Li upon hearing this.
Su Anqian''s gaze lingered on Han Li for a moment longer, following which she also directed her attention elsewhere.
Han Li didn''t care about how he was regarded anyway, so it suited him just fine to have everyone look down on him.
He could¡¯ve easily taken advantage of the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies to split off from the group and go off on his own, but he chose not to do so for now. After all, he knew very little about this pagoda, so his n was to remain with the group for some time before deciding on his next course of action.
Right at this moment, a hunch-backed elderly man stepped forward. He was an early-High Zenith cultivator and the master of a small sect, and he proposed, "Alright, let''s discuss how we''re going to proceed from here. Are we going to continue onward?"
At this point, only a handful of High Zenith cultivators remained in the group.
The Heavenly Water Sect originally had four High Zenith cultivators, one of whom had perished to the metal beasts on the first level, so there were only three left.
The rest of the High Zenith cultivators in the group consisted of Valley Master Gu, the Ink Fragrance Pavilion Master, the hunch-backed elderly man who had just spoken, and a brawny man with a coarse beard, amounting to a total of only seven High Zenith cultivators.
The Ink Fragrance Pavilion Master was a young woman in a pink dress by the name of Yan Ying, and there was an uneasy look on her face as she said, "Up to this point, the Eon Pagoda has beenpletely devoid of treasures. We''ve encountered nothing but peril in this ce, and at this point, I think our numbers have been whittled down far too much for us to safely continue onward."
Many of the other people in the group nodded in agreement upon hearing this, including the hunch-backed elderly man.
"So are you suggesting that we turn around here?" Su Anqian asked.
"Celestial Maiden Su, the fact of the matter is that this ce is far too dangerous. We were already almostpletely wiped out by those metal beasts, and there''s no telling what more perils beside these Fire Age Fireflies could lie beyond this point. With our powers, it would be too risky to continue," the hunch-backed elderly man said, and Su Anqian fell silent upon hearing this.
"There''s no need to be so pessimistic. This is Immortal Lord Tai Sui''s former cave abode, so there will surely be some treasures in here, and perhaps they''re just up ahead. Those Fire Age Fireflies may be troublesome to deal with, but they''re also quite easy to fool, so as long as we remain vignt and don''t end up being surrounded by them, we''ll be fine.
¡°It wasn''t easy making it this far, will you really be content with leaving without reaping any rewards?" Jin Liu asked.
At the moment, morale was at an all-time low, so if Yan Ying and the hunch-backed elderly man were to back out now, then the entire group would fall apart.
Both Yan Ying and the hunch-backed elderly man were still harboring some hopes for the Eon Pagoda, so hesitant looks immediately appeared on their faces after hearing what Jin Liu had to say.
"If we encounter those insects again, then follow my instructions on how to proceed. I believe I have a way to help us shake them off," Su Anqian said.
Yan Ying and the hunch-backed elderly man exchanged a nce with each other upon hearing this, following which the former nodded and said, "Alright, in that case, let''s go in a little further before we make a decision."
"Risk and reward have alwayse hand in hand. This pagoda has already been sealed for countless years, and I''m sure it won''t disappoint us," Jin Liu said.
"In that case, let''s keep going," Su Anqian decided, and the group soon set off again.
Han Li naturally had no objections to this. If everyone had chosen to retreat here, then his n would''ve been to continue onward on his own.
Hence, he rose to his feet and continued to trail along at the very back of the group.
Everyone was very disdainful of Han Li for this, but no one said anything. However, they had all decided in their hearts that if any treasures were discovered in this pagoda, then they would do everything within reason to ensure that none of it went to Han Li.
Given what had happened earlier, everyone was proceeding with a lot more caution, so they were traveling far slower than before.
After close to an hour of uneventful travel, Han Li suddenly took a subtle nce to the right, but didn''t say anything.
Momentster, Su Anqian suddenly stopped in her tracks at the very front of the group, then yelled, "The Fire Age Fireflies are back! Come with me!"
After that, she immediately began flying toward the left.
Han Li was rather taken aback by the fact that she was able to detect the Fire Age Fireflies so quickly, and it told him that her spiritual sense wasn''t inferior to his own by much.
Everyone hurriedly concealed their own physical auras before following along behind her, and before long, the entire group had descended onto the ground below, hiding behind a rocky hill.
Su Anqian swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a small yellow g, which transformed into arge cloud of yellow mist that epassed everyone, following which the cloud of mist vanished amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
The group had only just concealed itself behind the hill when the sound of buzzing rang out in the distant sky, following which a swarm of Fire Age Fireflies that was evenrger than the previous one flew rapidly over the horizon.
Everyone looked on with tense and fearful expressions as the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies flew past, but thankfully, Su Anqian''s immortal treasure was able to sessfully keep them hidden, and the swarm quickly flew away into the distance, much to everyone''s relief.
Meanwhile, Han Li was observing the departing insect swarm with a contemtive look on his face.
This swarm and the previous one struck him with the feeling that they seemed to be on patrol.
Once the swarm hadpletely vanished into the distance, everyone immediately set off again.
From that point onward, they encountered several more swarms of Fire Age Fireflies, but the crisis was sessfully averted each time.
After advancing for close to another day, the terrain up ahead changed once again, and a long stretch of crimson mountains appeared up ahead.
There were countless volcanoes of different sizes dotted throughout the mountains, ranging from hundreds of feet to hundreds of thousands of feet tall.
Most of the volcanoes were still active, spewing pirs of moltenva up into the air amid bursts of thunderous rumbling.
There was a dense nket of fiery, dark red clouds in the sky, and an acrid, sulfurous odor hanging in the air. The temperatures here were several times hotter than before, and there was a vast abundance of fire-attribute spiritual qi in the entire area.
Everyone immediately picked up the pace upon seeing this, and before long, an itinerant Golden Immortal''s eyes lit up as he descended upon a volcanic crater to pick up a golden rock that was giving off fiery golden light, which Han Li was able to identify as a Golden me Holy Stone.
Shortly thereafter, someone else found a piece of crimson jade called Profound me Spirit Jade, and that was quickly followed by more treasures being discovered.
......
There was arge number of precious fire-attribute materials littered throughout this area, and everyone was eager to reap the rewards.
Han Li had no interest in these materials, but he also collected some in order to blend in with everyone else.
This was the first haul of treasures that everyone had secured in the Eon Pagoda, and it provided a much-needed boost in morale. Under Su Anqian''s leadership, everyone quickly arrived deep in the mountainous area.
"Look out, there are more Fire Age Firefliesing!" Su Anqian suddenly called out.
At this point, everyone had be much more ustomed to this urrence, and they were much calmer than before as they gathered together in an orderly fashion to conceal themselves.
Before long, an enormous swarm of Fire Age Fireflies that was over ten times the size of the initial one that they had encountered came flying in from afar, resembling a vast cloud that obscured the entire sky.
Even under the concealment of Su Anqian''s immortal treasure, everyone still couldn''t help but feel a little fearful.
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Chapter 1054: Parting Ways
Chapter 1054: Parting Ways
The swarm of insects was rapidly approaching, and all of a sudden, it stopped above everyone before circling around in the air above.
Everyone concealed within the cloud of yellow mist was extremely rmed by this, and even Han Li couldn''t help but feel a little apprehensive.
Thankfully, after circling around in the air for a while, the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies suddenly split up into several smaller swarms that scattered in different directions.
Some moltenva erupted out of the volcanoes into the swarms of fireflies, causing them to screech with joy, and they quickly vanished into the distance, much to everyone''s relief.
"Looks like this is where the Fire Age Fireflies reside. That makes sense. Even though their mes of time contain timew powers, they''re technically a type of fire-attribute spirit insect, so they enjoy environments like this one," Jin Liu said.
"Let''s go in a little further," Su Anqian said before leading the way onward, and everyone quickly followed along.
After flying for close to an hour, two giant mountains that extended all the way up into the clouds appeared up ahead, between which was a valley that waspletely filled with a downright absurd number of Fire Age Fireflies, easily dwarfing all of the swarms that everyone had encountered prior to this.
The mountain faces on either side of the valley was riddled with countless small holes, making it resemble a beehive, and countless Fire Age Fireflies were constantly flying in and out of these holes.
Deep in the valley was a dark cave that was filled with a type of special energy that kept out spiritual sense, but bursts of formidable timew power fluctuations that were interspersed with hints of spatial fluctuations could be detecteding from inside.
At this moment, Han Li''s group was hiding behind a hill far away from the valley.
"It looks like there are quite a few treasures that contain timew powers in that cave. On top of that, these spatial fluctuations are very simr to those from the spatial door from earlier, so it seems like the entrance to the third level of the pagoda is also in there," Su Anqian said in an excited manner, and Han Li was also looking at the valley in the distance with an eager expression.
Even though he had reached a very lofty cultivation base, he was rathercking in timew threads. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have been at such a disadvantage in his battle against Qi Mozi. If he could obtain some treasures that contained timew powers and refine them into timew threads, then that would undoubtedly significantly enhance his powers.
However, everyone else was clearly rather hesitant to proceed at the sight of such a vast number of Fire Age Fireflies.
Su Anqian could see the hesitance in everyone''s eyes, and she dered, "Rest assured, everyone, I have a way to deal with these Fire Age Fireflies."
After a brief silence, Yan Ying shook her head as she said, "Perhaps you have a way to sneak past all of these Fire Age Fireflies, but my Ink Fragrance Pavilion is only a small sect with limited power, and this is far too risky an endeavor for us to undertake, so please forgive me, but the cultivators of our Ink Fragrance Pavilion won''t be apanying you any further, Celestial Maiden Su."
This volcanic area was extremely abundant with natural treasures, and much of it was still unexplored, so as opposed to venturing into their of the Fire Age Fireflies, it was much more appealing for Yan Ying to go searching elsewhere.
Those fire-attribute spirit materials naturally weren''t as precious as whatever was inside the cave, but they were alsoparatively much safer to acquire.
Su Anqian and Jin Liu''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but before they had a chance to say anything, the hunch-backed elderly man suddenly strode over to Yan Ying''s side and said, "This is where we part ways as well, Celestial Maiden Su. I wish you the best of luck."
Before long, other people began to join them, and in the end, around two dozen people had joined Yan Ying and the hunch-backed elderly man, leaving only the three Heavenly Water Sect cultivators, Han Li, Valley Master Fu, the man with the coarse beard, and seven or eight itinerant Golden Immortals.
"You''re all just going to turn back at the first sign of difficulty? How disappointing," Jin Liu sneered.
Yan Ying and the others paid no heed to the mocking tone in Jin Liu''s as they turned to depart, while Han Li observed from the side.
Even though this was a slightly cowardly disy, it was not an unwise decision.
There was an astounding number of Fire Age Fireflies up ahead, so venturing into the valley was going to be an extremely risky endeavor. If it wasn''t for the fact that Han Li had mastered thews of time, thereby granting him the confidence to ensure self-preservation, he would''ve also chosen to turn back here.
All of a sudden, Su Anqian appeared in Yan Ying''s path.
"Hold on a second, fellow daoists."
"What is the meaning of this, Celestial Maiden Su? Are you trying to keep us here by force?" Yan Ying asked as her brows furrowed slightly.
"Please don''t misunderstand, fellow daoists. All of you are free to leave, but prior to that, I would like to beg a favor from all of you," Su Anqian said.
"How can we help you?" Yan Ying asked as her expression eased slightly.
"As you can all see, there''s a huge number of Fire Age Fireflies, so it''s going to be very difficult to sneak into the cave. Hence, I would like all of you to lure some of the Fire Age Fireflies here away with you as you leave," Su Anqian replied.
"You want us to lure away Fire Age Fireflies for you? Is that supposed to be a joke, Celestial Maiden Su?" the hunch-backed elderly man sneered.
"Rest assured, everyone, I have several Flying Illusion Talismans that can enhance the user''s speed by at least 30% for a short time while also granting an aura concealment effect, so you''ll definitely be able to get away from the Fire Age Fireflies," Su Anqian said as she flipped a hand over to produce five azure talismans that gave off formidable windw power fluctuations.
The hunch-backed elderly man raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, but remained silent.
"Of course, I''m not asking all of you to do this for me free of charge. These immortal treasures are all prized items from my collection, and anyone willing to help me can take one," Su Anqian continued as she swept a sleeve through the air to release five or six water-attribute immortal treasures, all of which were giving off tremendousw power fluctuations.
A hint of tion shed through the hunch-backed elderly man''s eyes upon seeing this, and he immediately imed a Flying Illusion Talisman and a blue bowl immortal treasure as he said, "In that case, I would be happy to help, Celestial Maiden Su. What exactly would you like us to do?"
Yan Ying and the others were also rather tempted by this offer.
"I have five Blood Cloud Jewels here that can be detonated to produce massive blood clouds. Fire Age Fireflies are extremely sensitive to blood, so if you strategically detonate these jewels, then you should be able to lure away most of the Fire Age Fireflies in the valley. I''m going to require the assistance of five fellow daoists for this," Su Anqian replied as she summoned five egg-sized crimson jewels, all of which were shing with translucent crimson light.
An intrigued look appeared in Han Li''s eyes at the sight of the jewels.
They contained a vast abundance of bloodline power, as well as a hint of bloodw powers, making them simr to blood lightning.
"Looks like you have this all thought out, Celestial Maiden Su. You can count on me," the hunch-backed elderly man promised as he drew one of the Blood Cloud Jewels into his grasp, disying apletely different attitude from before.
As soon as those immortal treasures were revealed, the hunch-backed elderly man had immediately begun sucking up to Su Anqian, and that had attracted him much derision from hispanions.
After a brief hesitation, Yan Ying stepped forward and imed a Blood Cloud Jewel, a Flying Illusion Talisman, and an immortal treasure, quickly followed by three itinerant Golden Immortals who were evidently quite confident in their own speed.
Meanwhile, everyone else in the group had already departed, leaving behind only the five people who had agreed to help Su Anqian.
"I''ll be counting on all of you then," Su Anqian said to the five of them as they turned to depart.
"Allow me to lead by example, Celestial Maiden Su," the hunch-backed elderly man said as he flew away into the distance, and several secondster, a resounding explosion rang out near the valley up ahead, following which an enormous, viscous blood cloud emerged.
The Fire Age Fireflies in the valley were immediately swept up into a frenzy, and within mere moments, the entire blood cloud had been devoured.
The hunch-backed elderly man appeared near the valley, then flew away as a streak of azure light, disying far superior speed to before.
Some of the Fire Age Fireflies near the valley immediately set off in pursuit, and with that, roughly 10% of the Fire Age Fireflies in the valley had been diverted away.
An ted look appeared on Su Anqian''s face upon seeing this, and she immediately turned to the other four.
Yan Ying didn''t say anything as she rose up into the air and replicated what the hunch-backed elderly man had just done, luring away yet anotherrge swarm of Fire Age Fireflies.
"Next! Hurry!" Su Anqian hurriedly urged.
The five people who had agreed to help Su Anqian had to go one after the other in quick session. Otherwise, if the Fire Age Fireflies up ahead were to double back around, then all of the prior efforts would''ve been for nought.
"I''ll be going on ahead, everyone!"
An itinerant Golden Immortal flew away as a ball of white light, quickly luring away a third swarm of Fire Age Fireflies, and the remaining two Golden Immortals immediately followed suit as well.
In the wake of their departure, the number of Fire Age Fireflies in the valley had been reduced by more than half.
"Now!" Su Anqian yelled as she summoned that yellow g once again, conjuring up a yellow cloud around everyone, and the cloud vanished into the ground before rapidly approaching the valley.
Chapter 1055: Each Man for Himself
Chapter 1055: Each Man for Himself
It didn''t take long before everyone arrived in front of the valley, and that was where they drew to a halt.
There were even more Fire Age Fireflies nesting beneath the valley than on the surface, so they couldn''t advance any further beyond this point.
"I''m very grateful that all of you have chosen to stay, but this is as far as I can take all of you. From this point onward, all of you will have to fend for yourselves," Su Anqian said as she stowed her yellow g away.
All those who had chosen to stay were confident in their ability to deal with the Fire Age Fireflies on their own, so they calmly epted this arrangement.
"Good luck, everyone."
The three Heavenly Water Sect cultivators began to chant an incantation together, and they transformed into three blue shadows that flew out of the ground before flying rapidly into the valley.
Valley Master Fu flipped a hand over to produce an azure talisman that he adhered to his own body, and countless azure runes instantly appeared around him, following which his body turned semi-transparent as he flew out behind the Heavenly Water Sect trio.
Meanwhile, a thickyer of yellow stone armor appeared over the body of the bearded man, and as soon as he was encased in this suit of armor, his aurapletely faded away, making him resemble an inanimate stone statue.
Instead of flying up to the surface, he continued to advance into the valley while remaining underground.
The remaining seven or eight itinerant Golden Immortals seemed to be a group of acquaintances, and they formed a circle together, following which a golden-haired young man swept a sleeve through the air to release a golden wooden que.
The que was over a hundred feet in size, and it was radiating bright golden light that gave off bursts of timew power fluctuations.
All of the Golden Immortals ced their hands onto the wooden que, and the golden light radiating from it instantly swelled up to epass them all.
The que then began to revolve rapidly on the spot, and all of a sudden, it vanished into the thin air along with the group of Golden Immortals, then transformed into a golden shadow that flew deeper into the valley.
That que was crafted from Divine Sun Wood!
Divine Sun Wood came from the Divine Sun Tree, which contained timew powers just like the Twin Birth Tree, and they were extremely rare, so Han Li certainly wasn''t expecting to see such a thing here.
Following everyone''s departure, Han Li also promptly set off, trailing along behind the group of itinerant Golden Immortals as an indistinct golden shadow.
Even though everyone had concealed their own auras, there were so many Fire Age Fireflies in the valley that it was inevitable for them to run into some.
Those Fire Age Fireflies were instantly alerted to their presence and began swarming them from all directions.
These Fire Age Fireflies were truly extremely difficult to deal with, and in particr, their mes of time were able to rapidly wear down any defenses that were raised to try and keep them at bay.
Before long, Han Li also found himself swarmed by countless Fire Age Fireflies, and the protective spiritual light around him was rapidly fading away.
Right at this moment, he raised both hands to release countless arcs of golden lightning that formed a dense of golden lightning around him.
Bursts of formidable lightningw power fluctuations erupted out of the, causing the nearby space to tremble violently.
However, the lightning didn''t have much effect on the Fire Age Fireflies, and the of golden lightning quickly began to thin out from the ravages of the mes of time.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and more golden lightning erupted out of his hands to bolster the of lightning around him.
As more and more lightning continued to pour out of the palms of his hands, he also incorporated a hint of timew powers into the golden lightning, and as a result, the of golden lightning became much more resistant to the mes of time.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this, and instead of trying to force back the nearby Fire Age Fireflies, he simply flew deeper into the valley with the Fire Age Fireflies continuing to cling to him.
Everyone else was also doing the same, carryingrge balls of Fire Age Fireflies as they flew deeper into the valley, and it didn''t take long before they arrived in front of the dark cave.
At this point, each person was surrounded by a dense cocoon of Fire Age Fireflies that was over a hundred feet in size, and their speed was greatly hampered as a result.
mes of time were converging from all directions, and the immortal spiritual power expenditure required to ward off the mes of time was enormous, but thankfully, they had already reached the cave.
Han Li let loose a low roar as he thrust both palms forward, and four radiant, golden lightning dragons suddenly erupted out of the golden lightning around his body.
The lightning dragons weren''t particrlyrge, but they were all giving off far more formidable lightningw power fluctuations than the of golden lightning, and they had also been injected with timew powers.
The four lightning dragons struck the cocoon of Fire Age Fireflies around Han Li with a resounding boom, blowing them apart amid a violent explosion of golden lightning, while Han Li flew out of the masses of scattered Fire Age Fireflies and into the cave.
The walls of the cave were riddled with countless small holes, and more Fire Age Fireflies were flying out of them before swarming him from all directions, but there were far fewer Fire Age Fireflies in here than outside, and he was able to keep them at bay with rtive ease.
He had channeled his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique and timew powers to conceal his own aura, so he had been attacked by the least number of Fire Age Fireflies out of everyone, and that was why he had been able to enter the cave first.
However, instead of advancing further into the cave on his own, he stopped in his tracks before looking outside.
A cial aura erupted forth from outside the cave, and all of the Fire Age Fireflies around the Heavenly Water Sect trio were encased in blue ice before dropping to the ground.
The blue ice was giving off astonishing cial qi andw power fluctuations, and even the mes of time released by the Fire Age Fireflies had been frozen solid.
However, these Fire Age Fireflies hadn''t perished, and the blue ice around them was being melted away by their mes of time, but at a very slow rate.
The three Heavenly Water Sect cultivators took advantage of this opportunity to fly into the cave, and a surprised look appeared on Su Anqian''s face at the sight of Han Li.
"How did you get in here so quickly, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
Jin Liu and the other Heavenly Water Sect cultivator, a handsome young man, were both also very surprised to see Han Li in the cave before them.
However, they had no time to wait for a response from Han Li as they were forced to contend with the Fire Age Fireflies that had swarmed out of the holes that dotted the walls of the cave.
At the same time, another cocoon of Fire Age Fireflies bulged violently over a thousand feet away from the entrance of the cave, then exploded as a rapidly revolving azure tornado emerged, forcing back all of the nearby Fire Age Fireflies.
The tornado resembled a living creature that made a beeline straight for the cave, and Valley Master Fu flew out of the tornado before rushing into the cave.
Immediately thereafter, a rift appeared in another cocoon of Fire Age Fireflies beside him, and a burst of piercing golden light erupted out from within before also flying into the cave, containing the group of itinerant Golden Immortals.
They possessed the lowliest cultivation bases out of everyone, and at this moment, theirplexions were already deathly pale from excessive immortal spiritual power expenditure.
As soon as they flew into the cave, a burst of blue light shed over its entrance, and the cave waspletely sealed shut by a thickyer of blue ice.
At this moment, there was a fist-sized blue bead hovering above Su Anqian''s head, giving off astonishing cial qi andw power fluctuations.
The Fire Age Fireflies outside were furious to see Han Li and the others in the cave, and they screeched loudly as they sted forth plumes of mes of time, while countless Fire Age Fireflies flew through the air collectively like a flying battering ram before crashing repeatedly into the blue ice barrier.
The blue ice barrier was trembling violently while rapidly melting away, and it looked as if it could shatter at any moment.
Su Anqian gritted her teeth as she made a hand seal upon seeing this, and the blue bead above her head immediately flew into the ice barrier in a sh.
Ayer of translucent blue light appeared over the ice barrier, instantly stabilizing it, but the mes of time were simply too much to ward off, and the ice was still rapidly melting away.
A concerned look appeared on Su Anqian''s face upon seeing this, but there was nothing more that she could do.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly appeared in front of the blue ice barrier, then pressed a palm against it, releasing a burst of radiant golden light into the ice.
Ayer of golden light instantly appeared over the ice barrier''s surface, and it immediately became far less susceptible to the effects of the mes of time.
"You''re using timew powers!" Su Anqian eximed upon seeing this, and everyone else also turned to Han Li with incredulous expressions.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged, but he heaved a resigned internal sigh.
He didn''t want to expose his own powers, but the top priority at the moment was to keep out the Fire Age Fireflies, so he had no choice in the matter.
Of course, he wasn''t going to exin to anyone how he had mastered thews of time or how he had managed to enter the cave before everyone else.
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Chapter 1056: Firefly Nests
Chapter 1056: Firefly Nests
Right at this moment, a yellow figure sprang out of the ground, and it was the bearded man who had been traveling underground this entire time.
His stone armor was riddled with countless holes, but he remained unscathed. However, he was panting heavily, and it was clear that this had not been an easy journey for him.
Su Anqian took a long nce at Han Li, then dered, "The ice wall won''t be able to keep out those Fire Age Fireflies for long, so we need to go deeper into the cave right away!"
Everyone hurriedly did as they were told, making their way deeper into the cave behind her, and Han Li did the same while observing the Fire Age Fireflies outside with a contemtive look in his eyes.
There had to be a reason why the Fire Age Fireflies outside had suddenly be so aggressive and agitated, it was just a pity that he didn''t know enough about these creatures to guess at the reason why.
The cave was very dark, severely limiting visibility, but with the threat of the army of Fire Age Fireflies looming behind them, no one dared to dy as they forged ahead in silence.
Su Anqian and Han Li were leading the way, warding off the asional small swarms of Fire Age Fireflies that emerged around them, and they didn''t dare to travel too quickly.
Thankfully, the deeper they went into the cave, the fewer holes there were on the walls, resulting in fewer and fewer Fire Age Fireflies in the surrounding area.
Before long, everyone arrived in a massive cavern.
All of the Fire Age Fireflies that were pursuing them suddenly stopped here, and not a single one dared to enter the cavern, much to everyone''s befuddlement and relief.
Han Li took a nce at the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies outside the cave, then began to inspect his surroundings.
The cave was tens of thousands of feet in size, and one half of it was a crimsonvake that was bubbling incessantly, releasing waves of scorching heat through the air.
The moltenva in theke illuminated the entire cave a bright crimson color.
Above thevake was a red tform that was connected to another path, beyond which was another dark space that had faint specks of dark red light gleaming within.
The other half of the cave was a vacant area that was riddled with sharp, crimson stone pirs that resembled a forest of stone bamboo shoots.
Everyone''s attention was immediately drawn to those stone bamboo shoots as there were three dark red hives that were several dozen feet tall hanging from the threergest stone bamboo shoots, and all of them were giving off a fiery glow and bursts of timew power fluctuations.
The three bursts of timew power fluctuations were all extremely vast, but they weren''t condensed at all, instead swirling around in the cave in a haphazard fashion.
Theva in theke rippled in the face of the three bursts of timew power fluctuations, while the entire space was also buzzing in a rhythmic manner.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly at the sight of the three hives.
If he wasn''t mistaken, then those hives were most likely where all of the Fire Age Fireflies had been born. It seemed that the Fire Age Fireflies outside were restricted from entering this ce, perhaps regarding it as some type of sacred area.
The area appeared to be quite safe and peaceful, but it definitely wasn''t going to bepletely unguarded.
Having already been here for countless years, the three hives had transformed into a type of extremely rare time-attribute spirit material.
While Han Li was examining the three hives, everyone else was also doing the same with greed in their eyes, but no one dared to make any rash moves.
However, it didn''t take long before someone gave in to the temptation, and three figures shot forward at once, pouncing at the three hives in unison.
Two of them were from the group of itinerant Golden Immortals, namely a gray-haired young man and a ck-robed young woman, and they were joined by the bearded man.
"Fellow Daoist Qi, Fellow Daoist Lu, don''t be reckless!" the golden-haired young man eximed, but it was already toote.
The gray-haired young man and the ck-robed young man each flew over to a hive before releasing a burst of light to envelop the hives and hoist them upward.
Meanwhile, the bearded man descended onto the ground close to two hundred feet away from the third hive before stomping a foot down onto the ground.
A burst of yellow light shed over the ground, following which a crimson stone giant that was over a hundred feet tall emerged from the earth before grabbing onto the hive.
To their surprise, they were able to hoist the three hives upward without any difficulty.
Looks of surprise and tion appeared on their faces as they prepared to stow the hives away, but right at this moment, the hives began to glow with radiant crimson light, and the timew power fluctuations permeating throughout the entire cave abruptly converged around them.
In the blink of an eye, a dark red vortex of light took shape around the three hives, epassing the trio within it.
The three of them were already prepared for this, but before they could do anything, their movements suddenly became extremely slow, as if they were moving through quicksand.
From the perspective of Han Li and the others, it appeared as if the three of them were moving in slow motion within the dark red vortex.
Right at this moment, a millstone-sized outline suddenly appeared on a previously unremarkable-looking spot on the ceiling above.
rmed looks appeared in the eyes of Han Li and the others as they discovered that the millstone-sized object was a giant Fire Age Firefly that was identical in bodily structure to the ones outside, except this one had some me patterns on its exoskeleton.
Prior to this, the giant firefly seemed to havepletely fused as one with this ce, allowing it to escape everyone''s detection.
The giant firefly opened its mouth, and three streaks of crimson fire shot out from within, hurtling toward the trio at an astonishing speed.
The gray-haired young man and the ck-robed young woman didn''t even have a chance to react before they were set alight by the crimson mes, and their bodies were reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye.
The bearded man was far more powerful than those two, and he was able to conjure up a yellow spirit domain that was around five feet in diameter, allowing him to dart back in retreat, although he was still significantly slowed down by the surrounding timew powers.
As a result, he was unable topletely evade the streak of fire shooting at him, and his left arm was pierced through.
A ball of crimson fire appeared over his arm, instantly reducing half of the arm to ashes.
The crimson mes continued to rapidly spread, threatening to spread to the rest of his body along his arm, and his expression changed drastically upon seeing this as he continued to rush back in retreat while swinging his other hand down upon his own shoulder in a chopping motion.
However, his movements were still extremely sluggish, and it was clear that he wasn''t going to be able to amputate his own arm in time.
Right at this moment, a golden flying sword shed through the air, slicing off the rest of the bearded man''s left arm cleanly at the shoulder.
As soon as the arm was amputated, it was immediately devoured by crimson mes and incinerated into ashes.
Meanwhile, Han Li slowly withdrew his finger from several thousand feet away.
A relieved look appeared on the bearded man''s face as the yellow light emanating from his body brightened even further, and his speed was drastically enhanced, allowing him to instantly fly out of the dark red vortex.
He gave Han Li a grateful nod, then promptly devoured some pills, and it didn''t take long before a new arm began to regrow to rece the amputated one.
The giant firefly turned to Han Li with a furious screech, then crashed down from the ceiling of the cave tond on the stone giant that had been summoned by the bearded man.
With a sweep of its front legs, several crescent-shaped des of crimson light were released, all of which were giving off formidable timew power fluctuations, and the stone giant was instantly sliced into pieces and reduced to arge pile of rubble, while the three hives fell back to their original spots.
The giant firefly was glowering intently at Han Li while perched atop the remains of the stone giant, and Su Anqian''s eyes narrowed slightly as she yelled, "That appears to be a the Fire Age Firefly Queen. It can freely wield timew powers, and it''s countless times more powerful than the average Fire Age Fireflies!"
The Fire Age Firefly Queen instantly turned its gaze to Su Anqian, as if it could understand what she was saying, and itunched itself at her as a rapid crimson shadow.
At the same time, it swept its two front legs through the air, releasing two crescent-shaped streaks of red light that hurtled toward Su Anqian and Han Li.
The two streaks of light were extraordinarily fast, reaching their two targets in the blink of an eye.
Han Li immediately vanished from the spot before reappearing over a thousand feet away in the blink of an eye, leaving the Fire Age Firefly Queen momentarily stunned.
Su Anqian didn''t possess the speed to match Han Li, and she was only able to fly back in retreat while sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of rippling blue light that formed a rapidly revolving blue vortex in front of her.
The streak of crimson light was momentarily stopped in its tracks by the blue vortex, but was then able to instantly slice through the vortex before continuing onward.
However, the blue vortex had managed to somewhat divert the streak of crimson light away from its original trajectory, and it nced right past Su Anqian before slicing into the ground, creating an immeasurably deep rift.
Everyone''s expressions changed drastically upon seeing this, and they all frantically rushed back in retreat to distance themselves from the Fire Age Firefly Queen.
"Everyone, attack at once!" Su Anqian yelled.
With the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies waiting outside the cave, retreat was no longer an option, so everyone immediately heeded Su Anqian''s call,unching a barrage of attacks upon the Fire Age Firefly Queen.
Chapter 1057: No Retreat
Chapter 1057: No Retreat
Han Li had summoned twelve blue flying daggers that were racing through the air while giving off a formidable cial aura.
The flying daggers were threatening to freeze the very space around them as they hurtled directly toward the Fire Age Firefly Queen.
He had found this set of twelve flying daggers from Dongfang Bai''s storage tool, and they were quite formidable, so he had decided to keep them.
A mocking sneer shed through the Fire Age Firefly Queen''s eyes as a vast expanse of mes of time erupted out of its body, instantly forming a sea of crimson mes around itself.
Everyone hurriedly attempted to withdraw their immortal treasures upon seeing this, but it was already toote.
As soon as all of the immortal treasures plunged into the sea of crimson fire, everyone''s spiritual connections with those immortal treasures were instantly severed.
Su Anqian and Jin Liu exchanged a nce with each other, and it was clear that both of them were contemting a retreat.
Those three hives were extremely valuable objects, but they couldn''t benefit from the hives in their cultivation, so even if they could obtain them, they would only be able to sell those hives at ater date.
Even if they could defeat this Fire Age Firefly Queen, it was clearly going to have toe at a huge cost, perhaps even losing their lives in the process, and that was not a wise course of action.
Everyone else was thinking the same thing, and only Han Li and the golden-haired young man in possession of the Divine Sun Wooden que were determined to stay.
However, right at this moment, the sea of crimson fire suddenly shrank down rapidly to the size of a house, then flew away in a certain direction.
Upon seeing the direction that the crimson fireball was traveling toward, Han Li immediately realized what the Fire Age Firefly Queen was attempting to do, but he made no effort to stop it.
Everyone else was feeling rather perplexed, and the people standing in the path of the fireball hurriedly took evasive measures, only for the fireball to fly right past them beforending on the entrance of the passageway above thevake.
"It''s trying to seal the passageway!" Su Anqian yelled in an rmed manner, and sure enough, the crimson fireball had transformed into a fiery barrier that sealed the entrance of the passageway.
The Fire Age Firefly Queen turned to everyone with a mocking sneer in its eyes, much like a sadistic hunter cornering its prey, and looks of despair instantly appeared on some people''s faces upon seeing this.
"You think you can take us on all at once? What a joke! Fellow daoists, don''t tell me that all of you are scared of a little bug!" the bearded man roared as he stomped a foot heavily down onto the ground, and a yellow spirit domain instantly erupted out of his body to epass the entire cave.
A burst of tremendous gravitational force acted upon the Fire Age Firefly Queen within the spirit domain, causing it to sink to its haunches.
"As long as webine our powers, this thing is no match for us!" Jin Liu yelled as he also released a blue spirit domain to epass the Fire Age Firefly Queen.
The mes of time around the Fire Age Firefly Queen instantly began to ripple slightly, and it was unclear what effect Jin Liu''s spirit domain had upon it.
Everyone else also released their spirit domains upon seeing this, and in the blink of an eye, the Fire Age Firefly Queen was enshrouded within around a dozen spirit domains.
A furious look appeared in its eyes as itunched itself through the air, racing toward the bearded man as a red shadow.
It was still extraordinarily fast, but its speed had been greatly hampered by the multitude of spirit domains acting upon it, and the bearded man was able to keep his distance from it as he made a grabbing motion with both hands.
The ground in the cave abruptly split open, and countless loose rocks flew out from within before rapidly forming a cage of earth around the Fire Age Firefly Queen.
Immediately thereafter, several immortal treasures flew through the gaps in the cage to strike the Fire Age Firefly Queen.
A string of loud ngs rang out, and to everyone''s shock and dismay, the immortal treasures merely bounced off the Fire Age Firefly Queen''s body without being able to leave even a single mark behind.
Right at this moment, a blue paper crane that was around the size of a human head appeared in front of the cage, and it flew inside before pecking down onto the Fire Age Firefly Queen''s body.
Meanwhile, Su Anqian was making a strange hand seal while chanting an incantation, and one blue paper crane flew out after another before revolving around her.
A dull thump rang out as a hole was pecked into the Fire Age Firefly Queen''s body, and blood came spurting out.
The Fire Age Firefly Queen let loose a furious screech as ayer of crimson light appeared over its exoskeleton, while its body swelled slightly in size.
It swept its front legs through the air, and several crescent-shaped streaks of light that were around twice the size of the previous ones erupted forth in all directions, slicing the surrounding cage of earth apart with ease.
After freeing itself from the cage, the Fire Age Firefly Queen immediatelyunched itself at Su Anqian, disying far superior speed evenpared to its peak speed from earlier, as if it were suddenly no longer affected by the surrounding spirit domains.
Su Anqian hurriedly shot back in retreat upon seeing this, and at the same time, the blue paper cranes circling around her pounced at the Fire Age Firefly Queen in unison.
However, the blue paper cranes were simply far too slow, and the Fire Age Firefly Queen was able ot fly past them with ease, appearing in front of Su Anqian in the blink of an eye before preparing tosh out with its front legs.
Right at this moment, a golden fist projection emerged out of thin air beside the Fire Age Firefly Queen amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, and it sent the Fire Age Firefly Queen tumbling away through the air upon contact.
Meanwhile, Han Li silently withdrew his fist from nearby.
"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Shi," Su Anqian said to Han Li with a slightly paleplexion while summoning her blue paper cranes back to herself.
After stabilizing itself, the Fire Age Firefly Queen turned to Han Li with a furious expression, thenunched itself at him as a crimson shadow.
However, it then suddenly let loose a furious screech before veering off its original trajectory, flying toward the three hives instead.
As it turned out, the golden-haired young man and another itinerant Golden Immortal had snuck over the hives to try and im them while the Fire Age Firefly Queen was upied by Han Li and the others.
Their expressions changed drastically at the sight of the rapidly approaching Fire Age Firefly Queen, and they immediately shot back in retreat, but the Fire Age Firefly Queen seemed to have beenpletely infuriated by their sneaky maneuver.
Its entire exoskeleton instantly turned bright red, and the mes of time around it also became far darker in color as it elerated even further, reaching the two men in the blink of an eye before sweeping its front legs through the air like lightning.
Two streaks of crimson light shed through the air, and the other itinerant Golden Immortal was instantly sliced into two from head to toe, with his nascent soul also destroyed on the spot.
The golden-haired young man raised his wooden que to protect himself, and it was also sliced into two.
A pained look appeared on his face upon seeing this, but he had no time to grieve over his ruined treasure as he hurriedly sprang back in retreat to avoid the same fate as hispanion, but arge gash was still sliced into his chest, causing him to stumble in his retreat.
The Fire Age Firefly Queen opened its mouth to release a burst of crimson mes, which instantly caught up to the golden-haired young man and reduced him to ashes in the blink of an eye.
Right at this moment, a ball of radiant blue light appeared above the Fire Age Firefly Queen, and the ball of light descended upon it right after it killed the pair of Golden Immortals.
Three thick chains shot out of the blue light to bind the Fire Age Firefly Queen, and even though all three chains were blue, they were giving offpletely differentw powers that worked together seamlessly to render the Fire Age Firefly Queenpletely immobile.
The three Heavenly Water Sect cultivators were standing in a triangr formation in the distance, and each of them was holding onto the end of one of the blue chains.
The Fire Age Firefly Queen let loose a furious screech, and the mes of time around it reared up to scorch the three chains.
Before long, the chains had been severely eroded, but they were constantly being injected with bursts ofw powers from the surrounding blue spirit domain, allowing them to remain intact despite the ravages of the mes of time.
Keeping the Fire Age Firefly Queen restrained was no easy feat for the three Heavenly Water Sect cultivators, and Su Anqian''s arms were trembling incessantly as she yelled, "We can''t keep this up for long, so all of you need to kill this thing now!"
Everyone else hurriedly began unleashing a barrage of attacks upon the Fire Age Firefly Queen, and a hint of panic shed through its eyes as it let loose a loud screech, upon which all of the Fire Age Fireflies outside the cave immediately rushed in, as if they had just been given permission to do so.
However, right at this moment, Han Li appeared at the entrance of the cave before sweeping his sleeve through the air to release a streak of blue light.
It was a blue jade b, which rapidly expanded to form a blue stone gate that sealed the entrance tightly shut.
This was an immortal treasure refined from Cerulean Crystalline Jade, and he had acquired it from Dongfang Bai''s storage tool.
The stone gate immediately began trembling violently in the face of the collective assault unleashed by the Fire Age Fireflies outside, and Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this.
He immediately pressed his hands against the stone b, and ayer of golden light appeared over its surface.
Even so, the stone b was still trembling incessantly, and the Fire Age Fireflies outside would immediately swarm into the cave if he were to release the stone b for even a split second.
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Chapter 1058: Prison Pagoda
Chapter 1058: Prison Pagoda
Valley Master Fu flew over to Han Li, then also pressed his hands against the stone b as he said, "Leave that to me, Fellow Daoist Shi. You go help Celestial Maiden Su and the others."
Han Li nodded in response, then removed his hands from the stone b before flying toward the Fire Age Firefly Queen.
The bearded man and the others were attacking the Fire Age Firefly Queen with all their might, but all of their attacks were kept out by its mes of time.
All of a sudden, Han Li appeared directly above the Fire Age Firefly Queen, and right as he was about to do something, the bearded man yelled, "I''ll help you, Fellow Daoist Shi!"
At the same time, he also pounced at the Fire Age Firefly Queen while chanting an incantation and making a string of hand seals.
"Get back!" Han Li yelled, but the words had only just left his mouth when the mes of time around the Fire Age Firefly Queen reared up to form a zing sun.
In the next instant, countless bursts of fire erupted toward Han Li and the bearded man, and thetter hurriedly sprang back in retreat, but it was already toote.
Bursts of fire pierced straight through his body, instantly setting him alight.
A cold gleam shed through Han Li''s eyes as ayer of golden light appeared over his body, and his speed was abruptly enhanced by severalfold. It was as if he no longer even possessed a physical body as he passed through the bursts of fire in a wraith-like manner, appearing before the Fire Age Firefly Queen in the blink of an eye.
A hint of panic shed through the Fire Age Firefly Queen''s eyes, yet before it had a chance to do anything, a cold harrumph rang out beside its ears, followed which a burst of sharp pain speared through its head.
Right at this moment, an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword with numerous timew threads wrapped around it appeared in Han Li''s grasp, and Han Li swung it forcefully through the air.
The timew threads ensured that the sword was able to slice through the mes of time around the Fire Age Firefly Queen with ease, and it was decapitated in one fell swoop.
A look of relief appeared on Jin Liu''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately released the chain in his hand before flying toward the three hives below.
Han Li quickly followed suit, stowing his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword away before also pouncing at the hives.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he released a streak of golden light to im one hive, right as Jin Liu imed another hive.
Immediately thereafter, the spiritual light released by the two of themtched onto the third hive in unison, and a tug of war ensued.
"You''ve already taken one hive, isn''t it too greedy of you to be going after a second one, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Jin Liu asked in a cold voice.
"What right do you have to say that, Fellow Daoist Jin? You barely made any contribution at all in the battle just now, yet you want to im two hives for yourself? Have you no shame?" Han Li sneered, disying no intention of backing down.
Jin Liu was furious to hear this, and he protested, "There''s no way you could''ve in that Fire Age Firefly Queen if the three of us hadn''t trapped it first! Besides, I''m iming this second hive for Celestial Maiden Su. Surely she''s made sufficient contributions to deserve a hive."
"In that case, please get Celestial Maiden Su to im this hive herself. Who knows if someone as shameless as yourself would actually pass the hive onto Celestial Maiden Su instead of keeping it?" Han Li sneered.
A furious look appeared in Jin Liu''s eyes upon hearing this.
"What did you just say?! I..."
"Give the hive to Fellow Daoist Shi," Su Anqian suddenly interjected.
At this moment, she was standing in front of the stone b at the entrance of the cave, releasing bursts of blue light out of her hands to bolster the stone b against the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies outside.
"What are you saying, Celestial Maiden Su?" Jin Liu asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"Fellow Daoist Shi made the most significant contribution of all during the battle just now, so he''s definitely worthy of iming two hives, and he also saved my life, so I would like to repay the favor," Su Anqian said.
Han Li turned to Su Anqian with a surprised look in his eyes upon hearing this.
"Fine!" Jin Liu snapped as he withdrew his spiritual light from the third hive, and Han Li immediately stowed it away without any hesitation, then rushed over to the entrance of the cave before casting a string of incantation seals into the stone b.
A thick, golden light barrier quickly took shape, giving off bursts of formidable timew power fluctuations, and the stone b was stabilized even further, fallingpletely still as it kept the Fire Age Fireflies outside at bay.
"Let''s go!" Su Anqian said as she flew toward the passageway above thevake.
In the wake of the Fire Age Firefly Queen''s demise, the fiery barrier over the entrance of the passageway had also faded away, and everyone rushed into it one after another.
After everyone hade through, Su Anqian swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of blue light, which formed a thickyer of blue ice to seal the entrance of the passageway shut.
Everyone else also cast some restrictions to bolster the seal on the entrance, and only then did they continue onward.
The passageway wasn''t very long, so they quickly reached the end, arriving in a small stone chamber, at the very center of which was a dark red door of light.
Beside the door of light was a stone que that read "prison gate" and "do not enter".
Everyone exchanged a few nces with one another upon seeing this.
"Prison gate? Could it be that this Eon Pagoda once served as a prison?" Valley Master Fu spected.
"Does that mean that the metal beasts on the first level and the Fire Age Fireflies on the second level were all prison guards? Now that I think about it, that doesn''t seem all that imusible to me," Han Li mused.
Earlier, he had made the observation that the Fire Age Fireflies looked as if they were patrolling the second level of the pagoda, so this would certainly make a lot of sense.
"As opposed to specting among ourselves, let''s just go to the third level and find some answers there," Su Anqian said, and everyone turned to the door of light.
At this moment, the doorway was enshrouded under a red light barrier with rings of rippling golden patterns on its surface.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as his gaze fell upon the door of light, and he was struck by an inexplicable feeling that told him that this was no ordinary light barrier.
Jin Liu''s gaze also fell upon the door of light, but he didn''t seem to have noticed anything amiss, and he stepped forward to unravel the restriction.
Han Li opened his mouth to say something to stop him, but then decided against it.
"What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Valley Master Fu asked.
"I''m not sure, but I was struck by a sense of foreboding just now," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.
Apprehensive looks immediately appeared on everyone''s faces upon hearing this, and even Jin Liu had stopped what he was doing to turn around and look at Han Li.
However, he then gave a cold harrumph before turning back to face the stone gate, and he began working on the restriction.
Shortly thereafter, a burst of red light shed over the stone gate, and the golden patterns on the light barrier shed a few times before fading away.
"Alright, the restriction has been opened, you can all go in now," Jin Liu dered as he turned to Valley Master Fu and the others, but all of them seemed very reluctant to go through.
"Are you going to turn back aftering all this way? Why don''t you lead by example, Valley Master Fu?" Jin Liu suggested.
Valley Master Fu''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he offered no response.
A cold sneer appeared on Su Anqian''s face as she stepped into the door of light, and Jin Liu could only follow her inside.
Everyone else turned to Valley Master Fu upon seeing this, and after a brief hesitation, he dered, "Let''s go. No reward can be reaped without first incurring some risk."
With that, he stepped into the door of light, followed immediately by Han Li.
Upon stepping into the door of light, Han Li felt the entire world spin around him, but thankfully, this sensation onlysted a brief moment before he found himself back on stable footing, having arrived on a giant, ck stone za.
The sky above the za was filled with dark clouds, and the entire surrounding area reeked of rot and decay.
Han Li noticed that all of the people who had alreadye through the gate were looking back at the gate with tightly furrowed brows, and he heaved a forlorn internal sigh at the realization that his fears had been confirmed.
Behind him was a giant stone gate that was around a thousand feet tall, and engraved onto each side of the gate was a golden armored warrior, while the lintel was riddled with all types ofplex runes.
"Why is there such aplex restriction on this gate? Su Anqian asked with a perplexed expression."
"There are a total of seventy-two runes on this gate, of which there are as many as thirty-six varieties. It seems like these runes were inscribed in order to bolster the seal on this ce," Jin Liu mused with tightly furrowed brows.
"Why is it that the gate was so easy to pass through, but the restriction on the other side is so much moreplex? Is it trying to trap all those who enter?" Valley Master Fu asked.
"I''m thinking that perhaps the restriction on this gate was designed to keep something else in here," Han Li mused as he cast his gaze into the distance.
Valley Master Fu followed the direction of his gaze to discover a cluster of ck buildings that were shrouded in ck mist on the distant horizon.
Chapter 1059: Level Eighteen
Chapter 1059: Level Eighteen
"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Jin Liu sighed with a wry smile.
"It seems like the higher up we go in this pagoda, the more our spiritual sense bes restricted," Valley Master Fu observed with tightly furrowed brows.
"Let''s go. It''s toote to turn back now," Su Anqian said in a calm manner, then led the way forward, and Jin Liu hurriedly followed along.
Meanwhile, Valley Master Fu and the others were still looking back at the giant gate behind them with hesitant expressions.
As Han Li passed Valley Master Fu by, he advised, "The restriction on this gate is not inferior to the protective array of argerge sect, so it definitely won''t be easy to bypass. My suggestion would be to look for another way out."
Immediately thereafter, he also set off for the cluster of ck buildings.
Valley Master Fu and the others were still very hesitant, but they ultimately followed after Han Li as well.
As the group approached that cluster of ck buildings, they began to detect an increasing abundance of baleful qi in the air, to the point that even the surrounding air temperature had dropped significantly, and everyone was able to see their own breaths as clouds of white mist.
Only upon arriving before the cluster of ck buildings did everyone discover that it was an abandoned Buddhist temple.
The entrance of the temple was extremely dpidated. Wild grass was growing rampant in the gaps in the brick walls, and even the two wooden doors were covered in moss, while the knockers on the doors were covered in rust and only just barely hanging on.
There was a que hanging above the doors, and it read "Level Eighteen".
Perplexed looks appeared on everyone''s faces upon seeing this.
"Level eighteen? Isn''t this supposed to be level three? How did we suddenly arrive on level eighteen?" Valley Master Fu eximed.
"Don''t get so worked up, maybe this temple is called Level Eighteen," Jin Liu said in a derisive manner.
"This doesn''t look like a very safe ce... I think we should stay out of here," an itinerant Golden Immortal said in a fearful voice.
Right as his voice trailed off, the wooden doors of the temple swung open on their own.
Everyone waited for a moment with tense looks on their faces, but nothing else happened, and that left everyone at a slight loss for how to proceed.
Jin Liu and Su Anqian exchanged a nce and a nod with each other, following which both of them stepped into the temple.
Han Li raised an eyebrow before following along, and Valley Master Fu and the others were still feeling very hesitant, but decided to proceed, nheless.
As soon as everyone entered the temple, a grating creak rang out as the wooden doors swung shut again.
Han Li turned to discover two balls of ghostly green mes emerging from behind the doors, then drift through the air to arrive in front of everyone, hovering in mid-air like a pair ofnterns to guide them.
Everyone was quite startled by this, and only after a long hesitation did they follow the two balls of ghostly mes deeper into the temple.
Beyond the wooden doors was arge, white za that was rather uneven, and it would asionally creak and groan underfoot.
Han Li looked down to discover that the za was paved with pieces of white bones, and not only was it very bumpy and uneven, there were asionally specks of green fire rising up from it.
Everyone cautiously made their way over the za, but thankfully, they encountered no hazards, and before long, they had arrived at the Hall of Heavenly Kings. [1]
Inside the hall were two heavenly king statues that were hundreds of feet in height, almost as tall as the hall itself.
Both were d in suits of dpidated golden armor, and one was holding a vajra pestle, while the other was carrying a bloody human head. In contrast with the heavenly kings that one would expect to find in a normal Buddhist temple, these two were far more sinister and demonic in appearance.
After passing through the Hall of Heavenly Kings, everyone arrived on an evenrger za.
There were nine elevated tforms constructed on each side of the za, and there were countless figures on the tforms, while agonized howls could be heard ringing out incessantly.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the first tform on the left, upon which was a demon with green and purple skin, holding a pair of ck metal tongues that it had extended into an elderly woman''s mouth to slowly pull out her tongue.
The woman had an agonized look on her face, but was unable to make any sound aside from a quiet whimper.
On the first tform on the right, a beautiful woman wasid outpletely bare while strapped to a stone bed, and two green-haired demons were snipping away at her body with a pair of giant scissors, causing the woman to shriek and wail in agony.
Simr horrific scenes were on disy on all of the elevated tforms.
On one of them was a giant stone mill that was being pushed by a muscr demon, and a man''s body was being crushed within the mill, but his head remained intact, and it was howling in agony.
On another tform was a giant metal pot that was filled with bubbling oil, and a horrified man was thrown into the pot by several demons.
......
Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed at the sight of these terrifying scenes, and he finally understood why this ce was called Level Eighteen.
It was said that hell had eighteen levels, and this was a legend that Han Li had heard many times in his formative years.
"What the hell is this ce?" Valley Master Fu yelled in a grim voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of red light appeared over the za up ahead, and ten figures slowly descended out of the sky.
It was a collection of ten ghostly beings that were dressed in bright red official robes with jade belts around their waists.
These ghostly creatures all had horrific, inhuman appearances, and their leader seemed to be a deathly pale figure with arge red flower on the front of his robe, as if he were a celebrated schr who had excelled in the imperial examination.
"What are all of you supposed to be?" Jin Liu sneered.
"We are the Ten Kings of Hell! Kneel down and repent for your crimes!" the man with the schrly appearance yelled as he pointed a finger at Han Li''s group while cing his other hand on his hip.
His voice was very high-pitched, and that, in conjunction with the rather effeminate pose that he had just struck, immediately made him resemble a eunuch more than a schr.
"You im to be the Ten Kings of Hell? What a joke!" Su Anqian sneered.
"For your insolence, all of you will be subjected to eternal torture in this eighteenth level of hell with no chance for reincarnation!" the pale ghostly man yelled in a furious voice as he rose up into the air, followed immediately by the other nine ghostly creatures.
At the same time, gusts of yin wind swept through the air as huge plumes of ck mist rose up from the ground, and countless fearsome demons that were wielding bone weapons were rushing toward the center of the za.
There were so many of these demonic creatures that were trampling over one another as they rushed onto the za, which was rumbling incessantly beneath their feet.
"Where did all of these thingse from?" Valley Master Fu asked with tightly furrowed brows.
"Don''t be rmed, everyone, these are just ordinary yin beings that can be destroyed with ease. Our Heavenly Water Sect will deal with those ten ghostly generals, while all of you can take care of the rest of these ghostly creatures," Jin Liu said in a calm manner, following which he flipped a hand over to produce a miniature octagonal pagoda that was giving off radiant silver light.
Han Li was immediately able to identify the pagoda as a spatial immortal treasure, which was extremely rare, but unfortunately, it wasn''t an immortal treasure of a very high caliber.
Immediately thereafter, around a dozen figures flew out of the entrance of the pagoda, and it was quickly revealed that they were all elders of the Heavenly Water Sect.
The group of elders was led by an early-High Zenith cultivator, while the rest were all at thete and peak-Golden Immortal Stages.
"Elder Lu Qiu, we''ll be counting on you to help everyone deal with these ghostly creatures," Jin Liu said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
The leader of the group of Heavenly Water Sect elders was a thin elderly man with a head of white hair, and he waved a hand as he replied, "There''s no need for formalities, Fellow Daoist Jin. We came here with you precisely so we could help out in scenarios like this."
Valley Master Fu and the others were feeling slightly more confident upon seeing this, and they summoned their treasures as they prepared to face the enemy.
Jin Liu and Su Anqian exchanged a nce with each other, then rose up into the air with all of the Heavenly Water Sect elders to oppose the self-proimed Ten Kings of Hell.
Following the departure of the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators, Valley Master Fu yelled, "None of these ghostly creatures are particrly powerful, but there are far too many of them, so if we all split up and fight on our own, we''ll eventually all be worn down and killed. Hence, I propose that we establish an Azure Dragon Origin Array together, and perhaps that''ll allow us to survive until the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators return victorious."
"But the Azure Dragon Origin Array is a secret array of your Azure Lock Valley, so none of us are familiar with it," an itinerant Golden Immortal said with a hesitant expression.
"The key to this array is a certain treasure. All you need to do is follow my instructions, and the array can be set up very easily," Valley Master Fu said, then quickly issued some instructions to everyone through voice transmission.
Immediately thereafter, he flipped a hand over to produce a dragon-shaped jade pendant, which he tossed up into the air, and everyone immediately sprang into action, following his instructions as they formed a circle while making hand seals and chanting a collective incantation.
Han Li was also standing nearby, but he didn''t do anything.
Everyone was too busy setting up the array to reprimand him, but it was clear that they weren''t very pleased with hisck of participation.
1. The Hall of Heavenly Kings is a significant structure that serves as an entry point to the sacred space in a Buddhist temple. ?
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Chapter 1060: Divine Lightning to the Rescue
Chapter 1060: Divine Lightning to the Rescue
Right as the ghostly creatures reached roughly a thousand feet away from everyone, an azure light barrier rose up from the bodies of Valley Master Fu and the others amid a loud draconic roar.
A series of azure dragon projections were roaming over the light barrier, which was releasing dazzling radiance that pierced straight into the dark clouds above.
As soon as the ghostly creatures crashed into the azure light barrier, a chorus of bloodcurdling howls instantly rang out.
The light barrier was shing incessantly as the ghostly creatures that crashed into it began to disintegrate into plumes of ck smoke amid a loud sizzling sound.
However, these ghostly creatures hadn''t tasted living human flesh for countless years, and they had already been drivenpletely insane, so they continued to throw themselves at the azure light barrier without any regard for self-preservation.
Meanwhile, Han Li continued to act as a passive observer.
Jin Liu was furious to see this, and he yelled, "What are you doing? If you''re not going to help, then don''t expect us to protect you!"
Han Li paid no heed to Jin Liu as he remained standing still on the spot, looking up at the dark clouds above with a contemtive expression.
High up in the sky, the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators were locked in battle against the ten ghostly generals.
In contrast with all of the ghostly creatures down below, these ghostly generals possessed astonishing cultivation bases. Most of them possessed peak-Golden Immortal Stage powers, and their cultivation arts were extremely obscure and peculiar, granting a wide range of unpredictable abilities.
The schrly man was the most powerful one among them, possessing mid-High Zenith Stage power, and his robe was extremely peculiar, seeming with two entire worlds contained within its sleeves.
Right at this moment, a vast expanse of ck light erupted out of his left sleeve before crashing down upon Su Anqian, who was wielding an intricate blue fan, which she waved through the air to release a burst of light that created an enormous rift in the space before her.
At the same time, there was a green river embroidered onto the fan, and it abruptly vanished without any warning.
The sound of turbulent, flowing water rang out from the spatial rift as an enormous river came gushing out from within, crashing toward the schrly man.
In response, a mocking sneer appeared on the schrly man''s face, and the ck light surging out of his sleeve transformed into an enormous ck vortex that began devouring the flowing river.
There seemed to be no end to the river that was gushing out of the spatial rift, but there also seemed to be no end to the ck vortex''s voracious appetite, resembling a bottomless abyss that could never be filled.
As the river flowed into the schrly man''s left sleeve, it came gushing back out of his right sleeve toward Su Anqian, but in the process, it had be severely contaminated with blood and floating corpses.
Su Anqian''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and the spatial rift began releasing a burst of tremendous suction force at her behest, sucking in the river that the schrly man was using against her.
Momentster, the entire river had been sucked back into the spatial rift, following which the spatial rift itself also faded away.
The embroidered river then reappeared on the fan in Su Anqian''s hand, but it had be contaminated with filth and was looking nowhere near as clear and pure as before.
At the same time, wisps of ck baleful qi began rising up from the fan.
All of a sudden, a hint of rm appeared in her eyes as a burst of cial qi erupted out of the fan, and the river on the fan was also enshrouded in ayer of white light before freezing solid.
"That''s a nice fan. It''ll be even better once I take it from you and cast a hundred thousand yin souls into that river to refine it into an infernal river. On top of that, I''m also missing a concubine, and a pretty littledy like you will do just fine," the schrly man chuckled in a sinister manner.
A hint of killing intent shed through Su Anqian''s eyes upon hearing this, and a blue longsword appeared in her other hand amid a sh of blue light, following which sheunched herself at the schrly man.
A cold sneer appeared on the schrly man''s face upon seeing this, and their battle rmenced.
On the other side, Jin Liu was wielding a pair of dragon spears as he fought against two of the ghostly generals.
One of them had the body of a human, but the head of a cow, and they were holding a crimson spirit beckoning banner. With each wave of the banner, gusts of yin wind were released, and whenever the yin wind came into contact with Jin Liu, he would feel wisps of soul power being sucked out of his body.
The other ghostly general also had a human body, but the hideous face of a horse, and they were holding a ck chain with unintelligible yin runes engraved upon it. Bursts of green mes that were filled with tremendous baleful qi were rising up from the chain, capable of rapidly decaying flesh and bone upon contact.
These two ghostly generals were both at the early-High Zenith Stage, and one was attacking from afar, while the other engaged Jin Liu in close quartersbat, forming a very troublesome duo that even Jin Liu was struggling to deal with.
This entire third level resembled a giant spirit domain for these ghostly creatures, so everyone was at an innate disadvantage here, and the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators were clearly struggling despite their numbers advantage.
Meanwhile, Han Li was standing in the Azure Dragon Origin Array with a hesitant look on his face.
He knew that the longer this battle wore on, the more detrimental the situation would be for everyone.
On top of that, as soon as he entered this ce, he had been struck by the feeling that he was being watched by a pair of eyes high up within the dark clouds above.
These ten ghostly generals proimed themselves to be the Ten Kings of Hell, but they weren''t the most powerful beings in this space. Instead, the biggest threat here was lurking up above, and for some reason, they refused to show themselves.
With that in mind, Han Li also decided to refrain from taking part in the battle, choosing to observe the unfolding situation for now.
Right at this moment, a burst of thunderous rumbling suddenly rang out from the Hall of Heavenly Kings, and the entire roof of the hall was flung up into the air.
As it turned out, the two heavenly king statues inside had sprung to life, and they tore their way out of the hall before marching toward the za.
One of the heavenly king statues hurled the bloody head in its hand through the air, sending it crashing down onto the Azure Dragon Origin Array like a giant boulder.
A burst of mountainous force instantly came crashing down upon the array, almost shattering it instantly.
Everyone that was powering the array instantly shuddered as they each threw up a mouthful of blood, while the array itself began to sway unsteadily, and the azure dragon projections roaming over its surface also took on a more illusory appearance.
All of the ghostly creatures swarming onto the array instantly erupted into an excited frenzy upon seeing this, and at this rate, the array wasn''t going to be able to hold itself intact for much longer.
Han Li could see that the other heavenly statue had already raised the vajra pestle in its hand, motioning as if it were going to hurl the pestle at the array as well.
In its current condition, there was no way that the array would be able to withstand another heavy blow, and with that in mind, Han Li heaved an internal sigh as he swept a sleeve through the air.
If you''re not going to reveal yourself, then I''ll just have to force your hand!
Eighteen streaks of golden light flew out of his sleeve in rapid session, then pierced into the ground surrounding the Azure Dragon Origin Array, revealing themselves to be eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Valley Master Fu and the others immediately turned to Han Li with bewildered expressions upon seeing this, and they were even more perplexed by the fact that nothing else happened after the flying swords pierced into the ground.
The ghostly creatures outside the array paid no heed to this at all as they continued to converge from all directions, quickly burying the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords beneath them.
The weakened array wasn''t able to eradicate these ghostly creatures as quickly as before, and they piled up higher and higher, finally inundating the entire array.
The heavenly king statue lowered its vajra pestle upon seeing this, seemingly deeming it no longer necessary to hurl the pestle at the array.
Su Anqian heaved a forlorn sigh upon seeing this.
"Don''t worry about them, we need to focus on the task at hand," Jin Liu yelled with a grim expression.
All of a sudden, eighteen extraordinarily thick pirs of lightning erupted into the heavens from the za below, sending countless arcs of lightning shing through the air in all directions.
Huge clouds of ck mist rose up into the air as countless ghostly creatures were eradicated by the golden lightning, and a stunned look appeared in Su Anqian''s eyes as she eximed, "This is Divine Devilbane Lightning!"
Chapter 1061: Great Encompassment Stage Ghost King
Chapter 1061: Great Epassment Stage Ghost King
The ghostly creatures on the za had disyed no fear toward the Azure Dragon Origin Array, but all of them instinctively fled in horror in the face of Han Li''s Divine Devilbane Lightning.
However, the golden lightning was far too fast for them to run from, and close to half of them were swallowed up in the blink of an eye before disintegrating into ck mist, while everyone in the array looked on with ecstatic expressions.
In particr, Valley Master Fu was staring at Han Li with irrepressible shock and tion on his face.
Could it be that he''s actually a High Zenith cultivator?
Jin Liu and Su Anqian exchanged a nce with each other, and both of them could see their own astonishment mirrored in one another''s eyes.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s gaze remained focused on the dark clouds in the sky above.
Su Anqian had also noticed Han Li''s peculiar fixation on the dark clouds overhead, and a perplexed look shed through her eyes, following which she suddenly yelled, "Look out, Fellow Daoist Shi!"
Right as her voice trailed off, a giant vajra pestle came crashing down from above.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he stomped both feet down into the ground,unching himself directly up at the vajra pestle without disying any intention of taking evasive measures.
He was extremely fast, reaching the vajra pestle in an instant, but instead of engaging it in a direct collision, he wrapped his arms around the rapidly descending pestle before twisting around forcefully, altering its trajectory to send it flying back at the heavenly king statue that it hade from.
The heavenly king statue hurriedly threw a punch in retaliation, and Han Liunched himself at the statue without pause while channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, giving the vajra pestle a further boost.
A resounding boom rang out as the pestle smashed through the heavenly king statue''s fist before barreling straight through its chest, following which a burst of radiant starlight erupted out of its body, causing it to explode into smithereens.
The other heavenly king statue stormed at Han Li while swinging a massive fist through the air, but Han Li was able to easily evade its attack before rushing along the length of its arm to arrive on its shoulder.
After that, he sprang up into the air before grabbing onto the edge of the heavenly king statue''s helmet like an agile ape, then threw an almighty punch into the statue''s face, pulverizing it with a resounding thump.
A massive hole was punched into the statue''s face, revealing a ball of extremely condensed baleful qi, upon which were two shing specks of ghostly mes.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he reached into the hole, and a ghastly wail rang out as the ghostly creature lurking within the heavenly king statue was forcibly dragged out.
Han Li jumped onto the top of the statue''s head with the ghostly creature locked firmly in his grasp, and he looked up at the sky as he challenged, "Are you still not going to show yourself?"
A burst of golden lightning erupted out of his hand as he spoke, instantly eradicating the ghostly creature.
The dark clouds in the sky remainedpletely still, but the ten ghostly generals were infuriated upon seeing this, and some of them immediately beganunching themselves in Han Li''s direction, but they were stopped in their tracks by the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators.
"If you insist on hiding like a cowardly turtle, then I''ll have no choice but to force you out of your shell!" Han Li roared
Immediately thereafter, he made a beckoning motion, and the eighteen Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that had pierced into the ground below rose up into the air to revolve around him.
Immediately thereafter, eighteen more Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords appeared around him, amounting to a total of thirty-six.
The flying swords were trembling and buzzing incessantly as arcs of golden lightning shed over its surface, and they sped up toward the dark clouds in the sky at Han Li''s behest.
Countless streaks of azure swordlight erupted out of the thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, forming a radiant, azure sword dragon that plunged headfirst into the dark clouds overhead.
A draconic roar rang out as the azure sword dragon plunged into the sea of clouds, vanishing without a trace.
There was a brief moment of silence, followed by an earth-shattering boom.
A vast expanse of radiant golden lightning erupted out of the sea of clouds in all directions, forming countless giant golden lightning whips thatshed through the air with devastating power.
All of the ghostly creatures on the za were looking up at the sky while whimpering in horror, and fearful looks had also appeared on the faces of the ten ghostly generals.
At this moment, the natural dominance that Divine Devilbane Lightning had over all ghostly creatures was put on a full disy.
Both Su Anqian and Jin Liu were astonished to witness this incredible disy of power from Han Li.
They had always thought that Han Li was nothing more than a Golden Immortal who was very fortunate to have survived to this point, but the power that he was currently disying was already far beyond that of the average Jade Immortal.
Han Li paid no heed to everyone''s astonished reactions as he continued to look up at the sky with slightly furrowed brows, and right at this moment, a burst of sinister cackling rang out from within the dark clouds above.
All of the ghostly creatures instantly erupted into a frenzy, while the ten ghostly generals greeted in unison, "We pay our respects to Ghost King Wu Chao."
Both Su Anqian and Jin Liu were astonished to hear this.
"Ghost King Wu Chao? What is he doing here?"
Everyone else, including the other Heavenly Water Sect cultivators, turned to the two of them with perplexed expressions, and it seemed that none of them had heard this name before.
"Isn''t he supposed to be in the Immortal Prison? Why is he here?" Han Li murmured to himself with a puzzled expression.
The name of Ghost King Wu Chao was not an unfamiliar one to him. Upon learning that Qi Mozi was the chief warden of the Immortal Prison, Han Li had gathered some information on the Immortal Prison through the Reincarnation Pce, and in the process, he had learned that Ghost King Wu Chao was one of the most notorious prisoners held captive there.
At this moment, the dark clouds in the sky were churning violently, and they began to rapidly condense, forming a cloud of ck mist.
The cloud of mist was so dark that it was impossible to see anything within it, and as Han Li gazed upon it, he felt as if his soul were about to be sucked out of his body.
He hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique, and that unsettling sensation quickly faded away.
"I must say, I''m very impressed with you. It''s a pity that you''re not dead yet. Otherwise, I would be more than happy to make you one of my Ten Kings of Hell. Having said that, it''s still not entirely out of the question. Who''s to say that you won''t end up dead soon?"
A raspy voice rang out as a figure emerged from the cloud of ck mist, and it was a tall, middle-aged man with a schrly appearance.
He was quite unremarkable in appearance, and there wasn''t any baleful qi emanating from his body. Anyone who looked at him could easily be forgiven for thinking that he was just a harmless schr, and he looked worlds apart from a fearsome ghost king.
However, Han Li knew that this man was most certainly Ghost King Wu Chao.
It was said that back when Ghost King Wu Chao was still alive, he wasn''t even a cultivator. Instead, he was just a Confucian schr from a mortal empire, and he gradually began to develop resentment for the empire after his repeated failures in the imperial examination.
The empire was already in a state of decline, and its woes werepounded even further by the onset of a natural disaster. Wu Chao took advantage of this opportunity to spark a rebellion, and his rebel army quickly conquered most of the empire.
However, as more and more people joined his rebel army, they began to experience a food shortage, and in order to resolve this problem, Wu Chao turned to the horrific solution of cannibalism.
Before long, close to half of the empire''s poption had been eaten by the rebel army, and dozens of cities had beenpletely wiped out.
The immortal sects in the area were all forbidden from interfering with mortal affairs, but this was simply far too heinous a crime for them to tolerate, and they made an exception on that asion to wipe out the rebel army. Otherwise, even the neighboring nations were eventually going to bepletely wiped out by Wu Chao and his army of cannibals.
Following Wu Chao''s demise, his soul refused to dissipate, and after devouring countless other souls, he became an extremely formidable malicious spirit, quickly reaching the Deity Transformation Stage. Somehow, he was able to transcend countless tribtions and progress all the way to the Grand Ascension Stage.
After that, he was blessed by a range of fortunate circumstances, allowing him to be a ghostly immortal, and he cultivated all the way to the Great Epassment Stage. Due to his violent and bloodthirsty personality, he became extremely notorious in the Immortal Realm, and in the end, he was captured by the Heavenly Court and thrown into the Immortal Prison.
However, it seemed that he had already escaped from the Immortal Prison long ago, but it was unclear why he was being held captive here.
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Chapter 1062: Inevitable Death
Chapter 1062: Inevitable Death
Ghost King Wu Chao made a grabbing motion with one hand, and a palm-sized ck cage appeared over the palm of his hand, within which arcs of golden lightning were shing incessantly.
Han Li''s thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were currently confined in the cage, and they were struggling to free themselves with all their might, but to no avail.
"You finally decided to show up," Han Li scoffed.
"Earlier, I had sensed something that posed somewhat of a threat to me, but I was unable to ascertain exactly what it was. I had thought that it would be something in the possession of one of those two, but it seems like you''re the hidden threat here," Ghost King Wu Chao chuckled.
"Are you referring to my Divine Devilbane Lightning? Haven''t you already captured it?" Han Li asked as he feigned a surprised expression.
"This lightning is indeed a pain to deal with, but it''s not enough to pose a threat to me. I''ve been faced with countless tribtions over the course of my cultivation journey, and I''ve even lost count of how many immortal envoys I''ve killed," Ghost King Wu Chao sneered, and right as his voice trailed off, a long spatial rift suddenly appeared behind Han Li without any warning.
A cloud of incredibly dense ck mist surged out from within, and countless ghostly feelers and ws emerged from the cloud of mist, grabbing at Han Li while cutting off all avenues for retreat and evasion.
Han remainedpletely still on the spot as countless arcs of golden lightning erupted out of his body, making it appear as if he had donned a suit of golden armor.
As soon as these ghost ws and feelers came into contact with the golden lightning, they immediately recoiled as plumes of ck smoke began to rise up from them.
Han Li swiveled around as he threw a punch into the cloud of mist, and clusters of profound acupoints lit up over his body as a burst of radiant starlight erupted out of his fist, illuminating the entire cloud of ck mist.
All of the feelers and ws immediately shrank back into the mist as if they had been scorched by the starlight.
Ghost King Wu Chao waspletely unfazed by this, and he continued to control the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords with one hand while making a grabbing motion with the other.
The spatial rift was instantly torn wide open, and ck mist came gushing out from within like floodwaters. At the same time, Ghost King Wu Chao abruptly vanished from the spot.
Epassed within the cloud of ck mist, Han Li felt as if he had been plunged into the darkest of nights. Not only was he unable to see anything, he was also no longer able to hear the sounds of the battle taking ce between the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators and the ten ghostly generals.
His brows furrowed slightly as he hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique and released his spiritual sense to examine his surroundings.
Right at this moment, Ghost King Wu Chao''s voice rang out, but it was rather ethereal, and it was impossible to track down where his voice wasing from.
"So not only do you possess Divine Devilbane Lightning, you''ve also cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique to a very advanced level. It''s a pity that''s not going to work on me, but I must admit that I''m getting more and more intrigued by you by the second.
Sure enough, to Han Li''s surprise and dismay, he was unable to ascertain Ghost King Wu Chao''s precise location even with his Spirit Refinement Technique.
Right at this moment, numerous bursts of red light appeared in the surrounding area, and every single one of which took on a humanoid form that was identical to Ghost King Wu Chao.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense over these Ghost King Wu Chaos to discover that their auras werepletely identical, and all of them were giving off Great Epassment Stage aura fluctuations.
All of a sudden, Han Li found himself surrounded by dozens of Ghost King Wu Chaos, all of whom began to make hand seals while chanting an incantation.
Balls of crimson light began to appear in the space around Han Li, forming a series of strange symbols that resembled both images and antiquated runes.
These symbols surrounded Han Li from all directions, and each of them manifested a ghostly head, all of which opened their mouths up wide to roar silently at Han Li.
A burst of dark red light surged out of the mouth of each ghostly head, and they enveloped Han Li from all directions.
As a result, Han Li instantly felt his own bodypletely stiffen. It was as if his blood had abruptly congealed, and his immortal spiritual power and starpower cirction had also be stagnant.
At the same time, a burst of crimson light appeared in his consciousness, and it also took on the form of Ghost King Wu Chao, who began slowly making his way deeper into Han Li''s consciousness.
Han Li was astonished to see this. Given his mastery of the Spirit Refinement Technique, it came as a huge shock to him that Ghost King Wu Chao was able to breach the defenses of his consciousness so easily.
He immediately channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique with all his might, manifesting a mighty city wall to oppose Ghost King Wu Chao.
"Cease your futile struggles. This soul locking technique of mine is something that even Great Epassment cultivators can''t hope to withstand, so you''re only prolonging your own suffering. Your fate is already sealed, so why not ept a swift and painless death?" Ghost King Wu Chao persuaded.
"Ghost King Wu Chao, there''s one question that I would like you to answer for me so that I can at least die with closure," Han Li said.
"If anyone else were in your shoes, I would refuse without any hesitation, but given that you''ve intrigued me so, I''m going to make an exception and humor you," Ghost King Wu Chao said.
"I''ve heard that you''re supposed to be held captive in the Heavenly Court''s Immortal Prison, so why are you suddenly here?" Han Li asked.
"I thought you were going to ask me why your Spirit Refinement Technique isn''t able to withstand my soul locking technique. So be it, I can answer that question for you. Back when I was held captive in the Immortal Prison, Immortal Lord Tai Sui was the chief warden. After that, he betrayed the Heavenly Court, and he promised me freedom in exchange for helping him escape, but he tricked me and imprisoned me here," Ghost King Wu Chao replied.
"I see. No wonder this Eon Pagoda is so fraught with peril. We came here to search for treasures, but it seems like we''ve been rushing toward an inevitable demise this entire time," Han Li said with a wry smile, but at the same time, he was making a string of hand seals with his hands concealed up his sleeves.
"Indeed, you''ve ventured into a ce of no return. Even if I don''t kill you here, you''re never going to be able to escape from this pagoda, so you may as well let me put you out of your misery. At the very least, you''ll have a chance to enter the cycle of reincarnation," Ghost King Wu Chao said.
All of a sudden, a faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face, and he said, "I have another question: would you soul be able to withstand Divine Devilbane Lightning?"
As soon as Han Li''s voice trailed off, countless arcs of golden lightning instantly surged into his consciousness.
A string of loud explosions rang out within Han Li''s consciousness as Ghost King Wu Chao waspletely inundated by golden lightning, and he instantly vanished from the spot.
Even though Han Li had managed to force Ghost King Wu Chao out of his own consciousness, his own soul was also severely ravaged by the Divine Devilbane Lightning, sending bursts of sharp, tearing pain spearing through his consciousness.
All of a the ghostly souls around him were instantly eradicated, and Han Li gritted his teeth through the excruciating pain in his head as he swept his gaze over the surrounding area, upon which he discovered that one of the dozens of Ghost King Wu Chaos had a burst of golden light glowing over the palms of his hands.
He immediately swept a sleeve through the air in that direction to conjure up a door of silver light, and Weeping Soul sprang out from within before immediately adopting her true Xing Beast form without any hesitation.
Her eyes became pupilless and bright red, and her body swelled rapidly as she transformed into a giant ck ape that was over a thousand feet tall.
Tufts of needle-like fur appeared over her entire body, while a fearsome horn appeared on her head. At the same time, the skin and flesh on her be split open to reveal a third crimson, demonic eye, while three ck bone spikes had emerged on her back.
Ghost King Wu Chao was furious after having his spiritual sense struck by Han Li''s Divine Devilbane Lightning. He failed to anticipate that Han Li was harboring such formidable Divine Devilbane Lightning in his body, and he certainly didn''t think that Han Li would release the Divine Devilbane Lightning in his own consciousness in such a reckless fashion.
He had only just steadied himself when he found himself face to face with a Xing Beast, and he couldn''t help but feel a little panicked in the wake of such a hectic sequence of events.
Han Li immediately pounced on this opportunity, making a hand seal to summon his thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords back to himself, and the flying swords instantly tore their way out of the Ghost King Wu Chao''s ck cage before racing back to Han Li''s side.
Han Li could see that the golden light emanating from the flying swords had be noticeably dimmer than before, and he hurriedly sent them back into the Profound Heavenly Gourd to be nurtured.
After that, he turned his gaze to Weeping Soul, who was already locked in battle against Ghost King Wu Chao, and his vision suddenly blurred as he stumbled unsteadily on his feet.
Looks like the damage is even more severe than I imagined it would be...
Han Li heaved an internal sigh as he sat down with his legs crossed, then promptly devoured a pill that could aid in the recovery of spiritual damage.
Even though Weeping Soul had a natural advantage over all ghostly entities, there was a huge disparity in power between her and the Great Epassment Stage Ghost King Wu Chao, so the oue of their battle was very difficult to predict.
The space that they were currently situated in appeared to be Ghost King Wu Chao''s spirit domain, so he had to stabilize his own soul as quickly as possible and assist Weeping Soul in her battle against Ghost King Wu Chao.
With that in mind, Han Li began to focus on recovery and pill digestion.
Chapter 1063: Second Battle Against Qi Mozi
Chapter 1063: Second Battle Against Qi Mozi
While Han Li was engaged in seated meditation, Weeping Soul was locked in a fierce battle against Ghost King Wu Chao.
After evading a vast expanse of fearsome w projections, she opened her mouth to let loose a deafening roar, and at the same time, her body swelled drastically in size, while numerous golden and silver runes appeared over her skin, giving off formidablew power fluctuations.
Simultaneously, a thick pir of crimson light erupted out of her third demonic eye, hurtling directly toward Ghost King Wu Chao.
A hint of wariness shed through Ghost King Wu Chao''s eyes, and he made a beckoning motion with both hands, upon which the dozens of Ghost King Wu Chaos around him converged toward him before vanishing into his body.
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air to release a vast cloud of ck mist, and a white bone w extended out from within.
A burst of red light appeared over the palm of the bone w, and it took on the form of a giant ghostly head with fearsome fangs protruding out of its mouth, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
The ghostly head opened its mouth up wide, and a swirling ck vortex appeared within it.
The pir of crimson light shooting out of Weeping Soul''s be was devoured by the ck vortex, and an impasse ensued.
At the same time, Ghost King Wu Chao made a strange hand seal with his other hand, then pressed his palm down toward the ground below.
A crimson seal flew out of the palm of his hand before vanishing into the ground in a sh ,and immediately thereafter, a pool of blood appeared beneath Weeping Soul before rapidly spreading in all directions.
Weeping Soul immediately attempted to take evasive measures upon seeing this, but a burst of tremendous suction force erupted out of the ground below, locking her firmly into ce.
Before she had a chance to do anything else, the blood from the pool below began to climb its way up her legs.
The putrid blood in the pool was bubbling incessantly, as if it had been brought to a boil, and the blood was rapidly rising, almost inundating the entirety of Weeping Soul''s lower body in the blink of an eye.
A chorus of ghostly wails rang out within the pool as countless crimson ghostly creatures emerged, resembling people who had been skinned alive, and they also began climbing their way up Weeping Soul''s body.
The parts of her body that came into contact with these horrific creatures immediately began to release plumes of ck smoke, as if she were being scorched by mes.
Thankfully, Weeping Soul''s body was extremely resilient in her Xing Beast form, so she was able to hold her own just fine for now, but she was clearly already on the back foot.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s eyes sprang open as he rose up into the air, and thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords reappeared around him as he cast his gaze toward Ghost King Wu Chao, but he had only justunched himself in Ghost King Wu Chao''s direction when a burst of violent spatial fluctuations erupted beside him.
All of a sudden, it was as if a gash had been torn open in the night, and a figure emerged from within before reaching for Han Li.
The figure had appeared without any warning, and Han Li was caughtpletely off guard.
His pupils contracted drastically as he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, vanishing from the spot in a sh.
However, as he reappeared several thousand feet away, he discovered that the hand that was reaching for him was still right beside him.
A burst of radiant golden light appeared over the palm of the hand, and a burst of golden mes surged out from within, forming a hemispherical cage of fire that descended upon Han Li.
"Qi Mozi!" Han Li eximed upon catching a clear glimpse of his assant.
Indeed, it was none other than Qi Mozi.
Han Li could sense that a change was currently taking ce in the flow of time around him, and he hurriedly summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which began releasing waves of golden ripples at his behest.
The golden ripples shed against the oing golden mes, and a clear divide took shape between them.
The flow of time in the area where the two met had be almostpletely stagnant, and the golden ripples were rapidly dissipating, while the golden mes were dissipating at a much slower rate.
Meanwhile, close to half of Weeping Soul''s body had already sunken into the pool of blood, but a ring of ck light had appeared around her waist, preventing the blood in the pool from rising up any further.
A frantic look appeared in her eyes as she attempted to rush to Han Li''s side to aid him against Qi Mozi, but she was unable to free herself from the pool of blood.
"You''ve made further progress in your cultivation base since west met! If I don''t get rid of you today, you''re surely going to develop into a formidable threat in the future," Qi Mozi harrumphed coldly, and all the while, his golden mes continued to force back the golden ripples released by Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis.
Han Li let loose a loud roar as all of his profound acupoints lit up in unison, and he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might as he threw a punch directly forward.
A burst of radiant starlight erupted out of his fist, forming a screen of light that swept toward Qi Mozi, causing the space up ahead topress upon itself inyers, resulting in the emergence of countless fractured spatial rifts.
The spatial rifts devoured much of Qi Mozi''s golden mes, thereby significantly lessening the pressure on the golden ripples, and Han Li immediately pounced on this opportunity, sweeping a sleeve through the air to disperse his thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, all of which abruptly vanished into the surrounding space.
However, mere momentster, all of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords came flying back from afar with their tips aimed directly at Qi Mozi''s back.
However, before they were able to get close to Qi Mozi, a vast expanse of golden mes appeared behind him, and all of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly fellpletely still upon piercing into the golden mes.
Immediately thereafter, Qi Mozi swept a sleeve through the air, and a lit torch appeared before him.
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he hurriedly withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis back into his body.
Immediately thereafter, the torch began to release rings of fiery spiritual light, and everything that was caught within the rings of light instantly fellpletely still.
Han Li had immediately released his time spirit domain and channeled his Reversal True Axis ability as soon as he caught sight of the golden torch, but he was still unable to get away from the fiery spiritual light.
As soon as he was epassed within the spiritual light, his movements instantly slowed down to a crawl. Even though he wasn''t renderedpletely immobile likest time, he was slowed down so drastically that it hardly made a meaningful difference.
On top of that, he didn''t have a lightning array set up likest time, so even if he could temporarily free himself, there would be no way for him to get away.
However, that didn''t mean that he waspletely powerless, in the next instant, ayer of silver mes appeared over his body like a suit of silver armor, giving off formidable firew power fluctuations.
As soon as theyer of silver mes appeared, the space around Han Li immediately began to shimmer and warp, and the fiery spiritual light around him also began to ripple slightly in an unsteady fashion.
"Impossible! How could mere firew powers possibly oppose one of the three paramountws?" Qi Mozi eximed with an incredulous expression.
Despite his astonishment, he was still very quick to react, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release the same ck hatchet asst time, which hurtled directly toward Han Li as a streak of ck light.
Without the golden ripples released by his Mantra Treasured Axis to protect him, the ck hatchet was able to quickly reach him.
The silver mes on Han Li''s body were torn apart by the tremendous force behind the hatchet, yet right as it was about to strike him, ayer of golden light formed by golden sand particles surged out of a golden hourss hovering beside Han Li to oppose the hatchet.
At the same time, a golden vial appeared above him, and ayer of liquid-like golden spiritual light poured out of the mouth of the vial before wrapping itself around the hilt of the hatchet.
Upon striking the golden sand particles, it was as if the hatchet had fallen into a time vortex, and it was constantly sinking, but was unable to break through the sand particles to strike Han Li.
Meanwhile, spots of decay began to appear on the hilt of the hatchet from the effects of the water of time that had poured out of the Clear Time Vial, and even though the decay was only limited to the hatchet''s surface, this was still an astonishing sight, given that the hatchet was an immortal treasure of a very high caliber.
A dark look appeared on Qi Mozi''s face upon seeing this, and he sprang up into the air before closing in on rapidly on Han Li, seeminglypletely unaffected by Han Li''s spirit domain.
As he drew closer, the golden torch that was hovering in front of him also inched closer and closer to Han Li, and the fiery spiritual light that it was releasing became more and more potent as a result.
The silver mes on Han Li''s body were beginning to waver, clearly struggling to contend against Qi Mozi''s Time Severing Flowing Fire.
Right at this moment, Han Li drew upon all of the immortal spiritual power in his body and channeled his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra with all his might.
A vast expanse of radiant golden light erupted out of his body as all five of his time-attributew treasures appeared in unison, with each of them giving off its own unique timew power fluctuations.
However, on this asion, even though the five time-attributew treasures were resonating with one another, they didn''t fuse as one to form that golden ring.
Hence, the five bursts of timew powers were still in a scattered state, and they were unable to keep Qi Mozi at bay.
However, right at his moment, an astonishing turn of events ensued.
Chapter 1064: Illusion
Chapter 1064: Illusion
The Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis lit up one after another, then began to drift out of the axis before fusing as one with the surrounding spirit domain.
At the same time, the Mantra Treasured Axis itself also rose up into the air, hanging above Han Li like a full moon while giving off rays of golden light.
Immediately thereafter, the golden hourss descended to the ground, and all of the golden sand particles inside rapidly spilled out, reaching Qi Mozi in the blink of an eye.
Qi Mozi was naturally rather taken aback by this turn of events, and he clearly had some reservations about setting foot onto the golden sand particles below.
However, after a brief hesitation, he stepped down onto the Illusory Dawn Sand, and in doing so, he felt his own movements be a little more sluggish, but he was still quickly approaching Han Li.
However, right at this moment, the three remaining time-attributew treasures also began to disy some changes.
The golden liquid within the Clear Time Vial came pouring out as a radiant golden river, while the Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree nted itself into the golden sand on the ground before manifesting an entire forest, and at the same time, the Time Severing Torch rose up into the air before scattering into countless specks of fire that resembled stars in a night sky.
An astonished look appeared in Qi Mozi''s eyes upon seeing this, and he reflexively stopped in his tracks.
Even Han Li himself was feeling quite startled by all of this. It seemed that his five time-attributew treasures had fused as one with his time spirit domain to elevate thetter into a Creation Tier spirit domain.
All of a sudden, the timew power fluctuations in his spirit domain became several times more formidable than before, and golden ripples surging throughout the spirit domain were more evenly matched against Qi Mozi''s Time Severing Flowing Fire, but ultimately Qi Mozi still held the upper hand thanks to his cultivation base advantage.
"I knew it! You really did inherit Master''s Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, and you''ve already cultivated it to the point that it can resonate with your spirit domain! No matter what happens, I''m not letting you get away this time!" Qi Mozi said as the astonishment on his face turned to excitement.
Immediately thereafter, he drew his ck hatchet back into his grasp before swinging it down upon Han Li''s head.
At this moment, Han Li was still barely able to move, and all he could do was channel his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and true spirit bloodlines in unison, preparing to adopt his devilish deity form to withstand the oing attack.
However, right at this moment, numerous timew threads suddenly began flying out of the manifestations of Han Li''s five time-attributew treasures, and they quickly fused as one to form a ball of radiant five-colored light.
Qi Mozi''s expression changed drastically at the sight of the ball of five-colored light, and all of a sudden, his entire body abruptly stiffened, as if he had bepletely immobilized.
A bewildered look appeared in Han Li''s eyes, and he could seeyers uponyers of projections beginning to emerge from Qi Mozi''s body under the ball of five-colored light, as countless avatars of himself were springing out of his body.
As more and more of these projections continued to emerge, the projections that had appeared first began to dissipate before disintegrating into clouds of gray smoke.
As these projections vanished one after another, some minute changes began to take ce in Qi Mozi''s body, and his aura was also disying a change.
Han Li didn''t know what set of circumstances had led to all of this, and he was terrified that any casual gesture from him could ruin everything.
Hence, all he could do was continue to channel his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra without even the slightest deviation.
At the same time, his gaze remained fixed firmly upon Qi Mozi.
After some observation, he was astonished to discover that with the dissipation of each projection, Qi Mozi''s cultivation base would diminish slightly. To put it more urately, it was his age that was gradually reversing.
Every single one of those projections seemed to be a manifestation of countless years of Qi Mozi''s life, and as they dissipated one after another, Qi Mozi was rapidly aging in reverse.
After no more than twenty seconds, Qi Mozi''s aura had plummeted to the point that he was no longer even able to maintain an early-Great Epassment Stage cultivation base.
Qi Mozi was struggling with all his might, but to no avail, and he yelled in an rmed voice, "How is this possible? These are all just illusory manifestations, how are they capable of doing this to me?"
Han Li gritted his teeth tightly as he continued to channel his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra with all his might.
He was confident that if he could persevere another twenty seconds or so, then Qi Mozi would age several more million years in reverse, and by then, he most likely wouldn''t even be able to maintain a peak-High Zenith Stage cultivation base.
Unfortunately, things were not going ording to n. As time passed, the ball of five-colored light hovering above Qi Mozi was rapidly bing dimmer and dimmer, and before long, it was on the verge of copse.
A little more... Just a little more...
Han Li was persevering with all his might, but in the next instant, a dull thump rang out, and the ball of five-colored light finally faded away.
All of the timew threads within it had been exhausted of their timew powers, reducing them to translucent, attributeless threads.
Immediately thereafter, the moon in the spirit domain descended out of the sky, the stars faded, the mountains were smoothed out, the rivers ran dry, and the forest disappeared as all of the illusory manifestations vanished one after another.
The five time-attributew treasures reverted back to their original forms, and they were allpletely devoid of luster as they flew back into Han Li''s body.
Before Qi Mozi had a chance to do anything, Han Li let loose a thunderous roar as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and true spirit bloodlines in unison, transforming into a devilish deity with three heads and six arms.
Immediately thereafter, he threw a giant fist at Qi Mozi while also reaching toward him with a dragon w that was covered in golden scales.
As soon as Qi Mozi was freed from the ball of five-colored light, he immediately made a hand seal before thrusting a palm forward, and the golden me on his Time Severing Torch instantly reared up before pouncing at Han Li as a fiery dragon.
The fiery dragon was imbued with tremendous timew powers, and it passed through Han Li''s fist and draconic w at an inconceivable speed before hurtling directly toward his body.
The flow of time in the wake of the fiery dragon instantly fell stagnant, and the time-slowing effect was no less potent than when Qi Mozi possessed Great Epassment Stage powers, so if Han Li were to be struck by this fiery dragon, then he would undoubtedly bepletely immobilized.
However, Han Li was already prepared for such a scenario, and as soon as the fiery dragon appeared, his Profound Heavenly Gourd instantly appeared over his chest amid a sh of green light.
There was a rapidly revolving green vortex at the mouth of the vial, and its revolution also began to slow down as the fiery dragon drew closer, it didn''te to aplete stop.
Upon reaching the green vortex, the fiery dragon was sucked straight into the gourd, following which the mouth of the gourd was closed on its own, but the gourd itself continued to tremble incessantly.
Han Li had no time to examine the Profound Heavenly Gourd''s condition as he pounced on this opportunity tosh out with his w and fist with all his might.
Qi Mozi''s cultivation base was currently very unstable due to the effects of the ball of five-colored light, and the abrupt disappearance of his fiery dragon into Han Li''s Profound Heavenly Gourd had caught himpletely off guard, so he wasn''t able to react or retaliate at all before a wall of tremendous force crashed into his body.
A vast expanse of starlight erupted in all directions as Qi Mozi was sent flying back through the air.
The bones in his body were cracking and popping audibly as he threw up a mouthful of blood while glowering at Han Li with intense resentment in his eyes, and he flew all the way out of Ghost King Wu Chao''s spirit domain before plummeting to the ground.
Han Li immediately prepared to set off in pursuit, only for Qi Mozi to rush away into the distance and vanish out of sight in the blink of an eye.
The ten ghostly generals and the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators locked in battle outside weren''t even able to catch a clear glimpse of Qi Mozi before he vanished into the distant sky.
Han Li briefly considered going after Qi Mozi, but then quickly decided against that idea as he summoned his thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and his Essence Fire Raven back to himself.
After that, he turned his attention to the battle taking ce between Weeping Soul and Ghost King Wu Chao. At this point, the former''s body was already riddled with wounds, and it was clear that she was very much on the back foot.
At this point, Ghost King Wu Chao had also already adopted his true form, which was a giant ghostly behemoth that was several thousand feet tall and d in a suit of crimson armor, draped over which was a crimson robe.
There were sharp horns growing on his head and jagged fangs in his mouth, and whenever he exhaled, two plumes of putrid blood mist would surge out of his nostrils.
At this moment, he was holding a giant bone trident that was riddled with crimson runes, and there was ck mist swirling around its three tips as he plunged it down at Weeping Soul''s be.
A pir of crimson light was sting out of the vertical eye on Weeping Soul''s be to sh against the trident and keep it at bay.
"Go!" Han Li yelled as he swept a sleeve through the air, and his thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords shot forth before releasing countless streaks of swordlight that came raining down upon Ghost King Wu Chao like a torrential storm of golden swords.
Chapter 1065: Outsmarting the Enemy
Chapter 1065: Outsmarting the Enemy
A vast expanse of golden lightning erupted out of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in a frenzy before descending upon Ghost King Wu Chao along with the storm of sword qi.
Ghost King Wu Chao let loose a thunderous roar, and a burst of crimson light rose up from his body alongside a cloud of ck smoke as he turned to the oing Han Li.
Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release a burst of fearsome ck mes, which swept toward Han Li as a wall of ck fire.
Han Li continued to charge onward without pause as a giant, silver fire raven with a wingspan that was tens of thousands of feet in length erupted out of his body, and it swept a wing through the air like a huge silver de to slice the fiery ck wall into two.
Immediately thereafter, the silver fire raven flew straight through the wall of fire, and silver mes surging out of its wings forced back the surrounding ck mes to forcibly create a wide passageway right down the center of the fiery wall.
Han Li was able to fly through the wall of fire behind the Essence Fire Raven, and he channeled his Lightning Bird bloodline power, instantly vanishing from the spot, only to immediately reappear beside Ghost King Wu Chao before throwing an almighty punch.
A resounding thump rang out as Ghost King Wu Chao''s enormous body swayed involuntarily to the left from the force of Han Li''s punch, and his trident also veered away to the side as a result.
Without the trident in ce to oppose the pir of crimson light sting out of Weeping Soul''s third eye, thetter immediately pierced straight through Ghost King Wu Chao''s shoulder.
Ghost King Wu Chao let loose an agonized roar asrge volumes of ck fluid began to pour out of the huge hole that had just been sted into his shoulder.
Immediately thereafter, a vast expanse of ck light rose up over his body, and countless malicious spirits flew out from within before pouncing at Han Li and Weeping Soul.
These malicious spirits seemed to be capable of phasing in and out of reality at will, and whenever Han Li attempted to strike them with his fists, they would merely dissipate like clouds of mist. Hence, Han Li could only summon his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords back to himself and continually release Divine Devilbane Lightning to keep the malicious spirits at bay.
However, these ghostly beings didn''t fear Han Li''s Divine Devilbane Lightning, and after being struck, they would dissipate for a short time, only to quickly reform again.
On top of that, whenever they drew close to him, Han Li would feel a burst of malicious power infiltrate his body.
As the spirits pounced at him over and over again, more and more of this malicious power umted in his body, striking him with a bone-chilling sensation.
Weeping Soul was faring even worse than he was. At this point, her movements had already be noticeably slower, and she was beginning to struggle to keep up with Ghost King Wu Chao''s speed.
If things were to continue like this, the two of them were undoubtedly going to be defeated.
Right at this moment, a thought suddenly urred to Han Li, and he made a beckoning motion toward the Essence Fire Raven.
At this moment, the Essence Fire Raven was in the process of devouring the wall of ck mes, and it immediately flew back into his body at his behest.
A surge of warmth instantly spread through his entire body, alleviating much of the bone-chilling sensation, and at the same time, he abruptly appeared directly in front of Ghost King Wu Chao amid a sh of silver lightning.
Ghost King Wu Chao immediatelyshed out at Han Li with his bone trident, but right at this moment, Han Li flipped a hand over to summon his Profound Heavenly Gourd, and he pointed the mouth of the gourd directly at Ghost King Wu Chao before thrusting a palm into its underside.
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out as a green vortex appeared at the mouth of the vial, following which a fiery golden dragon erupted out from within.
This was the fiery dragon that had been unleashed by Qi Mozi earlier, but following its rampage in the Profound Heavenly Gourd, it had be significantly smaller and slower than before. Even so, it was still giving off formidable timew power fluctuations that drastically slowed down everything around it.
Ghost King Wu Chao hurriedly raised his bone trident before hurling it at the fiery dragon upon seeing this, but the fiery dragon was extraordinarily fast, and the bone trident wasn''t able to fly very far at all before the two shed with a resounding boom.
The fiery dragon instantly exploded upon contact, releasing a wave of golden mes that washed over Ghost King Wu Chao, and he was instantly rooted to the spot, while even his thoughts had temporarily bepletely stagnant.
Momentster, the wave of golden mes released by the fiery dragon''s explosion began to fade away, and Ghost King Wu Chao was able to regain his cognitive functions, but by then, Han Li was already upon him.
Han Li was channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might, and hebined his thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords into a single sword that he swung through the air with tremendous power.
A loud crack rang out amid an eruption of Divine Devilbane Lightning, and Ghost King Wu Chao''s head flew up into the sky with its eyes still wide open before falling to the ground.
No blood came flowing out of his severed neck. Instead, countless ghostly shadows came gushing out from within.
As soon as these ghostly shadows began pouring out Ghost King Wu Chao''s body, the baleful qi in the surrounding area instantly became dozens of times more potent.
Han Li was just about to release his Essence Fire Raven to incinerate all of the ghostly shadows when he spotted Weeping Soul rushing onto the scene.
With a loud snort, a burst of yellow light erupted out of her nostrils to capture all of the ghostly shadows surging out of Ghost King Wu Chao''s neck.
Immediately thereafter, all of the ghostly shadows within the yellow light disintegrated into a burst of viscous ck light that flowed into her nostrils.
As the burst of ck light surged into Weeping Soul''s body, the surrounding spirit domain began to fall apart bit by bit.
A relieved look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he began to inspect his surroundings.
The battle between the ghostly generals and the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators was still ongoing, and at this point, the ancient temple had already beenpletely destroyed, with the exception of a round archway that remained standing in a resilient fashion.
At this point, only three of the ten ghostly generals still remained, namely the pale-faced schr, and the cow-headed and horse-faced duo.
As for the Heavenly Water Sect cultivators, all that remained were Su Anqian and Jin Liu.
There were only seven or eight bodies on the ground, and it was unclear if the rest had beenpletely devoured by the ghostly generals or if they had been sent back into that pagoda spatial treasure of his.
At this point, Valley Master Fu and the four itinerant Golden Immortals had already been reduced to sets of skeletons. There were still throngs of ghostly creatures around them, but without any prey to target, all of them were stumbling around in an aimless manner.
After a brief hesitation, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a gust of fierce wind that scattered all of the nearby ghostly creatures, then swept up some of the loose rocks on the ground to bury the remains of Valley Master Fu and the others.
At this point, the three ghostly generals finally realized that Ghost King Wu Chao had met his demise,and the schrly ghostly general let loose a guttural shriek before throwing himself at Weeping Soul as if he had lost his mind.
Han Li appeared in his path before shing hisbined Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword down in one swift motion.
The schrly man ran straight into the sword without taking any evasive measures, and his body was instantly sliced into two lengthwise.
Even as his body began to dissipate into ck smoke, he was still calling out Ghost King Wu Chao''s name in a dazed and grief-stricken manner.
The other two ghostly generals could see that the battle was already lost, and they immediately split up and fled the scene, while Jin Liu and Su Anqian set off after them in pursuit.
Han Li paid no heed to them as he took a nce at his surroundings, then sat down with his legs crossed to meditate.
The spiritual damage that he had suffered earlier and the subsequent overexertion of his timew powers had left him feeling very exhausted.
Around fifteen minutester, he reopened his eyes as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
He didn''t know how his five time-attributew treasures had fused with his time spirit domain earlier, but judging from Qi Mozi''s reaction, it seemed that this was something that was supposed to happen once one cultivated the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra to a certain level.
Unfortunately, he waspletely self-taught when it came to this cultivation art, so he had no one to turn to for answers.
At the moment, he was unable to use any of his time-attributew treasures as he had overexerted his own timew powers, and that was certainly a concern.
With that in mind, he heaved a faint sigh as he rose to his feet.
At this point, Weeping Soul had fully devoured Ghost King Wu Chao, and she reverted back to her human form before descending toward him.
As soon as shended on the ground, she immediately let loose an involuntary burp.
"I had a little too much to eat," she said in an embarrassed manner.
"You were telling me that you''ve been constantly feeling hungrytely, so I''m d you were able to have a good meal. You should return to the domain to rest," Han Li said with a smile.
"I do indeed need to go into seclusion for some time. Once I''ve digested all of this power, I''ll be much more helpful to you in battle, Master," Weeping Soul replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a door of silver light, and Weeping Soul immediately stepped into it.
Chapter 1066: Inevitable Battle
Chapter 1066: Inevitable Battle
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to close the door of light, then flew over to the archway that was all that remained of the temple.
At the center of the archway was a pair of dpidated wooden doors that looked as if they were only just barely hanging on for dear life, and on each door was a pixiu-shaped brass knocker, which bore some resemnce to Xiao Bai.
Judging from the array patterns on the doors, the restriction on them didn''t appear to be particrly profound, but they were giving off the same type of energy fluctuations as the entrance to the third level, so it was clear that the fourth level was also going to be easy to enter, but almost impossible to leave.
After observing the archway for a short while, Han Li began working on unraveling the restriction.
Before long, two streaks of light arrived on the scene, and they were none other than Jin Liu and Su Anqian.
After a brief hesitation, Jin Liu cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li with aplex look on his face, while Su Anqian was observing Han Li with a wary look in her eyes, clearly unsure of what to make of him.
"Did you catch them?" Han Li asked in a casual manner as he continued what he was doing.
"Those two ghostly generals took the lives of two of our sect''s elders, so we weren''t going to let them get away," Jin Liu replied.
"I''ll go bury their remains," Su Anqian said to Jin Liu before promptly departing, and Jin Liu looked on at her departing figure for a moment before turning his gaze back to Han Li.
After a long hesitation, he asked, "Fellow Daoist Shi, why is it that you''ve hidden your true power all this time? Are you facing some difficult circumstances?"
"No, I''m just used to proceeding with caution as an itinerant cultivator. There''s no need to be overly wary of me, Fellow Daoist Jin. I am nor your enemy, and I don''t n to change that," Han Li replied.
"My apologies for the rudeness that I disyed to you earlier, Fellow Daoist Shi. The fact that you were willing to help Valley Master Fu and the others tells that you''re definitely not the type to hold grudges. Hence, I''m not worried that you could be a potential enemy of mine. Instead, I would like to propose an alliance," Jin Liu said.
"I''m used to working on my own, so I''ll have to pass. On top of that, there''s no foundation of trust between us, so how can we expect one another to trulymit to an alliance?" Han Li replied with a smile, and a hesitant look appeared on Jin Liu''s face upon hearing this.
"We''vee all this way together, so I''ll be sure to lend you my assistance in your time of need, as long as it''s within reason, but don''t expect anything more out of me. Once the time is right, we can all part ways and go off on our own," Han Li continued.
Right as his voice trailed off, the restriction was unraveled, and he took a step back as he pped his hands together.
A burst of nging rang out from within the archway, and the two wooden doors slowly opened outward to reveal a door of dark red light.
Before long, Su Anqian had also returned, and the three of them conversed briefly with each other before stepping into the door of light together.
......
Elsewhere in the Eon Pagoda.
There was a lonesome ck and white archway standing in a barren area that was littered with loose rocks.
Leaning against the foot of one of the archway''s pirs was none other than Qi Mozi, who had just fled from his battle against Han Li.
His palms were joined in front of his chest, and he was hovering slightly in mid-air while waves of rippling golden light were constantly emanating from his body.
Momentster, his eyes sprang open as an enraged look appeared on his face, and he spat through gritted teeth, "Even if I cultivate the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome for ten million more years, it still won''t amount to anything! Who did you pass your Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra down to, Patriarch Miro? Could it be that Han Li really was your final disciple?"
He then fell silent for a moment before specting to himself, "Alternatively, could it be that he also eavesdropped on your lecture like that rat did?"
However, he then immediately shook his head to deny the idea.
If one could glean the secrets of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra just by eavesdropping on Patriarch Miro''s lectures, then he and his martial brothers would have to beplete idiots to have not been able to glean those same secrets.
The good thing is that he only seems to have just begun mastering the cultivation art. The effects caused by the Five Elemental Illusory World won''t linger for too long, and once my cultivation base is restored, I won''t let him get away again! Even if I can''t secure the cultivation art from him, I have to at least kill him. Otherwise, he''s going to develop into a major threat in the future.
With that in mind, he joined his palms again and continued to cultivate.
......
Meanwhile, Han Li''s trio had arrived in a vast icescape.
At this moment, the three of them were standing on an extremely thick block of ice, and there were many mountains of ice in the distance in all directions, giving off vibrant rays of light.
Fierce cial winds were howling over the icescape, sending shards and chunks of ice flying in all directions.
Several thousand feet behind the three of them was an enormous mountain of ice, embedded into which was a spatial door that was shing with crimson light.
Beside the spatial door stood a stone que with the character for "four" engraved upon it.
At the moment, the three of them were carefully inspecting the surrounding environment with wary expressions.
The first thing that Han Li noticed was that the time-attribute restriction on this level was more formidable than on the previous one, and spiritual sense was also even more severely restricted here, with his spiritual sensory range reduced to roughly half of what he had been able to muster up on the third level.
"Let''s do some exploring," Su Anqian proposed as she rose up into the air, and Han Li and Jin Liu did the same, following which each of them flew away in a different direction.
As Han Li flew through the air, he discovered that his speed was significantly hampered, also reduced to only around half of what he had been able to reach on the third level.
Of course, the three of them weren''t flying at full speed. Instead, they were proceeding with great caution, making sure to constantly survey their surroundings as they went.
Han Li appeared quite calm and rxed on the surface, but in reality, he was treading very carefully while releasing his spiritual sense as far as it would go.
Even though he had already predicted that Qi Mozi would''ve already entered the Eon Pagoda, he was still stunned by theirtest run-in.
He had thought that with therge strides he had made in his own cultivation base, he should''ve at least been able to ensure self-preservation against Qi Mozi, but that was not the case.
What was even more troublesome now was that he was currently unable to use any of his time-attributew treasures, thereby making him very vulnerable, and he didn''t know if or when Qi Mozi was going to suddenly show up again.
As he continued deeper into the Eon Pagoda, the two of them were eventually going to have another encounter, and that would most likely be a fight to the death.
It seemed that he had unwittingly used some type of secret technique in the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra to save himself, but now that Qi Mozi knew what to expect, Han Li didn''t know if he was going to be so lucky in their next run-in.
With that in mind, Han Li heaved a faint sigh as he promptly devoured a pair of pills to replenish his immortal spiritual power reserves.
In the wake of the recent string of intense battles, he had been forced to expend a great deal of immortal spiritual power.
To his surprise, as the pills began to replenish his immortal spiritual power reserves, all of his time-attributew treasures also began to stir and disy signs of awakening.
This was naturally a very encouraging sign for Han Li, and he felt a lot more reassured as he focused on digesting the pills that he had just taken.
Close to a day flew by in the blink of an eye.
To the surprise of Han Li''s trio, the three of them didn''t encounter anything during this time. There were no treasures, nor were they attacked by any metal beasts or Fire Age Fireflies.
Everything on the fourth level had been very peaceful thus far, almost eerily so.
"I''m starting to be a little unsettled by how quiet it is here," Jin Liu murmured to himself.
Han Li''s brows were also slightly furrowed in apprehension. Even after traveling for such a long time on the fourth level, they had encountered nothing but the same monotonous icescapes.
"This ce is indeed rather strange. Having said that, it''s definitely not a bad thing that we haven''t encountered any danger thus far. Hopefully, we can find the spatial entrance to the next level without encountering any conflict," Su Anqian mused.
With that, the three of them fell silent as they continued to advance while scouring their surroundings with their spiritual sense.
The trio continued onward for half a day without making any discoveries, and it was only upon arriving before an enormous mountain of ice that they finally came upon something different.
At the bottom of the mountain of ice was a cluster of pces that had been constructed from some type of blue, jade-like material, and they wereid out in a simr fashion to the buildings in the ancient temple on the third level, except they were far less ominous in appearance.
However, most of the pces had already copsed, and many ces had been frozen solid.
Han Li''s trio exchanged a few nces with one another upon seeing this.
"Theyout of these buildings is very simr to the ones on the third level. ording to Ghost King Wu Chao, there''s a fugitive being held captive on each level of the Eon Pagoda, so we can most likely expect some type of formidable being to be residing here as well. With that in mind, let''s be a bit more careful," Su Anqian said with a solemn expression.
Chapter 1067: Coincidental Encounter
Chapter 1067: Coincidental Encounter
Both Han Li and Jin Liu nodded in agreement with this sentiment.
The three of them released their spiritual sense to scour the surrounding area for a while, and upon verifying that there were no hazards nearby, they jumped down and began to carefully examine the area, but they weren''t able to make any noteworthy discoveries.
There were no signs of any living beings in the area, only more ice and freezing winds.
Before long, the three of them arrived before arge pce deep within the cluster of pces.
This deep within the cluster of pces, they were no longer able to feel the freezing winds outside, and as soon as Han Li set foot in the pce, a peculiar look immediately appeared on his face.
This minute change in expression didn''t escape Su Anqian''s attention, and she immediately asked, "Have you noticed something, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
At this point, Jin Liu was also taking Han Li much more seriously than before, and he immediately stopped in his tracks to hear what Han Li had to say.
Instead of answering Su Anqian''s question, Han Li quickly made his way over to a corner of the pce before picking up several strands of semi-transparent white fur.
The strands of fur were extremely soft and around half a foot in length. On top of that, they were extremely thin and barely visible, and even Han Li would''ve most likely failed to notice them had it not been for his formidable spiritual sense.
"That looks like some type of beast fur," Su Anqian remarked.
"Perhaps there really is some type of beast residing in this area," Han Li spected as he stowed the strands of fur away before casting his gaze deeper into the pce.
Thanks to the multitude of true spirit bloodlines in his body, he was extremely sensitive to the auras of true spirits, and he had detected a faint true spirit aura from these strands of fur, one that was rather simr to his own Azure Luan Bird bloodline.
Su Anqian and Jin Liu exchanged a wary nce with each other.
After a brief hesitation, Jin Liu swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a streak of greennd thatnded on the ground before him.
The green light then faded to reveal a small, green, fox-like beast with a remarkably long nose and a pair of spritely green eyes.
As soon as the fox-like creature appeared, it began sniffing vigorously at the ground before rushing forward.
"That''s a Green-Eyed Spirit Fox!" Han Li eximed.
"Looks like you''re quite knowledgeable when ites to spirit beasts, Fellow Daoist Shi," Jin Liu remarked with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
"I just so happened to read about these things in a scripture that I had browsed in the past," Han Li exined in an ambiguous fashion.
Green-Eyed Spirit Foxes weren''t particrly formidable in battle, but their eyes and noses were extremely sensitive, making them exceptional at tracking down treasures, but they were exceedingly rare creatures.
"With this Green-Eyed Spirit Fox leading the way, we should be a lot safer. Let''s go," Jin Liu said, and before long, the three of them had followed the Green-Eyed Spirit Fox through severalrge pces.
All of a sudden, the buildings up ahead became much sparser, and a long corridor came into view.
After passing through the corridor, Han Li''s trio arrived in a dark hall that was around two hundred to three hundred feet in size, and to their tion, deep within the hall stood a stone gate.
A dark red door of light was embedded into the stone gate, and it was none other than a spatial door.
However, there were no restrictions on the spatial door, perhaps indicating that they had already been undone by someone else.
"This spatial door was much easier to track down than the previous ones!" Su Anqian remarked with an ted expression, but at the same time, she refrained from approaching the spatial door right away as she carefully examined her surroundings with her spiritual sense.
The more tantalizing the circumstances, the higher the likelihood of the presence of a trap, so she remained very cautious and alert.
Han Li and Jin Liu were also scouring the hall with their spiritual sense, while the Green-Eyed Spirit Fox was darting its way around the hall.
Even after a thorough examination of the entire hall, the three of them weren''t able to find any traps or hazards, and that left them feeling rather perplexed.
"It looks like something must''ve happened that caused the copse of all of those pces. Whatever was held captive here must''ve either already perished or fled. Let''s go to the fifth level," Su Anqian said before leading the way into the spatial door, and sure enough, she was able to pass through without any incident.
Han Li and Jin Liu followed along upon seeing this, and the two of them found themselves standing on a barren desert.
Fierce winds were howling over the desert, throwing uprge volumes of sand into the air, and there was nothing but desert as far as the eyes could see in all directions.
On top of that, there were also some dirt hills in the surrounding area that had been contorted into all types of strange shapes from wind erosion, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
At this moment, Su Anqian was hovering in mid-air, scouring the surrounding area from up high.
The time-attribute restriction on this level was even more formidable, and Han Li discovered that his own spiritual sensory range had shrunk down to only around a tenth of its normal level.
Not only was the time-attribute restriction present in the area severely hampering spiritual sense, it also weighed down upon their souls like a heavy rock, and it was beginning to affect the uracy of their spiritual sense.
"Let''s go. If this pagoda really does have a total of seven levels, then there are only three levels left. Hopefully, this level will be just as uneventful as thest one," Su Anqian said.
With that, the three of them continued onward, but as they did so, they discovered that the winds were bing stronger and stronger, sweeping up countless loose rocks of different sizes to severely impact visibility.
All of a sudden, Han Li stopped in his tracks as he cast his gaze directly forward.
"What is it, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Su Anqian asked as she and Jin Liu also stopped in their tracks.
"This wind is rather strange. It''s not formed naturally. Instead, someone''s controlling it," Han Li replied.
Su Anqian and Jin Liu faltered slightly upon hearing this, then began to carefully examine the surrounding environment, upon which they discovered that there were traces of spiritual qi fluctuation interspersed throughout the wind, indicating that someone was indeed controlling it.
"Looks like we won''t be able to pass through this level as easily as the previous one. What should we do now? Should we go and take a look?" Jin Liu asked.
It had to take an extremely formidable being to conjure up a wind storm of such an enormous scale, and there was a good chance that it was the being imprisoned on this level.
"Judging from past experience, the spatial doors are always somewhere near the beings held captive on the levels, so I''m afraid that we may have no choice but to confront whatever it is," Su Anqian mused.
"I agree," Han Li replied with a nod.
Jin Liu was a little hesitant, but he ultimately raised no objections, and the three of them continued onward, tracking the spiritual qi fluctuations in the air as they went.
The further they went, the stronger the winds became, and the spiritual qi fluctuations in the air wind also became stronger, so it was a simple task for them to track down the source of these winds.
As they continued onward, the dirt hills up ahead also increased in number and size, and they were gradually beginning to form some yellow mountain ranges.
After close to an hour of travel, the three of them finally found the source of the spiritual qi in the wind.
The trio descended onto an obscure location near a canyon that was several hundred kilometers in size, and they concealed their own auras as they cast their eyes forward.
At this moment, there were dozens of thick, white tornadoes wreaking havoc within the canyon. Each of them was over a thousand feet in diameter and dozens of kilometers tall, stretching all the way up into the clouds.
These tornadoes were imbued with extremely formidable spiritual power andw powers, and they were sweeping through the area with unmatched ferocity, easily shredding and devouring everything that they came into contact with.
There was a white figure that could just barely be made out within thergest of the tornadoes, but it was impossible to see them clearly through the tornado, and the violentw powers within the tornado also kept out all prying spiritual sense.
There was also a group of around five or six cultivators present in the canyon, and they were doing everything in their power to ward off the surrounding tornadoes.
"It''s them!"
The group consisted of Lei Yuce, Wenzhong, a young man and woman duo who were both dressed in ck, and the young man who had previously appeared together with Qi Mozi.
In addition to them, there was also Lan Yan, who had managed to flee from Han Li.
Surprised looks had also appeared on the faces of Su Anqian and Jin Liu at the sight of the six people up ahead.
The tornadoes were extremely formidable, and even though the six of them were resisting with all their might, it was clear that they were fighting a losing battle.
What was even more rming to Han Li was that he could sense at the figure within the tornado wasn''t using their full power. Instead, they seemed to be merely toying with Lei Yuce and the others.
Right at his moment, a burst of high-pitched cackling rang out from within the tornado.
"You were hoping to get to the sixth level with your pathetic powers? What a joke! You should all just stay here and entertain me."
As soon as the voice trailed off, all of the tornadoes instantly fused as one, forming an incredibly massive tornado that swept up Lei Yuce''s group within it.
The unfathomably enormous tornado stood like a pir that was supporting the heavens, sweeping up winds that were several times more ferocious than before.
The immortal treasures summoned by Lei Yuce and the others were being blown around like severed kites, and all of them were trapped within the tornado, unable to escape.
Su Anqian and Jin Liu''s expressions changed drastically upon seeing this.
Lei Yuce was certainly no slouch, and the people with him appeared to be quite powerful as well, yet they had been trapped like a bunch of helpless children.
Han Li''s brows also furrowed slightly upon seeing this. The tornado didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way, and it was only imbued with windw powers, so he didn''t understand how it could be this formidable.
He activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes for a closer look, and only then was he able to discover the secret to the tornado''s power.
As it turned out, there were two different types of windw powers within the tornado, but they were perfectly fused together and barely distinguishable from one another.
Chapter 1068: Decision
Chapter 1068: Decision
So these white tornadoes are formed by the fusion of two types ofw powers. No wonder they''re so powerful.
The fusion ofw powers could produce power that far exceeded the sum of the individualw powers.
However, this type of fusion was extremely rare and difficult to achieve, and Han Li had barely seen any instances of it during all his time in the True Immortal Realm. The only examples that he could think of were Gongshu Tian and his immortal envoypanion, Lan Yan and Lan Yuanzi, and Wyrm 3 and himself.
However, those instances ofw fusion were all very surface-levelpared with these tornadoes, thew powers within which were fused to a far higher degree.
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes as he tried to think of a way to counteract thai fusion ofw powers, but to no avail.
Secret techniques that facilitated the fusion ofw powers were extremely rare, and it was even rarer for people to put such secret techniques into writing. Even if scriptures containing these secret techniques existed, they were most likely in the possession of a very small number of people.
Han Li had been able to enjoy a great deal of freedom cultivating on his own for all these years, but the downside was that with no mentor to guide him, he was very muchcking in cultivation experience.
With that in mind, he decided that once he left this secret area, he would have to find someone to instruct him in the cultivation ofw powers and spirit domains. As a Reincarnation Disciple, he was certain that he would be able to find suitable mentors in the Reincarnation Pce as long as he was willing to spend the Immortal Origin Stones.
Right at this moment, the white figure within the tornado heaved a forlorn sigh."Is that all you''ve got? This is pathetic! How disappointing!"
Furious looks instantly appeared on the face of Lei Yuce and the others upon hearing this, and all of them unleashed their spirit domains, which stacked on top of one another.
Lei Yuce''s golden spirit domain was thergest of them all, and the area epassed within the spirit domain was riddled with golden mountains that were, in turn, riddled with bright, golden swords that were giving off tremendous sword intent.
As soon as his spirit domain was unfurled, everyone was instantly stabilized, no longer involuntarily being swept up by the tornado around them.
A solemn look appeared on Lei Yuce''s as he chanted an incantation while making a rapid string of hand seals, and around fifty to sixty translucent goldenw threads shot out of his body, giving off immensew power fluctuations.
All of the golden swords within his spirit domain instantly converged toward the goldenw threads before fusing into them, and before long, thew threads had transformed into dozens of giant golden swords of all types of different shapes and sizes.
Despite the disparities in the appearances of these giant swords, every single one of them was giving off an almighty aura!
The dozens of giant golden swords circled around within the spirit domain, and all of them were releasing formidable sword intent, but they didn''t conflict with one another at all, and they had formed a peculiar sword array.
As soon as the array took shape, the sword qi released by all of the giant swords instantly shot forth to fill the entire surrounding space.
At the same time, Lei Yuce let loose a thunderous roar, and each of the giant swords released a burst of enormous sword qi that struck the surrounding tornado.
The sound of tearing fabric rang out as the tornado bulged outward, while a series of gashes were torn into it, with rays of blinding, golden light shining through.
Even Han Li couldn''t help but be stunned by the sight of the sword array.
His Azure Coil Sword Array and Horned Dragon Sword Array were both top-tier sword arrays, but even they were slightly inferior to the one that Lei Yuce was currently putting on disy.
It seemed that the Almighty Sword Sect''s title of number one sword sect in the Golden Origin Immortal Region was well-deserved.
On top of that, Han Li was also very intrigued by Lei Yuce''s ability to manifest flying swords using hisw threads to unleash the sword array, as opposed to using actual flying swords.
A hint of envy shed through Wen Zhong''s eyes at the sight of the sword array unleashed by Lei Yuce, and he also sprang into action as four huge streaks of golden swordlight erupted out of his spirit domain.
Each streak of swordlight was around a thousand feet in size, and designs of the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Xuanwu Turtle had been engraved upon them. These streaks of swordlight were also giving off tremendous sword qi, but far less so than Lei Yuce''s sword array.
Wen Zhong thrust a palm forward, and the four streaks of swordlight shot forth through the air to strike the white tornado in unison.
Meanwhile, Lan Yan had conjured up a blue spirit domain and summoned that blue sickle of hers before unleashing her Origin Water sh, sending an arc of blue light that was several hundred feet in length sweeping toward the white tornado.
Xiong Shan had also summoned his spirit domain, and in this dire situation, he wasn''t holding back, either, sweeping a sleeve through the air to release hundreds of flying swords, forming a circr, golden sword array that was around an acre in size.
A deafening roar rang out as a golden sword dragon formed by swordlight emerged from the center of the golden array, then pounced at the tornado with unstoppable might.
As for the ck-robed duo, each of them had only summoned an immortal treasure, and it was unclear if this was because they were still yet to attain spirit domains.
The ck-robed woman had summoned arge, white bead that was etched with radiant, golden patterns and was filled with immensew powers, while the ck-robed young man had summoned a tree-branch-like immortal treasure that was several feet in length.
The branch had seven sub-branches, at the tips of which were specks of menacing, ck light that was giving off a bloody odor, indicating that it was some type of sinister artifact.
As soon as the two immortal treasures left their hands, they immediately transformed into two streaks of light, one ck and one white, before crashing into the tornado with astounding power.
Thanks to everyone''sbined efforts, the rifts on the surrounding tornado had widened even further, and it was beginning to disy signs of serious strain.
"The Almighty Sword Array truly does live up to its name, but unfortunately, you have attained a sufficient number ofw threads to fully realize the array''s power, so it''s not going to be enough to break my Heavenly Gale Pir," the white-robed man in the other tornado cackled.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a white spirit domain appeared within the tornado before rapidly proliferating outward in all directions.
The spirit domain was filled with countless clouds and gusts of fierce wind, making one feel as if it had epassed the entire heavens.
Furthermore, it was significantlyrger than the spirit domains of Lei Yuce and the others, and it swallowed up all of them at once.
Lei Yuce and the others instantly felt a burst of tremendous force weigh down upon them, as if they had sunken into a bottomless pit of mud, making it very difficult to move. At the same time, a burst of formidablew power surged into their spirit domains, throwing them into a state of violent disarray.
Meanwhile, close to a hundred whitew threads shot out of the white spirit domain before fusing into the tornado in a sh, and the gashes that had appeared on its surface were instantly sealed.
On top of that, it had be even denser and sturdier than before.
Grim looks appeared on the faces of Han Li''s trio upon seeing this, and in particr, Su Anqian''s lips were tightly pursed with concern, but it was unclear whom her concern was directed toward.
"It looks like Lei Yuce and the others are no match for their assant. Should we help them?" Jin Liu asked.
"We don''t have any close ties with Lei Yuce and the others, but we''re still technically allies, so I think we should help them. Besides, if we stand by and let them die, then the three of us most likely won''t be able to fare much better on our own," Su Anqian said as she turned her gaze to Han Li.
At this point, she had already been thoroughly won over by the power and judgment disyed by Han Li, and she was beginning to regard her as the spiritual leader of their group, particrly when important decisions had to be made.
Jin Liu was rather reluctant toply, but he also reflexively turned to Han Li.
"I think Fellow Daoist Su is right. Right now, all of us are in the same boat, so we have to stick together and help one another as much as possible," Han Li decided.
With their minds made up, the three of them instantly vanished from the spot.
At this moment, Lei Yuce was standing within the enormous, white tornado with a grim look on his face, and all of a sudden, he let loose a loud roar as his face suddenly turned bright red.
At the same time, he made a hand seal, and a golden nascent soul that was around a foot in size flew out of the top of his head amid a sh of golden light.
The nascent soul opened its mouth to release a ball of shimmering, golden blood essence that contained astonishingly formidablew powers, and the ball of blood essence vanished into the surrounding golden spirit domain in a sh.
Immediately thereafter, all of the color was drained from Lei Yuce''s face, and even his skin had be wizened and wrinkled, as if he had just aged significantly.
However, the golden spirit domain around him was significantly bolstered, managing to stabilize itself again.
The Almighty Sword Array within the spirit domain also lit up as all of the giant swords flew back to Lei Yuce''s side before circling rapidly around him.
A burst of terrifying sword intent that was several times more formidable than that of the sword array erupted out of Lei Yuce''s body, and a giant, illusory, golden sword appeared around, threatening to pierce through the very heavens.
The space near the illusory sword was quivering incessantly, and with a sweep of Lei Yuce''s sleeve, the giant sword projection was sent flying toward the surrounding tornado, slicing through the space in its path with ease.
"I''ll admit that your mastery of the Almighty Sword Array is very impressive, but once again, your cultivation base is the limiting factor here," the white figure remarked, but this time, a more serious tone had crept into his voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a white hoof projection that the size of a house emerged within the tornado.
Immediately thereafter, over a hundred whitew threads appeared within the white spirit domain, all of which vanished into the hoof projection in a sh.
The hazy hoof projection instantly became much clearer and more substantial before stomping down with ferocious might.
Chapter 1069: Lekima
Chapter 1069: Lekima
The space beneath the hoof projection rippled like the surface of a disturbedke before exploding to create a massive spatial hole.
The hoof projection continued onward without pause, stomping straight through the spatial hole and onto the tip of the giant, illusory sword.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the two shed, causing the entire surrounding space to tremble and ripple.
The hoof projection exploded upon contact, but the illusory sword was also shattered before disintegrating into countless pecks of golden light.
The white tornado shuddered violently from the resulting shockwaves, and a series of gashes appeared over its surface.
In the wake of the hoof projection''s implosion, all of the whitew threads reappeared, glowing just as brightly as before.
However, right as thew threads were about to fade back into the white spirit domain, two blue spirit domains abruptly appeared without any warning to capture them.
At the same time, a blue ice sword that was over a thousand feet in length and a blue fist the size of a small mountain appeared in unison before the tornado before crashing into it with astonishing power.
The tornado shuddered violently once more, and the gashes on its surface widened even further, but it remained intact."Did you think I hadn''t noticed the two of you sneaking around this entire time? You could''ve perhaps lived a little longer had you remained hidden, but seeing as you two are so eager to rush to your graves, I''d be more than happy to send you on your way!" the white figure chortled, following which a giant, white hand appeared in his spirit domain before grabbing down onto what appeared to be nothing but empty air.
A resounding boom rang out as a ball of piercing blue light abruptly appeared in the giant hand''s grasp, following which Su Anqian and Jin Liu stumbled out of thin air before being captured.
However, right at this moment, a golden finger projection that was over a hundred feet in length and as thick as a water vat descended suddenly out of the sky, giving off an aura that suggested it was capable of piercing through anything in its path.
The surrounding space was so severely warped by the finger projection''s aura that countless golden spars had appeared around it, and the white tornado was only able to pose some brief resistance before a huge hole was pierced into its surface, following which it exploded with a deafening boom.
Lei Yuce and the others were both astonished and ecstatic to see this, and they hurriedlybined their powers to force their way out of the white spirit domain.
"Who''s there? Come out, you coward!" the white figure yelled in a bewildered voice as he frantically scoured his surroundings.
Han Li appeared within the white spirit domain amid a sh of golden light, and there was a smile on his face as he said, "I''ve been standing here this entire time, it''s just that you failed to notice me."
After close to a day of rest, all of his time-attributew treasures had recovered somewhat, allowing him to use both the Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique and the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra to conceal himself. In doing so, he was able to sneak over to the white tornadopletely undetected before destroying it with his Heaven Piercing Figure.
The white figure was very much taken aback by the fact that Han Li had managed topletely avoid the detection of his spiritual sense, and taking advantage of his momentarypse in concentration, Su Anqian and Jin Liu were able to force their way out of the giant hand projection around them before flying to Han Li''s side.
The white figure was furious to see this, and heshed out without any hesitation.
The giant, white hand shot forth through the air at his behest, reaching Su Anqian and Jin Liu in the blink of an eye before grabbing down on them once again.
At the same time, it was giving off a terrifying aura that threatened to crush the very space beneath it, and Su Anqian and Jin Liu were instantly slowed down in their escape as a result.
However, right at this moment, a mountainous, golden fist projection appeared out of thin air, releasing waves of rippling, golden light as it crashed into the huge, white hand.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the fist and hand projections were shattered in unison, and the resulting shockwaves created countless spatial rifts in the surrounding area.
Han Li shuddered violently as he took an involuntary step backward, while the white figure within the tornado also swayed slightly.
With the giant hand destroyed, Su Anqian and Jin Liu were freed from the restrictive force it had exerted upon them, and they hurriedly flew over to Han Li.
At the same time, they were also joined by Lei Yuce and the others.
At this point, some color had returned to Lei Yuce''s face, and he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li''s trio as he said, "Thank you for your help in our time of need, fellow daoists."
Even though he was addressing the three of them at once, his gaze was fixed solely on Su Anqian with a look of affection in his eyes.
Su Anqian averted her eyes from Lei Yuce''s affectionate gaze as she said, "There''s no need to thank me or Jin Liu. Fellow Daoist Shi was the one who saved all of you, so if you want someone to thank, then thank him."
A hint of surprise shed through Lei Yuce''s eyes upon hearing this, and he turned to Han Li before extending another grateful salute.
Everyone else was also quite surprised to hear this, but they still offered their gratitude to Han Li, nheless.
In contrast, Lan Yan was already aware of Han Li''s power, so she wasn''t surprised at all, and at this moment, there was abination of panic, resentment, and wariness in her eyes as she glowered at Han Li.
Han Li paid no heed to Lan Yan''s hostile gaze as his eyes remained fixed on the white figure.
Even though he had managed to catch the white figure off guard and destroy the tornado, it was clear that this was an extremely formidable opponent, and he couldn''t afford to get distracted.
Thankfully, Lei Yuce and the others had been freed, so everyone was able to join forces and put up a concerted resistance.
"Finally, a worthy opponent. Looks like this won''t be aplete waste of time, after all," the white figure chortled with glee, and all of the scattered whitew threads around him instantly vanished into his body.
At the same time, the tornado around him faded away, revealing a majestic, white horse with a pristine, white mane.
At this moment, the horse was standing on its hindlegs, and it was resting one of its front hooves against its waist in a very humanized gesture, while an azure pipe that it was smoking out of was held in its other hoof.
Han Li and the others were all stunned to see this.
Han Li took a moment topose himself, then asked, "May I ask your name, Fellow Daoist?"
"You don''t know who I am? What rock have you been living under all this time? Listen up, my name is Lekima! [1] You''re a pretty strong little brat. You''ve mastered thews of time, and your physical body is also very powerful. Come, let''s have a fight!"
Fierce battle intent was glowing in Lekima''s eyes as it set down its pipe before approaching Han Li, but all of a sudden, it stopped in its tracks as a peculiar look appeared on its face.
Immediately thereafter, the white spirit domain around it faded away, and it flew away into the distance as a streak of white light, traveling at an astonishing speed.
Han Li was already prepared for a grueling battle, so it felt rather anticlimactic that Lekima had suddenly departed without any warning, and everyone else was also exchanging perplexed looks with one another.
However, Lekima''s abrupt departure was certainly good news for them.
In particr, Lei Yuce''s group was suffering from severe immortal spiritual power depletion in the wake of their battle against Lekima, and they eagerly took this opportunity to take some pills and recover.
"When did the three of you get here, Fellow Daoist Su?" Lei Yuce asked after taking some pills.
Su Anqian was looking into the distance,pletely ignoring Lei Yuce, while Han Li offered no reply, either, seemingly lost in thought.
Jin Liu stepped in to respond to Lei Yuce''s questions, giving him a brief recount of their journey up to this point. However, he made sure to omit certain details, such as the firefly hives that they had obtained and the Heavenly Water Sect elders that he had concealed within that spatial pagoda of his.
Han Li turned to Jin Liu with an intrigued look in his eyes upon seeing this.
He could understand Jin Liu keeping the matter of the firefly hives a secret, but it felt to him like Jin Liu had some type of ulterior motive for refraining to mention the elders in the spatial pagoda.
Jin Liu noticed Han Li''s gaze, and he immediately looked back at Han Li with a hint of warning in his eyes.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, but ultimately looked away without exposing Jin Liu''s omission.
Jin Liu was quite relieved to see this, and he continued chatting with Lei Yuce, asking him about his journey up to this point.
As it turned out, the experiences of Lei Yuce''s group were quite simr to those of Han Li''s group. They had also encountered many perils on the way here, gradually losing members as they went, and all that remained was this group of five.
With retreat no longer an option, they continued onward, searching for both a way out and potential opportunities.
Close to a day ago, they encountered Lan Yan, who was traveling on her own, and she joined their group, shortly following which they were attacked by Lekima.
Jin Liu was also rather skeptical about Lei Yuce''s recount of events, but seeing as he had also kept many secrets from Lei Yuce, he was in no position to say anything.
A forlorn look appeared on his face as he sighed, "It looks like the Eon Pagoda is fraught with peril regardless of which path we chose. We entered the pagoda with hundreds of fellow daoists, yet there are fewer than ten of us left now."
Sullen looks also appeared on the faces of Lei Yuce and the others upon hearing this.
1. This is a y on words involving Typhoon Lekima, the fourth costliest typhoon in Chinese history. Its Chinese name (ÀûÆæÂí) ends in the character Âí, which trantes to horse, so this thing is basically a typhoon horse. ?
Chapter 1070: Onward
Chapter 1070: Onward
"Fellow Daoist Lei, that Lekima has a very strange and unpredictable personality. Just because it''s gone now doesn''t mean that it won''t suddenlye back to attack us againter. Hence, I think we should join forces and explore this Eon Pagoda together. What do you say?" Jin Liu proposed.
Lei Yuce was very happy to oblige with this suggestion, and he took an excited nce at Su Anqian as he immediately replied, "That would be fantastic! I''ll be in your care then, Fellow Daoist Jin."
Everyone else in Lei Yuce''s group had just witnessed the power of Jin Liu''s trio, particrly the incredible power disyed by Han Li, so they naturally raised no objections to this, either.
Even though Lan Yan didn''t want to travel with Han Li, she was only going to turn everyone against her by objecting to the proposal, so she chose to remain silent.
"In that case, let''s set off right away, Fellow Daoist Lei," Jin Liu said with a smile.
Having had some time to rest and recuperate, everyone had already recovered somewhat, and thus, they continued onward.
In the wake of Lekima''s departure, the howling winds sweeping through the area had already mostly subsided, so everyone was able to fly onward without much trouble.
However, everyone was rather apprehensive of another potential attack from Lekima, so they didn''t dare to travel at full speed.
"Fellow Daoist Lei, you reached this level before us, have you managed to find the spatial door leading to the next level?" Su Anqian suddenly asked.
"Truth be told, we only arrived on this level not long ago, and we didn''t get a chance to do much exploring before we encountered Lekima, so I''m afraid I know next to nothing about theyout of this level," Lei Yuce hurriedly replied, and Su Anqian fell silent upon hearing this.
Lei Yuce was ecstatic that Su Anqian had struck up a conversation with him, and he was just about to speak to her again when Han Li suddenly approached him and interjected, "Do you know anything about that Lekima from just now, Fellow Daoist Lei?"
Lei Yuce was rather displeased by Han Li''s interjection, but he made sure not to disy his displeasure as he asked, "What are you referring to specifically, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
"I''m sure you''ve also discovered at this point that this Eon Pagoda is a ce where Immortal Lord Tai Sui kept certain powerful beings captive. Could it be that Lekima is the creature being held captive on this level? You fought it for quite some time, and it seemed very talkative, so I was thinking that perhaps you had managed to gather some useful information from it," Han Li replied.
"We were indeed locked in battle against Lekima for quite some time, and some conversation did take ce between us, but it never spoke about its identity. However, judging from its immense powers, it most likely is the creature being held captive on this level," Lei Yuce replied as a hint of frustration welled up in his heart.
During their battle against Lekima, it had attempted to converse with them on multiple asions, but they had ignored it in order to focus on the battle. If someone could''ve had the foresight to entertain its attempts at making conversation, then perhaps they would''ve been able to gather some useful information.
Of course, Lei Yuce certainly wasn''t going to reveal this and make a fool out of himself in Su Anqian''s presence.
Han Li nodded in response and didn''t speak any further on the topic, and the group continued onward in silence.
Momentster, Su Anqian approached Han Li before asking through voice transmission, "What do you think of Lei Yuce''s assessment of the situation, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
"Do you still recall those strands of white fur that we found on the fourth level?" Han Li asked.
A sh of recollection appeared in Su Anqian''s eyes upon hearing this, and she immediately realized what Han Li was implying.
"Those strands of fur were quite simr to the hairs in Lekima''s mane."
"They''re not just simr, I''m certain that they''re one and the same. I don''t know why its fur appeared on the fourth level, but I think we should be prepared for the possibility that there''s more than one powerful creature on this level," Han Li replied, and Su Anqian gave a thoughtful nod upon hearing this.
Lei Yuce was flying along up ahead, but he could detect the secret conversation taking ce between Han Li and Su Anqian, and a hint of displeasure appeared in his eyes, only to vanish in a sh.
The group continued onward for a while longer when Jin Liu suddenly drew to a halt at hte forefront of the group.
Everyone else also stopped in their tracks upon seeing this, following which ted looks appeared on their faces at the sight that were greeted by.
Up ahead was a tall mountain that was rather strange in appearance in that it was segmented into two spherical halves that were stacked on top of one another, forming what appeared to be a massive gourd.
There was a cluster of connected dark green pces at the foot of the mountain, forming what appeared to be an imperial city that was around twenty to thirty acres in area, and itsyout was very simr to that of the clusters of pces on the previous two levels.
With that in mind, it was very likely that the spatial door leading to the next level was situated in this cluster of pces.
Even though this thought had urred to everyone, no one descended toward the pces.
If the spatial door really were here, then Lekima was most likely here as well, and no one wanted to confront it.
"Lekima only dared to take us on when we were separated into two groups, but as soon as we joined forces, it immediately fled in a panic, so I''m confident that there''s nothing for us to fear even if we run into Lekima here! On top of that, I can see shes of spiritual light in the pces down below, indicating that there must be powerful treasures inside, so I say we go down there and do some exploring," Lei Yuce proposed.
Everyone was instilled with a sense of confidence upon hearing his analysis, and they were also tempted by the prospect of powerful treasures to be found in the pces down below, so they quickly began to descend toward the foot of the mountain.
Before long, everyone had arrived in front of the outermost pce. Its gates were wide open, and there was a copper que hanging above its entrance with the words "Indelible Pce" inscribed upon it inrge, golden characters.
As soon as they descended onto the ground below, everyone''s expressions instantly changed slightly as they discovered that there was a burst of formidable restrictive power within this cluster of pces.
The restriction had no impact on cultivation bases, but it severely restricted spiritual sense, and even with Han Li''s tremendous spiritual sense, his spiritual sensory range had been reduced to no more than a thousand feet.
Lei Yuce was also slightly rmed by this, but he had already rallied everyone toe here, so he couldn''t turn back now. Hence, he mustered up his courage and strode into the pce as he dered, "It''s just a spiritual sense restriction, there''s nothing to be afraid of."
Despite what he was saying, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a golden bowl immortal treasure that hovered above his head, releasing ayer of golden light to epass his entire body.
Everyone else also summoned some protective immortal treasures before making their way into the pce behind Lei Yuce, only to discover that it waspletely empty with the exception of a few pirs.
Thus, everyone quickly filed out of the pce through a side door, then continued their exploration.
There were many pces in the area, and everyone was wary of the possibility of Lekima hiding in one of them, so they didn''t dare to split up or travel too quickly.
Hence, even after half a day, they had only explored less than half of the area.
Thankfully, there were indeed some precious treasures in these pces, so their efforts weren''t unrewarded.
They hadn''t encountered any danger this entire time, and even though they hadn''t growncent, the tension in the ease had eased quite a bit.
The group passed through a long corridor before arriving in front of another pce, and this one was significantlyrger than all of the previous ones.
On top of that, it was also extremely ornate and riddled with intricate engravings, indicating that it was no ordinary pce.
Having already reaped a great deal of spoils up to this point, everyone was feeling quite excited, and their eyes immediately lit up slightly at the sight of the pce before them.
The gates of this pce were also wide open, yet right as the group was about to enter, rays of blue light suddenly emerged around the pce, then converged to form a blue light barrier in their path.
Lei Yuce harrumphed coldly upon seeing this, and he flicked a finger through the air to release a streak of radiant, golden light.
Inside the streak of light was a golden flying sword that was curved like a snake, and it transformed into a ribbon of golden light that was several dozen feet in length before striking the blue light barrier with immense power.
The light barrier instantly rippled violently amid the sound of sshing water, but it was able to keep the ribbon of golden light at bay.
Lei Yuce was not very pleased to see his attack being withstood so easily, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release six golden scimitars that hurtled toward the blue light barrier in unison, while the golden flying sword from before also came swooping down once again.
"Let''s break this restriction together, fellow daoists!" Wen Zhong yelled as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a streak of golden light that hurtled directly toward the blue light barrier, and everyone else immediately sprang into action as well.
In the blink of an eye, the blue light barrier was inundated by a ferocious barrage of attacks, and before long, it was shattered with a dull thump, following which everyone withdrew their immortal treasures before entering the pce.
All of a sudden, a hint of foreboding welled up in Han Li''s heart, but it only lingered for an instant before fading away, and he couldn''t tell if it was just a false sense of foreboding resulting from excessive apprehension.
He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts, then entered the pce at the very rear end of the group.
The space within the pce was quiterge, around four hundred to five hundred feet in size, and it waspletely empty with the exception of some stone pirs and a rectangr stone table at the very back of the pce.
The stone table appeared to be an offering table, and ced at its center was a golden tablet with some strange text inscribed upon it, text that was unfamiliar even to Han Li.
On top of that, there were many other items on the offering table, and they were very much a wee sight for everyone.
Chapter 1071: Exchange
Chapter 1071: Exchange
In addition to the tablet, there were a total of nine items on the offering table, all of which were spirit materials that were giving off astonishing aura fluctuations.
"That ck lotus flower is the Tranquil Water Immortal Lotus, one of the ten immortal lotus flowers of the True Immortal Realm! Consuming it can significantly enhance one''s cultivation base and grant one a Tranquil Water Immortal Physique, allowing them to master thews of water far easier than the average cultivator!"
"That''s Heavenly Vajra Diamond, a premium metal-attribute spirit material that can be used to refine immortal treasures with unmatched offensive prowess!"
"Is that a vial of True Profound Essence? It''s so pure, and there''s so much of it, enough for two people to progress to the Great Epassment Stage!"
Everyone quickly erupted into a frenzy at the sight of the spirit materials on the table, and a sh of excitement also appeared in Han Li''s eyes at the alluring sight, but his brows then furrowed slightly as he nced at the walls and ground around the stone table.
Jin Liu was staring intently at the Tranquil Water Immortal Lotus and the Heavenly Vajra Diamond beside it with a fervent look in his eyes, yet right as he was about to approach the table, Han Li suddenly appeared in his path.
"What do you think you''re doing?"
Jin Liu came under the false impression that Han Li was going to fight over the Tranquil Water Immortal Lotus with him, and a dark look instantly appeared on his face as he prepared to make a rush for the lotus flower.
"Take a look at what''s around the stone table before you do anything rash," Han Li said in an indifferent manner, and Jin Liu reflexively did as he was told, upon which his expression instantly changed slightly.
There were seven dark red designs engraved onto the walls around the stone table, each of which was around a foot in size and appeared to have already been here for countless years.
The seven designs seemed to be depicting seven deities, but all of them were quite sinister in appearance, indicating that they were unorthodox, malicious deities.
Furthermore, the seven designs were arranged over the walls and the ground in a certain pattern, but due to their red coloration, they blended into the dark red material of the walls, thereby making them barely visible.
After hearing what Han Li had to say, everyone else also quickly noticed the seven designs on the walls.
"It looks like some type of restriction," Wen Zhong remarked as he examined the seven designs, while everyone else exchanged nk nces with one another, and it seemed that no one recognized these designs.
"There''s only one way to find out!" Jin Liu said as he swept a sleeve through the air.
"Don''t be rash, Jin Liu!" Su Anqian hurriedly called out, but it was already toote, and a streak of blue light flew out of Jin Liu''s sleeve before sweeping toward the stone table.
As soon as the streak of blue light approached the stone table, the seven designs around it instantly began to glow with radiant, crimson light, conjuring a crimson light barrier.
At the same time, arge head belonging to one of the seven malicious deities appeared over the light barrier, and it opened its mouth to devour the streak of blue light.
After devouring the streak of blue light, the head let loose a menacing roar at Han Li and the others, looking as if it wanted to struggle free from the confines of the crimson light barrier to devour them.
A burst of violent intent erupted out of the head, and it was transmitted directly into the minds of everyone present.
Everyone instantly felt themselves seeing red as horrific scenes of mountainous piles of bodies and vast rivers of blood surfaced in their minds, while boundless killing intent converged toward their souls.
Thankfully, everyone present possessed lofty cultivation bases and sufficiently powerful spiritual sense to quickly dispel the killing intent.
The head of the malicious deity roared a few more times, but it was ultimately unable to struggle free from the crimson light barrier, and it quickly faded away, shortly following which the light barrier itself also disappeared.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this.
He didn''t recognize this crimson array, but it appeared to him that this was a very simr array to the Weeping Blood Array in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, except it was more offensively oriented.
Having said that, he still had no idea how to unravel it.
"It looks like essing the treasures inside is going to be quite difficult with this array in the way," Lei Yuce mused.
"There''s nothing to be worried about! With so many of us here, I''m sure we can just break this array by force!" Jin Liu harrumphed coldly as he swept a greedy gaze over the precious treasuresid out on the stone table.
The method proposed by Jin Liu was a bit barbaric, but everyone nodded in agreement.
This was the simplest way to proceed, and they couldn''t afford to waste too much time here.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
Even though he didn''t know what this crimson array was, he had a feeling that trying to break it with brute force was not a good idea.
All of a sudden, Lan Yan interjected, "If you want to secure the treasures inside, then I suggest you don''t do that."
Everyone turned to Lan Yan with surprised expressions upon hearing this, while Lei Yuce asked in an ecstatic manner, "Do you recognize this array, Fellow Daoist Lan?"
"I''m somewhat well-versed in the art of arrays, and I just so happened to see some records pertaining to this array in an ancient scripture. This array is called the Seven Blood Deity Array, and it contains the power of seven malicious deities.
¡°If you try to break the array with brute force, the power of those seven malicious deities will self-detonate within the array. I don''t know how powerful the resulting explosion will be, but it''ll definitely be enough to destroy all of the treasures inside," Lan Yan replied.
Everyone''s expressions changed drastically upon seeing this, and a hint of lingering fear surfaced in Jin Liu''s eyes as he realized that his rash decision had almost led to the destruction of all of the treasures on the stone table.
The Tranquil Water Immortal Lotus had perfect affinity with the cultivation art that he was using, and he was confident that it would allow him to break through his current bottleneck.
On top of that, he had been also searching for Heavenly Vajra Diamonds for countless years, and he had been hoping that a Heavenly Vajra Diamond or two would''ve been present on the first level, within that space that was filled with abundant metal-attribute spiritual qi.
The reason why he had tried to target Han Li on the second level was precisely because he suspected that Han Li could be in possession of this material, so he was ecstatic to see it here.
"If you recognize this array, then I''m sure you also know the way to bypass it as well, right, Fellow Daoist Lan?" Lei Yuce asked.
"You want me to unravel this array for nopensation?" Lan Yan asked as she raised an eyebrow.
Lei Yuce faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately proposed, "How about this? Aspensation for breaking the array, you can choose one of the treasures on the stone table ahead of everyone else."
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, but no one raised any objections.
"I can break this Seven Blood Deity Array, but I don''t want any of the treasures inside. Instead, I want something else," Lan Yan said as she turned her gaze to Han Li.
"What would you like in return, Fellow Daoist Lan?" Lei Yuce asked.
"My senior martial brother is currently being held captive by Fellow Daoist Shi, and I want him returned to me," Lan Yan dered.
A surprised look appeared on Lei Yuce''s face as he also turned his gaze to Han Li upon hearing this, and everyone else immediately turned their attention to Han Li as well.
Han Li immediately realized that Lan Yan was taking advantage of this opportunity to try and use everyone''s collective power to force him into releasing Lan Yuanzi.
He remained silent as he stood with his hands sped behind his back, and he couldn''t help but wonder how Lan Yan knew that he had held Lan Yuanzi captive instead of killing him.
"Is that true, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Lei Yuce asked as he turned to Han Li.
"It is. Fellow Daoist Lan and her senior martial brother attacked me on a previous level in the pagoda, and I was able to defeat them before capturing her senior martial brother," Han Li replied.
Lei Yuce had guessed that some conflict had to have arisen between the three of them, but he hadn''t anticipated it to be this severe, and his heart immediately sank slightly.
"I don''t know what personal differences there are between the three of you, but right now, we''re all in the same boat, so we need to work together. Would you be able to release Fellow Daoist Lan''s senior martial brother, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Lei Yuce asked in an earnest manner.
"The two of them have a vendetta against me and are determined to hunt me down. What if theye after me again after I release her senior martial brother?" Han Li asked in a cold manner.
Lei Yuce felt this to be a reasonable concern, and he turned to Lan Yan with slightly furrowed brows.
"As long as you release my senior martial brother, I can swear a vow that we won''te after you again for as long as we''re in this secret area. Besides, you''re far more powerful than the two of us, so it would be foolish of us to try and oppose you," Lan Yan immediately dered.
"I have no trust in flimsy things like vows. Even an inner demon vow can be bypassed. I''m not going to ce my safety in the hands of others, so don''t bring up this matter again," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
Even though he had managed to defeat Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan, he had a feeling that there was still going to be more trouble toe from the Nine Origins Temple, and that was why he had captured Lan Yuanzi instead of killing him.
With the trump card of Lan Yuanzi up his sleeve, Lan Yan wouldn''t dare to do anything to him,so there was no way he would hand Lan Yuanzi over to her so easily.
Jin Liu was desperate to break the array, and he had always harbored some distaste for Han Li, so he naturally sided with Lan Yan as he dered, "Fellow Daoist Shi, Fellow Daoist Lan has already put her sincerity on full disy, so as a man, you shouldn''t be too petty. On top of that, your refusal to hand over her senior martial brother is actively hindering everyone from essing those treasures, so I strongly advise you to reconsider for the greater good."
A cold look shed through Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this.
He had saved Jin Liu prior to this, yet not only was he not grateful at all, he was now biting the hand that had previously fed him.
Chapter 1072: Refining Law Threads
Chapter 1072: Refining Law Threads
"Are you trying to pressure me intoplying, Fellow Daoist Jin?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"You can settle your personal differences once you leave this secret area. Right now, time is of the essence here in the Eon Pagoda. Besides, with so many of us here, you don''t have to worry about anyoneing after you," Jin Liu countered in a cold voice.
"In that case, let''s part ways here. All of you can go one way, while I''ll go the other. If you want to make meply by force, then I invite you to try," Han Li replied in an equally hostile manner.
"Let''s not make any rash decisions, Fellow Daoist Shi," Lei Yuce hurriedly interjected. "I understand that this is a lot to ask of you, so how about this? Seeing as Fellow Daoist Lan has relinquished the right to have the first pick of the treasures on the stone table, you can have that right instead. Will that suffice aspensation?"
Wen Zhong and the others also chimed in to try and persuade him, and it was clear that in the wake of Han Li''s disy of power in the previous battle, they didn''t dare to try and make himply by force.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then said, "I can release Fellow Daoist Shi''s senior martial brother, but I don''t want any of the treasures on the stone table. Instead, I also want something else."
Lei Yuce was naturally very happy to hear that Han Li didn''t want any of the treasures on the table, and he immediately asked, "What would you like instead, Fellow Daoist Shi?"
"If you want me to release your senior martial brother, then you''ll have to give me a Fire Age Firefly hive in exchange," Han Li dered as he turned to Lan Yan, and Jin Liu''s expression immediately stiffened slightly upon hearing this.
"What''s that? I don''t have one," Lan Yan asked with a perplexed expression.
"You may not have one, but someone else does," Han Li replied as he turned to Jin Liu with a hint of a smile on his face.
"What is the meaning of this, Shi Mu?" Jin Liu snapped in a furious voice.
Fire Age Firefly hives were extremely precious, and they were also very useful to him, so he was naturally very reluctant toply.
"I''m just proposing a trade. Weren''t you just saying that we shouldn''t be so petty, and that we should make some personal sacrifices for the greater good? Surely you should practice what you preach, right, Fellow Daoist Jin?" Han Li shrugged.
Jin Liu wasn''t anticipating having his own words used against him, and he could only glower at Han Li in silence.
Lan Yan was ecstatic to hear that Han Li was finally willing to release Lan Yuanzi, and she hurriedly turned to Jin Liu as she urged, "Please give me your Fire Age Firefly hive, Fellow Daoist Jin. I''m willing to purchase it from you with Immortal Origin Stones or offer up other precious materials in exchange."
"What do you say, Fellow Daoist Jin?" Lei Yuce asked with a hint of a threatening tone in his voice.
Jin Liu''s powers were far inferior to Han Li''s, so Lei Yuce felt no qualms exerting pressure upon him.
Jin Liu''s expression darkened significantly upon hearing this, but a n then seemed to have urred to him, and he smiled as he said, "I can hand over the Fire Age Firefly nest, but there''s no need for anypensation from Fellow Daoist Lan. Instead, I want to have the first pick of the treasures on the stone table."
The Fire Age Firefly hive was indeed extremely precious, but not as important to him as the treasures within the array.
Lei Yuce exchanged a few nces with everyone else, then decided that this was an eptable trade.
With everything settled, Han Li didn''t waste any more time as he swept a sleeve through the air to release Lan Yuanzi amid a sh of silver light, and he fell to the ground, still in an unconscious state.
Lan Yuanzi hurriedly rushed over to his side before picking him up from the ground.
The two of them were cultivating aw power fusion secret technique, and even though they hadn''t fully mastered the secret technique yet, a special connection had formed between them, allowing them to detect whether the other was dead or alive.
Even though Lan Yan was aware that Lan Yuanzi was still alive, she had been feeling very uneasy this entire time, knowing that he had fallen into Han Li''s hands, and now that he had been returned to her, she couldn''t help but weep with joy.
At the same time, she swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of blue light to inspect Lan Yuanzi''s internal condition.
Han Li paid no heed to the two of them as he strode over to Jin Liu, who harrumphed coldly before summoning his Fire Age Firefly hive, which was giving off tremendousw power fluctuations.
With the exceptions of Su Anqian, Jin Liu, and Han Li, this was everyone''s first time seeing a Fire Age Firefly hive, and they couldn''t help but be stunned by the tremendous timew powers that it harbored.
Furthermore, Jin Liu was intentionally making his movements very slow and methodical to ensure that everyone could get a close look.
Han Li could see what Jin Liu was doing, but he didn''t care, and he promptly stowed the hive away.
Now that all three hives had fallen into his possession, all he had to do was find a safe ce to refine them into timew threads, and his timew powers would be greatly enhanced, presumably allowing him to unleash that same ability that had driven Qi Mozi away.
With that in mind, a hint of excitement welled up in Han Li''s heart, and he decided there and then that he had to refine the three hives right away.
As long as he could unleash that ability again, he was confident in his own ability to deal with any threat, whether it be Lekima, Qi Mozi, or anyone else.
With his mind made up, he quickly inspected his surroundings, then began to make his way toward a side door in the pce.
Right at this moment, Lan Yan turned to him with an usatory look in her eyes as she asked, "Hey, why is my senior martial brother still unconscious? What have you done to him?"
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air in an expressionless manner, releasing a streak of golden light that vanished into Lan Yuanzi''s body in a sh.
Ayer of golden light instantly appeared over his body before fading away again, following which his eyelids slowly fluttered open.
"Are you alright, Senior Martial Brother?" Lan Yan asked with an ecstatic smile.
"Where are we right now?" Lan Yuanzi asked in a feeble voice upon catching sight of Lan Yan.
Meanwhile, Han Li continued to make his way toward the side door.
"Where are you going, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Su Anqian hurriedly asked.
"I have some matters to take care of, so I''ll be leaving for a bit. You can all split the treasures on the stone table without me," Han Li replied, then promptly departed.
Beyond the side door was an empty hall, and after sweeping his spiritual sense briefly throughout the hall, Han Li gave a satisfied nod before sweeping both sleeves through the air, releasing numerous streaks of light throughout the entire hall.
Everyone was quite rmed by Han Li''s sudden departure, and they were relieved to see that he had only gone into a side hall instead of truly departing.
With the power that Han Li had disyed, he had be an indispensable member of the group, and no one was confident that they would be able to take on the likes of Lekima without Han Li with them.
Standing at the edge of the crowd were Xiong Shan and the ck-robed duo, but all three of them were Golden Immortals, and they had kept a low profile the entire way here, so no one paid any attention to them.
"Is this the ce?" the ck-robed woman asked through voice transmission.
The ck-robed young man closed his eyes momentarily as if he were sensing something, following which an excited look appeared on his face as he opened his eyes and replied, "It''s this level! There''s no mistaking it!"
"Don''t get excited too soon! ording to my knowledge, what you''re trying to aplish is not an easy task. Will you be able to get it done?" the ck-robed woman asked.
The ck-robed young man seemed to be a little displeased by the woman''s skepticism, and he harrumphed, "I wouldn''t have brought you here if I wasn''t confident."
"Good. If you end up dying here, it''ll be difficult for me to do what I need to do on my own," the ck-robed woman said with a smile, and the ck-robed young man gave another harrumph before closing his eyes again.
Instead of continuing to converse with herpanion, the ck-robed woman turned to the side hall with a peculiar look in her eyes.
Xiong Shan also currently had his gaze fixed on the side hall, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
Meanwhile, Lan Yan fed a pill to Lan Yuanzi, and thetter''splexion instantly improved slightly as he rose to his feet.
"Fellow Daoist Lan, now that your senior martial brother has been returned to you, let''s begin breaking this restriction," Lei Yuce said, and Lan Yan raised no objections to this.
......
In the side hall, Han Li made a hand seal, and severalyers of light barriers rose up all around him.
After that, he opened the Flower Branch domain before making his way inside.
At this moment, the bamboo pavilion in the domain waspletely epassed within an enormous ball of churning, ck energy.
The ck ball was giving off astonishing ghostly power, and all of the nts within several thousand feet of the pavilion were long dead. Thankfully, the medicine garden was far enough to remain unaffected.
Han Li knew that this was the result of Weeping Soul''s inability to control the overflowing ghostly power in her body as she refined Ghost King Wu Chao.
He swept a sleeve through the air to release several dozen streaks of golden light, which formed a golden light barrier around the pavilion, and all of the churning ghostly power was instantly confined by the timew powers within the light barrier.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this. This was a set of time-attribute array gs that he had refined in the past, and it was working quite well here.
He then swept his sleeve through the air one more time to release the Essence Fire Raven before instructing, "Go and guard the entrance of the domain for me. If anyone attempts toe in, kill them."
The Essence Fire Raven let loose a clear cry in response, flew away toward the entrance of the Flower Branch domain.
Only then did Han Li sit down onto a vacant area in the domain, following which he summoned the three firefly hives.
After that, he took a deep breath, then began channeling his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
Chapter 1073: Drastic Increase
Chapter 1073: Drastic Increase
The five time-attributew treasures appeared around him one after another, then began slowly circling around his body.
A series of timew threads emerged from the fivew treasures, then wove themselves together to form a rapidly revolving golden vortex.
Han Li took a deep breath, then began chanting an incantation, and the vortex instantly began to contract at his behest.
A burst of incredibly formidable timew power fluctuations spread through the area as all of the golden light and timew threads within the golden vortex copsed inward, forming a golden ring.
Han Li had manifested this golden ring on many past asions, but this time, things seemed to be a little different.
While the golden ring was taking shape, the words in the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra were flowing through his mind with an unprecedented level of rity, and in that instant, he was able to gain a deeper understanding of the secrets of thews of timeid out in the cultivation art.
At the same time, the timew power within his body was beginning to stir, as if it were about to undergo some type of change, but all of a sudden, this feeling of enlightenment and rity faded away, and the timew powers settled down again.
What was that?
Han Li attempted to make sense of what had just happened to him, but to no avail, and in the end, he cast this train of thought aside before returning his attention to the task at hand.
The golden ring flew forward through the air at his behest, then abruptly swelled to several times its original size before closing itself around one of the hives.
The ring was revolving rapidly while giving off resplendent golden light, and it was also releasing a burst of powerful suction force that enveloped the hive from all directions.
The hive began to crackle and pop as if it had been set alight, and balls of golden light flew out of it before vanishing into the golden ring.
The golden ring shuddered slightly before releasing a translucent, golden thread, which circled around Han Li a few times before wrapping itself around the Time Severing Torch.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and he redoubled his efforts.
The golden light radiating from the ring became brighter and brighter, and it began to extract timew powers from the hive at a faster rate before converting it into timew threads.
One timew thread surged out of the golden ring after another before flying onto the Time Severing Torch, while the Fire Age Firefly hive shrank down rapidly,pletely vanishing in a short span of time.
At this point, there were already fifty-two timew threads circling around the Time Severing Torch, giving off incredibly formidable timew power fluctuations.
Just as Han Li had anticipated, the hive contained no less timew power than himself, and after refining just a single hive, the number of timew threads in his possession had doubled!
All of a sudden, he could feel a vast abundance of timew powers in his body, and he was confident that he would be able to unleash that time-reversal ability again.
With this huge influx of timew threads, his five time-attributew treasures hadpletely recovered, and they were glowing even brighter than before.
In particr, not only was his Time Severing Torch glowing radiantly, it seemed to have swelled slightly in size as well.
Han Li forcibly suppressed his excitement as he quickly moved onto the second hive, and the golden ring closed itself around the hive to absorb the timew powers inside.
Close to an hour flew by in the blink of an eye, and the other two hives had also been fully refined and converted into over a hundred timew threads.
At this point, there were over a hundred and sixty timew threads wrapped around the Time Severing Torch, and it had be around 30%rger than before and much more substantial in appearance.
The timew powers in Han Li''s body had also swelled by severalfold, to the point that he was having a little trouble controlling it.
The vast abundance of timew power was churning throughout his body, but it didn''t cause him any pain or difort.
After taking a moment to limate himself to his newfound powers, Han Li withdrew his time-attributew treasures, then began channeling his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra to rein in the timew powers in his body.
Several hourster, he rose to his feet, and the timew power in his body was alreadypletely under control.
Even though he hadn''t tried to unleash the time-reversal ability again, he was confident that he was definitely capable of doing so at this moment.
"I wonder if they''ve already broken the restriction outside," Han Li murmured to himself, then turned to take a nce at the bamboo pavilion.
Weeping Soul was still refining Ghost King Wu Chao''s ghostly power inside, so Han Li didn''t disturb her as he rose up into the and flew out of the Flower Branch domain.
After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to recover all of the array toolsid out in the side hall, following which he made his way back into the main hall.
As soon as he did so, he was immediately greeted by the sight of a burst of radiant blue and crimson light.
After taking a moment to assess the situation before him, he discovered that there was a giant, square, blue array on the ground in the main hall, within which were seven smaller, circr arrays arranged in an arc within the main array.
At this moment, Lan Yan, Lei Yuce, Wen Zhong, the ck-robed duo, Jin Liu, and Xiong Shan were seated in the array, with each of them upying one of the circr arrays.
Meanwhile, Lan Yuanzi and Su Anqian were standing on lookout duty outside the blue array.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, you''re back!" Su Anqian eximed with an ted expression at the sight of Han Li''s return.
However, her expression then stiffened slightly as she began to carefully observe Han Li with a hint of bewilderment in her eyes.
He had only been gone for less than half a day, yet some type of massive change seemed to have taken ce within him.
Meanwhile, Lan Yuanzi was looking at Han Li with a slightly awkward look on his face.
Han Li gave the two a nod of acknowledgment, then turned his gaze into the array, where Lan Yan and the others were making rapid strings of hand seals, while radiant blue light surged into the crimson light barrier from the array.
The blue light was filled with countless blue runes that contained waterw powers, and they were flowing into the crimson light barrier with a dull rumble, much like the sound of crashing waves.
A string of ghastly howls rang out within the light barrier as the seven malicious deities emerged in unison, then swept their hands through the air to release bursts of viscous crimson light to oppose the blue light.
The crimson light was able to tear through the blue light before striking the blue array, but Lan Yan remained calm andposed despite this, seemingly having anticipated this oue.
She chanted an incantation while making a rapid string of hand seals, then swiped her fingers over her wrists, and two jets of blood instantly spurted out of her wrists before fusing into the blue array.
Immediately thereafter, the array turned crimson in color, and thew power fluctuations that it was giving off also abruptly turned from the water attribute to the blood attribute.
A look of intrigue and surprise appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this. This was the first time he had seen this type ofw power transition.
The attacks from the seven malicious deities struck the crimson array, but not only did the attacks not do any damage, they fused into the array instead.
At the same time, numerous tendrils of crimson light shot out of the array before wrapping themselves around the seven malicious deities like lightning.
Immediately thereafter, everyone in the array switched to different hand seals in unison, and the crimson tendrils transformed into seven crimson rings around the malicious deities.
Waves of crimson light that were filled with countless crimson runes surged out of the rings, releasing incredibly formidable restrictive power thatpletely immobilized the seven malicious deities.
Lan Yan was ecstatic to see this, and she swept a sleeve through the air to summon a crimson badge, which released a plume of threads of crimson light at her behest.
These were bloodw threads, and there were around fifty to sixty of them, all of which fused into the crimson array.
The array began to rumble violently as a series of giant, crimson runes that were each over ten feet in diameter surged out from within before striking the opposing light barrier, which quickly began to thin out.
In the face of the threat posed by Lan Yan''s array, the seven malicious deities let loose a collective roar as ayer of liquid-like crimson light appeared over their bodies.
At the same time, a violent aura of malice erupted out of their bodies, one that was far more potent than what had been released by the head of that malicious deity from earlier, and it forced its way directly into the minds of everyone present,pletely bypassing the protective spiritual light around them.
Han Li''s body was also infiltrated by this malicious aura, and he was greeted by a horrific sight of a boundless sea of blood and vast mountains of mutted bodies.
However, the timew powers in his body then sprang into action on their own, expeling this burst of maliciousw powers to restore his lucidity, but the others were not so fortunate.
At this moment, Xiong Shan''s eyes had turned bright red, and his entire body was trembling uncontrobly as if he had been possessed.
Jin Liu, Wen Zhong, and Lan Yuanzi''s eyes had also taken on a red coloration, and they were letting loose animalistic snarls, but the hints of lucidity in their eyes indicated that they hadn''tpletely sumbed to the malicious influence in their bodies.
Lan Yan, Su Anqian, and Lei Yuce were more powerful than the rest, so they were less severely affected, and thew powers in their bodies had already begun eradicating the malicious aura acting upon them.
Right at this moment, Han Li directed his gaze toward the ck-robed duo in the array.
Chapter 1074: Illusions
Chapter 1074: Illusions
Even though the two of them had also been affected by this malicious aura, they were able to recover only slightly slower than Han Li.
However, in the instant that the two of them shrugged off the malicious influence, they exchanged a nce with one another, following which ayer of crimson light resurfaced in their eyes as they pretended to still be under the influence.
These minor details weren''t able to escape Han Li''s notice, but he didn''t expose them.
With the seven people operating the array falling under the influence of the malicious aura, the light emanating from the array immediately dimmed, and the restrictive forces acting upon the seven malicious deities abated significantly.
The seven malicious deities roared to the heavens as they began to struggle with renewed vigor, and a string of loud cracks rang out as a series of cracks appeared on the seven crimson rings.
At this point, Lan Yan and Lei Yuce had alreadypletely shrugged off the influence of the malicious aura, and rmed looks immediately appeared on their faces upon seeing this.
However, everyone else was still currently under the influence, and the array couldn''t be operated by just her and Lei Yuce alone, so there was nothing that they could do.
All of a sudden, a burst of radiant golden light descended from above, forming a ring of golden radiance around the seven malicious deities. Countless golden ripples surged out of the ring of light, and the struggles of the malicious deities instantly ceased.
Han Li then appeared within the ring of golden light before sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing five streaks of golden light that vanished into the bodies of Xiong Shan and the others.
The bursts of golden light contained tremendous timew powers that instantly eradicated the remnants of the malicious auras in their bodies, and with that, the seven cultivators were able to regain control of the array, restoring the strength of the rings around the bodies of the seven malicious deities.
Lan Yan immediately opened her mouth to release a ball of blood essence into the crimson badge before her, and thew threads on the badge lit up before releasing another flurry of giant, crimson runes that struck the light barrier up ahead.
A string of resounding booms rang out as the crimson light barrier shuddered violently before being torn apart, following which it disintegrated into specks of crimson light.
Han Li withdrew the ring of golden light upon seeing this, and the seven malicious deities let loose a collective roar of indignation as their bodies also exploded into specks of crimson light.
"Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Shi!" Lan Yan said as she stood up and turned to Han Li with a grateful expression.
Han Li was just about to reply when there was an abrupt eruption of activity as Lei Yuce, Wen Zhong, Jin Liu, and Su Anqianunched themselves at the exposed stone table in unison.
The four of them each reached out before making a grabbing motion, conjuring up four giant hand projections that made a grab for the treasures on the stone table.
The table was instantly shattered into pieces amid a resounding boom, while the treasures were scattered in all directions before being imed by the four hand projections.
Out of the nine treasures, Wen Zhong, Jin Liu, and Su Anqian had each imed two, while Lei Yuce had managed to im three.
The four of them had pounced like lightning, and only now did everyone else realize what had just happened.
"What are you doing? Didn''t we agree to split these treasures evenly?" Xiong Shan asked with a dark expression.
The ck-robed duo didn''t say anything, but they were clearly not very happy, either.
"With your paltry cultivation bases, what right do you have to split these treasures evenly with us?" Jin Liu sneered, then turned an excited gaze to the two treasures that he had imed, namely the Tranquil Water Immortal Lotus and the Heavenly Vajra Diamond.
Xiong Shan was furious to hear this, and his hands balled up into tight fists up his sleeves, but in the end, all he could do was lower his head in silence.
Lei Yuce exchanged a nce with Su Anqian, and the two of them each sent a treasure flying through the air, offering them to Han Li and Lan Yan as Lei Yuce said, "Fellow Daoist Lan, Fellow Daoist Shi, it was all thanks to the two of you that we were able to bypass this Seven Blood Deity Array, so even though you two have passed up the treasures here, I think you still deserve one each."
A glimmer of purple light shed through Han Li''s eyes, following which he swept a sleeve through the air to return the treasure being offered to him as he said, "There''s no need for that, I''m already satisfied with the firefly hives I received earlier."
"I''m also content with having my senior martial brother returned to me," Lan Yan said as she returned her treasure as well.
"In that case, I won''t force the issue. It looks like there are many treasures in this ce, so I''m sure there will be more spoils to be reaped," Lei Yuce said with a smile, and he was just about to stow his imed treasures away when all of a sudden, the three treasures in his hands suddenly disintegrated into three translucent, gray threads.
A bbergasted look instantly appeared on his face upon seeing this, and before he had a chance to react, the three gray threads pounced at him like a trio of springing vipers.
Before Lei Yuce had a chance to react, the three gray threads pierced through the protective golden light around him before vanishing into his body, and the same thing had happened with the treasures imed by Su Anqian and the others as well.
The four of them immediately fell to their knees as they threw their hands onto their heads, and they began to tremble uncontrobly while letting loose horrific cries of agony.
Everyone was very much taken aback to see this, and in the next instant, they immediately sprang back in retreat to open up some distance between themselves and the four affected individuals.
Han Li had been tempted to ept the treasure offered to him by Lei Yuce earlier, but his Infernal Devilish Eyes had tipped him off to the fact that there was something amiss about it, and that was why he had refused to ept it.
All of a sudden, the agonized cries of Lei Yuce and the others began to subside, and their pupils were rapidly turning gray as their bodies also ceased trembling.
"They''ve fallen under someone''s control!" Lan Yan eximed as she swept a sleeve toward the four of them, releasing a burst of blue light that formed a blue dome over them.
The dome seemed to have been woven out of some type of special thread, and it was several hundred feet in size.
Every single thread was giving off a burst of rippling, blue light, and tens of thousands of waves of blue light immediately converged toward the Lei Yuce and the others from all directions.
At this point, the pupils of Lei Yuce and the others had alreadypletely turned gray, and Su Anqian and Jin Liu raised their hands in unison to release four streaks of blue light, within which were two long, blue halberds and tworge, blue gs.
The four immortal treasures intertwined with one another to form an enormous ball of blue light that opposed the descent of the blue dome, while Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong pounced at Han Li and the others.
Countless streaks of golden sword qi erupted out of their bodies before raining down upon Han Li and the others, and even before the streaks of sword qi had fully descended, countless gashes had already been sliced the walls and the ground, and the surrounding space was also trembling violently.
Xiong Shan, the ck-robed duo, and Lan Yuanzi hurriedly sprang into action to defend themselves, and only with the four of them joining forces were they just barely able to ward off the attacks from Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong.
However, the shockwaves from their shes were too much for the pce to endure, and it quickly copsed into ruins.
With the confines of the pce removed, everyone flew up into the air, where they were able to fight more freely, and a fierce battle ensued.
Lan Yan was opposing Su Anqian and Jin Liu on her own, while Xiong Shan and the others were facing Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong.
In their current state, it seemed that Lei Yuce and the others weren''t able to unleash their full power, so even though Lan Yan and the others were on the back foot, they were able to hold their own just fine.
"Who''s sneaking around here? Come out!" Han Li yelled as he hovered in mid-air while scouring his surroundings with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
"Oh? Are those Infernal Devilish Eyes I see? I didn''t think I would be seeing a devilish ocr ability here. Looks like I''m going to have another powerful illusion servant!"
Azy voice had rung out in the nearby space, but it was echoing in all directions, as if there were countless people speaking at once, making it impossible to ascertain exactly where the voice wasing from.
Han Li wasn''t able to identify the source of the voice, either, but he could tell that it didn''t belong to Lekima, and his heart immediately sank a little.
Could it be that there really was more than just one fugitive being held captive on this level?
"Why are you sneaking around despite your powers? Are you afraid to show yourself?" Han Li yelled.
"You think you can goad me intoing out? What do you take me for, a three-year-old child? If you want me to show myself, then you''ll have to make me!" the voice chortled.
"In that case, I''ll do just that!" Han Li said as a faint smile appeared on his face, following which he reached out in a certain direction before making a grabbing motion, and a thick bolt of golden lightning sprang out of the palm of his hand before striking a spot several hundred feet away.
A deafening thunderp rang out as the space there rippled violently, following which a middle-aged man appeared out of thin air with a surprised look on his face.
The man was dressed in a long, azure robe, and he had a set of gentle facial features, but his eyes were a pair of pupilless gray blurs, presenting a rather peculiar sight to behold.
The golden lightning nearby still hadn''t faded, and all of it converged toward the middle-aged man.
However, the man remainedpletely unfazed as he casually swept a sleeve through the air, and all of the surrounding golden lightning was eradicated by a burst of invisible force before it could reach him.
Chapter 1075: Breaking the Illusion
Chapter 1075: Breaking the Illusion
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing how easily the man was able to eradicate his Divine Devilbane Lightning.
At the same time, a peculiar look appeared on his face.
He was certain that this was the first time that he had ever seen this man, but for some reason, the man struck him with an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if they had met somewhere before.
What Han Li failed to notice was that the ck-robed young man, who was still locked in battle against Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong, was suddenly looking very excited at the sight of the middle-aged man.
"How were you able to find me?" the middle-aged man asked.
"Who are you, and why did you set this trap for us?" Han Li countered with a question of his own.
"Looks like neither of us wants to answer the other''s questions. How about this? Let''s take turns answering a question each?" the man proposed.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and seeing as Lan Yan and the others were holding their own just fine for now, he agreed to this proposal.
"I''ll let you go first," the man said in a generous fashion.
"Who are you?" Han Li asked.
"I''ve already been trapped here for countless years, so even if I tell you my name, you won''t have heard of it. I''m just a fugitive held captive in this pagoda," the man replied.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this ambiguous answer, but this did confirm to him that the man was indeed a fugitive being held on this level.
"My turn. Who are all of you, and how did you get here?" the man asked.
"We are all from the Golden Origin Immortal Region, and we stumbled upon Immortal Lord Tai Sui''s cave abode by chance, so we came in to search for treasures," Han Li replied.
"You''re saying Tai Sui''s cave abode has emerged?" the man asked as a look of surprise and tion appeared on his face.
"It''s my turn to be asking a question, is it not?" Han Li countered.
A hint of fury shed through the man''s eyes, but he suppressed it as he acquiesced, "Fine, go ahead."
"How many other fugitives outside of yourself are on this level of the Eon Pagoda?" Han Li asked.
The middle-aged man immediately burst intoughter upon hearing this.
"What''s so funny?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
The man''sughter subsided, following which he scoffed, "Do you think I would answer such a question?"
"Does that mean you''re no longer willing to continue this exchange of questions and answers?" Han Li asked.
"I''ve already stalled for enough time, so there''s no need for me to continue this pointless game," the man replied with a sinister smile, and at the same time, countless rays of gray light erupted out of his eyes.
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he immediately averted his eyes as a burst of bright, golden light appeared over his body, but his efforts proved to be futile, and in the next instant, he found himself in a murky, gray space.
The surrounding pce had suddenly vanished, as had everyone in it.
"Is this an illusion?" Han Li murmured to himself.
After taking a moment topose himself, his hands balled up into tight fists, and arcs of golden lightning sprang out of his body to form a suit of lightning armor, giving him the appearance of a mighty lightning deity.
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, all of which were releasing arcs of radiant, golden lightning and incredibly formidable lightningw power fluctuations.
The thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords then shot forth at his behest, sweeping toward the surrounding gray space to slice a series of huge gashes into it.
However, those gashes then immediately faded away, restoring the gray space to its former condition.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to do anything else, the entire gray space abruptly brightened significantly, to the point that he was almost forced to close his eyes against the blinding radiance.
The thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly flew back to him at his behest, then began circling around him in a protective manner.
At the same time, the blinding gray light faded away, and Han Li discovered that he was still in the same gray space, but he had been bound to a copper pir.
His hands and feet had been encircled in thick, copper rings, rendering himpletely immobilized.
On top of that, his suit of golden lightning armor and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had all disappeared.
Han Li was naturally quite rmed by this turn of events, and over nine hundred profound acupoints instantly lit up over his body as he struggled against the copper rings with all his might, but he was unable to even make them budge in the slightest.
"Impossible!" he eximed.
Given his current physical prowess, no matter how high a caliber of immortal treasure this copper pir was, there should''ve been no way for it to bepletely unmoved in the face of his strength.
All of a sudden, a scorching me appeared at the top of the pir, and the entire pir instantly turned bright red.
Arge section of Han Li''s body was instantly charred ck, and it seemed that his physical defenses had suddenly disappeared.
He felt as if his soul had been set alight, and the pain was so excruciating that he couldn''t help but give a muffled groan.
Before he had a chance to do anything, a series of gray des appeared in the space before him, and there were too many of them to count.
In the next instant, all of the gray des converged toward him in unison, and his expression changed drastically as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which released a wave of golden ripples to epass the entire surrounding area in a radius of close to ten thousand feet.
However, neither the copper pir nor the surrounding gray des were affected by his Mantra Treasured Axis at all, and the des pierced into all parts of his body without any dy, causing Han Li to yell out involuntarily in pain.
At this point, it had be clear to him that he had fallen into an extremely powerful illusion, one that was exertingplete control over all of his senses.
This was an illusion that truly blurred the lines between illusion and reality, and he had never witnessed an illusion this powerful before.
Bursts of illusoryw powers were also transmitted into Han Li''s body alongside the excruciating pain as the gray des pierced into him from all directions, but right at this moment, a burst of timew powers surged out of his body as an automatic defense mechanism.
The timew powers managed to ward off the illusoryw powers infiltrating his body, but more and more gray des continued to pierce into him, inflicting unbearable agony.
Hints of gray light began to appear in his eyes as his consciousness began to fade.
The attacks came in relentless waves that left him no time for respite, and even with his immense mental fortitude, he was struck by a sense of despair and the urge to relinquish his resistance.
Right at this moment, his Spirit Refinement Technique was channeled on its own, and a translucent sword projection emerged in his mind, giving off peerless sword intent.
The despair in his heart was instantly eradicated by the sword intent, and he abruptly snapped wide awake as ayer of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
Gritting his teeth against the unbearable pain, a look of resolve appeared in his eyes as he prepared to channel his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra topletely destroy this gray space, but right at this moment, the surrounding gray space suddenly began to tremble violently without any warning.
Immediately thereafter, an enormous, crimson de projection pierced into the gray space, giving off astonishing baleful qi.
Han Li felt as if he had been plunged from head to toe into a cial pit, and it was as if his soul were being forcibly sucked out of his body toward the crimson de projection.
He hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique to settle the unrest in his soul, and at the same time, he was able to identify the crimson de projection as the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber!
The gargantuan de projection swept forcefully through the air, and the gray space was instantly torn apart before disintegrating into countless specks of gray light, upon which Han Li found himself back in the air above the copsed pce.
His Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were still hovering in the air around him, and the golden lightning armor on his body was also still intact.
Over ten thousand feet away, the azure-robed middle-aged man was staring at the ck-robed young man with a stunned expression.
At this moment, the ck-robed young man was holding none other than the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, and on top of that, Lekima had appeared on the battlefield, and it was locked in battle against the ck-robed woman.
There were several wind dragons that were over a thousand feet in length circling around Lekima, releasing flurries of des of wind out of their mouths toward the ck-robed woman.
The wind des didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way, but they were astonishingly powerful, able to slice rifts into the surrounding space with ease.
Hovering behind the ck-robed woman was a dark red wheel projection with six ck holes on its surface, and the projection was revolving incessantly, releasing formidablew power fluctuations that kept the wind des at bay with ease.
As for Lan Yan and the others, their pupils had all turned gray, clearly indicating that they were being controlled just like Lei Yuce and the others, but at this moment, all of them were standing still on the spot, engaging in no further battle.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the ck-robed, and he immediately developed a rough idea of what had just taken ce.
Chapter 1076: Reunion of Old Acquaintances
Chapter 1076: Reunion of Old Acquaintances
"That''s the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber! Who are you? Why is that saber in your possession?" the middle-aged interrogated in a cold voice.
A faint smile appeared on the ck-robed young man''s face, and all of a sudden, he transformed into a silver-haired young man amid a sh of crimson light.
To Han Li''s surprise, the young man was none other than Fox 3.
Han Li didn''t know if Fox 3 had also managed to identify him, given that he had adopted a disguise of his own.
"Ninth generation disciple of the Heavenly Fox Tribe, Liu San, pays his respects to his senior!" Fox 3 greeted with a respectful bow.
The middle-aged man''s expression eased slightly at the sight of Fox 3''s true appearance, but his voice remained rather cold as he remarked, "I didn''t think that I would meet my brethren here. In that case, was that man the one who gave you the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber?"
"Yes, but also no," Fox 3 replied in a respectful manner.
"I have no interest in ying word games with you here! If you''ve already chosen to side with him, then why did youe here? Were you thinking that I wouldn''t kill you just because we''re both from the same tribe, or are you of the opinion that you can oppose me thanks to the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber?" the azure-robed man asked as a hint of killing intent shed through his eyes.
"I wouldn''t dare to think that, Senior. Your mastery of thews of illusions is far beyond anything I can fathom. Even with a few more Heavenly Fox Bloodform Sabers at my disposal, I''d definitely be no match for you. I''vee here because our tribe has been swept up in some unrest recently, and I''m hoping that you can return with me to help our tribe ovee this crisis," Fox 3 replied in an earnest fashion.
"Back when I departed, I already made it clear that I was cutting all ties with the Heavenly Fox Tribe. I can see that you''re a bright, young talent, so I''m going to spare you. Leave this ce right now!" the azure-robed man said in a cold voice, following which he snapped his fingers, and Lekima immediately disengaged itself from its battle against the ck-robed woman before flying back to the man''s side.
"Thews of reincarnation really are just as formidable as the rumors suggest. It''s a pity that we can''t fight to our hearts'' content here. Let''s continue our battle some other time!" Lekima said with fierce battle intent still burning in its eyes.
Instead of pursuing Lekima, the ck-robed woman calmly made a hand seal, and the dark red wheel behind her disintegrated into over a hundred dark redw threads that vanished into her body, following which she flew over to Fox 3''s side.
The azure-robed man took a nce at the ck-robed woman, but didn''t say anything as he drifted down onto Lekima''s back and prepared to depart.
"Senior, our tribe is facing a great crisis right now! Are you just going to stand by and watch?" Fox 3 asked as an urgent look appeared on his face.
The azure-robed man''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, but he then replied in a cold voice, "I''ve already told you that I''ve cut all ties with the Heavenly Fox Tribe, so don''te bothering me again."
A frantic look appeared on Fox 3''s face upon hearing this, but he didn''t know what else he could say.
"Hold on a second!"
Right at this moment, a projection of Shi Qinghou emerged from the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber amid a sh of crimson light.
A hint of contempt appeared in the azure-robed man''s eyes at the sight of Shi Qinghou, and he harrumphed coldly, "You''re still alive? No wonder the powers of the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber haven''t declined at all. That means you must''ve also allied yourself with that man!"
"Our master may not be dead," Shi Qinghou dered, seeminglypletely out of the blue.
The azure-robed man immediately swung around to glower intently at Shi Qinghou upon hearing this.
"Master is still alive? No, there''s no way that''s possible! I saw him perish with my own two eyes!"
"Our master wouldn''t perish so easily. What you and I saw back then was most likely not a reflection of reality. I only recently discovered some leads that tipped me off to the possibility that our master could still be alive. Otherwise, there''s no way I would''ve been willing to submit to that man," Shi Qinghou replied in a proud manner.
"I see, so this is why you''vee to find me," the azure-robed man mused with a slow nod.
"That''s right, I''vee here to request your help," Shi Qinghou confirmed.
The azure-robed man''s attitude had taken a drastic turn, and he immediately replied, "I''m more than happy to help you if it means helping our master, but right now, I''m imprisoned in this pagoda, and my bonded soul tablet is still on the seventh level, so I''m afraid I can''t leave with you."
A hint of tion shed through Shi Qinghou''s eyes upon hearing this, and he immediately promised, "Rest assured, we''vee prepared. I''ll be sure to retrieve your bonded soul tablet for you."
"In that case, I''ll be counting on you. The spatial door leading to the sixth level is just up ahead, but I don''t know who''s being held captive there. However, what I do know is that the higher you go, the more powerful the fugitives are, so make sure to be on your guard," the azure-robed man said.
"Rest assured, no one will be able to stand up to ourbined powers. Wouldn''t you agree, Fellow Daoist Han?" Shi Qinghou chuckled as he turned to look at Han Li, who raised an eyebrow in response.
"What? You''re Fellow Daoist Han?" Fox 3 eximed with a stunned expression, while the ck-robed woman''s expression remained unchanged, seemingly indicating that she was already aware of Han Li''s identity.
"Oh? So you''re all acquainted with one another? Looks like the Heavenly Fox Tribe has at least made some strides in gaining some powerful allies since I left," the azure-robed man remarked.
"Both of them are friends of Fox 3, they have nothing to do with those stubborn old farts of the Heavenly Fox Tribe," Shi Qinghou corrected, and the azure-robed man turned a surprised gaze to Fox 3 upon hearing this.
Han Li flew over to the ck-robed duo as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Long time no see, Senior Shi, Fellow Daoist Fox 3, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3."
"I knew our disguises wouldn''t be able to fool you," the ck-robed woman replied with a smile as she reverted back to her true appearance, and sure enough, it was none other than Wyrm 3.
"Are you really Fellow Daoist Han?" Fox 3 asked with a hint of suspicion in his eyes, and it was no wonder that he was suspicious.
After all, back when they parted ways in the Gray Realm, Han Li had only been at the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage, yet in the short span of just one thousand years, he had reached the pinnacle of the High Zenith Stage, disying a downright astonishing rate of progress.
"Looks like all of you have already learned my true name. Please forgive me for giving a false namest time. I had to adopt an alias in order to avoid capture from the Heavenly Court," Han Li said with an apologetic smile as he also reverted back to his original appearance.
"You really are Fellow Daoist Han! I can''t believe you''ve been able to progress so rapidly in your cultivation base! I was really worried when you and Shi Chuankong were taken away in the Gray Realm, thank heavens you''re safe and well! How is Brother Shi right now?" Fox 3 eximed in an ted manner.
"A powerful cultivator from the Devil Realm had teleported the two of us out of the Gray Realm back then. Rest assured, Brother Shi is also doing well," Han Li replied with a smile.
"That''s good to hear," Fox 3 said with a relieved expression.
"Let''s catch upter once we''ve left the Eon Pagoda. Right now, we have more pressing matters to take care of," Shi Qinghou interjected.
"You''re right, Senior Shi," Fox 3 immediately replied in a respectful manner.
"Fellow Daoist Han, it seems like fate has brought us together again. How about we join forces from here onward?" Shi Qinghou invited.
"Truth be told, I only stumbled into this immortal manorpletely by chance, so I know next to nothing about this ce. It sounds like you''re far more familiar with this ce than I am, so would you be able to enlighten me, Senior Shi?" Han Li asked, choosing to dodge Shi Qinghou''s question for now.
"Of course. This Tai Sui Immortal Manor is a cave abode left behind by a Great Epassment cultivator by the name of Immortal Lord Tai Sui. He cultivated thews of time, just like you, and he was once the chief warden of the Heavenly Court''s Immortal Prison, but for some reason, he went on to betray the Heavenly Court.
¡°As he fled the Heavenly Court, he took quite a few fugitives and powerful treasures with him, the most renowned of which is the Eon Divine Lamp, which is said to be an unfathomably powerful time-attribute treasure. Right now, themp is most likely on the seventh level of the pagoda.
¡°The Heavenly Court has been hunting him for countless years, but I bet no one could''ve anticipated that Immortal Lord Tai Sui had gone into hiding in the Golden Origin Immortal Region, which is very close to the Middle Earth Immortal Region," Shi Qinghou exined.
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing mention of the Eon Divine Lamp.
Ever since he entered the Eon Pagoda, he had detected a burst of formidable timew powers within it, and that had served as his source of motivation for progressing up the Eon Pagoda. It seemed that this Eon Divine Lamp was most likely the source of the timew powers that he had detected.
"How did you know that this immortal manor was here? It was very well concealed, and I only managed to stumble upon it by aplete stroke of luck," Han Li said.
"You''ll have to ask Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3 about that. Fox 3 and I followed her here," Shi Qinghou replied.
Han Li turned to Wyrm 3 with a surprised expression upon hearing this.
"This matter concerns the secrets of the Reincarnation Pce. You may be a Reincarnation Disciple, but I''m afraid that this is still not information that I can make avable to you," Wyrm 3 said with a shake of her head.
Han Li didn''t try to force the matter, and he fell silent with a contemtive look on his face.
Chapter 1077: The Sixth Level
Chapter 1077: The Sixth Level
"That''s the extent of my knowledge about this Tai Sui Immortal Manor, and you''re already aware of my objective foring here, so what do you say about my earlier proposal?" Shi Qinghou asked.
"I can join forces with you, and I can even help you secure that bonded soul tablet, but if I encounter any difficulties from here onward, then I hope that the two of you can help me as well," Han Li replied.
"Deal!"
Both Fox 3 and Shi Qinghou were ecstatic to hear this, while Wyrm 3 remained silent with a contemtive look in her eyes.
"In that case, let''s set off right away," Shi Qinghou said as he turned to the azure-robed man.
"Come with me. Don''t look around along the way, and don''t touch anything. Don''t ask me any questions, either," the azure-robed man said, then began flying forward atop Lekima, while Lan Yan and the others trailed along behind him like a group of mindless zombies, and Han Li''s trio followed along as well.
They traveled for a day and a night, departing from the gourd-like mountain before passing over the entire desert, following which they crossed a massive swamp, beyond which was an undting mountain range...
Along the way, Han Li noticed some rather strange things, such as a massive ice sculpture in the middle of the desert, a huge, constantly revolving vortex in a swamp, bursts of dull, rhythmic rumblinging from beneath a mountain range, and a series of of crimson chains that connected arge forest filled with close to a thousand trees.
The azure-robed man had made it clear that he didn''t want to be asked any questions, and it was also very apparent that he didn''t want to speak, so Han Li chose to hold his tongue, despite his curiosity.
After traveling for a while longer, the group finally arrived at another ck pce situated on a grasnd.
This pce was evenrger than the previous one, and the interior was illuminated by a series of lit braziers.
At the very back of the pce stood a dark red door of light, and the azure-robed man said, "That''s the entrance to the sixth level. This is where we part ways."
He then turned to depart, only to be stopped by Fox 3, who implored, "Would it be possible for you to release thesepanions of ours, Senior? We don''t know what perils await us on the sixth and seventh levels, so the more people we have, the better equipped we''ll be to deal with the potential dangers up ahead."
"These people coulde in useful. Surely you could spare a few illusion servants," Shi Qinghou chimed in.
The azure-robed man''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he quickly acquiesced, making a hand seal to release seven bursts of gray light that vanished into the bodies of Lan Yan and the others.
Immediately thereafter, a series of gray threads flew out of their bodies before vanishing into the azure-robed man''s body.
Right at this moment, Lekima''s voice rang out in Han Li''s mind.
"If you see my bonded soul tablet on the seventh level, make sure to take it. I''llpensate you handsomely if you can bring it to me."
Han Li cast his gaze toward Lekima upon hearing this, only to discover that it was looking straight ahead, obediently carrying the azure-robed man on its back.
After recovering hisw threads from Lan Yan and the others, the azure-robed man and Lekima promptly departed, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye, and it was as if they had never been here at all.
Meanwhile, Lan Yan and the others quickly began to return to their senses, and Han Li hurriedly reverted back to his disguised appearance upon seeing this.
Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 also did the same, and the former simultaneously stowed his Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber away as well.
Before long, all of the gray light in the eyes of Lan Yan and the others had faded away, and they were fully lucid again.
"Where are we right now? I don''t remember anything after those gray threads entered my body!" Lei Yuce eximed in a panicked manner as he frantically scoured his surroundings.
It seemed that all those who fell under the control of those grayw threads had no recollection of anything that had happened after they were controlled.
"Please be at ease, everyone. The enemy is already gone, and we''re safe now," Fox 3 reassured.
"Do you know what happened?" Lei Yuce asked.
"I do, a little..."
With that, Fox 3 fabricated a story of how Han Li had put on a stunning disy of power to force the enemy into retreat.
Fox 3 was quite a good storyteller to begin with, and he invented a watertight story that was very sound and believable.
Han Li couldn''t help but shake his head internally in exasperation, but he didn''t say anything.
"So that means Fellow Daoist Shi saved us yet again. Words cannot express my gratitude, Fellow Daoist Shi. Once we leave the Tai Sui Immortal Manor, pleasee visit our Heavenly Water Sect so that we can show you some hospitality as a disy of gratitude," Su Anqian said in an earnest manner.
Xiong Shan, Lan Yan, and Lan Yuanzi also expressed their gratitude toward Han Li, but the Lan siblings were looking at him with renewed wariness in their eyes.
As for Lei Yuce, Jin Liu, and Wen Zhong, the three of them were looking a little dejected.
They had gone to great lengths to break that restriction earlier, but ultimately didn''t have anything to show for it. In particr, not only had Jin Liu had his Fire Age Firefly hive taken by Han Li, he had also just been saved by Han Li, so he was feeling very frustrated.
''"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Su. The enemy has temporarily gone into retreat, but they could return at any moment, so let''s leave this ce and get to the sixth level right away," Han Li said.
"Indeed, time is of the essence," Su Anqian replied with a nod, and everyone immediately began working on breaking the restriction on the spatial door.
The restrictions on all of the spatial doors werergely identical, so everyone had be quite proficient at breaking them, and it didn''t take long before they were able to pass through the spatial door.
Han Li felt his vision blur momentarily, following which he was greeted by the sight of a boundless golden desert.
He cast his gaze into the distance, but there was only yellow sand as far as the eyes could see in all directions, and the air was rather dry and abrasive.
Right at this moment, Wyrm 3 and the others appeared beside him one after another, and all of them naturally split up into two groups.
Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 were naturally standing a little closer to Han Li, while the two Heavenly Water Sect cultivators had sided with the two Almighty Sword Sect cultivators, and the Lan siblings were also trailing along behind them.
Strangely enough, for some reason, Xiong Shan had also chosen to stand with Han Li''s trio.
From there, everyone began to scour their surroundings, and after observing the area for a while, peculiar looks appeared on everyone''s faces.
Wyrm 3 crouched down to pick up some of the sand from the ground, then gave it a close look as she mused, "This doesn''t seem like normal sand."
"That''s because it''s not. Instead, all of this is powderized demon beast bones," Han Li said.
"How is that possible?" Wyrm 3 eximed in an incredulous manner.
"Fellow Daoist Shi is right," Lei Yuce said, then pointed in a certain direction, where there was an enormous object on the horizon several dozen kilometers away.
Everyone flew over to the object in question, upon which they discovered that it was a curved horn of some type of massive beast. The horn was golden in color, and it had clearly been severely ravaged by erosion.
Wyrm 3 flew over to the horn beforeying a hand onto it, and as soon as she did so, the horn immediately crumbled away into a vast cloud of golden sand that dissipated in all directions.
"Which way do we go?" Fox 3 asked, then looked up at the sky, where a bright sun was hanging up above, but it wasn''t giving off any heat, almost as if it were nothing more than an illusion.
Lei Yuce was just about to say something when Han Li suddenly pointed in a certain direction and said, "I think we should go that way."
Everyone turned to that direction, but there was nothing to be seen there aside from more sand.
The spiritual sense restrictions had be even more potent on the sixth level, so no one was able to detect anything beyond what they could see in their field of view.
"What''s over there?" Su Anqian asked in a curious manner.
"My spiritual sense is too severely restricted for me to tell, but I can sense a special aura in that direction," Han Li replied.
Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 exchanged a hesitant nce with each other upon hearing this.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, it''s not been an easy journey to get here, and I''m sure you''re aware of how many people have already perished along the way, so I think we should proceed with more caution. Wouldn''t it be better to have a thorough discussion before deciding on which way to go?" Lei Yuce proposed after a brief hesitation.
"Fellow Daoist Lei is right. The higher we go in this pagoda, the more perils await us, so we can''t afford to be reckless," Jin Liu chimed in.
Su Anqian opened her mouth to say something, but ultimately remained silent.
"Honestly, now that we''ve reached the sixth level, it doesn''t really matter where we go, so if no one wants toe with me, then I''ll go by myself," Han Li said with a smile, then cupped his fist in a parting salute as he turned to depart.
"I''lle with you, Fellow Daoist Shi," Xiong Shan suddenly said.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he didn''t say anything as he flew away in silence, and Xiong Shan immediately followed along after him without any hesitation.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 decided to go after Han Li as well.
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Chapter 1078: Coming Clean
Chapter 1078: Coming Clean
Jin Liu was watching as Han Li vanished into the distance, and for some reason, he felt as if a heavy load had been lifted from his shoulders.
He had always been quite wary of Han Li, so it came as a relief to have finally parted ways with him.
The Lan siblings also both heaved an internal sigh of relief.
Even though they had been ordered to hunt down Han Li, it was clear that this was not a mission that they couldplete, and if they had a choice in the matter, they would''ve preferred not to have encountered Han Li at all.
"Where do we go now?" Su Anqian asked.
"Please wait a moment, Celestial Maiden Su," Lei Yuce said, then flipped a hand over to produce a golden te that was riddled with runes and engravings.
The te rose up into the air above the palm of his hand, and a tiny me rose up over its surface before moving away slightly, as if it were being drawn by some type of invisible force.
Su Anqian and the others didn''t know what to make of this, but Wen Zhong''s eyes had suddenly lit up at the sight of the te.
Lei Yuce observed the direction of the me''s movement for a moment, then stowed the te away as he pointed in that direction and said, "We should go that way?"
"What was that thing, Fellow Daoist Lei?" Su Anqian asked as her brows furrowed slightly.
Lei Yuce hesitated momentarily, then exined, "It''s a little treasure that has some connection to the Eon Divine Lamp, so it should be able to point us in the right direction."
"In that case, can we be certain that Fellow Daoist Shi has gone the wrong way?" Su Anqian asked.
"Do you still recall the crossroads that we encountered when we first entered this pagoda?" Lei Yuce asked, raising a question for his own.
"You''re saying that there are multiple paths that lead to the same destination?" Su Anqian asked.
"I don''t know if Fellow Daoist Shi has taken the right path. Perhaps we''ll ultimately all arrive at the same destination," Lei Yuce replied with a nod, and Su Anqian also gave a contemtive nod upon hearing this.
"Time is of the essence, so I suggest that we set off right away," Wen Zhong said.
......
Not only was spiritual sense severely restricted in the golden desert, everyone''s flight speed was also significantly hampered.
"Fellow Daoist Xiong Shan, I don''t care why you decided to follow me, but I''m warning you not to do anything out of line. I don''t want to have to kill you again," Han Li said.
"There''s no need for you to be wary of me, Fellow Daoist Han, it was purely by chance that the two of us encountered each other here. If Chief Warden Qi Mozi hadn''t decided to bring me with him, I would either be at my post in the Immortal Prison right now, or cultivating in seclusion in my cave abode, and I wouldn''t havee out before I reached thete-High Zenith Stage," Xiong Shan hurriedly exined.
"Why thete-High Zenith Stage?" Han Li asked.
"I was hoping that with the Immortal Pce''s help, I would be able to get reach thete-High Zenith Stage ahead of you, at which point I''ll be able to exact vengeance upon you, but I''ve nowe to realize the futility of my endeavor," Xiong Shan replied with a wry smile.
"How did you manage to identify me?" Han Li asked as he glowered intently at Xiong Shan.
"You must''ve faced Chief Warden Qi Mozi in a battle not long ago, right, Fellow Daoist Han?" Xiong Shan asked.
"That''s right. The fact that you''re asking this question means that he must''ve left some type of mark on me during our battle, right?" Han Li asked.
"Your wisdom is truly unmatched, Fellow Daoist Han. Indeed, after Chief Warden Qi Mozi became aware of your penchant for adopting disguises with your Reincarnation Pce mask, he decided that he was going to nt a mark on your body the next time you faced each other in battle so that he could track you in the future," Xiong Shan confirmed with a nod.
"What kind of mark did he leave on me? Why haven''t I been able to detect it at all?" Han Li asked.
"The mark doesn''t give off any spiritual power fluctuations, and it can only be used to track someone at very close proximity through the use of a detection token," Xiong Shan exined as he summoned a small jade pendant before offering it to Han Li.
Han Li epted the jade pendant from Xiong Shan to discover that it was hot to the touch.
"If you know who I am, then shouldn''t you be avoiding me? Why are you following me instead?" Han Li asked as he stowed the jade pendant away.
"Well... Firstly, I feel like I''ll be a bit safer with you, and perhaps I''ll be able to reap some spoils that you don''t care to im. Secondly, if we run into Chief Warden Qi Mozi and he sees that I''m with you, he''ll know that I''ve remained loyal to my post," Xiong Shan exined after a brief hesitation.
"Are you not afraid that I''ll kill you again?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Xiong Shan instantly tensed up upon hearing this, but he maintained a calm andposed facade as he replied, "You''ve already killed me once, so all of our differences have already been settled. I haven''t done anything to provoke you, and I''m sure you''re not the type of person to take innocent lives. Even if you do kill me, at the very least, I will have chosen my fate, and that''s better than perishing to some unknown cause in this godforsaken ce."
"You''re right in that I won''t take innocent lives, but if I find you doing anything out of line, then don''t me me for turning on you," Han Li threatened in a cold voice.
Under normal circumstances, he definitely wouldn''t have allowed Xiong Shan to follow him like this. However, at the moment, it was unclear where Qi Mozi was, so he decided to keep Xiong Shan around to see if there was some type of sinister plot afoot. If that were the case, then perhaps he would be able to use Xiong Shan as bait to lure out Qi Mozi and put an end to their conflict once and for all.
"Right now, you can kill me just by lifting a finger, so I definitely wouldn''t dare to do anything out of line," Xiong Shan hurriedly replied.
As they were speaking with one another, Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 caught up to them, following which the former asked, "What exactly have you found in that direction, Brother Han?"
"I know that you''re not one to make unsound decisions, but you should''ve at least tipped us off a little! Right now, we''re following after youpletely blind!" Fox 3ined.
"I detected an aura in this direction that was both familiar and unfamiliar to me, so I wanted to go and take a look. There was no need for the two of you to follow me," Han Li replied.
"It''s fine. At the very least, you have some direction, and perhaps this is the right way to go," Wyrm 3 said.
With that, the group flew onward with Han Li leading the way, and along the way, they spotted many enormous golden bones half-buried in the desert.
However, there was nothing else worthy of note about these bones aside from how massive they were, so no one paid them any heed.
After flying for around four hours, Han Li spotted a blurry outline in the distance. It seemed to be a majestic pce that was giving off radiant, golden light, and the aura that he had sensed earlier was bing more and more pronounced.
Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 both perked up slightly at the sight of the silhouette on the horizon, and only after flying for several dozen more kilometers was the silhouette revealed to be a grand pceprised entirely of golden sand.
Numerous giant golden horns could be seen on the walls of the pce, serving as decoration, andying on its ceiling was a golden-robed young man.
It was a rather handsome young man with azy look on his face, and he was tossing a round golden skull up and down in a bored manner.
The skull was farrger than the average human skull, indicating that it belonged to some other type of foreign being, and it had been tossed around so much that its surface had be polished smooth.
The young man tossed the skull up one more time, then caught it again before rising to his feet and casting his gaze toward Han Li''s group, who were approaching from several dozen kilometers away.
Right at this moment, a palm-sized golden lizard suddenly scurried its way out of his cor to stand on his shoulder, where it also began observing Han Li''s group.
"I knew it..." Han Li mused to himself as a grim look appeared on his face.
"Do you recognize this man, Brother Han?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"I don''t, but I know what he is. He''s a Gold Devouring Immortal," Han Li replied.
"What?! A Gold Devouring Immortal? His aura indicates that he''s already at the Great Epassment Stage! A Great Epassment Stage Gold Devouring Immortal is going to be a massive pain to deal with!" Fox 3 eximed.
"I''m beginning to regreting with you now, Fellow Daoist Han," Xiong Shan groaned with a forlorn expression.
Before Han Li had a chance to say anything, the young man appeared no more than several thousand feet away from them in a sh, where he began to observe their group with an intrigued expression, while Han Li and the others looked back at him with wary expressions.
"There''s no need to be so anxious, I won''t kill you right away," the young man said with a smile.
He then picked up the golden lizard that was perched on his shoulder as he continued, "It''s incredibly boring being trapped in this pagoda, and I''ve only had this Golden Mongoose Lizard to keep mepany over the past million years. Now that you''re here, I can have a bit of fun!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he hurled the golden lizard through the air, sending it flying directly at Wyrm 3''s face like a golden spear.
A dark red light barrier instantly appeared before Wyrm 3 without any warning, and the Golden Mongoose Lizard plunged headfirst into the light barrier like a speeding arrow, causing the light barrier to cave in to such a degree that the lizard only drew to a halt no more than an inch away from Wyrm 3''s be.
Immediately thereafter, the light barrier began to ripple like water before rebounding forcefully to send the lizard flying back through the air.
All of a sudden, Han Li yelled, "Look out!"
Chapter 1079: Deal
Chapter 1079: Deal
Wyrm 3 reflexively took a step back upon hearing this, only to feel someone grab onto her shoulder before throwing her back through the air.
At the same time, the body of the Golden Mongoose Lizard suddenly began to swell up like a balloon, following which it exploded violently into a ball of rapidly expanding golden light.
The ball of golden light then transformed into an enormous, golden vortex with countless des of golden light sweeping through it.
These des of golden light were imbued with incredibly formidable metalw powers that instantly sliced the nearby space into ribbons.
After sending Wyrm 3 flying to safety, Han Li stepped forward while channeling his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra and his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts in unison, then threw a punch forward to release a semi-transparent golden fist projection that struck the golden vortex with tremendous power.
A resounding boom rang out as the vortex exploded, sending the des of golden light inside sweeping through the air in all directions.
At the same time, the golden-robed young man had already pounced at Han Li, much to thetter''s dismay.
As expected of a fellow Gold Devouring Immortal, this golden-robed young man was just as keen for battle as Jin Tong was.
Han Li didn''t dare to take any chances against such a formidable Gold Devouring Immortal, and he immediately channeled his Reversal True Axis ability to dart back in retreat.
"So you''ve mastered thews of time as well," the young man remarked with a displeased look on his face, clearly having been reminded of the man who had trapped him in this ce.
Immediately thereafter, ayer of golden ripples surged out of his body, giving him an illusory appearance.
All Han Li saw was a golden blur before the young man abruptly appeared before him, then reached out to make a grab for his throat.
The man had disyed such incredible speed that even Han Li was unable to keep up.
Right at this moment, a streak of swordlight shot out of Wyrm 3''s sleeve before hurtling directly toward the man''s head.
However, this didn''t deter the man at all as he continued to make a grab for Han Li with a disdainful sneer on his face.
The streak of swordlight was imbued with immense power, but it instantly shattered upon impact against the man''s body, and it wasn''t even able to leave a mark on his golden robe.
Right as the tips of the man''s fingers were about to make contact with Han Li''s throat, a burst of golden light suddenly appeared behind him, and his Mantra Treasured Axis emerged before releasing countless rays of radiant, golden light in all directions.
The young man was instantly rooted to the spot, while Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, all of which converged toward the man from different directions.
Bursts of golden lightning erupted out of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, all of which were aimed at the vital regions of the man''s body, and he was instantly inundated by a hostile sea of golden lightning.
The sea of golden lightning raged and rumbled incessantly, scorching the very space around it.
However, after the lightning dissipated, the young man remainedpletely unscathed, and aside from some char marks on his robe, he was entirely unaffected.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and his thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew high up into the sky at his behest beforebining into a single flying sword.
A vast torrent of golden lightning erupted out of thebined Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and a pir of golden lightning descended from the heavens before crashing down upon the golden-robed man with devastating power.
An earth-shattering thunderp rang out as the man was struck by the pir of lightning, and he was immediately sent plummeting out of the sky.
All of a sudden, it was as if a pool of golden lightning had appeared in the desert, eradicating everything within it.
Wyrm 3 and the others had already retreated far away, and their expressions changed drastically upon seeing this.
Among them, Xiong Shan was disying the strongest reaction, one of shock and dismay, and he couldn''t help but heave a forlorn sigh as it dawned on him just how far Han Li had left him behind.
Momentster, the lightning subsided, and it was revealed that the tip of thebined Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword was pinned firmly against the golden-robed man''s head, but it hadn''t managed to even pierce through his skin.
The physical constitution of a Great Epassment Stage Gold Devouring Immortal was truly astounding.
"Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve? If not, then I''m about to retaliate," the young man said in a bored manner.
At the same time,yers of golden ripples were emanating from his body, forcing back the rays of golden light released by Han Li''s Mantra Treasured Axis.
A hint of surprise shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this.
By refining the Fire Age Firefly hives, Han Li had attained arge number of timew threads, granting him far superior timew powers that he had thought would''ve at least been sufficient to immobilize the average Great Epassment cultivator, but it appeared that this was not enough to keep a Great Epassment Stage Gold Devouring Immortal in check.
All of a sudden, the young man''s smile faded, and a pair of near-transparent wings appeared on his back.
The wings began pping rapidly amid a barely audible buzzing sound, releasing waves of semi-transparent golden light that shed against the golden ripples released by the Mantra Treasured Axis.
As more and more wave of golden light were released, the power of the Mantra Treasured Axis was nullified further and further, allowing the man to move freely within a certain area.
He dusted off the charred parts of his golden robe, then rubbed the spot on the top of his head where he had been struck by Han Li''s sword, following which he looked up at Han Li and loosely clenched his hand into a fist.
It was only a small gesture, but a terrifying aura erupted out of his body as a result.
A burst of radiant, golden light appeared behind him, within which was a giant Gold Devouring Beetle projection, and it was giving off formidablew power fluctuations that instantly forced back the surrounding golden ripples even further.
"Look out!" Wyrm 3 yelled in an rmed manner as she stepped forward to help, only for Han Li to raise a hand to stop her.
She turned to Han Li with a perplexed expression, and she was left feeling even more puzzled when Han Li suddenly withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis.
"What are you doing, Brother Han?" Fox 3 asked with a befuddled expression, and the golden-robed young man was also rather taken aback by this turn of events.
"May I ask your name, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li suddenly asked.
"Isn''t it a littlete for Brother Han to be trying to make friends now?" Fox 3 eximed in a bbergasted manner, while Wyrm 3 continued to look on with a perplexed expression.
The man''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he offered no response.
Han Li remained unbothered by this, and he continued, "I can see that you were also imprisoned here by Immortal Lord Tai Sui, just like everyone on the previous levels of this pagoda, so there''s no need for us to be enemies."
The man immediately erupted intoughter upon hearing this, as if he had just been told a hrious joke.
"If you let us go, I promise that we''ll do everything in our power to lift the restriction in this ce and free you from here. What do you say?" Han Li asked, lookingpletely unfazed.
"How can you possibly free me from this pagoda when you can''t even defeat me? Do you know what kind of monster is being held captive on the seventh level? You think all it''ll take is for me to let you through, and you''ll be able to achieve your objective without any resistance? I''ve finally had some ythings show up on my doorstep, I''m not handing you over to that old madman so easily!" the young man scoffed.
"I''m confident in our ability to deal with whatever''s on the seventh level, it''s just a matter of whether you''re willing to let us through now," Han Li dered in an indifferent manner, and a hesitant look appeared in the man''s eyes at the sight of Han Li''s unwavering confidence.
If it were possible, of course he wanted to be freed from this godforsaken pagoda.
Over the past several million years, he had been so bored that he had massacred all of the other living beings on this level before grinding their bones down into golden powder, and that was how this desert hade into existence.
Unfortunately, he had gone too far on his killing spree, to the point that the only thing that remained to keep himpany was that Golden Mongoose Lizard.
Despite his desire to leave, he couldn''t help but wonder if Han Li really did possess the power to free him from this ce.
"I''m open to the idea, but how are you going to show me that you won''t perish to that old madman, and how are you going to prove to me that you have what it takes to free me from this pagoda? How about you take a punch head-on from me?" the man proposed.
Wyrm 3''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but before she had a chance to stop him, Han Li replied, "Deal."
Chapter 1080: One Punch
Chapter 1080: One Punch
"Brother Han, an all-out blow from a Great Epassment Stage Gold Devouring Immortal is not to be taken lightly! I know that you''re confident in your abilities, but this is an extremely perilous undertaking!" Wyrm 3 said to Han Li through voice transmission.
"Brother Han, all he said is that you had to take a punch from him head-on, but he didn''t stipte that you can''t use any treasures. I can temporarily lend you my Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber so you have a better chance of withstanding a punch from him," Fox 3 alsomunicated through voice transmission.
"Thanks for looking out for me, but I can look after myself," Han Li replied with a smile.
Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 exchanged a perplexed nce with each other upon hearing this, but didn''t try to dissuade Han Li any further.
"If you have any pieces of protective clothing, then I suggest you put on as manyyers as possible. As long as you don''t evade my punch, you can do anything you want to defend yourself. Let me warn you that I''m not going to be holding back," the man said with a wide grin.
Han Li nodded in response, then turned to Wyrm 3''s trio and gestured for them to distance themselves from him.
The three of them immediately retreated to close to ten kilometers away.
"What on earth is Brother Han nning? Will he really be able to withstand an all-out blow from this Gold Devouring Immortal?" Fox 3 asked.
"I''m not sure, but knowing the type of person that he is, I''m sure he won''t take any undue risks, so we''ll just have to wait and see," Wyrm 3 replied.
Xiong Shan didn''t say anything. In fact, he had the most confidence in Han Li out of the trio, and he had a feeling that this Gold Devouring Immortal was about to be screwed over by Han Li.
After Wyrm 3''s trio had retreated to a safe distance away, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a spherical light barrier around him, one that was over ten thousand feet in radius.
"You think your time spirit domain will be enough to oppose my attack?" the golden-robed man asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I''m ready," Han Li dered in a calm manner, then took a step back before adopting a horse stance while simultaneously channeling both his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
An intrigued look appeared in the young man''s eyes upon seeing this, and all of a sudden, a burst of radiant, golden light erupted out of his body as his robes began to p and billow audibly.
At the same time, rings of golden light began to proliferate through the surrounding area from beneath his feet like ripples over the surface of ake, spreading all the way to hundreds of kilometers away.
All of the grains of golden sand in the desert began to bounce up and down as if they were jumping for joy, and concerned looks appeared in the eyes of Wyrm 3''s trio as they sensed the golden-robed man''s unfathomable power.
Han Li was situated closest to the young man, so he was able to sense his power even more clearly than Wyrm 3 and the others, and even though he was stunned internally, he was able to maintain a calm facade.
"Here Ie!" the young man dered as he also took a step back, pulling his fist back to his own waist as he prepared tounch himself forward.
Han Li remained silent as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which fused as one with his time spirit domain and rose up into the air like a bright moon that was giving off rays of gentle light.
Immediately thereafter, Illusory Dawn Sand spilled over the ground, almost indistinguishable from the golden sand of the desert, and a series of mountains quickly emerged over thendscape.
The Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree then emerged before transforming into a lush forest, while water of time flowed down from the heavens, forming a winding river that trickled through the forest.
Finally, a golden torch that was releasing countless specks of golden fire rose up into the air, and the specks of golden fire resembled stars that lit up the entire sky.
The golden-robed young man was quite taken aback to see this, but unlike Qi Mozi, he wasn''t aware of the secrets of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, so all he felt was intrigue.
He could sense that the surrounding flow of time was slowing down, and that his movements were bing more and more restricted, but he still scoffed, "How are these illusory objects going to help you?"
At the same time, the golden light radiating from his body had reached an unprecedented level of brightness, and heunched himself forward while throwing a punch directly at Han Li.
A giant, golden fist projection shot forth through the air, and it seemed to bepletely unaffected by Han Li''s timew powers as it hurtled toward him with devastating power.
However, in the instant that the fist projection was unleashed, the man noticed that the punch was far less powerful than he had anticipated.
Immediately thereafter, he finally realized what had happened to him.
Much to Han Li''s dismay, most of the timew threads that he had recently attained had been drained of their power in order to unleash the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra''s time-reversal ability, and he hurriedly withdrew his five time-attributew treasures in order to conserve his timew powers.
As soon as thew treasures faded away, the fist projection instantly elerated significantly, reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye.
Fortunately, he was already fully prepared, and his physical constitution had been bolstered to the maximum by his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts as he threw a punch of his own in retaliation.
At the same time, he drew upon all of the starpower in his entire body before condensing it into his fist, and an earth-shattering boom rang out as his fist collided with the oing golden fist projection.
A vast explosion of golden and white light took ce, stirring up an incredibly chaotic vortex that spread through the air in all directions, annihting everything within a radius of dozens of kilometers.
Hundreds of sand whirls erupted up into the heavens like a nest of monstrous, golden serpents, producing a deafening rumbling.
Han Li was sent flying back through the air before plunging several thousand feet deep into the sand below, and all of his joints were creaking and groaning incessantly, while his entire body was throbbing with pain.
He thrust his palms forcefully into the ground beneath himself,unching himself out of the sand and barreling his way straight through dozens of sand whirls before drawing to a halt in front of the golden-robed young man.
Shortly thereafter, the sand whirls faded away, but there was still a vast volume of sand drifting through the air, severely affecting visibility.
"I believe I''ve just fulfilled my end of the deal," Han Li said, then threw up a mouthful of blood.
"How is this possible? What did your spirit domain do to me just now?" the man asked as he looked down at his own fist with a perplexed expression.
"Your cultivation base had temporarily been reversed several million years, but it''ll gradually recover," Han Li said, and despite his nonchnt tone, the golden-robed man was astonished to hear this.
Sure enough, he could sense that his own cultivation base had been significantly regressed, and that was why his punch had beencking in power.
"Seeing as you''ve managed to withstand a punch from me, I will also fulfill my end of the deal. Not only will I no longer oppose you, I can even take you to the seventh level, but in exchange, you have to free me from this pagoda," the man said.
"If you had agreed to my proposal without making me withstand that punch, then our agreement would''ve been able to stand on those terms, but now that I''ve been forced to withstand a punch from you, some of the conditions have to be changed," Han Li said.
"What do you mean by that? Are you going back on our agreement?" the man asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"No, I''m still going to fulfill my promise of freeing you from this pagoda, but in return, I need you to do something for me," Han Li replied.
"What is it?" the man snapped, struggling to rein in his own temper.
At this point, Wyrm 3''s trio was about to arrive on the scene, so Han Li switched to voice transmission as he said, "Among the people who entered the Eon Pagoda, one of them is a Great Epassment cultivator who''s a sworn enemy of mine, and I want you to help me deal with him. Of course, this is not something that necessarily has to be done.
¡°As long as he doesn''te after me, you don''t have to target him, and once we leave the Eon Pagoda, you''ll be free, so you won''t have to do it."
"That''s it?" the man asked in a skeptical manner.
"That''s it," Han Li confirmed with a nod.
At the same time, they were joined by Wyrm 3''s trio, and the three of them were all looking at Han Li with rather peculiar looks on their faces.
They had detected extremely formidablew power fluctuations while Han Li was unleashing his Five Elemental Illusory World, but they weren''t aware of exactly what had happened. However, it was now abundantly clear to them what had unfolded after detecting the golden-robed man''s regressed cultivation base.
"Also, there''s something else that I can tell you. During my travels, I encountered two High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortals, and I presume you''d be interested in them," Han Li continued.
"Where did you encounter these two Gold Devouring Immortals?" the young man immediately asked.
"One in the Northern cial Immortal Region and the other in the Golden Origin Immortal Region. One of them was a small child, while the other was a vicious woman," Han Li lied, making up a story on the spot.
"If you can take me to them, I can protect you even after we leave the Eon Pagoda, and if that Great Epassment cultivator that you spoke ofes after you, I will do everything in my power to kill him," the golden-robed man promised through voice transmission.
"That sounds like a good deal," Han Li replied with a smile.
With this agreement made, the tension between the two of them eased significantly, and Han Li smiled as he asked, "Can you tell me your name now"
"My name is Qu Lin," the man replied, and Han Li revealed his own name as well.
"Time is of the essence, Fellow Daoist Han. I''ll take you to the seventh level right away," Qu Lin said in an urgent manner.
"There''s no hurry, please allow me some time to rest and recover," Han Li said.
Even though Qu Lin''s cultivation base had been regressed by Han Li''s Five Elemental Illusory World, an all-out blow from him was still nothing to scoff at, and Han Li had sustained some internal injuries from withstanding that punch.
With that, he sat down with his legs crossed, then took a pill before closing his eyes to meditate.
Chapter 1081: Self-Sacrificial Rescue
Chapter 1081: Self-Sacrificial Rescue
On the other side of the golden desert, Lei Yuce and the others were currently gathered before a reddish-brown stone archway.
A series of runes were engraved onto the archway, seven or eight of which were currently shing with faint, golden light. Inside the archway was a dark red light barrier, bound to which were nine dark golden chains.
Upon close inspection, one would discover that these chains were also riddled with tiny scale-like runes, and they were giving off extremely formidable restrictive power.
"What''s the verdict, Fellow Daoist Lei? Can you unravel this Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array or not?" Jin Liu asked with slightly furrowed brows.
Instead of immediately giving a response, Lei Yuce spoke briefly with Wen Zhong in hushed tones, then said, "This Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array has been tampered with by someone, making it more difficult to unravel than otherwise, so I''m going to need some time."
"How long will it take?" Su Anqian asked.
"This array is veryplex to begin with, and even with just a single Dragon Scale Chain altered, the difficulty of unraveling the array will increase significantly. At the very least, four of these chains have been tampered with, so by my estimates, it''s going to take around two to three days," Lei Yuce replied.
"Two to three days? That''s way too long!" Jin Liu eximed.
"If you have some other faster way to break the array, then feel free to do so yourself, Fellow Daoist Jin," Wen Zhong said with a displeased expression.
An angry look shed through Jin Liu''s eyes upon hearing this, but he offered no response.
When it came to arrays, his aptitude was very mediocre. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have misidentified the Star Pce Standoff Array as the Yin Yang Latch Array earlier. Hence, he was naturally unable to unravel this Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array.
The Lan siblings exchanged a nce with each other, then shook their heads in unison, clearly also powerless in the face of this array.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Lei Yuce said, "There''s something else I can try, but I don''t have much confidence that it''s going to seed."
"If there''s something else we can try, then we naturally have to try it! We can''t afford to be dyed here like this!" Jin Liu immediately said.
"You make it sound so simple! Senior Martial Brother Lei is referring to a way to break the array by force, and even the slightest mishap could result in grievous bodily harm!" Wen Zhong snapped in a disgruntled manner.
A hint of concern appeared in Su Anqian''s eyes upon hearing this, while Jin Liu stroked his own chin with tightly furrowed brows as he mused, "In that case, it looks like we''ll just have to wait."
"Fellow Daoist Lei, if the alternative method is too risky, then it would be better to be safe than sorry, even if it means a dy of two or three days," Su Anqian said.
"It''s fine, Celestial Maiden Su, I can give it a try," Lei Yuce replied.
A hint of exasperation shed through Wen Zhong''s eyes upon hearing this, and he wanted to try and dissuade Lei Yuce, but he knew that it would only be in futility, so he remained silent.
"In order to break this array quickly, I''ll have to use the Six Integrations Wilderness Array to force open the Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array, thereby temporarily creating an opening for us to pass through. In order to aplish this, I''m going to need everyone''s help," Lei Yuce said.
"I''m aware of the Six Integrations Wilderness Array. It''s an array that''s far inferior to the Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array, so how can this possibly work?" Jin Liu asked with a skeptical expression.
"The Six Integrations Wilderness Array naturally won''t be enough to get the job done on its own. I''m going to be using a Nine Dragon Jewel to serve as the core of the array in order to enhance its power," Lei Yuce exined.
"A Nine Dragon Jewel? If you really do have such a treasure up your sleeve, then this n bes a lot more usible," Jin Liu replied with a nod.
"Lan Yan and I will do everything in our power to assist you," Lan Yuanzi assured, while Su Anqian nodded in agreement.
With that, Lei Yuce flipped a hand over to produce a collection of array tools, which he beganying out around the stone archway with Wen Zhong''s assistance.
Before long, the foundation of a hexagonal array had emerged.
Shortly thereafter, the Six Integrations Wilderness Array wasplete, and after thoroughly examining the array to ensure that nothing was amiss, Lei Yuce dered, "The array isplete. Please step inside with me, fellow daoists."
Everyone did as they were told, with each person standing on one of the six corners of the hexagonal array, waiting for Lei Yuce to activate the array.
Lei Yuce exchanged a nce with Su Anqian, then flipped a hand over to produce a fist-sized purple jewel, which flew through the air before descending upon the center of the Six Integrations Wilderness Array.
There were arcs of lightning shing over the jewel, and nine dragons could be seen roaming incessantly over its surface amid bursts of dull rumbling.
With the Nine Dragon Jewel in ce, Lei Yuce began chanting an incantation, and everyone immediately followed suit while making a series of hand seals before each of them pointed a finger at the jewel.\
Six beams of spiritual light of different colors shot out of their fingertips before converging within the purple jewel, and countless arcs of purple lightning instantly surged out from within, forming a purple light barrier that epassed the entirety of the Six Integrations Wilderness Array.
A draconic roar rang out as the nine dragon projections flew out of the Nine Dragon Jewel, following which all of them swelled to around ten feet in length before pouncing at the stone archway.
A resounding boom rang out as the archway shuddered violently, and it immediately began to tremble after the nine purple dragons surged into the dark red light barrier.
Everyone immediately began injecting their immortal spiritual power into the array upon seeing this, and a hole began to slowly appear at the center of the dark red light barrier, revealing another space beyond it.
"It''s working!" Jin Liu eximed with an ecstatic expression.
"We''re still nowhere near done yet, so don''t getcent," Lei Yuce cautioned.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the nine Dragon Scale Chains bound to the stone archway suddenly began to glow with radiant, golden light, and a series of golden ripples erupted out of the chains to fill the entire dark red light barrier.
Furthermore, a burst of incredibly chaotic suction had emerged at the point where the golden light and the purple lightning met, sucking in all of the surrounding world''s origin qi in a frenzy.
At this point, all that could be seen through the hole was a vast expanse of darkness, and the violent aura of spatial turbulence could be detected from the other side.
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon detecting this, and Lei Yuce yelled, "It looks like we''ve underestimated the power of the Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array. We have to make a concerted effort to open up a spatial passageway before the power of the array is fully activated!" Lei Yuce yelled.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the ck vortex at the center of the stone archway suddenly shuddered violently, following which a burst of violent power erupted out from within.
At the same time, nine golden dragon projections shot out of the Dragon Scale Chains bound to the archway, then pounced at Lei Yuce and the others.
Everyone felt a burst of terrifying power surging directly toward them, and Jin Liu abandoned the array to make his escape, followed closely by the Lan siblings.
In the wake of their abrupt departure, the entire array instantly fell apart, and the Nine Dragon Jewel at the center of the array also exploded in an uncontrolled state, sending purple lightning erupting in all directions.
Wen Zhong also backed out of the array, and thus, Lei Yuce and Su Anqian were the only ones remaining inside, left to face the golden dragon projections and purple lightning on their own.
Both of them reacted very quickly, but they were standing on the two corners of the hexagonal array that were closest to the stone archway, leaving them with no time to escape.
Lei Yuce immediately sprang forward without any hesitation to ce himself in front of Su Anqian, and a suit of purple lightning armor was beginning to take shape over his body, but it clearly wasn''t going to fully materialize in time.
A resounding boom rang out as the golden dragon projections and purple lightning exploded violently.
At this point, Jin Liu and the others had already retreated to a safe distance away, and they were all observing the explosion with tense expressions.
Rays of golden light and arcs of purple lightning erupted in all directions in a chaotic fashion, violently stirring up all of the world''s origin qi within a radius of dozens of kilometers.
The chaotic phenomenon raged on for close to a minute before finally subsiding, and as the dust settled, it was revealed that an enormous, charred crater had appeared in the ground.
All of the surrounding golden sand had been melted by the intense heat from the explosion, then cooled and solidified into huge golden tes of irregr shapes.
Outside the crater, the stone archway remainedpletely unharmed, and it had already reverted back to its original state.
Jin Liu and the others hurriedly flew over to the edge of the crater before looking down to discover a charred figure with a more petite figure held tightly in their arms.
The suit of silver lightning armor that had previously encased Lei Yuce''s body had alreadypletely disintegrated, and his robes were also in tatters.
His back was heaving violently, and his aura was fluctuating in an extremely unstable fashion, indicating that he had sustained very severe internal injuries.
In contrast, Su Anqian waspletely unscathed.
Chapter 1082: Wanted Fugitive
Chapter 1082: Wanted Fugitive
Wen Zhong was the first one to rush into the crater, and Jin Liu hurriedly followed suit.
Jin Liu gently forcefully Lei Yuce away from Su Anqian, while Wen Zhong hurriedly caught the former to support him.
"Are you alright?" Jin Liu asked as he ced his hands onto Su Anqian''s shoulders.
Su Anqian shrugged off his hands, then turned to look at Lei Yuce, who had just been fed a pill by Wen Zhong, but was still clearly in terrible condition.
Upon sensing Su Anqian''s gaze, he turned to look back at her before putting up a strong front by shing her a feeble smile.
Su Anqian averted her gaze upon seeing this, but internally, she was rather moved by Lei Yuce''s selfless gesture. She knew that if it wasn''t to protect her, he definitely wouldn''t have sustained such severe injuries.
Meanwhile, Lei Yuce got up into a seated position with Wen Zhong''s help, then closed his eyes and began to meditate.
As soon as he began channeling his cultivation arts, the residual golden light and purple lightning in his wounds were instantly forced out, and it was such a painful process that his face immediately became twisted with agony, but he remained silent the entire time.
A sympathetic look appeared in Su Anqian''s eyes upon seeing this, and she strode over to Lei Yuce''s side, then flipped a hand over to produce a small, blue vial, which she offered to him as she said, "These are some Prime Water Pills from our Heavenly Water Sect. They won''t have much of an effect on your injuries, but they''re quite potent for replenishing energy, so they should be quite helpful for your recovery."
"Thank you, Celestial Maiden Su," Lei Yuce said as he epted the vial with an ecstatic expression, then tipped out a pill from inside and swallowed it before continuing to meditate.
A hint of displeasure shed through Jin Liu''s eyes upon seeing this, and he asked, "What do we do now?"
Wen Zhong gave a cold harrumph and offered no response, clearly very unhappy with Jin Liu for abandoning the array.
Lan Yan also turned to him with a disdainful expression, but before she had a chance to say anything, she was stopped by Lan Yuanzi.
In the wake of their battle against Han Li, Lan Yuanzi had be very averse to confrontation, and he shook his head to dissuade Lan Yan from speaking out against Jin Liu.
Lan Yan''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but she held her tongue in the end.
Right at this moment, all of them suddenly looked up into the sky to discover Han Li''s group flying toward them from afar.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the severely ravaged ground below, and upon theirnding, Lei Yuce also opened his eyes to see what was happening.
"Didn''t you go another way? Why have you alsoe here?" Jin Liu asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"Is this Eon Pagoda your private property, Fellow Daoist Jin? Do we have to secure your permission before wee here?" Fox 3 countered as he raised an eyebrow, and Jin Liu had no response to this.
"Who''s this, Fellow Daoist Shi?" Lei Yuce asked with his gaze on Qu Lin.
"This is Fellow Daoist Qu Lin. He''s been held captive on the sixth level of this Eon Pagoda for many years, and we''ve arrived at an agreement, one in which he''ll be helping us make our way to the seventh level," Han Li replied.
Lei Yuce was silent for a moment, then cautioned through voice transmission, "Fellow Daoist Shi, please remember that all of the beings trapped in this pagoda were once extremely renowned fugitives of the Heavenly Court, so making agreements with them could easily backfire if you''re not careful."
Han Li was rather perplexed about why Lei Yuce was offering him these words of caution, but he offered no further exnation as he replied through voice transmission, "Thank you for looking out for me, Fellow Daoist Lei."
Right at this moment, Wyrm 3 suddenly remarked, "This is a Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array!"
"Indeed it is, Fellow Daoist. Are you able to bypass it?" Lei Yuce asked with a hopeful expression.
"The Dragon Scale Chains have been tampered with, so it''s going to be a bit difficult," Wyrm 3 mused.
"Indeed. It would''ve taken me at least two days to unravel the array, so I attempted to break through it by force, only to suffer bacsh from the array and sustain some rather severe injuries," Lei Yuce sighed with a forlorn shake of his head.
Han Li also turned his attention to the array, and after some observation, he was able to determine that it would only require less than a day for him to break it.
However, before he had a chance to say anything, Qu Lin had already strode over to thearray before casually pressing a hand over the runes on the stone archway.
"What are you doing? Stop!" Lei Yuce hurriedly yelled, but given his current condition, he was powerless to intervene.
"Be quiet! I''m breaking the array, can''t you see?" Qu Lin snapped as he continued what he was doing.
"The array has already been tampered with, so it must be treated with caution! If you try to address it haphazardly, you''re only going to furtherpound our woes!" Lei Yuce said in an enraged manner, and Wen Zhong was preparing to intervene by force, while Jin Liu was observing from the side, ready to take Su Anqian and escape at the first sign of bacsh from the array.
Right at this moment, Qu Lin pressed down onto one of the runes on the stone archway, and the dark red light barrier at its center instantly brightened significantly, while the nine Dragon Scale Chains slid away.
All of a sudden, the Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array was unraveled, just like that, much to everyone''s astonishment.
"You were the one who tampered with this Nine Dragon Deity Locking Array in the first ce, right?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.
"That''s right. At the time, I thought that I would perhaps be able to find a way to leave this ce if I could go to the seventh level. However, after reaching the seventh level, I was almost beaten to death by the old madman imprisoned up there. I only just barely managed to escape by the skin of my teeth, and after getting back, I reset the array before altering it for further fortification," Qu Lin revealed.
"How did you manage to return from the seventh level?" Han Li asked.
"Thankfully, I had the foresight to open up the Chaotic Origin Nine Pce Array on the other side after reaching the seventh level, so I had an escape route that I could take," Qu Lin exined.
Han Li nodded in response, then turned to everyone else as he said, "Now that the restriction''s broken, let''s not waste any more time."
Lei Yuce had some questions that he wanted to ask Han Li, but it was clear that thetter wasn''t in the mood to do any exining, so he didn''t raise any questions.
However, no one was keen on stepping through the spatial door right away, and it seemed that everyone was quite apprehensive about what could be on the other side.
"If none of you are willing to go in, then I''ll be going on ahead," Qu Lin sneered, then passed through the dark red light barrier and vanished out of sight.
Han Li conjured up ayer of protective spiritual light around himself, then also began to make his way toward the light barrier, but as soon as he took a step forward, a yellow vortex suddenly appeared beneath his feet, releasing tremendous suction force.
The vortex had appeared so abruptly that Han Li was caughtpletely off guard, and in the blink of an eye, close to the entirety of his lower body had sunken into it.
Despite the abrupt nature of this turn of events, Han Li was able to react very quickly, channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts right away, and two dull thumps rang out beneath his feet as heunched himself up into the air.
However, as soon as he flew out of the vortex, a burst of sludge also erupted out from within, then wrapped itself around his ankle before tugging him back down toward the vortex below.
In the instant that his ankle was caught within the burst of sludge, Han Li immediately felt his entire foot go numb, and he looked down to discover that both his foot and his boot had turned a gray, petrified state.
He immediately swept his other foot toward the burst of sludge, and countless arcs of golden lightning erupted out of the tip of foot to sever the sludge like a golden de.
Immediately thereafter, he flew back over a thousand feet beforending on the edge of the giant, charred crater, where he cast a wary gaze toward the yellow vortex.
After all of the sludge had fallen back into the vortex, a yellow figure slowly emerged from within, and it was a hideous woman dressed in arge, yellow robe.
"Elder She Chan! What are you doing here?" Lan Yuanzi eximed.
"What am I doing here? To clean up your mess, of course! Even after all this time, you two still haven''t managed to capture him!" She Chan snapped with a displeased expression.
Lan Yuanzi''s brows furrowed slightly as he opened his mouth to exin himself, but didn''t seem to know what to say.
Judging from everyone''s reactions upon hearing mention of the name "She Chan", it was clear that they were well aware of who she was.
Han Li''s gaze remained fixed on She Chan as he tried to move his petrified left foot, upon which he discovered that he had already regained feeling in it, but the blood flow to the foot still seemed to be slightly inhibited.
"Everyone, listen up! The man standing before you right now is Han Li, a member of the Reincarnation Pce and a wanted fugitive that the Heavenly Court has been hunting for many years! He is responsible for a longundry list of crimes across various immortal regions, including the death of Golden Origin Immortal Pce Master Dongfang Bai!
¡°If you''re willing to help me capture him, then you''ll be putting both yourselves and your sects in the good graces of the Heavenly Court. What do you all say?" She Chan asked as she swept her gaze over everyone present.
Lei Yuce and the others were allpletely rooted to the spot, clearly bbergasted by this abrupt bombshell.
Chapter 1083: Reversal
Chapter 1083: Reversal
After taking a moment topose themselves, Lei Yuce exchanged a nce with Wen Zhong, and the former shook his head ever so slightly.
Wen Zhong gave a slight nod in response, and the two of them remained silent, seemingly content to serve as bystanders.
After some contemtion, Su Anqian also decided to remain an impartial observer, while Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 naturally remained silent as well.
She Chan swept her gaze over everyone one after another before settling her gaze on the Lan siblings.
Lan Yuanzi cupped his fist in an apologetic salute as he said, "Please forgive us, Elder She. Lan Yan and I have already sworn a vow against going after Fellow Daoist Han for as long as we''re in the Eon Pagoda. If you need our help in apprehending him, then I''m afraid we''ll only be able to lend you our assistance once we''ve left this ce."
"Are you an idiot? What does a trivial vow matter for in the face of the greater good? Have you forgotten our objective for hunting down this man?" She Chan snapped.
Lan Yuanzi''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but after a brief hesitation, he maintained his cupped fist salute with his head lowered, and Lan Yan also did the same.
"Fine, do as you please then! Once we return to the sect, I''m going to report this matter to our patriarch and have your master provide an exnation for this farce!" She Chan said in a furious voice.
Lan Yan''s expression changed drastically upon hearing this, but before she could do anything, Lan Yuanzi tugged on her sleeve as he said through voice transmission, "We can bear the consequences of disobeying orders, but if we go back on a vow, then our master will be extremely disappointed in us."
Lan Yan bowed her head again upon hearing this.
She Chan was feeling very embarrassed by the fact that even the fellow members of her own sect were unwilling to help her, and she threatened in a cold voice, "I hope you two won''te to regret this."
All the while, Jin Liu was looking on with a hint of schadenfreude in his eyes.
He knew that the more enraged She Chan became, the more ruthless she was going to be against Han Li, and that was naturally a very wee sight for him.
Meanwhile, Han Li remained standing on the spot with a calm and rxed expression, pondering how he was going to deal with She Chan.
He probably doesn''t even realize just how screwed he is! Jin Liu scoffed internally at the sight of Han Li''sposed disy.
"If you''re all going to just stand by and watch, then make sure you stay back and don''t do anything out of line!" She Chan warned, then abruptly vanished from the spot without any warning, leaving only a ball of yellow light where she had been standing just a moment ago.
Everyone immediately backed away far into the distance upon seeing this, and in the next instant, a violent sandstorm rose up from behind Han Li before converging toward him from all directions.
Han Li was already prepared for this, and he channeled his Reversal True Axis ability to instantly vanish from the spot, escaping from the sandstorm in the process.
As soon as the sandstorm closed in around the spot where Han Li had been standing just a moment ago, countless grains of sand instantly erupted in all directions, and a yellow light barrier emerged from within before spreading outward, epassing the entire surrounding area with a radius of dozens of kilometers in the blink of an eye.
Caught within the light barrier, Han Li instantly felt a burst of tremendous gravitational force crash down upon him, as if he were being crushed under several invisible mountains, thereby severely hampering his movement.
The scenery within She Chan''s spirit domain was constantly shifting, and a series of short and barren mountains had appeared on the edge of the spirit domain.
As for the area near Han Li, numerous yellow swamps of different shapes and sizes had appeared on the ground, and there was earthy yellow sludge flowing inside, withrge bubbles asionally emerging from within them.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon catching a whiff of the nauseating odor of rot and decay in the air, and right at this moment, a burst of low croaking suddenly rang out from nearby.
Han Li hurriedly turned in that direction to discover the head of a toad that was the size of a house exposed above the surface of a swamp no more than several thousand feet away from him.
Its two golden eyes were staring at him in a cold and emotionless manner, and the dense clusters of warts on its skin presented a disgusting and unsettling sight to behold.
With a flick of his wrist, thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords appeared around Han Li in unison, and they circled around in the air momentarily before hurtling directly toward the giant, yellow toad.
The swords left a trail of golden lightning in their wake, but due to the effects of the earthw powers within the spirit domain, they were traveling far slower than usual. However, the power imbued within them hadn''t been diminished in the slightest.
Right as the flying swords were about to reach it, the yellow toad suddenly vanished into the swamp.
Han Li hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique upon seeing this, trying to use his spiritual sense to track it down, but all he could detect was a boundless sea of earthw powers.
She''s able to use her spirit domain as cover and perfectly conceal her own aura within it! This could be troublesome...
Right at this moment, the ground beneath Han Li''s feet reared up violently as the giant toad abruptly emerged from below, flinging him up into the air.
Han Li remained calm andposed as he swiftly swept a sleeve through the air, and his thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately began flying back to his side.
However, before the flying swords could reach him, a huge shadow suddenly appeared up above. s it turned out, a huge mountain had suddenly flown over from afar, and it was in the process of crashing down directly upon him.
An ordinary mountain of this size wouldn''t have posed any threat to Han Li, but given that it had been manifested within She Chan''s Spiritform Stage spirit domain, it was sure to contain boundless earthw powers that would grant it unfathomable weight.
With that in mind, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he flicked his wrist upward, and his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly began flying upward at his behest.
Right as the mountain was about to crash down upon Han Li, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords pierced into its underside, then began releasing a flurry of golden lightning and azure sword projections.
A vast sea of golden lightning erupted out of the flying swords, holding the mountain aloft to arrest its fall, while Han Li channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, then began plummeting out of the sky in an upside-down orientation with his fist held close to his waist, as if he were preparing to throw an almighty punch.
A massive crater had already opened up on the ground below, and the giant, yellow toad was springing upward with its cavernous mouth wide open to swallow Han Li whole.
Within mere moments, Han Li had already plunged headfirst into the yellow toad''s mouth, and the toad instantly closed its mouth to devour him.
However, at the same time, Han Li threw a punch downward with resplendent starlight glowing from his fist.
A vast expanse of blinding, white light erupted within the toad''s mouth, which was quickly forced open by a burst of tremendous power that exploded outward from within.
Immediately thereafter, the giant toad''s entire body exploded with a resounding boom.
In the wake of the yellow toad''s demise, the surrounding spirit domain rapidly shrank down to only around a tenth of its original size, and the light radiating from it also began to gradually dim, as if the spirit domain were about to vanish altogether.
At the same time, the mountain up above disintegrated into yellow sludge that rained down from the heavens like a mudslide.
Han Li had no time to evade the falling sludge, and it cascaded down onto his entire body.
With a flick of his wrist, he withdrew his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords back up his sleeve, while everyone was looking on with bewildered expressions, clearly incredulous that a Great Epassment cultivator had been defeated and in so easily.
Among them, Jin Liu was disying the strongest reaction, one of both disappointment and indignation.
However, right at this moment, Han Li abruptly stiffened like a y statue, then plummeted out of the sky in apletely uncontrolled fashion before crashing down onto the ground with a resounding thump.
An rmed look immediately appeared on Wyrm 3''s face as she began rushing to Han Li''s aid, only to be stopped in her tracks by Fox 3, who yelled in an urgent voice, "What are you doing? Have you forgotten our mission? We need to remain focused on the big picture!"
Wyrm 3 stopped in her tracks upon hearing this, but her gaze remained fixed on Han Li.
The yellow sludge that had fallen onto him earlier had solidified into a cloak of y that encased his entire body, and it was as if he had truly been transformed into a y statue.
Furthermore, this cloak of y was riddled with strange patterns that were giving off extremely formidable earthw power fluctuations, forming a powerful seal that trapped him inside.
Initially, Han Li was still able to struggle slightly against the cloak of y, but as the coloration of the y rapidly darkened, he was quickly renderedpletely immobilized.
Only after theyer of y hadpletely dried did a palm-sized toad jump out of a nearby swamp before transforming into She Chan''s human form, who turned to the y statue beside her with a derisive sneer in her eyes.
Chapter 1084: Secret Arrangement
Chapter 1084: Secret Arrangement
Lei Yuce and the others hesitated momentarily upon seeing this, then began to fly toward She Chan, clearly under the impression that the battle was over.
There was a look of schadenfreude in Jin Liu''s eyes as he flew toward She Chan with everyone else, while Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 remained where they were, seemingly rather hesitant about how to proceed.
"You were trying to help him earlier, right? Are you also a member of the Reincarnation Pce? If so, then don''t hold back. What if you can still save him?" She Chan chuckled as she turned to Wyrm 3 with a provocative expression.
A furious look appeared in Wyrm 3''s eyes as her hands balled up into tight fists.
"So you really are an aplice of his! You..."
All of a sudden, She Chan''s voice trailed off mid-sentence as a burst of golden light surged over the y statue that Han Li was encased in, and a strange-looking golden tree projection suddenly appeared, then began to rapidly grow, sprouting branches and vines that wrapped themselves around the y statue.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of formidable timew powers erupted forth amid a sh of blinding golden light, and theyer of y around Han Li reverted back into a pool of yellow sludge that flowed onto the ground, following which Han Li sprang forward with the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in his hand aimed directly at She Chan.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and She Chan immediately attempted to dart back in retreat, only to discover that ayer of strange golden sand had appeared on the ground below, reaching up to her ankles to root her to the ground.
She could feel a burst of peculiar timew power fluctuations emanating from the golden sand below,pletely immobilizing her legs.
Before she had a chance to do anything, the vines from the golden tree projection also snaked their way over to her before wrapping themselves around her upper body.
At the same time, the Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind Han Li, further immobilizing She Chan.
Han Li plunged his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword down without any hesitation directly upon She Chan''s chest, where her heart was situated, and due to how abruptly this sequence of events had unfolded, everyone else was also caught within Han Li''s timew powers, rendering thempletely immobile.
A loud, metallic ng rang out as the tip of Han Li''s sword struck She Chan''s chest, raising a trail of golden sparks, but the sword wasn''t able to pierce through her skin!
Han Li was clearly rather taken aback to see this, and right at this moment, a series of yellow runes appeared over She Chan''s body, releasing bursts of earthw power fluctuations that began to contend against the timew power fluctuations released by the manifestations of Han Li''s three time-attributew treasures.
As one of the three paramountws, thews of time held a natural advantage over She Chan''sw powers, and it was only due to She Chan''s superior cultivation base and mastery over herw powers that she was able to contend against Han Li at all.
The surrounding timew power fluctuations were slowly forced back, and ayer of earthy yellow light appeared around She Chan, creating a small safe zone around her as her mobility was gradually restored.
Han LIi''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly injected more immortal spiritual power into his three time-attributew treasures to tighten their hold on She Chan.
She Chan had only fallen for his trap in a moment ofcency, so if he were to allow her to escape now, then it was going to be very difficult for him to trap her again.
Thanks to the influx of immortal spiritual power, the three time-attributew treasures were able to slowly eradicate the safezone that had appeared around She Chan, rendering herpletely immobile again.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this, then swept a sleeve through the air to release thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, all of which released countless arcs of golden lightning to form a dense sea of golden lightning.
The sea of golden lightning was churning incessantly as a golden dragon reared its head from within, then let loose a thunderous, draconic roar before twisting around and swooping down upon She Chan with unstoppable might.
Countless tiny spatial rifts were left in the wake of the golden lightning sword dragon, and the entire desert began to tremble violently as if an earthquake were taking ce.
Right as the golden dragon was about to devour She Chan, a burst of blue light suddenly appeared behind Han Li without any warning.
It was a fist-sized blue bead with several golden runes glowing on its surface, and a burst of blue light abruptly erupted forth from within, forming an enormous blue vortex in the blink of an eye.
The entirety of Han Li''s attention was focused on controlling his time-attributew treasures and containing She Chan, so by the time he detected what was happening behind him, it was already toote.
He felt a burst of tremendous power sweep toward him from behind, and a resounding thump rang out as he was sent flying forward, resulting in a loss of control over his time-attributew treasures and his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The sword dragon formed by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords disintegrated into thin air right before it descended upon She Chan, while all of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords themselves automatically flew back into Han Li''s body.
After flying several thousand feet through the air, Han Li was finally able to steady himself before turning to Lei Yuce and the others with a furious look on his face.
At this moment, everyone was staring at Jin Liu with surprised expressions.
He was the one who had just attacked Han Li with that Chaotic Origin Infernal Water Bead, and in the wake of this inexplicable attack, Su Anqian eximed with an incredulous expression, "Why did you do that?"
"Why? He''s a wanted fugitive of the Heavenly Court, should we not all be ying our part to capture him! You are the ones at fault for not helping Senior She, while I''m the one doing the right thing!" Jin Liu dered in a righteous and justified manner.
"Are you not afraid that your actions will bring disaster to our Heavenly Water Sect? How is making an enemy out of the Reincarnation Pce any more appealing than opposing the Heavenly Court?" Su Anqian countered in an enraged manner.
"Are you saying that I should serve as an aplice to a wanted fugitive? In that case..."
Before Jin Liu had a chance to finish, She Chan interjected, "Why not just tell the truth, Fellow Daoist Jin? In ordance with the agreement that we just struck up through voice transmission, I''ll help you im Celestial Maiden Su over here as long as you help me capture Han Li."
An awkward look appeared on Jin Liu''s face upon hearing this, but he quicklyposed himself as he said, "In any case, let''s capture Han Li first."
By revealing their secret agreement, She Chan had backed Jin Liu into a corner, giving him no choice but to help her, and he was naturally very displeased by this betrayal, but he didn''t dare to express any dissatisfaction.
At this moment, everyone was glowering at him with intense disdain in their eyes, and there was even a hint of a killing intent in Lei Yuce''s eyes.
The Chaotic Origin Infernal Water Bead had interrupted Han Li and allowed She Chan to free herself, but thankfully, it hadn''t managed to inflict any injuries upon him.
Han Li suppressed the fury in his heart as he tightened his grip around hisbined Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, then swooped down upon She Chan from above.
This time, She Chan was regarding him in a much more serious manner, clearly having learned her lesson from their earlier exchange.
With a flick of her wrist, her spirit domain was conjured up once again, transforming the surroundingndscape into one of mountains and swamps.
Sludge began to rise up from the ground before transforming into a series of giant hands that made a grab for Han Li, and he had only managed to fly several thousand feet through the air before another mountain came crashing down upon him.
The gravitational force in the surrounding space became heavier and heavier, and as a result, he was slowed down further and further.
"Let me help you, Fellow Daoist Han," Wyrm 3 said, following which she released her dark red spirit domain.
Situated within her spirit domain, Han Li instantly felt a significant reduction in the potency of the gravitational force acting upon him.
Before he had a chance to thank her, Fox 3 also summoned his spirit domain as he sighed, "Looks like I''ll have to get involved as well."
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and true spirit bloodlines in unison, instantly taking on the form of a giant devilish deity with three heads and six arms.
"That confirms it! Those two are also members of the Reincarnation Pce! Help me take them down, fellow daoists!" She Chan yelled.
Lei Yuce and the others remainedpletely unmoved, and even the Lan siblings had turned away to stoically ignore her.
"Are all of you nning to rebel against the Heavenly Court?!" She Chan yelled in a furious voice, but there was nothing that she could do as she sprang up into the air to meet Han Li.
With a flick of her wrist, a huge club appeared in her grasp. The club was giving off bursts of formidable earthw power fluctuations, clearly indicating that it was a very powerful immortal treasure.
At this point, Han Li had already drawn upon all of the starpower in his body, as well as his True Dragon, Kun Peng, and Giant Mountain Ape bloodlines, and Divine Devilbane Lightning was pouring out of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword in a frenzy, forming an enormous lightning sword that he swung down with almighty power.
Meanwhile,yers uponyers of ck rock were appearing over the surface of She Chan''s club, granting it an astronomical amount of weight, and it had also conjured up a giant club projection to oppose Han Li''s lightning sword.
Chapter 1085: Defeating the Enemy
Chapter 1085: Defeating the Enemy
The lightning sword shed against the club projection with a deafening boom, sending incredibly powerful shockwaves sweeping through the air in all directions.
Amid the shockwaves, a projection of a golden dragon and a Kun Peng could be seen crashing into the club projection one after the other to tear it apart, immediately following which a giant ape projection descended upon She Chan while swinging its fists down with tremendous power.
The club projection was the first to break, allowing the giant lightning sword to crash down from above unopposed.
"Impossible!" She Chan eximed as arge crack appeared over her club, following which a long gash was sliced into her body from her shoulder to her chest, and she was sent flying back through the air.
Arcs of golden lightning clung tenaciously to her wound, and instead of dissipating, they infiltrated her body to attack her internal organs.
She Chan''s skin was extremely resilient, even among early-Great Epassment cultivators, but her internal organs were rather special and were far more vulnerable.
Hence, if she were to allow the golden lightning to wreak havoc in her body as it pleased, then even her cultivation foundation could be permanently damaged.
With that in mind, She Chan plunged straight down into a swamp below, clearly having decided that her best option was to flee.
Jin Liu immediately also fled the scene upon seeing this, but he was confronted by Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 before he could get away.
Instead of pursuing Jin Liu, Han Li remained hovering up in the sky in his three-headed devilish deity form, scouring his gaze over thendscape in search of She Chan.
Right at this moment, an agonized howl suddenly rang out from down below, following which a figure with silver mes burning all over their body flew up into the air.
Their clothes were in tatters, their hair waspletely disheveled, their body was riddled with wounds, and it was none other than She Chan.
Chasing after her in hot pursuit was the Essence Fire Raven, and Han Li immediately pounced at her as well while swinging his sword through the air again.
Another giant, golden lightning sword came crashing down from the heavens, and conflicted looks appeared on the faces of the Lan siblings upon seeing this.
The two of them were very close with She Chan, and if her life were under threat, then they would be forced to intervene.
However, before they had a chance to do anything, She Chan suddenly roared in a resentful voice, "You''ll pay for this!"
As soon as her voice trailed off, a gash suddenly appeared over her be, following which a longan-sized white bead flew out from within before rising up toward Han Li''s giant lightning sword.
"Look out! She''s going to detonate her own beast core!" Lei Yuce eximed as he reflexively positioned himself in front of Su Anqian.
"No, that''s her Toad Moon Jewel!" Lan Yuanzi yelled, and Wyrm 3''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this.
It was said that there was a special type of toad demon beasts that possessed a Toad Moon Jewel in their bodies in addition to their beast cores, and the jewel allowed them to enhance their rate of cultivation progression by absorbing the power of moonlight.
The importance of this Toad Moon Jewel was third only to their nascent soul and demon core.
As a Great Epassment cultivator, the Toad Moon Jewel in She Chan''s body had to have already been umting power for countless years, and its detonation was surely going to have catastrophic effects.
With that in mind, everyone hurriedly fled into the distance.
Xiong Shan knew that he was the weakest of everyone present, and he had already fled far into the distance ahead of everyone else.
A hint of foreboding had also welled up in Han Li''s heart, but it was already toote for him to withdraw his sword.
The Toad Moon Jewel trembled violently for a moment, then exploded to produce an eruption of blinding light, which then suddenly faded away before the entire sky turned dark, as if day had suddenly transitioned into night.
A ray of cold moonlight shone down from above, basking the entirendscape in a silver glow.
It was as if the entire space had been frozen solid by the cold moonlight, following which everything shattered like a silver mirror, and countless dark spatial rifts appeared in the air.
Bursts of spatial turbulence could be seen raging within the spatial rifts, releasing terrifying spatial fluctuations that instantly had everyone fleeing for their lives.
However, there were simply far too many spatial rifts in the area, making it very difficult to avoid all of them.
In apse of concentration, Su Anqian was almost swallowed up by a spatial rift that had abruptly opened up behind her, and it was Lei Yuce who swooped in once again to save her.
Having been saved by him twice, Su Anqian had finally begun to develop a hint of affection for him, and her eyes were no longer as cold as before when she gazed upon him.
However, Jin Liu wasn''t so fortunate. He had been surrounded by everyone earlier, so he was thest to flee the scene, and he had only managed to travel a few thousand feet before he crashed headfirst into an enormous spatial rift.
He forcibly twisted his body to the side to try and glide through the air in a parallel direction to the spatial rift, but the tremendous suction force released by the rift was too much for him to resist, and he was sucked in inch by inch, with not even his nascent soul managing to escape.
The area directly surrounding the Toad Moon Jewel had the highest concentration of spatial rifts, and at this point, She Chan was already nowhere to be seen. All that remained was Han Li with his Mantra Treasured Axis hovering behind him, releasing waves of golden light to slow the expansion of the spatial rifts.
At this moment, he was holding a green gourd with its mouth pointed directly up ahead.
A green vortex was swirling incessantly at the gourd''s mouth, and it was gathering some translucent silver particles in the surrounding area before condensing them to reform the Toad Moon Jewel.
The jewel had been absorbing moonlight for countless years, and Han Li instinctively felt like it would be very useful to him, so he had chosen to recover it.
After that, he summoned his Essence Fire Raven back to his side, then traversed through the multitude of spatial rifts as he descended back down to the ground.
There seemed to be some type of tacit understanding between everyone as they all remained silent, with no one mentioning the battle that had just taken ce, and all of them took a few pills before sitting down to meditate.
After taking some to rest and recuperate, Han Li rose to his feet as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute toward everyone.
"Thank you, fellow daoists."
Even though all of them had chosen to refrain from helping She Chan mostly out of consideration for their own self interest, it was still undeniable that their decision had helped Han Li.
"There''s no need to thank us, Fellow Daoist Han. You dealt with her purely through your own powers," Lei Yuce said.
"My eyes have truly been opened, Brother Han..." Xiong Shan mused with mixed emotions in his eyes.
"Time is of the essence, so let''s continue onward," Han Li said, and everyone nodded in response before making their way into the spatial door one after another.
Han Li''s vision blurred momentarily, following which he found himself standing in a gray cave.
The cave was quiterge, and it extended into shadowy darkness up ahead, making it impossible to tell how long it was.
Gusts of yin wind were blowing toward everyone from up ahead, and the air temperature in the cave was quite low, as evidenced by theyer of ck frost on the stone walls on either side.
Lei Yuce and the others appeared nearby one after another, then also began inspecting their surroundings.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he noticed that Qu Lin was nowhere to be seen, even though he hade through first.
Everyone else''s expressions also darkened slightly upon noticing Qu Lin''s absence, but Han Li chose not to bring up the matter as he said, "Let''s go. Make sure to be on your guard, everyone."
In the wake of his most recent disy of power, no one felt it inappropriate for him to adopt a leadership role, and everyone was content to follow him.
Spiritual sense was suppressed even further on the seventh level, so as a safety precaution, everyone chose to proceed on foot rather than by flight. Thankfully, given everyone''s lofty cultivation bases, they were still able to make very fast progress, nheless.
However, this underground cave was unexpectedly long, and even after traveling for over ten minutes, there was still no end in sight. On top of that, the further they went, the more fierce the surrounding yin winds became.
All of a sudden, Han Li stopped in his tracks as he warned, "Be careful, everyone!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, seven or eight monstrous creatures with human faces and wolf bodies appeared up ahead.
Each of these creatures was several dozen feet in length, and their bodies were covered in long, reddish-brown fur that resembled bamboo fiber cloaks, and as they pounced at Han Li''s group, they disyed exceptional speed and offensive prowess.
Gust of ck wind erupted out of the ws, easily leaving deep marks on the ground and walls of the cave, the edges of which were charred ck as if by some form of corrosion.
Lei Yuce and the others were rmed by this sudden turn of events, but they remainedposed as theyshed out in retaliation against these creatures.
The wolf-like creatures seemed to have realized that they had bitten off more than they could chew, and they opened their mouths to release a sea of reddish-ck mes in an attempt to ward off everyone''s attacks.
However, this proved to be futile as the barrage of attacks tore through the sea of fire with ease before destroying the wolf-like creatures on the other side.
After they were in, the bodies of the wolf-like creatures quickly disintegrated into ck smoke, but each of them left a fist-sized reddish-ck bead behind.
"What are these things?" Wen Zhong asked with an intrigued expression as he raised a hand to release a burst of golden light toward the beads.
"Don''t touch them!" Han Li hurriedly yelled, but it was already toote, and as soon as the golden light released by Wen Zhong came into contact with the beads, they immediately exploded into balls of radiant reddish-ck light that swept through the air in all directions.
Chapter 1086: Ancient Sword
Chapter 1086: Ancient Sword
A deafening boom rang out as a wave of reddish-ck light swept over the entire cave, causing it to copse, and Han Li''s group was buried under a vast volume of rubble.
Thankfully, everyone was well-versed in earth movement techniques, and they were able to burrow their way into the ground right as the cave copsed.
However, as soon as they made their way underground, a burst of sinister cackling instantly rang out, immediately following which a giant ck w the size of a house emerged from deeper underground to make a grab for everyone.
The giant w was attached to a massive, lizard-like creature, but its body was far more bloated than that of a lizard.
The creature was lurking underground, and its aura waspletely indistinguishable from that of the earth around it, so its sneak attack had caught everyonepletely off guard.
By the time everyone realized that there was something lurking underground, it was already toote to take evasive measures.
Right as everyone was about to fall into the grasp of the giant creature, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a bolt of radiant golden lightning that struck the oing w with a loud thump.
The bolt of lightning was tinypared with the ck w, but it was able to tear through thetter with ease, following which it struck the giant beast''s chest, sting a hole the size of a water vat into its body.
The lizard-like creature let loose a blood-curdling howl, and it immediately attempted to flee deeper underground, but by then, Lei Yuce and the others had also begunshing out against.
The creature was instantly overwhelmed by a devastating barrage of attacks, tearing its body to shreds.
As was the case with the wolf-like beasts from earlier, its body also disintegrated into ck smoke, and even though it was underground, it still spread rapidly in all directions, staining all of the soil and rocks that it came into contact with ck.
The ck smoke instantly swept over everyone, and they hurriedly conjured upyers of protective spiritual light to try and keep it at bay.
Xiong Shan was at the very back of the group, and he did the same thing, managing to ward off the ck smoke with ayer of golden spiritual light, but right at this moment, an extremely faint glimmer of ck light shot out of the ck smoke before piercing through Xiong Shan''s protective spiritual light and vanishing into his body.
However, this wentpletely undetected by everyone, including even Xiong Shan himself.
After ying the lizard beast, everyone continued onward for quite some time, and only after advancing beyond the copsed section of the underground cave did they return to the surface.
"My sincerest apologies, everyone. My rash actions ced all of you in a perilous situation," Wen Zhong said in an apologetic manner.
"There''s no need to be so self-critical, Fellow Daoist Wen. None of us could''ve anticipated that those beads would explode upon contact," Su Anqian consoled. "By the way, Fellow Daoist Han, you seemed to be aware of what those things were, would you be able to enlighten us?"
Everyone else also turned their attention to Han Li upon hearing this, and he exined, "Those wolf-like creatures were Devilish Corpse Wolves, a type of devil beast found in the Devil Realm, so it''s no surprise that none of you recognized them. These creatures manifest Corpse Fire Beads in their bodies that instantly explode upon contact with any other type of energy."
Everyone was enlightened upon hearing this, but at the same time, they couldn''t help but wonder how Han Li was familiar with these creatures. Could it be that he had been to the Devil Realm before?
Despite everyone''s curiosity, no one dared to pry, and the group continued onward in silence.
After advancing for roughly another fifteen minutes, a huge, open area that was over a hundred timesrger than the cave from before appeared up ahead.
There were piles of golden ore strewn all over the area, with thergest ones piling up to several hundred feet tall to resemble small mountains, while the smallest ones were only slightly taller than the average adult human, and it seemed that they had been arranged in a set formation.
Everyone exchanged a few wary nces with one another upon seeing this, and they carefully proceeded into the area.
Thankfully, after stepping into the array of ores, nothing happened, and after a brief pause, everyone continued onward.
Before long, they had already traveled for close to ten kilometers.
All of a sudden, there were no more piles of ore to be seen, and a small za appeared up ahead.
The za was paved with radiant, golden tiles, and at its center stood a golden altar that was over a thousand feet tall. The altar was split up into the three tiers and was entirely constructed from a type of golden material. Furthermore, the structure appeared to consist of only a single piece, with no signs of connective segments to be seen.
At the top of the altar was a golden tform that was around ten feet in size, engraved onto which was a golden yin yang symbol. Pierced into one side of the yin yang symbol was a strange, golden sword with a three-sided de. On one side was engraved the sun, the moon, and stars, on another side was engraved a piece of sceneryplete with mountains, rivers, and forests, and on the final side were engravings of a dragon and a phoenix.
Bright, golden light was emanating from the ancient sword, releasing bursts of metalw power fluctuations that struck everyone with a slightly painful sensation, as if their skin were about to be sliced open.
Hovering above the other side of the yin yang symbol was a golden me the size of a human head, giving off bursts of formidable timew power fluctuations.
Bursts of golden runes were flowing out of the yin yang symbol, spreading over the entire altar to form a cage-shaped array.
The metal and timew powers intertwined with one another, and not only were they not in conflict at all, they coexisted extremely harmoniously, epassing the entire altar.
However, what was far less harmonious was the giant ck rift above the altar, out of which gusts of howling ck wind were blowing incessantly, looking as if they wereing straight from the depths of hell.
The array of ore around the za seemed to have an aura concealment effect, so no one had detected the existence of the altar prior to this, and everyone was immediately rooted to the spot by the enormous aura that the altar was releasing.
"What is this? A seal?" Su Anqian eximed with a stunned expression.
Han Li was also observing the altar with a surprised expression, and his gaze quickly fell upon the ancient sword and the golden me at the top of the altar.
That sword is forged from none other than Heavenly Vajra Diamond! No wonder it has such a powerful aura! As for that golden me, the timew powers imbued within it are very peculiar. It''spletely different from any of the five types ofw powers in the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra...
In contrast with everyone''s stunned reactions, Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong were much moreposed, and they exchanged an ted nce with one another.
At the very back of the group, Xiong Shan waspletely rooted to the spot at the sight of the ancient, golden sword at the top of the altar, and his breathing began to elerate as a look of intense desire appeared in his eyes.
He swept his gaze briefly over Han Li and the others, then abruptly shot forth through the air while conjuring up a giant, golden hand that made a grab for the ancient sword.
"Don''t be reckless, Fellow Daoist Xiong!"
Everyone was very rmed to see this, and in particr, Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong flew forward in unison to try and stop Xiong Shan, but it was already toote.
A resounding boom rang out as the golden hand closed itself around the ancient sword, only for countless streaks of golden swordlight to erupt out of the sword, tearing the giant hand into ribbons with ease.
On top of that, the sword began to tremble and buzz as if it had been enraged by Xiong Shan''s gestures, and it released a flurry of translucent sword qi that erupted through the air in all directions.
Everyone hurriedly sprang into action to defend themselves from the streaks of formidable sword qi.
The Lan siblings were facing each other as Lan Yuanzi opened his mouth to release a blue bead, which had eight blue, dragon-shaped runes engraved upon it.
The blue bead transformed into a spherical light barrier that was several dozen feet in size at his behest, epassing both himself and Lan Yan.
At the same time, Wyrm 3 swept a sleeve through the air to release a small shield amid a sh of white light, and the shield swelled rapidly in size before transforming into a white light barrier around herself and Fox 3.
Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong were also working together, releasing numerous small, golden gs out of their sleeves, which descended onto the ground to form a circle around them.
The gs released bursts of dazzling, golden light, forming a golden array that epassed both of them within it, following which Lei Yuce turned to Su Anqian as he urged, "Come in here, Celestial Maiden Su!"
The golden array then extended toward her at his behest to epass her within it, elongating the circr array into an oval.
A series of mixed emotions shed through Su Anqian''s eyes, but she didn''t take any evasive measures, allowing the golden light barrier to enshroud her.
However, for her part, she summoned arge, blue g, which released a burst of blue ripples to form a separate blue light barrier that also epassed all three of them.
Meanwhile, Han Li let loose a low roar as all of his profound acupoints lit up, following which his True Extreme Film surfaced over his body.
On top of that, he swept a sleeve through the air to release thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which circled around him to form a golden sword barrier with arcs of lightning shing over its surface.
Immediately thereafter, the streaks of translucent sword qi descended upon him, striking the golden sword barrier from all directions.
The sword barrier began trembling violently as a string of loud explosions rang out, and even though the thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords remained unharmed, the sword array that they had formed was on the verge of falling apart.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he flew back in retreat along with his sword array while releasing two thick bolts of golden lightning out of his hands into the surrounding sword array.
The array had been on the verge of copse, but it was instantly stabilized.
However, several streaks of translucent sword qi still managed to sneak through and strike him before the array waspletely stabilized.
Thankfully, his True Extreme Film was able to withstand them with ease.
One''s True Extreme Film became more powerful as one opened more profound acupoints. Having already opened close to a thousand profound acupoints, Han Li''s True Extreme Film was more powerful than any defensive immortal treasure in his possession.
At this point, he had flown out of the range of the sword qi, and he descended onto a pile of ore outside the za.
Chapter 1087: Abnormal Actions
Chapter 1087: Abnormal Actions
Han Li had managed to ward off the translucent sword qi without much trouble, but the same didn''t apply to everyone.
A series of gashes were quickly torn into the spherical light barrier around the Lan siblings, and it began to sh erratically, on the verge of copse.
Their expressions changed drastically upon seeing this, and they hurriedly released a series of bluew threads that fused into the barrier to fortify it.
Eight blue dragon projections instantly appeared over its surface, letting loose draconic roars as they roamed over the light barrier.
As a result, the spherical light barrier was instantly stabilized, and the Lan siblings were also able to fly out of the za to reach safety.
Inside the protective barrier, one of Lan Yuanzi''s arms had been severed at the elbow, and there was also a deep gash on Lan Yan''s shoulder.
These streaks of translucent sword qi had been far more powerful than they anticipated. Thankfully, they had summoned their most powerful defensive immortal treasure, the Eight Dragon Water Bead. Otherwise, they would''ve surely lost their lives.
Simrly, a series of gashes had also been sliced into the white light barrier around Wyrm 3 and Fox 3, putting it on the verge of copse.
In this dire situation, Wyrm 3 pressed both of her hands against the light barrier, and two bursts of dark red light erupted out of the palms of her hands, forming a dark red light barrier that was imbued with a burst of reincarnationw powers.
The dark red light barrier wasn''t particrly thick, but it was extremely resilient and managed to keep the oing sword qi firmly at bay.
However, instead of retreating out of the za, the two of them were staring intently at the golden altar up ahead.
As for Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong, both of them were casting a rapid stream of incantation seals into the golden array around them, and a golden sword projection that was over a thousand feet tall instantly appeared within the array.
All of the translucent sword qi that pierced into the array were instantly tamed, circling around the golden sword projection momentarily before fusing into it.
Where''s Xiong Shan? He''s not already dead, is he?
Han Li scanned his gaze over the surrounding area in search of Xiong Shan, only to discover that thetter was currently flying toward the golden altar with a cloud of golden mist around him.
The golden mist was giving off insubstantial sword intent that resembled clouds and mist, and the streaks of oing translucent sword qi merely passed straight through his body without harming him at all.
What kind of secret technique is this?
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he took a closer look, upon which he discovered that even though the cloud of golden mist was keeping Xiong Shan safe from the oing sword qi, with each streak of sword qi that passed through him, the cloud of mist would be whittled down slightly.
However, to everyone''s surprise, not only did Xiong Shan not fall back in retreat, he continued to pounce on the ancient sword, and in the blink of an eye, he was no more than a hundred feet away from it.
The golden me beside the golden sword seemed to have detected something, and it immediately swelled drastically in size before releasing bursts of golden fire that fused with the sword qi released by the ancient sword.
As a result, the streaks of translucent sword qi were instantly granted a faint, golden glow, transforming them into streaks of fiery sword qi.
Enhanced by the mes, the storm of sword qi swelled to several times its original size, epassing the entire area around the altar in a radius of close to ten thousand feet.
The cloud of golden mist around Xiong Shan was instantlypletely inundated by fiery sword qi, and it began to rapidly shrink as a string of agonized howls rang out from within it.
Fox 3, Wyrm 3, and Lei Yuce''s trio were also instantly inundated by the fiery sword qi, as were Han Li and the Lan siblings.
Streaks of fiery sword qi fell upon the sword barrier around Han Li, instantly tearing it apart, and the thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were knocked flying like falling leaves in a gust of fierce wind.
After breaching the golden sword array, the fiery sword qi fell upon Han Li, and this time, a series of deep gashes were sliced into his True Extreme Film, almost tearing through the film entirely.
In response, Han Li hurriedly summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which released waves of golden ripples that epassed the entire area within a radius of over a thousand feet around him.
Enshrouded within the golden ripples, the streaks of fiery sword qi was slowed down significantly, but they were still hurtling toward him, just at a far more lethargic pace.
Han Li was rather surprised to see that the fiery sword qi hadn''t been stopped entirely by his timew powers, but it then quickly dawned on him that this had to have been a result of the golden mes that had been injected into the sword qi.
The Time Severing Torch appeared beside the Mantra Treasured Axis at Han Li''s behest, and it released a burst of fiery, golden light that manifested the Time Severing Fire Domain.
Thanks to the drastic increase in the number of timew threads in the Time Severing Torch, its powers had been significantly enhanced, to the point that the time-stopping power of Han Li''s Time Severing Fire Domain was almost on par with that of Qi Mozi''s spirit domain.
The streaks of fiery sword qi were finally stopped in their tracks after entering the Time Severing Fire Domain, but right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out from the direction of the Lan siblings.
A radiant, blue sun that was several thousand feet in size abruptly appeared before radiating dazzling, blue light in all directions.
Eight blue dragons shot out of the blue sun before pouncing at the mighty storm of fiery sword qi, keeping it at bay for just an instant.
Taking advantage of this tiny window of respite, Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan were able to rush their way to safety.
At this point, both of them were looking very disheveled. Theirplexions were deathly pale, while their bodies were riddled with wounds, and they hurriedly took some pills to aid in their recovery.
Han Li took a nce at the two of them, then immediately turned his gaze back to the ancient sword and golden me at the top of the altar with an intrigued look in his eyes.
The sword was a metal-attribute immortal treasure, while the golden me contained timew powers, yet these two types ofw powers were able tobine to produce power far greater than the sum of their individual parts.
Prior to developing lightningw powers, Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were also able to be used in conjunction with his timew powers, but following their attainment of lightningw powers, the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had evolved into immortal treasures that rejected his timew powers.
If his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords could also be used in conjunction with timew powers, then that would undoubtedly make for a very formidablebination.
Excited by this prospect, Han Li made a beckoning motion to recover his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords back up his sleeve, then began flying toward the altar, relying on his Mantra Treasured Axis and Time Severing Fire Domain to keep him safe.
However, right at this moment, the ck wind blowing out of the rift above the altar abruptly intensified significantly, sending gusts of yin wind sweeping through the entire cave, scattering even the fiery sword qi around the altar.
A chorus of ghastly howls rang out as Han Li instantly stopped cold in his tracks.
Right at this moment, the ancient sword and the golden me on the altar lit up once again, as did the golden array around them, and the streaks of fiery sword qi that were hurtling toward Han Li and the others stopped in their tracks before converging toward the rift.
"It''s toote to be focusing on us now!"
A burst of sinister cackling rang out from within the ck rift, following which a thick bolt of ck lightning erupted out from within, sting a huge hole into the barrage of fiery sword qi up ahead before striking the golden me.
While all of the fiery sword qi was directed toward the ck rift, a cloud of barely visible golden mist pounced on the opportunity to drift toward the altar at an incredible speed, timing its approaching to perfection.
Everyone''s attention was focused on the ck rift and the two items on the altar, so no one noticed the faint cloud of golden mist.
The bolt of ck lightning struck the golden me at the top of the altar with a resounding boom, producing a massive explosion of ck and golden light that caused the nearby space to warp and buzz incessantly.
The golden me flickered a few times, following which its connection with the yin yang symbol beneath it was severed, and it was sent flying through the air, coincidentally directly toward Han Li.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up as he hurriedly made a hand seal, and several timew threads flew out of his Time Severing Torch before wrapping themselves around the golden me and pulling it toward him.
To his surprise, the golden me was easily pulled to his side without any resistance.
At this point, the cloud of thin golden mist had also reached the top of the altar, and it abruptly transformed into Xiong Shan.
At this moment, Xiong Shan was in an absolutely horrific physical condition. His body was riddled with countless wounds, and his legs and left arm were nowhere to be seen, leaving only a severely ravaged right arm behind.
Strangely enough, none of these wounds shed even a single drop of blood.
The ancient sword was currently still releasing streaks of sword qi, and what remained of Xiong Shan''s body was instantly punched full of holes, almost tearing him apart entirely.
Despite this, Xiong Shan seemed to bepletely unaware of his own grievous condition a he continued to stare at the ancient sword with a look of obsessive infatuation in his eyes, and he reached out with his only remaining hand to grab onto the hilt of the sword before tugging it upward.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
That bolt of ck lightning from earlier had been extremely formidable, yet it was only just barely able to knock the golden me down from the altar. Given Xiong Shan''s current condition, it was extremely unlikely that he would be able to pull the ancient sword out of the altar.
However, things did not unfold as Han Li anticipated.
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Chapter 1088: Claiming the Sword
Chapter 1088: iming the Sword
Contrary to everyone''s expectations, the ancient sword was easily pulled out of the altar by Xiong Shan, who swayed unsteadily for a moment before steadying him, following which he looked down at the golden sword in his hand with a slightly demented smile on his face.
With both the ancient sword and the golden me gone from the altar, the golden array instantly dimmed, and all of the fiery sword qi in the surrounding area faded away as well.
Right at this moment, Fox 3, Wyrm 3, and Lei Yuce''s trio were all revealed.
The white light barrier around Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 was nowhere to be seen, clearly having already been destroyed, and the two of them were currently enshrouded under a dark red wheel.
Their clothes were in tatters and stained with blood, giving them a very sorry and disheveled appearance.
In contrast, Lei Yuce''s trio appeared to be faring much better. The golden array around them was still intact, but less than half of the golden sword projection inside still remained.
Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong were both looking deathly pale, clearly having severely overexerted themselves.
Their faces paled even further at the sight of the golden me in Han Li''s hand and the ancient sword that had been pulled out by Xiong Shan, but before they had a chance to say anything, a faint crack suddenly rang out from within the golden altar, as if something had just shattered.
A sense of foreboding immediately welled up in Han Li''s heart upon hearing this sound.
All of a sudden, a chorus of ted cheers rang out from within the altar, followed by an eruption of blinding, ck light, and the entire cave began to quiver and rumble violently.
The golden altar also began to tremble violently, and several more ck rifts appeared around it in rapid session.
"Fellow Daoist Han, Fellow Daoist Xiong, ce those things back on the altar! Hurry!" Lei Yuce yelled with a horrified expression, and a hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
Meanwhile, Xiong Shan was holding the ancient sword tightly to himself, and hepletely ignored Lei Yuce as he flipped a hand over to produce a crimson pill, which he promptly devoured.
After a brief moment of internal conflict, Han Li made up his mind, gritting his teeth as he prepared to return the golden me to its original spot, but right at this moment, an earth-shattering boom rang out as the golden altar exploded into countless pieces.
Standing at the top of the altar, Xiong Shan was instantly sent flying by the explosion, and he just so happened to be flung directly toward Han Li.
He was in such terrible condition that he didn''t even seem to be capable of flight, so he was unable to control his own body as the shockwaves sent him flying through the air, but his right hand remained firmly clutched onto the golden sword as if it were even more important than his own life.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light upon seeing this, catching Xiong Shan to prevent him from crashing into the cave wall behind him.
"Thank you, Brother Han," Xiong Shan said, but there wasn''t any gratitude in his expression.
Instead, he was looking at Han Li with a very wary expression, as if he were afraid that Han Li would try to take his sword from him.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he couldn''t help but feel as if Xiong Shan''s sanity were currently a littlepromised. However, he didn''t say anything as he turned his gaze to where the altar once stood.
A door of ck light had appeared from the wreckage of the altar, andrge bursts of ck light were surging out from within.
The door of light shed erratically for a brief moment before abruptly shattering, and in the blink of an eye, over a hundred figures appeared in the cave, all of whom were yelling in excitement and exultation.
"Finally! I''m free!"
"How long has it been? I can barely recall a time when I wasn''t trapped in this godforsaken ce!"
"Where is Tai Sui? I''m going to skin him alive!"
Most of these figures were humanoid in form, while some were half-human, half-beast, and some of them were entirely beastly in appearance. All of them had devilish qi swirling around them, indicating that they were all devilish beings.
Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis and Time Severing Fire Domain as he drifted back in retreat until his back was against the cave wall behind him so that there was no way for him to be surrounded.
Most of these devilish beings were at the High Zenith Stage, and in particr, several of them possessed tremendous auras that weren''t inferior to his own.
Xiong Shan had also recovered somewhat at this point, and he hurriedly flew back in retreat as well, situating himself near Han Li.
At this moment, there was ayer of crimson light glowing over his body, and countless fibers of flesh were sprouting from his wounds before intertwining with one another to rapidly heal his injuries and regenerate his lost limbs.
Before long, his body was back to normal, but hisplexion was still deathly pale.
At this point, Lei Yuce and the others had also drifted back in retreat. Lei Yuce''s trio was standing together, while Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 had been joined by the Lan siblings, all of whom were glowering at Han Li and Xiong Shan for putting them in this situation.
After taking a moment to revel in their excitement, all of the devilish beings turned to Han Li and the others with sinister grins on their faces.
A particrly muscr and imposing man emerged from the ranks of the devilish beings, then asked, "Were you the ones who opened the seal?"
The man had bronze skin over his incredibly well developed muscles, as well as a majestic lion''s mane around his head, giving him the appearance of an almighty feline deity.
"That''s right. We are from the Golden Origin Immortal Region, and we stumbled upon this ce by chance. Who are all of you, and why are you here?" Han Li asked.
"I really must thank you for freeing all of us. Aspensation, I''m going to allow all of you to be our food! Hand over your blood and souls!" the maned devilish man cackled as a cruel smile appeared on his face.
As soon as his voice trailed off, heunched himself at Han Li with incredible speed and power before swinging his giant fists down upon Han Li.
The man seemed to be very familiar with fighting human cultivators, and he knew that the right strategy to adopt was to use his superior physical properties to crush the enemy. Here in this confined space, his physical attacks were going to be faster and more effective than any immortal treasure or secret technique.
Unfortunately, he was gravely mistaken on this asion. In the face of his sudden attack, Han Li abruptly vanished from the spot, then reappeared several hundred feet away.
The man immediately stopped in his tracks with a surprised expression upon seeing this, and right at this moment, a streak of golden sword light that was five hundred to six hundred feet in length came crashing down from the heavens amid a rumbling thunderp.
The streak of golden swordlight left a uniform spatial rift in its wake, and its fearsome sword intent instantly filled the entire cave.
The devilish man''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he made a grabbing motion with his right hand to summon a huge, ck hammer.
With a swing of his arm, the hammer was sent flying toward the streak of golden swordlight as a ball of ck light.
This hammer was far more powerful than the average devilish treasure. During his travels in the devilish realm, he had stumbled upon a mountain formed by Profound Infernal Iron by chance, and he had gone to great lengths to transport the mountain into an underground fire vein.
Using the power of the underground fire vein, he refined the mountain over the course of a hundred thousand years, at which point he had finally eradicated all of the impurities in the mountain to convert it into a chunk of pure Profound Infernal Divine Iron.
After that, he gathered hundreds of types of premium metal-attribute ore, which he infused into the Profound Infernal Divine Iron, then forged it using a devilish secret technique for tens of thousands of years to produce this Profound Infernal Divine Hammer.
The hammer didn''t look very remarkable, but it was so incredibly heavy that even the average High Zenith cultivator wouldn''t be able to lift it.
The devilish man possessed incredible strength, allowing him to hurl the hammer through the air like a flying juggernaut.
The streak of swordlight collided with the ck hammer, and thetter was instantly sliced into two with an extremely smooth cross-section.
After slicing through the hammer, the golden swordlight continued to descend upon the devilish man''s whose expression changed drastically as he opened his mouth to release a ck bead.
The ck bead immediately exploded upon flying out of his mouth, forming a ball of ck light that was over a hundred feet in size around him.
The streak of golden swordlight crashed down onto the ball of ck light like a bolt of lightning, and once again, the ball of ck light was torn apart with ease.
The two halves of the ball of ck light were instantly eradicated by the sword intent erupting out of the golden swordlight, but the devilish man was nowhere to be seen.
The streak of golden swordlight then faded away to reveal Xiong Shan, and he was still holding firmly onto the ancient sword in his hand.
Hisplexion hadn''t improved much, but there was a look of excitement and tion on his face as he stared at the ancient sword in his hand with a fervent expression.
It was as if the sword had be the center of his universe, something that he would dlydy down his own life for.
The devilish man reappeared over ten thousand feet away amid a sh of ck light, and hisplexion was a little pale as he looked down at the destroyed ck hammer in his hand with amenting look in his eyes.
The Profound Infernal Divine Hammer was no longer usable, but thankfully, its materials hadn''t been destroyed, so he could forge it again, but he had no idea how long that was going to take.
"That''s the Primordial Ancient Sword!" the devilish man eximed in a wary voice upon catching sight of the ancient sword in Xiong Shan''s hand.
After destroying the Profound Infernal Divine Hammer so easily, Xiong Shan''s appraisal of the ancient sword had been elevated even further, and his eyes were glowing with excitement as he roared, "We are the ones who freed you, yet you''ve immediately turned to bite the hand that fed you! You''re going to pay for your ingratitude!"
The Primordial Ancient Sword released a burst of bright swordlight that epassed his entire body once again as he spoke.
Immediately thereafter, both Xiong Shan and the Primordial Ancient Sword vanished in unison amid a sh of golden light, transforming into a streak of golden swordlight that was over a thousand feet in length that hurtled directly toward the devilish man with unstoppable might.
Chapter 1089: Unexpected
Chapter 1089: Unexpected
The devilish man seemed to have been enraged by Xiong Shan''s arrogant attitude, and he summoned a long, ck saber as he scoffed, "What insolence! You''re nothing more than a mere Golden Immortal! You''re a million years too early to im yourself as my equal!"
A sinister-looking skull was engraved onto the hilt of the saber, and its de was long and slender, with lightning-shaped patterns running along its entire length. Arcs of ck lightning were dancing over its surface, and it was giving off an even more formidable aura than the Profound Infernal Divine Hammer.
With a vicious swing of the saber, a vast expanse of ck qi was released, forming a ck cloud that surged toward the streak of golden swordlight.
At the same time, close to a hundred lightning-shaped, translucent ck threads shot out from within before converging toward a single spot to conjure up a ck lightning lion the size of a house, and it pounced at the streak of golden sword light with incredibly violent lightningw power fluctuations surging out of its body.
In the face of this fearsome assant, the swordlight formed by Xiong Shan didn''t disy any timidity.Instead, it sped up even further, and it seemed that he had supreme confidence in the Primordial Ancient Sword.
In the next instant, the streak of swordlight collided with the lightning lion, resulting in a violent explosion of ck and golden light that caused the entire cave to tremble violently.
However, all of the walls of the cave were bolstered by restrictions, so even though many cracks had appeared over them, the cave didn''t copse.
A loud tearing sound rang out as the ck lightning lion was sliced into two, reverting back into ck lightning threads that erupted in all directions.
The devilish man shuddered violently as he stumbled back several steps before finally steadying himself with an incredulous look on his face.
The streak of golden swordlight had also been eradicated, and Xiong Shan stumbled out into the open, looking even paler than before, but his eyes were still filled with fervent excitement.
The devilish man was at thete-High Zenith Stage, while Xiong Shan was only ate-Golden Immortal cultivator, yet thanks to the Primordial Ancient Sword, he was able to gain a consistent upper hand over his opponent in their shes.
Judging from thew power fluctuations emanating from the Primordial Ancient Sword, Han Li had determined that it was a fourth tier immortal treasure, but in light of this incredible disy of power, it appeared that it was most likely actually a third tier immortal treasure.
With that in mind, Han Li couldn''t help but feel a little envious of Xiong Shan, and he wondered when he was going to be able to secure such a powerful immortal treasure that perfectlyplemented hisw powers.
Meanwhile, all of the other devilish beings had also sprung into action.
Devilish cultivators had always harbored intense animosity toward cultivators of the Immortal Realm, particrly human cultivators, and after being trapped here by Immortal Lord Tai Sui for so many years, their hearts were filled with boundless resentment and vindictive fury.
However, not all of the devilish beings decided to attack Han Li and the others. Instead, only around half of them did so, while the other half was more interested in leaving the Eon Pagoda right away, and they flew straight out of the cave as streaks of ck light.
Han Li paid no heed to the fleeing devilish beings as there were currently around seven or eight devilish cultivators rushing at him at once.
A cold gleam shed through his eyes as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The thirty-six flying swords transformed into hundreds of streaks of golden swordlight, all of which were shing with golden lightning as they rained down upon Han L''s devilish assants.
All of the devilish cultivators were using yin-attribute cultivators, so the lightningw powers of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords served as a natural bane to them, and they hurriedly began to adopt defensive measures against the oing barrage of golden swordlight.
While their attention was focused on the storm of golden swordlight, Han Li made a hand seal to summon his Mantra Treasured Axis, which released waves of golden ripples that instantly swept over a distance of several thousand feet.
His devilish assants werepletely caught off guard by this, and as soon as the golden ripples washed over them, they were instantly rooted to the spot.
In the next instant, the storm of golden swordlight passed through them, following which Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis, and the bodies of the devilish cultivators instantly exploded into pieces, while their nascent souls had also been eradicated.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and before the devilish beings even had a chance to react, they were confronted by the reality that seven or eight of their High Zenith Stage brethren had just been in in the blink of an eye.
This naturally caused quite a stir among the other devilish beings, all of whom turned to look at Han Li with wary expressions, while Lei Yuce and the others were once again stunned by Han Li''s power.
Han Li paid no heed to everyone''s scrutiny as he vanished from the spot amid a sh of golden lightning, then reappeared over ten thousand feet away.
From there, he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis once again, and it released waves of golden ripples that instantly epassed a group of close to ten devilish beings nearby.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the hundreds of streaks of swordlight flew through the air once again, shredding the immobilized devilish beings into pieces.
At this point, the wariness in the eyes of the devilish beings had turned to fear, and all of them began to fly as far away from Han Li as possible.
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he prepared to set off in pursuit of the fleeing devilish beings, but right at this moment, a string of thunderps rang out, following which a ck lightning spirit domain appeared out of thin air before descending upon him.
The devilish man with the lion''s mane was standing in the ck spirit domain, observing Han Li with a cold expression.
Meanwhile, Xiong Shan was locked in battle against several other High Zenith Stage devilish beings.
In his excitement, he had unleashed too many powerful attacks in quick session with his newly obtained Primordial Ancient Sword. As a result, his immortal spiritual power reserves quickly ran dry, so he was forced to resort to a more conservative style of battle and was no longer able to oppose the maned devilish cultivator.
Enshrouded within the ck lightning spirit domain, the golden lightning around Han Li''s body instantly melted away, and a surprised look appeared on his face upon seeing this.
Not only that, but the golden lightning surging over his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had also been suppressed.
"I don''t care who you are, you''re not leaving this ce alive!" the devilish man roared with a furious expression as he swung his ck saber down upon Han Li, releasing a hundred and fifty lightningw threads that intertwined to form an almighty, ck lightning dragon.
The dragon was giving off a terrifying aura that was far more formidable than that of the ck lightning lion from before, and it flew through the air as a bolt of ck lightning, instantly reaching Han Li before grabbing down viciously at him with a giant w.
A vast shadow instantly appeared over Han Li, and it was as if the entire sky were about to copse under the weight of the lightning dragon''s almighty w.
The devilish man seemed to have used some type of eleratory ability simr to the Reversal True Axis toplete that sequence of movements at an incredible speed, and Han Li had only just noticed the ck lightning spirit domain around him when the dragon w was already upon him.
All he had time to do was throw a punch in retaliation, unleashing a golden fist projection that hurtled directly toward the oing draconic w.
The fist projection was imbued with tremendous power that crushed the space in its wake, resulting in the emergence of countless spatial rifts.
All of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords around him also shot forth through the air behind the fist projection, forming an azure sword lotus flower that was around an acre in size, with countless sword projections swirling around within it.
The lightning dragon let loose a thunderous, draconic roar, and its w shed violently against the golden fist projection, tearing through it with ease.
The draconic w continued downward without pause, grabbing onto the azure sword lotus flower.
Even though the lightningw powers of Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were being suppressed by the devilish man''s spirit domain, the swords themselves were still extremely formidable, and the sword lotus flower formed by thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords was far more powerful than the golden fist projection.
The ck, draconic w struck the sword lotus flower with an earth-shattering boom, and thetter was able to hold its own briefly before exploding into thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that scattered in all directions.
As a result, the ck dragon was momentarily stopped in its tracks before continuing to descend upon Han Li, and that split-second dy was all Han Li needed to summon his time spirit domain, which expanded rapidly in all directions, epassing the lightning dragon within it in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him, then released waves of golden ripples that epassed the lightning dragon as well.
Immediately thereafter, the Time Severing Torch emerged beside the Mantra Treasured Axis before releasing its Time Severing Fire Domain, which also enshrouded the lightning dragon.
With Han Li''s time spirit domain, Mantra Treasured Axis, and Time Severing Fire Domain acting upon it at once, the lightning dragon was instantly immobilized, despite its almighty power.
Chapter 1090: Retreat
Chapter 1090: Retreat
The devilish man was astonished to see this.
He had gauged Han Li to be a very formidable opponent, and his time-attributew abilities were particrly troublesome to deal with. Hence, he had gone all-out from the get-go, using his spirit domain to suppress Han Li''s power before using a secret technique that forcibly elevated his speed at the expense ofw threads, and finally, he had unleashed an all-out attack with all of the remainingw threads in his body.
He had thought that even if he couldn''t kill Han Li, he would at least be able to severely wound him, but things had not gone ording to n at all.
The devilish man had a very violent and ruthless personality to begin with, and these personality traits had been even further exacerbated during all this time that he had been trapped here. Hence, after being freed, he was eager to exact vengeance on any Immortal Realm cultivators that he encountered.
However, even his most powerful attack had failed to defeat Han Li, and his rational thinking began to win out over the vengeful fury in his heart, telling him that the best course of action was perhaps to flee.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief after containing the ck lightning dragon, but at the same time, he was reprimanding himself for being toocent. If he had unleashed his time spirit domain from the get-go, then he definitely wouldn''t have fallen into such a perilous situation.
At the same time, he flipped a hand over to produce the Profound Heavenly Gourd, but before he had a chance to do anything, the golden me from the altar suddenly began to glow radiantly beside him.
In the wake of the recent sequence of events, he had forgotten all about the golden me.
At this moment, the golden me seemed to be resonating with the time spirit domain around it, and it swelled to several times its original size. On top of that, it seemed to bepletely unaffected by the Mantra Treasured Axis and the Time Severing Fire Domain.
A burst of formidable timew power fluctuations erupted out of the golden me, causing the surrounding time spirit domain to shudder violently.
Han Li turned to the golden me with a surprised expression, then swept a sleeve through the air to release two streams of incantation seals, which surged into the golden me and his Profound Heavenly Gourd.
Some of Han Li''s timew threads were still inside the golden me, and they instantly lit up before directing the me toward the lightning dragon, sending it flying through the air as a golden shadow.
At the same time, a burst of green light erupted out of the Profound Heavenly Gourd before also sweeping toward the lightning dragon.
The green light released by the Profound Heavenly Gourd was faster than the golden me, and it wrapped itself around the lightning dragon before tugging forcefully downward.
The lightning dragon shuddered violently before slowly slumping down in a limp fashion.
However, the lightning dragon was formed by over a hundred of the devilish man''sw threads, so the volume ofw power that it contained was too tremendous for even the Profound Heavenly Gourd to be able to capture it in a short time.
Right at this moment, the golden me also struck the ck lightning dragon, and thetter instantly began to rapidly wither away upon contact.
Its body was split into two in the blink of an eye, much to Han Li''s tion and the devilish man''s shock and horror.
However, in the next instant, the golden me suddenly began to sh erratically. The timew power within it was churning violently, destabilizing the Mantra Treasured Axis and the Time Severing Fire Domain to loosen their hold on the lightning dragon.
The devilish man''s eyes lit up upon seeing this, and he fell to his haunches, then transformed into a giant lion devil beast that was several hundred feet in size.
The lion''s entire body had a bronze coloration, as if it had been forged from copper, and its skin was riddled with ck lightning patterns. Furthermore, it had a pair of curved, ck horns on the top of its head with arcs of ck lightning shing over them.
All of a sudden, the lightning surging over the lion''s horns brightened significantly until they resembled a pair of miniature, ck suns.
The two halves of the lightning dragon''s body instantly shrank down rapidly into a pair of ck lightning rings, onerger than the other.
The two lightning rings were giving off incredibly fearsome lightningw powers that weren''t necessarily more formidable than those of the lightning dragon, but were far more condensed and focused. On top of that, thesew powers were also sharper, allowing the two lightning rings to struggle free from the green light while also somewhat forcing back the surrounding Mantra Treasured Axis and Time Severing Fire Domain.
In the blink of an eye, the two lightning rings had flown out of the Mantra Treasured Axis and the Time Severing Fire Domain, but Han Li certainly wasn''t going to allow them to get away so easily, and he immediately opened his mouth to release two streaks of light, one azure and one golden.
The streaks of azure light vanished into the Profound Heavenly Gourd, causing it to light up while releasing numerous translucent, green threads.
These glowing, green threads shot forth through the air at an incredible speed, instantly catching up to the pair of ck lightning rings to ensnare them once again.
There were as many as three or four dozen of these green threads, and as soon as they wrapped themselves around the lightning rings, thetter were instantly stopped in their tracks.
Meanwhile, the streak of golden light flew over to the golden me, and it contained close to thirty timew threads, all of which intertwined to form arge, golden that epassed the golden me within it.
The unstable timew power fluctuations surging out of the golden me were instantly contained, restoring stability to the Mantra Treasured Axis and the Time Severing Fire Domain.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li made a rapid string of hand seals, and the golden ripples released by the Mantra Treasured Axis instantly began to expand outward, rapidly spreading toward the pair of ck lightning rings.
An rmed look appeared in the eyes of the lion devil beast upon seeing this, and it let loose a thunderous roar as all of the ck lightning patterns on its body lit up, following which all of the light converged toward the pair of horns on its head.
The horns instantly took on a translucent appearance, and the lightning shing over them brightened even further, to the point that they were virtually impossible to directly behold.
Therger one of the two ck lightning rings lit up and struggled free from the threads of green light before vanishing into the lion devil beast''s mouth in a sh.
The smaller lightning ring was also struggling with all its might, but it didn''t seem to possess enough power to free itself from the green threads, and as soon as the golden ripples emanating from the Mantra Treasured Axis washed over it, it was instantly rooted to the spot.
Immediately thereafter, the threads of green light dragged the lightning into the Profound Heavenly Gourd.
The lion devil beast was so furious to see this that a deranged look had appeared in its eyes, and it let loose an almighty roar that shook the entire cave.
A cold sneer appeared on Han Li''s face as he rushed toward the lion devil beast as a golden shadow, and his time spirit domain also expanded toward his opponent.
At this point, the devilish lion was already aware that it had bitten off far more than it could chew, and it immediately fled the scene as an arc of ck lightning, leaving behind only a furious roar of: "You''ll pay for this!"
The morale of all of the other devilish beings in the cavepletely copsed upon seeing this, and all of them immediately fled for their lives as well.
Han Li chose not to give chase as he withdrew his time spirit domain and time-attributew treasures.
With the time spirit domain gone, the golden me also reverted back to its original state.
However, it had shrunk down to only just over half its original size, and the timew powers within it had also diminished significantly, indicating that it had expended much of its power while attacking the ck lightning dragon.
The golden me had a simr effect to the innate ability of Fire Age Fireflies, but at a far higher level of potency.
However, it seemed that he would only be able to use it one more time at most, and that was quite a pity.
With that in mind, he heaved a forlorn, internal sigh, and the timew threads surrounding the golden me formed a lotus-flower-shaped seal around it at his behest, following which he stowed the golden flower away up his sleeve.
Lei Yuce and the others didn''t give chase, either. All of them were already carrying injuries, so they had constantly been on the back foot against their devilish assants, and it would''ve been very foolish to go after them.
After all of the devilish beings fled the scene, everyone hurriedly descended onto the ground to rest and recuperate.
Han Li hadn''t sustained any injuries, but he had expended a great deal of energy during the battle, so he also took some time to rest.
Close to two hourster, everyone rose to their feet one after another, and Lei Yuce turned to Han Li with mixed emotions on his face as he said, "It appears we must thank you once again, Fellow Daoist Han. If it wasn''t for you, all of us would''ve most likely perished here."
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Lei. What was the deal with those devilish beings? It seemed like you knew something about them in advance," Han Li said in a meaningful voice, and everyone else also turned their attention to Lei Yuce upon hearing this.
However, instead of immediately answering Han Li''s question, Lei Yuce flew over to the wreckage of the golden altar, where the door of ck light was already nowhere to be seen.
After sweeping a sleeve through the air to scatter some of the rubble on the ground, a circr, golden stone b was revealed with aplex array engraved upon it, and eight golden stone pirs were standing on the corners of the array.
Not only were there several cracks on the array, many sections of it had been damaged, and the entire array had be dull andpletely devoid of luster.
A grim look instantly appeared on Lei Yuce''s face upon seeing this, and he turned to Xiong Shan as he reprimanded, "Fellow Daoist Xiong, this is all because of your reckless actions!"
"My apologies, I didn''t know that pulling out the sword would free so many devilish beings. I''ll make sure to be more careful from now on," Xiong Shan replied.
Despite his apology, he wasn''t looking apologetic at all. Instead, his eyes were filled with unbridled joy as he stole asional nces at the Primordial Ancient Sword in his hand.
At this moment, there were twenty to thirty goldenw threads circling around the sword, and it seemed that he was in the process of refining the sword.
Lan Yuanzi and the others couldn''t help but gaze upon the Primordial Ancient Sword with envious looks in their eyes, and Lei Yuce''s brows furrowed slightly at Xiong Shan''s insincere apology, but he didn''t say anything further.
Xiong Shan was previously the weakest member of the group, but with this Primordial Ancient Sword in his possession, no one else in the group aside from Han Li could say with any degree of certainty that they would be able to defeat him.
Chapter 1091: Sealed Devilish Beings
Chapter 1091: Sealed Devilish Beings
"At this point, it''s only right that all of you know the truth. I do indeed know a little about this seventh level of the Eon Pagoda. As all of you are already aware, this pagoda is a prison in which many fugitives are being held captive, and the fugitive on this seventh level is an almighty devil, one that''s far more powerful than all of the other fugitives we''ve encountered so far," Lei Yuce exined.
"There were even Great Epassment Stage beings among the fugitives that we''ve already encountered, could it be that this one is a Dao Ancestor?" Lan Yan scoffed, clearly skeptical of Lei Yuce''s words.
"The founding father of our Almighty Sword Sect participated in the sealing of this devil, and ording to the records left behind by him, even if that devil isn''t a Dao Ancestor, he''s not far away," Lei Yuce replied with a grim expression, and Lan Yan''s flippant smile slowly faded upon hearing this.
"The founding father of the Almighty Sword Sect once came to this ce as well? Could it be that he was familiar with Immortal Lord Tai Sui?" Han Li asked.
"I''m afraid I don''t know the answer to that question," Lei Yuce replied with a shake of his head.
Han Li didn''t say anything, but internally, he was feeling a little skeptical, and he couldn''t tell if Lei Yuce actually didn''t know, or if he was simply withholding this information.
"Could it be that the devilish being that you''re referring to is the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, the one who was said to have used the entire Golden Origin Immortal Region as a blood sacrifice?" Su Anqian suddenly asked.
"That''s right. I''m sure you must be well aware of his existence, Celestial Maiden Su," Lei Yuce confirmed.
"Our Heavenly Water Sect has records of that catastrophic cmity," Su Anqian replied as herplexion paled slightly.
"Would you care to borate?" Han Li asked.
"Many of you aren''t from the Golden Origin Immortal Region, so you won''t be aware of this event. Countless years ago, going all the way back to the era where our Immortal Realm was in direct conflict with the Devil Realm, our Golden Origin Immortal Region once endured a major catastrophe.
¡°An almighty devilish being by the name of the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity descended upon the Golden Origin Immortal Region and created a vast devilish array to ughter the entire immortal region. Over half of all of the living beings in the Golden Origin Immortal Region at the time perished to that array, and it was only broken by a Dao Ancestor from the Heavenly Court.
¡°To this very day, the Golden Origin Immortal Region is still yet to recover from that ordeal, and even the mere mention of the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s name is considered to be taboo," Su Anqian sighed.
"I see," Han Li mused as a contemtive look appeared in his eyes, and he couldn''t help but wonder if this Dark Heavens Devilish Deity had anything to do with the Night Sun Empire.
"Truth be told, the emergence of the Tai Sui Immortal Manor wasn''t a coincidence. ording to the records of our sect, the immortal manor most likely emerged as a result of the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s attempts to break the seal that he''s confined within, and Wen Zhong and I havee here with the objective of fortifying the seal.
¡°The seal has a total of five cores, each corresponding to one of the five elements, and that golden altar was the metal-attribute core," Lei Yuce added.
"Does that mean that one of the cores of the seal has already been destroyed?" Lan Yan asked in an uneasy manner, and grim looks immediately appeared on everyone''s faces upon hearing this.
"That''s right. As long as the five cores are intact, there''s no way for the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity to escape, but now that one of them has been destroyed, if the other cores are destroyed as well, then there''s a very good chance that the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity will be able to break free from his seal.
¡°If that happens, not only will all of us lose our lives here, the entire Golden Origin Immortal Region will be subjected to another disastrous cmity, so make sure to proceed with caution from here onward and do not destroy any more cores," Lei Yuce said with a solemn expression, and everyone nodded in response.
"What do we do now? Do we keep going?" Lan Yan asked.
"Yes, but before we leave, I''m going to attempt to repair this array. This array is the foundation of the metal-attribute core, and even though it''s been destroyed, the energy within it still hasn''tpletely dissipated, so if I can repair it, perhaps it can still function partially as intended," Lei Yuce replied, then crouched down to examine the array on the ground.
Wen Zhong also stepped up to help him, and after a brief discussion, the two of them quickly began working on the array.
Han Li and the others weren''t familiar with the array, so they couldn''t offer any help.
Close to a day passed by in a sh, and Han Li and the others were all in a state of seated meditation when they felt a burst of formidable array fluctuations sweep through the air, prompting them to rise to their feet.
The golden array on the ground had already been repaired, and a thick pir of golden light rose up from it before vanishing into the ceiling of the cave above.
The array then slowly ceased operating at Lei Yuce''s behest, and the pir of golden light quickly faded away.
"Thankfully, the damage wasn''t too severe, and we were able to repair the array," Lei Yuce dered with a faint smile.
"Will it still be able to serve its original purpose?" Lan Yan asked, seemingly quite fearful of the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
"I''m not sure, we can only hope so," Lei Yuce replied. "Let''s get out of here, we''ve already been dyed here for far too long."
Lei Yuce swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, releasing a burst of golden light that swept up some nearby rocks before piling them onto the golden array.
At this point, everyone had already mostly recovered from their injuries, and they were eager to continue onward.
......
After walking through the cave for a long time, they finally arrived at its entrance.
Outside the cave was a tform that was several thousand feet in size, and there were jagged rocks all over the ground, as if this ce were situated halfway up a mountain.
Upon arriving at the edge of the tform, everyone peered into the distance, but they were unable to see anything but dense, gray mist.
Xiong Shan peered into the distance for a while, then suddenly shed his golden longsword through the air to release a massive streak of golden swordlight.
The streak of swordlight possessed tremendous power and should''ve been able to glide through the air for hundreds of kilometers, but to everyone''s surprise, it was only able to travel several thousand feet before exploding violently, as if it had struck a wall.
"There''s a restriction here," Xiong Shan murmured to himself.
"Save your energy, everyone. The restriction outside this mountain is connected to the foundation of the entire Eon Pagoda, so unless you possess the power to destroy the entire pagoda, you won''t be able to break this restriction by force," Lei Yuce said.
Han Li released his spiritual sense to scour the surrounding area upon hearing this, only to discover that his spiritual sense was so severely restricted here that he wasn''t able to release it very far at all.
Hence, everyone had no choice but to fly their way up the mountain.
After flying for close to ten thousand feet, Wyrm 3 suddenly stopped in her tracks, and everyone else immediately did the same.
They followed the direction of her gaze to discover what appeared to be a man-made stone staircase, leading up the mountain in a winding fashion, at the base of which was a t cliff.
"Let''s go take a look," Lei Yuce said, then flew over to the stone staircase, followed immediately by everyone else.
Upon descending onto the cliff, Han Li looked around to discover that there was nothing of note in the surrounding area aside from the stone staircase.
Thus, everyone began to scale the staircase, making their way up toward the mountain summit.
After advancing for several thousand feet, they arrived on an evenrger cliff, standing upon which was an antiquated blue pce that had been constructed along the face of the mountain.
Ahead of the pce was a za that was several thousand feet in size, and its mirror-like surface resembled that of ake, with what appeared to be a cloud of blue mist hanging over it, giving it a rather illusory appearance.
Lan Yuanzi''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of the cloud of mist.
"What''s wrong?" Lan Yan asked.
"I can sense some waterw power fluctuations in the air... I think this is most likely a water-attribute illusory array," Lan Yuanzi mused.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he began to carefully examine the surrounding area with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
Thanks to his Infernal Devilish Eyes, he was able to see a series of vortexes within the cloud of mist, exerting both forces of attraction and repulsion upon one another to form a very special energy field.
After peering into the mist for only a short while, Han Li felt his eyes begin to grow moist, as if water vapor were creeping into them, and he looked around in a perplexed manner, only to discover that Lei Yuce and the others were nowhere to be seen.
A wry smile appeared on his face upon seeing this. Only now did he realize that they had already stepped into the illusory array from the moment that they reached the top of the staircase.
After taking a moment topose himself, he began channeling his Spirit Refinement Technique, attempting to use his tremendous spiritual sense to forcibly break the illusion.
However, as soon as he did this, the surrounding environment was instantly transformed.
The vortexes that he had spotted earlier suddenly began to revolve far faster and more violently than before, and they were crashing into one another like a cluster of tornadoes.
At the same time, the sound of loud, crashing waves rang out, and Han Li discovered that he had appeared above a vast, ck sea.
Chapter 1092: The Second Altar
Chapter 1092: The Second Altar
Standing in the air above the ck sea, Han Li looked around to discover that the entire sky above was filled with dark clouds.
Gusts of ferocious wind were sweeping toward him from all directions, raising enormous waterspouts that also began to close in on him.
Han Li knew that this was nothing more than an illusion, but the sense of asphyxiation that he was feeling and the freezing sensation of the waves crashing into his body were so realistic that he couldn''t help but be stunned.
Bursts of deafening rumbling rang out as several of the surrounding waterspouts collided, forming a giant waterspout that swallowed up Han Li.
As he tumbled up and down with the chaotic currents, bursts of tremendous force were crashing incessantly into his body, striking him with excruciating pain while also threatening to scatter his consciousness.
All of a sudden, a burst of golden lightning erupted out of Han Li''s body in all directions amid a resounding thunderp, instantly tearing the giant waterspout apart, following which he plummeted straight down into the seawater below.
To his surprise, the surrounding seawater didn''t seem to have any buoyancy, and despite his attempts to resist, he was sucked down into its depths against his water.
There seemed to be bottom to this vast sea, nor were there living beings inside. Han Li was all on his own as he embarked on what felt like an endless descent...
Meanwhile, everyone else was in much the same situation as Han Li, except they were all experiencing different illusions.
For example, Wyrm 3 was currently trapped in a crimson river that was also devoid of all living beings, but there were countless shadows drifting through the water around her like clumps of errant water weeds.
As these shadows converged toward her, they clung to her body one after another, causing her to be heavier and heavier, thereby making her sink deeper and deeper into the river.
Lei Yuce and the others were also all rooted to the spot with twisted looks on their faces, clearly grappling with illusions of their own.
Right at this moment, a blue symbol lit up on both Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan''s arms, and each symbol released a burst of blue light that joined together above their heads.
As soon as the two bursts of blue light came together, they instantly conjured up a blue light barrier that was giving off formidable waterw power fluctuations, epassing the two of them within it.
Immediately thereafter, the two of them each gave a muffled groan as they opened their eyes.
"That was a close call," Lan Yan said as she patted her own chest with a hint of lingering fear in her eyes.
"Thank heavens the Water Elemental Spirit Talismans that Master nted in us took effect here," Lan Yuanzi mused.
"It''s also very fortunate that both of us entered that illusory array together, so the talismans were able to fuse with each other. Otherwise, the power of just a single talisman may not have been enough to awaken either one of us from that illusion," Lan Yan said.
"Alright, let''s not waste any more time," Lan Yuanzi said as he cast his gaze toward the pce.
"What about them?" Lan Yan asked as she turned her gaze back to everyone else.
"We''ll have to leave them to break the illusion on their own," Lan Yuanzi said.
With that, the two of them quickly traversed through the za under the protection of the light barrier to arrive at the pce.
Upon reaching the entrance of the pce, Lan Yuanzi inspected the gates momentarily to discover that there were no restrictions on it, and he gently pushed them open.
As soon as the gates were opened, a burst of potent waterw power fluctuations immediately swept toward the two of them, making them feel as if they were basking in a warm spring breeze.
As they made their way into the pce, they spotted a blue altar that was identical in size and design to the golden altar that they had previously encountered.
There were two damaged areas on the altar, one on the left, and the other on the right, and hovering above it was a palm-sized, blue cloth pouch that looked as if it had been woven out of silk. Embroidered at the center of the pouch was a design of a wave that was giving off a faint sheen, and it was releasing extremely formidable waterw power fluctuations.
Just like on the golden altar, there was also a golden me hovering beside the blue pouch.
Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan exchanged a nce with each other, then began to make their way toward the altar, and as soon as they did so, a burst of loud rumbling instantly rang out.
Lan Yuanzi immediately grabbed onto Lan Yan''s arm, and both of them stopped in their tracks to listen carefully for the source of the sound, upon which they discovered that it wasing from the blue pouch on the altar.
The sound resembled that of a turbulent river forcing its way through narrow floodgates, and the Lan siblings immediately exchanged an ted nce with each other upon hearing this.
"Wait here for a moment while I retrieve that pouch," Lan Yuanzi said with an excited smile.
"Wait! What if you end up releasing that devilish deity?" Lan Yan asked with a hesitant expression.
"Don''t worry about that. Setting aside whether Lei Yuce was even telling the truth about that devilish deity, even if we do release it, there will be other people to deal with it. If worsees to worst, we''ll just have to immediately leave this ce and return to the Nine Origins Temple after retrieving the pouch, and nothing that happens from there onward will have anything to do with us," Lan Yuanzi reassured.
Lan Yan was still clearly feeling rather concerned, but before she had a chance to say anything, Lan Yuanzi continued, "Think about it: we''ve already failed in our mission to capture Han Li, and we''ve soured our rtionship with She Chan as well. If we don''t return to the Nine Origins Temple with anything to show for our efforts, what do you think is going to await us?"
Lan Yan''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this.
"Now only will we be punished, our master will most likely be held culpable as well. However, if we can return with this treasure, perhaps we''ll be spared some punishment. At the very least, we should be able to keep our master from being swept up in our mess," Lan Yuanzi continued.
Lan Yan finally relented upon hearing this.
"In that case, we''ll do as you say, but do be careful."
Lan Yuanzi smiled as he nodded in response, then began to make his way toward the altar.
However, he had only taken a couple of steps when he turned around to face Lan Yan, then said, "Once the pouch is freed from the restriction on the altar, it''ll be sure to release extremely formidablew power fluctuations, so make sure to keep your distance from me and be on your guard."
"In that case, let''s try and use our fusion secret technique. That way, even if something goes wrong and we''re unable to secure the pouch, at the very least, we''ll be able to ensure self-preservation," Lan Yan hurriedly said.
Lan Yuanzi''s brows furrowed slightly in indecision upon hearing this.
After some contemtion, Lan Yuanzi decided, "That''s a good idea. Truth be told, I''m not very confident in my ability to retrieve the pouch on my own."
Lan Yan was very happy to hear this, and she strode over to the altar by Lan Yuanzi''s side.
After taking a moment to examine the altar, Lan Yuanzi swept a sleeve through the air to release numerous array gs and array tes before getting to work around the altar.
......
Inside the illusory array, Han Li and the others were still rooted to the spot with agonized looks on their faces, and not even a single one of them was able to break out of their illusions.
At this moment, Han Li was still sinking ever deeper into the ck sea, unable to awaken despite his best efforts to channel his Spirit Refinement Technique.
Could it be that this illusion is built upon a foundation of waterw powers rather than spiritual sense?
Even as this thought sprang into Han Li''s mind, he still couldn''t think of a way to free himself from the illusion.
It was if the ck sea really was a bottomless abyss, one that he could sink eternally into without reaching the bottom.
Han Li felt as if he had fallen into a ne where space and time didn''t exist, and that he would continue to sink with no end in sight unless he could break the illusion.
......
Around fifteen minutester.
A circr array had taken shape around the blue altar in the pce.
Lan Yuanzi examined the array momentarily, then gave Lan Yan a nod, and thetter immediately summoned a blue oil paper umbre.
There was a scenic image of a pond filled with colorful koi fish drawn onto the surface of the umbre, and it was an extremely vivid and life-like image.
With a gentle twirl of the umbre, it began to revolve in mid-air, and the pond on the umbre seemed to have also been stirred up, with ripples running over its surface, but the koi fish within remained stationary and unaffected.
The umbre drifted higher up into the air at Lan Yan''s behest, hovering above the altar like a floating dome.
"Let''s begin," Lan Yuanzi dered, and both of them began making hand seals in unison.
A blue light barrier emerged from each of their bodies, forming a twoyered spirit domain that epassed both themselves and the altar.
After that, they began chanting an incantation, and the array gs around the altar began to unfurl while releasing bursts of formidable waterw power fluctuations.
At the same time, the array tes on the ground also lit up, releasing pirs of blue light that rose up to surround the entire altar.
Chapter 1093: Too Late
Chapter 1093: Too Late
With the array activated, the blue oil paper umbre above the altar began to elerate in its revolution, and the pond on its surface began to sway violently as if it were enduring a fierce storm.
It was as if water were threatening to ssh out of the edges of the umbre, and the dozen or so koi fish in the pond also began to move over the surface of the umbre, leaving golden trails in their wake.
At the same time, the entire altar began to tremble violently. The golden me above it didn''t disy much of a reaction, but the blue pouch was bulging erratically while the rumbling within it grew louder and louder, to the point it resembled a thunderstorm raging directly beside one''s ears.
Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan exchanged a tense look upon seeing this, but before they had a chance to do anything else, a resounding boom rang out as eighteen water dragons erupted out of the blue pouch before pouncing at the two of them.
Each water dragon was over a hundred feet in length, and their bodies looked as if they had been carved out of crystal, giving off incredibly formidable waterw power fluctuations.
"Brace yourself!" Lan Yuanzi warned as the eighteen water dragons crashed into the array that they had set up.
A string of resounding booms rang out in rapid session as countless arcs of blue water lightning erupted out of the eighteen water dragons'' bodies, epassing the entire altar with blue lightning.
Lan Yan''splexion paled slightly as she sensed the awe-inspiring power imbued within the water lightning, and she hurriedlyposed herself before continuing to make a string of hand seals, assisting Lan Yuanzi by injecting her immortal spiritual power into the oil paper umbre up above.
All of a sudden, the oil paper umbre swelled to several times its original size, and the pond on its surface began to churn violently, while the koi fish leaped out of the water over and over again, leaving golden trails on the umbre in their wake.
At the same time, a series of runes lit up over the umbre''s shaft, following which numerous ck vortexes emerged, releasing bursts of suction force that began sucking in the blue lightning raging down below in a frenzy.
The eighteen water dragons were still violently wreaking havoc, while the water lightning that they released was being rapidly absorbed by the oil paper umbre.
At this point, the entire pond on the umbre was churning so violently that it looked as if it had been brought to a boil, and the koi fish inside were frantically flopping up and down, while arcs of lightning shed over their scales.
As the oil paper umbre continued to absorb the water lightning, it seemed that an impasse had been reached. The amount of water lightning around the altar wasn''t increasing any further, but it remained as powerful as ever.
"Looks like this is the best that we can do. If we keep this up, the umbre is most likely going to give out soon, so we have to take a risk now!" Lan Yuanzi said with a grim expression, and Lan Yan nodded in response.
The two of them sat down with their legs crossed, then closed their eyes as each of them made a strange hand seal, and bursts of formidable waterw power fluctuations began to surge out of their bodies.
At the same time, numerous thin threads began to emerge over the two surrounding spirit domain light barriers, and the threads intertwined before tugging on one another to fuse the two light barriers together.
Immediately thereafter, a nascent soul emerged from the bes of both Lan Yuanzi andn Yan, and they drifted toward each other before also fusing together.
The fused nascent soul swelled rapidly in size until it wasparable in size to the average adult human, and it had a set of rather gender-ambiguous facial features.
Immediately thereafter, bursts of formidable waterw power fluctuations surged out of thebined spirit domain, encasing the fused nascent soul in a suit of strange-looking blue water armor.
The fused nascent soul''s aura instantly swelled drastically, enhanced by the suit of water armor, and it took a nce at the physical bodies of the Lan siblings, who were still seated at their original spots, before flying over to the edge of the altar.
The fused nascent soul reached its hands into the barrier of lightning up ahead before bringing them apart, and theyer of water lightning directly up ahead was parted to create an opening, which the nascent soul was able to burrow its way into.
As soon as the fused nascent soul entered the altar, it was immediately attacked by the eighteen water dragons, and in response, the nascent soul made a strange hand seal, then thrust both hands toward the oing water dragons, conjuring up a circr water shield to ward off their attacks.
A burst of thunderous rumbling rang out as the eighteen water dragons crashed into the shield, sending bursts of blue water lighting erupting in all directions.
Countless arcs of violent water lightning struck the nascent soul, and even though they were kept out by the suit of water armor, the nascent soul''s features still became twisted with agony.
Despite this, the fused nascent soul continued to inch its way toward the altar, disying no intention of backing down.
As the rumbling grew louder and louder, the water lightning became more powerful, and the fused nascent soul''s suit of water armor was beginning to evaporate.
At the same time,rge plumes of water vapor began to surge out of the oil paper umbre above, and the pond on its surface was bing noticeably shallower, while seven or eight of the koi fish in the pond had already dissipated.
Right on the verge of copse, the fused nascent soul was able to step onto the altar before grabbing onto the blue pouch, then tore the pouch out of the altar.
As soon as the pouch was disced, all of the eighteen water dragons instantly converged to form an orb of water that returned to the pouch, and the thunderousmotion immediately died down.
At this point, the pond on the oil paper umbre above the altar had runpletely dry, and not only had all of the koi fish vanished, the surface of the umbre had also be withered and wrinkled, as if it had been scorched by mes.
As the final hint of spiritual light faded from the umbre, it abruptly erupted into mes before being reduced to ashes in mere seconds.
After retreating from the altar, the fused nascent soul split back up into two nascent souls that flew back into the bodies of Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan.
Immediately thereafter, their eyes sprang open, and Lan Yan was currently holding the blue pouch as she cast an ecstatic gaze toward Lan Yuanzi.
Thetter opened his mouth to say something, but before he had a chance to do so, the altar suddenly began to tremble violently as a series of massive cracks appeared over its surface, and the cracks were rapidly expanding.
Lan Yuanzi hurriedly rose to his feet before grabbing onto Lan Yan''s hand, following which he flew out of the pce toward the za outside.
As he did so, he noticed that theyer of mist over the za was beginning to thin out bit by bit beforepletely fading away altogether, freeing everyone from their illusions.
Having been abruptly snapped out of the bottomless sea, Han Li gasped for air as he hurriedly swept his gaze over his surroundings, immediately spotting the violently quaking blue pce and the Lan siblings in the air above.
A perplexed look appeared on his face upon seeing this, but before he had a chance to ask any questions, a resounding boom rang out from within the pce.
Immediately thereafter, an enormous ck rift emerged all the way from the pce to the za beneath his feet, tearing the entire cliff apart.
An rmed look appeared on Lei Yuce''s face as he attempted to fly into the pce to salvage the structure, but he had only just risen up into the air when the pce waspletely split into two, with its two halves copsing to either side.
Through the destroyed pce, Han Li could see a golden me hovering above the altar inside, and it was flickering erratically, looking as if it could be snuffed out at any moment.
He immediately channeled his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra upon seeing this, using his timew powers as a guiding force as he made a beckoning motion toward the golden me from afar.
The restriction on the altar had already been destroyed by the Lan siblings, so the golden me was drawn to Han Li without posing any resistance.
In the wake of the golden me''s departure, the altarpletely copsed, and an enormous ck hole appeared in its wake.
The shattered altar plummeted into the hole, but no sound of itsnding could be heard.
"It''s toote..." Lei Yuce murmured to himself with a grim expression.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a chorus of ghastly shrieks rang out from within the hole beneath the altar.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he detected the horde of formidable auras rising up from within the hole.
"Tai Sui, you old scoundrel! I have returned!"
A sharp voice that was filled with boundless resentment rang out from deep within the hole.
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Chapter 1094: Warding Off the Enemy
Chapter 1094: Warding Off the Enemy
Immediately thereafter, a giant devilish being that was around a hundred feet tall with white bone tes all over its body erupted out of the hole before hovering in the air above the pce.
The devilish being''s entire body was as translucent as white jade, and it had no skin, flesh, or internal organs. As opposed to a human head, it had the skull of a goat, and there was a pair of white bone wings on its back, pping incessantly to keep the creature aloft.
Han Li could sense that this creature''s aura was no less formidable than that of the copper lion devilish beast, and his brows furrowed slightly at this observation.
"Were you the ones who freed me?" the devilish being asked as he swept his gaze over Han Li''s group.
Han Li and the others didn''t know what its intentions were, so they remained silent as they looked up at the creature with wary expressions.
All of a sudden, the devilish being''s gaze settled upon the blue pouch in Lan Yan''s hand, and it remarked, "If that pouch is in your possession, then you must''ve been the ones who broke the seal. I may be a devil, but even I know the importance of repaying kindnesses, so you can have these as a gesture of gratitude from me."
The devilish being swept a hand through the air as it spoke, releasing several fist-sized blue crystals that were giving off potent waterw power fluctuations.
Everyone''s expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, clearly taken aback by this turn of events.
"So you won''t answer my questions, nor will you ept my gifts. Honestly, you''re beginning to hurt my feelings," the devilish being said in a cold voice, then swept a hand through the air once again, sending the blue crystals flying toward everyone at an rming speed.
As the crystals hurtled through the air, a ball of ck light appeared within each of them, and they swelled rapidly before exploding, sending powerful shockwaves and plumes of acrid, ck mist erupting in all directions.
The ck mist seemed to be capable of eroding the very space itself, but everyone was already prepared for this, and they immediately sprang back in retreat while adopting defensive measures.
"I can''t even remember how many years I''ve been trapped here, so I''m certainly overdue for some exercise," the devilish being cackled, and as soon as its voice trailed off, the entire cliff copsed violently.
Giant devilish creatures of all types of descriptions sprang out of the ground before pouncing at Han Li and the others, who weren''t able to retreat very far due to the restriction around the mountain.
Hence, they had no choice but to engage the horde of devilish creatures in battle.
With a flick of his wrist, an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword appeared in Han Li''s grasp, and he swung it through the air at an oingte-High Zenith Stage three-headed falcon.
A bolt of golden lightning erupted out of the sword, forming a golden lightning sword that struck the middle head of the three-headed falcon, but to Han Li''s surprise, a burst of radiant, golden light erupted out of the falcon''s head to oppose the golden lightning sword, deflecting the attack away.
Immediately thereafter, its two side heads opened their beaks in unison to let loose a shrill shriek, sending two bursts of corkscrew-shaped golden ripples hurtling toward Han Li from either side.
However, the pair of golden corkscrews had only flown around a thousand feet through the air before slowing down drastically, as if they were gliding through treacle.
Han Li had summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis to slow down the oing attack, following which heunched himself straight at the three-headed falcon, channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts as he plunged his sword directly into the creature''s heart.
A burst of golden lightning erupted out of the sword, and arcs of golden lightning instantly began to pour out of the wound on the three-headed falcon''s chest.
At the same time, a burst of silver mes enveloped the creature''s entire body.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and in the face of the lethalbination of Han Li''s Divine Devilbane Lightning and me of Essence, the three-headed falcon was instantly in.
In contrast with Han Li, who had only been attacked by a single assant, Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan were currently being harassed by seven or eight High Zenith Stage devilish creatures, all of which seemed to be very much drawn to the blue pouch in Lan Yan''s hand.
It immediately urred to Han Li that just like the golden sword that Xiong Shan had obtained, the blue pouch had also been serving as the core of the array in the blue pce. Hence, it had to have been a treasure of a very high caliber, so it was no wonder that the Lan siblings were being targeted for it.
Thebined powers of these devilish creatures far exceeded that of the Lan siblings, who had already severely exerted themselves after unleashing their nascent soul fusion secret technique earlier, so it didn''t take long before they were forced firmly onto the back foot.
A hesitant look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and right as he was about to lend them his assistance, Lan Yan suddenly cast an incantation seal into the blue pouch in her hand.
The pouch immediately began to billow violently, and the sound of rumbling thunder rang out as a blue vortex abruptly emerged from it.
The vortex was shing with lightning, and there seemed to be a water lightning array inside.
At the moment, Lan Yan and Lan Yuanzi were standing with their backs against each other, and the former suddenly tipped the pouch toward the oing horde of devilish creatures.
The blue vortex at the mouth of the pouch elerated drastically in its revolution as seven or eight blue water dragons erupted out from within before hurtling toward the oing devilish assants.
At the same time, Lan Yan''splexion instantly turned deathly pale, a clear sign of immortal spiritual power overexertion.
Han Li couldn''t help but be a little rmed upon seeing this.
Just how high a caliber of an immortal treasure did this blue pouch have to be to have exerted Lan Yan so severely after just a single use?
Furthermore, it seemed like herw power reserves had also been severely depleted in addition to her immortal spiritual power.
With that in mind, it was more than a little suspicious that Xiong Shan was able to wield that Primordial Ancient Sword as a merete-Golden Immortal cultivator.
Before Han Li had a chance to ponder this matter any further, another devilish creature pounced at him, and he gave a cold harrumph before engaging it in battle.
The blue water dragons were extremely fast, and as they moved through the air, there seemed to be a pervasive barrier of waterw powers around them, preventing the devilish creatures from getting away.
Several of the closest devilish creatures weren''t in time to take evasive measures, and the water dragons instantly chomped down onto them.
The devilish creatures screeched and struggled frantically, but were unable to free themselves as they were forcibly dragged back toward the blue pouch.
Their bodies shrank down rapidly as they drew closer to the pouch, and ultimately, they had shrunk down to the size of pebbles before being sucked into the pouch.
As soon as the devilish creatures entered the pouch, they were immediately plunged into the water lightning array within, and the blue vortex began to churn violently while giving off bursts of deafening rumbling.
Before long, strings of agonized howls had begun to ring out from within the pouch, but they were only heard for a brief moment before fading into silence, at which point the devilish creatures inside had already been reduced to nothingness.
Using the blue pouch seemed to have sapped Lan Yan of all of her strength, and she immediately copsed in a feeble manner.
Lan Yuanzi hurriedly caught her, then propped her up before feeding her a pill while taking the blue pouch from her.
The white bone devilish being let loose a loud shriek upon seeing this, and all of the remaining devilish creatures immediately stopped in their tracks before staging a retreat.
The white bone devilish being''s gaze lingered on everyone for a moment long, following which it pped its bone wings and fled with all of its brethren.
After taking a moment to recover their treasures, everyone gathered together, and Lei Yuce''s gaze fell upon the blue pouch in Lan Yuanzi''s hand with a displeased look on his face, but he ultimately refrained from assigning any me.
Instead, he cupped his fist in a salute as he said, "The array here has been severely damaged, so it will take some time to repair. In the meantime, all of you can scour the surrounding area to see if there are any other treasures around."
After that, he departed with Wen Zhong to repair the array, not waiting for a response from everyone else.
Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan immediately sat down with their legs crossed to continue their recovery.
Lan Yan seemed to have exerted herself even more severely than anticipated, and even after taking some pills, she was still very frail and feeble.
Han Li took a nce at the two of them before departing like everyone else to search the nearby area.
However, at this point, the entire cliff had already been destroyed, so no one was able to find anything aside from some water-attribute materials.
Some timeter, Lei Yuce and Wen Zhong returned, and the former dered, "The array has been repaired, we can proceed onward now."
He then called out to Su Anqian, and the three of them continued to make their way up the mountain, followed closely by everyone else.
Han Li was just about to follow along when he suddenly seemed to have sensed something, and he turned his gaze to a certain direction as he peered into the distance with a perplexed look on his face.
However, ultimately, he made no attempt to investigate and departed with everyone else.
Chapter 1095: Collaboration
Chapter 1095: Coboration
Shortly after the departure of Han Li and the others, the copper lion and the white bone devil emerged from a nearby mountain face amid a sh of white light, while all of the devilish beings were nowhere to be seen.
The two of them were standing next to each other, and it seemed as if they were familiar acquaintances.
"That human must possess tremendous spiritual sense to have almost seen through my Heavenly Bone Ring," the white bone devil remarked as it opened its mouth to release a white ring.
The ring seemed to have been refined from some type of bone, and it was shing with a gentle, white light. It didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way, but it was able topletely contain the auras of the two devilish beings.
"It looks like you''ve been working hard on refining your Heavenly Bone Ring during all these years in captivity. It''s about to be a fifth tier immortal treasure soon, right?" the copper lion remarked.
"There''s no devilish qi in that godforsaken ce, making it impossible to cultivate, so I had no choice but to focus on refining my devilish treasures," the white bone devil sighed. "I''m assuming your Lightning Nightmare Saber has to be quite a bit more powerful now as well."
A proud look appeared on the copper lion''s face upon hearing this, but that was instantly reced by a look of dismay at the thought of its destroyed Profound Infernal Divine Hammer.
"I had thought that by using your Heavenly Bone Ring, we would be able to sneak over undetected and exact our revenge on Han Li and Xiong Shan, but it looks like the former''s spiritual sense is too powerful for that to be a possibility," the copper lion said in an indignant manner.
"Even after all these years, you still haven''t changed at all. Have you not heard of the saying that revenge is a dish best served cold?" the white bone devil asked.
"That''s a mantra that only the weak subscribe to!" the copper lion harrumphed coldly, while the white bone devil remained silent with a resigned smile.
"By the way, you told me that yourw threads were refined by Han Li, is that true? How could yourw ring have been refined by him in such a short time?" the white bone devil asked.
"That bastard has a gourd that''s most likely an Essential Immortal Treasure, and it possesses an extremely potent refinement ability," the copper lion exined in a hateful voice.
"I see. Essential Immortal Treasures are born from heaven and earth, and they often contain extremely formidablew powers," the white bone devil mused.
"I have to recover myw threads from Han Li no matter what. Even if he used an Essential Immortal Treasure to refine myw threads, it''s only been a short time, so the essential aura of thosew threads should still be intact. If I can im his Essential Immortal Treasure, I should be able to recover myw threads," the copper lion said.
"That''s all well and good, but the problem is that the two of us on our own are definitely no match for all of them. I''ve finally been freed after countless years in captivity, and I have no intention of throwing my life away, even if we are brothers!" the white bone devil harrumphed coldly.
"Rest assured, I may not be all that smart, but I''m not an idiot, either. I understand that confronting them now would be apletely suicidal endeavor, but it seems like those people are nning to search for the rest of the array cores on this level.
¡°Those greedy bastards definitely won''t be able to resist the urge to im the treasures in the array cores, so I say we follow them and give them a hand where necessary. Once all five of us have been freed, we''ll be able to take care of those scoundrels with ease!" the copper lion chuckled.
The white bone devil''s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he offered no response.
"Is there something wrong with my n?" the copper lion asked in a perplexed manner.
"The n is sound, but the problem is that freeing our brothers will require the final three array cores to be broken. Once all five cores are broken, the seal will be weakened to the extreme. If the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity is freed, then all of us will most likely be killed. Don''t forget that we yed a significant role in how he was trapped here in the first ce," the white bone devil said in a concerned manner.
"What do we do then? Are we just not going to save our brothers?" the copper lion asked.
The white bone devil was just about to reply when it suddenly swung around and yelled, "Who''s sneaking around there?"
Five beams of white light shot out of its fingertips as it spoke, striking the space nearby before exploding violently to reveal a crimson figure enveloped in golden light.
The five bursts of white light didn''t dissipate following their explosion, and they transformed into a giant, white bone hand with bright, white mes burning over its surface before grabbing down at the crimson figure.
The crimson figure wasn''ted fazed at all as the golden light around them spread outward in all directions, stopping the white bone hand cold in its tracks before causing it to shatter and dissipate.
......
Meanwhile, Han Li was flying his way up the mountain when he suddenly turned around to look back down in the direction that he hade from with a cold look in his eyes.
"What is it, Brother Han?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"It''s nothing," Han Li replied as he continued onward at a faster speed than before.
Wyrm 3''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but she didn''t ask any further questions as she also continued flying up the mountain.
......
The white bone devil was quite taken aback to see this, while the copper lion let loose a furious roar as it summoned its ck lightning saber, yet it was stopped by the white bone devil before it could attack the crimson figure.
"Your white bonews have be more formidable than ever, Fellow Daoist White Bone," the crimson figure remarked, and it was none other than Qi Mozi.
Judging from the enormity of his aura, it seemed that his cultivation base had fully recovered.
A cold gleam of recognition shed through the white bone devil''s eyes at the sight of Qi Mozi.
"Do you know this man, Brother?" the copper lion asked.
"This is Fellow Daoist Qi Mozi, formerly the second disciple to Patriarch Miro of the True Mantra Sect, but heter went on to betray his master and join the Heavenly Court," the white bone devil exined with a disdainful sneer.
"So you''re the traitor of the True Mantra Sect! I''ve certainly heard much about you," the copper lion sneered in mock reverence.
"I heard that you made some very significant contributions leading to the downfall of the True Mantra Sect, so you must currently hold a very lofty position in the Heavenly Court, right?" the white bone devil disparaged.
Qi Mozi wasn''t ashamed at all as he smiled and replied, "I had tried to dissuade my master from straying from the right path, but to no avail, so I had no choice but to turn to the Heavenly Court. As for my current position in the Heavenly Court, thanks to the infinite graciousness of the Dao Ancestors, I''ve been made the chief warden of the Immortal Prison."
At the same time, he flipped a hand over to produce a golden, tiger-head-shaped badge, upon which were inscribed the words "chief warden" in antiquated text.
An indescribable aura was emanating from the badge, causing the nearby space to tremble.
The mockery on the white bone devil''s face was immediately reced by a hint of wariness upon seeing this.
The copper lion spat onto the ground, then scoffed, "I''ve seen countless traitors in my time, but never one as smug and self-assured as you!"
"You must be the vastly renowned Copper Lion King of the Devil Realm, right? I had always heard that you had a very fiery personality. I must say, I hold a great deal of admiration for people like you," Qi Mozi said with a cid smile, still lookingpletely unbothered.
The copper lion looked as if it had just swallowed a fly in the face of Qi Mozi''s praise, and it spat onto the ground once again, but before it could hurl any more insults at Qi Mozi, it was made to stand down by a stern re from the white bone devil.
"Congrattions on climbing so high up the ranks, Fellow Daoist Qi Mozi. May I ask why you''vee here?" the white bone devil asked.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist White Bone, I''m here of my own ord and not under any orders from the Heavenly Court. On top of that, the Immortal Prison is currently a different ce from what it once was under me, so you can rest assured that I won''t turn on you. Instead, I propose a coboration," Qi Mozi replied with a smile.
The wariness in the white bone devil''s eyes became even more pronounced upon hearing this, and it asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Judging from your conversation just now, it sounds like you have some personal differences with those people up ahead. Coincidentally, I also have some enemies among them. You and I are old acquaintances, so why don''t we join forces against them?" Qi Mozi proposed.
"You want to join forces? I can tell that you''ve already reached the Great Epassment Stage, and you''re cultivating thews of time, so what help could you possibly require from the two of us?" the white bone devil asked.
"There are quite a few people in the group up ahead, all of whom are quite formidable. In particr, one of them is extremely troublesome to deal with, and even I am not well equipped to handle him on my own. I''m sure the two of you are already aware of who I''m talking about," Qi Mozi exined with a smile.
An image of Han Li surfaced in the minds of both devilish beings upon hearing this.
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Chapter 1096: Each with Their Own Plans
Chapter 1096: Each with Their Own ns
"I just so happened to have overheard your conversation just now. You want to save your brothers, but you''re worried that doing so will free the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity. What if I were to tell you that I have a way to save your brothers while also keeping the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity in check?" Qi Mozi asked.
"Is that true?" the white bone devil asked with a stunned expression, and the copper lion''s expression also changed slightly upon hearing this.
"Of course. If the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity is freed, then I will also be doomed, so I certainly wouldn''t dare to make a joke about something like this," Qi Mozi replied with a smile.
The copper lion remained silent as it turned to the white bone devil for a decision.
"How are you nning to keep the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity in check? Please borate," the white bone devil demanded.
A faint smile appeared on Qi Mozi''s face as hemunicated something through voice transmission, and the two devilish beings'' expressions instantly changed slightly upon hearing what he had to say.
"I see. That definitely does sound like it could work," the white bone devil mused, and the copper lion also gave a contemtive nod.
"Rest assured, my life is on the line here as well, so I wouldn''t devise an unsound n," Qi Mozi assured with a smile.
"Alright, in that case, I agree to your proposal for a coboration. However, I''m sure you must want something from us as well, right?" the white bone devil asked.
"You''re just as direct and straightforward as ever, Fellow Daoist White Bone! Here''s what I want from you: once I''ve helped you free all of your brothers, I want all of you to help me secure the Eon Divine Lamp and kill Han Li," Qi Mozi said with a smile that didn''t reach his eyes.
"You want us to help you kill Han Li? That''s not a problem at all! However, after we kill him, you have to give us all of his treasures," the copper lion immediately said.
"You can have all of the treasures and materials in his possession, but I want a cultivation art from him," Qi Mozi replied.
"That''s fine," the copper lion said. "All I want are his immortal treasures, you can have everything else."
"What do you say, Fellow Daoist White Bone?" Qi Mozi asked.
"I can agree to this arrangement on behalf of my brothers, but Han Li is a very troublesome opponent to deal with, so my brothers and I will only be able to offer you some support from the side, while you''ll have to be the one to directly confront and kill him," the white bone devil replied.
"That''s fine with me," Qi Mozi replied without any hesitation, which came as a slight surprise to the white bone devil.
With the overall agreement made, the three of them briefly discussed some finer details before immediately setting off.
Shortly after their departure, three more figures appeared nearby amid a sh of azure light, and they were none other than Qu Lin, Lekima, and the azure-robed man.
"The situation is bing more and moreplicated," the azure-robed man mused.
"That Qi Mozi may be the chief warden of the Immortal Prison, but it sounds like he''s here to im the Eon Divine Lamp rather than to fortify the seals in the pagoda, so perhaps he could indirectly help our cause," Qu Lin mused.
"This is not necessarily a good thing for us. While his involvement increases the likelihood of the seals being broken, he''s a Great Epassment cultivator who''s mastered thews of time, so even the three of us won''t be a match for him, let alone Fox 3 and the others. Our bonded soul tablets have been connected to the Eon Divine Lamp by Tai Sui, so if we try to approach the tablets, they''ll immediately be attacked by the mes of Eons.
¡°Hence, we can only rely on Fox 3 and the others to recover the tablets. If they fail and the tablets fall into Qi Mozi''s hands, then we''ll be reduced to ves forced to do his bidding for the rest of eternity," the azure-robed man said with a grim expression.
Qu Lin and Lekima hadn''t thought as far ahead as him, and only after hearing his analysis did theye to realize the severity of the problem.
"What do you think we should do then, Brother Liu? Should we try to intercept Qi Mozi now to buy Han Li and the others some time?" Qu Lin asked in an urgent manner.
"If he hadn''t joined forces with the White Bone King and the Copper Lion King, perhaps we would''ve had decent chances of stalling him here, but it''s toote now," the azure-robed man sighed, and the expressions of Qu Lin and Lekima immediately darkened slightly upon hearing this.
"Is there really no way out then?" Lekima asked.
"There are some solutions that we can turn to, but they''ll be rather risky," the azure-robed man said as he flipped a hand over to produce a doll that was around a foot tall.
It was a doll of a woman in a long dress, and not only was there a gleam in its eyes, its body was also twisting vigorously from side to side, as if it were a living creature trying to struggle free from the azure-robed man''s grasp.
Interestingly enough, the left half of the doll''s body was a pure white color, while the right half was pitch-ck.
The white half of its face bore a set of gentle and delicate facial features, while the ck half of its face was twisted with intense, vindictive resentment, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
Lekima disyed no reaction to the doll, and it was clearly not the first time it had seen it, while Qu Lin was rather surprised at the sight of the doll.
"This is a puppet that I refined using some special materials. It''s the only thing that will allow us to recover our bonded soul tablets," the azure-robed man said with a hint of mixed emotions in his eyes.
"What do you need me to do?" Qu Lin asked.
The azure-robed man swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a gray light barrier around the duo.
Momentster, the light barrier faded away, and the three of them departed.
......
Due to the severe restrictions on spiritual sense on this level, Han Li and the others didn''t dare to travel too quickly.
Before long, the group had advanced onward for over two hours, and all of a sudden, they stopped in their tracks as they cast their eyes forward with excited looks on their faces.
Up ahead was a t area, upon which stood a white jade za that was several dozen acres in size. The za was paved with rectangr bs of exquisite jade, which were giving off wisps of white mist, forming a majestic cloud above the za that presented a breathtaking sight to behold.
nted around the za was a series of tall trees of an unknown species, and the trees were entirely a translucent, white color, from their leaves to their trunks.
After examining the za to verify that there were no traps or restrictions, the group descended onto it, and ahead of them were three small staircases that led in different directions.
Beside each staircase stood a white jade que, upon which were inscribed the names of "Origin Fire Pce", "Heavenly Earth Hall", and "Divine Wood Tomb".
Upon seeing these three names, it immediately urred to everyone that the three ces had to have been the homes of the remaining three altars.
Everyone''s eyes lit up slightly as they began to eagerly peer down the three staircases, but all of a sudden, Lei Yuce, Wen Zhong, and Su Anqian appeared in everyone''s path.
"Two array cores have already been broken. If the remaining three are also broken, then the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity will be freed, and our lives will all be forfeit, so please proceed with the utmost caution!" Lei Yuce said in a solemn manner.
However, before he even had a chance to finish, Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 had already risen up into the air to fly toward the Heavenly Earth Hall, paying no heed to Lei Yuce''s warning.
"Please stop now, fellow daoists. Otherwise, I''ll have to stop you by force!" Lei Yuce dered as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing several dozen golden swords to intercept the two of them.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this.
There were around sixty to seventy of these swords, all of which were giving off extremely formidable metalw power fluctuations. The majority of these flying swords were eighth tier immortal treasures, and a few of them had even reached the seventh tier.
However, Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 disyed no intention of stopping,pletely unfazed by the flying swords in their path.
A furious look appeared on Lei Yuce''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately made a hand seal, upon which the flying swords converged to form the Almighty Sword Array that he had previously unleashed once before.
However, before the sword array had a chance topletely take shape, a burst of radiant, dark red light erupted out of Wyrm 3''s body before washing over the entire array.
The golden light emanating from the flying swords quickly faded away, and in the blink of an eye, the sword array was brought to the verge of copse.
At the same time, the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber appeared in Fox 3''s grasp, and he swung it through the air to unleash a crimson saber projection thatpletely outshone the entirety of heaven and earth around it.
Chapter 1097: Splitting Up
Chapter 1097: Splitting Up
The white trees around the za rapidly wilted in the face of the crimson light released by the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, while the ground instantly turned ck andpletely devoid of life.
All of the spiritual qi in the white jade za was also sucked dry in the blink of an eye, following which all of the jade bs exploded into countless stone shards.
In a mere instant, all of the vitality within several hundred kilometers of the za had been sucked dry.
Immediately thereafter, an earth-shattering boom rang out, and the Almighty Sword Array copsed violently.
All of the flying swords were scattered in all directions, and around a dozen of them were snapped in half.
Lei Yuce shuddered violently as he stumbled back several steps before steadying himself, and an unnatural flush had appeared on his face.
All of the crimson light up above faded away, and at this point, Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 had already flown past Lei Yuce.
"You won''t be able to stop us, Fellow Daoist Lei. We do not wish to fight you, so please stand down for your own good," Fox 3 dered, following which he and Wyrm 3 vanished down the staircase up ahead.
Right at this moment, Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan shot forth toward the Divine Wood Tomb as two streaks of blue light.
"Get back here!" Su Anqian yelled as she made a grabbing motion in their direction.
Countless balls of blue water that were roughly ten feet in diameter instantly appeared in the nearby area, and giant arcs of blue lightning were shing over all of the balls of water.
The balls of water converged toward Lan Yuanzi''s duo in unison at Su Anqian''s behest, but Lan Yan remainedpletely unfazed as she summoned that blue pouch, which immediately released a burst of radiant, blue light.
All of the oing balls of water were instantly stopped in their tracks before flooding into the pouch, and in the blink of an eye, all of the balls of water had disappeared, as if they had been nothing more than an illusion.
An incredulous look appeared on Su Anqian''s face upon seeing this, while Lan Yan''splexion had noticeably paled.
Even though she had only briefly used the blue pouch''s power, over half of her immortal spiritual power had been expended.
Lan Yuanzi grabbed onto Lan Yan, and the two streaks of blue lightbined into one, elerating drastically in the process.
As a result, the two of them were able to quickly fly past Su Anqian before vanishing into the distance.
After a brief moment of contemtion, Han Li shot forth toward the Origin Fire Pce as a streak of golden light.
Wen Zhong had been keeping a close eye on him this entire time, and he immediately attempted to intercept Han Li, summoning numerous streaks of formidable swordlight to oppose him.
However, Han Li was able to fly past Wen Zhong at an astonishing speed by channeling his Reversal True Axis ability, and before long, he had also vanished out of sight, leaving Wen Zhong to look on with a resigned expression.
Right at this moment, another streak of golden light shot forth through the air, and this time, it was Xiong Shan.
Wen Zhong was still staring after Han Li, so he waspletely caught off guard by this, and by the time he reacted to what Xiong Shan was doing, he was already a step toote.
In the blink of an eye, Lei Yuce, Wen Zhong, and Su Anqian were the only ones remaining on the za.
"Those short-sighted fools! They''ll be kicking themselves once the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity is freed!" Wen Zhong yelled in a furious voice.
"None of them are from the Golden Origin Immortal Region, so they don''t know just how terrifying the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity is. On top of that, the immortal treasures in the array cores are all extremely powerful, so it''s no wonder that they''ve been blinded by greed. What should we do now?" Su Anqian asked as she turned to Lei Yuce.
"At this point, it looks like we''ll have no choice but to also split up and do our best to dissuade them from trying to im the treasures in the array cores. If that doesn''t work, then we''ll have to repair the arrays as much as we can," Lei Yuce replied as he recovered his set of golden flying swords.
"It seems like that''s all we can do at the moment. What exactly do you need us to do, Fellow Daoist Lei?" Su Anqian asked, and Wen Zhong also turned to him for further instructions.
"Please wait a moment," Lei Yuce said, then flipped a hand over to produce two sets of array tools, one red and one yellow, as well as two jade slips, and he distributed these items to Wen Zhong and Su Anqian.
"The arrays are veryplex, and they won''t be easy to repair, but as long as you follow the instructionsid out in the jade slips, you''ll definitely be able to repair them. If you find yourself unable to, then contact me right away," Lei Yuce said as he handed amunication array te to Su Anqian.
It was clear that he and Wen Zhong could contact each other through alternative means.
Wen Zhong and Su Anqian briefly inspected the contents of the jade slips, following which the former bade farewell to the other two and began flying toward the Origin Fire Pce.
"I''ll be going as well then," Su Anqian said as she turned to depart.
"Celestial Maiden Su! The Lan siblings are quite powerful to begin with, and now that they''ve obtained that blue pouch, they''ll be even more difficult to deal with, so make sure you don''t directly confront them. If worsees to worst, just let them im the treasure. Make sure to prioritize your own safety above all else," Lei Yuce called out after her.
Su Anqian nodded in response, then set off toward the Divine Wood Tomb.
Lei Yuce stared after her all the way until she disappeared out of sight before making his way toward the Heavenly Earth Hall.
Shortly following their departure, three streaks of light flew onto the za, revealing Qi Mozi and the two devilish beings.
"Those people have already arrived here, and it seems like there was a brief conflict as well. It appears that they split up into three groups to go after the three array cores separately," the white bone devil remarked after inspecting the surrounding area with two beams of white light shooting out of its eyes.
"Very keen observations, Fellow Daoist White Bone," Qi Mozi praised with a smile.
"You''re far too kind, Fellow Daoist Qi Mozi. Now that they''ve split up into three groups, we can easily eradicate any one group that we please. Should we strike now?" the white bone devil asked.
"There''s no hurry. Those people are clearly determined to im the treasures up ahead, so why not let them break the array cores to free your brothers?" Qi Mozi replied.
"That''s true," the white bone devil agreed with a nod.
"Seeing as they''ve split up, let''s also do the same. The three array cores all contain powerful treasures, and we certainly can''t allow them to im those treasures," Qi Mozi said.
The two devilish beings immediately nodded in response, and one of them flew toward the Heavenly Earth Hall, while the other set off for the Divine Wood Tomb.
A cold sneer appeared on Qi Mozi''s face as he watched the two of them depart, following which he abruptly vanished from the spot.
......
After flying over the staircase for some time, Han Li''s expression eased slightly as he noticed that he wasn''t being pursued by Lei Yuce and the others.
He wasn''t afraid of Lei Yuce''s trio, but just as Fox 3 had said, he didn''t want to engage any of them in battle, so if a conflict could be avoided, then that would naturally be ideal.
A faint gleam of excitement appeared in his eyes as he sped up a little more.
While he was averse to the idea of engaging Lei Yuce and the others in battle, he was determined to im the treasure in the array core up ahead. As for the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity that Lei Yuce had mentioned, that wasn''t a major concern for him.
Given his current powers, he was confident in his ability to ensure self-preservation as long he didn''t have to directly face a Dao Ancestor.
He had already reaped some significant spoils in this pagoda, so if something were to go awry, then he could simply leave. Even if he couldn''t find a way out, he would just have to run away for now.
Of course, he also wanted to secure the Eon Divine Lamp if possible, but it wasn''t a huge priority, and he would only try to secure the treasure if he didn''t have to take on excessive risk.
The staircase was unexpectedly long, and even after flying for fifteen minutes, there was still no end in sight.
Tendrils of white mist had begun to appear nearby, and even though the mist was harmless, it was very obstructive when it came to visibility.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he slowed down while scouring the nearby area with his spiritual sense.
After flying onward for a while longer, his eyes suddenly lit up as he abruptly elerated and shot forward, arriving above another za, where there was no mist in the surrounding air.
The entire za was paved with ck volcanic rock that was riddled with countless tiny holes that were releasing plumes of smoke incessantly.
Beyond the za was a fiery red pce that seemed to be giving off intense heat, causing the air around it to shimmer and warp in an indistinct fashion.
Even though there was a za that was thousands of feet wide between them, Han Li could still feel waves of scorching heat surging toward him from the pce.
Instead of immediately stepping onto the za, he scoured his gaze over it with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
However, he failed to detect anything amiss about the za, and he finally descended onto it after some careful inspection.
Chapter 1098: Solo Venture
Chapter 1098: Solo Venture
As soon as he set foot onto the za, his brows immediately furrowed slightly. There was intense heat rising up from underfoot, as if he were stepping barefoot over hot coals.
However, after walking a few steps, he quickly limated himself to the sensation, and it didn''t take long before he reached the end of the za.
He stepped onto the stone staircase leading up to the fiery red pce, then looked up to discover a que that read "Origin Fire Pce" in antiquated characters, above which was a copper tablet with a strange-looking me symbol engraved onto it.
Han Li''s expression suddenly changed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly sprang to the side as if he were trying to evade something.
Immediately thereafter, the me symbol on the tablet shed momentarily, and a beam of crimson fire that was around the same thickness as a finger shot out of the tablet toward Han Li''s be.
Even though he had already anticipated this, he was still unable to evade in time, and the beam of fire struck his be, sending intense pain spearing into his head.
Despite his incredible physical constitution, the beam of fire was able to instantly burn through his skin and flesh to reveal the bone underneath.
Han Li felt as if his skull were about to melt, and the pain was utterly excruciating.
In this dire situation, a silver me erupted out of his be to sh against the beam of crimson fire.
Han Li''s pain was eased significantly with the emergence of the Essence Fire Raven, and his skin and flesh began to quickly heal.
The Essence Fire Raven let loose a loud cry as it rose up toward the copper tablet, devouring the beam of fire before pouncing onto the tablet itself.
Within mere seconds, the copper tablet was melted away, while the fiery power within waspletely devoured by the Essence Fire Raven.
The Essence Fire Raven flew back to Han Li''s side, then flew in a triumphant circle around him, as if it were looking for praise.
Han Li smiled as he made a beckoning motion to stow it away, following which he raised a hand to massage his own be.
The skin and flesh there had already healed, but there was still a small, red mark lingering there.
He swept his gaze over the pce gates, then pressed his hands against them, and they opened inward without much resistance.
After stepping into the pce, Han Li looked around to discover that the furnishings inside were very simple.
There were two rows of wooden shelves on either side of the pce, all of which wereden with lotus flowermps that each had a pea-sized me burning inside.
At the center of the pce was a round altar that was identical to the two previous ones, except this one was crimson in color, and as was the case with the previous altars, there were two items hovering above this one.
Hovering above the left side of the altar was a longan-sized white bead that was enshrouded in ayer of near-transparent white mes, giving off incredibly potent firew power fluctuations.
As usual, there was a golden me hovering beside it.
Han Li channeled his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra before sweeping a sleeve through the air to release his time spirit domain upon seeing this, and timew power fluctuations began to emanate from his body as he made a beckoning motion toward the golden me from afar.
The golden me swayed slightly, as if it were tempted to fly to his side, but it then quickly fell still again.
A self-deprecating smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
It looks like I won''t be able to get anything before I unravel the array on the altar.
With that in mind, he began to carefully examine the altar while walking in a circle around it.
Momentster, he stopped in his tracks with tightly furrowed brows as he fell into deep thought.
However, it didn''t take long before he decided on a course of action, and he flipped a hand over to produce a stack of array gs and array tes, which he began setting up around the altar.
Before long, an octagonal array had taken shape around the altar.
After carefully examining the array to ensure that there was nothing missing, he made a hand seal to activate it.
A faint buzzing sound rang out as all of the array gs and array tes on the ground lit up, and a burst of radiant golden light erupted out of the octagonal array, forming a set of octagonal golden walls around the entire altar.
As soon as the arraymenced operation, the altar instantly shuddered violently, and the near-transparent me around the white bead hovering above it reared up before surging into the altar below.
Countless fiery runes instantly lit up over the altar, and a burst of crimson fire erupted toward Han Li in a frenzy from within.
However, the me had only just arisen when it was contained by the golden walls. With nowhere to go, the mes erupted upward, sting through the ceiling of the pce with a resounding boom.
Han Li was very pleased as he looked up at the giant hole that had appeared in the ceiling above.
The array that he had set up allowed him to contain the power of the altar, and once all of its power had been expended, he would be able to enter the array to secure the treasures inside much more safely.
However, right at this moment, a series of strange, fiery runes suddenly appeared over the walls on either side of the pce, giving off bursts of peculiar aura fluctuations.
The restriction in this ce isn''t on the altar!
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face at this realization, and before he had a chance to do anything, a pair of monstrous creatures with deer antlers on their ox-like heads and long, serpentine bodies slithered out of the walls.
As the two creatures burst out of the walls, they just so happened to fly over the rows of wooden shelves, and the mes in the lotus flowermps on the shelves instantly rose up before converging toward them.
In the blink of an eye, the two monstrous creatures erupted into mes, and they opened their cavernous mouths as they swooped down upon Han Li like a pair of fiery serpents.
Han Li hurriedly sprang up into the air to evade the pair of fiery serpents, which immediately circled back around to form an encirclement around him with their bodies.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this. Just as he had constructed a wall around the altar, the pair of fiery serpents had now formed a wall around him.
The two monstrous serpents glowered down Han Li as they each let loose a thunderous roar, and scorching, crimson mes surged out of their gaping mouths.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li was inundated by the crimson mes, and the ground beneath his feet quickly shattered into countless pieces, unable to stand the overwhelming heat.
Immediately thereafter, a loud thump rang out as all of the ground beneath Han Li''s feet disintegrated into moltenva that rippled up and down like the surface of a disturbedke.
Han Li was swaying unsteadily atop the undting, moltenke, and he had conjured up a golden light barrier around himself as he fought to prevent himself from being swallowed up by theva.
The entire surrounding area waspletely filled with scorching fire, and he was struck by a sense of asphyxiation, as if he had been thrown into a pill refinement cauldron.
He gritted his teeth against the intense heat as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts before spinning around in circles while swinging his hands through the air over and over again, sweeping up gusts of fierce wind that forced back the surrounding mes.
As he spun faster and faster, the wind generated by his hands became stronger and stronger, but the gusts of wind didn''t spread very far, only filling an area within several dozen feet around him.
Furthermore, the violent air currents were contained by the surrounding mes, forming a vacuum wall around Han Li.
Right at this moment, Han Li channeled his Reversal True Axis ability, and he sped up even further in his revolution while also swinging his hands through the air at a far higher frequency.
The pressure around Han Li continued to increase until it became too much to contain, at which point the vacuum wall exploded, sending countless palm projections sweeping through the air in all directions.
It was as if a tornado had suddenly risen up from the ground, and all of the moltenva was flung up into the air.
The crimson mes surging out of the mouths of the fiery serpents were sucked into the rising tornado, following which the serpents themselves were swept up as well, and their bodies were shattered into pieces by the flurry of palm projections, forming an enormous, fiery vortex.
Han Li flew out of the fiery vortex, then threw a punch to both his left and his right, destroying the walls on either side of the pce, as well as the wooden shelves that wereden with lotus flowermps.
After that, he turned his attention to the altar, upon which he discovered that fire was still rising up from it, but at a far slower rate than before, clearly indicating that the array he had set up was serving its intended purpose.
Chapter 1099: Sneak Attack
Chapter 1099: Sneak Attack
There''s no telling what could happen if I stay here for too long, so perhaps I should take a risk...
With that in mind, Han Li decided to immediately secure the white bead without waiting any longer.
He swept a sleeve through the air to release the Essence Fire Raven, and thanks to their spiritual connection, it knew exactly what he wanted without even requiring any verbalmunication.
The Essence Fire Raven transformed into a cloak of silver mes that enveloped Han Li''s entire, and Han Li noticed that his right arm was currently also enshrouded in ayer of mes, but as opposed to the silver mes all over the rest of his body, these were rainbow mes that had condensed the power of all of the Rainbow Fire Pill Sand that the Essence Fire Raven had devoured up to this point.
With the preparationspletely, Han Li immediately sprang into the altar without any hesitation.
As soon as he entered the altar, the severely weakened crimson mes instantly reared up violently, bing even more powerful than before.
Han Li felt a grueling, scorching sensation spread all over his entire body, and not only did it feel as if his skin, flesh, and blood had been set alight, even his bones, meridians, and tendons felt as if they were being roasted over an open me.
At the same time, a vast sea of fire seemed to have appeared in his consciousness, subjecting his soul to immense torment.
As his consciousness wavered, he felt as if he could smell the acrid odor of burning meat in the air.
He immediately channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique and Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts to bolster his own spiritual sense and physical constitution, and only then was the excruciating state that he was in somewhat alleviated.
In a rare disy of focus and restraint, the Essence Fire Raven fought back the urge to devour the crimson mes as it focused solely on keeping the lethal mes away from Han Li, but even so, he was still in a far from pleasant situation.
The white bead and the golden me were both situated at the very center of the altar, which was also where the crimson mes were at their hottest. Standing on the edge of the altar was already almost unbearable for Han Li, yet he had to force his way deeper if he wanted to secure the treasures ahead.
He gritted his teeth tightly with an agonized look on his face, and plumes of white mist were rising up from his body as his perspiration instantly evaporated upon flowing out of his pores.
He trudged arduously through the mes while reaching a hand out as far as it would go, grabbing toward the white bead at the very center of the altar.
Right at this moment, a figure suddenly rushed into the pce, and to Han Li''s dismay, he discovered that it was none other than Xiong Shan.
Upon catching sight of Han Li on the fiery altar, Xiong Shan hurriedly assured, "Don''t mind me, Fellow Daoist Han, I just wanted to see what''s in here. I won''t do anything stupid."
"You can stay here and watch if you want, but make sure you don''t do anything out of line," Han Li warned, then returned his attention to the task at hand.
If Xiong Shan dared to make any false moves, then he was confident that he would be able to kill him in a span of mere seconds.
Xiong Shan remained silent as he stood at the entrance of the pce, progressing no further beyond that point.
The crimson mes in the altar were excruciatingly hot, and even though Han Li''s right arm was protected by theyer of rainbow mes, he was still in a state of intense agony.
As his hand gradually approached the white bead, a white shadow suddenly shed over its surface, following a burst of white mes erupted out of the bead to form a white light barrier to oppose Han Li''s outstretched hand.
Han Li''s hand was kept at bay by the light barrier, unable to advance any further, but at the same time, the light barrier was also clinging to the rainbow me over his right hand, preventing him from withdrawing his hand.
Right as he was nning to channel his true spirit bloodlines to force his way through the light barrier, Xiong Shan''s expression suddenly changed drastically as he abruptly swept a sleeve through the air.
A silver badge flew out of his sleeve before racing over to the altar in the blink of an eye. The runes on its surface were glowing radiantly, and countless silver threads that gave off formidable spatial fluctuations erupted out of it.
Han Li could sense what was happening behind him, but his hand was still stuck to the white light barrier ahead, so he could only instruct the Essence Fire Raven to peel itself away from his body, thereby allowing him to struggle free from the white light barrier.
The surrounding crimson mes swarmed toward him from all directions, and he was only just barely able to leap out of the altar before he was burned alive.
However, he had only just made it out of the altar when he spotted a fiery red figure emerging from the flurry of silver threads, and the figure was plunging a hand directly toward Han Li''s heart like a sharp de.
The red figure was none other than Qi Mozi, and Han Li''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this.
He hurriedly channeled his Reversal True Axis ability in an attempt to get away, but he was rooted to the spot by Qi Mozi''s Time Severing Torch.
Qi Mozi plunged his hand forward, piercing it straight through Han Li''s heart without any hesitation, following which he gave his own arm a vicious twist topletely pulverize Han Li''s entire chest cavity.
After that, he grabbed onto Han Li''s throat with his other hand as he cackled, "Not getting away this time, are you, you little bastard?"
Having been thwarted by Han Li multiple times in their previous battles, Qi Mozi had developed intense resentment toward him, so it was a very cathartic experience for him to have finallye out on top.
With his chest cavitypletely destroyed, Han Li immediately fell limp, as if all of the strength had been sapped from his body, and the light in his eyes also quickly faded away.
A perplexed look appeared in Qi Mozi''s eyes upon seeing this, and he was just about to smash open Han Li''s head to capture the nascent soul inside when ayer of white light suddenly appeared over Han Li''s body, and he abruptly transformed into a white puppet.
The puppet had been crafted out of some type of white beast bone, and there were many profound talismans adhered to its body. It was the substitution puppet that Han Li had obtained from Dongfang Bai.
A sh of recognition appeared in Qi Mozi''s eyes at the sight of the puppet, but before he had a chance to do anything, Han Li suddenly appeared nearby, as did his fivew treasures, all of which were working in tandem to contend against Qi Mozi''s Time Severing Torch.
Immediately thereafter, a tiny, translucent sword shot out of Han Li''s be before vanishing in a sh, only to reappear an instantter directly in front of Qi Mozi.
Before Qi Mozi had a chance to react, the Spiritual Sense Sword had already pierced into his be, and his consciousness was instantly riled up like a turbulent sea.
Han Li pounced on this opportunity as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts before throwing an almighty punch into Qi Mozi''s chest, sending him flying into the altar as blood came spewing out of his mouth.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and before Xiong Shan had a chance to intervene, Qi Mozi had already fallen into the altar before being sted high up into the air by the crimson mes inside.
At the same time, Han Li sprang into the altar once again, while the Essence Fire Raven descended upon him to drape him in a new cloak of silver mes.
Han Li channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and true spirit bloodlines in unison, instantly transforming into a devilish deity with three heads and six arms, and this time, he was able to force his hand through the white light barrier to grab onto the white bead within.
With the white bead taken from the altar, the array was unable to function any longer, and the crimson mes surging out of it rapidly abated.
A furious roar rang out from above as Qi Mozi swooped down upon Han Li with an enraged look on his face, but as soon as Han Li sprang back out of the altar, a silver lightning array instantly took shape around, and he was gone in the blink of an eye.
Qi Mozi mmed heavily down onto the ground, causing the entire altar to shudder violently as a series of huge cracks appeared over its surface.
He then slowly rose to his feet with his hands balled up into tight, enraged fists.
After a long hesitation, Xiong Shan approached him before cupping his fist in a respectful salute as he said in a careful manner, "Please forgive me for my inability to distinguish Han Li from that puppet of his."
Qi Mozi was silent for a long while, then heaved a forlorn sigh.
"You''re not to me. This type of substitution puppet is produced in the inner sect of the Hundred Creations Mountain, and it''s difficult even for me to identify them. What a cunning bastard that Han Li is. He most likely already adopted these precautionary measures as soon as you began following him."
"I was toocent. I''ve already lost my life to him once, yet it seems I haven''t learned my lesson at all," Xiong Shan sighed.
"I don''t know if it''s just my imagination, but it feels like he''s be a lot more powerful once again since ourst encounter..." Qi Mozi mused, and it was unclear whether he was making this remark to himself, or if it was directed toward Xiong Shan.
He massaged his own throbbing be as he spoke, then turned his gaze to the golden me that was still hovering above the altar, and only then did his expression ease slightly as he said, "At the very least, we''ll have something to show for our efforts...¡±
Chapter 1100: Devouring the White Bead
Chapter 1100: Devouring the White Bead
Qi Mozi made a grabbing motion as he spoke, and timew powers surged out of his body to form a huge, golden hand that caught the golden me in its grasp.
A pleased look appeared on Qi Mozi''s face as he sensed the timew powers imbued within the golden me, and he quickly stowed it away.
In the wake of the golden me''s departure, the altar finallypletely copsed, and a massive ck hole appeared on the ground, with devilish qi surging out of it in a frenzy.
Dozens of sinister devilish creatures sprang out of the hole in rapid session, howling in tion at their newfound freedom.
The devilish creatures were led by a devilish being that was over a hundred feet tall with a head resembling that of a mountain goat. Its body was almost identical to that of a human, and except it had a pair of white, fleshy wings on its back, and its arms were bright red and riddled with sharp bone spikes.
The crimson-armed devilish being''s gaze fell upon Qi Mozi, and a hesitant look shed through its eyes as it detected Qi Mozi''s vast aura, but it didn''t take long before its rational thinking was overwhelmed by the bloodlust and fury that had been brewing in its heart for countless years.
"Go and tear those two eyesores apart! They can serve as your first meal back in this world!" the crimson-armored devilish being yelled in a void so horrifically unpleasant to listen to that Xiong Shan couldn''t help but wince.
All of the devilish creatures were ecstatic to hear this, and they threw themselves at Qi Mozi and Xiong Shan in a bloodthirsty frenzy.
Qi Mozi''s brows furrowed slightly in disgust at the sight of the oing devilish creatures, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a wave of golden mes, which formed a fiery barrier before him.
The devilish creatures charging at the very forefront ran straight into the fiery barrier, and a string of anguished howls instantly rang out as their bodies rapidly withered away as if the life force were being sucked out of them.
Before long, they had disintegrated into ashes, while all of the other devilish creatures hurriedly retreated in rm.
The crimson-armed devilish being was furious to see this, and it reached out with one hand, which swelled drastically to tens of thousands of feet in size within the span of mere seconds, descending from above like a dark cloud.
The eyes of all of the devilish creatures beneath the palm of its giant hand instantly turned bright red, and their auras also swelled drastically as they pounced at Qi Mozi''s duo once again in a fearless manner.
Xiong Shan was standing behind Qi Mozi, so he was quite far away from the crimson hand, but even so, he could still feel his own heartbeat elerating as a sense of irrepressible violence began to well up in his heart.
"Protect your consciousness!" Qi Mozi said, and his voice was like a rumbling thunderp in Xiong Shan''s mind, instantly snapping him back to his senses.
He hurriedly did as he was told, channeling his spiritual sense to protect his own consciousness, while Qi Mozi stepped forward before sweeping a sleeve upward, releasing a burst of golden light that struck the giant, crimson palm up above with a deafening boom.
The crimson-armed devilish being shuddered violently, and its hand shrank down rapidly as it was withdrawn to its side.
"I''m not your enemy, Blood Hand. Do not make your minions attack me again or I''ll be forced to kill all of them," Qi Mozi yelled.
"You know who I am? Who are you?" the crimson-armed devilish being asked as a hint of wariness surfaced in its eyes.
"Take a look at this," Qi Mozi said as he casually tossed an item through the air.
The crimson-armed devilish being drew the item into its own grasp, revealing it to be a white bone badge that resembled a skeletal hand.
"This belongs to Brother White Bone!" the crimson-armed devilish being eximed.
"White Bone and Copper Lion have already been freed, and I''vee here to free you," Qi Mozi dered.
"You still haven''t answered my question yet. Who exactly are you?" the crimson-armed devilish being asked.
"If you were smart, then you wouldn''t ask so many questions. Your brothers are waiting for you," Qi Mozi harrumphed coldly, then vanished from the spot with Xiong Shan.
The crimson-armed devilish being looked down at the bone badge in its hand as it fell into deep thought.
Momentster, it issued an order to all of its minions, and the horde of devilish creatures departed from the Origin Fire Pce.
Only after the entire za waspletely deserted did Wen Zhong finally arrive on the scene, far toote to make any difference.
He swept his gaze over the severely ravaged Origin Fire Pce and the destroyed altar, then cursed under his breath as he began repairing the altar.
......
After leaving the Origin Fire Pce, Han Li continued to fly upward.
He flew for quite some time, and only after verifying that Qi Mozi and the others weren''t pursuing him did he flip a hand over to summon the white bead.
The white mes around the bead hadpletely faded away, leaving it looking as unremarkable as a mortal trinket.
However, not only was Han Li not disappointed to see this, a hint of tion appeared in his eyes.
The average immortal treasure would release spiritual power andw powers even in a passive state.
In contrast, the white bead''s spiritual power andw powers werepletely subdued, and only when used would its true power be disyed.
This was a sign of an immortal treasure of an extremely high caliber, and at the moment, out of all of the immortal treasures currently in Han Li''s possession, only the Heaven Controlling Vial and that golden te obtained from the True Mantra Sect were on the same level.
Han Li opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light, which vanished into the white bead, and at the same time, he cast a rapid string of incantation seals into the bead as well.
Ayer of white mes instantly appeared over the bead, giving off bursts of terrifying heat that caused all of the space within a radius of several hundred feet to tremble and warp incessantly.
The sweltering heat was intermingled with incredibly formidable firew power fluctuations, in the no more than the blink of an eye, all of the white mist within a radius of dozens of kilometers had evaporated.
Prior to examining the bead''s power, Han Li had already taken some precautionary measures to protect himself, conjuring up ayer of golden light around his own body to use his own timew powers to keep out the firew powers.
With the firew powers kept at bay, the heat released by the bead on its own wasn''t enough to pose much of a threat to him, and he was able to ward off the heat by channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
Right at this moment, a clear cry rang out as the Essence Fire Raven flew out of his sleeve before perching itself on his shoulder, where it stared intently at the white bead with a greedy look in its eyes.
As soon as the Essence Fire Raven emerged, most of the heat in the air was instantly absorbed into its body.
Han Li continued to cast more incantation seals into the white bead, and before long, a slight spiritual connection had taken shape between him and the bead.
All of a sudden, a long tongue of white mes erupted out of the bead at his behest, then circled around a lone mountain nearby.
The mountain was roughly two thousand to three thousand feet tall with a diameter of around three hundred and fifty feet, and it was giving off immense metal-attribute spiritual power fluctuations.
The world''s origin qi was incredibly abundant on the seventh level of the Eon Pagoda after countless years of umtion, and as a result, many of the normal nts and rocks on the mountain had been converted into exceptional spirit materials over time.
In the case of this mountain, it had transformed into an enormous piece of metal-attribute ore, namely Profound Copper Stone, which wasn''t of a sufficient caliber to be used for immortal treasure refinement, but was very hard and durable, so it was a popr material for constructing fortresses and secret chambers.
Upon making contact with the mountain, the tongue of white mes passed through silently without encountering any resistance, and the top half of the mountain immediately began sliding away to the side before tumbling down onto the mountain face below with a thunderous boom.
The cross-section of the severed part of the mountain was as smooth as a mirror, as if the mountain had been sliced into two by some type of divine weapon.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, but a look of disappointment then appeared on his face.
The white bead was even more powerful than he had anticipated, but he wasn''t using any fire-attribute cultivation arts, nor had he cultivated any fire-attribute secret techniques, so he wouldn''t be able to tap into anywhere near its full power.
Perched on Han Li''s shoulder, the Essence Fire Raven let loose a loud cry to express its desire for the white bead.
"Don''t worry, I can''t use this bead to its full potential, so I''ll definitely be giving it to you. However, it''s an extremely powerful immortal treasure, so make sure to consume it with caution," Han Li warned, then tossed the white bead at the Essence Fire Raven.
The Essence Fire Raven was ecstatic to see this, and it eagerly swallowed the bead without any hesitation.
As soon as the bead entered its body, its silver mes instantly reared up significantly, and bursts of rainbow mes also surfaced over its body.
It hadn''t been long since the Essence Fire Raven devoured those pieces of Rainbow Fire Pill Sand, so it hadn''t been able topletely refine them yet.
At this moment, several types of mes were shing over the Essence Fire Raven''s body, shing violently with one another amid bursts of thunderous rumbling, and parts of its body began to bulge erratically, as if it were about to explode.
Han Li hurriedly swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, releasing a burst of golden light to enshroud the Essence Fire Raven while also releasing his spiritual sense to inspect its internal condition.
Chapter 1101: Awakening Fire Law Powers
Chapter 1101: Awakening Fire Law Powers
The Essence Fire Raven turned to Han Li with a pained look in its eyes, but its pain was clearly far outweighed by tion.
All of a sudden, a white me appeared over its body, sweeping rapidly over it from head to tail.
All of the rainbow mes on its body were instantly eradicated, and the power of the Rainbow Fire Pill Sand waspletely refined and integrated into its body.
Not only that, but all of its fiery power had also been purified, eradicating all of the impurities to leave only the most essential power behind.
The bulges all over the Essence Fire Raven''s body had also disappeared, and it abruptly shrank down to roughly half its original size, but its aura had swelled drastically, and there was even a hint of firew power fluctuations emanating from its body.
This was the same as the firew power fluctuations from the white bead. Instead, it was reflective of firew powers of a higher level.
Over the years, the Essence Fire Raven had been steadily bing more and more powerful as it devoured more and more mes, but up to this point, no firew powers had arisen within it. However, the power of the white bead seemed to have purified and refined its power, giving rise to firew powers of an extremely high caliber.
The Essence Fire Raven let loose an ted cry as it spread its wings and soared through the air, transforming into a giant silver fire raven that was over a thousand feet in size.
In its current form, the Essence Fire Raven''s body had be far sleeker and more streamlined than before, and a fiery crown had appeared on its head, while nine long, fiery feathers had grown from its tail, giving it an air of regal majesty.
Bursts of terrifying fiery power that weren''t inferior to those emanating from the white bead earlier were surging out of the giant fire raven''s body, causing the nearby space to tremble violently.
The Essence Fire Raven continued to circle around in the air, and its cries grew louder and louder as its eyes glowed with excitement.
All of a sudden, streaks of silver mes erupted out of its wings like shooting stars before raining down upon the mountain face below.
The silver mes were able to burrow their way deep into the mountain face with ease, leaving unfathomably deep holes in their wake.
A string of resounding explosions rang out as the silver mes exploded violently before connecting together to form a sea of silver fire that was dozens of kilometers in size.
The sea of silver mes was giving off terrifying heat that rapidly melted away everything within and around it, and an enormous crater was melted into the mountain face in the blink of an eye.
However, the mountain was so enormous that this crater was insignificantly tiny inparison, and the mountain itself wasn''t moved in the slightest.
A look of excitement shed through Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this. The Essence Fire Raven had be even more powerful than he had anticipated.
However, his brows then furrowed slightly with concern as he realized that they still weren''t very far away from the Origin Fire Pce, so causing such a massivemotion could draw the attention of Qi Mozi.
With that in mind, he immediately instructed the Essence Fire Raven to stop what it was doig through their spiritual connection.
However, the Essence Fire Raven seemed to have been too absorbed in its y to heed his instructions, and itpletely ignored him as it let loose another loud cry, opening its mouth to release the white bead in the process.
The white bead swelled rapidly in size from only around three inches in diameter to roughly thirty thousand feet in the blink of an eye, and there were incredibly sweltering white mes burning over its surface, giving it the appearance of a blinding white sun hanging in the sky.
Everything within a radius of hundreds of kilometers was illuminated a pure white color, and the air temperature also swelled to a terrifying degree as the mountain face began to rapidly melt away once again.
A devastating aura of destruction was emanating from the giant white bead, and all of the space within a radius of dozens of kilometers had be warped and blurry, following which countless spatial rifts of different sizes appeared in the surrounding area.
Han Li was just about to fly through the air to intercept the Essence Fire Raven when a series of spatial rifts appeared in his path.
His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him at his behest before releasing countless waves of golden ripples that instantly spread over the entire area within a radius of around a thousand feet.
All of the spatial rifts that were caught within the golden ripples instantly fell still, but they were filled with such astonishing power that the golden ripples were trembling violently, as if they were struggling to contain the spatial rifts.
Han Li hurriedly injected more immortal spiritual power into his Mantra Treasured Axis to stabilize the golden ripples before turning to the Essence Fire Raven and the giant, white bead with a stunned expression.
The tongue of white mes that he had unleashed with the bead earlier couldn''t even hold a candle to the power that the bead was currently putting on disy.
Not only that, but the power unleashed by Xiong Shan and Lan Yan using the Primordial Ancient Sword and the blue pouch, respectively, also paled inparison to that of the white bead.
After flying out of the Essence Fire Raven''s beak, the giant, white bead came crashing heavily down onto the mountain face below with an earth-shattering boom.
This time, the entire mountain began to tremble amid a burst of dull rumbling, and countless loose rocks came falling like rain.
The white bead had embedded itself into the mountain face, and it was rapidly burrowing its way deeper and deeper into the mountain as the white mes over its surface melted through the rocky material, seemingly determined to burn a hole all the way through to the other side.
However, right at this moment, a burst of radiant, golden light appeared, epassing the white bead within it.
The golden light contained tremendous timew powers that instantly slowed down the speed of the white bead''s advance to a crawl, while Han Li appeared near the mountain face before making a grabbing motion with one hand.
Over two hundred timew threads flew out of his sleeve, then intertwined with one another to form an enormous, golden hand that reached deep into the mountain face to grab onto the giant, white bead.
The mes on the surface of the white bead were scorching the golden hand with all their might, but thetter refused to budge.
"Alright, that''s enough!" Han Li said in a stern voice as he gave the Essence Fire Raven a cold re.
The excitement in the Essence Fire Raven''s eyes quickly faded upon seeing this, and a timid look appeared on its face as it rapidly shrank down into its silver, child-like form.
The white bead also shrank down to its original size in the blink of an eye before flying back to the fiery, silver figure''s side, while the surrounding sea of silver mes was snuffed out in a sh.
The silver mes on the fiery, silver figure''s body had dimmed significantly, and the hint of firew powers that had arisen in its body had been significantly depleted, to the point that it was barely even detectable anymore.
However, this didn''t seem to bother the silver figure, and it flew over to Han Li''s side while hanging its head like a child that had been caught doing something wrong.
Han Li couldn''t help but be amused at the sight of the silver figure''s sheepish disy, and he gave it a pat on the head as he said, "It''s fine, just don''t be so naughty next time."
The silver figure was ecstatic to have been forgiven, and it sat down onto Han Li''s shoulder, then opened its mouth to swallow the white bead.
As a result, the silver mes on its body began to burn a little brighter, and wisps of fire-attribute spiritual qi were also surging into its body from the surrounding space.
A surprised look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
In the past, the Essence Fire Raven was only able to replenish its expended spiritual qi by devouring other mes, but with the assistance of the white bead, it was now able to directly absorb the fire-attribute spiritual qi in the environment.
The white bead was already an extremely formidable offensive weapon, but it seemed that it was also able to serve some other purposes as well.
Even Han Li wasn''t confident that he could directly withstand the devastating attack unleashed by the white bead just now, and he wouldn''t have been able to capture it so easily if it wasn''t for the fact that the bead had already expended most of its power burrowing its way into the mountain.
By Han Li''s estimates, the Essence Fire Raven should''ve been able to unleash that attack with the white bead twice in session.
With this additional trump card up his sleeve, Han Li fancied his chances against Qi Mozi a little more than before.
He took a deep breath to suppress the excitement in his heart, then continued flying up the mountain as a streak of golden light.
At the moment, the seventh level of the Eon Pagoda was a very perilous ce. There were many freed devilish creatures on the level that could pop up anywhere, and in the wake of the massivemotion that the Essence Fire Raven had just caused, he had to leave this ce right away.
After the white bead was swallowed by the silver figure, tendrils of white mist began to reappear nearby, and before long, Han Li had vanished into the mist.
Mere minutes following his departure, two streaks of light flew onto the scene from below, then stopped in their tracks where Han Li and the Essence Fire Raven had been not long ago to reveal Qi Mozi and Xiong Shan.
Qi Mozi observed the severely ravaged mountain face for a moment, then looked up at the sky with a contemtive expression.
"It looks like a fierce battle must''ve taken ce here," Xiong Shan remarked as he inspected his surroundings.
"I can sense some residual timew power fluctuations in the air, so one of thebatants was most likely Han Li. Whoever his opponent was, they''ve mastered thews of fire and were fighting him using that Heavenly Li Fire Bead," Qi Mozi mused.
Chapter 1102: Mystery of the Divine Lamp
Chapter 1102: Mystery of the Divine Lamp
"Didn''t Han Li obtain the Heavenly Li Fire Bead? Could it be that someone took it from him?" Xiong Shan asked with a puzzled expression.
Qi Mozi offered no response as he flipped a hand over to summon a palm-sized golden mirror, which released a burst of golden ripples that quickly swept through the surrounding area in a radius of several dozen kilometers before returning to the mirror.
Three bursts of light then appeared over the mirror''s surface, one golden, one white, and one red.
The golden light was giving off bursts of timew power fluctuations, while the white and red light were both emanating firew power fluctuations.
In particr, even though the red light was far smaller than the white light, thew power fluctuations that it was giving off were far more formidable than those released by the white light.
"What are these red firew power fluctuations? They must be extremely formidable to be able to dominate the firew powers of the Heavenly Li Fire Bead!" Xiong Shan remarked.
"What you''re seeing is a wisp of essential firew powers, so of course it far surpasses the firew powers of the Heavenly Li Fire Bead," Qi Mozi exined.
"I see," Xiong Shan mused with a stunned expression. "But who could''ve left thesew power fluctuations behind? I don''t recall seeing anyone cultivating thews of fire among the people who entered the Eon Pagoda."
Qi Mozi''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this.
Among all of thews of heaven and earth, the three paramountws reigned supreme at the top, but essentialws were nothing to scoff at, and they ranked below only the three paramountws in power.
Qi Mozi was familiar with everyone who had entered the Eon Pagoda, and he knew that there were none among them cultivating thews of fire. With that in mind, he couldn''t help but wonder if someone else had snuck into the Eon Pagoda without his knowledge.
"There''s no point in thinking too much about it, we''ll find out once we catch up to them," Qi Mozi said, and Xiong Shan naturally raised no objections to this.
With that, the two of them departed as two streaks of golden light.
......
Meanwhile, Han Li was continuing to make his way up the mountain with the fiery, silver figure perched on his shoulder.
The higher up they went, the thicker the surrounding white mist became, and it had almost taken on a substantial form, clinging to the streak of light around Han Li to drastically slow him down.
As the mist became denser, the resistance continued to increase, and before long, Han Li''s speed had been reduced to only 10% of its peak.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s expression changed slightly as he stopped in his tracks, then peered into the dense, white mist up ahead with a peculiar look on his face.
The silver figure turned to Han Li with an inquisitive expression, as if to ask why he had suddenly stopped, but he offered no exnation as he continued to look straight ahead.
He could clearly sense a burst of incredibly formidable timew power fluctuations up ahead, and it was clearer and more pronounced than ever.
He could tell that the golden mes on the altars shared the same origins as the source of the timew power fluctuations up ahead, and if he wasn''t mistaken, then what was up ahead was most likely the Eon Divine Lamp.
Earlier, Han Li had questioned Lei Yuce in detail about the seal on the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, and he had learned that the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was trapped in a primary array where the Eon Divine Lamp was also situated, while the five array cores only acted as subsidiary structures to bolster this primary array.
Now that he was able to detect what he strongly suspected to be the Eon Divine Lamp, the ce where the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was sealed was most likely just up ahead.
Han Li wasn''t as fearful of the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity as Lei Yuce''s trio, but there was a very good chance that this was a devilish deity on par in power with a Dao Ancestor, so he naturally didn''t want to have to face them in battle.
During his time in the Eon Pagoda, he had obtained three Fire Age Firefly hives that had significantly increased the number of timew threads in his possession, and he had also just obtained that white bead, and all of that already amounted to a massive haul.
If he were to continue onward, then he would have to venture into the ce where the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was sealed, taking on far more risk in the process.
Right at this moment, a resounding thump rang out from somewhere, causing the nearby mist to ripple slightly.
Han Li immediately began inspecting his surroundings with a wary expression, while the white bead flew out of the silver figure''s body on its own.
At this moment, the bead was glowing brightly while trembling and buzzing incessantly, seemingly resonating with something.
However, this phenomenon onlysted a few seconds before the bead quickly reverted back to its original state, and the silver figure hurriedly gulped it back down, then sped its hands firmly against its little belly for fear that the bead would fly away again.
Could it be that the other two array cores have also been broken? Han Li wondered to himself as he patted the silver figure''s head in a reassuring gesture.
The five array cores were all interconnected with one another, and the white bead had been presiding over one of the cores, so it most likely had some ties with the other array cores.
After pondering the matter for a moment longer, Han Li rid himself of that train of thought as he cast his gaze forward.
Following this brief dy, he had made up his mind to continue onward, even though doing so would entail taking on additional risk.
Having already made it to this point, it would be a huge waste to turn back now, and he was also very interested in seeing the Eon Divine Lamp for himself.
Furthermore, he had already agreed to join forces with Fox 3 and the others earlier, and leaving on his own now would be going back on their agreement.
With that in mind, Han Li didn''t hesitate any longer, conjuring up a giant, golden sword projection around his own body as he continued to fly onward.
There were arcs of golden lightning shing over the sword projection, and it was giving off tremendous sword qi as it sliced through the mist up ahead, drastically enhancing Han Li''s speed.
However, after advancing for a while longer, the surrounding mist became even denser and more resilient, and before long, he was forced to slow down once again.
A displeased pout appeared on the silver figure''s face upon seeing this, and it sprang up from Han Li''s shoulder before opening its mouth to release the white bead, which fused into the golden sword projection around him.
Wisps of white mes surged out of the bead to bolster the sword projection, allowing it to slice through the mist up ahead with ease to drastically elevate Han Li''s speed once again.
However, Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he said, "We don''t know what''s up ahead, so you should conserve your energy."
In response, the silver figure gave him a nonchnt smile, as if to tell him that this amount of energy expenditure was more than manageable.
Han Li took a moment to inspect the silver figure''s internal condition upon seeing this, and to his surprise and tion, the energy expenditure incurred from its usage of the white bead really was quite insignificant.
In light of this, he hurriedly flew onward at full speed, and it didn''t take long before the white mist ahead suddenly began to thin out.
At the same time, he was beginning to be able to make out the outline of the entire mountain, and it seemed that he had finally reached the mountain summit.
This was naturally a very encouraging sign, and he sped up even further.
However, in the next instant, a resounding boom rang out as he crashed into what seemed to have been an invisible wall, and the golden sword projection around him was instantly shattered, while he was knocked back through the air.
Fortunately, he remained unscathed thanks to his tremendous physical constitution.
The white bead within the sword projection was also knocked back by the impact, and the silver figure hurriedly devoured it again.
What just happened?
After taking a moment to steady himself, Han Li cast his gaze forward, upon which he spotted a barely visible white light barrier in the mist up ahead.
The light barrier was semi-transparent, and there seemed to be no end to it in sight.
Han Li was unable to gauge its full scale with his spiritual sense, and it stood before him like an all-epassing barrier.
Deep within the white light barrier, he could see a ball of radiant, golden light that was giving off bursts of timew power fluctuations.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up slightly upon seeing this, and he flew over to the white light barrier before trying to peer into the golden light beyond, but he was unable to make out anything.
However, he was certain that that was where the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was sealed.
He turned his attention back to the white light barrier before him, then pressed a hand against it.
The light barrier was slightly soft to the touch, but at the same time, he could tell that it was extremely resilient.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as all of his profound acupoints lit up, following which he threw an almighty punch into the light barrier.
A resounding boom rang out as his fist sank deep into the light barrier, causing it to ripple violently, and the nearby space also began to rumble and quiver.
However, the white light barrier didn''t disy any signs of weakness, and it released a burst of tremendous, repulsive force that sent him flying back through the air for two to three thousand feet before he managed to arrest his own momentum.
The repulsive force was so strong that his internal organs had been given a massive jolt, and even with his immense physical constitution, hisplexion had paled noticeably, and he was forced to take a moment to steady himself.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, transforming into an enormous devilish deity with three heads and six arms in the blink of an eye.
The three heads were those of the Giant Mountain Ape, the True Dragon, and the Kun Peng, and an enormous aura erupted out of the devilish deity''s body, causing the nearby space to tremble violently.
The golden light beyond the white light barrier suddenly rippled slightly, only to immediately revert back to its original state.
Han Li was too busy focusing on the light barrier to notice this fleeting change in the golden light beyond it, and he let loose a thunderous roar as he rammed his six fists into the white light barrier.
His fists sank deep into the light barrier, causing it to ripple and shudder far more violently than before.
However, even so, the light barrier was still able to hold itself together, and a burst of tremendous, flexible power surged forth to slowly nullify the unfathomable power in Han Li''s fists.
Chapter 1103: Heavenly Damnation Lightning
Chapter 1103: Heavenly Damnation Lightning
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and in the next instant, the white light barrier sprang back to its original state, sending him flying back through the air once again.
The giant devilish deity stumbled back close to twenty steps before finally managing to steady itself, and it cast a bbergasted gaze toward the white light barrier.
In terms of offensive power, the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts ranked at the very top out of all of Han Li''s cultivation arts, yet it still wasn''t enough to break the light barrier.
Of course, Han Li had some other things that he could try, but judging from the current state of affairs, it was most likely the case that none of his cultivation arts or secret techniques would be able to change the oue.
All of a sudden, the silver figure on his shoulder let loose a loud cry as it took on its fire raven form again.
Right as the Essence Fire Raven was about tounch itself forward, the nearby mist rippled violently once again with a deep, thunderous rumble.
The white bead flew out of the Essence Fire Raven''s body on its own for a second time, and Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this.
Has the final array core been broken as well?
Han Li had already anticipated that this would happen, but not this quickly, and in the wake of this turn of events, he didn''t have much time left.
If he couldn''t clear the obstruction up ahead in a short time, then things could take a messy turn very soon.
With that in mind, Han Li turned his gaze back to the white light barrier, but to his astonishment, the light barrier suddenly began to sh erratically, and just a few momentster, it disintegrated with a dull thump, dissipating into countless specks of white light that quickly faded away.
Han Li was scarcely able to believe his own eyes.
Could it be that this light barrier is designed to automatically fade away once all five array cores have been broken?
......
At this moment, Lei Yuce and Su Anqian were standing together behind arge rock on a short mountain.
The two of them were enshrouded within a white light barrier with misty, white light shing over its surface, giving it a rather ethereal appearance.
There was a green pce several dozen kilometers away from the mountain, but it had already copsed, and at this moment, Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan were flying out of the rubble.
The streaks of light that they were situated inbined as one, drastically enhancing their speed, and they vanished into the distance in a sh.
Immediately after them came a series of ck figures that were giving off tremendous devilish qi, and these devilish beings also quickly flew away into the distance amid a chorus of ted cheers.
Lei Yuce made a hand seal, and the white light barrier around him and Su Anqian faded away, transforming into a white ring that flew up his sleeve.
"Lei Yuce, why did you insist that the two of us stand by and do nothing? We would''ve had good chances of saving this array core had we tried!" Su Anqian said in an usatory voice.
"It would''ve been a futile effort. Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan are no less powerful to begin with, and with that blue pouch now in their possession, there''s no way we would''ve been able to stop them. If I were here on my own, I would''ve perhaps taken a risk, but I can''t afford to take any risks with you by my side," Lei Yuce sighed.
Su Anqian fell silent as a hint of mixed emotions shed through her eyes.
"All five of the array cores have been broken now. What do we do?" she asked in a concerned manner after a brief silence.
"Don''t worry, the situation is still under control. Let''s go and repair the array for now," Lei Yuce said as he set off toward the wreckage of the green pce, followed closely by Su Anqian.
......
At the summit of the giant mountain, Han Li flew out of the sea of white mist, and he was greeted by the sight of a sapphire-blue sky and sparse white clouds.
The golden light that he had seen through the white light barrier was hovering in mid-air above the mountain summit, and within it was a massive pce that was extremely imposing and majestic.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly as he flew toward the pce, but all of a sudden, the sky began to churn violently as a white cloud with countless bursts of white light flowing through it appeared out of thin air.
All of the world''s origin qi in the nearby area surged toward the cloud in a frenzy, causing it to swell rapidly in size, taking up virtually the entire sky in the blink of an eye.
Bursts of thunderous rumbling could be heard within the cloud, apanied by shes of white lightning that gave off a burst of tremendous pressure.
Fierce gusts of wind began to sweep over the entire mountain beneath the cloud, violently stirring up the sea of mist while felling trees and disturbing rocks.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he was just about to take a closer look at the sky above when a loudmotion suddenly rang out in the white cloud.
Immediately thereafter, the white lightning within the cloud suddenly became a lot more violent, and thick bolts of lightning came crashing down upon all parts of the giant mountain.
These bolts of white lightning were so bright that all onlookers were forced to avert their eyes, and they contained such tremendous lightningw powers that even Han Li couldn''t help but feel rmed and unsettled.
The lightningw powers within these bolts of lightning were very simr to those of the Heavenly Damnation Lightning that Han Li had seen before, except these bolts of lightning were countless times more powerful.
Han Li was just about to revert back to his human form and rush back in retreat, but it was already toote, and around a dozen thick bolts of lightning came crashing down upon him at once.
It was as if the very heavens were aiming to strike him down, and the will of the heavens was suppressing his will to resist.
Han Li''s willpower was suppressed by this aura of heavenly damnation, but in the next instant, his enormous spiritual sense shrugged off these suppressive effects.
However, at this point, the bolts of white lightning were already upon him, and he hurriedly plummeted out of the sky as quickly as he could, attempting to buy himself some time.
At the same time, heunched his fists up at the sky, releasing countless fist projections that hurtled toward the bolts of white lightning crashing down from above.
Every single one of those fist projections was giving off astonishing devilish qi and immense power, leaving trails of visible marks in the space in their wake. The surrounding space warped and trembled violently as countless spatial rifts emerged, but as the fist projections collided with the bolts of lightning, there was no intense explosion or thunderousmotion.
Instead, as soon as the fist projections came into contact with the white lightning, the former instantly melted away into plumes of ck smoke.
The bolts of white lightning were able to pierce through the ck fist projections with ease before striking the body of the bbergasted devilish deity below.
Around a dozen massive wounds that were deep enough to expose bone were instantly inflicted upon the devilish deity, and its enormous body crashed down heavily onto a mountain below, creating a massive crater while sending countless rocks flying through the air in all directions.
Bolts of white lightning roamed over the devilish deity''s body, instantly eradicating all of the devilish qi that it came into contact with.
With so much devilish qi eradicated in the blink of an eye, Han Li was unable to maintain his devilish deity form and quickly reverted back to his human form.
His face had turned extremely pale, and there his body was riddled with horrific wounds that were bleeding profusely, but thankfully, he was able to reposition himself slightly at thest second to avoid sustaining any injuries to his vital regions.
Hence, despite how horrific the injuries appeared, none of them were actually all that severe.
Han Li hurriedly took a crimson pill, and bursts of crimson light shed over his wounds as they began to rapidly heal at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
After that round of lightning strikes, the white cloud above and the arcs of lightning within it had thinned out somewhat, but before Han Li even had a chance to catch his breath, another bout of lightning came crashing down.
This time, there were far fewer bolts of lightning than during the previous round of lighting strikes, but the bolts of lightning were no less formidable than before.
At this point, Han Li already knew what to expect, so he was far more calm andposed as arcs of golden lightning appeared over his body, and at the same time, he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which released countless wave of golden ripples to envelop his entire body as well.
He had only been wounded by the first round of lightning strikes as he had been caught off guard. Now that he was fully prepared, he was confident in his own ability to ward off the lightning strikes, even if this bout of lightning were twice as powerful as the previous one.
However, the second round of lightning strikes didn''t fall upon Han Li. Instead, they fell upon other parts of the giant mountain, and a string of dull thumps rang out from beneath the sea of mist, apanied by a chorus of anguished cries.
Could it be that this white lightning only attacks those with devilish qi in their bodies? Now that I think about it, that makes sense. Immortal Lord Tai Sui must''ve already anticipated that the five array cores would be broken, and in the case of this happening, the white light barrier would transform into a lightning restriction to unleash those bolts of Heavenly Damnation Lightning and eradicate all of the freed devilish beings.
It looks like this white lightning was designed specifically to counteract devilish qi, so it''s no wonder that it was so potent against my Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.
By channeling his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, devilish qi had arisen in Han Li''s body, and that was why he was mistakenly targeted as a devilish being by the white lightning.
Now that he had reverted back to his human form, and his aura was concealed by his time and lightningw powers, the white lightning immediately ceased to target him any longer.
With that in mind, Han Li remained still on the spot, deciding that the best course of action was to wait out the storm.
Meanwhile, a third round of lightning strikes had alreadye crashing down, and once again, there were fewer bolts of lightning than during the second round.
After that came three more rounds of lightning strikes, and only after the sixth round did the white cloud above slowly fade away, having expended all of its power.
The tranquil, blue sky above was revealed once again, and it was as if nothing had happened.
Chapter 1104: Venturing Into a Sword Array
Chapter 1104: Venturing Into a Sword Array
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this, then withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis before flying toward the golden pce up ahead.
Upon arriving at the pce, he discovered a massive que hanging above its entrance, one that read "Eon Pce" inrge, flowing characters.
The pce gates were slightly ajar, and radiant, golden light was pouring out of the gap. The golden light was giving off immense timew power fluctuations that were also intermingled with several other powerful auras, all of which seemed to belong to certain immortal treasures.
However, the opening wasn''trge enough to see through, and given how severely spiritual sense was restricted here, it was impossible to detect what was inside the pce.
Han Li stood in front of the pce with a contemtive look on his face.
He hadn''t immediately entered the pce as there was arge za directly in front of it, and there were numerous yellow stone swords standing on the za with their tips pointed upward and their hilts downward.
Each stone sword was around a thousand feet in size, and they were giving off formidable earthw power fluctuations.
There were thirty-six of these stone swords in total, and they were arranged into a sword array on the za.
Given the positioning of the sword array, it was impossible to ess the pce gates without venturing through it first.
The Essence Fire Raven sprang up from Han Li''s shoulder as it began flying toward the Eon Pce, and Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, following which he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of golden light that swept up the Essence Fire Raven before forcibly throwing it into the Flower Branch domain.
After attaining its essential firew powers, the Essence Fire Raven had be far more powerful than before, but it had also be more bold and adventurous, making it more difficult to keep under control.
Han Li turned his attention back to the stone sword array, and a frustrated look quickly began to appear in his eyes.
The sword array appeared to be quite simple, but the more he examined it, the more profound it revealed itself to be.
Given enough time, he was confident that he would be able to unravel the array, and doing so would perhaps even be very helpful to honing his expertise in the art of arrays, but at the moment, time was of the essence, so he had to hurry.
With that in mind, Han Li flicked a finger through the air, releasing a streak of golden sword qi that was around a hundred feet in length and thirty feet wide toward one of the stone swords up ahead.
A denseyer of yellow light instantly appeared over the sword''s surface, and upon striking the yellow light, the streak of golden sword qi instantly vanished into it without a trace.
After devouring the streak of golden sword qi, theyer of yellow light faded away.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he knew that he wouldn''t be able to bypass it using any cheap tricks.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he made a hand seal to summon his Mantra Treasured Axis, which released waves of golden ripples that epassed the entire surrounding area within a radius of a thousand feet.
From there, Han Li stepped into the stone sword array, and as soon as he did so, he found himself standing in a yellow desert.
Not only was there nothing but yellow sand underfoot for as far as the eyes could see, the clouds above were also a dark, yellow color, and they were giving off a burst of tremendous pressure.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he discovered that unlike the average illusory array, this yellow desert space was extremely solid, with no identifiable weak points to be exploited.
Furthermore, this space contained only earth-attribute spiritual qi, thereby significantly weakening all other types ofw powers.
Han Li channeled his Infernal Devilish Eyes to inspect his surroundings, but right at this moment, thirty-six giant, yellow, stone swords emerged over thendscape around him.
All of the stone swords were radiating dazzling, yellow light, and they rose up into the sky as giant pirs of yellow light.
At the same time, steaks of yellow sword qi emerged over the stone swords, giving them the appearance of thirty-six blooming flowers.
Immediately thereafter, all of the streaks of sword qi vanished into thin air, only to reappear around Han Li amid bursts of violent spatial fluctuations before sweeping toward him from all directions.
Han Li remained calm and collected as he made a rapid string of hand seals, and the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him elerated drastically in its revolution, while the area epassed within the golden ripples became significantly smaller and more condensed.
All of the streaks of oing sword qi were imbued with immense power, but they were immediately immobilized as soon as they pierced into the golden ripples.
All of a sudden, it was as if a ring-shaped wall of yellow swords had appeared around Han Li.
More and more streaks of sword qi continued to pierce into the golden ripples, only to also fallpletely still.
However, these streaks of yellow sword qi contained astonishing power, and there were also a staggering number of them.
Within the span of no more than a few seconds, the wall of sword qi around Han Li had reached an incredible level of density, forming a watertight barrier around him.
More and more streaks of sword qi continued to crash into the solid wall of swords, and a string of resounding booms rang out amid explosions of yellow light.
A burst of terrifying spiritual pressure was emanating from the wall of sword qi,pressing toward Han Li from all directions, and the surrounding golden ripples began to tremble in an unsteady fashion, as if they were on the verge of being overwhelmed.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he took a nce at the giant, yellow swords around him.
The thirty-six pirs of yellow light had converged somewhere high up in the sky to form a yellow cloud, and there were countless yellow runes shing within it, giving off an indescribable aura that was bing more and more powerful.
A grim look surfaced in Han Li''s eyes upon seeing this, and he immediately switched to a different hand seal, upon which his body swelled drastically in size before transforming into a giant, devilish deity with three heads and six arms.
Over nine hundred profound acupoints had lit up over the devilish deity''s body, releasing radiant starlight to form a barrier over its body, following which it let loose a thunderous roar before mming all six of its fists into the surrounding wall of sword qi.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the wall of sword qi was shattered to create an opening, and Han Li immediately withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis before flying out of the opening, pouncing at the nearest stone sword.
The countless streaks of yellow sword qi seemed to have detected his intentions, and they converged from all directions to strike him with immense power.
However, the starlight barrier over his body was extremely resilient, and it was able to keep all of the yellow sword qi at bay.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li was able to reach one of the stone swords before mming it with an almighty punch.
The giant, stone sword instantly exploded into countless specks of yellow light that then dissipated into nothingness.
Simultaneously, Han Li swung his other five fists through the air in different directions, sending five fist projections crashing into five other stone swords.
Three resounding booms rang out as three more stone swords were shattered in rapid session, but the sword that was furthest away remained intact as the fist projection directed toward it had been weakened too much by the obstructive sword qi along the way.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, only to immediately fade away a momentter.
Even though the four stone swords had been shattered, the four corresponding pirs of yellow light hadn''t faded away. Instead, they were still rising up toward the heavens, but they were looking far dimmer than before.
The earth-attribute spiritual qi in the surrounding environment was surging into the four pirs of yellow light in a frenzy, and four yellow sword projections instantly appeared within them.
With the continued influx of earth-attribute spiritual qi, the four sword projections quickly took on a more substantial form, and before long, it appeared that the four stone swords were about to be reformed.
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he immediately summoned his time spirit domain before sweeping all six of his arms through the air to release over two hundred timew threads.
The timew threads split up into two batches, forming a pair of enormous, golden des that were each close to ten kilometers in length before sweeping through the air in either direction.
At the same time, thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew out of Han Li''s body, thenbined as one to form a giant, golden, lightning sword that was tens of thousand of feet in length beforeunching itself up at the yellow clouds in the sky.
A string of resounding booms rang out as the two des of golden light shattered the majority of the stone swords, but their corresponding pirs of yellow light were still intact, and the broken stone swords began to rapidly reform once again as earth-attribute spiritual qi surged into the pirs of yellow light.
Another resounding boom rang out as the giant lightning sword struck the yellow clouds above.
The clouds didn''t appear to be remarkable in any way, but they were extraordinarily resilient, and they only shuddered slightly upon being struck by the lightning sword before falling still again.
Han Li''s expression finallypletely darkened upon seeing this.
All of a sudden, the yellow clouds in the sky began to churn violently, and all of the nearby earth-attribute spiritual qi surged into them like turbulent waters through a broken floodgate.
The pirs of yellow light around the thirty-six stone swords below were alsopletely devoured by the yellow clouds, causing them to rapidly expand, while a set of yellow gates that were neither round nor rectangr appeared deep within the clouds.
There were a series of sword-shaped patterns etched onto the gates'' surface, and it was giving off tremendous sword qi and earthw power fluctuations.
This burst of earthw power fluctuations was far more vast and profound than average earthw power fluctuations, as if these gates were directly connected to heaven and earth.
All of a sudden, the gravitational force in the entire space became over a hundred times more potent, making it very difficult for Han Li to move.
Chapter 1105: Almighty Sword Array
Chapter 1105: Almighty Sword Array
Under the pressure of the significantly increased gravitational force, Han Li let loose a thunderous roar,and dazzling starlight erupted out of his six fists before converging to form a starlight array on each of his fists.
As he thrust his fists through the air, six mountainous fist projections were sent hurtling toward the yellow clouds above, and these fist projections were far more powerful than the previous ones.
At the same time, the two des of golden light formed by his timew threads and the giant lightning sword formed by his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords also began racing toward the yellow clouds as three massive streaks of golden light.
A string of earth-shattering booms rang out in rapid session as the six fist projections struck the yellow clouds before exploding violently into giant balls of light, followed by the two golden des and the giant lightning sword.
The yellow clouds were extremely resilient, but an opening was still torn into them by the ferocious barrage of attacks, exposing the yellow gates beyond.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he was just about to direct the golden des and lightning sword toward the yellow gates when it suddenly began to rumble violently, following which ayer of yellow ripples erupted out of its surface.
The golden des and lightning sword were instantly sent flying back through the air as if they had been dealt a heavy blow, while Han Li also shuddered as he involuntarily stumbled a few steps back.
Right at this moment, the yellow gates began to glow radiantly while opening itself up just a sliver.
Countless rays of yellow light surged out of the opening like a radiant, yellow waterfall cascading down from the heavens, and through the opening, Han Li could see a vast, yellow space beyond the gates, as well as a boundless expanse of rippling yellow light.
Every single ray of light was formed by extremely pure earthw powers that had been condensed to a near liquid state, and they surged out of the gate to form an enormous yellow vortex.
The sword-shaped patterns on the gates were shing incessantly, and the yellow light cascading down from above split up to form countless yellow stone swords that came raining down upon Han Li in a fearsome downpour.
All of these stone swords were etched withw patterns and giving off incredibly heavy earthw power fluctuations, further increasing the weight of the gravitational force in the environment.
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, and he hurriedly made a string of hand seals, upon which his devilish deity body shrank down to only less than two hundred feet tall.
At the same time, his time spirit domain also shrank down to only several thousand feet in size, but in the process, it had be several times more condensed.
The two des of golden light flew back into the spirit domain before splitting up into individual timew threads to bolster the spirit domain, and all of the stone swords that pierced into the golden spirit domain were instantly slowed down significantly.
Simultaneously, Han Li made a grabbing motion with all six of his hands, and the giant lightning sword flew back to him before splitting up into six slightly smaller lightning swords that fell into his grasp.
Immediately thereafter, he began swinging the six lightning swords through the air in a rapid blur, unleashing countless sword projections that formed a dense to oppose the falling stone swords.
A string of resounding booms rang out in rapid session as the descending stone swords were destroyed by the golden sword, but Han Li''s body was trembling violently from the repeated impacts, and to his rm, his arms were also beginning to throb with pain.
Every single one of these stone swords was imbued with extremely heavy earthw powers, and with each sword that fell upon him, it felt as if he were deflecting away a huge mountain, resulting in immense physical strain.
As more and more stone swords came falling from the sky, the pressure was only mountain further and further.
What type of ursed sword array is this?!
At the moment, all Han Li could do was channel his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might while bolstering the golden sword and his time spirit domain to the best of his abilities.
......
At the same time, two streaks of light were approaching the stone sword za from close to a thousand feet away, and they contained none other than Wyrm 3 and Fox 3.
"That turtle shell devilish creature just now truly had some remarkable defenses. I had thought that its fate was sealed after it was crushed under my seal, but it was still able to get away," Wyrm 3 mused with slightly furrowed brows.
She was examining a yellow seal in her hand as she spoke, and there was a carving of a fearsome beast perched on top of the seal, while on the underside of the seal were engraved the words "Vast Earth" in antiquated characters.
The seal was giving off tremendous earthw power fluctuations, apanied by the asional wave of yellow light, and Fox 3 smiled as he said, "You''re not using any earth-attribute cultivation arts, so you''re unable to tap into the seal''s full power. Having said that, the devilish creature from earlier definitely wasn''t able to get away unscathed."
Wyrm 3 nodded in response, and she was just about to stow the yellow seal away when she suddenly cast her gaze toward the stone sword za up ahead.
At the moment, the entire za was enshrouded in a vast expanse of chaotic sword qi, making it impossible to see anything within.
"This looks like quite a powerful sword array. On top of that, it seems to have already been activated. Could it be that someone is currently trying to force their way through it?" Wyrm 3 spected.
The two of them had only just descended onto the edge of the stone sword za when the Lan siblings also arrived on the scene.
The four of them exchanged a nce with one another, but none of them said anything as they turned their attention to the stone sword za and the majestic pce beyond.
Right at this moment, three more streaks of light arrived on the scene, containing Lei Yuce, Su Anqian, and Wen Zhong.
Even beforending on the za, Lei Yuce''s gaze was already fixed intently on the sword array, and an ecstatic look appeared on his face as hemunicated to Wen Zhong through voice transmission, "Do you see this, Junior Martial Brother Wen? This is the Almighty Sword Array, the trulyplete version!"
"But theplete version of the sword array has already been lost for countless years, why is it here?" Wen Zhong hurriedly asked.
"I''ve been studying the Almighty Sword Array for as long as I can remember, yet I''ve never been able to restore it to itsplete form. This is what I''ve been searching for all along! It looks like the rumors were true; Immortal Lord Tai Sui really did take the array diagram of the Almighty Sword Array from our sect before cing it in here," Lei Yuce said, barely able to contain his own excitement.
Su Anqian raised an eyebrow at the sight of Lei Yuce''s excited expression, then asked in a curious manner, "What''s going on, Fellow Daoist Lei? You seem very worked up."
Lei Yuce was a little embarrassed by his loss ofposure in the presence of Su Anqian, and he exined, "My apologies, Celestial Maiden Su. I simply wasn''t able to contain my own excitement at the sight of our sect''s long-lost Almighty Sword Array."
"You''re saying this is the Almighty Sword Array?" Su Anqian asked with a surprised expression, and the expressions of Wyrm 3 and the others also changed slightly upon hearing this.
Contrary to popr belief, the Almighty Sword Array wasn''t named after the Almighty Sword Array. Instead, it was actually the sect that had been named after the Almighty Sword Array.
It was no exaggeration to say that the Almighty Sword Sect only existed because of the Almighty Sword Array, and that was sufficient testament to how important the array was to the sect.
As the symbolic sword array of the Almighty Sword Sect, its power was naturally not to be understated.
"Fellow Daoist Lei, it looks like someone is already in the process of breaking the array, so let''s not waste any more time here. Otherwise, whoever''s currently inside the array could reach the pce on the other side of the za before us," Wyrm 3 said.
Lei Yuce''s brows furrowed slightly in hesitation upon hearing this, and he was just about to say something when he suddenly turned his gaze to a certain direction.
Wyrm 3 and the others also quickly cast their eyes toward the same direction, where a group of several figures were approaching from afar amid a vast cloud of ck mist.
These were the leaders of the devilish creatures that had been freed from the altar, and in addition to the Copper Lion King, the White Bone King, and the Blood Hand King, there were also two new faces.
One of them was a ck figure that was around a hundred feet tall with dragon horns on its head and scales all over its body, as well as a huge turtle shell on its back that was etched with some strange-looking patterns.
There was a crack with very sharp edges that was around three feet in length on the edge of the shell, and it seemed to have been quite recently acquired.
As soon as itnded on the ground, it immediately turned to Wyrm 3 with a resentful look in its eyes, and it was clear that the crack on its shell had been inflicted by Wyrm 3''s Vast Earth Seal.
Compared with itspanions, the other devilish being''s appearance wasn''t all that remarkable. In fact, it could almost have passed for a human if it weren''t for its eerie, green eyes. It had a very tall and pronounced nose that was curved like an eagle''s beak, as well as a pair of white eyebrows that extended all the way into its sideburns.
The hook-nosed devilish devilish being''s gaze fell upon the Lan siblings, and its expression remained unchanged, but a hint of cold killing intent had appeared deep in its eyes, and it was clear that a conflict had arisen earlier between them as well.
Lan Yan didn''t waver in the slightest as she met the creature''s gaze with a provocative smile on her face, then flipped a hand over to summon a green cane with a series of thin, willow-like branches extending out of it, giving off formidable woodw power fluctuations.
The hook-nosed devilish being''s pupils instantly contracted slightly at the sight of the cane, clearly feeling quite wary of it.
Wyrm 3 swept her gaze over the five devilish beings one after the other, following which her gaze settled on the two people apanying them. These two weren''t giving off any devilish qi, but they were clearly the leaders of the group.
The two people in question were none other than Qi Mozi and Xiong Shan.
Chapter 1106: Joining Forces
Chapter 1106: Joining Forces
Qi Mozi could sense the tension in the air, and he stepped in to y the role of mediator as he said, "There''s no need for such hostilities, everyone. All of us are here with themon objective of hunting for treasures in this ce. There are no personal vendettas here, so why the animosity?"
"These devilish creatures were sent to wreak havoc in our Immortal Realm, and for their transgressions, they''ve been trapped here for over a million years. Are we just supposed to believe that they don''t harbor any resentment and are to be trusted?" Lei Yuce scoffed.
"What do you think should happen here then, Fellow Daoist Lei? Should we all engage in a battle to the death here? Those who perish naturally won''t be able to secure any of the treasures in the ce, but what about the survivors? What chance will they have of bypassing this Almighty Sword Array? Oh, silly me, I almost forgot that you were from the Almighty Sword Sect, so that won''t be a difficult task for you, will it?" Qi Mozi mused with a smile.
An enraged look appeared on Lei Yuce''s face in response to Qi Mozi''s tant attempt at sowing dissension.
Sure enough, hesitant looks appeared on the faces of Wyrm 3 and the others upon hearing this.
"Don''t listen to him, everyone! These devilish creatures are not to be trusted!" Wen Zhong urged with tightly furrowed brows.
"When ites to treachery, I''d say that we have much to learn from you humans," the White Bone King sneered.
"I already told you that there''s no point in trying to settle things peacefully. Let''s just fight them and get it over with," the Copper Lion King harrumphed coldly, while the Blood Hand King and the Turtle Back King remained silent.
The Eagle Nose King also remained silent as he gave the Copper Lion King a cold re, and a fearful look immediately appeared on thetter''s face.
Right at this moment, Xiong Shan suddenly said, "Please pardon my interjection, but while we''re standing here bickering about whether we''re going to fight or not, there''s someone already inside the sword array right now. If we allow them to get to the pce first, not only will all of the treasures inside slip through our grasp, the old devil in the pce will most likely be released as well, and I''m sure that''s not a desirable oue for any of us."
A concerned look appeared in Lei Yuce''s eyes upon hearing this. At the moment, almost everyone in the Eon Pagoda was already gathered here, so it wasn''t difficult to deduce the identity of the person in the sword array by process of elimination.
If anyone else were in the array, Lei Yuce wouldn''t be overly concerned, but there was a very good chance that the person in the array was Han Li, who he had always found to be unfathomable, and that was a very unsettling thought for him.
Most importantly, he absolutely could not allow the array diagram for the Almighty Sword Array to fall into Han Li''s hands.
With that in mind, Lei Yuce heaved a faint sigh as he acquiesced, "In that case, let''s set our differences aside for now and work together to bypass the array."
Qi Mozi turned his gaze to the Eagle Nose King, as if to ask for his opinion on the matter, and thetter said, "I''ll leave it up to you, Fellow Daoist Qi Mozi."
"We would be more than willing to join forces, it''s just a matter of whether this is an agreeable arrangement to all of you," Qi Mozi said.
Lei Yuce turned to Wyrm 3 and the others upon hearing this, and no one raised any objections to the idea.
"As a gesture of sincerity, I''ve already ordered all of their subordinates to stay far away from this ce, so how about you disy some sincerity in exchange as well?" Qi Mozi asked.
"What do you suggest?" Lei Yuce asked.
"The Almighty Sword Arrayes from your Almighty Sword Sect, so surely you have some insights on how to break the array, right?" Qi Mozi asked.
"I''m afraid not. Theplete version of the sword array has already been lost to our sect for countless years, so we''ll have to figure out how to break the array after we enter it," Lei Yuce sighed.
Qi Mozi raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, clearly skeptical of his ims.
"If you don''t believe me, then there''s nothing I can say to convince you. If you wish to do so, you can go in ahead of us and try to break the array," Lei Yuce said as he spread his hands open in a resigned manner.
"It''s fine. In that case, let''s enter the array together. I''m sure that once you''re in the array, you''ll have no choice but to dedicate your full effort to breaking it," Qi Mozi said with a smile.
"Of course. Once I''ve entered the array and had a chance to assess its internal workings, I''m confident that I''ll be able to unravel it," Lei Yuce replied with a nod.
With that, everyone split up into the two groups and arranged themselves in front of the sword array.
"After entering the array, make sure you move around as little as possible. The more you move, the more aggressively the sword array will attack you," Lei Yuce said to Wyrm 3 and the others through voice transmission.
No one disyed any outward reaction to this, but it was clear that they had all heard the warning.
Qi Mozi took a derisive nce in their direction, then dered, "Enter the array!"
Everyone sprang into action upon hearing this.
Right as they were about to enter the array, Lei Yuce suddenly grabbed onto Su Anqian''s hand as he urged, "Stay close to me."
Su Anqian''s heart skipped a beat at this sudden gesture of intimacy, and her cheeks were suddenly feeling a little hot.
Everyone had only just entered the sword array when they were forced to descend to the ground by a burst of invisible pressure.
Before they had a chance to figure out what was happening, the entire surrounding area had already descended intoplete chaos.
Bursts of thunderous rumbling rang out as heaven and earth tumbled violently, and it was impossible to see anything aside from patches of hazy, yellow light, and the suffocating, yellow clouds up above.
Having entered the array together, Su Anqian and Lei Yuce were still able to see each other, but they were no longer able to see or detect anyone else.
The gravitational force in the environment seemed to have increased in potency by at least tenfold, making even standing a rather strenuous task.
They could see a pir of yellow light rising up into the sky from the ground nearby, piercing straight into the cloud above, and situated within the pir of yellow light was a giant stone sword.
"It looks like the array has been established upon a foundation of earthw powers, so it''s not going to be easy to unravel it," Lei Yuce remarked.
"What does that mean?" Su Anqian asked in a puzzled manner.
"In itself, the Almighty Sword Array is an attributeless array, and it can give rise to different phenomena in ordance with thew powers imbued within the flying swords used to set up the array. This is why I said that I''ll only be able to figure out how to unravel the array once I''ve entered it myself," Lei Yuce exined.
"In that case, how do we unravel the array?" Su Anqian asked.
"Sword arrays are supposed to be controlled by cultivators, yet this one is able to function without anyone presiding over it, so it''s most likely the case that the array diagram is being used to serve as the core of the array. Hence, the fastest way to unravel the array would be to find the array diagram and disce it," Lei Yuce replied.
Right at this moment, a dull thump suddenly rang out from above.
It was an extremely deep and dull sound that hade from within the yellow clouds in the sky.
Lei Yuce and Su Anqian reflexively looked up to find that there was a majestic heavenly gate up above, and it was slightly ajar to reveal a narrow opening.
Through the opening, a massive, yellow vortex could be seen, and it was releasing terrifying earthw power fluctuations.
Su Anqian was just about to say something when the vortex within the gate began to sh erratically, following which bursts of yellow light erupted out of the opening between the gates before raining down from above.
These bursts of light transformed into numerous giant, yellow swords that were over a hundred feet in length, and they came crashing down upon all parts of the sword array with tremendous power.
Two of the giant swords were descending toward Lei Yuce and Su Anqian, and even before it had fallen upon them, it was already giving off a sense of asphyxiating pressure that made them feel as if the sky were falling upon them.
"Look out!" Lei Yuce yelled out in rm as he hurriedly positioned himself in front of Su Anqian before raising his hands to the sky.
A circr array that was several hundred feet in radius instantly appeared beneath his feet, and it was glowing with radiant, golden light, while massive sword projections emerged from it like spring bamboo shoots after heavy rainfall before rising up into the heavens.
A string of resounding booms rang out as the sword projections that had risen up from the ground shed against the two giant swords descending from the sky.
The pair of giant swords were tearing through the opposing sword projections with ease as it plummeted out of the sky with mountainous force, and a stunned look appeared on Lei Yuce''s eyes upon seeing this.
So this is the power of the true Almighty Sword Array?
Right at this moment, ayer of waterw power fluctuations spread through the air from beside him amid a sh of blue light.
A blue light barrier had appeared around Su Anqian, and her palms were joined in front of her own chest with a longan-sized bead sped between them. Blue springwater was currently following out of the bead before revolving around her slender hands, and her eyes were gently shut as her entire body was basked in hazy, blue light, giving her the captivating appearance of a breathtaking celestial maiden.
All of a sudden, her eyes sprang open as she raised her palms up to the heavens, and the blue springwater flowing around her hands erupted into the air, then swelled drastically in size to form an enormous wave that swept toward the pair of descending swords.
Opposed by the torrent of rising water, the two giant swords were still descending out of the sky, but they had been slowed down significantly.
Chapter 1107: Search for the Array Core
Chapter 1107: Search for the Array Core
Lei Yuce let loose a thunderous roar, and the circr array beneath him began to glow even brighter as numerous radiant, golden swords emerged from the ground, with all of them pointed directly up at the heavens above.
In contrast with the sword projections from before, these were all real flying swords, and there were thirty-six of them, all of which were etched with array patterns that were giving off metalw power fluctuations.
The golden flying swords trembled and buzzed violently, following which countless golden sword threads erupted out of them at Lei Yuce''s behest before rising up into the air like a golden waterfall in reverse.
The two giant swords in the sky were already being severely impeded by the torrent of blue water unleashed by Su Anqian, and with further resistance posed by the flurry of golden sword threads, all of the earthw powers within them were finally exhausted.
The pair of swords exploded in unison into a vast expanse of yellow light, and Lei Yuce and Su Anqian exchanged an ted smile upon seeing this.
However, before the two of them had a chance to rx, a burst of dull rumbling rang out from the heavenly gates in the sky.
"Looks like the attacks aren''t going to cease until we break the sword array," Lei Yuce mused.
"The array diagram must be somewhere in the array, right? You go and search for it, I can fend for myself just fine," Su Anqian said.
A concerned look appeared on Lei Yuce''s face upon hearing this, but before he had a chance to say anything, a Su Anqian put on a stern expression as she asked, "Fellow Daoist Lei, are you looking down on myself or our Heavenly Water Sect?"
"Of course not, it''s just that..."
Lei Yuce''s voice trailed off here as a wry smile appeared on his face.
Su Anqian''s expression eased slightly as she said, "Just go, I''ll be fine on my own."
"Alright, in that case, make sure to look after yourself," Lei Yuce reluctantly acquiesced.
"You too, Fellow Daoist Lei," Su Anqian replied, and Lei Yuce was ecstatic to hear her words of concern.
He nodded firmly in response, then began making his way toward the center of the array, and despite the crushing pressure weighing down upon him, his footsteps felt very light and energetic.
The heavenly gates up above were still ajar, and yellow swords continued to fall out of the sky upon the devilish beings and Wyrm 3 and the others.
As a result, much of the pressure on Han Li was alleviated.
With so many people in the array, it had no choice but to split its power to attack everyone, rather than focusing solely on attacking Han Li.
At this moment, he was channeling his true spirit bloodlines and Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might, and held in each of his six hands was an Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which he was constantly swinging through the air, releasing bursts of lightning sword qi to eradicate the giant swords crashing down from above as he trudged toward the center of the sword array.
In his mind, it stood to reason that the core of the sword array was most likely at its center, and if he could find the core, then he would have a chance to break the array.
All of a sudden, bursts of chaotic light appeared in the surrounding space, apanied by gusts of fierce wind, and everything up ahead had be very hazy and indistinct, as if he had stepped into a boundless illusion.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he immediately began inspecting his surroundings with his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
However, even under the scrutiny of his Infernal Devilish Eyes, his surroundings didn''t change in the slightest, and giant, yellow swords were still raining down upon him from above, forcing him to defend himself while traversing arduously through the sword array.
He channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique and spread his spiritual sense throughout the surrounding area as far and wide as it would go, but that didn''t yield any useful discoveries, either.
Spiritual sense was even more severely restricted in this sword array than it was elsewhere in the Eon Pagoda, and all Han Li could detect with his spiritual sense was a boundless expanse of earthw powers.
He was beginning to grow a little agitated, but there was nothing that he could do aside from continue to forge ahead in the direction that his instincts told him was correct.
However, as he trudged onward, the pressure in the environment only became more and more potent, and it had be over ten times heavier than when he first entered the sword array.
With each step that he took, the ground beneath his feet would shatter, leaving a trail of deep footprints behind him.
On top of that, with each giant sword that came crashing down, the pressure that he was forced to withstand would increase a little more.
What a pain in the backside this sword array is! Even if a Great Epassment cultivator ventures into it, they''ll be worn down and killed if they can''t find the right way to unravel the array.
A sickly sweet sensation welled up from the back of Han Li''s throat, and he spat out a globule of blood-infused saliva.
Even though he appeared to be just fine, his internal organs were under immense pressure, and if he couldn''t find a way to break out of the sword array, his life would eventuallye under threat.
After trudging arduously onward for several thousand more feet, he had left behind a long string of deep footprints in the ground.
All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have urred to him, and he closed his eyes before advancing in different directions in an experimental fashion.
Each time, he would walk around a dozen steps before retreating back to his original spot, then repeat the process in another direction.
Before long, the entire surrounding area in a radius of over a hundred feet had been filled with massive footprints, and as he returned to his original spot one final time, he opened his eyes and exhaled before turning to a certain direction with a faint smile on his face.
The entire surrounding area was in a state ofplete chaos, and nothing could be detected aside from earthw powers, but allw powers disyed certain patterns in the way that they flowed and moved.
There should''ve been a change in the density ofw powers in the area where the core of sword array was situated, and Han Li had walked in all those different directions in order to detect for changes in thew powers in the environment.
Sure enough, he was able to detect an increasing degree of density of earthw powers in the air in a certain direction to his right, and that was where he presumed the core of the array to be.
With that in mind, he swung his six arms through the air in rapid session, swatting away the giant swords crashing down upon him from above before turning to walk in that direction.
Even though the general direction had been ascertained, the sword array was so chaotic that it felt like the surrounding orientations were constantly changing, so Han Li was forced to stop every dozen or so steps to reaffirm his sense of direction again.
The footsteps he left behind were bing deeper and deeper, and finally, an octagonal altar appeared in the distance.
After taking a few steps toward the altar, Han Li was able to see eight yellow stones that contained earthw powers embedded into the sides of the altar.
Furthermore, there was a stone sword protruding out of the ground on each side of the altar, and they stood like eight loyal guardians protecting an octagonal jade te that was hovering above the center of the altar.
The jade te wasn''t giving off any earthw power fluctuations, but it was shing with spiritual light, and a series ofplex patterns could be seen etched onto its surface.
As soon as Han Li began to approach the altar, a burst of azure light instantly emerged over the jade te, and the eight stones embedded into the sides of the altar also lit up.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li heard a ringing sound emanating from the eight stone swords on the altar.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he swung his arms vigorously through the air one more time to deflect the falling giant swords, thenunched himself at the altar before the next wave of giant swords had a chance to descend upon him.
Thanks to his Reversal True Axis ability, his speed was greatly enhanced, but it was still far slower than normal due to the immense spatial pressure in this ce.
Thankfully, there was a safe zone of roughly three hundred feet around the altar that was untouched by the giant swords falling from the sky. Otherwise, the sword array would be destroying its own core.
As Han Li flew toward the altar, a string of loud ngs suddenly rang out as the eight stone swords rose up from the ground before hurtling directly toward him.
These eight stone swords seemed to have been dedicated solely to protecting the array diagram on the altar, and they were far more formidable than the stone swords falling from above.
Bursts of dark yellow light appeared over the flying swords before splitting off into countless sword projections, and in the blink of an eye, there were several thousand flying swords racing toward Han Li at once.
All of these flying swords were giving off bursts of identical earthw power fluctuations, making it impossible to tell which eight of them were real.
Han Li reverted back to his human form upon seeing this, then swept a sleeve through the air to release thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which fanned out before him, then also released countless sword projections of their own.
Chapter 1108: Battle for the Array Diagram
Chapter 1108: Battle for the Array Diagram
The countless streaks of sword qi released by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were sent hurtling through the air at Han Li''s behest, sweeping toward the thousands of oing stone swords.
A rapid string of loud ngs rang out as the sword projections released by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were rapidly eradicated, and it took dozens of them to destroy a single stone sword.
Thankfully, the number of the sword projections released by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords far exceeded that of the stone swords, so they were able to hold their own for now.
There was a solemn look on Han Li''s face as he made a rapid string of hands seals, and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew forward in a steady manner at his behest, forming a giant of swordlight that forced back the opposing stone swords.
Before long, the vast majority of the sword projections released by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had already been destroyed, while the number of opposing stone swords had also been whittled down to fewer than forty.
However, the shes between them were still as fierce as ever, and Han Li was gritting his teeth tightly asrge droplets of sweat began to bead up on his forehead.
All of a sudden, he let loose a low roar as he injected his immortal spiritual power into his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords in a frenzy, and countless arcs of golden lightning erupted out of them to destroy most of the remaining stone swords in an instant.
All that remained were the eight original stone swords, and they were still hovering in the sky with their tips aimed directly at him.
At the same time, the number of sword projections released by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had been reduced to fewer than ny.
Han Li''s eyes lit up slightly as he took a step forward to step onto the altar, but right at this moment, the yellow stones embedded onto the sides of the altar abruptly lit up.
The eight stone swords in the air shuddered violently as if they had just received a potent injection of power, and radiant, yellow light erupted out of them to eradicate all of the remaining Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword projections in an instant.
The thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were able to keep seven of the stone swords at bay, but the eighth one was able to slip through the cracks, and in the blink of an eye, it was no more than ten feet away from Han Li''s chest.
Han Li immediately channeled his Reversal True Axis ability while stepping to the side, and the stone sword just barely flew past his ribcage, tearing arge gash into his robe.
He hurriedly made a beckoning motion toward his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords while taking a step back, but right at this moment, all of the stones embedded onto the sides of the altar suddenly turnedpletely dim before shattering into pieces.
The seven stone swords in the sky also tumbled to the ground, seemingly having been drained of all power.
It appeared that thew powers within the stones had already beenpletely exhausted over the course of the countless years that the altar had been standing, and a relieved look appeared on Han Li''s face as he prepared to step onto the altar again.
However, his expression then suddenly changed slightly as he hurriedly looked down at his own waist.
Blood was seeping into the torn section of his robe, but the gash wasn''t very deep.
However, as Han Li pulled back his robe to inspect the wound, he discovered that it had turned a lifeless, gray color, and that it was as cold and hard as stone to the touch.
It immediately urred to him that his wound had to have been petrified by the earthw powers within the stone sword.
Thankfully, as aforementioned, the gash wasn''t very deep, and the petrified area was only around an inch in size.
Han Li severed the affected piece of skin and flesh from his own body with his finger, and the newly formed wound began to heal on its own.
After that, he stowed all of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and he was just about to make his way onto the altar when he heard a burst of rumbling ringing out nearby. It seemed that someone else had also found the array core and was on their way here.
With that in mind, he hurriedly stepped onto the altar without any hesitation, then grabbed onto the octagonal jade te before pulling it out of the altar.
He inspected the jade te briefly with his spiritual sense, following which an ecstatic look appeared on his face.
This octagonal jade te was none other than the Almighty Sword Array diagram that had been taken from the Almighty Sword Sect by Immortal Lord Tai Sui, and it was far moreplex and profound than Han Li had imagined.
Even after just a brief inspection, Han Li could tell that this was a priceless treasure, and he hurriedly stowed it away.
In the next instant, a resounding boom rang out from above, and Han Li looked up to discover that the heavenly gates in the sky had swung shut, while the yellow clouds around it were quickly fading away.
All of the giant swords falling from the sky had already vanished, and the entire array was beginning to disintegrate.
The suffocating pressure in the air was slowly abating, but the chaotic mist in the area still lingered for now. However, the earthw powers within it were alreadypletely undetectable.
Han Li stepped down from the altar, and he was just about to take a pill when a voice rang out from behind him.
"Thank you for your hard work in breaking the array, Fellow Daoist Han."
Han Li turned around to discover Lei Yuce approaching him with a smile, and as he did so, he swept a sleeve through the air, casually stowing away the eight stone swords scattered over the ground.
"I wouldn''t have been able to do it on my own," Han Li replied with a smile.
"You''re far too modest, Fellow Daoist Han," Lei Yuce continued, and Han Li merely smiled again and offered no response.
A hesitant look appeared on Lei Yuce''s face, following which he said, "Fellow Daoist Han, I have a request for you."
Han Li could already guess what Lei Yuce wanted, but he put on an oblivious facade as he asked, "What is it, Fellow Daoist Lei?"
"I''m assuming that you saw a sword array diagram while breaking the array. That''s a long-lost treasure that''s extremely important to our Almighty Sword Sect, and I''m hoping that you can return it to me. Of course, our Almighty Sword Sect willpensate you handsomely in exchange," Lei Yuce said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Han Li feigned a perplexed expression as he said, "I''ve only just managed to free myself from the sword array, and I''m afraid I saw no array diagram or anything of the sort."
"Fellow Daoist Han, the sword array is one of an extremely high caliber, but for you, it''s nothing more than a powerful sword array, while to our Almighty Sword Sect, it holds great symbolic importance, so please return it to me. I''m willing to give you a fifth tier immortal treasure in exchange, and on top of that, you can receive the benefits granted to the inner sect elders of our sect without having to perform any of the obligations," Lei Yuce insisted.
This was a tremendous amount ofpensation, and it was certainly true that Lei Yuce was disying the utmost sincerity. However, this Almighty Sword Array was simply far too appealing to Han Li to pass up. If he could unleash it using his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, then it would most definitely be another powerful trump card of his.
With that in mind, Han Li feigned a disappointed expression as he replied, "I appreciate the kind offer, but I''m afraid I truly have not seen this array diagram that you speak of. The terms that you offered are extremely appealing to me, but I can''t bring myself to lie to you for my own personal gain."
Lei Yuce raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and he asked, "Did you really not see an array diagram on this altar, Fellow Daoist Han?"
"No. There were only those eight stone swords on the altar, and I didn''t even get a chance to look at them before you took them," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
Lei Yuce remained silent as he scrutinized Han Li intently, trying to see if there were any holes in his facade, but it appeared that he really was telling the truth.
"If there''s nothing else that you wish to speak to me about, then how about we go and explore the Eon Pce, Fellow Daoist Lei?" Han Li suggested.
Lei Yuce''s brows furrowed tightly as he suddenly made a hand seal while chanting an incantation, and a white jade badge that was strapped to his waist abruptly lit up.
At the same time, a storage ring on Han Li''s finger also began to sh rhythmically, and that was the storage ring that was holding the octagonal jade te.
"Are you really not willing to return the array diagram, Fellow Daoist Han?" Lei Yuce asked.
"I''ve already done you a favor by allowing you to take those stone swords, so I suggest that you don''t try to push me any further. If you want to try and take the array diagram from me by force, then go ahead. I certainly wouldn''t mind recovering those stone swords for myself," Han Li replied in a cold voice, then passed through the za and made his way onto the stone steps leading up to the Eon Pce.
Lei Yuce remained standing on the spot with a look of mixed emotions in his eyes.
At this point, the mist on the za had already faded away, and everyone was beginning to converge toward the Eon za.
Lei Yuce heaved an internal sigh at the sight as he suppressed the anger in his heart.
There were still more important things that he had to do in the pce, so he had to focus on the task at hand.
Chapter 1109: Dao Warrior Array
Chapter 1109: Dao Warrior Array
Upon reaching the top of the stone staircase, Han Li arrived before the pce, and his brows immediately furrowed slightly at the sight that he was greeted by.
Every single brick and pir was etched with runes that resonated with one another to form a massive array, all of which were designed to fortify the pce, making it as structurally resilient as a powerful immortal treasure.
However, there were no other restrictions at the entrance of the pce, and Han Li was able to push its gates open with ease.
He stepped into the pce, then looked around to discover that its interior was farrger than he had imagined.
Directly up ahead was a huge, pentagonal stone tform that was tapered from the bottom to the top, giving it the appearance of an upside-down pentagonal bowl.
The stone tform had a total of five sides, each of which was constructed from a different material, and they were golden, azure, blue, crimson, and yellow in color. At the center of each side was engraved a strange-looking rune, and the structure also appeared to have been an altar.
Han Li could see an antiquated goldenmp on the tform.
Themp post was slightly curved like the stalk of a lotus flower, while themp itself resembled a budding lotus flower, at the center of which was a small, golden me.
Themp was radiating golden light that formed a hemispherical protective barrier that epassed the entire altar, and even though Han Li was standing some distance away from the altar, he could sense the waves of timew power fluctuations emanating from the goldenmp.
"Is that the Eon Divine Lamp? It sure is giving off some formidable timew power fluctuations..."
Right at this moment, Wyrm 3 and the others entered the pce, apanied by Qi Mozi, Xiong Shan, and the five devilish beings.
Qi Mozi''s gaze was immediately drawn to the Eon Divine Lamp as soon as he stepped into the pce, while the five devilish beings were looking at the five-colored altar with fearful looks on their faces.
Right as everyone''s attention was drawn to themp and the altar, two streaks of light, on ck and one white, flew into the pce, then vanished into the ground.
Han Li''s expression darkened slightly as he cast his gaze toward Qi Mozi and the others, but right at this moment, Qi Mozi suddenly proposed through voice transmission, "Fellow Daoist Han, I suggest a temporary truce while we''re in this Eon Pce. What do you say?"
"I was about to suggest the same thing," Han Li immediately replied without any hesitation.
Of course, he had no trust in Qi Mozi, but as long as Qi Mozi didn''t attack him, he was happy to avoid a battle. After all, given the presence of so many people, the situation was veryplex, and a battle against Qi Mozi here would only be detrimental to him.
In Han Li''s eyes, self-preservation was an objective that had to be prioritized above all else, including his personal differences with Qi Mozi and his desire to obtain the Eon Divine Lamp.
"The bonded soul tablets are also here," Fox 3 suddenly said, and sure enough, there were three palm-sized crimson tablets ced in an orderly fashion within the shadow cast by the golden light emanating from the Eon Divine Lamp.
Those were clearly the bonded soul badges of Qu Lin, Lekima, and the azure-robed man.
There was also a triangr, ck tablet ced next to the three bonded soul tablets, and there seemed to have been something etched onto its surface, but it was rather blurry and indistinct.
Han Li noticed that Wyrm 3''s attention was primarily drawn to the Eon Divine Lamp and the ck tablet.
A curious look appeared in his eyes upon seeing this, but he chose not to ask any questions.
Additionally, there was also a rolled-up golden scroll on the altar, and it was loosely bound by a length of thin, golden string.
A hint of clear excitement shed through Lei Yuce''s eyes at the sight of the golden scroll, and he exchanged an ecstatic nce with Wen Zhong, indicating that the scroll was something of great importance to the Almighty Sword Sect.
As Han Li swept his gaze over everyone present, he couldn''t help but wonder where Qu Lin was.
Before he had a chance to ponder this matter any further, the entire pce suddenly shuddered violently, and its gates swung shut on their own.
At the same time, dazzling golden light began to ripple through the air around the pce, and the entire surrounding area was enshrouded in bursts of formidable timew power fluctuations.
Everyone felt as if they had been thrust into a golden space, in which the flow of time had slowed down significantly. As a result, their thoughts and spiritual sense had all been severely restricted.
Han Li immediately made a hand seal, and a burst of golden light erupted out of his body before rapidly expanding to epass Lei Yuce and the others, while Qi Mozi also released his spirit domain to epass Xiong Shan and the five devilish beings.
The spirit domains restored everyone''s ability to think clearly, but the speed of movement was still severely hampered.
Right at this moment, a massive ring of light suddenly appeared on the ground in front of everyone, following which a series of blurry humanoid figures emerged one after another.
All of these humanoid figures were as tall and thin as bamboo poles, and they were d in suits of ill-fitting golden armor that ttered as they walked.
All of them were Dao Warriors that appeared thin and frail, but they were giving off formidable auras.
To everyone''s surprise, instead of attacking right away, the Dao Warriors spread themselves out in an orderly fashion to formyers uponyers of encirclements around everyone.
Before long, the Dao Warriors had already arranged themselves into an array, and as soon as the array took shape, blinding golden light began to radiate from their suits of armor.
Han Li felt a sharp pain in his eyes from the overwhelming brightness, and he hurriedly narrowed his eyes while channeling his Infernal Devilish Eyes.
A protective, purple film seemed to have appeared over his eyes, making the blinding, golden light more bearable to look at, and everyone else was also adopting their own measures to protect their eyes against the golden radiance.
Han Li could see streams of runes of different colors flowing out of the armor worn by the Dao Warriors, and these streams of runes transformed into bursts of light of different colors that surged back into the Dao Warriors'' bodies.
With these influxes of light, the Dao Warriors began to undergo strange transformations. One group of Dao Warriors received an influx of azure light, and their bodies quickly swelled to around twice their original size, while each of them also acquired an azure longsword.
The neighboring group of Dao Warriors received an influx of yellow light, and their bodies swelled to thrice their original size while also transforming into imposing stone golems with massive stone hammers in their hands.
The influx of blue light liquefied the suits of armor worn by the affected Dao Warriors, turning them into puddles of golden liquid that flowed down the Dao Warriors'' bodies and onto the ground below.
As for the crimson light, that set the suits of armor worn by the Dao Warriors alight while also granting each of them arge, fiery saber.
Only the Dao Warriors that received an influx of golden light didn''t take on any physical changes, but each of them had been equipped with a corkscrew-tipped golden spear.
"What''s going on? How are there Dao Warriors of so many different attributes here at once?" Wyrm 3 eximed with an incredulous expression.
"Every single one of these Dao Warriors isparable in power to a Golden Immortal, and there has to be at least five hundred of them here! On top of that, all of them are enhanced by thew powers of the five elements! How is this possible?" Fox 3 eximed.
"Looks like I had too low an opinion of that old bastard, Tai Sui," Qi Mozi mused.
"What''s going on here, Fellow Daoist Lei?" Lan Yuanzi asked.
"I... I don''t know, either," Lei Yuce replied, clearly also very much taken aback by this turn of events.
He was the one who knew the most about the Eon Pagoda out of everyone present, but even so, he had still been surprised on many asions, so his knowledge of the Eon Pagoda was clearly far fromprehensive.
"The Dao Warriors have taken on transformations of different attributes because the array that they''ve set up is resonating with that five-elemental altar," Han Li analyzed.
"You''re saying that the altar is the thing that gave rise to all these transformations?" Wyrm 3 asked.
Chapter 1110: Unifying Against the Five-Elemental Dao Warriors
Chapter 1110: Unifying Against the Five-Elemental Dao Warriors
"It''s more urate to say that these Dao Warriors are drawing upon the power of the five-elemental altar to enhance themselves," Han Li corrected.
Right at this moment, the blinding, golden light faded away, and the five-colored Dao Warriors pounced at Han Li''s group with their weapons raised.
These Dao Warriors appeared to be charging forward in a rather chaotic fashion, but in reality, they were disying exceptional teamwork, and there were no holes in their formation to be exploited at all.
Everyone quickly realized this, and they hurriedly adopted defensive formations to ward off the enemy.
Meanwhile, Qi Mozi sprang up into the air and flew toward the fire-attribute Dao Warriors, then summoned his Time Severing Torch, seemingly intending to immobilize the Dao Warriors with his timew powers.
However, he quickly discovered that his timew powers had no effect on these Dao Warriors.
Xiong Shan had been carefully trailing along behind Qi Mozi this entire time, and he was instantly rooted to the spot by the Time Severing Torch.
Qi Mozi cast his gaze toward the goldenmp on the altar, and a look of realization instantly appeared on his face.
These Dao Warriors were able to draw upon the power of the altar, so they were naturally also able to borrow the power of themp to help them ward off the effects of timew powers.With that in mind, Qi Mozi withdrew his Time Severing Torch, then flipped a hand over to produce his ck stone ax, which he swung through the air at the hundred or so oing fire-attribute Dao Warriors.
A streak of crescent-shaped ck light erupted out of the de of the ax before sweeping toward the fire-attribute Dao Warriors, which immediately stopped in their tracks before quickly switching to a different formation.
The crimson mes burning over their suits of armor connected together to form a wall of fire, and at the same time, the Dao Warriors at the forefront of the formation swung their sabers through the air in unison.
A resounding boom rang out as a massive wall of fire surged forth, sweeping toward Qi Mozi with burning fury.
The wall of fire burned holes into the surrounding air to form spatial vortexes, and immediately thereafter, the second row of Dao Warriors swung their sabers through the air as well, forming a second wall of fire, then a third, then a fourth...
By the time the ck ax projection struck the first wall of fire, over ten spatial vortexes had already appeared in the surrounding area.
The first wall of fire was eradicated by the ck ax projection, while thetter continued onward, slicing through the second and third walls of fire as well.
The destroyed walls of fire exploded into countless mes that were immediately devoured by the spatial vortexes in the air.
Meanwhile, the ck ax in Qi Mozi''s hand had already transformed into a ck whirlwind that epassed his entire body, and he flew straight through several walls of fire to force his way into ranks of the fire-attribute Dao Warriors.
Meanwhile, the five devilish beings were opposing the wood-attribute Dao Warriors, and all of them turned to the Eagle Nose King for a n of attack.
"Just adopt a defensive formation for now. There''s no need to strike too early when we can just wait for the others to test out the waters for others," the Eagle Nose King said as he crossed his arms, and it seemed like he had no intention of doing any of the dirty work himself.
The other four devilish beings seemed to have already grown ustomed to this, and a wide grin appeared on the White Bone King''s face as he said, "It''s been a long time since we''ve gotten any good exercise, so let''s start off with the four symbols array for now."
"Sounds like a good warm up!" the other three devilish beings eagerly agreed, and they rushed forward while plumes of ck smoke began to rise up from their bodies.
Enshrouded within the ck smoke, the four devilish beings adopted their true devilish forms, with the Copper Lion King at the front, the White Bone King bringing up the rear, and the other two on the sides.
It was clear that they were very familiar with fighting alongside one another, and they resembled a single, unified entity.
The oing wood-attribute Dao Warriors disyed no fear as they plunged their weapons into the ground, which immediately began to rumble and tremble violently.
The Eagle Nose King''s brows furrowed slightly as he looked down to discover ayer of slick moss rapidly spreading over the ground toward him, while thick vines erupted out of the earth.
The ground below crumbled with a thunderousmotion, and countless vines sprang out of the ground like devilish tentacles before piercing into the four symbols array.
"You know what? I may get involved, after all," the Eagle Nose King murmured to himself, following which ayer of ck devilish mes emerged over his body, and he sprang up into the air like a majestic bird of prey before also swooping into the array.
Meanwhile, Han Li and the others were facing off against the remaining Dao Warriors.
Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan seemed to have connected their immortal spiritual power through the use of some type of secret technique, and they were locked in battle against the water-attribute Dao Warriors.
The two of them swept their sleeves through the air to release torrents of water that kept the oing Dao Warriors at bay, and the water was also releasing plumes of white smoke that gave off a mesmerizing aroma.
At the same time, Lei Yuce, Wen Zhong, and Su Anqian were battling the earth-attribute stone golems.
These stone golems didn''t possess any strange abilities, but they were extremely strong and resilient. Every time they were struck down, they were always able to fully regenerate in a matter of seconds, and it was as if they possessed undying bodies.
As for Han Li, he had joined forces with Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 against the golden, spear-wielding Dao warriors.
Their suits of armor were no less resilient than the bodies of the stone golems, and with each thrust of their spears, arrows of golden light would erupt out of the corkscrew-shaped tips.
These arrows of golden light were extremely sharp, and even though Han Li was maintaining a distance of over a hundred feet from the Dao Warriors, the arrows of light were still able to reach him in an instant.
What was even more problematic was that even though these Dao Warriors didn''t seem to possess any intelligence, they were working together extremely seamlessly like a disciplined and well-trained army, and there were no holes in their defense for Han Li''s trio to exploit.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly yelled, "Look out!"
Fox 3 immediately twisted to the side upon hearing this, and he was only just barely able to evade two arrows of golden light that had suddenly shot down at him from above.
Even though he was able to evade the attack, a gash was still sliced into his shoulder, and blood began to flow from the wound.
He took a nce at the gash, and it wasn''t severe, so he threw himself back into the battle.
However, shortly thereafter, he discovered that not only had the gash not healed, his entire arm had be incredibly heavy, as if it had been injected with lead.
He hurriedly called out for Han Li and Wyrm 3 to cover him, while he took several pills before closing his eyes to meditate. However, to his astonishment, he discovered that the pills had no effect on the wound at all.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he flipped a hand over to produce a yellow gourd, which he turned upside-down to conjure up a yellow vortex.
A series of yellow beans flew out of the vortex before transforming into an army of lightning-armored Dao Warriors to oppose the golden Dao Warriors.
Han Li''s Dao Warriors were of a far inferior caliber, so they were no match for their opponents, but they excelled in numbers, and they were able to assist Wyrm 3 in holding off all of the enemy Dao Warriors for now.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Han Li immediately flew over to Fox 3''s side, and thetter looked up at him with tightly furrowed brows as he said, "Make sure you don''t get struck by those arrows of golden light, Fellow Daoist Han. This tiny gash refuses to stop bleeding, and it''s made my arm so heavy that I can barely lift it. On top of that, even taking pills hasn''t had any effect."
A contemtive look appeared in Han Li''s eyes upon hearing this, following which a burst of golden light emerged over the palm of his hand as he gently brushed it over the wound.
A small tree projection appeared over the wound amid a sh of golden light, and it was none other than the Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree.
As soon as the tree emerged, its roots burrowed deep into Fox 3''s wound before releasing waves of golden ripples, and Fox 3 immediately felt a burst of heat flow through his entire arm.
To his surprise, his arm didn''t feel as heavy as before, and the bleeding had also ceased.
"I''ve only used my timew powers to temporarily seal your wound so that it won''t affect your mobility, so you''re going to have to find some other way to expel that burst of power from your bodyter," Han Li said.
"That''s fine. You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Han," Fox 3 replied with a nod.
Chapter 1111: Fight for the Lamp
Chapter 1111: Fight for the Lamp
Han Li turned and cast his gaze toward the five-colored altar beyond the Dao Warriors as a contemtive look appeared on his face.
"What is it, Fellow Daoist Han?" Fox 3 asked.
Instead of answering his questions, Han Li turned to Wyrm 3 as he called out, "Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3, these Dao Warriors are able to draw power from the altar, and we won''t be able to eradicate them unless we can cut them off from their power source."
"Do you have any ideas, Fellow Daoist Han?" Wyrm 3 asked as she also disengaged herself from the battle.
"I want to try and use my spirit domain to cut off this connection, but my spirit domain alone most likely doesn''t possess the power required to aplish this, so I''m going to require your assistance," Han Li said.
"So all you need me to do is release my spirit domain?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"That''s right. Just release your spirit domain to epass a small area and focus only on the metal-attribute Dao Warriors. Once we''ve eradicated them, we''ll be able to wipe out the rest," Han Li replied.
"Alright, in that case, let''s begin," Wyrm 3 said.
"There''s no hurry, I''ll inform the others of my n first," Han Li replied, then informed Lei Yuce and the others of his proposed course of action so that they could prepare themselves ordingly.Once everyone had been alerted to what was going to happen, Han Li gave Wyrm 3 a nod, following which his time spirit domain abruptly shrank drastically in size, while a dark red spirit domain emerged at almost the exact same moment.
The two spirit domains ovepped virtually perfectly with one another, only epassing the metal-attribute Dao Warriors within it.
As a result, Lei Yuce and the others were left exposed outside the time spirit domain, and they hurriedly channeled their immortal spiritual power with all their might to ward off the effects of the Eon Divine Lamp''s timew powers.
Meanwhile, a peculiar aura began to emanate from Han Li and Wyrm 3''s spirit domains, and the two spirit domains began to glow far brighter than before.
The golden spears wielded by the metal-attribute Dao Warriors trapped within the two spirit domains immediately began to dim, and the arrows of golden light that they released faded away altogether.
"It''s working! Don''t let them get away!" Han Li yelled in an ted manner, and the three of them immediately sprang into action, quickly eradicating all of the metal-attribute Dao Warriors with the assistance of Han Li''s lightning-armored Dao Warriors.
Immediately thereafter, a resounding boom rang out elsewhere in the pce, and a burst of mes rose up into the air. It seemed that the Dao Warriors over there had been eradicated by Qi Mozi as well.
With two groups of Dao Warriors destroyed, the five-elemental array was instantly rendered iplete, and it was only a matter of time before the rest of the Dao Warriors were going to be wiped out.
Han Li hurriedly stowed away what remained of his Dao Warriors upon seeing this, then began to rush toward the altar.
However, right at this moment, a burst of ck and white light abruptly rose up from the ground, then transformed into a ck and white figure that sprang over everyone, flying directly toward the altar.
It was a young woman dressed in a ck and white robe. The woman waspletely expressionless, and there was ayer of faint ck and white light over her body.
To Han Li''s surprise, even though he was able to see the woman, his spiritual sense wasn''t able to detect any aura from her at all, as if she were nothing more than an illusion, and judging from everyone else''s stunned reactions, it was clear that the same applied to them as well.
"A puppet imbued with yin yangw powers? That''s certainly a rare sight. Which one of you does this puppet belong to?" Qi Mozi asked with a cold sneer as he swept his gaze over everyone present.
Puzzled looks appeared on everyone''s faces upon hearing this, and even though they had no idea who the puppet belonged to, they immediatelyunched themselves at the altar as well.
The yin yang puppet thrust a palm forward through the air, releasing a burst of ck and white light that formed a circr, yin yang shield that was around three feet in radius. The ck and white halves of the yin yang shield were revolving incessantly, and it was able to ward off the restrictive power in the air to reach the altar without any resistance.
As opposed to the golden scroll, the ck, triangr tablet, or the goldenmp, the puppet was reaching for the bonded soul tablets of Qu Lin''s trio.
An urgent look appeared on Fox 3''s face upon seeing this, and he summoned his Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber before shing it at the puppet from behind.
A streak of crescent-shaped crimson light immediately swept through the air toward the puppet, and in response, the puppet made a strange hand seal with its other hand, upon which a giant yin yang symbol was conjured up behind it.
The streak of crimson light struck the yin yang symbol, and thetter shuddered violently, following which piercing, crimson light exploded in all directions, slicing through the surrounding space.
However, in the next instant, the yin yang symbol began to revolve rapidly while releasing a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations, and all of the crimson light was sucked into it in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, the puppet was already reaching down to grab the three crimson tablets beneath the goldenmp.
However, right at this moment, themp suddenly shuddered violently as it began to glow with dazzling, golden light, and the me at its center reared to release waves of golden fire that proliferated through the air in all directions.
The puppet was closest to themp, so it was naturally struck first, and it only just barely had time to conjure up another yin yang symbol in front of itself before the wave of fire crashed into its body, sending it flying over everyone''s heads before tumbling to the ground, where it instantly vanished into the earth.
Lei Yuce and the others hurriedly rushed back in retreat in the face of the oing waves of fire, but they had been caught off guard.
Lan Yuanzi hurriedly pulled Lan Yan behind himself, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon the blue pouch, which released a wave of blue water that formed a barrier of water in front of them.
The mes shed against the barrier of water, resulting in an explosion of blue water lightning, Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan retreated as quickly as they could before tumbling to the ground.
Thetter waspletely unscathed, but the former couldn''t help but throw up a mouthful of blood.
"Are you alright?" Lan Yan hurriedly asked as she grabbed onto his arm to support him, and Lan Yuanzi assured her that he was fine before stowing the blue pouch away again.
Compared with them, everyone had been dealt even heavier blows, and they were all reeling from the impact.
Even the five devilish beings had been forced back in retreat, despite their formidable physical constitutions.
Xiong Shan was aware that he was the weakest out of everyone present, so he didn''t even dare to approach the altar in the first ce, and he had been spared of harm for his foresight.
In contrast with everyone else, Han Li and Qi Mozi were forcing their way through the waves of fire as they continued to rush toward the altar.
Han Li was surrounded by manifestations of his five time-attributew treasures, which kept the fiery waves at bay as he forged ahead, while Qi Mozi only had his Time Severing Torch hovering before him, but it was giving off even more formidable timew power fluctuations than Han Li''sw treasure manifestations.
On top of that, his cultivation base also far surpassed Han Li''s, so he was able to reach the altar first.
"The Eon Divine Lamp is mine!" he chortled with glee as he reached for themp, grabbing onto it before attempting to pull it off the altar, but it remainedpletely still, as if it had taken root there.
Qi Mozi''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he released his Great Epassment Stage in its entirety as he pulled on themp with all his might.
The Eon Divine Lamp finally tilted slightly, and a drop of goldenmp oil sshed out from inside before being ignited by themp''s me.
An rmed look appeared on Qi Mozi''s face upon seeing this, and his Time Severing Torch instantly vanished into his body at his behest.
At the same time, ayer of golden mes emerged over the length of his entire arm.
As soon as the spark spilled down onto the ground, it immediately reared up as a wave of golden fire that surged toward Qi Mozi''s me-enveloped arm.
The fire on Qi Mozi''s arm was only able to resist for a moment before all of it retreated into his body, leaving his arm to be swallowed up by the wave of golden fire, and it was reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, Han Li had also arrived on the altar, and he reached out for the other items on the altar outside of themp.
An rmed look appeared on Qi Mozi''s face as his incinerated arm detached itself from his body at his shoulder on its own, while he also reached out his other hand for the other items on the altar.
Han Li was able to capture the golden scroll and two of the crimson tablets, while the triangr, ck tablet and the final crimson tablet fell into Qi Mozi''s grasp.
Neither of them were willing to settle for this oue, but it was too dangerous to stay on the altar, so instead of engaging each other in battle, both of them immediately darted back in retreat.
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Chapter 1112: Daoist Master Dao Yin
Chapter 1112: Daoist Master Dao Yin
Right at this moment, countless shing specks of golden light appeared on the walls of the pce.
These specks of light then joined up to form a thick, golden light barrier that epassed the entire pce, including even the ground and the ceiling.
The light barrier was so dense that it was almost opaque, and it appeared nigh indestructible.
The spatial fluctuations in the pce became more and more condensed, and it waspletely isted from the outside world, bing apletely independent space.
At the same time, the me in the Eon Divine Lamp on the altar began to glow far brighter than before, and the timew power fluctuations that it was giving off had also be far more formidable.
Immediately thereafter, nine fiery dragons erupted out of themp before pouncing at Han Li and Qi Mozi.
Having already learned the power of themp''s fire the hard way, Qi Mozi immediately shot back in retreat, not daring to oppose the fiery dragons.
Han Li was retreating even faster than him, covering a distance of several thousand feet in a sh beforending on the ground far away from the altar.
As soon as theynded on the ground, they were immediately swarmed by the nearby Dao Warriors.
Even though the Dao Warriors'' five-elemental array had been broken, there were still quite a few of them left, but they were far less powerful than before.
Han Li made a hand seal, and countless streaks of peerlessly sharp golden sword qi erupted out of his body in all directions.
A string of dull thuds rang out as the nearby Dao Warriors were sent flying back through the air to create arge, open area around Han Li, but more Dao Warriors continued to charge at him without any fear for their own safety.
Right at this moment, Wyrm 3''s voice rang out.
"Come over here, Fellow Daoist Han!"
Han Li turned to discover Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 standing with their backs against one of the pce''s walls, using their immortal treasures to force back all of the Dao Warriors within a radius of several dozen feet.
Han Li immediately flew over to the two of them as a streak of golden light, and Fox 3 turned to him with an intrigued expression as he said, "Impressive as always, Fellow Daoist Han. Which two bonded soul tablets did you manage to acquire?"
Han Li cast his gaze toward the pair of crimson tablets in his hand upon seeing this. In his haste to retreat from the altar, he hadn''t yet inspected the tablets.
Each tablet had a tiny image etched onto it, depicting a golden beetle and a white horse.
Fox 3''s expression instantly darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he turned his gaze to Qi Mozi.
Wyrm 3 didn''t seem to be interested in the three items that Han Li had imed from the altar, and she also turned her gaze to Qi Mozi, who had already retreated back to join the five devilish beings.
His incinerated arm was still burning, and the golden me was rapidly making its way toward his shoulder, incinerating all of the flesh and bone along the way.
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"Chief Warden, your arm!" Xiong Shan eximed.
"Calm down, it''s just a minor injury," Qi Mozi harrumphed, then opened his mouth to release a small, golden sword.
The golden sword sliced through his shoulder, severing a small chunk of flesh, following which the wound was immediately shrouded in ayer of golden light to prevent bleeding.
As soon as the chunk of flesh left his body, it immediately erupted into mes and was burned into ashes.
Qi Mozi then promptly devoured a green pill, and he was able to quickly regrow a new arm that was identical to the previous one.
Han Li turned his gaze away from Qi Mozi to assess the battlefield, and in doing so, he discovered that the Lan siblings were locked in battle against some Dao Warriors nearby, but Lei Yuce, Wen Zhong, and Su Anqian were nowhere to be seen.
Han Li was just about to release his spiritual sense to search for the trio when they appeared directly above the altar amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, and they were joined by an elderly man dressed in a daoist robe.
The man was holding a palm-sized golden talisman, upon which was etched the image of a goldenmp that was identical to the Eon Divine Lamp.
The golden talisman was giving off radiant, golden light that contained formidable timew power fluctuations identical to the ones being given off by the Eon Divine Lamp, and the talisman flew through the air as a streak of golden light at the elderly man''s behest, vanishing into the Eon Divine Lamp in a sh.
The me in themp instantly shrank down to its original size, while everyone else in the pce looked on with stunned expressions.
"That''s Daoist Master Dao Yin, the master of the Almighty Sword Sect!" Wyrm 3 eximed.
The five devilish beings shuddered slightly in fear upon hearing this, while Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan also distanced themselves further from Daoist Master Dao Yin with fearful looks on their faces.
Han Li''s brows also furrowed slightly upon hearing this. After arriving in the Golden Origin Immortal Region, he had naturally taken it upon himself to learn about this immortal region, and he had certainly looked into a major sect like the Almighty Sword Sect.
Daoist Master Dao Yin of the Almighty Sword Sect was extremely renowned in the Golden Origin Immortal Region, and it was no exaggeration to say that his reputation exceeded even that of Dongfang Bai.
Not only was he a Great Epassment cultivator, he had an extremely fiery and unyielding personality, and he was renowned for his bitter resentment of all forces of evil.
It was said that he had been in seclusion for a very long time, attempting to sever his first corpse soul, and it was unclear whether he had seeded in this endeavor.
How did Daoist Master Dao Yin manage to get in here?
The entrance of the pce was already closed, and even a Great Epassment cultivator wouldn''t have been able to sneak in easily. Could it be that this had something to do with that yin yang puppet from earlier?
Before long, the answer was revealed by Lei Yuce, who chanted an incantation before sweeping a sleeve through the air to conjure up a spatial door.
Han Li was very familiar with spatial doors like this as it was the entrance to a spatial treasure.
Three figures, two men and a woman, flew out of the spatial door to join Lei Yuce''s group at the top of the altar, and judging from the attire, it was clear that they were all cultivators of the Almighty Sword Sect.
The two men consisted of a yellow-skinned elderly man and a red-haired young man, while the woman was quite youthful in appearance and had a pea-sized green gemstone embedded into her be, giving her a sense of exotic allure.
The three of them were all mid-High Zenith cultivators.
"What is the meaning of this, Fellow Daoist Lei?" Wyrm 3 asked in a grim voice.
Lei Yuce remained silent, while Daoist Master Dao Yin swept a resentful gaze over everyone in the pce as he said in a cold voice, "All of you scoundrels have been recklessly taking treasures from this ce with no regard for the consequences! This is where you die for your transgressions!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a sleeve through the air to summon a jade te roughly the size that was roughly a foot in diameter.
The te was split up into five sections, each of which was a different color, namely golden, green, blue, red, and yellow, and there were many runes engraved onto each section, giving it the appearance of a profound treasure.
Everyone collectively backed away a few steps with wary looks on their faces upon seeing this.
In contrast with everyone else, a look of bewilderment appeared on Qi Mozi''s face at the sight of the five-colored te, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a virtually identical five-colored te of his own.
A derisive sneer appeared on Daoist Master Dao Yin''s face upon seeing this, and he made a hand seal while chanting aplex incantation.
The five-colored te before him instantly began to radiate, golden, green, blue, red, and yellow light in an alternating fashion, while Qi Mozi was also attempting to activate his own five-colored te, but to his surprise, it disyed no reaction.
All of a sudden, the ground near the altar began to rumble violently as five massive jade pirs that were over a thousand feet tall and around forty to fifty feet in diameter rose up from the ground.
Lei Yuce and Su Anqian flew onto the golden and blue pirs, respectively, before sitting down with their legs crossed, while the three Almighty Sword Sect cultivators that had just appeared flew onto the remaining three pirs, leaving only Wen Zhong standing behind Daoist Master Dao Yin.
His gaze fell upon the five people on the jade pirs, particrly lingering on Lei Yuce for a brief moment, and in that moment, a hint of envy and dissatisfaction shed through his eyes.
After Lei Yuce and the others had sat down, they each made a rapid string of hands seals, injecting dense streams of incantation seals into the jade pirs beneath them.
The spirit patterns on the five pirs instantly lit up, forming five thick pirs of light that erupted into the heavens.
A tremendous aura rose up from within the five pirs of light before sweeping through the air in all directions, causing the nearby space to ripple slightly.
All of the Dao Warriors in the pce were swept up like falling leaves in a fierce storm, crashing heavily into the walls of the pce.
Han Li and the others were also forced to stumble back by the formidable storm, and only when their backs hit the walls behind them were they able to steady themselves.
Qi Mozi was the only one who remained standing on the spot, and he continued to try and activate the five-colored te before him, but it remained unresponsive.
"Give it up, you fool!" Daoist Master Dao Yin sneered. "That five-elemental te for yours may have been able to control the array from before, but it can''t control the current Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array!"
A look of realization appeared on Qi Mozi''s face upon hearing this, and hisplexion paled slightly as he eximed, "You altered the structure of the array while repairing the array cores!"
"So it seems like you''re not aplete idiot. It was clear to us that the Heavenly Court was definitely going to send someone to infiltrate the newly opened Tai Sui Immortal Manor, so we prepared ordingly," Daoist Master Dao Yin gloated as he continued to make hand seals with more urgency, and the five pirs of light grew brighter and brighter while beginning to disy signs of fusing together.
Chapter 1113: Trapped
Chapter 1113: Trapped
Wyrm 3''s expression changed drastically at the mention of the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array, and she hurriedly called out in a panic, "We can''t let them activate the array!"
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The dark red light around her brightened significantly as she spoke, and she began flying toward the five pirs of light while resisting the fierce storm raging in the pce.
Neither Han Li nor Fox 3 had heard of this array before, but Wyrm 3''s reaction told them that it was not to be taken lightly, and they immediately followed along behind her.
A cold sneer appeared on Daoist Master Dao Yin''s face, and he didn''t appear to be concerned in the slightest as he swept his golden talisman through the air.
The me in the Eon Divine Lamp instantly reared up once again, and nine fiery, golden dragons re-emerged, then swelled rapidly to several dozen times their original size before pouncing at Han Li''s trio.
Having already witnessed the power of these fiery dragons, Han Li''s trio hurriedly attempted to take evasive measures, but right at this moment, a sly grin appeared on Wyrm 3''s face as she swept her right hand through the air, releasing arge, yellow seal.
The seal passed through a gap in between the nine fiery dragons, appearing before the five jade pirs in the blink of an eye.
Wyrm 3 chanted a rapid incantation while pointing a finger at the seal, and a resounding thump rang out as the seal released a burst of astonishing spiritual pressure, coupled with blinding, yellow light that containedyers uponyers of profound andplex yellow runes.
These runes vanished into the seal in a sh, causing it to swell rapidly to the size of a small mountain, taking up close to half of the space in the pce as it crashed toward the five jade pirs with unstoppable might.
Compared with the enormous yellow seal, the five jade pirs were made to appear like mere chopsticks.
"I''m afraid this is not the right ce to be using the Vast Earth Seal," Daoist Master Dao Yin remarked in an indifferent manner as he pointed a finger at the yellow jade pir, and a burst of yellow light instantly split off from it to strike the yellow seal.
As soon as the seal came into contact with this streak of yellow light, it quickly shrank down to its original size, then flew into the pir of yellow light, where it revolved incessantly above the yellow-faced elderly man''s head.
A stunned look appeared on Wyrm 3''s face upon seeing this.
"Those five immortal treasures that you took are all a part of the array to begin with. Otherwise, why do you think we allowed you to im these treasures so easily? It''s time for you to cough those treasures back up now!" Daoist Master Dao Yin sneered as heid a palm down onto the five-colored jade te, which immediately lit up, as did the five pirs of light.
All of a sudden, the Primordial Ancient Sword in Xiong Shan''s hand began to glow radiantly before flying out of his grasp toward the pir of yellow light in the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array, and it refused to return to him despite his frantic efforts to recover it.
The blue pouch in Lan Yan''s hand also lit up before flying out of her grasp toward the pir of blue light, while a green cane that was over two feet in length flew out of Lan Yuanzi''s storage treasure without any warning before flying toward the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array as well.
At the same time, the white bead emerged beside Han Li amid a burst of spatial fluctuations before flying through the air, and he immediately reached out to make a grab for it.
A giant, golden hand appeared above the bead before closing itself around it, but the white bead released several pirs of fire that tore through the giant hand before eradicating it with ease.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and the white bead flew into the pir of red light in a sh, while the other three immortal treasures also flew into the golden, blue, and green pirs of light, where they circled around in the air above Lei Yuce and the others.
Bolstered by these five immortal treasures, the five pirs of light lit up even further while giving off astonishingw power fluctuations.
Meanwhile, Daoist Master Dao Yin set down the golden talisman in his hand, then opened his mouth to release several globules of blood essence that fused into the five-colored te before him.
At the same time, he cast a rapid string of incantation seals into the te, and Lei Yuce and the others followed his lead, opening their mouths to release their blood essence into the immortal treasures above their heads.
The five-colored light emanating from the five-colored te shed erratically for a moment before abruptly fading away, while the five pirs of light intertwined with one another to form a spherical, five-colored light barrier that epassed the altar alongside Su Anqian and all of the Almighty Sword Sect cultivators.
This sequence of events had unfolded in the span of mere seconds, and Han Li and others were powerless to stop it.
Meanwhile, a drastic change was also taking ce outside the Eon Pce.
A resounding boom rang out from each of the five array cores on the giant mountain, and they each released a thick pir of light that was countless times thicker than the pirs of light in the Eon Pce.
The clouds up above instantly began to churn violently, while the entire seventh level also began to tremble and quake.
All of the world''s origin qi in the entire level surged into the five gargantuan pirs of light, and a vast, five-colored, spherical light barrier began to slowly emerge around the five pirs of light, epassing the entirety of the enormous mountain down below.
A burst of unfathomable power began emanating from the five-colored light barrier, and even a slight ripple in this power was enough to shatter the nearby space.
At this point, all of the unrest taking ce in the Eon Pce had already ceased, and all of the spiritual qi inside had fused into the five-colored light barrier.
A series of five-colored spirit patterns appeared on the light barrier, giving off a gentle, five-colored glow that appeared to bepletely innocuous.
However, Han Li was struck by an intense sense of foreboding at the sight of the five-colored light barrier.
All of a sudden, the Almighty Sword Diagram in his storage tool began to glow radiantly, as if it werepeting against the five-colored light barrier.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, but given the urgency of the situation, there were more pressing concerns for him to worry about.
"Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3, you seem to be quite familiar with this Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array, what kind of array is it?" he asked through voice transmission so that his voice was audible only to Wyrm 3 and Fox 3.
"The Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array is one of the ten supreme ancient arrays, but it''s been lost for countless years, so very few people know of it. This array doesn''t appear to beplete, and it''s only just barely able to function thanks to the five immortal treasures, but even so, the array is most likely going to be far too powerful for us to resist," Wyrm 3 replied with a grim expression.
"What do we do then?" Fox 3 asked in an urgent manner.
"At this point, all we can do is hold on and hope for the best," Wyrm 3 replied with a heavy heart.
The color slowly drained from Fox 3''s face upon hearing this, and a grim look had also appeared on Han Li''s face, but he was able to stave off the grips of despair as he swept his gaze over the surrounding pce.
Daoist Master Dao Yin clearly intended to kill everyone in one fell swoop, but there was no way that Qi Mozi and the five devilish beings would simply roll over and allow themselves to be in.
If all of them could join forces, then they would stand a much better chance at survival, but Daoist Master Dao Yin had clearly already assessed the situation and determined that there was no way that everyone present could work together.
"Fellow Daoist Qi Mozi, didn''t you tell us that you can capture the Eon Divine Lamp and control the array in this ce? What''s going on here?" the White Bone King asked in a cold voice through voice transmission, while the other devilish beings also turned to him with usatory looks in their eyes.
Qi Mozi had told them that he could control everything in the Eon Pce, and that once they arrived in this ce, they would be able to easily kill Han Li and the others, after which Qi Mozi would split half of their treasures with the five devilish beings.
The five devilish beings had apanied Qi Mozi here as they were extremely confident in their own powers, but things hadn''t gone ording to n at all.
Qi Mozi remained silent with a dark look on his face.
Meanwhile, Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan had backed away even further from the altar, arriving near the entrance of the pce, but they chose not to approach Han Li''s trio or Qi Mozi''s group, clearly not trusting any of them.
At this point, Daoist Master Dao Yin had already stopped what he was doing.
Hisplexion was rather pale, indicating that he had exerted himself quite severely in activating the array, but there was a fervent look of excitement in his eyes, and he turned to Han Li and the others with a derisive sneer as he swept a sleeve through the air.
The five-colored light barrier around him immediately lit up, following which countless head-sized balls of light flew out from within before hurtling toward everyone in the pce.
These balls of light were shing with five-colored radiance, and each type of light was giving offw powers corresponding with one of the five elements.
The five types ofw powers were conflicting violently with one another, but they didn''tpletely erupt. Even so, the destructive aura being released by the conflictingw powers still struck fear deep into everyone''s hearts, and they hurriedly adopted measures to defend themselves.
The five devilish beings revealed their true, devilish forms while unleashing their spirit domains in unison, and the five spirit domains intertwined with one another to form an ovr ck array with five giant, ck beastly projections inside, serving as the domain spirits.
The five domain spirits were extremely formidable, sting arcs of ck lightning and torrents of ck, devilish mes out of their mouths to significantly bolster the five spirit domains.
Thisbination of their spirit domains was one of their most powerful trump cards, and in addition to that, the five devilish beings had opened their mouths to release a vast array of close to a hundred devilish treasures, all of which were giving off incredibly formidable devilish qi fluctuations.
The five spirit domains didn''t epass Qi Mozi and Xiong Shan, perhaps because the five devilish beings were resentful of Qi Mozi for his inability to follow through on his promises.
Chapter 1114: Casualties
Chapter 1114: Casualties
A cold sneer appeared on Qi Mozi''s face upon seeing this, and he didn''t appear concerned in the slightest.
A burst of golden light erupted out of his body, forming a golden spirit domain that was over a hundred feet in size to epass both himself and Xiong Shan.
The spirit domain was extremely dense, making it impossible to see what was happening inside from the outside.
The waterw powers cultivated by the Lan siblings excelled in defense, so they had been quite confident in their ability to ward off the attacks of the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array on their own, and that was why they had chosen to act on their own.
However, their expressions instantly changed slightly upon sensing the power of these five-colored balls of light, and they hurriedly released their spirit domains beforebining them together.
Plumes of bluew threads flew out of their bodies before intertwining with one another to form a blue vortex around them, and two domain spirits appeared beside the vortex, both of which had humanoid upper bodies paired with serpentine, with each of them wielding a blue trident.
The two domain spirits rapidly revolved around Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan while swinging their tridents through the air to release countless arcs of blue water lightning.
Meanwhile, Han Li''s trio had also set up some defenses.
Fox 3 was the first one to spring into action, releasing his spirit domain while also summoning his Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber.
He opened his mouth to release a ball of blood essence into the saber, and it immediately began to glow with incandescent crimson light while swelling drastically to several hundred feet in size.
At the same time, he made an urgent string of hand seals, and the giant, crimson saber transformed into a light barrier around the trio.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 3 had also unfurled her spirit domain, and four streaks of dark red light flew out of her body beforending around the spirit domain, where they revealed themselves to be four dark red archways.
The archways had the characters for north, south, east, and west inscribed upon them, and they were releasing countless rays of dark red light that intertwined to form a protective light barrier.
As for Han Li, he had also released his time spirit domain, and it epassed an area that was only less than two hundred feet in size, forming the innermostyer of defense.
At the same time, the Profound Heavenly Gourd appeared above his head, following which thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew out from within to form a defensive sword array.
Immediately thereafter, the barrage of five-colored balls of light came crashing down, and they exploded violently as soon as they came into contact with the defenses that everyone had set up.
The entire pce was instantly inundated by dazzling, five-colored radiance, but the golden light barrier around the pce remainedpletely unmoved.
The crimson saber barrier conjured up by Fox 3 was the first to be destroyed by the balls of five-colored light, and it was barely able to pose any resistance.
The destroyed light barrier reverted back into the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, and it quickly returned to its original size before flying back into Fox 3''s grasp with an anguished wail.
The spirit domain around Fox 3 also exploded in the face of the oing barrage, and he shuddered violently as he stumbled back while throwing up a mouthful of blood.
The barrage of five-colored light then struck Wyrm 3''s spirit domain, and she immediately released a flurry of dark redw threads, which split up into six batches that transformed into six rapidly revolving holes.
The holes were pitch-ck andpletely devoid of light, looking as if they led straight into the depths of hell.
The balls of five-colored light struck the dark red light barrier, causing it to tremble violently, and the outermost parts of the spirit domain immediately began to disintegrate.
However, Wyrm 3''s spirit domain was far more resilient than Fox 3''s, and the six ck holes were releasing tremendous suction force, devouring much of the destructive five-colored light while also nullifying the explosive five-elementalw powers within them.
However, there were simply too many of these balls of five-colored light, and the six ck holes were quickly overwhelmed, following which the entire spirit domain exploded violently.
The wave of five-colored light then struck the light barrier formed by the four archways, which began to sh erratically while giving offw power fluctuations that were far more formidable than those of Han Li''s Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
The dark red light barrier was trembling violently, but it was able to keep the five-colored light at bay.
However, it was only able to do so for a few seconds before it also crumbled, causing Wyrm 3 to throw up a mouthful of blood as her aura diminished significantly.
After overwhelming the dark red light barrier, the five-colored light swarmed over the four archways, then continued onward without pause.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and over two hundred timew threads flew out of his body before revolving through the air within his time spirit domain, significantly bolstering it in the process.
At the same time, his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him, then released countless waves of golden ripples that fused as one with his spirit domain.
As soon as the wave of five-colored light surged into his time spirit domain, it was instantly stopped cold in its tracks by the opposing timew powers.
However, the five-colored light was imbued with unfathomable power, and the time spirit domain and Mantra Treasured Axis quickly began to tremble violently, looking as if they could be overwhelmed at any moment.
Han Li had encountered a simr scenario in the Almighty Sword Array, but this Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array was a far more powerful array, and it had almost instantly overwhelmed his Mantra Treasured Axis.
Despite this, Han Li remained unflustered as he quickly made a hand seal, and his four other time-attributew treasures emerged in unison, then began releasing radiant, golden light that infused itself into the time spirit domain.
The wavering spirit domain was instantly stabilized,pletely immobilizing all of the five-colored light that had surged into it.
Immediately thereafter, the sword array formed by the thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords sprang into action at his behest, and countless streaks of peerlessly sharp sword qi swept through the spirit domain, eradicating much of the five-colored light.
At the same time, his Profound Heavenly Gourd began to glow radiantly, and it released a burst of green light that swept toward what remained of the five-colored light in the time spirit domain.
All of the remaining five-colored light was instantly sucked into the Profound Heavenly Gourd, and even though more and more five-colored light continued to surge into the time spirit domain, it continued to be immobilized, eradicated, and devoured.
Finally, the five-colored light in the pce faded away, revealing the aftermath of the barrage.
Over at the entrance of the pce, Lan Yan''s entire body was drenched in blood, and she was seated on the ground, missing her left hand, left foot, and close to half of her body.
However, she paid no heed to her own injuries as she stared nkly down at a blue jade flower in her right hand with tears streaming down her cheeks.
Lan Yuanzi was nowhere to be seen, and all that was left of him was a pair of destroyed immortal treasures.
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Thebined spirit domains of the five devilish beings had also been destroyed, and on top of that, the Copper Lion King and the Blood Hand King had also disappeared, while the three remaining devilish beings were all carrying severe injuries and had looks of shock and horror on their faces.
There was a ball of bright, golden light beside them, and it dissipated to reveal Qi Mozi and Xiong Shan, both of whom werepletely unscathed.
Inside the five-colored light barrier, Daoist Master Dao Yin''splexion had paled even further, and the same applied to Lei Yuce and the others as well.
Han Li withdrew his time-attributew treasures, and Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 were a little unsteady on their feet, but they were very relieved to have survived the ordeal.
Daoist Master Dao Yin was clearly rather surprised to see that so many people were still alive, and a hint of killing intent appeared in his eyes as he pointed a finger at the five-colored jade te before him.
A grim look appeared on Wyrm 3''s face upon seeing this, and she turned to Han Li and Fox 3 as shemunicated through voice transmission, "At this rate, all of us are going to die here. I have a way to turn the tables, but I''m going to need your help."
Han Li immediately realized what Wyrm 3''s intentions were, and he asked, "Are you suggesting that we free that devilish deity?"
"We can''t do that! There''s a good chance that that devilish deity is a Dao Ancestor, so we''ll only be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire!" Fox 3 eximed.
"We have no choice! Also, I''m at least 70% confident that I can keep him from attacking us," Wyrm 3 replied, and Han Li''s heart jolted slightly upon hearing this.
For some reason, he had a feeling that freeing the devilish deity here was the best course of action. In fact, he had been struck by this feeling from the instant that he arrived in this ce, but he had suppressed it this entire time.
Indeed, just as Wyrm 3 had said, they hardly had a choice in the matter.
The Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array was clearly far too powerful for them to resist, and if everyone else here were killed, he was far from confident in his own ability to oppose the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array and the Almighty Sword Sect cultivators on his own.
As for the consequences of releasing that devilish deity, that was something that he didn''t want to think about.
Chapter 1115: Breakthrough
Chapter 1115: Breakthrough
"What do you think, Brother Han?" Fox 3 asked as he turned to Han Li.
"Releasing the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity is going to be very risky, but if Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3 has a way to keep him from attacking us, then I think it''s a feasible solution," Han Li replied as an inexplicable sense of urgency welled up in his heart.
Fox 3 was clearly quite surprised that Han Li had chosen to side with Wyrm 3, and he said, "I still think this isn''t a sound n. ording to what Lei Yuce said, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity is far more powerful than us, so what happens if we release him, only to be unable to control him? In my opinion, it would be best to break the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array, then try to resolve things peacefully with Daoist Master Dao Yin."
"You need to have more confidence in me," Wyrm 3 said as her brows furrowed slightly with displeasure. "Having said that, seeing as you insist on exploring other options first, then let''s try and deal with the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array for now. If the situation doesn''t take a turn for the better, then we can resort to our backup n of freeing the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity."
"Alright," Fox 3 acquiesced.
"Regardless of which course of action we choose to take, our top priority right now has to be to break through this light barrier, and that''s not going to be an easy task to aplish," Han Li interjected.
"You can rest assured on that front, Fellow Daoist Han. I''ve already nted something in the Vast Earth Seal that allows me to disrupt thew powers within the seal for a duration of five seconds at will. Those five fourth-tier immortal treasures are the foundation of the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array, so if something goes wrong with the Vast Earth Seal, then the light barrier will definitely be left vulnerable," Wyrm 3 said with a sly gleam in her eyes.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, and only now did he realize that those were five fourth-tier immortal treasures. Given the tremendous power of the immortal treasures, he had thought that they would''ve been at the third tier.
With that in mind, he couldn''t help but heave a forlorn internal sigh. He had been cultivating on his own for all these years, and even though his cultivation base had been progressing smoothly, he was severelycking in experience whenpared with someone like Wyrm 3, who had been nurtured by a major power.
Wyrm 3 had noticed the change in Han Li''s expression, and she asked, "Is there something wrong, Fellow Daoist Han?"
"Not at all," Han Li replied with a shake of his head. "Time is of the essence, so let''s begin."
Wyrm 3 nodded in response, and the three of them quickly discussed the strategy that they were going to adopt.
Shortly thereafter, the time spirit domain around Han Li expanded rapidly to epass the entire pce and everyone within it, following which Han Li''s trio pounced at the altar from three different directions at once.
The five-colored jade te in front of Daoist Master Dao Yin had only just lit up again when Han Li''s triounched themselves at the altar.
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The three of them were traveling at an astonishing speed, and reaching the five-colored light barrier in the blink of an eye.
A cold sneer appeared on Daoist Master Dao Yin''s face upon seeing this, and the five-colored light barrier instantly began to glow radiantly at his behest.
Even though he had been enshrouded in Han Li''s time spirit domain, his movements hadn''t slowed down at all, and somehow, Han Li''s timew powers were also proving to bepletely ineffective on the five-colored light barrier as well.
Han Li was rather bewildered to see this, but before he had a chance to ponder the situation, another flurry of balls of five-colored light erupted out of the light barrier.
Perhaps it was because this was a rather rushed barrage from Daoist Master Dao Yin, but the number of balls of light was far fewer than that of the previous wave.
Initially, these balls of light were as fast as ever, but after flying for some distance, they suddenly slowed down to a crawl.
A perplexed look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, only to be reced by a look of realization as his gaze fell upon the Eon Divine Lamp beside Daoist Master Dao Yin.
It seemed that everything within a certain range of the Eon Divine Lamp was able to remain unaffected by his time spirit domain.
With that in mind, it urred to him that the Eon Divine Lamp was even more profound and powerful than he had anticipated, and he couldn''t help but wonder how many timew threads he would be able to attain from refining it.
Even at a conservative estimate, the number surely had to be in excess of a thousand.
All of a sudden, an irrational urge to obtain the Eon Divine Lamp at all costs welled up in his heart, and he was startled by the intensity of this urge.
He hurriedly suppressed this impulsive thought, returning his attention to the crisis at hand.
There was still some agitation in his heart, but he had no time to address that for now.
In the face of the oing balls of five-colored light, he continued onward without pause while sweeping a sleeve through the air to release the Almighty Sword Array diagram.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 immediately sprang back in retreat without any hesitation.
They had only pounced forward as a bluff in the first ce so that Daoist Master Dao Yin''s attention wouldn''t be entirely focused on Han Li, and now that they had sessfully attracted some of the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array''s firepower, they had aplished their objective.
Even though there were fewer balls of light than in the previous wave, this was still too ferocious a barrage for them to withstand.
Daoist Master Dao Yin''s expression changed drastically at the sight of the Almighty Sword Array diagram, and he frantically made a string of hand seals, upon which all of the balls of light shooting out of the five-colored light barrier veered away from Han Li in a desperate attempt to avoid striking the array diagram.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this. Just as he had predicted, the array diagram was of sufficient importance to the Almighty Sword Sect that it could serve as an effective shield for him.
Immediately thereafter, he abruptly elerated to roughly twice his original speed, instantly flying through the storm of balls of light to arrive before the five-colored light barrier.
He then stowed the array diagram before thrusting his palms forward, and all of his timew threads erupted out of his body, while the time spirit domain around him also began to glow radiantly.
A metallic ng rang out as a giant, golden sword that was around a hundred feet in length and roughly five feet wide appeared in his hands.
The sword was enshrouded in ayer of fiery, golden light that was as bright as the sun, and Han Li swung the sword down with all his might, aiming it at a section of the five-colored light barrier near the yellow jade pir.
A derisive sneer surfaced in Daoist Master Dao Yin''s eyes upon seeing this, and he pointed a finger at the Vast Earth Seal above the yellow jade pir.
The seal released a thick pir of yellow light at his behest, and the yellow light surged into the section of the five-colored light barrier in front of Han Li, significantly bolstering it.
All of a sudden, Wyrm 3 abruptly stopped in her retreat, then began making a rapid string of hand seals, and ayer of dark red light suddenly appeared over the surface of the Vast Earth Seal, cutting off the pir of yellow light that it was releasing.
The yellow-faced elderly man seated on top of the yellow jade pir was very much taken aback by this, and he hurriedly made a string of hand seals to try and free the Vast Earth Seal from the restrictiveyer of dark red light, but to no avail.
At the same time, the section of the five-colored light barrier near the yellow jade pir began to rapidly thin out, to the point that it had almost disappeared altogether.
The balls of five-colored light hurtling through the air also disintegrated into specks of spiritual light, and before any of the Almighty Sword Sect cultivators had a chance to do anything, Han Li''s giant, golden sword had already struck the vulnerable area on the light barrier.
A loud, tearing sound rang out as a rift that was dozens of feet in length was sliced into the light barrier, much to the tion of Wyrm 3.
She began to chant an urgent incantation, and her spirit domain also erupted out of her body to epass the entire pce.
Immediately thereafter, sheunched herself at the rift in the light barrier as a streak of dark red light.
At the same time, Fox 3 summoned his Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, then transformed into a streak of gray light that adhered itself to the saber, which shot forth toward the rift in the light barrier at an even faster speed than Wyrm 3.
The expressions of Qi Mozi, Xiong Shan, and the remaining three devilish beings changed slightly upon seeing this, and the Turtle Back King turned to the Eagle Nose King as he asked through voice transmission, "This is a great opportunity to destroy the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array! Should we help them?"
"There''s no need for that. The ideal oue would be for them to wipe out each other. None of the humans here are to be trusted. While those three are drawing all of the firepower to themselves, we should take this opportunity to find a way out of here," the Eagle Nose King replied.
A hesitant look appeared on the Turtle Back King''s face upon hearing this.
"He''s right! This ce is far too dangerous for us. We should''ve never believed Qi Mozi''s lies! We''ve already lost two brothers here, it would be foolish to stay any longer!" the White Bone King urged in a grief-stricken manner.
"Alright, in that case, let''s see if we can find any weak points in the light barrier around this pce," the Turtle Back King replied.
Right as the three devilish beings were about to depart, a cold voice suddenly rang out beside them.
"You three are not going anywhere!"
Immediately thereafter, a golden spirit domain fell upon them, and Qi Mozi was hovering in the air above them with a mocking sneer on his face.
"What''s the meaning of this, Qi Mozi?" the Eagle Nose King yelled as he struggled against the spirit domain with all his might, but to no avail.
Chapter 1116: No Time to Waste
Chapter 1116: No Time to Waste
Qi Mozi offered no response to the Eagle Nose King aside from to erupt intoughter, and a vast expanse of golden light rose up within his spirit domain at his behest, then converged above the three devilish beings to form a projection of a golden man that was several hundred feet tall.
The man had a draconic lower body and the upper body of a middle-aged man with a coarse beard and thick, golden chest hair. There was a fiery, golden fan held in the man''s hand, and he was giving off an air of unmatched authority.
The man reached out toward the three devilish beings with one hand, and a burst of tremendous pressure instantly crashed down upon them,pletely immobilizing them and rendering them unable to utter even a single sound.
"I went out of my way to lure all of you here, and my intention was to im all of you, but it looks like I''ll have to make do with just the three of you," Qi Mozi chuckled as he swept a sleeve through the air, and a crimson cane with a nine-headed demonic dragon engraved onto its head flew out from behind him.
Seven of the draconic heads were giving off bright, crimson light, while the other two were dull andpletely devoid of luster.
As soon as the cane appeared, fierce gusts of yin wind instantly rose up around it, and a burst of bone-chilling demonic power began to emanate from the cane, unrestricted even by the surrounding time spirit domain.
Qi Mozi chanted an incantation before pointing a finger at the cane, which released a burst of crimson light that epassed the three devilish beings.
Bursts of crimson light began to surge out of their bodies and into the cane, and their bodies quickly became dried and withered, while the two demonic dragon heads on the cane began to glow with radiant, crimson light.
...... Meanwhile, Han Li had just flown through the rift in the five-colored light barrier, and he hurled his giant, golden sword through the air, sending it flying toward the yellow jade pir nearby.
A furious look appeared on Daoist Master Dao Yin''s face as he pointed a finger at the golden talisman in his hand, and a thick beam of golden light instantly erupted out of themp image on the talisman.
The image of themp instantly dimmed significantly, and the timew power fluctuations emanating from it had also be a lot weaker.
The beam of golden light shot into the Eon Divine Lamp, and two bursts of golden mes instantly erupted out of it.
One of them transformed into a fiery, golden dragon with a series of time dao runes all over its body, and it appeared before the yellow jade pir at an astonishing speed before reaching out with its ws to grab at the giant, golden sword.
As soon as the sword was caught in its grasp, the golden dragon wrapped its own body around the sword light lightning while sting a jet of golden mes into the sword, causing it to rapidly melt at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
Meanwhile, the other burst of golden mes descended in front of the altar, where it transformed into a fiery, golden barrier.
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, and he stopped in his tracks.
Daoist Master Dao Yin heaved a faint sigh of relief, then turned his gaze to Han Li with a hint of killing intent in his eyes.
Immediately thereafter, he swept a sleeve through the to release a streak of dazzling, white light that shot forth at Han Li at an incredible speed.
There wasn''t much distance separating the two of them, so the streak of white light was able to reach Han Li as if by instantaneous teleportation.
In response, Han Li conjured up his True Extreme Film while crossing his arms to form a defensive barrier in front of himself.
At the same time, thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords flew out of his body to form a golden sword barrier.
At the moment, he was in close proximity to the Eon Divine Lamp, which had already disyed its capability of nullifying his time spirit domain, so he wasn''t sure if his time-attributew treasures would be able to function here. Hence, he could only seek out alternative defensive measures.
Before Han Li had a chance to do anything else, the streak of white light struck the golden sword barrier with a resounding boom, and thetter was instantly shattered, while the former continued onward without pause to strike Han Li''s arms.
Han Li was instantly sent flying back through the air, only to draw to a shuddering halt as his back struck the five-colored light barrier.
A burst of intense pain shot up his arms, as if the bones inside had been fractured, and he hurriedly channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts to bolster his own physical constitution.
To furtherpound his woes, the streak of white light came hurtling toward him once again, and it was glowing even brighter than before.
Han Li hurriedly stepped to the side to dodge the attack while sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of green light that captured the streak of white light.
The streak of white light was instantly slowed down drastically as a result, but in the next instant, it released countless needle-like bursts of white light in all directions, which tore the surrounding green light apart, following which it continued to hurtle toward Han Li.
However, Han Li had already bought enough time for himself, and his thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords circled around through the air before hurtling toward the streak of white light as arcs of golden lightning.
At the same time, he adopted his Giant Mountain Ape form, transforming into a giant, golden ape in the blink of an eye.
A string of loud, metallic ngs rang out as the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords struck the streak of white light in rapid session, while the golden ape let loose a thunderous roar before swinging its massive fists down onto the streak of white light with tremendous power.
The streak of white light was finally knocked back, but the golden ape was also sent stumbling back with its fists severely ravaged and bloodied.
At this point, Han Li was able to identify the streak of white light as a small, white sword, but it was several times thicker than the average flying sword, giving it a rather strange, dull appearance.
However, it was giving off astonishingw power fluctuations that were inferior to those of the five immortal treasures in the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array, but not by much.
A look of surprise and agitation appeared in Daoist Master Dao Yin''s eyes, clearly caught off guard by the fact that Han Li had managed to withstand his attack with only such minor injuries to show for it, and he was just about to urge the white sword to spring into action again when Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 flew through the rift in the five-colored light barrier before pouncing at the altar.
Daoist Master Dao Yin hurriedly swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, releasing a golden spirit domain that expanded rapidly toward Han Li''s trio.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
The spirit domain was giving off metalw powers that were far more formidable than thew powers mastered by Han Li''s trio, and even before epassing them, it was already exerting immense pressure upon them.
Fox 3 immediately stopped in his tracks, then flipped a hand over to summon his Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, and at the same time, a gray spirit domain erupted out of his body.
He let loose a low roar as the gray spirit domain contracted rapidly to form a fist-sized ball of gray light, which vanished into the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber in a sh.
One of the four eyes on the two fox heads etched onto the guard of the saber instantly began to glow with bright, crimson light, following which a burst of tremendous power erupted out of the saber, as if it had finally awakened after a long slumber.
The entire saber began to glow radiantly, illuminating everything within the light barrier a crimson color, and Shi Qinghou emerged within the crimson light, making a rapid string of hand seals while countless crimson runes surged out of the saber.
Fox 3 let loose a loud roar as he swung the saber through the air with both hands, unleashing an all-epassing wave of crimson light that contained extremely formidablew power fluctuations, ones that weren''t inferior in the slightest to those in Daoist Master Dao Yin''s spirit domain.
The wave of crimson light struck the golden spirit domain, and the projection of Shi Qinghou swelled to over a thousand feet tall before pressing its hands down onto the golden spirit domain.
The spirit domain''s expansion was instantly stopped, unable to spread even an inch further.
After unleashing that saber strike, Fox 3''splexion instantly turned deathly pale, and all of the immortal spiritual power had been drained from his body.
He fell to one knee as his saber-wielding hand trembled uncontrobly, while Daoist Master Dao Yin looked on with a stunned expression.
He hurriedly made a hand seal, and the dull, white sword swelled to several hundred feet in size at his behest, then began sweeping through the air toward Han Li''s trio.
Right at this moment, Han Li abruptly appeared before the giant, white sword, having already reverted back to his human form.
All of a sudden, the huge, golden sword that had been ensnared by the fiery, golden dragon exploded violently at his behest, and the force of the explosion was enough to send the fiery dragon flying back through the air.
Over two hundred timew threads shot out of the explosion, then vanished into thin air, only to reappear beside Han Li an instantter.
Han Li began to chant an incantation while making a string of hand seals, and the timew threads intertwined to reform a giant, golden sword to oppose the oing white sword.
Chapter 1117: Abrupt Awakening
Chapter 1117: Abrupt Awakening
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the two giant swords shed, and Han Li was able to keep the white sword at bay, but he was sent flying back through the air from the force of the impact, throwing up a mouthful of blood in the process.
With his timew powers severely suppressed by the Eon Divine Lamp, he was no match for a Great Epassment cultivator.
However, despite the fact that he hade out on top in that sh, Daoist Master Dao Yin was stunned to see that Han Li managed to survive that attack, and he was also astonished by the seemingly endless bag of tricks that Han Li was able to pull from.
Wyrm 3 paid no heed to the sh taking ce between Han Li and Daoist Master Dao Yin as she sped toward the five-colored altar, but at the moment, the altar was enshrouded within a fiery barrier released by the Eon Divine Lamp.
She chanted an incantation as she raised her hands upward, and a series of dark redw threads flew out of her body, while the dark red light in the surrounding spirit domain rapidly converged toward her.
As more and morew threads emerged, herplexion paled further and further, as if all of her strength were being slowly sapped away.
However, there was a determined look of resolve in her eyes as she sped up even further in her chanting.
The surrounding space rumbled violently, and the dark redw threads intertwined to form a red wheel projection the size of a house.
There were six ck holes dotted around the wheel, within each of which was a burst of ck light that was revolving incessantly, forming a vortex that was giving off a burst of indescribable power, causing the nearby space to rumble violently.Wyrm 3 thrust her palms forward, and the dark red wheel instantly flew forward while revolving rapidly before crashing into the fiery, golden barrier.
Jets of golden mes erupted out of the fiery barrier as it trembled violently, but those mes were all snuffed out by theyer of ck light over the dark red wheel''s surface upon contact.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
An agitated look appeared on Daoist Master Dao Yin''s face as he was forced to turn his attention to Wyrm 3, and he cast a string of incantation seals into the fiery, golden barrier to fortify it.
In response, Wyrm 3 opened her mouth to release several balls of blood essence, following which her aura instantly became extremely feeble and diminished.
The balls of blood essence fused into the dark red wheel as plumes of blood mist, and it instantly began to elerate in its revolution, releasing a vast expanse of ck light that swept toward the fiery barrier.
Before long, the fiery barrier was overwhelmed by the ck light released by the wheel, and it exploded into countless specks of golden fire.
Only then did Daoist Master Dao Yin realize that Wyrm 3 was using thews of reincarnation.
Never had he imagined that these two High Zenith cultivators had both mastered one of the three paramountws, and their degree of mastery over their respectivew powers wasn''t inferior to that of the average Great Epassment cultivator.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and Lei Yuce and the others were also expending a great deal of effort just to maintain the array, so they were unable to assist Daoist Master Dao Yin at all.
"Fellow Daoist Han, now''s your chance!" Wyrm 3 yelled.
Herplexion was as pale as a sheet, and she had copsed to one knee, as if all of the strength had been drained from her body.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already darted through the eradicated barrier of fire as a streak of golden light, but he was rushing toward the Eon Divine Lamp as opposed to the altar.
"Fellow Daoist Han, what are you doing?" Wyrm 3 eximed in an rmed manner.
At this moment, there was a rather dazed look in Han Li''s eyes, and it seemed that his attention was entirely fixated on the Eon Divine Lamp, almost in an obsessive manner.
Daoist Master Dao Yin was furious to see this, and he let loose a loud roar as he pointed a finger at the Eon Divine Lamp from afar.
Simultaneously, he bit through the tip of his own tongue before expelling a mouthful of blood essence.
The Eon Divine Lamp shuddered, and themp oil within it began to churn violently, raising a vast expanse of scorching, golden mes that swept toward Han Li.
However, Han Li seemed to bepletely oblivious to all of this. His desire had alreadypletely overwhelmed his capacity for rational thought, and there was a deranged look on his face as he channeled his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra with all his might.
Manifestations of his five time-attributew treasures appeared around him, forming a spherical, golden light barrier around his body as he charged into the sea of fire.
The manifestations of the five time-attributew treasures instantly began to converge toward him,pressed by the surrounding golden mes, and the golden light barrier was also gradually beginning to thin out.
However, Han Li disyed no intention of backing down as he continued to forge ahead with tightly gritted teeth.
After just a few seconds, the five time-attributew treasures gave out, and the surrounding golden light barrier was eradicated, exposing Han Li''s body directly to the mes.
A burst of excruciating, scorching pain surged through his entire body, and an agonized look appeared on his face as a hint of lucidity surfaced in his eyes, but he then gave a cold harrumph as a look of resolve reappeared on his face.
He reached out through the mes to grab onto the Eon Divine Lamp before pulling it toward himself.
The mes on themp instantly converged to form a fiery dragon that climbed its way up his arm, instantly devouring his entire arm and close to half of his body.
Han Li could clearly see the skin, flesh, and sinew of his arm slowly melting away to expose the bone underneath, which was gradually bing charred ck by the golden mes.
However, deep within his soul, there was a voice that was constantly consoling and encouraging him.
"Just persevere a little more, and you''ll have it... It''ll all be worth it once you im themp... You''re almost there, don''t give up... It''s almost yours..."
In a desperate effort to im themp, Han Li channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and all of his true spirit bloodlines at once,pletely uncaring of the fact that doing so could trigger severe bloodline bacsh.
At the moment, the Eon Divine Lamp was the sole object of his fixation, and he was willing to risk everything to obtain it!
A furious look appeared on Daoist Master Dao Yin''s face as he sped toward themp, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake.
Right as he did so, Wyrm 3 was somehow able to muster up the strength to strike, and the dark red wheel flew directly toward the five-colored altar at her behest.
An rmed look appeared on Daoist Master Dao Yin''s face upon seeing this, but it was already toote to turn back.
A burst of five-colored light surfaced over the altar in an attempt to ward off the red wheel, but it waspletely futile, and a resounding boom rang out as a huge hole was smashed into the altar.
Almost in the exact same instant, Han Li''s Spirit Refinement Technique began acting on its own, restoring a hint of rity to his muddled mind.
Right at this moment, a loud cry rang out beside his ears.
"Fellow Daoist Han!"
Han Li turned with a dazed look in his eyes to discover Lei Yuce roaring at him with all his might.
"Are you really going to release that devilish deity and doom the entire Golden Origin Immortal Region just to satisfy your own selfish desires? The altar has already been broken, if themp is also taken, then that devilish deity will surely be freed!"
Han Li shuddered violently upon hearing this, and he suddenly realized the situation that he was in.
He hurriedly released the Eon Divine Lamp as he shot back in retreat, but the golden mes wrapped around his arm refused to let him go.
In response, Han Li removed the Profound Heavenly Gourd from his waist, then thrust his palm into its underside, and a green vortex instantly emerged from the mouth of the gourd to suck in the golden mes clinging to his arm.
As soon as the mes surged into the gourd, its green exterior instantly turned a bright red color, as if it were being scorched from the inside.
Han Li reced the gourd back to his waist, then looked down at his own incinerated arm, and he couldn''t help but shudder as a sheen of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
What happened to me? Have I fallen under someone''s control?
Han Li quickly retraced all of the events that had taken ce since he set foot into the Eon Pagoda, and he was able to ascertain with a high degree of confidence that he hadn''t fallen under anyone''s control.
However, the desire in his heart had been slowly mounting this entire time, but the process had been so subtle and gradual that he hadn''t noticed it.
Furthermore, it seemed like everyone who had entered the Eon Pagoda had fallen under the same influence, which slowly magnified their desires over time.
That was why they had destroyed the altars to im those treasures without any regard for the consequences. It seemed that anyone who had any desire to obtain the Eon Divine Lamp would ultimately be led to it like moths to a me.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s gaze fell upon the huge hole that had been sted into the altar, where plumes of dense, ck mist were rising up before flowing into the pce.
A projection of the Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree appeared over Han Li''s arm, and it began to quickly regenerate at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye, but it wasn''t going to be fully healed anytime soon.
Han Li rose up into the air, then channeled his Infernal Devilish Eyes as he peered into the hole in the altar.
Chapter 1118: Revenge
Chapter 1118: Revenge
Deep within the altar was an enormous underground space that was filled with flowing, moltenva.
Theva formed a dark redke that was giving off plumes of scorching smoke, and hovering at the center of theke was a huge, ck rock with eight ck rock pirs standing upon it.
All of the pirs were riddled with cracks that were shing incessantly, as if there were moltenva flowing through them as well, and attached to each pir was a golden chain, all of which led toward the center of the rock.
Seated on the ground there was an emaciated man with a head of disheveled hair.
He waspletely nude and so thin that it was as if he were literally just a sack of skin and bones, and the eight golden chains were pierced through his chest, abdomen, shoulders, and arms, locking him firmly into ce.
On top of that, a series of ancient runes had been engraved onto the ground beneath him, giving off bursts of formidable restrictive power.
Looking into the ck hole, Han Li was struck by the feeling that he was peering into a bottomless abyss of desire.
He shook his head to rid himself of these erratic thoughts, following which a perplexed look appeared on his face.
For some reason, he felt like there was something strange about this array, but he couldn''t put his finger on exactly what was strange about it.
Right at this moment, the man suddenly raised his head to meet Han Li''s gaze, shing him a wide smile that revealed two rows of gleaming, white teeth.
Han Li hurriedly channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique to protect his own consciousness, but it seemed that his concerns were unwarranted.
Everyone had been startled by the deranged disy that Han Li had put on earlier, and as a result, no one had noticed that a plume of ck mist that seeped out from the edge of the hole in a stealthy fashion, then vanished after making its way over to Lei Yuce and the others.
At this moment, Daoist Master Dao Yin was glowering at the hole in the altar with a grim expression, and he murmured to himself, "This is going to be troublesome... At this point, it seems like I have no choice but to put an end to this once and for all."
He heaved a faint sigh as he raised a hand to make a beckoning motion, drawing the Vast Earth Seal into his grasp.
He then sliced open his own finger to release a drop of blood essence, which instantly seeped into the seal.
Immediately thereafter, he began chanting an urgent incantation, and the engravings on the underside of the seal shed with yellow light while releasing bursts of incredibly formidable earthw powers.
After refining the seal with his blood essence to forcibly eradicate the restriction that Wyrm 3 had nted within it, he began channeling the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array with all his might.
The five immortal treasures rose up into the air, and they began to glow with an unprecedented level of brightness, while thew powers of Lei Yuce and the others surged out of their bodies in a frenzy before being absorbed by the array.
At the same time, the five-colored light barrier around the altar began to rapidly contract, and it didn''t take long before it was only just barelyrge enough to epass the altar.
Immediately thereafter, the altar disintegrated into dust, as if it were a piece of artwork that had already endured countless millennia of decay.
At the same time, the hole in the altar began to expand, and as soon as the ck mist flowing out of it entered the area epassed within the light barrier, it would also disintegrate into dust, just like the altar had.
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"This is the true power of the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array. All that is epassed within it is annihted into dust," Qi Mozi murmured to himself.
The five-colored light barrier slowly descended into the hole in the altar, epassing the ck rock floating on the surface of thevake, as well as the stone pirs and the emaciated man on the rock.
The ck rock began to disintegrate, but the man''s body remained intact, and there was a derisive sneer on his face.
Han Li was staring intently at the man, and thetter seemed to have detected his gaze as he turned to Han Li before making a funny face, as if he were entertaining a child.
Daoist Master Dao Yin''s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and the divinemp talisman before him suddenly erupted into mes.
The talisman was quickly incinerated into ashes, leaving only a golden me behind, and the me fell upon the Eon Divine Lamp to fuse as one with the me already burning within themp.
The Eon Divine Lamp shuddered slightly, following which a burst of incredibly formidable energy fluctuations surged out from within it.
An arc of golden lightning emerged from the me in themp, then shot out of themp like a flying dagger before piercing into the five-colored light barrier.
A resounding boom rang out as an explosion of golden light took ce within the five-colored light barrier,pletely obscuring the space within.
A string of resounding booms rang out within the hole in the altar, and the stone pirs, the golden chains, and the emaciated man were allpletely inundated by the blinding, golden light.
A long whileter, themotion within the five-colored light barrier subsided, and it was revealed that everything within it had been utterly annihted, leaving a void of emptiness behind.
The five-colored light barrier then disintegrated with a dull thump, while Daoist Master Dao Yin heaved a long sigh of relief.
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust... After sealing you here for so long, I''ve finally been able to kill you once and for all."
Meanwhile, Lei Yuce and the others slumped to the ground while gasping for air, lookingpletely drained, and they hurriedly took some pills to speed up their recovery.
Almost all of thew powers and immortal spiritual power in their bodies had been exhausted, but thankfully, they had managed to y the old devilish deity.
"Now then, it''s time for all of you to suffer the same fate," Daoist Master Dao Yin said as he turned a cold gaze to Han Li and the others, all of whom immediately bristled in response.
Daoist Master Dao Yin was a Great Epassment cultivator, and he controlled the Eon Divine Lamp. If he were to unleash another wave of balls of five-colored light, then the vast majority of the people left in the pce were undoubtedly going to be wiped out.
Right as everyone was trying to think of a way out of this dire situation, a long de suddenly pierced through Daoist Master Dao Yin''s back before emerging from his lower abdomen, and blood immediately began to seep into his robe from the wound.
His eyes widened in shock and fury as he swung around beforeshing out at his assant, but thetter had already sprung back in retreat to preemptively evade his retaliatory attack.
Everyone''s attention was immediately drawn to the assant in question, and an incredulous look appeared on Lei Yuce''s face as he yelled, "Wen Zhong, what the hell are you doing?!"
At this moment, Wen Zhong''s facial features were twisted with intense resentment., and he had caught everyonepletely off guard with his sneak attack.
Daoist Master Dao Yin had just in the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, and a sense of relief andcency had inevitably welled up in his heart. That was the opportunity that Wen Zhong had pounced on to make his move.
"What am I doing? I''m going to kill this shameless, biased old bastard!" Wen Zhong roared in a deranged manner.
"Why? Have you gone insane? He''s our master! We owe everything to him!" Lei Yuce yelled in a furious and incredulous voice.
"If he''s truly our master, as you say, then why is it that he''s only passed down the Almighty Sword Array to you? In his eyes, I''ve never been good enoughpared to you. He was never even willing to give me a chance! What did I do to deserve this?" Wen Zhong roared as his eyes seethed with resentment.
Lei Yuce was rendered speechless upon hearing this, while Daoist Master Dao Yin''splexion had turned deathly pale.
Wen Zhong''s de had pierced straight through his dantian, and he couldn''t help but throw up a mouthful of blood as he pulled the de out of his own body.
A concerned look appeared in Lei Yuce''s eyes upon seeing this, and he was just about to continue reprimanding Wen Zhong when Daoist Master Dao Yin raised a hand to stop him.
"I am already aware of the resentment Wen Zhong harbors in his heart, and I spoke about it with him in private. I thought I had already resolved the matter, but it seems like he was never able to truly let go of his resentment, and that was what the old devil had taken advantage of," Daoist Master Dao Yin said as he wiped the blood from his lips.
"What are you saying, Master?" Lei Yuce asked with a perplexed expression.
"That old devil has mastered thews of inner demons, and his forte is to fan the mes of the deepest, darkest desires in one''s heart. It looks like Wen Zhong has fallen prey to his power," Daoist Master Dao Yin sighed.
A look of realization appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
"Finally! Finally, I get to exact my revenge!" Wen Zhong cackled as his expression became even more twisted and deranged.
Chapter 1119: The Deranged Devil
Chapter 1119: The Deranged Devil
Daoist Master Dao Yin quickly took a golden pill to suppress his own injuries, then turned his gaze to Wen Zhong.
To everyone''s surprise, despite his fiery personality, at this moment, he was gazing upon Wen Zhong with nothing but sympathy in his eyes.
All of a sudden, he vanished from the spot, only to abruptly reappear behind Wen Zhong.
Wen Zhong immediately swung around, beforeshing out in retaliation, only for Daoist Master Dao Yin to grab onto his arm before wrenching it downward.
Wen Zhong felt as if a massive mountain were suddenly weighing down upon his arm, sending him falling forward onto the ground.
Daoist Master Dao Yin took advantage of this opportunity to raise his other hand, following which a streak of needle-like light shot out of his fingertip before piercing into Wen Zhong''s be.
Wen Zhong''s entire body instantly shuddered violently as if he had been struck by lightning, and he fell unconscious on the spot, much to Lei Yuce''s relief.
However, his relief soon turned to horror as he cast his gaze toward the edge of the destroyed altar, where a cloud of ck mist had emerged, and it was swirling incessantly, forming a stormy, ck vortex that was around ten feet in height.
No one was able to pinpoint the moment that the vortex had appeared, as it revolved faster and faster, the ck light within it glowed brighter and brighter.
All of a sudden, the vortex fell still, and a slightly hunched-over male figure emerged from the ck light within.
The man had skin that was as ck as ink, and his eyes were very peculiar in appearance. His left pupil was glowing with bright, purple light, as if there were a purple nebulous cloud swirling around inside, while his right pupil was filled with murky, azure light.
The man''s face was very angr, with a tall nose, and sharp, thin lips. He should''ve been a rather handsome middle-aged man, but with his head of disheveled, gray hair and his thick beard, he appeared more like an unkempt elderly man.
After the man emerged from the vortex, he immediately crouched down before wrapping his arms around his own knees, then began rocking back and forth while mumbling something unintelligible to himself.
Everyone was looking on with perplexed expressions when all of a sudden, a burst of ck light emerged over the man''s back, forming a ck vortex that was roughly a foot in diameter.
Peculiar looks appeared on everyone''s faces upon seeing this, and all of a sudden, a translucent, ck thread emerged from each of their bes, even those of the already deceased devilish beings, following which the ck threads drifted directly toward the vortex on the man''s back.
In the instant that the ck thread flew out of Han Li''s be, he immediately reached out to try and catch it for a closer examination, but it passed straight through his hand as if it had no substantial form.
Meanwhile, all of the cultivators waiting outside the Eon Pagoda had already split up into groups and factions, waiting for the return of everyone in the pagoda.
It had already been a very long time since Lei Yuce and the others first entered the pagoda, and the people waiting outside had begun to grow rather agitated. Some conflicts had even arisen between hostile factions during this time, but they were ultimately all deescted without much trouble.
At the moment, it was approaching dusk outside the pagoda, and most of the cultivators were seated in meditation. Right at this moment, a translucent, ck thread emerged from all of their bes.
All of the ck threads converged in the sky, forming a dark cloud that drifted toward the Eon Pagoda before vanishing into it.
Everyone outside the pagoda followed the dark cloud to the pagoda, where they looked on with perplexed expressions as it vanished right before their eyes.
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Immediately thereafter, many people began to depart from the pagoda, dispersing in all directions.
Meanwhile, the same translucent, ck threads were flying out of the bodies of all of the remaining living beings trapped on all levels of the Eon Pagoda, and all of these ck threads traveled toward the same final destination, namely the ck vortex behind the disheveled, middle-aged man.
Han Li watched as countless ck threads converged toward the man from all directions, and a peculiar feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.
As that ck thread was emerging from his be, he had suddenly felt a sense of lightness and rity in his consciousness, as if something had been weighing down on his consciousness this entire time, but it had finally been removed.
However, what was rather unsettling to him was that he had no idea when this ck thread had appeared in his consciousness, and it had somehow been able topletely avoid the detection of his Spirit Refinement Technique.
In reality, this was a question that had urred to everyone else present as well.
None of them received any inkling that anything had been amiss, and it was only after these ck threads had emerged from their bodies that they felt a change in their mental state.
All of a sudden, the ck vortex behind the middle-aged man faded away, and he rose up from the ground before letting loose a loud yawn while stretchingzily, as if he had just awoken from a long slumber.
At this point, his aura had swelled to the pinnacle of the Great Epassment Stage, and every single movement of his seemed to be able to affect the space around him.
However, his aura then gradually became more and more restrained until it waspletely subdued, giving him the appearance of an innocuous, deranged man dressed in shabby clothes.
Judging from the grim and horrified looks on the faces of Daoist Master Dao Yin and the other Almighty Sword Sect cultivators, this man had to have been none other than the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
"Who''re all of you?" the man asked in a perplexed manner, but as soon as his voice trailed off, a golden pir of fire came crashing down upon him from the heavens, sending him sprawling forward before sinking into the ground.
The pir of fire seemed to have been holding the weight of a thousand mountains, and the ground was fracturing violently despite the powerful fortification restrictions in the pce.
Han Li turned to discover a bright red thread around the Eon Divine Lamp, indicating that Daoist Master Dao Yin had expended his own blood essence to use the Eon Divine Lamp to unleash that attack upon the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
Only after a long while did the pir of golden mes fade away, and everyone''s attention was focused on the massive crater on the ground, where the man''s aura had suddenly bepletely undetectable.
Right as everyone was looking on with bated breath, a pained groan suddenly rang out from within the crater, immediately following which a figure drifted out from within in a wraith-like manner, leaving an afterimage behind as they sped over to Daoist Master Dao Yin in the blink of an eye.
Daoist Master Dao Yin had been on his guard this entire time, and he immediatelyshed out, sending bursts of golden mes flying out of the Eon Divine Lamp before raining down upon the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
However, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity made no attempt to take evasive measures as he sped directly into the fiery storm, and ayer of dense, ck light emerged over his fist as he swung them through the air, unleashing a barrage of countless ck fist projections.
The storm of fist projections shed against the flurry of golden mes, and the former was able to easily eradicate thetter.
However, after the golden mes faded away, a burst of five-colored light came sweeping toward the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, having been unleashed by the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array.
"Piss off!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity grumbled in a displeased voice as he rushed headfirst into the vast expanse of five-colored light, upon which his body instantly exploded into a cloud of ck mist.
Before Daoist Master Dao Yin had a chance to react, the cloud of ck mist was already upon him, and a hand came reaching out of it before forcefully striking his chest.
Daoist Master Dao Yin let loose a pained cry as he was sent flying back through the air, and only then did the cloud of ck mist fully reform into the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
Daoist Master Dao Yin was already carrying very severe injuries, and this palm strike only furtherpounded his woes. After tumbling to the ground, he threw up several mouthfuls of blood before falling unconscious.
Han Li and the others were all astonished to see this.
Not only did the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity not fear the mes of the Eon Divine Lamp, he was also able to shrug off the attacks of the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion with ease, and that was a feat that even Qi Mozi wasn''t confident in his own ability to replicate.
After wounding Daoist Master Dao Yin, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity didn''t continue to go after him. Instead, he turned to stare at the Eon Divine Lamp that had trapped him for so many years, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
Lei Yuce wanted to fly over to Daoist Master Dao Yin''s side, but he was afraid that doing so would incur the wrath of the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s, so he could remain rooted to the spot, while cold sweat flowed down from his forehead.
Chapter 1120: Madman
Chapter 1120: Madman
"I was enjoying a good nap, surely you didn''t have to wake me up so unceremoniously," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity yawned as he stretchedzily, while everyone looked on with tense expressions.
All of a sudden, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity turned to spit in the direction of the Eon Divine Lamp, and it seemed as if he had recalled some unpleasant memory as he yelled, "Tai Sui, you old dog! I''ve been trapped here for far too long because of you! Where is my son right now? Tell me where my son is or prepare toy down your life, do you hear me?"
Han Li and the others were all bbergasted to see this, struggling to draw a corrtion between this emotionally unstable madman and the almighty devilish deity that had once terrorized an entire immortal region.
"You''re not going to tell me? Fine, then I''ll just have to make you!"
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity pounced at the Eon Divine Lamp as he spoke.
With Daoist Master Dao Yin unconscious and the altar destroyed, themp was left to fend for itself, and it releasedyers of golden light to oppose the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity continued to curse loudly as he swung his fists at the Eon Divin Lamp, while ck mist surged out of his entire body like a volcanic eruption, causing the entire pce to tremble violently.
Han Li could see an enormous figure rising up within the mist, and it seemed to the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s true devilish form, except it seemed to be a projection, rather than an entity of substance.
Even so, the almighty aura erupting out of the cloud of ck mist was still more than sufficiently awe-inspiring in its own right.The projection seemed to have twelve arms, which it was swinging incessantly through the air in a relentless barrage of attacks aimed at the Eon Divine Lamp, causing it to tremble violently.
Large volumes ofmp oil spilled out in all directions, forming a golden sea of fire that swallowed up virtually the entire pce, forcing everyone to frantically retreat to the walls.
The entire pce continued to shudder violently, while the figure in the cloud of ck mist maintained its ferocious barrage, and at the same time, bursts of devilish qi were rising up from its body before crashing into the roof of the pce above.
The Eon Divine Lamp remained unscathed, but the pce was beginning to give out.
Finally, the roof of the Eon Pce was blown apart amid a resounding boom, and everyone immediately flew out from within.
Lei Yuce was forced to abandon the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array as he hoisted the unconscious Daoist Master Dao Yin onto his back before fleeing the pce with Su Anqian and the other Almighty Sword Sect cultivators.
However, everyone had only just risen up into the air when an enormous ck lotus flower restriction appeared outside the pce, epassing the entire surrounding area within a radius of several dozen feet.
Every single one of the lotus flower''s countless petals was over ten thousand feet tall, and a vast expanse of dark clouds was gathering up above, giving off the same aura as the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
The Almighty Sword Sect cultivators had no choice but to continue to rise up into the heavens, and a burst of radiant swordlight erupted out of their bodies before fusing as one to form a giant, five-colored sword of light that struck the ck lotus flower.
A loud ng rang out as the five-colored sword was shattered, while the ck lotus flower remainedpletely unscathed.
"Stop causing amotion! Just give me some peace and quiet!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity yelled in a disgruntled manner as he looked up from the Eon Divine Lamp, then made a grabbing motion up toward the sky, and a giant hand instantly descended from above, capturing all of the Almighty Sword Sect cultivators.
With a casual toss, the giant hand threw them heavily back down into the pce, following which tendrils of ck mist rose up in the air, forming a series of powerful ck whips that came crashing down upon the Almighty Sword Sect cultivators with unrivaled power.
"None of you are getting away after rousing me from my slumber!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity yelled, and Han Li and the others all flew back to the Eon Pce before hovering in the air above it.
Han Li raised an eyebrow at the sight of the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s strange behavior, and he couldn''t help but ask through voice transmission, "Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3, why does it feel like this Dark Heavens Devilish Deity isn''t quite... all there?"
Wyrm 3 had no response for this.
Right at this moment, the cloud of ck mist in the pce began to rapidly shrink, and it didn''t take long before the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was revealed again.
"What the hell is wrong with this thing? Why can''t I break it?" he grumbled at the Eon Divine Lamp, which remainedpletely unscathed.
He then turned his gaze to the abandoned Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array, and an intrigued look appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "What''s this? It looks rather fun. Maybe I should take it for a spin..."
He then jumped into the array, while everyone else looked on with dazed expressions.
Upon entering the array, a puzzled look appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "How do I use this thing again? Oh, I''ve got it!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, five bursts of immortal spiritual power erupted out of his body, forming five pirs of light that fell upon the five immortal treasures in the array.
In the span of no more than twenty seconds, he hadpleted a process of basic refinement on all five of the fourth-tier immortal treasures.
Immediately thereafter, he began to chant an incantation, and all of the immortal treasures instantly lit up. The Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array was operating again, and it conjured up a five-colored ball of light around the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
Everyone was looking on with perplexed expressions, wondering what the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was doing when he suddenly made a hand seal, and numerous streaks of light burst out of his hand before flying into the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array.
The five-colored ball of light conjured up by the array instantly began glowing even brighter, and a burst of bone-chilling destructive force began to spread through the interior of the light barrier.
An excited look appeared on the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s face, and he only had time to give a yell of exultation before his body disintegrated into a cloud of ck dust particles.
Everyone in the pce looked on in deathly silence, unable toprehend what they had just witnessed.
"Did he just... kill himself?" Fox 3 eximed in an incredulous manner.
"No, he''s not dead, but he certainly is insane," Han Li sighed.
As soon as his voice trailed off, a cloud of ck mist emerged within the ball of five-colored light, then condensed to reform the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, and he was chortling with glee.
"It''s been so long since I''ve taken a bath! Now..."
Before he had a chance to finish his sentence, his body disintegrated once again under another burst of destructive power released by the array, but it didn''t take long before he was reformed again.
"I can bathe to my heart''s content..." the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity continued where his previous sentence had left off, immediately following which his body exploded for a third time.
"There''s definitely a few screws loose up there," Fox 3municated to Wyrm 3 and Han Li through voice transmission.
Everyone continued to watch as the cycle of destruction and reformation repeated itself over and over again, and with each rebirth, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s body seemed to be more resilient, making it more and more difficult for the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array to destroy him.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity began to swim through the air in a leisurely fashion, alternating between the backstroke and the doggy paddle, and he was thoroughly enjoying himself, paying no heed to the fact that he had an audience.
As the attacks from the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array became less and less effective, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity began to grow bored, and he made a hand seal before raising his hands to the heavens, injecting another torrent of immortal spiritual power into the five immortal treasures, which glowed radiantly while releasing five bursts of light of different colors into the five-colored light barrier.
A burst of destructive power that was far more formidable than before surged through the light barrier, and the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s body instantly exploded into dust.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
At the same time, the five-colored light barrier began trembling incessantly as a series of fist-sized balls of five colored light split off from it before flying through the air in all directions.
The balls of light weren''t veryrge, but all of them contained immense destructive power.
Han Li and the others certainly possess the physical constitution and cultivation base to match the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, and they hurriedly took evasive measures to protect themselves.
A string of resounding booms rang out within the pce as its walls were sted full of holes, and it didn''t appear as if it would be able to stand for much longer.
Han Li had already flown back in retreat to get as far away from the remains of the Eon Pce as possible, but right at this moment, Qi Mozi suddenly appeared beside him with that ck ax in his hand, and in the blink of an eye, he swung the ax in Han Li''s direction close to twenty times.
A flurry of ck ax projections instantly swept directly toward Han Li, forcing him to channel his Reversal True Axis ability before rising up further into the air.
However, as he did so, a ball of five-colored light came hurtling directly toward him on an unavoidable collision path, cing him in a situation of dire peril.
Chapter 1121: Search for Close Family
Chapter 1121: Search for Close Family
In this dire situation, Han Li could only channel his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might before swinging a fist at the oing ball of five-colored light.
Ayer of golden ripples erupted out of his fist, formingyers uponyers of fist projections that swept toward the ball of five-colored light.
The two shed, and the fist projections exploded one after another, but the timew powers within them weren''t able to slow down the ball of five-colored light very much at all, so they hadn''t bought him much time.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and his thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swordsbined into one at his behest before falling into his grasp.
There was no time for him to swing the sword, so he could only use it as a protective barrier.
A vast expanse of golden lightning erupted out of the sword in a frenzy, resembling a giant, golden, lightning hand that enveloped the ball of five-colored light to impede its advance.
More and more arcs of golden lightning continued to erupt out of the sword before being destroyed by the ball of five-colored light, and an impasse ensued.
Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 immediately flew over to Han Li''s side, protecting him from further attacks from Qi Mozi.
However, instead of harassing Han Li any further, Qi Mozi flew back through the air beforending on a giant pile of rubble roughly ten thousand feet away. At the moment, Xiong Shan was hiding behind the pile of rubble with a horrified look on his face.Only after several seconds had passed did the eruption of balls of five-colored light finally begin to subside, and Han Li turned to Qi Mozi with a cold look in his eyes.
Right at this moment, a figure abruptly appeared beside Han Li without any warning, stirring up no spatial fluctuations or spiritual qi fluctuations at all as he reached out to grab onto Han Li''s sword-wielding arm.
The figure was none other than the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, and Han Li''s trio was naturally very much taken aback by his sudden emergence from the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array.
Han Li''s throat was feeling a little dry as he turned his gaze to the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, whose aura had be even more condensed and restrained, as if much of the impurities in his body had been eradicated from the repeated baptisms he had undergone within the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array.
"It''s been a very long time since I''ve seen the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra in action. Come, let''s have a little spar together," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity said.
"Please don''t make jokes at my expense, Senior. I''m clearly no match for you," Han Li hurriedly replied as he attempted to withdraw his arm, but to no avail.
Hence, he could only activate his Infernal Devilish Eyes to try and search for any weak points in the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s body.
"You''ve also mastered an ocr secret technique of our holy race? You certainly are a rare talent..." the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity remarked, immediately identifying Han Li''s Infernal Devilish Eyes.
He then raised an eyebrow as he continued, "Who is your master? How have you mastered even the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts?"
Han Li was astonished to hear this, and he was terrified that the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity would be able to uncover even more of his secrets, so he hurriedly replied, "Your vast wealth of knowledge and experience is truly astounding, Senior. My master is Patriarch Miro of the True Mantra Sect. Have you heard of him?"
"So your master is that fat monk. That makes sense, considering your primary cultivation arts is the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra. I knew it! I''m a genius!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity said with an ted nod, looking much more like a small child who had solved a difficult puzzle than a Great Epassment cultivator.
"Your wisdom is truly unmatched, Senior," Han Li praised. "May I ask that you release me now?"
Sure enough, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity became even more ted upon receiving praise from Han Li, and he let go of Han Li''s arm as he said in a proud manner, "You''re not that good to look at, but you''re a smart kid. When ites to knowledge and experience, very few people canpare with me!
¡°If you have any questions, then I suggest you take full advantage of this opportunity and raise them to me. I''m in a good mood right now, so I''m happy to provide you with the enlightenment that you seek."
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he didn''t know what to make of this situation, so he said, "I wouldn''t dare to trouble you with my trivial questions, Senior."
"Are you trying to make it so that I''m unable to keep a promise? I told you to ask me questions, so you have to ask!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity demanded with an angry look on his face.
Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 were standing beside Han Li, no more than twenty to thirty feet from the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, and they were looking on with bbergasted expressions, not daring to advance or retreat.
Qi Mozi faltered slightly upon seeing this, following which a sly grin appeared on his face.
Lei Yuce and the others were still unable to get away, so they could only secretly feed Daoist Master Dao Yin some pills while the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was distracted with Han Li.
"In that case, there is a question that I would like to ask. Have you seen a Gold Devouring Immortal here, Senior?" Han Li asked in a respectful manner.
Even though there existed an agreement between him and Qu Lin, he still couldn''t help but feel a sense of unease at the fact that Qu Lin had been missing ever since he first entered the seventh level.
"I have," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity replied without any hesitation.
"Where?" Han Li hurriedly.
"I don''t remember, it was too long ago. I remember that he made for a really good punching bag, so I gave him a beating to stave off boredom. Come to think of it, I haven''t seen him in a very long time," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity mused.
Qu Lin had indeed mentioned being beaten by an old madman during his previous venture into the seventh level, so this corroborated his story.
"Wait, that doesn''t make sense! You''ve been trapped in this altar in the Eon Pce this entire time, how could you possibly have met him before?" Han Li asked.
"You say I''ve been trapped here? What a joke! I only chose to stay in this ce so I can sleep without being interrupted. If I wanted toe out, no one could''ve stopped me!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity protested in a displeased manner.
"My apologies, Senior, it seems I misunderstood the situation," Han Li hurriedly said.
Back when he had firstid eyes upon the array through the hole that Wyrm 3 had sted into the altar, he had already noticed that something was a little off about it. Thinking back now, it seemed like the array had already somehow lost the ability to serve its intended purpose.
If the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity really had been trapped in there while slowly having his cultivation base whittled away, then the energy fluctuations in the array definitely wouldn''t have been so cid, and that observation was what had struck Han Li as strange at the time.
"What kind of bullshit question is this? You should raise some more difficult questions!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity demanded.
"Like what?" Han Li asked in a perplexed manner.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
"Like questions rted to cultivation! Come to think of it, those won''t be very difficult for me to answer, either..." the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity mused as he scratched his own head.
Han Li raised an eyebrow, and a question really did ur to him.
"The cultivation art for the Infernal Devilish Eyes ims that these eyes will allow me to see through all illusions and restrictions, so why is it that there are many illusory arrays and restrictions in this pagoda that I''ve been unable to see through?"
"That''s not a very difficult question, but I can answer it for you. Have you taken in any devilish qi during your cultivation of the Infernal Devilish Eyes?" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity asked.
"Of course. After all, the foundation of this ocr abilityes from using devilish qi to cleanse one''s eyes," Han Li replied.
"I figured as much. You''re using a devilish cultivation art, so I''m assuming you drew upon your own devilish qi instead of devilish qi from the outside world. Hence, there should be no issues with the purity of the devilish qi that you''ve taken in. In that case, the problem must lie in the fact that you''ve cultivated other spirit eye abilities in the past," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity deduced, and he was suddenly looking much more focused and sane.
"Your deduction is perfect, Senior! I have indeed cultivated another spirit eye ability in the past," Han Li praised, and this time, it came from a much more earnest ce.
He had previously cultivated the Brightsight Spirit Eyes, and it seemed that some conflict existed between these two ocr abilities.
"The cultivation methods for different spirit eye abilities are fundamentally different, so they''ll inevitably conflict with one another. All you need to do is..."
With that, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity provided a concise solution to Han Li''s problem.
With his question answered, Han Li was feeling a bit more reassured, and he said, "Thank you, Senior. I have one more question. May I ask why you''ve trapped all of us here?"
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was instantly rooted to the spot upon hearing this, and he began pacing back and forth as he fell into deep thought.
"What was I going to do again? I was going to do something, but I can''t remember..." he murmured to himself as he sat down onto the ground, while everyone else looked on with exasperated expressions.
After some time, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity seemed to have suddenly recalled something, and a look of urgency appeared on his face as he eximed in a frantic voice, "I remember now, I''m looking for my wife and son! Have you seen them? Do you know where they are?"
"I''m afraid not, Senior," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
Chapter 1122: Obtaining the Lamp
Chapter 1122: Obtaining the Lamp
"You don''t know where they are? How can you not know where they are?!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity yelled in a furious voice.
Right at this moment, Qi Mozi stepped forward with a faint smile as he dered, "I know where they are."
As soon as his voice trailed off, Han Li saw a ck shadow sh past his eyes, immediately following which Qi Mozi was lifted up into the air by the shoulders.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity had appeared right beside him in a wraith-like manner, moving so quickly that no one had a chance to react.
A burst of tremendous power descended upon Qi Mozi, instantly immobilizing him despite his Great Epassment Stage cultivation base, and his smile immediately stiffened slightly.
Everyone reflexively dispersed to open up some distance between themselves and the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, and while Han Li was very relieved to have finally been released, he was also a little concerned about what Qi Mozi was up to.
Qi Mozi was a very cunning and calcting man, so the fact that he had chosen to speak up at a time like this definitely wasn''t good news. On top of that, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was not in a sound state of mind, so there was no telling what his reaction would be to what Qi Mozi was about to say.
However, there was nothing that he could do for now aside from watch as the situation unfolded.
"Where are my wife and son? Tell me!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity yelled as he shook Qi Mozi violently by the shoulders.
Qi Mozi felt as if his shoulders were about to be fractured by Qi Mozi''s iron grip, and he fought back the pain as he forced a smile onto his own face and asked, "Your name is Shi Kongmo, and your wife is Mistress Jin Ling, is that right?"
Shi Kongmo?
Han Li''s heart stirred slightly upon hearing this.
"That''s right! So you really do know! Take me to them right now!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity eximed in an ecstatic voice, and his grip unconsciously tightened slightly from excitement.
A pained look appeared on Qi Mozi''s face as he hurriedly said, "Before that, please put me down. I''m afraid I mighte apart at the seams if you grip me any tighter."
"Oh, my apologies," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity said as he released Qi Mozi. "Alright, take me to them now."
"I know where Mistress Jin Ling and your son are, but I can''t take you to them," Qi Mozi replied with a shake of his head.
"What? Why?" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity asked as a murderous gleam shed through his eyes, and he reached out to grab Qi Mozi by the throat.
A tangible aura of baleful qi erupted out of his body, causing the nearby space to ripple and tremble violently.
Han Li and the others were also enshrouded in this aura of baleful qi, and they felt as if they were standing in a freezing snowscape in the nude. It was an extremely unpleasant sensation, but they had no choice but to bear it.
"Please don''t misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Shi. It''s not that I''m not willing to take you there," Qi Mozi hurriedly said. "The problem is that your wife and son are currently being held prisoner by Dao Ancestor Chi Rong of the Fused Heavens Immortal Region. You may be near invincible among Great Epassment cultivators, but I presume that a Dao Ancestor is still too formidable for you to oppose right?"
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s fury instantly abated upon hearing this, and he seemed to have recovered some degree of rationality as he released Qi Mozi.
"They''re being held captive by that old hag? She''s the Dao Ancestor of essential firews, and even among all Dao Ancestors, her powers rank in the top ten, so I''m no match for her for now."
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Shi, I''ve already established an agreement with Dao Ancestor Chi Rong, and she has agreed to release Mistress Jin Ling and your son in exchange for two items," Qi Mozi said.
An ecstatic look instantly appeared on the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s face upon hearing this, and he hurriedly asked, "What are they? Tell me! I can give her even twenty things if she wants, let alone two!"
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.
"They are the Eon Divine Lamp and the cultivation art for the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra. I came into the Tai Sui Immortal Manor in search of the Eon Divine Lamp, but I''ve just so happen to run into someone cultivating the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra here as well. It looks like the even the heavens are smiling down upon Mistress Jin Ling and your son!" Qi Mozi said as he turned his gaze to Han Li.
Han Li''s expression instantly changed slightly upon hearing this.
"This Eon Divine Lamp is really annoying to look at, and I can''t destroy it anyway, so you can have it," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity said, then flew over to the Eon Divine Lamp in a sh.
Even with the five-colored altar destroyed, the Eon Divine Lamp remained hovering in mid-air, giving a golden glow that provided the only light source in what was otherwise a vast expanse of inky darkness.
"You have a way to capture themp?" Qi Mozi asked with a surprised expression.
The Eon Divine Lamp had remainedpletely unmoved in the face of the string of attacks unleashed by the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity just now.
"Of course, and I can do so with ease, just you watch!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity harrumphed as he split up into five identical figures to surround the Eon Divine Lamp.
Immediately thereafter, the five Dark Heavens Devilish Deities each reached out with one hand in unison, and five bursts of ck light flew out of the palms of their hands.
The space around the Eon Divine Lamp was torn open like a curtain, forming a circr spatial rift that was hundreds of feet in size.
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Turbulence of all types of different colors were surging through the spatial rift, and it was giving off a burst of tremendous suction force that acted upon everything in the nearby vicinity.
Everyone hurriedly retreated even further upon seeing this for fear of being devoured by the spatial rift, but even though the five Dark Heavens Devilish Deities were standing right beside the spatial rift, they remainedpletely unaffected.
The Eon Divine Lamp also remainedpletely still, somehow unmoved by the violent spatial turbulence around it.
Deep within the spatial rift, a series of runes in the shape of golden chains intertwined with one another rto form an enormous, golden, which spread out in all directions as far as the eyes could see, and the Eon Divine Lamp was right at the center of the.
A bewildered look appeared on Han Li''s face at the sight of the golden, and everyone else was also surprised to see that something like this was lurking behind the Eon Divine Lamp.
The five Dark Heavens Devilish Deities each held one hand aloft to stabilize the spatial rift, while swinging their other hand through the air like des, and five massive, ck palm projections were instantly released.
The palm projections were enshrouded in devilish qi, and they were giving off no spiritual qi fluctuations,w powers, or any energy fluctuations of any description, for that matter.
All there was was nothingness, a type of nothingness that could erode everything.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the five ck palm projections.
His Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and Infernal Devilish Eyes were both devilish abilities, but he couldn''t even hold a candle to the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity when it came to utilization of devilish qi.
If he could utilize devilish qi to the same degree of proficiency as the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, then he would be able to erode the immortal treasures of Qi Mozi and other Heavenly Court cultivators in battle, thereby giving him arge advantage.
The five palm projections swept toward the golden, eradicating all of the spatial turbulence in their wake.
As soon as the palm projections struck the golden, thetter immediately began to tremble violently while giving off radiant, golden light.
However, the golden light was no match for the formidable devilish qi released by the palm projections, and it was being quickly whittled away.
The Eon Divine Lamp shuddered as a sea of golden mes erupted out of it before sweeping toward the five palm projections, but it was already toote, and the palm projections were able to overwhelm the golden before the golden mes had a chance to reach them.
A loud tearing sound rang out as five huge gashes were torn into the golden, and its connection with the Eon Divine Lamp waspletely severed.
The entire shuddered violently while shing erratically, then exploded into countless specks of golden spiritual light.
At the same time, ayer of golden radiance appeared in the sky outside the Eon Pce, basking the clouds in a golden sheen, and formidable timew power fluctuations were sweeping through the air, while the world''s origin qi was also churning violently.
Countless specks of five-colored light emerged, stretching as far as the eyes could see, and they seemed to fill the entirety of heaven and earth, while the enormous mountain down below also began to tremble violently.
However, it didn''t take long before the golden light faded away, and the timew powers that were originally pervasively present throughout the entire seventh level of the Eon Pagoda also vanished in the same instant.
The same applied to the other six levels as well, and from the outside of the Eon Pagoda, one could see the golden me at the top of the pagoda sh a few times before being abruptly snuffed out.
Inside the ruins of the Eon Pce, the Eon Divine Lamp shuddered violently in the wake of the golden''s destruction, and it began to fly toward the surrounding spatial turbulence.
Right at this moment, one of the Dark Heavens Devilish Deities swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a streak of ck light that dragged the Eon Divine Lamp to his side.
Meanwhile, the other four Dark Heavens Devilish Deities drifted back in retreat, and the massive spatial rift was instantly closed, restoring the pce to a state of peace and quiet.
All of this had taken ce in the span of just a few seconds, and that was all it took for the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity to obtain the Eon Divine Lamp, putting his peak-Great Epassment Stage powers on full disy.
Han Li and the others were awestruck by his unfathomable powers, while Lei Yuce and the Almighty Sword Sect cultivators were horrified to see that he had captured the Eon Divine Lamp.
The five Dark Heavens Devilish Deities fused back into one, then tossed the Eon Divine Lamp at Qi Mozi, who caught it as a hint of excitement shed through his eyes, only to be quickly concealed.
Chapter 1123: Beating
Chapter 1123: Beating
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity turned to Han Li, then tossed a purple jade slip at him as he demanded, "Give me a copy of the cultivation art for the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra. Rest assured, Patriarch Miro and I are good friends, so I won''t make you give me the cultivation art for nothing.
¡°Here''s a Five Lightning True Mantra that I obtained by chance from a set of ancient ruins. It''s one of the most powerful lightning-attribute cultivation arts in this realm, and it''s not inferior in valuepared with your Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra."
Han Li''s expression remained unchanged as he caught the jade slip, but his mind was racing as he processed the situation.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was clearly not in a sound state of mind, and he seemed to have ced his trust in Qi Mozi, so Han Li had to proceed with the utmost caution here.
Before he had a chance to say anything, Wyrm 3 suddenly stepped forward, and a Reincarnation Pce mask appeared over her face as she urged, "Don''t trust that man, Senior Shi! Not only is he a cultivator from the Heavenly Court, he''s the current chief warden of the Immortal Prison, and he''s lying to you to try and lure you to the Heavenly Court so all of the Dao Ancestors can target you at once! Fellow Daoist Han and I are both from the Reincarnation Pce, we are your true allies!"
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and it seemed that a hint of rationality had returned to him.
Qi Mozi seemed to have already anticipated this, and he remained calm and collected as he sneered, "I''m a cultivator of the Heavenly Court? What a joke! Given Fellow Daoist Shi''s vast wealth of knowledge and experience, would he not be able to tell if I were from the Heavenly Court? Why is your Reincarnation Pce trying to stop me from rescuing Mistress Jin Ling and Young Master Shi? What are your intentions?"
"He seems to be using the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome of the True Mantra Sect, which isn''t a Heavenly Court cultivation art," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity mused to himself.
"That''s precisely correct, Fellow Daoist Shi," Qi Mozi immediately said, not giving Han Li and Wyrm 3 any chance to interject.
At the same time, he swept a sleeve through the air to release the withered bodies of the three devilish beings from earlier.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, these three were once subordinates of yours, but they betrayed you and doomed you to be imprisoned in this ce. I''ve killed these three, and their two brothers were killed in the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array, so you can rest easy now, knowing that they''ll never be able to betray you again," Qi Mozi said, clearly sucking up to the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity flew into a rage at the sight of the three bodies, and he yelled, "Those ungrateful bastards! I treated them like my own brothers, yet they betrayed me at the most crucial juncture!"
He swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, and the three bodies exploded into a cloud of gray dust that drifted away with the wind.
Han Li and Wyrm 3 exchanged a concerned nce with each other upon seeing this. Qi Mozi was doing everything in his power to appease the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, and they were unable to match his efforts.
"Give me the cultivation art for the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra right now!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity demanded as he turned back to Han Li.
"I wouldn''t dare to not hand over the cultivation art to you, Senior, the problem is that I don''t have theplete version. My master only gave me the first half of the cultivation art, so it won''t do you any good," Han Li replied, making up an excuse on the spot.
"What? You only have the first half?"
A displeased look instantly appeared on the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s face upon hearing this.
"Rest assured, even though I don''t have theplete version of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, I know where theplete version can be found. Right now, the True Mantra Sect has already been destroyed by the Heavenly Court, and in order to prevent the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra from being lost, my master sealed the cultivation art away in a special ce that can only be essed using a powerful time-attribute immortal treasure.
¡°I came to the Tai Sui Immortal Manor in order to obtain the Eon Divine Lamp so that I can retrieve the second half of the cultivation art. If you trust me, then please lend me themp, and I promise to return with theplete version of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra in ten years to help you save your wife and son. You can even apany me there if you''d like," Han Li replied in a respectful manner.
Qi Mozi''s expression darkened significantly upon hearing this, while a contemtive look appeared on the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s face.
Qi Mozi could sense that the tide was beginning to turn against him, and he hurriedly said, "Han Li, how dare you tell such a tant lie to Fellow Daoist Shi! I saw our master pass down theplete version of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra with my own two eyes! Don''t believe him, Fellow Daoist Shi. The cultivation art can be found in his storage tool or his memories, I''m certain of it!"
This was exactly what Han Li wanted, and he pounced on the opportunity, removing a storage tool from his body as he said, "If you want to examine my storage tool, then feel free to do so. However, I want you to offer up your storage tool for Senior Shi''s examination as well. I''m sure there will be things inside that will reveal your identity."
Qi Mozi faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he was internally kicking himself for having failed to consider this countermeasure from Han Li.
His storage tools contained many items from the Heavenly Court, including even his chief warden token.
However, he couldn''t afford to back down now, and with that in mind, he slipped off the storage ring on his finger as he harrumphed coldly, "Fine, we''ll do as you say then!"
He had two storage tools, and this storage ring only contained some items that he used in battle, while all of his more important belongings were in the other storage tool, which was hidden quite well, so he was confident that Han Li wouldn''t be able to find it.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s mind was quite muddled to begin with, and he was beginning to grow very frustrated by the bickering between Han Li and Qi Mozi.
However, right at this moment, he suddenly turned to a certain direction, then raised a hand to make a grabbing motion as he yelled, "Who''s there?"
The world''s origin qi halfway up the giant mountain converged violently to form an enormous, ck hand that grabbed onto a certain spot in the air, and Qu Lin was plucked out of thin air.
Before he had a chance to even struggle, the ck hand vanished into thin air, then abruptly reappeared in the Eon Pce, having shrunk down significantly.
The ck hand then dissipated into thin air, dropping Qu Lin onto the ground, and the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was ecstatic to see him.
"It''s you! It''s been so long since I''ve had a good punching bag, my prayers have been answered!"
Immediately thereafter, he appeared directly in front of Qu Lin amid a burst of spatial fluctuations before throwing a punch at him.
A horrified look appeared on Qu Lin''s face upon seeing this, and he instantly transformed into a giant, Gold Devouring Beetle that was over a hundred feet in size.
The giant beetle swept its front legs forcefully through the air, releasing countless streaks of translucent, golden light that rained down upon the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
However, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity merely continued onward, taking no evasive measures, and the streaks of golden light merely passed through him in an innocuous fashion, as if there were no substance to his body.
However, in the instant that the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s fist came into contact with the golden beetle''s head, his body regained its substantial form, and the giant beetle was sent flying back through the air before crashing into a nearby wall with a resounding thump.
The walls of the Eon Pce were constructed from special materials, so they were very difficult to destroy even without the fortification of any restrictions.
The Almighty Sword Sect cultivators just so happened to have been gathered there, and Lei Yuce and the others hurriedly dispersed while carrying the still unconscious Daoist Master Dao Yin away.
After crashing into the wall, the giant beetle fell down onto the ground with a dazed look in its eyes, seemingly having had its mind scrambled by the force of the punch.
A shallow fist indentation could be seen on its incredibly hard exoskeleton, but it hadn''t shattered.
"Your shell has be a lot harder thanst time! Looks like I don''t have to hold back as much as before!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity remarked as he appeared beside the golden beetle once again, then threw another punch its way.
The golden beetle instantly shrank down to only around the size of a human fist, then flew away at an incredible speed.
However, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was able to somehow get in front of it to intercept it in the blink of an eye as he chuckled, "You''re not getting away!"
The golden beetle was sent flying once again by another almighty punch, and it crashed into another wall with a loud thump.
Much of the golden light around the beetle''s body was scattered from the force of the blow, and it involuntarily reverted back to its original size.
"It''s been a long time since I''ve gotten some exercise!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity chuckled to himself, then abruptly appeared beside the golden beetle once again before sending it flying with another punch.
This time, the punch had struck the beetle on the body rather than its head, so it remained conscious and lucid, and as soon as it fell to the ground, it immediatelyid t against the ground in a submissive pose.
"Please forgive me, Senior Shi, I shouldn''t have tried to spy on your. Please spare me!" the golden beetle implored, knowing that any further attempt to escape would bepletely futile.
"What are you rambling on about? I''m only just getting warmed up!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity harrumphed coldly as he flew over to the golden beetle before kicking it away.
His annoyance had been steadily mounting from Han Li and Qi Mozi''s bickering, but he had no choice but to tolerate it for the sake of his wife and son, and Qu Lin''s arrival had presented him with the perfect opportunity to vent his frustration.
Hence, the golden beetle was transformed into a true punching bag, being kicked and punched back and forth by the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was using only his physical strength without injecting anyw powers into his attacks, so even though Qu Lin was being thoroughly bruised and battered, he hadn''t sustained any severe injuries.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Chapter 1124: Remnants of Tai Suis Soul
Chapter 1124: Remnants of Tai Sui''s Soul
Never had Han Li and the others witnessed such a farcical sight. A peak-Great Epassment cultivator was darting around back and forth right before their eyes, chasing around a golden beetle like a mortal chasing after a fly.
Qu Lin wanted to beg for mercy on several asions, but he was always cut off by the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s blows.
Everyone could only look on with dumbstruck expressions while asionally dodging to the side to avoid being struck by the flying Qu Lin.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity had forbidden them from leaving, so they didn''t dare to stray too far away for fear of incurring his wrath.
Right at this moment, a streak of white light shot forth from afar, then faded to reveal the azure-robed man riding atop Lekima.
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Han Li, Fox 3, and Wyrm 3 were ecstatic to see him, while Qi Mozi was clearly less than enthused by his arrival.
"Please have mercy, Fellow Daoist Dark Heavens," the azure-robed man implored as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of gray light, attempting to break Qu Lin''s fall.
However, Qu Lin had been struck with such tremendous force that he tore straight through the gray light before crashing into a nearby wall, causing it to copse.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity seemed to be in a much better mood after taking out his frustrations on Qu Lin, and he turned to the azure-robed man as he asked, "What are you doing here, Liu Zizai? Are you trying to get in my way as well?"
"I came here to congratte you on regaining your freedom, Fellow Daoist Shi. On top of that, my bonded soul tablet is here, and I''vee to retrieve it now that the restriction here has been broken," Liu Zizai replied, only to have his expression instantly stiffen upon catching sight of the destroyed five-colored altar in the pce.
His gaze then quickly turned to Qi Mozi, and his expression instantly darkened slightly.
Meanwhile, Lekima was scouring its gaze over everyone in the pce, unable to detect who was in possession of its bonded soul tablet.
"I have some matters to attend to right now, so your bonded soul tablet will have to wait. Seeing as you''re a corpse soul of Liu Qi''s, I''ll help you look for the tabletter, but for now, stay out of my way!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity harrumphed coldly.
So he''s a corpse soul of Patriarch Liu Qi''s...
Han Li was instantly struck by a sense of enlightenment upon hearing this.
With that in mind, it was no wonder that he had been reminded of Patriarch Liu Qi back when he first met Liu Zizai, and on top of that, the two of them had also mastered the same type ofw powers.
Han Li then shook his head to rid himself of these trivial thoughts, refocusing his attention on the situation at hand.
All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have urred to him, and hemunicated something to Fox through voice transmission.
Fox 3 took a nce at him, then quickly gave a barely perceptible nod.
"You have my thanks then, Fellow Daoist Shi," Liu Zizai replied with a nod.
Right at this moment, Qu Lin''s feeble voice rang out.
"Save me, Fellow Daoist Liu..."
His physical body was near indestructible, but the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s physical prowess was even more formidable, and after taking such an extensive beating, his entire body was riddled with wounds, and even all of his orifices were leaking golden blood, presenting a very sorry sight to behold.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, you''re a peak-Great Epassment cultivator with powers far superior to ours, so why go after Qu Lin? He may have been spying on the Eon Pce in secret earlier, but that was only for the sake of his bonded soul tablet, so please forgive him," Liu Zizai implored as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"You can take him away. I feel a lot more loose and limber now that I''ve had some exercise, so I''ll save him for next time," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity replied with a casual wave of his hand.
Qu Lin shuddered slightly at the thought of a "next time", but overall, he was very relieved to have finally been spared.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Shi," Liu Zizai said with an ted expression, then swept a sleeve through the to release a burst of gray light that carried the golden beetle back to his side.
The golden beetle reverted back to Qu Lin''s human form, and his face was bruised and battered beyond recognition, presenting a ratherical sight to behold.
With that, Liu Zizai was just about to depart when he suddenly took a nce at Fox 3, and an intrigued look appeared in his eyes as he stopped in his tracks.
"Fellow Daoist Shi, now that the Eon Divine Lamp restriction has been broken, you and I have been freed. Do you have any ns from here onward? Would you be interested in paying our Heavenly Fox Tribe a visit?" Liu Zizai asked.
"I''ll pass this time. I''ve found out where my wife and son are, and I''m going to rescue them so that I can finally be reunited with them. That fox den of yours probably stinks anyway," Dark Heavens Devilish Deity chuckled in response.
"Is that right? That''s certainly fantastic news! Please allow me to offer my congrattions. May I ask how you managed to find out the whereabouts of your wife and son?" Liu Zizai asked.
For some reason, a sense of foreboding welled up in Qi Mozi''s heart at this line of questioning, and he secretly slid his right hand up his sleeve.
"Fellow Daoist Qi Mozi here told me that he''s going to take me to Jin Ling and my son," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity replied as he pointed at Qi Mozi.
"You''re going to trust him to take you to your wife and son? Are you not aware that he''s the current chief warden of the Immortal Prison?" Liu Zizai asked with a surprised expression.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity seemed to be quite trusting of Liu Zizai, and he immediately turned to Qi Mozi with a cold expression as he asked, "Why is he also saying that he''s the chief warden of the Immortal Prison? Is that true?"
"Don''t be fooled by their lies, Fellow Daoist Shi!" Qi Mozi hurriedly replied.
"I think this will tell you all that you need to know, Fellow Daoist Shi," Liu Zizai said as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a ball of gray light.
On the surface of the ball of light was an image depicting the scene where Qi Mozi had approached the White Bone King and the Copper Lion King, and their conversation rang out as clear as day, while Qi Mozi presented his chief warden badge to them.
"How dare you lie to me!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity roared as he turned to Qi Mozi with a look of murderous rage in his eyes, but Qi Mozi was already prepared for the worst, and he instantly released his Time Severing Fire Domain, epassing everyone within it.
Everyone was instantly immobilized within the Time Severing Fire Domain, while Qi Mozi flew away as quickly as he could as a streak of golden light.
"You won''t trap me with this flimsy little Time Severing Fire Domain of yours!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity roared as a burst of ck light erupted out of his body in all directions, instantly tearing the Time Severing Fire Domain apart.
Immediately thereafter, he reached out with one hand, and an enormous, ck hand that took up half of the entire sky instantly emerged before grabbing down onto Qi Mozi.
A burst of overwhelmingpressive force converged toward Qi Mozi from all directions, slowing him down significantly, yet right as he was about to be captured by the giant hand, a burst of blinding, golden light erupted out of his body, lighting up the entire sky.
In the next instant, a ball of golden light that was thousands of feet in size appeared, resembling an incandescent, golden sun as it hurtled toward the giant, ck hand.
The two shed with a resounding boom, and the nearby space shuddered violently before shattering into countless pieces.
Qi Mozi fell out of the ball of golden light with blood flowing out of all of his orifices, yet even as he came plummeting toward the ground, he was still clutching the Eon Divine Lamp tightly in his hands.
A burst of golden light emerged over his body, and he was able to stabilize himself before continuing to fly away without so much as a turn of his head.
Even following his departure, the ball of golden light still remained, and it abruptly swelled even further in size as countless thin tendrils of golden mes erupted forth from within, instantly punching countless holes into the giant, ck hand.
In the blink of an eye, the giant hand waspletely eradicated.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was looking up at the ball of golden light with excitement glowing in his eyes, seemingly having alreadypletely forgotten all about Qi Mozi.
In the next instant, the ball of golden light transformed into a golden figure that was giving off an aura of unmatched authority, but his features were rather blurred and difficult to make out.
Lei Yuce and the Almighty Sword Sect cultivators were ecstatic to see this golden figure.
"It''s our patriarch!"
"I knew it! Our patriarch has never left this pagoda all these years!"
All of the Almighty Sword Sect cultivators immediately fell to their knees and began kowtowing to the golden figure in excitement and reverence.
"So that''s why the Eon Divine Lamp is still so powerful even with no one controlling it. I should''ve figured that you had imnted a fragment of your soul within it, Tai Sui!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity harrumphed coldly.
The golden figure looked down at the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity in silence, and in the next instant, ck and golden light erupted from their bodies in unison before shing with tremendous force.
The half-ruined Eon Pce was instantly destroyed, but its ground remained intact, perhaps due to the presence of the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array.
Han Li and the others were sent flying by the shockwaves from the sh, and they took advantage of this opportunity to get far away from the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity and the golden figure.
Chapter 1125: Hunting Qi Mozi
Chapter 1125: Hunting Qi Mozi
While the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was locked in battle against Tai Sui''s soul fragment, bursts of rumbling could be heard ringing out incessantly within the dark clouds in the sky, although there was no lightning to be seen.
Gusts of fierce wind were sweeping through the air, while the ground trembled incessantly, and the entire Eon Pagoda seemed to be shaking.
"Brother Han, we have to recover the Eon Divine Lamp from Qi Mozi," Wyrm 3 said with a serious expression.
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face as he said, "Qi Mozi is a very cunning and powerful Great Epassment cultivator, and his powers will only have been further elevated now that he''s in possession of the Eon Divine Lamp, so I don''t think it would be wise to go after him."
At this point, he had already beenpletely freed from the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s influence, so he was nowhere near as enticed by the idea of iming the Eon Divine Lamp as before.
"Is Qi Mozi not a sworn enemy of yours, Brother Han? Surely you can''t back down now," Wyrm 3 hurriedly said.
"That''s true, but at the moment, there''s a clear power disparity between us. On top of that, with the Eon Divine Lamp disced, the restrictions in the pagoda have been undone, so it''s most likely not a good idea to stay here," Han Li replied.
"Alright, let mee clean to you, Brother Han. Not only has Qi Mozi taken the Eon Divine Lamp, he''s also taken an item of great importance to our Reincarnation Pce, and it must be recovered. As a Reincarnation Disciple, you have an obligation to join me in this endeavor," Wyrm 3 insisted as a hint of urgency appeared in her eyes.
"Please don''t try to force me into this, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3. I may be a Reincarnation Disciple, but no mission to recover the item in question has been assigned to me by the Reincarnation Pce, so I have no obligation to do anything," Han Li countered.
Wyrm 3''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and after a brief silence, she suddenly switched to voice transmission as she said, "Brother Han, if I recall correctly, you''re very close with someone called Jin Tong, right? Right now, they''re not in the best of situations."
N?v(el)B\\jnn
"What do you mean by that?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"It''s a long story, too long for me to tell now, but all you need to know is that taking down Qi Mozi is of great importance to saving your friend as well, so please do not hesitate any longer. Qi Mozi has mastered thews of time, so without your help, it''s going to be very difficult for me to go after him," Wyrm 3 urged as a hint of agitation appeared on her face.
While the two of them were conversing with each other, Fox 3 and Liu Zizai had already set off in pursuit of Qi Mozi. After all, thetter''s bonded soul tablet was still in Qi Mozi''s possession.
"In that case, I''m willing to help you, but in exchange, I want the Eon Divine Lamp. Is that eptable to you?" Han Li asked.
Given his bad blood with Qi Mozi, he was also very tempted to take advantage of this opportunity to hunt him down. However, he naturally wasn''t going to pass up the opportunity to have Wyrm 3 owe him a favor.
Furthermore, the mention of Jin Tong also had him feeling a little concerned, and that gave him even more of an incentive to go after Qi Mozi.
"Alright, I can agree to that condition, but everything else in Qi Mozi''s possession has to be left to me," Wyrm 3 replied without any hesitation.
She was naturally aware that Han Li was taking advantage of the situation to his own benefit, but that didn''t matter to her. Her primary objective was to obtain the ck tablet, and outside of that, everything was negotiable.
Han Li naturally raised no objections to this, and Wyrm 3 immediately departed.
Right at this moment, a streak of silver light shot forth from the ruins of the Eon Pce. It was the Essence Fire Raven, and sped in its beak was the white bead that was one of the five immortal treasures in the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array.
Looks like the array is no longer able to function without anyone operating it.
With that in mind, Han Li stowed the fire raven away, then took a nce at the ongoing battle between the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity and the Tai Sui soul fragment, and he was just about to depart when he spotted Qu Lin and Lekima, both of which had adopted their human forms and were searching for something within the wreckage of the Eon Pce.
He flew over to them with a smile as he said, "Come and help us recover themp from Qi Mozi, fellow daoists."
"Go away! I''m busy!" Lekima grumbled without even bothering to spare a nce at Han Li.
"How about you, Fellow Daoist Qu? You promised to help me take down a sworn enemy of mine, and he''s right over there," Han Li said as he pointed into the distance, where Qi Mozi had been intercepted by Wyrm 3 and the others.
"I have no intention of going back on my promise, but right now I have more important things to do, and it looks like you have more than enough allies to help you deal with that enemy of yours," Qu Lin replied.
"That''s a real shame. I guess I''ll be keeping these two things to myself then," Han LI said with a smile.
Qu Lin and Lekima immediately turned to him upon hearing this, and they discovered that he was holding a pair of crimson tablets in his hand.
Han Li had originally intended to keep these two bonded soul tablets hidden, particrly Qu Lin''s one as having it in his possession would ensure that Qu Lin would be at his mercy in his inevitable future showdown against Jin Tong.
Hence, Han Li had ced a restriction upon them and ced them into the Flower Branch domain so that they couldn''t be detected, but he had no choice but to bring them out now in order to convince them to help him.
"So you did get it! Rest assured, I promised you handsomepensation in exchange for my bonded soul tablet, and I fully intend to follow through on that promise!" Lekima said with a wide grin.
"I appreciate it, but all that can wait until we''ve taken down Qi Mozi," Han Li said as he stowed the pair of tablets away.
"You cunning little bastard! Fine, we''ll do as you say," Lekima grumbled with a displeased expression, then instantly vanished from the spot as a white whirlwind, while Han Li and Qu Lin also set off after him.
At this point, the Almighty Sword Sect cultivators had already fled to hundreds of kilometers away, and Daoist Master Dao Yin finally regained consciousness while being carried on Lei Yuce''s back.
He turned to discover the chaotic scene behind him, and he asked in a slightly feeble voice, "What happened?"
Lei Yuce was ecstatic to see that Daoist Master Dao Yin had woken up, and he hurriedly set him down before giving him a brief recount of everything that had happened during his stint of unconsciousness.
"This is terrible!" Daoist Master Dao Yin sighed after hearing Lei Yuce''s recount. "With the Eon Divine Lamp disced, all of the restrictions in the Eon Pagoda have been lifted. If those beings imprisoned in the pagoda manage to escape, then countless lives will surely be lost across the entire Golden Origin Immortal Region."
"There''s nothing we can do about that, Sect Master. We''re extremely fortunate just to still be alive," an elder said.
"No, I have to do something. The reputation of the Almighty Sword Sect cannot be tarnished by my ipetence. Even our patriarch''s soul fragment is currently still battling the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, and I have to do my part too. I have to recover themp and seal away all of the malicious beings in the pagoda again, even if it costs me my life!" Daoist Master Dao Yin dered in a determined manner.
"Master, themp has already been disced for quite some time, so all of the beings imprisoned in the pagoda have most likely already escaped. The disciples of our sect stationed outside the pagoda should be able to impede those beings for some time, so what we need to do now is leave the Eon Pagoda as soon as possible and activate the backup measures that our patriarch left in ce," Lei Yuce hurriedly urged.
"You''re saying we should destroy the Eon Pagoda and this entire space?" Daoist Master Dao Yin asked.
"But if we do that, won''t all of the cultivators in the secret area be killed as well?" Su Anqian asked.
"I''m afraid that''s a sacrifice that must be made. If those forces of evil are allowed to escape into the immortal region, then far more people will lose their lives," Lei Yuce said in a grim manner.
"Given the urgency of the situation, this is the only course of action avable to us. These people came into this secret area to satisfy their own greed, so they only have themselves to me for losing their lives here. Themp must be recovered to restore the glory of our sect!" Daoist Master Dao Yin dered with a solemn expression.
Su Anqian opened her mouth to say something, but ultimately remained silent.
The group then set off toward the edge of the seventh level. With all of the restrictions undone, they could directly exit the pagoda from there.
Not long after their departure, a nearby ck rock suddenly rolled away to the side, following which Xiong Shan emerged from underground.
He removed a golden talisman from his own be, then carefully stowed it away as he murmured to himself, "Those bastards are nning to destroy the entire secret area! Looks like I have to get out of this ce right away..."
He then swept a sleeve through the air, and a golden longsword and a yellow seal appeared before him. These were none other than the Primordial Ancient Sword and the Vast Earth Seal that he had taken from the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array, and a pleased smile appeared on his face at the sight of them.
I may have almost lost my life here, but it''s all worth it in the end.
After that, he stowed the two immortal treasures away, then took a nce at the chaotic battlefield in the distance as he murmured to himself, "You guys can keep fooling around over there, I''m getting out of here!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he spotted a streak of blue light flying through the air overhead, and it seemed to be Lan Yan.
His brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, following which he also departed as a streak of golden light
Chapter 1126: Battling Qi Mozi
Chapter 1126: Battling Qi Mozi
At the same time, the area outside the Eon Pagoda had already descended intoplete chaos.
A series of massive cracks had begun to appear over the entire pagoda, within which silver light was shing incessantly, giving off bursts of formidable spatial fluctuations.
Before long, a steady stream of living beings of all types of different descriptions began rushing out of the silver light, and their cultivation bases varied drastically as well.
The cultivators stationed outside the pagoda were naturally quite startled by this, and they tried to flee the scene, but many of the living beings that flew out of the Eon Pagoda immediately attacked them on sight, leaving them with no choice but to stand and fight.
Initially, they were able to hold afortable upper hand thanks to their numbers advantage, but as more and more of these living beings continued to stream out of the pagoda, the tables gradually began to turn, and a horrific battle ensued in which both sides suffered severe casualties.
......
Meanwhile, Han Li and Qu Lin were flying toward Qi Mozi, and even from afar, they could see Wyrm 3''s reincarnation spirit domain, which epassed an area that was hundreds of kilometers in size.
Inside her dark red spirit domain was another golden spirit domain, and that was none other than Qi Mozi''s time spirit domain.
Upon flying into the two spirit domains, Lekima was instantly slowed down significantly.An rmed look appeared on its face, and gusts of fierce, white wind began sweeping out of its hooves, stirring up the surrounding space and restoring much of its original speed.
In the instant that Han Li and Qu Lin flew onto the scene, the former immediately released his own time spirit domain to epass the two of them, and they discovered that Qi Mozi was already locked in a battle against Wyrm 3 and the others.
"Hand over what you obtained from the altar, and we''ll let you go," Wyrm 3 yelled.
"What threat do you pose to me now that I have the Eon Divine Lamp?" Qi Mozi harrumphed coldly.
"What if we throw ourselves into the mix as well?" Han Li asked, and Qi Mozi''s expression instantly changed slightly at the sight of him, Lekima, and Qu Lin.
Wyrm 3 and the others were already quite troublesome to deal with, so he would certainly struggle immensely to take on Han Li''s trio in addition to them.
On top of that, Qu Lin, Liu Zizai, and Lekima were all Great Epassment cultivators, so even with the Eon Divine Lamp in his possession, this was still clearly a losing battle.
However, instead of disying any fear or timidity, a sly grin appeared on his face as he flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized, crimson tablet.
"This is your bonded soul tablet, right? If you don''t want me to destroy it, then kill him!" Qi Mozimanded as his gaze fell upon Liu Zizai.
Liu Zizai could see that Qi Mozi was pointing directly at Han Li, and a hesitant look appeared on his face.
"Hurry up or I''ll crush this tablet right now!" Qi Mozi threatened in a menacing fashion.
"My apologies..."
A hint of indignation shed through Liu Zizai''s eyes, following which he began to fly toward Han Li, only to be intercepted by Qu Lin.
"I''m afraid I can''t let you do that, Old Man Liu."
Lekima hesitated momentarily, then conjured up a massive tornado that swept up Qu Lin and Liu Zizai before sending them flying far away into the distance.
"How about now? With those three gone, do you still dare to challenge me?" Qi Mozi sneered.
Han Li, Fox 3, and Wyrm 3 exchanged a nce and a nod, and the three of them split up to surround Qi Mozi in a triangr formation.
"I admire your courage, but I''m assuming your courage only stands on the basis that you don''t know the true power of the Eon Divine Lamp," Qi Mozi sneered, and a hint of foreboding welled up in the hearts of Han Li''s trio upon hearing this.
"Let me show you what you''re dealing with!" Qi Mozi dered as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing the Eon Divine Lamp, while began to revolve incessantly before him.
His aura instantly began to swell drastically as his robes pped audibly despite the absence of wind, and a golden torch emerged in front of him.
A fervent look appeared in his eyes as his gaze fell upon the torch and the Eon Divine Lamp, and countless rays of golden light instantly erupted out of the me at the center of themp, making it resemble a dazzling, golden sun that was hanging in the sky, releasingyers uponyers of golden ripples that caused the nearby clouds to churn violently.
The sense of foreboding in Han Li''s heart instantly became more pronounced upon seeing this, and he hurriedly yelled, "Stop him!"N?v(el)B\\jnn
At the same time, he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might while sweeping a sleeve through the air to release thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, whichbined to form a single sword that hurtled directly toward Qi Mozi.
Wyrm 3 immediately followed his lead, releasing an octagonal badge, which, in turn, released a huge cloud of dark red mist that formed an imposing wall before advancing toward Qi Mozi.
At the same time, Fox 3shed out with his Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, unleashing a massive, crimson de projection that was several thousand feet in length, slicing through the very heavens en route to Qi Mozi.
Their attacks were all extremely formidable, and even the average Great Epassment cultivator definitely wouldn''t have dared to disregard them.
However, Qi Mozi seemed to have beenpletely oblivious to the danger that he was in as he focused the entirety of his attention on bringing his Time Severing Torch and the Eon Divine Lamp together.
Right as the attacks from Han Li''s trio were about to fall upon him, the Time Severing Torch and the Eon Divine Lamp finally fused together, and in the same instant, a burst of blinding, golden light was released.
The golden light was countless times brighter than even the light of the sun, forcing Han Li''s trio to shield their own eyes.
Han Li heard a resounding booming from Qi Mozi''s direction, immediately following which he was sent flying back through the air in an involuntary fashion by a burst of tremendous force.
After steadying himself, Han Li immediately made a beckoning motion to drawn his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword back into his grasp, following which he cast his gaze toward Qi Mozi, and he was greeted by the sight of an enormous shadow that resembled a giant pir.
However, it was only after the smoke cleared that he discovered that the so-called giant pir was actually none other than the Eon Divine Lamp, which had swelled to over a thousand feet tall!
"Is that... the Eon Divine Lamp?" Wyrm 3 eximed.
Han Li turned to her to discover that her hair was a little messy and disheveled, but she was unharmed.
"It looks like he must''ve used some type of secret technique topletely take control of the Eon Divine Lamp. However, there''s no way that he can keep this up for long, so we just have to weather the storm," Han Li said with slightly furrowed brows.
"I don''t think it''s that simple," Fox 3 said as he flew over to join them, and he was also looking a little disheveled. "Even though he''s somehow made themp expand to such an enormous size, its aura has remainedpletely restrained and self-contained, and that''s not normal at all."
"You''re right," Han Li said as a grim look appeared on his face. "Qi Mozi has somehow managed to fuse the Eon Divine Lamp with his spirit domain, making it resemble a domain spirit of sorts. This could spell trouble for us."
Right at this moment, Qi Mozi appeared on the Eon Divine Lamp, standing on one of its lotus flower petals as he looked down at Han Li''s trio with a triumphant smile on his face.
"What do you think of your chances now, Fellow Daoist Han?" he yelled in a goading voice.
Before Han Li had a chance to reply, he cast an incantation seal into themp beneath him, and it shuddered violently, as did the me within it, which then exploded into countless golden fireballs that erupted in all directions.
Han Li''s trio hurriedly scattered to take evasive measures upon seeing this.
After the golden fireballsnded on the ground, they refused to dissipate. Instead, they transformed into countless goldenmps, each of which was around ten feet tall, resembling miniature clones of the massive Eon Divine Lamp.
These goldenmps were littered throughout the entire spirit domain, with one present roughly every one hundred or so feet.
Han Li quickly discovered that with the emergence of these miniaturemps, the timew power fluctuations in Qi Mozi''s spirit domain had swelled in potency by tenfold, so even though Han Li''s trio were sheltered within his time spirit domain, their movements were still severely inhibited.
Right at this moment, Qi Mozi swept both sleeves through the air, and countless specks of red light flew out from within, instantly taking up arge section of the sky above.
"Those are Fire Age Fireflies!" Han Li yelled in an rmed manner, and as soon as his voice trailed off, the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies split up into three before flying toward Han Li''s trio.
Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 hurriedly adopted defensive measures to protect themselves upon hearing this.
Ayer of silver light that was riddled with runes emerged over Wyrm 3''s robes, giving off a burst of spatialw powers that enveloped her entire body.
Meanwhile, a suit of silver armor emerged over Fox 3''s body, covering him from head to toe.
Chapter 1127: Fooled
Chapter 1127: Fooled
Han Li didn''t dare to take the oing Fire Age Fireflies lightly, and his Mantra Treasured Axis instantly appeared behind him amid a sh of golden light.
As soon as the Fire Age Fireflies drew close to him, they instantly came to a near-standstill, as if they had crashed into an invisible wall.
Han Li felt slightly reassured upon seeing this, and he was just about to pull out his Profound Heavenly Gourd to suck in the Fire Age Fireflies when he noticed something rather unsettling.
Ayer of golden mes had appeared over the bodies of all of the Fire Age Fireflies, and the golden mes were constantly whittling away at the golden light released by his Mantra Treasured Axis.
As the rays of golden light were gradually eradicated, the Fire Age Fireflies began to regain their speed of movement, and it was clear that these Fire Age Fireflies were of a far caliber than all of the ones that he had encountered in the past.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 3 had already beenpletely surrounded by Fire Age Fireflies, and even though theyer of silver light around her body was still intact, it was riddled with holes and clearly on the verge of giving out.
As for Fox 3, he was in an even worse situation. His suit of silver armor offered him barely any protection against the Fire Age Fireflies, so he could only hurriedly take evasive measures, and in the process, he inadvertently crashed into one of the Eon Divine Lamp clones.
A fiery, crimson wyrm instantly erupted out of themp before pouncing at Fox 3, who hurriedly retaliated byshing out with his Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, unleashing a massive, crimson saber projection that swept up hundreds of Fire Age Fireflies before striking the fiery wyrm.
The fiery wyrm was instantly torn to shreds before exploding into a flurry of mes, and Fox 3 had only just had a chance to heave a faint sigh of relief upon seeing this when two other divinemp clones also lit up, following which two more fiery wyrms pounced out of them from either side of Fox 3, biting down onto his shoulders before he had a chance to react.As a result, he was instantly locked into ce before being overwhelmed by the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies around him.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
Inundated by the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies, Fox 3''s life force began to rapidly seep away, and his aura also gradually began to wane.
If he wasn''t rescued in short order, then he was going to be in a truly dire situation.
With that in mind, Han Li gritted his teeth as he swept a sleeve through the air to release thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which transformed into countless azure sword projections that intertwined with one another to form a huge before sweeping toward the Fire Age Fireflies.
At the same time, his Mantra Treasured Axis was withdrawn back into his body before revolving in reverse, drastically enhancing his speed as he rushed toward Fox 3.
No longer impeded by the Mantra Treasured Axis, the Fire Age Fireflies instantly reverted back to their original speed, and even though most of them were intercepted by the of sword projections, some were still able to slip through the cracks to pursue Han Li.
However, this was simply apromise that Han Li was forced to ept as he flew over to Fox 3''s side, then channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts beforeshing out with both fists at the twomp clones on either side of Fox 3.
Two resounding thumps rang out in unison as the pair ofmp clones were destroyed, exploding into countless specks of golden mes, while the fiery wyrms extending out of them were also eradicated.
However, right at this moment, all of the Fire Age Fireflies clinging to Fox 3 suddenly turned back around to target Han Li instead, and as a result, he was sandwiched between two swarms of Fire Age Fireflies.
There was no time for him to take evasive measures, and several hundred Fire Age Fireflies instantly fell upon him.
Topound his woes even further, a burst of formidable timew power fluctuations erupted out of the specks of fire that the pair of eradicatedmp clones had disintegrated into, and Han Li was instantly rooted to the spot.
In the next instant, Qi Mozi abruptly appeared before him amid a burst of spatial fluctuations, then grabbed onto the front of his robe.
"I''ve got you now!" he sneered.
"Brother Han!" Fox 3 called out in an rmed voice.
At the same time, a burst of formidable reincarnationw power fluctuations erupted out of Wyrm 3''s body, and all of the Fire Age Fireflies around her quickly began dropping to the ground, having entered a state of hibernation.
Wyrm 3''s brows furrowed tightly at the sight of the dire situation that Han Li was in, and she immediately began flying in his direction.
However, she had only managed to travel no more than a thousand feet when all of themp projections around her began to glow radiantly before releasing a series of fiery wyrms, all of which intertwined with one another to form an obstructive barrier in her path.
Qi Mozi turned his gaze to Wyrm 3, then took a nce at Fox 3 before returning his gaze to Han Li as he sneered, "Looks like no one can save you this time!"
A burst of golden mes erupted out of his hand as he spoke, instantly inundating Han Li''s entire body.
"Brother Han!" Fox 3 yelled in a distraught voice as he raised his Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, but before he had a chance to swing it, Qi Mozi casually swept a sleeve in his direction, releasing a ball of golden mes that struck him on the chest to send him flying back through the air.
Wyrm 3 was also looking on with a furious expression, but all she could do was watch helplessly as Han Li was devoured by the golden mes.
Qi Mozi remained holding onto the front of Han Li''s robe as if he were holding a torch aloft, watching with immense satisfaction as Han Li''s body was slowly incinerated into ashes.
As Han Li''s body slowly burned away, ck ashes began to fall out of the fire, but no nascent soul emerged.
A cold sneer appeared on Qi Mozi''s face upon seeing this, and he raised his other hand, upon which a series of fiery, golden lotus flowers appeared around him, forming a massive cage thatpletely restricted the entire surrounding space.
A tall figure appeared within the cage of golden lotus flowers, and it was none other than Han Li.
"Did you really think you could fool me again with a substitution puppet?" Qi Mozi sneered as he turned to face Han Li.
At this moment, not only was Han Lipletely immobilized within the cage of golden lotus flowers, the mes burning over the lotus flowers were constantlypping at him, sending bursts of excruciating, burning pain spearing into his body, causing his expression to be twisted with agony.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Qi Mozi had no intention of wasting any time, flying over to Han Li in a sh before grabbing onto his head with a white-knuckled grip.
Han Li instantly felt as if his head were about to explode, and he couldn''t help but let loose an agonized cry.
Qi Mozi seemed to be very fond of hearing the sounds of Han Li''s suffering, and he tightened his grip even further.
Han Li''s face had turned deathly pale, and his eyes were bulging outward, looking as if they were about to explode at any moment.
A frantic look appeared on Wyrm 3''s face upon seeing this, and she thrust a palm forward to release a dark red badge, which flew through the air while swelling rapidly in size.
As she injected more and more of herw powers into the badge, it expanded to the size of a city gate while giving off rays of dark red light that proliferated in all directions, causing the surrounding divinemp clones to disappear one after another.
Fox 3 was also storming back into the fray right behind Wyrm 3, and his Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber was glowing with radiant, crimson light, but Qi Mozi merely turned to look at the two of them with a mocking sneer on his face.
"We won''t make it in time..." Wyrm 3 said in a despairing voice.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s head exploded like an overripe watermelon under Qi Mozi''s vice-like grip, and looks of grief and despair instantly appeared in the eyes of Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 at this horrific sight.
Qi Mozi paid no heed to the two of them as he plucked Han Li''s nascent soul out of his headless body, and a cold smile of satisfaction appeared on his face as he chuckled, "Looks like the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra is going to be mine, after all."
The nascent soul was struggling with all its might, but had no chance of breaking free.
Ayer of ck light appeared over Qi Mozi''s eyes, following which two thin threads of ck light shot out of his pupils before wrapping themselves around Han Li''s nascent soul.
Using this secret method, he could sessfully search any nascent soul as long as it belonged to a cultivator of an inferior cultivation base to himself, even if there were restrictions ced upon said nascent soul. Furthermore, most of the power of the nascent soul in question would also be absorbed by him, so very little of it would go to waste.
However, as soon as the ck threads of light shot out of his eyes, his expression instantly changed drastically as a look of chilling realization appeared on his face, but it was already toote.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s headless body vanished into thin air amid a burst ofw power fluctuations, as did his nascent soul.
At the same time, the azure-robed Liu Zizai appeared beside Wyrm 3 with a faint smile on his face.
Thanks to the seamless coborative effort between his illusoryw powers and Wyrm 3''s reincarnationw powers, they had managed topletely fool Qi Mozi at the cost of a substitution puppet.
Chapter 1128: Obtaining the Divine Lamp
Chapter 1128: Obtaining the Divine Lamp
Right at this moment, a white whirlwind swept onto the scene from afar, and it was none other than Lekima.
Han Li sprang down from Lekima''s back, and bursts of radiant, golden light surged out of his body as manifestations of all five of his time-attributew treasures appeared in rapid session to form an encirclement around Qi Mozi.
The five time-attributew treasure manifestations lit up in unison, and a flurry of timew threads flew out of them before fusing together, following which they began to glow with dazzling, five-colored light, as if they had been set alight by a five-colored me.
A look of shock and horror appeared on Qi Mozi''s face before instantly stiffening as the five-colored light washed over him.
Immediately thereafter,yers uponyers of projections of himself appeared over his body before fading away one after another.
Meanwhile, everyone else was looking on with stunned expressions from thousands of feet away, and no one dared to approach Han Li as they could all sense that Qi Mozi''s cultivation base was gradually receding, all the way until he reverted back into a High Zenith cultivator.
However, at the same time, the five-colored light was also rapidly dimming, looking as if it could fade away at any moment.
Right as the five-colored lightpletely vanished, Han Li let loose a thunderous roar as he channeled his true spirit bloodlines and Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts in unison, instantly transforming into a devilish deity with three heads and six arms before reaching out with two of his hands at once, one aimed at Qi Mozi''s dantian, and the other at his heart.
Two dull thumps rang out as Han Li''s hand was able to tear through Qi Mozi''s chest before crushing his heart, but his other hand was not able to pierce into Qi Mozi''s dantian.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he pulled back his hand in preparation to deal a finishing blow, but right at this moment, hundreds of Fire Age Fireflies erupted out of Qi Mozi''s dantian alongside a burst of scorching heat before swarming toward Han Li.
Han Li''s arm instantly turned charred ck and withered as the Fire Age Fireflies crawled over his body.
An rmed look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, but the fiery, silver figure then sprang out of his shoulder before transforming into a wave of silver mes that inundated his arm along with the swarm of Fire Age Fireflies.
Right at this moment, a clump of goldenw threads flew out of Qi Mozi''s dantian. Enveloped within it was Qi Mozi''s nascent soul with a look of burning resentment on its face, and it vanished from the spot in a sh before reappearing hundreds of kilometers just an instantter.
Fox 3 immediately took a step forward to set off in pursuit, only to be stopped by Liu Zizai.
"Don''t bother. He''s wrapped his own nascent soul in all of his timew threads, even Lekima won''t be able to chase him down," Liu Zizai said in an indifferent manner.
Even before the Fire Age Fireflies clinging to his arm had been fully eradicated, Han Li had already reached out with his other hand to im Qi Mozi''s storage ring and storage bracelet, while the Eon Divine Lamp fell into Wyrm 3''s grasp.
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Everyone gathered together, and Wyrm 3 said, "Brother Han, we had an agreement..."
"Don''t worry, I haven''t forgotten. I told you I only want the Eon Divine Lamp, and that still stands," Han Li replied with a nod before tossing the pair of storage tools at Wyrm 3, who smiled as she tossed the Eon Divine Lamp at him in return.
After the items were examined to ensure that nothing was amiss about them, they were promptly stowed away.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I''ve already fulfilled my end of our agreement, so it''s time for you to return my bonded soul tablet to me, right?" Lekima asked as he approached Han Li, who was just about to respond when the entire space abruptly shuddered violently.
Everyone immediately turned in the direction where the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was still locked in battle against Tai Sui''s soul fragment, where they saw a streak of ck light and a streak of golden light shing over and over again with tremendous force.
Most of the enormous mountain below had already copsed, while countless enormous rifts had been torn into the surrounding space, and the entire seventh level was trembling violently.
Thankfully, these spatial rifts were constantly being sucked away by the shockwaves from their shes. Otherwise, the entire seventh level would''ve already copsed.
The spatial rifts seemed to have no effect on the pair ofbatants, and after yet another earth-shattering sh, the two streaks of light separated to reveal the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity and the golden soul fragment.
"It''s been a long time since I''ve been able to fight to my heart''s content like this!" the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity chortled as a burst of ck light erupted out of his body before rapidly expanding to take up most of the entire sky.
Radiant, golden light was also emanating from the soul fragment''s body to contend against the ck light, but at the moment, the soul fragment was looking far frailer than before, and the golden light around it waspletely enveloped within the all-epassing ck light, which was only continuing to spread.
Even though Han Li and the others were situated quite far away, it didn''t take long for the ck light to reach them, and the immortal spiritual power in their bodies was instantly thrown into a state ofplete disarray, while their hearts began to thump violently as if they could explode at any moment.
On top of that, the scenery around them was rapidly changing, as if they had fallen into a boundless nightmare.
These were all precursors of imminent inner demon bacsh!
Han Li''s expression changed drastically as he hurriedly channeled all of the remaining timew powers in his body to protect himself while flying away into the distance.
However, due to the chaotic state of his immortal spiritual power, his speed was significantly hampered, and his timew powers were also failing to protect him as his inner demons continued to rear their ugly heads.
Liu Zizai, Wyrm 3 and the others were also frantically flying away while channeling their ownw powers for protection, but it seemed like they were in a simr situation.
Thankfully, the ck light didn''t spread any further beyond this point, and even though everyone was flying very slowly, they were still eventually able to emerge from the ck light, upon which all of the debilitating effects that they were experiencing quickly subsided.
Even so, they continued to fly away for some time before turning around to look at the vast expanse of ck light behind them with stunned looks on their faces, and in particr, Liu Zizai, Qu Lin, and Lekima were clearly feeling a little depressed.
They were already aware that a massive disparity in power existed between them and the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, but they were still Great Epassment cultivators, nheless, so they had thought that they would be able to fare much better in the face of his power, but that was clearly not the case.
If a true battle of life and death were to take ce between them, even if the three of them were to join forces, they would still undoubtedly be easily crushed.
Meanwhile, Han Li was peering into the ck light in the distance with a contemtive look in his eyes, and it was unclear what he was thinking.
Within the suffocating ck light, the golden light around the soul fragment had beenpressed significantly, shrinking down to a radiant ball of golden light that was several thousand feet in size, and it was only continuing to bepressed further and further.
"It''s a real pity that all that remains of you is this soul fragment. There''s no point in continuing this battle any longer," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity sighed as he swept a sleeve through the air, and nine giant, ck hands, each of which was around an acre in size, abruptly appeared around the ball of golden light surrounding the soul fragment.
Every single one of the giant hands was giving off unmatched destructive power, staining the nearby space ck while also causing it to crumble away.
The nine giant hands pressed forward in unison to strike the ball of golden light, which was instantly shattered into pieces, while the soul fragment was sent stumbling back through the air.
The nine giant hands were only stopped in their tracks for a split-second before continuing to crash down upon the soul fragment, but right at this moment, ten streaks of fiery, golden light erupted out of the soul fragment''s body, all of which were imbued with immense timew powers.
After unleashing those ten streaks of light, the golden soul fragment''s already dim body became even dimmer, and it had turned almost fully transparent.
Nine of the streaks of light struck the ck hands to stop them cold in their tracks, while the final one tore through the surrounding ck light before hurtling directly toward Han Li and the others, all of whom hurriedly scattered in an rmed manner.
Han Li was also flying back in retreat, but the Eon Divine Lamp suddenly began to glow radiantly, and it becamepletely rooted to the spot in mid-air, refusing to budge even as Han Li tugged on it forcefully.
Countless golden mes emerged within the Eon Divine Lamp, and each one transformed into a fiery lotus flower, which then converged to form a bright sea of golden mes.
Han Li hurriedly released themp in an rmed manner upon seeing this, then vanished from spot before reappearing several thousand feet away with his brows tightly furrowed.
He had finally managed to obtain the Eon Divine Lamp after so much painstaking effort, was he about to lose it again?
Chapter 1129: Oneness Tier
Chapter 1129: Oneness Tier
The final streak of golden light was incredibly fast, and it reached the Eon Divine Lamp in the blink of an eye before flying into the sea of golden mes within it.
A burst of tremendous timew powers surged out of the sea of golden mes before being injected into the streak of golden light, and the golden soul fragment in the distance instantly lit up as it quickly began to take on a more substantial form.
At the same time, it threw a punch forward, and over a hundred streams of golden fire erupted out of its fist in all directions like flowing, golden rivers.
Each stream of fire was tens of thousands of feet long, and they were giving off the same aura of inevitability and decay as the passage of time itself.
It could be said that the most fearsome thing under the heavens was the passage of time. Any life form, even cultivators who had attained so-called immortality, were still susceptible to the inevitable harvester of lives that was time.
The streams of golden fire were able to easily eradicate all of the nearby ck light and then nine giant hands before hurtling toward the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
The nearby space was instantly enshrouded within a burst of tremendous timew powers that immobilized everything, including even the spatial rifts in the area and all of the spatial raging spatial turbulence within them.
Han Li and the others had thought that they had already retreated to a safe distance away, but they were still epassed within this burst of timew powers, which instantly rooted them to the spot.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s eyes lit up with excitement as he chortled, "Brilliant! I didn''t think that a mere soul fragment of yours would still have so much power!"Radiant, ck light emanated from his body as he spoke, plunging the entire surrounding area in a radius of several thousand feet intoplete darkness.
At the same time, a ck longsword appeared in his grasp, and it was enshrouded within ayer of ck light that was constantly fluctuating in brightness, giving the sword an illusory appearance, as if it could vanish at any moment.
With a swing of the sword, over a hundred almighty, ck sword projections were unleashed, and all types of horrific voices could be heard ringing out from the sword projections, including ghastly howls, agonized wails, derangedughter, and enraged roars, culminating in a maddening cacophony that was enough to drive the listener insane.
Each of the sword projections struck one of the streams of golden mes with unerring uracy, easily tearing huge rifts into the space in their path.
A string of earth-shattering booms rang out as an impasse ensued between the sword projections and golden mes, with neither side able to get the better of the other.
Two gargantuan bursts ofw powers were shing against each other, tearing the restrictive force in the nearby space to shreds, and as a result, Han Li and the others had their mobility restored.
"We have to get out of here! A battle between two peak-Great Epassment cultivators could kill us at any moment!" Liu Zizai yelled as released a burst of gray light to sweep up Fox 3 before flying away into the distance.
Meanwhile, Han Li was observing the rivers of golden mes from afar while sensing the timew powers emanating from them, and the more he observed, the more inspired he felt.
However, this was not the time to be dwelling on inspiration, and he took one final nce at the radiant Eon Divine Lamp, then tore his gaze away with gritted teeth before also flying away into the distance.
Wyrm 3, Lekima, and Qu Lin had naturally all fled the scene as well.
Right at this moment, the golden soul fragment made a hand seal, and the golden light radiating from its body instantly increased in brightness by over tenfold.
A surprised look appeared on the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s face upon seeing this. The golden soul fragment was elevating its own power without considering the costs at all.
Before he had a chance to do anything, dazzling rays of golden light erupted out of the streams of golden mes, destroying all of the ck sword projections before sweeping toward the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity from all directions.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, but he remained calm andposed as he rapidly maneuvered himself through the air whileshing out with his ck sword in all directions.
Countless ck sword projections fanned out around him like a blooming, ck lotus flower, which was able to keep the oing rays of golden light at bay with ease.
Despite this, the golden soul fragment didn''t appear disheartened, and it continued to make a rapid string of hand seals.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out as its body exploded into a vast expanse of blinding golden light, forming a golden world that epassed the entire surrounding area in a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers.
For the first time, a look of rm appeared on the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s face.
All of the sudden, all of the rays of golden light in the air doubled back before converging to form an ovr body of golden light with a diameter of thousands of kilometers, hanging in the sky like a giant star.
All of the nearby golden and ck lightpletely faded away, and everything descended into peace and quiet in an eerie fashion.
Is that a spirit domain?
Han Li couldn''t help but turn around with an intrigued expression upon sensing what was happening behind him.
It seemed that the massive, golden star was indeed a spirit domain.
"That''s a Oneness Tier spirit domain! Oneness Tier spirit domains possess a substantial form and are far more powerful than Spiritform and Creation Tier spirit domains! I didn''t think that a mere soul fragment would be able to conjure up a spirit domain of this caliber. We have to get out of here right now!
¡°Its intention is most likely to detonate its own spirit domain to take down the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity with it!" Lekima yelled in a frantic voice, following which arge cloud emerged from its body to epass both Han Li and Wyrm 3.
At the same time, a cloud also emerged from each of its four hooves, and its speed was instantly enhanced by severalfold as it darted away into the distance as a white shadow.
Qu Lin and Liu Zizai''s expressions also changed drastically as they arrived at the same conclusion as Lekima, and Qu Lin took on his Gold Devouring Beetle form before racing away as a streak of golden light, vanishing into the distant sky in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, Liu Zizai opened his mouth to release a ball of gray light, which transformed into a door of gray light that was around ten feet tall and was giving off bursts of spatial power.
He immediately stepped into the door of light with Fox 3, and the two of them instantly vanished into thin air, while the door of gray light also faded away.
Immediately thereafter, the giant, golden star in the distance began to glow with blinding, golden light, and countless fiery patterns had also appeared over its surface.N?v(el)B\\jnn
On top of that, it was giving off a terrifying aura of annihtion, and even though it still hadn''t been detonated, the nearby space was already trembling violently.
An earth-shattering boom rang out as the golden star exploded into a vast, unfathomable expanse of golden light, which proliferated through the air in all directions, tearing through the nearby space with ridiculous ease.
All of the spatial fragments and spatial turbulence was thenpletely devoured by the golden light, and countless vortexes of different sizes that seemed to be capable of swallowing up all things had also appeared within the golden light.
What remained of the enormous mountain down below was quickly swallowed up by the golden light, and it was erased from existence without being able to offer up any resistance.
The golden light continued to spread rapidly, and the entire seventh level was trembling violently as massive spatial rifts appeared everywhere.
At this point, Han Li''s trio had already flown to a considerable distance away, but they were being outsped by the expanding golden light, and it was quickly catching up to them.
Lekima let loose an urgent neigh as a pair of huge, white wings appeared on its back, and there were countless white symbols of winds and clouds shing on their surface.
With its speed further enhanced by the pair of white wings, it had be faster than expanding golden light, but the entire seventh level was beginning to copse, and spatial rifts were constantly appearing up ahead, forcing Lekima to duck and weave from side to side.
As a result, it was being slowed down significantly, preventing it from outrunning the expanding golden light.
Amid all the chaos, it was unclear where Qu Lin and Liu Zizai had gone.
"This isn''t going to work, Fellow Daoist Lekima. I''m going to use a spatial teleportation technique to get us to the sixth level!" Han Li said as he made a hand seal, and arcs of golden lightning erupted out of his body to form a lightning array that epassed all three of them.
As the lightning array took shape, more and more lightning array patterns appeared on its surface, but due to the fact that three people had to be teleported at once, including a Great Epassment cultivator in the form of Lekima, some more preparations had to be made before teleportation could be initiated.
Lekima continued to flee from the expanding golden light while observing the surrounding lightning array, and its eyes instantly lit up upon sensing the exquisite integration of lightning and spatial powers within the array.
Finally, the lightning array fully took shape, and at this point, the expanding golden light was still some distance away.
An ted look appeared on Han Li''s face as he prepared to activate the teleportation array, but right at this moment, the nearby spacepletely copsed amid an earth-shatteringmotion.
Han Li''s trio instantly fell into a boundless expanse of spatial turbulence, which tore the lightning array apart with ease.
The lightning array was only a teleportation array, so it wasn''t particrly resilient or defensively stalwart.
Han Li was involuntarily torn off Lekima''s back before being swept up by the boundless spatial turbulence, while Lekima and Wyrm 3 were also swept away, vanishing out of sight in an instant.
Han Li felt as if the entire world were spinning around him, and countless bursts of spatial turbulence were sweeping toward him from all directions, filling his ears with deafening rumbling.
The spatial turbulence was incredibly powerful, and even with his immense powers, he was only just barely able to stabilize himself. Furthermore, due to the fact that the surrounding space hadpletely copsed, there were also spatial fragments interspersed throughout the spatial turbulence.
Chapter 1130: Escape
Chapter 1130: Escape
Right at this moment, a burst of five-colored light appeared over Han Li''s body, and a loud cry rang out as he transformed into a five-colored phoenix that was around a thousand feet in size.
It was Han Li''s Heavenly Phoenix form, and it spread its wings as it began soaring through the air in an extremely cautious manner.
The spatial turbulence didn''t pose much of a threat, but those spatial shards were extremely sharp and would slice even a Great Epassment cultivator to ribbons, if given the chance.
In the wake of his battle against Qi Mozi, he had exhausted all of his timew powers, so he had to proceed with extreme caution in order to avoid those lethal spatial shards.
Right at this moment, a burst of thunderous rumbling rang out from behind him, and he turned to discover that the golden light was sweeping toward him once again.
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An rmed look appeared on his face as he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts to transform into a devilish deity with three heads and six arms, and this time, the three heads were those of the Azure Luan Bird, the Lightning Bird, and the Heavenly Phoenix.
Gusts of azure wind, arcs of silver lightning, and streaks of five-colored light surged out of his body in unison as he flew back in retreat, traveling at an extraordinary speed that was far faster than even the top speed that Lekima had disyed earlier.
Flying at such an incredible speed, Han Li''s ability to avoid the spatial shards in his path was severelypromised, and several gashes were soon sliced into his body.
Thankfully, his physical constitution was extremely formidable in this form, and he also had the protection of his True Extreme Film, so none of the gashes had cut very deep.
Before long, he was able to open up some distance between himself and the golden light, and to his immense relief, the golden light was beginning to slow down, as if it had finally exhausted all of its power.
An ted look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this, but right at this moment, a burst of dull rumbling suddenly rang out from behind him, and the golden light abruptly exploded into countless waves of golden radiance that spread through the air far faster than before.
The waves of golden light instantly caught up to Han Li before he even had a chance to react, and he immediately summoned a whole host of defensive immortal treasures in a blind panic to protect himself.
However, it then quickly dawned on him that his concerns were unnecessary. The waves of golden light didn''t have much destructive power within them, and they were merely propelling him rapidly through the air.
All of the surrounding spatial shards were also being propelled forward, so they didn''t inflict much harm upon him.
The waves of golden light propelled Han Li through the air for some time before fading away, much to his relief and tion.
Right as he was about to continue onward, his gaze was suddenly drawn to a certain direction, and after a brief hesitation, he decided to fly in that direction.
A few secondster, a struggling, blue figure appeared in his field of view up ahead, and it was none other than Lan Yan.
At this moment, she was trapped in a swirling vortex of spatial turbulence, and her entire body was riddled with wounds. Her left arm had beenpletely sliced off at the shoulder, and her hair waspletely disheveled, while herplexion was deathly pale.
Most damning of all, theyer of protective spiritual light around her body had already be very dim, and it was only just barely able to ward off the surrounding spatial turbulence, indicating that her immortal spiritual power reserves were running dry.
Right at this moment, a huge spatial shard was hurled Lan Yan''s way, and an rmed look appeared on her face as she hurriedly dodged to the side.
However, in her current, terrible condition, her movements were far slower than normal, and she wasn''t able topletely evade the spatial shard.
Right as she was about to be struck by the projectile, a streak of ck light sped past in a sh, and Lan Yan instantly vanished into thin air, evading the spatial shard by the skin of her teeth.
A ck figure emerged amid a burst of spatial fluctuations several thousand feet away, and it was none other than Han Li, gripping Lan Yan in one of his six giant, devilish hands.
"Are you... Fellow Daoist Han?" Lan Yan asked in a hesitant manner.
Han Li nodded in response with an indifferent direction, and a burst of green light surged out of one of his other hands before seeping into Lan Yan''s body.
Ayer of green light instantly appeared over her body, and her wounds began to rapidly heal, while theyer of protective spiritual light around her also brightened significantly.
A relieved look appeared on her face as Han Li released her, and she promptly took a pill, upon which her paleplexion quickly began to improve.
"Thank you for saving me, Fellow Daoist Han," she said with a look of mixed emotions in her eyes.
"No need to thank me. Now that you''ve recovered somewhat, I''ll leave you to your own devices," Han Li replied, then promptly departed.
Even though they had initially been enemies, Han Li had a rather positive impression of the Lan siblings, and that was why he had decided to save Lan Yan in her time of need.
On top of that, he could feel that some darkness had taken root in his heart during the period of time in which he had been under the influence of the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s inner demonw powers, so he decided that it was best to do some good deeds where possible in order to cleanse the darkness in his heart.
However, that didn''t mean that he would go as far as to take Lan Yan with her. He had already saved her life here, and that was more than enough in his eyes.
Lan Yan looked on with a hesitant expression for a moment as Han Li flew away into the distance, then seemed to make up her mind as she set off after him.
After flying for a short while, Han Li arrived in an area filled with particrly powerful bursts of spatial turbulence that were interspersed with a huge number of spatial shards.
There was a massive spatial rift that was several dozen kilometers in length up ahead, through which the outside world could be seen, and that spatial rift was where all of the spatial shards wereing from.
An ted look appeared on Han Li''s face as ayer of inky ck light surfaced over his body, and he quickly took on an alternative devilish deity form, this one with the heads of the True Dragon, the Giant Mountain Ape, and the Kun Peng.
Additionally, this devilish deity form was also more physically imposing than the previous one, and all of his injuries were healed almost instantly.
At the same time, over nine hundred profound acupoints lit up over his body, and a burst of tremendous power erupted out his devilish body, scattering all of the nearby spatial turbulence to open up arge safe zone around him.
However, he didn''t choose to immediately fly toward the white spatial rift as there were far too many spatial shards around it. Instead, heshed out with his six fists in rapid session, unleashing countless fist projections to strike at the dense clusters of spatial shards in front of the white spatial rift.
Bursts of thunderous rumbling rang out as waves upon waves of ck fist projections struck the spatial shards before exploding into the balls of ck light, and the spatial shards were quickly being scattered to open up a path of safe passage.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up slightly as he slowly flew forward while continuing to unleash a sustained barrage of fist projections to clear the way ahead, and it didn''t take long before he arrived in front of the spatial rift.
Right at this moment, ayer of ck light surfaced over each of his six fists, and heshed out with his six fists in unison to release a ck fist projection the size of a house.
The fist projection struck the white spatial rift before exploding into an enormous ball of ck light that proliferated outward in all directions, clearing away all of the spatial shards near the white rift.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li let loose a thunderous roar as heshed out with his six fists in unison once again to strike the spatial rift, and an earth-shattering boom rang out as the spatial rift shuddered violently.
Arge hole that was several dozen in feet in size was blown into the spatial rift where it was struck by Han Li''s fists, and an ecstatic look appeared on his face as he immediately reverted back to his human form before flying through the hole.
Outside the hole was a vast canyon that was filled with dense mist, while a nket of dark clouds were hanging up above.
The Eon Pagoda was situated behind Han Li, but at this point, its seventh level had already beenpletely destroyed, reduced to a chaotic mass of spatial turbulence that was tearing the surrounding space to shreds.
All of the cultivators situated outside the Eon Pagoda were already nowhere to be seen, and only a few people who had been freed from the pagoda were still hanging around nearby, but none of them dared to approach the pagoda as they observed the structure in a fearful manner from afar.
Right as Han Li was assessing his surroundings, he suddenly turned around and raised an eyebrow while casting his gaze toward therge spatial hole that he had just emerged from.
A blue figure flew out from within before descending to the ground nearby, and it was none other than Lan Yan.
Several new wounds had appeared on her body, and the protective blue light around him had dimmed significantly once again.
She was gasping for air as she summoned a pair of blue talismans, which fused into her body as two balls of blue light, and herplexion instantly improved slightly.
"I didn''t get a chance to thank you for setting aside our past differences and saving my life, Fellow Daoist Han. I''ll be sure to repay you for your kindness," she promised with a serious expression.
"It''s fine, don''t worry about it," Han Li replied in an indifferent manner.
"You saved my life, Fellow Daoist Han. This is not something that I can simply forget," Lan Yan said in an insistent manner.
"Suit yourself then," Han Li shrugged as he took a pill while scouring his surroundings for Wyrm 3 and the others.
Lan Yan took a long nce at Han Li, then descended into the canyon and sat down to rest and recuperate.
Han Li paid no heed to her as he scanned the surrounding area with his spiritual sense, and his brows furrowed slightly in concern as he discovered that he couldn''t detect any of their auras.
Chapter 1131: Sacrifice and Compromise
Chapter 1131: Sacrifice and Compromise
Surely they should all be fine, Han Li thought to himself.
Right at this moment, a huge spatial hole appeared near the Eon Pagoda, and Wyrm 3, Lekima, and Qu Lin flew out from within.
The three of them were all carrying substantial injuries, particrly Wyrm 3, half of whose body was soaked in blood, but thankfully, none of them were in any life-threatening danger.
"I''m d to see you made it out safely, Fellow Daoist Han. I was worried about you after we became separated, but it looks my concerns were unnecessary," Wyrm 3 said with a mixture of tion and relief in her voice.
"I was very fortunate to have made it out alive. You should take some time to rest and recuperate so we can get out of here as soon as possible," Han Li replied.
Lekima and Qu Lin were also quite relieved to see that Han Li was unharmed, and they immediately sat down with their legs crossed to tend to their own injuries.
......
In the Azure Silk Col of the Golden Origin Mountain Range.
It was nighttime, and all of the households in the ancient vige were busy making supper.
Plumes of smoke were rising up from the chimneys of the houses in the vige, and the vige chief was seated at the table in his own front yard along with a few old friends, sipping on some home-brewed wine while his wife prepared food in the kitchen.
All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out, and the entire Azure Silk Col shuddered violently. The table jumped up slightly into the air, and much of the wine in the bowls on the table came spilling out.
"When is this going to end?" the vige chief grumbled as he hurriedly reached out to steady his bowl and the wine gon.
"I just don''t understand! What in our vige could possibly be of such interest to those high and mighty immortals?" a dark-skinned elderly man sitting across from the vige chiefined.
"I heard that some treasure had appeared in the Azure Silk Col, and many immortals came to visit the col before disappearing without any exnation. The remaining people have sealed up the col, so no one can ess it now," a middle-aged man said.
"I don''t care what they''re doing as long as they don''t ruin our spring," the vige chief said in a concerned manner.
Another resounding boom rang out as they spoke, and unbeknownst to them, these were about to their final moments.
......
Inside White Head Valley, the ground was trembling violently amid bursts of thunderous rumbling.
Deep within the valley, many cultivators dressed in Almighty Sword Sect attire were gathered around the stone archway, and all of them were staring intently at the space beneath the archway, not daring to rx for even a single instant.
Right at this moment, a group of five or six figures emerged from the space there amid a sh of silver light, and looks of immense relief instantly appeared on the faces of the nearby Almighty Sword Sect cultivators at the sight of them.
It was none other than Lei Yuce''s group that had emerged from the silver light.
Daoist Master Dao Yin''splexion was still looking rather pale, and there was an urgent look on his face, while Lei Yuce and the others were also looking far from pleased, so it was clear that something had gone wrong.
"Chen Chuan, have youpleted the task I assigned to you?" Daoist Master Dao Yin asked.
A tall, male figure with a long, ck beard stepped forward as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute and replied, "Yes, Master. I finished setting up everything close to a month ago, and I examined everything twice to ensure that there''s nothing amiss."
"Give me the Dragon Tooth Key, then get out of here right now!" Daoist Master Dao Yin instructed in an urgent voice.
Chen Chuan''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he wanted to raise some questions, but didn''t dare to do so. In the end, he could only flip a hand over to produce a crimson, crescent-shaped jade pendant, which he offered to Daoist Master Dao Yin with both hands.
"Let me do it in your stead, Master. Your injuries are too severe," Lei Yuce said with a grim expression.
"Do we really have to resort to that, Brother Lei?" Chen Chuan asked.
"We were unable to kill the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity or recover the Eon Divine Lamp, and the Eon Pagoda''s defenses have already been breached. It won''t be long before the people imprisoned in the pagodae out of the secret area, and that''ll spell disaster for the entire Golden Origin Immortal Region, so we have to act now," Lei Yuce replied in a grim voice.
"In order to activate the Dragon Tooth Destruction Array, someone has to stay in the array, and ten seconds following its activation, a string of explosions will take ce. The majority of the power will be released into the secret area, but the residual power will still be enough to wipe out a good portion of the Golden Origin Mountain Range. Will you be able to make it out safely in your current condition?" Daoist Master Dao Yin asked in a concerned manner.
"Rest assured, Master, I''ll be fine on my own," Lei Yuce assured with a smile.
"Senior Dao Yin, is there no other way? The foundations of our Heavenly Water Sect and your Almighty Sword Sect are both built upon the Golden Origin Mountain Range, so this will surely negatively impact both of our sects. On top of that, what about the countless innocent lives that will be lost? What have they done to deserve such a terrible fate?" Su Anqian asked with tightly furrowed brows.
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this, and it was clear that they echoed her concerns.
A hesitant look appeared on Daoist Master Dao Yin''s face upon hearing, following which he heaved a forlorn sigh as he said, "I''m afraid we have no choice in the matter..."
"Allow me to exin," Lei Yuce interjected. "The Dragon Tooth Destruction Array was set up under direct orders from the Heavenly Court. They instructed us to blow up the entire secret area, but we didn''t want to inflict such mass destruction upon the Golden Origin Mountain Range, so we ventured into the secret area with the objectives of killing the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity and recovering the Eon Divine Lamp.
¡°However, now that we''ve failed on both ounts, we have no choice but to execute the Heavenly Court''s orders."
Su Anqian''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this. She was aware of the weight of official orders from the Heavenly Court.
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"If we had seeded in our original n, then we would''ve been seal away all of the beings imprisoned in the Eon Pagoda with the help of the Eon Divine Lamp, but now, we have no choice but to use the Dragon Tooth Destruction Array," Lei Yuce continued.
"If those beings previously imprisoned inside the pagoda manage to escape, then the Heavenly Court will be sure to intervene, and the consequences will be far more dire. Our Almighty Sword Sect will most likely be wiped out, and there''s a good chance that your Heavenly Water Sect will also be held partly responsible. Hence, some sacrifices must be made," Daoist Master Dao Yin sighed.
As soon as his voice trailed off, another resounding boom rang out within the valley, and the ground began to tremble even more violently than before.
"The Eon Pagoda won''t be able to hold itself together for much longer! We have to act now!" Daoist Master Dao Yin said in an urgent manner.
"Please leave this ce at once, everyone. I''ll activate the array on my own," Lei Yuce urged.
"Alright, I''ll leave everything here to you, but make sure you return safely," Daoist Master Dao Yin replied after a brief hesitation, then handed the crescent-shaped jade pendant to Lei Yuce.
The pendant was riddled withplex patterns and slightly warm to the touch, and a solemn look appeared on Lei Yuce''s face upon being entrusted with it.
"Be safe," Su Anqian said as she turned to depart, and Lei Yuce responded with a smile and a nod.
After that, everyone flew out of White Head Valley, leaving only Lei Yuce behind.
Su Anqian heaved a faint sigh as she flew over the serene little vige in the Azure Silk Col.
Following everyone''s departure, Lei Yuce rose up into the air, then joined his palms in front of his own chest with the Dragon Tooth Key sped between them.
He then began to chant an incantation, and the entire White Head Valley began to tremble as a series of crescent-shaped stone pirs began rising up from the ground and the mountain faces surrounding the valley.
Before long, hundreds of ck stone pirs that resembled sharp bones had emerged from the entire valley.
These stone pirs were etched with dense clusters of strange-looking runes that were dark red in color, giving off bursts of scorching heat and formidable spiritual power fluctuations.
Lei Yuce was feeling a little anxious as he held the jade pendant in his hand, but there was no time for him to hesitate as he tossed the Dragon Tooth Key forward.
The key ascended further into the heavens, hanging above the valley like a crimson moon.
Bursts of shing light began emanating from the crimson moon, and the runes on the stone pirs below also began to sh in tandem.
All of a sudden, Lei Yuce brought his palms apart as he let loose a thunderous roar, and the crimson moon exploded into countless rays of crimson light that descended upon the stone pirs in the valley.
As these rays of light shone down onto the stone pirs, the runes engraved upon them brightened even further.
Meanwhile, Lei Yuce was already flying out of the valley as quickly as he could whilemencing an internal countdown of ten seconds.
Immediately thereafter, another streak of light flew out of the valley before racing away in another direction.
It was none other than Xiong Shan standing atop the Primordial Ancient Sword, and his speed wasn''t inferior to Lei Yuce''s in the slightest.
As soon as the ten-second countdown concluded, countless pirs of light in the shape of wolves'' fangs erupted out of the earth in the Azure Silk Col, and the entire surrounding area within hundreds of kilometerspletely erupted, as if a gargantuan creature had risen up after a long slumber.
Immediately thereafter, ayer of red light swept through the entire area, instantly vaporizing everything that it came into contact with.
The entirety of Spare Food Vige was torn apart by gusts of ferocious wind even before the red light arrived, and all signs that the vige had ever existed were erased in the blink of an eye.
Close to half of the entire Golden Origin Mountain Range began to copse amid bursts of violent rumbling, resulting in the destruction of countless settlements and the loss of countless lives.
Chapter 1132: Another Type of Compensation
Chapter 1132: Another Type of Compensation
Near the Eon Pagoda.
After taking a brief rest, Lekima and Qu Lin''splexions were looking much better than before.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I''ve followed through on my promise to you, so it''s time for you to give me my bonded soul tablet, is it not?" Qu Lin asked as he rose to his feet.
"Of course," Han Li replied as he tossed over Qu Lin''s bonded soul tablet.
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A disgruntled look appeared on Lekima''s face upon seeing this, and he protested, "Hey, don''t forget about me! Isn''t it about time that you returned my bonded soul tablet as well?"
"Have you forgotten that you promised mepensation in exchange for your bonded soul tablet, Fellow Daoist Lekima?" Han Li asked as he pulled out Lekima''s bonded soul tablet, but didn''t return it to him.
"I really did forget about that, but of course you didn''t!" Lekima chuckled. "I suppose it''s for the best. This way, I won''t have to owe you any favors."
A streak of white light then came flying out of his mouth, containing arge, white g that was riddled with designs of wind and clouds and giving off extremely formidable windw power fluctuations.
Even without any injection of immortal spiritual power, the sheer presence of the g alone was enough to stir up violent air currents within a radius of several hundred feet, forming an enormous, swirling vortex.
There was a reluctant look in Lekima''s eyes as he gazed upon the g, but he still offered it to Han Li as he said, "This Windbringer g is a prized fifth tier immortal treasure of mine that can be used to greatly enhance one''s speed. I''m now gifting it to you aspensation for retrieving my bonded soul tablet."
"This is indeed a fine immortal treasure, but in order to fully tap into its power, one has to have mastery over thews of wind, and that does not apply to me, so I''m afraid that I must refuse it. Instead, may I ask for something else aspensation?" Han Li asked as he swept a sleeve through the air, sending the g drifting back to Lekima.
"What else would you like from me, Fellow Daoist Han?" Lekima asked with a surprised expression.
"I don''t want any of your treasures. Instead, I want you to agree to a condition of mine," Han Li said with a faint smile.
"What is it?" Lekima asked.
"I can see that you are a true spirit, so I''m sure you''ve heard of the true spirits, the Baxia and the Zhuyan, right?" Han Li asked as he switched to voice transmission.
"I am indeed aware of them. They are extremely rare and powerful true spirits. What does that have to do with our discussion here?" Lekima asked with a perplexed expression.
"Aspensation, I would like to secure you a batch of blood essence from each of those two true spirits," Han Li replied.
At the moment, he already possessed ten true spirit bloodlines, and he was only missing two bloodlines from his Twelve Awakening Transformation were those of the Baxia and the Zhuyan.
Given that the Heavenly Court was currently hot on his tail, he wasn''t going to have much spare time to search for these two types of blood essence, so it was much better to assign the task to Lekima, who was a true spirit himself.
"You make it sound so simple, Fellow Daoist Han! How am I supposed to find these types of true spirits when they''re virtually extinct in the True Immortal Realm? On top of that, both of these true spirits are extremely formidable, so even if I do manage to find them, extracting their blood essence is going to be an exceedingly difficult task," Lekima said in a solemn manner.
"I am aware that this is a very difficult task, so all that I ask is that you do your best. If you encounter any difficulties, you can contact me for help at any time," Han Li said as he flipped a hand over to produce amunication array te, then handed it over to Lekima along with his bonded soul tablet.
Lekima epted the two items from him, then raised an eyebrow as he asked, "You''re giving me my bonded soul tablet just like that? Are you not worried that I''ll take it without fulfilling my end of the agreement?"
"I think I''m a decent judge of character. I may not have known you for all that long, but I can tell that you''re not one to go back on your promises," Han Li said with a faint smile.
Finding thest two types of true spirit bloodlines wasn''t exactly a high-ranking priority anyway, so even if Lekima didn''t follow through on his promise, it wouldn''t have mattered much to Han Li. If worse came to worst, he would just have to offer a reward for the bloodlines in the Reincarnation Pce.
"I assure you that your trust in me is not misced, Fellow Daoist Han," Lekima promised with a serious expression, then stowed themunication array te and his bonded soul tablet away, along with the Windbringer g.
Right at this moment, the nearby space tore open once again amid another resounding boom, and Liu Zizai and Fox 3 flew out from within.
The two of them were also carrying some injuries, but none of them were very severe, and they immediately flew over to Han Li''s group upon catching sight of them.
Right at this moment, a burst of loud rumbling rang out from up ahead, and the sixth level of the Eon Pagoda copsed violently, releasing a spatial storm that erupted in all directions to send Han Li and the others flying back through the air.
On top of that, the spatial storm was interspersed with spatial rifts that were capable of slicing through everything in their path.
Everyone hurriedly took evasive measures, but there was a huge number of these spatial rifts, and Fox 3 was unable to evade them all as his right arm was severed by a spatial rift before exploding into a misty cloud of blood.
Everyone hurriedly retreated even faster upon seeing this, and Lan Yan was also awoken from her meditation by themotion.
She hurriedly rose to her feet, then flew out of the canyon to join everyone as they fled into the distance.
No one disyed any surprise at the sudden emergence of Lan Yan, and thankfully, the spatial storm didn''t spread very far, so no one sustained any injuries aside from Fox 3.
However, before they even had a chance to catch their breaths, another resounding boom rang out as the fifth level of the Eon Pagoda exploded violently as well.
This was followed by the fourth level, then the third level, then the second, and finally, the first level.
Before long, the entire Eon Pagoda had vanished, reced by an explosive spatial storm that was tearing everything around it to shreds.
The spatial storm contained devastating bursts of spatial power that were far more formidable than the spatial turbulence that Han Li had to contend with earlier, and he had a feeling that even if his timew powers and immortal spiritual power were both in peak condition, he would still be doomed if he were to be swept up in the spatial storm.
The entire space was trembling and swaying violently in the face of the terrifying spatial storm, and there was a look of lingering fear in Qu Lin''s eyes as he remarked, "Thank heavens we managed to make it out in time. Otherwise, we would''ve surely died in there."
Even with his incredibly formidable physical constitution, he was certain that power of the spatial storm would be too much for him to bear.
"Each of the Eon Pagoda''s levels is an independent space, so it can be said that the entire pagoda is a spatial treasure of an extremely high caliber. Hence, its self-detonation is naturally sure to unleash unfathomable power," Liu Zizai said.
"Fellow Daoist Shi is still inside. He was forced to withstand the detonation of Tai Sui''s Oneness Tier spirit domain, and now, he''s been swept up in such a terrifying spatial storm. I''m afraid the chances of him surviving all of this are extremely slim," Lekima sighed.
"The detonation of a time-attribute Oneness Tier spirit domain is already powerful enough to threaten any Great Epassment cultivator, and Fellow Daoist Shi has only recently been freed, so he most likely hasn''t recovered all of his power. I''m afraid you may be right..." Liu Zizai sighed.
Wyrm 3''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and a hint of concern surfaced in her eyes.
"Good riddance, I say! I''m d that old madman is dead!" Qu Lin harrumphed coldly.
Right at this moment, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s voice suddenly rang out nearby.
"Oh? Is that right?"
Qu Lin shuddered as he frantically looked around in a panicked manner, and hisplexion instantly turned deathly pale.
Right at this moment, a burst of ck light flew out of everyone''s bodies before converging to a single spot.
Everyone hurriedly examined their own internal conditions upon seeing this, but didn''t discover anything amiss.
The same bursts of ck light had also emerged from the bodies of all of the distant bystanders, and they fused together to form none other than the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity.
Qu Lin''splexion paled even further upon seeing this, and he was rooted to the spot in fear.
"I''ve heard that when inner demonw powers are cultivated to a certain degree, one would be able to resurrect themselves in the inner demons of others at any time even if their physical body and soul were to both be in. I always thought that was nothing more than hyperbole, but you''ve proven me wrong, Fellow Daoist Shi," Liu Zizai mused with an incredulous expression.
"I may have been sealed in this ce by Tai Sui for all these years, but during this time, I was able to make some advancements in my inner demonw powers," the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity said in a smug manner.
"We cannot even begin to fathom your boundless powers, Senior Shi," Wyrm 3 said, and everyone else also quickly chimed in with words of praise.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was extremely pleased by this, and he burst into heartyughter.
However, as Han Li observed the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, he suddenly noticed that even though thetter had managed to sessfully resurrect himself, his aura was far inferior to before, indicating that a price had to be paid for this form of resurrection.
Qu Lin was very relieved to see that the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s attention had been diverted away by everyone else, and he silently ducked behind everyone, hoping to stay out of the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s line of sight.
All of a sudden, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity turned a cold gaze toward Qu Lin as he harrumphed coldly, "Where do you think you''re going?"
Immediately thereafter, he abruptly vanished from the spot, and Qu Lin''s expression changed drastically upon seeing this as he instantly adopted his Gold Devouring Beetle form.
He had only justpleted his transformation when the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity appeared right in front of him before sending him flying with an almighty punch, and that was only the beginning of a ferocious barrage that had Qu Lin howling for mercy.
However, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity''s powers had diminished significantly following his resurrection, so the beating wasn''t anywhere near as difficult to endure asst time for Qu Lin.
On top of that, Qu Lin fully deserved what wasing to him for his big mouth, so no one stepped in to plead for mercy for him.
Chapter 1133: Mass Destruction
Chapter 1133: Mass Destruction
The spatial storm raged for some time before finally beginning to dissipate, and in the span of just a few seconds, it hadpletely vanished.
Peace and quiet was restored, and it was as if nothing had happened, with only the gargantuan crater in the ground serving as a reminder of the havoc that had just been wrought.
All of a sudden, Han Li''s eyes lit up as if he had spotted something, and he flew straight into the crater before re-emerging from its depths shortly thereafter with the Eon Divine Lamp held in his hand.
After enduring the spatial storm, themp waspletely unharmed, but its me had been snuffed out, and the timew power fluctuations emanating from it were also far weaker than before.
"Congrattions on recovering the Eon Divine Lamp, Fellow Daoist Han, although it seems to have sustained some damage," Wyrm 3 remarked.
"I''m already very content just to be able to recover themp," Han Li said as he stowed themp away.
At this point, the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity had finally had his fill of beating Qu Lin, and he flew back with a satisfied expression, while Qu Lin trailed along behind him with a glum look on his bruised and battered face.
"We may have made it out of the Eon Pagoda, but we''re still in the Tai Sui Immortal Manor, and it doesn''t look like this secret area is going to be around much longer. If the entire immortal manor copses, the destructive power released will most likely be even more formidable than the copse of the Eon Pagoda, so I think we should get out of here right away," Wyrm 3 proposed, and everyone nodded in agreement.
"We''ve already been trapped here for countless years, so of course I''m more than happy to leave this ce, but how can we do that? Perhaps you can''t sense it at your current cultivation base, but right now, the entire immortal manor is epassed within a tremendous burst of spatial power, and it won''t be easy to force our way out," Liu Zizai said.
A faint smile appeared on Wyrm 3''s face, and she was just about to respond when the group of bystanders in the distance suddenly flew onto the scene.
It was a group of only twenty to thirty living beings, and it was unclear whether the rest had already perished or had gone somewhere else.
It was a very diverse group consisting of humans, demons, and devils, and most of them werepletely emaciated, presenting a rather pitiable sight to behold.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he noticed that all of them possessed immense, High Zenith Stage auras, but for some reason, none of them possessed anyw powers.
Even so, this was still a group of twenty to thirty High Zenith cultivators, and everyone looked on with wary expressions as they approached.
"You must''ve all been previously sealed in the Eon Pagoda, right? What business do you have with us?" Wyrm 3 asked in aposed manner.
"If you have a way to leave this ce, then please take us with you. We''ve been trapped in here for countless years, and we''ve finally been freed, we don''t want to die here," a red-haired, male human implored, and everyone else also began begging Wyrm 3 to take them with her.
"Rest assured, everyone, we were fated to meet here, so I won''t leave you behind," Wyrm 3 dered.
"Thank you so much!" the red-haired man said, and his voice was brimming with gratitude.
Everyone else also hurriedly extended grateful salutes to Wyrm 3.
"Do you have a way to get out of here, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3?" Liu Zizai asked.
"I came here to carry out a mission for the Reincarnation Pce, so of course I have a way to get out of here. However, I''m going to need some time to prepare," Wyrm 3 replied as she flipped a hand over to produce a stack of silver array tes and array gs, all of which were giving off formidable spatial power fluctuations.
"That''s a Great Spatial Transference Array! The Reincarnation Pce truly is an organization of remarkable wealth," Liu Zizai praised.
A faint smile appeared on Wyrm 3''s face, and she was just about to begin setting up the array when the entire immortal manor began to tremble and sway violently.
The spatial rifts in the sky were rapidly expanding, and rays of blinding golden light were erupting out of them.
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The earth had also begun to tremble violently, and a series of enormous trenches emerged before widening into vast canyons.
Everyone''s expressions changed drastically upon seeing this, and they hurriedly flew up into the air.
"How could this be? The secret area has begun to copse, but it should''ve been able tost at least a few more days. Could it be that someone''s doing something to elerate its copse?" Wyrm 3 eximed.
"Now''s not the time to be thinking about that! You focus on setting up the array, we''ll keep you sheltered in the process!" Liu Zizai yelled in an urgent voice, and Wyrm 3 immediately sprang into action as the array tes and array gs in her hands flew into the nearby space to form a silver array.
Bursts of silver light erupted out of the array tools, forming a thick pir of silver light that erupted into the heavens, while everyone hurriedly gathered around Wyrm 3.
Meanwhile, three figures were standing in the distance, seeminglypletely unaffected by the surrounding spatial turbulence as they looked on at Han Li''s group from afar.
......
Close to half a dayter.
Themotion in the Golden Origin Mountain Range finally began to gradually subside, and at this moment, Daoist Master Dao Yin''s group was standing in mid-air hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, looking on with pained expressions.
To the left, the Golden Origin Mountain Range remained as majestic and exuberant as ever, but to the right, the mountain range had beenpletely decimated, resulting in the annihtion of countlessndmarks and the loss of countless lives.
"We''ve caused a horrific tragedy of unimaginable proportions!" Daoist Master Dao Yin sighed with a guilt-ridden expression.
"We''re not to me for this, Master. We did everything in our power to not have to do this, but ultimately, we have no choice but to obey the orders of the Heavenly Court," Chen Chuan consoled.
Right at this moment, everyone spotted a figure flying through the dense smoke in the distance, and a hint of tion surfaced in Chen Chuan''s eyes as he eximed, "It''s Senior Martial Brother Lei!"
Indeed, it was none other than Lei Yuce, and at the moment, there was a dazed and haunted look on his face.
Everyone knew the reason for this, and Su Anqian strode over to his side, standing beside him in a silent act of moral support and solidarity.
......
Right at this moment, a spatial rift suddenly appeared in the sky above what was once the Azure Silk Col, and over forty figures stumbled out from within in quick session of one another.
The first person to emerge from the spatial rift was none other than the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, and a soon as he appeared, he immediately yelled, "Sheesh! What have they done with this ce?"
Han Li and the others quickly emerged behind him, followed by all of the High Zenith cultivators that had been previously held captive in the Eon Pagoda.
"We''re free... After all these years, we''re finally free!"
All of the High Zenith cultivators had erupted into sobs from excitement and tion.
"Thank you for saving us!" someone yelled, and all of the High Zenith cultivators immediately fell to their knees to kowtow to Wyrm 3.
"There''s no need to be so grateful to me, everyone," Wyrm 3 said with a dismissive wave. "What are your ns from here onward?"
"After being trapped in there for so long, we have no idea what the outside world is like anymore and whether our past sects even still exist. I can''t speak for everyone, but at the very least, I don''t have anywhere to go," the red-haired man replied with a wry smile, and dejected looks appeared on everyone else''s faces as well.
"If you have somewhere you can go, then feel free to leave now. If not, you cane with me, and I''ll arrange a ce for you to go," Wyrm 3 said.
Seven eight of the freed cultivators immediately bade farewell to Wyrm 3 upon hearing this, while the rest, of which there were over twenty, chose to stay.
Han Li paid no heed to the conversation taking ce between them and Wyrm 3.
At this moment, he was hanging high up in the sky, observing thendscape below with a grim expression. There was nothing but scorched earth as far as the eyes could see, and it waspletely unlike the lush mountain range from before.
The former White Head Valley had already beenpletely destroyed, transformed into a giant crater that was hundreds of kilometers in diameter, and not a single living being could be seen in the entire decimated area.
The massive mountain range previously standing down below had also almost beenpletely razed to the ground, leaving behind only a small ridge that was no more than several hundred feet tall. Even now, the ridge was still giving off plumes of thick smoke and an acrid, charred odor.
Lan Yan was standing beside him with all of the color drained from her face, and her hand was sped over her mouth in an astonished silence.
"Not only was the secret area detonated, this entire stretch of the mountain range was also destroyed. Who could''ve done this?" Wyrm 3 asked as she flew over to Han Li''s side.
"Judging from the current circumstances, I''m guessing the Almighty Sword Sect must''ve had something to do with this, but what I don''t understand is why they had to go so far," Han Li replied in a perplexed manner.
"That doesn''t seem usible to me. The Almighty Sword Sect is situated in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, and even though their sect isn''t here, there are some powerful sects in the area that are allies of theirs, so surely they wouldn''t have resorted to such extreme measures," Fox 3 countered.
"That''s not necessarily true. While the Almighty Sword Sect and Heavenly Water Sect are powerful sects in their own right, one of the main reasons why they''ve been able to be premier forces in the Golden Origin Immortal Region is because of their loyalty to the Heavenly Court.
¡°Otherwise, a peak-High Zenith cultivator like Dongfang Bai wouldn''t have been assigned to preside over a medium-sized immortal region like the Golden Origin Immortal Region," Wyrm 3 mused.
"That makes sense. If the Almighty Sword Sect really is behind this, then there''s a very good chance that there was involvement from the Heavenly Court," Han Li spected.
Chapter 1134: Jin Tong Captured
Chapter 1134: Jin Tong Captured
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity naturally wasn''t interested in the conversation taking ce between Han Li''s trio.
At the moment, he was inspecting his surroundings in an excited manner, and all of a sudden, he crouched down in front of the crater as a contemtive look appeared on his face, then swooped down into the center of the crater.
There was a series of molten fireballs the size of houses situated on the ground there, and the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity seemed to be very interested in them, circling around them while reaching out as if to warm his hands.
Right at this moment, a burst of spatial fluctuations erupted out of the nearby space, and three more figures stumbled out of thin air.
Having just endured a grueling battle, Han Li and the others were still quite tense and alert, and they immediately prepared for battle at the sight of this unfamiliar trio.
The three of them seemed to be very apprehensive as well, and they were led by an elderly man with azure scales all over his body, giving off bursts of bone-chilling cial qi.
He was apanied by a tall man with dark green skin that was withered like tree bark, and he hurriedly darted away to the side, seemingly very fearful of this cial qi. At the same time, countless green roots emerged from his body in the blink of an eye before plunging into the charred soil below.
The final figure to round out the trio was a gray-robed elderly man who was far closer to a normal human in appearancepared with his twopanions. He stood on the spot with one hand sped behind his back, and waves of golden ripples were surging out of his robes.
Right as a battle was about tomence, Liu Zizai suddenly called out, "Huai Yangzi! Is that you, Fellow Daoist Huai Yangzi?"
Everyone faltered slightly upon hearing this, and the gray-robed elderly man''s brows furrowed slightly as he directed his gaze to Liu Zizai, upon which a surprised look appeared on his face as eximed, "Fellow Daoist Liu!"
"That''s right, it''s me! I didn''t think we would be reunited here after all this time," Liu Zizai said with a wry smile.
"Indeed, fate is truly a cruel mistress," Huai Yangzi sighed with a shake of his head.
"Don''t be rmed, everyone. Fellow Daoist Huai Yangzi is an acquaintance of mine, not an enemy," Liu Zizai reassured, and Huai Yangzi also gestured for his twopanions to stand down.
With that, the tension in the air was lifted, and everyone gathered together in a loose circle.
"Back when you went missing in the Ink Sea Immortal Region, I went there to search for you, but even after several centuries of searching, the only lead that I could dig up was that you had gone to explore a deepsea secret region in the Forgotten Sea. After that, no one heard from you again. What happened all those years ago?" Liu Zizai asked.
"Back then, I was invited by an old friend from the Ink Sea Immortal Pce to explore a secret area deep within the Crimson Wyrm Trench. However, that scoundrel betrayed me, and I was ambushed and captured by Immortal Pce cultivators under a whole host of arbitrary crimes.
¡°After that, I was thrown into the Immortal Prison, then ended up sealed in the Eon Pagoda, and only after all these years have I finally been freed," Huai Yangzi exined.
"You were also trapped in the Eon Pagoda? How did we not see each other in there after all this time?" Liu Zizai eximed.
"You were trapped in the pagoda as well?" Huai Yangzi asked with a skeptical expression.
"Do you not believe me?" Liu Zizai asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"No, it''s just that a cultivator of your caliber shouldn''t have been able to preserve your cultivation base after being captured by the Heavenly Court. Did they not rob you of yourw powers?" Huai Yangzi asked with a perplexed expression, and the same expression was also mirrored on the faces of his twopanions.
"Are you saying the Heavenly Court robbed you of yourw powers? No wonder your cultivation base hasn''t regressed, but it seems a little unstable," Liu Zizai mused.
"Not only were myw powers taken from me, many cultivators in the Immortal Prison suffered the same fate as well. We were stripped of all of ourw threads before being thrown into the Eon Pagoda," Huai Yangzi said in a resentful manner.
"Come to think of it, even though you didn''t join the Heavenly Court, you''ve always remained on good terms with them as an itinerant immortal, so why did they decide to target you? Could it be that yourw threads were special in some way?" Liu Zizai asked.
"Law powers are derived from each person''s unique understanding of the Great Dao of heaven and earth, so strictly speaking, everyone''sw threads are special in some way. However, I don''t think the Heavenly Court cared about that at all. They captured many cultivators of all tribes and races, including even nt spirits, and no patterns can be gleaned in thew powers mastered by the captured cultivators, so the whole thing is very suspicious," Huai Yangzi replied.
"What did the Heavenly Court do with those extractedw threads, Senior Huai Yangzi?" Wyrm 3 asked, and Han Li was also very curious to hear the answer to this question.
"I don''t know. We were never able to find out why they wanted so manyw threads. I''m more curious about why yourw threads weren''t extracted, Fellow Daoist Liu," Huai Yangzi replied.
"I''m not sure. All I recall is that I wasn''t in the Immortal Prison for very long before I was coaxed by Tai Sui into the Eon Pagoda. By the way, where were you imprisoned in the Eon Pagoda?" Liu Zizai asked.
"I was imprisoned in the seventh level of the Eon Pagoda along with many other cultivators, but we were all sealed away underground in a state of semi-hibernation. I can''t recall exactly when it was, but some number of years ago, the restrictive forces in the pagoda suddenly began to loosen, and we attempted to slowly recover ourw powers, but we were unable to move freely," Huai Yangzi replied.
"I see. I was imprisoned on the fifth level, so it''s no wonder that we never saw each other in the pagoda. If we hadn''t been freed, we would''ve never known that we were so close to each other," Liu Zizai mused.
Han Li''s expression remainedrgely unchanged as he listened to the ongoing conversation, but internally, his mind was racing.
The Heavenly Court was the most authoritative power in the entire True Immortal Realm, and its primary objective was to maintain peace and order across the realm, so it shouldn''t have been doing anything too out of line. However, if Huai Yangzi were telling the truth, then the Heavenly Court had to have been nning something massive and potentially sinister.
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Unfortunately, there were too few leads for him to make any good guesses on what they were attempting to do.
After some contemtion, Han Li proposed, "Pardon my interjection, but I think we should focus on leaving this ce as soon as possible. Everything else can be discussed after that."
"I agree. Given what''s just happened here, I''m sure the Heavenly Court will be sending people to clean up the mess very soon, so we should leave this ce right away," Wyrm 3 seconded with a nod.
"Do you have any future ns, Fellow Daoist?" Liu Zizai asked as he turned to Huai Yangzi.
"At this point, there''s nothing that I''m too afraid to say anymore. Before my incarceration, the Reincarnation Pce tried to recruit me, but I refused for fear of pitting myself against the Heavenly Court. Right now, I have nowhere to go, and I wonder if the Reincarnation Pce is still willing to take me, or if the Reincarnation Pce still even exists, for that matter," Huai Yangzi sighed.
"If you want to join the Reincarnation Pce, I can perhaps have that arranged, Senior," Wyrm 3 said with a smile.
All of the High Zenith cultivators who were originally nning to follow Wyrm 3 were slightly rmed to hear this, with some of them disying some concern at her implied affiliation with the Reincarnation Pce.
"Does that mean you''re a member of the Reincarnation Pce?" Huai Yangzi asked in a surprised manner.
Wyrm 3 merely smiled and offered no response, but the implication was clear.
"If it wasn''t for them, we would still be imprisoned in the Eon Pagoda right now," Liu Zizai said.
Huai Yangzi was rather taken aback to hear this, and he said, "In that case, it looks like I owe my freedom to you. I''m willing to go to the Reincarnation Pce with you."
He then turned to his twopanions as he asked, "What are your ns, fellow daoists?"
"We''re in a simr situation to you. Even though we''ve managed to escape from the Eon Pagoda, I''m sure the Heavenly Court won''t be willing to let us off the hook, so we may as well join the Reincarnation Pce too," the azure-skinned elderly man replied with a smile, while the tree-like man merely nodded in agreement, seemingly a man of few words.
"What are your ns, Brother Han? Would you like to return to the Reincarnation Pce with me?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"At this point, I''m only umting more and more bad blood with the Heavenly Court, so the sooner I go to the Reincarnation Pce, the sooner I''ll have some allies and backers for my protection. Having said that, I hope that I won''t be given another hollow Reincarnation Disciple status likest time," Han Li replied.
"Perhaps it''s destiny, but your fate seems to be intertwined with that of our Reincarnation Pce, Brother Han. On top of that, you made a significant contribution to thepletion of my mission, so I can assure you that you''ll be a core member once youe back to the Reincarnation Pce with me this time. Our pce master also has a very high opinion of you, and perhaps he''ll want to see you," Wyrm 3 said with a smile.
"That''s all well and good, but I''m still waiting on an exnation about the situation surrounding Jin Tong that you brought up earlier," Han Li said as he switched to voice transmission.
"I can''t borate too much on the matter for now, all I can tell you is that Jin Tong is currently being held captive in the Nine Origins Temple," Wyrm 3 replied after a brief hesitation.
"Why has Jin Tong been captured by the Nine Origins Temple? Surely you can answer me that question at least," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
Chapter 1135: Distinctions Between Immortal Regions
Chapter 1135: Distinctions Between Immortal Regions
"From what I heard, Jin Tong used herself as bait to lure out a Gold Devouring Immortal kept by the Nine Origins Temple, and she was able to sessfully devour that Gold Devouring Immortal, but in the process, she was discovered by the Nine Origins Temple and captured under thebined efforts of several Great Epassment cultivators," Wyrm 3 exined.
A grim look appeared on Han LI''s face upon hearing this.
"There''s no need to be overly concerned, Brother Han. Gold Devouring Immortals are extremely precious, so not only will the Nine Origins Temple not do anything to harm her, they''ll most likely do everything in their power to nurture her. The only downside is that her freedom will bepromised for now," Wyrm 3 consoled.
There was a clear implication that Jin Tong would only be granted freedom again once she was tamed by the Nine Origins Temple.
He wasn''t overly concerned about that as Jin Tong certainly wasn''t going to be easy to tame. What he was more concerned about was that given her personality, she was most likely going to put herself through a great deal of suffering.
As a Gold Devouring Immortal, she had a near indestructible body, but there were still things that could hurt her, and given the vast wealth possessed by an almighty power like the Nine Origins Temple, there was no telling what resources they could have up their sleeve to target her.
Jin Tong had been with him for the majority of his cultivation journey, so he couldn''t just leave her in harm''s way.
"It just so happens that there''s going to be an uing mission from our Reincarnation Pce concerning the Nine Origins Temple. If you''re willing to take on the mission, then you can take the opportunity to rescue Jin Tong," Wyrm 3 continued.
"What''s the mission?" Han Li asked.
"You know the rules, Brother Han, there are some things that I can''t tell you for now. On top of that, there''s still a very long time until the mission is set tomence, so you can take this time to make some further advancements in your cultivation base," Wyrm 3 replied.
"Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3, do you have a map of the Golden Origin Immortal Region?" Han Li asked through voice transmission after some contemtion.
"Why do you want a map? Are you nning to travel to the Nine Origins Temple?" Wyrm 3 asked as her brows furrowed slightly.
"Seeing as the Nine Origins Temple is in the Golden Origin Immortal Region, I may as well go and scout for some information. Rest assured, I won''t do anything reckless," Han Li replied.
"I''m afraid there''s a misunderstanding here, Brother Han. This Golden Origin Immortal Region isn''t that Golden Origin Immortal Region," Wyrm 3 said with a smile.
"What do you mean by that?" Han Li asked.
"There are countless immortal regions in the Immortal Realm, but there aren''t actually all that many with shared names. Most of them are small and secluded immortal regions that arepletely unaware of one another''s existence. However, the case of the two Golden Origin Immortal Regions is rather special in that the name is shared by a small immortal region and a muchrger one," Wyrm 3 exined.
"There are muchrger immortal regions out there?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"You''ve only been in small immortal regions like the Northern cial Immortal Region, so it''s no surprise that you''re unaware of this. Then again, this is something that the vast majority of cultivators in the True Immortal Realm are also oblivious to.
¡°After all, for cultivators below the Golden Immortal Stage, they could easily spend their entire lives in just a single immortal region. In total, there are thirty-sixrge immortal regions, five hundred medium regions, and three thousand small regions. The number of three thousand is really just one that was arbitrarily assigned. No one knows exactly how many there are, and no one can be bothered to find out," Wyrm 3 exined.
"There are thirty-sixrge immortal regions? I''ve heard of the Middle Earth Immortal Region, I''m assuming that must be one of them, right?" Han Li asked.
"That''s right. The Middle Earth Immortal Region ranks at the very top of the thirty-sixrge regions, and the Golden Origin Immortal Region that the Nine Origins Temple is situated in is also vastly renowned. The Golden Origin Immortal Region that we''re in right now has been able to keep its name despite the ovep because it was once part of therger Golden Origin Immortal Region and only broke off from it during a bout of major unrest," Wyrm 3 exined.
"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.
Right at this moment, Wyrm 3''s gaze suddenly flicked to Lan Yan, and a look of killing intent surfaced in her eyes as she abruptlyshed out like lightning, thrusting a palm toward Lan Yan''s chest.
Having just survived that massive ordeal, Lan Yan was feeling a little drained andcent, and she was caughtpletely off guard by this turn of events. Before she had a chance to react, she was struck in the chest, and she felt a burst of peculiar power seep into her body from the palm of Wyrm 3''s hand, sending her flying back through the air as she threw up a mouthful of blood.
Everyone was initially rather startled by this, but they then quickly realized why Wyrm 3 had suddenlyshed out.
Lan Yan struggled up into a seated position with blood still flowing from the corner of her lips and a look of rm and fear on her face.
Han Li''s brows furrowed slightly as he stepped in between Wyrm 3 and Lan Yan before the former could attack thetter any further.
"We can''t let her live, Brother Han, she''s a disciple of the Nine Origins Temple," Wyrm 3 said with tightly furrowed brows.
"Even if she is a disciple of the Nine Origins Temple, she doesn''t deserve to die," Han Li countered.
"Given how long she''s been with us, there''s no telling what important information she could report back to her sect. She cannot be allowed to return to the Nine Origins Temple alive!" Wyrm 3 insisted.
"She and her brother made a peace agreement with me earlier, and she didn¡¯t go back on the agreement even when I was being attacked by She Chan, so it''s clear that she''s a woman of integrity. I think we should spare her on the condition that she doesn''t reveal anything about us to her sect. As an additionalyer of security, I can nt a restriction on her soul," Han Li said.
"Why go to all that trouble? It would be far easier just to kill her!" Wyrm 3 objected in a cold voice.
"Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3, if you truly regard me as an ally, then please do me this favor," Han Li implored with a serious expression.
A look of realization appeared on Wyrm 3''s eyes upon hearing this, and she finally acquiesced, nodding in agreement to Han Li''s request.
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Han Li knew that she had definitely misunderstood, but he couldn''t be bothered to exin himself to her, so he merely cupped his fist in a grateful salute.
He then turned to Lan Yan as he said, "Fellow Daoist Lan, I''m going to be nting a restriction in your consciousness to ensure that you don''t reveal any information about us. I''m afraid you have no choice but to ept this arrangement."
Lan Yan remained silent as she pursed her lips and nodded in response, putting on a pitiable disy.
With that, Han Li plucked a strand of translucent light out of his own be, then slowly extended it toward Lan Yan''s be.
The strand of translucent light slithered out of his be like a spirit snake, then vanished into Lan Yan''s be in a sh.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 3 had already descended into the massive crater in the ground.
The Dark Heavens Devilish Deity was thoroughly enjoying himself, ying with the balls of molten fire, and he was far from happy to have been interrupted by Wyrm 3, immediately raising a hand in preparation tosh out at her.
"Please don''t attack me, Senior Shi! I have something to discuss with you," Wyrm 3 hurriedly yelled in an rmed manner.
"What is it?" Shi Kongmo snapped in an impatient manner.
"You''ve been searching for your wife and son this entire time, haven''t you? Perhaps I can help you," Wyrm 3 said.
An urgent look immediately appeared on Shi Kongmo''s face upon hearing this, and he hurriedly asked in a frantic voice, "Do you know where they are right now?"
"No, but I can help you find them," Wyrm 3 replied.
All hints of derangement faded from Shi Kongmo''s eyes as a look of cold killing intent appeared on Shi Kongmo''s face, instantly making Wyrm 3 feel as if she had been plunged into a cial pit.
"That''s exactly what Tai Sui said to coax me into his Eon Pagoda. If you dare to trick me like he did, I''ll make you wish you had never been born!" Shi Kongmo threatened with a chilling gaze.
"I wouldn''t dare, Senior," Wyrm 3 hurriedly replied with cold sweat beading up on her forehead.
"Good," Shi Kongmo said as a smile returned to his face, and it didn''t take long before he reverted back to his deranged demeanor.
"Would you like to return to the Reincarnation Pce with me, Senior?" Wyrm 3 asked in a hopeful manner.
"Yes, yes, take me to my wife and son," Shi Kongmo replied with a smile.
The two of them returned to the surface together, where they were approached by Liu Zizai, who said to Wyrm 3, "I would love to also return to the Reincarnation Pce, but before that, I''m afraid there are some matters that I must attend to."
"Are you returning to the primordialnd with Fox 3?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"That''s right," Liu Zizai replied with a nod.
"That''s not a problem then. The pce master has already told me about this," Wyrm 3 said.
A hint of surprise shed through Liu Zizai''s eyes upon hearing this, but he didn''t ask any questions.
"How about you, Fellow Daoist Han? Will you return to the Reincarnation Pce with me?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"I''ll pass for now as I still have some other matters to attend to. However, as I stated earlier, I''m willing to join the Reincarnation Pce and take part in the mission that you mentioned earlier," Han Li replied with a smile.
Wyrm 3''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but she quickly epted this oue as she said, "In that case, I wish you the best of luck, Fellow Daoist Han. I''m sure we''ll meet again soon."
After everyone had a chance to say their goodbyes, Wyrm 3 departed with the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, Huai Yangzi, and the others.
Liu Zizai seemed to be discussing something with Fox 3 and Lekima, while Han Li turned to Qu LIn as he asked, "What are your ns, Fellow Daoist Qu? Are you nning to apany me?"
"That was my original n, but I may have to change my mind now," Qu Lin replied with a smile.
"Oh? Why is that?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Given what''s happened here and your previous exploits in the Golden Origin Immortal Pce, you must be an extremely renowned figure in the Heavenly Court by now, so it would be unwise for me to apany you on your travels," Qu Lin exined.
"I suppose that makes sense," Han Li replied with a nod.
In reality, Han Li also had his reservations about Qu Lin, so parting ways here suited him just fine.
"In that case, let''s part ways here, Fellow Daoist Qu. May we meet again," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
Qu Lin returned the salute, then flew away as a streak of golden light.
Following his departure, Han Li turned to Lan Yan as he asked through voice transmission, "Fellow Daoist Lan, you''re going to return to the Nine Origins Temple, right?"
Lan Yan nodded in response.
"In that case, I''ll have to trouble you to serve as my guide. I''m also nning to travel to the greater Golden Origin Immortal Region," Han Li said.
Chapter 1136: Reincarnation Palace Master
Chapter 1136: Reincarnation Pce Master
"Why are you traveling to the greater Golden Origin Immortal Region, Fellow Daoist Han? Are you not aware that you''re being hunted by the Heavenly Court right now?" Lan Yan asked with a puzzled expression.
"That''s precisely why I''m going. There''s no way that the Heavenly Court could possibly anticipate this. Isn''t it always said that the most dangerous is often the safest ce to be?" Han Li replied with a smile.
Lan Yan knew that Han Li was only saying this to cate her in order to hide his true objective, but she knew not to pry into his private matters.
Right at this moment, Lekima suddenly trotted over to Han Li, then said, "I''ve been quite impressed with you, kid. Would you like to consider returning to the primordialnd with me?"
"I''m honored that you think so highly of me, but I still have some matters to attend to, so I''ll have to turn down your kind offer," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Alright, you can have this then. If you need anything from me, feel free toe find me in the primordialnd," Lekima said as he released a streak of white light with a raise of his hoof.
Han Li caught the streak of white light to discover that it was a palm-sized scale withyers of rippling patterns over its surface, giving off a fierce, primordial aura.
"You have my thanks," Han Li said as he stowed the scale away, following which he bade farewell to Fox 3 and the others before departing with Lan Yan.
After Han Li and Lan Yan hadpletely vanished into the distant sky, Lekima suddenly rose up onto his hind legs, following which countless white air currents were conjured up around his entire body.Fox 3 looked on with an intrigued and puzzled expression as Lekima gradually took on a human form, and the white air currents faded away to reveal a handsome and refined middle-aged man dressed in a white robe.
Liu Zizai extended a respectful bow as he cupped his fist in a salute and said, "Please pardon me for my earlier transgressions, Young Master."
Lekima hurriedly strode over to Liu Zizai to help him into an upright position as he replied, "What transgressions do you speak of, Uncle Liu? I was the one who instructed you to do so all of this."
"What''s going on?" Fox 3 asked with a dazed expression.
"Let''s go, I''ll exin to you on the way," Lekima said with a smile, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a white, three-story louchuan that disyed exceptional craftsmanship and extravagant opulence.
The three of them flew onto the louchuan, and gusts of white wind rose up beneath it, carrying it up into the air before propeling it into the distant sky, where it quickly vanished out of sight.
......
Over three years flew by in a sh.
On this day, a dark red spirit boat was flying through the air over a vast river running along the northern border of the Golden Origin Mountain Range.
While it was technically a spirit boat, it was a veryrge one that had two levels, and at this moment, Wyrm 3 was standing behind the railing on the second level of the boat in an azure dress, looking out into the distance.
After peering into the distance for some time, Wyrm 3 said, "Senior Huai Yangzi, now that we''ve left the Golden Origin Mountain Range, I''ll be going into seclusion for some time, so I''m going to need you to pilot the spirit boat from now."
"You can count on me, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3," Huai Yangzi immediately replied, and Wyrm 3 cupped her fist in a grateful salute before making her way into the pavilion on the second level.
From there, she made a hand seal before pointing a finger upward, and a streak of dark red light immediately shot out of her fingertip before fusing into a dark red badge that was hovering above her head.
The badge instantly began to revolve on the spot, releasing a light barrier that gradually epassed the entire pavilion, isting all of the auras within.
Wyrm 3 sat down with her legs crossed, then made a peculiar hand seal as she began to chant an incantation.
Immediately thereafter, a series ofplex runes lit up over her body before roaming through the surrounding air like red silk ribbons, and at the same time, ayer of hazy light emerged around her.
It was as ifyers uponyers of illusory shadows had appeared around her body, giving her an indistinct appearance.
Right at this moment, a burst of red light shed through her eyes, which then instantly becamepletely empty and zed over, as if the soul had been sucked out of her body, leaving her as nothing more than an empty husk.
Her eyelids then slid shut as her vision faded into ck.N?v(el)B\\jnn
As she reopened her eyes, she found herself in a murky, gray space that waspletely empty aside from a series of long, winding rivers.
She was hovering in mid-air as if she possessed an illusory body, and she was able to propel herself forward by stroking her hands through the air like oars, casually traveling over a dark red river in the upstream direction.
There were a total of five rivers neighboring this one, all of which were different in color and appearance. Some contained turbulent, rushing water, while others were much more slow and cid.
One of them, a silver river, was flowing in a slow and stable manner, and there were countless water-droplet-shaped balls of light flowing through it, all of which seemed to have images shing inside.
Wyrm 3 didn''t dare to allow her gaze to linger on any of those balls of light. Otherwise, she would be sucked into that river against her will.
After flying upstream for an indeterminate period of time, all of the rivers finally began to gradually taper down to a single point of origin in the form of a river that acted as the source for all of the others.
It was unclear where this river originated from, and its water was a murky yellow color, while a dark red stone arch bridge had been constructed over it.
The surface of the bridge was smooth and seamless, giving it the appearance of a crystalline tform, and as the river flowed past under the bridge, it automatically split up into six different streams that extended in different directions.
All of a sudden, Wyrm 3''s brows furrowed slightly as she took a nce under the bridge.
She had unwittingly discovered a woman in ck seated on the riverbank under the bridge with her fair and delicate feet submerged in the dark red river that had only just split off from the original, yellow river.
The woman had her back facing Wyrm 3, so she wasn''t able to see her face.
Wyrm 3 didn''t dare to observe the woman for too long as there was another figure nearby, this one hovering in mid-air above the stone arch bridge.
It was a slightly hunched over figure with arge, veiled hat on their head and a heavy bamboo fiber cloak draped over their body. The figure had their back facing the six branching rivers, looking out at the murky, yellow river.
The figure was also holding an azure bamboo pole that was riddled with white spots, and attached to the head of the pole was a translucent, dark red line that trailed down into the water like a fishing line.
Wyrm 3 flew over to the bridge, but was unable to descend onto it and continued to hover in mid-air.
"Gan Jiuzhen pays her respects to the pce master," Wyrm 3 greeted as she extended a respectful salute.
The cloaked figure was none other than the pce master of the Reincarnation Pce.
"Has everything already been taken care of? That went a lot quicker than I expected. Tell me what happened," the pce master said as he continued to look out over the yellow river.
With that, Wyrm 3 delivered a recount of her journey through the Eon Pagoda.
After hearing her story, the pce was silent for a moment, then said, "Make sure to keep a close eye on Shi Kongmo."
"Are you of the opinion that he''s feigning his insanity, Pce Master?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"That doesn''t matter as long as he doesn''t turn on us. Make sure to follow through on your promise of helping him find his wife and son, and for that purpose, you can draw upon all of the resources of our Reincarnation Pce," the pce master replied, and Wyrm 3 gave an affirmative response.
"Seeing as you''ve recovered that thing, we can set many of our ns into motion now. This should be enough to keep the Heavenly Court busy for quite some time," the pce master continued.
"I''ll get started on that once I''m back," Wyrm 3 said.
After that, both of them were silent for a long while before the pce master suddenly asked, "What do you think of Han Li? I don''t want to hear an objective assessment, I want to hear what you think about him."
"I''ve worked with him on several asions now, and I think he possesses exceptional powers, potential, and mental qualities. He will surely be of great use to our Reincarnation Pce, and I hope that he can be included in the uing mission," Wyrm 3 replied.
"I''ll leave that to you," the pce master said, and Wyrm 3 gave an affirmative response.
"You must''ve expended quite a feww threads toe and see me, so you can have these aspensation," the pce master said as he flicked his fishing rod upward, and the dark red line instantly flew up into the air with a ball of dark red light attached to its end.
The pce master grabbed onto the ball of light, then massaged it into a dark red bead before flicking it toward Wyrm 3, sending it flying straight into her be.
Wyrm 3 was instantly sent flying back like a falling leaf in a fierce gust of wind, and her vision also turned dark.
In the second-floor pavilion of the spirit boat, Wyrm 3''s eyes abruptly sprang open, and her entire body was drenched in sweat as she began gasping for air.
After taking a moment topose herself, she raised a hand to massage her own be, which was feeling a little swollen and sore.
However, there was also a cool and refreshing sensation emanating from there alongside traces of reincarnationw power fluctuations, much to her tion.
At the same time, she couldn''t help but think back to the woman seated on the riverbank.
Who was that, and how is she rted to the pce master?
Chapter 1137: Glimpse of the Heavenly Court
Chapter 1137: Glimpse of the Heavenly Court
Meanwhile, a dark green flying boat was racing through the air elsewhere in the Golden Origin Immortal Region.
The flying boat resembled a dark green dragon that was soaring through the heavens, and it was incredibly fast, covering tens of thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye.
Han Li and Lan Yan were seated in the flying boat, but both of them had adopted disguises.
This Ink Dragon Flying Boat was something that Han Li had found from She Chan''s storage treasure. She Chan had detonated her own Toad Moon Jewel back in the Eon Pagoda, but Han Li was able to im her storage treasure just in the nick of time.
The flying boat was a sixth tier wood and wind dual-attribute immortal treasure, and not only was it incredibly fast, it was also far better at concealing itself than all of Han Li''s previous flying boats.
Lan Yan was piloting the flying boat, and Han Li had restrictions nted in her body that allowed him to detect her every move, so he wasn''t concerned about any foul y on her part.
At this moment, he was seated with his legs crossed at the rear end of the boat, and timew powers were surging over his body alongside ayer of rippling, golden light.
After three years of recuperation, he had recovered close to half of his timew powers, and that instilled him with a great deal of reassurance.
At this moment, he was holding several jade slips, the contents of which he was inspecting with his spiritual sense, and some timeter, he withdrew his spiritual sense from them as a grim look appeared on his face.These jade slips contained information pertaining to the greater Golden Origin Immortal Region and the Nine Origins Temple, and he had obtained them through the Reincarnation Pce.
He had managed to gather a lot of information about the Golden Origin Immortal Region, but the Nine Origins Temple was extremely secretive, so despite his best efforts, he was only able to find some trivial information about the organization.
"Can I ask you some questions, Fellow Daoist Lan Yan?" Han Li called out.
Lan Yan immediately strode over to him in an obedient manner as she asked, "What would you like to know, Fellow Daoist Han?"
Along this entire journey, Lan Yan had been extremely obedient, following Han Li''s instructions to a tee.
"I want to ask you some questions about the Nine Origins Temple," Han Li dered in a direct and straightforward manner.
Lan Yan''s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, following which she said, "Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Han, I''ll tell you everything that I know."
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
"ording to my knowledge, members of the Nine Origins Temple who reveal its secrets to outsiders are severely punished if caught. Is that not something you''re afraid of?"
"You''re far more powerful than I am, so even if I refuse to tell you anything, I''m sure you can find out what you want from me by force anyway. Hence, I may as well cooperate. All that I ask is that you don''t tell anyone where you received this information from," Lan Yan replied.
"You and your senior martial brother really do think alike. Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Lan, I won''t expose you as long as you answer my questions to the best of your abilities," Han Li promised.
A hint of sorrow shed through Lan Yan''s eyes at the mention of Lan Yuanzi, but she then immediately concealed it as she gave Han Li a grateful nod.
"How many Dao Ancestors are there in your Nine Origins Temple?" Han Li asked.
"Dao Ancestors are extremely rare. Our Nine Origins Temple may be a very powerful sect, but it only has a single Dao Ancestor, and that''s our founder," Lan Yan replied.
"What about Great Epassment cultivators?" Han Li asked.
"To tell you the truth, despite my cultivation base, I''m only a fringe cultivator responsible solely for carrying out secret missions for the temple, so I''m pretty low down in the pecking order, and I don''t know much about the temple''s inner workings.
¡°ording to my knowledge, there are fifteen Great Epassment cultivators in the Nine Origins Temple, consisting of the abbot, the two assistant abbots, the four holy envoys, and the eight saints. However, there are many secrets in the Nine Origins Temple, so there are most likely other Great Epassment cultivators that I don''t know of," Lan Yan replied.
Han Li couldn''t help but be rmed upon hearing this.
With so many Great Epassment cultivators in the Nine Origins Temple, it was no wonder that Wyrm 3 had encouraged him to make some advancements in his cultivation base. Given his current powers, venturing into the Nine Origins Temple to try and rescue Jin Tong would be aplete suicide mission.
"You were sent after me by Immortal Lord Miao Fa, right? What is her cultivation base and status in the temple?" Han Li asked.
"Immortal Lord Miao Fa is one of our temple''s four holy envoys, and she''s a mid-Great Epassment cultivator," Lan Yan replied.
Han Li''s pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this.
After reaching the Great Epassment Stage, each sessive cultivation rank attained amounted to an unfathomable advancement in power. With all of the trump cards up his sleeve, Han Li was confident in his ability to oppose an early-Great Epassment cultivator, but he was most definitely no match for a mid-Great Epassment cultivator.
After that, he asked Lan Yan some more questions, all of which she answered in great detail, giving him a rough understanding of the Nine Origins Temple, and the more he learned, the more deted he felt.
The Nine Origins Temple was far more powerful than he had imagined. It was a true monolith thatpletely dwarfed all of the Immortal Pces that he hade into contact with in the past, and rescuing Jin Tong on his own was going to be an impossible task.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
However, he was determined to save her no matter what.
After asking all of the questions that he could think of, Han Li dismissed Lan Yan, then continued to cultivate.
......
Middle Earth Immortal Region, Heavenly Court.
There were countless, enormous, immortal mountains dotting thendscape, stretching as far as the eyes could see, and almost every single one of them was home to one or several heavenly pces.
The mountains were connected by rainbow-like immortal bridges, and ethereal clouds of different colors were hovering in the air between the pces.
Radiant light of all types of different colors were emanating from these mountains and pces,pletely outshining the natural light in the sky, and it was as if this was the only ce under the heavens that waspletely devoid of darkness.
Somewhere in the Heavenly Court, there was a nket of dense, white clouds in the sky that were constantly morphing into different forms. At times, it would take on the form of a flight of majestic dragons, and at other times, it would shapeshift into a mighty stampede of horses, or a vast and turbulent white sea.
Perched on top of the clouds was an enormous pce the size of a city.
The pce was a pristine, white color, and it was etched with countlessrge runes, while more runes were drifting through the air around the pce.
There were many guards d in suits of white armor stationed in the surrounding area, and the bodies of all of these guards were also formed by white clouds.
Every single one of them was giving off formidable aurasparable to High Zenith cultivators, and the weapons that they were wielding were all graded immortal treasures.
The gates of the pce were thousands of feet tall, and hanging above it was a golden que that carried the words "White Cloud Dao Pce" in spritely and ethereal characters that looked as if they could fly out from the que at any moment.
The main seat on an elevated tform in the pce was upied by a white figure with a rather indistinct body that made them appear as if they were situated deep within a boundless expanse of ethereal space.
A burst of almighty pressure close to that of the Heavenly Dao was emanating from the white figure''s body, and it felt as if everything in the pce, including even time and space, werepletely under their control.
Standing in the pce before the white figure was another figure formed by golden mes, and it was none other than Qi Mozi.
"... In the end, I heard that the Almighty Sword Sect detonated the entire Tai Sui Immortal Manor, so there shouldn''t have been any survivors. However, Han Li, Liu Zizai, and the others are quite powerful in their own right, and they also had a peak-Great Epassment cultivator like Shi Kongmo on their side, so perhaps they were somehow able to escape alive.
¡°Hence, I implore you to send people to the Golden Origin Immortal Region right away to verify whether Han Li and the others are dead or alive," Qi Mozi said in a respectful manner.
"I''ve already received a report from the Almighty Sword Sect, but you''ve provided some useful details that weren''t very clearly borated on in their report. You were saying that you were swept into the Tai Sui Immortal Manor by chance, is that right?" the white figure asked.
"That''s right. I was pursuing Han Li in order to retrieve the Heaven Controlling Vial, and in the process, I just so happened to stumble upon the Tai Sui Immortal Manor. As for why the Tai Sui Immortal Manor appeared in the lesser Golden Origin Immortal Region and why there were so many prisoners inside, I''m afraid I do not know. Regarding Tai Sui..."
"Don''t go asking questions about Tai Sui!" the white figure suddenly interjected to cut Qi Mozi off.
"My sincerest apologies!" Qi Mozi hurriedly apologized in a fearful manner.
"You just said that Han Li is only at thete-High Zenith Stage right now, so why is it that you were unable to recover the Heaven Controlling Vial from him?" the white figure asked.
"Han Li may only be at thete-High Zenith Stage at the moment, but he''s cultivating the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, whichpletely dominates the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome.
¡°On top of that, he''s also mastered the Five-Elemental Illusory World ability, and he had the assistance of several other powerful cultivators who were also in the Eon Pagoda at the time. Not only was I not able to recover the Heaven Controlling Vial, my physical body was destroyed in the process," Qi Mozi exined with a pained expression.
"Were they really too powerful, or did you miss the best opportunity to strike because your own selfish desires got in the way? ording to my knowledge, you''ve been searching for the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra for a very long time, and you even sent out your own disciple some time ago for this purpose," the white figure said, and the air temperature in the pce abruptly plummeted as they spoke.
Qi Mozi''s expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and he fell to his knees with a horrified expression as he implored, "Please forgive me! I''ll admit that I did indeed want to obtain the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra from Han Li, but I wouldn''t dare to let that get in the way of carrying out your orders! I really did only fail in my mission because the enemy was too powerful!"
The white figure remained silent, allowing the pressure in the pce to steadily build, and Qi Mozi was bing more and more fearful by the second as his fiery body began to tremble.
Chapter 1138: Brewing Unrest
Chapter 1138: Brewing Unrest
After a long silence, the pressure in the pce gradually began to dissipate as the white figure relented, "I suppose it was always going to be difficult for you, given Shi Kongmo was also there. However, the Heaven Controlling Vial is an item of the utmost importance, and it must be recovered. At the moment, the Heavenly Court can''t spare many people to the cause as we''re preparing for the Bodhi Banquet.
¡°On top of that, the Golden Origin Immortal Region is the territory of the Nine Origins Temple, so it''ll be inappropriate to send other people there. Hence, we must continue to count on your Immortal Prison to recover the Heaven Controlling Vial, but failure will not be eptable a second time, do you understand?"
Qi Mozi was ecstatic to hear this. As long as he was still assigned with the task of hunting for Han Li, there would still be a chance for him to im the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
With that in mind, he hurriedly replied, "Yes, I understand! I''ll send out all of our immortal envoys to the Golden Origin Immortal Region right away to search for Han Li, and I''ll be sure to recover the Heaven Controlling Vial this time!"
"There''s no need to make such a big fuss about it. I''ll send someone to deliver a Heavenly Fire Holy Lotus Flower to you so you can reforge a new body," the white figure said.
"Words cannot express my gratitude!" Qi Mozi said as he extended a deep bow.
"You can go now," the white figure said as they waved a dismissive hand, and Qi Mozi extended another respectful bow before turning to depart.
Right at this moment, a red cloud flew over from afar, then entered the pce without any forewarning before transforming into a red-haired woman.
The woman appeared to be around twenty years of age, with incredibly fair and delicate skin and facial features that looked as if they had been pulled straight out of a piece of artwork. Her proportionate, yet curvaceous body was perfectly entuated by her tight-fitting red dress, and she was truly a stunning sight to behold.
However, in spite of her breathtaking beauty, there was apletely undisguised look of arrogance on her face, giving her the appearance of an unapproachable, thorny rose.
"Fancy meeting you here, Chief Warden Qi Mozi. I heard that you had suffered such a terrible defeat in yourtest outing that even your physical body was destroyed, and I had thought that that was nothing more than an unsubstantiated rumor, but it appears that I was mistaken," the red-haired woman giggled with more than a hint of mockery in her voice.
An enraged look shed through Qi Mozi''s eyes, but he immediately suppressed his own fury.
"I pay my respects to Master Bai Yun," the red-haired woman greeted as she turned to the white figure before extending a casual salute that was far more rxed and carefree than the fearful disy put on by Qi Mozi.
"No need for formalities, Chi Meng. How was your trip to the Green Forest Immortal Region?" the white figure asked, and his demeanor had warmed up significantly.
"Everything went very well, and I''ve purchased all of the immortal fruits that you requested," the woman by the name of Chi Meng replied.
"Good. Those fruits are going to be served up during the Bodhi Banquet, so they must be of the highest possible quality," the white figure said.
"Rest assured, Master Bai Yun, I''ve examined every single one of them personally to ensure their quality," Chi Meng replied.
"I trust you. You must be tired from your journey to the Green Forest Immortal Region, go and have a good rest," the white figure said.
"It was a fairly rxed outing, so I''m not all that tired. While I wasing in, I heard you discussing a Heaven Controlling Vial with Qi Mozi. Is that the treasure that was stolen from the Nine Origins Temple all those years ago?" Chi Meng asked.
Qi Mozi and Chi Meng were not on good terms with one another, so thetter was just about to leave, but he instantly stopped in his tracks upon hearing this.
"That''s right. Are you interested in this matter as well?" the white figure asked.
"Of course! On my way back, I received a message from my grandmother, telling me to ask about this," Chi Meng replied with a faint smile.
"Fellow Daoist Chi Rong has alreadye out of seclusion?" the white figure asked in a surprised manner, while Qi Mozi shuddered involuntarily, seemingly very fearful of the woman in question.
Chi Meng took a disdainful nce at Qi Mozi, then replied, "My grandmother only just came out of seclusion a few years ago, and she told me to pass on her greetings to you."
"I''ve been presiding over the official matters of the Heavenly Court in her absence, but my ipetence has led to many undesirable oues. Now that Fellow Daoist Chi Rong hase out of seclusion, I can finally shed this burdensome role," the white figure said with a smile.
"You''re far too modest, Master Bai Yun. The Heavenly Court has thrived under your capable leadership, and I''m certain that no other Dao Ancestor would''ve been able to do anywhere near as good a job as you have. My grandmother often says that you may not be the most powerful Dao Ancestor, but you''re certainly the most capable ruler among all of the Dao Ancestors," Chi Meng said with a bright smile.
"Fellow Daoist Chi Rong is far too kind in her appraisal of me!" Dao Ancestor Bai Yun chuckled.
"Qi Mozi, why don''t you tell Chi Meng about the current situation surrounding the Heaven Controlling Vial?" Dao Ancestor Bai Yun instructed.
Qi Mozi was a little hesitant to oblige, but ultimately had no choice but to acquiesce and provide Chi Meng with a detailed rundown of the situation.
"This Han Li sounds like a very interesting character. He only ascended from to the True Immortal Realm less than thirty thousand years ago, yet he''s already reached thete-High Zenith Stage. This is an unprecedented rate of progress!" Chi Meng said with an intrigued expression.
"There''s no need to be surprised, Chi Meng. The Heaven Controlling Vial is an unfathomably powerful treasure, so it really isn''t out of the ordinary at all for him to have made such rapid progress with the vial in his possession," Dao Ancestor Bai Yun said.
"I see. Master Bai Yun, Qi Mozi''s body has already been destroyed, and he won''t be able to forge a new one in a short time. On top of that, if even he''s been defeated by Han Li, then I''m assuming no one else in the Immortal Prison will be able to fare any better. Hence, why not assign the task of capturing Han Li to me? I''ll be sure to bring back both Han Li and the Heaven Controlling Vial," Chi Meng promised.
"There''s no need for that, Fellow Daoist Chi Meng," Qi Mozi hurriedly interjected. "I failed to capture Han Li this time because I was toocent, but I won''t make the same mistake again."
"How are you going toplete the mission when you don''t even have a physical body right now? Who knows how long it''s going to take for you to reforge a body? Are you going to wait until after that before you go after Han Li again? Given how alert and cunning he is, who knows where he''ll be by then?" Chi Meng scoffed.
Before Qi Mozi had a chance to argue any further, Dao Ancestor raised a hand to stop him.
"Chi Meng is right, Qi Mozi. You should stay in the Heavenly Court to rest and recuperate while you reforge a new body for yourself."
Qi Mozi was clearly very reluctant to ept this oue, but he had no choice but to do so.
"Chi Meng, I''ll be assigning the task of capturing Han Li to you then. Qi Mozi has already failed once, so you must make sure that you seed in his stead," Dao Ancestor Bai Yun said in a solemn manner.
"You can count on me, Master Bai Yun!" Chi Meng promised with a wide smile, then flew out of the pce as a red cloud, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Qi Mozi quickly departed as well, and before long, Dao Ancestor Bai Yun was the only one left in the pce.
"You certainly are getting nosier by the day, Fellow Daoist Chi Rong," he chuckled coldly to himself as he remained seated in his chair.
......
Meanwhile, in a pink, semi-transparent, crystalline pce elsewhere in the Heavenly Court.
Immortal Lord Miao Fa was seated in front of a dark red jade tablet with a dark expression, and an image of a yellow toad could be seen on the tablet.
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However, the tablet had already shattered into pieces, and there were two maidservants standing nearby, both of whom had fearful looks on their faces.
"How are Lan Yuanzi and Lan Yan''s bonded tablets?" Immortal Lord Miao Fa asked.
"Lan Yuanzi''s bonded tablet has cracked open, but not fully shattered. Lan Yan''s bonded tablet ispletely unscathed, but we haven''t been able to contact her, so she''s most likely been captured by someone," one of the maidservants hurriedly answered.
Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s eyes narrowed slightly in silence upon hearing this.
"The abbott has also been made aware of this, and he''s very displeased by the failure to recover the Heaven Controlling Vial," the other maidservant reported in a timid voice.
"Alright, you two can go now," Immortal Lord Miao Fa dismissed as her brows furrowed slightly, and the two maidservants immediately departed.
Looks like I really underestimated you, Han Li. No matter, I''ll just have toe after you myself.
......
The northwestern border of the lesser Golden Origin Immortal Region was an area with t terrain and fertile soil, so there was far higher poption density here than in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, and there were also many sects situated here as well.
Beyond the northwestern border was a boundless sea that was very abundant with spiritual qi, but also extremely violent, often generating extremely destructive windstorms, and that was why this region of the sea had been named the Windstorm Sea.
There was a vast abundance of all types of resources in the Windstorm Sea, which attracted countless treasure hunters, no less so than the Golden Origin Mountain Range.
There was a massive city right next to the Windstorm Sea called Golden Void City, and it was thergest and most illustrious city in the entirety of the lesser Golden Origin Immortal Region.
The city was thriving thanks to the countless treasure hunters who were attracted there by the Windstorm Sea, as well its interregion teleportation, which was connected to the greater Golden Origin Immortal Region.
Outside the city was a huge za that was several dozen kilometers in size, and it was teeming with masses of people, presenting an extremely lively and bustling sight to behold.
There were streaks of light constantly flying to and away from the za, and right at this moment, a streak of dark green light flew over from afar, then drew to a halt above the za to reveal a dark green flying boat, whose passengers were none other than Han Li and Lan Yan.
"What a majestic view! As expected of thergest city in the lesser Golden Origin Immortal Region," Han Li praised as he cast his gaze toward the almost boundless Golden Void City.
"It''s not bad. Once we reach Nine Origins City in the greater Golden Origin Immortal Region, you''ll get to see what a truerge city looks like," Lan Yan said with a faint smile.
"Is that right? I''m looking forward to it," Han Li replied in an indifferent manner, then stowed the Ink Dragon Flying Boat away before flying toward Golden Void City.
Chapter 1139: Racing Up the Ranks
Chapter 1139: Racing Up the Ranks
There was a huge number of people entering and exiting Golden Void City every single day, and not only could they enter the city through the gates, many entrances had also been opened up in the city protection restriction above for cultivators to pass through.
Han Li and Lan Yan flew into the city through one of those entrances, and the city down below was teeming with pedestrians that included both cultivators and mortals.
The streets in the city were wide and tidy, and they were lined withrge and opulent shops that were constructed like a series of majestic pces, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
Some of therger shops had even been constructed in mid-air to resemble celestial pces, cing them above the shops on the ground both in terms of altitude and prestige.
All of these aerial shops belonged torge trading houses that were renowned across the entire Immortal Realm, including Hundred Creations Mountain and the Vast Origin House.
Under normal circumstances, perhaps Han Li would''ve been interested in visiting those shops to see if he could find anything that caught his eye, but given the perilous situation that Jin Tong was in, he paid no heed to the shops as he flew directly toward the central region of the city.
Before long, a golden pagoda that was hovering in mid-air appeared up ahead, and it was home to the interregion teleportation array that led to the greater Golden Origin Immortal Region.
The gates of the pagoda were tightly shut, and in front of it was a white jade za that was mostly deserted.
Han Li and Lan Yan descended onto the za, and thetter looked around with a perplexed expression as she mused, "How strange. When my senior martial brother and I first arrived in the lesser Golden Origin Immortal Region, this ce had been very lively and bustling, so why is it suddenly so quiet?"Han Li''s brows also furrowed slightly, but not for the same reason as Lan Yan. Instead, it was because as soon as the two of them descended onto the za, several burst of spiritual sense had immediately swept over their bodies.
Those bursts of spiritual sense were all extremely secretive, clearly having been masked using some type of secret technique, and he wouldn''t have been able to detect them at all if not for his immense spiritual sense.
Lan Yan was also a peak-High Zenith cultivator, but her spiritual sense wasn''t all that powerful, so she had failed to detect anything amiss.
Han Li was just about to attempt to follow the bursts of spiritual sense to see who the people that were spying on him were when he suddenly stopped what he was doing and strode over to the golden pagoda up ahead.
Standing on either side of the shut gates was an armord guard dressed in Heavenly Court attire.
Of course, the interregion teleportation array was also under the Heavenly Court''s jurisdiction, and the two guards were both at the Golden Immortal Stage, yet they had been assigned with such a menial task, and that was a clear indication of just how much more powerful the lesser Golden Origin Immortal Region waspared with the immortal regions that he had previously been to.
"Can I help you, fellow daoists?" one of the guards asked in an expressionless manner.
In order to avoid drawing attention to themselves, both Han Li and Lan Yan had suppressed their cultivation bases to the Golden Immortal Stage.
"Greetings, fellow daoists. We would like to take the interregion teleportation array to the greater Golden Origin Immortal Region," Han Li replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"I''m afraid you''vee at a bad time. The interregion teleportation is temporarily closed as it''s currently suffering from some problems, so you''ll have toe backter," the guard said.
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "May I ask when the problem is going to be fixed?"
"We''re not sure at the moment. A public notice will be released once the teleportation array has been repaired, so make sure to keep up to date with the news released in the Immortal Outlet," the guard replied as he pointed to another floating building not far away from the golden pagoda, and it was none other than the Immortal Outlet in the city.
"Thank you, fellow daoists," Han Li said with a grateful salute, then flew toward the Immortal Outlet, while Lan Yan trailed along behind him.
At this moment, there were four golden-robed cultivators seated in arge hall at the top of the golden pagoda. Judging from their attire, they were also Heavenly Court cultivators, and hovering in front of each of them was a fist-sized white ball, all of which were disying an image of Han Li and Lan Yan.
There were many people in the Immortal Outlet, and the two of them were quickly concealed in the crowd.
"The target''s spiritual sense is extremely powerful, so there''s no way that he would''ve failed to detect this level of sensory fluctuations. Hence, the fact that the two of them haven''t detected anything shows that they''re not the people that we''re looking for," a man with a hooked nose said.
The other people in the room nodded in agreement, and they began observing the other cultivators in front of the golden pagoda.
"It''s already been close to twenty years, yet we haven''t found any signs of Han Li at all. Is it possible that he''s already left the lesser Golden Origin Immortal Region through some other avenue?" a round-faced, middle-aged man asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"Have more patience, Fellow Daoist Liang. Like you said, it''s only been less than twenty years," a gray-haired elderly man said.
"Normally, this wouldn''t be a problem, but Fellow Daoist Liang''s dao partner recently birthed a son for him, only for him to be sent to the lesser the Golden Origin Immortal Region before he even had a chance to spend any time with his son, so he''s naturally in a hurry to get back to them," a middle-aged woman exined with an amused smile.
"Is that right? I must offer you my congrattions then, Fellow Daoist Liang," the gray-haired elderly man said with a faint smile, and the round-faced man hurriedly thanked him for his kind words.
"That''s enough chit-chat! Pce Master Chi sent us here to search for Han Li, not for you to chat among yourselves. Focus on the task at hand, and if you want to chat, then do so after you''re off your shift," the hook-nosed man scolded in a stern manner.
The other three cultivators in the room hurriedly gave a collective, affirmative response before returning their attention to the task at hand.
Right at this moment, the round-faced man''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and the image on the white bead before him suddenly began to flicker erratically.
"What''s wrong, Fellow Daoist Liang?" the hook-nosed man asked.
"Some years ago, my spiritual sense was damaged during a battle against a formidable foe while I was out on a mission, so I''m struggling a little to keep up with the spiritual sense demands of operating the True Cycle Bead," the round-faced man replied in an embarrassed manner.
The hook-nosed man''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he could sense that the round-faced man''s spiritual sense really was fluctuating in an unsteady fashion.
"In that case, you should go and rest, Fellow Daoist Liang. There''s only half a day left of our shift anyway, so just leave the rest of the shift to the three of us," the gray-haired elderly man said.
"It doesn''t make much difference whether there are three or four of us keeping an eye on the proceedings anyway," the middle-aged woman said.
The round-faced man gave the two of them a grateful nce, then turned his gaze to the hook-nosed man, who said, "Go and rest, Fellow Daoist Liang. Try to recuperate as much as possible so this doesn''t happen again."
The round-faced man immediately gave an affirmative response, then stowed his white bead away before departing.
......
Meanwhile, Han Li and Lan Yan had already made their way into the Immortal Outlet.
Unbeknownst to him, his careful and cautious nature had just saved him once again.
This Immortal Outlet was farrger than the ones in the other immortal regions that he had visited, but theyout was roughly the same.
On either side of the Immortal Outlet were shops that sold all types of pills, immortal treasures, and spirit materials, while at its center stood a huge, stone wall that was over ten thousand feet tall andden with missions.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Beyond the stone wall was a raised tform that was roughly the same height as the missions wall, and that was the Immortal ying List, containing all of the Heavenly Court''s most wanted fugitives.
At the moment, the missions wall and the Immortal ying List werepletely surrounded by people, all of whom seemed to be very excited about something.
Han Li was rather intrigued to see this, and he scanned his gaze over the missions wall and the Immortal ying List.
All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly as he noticed that his name had climbed into the top ten on the Immortal ying List.
There was a long list of crimes attached to his name, and the full description read: Han Li, member of the Reincarnation Pce, cultivator of forbidden techniques, main perpetrator in the deaths of Northern cial Immortal Pce Master Xiao Jinhan and Golden Origin Immortal Pce Master Dongfang Bai, coborator with the Devil Realm, perpetrator in the destruction of close to half of the Golden Origin Mountain Range. Wanted dead or alive for fifty million Immortal Origin Stones.
There was also a mission on the missions wall released by the Heavenly Court for his capture, and attached to the mission was a detailed ount of many pieces of information pertaining to him, including things like this lightning-attribute Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, as well as his proficiency in Infernal Devilish Eyes, the Heavenly Purgatory Baleful Arts, and thews of time.
It was also stated in the mission that Han Li was currently still in the Golden Origin Immortal Region, and that even those who were able to provide any useful leads on him would be given handsomepensation.
Even though Fox 3 and Wyrm 3 had also been present in the Tai Sui Immortal Manor, their rankings on the Immortal ying List hadn''t changed much at all, and it seemed like the Heavenly Court was focusing all of its efforts on capturing Han Li.
"Who exactly is this Han Li? It''s been a very long time since such a huge reward has been offered on the Immortal yin List!"
"If I had fifty million Immortal Origin Stones, I would go into seclusion and refuse toe out until I reached the High Zenith Stage!"
"You''re far too short-sighted! With so many Immortal Origin Stones, there''s no need to arduously cultivate, just start your own sect so you can be revered as a founder!"
"All those on the Immortal ying List arepletely out of reach as far as us Golden Immortals are concerned, so I suggest all of you snap out of your fantasies."
"Indeed. As alluring as a reward of fifty million Immortal Origin Stones is, it won''t do you any good if you''re dead!"
"Risk and reward have alwayse hand in hand. If you don''t even have the courage to dare to dream, then why evene here at all?"
"So not only is he a member of the Reincarnation Pce, the copse of the Golden Origin Mountain Range was also brought about by him in coboration with the Devil Realm!"
"I''ve heard about the copse of the Golden Origin Mountain Range. Countless settlements were destroyed during that disaster. What a heinous scoundrel this Han Li is!"
Everyone was discussing Han Li''s new ranking on the Immortal ying List, and many of them were contacting their respective sects to keep an eye out for him.
There were even some who had begun secretly scouring through those around them in the Immortal Outlet with their spiritual sense. After all, a reward of fifty million Immortal Origin Stones was simply far too alluring.
Chapter 1140: Exposed
Chapter 1140: Exposed
"The situation isn''t looking good here, Fellow Daoist Han, I think we should get out of here righ away," Lan Yan urged through voice transmission.
Han Li had nted an extremely powerful restriction in her consciousness, so if he were killed, then she would also meet her demise.
Han Li was also struck by the urge to leave Golden Void City right away upon seeing all of this, but after taking a moment to assess the situation, he immediately regained hisposure, and he quickly decided on a course of action.
"There''s no need to panic, just act natural," he replied through voice transmission, and he began to look up at the missions wall while feigning the same look of excitement as what was disyed on the faces of everyone around him.
Lan Yan faltered slightly upon seeing this, and she was also instilled with a sense of calmness and reassurance, as if there were some type of soothing quality to Han Li''s words.
Han Li began walking back and forth in front of the missions wall and the Immortal ying List, just like many people around him were doing.
Both he and Lan Yan had adopted disguises using Reincarnation Pce masks, so even a Great Epassment cultivator wouldn''t be able to see through them unless they were paying particrly close attention.
Furthermore, they had only disyed a fleeting instant of rm upon seeing Han Li''s new position on the Immortal ying List, so no one would''ve been able to notice their reaction unless they had been looking closely at the two of them at the exact right instant.
They had only just arrived in Golden Void City, and they hadn''t done anything to draw attention to themselves, so there shouldn''t have been anyone keeping an eye on them.
What Han Li had failed to anticipate was that there really was someone intently scrutinizing him and Lan Yan from deep within the Immortal Outlet, and it was none other than the round-faced man from the golden pagoda.
I''m certain that those two are suspicious! That man didn''t disy any reaction earlier, but there was a momentary ripple in his spiritual sense. No one else noticed that, but it was as clear as day to my Soul Searching Eyes! It''s a pity that I wasn''t able to arrive in time to see their initial reaction to the Immortal ying List. Otherwise, I would be able to confirm my suspicions with a greater degree of certainty.
At this moment, the round-faced man was intently observing Han Li and Lan Yan with a film of peculiar light over his eyes.
Han Li walked around in the Immortal Outlet for a while longer, then called out to Lan Yan before departing, and after leaving the Immortal Outlet, the two of them immediately began flying toward an exit in the distance.
The round-faced man tailed the two of them out of the Immortal Outlet with a contemtive look on his face.
It looks like the two of them are nning to leave the city right away. I knew they were suspicious! Should I alert everyone else? No, thepensation for finding a suspicious individual is far too little.
Lin''er''s immortal acupoints are naturally feeble, and it''ll take an enormous amount of Immortal Origin Stones to cure his condition. I have to confirm that man''s identity first before and only report him once I''m absolutely certain that he''s Han Li!
With that in mind, the round-faced man set off in pursuit of Han Li''s duo as an indistinct ck shadow.
It didn''t take long before Han Li and Lan Yan flew out of Golden Void City through one of the many exits, and Han Li immediately swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a streak of azure light that epassed both himself and Lan Yan before flying away into the distance.
Even though the chance of She Chan''s Ink Dragon Flying Boat being recognized were very slim, he didn''t dare to risk bringing it out so close to Golden Void City.
At his current speed, he was able to travel millions of kilometers in the blink of an eye, and only then did he slowly draw to a halt.
"Why did you stop, Fellow Daoist Han? We''re still notpletely safe here," Lan Yan asked with a perplexed expression.
"We''ll have to keep going from here, but before that, I have to take care of something," Han Li replied with a faint smile, then suddenly made a grabbing motion toward a nearby hill.
A giant, golden hand the size of a small mountain instantly appeared above the hill before grabbing down onto it, and the hill was pulverized in the blink of an eye, leaving a massive crater that was thousands of feet in size in its wake.
Immediately thereafter, the round-faced man flew out of the crater before fleeing in a panic, and his aura was exposed, revealing him to be an early-High Zenith cultivator.
"Did you really think that I hadn''t noticed you following us all this time?" Han Li harrumphed coldly, and the giant, golden hand abruptly vanished at his behest, then appeared directly in front of the round-faced man before closing itself forcefully around his body.
The round-faced man''s body instantly exploded, but instead of blood and flesh sttering in all directions, his body split up into hundreds of streaks of ck light that erupted forth in all directions.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he discovered that he couldn''t detect the round-faced man''s true body, as if he really had split himself up into hundreds of parts, with each of them concealed within one of the streaks of ck light.
However, he remained calm andposed as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which instantly released a wave of golden ripples that epassed all of the streaks of ck light within them, immobilizing them on the spot.
At this point, his timew powers had alreadypletely recovered, and it had be even more formidable than his former peak.
He swept a sleeve through the air to release countless arcs of golden lightning, which formed a lightning cage around all of the streaks of ck light, then exploded violently to instantly eradicate all of the streaks of ck light trapped inside.
An anguished howl rang out from within the lightning before instantly fading away into silence, while Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief.
The round-faced man appeared to have mastered thews of shadows, which were weak to thews of lightning, and with the Mantra Treasured Axis on Han Li''s side as well, there was no way that he would''ve allowed the man to get away.
Han Li withdrew his Mantra Treasured Axis, and the surrounding golden ripples and golden lightning quickly dissipated.
"Who was that, Fellow Daoist Han? Was it a Heavenly Court spy? Could it be that they''re already onto us?" Lan Yan asked in a fearful manner.
"He most likely was a Heavenly Court spy, but rest assured, he won''t be around to tell anyone about us," Han Li replied with a faint smile.
He could tell that the round-faced man was a living cultivator, rather than something like a clone, and given how quickly he had killed the man, there should''ve been no time for him to transmit any information to anyone.
However, as a safety precaution, they still had to leave this ce right away.
With that in mind, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to summon the Ink Dragon Flying Boat, which flew away into the distance with himself and Lan Yan onboard.
Meanwhile, Immortal Lord Miao Fa was standing in a peaceful courtyard in Golden Void City, tending to a floral garden.
Right at this moment, she was approached by a maidservant in a green dress, who reported, "We''ve received news about Han Li, esteemed holy envoy."
"Is this piece of news worthy of my attention, or is it going to be a false rm, just like all of the other times?" Immortal Lord Miao Fa asked as she brought a pink flower to her nose.
"This piece of news was personally brought to us by a spy that was nted in the Heavenly Court, and he ims to have a recording of his battle against Han Li, so it should be a reliable lead. However, he insists on showing the recording only to you," the maidservant replied.
"Alright, get him toe and see me," Immortal Lord Miao Fa instructed as she tossed the pink flower away.
The maidservant gave an affirmative response, and it didn''t take long before she returned with the round-faced man.
At this moment, he was looking very pale, as if he had suffered some severe injuries, but there was an excited look on his face.
"Immortal Lord Miao Fa," the round-faced man greeted with a respectful salute.
"You have information on Han Li, is that right?" Immortal Lord Miao Fa asked.
"That''s right," the round-faced man replied, then delivered a detailed recount of his initial encounter with Han Li, followed by their subsequent battle.
"Here''s a recording of our battle," he concluded as he flipped a hand over to produce a ck bead, which was disying a recording of the battle.
"That''s definitely him! His physical appearance is different, but I''m certain that''s Han Li!" Immortal Lord Miao Fa dered as her eyes lit up with excitement, and the round-faced man heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this.
He had paid a heavy price in order to verify Han Li''s identity, and he was d that the sacrifice had been worth it.
"Where is he right now?" Immortal Lord Miao Fa asked.
"I used a soul-splitting technique to keep an avatar here, while I pursued and fought him outside the city with my true body. He should be under the impression that he''s managed to kill me before I could alert anyone, so he most likely won''t have employed any extreme measures to try and get away.
¡°On top of that, only a few minutes have passed since the conclusion of our battle, so I''m sure you''ll be able to track him down with your unmatched powers," the round-faced man replied as he pulled out a map of the area near Golden Void City, and there was a spot marked out on the map, denoting the site of his battle against Han Li.
"You''ve done very well. L¨¹ Xin, take him away for his reward," Immortal Lord Miao Fa instructed with a pleased expression.
The round-faced man was ecstatic to hear this, and he thanked Immortal Lord Miao Fa before departing from the courtyard with the maidservant.
Immediately following his departure, two more maidservants appeared beside Immortal Lord Miao Fa without any warning.
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It was a pair of identical twins, and a cold look shed through the eyes of one of them as she asked, "Now that we''ve already learned Han Li''s whereabouts, should we dispose of that man to ensure that no news gets out?"
"There''s no need for that, just keep him detained here for a few days. If it bes known that we''ve been killing our informants rather than rewarding them, then no one would be willing toe to our Nine Origins Temple with information in the future," Immortal Lord Miao Fa replied.
"Your foresight is truly unmatched, esteemed holy envoy," the maidservant replied.
"There''s no need to pay attention to these trivial matters. Right now, our top priority is to capture Han Li," Immortal Lord Miao Fa said as she swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of blue light that swept up the pair of maidservants before she set off into the distance.
Chapter 1141: Fleeing from the City
Chapter 1141: Fleeing from the City
Not far away from Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s little courtyard was a restaurant, and seated in one of its booths was none other than the red-haired woman by the name of Chi Meng.
There were around a dozen gons on the table before her, most of which were already empty.
Looks like she''s finally found him!
A faint smile appeared on her face as she looked out the window at the streak of blue light racing through the air.
The hook-nosed man from the golden pagoda was also standing in the booth, and he praised, "Your wisdom is truly unmatched, Mistress Chi Meng. Could it be that you had already guessed that Liang Fang was a Nine Origins Temple spy?"
"I didn''t know, but the Golden Origin Immortal Region is the Nine Origins Temple''s territory, so no matter how vignt we are, infiltration from the Nine Origins Temple is all but inevitable. As opposed to worrying about something that I won''t be able to prevent anyway, it''s much better to keep a close eye on Miao Fa, and she''ll eventually find Han Li for us," Chi Meng replied.
"But won''t that allow Miao Fa to seize the initiative? What if she manages to capture Han Li before we can get there?" the hook-nosed man asked in a concerned manner.
"That''s not a concern. Han Li was able to evade capture from the Heavenly Court for so long, and he even managed to destroy Qi Mozi''s physical body, so he definitely won''t be captured so easily," Chi Meng replied with an assured smile.
The hook-nosed man was still rather concerned, but he didn''t say anything further.
"Miao Fa''s already gone far enough, let''s go after her now," Chi Meng said as she swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of red light to epass both herself and the hook-nosed man before setting off after Immortal Lord Miao Fa.
......
A golden lightning array appeared in the air above a lush mountain range in the Golden Origin Immortal Region, and the array contained none other than Han Li and Lan Yan.
After leaving Golden Void City, they had traveled using the Ink Dragon Flying Boat for some time, following which Han Li stowed the flying boat away, then concealed his own aura using the Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique before traveling on foot for a while.
Given his current physical constitution, traveling on foot wasn''t much slower than traveling by flight.
After that, Han Li had teleported close to twenty times in session using his lightning teleportation array to reach this point.
They were now an immeasurable distance away from Golden Void City, and he had done everything in his power to cover his tracks, so he was fairly confident that they were safe.
From there, Han Li turned back to look in the direction of Golden Void City with a contemtive look on his face.
Given how closely he was being pursued by the Heavenly Court, traveling by interregion teleportation array to the greater Golden Origin Immortal Region was far too risky.
It seemed that he had no choice but to take Wyrm 3''s advice and focus on advancing his own cultivation base for now.
He was already at the peak-High Zenith Stage, and he had made all of the preparations required for a breakthrough to the Great Epassment Stage, so it was time to attempt a breakthrough.
If he could reach the Great Epassment Stage, his powers would be enhanced to a whole new level, thereby significantly boosting his chances of sessfully rescuing Jin Tong from the Nine Origins Temple.
Having made up his mind, he began to inspect his surroundings.
ording to a map of the Golden Origin Immortal Region that he had acquired, this was the Oasis Mountain Range in the northwestern part of the Golden Origin Immortal Region. It was a very secluded ce, and there weren''t any special spirit materials or demon beasts to be found here, so it was very quiet and a perfect ce for seclusion.
Han Li flew down onto an obscure part of a mountain below, then swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a flurry of sword qi that quickly dug out a cave into the mountain face.
After some brief renovations, a cave abode took shape, and he set up numerousyers of restrictions that epassed the entire cave abode and the surrounding area in a radius of several dozen kilometers.
All of these restrictions were imbued with different types ofw powers, so they would be able to stall even a Great Epassment cultivator for some time.
"Fellow Daoist Lan, I''m going to go into seclusion here, you can take this time to rest as well," Han Li said, and Lan Yan nodded in response.
Han Li didn''t waste any more time as he made his way into the secret chamber, while Lan Yan entered another room before taking a seat.
After entering the secret chamber, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, conjuring a crimson restriction that epassed the entire room.
With another sweep of his sleeve, he released the Essence Fire Child.
The mes on the Essence Fire Child''s body were still predominantly silver, but some of it had begun to turn white, and thew power fluctuations emanating from its body had also be significantly more formidable than before, which was naturally a very encouraging sight for Han Li.
The Essence Fire Raven had been refining that white fire bead this entire time, and its efforts were certainly paying off.
"I''ll be going into seclusion for some time, so I won''t be able to supervise Lan Yan. Keep an eye on her for me, and if she tries to do anything out of line, you have my permission to kill her," Han Li said as a cold look shed through his eyes.
The Essence Fire Child nodded in response, then flew into the surrounding crimson restriction as a streak of silver light.
Lan Yan didn''t seem to harbor any intentions of plotting against him, but this was going to be an extremely important period of seclusion for him, so he had to proceed with the utmost caution.
Unfortunately, Weeping Soul was still yet to fully refine Ghost King Wu Chao''s power. Otherwise, he would feel much more confident and assured with her protection.
Having said that, the Essence Fire Child should''ve also been more than capable of keeping Lan Yan in check.
With that in mind, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed and began to meditate.
Close to half a day flew by in a sh, and by the time he reopened his eyes, he had already primed himself into the best possible condition.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he summoned a white incense burner, protruding out which was a stick of silver incense that was around three inches tall.
After igniting the stick of incense, it began to release faint, white smoke that resembled morning mist, alongside a faint, fragrant aroma.
This Soul Condensing Incense was extremely beneficial to the soul and could significantly increase one''s chances of a sessful breakthrough to the Great Epassment Stage.
Han Li then flipped a hand over to produce three jade vials, within one of which was the True Profound Pill that had been given to him by Daoist Xie, and that was going to be the most important contributing factor to a Great Epassment Stage breakthrough for him.
As for the other two vials, one of them contained a type of golden spirit liquid, while the other contained three green pills, and both of those things had been painstakingly acquired precisely for this breakthrough.
First, Han Li picked up the jade vial that contained the golden spirit liquid, then tipped a few drops of it into his own mouth.
A burst of radiant, golden light instantly appeared over his body, while his timew powers began to churn like boiling water. His Mantra Treasured Axis, Time Severing Torch, Clear Time Vial, Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree, and Illusory Dawn Hourss all appeared around him in session, then began to rapidly revolve around his body.
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up as he picked took one of the green pills from the other vial, then closed his eyes to channel the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra
The True Profound Pill was something that was only to be taken at the very end, so it remained in its vial for now.
Han Li closed his eyes, and the golden light radiating from his body became brighter and brighter, while a burst of tremendous timew power fluctuations swept through the air, causing the entire secret chamber to tremble and quiver.
Inside another room in the cave abode, Lan Yan''s eyes abruptly sprang open as she cast her gaze toward Han Li''s secret chamber with a stunned expression.
Meanwhile, above a certain swamp in the Golden Origin Immortal Region.
A streak of blue light flew onto the scene from afar, then drew to a halt above the swamp to reveal Immortal Lord Miao Fa and her two maidservants.
"Esteemed holy envoy, the trail of Han Li''s spiritual qi fluctuations suddenly cuts off here," one of the maidservants said, and she was holding a translucent, blue basin that reflected the surrounding area.
Specks of green light were rising up from within the basin, and they stretched all the way to this precise spot from afar before abruptly vanishing here.
"Looks like he must''ve concealed his aura from this point onward," Immortal Lord Miao Fa mused as she raised an eyebrow.
"The Mirror Water Basin is no longer able to track him, so you''ll have to do so yourself from now on, esteemed holy envoy," the maidservant said.
"Alright, you two can stand down," Immortal Lord Miao Fa said with a dismissive wave, then opened her mouth to release a ball of blue light.
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Numerous translucent, blue threads surfaced within the blue light, then converged toward a single spot, quickly forming a millstone-sized, vertical, blue eye that began scouring the surrounding area.
Rings of blue light could be seen shing within the vertical eye, presenting a profound sight to behold.
Initially, Immortal Lord Miao Fa was brimming with confidence, but as she continued to inspect the surrounding area with the vertical eye, her confident expression quickly turned to disbelief.
How is this possible? Even a mid-Great Epassment cultivator like myself shouldn''t be able to hide their tracks from my Water Emperor Divine Eye, how could Han Li possibly have such an advanced self-concealment technique up his sleeve?
Of course, the reality was that Immortal Lord Miao Fa was overestimating Han Li. If he had continued to travel from this point using his immortal spiritual power, then no matter how he tried to conceal his spiritual power fluctuations, there was no way that he would''ve been able to cover his tracks.
However, it was from this point onward that Han Li began using the Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique to conceal his own aura, and Lan Yan had been thrown into the Flower Branch domain, so of course there were no tracks left behind.
Immortal Lord Miao Fa had failed to take this possibility into ount and was solely searching for residual spiritual power fluctuations, so she was naturally struggling to find anything.
However, her Water Emperor Divine Eye was so powerful that she was ultimately able to find some residual spiritual power fluctuations left behind by some of the immortal treasures in Han Li''s body, such as his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
However, these spiritual power fluctuations were extremely faint, and they were constantly cutting off intermittently, so she could only proceed onward in a slow and timid manner while continuing to track the faint trail left behind.
Chi Meng and the hook-nosed man were trailing along far behind, and they were very disgruntled by this slow rate of progress, but neither of them were proficient in tracking techniques, so they had no choice but to rely on Immortal Lord Miao Fa.
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Chapter 1142: Miao Fa’s Arrival
Chapter 1142: Miao Fa¡¯s Arrival
Inside his cave abode in the Oasis Mountain Range, Han Li was still attempting to reach the Great Epassment Stage.
Three years flew by in a sh.
The golden light in Han Li''s secret chamber was glowing brighter and brighter, and it was beginning to seep out even with all of the restrictions that he had set up.
Bursts of formidable timew power fluctuations were surging throughout the cave abode, making it impossible for Lan Yan to cultivate, so all she was doing now was waiting for Han Li toe out of seclusion.
She had already guessed Han Li''s objective for going into seclusion, and she didn''t know how to feel about this.
She didn''t know what Han Li was plotting, but if he were to reach the Great Epassment Stage, then that would surely be bad news for the Nine Origins Temple.
However, on the flip side, a breakthrough to the Great Epassment Stage for Han Li would grant both of them a far higher degree of safety.
On top of that, once he reached the Great Epassment Stage, she would be far less useful to him, and given his personality, there was a chance that he would let her go.
If Han Li were to fail to make his breakthrough, then she would have to continue leading this unpredictable and perilous life on the run, and she didn''t know when she would be granted her freedom again.
With all that in mind, she didn''t know if she wanted Han Li to seed or fail.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out from within Han Li''s secret chamber.
A burst of immensew power fluctuations swept through the entire cave abode like a turbulent wave, damaging close to half of the restrictions inside.
Lan Yan was also knocked by this burst of timew power fluctuations, only drawing to a halt after crashing into a wall.
She cast her gaze toward Han Li''s secret chamber to discover that the golden light there had already faded, indicating that he had failed in his breakthrough attempt, and she couldn''t help but heave a forlorn sigh.
Looks like deep down, I''m hoping for him to seed, after all...
Inside the secret chamber, Han Li''s brows were tightly furrowed with frustration.
Just as Lan Yan had guessed, his breakthrough attempt had concluded in failure.
There weren''t any negative consequences to arise from this, but he couldn''t find a reason for his failure.
At the moment, he had over two hundred timew threads, which was roughly on par with the number ofw threads attained by the average Great Epassment cultivator, so that shouldn''t have been a problem.
He had also opened 395 immortal acupoints, and his physical constitution was incredibly formidable, while his soul was also far more powerful than that of the average peak-High Zenith cultivator thanks to his cultivation of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
On paper, he satisfied all of the prerequisites, so the breakthrough should''ve been quite smooth and effortless.
As Han Li carefully mulled over his failed breakthrough, he decided that the problem had most likely arisen from his timew threads.
Initially, everything had been going quite well, but at some point in his breakthrough attempt, his timew threads had suddenly been thrown into a state of disarray, thereby scrambling the immortal spiritual power in his body to spoil his breakthrough attempt.
Could it be that I still don''t have enough timew threads?
If his timew threads were indeed the problem, then he couldn''t think of any other possible factor holding him back aside from an insufficient number of timew threads.
The quickest way for him to attain more timew threads would be to use the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra to refine treasures that contained timew powers, but such treasures were extremely precious and rare.
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Furthermore, he already had over two hundred timew threads, and he had no idea how many more he would have to attain in order to facilitate a sessful breakthrough..
All of a sudden, a thought urred to Han Li, and he pped himself on the forehead for not thinking of this earlier.
How could I have forgotten about the Eon Divine Lamp? If I can refine that into timew threads, then that would surely be enough.
At the moment, themp was still in an unlit state.
Since leaving the Tai Sui Immortal Manor, Han Li had made many attempts to reignite the me, but to no avail.
Even though the Eon Divine Lamp was unlit, it was still giving off bursts of formidable timew power fluctuations.
Han Li immediately channeled his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, and his five time-attributew treasures appeared around him one after another.
The five bursts of timew powers released by the five treasures quickly intertwined, thenpressed toward a single spot to form a thick, golden ring of light.
The ring of light waspressed even further at Han Li''s behest, and it began to release a burst of powerful suction force while approaching the Eon Divine Lamp.
The golden ring epassed the Eon Divine Lamp while revolving rapidly, releasing a burst of tremendous suction force in an attempt to draw the timew powers out of themp.
However, despite the golden ring''s best efforts, the timew powers within the Eon Divine Lamp remainedpletely unmoved.
Could it be that the Eon Divine Lamp is an immortal treasure of too high a caliber to be refined?
After persevering for a while longer, Han Li withdrew the golden ring, and he wasn''t particrly surprised to see this as something like this had happened once before.
That golden te that he had obtained from the ruins of the True Mantra Sect was something that he had also been unable to refine using his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
With that in mind, it seemed like the Eon Divine Lamp and the golden te were treasures of a simr caliber.
In fact, perhaps the golden te was a treasure of an even higher caliber as at the very least, Han Li was able to somewhat control the Eon Divine Lamp, while the golden te was like an immovable object as far as he was concerned.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he stowed the Eon Divine Lamp away.
After a brief moment of contemtion, he pulled out a Reincarnation Pce mask, then released a mission, seeking to purchase time-attribute immortal treasures.
At this point, Han Li had already umted an astronomical sum of Immortal Origin Stones, so this wasn''t a problem for him.
Aside from the Reincarnation Pce, he couldn''t think of any other avenues that he could turn to for this cause, so all he could do was wait.
After doing all of that, Han Li began channeling his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra once again, trying to see if there had been any other problems resulting in his failed breakthrough.
Close to half a year flew by in the blink of an eye.
Inside the secret chamber, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed, and his entire body was enshrouded in ayer of golden light. Manifestations of his five time-attributew treasures were hovering in the air around him, and the entire secret chamber was rippling with timew power fluctuations.
Right at this moment, Han Li''s eyes suddenly sprang open in rm, and the manifestations of his five time-attributew treasures vanished into his body, following which he also vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, he had already arrived outside the secret chamber directly behind Lan Yan.
Before she had a chance to react in surprise, Han Li grabbed onto her by the throat, and a string of golden runes wrapped itself around her body like a spirit snake, instantly immobilizing her.
"My apologies, Fellow Daoist Lan."
As soon as Han Li''s voice trailed off, a resounding boom rang out as the mountain that the cave abode was situated in exploded violently, exposing the entire cave abode to the light of day.
Han Li looked up with one hand still locked firmly around Lan Yan''s throat, and high up in the sky was a crystalline throne that was shaped like a lotus flower, seated atop which was none other than Immortal Lord Miao Fa.
Her head was cocked to the side, and she was resting her cheek on her hand as she looked down at Han Li with a disdainful expression.
Han Li''s pupils instantly contracted slightly upon sensing her mid-Great Epassment Stage aura. Despite the fact that she was seated on her throne in ackadaisical manner, Han Li was feeling more pressure from her than he did even from the likes of Qi Mozi.
Behind her were the two identical twin maidservants, both of whom were at the early-High Zenith Stage, and one of them was holding an ornate, embroidered umbre, while the other was holding a peacock feather fan.
"I had thought that it must''ve taken a very remarkable man to have defeated both She Chan and Qi Mozi, but you''re just a piece of cowardly scum who would stoop as low as to use a frail and defenseless woman as a shield. How disappointing," Immortal Lord Miao Fa scoffed.
"That''s not exactly a fair statement, is it? Fellow Daoist Lan is far from a frail and defenseless woman. No matter how I tried to coerce her, she refused to submit to me and even attempted suicide on multiple asions, so I was forced to nt restrictions upon her. While it''s true that I''m using her as a shield now, what else am I supposed to do in the face of an assant far more powerful than myself?" Han Li asked in a resigned manner.
Lan Yan knew that Han Li was lying in order to paint her in a positive light, and a hint of guilt and gratitude welled up in her heart upon hearing this.
"If she''s ipetent enough to have been captured, then she deserves to die," Immortal Lord Miao Fa said as she took an expressionless nce at Lan Yan, and ayer of white frost instantly appeared over her face.
Before long, her entire body had been encased in ayer of blue ice crystals.
A burst of silver mes erupted out of the tip of Han Li''s finger to contend against the spreading frost as he flew back in retreat, yet he had only managed to retreat no more than a thousand feet when a huge shadow appeared over him, and the embroidered umbre came descending upon him from above.
Han Li immediately darted away to the side to take evasive measures, but the umbre-wielding maidservant was dancing elegantly on top of the umbre, and it was constantly changing directions in ordance with her movements to ensure that it remained above Han Li''s head.
Meanwhile, the fan-wielding maidservant flew over to Lan Yan''s side, then swept a sleeve over her, and theyer of frost clinging to her body instantly melted away, following which she was casually tossed over to Immortal Lord Miao Fa.
"Lan Yan pays her respects to Immortal Lord Miao Fa," Lan Yan greeted as she fell to her knees.
"Where''s Lan Yuanzi? Is he dead or alive?" Immortal Lord Miao Fa asked.
A grief-stricken look instantly appeared on Lan Yan''s face at the mention of Lan Yuanzi.
Chapter 1143: No Escape
Chapter 1143: No Escape
It was clear from Lan Yan''s expression what had be of Lan Yuanzi, and Immortal Lord Miao Fa harrumphed coldly, "If it isn''t for the fact that I''m on good terms with your master, you would already be dead right now. At least you have some backbone and didn''t put our Nine Origins Temple to shame. You can stand up now."
Lan Yan immediately rose to her upon hearing this, then stood obediently behind the crystalline throne as she cast a concerned gaze toward Han Li.
After tossing Lan Yan to Immortal Lord Miao Fa, the fan-wielding maidservant also set off in pursuit of Han Li while sweeping her fan toward him to release gusts of fierce, azure wind.
Han Li was already preupied with evading the umbre, and as opposed to also trying to evade the gusts of oing wind, he flew directly into them while simultaneously channeling his Reversal True Axis ability, aiming to take advantage of the gusts of wind to help him flee the scene.
It was very clear to him that he was no match for this woman, so he immediately attempted to flee without even trying to stand and fight.
However, as soon as he came into contact with the gusts of azure wind, it was as if his entire body had suddenly be more buoyant, and not only was he not able to get away, he was sent drifting up involuntarily into the air.
At the same time, the embroidered umbre overhead descended from above, releasing a burst of powerful suction force that sucked him in in a sh.
As soon as he was sucked into the umbre, a series of runed chains trailed down from above, firmly binding him to its shaft, immediately following which the umbre closed itself around him.
Trapped within the umbre, all of the immortal spiritual power in Han Li''s body was sealed away, and he wasn''t able to muster up even an ounce of strength.
The umbre-wielding maidservant made a beckoning motion, and the umbre shrank down to around half its original size while flying back to her.
The maidservant then closed her arms around the umbre, hugging it to her chest, while her twin sister had also returned to her side.
An incredulous look appeared on Lan Yan''s face upon seeing this, seemingly unable to believe how easily Han Li had been captured.
"How is it possible that She Chan was defeated by such a pathetic little High Zenith Stage weasel?" Immortal Lord Miao Fa scoffed in a disdainful manner.
Right at this moment, the umbre-wielding maidservant''s brows suddenly furrowed slightly as she looked down at her umbre, which was rippling and bulging slightly, as if Han Li were struggling inside.
"Don''t bother! Even the average Great Epassment cultivator wouldn''t be able to free themselves from our esteemed holy envoy''s Heavenly Entrapment Umbre," the maidservant sneered, but her expression then changed drastically as she threw the umbre away with an rmed yelp.
A plume of smoke had begun rising up from a small hole that had been burned into the surface of the umbre, and a rainbow me slowly emerged from the hole like a blooming, rainbow flower.
Immediately thereafter, the rainbow me sprang upward, and a tiny, silver figure shot out of the hole in the umbre, then instantly transformed into a massive, silver fire raven.
As the fire raven spread its wings, bursts of scorching mes shot out of its body like a meteor shower toward Immortal Lord Miao Fa and the others.
The fan-wielding maidservant frantically swept her fan through the air to dispel all of the oing bursts of fire, and at the same time, Han Li burst out of the umbre before flying away into the distance, followed closely by the Essence Fire Raven.
"That''s an Essence Fire Raven that''s devoured Rainbow Fire Pill Sand! What a rare sight! Looks like you do have some tricks up your sleeve, but if you think that''s going to be enough to allow you to get away from me, then you''re sorely mistaken," Immortal Lord Miao Fa mused as she casually rose to her feet, seeminglypletely unconcerned by the fact that Han Li was getting away.
Immediately thereafter, she joined her palms in front of her own chest, and her hands instantly turned as translucent as ice.
At the same time, wisps of white mist began to seep out from between her lips, and a cloud of thin mist instantly spread over the surrounding area in a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers, freezing the entire space epassed within the area.
At this point, Han Li was already thousands of kilometers away, and upon sensing the drastic drop in air temperature around him, he immediately withdrew the Essence Fire Raven back into his body before elerating dramatically to double his own speed.
However, this still wasn''t enough for him to get away, and an enormous wall of ice abruptly rose up before him to block the path ahead.
Han Li immediately channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might before throwing an almighty punch at the wall of ice.
Scintiting, white starlight erupted out of his fist as it struck the wall of ice with a resounding boom, and the entire wall shuddered violently as it caved in to form a ring-shaped crater that spanned almost the entire surface area of the wall, but it was able to remain intact.
Right as Han Li was about to throw another punch to break through the wall, a flurry of snowkes suddenly began to drift through the air overhead, and Immortal Lord Miao Fa appeared atop the wall amid a sh of white light.
In the instant that she set foot onto the wall, ayer of white light instantly spread over its surface, and in the span of mere seconds, the wall had returned to its former, undamaged state.
"There''s no way you''re escaping from my spirit domain. If you surrender now, you''ll spare yourself from some punishment," Immortal Lord Miao Fa dered as she looked down at Han Li in a cold and arrogant manner.
Han Li paid no heed to her as he flew back in retreat while channeling his Reversal True Axis ability, and at the same time, he began making a string of hand seals, preparing to conjure up a lightning teleportation array.
However, before the lightning array was able to take shape, a huge, hexagonal ice crystal appeared directly above him, and six rays of dazzling, blue light came refracting out of it.
The rays of light cascaded down from above, instantly forming six translucent, white walls that created an encirclement around Han Li.
The walls were giving off tremendous cial qi that instantly snuffed out the lightning shing over Han Li''s body, and it was as if his connection with the world around him had been instantly severed.
At the same time, ayer of silver light appeared over the six walls, transforming them into six silver mirrors, each of which bore a reflection of Han Li, but they were all disying different expressions.
There was one that was watching him with a cold expression, another one that was observing him with a faint smile, one that was looking elsewhere entirely with their arms crossed...
Han Li hurriedly activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes, upon which he discovered that there was no vitality to be gleaned in these reflections, indicating that they were nothing more than illusions.
Assured by this discovery, Han Li hurriedly channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts with all his might, then threw a punch at one of the silver mirrors.
However, as soon as he sprang into action, all six of the reflections did the same, converging toward him with their fists raised.
Han Li continued onward without pause as he threw a punch into the mirror up ahead with all his might, but in the instant that his fist struck the mirror, six arms came extending out of all of the mirrors from six different directions to connect with his body.
Han Li instantly felt a burst of excruciating pain jolt through his entire body, and he felt as if he were on the verge of falling apart at the seams.
Furthermore, the cial qi emanating from the silver mirrors was only bing more and more formidable, and ayer of white frost had already appeared over his body, while his immortal spiritual power cirction had all but stagnated.
With no time to waste, he channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and true spirit bloodlines in unison, instantly transforming into a giant devilish deity with three heads and six arms.
His three heads let loose a collective, thunderous roar as he spun around on the spot like a spinning top whileshing out with his six fists in unison, directing one toward each of the six mirrors.
Six resounding booms rang out at once as a burst of tremendous power erupted from within the silver mirrors, causing them to shudder violently as a series of fine cracks appeared over their surfaces.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he was just about tosh out once again when ayer of blue light shed over the mirrors, and all of them were instantly restored to their original condition.
At the same time, six devilish deity reflections appeared in the mirrors beforeshing out at Han Li in unison, and a string of loud thumps rang out in rapid session as Han Li was struck by a ferocious barrage of punches.
He felt as if all of the bones in his body were about to be snapped, and in particr, one of the fists had struck him on the back of the head, almost knocking him out cold.
After unleashing that devastating barrage of punches, the reflections in the mirrors finally ceased their assault.
How is this possible...
At this point, Han Li had already reverted back to his human form, and he sat down onto the ground in a defeated manner.
He didn''t dare to attack the mirrors again, so he could only continue to inspect his surroundings using his Infernal Devilish Eyes, but he wasn''t able to see anything that could get him out of this predicament.
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Immortal Lord Miao Fa was able to see everything that Han Li was doing from outside the encirclement of mirrors, and she found his futile struggles rather amusing as she sneered, "Cease your futile struggles and ept your fate."
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Chapter 1144: Only Chance
Chapter 1144: Only Chance
Han Li paid no heed to Immortal Lord Miao Fa as he continued to examine the six mirrors while channeling his cultivation arts to ward off the cial qi in the surrounding area.
All of a sudden, a thought urred to him, and he raised a hand to summon the Essence Fire Raven.
He then cast his gaze toward the surrounding mirrors to discover that sure enough, they only contained reflections of him, but not of the Essence Fire Raven.
Looks like these mirrors that are formed by icew powers are unable to manifest fire-attribute entities! Han Li thought to himself as he raised a finger and pointed it at one of the mirrors.
The Essence Fire Raven transformed into ayer of me that wrapped itself around his arm before shooting out of his fingertip, burrowing deep into the mirror like a fiery drill.
The mirror of ice immediately began to melt, and its surface began to ripple like that of a disturbedke.
"That Essence Fire Raven is very impressive, but it won''t be enough to free you!" Immortal Lord Miao Fa harrumphed coldly as she prepared to descend upon Han Li from above, but right at this moment, the surrounding space abruptly shuddered as a slightly warm breeze blew over from the southeast.
Immortal Lord Miao Fa immediately stopped what she was doing as she cast her gaze into the distant sky, where a fiery red figure was approaching from the southeast atop a fiery cloud.
All of the clouds in her wake had taken on a bright red hue, as if they had been set alight, and the entire freezing air temperatures were beginning to rapidly rise again.
A hint of clear resentment and disdain surfaced in Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s eyes at the sight of the approaching figure, which drew to a halt around ten thousand feet away.
"Ah, I wasn''t expecting to run into you here, Immortal Lord Miao Fa! I''m pursuing a wanted fugitive on the Immortal ying List. Would you happen to have seen him?" Chi Meng asked as she feigned a surprised expression.
"There''s only a wanted fugitive of our Nine Origins Temple here, and he''s already been detained. If you''re searching for a wanted fugitive of the Heavenly Court, then I suggest you go elsewhere," Immortal Lord Miao Fa replied in a cold manner.
"Well, it just so happens to be the case that the two fugitives are one and the same. Now that you''ve captured him, you can hand him over to me, and I''ll inform the Heavenly Court of your contribution to request a reward for your Nine Origins Temple," Chi Meng said with a wide smile.
"I am the one who captured him, so it''s only right that I take him back to our Nine Origins Temple for interrogation, and I''ll hand him over to you once we''vepleted our interrogation," Immortal Lord Miao Fa countered in an unyielding manner.
"You''re saying you''ve captured him? Are you sure about that?" Chi Meng asked with a sly grin.
Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and she noticed that a colony of red fire ants had suddenly burrowed their way out of the ground behind the wall of ice, and they were crawling over the six silver mirrors around Han Li.
The ants left behind trails of scorching heat in their wake that burned deep troughs into the mirrors of ice, and thus, a sh between fire and ice ensued.
The mes on the bodies of the fire ants were rapidly whittled away, and it was often the case that they would only be able to crawl for about an inch before their mes were snuffed out and they were frozen solid.
However, there were simply too many of them for the mirrors of ice to contend with, and collectively, they formed a formidable force to be reckoned with.
Trapped within the encirclement of mirrors, Han Li was unable to see what was happening outside, and he was still attempting to drill through one of the mirrors using the power of the Essence Fire Raven.
Right as his extremities were beginning to grow numb from the infiltration of cial qi into his body, a dull thud finally rang out as the fiery, silver drill extending out of his fingertip pierced its way fully through the mirror of ice.
Han Li hurriedly threw a punch at the mirror with all his might, and a loud crack rang out as all six mirrors shattered in unison, freeing him from the encirclement.
Immediately thereafter, he was greeted by the sight of countless fiery ants converging toward him from all directions, and he had no idea what was happening, but he certainly wasn''t going to linger here as he sprang up into the air to flee.
It was only then that he spotted Immortal Lord Miao Fa swooping down at him from above out of his peripheral vision, and he hurriedly channeled his Reversal True Axis ability to evade her.
Meanwhile, Chi Meng was also flying along in hot pursuit behind Immortal Lord Miao Fa, and there was a wide smile on her face as she called out, "Seeing as you weren''t able to capture him, I suppose we''ll just have to see which one of us manages to get him!"
As soon as her voice trailed off, tongues of golden mes erupted out of the fiery cloud beneath her, instantly elerating her drastically through the air so that she was able to overtake Immortal Lord Miao Fa and race along directly beside Han Li.
Somehow, there were suddenly two mid-Great Epassment cultivators pursuing him at once, and he couldn''t help butment his own ill fortune.
Right at this moment, Chi Meng reached out to make a grabbing motion toward Han Li, and a long, fiery dragon flew out of the palm of her hand before pouncing at him with its cavernous mouth wide open.
As the fiery dragon closed in on Han Li, bursts of scorching heat surged out of its body, causing the surrounding space to shimmer and warp.
Han Li was struck by a sense of asphyxiation, and he felt as if a burst of invisible, obstructive force had suddenly appeared up ahead, forcing him to slow down involuntarily.
Right as he was about to be inundated by the mes surging out of the fiery dragon''s mouth, a burst of silver mes rose up from his shoulder before flowing over his entire arm.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and a huge, fire raven head erupted out of his arm before biting down onto the fiery dragon''s head.
The fiery dragon was instantly decapitated, and its headless body recoiled, while its disembodied head began to struggle violently while sped between the Essence Fire Raven''s beak, sending countless bursts of mes spraying in all directions.
Han Li felt as if his entire arm had been set alight, and it was incredibly painful, but he could only grit his teeth and persevere.
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Chi Meng''s eyes instantly lit up with tion as she eximed, "That''s an Essence Fire Raven that''s devoured Rainbow Fire Pill Sand! I knew I made the right decision toe here!"
She immediately darted closer to Han Li as she spoke, and Han Li instantly felt as if his entire body had been plunged into a giant pot of bubbling oil, while his blood also began to churn violently through his veins as if it had been set alight.
His skin turned bright red, while his eyes turnedpletely bloodshot, and all of his sudden, his previously stagnant immortal spiritual power began circting so quickly that he was barely able to contain it.
"A young man like you should be reckless and hot-blooded. Come, let me warm you up even more!" Chi Meng said with a wide smile as she made a hand seal, and Han Li instantly felt the surrounding air temperature rise by tenfold.
At the same time, a ball of radiant, white light emerged from under him, and it contained a projection of a Three-Legged Golden Crow with its wings spread wide and scorching mes surging out of its body.
Embroiled within the mes, Han Li was like a pill in a cauldron, unable to struggle free no matter how vigorously he struggled.
Thankfully, the Essence Fire Raven had formed a fiery, silver outer garment around his entire body. Otherwise, he would''ve already been close to ashes at this point.
Even so, he was still in a state of excruciating pain from the unbearable heat.
Right at this moment, a clear cry suddenly rang out, and a giant ice phoenix appeared out of thin air before flying toward him, sweeping up gusts of cial wind as it pped its wings to propel itself through the air.
The ball of fiery, white light beneath Han Li immediatelyshed out in retaliation, releasing a fiery tornado to sh against the ice phoenix.
All of a sudden, a vast cloud of vapor appeared throughout the entire area in a radius of thousands of kilometers, severely impacting visibility while also drastically dropping the nearby air temperature.
"It looks like your Nine Origins Temple insists on opposing our Heavenly Court, Immortal Lord Miao Fa," Chi Meng remarked in a cold voice.
"I had already captured him, yet you broke the rules, so don''t me me for retaliating," Immortal Lord Miao Fa replied in an expressionless manner.
"Fine. In that case, how about we have a battle right here, and the winner gets to take him, while the loser goes back empty-handed. What do you say?" Chi Meng proposed with a smile.
"I was about to propose the exact same thing," Immortal Lord Miao Fa replied.
As the two of them were conversing with each other, the unrest in Han Li''s body began to settle down, and much of the scorching heat in the air had abated thanks to the ice phoenix''s timely arrival.
Despite this, Han Li didn''t dare to rx even for a single instant, and he knew that this was going to be his only chance to escape.
Chapter 1145: Trapped Once Again
Chapter 1145: Trapped Once Again
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Han Li channeled his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and true spirit bloodlines in unison, and a cloud of devilish qi surged out of his body alongside a sh of silver lightning as he transformed into a massive bird with three different heads, namely those of the Lightning Bird, the Heavenly Phoenix, and the Azure Luan Bird.
The three-headed bird was over a thousand feet in size, and it had a pair of azure and crimson wings, as well as a massive tail consisting of seven fiery feathers. Its talons were silver in color and as sharp as des, and there were arcs of silver lightning shing over them.
The giant bird spread its wings, and two gusts of fierce, azure wind were released, propelling it up into the air. At the same time, jets of crimson mes erupted out of its tail feathers, while a torrent of silver lightning surged out of its talons.
In the blink of an eye, the giant bird had elerated to a mind-boggling speed, and after just a few ps of its wings, it had already vanished into the distant sky.
Chi Meng''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, while Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s body began to dissipate into a flurry of snowkes as she set off in pursuit of Han Li.
"So he really does have some tricks up his sleeve. This is turning out to be much more fun than I expected!" Chi Meng grinned to herself, not looking concerned in the slightest.
Immediately thereafter, she also set off in pursuit of Han Li atop her fiery, red cloud.
Meanwhile, Han Li was fleeing with all his might.
In his current form, his speed was inferior by muchpared with using his lighting teleportation array, and he had the advantage of being able to travel continuously, rather than having to stop to conjure up new lightning arrays between bouts of teleportation.
However, it didn''t take long before the surrounding air temperature began to plummet again, and a vast cloud of white mist appeared around Han Li.
As soon as Han Li flew into the cloud of white mist, he immediately felt as if he had crashed headfirst into a wall of wind and snow, slowing him down significantly.
Han Li couldn''t help but be stunned by the enormous area that Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s spirit domain was able to epass, as well as the power of the structures manifested by the Creation Tier spirit domain, such as the wall of ice from earlier and this fearsome snowstorm.
Clearly, the disparity of a single cultivation rank wasn''t an urate reflection of the vast gap between early and mid-Great Epassment cultivators.
However, there was no time for Han Li to ponder all of this as he opened all three of his beaks in unison, releasing an azure whirlwind, a pir of silver lightning, and a plume of crimson mes that fused as one in mid-air to form a vibrant and colorful pir of light that erupted directly forward.
The pir of light appeared extremely out of ce in the nd, white snowstorm, and it sted a huge hole that was tens of thousands of kilometers in length through the snowstorm, allowing Han Li to pass through it without any further obstruction.
After passing through the snowstorm, Han Li discovered that what was supposed to have been a summer''s day had turned into winter, and that the entirendscape had been encased in ice as far as the eyes could see.
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Before Han Li had a chance to even fully take in his surroundings, Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
"I''ll admit that you have quite a few tricks up your sleeve for a mere High Zenith cultivator, but what are you going to do now?"
As soon as her voice trailed off, a huge shadow began to appear directly ahead of Han Li, one that seemed to connect the heavens to the earth.
Han Li could immediately tell that this was none other than the same wall of ice that had obstructed him earlier, and he immediately channeled his Reversal True Axis to roughly double his own speed.
Ayer of cial qi was spreading down the wall of ice, and in the blink of an eye, it had already spread over half of the wall.
Han Li could only swoop down to fly toward the bottom half of the wall, which still hadn''t yet frozen solid.
However, even with his incredible speed, he was unable to outrun the spreading cial qi, and it looked as if the wall were going to fully freeze solid before he could reach it.
Right at this moment, a burst of silver lightning shed through the eyes of his Lightning Bird head, and two balls of silver lightning that he had been charging up for quite some time erupted out of his talons to strike the foot of the wall of ice.
An earth-shattering thunderp rang out as that section of the wall of ice exploded into countless shards of ice, creating a huge hole that Han Li was able to pass through.
Immediately thereafter, he spread his wings again to regain altitude and continued to flee into the distance.
A furious look shed through Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s eyes upon seeing this, and right at this moment, she suddenly noticed that Chi Meng was nowhere to be found.
Even after flying through the wall of ice, Han Li knew that he couldn''t growcent, and he continued to channel his Reversal True Axis ability, burning through his immortal spiritual power andw powers at an rming rate.
Thanks to his tireless efforts, he was able to slowly open up a gap between himself and Immortal Lord Miao Fa, but before he even had a chance to catch his breath, a burst of radiant, white light suddenly appeared up ahead, and Chi Meng emerged within it.
The white light was so bright that Han Li reflexively narrowed his eyes against it, and in the next instant, an enormous, semi-transparent dome of light descended from above, crashing down upon him before forcing him to the ground.
Han Li pped his wings with all his might to dart forward through the air, only to crash into the dome of light, which shuddered violently upon impact.
A denseyer of runes then emerged over its surface, giving off peculiar energy fluctuations as they converged toward Han Li from all directions, rocking his soul violently while forcing him to the ground.
Uponnding on the ground, Han Li reverted back to his human form, and the dome of light around him quickly shrank down to only the size of a house.
Han Li looked around to discover that the dome of light resembled an upside-down bowl, and that its surface was riddled with countless runes.
There were also nine fiery, crimson dragons coiled on top of the dome, and all of them were glowering down at him in a menacing fashion.
Han Li could detect extremely formidable firew power fluctuations emanating from the nine dragons, and by his estimate, this had to have at least been a fifth tier immortal treasure.
After capturing Han Li using the dome of light, Chi Meng descended out of the sky as she remarked in a disappointed manner, "You''re nothing special, after all! All you''ve done is run like a coward up to this point. How on earth were those idiots from the Golden Origin Immortal Pce wiped out by you? They''re a disgrace to our Heavenly Court!"
Han Li paid no heed to her disappointed musings as he activated his Infernal Devilish Eyes to closely examine the immortal treasure, hoping to identify some point of vulnerability that would allow him to escape.
"Just give it up! This Nine Dragon Divine Fire Dome is a fourth tier immortal treasure that even a Great Epassment cultivator would struggle to escape from, let alone a mere High Zenith cultivator like yourself. Just surrender to spare yourself the physical punishment," Chi Meng coaxed.
After inspecting the entire dome, Han Li discovered that he was surrounded by a ring of formidablew powers with no vulnerabilities to be exploited.
Right at this moment, Immortal Lord Miao Fa also arrived on the scene, and her brows furrowed slightly at the sight that she was greeted by.
"You''re toote, he''s already my prisoner," Chi Meng gloated with a triumphant smile.
"Is that so? But I don''t see any shackles around him. If all you''ve done is trap him, then didn''t I already aplish the same thing earlier?" Immortal Lord Miao Fa objected.
"Clearly, neither of us is going to be able to convince the other, so let''s just finish our battle and let the oue decide who gets to keep him," Chi Meng said.
"Sounds good to me!" Immortal Lord Miao Fa harrumphed coldly as she sprang up into the air.
Chi Meng was just about to set off in pursuit when she suddenly seemed to have recalled something, and she turned to Han Li as she warned, "Don''t try any funny business! If you struggle recklessly in my Nine Dragon Divine Fire Dome, you could easily end up dead! Unlike Miao Fa, I actually want to keep you alive."
After that, she flew up into the air in pursuit of Immortal Lord Miao Fa, and a burst of tremendous pressure descended from the heavens as both women flew up into the clouds.
Half of the sky was set alight by scorching, red mes, while the other half of the sky had been devoured by a cial snowstorm, but Han Li had no time to appreciate the spectacle.
After taking a moment topose himself, he removed his Profound Heavenly Gourd from his waist, then tipped it over so that its opening was aimed at a point where the underside of the dome was in contact with the ground.
Chapter 1146: Vial Spirit to the Rescue
Chapter 1146: Vial Spirit to the Rescue
Han Li took a deep breath, then mmed a hand into the underside of the gourd, and a burst of rumbling instantly rang out from within. A vortex of azure light emerged from the mouth of the gourd, and a thread of dark green light shot out from within.
A resounding boom rang out as a beam of light that was imbued with thews of destruction struck the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Dome before exploding into a small, green cloud.
The dome shuddered violently, but it remainedpletely unscathed, and to make matters even worse, the five out of the nine dragons above the dome suddenly seemed to have sprung to life, opening their cavernous mouths to st forth torrents of scorching mes toward the dome beneath them.
The entire space within the dome was instantly inundated by five bursts of viscous mes, and as soon as the mes came into contact with Han Li''s body, he was struck by an unprecedented sense of agony that caused a heart-wrenching howl to escape from his lips.
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The Essence Fire Raven instantly flew out of his body of its own ord, forming a fiery, silver outer garment around him to keep the viscous mes at bay.
Even so, waves of indescribable heat continued to infiltrate his body, inflicting upon him intense agony.
While protecting Han Li, the Essence Fire Raven opened its beak to release a torrent of silver mes that resisted the mes that continued to surge down from above, and the shing silver and crimson mes formed a two-colored fiery barrier above Han Li''s head.
Han Li''s heart sank even further upon seeing this. In the past, whenever the Essence Fire Raven had encountered fire-attribute attacks, it had always chosen to devour them.
However, on this asion, it was doing the exact opposite, and Han Li hurriedly asked it why this was the case through their spiritual connection.
In response, the Essence Fire Raven informed him that these mes were imbued wit ha special type of firew powers, thereby making it impossible to devour. On top of that, it was also very clear that the Essence Fire Raven was being dominated by these crimson mes.
Topound Han Li''s woes even further, the remaining four fiery dragons seemed to have also been enraged by the Essence Fire Raven''s resistance, and they began sting mes down into the dome as well.
The nine bursts of crimson mes formed an inescapable barrage that inundated Han Li from all directions, and the Essence Fire Raven was forced to give up its resistance as it focused solely on protecting Han Li.
However, the collective power of all nine dragons was far more formidable than just the five from before, and even the Essence Fire Raven was struggling to withstand the assault.
What was even more concerning was that the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Dome seemed to also possess the ability to absorb all fire-attribute power, so a great deal of the Essence Fire Raven''s power was being sucked into the dome.
Of course, Han Li wasn''t just going to ept his fate, and he was attacking the dome with all his might with his thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, but the dome simply refused to budge.
As time passed, the Essence Fire Raven''s silver mes had been whittled down significantly, but the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Dome was only growing more and more powerful, and the fiery assault was quickly bing too much for Han Li to bear.
Right at this moment, the Essence Fire Raven suddenly opened its mouth to release a white bead, and it hovered above Han Li like amp while giving off rays of dazzling, white light.
Enhanced by these rays of white light, the silver mes around the Essence Fire Raven''s body instantly reared up to force back the oing crimson mes.
Han Li was immediately able to identify the white bead as the fire-attribute immortal treasure that he ahd obtained from the Eon Pagoda. He had thought that it had already been refined and absorbed by the Essence Fire Raven, but that was clearly not the case.
However, the resistance didn''tst long before the white bead was also forced downward by the crimson mes, and the nine fiery dragons had even personally made their way into the dome to surround the white bead in a menacing fashion.
Much of the bead''s power had already been exhausted by the Five-Elemental Great Annihtion Array, and after having so much of its remaining power absorbed by the Essence Fire Raven, it was nowhere near powerful enough to contend with the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Dome.
At the same time, all of the crimson mes within the entire domain abruptly converged around Han Li to form a fiery, crimson cocoon, as if it had beenpressed by some type of powerful force.
The temperature inside the fiery cocoon reached an extremely inhospitable level, and Han Li''s skin began to crack open like a drykebed.
The Essence Fire Raven immediately sprang into action upon seeing this, and the rainbow mes on its head brightened significantly, following which two of them, namely the crimson and orange mes, rose up from its head before fusing into the white bead above.
A white cocoon of mes took shape around the bead to keep the crimson mes at bay, finally allowing Han Li some breathing room.
The Essence Fire Raven had sacrificed two of its Rainbow Fire Pill Sand mes to save him, and a hint of guilt welled up in his heart upon seeing this, but he still didn''t know how to get himself out of this predicament.
Right at this moment, a furious voice suddenly rang out in front of his chest.
"Are you an idiot? If you can''t beat them, then just run! I can''t believe you''re stuck here when you''re capable of transmigration at will!"
"Who''s there?" Han Li asked in an rmed manner.
The voice was rather indistinct, and it was unclear where it hade from, but it had struck Han Li as rather familiar.
All of a sudden, a look of realization appeared on his face, and he hurriedly reached down the front of his own robe to fish out the Heaven Controlling Vial.
The vial appeared no different from normal, but right at this moment, a pair of beady, pea-sized, ck eyes suddenly appeared on its surface, and they were looking up at Han Li with a very humanized look of anger.
"Were you the one who spoke just now, Senior Vial Spirit?" Han Li hurriedly asked.
"Who else could it have been but me? I can''t believe you''ve been backed into a corner by a Great Epassment cultivator and a mere fourth tier immortal treasure! You''re an utter disgrace!" the vial spirit reprimanded.
"I did consider making an escape using transmigration, but if I flee from here, won''t the Heaven Controlling Vial be left behind and fall into the hands of others?" Han Li asked.
"Is the Heaven Controlling Vial more important than your life?" the vial spirit asked.
"My life is important, but the Heaven Controlling Vial has been with me ever since the beginning of my cultivation journey, so it''s just as important to me. Besides, even if I can temporarily get away, I''ll eventually have to return here anyway, so it makes no difference," Han Li replied.
The vial spirit seemed to be quite pleased with this answer, and it said, "It looks like I made the right decision toe and save you. During your past transmigrations, the Heaven Controlling Vial is left without an owner, so it remains where you were, serving as a space-time anchor for your return. However, I can make it so that the Heaven Controlling Vial transmigrates with you, and with no anchor left behind, you won''t return to this ce."
"That''s fantastic!" Han Li said as an ecstatic look appeared on his face.
"Don''t celebrate too soon now! I can do this for you, but it''ll cost you. Taking the vial into the river of time will cost you thirty timew threads, and that''s permanent, as in they''ll be gone and unrecoverable," the vial spirit said.
Timew threads were very difficult toe by, so sacrificing thirty of them at once was certainly a painful decision to make, but given the dire situation that Han Li was in, he really had no choice in the matter.
"Please tell me what I need to do, Senior," he implored.
"Just conjure up the wall of light and leave the rest to me," the vial spirit replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then began channeling his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, and his five time-attributew treasures appeared around him amid a burst of timew power fluctuations.
The timew threads around the five treasures then intertwined with one another to form the ring of time, and all of the Time Dao Runes on the fivew treasures flew out beforending upon the golden ring, producing incredibly formidable bursts of timew power fluctuations.
Upon detecting these timew power fluctuations, Immortal Lord Miao Fa and Chi Meng instantly realized that something was wrong, and they hurriedly called a temporary truce before descending back down to the ground.
At this moment, there was a ball of dark green light within the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Dome that was glowing as radiantly as the sun, and the space around the ball of light was rippling incessantly.
Immediately thereafter, a huge wall of translucent light appeared, and Han Li was standing before it.
He withdrew the Essence Fire Raven into his body while gritting his teeth against the oing crimson mes, then took a nce back at Immortal Lord Miao Fa and Chi Meng before flying straight into the wall of translucent light.
The two women could only look on as Han Li vanished into the wall of light without a trace.
Chapter 1147: Return to the True Mantra Sect
Chapter 1147: Return to the True Mantra Sect
As Immortal Lord Miao Fa stormed onto the scene, an ecstatic look suddenly appeared on her face as she spotted something within the shrinking ball of green light.
It''s the Heaven Controlling Vial!
She immediately elerated, swooping downward as quickly as she could, but right at this moment, a golden ring emerged within the ball of green light, and thirty timew threads split off from it before disintegrating into a cloud of translucent powder that flew into the green light.
The green light instantly shrank down to form a small, green vial, which vanished into the wall of the translucent light along with the golden ring.
"No!" Immortal Lord Miao Fa roared in a furious voice as the Heaven Controlling Vial slipped away right before her eyes.
Chi Meng withdrew the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Dome with a dark expression, but before the two of them had a chance to approach the translucent wall of light, it had already vanished into thin air, leaving only a burst of faint timew power fluctuations in its wake.
Immortal Lord Miao Fa was barely able to contain her own fury as she turned to glower at Chi Meng.
If it wasn''t for Chi Meng''s meddling, she would''ve already returned to the Nine Origins Temple with Han Li and the Heaven Controlling Vial, and that would''ve been the biggest aplishment anyone in the temple had made in the past tens of millions of years.
Chi Meng''s brows furrowed slightly at the sight of Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s enraged expression, and she said, "The target is already gone, so there''s no point in continuing this senseless battle..."
Before she had a chance to finish, a volley of bone-chilling ice arrows had alreadye hurtling toward her.
A cold look shed through Chi Meng''s face upon seeing this, and she sprang directly toward Immortal Lord Miao Fa as she harrumphed, "Fine! I tried to settle this peacefully, but you clearly insist on a fight!"
Thus, their battle rmenced, while Lan Yan and Immortal Lord Miao Fa''s maidservants were all watching from tens of thousands of kilometers away, with none of them daring to approach the scene.
I wonder how Fellow Daoist Han is doing...
As soon as this thought sprang up in Lan Yan''s mind, she was immediately struck by a pang of guilt toward her sect, and she could only heave a forlorn, internal sigh.
......
Meanwhile, Han Li was already beside the vast river of time.
Countless water-droplet-shaped balls of light were flowing through the river, stretching as far as the eyes could see.
Right at this moment, two streaks of light, one golden and one green, sped toward him from afar.
Within the streak of golden light was a golden ring that slid itself onto his finger, while the ball of green lightnded in his grasp before transforming into the Heaven Controlling Vial.
"What are you just standing here for? Now that you''ve brought the Heaven Controlling Vial into this ce, your Time Dao Runes will be expended far faster than normal, so hurry and choose a destination for your transmigration," the vial spirit urged.
With no opportunity to n in advance, Han Li was a little hesitant, unsure of where to go.
After some thought, he suddenly recalled that there were some questions that he had about the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, as well as his recent, failed breakthrough.
Seeing as he was able to physically transmigrate this time, was this not a perfect opportunity to make a trip to the True Mantra Sect to visit Patriarch Miro?
"Senior Vial Spirit, would you be able to take me back to the True Mantra Sect prior to its destruction?" Han Li asked.
"Of course, but you''ll have to expend even more timew threads in order to take the Heaven Controlling Vial with you," the vial spirit replied.
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"I still need to sacrifice morew threads?" Han Li asked with a pained expression.
The loss of thirty timew threads was already a very steep price to pay, and he certainly didn''t want to have to sacrifice any more.
"It depends on the time period that you wish to transmigrate to. The further away it is from the present, the more timew powers must be expended. If you wish to return to the True Mantra Sect prior to its destruction, that''s going to cost you at least twenty more timew threads," the vial spirit exined.
After a brief hesitation, Han Li made up his mind and decided, "Alright, I''ll go there."
"Hold on a second," the vial spirit said, and as soon as its voice trailed off, twenty timew threads split off from the golden ring on Han Li''s finger, then disintegrated into a cloud of translucent dust that vanished into the Heaven Controlling Vial.
Layers of green ripples began to emanate from the Heaven Controlling Vial, and it didn''t take long before a particr ball of light came drifting toward Han Li from the river of time.
"This is the one you want," the vial spirit said, and Han Li immediately extended a tendril of spiritual sense toward the ball of light upon hearing this.
However, before he was even able to catch a clear glimpse of the scene contained within the ball of light, it abruptly released a burst of tremendous suction force that drew him in in the blink of an eye, and his vision instantly turned to ck as his consciousness faded away.
......
After an indeterminate period of time, Han Li''s eyes sprang open, and he found himself standing in an unremarkable room.
The room wasn''t veryrge, and it only had two windows, while the furnishings were also quite bare and simple. There was a pine wood set of table and chairs situated near one of the windows, while the other half of the room was taken up by three beds with neatly folded nkets on top of them.
Hanging on the wall directly across from the beds was a portrait of none other than Patriarch Miro.
This seemed to be a room shared by several True Mantra Sect disciples, and to Han Li''s relief, there didn''t appear to be any danger afoot.
A golden ring that was riddled with over one thousand six hundred Time Dao Runes was hovering above his head, and the Heaven Controlling Vial was hovering at its center.
However, the vial spirit had disappeared, and the vial itself was also looking rather blurry, perhaps due to the impact of the golden ring.
Han Li made his way out of the room to discover a small courtyard outside, and there appeared to be hundreds of simr courtyards nearby.
These courtyards had all been constructed along a huge, white mountain, and standing beside these courtyards was a series of white jade pces that stretched as far as the eyes could see.
There were also some mountains hovering in mid-air that wereden with pces as well.
Having alreadye to this ce once through spiritual transmigration, Han Li knew that this was the True Mantra Sect.
However, thest time that he was here, the sect was being attacked by the Heavenly Court, and it was already in a severely war-torn state, whereas at this point in time, it was still as pristine and tidy as ever.
White-robed True Mantra Sect disciples were flying through the sky above, and Han Li hurriedly concealed himself in order to avoid detection, then carefully released his spiritual sense to scour the surrounding area.
Momentster, an ted look appeared on his face as he flew toward the summit of the giant, white mountain, while simultaneously channeling his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique to conceal his own aura.
Before long, he had already arrived in front of a two-story pavilion on the mountain summit, and beside the pavilion stood a stone que that read "Merit Pavilion".
There was barely anyone here, and an elderly man was seated at the entrance of the pavilion, seemingly acting as a supervisor of sorts.
The man was a mid-High Zenith cultivator, and upon Han Li''s arrival, he seemed to have detected something as his eyes abruptly sprang open.
However, a perplexed look then appeared on his face as he discovered that there was nothing to be seen.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li''s face as he pointed a finger at the elderly man, and several translucent chains shot out of his fingertip before racing toward the man''s head.
As soon as those chains left Han Li''s body, he was immediately revealed, and the elderly man''s expression changed drastically as he sprang to his feet while summoning a white badge in an attempt to activate the restrictions on the Merit Pavilion behind him.
However, the translucent chains were far too fast, and they had already vanished into his be before he had a chance to react.
The elderly man was instantly immobilized, locked in a strange, half-seated, half-standing posture.
After immobilizing the elderly man, Han Li took a moment to inspect his surroundings, and only after verifying that no one had detected what he had just done did he allow himself an internal sigh of relief.
He took a white badge from the elderly man, and after inspecting it momentarily with his spiritual sense, he immediately understood how it worked.
He strode over to the Merit Pavilion, then swept the badge through the air, releasing a burst of white light that vanished into the doors of the pavilion.
A translucent, white light barrier instantly appeared over the doors, with countless runes shing over its surface.
Han Li released another streak of white light using the badge, and this time, the runes on the light barrier quickly receded, following which the light barrier itself vanished as the doors of the pavilion slowly swung open.
A faint smile appeared on his face, and he was just about to step inside the pavilion when he suddenly stopped in his tracks, then pointed a finger at the elderly man.
Five thin strands of ck light shot out of his fingertip before vanishing into the elderly man''s body, and his wooden expression instantly became much more natural as he sat back down again.
This was a puppetry secret technique that he had learned from Daoist Xie during his time in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, and he was using it to control the elderly man to make him appear more natural so that he didn''t draw any attention to himself.
After that, Han Li made his way into the pavilion before closing the doors, and a white light barrier instantly reappeared over their surface.
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Chapter 1148: A Familiar Scene
Chapter 1148: A Familiar Scene
Han Li cast his gaze into the pavilion to discover that the first floor wasn''t all that spacious, and it was filled with around twenty to thirty antiquated wooden bookshelves, all of which wereden with books, jade slips, and other types of scriptures that were clearly all cultivation arts and secret techniques.
Just like the doors of the pavilion, these scriptures were also enshrouded in a white light barrier.
Just as Han Li had guessed, this was the True Mantra Sect''s scripture library.
This was a rare opportunity to return to the True Mantra Sect, and he didn''t want to squander it.
His fate seemed to have been somehow intertwined with the True Mantra Sect, and he had frequently explored different avenues to learn more about the sect''s history. The more he learned, the more astonished he became.
Even though the True Mantra Sect was situated in the ck Soil Immortal Region, which was not a veryrge immortal region, it was a sect of a very lofty status in the True Immortal Realm due to its expertise in thews of time and of course, Patriarch Miro.
He had already expended fifty timew threads to get here. While it was true that he hade here in order to flee from Immortal Lord Miao Fa and Chi Meng, now that he was here, he fully intended to take full advantage of this opportunity.
He had always been cultivating thews of time on his own, and even though he was able to make rapid progress in the endeavor, there were many gaps in his knowledge that he wanted to fill, so he was eager to find some journals containing cultivation insights from some powerful True Mantra Sect cultivators.
Thews of time were extremely difficult toprehend and master, but they were also an integral part to the very fabric that this realm was woven from.
Nothing could escape from the effects of time, and every single living being seemed to be able toe into contact with it, but was unable to truly grasp it. It was like a reflection in a pond of water, something that could only be seen, but not grasped.
Hence, regardless of whether someone had made much progress in their cultivation of thews of time, written records of their cultivation experiences and insights could perhaps be of some help to Han Li.
With that in mind, he began to quickly make his way through the bookshelves, stopping asionally to use the white badge in his hand to withdraw the restrictions around the bookshelves in order to ess the scriptures inside. However, the more he read, the less enthused he became.
The scriptures on these bookshelves were all quite profound, but they were all cultivation arts and secret techniques aimed at Golden Immortals and even True Immortals. Some of them contained some cultivation insights, but all of those sections were very brief and vague, providing no benefit to Han Li.
It looks like all of the scriptures here are of a rather lowly caliber. The higher grade scriptures must be kept somewhere more secretive.
With that in mind, Han Li made his way up to the second floor of the pavilion.
There were only around a dozen bookshelves on the second floor, and they were alsoden with scriptures.
Time was of the essence, so Han Li immediately began reading through the scriptures.
The scriptures here were indeed of a higher level than the ones on the first floor, but not by much, and they weren''t of much use to him.
It didn''t take long before Han Li read through all of these scriptures in futility, and he heaved a forlorn sigh before turning to depart.
At this point, a good chunk of the Time Dao Runes on the golden ring had already been snuffed out, so he couldn''t afford to waste any more time here.
All of a sudden, he stopped in his tracks and cast his gaze toward a nearby bookshelf that was ced against a wall.
He had only hurriedly examined the scriptures on the bookshelves earlier, so he had failed to notice that the positioning of this bookshelf was a little strange in that it seemed to have been intentionally moved around a foot out of line with the other bookshelves.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he pushed the bookshelf back, then swept his spiritual sense over the surrounding area, upon which an ted look suddenly appeared on his face.
He ced a hand against the section of the wall that had previously been blocked by the bookshelf, and a loud click rang out as the wall caved inward to reveal an opening, inside of which was a palm-sized, golden jade box.
He was just about to open the box when ayer of golden light appeared over its surface to repel his hand.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, then reached out with both hands for the jade box, while ayer of golden light surfaced over each of his hands.
The jade box released anotheryer of golden light to contend against the golden light emanating from Han Li''s hands, but it was quickly overwhelmed and torn apart, following which the jade box sprang open to reveal a golden jade slip inside.
Han Li picked up the jade slip before injecting his spiritual sense into it to discover that it contained a secret technique called the "Immortal Golden Cloud".
ording to the jade slip, this was a defensive secret technique that used timew powers as a foundation.
On top of that, this wasn''t just any defensive ability. Instead, it was proimed to be the True Mantra Sect''s premium defensive secret technique.
However, the prerequisites that had to be fulfilled in order to cultivate this ability were extremely stringent. Firstly, one had to possess tremendous timew powers and a very high understanding of thews of time. Otherwise, they wouldn''t be able to bear the overwhelming power of the Immortal Golden Cloud, nor would they be able toprehend theplexities of the secret technique.
In addition to that, the cultivator had to possess at least three hundred timew threads, and only then would they have sufficient timew powers to support the ability.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
The Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra was a time-attribute cultivation art of the highest caliber, and he had already developed a very deep understanding of thews of time, but the problem was naturally the requirement of three hundred timew threads.
At the moment, he only had around a hundred and fifty timew threads left, which fulfilled only half of the minimum requirement.
Even so, he was still very pleased to have found this secret technique.
He stowed the jade slip and the golden box away, then returned the wall and the bookshelf to their original state so no one would notice that anything was amiss.
After doing all of that, Han Li made his way downstairs, yet right as he was about to exit the pavilion, a streak of golden light came flying over from afar, then descended outside the Merit Pavilion to reveal an imposing man who was at the mid-High Zenith Stage.
"Your Merit Pavilion is still as deserted as ever, Fellow Daoist Jiang," the man chuckled.
Han Li hurriedly channeled his puppetry secret technique to control the elderly man, who looked up at the visitor as he replied in an indifferent manner, "Barely anyone everes here anyway."
The man didn''t seem to have noticed anything amiss about the elderly man, and he lowered his voice as he said, "I don''t mean to make a joke at your expense, Fellow Daoist Jiang. Our sect is receiving more and more pressure from the Heavenly Court, and my Heavenly Star Pce has also beenrgely deserted ofte.
¡°It may be a rather wearisome task, overseeing these ces for ten thousand years, but at the very least, we''re in a much better situation than those elders who were sent on missions out of the sect. I''ve heard that many of them have already met their demise."
To Han Li''s relief, it appeared that the two of them were on good terms with each other, and under his control, the elderly man asked, "Can I help you with something?"
"I heard that our patriarch is going to be giving a lecture on the Sun View Peak, and I came here to invite you to attend the lecture with me," the man replied with a smile, and Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.
There was a very good chance that this patriarch in question was Patriarch Miro, who was also a cultivator of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra. There was no guarantee that he would specifically speak about the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra during his lecture, but the cultivation insights that he divulged had to be rted to the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, so this lecture was not to be missed.
With that in mind, a hint of excitement welled up in his heart, and the elderly man replied at his behest, "Thank you for the kind offer, Fellow Daoist Chen, but I still have some matters to attend to right now, so I''ll have to go a littleter."
The man faltered slightly upon hearing this, then nodded in response.
"In that case, I''ll be going ahead on my own. You should alsoe as soon as you can, Fellow Daoist Jiang. We may be using different cultivation arts from our patriarch, but I''m sure his cultivation insights will still be invaluable for us to hear."
The man then promptly departed, flying away as a streak of golden light.
The doors of the Merit Pavilion swung open, and Han Li emerged from within, then made a beckoning motion, upon which the elderly man stood up and made his way into the pavilion.
He then flicked a finger through the air, sending a strand of translucent light flying into the elderly man''s be, and he shuddered violently before falling to the ground in an unconscious state.
Han Li tossed the white badge onto the floor beside the elderly man, then closed the doors of the pavilion behind him.
The elderly man was going to be unconscious for at least four or five days, so he wouldn''t be able to interfere with anything that Han Li did from here onward.
From there, Han Li set off in the same direction that the man from earlier had departed in, and it didn''t take long before he arrived near a lush mountain that was teeming with trees and riddled with strange-looking rocks.
This was not an unfamiliar mountain to Han Li. Instead, he had already seen it three times, and the first of those asions was when he first used the Heaven Controlling Vial to witness Patriarch Miro''s lecture on the mountain summit.
He had also been to this mountain during his time in the True Mantra Sect ruins, and on this day, he found himself here once again.
The mountain extended all the way up into the clouds, making it impossible to see its summit, and there was a long stone staircase leading all the way from the summit to the foot of the mountain.
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At this moment, the staircase was packed with seated True Mantra Sect disciples, all of whom were listening intently to the lecture, which had alreadymenced.
Despite the fact that he was all the up on the mountain summit, Patriarch Miro''s voice was clearly audible to everyone, and every single syble that he enunciated had a profound and ethereal quality to it.
The nearby world''s origin qi was trembling incessantly in the face of Patriarch Miro''s voice, and at this moment, there were countless streaks of light shing through the air, transforming into all types of phenomena, including gusts of fierce wind, vortexes of scorching fire, and storms of cial ice.
After observing these phenomena for a moment, Han Li began to fly his way up toward the mountain summit in secret.
However, instead of flying all the way to the mountain summit, he sat down partway up the mountain for fear that Patriarch Miro would notice him if he were to get any closer.
From here, he could already make out the scene on the mountain summit. Patriarch Miro was seated at the center, surrounded by his five disciples, and standing upright on its hindlegs beside Mu Yan was a fat rat that was also looking at Patriarch Miro.
Chapter 1149: Seventh Disciple
Chapter 1149: Seventh Disciple
Han Li was rather taken aback to see this, but he didn''t pay much heed to it as he focused his attention on the lecture.
As he listened, his expression gradually became more and more focused, until a look of utter enrapturement appeared on his face.
At the moment, Patriarch Miro wasn''t specifically talking about the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, but Han Li could tell that every single word that he spoke was closely rted to the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
The cultivation art for the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra flowed through Han Li''s mind as he crosspared it with the lecture that was currently being delivered, and he was able to gain a deeper understanding of the cultivation art, striking him with a sense of enlightenment where there had previously been some confusion.
Close to a day flew by in the blink of an eye.
Right at this moment, Patriarch Miro''s voice abruptly cut off, and Han Li was instantly snapped out of his enraptured state.
He cast his gaze toward the mountain summit to discover that Mu Yan had raised a question, and he couldn''t help but feel envious of Mu Yan for having someone to answer his questions.
After listening to Patriarch Miro''s lecture, he had gained a much deeper understanding of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, but some new questions pertaining to the cultivation art had also arisen in his mind.
After answering Mu Yan''s question, Patriarch Miro resumed his lecture, and Han Li hurriedly began listening again.
Some timeter, Patriarch Miro suddenly stopped once again as he cast a surprised gaze toward a certain spot in the air.
His disciples were immediately snapped out of their enraptured state, and Mu Yan instantly sprang to his feet with a furious expression as he yelled, "Who''s there?"
A burst of invisible force surged out from between Patriarch Miro''s lips to strike that spot in the air, and the space there was shattered, following which the invisible force seeped deep into the broken space, forming a passageway that led to some unknown destination.
A faint crack then rang out from deep within the spatial passageway, as if something had been shattered.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he discovered that this was the scene where Patriarch Miro had caught him eavesdropping on his lecture all those years ago.
Patriarch Miro swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of golden light, which swept over the shattered space to smooth it over again.
"It''s alright, there''s no need to be rmed," he said in a calm manner, and his disciples sat back down again.
"Who was spying on us just now, Master? Was it someone from the Heavenly Court?" Qi Mozi asked with tightly furrowed brows.
Patriarch Miro shook his head and offered no response, but he turned to take a nce at a spot partway up the mountain precisely where Han Li was seated.
At the moment, Han Li had concealed himself using his Myriad Acupoint Tranquility Technique, and it was only a casual nce, but he knew that Patriarch Miro had already seen him.
Should I run? Han Li thought to himself as he prepared to flee the scene, but Patriarch Miro had already withdrawn his gaze, paying no further heed to Han Li as he resumed his lecture once again.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Han Li decided to remain where he was.
He wasn''t aware of Patriarch Miro''s true power, but just that fleeting nce alone told him that Patriarch Miro was definitely far more powerful than even the likes of the Dark Heavens Devilish Deity, so there was no way that he would be able to get away if Patriarch Miro wanted to capture him.
Hence, he may as well stay and listen to the lecture. Furthermore, he was cultivating the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, which made him half a True Mantra Sect disciple, so even if Patriarch Miro were to capture him, he should have no intentions of harming him.
With that in mind, Han Li felt much more reassured, and he sat down again to continue listening to the lecture.
The lecture continued for another half a day before Patriarch Miro dered its conclusion.
All of the disciples of the True Mantra Sect bowed respectfully to him before departing, and before long, he was the only one left on the mountain summit.
"You cane out now," Patriarch Miro said in a calm manner, and Han Li appeared behind him amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
"I pay my respects to Senior Miro," Han Li greeted as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute.
Patriarch Miro sized up Han Li for a moment, following which a warm smile appeared on his face as he murmured to himself, "Not bad at all!"
"I came here by chance and was enraptured by your lecture, so I concealed myself to listen in secret. I hope you''ll forgive me, Senior Miro," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute.
"It''s fine. You''ve cultivated the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, and that makes you a disciple of my True Mantra Sect, so why can''t you listen to my lecture?" Patriarch Miro asked with a benevolent smile.
Han Li wasn''t surprised that Patriarch Miro was able to identify the cultivation art that he was using, and he was quite relieved to see that Patriarch Miro didn''t seem to harbor any enmity toward him.
"You were the one spying on me earlier as well, weren''t you? You may be here in the present, but you''re not from the present. It''s incredible to think that there''s a treasure in this world capable of facilitating travel through space and time," Patriarch Miro mused.
Han Li was stunned that Patriarch Miro was able to see through everything so easily, and he offered no response.
The Heaven Controlling Vial was his biggest secret, so he naturally wasn''t going to tell Patriarch Miro about it.
Patriarch Miro seemed to have seen through his concerns, and he reassured, "Don''t worry, I have no intention of taking your treasure. It''s a very remarkable treasure that you have, so make sure to keep it safe."
An awkward look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this, but thankfully, Patriarch Miro didn''t dwell on the subject.
A benevolent look appeared in his eyes as he asked, "What''s your name?"
"Han Li," Han Li replied after a brief hesitation.
"Han Li, are you willing to be my disciple?" Patriarch Miro asked.
Han Li waspletely rooted to the spot by this sudden and unexpected turn that the conversation had taken.
"I''ve always been very careful when ites to taking disciples, and up to this point, I only have six, but a wise and powerful man once prophesied that I''ll have a total of seven disciples in my lifetime, and that my final disciple will be the one to inherit my teachings. You are the only one in this world aside from myself to have sessfully cultivated the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, so you must be this prophesied disciple," Patriarch Miro exined.
A hesitant look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
Patriarch Miro was undoubtedly an extremely powerful cultivator, and there was some connection between the two of them as well, but those factors on their own weren''t enough to convince him to ept Patriarch Miro as his master.
Patriarch Miro seemed to have gleaned his thoughts, and he smiled as he said, "You don''t have to make a decision right away. How about I take you on a tour of our True Mantra Sect?"
"I would be honored, Senior," Han Li replied with a nod.
With that, Patriarch Miro swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of golden light that transformed into a wide, golden path, one that seemed to stretch on infinitely into the distance.
He then beckoned for Han Li to step onto the path, and Han Li duly obliged.
As soon as he set foot onto the golden path, a burst of peculiar timew powers instantly rose up from beneath his feet to envelop his entire body, and scenery around him instantly began to transform rapidly while revolving around him, as if he had just stepped into a space-time passageway.
Before he had a chance to look closer at the transforming scenery, he found himself in a golden space, and he looked up into the sky with an astonished look on his face.
Ever since he began integrating his true spirit bloodlines with the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, his understanding of his true spirit bloodlines had be deeper and deeper over time.
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The Heavenly Phoenix bloodline was the first true spirit bloodline that he had ever attained, and thanks to his in-depth understanding of the bloodline, he had be far more sensitive to spatial power.
Hence, he could sense that this golden space was already very far away from Sun View Peak, far beyond the maximal distance that could be traveled using his lightning teleportation array.
What was even more astonishing to him was that Patriarch Miro had been able to bring them here without producing any detectable spatial fluctuations.
"This is our True Mantra Sect''s Ubiquitous Path ability, and it can be used to move space. However, it draws upon the power of time as opposed to spatial power," Patriarch Miro exined upon seeing Han Li''s surprised expression, and he was even more stunned upon hearing this.
All of the major cities and sects in the True Immortal Realm generally had spatial restrictions to prevent infiltration using spatial teleportation abilities, but if he could master this ability, then he would be able to easily bypass those restrictions.
"I didn''t think that such an ability could be derived from timew powers," Han Li mused with an impressed expression.
"Our True Mantra Sect has been studying thews of time for countless years, and during that time, countless time-derived abilities have been created, with the Ubiquitous Path being only one of them. If you''re interested in such abilities, thene with me," Patriarch Miro said with a smile, then released a burst of golden light to sweep up Han Li before flying onward.
Han Li allowed himself to be carried along by Patriarch Miro as he inspected the surrounding golden space.
This seemed to be a secret area simr to the Tai Sui Immortal Manor, and there thendscape down below was dotted with enormous buildings that were ten times more imposing and majestic than all of the other buildings that Han Li had seen in the True Mantra Sect thus far.
Many True Mantra Sect disciples were cultivating here, as if this were another True Mantra Sect.
"This is the True Mantra Profound Domain, a domain that was created by my predecessors, and it''s the true foundation of our True Mantra Sect," Patriarch Miro introduced with a hint of pride in his voice.
Han Li nodded in response, and he began carefully inspecting the surrounding space once again when a look of surprise suddenly appeared on his face.
What he had failed to notice prior to this was that there was a burst of timew power fluctuations permeating throughout this entire space, just like in the Eon Pagoda.
The difference was that the timew powers in the Eon Pagoda existed to weaken those who were imprisoned inside, while the timew power fluctuations here had no effect other than to elerate the flow of time in this ce.
Time in this area passed roughly 50% faster than it did outside, and as he continued onward with Patriarch Miro, the flow of time only elerated further and further.
Before long, the flow of time had elerated to ten times the rate of the outside world, and the further Han Li advanced, the more astonished he became.
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continue reading tomorrow, everyone!
Chapter 1150: Foundation of the True Mantra Sect
Chapter 1150: Foundation of the True Mantra Sect
Patriarch Miro was able to fly countless times faster than Han Li, and it didn''t take long before he had covered tens of millions of kilometers.
However, the golden space was so enormous that there was still no end in sight.
After flying onward for a while longer, Patriarch Miro suddenly descended in front of a giant, golden mountain down below.
The mountain reached all the way up into the clouds, obscuring half of the entire sky up ahead, as if it were a gargantuan, golden beast that was resting on its haunches.
The entire mountain was giving off rays of golden light, and every single rock was giving off timew power fluctuations, which culminated into an all-epassing wave that filled the entire area.
Before Han Li even had a chance to find some stable footing, a burst of indescribablew power fluctuations immediately surged toward him, causing him to stumble back a few steps before steadying himself.
He then cast an astonished gaze toward the golden mountain up ahead as he eximed, "Are those rocks all Xumi Star Rocks?"
As a cultivator of thews of time, he was well-versed in all materials that contained timew powers, so he was able to determine that this mountain was entirely formed by a time-attribute material called the Xumi Star Rock.
Xumi Star Rocks were an extremely precious type of time-attribute material that was said to arise in the boundless space beyond the True Immortal Realm, and just a small piece of the material could fetch a very high price, let alone an entire, giant mountain''s worth.
"This Golden Xumi Mountain was secured from beyond the True Immortal Realm by the eleventh master of the True Mantra Sect, Daoist Master Tian Shi, and it''s the center of the True Mantra Profound Domain," Patriarch Miro introduced.
"As expected of a sect that''s able to contend with the Heavenly Court," Han Li praised in a heartfelt manner.
At this point, the flow of time had already elerated to hundreds of times faster than the outside world.
Han Li couldn''t help but wonder how the True Mantra Sect had been able to aplish this. If he could replicate these conditions, then he would essentially have hundreds of times more time to cultivate than everyone else, and that was truly a very alluring prospect.
"Come with me," Patriarch Miro said with a smile as he proceeded onward.
There was only a single building in the area, namely a giant pce situated at the foot of the golden mountain. The pce was also entirely constructed from Xumi Star Rocks, and it was extremely resplendent and majestic, but there were no ques or anything simr at the entrance, so it was unclear what was inside.
The pce gates were tightly shut, and there was a …d symbol on each gate. [1]
Patriarch Miro strode over to the pce, and ayer of golden light appeared over the palms of his hands as he pressed them against the pair of …d symbols.
The pce gates instantly began to glow with dazzling, golden radiance, and four golden deity projections emerged within it.
The first deity was an imposing, square-faced man in a suit of golden armor, wielding a giant ax in one hand and a huge shield in the other.
The second deity had a golden beak in the ce of a mouth and eight golden wings on their back. There was also a crystalline, golden crow on their head, what was most peculiar of all was that they had three legs.
The third deity was an adorable and chubby little girl with a pair of short and stubby wings on her back and a bright halo above her head. She was holding a small, golden bow that was nocked with an arrow with a heart-shaped tip, as if it were a children''s toy.
The final deity was a beautiful woman with six arms that were holding a selection of musical instruments, namely a guqin, a bianzhong, a vertical flute, a pipa, a bell, and a war drum, all of which were producing pleasant music.
As soon as the four deities appeared, they immediately turned to Patriarch Miro with wary and forbidding looks on their faces.
Patriarch Miro began to chant an incantation, and countless golden runes surged out of his mouth before fusing into the bodies of the four deities.
Only then did the enmity in their eyes gradually recede, and they backed away to stand on either side of the gates, which slowly swung open.
Patriarch Miro gestured for Han Li toe with him, then led the way into the pce, and Han Li duly obliged.
Beyond the pce gates was a spacious hall that was thousands of feet in size. There were dense, golden patterns engraved onto the ground at the center of the hall, forming an extremely massive andplex array.
Bright, golden light and golden runes were emanating from all parts of the array, but they were all restricted within the array, with none of them escaping beyond the array''s boundaries.
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Two stone pirs were standing beside the array, one white and one golden, and these two pirs had also been forged from Xumi Star Rocks.
The golden pir was inseparably connected to the ground and riddled with me-shaped golden runes, while the white stone pir was etched with silver runes, and there was a ck hole that was shing with ck light above it.
One Immortal Origin Stone after another was flying out of the ck hole, forming an endless stream that was constantly flowing into the golden array before disintegrating into balls of pure immortal spiritual power that fused into the array.
At the same time, bursts of fiery, golden light were also emanating from the golden stone pir, injecting bursts of timew powers into the array.
With this continuous influx of immortal spiritual power and timew powers, the array began to operate, and head-sized balls of golden light flew out from within, giving off bursts of formidable timew power fluctuations as they rose up into the air.
Hovering above the golden array was a golden te that was riddled withplex patters, and at its center was a thumb-sized bulge, protruding out of which was a golden needle.
The balls of golden light surged into the te, and the golden needle began to rapidly spin.
Rings of golden light were emanating from the golden te before vanishing into the nearby space, and Han Li''s eyes widened slightly with astonishment at the sight before him.
What he was astonished by was the discovery that this array was the source of the elerated flow of time in the entire True Mantra Profound Domain.
To put it more urately, it was the golden te above the array.
The other factor contributing to Han Li''s astonishment was that this te was the very same one that he had obtained from the True Mantra Sect ruins.
"As I''m sure you''ve already noticed, the flow of time in the True Mantra Profound Domain is different from that of the outside world, and the reason for that is this Heavenly Wheel Sundial. This sundial has the ability to alter the rate of flow of time, and it''s the reason why our True Mantra Sect has been able to be as powerful as it is today," Patriarch Miro introduced.
With this domain at the True Mantra Sect''s disposal, its disciples could cultivate dozens, even hundreds of times faster than everyone else, so it was no wonder that the sect had be so powerful.
"This Heavenly Wheel Sundial is truly an extraordinary treasure, but it seems like a huge amount of Immortal Origin Stones and timew powers are required to support it. On top of that, this array also appears to be quite remarkable," Han Li remarked.
"This array is called the Celestial Time Array, and it''s one of the ten most powerful ancient arrays. Only with this array can the Heavenly Wheel Sundial be used. It''s also true that a tremendous amount of resources is required to support the sundial''s operation.
¡°The Immortal Origin Stones aren''t the problem, but the constant stream of timew powers is rather difficult toe by. Thankfully, this Golden Xumi Mountain contains near-boundless timew powers, so it''s perfect for supporting the Heavenly Wheel Sundial," Patriarch Miro exined.
Han Li''s heart sank slightly upon hearing this.
Creating this domain had clearly been quite a difficult task even for the True Mantra Sect, so the chances of him being able to use the Heavenly Wheel Sundial on his own were slim to none.
"One thing worth noting is that if the Heavenly Wheel Sundial is made to alter the flow of time in a huge area like the entire True Mantra Profound Domain, then it''ll require an astronomical amount of resources to support it, but that requirement bes much less if you only want to alter the flow of time in a small area," Patriarch Miro remarked in a meaningful manner, and Han Li''s expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this.
It felt to him like Patriarch Miro was telling him because he already knew that the Heavenly Wheel Sundial would fall into his hands someday.
"Come, there''s more to be seen deeper in the pce," Patriarch Miro said as he led the way forward again, and Han Li followed along with slightly furrowed brows.
After making their way around the array in the hall, the two of them continued onward, passing through a long corridor to arrive at a crossroads with two paths ahead, one leading to the left, and the other to the right.
The path on the right was glowing brightly while giving off bursts of formidablew auras that seemed to belong to powerful immortal treasures, many of which were of the time attribute.
In contrast, the left path appeared far more unremarkable.
"On the right is our True Mantra Sect''s treasure vault, where many immortal treasures are kept. Let''s go to the scripture hall on the left first, that''s where our sect''s most precious cultivation arts and secret techniques are kept," Patriarch Miro exined, then led Han Li down the left path into a golden hall that was rectangr in shape.
A series of grids had been dug into the walls on either side of the hall, and inside each grid was a book or a jade slip, but all of them were sealed behind golden light barriers.
Next to each grid was a small que that disyed the name of the scripture inside.
1. In Buddhism, the swastika is a symbol that represents auspiciousness and good fortune. As for why it waster adopted by Hitler, that''s a bit of a long story that you can check out for yourself if interested. ?
Chapter 1151: Scripture Hall
Chapter 1151: Scripture Hall
Han Li''s eyes immediately lit up at the sight of all of the time-attribute secret techniquesid out around the hall.
"This True Mantra Palm Seal allows one to cultivate timew powers into a palm projection that contains nine circles, which are capable of storing different types of timew powers. The more you store, the more powerful the palm projection will be. If you can gather nine types of timew powers, the palm projection will reach the peak of its powers and be capable of destroying virtually anything."
This Time Destruction Divine Light is also an offensive ability that uses timew powers to manifest a ray of light capable of piercing through even space itself.
The ques next to the grids only disyed the names of the scriptures inside, so Patriarch Miro began describing all of the secret techniques to Han Li one by one.
The more Han Li heard, the more stunned he became.
All of the secret techniques here were profound beyond his imaginations, and there were hundreds of them in this hall.
Han Li had even spotted the Reversal True Axis, the Eye of Truth, and the Mantra Domain, which he had already cultivated himself.
"I can see that you''ve already learned some of the abilities here, but you haven''t made much progress in them at all, and that''s a real pity. In particr, the Reversal True Axis and the Mantra Domain are abilities with immense potential that you haven''t been able to tap into," Patriarch Miro suddenly remarked.
"Please enlighten men, Senior Miro," Han Li hurriedly implored.
"The Reversal True Axis is a very one-dimensional ability in that it only does one thing. I''m assuming that you''re only able to enhance your own speed by about a dozenfold at the very most, right? I can tell you now that those who truly master the Reversal True Axis can enhance their own speed by hundreds of times, even over a thousandfold," Patriarch Miro said.
Han Li couldn''t help but gasp in astonishment upon hearing this.
"That''s why the Reversal True Axis is our True Mantra Sect''s most powerful auxiliary ability, despite its one-dimensional nature," Patriarch Miro continued. "However, the ability asks a lot of one''s physical constitution. I can tell that this is not a problem for you, given that you''re already extremely advanced when ites to physical cultivation, so it''s a real pity that you''ve made so little progress in the Reversal True Axis."
Han Li''s heartbeat immediately began to elerate with excitement, but at the same time, he was kicking himself for his own oversight.
At some point, he had decided that he had already cultivated the Reversal True Axis to a sufficient degree, so he didn''t allocate any more time to making further advancements.
After that, he acquired the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, and that took up almost all of his time and attention, so all of his other time-attribute abilities were left untouched.
"As for the Mantra Domain, that''s an ability that allows you to control the world around you through just your words. I used a hint of its power during my earlier lecture, and you saw what that amounted to.
¡°There are very stringent spiritual sense requirements for cultivating this ability, but once again, that is not a problem for you, so it''s a massive waste that you''re still stuck at the stage where you can only conjure up pure illusions in your Mantra Domain," Patriarch Miro continued.
Han Li had spent a great deal of effort on honing his Mantra Domain, so he felt a little indignant as he protested, "But aren''t illusions already quite useful on their own?"
"The Mantra Domain is not just an illusory ability for fooling ordinary people! If you encounter someone well-versed in thews of illusions, then your Mantra Domain will have no effect on them in its current form, so do not continue to stray down this wrong path," Patriarch Miro said in a stern manner.
Despite the stern tone that had crept into Patriarch Miro''s voice, Han Li remained receptive to his advice as he could tell that Patriarch Miro was saying all of this for his benefit.
At this point, he had already been made aware of the power and potential of the Reversal True Axis and the Mantra Domain, both of which were abilities that suited him very well.
Given that he was going to have to dedicate a great deal of time and effort to honing those two abilities, he was no longer as interested in seeing all of the other time-attribute abilities in the hall.
All of a sudden, Han Li stopped in his tracks and cast his gaze toward a particr grid, one that contained the scripture for the Immortal Golden Cloud.
"This is our sect''s most powerful defensive ability, but the prerequisites required to cultivate it are extremely stringent, so even though you''ve already obtained the cultivation method, I suggest you leave it for now," Patriarch Miro advised.
"You already know about that?" Han Li asked with a surprised expression.
"Of course. I knew as soon as you appeared in the True Mantra Sect. How can I oversee the True Mantra Sect if I didn''t have at least that level ofpetence?" Patriarch Miro answered.
Han Li felt a little embarrassed upon hearing this. He had thought that he had managed to remain hidden from Patriarch Miro this entire time, but as it turned out, nothing that he had done had managed to escape Patriarch Miro''s notice.
He then thought back to his n to venture into the Nine Origins Temple, and he realized just how reckless and foolish that was. If the vial spirit hadn''t saved him from Chi Meng and Immortal Lord Miao Fa, he would''ve either already been dead by now or fallen into the hands of the Nine Origins Temple or the Heavenly Court, which was no better a fate than death.
He had been advancing extremely quickly in his cultivation over the years, but the cultivation of his mental state hadn''t been able to keep up, and that was what had resulted in such an irrational decision.
With that in mind, Han Li gently exhaled, and all of the lingering arrogance and agitation in his heart was expelled in the wake of this wake-up call.
He continued onward, examining the scriptures that he had passed by as he did so, and it didn''t take long before he reached the very back of the hall.
Next to the final grid was a que that read "Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra", but the grid itself waspletely empty.
Not only that, but the other five branch cultivation arts, such as the Mantra Axis Scripture and the Time Severing Flowing Fire Tome, were also missing.
"The Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra is the most prized cultivation art of our True Mantra Sect, and it''s only ever been passed down verbally, so there are no written versions," Patriarch Miro exined, and Han Li nodded with an enlightened expression.
However, at the same time, he was also rather perplexed about why the other five time-attribute cultivation arts had all been written into books and seemed to have been quite prevalent.
Perhaps the scriptures of the sect had spread over time following its destruction at the hands of the Heavenly Court.
"That''s all of the cultivation arts and secret techniques, how about we go and take a look at the treasure vault?" Patriarch Miro suggested with a smile.
Han Li naturally raised no objections to this, and the two of them made their way into the neighboring treasure vault.
Theyout of the treasure vault was simr to that of the scripture hall. A series of grids had been dug into the walls, with each grid containing one or a set of immortal treasures.
The difference was that there was an array in each grid to nurture the immortal treasures inside.
All of these immortal treasures were of an extremely high caliber, and even the worst ones were sixth tier immortal treasures, while the best ones weren''t inferior to the white bead that Han Li had secured for the Essence Fire Raven.
However, following that brief period of self-reflection, Han Li''s mental state hadpletely settled, and he remained unmoved by these treasures.
"There are some more remarkable ces in our True Mantra Sect. Would you like to take a look at them as well?" Patriarch Miro invited.
"There''s no need for that. I can see that the True Mantra Sect is indeed more powerful than I had ever imagined, but I''m ustomed to doing things on my own, and I can''t stay here for much longer anyway, so I''m afraid I''ll have to turn down your kind offer of taking me as your disciple," Han Li replied as he cupped his fist in an apologetic salute.
At this point, the number of remaining Time Dao Runes on the golden wheel above him would only be enough to allow him to remain in this time and space for about two more days, so even if he were to ept Patriarch Miro as his master, there wouldn''t be much time for Patriarch Miro to instruct him.
On top of that, the True Mantra Sect was still iparable to the monolith that was the Heavenly Court, and while he would gain some benefits from epting Patriarch Miro as his master, it doing so would also throw him into the center of the conflict between the two almighty powers, so the benefits were simply outweighed by the drawbacks.
Patriarch Miro remained calm and collected after hearing what Han Li had to say, as if he had already anticipated such a response.
Instead of being incensed by Han Li''s rejection, a smile appeared on his face as he said, "Looks like that wise man was correct in his evaluation. You are a very level-headed person, and you weren''t swayed by everything that I showed you just now. I''m very happy to see that."
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.
"At the moment, you still think that you can remove yourself from the conflict between our True Mantra Sect and the Heavenly Court, but that''s only because you don''t know enough about the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
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¡°Anyone who cultivates the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, regardless of whether they join our True Mantra Sect or not, will inevitably be targeted and hunted by the Heavenly Court. On top of that, if I''m not mistaken, you should already be under some pressure from the Heavenly Court, right?" Patriarch Miro asked.
"How can you tell?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I can sense the auras of the Spirit Refinement Technique and a Reincarnation Pce mask inside you. On top of that, I can sense that this is no ordinary mask, so you must be a Reincarnation Disciple. That, in addition to the fact that you''re cultivating thews of time, tells me that the Heavenly Court will definitely not be looking favorably upon you," Patriarch Miro exined with a faint smile.
"Your wisdom is truly unmatched, Senior," Han Li sighed with a resigned nod.
"Hence, whether you join our True Mantra Sect or not won''t affect the Heavenly Court''s attitude toward you. In fact, the Heavenly Court is most likely already convinced that you''re a disciple of our True Mantra Sect," Patriarch Miro continued, and Han Li''s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this.
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Chapter 1152: Master and Disciple
Chapter 1152: Master and Disciple
"Given the predicament that you''re already in, you may as well join our True Mantra Sect. You''ve done quite well in your cultivation of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra thus far, but you''ve also made many mistakes.
¡°Right now, the five types of timew powers in your body are still rtively weak, so you won''t be able to feel anything, but once those timew powers be stronger, problems will gradually begin to arise. When that timees, you''ll be torn apart and killed by the rampant timew powers in your body," Patriarch Miro warned.
A grim look appeared on Han Li''s face upon hearing this.
Having just heard Patriarch Miro''s lecture, he had gained a much deeper understanding of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, and he could already sense that something wasn''t quite right with the timew powers in his body.
He couldn''t put his finger on exactly what was amiss, but he could tell with certainty that Patriarch Miro was telling the truth.
After a brief hesitation, Han Li arrived at a decision.
"In that case, I''m willing to join the True Mantra Sect," he said as he prepared to kneel down and kowtow to Patriarch Miro to officially ept him as his master.
Patriarch Miro was ecstatic to hear this, and he immediately raised a hand to release a burst of invisible force, holding up Han Li to prevent him from kneeling down.
"You and I are not even from the same time period, so there''s no need for such formalities."
A surprised look appeared on Han Li''s face upon seeing this.
"Even though I''m taking you as my disciple, you are already a very formidable cultivator, and I''m sure you''ll be able to reach the Great Epassment Stage soon. Hence, even though we''re officially master and disciple, you can regard me as a friend to be treated on equal terms with yourself," Patriarch Miro continued with a smile, and Han Li was even more surprised to hear this.
All of the sects in the True Mantra Sect ced a great deal of importance in hierarchies of seniority, particrly when it came to master and disciple rtionships. ording to Han Li''s knowledge, the True Mantra Sect was an ancient sect that also held these values in very high regard, so it was very surprising to him that Patriarch Miro waspletely disregarding all of that.
Having said that, this suited him just fine.
He had be ustomed to fending for himself over the course of his cultivation journey, so the idea of having to kneel and kowtow to someone was a rather awkward and unappealing one.
"That wouldn''t be right. I''ve taken you as my master, so I should observe the formalities of a disciple," Han Li said in a respectful manner.
Patriarch Miro didn''t dwell on the subject as he sat down onto the ground while gesturing for Han Li to do the same.
After they had both taken a seat, a solemn look appeared on Patriarch Miro''s face as he asked, "Han Li, how is the True Mantra Sect in your time period?"
Han Li hesitated momentarily, then replied, "In my time period, the True Mantra Sect had already been eradicated by the Heavenly Court long ago, and the Time Dao Ancestor of the Heavenly Court personally brought about its fall."
"I see..." Patriarch Miro replied in an unsurprised manner, as if he had already anticipated this.
"Master, I must warn you that Qi Mozi is not to be trusted. He will go on to betray the True Mantra Sect and defect to Heavenly Court, almost single-handedly bringing about the sect''s downfall in the process, so make sure to act swiftly against him," Han Li urged.
Patriarch Miro''s expression remained unchanged as he replied, "If it is the will of the heavens, then there''s no need to try and alter it. Otherwise, no one can tell what could be brought about."
Han Li was just about to say something when Patriarch Miro raised a hand to stop him.
"Who''s to say that our True Mantra Sect won''t be destroyed just because I stop Qi Mozi''s scheme? There''s no need for us to discuss this matter any further. You just said that you won''t be able to stay here for long, so in the remaining time that we have together, I want you to show me your Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra so I can determine the problems that you''re facing."
Han Li obliged to this request, speaking no further on the matter of Qi Mozi as he channeled his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.
The Mantra Treasured Axis, the Time Severing Torch, the Clear Time Vial, the Illusory Dawn Hourss, and the Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree appeared around him one after another, then began to revolve around his body.
He wanted to fully disy everything to Patriarch Miro, so he was channeling his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra with all his might, revealing all of the Time Dao Runes and timew threads on the five time-attributew treasures.
The fifty timew threads that he had expended toe here had alle from the Time Severing Torch, so at the moment, there were only just over a hundred timew threads left on it.
There were around thirty timew threads around the Mantra Treasured Axis, while each of the other three remainingw treasures only had a feww threads around them.
Patriarch Miro first gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, then immediately shook his head in disapproval.
Han Li raised some questions pertaining to his cultivation to Patriarch Miro, then also told him about his failed Great Epassment Stage breakthrough before cupping his fist in a salute as he implored, "Please enlighten me, Master."
"Thews of time are one of the three paramountws that transcend above all others, and nothing in this world can escape from its influence. As for thews of the five elements, they form the foundation of allws.
¡°The Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra is a cultivation art that uses the simplest reasoning of the five elements to divulge the secrets of thews of time," Patriarch Miro said, while Han Li listened intently,tching onto his every word.
"Thews of the five elements are present in all otherws, as is the case with thews of time. The five elements form an equilibrium in which they give rise to, but also conflict with one another, resulting in an eternal, unbroken cycle.
¡°That is the essence of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra. Regardless of how much time passes, the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra continues to exist in a self-sustaining cycle, granting it immortality in the all-epassing river of time," Patriarch Miro continued.
Han Li was struck by a sense of enlightenment upon hearing this, as if amp had been ignited in his heart.
He had always wondered why thews of the five elements featured so prominently in the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra when it was a time-attribute cultivation art, and this answered that lingering question.
"Hence, the most important thing in cultivating the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra is bnce. The five elements can only coexist in harmony when all is bnced. Otherwise, catastrophic oues will arise. Right now, everything in your cultivation is extremely unbnced.
¡°Your Time Severing Fire Domain has a huge number of timew threads, far outnumbering those of your Clear Time Vial, Illusory Dawn Sand Domain, and Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree. With such a severe imbnce present, how could you possibly have seeded in your breakthrough to the Great Epassment Stage?" Patriarch Miro exined.
"I see. The problem is that it''s not so easy to increase the number ofw threads on my Clear Time Vial, Illusory Dawn Hourss, and Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree. Things that contain timew powers are difficult to find to begin with, and it''ll make it even more difficult if I have to find treasures that contain simr timew powers to my Clear Time Vial, Illusory Dawn Hourss, and Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree. Do you know any other way to attain timew threads, Master?" Han Li asked.
"The Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra grants you the extraordinary ability to refine the timew powers in external items into timew threads. In contrast, all other cultivators of thews of time can only slowly and arduously attain timew threads by deepening their understanding of thews of time and advancing in their cultivation base.
¡°You are able to progress countless times faster than them, yet it seems like you''re still not satisfied," Patriarch Miro scolded in a stern manner.
"I understand that I''m asking for a lot, but in my time period, the Heavenly Court is constantly hot on my tail, so I can''t afford to make slow and steady progress. Given that our True Mantra Sect is so powerful, would it be possible for me to have a few materials that contain timew powers that I can refine intow threads?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"So that''s what you had in mind!" Patriarch Miro chuckled. "Of course I have the materials that you seek, but I''m assuming there are many restrictions to this type of space-time transmigration, so you may not be able to take them back with you."
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing, clearly having failed to consider this problem.
"In any case, it can''t hurt to try," Patriarch Miro said as he swept a sleeve through the air to summon three items, namely a length of green wood, a broken, blue halberd, and an earthy, yellow stone.
All three items were giving off formidable timew power fluctuations that weren''t inferior in the slightestpared with the Fire Age Fireflies nests.
"Thank you, Master!"
Even though there was a chance that these items wouldn''t be able to make it back to his time period with him, Han Li was still very happy to have had them bestowed upon him.
"The path of cultivation must be one that''s walked one step at a time. At the moment, the timew powers in your body are very unsettled, and that''s an indication that you''ve been progressing too quickly, so you must take the time to remedy this problem," Patriarch Miro cautioned.
"Yes, Master," Han Li replied with a serious nod. "Also, I have another question pertaining to spirit domains. It''s already been many years since I first attained my spirit domain, but up to this point, it''s still in its most elementary form, and I haven''t been able to reach the Creation Tier or the Spiritform Tier. Why is this?"
"As one of the three paramountws, thews of time are extremely powerful, but the Heavenly Dao is bnced in that it''s far more difficult to progress in one''s mastery of thews of time than it is for otherws, and the same applies to the cultivation of your spirit domain. I''m afraid this is not something that I can help you with. The only way to advance your spirit domain is to deepen your understanding of thews of time," Patriarch Miro replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then raised some other questions, some pertaining to the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, some to immortal treasures, and some about other facets of cultivation.
Not only did Patriarch Miro possess an unfathomable cultivation base, he also seemed to possess a boundless understanding ofws, immortal treasures, and all other aspects of cultivation, allowing him to answer all of Han Li''s questions and provide him with frequent bouts of enlightenment.
Before long, almost all of the Time Dao Runes on the golden wheel had faded away.
Even though Han Li had only spent a short time with Patriarch Miro, his understanding of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, thews of time, and the overall concept of cultivation had improved by leaps and bounds.
The two of them remained seated across each other in the hall, and Han Li didn''t raise any further questions.
Patriarch Miro seemed to be able to sense that Han Li was about to leave, and he didn''t say anything, either.
"Thank you for your guidance, Master. I have benefited immensely from our time together," Han Li said as he extended a respectful bow.
"As your master, it''s only right that I instruct you in your cultivation. If anything, I feel quite inadequate in only being able to provide you with such limited guidance. Having said that, seeing as you possess the ability to transmigrate through space and time, you should be able to return here in the future. There are still many things that I have yet to teach you about the cultivation of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra," Patriarch Miro sighed.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Chapter 1153: Entering the Primordial Land
Chapter 1153: Entering the Primordial Land
"I would also love to return here to receive more instruction from you, but I still haven''tpletely mastered this form of space-time transmigration, and I have to pay quite a heavy price per transmigration, so I may not be able to return to this ce," Han Li replied with a wry smile.
"Is that so?" Patriarch Miro mused as he raised an eyebrow. "In that case, take this with you. This contains the insights that I''ve made from cultivating thews of time."
He flipped a hand over to produce a jade book as he spoke, then handed it to Han Li, who gleefully epted the offering.
"Thank you, Master."
"It would naturally be ideal if you could sessfully take those things back with you, but if you''re unable to, then make sure to pay a visit to a ce called the Yama Manor when you return to your time period," Patriarch Miro instructed.
"The Yama Manor? Where''s that, and why do I need to go there?" Han Li asked.
"You''ll know when the timees," Patriarch Miro replied with a faint smile.
Han Li was rather perplexed by Patriarch Miro''s enigmatic words and actions, but he didn''t give it too much thought.
"Master, I have another request for you: would it be possible for you to give me a diagram for the Celestial Time Array outside?" Han Li requested.
"Of course. The array diagram isn''t all thatplex, so you should be able to memorize it now," Patriarch Miro replied as he handed a jade slip to Han Li.
Han Li took the jade slip, then injected his spiritual sense into it and began quickly memorizing its contents.
Just as Patriarch Miro had said, the array diagram wasn''t veryplex, and he was able to memorize it quite quickly.
Right at this moment, the final Time Dao Rune on the golden ring above his head finally faded, and the ring abruptly swelled to several times its original size, forming a ck vortex above Han Li.
A burst of tremendous suction force surged out of the vortex, sucking him into it.
Patriarch Miro rose to his feet as he warned, "Han Li, the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra is an extraordinary cultivation art capable of allowing one to alter heaven and earth. Even the Time Dao Ancestor has always wanted to obtain it, and many other Dao Ancestors have been searching for it as well, so make sure to proceed with the utmost caution..."
Before Patriarch Miro had a chance to finish, Han Li was swallowed up by the ck vortex and promptly lost consciousness.
......
After an indeterminate period of time, a burst of radiant, white light appeared before Han Li, and he descended back onto some firm ground, while the Heaven Controlling Vial fell into hisp.
After taking a moment to steady himself, Han Li looked around to discover that his vision was still rather blurry, and that all of the surrounding scenery was rather shadowy and indistinct.
n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om
He immediately sat down and closed his eyes for a while, and only after his spiritual sense hadpletely settled did he reopen his eyes.
In doing so, he discovered that he was seated atop a protruding cliff, and all he could see around him was the clear, blue sky, as well as clouds of different shapes and sizes.
He hurriedly cast his gaze toward his right hand, which was still holding the array diagram for the Celestial Time Array, but the jade slip had been enveloped in a burst of strange power, and it was rapidly fading into non-existence.
Han Li''s expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly pulled out the three time-attribute materials given to him by Patriarch Miro and the copy of the Immortal Golden Cloud, but those things also faded away without a trace in a span of mere seconds.
Han Li wasn''t overly surprised to see this. After all, Patriarch Miro had already warned him of this possibility.
In any case, he had already reaped immense benefits from this trip back to the True Mantra Sect, so he wasn''t all that disappointed.
However, now that these things were gone, he would have to travel to the Yama Manor that Patriarch Miro had mentioned. He had never even heard of this ce before, so there was most likely going to be a long search ahead, and that was something that he would just have to think about another time.
Right at this moment, the vial spirit''s voice suddenly rang out.
"It''s very impressive that you were able to regain your bearings so quickly after such a prolonged stint of physical transmigration without the Heaven Controlling Vial acting as a space-time anchor for your return."
"Thank you for saving me, Senior Vial Spirit," Han Li hurriedly said as he pulled out the Heaven Controlling Vial.
"There''s no need to thank me. I''m going to have to hibernate for a while to rest, so you''ll have to fend for yourself for now. Make sure you don''t end up dead," the vial spirit grumbled.
"Do you know where we are right now, Senior Vial Spirit?" Han Li asked.
"I''m sure you can already tell from the world''s origin qi here that we''re in the primordialnd. As for exactly where we are, I have no idea. The primordialnd is so vast that it may well berger than all of the three thousand known immortal regionsbined, and there are countless true spirits and other powerful creatures dwelling inside, so that''s why I was telling you to take care not to end up dead..."
The vial spirit''s voice became quieter and quieter as it spoke, until it faded altogether, and the pair of beady, little eyes on the vial also disappeared.
Han Li could only tuck the vial back down the front of his robe as he rose to his feet.
He strode over to the edge of the cliff, then looked down to discover that thendscape was smothered under a nket of yellow sand that stretched as far as the eyes could see, with only some hills, patches of reddish-brown deserts, and spruces of sparse vegetation punctuating the monotonous expanse of yellow sand.
For now, I''ll just have to find a safe ce to go into seclusion for a while, Han Li thought to himself, then rose up into the air and flew away as a streak of azure light.
......
After flying through the boundless, yellow desert for over a month, Han Li finally arrived at a lush oasis.
Along the way, he was attacked by many sand beasts, but none of them posed any meaningful threat to him. He descended onto a hill on the edge of the oasis with the intention of taking a rest before he continued on his journey, yet he had only just sat down when he suddenly cast his gaze in a certain direction with slightly furrowed brows.
He could sense bursts of fiercely shing energy fluctuations there, and after a brief hesitation, he concealed his own aura before setting off in that direction.
As he drew closer to the scene, he began to hear what sounded like choruses of animalistic roars, and after flying over a tall ridge, he was greeted by the chaotic sight of two primordial tribes locked in a fierce battle.
One of the tribes wasprised of creatures with ck, humanoid bodies coupled with rhinoceros heads. There were tens of thousands of them, all of whom stood at over thirty feet tall, and each of them was wielding a giant, stone ax.
The eyes of all of these humanoid rhinoceros creatures were glowing bright red, as if they were in a berserked state, and they didn''t seem to be able to feel any pain, nor did they appear to have any regard for their own safety.
The other tribe outnumbered the humanoid rhinoceros beings, but they were far smaller in stature. They were quite simr in appearance to normal big cats, such as tigers and leopards, but their bodies were riddled with cloud-shaped spots.
None of them were carrying any weapons, and they relied solely on their extremely sharp bone ws to inflict damage upon their enemies.
The humanoid rhinoceros beings were extremely strong and sturdy, while their feline opponents moved as swiftly as the wind, so they were quite evenly matched, and that made for a horrific battle where both sides had already suffered extensive casualties.
Han Li was standing atop the ridge, observing the battlefield from afar, and he noticed that there was a vacant area at the center of the battlefield that thebatants from both tribes seemed to have been actively avoiding.
At the center of this area was a giant, humanoid rhinoceros being that was close to a hundred feet tall, and he was locked in battle against a muscr, feline creature. Unlike their brethren, the two of them both possessed some powerful abilities in addition to their physical attacks, and it was clear that these were the leaders of the two tribes.
As he was observing the battle, the leader of the feline creatures suddenly seemed to have caught a whiff of Han Li, and he immediately turned to the ridge as he roared, "I smell the stench of a human!"
The giant rhinoceros being immediately stopped what he was doing and turned his attention to the ridge as well upon hearing this.
Han Li knew that he had been caught, and he could only heave a resigned sigh.
"I''m only just passing through."
However, the primordial beings weren''t interested in hearing his excuses, and under the orders of their leaders, both parties disengaged themselves from the battle before retreating to open up some distance between themselves.
"There''s a human over there! Kill him!" the two tribal leaders ordered in unison, and the two tribes that had been fiercely shing just a moment ago immediately joined forces against amon enemy, charging toward the ridge in a collective fury.
Han Li immediately turned to depart upon seeing this, not wanting to get involved in this mess, but it then urred to him that he still didn''t know where he currently was, so it would be a good idea to find out from these primordial beings.
With that in mind, he sprang up into the air, then plummeted like a meteorite toward the pair of tribal leaders.
The giant rhinoceros being instantlyshed out upward with his huge ax, releasing countless crimson ax projections that swept toward Han Li in a frenzy.
Meanwhile, the feline creature sprang up into the air to meet Han Li, and with each stride that it took, a yellow cloud would appear beneath its paw, providing a staircase leading up to the heavens.
Even though they seemed to be sworn enemies, they worked together very well, and if Han Li were to be forced back by the storm of ax projections, then that would give the feline creature an opportunity to pounce on him.
Chapter 1154: Eight Regal Bloodlines
Chapter 1154: Eight Regal Bloodlines
In the face of the storm of ax projections, Han Li disyed no intention of backing down. Instead, he elerated even further as he charged straight into the fray.
Contrary to everyone''s expectations, he wasn''t immediately torn to shreds. Instead, he was able to force his way through all of the ax projections with his physical body alone before descending upon the giant rhinoceros being.
The rhinoceros being was rather taken aback by Han Li''s formidable physical constitution, but he could sense that Han Li''s aura wasn''t particrly powerful, so he charged forward with his ax raised in a fearless manner.
Han Li stomped a foot down onto the sharp edge of the giant ax, and a resounding boom instantly rang out as the ax exploded into pieces.
The rhinoceros being''s arms shuddered violently from the impact, and a numb sensation instantly spread through his entire body as his legs gave out from under him, forcing him to his knees.
Taking advantage of the force of the impact, Han Li sprang up into the air again to evade a sneak attack from the feline being, and right as his assant was passing him by, he grabbed onto the back of his neck, then gave it a gentle squeeze, and the feline being immediately lost the ability to resist.
He carried the limp and powerless feline being by the scruff of the neck as he crashed down onto the rhinoceros being''s shoulder, forcing him to bow his head to the ground.
All of this had taken ce in the blink of an eye, and most of the primordial beings from the two tribes didn''t even get a chance to catch a clear glimpse of what had happened before they discovered that their leaders had been subdued by Han Li.
All of them came rushing back from the ridge to surround Han Li while yelling demands for him to release their leaders.
Han Li paid no heed to them as he hoisted up the feline being''s body with one arm so that their faces were level with each other, and he asked, "What are your two tribes called, and why are you fighting here?"
The powerless feline being merely took a resentful nce at Han Li and offered no response.
"I''m sure you know what a soul search technique is, right? Don''t force me to use it, or you''re going to regret it," Han Li threatened in a cold voice.
The feline being shuddered slightly, but remained silent.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he raised a finger before extending it toward the feline being''s forehead, and a translucent thread shot out of his fingertip before making its way toward the feline being''s be.
To Han Li''s surprise, the rhinoceros being beneath his feet suddenly answered his question in the feline being''s stead.
"We are the Silver Horn Rhinoceros Tribe, and they are the Cloud Spot Tiger Tribe. We are fighting here because our two tribes have been sworn enemies for generations."
Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and it immediately urred to him that this was a rather strange turn of events.
"If you''re sworn enemies, then why are you speaking up for him? It looks like you don''t want me to search his soul, so that must mean that you''re trying to hide something from me," Han Li deduced with a cold smile.
A look of rm and frustration appeared on the rhinoceros being''s face upon hearing this, and he was internally cursing humans for their cunning ways.
Han Li didn''t hesitate any longer as he pressed his finger against the Cloud Spot Tiger being''s be, and the translucent thread extending out of his fingertip instantly pierced into thetter''s head.
The rhinoceros being immediately let loose a thunderous roar, and all of the surrounding primordial beings from the two tribes instantly converged toward Han Li, paying no heed to the safety of their two leaders.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which contained thirty-six Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and they transformed into thirty-six pirs of golden lightning that formed a circle around him with a diameter of several thousand feet.
Huge balls of golden lightning erupted out of the pirs of lightning amid rumbling thunderps and loud, electric buzzing.
Primordial beings had an innate fear of lightning and fire, and none of them dared to venture into the wall of golden lightning that Han Li had erected.
Han Li took advantage of this opportunity to quickly search through the Cloud Spot Tiger being''s soul, and a short whileter, he withdrew his finger as a rather peculiar look appeared on his face.
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From the Cloud Spot Tiger being''s memories, Han Li had learned the true reason behind why this conflict had erupted between the two tribes.
The Silver Horn Rhinoceros being was telling the truth in that the two tribes really had been sworn enemies for generations and had already been in conflict for millions of years, but that wasn''t the sole instigating factor for this conflict.
As it turned out, thirty years ago, the ruler of all of the primordial tribes, the True Spirit King, had suddenly dered that a blood inheritance ceremony was going to be held in the Holy Primordial Pce on Eight ins Mountain, and all tribes that still possessed the eight ancient regal bloodlines had been summoned to Eight ins Mountain.
The eight regal bloodlines belonged to the eight True Spirit Kings who ruled over the primordialnd in ancient times, but at some point, eight True Spirit Kings had parted ways, leaving only a single one behind.
The descendants of the other True Spirit Kings were littered throughout the primordialnd, and those that possessed purer regal bloodlines remained powerful forces to be reckoned with, while those with less pure bloodlines were often less fortunate, with some of them even going extinct entirely.
This blood inheritance ceremony was once the most important event in the primordialnd, but it had already been tens of millions of years since thest one was held due to the iplete nature of the eight regal bloodlines.
As soon as it became known that the ceremony was going to be held again, the entire primordialnd was stirred up into a frenzy. All of the primordial tribes viewed it as a great honor to be able to attend the ceremony, and the Silver Horn Rhinoceros Tribe and the Cloud Spot Tiger Tribe were no exception.
However, their two tribes didn''t even have a single inkling of any of the eight regal bloodlines, and they didn''t even rank among the top one hundred most powerful primordial tribes, either, so they naturally had no right to take part in the ceremony.
Initially, their two tribes had no intention of attending the ceremony as they would only be embarrassing themselves, but some Silver Horn Rhinoceros beings had recently discovered an adolescent beast on their territory, one that possessed one of the eight regal bloodlines.
The adolescent beast was in a state of slumber, seemingly having sustained severe injuries, and it was currently under the protection of the Silver Horn Rhinoceros Tribe.
However, right as the Silver Horn Rhinoceros Tribe was nning in secret to deliver the adolescent beast to Eight ins Mountain, news of their n was somehow leaked to the Cloud Spot Tiger Tribe.
Thetter naturally didn''t want to see the Silver Horn Rhinoceros Tribe''s n seed. After all, if they were to sessfully deliver the adolescent beast to Eight ins Mountain, they would most likely receive a handsome reward that could elevate their power and status beyond that of the Cloud Spot Tiger Tribe. With that in mind, the Cloud Spot Tiger Tribe had attacked the Silver Horn Rhinoceros Tribe to try and im the adolescent beast for themselves.
Han Li released the Cloud Spot Tiger being, and thetter slumped to the ground in an unconscious state.
"Where is this adolescent beast right now?" Han Li asked as he looked down at the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being.
Thetter offered no response, but a strange gleam had appeared in his eyes.
Han Li hurriedly pressed a hand down onto the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being''s head as he harrumphed, "Imend you for your bravery, but you''re not going to detonate your own soul under my watch."
"You won''t get any information out of me!" the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being roared.
A burst of translucent light emerged from the palm of Han Li''s hand as he used his Spirit Refinement Technique to protect the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being''s consciousness, thereby preventing him from detonating it.
"You have tens of thousands of brethren, so even if you detonate your own soul, I''ll still be able to find that adolescent beast just fine, do you understand? I don''t want to have to kill you, so don''t go throwing your own life away for no good cause," Han Li said in a cold voice.
The Silver Horn Rhinoceros being calmed down a little upon hearing this, but he then immediately objected, "You humans are not to be trusted! Just kill me!"
"It''s up to you whether you trust me or not, but I can tell you that I bear no ill will toward that adolescent beast. I have some questions for you, and I''ll let you go once you''ve answered them," Han Li said.
The Silver Horn Rhinoceros being was slightly swayed upon hearing this, given that Han Li had refrained from killing the Cloud Spot Tiger being and also prevented his own self-detonation.
Han Li could see that the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being wasing around a little, and he asked, "Which area of the primordialnd are we in right now?"
The Silver Horn Rhinoceros being was clearly rather taken aback by this question, and it took a moment for him to reply, "We are a subsidiary tribe to the Earth Dragon Tribe, and we are on the southwestern outskirts of the Earth Dragon Tribe''s territory."
Han Li was rather bbergasted to hear this. What kind of answer was this?
After some contemtion, he adopted a different line of questioning.
"How are areas in the primordialnd distinguished from one another, and where is this area of the primordialnd rtive to the nearby immortal regions?"
"Our primordialnd has always been split up into territories ruled over by major tribes, such as the territory of the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox Tribe, or the territory of the Bright Regal Peacock Tribe. Rtive to the nearest immortal regions, the Earth Dragon Tribe''s territory is somewhere between the Golden Origin Immortal Region and the Spirit tform Immortal Region," the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being replied.
The Spirit tform Immortal Region is right next to the greater Golden Origin Immortal Region...
Somehow, he had ended up near the greater Golden Origin Immortal Region once again.
Han Li suppressed this thought as soon as it surfaced in his mind.
After being pursued by Chi Meng and Immoratal Lord Miao Fa, he hade to realize just how massive a disparity in power there was between him and mid-Great Epassment cultivators, and he knew that venturing into the greater Golden Origin Immortal Region to search for Jin Tong would be aplete suicide mission.
Chapter 1155: Adolescent Beast
Chapter 1155: Adolescent Beast
The Silver Horn Rhinoceros being could see that Han Li was a little distracted by his thoughts, and he attempted to move ever so slightly.
Han Li immediately snapped back to his senses before stomping down with mountainous force, causing the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being to sink even further into the ground.
"I did say that I won''t kill you, but that doesn''t mean that you should test me," Han Li warned.
The Silver Horn Rhinoceros being shuddered before falling still, not daring to move again.
"Which one of the eight regal bloodlines does that adolescent beast possess?" Han Li asked.
"I don''t know," the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being replied.
"Looks like searching your soul will be more convenient, after all," Han Li harrumphed as he raised an eyebrow.
"I''m telling the truth! At the moment, the adolescent beast is in a strange state where it looks like it''s been encased in a rock, and it''s not giving off any aura fluctuations at all, so I can''t tell what it''s supposed to be," the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being exined.
"In that case, how do you know that it possesses a regal bloodline?" Han Li asked.
"Beings that possess regal bloodlines are naturally able to exert dominance over other primordial beings and evoke an urge to pledge subordination. You''re a human, so you won''t know about that," the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being exined.
As it turned out, Han Li actually was rather familiar with this concept. It was just like how his Heavenly Phoenix bloodline allowed him to naturally subjugate many species of avian demon beasts.
"Take me to the adolescent beast," Han Li ordered.
The eight regal bloodlines were most certainly all very powerful bloodlines. At the moment, Han Li was still missing two types of true spirit bloodlines in his Twelve Awakening Transformations, and if he could obtain one of those bloodlines from the adolescent beast, then that would certainly be very wee news.
"You said you would release me once I answered your questions, yet you''re tantly going back on your word now! I knew you humans can''t be trusted!" the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being yelled in a furious voice.
"Who told you that I''m a human?" Han Li asked.
"You''re not a human? That''s impossible!" the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being denied with a shake of his huge head.
Han Li offered no response, choosing to let his actions do the talking as he channeled his true spirit bloodlines and transformed into a giant Lightning Bird.
At the same time, he withdrew all of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords back into his body, revealing his Lightning Bird form to all of the surrounding Silver Horn Rhinoceros beings and Cloud Spot Tiger beings.
Han Li knew that there was no way that the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being would be willing to take a human to see the adolescent beast, and he didn''t want to have to wipe out these two tribes, either, so he had to resort to trickery.
All of the primordial beings present were instantly rooted to the spot upon sensing the true spirit aura emanating from Han Li''s body.
"You... What... How is this possible?" the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being stammered in disbelief.
"I bear no ill will toward the adolescent beast. You say that it''s currently in a strange state of slumber, right? Perhaps I can even help it," the Lightning Bird dered in a thunderous voice, then spread its wings and soared into the heavens.
Without Han Li weighing him down, the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being was able to mber to his feet, and after a prolonged period of contemtion, he acquiesced, "Alright, I''ll take you to see it."
After that, Han Li woke up the unconscious leader of the Cloud Spot Tiger Tribe, and following a brief conversation, he learned that the Silver Horn Rhinoceros being''s name was Sang Tu, while the Cloud Spot Tiger being''s name was Yun Bao.
Thus, what was supposed to have been a battle to the death reached a premature conclusion thanks to Han Li''s intervention.
Shortly thereafter, all of the primordial beings had returned to their respective tribes, leaving only seven or eight people behind to apany Sang Tu and Han Li to the ce where the adolescent beast was being kept.
Before long, the group arrived at a small mountain, where Sang Tu led Han Li to a semi-concealed cave entrance.
As soon as Han Li reached the cave entrance, he was immediately struck by an aggressive wave of heat alongside a strong, sulfurous odor.
"It''s in there?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
At the same time, he swept his spiritual sense through the interior of the cave, but didn''t discover any special auras inside.
"Inside this cave is avake, and my tribesmen often enter the cave to collect materials to forge our axes. Normally, we wouldn''t enter the deepest part of the cave, but one of our tribesmen inadvertently fell in, and that was how the adolescent beast was discovered," Sang Tu exined.
"Alright, lead the way," Han Li instructed, and Sang Tu nodded in response before making his way into the cave entrance.
Now that the battle was over, Sang Tu had reverted back to his normal form, which was only around ten feet in height and far less imposing than the form that he had disyed on the battlefield.
As it turned out, not only did the Silver Horn Rhinoceros beings adopt an alternate physical form in battle, the same applied to the Cloud Spot Tiger beings as well. In their normal form, all of them walked in a bipedal, upright fashion, and much of the stripes on their heads had faded away, making them far less animalistic in appearance.
Han Li followed Sang Tu into the cave, and he discovered that the interior of the cave was very spacious.
On top of that, the walls and the ceiling above had all been chiseled smooth.
There was a path in the cave that was over ten thousand feet in length and gradually sloped downward, and at its conclusion, the path tapered to a round hole that was roughly seventy to eighty feet in size.
Beyond the hole was another cave that was illuminated by fiery, red light, and that was the source of the intense heat and sulfurous odor.
"That''s where we discovered the adolescent beast," Sang Tu said as he pointed into the round hole.
"Take me inside," Han Li replied with a nod, and Sang Tu did as he was told, leading the way into the cave.
Han Li followed him inside, and he was greeted by the sight of a giant, undergroundvake.
Theva in theke wasn''t flowing. Instead, there were huge bs of hardened, ck rock over its surface that were formed by cooled and solidifiedva. Bright, red light could be seen shining through the gaps between the bs of rock, and that wasing from the still moltenva below.
Han Li swept his gaze over the surface of theke, and he quickly spotted what appeared to be a ck rock hovering above the center of theke. It resembled a ck dog that was curled up into a ball, and he immediately flew toward it with an intrigued expression.
As he arrived at the "rock" and was able to take a closer look, a peculiar feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.
Meanwhile, Sang Tu and the others had all involuntarily lowered their heads in a submissive manner, and it was clear that this dog-shaped ck rock was the adolescent beast that Sang Tu had spoken of.
Han Li took a nce at them, then returned his gaze to the rock, and the more he inspected it, the more pronounced the look of befuddlement in his eyes became.
"Something''s not right," Sang Tu said in a puzzled manner as he arrived by Han Li''s side. "Thest time I was here, theke was still very active, and there wasn''t anywhere near as much ck stone on the surface."
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"Was this adolescent beast always this color?" Han Li asked.
"It was ck when we first found it, but I distinctly recall that its coloration definitely wasn''t as dark as it is now," Sang Tu replied in a confident manner.
Han Li reached down to gently stroke the creature, and he immediately felt a cool sensation on his fingertips.
"It seems like this beast was severely wounded by an ice-attribute attack, and it had no choice but topletely seal itself away in order to save its own life. Right now, it''s using the heat of thevake to help ward off its injuries," Han Li exined.
"So that''s why so much of theke''s surface has cooled and solidified," Sang Tu mused with an enlightened expression.
"Alright, I''ll be taking it back with me now," Han Li dered.
"I can''t let you do that!" Yun Bao objected as he stepped into Han Li''s path.
Han Li cast his gaze toward Yun Bao, and a hint of fear immediately shed through thetter''s eyes, but he stood his ground as he said, "If it''s staying here to ward off its injuries, then won''t we be endangering it by taking it away from here?"
"Your concerns are not unwarranted, but rest assured, I have a way to save him," Han Li replied with a nod, then spread a hand open, and a bright, silver me appeared over the palm of his hand, giving off incredible heat that was hundreds of times more potent than that of thevake.
Sang Tu and the others all reflexively sprang back in retreat in the face of the unbearable heat.
"Can I take it with me now?" Han Li asked.
"My apologies, I shouldn''t have doubted you," Yun Bao conceded in an apologetic manner.
"Alright, let''s take it back to the Silver Horn Rhinoceros Tribe," Han Li decided, and Sang Tu was ecstatic to hear this, while a concerned look appeared in Yun Bao''s eyes.
Han Li had noticed both of their reactions, but he didn''t say anything.
Shortly thereafter, the group departed from the cave.
......
The Silver Horn Rhinoceros Tribe''s territory was situated on the bank of arge river, and it consisted of clusters of tall, tent-like buildings constructed from rocks, beast hide, and wood, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
Upon the return of Sang Tu, all of the Silver Horn Rhinoceros beings emerged from their tents to greet their leader, only to involuntarily bow their heads in the face of the bloodline pressure that they felt from the adolescent beast.
However, fierce killing intent then surfaced in their eyes at the sight of Yun Bao and his subordinates, and the situation could''ve easily spiraled out of control had Sang Tu not stepped forward to keep his tribesmen in check.
Sang Tu led everyone to his tent, and the adolescent creature was set down onto his beast hide bed.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Han Li released the Essence Fire Child, and as soon as it appeared, the temperature in the tent instantly spiked drastically, forcing Sang Tu and the others to back out of the tent in difort.
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